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// The Enemy Awaits 
// Story: Words From an Unknown Soldier 
// by carefreedude 
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It was mid-day when we arrived at the battlefield.  The enemy, they just stood there… waiting for us.  It was as if they anticipated our arrival.  Thousands upon thousands of changelings stood in formation before us.  They easily outnumbered us three to one.  That wasn’t even the worst of it.  Behind all their forces was a monster.  A great dragon like creature that looked as if it was made from crystals themselves.  I turned my gaze to the war machine we have been dragging this entire way.  Fear shot through me when I saw that their beast dwarfed it.   Never in my life have I ever been so afraid.  The only thing that was preventing me from fleeing right then and there was my friend.  He had marched with me this great distance to fight this battle.  I wasn’t sure if it was a sense of pride, or loyalty, or just plain stupidity, but I stayed in formation right next to Spellflash.  That was when I heard the words that still haunt me to this day.

Upon a plateau overlooking the battlefield, a unicorn with a dark mane and a large changeling stood waiting for the opposing army.  The unicorn smiled to himself as he watches the bugs below him scramble in to their formations.  He then casts his gaze upon the changeling next to him.
“Tell me my queen, has everything been going according to plan?”
The changeling next to him grunted “Yes, their scouts have intercepted our message just as you predicted they would.  Fortunately, the changeling was able to avoid capture.”  She carried a look of anger upon her brow.
“Is there a problem your highness?  I created the plan to cover every possible situation that can befall us.  You should have no quarrels with it.”
“The ‘Problem’ I am having here, Sombra, is that you keep putting my subjects at risk.  We all had to march our happy flanks up this mountain, and for what?  To be in a prime location to get flanked!”
“Now, now, my dear queen.  You know very well that my plan has considered that possibility.  As long as you follow my every instruction, Canterlot will fall, and Equestria will be ours.”
Chrysalis looks upon Sombra with an uneasy feeling.  “But if something goes wrong, all of my troops will die.  Then guess what will happen?  They will march their forces back to our homeland and wipe us out!”  She drops her head in anger.
Sombra looks at Chrysalis with a caring look.  “You must have faith in me, my queen.  It was I after all that helped you after your defeat in Canterlot.  And it was I who helped you find a land to feed your people.  You can trust that we will succeed in this endeavor.”
Feeling more confident, Chrysalis returned her gaze to Sombra.  “Alright, I trust you.  But I still feel that we needed to do more.  This doesn't seem like enough to take out Celestia’s army.”
Once again showing an evil grin upon his face, Sombra responded with, “That is why I decided to bring a little pet along for the journey.”
Puzzled, Chrysalis asked, “What pet?  I fail to see any creature traveling with us.”
Sombra let out an evil cackle, “HA-HA!  That’s because she hasn’t been traveling in plain sight; she’s been RIGHT HERE!”
Upon finishing his sentence, his horn lit up with power, and he stomped his forehoof into the ground.  The moment his hoof hit the ground, an earthquake occurred and the battlefield below began to tear in half.  The rip in the earth began to widen more and more with each passing second, as all the changelings in the immediate area started to fly away as fast as they could.  Suddenly, a forearm that looked to be made of crystal reached out of the rift.  Its hands contained claws that look sharp enough to cut a boulder by just resting on it.  Suddenly another forearm reached out from the rift.  Both rested upon the ground above them and slowly started to drag out the head and body of a beast.  It spread its diamond encrusted wings as soon as they were free.  As it pulled its hind legs and bladed tail out of the rift, the ground beneath it began to close.  The great monster stood four stories tall and was made from head to toe out of crystal.  
Chrysalis looked upon this monster in disbelief and horror.  Sombra simply grinned.  “This here is Jade, my Draco Crystallus.  The last of her kind I am afraid, but still getting along well.  Oh I suggest you tell your subjects to keep their distance from her.  It will be over an hour before Celestia and her troops arrive, and Jade tends to get to get a bit hungry when she is bored.”