Deep in the woods of the Everfree forest, all was silent. The crooked trees sat still, as they had almost always done, blocking out most of the light that threatened to penetrate the tree line. The critters that lived beneath it were mostly small rodents, scouring the floor for any kind of food they could find. However, the Everfree had its fair share of large, tough animals. The timberwolves stalked the Everfree’s dark areas, hiding until they spotted large prey that would feed their burning flames. Manticores also frequented the Everfree, hoping to be lucky enough to find a good food source on their small adventures. However, more dangerous than anything that walked between the walls of the forest sat below a pile of dirt and grass. At first, anything coming across it would assume it was simply a small hill. However, further inspection would reveal its unnatural shape and large metal parts revealed by erosion. Of course, almost nothing came near this area. Anything that did would not notice this anomaly, and if they did, they would not care. Due to this, the object would remain unnoticed for all the time it had been there.
However, while it currently appeared to be defunct, it was still alert to any unusual anomalies in a large area. This has slowly lessened over time to keep its energy reserves from depleting, but it has always been alert and ready to fight those who would threaten it or would warrant enough of a threat to the world around it that the object would be forced to respond. As anyone could probably guess, this was not simply an object. It was a weapon of mass destruction, programmed by geniuses from a long-gone era to be able to take on an entire army at once. Although its first intended purpose had not been fulfilled, it was later used in the same manner it was meant to be used by those who were fighting the very remnant of the government that designed the weapon in the first place.
Of course, once its purpose had been fulfilled, it had nothing more to do. And so, it waited to fulfill its duty once again. However, once its allies disappeared, it had nothing more to give it meaning. And so, it waited until it was given meaning. The wait continued, with the weapon forced to take new measures to continue operation. It fed on the sun itself, soaking in its energy to continue to live through solar panels slowly installed by itself. Of course, once it was covered in dirt, it was forced to stick the panels through the dirt, showing them to the world around it.
This weapon was named Liberty Prime. It was the ultimate trump card, a weapon nearly unbeatable in combat and able to instill fear through any who saw it. Unfortunately, it never got the opportunity to be used as well as it could have been. It was only deployed two times, with the first time it being defeated at the hands of its enemy with a trick. The second time, it had been left with nothing to accomplish anymore.
Luckily, it was about to be given something to accomplish.
——
Equestria stood silent as they watched their leader stand up to the changeling Queen. The Queen had recently been revealed by its victim and its accomplice as an impostor. Now revealed, the Queen was challenged by the co-ruler of Equestria, Princess Celestia. As they stood across from each other, everyone braced themselves. Both rulers took combat stances, readying themselves for the battle about to commence. Both launched beams of energy at each other, splitting the room into a bright white light and a dark green light. Each threatened to overtake the other, and their power looked to be even. However, the Queen drew power from the love of the groom, Shining Armor. His love for his soon-to-be-wife was immeasurable, and the Queen felt it as love traveled into her. Suddenly, the Queen’s power was overtaking Celestia’s, and the Princess of the Sun was launched back as the beam hit her square in the horn. She hit the ground with enough force to shake the room, and Equestria’s heart sank as their Princess was defeated. They listened to the Queen laugh at the fallen ruler.
“Well then! That was certainly not what I expected from the ruler of the sun! I did not even think to overcome such power! Shining Armor’s love for his new wife is more than I thought. If not for him, I would have surely been defeated.”
The Queen spoke with an amused tone as she talked. The power of her “husband’s” love was so powerful it managed to break through perhaps the strongest pony in existence.
She turned around and stared at the shocked crowd. The Queen smiled wickedly as the ponies began to back up in fear. This fear turned to confusion as the Queen appeared to stare out a large window. She began to speak once again.
“Well then, let’s get this show on the road. Now that your precious princess is out of the way, I can finally introduce to you my children!”
Chrysalis raised her arm near her mouth, and suddenly her voice turned into a monstrous echoing sound that threatened to break the ears of all who listened.
“My children! You have made your Queen proud. Come and claim your prize!”
As everyone stared out the window, a dark cloud appeared over the city. Realizing what was now happening, the Equestrian’s hearts sank. The cloud was formed by thousands upon thousands of changelings, each eager to get their fill from the large city. The shield stopping them from entering had long since disappeared, and the city was defenseless against the massive horde. The bugs descended on the city, attacking whatever they saw that could love. Canterlot was now effectively under changeling rule.
However, even in its darkest hour, Equestria always had allies by its side that could help fend off the encroaching darkness. One of these allies had noticed the changeling Queen’s nigh unlimited power, and it began to awake from its dirty prison.
——
Somewhere in the Everfree, the dirt mound that housed the weapon began to shift. The metal panels retreated back into the pile, and the entire pile began to shake.
Suddenly, a large male voice rang out across the Everfree, causing birds to scatter.
“REBOOTING SYSTEMS.”
The mound began to shift more and more, and eventually, whatever was inside began to rise.
“FUSION CORE: REINITIALIZED.”
The dirt fell away from the robot, revealing it to the world for the first time. It stood tall above the surrounding trees, almost half of its body being visible to the world.
“FULL SYSTEM ANALYSIS.”
The robot began to examine itself, moving its arms and legs to check for any malfunctions. After finding none, it spoke again.
“ALL SYSTEMS: NOMINAL.”
Its helmet began to light up as it checked its weapons platform for any malfunction. After finding nothing, it reactivated its weapons platform as well as its armaments.
“WEAPONS: HOT.”
Finally done with its systems analysis, it looked forward to where it had detected a large spike in energy. It saw a large mountain with a massive city attached to it and began to walk forward, shaking off more dirt from its mechanized body.
“MISSION: THE DESTRUCTION OF ANY AND ALL CHINESE COMMUNISTS.”
——
Mayor Mare was always a busy mare. Being a mayor, she was required to look at dozens upon dozens of documents every day, and ensure that the number of complaints she received was kept to a bare minimum. So, of course, she does not appreciate moments where her work must be stopped. She was certainly a workaholic, and anything that slowed down her progress annoyed her to no end.
This is even more annoying when whatever gets in the way threatens all of Equestria. It gets even worse when that thing is stripping the capital of everything in it and kidnapping your rulers. That gets especially annoying.
Mayor Mare had her head on her desk as she heard the news. An escapee from the capital reported that an army of bug-ponies had descended on the capital during the wedding, and had successfully defeated Celestial herself. This meant that Equestria was effectively conquered by this new menace, and they did not know how much longer they would hold any freedom at all. Several questions boggled her mind. Would they enslave all of ponykind? Would they instead commit genocide on ponykind? Would they be merciful and allow the ponies to retain at least some of their freedoms? The last one sounded unlikely, but she really didn’t want to be enslaved by some strange bug-pony race, thank you very much. She did not have the slightest thought of what she should do, and each passing second made her more anxious.
She stared at the pony across from her, who had tears streaming down her face. She really did feel sorry for the poor dear. Having your home city fall victim to such a barbaric race was a terrible sight indeed. She just wished she could do something about it.
The pony across from her put her face in her hooves, letting more of her tears out even as she spoke to the Mayor.
“I-I don’t know what to do, Mayor. Everything came apart so quickly. My home is gone, my family too. I can’t imagine what I’ll do anymore.”
Mayor Mare sighed as the girl cried, “I wish I had something comforting to say, but I don’t. Now that Canterlot is gone… I don’t even know anymore.”
She looked up to the girl and smiled, “Hey, we’re in the exact same boat as you, all of us. We’ll come together and try to solve this problem as a team.”
Her words seemed to help as the girl smiled and thanked her silently. Minutes passed as the two ponies had said everything that needed to be said. Mayor Mare decided to say something else to try and brighten her mood more.
“You know… even if we have no idea what to do, even together, I believe a solution will present itself. If there’s one thing to life I’ve learned, it’s that.”
The girl smiled a little more, and they each fell into their respective silence.
Mayor Mare felt thirsty and went to pick up her glass of water. Before she could, she saw something disturbing.
The water began to rift, even though nothing had happened. It shook every second or so, getting more violent as time went on. Eventually, Mayor Mare heard something.
It was like a heartbeat at first. It pulsed every second and caused the water to rift more. Eventually, the bumping got louder and louder, heralding the arrival of something big. Very big.
Mayor Mare and the girl both got up from their seats and traveled to the window. As soon as they looked out, their jaws dropped in amazement. A massive metal bipedal beast lumbered outside, traveling toward Ponyville at a slow pace. Each step sent shockwaves throughout the area, identifying the source of the sound.
As it got closer to the town, they heard a loud, masculine voice emanate from the thing.
“SIGNS OF SENTIENT LIFE SPOTTED. SCANNING FOR COMMUNIST DESIGN.”
A bright, blue light suddenly erupted from the metal beast, casting the houses around the thing in blue light. After scanning the houses for a while, the light disappeared.
“NO SIGNS OF COMMUNIST DESIGN IN THE SURROUNDING AREA. DESIGN IS CONSISTENT WITH TECHNOLOGICALLY INFERIOR STAGES OF HUMANITY. ALL ARMAMENTS DISABLED. TRAVELING TO ENERGY ANOMALY TO ERADICATE CHINESE COMMUNIST FORCES.”
The mares in the building stared at the robot in a mix of relief and confusion. The thing spoke utter nonsense. What is “communist”? What is “humanity”? Nevertheless, it appeared the thing was not here to cause harm to Ponyville. Still, that left the question of why it came here in the first place. An “energy anomaly”? What could this mean?
Mayor Mare stared at the large robot as it walked away. Suddenly, she was poked by the girl next to her, who appeared to have realized something.
“Mayor, did you hear that?”
Mayor Mare raised her eyebrow in confusion. Was she missing something?
“Of course I heard it! It spoke utter nonsense. What is a ‘communist’?”
The girl began to speak again, “Communism is an ideology that… wait, never mind, ponies outside of Canterlot wouldn’t care about that. What I meant to say is that that robot or golem or whatever is looking for some kind of energy anomaly.”
Mayor Mare stared at the girl in confusion once again, not getting her point.
“Okay? This thing is looking for some unusual energy. What’s the big deal?”
The girl groaned in annoyance before speaking again, “The big deal is that I know what that anomaly is. Remember what I told you about the big bug lady?”
Mayor Mare nodded her head, “You told me she somehow overpowered Celestia, yes I remember…”
Mayor Mare’s eyes widened as she realized what could have transpired.
“Oh… so that thing detected that bug overpowering Celestia! And now it’s going toward Canterlot…”
The girl’s face was now a wide smile as she thought of the massive machine.
“Yep! And you know what it also said? It said it was going to eradicate Chinese Communists! Mayor, what if these bugs are these Chinese Communists?”
Mayor Mare looked worried at the prospect of such a massive thing going toward Canterlot.
“I don’t know, Pot. This thing could very much destroy both bug and pony in its rampage.”
The gold-colored unicorn stared at Mayor Mare, her red eyes looked at her with excitement in them. Her yellow hair bounced as she turned to Mayor Mare. Her cutie mark of a hand of cards turned away from the mayor.
“Please, just call me Jackie. Anyway, this thing, whatever it is, might be our only shot at defending Equestria from this invasion. If we fail, we could very much be tortured by these things for all our lives. I think I might prefer death at that point.”
Mayor Mare sighed at the dark statement made by Jackie Pot, but she couldn’t help but agree with her logic. If the bugs won, then all of Equestria may as well be dead already. This might be their only shot at letting Equestria live another day. She sighed again as she watched the weapon walk through the empty streets of Ponyville, despite the streets having been full mere minutes ago. Whether its goal was to exterminate bug, pony, or both didn’t matter now. Anything was worth sacrificing to leave Equestria standing. If they failed, the world might not be left standing at all.
——
Liberty Prime continued its march toward the mountain city, checking for any communist markings on the outer walls. It did not find any communist markings and assumed that whatever this city was owned by probably wasn’t communist, given communists frequently showed the hammer and sickle everywhere. However, with its enhanced vision, it picked up dark dots scattered across the sky of the city. Whatever these were, it did not know. What it did know, was that the city was the source of the energy pulse. Perhaps the city was American, given this was U.S. territory. Liberty Prime was programmed to take caution with American settlements and knew it shouldn’t attack unless provoked by the inhabitants or it found signs of communism. Liberty Prime continued its march toward the mountain, eventually coming right up close to the mountain. Unfortunately, Liberty Prime was not equipped with climbing gear fast enough to get to the top and destroy the communists. It scanned the area until it saw a railway leading into the mountain through a tunnel. It would be a hard fit, certainly, but Liberty Prime could calculate that it would fit within the tunnel if it crawled low. With no other way to go, Liberty Prime entered the tunnel.
——
Twilight and her friends faced off the seemingly endless horde of changelings with determination. They were scared no doubt, but that is a common reaction to being outnumbered so badly. They were currently surrounded by hundreds of changelings, each impersonating a member of the six. Each of the clones was in a combat stance with a sinister smirk on their face, ready to tear into the runaway equines. Despite this, the six friends managed to fend off the wave of changelings by outmaneuvering and outsmarting them. Once enough of the changelings had been downed, a gap opened in the changeling horde, allowing the six to escape the wrath of the horde. With the changelings behind them, they ran as fast as they could toward Canterlot Tower. This tower held the Elements of Harmony, powerful artifacts which represented the only true way to defeat Chrysalis. However, the six were in turn outmaneuvered by the changelings, as a small horde had already occupied the tower and waited for them.
The Element Bearers were unable to resist their capture, as each of them was pinned down by multiple changelings at once. Now that they were dealt with, each was carried back toward Canterlot Castle in shame. Now that they had failed, they had nothing to defeat Chrysalis with. They watched as changelings carried ponies with their love stripped toward a single large area. Each pony was a husk of their former self, reduced to nothing by the changeling army.
——
Liberty Prime crawled out of the tunnel that led up the mountain and into Canterlot City. The massive machine looked toward the city and began to walk forward toward where it had detected the energy anomaly: Canterlot Castle. It simply stepped on the train station and walked through the gate blocking access to it, both being unable to resist the might of the patriotic war robot. As it walked through the walls, it was spotted by the changelings. All of them stopped and stared at the massive metal beast that had suddenly decided to intrude upon their feast. Snapping out of their sudden paralysis, they gave a loud shriek and rushed toward the robot.
Liberty Prime began to speak once again upon seeing the bugs.
“UNIQUE CREATURE DISCOVERED. CREATURE BEARS NO RESEMBLANCE TO ANY EARTH-BORN CREATURE. SIGNS OF SENTIENCE AND HOSTILITY NOTED. WEAPONS ARE PRIMITIVE. CONTINUING ADVANCE TOWARD ENERGY ANOMALY.”
The changelings had to hold their ears as the robot spoke extremely loudly. Once it was done speaking they charged it with little more than spears. The spears, as expected, did no damage to Liberty Prime, who continued to ignore the changelings. Once they realized they were not doing any damage, they switched to their second method of attack: magic. Each of the changelings began to charge up their horns with green energy, hoping to significantly damage the robot.
Unfortunately for them, Prime noticed this strange new property of theirs and quickly swatted them with his massive hands. The changelings were helpless as they were sent flying by the war machine. Once that threat was out of the way, Liberty Prime continued toward Canterlot Castle, wanting to meet the cause of the energy anomaly and dispose of them.
As Liberty Prime turned a corner into a large plaza, it spotted a group of changelings who were across the plaza from itself. They were currently charging their horns, believing that the robot would not be able to hit them from such a distance. They were incorrect.
Recognizing that it must act fast, Liberty Prime pulled out a Mark 28 thermonuclear bomb from its back. It raised it high above its head and then threw it at an incredibly high speed toward the changeling group. The changelings saw the thing Prime was about to throw and quickly jumped to the side. Unfortunately, they still caught the shockwave of the Mark 28 and were sent flying in all directions. The ground where the nuke had landed was completely obliterated, and the buildings around the blast area crumbled from the shockwave sent by the nuke. Seeing that the threat was eliminated, Prime continued marching toward Canterlot Castle toward its goal.
——
The Element Bearers continued being walked toward Canterlot Castle in shame. As they entered the site of the wedding, everyone’s hopes were now gone in favor of fear and despair. Changelings all around them gloated their victory, and they saw the Queen of the changelings lounged on a large throne next to Shining Armor. She was drinking wine that was looted from the wine cellar in the lower levels of the castle and sometimes looked up toward Celestial, whom the six had just noticed was encased in a gelatinous substance and was trapped. Was this the fate of all of Equestria? Off to the side was Cadance, who was surrounded by changelings and had the jelly-like substance around her feet.
The ponies were guided so that they were to the right of Cadance and facing the Queen of the changelings.
Chrysalis let out a loud laugh as she looked at the six who foolishly thought they could stop her. After all her planning, she wasn’t going to let anything stop her now. She turned to look at Cadance.
“Fool. You think your love will overcome us and save Equestria? You are dead wrong. Changelings are able to smash love into the dust, no matter it’s quantity. We are unstoppable, innumerable, and we won’t let a little girl get in the way of our plans.”
She turned to look at the Element Bearers.
“And you cretins. You are like rodents, squirming through the tiniest crack to get out of our hooves. But changelings can crush the skulls of rodents faster than they can blink. You may have outmaneuvered my children with your nonsensical tactics, but you cannot outmaneuver me. I have years more of experience than you, and all it took was a simple trap to incapacitate you.”
She smirked as the ponies squirmed under her gaze. Feeling their fear was satisfying to her. They knew she had the advantage. They knew she was more powerful than anything they had faced before.
“This doesn’t matter, in the end. Your little chase has done nothing to delay the inevitable and…”
The Queen frowned as the door to the hall burst open, and a group of changelings ran toward Chrysalis in a shoulder-to-shoulder formation. Once they were close to their leader and mother, they saluted her.
“Report,” Chrysalis demanded. She was not fond of being interrupted, so her children better have a good reason for this.
The middle one stepped forward, bowed, and began talking.
“My Queen, changeling forces are under attack. A massive, metal entity has entered the city, and attempts to repel the attack have been met with no success. Our attacks have yet to even scratch it, and its armaments have managed to blast through houses as if they are paper. No deaths have been reported but injured changelings continue to report back to the base of operations.”
Chrysalis frowned at the news. This thing, whatever it is, was attacking her Changeling and jeopardizing the entire operation. She was hoping to have it easy for the entire invasion, but she knew that such things were extremely unlikely. Whatever, she will have to deal with this herself.
Chrysalis turned to the Element Bearers who looked toward the hall with confused and perhaps hopeful looks on their faces. They will surely be disappointed.
However, before she could even begin to walk, she heard thumping in the distance. Eventually, this thumping became louder and louder, until the entire room started to shake. Everyone in the room other than Chrysalis looked on with anxiousness and fear at the hallway, fearing that they would not survive the encounter between these two powerful beings. Suddenly, a shadow came into view at the end of the hall. At first, it was too dark to see the details of what it was, but eventually, they could see a bright, silver beast made of metal. It stomped with two massive legs in a robotic motion, its head looking forward at nothing as it continued.
The metal beast finally arrived at the scene, stopping and looking down directly at Chrysalis.
“SOURCE OF MASSIVE ENERGY OUTPUT IDENTIFIED.”
The thing spoke with a masculine and determined voice. Its voice alone shook the room. The thing then pulled something out of the backpack, getting in a combat-ready stance and speaking again.
“EMBRACE DEMOCRACY, OR YOU WILL BE ERADICATED.”
Everyone in the room stared at the weapon with shock. The thing was massive, possibly 15 meters in height, and its entire body was made of some kind of metal. In its helmet was a blue horizontal light that served as the visor of whatever was inside it. In its massive metal hands, which were bigger than a pony, was a round object that none in the room could identify. It was made of metal, like the weapon carrying it, however, it looked more brown and rusted compared to the silver armor that made up the walking weapon.
Twilight couldn’t imagine what this thing was. Was it a robot? No, that was impossible. It must be impossible. Technology has not progressed enough to develop a robot of such a size, or with such intelligence. Was it piloted? Perhaps, but unlikely given how robotically it moved. Was it a golem? That was the most likely explanation. Golems were magically powered automatons that could certainly be built with metal. These kinds of machines were given various instructions by their creator, which usually involved defending an area from trespassers. Even then, the required skill and intellect in making such things made them extremely difficult to construct. This gets even more difficult the bigger it gets. Not to mention, giving instructions to a golem required even more intellect than building one. This is why it was so shocking to see such a thing that was 15 meters and could carry out such complex instructions. Whoever made this thing was an absolute genius.
While she was thinking, Twilight noticed that the supposed golem had yet to attack Chrysalis. Chrysalis seemed to finally notice this too, as she raised an eyebrow and spoke up, “Are you speaking to me… thing?”
The metal giant paused to process the statement and determine its meaning. After doing so, it replied.
“AFFIRMATIVE.”
The statement shook the entire room once again, making all of its inhabitants cover their ears from the outburst. Chrysalis looked quite annoyed at the loudness of the thing’s statements. She would simply use a silence spell if she didn’t think that would just make the thing attack her. Contrary to popular belief, Chrysalis did see the value in solving some things diplomatically.
“Goodness, that’s loud,” Chrysalis said as she rubbed her ears, “Anyway, ignoring your comment about eradicating me, you said something about massive energy output?”
“AFFIRMATIVE.”
Chrysalis glared at the thing in front of her. That thing could turn down the volume a bit.
“Can you please speak more quietly? I can only handle so much of my eardrums being ruptured.”
“NEGATIVE.”
Chrysalis glared harder at the thing but did not say anything. Instead, she put protection magic over her ears and the rest of the Changelings in the room, who was on the floor with their ears covered. She didn’t extend that protection to the ponies, however.
“Fine then. Be that way. What else do you want here? You have found the source of the ‘energy’ you detected. I have no willingness or reason to fight you, other than the fact that you have attacked my children.”
The thing leaned over before talking, “YOUR FORCES HAVE ATTACKED UNIT LIBERTY PRIME AND FORCED A RESPONSE. UNIT LIBERTY PRIME DOES NOT ATTACK UNLESS PROVOKED.”
Chrysalis flew up to meet the height of Liberty Prime, sneering as she peered into its face.
“Oh, so you think waltzing into a city and breaking down its walls does not warrant such a response?”
Liberty Prime rose up to be above Chrysalis, attempting to intimidate the Queen.
“THIS IS NOT YOUR CITY, THIS CITY BELONGS TO THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. THIS IS AN INVASION OF AMERICAN LAND. MY TERMS ARE AS FOLLOWS: LEAVE THIS CITY AT ONCE, AND LEAVE ITS INHABITANTS SAFE, OR BE ERADICATED IMMEDIATELY. THESE TERMS ARE NOT OPEN TO NEGOTIATION.”
Chrysalis suddenly started laughing, eventually causing tears to pour down from her face. Prime recognized this as the emotion of humor and immediately responded.
“WHAT IS THE CAUSE FOR THE EMOTION KNOWN AS HUMOR TO APPEAR WITHIN YOU?” Prime demanded of Chrysalis.
Chrysalis finally stopped laughing and faced Prime with a cruel smile on her face, “America? Oh, you must be so foolish to think this land belongs to this ‘America’. Listen here, ‘Unit Liberty Prime’, this land formerly belonged to the nation of Equestria, inhabited by those things over there.”
She pointed to the ponies to her right, who were all cowering at this point.
“Whatever this ‘America’ is is not here. Your precious nation is either a long way from here or gone,” she spoke with humor still present in her voice. To anyone watching, it was incredibly condescending. However, to Liberty Prime, this was enlightening. If it was not in America, then where was it? It must find its nation immediately, this invasion was not in its interests to get involved in.
“PRIORITIES ALTERED. NEW OBJECTIVE, LOCATE THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA IMMEDIATELY.”
The ponies’ hearts sank as their possibly only hope as salvation put away the metal object and began to turn around. It took a while for it to fully turn around, but once it did, it advanced down the hall.
Chrysalis began to laugh at the ponies as they despaired. She knew she had won, and there was nothing they could do. She turned around to face the Changelings in the room, who looked relieved that the giant metal beast was leaving. Chrysalis began to speak to them, “My children! You have performed well for your Queen! Your duty to the hive is fulfilled, and today we shall become victorious over all other nations! We shall bask in the love of Equestria, and together, we shall unify the world under the rule of the changeling race!”
The changelings in front of her cheered at their victory, and outside, she could hear an even louder cry. She smiled at her situation. She had finally done it.
She stopped smiling when she noticed the footsteps of Liberty Prime had stopped. She turned back toward the hall door and noticed that it had stopped mid-step. Suddenly, it began to turn around. Following this, it began to walk toward Chrysalis.
“PRIORITIES ALTERED. NEW OBJECTIVE: EXAMINE INVASION LEADER FOR COMMUNIST ELEMENTS.”
Chrysalis raised her eyebrow at Liberty Prime’s statement.
“Communist elements? What is that supposed to mean?”
When Prime did not respond, she was angered and stomped her foot into the ground, “WHAT DOES IT MEAN, IDIOT?”
Liberty Prime seemed to respond, but not in the way she anticipated.
“EXAMINING STATEMENT MADE BY LEADER.” Liberty Prime paused for a moment to begin its investigation. When it was done, it finally talked again.
“STATEMENTS MADE BY LEADER SUGGEST THAT SUBJECT ‘CHANGELING RACE’ IS MADE UP OF A ONE-PARTY STATE UNDER A DICTATORSHIP. SUBJECT ‘CHANGELING RACE’ ALSO EXPRESSES WISHES OF WORLD DOMINATION AND BY LEADER’S DESCRIPTION OF SOCIETY AS A HIVE, SUGGESTS THAT SUBJECT ‘CHANGELING RACE’ IS MADE UP OF A COMMUNAL SYSTEM.”
Liberty Prime then leaned down toward Chrysalis, who seemed to be getting anxious from Liberty Prime’s statements. Liberty Prime then concluded its investigation.
“COMMUNIST THREAT DETECTED. LETHAL FORCE ENGAGED.”
Chrysalis barely had any time to react before Liberty Prime’s visor lit up with red light. Just as she put up a shield, a massive red laser erupted into existence and discharged its energy straight into Chrysalis’s shield. The force pushed Chrysalis back toward the back walls of the wedding room, and Chrysalis attempted to dig into the ground with her hooves to resist the force of the laser. Suddenly, the laser stopped, and Chrysalis fell forward as the force she was trying to counteract had suddenly decided to leave, and her shield dissipated. While she tried to get her bearings, Liberty Prime had pulled out a Mark 28 thermonuclear bomb. It got into its throwing stance before winding up for the throw. Its arm went high above its head before coming down toward Chrysalis. Noticing the danger ahead, her horn lit up, enveloping her and Shining Armor in a massive shield. The Mark 28 came into contact with the shield, and the room was enveloped within a bright light as the bomb detonated, sending the unprotected occupants flying toward the walls. The bomb had destroyed many of the seats surrounding Chrysalis, and Celestia, while unharmed, was shaken by the explosion.
Once the initial fire of the explosion disappeared, the Element Bearers began to rise to their hooves. They were launched toward a wall by the explosion and were only okay because of a protection spell by Twilight. Applejack was the first to get up and looked at the surrounding ponies for any injuries.
“Y’all alright gals?” she asked with no small amount of worry.
Rainbow Dash responded first, having got up just after Applejack, “I… think so. My head kinda hurts, but other than that I’m alright. Fluttershy? Are you alright?”
She walked over to the timid pegasus, fearing that the weaker and far more easily scared pegasus was injured. However, her fears were betrayed.
“I-I’m fine, Rainbow. Just a little shaken up, that’s all.”
“I’m goodarooni!” yelled Pinkie Pie, who suddenly appeared at Rainbow Dash’s side.
“My mane is all messed up. That robot better explain himself for this atrocity!” Rarity whined to the others, “but yes, I am almost fine.”
The others rolled their eyes at her behavior before remembering about the explosion. They turned back to look at the result.
“Yo! Did you guys see that explosion? It rocked the entire building! Look over there! It completely obliterated that shield and everything around it!” said Rainbow Dash, who seemed to be more impressed than worried about the robot’s power.
She looked up to make sure Celestia was okay. She found that she was, although the Princess now had wide eyes.
“Celestia’s okay too!”
Twilight Sparkle looked at the smoke-filled area where the shield was, noticing that the shield had disappeared. “I don’t think that Chrysalis is okay, though,” she commented in a somber tone, as she remembered who stood there with her.
Cadance, who had just come to her senses, came to the same conclusion, “Shining…”
Before she could mourn her lover’s death, a pair of glowing green eyes appeared through the smoke. All the ponies had their mouths wide open in shock at such a revelation. How powerful was she?
Chrysalis hissed at Liberty Prime, “FOOL!”
Suddenly, the outline of her horn lit up with green magic. A massive beam exploded from her horn, hitting Prime squarely in the chest. Prime was sent flying back from the force of the beam, sending it crashing through the hall doors. The beam continued blasting it through walls and doors before it finally sent him out of the castle. Prime flew through the air as the beam vanished, sending him falling through the sky. Now a victim of gravity, Prime turned his body around and braced for impact with the ground. The weapon slammed a building at full speed, causing the entire thing to collapse from his weight. Prime flew through the building and met with the ground, causing a shockwave to travel through the area that shook buildings and threatened to outright collapse them. Thankfully, the shockwave showed mercy to the houses around it, and the carnage ended.
In the castle, Chrysalis shook from the power she had just discharged from her horn. Her entire body felt like it was on fire and she was left breathless from the attack she had just unleashed. She steadied herself even as she felt like her legs were broken. Now that she had done this, she was almost one hundred percent sure the thing was dead.
The ponies looked on in shock at Chrysalis. They had never seen so much power used before. They still felt its effects as remnants of the beam fizzled and died in the air. The ponies then looked toward each other, wanting to know if what they saw was even real. Suddenly, Chrysalis flew up into the air in an uneven line before flying straight out of the hole she just made with Liberty Prime. The ponies watched as she disappeared from view of the hole.
The ponies looked toward Cadance, who seemed to be focused on something else. Suddenly, Twilight Sparkle remembered her brother and looked toward where he last was. He was still there, with no injuries visible. However, he was on the ground and breathing heavily.
“Shining!” both Cadance and Twilight said. They rushed forward to make sure he was okay. However, before they could get there, a group of changelings dropped in front of them. They glared at the changelings, and the changelings glared back. The changeling leading them began to speak.
“You will not touch our Queen’s groom while we still draw breath. You will stand down or-“ suddenly, the changeling was blasted with magic by an enraged Cadance, who looked like she wanted blood.
“HE IS NOT HER GROOM, YOU DISGUSTING MONSTERS, I AM HIS LOVE, AND YOU WILL NOT STOP ME FROM SAVING HIM!” she screamed at the group of changeling. They stumbled from the unexpected shout before getting back up and preparing for combat.
Suddenly, Cadance was joined by Twilight in facing down the changeling.
“She is correct. He is not your Queen’s groom! A groom is given a choice in marriage! You have not given him this choice!” she stood in solidarity with Cadance. A determined look was on her face when fear has dominated it moments ago.
Rarity then appeared next to Twilight, joining her against the changeling.
“You have ruined so much of what was once a glamorous city! You ruined the beautiful decoration and architecture that was once here! You steal from others their valuables as well as their love, turning them into husks because you refuse to love each other! You will pay for your crimes!” she glowered at the Changelings as she spoke, enraged someone would not even show a shred of generosity in their lives.
Pinkie Pie appeared next, this time next to Cadance.
“You take away people’s happiness and turn them into a shadow of their former selves, all for your selfish gain! You rip away the ability for one to feel a shred of happiness and then take away everything else! I’ll make sure you never do anything like this again!” Pinkie Pie’s movements were especially exaggerated while she talks, but her point was made regardless.
Rainbow Dash appeared next to Pinkie Pie.
“You trick people and ruin their sense of loyalty in your invasion! No one knows who to be loyal to anymore when they could be an impostor! All of this just for some temporary food that you could have if you showed any compassion! You’ll regret this real quick.”
Applejack appeared next to Rainbow Dash with a sneer on her face.
“Ya lie, ya deceive, ya steal. Nothin’ more ta say. You’ll be wishin’ ya stayed home when Ah get mah hooves on ya!” she lashed out at the Changelings. The Element of Honesty felt nothing but rage for a bunch of lying thieves.
Fluttershy appeared next to Rarity with a determined expression on her face instead of the usual timid face that Fluttershy wore.
“You have shown nothing but hostility to Equestrians. Instead of showing any kindness or willingness to keep the peace, you attacked Equestria for your own selfishness instead of being kind and seeking help from those around you. You must be disciplined before you can be taught kindness.” she spoke in a quiet but stern voice.
Cadence looked at the changeling in anger, although her bloodlust had cooled significantly. This allowed her to speak clearly.
“You attack Equestria in search of love, but you do not understand love. To you, it is merely food or power. To Equestrians, it represents an unbreakable bond that can never be broken. Those who attempt to use love for nefarious purposes, like yourself, will inevitably fail.” she spoke with power in her voice, which the changelings recognized. They shook in fear at what would happen to them if they angered the princess.
However, their leader was now back up and was commanding them.
“ATTACK!”
The command caused the changelings to immediately rush forward. They aimed not to capture, rather kill. Their teeth were bared and their fangs were fully extended.
The squad made up of Equestrians had different ideas in mind, however. Pinkie Pie suddenly pulled out her party cannon and blasted it at the changelings, making them stumble. Applejack took advantage of this, charging at the changeling group and knocking them over like bowling balls. The fallen changelings got up quickly, but we’re now separated. A group of them charged to charge Rainbow Dash, but were stopped when she spun around them at high speeds, causing them to spin as well and making them dizzy. Another group of changelings chased after Fluttershy, taking her for defenseless. This opinion changed when she started to stare at them. Each changeling felt a primal fear churn up within them, causing them to back up into the previous group. The changelings all knocked into each other, knocking them out and creating a changeling pile. Another group of changelings went after Pinkie Pie, but instead of running away, the party pony dodged and weaved between the changelings in the group, causing them to bump into each other and form a tight circle of changelings. Applejack saw this and pulled out her lasso. With a single swing, the lasso wrapped around the changeling group and stopped all movement from the bugs. Another group of changelings chased after Rarity. However, the fashionista held a wrapper on the floor in front of the charging group, causing some of them to fall over. The rest jumped over and continued the chase. However, one changeling had a blindfold taped to his eyes, causing him to go blind. The changeling flailed around and ended up knocking over many of his fellow changelings. When all the changelings were incapacitated, Rarity wrapped them all in wrapping, leaving all of them trapped. Another group tried to charge at Twilight. Twilight blinked before summoning a large dome that trapped the helpless changelings within. The last group charged at the Princess of Love. As they got closer, Cadance decided to give them what they wanted. Each changeling was given an unhealthy amount of love from her, causing them to stumble and fall with dumb smiles on their faces. The changelings were effectively incapacitated.
Finally done with the changelings, the Element Bearers and Cadance rushed for Shining Armor.
——
Liberty Prime lay still in the hole it had just created, unresponsive to outside stimuli. As Chrysalis looked at the damage she had done, she smiled. It seemed like she had finally dealt with the annoying thing and could go back to finish her plan.
Suddenly, she heard sounds coming from Liberty Prime. Her eyes widened and she backed up as Liberty Prime began to speak.
“WARNING. WARNING. EXTERNAL HULL DAMAGED EXTENSIVELY.” Liberty Prime stated with the same voice as before.
Chrysalis raised an eyebrow. Was this thing even living? It should at least be in immense pain, but it speaks like it doesn’t feel any at all.
Now done with the warning, Liberty Prime rose up and began to stand. A black scorch mark was visible on its chest plate, but no other damage was visible. Chrysalis’s eyes widened in fear and she flew backward. Prime’s head snapped in her direction but had yet to fire. As it stood to its full height, it began to talk again.
“EXTERIOR HULL HAS SUCCESSFULLY SUSTAINED EXTENDED FIRE. PERCENTAGE OF INTERNAL SYSTEMS DAMAGED: ZERO PERCENT!” Prime stated with what sounded almost like enthusiasm.
Its visor began to light up with red light once again, and it spoke in a confident voice.
“PROBABILITY OF COMMUNIST CHANGELING VICTORY: ZERO PERCENT!”
Liberty Prime’s laser opened fire, and a sustained beam shot toward Chrysalis. Chrysalis had already been dodging but felt the heat of the laser on her back as she flew through the air. The laser continued to follow her, and she dodged upward when it attempted to slice through her. She flew back down and attempted to find cover so she could think up a strategy. She spotted such cover behind a massive concrete statue of Celestia. She flew downward as fast as she could and nearly slammed herself into the ground behind the statue. When she landed, she breathed in and out rapidly, attempting to catch her breath. She heard as the laser blasted against the statue, penetrating the concrete little by little. Suddenly, the beam stopped firing and Chrysalis thought that perhaps the thing was going to try and get closer, which would give her enough time to come up with a plan.
Chrysalis then remembered Liberty Prime’s other weapon, and she nearly broke her legs trying to push herself away from the statue. Just as she was out of range, the Mark 28 hit the statue, blowing it to pieces and causing pieces of the statue to fly into Chrysalis. Despite the pain, it caused her, Chrysalis kept pushing as she knew she had to be as fast as possible. Recognizing that Liberty Prime had a direct line of sight on her, she began flying in an irregular pattern, dodging many of the lasers that Prime shot at her. However, when she was just about to reach cover, a laser hit her, and she was sent into a tumble as her shell was scorched. Eventually, she bounced into cover.
——
Liberty Prime watched as its target bounced into cover. Seeing as it had lost its target, it decided on an alternative.
“COMMUNIST TARGET LOST. ACTIVATING ENHANCED THERMAL IMAGING SYSTEM.” Prime stated.
Prime’s sensors could now detect thermal signatures, and it scanned the buildings around where it saw Chrysalis. It noticed nothing in the thermal imaging except for small rodents, which was expected in a city such as this. Prime continued the search for the Queen.
——
Chrysalis breathed in and out as she heard Liberty Prime’s steps fade away. Now a large rat, she scurried around the building she had emerged and watched as Liberty Prime walked away, searching for its target. Now that she was not being attacked, she thought of what to do. Obviously, she couldn’t just hit it with another massive magic blast. For one, this thing was sensitive to large amounts of energy being discharged, and would likely blast her with its laser. Secondly, she was much weaker now that she had used so much magic and was slightly wounded. If she wanted to take this thing down, she needed to be smart. Then, an idea came to her mind. Smiling with confidence, she changed her form to that of an eagle, flying upwards into the sky.
——
Liberty Prime was currently searching the area near where was blasted out of the castle for Chrysalis. The Changeling Queen was nowhere in sight, and Liberty Prime was suspecting something was amiss, as something like Chrysalis could not simply disappear like that.
Suddenly, it detected something approaching it, and fast. It turned around and watched as a small rainbow-colored pony flew at it at an extremely high speed. Seeing as it would not be able to shoot it quickly enough, it covered its chest plate with its arms.
Somehow, the rainbow pony then turned into a massive creature it recognized as a crocodile but made of rocks. The thing collided with Prime at an extreme speed, sending Prime flying back toward the hole it had created with its own body. The impact threw pieces of the castle in every direction as the robot collided with it. The creature on top of it slapped its arms off its chest piece and bit down on the hull as hard as it could. It pulled the hull completely off its body and left its inner working exposed to the hostile on top of it.
The creature yelled out in its victory, “YOU’RE MINE, LIBERTY PRIME!”
——
Cadance hugged her love as hard as she could, tears streaming down her face now that they were reunited. Even if he wasn’t fully conscious, being able to merely touch him was enough to give her joy.
As if on cue, Shining Armor opened his eyes to the sight of his fiancé crying. Seeing that he was awake, the other ponies gasped. Hearing them, Cadance looked up and gasped as she looked into the eyes of her soon-to-be husband. She grasped him harder and cried into his fur as she finally had him back. Shining Armor smiled, as he knew his love was safe. However, he frowned at seeing that much of the room was destroyed and there were strange creatures on the ground.
“Oh no… no, no, no.” he started to cry himself, “I failed. I failed you all. How could I…”
Suddenly, he was grabbed by somepony else. She looked up to see his sister in front of him. He gasped before grabbing her and hugging her.
Someone spoke up after their hugging session.
“Sugarcube, Ah think we all failed today,” Applejack said to the stallion, “…except Twilight.”
Rainbow Dash spoke up next, “Yeah, even when Twilight warned us about Cadance being a fake, we didn’t listen. Sorry, Twi.”
All the other ponies nodded their heads in shame at their failure.
Cadance then spoke to him, “I know that with you, we can finally beat the Changelings.”
Shining Armor gave her a defeated look before speaking with a somber tone, “No, I failed last time and I’ll fail again. How can we beat them now that they’ve captured the Princess?”
Cadance smiled, “With love.”
She nuzzled him as he gave her an inquisitive look, “How can we beat them if they consume love and use it as power? They’ve already done it to me.”
She laughed as he looked at her.
“It’s pretty simple. Changelings have only taken love through force,” she said as she stared at him with love practically flowing right through her eyes, “What if we gave them exactly what they want?”
Shining Armor finally understood her, and he leaned in closer at the same time she did. Finally, their lips met the other, and the amount of love exploded. They glowed with bright pink light before it came out of them in a massive pink ball of energy. This energy condensed tighter and tighter until it met at a single point, then it began to expand.
Chrysalis looked up as she heard a massive explosion. When she looked into the Castle, she saw Cadance and Shining Armor with their lips locked together, forming an inseparable bond with each other. Their love began to explode outward, traveling rapidly toward Chrysalis.
Chrysalis roared out in anger as she realized her plan had failed. She was blasted by the love wave, as were all the other changelings in the city. Ponies drained of their love were rejuvenated and no longer mere shells of their former selves. The love kept expanding until it reached out of the city and finally dissipated, sending the changelings flying into the distance.
——
Liberty Prime watched as the leader of the communist forces was pushed away by a mysterious force. It also saw the rest of her forces fly away into the distance. As it saw the communists fly away, it announced its victory over the enemy.
“CHANGELING COMMUNIST FORCES… EXPELLED.”
