Strange Bedfellows

by BRBrony9

The New Normal

Twilight followed the Guardspony inside the palace. With attempts being made to get things up and running once more, there were soldiers and servants coming and going through the corridors, running errands, delivering reports or simply patrolling the halls.

Princess Celestia sat upon her throne, back in her rightful place after a temporary exile underground. She greeted Twilight with a smile, something which, along with laughter, had been in short supply since the invasion.

'Twilight. It took the guards some time to track you down,' the Princess began. 'That is a good sign. I take it that you are feeling much better, given that you were able to walk the grounds of the palace alone?'

'Oh, yes, Princess.' Twilight nodded. 'I do feel much better...a-a lot stronger.'

'Good, good.' Celestia nodded and smiled again. 'The doctor tells me your physical results from the tests conducted while we were in the catacombs were showing excellent improvement. I wish to express again my relief that you are back with us safe and well, and my regret that we could not have come to your aid sooner.'

'Oh, no, you couldn't have found me any sooner,' Twilight replied quickly. 'The Hive could have been anywhere, anywhere at all. I'm surprised you found it at all...or rather, the humans...that's what Princess Luna told me. That the humans found it...'

'My sister was correct,' Celestia confirmed. 'I enlisted their assistance in searching for the Hive, due to their technology. Their ships have the ability to observe Equestria from above, and evidently in enough detail to pick out things that others may miss. I told them only that they were helping us locate our foe. They do not know about the Elements, and they do not know about you.'

'But why would they help us like that?' Twilight asked. 'Aren't the Changelings our problem? I thought they only stayed here to help us fight their own enemies.'

'The Changelings have become a potential enemy for the humans, as well,' Celestia replied. 'Of course you are aware of their ability to impersonate anypony with almost uncanny accuracy. As it turns out, that ability extends to humans, as well. Changelings disguised as human soldiers attempted to attack me when I was visiting one of their positions. They succeeded in killing one of the human Generals as a result. I informed their Lord-Admiral of the threat, and I believe he has taken it seriously.'

'Yes...' Twilight nodded. 'That was what Chrysalis told me...she said that was her plan. To get on board the human starships, to use them as a source of love...to expand and travel across the stars with her children...'

'And become ever more powerful?' Celestia added. 'This human empire apparently contains countless trillions of citizens. An almost infinite supply of love for the Changelings to consume.'

'Would that work?' Twilight questioned. 'Her plan...could it actually succeed, Princess?'

'In theory if the Changelings could get aboard one of their ships, then yes, they could travel the galaxy,' Celestia nodded. 'I do not know if the humans possess any method of detecting the Changelings, but if they do, then they certainly did not utilise it at Manehattan where they ambushed myself and the human General. If they cannot detect the Changelings at all, then...'

'But...isn't there some kind of limit?' Twilight asked. 'A limit to how many Changelings can be sustained?'

'Yes, and that limit is based on how much love energy they can obtain,' Celestia replied. 'There is a finite number of creatures here on this planet that they can obtain it from. Assuming they can extract love from humans in the same way as they can from ponies, then there are trillions of potential sources out there just waiting for them. The more energy they receive, the more powerful the Queen becomes. The more energy they receive, the more drones they can breed. The more drones they can breed, the more powerful the Queen becomes. If the Changelings can reach a human world, then potentially there is nothing to stop Chrysalis from becoming perhaps the most powerful creature in the galaxy.'

Twilight's improved mood took a rapid turn for the worse at the confirmation she was hearing from the Princess. What Chrysalis had boasted could indeed become reality, a sickening thought. To hear Celestia state the same basic facts as the Queen had meant that her words had not just been mere propaganda. The Changelings might indeed spread across the stars.

'Then we have to stop them!' Twilight cried. 'We have to stop Chrysalis!'

'Yes, we do,' Celestia agreed. 'But we do not know where she is. The Changelings fled after the battle at the volcano. Our airships are too slow to follow them, and the humans apparently could not track them successfully from orbit either. No doubt they have established a new Hive somewhere, but given the trouble we had in locating their last one, I would not be confident of finding their current home any time soon. To add to the problems we face, Chrysalis is still in possession of the Element of Magic, and we must recover it at all costs. It might be the only way we can succeed in defeating her.'

'That's why she wanted to capture me,' Twilight nodded. 'That's what she said. She needed to take at least one of the physical Elements themselves away from us to stop them being usable.'

'And in that, she has succeeded,' Celestia replied. 'Until we can recapture that Element, all of them are useless.' She paused for a moment. 'Though we do not know where the Changeling Hive is now located, I fear they may still be among us. You recall the explosion some nights ago?'

'Yes, of course...' Twilight nodded. It had jolted her into wakefulness when she should have been resting, and she had stood at the window watching the confusion and panic.

'The investigation revealed that the fire that caused the explosion was started deliberately,' Celestia continued. 'It was a military ammunition store, and a pile of debris was set ablaze against the building. I believe it was most likely caused by the Changelings.'

'Then...that means they infiltrated the city,' Twilight pointed out, receiving a nod from the Princess.

'I hope it is not the case. But the fire was started deliberately, which leads logically to one of two options. It is always possible that it was the work of rebel elements. They have been more active lately, but their activities are generally confined to the western regions. I believe, however, that it is more likely that we do indeed have Changelings among us.'

'Do...do you have any leads?' Twilight asked. 'Any idea where they might be? Who...who they might be disguised as?' The idea of Changelings hiding among the denizens of Canterlot was not a new one, for it had happened before. But this was somehow different. This was a time when Equestria was engaged in a fundamental battle for its very survival against something that was not of this planet, and the Changelings were under threat from that same force, to say nothing of the Imperials with whom Equestria was theoretically allied. And yet they still wanted to expend time and energy on attacking Canterlot?

'I am afraid not,' Celestia replied. 'We do not have any evidence to suggest that the Changelings may be disguised as any particular pony. All we do know is that the fire occurred during the hours of darkness, when the night time curfew was in effect. It does not prove anything, but that certainly suggests that they may be disguised as somepony who would be permitted to be on the streets at that time. A Guardspony, a firepony, a soldier. We do not know.'

'What if they're still here?' Twilight questioned. 'What if they attack again?'

'Then we will respond as best we can,' Celestia assured her. 'I have ordered the guard to be doubled on all key buildings once the city is cleared, but I am not sure they will strike again. They had plenty of opportunity to do so while we were underground. The military depots and stores were unguarded. Unless the Changelings were also aware of the dangers of the radiation, then I see no reason why they would not have raided those stores while there were no defences around them.'

'But how could they know about the radiation?' Twilight asked. 'The Changelings don't use technology, and even if they did, how could they have learned about the fallout?'

'There are only two reasonable explanations for that,' the Princess replied. 'Either their infiltrators here include at least one among those who received the briefing from the human cleanup team, or the humans also have their fair share of Changeling trouble. If they could somehow have gotten a drone on board one of the human ships already, then it is entirely reasonable to suspect that they would know not only of the effects of radiation, but also of the fact that there was a cloud of it descending across Canterlot.'

'Well if it comes down to that, then I'd rather they were up there than down here,' Twilight replied pensively.

'Are you sure of that?' Celestia questioned. 'After all, when the Changelings are down here, we can at least fight them when they reveal themselves. Most ponies cannot if the enemy is in space. And consider also. The Imperium possesses weaponry capable of obliterating Canterlot in mere minutes. Both the Changelings and the Imperium know of our location here, but for now, at least, only the Changelings want to destroy us.'

With Baltimare a shattered ruin, there had been no need for human forces to remain in situ there. All Imperial units had been pulled back to rest, refit, and await their next orders, which came several days later. They were to form up for an assault on the city of Fillydelphia. A centre of pony manufacturing, Princess Celestia had been most insistent that the city should be taken.

There was a danger, of course, that the Archenemy might perform the same trick again and detonate another atomic weapon to destroy the city as Imperial forces began to enter it. But that had been a one off event so far. They had not done so in Manehattan, nor in Ponyville, and there was no particular reason to believe that they would do so in Fillydelphia. Intensive scans had been made of the city by Auspex, searching not just for visual or thermal evidence of enemy positions, but also for any traces of radiation readings that might give away the presence of atomic weaponry inside the city. They had found nothing, no indication that there might be a similar trap lying in wait for the attacking forces.

Nothing could be completely ruled out, however. It would be relatively simple to contain any device inside a suitable container, lead-lined, perhaps, which would stop the residual radiation from being detected. That may have been how the weapon escaped detection in Baltimare, and could always be attempted again if the enemy so chose. The odd decision to destroy the city so suddenly rather than fight for it still unnerved many of the men and women of the Guard who had fought there. There was no apparent rhyme or reason to it, so far as they could see from their lowly position on the ground. Perhaps, they reasoned, those in command above could have figured out a reason behind it, but theirs was not to reason why.

They would gear up for the next attack, just the same as they had for the last. Their tanks and APCs and mobile artillery would be on the move once again, to another city, another battle. It was just another day, like any other, in the life of the Imperial Guard. The only difference was that this time they would be doing it seemingly at the behest of a Xenos, but that had become the new normal for the soldiers of the Western Fringe Crusade.

The Polaris Maxima was not the only place where there was disquiet among the Imperial ranks. Many of those fighting on the ground were beginning to question their reason for being here, for continuing to fight on this planet. There were questions about the motives of the Crusade's command staff. Why were they still taking these cities, when there was a doubt over whether the planet would even be taken for the Imperium at the end of it all?

The pony princess seemed to be telling their commanders what to do, and then they were ordered to do it. The reasons behind the continued cooperation with the ponies was hard for some of the men to discern, or at least to rationalise. Those who had not seen the princess in action in combat could only base their opinions of the power of the species on their military and firepower, and while their airships were quite impressive in their own way, in terms of firepower the ponies did not bring anything significant to the table that would justify working alongside them. Almost all the heavy lifting was still being done by the Imperial Guard, which many of its members resented. Fighting to take a city for the Emperor was one thing, but fighting to take it for an alien was quite another.

Resentment and unease was not a universal feeling among the ground forces, however, far from it. Many among them, at least in whispers over campfires and in their tents at night, admitted to strange thoughts and sensations. Something about the planet, or its inhabitants, was getting to them, nagging at their minds. Some of them reported feeling calmness, sometimes even during combat, feelings which they had never felt before on any other planet, either during the Crusade or before. Some were glad that they were still on the planet, that the Crusade had not yet moved on. They found, despite the death and destruction they had brought with them, that Equestria seemed to be a place worth fighting to protect. The value of a garden world, some argued. A pristine landscape. That was how it had appeared from orbit, at least, but there was at least a modicum of development and industry that the ponies, and to a lesser extent the Griffons, had established. Nevertheless it was, by Imperial standards, still an untouched sphere.

Though most would never admit it, many of the men and women fighting in Equestria felt a strange draw to the place, inexplicable, but intense. There was some quality to it, some...magic, perhaps, that could not be quantified clearly. To each one of them, it meant different things, but the end result was similar in many cases. Many of them found themselves wishing that they could stay after the war was won, leave the fleet to return to Hydraphur and stay on this unusual planet. Those especially who were from hive worlds, ecumenopoli or death worlds, where nature was non-existent or simply reserved for the rich, where the air was thick with smog and the only snow that fell was particulate matter from thousands of filthy factory chimneys, felt the strange desire to remain. Not just temporarily, not just while the job was done, but even beyond that. Who would want to return to a life like theirs, once they had experienced the verdant paradise of Equestria, even if it was filled with strange Xenos creatures?

Such thoughts, mere thoughts alone, would be grounds for, at the very least, a thorough interrogation by a Commissar or Inquisitor, or at worst, could even be grounds for execution, if it was deemed that they were the result of alien interference, psychic phenomena or some hitherto unknown influence, which was why the enlisted men and women made sure to keep their conversations quiet and private, among themselves, only sharing their thoughts with trusted friends. They did not want their officers to catch wind of their strange new obsession. But it was not only the enlisted who shared such feelings. Some of the officers, too, had caught the fever for the place they were supposed to be liberating. Some even whispered that the Lord-Admiral himself was so afflicted.

It would explain their continued co-operation with the ponies, rather than simply destroying them from orbit and claiming this world for the Imperium. What would ultimately become of Kuda Prime remained to be seen, but whatever happened to it, it would live long in the memories of those who fought there.

The city of Manehattan was a shadow of its former self, a mere shell, more a mausoleum than the living city it used to be. Its streets were mostly empty, buildings shattered and crumbling after the occupation and subsequent recapture by the forces of the Imperium. Where once there had been the hustle and bustle of daily life, there was now nothing but dust blowing through the streets.

Ponies had lived here, hundreds of thousands of them. Mares, stallions, foals, the young and the old, Pegasi, Earth ponies and Unicorns alike, all thrown into the great Equestrian melting pot. Not just ponies, either, but Zebras, Griffons, donkeys, too. Even a few Yaks had made a home in a small neighbourhood of the city, 'Little Yakyakistan,' where they produced traditional craftware, music and food for curious tourists who could not make the journey to the far-flung wastes of the north to visit their homeland proper.

Manehattan had been a thriving metropolis, the largest city on the planet by some considerable distance. There had been exciting street parades, fireworks in the harbour to thrill the foals, ferries plying their trade across the bay, the shouts of taxi cab drivers and street vendors, the bells of fire trucks and the countless hooves, click-clacking on the cobbles and concrete. Now, there was none of that. The city was all but silent, lying dormant like a volcano, waiting for ponies to reoccupy it and return it to its former glory once more.

The first vague attempts had been made to do just that. With the city not just cleared, but cleansed of the taint of Chaos by Princess Celestia, a pony occupation force had taken over from the human assault troops who had recaptured it from the enemy. They had been present for several weeks, doing their best to clear the streets and generally improve conditions. Civilians who, similar to the situation in Canterlot, had been hiding in the surrounding countryside during the hostile occupation, had returned to the city, rounded up by Guardsponies. They, too, were putting their best efforts into things, trying to make Manehattan livable once again.

It was not a simply task, and it would not be completed any time soon. While certain sections of the city were still inhabitable, having taken only minor damage, many areas were strewn with debris and filled with the bodies of the fallen. They had been removed in a painstaking undertaking, using magic to get rid of the corpses. To bury them all would have been impossibly time-consuming, and they were already starting to decay and putrefy. That was the most important task. If the city was going to be made livable again, then the outbreak of disease had to be guarded against, and the removal of bodies was the most basic precaution to be taken in that line.

There was far more to be done than simple cleanup, however. Patrols had to be mounted, the perimeter secured, deep sewers and tunnels checked for any remnants of the enemy who, despite the thorough job done by the humans and the Princess, could still be around in hiding. Supplies of fresh water had to be established. The pumping stations were down, some destroyed and others without power, but underground springs and long-buried streams could be utilised to provide for a small population, at least. Food was also extremely limited, and the occupying force relied almost entirely on the dried rations they had brought along with them. Manehattan had little in the way of farmland anywhere around its perimeter, and none within it. Foraging parties were sent out into the surrounding countryside to try and locate extra sources of sustenance. If the city could not be fed, then it could not be held, and the pony force would have to retreat, soldiers and civilians alike.

A return to normalcy in Equestrian life could take years, maybe even decades, as a result of the devastation caused by the invasion. Magic would undoubtedly help enormously in the attempts to rebuild, but it was not a complete solution to their woes. The city, and the rest of the nation, would need time and enormous effort to get back on its feet, assuming the humans gave them the opportunity to do so. There was considerable doubt about that among the rank and file ponies, even, or perhaps especially, among those who had fought alongside the Imperial Guard on the field of battle elsewhere in Equestria. None of them had the slightest idea what the humans would actually do once their own enemy was defeated here. Would they leave? Or would they turn their attentions to their erstwhile allies?

Doubt was a powerful thing, but so was hope. Embodied in the persona of Princess Celestia, their hope for the future was that Equestria could once more regain its power and prestige, its standard of living, its way of life, even if it could never regain the ponies that had been lost. As long as they had hope, they could do anything that needed to be done. That was their earnest belief, and it was what drove them onward.

It was what drove the crew of the V-Class airship Vanquisher, onward as well. Their patrol route took them around the northern perimeter of Manehattan and then out across the bay, keeping watch for any threats, any sign of the enemy or anything unusual that might pop up, such as dragons. It was, all things considered, a normal routine for a scout airship like the Vanquisher. That was what it had been built for, that was what its crew were trained for. Routine patrols were usually boring, even after the human invasion. This one was no exception to the rule. The crew were alert, of course, eyes out across the horizon in case something should threaten the city. But they had flown a great semicircle around the north of Manehattan, and seen absolutely nothing outside of the city limits, save for one of the resource parties heading off to forage for food.

No doubt their trip out over the harbour would be similarly unproductive, and that, so far as the crew were concerned, could only be a good thing. Unproductive meant no enemy contacts, no trouble, nothing untoward. Just the way they liked it. The airship droned out across the water, drawing a few scant glances from the ponies working in the harbour district, where many burned bodies still remained to be cleared away. Thousands of the human enemy had died in the massive conflagration which had reduce the entire wharf area to ashes, and there would be no waterborne trade on any appreciable scale passing through the city any time soon.

Which was odd, given what one of the spotter ponies managed to just about glimpse in the distance. He blinked, rubbed his eyes a little, produced his telescope and zoomed in for a closer look. Somewhere out on the horizon, where the water met the sky. It looked like it was a mast, but how could that be? Surely there were no ships out there now. A mirage, he reasoned, a fata morgana on the distant edge of the curvature of the planet, tricking his eyes. He found the location in his telescope and checked it out. It couldn't be. But it was, and it was not alone.

From his perch atop the airship's gasbag, the Pegasus brought his hooves to his mouth to cup it and direct the sound down towards the deck so others could hear his cries of alarm.

'Contact to the east!' he shouted. 'Ships! I see ships!'

Comments

[Booster Spice]

Griffins, Rebels, or even Storm King?

Or Plague Ships courtesy of Nurgle?

[RDDash]

Well, those ships can't be Storm King's, that would get even more ridiculous to have Tempest Shadow running around somewhere in the Badlands during this crisis.