• Published 5th Jul 2012
  • 3,423 Views, 53 Comments

The Changeling Wars - Alkonium



In the wake of the Changeling attack on Canterlot, Twilight Sparkle leads Ponyville to war.

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Changelingville

The TARDIS

A deep, dark dread permeated the TARDIS console room as the group made the return journey to Ponyville. Fear of what they might find gripped Twilight’s lungs like a vice, making speech difficult. It was clear from the unspoken silence that she wasn’t the only one feeling this way. Uneasy looks ran across the faces of the others, and she could only wonder what must be sitting on her own.

"We're close enough to Ponyville for a visual,” announced the Doctor, his shaking voice tearing the silence, “but I'm warning you, it's not pretty."

"Show us anyway," Twilight commanded.

She wasn’t fooling herself, they all knew to expect the worst, but nothing could prepare the group for the heartbreaking sight before them: Virtually every building had been shelled out in an attempt to deprive the enemy of cover, twisted husks of shattered gunships wantonly scattered across the ground beneath the sky that had been denied them, and ever prevalent throughout the town all manner of litter burned, yesterday’s garbage intermingling with last century’s antiques. Bodies, pony and changeling alike, lay rotting where they had fallen. Clearly, the enemy cared not to honour those who had lost. From Canterlot to Ponyville the destruction had been great, and the losses many. Twilight had to wonder, would they too end up like this, lying dead in a ditch with only the flies to remember them? Was this the fate of all who opposed the changeling horde?

"No…" came a soft voice to Twilight’s left. Derpy, the ever bubbly mare, looked as if she would never giggle again. Fluttershy herself seemed on the verge of tears as she took in the careless destruction of the carefully cultivated gardens. The Doctor, his jaw clenched as he gazed solemnly on the discarded dead. No, it would not end like this. Not her friends, not her family, not her. Not like this.

"Chrysalis will pay for this," Twilight growled, earning a glance from The Doctor. She was turning to glare back when she noticed something at the edge of the scan. Something… peculiar. "What is that? Doctor, move the view 30 degrees to the left," She instructed. The Doctor obliged, revealing an enormous twisted… something... The arcane eyepatch was making things a bit difficult, some colours were muted while others jumped into sharp relief and it reminded her of the time that she had stared at the sun for too long, but she thought she could make out dark thorny spines intertwining with slick green membranes. Regardless of how bad her vision might be, this was definitely not on par with standard Ponyville building code. “Looks like some sort of tower, perhaps it’s their base of operations?”

"Considering the damage to Town Hall, I doubt Chrysalis would have just set up shop there," The Doctor chimed in, “Ah, fantastic, we’re here”. There was an unnerving screech as the TARDIS engines ground to a shuddering halt. They had materialized.

"Where is ‘here’?" Fluttershy whispered, wiping her tears.

"Just outside Town Hall, or at least what's left of it," The Doctor explained. "It's as good a place as any to start our search."

"Won't we be surrounded by Changelings?" Derpy asked, coming up to the scanner.

"We shouldn’t have too much trouble,” Twilight shook her head, keeping her eyes on the TARDIS's scanner, “This spot looks pretty quiet. If we're lucky, some of the equipment in the War Room will still be functioning." Maybe we could get some answers… She swept around, brushing past them, "Well, we're on a tight schedule; let's get moving."

Ponyville, Town Square

She led the group out, and as they set hoof in the town square, one of the first things Derpy noticed was a smashed pair of violet sunglasses next to a pile of rubble. They had seen many rough parties, but it seemed that their viewing days were over. It was easy to guess what was under the rubble. "Vinyl Scratch. She was a DJ before the war." Derpy noted quietly, picking up the glasses, and placing them in a more respectful position on the makeshift cairn.

“Oh, THE Vinyl Scratch? The slayer of a million songs and the wubber of uncounted dubs?” The Doctor asked, "Such a pity, I’d always wanted to ask how exactly she came about that fantastic sound system of hers. Do you think her Bass Cannon would be salvageable?" He cast his eyes about the rubble hopefully.

"Probably not.” Twilight said, shaking her head, “Just before Town Hall was hit, she told me that the Changelings had sabotaged it. Odds are it's just scrap now." She then led the group into the torn and brown pavilion. Grown wild through neglect, there was really only one thing that stood out. Twilight trotted up to a conspicuously green and healthy shrub and with a brief exercise of mental muscle she yanked down on one of the branches. With an audible click the plastic shrub swung up and around to reveal a service hatch. "This will let out just outside the War Room." Opening the concealed hatch, they descended into the darkness.

War Room

Entering the war room, they found it in a state of disarray not unlike what they had seen outside. However, the smashed consoles and scorch marks on the walls indicated that this had happened all at once, a sudden storming of the fortress rather than simple decay and neglet. Broken glass and torn wires littered the floor, hazards seeking to add more to their dried pool of blood and ichor. A middle-aged mare lay sprawled on the ground, it seemed she had been abandoned, like all the others.

"Have they no respect for the dead?" Derpy asked huskily, throat swelling at the casual indifference with which the corpses had been treated. Fluttershy found a slightly shredded flag, and nervously laid it over the body.

"We'll give her a proper burial, don't worry,” Twilight reassured her, “But we need to look after the living first.”

She cast her eye around the crumbling command centre, the testament to Ponyville’s failures. Her failures. There didn't look to be anything worth salvaging.

"Twilight, I think I've found a working console." The Doctor called out from behind a jumble of wires.

"What have we got?" Twilight called back hopefully, trotting over and examining the screen. It was cracked and dusty, but it looked like the spell matricies and casting-processing-unit were still running. “Are those…?”

"Sensors, yes, and it looks like one of our shield generators is still running, aaaaatttt… Sweet Apple Acres!” the Doctor announced in a hopeful tone.

"That must be where everypony else is holed up, the generator wouldn’t run without somepony to keep it going!” Twilight surmised.

“Looks like you may be right, Twilight,” the Doctor nodded.

“Of course she’s right Doctor,” chimed Derpy, fluttering over the twisted mess of the floor, “The farm is totally the best hideout. After all, you know what they say: ‘an apple a day keeps the changelings away!’”

Twilight rolled her eye. “Come on you lot,” she called over her shoulder as she made her way out of the room, “Sweet Apple Arces is a good trot away and I’d rather we not get caught out in the open.”

“Umm, excuse me, but ummm,” Fluttershy whispered as the others filed out of the room, “Isn’t it ‘an apple a day keeps the doctor away’?”

“Silly Fluttershy,” giggled the cross-eyed mare, poking the shy one in the side, “All the apples in the world couldn't keep The Doctor away.” She looked off thoughtfully as she trailed out of the room. “Now a pear on the other hoof…”

Ponyville, Outskirts

Outside and along the open road again, the group had made it roughly three quarters of the way to Sweet Apple Acres when a crashed gunship caught Twilight's attention. Wrecks weren’t too uncommon, but something about this one was very familiar. She inspected the serial number on the side. A chill ran down her spine. Ah, so that was it.

"I know this gunship, it’s the Big Apple,” Twilight whispered, “It was crewed by Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Big Macintosh, and Caramel. I’m… I’m afraid to look inside…" Just one more failure… Exchanging a silent nod, the other two mares gave Twilight a hug and gently pushed past her, combing the wreck for their friends. The Doctor began fiddling with the electronics.

"T-Twilight? There's something you need to see in the cockpit..." Fluttershy called out. Steeling herself for the worst, Twilight hesitantly trotted over to see what had Fluttershy spooked. A grizly scene met her eye: a severed hoof lay pinned to the controls, pierced by a jagged piece of shrapnel the size of her head. Its orange coat was stained dark red and the surrounding seat was covered in dried blood. The owner, however, was nowhere to be found.

"A-Applejack..." Fluttershy squeaked, before Twilight cut in, "Let's not jump to conclusions. It looks like a clean cut, and there are no bodies, or other signs of a struggle here."

There a dull roar as the onboard generator sputtered back to life, followed by a sharp squeal as the intercom activated.

“…~om~omi-mi-mi-mised! Re…at! To…all has been compr….ed!” A stuttering country twang boomed out over the speakers, “Re-re-retreat to the seco-con-conndary base, and keep-ep-ep-ep ra-a-a-adio silence.”

“Gah!” exclaimed Twilight, “Applejack? Applejack! Where are you?” She twisted around, but only found Fluttershy and Derpy doing the same.

“Oooh! Ah! Sorry about that!” the Doctor poked his head into the cockpit, “I think I managed to find the flight records for when the ship crashed, maybe it can give us a clue as to what happened. Just give me a moment to reconfigure and… voila!”

Twilight listened carefully as the broadcast restarted, trying her best to sort out the mess.

~Seven Months Earlier~

A cacophony of noise burst over the speakers. Strained engines intermingling the sound of gunfire and screeching insects. One voice cut across it all. Female, country twang. That has to be Applejack.

"Town Hall has been compromised!” the country twang rang out, ”Repeat! Town Hall has been compromised! Retreat to the secondary base, and keep radio silence," The radio chirped as it ceased broadcasting.

“Al’righ Sugarcubes, them Changelings have won this battle, but we’ll see that Ponyville don’t go down without a fight! What do ya’ll say?”

"Applejack! Look out!" A high pitch warning rang clearly. That’d be Pinkie Pie.

A chittering screech followed by a tearing sound. Standard changeling attack spell, powerful, but avoidable.

A loud, screaming boom. Engine. Most likely port considering the damage we saw on the way in.

WooOoOOoosshhhh SceEeEeeee. Unbalanced flight. Fall.

"All hooves, brace for impact! This is going to get ugly!"

WHAM! Primary Impact.

RATTLE… WHAM! Bounce, turn, secondary impact.

KREEEEEEEEEEEEEEeeeeeeeeehhhhhh….Sliding and distortion of frame.

Huheh huh huheh huheh… Heavy breathing. Four patterns. No, three? No, definitely four.

"Is everypony alright?" Concern. Tenor. Male. Kind of whiny. Must be Caramel.

"Eeyup." Bass. Male. Stallion of few words. Big Mac.

"I'm okie-doki-loki, poki!." High pitch. Soul-gratingly cheerful. Pinkie Pie.

“EEEYYYAAAAAAAHHHH!!” Oh Applejack, what happened to you?

“On the other hoof, maybe no pokey. Wow, you got that stuck in there really good Applejack! This reminds me of the time when it was winter and I was mare-dared by my sisters to lick one of the metal rock shovels and I did it easy I mean what’s so hard about that but then my tongue got stuck and my sisters laughed at me even though I was totally daringly mare enough for that mare-dare and then I said…”

“EEEEYYYYYAAHH! MAKE IT STOP MAKE IT STOP!” No kidding, it’s like the last roundup all over again… Should have just given Pinkie a megaphone and sent her to the hive by herself.

"Ah'm going to try to pry that piece out." Big Macintosh.

"GYAH! NO, STOP, STOP! It's no good, Big Bro! It’s too jagged and too deep! Ah don’t think Ah’m going anywhere. You gotta go without me.What! No! Don’t stay behind!

“Ah’m not leavin you, sis. Ah ain’t gonna leave you to the mercy of them critters. No way, no how.” Celestia bless you, Big Mac. Talk some sense into her.

“Y’all ain’t stayin here, Ah won’t have you dyin’ on my account! Ah can’t have your blood on my hooves.”

“And Ah can’t have yours on mine, sis”

“...And that’s I met Gummy! Whew, I haven’t told that one in a long, long time. It’s a zinger! Hey Applejack, why are you still hanging around on the floor? Don’t you know that if there’s something you can’t bring with you, you should leave it behind?” Pinkie…

“See Bro, even Pinkie understands.”

“The answer’s no, and that’s final. Ahm not leaving you behind”

“Silly billy, whoever said anything about leaving Applejack behind? Just use this!” Use what?

“Ms. Pie, what are you… where did that even come from?” What is it!?

“Oh, this is Mr. Cleavy! My mother always told me that a mare’s always gotta be prepared, no matter the scare, so that I can be fair and show the scary scare a good ‘beware’! I sometimes use it to cut cakes, but don’t tell my mom, she’ll just lecture me about proper care of an ethyl leprechan, and I don’t even know where to find one of ‘my little alchoholics’!”

“Ah… Ah uh… Ah don’t even know where to start with that one.”

bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz Uh oh, sounds like the changelings are coming back.

"Ngh.. The way ah see it, big brother, you've got two choices: amputate, or leave me here to die."
bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

"No! Ah won't cut off mah own sister's hoof!"

bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

"It's better than the alternative."

Bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz Uh, they’re getting closer guys

“But…”

BZZZZZZZZZZZZ Guys?

"Forgive me." The deep bass rumbled painfully.

BZZZZZZZZZZZZ!!!

There was a sharp intake of breath and…

KTCHTZZZZZZZ…

Present

Twilight shook her head to clear it; that had been… intense. She could still hear the buzzing of changeling wings as they had closed in on the crashed ship. "Alright, we know Applejack's probably still alive, or at the very least, this isn't what killed her,” she pointed out, taking a quick look around.

Fluttershy was staring wide eyed at the speaker, shaking slightly. The Doctor was looking thoughtfully at his own right hoof. Derpy, well, it was hard to tell which way Derpy was looking, but it certainly seemed she hadn’t really enjoyed the audio drama that had just unfolded. She stomped her hoof on the warped floor, earning a resounding clang, “We've wasted enough time here; we need to get moving again." She flipped the intercom off. The static ceased. The buzzing did not. It grew louder. Uh oh. “Everypony move!” She screamed, bolting quickly out of the ruined war machine.

"Too late! The onboard generators bust have attracted their attention" The Doctor cried, as a squad of Changelings swooped in on them.

Twilight opened fire, slinging potent magic missiles with her horn. Fluttershy and Derpy took to the skies to engage them hoof to hoof. Chiropractic techniques turned deadly as Fluttershy executed a perfect aerial suplex, smashing a shapeshifter into the ground. Derpy took a less direct approach, goading the demons into chasing her in and around the unstable hulk, her erratic flight path compromising the remaining integrity and bringing it down on her pursuers. The Doctor used his sonic screwdriver to sow confusion among the shifters’ ranks, the high frequency waves scrambling their concentration and destroying their disguises.

Even so, they were outnumbered three to one, and with one group already here, there were sure to be more on the way. Suddenly one of the flying demons, making a dive for Twilight’s unprotected back, screeched in surprised as a pair of emerald mana blasts tore the wings from it’s own back. Landing stunned, it had only a moment to look up before a pair of perfectly harmonized followup blasts flash-fried it. After that, the Battle of the Big Apple quickly fell to the ponies’ favour, and the mop-up of the Changeling scouts was relatively uneventful. Once the dust had cleared, Twilight quickly worked to identify their mysterious rescuers. Hmmm, two ponies. Same stature. Same red hair. Same green aura. Same RIDICULOUS salesman outfits. Could it be…

"Flim and Flam?" she asked, incredulously. What are they doing here? Why did they help us?

"She's been wondering when you'd make your way here," Flim remarked.

"Who? Chrysalis?" Fluttershy asked.

"Not exactly. Come with us, and we'll explain everything," Flam answered. "Oh, and Commander, sorry about your eye."

Sweet Apple Acres

The barn was a glorious sight to see. Painted in bright, friendly colours, it served as a stark contrast to the dilapidated wasteland that Ponyville had become. The group was asked to wait at the entrance to the barn while the Flim Flam brothers sent for their boss. They could hear her hoofsteps, and Twilight noted that one sounded distinctly… heavy. Her look of concern quickly turned to elation as this mysterious mare turned out to be Applejack, flanked by Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie. The hoof she had lost had been replaced with an artificial one, evidently cobbled together out of what was available, which apparently meant a spatula, a tuning fork, several lengths of chickenwire and what appeared to be the family toaster. Twilight thought it looked pretty ridiculous, but Applejack wore it like it was her own flesh and bone. Twilight and Fluttershy rushed into the room, and all tension was gone as the five friends joined in a group hug. Twilight noticed Pinkie Pie's mane returning to its poofy self, though she could have sworn she saw a glint of steel before it was lost in the tangled mass. The Doctor and Derpy, not quite comfortable to be part of the inner circle, instead opted to sample from the celebratory cider table that had been set up.

"I can't believe you're still alive!" Twilight exclaimed.

"The feeling's mutual, Twilight," Applejack replied.

"Wait, w-where are Spike and Rarity?" Fluttershy asked. The mood darkened faster than like a lonely library in a Vashda Nerada spore swarm.

"Anypony who was still alive in Town Hall would have been brought to the Hive.” Rainbow Dash sighed, as the hug broke up. “I think it’s that huge weird tree that they’ve got growing. ", breaking away from the group hug.

"That complicates things." Twilight commented.

"What do mean, Twilight?" Pinkie Pie, hopping around like she was some sort of orbiting moon.

"We brought the Elements of Harmony with us, so we could take out the barrier from the inside, but I guess now we'll have to storm the Hive first." Twilight explained.

"We might be able to help with that." Flim piped in.

"That's the other thing I don't understand,” she pushed on, ignoring him, “You're working with the Flim Flam brothers. Do you have any idea what they did?" Twilight inquired candidly, keeping her voice dangerously calm. They killed Mayor Mare, shot me in the eye, and sold Ponyville out!

"Actually, yes, Twilight, Ah do: They killed Mayor Mare, shot you in the eye, and sold Ponyville out."

"And you trust them!? For all we know, they're still working with the Changelings!" Twilight pointed out.

"We are working with the Changelings, against Queen Chrysalis." Flam answered.

"Have you lost your mind!?" Twilight demanded. This is unbelievable!

"They reached out to us telepathically. The average changeling has no desire to wage war on us, but due to the control Chrysalis exerts over the hive mind, they have no choice." Flim clarified.

"You expect us to believe that?" Twilight questioned them.

"Actually, Twilight, it makes sense.” The Doctor interjected, “Remember the psychic interference I sensed around Larva?" Well…

"But... don’t they object to you killing them?" Fluttershy asked, turning great, confused eyes on the two twins.

"An act of mercy, compared to living under Chrysalis's control." Flim answered flippantly, "By Changeling standards, she's an insane monster." That sounds surprisingly close to my standards too… Ngh... Curse these ponies, they drive me to drink.

"Anyway, Twilight, Ah had a plan to take down the hive, but we just don’t have the numbers to pull it off." Applejack added.

“Now THAT we do have,” Twilight smirked, dragging a fresh, foaming tankard over, "Don't worry about that. The cavalry's on the other side of the barrier, just waiting for us to take it down." With a wary glance at Flim and Flam she threw her head back and drained the tankard, then slammed it down and wiped the foam from her lips. "Now, let's hear this plan of yours.”

Author's Note:

Special thanks to Luminous Lead for expanding this chapter.