Chapter 1: Times Have Changed...
Twilight sat in the doorway of her library, staring out into the street as the procession passed by, the glinting green armor of the Changeling Royal Guard casting a sickly glow across the area as the sun beat down upon their unfeeling bodies. This had been the monthly routine for the last year; ponies lining the streets and filling their doorways to observe the insectile display of power not out of love or awe but fear and subservience. It had gone down during her brother’s wedding, Princess Mi Amore de Cadenza revealing herself after the vows to be Queen Chrysalis, Monarch of the Changeling hive. The Elements of Harmony, Shining Armor, even the princesses were unable to defeat her at that point, their chance having come and gone unnoticed as they were caught in the moment.
She sighed for the umpteenth that day as the procession passed by, the wicked ruler Chrysalis carried in the center of the parade by her servants and now hidden behind the corner of a convenience store. Twilight let her frame sag in hopelessness, her ears falling limp as her head descended toward the floor, her nose brushing the wooden doorstop before she decided to take a step back and shut the solid portal. She was beyond depressed; not even Starswirl the Bearded’s Tome of Unconventional Experimentation Spells, a very rare book, could not lift the haze of sadness from her mind. She resolved to trudge along on her life, as cut down and repressed as it now was, day to day under the new regime.
She walked back into the Library’s center room, lifting a duster from the table with her magic and setting out again against the dust bunnies that coated her books. She trudged along with the task, blindly going through the motion as Spike descended the stairs from the bedroom they shared. He yawned expansively, scratching a patch of scales on his rump as he rubbed sleep from his eyes. “Morning Twilight,” he mumbled, making his way toward the kitchen. Twilight grunted in response, her view never leaving the floor as she returned the duster to the table from whence it came. Spike stopped short of the door to the kitchen, looking over his shoulder at the lavender unicorn. “What’s got you in a funk?” he asked in a not-too-unkind tone. Twilight shrugged as best her state would allow.
“First off, it’s nearly noon,” she stated blankly, walking to her writing desk and shuffling the papers into a neat stack. “Second, the Power Parade just finished their tour of Ponyville.” Spike grew sullen as she mentioned the Changelings, forgetting the kitchen and dragging his feet up to her side. “How did this happen?” she asked, as she had every month. Spike gave her a hug, silently comforting his guardian as sadness overtook her. “Shining Armor… Cadence… mom and dad… Why did they have to… to…” She broke, tears falling from her glistening eyes as violent sobs racked her body. Spike said nothing, and how could he? He had never lost anyone, and the mare in his claws had just lost her family and foal sitter, all in one night.
The sound of sobs was interrupted as the door was slammed open violently, the crack of wood striking wood and the shattering of a vase announcing the arrival of visitors. The duo looked at the door to find a group of ten ponies of mixed races striding into the room with rough expressions and hostile body language. “Hey Twilight,” the Cyan pegasus mare she had once known as Rainbow Dash said as she closed the door behind the group, drawing the curtains closed with a wing as she turned around. “How have ya been?” Her voice was raspy, quiet and in all completely different from what it had been four months ago.
“About as well as I could be I suppose,” she said, sniffling and wiping her nose on a hoof. “How did the operation go,” she counter questioned, concern heavy on her voice as she counted their number; they were three short.
“Not good,” Dash said, her eyes sunken in and hardened. “We lost Thunderlane, Sparks and Keen Edge in the raid. On top of their deaths, we didn’t even make a dent in their forces,” She tilted a book from the shelves with a hoof, the shelf turning to reveal a secluded passageway that lead down under the library. She ushered the group inside, their half-plate armor jangling in a quiet clamor against their prototyped weapons; rudimentary repeating firearms and explosive crossbow bolts. “You want to join in this time?” she asked, Twilight nodding somberly before rising from her position and heading to her friend. Spike followed close to her heels, Dash stopping him with a hoof and a shake of her head. “Sorry Spike, but you’re still too young.” He was about to protest, but decided silently comply. Dash turned on her hoof, walking into the passageway and pulling a chain that closed the secret door behind her.
The area could be called a bunker of sorts, magically warded against any attack or attempt to excavate it. The room was filled with maps and tables, radios lined the walls and chirped with the chatter of Resistance fighters. Twilight stopped at the bottom of the stairs observing the room she had built for the resistance force for the first time since she had made the secret entrance. Several ponies, mostly Unicorns and Earth Ponies, were leaning over maps, documents, reports and encoded messages on tables and benches in the center of the large room. Farther back, directly from the stairs was an open door, the moans and muffled cries of wounded fighters in the medical chamber causing her to feel uneasy. To her left was a large, caged off area, the smells of sulfur, phosphorous and hot metals tainting the air around it until the magical purification systems kicked in, the air clearing five paces away from the cage. To the right was the radio stations, racks and cubbyholes filled with equipment transmitting, receiving or transferring communications and messages between the fighters and tactical assets.
Dash brushed past Twilight, breaking her from her observant stupor with a kiss on the cheek before she trotted up to the center table. Twilight flushed at the contact, unsure of what it meant as Dash unclasped her body plates, a unicorn assistant levitating the armor from her, leaving her in a canvas cloak stained throughout with sweat, dirt and blood; both from changelings and ponies. “Commander Dash,” a grayed and grizzled earth pony said from across the table, his eyes never leaving the map before him as he scrutinized its every inch. Dash grunted a response as she curled the hood of her cloak around her hoof, pulling it off and dropping the soiled garment on the ground before another levitated to her. She re-garbed in the deep green and brown garment, rearing up and balancing on the table and placing her hoof over a red circle. “Where is Commander Thunderlane?” The aging stallion asked.
“Elysium,” she replied, lifting her hoof from the map to leave a print on it. “But he knew the danger when he joined. Thanks to him, Sparks and Keen edge, we own the Everfree.” The stallion nodded slowly, placing a standing flag over the hoof print.
“They will not be forgotten,” he said somberly, lifting his gaze to meet Dash’s, his eyes just as haggard if slightly softer. “Take some time off Commander, you’ve earned it. Tell your ponies they are on furlough too.”
“They’ll be glad to hear it,” she said emotionlessly, returning to all fours and glaring at the map. The red and blue flags of the United Equestrian Resistance were far outnumbered by the green and black flags of the Changeling Empire; nearly fifty to one. “But I must decline the offer General Silvermane. There is still too much work to be done for me to relax. I’m requesting the next raid for my upcoming mission…”
“And I am telling you to take the furlough,” he intercepted, cutting her argument short. “That is an order Commander. Get a hot meal, get drunk, get laid… I don’t care. Just get out of this facility. I don’t want to see your flank for the next hundred and sixty-two hours and not a second sooner.” He returned his vision to the table, looking over an action report that had been given to him during their conversation. Dash saluted him, standing rigid and tall. A minute passed before he glanced up from the paper. “You’re still here?” he asked rhetorically, Dash dropping her hoof and turning to walk toward the medical wing.
Twilight watched the proceedings with interest, some of Dash’s team members being her friends. She was entirely engrossed in the report, cringing as Thunderlane, a pegasus she had grown to know in the past months, had been lost. She felt bad for the families of Spark, a unicorn mare, and Keen Edge, and earth pony stallion, knowing they would be sorely missed. Time flew as she listened, she found, because Rainbow Dash was walking away from the table. She had missed something, because Dash’s face was one of resignation and worry as she walked toward the medical wing. Her eyes were on the floor, but her face was hard set with determination and her ears flattened in frustration. Rainbow Dash stopped at the doorway to the wing, placing a hoof against the frame and looking halfway over her shoulder. Her eyes met Twilight’s, a moment that felt like an eternity before it faded like the lit of a fly, the pegasus disappearing into the wing with a ruffle of the privacy curtain. Twilight hesitated, battling her already scrambled mind to tell her which way to go. She turned toward the stairs, her hooves hesitating on their own above the step before she turned on her hooves, heading slowly toward the medical wing.
…
Applejack stared into her bowl of oatmeal, the spoon laying on the table next to the meal as she thought back on the year’s harvest. It had been meager, barely enough to fill their cellar for the winter, and she dreaded having to explain to the mayor that they didn’t have enough to go around this year. The bowl began to blur before her as she reflected, tears or anger welling in her eyes before she slammed a hoof on the table, knocking the bowl over and causing Applebloom, Big Mac and Granny Smith to start. “Darn it!” she growled through her teeth, standing up and storming out of the kitchen. She let the two-way door swing back behind her, rocking on its hinges as the sound of her hoof falls began to decrease in volume, being replaced by the slamming of the screen door. The Apples shared concerned and worried looks before Big Mac stood, nodded to the rest of them and followed her out.
Applejack stood on the porch of the farmhouse, her shoulder pressed against a support beam she was leaning against, her head thumping lightly on the wood as she slowly beat her aggression against the seasoned oak beam. ‘Why did this have to happen?’ she asked herself, staring out at the now barren orchard that once spanned to the edge of Ponyville. Ever since the Changeling Empire had taken over her trees had grown sick with blight and fungus, yielding less than half their normal crop this year. She had to cull nearly a quarter of her substantial amount of trees in order to keep the plant illness from destroying her families livelihood and food source. Sure they had their other fields, corn, wheat, barley and assorted beans, but it still wouldn’t be enough to feed the town like they had done for so long.
She hit her head against the beam again, hard enough to cause her ears to ring but not loud enough to conceal the sound of Big Macintosh’s heavy hoof steps. She twitched her eyes toward the large and imposing red stallion she called a brother, knowing he was immeasurably smart but tended to keep to himself. “Whaddaya want from me, Mac?” she asked briskly, her temper already heated and her mood fouled. The red work horse simply stood where he was, looking out over the fields. AJ sighed, placing a hoof to her head before relenting. “Alright, I’ll stop beatin’ myself up over this if you’ll just say what’s on yer mind.”
“That’s what I’m worried about AJ,” he said slowly, his draw long and voice vibrating her lungs even from a full two strides away. “You take so much responsibility for feeding the town, that you can’t stand to look out for just us every once and a while,” he sat on his haunches, pointing to the barn that lay half in ruin and still smoldering from the explosion that had racked it a week ago. “You know what they do to ponies who try to help other ponies now. These things don’t like us to help each other, and they are willing to take drastic measures to ensure that we remain miserable, so that every speck of love we feel will be amplified tenfold and make them even stronger.” AJ diverted her gaze to the barn, the once proud and tall red structure now in charred shambles from a changeling suicide raid. She shook slightly as the memories came back to her, the images of the crimson flames and the glowing bug eyes staring at her moments before chilling her to the core.
“That wasn’t because of us helpin' ponies, Mac,” she said, looking at the boards beneath her hooves. “It was because we supported the resistance. They knew this was a supply depot for em, an’ they took it out.” She sighed again, overwhelming sorrow sinking in further as she realized they had almost lost any hope of restoring the rightful rulers to the throne.
“But we were helping ponies nonetheless,” he rebutted, standing up and walking to her, placing a hoof around her neck and hugging her lightly. “We just gotta stay strong, pull through this and everything will be alright.” AJ nodded, nuzzling his neck before pushing him away gingerly.
“Yer just sayin' that,” she said, knowing he meant well.
“Eeyup.” AJ huffed in exasperation, shaking her head and righting her Stetson before walking off the porch.
“Ah guess I should go find whatever’s still burnin' in that dern place,” she said, filling the pail beside the pump with water. “We don’t need another darned inferno on our hooves." She picked up the pail in her mouth, turning to head for the source of the fire before she stopped dead in her tracks. The cellar doors were opened, uncommon as that was, but climbing the masonry steps that lead under the house was a pegasus she hadn’t seen in months. She dropped the bucket, running up the Cyan mare and hugging her with a force to snap a tree. “Rainbow, Ah’m so gald to see ya!” Dash stood stoic next to her friend, looking at the orange pony through the corner of her dampened and hard eyes.
“Hey AJ,” she said quietly, looking to the porch before waving to Big Mac. Applejack released her and gave her a worried look, not having remembered her the way she was. Dash looked to the decimated barn, sighing and looking back to her friend. “I heard about your barn,” she said, shaking her head slightly. “I'm so sorry we caused all of this for you.” Applejack gave her a strange look.
“What do ya mean we,” she asked, stopping herself as she saw the mare’s haggard face and the red stripe sliding down the cloak she wore. “R-Rainbow… What are y’all doin' wearin' that coat? That’s only for the resistance soldiers. You could get hurt fer wearin' that anywhere in Equestria.” Dash nodded slightly, her eyes staring through her as if she wasn’t there.
“I know, that’s why I’m wearing it,” She turned toward the barn, walking toward it slowly and deliberately. “I’m here to check the damage we caused for myself… Salvage anything of ours that can still be used… you know, protocol.”
AJ watched in something between shock and horror as what she pieced together stuck in her mind. Rainbow had joined the resistance, had been gone fighting for months…
And the way she just seemed to stare through everything. Like it wasn’t there…
This wasn’t the Rainbow Dash she knew…
...
Dash stood before a pile of soot in the demolished barn,searching with a keen eye as she blew the ash away with strokes from her wings. She wasn’t really looking for anything in specific in the wreckage, having lied to AJ to simply be alone for a while. She was surprised she had gotten away with the fib, AJ being the Element of Honesty and all. ‘Which one of us has changed since that day?’ she asked herself silently, the once brash, daring and headstrong pegasus now analyzing everything with a skeptical eye and monitoring anything that seemed dangerous. ‘Is it me?’ she asked herself as she uncovered a blackened radio from the ash, pushing it aside as she continued to to blow the soot away in her idle search.
Half an hour passed like this, Rainbow Dash silently spending her time in introspection and idly searching for charred equipment. She had uncovered a sword, radio, breastplates and several warped and half melted cans of what was once food. She sat on her haunches, observing her small pile of junk, the radio at the top as she fidgeted with the dials.
“How’s the static sound?” Somepony asked from the doorway to the barn, Dash almost jumping in surprise at the sudden voice. She looked up to find Twilight Sparkle leaning against the white doorframe, watching her with an unwavering gaze. “That is quite a treasure you found,” she said, righting her stance and walking into the shattered building. Dash shrugged and tossed the radio aside, starting a pile for what didn’t work or wasn’t worth keeping. Twilight came to a stop beside her, watching her as she sorted the junk.
Dash was slightly taller than when she had left to join the resistance, and Twilight noticed it now that she had some time to be nearby. Her mane and tail were longer as well, her wings more defined and regal looking, but covered in scars and scratches. Her body wasn’t any different either, her now hard and muscled frame covered in the scars of Changeling bites and one gnarled and knotted round scar on her shoulder. Looking up from her torso and legs, Twilight noticed Dash’s face. It had changed immensely from the devil-may-care, stunt-crazed mare she had known. Her jaw was more defined from lack of food and running off adrenaline, her cheeks more evident from the same reason. Her ears were nicked and split in several places; her left one having a loose flap of flesh that hung at an odd angle.
However, what she noticed the most were her eyes. The once shimmering and vibrant Magenta orbs that rested in her soft and happy face had become hardened, cold and void of the light that once filled them. They seemed to have lost their color, the once inviting shade having soured and become flat against the white and black that bordered them. Moreover, her pupils were wild, small and seemed dangerous, giving her the feeling that a predator was watching her.
Twilight noticed Dash was shuffling through the cans now, kicking them away with increasing force, her breathing quickened and sweat forming on her brow. Her teeth were clenched and her lips curled back into a snarl. “Rainbow Dash,” she called, her voice falling short into something one would expect from Fluttershy. Rainbow was starting to bend the cans with each strike, Twilight worried for her friend. “Rainbow dash!” she yelled, making herself known.
“I’m sorry!” Dash yelled back, sweeping the pile away with a hoof before stalking away into a shadowed corner. She sat down, beating a charred board with her hoof, venting some hidden tension she had harbored.
“What are you sorry for,” Twilight asked, too dumbstruck to move in the given situation. “You didn’t do anything.”
“I did Twilight,” Dash rebutted, looking at Twilight from the edge of the shadow. “I ran away when you all needed me. I…I heard there was a resistance force gathering to fight Chrysalis, to save Celestia and Luna from their prisons. I ran away to join them, and now I don’t…” She bit her words short, growling and head butting the wall before her. The area fell silent; the only sounds were the wind and the rustle of leaves on the round.
“Rainbow…” Twilight began, taking a step forward.
“When we were in the Everfree,” She said quickly, getting Twilight's attention again. “We were ambushed by changelings. They had us backed up against a cliff; dense trees overhead and in all other directions. They had the escape routes blocked off, weapons raised and advancing on us. I… I lost my cool. I gave the fire order when the tactical advantage was still a while away. We cut some of them down, but then they made the charge. That was when we lost Keen Edge; he took a spear through the chest. A hole opened in their attack and we took it. We ran into the forest for a more defensible location, and we lost Sparks. She got left behind…” Dash shuddered a tear falling from her cheek. “I can still hear her screams Twilight… I can hear all of them… I hear them all the time, screaming for help and for the pain to end…” Dash’s legs shook, her knees buckling and forcing her to the ground. “These things… when they want you dead, they take their sweet agonizing time to do it.” Twilight’s head dropped slightly as she continued her approach, walking closer to the pained pegasus before her.
“Thunderlane… He was the best of us that day,” she continued, forcing herself to relive the horrors. “He kept his head up until the end, leading us through the fight. We won it, clearing the forest of all the bugs, but on our way out we… I was jumped by one of them. Thunderlane leapt into action as I froze, taking the sword for me…” she slammed her hoof on the ground, breaking into sobs as she did. Twilight had never seen the mare in such a state, hurrying to her side and placing a hoof on her withers. Dash jerked slightly at the contact. Twilight drawing back slightly before Rainbow eased back to her, leaning against her chest.
“Rainbow…” Twilight shushed, laying down beside the distraught pegasus and wrapping a hoof around her. Twilight was caught off guard as the mare kissed her, locking her lips to hers firmly. Twilight blushed, nervous at the advance but not turning it away. Dash broke away slowly, casting her gaze to the unicorn before her to reveal softer eyes, reminding Twilight of days long gone.
“I realized that I haven’t told you a lot of things, Twi…” Dash said quietly, nuzzling Twilight’s neck softly. “Things I didn’t realize until I almost died… until I saw you in the library today.” She drew back a bit.
“Rainbow… What are you saying? You’re speaking in circles,” Twilight gave her a soft smile, putting as much of an honest face on as she could in the hard times. Dash looked down, staring at her hooves.
“Twilight… I love you,” she confessed. “I have since you gave me the Daring Doo book. I was afraid of telling you though, Afraid you would turn me away and hate me for it.”
“Why would I hate you,” she asked, slightly shocked Dash would mention the thought. “Well, I’ve never put much stock in romance, or even taking the time to decide my own preferences, but that doesn’t mean I would hate you for telling me how you felt! If you had I could have convinced you to stay, to not expose yourself to the horrors you’ve seen… you would still be the mare I used to know.” Dash dropped her head slightly, resign to admit she had changed so much.
“I know I’ve changed,” she said. “I noticed it for certain when Applejack almost ran scared from me earlier. Have I changed that much?” Twilight looked away, loath to tell her the truth.
“You’ve changed, that’s certain,” She said. “I almost didn’t recognize you in that get up when you walked into the library. I thought you were just another fighter coming to receive orders. You looked dangerous, wild even. It was like Rainbow Dash had died and was replaced with an animal.” She looked at the mare, finding her on the verge of tears again. Even though she had hardened on the outside, inside she was torn and fragile, a tempest of emotions and regrets threatening to break through the walls that had been built to hold it back. Dash looked away from her, ears drooping.
“You’re afraid,” she mumbled solemnly, her mane falling over her face. “I can’t blame you Twilight. When I walked into town, ponies ran up to us, but they took one look at me and turned away.” She stood up, Twilight’s hoof falling away as she took a step forward. “I’m sorry for putting you on the spot.”
Rainbow Dash wait,” Twilight blurted, stopping the mare before a sound drew both of their attentions. The radio Dash had found was hissing static, previously having been dead as a nail. A garbled voice echoed through the area, becoming clearer as it continued.
“Mayday, Mayday. Blackhawk down, I repeat Blackhawk down!” the pair turned to face the radio, confused by the transmission. Dash walked toward the device, tilting the speaker towards her with her hoof. “Blackhawk down! Can anyone hear me? We’ve crash landed in some sort of farm, we aren’t in Afghanistan. There are some sort of deciduous trees, and rotting corn husks.” The transmission went silent, the sound of a panic induced fatigue echoing forth. “I… I can’t remember my name, and the pilot is bleeding from her neck. We’re upside down, and the cockpit is filling with smoke. I can’t get out. Please, anyone, help me!”
“The farm,” Dash said to herself. “That’s the closest corn patch, and the only one that can reach this radio.” She turned on her hoof and galloped out of the doors, heading for the far side of the farm.
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It's going fairly well, the alternate reality is going to take some getting used to, it was rather...for lack of a better word...overwhelming, but I think I can get used to it. Although one word, cliffhangers! God those things they are evil, evil I say. A few grammar errors, I didn't really take note, I'm not much of a proof reader, one was lack of a space after a comma and another I remember was when you went to spell "her" you wrote "he", that seems to be common on many stories though. All in all I'd say it's good, keep it up, can't wait to see their reactions to a machine such as a helicopter, or the people inside it. A small group of US soldiers should make a large difference in a world where wars are fairly rare, the presence of a race who can't go more than 20 years without fighting one is a major power shift.
Its an interesting take putting humans into a war-torn Equestria, though what of Celestia and Luna? Not sure if that's going to be explained or not but that should be something to touch on (would imagine if this takes place as an alternative ending to S2 where the mane six failed to stop the Changelings).
I don't have many other qualms about it, perhaps putting a bit more into this chapter and flushing out more events that would bring the ponies up to this point (plus finding that radio seemed a bit odd, didn't know the ponies had radio-type devices.)
Look forward to see where its going, tbh I wrote something like this way back in the day, only towards a different fandom interest.
Please tell me that the Changeling Empire is about to get buttfucked by the US Army
2069154 that would count as a spoiler, and the doctor so dislikes spoilers
2070989 what if i told you Ranger's get them once they reach PFC?
New protocol starting last year, and this is set in 2020.
however i do like that you pay attention to detail.
also you are an awesome attack aircraft
So far you have done excellent. Drawing me in to both realities before mixing them together. However I will hold my judgement until the next chapter because that is where this story truly begins.
2068398 aint thst the truth aslo noting that tjere some of best im the world