"NOW!" Commanded Twilight.
With that order, all the pegasi led by Rainbow Dash careened directly into the phalanx of royal guards from the clouds above.
These guards may have looked the part, but they most definitely didn't act the part. Upon seeing a blur of colors followed by what looked to be a squadron of rather livid pegasi flanking them from the skies, these guards scattered in all directions breaking what was an imposing formation just moments before.
Rocks, logs, and the occasional apple or two rained down from the darkened skies above, pelting the royal guards and creating a strange symphony of thumps and yelps. Those that were rendered unconscious reverted back to their strange original forms. They resembled insects, but were still peculiarly pony-like in a way.
"Bulls-eye!" Exclaimed Rainbow Dash, delighted by her rather impressive aim at the head of the changeling that was just moments from barreling full speed into Pinkie Pie.
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"Well that wasn't very nice of him," Pinkie said while giving the now twitching changeling a quizzical look.
"Oh well!" Giggled Pinkie Pie as she gleefully hopped along, landing on any changeling unfortunate enough to be in her way.
As Pinkie pranced through the throng of ponies and changelings alike, she spotted Applejack standing among a mass of unconscious changelings, scanning the royal garden for her next opponent. As Pinkie approached, Applejack reared up on her hind legs and about-faced with astonishing speed. Completely caught off guard, Pinkie could only manage to let out a gasp as she closed her eyes expecting the full weight of the farm pony to tackle her to the ground.
Seconds later, after there was no crash or impact, Pinkie sheepishly opened her eyes and saw Applejack looking straight at her with a goofy smirk. The only difference was that this Applejack was standing over the Applejack that had just attempted to attack her, which was now hog-tied and looked extremely confused.
"You should know me by now silly. I ain't the type to go lookin' for trouble. Heh, did ya really think I would leave my team to steal the spotlight?" The real Applejack asked.
"Hehe, that was all a part of my plan to lure out the ones that were pretending to be us silly!" Said Pinkie Pie with a huge grin on her face.
"Sure thing sugarcube, whatever you say." Joked Applejack as they both returned to face their foes that wore the faces of their friends.
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Twilight continued to surveyed the garden with Rarity and several other unicorns in her company. At this rate, they should be able to break through this group within the next few minutes or less if everything went their way. Her plans for attack seemed to be working fairly well. Although there were a few exceptionally steadfast changelings, the majority of them had little sense of teamwork and abandoned the rest when they felt endangered.
"Alright everypony! We've got them on the run, lets go and clear out the rest and be sure you're not targeting our friends!" Shouted Twilight as she turned around to lead the final charge.
"Ugh, this is simply horrid Twilight! Ladies like me should NOT be performing such brutish acts in public or anywhere else for the matter!" Wailed Rarity while she tried to adjust her mane as she galloped next to Twilight.
Looking slightly irate Twilight shot Rarity a serious look. "If we don't do this, there won't be anypony left to worry about such things."
Taken aback from the response, Rarity became surprisingly solemn and continued to charge into the fray. Lowering their heads, the horns of the charging unicorns began to glow with various colored auras simultaneously.
Left and right changelings were being flung into the air with each toss of the head of the unicorns. Shrieks of surprise and horror filled the garden as shocked and confused changelings suddenly became airborne against their will, still wondering how their disguises didn't work.
What the changelings had failed to notice was that everypony had painted the bottom of their hooves blue so they could distinguish themselves from their evil counterparts.
If it was under different circumstances, this would have been quite an amusing sight to see, Twilight thought. Although everything was going smoothly, Twilight was still troubled by one thing.
Rainbow and her air support had done their task of breaking up the changeling formations wonderfully. Now they were scattered across the skies searching for stragglers to harass and injured ponies to aid.
Applejack and Pinkie Pie along with the bulk of their forces also succeeded in chasing the majority of the enemy numbers out of the garden. This exposed openings for Twilight and Rarity to charge the main double doors with their group of unicorns capable of using high level magic. Undoubtedly the enemy defense near the doors would be the thickest and their magic would be vital to overpower the guards, but the guards weren't what bothered Twilight.
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With their forces gaining the upper hand, the leaders of the aerial support, ground infantry, and magical artillery teams joined together in the final charge towards the main doors.
"Where is Fluttershy, Rainbow? Is she hurt?" Twilight asked worried.
"I have no clue! One second she's flying next to me and the next she's gone! It sounds weird to say this, but I really hope she just ran away to hide instead of getting...you know? Hurt." Rainbow answered.
Applejack looked at the ground and shook her head, "I really hope you're right, but we can't stop now! We're almost there!"
The royal gardens, which had once been serene and peaceful was now an area of pandemonium. Everywhere Twilight looked, there was destruction.
"It should have never come to this...let's free my brother and his guards and finish this." Twilight said tiredly.
In unison, the five of them gathered a burst of speed and galloped past the ongoing ataxia around them. As they approached their goal the ground before them started to tremble. Screeching to a stop, the five of them stopped just in time to avoid falling into the crevasse that had opened just hooves in front of them. Suddenly gusts dust and debris buffeted them, winds strong enough to cause even Rainbow to crash to the ground. When the winds subsided they opened their eyes slowly to see exactly what had just happened.
At first they were unsure of what they were looking at. It looked like a giant flower the size of Twilight's library, but on closer inspection, it didn't have a normal flower head. The shape seemed off and it looked like it had...fur?
Suddenly an eye appeared on the flower head, followed by a mouth and the other eye. Then an antler and horn erupted from the top.
Against the bleak and darkened sky, the now fully formed face of Discord, the spirit of chaos, glared down while he let out a maniacal laugh.