51: Derpvasion!
The first image that appeared in Karyn’s mind was of the time that Derpy had been trapped on Earth when her spell failed. She remembered how hysterical and panicky Derpy had been, and tried to recall how she had helped deal with it. But her mind kept slipping off into either of two images. The first was of herself trapped in Equestria, watching her parents filling out a missing person report and trying not to cry. The second was watching something that looked like her hug her parents, who then collapsed to the ground, glassy-eyed and slack-jawed, with all of their love drained from them.
Tears welled up in her eyes.
Sensing her distress, Derpy threw the saddlebag down and hugged Karyn. “Hey, don’t worry. We’re going to fix it. And for all we know, time may not even be moving on Earth.”
“That’s right! The changelings can’t know how to control the time streams, so they might have stopped it.”
“But we’ve still got to deal with this one,” said Derpy, pointing at the changeling tied up on the ground. “We should alert Twilight, and she can write Celestia.”
“Won’t we look suspicious walking through town with a changeling?”
“I hope so. If changelings are in town, everypony should know.”
Karyn was silently thankful for Derpy’s strong back. Two humans would have been hard-pressed to carry the changeling between them, but with one holding up the leg as it rode a pony, the load was bearable. They seemed to get through that if it tried any transformations, they would sit on it again.
Word quickly spread through Ponyville, and they hadn’t made it far before Twilight Sparkle galloped up with a scroll and quill floating behind her.
“A changeling! We haven’t seen any of those in, I don’t know how long!”
Derpy began to tell the story of the day in chronological order, but Karyn decided that one fact needed to be said immediately. “Twilight, there’s another changeling out there, it stole Derpy’s spell, and it’s on Earth right now.”
She threw down her notes. “That’s dangerous! If they can cross the barrier between worlds, anything could happen.”
“Can we re-use the original spell, the one Lyra invented? That’s something a unicorn can cast, right?”
“It is, but I don’t know it off the top of my horn. Let’s go check in with her.”
Derpy and Karyn followed Twilight to the home where Lyra and Bon-bon lived.
“What?! You want me to send a human back to Earth?” Lyra’s face was contorted in fear as they explained the situation. “I haven’t done that in so long…I’m not sure that I can remember the spell.”
“It’s all right, darling.” Lyra’s human emerged from the next room. “You just concentrate and I’m sure it will come to you.”
“In the meantime,” said Twilight, “the princesses at Canterlot need to know what’s going on. Derpy, Karyn, will you come with me to show her this…thing?”
“Are you sure?” said Karyn. “If Lyra can work out the spell—“
“It’ll take me some time, and it’ll be easier if I’m not distracted. Go help the princesses.”
Grimacing, Karyn nodded. “Does anypony have the train schedule?”
Twilight spread her wings. “Don’t let this get around, but for emergencies, we have alternate means of transport.”
A blinding flash of light, and Karyn reoriented herself as the sky was replaced with the ceiling of Canterlot Castle. Derpy, Twilight, and the bound changeling had accompanied her in the teleportation.
“Come with me,” said Twilight. “Once Princess Celestia sees this, she’ll want to take immediate action.”
The princess was at tea. Derpy thought of Celestia as perpetually busy, but to see her relaxing gave Derpy a moment’s pause. Twilight had no such compunction.
“See what’s come back?”
“A changeling? They haven’t been seen in Equestria—“
“In many years, yes. Do you know why this one was found imitating Derpy?”
Celestia rose and walked along the twisting paths of the castle. Karyn had to jog to keep up. “I’ve had no word of any build. Has it said anything?”
“I’m not sure that changelings can speak in their natural form.” Twilight stared at it.
“I may have to question it myself.”
Their path wound downwards, and Karyn felt her ears pop. She was shocked to find herself facing the door to a dungeon.
“Princess? You have dungeons here?”
“Certainly. Why not?”
“Ponies just always seemed so peaceful.”
Celestia opened the locked gate. Past the first hall, it looked no different from any other sitting room in the castle. “And we are. But a castle has to have a dungeon by the rules of architecture.”
She sat the changeling down and told it to adapt a form that would let it speak, but all it did was chitter.
“How are you going to get it to talk if it doesn’t want to?” asked Karyn.
“We can’t always do that. It’s a difficult problem. Perhaps we should look at it another way. Let’s assume that this is a descendant of the previous changeling invasion. They could be like cicadas, having a multiple-year cycle. We should investigate where they come from.”
“Do we know where changelings come from?” said Derpy.
“When they invaded the last time, Shining Armor was able to repel them with his spell. After that, they were blasted off past the borders of Equestria. We should try to trace them there.
“That could be anywhere! We don’t even know what direction they went.”
The princess ascended the stairs again. “We do have one record of the event.”
They followed her past the throne room into the great hall. Karyn could barely take it all in. She had never seen many cathedrals, but she understood their appeal, as the sun shone through the stained glass. Celestia led them to one window. “Here you can see the castle, with the changeling queen being hurled to the northwest. I think that you should search for them there.”
“Us?” said Derpy. “Why do we have to go?”
Celestia gave Derpy a look, as though to remind her that she was merely a subject, and that Celestia gave orders. But then she relaxed. “It was you that they first went after, and therefore I need you to be brave and help find out where they are and what they hope to gain by accessing Earth.”
“All right, your highness.”
Derpy led Karyn outside of the palace. “Looks like we’ve got ourselves a little adventure.”
“How did this happen?” Karyn stared into the distance.
“Well, the changeling—“
“No, I know that, but, I mean, I’m so scared.”
“I’m scared too,” said Derpy. “But once we find out, it’ll all work out in the end.”
“But what if it doesn’t? We’re supposed to go after vicious changelings who have no respect for human life. I’m not cut out for that. I’m just a college student. I live in suburbia, and I don’t even go into the bad neighborhoods where human thugs hang out. Now I have to go deal with real evil? And you know what else scares me?”
“What’s that?”
“That this feels just like the start of some cheap video game. The ruler sends the lone band of heroes out to deal with the menace that’s oppressing the countryside, and they have to go alone, with a wooden sword and a leather jerkin, and it’s not until later they get the real gear. I always sucked at those games. I’d have to die a lot before I got good. This isn’t a game though. If I die in Equestria, I die in real life!”
The door to the castle opened, and the sound of a trumpet came forth. Sixty pegasi, clad in identical metal armor, marched out in lockstep. Behind them came Celestia.
“I’m sorry it took a while to muster the guard, but they’re ready to march out with you now and—what’s wrong, Karyn?”
Karyn had been trying to conceal her laughter, but was able to say to the princess, “I just assumed that you were sending us out alone.”
“What? Certainly not. You bring me word of an invasion and an assault upon a guest in my realm? Naturally I’m going to make available all the resources of the crown to anyone who I would ask to help.”
Karyn looked at the strong pegasi. Their look indicated that they would protect her. She let out her breath, thinking that however fantastic ponies might look, they were still practical.
“Thank you, Princess Celestia.” She bowed deeply.
“Others are gathering provisions for the journey. I estimate you can leave in fifteen minutes. In the meantime, I will be making plans for dealing with the changeling on Earth. I hope it does not come to that, of course, but if need be, I will put forth all my ponies there to protect your world as well.”
Karyn had a vision of the changeling on Earth wreaking havoc. For all she knew, it was there to impersonate some high government official and take over the world. Celestia might have to come with her flying army of ponies to blanket the world in magic, forcing the impostor to reveal itself, but shattering humanity’s vision of how the world worked. It would mean the end of civilization as known, and it would all be Karyn’s fault.
Or, she hoped, it was just confused and running around her dorm room like a silent insect until they fixed the spell. Whatever the case, she was eager to get started.
Princess Celestia looked up, and the girls saw a lone Pegasus flying swiftly from the horizon. As it landed, another guard brought him a bowl of water. He took one drink, then addressed the princess.
“Your highness, I have flown as you asked and returned at the first sign. I saw no one I did not expect to, but there was evidence that something has been eating from the trees of a forest to the northwest. I have marked the location on my map.” He passed the map to a captain of the guard.
Celestia nodded, and the captain said, “Very well, we will head there. I estimate this would be a two-hour flight at top speed, but with a civilian—“
“I’ll have you know that I’m a trained mailmare!” said Derpy.
“With a non-military servant of the crown,” he continued with a grin, “We should reach this point by nightfall.”
They waited, the guards silent in discipline, Karyn and Derpy muttering and fidgeting, while the supply ponies joined the ranks. Celestia addressed the captain.
“Take care, for yourself, your ponies, and most of all for these two. I want nothing more than to return to the peaceful existence we have known. Come back safely. That is an official order from the Princess of Equestria.”
Karyn mounted Derpy, but right after whispered in her ear. “Do you want me to ask if one of the stallions can carry me? If we have a long journey ahead of us, you might not want to bear me the whole way.”
“You stay put. You’re my human, not any of theirs, and I’m sticking by you in case you need me.”
Karyn wondered if she wasn’t subtly indicating that she needed Karyn, but she didn’t say anything.
It was impressive to be at the rear of the troop and watch the pegasi take off in formation with precision. Derpy kept her distance so as not to knock anypony out of place. Out of earshot, the girls had a chance to visit for the first time in a while.
“Are you nervous?” asked Derpy.
“Less so than before. Now that we’ve got all these other ponies around, less can go wrong. I’m glad that we’re getting serious about the incident. Truth be told, I don’t mind being the bait to draw out the changelings.”
“I’d think that would be even scarier.”
“It’s a little scary,” said Karyn, “but it’s not labor-intensive.”
Soon the pegasi reached the edge of the forest that had been indicated. They dropped low and skirted the tops of the trees, then came to a landing in a clearing. Derpy was not able to pull off the moves with the same precision as the guards, but since it didn’t matter if she was seen, all was well.
“I never knew about this forest,” Derpy said.
“Me neither. Do you think it’s an extension of the Everfree?”
“Who knows?”
Karyn dismounted and helped the supply pegasi set up camp. “The maps I’ve seen of Equestria make it look so small, and it seems that there’s no part of it that you haven’t settled. And yet, there’s all this terrain where changelings can hide and nopony knows anything about it.”
“I thought the same thing about Earth. The first time I searched the Internet I figured that your world was like one big city, but once I flew over it a couple of times, I saw that you still have a lot of open country.”
“If we get out of this and I make it home, you’ll have to show me those again.”
Derpy draped a wing over Karyn. “Hey, none of that. You’ll be sleeping in your own bed tomorrow, I’m sure.”
The camp was established, and the captain of the guard sent out pegasi to scout for changelings. In the failing light, with birds tweeting all around, Karyn could almost imagine a happier occasion where she and Derpy would have a picnic in a wood like this. She thought about the park where they had first found Muffinhead. That only made her sadder, as she wondered if she would ever see it again.
Derpy was more practical. She staked out the best spot to lie down after her flight, and asked one of the guard if it wasn’t time to eat yet. He chuckled and gave her some rations out of his saddlebag. Derpy tasted it, said thank you, and flew back to Karyn.
“I could never be a member of the royal guard. How they eat this and still have the energy to fight changelings, I don’t know!”
“Look at it this way—“
“I’ll lose weight.”
Karyn flashed her teeth at Derpy.
The wait was interminable, and Karyn wished that she had brought her cell phone or something to entertain her, but of course didn’t plan to be stuck.
The first of the guards returned and had a hasty conversation with the captain. He kept pointing with his wing and drawing diagrams.
“What do you think they’re talking about?” said Derpy.
“Wouldn’t know. You’re the pegasus; what do pegasi talk about?”
“Those guys are like, serious pegasi. They hang around flight schools for fun. I just want to make friends and enjoy myself.”
The captain walked over. “We’ve spotted some of the changelings. The reports are that there’s one a bit larger than the others. It could be the queen.”
He called everypony’s attention and repeated the report.
“I think the best thing to do is to use the element of surprise and sweep them up right now. If we can get that queen, Princess Celestia may be able to interrogate it fruitfully. That’s your main objective. Colts…get the nets.”
The guards all had excited looks. Karyn figured they were looking forward to working against a live target instead of only drilling. Great fishnets, big enough for four pegasi to hold, were brought out, and the troop split off into squadrons, each centered around one net.
“Remember that they’ll change shape on you and mess up your balance. Once you’ve got them in the net, be prepared to maneuver and adjust as needed.”
The more eager ponies were already taking off, and Derpy was worried about getting left behind. Deciding to be bold, she went up to the captain. “What do Karyn and I do?”
“Oh, right. You two, um, get up and scout. If any changelings escape the nets, you shout out to the nearest pony to catch them.”
She ran back and explained to Karyn.
“Sounds like easy work to me.”
Derpy had to hustle to get into the air and keep in sight of the guards. As soon as they were up, the forest seemed to spew a black cloud from another clearing. They soon realized that it was the changelings.
The guards were good. It didn’t take them long to sweep around with their nets and tie up dozens of changelings. Since the insectoid creatures were used to fighting in a swarm, it was like fishing from a plentiful school. Karyn and Derpy had little to do as they waited.
Just as they were the last ones in the air, they were the last to land as the pegasi took command of the changelings’ position. The guard was already laughing and slapping each other on their backs, but they pulled up short when they saw the bushes and trees all around them flash with magic and turn black. In an eye-blink, they formed a cocoon around the guard, trapping Derpy and Karyn outside. The pegasi were kicking and bucking their way out of the swarm, but for each one that reached daylight, a hundred changelings would come push him back into the morass.
Derpy hesitated for a moment. An instinct told her to be brave and charge in to save as many of the pegasi as possible, but two rationales stopped her. One was that she would only get herself pulled down and not save anypony, and the other was that she had more love for Karyn than for all the ponies in the guard.
She banked hard and tried to fly away. She knew that pegasi like Rainbow Dash would know all of the tricks to gain height and speed as fast as possible, but Derpy’s talent as a flyer was over long distances. She doubted that the changelings could keep up on a mail route, but if they went after her, it would be a close sprint.
After what seemed like an hour, she dared to look back. She expected to see the changelings coalescing around the guard doing who-knows-what. Instead, they had come after her, enough of them. They were even scarier when she could see them individually, for they were not all identical. Some had twisted bodies that made them look deformed, while others were bloated and heavy, but could still fly.
All of them had very sharp fangs.
The first one to touch Derpy’s flank gave her an adrenalin rush that nearly allowed her to get away. But there were too many of them. They moved into formation and attacked her from all directions.
Almost immediately, one of them slammed into Karyn, knocking her off balance. Derpy recalled that there was a spell in her bag that would keep them locked together, but in her haste and panic after the discovery of the first missing spell, she had discarded the bag altogether. Now Karyn was falling, screaming, “Aieee!”
Derpy dived, with no hesitation at that moment, but the changelings grabbed her, and she was netted herself, in an icky biological tether. She was helpless to watch Karyn land, but instead the changelings grabbed her and changed course, continuing northwest, farther in the direction they had come.
And then, just as quickly as it began, the swarm abated. They pulled back like an ocean wave, leaving Derpy confused and needing a moment to regain her balance in the air. The tide of black swept past the clearing, leaving the guards confused, many with their armor in shambles, but still alive. The nets had been torn to shreds. A few of them took to the sky to pursue the changelings, but they dissipated like a cloud amid flashes of light as they disguised themselves to blend in.
Derpy’s heart was heavy. Only ponies were in the forest.
***
Karyn opened her eyes. Total darkness would have been worse. Instead, the green phosphorescence that gave her enough light to see also made everything creepy. As near as she could tell, she was alone. There were no more changelings around. The cave was expansive, and while she didn’t see any way out, she would have the chance to explore as soon as she got her bearings.
To her surprise, she wasn’t as panicked as she would have thought. Three bolstering thoughts kept her going. If they wanted to kill me, it would have happened already, was one. If there’s a way in, there’s a way out, was another. But the one that lifted her spirits the most was, Derpy knows I’m gone. She’ll tell the princess and everypony will come rescue me. If Derpy doesn’t just go insane and tear apart every changeling she finds.
After a few minutes, she decided to get up and walk around. She might find the exit on her own, and it made no sense to do nothing. If the changelings were keeping her prisoner, they would soon know that she wasn’t going to cooperate.
As soon as she passed into the next chamber, she heard a noise, something like a cough, and all her self-assurances broke down. Peering into the darkness, her heart pounding in her chest, she said, “Hello?”
The cough came again, and Karyn thought it sounded like the cry of a creature in pain. Opening her eyes as wide as she could, she peered out and inched forward. The sound got louder.
She wound up nearly tripping over a prone form on the floor of the cave. It turned to look at her. A wordless sound emanated from it, enough to identify its voice. From the depths of Karyn’s memory, a name floated up.
“Queen Chrysalis?”
Stats
Page generated in 0.029 seconds
Total duration
1,060 users online
1,706,824 hits today, 2,004,447 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
Wow, all those changelings just to capture Karyn? Something of extreme importance about her, or Earth, it seems. And is Chryssy playing weak and hurt, or is she really still recovering from the Love Nuke that blasted her halfway across Equestria?
I still believe changelings and ponies could live together in a symbiotic relationship rather than the more desperate parasitic measures that culminated in the failed Canterlot Invasion. The same could be said of humans on Earth too, but unlike ponies, we are far far more extreme in our emotions and "alignment"... from the most lawful of good to the worst of chaotic evil and every degree between. And magic would be a game-changer on the international front, the hell with belonging to the Nuclear Club, if you don't have magic, you're screwed. Nervous countries might decide to strike first and plunge Earth into an all out war of the "haves" and "have nots". Weather it starts out with a lot of complaining first, slowly escalating, or jumping right to the end game, it'll all end up a big mess.
But that's just fear and looking for the worst possible thing to happen. Who knows, maybe Earth will go crazy for a week and then, like everything else on The News, it'll blow over and quickly get swept aside as the next big story comes along about some Hollywood divorce or Obama trips down the stairs of the White House...
But back to Karyn's kidnapping; I really suspect Chryssy (along with her hive) wants to flee to Earth. The ponies are on to the changelings and they're slowly starving to death because ponies are getting better at outing them. What better way to get a new source of "food" and a world totally unsuspecting of them... and humans have no way to deal with their magic.
she's alive instresting
fucking cliff-hangers i hate them
Just re-read and I have a big hunch
I'm guessing the Changlings want Kyren to be their *cough*queen*cough*
2513536, not necessarily. There maybe some features Changelings cannot imitate - like pheromones. Then dogs or even advanced sniffer technology (similar in what's used to detect bombs) could be used.
Anyways, I'm still waiting to see First Contact between Terra and Equestria
2519150
Dogs at the front door? It'll be like Terminator, during the war-future, all over again! (Oof, that went grimdark pretty quick, eh?)
Still, I'm not terribly concerned about us versus changelings. It's been hammered into out psyche that humans react violently to loosing their freedom. If the bugponies think they can just cocoon a few hundred humans for 'food' then they better have a portal ready to get back to Equestria. Overreaction is our claim to fame... as in nuking them, then nuking the hole a few more times "just to be sure".
...Chryssy would never be so stupid to try that however. She'd have to be far more sneaky, suave even. Integrate her hive with the most powerful nation in the world by turning on the charm and woe-is-me puppydog eyes. Then sit back and get fat on our love, and compassion because we love underdogs in America, while humans bicker amongst ourselves at the U.N.
I'm pretty sure that's supposed to be "change shape on you"
Also, regarding why Chrysalis is lying on the floor in what probably is the Changelings' prison, I can see three possible explanations for this:
Number 1: She's playing weak to fool Karyn into trusting her,
Number 2: She's still weakened from Cadence' and Shining Armor's love overload or
Number 3: There was a rebellion against her within the swarm, which was succesful.
Anyhow, I'm very curious how the story will continue and which one, if any, of these explanations turns out to be true.
To her surprise, she wasn’t as panicked as she would have thought. Three bolstering thoughts kept her going. If they wanted to kill me, it would have happened already, was one. If there’s a way in, there’s a way out, was another. But the one that lifted her spirits the most was, Derpy knows I’m gone. She’ll tell the princess and everypony will come rescue me. If Derpy doesn’t just go insane and tear apart every changeling she finds.
What if they captured Derpy too
! I have a silly feeling about the next update 
. 
2521048
Fixed, thank you.
Of course! Equestrian castles have dungeons because that's just how castles work, you have to put dungeons in them.
2520782
Pretty hard to launch any nukes when changelings have all the codes.
Oh my gosh oh my gosh oh my gosh oh my gosh oh my gosh oh my gosh oh my gosh oh my gosh oh my gosh oh my gosh oh my gosh oh my gosh oh my gosh oh my gosh oh my gosh...
OH MY GOSH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
2520782
If only... In my own personal experience, people won't do anything about their government if they have a job that they're expected to go to 13 hours a day and they can go home, het high or drink and watch TV or find something to do online. They'll just be concerned with getting by.
There are of course those who want to make the world a better place, though they disagree on how exactly to do that. A lot of them end up in government-sponsored programs and not accomplishing anything if all goes well, but quite possibly making things worse. I know a young woman who's been thrown into destitution and is currently in exactly this situation.
Then, there are people like me. I didn't give a damn about politics five years ago. I didn't know or care how "my" government operates. Of course, then things became excessively violent in my own opinion. After my daily life had been thrown into disarray, I started to care. Had I not had the experience I did, I probably still wouldn't care though.
People don't care if the government black-bags people as long as it doesn't happen to them. They don't care that the military is now allowed to police civillians despite the fact that a decade ago that would have been illegal. They don't even care that it's not just "their" military that can police them, but troops from Russia and a number of countries all over the EU. Mess with their recreational drugs or entertainment though, and they'll be up in arms.
Oh, are you telling me the big in the bathroom was a foreshadowing device?