A Just Cause

by GJT_Productions

Replacements

Lieutenant Captain Shining Armor, leading his command back from Fort Beta to the main Canterlot-Las Pegasus road, is both surprised and relieved to see a pair of pegasus stallions in E.U.P. Guard armor at the former campsite of the Hornpoint survivors. He had spent the whole morning at Fort Beta - mostly taking on supplies the rebels had left behind and constructing burials under stones for the dead there - and the sun had already reached its highest point in the sky when he lead the two squads out from the fort back toward the main road.

Shining Armor was not worried about the Hornpoint prisoners supervised by Acting Lieutenant Excelsior - as long as they were kept under some kind of watch they would be cooperative. What worried him more was the former Agent Deceit, stable but unconscious and carried on stretcher between two members of Lieutenant Vanguard's command. He did not relish the thought of having to send away two vital members of his command back to Canterlot for the purpose of getting the pegasus proper medical care. At best, it was a terrible inconvenience. At worst, he would have to delay the rest of the operation to track down and bring back the ex-Lieutenant Troilus and Prince Blueblood, an operation that had already suffered a number of delays and did not have time on its side.

In light of this, the unicorn commander jumping on the opportunity seemingly presented him to offload the prisoner by the rendezvous, and not stopping to properly credential the two stallions, was understandable. The carelessness, though, would lead to bad consequences down the road - not least of which being that the then-unknown Changeling menace had found a vector to be exploited in trying to take over Equestria...

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Lieutenant Vanguard, a unicorn, and Acting Lieutenant Excelsior, a griffon, could do nothing but exchange looks as Shining Armor talked with the two pegasi in Guard armor. Vanguard in particular was surprised that his commanding officer never asked the two for their names and seemed to be more eager than appropriate to offload the captured pegasus to them. Vanguard could also see Excelsior slowly becoming more and more distrustful of the mysterious pair, fur and feathers rising in the same manner some cats did when around others they didn't like.

The inevitable order, nevertheless, came quickly to Vanguard: "Lieutenant, these two Upper Classes have promised me they will personally take the pegasus back to Canterlot and get him to a hospital. Bring the pegasus up and leave him on the stretcher."

Vanguard looked over at a perturbed Excelsior, who looked like he seriously wanted to object to the whole arrangement. If Vanguard was perfectly honest with himself, he would've began an objection, but glimpsing the long line of unicorn prisoners beside him and the arid conditions around the entire command, he reluctantly thought against it. He gestured the two in his command holding up the stretcher to step ahead of the rest of the squad so that the transfer could be performed.

As the transfer happened, Vanguard caught glimpse of two things: Excelsior subtly shaking his head, and the unhealthy greenish glow in the eyes of both pegasi, which seemed to have been either missed or ignored by his commanding officer. The unicorn Lieutenant could only blow out a long breath as the transfer was completed, and the two pegasi lifted off with the stretcher between them, following the ground track back toward Canterlot.

Shining Armor's obvious relief was quickly tempered by the skeptical looks of the two Lieutenants he commanded, but before either of them could object he quickly snaps out the following sentences: "I'm sure you are thinking I just made a major mistake, but it needs to be repeated, Lieutenants, that we are working against time and that lives are at stake. Entrusting the prisoner to them saves both time and vital stallions for the next half of the operation. Now we need to get as far down the road as we can, and are not stopping until sundown. Move out along the path!"

Shining turns away and starts down the path, leaving Vanguard to look with a shrug at Excelsior, who lets out a half-squawk of disbelief and irritation. Certainly both he and Vanguard think he did make a mistake, but have no way of proving it and are obligated to follow orders to continue with their squads toward Fort Alpha...

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

As Shining Armor's Operation Just Cause continued down the road toward Fort Alpha, the former Agent Deceit was being carried toward Canterlot. For 30 minutes, all seemed well, the former Agent of Chaos drifting in and out of consciousness, not really sure what was going on but knowing he was being taken somewhere.

And then suddenly, he wasn't. The pegasi simply landed back on the path, setting the stretcher down and leaving the Agent's mind clouded in confusion. The pegasi move standing side-by-side at the foot of the stretcher, glaring down in disgust. The green eyes begin glowing, and a hissing noise escapes from the throats of both pegasi.

"Wha... this isn't...?" the former Deceit tries to say, but is cut off by the speech of the other pegasi.

"You've sssssaid too much, Equestrian!" one of the pegasi spits out, both of them now revealing there was good reason to be distrustful of them.

The former Agent watches in horror as the "pegasi" are covered in green magic rings that move from top to bottom, stripping away the disguise and revealing their true black, bug-like nature - two Changeling drones, with a set purpose and insatiable hunger for emotion.

"There's... more... bugs?" the former Deceit speaks again, eyes wide in shock.

"We are many, Equesssstrian! We are an army, and we intend to feassst upon all of you! Our Queen hassss ordered it!" the drone that had not previously spoken explains.

"Queen?" the pegasus Agent speaks, in what would turn out to be his last word as a living being.

"Enough!" the first drone hisses out again. "You have betrayed usssssss with your words, and you have no love to give usssss, ssssso you must DIE!"

And before the former Agent of Chaos can do or say anything else, the glowing green rings pass over the drones again. One becomes a bear, that pins the pegasus down with a large paw, splitting the stretcher underneath him as it does so. The other drone becomes a fearsome amalgamation of three different snakes: the size and squeezing power of an anaconda, the fear-inducing rattle of a rattler snake, and the hooded and fanged menace of a cobra.

Primal horror fills the face and mind of the former Agent Deceit as the drone in its composite-snake form slithers up to him, the rattle of seeming death repeating insistently as coils wrap around the neck of the pegasus. The drone hisses in his face, showing fangs and hood as it begins squeezing the neck tighter and tighter - this would be the last thing the pegasus would ever see in its life.

The squeezing continues until the inevitable passing out from lack of air, then the drone applies a venomous bite that would be sure to finish the job. The snake-drone uncoils, letting his bear counterpart heave the soon-to-be-dead pegasus onto his back. The snake-drone then turns into a teenage-dragon form, and the bear-drone steps away from the broken stretcher as the other drone sets it aflame with fiery breath, ensuring only unidentifiable cinders are left of it when all is said and done.

The betrayal has been successful. No one else was anywhere nearby on the path, and the previous "replacement" of the two pegasi Upper Classes coming from Las Pegasus would ensure any serious investigation would end up going nowhere. Now, all that was left was to "replace" the former Agent Deceit.

"Follow me back to the rock which he's hiding as. We need to show him for a proper disguise to work." the dragon-drone says to the bear-drone, both starting in a direction south of the path heading toward where a third drone was hiding, disguised as a rock just out of sight of those travelling along the path.

"I really liked that snake thing you used. Where did you learn about that?" the bear-drone asks, trying to make small talk on the way.

"Another drone used it to scare Thorax. He showed me what exactly he did so that I could do it myself." the dragon-drone answers.

"Thorax? Isn't he connected to Commander Pharynx somehow?" the bear-drone asks again.

"Broodmates. I don't know what the Commander sees in him, I think it makes him weak. Now quiet down until we get to the disguise location."

"Alright, alright..."