Ariel scuffled to a stop. She turned around, shining her torch on Logan and the dimly-lit storage room behind him.
"Did you hear that?" she stammered.
"Hear what?"
"It..." Ariel's brow furrowed. "It sounded like somepony's voice..."
Logan gestured at the flickering, static image of Onyxxus in the corner of the room. "You sure it wasn't this exhilarating motherbucker?"
"Hmmmmmmfff..." Ariel's nostrils flared. "I dunno. This one sounded more desperate... high pitched..." She pivoted once again, waving her torch towards the opposite end of the room. "...more adorable—"
"Ariel!"" Rainbow Dash hollered in her face.
"Gaaaaaaaa-beeeee-cheeeeee!" Ariel flailed wildly, dropping the torch. Before she could recover, a pair of blue forelimbs wrapped tighter around her.
"H-help me, Ariel!" Rainbow Dash sobbed, clinging to the mare. She buried her face in Ariel's fuzzy chest and stammered: "It's loose! It's after me!"
"Whoah...!" Logan flinched with his grip of the axe. "The Hell did you come from, Rainbow?" He craned his neck to look across the dimly-lit chamber. "Where's Double-Yoo?"
"Oh gosh oh gosh oh gosh..." Rainbow Dash whimpered, hugging Ariel tighter. "I'm so scared. So friggin' scared. Ariel... Ariel y-you gotta save me..."
"It's... it's..." Ariel was short on breath. She reached a shaky hoof out and patted Rainbow's back. "It's going to be okay! I promise! What's the matter?" Despite her trembles, she narrowed her eyes and spoke firmly. "Is it Discord? Have your friends vanished again?"
"We have to get out of here." Rainbow gulped, grasping Ariel's shoulders as she gazed deeply into her eyes. "Just you and me."
"Wh-what?"
"Rainbow..." Logan squinted at her. "...the Hell is going on—?"
"Shut up! Just sh-shut up!" Rainbow hissed, tail flicking. She brought her muzzle so close to Ariel's face that they were practically nuzzling. "You love me, don't you?!"
Ariel's ears instantly folded as her eyes went wide. "I... I-I-I..."
"Then you'll do this for me! Please! Forget the others!"
"Okay..." Logan marched towards the pair. "Now I know that something's—"
"Get away from her!" a voice cracked from the distance.
Ariel and Logan instantly looked over.
Standing limply in the entrance to a stairwell were two figures. A thoroughly bruised Wildcard... and Rainbow Dash. The Desperado brandished Bard's staff while Rainbow pointed at Ariel and the doppelganger.
"It's a changeling! One of Tchern's! I... I-I think it just freshly hatched!"
Logan's face distorted into a grimace. "'Hatched?'"
"Hrshhhhhhhhhh..." Fangs protruded from the doppelganger's muzzle. She lifted a blue forelimb and—within seconds—it morphed into a bulbous husk of black chitin. Bright green flame billowed from within as she aimed the body part at Logan and—
POW!
—launched it at the stallion with a burst of emerald gas.
THOKKK! "Aaaugh!" Logan fell one way and his axe rattled in another.
"Big Show!" Ariel shrieked. At that very moment, the lopped-off limb of the creature narrowed into a tentacle that surrounded her neck three times. "Grkkkk!"
"No—!" Rainbow shouted from afar, wings flexing.
The doppelganger spun and morphed until she was positioned directly behind Ariel. With a tentacle wrapped around the mare's neck, the rest of her turned into an athletic old mare with a gray-streaked red mane. "Back off, creeps!" she spoke in a booming voice, dragging Ariel backwards. "You cannot have her!"
Ariel sputtered her breath. The pegasus' eyes teared up as she managed a mewling breath: "M-Mom...?"
"Dammit, Ariel..." Logan hissed. He struggled to get up as his body steamed in multiple places from the gaseous impact. "That freaky thing ain't your mom!"
Schiiing! Wildcard made to charge the creature from afar.
"Wait!" Rainbow anchored him in place by his tail. Swallowing, she slowly approached the metamorph from afar. "Don't do this, please..." She trotted underneath flickering lights and past the translucent mess that was Onyxxus' hologram. "I know what you are." She took a calm breath. "You're tired. You're hungry. You need emotions to sustain you—"
"You've put my daughter in danger," the mare seethed, her eyes changing color each time she glanced at a different Heraldite. Dragging Ariel with her, the creature made its way for a stairwell leading up the neck of Darkreach. "I'm taking her someplace where we'll be safe. Where we will be warm and secure!"
"Just minutes ago, you wanted to take me back to the hammock to cuddle forever."
The mare trembled at that. Her mane turned fully red for a moment, metal ringlets forming and dissolving.
Ariel glanced at the phenomenon through the corners of her twitching eyes. "Oh Goddess. What's happening—?"
"Stay calm, girl..." Rainbow looked at the metamorph's face again. "It's not me this is about... or your 'daughter.'" She shuffled to a stop, gesturing. "This is about your Mother, isn't it?"
The mare's muzzle grew black fangs for a fraction of a second. "Mother..."
"She left you here, didn't she?" Rainbow stared firmly at the creature. "Abandoned you. Planted commands in your head. Left you starving in a strange and unfamiliar place." She shook her head. "It wouldn't be the first time. It's... okay to be scared. But you don't have to be doing what you're doing right now."
"I... I must get my daughter somewhere safe..." The creature's face became an old mare's again. It leaned in to nuzzle Ariel's shoulder. "Mortuana should never have touched her. I never agreed to this..."
Ariel almost wretched.
"She... is not... your daughter..." Rainbow growled.
"Rnnnnngh..." Metal lenses flickered into place, pistoning savagely towards Rainbow as Roarke hissed, "And what do you know about family?! You could have died in peace! Loved and cared for! But you abandoned me!"
"Stop... grnnngh..." Logan hobbled onto all fours. "Trying to reason with the little crud!"
Rainbow's eyes darted from Logan back to Roarke. She frowned. "You...? You're going to lecture me on abandonment?" Rainbow gnashed her teeth as her voice took on a melodramatic tone: "Just like you talked Bellesmith into abandoning Kera at Lerris?!"
There was a masculine gasp. Stripes formed along Roarke's face, followed by a mohawk and skull plate. "Kera..." Milk-white eyes twitched as Pilate stammered, "Beloved, I-I never meant to..."
"Now, Wildcard!" Rainbow hollered. "It's blind—!"
With a breathy grunt, Wildcard flung his staff like a javelin.
Thwifffffffffft—!
Bard's weapon sang through the air, missed Ariel's skull by millimeters, and skewered Pilate's face straight through his jaw.
"Grkkkk!" The changeling flew back into the wall behind it, pinned to a mana-console by the staff. The leyline array was completely shattered by the impact.
"Ooomf!" Ariel fell to the ground, trembling all over.
In the meantime, Onyxxus' hologram completely vanished as multiple light fixtures sparked and ruptured.
Lights shorted out across the common room of Darkreach.
Kepler and Flynn spun about, eyeing the sudden energy shortage.
"Harrk!" Kepler gasped through his tusks. "What is trranspirring?!"
Sparks fell from mana consoles, littering the Verdestone mosaic and surrounding floorspace.
Seraphimus flinched from where she was chained to the pipework.
"Manafeedback!" Flynn stammered. "I think a leyline junction was damaged somewhere in the colony!"
"Does that mean a powerr rrupturre?!"
"Not if I can stop it!" Flynn galloped out of the flickering room. "I gotta get to the generator room!"
"I'll help you—!" Kepler rushed after him.
"No!" Flynn paused just long enough to point at Seraphimus. "Stay here! Guard her!"
"But—"
"Let me handle this! We can't leave her alone!"
As Flynn left, the wyvern shuffled nervously by himself in the center of the room.
Seraphimus' eyes narrowed as the environment around her grew dimmer and dimmer.
"Ariel!" Rainbow rushed to the pegasus' side. "Are you okay?"
"I... I..." Ariel grasped for her. She trembled in Rainbow's protective grip. Tears poured from her twitching eyes. "I feel..."
Rainbow squeezed her shoulders. "It was feeding on you. Don't worry. You're safe now—"
"Look!" Logan shouted.
Everyone spun to see...
...the changling's head splitting in two obsidian-colored lumps of chitin. With liquid grace, it slithered away from where the staff had impaled its skull to the mana array.
"That's..." Ariel's muzzle hung open, twisted. "...way goopier than I remembered."
"Mgrnnnghlllghhh..." The changeling rippled upwards, took on a quadruped form, and materialized just long enough to hiss at Rainbow with Gold Petals' face. "Hresssssssssh!"
"Oh buck you..." Rainbow sneered.
But instead of charging Rainbow, the creature morphed so that it was facing the opposite direction. In a blonde blur, Gold Petals galloped towards the nearest stairwell.
"Dammit!" Logan charged after the thing, dragging his axe.
"Big Show, wait!" Rainbow reached after him in vain. "Let's at least keep it alive so we can—"
Before she could finish that speech, the exiting changeling flung off its tail. The limb fell on the ground in the shape of a black husk and—PFFFFFFFT!—expelled noxious fumes throughout the room.
"Guh!" Logan scampered to a stop then frantically backtrotted. "Holy shit!"
"Poison g-gas!" Ariel stammered, clinging to Rainbow.
"Everypony..." Rainbow Dash dragged the two of them away. "Find an exit—!"
A shrill whistle.
Everyone looked over.
Wildcard was picking up Bard's staff beside the sparkling console. He pointed the weapon at the stairwell beside him. Just then, there was a bright red flash of overloading mana. With a mechanical groan, the door to the stairwell slid swiftly shut.
"Hurry!" Logan charged meatedly towards the closing exit. He slammed into Rainbow and Ariel, shoving them towards the door.
Wildcard ducked under. With the space available, he reached the staff out.
Rainbow dove forward. She gripped Ariel with one forelimb and reached for the staff with the other.
Wildcard yanked the two mares safely into the stairwell. However...
"Big Show!" Ariel's voice could be heard shrieking, then—THUDDD!
The door shut completely, locking the stallion inside the room with the spreading green gas.
"Rrrrrgh!" Logan kicked and punched and bucked at the door, but it wouldn't budge. He heard the two mares shouting his name from the other side. Gritting his teeth, he turned to look at the rest of the room.
Sparks flew as the other doors slammed shut. The noxious gas spread, making the chamber even dimmer... darker.
"Grnnngh... kaffff..." Logan coughed and sputtered. His angry eyes teared. "Oh yeah... kofff... this is hella sexy..."
Called it as soon as "Rainbow" showed up. Geez, that's nasty.
...Whoa. That's new.
Oh hell. That is new and very unwelcome. What the hell is this thing, part T-1000?
Teh Changling is feeding, taking the forms of loved ones.
Its heading for Seraphimus just as the mana feedback hits the crystal core.
I dont think Darkreach is going to last that many more chapters, and Im not sure how many aint going to make it out unless Ffllyynn get enough Mana charge to teleport out and Logan has a fatter ass than the blast doors.
Gas powered changelings, never thought I'd see the day.
Welcome to your stay on the Dark Side, where all the tropes and cliches you can imagine can come to life!
And damn, you just reminded me that Ariel's mom died when she was young...
NOPENOPENOPENOPENOPENOPENOPENOPENOPENOPENOPENOPE-
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This changeling is all by itself in Darkreach and has way scarier abilities than the Light side changelings. It gives me vibes of "Darkreach experiment goes wrong and kills everyone."
Eh? When the hell did the T1000 show up?
Well, they still have a chance to talk it down, though it clearly doesn't have the whole story if it thought that Rainbow could stay with Roarke in Val Roa.
It reminds me of the regenerator necromorphs from Dead Space.
Hated those bastards.
Also, oh hell, it's heading to Flynn next.
-Through the path long forgotten, into the darkness long begotten. Ofolrodi.
Well, fuck.
... Well jeeze How do you even hurt these things? The only thing I can think of is fire and even that would probably not work as well as I'm thinking.
It's sure gonna be hell when we encounter the army of these things.
Well crap...
Welp this isn't good....
My Little Pony: ARMS are magic.
Well that sure is some nifty powers the changelings on this side have. I wonder who else we will get cameos from before this is dealt with. Also I bet the Changeling is going to totally be the one to free Seraphimus. I'm also guessing they might form some kind of renegade faction in this whole ordeal.
8314046
Well, we did encounter an army of hard-to-kill zombies in Stratopolis (Granted, the Sword of Solstice was there), so this situation ain't that much different
We're just going down the list of Aliens and The Thing references aren't we? I guess that makes Wildcard the Vasquez of this sequence? Good job on possibly exploding Darkreach. Is it a Desperado mandate to progressively make each situation you're in more and more lean towards explosions?
And yeah, Light Side Changelings ain't got anything on Dark Side Changelings it seems, especially in the durability department.
This one still seems mostly just confused and afraid. Its mostly acted just to feed or defend itself. Not even sure the poison gas thing was intentional on its part.
Wonder if Darkreache's ventilation system can be controlled to clear out a specific room? Interesting they even have some kind of lockdown procedure like that. Flynn's probably the only one who can unfuck this situation at the moment.
Boooooooo to Tchern's treachery!
Man, these Dark Side changelings are nasty critters, ain't they? I sure as hell wouldn't want to go up against one.
Also, like some other people have pointed out, I look forward to seeing what happens if/when the changeling decides to mess with Seraphimus.
Nope nope nope I've seen this show before, and it ain't pretty.
I can't help but worry rainbow ruined any chance of reasoning with the changeling with that little trick, ingenious though it was.
Not Logan!
Super excellent strategy.
It all went so badly so quickly!
OH YOU LITTLE SHIT
8314196
Either that or the best character in the group gets gassed
Wait until it changes into Seraphimus' husband or child and Dash beats the crap out of it in front of Sera.
The lower entrance of the room was a destroyed wall segment, correct? Logan should still be free to simply leave the chamber through the lower levels.
Also, imagine just one changeling with such capabilities making it to a Night Shard fortress or a Sarosian warship. Even if they nullify its ability to cloak - unless they both have means to utterly eradicate every bit of changeling magic, just a few of the bugs could obliterate entire squadrons of enemies with ease. On top of that, they should be by far the most rapidly reproducing of the three races. How on earth have they not won the war yet?
Now, watch it imitate Verlaxion and Sera's family... and Seraphimus ripping it a new one.
8314699
I don't think it's possible to make Logan more gassy than he already is.
8313981
This is what might get Seraph's co-operation. Or at least get her to actually consider options other than being a b#$%h.
Rainbow just rolled a 20.
A different breed of changeling, this one...
No! Dont hurt the heavy!
8307626
...I thought it was a formation of space fighters.
Now I too, see the plane.
Something tells me that this won't end well.
How desperate do you need to be before you start flinging your own body parts around in a fight? Or can Tchern's changelings regenerate lost body parts?
Let me reiterate and stress a thought from a few books back:
Changelings OP, pls nerf.
Well, I was sure it was either going to be Big Show or Flynn. Guess we know who now. Although, there's still time for him to make a miraculous escape. Perhaps through an air duct?...
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8314851
Damn, forgot that one. Thanks mate
Since it could obviously read Rainbow's memories to have mimicked the Jurists, why didn't it pick up on all her dealings with the changelings on the light side? It could have seen how it was just like Ebon Mane, and perhaps that it too could choose it's own destiny.
8315439
Likely because it was starving and confused. It likely didn't want to take the time to read more than what it needed to feed.
8314732
If they can really all do this, mental instability from both absorbing their targets' memories and being fed on a diet of negative emotions. Probably. Or maybe the other two sides are just as op. The Night Shard literally eat souls, so there's that, and maybe the Sarosians have 40k levels of tech or something
8314742
Both proof of the Herald telling the truth and forcing her to deal with her emotions. That'd actually be really handy.
8314888
I think we found the next fan-named changeling.
8314718
You know that scene in a movie where the main characters eyes go wide, and the camera somehow closes in on their face as the background draws away? That's what happened to me when I read your comment.
So now Changelings are invincible? Because I am pretty sure that way back when, Changelings died in lesser ways than a staff through their skull. I hope that isn't what we are going to expect once we finally meet Tchern.
Non solid Changer form. Pneumatic limb/tendril launch?(like Zerg Hydralisks) These changelings are a seriously vicious upgrade to ones we've seen previously. Also, Big Show's not looking so good.
They asked Kepler to guard Seraphimus. I believe the phrase IC used in an earlier book
applies best to that situation.
10/12/2017
21:02 UTC
Yknow, that is cleaver if you ask me