What If... > What If...
Canterlot in Chaos
Striker:
Striker watched in awe as the guard expertly dispatched the changeling. He was about to clamber to his hooves when the unicorn walked towards him with his weapon drawn, saying something about a "test." Was he about to challenge him to a duel or something? Striker was not a fighter, at least not one with anything nearing the level of skill he had seen the other pony demonstrate while fighting the changeling. Striker flinched slightly when the guard's blade touched his coat, but the metal was unexpectedly cool - he could have sworn he saw the weapon burn the changeling a few seconds ago. Whatever the test was, Striker appeared to have passed it, because the guard put away his weapon.
Striker pushed himself to his hooves, shaking out his legs. Nothing seemed broken, although he'd probably have some bruises where he had fallen down. "Yeah, I'm alright," he replied to the guard. "My name's Striker. Thanks for taking care of that changeling. Where are they all coming from?" Striker saw dozens green streaks falling from the sky into Canterlot, which he assumed were even more changelings. One landed at the far end of the alleyway, towards the entrance. The changeling was behind the guard, out of his sight, but this time Striker was ready to hit first and ask questions later. Before the creature could mimic anypony's looks, he summoned a blast spell he had been practicing for his work on fireworks and fired at the changeling. The force hurled the creature to the other side of the street, where it lay unconscious.
Striker shook his head to clear it the ringing noise the blast had caused. That spell was not intended for use in close quarters. When he could focus again, he turned back to the guard. "Why didn't you kill that thing?" he asked, pointing to the knocked-out changeling next to them. Striker had noticed the guard purposefully avoid using his weapon lethally. Not that Striker would have preferred violence, in fact, he was glad that he hadn't witnessed the changeling's death, but he was curious that a Royal Guard would be so cautious about an extreme threat to Canterlot's safety. "Are they actually cursed ponies or something?" Striker said, just blurting out the first explanation that came to his head, although he doubted it could be the real reason.
Before the guard could respond, a clatter of hoofbeats caught Striker's attention. A brown mare ran down the street that the alleyway connected to, pursued closely by a few identical-looking ponies, or rather, changelings. "She looks like she might need help," Striker said, and began galloping towards the street.
Golden Gear:
Chaos. It was pure chaos. Faint screams could be heard all around Canterlot, but Golden had trouble trying to locate them. Oh, how she wished to run into somepony who new what the hay was going on. She had seen few instances of ponies running away from those insectoid ponies, and royal guards trying to fight them off, but with poor results. Golden's train of thought got abruptly stopped when she saw three changelings sending others of their kind to carry trapped ponies away. To where, she didn't know, nor was she sure if she wanted to find out. She was still in full gallop when the changelings turned towards her and with green flash they took her form, just like the ones from before. Golden didn't want to try her luck against three of them at the same time. With mighty leap she managed to jump over the group and continue her "Escape", still in full gallop and now with three pursuers. "Dang it... Should have thought this out before hoof..." She thought when she realized they went after her. "What do you creeps want from me!" She shouted back, receiving a hiss back from one of the changelings.
Golden barely heard a sound of explosion from somewhere nearby, but didn't pay it any mind, it could have been anything in all this chaos. She passed countless alleyways and was starting to run out of breath, but before she could think of her next move, Golden was tackled down by a changeling that leaped from one of the alleyways. They rolled for small distance before Golden kicked the changeling off of her and quickly scrambled herself up from the ground to face the other three shapeshifters. First one was easy enough when it charged her alone. Golden delivered a hit to it's head with her wrench, knocking it out cold. She turned to face the other two, but the changeling that had tackled her earlier, jumped on her back and held her as a target for the other two who were now charging a spell of some kind. Golden tried to struggle herself free, but was too fatigued to overpower her captor. Golden did the next most logical thing and jerked her head forward, before throwing it back with as much power she could muster. She could swear she broke something in that changelings muzzle, and her surprise attack caused the changeling to release her, to which Golden reacted quickly by smacking it to it's chest with her wrench, sending one more of those insects down.
Golden Gear turned to the two others again, and was waiting for them to fire their spells already, but they stood there waiting, waiting for somethi- Golden felt another sharp punch connect to her muzzle, this time from a larger sized changeling who was glad in armor. She managed to stand her ground and tried to counter her attacker, only to receive another punch, this time to her chest. Before she had any chance to react, the changeling spun her around and held her as a target for the two changelings again, but this time the changeling holding her made sure she couldn't move her head.
Foxtrot:
Foxtrot looks over at the changeling, then back to Striker as he introduces himself and asks his question. He opens his mouth to answer but is cut off by the sudden blast that Striker shoots past him. Looking over his shoulder he finds the stallion hit his target, the new arrival flung right across the street. Foxtrot nods, rather impressed at the force implied with said blast. Looking back to Striker, Foxtrot is given another question, however once again he's interrupted, this time by the pony himself as he offers a suggestion as to what the creatures really were. Foxtrot shakes his head, opening his mouth thrice to tell the stallion what changelings actually are, he's cut off by the brown mare and her perusing copycats. In the blink of eye Striker has already began his chase, leaving Foxtrot to simply roll his eyes and follow as well.
Entering the streets the scenes of an all out assault surrounds the two unicorns. Screaming and explosions echo all around them as the smell of smoke and fire inhibit the air and fill parts of the sky above Canterlot. Foxtrot speeds up and catches up to Striker, when he does he begins speaking quickly, remembering the questions the yellow pony had for him in the alley. "My name's Foxtrot. You're welcome. I don't know where they're coming from but I'm sure the castle might have some answers, plus that's where the Royal Guard would most likely rally." Looking forward Foxtrot sees the mare already knocking a changeling out, but a few more on her tail urges haste. Scanning the street, the unicorn finds a partially filled cart on the pavement. An idea popping up in his head just as the larger changeling appears, holding the mare for an easy attack. "Striker! I'll take out the big guy, you blast the other two; oh and try not to peg me too while you're doing that." Foxtrot speeds up to a near sprint, using his momentum to ram his shoulder right against the back of the cart, sending it rolling at a considerable speed towards the changelings and the pony armed with a wrench. As the cart's wheels spin down the street, the unicorn climbs up and begins riding it towards the larger changeling. He stands up on his hind hooves, gripping the handle of his katana and clipping the sheathe loose, 'This will have to be close if I want to hit him. Then again he is a large target, I'm sure I- oh crap I'm going faster than expected!' Focusing on the large brute, Foxtrot swings his sword across as hard as he can, the sheathe of the katana flying off of the steel and bolting through the air. With a loud clack the tip of the sheathe slams into the changeling's helmet, the resulting sound and impact causing the armored insect to let go of the mare's head and grab his own as the ringing in his ears makes him step away just enough to proceed with part two of the former guard's plan. After a simple adjustment of the direction of the speeding cart, Foxtrot gets up and stands on the side of the cart, targeting the brown mare up ahead; as soon as he's within range, Foxtrot jumps.
The armored changeling turns to see cart just as it collides right into it, sending both it and the cart crashing into the side of a nearby building with a loud bang and clanging of armor. The unicorn's katana slips from the unicorn's grip and clanks to the floor, too far from its owner to be used at all. Foxtrot himself tackles the mare to the ground, perhaps a bit harder than expected he concludes as he lands on his chest, knocking the wind right out of his lungs. "Get down!' He struggles to shout as he covers his head and the mares and prays that Striker hits the last two changelings in front of them.
Striker:
The castle - Foxtrot was right, that was where they should try to reach. Hopefully he could find his parents and sister there and make sure that they were safe. Striker tried to keep his worries about his family at the back of his mind, he needed to focus on the immediate danger of the attacking changelings.
Striker hung back at the entrance to the alleyway, waiting for Foxtrot to take the armored changeling out of the fight. The unicorn's tactic with the cart was successful, but left both the guard and the mare defenseless against a counterattack by the two smaller changelings. Striker would have to take them both out, quickly.
"Hey, over here!" he called, drawing the changelings' attention away from the ponies lying on the ground. They turned around and, in a flash of green light, changed their appearance to match Striker's. His head spun, trying to take in the sudden materialization of not one, but two ponies identical to him. Now is not the time to get confused, Striker thought. Just focus and get yourself out of this mess. The changelings were moving too quickly for him to have time to make two shots - he'd have to take both of them out at once. And it would have to be a big blast, given how far apart they were.
Striker planted his hooves against the ground and summoned up the strongest blast spell he knew. He let the crackling orb of blue magic grow on his horn. He could already feel the beginnings of a headache; Striker wasn't used to putting so much raw power behind a spell. He squinted past the light of the magic to follow the changelings' paths and time his shot. When the changelings were nearly on him, he aimed the spell at the ground between them and dove for cover. Striker felt a shockwave pass through him, and the noise of the enormous explosion thundered down the street. When the dust cleared, Striker saw the two changelings lying on opposite sides of the street, twitching jerkily. The stones in the middle of the street were covered by a large burn mark. He'd probably overdone it, just a little.
"Are you guys okay?" Striker called to the ponies at the other end of the street, hoping that they hadn't been harmed by the blast.
Golden Gear:
Golden tried to struggle free, but was unable to do so. Realizing how much power those changelings were gathering, Golden concluded that they weren't gonna capture her like they had some other ponies, but instead "remove" her out of the picture. From her struggling Golden didn't notice The two stallions closing in, not before Foxtrot delivered a hit to the her captor's head, which caused it to release her from it's grip. She didn't have time to gather her surroundings before she saw the cart coming back. Golden was tackled down by Foxtrot as the bigger changeling crashed against a building with the cart. She tried to get up, but was pulled back down By Foxtrot, just before something blew up.
Golden faintly heard Striker call out something, asking about someone being okay, did he mean her or the other pony on the ground, maybe them both? "If you could send me to tropical resort in Las Pegasus, i would really appreciate that." She shouted back. "You alright, Hot head?" Golden asked from Foxtrot while wiping some blood away from her muzzle.
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