Gallus, Silverstream, Sandbar, Yona, Ocellus and Smolder rushed through the streets of Ponyville with the kids and their parents following close behind. They were in an area that was surprisingly devoid of any changeling activity. The brawl near the town hall must have attracted most of them, leaving the street to the castle open. Luckily, the castle appeared to be empty at the moment.
“Alright, once we’re inside, you all go hide in the map room and lock and barricade the doors,” Gallus told them. “Then we’ll go find the Elements.”
“You got it,” Tex replied.
They got to the castle and opened the front doors. Sure enough, there were no changelings occupying the castle at the moment. It looked as if no struggle happened there at all. The teachers looked around, carefully eying their surroundings.
“It’s quiet. Too quiet,” Silverstream said.
“Why wouldn’t they be in here?” asked Smolder.
“Really. This is the perfect outpost for changelings,” Sandbar added.
“Yak not like this. Something not right,” Yona said, angrily.
“Quick! Let’s get to the map room before someone sees us!” Annie said.
“Whoa, whoa, hold on everypony,” Ocellus told her as she blocked their path. “That map room could be a trap, and I’m smelling other changelings around.”
“Oh great. When Ocellus can smell her own kind, you know there’s trouble,” Sandbar said.
“Well yeah, but what if it’s Thorax and the good changelings?” asked Chip.
“They wouldn’t be hiding from us,” Smolder added.
“We’re just going to trap ourselves in a box,” said Gallus. “I say we run back outside real quick and escape into the mountains with the kids. We’d be way safer if we…huh?”
Silverstream then put her claw on Gallus’ shoulder to get him to stop talking. She nodded her head in the direction of the kids who were all huddled up and whispering. The teachers watched them for a few moments while their parents all looked nervously at them.
“Kids?” asked Silverstream.
The kids then all jumped and looked back at the teachers. They stopped and straightened themselves out. Flurry took a gulp while the others trembled nervously.
“Kids, what’s going on?” Sandbar asked.
“Nothing!” Pound said.
“We’re just really nervous,” Pumpkin told them.
Smolder looked suspiciously at the kids.
“Are you guys okay?” asked Smolder. “You’re all acting a little-”
“Wait…” Ocellus said.
Everyone watched as she stepped towards the kids, stretched her neck forward and turned her ears to the front, wiggling them. Since changelings did not have nostrils on their snouts, they used olfactory censors in their ears the way an insect uses its antennae to pick up scents. She then stepped back with an angry look on their face.
“They’re changelings!” she said to the rest of the teachers.
“WHAT?!” Flurry shouted.
“We’re…we’re not changelings! Promise!” Stormy said with a nervous smile on his face.
“Yeah, we’re just a little scared is all!” Chip added.
“What on earth makes you think they’re changelings?” Mrs. Cake asked.
“Just because I’m not a black changeling anymore doesn’t mean I can’t sense one. We’re still the same species!” Ocellus replied.
“It’s…we’ve got their scent on us from being around them so long outside!” Pound said.
“Uh…wait a second. I can prove they’re still our kids!” Tex said. “Chip, Annie, what’s the recipe for your mother’s homemade apple pie?”
Chip and Annie looked back and forth at each other nervously. Chip started doing the talking.
“Apples and…uh…more apples…and…”
“Pie?” Annie asked with a huge smile on her face as it perspired with sweat.
“Stormy, how many levels are there in easy mode for Super Dragon Warriors?” Thunderhead asked his son.
“What? How am I supposed to know that? Since when does a changeling play video ga-I MEAN…oops…”
Flurry then dropped the act and her horn glowed green despite having the black shell over it.
“UGH! Alright, fine you caught us!” she shouted before a green flame zoomed up her body, revealing she was a young changeling drone all along.
The rest of the kids paused and then did the same. The drone disguised as Flurry looked very peeved at them.
“You guys are terrible at this!” she told them.
“Oh, we’re terrible at this?! I told you we should have casted the memory copy spell on the kids first!” another barked back at her.
“We didn’t have time to get to them!”
“Well the secret’s out now,” Gallus said.
“Oh? So what will you do with us? You don’t even have the Elements!” sneered the one disguised as Pound.
“What did you do with our kids?!” asked Mr. Cake.
The parents and teachers all surrounded them. Tex winked to one of them and they winked back. Unbeknownst to the teachers, these six changelings were not the only ones disguised among them.
In the mean time, the real Flurry Heart and all her friends and their parents ran through the streets with Twilight, Cadance and Elytra. They had already passed Sugarcube Corner and were in an area of town near where the reception for Pinkie and Cheese’s wedding would have been held. Cadance was frantically calling for her husband, while Twilight was surveying for changelings to protect the others.
“SHINING ARMOR?!” she hollered.
“He’s probably not even here yet,” Pound said, gloomily.
“No, he’s close by, Pound Cake. I can feel it.”
“Mom and Dad know magic that can help them sense each other,” Flurry told Pound. “It’s a passive spell she taught me, so I don’t need my horn to sense him around here.”
“CADANCE! FLURRY!” shouted Shining Armor off to the side.
Cadance and her daughter turned their heads and saw Shining Armor rushing in, still wearing his crown and robe. They knew right away it was the real Shining Armor because of the sense, so there was no questioning it. He and Cadance went in and nuzzled their necks against each other and then kissed. Flurry flew in and joined them, crying tears of joy.
“Dad, I’m so happy to see you!” she said.
“Your old man’s alright, kid!” Shining said, lifting Flurry and tickling her with his magic.
“B.B.B.F.F.!” Twilight shouted as she landed and gave her brother a hug.
“Twily!” Shining replied. “So glad to see you! My guards got a hold of me out near Gallopfornia and released me. I had to come in to check on you in Ponyville real quick.
“Honey, we need to do the spell right away. We can get rid of all the changelings just like we did in Canterlot on our wedding day,” Cadance told her husband.
“The spell? Oh, that’s right! They still haven’t found the Elements, have they?” Shining Armor asked.
“Not yet.”
“Alright, then we’re the only hope at winning this. Let’s concentrate our magic now.”
Shining Armor and Cadance stood still and touched their horns till they glowed. Flurry watched them happily but then felt a familiar presence behind her. She looked back to see a harvesting pod with someone inside. She could not see who was inside, but her sense for her father was still going off and getting stronger the more she looked at it. She then looked back at her parents who were still building up their magic to release the love spell. She noticed that Shining Armor’s magic was a tint of green. Suddenly, she realized what was going on. She walked closer to the pod and got a better look at who was inside. Sure enough, the real King Shining Armor was in the pod, not wearing his robe or crown. The one with Cadance was a changeling.
“Dad? No! MOM, STOP! THAT’S NOT HIM!!” she shouted to Cadance.
Cadance opened her eyes and saw Flurry standing by the pod. She got a closer look at the pod and noticed her own husband’s face inside. She turned back to the stallion next to her and saw him smirking with glowing green sclera in his eyes. She powered down and stepped away from him.
“IT’S A TRAP!” Twilight shouted, as she readied her horn.
Over by the battle scene in front of the town hall, Discord appeared to help the others. He zapped some changelings with his powers and put them inside giant glass bottles with holes in the lids and a tree branch inside for them to crawl on. The changelings buzzed around and tried breaking the glass, but they were drones and were not powerful enough.
“DISCORD!” Fluttershy shouted as she flew in to hug him.
“FLUTTERSHY!” he replied, hugging her back.
“Discord, we need to find the Elements! Flurry and all her friends and Twilight and Cadance are looking for Shining Armor right now to use their love spell, but I don’t know if Shining Armor ever showed up!”
“Where are the teachers?”
“We don’t know! They must’ve been whisked away while we weren’t looking or tricked by some changelings!”
“We’ll find em’, Fluttershy. Just let me dress appropriately.”
Discord quickly transformed into a changeling elite with a horn that was shaped like his deer antler and wings that resembled his bird and bat wings.
“This oughta do the trick. Come on, let’s go!”
They both scampered off to look for the Elements, while everyone else stayed behind. Celestia, Luna and the Pillars had already made quick work of some hyper combiners.
“Is this the best ye got?!” Rockhoof roared after smacking a drone with his shovel.
“They just keep coming back though,” Flash Magnus said.
“Is the queen nearby? I’m noticing more of them orange and black changelings,” Mage Meadowbrook said.
“The queen is able to produce eggs that hatch into changelings which, in turn, grow exceedingly fast. I think the changeling army is multiplying as we speak,” Starswirl explained.
“We have to keep fighting,” said Mistmane.
“Everyone! Our friends! They need us!” Somnambula called, pointing to the side.
Everyone noticed the battle going on with Pharynx and Scutellum. Scutellum had defeated Pharynx and had him pinned to the ground, while the other good changelings had been encased.
“You are weak, Pharynx!” he growled as he stood on top of his head.
“Do your worst, Scutellum. Chrysalis will eventually lose,” Pharynx said.
Something then caught Starswirl’s eye.
“The necklace! CELESTIA, LUNA, GET THE NECKLACE! HE HAS IT” he called to the princesses as he pointed to Scutellum.
Celestia and Luna went airborne and flew towards Scutellum. He began pushing Pharnyx’s head into the ground, when he noticed the alicorn princesses. He signaled for some combiners to take care of them, so they spread their wings and engaged them. Suddenly, a flash of light burst in front of Scutellum and Starswirl appeared. Starswirl fired a condensed beam at his chest, intending to break the necklace, but Scutellum strafed quickly to the side. Starswirl tried using his magic to telekinetically pull the necklace off, but Scutellum was fast and it was difficult to concentrate. Distracted by this, Starswirl did not see a beam coming at him in time to dodge it and Scutellum knocked him back with a powerful blast. He managed to put up a shield, but was not quick enough and was still pushed into a crowd of buffalos nearby. Spike and Buttercream then flew in and tried to take the necklace off. They were both aware about the failsafe spell and knew what they had to do. Buttercream blew fire at him briefly to serve as a distraction, while Spike ran forward, reaching for the necklace. He tackled the changeling to the ground but Scutellum quickly pushed him off with his front legs. Scutellum did not know about the failsafe with the necklace, but he quickly realized they were trying to take it off for a reason.
“So you want the necklace do you?” he asked. “Well I was going to throw it away since it is useless to me now, but you fools are clearly up to something, so the necklace stays where it is!”
Starswirl then fired a low-powered beam at Scutellum’s head, causing him to move it to the side. This was only to prepare for his next spell. He instantly casted a spell to slow down time around Scutellum momentarily. Spike lunged forward and yanked the necklace off, but tumbled around and lost it. The time spell wore off on Scutellum and he quickly tried to retrieve the necklace, but he was too late. Buttercream then flew down between them and stomped on the necklace with her heel, shattering it. A blinding light emitted from beneath her foot and filled the entire town. The shockwave effect did not knock anyone back like an explosion; it just passed by them and electrified the changelings. All of the combiners separated instantly and a few buffalos and Pinkie clones that were changelings all along transformed back. Every single changeling within a radius of five miles now had their shape-shifting abilities temporarily taken away.
Back inside the castle, the light filled the room. Everyone squinted their eyes and then opened them a few moments later when the light faded away. The teachers were shocked to now see that Tex, Thunderhead, and Mr. and Mrs. Cake were also changelings; only they were all elites
“They changelings too!” Yona shouted.
“Oh no, they’re elites!” Ocellus said.
“THE SECRET’S OUT! ATTAAAACK!” shouted the changeling that was disguised as Thunderhead.
All four of them then began to brawl with the teachers. They went airborne and fought the ones that were able to fly while Sandbar and Yona chased the children changelings out the front door.
“And don’t come ba…uh oh,” Sandbar said, as he noticed a platoon of hyper changelings coming for them, including some elites and brutes.
“YAK HOLD THEM BACK! SANDBAR HELP OTHERS!” Yona called to her friend.
Sandbar ran back inside, as Yona bum-rushed a brute. They went head to head and pushed, and pushed for several seconds. She swung her head upwards and he rolled backwards like a pill bug. She did the same to another brute, but was quickly overwhelmed by several elites that began to spit liquid at her to encase her. Inside, the teachers were not able to fight back against the elites, and more changelings had arrived from several hallways. They had been waiting inside the castle the entire time for them to enter the map room, but their cover was blown early and they had to act now. In less than a minute, the teachers had been rolled up into pods. Their faces were visible, but the sedative liquids inside had already pacified them. The changelings all laughed at them and threw them into a pile. The six spies that had the Elements then arrived to taunt them.
“Thought you could get to these things so easily, eh? Now you will never see your precious Elements of Harmony!” jeered one.
“And our queen is nearly ready to bring about our new hive!” said another
“ALL HAIL QUEEN CHRYSALIS!” they all shouted in unison.
Gallus turned his head to see Silverstream right next to him.
“Silver…I’m sorry,” he said.
“We’ll always have each other, sweetie,” she said, nuzzling her beak up to his.
“Guess the only thing we can do now is pray,” Ocellus said, closing her eyes. “From here on out, it’s in Harmony’s hands.”
Across town, the light shone around Flurry and the others. Cadance was about to attack the changeling disguised as her husband, but squinted her eyes for several seconds. When she opened them, an elite changeling stood before her. He hissed and then fired a green blast. She put up a shield and engaged him. More changelings then jumped out of trees and from behind buildings. It was a trap meant to pull them all in. The pod with the real Shining Armor was used to lure them in and sense him, only to be fooled by a changeling.
As Cadance and the elite fought, Twilight casted a very powerful spell and fired tons of well-placed shots at each of the changelings before they could reach the children or their parents. A few of them made it down, but were quickly taken out by Tex, while Rainbow Dash and Thunderhead protected the kids from above. Down by Shining Armor’s pod, Flurry had already started digging away at it as Pumpkin used a nearby garden hoe to help. Shining Armor had already started moving inside. Cadance’s use of the love spell must have been effective enough for him to awaken and fight off the affect of the sedative fluids. He instantly stood up and glared at the elite.
“Shining Armor!” Cadance said, joyfully as she noticed him.
“LEAVE MY WIFE ALONE!” he shouted.
The Crystal Empire king then leapt in the air and charged his horn, using it like a weapon to slash at the elite and knock him back in submission. More changelings surrounded to attack. He bucked one in the face and then jumped to miss the next two, which collided with each other. He spun around in midair, firing several shots at the oncoming changelings, knocking all of them back. He then performed a series of bucks and roundhouse kicks to oncoming changelings. One more was headed for him until it was blasted away by Cadance. She landed on the ground and took a moment to catch her breath.
“Gosh, Honey. I haven’t seen you fight that good in a while,” she said with a flirtatious grin on her face.
“Love makes me do crazy things,” Shining Armor jested.
They both came together and kissed passionately. Flurry joined them for a hug and the royal family was back together. Suddenly they heard buzzing in the distance. They looked up to see several elites flying in. Before they could make it to the royals, they were instantly blown back by a confetti explosion. Everyone looked to see Cheese and Pinkie riding in on the Party Tank. Behind them were Maud and Mud Briar who she had managed to rescue from a nearby home. Rainbow Dash and Applejack arrived on the scene with them and were overjoyed to see their husbands and kids.
“MOMMY!!” Stormy shouted as he jetted off to hug her.
“MOM, YOU’RE OKAY!!” Chip called to his mother as he and Annie ran to her.
“Kids!” Applejack shouted. “Can’t believe we’re finally here together! Ya’ll ain’t changelings I hope?”
“No, it’s really us, Mom,” Annie giggled.
“It’s okay, AJ. Some big flash of light went off, and all the changelings turned back,” Tex said as he embraced his wife.
“Yeah, we saw it. What the hay was that?” Rainbow Dash asked after hugging Thunderhead.
“I think that was the failsafe spell in the necklace that Starswirl told me about,” Twilight explained. “Looks like they finally took it off General Scutellum’s neck and destroyed it.”
“Dear, we need to do our love spell again. It’s the only way to stop the Queen and we don’t have time to wait for the Elements,” Cadance told her husband.
“Alright. Are you ready, my love?” he asked her.
“Whenever you are.”
They both closed their eyes and stood still. Their horns lit up and energy swirled around them like a gentle wind current. Pinkie and Cheese got down and held hands and joined the others as they all watched with hopeful faces. Shining Armor and Cadance slowly levitated. Their power was building up and about to burst, until it started to power down and their horns stopped glowing. The aura disappeared and they both landed.
“Sweetheart, what happened?” Cadance asked.
“I…I don’t know. I’m concentrating as hard as I can, but…it’s not working.”
“My magic isn’t working either!” Twilight said, trying to light her horn.
“Oh no, neither is mine!” Pumpkin said, trying to lift a nearby stone with her magic.
Everyone then noticed strange dark rocks moving up and crystalizing on the horizon. Queen Chrysalis ascended, while firing a beam at a nearby magic-canceling rock. The pod she put Thorax in was attached to the rock and had energy emanating from it. The rock was growing a dark black mineral out of it that had already made contact with several other rocks. All around Ponyville, dark roots were growing out of the ground wherever they had planted these rocks. Chrysalis was using her magic to spread her power through them and make them grow in size. Like the roots of a tree, they emerged from the ground and joined together, forming a large black covering with holes in it. It covered over Ponyville like a dome and began to form a spire like the last hive the changelings had before Thorax’s rebellion. The base of this one was considerably wider. When it was complete, it would be far taller than the one from before and overshadow Canterlot mountain.
“HAHAHA! You fools are too late once again!” Chrysalis heckled. “Now that you’ve all so conveniently trapped yourselves in here, you will never use your magic to stop me! I had those rocks planted all over the place for this specific reason! Now with all this power and the life force of Thorax, the new changeling hive is starting to form! It will be some time before it is complete, but your magic is no more as long as you are inside! And this time, none of you are escaping!”