//------------------------------// // Kentucky Fried Changeling // Story: A Different Breed of Changeling // by Zoljen //------------------------------// “You’re seriously going out into that?” Cloak gestured to the raging storm, “In those?” he then pointed to the guards that Talon was still wearing. Talon looked down at them, then back outside. “I’m well aware of the risks. And I do have some control over lightning.” Talon shrugged, glancing at Cloak, “And if it comes to it, I can just remove them. Losing a piece of armor would be better than losing my life.” “And lose those lovely things that were crafted just for you.” Cloak sighed wistfully. “Tis the price we pay, eh?” “Right.” Talon glanced around the Wonderbolt lobby as he heard Spitfire shout something about a tornado while talking to Silver. “So, you’ve been avoiding certain Wonderbolts since we saved them.” Cloak poked at Talon. “Some are still upset that they were saved, that's all.” Talon huffed as he turned away with puffed cheeks, inadvertently looking towards Silver. “That's not who I was talking about.” Cloak watched Talon as he watched Silver. “It's just… awkward, ok?” Talon looked back at Cloak, he then blinked and glanced past him as he saw Princess Luna walk up to Captain Spitfire, dressed in her armor that she wore as Nightmare Moon. “Huh… snazzy looking armor.” “How is it awkward?” Cloak continued, ignoring the Princess in the lobby. “They are Wonderbolts, it's not like you had a chance to idolize them or anything lately.” “I met some of them nearly two decades ago…” Talon trailed off. “Namely, one that is still a Wonderbolt.” “Ah… and does he know what you are?” “Not that I'm aware of.” Talon shook his head, glancing out the window as he saw Astral zooming towards the compound. “But not important right now.” Talon glanced towards the compound entrance, seeing Descent and Astral exchange a few words, then dash back out. Talon sighed, glancing back at his hooves again. He blinked and looked up, glancing towards a section of the lobby where Soarin had been and tilted his head. He watched the pony, as his yellow colored magic flared up. He had been told that Soarin had magic within him, from an event that was a year nearly ago. He didn't understand it, but he didn't question it either. Talon shook his head as he watched the pegasus get questioned by Spitfire, Dash, and Luna. He blinked again, detecting a huge spike of energy from outside, which made him look outside and up. Just as he heard back from the doorway a pony call out to Descent. Talon saw a collection of pink energy start to gather. He glanced to his left hoof as he felt it tingle slightly, then back up. “RENEGADES! LET’S GIVE ‘EM HELL!” Descent yelled out. Talon was out the door with the others, Cloak hot on his hooves. “HOLD!” Talon heard Descent yell, as he looked over the opposing force. He let out a tiny sigh as he felt both emotional energy and magical energy over in that mesh of ponies and clones. He spotted the ten enemy commanders lower themselves down. Talon spotted Blazetail float up past him, glancing at him for a second. Talon shook his head quickly as Blazetail snorted out a chuckle, moving on past him. Talon was not ready to take on a commander, let alone partake in a fight with all of them. “RENEGADES, STEADY!” Descent yelled out, as Talon floated up a little, getting above some of his fellow Renegades. Talon looked down as he watched the ten commanders float towards the ground, his eyes falling on Sin and watching him a bit longer, growling a little. He knew he was outclassed, and fighting Sin now was only asking to be killed, but he severely wanted to give that pony a matching scar that he had earned from that fight. “You know that's death waiting to happen if you charge into that.” Dagger floated up beside Talon, pointing at the commanders. “All ten of them will flat out kill you.” “I’m well aware, Dagger. I will get my chance, but I know it isn't now.” He looked up towards the ball of Shadowbolts before them, ignoring the rain that was falling and soaking his mane. “Everypony here knows you're a changeling, I suggest you change now and just enjoy going all out.” “Not yet, but I will.” Talon glanced down at the commanders again, seeing each one power up their crystals. “RENEGADES! CHARGE!” He heard get yelled, as he and his allies charged into the aerial dogfight. Talon followed behind Dagger as they flew into the swarm, Dagger quickly veering off to her left as Talon went up and to his right. With a small flare of magic, he altered his hooves to be smaller blades, as he quickly drove them into a clone. Rearing back and flapping his wings hard to clear the explosion as the air fight became a mess of explosions and beams. Talon grunted, twisting a hoof to deflect a beam of magic from a clone as he flew past a Renegade. Making the beam collide with another clone as he closed his wings for a second, to spin in the air before swinging his hoof to collide with a clone. He growled as he brought his arms together to block a beam from a normal Shadowbolt, the beam-catching and tearing a part of the strap that held his armor on. He glanced at it, growled, and in a flare of fire took on his changeling form, complete with blades and little spikes along his wrists to shred the straps. The armor falling to the ground as the changeling glared forward at the Shadowbolt who only growled back. Talon charged forward as the Shadowbolt dropped below, a clone flying over him and slamming itself into the changeling. He grunted as he pushed the clone back, spinning around and driving a blade into its side. As he pulled the blade out, revealing it's pink innards, he placed both his hind hooves on its side. He bucked, to get speed as he rushed towards another clone. He glanced to his side as he flew, a flare going over a hoof as a shadowbolt flew past him. He reached up with a griffin paw, grabbing a hold of the Shadowbolts hind leg and getting jerked in that direction as the Shadowbolt zoomed on. This new direction made him narrowly get missed by a shadowbolt flying down to attack him. He hung on for only a few seconds before letting go and spinning to block a punch from an ally, who blinked for a moment after she attacked the changeling. “Sorry!” The mare shouted, turning and angling away. “Keep forgetting we have a changeling on our side.” Talon chuckled as he floated, his back to hers, “It's okay. Hard to tell who is who, we really should tell Descent to alter our suits a bit more. Seriously, goggles and a tassel?” He turned slightly, deflecting a beam of energy as he glanced at the mare behind him. “Hey! We also lack the mask!” the mare growled as she punched forward, breaking a clone with a solid hit to the head. “At least I can tell the difference, fighting to protect is a different emotion than fighting to kill. Less anger.” Talon shrugged slightly, glancing up and focusing his energy. A thin red wall appeared above the mare, a clone bouncing off the shield. Talon grinned, as the shield suddenly gained spikes, most of which impaled the clone, making it explode quickly. “I was curious how you were getting energy fighting with us.” The mare glanced up for a second, then looked to her side, quickly spinning around and pushing Talon away, a Shadowbolt zooming up where he was a few seconds before. “Just repaying the favor!” She grinned, “Back into the fray we go!” Talon nodded as he dropped down, dodging a Clone that was lunging at him and switched to attacking the mare. As the mare responded by punching it in the face, hard. Talon grinned, turning around and started to fly after a Shadowbolt, stopping after he noticed several others were all fleeing the combat as well. Talon raised an eyebrow, glancing up as a few renegades floated down by him. “Uh…” A loud crack of lightning lit up the sky, making him shield his eyes. Once he was able to see again, he looked at the floating pink sphere, seeing a silhouette outlined by the pinkness. As more of the outline revealed itself, showing the great outline of something that looked similar to the compound. Talon, and every Renegade around him, just stared slack-jawed. For most, they know what it is. The Shadowbolt Air Fortress. “By the egg, what in Tartarus is THAT?!” Talon pointed as he looked at one of the Renegades next to him. “It...It can't be!” One says. “It was destroyed months ago!” Another says. “Okay, that explains so much for me!” Talon growled. “It's the Cirrus, our old home!” Cloak, from above him, shouted. “BUT HOW?!” Talon noticed Descent and the others float up, looking only slightly hurt from their conflict. “NO FEAR AND NO HESITATION! TAKE IT DOWN!” Descent yelled out as he charged forward, Talon and the others following suit. After a few moments of flying towards it, Talon noticed that various windows seemed to open up, showing strange tubes that were almost all pointed at them. A moment later he heard Descent yell something as he instinctively angled himself downwards, closing his wings in and barely dodging a blast that was many times larger than himself. He stopped and looked around, spotting another large blast coming towards him. With no other option, he closed his arms and focused in front of him, a thick red wall appearing, but doing little to block the blast. It was enough to lessen it, but only by some as it struck him and blew him out of the sky and knocking him out. Talon regained consciousness with just enough time to pull up, managing to save himself a mostly hard crash as his hooves touched the mud and got caught, making him tumble and roll. He finally stopped yards from where he touched down and gasped for breath. It took a few minutes to catch his breath, and when he finally caught it, he looked up just as a large bluish-purple dome formed overhead. He looked up just as the shadowbolt fortress fired its big cannon. He just stared as the two divine powers hit each other, Luna’s Shield vs the shadowbolt mega cannon. After a minute, he noticed her shield start to buckle, at least until a brighter blue joined the beam from Luna and made the shield stronger. “Holy Tartarus.” He mumbled, his ears going flat against his head as he gazed up at the fortress wide-eyed, even turning slightly pale as the cannon flared. After a minute of the two powers conflicting, the cannon finally started to die off, losing its steam. A few moments after the cannon stopped, did the shield shatter. Talon just stared at where the beam originated, spacing out that the base was being carried off. Talon slowly stood up, retaking his pegasus form and starting to trot towards where Luna’s beam came from. Talon walked away from the infirmary, having been informed that he was thankfully only minorly injured, just some burns from the opposing magic. He was able to fight and told Ember to wrap up his leg, which she happily did. He let out a sigh as he glanced down at his hoof, stopping for a moment to do so. He lost those guards pretty early on, and with the damage done out in the courtyard, there was no way he could find them again. He took a step forward, ready to search again when he heard a pair of clanks behind him. His ears perked up as he glanced over his shoulder, seeing Silver Lining standing there. His ears quickly went flat as he looked down, seeing his leg guards there on the floor, slightly covered with mud. “I believe these are yours, Talon.” Silver said calmly, barely looking over the pegasus-disguised changeling. He grinned weakly, turning to face Silver, “Uh, thanks, sir. I was about to go out and look for them.” “You finally find your path?” Talon chuckled softly, shaking his head, “Not yet, sir. I’m not wearing that.” He gestured to Silver’s Wonderbolt uniform, “But I'm aware I have to earn it.” Talon sat, and slid the guards over to himself, looking at the bands and sighing. “And the straps are shot, my own mistake.” “I’d say you’ve earned it, at least a reserve outfit.” Silver smirked, “I watched you out there, and I asked Blazetail about you.” “And?” Talon raised an eyebrow, looking up at him. “Maybe a recruit squad spot,” Silver kept his smirk as he slowly turned around. “Thank you, sir. I shall try to do better in the future.” Talon grinned, chuckling softly. “You better; would hate to see you go down like the bug you are,” Silver said he started to walk away, leaving the changeling behind to laugh.