//------------------------------// // Episode 0.50: Siege of the Changelings (3) // Story: My Little Pony: The Days of New Equestria (Season 3) // by ScorchingFlamesInc //------------------------------// Thinking of a plan for what to do next was harder than it sounded. The group had to figure out what they were going to do next, while also considering the potential danger outside. After all, they were in an underground area in a town surrounded by rogue changelings and dangerous fog. "So, here's what we know... we can't go outside, first off, because of the green fog," Cozy Glow explained. "Correct," Chrysalis nods. "And all of the changelings outside," said Leo. "Indeed," Tirek affirmed. "Well, we don't have much options here..." "We can stay until the smoke clears," Cozy shrugged. "Who knows how long that will take, or if it will even happen?" Chrysalis asked. "We'll think of something..." Tirek muttered. Cozy Glow was scratching her chin, but she then perked up. "I have an idea..." she said. "It's crazy. I'm not sure how it will play out. It's interesting. And Leo... you may need help for it. No offense, when you find out." "Oh," Leo blinked. "Well... what is it?" *Outside the School of Friendship* There were quite a few Changelings roaming around the misty schoolyard. There was no motivation to what they were doing, aside from preparing to assist in transforming Ponyville into more of something Cicada would prefer. But as they roamed around, there was a small rumbling, and the sound of things being hit from inside. A few raised their heads, but that wasn't enough for them to react quick enough when the doors to the school opened, and in a single-file fashion, three clear domes zipped by out of the school. Chrysalis was in the first one, a dome matching the color of her magic dashing out, and dashing across the bridge. An orange dome with Tirek inside was next, nearly destroying some of the sides of the bridge. Leo sat on Tirek's back, clinging for dear life. Finally, a small ruby bubble flew out, with Cozy Glow flying in the center. Immediately, the Changelings were on the move, accompanied by one of them hissing "After them!". The vile monsters that were once harmless friends started running after the group and pouncing at the shields. Some bounced off, and others... were dragged in front of the shields along the ground before they finally slid away. "Changelings have tough skin. They'll be fine," Chrysalis explained. "Thanks for explaining the obvious!" Cozy Glow shouted. "Focus, guys! We need to get out of town!" Leo exclaimed. "How far are we even able to go?" asked Tirek. "As far as we need to!" Chrysalis yelled. "This fog may be thin enough for us to see a good distance, but that doesn't mean that this will be easy." They all ran through town, changelings continuing to pounce at the domes and pay the price for it. Everyone holding up shields started to struggle a little, but they managed to keep control. Nobody fled without a fight, though. Cozy Glow was focused enough to the point where she'd intentionally ram into changelings that got too close (though every time she did hit them, she would apologize) As to be expected, the green fog still caked the town everywhere they went. However, it was thin enough to the point where Chrysalis could see, giving her an easy time to lead the group around the town, but the shield still acted as both a light an obstruction. There have been a couple of close calls near some sharp turns, but luckily, the worst that happened was when Tirek knocked over a cart with the shield after a brief loss of balance. "Where are we going?" Leo asked. "The Everfree Forest," Chrysalis answered. "Why?" No answer. Instead, they continued running, and dashed right into the forest. Tirek's dome either pulled back or broke branches, and either way, some of them impacted Cozy's shield, in spite of her efforts later on to avoid them. There were still some changelings chasing the group, but only a few. However, they were pretty fast... and they were gaining on the group. The amount of time Chrysalis, Tirek, and Cozy Glow took on holding up their dome shields while running started to take its toll... after all, running while holding up domes or bubbles isn't really easy. It can be tiring if done for a long period of time. However, their persistence to escape forced them to keep up the pace. One changeling was able to catch up to Cozy Glow, allowing it to take advantage of her weakening state and the distraction from the branches to bump into the shield enough to finally throw her off balance. "AAAAAAHHHHH!!" The loss of Cozy Glow's focus sent her bubble down, crashing into the smoky ground. The screaming forced her friends to stop, and see a brief glimpse of her shield fizzling out. "Cozy Glow?" Chrysalis called out. "Cozy Glow!" Through the fog, which while present, isn't as strong, Cozy's friends could see the changelings in pursuit now stand around where Cozy Glow landed. Slowly, a small creature rose, and flew up from where Cozy Glow once was. "Oh no..." Leo whimpered. "We need to go!" Tirek exclaimed. "We'll only be able to save her when it's with the others." Tirek and Chrysalis continued to run, but this time, the changelings didn't chase them. Instead, they allowed Cozy Glow, now a small light pink changeling, to watch as the remaining three victims ran away. But eventually, after running for quite some time, the fog finally came to an end. Chrysalis and Tirek made sure that they were a good distance from the fog and that the coast was clear before lowering their shields. Leo hopped off of Tirek's back. "She just had to fly in a bubble, didn't she?..." Leo huffed. "We'll help her. Do not worry. Not yet," Tirek encouraged. "We should consider ourselves lucky that we were even able to get out of there," said Chrysalis. "Navigating through green fog while holding up shields is far from easy." "Yeah, you did good on that, but still. They got Cozy Glow," Leo said. "Oh Celestia, what if I'm next?..." "I promise you that you won't be," Tirek replied. "You have our word." "It's quite convenient that there's no mist here," Chrysalis started. "I was intending on us going to the Treehouse of Harmony if there was no mist in the area." "Well, I guess we've got that chance, then," Leo said. "Why, though?" "It just feels like a safe haven, or something. I don't know." "Hopefully the fog is very slow, then, because otherwise, our time in our 'safe haven' will be very short lived." "I am very aware of that. It's not too far, so we need to move along." Tirek and Leo nodded in agreement, and then the three of them ran off. *Meanwhile...* Not too long ago, Starlight, Sunburst, and Trixie found the trapdoor that led to the area underneath the school. Once they discovered the room, they searched left and right to see if their enemies were hiding anywhere. When they couldn't find them, they only came to two conclusions. "There must be another secret that they've escaped out of!" Trixie Changeling exclaimed. "Or maybe they've just took the hard way out, and fled through town," Starlight Changeling scoffed. "A smart move on their end if they used the right spells." "We must return to the queen, then," Sunburst Changeling said. "Let's not be cowards. There are many of our kind in town. Which means we'll have many witnesses." "...You're right. Let's go." The three of them were on the move, and they weren't being slow about it. They were out of the school in minutes, and they looked around town. Everyling they asked had answers, and the fifth changeling that they asked knew for certain that they ran to the forest. So then the three of them took the path leading to the forest, and when they got there, a few changelings were leaving... and one of them looked very familiar. Changelings may mostly look the same, but the colors combined with the changelings' ability to tell from one another made things easy to figure out. "This must be Cozy Glow. How did you catch her?" asked Starlight. "She wasn't entirely focused on us catching up to her, so it was easy to knock her down," one of the changelings explained. "Where are they going?" Trixie inquired Cozy Glow. "They were going in the direction of the Treehouse of Harmony," Cozy Glow answered. "Then that's where we're going," proclaimed Starlight. "If we're fast enough, then perhaps they'll still be there. And if they're not, then we'll at least have a lead." Changeling Starlight turned into a cheetah for faster speed, and dashed into the forest. Trixie and Sunburst did the same. *Treehouse...* Chrysalis, Tirek, and Leo all went to the Treehouse... though because of Tirek's size, they couldn't all enter. Instead, Leo decided to run up the stairs and to the highest part of the Treehouse he could view out of so he could scout. "Nothing yet," he called out. "Where are we going to go when it gets here?" Tirek asked. "We'll just keep moving as far as we can, then." "No," Chrysalis said, keeping her back turned. "Well, I mean, we'll think of something, but-" "All running does is just slow things down. If we run, we'll continue to be picked off one by one like Cozy Glow was. And I refuse to lose any more of you to Cicada." "Oh. Well... okay." "Cicada has said that she converted a spell or two into a fog. So..." "...so what you're proposing is that we simply put the reverse of the spells into a mixture, and then turn that into a fog," said Tirek. "Correct?" Chrysalis nodded. "So all we need to do is know the spells and how to make them into fog..." Leo realized. "We've already agreed that we're going to stop Cicada and keep her around long enough to get the information we need to reverse the spell. The spells are obvious, but there's the process, and the question about which spell she used word-for-word." "Don't think it will be that easy, you know..." Chrysalis warned. "Because we'll need to think of a plan that actually works against our conditions." "Yeah, that's... a pretty obvious thing. What with the... changeling horde, and the... fog. And... Uh... I'm just gonna... continue watching. You never know how fast fog spreads." Because he didn't have much to do and he wanted to calm her down, Tirek sat down near Chrysalis. He could tell that she was disconnected, and throughout the whole siege, she gave off a different feeling compared to past battles. "She'll be fine, you know," Tirek assured. "You're right... if we manage to succeed..." Chrysalis felt that her attitude was a bit much. Sure, it wasn't overly angry or bitter, but the pessimism was very clear, and the concern in Tirek's eyes showed it. "I apologize, Tirek. I don't want to continue sound like such a pessimist throughout this whole debacle, but-." "No, no. No need to apologize. You know that I've been understanding to you this whole time too." "And I love you for that. Things like this are why I'm glad we changed. Because if not, who would make you feel better in times like this?" "Allies, maybe, but even then, it could be for personal gain, or all the wrong reasons," said Tirek. "Right, of course. In my case, I wouldn't have been like that if you two were ever like that. I would have probably made remarks, or just rudely tell you to get over it. It's never happened after we started working together, but I know that's what it would have been like." "I would likely react the same way." Chrysalis chuckled. "Yeah right... you may have the strongest figure, but deep down, you were the softest out of the three of us." "Since when?" Tirek smirked. "Since... well, who knows? It doesn't matter now." Just then, something swooped down, and flew back up the sky. Leo returned, with same thought that the others had "Guys... we've got company!" A hissing was heard from above. Chrysalis and the others all looked up, and they saw three large birds circling the group. Two flew down, and when they were close, they were engulfed in green flames, and when they landed, they were now two colored changelings, standing a good distance away from the group. "We have been looking for you..." Changeling Trixie hissed loud enough for them to hear. "And we have been waiting for something like this..." Tirek growled aloud. "We have?" asked Leo. "If you three give up, maybe things will be a bit easier for you," Changeling Sunburst snarled. Trixe stepped aside, and Sunburst turned into a Timberwolf. Then he ran and pounced at the group, but they dove out of the way in different directions, and he crashed into the treehouse. He turned back to normal, and cracked his neck. "We'll take our chances..." said Chrysalis, before she sent three stun blasts at the changelings, her head snapping left and right as she did. They dove out of the way, transformed into small insects to dodge again, and then swirled around the third set of blasts to show-off (as Sunburst swirled, he made his way back to Trixie). When he and Trixie returned to normal, Sunburst just shrugged and said, "If you say so..." Chrysalis, Tirek, and Leo were all ready to fight. They joined back together and stood in fighting poses, ready to continue the battle, when a realization dawned on Chrysalis. "Where's Starlight Glimmer?" Trixie and Sunburst just grinned. Chrysalis was the first to realize that something was wrong. She looked up. By the time the other two realized it, they were all too late. Once they looked up, whatever the large bird in the sky dropped was already about to hit. Chrysalis raised up her shield, in hopes that Tirek and Leo would too. But when the falling object hit the top of the shield, it shattered, and green smoke started to spread, covering every direction surrounding Chrysalis and only slowing down once she could barely see anything. She could only see two silhouettes, and they started to transform. Even though they were just figures, the sight still sickened her. When it was over, the tall centaur figure was smaller, and was the silhouette of something far from it. The other figure was the same as the other, though the other one's a bit bigger and looked more beefy. They both turned at Chrysalis, and they propped their hooves on the shield, forcing Chrysalis to see that Leo and Tirek, like all of her other friends, have become changelings. "Leo... Tirek..." she whispered. Chrysalis didn't know what to do. Because the fog was so fresh, it was much harder to see her surroundings compared to what it was like in town. She took a bit of time to think. "I can't flee... I can't see my surroundings..." she said to herself. "If my guesses are correct, there is one risky option..." After deciding it was worth the risk, Chrysalis teleported out of the shield, and reappeared in the air, a few feet from the top of the treehouse, right as the fog covered the structure. When she flew, the five changelings flew up as well, and watched Chrysalis fly away. Leo wanted to go after her, but Starlight insisted that he let her go. "The Queen insisted that she’d want to handle this one. If she decides to return, she’ll be ready." A few birds flew past them, but one stayed behind, stopping near them. That bird suddenly transformed, in a changeling-style fashion, into an unexpected guest. “No worries…” Queen Cicada said, alerting the attention of the others. “I already am.” *Time Passed…* Chrysalis was alone. Her friends. Her town. Everything has been lost to who she considered was her greatest enemy. When she left the Everfree Forest, she was hoping that the weather didn’t get around the forest somehow, but unfortunately, she was wrong. In the distance near the edge of the forest, she could see a distant green haze. “They must be working on spreading this fog around Equestria. Or it’s just fast and avoiding the forest…” she thought. ”So do I give up and run? Is there no point in trying to get help from afar? The way I see it, even if I took action, things will always get worse. And who’s to say they won’t catch me like they did the others?… I suppose all I can do is continue onward. It would be foolish of me to fight with all of the odds against me. It would be better to find help and get the remaining ponies and creatures to safety before it’s too late. It’s cowardly, but it’s for the best. First off, I must go find the Princess and see if she is okay… in the events the fog hasn't claimed Canterlot yet, or she escaped at the very least.” Chrysalis started to run, but she wasn’t able to go far. The ground began to shake, forcing her to stop right where she was. “What now?…” she whispered. Surely it was just a small earthquake or something. Right? Only earthquakes aren’t common from where she is.. Something was under the ground. It was the only explanation. Once Chrysalis came to that conclusion, the ground rumbled again, and this time, the ground caved. And when it did, Chrysalis found herself in a mouth of a Tatzlwurm that quickly snapped shut.