Hey guys! Alright, I always feel the need to apologize whenever I make you wait a while for my next chapter. Obviously I still don't have a computer, nor am I getting one any time soon. So you'll just have to bear with me here. Thank you all for your patience. Enjoy Chapter Fifty!
-TammoWoodsorel
A Great Change: Chapter Fifty-Final Battle
By: TammoWoodsorel
The clash of the two Dragonshy's was a sight to behold. They rammed into each other at speeds that were so great that the resulting crash vibrated the entire cavern. They did not seem to mind though since they would just circle around and do it again. It was a stalemate. They each had the same strength, abilities, speed, fighting style, etc. The real Dragonshy had never known himself to be pushed this far by an opponent. He had always been able to dispose of his opposition quite easily. Facing somepony of his own skill level was proving to be difficult. He knew all of the tricks that the other Dragonshy would attempt and was able to counter them but, at the same time, the other Dragonshy would counter his own attempts at victory. It was a fight that had no end in sight. Dragonshy decided that he could not just ram him head on anymore and took to aerial acrobatics. His next turnaround, he added a high-velocity spin and allowed his body to morph with the air current which gave him a more aerodynamic assault. The clone saw this with ease and dove downward to avoid the attack. Using his own downward velocity, he ascended to attack Dragonshy from underneath. Dragonshy had been expecting this reaction and broke his form just in time throw a kick at the approaching foe. The clone reacted at the last moment by evaporating into a black cloud and then re-forming over Dragonshy's legs. When he had completed his transformation, he was holding on very tightly to Dragonshy's hind legs. The clone rose his hoof to break the legs but Dragonshy was having none of that. He melted his body and forced his gelatinous form to engulf the phony. Dragonshy's clone grew very large briefly and shrunk himself down too fast for Dragonshy to match. With Dragonshy spread thin, the clone busted out and looked back as Dragonshy returned to his usual form. They both hovered there for a short while. They were both exhausted. To change form so many times in quick succession took its toll on both of them. Dragonshy knew that they both only had one transformation left in them and he knew exactly what the other one would choose. It was generally easy to change and maintain a form that he was used to changing into. So, with a short burst of energy, they both transformed into dragons. The ceased their flying and both landed on the ground within reach of each other. Once on the ground, Dragonshy wasted no time in slapping the clone in the face with his tail and proceeding to put him in a headlock. The clone would not be outdone and sank his teeth into Dragonshy's arm. The pain caused Dragonshy to release his grip. The clone took the opportunity to throw a few quick punches into Dragonshy's gut. Dragonshy eventually managed to reach one wing over and block the onslaught. Then he used his arm for extra strength to force the clone backward. Using the element of surprise, Dragonshy moved his wing from covering his face to reveal a mouth full of fire. He torched the clone and then went in for a headbutt. The clone had the wind knocked out of him but managed to put Dragonshy into a headlock and force him to the ground. From then on, it was a mess of scratching, biting, and grappling with no winner in sight.
Terror Tooth had time to get a good look at the clones. They were all exactly alike to each other except for Dragonshy's and Viñyl's. Dragonshy's clone was in Changeling form while Dragonshy was remaining in his pony form. Viñyl's clone was also in Changeling form, but not just any Changeling. Viñyl's clone looked exactly like Captain Fear. Terror Tooth quickly pieced together the clues and came to the conclusion that this was because Viñyl's body was not actually Viñyl's body, it was Captain Fear's body. But there was something wrong with Viñyl's clone other than that. It was on the ground, forcing its eyes shut, with its hooves over its head. It seemed to be in a lot of pain. His thoughts were interrupted by the two Dragonshy's taking off for combat. There was just a short instant to react before the other clones set on their counterparts. Terror Tooth saw his clone speeding towards him with its dangerously long claws outstretched. Terror Tooth extended his own claws and blocked the attack by flipping his opponent over his head. The clone landed without taking any damage and they both stood staring at each other. The only difference between the two was the the clone was wearing the crazed blood-lust grin that he knew all too well.
Terror Tooth knew that only a clone would have the answers that he was looking for and decided to try and talk to his clone, "You seem a bit more mad than me, I thought you were supposed to be exact copies."
At the end of his sentence, he managed to narrowly dodge a quick swipe from his clone and jump backward.
The clone stared, licked his lips, and said, "We're s'posed ta be. But dere was a magic placed over the water by da queen 'erself."
The clone ended his statement with a dash forward, followed by an attempt to bite Terror Tooth's leg. Terror Tooth jumped up and flew away with the clone in close pursuit. The Clone caught up and swiped at him again but he did a short barrel roll and swiped back. The clone dashed backward to avoid the attack and stared at Terror Tooth.
Terror Tooth still wanted answers, "What sort of magic was placed on the water? What does it do?"
The clone seemed happy to answer, "Rather th'n copyin' both physical 'n mental traits, this water only copies da physical traits perfectly. Da mental traits r' copied but den it da magic exposes somethin' from each pony. It feeds dat pony's darkest mentality 'n forces the clone ta act on it."
Terror Tooth was ready for an attack but none came so he asked another question, "And what might my darkest mentality be?"
The clone yelled at the top of its lungs, "Your blood lust!"
With that, the clone made a mad dash with its claws outstretched. Terror Tooth was just barely able to block the attack and decided that he had gotten enough information. If he wanted to make it out of the fight alive, then he was going to have to fight for his life. The two of them began to exchange blows and had a dogfight that would have made the Wonderbolt's jaws drop. Terror Tooth knew that he had to get his newly found information to the rest of his comrades as soon as possible. He believed that if they were to know the entire thought process of their enemy, then they would have the upper hoof against them. So, with his new goal in mind, he began to perform his areal acrobatics that made him so famous in the Capital. He expertly dodged and blocked his clones attacks as he made his way to the one who he believed would do the most with the information that he was about to present, Knight Mare. He thanks Celestia and Pinkiepie for the excellent wing guards that he had. With their added protection, it was a lot easier to deflect the oncoming attacks. He saw Knight mare was almost within shouting distance and pushed himself to close the gap as soon as possible.
Knight Mare was having her own issues. Once the fight had begun, the rest of the clones made a mad dash for their counterparts and fought each other. Her clone, however, was not interested in fighting her off. Instead, her clone was was launching missile after missile at Dragonshy. It took Knight Mare's complete focus to deflect them before they made contact. This infuriated Knight Mare to no end because she knew the spell that she had to use in order to get rid of the clones. While she had been with Twilight, they had referenced some old spells that Twilight had experience with and she had come across a spell that sent doppelgangers back from wince they came. All it would take would be one shot but Knight Mare was sure that, if her clone managed to his Dragonshy, then he would be put off long enough for his clone to take him out.
This dragged on for a while until Knight Mare heard Terror Tooth call out to her, "Knight Mare! I have some interesting information about our foes!"
Still making sure to block all her clones abilities, she strained herself to answer back, "Well spit it out, I'm a little preoccupied!"
Terror Tooth struggled to circle around and clarify with his clone still hot on his trail, "Each of our clones are manifestations of our darkest desires!"
Knight Mare knew that Terror Tooth was on to something so she quickly placed a barrier around her clone. The barrier was strong but would only hold her clone for a few moments. She had been saving this spell for an emergency since she had to wait a long time before she would be able to use it again. With her clone charging its counter-spell, Knight Mare opened up a telepathy connection with all her allies in the cavern. She set it up so that they would all hear, inside their heads, what Terror Tooth was yelling to her.
Once she was ready, she yelled to Terror Tooth, "Explain!"
Terror Tooth had been preparing to circle around this time, and managed to get back within yelling distance quickly, "Meaning that all the clones are obsessed with one thing! If you can figure out what they are obsessed over, then you can exploit it and use it to defeat them!"
Knight Mare made sure to ask one more question before he got to far away, "How do you propose that we figure that out?!"
Terror Tooth shouted behind him and his voice trailed as he picked up speed and flew higher up, "Their obsession is your darkest desire!"
Just as he finished, her clone broke the barrier and immediately resumed firing at Dragonshy. Knight Mare blocked each shot while desperately trying to figure out what her clone could be obsessed with. It did not take long for a thought to come to her mind. She quickly prepared herself to test the theory. She launched to spells in quick succession. One of them blocked the one her clone had shot and the other hit Dragonshy's clone. Because she had fired them off so quickly, they were very weak spells so the clone didn't really react to being hit. Her clone, however, ceased her fire turned to Knight Mare. Knight Mare saw the burning hatred in her clone's eyes and knew that he suspicion had been correct. Her clone was obsessed with Dragonshy.
The clone's horn glowed dangerously bright and it yelled at her, "Don't ever touch him!"
Knight mare focused her energy through the amulet that Twilight had given her and sent a beam of magic into the massive missile to detonate it before it hit her. But now she was in a fight that was in her favor. Her opponent was focused on her and blinded by rage. The clone summoned a huge volley of magic arrows around itself. With a flick of its head, the arrows flew at Knight Mare. Knight Mare just summoned her force field from her armor. The force field was not too strong but neither were the arrows. In its rage, the clone seemed to have forgotten that the more spells you use at once, the weaker they are. While she had the time, Knight Mare charged her magic and let it all loose in one blast. The beam of pure energy broke through her own barrier and made contact with her clone in less than a second. There was a massive explosion and the clone was sent flying backwards. Knight Mare fell to her knees in exhaustion. That spell had taken a lot of energy. She needed to take a rest to recharge.
The stallions were having a difficult time dealing with their clones. As it turns out, their clones also wanted to fight as a group so it had turned into an all out brawl. They had been in the Equestrian Navy so they knew how to fight but it was a very physical why of fighting. They had charged each other and met the opposition head on. The fell over each other and did their best to fight the right ones. It did not take long for them to get confused as to who was who, but they fought on. There was punching, kicking, biting, and other various forms of physical contact being thrown at either side. Each side already knew their obsession and each side willingly gave into it. They just wanted to finish off their opponents so that they could go and make sure that Viñyl was ok.
They had been going at it for a while and eventually broke up and separated to catch their breathe. They had been able to distinguish the clones form the real ones and turned it into a stare down. Both sides were tired and out of breathe so they both waited for the other to make the first move. Just as Hugo's clone stepped forward, a beam of magic hit it and it evaporated into thin air. They all looked to where the magic had originated to see Knight Mare with smoking coming from her horn and taking deep breathes. She was obviously exhausted.
She took another pained breathe and said just lud enough for them to hear, "Don't take another step..."
The clones knew that she was just trying to stall for her to build up enough energy to blast the both of them as well. They figured that their only chance was to run to the real Bruno and Maxie to try and confuse her. They took off at a sprint and Knight Mare desperately took another shot. It made contact with the fake Maxie and sent him to oblivion but the fake Bruno made it to the other side. He was met with a rough kick to the face, sending him sprawling backwards. This gave Knight Mare enough time to blast him into nothingness as well. After this third shot, Knight Mare collapsed again. She was normally able to cast spell after spell with ease but it seemed as though her power source was weak. This though scared her since that meant it would be weak for the rest of her comrades as well. The stallions took a quick glance at Viñyl and her clone. They saw that all her clone was doing was laying flat and not doing anything. So the decided to establish a perimeter around the unconscious Knight Mare and make sure she was safe until she woke up.
Renegade had been having a stand off with his clone the entire time. His clone did not look angry, nor did it look determined. Renegade could see no evil in his clone.
Eventually the clone sighed and said, "You know we heard your Knight Mare's telepathy as well. I guess we're connected in that way."
Renegade answered as mono-toned as the clone had spoken, "That's interesting. I'll be sure to bring that up with her later. Now as for the issue at hand..."
The clone looked to the ceiling in though and responded, "I know I'm supposed to fight you. I have the feeling that I should. But let em tell you what your darkest desire is. It's questioning your purpose. All your life you have had no idea who you were or what you were supposed to be doing. That's why you did so well in the military, all your orders were given to you. I know that I am meant to kill you but I am wondering what would be the benefit of that. I would go back to just being another grunt in the army. But I have your memories of Ponyville and of the life outside this Capital. I... We have finally realised that there is a life out there that is better for us. I'm not going to fight you, I don't see much point."
The real Renegade knew everything that the clone had said was true and decided to believe him, "Listen, you know as well as I do that Celestia is a surprisingly understanding pony. I'm sure that if you help me and my friends here, then she'll let you stay with us in Ponyville."
The clone smiled and said, "I'm glad we both had the same idea."
The two of them ran to the closest group which was the stallions protecting Knight Mare. When They got there, they saw that there was nothing really going on at that particular spot. They also noticed that the stallions were staring at the ceiling. They looked up to see what was so interesting and were genuinely amazed at what they saw. There was Terror Tooth, desperately fighting his clone. What was amazing were the acrobatics that the two of them were pulling off. Because of the lethality of their claws, this fight would be over after one good swipe. So the two Terror Tooths were forced to dodge and block every attack in order to stay alive. One false move would end the fight in an instant. Renegade's clone tapped him on the shoulder. Renegade looked to where the clone had been pointing and saw another fantastic sight. He saw two black and green dragons fighting to the death. He knew that these were the two Dragonshies.
Viñyl and Octavia were taken aback by the fact that her clone looked so weak. The fake Octavia had no idea what to do. Octavia and Viñyl only knew how to fight as a team so, without Viñyl's clone, Octavia's clone was defenseless.
After a while, Viñyl decided that they should just get rid of them before they turned into a problem so she whispered to Octavia, "Where's your Cello?"
Octavia whispered back, "Over there, behind them."
Viñyl saw it and teleported it into Octavia's forelegs.
Octavia quickly put bow to string and asked, "Ready?"
She did not wait for a response and played a quick 'high E'. Viñyl strengthened the short burst of sound to the point that it became a missile. The fake Octavia was blasted to pieces but the fake Viñyl was no where to be seen once the smoke cleared. They looked around for where it might have gone but they did not see it. When they were looking around, Viñyl felt this surge of energy course through her. It was a tremendous power that she could barely contain. She looked to the others and saw that the other changelings were experiencing the same thing.
Renegade felt this power and asked out loud, "What is this?"
Knight Mare began to sit up, "I've felt this sort of power before. It is like when those six ponies from Ponyville used the elements of harmony but it's different. What else could be giving us this power?"
Renegade thought for a moment and his clone asked, "Are you guys still linked with Princess Cadance?"
Knight Mare's ears perked up, "Probably, why?"
Renegade's clone said, "I'm getting mental alerts from the battle over in Canterlot of Princess Cadance vanquishing Queen Chrysalis with a powerful aura even greater than that of Princess Celestia."
Knight Mare breathed a sigh of relief, "Well that's good to hear. Now we know that they are ok over there."
With the added energy provided by the aura, Terror Tooth and Dragonshy were able to take the upper hoof in their fights. They were turning the tides and taking over their fights.
They almost won when a blast of magic hit them both, knocking them away from their clones. Dragonshy looked to see who had hit him and saw that it had been Knight Mare's clone. Terror Tooth looked at who had hit him and it was non other than Viñyl's clone. With not a moment to spare, all the clones that were still alive grouped with Viñyl's clone.
The clone spoke but not with Viñyl's voice, with Captain Fear's, "Well I must thank you for releasing me from that terrible body that I was stuck in. Because I was technically the darkest thing within Viñyl, I was manifested into her clone. Lucky me."
Overcome with anger, Dragonshy launched himself at the group of ponies. Knight Mare's clone quickly put up a barrier, blocking Dragonshy from making contact.
Captain Fear said mockingly, "So sorry that your revenge plan did not go over as well as you had hoped, Draco. But don't worry, I'm not finished with you. Come now, clones, I have the perfect plan against Draco. I know what will hurt him most. Prepare teleportation, Knight Mare," As Knight Mare's clone began charging, Captain Fear added, "If I were, I'd hurry home..."
With that, he was gone leaving Dragonshy in a fit of rage. Their entire adventure had been for nothing and now they needed to hurry back to Ponyville as soon as possible. Dragonshy changed back to his pony form and turned to the ponies that were all staring at him.
He was tearing up and spoke through a coarse throat, "Charge up as much as you need, Knight Mare! We need to get to Ponyville now!"
Knight Mare was still tired and needed a several hours to rest before she would be able to teleport such a large group so far away. They would have to wait until she was ready before they could give chase.
