Chapter 23
Author's Note: Written by Samaru163 and Tricondon.
Chapter 23
Rainbow Dash
Fluttershy was tending to my injured wing when Twilight burst in, shouting something. I guess she startled Fluttershy, since she squeaked and jumped behind the couch. Twilight flashed her a quick look of apology before diving right into her obviously desperate news.
“Cassie was talking with Applebloom but it wasn’t really Applebloom but it actually was since the Yeerks just take over your body so it technically is Applebloom but she’s not in control of herself and Prince Jake doesn’t feel safe on the farm so he needs a new place to stay and he wants to know if him and his followers can stay here.” She panted for breath for a while, and I guess she was finished.
“Well, um, if Prince Jake orders it, I guess I don’t mind...” Fluttershy managed to mumble. Almost immediately after she finished Twilight took off again.
“What was that about, Fluttershy?” I asked, shifting on the couch to better look at her.
“Well, I think Prince Jake and the others will be coming over.” She gave a small gasp. “Oh, my. A Prince is coming over! I’ve got to clean up.” Without another word Fluttershy ran upstairs, leaving me all alone.
“Wha-? Hey! Fluttershy! You forgot about my wing!” A few moments passed, but Fluttershy never came back downstairs. I groaned and laid my head on my hooves, flapping my sore wing and wincing in pain. “Perfect.”
Twilight came back some time later, Prince Jake and the others all in tow, all looking like me and my friends. I guess they thought it would be safer, or something like that. Though with things being as bad as they are right now it was understandable.
“Oh, my, they’re here! Oh, I’m not ready!” Fluttershy whimpered, flitting back and forth, scrubbing windows and dusting birdhouses.
“The place looks fine Fluttershy. Please calm down already.”
At first it didn’t look like she had heard me and I was about to try again. But after a second she slowed down and nodded in agreement. At least until Twi knocked on the door, at which point Fluttershy began flitting around, cleaning just as fervently as before. I rolled my eyes and opened the door myself.
“Rainbow? Is it safe for you to be walking around?” Twilight asked.
“It’s my wing that’s hurt, Twi, not any of my legs.”
Twilight sighed and stepped further into the house. A second later the others joined her. Cassie and Tobias seemed particularly interested in looking around the house.
“Wow, look at all these animals!” Cassie exclaimed. “Are you the local vet, Fluttershy?”
“Well, I do look after injured woodland critters,” Fluttershy explained. “But no, I’m not the local vet.”
“You feelin’ alright, bud?” Rachel asked, flying above me. It was so weird to look at myself, hear my own voice. I wondered if they ever had a similar problem back home.
“Who, me? Of course I’m alright. I’m better than alright, even!”
She gave me a smug smile, which was so like me it was scary. “You remind me of myself,” Rachel said. I shuddered involuntarily. It was creepy, how like me she was.
“Rachel, Rainbow, you even sound alike,” Marco joked.
“You know Marco, you and Rarity aren’t so different yourselves.” Rachel grinned and flicked Marco’s mane playfully. He - or should that be she? - flicked his head - her head? - and backed away from Rachel.
“I can do without the insults,” he - she - ...Marco said.
I rubbed my head with one of my hooves. This whole changing gender thing was confusing to keep track of.
“You have a very lovely home, Fluttershy,” Prince Jake said after shooting a glare at Rachel and Marco. Fluttershy seemed to beam.
“Oh, thank you, Your Highness.”
“See what you’ve started, Ax?” Prince Jake muttered to the pink pony.
“I don’t believe so, Prince Jake, could you clarify please?” Ax then let out a small giggle. “Clarrri-fy. Clari fye.”
“It isn’t that bad, Jake,” Tobias said. Jake turned towards him and was about to say something but was suddenly stopped by a rapid thumping sound. I looked in the direction of the noise and found a small white rabbit tapping its foot impatiently at Tobias. “Um, what’s that rabbit doing?”
Tobias looked at the rabbit with utter confusion, and was met back by a thrown carrot, hitting him/her square between the eyes.
“Ow, what was that for?” The rabbit looked up to him/her and crossed its front paws. “Um, do you want something?” The rabbit nodded its head and tapped its foot faster. “...are you going to tell me what you want, or do I have to guess?” The rabbit blinked in surprise, clearly not expecting that sort of response. “I’ll take that as an ‘I have to guess.’” Tobias was then met with a paw to his/her head. “Ow. You’re lucky I’m not a hawk right now.”
The rabbit looked confused for a long while, as if sizing up Tobias.
“Angel Bunny, don’t be mean. Tobias is a guest.” Fluttershy said, landing between her pet and Tobias. I nearly fell over laughing at seeing the little thing go bug-eyed, darting between Fluttershy and Tobias, utterly mystified. Above me I could hear Rachel trying hard not to laugh as well.
“Well everything seems to be going well...I think,” Twilight said, looking around the room. “I should probably just head back over to Sweet Apple Acres and check on Applejack.” She then looked back to Fluttershy. “You sure you’re ok with them staying here?”
“Oh, yes, I don’t mind. Really.”
“Oh, goody. Another sleepover,” Marco muttered. “At least that fashionista isn’t here this time.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll be back to check on you all tomorrow.” With that Twilight turned around and trotted out the door, closing it at the last moment with her magic.
“I’ll still never get used to that. Controlling things with your mind. It’s so...unnatural,” Marco said.
“Yeah, just like fighting aliens, turning into animals, talking telepathically. It’s all impossible, right?” Rachel sarcastically quipped. Marco shot her a dirty look.
“Pinchy knee ear flopple eye twitch!” Ax suddenly shouted, then looked around in confusion. “What just happened? And what is wrong with my eye?”
“Well for starters, it’s twitching really badly,” Rachel said.
“Hey, that sounds like one of Pinkie’s Pinkie Senses,” I said. Everypony looked at me oddly, except for Fluttershy. “You know, like how she can tell when something’s about to fall, or when a door’s about to open.”
“That’s impossible!” Ax exclaimed. “Such powerful clairvoyance cannot be performed so easily by a species such as yours, and I fail to see how it would manifest as a meaningless system of physical spasms.”
“You calling me a liar?” I asked, growling softly.
“I am not. I am merely saying that your judgement is in error.” Suddenly Ax’s knees, ears and eyes began acting up again. “Prince Jake, I believe my morph is defective.”
“So what are these ‘Pinkie senses’ exactly?” Cassie asked.
“Oh, Pinkie just gets these little physical reactions to the near-future. Everypony in town has come to rely on her predictions, since they always come true,” I explained, beaming proudly.
“Huh, and what does this combo mean?”
“I, um, I don’t know,” I said, flattening my ears against my head.
“Um, I do...” Fluttershy squeaked out softly. Everypony turned to look at her expectantly, except for Ax. “Um, eep. Well, during the sleepover, um, Pinkie said that meant there was a spy...” she whispered. I had to strain my ears to hear her.
“Wait, there’s a spy here?!” Prince Jake asked with concern in his/her voice.
“Well, here or the general area,” Fluttershy added. Prince Jake snorted, thinking for a few moments.
“Alright, Rachel and Tobias, head upstairs and out a window. Look around for anyone suspicious. Marco, you and Ax head back out the front door and go clockwise around the house. Ax, see if that Pinkie Sense gets stronger or weaker. Maybe it’s relative to distance.
“And what about me and Fluttershy?” I asked with a hint of annoyance in my voice.
“You’re in no state to help anyone right now. So stay here.”
I huffed and glared at the Prince as he stalked outside quickly, followed by the others doing as he ordered. “I can help! I don’t ...need my wings...” I sighed, staring at the floor as the door slammed shut.
“It’s ok Rainbow, I’m sure you’ll be able to fly again soon,” Fluttershy said, moving to my side. I wanted to thank her, but I was too bummed out to do more than a simple nod.
My thoughts were interrupted moments later when I heard shouting from outside. I stood up immediately and spread my wings, preparing to take off... only to give a pained shout and meekly fold my hurt wing back against my side.
“Oh, Rainbow, you mustn’t aggravate your injury like that,” Fluttershy chided. “Oh, you probably set your healing back another day.” I sighed dejectedly.
“Ax! Behind you! He’s on your tail!”
“No he isn’t! I’m on his tail!”
“Aw, it sounds like they’re having so much fun...” I complained.
“Check your sides. Marco, look out!”
“Oh, I hope they’re going to be alright.” Fluttershy said worryingly.
“Ah, they’ll be fine. You forget, Rachel looks like me! And her wing isn’t damaged!”
“Hold still you big bug!”
“Cassie, do that kicking thing again!”
I groaned in annoyance and tried to look for anything to help me relax my overly excited mind. Fluttershy decided to use the time to try and calm down some of her more frightened critters. I tried to help her, but besides Angel none of them would listen to me. It really got me wondering just how Fluttershy was able to get them to do anything. As me and Fluttershy were just about finished calming the last of the animals I suddenly realized that the sounds of fighting outside had stopped.
“Oh dear, do you think they’re alright?” Fluttershy wondered, flitting back and forth nervously.
I was about to answer when the front door burst open. I whirled, ready to pounce on whoever was walking in, but I relaxed when I saw the familiar purple coat of fur. It was either Twilight or Prince Jake. Levitating above her head was the unmistakable black insectoid body of a Changeling.
I snorted in surprise, tensing up again. The others that always seemed to be around Prince Jake all filed in behind him, some with nasty cuts and the like. Rachel walked in, limping and with one wing nearly torn off.
Fluttershy's face lost all coloring as she stared at Rachel. I was also in a state of horror, I mean, I was looking at my wing barely still clinging to my shoulders. I didn’t know whether to throw up or pass out. Luckily I didn’t do either.
Rachel didn’t waste any time chatting and quickly made her way through the cottage. Immediately Fluttershy rushed to her side and helped support her along as best she could. I found myself following behind, still staring at the stump where a healthy wing should be.
“Doesn’t it hurt? Oh, oh my...I don’t know... we should go to a doctor, I’ve never had to attach an entire wing before...” Fluttershy gasped, her face almost entirely drained of blood.
“Don’t worry, I’ll be fine,” she said with a smirk. “I’ve had worse.” I was about to protest, but then I noticed that her rainbow mane was becoming blond colored and her face was beginning to shrink in on itself. In a matter of moments she was back to her normal self and without a single cut or scratch on her.
I felt my jaw go agape. Fluttershy let out a gasp of astonishment.
“Oh my!” was all Fluttershy could say.
“Yeah, it’s pretty freaky to see,” Rachel said calmly, as if nothing had happened.
“But...what about when you turn back into me?” I asked. “Won’t your wing still be broken off?”
“Nope, it’ll be good as new. See, morphing is based on DNA, so while that form was damaged the DNA wasn’t. Or at least that’s how Ax explains it.”
“Wow, that is so cool! I could take a bad crash, then just morph back to normal and not need another stay in the hospital!”
“Yeah, it really is helpful sometimes. Now why don’t we see how Jake is dealing with our guest?” Rachel said, her face already my familiar shade of blue.
A few minutes later the three of us walked back to the others. I took a moment to glance at Prince Jake and the rest. None of them seemed as badly hurt as Rachel was, though it was still unnerving, seeing Twilight bleeding so heavily, or Rarity missing her horn. I think I couldn’t stand seeing Fluttershy so badly hurt, though it didn’t seem to bother Tobias all that much.
“Why were you spying on us?” Prince Jake calmly asked the Changeling, still holding it in the air. The Changeling simply stared back, either unwilling to or unable to talk.
“C’mon, talk or I’ll crush your head like you crushed my wing!” Rachel sneered, flying over to the Changeling and jabbing it with a hoof. The Changeling glanced at Rachel’s wings then stared at her incredulously. “...I got better.”
“Not even Changeling can heal that fast,” it finally spoke, its voice deep and gravelly, like an echo that was being distorted.
“Ha, so it can talk!” Marco shouted happily. “Alright, Yeerk, tell us what you know!”
The Changeling hissed at Marco. “Not Yeerk! Yeerk bad! Take control of Hive!”
“And how do we know you aren’t just lying to us?” Marco leaned close to the Changelings face and stared it dead in the eyes. I noticed something different in his/her eyes. Something cold and calculating.
“Not Yeerk!” It hissed again, this time with a hint of desperation in its voice. “Want Yeerks gone.”
“Marco, maybe we should hear him out?” Cassie suggested.
Marco turned to her with an almost dumbfounded look. “This guy was part of the same group that attacked us just now, or did you so quickly forget?”
“You Yeerks! You corrupted Changelings!” it hissed again, a bit more violently. “Kill me! I not submit peacefully!”
“Jake? Your call, man,” Marco sighed.
Jake sighed and muttered something to himself. “Alright, Changeling. Talk. Why were you spying on us?”
“You corrupted Changeling. Not work for Hive. Work for Yeerk.”
“Woah, there, pal. We do not work for the Yeerks,” Tobias said, ruffling his/her feathers. “We fight them every chance we get.”
The Changeling seemed to settle down a bit, looking at each of us in turn. “You not Changeling? But...” he looked at me and Rachel. “You same pony. Not Changeling?”
“I’m no Changeling!” I protested. “I’m all pegasus!”
“I’m not a pony. But I’m not a Changeling either,” Rachel explained, though this only seemed to confuse the Changeling further.
“Not Changelings? Not ponies?” It seemed to be straining as it attempted to figure out the situation. “What are you?”
“We’re the Animorphs!” Marco said triumphantly, striking a pose. Everypony, including both myself and the Changeling, stared at him.
“Well, you not Changeling. No Changeling that silly.”
Stats
Page generated in 0.037 seconds
Total duration
933 users online
1,203,869 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.®
Oh dear, so Chrysalis is a controller then? Probably the Visser. I still have problems buying how easily they are taking over Equestria... Doesn't seem like they are controlling the Princesses though.
Natzo, if they take control of the Princesses, all will be lost. Get it?
Ha ha!
Poor Marco just got his ego crushed!
More please!
Cheers
GM
1240794 Yea, it is kind of hard to believe that they're not really having that hard of a time taking over a planet full of peaceful creatures that have never heard of anything like them (and didn't even know extraterrestrials exist). Especially since the Yeerks have had so much practice not only doing just that, but stopping the creatures who DO find them from exposing them.
i0.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/000/236/291/0b1.jpg
1240794
Could be, but then, it's not too late for a fairly drastic plot twist somewhere down the line. Like Visser Seven really being Angel Bunny, or Scootaloo, or... or Twist or Lyra or something. I don't know.
In other news HUZZAH! THE STORY HAS BEEN........... updated?
Ha, "No Changeling that silly"! I enjoy this statement very, very much. It made me chuckle, I'll admit.
To be honest, the thought had crossed my mind that Angel could be a controller. Not an important one, but one nonetheless.
1240908 Magic. I mean they stop mad gods and shit. They have a hell. And after Luna was possessed, they probably would take precautions against possessions. And after Shining Armor's mind control with the changelings, that's another precaution to take.
And while "scary", ever since I took basic biology, chemistry, and playing a few other sci fi games, I have a hard time taking the yeerks seriously. Then again, they are a plug and play alien parasite.
You mean, like how they stopped the 5 teenagers with no training in the first book? Oh wait! By all means and purposes, they yeerks should have died from a cold or some earth virus, if they even share some biological trait with us and haven't built an evolutionary immunity to OUR viruses.
What's stopping the Unicorns from blasting their way out of the cages or teleporting as soon as the yeerk is out of their ears? They could put them to sleep, but who knows? It only takes one mistake and bam.
Axe has Pinkie sense. The worlds are doomed.
1240898
I do so love teasing Marco.
1240951
If it makes me laugh, I'll likely bully Samaru until he relents and lets me put it in.
1240794>>1240908>>1240962
You're either putting too much thought into this, or not enough. I honestly can't tell.
OK, first of all, the Yeerks are great at subterfuge and trickery. That alone is how they've managed to enslave so many Equestrians and humans back on Earth. Secondly, werewolf brings up some good points.
Third, natzo, is your refusal to believe that the Yeerks couldn't do this. Yes, I am fully aware of the possible biochemical barriers that would realistically make such an invasion impossible. But you know what? Applegate (the author of the Animorph novels) probably thought the same thing, and she came to the same conclusion I did: fuck it. As authors, we strive to write as believable a story as possible, because the more you, as a reader, can believe the story will happen, the more invested you are. And really, the only way that the story could ever possibly make sense is if we ignore those biochemical barriers and say that there are none, the Yeerks are completely immune to any and all diseases and viruses us poor humans have built an immunity to. It's called the Willing Suspension of Disbelief, the idea that we ignore these impossible situations, these things that couldn't happen in reality, because forcing the story to adhere to reality makes for a poor story.
tl;dr I'm more interested in telling a compelling story with a satisfying plot climax than making sure the story can actually happen in the real world. That's what fiction is for: to explore the possibilities and outcomes, to expand our imaginations, and to hypothesize about the implausible.
-Tricondon
1241010 I'm not criticizing you. It's just that while I find the concept of a brain parasite that can impersonation someone perfectly damn scary, I just have a hard time swallowing. It's kinda like Power Rangers really. I always have problems buying stories when magic and science clash, magic can be exploited so easily as a concept that you just spend all the story asking "why didn't they do this"? I mean, Twilight has contact with Celestia, so she has pull in the government that the Animorphs didn't had on Earth, Luna says they know there are aliens there, Canterlot is in high alert. By all means and purposes it only takes a letter to Celestia telling her the problem, the spell to find, and send the same letter to a few other people like Luna, Cadance and SA. So if even one is a controller the others can find out and take precautions.
There is a limit to willing suspension of disbelief. Then again the whole Ellimist side of the story in Animorphs always felt out of place to me. It's a big coup out, a convenient Deux Ex Machina, so screw it...
Well, here is hoping some action comes soon. I want to see how stuff is in Canterlot. There are quite a few ideas that can be exploited. The princesses, one of the elements becomes a controller, this somehow releasing Discord and him fighting the Ellimist and that other guy whose name escapes me.
1240962 If you actually consider the sheer amount of races in the Animorph universe, it's not entirely impossible for the Yeerk's to have developed an immune system that surpasses anything else. Especially since they seem biologically tailored to infesting people.
Which seems to point towards the fact that the Yeerk's were engineered.
Since this entire argument is stemming from the belief that the Yeerk's are a natural evolution.
Also: Whilst they may have taken some pre-cautions against magical possession, physical possession is something that would be alien to them. Heh...get it? Alien?
*Groans*
And think about this: In the 21st century, we have already managed to create rudimentary AI and robots capable of reading brain-waves. But what if a race was tailored for this specific purpose.
tl:dr: Yeerk's may not be natural.
1241107 I guess you could say they're
*puts on sunglasses*
Out of this world
YEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAH!
Biochemical barriers work both ways you know. It is typically not possible for viruses and such to jump species barriers. Only a very few manage it between native earth species. It is entirely possible that an alien would be completely immune to most or all diseases they encounter here. More than that they would die from the common cold.
The unbelievable part isn't that they don't catch a disease and die. The unbelievable part is that they can interact with alien species so completely and perfectly that they can infest their brains. And who cares about that?
1241214
I guess you could say that the Yeerk's are invading in a ...
*sunglasses*
Sluggish manner?
BOOM!
Excellent!
1241056
The original series modified the rules in a fairly consistent manner.
1241107
When there's a demigod of hate running around the fabric of space and time, it's reasonable that the Yeerks were engineered.
1241336 I think it's safe to say that the yeerks are rather
*sunglasses*
Slippery
Ba-da tsh
I like this changeling guy already.
1246706: Agreed. For someone who still seems to be strugglinh with vocal communication (that was a very nice touch), he's got quite the sense of comedic timing. Ooh! Maybe the Animorphs can bring him bsack home as a pet!
Now that I've been reminded, though, this does beg the question: was the first spy another Changeling? Or are there more people spying on them? And if so, who?
Yeah, Crysalis is almost certainly a Yeerk. Likely the Visser, because honestly, who wouldn't want a body like that, and who else is likely to make sure no one else gets it?
Angel Bunny is a controller.
So there may be a Changeling Resistance to mirror the Yeerk Resistance?
Sounds good to me.
1240957 Would a Yeerk even fit in his head?
Holy crap. Just realized the whole reason why the Animorphs aren't screwed yet is that both Princesses are clean and the Visser is likely Chrysalis......damn that's a match made in Hell.... and it couldn't have happened to a nicer changeling.
1241214>>1241336
imglols.com/wp-content/main/2012_04/i-see-what-you-did-there-and-here.jpg
1272969
25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m6oy87gyUe1qzpsuoo1_500.png
Hmm, why didn't they just get Twilight to cast the detection spell? They might have needed to ascertain whether the Changeling recognized them, but after that...
Also, why is it's speech broken? If a Changeling morphs, it should be able to emulate speech without talking like that.
1396132
Maybe they only speak normally while in disguse?
After reading Chapter 23:
Dang... this war just got a bunch of other factions added to it.
SPOILER ALERT!!!
It really got me wondering just how Fluttershy was able to get them to do anything.
-So Ax get's Pinkie Sense, but Tobias doesn't get Speak With Animals? Also, this is the part where I wonder if Fluttershy could nicely ask a few bears to do as Rachel does... except probably less lethally.
--Ok, so Chrysalis might actually be an ally.... should have known from what Applebloom said.
This was an interesting chapter. Reference detected! That last line was awesome.
How do you do that? So many times, I find that whatever is said last in a chapter will make me laugh. Loved that last part by thew way.
3020122 I know about the laughing last line.
“Well, you not Changeling. No Changeling that silly.”
He's got a point there.
3678997 He does indeed have a point, no changling is that silly but some are worse than that.
1595930
That's dumb. Changelings are not dumb. They're equal in intelligence to ponies and humans. This one might be dumber than most. If this author writes all changelings like this, I'll be upset.
Also, the thing with Angel Bunny made me initially think he was mad at Tobias for eating rabbits as a hawk, but he couldn't have known that. He wanted food from Fluttershy.