//------------------------------// // Sub-Chapter: Taken // Story: Welcome to Wherever You Are // by FrozenInTime //------------------------------// On A Large Hill Two Miles Outside Ponyville "Our scouts have returned, My Lord." "Excellent. Bring them here." "Right away, Lord Echo." The Bat Pony quickly flew away, only to return a moment later with two more behind him. The trio landed gracefully in front of their leader, and his "guest,” Emperor Siros. "How big of an attack are we looking at, scouts?" Spoke the Griffon. The two scouts looked hesitant to answer, unsure if they should give a former enemy such information. A nod from Echo reassured them. "Big. Unopposed, they could destroy the entire population in a matter of minutes. We estimate at least 2,500 Changelings are in this army." A murmur quickly arose in the crowd of Bat Ponies as they heard the number. Their force included less than 300. They were outnumbered nearly eight to one, and their morale was questionable even before this. Now, this looked to be less of a battle and more of a slaughter. The whispers quickly loudened, as many spoke out in protest to their leader, which only worsened when a red light flooded over the land. "This is a suicide mission!" "We are so dead..." "What do we do now?!" "Why is a Griffon here anyway?" "He shouldn't be leading us!" Lord Echo stepped forward, threw his head back, and let out a loud, piercing screech. A few seconds of that was sufficient to silence the crowd completely. "Bat Ponies, direct attack is not the plan. In sheer numbers, the odds are most certainly against us. Such a strategy would indeed be suicide. That is why Siros is here." At hearing the name, the crowd went into an uproar. "He's a menace!" "He has killed so many of our kind!" Echo decided not to screech again, and instead yelled over the crowd. "That is precisely why he is here!" The crowd settled once again. "Through countless battles in our species' history, the Emperor has defeated us, even against impossible odds, overcoming entire armies that were ten times the size of his small force. How did he do this? Simple; he is a master tactician. He specializes in hit-and-run attacks on his opponents' weakest spots, he would lure his enemies into buildings and bring them down on top of their heads, and even lead them into a storm only to escape while it tore them apart." Echo was pacing in front of the crowd as he spoke, making gestures with his hooves. "While it was not technically war, our kind has not had the best relationship with his, but that must be left in the past! We now face an enemy much greater, much more vast, than any other seen, inside Equestria or out! If we do not work together now, they will wipe us out effortlessly. We would not be the only ones paying the price for this, as they will not stop here." "We can not let them take this town! We can not let innocent ponies die because of our past conflicts! We will show these oversized bugs what happens when they come too close to home! Am I right?!" The crowd began cheering, with renewed vigor. With such a tactician on their side, they actually had a chance at victory, it was small, but for solders on the front line that was all they needed. Each one of them was now ready to do their duty, they would fight and if necessary, die to save these ponies. Eventually, the cheering stopped, replaced by the Bat Ponies talking to each other about the coming battle. Siros and Echo turned to face Ponyville in the distance. "There's no pep talk like a military pep talk," Siros said, nudging Echo with his right leg. He did not get a chance to answer. "My Lord, you may want to see this." The scout from earlier handed Echo a pair of binoculars, and pointed to a large black cloud in the distance. When he looked, it was immediately clear that it was not a cloud. The countless pairs of fangs and insect wings made that perfectly discernible. "We also have reports of a Changeling fighting the other Changelings." The scout was met with an 'Are you serious?' look from both leaders. They would keep that in mind for later. "Siros, we need to tell them the plan. Now." The two quickly turned to the crowd, which quieted itself. "All right, listen up. Here's the plan. First thing's first, our primary goals are to find Princess Twilight Sparkle..." Sweet Apple Acres The Rarity Changeling was cornered against the large red barn, with Pinkie Pie staring pure death into its eyes. Applejack was sitting with her head hung low, several hooves away. The Changeling had just explained the entire "Twilight Doppelganger" plan, the one that had rendered the Elements useless. "You were not loyal to her! You betrayed her!" It said in its echoing voice. It was slowly returning to its true form, the white fur turning black, fangs growing from the mouth, and its mane fading away. Applejack was in shock. "After all those things I said to Twilight... she hadn't done anything wrong..." Tears were already pooling under her. "You have doomed your own to-" The Changeling was suddenly engulfed by blue, sparking, sizzling electricity. As it fried alive, it cried out in pain from the powerful shock, before its legs gave out, causing it to fall to its side. It lay there still stuttering, shaking as it slowly died, the screaming never ceased. "You should have learned when to shut your mouth." The magic ceased, leaving a black husk on the ground as Shift landed behind Applejack. Apple Bloom and Scootaloo were on his back. The little yellow filly jumped off. "Applejack!" "...A-Apple Bloom?" Apple Bloom ran up to her older sister, jumping into a powerful hug, and nearly knocking her over. Shift smiled at that, before turning to see Pinkie Pie's face inches away from his own. She looked from him, to Scootaloo, and back to him. She the raised her hoof to her chin and raised an eyebrow in contemplation of something. Shift's response was to take a few steps away from the mare, and he was unable to keep a confused look from crossing his face. Scootaloo spoke up before Pinkie could do anything too crazy. "Pinkie, it's okay, he's cool," she said, as she jumped off his back. Pinkie's neck extended forward without moving her body, her face once again inches away from Shift's. After a few seconds, she smiled, and her neck retracted the impossible distance it had extended. "Apple Bloom... why were you just riding on a Changeling's back?" Applejack tried to speak with the least-confused voice possible. "Sis, I know this is gonna sound crazy, but he saved our lives. If ya don't believe it, he just did that to one of his own." Applejack walked towards him, a skeptical look now taking her features. She eyed him carefully, unsure of what to think. "So, uhh... "Shift. My name is Shift. You are Applejack, the Element of Honesty, correct?" He actually extended his hoof to greet Applejack. Shaking hooves was not Applejack's first thought, especially seeing what just happened to the Rarity Changeling. However, she did it anyway. "A pleasure to make your acquaintance. May I ask why you had my sister on your back, saved our lives, and what you're doing here?" "I am not like the others of my kind. I think what we do is wrong, and I've been trying to find Princess Twilight Sparkle. She is the only one we know of capable of stopping Queen Chrysalis." "We?" Applejack could tell just by looking at him that he was telling the truth, but she still had questions. "A few other Changelings share my mindset. You may also notice that I have normal wings and eyes, unlike most others of my kind. We know not why we are different, but it has drawn some of us together. Anyways, I advise that we make haste if we wish to get to the Princess. Look." He pointed behind Applejack, towards Ponyville in the distance. Two black clouds were approaching the town rapidly. One was considerably larger than the other. Time Unknown, a clearing on the edge of Ponyville Rainbow Dash tried to remember the events leading up to this point. It was all blurry, undefined, obscure. She remembered kissing Twilight after she awoke. She remembered pouring out her soul to her after the Pinkie Promise. She couldn't remember Twilight's reaction. Whatever it was, it didn't last long. Fate has been playing games with the two for over two weeks now, and they just couldn't get a break. Spike came charging down the stairs, tears in his eyes, and a letter in-claw. The finer details were lost on her now, but she got the point of it. Rarity and Sweetie Belle were ponynapped, replaced by Changelings. Another Changeling had taken on Twilight's form, and turned the Elements against her. A massive horde was on the way to Ponyville, now that the Elements couldn't be used. Twilight was to evacuate the town while a force of Bat Ponies intercepted the attack. Rainbow panicked when she couldn't find Scootaloo. The message must have been delayed, because when the three stepped outside, a red light was fading away on the horizon as the sky was covered by the horde. Some of the Changelings were strangely... different. Most were normal, but some had the eyes of normal ponies. Among them, some had Pegasus wings in place of the insect-like ones present on normal Changelings. Some had slightly better-developed horns. Some had claws. The Changelings that were unique either had wings, claws, an improved horn, or a horn and claws. Twilight seemed intrigued, and Rainbow had to tell her Egghead more than once to focus on the task at hand. The rest is the most obscure. Bat Ponies fighting Changelings, saving a group of ponies and getting them safely into a shelter, running, Spike disappearing, ending up in this field, a claw shanking Twilight across the chest... Rainbow's eyes slowly opened, bringing on a wave of pain through her entire body as her senses returned. Her first sight was the blood, not only around her, but scattered throughout the entire clearing. Bodies of Bat Ponies and Changelings littered the wide area. She tried to push herself up, only for anther surge of pain to hit, forcing her to painfully fall back to the ground on her stomach. When she opened her eyes again, she saw it; a sight eerily familiar... nightmarishly so, even... The sight in front of her almost made her scream in pure terror. All she managed was a muffled screech, as she covered her mouth with a hoof. There, in front of her, about twenty hooves away, was Twilight. She was lying on her back in a rapidly expanding pool of blood. She was not breathing. There were three massive gashes across her chest. Rainbow didn't have the energy to cry. Instead, she slowly moved one hoof forward, got the best grip possible on the ground, and dragged herself forward. She repeated the action with her other hoof, then again with the first. She repeated this pattern, despite the massive pain it caused, and inched closer and closer to Twilight. From her experience with flying, and moreover, crashing, Rainbow could easily asses all her injuries. There was no doubt that she had a few broken ribs, attesting to the pain in her chest area whenever she dragged herself. It was literally tearing away at her as she dragged. She couldn't feel her already-injured wing. It was probably even more damaged now. She couldn't feel her rear left leg, either. None of this mattered. All that mattered to Rainbow was getting to Twilight. She didn't know what she would do when she got there, but it wasn't a subject that required much thinking. The final motive was irrelevant, but the act itself was not. She had to get to Twilight. She never got half way. Three Changelings landed around the purple Alicorn. Together, they placed their hooves under her and lifted her up. No... Rainbow raised a shaking hoof in vain. The Changelings all took off into the air, their speed reduced with their cargo. Time seemed to slow down as the group became smaller in the sky, getting further and further away on the horizon. They gradually disappeared in the distance. Twi... Rainbow's hoof fell to the ground. Was that reality that she just witnessed? I seemed so surreal... the thought itself was inconceivable. Twilight had just been taken by Changelings. At first, she tried to dismiss the thought. Maybe it was jut a Changeling in Twilight's form? No, all these Changelings, dead, dying, or alive, were in their true forms, courtesy of the Bat Ponies. She was gone. Rainbow's eyes started to slowly close again, as the world seemed to fade away around her. Death would have been welcome to Rainbow. But she was deprived of even that. Everything snapped back into focus, her full vision returning, when something touched her left side and forced her to turn. She was now on her back, looking up at those who would interrupt her grieving. Three Changelings stood above her. The two on the sides were normal. The one in the middle was unique, with green eyes, a large horn, and claws. Rainbow recognized this one; the one who had slashed Twilight. Her rage would have been useful under most other circumstances, but now, it only served to increase her already immense pain. She could still see Twilight's blood on one of his claws. They all had ghastly smiles upon their features. Well, the one on the left would have that look, along with the rest of its head, removed in one clean strike. An expert strike from an elegant, cobalt-blue blade which matched its user's armor perfectly. The user was a certain Griffon. The middle Changeling reacted instantly, albeit poorly, to this new threat. He swiped his claw outwards, but his haste was met with a skillful parry from the blade, removing the creature's offending leg. Rainbow couldn't help but notice that it was the same leg that had Twilight's blood on it. She actually almost smiled as he fell to the ground. Huh, I guess irony's a bitch. Meanwhile, the Changeling on the right was tackled by a black blur, revealed to be a very regal-looking Bat Pony in pure black armor that matched his fur. All she saw from that direction was multiple spurts of blood. When the three Changelings were dealt with, he screeched wildly into the open air. "Echo, help me get this one on her hooves." The Griffon knelt down beside Rainbow Dash, looking her over. He looked behind him as he heard the buzzing of Changeling wings. The two Changelings flying off to the left were no doubt headed towards them. They didn't get very close. They were both stopped by an arcing blue lightning strike from the rear. One immediately veered off to the side where it landed very harshly. The other vainly tried to keep its wings going, until it crashed into the ground, leaving a trail of kicked up dirt behind it as it slid past Rainbow. The source was immediately revealed as another Changeling, one with Pegasus wings and sky-blue eyes, as it flew by the group. A small orange Pegasus filly was on his back. ...Scootaloo? Even more buzzing was heard. There were Changelings everywhere now. This time, as one approached on hoof to the group, it was stopped by a lasso around its neck, from a little yellow filly. It was pulled back, and directly into the red hooves of the stallion that the filly was riding on. An orange Earth Pony mare patted the filly on the back. Applejack... Apple Bloom... Big Macintosh... "Yeeeeeehaaaww!" Applejack charged into another group of Changelings, her own lasso ready. Another group of Changelings exploded in confetti, revealing a pink mare with a crazy smile on her face. Pinkie Pie... The Griffon extended his foreleg under Rainbow's and lifted her. The Bat Pony rushed to their aid, taking Rainbow's other foreleg around his shoulder. They hobbled forward, painfully for Rainbow, when she noticed several streaks of smoke through the air. The Wonderbolts... They were followed by a huge black mass, which first made Rainbow nervous. However, hey were not Changelings. They were Bat Ponies. "Hang in there, sugarcube." Applejack's voice was distant and muffled, as Rainbow was dropping out of consciousness. She placed a hoof on Rainbow's shoulder, as her eyes slowly closed... This show of force was lost on her. They had failed to save something Rainbow valued more than herself. They had failed to save Twilight Sparkle.