//------------------------------//
// Blood, Bites and Bullets 
// Story: Fortress Equestria 
// by Vix Rerum 
//------------------------------//

Twilight ruffled irritably through the notes lying on her desk, and stuffed anything of importance in a large satchel. 

“Spike, is it ready?” she called out to her assistant. 

“Yes, yes, here it is” answered Spike, carrying a large square box in his hands. “I put it on ice, so it should last the journey” he said as he made his way through Twilights clustered laboratory. “But do you really need to bring it? It’s kind of weird”. 

“Yes, I’m certain” replied the Unicorn. “My research is at a critical point – I’m only a few experiments away from a breakthrough.”  She slammed her satchel shut and forcefully tightened its straps, then she took the box from Spike with her magic.

“With this we could really make a difference; we could turn the tide of this war” she said while looking hopefully at the box, but then her face turned to a frown again. “I only wish that the princess would understand that. I can’t believe she´s sending me away at a time like this. And to Ponyville of all places”. 

Sensing an emerging tantrum, Spike tried to cool her flames: 

“Maybe it will be good for you to get out a bit. You know, away from the laboratory for a while. It could help you get a fresh perspective.”

“Sure, Spike” replied Twilight as she jammed a steel helmet atop of her head. “Celestia is sending me to that fiend-infected hellhole so that I can get some fresh air and clear my thoughts.”

“Well, could you at least let me come with you?” pleaded Spike. “I could help you!”

“That is out of the question, Spike. The battlefield is no place for a dragon”. Twilight flung the satchel over her back together with the mysterious box, which happened to come with a handy shoulder strap. She then took down the medi-gun hanging on the wall, shrouding it in her bright raspberry colored magic.

“See you in a yiff, Spike!” she said before she teleported away, to the Canterlot train station.


*


The train was of course full of brainless hotheads, all believing they could throw some bullets around and makes some easy bits. Well she wasn’t going to waste any time healing these schmucks. As soon as she reached Ponyville, Twilight was going to find a nice quiet place and continue her research. 

In her head she was already going through the next series of experiments, but she was soon rudely interrupted by a loud detonation that shook the entire train carriage. It was followed by distant screams and gunfire, and more screams. 

They had arrived in Ponyville, and the train was almost at the platform. The other ponies eagerly grabbed their weapons and hurried towards the doors, where they hustled in great cacophony, which was sometimes pierced by a shrill cry when somepony accidentally poked their neighbor in the eye with a rocket launcher or dropped a heavy machine gun on somepony's hoof. As soon as the doors opened they rushed out with cries of fiery passion, so great was their desire to join the mayhem and slaughter outside. 

“This might warrant a slight change of plans” Twilight thought to herself as she peered out of the train's open doors. 
The Ponyville station was besieged by at least two dozen pitch black changelings. Everywhere on the ground and in the air, ponies and changelings darted about exchanging blows, bombs, and curses. Twilight sighed as she put down her satchel and the mysterious box, leaving them in the safety of the train. She took a deep breath and stepped outside, medi-gun at the ready.


*


Thanks to the new recruits, and a little healing help from Twilight, the ponies got the upper hand and repelled the changeling onslaught. When the final bomb blast had died away, a relative peace settled over the war-torn train station. Twilight used this time to mentally go through every book on military strategy she had ever read. 

“Alright” she said to herself. “Assault and Capture: The heavy infantry and the close quarter specialists advances, holding a steady frontline. Long distance fighters provide support while defending the vanguard, giving ponies a safe place where they can fall back to replenish health and ammunition.  Okay. So all I have to do is to stay behind the frontline and heal anypony wounded. Easy as pie!”

At this time she realized that most ponies had already left the train station, so she hurried after them, afraid that she would miss her place in the formation. Outside, she was greeted with the sight of a war-torn Ponyville. The station was situated a bit outside of town, so Twilight got a good sight of the pastel-colored houses and a few black pillars of smoke that were rising above them.

All around her armed ponies run about in a disorganized fashion, and amongst them three fillies that was certainly too young for this kind of business. Unfazed by the destruction around them they chatted happily amongst themselves. 

“This time we’re really gonna show them whose town this really is” said one of them.

“Yeah” replied her friend “and if we capture the town square, we’re gonna get our cutie marks for sure”.

“I hope mine will be a head getting bashed” said the third one while waving a baseball bat dangerously close to her own. 

Twilight shook her head and pushed on, towards the main group. She caught up with them as they entered Ponyville, but they were not using any formation that she could recognize. 

“Excuse me” Twilight said to the mare next to her; a Pegasus with a coat of light violet and a flowing mane of azure, so pale that it was almost white. Her name tag read: Cl0udkick3R.

“What are we doing here?”

“Well, we are just about to send some changeling scum back to their mother in hell” answered the Pegasus with a cheerful smile.
“Yes, but how exactly are you planning to do that”

“Oh, that’s easy. I’ll just fly straight up to them and unleash this bad boy right into their face!” she replied while she expertly spun a sawn-of double barrel shotgun in her hooves. “So don’t you worry girl. If anyone gets close I’ll just bash’em up like  this”

But before she could properly demonstrate this, a rocket impacted right under their hooves, sending them crashing into the wall of the house next to them. Hidden in the alleyways, the changelings had lain in ambush, and were now assaulting them with bombs, bites and bullets. Cl0udkick3R was quickly on her feet again, repelling the oncoming enemies with her shotgun, although she was heavily wounded. 

Twilight stood in stupor in for a few moments until she got to her senses, and quickly pointed the medi-gun at the hurt Pegasus. Just as the first red stripes of magic began to heal the bleeding wounds, a changeling charged at them, swinging a large claymore. Having just emptied her shotgun, Cl0udkick3R broke it open and frenetically tried to reload it – but she was to slow. Twilight could only stare in chock as the Pegasus’ decapitated head rolled across the pavement, her azure mane now stained red with blood. 

Twilight thought that she would die for sure, but just as the changeling turned towards her he suddenly burst into flames. Surprised and in agony, he dropped his sword and ran around screaming, until a pink pony rushed forward and sunk a black fire axe straight through his skull. 
Our lavender heroine looked at her savior in disbelief, noting the grizzly flamethrower flung across the pony's back. She couldn't tell if it was a mare or a stallion, since it was wearing a black gasmask that covered the head and mane. As it withdrew the axe from the changeling carcass, Twilight thought that she could hear the pony giggle - or was it crying?  

When the pony looked up, it looked straight into Twilight's eyes. She could feel the pink pony's keen gaze scrutinizing her, while she herself could only see the blood and fire of the battle around them, reflected in the black glasses of the gasmask. Suddenly pony in front of her made a horrible screeching wail, a scream only partly muted by the gasmask. The then pony turned tail and disappeared into the fray. 

Twilight had no time to contemplate this strange encounter, since she still was in the middle of a warzone, and she still was a medic. But, with the mayhem all around her, she didn't know where to start. There were too many wounded ponies, which were too spread out, amongst too many changelings.

In the small streets and alleyways of Ponyville the fighting got up close and personal. Pistols and shotguns were fired at point blanche range; piercing flesh and tearing skin, while grenades and rockets made no difference of friend or foe; often leaving both of them maimed and mutilated. 

A grey Pegasus came flying past Twilight, but it was not her wings that bore her. She was firing her rocket launcher recklessly around her, until the blowback smashed her into a building, and Twilight could swear that she heard the unpleasant sound of bones breaking as the Pegasus hit the ground. Without hesitation she fired her medi-gun at the now unconscious pegasus, and in short time the magnificent machine were healing here wounds and mending her bones, even retracing a bone pipe that were sticking out of her leg. 

After just a few minutes the gray Pegasus opened her eyes and looked around, obviously in some kind of chock since the both of her eyes pointing in different directions. She fumbled after her rocket launcher and before Twilight could react she fired again, without realizing that she was now pointing it in the wrong direction. The rocket impacted right at her hoofs, and this time it effectively blasted her to pieces. 

"Nooo!" cried Twilight, but she quickly shut her mouth as a rain of blood and intestines came down on her. She sighed as she wiped the gore from her face. 

"I'm not going to let this stop me" she said to herself. "If I'm ever going to find some peace around here, these changelings have to go!" 
That said, she run about with resolve, to heal anypony she saw. She quickly realized that there was not a single pony without grenade splitter in her flank, or shotgun pebbles in her muzzle, or at least a chipped hoof. So she started to heal anypony nearby, giving them a well needed health boost.

Across the street she spotted the young Pegasus filly from before, clinging on to a huge, mean looking changeling brute. His gun was so big that he couldn't properly point it at the filly, while she was frenetically bashing his head and back with her bat. Twilight couldn't help but be impressed by how fast she was moving, and how easily she was avoiding his blows. She could probably take him down on her own, if not a changeling soldier had decided to cut the fight short.

Twilight quickly rushed over to them, evading changelings and dodging bullets, and fired the medi-gun at the filly just as the soldier sent a rocket straight at them both. The huge changeling exploded in a gush of black limbs and green goo, but the filly was still in the protective field of the medi-gun, and simple flew of across the battlefield, yelling cheerfully all the way. She landed hard, but seemed happy enough, completely oblivious that Twilight had just saved her life.

She and her friends were fighting ferociously without any regards of their own lives, or anyone else's life for that matter. So Twilight thought it best to stay on them and try to keep them alive; for at least they were effective. 

After a few minutes, the fight stopped just as sudden as it had begun. The last living changelings had retreaded, leaving behind them more than a dozen of their fallen comrades, along with many bodies of slain ponies. The ambush had been repelled, at the cost of many lives and a lot more property damage. 


*


As they advanced on the town square, the squad of ponies was considerably smaller than it had been when they set out from the train station. There were no more than eight of them now, including the three young fillies. Thankfully, they had been joined by a big Earth pony with a heavy machine gun. He seemed calm and sensible enough, so Twilight decided to stick with him and keep him buffed up.  She was happy that she finally was following standard military procedure, as the heavy-medic team-up was basically the first tactic brought up by Contemporary Warfare: a Beginner's Guide. 

The rest of the squad, however, was not as exemplary. There were two pink and blue mares with sniper rifles, and a grey stallion with a rocket launcher, while the three fillies were too scrawny to carry anything more than a bat or a shotgun. All in all they were lacking in firepower, and fire in general.

"Where did that Pyro go?" Twilight asked no one in particular. "She could be useful right now!"

"Oh no" replied one of the mares "You really don't want her here. She's a complete psycho."

"Yeah! She is far scarier than these changelings" said one of the fillies.

"Eeeyup” commented her heavy. 

"Let's just be happy that she's gone" said another filly.

"Shhhh! Don't talk like that" said the third one. "She could be listening to us right now! Do you want her to slit our throats when we sleep?"

"Nope".

At this time they had reached the edge of the town square, and they saw the changelings guarding it. Not as many as the ones who ambushed them earlier, but still more than they were – and they were defending. Twilight weren't even surprised when the three fillies simply charged headfirst towards the enemy, shortly followed by the soldier and Twilight's heavy. Content that at least she followed protocol, she simply hid behind the heavy and ignored any other ponies’ cries for help. 

The heavy machine gun spun up with a buzzing noise and started spitting bullets across the square, as the red Earth pony swept it back and forth in wide strokes, felling multiple changelings. Twilight, however, couldn't see much of this as she was lying flat on her stomach behind him. In fact, the only thing she could see was his big red plot, and his nametag. It read: "BigMac".

"A fitting nickname" thought Twilight, with her muzzle touching the cold cobblestones of the square. 

Not until the fight was over and the machine gun had stopped spinning did she dare to raise her head and take a look. The changelings were all lying dead, scattered around them together with the body of the grey Earth pony soldier. The three fillies, however, we're still alive, but only barely so. Between them they had at least four flesh wounds, six broken bones, two concussions, major blood loss, and a second degree burn, but this didn't seem to bother them at all. For instead of calling for medical attendance they seemed to be inspecting each other's butts. 
Twilight shook her head disapprovingly. 

"Those three must have been given a full dosage of amphetamine, despite being less than half the size of an adult" she sighed. "Well, it does keep them on their feet, but it also significantly increases the chances of their hearts to explode in their early twenties." 

She carefully took of her helmet to cool her head a little. "Then again, none of them will probably live that long."

"Nope" replied BigMac.

She smiled at him, knowing that she had at least meat one sensible pony this day, and spotted one of the snipers approaching from behind him. It was the one with purple mane and blue coat, while her friend with blue mane and purple coat was nowhere to be seen. 

"Well" thought Twilight to herself. "Only two causalities in an assault like this is definitively acceptable. It must be thanks to my strategic schooling. Now if we just hold this square until reinforcements arrive, they can use it as bridgehead. That would shift the core of the fighting to the eastern part of town, and then I can finally set up my lab somewhere in the western part..."

Just as Twilight could feel a glimmer of hope, the blue and purple sniper snuck up behind BigMac, and stabbed him in the back with a stiletto knife. An immensely unnerving sound was heard as the knife hit his back spine, splitting it in two. BigMac let out a deep groan and collapsed on the ground, paralyzed and dying. 

For the second time this day, Twilight could simply stared in chock; unable to react. The same could not be said about the three fillies, however, as they quickly drew their weapons and blasted away the treacherous sniper. As the mare´s body struck the ground it was suddenly engulfed in green flames, revealing the black carcass of a changeling. 

"Damn these changelings!" cried one of the fillies. "They killed muh brother."

"Those sneaky little buggers", filled the Pegasus in, "they really don't know when to stop, do they?"

"Yeah, somepony needs to show these black scum whose town this really is!" added the Unicorn filly.

"...and that might as well be us, girls. C'mon, lets buck 'em up good this time!" finished the first one. 

"Yeah!" answered the two other in unison, and the three of them sprinted of towards the other end of the square.

"Wait, this is crazy, we need to wait for reinforcements" Twilight cried after them. "You'll just get yourselves killed!" 

But the three fillies showed no sign of stopping. 

"At least let me heal you first!" pleaded Twilight, but it was too late.

The fillies had come to the end of the square and soon disappeared out of sight as they advanced into eastern Ponyville. It didn't take long until gunshots were heard, as they engaged the defending changelings. Twilight could do nothing but listen as the fillies fought for their lives. After few bomb blasts, everything went silent again.

"Oh no..." whispered Twilight softly, while teardrops slowly ran down her checks. 

"I am never gonna find some peace here to finish my research..." 

She raised her head and screamed of the top of her lungs "ALL THE PONIES IN THIS TOWN ARE CRAZY!"

Then she hung her head down low, and let the tears flow. "...or incompetent" she added in between two sobs. 

A sudden movement at the eastern side of the square caught her eye, and she quickly dried her tears to get a better look. There were at least two or three changelings approaching, ready to take back the square. Twilight quickly snapped out of her moment of self-pity, as her survival instincts kicked in. She quickly turned tail, and fled back towards the train station. But the changelings had already spotted her - and they could fly. 

Twilight run as fast as she could, but she knew there was no way that she could outrun them. Her heartbeats grew louder and when she felt the iron taste of blood in her mouth, she knew that she had to think of something. She took a sharp turn into a backstreet in hope of losing her pursuers among the different alleys. 

She couldn't keep running like this for much longer, but a quick look back showed her that the changelings were still hot on her hoofs. Worse still - they were no more than six meters behind her. Twilight made a sharp turn again, this time to the left, and found herself staring into the barrel of, not one, but two machine guns. 

Without thinking, she threw herself to the ground, just as they opened fire. Twilight could feel the bullets whizzing by above her, a few of them even tore true her mane before it had settled. The changelings, however, were not as lucky. Just as they turned around the corner they were caught in the rapid fire of two mini-guns, as well as a few rockets thrown in for good measure. The already holey changelings were torn apart, and their green blood was splattered against the pink facade of the house behind them. 


*


Twilight lay as still as she could with her face in the ground, panting heavily while her heartbeats resonated like a giant subwoofer in her head. Her ears were still ringing from the shots fired right above her head, and her muscles aching from the buildup of lactic acid. 

She was too tired to contemplate how she was alive, and in too much pain to be really grateful for it. As her breathing got calmer she noticed that there was music playing near her. Or, not what would be considered music back in Canterlot, this was not more than a single string instrument being lazily picked. Still, it had something of a mellow feel to it, which she found comforting.

Twilight opened her eyes and gazed upon the mini-guns that had saved her. They were not wielded by a pony, but instead mounted on a steel tripod, equipped with a motion detector. She raised her head to find the source of the music, and glimpsed a pony a few meters behind the sentry. The pony had an orange coat and a yellow mane, and was sitting on a toolbox with her back against the wall. In her hoofs she held a five-stringed banjo, which she was slowly picking. Twilight wanted to get a better look, but she didn't dare to move as long as the sentry kept buzzing above her. 

“Excuse me” Twilight asked cautiously.

The pony stopped playing and gave her a tip of the brown wide-brimmed hat she was wearing. 

"Howdy, partner"

“Um, hey” answered Twilight. “Do you think you could turn of this infernal machine? I would like to get up without being torn to pieces.”

“Oh don’t you worry about old Bob. He knows a pony when he sees one” answered the mechanic as she rose to her hooves and approached Twilight.  She stepped in front of the sentry without hesitation and helped the grounded Unicorn to her hooves. 

“You must be new here in Ponyville. I’m Applejack, the best engineer in this ol’ Village” she said while firmly shaking Twilight’s hoof.

“I’m Twilight Sparkle. I came down from Canterlot today” replied Twilight while she worriedly glanced at the sentry, its slowly rotating muzzles not more than a few feet away from her face. 

“Pleased to meet ya” said Applejack “say, you look a little ruffed up, wouldn’t ya like to partake in some of the commodities muh dispenser has to offer?” 

Twilight graciously accepted the invitation, glad to be on the right side of the sentry for a change. 

“It got all you could ask for” Applejack continued “Ammunition and grenades, medical supplies, and even some food for the hungry ones”. 

Twilight looked amazed at the machine. It looked a bit like a wending machine, but instead of candies it offered grenades and bullets of different calibers. A built in Medi-gun connected to her automatically as soon as she came within range, and begun to heal her wounds. It was even equipped with an oven, from which she could smell freshly baked apple pie. Applejack basked in Twilight’s obvious admiration, and couldn’t help but to brag. 

“Built it myself, I did. It got much more spunk in it than them standard-issue dispensers you’ll find outside Ponyville. It used to have a cider-tap as well, but that only led to Rainbow Dash hanging around here all the time, getting pissed. So it had to go.”

As Applejack talked away Twilight helped herself to some of her delicious pie. The food and the rest was her first pleasant experience she had had since she arrived in Ponyville, and she savored it. Applejack continued to speak in her thick country accent, but Twilight had long since stopped paying attention. Still, with her voice reduced to a background murmur in the Unicorn’s mind, it set a serene mood, much like her music earlier. When Twilight had finished eating she took the opportunity to restock those medical supplies that had been used or lost. 

She then inspected the little camp Applejack had built for herself, consisting of the sentry, the dispenser, and a teleporter, which so far had remained unused. 

“So…” asked Twilight “All you do is sitting around here all day?”

“Yep!” answered Applejack with a content smile.

“So you don’t join the fighting at all?”

“Heck, no! Other ponies might enjoy being maimed or blown to pieces, but I got a wee bit more sense than that. Besides, somepony needs to guards these here contraptions against changelings.”

“Really? It seems to me the sentry is quite capable of that.”

“Oh, Bob is a good boy, but he can’t tell when one of these creeps has changed into a pony. That’s why I keep ol’ Betsy here.” Applejack nodded at a Winchester rifle, leaning against the wall.

“Do you give names to all your belongings?”

“Nah, Betsy was the name given to her by muh old pa” told the engineer while she picked up the rifle and stroked it affectionately. “He used it to keep the donkeys in line at his farm down south. Celestia bless his soul.” 

Suddenly the teleporter burst to life and produced a green Earth pony with a grenade launcher. 

“Thanks for the ride, Applejack” she called out as she run down the alley. She was quickly followed by a black Pegasus stallion with a flame thrower. A he stepped out of the teleporter he spotted Twilight and called out to her:

“Hey medic, come along.” 

“I guess I should go” Twilight said to Applejack. “It was nice meeting you.”

“Likewise. Have fun now, with being blown to pieces.” 

Twilight followed the two ponies out of the alley to the main street, where the fighting had resumed. It seemed that reinforcement had arrived, for both ponies and changelings. Twilight tried to stay out of the fighting and tried instead to give out healing in the vanguard, but was soon rushed by a cyan Pegasus that started to circle her while chanting: 

“Medic, medic, medic…”

“What in Equestria are you doing?” asked Twilight as she herself spun around, unwilling to let the strange pony behind her back. 

“I’m trying to get your attention” answered the Pegasus and she stopped dead in hear tracks. “Are you going to heal me, or what?”

“No way” replied Twilight “You probably just want to get behind my back so you can stab me to death!”

“What? Why would I do that?” 

“Because you are a changeling, of course!”

“Listen here. I’m Rainbow Dash, I’ve been living in this town for years, so don’t you dare calling me a changeling.”

“Well, then you would be a changeling posing as Rainbow Dash. Sweet Celestia, how dense are you?”

“Do you think a changeling could copy this?” She asked while making a sweeping motion with her hoof over her body. “Or this?” she continued while showing of her rainbow-colored mane.

“Or this?” she concluded and presented her well-trimmed butt for Twilight.

“Yes!” shouted Twilight. “And why should I heal you? You are not even wounded!”

“No, and I intend to stay that way. Thank you very much.”

“Now listen here. You and your shenanigans have already cost me much time and prevented me from healing ponies that actually needs it, so if you don’t give me a convincing argument right now, I will inject you with something nasty!” 

Twilight reached into her saddlebags and pulled out a filled syringe, the size of which made Rainbow’s eyes widen. 

“Okay, jeez. Calm your udder.” flustered Rainbow Dash. She then turned he head and called out: “Stormchaser! We need a spy-check over here!”

The black Pegasus with the flamethrower turned towards them, and to Twilight’s great alarm engulfed them both in flames. Strange enough, the fire didn’t incinerate them, but instead gave them a warm and quite pleasant feeling. 

“See? Enchanted fire, It only burns changelings” explained Dash.

“Wow” answered Twilight astounded. “That must be useful.”

“Sure is. We we’re lucky that Stormchaser was here – our other Pyro is a complete psycho.”

“Still, we wasted a lot of time. It looks like we are getting pinned down over there” 

Twilight pointed in the direction of the square, from which an enemy heavy-medic team wore slowly bearing down on them, supported by a pack of soldiers and demo-changelings. The ponies scattered before them, beaten back by the enemy’s superior fire power and sustainability. 

“Hah! You don’t have to worry about wasted time. I’m the fastest there is!” boasted Rainbow. “Just boost me up, and you’ll see.”

“Okay” Twilight complied “but I don’t see what a single scout is going to do about such a well composed assault…” before she had finished talking, Rainbow had dashed of at such as speed that she was almost pulled along by the Medi-gun’s connection. When she looked up again Rainbow had disappeared – in the opposite direction of the assault. 

“Well, what can one expect from one of these inbred, alcoholic, cousin-fiddling, country folks that rather…” but before Twilight could finish her rant the cyan Pegasus appeared again, this time behind the changelings. 

Before anyone of them could react she pounced at the medic and smashed his head into a green pulp with three swift swings of her baseball bat.  She then turned to the soldier next to her and split his kneecap with a well-directed blow. She then quickly flew away and even managed to smack at demo in the face as she made her escaper. 

Without their medic the changelings had become vulnerable. A few well-placed grenades from a demopony finished of the two wounded ones and forced the rest to retreat.  The slower heavy was left alone and was quickly slain by the ponies. The attack had been broken and the enemies repelled. Twilight stood with her mouth agape in such astonishment that she didn’t even notice when Rainbow Dash reappeared by her side.

“Ha, you should see the look on your face! I guess you haven’t seen any scout move like that before.”

“I have to admit, that was quite impressive.”

“Hey, you actually look quite cute when you’re all filled up with admiration of me. What’s your name?”

“It’s Twilight Sparkle” answered the Unicorn with redden checks. “and I’m not filled up with admiration…”

“That’s great. Now wouldn’t you want to take a tour of this place?” Rainbow wrapped one of her wings around Twilight and pulled her towards her. “I can show you all the places where two gals can remain undisturbed and just… unwind.”

“Um, thanks, but I think I should stay here where they might need me.”

“Oh, don’t you worry about it. They will be fine.”

Luckily, Twilight could hear a faint cry for a medic, so she untangled herself from Rainbow’s wing and excused herself.

“Sorry. It sounds real nice, but it seems that I have to go”

“Alright, but we better catch up after the battle” Rainbow gave her a wink and then took off, leaving Twilight to search for the pony in distress.

The call seemed to be coming from far away, but as shrill and as desperate as it sounded, the pony in question must truly be in trouble. Twilight made her way through the streets on the western side of the town square, were she stumbled upon two changeling scouts. They seemed to be taken off guard by her appearance, which gave her time to dive for cover. She dove behind an overturned fruit stand but didn’t land before one of them fired his shotgun, hitting her butt just before it disappeared. 

Twilight screamed when the pebbles pierced her flesh and drew red blood upon her purple fur. But she had no time for lamentation, for they were coming for her. She quickly turned over and ruffled thru her saddlebags after something to fend herself with. She looked up just in time to see the grinning face of a changeling, shotgun in hoof, fully intent on finishing her off. Before he had the chance, however, Twilight flung a syringe straight through his eye, and made sure to empty its content in his black scull. As the changeling screamed and hissed, Twilight made her escape.

She ran as fast as her hooves could carry her, past a corner and into a house. She slammed the door shut behind her and threw herself to the floor, hyperventilating as quietly as she could. She listened anxiously for the sound of the second scout, but he seemed to have been discouraged from following her. She lay still for a while, and took the time to observe the house in which she had taken refuge.

It seemed to have been home of a family, abandoned in haste. During the months of fighting the interior had been demolished by careless combatants, who had left chairs smashed and tables overturned. Even the paintings had fallen to the floor; perhaps disturbed by the heavy shelling the village had endured. Just in front of Twilight lay a framed photograph of a little filly. The glass had shattered, like spider web just over the fillies face. Where was she now? Dead? Or had she been evacuated to Canterlot? Or was she outside, fighting together with the other maniacs? Any which way, she was just another senseless victim of a senseless…. 

“MEDIC!”

The sudden shout made Twilight stand up in shock. She looked around to discern from where it came. It was clearly the same pony that had cried for her before, but where was she? 

“MEDIC!” 

It came from above her. Twilight quickly found the stairs and ascended them, in search for her patient. She reached the upstairs bedroom where she found a white Unicorn curled up in a corner of the room. 

“Oh, thank Celestia that you are here. I don’t know how long I would have hold out looking like this!” 

The white unicorn came forth from the shadows of the corner and let the outside light fall on her face, revealing an ugly dark bruise on her face.

“That’s it?” cried Twilight “I got wounded worse than that just by getting here!”

“Well, you are a medic, what good are you if you don’t heal ponies?”

“What good I’m I” stammered Twilight, dumbstruck by the sheer insolence of this pony. “What good would I be dead? And what good are you, scampered up and hiding in this loft?”

“For your information I got this ghastly wound dueling with two enemy snipers, and I will let you know that I picked off both of them. But, alas, the last one’s bullet grazed my cheek and left me like this – disfigured. Since then I couldn’t bring myself to show myself in the window again. By sheer shame.” The Unicorn finished her tirade with a pleading look of absolute helplessness.

“Won’t you please deliver me from this gruesome state?”

“Fine” said Twilight sullenly and pointed her Medi-gun towards the white Unicorn. 

“Wonderful” exclamated the Unicorn with delight, once her wounds had healed. “Now where are my manors? My name is Rarity, Ponyville’s own fashionista and temporary sniper”

“A pleasure. My name is Twilight Sparkle, temporary medic. Say do you actually shoot anyone or do you only concentrate on looking good?”
“Both my dear” replied Rarity, unfazed by Twilight’s snarky comments. She lifted her rifle, a sleek looking Machina, and gracefully took her place by the window. She had a spectacular view of the square, where numerous changelings could be seen running about. Before long she had picked a target, which soon fell to the ground after his left front leg had been basically amputated by a 50 mm bullet. 

“Ha” sneered Twilight “You didn’t even kill that one”

“Just you wait, hun” replied Rarity. 

Soon two changelings tried to lift their comrade to safety, but they were soon struck by Rarity’s mark, and this time the shot was lethal. An enemy heavy opened fire and let his mini-gun swipe the adjacent buildings in a frenzied fit, but he was quickly laid to rest by Rarity’s Machina. The changelings quickly evacuated the square in search for cover, but not before the fifth of them met his end from the white unicorn’s deadly precision. 

“Very efficient” remarked Twilight “I’m quite impressed”

“Oh, I take no pride in this savage work that the circumstances have bestowed on me. But whatever I must do, I will do it with elegance. Because there is nothing uglier than a job done half-heartedly.”

“Indeed, but don’t you think it’s time for us to move now?”

“Move? But this is a great spot.” 

“Because they have certainly noticed us by now, and they will probably conduct a sweep of all the buildings around the square!”

“Let them come” answered Rarity with a smile and unsheathed a knife longer than a Phillydelphian baguette. “I’m ready for them”.

Twilight sighed “Well, while that is definitely reassuring, what are you going to do about…”

“GRENADES!” cried Rarity suddenly, and sure enough three black grenades had flown in thru the window and onto the floor where they bounced around, blinking in a menacing green light. Twilight had just enough time to think: 

“Well, I tried to tell you so…” 

Then the grenades exploded.


*


The blast killed them both. 

As far as deaths go, explosions in an enclosed room are considered to be one of the better ones. The shockwave is so great that the ponies present are immediately knocked unconscious. Thus Twilight and Rarity was spared from actually experiencing their bodies being torn asunder and spread across the room in a mess of flesh, bones, blood and a number of other bodily substances which I do not care to mention. It’s not a clean death, but it‘s a quick one. Sadly, the same cannot be said about what follows after it. 

Teleporting what small intact piece that remains to the Medi-station, and from it rebuild an entire body; that takes time. And the longer the time – the bigger the risks. The list of the procedure’s possible side effects includes muscle-ache, nausea, cramps, paralysis, temporary memory loss, and permanent brain damage. Twilight could now from personal experience add a fierce headache to that list. 

At first, the pain was the only thing she was aware of. Her very being stopped at the walls of her mind, which seemed to be filled with thousands of tiny larvae, each of them as warmer than white-hot steel. For a long time she couldn’t see, feel, or think of anything else than of the small incandescent bodies of these insects burrowing in the canals and crevices of her brain. 

She had absolutely no sense of time, so she couldn’t tell how long this went on. But, finally she could feel a new sensation as her head was rebuilt around her. It was an itching feeling, like a million microscopic ants were diligently running along her nerves. The feeling grew and grew as more of her nerves were rebuilt, until she could think of nothing else than of the itching that consumed her. And there was absolutely nothing to scratch it with. 

Twilight was not many steps from insanity when she regained her hearing. The sounds of the outside world reminded her that he was not, in fact, a heap of nerves in a sea of ants, and that was certainly a relief. She concentrated on the noise and voices around her to forget the itch inside. After a while she could feel her eyes returning, and she slowly tried to open them. 

The light outside was so bright that she immediately had to shut her eyes again, and she remembered that this was the first time her new eyes had seen light. She gave it another try, and fought the blinding pain until they had adjusted themselves. Now she could see again, although her vision was still slightly blurry.

After a quick look around, she could discern that she was back at the train station, hooked up to one of the many Medi-stations present. It seemed that her disembodied head hung on its lonesome, suspended in a telekinetic field. Around her stood the frame of the Medi-station, which buzzed softly. 

In the station next to her hung the head of Rarity, in a position similar of her own. Rarity’s neck was only halfway done, with her white fur giving way for pink skin; giving way for red muscle tissue; giving way for orange nerves; until the bottom where there was nothing more than a pair of white neck-bones. Around it all pulsated the red beams of the Medi-station, slowly re-constructing her. Twilight could only assume that her own neck looked in the same way.

“Oh how I hate this ghastly procedure” exclamated Rarity. “I have never felt so indisposed. Couldn’t they start in the other end, and wake me up when it’s all done?”

“The head is re-constructed first to minimize the risk of brain damage” informed Twilight sourly. “Although in your case it probably wouldn’t matter.”

“You don’t have to act like such a bitch, you know” replied Rarity. “It really doesn’t become you.”

Suddenly the Medi-station in front of them sprung to life with a buzz, and in a flash of magic the body of a familiar Pegasus appeared in it. It was Rainbow Dash, who despite having just arrived was in a much better shape than them. She was basically good to go – if not for the dozen bullet wounds in her left flank, her bent and broken wings, the blood dripping from her mouth, and the cold, dead stare of her eyes. 

The red healing beams of the Medi-port begun their work with patching up her wounds, and soon enough the spark of life returned to Rainbow’s eyes. She blinked to moisturize her dry eyes and tried to draw breath, but she didn’t seem to get any air. Instead she coughed up a whole lot of blood that had gathered in her lungs, which she spat up on the floor in front of her. She then looked up to the unicorns in front of her, smiling with her still bloody mouth, and gave them a wave of her hoof.

“Hey, girls! They sure did a number on you two, didn’t they?” she asked gleefully.

“Um, yes. I guess so” replied Rarity. “I’m afraid we let a demo get the better of us. What happened to you?”

“Well, I was kicking some major butt as usual, but when I made my escape I found my retreat had been cut off by a rather heavy contingent. I flew straight past them of course, but one of their Demo’s grenades sent me crashing hard to the ground. So I got both shot and blasted, and received wounds that would have killed a lesser pony.” 

Rainbow’s story was accompanied by vigorous gestures and mimes, to illustrate the marvel of her heroic deeds. She didn’t seem the least bit bothered by the Medi-station working around her, or the fact that she was still fatally injured. It was, however, far from her first time she was being resurrected.

“But I managed – or I would have if not the fall had broken my wing. So now I was grounded, heavily wounded, and they were still after me. So realizing the trouble I was in I naturally decided to….”

Rainbows animated story was interrupted by a loud poof when Applejack was teleported into the Medi-station next to her. She was in much worse shape than Rainbow; in fact, Applejack looked like a ponified version of hell itself. An explosion had taken away both of her front legs and left behind nothing else than burned scraps of flesh. The fur on her chest been scorched away and given way to dark carbonized flesh. It was a horrible sight, but still not as gruesome as the smell of burnt hair and flesh that came with it. It was enough to make Twilight puke, but luckily she did not yet have a stomach. 

Applejack let out a sigh as her spark of life was reignited, and started to pant heavily. Her eyes opened wide, wild and bloodshot from the pain she had been through. Without even catching her breath she cried out in a hissing voice:

“She led them straight to me!”

“As I was saying” continued Dash without looking at the maimed pony next to her. “I was in need of some healing and refuge, so naturally, I went to Applejack’s”

“And you brought three demos and a heavy with you!”

“Well, what good is your sentry if it can’t deal with some vermin?”

“Heavies and demos, Rainbow! You got less brains than a lobotomized mule with one chromosome too many!” 

“Jeez, I’m sorry A-Jay. What more do you want from me?”

“And then you take one bullet in your poor excuse for a butt, and die! Leaving me to bleed out on muh own!”

“As I said earlier, I had taken a lot of damage already.”

“Do you even know how much this hurts?”

“Um… Well, seeing that I was the one who didn’t get her front half blown off, no I don’t.”

“You little shit” screamed Applejack and started to flail her bloody stumps in an attempt to hit Rainbow Dash. Despite her best efforts she couldn’t break free from the Medi-station’s telekinetic field.

“What are you doing?” asked the Pegasus, seemingly more amused than frightened by her friend’s futile struggle. 

“When these hooves grow back, I’m gonna strangle you with them!”

“That’s enough, Applejack!” 

The shouting and commotion had drawn the attention of one of the nurses that staffed the Medi-station. She was a light gray earth pony with an amaranthish mane, and had a stern look on her face. 

“You will have to settle your dispute with Miss Dash somewhere where you won’t harm our medical equipment.”

“Fine, Nurse Redheart” Applejack replied grumpily. 

Redheart turned around to inspect Twilight and Rarity, who were now having their torsos rebuilt. 

“It’s not every day we rebuild ponies from a speck of brain tissue, but it looks like everything is going well. You are looking good.”

“Looking good?” cried Rarity. “You call this looking good? This is horrendous!” 

“Ten minutes ago you were just a floating brain. That was horrendous.”

“I would have liked to have seen that” cried Rainbow merrily, which earned her a stern glare from Rarity. 

“To see if Unicorns really do have bigger brains!” explained the Pegasus. 

“Bigger than yours, I’ll bet” muttered the Earth pony besides her.

“Behave now” reprimanded Redheart them before she went to inspect her other patients.

She was one of the medics that staffed the resurrection point, which had been accommodated in the train station. Over twenty Medi-stations had been installed in the main room, and most of them were occupied by wounded ponies. It seemed that the defenders of Ponyville were taking a heavy beating. 

All of the Medi-stations were connected to the central hub; a large pillar of technology on which top rested a glowing gem: the Soulstone. It was the lifeblood of the village. Without it a Medi-station would just rebuild a warm corpse.

After a few more minutes Rainbow Dash’s wounds hade fully healed and her Medi-station shut down, releasing the Pegasus from the hold of its telekinetic field. She stepped out carefully, and then spread her wings wide, while making a content wail.

“Ah, good as new again” she affirmed well-pleased.

She started to flex all her different muscles to loosen the stiffness in them, and was sure to take her time so that her involuntary audience could get a good look of her well-trimmed body. 

“Well, girls, it seems that I’m out of here. I would love to go together, but it seems like that could take a while” she nodded towards Twilight’s and Rarity’s legless bodies. “Also I should probably get out of here before A-Jay’s hooves grow back.”

“I will find you sooner or later, Dash” growled Applejack. 

But Rainbow just ignored her and instead gave Twilight a smile and a wink. Then she took flight and headed for the door in great speed, only to bump into a yellow Pegasus that suddenly appeared in the doorway.

“Fluttershy! What the hay?” cried Rainbow annoyed. “I was just about to head out”.

“Well, you are not anymore!” shouted the yellow Pegasus back at her. “And neither is anyone else.” 

Rainbow made an attempt to fly past her, but the yellow obstacle in front of her was insistent. 

“C’mon Shy, you can’t just lock us in here” complained the impatient Pegasus scout. 

Fluttershy didn’t answer her, but gave her such a fierce stare that she immediately sat down on the ground again. She then strode past the obediently waiting Rainbow Dash and into the room, where Twilight got a good look at her. She was a small Pegasus, not muscular or athletic like Rainbow, but her confident stride through the room made everypony else take a few steps back. 

On her head she wore a steel helmet, and in her hooves she held a riding crop. This had been a gift to her from Applejack; another relic from her old man’s time down south. Her face was stern and behind her eyes burned a cold fire. When she spoke, all the ponies in the room listened.

“Listen up you lot of pack mules. I have been watching you all day, throwing yourself against the enemy without neither sense nor reason. That’s probably why you have ended up in here. Now, I have had it with this senseless killing and dying! From now one you kill and die with purpose!”

Her speech was met with cheers from the present ponies, who despite having recently suffered the pains of death, seemed ready to fight again. 

“What is the plan, Fluttershy?” asked one of them enthusiastically.

Fluttershy said nothing, until the crowd quickly hushed itself, so that is was quiet in the room again.

“We wait here until everyone is healed. Then we attack all at once. No more muddling about on your own. We hit them with everything we got.”

“That sounds like a great plan, Shy, but don’t you think I should go out in advance?” asked Rainbow pleadingly. “I’ll try to spot the enemy, and see what they are up to. You know, scout stuff.”

“I said that everyone should wait here, Rainbow. Why do you want to get out there so badly anyways?”

“Well, you know me. I’m always eager for getting into the heat of things.”

“You will just have to wait, it’s important that we all….”

Fluttershy was interrupted by the war-cry of Applejack. Fully healed and free from the Medi-station she was barging thru the room, knocking anypony aside who was too slow to move. Fluttershy had just time to step aside before the enraged Earth pony pounced on Rainbow Dash and tackled her to the ground. The two of them rolled around on the floor wrestling each other, until Applejack got the upper hoof and pinned the Pegasus to the floor. Dash cursed and protested the assault, but became increasingly quiet as Applejack slowly strangled the life out of her.

“Enough!” cried Fluttershy. “We don’t have time for any of the games you two play.”

She went over to them and started to whip Applejack’s back with her riding-crop. 

“AUCH! Why are you hitting me for? She is the one in need of a lesson!” protested Applejack.

“Fine” replied Fluttershy “But let go of her first.”

Applejack released her hold of Rainbow’s throat, who already was red in the face from hypoxia. The Pegasus lay still on the floor, gasping for precious air as her natural color started to return. Before she had time to catch her breath, however, Fluttershy was upon her with the riding-crop with which she struck Dash’s belly repeatedly.

“Fluttershy, please! Show some mercy” pleaded the unfortunate scout. “You don’t even know what I have done.”

“No, but I’m quite sure you deserve it” answered her tormentor.

“And right she are” mused Applejack, much satisfied with the display. She then got something of a nostalgic look on her face. “I haven’t been whipped with that riding-crop since I was a wee filly. It surely brings back memories…” she said while wiping a single tear from her eye.

Meanwhile Rainbow had spun around to protect her soft belly from the strokes, and tried to make a run for it. Fluttershy pursued, dealing hard lashes on Dash’s butt, where they left behind red marks on her light blue fur. This went on for a while, much to the amusement of the crowd around them, until till Rainbow took flight and found safety, perched on the top of the Soulstone. 

Fluttershy stood panting below her, exhausted after the short chase, and decided to call it a job well done.

“Let this be a lesson to all of you. I will not be afraid of using disciplinary action towards any mischief-maker” she bellowed towards the others.
At this time all the ponies in the station had healed, with the exception of Twilight and Rarity. Noticing this, Fluttershy made her way over to inspect them.

“A field medic, huh? We could make good use of you” Fluttershy said after noticing Twilight’s gear. “What’s your name?

“Twilight Sparkle. I just came down from Canterlot and I…”

“Excellent” Fluttershy cut her off. “Just try to stay alive and heal as much as you can. Any questions?”

“No questions, but I have some ideas on how you could improve your strategy…”

“Really! You have only been here for half a day and already you think you can tell us how to do our job?”

“No, not at all. But I have basically read every book there is on military strategy, and I think…”  

“Listen sweetheart, this is a battlefield, not a library. You writing-desk murderers from Canterlot are all the same, thinking you can come to the countryside and command as you please. That’s right. Don’t think I know your type missy. You’re the kind of cunt of Canterlot society that would ram her horn up a stallion’s ass, and not even have the common curtesy to lick his balls!”

“But…” stammered Twilight “…I have never rammed my horn into anypony…”

“Well, with your looks it doesn’t surprise me.” 

With that final remark Fluttershy turned her back on the Unicorn and returned to the rest of the troops. Twilight remained, feeling so devastated that she couldn’t fight back a few tears despite being surrounded by unfamiliar ponies. 

She didn’t even notice when the Medi-station powered down, releasing her healed body, until Rarity came up to her and put a hoof on her shoulder.

“Don’t listen to her, darling. She doesn´t mean what she says” Rarity told her comfortingly. “These last couple of weeks has been hard on her, that’s all.”

“Yeah, she doesn’t know what she is talking about” agreed Rainbow Dash, who had flown down to her side and wrapped one of her wings around Twilight. 

“Thank you girls” Twilight answered in a brittle voice, wiping her tears with her hoof.

“You are the cutest medic I´ve ever seen.”

“Um, ok. Thank you I guess”

“And if you ever want to try out that thing with your horn, I’ll be there for you!”

“Okay, Dash. I got it.”

“Great! Now let’s get going before we miss all the fun.”


*


The gathered forces of Ponyville advanced towards the town square. Swiftly, but unorganized did they move through the pastel-colored village. Twilight saw that the three young fillies had been resurrected and joined them, eager to kill (and probably die) again. She also spotted Big Mac, the red coated heavy, trudging along in the rear with his minigun. She would very much like to team up with him again, but she didn’t dare to venture from Fluttershy's side in fear of another retribution. There was not a sign of the enemy, and they reached their destination without any incidents. 

The reason for this became evident as soon as they reached the square. The enemy had got wind of their assault and heavily fortified their positions. Scores of soldiers and demos stood at the ready, hiding behind overturned wagons and market stands. Among them were at least four heavies, who grinned menacingly as they revved up their miniguns. And not one, but two fully upgraded sentries stood ready at opposite sides of the square; ready to tear any pony who dare venture close into pieces. 

Fluttershy didn’t waste any time, but ordered the troops to get ready for the assault before the vanguard had even caught up to them. 

"So what’s the plan?" asked Rainbow Dash expectantly.

"On my signal we storm the square and kill them all." answered her commander coldly. 

"Great plan! I especially like the part where we kill them..."

"Medic!" cried Fluttershy "Boost me up. The signal is when I rocket-jump into the fray."

Twilight complied soundlessly, but cried out when she saw Fluttershy take to the air. 

"Wait! I'm still connected to you thru the medi-beeeaaamm..."

Twilight flew thru the air. The crimson line of energy connected to Fluttershy dragged her along as the Pegasus launched herself into the air with her rocket launcher. Our heroine flew upwards in a wide arc until she reached its peak. There she seemed to linger for a while, long enough that she could see the forces of Ponyville charge straight into the battlements on the square. 

Then the moment of weightlessness ended, and she fell back towards the pavement in alarming speed. This was the reason that only Pegasus soldiers used the technique of rocket launching themselves in the air. Fluttershy herself was using her wings to hover far above the battle while sending down rockets of death and fire. A skilled unicorn such as Twilight could of course hinder her fall with a gravity spell, or simply by teleporting. Twilight, however, had only practiced her spells in the library or the laboratory, both quiet and calm environments, far from the intrusive realities of the battlefield and its imminent threat of death.

She fell hard on the cobblestones of the marketplace floor. Her legs buckled under her with a disturbing cracking, and her head was slammed in the ground less than a moment later, chin first. The pain came so suddenly and so intense that she could see colors flash before her eyes. It seemed that both her hind legs had been broken, and was now squashed under her butt with the hooves pointed outward in unnatural directions. It was only her strong willpower that kept her from passing out. 

With extreme exhaustion she managed to levitate a small box of morphine from her saddlebags, and eagerly chomped down three of the pills. After such a dose the pain was dulled, while her vision was blurred and she drifted in to a groggy state of kind. All she could down now was wait, while her legs where slowly healed from the leakage of her Medi-gun. 

Around her she could see ponies and changelings screaming and cursing, dancing the dance of death. She seemed so disconnected from it all. The sounds and sights came to her in her haze as through a bubble of fog. Like she wasn’t even there. The feeling of separation seemed to be mutual. Neither pony nor changeling paid any attention to the fallen Unicorn, but let her lay there unmolested. 

In her haze she watched the two forces clashing, like two opposing seas, one was a mixture of colors and the other as black as the night. They seemed to be pushing each other back and forth over the square, but neither side could deal a decisive blow. The two sentries fired frantically but they couldn’t halt the flood of ponies rushing them. By sheer numbers the sentries were swarmed and overpowered, but not without a massive loss of life. To Twilight, it seemed as if the sentries had finally drowned in the blood of the oncoming forces.

Finally the vanguard arrived with Big Mac at the front, who immediately showered the square with a hailstorm of bullets. The dark torrent of changelings quickly swept back into the eastern alleys, leaving behind them scores of black carcasses. The remaining ponies on the square got a well-earned respite, but it wouldn’t last for long. A well-placed shot from an unknown sniper put an end to Big Mac's shooting spree, and made his lifeless body fall heavily on the market square, for the second time that day. 

Shortly thereafter, chaos broke out in the vanguard. In the confusion and haste to reach the battle, the vanguard had been infiltrated by changelings, who now drew their blades and sunk them deep into the back of unsuspecting ponies. The panic was imminent, and in the fear and paranoia that followed, ponies slayed each other in fear that the other might be an enemy. In short time the entire vanguard, both ponies and changelings, were wiped out. 

The situation had taken a turn for the worse. The few remaining ponies on the square were now surrounded by enemies at all sides. A few of them made a brake for it towards the alleyways, but they were immediately intercepted and slayed in the middle of their flight. Suddenly somepony yanked a hold of Twilight and dragged her across the ground.

"Come on girl! This is no time to be napping!" the pony above her cried out, remarkably cheerful. It was the voice of Rainbow Dash. 

Dash pulled the both of them towards the shelter of an overturned wagon. It lay right next to a house, and had been reinforced with barrels and other debris. As such it offered protection in three directions of four. Twilight was unceremoniously thrown into the farthest end of the shelter by the pony carrying her. In slight surprise she noticed that her legs didn’t hurt at all and realized that they must already be healed. She turned around just in time to see Fluttershy sweep down into the shelter, cursing like a drunken donkey in a coal mine. 

"Damn it Medic! Don't just sit there! Heal me up!"

Unwillingly, Twilight was pulled from just being an observer back towards the reality of the battle. When she turned on her Medi-gun, it was like waking up from a trance. Suddenly the noises of gunshots and explosions seemed much louder. Colors seemed much clearer, and movement was no longer slow and blurred. Her fear also returned. She was no longer just an observer to the slaughter, but was right in the middle of it. 

The Pegasi in front of her both wore the marks of battle. Their manes lay flat against their head and necks, glued in place by sweat. Their faces were dirty with gunpowder and blood. Rainbow Dash was covered in green goo, a testament to her style of close combat. She was frenetically pacing around the small space of the shelter, apparently high on the adrenaline rushing through her veins. Shortly, the shooting around them died down, and they realized that the other ponies must have been slain. The three of them were now the only survivors of the assault. It would only be a matter of time before they were found out, and slaughtered them too. 

Fluttershy glared at them with eyes full of hate and determination. "We'll bring as many as we can with us..." she hissed in a voice raspy of dryness. 

Rainbow gave a solemn nod as reply, but Twilight could only swallow hard. But even she could not see a more reasonable way of handling their current situation. All she could do was to close her eyes and pray to Celestia that her next death would be a merciful one. 

She was interrupted, however, an unexpected noise. It was the whistling noise of firecrackers taking to the sky, and sure enough; when she looked up she could see bright colors of red, green and blue explode into wonderful flowers. Their effect was slightly diminished, since it was daytime, but the grey mass of cloud was a decent enough backdrop to bring forth the gay colors of the show. Twilight thought that she had seen more explosions than she would care for today, but she still couldn’t help but be uplifted by the merry display over them. 

But who would shoot fireworks at a time like this? And more importantly, who would follow up her display with an inferno of fire and flame? For just as the combatants on the square had paused to look wondering up at the fireworks, the square itself exploded in a frenzy of green, magical fire. 

The three survivors peeked up from their shelter just in time to see the changelings getting incinerated. Fluttershy and Rainbow cheered as their burning adversaries fled screaming into the alleys, where they spread the fire to their hiding comrades. Twilight however, could find no joy but only terror from the hellish scene in front of her. 

The scorched corpses and screaming victims of the fire reminded her of pictures of Tartarus, where lost ponies burned for their sins. Maybe the changelings themselves were the vengeful spirits of diseased ponies, having returned to physical form to take their revenge on the living. As to confirm her vision, a demon had appeared in the middle of it all. She swung a black fire ax at the lost souls around her, and every swing made her pink mane flow around her. Her face was hidden behind a gasmask, but even from behind it her shrill maniacal laugh was heard, piercing the lamentation of the changelings and the roaring of the flames. 


*


"I never thought I would say this; but I'm really happy to see you, Pinkie!"

Rainbow Dash had swept away from their cover to give the Pink pyro a sincere, although careful, hug. 

Fluttershy landed next to them, but paid more attention to the corpses around them. She counted them quickly and estimated that there had to be at least thirty slain changelings scattered across the square. The bodies of the fallen ponies had already been teleported back to the train station, were they hopefully were being revived. 

"Well. I have to say it was pretty well done, but why couldn’t you have done it sooner? Maybe before our entire detachment got squashed?" Fluttershy asked the pyro scornfully.

""Because the fireworks weren't ready then" explained Pinky the pyro. "It takes a lot of time to rig the entire village square with pyrotechnics, so I wanted everything to be perfect"

"Well, I'm happy that you waited for the fireworks" said Rainbow cheerfully. "They made a nice effect"

"Thank you!" answered Pinkie, delighted that somepony appreciated her art.

"To bad not so many ponies were alive to see it."

"Oh" replied Pinkie as the joyful expression left her face. "But, maybe we can do it again? When everyone is back again? Oh! Then I could threw in some red fire as well, it would be a nice color-combination... oh Excuse me"

Pinkie interrupted herself when she saw that Twilight approached them, slightly weary of the infamous pyro in front of her. Pinkie rushed towards her and pulled of her gasmask with a quick jerking motion and threw it up in the air.

It was full of confetti. 

Twilight stared incredulously on the small, colorful stripes of paper that rained down upon the gore-drenched cobblestones. 

"SURPRISE!" yelled Pinkie, her voice un-muffled and her smiling face revealed.

"Hi, I’m Pinkie Pie, and I made this inferno just for you! Were you surprised? Where ya? Where ya? 

"Very surprised" answered a slightly baffled Twilight "I half expected to be sliced up to Kazy and served on a decorative platter by now."

"Well that's silly. I once served Kazy a one of my parties, and it was not appreciated one bit. So it definitely wouldn’t do for your welcoming inferno. Y´see I saw you when you first got here, remember? And I´ve never saw you before and that means that you’re new, ´cause I know everypony, and I mean everypony in Ponyville!"

"Wait a minute" Dash cut in. "There was at least a dozen new ponies in Ponyville today. Why did you make an inferno just for her?"

"Because she is a main character, you dummy. Oh, speaking of which, here comes Rarity and Applejack.” She turned around and gave them a wave. “HEY GIRLS!"

Sure enough, they had both survived the slaughter, and were now trotting towards them. Rarity with her sniper rifle levitating next to her, and Applejack carrying a large sentry in her hooves.

“Well, well” Fluttershy said disdainfully. “Where have you two been?”

"Sniping" Rarity answered coolly “something that's best done of the battlefield."

“Oh" replied Fluttershy "But what about you?"

"I'm an engineer. I'm not even supposed to be fighting in the battles." Applejack said with a grunt, as she placed the sentry on the square. “So I took the time to build this here sentry gun. Figured it could come in handy.”

"Well. Okay then. At least now you two can help us out storming the changeling’s spawn..."

"NO" cried Twilight. "We hit them with all we got, and it was a miracle that saved us from being completely crushed. If we storm them now, we will be wiped out and we´ll be back to square one."

"Oh, so we are just not good enough. Doesn’t our warfare live up to the expectations of the Canterlot elite? Is that it, city girl?"

"LISTEN!" shouted Twilight. 

She waited for somepony to protest, but when the five remained silent, she spoke again.

“I have seen you fighting and struggling, all six of you, and I have to say that you are probably the best there is.” She looked around them with an encouraging smile

“Applejack, you are the most resourceful and friendly engineer I have met”

"Just doing my job, hun"

"and Rainbow Dash, you are definitely the fastest scout in Equestria"

"I know!"

"Rarity, you are the most efficient sniper there is, not to mention the most elegant"

"Oh, you are too kind"

"Fluttershy, your commanding voice and stern stare could make a stone follow you into combat."

"hm"

"and Pinkie Pie, you are absolutely the most bat-shit insane pyro south of the Crystal Kingdom."

"Thank you!"

"But you are completely disorganized! If you were only to lay down some sort of strategy we could kick these changeling's out of Ponyville before nightfall."

Twilight finished her little speech and looked expectantly at the ponies around her, who seemed to be pondering her words in silence.

"What are you, some kind of tryhard?" Pinkie asked her eventually.

"Um no, I don't even know what that means" stammered Twilight.

"Hold up a second, girls" Applejack broke in. "I know that we all have had a good time killing changelings and blowing things up. And while we all agree that it was a nice brake from the monotonous life in Ponyville, isn’t it time that we took back our home? I mean it has been more than a little roughed up these last couple of weeks. I myself would like to get back to my farm again. Or whatever it's left of it since they burned down the forest and everything around it"

Suddenly Fluttershy suddenly broke out in a long wail, which quickly turned into uncontrolled crying and sobbing. Rainbow Dash went up to her and put her head on her shoulder while embracing her with her wing. 

"Nice work, Applejack. You made Fluttershy cry."

"Oh, darn it. It's not like it's my fault that the changelings made a Mongolian barbeque of her little pets.

"Oooooooh. THE POOR ANIMALS" wailed Fluttershy.

"Not helping...” chided Rainbow.

"But honestly. Isn’t it time to put an end to this?" continued Applejack.

"Wait a minute. Haven’t you even tried to get rid of the changelings?" inquired a baffled Twilight.

"Well of course we try... It’s just that we also like to have some fun. I mean it’s the fun that’s important right?" explained Rainbow Dash.

“Of course! What else would it be" agreed Pinkie Pie.

"FUN? How can anypony think this is fun?" bellowed Fluttershy.

"I wholeheartedly agree, Fluttershy" said Rarity. "This town used to be a nice and well respected place, before all those darkies showed up. If Twilight has a plan to get rid of them, I suggest we follow it.

"Well, there has been a lot less balloons and lemonade on my parties, and a lot more bombs and napalm recently, so I guess I'm also up for it."

"I'm in as well. If the plan comes from such a cute head as Twilight's it must be a good one, right?"

"What about you Fluttershy?"

Fluttershy's eyes were red and wet from despair and anger but she gathered herself enough to say:

"I'm for anything, as long as it means the death of more changelings!"

"That's the spirit. Now Twilight, what´s the plan?"

“Well” said Twilight with a wide grin. Few things brought her as much pleasure as being in charge of organizing things. It didn’t matter if it was organizing a study plan for classical literature, or writing a new policy for the standards of laboratory procedures, or planning the assault of a changeling lair, or managing the systematic cleansing of ethnic minorities in Equestria. 

“Well. We need to move our positions forward, but we cannot let them retake the square. Fluttershy, you stay behind with the sentry and hold this position. When reinforces arrive, leave two of them behind as defenders, and bring the rest of them with you.”

“I can do that”.

“Great! The rest of us while pull forward and try to prevent the enemy from advancing. Pinkie Pie, I want you keep a keen lookout for any spies. Douse anypony that comes close in flames!”

“Gladly!”

“Rainbow, I want you to scout ahead of us. Pick of any changelings that try to flank us or sneak past us, but give us a heads up as soon you spot any heavy opposition.”

“Got it, ma’am”

“Applejack, did you leave an entry teleporter back at the base?”

“Of course! Do you think I was raised in a barn?”

“Um… maybe?”


*


It had been weeks since the town hall fell into the hands of the enemy. It had since then been used as a spawn point for the changelings, which were hatched from gooey pods. The dark, organic material that was the backbone of changeling architecture had spread to the exterior of the house, which now bore testimony to the ungodly presence within. 

The ponies had many times tried to blow the whole house to smithereens, but the changeling lair was protected by the dark magic of their Queen. The only way to clear it was with a good old fashion storming. And now was the time.

Twilight and her friend arrived at a covered position, within sight of the town hall. Applejack immediately started building a teleporter exit, while Rarity took up position with her sniper rifle. There were already a couple changelings outside, which the white Unicorn quickly disposed of. 

Rainbow Dash swooped down next to them, bleeding copiously. Twilight raised an eyebrow in question while she healed the wounded Pegasus.

“Well. I haven’t seen much activity outside the town hall, but inside it’s practically swarming of them. I just went past a window and only escaped at the skin of my teeth. They don’t seem to attack yet, however.”

“How can there be so many of them already?” asked Rarity “They were practically wiped out less than a quarter ago.”

“Their pods are highly efficient” answered their medic. “They might even have had a couple of vacant bodies ready to be used.”

“But if they can make so many changelings in such short time, why don’t they just make a thousand of them and swarm us?”

“A hive is basically just a single conscience, centered in the queen. Even if she can extend her mind to several drones, there is a limit to how many drones she can control” explained Twilight. “Past a certain point her conscience becomes too thin, so to speak, and the drones won’t be able to act efficiently. Right now she is probably waiting for her control to be consolidated in the new bodies.”

“So should we attack before they are ready?” 

“They can still shoot” Rainbow informed them. “So I still say we wait for reinforcements. Then we can storm this place and tear this whole building down, even if we have to do it with our hooves!” 

“Yes. That sounds reasonable” Rarity admitted. “Still, it will be a shame for the building. It has been the town hall in Ponyville since the village was founded.”

“I dunno if anypony care for muh opinion” Applejack remarked in a bitter tone. “But if I have had muh way, that house would have been knocked down years ago.”

“Why would you say that?” Rarity asked in a chocked tone.

“Because it has always been the home of evildoers, some of ‘em far worse than we have ‘ere today.”

She spat on the ground before continuing. 

“Politicians and them there bureaucrats. And it was there muh father had to go, an honest and hardworking pony, had to go and beg them not to take his land, his land that had been in the family in generations.”

“Really?” Twilight asked astonished. “They wanted to confiscate your land? Why?”

“Cause some fancy high roller convinced them that she could do a better job running it. Said that it was mismanaged, they said. Like anypony but an Apple could handle Sweet Apple Acres.”

“I really don’t want to poke around in old wounds” Rarity claimed, although it seemed as if she was enjoying the occasion. “But didn’t your father refuse to make anything else than apple cider?”

Applejack didn’t answer; her face just became frozen in a stern expression. 

“Yeah” Pinkie Pie chimed in. “and most of it he drank himself”

The orange earth pony’s face started to get a slight red blush.

“Indeed. That’s what I have heard, at least” Rarity affirmed. “It must be embarrassing for a town that used to be renowned for its apples, to be forced to rely on imported apples from Trottingham...”

Applejack’s face was now as red as the apples on her flank.

Pinkie Pie took up where Rarity had left of; “…especially when the owner of the village’s pride farm spent his time chugging cider and shouting racial slurs…”

“OKAY!” Applejack shouted. “SO MAYBE HE HAD A BIT OF A DRINKING PROBLEM! SO WHAT? MANY PONIES DO!”

Pinkie and Rarity fell silent at their friend’s outburst, but secretly they were very satisfied of the result of their goading. 

“He had a HARD TIME, ya´ know! And he did HIS BEST” the infuriated earth pony went on to defend her deceased fathers honor. “My mother died when I was quite young ya´ know, I was not much more than a filly. So he basically raised me and muh sibling all on his own.”

“So what happened? Did they take your farm?” Twilight asked what she hoped was a defusing question, not wanting her perfect plan to be ruin by her angry engineer’s shouting.

“No, they didn’t. Granny Smith’s still had some influential friends at this time, so she called whatever favors she had left and made them give us another chance.” 

Applejack speech turned from anger to bitterness. 

“He died a few years after that. In a work accident. Since then me and muh brother have been working endlessly to restore our family’s good name. And what good did it do? Now the farm and all its lands have been wrecked by the changelings, but the damned Town hall still stands.”
Her expression changed again, into one of determination.

“Well, not for much longer.”


*


Soon after that, Fluttershy arrived with a dozen freshly revived ponies, and more were arriving through the teleporter every minute. The changelings had yet to make their move.

“They have defiantly noticed us by now” Twilight informed the ponies around her.

“Probably they expect us to make a reckless assault again like last time, without neither edge nor power. So they are waiting, believing that if they only hold out the sword, we will fall on it willingly.”

“So, what? Are we just gonna bore them with your pretentious prose until they give up and die?” Fluttershy complained.

“No way! I’m sure Twily has a plan to attack them, all smarty like” the eager scout next to her said happily.

“Exactly, Dash” confirmed their self-proclaimed strategist. 

“Fluttershy, I want you to gather the soldiers and demos, and when I give the signal you fill every whole and window in that building with explosives. This will create a cover for me and the close quarter fighters to rush their front door. Rainbow, as soon as we have entered the building, take the rest of the scouts and enter the house from the other side. Hopefully they will be concentrating on us, leaving their butts exposed.”

“You got it Ma’am!” Rainbow exclaimed. “It won’t be the first time I buck an unsuspecting butt.”

“I don’t doubt it. Now spread the word to the others, and get ready for my signal.”

Twilight’s five new friends spread her plan to the other ponies, while she sought out her favorite heavy. 

“Waddup Big Mac, ready for some by-the-books carnage?” she asked when she found him.

“Eeyup”

As soon as the others were ready, Twilight gave the signal to Fluttershy to start the attack with the 1st attack force, consisting of soldiers and demos. They quickly rushed out from behind their cover and unleashed a torrent of grenades and rockets towards the Town hall, forcing the changelings to take cover. Twilight sounded the next charge, and she, Big Mac and Pinkie Pie led the way for the 2nd attack force. With the Town hall’s windows unoccupied they could make their way across the open space unmolested by snipers or other changelings, the whole way to the front door. 

Standing with his back towards the house, Big Mac kicked down the doors with a mighty hind kick, whereafter Pinkie quickly put the tip of her flamethrower inside, filling the vestibule with liquid fire. The black creatures inside screeched horribly as they burned, until they were put to rest by Big Mac’s minigun. The huge red Earth pony paced as quickly as he could across the room to the other doorway, where he blocked the path for oncoming changelings. His bulky size and Twilight’s constant healing made him an impenetrable wall, from which lead and fire was being dealt. 

The vestibule was theirs, and it was quickly filled with heavies and pyros that could purge the house from within. When they pushed forward into the building they could see the full extent of hive’s tainting. The dark organic matter had spread across every roof and wall, and the whole place stank of sulfur and rotten flesh. 

The changelings themselves had been completely unprepared for the ponies’ sharp and sudden attack, but they were quick to recover. The collective mind of the hive organized small pockets of resistance in every room and corner of the house, were they fought without fear or mercy. Without any regard for their own lives, the drones filled the small spaces with grenades, killing both attackers and defenders. 
It also didn’t help that many changelings had transformed into ponies to confuse their enemies, but luckily Pinkie Pie bounced here and there, spraying anypony with her enchanted fire. She giggled happily every time an imposter burst in to flames, as if she had just won a game of hide-and-seek.

“Tell Fluttershy to get in here!” Twilight shouted to a pony behind her. 

The orders were carried backwards to the 1st attack force, which by now were eager to join the thick of the fighting. But when they rushed towards the Town hall, not single one of them thought to cover the windows. A changeling heavy saw his chance, and managed to kill three of the attacking ponies before he was put down.

With the new reinforcements Twilight could lead the ponies deeper into the enemy’s lair. The changelings died en masse, but every room they passed took its toll in casualties. Finally they reached a long corridor, the end of which was heavily fortified with barricades. Judging from the number of guards, and the increasing density of the vile material covering the wall, Twilight was sure that the nursery was just behind those doors. 

She called for a halt so that she could heal the remaining ponies in her ever diminishing troop. Besides from her, Big Mac, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie, there only remained Stormchaser the pyro, a striped demopony, and two soldiers. Normally Twilight would have thought this to be a more than adequate contingent, but they were exhausted and low on ammo. And the same could not be about the adversaries. It seemed as if the hive would not take any chances with the nursery, but had kept the troops in front of them as a reserve.  

The guard was a pretty well-composed troop as well, consisting of a heavy-medic team, a sentry gun, and at least eight soldiers and demos. Twilight wasn’t sure that they could break through them, but it was too late to turn back now. They had to make one final push before the hive could spawn new drones to replace the fallen ones.

Suddenly, gunfire was heard from behind the guards, and immediately four of the changelings abandoned their posts and returned to the hive. 

“What’s going on?” Fluttershy asked suspiciously.

“My plan” Twilight replied smugly. “That’s what’s going in.”

She stopped healing her team, there was no time for that now, and gave Big Mac a boost instead. Then she called out:

“Okay, my little ponies. This is it! Charge!”

Her colorful brigade rushed forward, screaming at the top of their lungs. Twilight held back slightly so that the more hot-headed of her comrades would catch the fire of the sentry and the heavy. These were shortly minced into small pieces by the automatic fire, or torn asunder by explosives. Right next to her, Stormchaser took a direct hit from a rocket, which spread large chunks of him across the room. 

Twilight tried to stop for a second to wipe blood and burnt fur from her face, but slipped on the blood-soaked floor. She never let go of her medi-gun however, so Big Mac was able to sprint all the way to the barricades, where he unleashed the full power of his minigun. 

With the loss of four guards before the fight had even started, they didn’t have the firepower to simply obliterate the oncoming charge. Instead it became a close quarter clash where red pony flesh was traded against black changeling meat - and that at an (for the changelings) unfavorable exchange rate. 

Everything was over in less than twenty seconds. The last smoldering changelings were one by one put out of their misery by Pinkie Pie. But the ponies had suffered heavy losses as well. It was only Pinkie, Twilight and Big Mac that were still on their hooves. Fluttershy had taken a nasty hit from a grenade and was now quietly bleeding out on the floor. One of the soldiers lay in the middle of the corridor were the sentry gun had struck her down. The automatic fire had hit her just above the knees, and practically chopped them of. She was now screaming and crying, obviously in great pain. The rest of their troop was already dead, blown into hardly identifiable pieces.

“Leave the changelings, Pinkie, and take care of these two”

Big Mac gave her a shocked look, but Twilight simply shrugged. 

“We can’t waste any time. Besides, in the state they are in it would be quicker just to resurrect them again. And less painful, I guess.”

The mutilated pony continued to scream in agony and didn’t seem notice Pinkie standing next to her, nor apprehend the meaning of Twilight’s word. Her scream was abruptly cut of as Pinkie’s axe slashed her throat. It was a clean cut, that sliced her windpipe but left the back of her neck intact, as not to make the revival unnecessary long. There was a long wheezing noise as the air leaked out of her lungs from her severed throat, and her face shivered slightly before it froze; her eyes wide open in a glazed stare. 

She was obviously dead, but her body wasn’t teleported away. Twilight didn’t know how long it took for the machinery at the medi-station to locate and retrieve a deiced pony, but she made a mental not of seeking her out after the battle. It would be interesting to know how long she had been conscious after decapitation.

When Pinkie stood before Fluttershy, she paused for a second to wipe the red and green blood from her axe, giving her friend the benefit of death from an unsoiled blade. The mortally wounded Pegasus continued to lie still, without making a sound. 

For all the messed up things Twilight had seen that day, the image that haunted her afterwards was the apathetic stare of Fluttershy, completely devoid of emotion, despite her oncoming death, and despite that her own red-shimmering guts were spilled around her, like giant read worms crawling out of her stomach.

She didn’t even flinch when the axe came down on her.


*


With a mighty buck, Big Macintosh splintered the door to pieces, and the three survivors got their first sight of the room beyond. In contrast to the small rooms they had been fighting for so far, this was more of a hall, with a high ceiling. It had probably once been a place where the mayor could make announcements to the public, but now it was distorted beyond recognition. 

The black chitin covered the room completely, making it so dark that it was hard to see properly. The stench was triple fold in here, the same smell of rotten egg from the sulfur mixed with the horrible stench of decomposing flesh. Where the floor had been there was now a gaping chasm, deep into the earth below the house, father than they could see. It was completely filled with round pods, each with a changeling drone maturing inside. 

Above it all swarmed the remaining changelings, in a fierce struggle with Rainbow Dash and her scouts. Big Macintosh revved up his minigun, but it was impossible for him to shoot without hitting friendlies as well as foes.  

“Aim for the pods!” Twilight shouted. “That will give them something to worry about.”

Big Mac nodded and unleashed his last batch of bullets into the depths of the vile nursery. The black pods were pierced with holes, leaking out the same green blood changelings shed. Some of them collapsed completely, splashing out gallons of the icky liquid and revealing the pale skinned fetus inside. 

Twilight was intrigued to discover that their chitin was bright beige and soft, just like newly hatched mantids. The changelings, however, were far from delighted. They hissed in furious anger, and threw themselves towards Big Mac in a panicked fit. Pinkie was there to meet them however, and anyone that came close was ignited in green flame. 

That made the rest of them come to their senses, and they employed rocket launchers to take out the desecrators from a distance. But with all their attention directed towards the three new arrivals, they became an easy target for the scouts. Rainbow Dash flew up right behind them, and blasted her shotgun straight into the back of their sculls, until she was out of shells and had to resort to her baseball bat. The panicked changelings could do nothing to prevent the slaughter, and soon every last one of them fell dead into the chasm below. 

Big Mac’s minigun had fired its last bullets, and in its absence an eerie silence crept into the desecrated town hall. The enemy was dead. The battle was won.  

All that was left to do was to clear the nest once and for all. 


*


Pinkie Pie emptied what was left in her canisters into the hole, while the others hastily retreaded towards the nearest exit. They left behind whatever explosives they still had left, which Pinkie happily arranged into what would be the abortion of the century. Then, after lighting a polka striped fuse, she quickly joined the others outside. 

She had barely made it outside before the first blast shock the house. It was followed by the flames, which stretched from the depths of the chasm, all the way towards the roof, which was soon on fire. The surviving ponies cheered as the Town Hall went up in flames. 

Applejack had brought up a new sentry gun and was now aiming its missiles towards the burning house. It seemed that the dark magic that protected it had gone with the nursery, as the missiles now were capable of blowing away large chunks of the wooden exterior. 

“This is for muh old paps, ya hear?”

Several of the ponies that had died in the storming had now returned, and gathered to watch the bonfire. Twilight and her new also friends grouped together and watched the results of their handiwork. They were exhausted, had been severely wounded, and looked more like harbingers of doom than representations of friendship. Twilight herself had her complete underside soaked in blood, from her stumble earlier, and the Rainbow and Pinkie did not look much better.

But they all felt a sense of accomplishment for what they had done – yes one could even call it happiness. And when Fluttershy had revived, and saw with her own eyes that the nest had been destroyed, a faint smile could be seen on her lips. Her first smile, for a very long time. 
She joined the rest of her friends and carefully patted Twilight’s shoulder. 

“Um, I just want to say that I’m terribly sorry for what I said earlier” she stammered meekly. “I didn’t mean anything of it. And I want to thank you for your help. We really couldn’t have done it without you.”

Twilight beamed at the praise and assured Fluttershy that all ill words were long forgotten. 

“And all I really did was to follow the rules of basic strategy, so it wasn’t much, really” the Unicorn went on to say in false modesty.

“Nonsense, hun” Applejack objected. “If it wasn’t for you we would still be struggling for that damned square.”

“Yeah” Rainbow Dash was quick to put in. “You are the greatest strategist Ponyville has ever had! And also the sexiest!”

“You know what this means, right girls?” Pinkie Pie shouted, once again free from her gasmask. “It’s time to p-a-r-t-e-y!” 

She ran off to a hollow tree from which she produced a brightly colored banderol, and then quickly returned to the others.

“I’ve been waiting for years to use this” she exclaimed happily while she unfolded it so they could see it in full. It read: YAY-WE-GOT-RID-OF-THE-DARKIES.

“Years?” Rarity asked. “But the changelings only attacked us three weeks ago.”

But Pinkie had already disappeared again, no doubt to get a music system and some other party supplies. But her party mood had already spread to the citizens of Ponyville, who were all yearning to celebrate their long-awaited victory. The open space around the Town Hall was quickly transformed into a great block party. 

Rarity took charge of decorating it with ribbons, banderols, and a very tasteful display of decapitated changeling heads that resided over a pile of captured weaponry. Pinkie was busy setting up speakers and a DJ-booth, and Big Macintosh was sent away to get a barrel or two of the famous Sweet Apple Acre’s cider. Others brought corn and vegetables to grill on the smoldering remains of the changeling nest.

Rainbow swept around energetically and bragged about her deeds during the battle for anypony who cared to listen (as well as some who didn’t), and when she tired of that she started bragging of her coming deeds during the night.

“I’m going to drink so much hard cider, until I wake up dead in the medi-station! Then I’m gonna search out that sweet little Unicorn and give her a taste of the ol’ Dash love machine.”

But Twilight had already disappeared, and wasn’t seen again that evening. While the others danced and drank the night away, she labored alone in a secluded part of the train station. There, amongst the machines and medical equipment she toiled with her precious sample. She was certain that this was the one thing, which once and for all could end this war.