//------------------------------// // Escape Plan GTFO // Story: A Different Breed of Changeling // by Zoljen //------------------------------// “Okay, so the plan is to hold off the crazies until either that compound lifts out of the ground, or they are seconds from firing and we need to flee?” Talon stared at Dust as she looked around at the 100 or so Renegades still standing. “That's the sum of it, yes,” Lightning Dust nodded. “We will fly out once it’s close enough and help hold them off. I just hope this Rivet pony gets the thing going.” “Right, so are you going to go ‘ling on us?” A mare asked as she stepped up to Talon’s side. He looked at her, and took a quick glance over his pegasus self, shaking his head. “Nope, our goal to distract the Shadowbolts for as long as possible, right?” The mare nodded as Talon grinned, “Then that shall be our goal. If I were to change, it would cause confusion.” “I suppose that is true, but what if you're forced to shift mid battle?” “Then I’ll deal with it then and afterward,” Talon shrugged as he glanced skyward, seeing the familiar sight looming in the horizon. “For now, let us not worry about that and concentrate on the task ahead.” Lightning Dust and the mare nodded, narrowing their eyes as they glare towards the fortress. Talon kept his eyes focused on it, letting out a low growl as he glared. He slowly extended his wings, flapping them once to shake them out. “Easy Talon,” Dust said as she took a step back. “I know you’re eager, but I bet Sin is out there. And honestly, I don't want to face him again. But we’ll have to.” Talon looked at Dust, nodding slightly. “Yeah, seems he wrecked us both good.” Talon looked back towards the floating fortress as Dust looked towards the Wonderbolts compound, seeing the wonderbolts float up after giving their shout. Dust looked back towards the fortress, taking note of how close it was. “Let’s give them hell, Renegades!” She shouted as she took to the air. The other renegades gave a shout and followed suit after her. Talon flew up, his eyes never leaving the fortress as he gained air. Once up in the air, while keeping the fortress in his view, he quickly looked about at the ponies that he could see from the fortress. He spotted the commanders easily enough, as his eyes focused on Sin again. Talon shook his head, focusing on the ones that decided to fight them, spinning around and angling himself away from the others as little bolts of magic flew past him. He growled, glancing behind him as a few Shadowbolt Commanders focused on the rest of the Renegades. He looked forward and squeaked, ducking down to dodge a wide beam of energy. “Huh, I missed.” He heard from above him as he flew under a pony. He glanced upwards and saw the tail of Angel. He kept on his flight path, trying to distance himself from Angel when he heard a snicker below him. He quickly looked down to spot a blue pegasus looking him over. “I wonder, are you that changeling that our low ranking members saw?” Trance kept chuckling as little spheres of magic flew up beside him, then towards Talon. Talon quickly put on the brakes, stopping in midair as the bolts flew past. He watched a few of them circle back towards him. He grunted, closing his wings around himself to drop quickly, some of the bolts colliding with each other and exploding as a few made it through, continuing to chase him. He zoomed a little bit further, stopping and turning around to deflect a bolt with a hoof. He grunted, flying upwards to dodge another one. “You’re pretty agile.” Trance said as he kept on Talons tail, smirking faintly as he readied more bolts to throw at him. Talon turned around, ready to throw a punch at him only to find him already having backed off and an orb in his place. Talon barely brought up his arms in time as it exploded, sending him back a little. “Not too smart though.” Trance flat out grinned at the changeling as he floated back, having a few scorch marks from that attack. Talon glared at Trance, and flew at him, making Trance shake his head, more spheres appearing in front of him. Talon smirked faintly, his form flaring in fire just as the orbs exploded. Talon floated there, a faint red glow around his still pegasus self. “How the…?” Trance looked confused for a moment, “I know you're a changeling, how did you do that!” “We never reveal our secrets!” Talon charged forward and drove a hoof into Trances face. Trance spun to deflect most of the blow, floating back and firing another sphere at the changelings back, exploding it as he passed by. Talon cringed as he felt pain erupt over his back, turning around just in time to see Trance get knocked aside by Dust, who smirked at him and continued on. Talon let out a sigh, turning towards the fortress and flying at it. He didn't get to make it very far as a few shadowbolts floated down in his way, all grinning as their crystals flared up. Talon growled and kept flying at them, a thin red barrier appearing in front of him as they fired off magic beams. The beams deflected off the shield and angled down, Talon only wincing slightly as he felt each one impact. He barreled past them and was getting close to the fortress before he suddenly felt himself stop in midair. He growled and looked himself over, noticing a pink haze around him, he looked up into the strong glare of Moon. Talon growled as he struggled against the vice grip as Moon just glared at him. “Begone, gnat.” Moon spoke in an almost monotone voice as he raised a hoof before throwing it towards the compound. Talon suddenly found the world cruising by as he flew straight for the compound faster than he’s ever flown before. Talon grunted as he tried to open his wings, attempting to angle himself towards one of the windows and slow himself as best he could. He was able to slow himself down some, and angle towards a window, but he couldn't stop in time. He shifted to his natural form, curled into a ball, and brought up a shield just in time. After crashing through the window, he felt himself impact something relatively soft with enough force to hit something hard. “Well, thanks for the save, Talon.” Talon heard once his ears stopped ringing. He opened his eyes into the grin of Blazetail staring down at him, upside down. “Ugh, blame Moon,” Talon grunted as he rolled to his hooves, standing up and shaking his head. Once he finally focused, he looked down at what he landed on, seeing an unconscious Shadowbolt. “You’re welcome though, sir.” “Right, what's the status outside?” Blazetail took the moment of calm to look out the window. “Chaos, far as I can tell, sir.” Talon put a hoof to his head, as he sensed anger in his direction. He glanced up and, while growling, put up a thin shield behind Blazetail. The older stallion spun around and charged at the Shadowbolt after the shield absorbed a beam. Talon smirked as he watched Blazetail pile drive the Shadowbolt into the ground, then look over his shoulder. “Is that twice now, colt?” “I'm not keeping score!” Talon shouted as he charged down the hall with a smirk. He noticed a pair of Shadowbolts standing outside the door, leaning around and firing magic into whatever room they were hiding outside of, as dark colored bolts shot back and kept missing them. He growled and charged at them, coating his arms in his magical fire as he took to the air. Before he got close though, he fired off a red beam of his own at them. One missed as the Shadowbolt crouched down to try and get a better angle to shoot into the room, which allowed Talon’s beam to hit the other Shadowbolt, stunning it for a moment. In that moment, the first Shadowbolt turned around to see the changeling, and took a step back at the sight before it. Talon snarling and showing his fangs as he had blades for fore-hooves, flying directly at him. The Shadowbolt snarled back and raised up a shield, letting Talon crash into it, and force him back a foot or two. A pair of gasps was heard from inside the room as Talon came into view, pressing against the shield with his blades. Talon smirked for a moment, before he vanished from view, appearing behind and above the Shadowbolt, and kicked out a hind leg towards the Shadowbolt’s head, connecting and sending him face first into his own shield. The Shadowbolt groaned softly as he slowly slid down the shield, before it faded and he fell face first to the ground. Talon was already facing the other Shadowbolt as it stood up, glaring towards the changeling. Talon just charged forth, swinging a blade low, making the Shadowbolt bounce back and be on the defensive as Talon kept swinging his blades. The Shadowbolt bounced back only a few times, before lunging forward. Talon disappeared from view again, this time appearing on his back right under the Shadowbolt, and thrust his hind legs straight out to catch the Shadowbolt in his stomach. The blow knocked the wind out of it as Talon threw him onto the other. He rolled to his hooves and glanced inside the room, smirking as he saw Luna standing next to a brown unicorn mare looking, well, it was hard to tell if she was terrified or not. Talon blinked as he looked the mare over. “Are you two okay?” “We are fine, Talon. Shouldn't thou be out with the Renegades?” Luna asked, taking the short pause to catch her breath. Luna still looked drained, but at least she looked better than before. “Er, yeah. About that, Moon kind of threw me at the compound. Guess I'm fighting in here for now,” Talon looked past the mares, at the sleeping stallion still on the bed faintly glowing yellow. “Uh, correct me if I'm wrong, but shouldn't he be evacuated with the others?” “We can't move him, changeling.” The mare spoke up, finding her courage once more. “And what is a changeling doing here anyway?” Talon sighed, and glanced to his left down the hallway, “Long story, can tell you all about it when we aren't in peril. For now, trust me. If you don't want to, trust Princess Luna’s judgement in letting me be a Renegade.” He turned and charged down the hallway again before the mares could respond. He barreled into the lobby, leaping to the air to try and get a better view of the chaos that was going on. Wonderbolt recruits and Renegades were battling against Shadowbolts and protecting innocents. At least most of the innocent ponies, some were fighting back as well. He started to fly towards the melee, but stopped a few feet after as the sounds of creaking metal and tearing concrete filled the air. He blinked and looked directly down just as the ground started to crack. He blinked and suddenly saw a pole coming straight at him, his natural reaction was to teleport to the side, where the pole narrowly missed him. “What in Tartarus?!” He exclaimed as most of the melee had stopped. Some of the Shadowbolts teleporting out once the poles started to show up. He landed, looking around confused before gazing at a pole. This was nothing like he had seen before, though thinking back. That fortress was also something he had never seen before. The ground was shaking and slowly felt like it was rising. He grunted as he slid a little, altering his hooves a tiny bit to make small spikes to stick in the floor. He looked around and saw that ponies were looking confused, a few glanced outside. “The ground is tearing!” “This is unreal!” Other various voices choired off as he looked towards the doors, seeing fellow Renegades and Wonderbolts pile in. He watched Captain Spitfire lead in Silver Lining, then his world went silent as a bright pink flash filled his vision. He fell to his stomach as he felt the ground underneath him suddenly lift up, like being on an elevator, only with far more force applied. Talon gasped as he felt the force make his lungs empty, and quickly refill as he he looked towards one of the windows, seeing a wall of smoke for only a few seconds before it became clear dark skies. He blinked his eyes a few times, trying to take in the sight, he was on solid ground and yet in the air! This wasn't….forget it, anything’s possible right now. He found his hooves sliding along the ground; with a gasp and quick thought, he shifted his hooves to blades and dug them into the tiles. He winced but held his position as he felt a few other ponies fall into him and immediately latch onto him. He was going to be drained after this, but hopefully it would end soon. He found those ponies that were attaching to him slowly letting go as everything seemed to level out and stop spinning. When he finally felt the floor level out, he shifted his hooves to normal, wincing a little as he did as he slid just a tad. He managed to brace himself, to stop from sliding as he looked out the front windows, seeing a mountain side coming closer. His ears went flat, just as he felt the whole floor tip again to the side. “Shards!” he found himself slipping along the floor again before he could remake the stakes to keep himself in place. Those ponies around him stayed clinging to him. The tipping wasn't too bad this time, but he didn't want to take any chances. And it was a good thing he did, as after a turn or two, the compound started to shake again and throw everyone for a loop. At least he didn't move from his spot, though his hooves and limbs were starting to ache from the constant strain. When he heard a loud yelp of pain, he glanced to it's source, seeing Silver Lining talking to Spitfire and Descent, with a few others ponies around them. He watched them for a moment, as they all took off outside the compound. He looked towards the window again, seeing why they did. Strange large triangular aircraft powered by the same crystal magic. Seriously, how much did these Shadowbolts have that defied all logic? Comparing all this to what he knew, Discord seemed sane. Talon shook his head, dismissing that thought as he had to focus on holding his ground. He grunted as the compound shook again, feeling one his limbs start to loosen its hold on the ground it was currently impaled in. He shifted his hooves again, finding new ways to hold himself in place as he shot out smaller spikes from his currently spiked hooves all of which was hidden under the tiles. He winced, feeling his hooves return to normal against his will just as the ground started to tip downwards. The feeling of going down as he slid forward a little while the ponies continue to hold onto him for dear life. They were going to crash into the mountain side! Talon grunted as he tried to force his hooves into the holes he had made, failing as he slid and getting thrown forward when they finally touched down. The last thing he remembered is hitting a wall, and a bench hitting him.