//------------------------------// // 19 - Resolve // Story: Pony Persona // by Everace //------------------------------// The main doors of the town hall had been glued shut from the inside with changeling spit, but this proved little trouble for Vera. The doors were hardly air tight, so a breath of solvent enzymes had them unstuck in short order. Only a few lamps were still burning overhead in the cavernous main room, casting as much shadow as they did light. In the center of the large chamber were exactly six cocoons, their deep green color far more vibrant than was typical. Spike lay bundled at their base, and guarding them all was Meta along with two of their brothers. Meta was gazing intently at Twilight Sparkle, held dormant in the central cocoon. She spoke without turning, "There should never have been any reason to set anything but a light guard over these cocoons, important though they are. With her trapped within one, the ponies have nothing left that can defeat our strongest shells." Her voice was bitter, "I could never have imagined that one of our own would turn against us." Vera held her place a dozen paces from her siblings. "I don't regret my actions... but I do regret hurting you." The changeling leader snorted and pressed her head against the cocoon. "Do you know what is very funny?" She asked as she ran her hoof over the shell, "None of this would have happened without you. You were the one to lead us here, and even if we had known about this place we still wouldn't have attacked without you having come here first. The reason that tipped the balance, the reason I took the risk, the reason we were able to accomplish so much...!" Meta spun, pointing a hoof at her sister, "...was you! I wanted to save you!" "Maybe you should have asked me what I wanted." Vera had been missing most of her memories at the time, but she certainly would not have sanctioned an attack on Ponyville. Meta trembled, her eyes widening. "Many said you'd gone mad when you fell from the sky. I spoke out against them, I defended you! I... it looks like I was wrong." She snarled, "Fine! I don't care! I'm still going to save you. Even if I have to save you from yourself!" With that her horn flared, and she fired a ray of energy directly at her sister! Vera was not caught entirely off guard and managed to respond in kind, catching the attack with one of her own. The magical beam attacks of the two sisters clashed midway between them, almost evenly matched. Almost... it became clear that Meta held a slight edge as Vera's magic was pushed slowly back. Her voice somewhat muted with strain, Vera nonetheless called out, "You don't have to do this! I know you don't want to fight me!" "I'm fighting for my family!" Meta growled, "What are you fighting for, Vera? What so important that you would turn on us!?" The formerly lost changeling tried to focus, but no matter how she exerted herself she couldn't seem to turn back Meta's steadily advancing magic ray. "You say bringing down Twilight is important, but it's only important if we're enemies! If we all became friends..." "HA!" A brief flare pushed back Vera's magic further still, only a meter from her horn now. "Friends with ponies? Do you think they will ever look at you as a friend, after all we changelings have done to them? Even now they only let you join in their doomed little counter attack because they NEED you! They don't want you at all! You can never make things right with them!" "Even so." Meta was breathing heavily with strain as she struggled to keep the beam from her horn, "Even if I can't make things right. Even if I can never make things right!" Her brow furrowed with determination and she cried out fervently, "That doesn't mean I have to keep making them wrong!!!" Two things happened at that moment. Meta seemed to falter, the strength of her attack slackening. At the same time Vera felt an unexplained power trickle into her. She pushed on the magic threatening her, forcing it back across the room. Meta had set her eyes on something behind Vera, and whatever she saw there further weakened her resolve, "Even knowing what she is, you would still...?" The beam picked up speed and slammed into the horn of the changeling boss, burning out her power temporarily and stunning her. Meta fell, her guards gasping in alarm and moving quickly to catch her. Vera's mouth dropped open in astonishment, and she turned to see what could have caused her sibling to waver. There standing in the doorway, silver hair gleaming in light of a nearby lamp, was Veiled Vision. Veil glanced away momentarily when she noticed Vera's regard upon her, appearing both embarrassed and irritated at the same time, before shaking her head and approaching. As the fierce pegasus came alongside her, Vera noticed that the tiny trickle of power that was still seeping into her was in fact coming from... "...Veil, you..." She broke off as the medicine pony turned a frown upon her, raising an eyebrow that seemed to say, Don't press your luck! Vera smiled back at her before returning her attention to the two guard bugs. "Meta is beaten." The rebel changeling intoned with as much gravity as she could manage, "Now stand aside!" The brother on the left had soft blue eyes. He barely hesitated before taking Meta over his shoulder and moving away from the cocoons. The brother on the right had hard, aggressive purple eyes. "Thorax!" He rebuked sharply, "Are you so cowardly that you would surrender without a fight?" The gentle brother Thorax paused, but did not look back. "I'm sorry, Pharynx... I look at all this and wonder why we can't just be friends? I'll take Meta to safety." He continued on, skirting around the edge of the room and making his way out the door. "It doesn't matter!" Pharynx rumbled angrily as he watched his brother go, "I'll never stop fighting, even if I'm the very last one!" Veil narrowed her eyes and asked under her breath so that Pharynx would not hear, "Can you melt those cocoons like you did the spit?" Vera nodded once, "I can." "Then do it!" With that, Veil launched herself at the lone remaining guard. She was expecting to drop him without much effort based on her earlier encounters with changelings, but very nearly lost in the first few moments as he dodged handily and spat a clever pattern of three goo globs that she only barely managed to avoid. The pegasus eyed her opponent more warily as she circled him. Pharynx grinned confidently and shifted form into an enormous bear with bat wings. Veil hopped back as he grabbed for her, looking worried now, "Seriously!?" She ducked away from his reaching claws, but he stuck close and continued to press her. When she leapt into the air he snickered and unfolded his bat wings, "Think you can get away from me like that?" The central room of the town hall was large, but there still wasn't much room for flying. He cornered her quickly. "Looks like you bit off more than you could chew!" Veil just smiled at him. Suddenly realizing where he was, Pharynx spun back toward the cocoons just in time to see Vera breathing on them. "NO!" He started back, but was blindsided from behind by a very feisty flying pony. Veil wrapped her forelegs around his head and covered his eyes with her hooves. Meanwhile Vera was blowing solvent enzymes onto the cocoons as rapidly as her glands could release them. The shells responded more slowly than ordinary changeling spit, but respond they did as fluid began to slough off where the hardened material was melting away. She redoubled her efforts when she heard Veil call out, "Hurry! I can't hold him!" Finally the cocoons began to collapse, spilling to the floor as a green soup. Twilight was the first to awaken, blinking in confusion. Her changeling savior had time to notice a small black pebble slide from the unicorn's horn, the glue that held it in place melting away as readily as everything else with solvent still in the air. Not much time, however. When Twilight finally managed to focus, the first thing she did was scream, "Changeling!!!" and blast Vera with a bolt of magic! Veil, now caught firmly between Pharynx's powerful paws, watched with mild dismay as the Vera was blown halfway across the room, bouncing once before she came to rest on the floor with a groan. "Hey!" Veil exclaimed, "If you're gonna shoot changelings, then get this big ox off of me!" Spinning in mild panic, Twilight was only too happy to oblige. Her first shot came too close to Pharynx for his comfort; he released Veil and shifted into the smaller more agile form of a black furred rabbit. Dropping to the ground, he darted to the door as he easily avoided more wild shots. Pharynx paused at the threshold, raising himself to the full knee-high height of his bunny form, "Don't think you've won!" He trilled in a high and squeaky voice. "This is just a tactical withdrawal!" With that, and a glower that came off more adorable than menacing in his present fuzzy body, the tiny warrior changeling turned and fled from the town hall. The rest of the mane six plus Spike started moving again, shaking off liquid green sludge, as Veil touched down next to Vera. "You ok?" She asked almost reluctantly. "Agh... th... that's the second time... she's blasted me!" Seeing that the changeling looked more stunned than injured, Veil quirked a sassy grin, "I'll bet you deserved it the first time!" By way of response Vera huffed in exasperation, but then nodded an affirmative. "What are you doing?!" Twilight came closer, horn glowing ominously. "Why are you being so chummy with that thing? Are you one of them?!" Rarity came up alongside her, "Don't be absurd, darling. Do you really think a changeling who could take any form would appear in a dress like that?" The fashionista gestured to the tattered ruins of Veil's once elegant attire, and in doing so examined it more closely herself. "Good heavens, that's the Gentle Meadow ensemble I designed for you! Please tell me this is not all that remains of it!" The fashionista was more than agitated to see the state of some of her finest work, almost on the verge of tears. "Ah..." Veil looked away guiltily. "Actually, as long as we're on the subject... the dress you wore to the party may have ended up sandwiched between a bed and a pair of changelings. I'm... not sure if it made it." Rarity gasped, "Not my Mysterious Ways Outfit!!!" Overcome, she fainted and fell back onto a conveniently placed blue velvet chaise lounge. Spike poked his head out from behind it, "She keeps two here in town hall, so I just brought the closer one." Rarity made an amazingly fast recovery from her supposed faint, "I don't mean to nitpick darling, but I think the burgundy one really would have done better for this lighting." "All right, all right!" Twilight seemed flustered, "Veil, I believe you're not a changeling. So what's going on and why are you being friendly with... isn't that the same one who impersonated Piv!?" The medicine pony let out a harrumph, "I don't know if I would say 'friendly' exactly." She eyed Vera as the changeling rose unsteadily to her hooves. "But it's true this one is not our enemy. It's also true that there's a huge battle going on outside right now between the townsponies and the changelings, so we'd best hop to it!" "Oh dear..." fretted Fluttershy, and "On it!" declared Rainbow Dash. Following the multi-colored tail of their friend, the group made their way outside where sure enough the conflict was still in full swing. The citizens of Ponyville were holding out fairly well, though they had only managed to free a few of the bound ponies in the town square. Mandible had secured a defensive line around the remaining captives while airborne changelings were dogfighting with pegasi and attempting to hunt down the earthbound pony fighters. One look at the scene set Twilight's horn blazing. "Now, what I should have done to begin with!" The air crackled with energy as she summoned her strength, "That's ENOUGH!!!" She released an entire barrage of magic missiles into the air, which found a number of targets among the changelings. Those that were not struck found themselves out of the fight regardless as they were forced to dive and catch their stricken comrades. The single action immediately changed the balance of power in the skies, giving the pegasi the upper hand. A shrill whistle rang out. Vera looked for the source of the sound, and soon enough spotted Meta on a nearby rooftop flanked by the brothers Thorax and Pharynx. The changeling boss looked worn from her recent defeat, but otherwise unharmed. Meta let loose another loud whistle before calling, "Disengage! Disengage and Fall Back!" Mandible took up her cry, "Let's go! We're done here! Disengage! Fall Back!" Mayor Mare, leading a group of earth ponies nearby, trumpeted orders of her own, "Let them go! That's enough!" The opposing forces separated, and the ponies rushed into the town square to begin freeing their captured friends and neighbors. The changelings took to the skies, hovering high above the town. In the dark of night they were difficult to see aside from their eyes, and it gave the appearance that a great many new stars had suddenly crowded in with the usual ones. Only Meta herself did not join them, instead buzzing slowly down to land in front of Vera and the others. Meta gave an exhausted sigh, "Well that's done, then. We've no chance to win now that SHE is free." She shot a look of dislike at Twilight, which was returned in spades. Turning back to her sister, "You win, Vera. Chrysallis won't be happy, but you win." Another sigh, "Come on, let's go home." The rebel changeling looked back at her sister for a moment before she started to slowly shake her head. "...I'm staying." "What?!" Twilight and Meta exclaimed simultaneously before glaring at each other irately. Vera smiled sadly, "Come on, sister, be real. I just betrayed the entire hive! What kind of life do you think I would be going back to?" Meta opened her mouth to object, but found that she couldn't. It was true. Her sister continued, "So if the ponies will have me?" She shot a questioning glance to Mayor Mare, who nodded a definite yes. "...then I'll stay here, and make a new life for myself." Twilight broke in, "Now wait just a darn, unf...!" She was cut off as Applejack elbowed her in the ribs, the farm pony shaking her head no at her unicorn friend. The student of friendship did not look happy, but she subsided with no more than a dissatisfied grunt. Meta looked as close to tears as her sister had ever seen her, "Why? Why can't I save you?" "You can't save everyone." Vera responded softly. She brightened then, and hugged her sibling, "But thank you for trying!" Meta laughed quietly, immediately returning the embrace. "You're such a troublemaker!" She accused. "I'm still going to worry about you," She confided as she pulled away, holding on to Vera by the shoulders. "but I get it. I wish you the best." Meta stepped away with great reluctance, "Goodbye, sister." With that, she took to the air and joined the changelings hovering above Ponyville. At her signal, the swarm turned and flew off toward the horizon. Vera watched them go, watched them vanish into the endless night sky. "Goodbye, my sister." She whispered after them. "Goodbye, my family."