A Just Cause

by GJT_Productions

Denouement

After the fall of Fort Alpha, the forces of Operation Just Cause commanded by Lieutenant Captain Shining Armor spent the entire following day occupying the old rebel stronghold, processing the information and performing inventory on the supplies left there. Among the findings there was plans for the intended wholesale slaughter of the prisoners - shocking the loyalists on how barely they had averted another "harvest" of death - and mentions of "shapeshifter support squads", a thoroughly mystifying phrase that only made sense after the later Changeling attack on Canterlot.

Although Shining Armor was frustrated that the Agents of Chaos leader Agent Snake - aka ex-Lieutenant Captain Aten - had escaped capture again, he was confident from the pegasi captives he had taken in the assault that the Agents of Chaos now had ceased to exist as an organized threat. The scattered surviving membership was later believed to have either perished in the arid conditions surrounding Fort Alpha, taken up criminal activity as individuals elsewhere, or captured by and taken to the hive of their supposed Changeling "allies". The final flag flown by the Agents of Chaos over the fort, showing the eight-headed arrow symbol of chaos, was presented to Shining Armor as a war trophy.

The four uninjured pegasi that had been captured were extensively interrogated for what information they possessed, while the five burned pegasi (unknowingly including the disguised form of the Changeling drone Agent X1) were sent down to nearby Las Pegasus for treatment. Before they got to the hospital however, all lapsed into comas that they would never recover from, dying at the Las Pegasus hospital despite the best efforts of those that tried to save them. The loss of the five not only locked away valuable information from being revealed but kept the Changeling "secret" intact.

The secret continued to be maintained by the second drone which had been once part of the Agents of Chaos, now set in the disguise of a former unicorn prisoner liberated by the Just Cause forces. Those unicorns, still unofficially lead by ex-Lower Class Petronius despite Blueblood's rescue, were now required by orders of Shining Armor to wear horn rings at all times, saving the "chain gang" rope for the pegasi prisoners, and bear supply burdens for the trip back to Canterlot.

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Late in the day, Shining Armor ordered the start of the march back to Canterlot, preliminary report drawn up and dispatches about the remaining fugitive rebels already sent out thanks to cooperation of the earth pony "Quesadilla Polka". Before leaving, the unicorn Lieutenant Captain ordered the wooden structures inside the fort to be lit on fire so that others could not use the old fort in the same way the Agents of Chaos had.

The acrid smell of smoke filled the air around the former Fort Alpha as Shining Armor lead the march out, the unicorn prisoners trailing behind him with Prince Blueblood at the head of line. Lieutenant Vanguard and his squad were managing the chain gang of the pegasi prisoners, while Acting Lieutenant Excelsior and Guard Upper Class Flash Sentry flew over the unicorns as a constant watch. The parade of humiliation would shred what was left of the self-respect of the captives - even Blueblood, realizing he had morally bankrupted himself by involving himself so deeply in Operation Hornpoint, rarely spoke during the trip. Although Shining could justify the treatment by the traitorous behavior of both factions, it would also create fertile ground for future strife to be sown.

The parade marched until long after the sun had been lowered by Celestia and the moon raised by Luna in its place, and Shining Armor was preparing for an open biovac camp for the night when a messenger from Canterlot arrived at his location. The Lieutenant Captain was relieved to learn from that messenger that "royal sanction" had been given by the alicorns to cover his independant command decisions - an act later interpreted by some as an outrageous carte blanche. He then sent the messenger back to Canterlot with the preliminary report about Operation Just Cause and a statement that he would "make sure the two abandoned forts could not ever be used by rebels again".

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At the same time as the members of Operation Just Cause and their prisoners were leaving the former Fort Alpha, the former Lieutenant Captain Aten was arriving at the Changeling Kingdom to the south - a place dominated by a twisted, grotesque parody of a castle in the distance and nothing but arid death seeming to be for miles around it. It looked distressingly like a place where magic of any kind had been sucked out of it - and then there were the black moving specks in the sky as far as he could see, which only added to his unease.

"They weren't kidding when they said there were hundreds of them..." he comments breathlessly.

"Who are you? Do not move, Equessstrian! What are you doing here?" a drone on patrol hisses out from somewhere above, circling just over Aten as he speaks. Beside him, moving in sync, was a second drone as a patrol partner, and the two together made for an intimidating sight.

"I am the 'Agent Snake' that two of your fellow drones cooperated with for many years." Aten answers, putting on the bravest face he can as he does so. "Everything I have worked to achieve has been destroyed or taken from me, all I have left is my life. I was told to come to your queen and kingdom, that I will be able to let them into Equestria and exploit their love to satisfy your ravenous hunger. I beg for asylum in your kingdom, else the Equestrians will find and kill me!"

The two drones stop moving, leaving them hovering in mid-air and giving worrisome whispered hisses between them. Finally, one of them speaks: "We may have ssssome of your alliessss already. Follow ussss to Commander Pharynx, and he will decide whether you will ssssee the Queen or not."

The drones start in the general direction of the castle in the background, and Aten follows slowly behind them wearing the bravest face he has. All he could hope for was that this wasn't a trap and that Queen Chrysalis was in a mood to listen to his asylum plea...