With the timely arrival of Rainbow Dash, she and Applejack had made short work of the reinforcements that had shown up initially. The Sky Talon Lab security ponies and Storm Feather mercenaries were all but wiped out.

The problems had arisen when Queen Luna's Royal Guards had shown up.

"Where in tarnation are they all comin' from?" Applejack growled as she tanked another blast from an arcane staff with her shield. Holding the shield in front of her, she charged through a mass of guards knocking the majority of them into the walls. As soon as she was clear, Rainbow sped by, slicing into the remaining soldiers with her whip scythes.

She turned and skidded to a stop on the opposite side of the room next to Applejack.

"They probably came from the airship me and Twi saw out on the bridge," Rainbow finally responded, "and if that is where they came from, we might be here for awhile..."

"Ya found Twilight?" Applejack asked with a relieved smile as she extended her tendril born shield to cover Rainbow Dash, "well that's a bit of a load off mah shoulders," she then frown in bemusement, "what's all this about an 'airship', though? Ain't that one o' them fancy flyin' machines?"

"Yeah," Rainbow Dash replied nodding her head in confirmation, "and it's huge. Wouldn't surprise me if they sent an entire army after us."

Applejack grimaced with both worry and effort as she tried to keep the shield up against a constant bombardment of spellfire.

"Well, shoot. That don't sound too good..." she muttered. She looked back to Rainbow Dash who tapped her side as she stared at the shield in thought.

"Hey, AJ..." she said slowly, "drop the shield on my mark, I got an idea."

Applejack raised an eyebrow, but nodded nonetheless, deciding to trust the cyan pegasus' judgement.

Rainbow Dash crouched low to the floor as her whip scythes dissolved into a countless mass of tendrils that covered her entire body. She grunted as she held that position for another few seconds before she shouted to Applejack.

"NOW!"

Applejack's shield receded in a flash of tendrils and Rainbow Dash launched herself like a missile into the massive crowd of guards. There was a brief second of confusion before each and every pony was skewered by the numerous tendrils that exploded outward from Rainbow's body.

The impaled guards hung suspended in the air momentarily before the tendrils receded into Rainbow Dash, leaving the bodies to fall to the floor.

Rainbow Dash stood up, shook herself, and surveyed the scene. The floor was littered with the corpses of fallen soldiers and it was clear there were no survivors of the devastating attack.

"Sheesh," Rainbow muttered, eyes widening in awe, "didn't expect it to work that well..."

"Yer tellin' me," Applejack agreed, looking over the carnage as she trotted over to Rainbow Dash, "Just what in the hay was that little stunt ya pulled there, Rainbow?"

"Dunno," Rainbow replied with a smirk, "but I was thinking of calling it something awesome like..." she rotated her hoof and gazed at the ceiling in thought, "like uh... the Tendril Barrage Devastator!"

Applejack rolled her eyes as Rainbow nodded to herself in satisfaction.

"Anyway," Applejack said, giving Rainbow a flat look before trotting towards the dining hall entrance, "we should probably catch up with Rarity before more o' them guards show up. She might've found the others by now."

"Oh, yeah," Rainbow Dash responded following after the cowpony, "Me and Twilight already ran into Rarity on the way here."

"Really now?" asked Applejack, blinking in surprise.

"Yup," Rainbow replied with a nod, "that's how I found you."

"Ah see..." Applejack responded. There was few moments of silence as they both made their way through the single door that led out of the dining hall. Applejack spoke up after a few minutes of trotting through the hall.

"So..." she began somewhat awkwardly, "is Twilight doin' okay?"

"Yeah, she's... alright," Rainbow Dash replied with a frown. Applejack didn't miss the hesitation in Rainbow's voice.

"I'm sensin' a 'but' there, Rainbow," she replied, staring at Rainbow Dash expectantly.

Rainbow gave Applejack a side glance before sighing in resignation.

"Yeah, okay, so she's got some... problems of her own," she conceded, keeping her gaze centered on the path ahead, "we all do..."

"Tell me about it," Applejack responded. After a few seconds she gave Rainbow Dash a flat look.

"No really, tell me about it," she demanded, "what's goin' on? What happened after you two woke up?"

"I... guess I'm not getting out of this one am I?" Rainbow asked, rubbing the back of her neck as she chuckled sheepishly.

"Nope," Applejack replied flatly, "now spill it."

Fluttershy had been leading Twilight and Rarity down various hallways in silence for what felt like the better part of an hour before Rarity finally decided to speak.

"Er... Fluttershy, darling," she began tentatively, "are you sure we're headed in the right direction? I don't mean to be rude, but we've been trotting along these dreary halls for quite some time now."

"Rainbow and Applejack are making their way towards us right now," Fluttershy responded, her eyes never leaving the path ahead, "we should be meeting them within the next half hour if we keep up this pace, Rarity."

"Ah... I see..." Rarity replied, frowning at the somewhat mechanical tone of Fluttershy's voice, "and how-"

"I can feel them," Fluttershy interjected, "just like I can feel you and Twilight next to me. I wasn't sure how it worked before - and I'm still not completely sure now - but if I concentrate, I can send out a pulse that sort of... pings their location. It's kind of similar to the echolocation that bats use to 'see'."

"Fascinating..." Twilight muttered from behind the two, "and can you pick up others as well?"

Fluttershy nodded.

"I can pick up the location of other lifeforms too, although the response isn't as strong as with you girls."

"But how did you even find out how to do that?" Rarity asked in confusion, "earlier you told Twilight you couldn't control it - that it just... happened."

"I wanted to see Rainbow Dash," Fluttershy answered, glancing back at the white mare, "while we were walking, I focused on that thought and it happened."

"Yeah... about that," Twilight asked hesitantly, "what did you want ask Rainbow Dash? I mean if it was something about our current predicament, I might be able to help. I've got some answers of my own and I've also come up with a few theories about-"

"Are we still equine?"

That stopped Twilight short and she stared at the yellow Pegasus in bemusement.

Fluttershy simply stared back with a stoic gaze.

"W-what?" Rarity asked in bewilderment, "I'm sorry, darling but what kind of question is that? Of course we're still-"

"No," Twilight interjected, staring at her hooves with a thoughtful frown, "no I think that's a very good question, and I might have an answer... but before that," she looked up at Fluttershy in confusion, "why ask Rainbow Dash of all ponies?"

Fluttershy looked away and Twilight could see some actual emotion make it's way back into her face as she spoke.

"I've known Rainbow Dash for a long time - longer than any of you," she said quietly, "you may not know this, but Rainbow Dash can be very observant. She tends to pick up on things most ponies overlook in their day-to-day lives."

"Well I could've told you that," Twilight replied, "she's a pegasus, most - if not all pegasi have a keen eyesight that goes far beyond the other pony... races..."

Twilight trailed off as Fluttershy shook her head.

"In a way, she's kind of similar to Applejack. She may not be able to spot a lie like Applejack can, but if she tries, she can see the true measure of a pony just by looking in their eyes."

Twilight, and Rarity sat in stunned silence, completely caught off guard by the revelation that their brash and boastful friend was apparently more than she appeared.

"That's... actually pretty amazing," Twilight said after a moment.

"Indeed," Rarity agreed, "and I take it you've seen this for yourself?"

Fluttershy nodded, a small smile appearing on her muzzle, "Many times actually."

"And we completely failed to notice this whole time..." Twilight muttered.

"This is a very... fascinating discovery, dear," Rarity interjected trying to get back on topic, "but what does this have to do with your questioning of our equinity?"

Fluttershy went to answer but Twilight beat her to it, having worked out where Fluttershy was going.

"You want to see if Rainbow Dash can tell if you're still the same Fluttershy from before all of... this," she stated.

Fluttershy nodded again and continued trotting down the hall as she spoke.

"From the moment I woke up in that cage, I knew something wasn't right - about me, I mean. I felt odd... off, like I was trapped in somepony else's skin," she turned back to the two unicorns, "did neither of you feel that way?"

Twilight and Rarity shook their heads and Fluttershy lowered hers.

"Oh."

"I'm sorry, Fluttershy," Twilight offered, trotting next to the downtrodden Pegasus, "when I woke up, the only thing I felt was really sore."

"Really?" Rarity chimed in, "that's a bit odd."

"What do you mean, Rarity? You weren't sore when you woke up?"

Rarity shook her head with a confused frown, "on the contrary, darling, I felt just fine - like I had woken up from a particularly good nap actually."

Twilight and Fluttershy looked at each other, then back to Rarity.

"That... is odd," Twilight finally said. She stared off at nothing in particular as she thought, "Was it different for all of us?"

"I'm not quite sure, Twilight," Rarity answered, turning back to the butter yellow Pegasus, "but I believe Fluttershy was trying to make a point?"

"Right sorry," Twilight said, smiling apologetically, "go ahead, Fluttershy."

"Well... there's not really much else to say," she continued, "I didn't feel like me - I still don't. So I'm hoping Rainbow can help... ground me I guess. Make sure I'm still the same Fluttershy like you said, Twilight."

Twilight nodded.

The three of them turned down another path before Twilight spoke again in a quiet voice.

"So... I mentioned before that I might've had an answer to your question, Fluttershy... but after hearing your explanation, I'm not sure if it was exactly what you were talking about when you asked if we were still equine..."

Fluttershy and Rarity waited for Twilight to finish, but she only shuffled her hooves nervously.

"Well don't just leave it at that, dear," Rarity prompted, "what did you find out?"

"Well it started out as a hunch based on something Rainbow told me a little after I woke up," Twilight began tentatively, "but after what I've seen... and done, it's gone from a hunch to a theory..." Twilight finally looked them both in the eye.

"...and you're not going to like it."

Rarity glanced at Fluttershy worriedly and was surprised to see the timid pegasus' face set in a determined frown as she met Twilight's gaze.

"Please, Twilight," she said in a much stronger voice than before, "even if it's not exactly what I was talking about, I still want to know... I have to know."

Twilight took note of the conviction in Fluttershy's eyes and sighed in resignation.

"Alright Fluttershy, but don't say I didn't warn you."

She schooled her features and and began to speak.

"So when you asked if we were still equine, I thought you were asking in a more... literal sense."

"Well I kind of was," Fluttershy admitted, "but mostly I just wanted know if I still had the feelings and emotions that me... me."

Twilight nodded, "Right, well to answer your question on whether or not we're physically equine..."

She paused and exhaled deeply.

"No. I don't think we are."

They didn't have the reaction Twilight had expected.

Rarity was taken aback, but only slightly, and Fluttershy just looked sad and resigned, almost like she was expecting the bad news.

But she wasn't finished.

"Not only do I think we aren't equine anymore, I don't think we're even alive, technically speaking."

That revelation garnered the expected reaction from the two.

"Wha - but... what do you mean we aren't alive?" Rarity cried in equal parts fear and indignation, "I'm very clearly standing here talking to you!"

Fluttershy just stared at Twilight in shock.

"Calm down, Rarity," Twilight said, raising her hooves defensively, "let me finish explaining."

Rarity harrumphed and sat on her haunches, smoothing out her mane out of nervous habit.

"Now then," Twilight continued, "as I said before, it was Rainbow Dash that first mentioned as much..."

She told them about what Rainbow Dash had seen in her vision, much to Rarity and Fluttershy's horror.

"When I asked her if it was really as bad as she had said, she told me flat out that she was convinced we had died during whatever... transformation we went through."

Rarity and Fluttershy sat there in stunned silence as Twilight continued.

"At first I thought she was exaggerating," she looked away, chewing her lip in thought before speaking again, "but the more I think about it, and the more I observe of what we're capable of... the more I start to agree with Dash - if only because of my theory."

"A-and what was your theory, Twilight," Fluttershy asked meekly.

"I don't think we're infected with whatever this virus is - at least not anymore," Twilight replied, "I think the initial infection did something to our cells, making changes so drastic that we effectively became the virus ourselves."

Rarity blinked.

"That's..."

She tried to think of something else to say, but nothing came to mind. What could she say to that?

"Are you sure that's what happened, Twilight?" Fluttershy asked after a few moments.

"No, I'm not, Fluttershy," Twilight responded, shaking her head, "that's why it's only a theory. A likely theory, but a theory nonetheless. It's like I explained to Rainbow..." she raised a hoof and a swarm of tendrils covered her hoof.

After a second the tendrils disappeared, leaving a shining silver blade in their wake that she tapped against the floor a few times. The sound of metal clanging against tile filled the air for a moment, "...We have the ability to alter our bodies on what appears to be a genetic level."

One of Fluttershy's ears flickered and she turned towards one of the walls in confusion.

"I admit, microbiology isn't one of my strong suits," Twilight continued, "but I'm pretty sure normal viruses can't alter your genetic structure on a whim."

"Um... girls?"

"So if I'm understanding you right," Rarity said with growing realization, "you're saying that we could potentially change whatever we want about ourselves at any given moment?"

"Girls?"

"I believe so," Twilight answered, "given we've consumed the proper materials, that is. We didn't ask to be injected with this virus, but it has given us an incredible capacity for adaptation-"

"TWILIGHT, MOVE!"

Before Twilight could respond, she found herself impacted by a yellow blur and sent skidding across the floor. At the same time that happened a large metal object exploded through one wall, smashing Fluttershy against the other on the opposite side.

"FLUTTERSHY!"

Twilight quickly regained her bearings and scrambled to her hooves. She heard Rarity scream something, but her attention was focused on the giant silvery... limb that had Fluttershy pinned against the wall. It was made of a completely smooth metal substance and sported four fingers that wrapped around the yellow pegasus as she cried out in pain and fear.

Before Rarity or Twilight could move, the massive limb pulled itself back through the hole it had made in the wall, taking Fluttershy with it. The two unicorns quickly galloped to where the hole was and froze, mouths dropping open in shock and horror.

Waning sunlight would've shined through the hallway had it not been for the massive metal golem blotting it out. From what Twilight could surmise through what she could see, they were on the third floor of the annex building.

The bipedal monstrosity towered over them.

It's entire body was as smooth and silvery as the limb and it had no features to speak of save a single, blazingly blue eye in it's large circular face. The arms were half as thick as the towers of Canterlot castle and it's torso was as broad as the Apple family barn. Oddly, the lower half of it's body thinned out to an absurd degree and the legs were rather spindly.

It stood hunched over, somewhat similarly to an ape as it eyed Twilight and Rarity from outside. It had one arm raised, Fluttershy's screaming form held in it's fist.

"Hold on, Fluttershy!" Rarity yelled. She turned to Twilight, eyes wide with panic, "Twilight, what do we do?"

Twilight remained silent.

"Twilight, dear," Rarity pleaded, grabbing Twilight by the withers, "we need a plan and you've always been the go-to mare. So tell me," she turned to the golem, who seemed to be distracted by something above it, and looked back to Twilight, "how do we get Fluttershy back from that... that... thing?"

When Twilight failed to respond a second time, Rarity opened her mouth to yell at the lavender unicorn.

Only to freeze as she felt the air around her suddenly shift unpleasantly.

"We do what we were apparently made to do, Rarity," Twilight responded sweetly.

She turned her black-eyed gaze and saccharine smile towards the distracted golem.

"We fight, and we kill."

Author's Notes:

So remember when Luna said she had other plans in case Asger failed?

Yeeeaahh...

Also the thing about Rainbow Dash's observational skills? I'm well aware of the massive evidence towards the contrary (lookin' at you Griffon the Brushoff…) but this is my headcanon and in this story, RD is smarter than that.

Besides, I am going somewhere with that.

Anywho... next chapter's probably gonna be a big'un what with the whole Mane 6 versus Giant Metal Golem thing going on.

Look forward to it!