//------------------------------// // Chapter 13 // Story: A Changeling to Remember // by Blueheartpegasus //------------------------------// Ditto flipped around to find the source of the call. A tan pegasus mare was racing towards her and guards. She stopped in between Ditto and the guards. At first, Ditto had no idea who this pony was. Then she felt something around the tan pegasus. The aura of a changeling. It was familiar aura; Mirror's! "Mirror?" Ditto said in utmost shock. However, she was drowned out by Mirror's second statement. “You can’t hurt her! I won’t let you!” Mirror gave Ditto a glance, and Ditto smiled. She was shocked, but she was grateful. Mirror was helping her, and with a hint of luck, they could get out of this situation safely. Suddenly, Ditto realized something strange. Why is Mirror helping me? she wondered, Why not any of the other changelings here? As Mirror talked to the guards, Ditto quickly cast a spell to check for the auras of other changelings. There was herself and Mirror, of course, but she also detected several others. Some were the ponies standing in the crowd, giving her hateful glares. Why was Mirror the only one helping her? Why wasn't her swarm stepping in and giving her a hoof? If her swarm had abandoned her, what was she to do? Of course, they had never liked her much, but she was a changeling, like the rest of them! Every changeling was instructed to protect all other changelings; it was like a sacred code. They were all brothers and sisters, swarm-mates, and were always there to help each other. Gathering her magic, Ditto sent out a short communication through her horn to other changelings. "Why aren't you helping me?" she thought. She waited. She heard no response, but could have sworn she felt enjoyment coming from a few. Was giving away one of their own to the canterlot guards fun for them? Were they all truly rebels? Ditto zoned back into the conversation between Mirror and the guards. “She is a threat to the citizens of Ponyville and must be-” the first guard, who had been identified as Grimoire, stated. “But she isn’t!” Mirror cut in, “She’s a mutant; she has no wings and her magic is weak. She can’t even shapeshift properly!” "Hey..." Ditto muttered indignantly. She wasn't that weak. However, she silenced herself when Mirror gave her a small glare. She decided to let Mirror deal with the situation. She was about to zone out again, but Grimoire's response shocked her deeply. “…You seem to know a lot about this changeling.” Grimoire said, “But how could you know so much unless you’ve known about her and haven’t alerted the guard, in which case you are aiding a criminal, or you yourself are also a changeling?!” Ditto heard horrified gasps from the crowd. Looking around at the crowd, she hoped beyond reason that one of them would step in. A disguised changeling, a normal pony, anyone for Chrysalis's sake! They were losing the argument that could decide the fate of both her and Mirror! Then, Ditto noticed something that made her heart sink. Mirror was glowing a slight green, and only a moment later, she opened her eyelids to reveal solid blue eyes. Mirror was giving herself up as a changeling! Ditto stepped forward in an attempt to stop Mirror before anything bad happened, or to even protect her, but a hateful glare from the second guard and a wave of his spear told her to sit back and watch the chaos that followed. “I am Mirror, a changeling, and I will not let you harm another of my siblings!” Mirror said confidently, not a trace of fear in her tone. "Mirror, no-" but Ditto's voice was drowned once again by cries of shock from the crowd. She tried to get closer to Mirror, but was forced to jump back as Grimoire tried to attack Mirror with his spear. Mirror dodged, then twisted around and bucked the guard's horn, temporarily cutting off his flow of magic and forcing him to let go of the spear. Ditto saw that the spear was was now lodged in the ground, and considered grabbing it and fighting along with Mirror, but knew she had no hope. She was weak and her leg was still only half-healed. She stood no chance against two, strong guards in full health. She looked up and saw Mirror looking at her. “Don’t just stand there! Run!” Mirror shouted. Ditto wanted to stay, to fight and to protect the only changeling who came to her aid, but she had to go. She was quickly sinking into panic, and all she wanted to do was to Twilight and hide from this. Looking around one last time, tears filled her eyes. It was all gone. Her cover was blown. Summoning all her magic, she cast a quick spell. It was a location spell, she was searching for Twilight. Once she found her, she quickly teleported, leaving the chaos-scene behind. She hoped Mirror would be alright. ---- Suddenly, Ditto landed in the town square. She only got a quick glance at the empty streets before smacking right into a purple shape. She saw Twilight staring at her in shock. "...Ditto?" She quickly jumped back, and tried to figure out ho to calmly explain the situation to Twilight. But she was in too much of a panic. “Twilight! Twilight, I’m sorry! I am so sorry!” “Sorry, for what?” Twilight asked. “Ditto, what happened? Why aren’t you using your illusion spell?” However, from the panic in Ditto's voice, she already knew. “…They found out! Somepony saw me sneak out two nights ago and they took pictures and gave them to the guards! I am so sorry!” “Wait, you snuck out?” Twilight said. “I told you not to! I told you that you needed to stay hidden!" “I know, and I’m sorry! I betrayed your trust, and for that I am so sorry!” Ditto felt tears welling up, but she held them back the best she could. “I should have told you everything sooner!” “Should have told me everything sooner? What haven’t you told me?” “I promise I’m not a traitor! I owe you my life and I would never to anything to hurt you!” Ditto pleaded. Now the tears were slipping down her face. “I only found out yesterday, and I should have told you, but he would have been so angry with me if I did! Please, forgive me!” “…Ditto, what have you been doing? What’s going to happen?!” Twilight placed her hooves on Ditto's shoulders and looked into her solid purple eyes. “…There’s going to be an invasion!” She shouted, closing her eyes as if expecting someone to hit her. She immediately felt Twilight take her hooves off of her shoulders and step back. "An... invasion?" the unicorn asked, stunned. Ditto nodded, cracking open one eye. However, the only thing she saw was a flick of Twilight's tail as she galloped away. However, the unicorn stopped and turned back to Ditto. "Ditto, leave Ponyville. Find somewhere safe to hide. You'll be in too much danger if you stay." Then she left at a speed to rival Rainbow Dash's. Ditto had to leave. Twilight had told her to, and it would keep her safe. But what about after the invasion? There was no way the swarm would take her back, she had revealed the invasion to Twilight! But they hadn't helped her. The changelings hadn't helped her with the guards; if it wasn't for Mirror, who knew what would have happened? Were the changelings against her now? They didn't help me. Ditto thought. But Twilight has always helped me. Ditto sat and thought there for what seemed like hours. The only thing that pulled her out of her thought trance was a loud bang. Flipping around, her purple eyes spotted a missile of green magic. Several changelings were zipping around in the air, and many ponies were running in terror. "The invasion's started?!" Ditto shouted in shock. She was answered by a familiar unicorn running towards her. It was Minuette! But she didn't look like a pony in the midst of a terrible fight for her life. In fact, she was giving Ditto and evil sneer. Just as she came to a stop before the mutant changeling, she glowed with green fire. She was left in a changeling form, glaring at Ditto. "Morph!" Ditto shouted in shock. She was barely heard through the screaming of the invasion. Morph's only response was to hoof Ditto a small pink volume. "How does it feel," she asked, "to know you gave me the book that made this invasion possible?" Ditto stared down at the book in her hoof. The title read, 'The Security and Protection of Equestria'. Ditto suddenly realized why this book was significant. It could have given the changelings an open door to invade anywhere in Equestria. But she had other things on her mind. "Why didn't any of the other changelings help me, back when I was being attacked by the guards?" she asked Morph. Morph gave her an evil smile. "There is no room in the swarm for an empathy-ridden fool. You were useless before; when you were just a mutant, but now you are full of empathy sickness. Carbon ordered your exposure, and I was more than happy to give those pictures to the guards." "You did this?" Ditto growled. She was putting on a brave face, as she really felt like she was going to cry. "I was just following orders." Morph started the fly off, calling over her shoulder, "For your information, we consider you a traitor now. You will be attacked if you don't seek shelter." However, she didn't say this like a warning. No, instead she said it in a cheerful, happy tone. Ditto ran. Not to seek shelter or just plain run away from the invasion, but to the library. She ignored the pain from her leg as she ran as fast as her hooves would carry her. I don't care what happens to me. She thought, I have to stop this invasion, and save these ponies! Ditto had almost made it to the door of the library when she smacked into something solid. Falling back, she shifted into her changeling form. She blinked several times to return her vision before she stood. As she looked around to see what she had smacked into, she was in shock. It was a changeling. But was it? It was orange and had solid green eyes, but it had the horn and wings of a changeling. It looked like it was a half-changeling half-pony. As Ditto tried to identify it, it stood and rubbed its head. "It's hard tah keep a pony form, ain't it?" it muttered. Then Ditto recognized it. "Applejack?" Applejack looked up at Ditto. Barely missing a beat, she leaped at her and pinned her down. "Get outta here, ya overgrown bug!" "Wait, stop!" Ditto. She gathered all her strength and rolled quickly, catching Applejack off guard. As the half-changeling jumped back, Ditto ran to a safe distance. This had to be the real Applejack; not Carbon. No changeling could be half-pony without serious mutation. "I'm on the ponies' side, I swear!" "How can I believe ya?" Applejack asked suspiciously. This was an interesting development alright, but Ditto had other plans. "I don't have time for this." she muttered, and she quickly dashed inside the library. She scanned the room, but saw no trace of the purple dragon she was looking for. "Spike?" she called. After no response for few moments, she quickly made her way up the stairs and pushed open the door. "Ditto?" Looking up to the ledge where Twilight's and Spike's beds were, Ditto spotted the baby dragon hiding beneath the window. "What are you doing here?" "Well, I do live here." Ditto said. She ran and jumped up to the ledge, barely making it. She was still injured, but she ignored the pain. "But I'm really here to contact the Princesses." "What's going on out there?" Spike asked. While he spoke he stood and climbed down off the ledge, towards the writing desk. "Changeling invasion." Ditto responded, flinching at a flash of green magic outside the window. As she peeked out to see who had done it, she saw a group of mares running for cover as they were chased by five or six changelings. Sighing, she hopped off the ledge and followed Spike. "We have to tell Princess Celestia about it!" As they were speaking, Applejack climbed the stairs and stood in the doorway. "Spike, who is this?" she asked. Instead of waiting for Spike to answer, Ditto walked over to Applejack to explain. "My name's Ditto; I'm a friend of Twilight's." "And why would Twilight be friends with a changeling?" Ditto would have rolled her eyes, but when your eyes don't have pupils or whites, you can't really tell. "It's a long story and now isn't the best time to explain it. I've been living with Twilight since the changeling attack on Canterlot failed." "Really?" Applejack still looked suspicious. "If Twilight has had a changeling with her the whole time, why didn't she know that Chrysalis was here in Ponyville before ah told her? Or were ya keeping secrets and tellin' lies?" Ditto just sat still for a moment, stunned. "Queen Chrysalis is in Ponyville?" she said, as if thinking out loud. Then she stood quickly and raced over to Spike. "Spike, send that letter to the Princess, I've got to go find Chrysalis!" ---- Ditto raced down the streets of Ponyville, ignoring the chaos that went on around her. She had to find Queen Chrysalis! If this invasion was done against her orders, surely she could stop it. Although she ignored it, it didn't stop the fact as she put more strain on her broken leg it got worse and worse. It was hurting badly, but she couldn't stop. She had to find Queen Chrysalis before anyone else got hurt! With her mind completely focused on running, she didn't notice a few changelings creeping up behind her. They charged up a blast of magic. The green magic hit just under Ditto's hooves, flinging her into the sky. Ditto flailed in the air, flipping around and around. This was too long of a drop. She would be unfit to fight even if she survived. She closed her eyes and waited for the painful connection with the ground. But it never came. Cracking open her eyes, Ditto saw that she was surrounded with green magic, floating in the air. To her surprise, she found that it was her magic. Her horn was glowing with magic, holding herself aloft in the sky. Her magic had never been so strong before! Was it the love from Twilight that had given her strength? Carefully moving herself down to the road with her magic, the mutant changeling landed safely on the road. She was right next to the part of the market where she had been discovered. She was about to continue running when she saw a familair blast of purple magic. "Twilight!" Ditto gasped. Trying to reach the unicorn, Ditto leapt into a crowd of changelings that were eager to attack the few ponies in the middle. The mutant summoned some magic and fired a few blasts to clear the crowd enough for her to reach Twilight. Ditto was almost there when her face was pressed into the ground. A changeling had pinned her down from behind and was now hissing at her. "You silly mutant. You think you can beat us, you empathy-ridden weakling?" Ditto kicked out with her back hooves, knocking the enemy changeling back enough for her to get up. Then she turned to face the enemy and growled. "There's one thing most changelings don't understand." she told the enemy. "Empathy doesn't make us weaklings. No, it makes us stronger!" Then she spun around, gathered all her strength into her back legs, and bucked the changeling in the face with such strength that it would impress Applejack. "That was fun." Ditto laughed to herself. "I guess it's more fun when you're actually hurting the enemy and not innocent nurses." Then a cry of surprise came to her attention. Turning her attention back on the center of the crowd, Ditto saw a group of changelings heading for Twilight, who was pinned down by a particularly large soldier. Ditto gathered her magic and fired a strong blast of green fire at the changeling who had Twilight pinned. The purple-eyed changeling watched Twilight teleport out of the crowd then fire a blast of magic to take out the group that had almost attacked her. She sighed with relief, but was interrupted as Twilight spotted her. "Ditto!" Twilight ran over Ditto and hugged her. However, it didn't last long before she stepped back and gave the changeling a stern look. “What are you doing here? I told you to run! You’re in a lot of danger if you stay here, Ditto!” Ditto winced at her harsh tone. However, when she spoke she looked Twilight in the face and spoke with a brave tone. “I know, but you and everypony else here are in danger too, and I couldn’t just run and hide while you fought back. You’re one of my closest friends, Twilight; I had to come back and help!” Twilight's face turned to surprise for a moment, then shifted into a warm smile. She hugged Ditto again, ignoring the chaos of fight going on around them. This scene was interrupted by a loud burst of magic above their heads. They both jumped back to see many changelings falling out of the sky, surrounded in a blue-green crystal. The source of the magic was a white unicorn with a smug grin on her face. “Honestly, as much as I love watching this heartwarming display of yours, you two really should be paying more attention to what’s going on around you.” she giggled at the shocked faces of both Twilight and Ditto. After a moment, Ditto looked over at Twilight, who's mouth was hanging open in shock, and gave her a concerned look. “Um, Twilight?” “H-How did you do that?!” Twilight stuttered, staring at the fallen changelings, frozen in the blueish-green crystals. “I’ve never seen you do that before!” “Well, I’m not completely sure, but I assume it has to do with Sparkler lending me some of her power before she…left.” the white unicorn replied. Ditto wasn't sure who this was, but from the description Twilight had given her, she figured that this was one of Twilight's friends; Rarity. She also didn't know who Sparkler was, but she honestly didn't care right now. Twilight thought for a bit, then spoke, “That makes some amount of sense. I’ll look into it some more later, though.” Ditto glanced up at the sky, which was full of changelings. “Twilight, Rarity? Maybe we should focus on the battle first?” Twilight nodded, standing in a battle stance and focusing on the fight again. “Right. Ditto, you can handle yourself, can’t you?” Ditto nodded. “Don’t worry about me, Twilight. My magic is stronger now; I can fight.” She had to stop herself from bragging about how only minutes ago she had levitated herself; they had to focus on the invasion for now. She could tell her later. But... would there be a later? No time for thoughts like that, Ditto! she thought. “Good, then I’ll leave you to it, then!” Twilight said, racing over to fight next to Rarity. Ditto turned and dived into the crowd of changelings, shooting blasts of green fire at anyone that approached her. I have to find queen Chrysalis. Ditto thought, her now stronger magic stretching out over the crowd. She focused on trying to find Chrysalis's aura, but only found the thoughts of hostile changelings. The only thoughts she caught were things like, "You traitor!" and "Why are you defending the ponies?" As she fired blasts of green fire at any changeling that flew at her, Ditto was distracted by a flash out of the corner of her eye. Turning to look, she saw a mare cloaked in a purple and blue suit that had an 'm' emblem on the collar. Before she could see who it was, Ditto was tackled by three different changelings while she was distracted. "You're putting up a lot of fight for a mutant weakling." one of them sneered. "I'll show you mutant weakling." Ditto growled. She gathered as much magic as she could and focused on one explosive blast. There was a boom and a flash of green fire and Ditto was free. Standing on her hooves, she saw that there was now a huge hole in the crowd. From the thoughts of the other changelings she was picking up, they were starting to wonder if it was worth it to attack her. Now that she had a few moments to think before the other changelings attacked again, Ditto observed the battlefield. There were unconscious ponies and changelings littered about. Most had fainted from either exhaustion or fear, but they were all being protected by their comrades. She spotted something interesting. Twilight was speaking with Grimoire, the guard who had attacked Ditto. The other guard who had been with Grimiore was laying unconscious behind them. Grimiore was obviously protecting his fallen friend. But why is Twilight talking with him? Ditto wondered. Another thing was drawing Ditto's attention; the masked mare was jumping around on the roofs of buildings, smacking changelings out of the air. The thing that Ditto found interesting was a bouncy pink tail that was poking out from underneath the cloak. Pinkie Pie. Ditto thought, But why is she dressed up? She didn't have a lot of time to think before she was tackled by another changeling. She fired off another blast of magic and sent him flying. She did the same with a few other changelings who had snuck up behind her. Out of the corner of her eyes, she saw the glow of light blue magic. First taking care of a small changeling solider, Ditto turned around to locate the source of the blue magic. Grimoire was projecting a magic shield around him, Twilight, and the other guard from earlier who was unconscious. Twilight's horn had the familiar glow of a unicorn charging up her magic, while Grimoire struggled to hold up his magical barrier. This worked for a few minutes until five changelings got the idea to power themselves up with green fire and ram themselves hard into the barrier. Twilight would be vulnerable while she was charging magic! Ditto quickly bucked a changeling who was about to attack her from behind in the face then ran to go help. The shield was about to break under the force of the attacking changelings, and Ditto had to get there before it did. She was almost there! *Crack* The shield shattered and the changelings flew at Grimoire and Twilight. "No!" Ditto shouted. She raced over to them through the chaos of the invasion, ready to save them, when she noticed Twilight had opened her eyes. They were glowing white with power. A purple bubble of magic started to expand, covering the surrounding area. It grew larger and larger, sending all changelings it hit flying far away from Ponyville. She's trying to perform the spell from the Canterlot invasion. Ditto thought. Instantly she started to panic at the thought of being tossed far from Ponyville and being hurt even more, if not killed this time. However, she spotted dark blue fabric out of the corner of her eyes and turned to be Pinkie Pie in her ridiculous costume. The pink mare took her dark blue cape and wrapped it around Ditto, protecting her from the spell's effects. Soon the magic bubble died down Pinkie unwrapped Ditto from the material. Ditto instantly looked up at Twilight. The unicorn had returned to normal, except she looked tired after that extreme use of magic. All around was silence, but Ditto knew it was temporary. The spell hadn't even reached the edges of Ponyville- it wouldn't take long for more changelings to come. “You certainly live up to your status as the Element of Magic, don’t you?” Rarity praised, walking up to Twilight and smiling. “That was very impressive, Twilight!” Twilight blushed. “Oh, it wasn’t that big of a deal. I’m not the only unicorn to do it, after all. Your magic was much more impressive!” Rarity giggled. “Oh Twilight, I’m flattered you think that, but the truth is that I wouldn’t have been able to do half that much magic without Sparkler’s help!” She looked around. “I really do wonder where that unicorn went off to…” Ditto walked over to Twilight and Rarity, following Pinkie. The party pony pulled down her mask. “Wow, we’re doing great! I haven’t had this much fun since yesterday! Yup, prank extravaganza, good times…” “Pinkie? What are you doing dressed up as Mare-Do-Well?” Rarity asked. Who's Mare-Do-Well? Ditto wondered. She scanned around the unnaturally silent town around them. It was like in all the tales of horror; utter silence before the attack. Does it really matter right now, though? “I thought it would be fun!” Pinkie responded to Rarity's question cheerfully. Ditto stared in wonder at the pink pony. Wasn't she even worried that they were in the middle of a battle? “There will be more coming, you know." Ditto told the ponies. "They replaced a lot of ponies, and I wouldn't be surprised if there were more hiding out in the Everfree Forest. It won’t be long before more changelings arrive.” “And we’ll be ready for them when they come!” Twilight said bravely. Determination shone in her eyes. Ditto smiled. We'll do fine if everypony is brave enough. Twilight turned back towards Grimoire, who was approaching them slowly due to the fact he was supporting his barely-conscious friend. "How are you feeling?" the purple mare asked. “The enemy got the best of us, but we’ll live.” Grimoire responded. He winced in pain as he spoke. “Not sure how much longer we can hold out without rest or healing, though.” Twilight nodded, then turned back to the others. She seemed to be looking them over for injuries. At the thought of injuries, Ditto noticed that her broken leg was aching quite a bit from the constant movement. The others had injuries too; Rarity was limping slightly and had many patches of singed fur, Twilight had many cuts and bruises, but Pinkie appeared to be unmarked except for a few tears in her costume. “Alright everypony, get close to me. I know a few healing spells that should be able to help.” Twilight said, her horn glowing in preparation for casting. “We’re all going to need to be in top condition, because this battle isn’t over yet!” "But Twilight, shouldn't you conserve your strength?" Ditto asked, "You just cast an extreme spell!" "I'll be fine." Twilight said. Ditto nodded an reluctantly stepped closer to the unicorn as she began to cast her spell. "Don't worry," Rarity told the changeling, "she's a strong pony." Twilight's purple magic enveloped the group. Ditto could feel strength being returned to her, and the scratches on her carapace instantly mend. It felt great, and when the magic released her, she felt as if she had never had any injuries at all. Except her broken leg, which was still almost beyond healing. Deciding it wasn't the moment to worry about her leg, Ditto focused on the surrounding ponies. One of the closest ponies was a blue-green pegasus with puffy green hair and baby blue eyes. She had a few scratches on her, but overall looked unhurt. However, another pegasus who was with her looked very hurt. "Come on, Lightning Bolt." the first pony said. "We've got to get you back up to Cloudsdale; it'll be safer there!" "It's okay, Medley." the second pony said. "I'll be fine. I want to stay and fight." A pale pink unicorn trotted over to them. "Do you need any help?" she asked. "I can do minor healing spells." "I don't need any help." Lightning Bolt muttered. "Lightning, there's no way you can fight with that leg!" Medley insisted. "Come up to Cloudsdale or let her heal you; you need help." These ponies are so caring and kind. Ditto thought. Well, so are changelings, but only to other changelings. Maybe they didn't help anyone other than the swarm because they couldn't feel love. I can feel love, because of Empathy Sickness, and I want to help them. Lightning Bolt needs to get out of the invasion, I think she's sprained that leg. But I know that even if I offer help, nopony would accept it. Ponies don't trust me because I'm a changeling. I'm hated for being a creature that feeds on love but can't feel it for herself. But I can feel love. Does feeling love make me sick? Ditto's thoughts were broken the loud sound of buzzing. "More changelings are coming." she told Twilight. Twilight stood in an attack pose, horn glowing with magic as she prepared for fight. Rarity did the same. However, Pinkie Pie ran off, calling over her shoulder, "I'm going to find Fluttershy and Mirror!" But Ditto wasn't paying attention. She was focused on the incoming changelings. Something wasn't right; they didn't seem to be hostile. They weren't diving for the ponies at all, but rather for other changelings. The ones that had been on the side of the invasion. Sending out a magic signal to the changelings of the crowd, Ditto asked "What's going on? Why aren't you attacking the ponies?" "We've been sent by High-General Double to stop this invasion." one of them sent back. Ditto turned to Twilight. "They're here to stop the invasion." she told her. "What?" Twilight asked, confused. "Why are they trying to stop their own invasion?" "This invasion was organized against orders." one of the changelings had overheard them and now flapped his wings to flutter above them. "High-General Double ordered that we come to stop it and captured any rebels involved." He directed his attention on Ditto. "Will you be okay? Not having wings could be a great disadvantage in a fight. I wondered if you-" He was cut off by group of three other changelings, the ones fighting against the ponies, who knocked him out of the air in their pursuit of Medley and Lightning Bolt, who were finally deciding to fly to safety. "No you don't." he growled, taking off after them at top speed. "It looks like the invaders are back." Ditto pointed out. The town was refilling with rebellious changeings as they spoke. So much chaos was going on; changelings were fighting chagelings, changelings were fighting ponies, injured were being flown or dragged to safety, and random blasts of magic were flying all over. Ditto fired up a blast of green magic and shot one of the changelings going after the pale pink unicorn from earlier. Nearby, a mint green earth pony reared on her hind legs and kicked a flying changeling in the face. She then flipped around and smacked another with her pink mane. Once she had hit all the changelings away form her, the smiled and yelled, "Nopony messes with Minty!" Ditto was shot in the side with green fire. She was knocked back, but managed to stay on her hooves. "You should pay attention to the fight." the changeling who had attacked her growled. Ditto's only response was to fire a large blast of magic directly at his face. He was flung back and only just caught himself by flapping his wings and propelling himself into the air. He looked like he was going to go after Ditto again, but was soon surrounded with Double's troops. Suddenly, a message was transmitted to Ditto through magic. "General Carbon to all changelings within the immediate area: get out of range, now!” The message was faint, as if she could barely hear it, but Ditto felt nervous nonetheless. "Maybe we should move-" she started to say to Twilight, but she was distracted by a green spark off in the distance. It expanded into a ring, and Ditto realized what it was as ten fireballs came from it. "It's Double's magic." Ditto said to nopony in particular. "But who's she attacking?" The flash of purple magic behind her made her jump. Spinning around, Ditto saw a stunned-looking changeling behind her. "Ditto, watch your back!" twilight reminded her, before turning away to continue fighting with Rarity. Ditto nodded and decided to focus on the fight instead of her thoughts. I can think about it all when my life isn't in danger. She fired several shots of green fire at nearby changelings, who were about to attack a group of three earth pony mares. Suddenly, there was a loud "BOOM" sound. It made seemed to make the ground itself shake with power. Ditto turned around to see what it was, and gasped at the sight. A huge ring of rainbow colors was spreading across the sky, gracing the whole town with its colors. From the very center was a cyan blur with a rainbow trailing behind it as it flew. "It's a Sonic Rainboom!" Twilight said, "I guess that means Rainbow Dash is up to something." Ditto decided that right now wasn't the best time for questions about what a Sonic Rainboom was an returned to her attacking of the hostile changelings. The battle seemed much more hopeful now that Double's troops were fighting for them, and during the short moment of relief Twilight provided, most of the weak or injured were able to find safety. Suddenly, so fast, that Ditto would have missed it if she had blinked, a rain-lightning blur flew by, right through the middle of their group. The blur was gone quickly, only leaving behind a trail of hurt, stunned, or unconscious changelings in its wake. "Was that Rainbow Dash?" Rarity asked. "What is she up to?" Ditto watched as the rainbow blur finally travel out of sight, then turned to continue fighting. It felt as if she had been fighting for years now. Would this invasion ever end? After many more minutes of fighting, The entire town square fell silent from a shout of, "ENOUGH!" Ditto glanced up and saw an unknown unicorn standing near the center of town square. Any pony or changeling near her jumped back, as if dramatically revealing her. Ditto instantly understood who this pony was the instant she heard the shout in her own head as well. This was a changeling, communicating to all other changelings in Ponyville. But not any normal changeling. "It's Sparkler!" Rarity said happily, but her face fell as 'Sparkler' continued speaking. “Well, if this is how you’re all going to behave while I’m gone, then it’s no wonder the swarm requires a queen to keep it in line.” she sighed softly. “I must say I’m disappointed.” A ring of green fire materialized and surrounded Sparkler. Among the flames, Sparkler transformed. Her soft, pony fur was turning black; two insect-like, hole-filled wings sprouted; her horn grew longer and deformed; and her beautiful mane turned blue and hole-filled. When the fire died out, the tall changeling queen stood before them, glaring at them with narrowed eyes. “Very disappointed, indeed.” "It's Queen Chrysalis..." Ditto whispered, almost to herself.