sponsored Rainbow Dash's Obstacle Course of Terror

[Pretzelparty]

As Dash entered the cave presteza smiled and waved a hoof to her,"How'm I doin' playin the part o' the--" She stopped mid speech as she noticed The pegasus's forehead glowing and soon watched as her favorite brush levitated past her,"O-oi! Give that back!" If this was some kind of elaborate joke it sure as hay wasn't funny. That brush was a gift from her best friend in Trottingham; the mare who helped her gain her cutie mark. Presteza's jaw dropped as she witnessed the host of the course morph into her true form; a changeling.

"GET IN THE CAGE!" cried Changeling Dash, "By the Queen, you lot are a fractious... this wasn't a race, you idiots! It's an obstacle course! And you're surrounded and outnumbered and in our very hive! Give us your love freely and maybe it'll be easier for you!" And with that, she lowered her head and spat out a big glob of green goo on the end of the paintbrush, sealing it to the floor.

​

The young painter hung her head and stared at the floor trying to comprehend the situation and sort out her feelings. Her plan tonight had been to have fun... maybe meet the princess and ask to do a portrait of her, maybe make some friends she could write to on her travels, Instead she had her favorite paintbrush stolen, been played for a foal on an obstacle course by a changeling imponynating one of Equestria's champions. The more she thought about it the more angry she got and to add insult to injury the lead changeling spat a thick glob of... whatever that stuff was on her paintbrush. That was the last straw. Throwing herself against the bars of the cage she yelled as loud as she could.

"Ya want love, huh?! Too bad, cause all I got in my heart right now is a whole lot o' hate!The second I get outta this cage I'm gonna tear those wings off and start sellin' 'em to ponies as fans!" The mare didn't care about staying in character anymore. Right now she wanted her brush back, herself out of the cage, and most of all a shot to kick that pompous changeling at the front's fangs in.

Seemed like she was going to get her chance as a certain unicorn blew the cage open, although with the force of this explosion she was flung into the air and landed directly next to the stallion dressed as bravado.

"Fancy meetin' you here again, Mister Bravado... I hope you're no' plannin' on gettin' outta here soon cause somehow I don' think they're gonna let us." she said gesturing to an assembling crowd of changelings. The mare simply glared at them as a few made their way forward and lifted her hindlegs in the air and bucked one of approaching assailants back into the mob, sending a few of them toppling like bowling pins.

"Cause I'm no' leavin' here without my paintbrush and one of that fake Dash's fangs fer a necklace!"

[Blueblood]

Flying Brick had tried her best, she really had. She'd stayed calm, analyzed the situation, identified where she could best exploit her strengths and the changeling's weaknesses, and had communicated her plan to everypony near. But did anypony pay her attention? Did anypony take her plan seriously? NOOOO! They all had to mess it up by being idiots!

It was, perhaps, an uncharitable thought for her to have towards her fellow ponies in the middle of a changeling invasion, but then when one has been scorched from a careless fire spell, you could hardly blame them for being a little hot-tempered.

Her kick had served to weaken the cage, another would have gotten it open. But then, Pyro Blaze blasted it, and all surrounding ponies, away. Not that Brick had any kinder thoughts for PFC Bravado here. Really, yelling out his attempt to plan in full hearing of the enemy? Not officer material.

With an exasperated grunt, the earth pony got to her feet, taking a look at her surroundings with a grimace. "I would like to drag impostor into frozen north and make bugsicle out of her." Not exactly the best of plans at the moment, but there really wasn't much else she could do, other than kick away at any changeling that came near. There were a couple of ponies near her, including the one who had her paintbrush stolen. "I ran into door on way down, but it wouldn't break. Maybe it burn? Is other entrance locked?" She tried to keep her voice low, so as not to alert the leader to her incipient plans.

[Duskfall]

Duskfall kept calling into the cave, but seemingly to no avail. He saw nopony leaving the cavern. Now, Duskfall was at an impasse, should he go back to town and get help, or should he go in for a rescue? His decision making was interrupted when a foriegn hoof placed itself on Duskfall's shoulders. On instinct, Duskfall spun full 360, pulling the hoof (and the body attached to it) downward and into the ground. In front of him was the tumbling body of another changeling, which confirmed Duskfall's growing fears and suspicions. Without another moment, Duskfall plunged into the cavern in search of his late comrades.

[PyroBlaze]

Pyro shook his head and sighed as the explosion affected three of the ponies. "I warmed them. Not my fault if they hang out where I can't even see them near the door." Pyro mumbled as he made his way out of the cage. Pyro looked back at the cage and the ponies that were still inside it. "Oh well, better they don't come out. Just means I don't have to worry about hitting them." Pyro said to himself, turning back to the changelings. Pyro kept them at bay with various fire spells. Pyro kept the spells away from the other ponies, and he overheard the acrobat pony talking about the door at the end of the tunnel. "Burn it? That could take awhile. It could work though." Pyro said, just loud enough for Flying Brick to hear. Pyro continued shooting changelings back with his magic. Pyro glanced around at the ponies fighting alongside him. Pyro smiled before teleporting himself to the door that Flying Brick had mentioned. Pyro briefly looked the door over before nodding. "Yep, that'll burn just fine. Let's get this done." Pyro said to himself before setting the door ablaze. After he had burned the door down, he teleported back to the group and nodded to Flying Brick. "Door's open now." Pyro whispered to the acrobat before continuing to blast back the changelings.

[Lilia]

((Will edit if asked, but felt this was absolutely required!))

Shadowe lost control of his spell, the blinding flash of light barely following the explosion that somepony had set off. The concussive force blew him back, bouncing his tiny body against the metal bars of both the side and rear of the cage. When he hit the rear, and finally came to rest, he took a mental stock of his injuries. Broken right hindleg, a few cracked ribs…he could still stand with those injuries. They would be painful, but he could still stand. After a few moments, he rose shakily to his three good hooves. He began the slow process of moving to the front of the cage again, his expression stern and determined.

“So, you, Mister Military Stallion, want order? Then why let a foal be hurt? Whomever set that explosion? PAY ATTENTION TO THE BLOODY UNICORN BY THE BLOODY DOOR! You think we can just turn off whatever spell we’re working and pick it up again after we move? Not a bloomin’ chance! There was a way out created already, the ceiling has a gaping hole in it! I HEARD it fall in! Instead, you risk MY LIFE in an attempt to BLAST your way out! You lot have a ton of things to think about, least of all why a little COLT is telling you where you went wrong! AS FOR YOU, DUMB CHANGELINGS! My love is not food, my love is not given lightly! You want me? Set these other ponies free and COME GET ME!” He declared, his voice strong despite the obvious pain he was in.

He turned to face Presteza, pinpointing her location from her voice.

“Miss, you can use your magic without whatever you were using, if you’re a unicorn! Just have faith in yourself!” He stated, softening visibly. The mare’s voice reminded him strongly of his mother.

He then turned to Flying Brick, again pinpointing from her voice and drug himself over to her side to plant a hoof squarely in her barrel.

“You want out, we do this MY WAY. The door melts or it doesn’t, it won’t save you when these things overwhelm you and whomever else is walking out of that door with you. You may think it is wise to go, but I swear to Luna, you’re sadly mistaken.” He stated, knowing the unicorn that had set the explosion was doing something by the heat of the fire now set by the door. He was glad he had been moving around now.

He began to walk carefully, taking the time to stride forward right into Pyro. He looked up, solid violet eyes cold.

“I blame you for the loss of my spell, you bloody idiot. I had a plan and you…you completely scuppered it. I was hoping to be the distraction here.” He whispered darkly, clearly full of resentment that the magic using unicorn before him was still trying to escape from a trap that wouldn’t be escapable for long.

[NeoExlucky]

Gadget looked around at all the dark colored ponies. This was quite a sight, he believed that they were all just costumes, a simple trick amongst the widely known prankster, Rainbow Dash. The holes looked real, the eyes authentic, and the disgusting ooze that littered the floor looked horrible to touch. He shuddered in excitement at the tasks ahead of him. This was quite the obstacle course. Little did he know, that once again...he was being stupid. "Your all getting into character nicely, acting like the changlings have invaded ponyville and such. Look!" He pointed to a very weak looking bar. "That bar looks really weak. Maybe we could 'break out' through there."

[Bellosh]

Chaos. Complete absolute chaos. That was exactly what PFC. Sentry hoped to prevent, but he failed miserably in that goal. Instead of the escapees calmly coming up with a sound plan for escape, contradictory agendas ensured that any rioting only made the situation far worse. And now, all the stricken Bravado pony could hear was a sharp ringing in his ears, courtesy of one ill-timed explosion. Flash couldn't even understand the shouting of that one Shadowbolt, or even the words that Luna cosplayer was speaking to him. All he could do was dumbly nod at her.

As the Luna pony charged off, Flash tried getting up too... only to be struck down again by a painful green bolt of magic. As it turned out, changelings didn't appreciate being blasted by fire magic, and now they sought to put down the escapees with a hailstorm of their own magical projectiles. If those outnumbered hotheads trying to fight the guards didn't yield soon, there might not be anypony to save by the time a proper rescue could be attempted. But Flash... couldn't do anything about it. Not while the groaning stallion recovered from that direct hit.....

[Bramble Rose]

The changelings leapt to the attack, as the ponies started to escape, hooves flying and spells flung. Several of the changelings shapeshifted to the shape of the escaping ponies - Flash Sentry was attacked by a Presteza with a green-glowing horn, and Pyro got assaulted by a Flying Brick and a Cloudchaser. Several Changelings turned into Shadowe and promptly started walking into walls. In the chaos of the unorganized attempt to escape, it was virtually impossible to tell who were real ponies and who were changelings!

Changeling Dash, meanwhile, took a long moment to simply press the tip of her hoof into the bridge of her muzzle, taking a deep breath and then letting it out slowly. Then she reached over and grabbed a passing changeling, pulling him into her face. "YOU!" she snarled, "What's the point of putting these ponies in a cage if they can just BREAK OUT OF IT?! Why wasn't that door blast proof? how could that pony just kick through the wall?!"

"Uh ... uh ... b-but I thought we were supposed to make fake costumes!" the Changeling stammered helplessly.

"THE CAGE IS NOT A COSTUME!" screamed Changeling Dash, then threw her hooves up in disgust. "Just ... go ... get kicked in the face or something." she said, tossing him into the fray. "Bah. Violent lot, no subtlety. The first reaction is always to just kick something. We need an *intelligent* solution..."

Once again, she checked the notes scribbled on the bottom of her boot. Lots of the ponies in there were unknown to her, but one had a weakness listed here.. "You lot, grab me, drag me off!" she said, indicating several of her changeling guards.

​

"HELP!" sounded a frantic cry, a familiar voice to Cloudchaser. "Help me!" There, at the back of the changeling horde, was a pale lavender pegasus pony with a silver mane - Flitter. She was wearing a costume that looked much like Cloudchaser's own - but instead of a thundercloud, it was obviously meant to be a giant amoeba, and it was being used as convenient hoofholds by the changelings dragging her off. "CLOUDCHASER! Aieee! I came to warn you, but they caught me!"

​

[NeoExlucky]

After breaking out of his cage, Gadget saw Flash and looked at him oddly, he tilted his head in confusion. Then his eyes widened, he gasped in horror, a pang of shock filled his body. This was real, very real. At first he panicked, how could he have been so stupid? He breathed deeply and went to Flash. "You alright...um...you?" He looked kind of familiar. Perhaps he had trained with his sister, maybe his sister trained under Flash? He didn't know how he looked familiar but that didn't matter. He had to try and help him up. Gadget pulled Flash to the side, behind a few...things so that he could be protected. From Changeling fire. "We need everyone, come on get up!" He pleaded to the stallion, watching to make sure no pony else was down and hurt.

[PyroBlaze]

Pyro kept blasting changelings as they got near. "Stay away you idiots!" Pyro growled at the changelings. This whole situation had started making Pyro angry, and that anger just continued to build as the changelings kept attacking. Somepony running into him certainly didn't help his mood. "Well sorry!" Pyro said with heavy sarcasm before continuing. "It usually helps to communicate your plans, so others know what the heck you're doing. I told you guys to back away from the door, but nooo, nopony listens to what I have to say. I could just leave, you know that right? I could leave you all to fend for yourselves, but I'm not going to do that. Anyways, how did you plan to use this distraction of yours? You're blind, for Celestia's sake, how did you plan to distract all these changelings? Stay back, you stupid changelings! Can't you see I'll just keep blasting you?" Pyro said, everything but the last two sentences whispered angrily at the blind colt. Pyro threw up a shield spell as green beams of magic started coming from the changelings. Pyro felt the bolts impacting against his shield, and saw one bolt hit Flash Sentry, who was still in the cage. Then the changelings started turning themselves into replicas of various ponies that are in the group. Pyro saw the acrobat pony and the storm cloud approach him from the group of changelings. Pyro glanced around and saw the real acrobat pony fighting off changelings along with the real cloud pony. Pyro looked back at the fakes and blasted them back with a wall of flames. 'We need to get out of here, or we need to defeat all these changelings. I don't think we can defeat them, so escape it is.' Pyro thought to himself, looking around for who should get out first.

[Blueblood]

Ugh, this was worse than market day in Kuznetsov Square! Not only was everypony everywhere, but everypony was everypony else! Real and fake were so mixed up that it would be impossible to coordinate any kind of plan now, for escape or for fighting back. Flying Brick didn't even bother to shout, now; she tuned out the pandemonium, just like back in Stalliongrad, where she would block out the city noise before performing. *The door is burned down, I think he said, but we would have to blitz through too many changelings to get there. Hm, I saw real Rainbow Dash in cocoon, and I hear somewhere that she is Element of Harmony? Rescuing her is key, but cannot do so alone. Can't get everypony to follow me... but maybe can get somepony. But who am I sure is not changeling?*

Well, the injured Bravado groaning next to her probably wasn't. Not much of an ally, but he'd have to do. She pulled him off into a relatively sheltered corner and spoke in low, harsh tones to him. "Don't try to gather every one, too big a job, too easy to be stopped. Best we split, so at least some get out; fiery one is leading group. I saw real Rainbow Dash in cocoon here, we need to rescue her. You and I will try; sound good, da?" From her tone, which was not all that much different from an irritated NCO, Flash Sentry might have been able to deduce that a refusal would not be considered valid.

[Pretzelparty]

“Miss, you can use your magic without whatever you were using, if you’re a unicorn! Just have faith in yourself!”

The mare paused a moment hearing the stranger's words, accidently letting a blast one of of the changelings take a generous portion of her mane off. She merely growled at foalish drone who did that and punched him in the jaw resulting in a cross eyed dizzy look from the drone before he fell over. She still was scared to even try basic telekinesis on anything but a paintbrush because she'd always wind up breaking or crushing something in her aura.

"W-Why would I need magic when takin' these creeps out with my own four hooves is so much fun?" she said in a slightly nervous, and almost defensive tone.

While the fun she sought this night had not been remotely what she expected, the young unicorn was having a ball kicking these flimsy drones into eachother, it was almost like an incredibly violent alternative to dominoes! Her fights with the group of drones who had chosen to gang up on her were getting a bit close for comfort though and without her paintbrush she was severly limited in what she could do to tip the odds of this fight in her favor. With some of the changelings taking on her appearance she had to think of something to make herself prove to be the genuine article. This was not going to be an easy task though seeing as she knew absolutely none of these ponies and the most she could guess they knew about her were her feelings about her paintbrush. With a smirk she took a deep breath and shouted at the top of her lungs.

"Alrigh' Everypony, but if I'm gonna be of any help then that pony's wrong! I'm goin' for my brush!"

Soon the mare broke into a gallop towards her brush, only to stop a few steps into it and let all the other ponies that looked like her dogpile onto eachother, some of the smarter drones that took on her appearance could only facehoof at this pathetic display.

With the crowds of changelings around her much more trimmed down than before she managed to catch a glimpse of the injured Bravado and another pony next to him. Only now did she realize she was letting her own feeling get ahead of her and she was acting selfish. She really probably shouldn't have left the stallion alone and even though now it seemed he had somepony looking after him she still felt somehow at fault. Galloping over to the pair her ears perked as she heard the mare say something that caught her interest.

"Don't try to gather every one, too big a job, too easy to be stopped. Best we split, so at least some get out; fiery one is leading group. I saw real Rainbow Dash in cocoon here, we need to rescue her. You and I will try; sound good, da?"

The true dash was in a Cocoon ... how in Equestria could she have not noticed that when she ran by? That was hardly important right now though, Being caught up in the festivities of what was supposed to be a fun night could probably dull a traveler's wariness,"Yea, I'll go with that" she thought to herself before skidding to a halt in front of the two and saying in a hushed tone

"Uh... sorry abou' leavin' ya here Mister Bravado... and do you guys need any 'elp?"

[RarityDash]

"HELP! Help me! CLOUDCHASER! Aieee! I came to warn you, but they caught me!"

Cloudchaser was focused on... well, whatever she was trying to accomplish yelling at a changeling while confined. When she was focused, whether out of determination or recklessness, not much stood a chance of reaching her. There were a few notable exceptions to this rule however, and one of them was exactly the sound she was hearing now. it was Flitter! Her voices was calling out to her, and sure enough there she was! She was even still dressed in her equally ridiculous and puffy amoeba costume.

Flitter was smart. Real smart. She studied biology. She knew all about all kinds of weird creatures. Of course it made sense that she'd sniff out the changelings and of course she'd rush to tell Cloudchaser. That was just the sort of mare she was. Now, because of that, here she was captured by evil changelings carrying her away! Chaser had no choice but to act quickly. The safety of the pony she cared about more than any other was in danger.

"Okay, that's it. Let her go now, or you'll regret it, you awful changelings!" Chaser shouted out angrily.

Luckily, everyone had broken through what was a surprisingly flimsy cage at this point. Less fortunately, there was a huge mass of transformed changelings to get through and it was hard to tell who was friend or foe anymore. It didn't matter though. She wasn't here to fight anymore. She needed to rescue the one and only Flitter in the crowd before they dragged her away. This in mind, Chaser rushed straight in the direction of Flitter's calls.

"Don't worry, Flit, I'm coming for you! Thunder is about to strike," Chaser started, wondering briefly if it was actually a cool line or not. She then broke into a full gallop, ultimately slamming her entire weight into one of the changelings that had Flitter, tackling it and then kicking it in the face with her hoof. She snarled at the rest of them as she secured Flitter right behind her.

"All of you lay off Flitter now!" she snapped, ready to pounce at whatever changeling made the first wrong move.

​

[Duskfall]

"Fitting in", as it were, with the other changelings wasn't all that hard it seems. Going in slightly paranoid, Duskfall went in disguised as a more normal looking changeling, i.e. no mane and solid blue eyes. He chuckled at the irony as he melded into his disguise. Further into the cavern, Duskfall was suddenly directed by the changeling disguised as Rainbow Dash to haul her off. He was confused at first, but then understood what the changeling was trying to accomplish when it changed into another pony. Playing along, Duskfall joined the others into "hauling" off the "pony".

As expected, the changeling formerly disguised as Rainbow Dash was calling out. "CLOUDCHASER! Aieee! I came to warn you, but they caught me!"

And as expect, another pony came charging at them to come to the rescue of the would-be damsel in distress. At full force, Cloudchaser slammed into the changeling to his far right, kicking and slapping him as they tumbled behind the remaining 2 guards (plus Duskfall). He could probably take care of the two changelings to his sides, but the Rainbow Dash imposter would be somewhat tricky to handle, since Cloudchaser would be protecting her fiercely, believing her to actually be whoever she though the changeling was. Time was a resource neither he or the ponies had at the moment, so Duskfall made his move.

In one swift movement, Duskfall grabbed the hoof of the changeling to his left and yanked it toward the changeling on his right. The changeling Duskfall grabbed was caught off-guard, but the other changeling reacted quick enough to dodge the tumbling body. He was not quick enough, however, to dodge Duskfall's side kick, which sent him tumbling forcefully into a wall. All the while Duskfall dropped his disguise and turned to address the pony.

"Ma'am, get away from her, she's not whoever you think she is!" Duskfall stood ready to plow through Cloudchaser, if need be, to attack the imposter.

[Lilia]

Shadowe sighed, giving Pyro a stern look before listening to the chaos bursting out around them. He couldn't tell what was going on, other than a pony had been captured and was calling for help.

"My plan was to set a timed flash of light to blind the changelings so every one of us could escape. That's what I hope was partially unleashed after your blast. Blind or not, I can still work my magic if I know where to aim. Right now, I'm useless though...and there seems to be a mare in distress. Unless we can get out in one piece...I know a kind of blending spell, maybe....but....I'm sorry I chewed on you, but I think I can still be somewhat useful...Our best way out would be to look like the Changelings, right?" He hesitated, the plan forming in his mind. The spell would only hold briefly, perhaps long enough to get to the mare in danger but certainly not long enough to go for her and escape. He smiled.

"If you can get to the mare, I can blend you in with these Changeling things...give me a rough description and I'll do my best to match it. However...It'll only hold for a little while. If we can get the rest to channel past....Once you're out, I can do the light spell again. I won't...I won't let anything get to my Mum and Dad. I just ask...if you see my dog, keep him safe...." He said, hoping that Pyro understood what he was thinking. He didn't now the group had now been duplicated.

[Bramble Rose]

The Changelings kept coming - now, very few of them actually looked like Changelings, and with so many of them wounded, and mixed in, it was becoming next to impossible to tell them apart from the real thing. They could sink into the walls of the hive, and pop out from another wall halfway around the place - or even come up out of the gooey black floor! Very few of them actually charged in from a horde of changelings, and those that did only did so to distract the ponies and focus them on the attackers so that new transformed changelings could pop up right in the midst of the ponies, pretending to be allies till they could get the upper hoof.

​

In the small tableau in the back of the horde, Flitter stood near Duskfall, cowering and looking terrified as she pleaded with Cloudchaser. "But Cloudchaser!" she cried, "That's a changeling! You wouldn't trust some traitor changeling over me, would you? I love you!"

​

[Mojo]

Now Haywire decided to make her move. From her hiding place, the blank flank filly began to witness the other contestants fighting back, some more successfully than others. She also saw some of the changlings transform into convincing dopplegangers of other ponies. One thing for sure, she had to do SOMETHING, even if it was the wrong thing.

Taking out her trusty slingshot that she always kept with her, Haywire began to stuff as many rocks and pebbles as she could find into the many pockets of her devil costume. As luck would have it, she spotted an empty saddlebag, apparently discarded as junk by the attacking horde.

"Finally, some GOOD luck fer a change!" the blonde filly neighed as she filled it with rocks and strapped it to her body. She had no plan, she had no goal other than stop the invaders. Now she was ready. Taking a deep breath with her slingshot loaded and ready, Haywire came out of hiding and began to shoot off rocks in rapid succession at any and all figures she'd happen to encounter. Not sure of who was fake and who was real, Haywire just kept moving, and kept shooting. Her aim wasn't perfect, but she thought that striking out was the only option left. She even managed to take a few shots at the cage inside, hoping by dumb luck to hit those guarding it. She kept moving and shooting, picking up more rocks and firing them as fast as she could. The way she figured it, if she hit any REAL ponies, she'd apologize later, but she DID hit some of the changelings, she wouldn't have to apologize. It was a desperate gamble, but then again, Haywire was always a risk taker.

"EAT ROCKS, YA BUNCHA YAH-HOOS!" she shouted, uncertain if her rock barrage would make any difference or not.

[Blueblood]

Another Mare was coming to help! If indeed, it was another mare, and not a changeling. Flying Brick now realized that she really couldn't tell. Perhaps even the bruises she could see were a clever disguise. On the other hand, Presteza hadn't any more certain indication that Brick was who she said she was, so there wasn't much to be done there. *Well, for results beyond hope, trust beyond reason.*

The Earth Pony nodded at the unicorn. "Help always good; Bravado may not be moving soon, but we must. Problem of how to get over without being separated or confused; stick by me until- OW!" Out of nowhere, a rock came in and left a stinging welt on Flying Brick's withers. More rocks showered down upon the group, more or less indiscriminately, but since the changelings were there in greater force, they took the brunt of the blows. She could also see something else. "Ha! They don't bruise when hit! Can now tell real from fake. Cocoon is not far from cage now, see? Not expecting us to go back there, I think. When gap opens, we run, then buck like crazy to break it. Good plan, yes?"

[PyroBlaze]

Pyro sighed as the colt started talking again, explaining his plan. Pyro looked around again, seeing less changelings than before. "How're we supposed to fight these guys if we don't even know who's a changeling and who's not?" Pyro muttered as he listened to the colt's new plan. "Description of what? There's almost no changelings left to blend in with. Besides, that mare is already being helped." Pyro said after the colt had finished talking. Pyro looked around again and sighed. "Don't think your plan's gonna work, dude. I need to get as many ponies as I can out of here, but you're the only one that I'm sure isn't a changeling at this point. Let's go." Pyro said, grabbing the colt before teleporting them both to the ground next to the obstacle course. "There we go, now to get more." Pyro said, putting the colt on the ground before teleporting himself back into the cave. No sooner had he reappeared then a rock flew straight at him. Pyro caught the rock with his magic, stopping it within an inch of his face. "Where did this come from?" Pyro asked himself before he looked up to see Haywire firing off rocks into the crowd of ponies and changelings. "Haywire? When did you get in here?" Pyro asked the filly as she came near him. Pyro looked around at the crowd, seeing almost no changelings. What he did see, however, was a lot of copies of the ponies in the group. Pyro just looked around, completely at a loss as to what to do next. Pyro sighed before one of the changelings that hadn't changed charged him, taking him by surprise and tackling him to the ground. Pyro growled at the changeling before kicking him off and standing back up. Pyro kicked the changeling away before a rock came hurtling into his side. "Ow, even with the armor that hurt." Pyro muttered before looking around again.

[Bellosh]

"We need everyone, come on get up!"

"Don't try to gather every one, too big a job, too easy to be stopped. Best we split, so at least some get out; fiery one is leading group. I saw real Rainbow Dash in cocoon here, we need to rescue her. You and I will try; sound good, da?"

Flash Sentry still reeled from his injuries, but at least the buzzing in his ears ceased. A nearby Stalliongrad pony in a gymnast outfit indicated what appeared to be the real Rainbow Dash trapped, but the PFC. felt grave misgivings. It didn’t make sense for the changelings to bring one of Equestria’s champions all the way here as a fancy prop… not unless it was some sort of clever back-up trap in case a breakout occurred. There was always the possibility that Rainbow Dash was being used as bait to draw out real ponies… so they could be spotted by the fake ponies as they tried rescuing here. After all, it was quite telling that none of the other fakers stayed anywhere near that cocoon.

The Bravado pony slowly got up, and was just about to raise an objection to the band of would-be rescuers. Fate however was not finished playing cruel tricks on PFC. Sentry just yet; a rocky projectile suddenly struck the stallion right on the forehead, knocking out Flash yet again. Tonight wouldn’t be a night the royal guard would be proud of, definitely.....

[Imagination]

Now where had he been the whole time?

The former Honor Guard managed to catch the group as Flash was knocked unconscious again. He went over to the Bravado pony and propped him up. "Upsy daisy~". He was going about as if there totally wasn't an invasion going on right now. Truth be told, he had hidden himself away before he could get trapped and had been assessing the situation. Though in hindsight he could've helped a lot more and gotten the same results. Oh well.

He probably wouldn't have gotten much done aside from getting captured or incapacitated. Still, if he could keep the PFC somewhat safe, he might have some help with this. Listening to Brick, not really knowing who this pony was or what their angle was, he just shook his head. "We shouldn't split up. They have the advantage of numbers and surprise, you'd get swarmed."

To gadget he just smiled, having noticed then being concerned about poor little Flash. "Don't you worry, he'll be alright... Eventually."

[Blueblood]

Maybe it was all the changelings hereabouts, but Flying Brick's finer feelings were just about drained bone-dry. She wasn't even normally the bossy sort, and anypony who knew her might think her a changeling, and she knew this was uncharacteristic and it was only a matter of time before this little group got overwhelmed before it had a chance to do anything and -GAAAAAHHHH!

Grinding her teeth in frustration, she stood on her rear hooves and boxed Trailbalzer's head between her front ones. "Three facts! One, are enough changelings here to swamp even all of us together! Two, if we waste time trying to get everypony together, they'll run rings around us! Three, us in smaller groups, they are more likely to get in each other's way! Small tunnels, see, can't fit too many in at time! We run rescue operation for Rainbow, then we get all ponies we can and get out. No wasting anymore time soldier, you have orders!" She might not have a drill-sergeant's exact manner, but she sure had his ill-temper.

Flying Brick let go of his head, and started holding her own, breathing heavily. "Sorry comrades, not feeling well, but cannot spare any time for argument! We must act now, cannot wait for others, some run away and escape already! One I know we need to get, and we get her! Then we go, come back for others with reinforcements. Stick together, and remember that changelings don't bruise when hit! Now please," There were actual tears welling in her eyes as she pleaded with these inertia-ridden ponies; standing still was always more of a strain for her than moving, and the circumstances didn't make it any better for her. "Let's GO!"

[RarityDash]

"Ma'am, get away from her, she's not whoever you think she is!"

One of the changelings facing her shouted out suddenly. Cloudchaser was instantly confused. It was a changeling. This was immediately and entirely obvious. it looked like the other changelings for the most part and was in the group trying to drag off Flitter. Why would a changeling be trying to convince her Flitter wasn't real? i mean, if it was a trap, it would be the changelings perpetrating it so of course a changeling wouldn't be telling her about it. Yeah. That made sense... at least she thought so. This actually made it clear that Flitter wasn't a changeling because here was a changeling trying to convince her to get away from her. This changeling was surely just trying to confuse her, but anyone could see it didn't make any sense! She wasn't going to fall for it.

​

"But Cloudchaser! That's a changeling! You wouldn't trust some traitor changeling over me, would you? I love you!"

"Of course, I believe you, Flit. I'm not stupid enough to fall for this changeling's poorly thought out ploy!" Cloudchaser started conclusively, nodding. "I mean, if you were a changeling, why would a changeling even be telling me about it! They just want to get me away from you!"

Cloudchaser glared at Duskfall directly and growled. "I'm not going to fall for your obvious trickery, evil changeling. If you want to get at Flitter, you're gonna have to go through me!"

​

[Bramble Rose]

Flitter, released from the hold of the other changelings by Duskfall, hurried over next to Cloudchaser as the pegasus declared her love. Briefly, Flitter's eyes glowed green, as did Cloudchaser's, and Flitter let out a low, happy noise... "oooo, that's the stuff," she murmured happily, then gave a confident smirk in Duskfall's direction, sticking her tongue out for just a moment. Then the act was back on as she smiled to Cloudchaser. "Oh, thank you for rescuing me, love!" she cried happily! Erg, she should have researched Dash's friends more. How did Flitter talk? "You are... the catalyst to ... my reaction!" Yeah, that's how eggheads flirted, right? "Tell me you love me!"

​

(( And I'll let the other ponies go ahead and keep on with the changeling fight. Lotsa NPCs, five minutes worth of battle footage. Woo! ))

[Lilia]

Shadowe grumbled as he was hauled out of the cave. He just wanted to help! He heard Pyro address Haywire and he visibly perked up. He knew the country filly!

"You know Haywire? Then you're not as bad as I thought you were...though I really wish I could be in there fighting back!" He told Pyro, a delighted bark making him beam.

"COLBY! Oh, boy, you're ok! I was hoping those evil creatures didn't hurt you...Sir, this is my seeing-eye dog, Colby. He's a good, loyal dog....maybe he could help you? I can stay out here and work with Haywire." He said, smiling as the dog sniffed him and Pyro and growled at the cave. How strange...could the dog smell a changeling? That's probably why he was always so nervous and scared during the course.

Shadowe turned and finally collapsed from the pain of moving, the adrenaline wearing off as he faced Haywire.

"Haywire...how are you doing, friend?" He asked her weakly, trying not to laugh at the silly reaction as Colby bounded around the filly.