Token Evil IC

"...Convenient."

Iota mutters, and its left gauntlet flares up with arcane energy that reaches out to grab at the pegasus. As the magic tries to drag the pegasus towards the group, Iota hefts its Midnight's Blade and takes a swing at him, not really caring where the strike lands as long as it puts the pegasus out of commission.

> 1/3 Advanced Telekinesis activated
> Athletics to clobber: 13 Roll + 13 Skill +5 FK: Smashing Stuff = 31 to clobber

Broken blinked a little as the 'construct' he had made sent a telepathic message somewhere along the lines of 'The corridor has grown teeth' as if it was the most natural thing in the world before the connection was quickly and brutally cut off.

After a moment of respectful silence in order to process the fact that his creation had just gotten eaten by a hallway, Broken made a small, private note to himself that once he had taken over Equestria that the Castle was to be completely torn down and a new one built in its place... He did not want to be eaten walking down some random bloody hallway after all! Sighing a little as he listened to the tin can's words, he shook his head as he answered "Doubtful. Those things lack the ability to produce sound; It's why I had its jaw dislocated like that. Still, now is a good time to start making our way towards the throne room and getting some idea where Princess Sunbutt currently is."

Deciding to lead the way towards side throne room (And making sure to completely avoid the hallway with teeth), Broken felt the urge to ask "What exactly happened to Stick? All of got from it was that the hallway had grown teeth before I lost contact."

"Oh, I wasn't referring to any sound your pet made." Recon flashes Broken an evil smirk. "If you don't remember it, don't fret. Most colts experiencing enough of a shock to produce a noise like that don't."

As she follows the colt, she continues, "As for what happened...I'm still processing it, myself. Hallways don't normally eat zombies, and I'm working through damage from the fight back there. I'll consider sharing if I learn something."

Recon thinks that might have been a mimic of some kind. They're close relatives (ability-wise) to changelings, able to change their form to match their environment, but where changelings can only mimic animate creatures, mimics can only mimic inanimate objects. Most mimics are also intelligent to some degree, roughly on par with a particularly dumb diamond dog.

As the two continue onward towards the throne, they indeed start to encounter more guards, though they don't seem to be interested in stopping the duo, as they themselves are busy rushing around, presumably to handle the numerous crises showing up in Canterlot. It's only until they approach the throne room that they find guards who aren't preoccupied with going somewhere - a trio of guards standing in front of the throne room doors, barring the way with their spears.

Recon steps forward.

"What shift does the Mockingbird take?"

Broken rolled his eyes a little as the pair of them walked along together despite the tin can's teasing. He was going to miss its inane prattling when it was scrap.

Before long through, they had arrived at the throne room... Which was currently barred by a trio of guard ponies. While the tin can seemed to go on some spiel about mocking birds (a code phase no doubt), Broken sighed as he tried a different tactic to get through the doors in front of them. "One moment gentlecolts, security sweep." was all the warning that Broken gave before his horn flashed for barely in instant. It was an interesting little spell that Broken had learned years ago in order to provide himself some... deniability when it came to his more illegal acts. He also had a little bit of a theory that it might have some rather interesting effects on a hive mind... or a changeling connected to one that he had been considering for the walk to the throne room and now was as good a time as any to see what would happen. Granted there was no certainty that any of the guards in front of him were changelings but better safe then sorry.

Clearing his throat, Broken took a moment to inspect the guards for a moment to see how they would react before carrying on with complete authority. "Her majesty Princess Celestia needs to be informed that several of her guards have gone rogue and are now heading towards the royal vault, seemingly under the leadership of a black alicorn with a star filled mane. Considering how dire the matter is, I insist on speaking to the Princess immediately."

Actions and Dice Roll:

The guards scrutinize Broken for a while before turning to look at each other. After a moment, one of the guards goes into the throne room, leaving two of them guarding the door. "Message received. You may go."

They don't seem to be too bothered by Untraceable.

Then they look at Recon. "For whom does the moon rise?" They challenge back, ignoring her prompt.

Recon looks over the guards, then says, "Was out of contact when the phrase changed, and my clearance expired before I got back. I don't know. Little Walker, CDU."

With the message sent and what was no doubt going to be a very interested Princess Celestia no doubt going to be mobilized shortly, Broken would have normally been content to leave and head towards the Vault in order to take advantage of the chaos for his own benefit... but the Tin Can seemed to be making some degree of headway with its conversation. Allowing her to speak, Broken still moved himself a little bit in order to leave the area in a hurry in the event that things went badly.

Held in place by Iota's magic, the pegasus is unable to break free in time, and the heavy dark iron blade bites into the pegasus's body. The strike draws blood, but the heavy broadsword's weight alone is enough to send him crashing into a wall. The pegasus hits the brickwork with a crunch, and slides down, collapsing onto the floor in a crumpled heap, clearly completely out cold (and perhaps with a few broken ribs).

The kobold Krix brought forth peeks out from behind Iota's legs, and applauds comically when he sees the fallen pegasus.

---

"No changelings here, tracker." One of the guards say, firmly. "If you need instructions, report to the command center, where the Knight-Captain is stationed. It'll be appreciated, I'm sure. It's chaos out there."

"When I've finished briefing with Her Highness on the situation, I'll report there immediately."

She finishes with a salute, and then proceeds into the throne room with the sickly colt in tow.

The twins stare blankly at the beaten pegasus. "Well, I guess that worked..." They both peek around the corner at the remaining guards. "You think they'll all fall for it?"

Krix stifles his laughter at the pegasus' misfortune. "Doubt it. The jolly pony said each guard had a unique role. This guard must be the chasing one. If the kobold appears again, they won't send another alone. And soon they are sure to send some to look for this one. Someone keep an eye out in case they come. But first..." Krix moves to the downed pegasus and runs a claw across the pony's neck with a grin. "Armour pony, finish the job. I bet one of those unicorns have healing magic, ponies love healing magic. We should make sure he doesn't get back up."

"Affirmative." Iota says, bringing the Midnight's Blade down again unceremoniously, aiming to give the pegasus a swift end.

"Key personnel only." The guards cross their spears in front of Recon, barring her way. "No unlisted personnel may enter in suspicion of mimicry. If you need instructions or need to report intel, you may speak to Knight Captain Aegis."

---

With a sickening *thunk*, the heavy blades hacks through cleanly and puts the pegasus out of commission for good.

As though in response to the twins' question, there's a loud call from the guards' direction, with one of the unicorns shouting, "Hey, Blitzkrieg! You done with the kobold?"

The twins jump away from the execution, snarling. "What the hell was that for?" "We already took him out, you didn't need to do that!" "We could have been in and gone before he woke up!" Hearing the other guard call out, they shrink away. "They might have gone easy on us before. Now we're dead if they catch us." They slink to the side and press into the shadows against the wall, trying to hide.

---

Stealth check: 15+6=21

"I am afraid I cannot do that."

Recon shuts off her disguise, revealing her naked endoskeleton.

"Project Recon Surveillance Prototype, unassigned. I am programmed to answer to the highest level of authority if I am unable to verify my immediate superiors' identities. I was forced to withdraw before ascertaining the full extent to which the guard's ranks have been infiltrated, and so I must assume that Knight Captain Aegis has been captured or terminated, and then replaced with an enemy infiltrator. In such an event, I am to report directly to Princess Celestia. My learning of Equestrian social culture tells me that I also owe Mother an apology for my previous misbehavior and extended absence. She may find it more desirable to receive it directly than via a third party."

Brightheart reaches out to stop the execution, but speaks up just a moment too late. "Wait-! Ah... curses."

He doesn't seem too bothered by it, though, and a few moments later he shrugs. "I must admit that was a little hasty, my armored friend. I suppose a fight is unavoidable at this point... I do wish this could have been resolved with less bloodshed."

"Unless any of you good fellows have any ideas?" Brightheart looks hopefully to the others, but he readies the Sunlight blade nonetheless.

Broken's ear twitched a little as he heard one of the guards mentioned 'suspicion of mimicry'. Neither himself nor the tin can had mentioned Changelings, so this meant one of two things; Either something else had already gotten the guard paranoid about shape-shifting agents... or someone wasn't what they appeared to be. Both were possible sadly.

Deciding that he might as well support the efforts of the tin can, he grinned wickedly as he simply looked at the guard before making the argument "You know, you could always go and ask the Princess if she wishes to make room in her busy schedule to see her 'daughter'. I'm sure there would be no harm in that..."

Krix wanted to be revelling in the kill, digging his claws into the wound, licking the blood and wiping it on his face, but everyone else seemed more concerned about bumming his mood. "Look, we have to kill them all anyway. Anyone who sees the jolly pony with us will tell the rest of the guards, ruining his reputation, a useful asset, and we couldn't not fight this lot, the jolly pony said that, so this is the best way." He then turns his attention to the hiding jackals. "And don't act like the guards wouldn't want to kill us before. I could see it in his eyes, he wanted to fry Zek without a second thought. No way I would show mercy to him." He moves to the corner to keep watch and see how the guards respond, because someone has to. He, ideally, wanted to take one more down before the inevitable brawl, for he did not believe the team was in a position to abuse the weakness of a lack of a pony who was good at chasing...

Team Vault:
"Domain, Mist, go check on him. Make sure he's not going overboard."

As Krix peeks around the corner, he sees the guards talking among themselves for a moment before two of them - Domain, apparently the unicorn, and Mist, the remaining pegasus- start off in the group's direction.

---

Team Changeling:
The guards hesitate for a long moment, before finally they relent and put away their spears. "The Princess is very busy with recent events. You clearly are high priority but her duty is to the citizens of Canterlot first. Don't take too much time."

But then they look at Broken, and say, "You, civilian - run along. You should take shelter until the guard gives the all clear."

"Certainly sir." Broken answered with a surprising amount of respect and patriotism, even going so far as to offer the guard pony a salute before turning to walk away. While the tin can went and distracted Celestia, Broken had to arrange an 'Appearance' of Nightmare Moon. It wouldn't be too hard since all he would need to do is create a construct of her that would disappear in a star filled mist once Celestia showed up, but it would put the bitch on edge while providing him a wonderful distraction to get into the vault... while raising himself in the eyes of the Princess by personally fending off 'Nightmare Moon'.

It wasn't the greatest of plans; As much as he hated to do it the bloody thing was thrown together at the last moment because those moon forsaken bugs had decided to make themselves a thorn in his side that he was going to take great pleasure removing from the world.

First though, he needed to get an idea of what was going on at the Vault itself.

Recon pauses when the guard addresses the sickly colt, ready to explain his capture as well...but then the colt doesn't argue and goes on his way as ordered, without so much as a fuss.

Well, then, she muses silently as she continues onward into the throne room. Suppose that means fewer interruptions when I'm speaking to Celestia, so I hold no objections.

Team Vault:
During Broken's trip to the vault, he's stopped a few times by guards telling him to head for shelter, but they don't stay around for long enough to actually enforce the advice.

As he actually approaches the vault, however, he notices a mish-mash group of individuals huddled up around a corner, what looks like a somewhat decapitated guard, and what sounds like two more guards headed the group's way, though he can't be sure without checking. This, presumably, is one of the other teams, possibly the one Recon is from.

The other team sees him coming fairly easily, though it's obvious he's making something of an attempt to stay out of the way.

---

Recon is directed into the throne room, where she sees, as expected, the throne on a raised dais, and Celestia sitting upon it in full royal regalia. Around her are several ponies, all looking quite important. They all look at Recon, cautious, except Celestia, who wears an expression of measured neutrality.

"...Recon. Or should I say, Little Walker. Welcome to the Solar Court, I believe it's your first time here." Celestia finally says, looking at her with a stoic look on her face. "I'm afraid you've caught us at a bad time, so pardon my guards' hospitality, or lack thereof. What brings you here, after so long?"

Recon acknowledges the Princess's greeting with a smile...then remembers that in her current state, Recon has no face. She reinstates her previous appearance as Little Walker to rectify that.

"So you do know it's me in here. I was going to bring apology chili or something, but changelings jumped me and the kitchen exploded." Then she lets her smile fade and adopts the requisite professionalism for the situation at present. "I have intel on the current situation."

As she gives Celestia a moment to respond, Recon glances around at the Royal Guards posted nearby.

Rolls: