//------------------------------// // The battle begins // Story: When Worlds Collide // by Lon35hadow //------------------------------// A night passed since the meeting of leaders, as many members of lone team called it, which is to say it was the next day, and Lone was in what was one of the best locations he could think of. With Luna as she woke up. The rest of last night hadn't been particularly different than others. The only exceptions were that there had been Apple family cider there, and Lone had a reason to indulge in it a little, what with he and Luna dating now, even if it had only been a day since his real identity had been revealed. When he awoke, he opened his eye, then immediately closed them due to the light. Reason 10 as to why I like the night: You aren't blinded by moonlight. After another minute that allowed his eyes to adjust, he opened them again, and he laid his eyes upon the most beautiful mare he knew. Reason 1: Luna. Luna began to stir not long after Lone. "Hello, love," She said with a small smile as she nuzzled him. "Morning Lulu. How did you sleep?" "Well. I only wish the party lasted longer," she said sadly. "No need to wish there, Lulu," Lone said, "the party lasts for a few days, on account of any late leaders." The two stayed where they were for a few more minutes before they heard a knock. They got out of bed as quickly and quiet as possible before Luna said, "Come in." The door opened and the two saw Chrysalis walk in. She raised an eyebrow at seeing the two in the room, but didn't react otherwise. "Chrysalis, what do you want?" "I was asked by Twilight to check up on you, as she's worried." "Why would she be worried?" Shrugging, Chrysalis said, "I have no idea. Probably something related to a schedule of hers." This got a chuckle form Lone and Luna, the latter replying, "Yes, that seems likely." The three of them left the room and went to the Gala room, where Chrysalis said Twilight was. When they arrived, they saw the one thing that Lone and Chrysalis knew was bad. They saw Nova and Twilight having an argument. In it self, this wasn't bad. What made it bad was that Twilight was a changeling, and Nova hated most changelings, liking only those that were in lone team, and even then, barely. "Oh, no," they both said. "Why is it you hate changelings so much?!" Twilight said. "Because all of you are monsters who attack innocents without reason!" Nova yelled. "I haven't, and neither has Rarity or the others of my hive!" "Are you sure?" Nova said in a taunting voice. "I seem to remember that a white unicorn that matched your sisters pony form caused some very. . . creative destruction." "She didn't attack anypony!" "She trapped civilians in town hall." Before Twilight could respond, Lone came in between them and said, "Nova! Twilight is a political leader, as is her sister, and you will show her the respect she deserves, or Saphira and I will confine you to your quarters and give you left overs a month old to eat, as well as making you wear an anti-flying vest. Is that clear?" When he didn't respond, Lone said, "Is. That. Clear!?" After five seconds and a death glare from Lone, Nova said, "Yeah, but don't expect me to help her out of the grace of my heart," and walked away. "And for you, Twilight. Nova is a team mate of mine, and if he continues on a path like that, you will not yell at him. You being a changeling makes it worse," Lone said. "How?" "Because," Saphira said, as she heard the entire conversation, as she walked up, "it was a group of changelings that killed his birth parents." "What?" Twilight asked, horrified. "Was he there?" "Yes," Chrysalis replied. "It was me and Lone who were able to save him. I was the only changeling he trusted for a long time. He does trust others now, but only ones Lone trusts, and even then-" "-It takes a long time," Lone finished. "That's a sad life history," Luna said. "True," Chrysalis said, "but others in the team have had it worse." "Like you?" Luna asked. "Yes. I lost both my parents, my sister, and my daughters during Green Mist's 'revolution' and had thought Lightning had died. I was an emotional wreck for an entire year, and even after that, I was barely able to do what I had to." Tears were in the changeling leader's eyes once again as she remembered the year after the 'Green Mist rebellion', as all members of lone team call it. "If it hadn't been for the friends I had in lone team, I am afraid I would have taken a way out." Luna and Twilight brought a hoof to their mouths to conceal gasps of surprise. Twilight then moved to the other changeling and comforted her with a hug, which surprised those watching. Chrysalis was the most surprised by this. Twilight released the hug and smiled at her, saying, "Chrysalis, I don't think that Chitinia and Metamorpha would want you to kill yourself." Chrysalis wasn't listining, rather focusing more on her face, especially the smile. It can't be. There's no way. What is it, Chrysalis? Lone asked. It was a well kept secret, even from non-changeling leaders who knew of lone team, that lone team had its own version of a hive mind, which allowed non-changeling members to speak to one another with out others knowing. This is waht Lone had done last night. Her smile. You remember when I described Metmorpha's smile? Shit. You don't think he did that, do you? It's the only possible explanation, even if it is unlikely. We'll watch to see if your right, but unless we know for certain, say nothing. This conversation lasted a second, after which Chrysalis replied to Twilight by saying, "I suppose your right, Twilight." . . . Outskirts of Canterlot-Meanwhile It was a beautiful day in the country side under the mountain that supported the weight of Canterlot, and it would have continued to be one if the large army of Brotherhood members hadn't set up camp directly under it. They all wore dark cloaks, and light but tough armor under it, and all held some weapon that had been magically enhanced so they would be able to deal with the aliens with ease. "Zealot," an earth pony said, walking up to Green Mist, "our brothers and sisters are ready. We await our word to attack." "Not yet, adherent," Green Mist said. "We wait until all of the leaders are in the Gala room, the we move in. With some of the aliens having been exposed to Plasma's blessing, we will win this battle, and help pave the way for our lord." "As you command, Zealot." The adherent then walked back to where his lance brothers, basically his squad, were located. Green Mist smiled to himself. It is good that Shadow isn't here, otherwise, I may kill him. Then again, I might just do that anyway. And I will finally have the opportunity to rid the planet of Chrysalis and her kin, and establish myself as king of two hives, then all. For Plasma! . . . Gala room-Two hours later Everyone who was physically possible, which now included Liara, Samara, Zaeed, and Kasumi, all of whom had recovered from the head aches and then checked over by Lone and Nightengale, who had removed the last traces of the magic they had been affected by from two days ago, were now in the Gala room. It hadn't taken a while to catch the four up on what had happened. The only remark during the story had been from Liara after they had been told of Chrysalis and Saphira, when she said, "A species that can change it's appearance at will and another creature from old Earth mythology. That's interesting." After that, they had been talking with the others, while Lone, Chrysalis, Nightengale, and Lightning had excused themselves and left the hall to discuss what Chrysalis had felt earlier. "Are you sure of this, "Lone," Nightngale asked. "There's no evidence to say so." "And there's none to say no to it, either," Lightning said. "At this point, it's just a feeling." "Indeed it is," Chrysalis said, "and it could either, which is why I agree with Lone that nothing should be said of it until we know otherwise." "Makes sense, given the shitstorm that's going to ensue from this," Nightengale said. "So we're all agreed on this?" Lone asked, to which the others nodded. Before he could say something, he felt something in the base of his horn, which indicated that intruders were coming in from all directions. And they had signatures that resembled Brotherhood members. All members of lone tema in Canterlot, we have hostiles inbound, be on high alert. Inform the changelings from Ponyville as to this, as I'm certain they'll need help and be able to give it, he said over the telepathic link before he and the other three heard shouting from the Gala room. They looked at one another, then burst into the room, as they were just outside the room. What they saw were Brotherhood members, cloaks and all, attacking the others with their own weapons, and it seemed as if they were equal, in terms of skill, that is. The four ran to where Celestia ans Luna were. The two sisters being engaged by a group of three ponies each, but said six ponies weren't watching their backs, which allowed Lone and the others to kill them with magic blasts to the back. "What happened," Lone said as he got closer. "We don't know," Celestia said. "They just appeared and began to attack. Twilight and Rarity were able to teleport out of here, but a few chased after them. "Was one of them a changeling with green chitin?" Chrysalis asked. "Yes," Celestia said, confused as to why that was an important detail. "Why?" Chrysalis growled before saying, "Green Mist." "Damn it," Lone said. "We're going after them." "How," Luna asked, worried for Lone, as well as Twilight and Rarity. "We don't know where they went." "Easy," Nightengale said, lighting up his horn. "A tracing spell that 'll allow us to find the trace of the teleportation spell, then follow it." "Where were Twilight and Rarity when they teleported?" Lightning asked over the sounds of fighting still in the room, though they were dying down quickly. "Over there," Celestia pointed to a spot near the windows. "Oh, there is no need for that," a voice said behind them. They all turned and saw a group of nine ponies led by a single changeling standing in the door way to the hall. The rest of the fighting in the room had stopped. "Don't think this is over, as more of our brother are coming as we speak," Green Mist said. "But you won't do anything." "And why not?" Garrus asked. Green Mist laughed. After he was done, he said, "Simple." He then lit up his horn, and Twilight and Rarity, both with panicked looks on their faces, appeared, held in a green aura. "You wouldn't want to hurt little Metamorpha and Chitinia, would you?" . . . Brotherhood headquarter- meanwhile Shadow was in the library of the headquarters of the Brotherhood. Ever since he was able to read, he came here, hoping to find records on his parents, but he never found anything, not even his own file, which was odd in and of itself, as all other ponies in the Brotherhood he knew had files in the library. This made him think that the Conclave was hiding something, but he knew it wasn't concrete, and even if it was, he would most likely get killed for speaking ill of them. It had happened before in the Brotherhoods history. Why would it be just me. Midnight's file is there, even Green Mist's, but not mine. One file of interest he did find, though, was on Lone Shadow. Why it was here, he figured, was so Brotherhood members would know who he was. His guess was partially right, as it had his history up to ten years ago, when he had first become a problem for the Brotherhood, but it stopped there. There was nothing on his parents either, nor where he was born, just like Shadow's. "Hey, Shadow," he heard from behind him. "Still trying to find out about your parents?" Midnight asked. "Yeah." "Still can't find your file?" "Nope." "Still thinking over why Green Mist got your rank?" Shadow turned to Midnight, who had a large smile on her face, and said, "What the buck do you think?" Midnight held up her left forehoof. "Hey, I'm just saying." "I still can't believe the Conclave let him lead this attack. He has a personal vendetta against Chrysalis. Not exactly the best leader for an assault when she's involved." "Are you actually doubting a Conclave decision?" Midnight asked, a little shocked. "Yeah," Shadow nearly yelled. "After the shit they've put me through, I deserve to question at least one of their decisions." Midnight shrugged. "Yeah, your probably right. Besides, in the ten years he's been a problem for us, Lone's killed five Zealots. You're the first to survive. Why the Conclave think that's reason to demote you, I don't know." "Well, at least I can say I tried to kill Lone and actually survived." "And let's be glad we aren't in Canterlot, as Green Mist and those with him are probably losing." Shadow chuckled. "Definitely." . . . Canterlot- Gala room Those who weren't in the Brotherhood showed surprised looks on their faces at what Green Mist just said. "How can the be my daughters?" Chrysalis hissed. "Why should I believe you let them live instead of killing them?" Green Mist smiled cruelly. "Simple. I put a memory blocker spell on them, which is why their ancestral memories didn't surface when they first met you. I had been hoping for your failure during the wedding in the way it happened. That way, when they found out the truth, I would be able to manipulate them for the Brotherhood. Of course," Green Mist said, his eyes now slits, "that would have worked better if Lone Shadow hadn't had changelings of his own here that are able to sense others of their kind, or Shadow Specter for attacking you when he did. He chuckled. "Though, with out that failure on his part due to Lone Shadow, I wouldn't be in the position I am now. Now," he said, bringing two steel blades to the necks of Chrysalis' daughters, "if you wish for them to live, surrender, and allow us to take Canterlot." Chrysalis was about to say, "Yes," before Lone said, "I think you've forgotten something, Mist." "And what's that?" Green Mist hissed. "Us," Messenger said before he, Observer, and Robin became visible behind and attacked the rear five members, which distracted the others. This lapse in attention allowed John and the other Spartans to shoot and kill the other four members, not even hitting Green Mist or his captives. "Release them, Green Mist," Lone said. "Now." "No. They will become adherents of the Brotherhood, and there is noth-" Green Mist said before he was rammed by Chrysalis. "You will release my daughters now or I will make your death the slowest, most painful death Equis has ever, or will ever, see!" Whether it was loss of concentration at being rammed or Chrysalis yelling in his face that got him to release Twilight/Metamorph and Rarity/Chitinia was unclear, but he did, and before he could do something else, Chrysalis teleported herself and her daughters back to where the others were. "You will pay for this," Green Mist said before he teleported away. "Are you two okay," Chrysalis said, worry in her voice. When they didn't respond, Lone said, "Move over, Chrysalis. I'll see what's going on." Chrysalis only nodded, concern on her face. Lone lit his horn and laced it on Twilight/Metemorpha's forehead. When he pulled back two seconds later, he said, "There's nothing wrong with them." "What do you mean!?" Chrysalis yelled in fear. "What I said. There is nothing wrong with them, unless you define the fact they now have access to their ancestral memories and are currently processing them as 'wrong.'" "So that means," Chrysalis said hopefully. "Yes," Lone said. "They're getting all of the memories they should have." "Well," Lightning said, "that's good." "Indeed it is," Messenger said. "What are ancestral memories," Celestia asked, completely lost. "It means a family can share the memories of a common ancestor. It leads to a family often known whether or not they're related to a famous changeling, and even find lost relatives," Chrysalis said before she turned back to her daughters. "Has this ever happened before?" Luna asked. "A few times," Lone said, "though not with the children of the hive's leader." "But I thought all changelings were the same, except for their eyes." "They are," Robin said, "this is just the first time an incident like this has happened." "Really," Garrus said. "Not sure if that's good or bad." "Bad," Lone said. "Leaders of the hives are affected by a spell that makes it much more difficult to block those memories, as well as their families. If Green Mist was able to do this, then he's better at magic than I thought." "And how long should this take, them being able to process the memories?" John asked. Lone shrugged. "Any second now, and it should be done." "What did we just see," Twilight/Metamorpha said. "I'm more interested in what we heard," Rarity/Chitinia replied. "And they're out of it," Lone mumbled to himself as Chrysalis brought her two daughters into the biggest hug they had known as she cried in joy. "I missed you two so much," she said as she sobbed, "If I had known you were still alive, I would have come for you." The look on the faces of the two changelings in the hug were a mix of confusion, happiness, surprise, and, most of all, joy. "We know," Rarity/Chitinia said, "We know, mom." "I hate to break up this reunion, I do," Nightengale said, "but that leaves two things: the first being if we should call you guys by your pony or changeling names." "Yeah," Pinkie said, "it's going to be hard for the author to write dialogue for you two if he has to refer to both of you with both names." Everyone present just stared at her like she was crazy. Way to go, Pinkie. The only ones that didn't look surprised or freaked out were Robin and Nightengale. "Right," the former said, "and the second is that we have a lot of Brotherhood members teleporting in around the castle." "Well," the white changeling said, "I do not know about my sister," Lone's BS detector went off, "but I would actually like to called by my birth name." "Me too," her sister said, which made Chrysalis hug them tighter, which brought their ribs closer to cracking. "Ribs!" Metamorpha said. "Sorry," her mother said as she let the two go. "What are going to do, Lone?" Robin asked. "How many?" Lone asked. "More than we've seen in pony or in the team's records," Nightengale said. "We run, then. Get evac portals open, Nightengale. We're all getting out of here." Lone turned to Saphira and the other dragons. "I want you guys to get back to your home and get the message out that the time is here. Same for you, Lightning." Lightning, Saphira, and Nova nodded, with the two dragons and Spike heading out to the gardens and Lightning opening up his own portal. "And what about Chrysalis and the others?" he asked. "We'll go with Lone," Chrysalis replied, to which her two daughters nodded. Lightning did so as well, then went through his portal, which closed behind him "Right. Thunder, Vinyl, Wubsy, Robin: Evac with Octavia and the others. Rainbow: you're with me and the others." "You wish to run," Celestia said, and the look on Luna's face showed she was surprised as well. "Better to run and fight another day than kill yourself when you know it won't do any good," Lone said as Nightengale opened two portals. "Nightengale, I want you to head to location Omega Delta Sierra Tango and wait for me to contact you." Nightengale simply nodded. Once the portal for Lone and the others was opened and Vinyl's group had gone through their's, Liara said, "What about the others?" "Yes, what about us," Ashley said behind all of them, the others that were though to be incapacitated behind her, their weapons drawn. "What are you doing, Ash," Garrus said. "Helping our brothers and sisters in taking this city." Lone's eyes widened and he grabbed Ashley and the others in his magic and threw them to the ground. "Move through the portal, NOW!!" The others jumped through the portal, Luna being the second to last. Lone got in front of the portal, next to her. She was taking one last look around the room. "Come on," Lone said to her, offering her his hoof. She looked to him, nodded, and took his hoof. Together, they jumped into the unknown.