Welcome to part 1 Arc 3. The Invasion across the gate and into the Changeling lands is here. Enjoy and have a merry Christmas
Arc 3 Queen Chrysalis Final Mistake intro
"There is a house in new Europe"
"They called it the house of the setting sun"
"It was the ruin of many fine men, but by god I want to live in it."
"If I had listened to my leader instead fallen victim to Pony's talks of friendship I wouldn't be here today."
"I was young, dumb, and tired of war, a poor mislead man."
"Tell my little sister to not follow after me."
"I shall be in the house in New Europe."
"My mother was a tailer she used to sell military uniforms like mine."
"My girl is a drinker and by god she likes to drinks a lot in new Europe."
"I'm going back to that house in new Europe."
"The rest of my days I'll spend there in the house of the setting sun."
-House of the setting sun a German/French song about Equestria.
Equestria/ Cantrelot/ Throne room/ Sometime in the near future/ 1918
Princess Celestia has had many odd things happen in her life. Plenty to say so. However, the last thing she'd expect to see as a Changeling down on his knees begging for Equestrias help. Her pony's help specifically. She wanted to lash out at the Changeling right then and there. They had put her Pony's for so much pain and trouble for the last several hundred years. It was also almost a year since they crashed Twilights brother's wedding with the princess of love.
However, she had to calm herself. She was usually a calm ruler but this entire affair that was happening before her very eyes was both hard to believe and infuriating to say the least. The Changelings, the creatures that fed off her subjects' love had been arrogant enough to send an ambassador to beg for aid against some threat they were facing.
"I implore of you Queen Celestia. They are slaughtering our people. I know our species have never been on the best of terms but once they take over us, they won't stop. They will move onto your lands, then the Crystal empire, Saddle Arabia, maybe even as far as the as the Griffons. These Biped creatures are war mongers. They shall not stop until they have crushed Equestria and left it a husk of ash. We need to make an alliance so we may drive them back. Their magic is like non seen on this earth. They have great beasts of metal... They will kill my entire species. This isn't just an invasion its Genocide!" The Changeling said in a pleading voice as he got down on his knees.
"They are the embodiment of pure evil!" The Changeling continued his voice contorting into a screeching sound that hurt Celestia's ears
Celestia wanted to believe this was a Changeling lie. A plot of some sort. The desperation and pure horror in his voice told her otherwise. If these supposed creatures were true and they were interdimensional invaders, then what on earth had the Changelings done to invoke these creatures' wrath. There was one thing she didn't believe in this Changeling ambassadors' tale. That was the Changelings had no responsibility in this invasion. She had lived long enough (Several thousand years in fact) to know perfectly well this was most likely the 1 thing the Changelings were lying about.
However, whatever that may be did not justify (Or so the Changeling said) a complete Genocide against a species. A Genocide was a rather strange word in Equestria as a whole and a one most likely had been forgotten by her people. Genocides hadn't happened in Equestria since the last 6,000 or so years. Maybe more.
The most complicated part was whether to get involved and how much to get involved. Sending the Elements into a possible warzone was out of the picture completely. Based on everything the changeling had told her (Even if she thought in the back of her head, it must be a bit over dramatized) this new species wasn't the friendliest. However, maybe like her pony's they could be taught the magic of Friendship and end their supposed warmongering. The situation was messy. She knew the changeling was telling the truth. She could sense it. The complicated part came to what extent was he telling the truth.
He didn't want to drag her Pony's into a war. Her people hadn't seen war since King Zombra enslaved the crystal empire 1,000 years ago. That war in particular had turned into a slog match of attrition for 4 months before She and her sister decided to intervein to prevent more suffering from occurring. They Banished Sombra however in that process he took the Crystal empire with him.
That was until he returned after Cadance and Shining armor had their wedding. The kingdom reappeared and along with It, Sombra. She sent out the elements to deal with that cold-hearted and cruel Pony once and for all and to her surprise it was spike who dealt the final blow to his reign of terror.
This year had been a mess and Celestia was in no mood to jump into a war fir a species that had caused so much harm to her Pony's. However, she would forsake herself for not trying to help at least a bit a species, as bad as it might be, in need.
She would seek the council of her sister for this matter before acting on instinct or what she thought was right.
"I will take you and your species... pleas into consideration however I will think about this matter privately. You will get your answers tomorrow." She told the whimpering Changeling. He nodded hesitantly. She then gestured to the guards with her right front hoof to escort the ambassador to his chambers for the night.
Celestia then got up and walked over through her castles glimmering halls towards her sister's chambers.
She opened the door to find her dearest sister Luna sleeping on her bed. However, Lunas ear perked up when she heard her chambers doors opening to which she responded with.
"Thou need us sister."
"Yes, sister we have a complicated manner on our hands"
at around the same time
"Our current advancement has stalled at least 60 miles from what our armies' main scouts as the main hive of the Bug/Horse things. How is our progress on the airfield?" Mashal Paul von Hindenburg asked.
"Progress on the Airfield has been slow due to the cluster of traffic made up from supplies, tanks, and support equipment also coming through and out of the gate. Logistics has been a nightmare for this reason as it is a tight tunnel and only so much can be sent through at a time. Our tanks on the field have performed excellent due to the flat wastes of these creatures' environment however the creatures have been mobilizing a response the closer we get to the hive." Colonel Kampf said before knocking a chess piece labeled the 2nd division from a rough map of the land across the gate.
"The second division has also been wiped out as a fighting force. The creatures have launched counter attacks across our right flank and encircled the division and destroyed it. Our British allies were able to halt the counterattack after 4 days of fighting. The French have made element progress on the southwestern push here." Kampf continued as he moved blue color chess pieces representing the French divisions and army forward on the map.
"We need to prioritize gaining air superiority. Those creatures must be contested in the air." Mashal Hindenburg said as he knocked off a couple of green color chess pieces representing the creatures off the map.
Back in Cantrelot
"Us believes the best thing to do is to open the borders for changeling refugees however...We keep thou changelings fleeing the war close to the border in refugee camps and far away from our Pony's. This gives us the chance to teach them the magic of Friendship and reform them." Luna said calmly as she looked over at a map of Equestria.
Celestia nodded before adding.
"The Changelings are a strong race. They have been able to endure amazingly for hundreds of years despite our efforts to stomp them out or reform them. They shall most likely win this war with this species after some time. We shall strengthen our border and allow refugees to come over to our lands like you said, however the Changelings will serve as a good buffer state against these Bipeds they face. I can't shake off the feeling that I've heard of this invading species before though." Celestia said as she sipped a cup of tea and shook her head.
Celestia then looked at her dearest sister before saying "Luna may I ask a favor of you?"
"What is it sister?" Luna said curiously.
"I'd like you to keep tabs on the war with these Biped species and the Changelings by looking past our Pony's dreams and entering the Changeling dream space. If you can try to enter this new species dream space." Celestia said hesitantly.
"What about our-my duties." Luna asked.
"This will just be a once-a-week thing dearest sister. You won't be fully devoted to peeping on our Changeling neighbors don't worry." Celestia joked to lighten the tense mood.
"Dearest sister if Thou changelings are right about this threat... If everything they say is true despite their deceitful nature we should start increasing the number of Royal guards, solar guards, and lunar guard. Thou should also increase our security on the changeling border." Luna said in a concern tone.
Celestia let out a long and dragged-out sigh before saying.
"You know our little ponies have become content, narrow minded, and indecisive these past years. They have come too content to let us or most of the time the elements to fight and stop external threats... I feel that a wakeup call is approaching us and our little Pony's slowly. If... These Bipeds are as evil as the Changelings make them out to be as unlikely as that might be we will be facing full scale invasion. The Royal guard and any guard force for that matter will have to be increased in numbers and training." Celestia said to which Luna nodded in agreement.
"The guard in particular Thou sister as thou guard failed to stop the last changeling invasion." Luna commented.
"If Thou situation gets worst and the supposedly evil Biped species gets closer and closer to our border and a war does break out, will thou mobilize the civil gua-" Luna got cut off by Celestia who had stressed, and worry carved in her face.
"The civil guard will not be mobilized. Now back to the terms we will give the Changeling ambassador." Celestia said purposely skipping any more talk into the manner of the deployment of the civil guard.
Luna not wanting to stress her out with discussing the possibility of mobilizing the civil guard went back to discussing the terms they will lay out to the ambassador.
The Celestial decree
The Celestia decree was a decree put in place my Princess Celestia and Luna which dictated how far the Ponies were willing to go to help their former Changeling enemies and a series of new orders which will be put out across Pony kind to ensure safety measure in case of a Biped invasion
will not receive any form of military or Ponyanitarian aid from the empire of Equestria
2. The elements of Harmony will remain in the dark about the war inside the Changeling lands
Populace of the empire will remain in the dark about the growing threat of the new Biped species until the princess see it fit to inform them
4. An open border between the Changeling empire and Equestrian empire will be enacted to allow Changeling refugees to cross over until the Changeling Biped war is over
5. Any Changelings who cross over the border will be moved to refugee camps set up near the border and subjected to friendship reformations to better them.
6. Diplomats will be at the ready to negotiate with the Bipeds if they win the war.
Luna will pay a weekly inspection into Changelings (And hopefully Bipeds) dreams to give Celestia and Equestrian military planners the full view and scope of the war
security will be placed along the Pony changeling border to ensure the safety of Changeling refugees.
Royal, Lunar, Batpony, and solar guards will increase recruitment efforts until their numbers have been doubled. Only then shall military and recruitment matters be brought back to normal.
10. This decree will be kept hidden from other nations including the empire of Equestria's allies until it is seen as fit that the decrees should be reversed or reinforced. This measure will be carried out to contain any potential panic or self-interest from other species and nations in Equestria at the discovery of a major war and new species popping up.
-Signed by the Changeling Ambassador, Princess Luna, and Princess Celestia.
Months Earlier/ France/ Champagne/ June 12th/ 1918
"After months of Planning and preparation the time has finally come. The time to strike back against the bug pony hell spawns that brought us so much pain just a year and a half ago in Champagne. The bugs arrogantly marched forth and tried to strike us down. They kidnapped our helpless countrymen who were too weak to fight back. Those who did had their bodies melted, their skin flayed, their muscles contorted for daring to defy the forces of those hellish beings. However today is not the day of grief, sorrow, and anger. Today is the day of retribution. You the soldiers of France will go in the first wave across the gate and secure the other side so our German, British, and Italian allies to march forth with us. No mercy is to be shown to the hell spawn. You will all receive a mandatory baptism by Holy water and be handed out crosses to be protected from whatever force of Hell those creatures carry with them. Those of you who may not worship our lord and savoir Jesus Christ that are among us. Jews, Muslims, or those who worship some Pagon gods may you put on your spiritual armor, so no matter what religion you come from or what god you devote yourself to, you may stand against the creatures' foul powers." General Henri Gouraud said to the thousands of French soldiers who had formed up into neat little columns.
In those thousands lay Thorax.
The tension was killing him. Just before the grand speech many of these same soldiers were taking a substance, he later through his friend Edward learned called Opium. It was a drug of sorts (He thought it might be some kind of medication the Bipeds created) to relax the nerves and it made people wobblily as a side effect. Many of the soldiers taking it were taking it as an anti-stressor. Soldiers were throwing up in their helmets, praying to the Human god and his son Christ. Thorax had learned about God through Pauline as the 2 went to what the Bipeds call church every so often.
The idea of the Biped god was very appealing to Thorax. All you had to do is be a good person, commit as little wrongs as possible, fight for a good cause and you would end up in this magical land called heaven once you died. If were evil or a sinner as the Bipeds called wrong doers, you would be punished by getting sent to a fiery plan of death called hell. Thorax was confident he wouldn't end up in hell. A younger Thorax would have believed he would be getting sent straight to hell.
The Biped Gods son preached about loving people like you love yourself and to be kind to others. What made this entire thing interesting is that the Humans as Pony's would call it Friendship however it branched off a lot from the Pony's definition of it.
Thorax had expanded his friend group over the months and had met Tommy on of Edwards British friends. Then he second new Friend was Guiseppi who was one of the few Italians he'd met who could speak English. Thorax had on his part Greatly improved his French. Largely because he didn't want to put Pauline (Who he was currently having an affair with) through the trouble of speaking her nonnative language.
He looked around again.
Edward had gone pale as well as many of the French and foreign legion soldiers around him. Many were fully convinced they were going to die in some horrible manner the minute they crossed over. It scared Thorax how much his species had truly scared the Bipeds.
The Bipeds had better weapons, technology, heck even better tactics than Thorax's own kind however to the Humans thought fully that they were facing some great evil, some horrific monstrous species. It was a fear that put the Pony's fear of his own kind to shame.
Far off in one of the hills he saw some of the darker skinned Bipeds praying towards the east and bowing down in that direction. The entire scene was eerie.
Thorax then heard the order that made many of his Human comrades beside him start to pale even more and throw up on the ground out of pure fear.
"Face right! Forward march!"
Thorax and the column of soldiers he was in turned right and faced the gateway. Its ominous presence doing little to help his nerves or his comrades' nerves.
As they march forward behind the followed several of the Humans metal beasts they called tanks. He learned the same of each and every single model so far.
Saint Chamond tanks rolled behind their column followed by the fast and little tanks the French used called Renault Ft tanks following behind the tanks was another column of men then repeat the same list he had said again. However, dotted among the men were several Experimental heavy FCM 1A tanks (The precursor to the Char 2c which will show up in the second book)
Thorax's column soon marched into the Gate and slowly faded away into the darkness. There only source of guidance was the light at the end of the tunnel.
For those of you who were wondering if Celestia had sided with the Changeling due to the dialoged in the Trailer I hope this chapter Answered that.