//------------------------------// // Eleven - Hit and Run (2) // Story: The Infestation of Canterlot High School // by Bonster //------------------------------// Eleven - Hit and Run (2) Sunset yelped as a laser beam flung her through the air. She landed hard on her side. She yelped again as a weight crashed onto her back, and looked up to see Rainbow Dash lying across her. “Sup,” she said with a nod of her head. Sunset rolled her eyes and shoved Rainbow off. Standing up, Sunset surveyed the cafeteria. They were doing… not so great. There were only six of them, and every time they felled a changeling, another took its place. She and Rainbow were beaten, burnt, and exhausted, fighting their own bodies along with the changelings. Rarity was glowing and floating, doing what she could as Applejack went crazy with her thaumic compressor, but the changeling’s weren’t complete idiots; they had learned from Rainbow’s massacre how to counter the weapon, and scattered through the air, surrounding the girls. Each wasted shot meant less energy for Rarity, and the changelings knew it. Fluttershy, exhausted, was hiding in the kitchen, staring down any changeling that got too close, but not providing much help. And Pinkie… Pinkie seemed to be doing just fine, actually. Sunset lunged at the nearest changeling and took a wild swing with her bat, but it swished through air as a mouse appeared on the ground instead. “Oh, now that’s cheating!” Sunset tried stomping on it, but her boot landed in an alligator’s gaping maw instead. She started, and would’ve probably lost her leg had Pinkie not intervened and filled the alligator’s mouth with a truckload of desserts just in time, propping open its jaw. Sunset thanked her and yanked her foot free as Pinkie sped off, and Sunset promptly brought her bat down again. It smacked against a green shield inches from the alligator’s head, and though it shattered the magic, the resulting hit could barely be called a tap. She jumped back just as an energy beam whizzed past, and a second changeling walked into the fight as the first reverted to its natural form. She cursed—Rainbow was too busy with a group of her own, Rarity had just ran out of magic, and Pinkie was busy bailing Applejack out of a sticky situation; no reinforcements. Sunset bit back her doubts and charged. One changeling lifted up into a hover, its forearms changing into broadswords, and the other fired up its horn. Sunset rolled under a laser and bounced out into an overhead swing onto swords-for-hooves. She started having regrets when he brought one leg up in a parry, cleanly slicing her bat in half. The second leg shot towards her faster than her eyes could widen— And was knocked to the side by Pinkie Pie’s hurling body. Pinkie collapsed to the ground, a long cut across her stomach where she had blocked the sword’s edge from slicing open Sunset’s neck. “Pink—guh!” Sunset felt something hard slam into her ribcage, and she fell to the ground next to Pinkie Pie. The second changeling loomed over her, charged its horn, and fired. The cold and messy cafeteria floor bit into her injuries as Sunset felt something wash over her; kind of like a puff of wind, kind of like a static shock, and kind of like intense sunlight. The laser beam that was halfway to her face vanished in midair, as if someone had simply deleted it. The sword-bearing changeling’s legs returned to normal, and she heard the rhythmic thunks of changelings falling out of the air. Something small and metal landed on the snout of the changeling in front of her. Sunset noticed a rapidly blinking light and suspicious wiring just in time to shield her eyes as a small explosion burst in the changeling’s face. Sunset took one look at where its eyes had been before turning away with a grimace. Twilight Sparkle and Sweetie Drops stood in the doorway to the cafeteria. Twilight was standing behind one of her inventions; a tall, cylindrical hunk of metal that was sucking up the changeling’s magic like a lion that hadn’t eaten since Princess Celestia was learning to walk. Bon Bon wasted no time jumping into the fray, using her blade in her right hand and a briefcase in her left to maul the changelings assaulting Rainbow Dash. “I coulda taken ‘em,” Rainbow huffed. “Woo, Twilight!” Applejack cheered. “Come on, team, we’re just getting started!” Next to Sunset, Pinkie Pie was applying frosting to her cut. While Sunset was ninety percent sure that wasn’t standard medical practice, she didn’t question it, and sure enough, Pinkie was back on her feet in no time. “You may all want to hurry it up, though.” Twilight poked the demanafier, and it spit out glittery purple smoke. “I’m not sure how long this thing’s going to last.” “Ha! Don’t worry, we’ll clean these guys up before you know it!” Rainbow boasted. Rarity picked herself up, a newfound determination on her face, and even Fluttershy came out from her hiding place. Sunset looked glumly at the two halves of her blood-stained bat. She’d really liked that bat. With a sigh, she dropped it to the ground, and fished some brass knuckles out her pocket. (You never know when you’re going to need them.) “Alright,” she snarled, “let’s end this.” Twilight Velvet’s day had gone from bad to apocalyptic. Whatever that… that monster was, she was pretty sure it didn’t contribute to a safe learning environment. When she next saw that Principal Celestia, she was going to have a word. She panicked when she heard footsteps rounding the next corner; looking around frantically, she managed to squeeze herself into an open locker, and watched the hallway through the little ventilation holes. It was cramped, certainly, but much less dirty than the bushes she’d had to hide in after the… small fright she had experienced upon entering the school. Her breathing grew quiet as the footsteps grew closer. It was a girl; a student. She could see purple skin, a pleated skirt, a star symbol—   “Twilight!” Velvet burst from the locker and ran up to her daughter. “M-mom?” she questioned. “What were you doing in there?” Velvet grabbed Twilight’s arm and started dragging her down the hall. “Nevermind that, we need to get out of here! Oh, I should’ve never let you transfer to this place…” Velvet stopped as Twilight’s wrist grew cold. “Twilight?” She turned around. “Not Twilight! Not Twilight!” The changeling cackled, and lunged forward. Velvet scrambled backwards and fell onto her backside, cowering with her eyes closed and hands bent over her head. She sputtered as some absolutely disgusting liquid splashed into her mouth. She opened her eyes, and the changeling was still there, but it had a sword through its chest. The katana was wrenched out with a grotesque shlick sound, and the changeling toppled onto its side. Velvet held out a shaky, pointed finger as the person holding the sword. “You—Ya—You’re—Principal!” Luna cocked her head. “Um… yes.” A woman with pure black skin stepped into Velvet’s view. “Look, lady, you should leave. Go somewhere far away. Maybe take a vacation, I dunno.” “I am not leaving until I know that my daughter is safe!” Velvet announced. “You!” She marched up to Celestia, barely leaving room for air between their faces. “I demand to know what’s going on in this school!” Celestia looked desperately to Luna, who flashed a thumbs-up, her face clearly stating Good luck, you’re on your own. “Um,” Celestia started, “who’s your daughter, again?” “Twilight Sparkle,” she answered, bitterly. “Oh,” Celestia said. “Ooooooooh. Oh.” Oh, crap. “Now are you going to answer my question or not? What the hell’s going on?!” “Well, you see—” “What kind of principals are you two, anyway?” Velvet interrupted. “Do you just let aliens romp around your school willy-nilly, attacking people and getting themselves stabbed in the chest whenever they want? You know what, I’m going to take this to the school board! That’s right—we’ll see how much they like it that you two are letting bloodthirsty monsters interfere with my child’s learning experience! You two will be out of the door within the month! No, the week! The day! The hour!” Chrysalis cleared her throat. “Miss Sparkle, I’d have to ask that y—” “And you!” Velvet swiveled to the agent. “Who even are you, anyway, telling me to leave? Calling me ‘Miss Sparkle’? That’s ‘Dr. Velvet’ to you, ma’am!” She spat the word. “And—Lord, is that a pistol? It is extremely illegal to bring that onto school grounds! Don’t you know that? What if you hurt someone? And you”—she turned to Luna now—“waving that sword around like you own the place! You even killed something with it! Now, when I ask myself the kind of role models I want for my child, sword-wielding lunatics are not the first thing that comes to mind! In fact, they’re last, or at least damn close! You got blood in my mouth, you hear? Blood! Alien blood! And it didn’t taste good!” Velvet finished her rant with her shoulders hunched, her arms glued to her sides, her fists clenched, and her breathing heavy, hot, and angry. “And people wonder why I like dealing with students instead of adults,” Luna whispered to Celestia. “Listen,” Chrysalis commanded, retaining her normal calm, condescending casualness. “If we told you what was going on, you wouldn’t believe us. Just go.” “Not until I see my daughter. I can’t leave her with these… these things.” She side-eyed the three of them. “Or you people, for that matter.” Chrysalis rolled her eyes. “Fine, whatever. But don’t blame me if you get magicked into a centaur-mosquito monster or something.” Velvet scoffed. “Really, magic? If you’re trying to scare me off, be a little more realistic.” Luna put a hand on her hip. “Are the shapeshifting monsters not ‘realistic’ enough for you?” “I’ll admit that it was a little…” she gulped. That thing had looked exactly like Twilight. “A little shocking. But not magic! Magic isn’t real. It can’t be real. That’s scientifically impossible.” “Least we know where she gets it from,” Celestia muttered. “I mean… magic isn’t real, right? You’re joking?” The three of them just looked at her. “Oh, what have I gotten myself into?” Velvet groaned and buried her face in her hands. Celestia laid a hand on her shoulder. “We’re asking ourselves the same thing.” Luna started walking down the hall. “Come on. We’ve only encountered a handful of changelings, and none of the Rainbooms, so there’s probably a big fight happening somewhere. We should try to find it.” Luna and Chrysalis led them onwards, and Celestia and Velvet followed a bit more  apprehensively, clapping their hands over their ears when Chrysalis unloaded her pistol into a would-be ambusher. Sweetie Drops was dancing circles around the changelings now that they couldn’t use magic. She stabbed one, swiveled, and picked off another with her briefcase. She wrapped a third in the wire of her grappling hook, swung him into a fourth, and then retracted her hook, skewering the attached changeling on Devil’s Tongue. She leapt backwards, over a changeling that thought he could blindside her, reached into her jacket, and dropped a bowling ball on his head. The technique of hidden weapons was one of the first advanced skills Sweetie had learned. As she landed, however, a group of six changelings stormed her. It seemed that as their numbers began to dwindle, they were starting to use their heads (and their telepathy) to help even the odds. Or maybe it was just coincidence. Bon Bon had a hard time telling. Widening her stance, Sweetie pressed her thumb into the pommel of her dagger, and, with a clicking sound, the hilt of the Devil’s Tongue split down the middle, creating two single-bladed knives. Her briefcase dropped to the ground with a loud thunk, and the changelings attacked. Near instantly, two dropped to the ground, Sweetie’s arms moving in and out before they could even draw back a hoof. She jerked her head to the side to dodge a set of snapping fangs, and sprang over the changeling, kicking off of his head to clear him. He buckled under her weight, and fell onto a collection of well-placed caltrops. The pain didn’t last long, though; Sweetie Drops’ blades were mercifully efficient. She charged the three remaining changelings, blades flashing, but was nearly stunned out of her concentration when one changeling managed to catch her right dagger in his mouth. She got him with the left, but it gave his friend a chance to dig his own fangs into her biceps. The pain wasn’t too bad—she’d had much worse—but it wasn’t particularly pleasant, either. Teeth grit, she shrugged her shoulder and managed to roll a concealed grenade through the new tear in her jacket straight into the changeling’s mouth. With a muted bang, he toppled onto his side, smoke wafting lazily from his mouth. “Ha!” Sweetie turned just in time to see Sunset Shimmer strike down the sixth changeling with her fire-print brass knuckles and a harsh kick of her boot. Across the cafeteria, Rarity had somehow managed to beat the changeling she had been fighting into unconsciousness with a rolled up magazine. Rainbow, next to her, scanned the room, fists at the ready, and promptly relaxed. “Ha! Those suckers didn’t stand a chance! Are we awesome, or are we awesome?” “Eek!” Fluttershy jumped back as the demanafier hissed and popped, sending sparks flying. “And not a second too soon. The mana batteries in this thing are probably close to bursting,” Twilight deduced. She switched off the machine before its side effects could start. “Was that really the last of ‘em, though?” Applejack asked with a wave of her hand. “These lot were just th’ ones in th’ Cafeteria. And while I’m sure they’d wanna gang up on the seven o’ us, I’d bet there’re barrels of ‘em roaming th’ halls, too.” Now that the din of fighting had come to a halt, and the Rainbooms weren’t focused on not losing their limbs, the gunshots from outside were loud and clear. Far too much so for Fluttershy’s tastes, it seemed, as one blasted from outside the Cafeteria doors. “Omigod!” Pinkie shrieked, “The Changeling’s have guns!” Rarity scoffed and waved Pinkie off. “Oh, come on.” “I mean, with their shapeshifting, it might be possible,” Sunset said. Rarity’s eyes widened. “Oh, come on.” Twilight peered through the corner of the windows on the Cafeteria doors, praying Pinkie was wrong. She couldn’t see any changelings, just— She squeaked like one of Spike’s chew toys and rushed behind Sunset. “Hide me!” “Huh? Twilight, what—” She stopped as the doors swung open, and four women walked in: Celestia, Luna, a stout woman with gray-purple hair who looked pissed and scared at the same time, and a black-skinned woman with web-like hair, a suit, and a lightly smoking pistol. Rainbow’s jaw became cement. “Hot…” “Chrysalis!?” Sunset exclaimed, pulling up her fists and spreading her feet. “What are you doing here?” “Agent Chrysalis!” Bon Bon called out, and ran up to the woman. “I’m glad you could make it.” “Twilight!” Velvet yelled, scrambling across the room. Chrysalis raised an eyebrow at Sunset. “You know me?” “There are two Chrysalises, right?” Rarity commented. “I imagine this is the human one; Bon Bon’s superior, no?” “H-hi, Mom!” Twilight forced a smile. “What are you doing here?” Sunset relaxed, but barely. “How do we know she isn’t a changeling?” “Well, she did kill about twenty of them on our way over here,” Luna clarified. “Twilight! What are you doing fighting monsters!?” demanded Velvet. “Mom, I… I…” Chrysalis cleared her throat and addressed the Rainbooms. Her voice sounded exceedingly official. “We believe that the majority of the changelings in the hallways have been neutralized, and it seems you all took care of the ones in here.” Velvet put her hands on Twilight’s shoulders and looked into her eyes. “You are putting your life at risk, and I can’t allow you to do that. I’m sorry, but I don’t know if I can let you stay at this school any longer.” “WHAT?!” shrieked seven voiced. Chrysalis hadn’t stopped talking. “There are likely a few stragglers that we’ll need to clean up, so keep your eyes open.” “You better be joking, Twilight's mother.” Her voice lowered into a suspicious drawl. “If that’s even your real name…” “She could get hurt! She could die!” Velvet argued. “We all woulda died if Twi hadn’t been here,” Applejack said, her hands on her hips. “How dare you try to take her away from her friends!” Fluttershy chastised. “After the situation’s stabilized, we’ll start looking for the lost students and teachers.” Sweetie Drops looked up at Chrysalis nervously. “Maybe you should… bump that one up a bit?” Velvet was red in the face by now. “Then maybe you should all leave! This school is clearly not safe for anybody!” “And the entire fucking world wouldn’t be safe if it weren’t for us!” shouted Rainbow Dash. “Young lady, you watch your mouth! I will not have—” “She’s right, though,” Sunset said, her voice a deadly calm. “You don’t know what we’re dealing with. If we keep fighting, we might die. If you stop us, far more people will die.” “Is anybody even listening to me?” Chrysalis asked. “Um, everybody?” urged Celestia. “You’re butting your nose into business you clearly don’t understand, and you’re going to suffer because of it,” continued Sunset. “Back out while you still can.” “Hey!” Celestia called, a little louder. “Excuse me, child, but I think I have a right to remove my daughter from a life threatening situation!” “Not in these circumstances,” Sunset said, her cold tone everpresent. “You don’t know the slightest thing about what’s going on in this school, and trust me when I say you don’t want to get involved.” “If Twilight's involved, then I’m involved, whether you like it or not!” “PEOPLE!” thundered Celestia. When Sunset had first crossed over the mirror, she hadn’t thought she’d ever hear the Royal Canterlot Voice ever again. She’d been wrong. Celestia had a look on her face that resembled some sort of preemptive ‘I told you so’ and was pointing towards the doors of the Cafeteria. Agent Chrysalis nearly fell over. “Buh… Wha… Huh?” “Hello, everyhuman,” Queen Chrysalis sneered. “Am I interrupting something?”