//------------------------------// // Chapter 3: The Marvelous Bio-Booster Armor // Story: Metamorphosis // by Mares Guyver //------------------------------// “It's time now for a new change to come; You've grown up and your new life has begun. To go where you will go, to see what you will see, To find what you will be, for it's time for you to fulfill your destiny.”         ~ “Celestia’s Ballad” from “Magical Mystery Cure,” My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic In the small clearing bordered by a moss-covered outcropping, smoke and debris from the rogue changeling’s self-destruction still drifted in a lazy cloud. Coughing sounds emerged from within, and after a moment the dust began to swirl away as multiple sets of translucent wings buzzed back to life. As the air cleared, a single, large, scorch-marked crater in the ground and blasted into the side of the rocky hill became visible. Multiple chitin-covered forms rubbing their monochromatic eyes shakily rose upright, knocking off errant leaves and branches downed by the explosion’s shock wave as they did so. Still coughing, the Changeling Commander grimaced and tried to do a headcount through the lingering particulates. < Sound off! > he managed to cry out between winces and muscle spasms, listening to hear the similarly haphazard responses from his unit. Surprisingly, every single one of the drones seemed to have survived. < Sir, what—*cough*—happened? > asked a female drone near the Changeling Commander, who turned to face to his subordinate—a lieutenant, if he remembered correctly. Now, it was a well-held misconception in Equestrian lore that only Queen changelings were female, while the many drones making up the remainder of the race were male, mimicking the dimorphic differences of the insects they seemed to resemble. However, while it was true that female drones were fewer in number than the males, they did exist, often remaining behind to care for the local hives, though some also joined the various guard and infiltrator ranks. One would be hard-pressed to notice, as the two genders were so alike in voice and appearance, the females were often mistaken for male changelings by the casual observer. This in turn gave rise to the belief that there were no female changeling drones; however, there was one, sure-fire way to tell them apart. It was the fangs. Shaking his head, the Changeling Commander briefly wondered if the explosion had given him a concussion, despite his helmet’s protection. The female lieutenant, though mildly confused, politely and obediently waited for her superior to respond rather than speak out of turn. That is, until her eyes widened in sudden panic. < Sir, you’re bleeding! > the female lieutenant exclaimed, pointing with one foreleg at the runny line of silver making its way down the lead changeling’s face. Frowning, the Changeling Commander reached up with one hoof and lightly touched it against his cheek. As he drew his limb away, he grimaced at the sight of the metallic stain upon his hoof. [1] < So I am . . . > the Changeling Commander replied, lightly tracing the wound that bisected the carapace around his left eye and cut into his helmet. Waving off a medic drone that tried to approach him, he turned and stepped over to the charred earth that marked his prey’s last stand, the female lieutenant falling in place a step behind him. Not needing to be told, a hoof-full of drones were already picking their way through the debris and wreckage to determine if anything of their quarry remained. < So the traitor chose to end his life rather than face Her Majesty’s judgment. As expected from a coward, > the lead changeling remarked offhandedly as he observed the salvage efforts, then looked back as the remainder of his troops gathered around him. < Report! > One fluttering changeling rose up from the charred crater and saluted with a foreleg. < Sir! The explosion resulted in no casualties, only minor scrapes and a few small carapace punctures from flying debris, > the changeling soldier stated smartly, and then glanced behind him. < Given the minimal environmental impact, I’d say the explosive discharge was magic-based, likely from an overloaded capacitance of the fugitive’s Zoal Gem. The discharge was enough to vaporize him and damage his immediate surroundings, but otherwise lacked the energy to do much else outside of a fixed radius. > The drone glanced back at his comrades still digging in the crater, who looked up and shook their heads with raised hooves at the unstated question. Turning back to his superior, he said, < It appears that nothing remains of the traitor or the stolen units, sir. > Noting the Changeling Commander’s growing frown, the soldier hastily added, < B-but it i-is possible that the units were flung away by the force of the explosion, rather than destroyed! >   The Changeling Commander nodded, scratching his chin with his holed foreleg. ‘If the explosion was magic-based, then the bio-booster units may have survived due to being partially organic. That is, if the blast managed to fling them away from here . . .’ he mused, then with a roar of his wings rose into the air. < Spread Out! Our new priority is to locate the three missing units that traitor stole! You have permission to perform transmutation if necessary, but find the Guyver units, whatever it takes! > < YES, SIR! > the assembled drones responded with shared snapping salutes, launching into the air in a swarming fury that vanished into the forest’s depths moments later.   Still hovering in the clearing, the Changeling Commander briefly turned around to consider the scorched earth and grass left behind by his fellow changeling’s self-destruction. ‘What were you thinking, Doctor?’ he wondered briefly, then scowled and blasted into the forest in pursuit of his drones. ‘No matter. If I don’t recover the units it’s my head on the chopping block for sure . . .’  *                *                *                *                *                * In a different section of the Everfree, Amethyst Star started in mid-stride as her ears picked up a series of quick, excited shouts and hollers, which after a moment she recognized as belonging to both her sister and Pluto Alula. Turning her head, she matched gazes with Sweet Wheat, who had caught up to the older mare. Nodding together, the two ponies changed direction and increased their speed towards where had heard the combined yells come from. After another minute of weaving through tree trunks, jumping over rocks and low rises, and ducking under branches, Amethyst and Sweet Wheat emerged from the treeline into a partially canopied glen with a large pond in its center. They quickly spotted their quarry near the water’s shore. Alula was flitting about in the air excitedly while a grinning Dinky stood over a steaming, disc-shaped object to which she was conducting that most scientific of examinations—poking at it with a stick. “Dinky!” Amethyst barked, both her sister and Alula’s heads snapping up with wide eyes at the harsh cry. Stomping over forcefully, Amethyst seized the stick away from Dinky’s magical grip with her own power, throwing it away into the pond. “Back away, now,” Amethyst stated in a tone that held no room for argument. Not to say that her younger sister couldn’t try. “But Starrrrrrrrrrr . . .” Dinky whined, “We weren’t doing anything dangerous, just—” “You know better,” Amethyst cut in, “I’m invoking Family Rules 57 and 50.” Glancing at the mysterious, wheel-like object at her sister’s hooves, she noted a lightly glowing ring of light shining around the roughly baseball-sized metallic orb at the disc’s center. “And add Rule 53 to that list too.” [2] Dinky snorted, her ears swiveled back and her head lowered as she looked up to meet her sister’s stern glare with an equally frosty gaze. After a moment, Dinky slowly backed away until a few feet separated her and the no-longer smouldering, circular device on the ground. Sensing her friend’s tension, Alula also moved away, lowering to the ground beside Dinky and covering the filly with one wing, which earned a tight smile in thanks. “Sooooo, you’re telling me your family actually has rules for these kinds of situations?” Sweet Wheat asked incredulously, the innocent question seeming to break the animosity between the sisters as they both began to sweat. Sharing a nervous glance with her sister, Dinky eventually turned to Sweet Wheat. “Yes, yes we do,” she affirmed, while Amethyst nodded a little too enthusiastically. “Doesn’t everypony?” Pluto Alula asked nonchalantly, the Doo sisters blinking at the unexpected source of support. Sweet Wheat gave one more curious glance at the sisters, then shrugged, making a *hmmf* of disinterest that earned relieved sighs from the sisterly pair. Shaking her head, Amethyst turned to face the mystery object still sitting in a small crater by the pond’s bank. The round apparatus was roughly the same size as a small wagon tire, and consisted of several dull metallic plates of varying width encasing a bundle of tube-like coils. The coils themselves were thick and segmented, looking almost like a series of oversized worms or strands of spaghetti bound together into one compressed mass. Resting in a depression at the center of the bundle was a polished metal sphere about the same size as a doorknob, the ring of light from before having emerged from a gap between the sphere and a rim of the same material which was mounted flush against the bunch of coils. Surrounding the device with her own magic, Amethyst levitated it into the air so that the metallic orb in its center faced the four ponies. After examining her own reflection in the sphere’s face, Amethyst turned with a softer expression towards her still sullen sister. “You’re the most well-read of any of us, Dinky,” Amethyst said with a cautious smile, “Any thoughts?” Dinky blinked, and then slowly mirrored her older sister’s expression. Leaving Alula’s hug, she stepped forward to stand beside Amethyst, turning to also consider the strange disc, still hovering in the magenta glow of her sister’s magic a few feet in front of the pair. “It’s definitely biomechanical,” she finally stated, raising one foreleg to point. “Look at those coils on the inside of the outer casing—those aren’t artificial, they’re organic. And that orb in the center, the one that was glowing a second ago? It might be some sort of lock or control interface that releases that coiled . . . thingy from the inside of these clamps.” The older filly shook her head, adding with a rueful half-smile, “But what this thing does once it’s opened, I don’t have the first clue.” “Could it have caused that explosion?” Amethyst asked, and beside her Dinky shook her head. “If it were a part of some larger device that went off, there’d be more damage to it,” Dinky declared, turning to look at her sister as Amethyst did the same. “But this . . . disc is fully intact, aside from a few scratches and scuffs to the outer shell. Whatever that blast was likely launched it over here.” The two sisters turned again to consider the unknown apparatus, and as they continued to ponder Sweet Wheat and Alula stepped forward to stand alongside of the two of them. “How do you know all that . . . stuff, Dinks?” Sweet Wheat asked to break the silence, looking over at her friend expectantly. Dinky offered the other pony a slightly nervous grin. “Welllllll . . . I have read a lot while I’ve been working at the library. And . . . my Daddy taught me a little too,” she offered, sweating a little as Sweet Wheat continued to gaze at her curiously. “I thought your Dad was just the town timeskeeper,” Sweet Wheat stated non-believingly, looking between the two Doo sisters with unveiled skepticism. “He . . . mettled in a lot of things,” Amethyst stated, her mouth pursed in a tight line. Turning to the disc again, she smiled in a way that didn’t quite reach her eyes. “He liked to think of himself as a Lord of many subjects.” Dinky glanced at her sister worriedly, while Amethyst stared at a point somewhere behind the floating object. Sweet Wheat continued to glance perplexedly between the two sisters, mentally recording the exchange so that she could investigate further later on. Meanwhile, Alula, who had largely stayed silent up to this point, stepped forward closer to the magenta-suffused device. “Maybe you need some kinda password or incantation or somethin’,” she stated, waving one foreleg in front of the metal sphere burrowed at the middle of the disc. “Ala Shazam! Open, Sesame Bun! Klaatu . . . Barada . . . Nickel-metal hydride!” [3] Waking from her reverie, Amethyst’s eyes widened at the sight of the younger mare. “Alula, get back!” she shouted, leaning forward and pushing the pegasus back with her foreleg. “Whoa!” Alula exclaimed, her wings unfurling and flapping at the unexpected touch and movement. As the pegasus moved backwards, her flapping wings struck the older mare’s rear, accidently giving her a forward push. Already off-balance from shoving Alula, Amethyst stumbled, her hooves losing purchase in the wet grass as she slid forward towards the bank of the pond. She would have fallen, had her trip not been stopped by banging her head into the enigmatic device, which through it all had remained floating in the air in front of the group. “Oww!” Amethyst exclaimed as she sat in the grass, rubbing her head with one foreleg. Before she could turn to yell at Alula, however, her eyes widened and her ears swiveled as she heard a rising *zahhmm* close by. Whirling around, she stared directly into her own reflection in the metal sphere, now once again pulsing with a ring of white light that was gradually increasing in intensity. As the whine and glow of the orb continued to rise, the cluster of coils began gyrating, skimming along their lengths with greater and greater speed. With rising panic, Amethyst turned her head and yelled at the three adolescents, “GIRLS! Get awa—!” Before she could finish, the metal clamps surrounding the coil bundle popped open, and as if launched by a spring the metallic orb shot itself at Amethyst, the mass of coils it was attached to trailing behind it like a thickly braided mane. Resembling a monstrous cross between an octopus and a net, the orb latched itself onto Amethyst’s face while the tentacle-like coils attached to it shot forward and spindled to wrap around the mare’s form. With frightening speed, the coils congealed together and expanded, spreading outward until Amethyst’s body was totally entombed by the fleshy mass. [4] The three older fillies could only watch in horror as Amethyst thrashed and bucked, struggling in vain to throw off the viscous ooze as it hardened, taking shape into a vaguely pony-shaped cocoon around her body. Beneath the rapidly transforming pile, Amethyst struggled to breathe as she felt the coils press themselves into her, working their way into her body, snaking under her fur and skin. [Girls . . .] Amethyst somehow managed to croak out through the hardening shroud that surrounded her head, though her voice was suitably distorted. [Stay . . . back . . .] Any other words were halted as the encapsulated mare stumbled again in the slick grass, rolling head over hooves until she fell into the pond with a large splash. The sudden expulsion of water seemed to shake the three adolescent ponies from their shock, and as one they rushed over to the water’s edge. Peering into the pond’s dark depths, they struggled in vain to make out the form of their friend beneath the rippling water and slowing stream of rising bubbles. “Star . . .” Dinky whispered unbelievingly, shaking her head as the rising bubbles finally stopped. Swallowing a sob, and with tears growing in the corners of her eyes, she exclaimed in one shrill cry, “STAAARRRRRR!!!!!!!”      *                *                *                *                *                * In the skies above Equestria, a lone, gray form could be spotted, humming and lightly dancing around the various clouds drifting across the land from the factories of Cloudsdale. Looking closer, one could see that the form was a pegasus mailpony, smartly dressed and carrying two full saddlebags strapped around her barrel. Suddenly, the blond-maned mare froze, her wings and legs outstretched and rigid. No longer held aloft, she plummeted, entering a spin as she struggled to regain control. Eventually the mare managed to direct herself towards one of the various clouds, crashing spectacularly into its puffy surface. Breathing heavily, Ditzy Doo rose on her haunches atop the cloud, one hoof covering her heart and golden eyes clouded. “Muffin . . .” she murmured, and then her eyes suddenly cleared as her head shot upwards. “Sweetie!” Her usually wandering eyes now focused and narrowed, Ditzy quickly tightened the straps of her mailbags with her teeth, unfurled her wings, and with a mighty flap took to the air. Rising vertically with wings fully spread, Ditzy rolled and completed a quarter loop so that she faced the direction from which she had come. Stretching outward to make herself as aerodynamic as possible, Ditzy furiously beat her wings until they became a blur, a cone of condensed air forming behind her and a crackling boom rocking the skies as the mailmare broke the sound barrier. Whatever it took, she had to get back to Ponyville! *                *                *                *                *                * Back in the Everfree Forest, Dinky, Sweet Wheat and Alula continued to stare at the pond’s surface, still hoping that some sign, some miracle would occur, and bring Amethyst back to them. After several minutes, Sweet Wheat turned to Dinky, who kept gazing into the water with a wavering stare. “Di-Di-Dinky?” Sweet Wheat asked with a warbling voice, struggling to keep her own tears from flowing. “What . . . what do we do now?” Looking up with red eyes, Dinky hiccupped back another sob. “I . . . I d-don’t know,” she finally said, falling back on her haunches and covering her face with her hooves. “Oh Star, I’m so, so, sorr—” Dinky tried to say, only to be stopped as the tears and sobs finally overtook her shaking form. With similar sorrowful expressions and their own streaming tears, Sweet Wheat and Pluto Alula sat beside Dinky and enveloped her with their forelegs, Dinky using her own to clutch her friends a moment later. Together, the three friends openly wept and clung to one another in the grass along the bank of the pond. *SNAP!!* The abrupt sound woke the trio of ponies from the mourning, as their heads shot up, eyes wide, to stare with growing horror at the sudden intrusion emerging from the woods into the glen. < Well, this is unexpected, > the Changeling Commander stated as he slowly walked into the shaded clearing along with a hoof-full of his drones. After a few moments, additional changelings also stepped or flew out from between the trees, forming a circular line on the ground and in the air around the three older fillies. Smiling in what may have been intended to be a friendly manner, but due to the fangs and slowly healing scar came off as more of a smirk, the lead changeling spoke up in plain Equestrian, “Hello, my little ponies.” By this point, all of the adolescent ponies were quivering with fright, the shock from the events of the last several minutes threatening to overwhelm them. Glancing between the many, similar looking insectoid forms, Sweet Wheat bent her head towards Dinky’s. “Dinks, are those . . .?” she whispered in the her friend’s ear, and Dinky nodded. “Yeah, Changelings,” Dinky replied in an equally quiet voice. Casting a glance at the water behind her, Dinky frowned as she remembered one of her father’s key rules: Never run when you are scared.  Taking a deep breath, Dinky turned to face the group of changelings with narrowed, determined eyes. Stepping forward, she placed herself in front of Sweet Wheat and Alula, lowered her horn, and dug her hoof into the ground. “I’ll distract them. Once there’s an opening you two get out of here and find help,” she stated, her horn softly glowing as she channeled power into it. After a moment, she felt a presence beside her, and turned to see Sweet Wheat’s confident smile. “Nothin’ doing, Dinks,” the masseuse stated, “We may not have magic like you do, but Alula and I can still handle ourselves in a fight pretty well.” Stepping up to Dinky’s other side, Pluto Alula nodded in confirmation, her wings tensing and unfurling as she also dug her hoof into the ground and glared at the Changeling swarm. “Besides,” Sweet Wheat continued as Dinky turned from Alula to face her again, “It’s like my sister always says, ‘You never leave a friend hanging.’” Sweet Wheat smiled a bit more warmly. “We’re not going anywhere without you, hun,” she elaborated with a wink. In response, Dinky also smiled, then turned to face the changelings with a confident grin of her own. “Alright girls, let’s do this,” she stated, and was about to say more when the single armored changeling raised a foreleg and spoke up instead. “Look here, my little ponies, we’re not looking for trouble,” the Changeling Commander stated, relaxing slightly as he noted to lowering glow of the unicorn’s horn and confused expressions on the fillies’ faces. “As a matter of fact, you may be able to help us,” he continued, “You see, we lost a very precious artifact of ours recently, and hope you may have seen it.” The Changeling Commander’s horn glowed a sickly green, and after a moment a similar aura formed in the air beside him. Gradually, the image of an armored disc resolved in the center of the glowing aura, and the lead changeling cast his monochromatic gaze back at the pony trio. “Have you seen this item?” he asked, “Answer me truthfully, and no harm will come to you.” The three young mares glanced at each other warily, and then after a moment turned again to face the Changeling Commander. “Nope, can’t say we’ve seen anything like that around here,” Dinky replied with a strained smile. The Changeling Commander matched the expression with a mocking grin of his own, then sighed and shook his head as the aura and image within it faded away. “You likely wouldn’t know, but we changelings are natural lie-detectors given our ability to feed off of your emotions,” he stated, his grin turning into a frown. “Seems you’ll have to pay a penalty for your your little deception.” The Changeling Commander’s horn again lit up, and gradually his helmet and harness were suffused in a neon green glow. With quick work, the vestments were removed and dropped on the ground as the scarred changeling strode forward towards the three ponies. < Sir! > The Changeling Commander paused at the hissing exclamation, glancing behind him as the female lieutenant buzzed to his side. < What are you doing, sir?! > the female lieutenant asked with frantic worry, though after a moment she lowered to the ground and shrank under the intensity of her superior’s glare. < Not that it’s any of your business, lieutenant, but I believe these ponies deserve a good scare for their impertinence, > the Changeling Commander replied, leaning over towards his subordinate Gulping, the female changeling quivered and shrank further, almost laying in the ground in order to put some distance between herself and her scarred commander. < I-I’m s-sorry, sir! > she stated, her frequent nervous wing pauses making her Changeling-speak nearly incomprehensible. < I-I di-did not intend to q-q-question— > < See that you don’t, if you value your future . . . lieutenant, > the Changeling Commander cut in, then turned and continued to march towards the three ponies. < None of you interfere!! > he ordered, and grinned as he heard the resounding < YES SIR!! > in response. ‘This will be a nice stress reliever, given all the trouble I’ve been through today . . .’ the lead Changeling thought as he stopped a few feet in front in the huddled and tense ponies, who he amusedly noted seemed to be trying their best to glare at him in a threateningly way, and failing spectacularly at it. Smirking, the Changeling Commander bowed his head, then raised it with a roar as his wings buzzed furiously and the gem implanted in his chest lit up like a blazing blue star. Dinky, Alula, and Sweet Wheat screamed in terror at the sudden shout, and then continued to scream as the changeling’s body began to swell, cracks appearing in his carapace until the chitin gave away and burst apart in a flash of gristle and pus. His flesh and sinew now exposed, the changeling continued to grow, his form reshaping and becoming more muscular and animalistic. Thick, coiled bands of dusky hide expanded across his body, filling the holes of his legs while his hooves grew into large, clawed, paw-like appendages. His wings shrank into his body as his form continued to expand, his eyes turning from light blue to a malevolent yellow as additional horns sprouted like a crown around his head. Eventually, the transformation stopped, leaving the metamorphosed changeling towering over the three shaking and terrified ponies. [5] “Not so confident now, are we?” the transformed creature stated, his deepened voice rumbling like thunder from his throat. “BOO!!!” The three older fillies shrieked, and clung to one another in quivering fright as the Changeling Commander laughed, his subordinates quickly joining in a moment later. Working her way out from the huddled mass of her friends, Dinky tried her best to scowl menacingly at the monstrous changeling, only to receive a toothy grin in reply. Gulping, the filly threw her head back in exclaimed, “Somepony, any pony, HELP US!!” Behind Dinky and her friends, the waters of the pond parted with a splash as a shadowy form burst forth from beneath its depths. Mid-air, the figure seemed to pause, looking down at the scene with glowing yellow eyes before dropping down to land beside the three ponies on the grassy shore. Unsurely, the Changeling Commander backed away a step, and after a moment, the three young mares also looked up to take in the new arrival. [6] Taller than a typical pony by nearly a head, the figure was covered from head to hoof in thick plates of light lavender or wisteria armor, which unlike the shiny chitin of the changelings instead resembled the leathery hide of a rhinoceros or sauropod. Beneath the armor, the body of the equine form was sheathed in a tight mesh of black or dark grey coils, matching the same coils that previously had been housed within the mysterious disc. The entire head of the figure was concealed in a helmet consisting of multiple organic-looking segmented plates. Two triangular projections at the sides and rear of the helm seemed to sheath a pair of lowered and down-pointing equine ears, while at the very front a horn of glowing, raspberry-red crystal jutted forward into the air. Beneath this crystal, mounted in the center of the helmet’s forehead was a familiar-looking rimmed metal orb, from which a ring of light glowed with menacing intensity. Other metallic orbs dotted various points of the figure’s body, including two at the front of its muzzle, two flanking the upper crown of its head, two mounted behind the withers, and one just behind the center of its underside. The head of the armored equine was framed by a mane of raspberry-red ethereal mist that flapped and crackled in an invisible breeze; a tail of similar consistency billowing from a dock extension at the figure’s rear. As if in warning or challenge, two vents mounted on the sides of the stranger’s helmeted muzzle blasted jets of steam, the glowing ring on its forehead flaring once with burning light before returning to a more subdued glow. “Look!” Sweet Wheat exclaimed, both Dinky and Alula turning to follow the line of their friend’s outstretched foreleg. The light yellow-coated pony was pointing to the newcomer’s flank, and more specifically, to the cluster of three, light-blue, cut gemstones that glowed as if lit from within. The three young mares turned to look at the head of the armored equine, which was still faced unwaveringly towards the transformed changeling not more than a few feet in front of it. “Amethyst?” Dinky whispered with wonder and growing hope, tears dotting the corners of her eyes as a small smile stretched across her face. Growling, the Changeling Commander took one thudding step towards the other seeming equine, who did not budge or flinch at the shaking impact to the ground. “I don’t know who or what you are, but don’t get in my way!!” he bellowed, lashing out with one clawed foreleg. In response, the armored form merely tilted its head, allowing the paw nearly the same size as its helmet to *woosh* past. Raising one of its own forelegs, the light lavender figure placed one hoof against the changeling’s own muscular foreleg, and with little effort pushed against it, causing the Changeling Commander to stumble back a few steps. Roaring with frustration, the Changeling Commander glared at the interloper, who stepped between him and the adolescent trio, lowered its head, and then twice dug its foreleg into the ground. Grinning with open malice, the Changeling Commander stated, “So, you want to test yourself against me, huh?” Without waiting for a response, he bounded forward, his forelegs outstretched and grasping the armored equine’s own raised hoofs with his clawed grip. “VERY WELL!!” he roared, pushing back against his opponent with all of his strength. For a moment, it seemed as if the lead changeling quite literally had the upper hoof, as he continued to bear down on the smaller armored form to the open cheers of the other changelings. But then the Changeling Commander’s growls of triumph quieted, turning to grunts and roars of frustration as slowly, bit by bit, the armored figure began pushing back. With yellow eyes aglow and a halo of white light flaring brilliantly on its forehead, the wisteria-colored stranger straightened until it and the lead changeling were on equal footing, both their sets of rear legs digging into the ground as they fought to maintain purchase. As much as the transformed Changeling Commander tried, he could not seem to prod the smaller, more slender equine any more from their seeming stalemate. Concerned buzzes and hums grew among the other changelings, while small, triumphant smiles grew on the faces of the three fillies. ‘How is this possible?’ the female lieutenant wondered as she and her cohort watched their superior continue to struggle, muscles straining with visible veins and sweat tracing down his body. ‘Such a small body, but able to match the Commander’s strength? Or maybe even . . . surpass it?’ As if it had heard the female changeling’s musings, the horn atop the armored figure glowed brightly. After a moment, ringlets of raspberry-red energy surrounded the clasped hooves and paws of the entwined foes, just as the light lavender combatant began pulling its opponent’s forelegs outwards from his body and then down towards the ground. The Changeling Commander screamed as he felt his forelegs twisting on themselves, but as much as tried to let go of the stranger’s hooves, the magic aura surrounding his paws held him fast. He could feel his forelegs shearing under the pressure, the bone and sinew stretching well past their capacity as the other fighter continued to pull downwards. Pain clouded his vision and hearing, everything else dropping away as he became more and more aware of the tearing burn in his forelegs. He could almost feel, almost feel them about to break . . . . . . but before that could happen, the armored figure flipped forward, using the lead changeling’s forelegs as supports as it bent its body inwards and placed its rear legs square on the changeling’s muscled chest. A moment passed as the Changeling Commander’s monochromatic eyes stared into his opponent’s equally yellow glowing gaze; and then, at once, the form bucked the Changeling Commander, stretching its rear legs out while releasing him from their shared grip at the same time. The changeling’s massive form fell backwards past the shocked faces of his brethren, who quickly parted to allow his passage. He slammed backside-first into the treeline, smashing tree trunks in half as he continued his impromptu flight into the Everfree Forest. Meanwhile, the armored equine has used the momentum from pushing against the transformed changeling to propel itself back towards the pond shore. Bending backwards, the wisteria-colored fighter entered a somersault and landed squarely on all four hooves, legs outstretched and head bent low to the ground such that its horn pointed forward to the dusty clearing made by its opponent’s flight. The group of onlookers, changeling and pony alike, turned their gaze from the armored figure to follow its horn’s line-of-sight into the gloom of the Everfree. A rapidly dissipating cloud of dust marked the Changeling Commander’s passage, and from within the darkness a faint coughing could be heard as the dust and debris continued to clear. Eventually, the massive form of the Changeling Commander could be seen, rising shakily to his legs amidst the downed trunks he had shattered in his backwards flight. “Hah, Hah!” he chortled, “You’ll need more than a lucky kick to stop me!” Slapping errant trunks aside like twigs, he strode forward back towards the glen. “Though I’ll rip you apart for this embarrass—!” Before the Changeling Commander could continue his tirade, the horn of the light-lavender equine again lit up, and with it a half dozen of the downed tree trunks, which slowly levitated into the air. With a flash of raspberry-red, the cylindrical forms converged on the Changeling Commander, splintering and cracking as they slammed into his swollen body, and sending another cloud of dust into the air. Once the dust had again settled, the Changeling Commander was revealed to be held fast to the ground by the multiple tree trunks, which had separated around his rock-hard body before spearing deep into the ground. The lead changeling squirmed and shouted, but could not seem to break free from his wooden bindings. “Just you wait!” he spat, the veins on his neck throbbing as he continued to struggle against the thick trunks holding him in place. “I’ll break through these bonds like kindling in a moment! And then none of your cute tricks will be able to with . . . stand . . .” Once again the Changeling Commander was rendered speechless by the actions of his foe. Rising on its back legs, the armored equine reared and stood upright, its glowing yellow gaze never once moving away from that of the transformed changeling as its forelegs draped across its chest. At its waist, just below plating protecting its stomach, a polished sphere began glowing with multifaceted light. Just behind its withers, two smaller, similar spheres also began to glow, and from their depths tendrils of light began to trail outward from the figure’s body. Within moments, the tendrils spread and coalesced, forming a pair of ethereal wings outstretched perpendicularly from the armored combatant’s torso. Now seemingly held in place by the glowing wings, the standing fighter tapped its front hooves against the armored plates covering its chest, which sprang open and out from hinges mounted at the figure’s armpits. Revealed from beneath the armored plates, nestled into the mesh of fleshy coils, lay two translucent sacs vaguely resembling jellyfish. After a moment, the two sacs swelled like inflating balloons, and then began to fill with orbs of glowing light pink. In the air around the newcomer, pinpoints of light appeared, the dots of starlight breaking into swirling streaks as they were pulled by an unknown force into the two gelatinous sacs. As the glow within the containers continued to grow in size and intensity, pink and purple lighting cracked in the air around the figure as the last of the dots of light were pulled in. The orbs of light within the sacs seemed to reach critical mass, and then erupted outward from the light lavender figure as twin beams of furious pink energy framed by swirling streaks of violet lightning. [7] The swarm of changelings and trio of ponies watched in stunned silence as the twin beams coalesced into one titanic wall of blazing pink fury. The Changeling Commander barely had time to scream before the beam nearly as tall as the trees themselves engulfed him, blocking him from view as his trapped form was consumed. Unwavering, the pink battering ram of energy continued past him, gouging a trench of destruction further into the depths of the Everfree Forest. *                *                *                *                *                * In a hollowed tree nestled in a marshy section of the forest, the zebra known as Zecora opened one eye from her meditative trance, which consisted of her balancing upside-down by her head atop a bamboo lance. She sensed that something was amiss, something in the air that seemed to crackle and hiss. However, when nothing out of the ordinary came to pass, she closed her eye once again, knowing all too well that the peace surely could not last. *                *                *                *                *                * Closer to the edge of the Everfree Forest, along the path back to Ponyville, the many animal residents of a grass-roofed cottage also stirred as their senses picked up something off-kilter with their woodland home. As the house’s pegasus owner Fluttershy flitted about from animal to animal and tried to soothe their agitated nerves, the cottage’s two other occupants gazed into the air in unusually quiet contemplation. The first, a bubblegum pink mare with a white-streaked violet mane and swirling purple eyes, grinned maniacally and then hovered upwards via her propeller-topped beanie hat to the head of her companion, a serpentine mishmash of various animal parts and limbs known more commonly as Discord. The pony aptly named Screwball giggled again before leaning in towards her “father” and whispering into his ear. Whatever the mare said caused the former Spirit of Chaos to grin and then chortle with glee, his “daughter” joining shortly afterwards while their butter-yellow host continued to try and mollify her still unsettled pets.       *                *                *                *                *                * Back in the shaded glen, mere seconds had passed, and a new sound had broken into the cacophonous combination of the beam’s deep *BAAROOOOM!!!* and the Changeling Commander’s shrill cry of pain and terror—the almost-melodious tinkle of shattering glass. More seconds passed, and eventually the beam dissipated, leaving behind naught but a cloud of dust and ash hovering in the air along with a strong odor of ionized air. While the mysterious equine’s protective armor chest plates slid back into position, the changeling swarm and trio of young mares peered into the gloom, their eyes all widening as the full extent of the weapon’s devastation became clearer. While the armored fighter’s buck had only served to put a small dent in the Everfree Forest, its next attack had carved a clean hole straight through the woodland depths all the way to its other side near the Ghastly Gorge. The hole was lined with the stumps of trees that had been knocked aside by the beam’s fury, and a deep rivulet had been excavated in the ground from which wisps of smoke floated like offerings of incense. And in the center of the gorge, not moving but somehow still very much intact despite the destruction about him, laid the prone and unconscious body of the de-transformed Changeling Commander. the female changeling lieutenant cried, her wings buzzing as she took to the air and dashed over to her superior’s side. Crouching down, she pulled the prostrate changeling upright, noting with relief that he was still breathing shallowly, and seemed relatively unharmed. That is, until her gaze travelled downward and noted the hole in his hardening carapace where his Zoal Gem used to be, leaving naught but bare flesh beneath. Eyes wide with fear and panic, the Changeling lieutenant’s head shot up and she looked back at the armored equine that had settled back on all four legs and stared at her with an unblinking, glowing yellow gaze. As if sensing the changeling’s thoughts, the light lavender form dug the hoof of its foreleg into the ground once, steam again hissing from the vents of its faceplate as the globe on its forehead flared with sparkling light. < RE-RETREAT!!! > the female lieutenant bellowed, and before she could issue another command the other changelings blasted into the air, clicking and buzzing with terror as they followed the conveniently carved pathway out of the Everfree Forest. The lieutenant managed to snag one drone before he could make his escape, and together the two hoisted their still unconscious Commander aloft, his helmet and armored collar following behind in an aura of neon green energy. As soon as the changelings were out of sight, the light behind the armored figure’s eyes and around the metal orb on its forehead dimmed. After a moment, the equine form turned, looking down at the three huddled young mares who gazed up with mixed expressions of fear, excitement, wonder, and hope. [Di . . . Dinky?] the form stated in a voice that sounded mildly distorted, like one of Vinyl Scratch’s mix-tapes, but was still recognizable enough to cause all three of the adolescent ponies to gasp aloud. [8] “S-S-Star?” Dinky asked cautiously, her mouth quivering as her two friends openly grinned. “Is . . . is that really you?” [Yeah . . .] the armored figure now identified as Amethyst Star replied vaguely, turning her helmeted head to face the trench of destruction cut into the Everfree Forest. [What . . . what happened here?] The other three ponies blinked in response, glancing at one another before looking back up at Amethyst’s armored form. “Don’t you remember anything, Sparkler?” Sweet Wheat asked unsurely, eyes widening as Amethyst’s helm shook back and forth. [No . . . no, I don’t remember anything before just now,] Amethyst stated, bringing one hoof up to her head as of to hold it. [We were looking at that disc. I bumped into it. It glowed and . . . jumped out. And then . . .] The mare trailed off at she looked at her hoof, which like the rest of her was covered in a wisteria-colored panel of armor. [M-my hoof! Wh-what happened to my hoof!] she exclaimed, whirling around as if to check the rest of herself, but in so doing caught a glance of her own reflection in the pond’s mirror-like surface. [That . . . that thing!] Amethyst cried, pointing one foreleg at the image of the armored pony, who matched the gesture in kind. [Is . . . is that . . . me?!] “Oh, Amethyst . . .” Dinky began, but flinched back as the armored mare fell back on her haunches, both hooves pressed to the sides of her head. [NNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!] Amethyst screamed, raising both forelegs into the air while the trio of adolescents could only look on despairingly. As if response to her cry, the plates of the armored suit parted, separating and falling behind the familiar magenta form of Amethyst Star as if pulled from her body by invisible strings. Released from the armor’s hold, Amethyst fell forward onto the wet grass, but after a moment recovered and rose to look behind her. Amethyst, Dinky, Sweet Wheat, and Alula stared as the panels of armor reformed in the air above the pond into the equine shape that previously had encapsulated the jeweler’s apprentice. The empty suit of armor hovered for a moment, and then slowly, gradually, lowered itself into the water. The pond’s surface rippled with bluish light as the armor entered it, beginning with the hooves and moving to the legs, body, neck, and finally the head. The last bit of the armor to disappear was the tip of the helmet’s horn, but then that too vanished, and with it the glowing ripples as the pond resumed its normally dark appearance. For nearly a minute, Amethyst and the others stared at the spot where the armor had disappeared, for breaking the silence would mean waking from the dream, and accepting the reality of the nightmare that had just transpired. Eventually, Amethyst turned to face her sister and friends, who in turn were still staring at the pond. Leaning over, Amethyst smiled and tentatively reached out towards her little sister . . . . . . who flinched at the sudden motion and cowered back into her friends’ embrace, eyes wide and shaking with recently remembered fear. Amethyst’s foreleg remained hovering in the air, while her mouth was agape and tears formed in her eyes. ‘She . . . she’s afraid of me,’ Amethyst thought as she took in the look of outright terror etched in her sister’s golden eyes. An expression, Amethyst was horrified to find, was also mirrored in the flickering gazes of both of her former foal-sitting recipients. ‘They all are.’ Slowly, shakily, Amethyst lowered her foreleg and backed away from the spooked fillies. Rising up on all four legs, Amethyst continued to walk backwards, head lowered and struggling not to sob as tears trailed down her cheeks. Eventually the dam broke, and spinning around the magenta-coated pony broke into a gallop towards the treeline. The sounds of her sister’s cry seemed to wake Dinky from her stupor, and as her eyes cleared she was finally able to take in Amethyst’s quickly retreating form. Wiggling out of her friends’ forelegs, the grey-purple filly reached out her own hooves desperately. “Star, wait!” she cried, but it was all in vain as her older sister disappeared into the woods, the swish of branches and foliage the only things marking her departure.       END CHAPTER THREE