Painted Mirror

by Lord of Turtles

I've been having a rough time

The main force of the changeling invasion landed like a tsunami of shadows onto the unsuspecting city.

They broke into homes, hissing and spitting like feral animals. Ponies woke up in confusion that rapidly mutated into terror as they were held down by scabrous hooves and injected with burning venom. Unicorns channeled their magic to escape or fight back and were surprised to see their magic simply snuffed out before they were able to muster even a basic spell. Pegasi tried to take to the air but found their wings sluggish and their speed too slow to escape the buzzing horde. The only ones that stood any chance were the Earth ponies, their bodies still strong enough to fight even without drawing on magic, but the sheer volume of numbers was insurmountable. Only the group from the party had any chance at escape.

They rushed headlong down the streets and alleys of Canterlot, a rough clump of scrambling ponies, shrieking in the night. The occasional civilian would look out a window or a door to see what the commotion was and grow rapidly horrified as they were given a shouted description by a passing pony. They would then either hide, get their things together to run, or get ready to fight for their homes. The latter ones were usually those not in a position to see the mountain of changelings rapidly bearing down on them.

Raj ran forward, towards a trio of dark monsters that had ranged ahead of the swarm. He swept his ax up, cleaving through two in one hit. The last lunged and sunk its fangs into his presented forearm, but was unable to sink its fangs through the bunched chainlink beneath his uniform. Raj traded the weapon into his other hand and brought the butt of it down right between the thing's eyes. It made a pitiful meep sound before going limp.

“Raj, come on!” he heard Applejack shout from further ahead. “We're almost at the station.”

Rajrishi nodded and shook the dead thing off his ax before moving to catch up.

As he neared the station he heard shouts of alarm and pain, the sounds of fighting. He sprinted down a curving street to see the railyard was bustling with chitinous monsters. A group of the things had moved ahead, either to cut off their escape or just anyone's escape from the swarm.

A group of guardponies were doing their best, fighting with spears and clubs and what appeared to be a wrench in one of their mouths. They were trained and well equipped, but the changelings had them five to one and were acting in a collective concert, stepping forward as one and showing no fear.

Rainbow was the first to join the fight, sprinting ahead of the rest of the fleeing group and shouldering into a changeling's flank. The thing went sprawling to the ground as the rest turned on her, hissing and baring fangs. Rainbow didn't balk and spun to buck one square in the face. She connected and the thing dropped, but another three dove on top of her, pinning her to the ground.

A blast of streamers and confetti blew over Rainbow's prone form, knocking two of the creatures off her. One ducked his head and endured the sudden absurd attack and looked up to find its origin when a tiny, pastel cannon struck him squarely in the face. The thing reeled and fell back, understandably insensate. “Dashie!” Pinkie yelled and galloped to her friend, “Are you okay?”

Dash got to her hooves and growled something that was lost to the dozens of voices bellowing war cries as the rest of the party guests caught up, attacking the swarm's rear with scavenged spears, improvises bludgeons, and their own bare hooves. The guards from the train, seeing an opportunity, redoubled their efforts and pressed back against their attackers.

By the time Raj had caught up, the station square had turned into a confused melee, made doubly so by bursts of flickering light as the changelings shifted form. Raj saw Fleur de Lis dueling an exact replica of herself, aside from one of them fighting with what appeared to be a ladle from a punch bowl. Taking that as fine enough indication, he went after the one without the ladle. Catching it by surprise, he held that Fleur to the ground and darted a hand into her long mane, ignoring her french accented protests. He yanked a few hairs from her head and watched them flicker away into nothing. “Nope.” He muttered before driving his fist into the false Fleur's face hard enough to shatter something. The Fleur disguise melted away and left a motionless changeling, a cracked crater in its face. The ladle wielding Fleur gasped then composed herself, nodded, and then bolted off to find another fight.

Twilight ran frantically, Spike bouncing on her back. She kept trying to vainly cast, shields, rays, any spell at all, but the magic simply wouldn't come and it drove panic into her chest. She looked around, eyes wild.

“Twily!” A familiar voice shouted, “Over here!”

Twilight zeroed in on the voice and saw her brother waving from near a ticket booth. “Shining!” She gasped as she galloped over, barely able to breath. “I don't know what to-”

“It's fine, calm down.” He put a hoof on her shoulder. “I found somewhere safe for you to wait out the fighting. Here.” He opened the door to the ticket booth and ushered her in. “You'll be safe in there.”

Twilight looked and saw a few other cowering ponies hiding in the small space. She started to step in when a snarl came from her back and her tiny dragon friend pounced onto Shining's face. The burly unicorn cried out and backed up, bucking as the little dragon started clawing and biting like a rabid animal.

“Sp-Spike! What're you doing?” Twilight sputtered.

“It's not him!” the little dragon shouted as he kept clawing and scrabbling. “Shining had a cut on his face, this one doesn't!”

Twilight's eyes went wide and her breath caught. Spike was right, and she hadn't caught it.

A flare of light caught her eye and she turned to see the cowering ponies in the booth shift to their natural forms. Twilight surged forward and slammed the door shut, pressing her weight against it as the monsters inside crashed against it. Her breathing grew rapid again, the panic doubling back in a flash.

The thing that looked like Shining Armor let out a roar and swung his head down, flinging Spike hard to the cobblestones. He let out a pained squeak that turned into a wheeze of agony as the thing's hoof came down on his chest. The stallion seethed, his face a ruin of cuts and tears as he glared at Twilight. He snarled, teeth growing sharp as he disguise rippled off and he moved on the trapped unicorn.

“Leave Spikey alone!” came a slurred cry and a white hoof slammed into the changeling's side. The thing staggered and grunted, surprised at the sudden assault.

Rarity was there, dress ruined and makeup in uneven streaks of color. She wobbled on her hooves, still far from sober. In her hoof was a cracked, empty wine glass she brandished like a dagger. “Stay away from my friends you... you... you dick.” she said simply, her wit dulled by alcohol.

The big changeling let out a shout and charged, ignoring its own wounds. It chomped at the drunk fashionista but she swayed out of the way semi-purposefully. She swung the glass and it shattered on the thing's carapace, showering its open wounds with broken crystal. “For Opalescence!” she cried and stabbed with the shattered remains of the glass, burying the stem in the creature's eye all the way to the base.

The changeling, quite understandably, screamed and fell over, writhing in pain and clutching at the sad ruin of its face. It started to crawl away, crying in pain, and Rarity shouted after it “And don't come back you... you.” she swayed again, a flush coming to her cheeks. She looked over at Twilight, seeing her still holding the door with a panicked look on her face. Looking bored, Rarity reached up and pulled a long pin from her hair, finally ruining the carefully assemble art that was her hairdo. She held it to the knob of the door and hammered it in with her other hoof, jamming the lock irreparably. Twilight eased off of it and the changelings kept fruitlessly pounding on the door.

Rarity smiled victoriously and raised a hoof to her friend. “Now... now then darling I believe it's time we quite this soir... swar... thing. The company has grown... um... not bitter but...”

“Sour?” Spike offered as he staggered to his feet, a claw rubbing against his chest.

“Yes perfect thank you... urp.” Rarity let out an unladylike burp and her color changed a second before she violently threw up onto the street.

On the opposite side of the square, Princess Luna slashed one of the Apple Axes at a burly changeling in armor. The keen edge sliced through the plate and chitin easily and it went down hissing. Another creature pounced onto her back and was immediately flung off by the Princess's flaring wings. Letting out some ancient battle cry she flapped hard and took to the air, scouting further targets.

She spied a squad of reinforcements, coming from another group set to cut them off no doubt, buzzing their way towards the station. Knowing that she was the only effective flier in the group, she took it upon herself to deal with the creatures.

Luna battered the air and landed heavily on a nearby rooftop. She sunk the ax into a chimney and shouted up at the squad, yelling and insult in the old tongue she favored. Translated, it said something truly vulgar about their family's inclination towards a creature that was now long extinct, but bred with the excrement of other, larger creatures to reproduce. Despite the language barrier, the insult had the desired effect and the swarm angled on her, picking up speed as she closed for the attack.

The Princess of the Night smirked, the feeling that only battle gave her bubbling in her chest. She bit the grip of the ax and yanked it free in a burst of masonry dust. She slid behind the chimney and curled herself, waiting until the drone of the changelings was very close. Only when they were scant meters from the rooftop did she unfurl herself, both hooves driving into the structure of the chimney.

The masonry exploded, sending a spray of brick, mortar, and soot flying at near ballistic speeds. Much of the squad was immediately halted by the wave of broken chimney pieces, the rest were blinded by dust and debris. Some landed, the rest arrested their movement to hover in place to clear their eyes. The first thing any of them saw was Princess Luna flying at them, gleaming ax held in her mouth. She whipped her head about, hacking and slashing the defenseless creatures. They fell from the air and splatted onto the shingles and cobblestones below.

One of the landed creatures looked up, probing the drifting dust for his opponent, when a black streak tore through the obstruction towards his position. The changeling scrabbled back but was too slow. Luna crashed into him, impaling him through the chest on her long horn. She swung her head and tossed the dying thing off before setting herself as the rest of now-diminished squad closed in, a manic grin in her eyes.

Applejack threw her weight against the doors to the train, snapping the lock and letting them grind open. She ushered a few ponies in that immediately rushed to the front, intent on getting the engine going to make their escape.

She heard a shriek of alarm she recognized immediately and scanned around. She drew in a sharp breath when she saw a struggling yellow form lying in a pool of pink mane, a changeling's maw clutched to her neck.

Applejack was moving in a flash, lasso out and running. She muttered a curse into the hemp and lashed the rope forward. Her aim was spot on and the rope wrapped around the creature's head, covering its eyes. It pulled up, taking its mouth off of Fluttershy and hissed, scrabbling to see. Applejack gave the rope a harsh tug and the thing flew towards her, neck stretching out enough to separate some of the chitinous plates. It hit the ground and was still, bubbling venom leaking from the corner of its mouth.

AJ paid it no mind and raced towards her fallen friend. She rolled her over onto her back and looked her over, “Fluttershy, Fluttershy! Are you alright? What in the hay were you doing in the open like that?”

Fluttershy smiled dreamily and rolled her head, eyes filling with tiny green circles. “Why, hello there Applehat, are you ready for to go to Joy Park? We can ride the night wheel!” she shuddered, giggling and spouting gibberish.

Applejack looked at her neck and saw the puckered punctures there, the wounds faintly green with venom. “Yeah, looks like you got got. Dang it Fluttershy! You were supposed to hide!”

Fluttershy giggled again and unfolded her front legs. “Mister Teeth wanted to kiss Fuzzybottom, but I wanted him for myself.” curled up in her torn bodice was Angel Bunny, fur poofed up and looking absolutely terrified.

Applejack sneered, wanting to chastise her friend but also knowing the uselessness of it. She bit the poisoned pony's dress and dragged her up onto her back before heading towards the train.

Black smoke started boiling out of the train's engine and a cheer went up among the pony defenders. Shining Armor, the real one, barked orders to the guards and they started moving in coordinated lines towards the cars, dragging the civilians when they needed to.

What was left of the swarm collected together, now a much smaller clump, and made one last rush for at the lines. This was very different however. Before they were fighting, now they were simply dying. Drones hurled themselves onto the spears and blades of their foes, giving their lives for even the most momentary tactical advantage. This only lasted a few seconds however before every single one of the changelings opened their backs and buzzed up into the air.

Raj looked around in confusion, close to a dozen dead changelings leaking onto the ground near him. “What the hell was that?” He looked over, doing a headcount.

“Rarity! They got Rarity!” Twilight shouted and pointed up at the retreating swarm.

“H-h-help me!” She cried, flailing in the grip of the bugs.

Raj readied his ax to throw when Pinkie shouted, “Wait, stop, it's a trick. Rarity's right here!” she pointed at another Rarity standing just in front of the crowd of civilians clamoring to get on the train.

Rarity nodded, “Yes darling, don't worry yourself. That's just an illusion to fool you. I'm the one and only!” She declared, hoof pressed to her chest, words coming without a hint of drunken slurring.

Raj hurled the ax, the blade tumbling so fast it looked like a golden blur. It arced forward, right on target with the retreating form of the changeling holding Rarity's right limbs. It would hit, Rarity would drop, and it would be a mad scramble to get her back to the train before-

A small changeling, not much larger than Applebloom, buzzed in the path of the ax and took it squarely to the back of the head.

The swarm, and Rarity, disappeared behind a line of buildings.

“Fuck!” Raj shouted as he lashed out at the false unicorn. It sputtered something before taking a hard kick to the chest that blew the disguise off of it in a burst of green fire.

“Hold on Rarity, I'mma comin'!” Applejack bellowed and charged forward, rope already circling over her head.

Luna stopped her with an extended leg and a flat look. “Neigh Applejack, hold. We have not the time.”

Applejack pushed the limb down and shouted, “You lost your mind? We have to go get her back!”

“She's right, Applejack.” Rainbow Dash rasped and pointed up at the mountain. “Look, Canterlot Mountain is clear. No changelings.”

Twilight shivered. “Which means they're all in the city.”

“The full might of the swarm is upon us.” Princess Luna said with a sneer. “We have perhaps minutes.”

“Then we need to leave. Now.” Raj ordered, his hands shaking. “Everypony on the train, drag them if you have to.” He turned around and shouted, “Get on the train!”

The crowd hurried, ushered on by the guardponies. Princess Luna hurried to the front to oversee the engineers while Blueblood started the arduous process of checking each passenger to see if they were an infiltrator, the possibility more real than ever.

Raj helped an elderly pony through the doors and into the hooves of Twilight and a guard. “That's the last of them.” he told the guard who nodded and passed the message up to the engine car. Raj looked at Twilight and grimaced, “Um, hey Twilight. I need to tell-”

“You're not coming. You're going to try and kill Queen Chrysalis. I know.” She said matter of factly, fatigue lowering her tone. “I figured it out when Rarity was taken.”

Raj nodded, surprised but not really. “Yeah, I have to go.”

“Makes sense.” She looked down at the gap between the train and the platform. “Chrysalis is hurt and she's busy locking down the city. Without Rarity the elements are useless and without magic so are the rest of us. She's vulnerable right now and you're the only one that can. I get it.” She met his eyes. “It's incredibly stupid, but I get it.”

“This is the only chance we have Twilight.”

She shook her head and sighed, “Now Raj, this is the only chance we have now. What about the chance we get tomorrow, and you're not around to help?” The smokestack on the train puffed and barked out a cloud of black. The train jerked suddenly and then started to slowly chug forward. “You're still not coming, are you?”

“Let the others know once you're free of the null zone. Blueblood will know what to do.”

“Applejack's going to be so mad at you.” She said with a despairing smile.

“Tell her I'm sorry.”

“Tell her yourself.” She shot back and slammed the door shut.

The train started to pick up speed rapidly. By the time its caboose had cleared the platform, Raj was gone.

Comments

[NYChris824]

OH GOD

OH FUCK

[Hein des Nisseroi]

She's vulnerable right now and you're the only one that can.

That can what?

[KvAT]

9292628
Save Rarity? Kill Chrysalis? Both works.