EG: High School Chronicles - Story #15 - Part 4

Flash was completely out cold, so naturally what he was doing now was sleeping… dreaming… for so many hours… what he was dreaming about during that time was floating in some kind of big black void… all by himself, not sure of what was happening or why.

As Flash drifted in that big empty space, all he could do was mutter to himself out of panic, “…Twilight… Twilight… where are you…? I need you… I don’t know where I am… I don’t know what’s happening… I’m scared… Twilight… TWILIGHT… TWILIGHT!!!”

“…Flash??” asked a very familiar female voice nearby, to which Flash turned around to see that Princess Twilight Sparkle herself was there… but not in her human form; in her original, Equestrian Alicorn Pony form.

At first, Flash didn’t know exactly who or what he was really looking at, but then he squinted his eyes and took a closer look saying, “Twilight…? Is that… is that really YOU???”

“That depends,” said Twilight, looking at Flash, “Is it really YOU I’m talking to? ”

Flash and Twilight floated to each other, and Flash held out his right hand while Twilight held out her front left hoof. Their limbs gently touched each other… and the feeling felt real.

“Whoa…” Twilight and Flash said together, quite astonished by what they were seeing and feeling right now.

“Twilight…” said Flash, “If it really is you that I’m talking to… I… I need your help… but… but I don’t remember anything… I CAN’T remember anything, and I feel like I’m losing my mind right now, and-”

Princess Twilight gently hugged Flash as she said, “Shhhh… it’s okay, Flash, it’s okay. I’m right here for you… I don’t know or understand what’s going on right now either, but… I’m here. < : ) ”

Flash gently hugged Twilight back, then after a few seconds of calming down, Flash parted from Twilight, took in a deep calm breath, exhaled, and tried to regain his composure and concentration as he said, “Alright… alright, I can do this… just stay calm… focus… concentrate… and try to remember… I was… with all of our friends… wait… I feel like… what I need to remember… needs to be shared with not just you, Twilight, but… also with all of our friends… at the very least, the ones that were there with us today.”

“Really??” said Twilight, “Well, I certainly wish that they were here with us right now.”
“Same here,” said Flash.

“Hiya, Flashy!” said Pinkie Pie, sticking her head out from behind Flash and making him jump up and scream like a certain young boy from a certain cartoon series that was about how it was always “Time for Adventure”. ***

*** First one to see what I did there gets a cookie.



It was then and there Flash and Princess Twilight saw that floating in the black void with them was not just Pinkie Pie, but also all of the remaining Rainbooms as well, along with Spike, Arrow Swift, Drumbeat, Noble Wind, Crafty Arts, Sugar Sweet, and Flash’s band-mates, Ringo and Brawly Beats.

Brawly then said, “Whoa… this is weird and trippy, bro.”
Ringo replied in his Trottingham accent, “Tell me about it, mate. But on the upside, there are a LOT of lovely ladies floating around with us. ^^ ”

“Not really the time now, darling,” Rarity replied to Ringo plainly, “What I want to know is what in the world is going on here exactly?”

“I don’t know,” said Twilight, “One minute, I’m at Rainbow Dash’s house sleeping in my sleeping bag and with my fellow Rainbooms… the next, I’m finding myself in my full-on Equestrian form with Flash here and we were both just wanting you guys all to be here with us now, and… here we all are now.”

“Wait…” said Flash, “Twilight… You were sleeping before I was wanting you to be here with me? ”
“Well, yeah,” said Twilight, “So… wait… does this mean… everyone was sleeping? Or perhaps, still sleeping right now?”

Everyone nodded, then Sunset Shimmer said, “Whoa… it seems to me like we’re all sharing some kind of… connected dream together… all of us, all at once, at the exact same time.”

Flash then said, “A dream?? So… it’s night time already??? I must’ve been knocked out REALLY hard.”

“Knocked out? ” Twilight asked Flash, “Well, before you answer THAT… everyone… or rather, my fellow Rainbooms… I think what’s happening is that we Rainbooms are using some kind of… new magical power together… we’re connecting our unconscious minds with each other AND with those of our friends.”

“Whoa, for real?!” Spike asked, who was right now in his original dragon form, “Cool!!! This is just like that time when Princess Luna connected all of the dreams of our Equestrian friends together! You know, during that Tantabus episode, Twilight? Remember?”

“What is he talking about? ” Flash asked Twilight.
“I’ll explain later,” said Twilight, “More importantly, I want to know how this is possible…”

Everyone thought over it for a while, before Sunset Shimmer said, “Wait a second… Twilight, the first time you used the magic of friendship in the human world, back when I was ‘She-Demon Shimmer’… you girls used your magic to not just turn me back to normal, but also to free all of the teens at Canterlot High from my mind-control magic on them.”

“Oh, yeah!” said Flash, “I remember that! I was first one who’s mind got freed, followed by the other students. And then a similar thing happened when you girls beat the Dazzlings, right? But what does all of this mean exactly? ”

Twilight said, “It means that somehow, YOU Flash Sentry… kinda have a magical connection with us Rainbooms… at least somewhere in your mind, you do… and that would mean everyone else at Canterlot High does, too!”

“Whoa…” said Flash, in pure awe over all of that.

“Hold on a sec!” said Drumbeat, “You Canterlot High students all being mentally connected by magic, I can believe and get… but what does THAT have to do with me and Arrow Swift?”
“Yeah,” said Arrow Swift, “I mean, Drumbeat and I aren’t from Canterlot High School, we weren’t there during any of its magical fiascos that you guys have told us about, and Sugar Sweet and Crafty Arts? Both of them are the newest students of your school, right? So, they couldn’t have been there during any of those magical fiascos that have happened at C.H.S. Well, I mean, Crafty Arts being there during the Friendship Games, yeah, but not Sugar Sweet.”

“Hmm…” said Twilight, “It’s possible that during all those times that we Rainbooms have used our magical powers, whether in the slightest amounts or in the greatest of amounts… that magic of friendship… it’s somehow been exposed to everyone that has witnessed it or in its actual pressence… which means… everyone at Canterlot High could’ve been exposed to our magic, as well as the students of Everfree High and Crystal Prep!”

“WHOA…” everyone said in unison, really amazed by this.

Rainbow Dash then said, “That… is… AWESOME!!! ”

“Not in this case,” said Flash.

“What does THAT mean?? ” Rainbow Dash asked.

“Guys…” said Flash, starting to remember everything, “The reason this is all happening is because I got knocked out.”

“Knocked out?” Applejack asked, “Who in tarnation knocked you out? ”

“Mantisio,” said Flash.

“Wait…” said Fluttershy, “You mean… Karaoke Pop’s head agent?”

“The one that looks REALLY creepy?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“Yeah, him,” said Flash, “I don’t know how or why, but… I think he knocked me out with some kind of… energy-draining power… I think… he might be a magic dude in disguise! And Karaoke Pop knew about it the whole time!”

“Oh, my goodness!” said Fluttershy, “This is awful! Karaoke and Mantisio knocked out Flash?! But wait… does that mean…?”

Sunset Shimmer replied, “Yes… those two MUST know the truth about us somehow! That we have magic powers! And that Mantisio guy, Flash… if what you say about him is true, he could be after not only our own magic, but ALL of the magic that’s been exposed to the people of Canterlot High, Crystal Prep, and maybe even Everfree High! The entire tri-county area could be in grave danger because of that Mantisio guy, and that’s just the best case scenario!”

“And the worst case scenario would be…?” Flash asked.

Princess Twilight answered, “…quite possibly… both the Human World and the Pony World could be in mortal danger because of that creep.”

“Well, what can we do to stop them?” asked Sugar Sweet, starting to get worried.
“Same thing we do every time we come across trouble like this,” said Rainbow Dash, “We take the bad guys down with the power of friendship! And yeah, I know that sounds ridiculous when it’s said out loud, but still.”

“Okay, but what should the ones that DON’T have magic powers do?” asked Crafty Arts.
Arrow Swift added, “And how exactly are we going to find Flash? Chances are that Mantisio and Karaoke have locked him up someplace that will be hard to find.”
“That’s true,” said Sunset Shimmer, “But here’s what I’m thinking: we should all go back to Hotely Luxury the minute we all wake up in the morning and demand that the hotel personnel there tell us where Mantisio and Karaoke went with Flash AFTER we’ve told them that they kidnapped Flash… leaving out all of the magic-related details, of course. ”

“Sounds like both a plan and a possibly dangerous adventure to me…” said Noble Wind, “I’m in! ”

“Count me in, too!” said Sugar Sweet, just as excited.

“You're not leaving me behind!” said Crafty Arts.

“And you’re all for this?” Princess Twilight asked them, “I mean, this is most definitely going to be dangerous for everyone!”

“Maybe so, Twilight,” said Arrow Swift, “But if Flash is in danger right now, and if the whole world could be in danger too, then we can’t really just stand by and let it happen, can we?”

“The dude’s right, y’know,” said Brawly Beats, “Besides, the more of us there are to save the day, the better are chances of success. Right, dudes and dudettes?”
Ringo added, “And nobody harms a mate of ours and gets away with it.”

“We don’t know what’s really going to happen,” said Drumbeat, “But we can’t let that Mantisio creep get away with whatever scheme he’s cooking up right now.”

“Alright then,” said Princess Twilight, “But if I may… if it turns out to be too dangerous for all of you non-magic friends of ours to handle or even survive, I want you all to get out of the situation while you can.”
“I agree with Twilight on that,” said Sunset Shimmer, “Understood, everyone?”

“Got it!” said everyone replied in unison.

“Well, there you go, Flash,” said Noble Wind, “Just hang in there for a while longer, okay?”

“Okay,” Flash nodded, “Thanks guys, but be really careful… especially YOU, Princess.”

“I will, Flash, and we'll come for you as soon as we can,” said Princess Twilight, hugging Flash one more time.

It was right then and there that EVERYONE in that weird yet important dreamscaping experience woke up from it and their sleep. It was 6:30 A.M., so it was practically now or never for everyone to act.

As all of Flash’s friends had woken up, gotten up, dressed up, eaten breakfast, and headed straight for Hotel Luxury… Flash Sentry himself found himself waking up in what seemed to be a big empty room that had only a few lights on and was colored dark gray. Flash thought it was perhaps some kind of secret storage room, and he also noticed that he was trapped in a cage made of out metal that was colored reddish-brown.

“O-kay, this is just plain creepy… O_o; ” said Flash, as he then reached for his jacket’s pockets and then his pants’ pockets for his smartphone to call Sunset and Twilight, or at least the police. But then Flash realized that his phone was gone, as well as his wallet and keys. Obviously, they were taken away from him by Mantisio, so that the blue-haired boy wouldn’t be able to call for help or drive away in his car.

“Perfect…” Flash said sarcastically, throwing his arms up in slight frustration, “No way to contact my friends or the police, no way out of this cage, and… * sniff, sniff *   Oh, DUDE, I think this place smells like-”

“I must apologize for the poor choice of location AND the even poorer décor,” said a very familiar male voice from nearby, as Flash turned to look and see that it was Mantisio as the creep continued to speak, “But then again, I AM on a bit of a tight schedule, so… ‘making sure that my guests are 100% comfortable’ is somewhat regrettably VERY low on my important to-do list.”

“Mantisio!” said Flash, as he grabbed his cage’s metal bars and started to shake them, “Let me out of here so I can kick your butt! And what have you done to Karaoke?!”

“I’m right here, Flash…” said Karaoke, clearly feeling somewhat guilty as she stepped out from behind Mantisio.

“Karaoke, what is going on here?!” said Flash, “Why are you guys doing this to me?!”

“All will be revealed in good time, kid,” said Mantisio, “In the meantime, I have a feeling that somehow, YOU managed to contact your precious friends to check back in the Hotel Luxury to investigate what happened after I knocked you out cold.”

“How… how do you know that?? O_o; ” Flash asked.
Mantisio replied slyly, “Well, I know it’s for certain NOW, thanks to you. Also, nobody has ever told you that you talk in your sleep, have they?”

Realizing EVERYTHING what Mantisio meant by that reply, Flash simply banged his head against one of his cage’s bars while saying plainly, “…I… really… am… too… simple… minded… for… my… own… good… aren’t I…?”

“It would appear so,” said Mantisio, “And if you keep banging your head on those steel bars, kiddo, you’ll be even MORE simple-minded. Well, no matter, I was going to attempt luring them here to where we are now anyway, so I guess sooner rather than later could work for me just as well.”

Mantisio then walked away from Flash’s cage saying, “Let’s go, Karaoke, we’ve got work to do.”
“Yeah…” said a reluctant Karaoke, as she walked with Mantisio.
Flash said to Karaoke, “Karaoke Pop, whatever this is about, you NEED to stop doing this right now! That Mantisio obviously can’t be trusted, and surely YOU must know that, right?!”

Karaoke just kept walking as she looked back at Flash, “Maybe so, Flash… but quite frankly… I just don’t care… and you and those magic girlfriends of yours are to blame…”

Flash was quite surprised to hear that, as he then replied, “And what exactly does THAT really mean??”
“You’ll find out,” said Mantisio with a malicious grin on his face.
Flash responded, “Whatever you’re planning, Mantisio, the Rainbooms WILL stop you! After all… they’ve dealt with YOUR kind before.”

Mantisio stopped in his tracks, as he looked back at Flash with a bit of a serious look on his face.
Flash then continued, “I’m right, aren’t I? Or rather, my suspicions are right: YOU, Mantisio, are a magic dude in disguise, as in someone who’s from that magic Pony World that Princess Twilight and Sunset Shimmer are both originally from, am I wrong?”

“Good deduction, Sherlock,” said Mantisio, “But what was your first clue? When I drained a small amount of your life energy from your body?”

“Well… yeah, actually,” said Flash, “But that’s not important right now! What’s important is that my Rainboom friends are going to kick your sorry butt, Mantisio, so just save yourself the trouble AND the humiliation… Just give up right now while you’ve still got the chance. And that goes double for you, Karaoke!”

“Those Rainbooms aren’t going to win this magic battle,” said Mantisio, “And that precious Princess of Friendship of yours, Flashy… I’ll be sure to destroy her first… not just because she’s obviously the most important member of that girl team… but because just like Karaoke Pop here… I’ve got a real grudge against her…”

“What do you mean by THAT??” said Flash, not liking what he was hearing even further.

“Again, you’ll find out soon,” said Mantisio, “But I will say this much, as a bit of a foreshadowing hint, if you will… Flash… You’re right about ME being a ‘magic dude in disguise’… major emphasis on the word… ‘disguise’… >8D ”


Meanwhile, ALL of Flash’s friends that had shared the same dream with him last night had just arrived at Hotel Luxury, but the security guards there weren’t letting them; something about a “private and completely reserved party” going on in the entire hotel.

Sunset Shimmer noticed that the people who were telling them that were Karaoke Pop’s private security guards, and that there weren’t any members of the hotel staff anywhere in sight, inside or outside of the hotel.

Sunset Shimmer huddled up with her friends and said to them, “Okay… my guess is that Karaoke Pop paid ALL of the employees of the hotel to take a ‘well-deserved vacation’ and now the hotel is being run by her personal bodyguards.”

Rainbow Dash said, “Well, if that is the case, then Karaoke Pop really must have some major moolah in order for THAT to happen, to convince an entire hotel’s wok staff to leave their posts and take a vacation.”

“So, what do we do now, darling?” Rarity asked Sunset Shimmer.

“Well, there IS one thing we could try,” said Sunset Shimmer, “I could try calling the police and tell them what’s going on… minus the magic part, of course. And there’s one person that both I and Flash Sentry know that could most definitely help us out here.”

“Really?” said Princess Twilight, “Who?”

“Well,” said Sunset Shimmer, “Flash once said that he has a relative that used to be in the Guard Forces and is now a police officer. He sometimes acts more like a crossing guard than a real police officer, of course, but he’s still an officer of the law. And I didn’t want to say this at the time he told us a while back since I felt like it might seem a little awkward, but… I’ve met that police relative of Flash’s. I don’t know WHAT he is to Flash… his brother, his uncle, his father, his older cousin, or something of the sort, BUT I do know that he’s part of Flash’s family. I actually met him once back when Flash and I were still dating… and I was bad.  Still, I’m sure the guy can help us out.”

“That sounds like a good idea,” said Princess Twilight.

“Yeah,” said Rainbow Dash, “So, go on, Sunset! Call the dude!”

“On it,” said Sunset Shimmer, as she pulled out her smartphone and called the person she needed to call for help.

About 15 minutes later, a police car pulled up into the hotel’s driveway, parked near the teenage school students, and out stepped a tall male officer of the law wearing sunglasses. Honestly, he looked a little bit like Flash Sentry, as if he really was related to the young guitarist.

“Everyone,” said Sunset Shimmer, “Meet Police Officer: Kurt Marshall.”

“Hello there, kids,” said the officer in a fairly deep male voice.

Princess Twilight then asked, “So, you’re the officer who’s related to Flash Sentry?”

“That’s right,” said Officer Kurt, “As for what our family relation is… that’s classified. However, I am here to help you kids – Flash’s friends – out in this grave time of need, because nobody hurts my family OR worries his friends and gets away with it!”

“Thank you, Officer,” said Sunset Shimmer.

“HOLD ON A SECOND,” said Pinkie Pie, “I just realized something… ‘Kurt Marshall’… that’s really close to the term, ‘Court Martial’… THAT’S BRILLIANT. ”

Kurt couldn’t help but chuckle a little bit at that statement as he then said, “I like this pink-haired kid. She’s funny… and adorable… and weird. I’m sure you and Flash are good friends, am I wrong?”

Pinkie Pie replied with a salute, “Guilty as charged, Officer.”

Kurt chuckled again at that before saying, “Heh heh, nice. That really is clever. However, right now is not that much of a laughing matter at all. It’s time to get serious, so let’s go.”

Officer Kurt then walked up straight towards the front doors of Hotel Luxury, saying to the scary security guards standing there while holding up his gold police badge to them, “Officer Kurt Marshall, CTPD, on official police business that concerns a very important family member of mine, so kindly step aside, Guards. Unless of course, you WANT me to place you guys under arrest for refusing to comply with an officer of the law.”

The way Officer Kurt was acting, the kind of officer he was being, kind of took all of the kids by surprise, as the security guards looked at each other nervously before stepping aside and letting Kurt and the kids walk inside Hotel Luxury.

“That’s better,” said Kurt, knowing that his fairly intimidating approach worked, as he and the kids all walked inside of the hotel and said, “Alright, kids, we should all stick together no matter what. As for where we begin now, we should start at where you kids all first met Mantisio.”

“That would be the private ballroom, Sir,” said Sunset Shimmer.

“Alright then, let’s go,” said Officer Kurt.

“Okay,” said Rainbow Dash, “And Officer Marshal? That was SO awesome back there. ^_^  Are you sure you’re related to Flash Sentry? ”

Officer Kurt looked at Rainbow Dash sternly saying, “And what exactly is THAT supposed to mean, young lady???”
“Uh, nothing! ” said Rainbow Dash.
“Uh-huh…” said Officer Kurt, as they all entered the ballroom.

Officer Kurt then looked around the ballroom, wanting the kids to stand aside and not move at all as he investigated the crime scene.

After about 10 minutes of thorough investigation, Officer Kurt then said, “This is really bad… there isn’t a single trace of anything that we could use to find Flash or the culprits that took him at all! The kidnappers were clearly very thorough with covering their tracks.”

“Oh, no…” said Princess Twilight, starting to get even more worried about Flash’s well being.

Arrow Swift then clenched his fists as he said, “Grr… Just what the heck are those bad guys up to anyway?!”

A familiar, sinister male voice then said out of nowhere, “A very good question, though it’s not really ‘Up To’… It’s ‘DOWN TO’ !!! ”

Just then, almost the entire ballroom they were all standing on opened up, revealing that it was a trap door all along!

Everyone screamed as they fell down through the dark opening below.
“What in tarnation is goin’ on?!” asked Applejack, really shocked.
Officer Kurt replied, “I don’t know, but… Everyone! Brace yourselves!”

What happened next was that they all started to slide down on what appeared to be a long, large spiral slide that then split up into different, multiple slides of different directions.
The next thing everyone knew, they had all landed in different cages in different groups.

“Okay…” said Pinkie Pie, “Dropping down a trapdoor? Not fun, trust me. Sliding down that weird slide that was just there for some reason? Just a tiny bit fun. Being trapped in cages? NOT FUN AT ALL!!!”

Sunset Shimmer then yelled out, “I don’t what’s really going on here, Mantisio, but we definitely know that YOU are behind this! So come on out and show yourself already!”

Arrow Swift added, “Yeah, you heard the lady, you creepy coward! Besides, you can’t hide from us forever!”

"Yeah, we've handled yer kind of evil magic before!” said Applejack, getting very angry herself while grabbing two of her cage’s bars.

“M-Maybe you should s-s-stop before he gets angry himself…” said Fluttershy, already scared and huddled in the corner of her cage.

“Hold on, what’s all this talk about ‘magic’?? ” Officer Kurt asked.

“Uh… not exactly sure how to explain THAT to you, Kurt ” said a familiar male voice that was actually nice and friendly.

Everyone looked to see that in the middle of the huge dark room full of cages was none other than Flash Sentry himself, who had of course talked to Kurt right now.

“Flash, you're okay!” said Princess Twilight, very relieved while trying to reach out to him, as Flash did the same towards her, but neither of them could really reach each other with their hands.

“Sad, isn’t it?” said a familiar female voice this time, as everyone looked to see that it was Karaoke Pop herself talking, as she walked over to both Flash and Princess Twilight saying to the young potential couple in a way that seemed like she was serious yet also pretty emotionally disturbed, “You two feel so close and yet fate itself is keeping you caged in your own current positions, preventing you two from really reaching out to each other… from actually being together… You two feeling that way right now??? Good… because quite frankly… THAT’S HOW I HAVE FELT FOR THE PAST 7 YEARS OF MY LIFE!!! And in this case, ‘7’ has NOT been the lucky number for me or anyone else here!”

Everyone looked at K-Pop confused, not completely understanding what she was talking about.

“Karaoke…” said Princess Twilight, “What are you talking about? What is really going on here? And why are you doing this? ”

“Simple, really…” said Mantisio, as he finally stepped out of the shadows and showed himself, “The reason why she and I are doing this is because… your precious ‘magic of friendship’ has messed with both of us and both of ours lives in more ways than you can possibly imagine.”

“What're y’all talkin' ‘bout, Mantisio?” asked Applejack.

“Well, why don’t you ask your precious Princess of Friendship?” Mantisio replied, looking at Twilight Sparkle, “I mean, after all… it IS basically because of HER that I was forced to live a life completely outside of my own hive… my own swarm… in the same world she and I originate from…”

“Hive? Swarm??” Princess Twilight asked, though she started to realize immediately something serious about Mantisio, “Wait… the way you’re saying those words… and the fact that you admitted that you’re from Equestria like I am… and now that I notice it… that green hair… those blue eyes… those fang-like teeth… Now I know who you are… or at least, WHAT you are exactly, Mantisio!”

“Twilight, what are you all talking about?” asked Sunset Shimmer, getting more worried now.

“Mantisio isn’t really human, nor is he even a Pony in human form and clothing like I am,” said Princess Twilight, “Mantisio… you’re a Changeling, aren’t you?!”

“Wait, a Changeling?!” Sunset Shimmer asked, “You mean those insect-like monsters you once told me about a while back in our magic journals, Twilight? The ones that nearly took over Equestria by having their queen, Chrysalis, disguise herself as Princess Cadance and attempted to permanently hypnotize your brother, Shining Armor?”

“Exactly!” said Princess Twilight, “I don’t know how you ended up here in this human world, Mantisio, but there is now way I am going to let you get away with whatever plot it is you have in mind! I am not gonna let you take over the Human World for Chrysalis!”

Mantisio just looked at Princess Twilight with a little bit of a surprised look on his face, but then he just laughed out loud for about 10 seconds before saying, “…You are right about me being a Changeling from Equestria, Princess Twilight… but ME trying to take over this Human World for CHRYSALIS??? Puh-lease… Believe it or not, I no longer have any interest in working for her OR the other Changelings for that matter. While I do miss the old swarm, I already decided long ago that it’s best for me to just move on from that pointless old life of mine.”

“Then… why ARE you doing this?? ” Princess Twilight asked, now being a little more confused as to what was REALLY going on right now.

“Wait, hold on a second!” said Flash, “Twilight, I’m a little lost right here: what exactly are these ‘Changeling’ things you guys are talking about right now?? ”

“Yes, and what exactly does it have to do with us humans?” asked Rarity.

“Well…” said Mantisio, “If you REALLY want to know what a Changeling is… starting with what it looks like… allow me to show you all… PERSONALLY…”

Mantisio started to laugh evilly as he grabbed the turquoise-colored stone pendant around his neck, then he himself started to glow with a blue-green light as he started to reveal his TRUE self…

The blue-green glow then became flames of the same color, surrounding Mantisio in them as he transformed into someone that was still humanoid, but had black scaly skin and light-blue eyes with barely seeable white pupils in them, as well as still having green hair but was now very messy and had black spots in it, and his fang-like teeth became even more razor-sharp now. Not to mention what appeared out of his back was what looked like green scaly wings; the kind that actual mantises had.

Mantisio then said with an evil smirk on his face, “So… how do you like me NOW, my little C.H.S. kiddies?”

“Aw, man…” said Rainbow Dash, as she and the others were all surprised or terrified or both from what they just saw and were currently looking at, “I always had a feeling that if we were to end up in a situation like THIS after all, it might get ugly… but I never would’ve imagined THAT ugly!”

Karaoke Pop didn’t seem phased by any of this at all, however, as Sunset Shimmer noticed this before saying, “Hold on… Karaoke… you knew the whole time what Mantisio really was, didn’t you?!”

“Karaoke…? ” Flash said, finding all of this to even more worrisome.

Karaoke just folded her arms and looked away saying, “I truly am sorry about all of this, Flash… but I already know the truth about EVERYTHING and EVERYONE here… about what’s been happening at that high school you’ve been going to, why it’s been happening, and that it’ll just lead to the destruction of the world that we human beings all live in!”

“And to answer your question about what a Changeling is,” said Mantisio, “Changelings are insectoid-like creatures that have the ability to take whatever shape or form we want, as long as it’s the look and form of somepony that another one cares about dearly. We can steal the very pure energies that feelings of true love are made of, hording it all to ourselves and feeding off of it… But YOU and your family, of all people, would know what kind of monsters we Changelings really are like... don’t you, Princess Twilight??”

Princess Twilight just looked at Mantisio with an angry look on her face, before Officer Kurt Marshall said, “Look, I don’t really know what the devil is really going on here, but I DO know that YOU, Mr. Mantisio, are SO under arrest for imprisoning us innocent people here, including an important family member of mine!”

“Oh, Officer…” said Mantisio, holding his stone necklace towards the cop, “Why don’t YOU have the right to remain silent for a change?”

Mantisio’s stone necklace then drained out from Kurt some sort of light-blue energy from his entire body, and then that very same energy went into the turquoise-colored stone while Kurt collapsed to the floor of his cage, completely out cold.

“Kurt!” said Flash, “What did you just do to him, Mantisio?!”

“Simple,” said Mantisio, “I did to HIM the same thing I did to YOU, Flash… I absorbed from him a small amount of his own life-force, thus knocking him out for at least a few hours. And I did it all with this little stone necklace of mine, which is made out of a very special stone in Equestria that we Changelings are familiar with, though it’s somehow been lost to us for so many centuries now… It is called ‘Metamorphite’. ”