'Stupid wedding. Stupid Royal Guard increasing their stupid patrols. Ugh I haven't been able to get a full six hours sleep without them hassling me. "Oh we're on patrol because there's been a threat." Yea it's obviously the pony with a guitar.' The smells of fresh flowers, cakes, and other aromas fill the town as everyone prepares for the big day. Foxtrot begrudgingly trots along the Canterlot streets, grumbling to himself as he passes anypony talking about the ceremony. It's already been a month since he's arrived in the city, and it hasn't gone well.  Attempts to find work with the Royal Guard has failed, his occupation with The 26 is considered 'unnecessary'. The sound of metallic hooves trotting nearby from the Royal Guard pass Foxtrot, making the unicorn turn away as the officers walk past him. In the short time he's been in Canterlot the guards have been either polite or complete jerks, "vagrancy" seems to be their favorite term to throw around when any of them find him on the streets. Now with the wedding today, nearly every guard he's come into contact with ends up questioning him about his motives. Foxtrot looks up, the magical barrier covering the city gives the sky a colorful tint. Today though, the unicorn's heart drops as something terribly wrong happens. The magical barrier shatters, green balls of fire fall from the sky and crash all over the city. Screams and panic ensuing as Foxtrot sighs and facehoofs, 'Changelings. It had to be changelings. Of all things in this world, of ALL the things that had to show up, it had to be CHANGELINGS! A ball of fire crashes near the unicorn, who walks over to the crater with an aggravated sigh. As expected he finds a changeling in the crater, the creature looking up and staring right at him. Like reciting a monologue, Foxtrot begins counting, "3... 2... 1." At the last count the changeling is engulfed in a green flame, emerging as Foxtrot when the fires subside. "Oh no." the real unicorn says in mock monotone fear, "It's a changeling. Like the other hundreds I've seen before."

"Oh no." the copycat repeats in the same monotone voice and expression. "It's a cha-ACK!" The changeling is cut off as Foxtrot lunges forward and tightly grips its neck.

"Do not repeat me." Foxtrot sternly orders, his irritation showing little signs of subsiding. The unicorn tightens his grip around the changeling's neck. "Change back now." Almost instantly the imitation reverts back to its original form. "Good boy." With that Foxtrot hurls the changeling into a pile of trash and continues walking, a small smirk appearing on his face, "Well at least I can cut loose a bit today." Another glowing fireball flies overhead, landing just a short distance away. Wasting no time Foxtrot dashes past the madness and follows the trail. Rounding the corner, he stops at an alleyway, at the very end are two ponies who look exactly alike, "Well, damn. Alright, one way to sort this out." Making his way towards the two he places his hoof on the handle of his katana, "Hey you two! Don't move! Royal Guard!" Foxtrot was of course impersonating an officer again, but this time there was a good reason to.

"Let me go?!" Angry voice of a mare echoed from a shady looking pawnshop at the edge of the city. "You can't dump me now! We- We had a deal, a contract!"

"I'm sorry, but these times call for... Desperate, actions" A big, grumpy looking stallion answered with calm and mocking voice, while he was inspecting a pile of jewels for their authenticity. "Your... Contribution to my humble business is appreciated, but i have to feed my kids and after all-"

"You don't have any kids..." The brown mare answered, making it clear with her tone that she wasn't amused. "You're not even married..."

"Details, details dear Golden." The owner of the shop pushed a small pouch towards Golden. "Now take it and scram. You are no longer needed, nor welcome here."

"But i.. I-"

"OUT!"

Golden Gear took the pouch containing her last payment from the pawnshop's owner, and turned to leave. On her way out, Golden kicked a large porcelain vase, shattering it into pieces and causing what looked like marbles, spread all around the floor. The stallion behind the counter jumped up, but Golden didn't turn back to see what he was about to do, she didn't care. If he wanted to duke it out, she was ready to beat that ungrateful-

As she stepped out from the building, Golden Gear blinked few times at the sight before her. There was exactly similar looking mare standing there, staring back at her, with goggles and everything. Golden blinked few more time before looking back towards the pawnshop, but there were no movement to be seen there. Thinking that this was some kind of trick to either get her back to work there, or maybe to get her there to pay for that vase, Golden turned her head back towards her doppelganger while saying. "Okay, i don't know what your deal is, but i'm not coming back to- *Umpf!* " Golden felt a sharp punch connect to her jaw and it sent her down to the ground. "What the HAY! *grunt* If that's how you want to handle this..." Golden took her turn and punched her duplicate as hard as she could, sending it flying back in a green flash and leaving Golden shaking her hoof, silently repeating "Ow... Ow... Ow..."

Golden Gear looked at the "thing" she had just hit. "What the hay is that..." She gave it few pokes, just to see if it was dead, but judging from it's twitching it was still alive, just unconscious. Golden kept looking at the prone changeling and didn't hear the two green "meteorites" heading her way. It was barely before their impact when she actually heard them and managed to dive out of the way. After her roll, Golden realized that the shield around the city had disappeared, and the sky over Canterlot was filled with green lights speeding towards the city. "Wow wow wow... I didn't sign for this..." From the crater of the "meteorites" rose two more look-a-likes and both of them charged towards her. Golden quickly tripped one of them and tossed it aside towards an alley with her magic. She then took out her wrench, unfolded it and delivered an unhealthy hit to the other doppelganger, causing it to fly through the air and landing near the first changeling. "You started this..." She said before she turned around and started running away towards the center of Canterlot.

"Not my fault!"

Striker watched in awe as the guard expertly dispatched the changeling. He was about to clamber to his hooves when the unicorn walked towards him with his weapon drawn, saying something about a "test." Was he about to challenge him to a duel or something? Striker was not a fighter, at least not one with anything nearing the level of skill he had seen the other pony demonstrate while fighting the changeling. Striker flinched slightly when the guard's blade touched his coat, but the metal was unexpectedly cool - he could have sworn he saw the weapon burn the changeling a few seconds ago. Whatever the test was, Striker appeared to have passed it, because the guard put away his weapon.

Striker pushed himself to his hooves, shaking out his legs. Nothing seemed broken, although he'd probably have some bruises where he had fallen down. "Yeah, I'm alright," he replied to the guard. "My name's Striker. Thanks for taking care of that changeling. Where are they all coming from?" Striker saw dozens green streaks falling from the sky into Canterlot, which he assumed were even more changelings. One landed at the far end of the alleyway, towards the entrance. The changeling was behind the guard, out of his sight, but this time Striker was ready to hit first and ask questions later. Before the creature could mimic anypony's looks, he summoned a blast spell he had been practicing for his work on fireworks and fired at the changeling. The force hurled the creature to the other side of the street, where it lay unconscious.

Striker shook his head to clear it the ringing noise the blast had caused. That spell was not intended for use in close quarters. When he could focus again, he turned back to the guard. "Why didn't you kill that thing?" he asked, pointing to the knocked-out changeling next to them. Striker had noticed the guard purposefully avoid using his weapon lethally. Not that Striker would have preferred violence, in fact, he was glad that he hadn't witnessed the changeling's death, but he was curious that a Royal Guard would be so cautious about an extreme threat to Canterlot's safety. "Are they actually cursed ponies or something?" Striker said, just blurting out the first explanation that came to his head, although he doubted it could be the real reason.

Before the guard could respond, a clatter of hoofbeats caught Striker's attention. A brown mare ran down the street that the alleyway connected to, pursued closely by a few identical-looking ponies, or rather, changelings. "She looks like she might need help," Striker said, and began galloping towards the street.

Foxtrot looks over at the changeling, then back to Striker as he introduces himself and asks his question. He opens his mouth to answer but is cut off by the sudden blast that Striker shoots past him. Looking over his shoulder he finds the stallion hit his target, the new arrival flung right across the street. Foxtrot nods, rather impressed at the force implied with said blast. Looking back to Striker, Foxtrot is given another question, however once again he's interrupted, this time by the pony himself as he offers a suggestion as to what the creatures really were. Foxtrot shakes his head, opening his mouth thrice to tell the stallion what changelings actually are, he's cut off by the brown mare and her perusing copycats. In the blink of eye Striker has already began his chase, leaving Foxtrot to simply roll his eyes and follow as well.

Entering the streets the scenes of an all out assault surrounds the two unicorns. Screaming and explosions echo all around them as the smell of smoke and fire inhibit the air and fill parts of the sky above Canterlot. Foxtrot speeds up and catches up to Striker, when he does he begins speaking quickly, remembering the questions the yellow pony had for him in the alley. "My name's Foxtrot. You're welcome. I don't know where they're coming from but I'm sure the castle might have some answers, plus that's where the Royal Guard would most likely rally." Looking forward Foxtrot sees the mare already knocking a changeling out, but a few more on her tail urges haste. Scanning the street, the unicorn finds a partially filled cart on the pavement. An idea popping up in his head just as the larger changeling appears, holding the mare for an easy attack. "Striker! I'll take out the big guy, you blast the other two; oh and try not to peg me too while you're doing that." Foxtrot speeds up to a near sprint, using his momentum to ram his shoulder right against the back of the cart, sending it rolling at a considerable speed towards the changelings and the pony armed with a wrench. As the cart's wheels spin down the street, the unicorn climbs up and begins riding it towards the larger changeling. He stands up on his hind hooves, gripping the handle of his katana and clipping the sheathe loose, 'This will have to be close if I want to hit him. Then again he is a large target, I'm sure I- oh crap I'm going faster than expected!' Focusing on the large brute, Foxtrot swings his sword across as hard as he can, the sheathe of the katana flying off of the steel and bolting through the air. With a loud clack the tip of the sheathe slams into the changeling's helmet, the resulting sound and impact causing the armored insect to let go of the mare's head and grab his own as the ringing in his ears makes him step away just enough to proceed with part two of the former guard's plan. After a simple adjustment of the direction of the speeding cart, Foxtrot gets up and stands on the side of the cart, targeting the brown mare up ahead; as soon as he's within range, Foxtrot jumps.

The armored changeling turns to see cart just as it collides right into it, sending both it and the cart crashing into the side of a nearby building with a loud bang and clanging of armor. The unicorn's katana slips from the unicorn's grip and clanks to the floor, too far from its owner to be used at all. Foxtrot himself tackles the mare to the ground, perhaps a bit harder than expected he concludes as he lands on his chest, knocking the wind right out of his lungs. "Get down!' He struggles to shout as he covers his head and the mares and prays that Striker hits the last two changelings in front of them.

Golden tried to struggle free, but was unable to do so. Realizing how much power those changelings were gathering, Golden concluded that they weren't gonna capture her like they had some other ponies, but instead "remove" her out of the picture. From her struggling Golden didn't notice The two stallions closing in, not before Foxtrot delivered a hit to the her captor's head, which caused it to release her from it's grip. She didn't have time to gather her surroundings before she saw the cart coming back. Golden was tackled down by Foxtrot as the bigger changeling crashed against a building with the cart. She tried to get up, but was pulled back down By Foxtrot, just before something blew up.

Golden faintly heard Striker call out something, asking about someone being okay, did he mean her or the other pony on the ground, maybe them both? "If you could send me to tropical resort in Las Pegasus, i would really appreciate that." She shouted back. "You alright, Hot head?" Golden asked from Foxtrot while wiping some blood away from her muzzle.

A feint ringing sound echoes in Foxtrot's ears as the resounding blast from Striker fades away. He looks up, finding the two changelings disposed and thankfully not themselves. The unicorn looks over to the mare as she asks her question, "Bit of a ringing noise but I'm good." He gets up to his hooves and lifts Golden Gear up to hers, "I'm Foxtrot, and the one who blasted those two changelings is Striker." Glancing over to his weapon, Foxtrot walks over and picks it up, finding his sheathe nearby. As he trots over to get the cover for his katana he shouts over to the mare, "We're going to the castle to sort this out. We could use all the help we can get, especially someone who knows how to work a wrench." As he picks up the sheathe, a loud crash, sounding much different than the others, goes off nearby. Looking over, Foxtrot sees another unicorn approaching, this time in pieces of armor and even a hammer. Thinking that the new pony might be a changeling, that notion is simply shot down as he gives his awkward introduction. Giving a quick, and confused glance back to the mare and Striker, Foxtrot turns back and nods, "Hey." He wants to say more but honestly doesn't know how else to continue.

Golden gave Foxtrot a small nod as silent thanks for helping her up. Hearing that her rescuers were fine, she already considered leaving and heading somewhere safe when Foxtrot asked her to join them on their way to the castle. Golden looked at the direction of the Canterlot castle, assuming that there would be even more of these things there. She wanted to decline and head to the closest hospital, but then again, they are most likely overrun too and finding a field medic or something similar would be much more likely than finding a safe hospital. "You sure you want me around? I don't know about you but i seem to be in their blacklist, judging by what was about to happen." Golden floated her wrench back to her and gave it few looks, as if she was trying to find scratches from it. "Hey... Thanks, both of you. I-" She was cut off by a loud crash. Golden Gear immediately took a defensive stance towards the new arrival, but lowered her weapon when he spoke to them. Golden had not heard those things say anything before somepony else said something first, so she assumed that Iron was indeed a normal unicorn. She let Foxtrot do the talking, which for now seemed quite vague, while she folded her wrench and returned it to the sturdy looking leather pouch strapped on her right side.

Striker seemingly new this "new pony". Ironfire... It sounded vaguely familiar, but Golden couldn't remember where she had heard his name. She had to deal with lot's of different names on her job...Ehhh... Ex-job... Golden's ears perked up when Striker asked her name. "My name? I'm Golden Gear, not that it matters to you after we have survived this... invasion, i think would be appropriate word to describe this." She looked over at Iron, before looking at Foxtrot to answer his previous question.

"Sure, i'll tag along. I have enough will to live to see another day."