Integration - Part Two of A Changeling's Story (Cancelled)

by CoAlFire

A Shoe to the Face

The hall resounded with the chattering and hoofsteps of the guards. Many were griping that they weren't even supposed to be on shift, and that the on-duty guard should have been enough for almost anything short of an active invasion, so why did they need to be torn away from their families? All of the chatter stopped, though, when the wide double doors flew open and both princesses strode in with neither one nor two, but four changelings. The silence had completely replaced the activity of the last moments, replaced by a stoic and orderly procession. All the guards had snapped to attention and filtered into their appropriate ranks. The Lunar Guard took their places on the western side of the room, and the Solar Guard on the eastern side. The princesses and their entourage strode through the crowd of guards and up to the fore of the room, raised a hooffull of steps above the main floor. The group turned to face the guards, and the Princesses clapped the ground once with their hooves in perfect unison. The guards immediately relaxed from full attention, but still stood attentively as Celestia cleared her throat to speak.

"Thank you all for coming. Many of you were involved in defending Canterlot from the recent Changeling Invasion, and some of you suffered tremendous loss," Celestia paused as some of the guards' expressions shifted slightly, but she continued as they composed themselves, "which is why I must warn you all. At this point in time, the Nation of Equestria is facing a terrible enemy. It seems that our conflict with the Changeling Empire is not quite at its end. A new leader, named Mirror, is at this army's head."

Instantly, the room was in uproar. Echo couldn't help but feel a twinge of shame that she played such a pivotal role in causing this fear. After a few moments, Celestia stomped a hoof gently but firmly on the marble floor of the hall, and all fell silent.

"My dear little ponies," she said with the sweet, motherly tone she always seemed to use with her subjects, "trust me when I tell you that all will be well. More than that, trust yourselves."

"Beside the fact," Luna interjected, "Equestria has a new advantage. The changeling queen, Chrysalis, has -- in a manner of speaking -- defected."

"So, I recognize that this will be a difficult mission for some of you, but I'm afraid I am forced to ask you to work past it. Ponyville is under a grave threat at the moment, and I am placing all of you under the temporary command of Queen Chrysalis and her Heiress and General, Echo. I am still at the head of your chain of command, but for the time being, you are to obey the Queen's commands, save for situations where they would be obviously against the best interests of Equestria." Celestia shot a quick glance out of the corner of her eye, to which the Queen scoffed. "Thank you for your loyalty, my little ponies, and please... be safe."

"Night guards," Luna began, "you, too, are placed under the same chain of command. You and the Solar regiment will have shift changes exactly as you would normally. With that, I pass you along to the General." Luna smiled and nodded.

Echo's military training kicked in again as her honorary commission was issued; she stood up straight and saluted. To her surprise, the entire hall full of guards returned the salute. It felt good to be in command again. It was her element. "All right, stallions and mares, let's move out. Staggered formations. Pegasi will fly ahead of unicorn and earth ponies; that means you'll be responsible for holding the town down until the rest of the regiment can arrive. Dismissed!"

"Ma'am, yes ma'am!"

There was a regular, steady stomping as the guards marched out of the room in perfect step. It set Echo's blood boiling, and the Queen placed a hoof on her shoulder. "It's good to see you back in the role you were born for, Echo."

"Actually," Echo admitted, "It's nice to be back. I understand this." The guards had halfway filed out of the hall. "I can work like this. Military regiments, military decorum. I know this."

"It's almost scary, but not quite. What's it called?" Scootaloo watched in awe.

"Intimidating." Rebound's eyes were wide. "They're quite well disciplined."

"Thank you," Celestia smiled, "I take immense pride in them."

Echo took off and flew over the herd of guards. "I will be flying with the pegasi. Maintain a steady march along the road; stop for nothing and nobody." She buzzed away to join the pegasi preparing to take off.

________

Rebound, to Echo's chagrin, had caught up with her and the pegasi shortly after they had taken off. The flight would be another twenty minutes if they kept up this pace. "This is pretty impressive, Echo," Rebound said, glancing around, "I have to admit that I didn't really think you had it in you anymore. No offense."

"Offense taken."

"Naturally." He sighed, a bit crestfallen. "Listen, I know we don't always get along too well --"

"Astute observation."

"-- but I want to let you know that I care about you, okay? I'm coming along because I won't let anything happen to you."

"I can take care of myself, I don't need your help."

"I know that, I want to give it to you."

"Why?"

"Because! I --" He sighed again. "I just do, okay?"

Echo shrugged. "Not my problem. Do what you want, just don't get between me and the future of my family."

"Can't I be a part of that future?"

Echo turned her head to look at Rebound and cocked his eyebrow up. "Are you asking me on a date?"

"What if I said yes?"

"I'd tell you that you're insane and I'm not really interested in any stallions."

"Wow, I... didn't know you actually preferred the company of mares."

"You dolt!" She actually seemed embarrassed for once as she continued, "I mean I'm not interested right NOW. I'm not ... like that. I prefer the company of stallions." She shook her head and looked back toward the front of the formation. Ponyville was almost in sight.

"Could have fooled me."

"THAT'S IT!" She shouted as she broke formation and grabbed him in midair. The rest of the formation followed orders and continued on their path as Rebound and Echo fell toward the trees below. "I'm going to beat you senseless!"

"Echo, let go, we'll die if we hit the ground at this speed!"

"Only one dying is going to be you!" She snarled.

Rebound's wings buzzed as fast as they could to try and stop their descent, but it was to no real avail as the canopy approached. He gritted his teeth as he made his decision. "ECHO!" He shouted, and slapped her on the right side of her face. For a moment, pure rage was all he could see, before she realized what was happening.

She joined in, buzzing her wings. It was enough that when they hit the canopy, it was only the third most painful experience of Echo's life. They separated as they hit, and bounced off of limbs and through branches as they fell. Finally, they came to rest about a meter apart on the forest floor.

Rebound stood up and knelt next to Echo. He shook her softly. "Come on, wake up." One of her forelegs was draped over her face, and he gently moved it aside. For just a moment he looked at her and thought that maybe ... like in fairy tales ... if he kissed her, she would -- he decided against that train of thought as she moved a bit, her eyes opening.

"Ow."

"You brought that on yourself, you know."

Echo looked at him, their muzzles just a few inches apart, and then slapped him silly. "Don't do that again!" Her wings buzzed and she took off like a bullet through the trees, leaving Rebound sitting on his haunches with a big, muddy hoofprint on the side of his face. She rejoined the formation a few minutes later, nodding at the pegasi that noted her return. Ponyville was just on the horizon. The smoke from her house hadn't yet died down, and it nearly sent her back into a blind rage. "All right, fan out. I want a heavy presence all over the town. If, at the end of this day, I can go twenty feet without seeing a guard, you're not doing your jobs, so let's get it done! Pass it along." She barked at the pegasus flying next to her, who nodded with a short "yes Ma'am" before passing the information down the line. Slowly, squads broke off, then further into their contingent parts until individual soldiers were dispersing through the town. Echo made a bee line for the Library, and knocked on the magical door which -- thankfully -- now resonated as though it were corporeal and not ethereal. It creaked open slowly and Twilight peeked around.

"E... Echo? How do I know it's really you?"

"You know me Twilight, you experimented on me all the time, remember? Can I come in before somepony sees me?"

"Y... yes... I guess that's a good idea. I'm so sorry, Echo," she nearly sobbed, "I'm so sorry that you were attacked... it's all my fault."

"It really wasn't. Changelings are good at deceiving ponies. No shame."

"I wish that were true. Is Scootaloo still doing okay?"

"Yeah."

"Where's Rebound?"

"About three kliks inside the Everfree with my hoofprint embedded in his face-chitin."

"Well... you've been busy."

"Not nearly as busy as I fear we're about to get."

Author's Note:

Ho-lee crap.

It's been a while.

Feel free to curse at me in the comments below.

Hopefully you can forgive me for being ... nearly a year late.

Let it not be said though that I lie about stories being alive. It was a hiatus, but it is still alive.

Good to be back.

CoAlFire

Comments

[CoAlFire]

5503066 Yep. Just posted a new chapter.

:P

[vren55]

5566987 Goddangit I have more competition returning to the scene XD

Glad to see a new update though, even if its rather short. Problem is I'm going to have to re-read this story because I forgot where it went :P.

[Halfmeca]

Forgot this was a thing glad to see an update

[vampyr-pony]

Yay!!! your back! (tackle hug) I missed this story.sorry

[pahnazd]

Not gonna curse you - instead, have a return hug! Or whatever equivalent of it there is.
Well, seems like things are about to turn into a really fun time.

[The almighty bread god]

*proceeds to curse you out for taking so long in a series of clicks and buzzes*

[Bast]

Yaaay it is back \0/

[TheMyth]

[Europa]

GLaDOS voice, activate!

It's been a looong time. How have you been?

[Father Figure]

Rebound. Ever since he was introduced has been one of my favourite characters. I'm not sure why, he's just great.

[CoAlFire]

5568003 Actually, I'd kind of like to know why, too.

Any chance you can point out some of the things you liked so much?

[Father Figure]

5568152
I feel like his attitude has a bunch to do with it, but I'll reread to find out why I enjoy his character so much.

[Kenshinryuu]

Rebound, asking a lady out on a date in the middle of a military operation is just plain stupid. At least wait until she's off duty and relaxed. But if he makes a nuisance of himself... sic Scootaloo and the other Crusaders on him!

[CoAlFire]

5568281 Lol.

Are you telling me you never asked a lady out at a bad time? Hormones get the best of you sometimes.

[Father Figure]

5568152
Alright, I found out why I like Rebound. He's a bit of a dick in the funniest ways, but he's very protective and altogether pretty damn clever. Wouldn't mind seeing him get a tad more depth in later chapters.

[Kenshinryuu]

5568296 Unless asking about a group get together counts, then no.

[Philosophysics]

TSUNDERE!

[Lucky424]

Well... this happened.

[TheGreatEater]

Night guards," Luna began, "you, too, are placed under the same chain of command. You and the Solar regiment will have shift changes exactly as you would normally.

Cap. [Since they are a group / orginization (military org.).]
______________

[Emperor]

Well, if Echo rejects Rebound altogether, he's just gonna have to catch another mare...

*Puts on sunglasses*

On the rebound!

YEAAAAAAH!

[Guner]

6725227 NO JUST NO