Twinkleshine / Meep
We emerged from the crystal mines triumphantly. As we stood on a cliff top overlooking Canterlot the three of us took in a breath of fresh air, relishing the freedom we had won with our blood, sweat, and tears. Oh who am I kidding, we were just glad that old Mare Luck had decided to pamper us for a good long while.
The shield rippled over the city like a giant purple globe shaped pond. Banners waved and soared in the breeze. The sun reflected off the golden capped towers in the city. Wedding bells rang in the distance.
“We aren't too late!” Cole exclaimed in excitement.
Then thousands of changelings swarmed up from the ground outside the shield, flowing like a wave over the entirety of the dome. Within a minute they had every conceivable angle covered with one changeling for every three meters of space. That was one Tartarus sized army.
Lyra gave Cole a deadpan stare, “Felt it was your turn to make the GM hate us?”
Cole giggled nervously. “I guess.”
The changelings began to slam against the shield. It rippled, warped, and cracked in a few places. Whoever was maintaining the shield must be almost out of manna. With an army that size the Queen's forces would be through within a few minutes.
“We need to get in, find our friends, and get out as fast as we possibly can.” I declared.
Lyra nodded. “Yeah. Preferably before they break through the shield. How long do we have?” She asked me looking up at the attacking army.
I shrugged. “I don't know exactly. Minutes at best given the apparent energy of the shield and the amount of force it's being struck with. The staggered pace of the hits across all of it's surface would take me too long to calculate out with any real precision.”
Cole frowned, “Could you fly us into town?”
I gave her an incredulous look. “You want me to carry two fully grown mares into town as a species which is currently attacking it?”
“What?” She gave me that look she reserved for idiots again, “No! Turn into a pegasus.”
“Oh. Right. Duh.” I laughed, shaking my head at my own stupidity.
I turned my attention to the task at hoof. There wasn't time for me to develop a new form, and Laughing Village was a very weak flier. The rest of my shapes were unicorns or earth ponies. I would have to use the shape of a pegasus I was familiar with. Who did I know who was a fast flier and strong enough to carry two ponies in flight?
“Heh...” I smirked as I realized who the only pony for the job was. “Hey Lyra, remember that time you said you totally wanted to ride Rainbow Dash?”
Before she had a chance to respond I shifted. My cream color fur turned cyan. My fluffy mane split into a rainbow and shortened into strait spiky strands. My horn vanished as wings sprouted from my back, “Cuz, it, is, on!” I informed in Dash's voice.
Lyra grinned as wide as she could, “Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh! You totally need to break the sound barrier with me on your back!”
Cole giggled, “Dash will kill you for this.”
“Hey! Name one other pony who can carry two mares to the castle before those guys break in!” I boasted. Realizing I was unintentionally copying Dash's attitude as well I laughed, “Ha! Sorry girls, I guess I do Dash a little too well. Right, Lyra, on my back. Cole, I'll carry you.”
Lyra eagerly hopped up onto my back, sitting with her legs just over my shoulders, and her forelegs holding onto my neck. I experimentally flapped my wings and pushed some energy into my flight field. As I slowly rose into the air I sighed in relief. Dash's body was able to put out plenty of thrust, passengers wouldn't be a problem. As I hovered just off the ground I hooked my forelegs under Cole's to hold her tightly.
Right as I was about to take off the shield shattered. “No!” I cried.
Lyra leaned down to look me in the eyes, “I have to save Bon-bon. Get. Me. There. NOW!” She shouted.
“Right!” I began to calculate the quickest flight path as the first wave of changelings dove for the city.
They fell down, green psionic energy forming hard cones in front of them as they fell. Living Rods from Gods. It looked like their plan was to simply bombard the city in waves, demolishing structures and deploying troops at the same time.
Nervous as I was I quickly rattled off the math for our trip out loud. “Ok, the castle looks to be three and a half kilometers away. Dash can pull off speeds in excess of Mach five point two, so I should launch us in a ballistic arc for the quickest arrival. Mach five point two is about, one-thousand seven-hundred sixty-nine meters per second... Launching at top speed will require to high of an arc for quick arrival... Launching at sixteen degrees at two-hundred and fifty meters per second should get us there in fourteen seconds. Hold on girls, I'm going to light this candle!”
I pushed down with my wings, pouring but a fraction of Dash's power into them. We exploded forewords as if somepony had fired us from a catapult! I had never used her shape before, there was just too much risk for me. I was in awe at her power. Dash was a cheetah among snails.
My wings burned as I beat them rapidly enough to get the required speed. It didn't take long, but with Lyra and Cole clinging to me for dear life it was more strenuous than I would have liked. We blazed a path for the castle, changeling invaders falling past us as bolts of green like rain during a storm.
As we reached the top of our arc I snapped my wings open to glide the rest of the way in. Within seconds I could see everything going on at the castle. Changelings were dropping in everywhere, the EUP was bogged down trying to keep them out of the castle itself but the grounds were overrun. I could see the fear on everypony's face from a full kilometer away. Dash wasn't just fast, she had the eyes of an eagle with a telescope.
I spotted a flash of cream, white, and gray out of the corner of my vision. Turning my head slightly I could see Octavia, Vi, and Bon-bon running for their lives as three changeling scouts chased after them. “There they are!” I called over the gale force winds.
There was no way Lyra could have seen them herself, but somehow she pointed right at our friends with her left hoof and cried, “Dive!”
I twisted, angled my wings, and started to fall from the sky. Cole screamed as the ground began to rush up at us insanely fast. Lyra laughed maniacally, I could feel spell energy building up around her as we fell. Just before we would wind up a messy stain on the lawn I flared my wings and pushed all the magic I could downwards. Lyra jumped off my back, landing on the ground on her hind hooves in a combat stance. Cole and I hit the ground fairly hard, everypony rolling apart as we landed meters in front of our fleeing friends.
“Holy crap!” Vi shouted jumping out of the way as dirt flew up from my 'landing'.
Lyra jumped up and fired several magical bolts at the scouts, striking one right on the nose and blasting him hooves over head backwards. “Everypony get behind me! Cole, help me keep these guys off us!”
Cole and I slowly stood up, shaking off the fall and clearing our heads before she ran to Lyra's side, joining her to send spell bolts flying. I turned to cover us from the other direction, I may not have had spells in this body, but I could still throw lightning!
Bon-bon sprinted towards Lyra a crazed glint in her eyes and bellowed, “There is a human museum in town, want to go later?”
“No there isn't.” Lyra shot back, “Stop talking and help squash bugs! Er- No offense Shine.”
“None taken.” I replied, pulling water vapor from the air to form a storm cloud to fight with.
“Thank Celestia it's actually you!” Bon-bon cried in relief as she rushed to Lyra's side.
Octavia sprinted off a short distance, snatched a spear from a fallen guardspony and rushed back to us, ready to stab anyling who got to close. “We only just found out these things replaced you. Thanks for rescuing them Ms Dash, did you see Twinkleshine?”
This was going to be awkward. I finally got enough cloud formed to cover my forehooves, rearing up I threw two bolts of lightning, blasting away a changeling who was diving at our group. “I'm not actually Rainbow Dash. I just pretend to be her to get here in time to save your flanks.”
“What?” Octavia asked entirely confused.
“Oh, hey Shine!” Vynil gave me a smile before wheeling and blasting a changeling aside with a spell bolt. “That's Shine Tavi. She's one of these things. Only not evil I guess.”
My head almost exploded with rage, “How many other ponies know?” I demanded in a tone both dumbfounded and angry.
“What?” Octavia and Bonbon exclaimed.
“Party, booze, I can hold my liqueur. Just me.” Vi explained. “We can talk when we are not in a warzone!”
“Yeah! Priorities everypony!” Lyra shouted as she threw up a shield to block a psi bolt.
The next few minutes were an absolute blur. I threw more lightning bolts than I could count. Lyra proved to be quite the skilled battlemage, covering our flanks at every turn with her shield spells. Octavia whirled her spear, striking changelings with it like a quarterstaff. Bon-bon demonstrated exactly why one should not anger an earth pony by bucking and punching hard enough to shatter exoskeletons. Cole fired a few spells here and there before switching to throwing psi bolts, gleefully noticing she was a much more powerful psion than mage. I wasn't able to see exactly what Vi did, but more than her share of Sapphire'lings were laid out at her hooves.
Suddenly the world went pink! A massive wall of energy blasted out of the palace, changelings smashed against its surface like bugs on a windshield. “The shield's going back up!” Lyra shouted.
I screamed, fearing my own death and clamped my eyes shut. Seconds passed, nothing happened. There was no pain, no bone breaking force hit me.
I opened my eyes, a cracked green energy shield surrounded me. Cole smiled lovingly at me through the shield as it flickered out of existence, “It's ok dear, I have you.”
Words could not convey my gratitude. I ran over and hugged Cole tightly to my chest as tightly as I could manage after all that fighting.
It was over. The six of us stood inside a ring of green blood stained grass and exoskeletal pieces. There wasn't a changeling in sight. The adrenaline began to where off and my stomach turned at the realization that I had done this. I had never liked the idea of combat, but it had been necessary. The savages would have killed me, my friends, and everypony else in the city if we hadn't resisted them. It would be hard, but I was sure I could sleep tonight.
“Ok. They are done.” Bon-bon said after everypony could catch their breath. She quickly pointed a hoof at me, “Vi, explain her!”
“What, like now? Within earshot of the EUP? After her people just attacked our capitol city?” Vi asked incredulously.
Her words cut me like a knife. It was dangerous for me to live in Equestria before, it could be deadly now. “Look... I'll explain everything. In my room. For now... Let's just say that these are not my people, and I am only affiliated with them by blood ok? Now I need to jet before somepony notices that Dash is in two places at once or starts the witch hunt. I'll meet you in my room in ten minutes, I will be my usual self.”
I jumped up, flapping as hard as I could to take off. I was exhausted, I had barely enough energy to fly. It took me seconds to reach the skyline. I wanted to just keep on flying until I was somewhere nopony would ever find me. I couldn't live in secrecy anymore, I was apparently very lousy at keeping my true self a secret, and within hours a nationwide witch hunt for changelings would most certainly take place.
As I flew towards the south I noticed EUP pegasi patrolling the wall's perimeter. They were pulling pegasi aside. Likely checking for fleeing or returning changelings. No problem. I was Rainbow Dash at the moment. I could fame my way or blast right past them.
Then I realized that if I left Cole would die of a broken heart. The realization gnawed away at my very soul. She loved me more than life itself. Would she ever get over me abandoning her? No. No she wouldn't.
My friends would hate me forever too. If Cole killed herself because of me, and I abandoned them... Tartarus, Lyra just might hunt me down and avenge her. I couldn't run. For once I had made a real life. I had a home, a lover, and great friends. Friends who should be able to understand that this old bug wasn't one of those savages.
With a long sigh of dread for my future I turned around and sped for my room's window. My friends were due their answers.