Title:           Piece of Shit
Author:          Anonymous
Pastebin link:   http://pastebin.com/qbyShdHG
First Edit:      Thursday 28th of March 2013 04:48:57 PM CDT
Last Edit:       Thursday 28th of March 2013 04:48:57 PM CDT

Twilight Sparkle lay next to a small campfire, curling as close as she could without burning herself. She couldn’t sleep tonight on account of the recent vivid nightmares she had been having. She saw glimpses of the past every night. Mistakes made by so many that had led to this moment. It had been nearly two years, by her estimate anyways given that nobody was keeping track of time anymore, and she still had nightmares about the wedding where this had all started.
 
        A beautiful wedding, a perfect day. A beautiful bride and a handsome groom. That’s how it was supposed to go, wasn’t it? She had felt something was wrong with her brother’s new wife, but it wasn’t enough to convince her closest friends. It wasn’t even enough for Princess Celestia to see through to what was really happening. It had all happened so rapidly. She had tried to stop the wedding during a practice, only to be chastised by her friends and her teacher. Before she knew it, she had been thrown into the caves beneath Canterlot. She managed to find the true bride and escape, but too late. There had already been a decicive victory on the side of the invaders by the time she made it back to the surface.
 
        Equestria had gone to hell since the changling invasion. The dark monsters queen, having used to powers of her own brother’s love to gain the strength to best even Princess Celestia, took no time converting her once beautiful home of Canterlot into a massive Changling colony.
 
        “Twilight?” A voice called out quietly behind her. Her close friend, the closest she had left anyways, had come out of her tent and wandered over to the fire. Pinkie Pie carried a look of concern on her face. She never frowned, but it had been a long time since the Element of Laughter had really been happy. “The nightmares again?”
 
        Twilight sighed. “I’m afraid so. Sorry if I woke you up Pinkie.” Pinkie gave her a small smile. Even in the worst of times she could manage at least that. It had helped carry Twilight through everything that had happened.
 
        “It’s no big deal at all Twi, really!” Pinkie shouted out enthusiastically.
 
        “Other ponies are sleeping Pinkie.” Twilight hushed her.
 
        “Oh right, sorry.” Pinkie said, dropping in tone. Her smile faded bit by bit as she came to sit by the campfire herself. They both sat next to the fire in silence, listening to the crackle of the firewood below. Pinkie tried to keep herself close as well, in an attempt to drive off the cold night. Without any ponies to manage the weather after the invasion, Equestria had been left in a state of perpetiual summer. Nature needed to be guided to avoid disaster however, and the constant dry heat had eventually begun to crack the soft earth below. Days became warmer and warmer. Eventually clouds began to gather in the sky, no weather ponies there to clear them, blocking out the sun most days, leaving the world a dull overcast. This had helped stave off some of the heat, but it had made nights colder and colder. It had only taken two years to turn all of Equestria into a wasteland.
 
        After a few minutes, Pinkie spoke up softly. “Twilight, it can’t be like this everywhere, can it?” Twilight didn’t really know. There wasn’t much news she could get from outside Equestria itself, but she had seen the changling swarms flying out past the eastern shores of Fillydelphia, towards the Griffin kingdoms. Equestria itself had been totally swallowed, from one coast to another. They had been camping on the Macintosh Hills for a few weeks now, keeping low as to avoid any changlings, but in two years of traveling she hadn’t seen a single town left that hadn’t been wiped out and converted into another part of the changling’s numbers. With all those new changlings, perhaps the queen had gained the strength to challenge the other kingdoms? For all she knew, the entire world was in the process of becoming changling territory, if it wasn’t already.
 
        Rather than explain all this, Twilight simply said “I hope not.” Even Pinkie wasn’t much for conversations these days. There wasn’t much to talk about. They sat there in silence, staring into the crackling fire. She nearly dozed off to sleep, but she was awoken by a sudden sound from the surrounding bushes. Pinkie heard it just as clearly, her eyes going wide. Twilight looked to her and mouthed the words “Stay quiet.” Pinkie got up silently, watching the bushes nearby for any sudden movement. Twilight stood up, gathering magic her horn glew, casting a faint purple light across the entire camp. She called out to the bushes as confidently as she could manage, “Who’s there? We heard you.”
 
        Another rustling came from the bushes, this time she could see clearly where the moment was coming from. Pinkie took no time to rush forward, jumping to the brush. There was a quick struggle before she pulled out another figure from the brush, gripping onto it by her teeth. It was struggling against her, but Twilight quickly surrounded it with her own magical aura and pulled it out towards the campfire. His features lit up as the light from the fire spilled over him. A colt with a light orange coat and thick dark-red mane. He was a unicorn, like her, although he hadn’t used any magic to attempt to fight back. Not that any of this mattered in a world where shapeshifters had taken over. She threw him to the ground roughly, keeping him locked in place with her magic. “Wake the others Pinkie!”
 
        Within a minute the rest of the camp was up. There weren’t many of them, but they quickly surrounded the newcomer on all sides. As soon as she felt they had superior numbers, Twilight let her magical hold drop. “Who are you? More importantly what are you?” she said, keeping her eyes locked on his. In this world, she couldn’t afford to trust appearances. For all she knew, this was a changling spy. She knew the queen had been looking for them, the last two elements of Harmony. She wasn’t going to take chances. The new unicorn looked Twilight straight in the eyes with a look of fear.
 
        “My name is Double Shot! I’m not a changling I swear!” The unicorn had a look of genuine panic about him, but Changlings were notoriously good actors. Twilight cast a glance to the two mares standing behind the newcomer.