Short Changeling Hero

by Fossil-Dragon-Messiah

Rating: teen
Tags: Gore, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Doctor Whooves, Other, Changelings, Original Character, Adventure, Derpy Hooves, Sex
Length: 5149

It was just a normal day for Shadow Strike... Then again, That's what everypony thought the day Canterlot was invaded

Shadow Strike has let his past as Thanatyak, the Changeling soldier burn away. But on this day, his past will come back to haunt him, Long Shot, Pupa and all of Canterlot like a phoenix from ashes.

Published 2014-11-29 00:50:05 UTC
Last updated 2014-11-29 00:50:05 UTC

Invasion

Author's Note

Okay, so heres how this fic works. Whenever a changeling speaks in the changeling language, I'm going to provide a translation in parenthesis. Got it? Now back off and enjoy. Also, before you ask, I'm not british(Or gallopfreyan). :twilightsmile:

Invasion

In all the ten years Shadow Strike had been in Equestria, never once had he encountered a foe as powerful as this. Nothing Shadow did had any affect on his adversary. For he could not touch his opponent or even see it, but he could feel it. It resonated a draining energy that Shadow felt sap at his very being.

For the name of this ultimate foe... Boredom.

Some bigwig in the Celestial Guard decided to quarantine Canterlot without telling anypony why. Nopony was allowed to enter or exit the city without royal sanction. No criminals were making their moves in Canterlot so Shadow couldn't hunt here and he couldn't leave the city to find some other prey. To it all off, Shadow couldn't even admire the blue Canterlot sky due to some Celestia damned forcefield spell around the city.

Long Shot and Pupa were back at Joe's shop. Joe's cousin, Bon Bon, was visiting and neither of them had met her before. Shadow knew Bon Bon, and she was a nice enough pony, but where ever she went, her roommate Lyra was never far behind. Shadow and Lyra once had a... thing... for each other. Lyra taught Shadow how to stand on his hind legs and use his hooves more efficiently, and Shadow would humor her and listen to her lyre. The two broke up when Shadow's love of the hunt wouldn't allow him to spend time with Lyra. They were still friends, but Shadow didn't want to be in the blast radius when Long Shot and Lyra met... Just in case.

Shadow walked along the street. To alleviate the immense boredom, Shadow began to sing a little number he had fallen in love with during a hunt in Appleloosa.

"This ain't no place for no hero.

This ain't no place for no better mare.

This ain't no place for no hero... to call ho-"

A large sound like that of glass shattering interrupted Shadow's melody. Shadow covered his ears and fell to the ground, shaken by the sudden noise. He turned to the castle off in the distance and saw a flash of blazing green as the purple magic shield around Canterlot dissipated. Tiny black specs began to dot the sky and a low buzzing sound that was somehow familiar to Shadow Strike was heard.

Shadow stood back up and squinted to get a better look and what was causing the cacophony of buzzing. The black dots grew bigger and Shadow's eyes grew as big as Luna's full moon.

No..., Shadow thought.

No... Celestia please no...

Several of the black dots began to glow green and struck the ground. Out of the craters crawled chitinous exoskeletons and papery wings. "Taras Chrysalis! (For Chrysalis)" Shadow heard several scratchy voices cry out.

Canterlot was being invaded by changelings.

NO, NO, NO! Celestia damn it! Why here? Why now?, Shadow thought as he unsheathed his blade.

A few changeling scouts, or "hoppers" as they are called, took aim at Shadow and leapt at him, trying to kick him with their powerful legs. Shadow did a barrel roll as he lowered the lethality enchantment on his sword. If he was fighting his past, he was going to kill it and bury it in the deepest grave ever conceived. When the green glow around the perimeter of his katana's blade faded completely, Shadow swing and severed one of hoppers heads. As the cranium rolled onto the street, one of the hoppers shouted, "Coda barec! To pony's arvas! (Need help! This pony's strong!)"

A few changeling basic infantry, or "Roaches", heard the hopper's call and hovered to it's aid. Roaches, unlike hoppers, were much sturdier and capable of doing a lot of damage just on their own. They are slightly larger than hoppers and are distinguishable from other changelings by their purple armor like growths on their carapace. "Som Vermivorous hys kai, pony tuem! (To Vermivorous with you, pony scum!)" One of the roaches shouted as it tried to ram it's horn into Shadow Strike. The bounty hunter ducked and tabbed his blade right into his aggressor's abdomen.

Gotta get back to Joe's, Shadow thought. Long Shot and Pupa need me!

Several more changelings came at Shadow Strike, who skillfully dispatched them one by one. One hopper pinned him to the ground when Shadow wasn't looking only to have his blade skewer his head. Shadow removed the blade and wiped it clean of changeling viscera to keep it from dulling under coagulated blood. They just kept coming, one after another, not giving Shadow Strike a moment's rest.

Shadow activated deception and snuck around the line of changelings approaching him. With one leap and one stroke of his blade, Shadow sliced open at the back of at least five changelings necks. Shadow jumped up and lodged his sword right into the head of a larger soldier and pulled it out, like the sword in the stone.

Shadow weaved and bobbed through the oncoming barrages of love leeching spells. He needed to keep his store of love he had collected from Pupa and Long Shot in case he needed to do any magic more powerful than just his deception spell.

Shadow was like a painter in battle. His sword the brush. His enemies the canvas. The enemies blood the paint. Shadow's strokes brought the green color of changeling innards onto the battlefield.

Off in the distance, gunshots and screams could be heard. Glad I'm not the only one fighting out here, Shadow thought. Shadow ran through the swarm, slicing at any changeling dumb enough to get to close. Shadow leapt onto a crate resting against the wall of a nearby by building and scrambled up onto the building ceiling. Shadow over looked the city, awestruck at how quickly the capitol of Equestria descended into madness.

He scanned the cityscape for Joe's donut shop. When Shadow located his destination he immediately made a beeline for it.

As he sprinted along the rooftops a changeling ambushed him and knocked him back down to the street. Several changelings piled onto the bounty hunter. Shadow used some of his reserves of love energy to push them off and finish them.

When shadow made sure he wasn't surrounded anymore, he stopped to take a breather. Dammit, He thought. This is the largest force I've seen since Horn Valley! Shadow heard a twig snap behind him and he immediately swung his blade around, but Shadow stopped it as soon as he saw what he was swinging at.

Mere inches away from his blade stood a pegasus mare. She was white with long scarlet bangs curling in a way that when the two bangs were put together, shape of them reminded him of an omega symbol.

"Sorry ma'am", Shadow said. "I thought you were one of the changelings."

The mare grinned. Before Shadow Strike had time to react, she slammed a hoof into Shadow and sent him flying. "Ohoho. You too trusting mister pony." She said.

"Damn... That hurt." Shadow said breathing heavily as he rose back up. "Who are you? You're obviously not one of these grunts."

The pegasus laughed. "The pony who's shape I've taken was named Luxury Bliss, but you can call me Zayneth."

Zayneth... That's the changeling word for demigod, Shadow thought. "Okay, You might as well lose the disguise now."

"A little pushy, aren't you? Heh. That's okay I like pushy."

"What are you? Some kind of whorse?" Shadow asked.

Zayneth giggled. "Exactly. I have to say, the love I feed off feels a lot better than just siphoning it."

I am going to enjoy taking you down, Shadow thought.

Green flames engulfed the white pegasus, indicating that she was changing shape. When the flames subsided, a massive changeling took the place of the little pony. Her carapace was gold, her eyes blazed red, her horn was shaped like a lightning bolt. She had two sets of wings and lacked any holes in her legs. At the end of each leg, three claws protruded from the bottom, unlike other changeling claws which are just regular hooves. On the back of her forelegs were mantis-like blades that folded into the serrated carapace on her upper legs.

Shadow saw this behemoth and his eyes widened. "You're a stinger." He observed.

Zayneth smiled. "That's right big boy. The first female stinger ever given birth to by the almighty queen Chrysalis."

Shadow thought back to his time at the hive ten years ago. Never once had he heard of a female stinger being born. If one had, it was a well kept secret. If she was born after Shadow left, then she couldn't be older than nine, the typical age for changelings to be deployed into combat.

Shadow wasn't sure what to do. A female stinger would be a match for anyone, even a queen. For a male stinger, like Shadow, this would be like a mosquito biting a dragon.

Shadow assumed his battle stance. If he was going down, he would go down fighting.

"Let's do this big boy", Zayneth shouted as she lunged towards Shadow Strike. A large claw nearly struck Shadow in the face, but the bounty hunter side stepped the blow at the last second. Shadow merely evaded all attacks instead of trying to block or counter, trying to assess Zayneth's combat abilities.

As far as Shadow could tell, the two had polar opposite fighting styles. Zayneth had power, but no artistry, as opposed to Shadow who preferred to fight by slicing with precision at an opponents weak spots to make up for his lack of power.

After Shadow was confident he could anticipate Zayneth's attacks, he began to fight back rather than just evade blow after blow. Shadow blocked a strike and countered by swiping Zayneth's leg, letting her crash to the ground. Shadow jumped up and brought his blade down, but Zayneth caught the sword and held it in place with her claws before it could reach her. Zayneth threw Shadow off her and tried to close the gap between them. Shadow moved fast to keep Zayneth a safe distance away.

Zayneth lunged at Shadow once again and pinned him to the floor. "Baby, I think it's going to feel much better for both of us if I'm the one on top."

For the love of Celestia, shut up, Shadow screamed to himself as he tried to wriggle his way out of his opponents grasp. Once again, Shadow used a small amount of energy from his reserves to temporarily blind Zayneth and put some distance between them. Zayneth only stumbled back for a second before regaining her composure.

"I see... You like to play dirty huh?" She said.

Shadow had enough. "Will you cut it out with the sex lingo? It's really bucking creepy!" He shouted.

Zayneth smirked and continued her attack. throwing punch after punch while standing on her hind legs. Shadow in turn kept weaving, searching for an opening. When the opportunity presented itself, Shadow swung his blade and smiled, but the katana merely bounced off the carapace.

"What the Tartarus?" Shadow exclaimed. He knew female stingers had a tough carapace, it was what made them as dangerous as a queen, but Shadow's sword was tempered ebony laced with dragon scales. It should have cut through Zayneth's exoskeleton like a hot knife through butter.

"Ohoho. You can't penetrate me that easily, sugar. I've absorbed enough love energy to make my carapace as hard as diamonds", Zayneth proclaimed. Shadow's expression hardened as he unleashed a flurry of slashes. Zayneth made no attempt to dodge or even block the blows.

Shadow leapt above Zayneth and tried to slice at her neck. For the first time Zayneth reacted. She dropped down and placed her claws over the nape of her neck, just inches blow where Shadow's bladed landed.

Aha, thought Shadow. There's her weak spot! The nape of the neck... Why does that sound so familiar?

Shadow dropped down and gave Zayneth time to turn to him. Shadow activated deception and ran around the stinger. Shadow Strike lunged at Zayneth, poised to kill, but Zayneth turned to him, even though he should have been invisible, and grabbed him by the face.

"Tsk, tsk. Trying to get away from me, huh?" Zayneth chastised.

Through her Zayneth's claw Shadow Strike managed to speak in a muffled voice. "How the hay did you see through my decoy?"

Zayneth giggled. "You see, mister pony, I can sense the electric pulse given off by creatures nervous systems. Your decoy didn't give off any pulses, but I still sensed yours. I have to give you points for trying though." The stinger threw Shadow who landed on his hooves and gained back his stance.

"So... You see electricity, huh? Then let's give ya something to look at!" Shadow shouted as he cast a spell that made a wall of lightning appear around Zayneth. Shadow activated deception immediately afterwards and went in once again to avoid letting Zayneth cover her weak spot.

As Shadow passed through the wall of lightning, Zayneth once again turned to the invisible unicorn and struck at him.

"Motherbucker! How did you see me coming that time?" Shadow demanded.

Zayneth was more than happy to give an answer. "I said I detect the electric pulses given off by any CREATURE'S nervous system. Lightning Isn't even picked up on my radar. Sorry, sugar. Looks like your little invisibility thing isn't going to help you here."

Shadow glared at the golden changeling. His only hope was that he would get lucking and be able to slice at Zayneth's weak point.

The bounty hunter sliced away as Zayneth blocked the blade with her horn. Sparks would fly when the sword and horn connected.

Shadow thought he saw an opening and went for it. As his blade fell down wards, Zayneth blocked it. The stinger raised her claw and slammed it into Shadow's face.

Shadow's body was covered in glowing, green cracks. The cracks spread until Shadow's entire body was glowing green. The green glow faded, revealing Shadow Strike in his changeling form. Shadow looked down at his claws. "No!" He shouted.

Zayneth looked on for a second in confusion, then in understanding. "Purple carapace? Ah! Thanatyak. Your shorter than I imagined."

Shadow looked back at his assailant. "How do you know my name?"

"Queen Chrysalis spoke highly of you Thanatyak. You were the hero of Horn Valley... And my brood father."

"Brood father?" Shadow asked. "The eggs Chrysalis spawned from me hatched a female stinger?"

"Yes. I had a feeling you were alive", Zayneth said. "If the rumors about Horn Valley are true then there's no way you would have died out there in the desert looking for Cocoonis."

"I don't care if I am your brood father. I'm no longer Thanatyak, I'm Shadow Strike now, and this is my home!" Shadow yelled. Shadow ran at Zayneth and swung his blade with all his might. Zayneth spread her wings and flew into the sky. As Shadow followed her, she flew into the streets below and began to fly in erratic patterns to confuse Shadow. As Shadow lost sight of his quarry he looked around to regain his sense of direction.

He saw six mares in the castle courtyard, fending off an entire battalion of changelings. Well... More like five mares fending of a changeling battalion and another one just cowering in the center. If Shadow Strike wasn't so preoccupied, he'd fly right over there and provide some reinforcements, but Zayneth was the priority.

"Now where'd you go, you little piece of sh-" Shadow felt a claw slam into his abdomen. The bounty hunter gripped at his stomach when Zayneth grabbed his face and beg to drag Shadow by it. She flew low and pushed Shadow into the wall of a building while maintaining her vice grip. Shadow yelled as the rock dug into his face and struggled to shake himself free.

Shadow managed to squirm free and began to lead Zayneth into a trap. He lured Zayneth under the Canterlot banks roof and sliced away at the columns supporting it. As the roof collapsed, Shadow flew out of the way of the falling debris as fast as his papery wings would carry him. He turned around to see Zayneth get crushed underneath the rubble.

"That's what you get for messing with Equestria!" Shadow yelled triumphantly. As he finished his sentence, a golden claw forced it's way through the pile of debris. "Oh, buck me!" Zayneth pulled herself loose and stared angrily at Shadow.

"That's it!" She shouted. "No more horsing around! It's time for the climax." Zayneth let out a shrill shriek and several lesser changeling soldiers flew to her.

Shadow sighed. "I will ask again/ Please stop with the sex lingo/ It is annoying"

A crimson beam protruded from Zayneth's horn and firmly struck each soldier.

Shadow couldn't believe it. "You're draining your own soldiers?"

Zayneth laughed maniacally. "Oh! This feels wonderful! It's building... More and more... If this keeps up I'll... I'll... hahahaHAHAHA!"

The stinger was engulfed in red flames. When they subsided, flames of similar color spouted from her eyes and the joints in her exoskeleton. "I... Am a god."

Shadow poised him self, ready to defend himself to the bitter end. The bounty hunter wasn't going to die without a fight.

Zayneth flew straight at Shadow, who saw that if she ran into his sword at that speed, it didn't matter how tough her carapace was, she was getting skewered.

As the stinger got within stabbing distance of Shadow, he immediately stuck his blade out. His grin turned to shock as at the last moment, Zayneth twisted and the blade missed. Zayneth stuck her forelegs outward and snapped the sword into three separate pieces with her mantis-like appendages.

Shadow stared in sheer terror at the hilt of his sword. As he looked, Zayneth seized the chance and slammed him into the concrete below them, leaving a Shadow Strike-sized crater where the impact happened.

Shadow crawled out, or at least tried to as Zayneth dropped down onto him. She began angrily stomping on his abdomen. Shadow couldn't breathe, every time the claw dropped down, it forced all of the oxygen out of his lungs.

Dammit, thought Shadow. She's too strong! She's just loving this...

Love...

Shadow rolled over, trying to hide his breathing to trick Zayneth into thinking she killed him. "Aw", she said. "Over already?" She picked Shadow off the ground and looked at him closely. Shadow Strike tried to go as limp as possible and tried to ignore the pain as Zayneth squeezed his neck. She raised him to eye level and smirked. "And so ends the story of Thanatyak, the traitor".

Shadow opened his eyes and smiled. He began to leech off Zayneth's sadism and love of battle as she recoiled in agony.

"Second wind achieved!/ Pulled back from the brink of death/ I'm ready for more!" Shadow shouted triumphantly. He used the energy he siphoned to heal his wounds and power up. Green flames spouted from his eyes and joints, just like Zayneth."Time for round two!"

"Die!" Zayneth shouted as she swung her claws wildly at Shadow, who deflected each blow with a series of upward blocks. Shadow flew upwards and Zayneth followed. The two flew back and forth, clashing in midair.

During one of their clashes, Shadow saw a familiar streak pierce the sky, followed by several celestial centurions. YES! The cavalry's here, he thought. It's about time the Wonderbolts joined the fray.

Neither Zayneth nor Shadow Strike would relent. The two were completely even now. Neither could gain a significant advantage over the other. Dammit! I need a sword. Shadow thought.

As the battle raged in the streets and in the skies, the two combatants continued their relentless assault on each other. Each blow was met with a block then a counter. Each foe was perfectly opposed. Yin and yang. Light and dark. Chaos and harmony.

Shadow looked eagerly for something to break the stalemate. This fight would last for ever unless something tipped the scales. Come on, He thought. There must be something around here! Shadow Strike carelessly threw a punch and Zayneth grabbed his claw. Shadow cried in agony as the stinger began to crush his claw and twist his leg. Shadow began to punch at Zayneth's eye with his free claw.

"Damn you!" Shadow shouted as he threw one last blow before Zayneth relinquished her grip. Shadow flew backwards and used a good chunk of the magic he drained from Zayneth to restore his mangled limb.

Zayneth sneered. "I've had enough of you. Taste oblivion!" She flew high upwards and her horn began to glow. A massive railgun-like energy blast erupted from Zayneth's horn and hurdled towards Shadow. The blast engulfed the bounty hunter who threw his claws in a futile attempt to block the beam.

Zayneth smiled. The light from the blast faded and so did Zayneth's smile. Shadow Strike was still there, completely unscathed. But now he was surrounded by some orb of energy and was holding a strange device. "What?! Why won't you die?" She shouted.

The bounty hunter opened his eyes and stared at the device. It was red with blue accents. It was shaped sort of like an geometric compass accept instead of a pencil at the end, A scissor shaped blade protruded from the disk that stood on the end of the handle. In the center of the disk was a blue shield symbol. "What the...? What is this?" Shadow asked. Shadow pressed a button on the handle and the shield icon changed to a sword. The red blade slid apart and revealed a blue energy blade. Shadow sung the device around. "Whoa. This thing is light!"

Zayneth hovered in the air, staring at the device in terror. "... Soraniah..."

"I'm sorry. what was that?" Shadow said as he turned to his adversary, his new blade in hoof.

"Soraniah... The claw of Thanatyak, the god of death. Were you so dense as to not even know whose namesake you are?" Zayneth replied.

"Of course I know who the original Thanatyak was! But Soraniah... I thought that old artifact was a scythe... And stolen by the northern hive long before the unification of the hives?" Shadow responded.

Zayneth backed up in fear. "Soraniah reborn... the new Claw of Thanatyak... That weapon deserves to be used by a real changeling! Not some traitorous pony lover!" She shouted. Zayneth rushed at Shadow who sidestepped her attack with ease. Shadow swung the blade downwards and sliced off the claw of Zayneth's right rear leg.

"ARGH. HNG!" She squealed as she clutched the bleeding wound and fell to the ground.

"This blade is useful/ Soraniah, It is called?/ I'll change that later." Shadow spoke as he stood over the whimpering Zayneth. He looked down on the stinger with disgust. He put a claw on the back of her head and force her to reveal the nape of her neck. "Goodbye, Zayneth" He said. He raised the blade and slammed it down onto the weak point.

Zayneth's body went limp as her head rolled along the floor. "That's one less freak out there... Now to get to Long Shot and Pupa", Shadow said aloud.

Shadow took off hovering along the ground, not even bothering to reapply his disguise. The blade's solid parts reconnected and the beam dissipated.

As Shadow rushed to his destination he heard a nasally voice cry out, "Get away from my little muffins you bugs!" Shadow turned onto an alley and saw two changeling roaches and four ponies tied up in changeling mucus. One grey pegasus mare, one brown and unconscious earth pony stallion, one purplish-grey unicorn filly, and a pinkish older unicorn mare. The filly had obviously been leeched off of.

Shadow reactivated his sword and rushed at the two laughing changelings. With one motion, Shadow Strike skewered both of their heads on his new sword's blade. "Sorry you had to see that." He said to everypony who was still conscious.

"W-Why did you do that? Your one of them aren't you?" The grey pegasus asked.

Shadow turned to her. "I was about ten years ago. I haven't been one since."

The earth pony began to wake up. "Are... Are you my mummy?" he asked still half asleep. He spoke in a gallopfreyan accent, much like the famous cellist, Octavia Melody.

"Um... no. I'm here to get you out of here." Shadow responded. He raised his blade high and cut away at the mucus bindings holding together the pegasus and earth pony.

The stallion shook his head and appeared much more awake. "Thank you, sir." He said as he bent down to pick a screwdriver whose tip had been sharpened to act like a shiv. "You're different from the other bug things aren't you?" The stallion stuck out his hoof. "The names Doctor Time Turner Hooves, but everypony calls me 'Doc'. This is my wife Derpy."

"Nice to meet you two. I'm Shadow Strike."

The grey pegasus turned to Shadow Strike. Shadow thought something was off about her face and got a closer look. Derpy said, "I have strabismus, that's what's wrong with me."

"Oh", Shadow responded. "Forgive my insensitivity."

""It's fine. I'm used to it by now", Derpy said. "Amethyst, Dinky, Are you alright?"

The pink unicorn nodded. "I'm fine mom, but Dinky..."

Shadow Strike spoke. "She's fine. She's going to be a little out of it for a couple hours but then she'll be back to normal."

"How in the name of all things wibbly and wobbly do you know that?" Doc asked.

Shadow sighed. "Changeling leech spells only turn their victims into vegetables. Give her a couple hours and she'll be fine", He said. "Okay, everypony. You all need to get someplace safe."

Doctor Hooves nodded. "Right, everypony. Allons-y!"

Derpy placed the incapacitated filly onto her back and took off with Doc and amethyst. As soon as they were out of sight, Shadow heard mumbling coming from a trash can deeper into the alley. Shadow approached the trash can and slowly lifted the lid. Inside was an all too familiar face.

"Lyra!" Shouted Shadow Strike.

The mint green unicorn in the can was bound with her hooves tied by changeling mucus and gagged with the same material. Shadow reached down and pulled the gag off Lyra's mouth and she spoke. "How do you know my name, you freaky bug?"

"Lyra", Shadow began. "It's me! Shadow Strike."

Lyra obviously didn't believe him. "Shadow Strike isn't some giant bug thing!" She shouted.

"I can prove it. We met three years ago at Sugar Cube Corner in Ponyville, you're roommates with donut Joe's cousin Bon Bon and you hate it when ponies confuse a lyre with a harp." Shadow said.

"H-how? You were one of these things all along?" Lyra asked.

Shadow lowered his head. "Yes. I'm sorry I didn't tell you."

Lyra turned to her bindings. "We can talk about that later. Can you get these binds off me?" She asked.

Shadow nodded and removed the mucus bindings. "Now we need to get to Joe's, ASAP."

"You're not going to ask me how I was tied up and thrown in a trash can?" Lyra asked.

"That can wait. We need to move!" Shadow said.

"A couple days ago, I got separated from Bon Bon and these bugs came and bound me up and turned into me." Lyra explained anyway.

Shadow sighed. "Great... Now less talking more running!"

The donut shop came within view. A pile of changeling corpses littered the ground and a smoking sniper rifle barrel was sticking out of the window on the second floor. "Long Shot!" Shadow called out. "It's Shadow Strike! Hold you fire!" The gun's barrel retracted behind the window. Shadow and Lyra burst into the shop and sprinted upstairs. There, Long Shot, Joe, and Bon Bon were all assembled.

Bon Bon stepped forward. "You weren't kidding, Joe. He really is a bug!" she said.

Shadow looked around. "Wait... where's Pupa?" He asked.

Long Shot pointed to the closet. "We told her to hide in their. Also, who's the unicorn?" She asked.

Shadow put a claw behind his head. "This is Lyra... My ex-fillyfriend. Lyra, this is Long Shot, my new fillyfriend."

The two mares approached each other. Shadow Strike turned away, expecting an explosion or something once the two got to close, but the only thing that happened was he heard Long Shot say, "Nice to meet you miss. Hearstrings."

"Likewise", Lyra said.

Shadow opened the closet door and sure enough, Pupa was huddled in the corner, cuddling the dragon plushie Shadow had bought for her during his vacation in Manehatten. "Pupa, honey. It's okay. Daddy's here." He said.

The nymph turned to her adoptive father and jumped into his embrace. "Daddy!" ,she said, tears rolling down her eyes. "Daddy, I was so scared. The mean changelings showed up, and miss Long Shot shot them, and we thought you might have been hurt and... and... Wahhh!" Pupa began sobbing.

Shadow rubbed the back of Pupa's head. "Hush now little one. Your safe. Now put on a brave face for daddy. Okay?"

The sobbing calmed down. "I'll... I'll try daddy." Pupa said.

"Um... I hate to interrupt but something is heading this way fast!" Joe shouted.

Shadow turned to the donut maker. "More Changelings?"

Long Shot spoke this time. "No. It looks like some sort of energy dome spreading from the castle! It's pushing all the Changelings away!"

"What? Okay... Okay... Pupa, get behind me!" Shadow said.

Pupa nodded and scurried behind him.

Shadow pulled out the blade and pressed the button once again. The sword icon turned back into a shield. Shadow swung the blade and slammed the hilt down on the floor. An orb of energy appeared the pair of changelings.

The purple dome approached and passed over the group. As it touched Shadow's barrier, Shadow felt himself shake violently. Using all of his willpower, he maintained his grip on the blade and the dome passed over harmlessly.

Shadow lowered the barrier and looked out the window. Not a single Changeling besides him and Pupa seemed to remain.

Shadow turned to Bon Bon and Lyra and asked, "So... You two won't tell anypony about Pupa and I being changelings, right?"

Bon Bon smiled.. "Of course not. You're a friend Shadow."

"What Bon Bon said." Lyra confirmed.

Shadow smiled and looked out the window. This is going to be one hay of a clean up, he thought. as he stared outwards and contemplated the future.