Picture Perfect Perfection
Like usually, the primary Change Industries building was busy as a beehive, employees buzzing around the floors as if their life depended on it. One occasionally heard laughter, screams, or just someone panicking about the fact that a project was nearly overdue. All in all, chaotic, but not more than usual, at least.
There was, however, one man who had a smug smile on his lips as he marched through the busy corridors of the building, everyone who came across him taking a deep breath before quickly returning to their work. Pharynx just chuckled, enjoying the respect that his presence alone could command, something his brother would never be able to do. And speaking of him, that was precisely where he was headed, to his office, all while a knowing satisfaction filled his whole body. He confidently knocked on the two dark wooden doors to Thorax’s office, hearing the echo of his fist from inside the room.
“Come in,” it came back in that disgustingly friendly voice.
With both hands, he forced the two doors apart from him, standing in between them with a confident smirk.
“Ah, I already was waiting for you. I was about to send you something, but it seems I don’t have to. So, what brings you here, brother?” He smirked back, standing up from his black marble table and casually walking across the venomous green carpet.
“Oh, what’s that? Can’t remember what happened to your little Worker, what was her name again, oh, right, Thunder Struck? In the end, all your screaming just landed you exactly there where I was. It was laughable that mother even considered letting you do this. Beating the Rangers requires a hardened resolve and strength, that is all!” He smirked back, ready to hear the groveling or the apology of his brother.
“A failure is only a failure if nothing is gained from it,” he simply returned.
“And what’s that supposed to mean now? You failed, it’s just that simple. Your job was it to recover the Shadow Coins, and you blew it, that’s all that is to it. Don’t start bull-shiting me here that might work on these idiots outside, but not on me. I see through your sweet, sweet words. You know what I hate the most? people that can’t stand to their mistakes and take the consequences I tell you!” Pharynx growled, back, staring daggers right at his brother.
“Oh, I’m very much aware that she did not recover the Coins, but that was only part of the goals she was supposed to achieve for me. While I wouldn’t have minded her to get me the Coins, or at least one of them, she did succeed in the other tasks I gave her,” the younger man returned with a genuine smile on his lips.
“Oh, and what were these other tasks that were oh so important?”
“You know what wins wars?” He became as an answer from his brother who had turned around and now looked out the large glass front at the end of his office.
“Strength, that is all you need to win a war!” He huffed back.
“Strength, you say? I don’t think so. If you just send soldier after soldier at a castle and eventually run out of them, was it the fault of the soldiers, or the failure of the tacticians. What if you instead hunger out the enemy inside his walls? Eventually, they grow desperate or die,” he continued with a sweet tone.
“Pah, we are Changelings, we take what we want, no walls can stop us,” Pharynx said, his hand clenching into a fist.
“It’s a metaphor. Sometimes bashing your head against a wall just doesn’t work. What you need is a strategy. Knowledge is power! You need to know how your opponent thinks, acts, and is capable of. Otherwise, victory can be ripped from you in the last possible moment,” he returned with a certainty behind his warm words that gave the whole thing an unnerving touch.
“And, what has this to do with your failure to retrieve the Shadow Coins?”
“I want to know what the Rangers have at their disposal, the old records are not reliable enough. I want to see what kind of person they are, how they react to moral questions. And I want to see how they will respond to abilities that are more out there. Powers like super speed, illusions, and others like them, I want to know if they can rise to the occasion or if they have problems with that. I need to see them at their best to form a plan to take them down for good. And Thunder Struck delivered me the first pieces in this puzzle,” he said, before turning back to his brother. “This is why I haven't failed.”
Pharynx just glared at him, his body trembling as if he was ready to jump him at any moment. “So you are moving the goalpost. This is just pathetic. You’re ridicules, we should just crush them with our strength. Changelings are unstoppable, and mother even more so. Ruling with an iron fist is the only way this world will change, and we have to approach the Rangers just like that. Like bugs that need to be crushed between our feet so we can move forward. All these scheming will not bring us closer to what we truly want, only the strength to fight the world will!” Pharynx stared at his brother with a conviction, similar to how Thorax had finished his speech.
“I’m well aware of what our goal is and that we need the strength of the hive to achieve it, but that doesn’t mean we are unstoppable. Those who feel think of themselves above things like strategy and their opponents will ultimately be crushed by those who utilize all these things. To save the world, one has to be capable of outsmarting their opponents. Strength alone doesn’t matter the moment you are choking on your own food because you never considered that someone wouldn’t head straight for you,” Thorax returned, his smile slightly fading, a quiet growl taking its place.
“Are you suggesting that I’m weak, are now? That I’m stupid?” Pharynx hissed back, the color of his eyes starting to shift. “Listen up, only because mother decided that I would be hanging around your coattail for a bit doesn’t make me any less than you. You have no idea what strength even is! If you think you can replace me, you can forget it, or I will make sure you know who is the stronger one here!”
With that, he stepped forward, grabbing Thorax at his color and pushing him back against the shelf, a few books falling down to the floor. His eyes glaring at him like one of a wild animal. “I don’t intend to take your place, I plan to save this world together with mother. But if you stand in the way for that goal, there is no other way than to put you in your place,” he returned, this time with an almost sad undertone, but his voice remained firm. While the two stared into the eyes of each other, the lights in the room slowly started to flicker, dimming with every passing second. “If a guard-dog can’t be tamed, the only thing one can do is put him down before he becomes a danger to your own safety.”
“You little-“ He was about to bark further, the light almost flickering out completely, his fingers already starting to shimmer in the green flames when the door to the office was pushed open, and a woman with light purple hair and a soft yellow complexion entered.
“Uhm…” she stammered, dropping the purse she was holding as she saw the two brothers at each other's throats. “Lo… Lord Thorax, you asked for me? I… I can come later if this… if this would be a problem now?” She stammered back, her eyes fixated on them, until she noticed the books beside them, now continually shifting between the two things.
Thorax posture relaxed a bit before calmly returning: “No, you are just on time. We were about done here.” With that, he pulled himself free from the grip of his brother, rearranged his suit, and walked over to her, the light flickering back into focus. “So, Shimmering Dust, I would like to give you a job. One you should be able to accomplish,” he said with a raised eyebrow.
“Ye… Yes, Lord Thorax. Of course, I will…” she stammered, only for her eyes once again to dart at the books on the floor. “But, if it’s no problem, I would like to put these back where they belong,” she pointed at them. “They are somewhat distracting.”
Pharynx had retreated to the other end of the room and let out a dismissive huff, all while Thorax maintained his smile. “Go ahead, we have time.”
>-------<S>-------<
The ringing of the bell was still present in their ears when they walked outside the school, Lemon letting out a loud yawn on the steps down. “Man, that was one of the longest school days ever and so damn boring!”
“Yeah, I know? Still bumped that we weren’t allowed to go outside for the lesson, the Canterlot High students were all outside and just studying there. That’s so unfair,” Indigo huffed, crossing her arms in front of her while frowning a bit.
“That is just a difference in schools. I doubt we can do anything about that in the time we have left at this school. Maybe the teachers will be more open to the idea for the next batch of students,” Sugar returned, a ghost of a smile on her lips.
“Yeah, sucks for us, but hey, at least someone might have something to gain from our idiocy at the Friendship Games,” Lemon returned with a somber smile. “Anyway, we still have four hours until Cadance is done with school stuff, any ideas?” She continued in her usual upbeat manner within seconds.
“Shoot, I don’t know. Maybe a bit of running, but doubt any of you would be up for that, right,” Indigo returned, looking back at her friends who all looked at her with varying levels of disinterest to disgust. “So, any of you have some good ide…” She continued before noticing something. “Uhm, hey girls. You know where Sunny is?”
That was when all four girls suddenly stopped dead in their tracks, letting both Sour and Lemon walk into Indigo and Lightning, respectively. “Wait, what? Yeah, where is she? I saw her leave the classroom with us but after that? Maybe she went to the toilet?” Lemon returned, a look of bewilderment on her face.
“Nah, if she would have gone to the toilet, she would have asked me to go with her,” Sour returned before adding a bit more annoyed: “Or did she go without me? I hope not!”
“That would be totally not her, I tell you. She doesn’t just ditch us. Yeah, she can be a bit pissy sometimes, but hey, she wouldn’t, right?” Lemon returned, a worried frown on her lips.
“Isn’t she back there with Rarity?” They were interrupted by Sugar, who pointed at where the back exit of the school was and indeed Rarity next to her.
“Huh, that’s strange. Usually, she tells us when she is doing something with a friend. That is totally unlike her,” Lemon muttered before her eyes widened in shock. “Uhm, girls, you don’t think… I mean… It could be that…”
Lemon stammered with open eyes at her friends until Sour interrupted her with a loud hiss: “What?” Before continuing with a still annoyed, but far less hostile: “If you want to say something, just say it.”
“You think she is on a date with Rarity?” She finally spat out, her cheeks bright red as well as her eyes pointing at the floor. Her friends were quick to point out how stupid the idea was and that Lemon was being ridiculed, or would have if their mouths didn’t just open without saying a word. You know, this wasn’t entirely stupid. The more they thought about it, the more it actually became plausible.
“You know, I could actually see it. They kinda fit together, are a bit alike if I’m honest. And Sunny always goes for the finest stuff,” Indigo absentmindedly returned. “And I think Rarity falls under that, right.” As an answer, she just got her friends staring at her like she had lost her mind.
“Did you… Did you just call Rarity hot?” Lemon was the first to ask, still staring at her in disbelieve.
She just shrugged and returned matter-of-factly: “Sure she is, just look at her. Don’t you all see that too?”
“I see it,” Sugar interrupted their mutual silence and instead let every head turn towards her, followed by a surprised grunt.
“Wait, what?!” Came it from all of them, their mouths open as they stared in utter shock at their friend who just stared back at them with her calm and collected expression, like always.
“I said rarity looks good. I think anyone can see that. She takes care of her skin, her hair always has the newest fashion and just has an appealing facial structure,” came it back with a shrug, seemingly not at all faced by all of this. But for a second, Lemon could have sworn that there was a bit of red on her cheeks.
“I mean, she definitely doesn’t look bad…” Lemon started before a realization hit her. “Uhm, girls, aren’t they right now getting away?” She sheepishly asked, meet with the silence of her friends as the realization dawned on them.
“Oh, fuck, you are right!” Sour finally burst out, turning around, seeing Rarity and Sunny just walk around the corner. “If we let them get away, we won’t know how well their date went! After them!” With that, she dashed off, right after the two girls, while the three other ones just stared after her.
“Should we go after them? I mean, wouldn’t it be kinda rude to just follow them? I don’t know, just doesn’t feel right. Privacy and all, you get my drift?” Indigo asked, only to be interrupted by Lemon.
“And as her friends, we have to make sure everything goes off without a hitch! I mean, what if changelings just show up and threaten their good time? I can’t let that happen!” She returned with a bright smile on her lips. “Now, let’s go! We can’t lose them! We have to spy… I mean, we have to protect them! All after me!” She screamed while raising her arms into the air.
Indigo just gave Sugar a nervous look. She, however, just shrugged, and before either of them could object, they were grabbed by the wrist and dragged after her as they quickly caught up to the rest of their friends and on a wild chase through the city.
>-------<S>-------<
After about half an hour of chasing, hiding, and generally a lot of weird looks from everyone who saw them, the two girls had finally arrived at their destination. But instead of a fancy restaurant, a cinema or any of the sorts the four were slightly disappointed.
“That’s it? They go on a date here? Neither of them has any money problems; Rarity’s parents are loaded, and so are Sunny’s. Why in Tartarus would they go here? I would even understand a walk through the park, boring as that might be, but the damn Hobby Center? I mean, come on, I can’t think of any worse place to have a date,” Lemon huffed, crossing her arms. “Why didn’t she tell us, we would have picked something far better, right girls?”
As she turned around, she stared into the faces of a hesitant Indigo, a nodding Sour and, well, Sugar with her usual look. “Yeah! Not asking us is totally lame!” Sour groaned, throwing a disgusted look at the building. “How about we sneak a closer look at what these two lovebirds are doing,” she added with a devilish grin.
“I still think we should just-“ That was as far as Indigo got when she once again was grabbed by her wrists and pulled behind both Sour and Lemon, Sugar casually walking after them.
It did take them a few minutes of aimlessly walking around, looking through the windows of doors and generally just searching until they found the two once again. Slowly four heads bobbed up from the window on the door to the small room. The people around them just looked at them funny, but no one cared enough to say something.
Inside they could see a room early similar to a classroom, wool was stacked up on every table, and the people at them were furiously knitting, and amidst all of them, Rarity and Sunny were sitting at the end of the room.
“What kind of date is this, please?” Sour was the first to ask, almost in disgust. “I never thought Sunny would be so out of touch with reality. You don’t bring a girl to a knitting course, expect…” Sour became pale for a moment. “This isn’t something like an early date. This is a partner building date… They kept this from us for so long?” Sour was just staring at the two after her little tirade, the disbelieve written directly on her face.
“I… I can’t believe it! That she would betray us like this!” Lemon added in disgust. “We have to figure out how long they are already a pair!”
Meanwhile, inside the room, Rarity finished the last touches on her knitting project, a light blue, diamond-shaped pillow. With a satisfied grin, she fluffed it a bit, testing its sturdiness. “Now that I call a Rarity original! Right, Darling?” She turned around, presented the pillow to Sunny, who stopped what she was doing with her yellow wool and looked over to her.
Meanwhile, Sunny was working furiously on finishing her own project, but right now, she was desperately trying to get go back a few steps only to do it all again. “Damn it, why won’t you just do as you are asked?” She grumbled as she stared at the yellow bundle of yarn and just pushed it off the table in frustration before looking over to Rarity. “Looks lovely, Rarity. Nothing I could complain there. You are so good with this stuff, why are you even here? Everything you do with this yarn will just end up perfect, contrary to when I try it,” she sighed, holding up the almost-finished thing she was working on. If one looked close enough, it looked like a bird in a way.
“Now, now, Darling. Don’t beat yourself up over something like this. While you might have made a small mistake, that doesn’t mean the whole work is ruined. You can’t expect to be perfect at something the first time you try it, nor the tenth time, or even the one-thousandth time. Making a mistake is just a natural process of learning and getting better,” Rarity smiled back, putting the pillow down next to her.
“I… I know,” she begrudgingly returned. “But at the same time, I hate looking at them, and this thing has to be perfect,” she sighed, looking at the almost-finished bird as if she wanted to strangle it right then and there. “It’s supposed to be a gift, and I can’t give someone something that isn’t perfect. That would just be wrong.”
“Oh, I can somewhat relate. Whenever I make costumes for the other girls, I fall into the same trappings and just work, work, work all night long. But eventually, you just have to accept that at one point, your efforts just diminish. Ultimately the time you invest in something just is not worth it anymore, as hard as it is to accept that. And really, your little plush looks excellent. I’m sure the person this is for wouldn’t mind, it’s self-made after all,” the white girl returned with a wide smile.
“Uh, if it would only be so easy. It’s not just a birthday present, it’s a thank you present. It’s supposed to show how grateful I’m to this person, but I can’t give her something less than perfect, or she’ll think she doesn’t mean much to me,” she sighed in return, letting her head sink onto the table, a ball of yellow yarn rolling next to her.
“That doesn’t look like it’s going so good. I mean, just look at her. She seems so frustrated. If we don’t do something, she is gonna piss Rarity off,” Lemon hissed, staring at Sunny, who glared at her own project while Rarity was pretty much done at this point. “Any ideas how we could turn this thing still around at this point? I don’t want her first relationship to end this way.”
“I don’t know. This is the worst possible outcome. If she falls into a heartbroken trauma, she won’t be able to fight, and we need her. It’s our duty as her comrades to get her out of this tight spot,” Indigo returned, a look of pure determination in her eyes.
“You two are really sure about this? I mean, this totally violating her privacy. I just don’t feel very comfortable doing that, you know,” Sour hesitantly added, holding onto the last slimmers of hope she had that they could just leave.
“Whatever you think we should do, we can’t hear a single word from her. So we probably should get closer,” Sugar returned, not diverting her look from the door for even a second.
“On, who’s side are you even on?” Sour hissed, giving her an annoyed glare.
“Sunny’s,” was the only answer she received much to her frustration.
“You’re awful, you know that,” she sighed before adding a defeated: “Fine, we gonna try and get something from her. So, how exactly did you geniuses think we can listen in on her without being spotted?” As she asked this question, she only received silence. “Of course…”
“So, who is the plush for anyway? You said it’s for someone very important? Could it be that it’s your crush? A handsome young man with the manners of a gentleman? Or a passionate young lady if that is more your style? Oh, that sounds so exciting,” Rarity returned, already lost in her dream world of princes and love.
“Yeah, sorry to disappoint on that front Rarity, but it ain’t a crush. I’m making this for Indigo. She helped me a few days ago, and I kinda thought I could start with her. I don’t intend to stop there as well, all my friends deserve one of them, and they too have to be perfect. Otherwise, I would just feel like I’m not doing everything I can for them while they take everything for me, you know?” Sunny looked down at her project, the one mistake just glaring her in the face. “On a related note, how are your friends?”
“Oh, you mean Sunset and the rest? Most of them are excellent. They are already intermingling with the Crystal Prep students, even Twilight. It’s impressive how much this school has changed since the Friendship Games,” she said enthusiastically.
“That’s good to hear, but we are still ways off of being a school like Canterlot High. But glad that everything is fine, Rarity.”
“Well, not everything. Twilight has a few problems with her boyfriend, Timber. Recently, he had a lot of very important things to do far away from the city, and Twilight really misses him. It has been almost a month since they went to something like the planetarium or a museum. Twilight just has gotten a bit restless since then, but at the same time, she knows how important the stuff is that he does so she doesn’t want to say anything, but she is definitely hurting,” she sighed, shaking her head a bit. “You know, it’s really annoying. Before this, they worked great together and now… It feels like they are just on two different paths. And you can’t hate either of them because both have good reasons and-“ Letting out a frustrated huff Rarity let her head sink into the pillow she just finished. “Why can’t anything be easy for once?”
“Eh, the only way anything is ever easy is if you’re prepared for it. Very prepared,” she sighed.
“Not so sure about that Darling, not like you know what will happen to you that day, and sometimes life throws you a curveball that you are just not the right person to deal with, but that’s what friends are for right?” She said, an absentminded smile on her lips.
“But what is when you are on your own, and your friends aren’t there, what are you gonna d…” She was about to return when she suddenly stopped midsentence as she hared something fall to the ground. “Excuse me for a moment, I think I have to talk with someone,” Sunny continued, a very annoyed undertone in her voice. As she stood up, Rarity looked after her a bit confused by all of this.
Sunny walked directly towards a closet on the other end of the room, a closet four girls had cramped themselves behind next to Miss Precouse Needle, here teacher who had dropped a few supplies on the ground right next to them. The moment they saw their friend walk towards them, they started to panic, or more precise Lemon and Indigo were panicking; Sour was just burying her head in her hands, and Sugar just looked at her. With Lemon’s and Indigo’s frantic movements, it didn’t take them long to topple over and land on the floor with a loud 'umpf'.
Sunny just stared at them before grabbing both Lemon and Indigo on one ear and drag them behind her, not without loud complaints and yelps from the girls. Sour just trotted after her, her cheeks bright red, and her head lowered to the ground while Sugar just trotted after them, seemingly utterly unfazed by the situation.
After the door slammed shut, it was like a tornado had been unleashed, a very loud, angry tornado. “So, care to explain to me what in the name of Tartarus you are doing here?” She asked, glowering at them while still holding tightly onto the poor girl's ears.
“Oh, Sunny, what are you doi-“ That was as far as Lemon got when her ear was pulled even harder, letting the girl whimper in pain.
“Oh, don’t give me this ‘What are you doing here’-crap! You were following me, so spill why! You won’t bullshit your way through this!” She hissed back at her with one last pull on her ear for good measure.
“Ok, ok, we followed you, you got us!” She whined, trying somehow to get away from her and without hurting herself, a task that seemed to grow more and more impossible by the second.
“I knew it! So, why exactly are you stalking me? Only because we are friends doesn’t mean you can just invite yourself to everything I do! Got that?” Both Lemon and Indigo just noded to the best of their abilities, and with a loud huff, Sunny let go of them. Both girls were rubbing their ear after for at least a minute. “So, talk, would you?”
Both girls shared a last look before sighing, and Lemon started to answer her. “Ok, ok, just, don’t do this again, and we talk.”
“Ok, now talk,” she coldly returned, the piercing glare in her eyes still as present as before.
“Good, uhm, we-“
Lemon was interrupted by Sour: “Oh no, you and Indigo. We two were just dragged into this mess,” she pointed at herself and Sugar. “We had nothing to do with all of this, so if anyone’s gonna be punished for that boneheaded decision, it should be one of those two.”
“Oh, and if you disliked the idea so much, why are you here?” Sunny returned with a look that told Sour all she needed to know.
“I… They dragged me! That’s just unfair!” She huffed in return. “I would never invade their privacy like this!” She added in her sweetest voice, possible. The only thing she got in return was Sunny’s raised eyebrow. “Oh, crapbaskets.”
“So, where were we before a certain someone rudely interrupted us?” Sunny continued.
“Yeah, we were about to tell you that we wanted to see where you would go on a date with rarity,” Lemon just sighed, rubbing the back of her head nervously while her cheeks had taken on a very red tint.
Sunny just stared at her in disbelieve. “What?” That was the only response the girls got, that and the expression on her face.
“Oh boy, we are in trouble, aren’t we?” Lemon sighed, nervously looking over to her friend.
“Oh, oh, yes, you are. All of you! How can you even think this was in any way, ok? If I do something without telling you about it, you can guess that it’s something I want to do on my own, especially when it should be something like a date!” She growled, finally founding her composure again. “Even if this here is no date, I’m gonna treat it as if it was. You know how awkward it would be if I would go on a date, and my friends would follow me around like this?”
“Very awkward,” Sugar matter-of-factly returned.
“Wait, what do you mean with ‘even if this is no date’?” Indigo asked, looking slightly confused.
“Well, I don’t know what your brain thinks it means, but I’m not on a date with Rarity! We are just friends, and she asked me about a sewing course since we both are interested in stuff like this, and no of her other friends are all that into it. That’s all! No blooming romance, no forbidden love, just two friends that do something together!” She hissed, clenching her fists together while practicing her scariest face she could muster.
“Ohhhh,” it went through the group, both Lemon and Indigo facepalming simultaneously. “That explains that. So this was all just a misunderstanding then? Oh, well, it happens. We’ll be going then.” But before Lemon and Indigo could book it, they were once again garbed by their ears and pulled away by Sunny.
“Yeah, a misunderstanding, definitely. Doesn’t change the fact that you were stalking me. I’m gonna have a word with you two,” after she said that she turned around quickly before saying: “As well as you. Don’t think you are out of this, either.” Sour and Sugar just shared a look, Sour anxious while even Sugar’s usual faced was breaking at least a little bit. But ultimately, they followed after them regardless until they reached a small breakroom that wasn’t in use anymore.
“Now, since this is all cleared up how you disregarded my privacy for your own curiosity, what should we do now?” She asked, a devilish smile on her lips.
“You forgive us because that’s what friends do after all?” Lemon sheepishly returned.
Sunny just sighed and let her head hang low. “Really, at one point, one would think I would learn that you are all idiots that never do what any sane person would do. It’s really easy to get angry at you, but at the same time, it’s impossible to stay mad at you as well. You know you are the worst, right?” As an answer, she just received sheepish grinning. “So, how does that sound, you apologize for what you did, and then we forget about this, well until the next time you pull a stunt like this. So it’s in your best interest to not do this again. And that apology is not just for me, it’s also for Rarity. So, do we have a deal?”
“What? That’s all?” Indigo blurted out.
“Well, I could always spank you if that is what you want,” she returned with a devilish smile, much to the horror of her friends.
“No, no, no, we have a deal! We have a deal!” Lemon burst back immediately, her cheeks red as can be, much to the delight of Sunny.
But her chuckle was interrupted when the door to the room opened again. “Oh, we are sorry. We were done here any way we will leave right away,” she said as her teacher, Miss Precious Needle, stepped in. “Oh, you were looking for me? I’ll be back right away.”
“Oh, yes, I was looking for you, Sunny, but that was because of something else. You’ve got something I want, and that is th…” that was when she actually looked at the room and noticed the four other girls as well, her eyes widening, but that was already far too late. Her arm had begun to be engulfed in green flames.
“You’re a Changeling!” Lemon was the first to scream out, already pulling out her Shadow Coin.
“Well, the bug’s out of the sack, I see. By Chrysallis, where did you all come from? I wanted her alone,” she growled as the flames consumed her entirely, turning her gray skin and yellow hair into purple chitin and two large blue-green butterfly wings. Her face also took on the form of that of a butterfly, two large red eyes with antenna, and a trunk where her mouth would be.
“Light up!”
[Re-Re-Red!]
[Shine Bright! Red!]
[Bl-Bl-Blue!]
[Shine Honest! Blue!]
[Ye-Ye-Yellow!]
[Shine Wild! Yellow!]
[Pi-Pi-Pink!]
[Shine Glamourous! Pink!]
[Gre-Gre-Green!]
[Shine Courageous! Green!]
Just two seconds after the two sides had transformed when the body of the Changeling came crashing through the door with the five Rangers storming out of the door. “What did you do to Miss Precious Needle?” Sunny burst out, pointing at the Changeling, who pulled herself out of what remained of the door.
“She’s just taking a nap. But she isn’t the one you should be worried about… I mean for!” She growled, shaking her head before correcting her mistake she returned, only to receive a boot to the head from the Pink Ranger.
“Sorry, not really that worried about you. But I can make this quick if you want. I’m not in a good mood, so don’t expect mercy from me,” she returned before dashing forward, punching the Changeling right in the face once again when she was standing up.
Or at least that would have been what she wanted to do if not for the fact that she just passed through the monster. “What?” She stared in disbelief at her hand and the beast only to feel a sudden kick to her behind as she was thrown forward. “What?”
Out of thin air, the Changeling appeared from where the kick had come from, clenching her fist at her own success. And before any of the other Rangers could storm towards her, four additional copies of her appeared in front of them, stopping them dead in their tracks.
“Hey! That’s not fair!” Came it from behind the four figures by Lemon, who just growled before dashing at one of them, only to run straight through her and headfirst into the next wall. “What?” She asked from beyond the newly formed hole in the wall and the small collapsed bookshelf next to her.
"And five on one is?" The Changeling returned, the voice seemingly coming from everywhere.
“She is using illusions. One of them could be her while the rest are just a figment of your imagination!” Sunny returned, carefully looking a the four remaining Changelings to figure out any sort of difference between them, but there was nothing, nada, zilch. They all looked exactly alike, like copies.
“Yeah, you can’t win. You will never know which of us is the real one! So better give up now so you may live,” it echoed all around her, making it impossible to realize who of them was the real deal.
“Damn it,” she hissed, stomping the ground in frustration and hitting one of the books that had been scattered across the ground, thanks to Lemon. That was when she noticed it, one of them moved their head slightly, just a bit, following the book with a slight twitch. A small smirk crossed her lips as she saw that.
Wasting no time, she pulled out a Coin and slammed it into the Morpher.
[Ch-Ch-Chain!]
Out of the device, a single dark chain shoots out towards the Changeling, who had looked after the book, wrapping her in between its links. Instead of just going through her like before the chain actually pulled snug and with a forceful pull, the Changeling flew towards her and received a quick kick to its face, landing before her in a daze.
“Huh, seems like you can’t hide your mistakes,” she chuckled before stoping and adding a simple. “Yeah, seems you can’t do it.”
“Ok, let’s finish this, girls!” Red shouted out, pushing in the Coin into the Morpher. The rest of her fellow Rangers followed suit, and soon the sound of their Finisher echoed through the now deserted halls.
[Fi-Fi-Final! Red!]
[Fi-Fi-Final! Blue!]
[Fi-Fi-Final! Yellow!]
[Fi-Fi-Final! Pink!]
[Fi-Fi-Final! Green!]
The cloud, like always formed around the now bound Changeling only for a glowing red fist to punch her right in the jaw, followed by blue, yellow and green until the Pink Ranger jumped right in front of her and delivered a devastating gut-punch that let her simultaneously explode and be thrown through several walls.
When she collapsed on the street outside, she was already losing consciousness, only for everything in her body to feel like it was burning in seconds. With a loud scream, she felt her body growing as her chitin strengthened once again, and all the damage dealt to her repaired. She could even see the Ranger storming out of the building with a glowing light.
[He-He-Hellhound!]
[Le-Le-Leviathan!]
[Ro-Ro-Roc!]
[Wy-Wy-Wyvern!]
[Ma-Ma-Manticore!]
Once again, the five robotic animals emerged and grew to gigantic size, dragging the Changeling into their world. Without even landing, they quickly started to combine.
“Shadow Star Megazord!”
With the ground shaking, both of them dashed forward, the blade of the Megazord slashing right at the monster, only for it to hit the air and instead slice through several buildings that quickly collapsed under the weight. Like on command, the Zord was thrown forward and landed on the ground, crushing several buildings beneath it.
As the Rangers stood back up, they were surrounded on all sides by the Changeling with no way of knowing who the real deal was. “Fuck!” Was all Lemon hissed as she stared on in disbelief.
“Don’t worry, I got an idea!” It came back from Sunny, who slammed in a Coin into the slot in front of her, the rest of her friends just nodding in agreement.
[Ch-Ch-Chain!]
Once again, the Coin appeared on the chest of the mecha. Swinging the sword in its hand, the weapon extended outward, turning into a gigantic, pink glowing chain that slammed through the Changelings until it reached the real one, entangling it.
“Let’s finish this!” Sunny shouted before the light in the chain started to glow bright and bright, all while the monster screeched across the empty city, breaking glass in the near vicinity. In the end, this did not help her in any way when the light reached its brightest point, ripping her apart in a green explosion.
>-------<S>-------<
After things had calmed down once again, something that happened surprisingly fast in Canterlot City, they were sitting in a pizzeria just a few blocks away that Rarity had suggested, the ‘Magnum Opus’. Sunny still looked at them as if they would ditch at the first chance they got, and she wasn’t exactly wrong.
“So, why did you want that I talk with your friends for a while, Darling,” Rarity asked after taking a sip from her glass.
“They wanted to tell you something,” she said, a devilish smile on her lips. “Come on, you can start.”
“We are sorry,” lemon finally said after a few seconds of silence.
“For what would you be sorry Darling,?”
“For following you and Sunny around all day because we thought you two went on a date. We were just too noisy for our own good and didn’t respect the privacy of our friends,” she sighed, hanging her head in shame.
Rarity just looked at them for a few seconds before starting to laugh: “Oh, you all are delightfull. Apology accepted. But you are all so cute, caring so much for your friend, even if it manifested in a not entirely healthy way. But it makes me happy how much her friends care for Sunny. You really aren’t the same girls from back then, are you?”
“Yeah, they aren’t, and I’m happy about that, even if they fuck up a lot. But it makes them who they are, and they bear their faults on their sleeves like it’s nothing. It’s kinda admirable,” sunny added with a chuckle.
“Yeah, we are awesome, aren’t we? Wait, what do you mean with ‘their faults on their sleeves’ exactly?” Lemon shouted back, looking somewhat betrayed at her friend, only to get a chuckle from her.
“That’s not a bad thing. Nobodys perfect. In the end, it only matters what you feel, right?” She looked over to Rarity, who simply gave her an approving nod.
“By the way, Indigo, I have something for you,” she added with a wide grin on her lips, and after a bit of digging around in her purse she pulled out a yellow wool-plush-bird and held it out towards the girl. “I know it has some little blemishes an-“
Before Sunny could continue any further she was interrupted by Indigo’s screech as she ripped the bird from her hand and started cuddling it like a puppy.
“Oh my goodness, oh my goodness, oh my goodness. It’s so cute! Is that what I think it is?” She squeed.
“Yes, yes it is,” she sighed in return, a satisfied smile on her lips. “A small present for what you did a while ago. Didn’t feel comfortable giving this to you until now, wanted to get it picture-perfect, but yeah, I think you still gonna like it.”
“Like it? I love it! This is perfect! Thank you so much,” she got in return.
“And the rest of you, don’t worry, you get yours soon enough,” she sighed, having already seen the expecting shimmer in her friend's eyes. They looked at her for a moment before the entire table burst out into laughter.
Stats
Page generated in 0.028 seconds
Total duration
1,082 users online
1,958,383 hits today, 1,996,409 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
9857438
Yeah, personally had a big dumb grin on my lips as I wrote that one.
9881573
Oh for the love of... God damn it! I thought I caught all of them! Apparently not. Yeah, for some reason I confuse those two constantly, even if they aren't in the same chapter... I hope that get's better or that will get a bit awkward later on...
Yeah, I must admit, I had way too much fun with motorcycle stuff in my Kamen Rider story and didn't want to stop writing bike stuff, so I just gave them bikes, not like that is something new for Rangers.
Not bad, though in some ways the real hook for me was the confrontation between Thorax and Pharynx. I'm really interested by the portrayal of Thorax in this, he's still affable but also much more on Chrysalis' side, which is a real fascinating twist.
That being said... dude, seriously, you should invest in an editor. Still more typos in this chapter (a real big one is one time "Precious" Needle is misspelled as "Precouse"), and also some turns of phrase that aren't used right (like say, Pharynx saying "crushed between our feet". It should be "beneath".) The last section of the story needs some cleanup too, since there's missing punctuation here and there plus one time where Sunny's name isn't capitalized.
Still, all in all, I did like this. I liked that Sunny's meetup with Rarity was just them hanging out and not a date. That was nice.
9881628
Well, that's good to hear. I tried to involve them more compared to my last story so they don't drift too much in the background.
Yeah, I'll probably start searching for one soon, at this point I'm really noticing it...
Yeah, I really enjoy all this slice of life stuff right now, before everything goes to shit.