Changeling

          "The elements of Harmony!" Celestia cried. Her head was resting in Twilight's forehooves, and the tip of her horn was charred and smoking, leaving an unwanted smell in everypony's nostrils. The Changeling Queen was fluttering in the air, her insect-like wings beating fast with excitement, though the holes in them made it hard for her to fly much. She was hovering right above the altar, smiling with uncontrollable glee.. She'd done it! She'd beaten Celestia! She could deal with those other ponies now. But as she saw their defiant faces, she decided to toy with them for a bit. Hope is such a tasty emotion, whereas defeat just leaves a bitter taste in my mouth. She thought. Well, this could give us a lot of energy. She flicked a stray piece of hair from her face as she continued to listen to Celestia's long monologue.

          "You must get to them, and use their power to defeat the Queen!" The downed sun princess wheezed. She looked like she was struggling to get up, and her mane had fallen limp, covering up her shoulders. She looked very vulnerable now, and less mystical. Most ponies never knew whether her mane was naturally flowing, or it was set like that with a spell. Her crown -tiara- was lying a few few feet away, as black with carbon as Celestia's now bi-colour horn.

          "We won't let you down, princess!" Twilight exclaimed. Yeah, like she and her friends were powerful enough to stop her. The plan was nearly completed, and once they'd fallen into her trap the final part would come alive. The lavender unicorn, her face decorated with fear, and her annoying little friends all threw their bridesmaids dresses as they ran out of the Chapel, except for Rarity, who caught the dresses with one hoof. As the five other ponies yelled, "Come on Rarity!" She carefully took hers off and put them into a neat pile.

          Chrysalis grinned maniacally. Her emerald eyes narrowed. "You can run, but you can't hide!" She giggled, her double layer of voices making the threat sound more sing-songy, as her wings hovered her near the entrance to the Chapel. She watched as the six ponies ran in the direction of the tower where the elements of Harmony were kept. As they ran across the bustling streets of Canterlot, a large crack appeared in the bubble-gum pink dome around the mountain side city. The changelings were still little black spots against an incredibly powerful shield-charm, but the charm had already lost much of it's power. As more and more of her minions rammed into the barrier, the changeling queen looked on with delight at the ever increasing cracks in the "Indestructible" shield.

          Suddenly, all of the changelings outside of the barrier rammed down at once. All the cracks connected and the pink dome exploded into pieces. Many of the insectoid creatures were flying straight down, headed for the banquet of love below. Lots of the Canterlot nobles were running around and screaming like little fillies lost and wanting their parents. The six friends were almost at the Tower of Harmony when...

          They found a band of pissed changelings waiting for them.

          Reflection saw the six bedraggled ponies stop in front of them, looking evidently surprised at the sheer amount of changelings there were protecting the tower. "Prepare to meet your doom!" She yelled. Another changeling next to her, Nox, rolled her eyes.

          "Jeez Ref, didn't you hear what the Queen said? They can't understand us except when we're in pony forms!" Reflection lightly punched Nox in the thorax, then took the form of the cyan pegasus mare. She stepped forward the same time the other mare did, pretended to look surprised, mimicking the pegasus' action. Then when she was confused, she punched her in the thorax. Or was it stomach? Pony anatomy annoyed her.

          "Hey!" The cyan mare shouted indignantly. "What do you think you-" She stopped talking when the entire front row transformed into her. Then all the other changelings took shaped of the different ponies, so they all looked like colourful ponies. Really, the way these ponies are coloured, you'd think they were from a cartoon for little kids! Reflection thought, disgusted.

          "They're changelings, remember?" The purple unicorn reminded the pegasus mare. She was then graced by about ten of her doppelgangers replying, "They're Changelings remember?" The unicorn scowled. Her hate for the insect like creatures was evident, and Reflection knew why. The Queen had took the place of a Princess to sneak in and weaken the barrier. To do so she had to feed off the love a stallion called Shining... Armour? And apparently this mare was his sister. Or niece. Or something. The changeling hadn't really listened to the discussion of the plan and mostly just daydreamed.

          "Don't let them distract you. We have to get to the Elements of Harmony! They're our only hope!" The purple mare cried. And with that the battle started.

          The six friends leapt towards the changelings, quite a suicidal attempt, and the changelings stood defensively. Ponies and changelings bowled into one another, hitting, punching, kicking, biting (that pink mare was mad) and general hoof fights. Reflection teamed up with three other changelings that had taken the shape of the cyan pegasus mare. They slowly advanced towards a lone yellow mare, whom was obviously the real deal. They stood on their back legs, poised to attack, when the second cyan mare rammed into the one next to her and kicked Reflection and another changeling away. She then picked up the yellow pegasus and they flew off together. The groaning changeling stood up, cursing herself for her stupidity. She should've checked whether that pony was a changeling or not.

          Slightly embarrassed, she hurried back into the skirmish. The light orange earth pony and the purple unicorn had teamed up, and were fighting many changelings. The Rainbow one and the yellow one had also teamed up, and were plowing through the forces, defeating any unfortunate changeling who got in their way. There were no sign of the other two, though. Reflection quickly took on the form of the bright pink earth pony, and was prepared to attack the purple unicorn from behind, when a high pitched voice giggled. "Hee hee hee! That's a cool disguise Mr. Meany Weany!"

          The disguised changeling turned to see a bright pink earth pony uncomfortably close to her. "Errr.... Hi?" Reflection said lamely. The pink mare snorted and laughed uncontrollably.

          "Wow Mr. Meany Pants, you can't mimic me very well! OOH! Can you do my friends? By the way, I'm Pinkie Pie! What's your name?" Reflection knew she should be fighting against her, that she was the enemy, but something about those  light blue eyes that seemed childish and playful, and it made her feel happy.

          "Um, I'm Reflection. But- you can call me Ref. And I'm a girl!" Reflection replied. Still giggling a bit, though considerably calmed down now, Pinkie Pie got up from her laughing fit and inspected the disguised changeling, frowning when she checked parts of her mimicry.

          "Hmm. Well, sorry for calling you a Mr. Meany Pants. Well not the meany pants but the Mr. part. It must be really annoying if people think you're a boy but then it turns out that you're a girl and Good, but it could be better Reffie." Reflection tried not to wince at the crude nickname that she'd been given. Great, if one of the Changelings hears this I'm going to be called "Reffie" for the rest of my life! Now, do a montage of my friends!" She yelled, practically in Reflection's ears. She winced, and her non visible horn flashed green. She was enveloped in a green light that rose from the ground, disappeared into the sky and then, where the form of Pinkie once stood the white unicorn, wearing an angry face. She then turned into the rainbow mare, then the purple one, then the yellow mare.

          "Ooh! Ooh!" Pinkie cried, excited. "Do me, do me!" Reflection rolled her eyes and morphed into the form of the pink mare. Pinkie scrutinized it for a second, then said, "Meh. I've seen better." What she did then was unbelievable.

           During Pinkie's and Reflection's talk, the unicorn mare and the orange mare had wandered closer. Pinkie Pie grabbed the purple one, and spun her tail round and round really fast. Beams shot out from the unicorn's horn, and the first beam hit the nearest changeling to them: Reflection. She was instantly downed by the shot, as were many other changelings who tried to stop them. She lay down defeated, looking slightly to her left. Pinkie Pie and the unicorn had wandered off farther into the fight, zapping more changelings as they went by. Looking to her right, she saw a familiar changeling collapsed next to me.

          "Hey Nox," Reflection breathed. Nox opened one eye and stared at her. "Did you get hit by the unicorn's horn beams?" Nox shook her head and motioned up at the castle. "One of the guards got you?" She shook her head again, and pointed towards the castle walls. On top of them, there were cannons pointing down at the skirmish, though no one was standing by them. "You were hit by a cannon?" Nox nodded. She pointed at herself, then Pinkie Pie, then at the cannons. Reflection took all the information in. "Soo.... Pinkie Pie has a cannon which she shot at you?" Nox nodded again. With some difficulties, she opened her mouth and spoke.

          "She said 'How'd you like my party cannon?' I think I'm going to puke up confetti all day. It was filled with party supplies, for Chrysalis' Sake!" Nox spoke weakly. She coughed and a little streamer came from her mouth. Then she and Reflection both froze and covered their ears.

          Suddenly, the skies turned black with thunderclouds as a voice echoed from the caste yelled, "WE DO NOT APPRECIATE YOU USING OUR NAME IN VAIN, EQUINE NOX!WE HAVE COUNTED THAT YOU'VE TAKEN OUR NAME IN VAIN A TOTAL OF THREE THOUSAND, FOUR HUNDRED AND EIGHTY THREE TIMES. WE WOULD APPRECIATE IF YOU ALL STOPPED DOING THAT. IN FACT, THE NEXT CHANGELING WHO SAYS THAT WILL GET A YEAR IN THE CANTERLOT DUNGEONS, WITH NO LOVE TO FEED OFF, ONLY DESPAIR AND MISERY. AND NO STOMACH ACHE TABLETS!"

          All of the creatures fighting stopped to peer at the now furiously blushing changeling. Then they looked at eachover and resumed fighting.

          "Oh buck me," Nox whispered, her head dropping back to the floor.

          The mane six had arrived right outside the the tower where the Elements of Harmony were kept. They'd slipped away amidst the fighting, so that the changelings would be a bit preoccupied. "Right team!" Twilight said. "If there are any changelings in there, run as quickly as you can, okay?" All the ponies nodded. Rainbow Dash held up a hoof and saluted her. "Right. On the mark... NOW!" Twilight burst open the door and ran inside, closely followed by Fluttershy, Rarity, Applejack, Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie. But suddenly they ran into a complete stop. "Oh my gosh..." Twilight breathed.

          The room was totally devoid of any sort of creature whatsoever.

          "Where is everypony?" Applejack asked. "Ah thought that the Changeling Queen would have hundred's o' changelings in here!"

          "I have a bad feeling about this," Twilight replied, looking straight ahead. "Everypony, stay focused and be on guard. We don't want to be ambushed by them."

          "Well if we are, I'll knock 'em out Twilight!" Rainbow said, hovering above her friends. "We made mincemeat of those changelings back there!" All the ponies nodded in agreement at that. The walked (and flew) slowly down the hall. The silence in the room seemed unnatural. Even their hooves clacking across the floor didn't make a noise. You could literally hear a pin drop, even on the carpet. The sun shining through the different panes of stained glass windows was very hot, and sweat started to form on the friends' backs.

          Soon, they came to the large door which opened and led into the vault where the Elements of Harmony were. The door was adorned by large stars, but in the middle of the door was a large sparkle with a circular shaped hole in the middle of it.

          "Umm... excuse me... Twilight?" Came a timid voice. The lavender pony turned around to see Fluttershy standing a little way behind her.

          "Yes Fluttershy?"

          "I thought that this chamber's seal was sealed with a spell that only Princess Celestia or Luna could brake. How are we going to get in?"

          "Well, we'll-" Twilight began. Then she paused. Princess Celestia had just told her to find the Elements and use them to defeat the changeling Queen. She hadn't mentioned anything about the door. "Hmm...  Maybe if I stick my horn in?"

          She went over to the hole and stared at it for a while. It was big enough for an alicorn horn to fit in, and they were twice as big as normal unicorn horns, so hers would fit... right? She checked the hole with her magic, but couldn't find anything particularly magical. In fact, the door was completely devoid of magic! She checked the spell again, but she hadn't cast it wrong. Either that door was not magically enchanted, or there was a concealment spell on it. The concealment spell would probably coax ponies to unlock the door with their usual magic, and then there must have been some protective spell which would block them from getting through.

Yes, I'm excited as any other pony about your epiphany Twilight, but would you please HURRY UP?

          Twilight jumped a little. Where did that voice come from. She looked around, but her friends were just looking at her concernedly. "Are you okay sugarcube?" AJ asked. Twilight gulped, then nodded. So it seemed none of her friends had heard the voice. Was she going mad?

          Twilight walked forward to the door, and inspected it a last time. Still no magic. Sighing, she shook her head and eased her horn into the hole. It was a bit wide, but fit her quite well. She focused on the spell, and her horn began to glow.

          "Twilight?" Rainbow Dash asked, flying just a few feet above where the lavender unicorn was concentrating. "Is this safe?" She looked suspiciously at the door, as if she'd just buck them open.

          "Look Rainbow, this is perfectly sa-" Twilight was cut off when a deep rumble sounded across the room. Light shined on the door, turquoise in colour. "It's working!" Twilight squeed. "I can do i-"

          She was cut off again when the lights turned red and catapulted her right into her friends. They were all on the floor like bowling pins, except Rainbow who was flying straight towards them.

          "Hay! Is everypony okay?" She asked. She started to help Applejack up when the voice sounded again.

Oh for Faust's sake you guys! I thought you were supposed to be good at this! You can't even open a fucking door!

          Twilight looked around quickly, but could see no mysterious speaker. The room was empty, save for the six ponies. Though who could be sending her messages in the form of thoughts? It couldn't be Celestia, could it? But then again, Celestia wouldn't say "buck". Could it be Princess Luna?

          "Hey, Twily!" Pinkie smiled. "The door's opening! You did it!" And sure enough, when Twilight saw the door had indeed opened, and there was a shining blue light coming from the opening safe. She got up, and levitated the box containing the Elements of Harmony to where they were. Rarity opened her mouth to speak, but Twilight glared daggers at her.

          "No, you cannot have this chest. After we defeat Chrysalis, we'll need to put them back, right?" She pointed out. Rarity "Harrumphed" but didn't say anything. Twilight rolled her eyes, and opened the chest. Inside were the Elements of Harmony, shining now that their bearers were close. "The Elements!" Twilight breathed. "We found them!"

          Rainbow Dash swooped down and strapped hers on. Rarity levitated her necklace onto her neck, making readjustments to it. Everypony else just slapped theirs on. Now they could finally win! The six friends raced out to the entrance to the tower, smiling with the fact that they could finally defeat the changeling Queen.

          Chrysalis stared out of the window, her eyes following the six ponies as they ran back to the Chapel. They were wearing the Elements, and all shared a triumphant look on their faces. Her eyes narrowed, and she turned back to the changelings that were busy securing the feeding pods.

          "Who was responsible for the guarding of the Elements of Harmony?" She hissed slowly. All the changelings froze, looked at eachover, obviously frightened, then pointed a hoof at a small changeling in the corner. She looked different from the other beings of her species, with solid gold eyes and a gold carapace. She was stood to the side, silently attending to one of the pods which held a light grey unicorn with purple and white hair and three purple stars as her cutie mark.

          "Reflection Sight?" Chrysalis asked. Reflection winced at the use of her full name. She slowly turned, to see the Queen glowering at her. She was hovering above the ground a few feet away from her, and she looked murderous.

          "Did it not occur to you that you might need to guard the tower with the elements in? Because now I can see six ponies running towards here wearing the Elements. Can you explain that?"

          Reflection gulped and rubbed her fore leg. "Well, I posted the guards outside the tower to defend it, but the ponies got through us. The purple mare-"

          "I do not want to hear how you were defeated. I want to hear why you didn't place some guards inside the tower!" Chrysalis interrupted. Her face was burning with anger, and she looked like she would vaporise the poor changeling at any moment. All of the other workers were glancing over at the commotion, but kept their voices down.

          "I thought if we had all of our army assembled, we would be able to defeat them and stop them from getting to the Elements of Harmony," Reflection mumbled, wishing the ground would swallow her up. Any fate would be worse than what Chrysalis would give her.

Really? Any fate?

          "What?" Reflection asked. The Queen jerked back in surprise as the changeling in front of her started looking around the room.

"STOP THAT"! She yelled. Reflection instantly stood still and looked even more terrified than before.Chrysalis raised a hoof and slapped her hard across the face, making her head jerk to the side. She fell to the floor, gasping in pain, with Chrysalis looming over her."YOU FAILED YOUR HIVE! I WILL PUNISH YOU!"

          "Stop, Queen!" A voice called. The enraged changeling queen turned to see Twilight and her friends standing by the door, wearing the Elements of Harmony. "Don't hit that changeling!" Her horn glowed, and Chrysalis' hoof was moved to the side, covered in a lavender aura.

          "Well well well, it seems you've found the Elements. How easy was it out of ten?" Chrysalis smirked. Twilight paused to think of an answer, then replied.

          "About eight. Why?"

          "Because that's how many times I will punish this changeling!" She yelled, her eyes narrowed and voice dripping with venom. The six ponies at the door gasped. "She failed her hive, her mother and her family."

          Reflection whimpered a little and edged towards the nearest cocoon. Chrysalis didn't seem to notice, instead preoccupied with the problem in front of her.

          "So. You have the Elements of Harmony. I suppose there's no way out now," Chrysalis fake sighed. The bearers all grinned at eachover.

          "C'mon girls! Let's show her what friendship can do!"

          The Elements of Harmony started glowing. A shock wave emitted from each one, and they made a beeping sound. A rainbow erupted form each one, and an even larger one came out of the Element of Magic. They filled the room with a colourful light, and all joined up to make one Rainbow Tornado. It shot towards Chrysalis, who was still standing there with a nonchalant look on her face. She was enveloped in it, and Twilight opened her eyes.

          They shone white.

          The girls touched down on the floor, a bit tired. Twilight was especially exhausted, since she cast the most complex spell known to ponykind. The Harmony spell is cast automatically by the current bearer of magic when the Elements are in need of, but it was an exhausting spell, even with her friends supporting her.

          "We did it!" Twilight cried. "We beat the Que-"

          "I hate to interrupt," A voice said. "But I'm right here."

          The six friends all froze. Twilight, turned round to see...

          Chrysalis with a smug look on her face.