Author's Notes:

The Usual Disclaimer:

The following is a work of parody, and is protected as Fair Use under section 17 U.S. Code § 107 of US Copyright Law. My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic and all affiliated characters are property of Hasbro Inc.

I own nothing. All characters, settings and other belong to their respective owners. This is purely a fan-work with no intent towards profit, slander or harm towards the characters, settings or other, or their respective owners. If the respective owners feel that this fan-work in any way, shape or form threatens or besmirches their property, please let me know so that it be can be removed asap.

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CHAPTER 18

Dappled Light was not one of the best Ponies that the Royal Guard could boast amongst their number. He was a Unicorn, but only an mediocre spell-caster, with mundane physical abilities, moderately talented at fighting and generally was about as bland, boring and normal as one could get to the point his Drill Instructor had literally torn his own mane out in despair of ever making Dappled Light ‘a real Guard-pony’.

His one specific, unique talent was hiding, specifically, a constant, unconsciously-generated magical aura that caused anyone or thing that looked at him would be so overwhelmed by his boring-ness that they’d forget they’d ever seen him within moments unless Dappled actively tried to make them notice him, and sometimes not even then. An odd talent for a Royal Guard, but it served him well at the Check-Point on the distant borders of Equestria, where the Unicorn could act as a hidden sentry and send messages to other, more talented Guards about dangerous entities trying to cross over into Pony territory.

Most of the time, he slacked off reading porn or writing bad fan-fiction, because most creatures, be they Ponies, Gryphons, Buffalo or other, were smart enough to put up with the nuisance of all that paperwork required by Equestria’s border-protection arm of the Royal Guard, than to be chased relentlessly like common criminals and either thrown into jail or marked with a magical brand and forcibly ejected from the country.

Truth be told, ‘Border-Guard’ was pretty much a dead-end job, but it paid enough for Dappled to do what he wanted.

Which was eat, sleep, breathe, buy porn, go drinking with a pretty Mare every now and again and write bad fan-fictions while on the clock.

So when Dappled found himself rubbing one out to a particularly stimulating picture involving a pair of pegasisters with strap-on horns that made them look remarkably like the Princesses, secreting himself in some bushes near the border with an open beer and a half-empty box of tissues at his side, he was quite surprised to find a black, chitin-covered head poke into the bushes he was hiding in at precisely the wrong moment.

The Changeling scout, on the other hoof, was equally surprised to receive a load of jism to the face from the startled Unicorn.

For several precious moment, the two stared at each other, or rather, Dappled stared at the Changeling, and the Changeling blinked rapidly to try and keep the sticky mess out of its eyes.

“Uhm … welcome to Equestria. Passport, please?” Dappled asked quietly, pushing his box of tissues to the Changeling.

And thus was fired the first shot of the second ‘Changeling Invasion’.

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Despite each chariot being pulled by four Pegasi and being enchanted to self-levitate to reduce strain on the Ponies pulling them, Celestia kept on pulling ahead of the wing of Royal Guards, teeth grinding as she circled ahead, waiting for them to catch up.

It was intensely aggravating to have to wait for the Ponies, but alone, Celestia might not be able to defeat Sunset Shimmer, especially if she had turned into a Succuponi, at least not without a great deal of casualties and collateral damage to the surrounding area. And with Luna and Twilight currently in Ponyville, a fact that had only come to Celestia’s attention after a scroll from Spike had appeared mid-air and smacked into her face as she was flying, it became all the more important to move as fast as possible, as the very side-effects that their Sympathy caused them could make both Alicorns easy prey for a Succuponi.

If she were a superstitious Pony, Celestia would almost swear that the entire set-up seemed far too convenient for the Dark Force. Two of the only beings in Equestria today that could prove a true threat to a Succuponi, weakened and uniquely vulnerable to it’s talents in a town that had not even one single Guard to patrol it.

And Celestia didn’t even want to think about what would happen if Cadence came into contact with one of those fiends as was either charmed into serving the Succuponi or corrupted into one of them. With the powers of the Princess of Love at her command, Sunset Shimmer would be able to seduce and corrupt hundreds of Ponies at once, possibly even use the Crystal Heart to flood the aether with her foul taint and corrupt tens of thousands …

Which meant Celestia needed her Guards to distract the Succuponi and keep it occupied while she prepared the binding spells to shackle the monster … She could have teleported them all to Ponyville, but transferring thirty-six Unicorns, plus herself, plus the components for the binding spell which were naturally resistant to matter-transfer phenomena, would have consumed a significant portion of her magic and left them all disorientated for precious seconds, time in which a magically-attuned creature like a Succuponi would be able to sense their arrival and use the fiend’s innate charm-magic to meddle with their minds.

“Guards, can you not move faster?” Celestia shouted back, irritation apparent in her voice. “Every moment we delay, Ponies may be in danger!”

“Our apologies, your highness!” One of the leading Pegasi shouted back, sweat matting his coat and foam flecking his mouth. “Even with the augmentation spells cast us back in Canterlot, we are still dragging six ponies per chariot!”

“Very well! We’ll descend, give you a ten minute break and then one Unicorn from each chariot will refresh the augmentation spells!” Celestia shouted back, quickly spiralling down through the clouds, looking for a clearing large enough for the six chariots to be brought down safely.

This was the greatest agony of being an Immortal, an Alicorn. To have such vast, potent abilities, and to be so much stronger than everypony, yet when the time came that that strength was needed, fickle fate demanded that she still needed to rely upon the weak to protect the helpless.

Within a few minutes, Celestia had spotted and landed in a farmer’s field, pacing back and forth as she waited for the beleaguered Pegasi pulling the chariots to make their own landing, having to come down low and horizontally to bleed off the momentum of the chariots behind them, and when they landed, it was only the harnesses that shackled them to the chariots that kept the sweat-covered Ponies from collapsing to the ground.

“Of all the … why did nopony say you were so fatigued?” Celestia shouted, angry more with herself rather than her Ponies, as she trotted over and began to channel a recovery-spell over the sweaty, shaking Pegasi.

“We did … not want to … fail you.” One of the Pegasus gasped, tears welling up in his eyes, humiliation plainly written on his features.

“You gave us orders to conserve our magic, your majesty, else we would have channelled recovery-spells to the Pegasi throughout the flight.” A Unicorn spoke up, looking to the Pegasi lying on the ground, and the Unicorns who had arranged themselves in a circle around the chariots, and Celestia.

“I … forgive me, it … Gentle-Ponies, what I am about to say is a state secret, and it is why I am pushing you so hard today. This is to go no further than yourselves, on your honor as Royal Guards, on the blood-oath you swore to me when you enlisted.” Celestia sighed and sat on her rear, focusing the cool grass under her body to try and distract her mind from the battle to be had in Ponyville, waiting until all the Guards had sworn their agreement to her. “Princess Luna and Princess Twilight are dangerously close to where the ‘Dark Force’ you are coming with me to contain is likely to be found. The ‘Dark Force’, a Succuponi, is capable of not only completely charming any Pony it kisses, but can also corrupt Mares into more of its kind, and can drain a Stallion of their life force to power its magic once it has established a connection with them, often through a carnal contract or through a kiss.”

“Both of the Princesses are very weak right now, due to an accident with Twilight’s growing Alicorn powers that are causing the two a great deal of difficulty, and if the Succuponi can find them before we do, it might be able to corrupt them into Succuponies in their weakened state. Immortal, unkillable Succuponies with power over the Night and Magic itself. Can you imagine the destruction that such an event would cause? The number of Ponies that would be tortured and killed before I could … could seal my sister and student away in Tartarus?”

Sixty Stallions, twenty four Pegasi and thirty six Unicorns, all stared at Celestia with expressions ranging from confusion to outright horror.

“If we are to reach Ponyville soon, we will need to expend our magic now, something I had hoped to avoid as Succuponi are very sensitive towards magic of any kind, but it appears we are no longer able to maintain stealth if we intend to capture the beast before it can do any more harm.” Celestia explained, fanning her wings to blow air over the sweat-soaked Pegasi. “We will have two Unicorns cast a recovery spell for five minutes on two of the Pegasi pulling their chariot, the other two will cast a recovery spell for ten minutes on the other two Pegasi, and then the third pair of Unicorns will cast a recovery spell for another ten minutes on the first two Pegasi, each pair of Unicorns continuing to channel their spells for ten minutes at a time until we reach the outskirts of Ponyville. If we keep up the process of channelling for ten minutes and then resting and recovering for the same, we should be able to get to Ponyville within the hour.”

“Apologies, Princess Celestia, but using a recovery spell for that long will render the Pegasi all but comatose when we land and stop channelling the spells into their bodies.” One of the Unicorns spoke up, looking at the chariots, the Pegasi, then back to his Princess. “Even if we were to give them enough stimulants to keep them awake for twenty four hours, they would still fall asleep within minutes of the spells’ ending.”

“I am aware, but we have little choice. Once we land, the Pegasi will go find cover and wait with two Unicorns standing guard. The rest of us will move on hoof into Ponyville and try to find the Succuponi before it can attempt to run.” Celestia shook herself, wincing as she felt a twinge in her own wing-muscles. Assuming she made it through this fight, she’d be all but unable to move her wings at all come tomorrow. “The rest of the army is on standby, and if they do not receive a coded message from myself within three hours of our E.T.A. at Ponyville, then they will start commandeering trains and funnelling troops down to Ponyville to … to contain the situation.”

“Be aware, my little Ponies, this is not a training exercise or some sort of Royal Jest. You may be called upon today to strike down a Pony who has been charmed by the Succuponi. Mares. Stallions. Elders. Foals. Any Pony may end up being your enemy today. Do not allow anypony or anything to touch your face while we are hunting the Succuponi. Do not accept any food or drink until the beast is contained within my binding circle. And know that I am so sorry that circumstances force me to drag you into this fight at my side.”

“Princess Celestia!” The Guard shouted, saluting her proudly, even the Pegasi that lay on the ground, pride evident on their faces. “Princess Celestia! It is our honor to serve!”

And in the back of Celestia’s mind, a grim little voice asked just how many of these Stallions might fall before the Beast was captured.

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Long after the Royal Guards had left, piling back into their chariots and followed the Goddess back into the sky, a sun-bleached yellow-mane poked up out of the thick grass, followed by a pale green Earth Pony Stallion whose eyes reverently looked in the direction they had gone.

To Ponyville. The Goddess had gone to that den of Unbelievers to save them from a Demon-Mare of legend, right out of the Chronicles of the Sun that the Sisters always carried around.

Clutching a battered bronze likeness of Celestia’s head and neck that hung around his neck on a simple leather thong, the farmer whispered a prayer to the Goddess, and rushed towards the small village where he lived.

The Word had to be spread. The Sisters had to know that the Goddess was finally spreading her Light throughout the land once again.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Uhm … little … little too close, girls.” Twilight muttered, feeling her flesh creep as Trixie and Sunset pressed in on either side of her.

She had expected tears, or angry recriminations, or even cold politeness, not this … this clingy behaviour. It reminded her of how Rarity’s cat, Opal, would get when it overdosed on catnip-treats and would demand to be petted and fussed over by it’s owner.

Thankfully, Luna ‘saved’ Twilight again, her magic illuminating the two cloaked Ponies as they were levitated away from Twilight, who took the opportunity to race down the stairs into the basement, blushing furiously.

The ‘false’ estrus that the Sympathy with Luna had caused was making Twilight’s head a little ‘fluffy’, but nothing she felt that she couldn’t handle, but at the same point, having two Ponies all but rubbing themselves along her flanks, especially given the emotional side-effects of her ‘Flash’ this morning, was doing a number on her rational thought-process.

The sooner I can find the correct counter-spell and get those two out of my house, the better. Twilight thought to herself, feeling somewhat guilty about having such thoughts about others after entering into this somewhat-but-not-quite-relationship with Luna, but the bizarre behaviour of the two Mares filled her with a sense of unease that she could not easily identify.

That, and Luna looked fit to burst with jealousy, and Applejack and Rarity were too busy dealing with a terrified Spike, who had taken one look at Sunset Shimmer’s face, shrieked in terror and clawed his way up the staircase after immolating the scroll they had prepared in-case Trixie had been a threat, sending it winging through the aether towards Celestia.

And quite frankly, Twilight would have welcomed Celestia’s presence right now, even if it was to scold her student for being overly cautious and for teleporting Pinkie Pie without the Party-Pony’s permission.

The feeling of threat and danger that she felt, from the very same place where Celestia had both drawn out and pushed in the swirling purple magic from the core of Twilight’s being, was only growing stronger. It was a nameless dread that welled up inside her, and the more she was around Trixie and Sunset, the stronger that dread grew.

Trotting down the stairs and rushing down to the various equipment in the basement, ranging from the devices she had attempted to use to measure Pinkie’s ‘Pinkie Sense’ to the prototypes for the automated apple-picker that had almost gotten the entire Apple-clan chasing after her with torches and pitchforks.

There, on a steel gurney, was the ‘perfected’ spell-scroll, wrapped with a dark purple silk ribbon and sealed with a red wax stamp that Twilight broke swiftly, holding the scroll in-between her fore-hooves, leaving her horn free to cast a spell … either a counter-spell for Trixie and Sunset, or a teleportation spell to get the Tartarus out of the basement if the two Mares tried to glomp her again.

“You two will behave and treat Twilight with the respect and restraint that a Princess of Equestria deserves, or so help me …” Luna growled, her wings extended so they brushed the walls of the stairwell and blocked any attempt to get around her, leading the two bickering, cloak-clad Mares down into the basement with a furious expression on her face.

Curiously, behind them came Applejack and Rarity, on the latter’s back clung Spike, looking pale but resolute, his trusty spatula clenched tightly in one claw and the cast-iron pot back on his head.

“Alright, now before this gets any weirder … what spell, exactly, is affecting you two?” Twilight said loudly, hoping that she sounded strong and confident, not wary and creeped-out.

“That is … Trixie believes it is several spells. Trixie and … that Pony … fought over the Scroll, and were casting spells from it at each other, until we both cast the same spell and … and there was an explosion.” Trixie offered first, looking very distraught. “Trixie has tried many times to dispel the magic, but the final spell blocks Trixie from affecting herself with magic.”

“The Show-Nag has the right of it. We have both attempted to reverse the spell on our own, with no effect.” Sunset added, shooting a haughty look at Trixie. “Ever since, I have found myself shackled to this Mare against my will. We can only cast spells on each other now, and if we are apart for too long, or drift apart too far, we suffer horrible physical symptoms until we are reunited.”

“That … sounds like none of the spells I’ve translated from Weeaboo’s scrolls.” Twilight said after a minute of silent, and frenzied thought. “Okay, we’ll go through the spell-scroll, you tell me which spells each of you cast, and then we’ll try to figure out which spells are malfunctioning or have merged together, and try to unravel them. But … can we lose the cloaks? You don’t need them anymore, there’s nopony here to see you but us.”

“Does Trixie have to? It is … embarrassing.” Trixie whimpered, but when Luna glared at her, the blue Unicorn bowed her head in defeat. “Very well. Sunset, on three?”

“Ugh, does everything have to be dramatic with you? Fine, on three.”

“One … two … three!” The two Mares said together, levitating each other’s cloaks off and revealing themselves to the other Ponies and Dragon assembled in the library’s basement.

For several seconds, the world seemed to hold it’s breath as the hessian cloaks fluttered to the ground, unheeded, as the Ponies stared at the sight before them.

“Oh by Celesita's beard, it’s hideous!”

“Wha’ the heck are those things?”

“AAUUUGH! I’m never going to be able to read my comics again!”

“By my Moon, what is that!”

“Oh, you’re … wearing Sailor Fuku outfits. Okay. Okay, considerably less horrific than what I was expecting.” Twilight muttered as her friends and family cowered from the ‘horror’ before them.

Both Trixie and Sunset wore the ancient combat-uniforms of the mystics of the Neighponese. Just like Pinkie’s ‘spell’, the garments covered the front of the Ponies quite well … but the pleated ‘skirts’ failed to do more than advertise the size of their flanks, and the thigh-high socks looked uncomfortably tight on their hind-legs.

“Auuuugh! Those colours! Those designs! They clash with your manes, they don’t fit your contours, my poor eyes, it burrrrrrrrrrrrrrns!” Rarity squealed, fleeing up the stairs in tears.

“Ah’ll admit they … aren’t the most practical garments ah’ve seen, but why are they the problem?” Applejack asked after Rarity’s wailing, and the slamming of the library’s door had faded away.

“Because these are what makes it all but impossible for us to cast spells now!” Sunset Shimmer snapped angrily.

“Ah, I think I see … there, that's the problem.” Twilight muttered, unrolling the scroll until she came across the spell in question, grimacing at the thought of trying to dispel it. “The problem with the Fuku armor-spell is that it was intended to be worn by the caster, not another Pony, and would function as not only physical protection, but would also cover its wearer in a weak anti-magic field that would diminish incoming spells, both benign and hostile, without crippling the spell-caster’s own magic.”

“Y-yes. Trixie has tried cutting the garments off, but no sooner does Trixie make a cut than the cloth will heal itself.” The blue Unicorn sighed and brushed a hoof over her blouse.

“Yes, that’s one of its features. Apparently the ancient Neighponese battle-mages were regularly stripped down during battle against the Yokai, and demanded that feature be included to preserve their modesty.”

“Wait, you mean to say the robes are like armor?”

“Not quite, Luna. The garments are tough to be certain, but they can be cut, pierced, burnt or abraded away, but they will always repair themselves within moments. They are, however, tentacle-proof.”

“Tha’s … an oddly specific defence, Sugar-cube.”

“Apparently it was the most common threat to their persons in that era.”

“Uh, kinda scared to ask, but how are they tentacle-proof?” Spike asked, looking quite flushed around the face.

“Essentially, as soon as something that fits the physical description of ‘tentacle’ touches the garment, it casts a short-range electrical discharge spell which should force the muscles within the limb to forcibly contract and recoil from the wearer.” Twilight explained, casting a small spell on the ground in-front of Trixie and Sunset, where a small black tendril appeared and snapped towards Trixie’s leg.

Before the blue Unicorn could protest, the magical ‘limb’ wrapped around her fore-leg … and shrivelled away to nothing as Trixie’s Fuku-armor glowed and sent a snapping arc of orange magic at the offending limb.

“Ah! It thought so! The Fuku-spell is running off the magic of the other Pony! It’s a classic short-circuit scenario!” Twilight shouted happily, all but dancing on the spot.

“Trixie is … glad you know how to fix this?” Trixie said, staring at the floor where the tentacle had emerged, then Twilight, then her own leg, shuffling nervously on the floor.

“We’re going to have a long talk about who uses the tentacles in this household, Twilight.” Sunset remarked in a saucy voice, again oblivious to the laser-guided glare of Luna.

“Well, sort of. First of all, the Fuku is a cast-and-forget spell that constantly drains a small amount of magic from the caster to maintain it's form and function. So we’re going to need each of you to throttle your magic, and then we have to gradually wear the spell down until its remaining charges have been expended, and then … uhm what other spells did you cast on each other? If they’ve been trapped on you since the Fuku-spell was cast …” Twilight’s enthusiasm tapered off to wary interest, eyeing the two Mares who seemed, other than their outfits, to be relatively normal-looking, even if Sunset was wearing a black cape on her back, which blended almost perfectly with her black-and-red Fuku.

Odd. Why would she wear one cape over another? It … doesn’t look like it belongs on a Fuku … or does it? I’m sure Spike could answer that for me!

“Trixie is ashamed to admit, but Trixie does not remember the spells, only that they were painful, and that Sunset looks ridiculous with spikey hair.” Trixie mumbled, giving an apologetic smile to Twilight, which grew into a luminous expression of rapture when Twilight smiled back, thoroughly creeping Twilight out in the process.

“After we cast this … phu-kyu spell on each other, the Spell-Scroll burst into flames from all the magic being used on it.” Sunset Shimmer muttered, glaring at Trixie before coughing suddenly. “Uhm, could I get a glass of water?”

“Ya’ll fine if I get it? Kinda … don’ want to leave Twi all alone wit’ no magic backup, in-case something goes … wrong.” Applejack asked, waiting for both Luna and Twilight to nod before rushing up the stairs, leaving Luna, Spike and Twilight to ‘guard’ the two cursed Mares.

“Okay, so … no idea what spells you cast before the Fuku came into play, so we could be dealing with a great deal of magical back-lash when these spells are released.” Twilight muttered, looking around the room in thought. “Okay, nothing down here should be affected, since the spells were intended for living beings, and Spike, Luna and myself all have strong magical defences. We’ll have to keep Rarity and Applejack upstairs, however …”

“Uh, Twilight? Sorry for asking, but shouldn’t the other spells have faded away by now?” Spike asked, raising a claw into the air to attract Twilight’s attention.

“The … gecko … has a point. It’s been three weeks since we found at scroll, surely the spell-effects would have faded by now?” Sunset added, looking … perturbed.

“Under normal circumstances, yes. But the Fuku-spell creates magical armor that can ‘repel’ magic. And since the Fuku-spell was cast in such an odd fashion, it stands to reason that the spell-effects that it was layered over the top of are still in effect, just repressed and trapped beneath the Fuku-spell, just as it reflects spells cast from other sources.” Twilight tapped the scroll, rolling it out further with a hoof as she explained. “Autonomous spell-armor of this sort always has that flaw. Unlike spell-negation effects that are cast with a will behind them, like the spell-shields my brother uses, the autonomous spell-negation in the armor works to repress and reject any ‘foreign’ magic, both on its outer surface and on its inner one, because it can’t tell the difference! And since you two botched the casting so badly, it stands to reason that there’s a high chance that the spells you were flinging at each other could have been trapped under the Fuku, stuck in a feedback-loop with the Fuku-armor stopping them from fully activating, like steam trapped in a pressure-cooker.”

“So in other words, when we manage to get the Fuku-armor off, we could be looking at a Spell-Storm?” Luna asked, eyeing the two cursed Mares warily. “And since neither one recalls exactly what spells they cast …”

“Yes. And don’t forget, these are body modification spells. So we’re going to need to prepare for this with a full containment circles, stasis spells ... ugh, this is going to take hours.” Twilight groaned, feeling the fuzzy headache that had been plaguing her all morning getting worse. “Alright, the first things we’re going to need is some chalk for the circles …”