Western Front/ Champagne/ Current Changeling General Staff Headquarters/ January 4th/ 1917

General Drax looked over closely at a rough map the scout drones (Smaller changelings who are tasked with scouting) had laid out before him. He had quickly dismissed them and took a rough look at the current battlefield. He certainly wasn't in Equestria for sure. He let out a grim chuckle. Invading this new world had been both the best and worst decision the Queen could have made.

These Bipedal enemies carried a far greater amount of love than Pony's. They also had other curious new emotions one might find rarely in a pony to feed upon. Lust and love for one functioned as separate emotion for these creatures. With Pony's the love always overpowered the lust. It was for this reason chiefly there was a...Let's say lack of intercourse between ponies. It was also a reason for why the Pony population had been slowly growing. Ponies lacked a sexual drive and didn't have large amounts of children. This is chiefly why their population had remained stagnate. His species new Bipedal enemies on the other hand Lust and Love functioned as two separate entities which neither overpowered the other. They simply also had a large manpower supply at their hands.

He liked these new enemies. They provided more of a challenge than the simple Ponies who could always rely on some magical deity to save them at the last second. These creatures no. They fought and clawed their way to victory. He had seen firsthand the brutality of this new Frontline. The ditches these creatures lived with were covered with the dead of both his species and theirs. At first, they had assumed them to be weak at melee which was why they fought with these funny wooden sticks that shot some sort of projectile. Instead, these creatures proved anything but that. He had already read through reports of the sheer savageness these creatures displayed when in melee. They used clubs, long knives, swords, and those projectile weapons which had some kind of sharp knife attached to the tip of it to stab and brutalize his men.

A week had passed since the initial invasion and these creatures kept surprising him in new ways. For one they and the land around them were devoid of magic. Many attempts by his men to change into the bodies of these creatures proved fruitless due to their bodies non magic properties. Even if they could change this was the real kicker. Their enemies spoke a completely different language from Equish or Changeling. Infact, they spoke many different languages. In the end infiltration was fruitless for now. Trying to decipher the Bipedals languages was a painful process according to the Changelings in charge of the process.

His forces however held the advantage in one key factor. The non magic quality of this Bipedal ape like species made them weak to regular changeling attacks. Hundreds of them were slaughtered in the initial attack as the Changelings magic functioned as some kind of acid to them which left them horrifically scarred. He had categorized the Bipedals into two groups. The ones in blue and the ones in gray. Both fought dramatically different.

When the initial attack landed within minutes, they outer defenses of the ones in gray were overrun however their complex of ditches was larger and more complex than the ones in blue. So, while the frontal defenses fell rapidly plenty of their men had hidden in the nooks and crannies of these ditches. Within these ditches there were underground barracks and tunnel systems which had to, be mopped up. These proved to be a nightmare to do so. The Bipedals popped up in several places at once, ambushing his men and then vanishing into the tunnels and ditches. Small groups of these Bipedals in gray moved around like ghosts in the ditches. Several units of the army had to be held back for the mopping up process which was amazingly still ongoing. On paper they had penetrated several kilometers into the lands held by the ones in gray and were close to pushing them off the current map. However, in reality many of these taken sectors held roving bands of these men waging hit and run tactics that made life as annoying as possible for his army.

These men were also the most skilled in melee had better weapons overall. Well, a specific core of them. They had an honor guard of their own or whatever they called it. They wore these masks. It was spooky. They showed a general lack of emotion in combat usually and easily could defeat one of his men in single combat. The same could be said for the Honor guard who if they were not wearing their armor they would lose to these men in mask's. Other than this little was known about these masked men.

The Bipedals in Blue Drax could only describe as suborn. They fought off the initial attacks the most successfully. It took about an hour to clear up their frontal trenches. This was of course at great cost. Unlike the Bipedals in Gray who were shattered during the first attack the men in blue fought like Manticores to defend their position. They're ditches were littered with blood-soaked snow and the bodies of hundreds of his men and their own. Their second line held out longer. It held for 8 hours, and they even launched counter attacks which while destroyed had to be fought off at further cost.

For an entire day the ones in blue manning their second line of ditches halted his advance in several places before a breakthrough could be truly achieved. He later learned that it was due to this that the Blunk of the ones in blues forces to retreat towards a new line of defense several kilometers away.

The Bipedals in blue were currently the most dangerous foe he had on this battlefield. They were growing in number if his scout drones where correct meaning that even though thousands of them must have been cocooned or killed at this point, they could still throw fresh soldiers in the battle.

To add more concern, his southern thrusts right and left flanks had been brought to a halt by the Bipedals in Blue. So far other than the heavy resistance at the first two lines of defense the men in blue had been retreating however it seemed they had some tricks up their sleeves. On his right thrust several elements of scout drones and honor guards had set up a trap for a retreating column of some of the Bipedals riding some kind of horseless carriage. They were quite curious as they relied on a power other than magic to propel them. As the report follows the ambush went into place and they destroyed all of the carriages and forced the men into the buildings for cover or killed them out. These carriages were easily taken care of by the honor guard powerful magic. However, it was then when the men in blue pulled their new card. Flying machines. Bucking flying machines!

They were far faster than any Equestrian blimp and they complete wiped the floor with the ambushing force. He lost an entire unit of Honor guard that could not be replaced so easily. This included their armor. He had also lost a further 3 units of scout drones with the rest being reduced to half strength. 1,200 fine soldiers of the changeling army as well as 230 Honor guard wiped out in the span of just several minutes. What a disaster! Even if the overall larger battle was won no changeling commander had ever lost that many drones or honor guard in the span of just a couple of minutes. The Queen would probably dismiss him or worst for such a defeat.

The second point of contention with the Bipedals in blue was in an insignificant town on his southern pushes left flank. Some one hundred or so of those Bipedals in blue were held up in one of large buildings in the small town and attempts to remove them had proven to be costly.

Right now, all he had to rely on for the push south were the men in the center formation who were moving in to take on the larger towns in the region.

The final thing that irked Drax's was the fact they couldn't use the Bipedal's weapons. They had wisely attempted to destroy most of them. His forces had captured a couple of them, but his men had no idea how to use them. Neither did he. His suggestion to put more efforts into finding out to effectively use these weapons were denied by the queen who ordered weapons destroyed claiming that they did not need them due to the success they were currently having. Her majesty was not wrong. They had cocooned thousands of the Bipedals and they proved a great source of love that would feed the hive for years. They also as he had mentioned earlier came in large numbers.

The hive was now saved from famine. The disaster at Cantrelot reversed.

However, they couldn't go after the Pony's anymore.

Not until they defeated these annoying Bipedals and a second army was made.

The Bipedals would probably be defeated by the end of the month or winter. The weather was slowly getting better.

It would be nice to fight in the warmth instead of the cold.

Western Front/ Champagne/ Boucanville/ Hours earlier/ 1917

"So, this is it I guess." Louis said to Captain Henri as he looked outside the window of town hall and watched thousands of those insect hell spawn creatures slowly and ominously coming down towards the town from the hills.

Captain Henri said nothing. Henri had wisely decided to move the wounded and the remaining men of the ragtag Africanus company and his infantry company into town hall. Town hall in question was a brick building with two floors. He gambled that the brick would provide a much better cover from the creature's acid than the wood of the mansion they had hidden in last night. He had an anticipated the small raid they faced last night was only an advanced forced to which he was proven correct. He had promoted Louis hastily to the rank of 2nd Lieutenant. The man was a quick thinker and has provided some basic good leadership during the raid.

It is not like he has a better choice.

"Tell the men to add anything the can to our current defenses. The creatures will be upon us very soon." He told Louis calmly.

The Lt with the golden beard and eyepatch nodded and walked downstairs.

He heard his men scrambling down below. He let out a sigh before taking one last smoke from his pipe which he had looted off a dead German in 1914.

He would face his fate here.

He walked downstairs and saw the men throwing anything they could to barricade the doors and downstairs windows. Any remaining shelves, tables, even lamps were thrown to barricade the 2 entrances and exits. He gently coughed and the men fell into formation.

88 of them. Thats what how many he had under his command. 1/4th of them were already wounded in some form or another.

The wounded gave weak salutes from wee they were set down or those who could stand gave a salute with their one good limb. Some of the wounded faces had been deformed by the acid and had to have bandages wrapped around them. Medical supplies were exhausted. They had stored as much as ammo as they could. They were all soldiers of France. French Africanus, and 1 American from the foreign legion.

He then spoke.

"Gentlemen. I will be truthful to you. Our chances of survival are next to none. I will not lie. We will not be making it out of here alive. Those of you who are too wounded to stand you will put down. We all know what those creatures do to those they capture alive. They cocoon them. Possibly to eat them afterwards. We are dead men. But we are dead men of France. We fight for the republic. For Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity. Surrender is not an option. I personally would never surrender to such beasts. We are children of France. God has chosen for us to forfeit our lives against such beast, and we will. We may be outnumbered 40:1 but just like our comrades at Verdun we will fight in the face of defeat. That is all prepare for battle."

The men let out a "Vive La France" before rushing to man their posts.

He could already hear the buzzing of the wings of those wretched creatures.

Thorax's POV:

He did not understand at all what the leader of the Bipedals said but the tone moved him a bit. He was still terrified. He would die here.

Would his siblings be able to tell he'd change and was stuck in this new body. He had signed his death warrant by trying to escape the hive. He emotionless looked out and assisted the Bipedals in their defenses. The Bipedal he'd befriended. The one with the Golden Beard had gestured him to stick by him.

He gestured with him to hand him those U-shaped magazines to put into his weapon when he needed to reload. He was positioned directly facing the large door to building they were in. He crouched down and aimed his weapon towards the door for when Thorax's siblings inevitably broke through. Thorax nervously fidgeted. Thorax breathed in and out.

"Get control of yourself" he scolded himself.

He nervously clutched the wooden projectile firing thing. He had learned how to fully use it.

He still tried to stomach the fact he might have to kill his siblings. What was he telling himself he would have to.

He could hear the taunts his siblings were throwing at his Bipedal friends.

"Come out you apes!"

"Surrender and we might spare you and your pathetic species!"

"Make it easy for use you monkeys!"

They were throwing these taunts in his language. It was pointless considering the Bipedals couldn't understand them, but he assumed the Bipedals got the general gist.

All it did was remind Thorax he would have to kill Siblings.

He felt the Bipedal with the golden beard clutch Thorax's shoulder to reassure him in some manner. Thorax realized he might have been too expressive with his nervousness considering he realized he was shaking.

He tried to calm himself again.

He then heard the projectiles from the weapons of the Bipedals began to be fired off.

Captain Henri's POV:

Captain Henri dashed across the building as his soldiers opened on their attackers. One of the men on the windows had already gone down as he was hit by acid in the head. He heard the man screaming in pure agony as a soldier next to him unloaded a bullet into the man's skull to put him out of his misery.

He heard shouts, screams of pain, and curses being yelled at to the creatures by his men. He positioned himself with the Bether Mil Bolt action carbine he took off the man that had just died and positioned himself in the man's place.

His Captains revolver would be no use at long range. He took a shot at one of the creatures as it flew towards the roof of one of the surrounding buildings to get a better angle. The creature never made it as the bullet hit it in the back causing it to go into a death spiral and crash into the floor. He then killed off another with a well-placed shot to the head.

They were charging forward as a massive swarm.

One of them manage to get dangerously close to a nearby building but had a bullet go into its neck by one of the men on the second floor. The man who shot it was then peppered by acid and swiftly died. His melting body falling off and hitting the floor with a crunch.

The creatures continued their assault. Several standing back and shooting their acid from cover into the building while others attempted to get close and personal.

A spray of acid hit Henri's officers cap melting it as Henri threw it off in a panicked fit. One of the creatures then burst through the window he was manning, but he swiftly pulled out his revolver and shot it through the right eye causing it to fall back screeching as it was then littered by bullets by the wounded who could still hold some weapon.

He heard a loud boom as part of the buildings left wall was torn open by a large blast. A blast that definitely came from the creatures in that blue armor. He was proven right as hundreds of those creatures charged through the hole in the wall butchering the dazed soldiers and wounded who were in the windows nearby or keeping watch on one of the nearby entrances.

Henri fired his revolver at the creatures as the bullets harmlessly bounced off their armor.

"For France drive them back!" He screamed as he unsheathed his officer's saber pointing it directly at the creatures in blue armor. One of the Light machine gunners by a nearby window sprang into action and opened fired a full magazine into the creatures before they blasted his head off. The wounded who could still weld weapons opened fired at well killing several as the bullets hit open spots in the armor or broke through it after some time.

One of the creatures lunged forward towards his second in command Louis as he tried to get out of the way but was to slow.

Just as the creature was about to pounce on the captains second in command a bayonet was thrust forward and impaled the creature through its chin via an opening in the armor.

Thorx's POV:

It was the spur of the action moment. He lunged upwards impaling his own Sibling through the chin with the sharp point of the Bipedals projectile weapons.

His sibling howled in pain as it struggled to get the blade out of its chin. He could see that through its gaping mouth the blade had also impaled his sibling's tongue. He shuttered and went into a brief shock as blood from his own kind was coughed onto him. He really just did that...

He tried to move his body to finish his sibling, but he could not bring himself to.

He lucky didn't have to as a projectile went through his sibling's helmet killing him. His siblings body slump onto the floor as Thorax slowly removed the bladed part of his weapon from his siblings' chin. He wanted to throw up.

He looked up to see the man who had shot the creature. It was the leader of the bipedals.

He had a black moustache and offered his hand towards Thorax. Thorax hesitantly took it. The Bipedal pulled him up before saying a few words in his own language to him before patting him on the back. The man then turned and ran back into the chaos unfolding.

Thorax was still in a bit shock. The blood of his kind stanned his new uniform and body.

Captain Henri's POV:

After giving the American a pat in the back Henri dashed forward to lead his men in full repelling the creatures in blue armor's break through.

The battle inside town hall had continued to get more chaotic.

His men fought the elite soldiers of the creatures back with rifle butts, bayonets, and their bare hands.

One of his soldiers was choking a creature, another bashing ones head in with a lamp, another screaming curses as he was pinned down and cocooned.

One of the creatures in blue armor charged forward at him. He dodged the acid beam it shot from its horn and then slashed one of its eyes out with his saber. It let out a loud shriek before he brough his saber through its armor. The blade going through an opening and impaling its neck. It let out one last weak cry of pain before sliding off the sword and falling on the floor dead.

The fired the last shots of his revolver at the creatures flooding in through the hole in the left wall the ones in blue armor made. He nailed 2 as they slumped down dead but were quickly replaced by another 10 running and flying through.

The ones flying around quickly began to unleash their acid beams down on them slaughtering several of his men within seconds. The men on the second-floor windows had quickly rushed out of their fire positions and joined in the fight firing down on the flying ones from the inner balconies.

Henri drew his whistle and blew it before yelling "Common lads it's a good day to die! Give them the bayonet!"

This fueled his men who were slowly being pushed back into one final charge as they rammed into the advancing creatures.

He joined the fray once more. The bloodied bayonets of his men still glistened as the slammed into the advancing creatures like spears impaling tens of them. He slashed at a creature with his saber slashing its horn off. Another one charged at him he fired the last shot of his revolver killing it.

Another came from behind. He hit it with the back of his saber disorienting it before he stabbed it through its chest. It screeched in pain. "Is that all you got-" He taunted before he felt something impale him. He saw part of a large horn go through his stomach. He coughed out blood.

Not now where his last thoughts before he slumped onto the floor...

Jaques POV:

With his one arm Jaques slashed at one of the creatures with his bayonet giving it a nasty scar across its nose. It screeched before he finished it by stabbing it through the head killing it. He pulled out his bayonet from its skull. Behind him Louis was firing his light machine gun into the swarm slaughtering them by the tens.

"I'm out of ammo!" He yelled.

"I don't have any machine gun ammo on me!" Jaques yelled back.

He saw Louis begin to use his light machine gun as a bat swinging it around and slamming it into the heads of the creatures in the chaotic melee.

"The American!" Louis yelled as Jaques turned to see the American about to be swarmed by the creatures.

"Leave him-" Jaques didn't finish his sentence as Louis dashed forward and began to bash the heads of the creatures trying to kill the American.

"God dammit." Jaques sighed as he ran off to help his friend.

Jaques had to slash his way through the creatures and dodge acid blasts to get to Louis.

His comrades' numbers were diminishing quickly.

He saw Louis and the American battling their way towards him. Well mostly Louis the American was still a nervous wreck and was not being that helpful.

Jaques sighed as he dodged another blast of acid.

"Common what is taking you so lo-" He shouted but never got the finish the sentence. A large beam slammed into his face in in one flash of pain he was gone.

Louis POV:

He reached out his arm to Jaques only to watch as Jaques skull was obliterated by one of the powerful beams shot by the creatures in blue armor.

Jaques entire head was vaporized right before his eyes as the beam also punched a hole through the right wall allowing more of the creatures to swarm in.

Louis felt the 5 stages of grief hit him in an instance.

Yet he then felt a sharp pain in his ribs as two of the creatures slammed their horns into him. He let out some tears. He didn't want to go like this.

Not now.

He still had to save the American...

Thorax's POV:

Thorax watched as his Bipedal friend was impaled through his ribs by his siblings.

His friend coughed out blood before falling over dead.

Thorax felt that rush of adrenalin in him again as he rushed forward in anger.

He wasn't going to die here, we wouldn't be taken back to the hive, no he would fight his way out.

He brought his projectile weapons sharp part down on his sibling impaling in through the head before smashing the butt of it against one who tried to flank him.

Thorax saw his weapon be shot off by a magical attack by another of his siblings.

Didn't matter.

Thorax picked up a spiked club from one of the dead on the floor and swung it wildly. It smashed into the heads off on of his siblings knocking him unconscious.

He made a run for the closest window and burst out of it.

He found himself surrounded by 3 of his siblings who lunged at him. Like a caged animal Thorax fought barbarically. he had lost all control of his body as he went into fight or flight. He bashed one of his siblings heads in with his club. Dodged attacks by the other two before bring his club down on of his sibling's head killing him instantly. One more left.

The last of his siblings opposing him looked at him terrified. He huddled and coward by the brick wall of the building.

Thorax was about to bring his club down on him before he stopped.

He realized what he'd just done as his senses kicked in. The bludgeoned bodies of his two siblings a testament to his loss of control.

"I-I'm sorry." He mumbled in Equish before walking off dazed.