Well, well, well, would you look at that! Chapter 30 already! I decided, hell with it, I will just have to finish this story arc and get Head Hunter back to the 'present' all in one chapter! Welp, here it goes!
Chapter begins in 5... 4... 3... 2... 1!
As planed, Head Hunter was standing at Celestria's left side, just off of the center platform. The music started, the doors opened, and Head Hunter braced himself... For two hours of boredom. Things went smoothly, until about fifteen minutes into the ceremony.
There was a whisper in the wind that ticked Head Hunter's ear. The sound of struggle, of panic, but it was gone in an instant. The sniper shrugged it off, but a minute later he heard it again. He snapped to attention to realize he hadn't payed any attention to the actual wedding. Princess Cadence was about to say her vows.
Suddenly, the doors burst open, and standing in the doorway was Twilight and... Princess Cadence? This version of the Alicorn was dirtied and bruised. Yet, wasn't Cadence, clean, dressed, and happy, standing in front of Celestria?
Head Hunter's mind suddenly click in place, and he know what has going on. He HAD seen that style of magic before. On the Hill in the crystal empire, standing over Scout.
He started to walk over to stand by Twilight and the REAL Princess Cadence when Applejack stopped him. "I think you better sit this one out, partner."
"No. Move."
"I really don't think this is your fight!"
"But it is. I know what is going on here! No MOVE!" The farmer was surprisingly strong.
As Head Hunter finally pushed the Apple Farmer out of the way, it was clear that he had missed a large portion of the conversation. The impostor Cadence created a ring of green magic around her, and revealed her true form: Princess Chrysalis, Queen of the changelings.
Princess Celstria now moved into position to challenge the shape shifter. She took to the air and shot a beam that harnessed the power of the sun itself, only to be stopped by the green beam that was feed by stolen Love energies. Celstria lasted meet seconds.
The Elements of Harmony rover to her as the Queen of Changelings floated over her victory.
The protective red shield that had incased the city now shattered, letting in thousands of Changelings.
"The Elements of Harmony..." Celestria's weak voice barely made it to Head Hunter's ears.
Twilight looked back at the sniper, wide eyed. He nodded, and accompanied by most of the elements of harmony, he bolted down the hallway. Rarity stopped to catch the dresses and fancy clothes that where discarded by the ponies for speed, though she too, quickly followed suit. Head Hunter made sure he snagged both of his rifles on he way out, but he did not remove his cape or 'dress hood.'
"Get to the elements. If they are half as powerful as rumors say, they well due the job. I will provide Overwatch from the Princess's tower. Hurry!" Shouted Head Hunter, starting to turn down another hallway.
"But what if they come for you?" Twilight shouted back.
"I will be ready."
"But the odds will be a thousand to one!" She replied.
Head Hunter stopped at the base of the stairs that led to the Princess's tower. "Then it is an even fight. Burn their mongrel hides!"
(Brownie Points to whoever can identify who said that, in which game, and when!)
...
Apparently, the only way to the perfect Sniping spot was through Princess Celestria's... Bedroom. Head Hunter did the best he could to stay focused, but he was already anticipating the awkwardness ahead.
There were two royal guards stationed at the doors to the bedroom, but they seemed to know what was going on. When they saw Head Hunter coming, they stood at attention and saluted. Unsure what to do, Head Hunter simply saluted back. The guards opened the door, then followed him inside. The door to the balcony was closed, which was strange, as Head Hunter had seen the room from below, and was unaware it even HAD a door. There were another two guards on the opposite side of that door, facing outward toward the balcony.
One of the guards accompanying Head Hunter reached to open the door, but the sniper stopped him.
"There are guards on the other side of that door." He whispered.
"Yes, I know." The confused Pony replied.
"They are changelings! Look, their armor looks... Weird, and they don't have weapons! And look, thy are not even standing at attention! The one on the left half glances back every five seconds!" As if on cue, the mentioned pony did, in fact, look back, but it quickly turned it's head forward.
"What do we do, sir?" Asked the second real Royal Guard, half leaning on his Spear.
"Stand back." Head Hunter took a step back, then 'spartan Kicked' the door open, sending the changelings flying.
The right hand changeling recovered quicker, and jumped to attack... But was stopped when a 9mm bullet entered his skull. The other changeling suffered a similar fate. After a moment, the dead changelings reverted to their natural forms. Head Hunter holstered his Lugermorph, though it shall now be called what it had become: Luger P08. (But I will refer to it as 'Ludgermorph' occasionally to keep continuity.)
"Now what do we due, sir?" Asked the more experienced Royal Guard.
The two Guards seemed less shocked at the killing than did most ponies after their first experience with an up close death by gunshot. While it was clear that hadn't seen someone being killed with their own eyes, they did not cower or show any sign of fear. Head Hunter made a mental note to complement Celestria on her royal guard. But the more difficult task was yet to come.
"Take the bodies and... Ugh, well, toss them over the edge." He sighed. "I don't like to disrespect the dead, but this needs to happen. We need a clear area." The older Pony walked over to complete his task, though with a hint of hesitation. "You." He pointed to the other Pony. "Watch our back. If anyone comes up, ask them their name and city of origin. Changelings can't imitate voices, only shapes." He looked over to the older pony, who had just completed his task. "You. Watch my back out here. Yell if you see any changelings flying in this direction. Got it? Good. Move."
The ponies scrambled into their respective positions, and Head Hunter set down his rifles. He then picked up his Hitman's Heatmaker, looking down the scope. The Elements of Harmony had just made it into the town square. The changelings Head Hunter had already killed must have been a scouting party, because the true attack had just began.
Chrysalis clearly wanted to stop the ponies from accessing the Elements of Harmony... Badges? Medals? Head Hunter was still unclear as to what they actually were. But it didn't matter at that moment, as Head Hunter watched Changelings Kamikaze dive, trying to hit the ponies. He opened fire.
The changelings where not all down on the ground yet, so the were disorganized. Whenever one tried to gather a group, Head Hunter put him down with mute effectiveness.
The Ponies where have way to the target when Head Hunter ran out of ammo in his primary rifle. He set it down, then looked back and called out, "Status report!"
"Clear sir!" Rang the dual voices of the Royal Guards.
"Changing Weapons. On my go, change shifts. Three, two, one, GO!" He quickly grabbed his AWPer Hand, folded out the bipod, and set it in position.
He looked down scope and noticed a significant zoom difference. He looked at the scope and realized that it was adjustable, but was set to the shortest zoom. With a turn of the dial, he set it to max zoom and looked back through the scope. It was now much easier to see and aim, but it was a bit more touchy, too.
The Elements of Harmony were surrounded by changelings. Suddenly, about a dozen of them changed to take Twilight's form. Though he could not hear the voices from below, he could that the changelings were taunting the ponies. Head Hunter targeted the changeling in the front, and fired. The beast's head went soaring through the air, and the fighting started.
Head Hunter tried to cycle a new bullet into the chamber, but the gun seemed to jam. He visually check the bolt to realize that it now also required being pulled back a bit before pushing back into position. The process felt smooth, but not as smooth as before. He looked back down scope, only to realize that the fighting was too thick; he would probably hit a friendly.
"They're coming!" Shouted the Royal Guard beside him.
Head Hunter looked over to see that he was pointing at a black dust cloud. It took him a moment to realize that the 'dust cloud' was actually a swarm of the buggers.
Without bothering to aim, Head Hunter fired, cycled the bolt, and fired his rifle repeatedly, but the gun soon ran out of ammo. He dropped it, and ran inside.
"We need to move, now!" He shouted, hoping the guards would follow him.
"Where can we even run too?" Shouted the younger one, who was on the verge of panic.
"I had a friend help me set up a certain hallway with surprises for our 'friends.' He just need to get there quickly or else-" He was cut off as a window exploded open, and a swarm of changelings rushed in, trapping the royal guards.
"Damn it. I could have used their help!" He muttered, not stopping for a second. He heard the buzz grow louder behind him.
He burst into the hallway he had mentioned to his allies with the entire swarm behind him. He darted to one side, touched a rune on the wall, then darted to the other side and touched another rune. He took two more steps, then he turned and held his arms out. A wall of flames sprang up between him and the swarm, and his dual Cleaners Carbines flow out of their hiding place in the walls into his hands. When the flames died down, he was ready from them.
Time seemed to slow to a crawl as he pulled both triggers. He watched every round go down range and hit it's target. Scores of changelings fell, but still more came from behind those who fell.
With a flick of his wrists, he reloaded both SMGs, and started walking backwards. Finally running completely of of ammo, he tapped another pair of runes on the wall. A huge gust of wind pushed the changelings back, and Head Hunter's Tribesman's Shiv came up from the floor on a pedestal, accompanied by twin shock-changes. He grabbed all three items, and three both charges as hard as he could as soon as the magic wind died down. This created a bottle neck as the buggers could only get through in the middle to avoid being electrocuted.
Head Hunter hacked and slashed, but still he found their numbers enormous. He found himself being pushed back into the room he needed to avoid at all costs: the Wedding Reception. He found himself push up against the door. Then he was pushed through the door.
His Shiv and Luger clattered out into the floor as the Changelings dragged Head Hunter in front of their Queen.
"The only reason I let you live is so you can witness my victory!" She cackled like and old hag. "Put him with the others! "
Head Hunter was thrown on the ground. When he looked up, he saw all of the elements of Harmony had also been captured. Twilight looked at him with the look of defeat in her eyes.
Suddenly filled with energy that comes from defying evil, Head Hunter stood up. He turned to face Queen Chrysalis. "Hey, Bitch. I ain't done with you yet." He started to walk toward her.
Some of the changelings moved to stop him, but the Queen of Changelings waved them off. "And what else is there for you to do, hmm? Ha ha. You have no more weapons, human!"
"Your wrong. I have one left." Head Hunter reached into his vest, and pulled his final, secret weapon out from it's secure place.
To an untrained eye, it looked like a Metal dumbbell with a strange peak in the middle of the handle. Head Hunter knew it was much more. He gripped it as he had been instructed to, and he triggered the activation button.
Twin blades of seething plasma erupted from the handle, both pointing in the same direction as the peak in the handle. The blades formed crescent moon shaped around the edges, the proceeded in one direction, gradually tapering to the points. It was a powerful and intimating sword.
Everyone in the room displayed shock at the weapon, even Celestria, whom Head
Hunter just realized was in a cocoon hanging from the ceiling. Head Hunter took up a dueling pose.
"Come at me, Bitch." The sudden use of language was sign of Head Hunter's extreme anger and hatred for Changelings in general.
What neither Chrysalis, nor Head Hunter realized was that Twilight had taken advantage of the distraction to free the real Princess Cadence, who in turn freed Shining Armor from the spell he was under. Everyone finally noticed these facts when Pinkish/Red light started pouting from that portion of the room.
"Really? She will be defeated by the power of 'true love?' That's a load of Bullsh-" Head Hunter was cut off by an explosion of magic that blinded him. He fell unconscious again.
...
When Head Hunter came too, everyone was still in the wedding room. He sat up.
"Man, I've got to stop doing that!" He muttered.
What happened for the next few hours was... Well... Boring, and of now actual value to the story. There are only two things you need to know from what happened during this time:
1.) The Changelings were confirmed Banished from Equstria
2.) The royal guards the had helped Head Hunter were confirmed alive and well... And were both awarded metals for their bravery.
That night, Head Hunter slipped away with Luna to formally Brief her. When he finished the story, Luna emitted a low whistle.
"I should visit Canterlot more often!" She said, humorously.
"Yes, I think you should." He sighed. "I... I think my work here is done... You would not happen to know how to send me to the future, would you?"
"Well... I guess We should check the Scrolls if Starswirl the Bearded." She suggested.
And, simply so, they found enough information to create a spell that would send him back to his time permanently. The 'official' time travel spell wore off on mere minutes, but the spell that Luna and Head Hunter created needed much more energy than one being could provide.
...
A remedy was found. Princess Celstria, Princess Luna, Princess Cadence, Shinning Armor, and the elements of Harmony stood in a circle around him. With a nod from Celestria, everyone began to pour energy into the spell.
As the world started to fade to white, Head Hunter saluted everyone and said, "See you when I See you!"
'Every-pony' saluted back. Then Head Hunter closed his eyes and waited for the world to turn back to the time he was from...
(Took forever to write this! DOUBLE brownie points to whoever can tell me where 'See you when I see you!' Come from! Also, this feels like an ending, but it really is just the beginning of a new chapter!)