Invasion Take Two
Silence meets my statement as well as dumbfounded looks from all the ponies present. The only exception to this is the changeling disguised as Trixie who just stares at me with a look of horror and fear. “W-w-what do you mean by changeling?” I just glare at the bug in pony form as she tries to remain hidden after having been exposed. “Oh don’t act like you don’t know what I’m talking about. Twilight, didn’t you have a spell you for revealing changelings that you never had a chance to test on a live subject?”
This pulls the purple alicorn out of her state of shock while causing the changeling to start looking terrified. “What? Oh right, just give me a moment though I hope you know what you’re doing.” I slightly change the shield around the changeling so that it allows spells in but not out while Twilight charges the spell. Seeing this, the fake Trixie is trying to back away from her but is brought up short by the shield around her.
“Wait, you don’t have to do this, ask Trixie whatever you want, Trixie can prove she is real.” I don’t even turn towards her as she made a mistake. “You just proved that you aren’t the real one as Trixie doesn’t speak like that anymore to her friends. Do it Twilight.” Twilight nods at me and proceeds to unleash the spell on the trapped changeling. The effects are immediate as its form seems to melt away and fade to black revealing the changeling underneath the disguise. With its disguise gone the changeling goes berserk and tries to blast its way out and escape but is brought up short when I bring up a reflective barrier inside the shield so that it knocks itself out.
“Wow, I guess you were right Flarenza, but how did you know that it was a changeling and not really Trixie?” I sigh as I examine the changeling before answering Twilight. “Changelings have a feeling about them that I’ve been able to notice that marks them as different from actual ponies. The real question though is where is the real Trixie, I haven’t heard from her since she left Manehattan which means that she must have been taken between there and her next stop.” Twilight’s eyes widen at this information not having realized the full ramifications of this event.
I try to think of how to find out where they took Trixie, but it’s hard to focus with my fear of what happened to her and my anger at the changelings getting in the way. Luckily an idea literally bounced her way right in front of me as Pinkie Pie appears out of nowhere like usual bringing a grin to my face. “Ah, Pinkie Pie. Perfect timing as usual. Can you meet me down in Twilight’s basement in a minute?” She pauses to think about it for a second before returning to her bouncing. “Okie dokie loki, Flarie.”
I just shake my head at her randomness while Twilight looks at me strangely. “How are you going to find out where Trixie is and what does Pinkie have to do with it?” I chuckle at her but with little joy in it. “Well we need to find out fast so we can get her out before they move her anywhere else so we need to get this changeling to talk fast. As for what Pinkie is going to do? Well I’ve noticed that she has ways of making ponies talk and I bet they work on changelings as well. Remember what you did when Applejack ran away?”
Twilight’s eyes widen at being reminded of that incident and what AJ went through because of it. “While we’re handling this you should get to Canterlot and round up any help you can there, I’ll send Spike to gather those in town here. Depending on how many changelings are there we may need some help to get Trixie and any other captives out.” She nods at this and makes her way to the train station, forgetting once again that she can fly. As I head into the library I catch Spike’s attention and send him out to gather the others here while I head downstairs with Pinkie Pie.
She watches in interest as I proceed to lock the changeling into one of Twilight’s examination chairs and, using some nearby materials, quickly fashion a ring for its horn to block its powers. “So Flarie, what did you need me to do and why do you have a creepy changeling down here with us?” I stay silent for a moment and use my magic to scan the make-up of the changeling until I am certain I know how its body works. “Well Pinkie this changeling took Trixie’s place which means the real one is in trouble. What I need you to do is make it tell us where she is. To do that you just need to keep on talking until it does so.”
Pinkie frowns when I mention Trixie being in trouble and gets a serious look on her face before she jerks upright and salutes. “Rightie-o, Pinkie Pie is on the case.” I double check that the changeling is secured and then make my way to the door. “All right I’m waking it up now so it’s all yours Pinkie.” I quickly use a spell to force the changeling awake and then quickly dash out the door and close it while casting a muffling spell over it. Turning to the library I see that Spike had already rounded up the others who were watching me warily.
“Um yeah, you don’t want to go down there right now.” This doesn’t help the looks they are giving me but thankfully Rainbow Dash speaks up. “So why did you have Spike call us all out here, and where are Twilight and Pinkie?” Before I can respond to this Spike speaks up bluntly. “Yeah, and what was with that changeling you brought in here anyways?” This draws a gasp from the others and a look of panic from Fluttershy.
“Yeah I was about to get to that Spike. We just found out that a changeling replaced Trixie sometime after she left Manehattan and I have Pinkie trying to get it to talk. Twilight is also on her way to Canterlot by train though I think she forgot she could have just flown there.” The last part earns a face hoof from Rainbow Dash though Applejack questions the previous bit. “Uh, and why is Pinkie trying to get the changeling to talk? Does she know something that we don’t?” I look back to the door nervously as we all hear a scream come up through the floor.
“Well I asked Pinkie to talk at the changeling until it told her where Trixie is being held. You already know what that’s like and you are her friend so imagine her doing it to something that isn’t a friend.” Applejack’s eyes widen as she remembers what she went through that one time she ran away while the others also look a bit nervous. “Isn’t that a bit cruel to do to it? I mean sure we need it to tell us where Trixie is but isn’t this a bit overkill?” I consider Rainbow Dash’s concerns but just shake my head. “There really isn’t any time to waste finding some other way. Changelings seem to be able to communicate with each other at a distance and I’ve blocked this one from doing so. They may get suspicious if it is silent too long and may move Trixie elsewhere if we don’t hurry.”
The screams from below start to be coming through at an increased rate and I am about to cast another spell to block them out when the door to the basement opens. We all turn to see Pinkie bounce through the door and unroll a map on the table. I was about to ask where she got the map from when she points to a spot on it. “Mr. Meany Bugthing says that Trixie is being kept around this area and it’s one of their big gathering hives.” I look at where she points and I am surprised at how close it is to Manehattan with it not being discovered.
“Good work Pinkie, you all need to let Twilight know this when she gets back. I’m going to go on ahead to scout the place out and find out exactly where the entrance is. Just follow the fireworks that I’ll be setting up nearby.” This earns me some objections from the others. “Now hold on there a minute partner. Is it really a good idea to go running off alone? What happens if you get caught?”
I just smile at her since they seem to have forgotten an important detail. “Well I am pretty much the only one who has a chance of getting in and out undetected unless Rarity knows how to cast an invisibility spell.” She shakes her head no at this. “Also you seem to have forgotten that changelings aren’t the only one good with disguises.” Saying this I focus a bit and flames envelope me as I change my form into that of a changeling which draws a few gasps from the others.
“Ponies aren’t the only thing I can turn into, it was just the only form I knew of that could utilize magic. As long as I understand how its body works I can turn into it though it limits what I can do then and I won’t have the instincts needed for certain things. So while I could turn into a pegasus and fly it would be very dangerous as I’d have to focus on everything so a crash landing would really injure me unlike how it just inconveniences Rainbow Dash.” I shift back to my natural form again as the others are starting to look a bit nervous with how my voice sounds from a changeling body. They don’t have any more objections to this but they don’t seem very happy about me going alone either.
Leaving the library I make my way to the manor as fast as I can and grab my packs and a few other things I need. I make sure to grab one of my experimental fireworks since it would be a useful distraction if I need it and it would probably cause a lot of havoc by overloading the changelings with magic. Finishing my preparations I leave a note for Umbra and make my way up to the attic.
Once there I pull out a map and try to calculate the distance and other factors that I need to get there. I had been able to work out how to use the magic circle to teleport items a good distance away but this would be the first time that I teleported myself. I wasn’t sure how much magic I would need to use considering the distance so I decided to play it safe and tap into the power stored in the hearthstone. It shouldn’t even take much of the power from it but would still cause a good amount of fatigue just channeling the power.
After double and triple checking the calculations for the teleport I do one last check on everything I had while chalking out the extra runes I will need around the circle. While doing this I spot the mirror I keep in the attic and am overcome with a bit of curiosity about how I will look as a changeling. I quickly finish up with the circle before heading over to the mirror to get a good look at myself as I take the form of a changeling.
What I see in the mirror was definitely not what I was expecting though it still looked like a changeling. Instead of the normal black and green colors I found myself sporting an orange carapace with brown highlights and a white mane. The colors of my eyes didn’t change either which really made them intimidating by looking as if they contained a violent flame in them. There were a few other details that were also off a bit but seeing the coloration I had taken reminded me of the one flaw in my disguise, that being that while it’s a full species change it doesn’t change my natural coloration.
I shake my head about forgetting that one key issue and wonder if that was part of why the others were so quiet in the library. Still, I figure it’s better to find out about the problem now and just add a simple illusion to cover it than to find out later when it’s important. Finishing the last few preparations I move to stand in the center of the magic circle and start to charge it up, hoping I did everything correctly. With one last deep breath I finish charging the spell and activate it, watching everything around me fade away into a brilliant flash of orange flames.
I can immediately tell that I did something wrong as I feel myself thrown into various directions as if something is trying to pull me apart. As my visions starts to fade to black everything around me suddenly snaps into clarity again as I arrive at my destination, just to find myself falling. The drop doesn’t last long as something in my leg catches on something and I swing around to find myself hanging upside-down. I try to shake off the dizziness from the teleportation and look around to get my bearings to find myself high up in a tree which was not where I had planned on landing. I find that it was a good thing that I changed forms before coming out here as I find a tree branch sticking through one of the leg holes of my current form which explains why I stopped falling.
Well that could have gone a lot better, but for a first intentional attempt I guess it’s passable especially considering the distance. I need to figure out why I keep ending up high in the air as twice may be a coincidence but I’d rather not make it three times. It takes me a while but I eventually extract myself from the tree with minimal injuries and surprisingly little tree sap. On the way down I find that I was actually pretty close to where I wanted to go and with a careful extension of my senses I could detect a couple changelings very close to where I am.
Drawing in a deep breath I start layering various spells around me to do everything I can to deflect attention away from me as well as hide my presence. I especially make sure to throw up a couple spells to hide not only any emotions I give off but also the magic signature of all the spells on me as well. Once I feel that I have enough placed to minimize the chances of being found out I make my way towards where I detected the changelings.
It didn’t take long to reach the location they were at which was surprisingly an ordinary looking building not far from a well-traveled road. I made sure to come up from the back side of the building so that I could set up a few fireworks to identify the location when I set off the ignition spells for them remotely.
After making sure the fireworks were well hidden I made my way around to the front of the building and acted like I belonged there. That along with my spells allowed me to just walk past the duo guarding the place without earning a second look from them. Once inside the building I casually searched the place until I found the entrance to the underground tunnels the changelings were hiding and entered them with my magic map floating at my side.
I would have gotten lost very quickly in the tunnels as they started to branch of in various directions time and time again. A few times I even managed to go in circles and end up in locations I had already been so having the map ready was a must. As I made my way deeper into the caverns I started to get worried as I hadn’t seen any changelings since the ones at the door. I couldn’t even sense any others around, but I had found that only disguised changelings gave off the odd sensation and only the guards outside would need one.
I lost track of time as I searched the place for signs of Trixie and I started to wonder if she was even still here. From what I could tell from my mapping I was steadily running out of places to look and everywhere I had already been was disturbingly empty. I was relieved to finally hear some variety of activity down one of the tunnels I neared and made my way towards it.
When I arrived at the next cavern that the tunnel opened into I found a small handful of guards along with around a dozen green pods. I couldn’t see what was in most of them, but I spotted a bit of blue in one of the closer ones and I knew I had found my goal. Surveying the room I was glad to see that there was only the one entrance into it so there wouldn’t be any surprise ambushes once I took care of the few guards here, though deciding on the best way to do so was hard to decide.
Seeing as I wasn’t going to be able to sneak out with a dozen other beings I decided that I could experiment with some new ideas. First I send out a small pulse of magic towards the fireworks waiting outside to send a signal for Twilight; I then drop my disguise and concealment spells and start projecting an illusion around me. The illusion was in two parts; the first was subtle as it played with the target’s mind to have their own mind influence what they see, and the second was pure emotion to overwhelm the changeling’s senses. I had chosen fear and terror as they were the emotions I could summon most strongly.
The changelings quickly spotted me once I dropped my disguise, but the illusions came up immediately after giving them no time to react. I was about to say something, but they all reacted before I could do so and started throwing themselves at the walls to try and escape me as the fear took over their senses. Seeing that the illusion was working much better than I expected I padded away from the door to give them a way to escape which they all took when they saw it.
I kept the spell going as I examined the cocoons and thought over the situation. I hope I can wake some of these being up after I free them. I won’t be able to carry this many and if it comes to it I’ll leave them here and take Trixie if I’m forced to. Something is seriously wrong here though as I have only seen eight changelings but this place should hold hundreds judging by the size.
Seeing no obvious way to open them I started using my magic to pry the cocoons apart so that their contents were freed. Once I had opened them all I took count of what was there and found that along with Trixie there were six other ponies, three diamond dogs, a griffon, and a minotaur. The last one was a surprise as I had only seen one in Equestria so far and this one was obviously not that one as it was a female. Digging through my packs I searched for something to wake them up with, but the only thing that I thought would work was a vial of powdered peppers.
Taking a small sniff of it myself I quickly jerked it away as I found that it was from the special peppers I grew which would work well enough if my now runny nose was any indication. I decided to wake the non-ponies first as they all looked to be in a better condition than the ponies and could carry them if needed. I started with the diamond dogs as they would be the easiest to controls and ended with the griffon. I was about to start with the ponies but on a closer inspection I found that they were in a really bad state and decided it was better to let them stay down for now.
I turned back to the others to see that they had started to pull themselves off the ground as they recovered enough to do so. “What in the world happened, it feels like my head was caught under a wagon.” The griffon recovered the fastest of them all despite having been revived last. “You were all captured by changelings and we need to get out of here fast before the ones I drove off return with friends.” They all whirled towards me as they hadn’t fully noticed me until I spoke which brought a few varied responses.
“High One!” The three diamond dogs threw themselves prostrate in front of me on seeing me which caused the minotaur to look at them strangely. The griffon though was had a less friendly reaction. “Well you’re something different, how do I know that you aren’t working for them, huh?” I just shake my head and wonder why griffons always seem so bull-headed, no offense to the minotaur of course.
“Well if you want to act like that you are welcome to try and find your own way out instead of following me. It might take you a while without a map considering how deep you are in these caverns.” I proceed to ignore the griffon as it fluffed itself up in outrage and turned towards the diamond dogs. “Enough with the bowing you three, I need you to carry the ponies out with us while I lead the way. I just hope that the royal guard spotted my signal so that they can meet us outside.”
With a bit of sniveling and a few more bows on their part they each grab two ponies while the minotaur voluntarily grabs the seventh. Not bothering to see if the griffon will follow or not I start to lead them out towards the surface. I keep my illusion spell running to drive off any changelings that might try to stop us yet there still is no sign of them. Eventually we make it to the building hiding the caverns to find that the two guards were gone. We found someone else waiting for us though in the form of half of the Element Bearers and a pair of unicorn guards.
“Flarenza, you’re back! ChangelingsareattackingManehattanandTwilightandApplejackleftwiththeotherguardstogostopthemwhileRainbowDashwentoCanterlottowarnPrincessCelestia.” It takes me a moment to decipher what Pinkie Pie just said and my eyes widen at this as I look at both Rarity and Fluttershy. “That’s not good; I was wondering why there were hardly any changelings down there. How far away is the city from here?” One of the guards speaks up while they all start trying to help the rescued ponies. “The city is about an hour away on the ground or ten minutes by air. We need to take care of these ponies first before we can go though.”
I wince at this as a lot can happen in an hour and I’m not sure how many guards Twilight gathered and how well they can deal with the changelings. “We don’t have the supplies to treat them here. From what I can tell they are suffering from the emotional drain the changelings cause as well as possible magic fatigue.” I look over Trixie as she needs real medical help to recover. “Unfortunately Manehattan is the closest place to help them with that. I don’t know what I can do to help stop the changelings but I know I have to try.”
The guards just shake their heads and go back to dealing with the unconscious ponies while I try to figure out the fastest way to get to the city. While looking over my maps I failed to notice that one of the others had been looking over my shoulder as I was planning on how to get there. “So you’re really going there to fight those bugs, huh?” I jump a bit and turn to find the griffon was uncomfortably close.
“Well I’ve already come this far and didn’t get the fight I was expecting so I might as well go and chase them down. Not sure what I can do when I get there since I only came prepared to sneak in and out of this place, but better to fight myself than to let someone else fight and hope they win.” Really I have no idea why I feel I need to go, but if I can stall the changelings for even a few minutes it’ll give reinforcements time to arrive. I doubted that Twilight brought enough guards with to handle the numbers I estimated could inhabit the caverns I just left. The griffon cocked his head as he thought over my answer before nodding.
“Well I guess you’re better than these wimpy ponies, not many of them would run into a fight. Hop on, I’ll fly you there. But after this we’re even, bad enough being in debt to others but I’d never hear the end of it they found out that it was to a non-griffon.” My eyebrows rose at his offer as it was usually only the upper level griffons that cared much for honor and debt. I just nod and gather my stuff up while pondering who this griffon is but hold back from asking.
The griffon allows me to climb onto his back and we are soon on our way towards Manehattan. I use the time to think through what I have that can help with the fight over the city. Much of what I have would take too long to properly use, though the fireworks I still have could come in handy. I really need to start packing more things that are more easily accessible in setting that requires quick thinking and fast responses. I can only take out so many with the pepper powder and fireworks really aren’t made for battle. If I can somehow gather the changelings into a condensed area I might be able to use the prototype firework on them.
I try to figure out the best way to do so if I have to as the city comes into sight. Even from a distance I can tell that things aren’t going well as there appears to be a good many fires and many green flashes throughout the city. There does seem to be some kind of defense going on still as there are also other flashes of color around the city though my eyes are drawn towards the ones that look like they could be from Twilight. Since the wind is carrying my voice away I just tap the griffon’s shoulder and point towards the most likely location.
As we head in to land we are spotted by a couple changelings but they are easily swatted out of the sky with my magic. Soon enough we land atop a building close to where I pointed out and I quickly dismount. “Thanks for the lift; you’re free to do whatever you want now. Fight, find other griffons, take out the changeling that replaced you, whatever you want.” The griffon nods before taking off and flying deeper into the city leaving me to my own plans.
Looking around I find the exit from the roof and I rush over to the edge of the building to get a view of the area. I find that the streets are crawling with changelings while a couple blocks away I see a group of ponies in combat with them. I see a bit of purple flitting around down with them which I assume to be Twilight, especially as the flashes of magic also are coming from it. I turn away and rush over to the roof exit and make my way down to street level.
I find that the building is some sort of apartment building though things are oddly silent; hopefully because the inhabitants are in hiding. Once I reach the ground floor I find that the front doors have been barricaded but one of the windows is still clear. Of course it’s easy to figure out why as there’s barely any room between it and the next building over as well as it being hidden behind some plants.
Once I’m outside I throw up a simple invisibility illusion and dodge through all the changelings towards the fighting that I spotted. Some of the changelings sense my passing as I only concealed the sight of me but with how many are around it makes it hard for them to pinpoint where I am. Of course once I get close to enough to see that it really was Twilight with some of her guards I had to dodge not only the changelings but also the spells being thrown at them from the ponies.
I was able to make it to the pony defense line with only a few singed hairs and was able to catch my breath in the middle of them all as they were too distracted to see through my illusion. While doing this I notice that one of the ponies was avoiding getting into the fight, and on closer inspection revealed it to be a disguised changeling. I keep watch over it and notice that it is keeping an eye on Twilight and wonder what it is planning.
I find out soon enough as a large blast of green energy comes flying out of nowhere and knocks her out of the sky. Her guards quickly converge on her location to protect her while the source appears at the head of the charging swarm causing them to hold their positions. I notice that this one looks familiar when I realize that this is the leader of the attack I was searching for, Queen Chrysalis. This just got a lot more complicated than I thought it would be. Hopefully she will mess up like she did last time and leave an opening to exploit.
I look around the street for anything that can help out and notice that we are in the market district from the many food stalls along the sides of the street. I get an idea to distract the changeling queen and hopefully give the guards time to escape and get help. I turn back with a grin as the queen starts pontificating. “Your princess is down and there is nowhere for you to run now. So why don’t you make it easy on yourselves and just give up? I promise I-“ Her words are cut off as a fish comes flying from one of the nearby stalls and slaps her across her muzzle. This action shocks everyone that is present and I take a moment to blast the disguised changeling, knocking it out, before revealing myself.
“Well what do you know? Food does seem to be the weakness of changelings. It was the only thing that would shut you up last time as well.” Everyone in the area turns towards me in shock, though some of the guards are more shocked about the guard that turned into a changeling after I hit it. Chrysalis narrows her eyes at me as when realizes that I was the one that threw the fish.
“You again?! How dare you do that to me?! I will have your*guh*!” She goes speechless again as I not only hit her again with another fish but also smack her on the other side of her muzzle with the fish I previously threw. “My ‘guh’? I really have no clue what that is. Maybe you should speak in a language I can understand?” I can hear a few of the guards chuckle at what is going on, and I notice that they are slowly moving Twilight to safety as the eyes of every changeling is focused on me now.
The queen is obviously starting to lose it now and I think one more push should do it. “Again!? Do you not know who you are dealing with!? I am going to*Waugh!*” This time I pelt her with every fish that is left in the stand, which is enough to bury her, as well as the stand itself. I motion to the guards to get out of here fast as the attention of the changelings is now divided between me and their buried queen. They get the hint as smoke starts to rise from within the pile of fish, and green light is leaking out from under it.
As the guard gets out of sight there is an explosion that sends fish flying everywhere revealing the queen covered in steaming fish guts. “KILL HER!” And that would be my queue to run. At her orders the queen and her swarm charges at me as I take off in a direction opposite of where Twilight was taken. As I run I levitate out fireworks and pepper bombs which I send back at the swarm adding more chaos and anger to the mix. A couple of the fireworks even hit the queen who just shrugs them off with an angry screech before increasing her pace.
Well I have her following me but where should I lead them to? I have no idea where I am going in this city and I don’t even know if there is a wide open area anywhere. Even without a viable plan to go off of I start enjoying myself enough to toss back taunts and insults to keep her riled up. Even better is the fact that ever group of changelings we pass stops what they were doing previously and gets caught up in the blind rage of the swarm as they chase me.
Soon enough I notice that things had gotten so bad with them that clouds of changelings were flying in from all parts of the city. Did I really piss her off enough to summon the entire swarm just to chase me down? I didn’t realize their link was that vulnerable to emotions, they are so blinded by rage that they aren’t even trying to cast any spells to stop me. As I turn another corner I catch a scent on the wind which smells like a good amount of greenery. Hoping that this is what I think it is I follow my nose towards its source.
Soon enough I spot the perfect place to try and end this as the streets open up into a large park within the city. I am glad to see that had been cleared of any ponies so that any collateral damage should be minimal from what I have planned. Charging towards the center of the park I levitate out the prototype firework and break the seal inside of it that separates the key components. As I do this I start counting down from twenty. “Twenty… nineteen… eighteen…” I spot a large rock to make my stand at as I reach ten and get to it as fast as I can before putting my back to it. Once there I send the small orb flying back towards the air above the swarm before putting all my remaining magic into the strongest shields I can make.
“Five… four… three… two… Have a nice day Queen Chrissy” I wave at the changeling queen tauntingly which seems to snap her out of her rage. Only then she realizes what I was doing and realizes her mistake but it is too late. The magical cascade caused by the elements in the firework mixing finally reach critical levels and it explodes in a spherical rainbow of colors which starts sending changelings flying along the shockwave.
“Frig, still didn’t get it right yet. Maybe next time I’ll get it right.” I watch as the blast rapidly advance on Chrysalis who is now screaming in rage and fear as the wall of color and changelings impacts into her throwing her and her swarm into my shield. The impact sends a shock through me and I realize that something is wrong as the pressure continues to increase. I start to see cracks appear in my shield and I manage to get out one more words before it shatters.
“Frig…” With that all the changelings piled against it are blown through and into my body and I soon see nothing but darkness.
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4862176 Fixed that. I swear I remember typing these things out correctly though. Granted with Pinkie Pie you really can use her as a verb or place and it would somehow work because Pinkie Pie.
I can’t believe I didn’t catch this Space Balls reference the first time around
You know it's bad when having pinkie "talk" someone into a confession is considered going overboard. Lol.
The CMC defense of Manehatten sounds like an awesome story by itself.