Chapter 10
Still July 7, 2013
“Fuuuuuuuuuuu-”
While I’m not particularly proud of my first words regarding the subject, I think it was a perfectly normal reaction to witnessing changelings appearing through some sort of time/space portal over Seattle.
Everywhere, people were looking skywards and staring in astonishment at the sight. Good, at least that meant I wasn’t seeing things. That didn’t solve the problem of what to do about it, though.
Chrysalis had disappeared at some point in the last few minutes. Was she afraid of what mankind would do to her? Had she already vanished through the portal? If so, then why were the changeling hoards still pouring through?
She’d mentioned how much she loved bronies. The thought that the whole convention center was about to be “beamed up” to Equestria crossed my mind. I’m sure a lot of people would be okay with that, at least at first. However, the only thing that happened was more and more changelings came through to Earth. It slowly dawned on me: they were invading.
Tristan grabbed my shoulder. “Sandy, what the-”
I waved him off. “It’s…complicated.”
“We need to do something,” Maria pointed out. “Just give him the short version and we’ll figure it out from there.”
The unscheduled appearance of what might be the whole changeling army had interrupted The General’s panel and he showed up next to Tristan. He looked partially glad for the chance to get away, but also as surprised and confused as the rest of us. Behind him, I saw Moonglow, Gary Oak, and for some reason the white Power Ranger.
“So, we’ve got a huge problem,” I began. “Um, this sounds strange and everything, but Queen Chrysalis was at the convention this weekend. She said she was gathering love to use as energy to return home, nothing about bringing in all her subjects.”
Tristan gave me a look. “Oh, Queen Chrysalis is your cousin? That explains so much. I knew there was something strange about you, Sandy, but-”
I cut him off. “Quit it. She isn’t really related to me, I was just trying to do her a favor and then this happened. I don’t know what to say; I didn’t expect an invasion. She never said she was going to do this.”
“The changeling queen lied to you?” put in Moonglow. “And you’re surprised?”
“Look, can we talk about this later?” I asked, glancing nervously skyward. “We’ve got bigger problems. General, take the lead.”
He raised his eyebrows. “Why me?”
“You’re the most popular author out there. Everybody knows you, and we really need a leader right now.”
“What, to fight changelings? This isn’t Canterlot. We aren’t the Elements of Harmony.”
It was just then that I realized that Maria, Tristan, Moonglow, Gary Oak, The General, and I made six. White Power Ranger could be Spike. Hmm…
I quickly shook those thoughts out of my head. “The ponies didn’t need the Elements to defeat the changelings. In fact, they used violence to start with and a big dose of love to finish them off. We’re human so the fighting comes naturally, but we’re bronies so we can also love and tolerate the shit out of them.”
The General shrugged. “Yeah, that works for me.” He grabbed up a bullhorn that had been dropped by a fleeing convention executive and turned to the assembled crowd. His magnified voice cut through the confusion
“A few people form up with Moonglow. Go back into the convention center and fortify it. There’s still plenty of swag lying around to pile up. We’ll need someplace to make a stand.
“Tristan, you’re part of the convention staff and a stickler for the rules. Figure out a way to tell if any changelings are in disguise. If they aren’t wearing a ‘con badge, they don’t belong.
“Gary, you and the rest of the Canadian visitors are in charge of organizing the transition from fighting to loving. As we Americans get tired of beating up changelings, start figuring out how to politely send them all home.
“We’ll need some way of containing the area and sweeping it clean of changelings. Sandy, you write a lot of military fics so I’m sure you have tactics for that in mind.”
The General paused for a moment and looked at the assembled crowd. It was, by and large, composed of nerdy dudes. Most of us wore glasses. There were a statistically significant number of fedoras per sample size. Also, plenty of costumes and even a few fursuits.
The General’s tone of voice changed from commanding to reassuring. “It’s okay to freak out a little. Just do what you have to do, and don’t let fear take over. ‘Giggle at the ghosties’ and you’ll be fine. That reminds me - White Power Ranger, go gather all the Pinkie Pie cosplayers that you can find. Everyone else who doesn’t have anything to do, come with me. This might be an invasion, but there’s no way we’re going to let it be as bad as Las Pegasus Unicon!”
A great cry rose up from the crowd and bronies stampeded in all directions to get started with their assigned tasks. Amazing what a little motivational speech can do. Maria touched my shoulder. “There’s bound to be injuries. I’m going to see if I can help.”
We shared a quick but intense kiss and she disappeared into the crowd. Task now in front of me, I quickly ran through in my mind what I remembered of the convention center and hotel. There were a lot of long, straight corridors but also a lot of small, subdivided rooms. We would have to organize a big effort to search every one.
Well, no time to waste. Thanks to rules of the convention center, my gun was locked up in my car. The parking garage was conveniently located right under the main hall and I ran towards where I’d parked.
The Delorean I’d seen yesterday was still parked there. Some time travel would sure be nice about now, so I could go back and tell myself I was stupid for trusting Chrysalis. My wife always said I was too nice.
Reaching my car, I found my pistol and strapped it to my hip. The aluminum baseball bat I kept under the seat seemed like another good thing to take along. Now armed, I ran for the stairs.
Up in the convention center, all hell was breaking loose. I didn’t know if the changelings were only concentrating on the ‘con or had spread out into the surrounding city. If that was the case, then it became the problem of the police, or hopefully the National Guard.
One part of my brain wondered about the ramifications of the attack. On the one hand, it would make bronies the world over seem way cooler to the public. On the other, well, it was basically an alien invasion. I wasn’t sure I really wanted my planet to go through that much adjustment.
Then a changeling came at my face and I stopped thinking idle thoughts like that. The drones were much smaller than Chrysalis, and not nearly as cute. My gun was holstered, but I caught the changeling with a bunt-like stroke from the baseball bat and knocked it away.
Other changelings were in the hallway and I had to whack a few on my way to organize a group to sweep the building. I saw a couple of them doing their changing thing, but were not nearly so practiced at a bipedal form as Chrysalis. Usually, it was fairly obvious who was an imposter human.
While I like to think of myself as competent, there was a good reason why I let The General take the lead. While creating a group to clean up any hidden invaders had worked well, I accidentally got separated from them somewhere around the place where writing panels were held and ended up bursting into the room all alone.
Chrysalis was there, back in her true form. This time I didn’t even bother with the bat and went straight for my gun. I felt betrayed and angry at her, pissed that she would dare invade Earth. My finger was still outside the trigger guard, but I drew the pistol and pointed it at her.
It was then that words failed me. What do you say at a moment like this? She was already sitting still, so “freeze” didn’t make any sense. I also didn’t really have time to go on about how she was a bad pony for toying with me like that.
Before I could even open my mouth, however, Chrysalis pushed me back against the wall with magic and pinned my shooting hand pointing away from her. “Sandy! I’m trying to help you!”
This time, I really didn’t know what to say. That didn’t mean my mouth didn’t try. “Wha…?”
“I’m going to let you go, okay? Just don’t make any hasty decisions.” Chrysalis’ horn stopped glowing and I felt the gentle pressure holding me ease away.
Fool me once, shame on you. There was no way I was giving Chrysalis the benefit of the doubt now, and I kept my gun at the low ready position. She eyed it, but turned her gaze back to my face. “Sandy, I didn’t do any of this. I opened a portal with the intention of going home, but those changelings must have sensed me and come through instead.”
I paused for a moment, my brain finally catching up to what was going on. “Those changelings?”
She looked away. “I didn’t want to tell you. I…I’m no longer a queen. My crest was both a symbol and an instrument of power. All of those changelings…I can’t control them anymore.”
“Then who’s leading them? Or are they on their own?”
“It’s possible that one of my high level subordiantes could have taken over after I disappeared.” Her voice grew more urgent. “The important thing, though, is that we need to stop this.”
“Why do you care?” I asked. There was still no way of knowing if I should trust her.
Chrysalis took a deep breath. “Sandy, I like you. I like people. There’s a broader range of emotion than in Equestria. I find it remarkable that humanity is capable of such violence and hate, yet can still organize something so loving and sweet as this convention. The wars and weapons are terrifying, but I know that everyone still hopes for something better. As a species, you know what you want and aren’t afraid to make the necessary sacrifices to get it. There is no way an invasion would work out in our favor. Changelings simply don’t have the drive and the spirit.”
“That doesn’t answer my question. Why do you want to help?”
She scuffed a hoof on the carpet. “Love. I mean, well...real love. I’ve seen what you and your wife have, what it means to be the target of romance and desire, not just sucking it up while in disguise. A successful attack on Canterlot would have given me what I needed to survive, but I don’t think it would have ever really satisfied. I want to be loved.”
I shifted uncomfortably. It put a whole new spin on things, both in my mind and definitely in the canon of the show. I wondered in what order Chrysalis had come to her decision. If she’d lost her crest and only then realized that she’d rather not be queen of love-stealing pests, or if she’d found that her title was unwanted and then kept it from growing back through unconscious will.
After a moment to organize my thoughts, I asked, “So what are you going to do?”
“What would a human say?” She tapped a hoof on her chin theatrically. “Kick some ass?”
“Hell yeah.” I started for the door but came up short. “Wait, what’s going to keep you out of the line of friendly fire? You’d be an even bigger target than a regular changeling.”
“I don’t know. I’m gambling that bronies would be willing to stop and listen if you explain the situation.”
It was then that I spotted the badge still hanging around her neck. She was an invited guest here, and hadn’t once harmed anyone during the course of the convention. It was my responsibility to stick up for her. I nodded. “Let’s do this.”
We left the room and Chrysalis immediately blasted a changeling drone with a jet of green magic. The unfortunate creature fell to the floor of the convention hall and didn’t move.
“Stunned,” Chrysalis told me, catching several other changelings with the same spell. The people within view had all turned to face her, and while slightly confused at her choice of targets, were advancing menacingly.
I stepped forward, lifting my hands. “Hold on. There’s a long, complicated story to tell, but basically it boils down to this: Chrysalis is trying to help us because this swarm of changelings is acting without her orders and she’s discovered the power of love and tolerance.”
Someone wearing a full body suit that depicted Shining Armor stepped forward. I thought it looked like a rather hot and stuffy outfit in which to do battle, but I wasn’t judging. Bending slightly, the costume-wearer read Chrysalis’ badge and then paused to look at her face for a moment.
They turned around. “Chrissy is best pony!”
A cheer went up from the crowd and we took off down the hallway.
The next short, or possibly even long, while was a blur. A lot of us beat down hostile changelings, but Chrysalis did more than most. The objective wasn’t to kill them, so we mostly let her work her stunning magic.
The battle took its toll on the building. I smelled smoke a few times, and some of the windows got broken. I felt kind of bad, but getting the venue to use for next year’s convention was probably the last thing on everyone’s mind.
By the end, word of mouth had spread and while some people probably still didn’t trust Chrysalis, there was no doubt that they believed which side she was on.
We’d run out of changelings in the immediate viscinity to take down, and Chrysalis paused, her sides heaving with the effort she’d expended. A crowd of willing bodyguards surrounded her, allowing a moment of peace.
I saw Maria pushing through the barrier of people. “Sandy, are you okay?”
“Fine.” I saw Maria’s eyes glare at Chrysalis who modestly looked away.
I caught Maria’s attention and pulled her close. “Believe it or not, this wasn’t her fault.”
Maria sighed. “Yeah, I heard.”
“I know it can be hard to belive that someone can change so thoroughly, but I honestly believe in Chrysalis. It took a while and a lot of relationship building, but roadtrips do wonders.”
“I’m not expecting an apology,” Chrysalis broke in. “I probably don’t deserve one, but I hope that this evens the score somewhat. I’m just afraid of what will happen once I go back. Not only do the ponies have no idea what’s just happened here, but they’ll probably want to lock me up for daring to fiddle with portals.”
“If humans can love you, I’m sure you’ll be fine,” I reassured her.
Chrysalis smiled. “Everything you’ve done for me means a lot. Thank you.”
I knelt and put my arms around her neck. I thought back to the first time I’d held her, back when she’d crashed to the ground and needed help. It felt like we’d come full circle. Maria hesitated a moment, but followed my gesture. The entire crowd took notice and before too long we had the worlds’ strangest group hug ever going on.
I heard Chrysalis sigh happily with emotion. She moved slightly and I took that as my cue to let go. When she was free to maneuver, her wings beat and she rose into the air above the assembled crowd.
“This spell should send them all home,” she told us. Her eyes closed and magic began to build in her horn.
The glow kept getting brighter and I had to shade my eyes and look away. Everywhere there was a stunned changeling, magic collected and began to stream towards the portal in the sky. More and more power built and I felt like if I didn’t close my eyes and cover them with my hands, I would be seeing nothing but spots for a while.
Abrubtly, there was some kind of final flash and the blindingly bright light winked out. I looked around. There were no changelings and no portal. A babble of excited voices went through the bronies around me. It was over. We’d turned the tide of the invasion and come out victorious.
I caught sight of a familiar face among the swarm of other convention-goers. Chrysalis, in human form, gave me a wink. She slipped off her badge and vanished into the crowd.
I stared, even after she was out of view. Maria pulled on my arm. “Hey, Sandy. I’m talking to you.”
“Huh? What?”
“I said I’m going to check up on anybody that might be hurt.”
I nodded and accepted a kiss from her. She walked away. I turned to go down the hall, walking slowly.
We were so, so screwed. Pretty soon the police would be here and they wouldn’t like a story about alien bugs from a cartoon trying to eat our love. The sky portal would raise all sorts of questions, and worst-case we might even have some leftover changelings to deal with. Hopefully the government would come and take them and we would never hear about it again.
I saw a few of my friends and checked in with them. Apparently, the crowd of Pinkie cosplayers was being used as a barrier between the convention center and the rest of the city. Good, we needed something to ease us into this brave new world.
I didn’t want to think about the implications of cross-dimensional contact at the moment. I could probably type for hours about that and never get anywhere close to making a point.
Tristan appeared and I talked with him for a few moments. He seemed depressed that the convention he’d helped organize had turned into a disaster, but optimistic about the publicity it would get.
“Oh, that thing I was trying to tell you before the attack happened,” he said. “I was the one who bought the story you contributed to the charity auction.”
“Oh really?”
He nodded. “I want you to write about this convention.”
“Seriously? I barely remember what I had for breakfast and you want me to write some crazy meta story that the website moderators probably won’t approve about my experiences this weekend?”
“And everything that led up to it,” he added.
I figured it in my mind. “I think that’s going to wind up being longer than the agreed-upon ten thousand words.”
He shrugged. “Do it for Chrissy.”
I considered that. We hadn’t exactly had a smooth relationship. Chrysalis came to me as an evil bug from another planet, after all. After getting to know her, however, I think I’d learned quite a bit. Responsibility, friendship, love. To my surprise, she wasn’t who I thought. That fact may have surprised her, too. She’d changed, and not just in appearance like her power enabled. She’d become my friend.
I smiled. “Yeah. I’ll do it for her.”
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BEST STORY IN A WHILE
A baseball bat is the ideal anti-changeling weapon!
Make Pinkie Pie cosplayers stand in the middle of the road and block oncoming traffic?
Yeah, that sounds about right.
Yes very nice story.
that was good, and here i thought chrissy was actually behind the invasion. well done fooling me
2853910 INDEED
Hooray! This was a good story in my opinon because it didn't go on and on and on, but still retained its lovability. Great job on a great story!
Fantastic ending.
I'd like to believe that EFNW had a covered up changeling invasion this year, because that would be awesome.
2853953 Home Run is best weapon! Don't forget to accessorize though.
Quite enjoyed this little tale. Great work what with blurring the lines of reality, it lent itself very well to this original idea. Would and probably will read again.
2853953
home-run from Hard Reset for instance
BUENO.
Dang, now I really wished I was in Redmond this semester instead of the last.
Chrysalis is best pony... changeling... whatever.
SOMEONE WRITE A SEQUEL!
Person who writes a good sequel will get 10 moustaches (along with a like, fave, and follow).
was awesome
Storyception. Just putting it out there.
2853953
HardReset!Sparkle agrees-
oh wait, people already said that. Poop. Uh, Scout agrees too, I guess
So, Chrissy decided to just stay on Earth? Cool.
Aluminum baseball bat but no unnecessary shouting of "BONK"?!
I totally expected at least one appearance of the word. Oh well, shows what I know.
YAY! 10+ Points.
Welp, this story just disintegrated at the last chapter. It was a good read though.
That was pretty damn entertaining.
2853953>>2854040>>2854046>>2854200
Eakin, if you can hear me, Homerun has landed on home turf! I repeat, Homerun has landed!
Nice, interesting ending. Heh i hoped for more but dang it was already good :D
Duh i hope for more stories like that one ;p
... I'm not sure if I should be geeking out more for Hard Reset's Homerun reference (intentional or not), or for instantly thinking of Earthbound and Ness.
Also, Pen Stroke DOES have some great plans. I would totally listen to his plan. XD
is this why las pegasus was a failure?!?!?!
Not mentioned was the changeling cosplayer on staff, wielding a repeating confetti popper (aka, my mini-party cannon) and swinging a folding hand truck.
Great story.
fc03.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2012/057/9/a/gary_mother_f__ing_oak_by_themasterofshinx-d4r42oc.png
... those don't seem like they would be hard for a changeling to fake along with their clothes...
But then again, these changelings have no experience or preparation, and are unlikely to figure that out in the heat of battle.
2854040
I would agree, but homerun was a wooden baseball bat, which honestly would last longer(aluminum dents really easily, and it would break really, really, easily.
This was awesome!
I still need to know: is that white ranger Big One, Change Mermaid, White Swan, Kibaranger, Ninja White, Gao White, AbareKiller, Dekabreak, MagiMother, or GekiChopper? I'm hoping for AbareKiller.
fc06.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2012/363/7/2/all_of_super_sentai_s_whites_by_taiko554-d594619.png
2853953 BONK!
2854106 Are you in Blutarch then?
Best story I've read in a while, but I feel like shit thinkin chrissy was invading
This is a cool story, sadly I can't keep it favorited because of the two "unread" chapters that is has that you can't read. As in it says that there are, but there aren't any chapters.
Towards the begging of this chapter, I predicted that it would end somewhere along the lines of Chrissy shouting "Free changelings! Who wants to take a changeling home with them?"
I enjoyed this chapter and this entire story. Good job.
2855169
Blutarch?
I was in Redmond last semester (From Dec 2012 to April 2013) for my student exchange to DigiPen US. Wish I'm there right now instead of then. =(
sequel
As soon as I read that, I knew that battle was destined for greatness.
Wut, that's the ending? Kinda anti-climactic, bam boom that went really fast. STILL, IS GOOD STORY.
Based On A True Story.
2855751 It's a TF2 joke. There are two characters in the backstory caller Redmond and Blutarch Mann. Twin brothers who fight over everything.
Totally need a fic where the white ranger from this fic goes to equestria. one-shot or full on. never speaks.
A pistol and a baseball bat? Scout approves.
2855917 Yeah, it's like many one-season anime shows that spend 24 episodes meandering around, and then everything of action and plot happens in the last two at such a frantic pace you're left blinking in bewilderment at what the hell happened to the cartoon you were just watching.
This ending really did lower the rating I would give to the story.
And here I was hoping Chrissy was summoning the changelings to thank the bronies - while she couldn't summon ponies, she could do the next best thing. A changeling for each brony, for a few minutes at least. Feed her changeling horde on the brony love, then head back to Equestria. Still, having a "good" Chrissy isn't a bad thing.
On another note, this story ends rather abruptly. It begs for an epilogue of some sort.
Pfft. The moral of the story is that if you see an evil character from a cartoon fall from the sky... don't interact with it at all.
2856263. Yeah! I was a little disappointed that the white power ranger didn't have an important role. It sounded like he was going to build up to something. But. No
2856246
Ah, I see. Sorry, I'm not too familiar with the extended universe comics.
Changeling Invasion...It's stupid, but my first thought would be "What can I use to rug up a giant bug zapper?" Followed shortly by, "Is there a Home Depot nearby and do they sell RAID?"
2857532 "Do you have a RAID: Pest War kit?"
"I'm not sure. Do you know what's in the kit?"
"GrenRAIDs, a loaded ammo backpack with belt feed and one or two grenRAID launchers."
"Ah. That's the basic GrenRAID kit. Go outside and look for a door with bricks behind it. There will be a brick sticking out a bit. Push it in and take the elevator down. Is there anything else I can help you with?"
"Do you sell battery powered bug zappers with a grip and hilt?"
"We do. I happen to have a picture of one in use."
3.bp.blogspot.com/-5NbLiHPF_zk/UXSNlv-hs5I/AAAAAAAAv44/qbAcOE1f7OI/s400/13525935780471.jpg
NOOOOOO Chrissy should have kept in contact with him.
Well. This was a good read. I'm glad you chose to end it here instead of continuing. It was perfect with the chapter amount and lengths. But bad timing for the upload. Another story that I've been reading, A Novice Swordsman in a Canterlot Court, just posted its 38th and final chapter.
So thank you! But also damn you! (But mostly thanks for this. All of it.)