Troton, AT6 Headquarters

18:00 Hours

SFC. Blaze, AT6

April 1st

Blaze slowed his descent as a team of unicorns and pegasi helped his team land through the dense fog that had settled in Troton. Since it was the most excluded of the towns in Equestria, Troton was selected to house the AT6. It was also the farthest away from any changeling occupied cities and military bases, making it safer for the Princesses to run their strike team from the city. Keeping his eyes on the pegasi waving their hooves in the air, Blaze made sure to keep his hooves down to the ground, with unicorns using their magic to light up portions of the fog needed for the pegasi to lead Blaze's team to safety. As he pushed through the fog, the runway became clear, and the pegasi now accompanied the AT6 team in using it to land. Already at the runway was a group of radio operators and mapping specialists who had helped give them resources and Intel on their mission. Regardless of how well the mission went over the radio, they always liked to see the teams land back at base before confirming the operation was over.

"Take it easy, nice and steady now!" Somepony shouted from the runway, as though it even needed to be said. Blaze was now merely inches from the ground, and flapped his wings quickly as he made sure to keep his hooves facing the pavement. As he touched down, he retracted his wings and looked behind him, seeing the rest of his team beginning to touch the ground. Nodding, he began to walk over to the barracks. His part in this was done. All he needed now was to rest up. Unlike the rest of his team, he didn't interact much with the other members on base.

"Hey." He heard from the side. Looking right, he could see Twilight coming towards him, a small smile across her face. The headset on her head somehow made her look more serious than she usually was. Twilight was always concerned about making deadlines and getting things accomplished, which made her somewhat annoying at times. Still, she was one of the few ponies Blaze felt he could open up to.

"Well, if it isn't the great protégée of Princess Celestia herself." He said with a sarcastic tone. Twilight shook her head and came right to the side of him, now walking alongside him.

"You did well out there." She said. Blaze shook his head, refusing to accept the compliment.

"We didn't find the general. We failed our mission." He said as he opened the door to one of the barracks. Inside was a group of ponies sitting and discussing about something, a map in the center of them. To the side of them were two AT6 operators walking through, not paying any mind to him and Twilight. The building itself was mostly basic in it's interior, only containing a mess hall, a training area, and a few rooms for the soldiers. One of which was a resting area, which Blaze found himself at constantly. It wasn't that he was lazy, but having Chrysalis in his head was not pleasant. And after a mission, he always felt exhausted. Besides, he wanted to be alone. He never could truly be alone with the Changeling Queen always in his head, so isolating himself helped him get the illusion that he could be by himself at times. Twilight stepped in front of Blaze, a frown stretching across her face.

"Blaze, he wasn't there. He must have evacuated the city. It wasn't your fault." She said with a matter a fact tone. There was a slightly higher pitch in her voice, and Blaze could already tell what that meant. She knew something was wrong, and she wanted him to tell her what was bothering him. Blaze stared emotionless at her for a few more moments, until she broke the silence once again.

"This isn't about the mission... Is it?" She asked with concern. Blaze looked away not wanting to discuss it. He knew that Twilight meant well, but sometimes she didn't realize what she did would cause more harm than good. All he needed right now was to just get his mind off of what had happened, not go into some tearful therapy session with Twilight.

"It's nothing to worry about, just forget it." He said with the same tone he had been using, not giving any indication of wanting the conversation to continue. Before he could get away from her, Twilight reached out and grabbed one of his forelegs gently, which was enough to make Blaze turn around and face her. There was a sad look in her eye, and there was evident care in her expression.

"Blaze... We agreed when we got together that we'd tell each other everything." She said calmly. Blaze sighed and looked at the ground, trying to decide whether or not to just brush her aside again. He did care about her feelings, but there was a line between being caring, and being invasive. Then again, most of the time he never had anypony to talk to about what went on in his head. Sighing again, he turned to face her again, this time with a softer expression.

"No... It's not about the mission..." He said with a shake of the head. Twilight placed a hoof on his face, and leveled his eyes to her own, making sure that he was looking at her as they talked. When they were aligned, she released his face, and placed her hoof back on the floor.

"It was her... Wasn't it?" She asked.

"What do you think?" He shot back with an irritated tone. Twilight reared back slightly at this, and Blaze instantly regretted saying those words the way he did.

"Sorry..." He said meekly. Twilight just nodded, no longer reared back.

"It's okay..." She said quietly. Blaze sighed and shook his head again, still not wanting to talk about what he had seen inside his head. He invited her to walk with him to the resting areas, to which she agreed. They passed a few operators on their way there, but the barracks were relatively empty, since only a couple of AT6 teams even existed anyway.

"What did she do to you this time?" She asked, her voice soothing Blaze's anxieties slightly.

"Everything that haunts my nightmares. She showed me my home being destroyed, my torture, our session, and..." His voice trailed off, becoming frail and weak. He stopped in his tracks, his lips forming a downward curve as his ears pointed downward, and his eyes clenched shut, almost as though he were in pain.

"What? What did she..." Twilight started asking, before pausing. Realizing what was wrong, she placed her hoof on his back, comforting him.

"Blaze... You did your best..." She tried to tell him. Blaze shook his head, a single tear coming down his eye.

"That doesn't even matter... You saw what happened to them... What the changelings did to my family... What they did to her..." He said as the sorrow in his voice began to become evident, despite his attempts to keep himself collected.

"I know what you're going to say next... What happened to Sally wasn't your fault..." She said quietly. Shaking his head again, Blaze looked up at her, tears still trailing down his eyes.

"Well then whose was it Twilight? Care to enlighten me?" He said, a hostile growl emanating from the sentence. Twilight noticed this immediately, and backed away slightly. Blaze looked away, moving back into his thoughts. Everypony said it was because of the changelings, and what they had done. That just sounded like an excuse to him. Anypony who used that clearly didn't want to accept the blame for the things they had seen. It made sense, and it seemed easy for anypony to accept that. But not Blaze. In his eyes, he was equally responsible for what happened to Sally.

"Just give me some time alone." He said. Twilight opened her mouth to protest, but froze just as she was about to argue. Instead, she merely sighed, and gave Blaze a small kiss on his cheek.

"You know where to find me if you need me." She said with a slightly higher pitched. Blaze walked away, not once looking back at her.

...

Seaddle, "Red Zone"

18:00 Hours

Master Sergeant Gear, Equestrian Army (75th Regiment)

April 1st

Gear ducked back underneath a trench just as a trail of fire and shrapnel ripped through the air above him. To his right, Joyce had one hoof over her head, trying to keep herself shielded. Her helmet would have repelled the blast, but Gear could understand her fear. Gear quickly adjusted himself, firing another six spikes down the field of battle before once again seeking the refuge of the trench. He was almost out of ammo, so he got one roll of spikes out and wrapped it around his foreleg, that way it would be ready once his current roll ran out.

"It's no good sir! Comms are bugging out! We can't call in air support on these guys!" He heard somepony shout from the right. Gear shook his head, not happy with his current predicament. The enemy had brought in reinforcements, now outnumbering his guys over 3 to 1. Another wave of heat flew past him as an explosion went off in the middle of the battlefield, though me managed to keep himself where he was.

"Take some men and get onto the far side of the city, see if you can set up a perimeter." Gear said as prepared another flash rock. From his right, Joyce popped up and fired two more rounds, instantly ducking back down once she had finished firing.

"The far side takes us too close to one of their compounds! The Marines have been pushing that way for weeks and haven't moved a centimeter!" Joyce shouted over the sound of gunfire, soon afterward taking another peak over the tip of the trench. Gear fired a few more shots when he heard his gun make a clicking noise. Ducking back under the trench, he ripped the empty roll of spikes off of his wrist, quickly moving the one he had stored on his foreleg into it's place. This tactic saved him about a second and a half of reloading, and while that wasn't much, every second counted out here.

"Then just keep your eye out for an opening in their lines." He said calmly. Joyce nodded as he could hear a scream of pain coming from the side of him. Looking to his left, Gear could see a stallion falling to the ground with a large fire spreading across his body, while he thrashed around giving deafening screams. Gear merely looked away, trying to keep his mind on the battle. Joyce however, was unable to due so, and stared in horror as their comrade burned alive. Gear looked back over to her, and motioned with his head back out to the battle.

"Stay focused Sergeant." He said with a collected tone. Once again he popped up, trying to see where the enemy was. Multiple changelings remained hidden away in their trenches, but a few climbed out and began to charge at them, clearly hoping to overwhelm the ponies and claim their trench. Gear wouldn't have it though, and brought his weapon up in front of him. Just as he was about to fire, an explosion went off right front of him, causing him to cover his head. Looking around, he could see countless other explosions along the battlefield, all of them completely distorting the view of the charging changelings. That was when it hit him. This was no ordinary charge. The changelings were sending everything they had at them.

"It's an all out rush! Everypony get ready for hoof-to-hoof combat!" Cole shouted over the explosions. With haste, Gear pulled out his knife from a pocket on his uniform, readying himself for the first wave. If they could hold off the charging force, the changelings will have given up a valuable position in the city, giving the Army and the Marines an advantage. However, these attacks were brutal, and most of them ended in a retreat, or a majority of the target unit either KIA or MIA. Gear feared neither one, and stood ready.

"Here they come!" Cole shouted again. Looking to his left, Gear could see his friend with a determined smile on his face, almost seeming like he had wanted an attack like this. The explosions were soon drowned out by the shouts of the changelings, trying to strike fear into Gear's troops.

"Stand your ground, this is our home, and we will not let them take it!" Gear shouted, a mass battle cry following it. Gear only raised his voice when he was rallying his men, and now was one of those times. As the first changeling rushed out of the smoke created by the explosions, Gear grabbed him by the neck and threw him down beside him. Before it could react, he plunged his blade into the combatant's throat, a squirt of blood registering a hit to its major blood vessel. Looking back up, he could see a group of five changelings in front of him, and raised his gun to fire.

"Hold them!" He shouted, firing two rounds before he was forced to block an attack from one of them. Jabbing forward, his hoof connected with one of their jaws, knocking it back for a moment. Utilizing this, Gear expertly dodged the attacks of the other changelings, stabbing one in the chest and then using it as a shield to block the second one's strike. The third changeling recovered and launched himself at Gear, but he ducked under the strike, and threw his hoof into his gut. Before he could land a hit on him though, another group of changelings broke through the smoke, forcing him to focus on them now. He managed to stab one in its gut, but three others surrounded him. The previous two were also in a circle around him, making it five on one. It didn't matter to Gear though. He wasn't afraid of being outnumbered.

Two changelings attacked him, but he managed to catch their blades. The other three then attacked, and while he dodged two of them, one got a slash across the left side of his face. Not letting this stop him, Gear threw the two changelings he had stopped on the ground, then stabbed one of the remaining three standing. After another dodge, he landed several slashes against the one that had hit him, rounding it off with a strong slice across its throat.

"Sir! Are you alright?" He could hear Joyce's voice shout from somewhere else in the trench. Gear knew that she couldn't help him, so he saw no point in answering the call. Ducking under another attack, he thrust at the changeling in front of him, but it managed to back away and avoid it. Behind him, the two changelings he had knocked to the ground had recovered, and launched another group of attacks at him. Avoiding them, he rolled underneath them, tripping them once more. The third one launched at him again, but Gear caught his hoof. He quickly twisted his forelegs, gaining a disturbing crunching sound. The changeling screeched in pain, then elbowed Gear in his chest.

This left him out of breath for a moment, which the changeling used to shove Gear away from him. Having dropped his blade when his foreleg was broken, it was all he could manage to do. Taking a quick look to his left, Green could see innumerable other groups of changelings charging at them, at least four in each one. He knew he was being overrun, and he had to move further into the trenches. There was no escaping that fact. After blocking and stabbing the other changeling, Gear gave the order for his troops to fall back into the deeper parts of the trenches. Before he himself could move, he felt a changeling launch itself onto his back, and something sharp piercing his side. The burning sensation from the object made Gear grown in pain, and he started thrashing as he attempted to throw the changeling off of his back. Pulling out his blade, the changeling stabbed him again, making Gear shout in anger. With a sudden surge of energy, he threw the changeling off of his back, and stomped on his chest. After that, he forced his own blade through it's skull. Attempting to turn to the paths leading to deeper parts of the trench, he saw another changeling charging at him.

Before he could react, he felt it's hoof force itself into his face, and Gear felt his jaw burning intensely. Spitting out some blood, Gear caught the next punch, and withdrew his blade as he slashed at the attacker. Before he could, a spike lodged itself into its skull, and it fell over on the ground, dead. Confused, Gear looked over to the left, seeing Joyce with her gun pointed out. Her forehead had a fresh cut on it, which was slowing dripping blood onto her nose.

"Come on! We don't have time!" She shouted as she reached over to him. A sudden pain ran through Gear's head, as though struck by something. He fell to the ground, barely catching himself on his hooves. His entire body was on fire, and he was gritting his teeth. Hearing another thud noise, he looked to his left and watched as Joyce fell onto the ground as well, her teeth clenched as she began to breathe heavily. A group of changelings began to pick them up and bind them as the rest charged past them, now firing their guns at his team. Gear looked up to his captors, seeing a changeling with a cut along it's nose, fresh by the looks of it.

"Taking prisoners? Don't have the stones to kill us? Come on you cowards!" Joyce shouted in a mocking tone. A punch across the face was enough to silence her, and two more knocked her out cold. Gear felt a large force slam into his own face as he tried to keep himself from grunting. He could already tell that these punches were not to knock him out, but rather to force him to stay down.

"Our Queen needs subjects for her experiments, and you two make perfect specimens." One of the changelings hissed at him. Gear looked back over to Joyce, whose head now slumped on her shoulders as the changelings carried her away. Gear didn't know what was going to happen to them, but he had a bad feeling about it.