The Reception's Back On

by sister_mike

Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Twilight Sparkle

"The Shadowbolt can see through the changeling's disguise magic; that's why it didn't want to be seen by the Shadowbolt!" Twilight explained.

Titan Wings hissed and changed back into its original changeling form.

"Careful! It's probably here to scramble Twilight!" Rainbow Dash said. The changeling wrestled with the Shadowbolt.

"Quick! You two go back to the forest; the Shadowbolt and I shall take care of it and meet you back there," CloudsArmor said.

"Alright, but act fast! We need to move away from Ponyville as soon as possible, now that they know we're here," Twilight said.

Twilight and Rainbow Dash ran out of the library and towards the forest. Two changelings popped out from either side of the library's exterior and flew after them.

"Sorry Twilight!" Rainbow Dash said. She picked up a book out of her back and chucked it one of the changelings. It hit it in the head and caused it to stumble in the air for a second. She took another book and threw it at the other one. It did the same.

"Nice aim Rainbow Dash!" Twilight said, though she was sad to see the books go. Knowing her luck, it'd be one of those two that had the cure to the magic scramble problem.

The changelings continued to chase them. As soon as Twilight and Rainbow Dash crossed over the threshold into the forest, the changelings stopped. They hissed at them and threw their bodies towards the borderline, but an invisible force kept pushing them back.

"They really can't enter," Twilight said. Her heart was racing. They had to start assembling quickly and preparing their plan before the changelings decided to surround the whole forest and block their ways out.

They arrived back at Zecora's hut just as Flam's car was pulling up beside it.

"What is it, what's wrong?" Applejack asked.

"Changelings," Twilight said, "One of them tried to trick us in the library and then two of us chased us here. They're outside of the borderline of the forest. They really can't enter."

"Where are the Shadowbolt and CloudsArmor?" Fluttershy asked.

"They were taking care of the changeling in the library; I'm not sure what they're going to do now. We need to mobilize now, before the changelings gain in number and surround the whole forest," Twilight said. She pushed past them and into the hut.

The hut was a mess. Pinecones and leaves coated the floor. Flim and Trixie were wrestling over a clear patch of floor. Twilight wasn't surprised to see Pinkie Pie soothing the Cakes' twins.

Twilight jumped on the table again to address the room.

"Alright everypony, we need to move and we need to move now. I want everypony to have a bag on their back full of supplies. Big Mac, Applejack, I want you two to distribute apples amongst the bags; Rarity, I want you to put a seam binding spell on the bags containing the Elements; Zecora, I want you to pack medical and first aid supplies; Pinkie, I want you to make sure that the party cannon is now party-free and ready for explosives; Inkie, I want you to make sure that at least each pony who is coming with us has a bomb in their bag, with the exception of Flim and Trixie."

"They're coming with us? Won't they just slow us down?" Rainbow Dash said.

"It doesn't matter, we're not leaving them behind. If we can figure out how to fix them along the way, that's great, if not, doesn't matter. Trixie's sporadic magic saved me once, I wouldn't be surprised if it did it again. We need all of the unicorns we can, scrambled or not. I showed Trixie how to use magic once and she remembered for a little while, and that's a start; besides, we can't leave them here with Apple Bloom, it'd be too much for her to deal with," Twilight said.

"What! I'm stayin' behind?" Apple Bloom said.

"You bet you are," Applejack said. "We'll make sure we leave you plenty of apples."

"But that's not fair! I've been stuck in here for the past two and a half months! I want to go fight the changelings too!"

"Apple Bloom, you can't, you need to stay here; not just for your safety, but you need to watch over the twins. You'll all be safe here. The changelings can't get past the borderlines of the forest," Twilight said.

Apple Bloom continued to argue and followed Applejack and Big Mac back out to the car to begin distributing apples.

"Flam, I want you to make sure the car is in tip-top working condition," Twilight said.

Suddenly Rainbow Dash yelled something incomprehensible and tackled somepony to the ground.

"Rainbow Dash! Get off! That's the real Titan Wings! The changelings can't enter, remember?" Twilight said.

"Oops, that's right; sorry man, the changeling we just saw was impersonating you," Rainbow Dash said, as she helped Titan Wings up.

"Everypony pay attention! We can't afford any delays! Titan Wings, I want you to help Flam load the cannon onto the car once Pinkie's done de-partying it. Everyone else, just make sure you have everything you need packed and that you're ready to go," Twilight said.

Once all the preparations were ready, everypony went outside. CloudsArmor and the Shadowbolt met up with them just as they were assembling beside the car.

"There are more of them coming, but there aren't a lot right now that we can't handle; plus we don't need to leave through the way we came in. We can travel through more of the forest this way and emerge elsewhere, outside of Ponyville," CloudsArmor said.

"Won't it be easiest to follow the train tracks back to Canterlot?" Twilight said, "I can use my magic to alter the wheels on the car so it will go on the tracks."

"That might work," CloudsArmor said, "but there's a small assembly of changelings waiting for us just outside. We don't want to deplete all of our weapon resources right away."

"We won't have to," Inkie said. She dug something out of her bag. A fat stick of dynamite. "This will get rid of them."

"Alright everypony!" Twilight said, jumping onto the car, "I want all unicorns and earth ponies to ride on the car; pegasi you follow in the air, flanking us."

Applejack and Big Mac gave Apple Bloom one more big hug, as did Zecora. Pinkie kissed the twins good-bye and told them to be good for Apple Bloom.

"Inkie, will that explosive work if it's fired out of the cannon?" Twilight asked. Inkie nodded. "Alright then; let's fan out!"

Flam drove the car towards the borderline of the forest.

"CloudsArmor, fly above and see how many there are waiting for us," Twilight said. She turned to Inkie, who was manning the cannon. "Inkie, get ready."

Inkie pushed the stick of fancy dynamite into the cannon, while CloudsArmor flew ahead and above the tree line. He came back quickly.

"There's only about twenty of them," he said.

"Twenty? That's an awful lot," Applejack said.

"Not compared to what we've seen," Pinkie said. Rarity nodded.

"It's true, it could be a lot worse; they usually travel in bigger swarms than this," CloudsArmor said.

"Flam, drive up right to the borderline; everypony, brace yourself and plug your ears. Inkie, get ready to fire on my mark," Twilight said.

Flam inched the car closer to the border. They could now see the changelings waiting outside. They snickered and hissed at them.

"Flam, get ready to speed off as soon as they're hit; pegasi, get ready to fight any stragglers," Twilight said. She turned to Inkie. "One... two... NOW!"

Inkie lit the end of the dynamite and pulled the cord of the cannon. Twilight plugged her ears and flattened herself along the bottom of the car. Trixie screamed as a few of the pinecones she had brought along went flying off the car.

There was a tremendous bang and the sound of squeals.

"Flam, go now!" Twilight said, as she lifted her head.

Without a second thought, Flam put the car into full throttle and sped through the changeling debris. Their journey to Canterlot began.

Comments

[sister_mike]

[Sunset_Shimmer83]

oh ya you take that you damn changelings. i really hope Trixie and flim will be okay in the end

[mbpony 512]

Nice update, but while I know that it was wise for them to leave Apple bloom and the Twins in the safety of Zecora's hut with food and supplies, surely they would at least left a few defensive spells just in case the Changlings do figure out a way into the forest, right ?

Nice update and interesting team, it's going to be a fun ride to Canterlot. I can't wait to see what happens next in this storyline of yours. So please do keep up the good work.

[ctzmsc3]

"canon", twice.

These changelings are sneaky!

[sister_mike]

1473691

You can't beat the magic of the forest; if Twilight felt there was any chance of the changelings finding a way in, she'd have done something like that, yes.

1474019
That double "n" just refuses to get in there