sponsored The Invasion of Ponyville!

[TheHybrid]

Rusty put down his weapon, sitting on his plot and smiling warmly "Thanks, Ah was just curious is all..." he looked at all the changelings surrounding the cabin, and the one standing in front of him. After his answering of his questions, he had realized something; what his race, ponies, had been told was a complete lie, "Heh, ya know what they tell us here? That changeling drones are literraly that: drones. That they don't have a life, aren't sentient, blindly follow the Queen. But I guess they couldn't ever... you know... actually interview an actual changling, huh?" he chuckled, "And now well, Ah can respect y'all Ah guess. You guys are just doin' yur jobs, and well, Ah can't really hate a race that does that..." he thought for a moment, "Maybe if Ah got back on that project that was aimin' to create synthetic love... maybe we could live in harmony or somethin'.... but oh well." he looked at his device for a moment, "Oh and lemme unload that..." with a click, the fuel tank that was currently loaded in their hit the ground, where Rusty nosed it to the changeling, "Last one Ah have, you can take it if that'd make y'all feel safer. Now... Ah surrender."

[Lux]

Zecora knew that the Celestia disguise wasn't fooling the Queen of the Changelings. Again it was just another way to bide time as the zebra tried to take out some Changelings to aid in the battle. Chrysalis then gave a startling response, that Princess Celestia was captured! For a moment the zebra believed the wicked Queen but then she realized that this could be another lie to make her surrender. No, she could not give up so easily, not when the other ponies and even the fate of Ponyville rested on her!

The Zebra saw of all things a Timberwolf attacking, and something hit the Queen. Parts of the Everfree Forest were now on fire, as Zecora hoped that her home would survive. The Queen fired a bolt at what the zebra guessed was another pony. Her hope was that the intended target would get out of the way in time as Zecora knew she couldn't intercept it. The Zebra then sent the image of Celestia flying at the Queen, exposing the zebra once more but hopefully confusing her.

"You like to set things of fire I see. Well, how about a little fire from me."

With that the Zebra turned and kick with as much might as her back legs as she could muster a flaming log, sending it towards the evil Queen.

[Blueblood]

As a matter of fact, getting Chrysalis' attention was exactly what Earth Writer wanted, and he had succeeded brilliantly in his attempt. Of course, his plan was slightly lacking in the 'what next?' department. The stallion barely had time to react as the changeling queen fired a bolt of green magic at him; all he could do was hold up his notebook to block it.

It sort of worked; the bound paper was incinerated rather than the reporter, who was simply bowled hooves over head back into the fog. Earth didn't stop rolling until he plopped into the ditch beside the Everfree road. He lay there dazed for a few moments, slowly becoming aware that the forest was catching on fire. *Best stay down here, then, away from the smoke.* He began to crawl along the ditch, still not sure of his direction, but sure that staying in one place was not a good survival tactic right at this moment.

Over the roar of the flames could be heard the more distant cries of the creatures of the Everfree Forest. Their home was burning, and some of the more aggressive were seeking out the source of the green flames....

[NeoExlucky]

After being dazed for a few moments, Octavia found herself in a whole heap of trouble. They were the fighting a changeling, not just any changeling though, their queen. It surprised Octavia that she was quite tall, much taller than she would have expected. She focused on the situation at hand, using one of the bows she had on her costume as a weapon. The smoke around Octavia provided her with a great screen to hide from the changeling queen, and move about the field of battle undetected. Not to mention Octavia's white costume reflected the smoke around her slightly, giving her even more cover under the area. She moved around the area stealthily, she was going to try and hit chrysalis with one of her bows, WHEN SUDDENLY FIRE! A flaming log started to roll towards the grey mare, she panicked, didn't know what to do or where to go and jumped to the side, hitting a nearby tree and making a huge amount of noise. "Ouch, that hurt." She muttered to herself as she got back up.

[Mojo]

When the hard changing timberwolf Misty Magic heard the Changling Queen pronouncement, she realized the major error she had made in her thinking. Her nimble timberwolf form was barely able to dodge the flaming tree that was hurled her way.

"Way to go, Misty!" she said to herself, "Finally get your magic working your way and you forgot how flammable timberwolves are! Can't cast another spell until this one wears off and a frontal attack would end in me becoming a bonfire! Need to back off for now, until I can think of something else I can do in this body."

Misty the timberwolf ran away from the changling queen as fast as her wooden legs could take her. Bounding past Zecora and her group, Misty ran around the edge of town until she came across Ponyville's water tower, which was now behind the place where Crystalis was currently hovering, though much further away.

"Alright, since I'm so big and powerful, time to put this strength to good use. If I can line this up right, maybe I can surprise that crazy Queen! It's a longshot, but it might be crazy enough to succeed!"

Backing up to get a good running start, Misty the timberwolf bolted down the street, running as fast as she could towards the water tower. Trying to time her jump precisely right, when she got what she thought was the proper distance from the tower, she jumped high into the air. Placing her full timberwolf weight forward, Misty rammed her head directly under the water tower's tank. The force of the blow sent the half empty tank upward into the air, towards the (hopefully) unsuspecting changling Queen. But once more, the unicorn mare had miscalculated. The force of the impact her timberwolf body had on the water tower's tank shattered her wooden log frame. Within seconds of the collision, Misty was now a pile of logs laying in the street. The moment her timberwolf body magically reassembled, the spell wore off and she was now back in her petite unicorn mare form, though dazed and staggering around in the street.

"Remind me NEVER to do THAT again...."

[Tiktaalik]

Even though Figment was still extremely cautious, he relaxed a bit when he was no longer being held at...contraption-point. "Yes, I'm well aware what ponykind thinks of us. I'll admit some drones follow more blindly than others, but...that's not a bad thing. She knows best." As the pony kept on talking, he wasn't becoming any less confused, though. It seemed like he was being genuine. Not that it really mattered. "Well, you're a rare case, then. If you're being honest... This isn't just a 'job', though. We need love, and you won't give it to us. Thus...this happens." He wouldn't dare to claim to know how Chrysalis would treat ponies if they willing gave them love--maybe she'd be more 'gentle' with them, maybe not. Figment normally attempted to justify the Hive's actions whenever possible, though, if only to manipulate ponies, though.

When Rusty disarmed himself, Figment finally unfroze, nodding. "Good. Thank you.", he said pleasantly enough. This certainly hadn't gone according to plan, but, success! He hadn't even needed to start any real combat, which is how he preferred things. The agent promptly cast another spell the pony's direction, though rather than causing any harm, it conjured the gummy webbing they were so infamous for. He made sure that the pony's limbs were thoroughly gummed together, not wanting to risk an escape on his watch. He motioned for the other drones to help lift him, heading back to where he'd first received the order.

"...'Synthetic' love, eh?", he responded belatedly, after pondering it over a bit. "That sounds ridiculous. I'm sure the Queen would have thought of that if there was a way. If you pulled it off, though, I'd be...confused. But impressed... Maybe she'd allow you to make a deal. Considering how personally she took that shot at her..."

As they approached the site where this had all began, Figment wasn't so surprised to see that the Queen had moved on. And he didn't hear Snively's piercing voice anywhere--which he found unfortunate for the first time ever. He paused in place for a moment, scanning the area for any shrimpy changelings, and in the distance, spotted one. But he was following another changeling, rather than leading, which he found odd. Noting that Rusty was starting to get a bit heavy, he motioned for his group to set him down. "Keep an eye on him while I go look for the others...", he ordered a bit hesitantly. If there was any pony resistance skulking about, they might possibly free his captive--who he doubted would stay put in spite of his surrender...

With that, he zipped off towards what looked like Snively...and it certainly was him. He looked even more miserable than usual, as well as physically roughed up. "...I captured my target, but...what happened to you, sir? Are you...er...alright?", he inquired, with at least some genuine concern. Did he really manage to fail when he'd had armored troops at his disposal? He also glanced towards Bianca--the one he and some others seemed to be following. She had a certain presence to her; she must have been in charge currently. He saluted her, regardless.

[Pretzelparty]

Silverheart was enjoying this night. He had gotten to say hello to his sister that he hadn't seen since the gala, Everything was neat and tidy except for the occasional candy wrapper found on the ground (which he typically would pick up) and everypony seemed to be having fun. The new guard had been assigned to ponyville due to the request of REA to send the town some extra security. The smiles of the many fillies and colts were heartwarming even though seeing a few unkempt looking costumes could really the hay out of him. The bearers of the element's of harmony and the princess of magic were all taking care of their own little events... but even then something seemed off.

Soon the skies and streets were flooded with changelings! Ponies were fleeing in terror while others tried to be the hero with only the occasional few working together to defeat this menace. This was terrible! Ponies, griffins, and even donkeys were left fleeing in terror from the fanged, flying creatures. Where in Equestria were the elements?! Were they captured?! did they have the night off? He'd caught a glimpse of the princess of the sun a while ago maybe she could help. The stallion's hopes dropped a bit when he heard a couple changelings saying that all the elements were subdued ... and the princess was having her power drained.

"Well... this is just a wonderful first assignment in ponyville..." he said to nopony in particular, Despite how much he wanted to take the battle to the changelings he had to think of the townsponies first. Silverheart made sure to get a good vantage point to observe the battle whereupon his jaw dropped and a look of pure anguish fell upon his visage.

"THIS IS HORRIBLE! THIS IS NOTHING BUT A MASSIVE ... a massive.. ugh... what's a good word for a huge mess of random events an uncoordinated actions." the stallion thought to himself as he let himself take in this scene. From his position he saw a large mechanical device that for now seemed inactive and in the distance he caught a glimpse of what looked like a timberwolf about to attack a considerably large changeling that likely seemd to be the queen before it shrunk down to a yellow dot from his perspective. Flying away from the device he narrowed his eyes at one drone carrying a rust colored stallion in a top hat.

"Where have I seen that guy before..." SIlver thought to himself before seeing that the older looking stallion was bound by the globs of ... whatever it was those changelings would cocoon ponies in. He needed his help and this stallion was not willing to just let a changeling try and drain another civilian while he was around.

Silverheart carefully tailed the two and waited for an opening, he thought he had one when the drone went away but he missed it when he found himself trying to straighten a picture frame in the building he was hiding in nearby. Now there were three drones in front of the stallion in the top hat. "Gotta make sure I take 'em all out fast enough to they don't call for help... hm..." he looked towards his mane, the stallion had decided to do something a bit out of character. Silver had been mistaken for a mare most of his life so he figured on nightmare night he may as well try on some of the ribbons some pranksters at the local guardstation said would look good on him. Deciding on doing a mental checklist on what he had at his disposal he formulated a plan.

"Three ribbons... each of them is pretty long... I still haven't gotten a chance to use the blinding light spell besides in training for any timberwolf encounters... but I might hurt the civilian's eyes..." weighing his options he realized, having the old stallion blind for a few moments was likely a better predicament than being drained of love by the parasitic invaders. Leaping out of his hiding place and getting the three drones attention he shut his eyes, his horn lit up and from its end bright blinding flash of light left the drones (and possible Rusty) dazed. His next action was to levitate all the three ribbons to the three targets and tied up their muzzles so they couldn't warn any of the other changelings of his presence. Finally he dashed of and delivered a strong buck to the face for each of them and knocked each one out before heading over to the rust colored stallion.

"You okay, Sir?" asked silver in his typical androgynous yet marish sounding voice. If Rusty had managed to retain his sight the confusion of what gender his savior was could easily be assumed for a mare.

[Dunder]

They didn't seem to notice him...there were only the two. The annoying little changeling wasn't anything to fear in a fight, but this new changeling was wearing a new kind of armor. The stallion thought it wouldn't be too much of a stretch to think that this new changeling was something more than an average drone or soldier. But the annoying changeling was maybe more than the average changeling too, and he couldn't put up a fight. And there were only two possibly important changelings right there. What was more important though, was that they were both leaving.

He wouldn't let that little changeling get away with nothing. And he wasn't prepared to let the changelings leave... but attack again? Something else was just going to happen to slow himself down. He growled, jumped off the roof, and spread his wings to fly. Midfall, he angled down and the back up to swoop up and at the apex of his flight, he dived back down, headed straight for Snively. Where, if he managed to tackle Snively to the ground in his dive, he would proceed to pummel his head into the ground with all his strength.

[TheHybrid]

Rusty sighed tiredly as the changelings carried him away to town, mumbling inwardly "Ah'm too old for this..." then felt a hard thump as he was promptly put on the ground when they reached their destination. During the trip their, Rusty zoned out, not really hearing whatever that one changeling he was interested in was saying at about the time he was subdued, he was tired after all of that stuff had happened, and couldn't seem to clear his mind of exhaustion. Despite this however, he did hear ONE thing, and that was when the changeling said "Keep an eye on him" because, with the clever one gone, that gave him a chance to formulate some plans. He felt a sudden rebound of energy as he recognized his chance to escape was now. What could he do? Possibly tear apart this goo stuff? Try to convince one the guards to let him go? Maybe he could.... Ah, what was the use? He was an old, dried up, stallion, not some young secret agent! He'd have to face whatever fate he would get... and what would that be anyway? I mean, what could they do to him? What would they do to him? Maybe they would... GAH!

His thoughts, which seem to have some difficulty in keeping proper perspective tenses ( Third person, first person, etc.))were interrupted by a sudden, blinding bright light, the light causing him to cover his eyes on reflex. He then heard the sounds of two hard kicks, and then two hard thumps on the ground shortly after, that must be the guards, he thought, "You okay, Sir?" he was asked, by what he could guess a mare royal guard, which in itself was odd "Ah... Ah... think so... thank kindly... ma'am?" he asked as he opened his eye, becoming even more confused when they layed upon the guards body.

[starswirlthebearded]

Trekker realized that she'd have to pass by where she just had her skirmish with the changelings. This wasn't a pleasant thought, especially since she had witnessed reinforcements arriving. Trekker started to make her way through town heading towards the Everfree forest, which is the more dangerous of the two wooded areas in Ponyville. She figured if she'd have a chance to survive it would be there. With dirt on her coat, she already had the perfect camouflage and she knew how to track, and survive in the wild, something she hoped that would give her an edge.

Trekker kept to bushes and behind buildings, away from the changeling forces in the main city. As she approached the scene of her "battle" (If you could call running away while your pet fix mauled the leader of the opposing forces a battle that is) she noticed the pegasus who had helped her before preparing to attack again... Really? He is attacking again? Doesn't he know when to quit... Trekker pondered to herself. She had saved him before and he wasn't in the best of condition when she teleported him away from his defeat. However this presented Trekker with an opportunity that she couldn't ignore. While the changelings were distracted by the foolhardy pegasus she'd make a break for it towards the forest. She quickly teleported to a concealed location out of view of the distracted changelings and continued on her way.

Chrome noticed changelings and tugged on Trekkers saddle bags to give warning to the changelings through the entrance of the forest. Trekker knew it would be a mistake to enter directly so she went through a dense wooded area. Hopefully she would be able to make it out of Ponyville through there. Which is what she thought until she saw what had to be the Queen of the changelings. And in front what appeared to be Celestia, which obviously couldn't be since she was apparently captured. However... Trekker figured that she might as well have some fun. She was good enough with magic to make a blast that resembled something the princess might be able to produce. She hopped on a few logs and into a tree to get the right angle and fired a shot from her horn at Queen Chrysalis through the fog cover. As soon as she was done she teleported herself and Chrome to the side in heavy brush so as not to be seen easily.

She would leave soon after if she at least hindered or confused the powerful Queen. If she was held up Trekker's escape would go unabated.

[Imagination]

Bianca returned the other Changeling's salute, about to exchange pleasantries when something else decided to interrupt.

It looks like Trekker was going to get lucky. Kindof.

The charging pegasus having her full attention, she whirled around to face toward the attacker with a snarl. Sure, she'd love nothing more than to watch Snively get pummeled again, but this time it would actually be her fault if she let it happen. Her horn flashed with that brilliant green light before letting loose a bolt of Changeling magic at the charging stallion. Standing next to his target, it would be heading straight for him. Though even if he took the time to dodge it, it should at least halt or hinder his trajectory.

Her target was a lone stallion, grey in color and highly aggressive. Poor fool.

"VANGUARD, ASSEMBLE!" Bianca gave the shrill cry to her squad, with five of them returning quickly by her command and abandoning their sweep of the area. "Form a firing line! Close interval!" The hiss in her voice was gone as she gave quick and concise orders, watching her soldiers line up side by side and brace in an aggressive stance. Their leader stood behind them to observe the area in front of her and issue orders. That and... *sigh*... Keep Snively safe...

They'd just have to meet up with the Queen after dealing with this.

[RarityDash]

"You like to set things of fire I see. Well, how about a little fire from me."

With these bold words, the zebra bucked a large flaming log right in her direction. Ha! To use her own fire against her? How bold. Chrysalis wasn't going to let her get away with such things though. "I don't think so!" she started as she fired a powerful magic blast straight at the flaming log. It exploded instantly and quite violently, sending shards of burnt and burning wood all around the area, some of which Chrysalis had to move quickly to dodge.

Giggling mockingly, she shook her head and spoke, "Not a bad effort, but it's not enough. You're going to need to go a little bigger if you want to get to m--!"

The changeling cut herself off suddenly when she was drenched with a large amount of water just as a large shadow was cast over her. Her eyes went wide at this development and she turned around quickly. Not quick enough, however, as she couldn't move out of the way of the Ponyville water tower which had been thrust at her by the pony turned timberwolf. Chrysalis blasted at the tower, trying to destroy it, but all she could do to the solidly constructed, watery container was blow a hole into it before it fell onto her.

Just as she found herself stuck in the pitch black darkness of the tower, a magic blast was fired at her from the trees nearby. Suddenly she was glad for the defense the water tower provided, as this blast was much stronger than she might have expected from the average pony. Even with the tower there to absorb the blow, Chrysalis was jostled considerably and, when the blast invariably broke through and hit her, felt as if she was on the receiving end of a hard kick to the stomach. The entire water tower was thrown back several yards, changing positions several times before it fell back to the ground with a thud. Chrysalis crawled out, damaged both physically and in terms of dignity. More than anything she was angry.

Once she had her senses about her, she immediately fired a counter blast of magic into the trees from which her attack had come, hoping to smoke them out. Was this Snively's magic user? It certainly made sense that Snively would have already let them catch up to her. Useless. The presence of such a threat would make dealing with all of these ponies together all the more difficult. What's more, as the fire began to spread deeper into the Everfree forest, the roars of beasts within grew nearer. She wondered if she might have more than just ponies to deal with before long. Still, she had numbers on her side. Her minions still buzzed all around and more and more were catching up with her.

"Changelings, attack them all!" she shouted out angrily. Changeling drones were soon swarming at all of her opponents.

​

[Lux]

The burning log didn't hurt the Changeling Queen but as luck should have it the water tower came down upon Chrysalis, trapping her momentarily. Zecora knew that she wouldn't be imprisoned in her wooden cell for long so she quickly thought of what to do next. She heard the sounds from the Everfree, knowing that the animals may join the assault, but the zebra wasn't going to count on it.

As the tank part of the water tower came to rest, the zebra jumped on top of it, waiting for the Chrysalis to make her appearance. She was dazed and hurt but still able to sound the attack. It was time to try something better, as the Queen so helpfully suggested. Zecora jumped from the top of the tank, aiming her hooves and the rest of her body for the menace of Nightmare Night.

[Blueblood]

Well, plan A was all shot to pieces by now. There was no getting to Zecora's hut now, not with Chrysalis in the way and the forest on fire. They had to make their stand here, such as it was.

Earth Writer took a risky peek through the smoky air over the side of the dish. Apparently, Misty had changed up her tactics, bucking the town water tower clear into the changeling queen. Zecora, as well, was taking advantage of the situation by attacking her when she was off-balance, but reinforcements would probably overwhelm the zebra soon.

The unicorn regretted throwing away his pencil, now; his spare had been pretty much shattered into splinters by Chrysalis' shot at him. What there was for him to do at this point, he didn't-

Another roar, louder, closer. He could actually see the form rushing out of the smoke. *Oh sweet Celestia, a Manticore! And boy, does he look angry...* Not that the reporter could blame him; his mane was actually on fire. He probably wasn't looking for revenge as much as he was looking for water to extinguish his mane. Unfortunately for Chrysalis, the nearest source was the very tower she was now trapped in...

Earth Writer couldn't see what was happening, but the sounds were quite interesting...

[Mojo]

The slightly dazed Misty Magic had no time to stagger around. Her wild act of bravery made Chrystalis even more angry and the changling queen ordered her 'troops' to attack. The yellow petite unicorn mare looked up to see an entire swarm of airborne changlings were heading in her direction. Quickly, Misty galloped away from the invaders, but the winged menaces were much faster and closing in on her.

"Oh no! I'm in real trouble here! All alone against all those meanies! I'd need at least a dozen of me to have a fighting chance!" the frightened unicorn mare shouted as her horn flashed. Suddenly, all around her she heard the sounds of galloping hooves. To her astonishment, there were now twelve identical versions of herself running along side her. Her misfiring magic did it again. No time for a plan, all the real Misty could think to do is tell her new illusionary duplicates is "SCATTER!!!"

And they did. The approaching changlings were soon confused by all of the petite yellow unicorn mares with purple manes running around in all different directions. Each changling started chases a 'Misty' from street to street. Several of the illusions run straight for walls and fences, vanishing on impact while their fast moving pursuers crashed into them, knocking themselves out cold. Many of the fleeing 'Mistys' doubled back and galloped past the fallen water tower with more changlings flying after them. Some managed to pounce on the illusions, only to discover how they had been deceived.

Now the REAL Misty Magic was still running away, and had three flying changlings chasing her.

"OH NO! I can't shake'm! Oh, I wish I was back with my friends!" the desperate mare cried out as her horn flashed. The three pursing changlings collided into each other seconds after Misty Magic vanished from their grasp. Seconds later, she appeared next to Earth Writer in a bright flash.

"Huh? What.. how ... how did I get here?" the confused unicorn mare asked.

[Bellosh]

"...I captured my target, but...what happened to you, sir? Are you...er...alright?"

As much as Snively loathed Figment and his personal code, the bureaucrat found the other’s misplaced sense of pity preferable to the mockery inflicted by Bianca. Then again, Figment’s question was a rather dumb one to ask, as even the dumbest twerp could see how severely injured Snively was. “Of course I’m not fine,” hissed the higher-ranking drone as he put away his crystal ball to point at his scared right eye; “You’d be in this very same position had you were sent after-”

The noise of magic-bolt fire alerted Snively to the arrival of a new threat… or rather, the same old persistent pegasus stallion from before. The short changeling had just about enough of him and his continued failures of opposing Snively and the rest of the invasion; time to put that now-unthreatening assailant out of action for good! Since it looked like the dimwit was making a dive straight at Snively, the changeling turned his curved horn straight in the divebomber’s direction, letting the horn sparkle with malicious green magic. Should the assailant not pull up, maybe an unfortunate impalement will finally teach that fleabag some manners.....?

[Pretzelparty]

"Ah... Ah... think so... thank kindly... ma'am?"

SIlverheart stared at rusty a moment... at first he seemed to be irritated by something he said but in reality it was the old stallion's hat that was confounding him. "Why on Equestria would this bloke wear that... if it's important at least get the thing cleaned!" he thought to himself angrily before taking a breath and calming himself. He finally realized that It took a few moments to Register but he finally realized his appearance had once again gotten somepony confused. At least this stallion wasn't flirting with him though so Silver decided to be polite and correct him... even though it took him a second to get rid of that slight glare.

The stallion sighed,"I-it's Sir actually... Name's Silverheart, mate." The marish looking stallion looked carefully at the rust colored stallion. "I swear to Celestia I've Seen you before somewhere... wot's your name?" he asked taking the opportunity to straighten Rusty's hat a moment he backed off and realized they probably didn't have much time to converse,"Actually you should probably answer that after we get away from here... uh did you see any ponies that were still fighting and close by here?"

[TheHybrid]

Rusty's eyes widened, stammering on his next words, "O-oh! S-s-sorry sir! Ah-Ah uhm... mustuve been dazed or something.." that must really be tough, to be a stallion but look and sound like a mare, he must get a lot of flack from the other guards for it. Rusty refocused his attention however, when he heard the stallion ask him another question "No... not really... however, the changeling that captured me went over... that away if thats any help..." he stated, pointing in a general direction with his nose, "Can you git me outta this goop though? And for future reference, my name is Rusty, Rusty Contraption."

[Dunder]

For a moment, everything that had been happening in Dunder's life seemed to dissolve away. As he dived for the changeling, all the drama of the annulment, with Fire, his financial problems, all seemed to be gone. The pegasus wanted to feel the intense heat of combat again, hopelessly outnumbered but still foolishly headstrong. He grinned as he saw the changelings get ready, Dunder's blood filling with adrenaline and his heart racing. For a moment, he grinned, until he saw the magic bolt fired at him. His eyes opened wide in surprise as he banked hard to the left, avoiding the bolt. The sudden change in trajectory sent him off course, barreling toward the ground, where he landed after braking and bracing for impact.

He landed on the ground in front of the line with a heavy 'thud!' as his hooves made contact with the floor, enough to kick up a dust cloud. Even though he landed on his hooves, the shock was enough to get his already injured head a little bit of a shaking. He had hardly any time to recover before he was being attacked. A swing toward his face which was quickly blocked and countered with a swing of his own at the changeling. The blow knocked the changeling back, enough for Dunder to get in a second descending blow to get the changeling down, and then a final kick to the face to knock the changeling out. Next, a changeling punched Dunder on the back of the head, enough to get Dunder's attention and for Dunder to get tied up with that one, and move from him to the next opponent, and the next...each one he was obviously getting weaker after a pummeling and more tired, but his bloodlust and his already combat-conditioned and experienced brain was pushing against his injured and tired body.

[Tiktaalik]

Figment sulked slightly at the--unsurprisingly--rude response he received. He was genuinely concerned. He cared about every other drone. Plus, he'd feel a bit bad if something happened to the Queen's current favorite lapdog. His attitude and his condition, weren't the most pressing thing here, however. "I see... Well, did you succeed at le-..!" Figment was cut off, and felt a strong sense of deja vu as the same pony from before once again went at Snively; though, this time it was on purpose.

He charged his own horn with magic, but it seemed as if Snively had actually managed to deter the pegasus on his own. Even if he hadn't, Bianca seemed to have the situation well under control. Regardless, he stayed vigilant, ready to lend support when it was needed. For now, he decided to try and damage the pony's morale a bit--he was definitely the type to try and fight with words, even in a combat zone... "You have a lot of energy, pony, but it's all just going to be wasted. You're badly outnumbered."

Figment then glanced back towards Snively. "As I was saying... Did you at least succeed in your mission?"

[RarityDash]

The Queen struggled until, finally, she managed to emerge from the water tower. Just as she did, however, the crafty zebra pounced right onto her! Chrysalis fought desperately against the zebra's strength but couldn't shake her.

"Ugh! Get off me, you fool!" she shouted as she continued to try and throw Zecora off. "Changelings! Blast this worm off of me!" she commanded. Two of her minions flew in and fired magic blasts. As was becoming typical for her goons, the ineptly placed blasts caught her as well! Both her and Zecora were launched toward the forest.

"You worthless fools! How dare you blast your queen! Do you not know how to aim at all?" an infuriated Chrysalis berated her minions as she shook herself off and slowly found her hooves. At least she had been separated from the zebra in the blast.

That was when a loud roar sounded just behind her. "Huh?" she started as she turned slowly. That's when she saw it! A large manticore was coming right at her, looking absolutely livid...but it wasn't alone! A smaller manticore was following right behind it along with at least three large cockatrices and some other feral beasts. The shattering roars of even larger creatures could be heard from deeper within the forest.

"Ugh! Changelings! Stop them all! Ponies, beasts, everything! We've come too far to fail now! Every changeling who can fight, do not stop until nothing remains that opposes us!" Chrysalis shouted madly, her eyes blazing with hate as she fired a blast straight at the larger manticore, which seemed to make it angrier.

At the call, the changeling drones came together to make their stand, even as the beasts began to attack, quickly clawing at and petrifying a number of them.

​

((ooc: this is probably going to be my second to last post. make your final stand to clear out the remaining changelings now! I'll be ending the thread some time tonight))

[Pretzelparty]

"O-oh! S-s-sorry sir! Ah-Ah uhm... mustuve been dazed or something.." "No... not really... however, the changeling that captured me went over... that away if thats any help..." he stated, pointing in a general direction with his nose, "Can you git me outta this goop though? And for future reference, my name is Rusty, Rusty Contraption."

The stallion laughed wryly and lowered his horn to Rusty's hooves, "Don' worry, Mate It's fine. I get confused for one a lot." Closing his eyes he got his horn to light up and fire off a continuous magical blast that cut Rusty free. Hearing the elderly stallion explain that his captor wasn't too far away he thought a moment,"The notion of catching him is definitely tempting... but I'm a guard and my job first and foremost is to keep everypony I can safe. Kicking the plots of a few changelings come second." The young guard said, his words clear with conviction.

Finally getting Rusty to his hooves he thought a moment,"Rusty... contraption..." Suddenly her realized where he knew this stallion,"Oh! My sister was your assistant for awhile... Nice to meet you. I just kinda wish it was under better circumstances." The stallion surveyed the scene again. Quite alot was going on... was Everfree on Fire?! The stallion hoof collided with his face and slowly dragged down, "Ugh... this is gonna be such a mess in the mornin'..." Silverheart sighed, hanging his head.

"Rusty, I hope We get to talk after this is over... for now I've gotta go take care of anypony who's hurt back in town and clear out any changelings who stuck around. Get somewhere Safe." The stallion galloped into the town and began to search through every house he could find. He managed to bring a few citizens back to their homes and save a few of them from being entirely drained, often by sending the changeling perpetrator flying with a magical blast. He had to make sure the commonponies were okay, no matter how much he wished he could go into battle, be a hero, and punch their queen in her face. He was a guard and in his mind Keeping the townsponies safe was more important than the offensive strikes going on.

[Blueblood]

*Bam!*

Earth Writer had to blink a few times before the sparks would stop dancing in front of his eyes. He hadn't been following the end of what had happened to Misty Magic, being preoccupied with the water tower. Naturally, he didn't know how or why she was right next to him now. Didn't much care, either.

"Dunno, but I'm glad to see you're alright-" The reporter found himself interrupted by a roar as the enraged manticore went for Chrysalis, followed by the irate queen calling a rally to her troops. He looked back at the yellow unicorn. Sure, his first impression of her had been... unfavorable, all things considered, but after all, she had acquitted herself quite well against the changelings. Transformational magic was pretty darn impressive. He gave her smile, first genuine one of the evening.

"You know, I think the best thing to do would be to keep out of their way," He pointed at the creatures of the Everfree. "Wish there was some way to make sure that they only attacked changelings, though."

[Bellosh]

"As I was saying... Did you at least succeed in your mission?"

With the assailant charging to his doom towards a de facto firing squad, Snively thought of a way to evasively answer the question without making himself look more like a fool. "The enemy spellcaster was unable to reach Queen Chrysalis," the bureaucrat's spin factory churned out; "At great cost to myself, I served our glorious sovereign and sent that coward unicorn on the run. Now cut the chatter, Figment!" Snively could only wonder how Queen Chrysalis was mercilessly stomping on her enemies.

When orders came for Bianca's squad to move out and regroup with the Queen, Snively didn't hesitate to follow closely behind. There was no way he'd be caught alone without changeling soldiers to keep him safe. It sure did hurt though having to fly with all those aches.....

OOC: Last post for me in this thread.

[NeoExlucky]

Octavia got up from her bash in the tree. She had been knocked out for a few minutes, and the time showed. Now there seemed to be creatures from the everfree forest. She knew they would win the battle, what with the manticore, the zebra, and the force of the rest of the rag-tag war band, they were to succeed. Octavia backed up, making sure not to bump into anything. She could still see the battle, and just in case she needed to, she could run. She would see this battle out to the end, but for now she might now be able to fight. She may have a hurt more of her body than just her head. She looked at her hooves, they looked dirty like she had gone through a lot of mud. Her costume looked a tad torn, Her eyes hurt and her eyelids felt heavy. She would definitely need a long nap after this.

(Last post, though could be second to last.)