My Little Forumites are Magic

by Mx Story Anomalax

Reunions and Infiltration

http://preview.tinyurl.com/k6k5yks

The travel was going well so far. Rainbow Dash had taken the lead, flying up high in order to scout ahead and see what was next and how far away they were from their destination. According to Rainbow they were close and probably be there within a day. The others down below relaxed, enjoying the trek knowing that soon they would be battling a strong opponent. Most everyone was quiet and being secluded in their thoughts. Typo was walking next to Applejack, still appreciative of her forgiveness and help.

The sun was still rising. It was a very pretty twilight across the high rocks, and everyone seemed to appreciate the beauty, especially Ying, Jordan, and Typo, who had never been in such large expanses before without seeing buildings. Well, except for maybe Ying.

Rainbow Dash gasped, a little startled, and dashed off forward. "Gottagoseesomethingbye!" It had been a long time, and if it was who she thought it was, she wanted to talk with her. Her old friend was way past uncool, but maybe she had learned something about friendship and other ponies.

Jordan blew it off and told them that if it took more than a few minutes for her to get back, they'd go after her. Applejack and Rarity both seemed okay with this, Rarity even more so after having finally gotten herself gussied up again except for the blood staining her white coat. They all knew Rainbow Dash could take care of herself.
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"Gilda! It IS you! Long time no see." Rainbow Dash felt really happy and dived down to meet up with the griffon, who looked up at her in surprise.

"What happened to us not being friends anymore, dweeb?"

"Well, I thought maybe you'd changed and that we could start over." Rainbow Dash looked a little worried. This was already not going how she had hoped.

Gilda smirked and looked a little annoyed. "Me? Change? Psh. I'm just fine the way I am." She slapped her chest with one of her bird feet. Something was in her eyes though. Something that she was keeping hidden. "Why are you here anyway Dash? You shouldn't be here."

"Oh, I'm just travelling with a group over there." She pointed with her hoof, and Gilda looked over to see. She seemed to get angry, and then acceptance filled her face.

"You're on a mission, aren't you? You always did better when there was something on the line. Too bad the same couldn't be said for our friendship."

"I AM on a mission, how did you know?" She seemed genuinely surprised, but was still trusting. "And what about our friendship?" Rainbow Dash glared at Gilda. "You were the one who was unwilling to make anymore friends! Not to mention you have a really bad idea of what it means to be cool." Rainbow Dash whipped her rainbow hair back and grinned. "But I'm sure we could try again."

"There isn't going to be an again, Rainbow Dash. I'm sorry." Gilda bared her claws.

"Gilda...? What are you doing?" Rainbow Dash took a step back and seemed confused.

"I guess it's time to see which one of us is stronger." She grinned. With a deft movement she threw herself forward, trying to slash at her throat. Rainbow jumped into the air and took flight, looking down at her, angry.

"What are you doing G!? You could hurt someone."

"I am trying to hurt someone, idiot." She jumped into the air, taking flight and circling around Rainbow Dash. Gilda knew her best bet was to take them out one at a time. With the responsibility she had been given in exchange for power, she wasn't going to let some silly ex-friendship ruin her new and better future.

---

The dragon had recovered nicely, and Fluttershy had helped his rage to subside. They might not've taken out all the changelings, but they had done good enough. The others, not expecting another battle, relaxed on top of the dragon as they neared the huge city in the distance.

"THERE IT IS." Thunderhead said. Vark and Fluttershy came over to look out at the ancient city. Pinkie was still unconscious, but Vark had been keeping her company.

http://preview.tinyurl.com/kqcf84f

"We better go in for a landing." Vark stated while looking at the skyline. There were guard changelings flying over the city in patrols. There were also some on the ground as well. Phynicxs came up over the head and looked over.

"Vark's right, we should set down here and sneak into the city from here. If we get any closer they'll see us. It's amazing they haven't seen us yet." Phynicxs was ready for some sneaking. Sneaking was what he lived for. He was Solid Snake. He was better than Solid Snake. Fuck Solid Snake, you can't get any better than Phynicxs.

Thunderhead rumbled his agreement and set down, letting the players and ponies off his head.

Smeareyes thought for a bit and came to a decision. "Phynicxs. You, Vark, and Twilight go in - I think you'll all be able to get in easier if you work together with your aspects and Twilight's multitude of spells. As for me, I'm just a seer. I'll look after Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy'll help. Once she's woken up, we'll follow you." Smeareyes took from his captchalogue deck an orange spray can and tossed it to Phynicxs. "Mark your path, but be subtle about it please."

"Me, subtle? You obviously haven't known me for very long," Phynicxs teased Smeareyes. "I am the EMBODIMENT of subtle."

"Definitely not the embodiment of modesty." Twilight and Smeareyes chuckled. Phynicxs looked a little embarrassed. "Anyways, get going. And stay safe." Smeareyes went back up on the dragon and had a conversation with Thunderhead and Fluttershy while keeping an eye on Pinkie. At one point Smeareyes entertained Fluttershy by pulling things out of his hat. At one point he pulled Angel who was angry and confused. Fluttershy hugged him and put him back, before asking about Smeareyes' eyeliner and would eventually have some put on her so she'd look like a tribal warrior.
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Phynicxs was using a box that looked a lot like a small power generator. Vark followed farthest behind, her feet almost as silent as Phynicxs. Twilight would occasionally use her time travel spell to help Phynicxs take out a guard more easily before being put back where she used the time travel spell, often only doing it when she could run into an alley right after. It was a little bloody, but Phynicxs tried to kill as little as possible. Also occasionally, if possible, Twilight would generate a soft lullaby in the area around her using different sounds from around her and putting it together to put some changelings to sleep. She had other spells up her arsenal then. Phynicxs started to wonder if, in some way, Twilight was using magickind strife specibus.

---

The players and ponies looked up and saw what looked like a fight, as the two figures seemed to get in close before splitting apart, flying around and only engaging at certain points, as though they were pro fliers and knew exactly when to strike based on where the wind was at what time.

Jordan and Ying started to fly toward them.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=zpTjSn8THmw

Rainbow Dash was getting scratched up bad and had only been able to get a few hits in, but all those hits missed. Like she was having the unluckiest day in the world. But at the same time, Gilda wasn't getting any fatal strikes on her, yet. Every time she got hit, she felt like the world around her was getting worse and scary. Like everything was out to get her, and she felt as though that if she had ran into something it would have been completely justified or something. She couldn't quite place the feeling.

"Gilda! I don't want to fight you!"

"Then why are you fighting back Dash?" Rainbow Dash was taken aback and thought about it as Gilda came at her again. Why was she fighting this battle? Was it to protect someone? Maybe. Was it because she felt like there had been a breach in loyalty? Maybe. Or maybe she just liked to fight as much as she liked to fly. Rainbow Dash dodged to the side as Gilda almost knicked her across the throat with her claws, just like she tried to dodge the effects of her uncertainty about her actions.

"I don't know!"

"Then allow me to add a little certainty into your life again, Dash."

Rainbow Dash felt despair wash over her, enraged and feeling like this isn't how it should be. And that moment of distraction was when Gilda grabbed a hold of her, and stabbed her in the head with a claw while Ying was about 20 ft away; although Jordan was farther back. Rainbow Dash felt peace settle over her and acceptance, and at the same time she fought. But what could she fight? Darkness descended on her soul and everything went black.

Jordan screamed and felt every ounce of rage and power surge through him. He held his head in his hands, uncaptchaloging Letum Coupant and flying toward Gilda who let Rainbow drop to the ground as dead weight. The strike had been fast and it had been immediately fatal, and a little bloody, but not as bloody as a throat wound. But maybe if Jordan had just gotten there sooner, he could have saved her. He felt like the lights that kept him going were starting to go out, and he wanted revenge. Ying and Gilda flew at each other. Gilda was faster and seemed to know exactly where to move so that Ying couldn't move into good spots. Jordan tried to go faster.

---

It had almost been a full day. It was night outside and the darkness was creeping in everywhere like living shadows of times long past. Phynicxs, Vark, and Twilight had been exploring building after building, and had run into an uncountable amount of changelings on the way. Occasionally they heard talk about conquests that had happened in different areas of Equestria. And the most surprising tidbit was that ponies were being taken away and used as slaves and food. The changelings fed off love, and were using chemical shots to stimulate the brain of different ponies into feeling exuberant amounts of love.

The kidnappings were confirmed however when they found a bunch of ponies locked in cages in one of the buildings. The conditions were disgusting to say the least, and so bad that you probably couldn't say the most. It just got worse and worse the farther they got in, and noticed there were other creatures here as well. The next few buildings they had to trek through (sometimes having to go from roof to roof,) held even more ponies. Most were trying to sleep, but they were quiet and careful enough because they didn't want to be seen.

All throughout this Twilight was getting more and more disturbed as time past. She thought it was a given that they were going to come back here and free the others, but soon couldn't hold this desire in. When they reached a relatively quiet and empty area, Twilight spoke. "This is insane. I can't believe how many ponies are trapped in here!"

"There aren't just ponies," Phynicxs reminded. Vark was singing a quiet lullaby to help keep all their nerves calmed.

"I know that but... We just have to do something."

"If Smeareyes hasn't caught up to us by this point, we'll most likely have to face the witch with what we have. After we've defeated her and fixed what she's done, we'll do something about the prisoners here. We can't afford to do it now - there are too many - especially too many to escort out of here, even more especially because of all the changelings that are here. We'll have to do something pretty big to fix this situation Twilight. I'm sorry."

Twilight was normally extremely logical and listened to her emotions rarely, but as tears dotted on her eyes, she needed assurance. "Please, Phynicxs, please. Even if we have to fight all of them, please promise me we'll do something to at least try."

Phynicxs hesitated, understanding what a massive promise this would be, and nodded. "Alright. I promise." Phynicxs thought a bit and spoke again. "We should wait here for Smeareyes and the others to catch up with us. Besides, these particular changelings seem to hunt more at night. If most of them are resting during the day we'll have a better chance of getting to the witch undetected."

Twilight agreed with this, and suggested they seek out an office to hole up in for the night.

Phynicxs, used to being stealthy and protecting himself, set up small traps - mostly just bell traps - so that they would know if someone was coming. It would probably give them away, but it might also help save them. Phynicxs and Smeareyes were light sleepers anyway, which he mentioned to Twilight and Vark. He also told them how Smeareyes and him had grown up together for the most part, and had been taught ninja techniques. The area they lived in on their world was one of discretion and stealth, and Ying had actually lived in an area where honor, principle, and morals were held highly. Ying's nature had rubbed off on them as they communicated between each other. Phynicxs stated that he felt that Ying had made them both better people, even if they often fell back on what they had been taught growing up.

---

Ying's movements were fast - he was hurting bad on the inside. He may not have known her for long, but he considered Rainbow Dash a friend, and now she was gone. Forever. Tears filled his eyes, pulled out his eraser sword and swung it at Gilda's neck. Gilda flapped her wings and pushed herself back before leaning forward and flapping her wings to headbutt Ying. Ying fell back and Gilda kept up, pushing forward harder and stabbing at Ying's right eye with her beak, causing Ying to cry out as he tried to bring his eraser back around. Gilda caught it in one of her talons and used her other front talon to slash a deep triple gash through his stomach, making him keel forward. Gilda took this opportunity to grasp onto Ying's left arm tightly, twist her body around, and throw Ying off of her back, Ying having forgotten to fly momentarily, the momentum carrying him a little bit. He grabbed his stomach as blood leaked out and his organs showed slightly through the bloody wound. Ying took in a big, sharp gulp of air as he turned around and looked to Gilda with determination. He felt space power rising through him as his emotions and desire soared, turning around to face Gilda and about to charge right in.

Right after Gilda threw Ying over her shoulder and over her back, she brought her left talon up and caught the brunt of the sword, struggling against an angered Jordan. She flapped her wings hard, giving her more strength and batted the sword away before sinking her already bloodied claws into Jordan's stomach and pulling out. Jordan cried out and felt the emotions in his being intensify and felt his aspect surge around him like a whirlwind. His body fell but as it did, much like a snake, it just sort of split apart and fell off of a bloodied Jordan who grabbed the sword from his falling body and flew up to slash at Gilda.

Seeing Jordan come back up, angry and determined, she danced to the side, causing Ying and Jordan to collide into each other, Jordan's sword going up and into Ying's shoulder and his eraser going through the right side of Jordan's stomach, causing that piece of his body to be erased. They both grunted and tried to pull away from each other as Gilda came down on top of them.

"Life can't survive without LIGHT!" Gilda's form blocked out the sun from hitting them and she punctured her talons into Jordan's head, a feeling of darkness descending over Jordan's features. His emotions bubbled and his body fell off of him again. But this time Jordan wasn't ready and the sword fell with his previous incarnation.

Ying was quick, going up to Gilda and backslashing Gilda, aiming for her wings. Gilda turned her body in the air, the eraser almost grazing her. She looked worried for a second but then grinned as she felt Jordan flying back up at her. She saw his hand glowing with a bright and hot energy and during her twist grabbed onto Jordan's wrist and threw him away from her and at Ying, but not before slicing his hand off. "You may be able to use a form of light, but your "light" is no match for mine." Again, Jordan collided with Ying but this time Jordan didn't get hit by the eraser, but he screamed instead at having just lost his left hand. Ying and Jordan tumbled in the air, trying to right themselves, but Gilda was fast. She came down on them and drove her hind talons directly into Jordan's back, one of the claws barely grazing his heart. Gilda grabbed on tight and did a somersault in the air, causing a bleeding Jordan to go flying backwards. Ying tried to level out as he bled, his skin becoming a little pale, and readied his stance again. His emotions swelled to a crescendo, looking determined to make shit happen. His space powers surged again and he dashed forward at Gilda.

Typo was watching from a distance, and noticed them having a hard time, and decided he should enter the fight.

---

A chime. Phynicxs' eyes snapped open. He immediately brought out his daggers and hid next to the broken door, waiting for whoever was going to come in. After a moment a shuriken went flying through the door and embedded itself on the far wall (they had intentionally picked an area without windows.) "Smear, that you?" He whispered.

"I'm glad you can still wake up to the sound of a chime, Phynicxs," Smeareyes stated. Phynicxs motioned for them to come in and they did. Fluttershy was visibly very distressed, and Pinkie Pie looked a little tired still with wrinkles under eyes, but she was definitely being quiet - she knew how to sneak.

Smeareyes grabbed his shuriken from the wall and put it away (no point in wasting weapons that still work.) "It's almost dawn. I suggested that we sleep and Fluttershy agreed, so we took a nap. Pinkie was the one who woke us, asking where the others were." Noticing Vark and Twilight sleeping, Smeareyes added, "we'll wait for them to wake up, so long as they wake up soon."

Phynicxs and Smeareyes chatted quietly to each other about the ponies and other creatures they had seen in the cages, and things that they'd heard while sneaking around and following their trail. Smeareyes mentioned that they had a dayshift of patrolling as well, but that it was almost always a different changeling as they had to swap out often. Phynicxs and Smeareyes tried to plan a way to get everyone out of the cells, and Fluttershy tried to help, coming up with ideas. Pinkie was taking a light nap. Fluttershy said that there was supposed to be a queen changeling, but apparently someone had taken over. They realized that the changelings seemed to act of their own volition, unlike Thunderhead had, and wondered if just killing the queen would fix this. They had to do something. They decided to just drop it for now and think about it after their main mission was complete. They'd find someway to get everyone out of the prisons.
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Phynicxs and Smeareyes took the lead, Smeareyes occasionally taking out a changeling from far way by hitting their temple with the bladed weapon. Otherwise, if possible, they sneaked past and motioned for the others to follow when they could. The buildings they went through lead to the center quickly, and the farther they got, the higher the tension rised to a point where everyone wished Pinkie and Vark were singing something - preferably Vark as she was a bard and had a bunch of comforting lullabies under her belt.

---

Typo had to hurry, he had to help them. Why? Because they were giving him another chance? He wasn't sure, and he wasn't sure he liked the idea of feeling obligated to them, and swiped it away from his mind, slowing down.

Jordan continued screaming. He tried to use his life powers but was having a difficult time of it. It's like they had been temporarily negated. He looked back at Gilda but felt fear going into the core of his being. It felt like he was losing everything of value to him.

Ying charged at Gilda, and tried to swipe at her but she fell back and grabbed at Ying's wrist as it went by her with her hind right talon. She flapped her wings and did a tight circle and tried to throw him away again, but this time Ying was ready and immediately reached back and grabbed onto Gilda's front right leg, continuing the spin through the air and was about to throw her away his space surged and he felt the holes in his body seal up as green and black fizzed out a piece of Gilda's body. Gilda screeched as she was thrown, feeling the pain immediately. Ying had feathers along his stomach where there had once been a gaping wound from Gilda's claws.

When Gilda was thrown her wings stopped working temporarily and she tried to right herself but was soon set on by Ying who seemed to move faster than ever. He brought his eraser sword up and sliced it down, trying to remove Gilda's left wing, but she leaned to her right as her wings started to catch her. Ying was not finished and his body seemed to blur as his image reset into a position to slice through Gilda's torso. Ying didn't need light to fight. After all, space was space even without light. As the eraser came towards her she threw her lower body up and did a somersault in the air, which barely kept her from being bisected. She then started to dive as Ying's body blurred again before doing a vertical chop with his eraser blade. Gilda went fast and swooped up before hitting the ground and spun in the air to face Ying, who was right up in front of her within two seconds. This time Ying sliced the sword horizontally, trying to decapitate Gilda, but she was fast, throwing her head forward and doing another somersault as the eraser went over her. Her tail flicked ying in the face before she extended her hind talons and tried to grab hold of Ying again, and he blurred and started to stab down with his weapon trying to shishkebab Gilda through the stomach. Gilda gasped and screeched when she felt the space around her stomach disappear, and tried to kick Ying away but to no avail.

Ying blurred again and flew after Gilda as she started to fall. She knew this was a fight she wasn't going to win, and started to dive, followed by Ying. Gilda came close to the rocky tower and pulled up, grazing against it just as Ying swung his eraser blade horizontally, trying to cut Gilda in half again, except this time she wasn't as fast.

Gilda lost her lion's tail.

Gilda looked back and screeched again, pulling a tight turn to the right and looping around and quickly zooming away the way she came. Ying followed, going fast and having barely grazed the ground himself, turning and chasing. He caught up in a few seconds and was about to swing his blade down trying to cut Gilda in half from top to bottom, only to miss as she banked to the left, dived slightly, and made a sharp 360, going back the way she came, looked behind her, and saw Ying chasing after her. Her feathers rustled and she felt fear like never before, and did the only thing she could do as she bled from the hole in her stomach and from her cut off tail.

She spit into Ying's remaining eye.

This caught him off guard and he started to slow a little, crying out. It burned like the sun and he wiped at it, trying to get it out but having a hard time. His eye immediately went bloodshot and got more and more red as he tried to get the spit out of his eye, dropping his eraser blade and rubbing at it, slowing down substantially after a few seconds. He screamed bloody, his emotions rocking him as Gilda got away. He began to cry; to mourn, and the tears helped get some of the spit out of his eye. It still hurt like hell though, keeping his left eye shut tightly as the tears from his bloody right eye smeared it like make-up.

Typo came up to Ying and put an arm around him trying to see what was wrong and if he could help, but Ying shoved him away, causing Typo to feel a little dejected. "Fine!" He quickly flew over to Rainbow Dash's body, meeting up with Jordan who was crying and still bleeding from his cut off hand.

Author's Note:

Rainbow's death is the scene which the cover art is of.