"Please... don't be sad..." The metal mare murmured, lingering in the aisle. She tried to stand up straight, but a strange tick rippled through her features. Her scarlet braids danced as she teetered to the left... then to the right. "Even though we both know... you secretly enjoy the release..." A tender smile. Her eye-lenses whurred. "...I would give anything... anything just to hear you laugh again."
"Uhhhhhhhhh..." Applejack squinted.
"Who in blazes is this?" Rarity stammered.
"Did she say 'Roarke?'" Twilight remarked.
Rainbow said nothing. She remained locked in place, her heart thudding within her petite chest.
The mare came closer—growing in both size and proximity. "Did you find what you were looking for beyond the Grand Choke?" She murmured. She wheezed. "Belle... Kera... Pilate... they are all waiting to see you..."
"'Roarke?'" Pinkie raised an eyebrow. "Who's 'Roarke'...?"
"If..." The metal mare extended a trembling hoof. "...you would just come with me..." Roarke's smile grew wider. More tender. The ringlets of her mane added heavenly percussion to her gentle voice: "...we can just... lie together... and share our thoughts and fears... in the hammock. Like we used to..."
Fluttershy knowingly glanced towards her anchor. "Rainbow Dash..."
But Rainbow was already shivering. With a frown. "You... you are not Roarke..."
"What's goin' on?" Applejack stammered. "I'm... I'm so confused—"
"Rainbow, she's getting closerrrrr," Twilight droned.
Rainbow's eyes fell. Beyond the metal mare's legs, she saw residue lining the metal floor... a viscous, slimy material that spread up the rusted shelf looming above them. Like a web.
"I... know I never cared much for the breeders and their faith in the 'Spark,'" the mare said. She teetered again. Her head ducked into shadows, and when it came back the metal lenses were gone... replaced by ice-blue eyes brimming with tears. "But I would give anything, Rainbow, to be called your 'beloved.' Just once..."
"Stop it..." Rainbow snarled.
"Just once, Rainbow, please..." She stumbled closer, nearly sobbing. "Please."
"I said..." Rainbow leaned back, clenching her teeth. "Back off! You are not who you say you are—!"
"Y'know, does it really matter?"
Deep chuckles.
Goat hair.
Breathless, Rainbow glanced to her right.
A shiny pile of brass pipes reflected dragon skin and eagle claws.
"This is likely your last chance at happiness, Sparky. So why not give in?"
Rainbow's blood ran cold as the world around her went silent—all but his voice.
A pair of red-on-yellow eyes peered back at her from the reflection. "And just what are you going to tell the freckled goddess now, hmmmm? Heh heh heh..."
His chuckles dissipated, replaced by the frantic shrieks of her friends.
"Dashie! Move!"
"Look out, sugarcube!"
"!!!" Rainbow Dash jerked her head forward to see the metal mare outright charging her. She flinched—too late to dodge.
Thwoooosh! A metal bo-staff caught the figure beneath Roarke's chin. She gasped for breath... being jerked back in the vice-grip of a griffin from behind. Wildcard held the metal mare at bay, throwing his weight against her flank.
"Wildcard!" Rainbow stumbled, catching her breath. She pointed with her hoof. "Wait—"
"Mrmmmff..." The mare in the Desperado's grip looked over her shoulder. "Dubya?"
Wildcard's goggles rattled in surprise.
A blink. Roarke's voice deepened. "You dun goofed, mofo." In a green flash, Bard materialized backwards with a savage uppercut to the griffin's beak. WHAM!
Wildcard flew back—only to be jerked in place by the stallion's grip of the other end of the staff.
"Dayum chatterbox," Bard spat. He stomped his hoof down over his end of the staff, knocking it out of Wildcard's grip. "Takes two hooves to hold it." WHUD! He slammed the opposite end between Wildcard's legs. "And two of somethin' else to use it!"
Wildcard fell over in a meaty slump.
Bard loomed over him, twirling the staff with his forelimbs and wings. "You enjoyin' the grind without me?!" He hissed, frothing with anger. "Lemme learn ya the proper thang to do now you've cast off the dead weight!" Growling, he raised the staff to slam down over Wildcard's midsection—
WHUMP! Rainbow barrel into him. "Mrmmmf!"
"Guh!" Bard dropped the staff altogether as he rolled across the floor. Hard crusted slime and the remnants of a hollow egg shattered to bits as Rainbow's spotlight revealed the rest of the aisle. "Grnnngh..." Bard pushed himself up off the floor, his limbs bending at unnatural angles. "Dammit... rrrrnkkg—Rainbow..." He shrank to an orange shadow, hissing. Sobbing. "Always thinking with your skull!" Scootaloo shrieked, then enlarged once again into a Searonese phantom. "Never with your heart!" Roarke charged her at full force.
"Rainbow, get away from it—!" Rarity shouted.
"No!" Rainbow charged Roarke head-on. "Don't you—"
Fwooooosh! Feathered wings spread. Gilda glided clearly over Rainbow Dash's reach. She landed on yellow hooves. With a breath, Bellesmith galloped swiftly into the shadows of Darkreach.
"Dang it!" Rainbow hissed. "Dang it dang it dang it!"
"Rainbow, I don't understand!" Rarity exclaimed.
"Who in the hay was that pony?!" Applejack stammered.
"That's no pony!" Rainbow rushed over to Wildcard and helped him up to his talons. "Mrmmff... it's a changeling!"
Twilight did a double-take. "That's a changeling!"
"Uh... duh," Pinkie Pie belched.
"Why is it running away from us?" Fluttershy stammered.
"Because it just gathered strength, and now it's drawn to its mother!" Rainbow gnashed her teeth. "Tchern!" She forced Wildcard to move with her, picking up Bard's staff along the way. "And if it gets close enough to her, the entire Hive will know that we're here! In Darkreach!"
"Ohhhhhhhhhh poop," Pinkie squeaked.
"Come on!" Rainbow and Wildcard picked up speed, galloping into the shadows. "We gotta catch that bug!"
... ... ...
Yeah, okay.
Let's take a nice step back and fReAK THE hELL OUT~
It's hurt, if it's cycling through forms at a pace that rapid.
-Through the path long forgotten, into the darkness long begotten. Ofolrodi.
I was about to call "spindler" when the web thing was mentioned.
The chase is on! Also what was it even doing there? Did it get trapped? Or maybe the changelings that Tchern was leading were the ones who destroyed everything in the first place. And that guy got left behind or something.
Yup, Changeling. Now how to convince it to help? We know it can be done, and that they are as pony as ponies are. Hope we can get another friend, and with that maybe the first steps to ending that stupid and pointless war.
Random Changeling encounter, albeit probably different than any Changeling from the Light Side. Remind me, but I don't recall any of Chrysalis' brood being able to seemingly psychically pull out memories from a target to shape shift into people you know.
On a semi-related note, I'm thinking this little ditty not only fits my thoughts for the situation, but is pretty much the theme song for the entire Darkside.
Tell me you don't see Dash singing this after dealing with the Darkside's crap in the near future.
Well, there are changelings in the house!
Hit the music
Welp... That was a surprise......
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ElmaLerris did the mind magic thing with Kera. I think mind reading and memory retrieval isn't that far fetched.NOT A DEMON!
Though is a corrupted changeling really any better..?
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Actually, after the incident with the fake Nevlamas, Dash spent a bit of time with the changelings from Chrysalis' brood that were there, and one of them shapeshifted into Shy by seemingly reading Dash's memories.
There was also the Applejack changeling.
It just seems to be a natural ability of theirs, some sort of supercharged empathy that allows them to instinctively take the form of whoever their target wants to see the most.
Though considering the sudden charge of shapeshifts that changeling performed when hurt, it also seems like they might have some sort of memory scan spell.
That would explain the faint magic Twilight was able to sense.
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Ah, alright, wasn't sure they could pull that off. Pretty sloppy move of the Changeling to try it here, but he/she may just be operating on instinct here and not really thinking clearly. Still, gotta wonder what the heck it was evening doing here. A scout, left behind to watch? But Darkreach had been abandoned for a long time, so what reason would the Changelings have to want to keep an eye on this place?
This chapter was painful.
It just... hurt.
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Actually, I think it's because it's a baby, with the egg being mentioned. It could be hurt, too, but I figure it's more because it doesn't quite know what it's doing yet.
Ok, 3 takeaways from this chapter:
1. The ghost 5 can kinda sense changelings.
2. That changeling is currently headed for the only way out, and I doubt the other 4 heralds are ready to deal with it.
3. What happens when a changeling encounters someone as emotionally unstable as Seraphimus? Or tries to impersonate the people she cares about?
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The Changeling Queen left some eggs here in the event that anyone from the light side would cross over. At least that's my bet. There was the mention of the remnants of an egg, and a trail of slime behind it. I think this little bug is a baby.
Of course, it's a Changeling. I was kind of hoping it would be some kind of new species.
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Might just be one egg, since if she'd left several you'd think that all of them would've hatched. I guess this could be some kind of early warning system, if not against the Austraeoh's arrival then perhaps the return of Chrysalis.
Or it could be something else altogether. After all, AJ didn't sense any maliciousness in the Changeling. It could just be reacting out of fear to defend itself, especially if its newborn and has no idea what's going on.
Oh shit now we get to see how terrifying the dark side changelings can be Good luck, Rainbow, you're probably gonna need it.
*Chase music intensifies*
The second lovebomb cannot come soon enough.
discogenie.dyndns.org/imgur/ttd.jpg
That explains so much.
I wouldn't put it past Roarke to travel after Rainbow, but I was shocked to see her there fora second.
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I still uphold that changelings come across as overpowered. Not only do they hold the unlimited morphological abilities of the show - being able to turn into literally anything fitting their biomass in a flash - but add to that the ability to precisely ascertain psychological weaknesses in a heartbeat, combined with the apparently instinctive capability of exploiting them to the extreme. I feel that realistically speaking, out on the field no other faction would even remotely stand a chance against them.
Take off and Rainnuke the place from orbit. Its the only way to be sure.
People are gonna have to watch those they loved die again huh. My heart is ready
Next chapter: John Carpenter's The Thingy.
I guess the changeling will convince Kepler to open the doors for it. He's so devoted to Mortuana he would do what she says even if he kind of knows it's not the real thing. But before, the changeling will make out with Ariel.
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Serris had the best boss fight music, behind Ridley of course.
for that changeling's sake, I really hope it doesn't run into Sera.
something tells me impersonating her dead family or dead God would end badly for it.
How dare they. Rainboarke is not to be imitated. Is nothing sacred?
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New probable party member ftw!
Yup, it's a changeling. And I know Rainbow's going to want to try to befriend it later... but I'm not sure if that's going to be a good idea. They might have to just end it. This is the Dark Side, after all. She doesn't have the luxury of friendshipping everything to the good side.
Well, if she reformed the literal, actual Queen Chrysalis, then one more changeling might be doable.
On the other hand, we have no idea how bad Tchern and her hivemind are.
Finally! I've been wanting Rainbow to talk with her friends about Roarke for ages. Granted this isn't exactly how I pictured them finding out about her but hey, I'm happy that future conversation is on the horizon either way.
Man, I miss Bard.
And now, cue insanity.
Hah. "Debugging." In so many senses.
Bug hunt, bug hunt, bug hunt, we're going on a bug hunt!~
Squeeee!
Hopefully, this doesn't mean they're screwed. It's been a long time since Rainbow has had to deal with Changelings, so I understand why she was so stunned. However, they cannot afford that mistake again.
BARD. It's still too soon!
This could be an actual spoiler not sure
I thought it was gonna be the smooze
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something uncertain and dispatched, at the bottom of a corp less dead city. Yeah it looked like it.
Ok then. Kill it with fire.
Edit: Oh no, the others don't know there's a Changeling.
...
There is 1 imposter among us.
OH THAT'S NOT A GOOD
I flat out forgot about the freaking changelings!
Bug chase!