The Reception's Back On

by sister_mike

Chapter 11

Chapter 11

Twilight Sparkle

An explosion went off. Twilight looked over to see Inkie and Pinkie duck as changeling fragments rained down on them. For now, the changelings were stalled again.

"How much ammunition did that take?" Twilight asked.

"Only one bomb," Inkie said, brushing some ash off of her leg. "How much are you relying on for the big battle?"

"Well, essentially it should hopefully just be the Elements we need to defeat Chrysalis herself... we'll need the rest of you to hold off the changeling swam while we try to battle her," Twilight said. "With the car broken, we'll need to travel by hoof now. Pinkie, you brought the attachments for the cannon right? Everypony will take turns pulling it."

"Yup, I got it. We'll set it up so we're ready to go when you want us to, Twilight," Pinkie said.

Twilight nodded at them and looked around the clearing, taking in the battle damage. Zecora was examining one of CloudsArmor's wings, while Rainbow Dash and Titan Wings were finishing off some last straggling changelings. Derpy was helping Trixie find pinecones and collecting them in a big pile.

"Twilight!"

Twilight turned at the sound of Rarity's panicked voice. Oh no...

Twilight ran over to her. Flam was looking painfully up at Flim, who was cocooned to a tree.

"We can free him no problem," Twilight said. "Rarity, don't you remember the spell?"

"She does," Flam said quietly, "But how much longer before another swarm of changelings come? As much as I hate to say it... it might be safer to keep him here..."

Flam's eyes teared up again as he looked up at his twin. Rarity placed her hoof on his shoulder.

"He's your brother Flam; whatever you think would be best. But we do need to get moving soon, you're right, more changelings will be here any minute, and we need to get to Canterlot," Twilight said.

"As much as it pains me to leave him here... he's safe here. I won't have to worry about him running off and hurting himself. It just hurts because... because he saved me. Like he remembered..."

"That's good; it must mean there's a cure," Twilight Sparkle said. "If you want to leave him here, I can perform a quick spell that will rearrange the branches so he's hidden more."

Flam nodded. "That'd be nice."

Twilight performed the spell. Flim was barely visible in the tree. Twilight felt bad for leaving Flim behind, especially since she wanted to have as many unicorns on the team as possible; but Flam was worried about his brother getting lost or hurting himself, and she was going to respect his wishes. When she thought about it more, if the same thing had happened to Trixie, she probably would have left her behind too for her safety.

"Alright everypony; is everyone ok?" Twilight asked, as they gathered themselves in the middle of the clearing.

Everyone nodded and murmured to themselves. Applejack was still on-and-off crying about Big Mac. Derpy had her hoof around her shoulder, and Rarity had hers around Flam.

Things were getting tougher than Twilight had hoped they would. They'd already potentially lost one of the Elements; she could feel it in her heart that Fluttershy was still ok, but how long would it take her and Big Mac to get to Canterlot? What if the rest of them were impodded or worse by the time they got there?

"Since the car is broken, we now need to travel on hoof. I think we should stray off of the main road, and try to hide in the woods. Pegasi, you can take shifts flying closer to the tree line, keeping an eye out for changelings; but I want everypony otherwise to stick together and stay under cover. We're already separated from Big Mac, the Shadowbolt and Fluttershy, who holds one of the Elements we need. I don't want any more separations.

"I know these past few hours have been hard; we've lost some friends and are now leaving one behind; but I promise you we will defeat these changelings and save the rest of Equestria," Twilight said. The ponies all nodded, some enthusiastically, others exhaustedly.

"We'll need to take shifts pulling the cannon; Inkie has decided to go first. We'll figure out the trade of rotation as we go along. CloudsArmor, you can take first flying shift. We need to move now, before more changelings come after us," Twilight said.

Slowly, they began a formation and trudged into the trees. They decided to keep the cannon in the middle of their ranks; that way, from whichever direction the changelings came at them, the cannon was most centralized.

They chatted quietly as they walked, some ponies ate snacks from their bags. The pegasi rotated, keeping below the tree line, but flying enough that they could see above it.

"It's oddly quiet," Rainbow Dash said, hovering beside Twilight. Twilight nodded, pulling the cannon behind her. She figured they had been walking for about an hour since being in the clearing. Canterlot was coming ever closer.

"I don't doubt they're searching for us though," Twilight said.

"They may have given up for a bit, because they figure they killed off Fluttershy," Rainbow Dash said. Twilight nodded.

"That might be true; but I don't think they got rid of Fluttershy the way they had hoped. I'm sure she's alive and well, and that she and Big Mac, and the Shadowbolt, are on their way to Canterlot; the changelings might be after them, trying to see if they succeeded in getting rid of her," Twilight said.

"I hope they're not after her; poor pony can't handle any more scares," Rainbow Dash said.

"You have to give Fluttershy more credit, Rainbow Dash; situations like these will always bring out a side in a pony that you didn't think was there before," Twilight said.

"True; either way, I just hope she's ok," Rainbow Dash said quietly.

"I'm sure she is," Twilight said.

Rainbow Dash opened her mouth to say something else, when something flashed quickly in front of her and a piece of parchment dropped.

"Hold up everypony," Twilight said, "Titan Wings, keep a lookout. Rainbow Dash, see what it is. It might be from Gilda."

"It is," Rainbow Dash said. "It says:

Dear Dash,

Thanks for the heads up. Our leaders weren't slow to figure out that Equestria was in trouble and that we could be next. I'm not sure what the changelings will do with Griffordia when they get here; they can't harvest griffin energy well. Most of the griffins that were in Equestria when the attack happened were killed; those who survived said that they were put into pods, but that they could easily break out after a few minutes. So while the changelings tried to harvest our energy, they quickly figured out that it's unattainable and therefore they just killed us off. If they attack us here in Griffordia, it's just to get our land and pass on through to the deer lands, because they will be easy to harvest energy from like the ponies are.

You are probably wondering why no one has come to Equestria's rescue; the griffins gave a few tries, but every rescue party we sent out, it came back with only half of its troops. The changelings are growing in power from all of the energy they are harvesting from the ponies. The Queen—Chrysalis was her name? —has grown incredibly strong, stronger than you can imagine. I mean, she has to be if she's defeated Princess Celestia. She rarely comes out and fights amongst the crowds; one griffin came back saying that she was busy partaking in a "very important" project of hers. Whatever it is, it can't be good.

I wish you safe passage and I hope that you succeed in defeating Chrysalis; if not, I advise you to get out of Equestria and come to Griffordia. You could strategize from here. If you have the Elements of Harmony, I'm sure the griffin leaders would be more optimistic in helping you, if you already have the potential power to defeat the Queen.

... your friend, Gilda."

"So they know about the attack, and they already had an idea that they were next," Twilight said.

"I wonder what this 'special project' Chrysalis is working on is," Rarity said. "The thought of it sends chills up my spine."

"I wonder if it has to do with Discord," Applejack said.

"If it does have to do with Discord, then it also has something to do with Princess Luna," Twilight said, "Spike said he overheard Chrysalis arguing with Discord about something to do with Luna."

"Maybe it has something to do with Princess Celestia as well," CloudsArmor piped up.

"Whatever it is, we have to get to Canterlot before she can finish it," Twilight said. "C'mon team; let's pick up the pace."

Comments

[sister_mike]

[DreadedCandiru2]

Wow. This is a rather nasty turn of events.

[mbpony 512]

Bits and pieces of an overall plan of evil.

I, too, am curious about the Changelings master plan for Equestria.

Nice update, please do keep up the good work upon such a great story.

[sister_mike]

1503270
Elaborate? Nasty because they left Flim behind or... because Chrysalis is planning something so evil it will blow your socks off?

[DreadedCandiru2]

1503316
The latter, of course. Time for her to totally freaking die.

[ctzmsc3]

"they figure they killed of Fluttershy"
(... but they didn't, so )

[Yourbannywrote]

"Alright everypony; is everyone ok?" Twilight asked
Why not just- "Alright, is everypony ok? I think the everyone is pointless but its just my opinion

[sister_mike]

1505243

It made sense in my head.

[Sunset_Shimmer83]

i hope pinkie aims that cannon of hers straight at Chrysalis's head