“Well its very nice to meet you all. Especially you Nightgale.”
Nightgale couldn’t stand his snarky attitude. “Would you please just stop with the charades and turn back to your real self Poke!”
He was annoyed. “Well might as well.” The flames quickly formed around his legs as he slowly turn him back into a changeling. Only he had two different color eyes. One red on the left and one yellow on the right. “Did you miss me Nightgale?” He said sarcastically.
Applebloom raised one eyebrow. “You know this changeling?”
“Know him!” The commander shouted. “He is the weakest changeling I have ever tried to train!”
“Screw you Poke,” Nightgale said silently.
Poke laughed. “There you go, back talking like you did when you are just a little grub.” He flicked him on the nose. “It really gave me so much satisfaction seeing you this way.”
“I’m sorry but Poke...Really?” Scootaloo gag at the thought of the name. “I mean don’t you think that you could of come up with a better name that?”
Poke bit his lip in anger. “I’m gonna pretend I did not hear that,” He headed towards Nightgale. “Anyway as for you and your friends, you’ll be taken to the deepest part of the small colony that we built underneath this castle. It happens to be at the same place where your friend is,” He turned his flank on us. “Take em away.”
The changelings began to lead the group out of the throne room. After a while of walking down into the castle, they stopped in front of a large set double doors. One of the changelings knocked on the door and it open in an instant. What lead behind the doors was a huge hole that the changelings made.
“Wow the bugs must of have a lot of time on their hands to make this?” Applebloom couldn’t help but be impressed by it.
“I kinda wonder how they are able to break through solid crystal?” As Scootaloo ask that question, one of the changelings answered.
“Well if you must you know, its all thanks to them,” he pointed his hoof at the changelings over the whole.
These are changelings have a different color compared to normal changelings. They were purplish with the eyes having two different colors. The left eye was gray while the right eye is pure black.
“We Changelings have many different subspecies within our race,” he said proudly. “Now get going!”
“Alright geez you don’t have to shout,” Sweetie Belle said politely.
The group as well as the changelings entered the hole, it lead to a prison made cell beneath it. There were cocoons everywhere contain ponies inside of them just like some sort of jail cell. They soon stopped in front of a cocoon which contained a crystal fillie within.
“Hey!” Her ears flickered at the response, “your friends are here.”
“Well its about time!” Her voice caused a bit of discomfort when Imp heard it.
“Oh no…” His face became paler when hearing that beautiful but deadly voice. “Not her…”
The CMC raised their eyes in concern.
“Well at least now I can break free this cocoon,” She clapped both of her hooves. A sudden earthquake caught them by surprise.
“What is going on!” One of the changelings shouted panicking.
Suddenly, pillars that were made of crystals shot out of the ground, knocking every changeling around where they stood.
“Never mind this I’m getting out of here!” The changelings quickly got out of there before it got out of hand.
Nightgale nodded in annoyance. “Really Gemstone?”
Imp dropped his jaw as his face became paler.
Applebloom waved her hoof in front of his face. “Hey are you ok?”
Gemstone summoned her weapon. A medium size pick ax that the points have a sharp clean look to them. She waved her pick ax up and thrust it down in the cocoon, cracking the shell and she was able to pull free.
She wiped off some of the goop on her hooves. “Oh sweet Celestia why do I always get the dirty jobs?” She faced the others, “Oh hello there.”
“Gemstone I would like you to meet our recruits here,” Nightgale properly introduce them but she did not show any interest.
“Ya ya whatever,” she just scoffed them off and headed to Imp. “Hello Imp. Its been awhile.” she smiled very happily but Imp wasn’t falling for the facade.
“Hey there Gemstone,” Imp said with a depression anger tone.
“You two know each other?” Applebloom asked.
Gemstone smiled, “Of course! I was the one who helped home in his skills when he first joined the armor fillies,” She smirked, “isn’t that right Imp?”
Imp rolled his eyes. “Yes and we don’t have time for that!” He looked at Gemstone desperately. “Tell me what are the changelings really planning to do with these crystal ponies?”
She paused for a moment before answering. “They are planning to escort all the ponies to their hives before sundown.”
Nightgale bit his lip. “So I see that Chrysalis is running out of love for her people again,” he said quietly.
“Yep and we got little time to get this done but I do have a plan to get this done quicker,” She smiled. “You see I know where Cadence and Shining Armor are and if we free them, our problem will be resolved.”
Imp face hoofed. “Ummm you forgot that one of us is a changeling right?”
Nightgale lay his hoof on his shoulder. “Hey its alright,” he turned his back and walked out. “Besides. I’ll be dealing with a certain changeling that gave me hell back then anyway.”
“Alright!” Gemstone got everybody's attention. “I have a plan!”
“Oh this should be nice,” Imp said annoyingly.
“Alright this should be simple. You and me will go and rescue the king and queen of this place while the new recruits will go and make sure the citizens stay in the crystal empire.”
Imp didn’t take lightly about the plan. “NO! That is a terrible idea!”
Sweetie Belle barged in between them. “Hey no need to be a worry wort. I think if we are gonna get a lot of things done then its best to to split into teams,”
“Ya!” Applebloom shouted. “My sister always told me that if you want to solve many situations at once, you’ll need a lot of partners to do it.”
Gemstone smirked. “See she gets it.”
“Ya but-” She put her hoof on his mouth.
“So is everypony game?” everypony nodded in response which she expected. “Good now lets go!”
_______________
Poke stood in the middle of the throne room looking around where he stood. He heard noises coming from other side of the door. Suddenly it burst open with changelings flying off and landing on the ground hard. From the midst of it, Nightgale walked in.
“Poke!” Nightgale got his attention.
Poke smiled devilishly. “I knew that you will come here. So tell me? How do you want to-” He quickly dodged the incoming blast of energy from Nightgale’s horn. “Wow there. Don’t you think that is a little unfair?”
“With you? ha! I rather we skipped the stupid monologue and fight now!” Nightgale charged at Poke with no hesitation.
The two clung on each other as they flew sporadically over the throne room until they crashed through a window.
_______________
The citizens began to line up in front of the entrance. The changelings began to inspect to see if every citizen were in line. At a far distance, the CMC peeked their heads out of the side of the building.
“Ok so how are we gonna do this?” Sweetie Belle asked.
Applebloom rubbed her chin as she thought. “Hmmmm well I think I just got-”
“CHARGE!” Scootaloo Summoned her Scooter and headed in at fast speed.
“Scootaloo!” Sweetie Belle shouted. “Wait!”
Applebloom was annoyed. “You guys! Don’t you think that-” A blast of energy barely misses her. She went into immediate shock. “Hey wait for me!” Applebloom quickly got out of there, dodging energy blast in the process.
_______________
Gemstone and Imp headed out of the Crystal empire and into the snow storm that was forming up ahead.
Imp felt very uncomfortable about this. “Ummm are you sure about this?”
Gemstone smirked at his moment of worries. “You don’t need to be such a whiner. Besides I know where they are keeping the princess of love and her husband in a cave just far ahead.”
“The storm is getting heavy here. We might want to hurry up,” Imp showed his concern but she didn’t see the same way as him.
“Oh come on Imp. Where is your sense of adventure!?” She smiled at the face of danger.
Imp couldn’t help but feel like she was just ignoring what he said. “I see that you didn’t change much from the last time I hang out with ya.”
Gemstone stopped for a moment. “Imp...You got to remember that when you are with the armor fillies, things can not be slow down.” The tone in her voice began to sound and feel colder than the storm.
Imp couldn’t help but shiver at the sound of it. “You know I am your partner for this mission and I think you should listen to me for once.”
Gemstone just continued to walk ahead. Imp caught up to her and with the cold storm blowing hard, it started to get a lot harder to see. After a while of walking through a straight line, Gemstone stopped in place.
Imp raised one eyebrow in confusion soon stopped in place. “Ummm is there is something wrong here?”
She didn’t speak a word. Instead she put out her left hoof and summoned her pickaxe. Imp took a step out of her way as she charged and slammed on the middle of the air. But it stopped midway as a sudden wave of green light covered an entire part of nowhere.
“What was that!” Imp was caught by surprise of this discovery.
“Well it seems that we found an energy field that the changelings have left here.” She laid a hoof on the field. “Its one of those fields that hides something underneath.”
Imp summoned his yo-yo’s. “Well then lets start breaking this shall we?”
She smiled. “See when you start to think my way.”
The two stepped back from the energy field. Once they reach about 12 feet, they charged right at it. They screamed with all their might as they headed into the field a fast speed. They get closer and closer until they raised their weapons up and slammed on the field hard. A sudden crack was made which soon spread all over the field. As a result, it shattered into millions of pieces. Once they touched the ground, it faded into non existence as it revealed a hidden cave.
“Oh these changelings don’t know how to make this fun.” The amount of charisma she shows off, just makes Imp feel very uneasy around her.
The two headed inside of the cave and luckily for them, the shiny coat of Gemstone brings in light within the cave thanks to the crystal that are inside.
“Well,” she smiled. “Do you like my shiny coat?”
Imp just ignored her and walked ahead. “I would suggest that you start moving.”
“Oh you're no fun!.” She whined. “Learn to layback.”
Imp just kept walking. Gemstone sighed and just walked like nothing has happened. The two started to see around the cave and noticed that it was full of empty cocoons. But what made them stand out is that they were in a different color than the normal green ones they have seen. It started to have a very uncomfortable feel within the cave, mostly with Imp. He took a look at Gemstone and saw the straight face she was giving. She is a lot more excited then Imp will ever be.
The two stopped as they seemed to hit the end of the cave. There were cracked cocoons everywhere. The crystals are covered in some sort of sticky green slime that dripped with each passing second.
As Imp looked around, he quickly noticed two cocoons that had silhouettes of the ponies they were looking for. “Hey I think I found them!” Imp quickly dashed in excitement.
Gemstone smiled devilishly. “Imp you might want to look what is up ahead.”
Imp stopped as soon as she said that. Suddenly a shadowy figures popped out and attacked Imp, but he managed to dodge the incoming attack. Imp was very surprised at what he was seeing. “What the hell is that thing!”
Imp trembled at the sight of a changeling. But it wasn’t a normal one they have faced before. The changeling had the body of a normal one but had blue shell skin with green pulsing veins and claws with in the end of the shell and hooves underneath. It also has two pairs of glaring blue eyes and a shining silver tail.
Gemstone smiled deeply. “Well it seems that this won’t be easy.” She turned her head around and saw that more were coming from behind. “I kind of like where this is going.”
Imp and Gemstone stand side by side as they get surrounded by them. Their eyes quickly shot everywhere around the surrounding changelings.
“Ok,” Imp whispered to Gemstone. “I think we could take them all if we-”
She sprinted, summoning her armor and weapon as she made the first move. The changelings went on the offence and attacked all at once. This only made her feel happy as she fought them off. Imp got caught off guard by one of them. He quickly summoned his armor and yo-yos but wasn’t able to dodge the attack in time. It pushed him back a bit, but they were relentless. Their claws began to stretch out farther as they made a bit of a curve like a shape of a forbidden weapon of some kind.
“Well this is getting fun!” Gemstone couldn’t help but feel the rush when she blocked the attacks.
Imp quickly stepped away from the attacks the two changelings threw against him. “Ummm I could use a little help here!” Imp despectly asked.
“I’m a little a busy here,” She responded as she blocked all four attacks around her. “Besides you can’t rely on backup to save you all the time.” She knocked them all back and managed to attack one while he is recovering.
Imp looked at his opponents. The two gave off very menacing stares, showing a killer instinct with in them. Imp started to tremble at the sight of them, causing him to lose focus. “Ok Imp, get it together! By now this shouldn’t phase you in the first place!”
“Oh is that why you let the girl abuse you even to this day!” A sudden voice came out of his head which caught him by surprise.
This left him open to an attack. He quickly dodged but not without harm as a scratch was left on both of his hooves. It started to to bleed a little. “Ugh!” The pain had a lasting effect on him.
“Ha! You see. You can’t take a hit like the strong earth pony that you are!” The voice said in a vicious tone.
“Ok why do I have a voice in my-” The changelings attacked, interrupting his conversion to himself.
Gemstone began to play with her opponents. “Come on you little changelings, you can do better than that,” The smiled she gave off just made them angrier than before. “Come on I know you want my love right?” She said with a cocky smirk.
Changelings from all fronts engaged for the attack. Gemstone had expected this. She raised her pick ax and slammed down on the ground, summoning crystal pillars around her. Two of them got caught in range, knocking them out. She raised her pick ax and hits the pillar on the left side. It began to break into millions of pieces. She used her pick ax to hit every little piece to the changeling that wasoff guard. Every piece hit him in every part of his body, taking so much damage that he couldn’t move anymore.
She stared down at the last changeling standing. He trembled as he saw the glaring death stare of her’s. “Well it seem that you ran out of luck. Am I right?” She made a devilish smile that made the changeling tremble. His legs started to shake as she got closer. “Now go do me a favor and fight against my friend,”
The changeling’s face changed from scared to confused in a matter of seconds. “What?” He asked, not knowing how to respond.
“Well You see, I want to know how my friend was doing after the last time I had train him. So maybe you can help me with that right?” Gemstone made an open suggestion and the changeling could help but be happy. “So what do you-” He dashed off before she could finish. But she didn’t mind.
Imp continued to fight off the two changelings. They were starting to get a little more aggressive as he continued to fight them off. Imp waited for an opening to strike and with a little patience, he managed to find one spot. He wrapped his yo-yos around his hoof and struck within. But before it could succeed, the third changeling entered the fray and cuts him from the side.
“AHHHH!” He stepped backs quickly as he glared at his cut. “What?” The third changeling caught him by surprise. “When did he get here?”
“I’ll tell you! Your friend has left you for dead!” The voice said with glee.
“What?” Before he could get an answer, the changelings attacked once more.
Imp dodged every attack that comes at him but however with three changelings that he is facing, he couldn’t dodge every attack. Scratches continue to form in every part of his body that is not cover in armor. Imp looks around them and see Gemstone just standing by, waiting. “Hey what are you doing!” He shouted desperately. “Can you help me here!?”
“Nah you can handle them. Besides I need to free Shining armor and Cadence,” She ran to the cocoons. “Can you be a sport and handle them.”
Imp couldn’t feel more in despair. The three changelings continued to attack him relentlessly with no breaks in between. Things started to get worse as they keep aiming at the part of the body that wasn’t covered in armor. Things started to get even worse as he was losing strength with each passing minute.
“Dammit!” He took quick breaths. “There has gotta be some way to fight these guys off,” The changelings continued their assault. During this, he caught something that was of interest. The remaining crystal pillars that Gemstone summoned. His face made a very satisfying smile.
He waited for the perfect chance to get there. Once the three all attacked from the sides, he dashed over them and headed to the pillar. With one yo-yo he launched it to the nearest pillar.
“PFFF! Really!? You're going for a cheap shot! What a loser!” The voice suddenly caused him to slip. But luckily for him, the yo-yo managed to hit the crystal which caused it to crack.
As it broke, Imp took this chance to hit the falling pieces at them. Every hit caused major damage and started to fall on the ground. With this chance, she rose up his yo-yos and slammed them down on ground.
“Well that should end it,” Imp finally ended it but couldn’t feel the satisfaction.
“Well took you long enough!” Imp turned his head around and see’s Gemstome with Cadence and Shining armor behind her covered with green slime while they were still knocked out cold. “Well then we should go.”
“But what about those two?” Imp questioned.
“Well they'll soon wake up so we shouldn’t bother,” Gemstone’s decision didn’t sit well with him.
“But we are in the middle of nowhere!?” Imp shouted. But that didn’t sit well with Gemstone.
“Are you saying you doubting my decision?” She made a glare that caused him to step back.
“I…” He couldn’t speak back.
“I thought you're supposed to be the stallion but no instead you are the weak fillie!” The voice shouted aggressively.
Imp bit his lip out of anger which wasn’t unnoticed.
“Something the matter?” Gemstone questioned.
Imp took a deep breath. “Look I don’t think its best to-”
Suddenly they heard heavy moaning. They both turned around and notice that Cadence and Shining Armor were waking up. Gemstone quickly left and Imp did the same, considering they aren’t suppose to be spotted.
__________________
Nightgale and Poke continued fighting each other around the outside of the castle. The two of them threw every punch to each other as they struggled with their flight. Poke saw a building up ahead. He turned himself to the other side while Nightgale was in front of him before they slammed in the building. The impact caused a lot more damage than usual.
Poke laughed at his pain. “I can’t believe you didn’t see that coming.”
Nightgale bit his lip, pressing down the pain and punched him in the face. Poke flew back, able to stay stable. But his sight caught Nightgale flying fast. He raised his left hoof, getting ready for an attack. Poke however was expecting it. Once he got close, he grabbed Nightgale’s hoof like it was nothing.
“Well is that the best you got!” Poke pulled his head back and headsbutt him hard, knocking him back. His horn started to glow very bright, forming an orb around it. Once it glows bright, Poke fired a beam of energy at him.
The beam went at fast speed. Nightgale tried to get out of the way but the beam managed to hit him. It was very powerful which caused him to be launched over the entrance of the crystal empire. He managed to recover before hitting the ground.
“Ugh! That beam was way powerful than I suspected.” He breathed heavily to subdue the pain he felt. As he took a look in front of him, he noticed Poke heading straight for him at a fast speed.
Nightgale quickly put both of his hooves upfront and prepared for impact. Once Poke collided with him, he pushed him back with all his strength. But something was off as he didn’t feel like he was giving his all. Poke raised his left hoof and slammed down on his head, causing him to fall straight to the ground.
Nightgale struggled to get up. “Didn’t expect that.”
Poke slowly flew down. “Of course you don’t! You didn’t even receive the proper training when you are at my division.”
He shot him a stare with eyes that burned with anger. “That is because you ditched me! You left me in the cold where I could of died!”
Poke snickered. “That just means you're not worthy enough to be in the elites like I have. I have been with Chrysalis rankings since I was just a little grub. I know her so well that he wouldn’t want a changeling who is weak like you!”
“That…Is...A...LIE!” Nightgale charged at him with full strength.
Poke couldn’t help but let out a small laugh. Just as he got right in front of him for the attack, Poke sidestepped just at the right moment. He grabbed Nightgale's wing and threw him over himself and slammed him down on the ground.
Nightgale couldn't get up. The pain that was inflicted on his wing kept him from standing straight. “Damn it!”
Poke put his face in front of him. “Its just as I thought. You are much weaker than you were.”
Right before he could finish, he sensed something was off. He turned around and noticed a flash of light from inside the empire.
__________________
The CMC were having trouble handling the changelings from this point. Scootaloo went on a wild goose chase. During this, Applebloom and Sweetie Belle held off the mind controlled pony citizens.
“Ummm guys I could use a little help here!” Scootaloo plead for help as she dodged the incoming beams from the changelings.
“Well sorry Scootaloo as we have a bit of a...WOAH!” Applebloom dodged one of the signs that a crystal mare was holding.
Sweetie fell back, getting hit by produce. “Ow! ow! ow! OW!” It was more than she could take.
The two fell back. They headed to the middle of the kingdom where the crystal heart was held. Things seemed to get worse as the citizens and changelings began to surround them from all sides. Scootaloo quickly went in to help but one of the changelings took a chance to attack. With one shot of a beam from his horn, it knocked her out of balance. Scootaloo soon lost control of her scooter and had no choice but to jump off.
“WAhhhhhh!” Scootaloo landed and rolled too where Applebloom and Sweetie Belle were. “Ugh!” She rubbed her head to stop the pain.
“It seems we are in a pickle here!” Applebloom stepped back as the citizens and changelings got close to them.
“Come on guys! Lets take them on!” Scootaloo wasn’t about to give up.
“But there is too many and we can’t hurt them either!” Sweetie Belle reminded them.
“Tell me something Sweetie...Can you sing a lullaby to get them snoozing?” Applebloom asked but sadly she replied with her head nodding side to side.
“I can’t. I need concentration and I’m a little nervous now,” She shook in fear.
The three stepped back as they were crowded from all sides. But in the midst of it, one of the changelings noticed a light coming on top of them. The CMC quickly noticed that it was princess Cadence.
“It seemed Gemstone and Imp managed to rescue them!” Scootaloo smiled.
The changelings began to rise from the ground and flew to her at once. Cadence’s horn began to glow. It formed an orb that started to grow bigger and bigger with sparks flickering. The changelings quickly halted but it was too late. She released the energy within her which unleash a force field, pushing them out of the empire.
During this, Shining Armor managed to take this moment to take off the necklaces. Soon enough, all the citizens started to shake their head, wondering what happened. As he got to the crystal heart, he noticed the CMC standing there but he couldn’t tell because there were many citizens in the way.
“I think its time to get out here!” Scootaloo bolted the moment she has a chance.
“Hey!” Applebloom quickly did the same as well as Sweetie Belle.
Shining Armor got to where he saw the crusaders but they were gone at the moment. “Huh? I could of sworn that I saw those three kids there?”
“Shining Armor!” One of the guards caught his attention. “Our situation is going a little rough but most of the guards are able to hold back the pony citizens,”
“Make sure you keep it that way. Grab all the shark tooth necklaces while you're at it!” With Shinings orders, the guards quickly headed back to their duty. “...I don’t get it? How did all of this happen?”
__________________
The changelings flew off like the wind, leaving only Poke to be the last one standing. He is not happy for one bit. “UGH! YOU!” He pointed at Nightgale with anger burning in his eyes.
“Well I guess you should go now. Don’t want to stay and get captured by the guards here.” He smirked at his situation.
Poke couldn’t hold back his frustration. “Before I go, let me tell you something.” He made a devilish smile. “Chrysalis was the one that allowed me to leave you out of the cold.” With that, he flew off.
Nightgale didn’t know how to take in the words that Poke spoke. But its something that he didn’t think was true.
“HEEEEEY!” Nightgale heard somepony’s yelled. Sure enough, it was Applebloom as well as Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo heading his way.
“I see that the princess is back I presume?” Nightgale asked even when he knew the answer.
“Ya and it was awesome to see a princess who could blow away so many of those changelings in a distance.” Scootaloo couldn’t handle the sheer awesomeness that she saw today. Her face quickly frowned, noticing something wrong. “No offence there,” She smiled very awkwardly.
Nightgale didn’t mind. “No its alright. But I wonder where Imp and Gemstone are?”
The four look around but they haven’t seen them around. But at the very far said of where they stood, Imp and Gemstone walked up on the hill they stood.
“Well that was fun,” she laughed. “So tell me Imp. How is life since I last saw you?”
“Why do you care?” Imp said dismissively. “Its not like you ever showed that you worried for me so why should I tell you how I live my life?”
Gemstone didn’t take it lightly but didn’t let that to change her face to a different mood. “Well you're right about that. I don’t have the right to ask you but you know what will happen if I get curious right?”
Imp shivered at the thought. “Yes I know that,”
She smiled very pleasantly. “Good. Now lets meet up with the other shall we. Besides you’ll be a lot happy when you're close to someone you like right?” Gemstone walked ahead but Imp couldn’t move for second there.
“Look at me. I’m still the same old pathetic wimp.” He sighed deeply. Imp quickly dashed to meet up with the others.
__________________
The guards exited out of the empire, pulling a carriage of the shark necklaces. The two kept their guard up just in case if the changelings ever came back. It seemed for them, they are way off of what they will encounter. A black unicorn came out in front of them.
“What do you want?” Said one of the guards.
He laughed. “Sorry but I don’t have time for introductions,” Scar pulled out his sword.
The guards were surprised at the weapon they are seeing. “Is that a..”
Before he could finish his sentence, Scar was already behind them, with his sword being held with an aura around it. The guards dropped on the ground, with their eyes as lifeless as possible.
“You’ll wake up until the next day. Considered yourselves lucky. I could of easily kill you both.” Scar picked up the handle to pulled the carriage. “Ugh I hate pulling this by myself. If only Bracker were here but he had to eat what was on the floor without knowing what it is.” He sighed. “Time to get this back to the castle then.”