sponsored Rarity's Fabulous and Frightful Fashions: Nightmare Night Costume Show and Contest

[RarityDash]

"That's not gonna stop me from tryin'!"

Luxuria smirked at the sight of the changeling Aria, now free of her bonds. She gave a small laugh.

"Finally free are we? I had wondered if you weren't possibly not even enough of a changeling to break from one of your own kinds' cocoons..." she said, narrowing her eyes. When her changelings dog piled Aria she just laughed. "But as you can clearly see, one changeling against many can only get so far..."

​

"This is the Royal Equestrian Army, changeling! Surrender Immediately! We have the building surrounded!"

This sudden announcement was rather jarring. The pony military, here? Surely it couldn't be.. There were shadows in the right shape however... but how could they have surrounded them so quickly. She felt a tinge of anxiety and on instinct some of the changelings guarding the rear of Celestia began to step away.

"Wait...!" Luxuria started after a moment, throwing out her hoof, causing the drones to stay in position.

She recalled some of the things then that that pitiable creature Snively had conveyed to them about the plan. The REA shouldn't be here. Not yet. Ponyville was a small town that didn't have a large REA presence and any chariots coming in from the nearby Canterlot were to be shot down on sight. It just wasn't possible unless the entire invasion had already collapsed... and if that was the case, she was not reasonably going to win regardless now. She couldn't account for what she was seeing of course, but everything she knew about the situation made her sure it couldn't be genuine... and if it was indeed a bluff, she'd just have to test it. Either way the response really was about the same.

"Oho? I don't think it's going to work like that, soldier. Changelings... we don't surrender," she called out in the direction of the shadowy figures. "So if you're going to apprehend us all, I say you come and get us!"

​

"I will have enough of you.......only when your broken body will lay at the doorstep of establishment belonging to mare whose identity you stole. Retribution..."

Unbeknownst to Luxuria, while she had her back turned, dealing with the shadowed figures claiming to be REA, a certain Ghoul King had emerged from the chaotic swarm and made his bold declaration and leap. She did hear his hate drenched words until it was too late. There wasn't time for her to move out of the arc of his attack, and the sharpness of his sword would be more than enough to wound her grievously. Her eyes went wide, certain she was beat, when at the last second one of her changeling comrades flew in between Luxuria and the sword aimed at her neck.Luxuria flew from her perch atop Celestia's cocoon as this unfortunate drone fell to the ground, bleeding and twitching.

"You'll pay for that!" Luxuria started, her anger rising quickly. "Attacking me while I was off my guarding, forcing one of my friends to offer himself up as a shield to protect me... Have you no manners? It's truly barbaric."

Her supply of changelings was thinning from the assault they were having to endure. Keeping Celestia reinforced was paramount though. If they could just hold Celestia, Luxuria was sure that in time she would receive reinforcement from the Queen and the others. For now, they had to make sure this Ghoul King and the others didn't get her free. She gave a nod to some of the changelings around the cocoon. Four of the changelings who had been siphoning energy directly from Celestia all this time, suddenly stopped and fired charged blasts of magic at Squall, sending him flying back a distance. These four then flew to engage the stallion as two other changelings took their place in the thinning formation around the cocoon. Luxuria slowly resumed her perch atop the cocoon.

​

“Let me go! I never wanted to be here tonight, but my dumb parents made me go! Can’t you give me a break and let me go back home?! Look, Miss… errr… whoever your name was,\ I promise to do anything if you untie me; cross my heart and hope to fly. I reallllllly meeeean iiiiiittt.....”

Luxuria laughed at the Chrysalis costumed little brat as she called out to her, begging for freedom.

"An amusing creature you are," she started, giving a chuckle. "But no... I don't think I will free you. Instead, I think I may just present you as a cute little pet to the Queen herself. Surely she'll get a kick out of the upstart little pony brat who thought it wise to dress as her this night..." she added, her laughter growing as her voice got more sickeningly sweet in tone.

​

[starsprite]

star sprite watched the ghoul kings assault and he wanted revenge. star sprite was as angry as he could be right now, but he had at least a shred of common sense still in him to know not to do a full out assault from the front. star sprite quickly jogged around the area stealthily until he arrived at the building. he flew to the top of it and noticed that the fool named luxuria and her minions were looking away from his location. if star sprite where to attack he knew he'd need a good velocity and with the weight of the blade it should deal as a mighty blow. he didn't want to yell anything because then his cover would be blown.

Starsprite flew as high as he could with a good angle of the back of luxuria's head. he noticed that one changeling ould see the glimmer of his blade, but no mater because the changeling was to far away. star sprite started his dive for this changeling, he knew if it where to hit her she would be unconscious for at least 30 minutes.

star sprite messed up, when star sprite was 2 meters away from luxuria's head he made a noise. he yelled out of pure rage "RAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH". but at least the handle of his key muffled the sound dramatically, but the group right there could still hear it.

[Mojo]

Now Pigpen decided to make his move. The still dapper dressed stallion noticed that the green facepaint that was dripping off his face was dissolving tiny holes in the cocoon. Reaching into his fur to bring out the vile, Pigpen immediately poured it out along a line that soon made a larger tear, allowing him to squirm out of his encasement, In the process of escaping the cocoon, the stallion lost both his cape and hat. Now his trash can cutie mark was completely exposed. But in the struggle for freedom, two more things had happened. First, his loyal pet flies (who were hiding under his hat) were now loose and buzzing all around. Second, the three small jars of his favorite cheese had been squeezed out of the pockets of his cape and had landed with a crash on the floor, instantly breaking open.

"There goes my favorite snacks!" the now uncostumed stallion lamented. "I'd been aging that Limburger cheese for over a year!"

Soon, the pungent smell of the cheese began to fill the room. It didn't bother Pigpen (he loved the smell) but now the bad odor radiated outward, getting stronger with each passing second. If changlings had any sense of smell at all, it was bound to affect them. Unfortunately, any other ponies in the room would probably smell it too.

[Blueblood]

Naturally, of course, Psmith had not expected Luxuria to surrender simply at the sight of some disguised mannequins. That hadn't been the point, anyhow; the colt had only hoped to divert her attention long enough for one of the better fighters to get a crack at her. This had been accomplished, at least, but it still left open the question of what he was going to do now that his bluff had been called.

A dressmaker's studio and boutique was not exactly the best place to look for weapons; the schoolcolt had had to improvise. "Alright, if you're not going to do this the easy way... Private! Fire the repellants!" Dismissing the shadow illusions, Psmith then used his freed magic to launch the contents of Rarity's makeup drawer towards the cocoon. It was another bluff, of course; as far as Psmith knew, makeup wasn't actually toxic to changelings, but it made an impressive cloud on impact.

By fortuitous coincidence, at that exact moment, Pigpen's cheese jars broke, releasing their pungent smell. Capitalizing on the verisimilitude this gave his ploy, the unicorn called out in a differently disguised voice. "How do you those, stinkbugs? *Cough*"

After that, Psmith wasn't able to speak much. In fact, he was near approaching magical exhaustion; the sweat on his forehead was dissolving the goo in his turban, causing green liquid to drip in his eyes.

[tacobob]

The Pegasus mare was hoofing out a good deal of punishment to her Changeling doppelgangers, but she appeared to be receiving a fair share of it back in return. Her once fine Wonderbolts replica uniform was now in shreds and there appeared to be bruises on her so dark, that they were plainly visible through her vivid red coat. Still, she pressed on, knowing that the longer they were able to feed on Celestia, the more powerful they would all become. She cringed as Swift Squall was thrown back, thankfully he appeared to be just dazed, and while she wanted to go back for him, she knew it would simply give her foes more time to drain her beloved princess. So she continued to press on, slamming her front hooves into any of the shape-shifting creatures that got close to her, and sending out a thunderous kick to those in the rear.

The thinning formation near Celestia's cocoon, gave the mare an sense of hope, but she quickly lost it as she realized that she was starting to get tired, while the Changeling foes she was facing only seemed to be getting stronger. There was also those pesky magic blasts that they kept hurling her way. While she was able to avoid most of them, she decided to try out something. After slamming two of her black scaled foes' heads together, she quickly removed her goggles and just as one of the green energy bolts found its way towards her, Fire Walker held up the eyewear just in time for the blast to hit the reflective lenses to deflect the magic, which she aimed directly at Luxuria. With luck, maybe her own minion's magic might be strong enough to knock the cackling gargoyle off her perch!

[QuickLime]

"Keep talking Captain" He said quietly, now the fillies legs were all set, and he carefully and gently placed her on his back, her hooves looping over his neck and hanging down his chest , glancing at the Coocoon "We need to find a way to get Celestia out...they are feeding off of her love" He muttered, the world around him was a blur, "But we need to get you out of here too " He levitated up that bit of wood AppleBloom had been planning on carving Celestia out with and he frowned.. the Changelings were thinning...He took a breath and quietly crept forward, moving slowly and carefully as to not jostle AppleBloom, magic moving the twig over to weave between the changelings, and he shut his eyes hard, focusing on moving that big of wood up and down to scrape away at the thick coocoon. "Ghn.."

Focusing got harder as the air filled with a pungent smell.

[Paaaad]

After several minutes of effort, Calliope finally burned a hole in her cocoon, allowing her to enlarge it by the simple expedient of moving her horn around until she could get her head out. Unfortunately, this also allowed the cheese smell to get in. Gagging, she quickly looked around and, spotting a piece of ribbon hanging on the stage, ripped it off, then in half, and stuffed it up her nose. Having done that, she quickly took stock. Hmm... that one looks like the leader... If she goes down, their entire operation in this area should fall apart... Given how she had lugged an entire calliope up the Canterhorn on her own with her magic, without wheels, and with a full tank of water, just a couple of weeks ago, she figured she could handle that. "Hey! Changeling! Over here!" Calliope waited until Luxuria was looking her way, then grabbed the changeling with her magic and slammed it's head into the ground repeatedly.

[starswirlthebearded]

((ooc: I apologize for the wait for this post...I’ve been busy. Also to make things easier I’m going to start putting Celestia’s thoughts and words to Pink. I’ll probably choose something even more suited down the line, but that will do as a temporary solution to make things less confusing.))

At this from Celestia, the mare realized she had allowed herself to make a mistake. It wasn't like Rarity to act in such a hostile fashion. She bowed to the princess solemnly and spoke, "My deepest apologies, your Majesty. I haven't a clue what came over me. You are of course absolutely right!"

Cashmere listened to the Princess, but he saw that the foal was quite happy to get away with just a light scoulding, he straightened his shoulders and bowed in respect, before nodding "Yes your highness.."

Celestia smiled warmly at Rarity and Cashmere. “It is fine Princess and Miss Rarity. We all make mistakes in the moment at times. It is nothing to be ashamed about.” Celestia was always an understanding ruler. She didn’t like to punish unless it was fully warranted, and though that was extremely out of character for Rarity, Celestia didn’t think too much of it at the time. She was just happy her loyal subject was gracious enough to admit her mistake. She wasn’t too sure about Cashmere though, however he too didn’t deserve punishment, he just did what he felt was right for everypony else. Even if it was mean to the filly he had good intentions at least.

It was then Princess Rarity started giving out the ribbons for participation. Everything was the average sort for Rarity, it wasn’t until she got to the changelings that caused Celestia to realize that something was definitely up with Rarity. Not only was she again harsh with the young crystal filly, but she even smiled when she chastised the other realistic changeling, whom Celestia was certain was real, about revealing their plans, and then smiled. She knew the real Rarity would do no such thing, especially after the events in Canterlot during the wedding of Shining Armour and Princess Cadence. It just wasn’t in character for the generous mare. While she was considering her next move in regards to this, not only did she completely disregard almost all else, but Rarity approached her and announced her as the winner of second place.

"And of course, everypony give a hoof of applause now for our second place for the day, ponykind's one and only Princess Celestia, whose poise, grace and perfect costume could only have been born from the heart," Rarity spoke as she walked up to the princess. The crowd applauded. "Oh, princess. How cruel of you to come here to compete today! How were your subjects to compete with such pure class?" Rarity giggled and then pinned the second place ribbon to the royal mare. "And of course the second place winner gets the special prize as well!" she started with a cheerful nod before proping herself up on her hooves and kissing the princess! She couldn't even believe herself. This would be one to tell her friends for sure.

Celestia gave a respectful bow as she received the second place ribbon. Right before she was going to reply to Rarity’s odd words, as though she was the Princess, not only was she a novice at creating costumes, but she had no more class and poise than any other pony who tried, including Rarity herself, Rarity propped herself up and kissed her. This was rather surprising, and she almost thought it was planned from the start. But it was also suspect, the mare who respected the Princess so much she barely looked her in the eye kissed her? Something just didn’t add up.

"I must say, that was a dazzling display, your highness," he said with a respectful bow, "you'll always be Number One in me own book, sweetie."

" you were amazing princess celestia, you where probably almost tied for first."

Celestia smiled and bowed her head to the ponies congratulating her. She smiled but was clearly distracted, and the reason for her suspicions soon presented itself. All the audience started moving in and then “Rarity” spoke again.

​

"That said, the truth of the matter is that the real winner tonight is none of you. When it comes to winning costume, when it comes to the frightening and the fabulous, there is only one winner tonight and it is the 'Miss Rarity' you see in front of you," her voice got louder as she looked at them all. her soft giggle became a deeper chuckle.

"Now, friends! Strike!" she shouted boldly, her eyes becoming solid and glowing bright pink. All at once several blasts of energy came from the audience behind her. They pinpointed the ribbons each contestant wore. These ribbons, each of which contained a catalyst for fast growing cocoon, which quickly began to overtake and enevolope each of them. Rarity shot a pink blast from her own horn right at Celestia's ribbon, to make especially sure that her cocoon would materialize in time.

"You can only imagine how I must have felt in seeing you show up at my little show, princess," Luxuria spoke as she glanced at the cocooned Celestia. "But even when I slipped in my act you never once considered that I might be the real Rarity. You let your guard down, and for it, I've had an easier time capturing you then even my Queen had! Oh how the great do fall."

The audience then transformed into changelings and fired shots on at the ribbons which quickly turned into coccons, and just asa Celestia moved to remove her own, the leader, the one who disguised herself as Rarity shot hers with an extra potent blast that quickly encased her. Too quick for even the princess of the sun to get out of in time.

Not again….Celestia thought to herself. This was the second time she was placed in a cocoon. Only this time the changelings were brazen enough to siphon her love and energy. Not being able to do anything she waited. A wise ruler knew when to act and when to wait. This was not the time to act, and many of the other ponies did not see that and started to retaliate and trying feverously to escape, some succeeding.

She observed what was occurring too weak from the initial siphon to speak or thrash around and other changelings swarmed around her and did the same as her leader. When they finished she relaxed as the ponies around her fought not only for her, but also their own survival. Almost everypony acted solo, not helping the others, going all out to fight the changelings alone.

Celestia had an idea to help, she was going to help by leading. She couldn’t do anything other than give instructions and think of a way to stop the love siphoning that was being subjected to her. She had an idea for both but the latter idea, was rather dangerous to her and would be noticable had she not been in the cocoon. However, first thing was first. Celestia spoke out to try and rally her loyal subjects.

“My loyal subjects, you must stop what you are doing and listen to my words carefully. Right now, you are doing exactly as Luxuria and the changelings want, you are becoming separated and fighting alone. The Elements of Harmony are only as powerful as they are together, none of them can function alone. It is the same with ponies. Working together is the only way to survive this day!” Celestia gave instructions to help and inspire the ponies. “Now please, do not worry about me. I am sure that if you all work together and help your fellow pony everything will work out in our favour. Remember, love and friendship has defeated the changelings before, and it can do so again!” Celestia knew there was no way they wouldn’t act to help her, but to her the paramount of importance was to work together to help each other first, and worry about their captured Princess after they had united.

After that was said, Celestia would only be able to listen. She had a plan to help the ponies that she wanted no pony to see…Especially after that speech she just gave, after all, this plan was the exact opposite of what she said. Celestia closed her eyes, and focused on her own feelings. She changed her active feelings from her usual love and kindness, to hate, despair and fear. She uses the same technique to use dark magic, as she once used to show Twilight what would happen if the Crystal Empire fell pray to darkness and despair. She figured that if her love was not readily available it would be more difficult to siphon off and provide the changelings with more power to harm her subjects. However it was not so easy for Celestia to do this. It was not her natural state, and it was dangerous magic for even her. She hoped that it would not last long.

Celestia had to listen to hear what was going on until she was freed from her cocoon prison, showing her subjects that she was tapping into hatred and fear was not something she was willing to do. However she would do anything to protect her subjects even allowing hate to show itself in her heart. I have complete faith in you everypony. The changelings cannot defeat the strength of our hearts. Celestia thought to herself, hoping that this Nightmare Night would come to a close with minimal injury and casualties, and that her small effort would protect her subjects from more powerful foes by her own energy.

((ooc#2: Please no one try to earnestly set Celestia free. Failed attempts are fine, but I'm organizing with Raridash and other players to release Celestia. It will happen, but it shouldn't happen prematurely. Setting Celestia free is essentially ENDING the RP prematurely. PLEASE DO NOT DO IT. Everything to do with the release of Celestia is being OKed with Raridash for the good of the RP. Thank you.))

[Blueblood]

Through all the chaos and the noise of battle, through his dirt and exhaustion, Psmith felt he could hear their dear Princess' voice...

“My loyal subjects, you must stop what you are doing and listen to my words carefully. Right now, you are doing exactly as Luxuria and the changelings want, you are becoming separated and fighting alone. The Elements of Harmony are only as powerful as they are together, none of them can function alone. It is the same with ponies. Working together is the only way to survive this day!” Celestia gave instructions to help and inspire the ponies.“Now please, do not worry about me. I am sure that if you all work together and help your fellow pony everything will work out in our favour. Remember my, love and friendship has defeated the changelings before, and it can do so again!”

Not actually all that helpful, he thought. *I am jolly well trying my bloody best to support everypony, but I can't bucking broadcast my plans without ruining them!* The unicorn's mature gentlecolt facade was fraying under the stress. He was providing every opportunity he could to give everypony a fighting chance, but nopony was taking a hint! He supposed that was how Celestia felt right now, only more helpless.

Not much more, unfortunately for Psmith. All of this had just plain tuckered him out; it was all he could do just to maintain this diversion for a few minutes more, hoping, pleading for somepony to find it useful...

[RarityDash]

"RAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH"

The attacks didn't let up for an instant. In the chaos, the one with the key got close. Too close. He might have got to her were he not to call attention to his sudden attack with a battle cry. As it were, this noise was enough to get her attention. She had watched this one somehow deflect magic blasts earlier, so she didn't risk firing at him from point blank herself. Instead she quickly jumped down from her perch atop Celestia to defend herself. Meanwhile, one of her changelings rushed at him from aside, tackling him out of the air, though this changeling would leave himself vulnerable in the process.

​

"There goes my favorite snacks! I'd been aging that Limburger cheese for over a year!"

"Alright, if you're not going to do this the easy way... Private! Fire the repellants!"

"How do you those, stinkbugs? *Cough*"

While she was still at ground level, something unusual then happened. Somehow, Topper got free from his prison now as well, though in the process losing much of his costume. He hardly looked the same now, appearing completely disheveled with a swarm of flies around him and in the process ended up dropping some jars of rank cheese in the process. Just as this smell started to permeate the air, the "REA" supposedly surrounding the scene fired alleged changeling repellents, creating a dense cloud over the chaos.

Now, this made Luxuria even more dubious. There was nothing in any of their intelligence about Equestria having developed a repellant for use against changelings since the Canterlot invasion. Moreover, Luxuria was not completely ignorant of Equestria culture. She had ventured across the pony lands before and actually had an interest in certain things like Equestrian fashion; it was exactly why she had been chosen to emulate Rarity in the first place. Among the changelings, she was one of the very few who would be able to judge a costume contest and do it right and in a way that wouldn't draw attention to herself. Considering all of this, she was able to recognize familiar pony cosmetics in among the "repellant" thrown her way.

Of course, regardless of whether it was a repellant or not, the fact remained that the battle was now obscured in a thick smokescreen. Coupled with the cheese smell, Luxuria and her changelings now we're fighting with two of their senses impaired. Of course, so we're the attacking ponies. Her changelings were coughing and choking. At least a couple closest to the smell fainted outright. Luxuria gave a small cough herself but quickly decided to move to the higher ground and perch atop Celestia's cocoon once more.

"Clever pony, creating this fog, but no matter how you throw your voice, I'm not going to be fooled into thinking I'm surrounded..." she shouted out into the fog in the direction the voices of the "REA" had come. "If I am, then come get me. It should be easy for your oh so mighty REA."

Luxuria turned in the direction of the smell then and snarled. "As for you, in a night full of monstrous reveals, I believe yours might be the most ghastly. To think that such a distinguished and classy gentlecolt could devolve into such a base creature. it's truly lamentable."

The changeling hadn't been back on her perch very long when suddenly a magic blast very much like one of her own changeling's came hurdling right at her out of the fog. None of her minions had been able to see it through the smokescreen and she hadn't the time to react until it was too late. The blast connected, striking her right in the chest and knocking her off her perch once more. The reflected blast proved damaging and left Luxuria momentarily stunned on the ground.

​

"Hey! Changeling! Over here!"

This proved to be a problem. Luxuria had landed right near one of the free ponies, the mare dressed in the muse's robe who, with surprising strength began to pound Luxuria head into the ground a couple times before a pair of drones left the thinning formation around Celestia's cocoon to blast this mare off of her. The damage was done, however. The blast and the head trauma along with her limited sight and smell, left Luxuria disoriented and in a great deal of pain. She wheezed as she meekly tried to get her wings to carry her weakened body back in Celestia's direction, all the while wondering if she wasn't on the path to failure.

​

“My loyal subjects, you must stop what you are doing and listen to my words carefully. Right now, you are doing exactly as Luxuria and the changelings want, you are becoming separated and fighting alone. The Elements of Harmony are only as powerful as they are together, none of them can function alone. It is the same with ponies. Working together is the only way to survive this day! Now please, do not worry about me. I am sure that if you all work together and help your fellow pony everything will work out in our favour. Remember, love and friendship has defeated the changelings before, and it can do so again!”

That was when Celestia gave her rallying cry for the ponies to join together and strike at once. Luxuria gave an exasperated sigh. What was she doing here? she had never been a soldier. She put on shows. With a little song, a little dance and a lot of extravagant--even by normal changeling standards-- transformations, she kept other changelings entertained back home in the kingdom. She had been recruited to this plot only because she slot into it so well. She was a better actor than most changelings and could emulate the pony Rarity and play her part. Her magic and physicality were only barely above a drone and while she was more cunning than a lot of her brethren that alone could not win the day, not against ponies like this, not with the princess compelling them. She wondered briefly if she shouldn't just concede defeat.

That was, until there was a sound from high above! Luxuria looked upward and smiled a deep smile. The timing was impeccable. A massive swarm of changelings was buzzing toward them from the center of town! This group was about as big as the swarm already on the scene.They flew over and immediately began firing blasts down at the ponies in the fog.

"The Queen... ssssssshe inssssssisssstssssss we don't let Celessssssstia esssssssssscape..." a drone hissed at her, nodding. Several of these new changelings landed to reinforce Celestia's cocoon.

Laughter filled the air as Luxuria gleefully zipped back to the top of Celestia's cocoon once more. She began to siphon energy from Celestia herself, hoping to make up for her sustained injuries. "perfect..." She murmured with a giggle, her grin growing wider and wider. Reinforcements could not have come at a better time. She could admit to having been somewhat jealous of her majesty and all she had and was, but at that moment she could not have been more grateful.

"Oh, my darling princess, it looks like your inspiring words come too late! They just nearly had me, but now your little ponies last hopes have vanished. They're so far outnumbered now that they just don't stand a chance. All the love and harmony in the world won't make up for the simple fact of the numbers! Face it, my dears, you've put up a valiant effort but this is now over! You cannot hope to beat us!" Luxuria boldly decalred in her loudest voice, gloating in the moment as she cackled madly and continued to replenish her strength with Celestia's love.

​

[Mojo]

Luxuria turned in the direction of the smell then and snarled. "As for you, in a night full of monstrous reveals, I believe yours might be the most ghastly. To think that such a distinguished and classy gentlecolt could devolve into such a base creature. it's truly lamentable."

"I am who I am, you changling scum, I AM, PIGPEN!" the now unkempt stallion shouted, rolling on his back to get to his four feet and in the process, rubbing some of the spilled Limburger cheese into his coat. Noticing the adverse reaction to the smell of his beloved cheese, Pigpen got an idea.

"Quickly pony friends, rub some of this cheese into your coats and follow me! For some reason, the changlings can't stand its smell! The Princess is right, if we work together, we can make a difference!"

As he spoke out, he noticed another odd occurrence. As his own pet flies began orbiting his head, the pungent smell of the rotten Limburger cheese had attracted even MORE flies, flies who came through the half opened door and open windows. Flies who began buzzing around the area of the spilled cheese. This gave Pigpen yet another idea as he addressed his own loyal flies.

"Guys, there's something you can do to help. Get those other flies to join in swarming the changling leader over there. It may not do much, but it might give the rest of us enough of a distraction to mount a formidable attack, got it?"

Pigpen's loyal flies buzzed as a sign of acceptance. Within seconds, those flies were able to communicate with the new flies and the entire swarm flew towards Luxuria, orbiting its head and generally being an annoyance.

[starsprite]

star sprite looked onto of him and found the changeling that tackled him. luckily he still had the blade in his mouth and was able to bonk the changeling off of him. he stood up very slowly and painfully using the blade as a stick. he walked over to pigpen as he heard him speak. star sprite was puzzled by this discovery but he decided to roll with it.

Star sprite then had a brilliant idea, " why don't we just throw the cheese at the changelings?" star sprite, in pain decided to make clumps of cheese to throw at luxuria and the changelings. he made many little different balls so each pony can chuck there own at the pack. he knew that the only way to make this work is if all the ponies chucked the balls at the same time at luxuria. the effect of the cheese will so round them with flies and make them choke on gasses they can't get off of them unless they take a long bath. he knew that he altered pigpens idea but this one should work for them in a good way. as he set it up he looked pig pen in the eye smiled, and nodded his head.

star sprite projected his voice to all the ponies " quick, come and grab a ball of cheese for a group assault!"

he knew that ponies were not the only things that would show up to his call so he grabbed his blade and got into a position to guard the cheese and pigpen, he must not let anything get hurt or else the plan would get devastated.

[Pretzelparty]

“My loyal subjects, you must stop what you are doing and listen to my words carefully. Right now, you are doing exactly as Luxuria and the changelings want, you are becoming separated and fighting alone. The Elements of Harmony are only as powerful as they are together, none of them can function alone. It is the same with ponies. Working together is the only way to survive this day!” Celestia gave instructions to help and inspire the ponies. “Now please, do not worry about me. I am sure that if you all work together and help your fellow pony everything will work out in our favour. Remember, love and friendship has defeated the changelings before, and it can do so again!”

Aria had to admit... while the idea of a charging at luxuria was a stupid idea on her part, and with her now buried under a pile of changeling drones she realized the princess was right. trying to be the hero and saving the princess alone was a stupid idea, but what else could she do? she doubted the other contestants would be willing to trust a changeling like her no matter how different she stood apart from the drones. Actually, maybe she shouldn't stand out from the drones. A slight smile worked its way onto aria's lips before she backed into the depth of this pile and tried her best to memorize the look of one of these simple drones. Soon her form was shifting and the illusion complete.

Taking a few seconds to listen to one of the drones's statements to Luxuria she memorized how they spoke with lengthened hissing noises with their words. "Well... here goes nothin'" she htought to herself before taking a deep breath and shouting,"She'ssssss sssnuck into the battle get the traitor!" It seemed the drones fell for it as several of them took flight and buzzed along the skies looking for her, only for her to join them and scope out the scene herself. Seeing Luxuria under her feeding upon the princess of the sun was heartbreaking... but she had to hold back her anger despite how much she wanted to pummel that jerk. Suddenly she took notice of some ponies chucking ... what were those? ...was that cheese? It didn't matter at this point. Right now it seemed the Ghoul King and the pegasus were doing fairly good taking care of the hordes of changelings but the few in the boutique seemed to need help.

She flew carefully but with a sense of urgency, however she was determined not to make it known she had been blending in just yet... although while she looked away she accidently flew into Luxuria and put on a fake smile and despite how much it hurt to say this,"Sssssssorry, Miss Luxuria... Wassss not looking where I was going..." before attempting to fly off into the still heavy clouds of odor.

[Blueblood]

When Luxuria had called his bluff for the second, and final time, Psmith knew the game was up. He hadn't time to get more tricks from Rarity's boutique, and barely enough magical energy to pull off anything if he had gotten them. *Was it all for nothing? All our pretty ideas, signifying nil?*

Perhaps not. Finally, some semblance of tactical coordination was seen among the ponies present, partly made from the little time the unicorn colt had been able to buy them. And it was working, yes! There were only a limited number of changelings present, and their ability to harvest power from Celestia was diminishing with every drone pulled in to fight! The leader, too, was more spy than general. Cheese may not have been an orthodox weapon, but by Luna, it may well carry the day!

Only... Psmith looked up and saw the approaching reinforcements, and his legs gave out from under him. "Really chaps, that isn't cricket." He groaned. It wasn't fair; not after everything they'd finally managed to accomplish, was victory to be so callously plucked from their grasp?

Nopony else seemed to think so. Setting his face, Psmith readied himself for one last burst of magic. "You heard the officer! Fire the cheese!" Dissipating the remaining illusions over the mannequins gave the unicorn just enough magical power to lob a chunk of cheese directly at the harvesters. If their energy harvesting were disrupted, that would give a short window of opportunity to free Celestia before changeling reinforcements arrived...

After this last-ditch effort, Psmith dropped to the ground in total exhaustion. He was done for the battle, and he knew it. "The cry goes 'round the castle walls; Oh how the mighty Psmith has fallen..."

[starsprite]

star sprite heard a clunk noise a bit further ahead, could it be, a pony fainted? he couldn't believe it until he saw it,he quickly dropped his cheese and nodded at pigpen. star sprite left his blade there so its weight wouldn't hold him down. he quickly moved in the shadows to where he heard the sound, oh and his ears where right. star sprite fell to the ground and examined psmith, it looked like mana exhaustion if he had to make an on the fly guess. star sprite wouldn't let any pony give up on him that easy.

star sprite whispered to him with pride " don't worry soldier, i'll get you to a safe camp where you can replenish your mana, just don't give up on me." he put psmith on his back and tried as hard as he could to carry him back and not get spotted, it must have been a good 20 minutes before he could see pigpen clearly and the cheese balls. star sprite was in agonizing pain but he knew he must do it because if he could revive him with an aroma cure, then he would have his teammate back. star sprite arrived at the spot and dumped psmith next to the cheese. he rubbed him in some of the liquids so he was safe from the changelings. he then put some herbs and spices next to his nose to replenish at least a small amount of his magic supply. star sprite, tired from the rescue trip grabbed his blade and sat there waiting for the wicked beasts minions.

[Paaaad]

Spotting the two drones shooting at her just in time, Calliope released her grip on Luxuria and ducked back into her cocoon, allowing the bolts to fly over her and into the stage, taking out a support and causing the curtain to fall to the ground. Lifting her head back up, she grabbed hold of the drones in her magic, bashing their heads together... And throwing them right at the changeling reinforcements. She chuckled. "Bowling anyone?" She paused for a second, ducking a stray bolt, then spoke up again "And what of the rate of attrition? I count one adult pony down to several dozen of your changelings!"

((Just to be clear, the only part of Calliope's body not in the cocoon right now is her head. All she needs right now is her magic, and the remains of the cocoon make a great foxhole!))

[Mojo]

Pigpen was delighted with Star Sprite's suggestion and seeing that Psmith agreed, the now unkempt, smelly stallion decided to join in.

"Great idea!" Pigpen shouted as he accepted a few small balls of his beloved cheese. "YOU MAY FIRE WHEN READY, GRID-NEIGH!"

The Earth stallion began tossing small hunks of cheese at the changlings in the room, tossing one more directly at Luxuria as Pigpen's flies were still circling her head. trying to be annoying as they could to the changling troop leader. The more the VERY aged Limburger cheese was toss and splattered, the more strong and pungent its smell became. Pigpen took a deep breathe and then radiated with satidfaction.

"These changlings must be lactose intolerant! This cheese smells terrific to me! Oh well, keep throwing cheese!" Pigpen shouted to the others.

[Bellosh]

"An amusing creature you are. But no... I don't think I will free you. Instead, I think I may just present you as a cute little pet to the Queen herself. Surely she'll get a kick out of the upstart little pony brat who thought it wise to dress as her this night..."

Well, so much for that. "YOU STINK!" Flakey Shards cried out in hatred to no avail; "I hope all everyone of you jerks gets turned to stone! All of you changelings are rotten!!!" Once Princess Celestia was freed, she better use all her strength to punish that mean species with a lesson they're never forget. Those changelings don't deserve any kindness, especially thanks to what they did to poor Flakey Shards.

As the situation became even more chaotic with the antics of would-be rescuers, Flakey was getting tired of remaining all tied up. "HEY YOU GUYS!" she once again demanded to nopony in particular, hoping she'd get noticed among all the commotion; "Can somepony hurry it up and free me too? I wanna GET OUT OF HEREEEEEEE!!!" Temper-tantrum mode was now activated again...

[starswirlthebearded]

"Oh, my darling princess, it looks like your inspiring words come too late! They just nearly had me, but now your little ponies last hopes have vanished. They're so far outnumbered now that they just don't stand a chance. All the love and harmony in the world won't make up for the simple fact of the numbers! Face it, my dears, you've put up a valiant effort but this is now over! You cannot hope to beat us!"Luxuria boldly decalred in her loudest voice, gloating in the moment as she cackled madly and continued to replenish her strength with Celestia's love.

Celestia with her eyes closed heard the taunt of Luxuria, and could feel the bit of love that was accessible through her feelings being taken. Luckily, to plan, they weren't getting much of her love, however it might be enough for the changelings to pose a threat. It was ironic that Celestia's words to her subjects was about love and harmony, when in her heart she was creating hate and chaos to combat the changelings while trapped. "We were outnumbered when the changelings invaded Canterlot, Luxuriam, and those numbers did not change the outcome. Love and harmony will prevail, just as they did once before." Celestia proclaimed to the changeling leader.

It seemed as though her words to them did have an effect, Pigpen, the unkempt stallion that Celestia had met previously at the Gala, seemed to be leading a charge using cheese as a weapon. It was perhaps not the weapon of choice, but from the sounds of it, it was at least effective. Celestia was glad that everypony was working together. The odd thing was that it seemed that the changeling who took part in the costume contest seemed to be trying for deception. Celestia wasn't quite sure what to make of it, but the changeling did seem at least on the side of the ponies.

Celestia was patient, hopefully the rallying ponies would present her with an opportunity to make her move. For now Celestia needed to conserve her strength as best as she could, and hope that the ponies limited the amount of changelings that could try siphoning love from her. She made every effort to prevent them from doing it in her own way, but having the pressure off by having them simply not siphoning love would be far more effective. Celestia continued to hang and wait for the opportune moment, which she hoped would come soon while she still had the strength to fight.

[SteelEagle]

Cashmere was doing a good thing as far as Apple Bloom was concerned, keeping them to the outer rims of the battle and in silence. Then he went about using the jagged piece of wood and tried to carve it into Celestia cocoon. He was a good stallion in her books, even if he had chosen an odd costume for the night. After all, nopony else had given two swishes of a tail about what happened to Apple Bloom, but he did. As far as she was concerned, they were a team and this team was the team that would team up and save Celestia, or die trying.

Or not. He was doing well, pretty darn well considering the circumstances that had been thrusted upon them so far. But Celestia's cocoon was hard, as befit the cocoon containing royalty. They couldn't risk her getting out and they certainly couldn't risk her getting broken out. His movements with the wood were as well done as it could be with magic but he couldn't get the power that would be needed. That was just unicorns being unicorns- they could do a thousand things at once, but they couldn't do any of it with the same power as an Earth pony. Well, if you wanted something done the right way, better call an earth pony. Or filly.

Apple Bloom slid off of Cashmere's back, landing with a prepared oomph on the ground. They were close and in cover, but once she broke cover that was it. She'd have maybe a few seconds before the distractions caused by the fighting and Flakey' current temper tantrum died down and they saw her and surrounded her, and in her state there wasn't a lick she could do about it. To make matters worse, she could hear not only the current reinforcements but a further commotion around town. No doubt there were plenty more and they didn't have long before numbers told the tale. They had to do something now.

Apple Bloom used a dresser and pushed herself up using her back legs until she was standing on them somewhat awkwardly, her balance off as the pain was not subsiding. Well, actually- it was. Her adrenaline was pumping. It didn't make the injury worse- she needed serious help- but for now, she would grin and bear it. She'd done it before, she'd do it again. With a huge deep breath, Apple Bloom launched herself at Celestia's cocoon, barely missing a flying changeling, a random explosion, and having her tail nearly singed off by an exchange of magic. She smacked into the cocoon itself, quickly spotted the jagged piece of wood, and grasped it in her mouth. She then nodded at Cashmere and used all the strength she could muster and slammed it into the cocoon in an attempt to take a portion of it off. If she had Cashmere's help, they might just start to make a difference!

[Blueblood]

Psmith was quite out of it for a while; definitely not in any condition to notice that he'd been picked up and carried. Probably for the best, anyhow; he might have believed that he had been captured, and tried to fight his rescuer off. He was mumbling all the time, but very little could be made out; something about sportsponyship was all that could be heard clearly.

At last, Star Sprite put together a bit of aromatherapy for the lavender colt, who coughed after he breathed in the fumes, his eyes regaining their focus. "Ahem! I say comrade, while I appreciate the need to remain civilized in war, actually sprucing the battlefield with cheap potpourri might be said to carry the principle to extremes." Yep, Psmith was certainly back, though not on all cylinders just yet.

He took a look around the battlefield, such as it was, and picked up a load of the cheese. "So, our plan is to chuck cheddar at the cheating changelings until they upchuck? Not that I would criticize your plan, but I would like to know how you intend to actually free Celestia. Is anypony working on that?"

[Ciraxis]

The four changlings charged with Celestia power proved much more of the challenge then ones from before. It costed Squall more time and strength to deal with them then with all others before combined.

He was sure it was the last enemies he had to deal with, but to his disappointment more of the drones come, their wings filling the air with their buzzing.

Even more so, those persistent villans kept on sucking Princess of her love and power. Stallions heard sank lower, rage replaced with hopelessnes - there were no way the could take on such number.

"You vacuum brain cockroaches! Who will rise the sun in the morning?!" he yelled, but ponykind enemies were to busy with feasting to hear this logic bomb. He joined the Fire. If their fate was to perish they will do so together and with a bang.

"I wont leave you Moto. Even towards the end I will be besides you, valiantly." Squall reassured his mare, with a sad smile.

But just when he was prepared for the worst...the word of encouragement came....from the Princess herself.

"Together...." he whispered. His spirits renewed (even through his nostrils suffered because of unusual.... ammunition that his comrades were using) swordstallion took a battle stance. He didn't had enough strength to produce a decent offense didn't meant that he was useless.

"Everypony...I will become your shield. Do your best!" cosplaying unicorn stated and he proceeded to do just that. His sword reflected magical beams, and his armor and material arts skills were intercepting physical attacks aimed at others.

[Mojo]

As Pigpen continued to toss balls of super smelly Limburger cheese at the changlings, he heard the sound of a collision behind him and the cocoon that housed Princess Celestia shaking. Then he spotted the familiar face of AppleBloom peeking up from behind it. That's when the unkempt stallion remembered that if the powerful Co-Ruler of Equestria was free, she could be a tremendous help in their fight! Galloping over to the young filly, Pigpen gave her a half empty vile with green liquid inside.

"I haven't much time, young lady. This green face paint of mine seems to melt these changling cocoons. Use this now on Celestia's cocoon. Hopefully, it will help free her. Can't stay, gotta return to the cheese firing line," Pigpen uttered before rushing back to his former place in line to throw more stinky cheese balls. The increased levels of Limburger odor were attracting even more flies, flies that soon joined the growing swarm that were circling Luxuria's head.

[starsprite]

star sprite was running low on energy as he grabbed a ball of cheese, he balanced it on his wing and aimed for luxuria perched on the cocoon. star sprite was so deeply focused he didn't notice pigpen disappear. he dropped his blade, stood up and pinpointed luxuria's feet. he jumped in the air and whacked his wing toward her. uh oh he noticed he overshot her feet, but wait, did it land on her horn? the cheese ball neatly slid on luxuria's horn and it seemed to block her magic. but thats not the best part, the cheese ball caused her spell she was casting to back fire, her energy suck spell back fired on her, caused an explosion, and star sprite thinks it might have damaged her horn.

star sprite cheerfully stood up and said "psmith, do you think this plan isn't working, with a blow like that to the horn she might be no longer able to use magic, also it seemed to cause an explosion which might've damaged some troops." star sprite then fell to the ground of what it seemed like exhaustion and almost closed his eyes.

[RarityDash]

((ooc: Mojo, I really don't like the idea of a substance that instantly dissolves the cocoon, especially when it doesn't really make sense to me; also, a reminder that Starswirl told everyone not to free Celestia until he was ready for it))

"We were outnumbered when the changelings invaded Canterlot, Luxuriam, and those numbers did not change the outcome. Love and harmony will prevail, just as they did once before."

Luxuria kicked the top of the cocoon hard with her hoof and snarled. "Silence, princess! You'll not bluff fear into my heart. The fact of the matter is that the two who bested us in Canterlot are hundreds of miles away in your Crystal Empire while your Twilight Sparkle and her elements of harmony have already successfully been captured!" she spat angrily.

"You have no one on your side but rabble. What can common ponies do against my queen?" she added, as she looked out at the swarms of changelings, overwhelming the ponies. That was right. There was no chance of failure. In the end, these were just common ponies. They had briefly managed to put fear into her eyes, but it was for naught in the end. She could not lose here.

​

"I am who I am, you changling scum, I AM, PIGPEN! Quickly pony friends, rub some of this cheese into your coats and follow me! For some reason, the changlings can't stand its smell! The Princess is right, if we work together, we can make a difference!"

" why don't we just throw the cheese at the changelings? quick, come and grab a ball of cheese for a group assault!"

With these words began the great assault by cheese. Luxuria was absolutely baffled as the stuff came from at least three different sides. Where were they getting so much of this foul, odorous gunk? Whatever the case, it seemed to be moderately effective on the changelings on the ground. She could see some of her force stunned, gagging and fainting at the pungent smell. Sure it was rank, but she couldn't believe how useless they could be.

"You pathetic weaklings! It's just a bad smell! Don't let it get to you. Just try not to inhale too much of it and keep fighting!" Luxuria called to her changelings desperately, though it didn't seem to help much. Changelings continued to succumb to the repugnant scent, even some close to her in the formation.

Luckily, the size of her force was so massive at this point that it still didn't matter. They'd need more than just cheese to turn the tide of this battle.

​

,"She'ssssss sssnuck into the battle get the traitor! Sssssssorry, Miss Luxuria... Wassss not looking where I was going..."

Luxuria's eyes widened as she heard one of her changelings suddenly call this out. No! Of course that defanged changeling would do such a thing. It was exactly the smartest way for one changeling to disrupt many. By impersonating her own drones and flying amongst them, she was completely camouflaged! Luxuria could order her force to find the traitor, but it's not like they could effectively. They'd just end up attacking each other! It would destroy everything. Luxuria stomped her hoof again and growled. That disgusting traitor, she just might serve to disrupt everything!

"Watch where you're going, fool!" she shouted as one of her changelings bumped carelessly into her. After she spoke, she had a brief moment's pause. It couldn't be her, could it? Her queen's drones were not the most careful overall so it was hard to say. Not even she could tell! Ugh. She stomped in frustration again. But no matter. How much trouble could one changeling cause? She could worry about dealing with the one deceptive changeling once the ponies were subdued.

"Keep focusing on the ponies! The traitor will receive the punishment she deserves once the area is properly secure!" she shouted to her changelings, sure it was the right course. She just hoped leaving the enemy changeling to act freely in her swarm wouldn't turn out to be a mistake.

The battle continued to rage all around. Even given the cheese, even given the continued impressive efforts of the Ghoul King and the mare at his side, even given the strength of the robed mare, even given everything the ponies threw at them, Luxuria's force was overwhelming. She would crush them with raw numbers. There was nothing they could do to resist. Soon they would all be crying helplessly like the pathetic crystal filly, who, as it were, she delighted to notice no one had bother to free. There was nothing that could stop her now. Nothing but the pony princess who's cocoon she was standing atop--and she wasn't about to let Celestia go free.

That's when she decided to look behind herself. There were two ponies there trying to do just that-- young Apple Bloom and the stallion Cashmere. They were trying in vain to break through the cocoon. How ridiculous and futile! No matter, Luxuria would be sure to punish them for having hope.

"Oho, my dear sweet little ponies, do you really think I'm going to let you do that?" she asked in a coy, affected voice. "Well, think again!" she about roared as she fired a point blank magic blast right at the pair from above. Having had time to recover much of her strength from Celestia, she was confident the damage would be great.

​