Fool's Struggle
“You know what, Lively? This is boring.”
The beige-colored pegasus named Lively Premonition nearly spat out his mouthful of orange juice at his friend's sudden statement. The bartender behind the counter gave him an annoyed look. He had almost managed to make it through the entire night without having to clean the bar table. He planned to keep going for the record. The pegasus gave him an apologetic smile before turning to his friend Light Rain.
“What, are you kidding me? You’re the one who has been complaining about these late night shifts of ours for weeks. Why are you suddenly so bored with having some free time for once?”
“For several reasons,” Light replied. “First of: We DON’T have free time. We’re still working. The only reason we’re here is because there isn’t anything for us to scoop.”
Light gave his camera a little nudge. The two ponies worked as photographers for Canterlot’s official newspaper. They didn’t know what they had done to deserve it, but their boss had decided to put both of them on night shift duty a few weeks ago. Even under normal circumstances, this was the most boring time to be working.
“Secondly: Like I said, there is NOTHING for us to scoop. The boss will have our coats if we return without any photos for the next paper. The only thing that has allowed us to keep our jobs these past few nights are some occasional bar fights.”
“And I think he is getting pretty tired of those,” Lively added.
“Exactly! Thirdly: It was a pure miracle that we even managed to get to this bar. Those royal guards are patrolling every street, and I mean EVERY SINGLE STREET in the city. Several of our colleagues have already had their equipment confiscated by just bumping into them.”
“Yeah, it wasn’t really a pleasure to play secret agent and hide in the shadows every time a group approached us.”
“Actually, I think that part was pretty cool.”
“I mean, is this whole “Princess Luna got sick” thing so serious that they have arrest innocent ponies walking home or trying to find a place to enjoy themselves every night?”
“But… you know what the worst part of all is?” Light said on the verge of crying. This caught his friend’s attention. There was something even worse than all the things mentioned so far?
“I HAVE TO DRINK ORANGE JUICE!” Light yelled as he slammed his glass on the bar table. A visible dent was left in its wake. “Because we’re still working, I can’t even drink some cider. If the boss even smells a trace of that later, he will have my hide AND use it as a doormat! This is the worst night out I’ve ever-”
“Ehum…”
The two ponies turned to see a furious bartender staring at them. Barely able to control his anger, he pointed his hoof towards the dent Light had just made. Lively gulped nervously, realizing that they would have to pay dearly for the damage.
Oh please, if we’re going to have any large scoop tonight, let it be now.
As fate would have it, his wish was granted.
A loud crashing sound suddenly echoed outside. Turning their heads towards the nearby window, the ponies could see the wall of one of the castle’s towers crumble. Thanks to the moonlight, they could see some kind of pony flying out with its head on fire. Before any of them could comment on this weird sight, a canine-like creature surrounded by yellow light appeared out of nowhere behind the pony. Reaching out an arm, it grabbed hold of the pony’s horn and swung it around like a ragdoll. It then threw it to the ground somewhere outside the city’s borders, the rooftops obscuring the exact location. Without wasting any time, the creature proceeded to channel blue light between its paws. It then threw three glowing spheres of energy towards the crashing pony’s direction. Thundering explosions could be heard as smoke rose from their target. The creature then flew down, the yellow light briefly leaving a trail towards its destination.
The three ponies had been sitting still the entire time. Their eyes were wide open as they tried to process what they had just seen. The bartender had forgotten the glass he was currently cleaning, dropping it to the floor. The sound of broken glass finally shook the two photographers out of their stunned state.
“Grab the camera. We’re going.”
“Do you think the others saw that?”
“Not even a pony who is both blind and deaf could’ve missed that. Now come on! If we don’t hurry, ponies from other companies will get there first and take all the good photo angles.”
The door slammed behind them as they left. The small bell above it managed to break the bartender’s frozen state as well. It wasn’t until now that he realized that the two hadn’t paid for either their drinks or the dent.
A light breeze blew through the plains, clearing out the last dust that surrounded Chrysalis. She climbed out of her crash site and brushed herself off a bit before turning back to her opponent. She had thought that the creature would’ve been a little shocked to see her unharmed after its assault. It annoyed her somewhat that he barely even reacted.
Lucario himself stood about 30 feet away, calmly studying her. There was no trace of fear or uncertainty in his eyes. Chrysalis couldn’t help herself from chuckling upon seeing this. The poor fool had no idea what terrible fate she had in store for him.
“Pointless as your attacks were, I must admit that they’re impressive by pony standards. Tell me, just who are you anyway?”
“My name is Lucario, Guardian of the Aura. I’m a Pokémon, a species from another world. I became the guardian of Ponyville just a few days ago.”
“Pokémon? Aura? Your answers are gibberish to me, Guardian. But I can’t say that I really expected much else from a freak show like you.”
“You’re not one to talk, queen bug,” Lucario replied, causing Chrysalis to frown a bit at his insult. “I will give you one more chance: Tell me where Princess Celestia is.”
“Hahahaha! You’re wasting your breath, guardian,” Chrysalis just laughed in response. “Even if I told you, you wouldn’t have much use of the information. After all, your pathetic life is about to end. Certainly your last attempt to harm me proved how pointless your efforts are?”
“Did it?” Lucario asked as he pointed towards Chrysalis. “I think my Blaze Kick from before burned your cheek just fine.”
Chrysalis blinked and involuntarily lifted a hoof to said cheek. A sting of pain greeted her as she touched it.
“I don’t know how you avoided getting hurt from my Circle Throw and Aura Spheres, but it seems my first two attacks took you by surprise. You’re not invincible by any means; you were just prepared for the latter strikes.” Small blue flames lit up from Lucario’s open pawn as he pointed it towards Chrysalis. “I’ll make sure you aren’t prepared for the next ones.”
“I’ve tolerated your tone towards our queen long enough, you filth!”
A familiar voice spoke up somewhere behind Lucario. Turning around, he saw a unicorn with a silver-colored mane, wearing a captain’s armor.
“You… you’re the pony that guarded Celestia’s personal chambers.”
“Indeed. I may have failed my duty to protect my lady’s room, but I’ll redeem myself by erasing your presence from her sight! You’ll think twice before standing against her again!”
“I suppose that hit to your head must’ve erased your memory of our last encounter then,” Lucario replied, still remembering the pony’s rather humorous look as he smashed his head into the wall. “You can't beat me. Turn back now, before I have to remind you of that again.”
“Silence! You may have taken me by surprise before, but I assure you that this encounter won’t yield the same results!”
For a brief second, the pony’s body was engulfed in a green light. Left in its wake was a black bug-like pony not too different from Chrysalis. The captain’s armor it wore was exchanged by a spikier one, much more intimidating to look at than the royal guard armor.
“I won’t allow it. WE won’t allow it.”
It hissed at Lucario before flying up into the air, letting out a shriek. The chilling sound echoed across the plains, reaching a small hole on the side of the mountain. Hundreds of blue eyes lit up inside, and several shrieks answered the call to battle. Soon enough, other changelings started to fly out of the hole, as well as from other caves and cracks in the mountain side. It didn’t take long before Lucario was surrounded by an army of several hundred changelings.
“My lady, leave this vermin to us!” the captain changeling called to his queen.
“Of course, Captain.” Chrysalis nodded, giving out a light chuckle. “Do your worst.”
The captain gave out one final shriek before charging headfirst towards Lucario with the others close behind him. Their bodies were engulfed in some kind of green, liquid-like energy as they prepared to wipe the so-called “guardian” from existence.
“Bow before Queen Chrysalis! Bow before the changelings!”
“CAPTAIN! CAPTAIN ARMOR! FOR FAUST’S SAKE, SHINING, OPEN UP!”
Shining Armor usually enjoyed staying in bed for a few minutes every morning after waking up. The reason was obviously the pink alicorn sleeping by his side. But he hadn’t become a captain of the royal guard for nothing. The second he heard the desperate shouting and stomping on the front door, he leapt out of bed. He jumped down the stairs and flung open the door with his magic.
“Dream Weave, what’s wrong?! What’s going on?!”
“At… at the palace… the…” the guard forced out between breaths.
The memories of the previous night suddenly came back to Shining. He had been talking to Lucario and was about to go with him to the palace when everything suddenly turned black.
He knocked me out so I wouldn’t follow him?! Oh please, don’t tell me that he got…
“The queen… the changeling queen has returned!”
Shining’s thoughts grinded to a halt as Dream Weave finally managed to give his report.
“What?” he replied, unable to believe what he had just heard.
“What?!” Cadence exclaimed from atop the stairs, having woken up from the shouting as well.
“WHAT?!” She wasn’t the only one, as Twilight and her friends rushed out of their rooms and yelled in shock as well.
“S-She has been impersonating Princess Celestia all this time!” Dream Weave continued. “The whole thing about Princess Luna being sick was just an excuse to keep feeding off her love or something!”
“You mean Luna was never sick at all?!” Twilight ran down the stairs to join her brother. “B-But how could the queen shift places with Celestia without anyone noticing?!”
“We don’t watch over Celestia every hour of the day,” Shining answered. “We understand that she needs some time to herself, just like everypony else. It must’ve happened sometime a few days ago when she was alone.”
“I want to know how in the hay she managed to blow her cover this time. Did you find the real Princess Celestia or something?” Applejack asked.
“N-No, we don’t know where she is.” Dream Weave replied. “There was this intruder that was sneaking into the castle. Lucario, I think his name was. He had snuck into Princess Luna’s bedchambers, only to get immobilized by her. We were about to imprison him when he started to question Celes- I mean the queen’s behavior during these last few days. She didn’t know any of us guards’ names or anything, not even Lily Wing’s. Everything he said just added up and we started to agree with him. Even Princess Luna was convinced. Once the queen revealed herself however, Luna was put under her control like Captain Armor was at his wedding.”
“Wait, where is Luna now? Is she okay?” Twilight asked, clearly worried over the princess’ safety.
“She’s still under the queen’s control, but we’ve taken her to a secured location within the castle. Her own personal guard is keeping watch over her as we speak. As for the queen, that Lucario guy kicked her through the wall shortly after she revealed herself. We spotted him throwing her towards the plains to the south.”
“HOLD IT!” Rainbow suddenly shouted behind the rest of her friends. “Did you just say that Lucario KICKED the changeling queen through a wall?! Why is that guy always doing cool stuff when I’m not around?!”
“Rainbow, quit it! This is no time for playing around!” Twilight scolded the pegasus. “We must go and get the Elements of Harmony at once! Lucario needs our help!”
“The Elements? But didn’t we stop the queen last time by having Shining Armor and Cadence love each other very much or something?” Rainbow asked puzzled.
“Even though that magic was great, it only seemed to knock the queen and her army out of Equestria. We’ll need the Elements to take her out for good, like we did with Nightmare Moon and Discord.”
“Oh, oh! Are we doing the Happy Rainbow Friendship Laser-thing again?” Nearly everypony present rolled their eyes as Pinkie Pie started one of her usual nonsensical speeches again. “WOOHOO! I’ve wanted to try that again for ages! Maybe I can make my beam look like birthday streamers? Or I can try to shoot magic balloons at her! Oh boy, this is going to be gr-”
Something suddenly flew by the street outside with incredible speed. The ponies inside the house would’ve probably not noticed it without the loud crashing sound that followed it. A large crack in the ground was left in its wake as a trail of dust blew in through the door. As everypony lifted their hooves to shield their eyes, they could hear whatever flew by crash into the neighbor’s house. The unicorns used their magic to clear the dust, and everypony rushed outside to see what had happened. What they found among the rubble was an unconscious changeling, wearing some kind of spiky armor.
“Oh my!” Fluttershy gasped, rushing up to it. “Are you okay? Is anything broken? Don’t worry, we’ll-”
“Fluttershy darling, what are you doing?!” Rarity exclaimed as she dragged the yellow pegasus away by the tail. “Can’t you see that it’s a changeling?!”
“Yes, but… I can’t just leave it. Oh dear, I wonder what happened to it.”
“I think I can take a very good guess.” Rainbow smiled smugly before flying up into the air. She stared towards the direction the changeling had come crashing from.
“OMIGOSH, OMIGOSH, OMIGOSH! There’s a whole small army of changelings out there! I bet Lucario is out there fighting them as we speak!”
“Changelings?! Where did they even come from?!” Rarity burst out.
“Who cares?! The important thing is that Lucario is teaching them the lesson of their lives right now! You girls get the Elements. I’m missing the beat down of the century here!”
“Wait, Rainbow!” Twilight caught her friend with her magic before she could take off. “The only way we can open the seal to the Elements’ chambers without Celestia is if we’re all present. You have to come with us!”
“Are you kidding me?! Argh! Fine, but you slowpokes better hurry up. We would’ve had them by now if you were as fast as me.” Rainbow didn’t waste any more time before flying off. To Twilight’s great horror though, she noticed that her friend flew in the exact opposite direction of the Elements’ chamber.
“Rainbow! Wait! Oh no, what is that egghead thinking?! Doesn’t she remember where we keep them?! I was even going to just teleport us there!” She let out a frustrated shout before turning to the rest of her friends.
“I’m going after her. The rest of you get to the chamber. It will be too hard for me to teleport all of us all over the city for her. Now go!”
All her friends saluted before running off, and Twilight herself soon disappeared in a flash of light. But a few seconds later, Fluttershy returned and ran back to the changeling.
“I’m sorry, but I have to go. Please, just relax and you’ll be okay. But, um… next time… wear a helmet, okay?” She then ran after her friends, leaving Shining, Cadence, and Dream Weave behind.
“Dream Weave, gather all the guards you can find and meet up by the gates. We’ll head out once I’m there,” Shining ordered the guard, who saluted and left without another word.
“Honey, should I…?” Cadence carefully began. Shining knew what she was going to ask, and he didn’t like it one bit. His shoulders fell and he sighed as he gave in, knowing that the situation was too dire.
“As much as I want to say no, you better come with us too. If Lucario can’t stop the queen before Twilight and the others arrive, we must take care of her ourselves. But please, stay out of sight. I don't want you to place yourself in unnecessary danger.”
“I know, love,” Cadence reassured him, giving him a small kiss. “I’ll be careful. But promise me that… What’s wrong?”
Shining suddenly had a very annoyed expression on his face. Following the direction he pointed at with his hoof, Cadence noticed a group of photographers flying past them.
“The last thing we needed in a situation like this: Civilians who’ll just get in the way.”
The charging changelings didn’t have time to react upon seeing Lucario effortlessly smash their captain away with the back of his paw. The green energy surrounding him had done nothing to protect the captain from the strike. In fact, some of the changelings would later swear that Lucario almost had a disinterested look on his face when he hit him.
It didn’t matter, though. The rest of the army was only a short distance behind the captain. Lucario was now surrounded by hundreds of charging changelings. There was nowhere for him to run.
That was why the first three changelings were rather surprised when Lucario suddenly disappeared into thin air, causing them to crash headfirst into each other instead. Just as they fell to the ground in a stumbled mess, Lucario reappeared above them and smashed them down with a Blaze Kick. He immediately sidestepped the next changeling, smashing it over the head with a staff that had materialized between his paws. Several more where hit out of the air before one changeling finally got a clear shot, charging towards Lucario’s head at full speed.
What the changeling didn’t notice was the purple glow that suddenly engulfed the Pokémon’s head. The only thing that resulted from the impact was the changeling nearly having its head cracked open from Lucario’s Zen Headbutt. It fell towards the ground, but Lucario had other plans. He grabbed the changeling by the hoof and flung it into another one that was closing in behind them.
From the sidelines, Chrysalis watched with a mix of horror and awe as Lucario effortlessly dodged changeling after changeling. Every one of them was greeted with a punch, kick or the smack of his staff as more and more unconscious bodies fell to the ground. Hundreds of her finest soldiers and guards were charging in, some of them with enough speed to rival the fastest pegasus. Dodging their assault would be like dodging rain. Yet Lucario moved around at a speed almost too fast for her eyes to keep up with.
How is this possible? No mere mortal creature in Equestria should be capable of such power. Just who and what is he?! The steadily growing pile of her defeated soldiers on the ground finally shook Chrysalis out of her shock.
“Fall back, you fools! The next one who charges at him pointlessly will feel my wrath personally!”
The queen didn’t need to repeat herself. Her army immediately ceased their assault and retreated back into the sky. Most of them were rather happy with not having to join their comrades’ unconscious bodies on the ground. Lucario simply watched as they backed away. If he was even a bit fatigued after their attack, he didn’t show it. His red, piercing eyes gave even the bravest of the changelings the creeps.
I can’t let this drag on for too long, Lucario thought to himself. Regardless of their individual strength, it will be tiresome to beat so many of them with just physical attacks. I have to thin their numbers quicker.
The changelings above him backed further away when a blue sphere formed above Lucario’s palm. For a moment, Chrysalis thought it was the same energy sphere he had used against her before. However, she soon saw drops of water falling from it, before its surface was suddenly frozen in a layer of ice. Was this supposed to be her opponent’s trick up his sleeve against her army?
Lucario showed no hesitation though. He launched the sphere into the air, and many changelings dodged out of the way from the incoming attack. The sphere flew past them, eventually passing through the entire group before disappearing into a cloud above them. One of the changelings stared after it for a short moment before bursting out laughing.
“Hahaha! You may be a complete freak up close, but you couldn’t even hit an ursa major with that aim! Come on, were you even trying to hit us?” Some of his comrades began to laugh as well. Only a few of them noticed how Lucario was unfazed by their insults.
“No, I wasn’t.”
Just as the changelings’ laughter died out at this strange response, something exploded inside the cloud above them. Seconds later, shards of ice started raining down on them. The changelings cried out in pain as the shards pierced and cut their skin. Some fell unconscious to the ground from the damage; others flew off in random directions in an attempt to save themselves. They didn’t get far before meeting the same fate as the others.
Chrysalis watched the scene before her. She watched her finest and most experienced soldiers fleeing for their lives while screaming in terror. She watched them drop to the ground like flies. Hundreds of soldiers turned into a dozen. A dozen turned into a handful. Before long, her handpicked group of elite soldiers was gone. The battlefield in front of her was now covered with unconscious changelings and shards of ice.
“H-How…?” she stammered to herself in disbelief.
“In my world, there are techniques that allow us Pokémon to briefly control the weather.”
Chrysalis spun around, finding Lucario standing a few feet behind her. During all the chaos, she hadn’t even noticed him dashing away from the battlefield before the ice fell.
“One of those techniques is a Water-type move called Rain Dance. By its own, it creates an orb of water that makes rain fall in the area for a time. While there are some special properties of the rain that affects other moves, it cannot directly damage an opponent by itself. However…” Lucario’s paw glowed briefly before suddenly being covered in ice.
“In time, we can learn to combine certain techniques with each other. In this case, I used the Ice-type technique Ice Punch to freeze the Rain Dance sphere. Thus, upon triggering, it makes ice shards fall down upon the area instead of rain. It seems that was enough to deal with the rest of your troops.”
Chrysalis had yet to speak, but it was clear from her expression that she was furious. She wasn't planning to launch an attack at him in this state though. Lucario closed his eyes and searched the mountain side with his Aura Sense. The tunnels inside were empty. It seemed like the group he had just defeated was the only one Chrysalis had at her disposal.
“I don’t know what your plans were, but they won’t do you any good now. Your troops are defeated. All of Canterlot will soon learn of your involvement with Luna’s sickness. It’s over, changeling. You’ve lost.”
Chrysalis lowered her head, obscuring her eyes from Lucario’s view. By doing so, Lucario caught a glimpse of Canterlot behind her, and the group of royal guards and ponies with cameras coming towards them.
The group of guards led by Shining grinded to a halt. Not because Shining had ordered them to stop or anything. They just stopped right in their tracks upon seeing the unbelievable scene before them. Hundreds of unconscious changelings covered the field. Small shards of ice laid scattered around the ground, and some changelings were lying inside their own small craters. It was as if somepony had knocked or punched them into the ground. As they slowly lifted their heads, they saw the “somepony” in question standing some distance away. He stood face to face with a seemingly apprehended Chrysalis, who was just staring down at the ground in defeat.
Shining was every bit as shocked as the other guards. He had heard Lucario’s story of how he defeated an adult dragon in the Everfree Forest. The changeling that came crashing through the street had also helped to prove the Pokémon’s strength. But a small part of Shining's mind had still refused to believe that any creature could pull off such incredible feats.
Using the Elements of Harmony is one thing, but this… it’s right before my eyes, and I still can’t believe it.
Shining finally managed to shake himself out of his shocked state. In any case, the battle was over and Chrysalis was defeated. Looking up, he saw Cadence smiling at him among the pegasus guards. Several of the journalists were already fighting over the best angles to photograph the scene. None of them dared to fly too close to the battlefield though. Eager for this scoop as they were, they were still thinking twice before flying any closer to the queen of the changelings. Still, Shining was relieved. Their presence hadn’t proved to be all too problematic, thanks to Lucario’s early victory. Now he and his guards could clean up the mess.
“Group A will come with me and help Lucario apprehend Chrysalis! Group B and C, you start collecting all these changelings, and make sure none of them tries to transform themselves into us without our notice! Group D, send a message back to-”
And then Chrysalis began to laugh.
Lucario remained silent as the changeling queen’s laugh echoed across the plains. Upon lifting her head, Lucario could finally see her expression. He realized that she wasn’t laughing out of madness or desperation. She was laughing out of confidence, like an adult laughing at a child’s attempts to best him at arm wrestling. Even after having her finest soldiers utterly defeated and now standing face to face with the Pokémon who did the deed, she still laughed. Because she still didn’t see him as a threat.
For the first time since arriving in Equestria, Lucario felt a chill run down his spine. Not only because of Chrysalis’ confidence, but because her laugh reminded him all too much of a certain shadowy figure from his past.
“You still don’t get it, do you?” Chrysalis’ laugh died down, and the area fell silent. “Did you really think that I would do all of this? That I would attack Canterlot for a second time? That I would kidnap Celestia and brainwash Luna right under your noses? That I would dare to challenge the princesses, the Elements, and all of Equestria? Did you think I would do all of this without knowing that no matter what, I would still win at the end?”
A green light slowly started to glow in Chrysalis’ eyes. The glow soon spread across her entire body, and small green flames rose from her coat. Smoke started to erupt from beneath her hooves, and Lucario realized that they were suddenly so hot that they burned the very ground they stood on. As the heat intensified around them, Lucario couldn’t help but take a step back.
“You seem confused, Guardian. Don’t worry though. I will help you understand it all soon enough.” The last thing Lucario saw before the world around him turned green was the evil grin spread across the changeling’s face.
“I’ll make you understand why you could never hope to defeat me.”
Outside Canterlot Castle, Twilight’s friends waited impatiently for Twilight’s return. They didn’t have to wait much longer before Twilight and Rainbow appeared in a flash of light. The poor unicorn promptly fell to the ground, covered in sweat. Teleporting herself all over the city had greatly tired her out.
“I… found… her…” she forced out between breaths as she tried to regain her strength. Rainbow was about to say something before having an apple thrown at her chin by Applejack.
“What the hay were you thinking, flying off like that?! Your impatience has maybe put all of Equestria in danger!”
“Please… don’t fight…” Twilight gasped before Applejack could continue. “We must be the best of friends for the Elements to work, remember?”
“Look, girls, I’m sorry.” Rainbow finally said. Applejack immediately noticed that the pegasus was sincere in her apology. “I don’t know what I was thinking. I was just-”
None of them ever heard the rest of Rainbow's explaination. All sounds were drowned out as the group found themselves covered in a green light. Turning around, they could all see a pillar of green flames erupt from the plains outside the city. More so, they could feel the heat radiating from it. Applejack lowered her hat to shield her face, and Fluttershy hid herself behind Rarity. Even Pinkie Pie’s usual smile faded from her face.
“Twilight, is that…?” Applejack began to ask Twilight.
“There’s no doubt about it,” Twilight grimly answered as she stood up. “It must be the queen.”
“But how?!” Rainbow exclaimed behind her. “That pillar isn't even in the same league as the one we saw when she revealed herself last time! How can she suddenly be so powerful?!”
“Lucario…” Fluttershy whispered their friend’s name, causing everypony to grow silent. Worry soon spread across all of their faces as they feared for the Pokémon’s safety.
“If anyone can hold their own against the queen for a few more minutes, it’s him.” Twilight said. “Minutes that we’re wasting by just standing here. I’m too tired to teleport all of us to the field, so we have to run all the way back once we have the Elements. Now come on!”
The group nodded in agreement before resuming their run towards the Elements’ chambers. Without them, this day would surely mark the end of Canterlot and all of Equestria.
Lucario was still holding his arm in front of his face as the green light finally died out. The smoke that now covered the area wasn’t made of dust, but was instead searing from the completely burned ground all around him. He had jumped a considerable distance backwards to avoid the worst of Chrysalis’ technique. However, the grass around him had burned to a crisp, and the rocks were covered in soot. The very air was almost boiling, nearly making his lungs burn from just breathing it.
Throwing a quick glance to his right, he could see Shining and his guards gathering themselves from the ground some distance away. The blast had launched them all backwards, putting more space between them. Lucario just hoped that Shining would have them stay put. This was an enemy way out of their league.
Slowly but surely, Chrysalis' glowing shape began to reveal itself. Smoke still rose from her coat, and it was glowing green as if her skin covered a sea of green flames beneath it. Her once blue and dirty mane now floated in midair, far too similar to Celestia’s own. But the one thing that surprised Lucario the most was the yellow sun that was now marked on her flank.
“Hehehe, how do I look? Not too shabby for the new ruler of Equestria, don’t you think?” Chrysalis asked mockingly as she dragged a hoof through her mane. Seeing that Lucario was still speechless, she let out an annoyed groan.
“Oh come on, you don’t have to look so surprised. I’m sure you can piece together what’s going on here from my appearance. A magically floating mane. A sun for a cutie mark. Power over heat and flames.” She let out another quick laugh. “It’s just what you think it is, Guardian. These are indeed the traits and powers once held by Princess Celestia.”
Lucario’s eyes widened in surprise, a sight Chrysalis savored every second of.
“How did you think I was able to keep my cover for as long as I did? I couldn’t possibly hope to impersonate either of the princesses without harnessing their powers to control the sun and the moon. Seeing as Celestia was able to control them both, I found her to be my ideal choice. Besides, she’s the one who takes care of everything in this country, isn’t she? That gave me the perfect chance to rule and corrupt this country as I saw fit.”
“As for Luna, I can’t imagine the poor girl having much work to do in the middle of her nights. I almost think that I was doing her a favor by controlling her like this. No more worries and no more responsibilities to plague her. She would just sit inside her chamber in an eternal slumber while feeding me with power. The rest of the world wouldn’t miss her anyway. In fact, I bet her subjects would be relieved to finally see the end of Nightma-“
An Aura Sphere was launched towards her face. Chrysalis didn’t even blink before conjuring a flaming barrier in front of her. The Aura Sphere exploded harmlessly against it, and Chrysalis gave her opponent a smug grin through the smoke. Lucario himself remained unfazed. He had expected the queen to be able to defend against such a head-on attack. It also explained how she had emerged unharmed from her crater after Lucario’s first attacks against her.
“Back in Ponyville, I met a stallion who hated Luna with all his heart. He called her a witch, and thought of her as nothing more than a traitor to Equestria. At first I thought I was the only one who got angry, but soon I saw that everyone else around us thought that he was crazy. They loved her, and they wanted to put the stallion in a cell for even thinking of her like that. To me, that doesn’t sound like someone that the world wouldn’t miss."
"So a few foolish ponies in one pathetic village happens to like her. Heh, I take it that you haven't been outside that village much, have you, Guardian? I think you'll find that your opinion of her is rather unique compared to the rest of this country."
"Don't speak of things you don't know of yourself. I doubt that you've been in the rest of Equestria any more than I have. In any case, I don’t know how you managed to steal Celestia’s powers. But I’ll admit that you’re stronger than I thought because of it.”
“Hmm, so there are traces of competence within you after all. You’ve done well to accept your inevitable defeat, Guardian. I’m glad that you realized how the odds have changed in this little showdown of ours.” Chrysalis nodded arrogantly in response.
“You misunderstand me, changeling.” Lucario answered without missing a beat. “Your power is the only thing that has changed. Nothing else has. What I said before still stands true. You’ve lost.”
Chrysalis was silent for a moment. Even after channeling the powers of Princess Celestia herself, the Pokémon still thought he could win? No, he was SURE that he would win. Was he really so foolish as to think that he would stand a chance now? Just thinking of it all made her laugh out loud once again.
“At least our encounter has served to humor me, Guardian. For that, I think you deserve a reward.”
Chrysalis horn started glowing, and Lucario instantly felt incredible heat radiate from the ground beneath him.
“I’ll make sure the world forgets your name to spare you from the humiliation of standing against me.”
Lucario backflipped just in time to avoid the eruption of fire and molten rock that exploded under his feet. He had no opportunity to counterattack, as Chrysalis conjured up more pillars to force him further and further away. Knowing that he wouldn’t be able to dodge the next one, Lucario activated Magnet Rise and flew upwards to gain some space. He fired off more Aura Spheres towards the queen, but they harmlessly struck the barrier like the last one. Judging by Chrysalis’ confident grin, it didn’t seem like using the barrier fatigued her in the least.
“I would look up if I were you!” Chrysalis called to him as her horn glowed yet again.
True enough, Lucario looked up to see giant spheres of green fire floating in the sky above him. For a moment, their light intensified before great balls of flame started to drop from them. Activating Aura Sense, Lucario swiftly dodged the attacks and tried to fly away from the area. To his surprise, the spheres followed him, continuing to shower him with flames.
On the ground, Chrysalis flapped her wings and took to the air herself in pursuit. She swiftly caught up to Lucario and began to fire off magic beams from her horn. She paid no mind to the other balls of flame falling around her, as she could manipulate them to fall towards Lucario instead of her. She laughed evilly as the Pokémon barely managed to keep himself out of harm from her assault.
“Hahahaha! What’s wrong, Guardian?! Is this too much to dodge even for you?! Well, no need to keep me waiting. Feel free to perish at any time!”
As if to spite her, Lucario activated ExtremeSpeed and disappeared out of sight. Chrysalis’ eyes widened in surprise as she grinded to a halt. Even the fire spheres above her had been unable to keep up with their target’s whereabouts. They had even been magically enchanted to do just that.
Knowing that an assault could come at any moment, Chrysalis began to look all around her for any surprise attack. Sure enough, she looked behind her just in time to see an Aura Sphere flying towards her. Grinning in triumph, Chrysalis had more than enough time to turn around and raise a barrier in front of her to guard against the attack.
What she couldn’t guard against was the Sky Uppercut that collided with her stomach from below. Chrysalis coughed as the air was knocked out of her, which gave Lucario ample time to prepare his Bone Rush. Still clutching her stomach in pain, Chrysalis found herself showered with a barrage of swift strikes from Lucario’s staff. The adrenaline made Chrysalis find the blows as little more than a minor annoyance.
“Cease your pointless struggle, fool!” Immense heat radiated from Chrysalis’ body, raising the air’s temperature around her far more than the fire spheres did. Lucario swiftly backed away, but he could feel his fur almost burning from the heat. Worse, a familiar pain started to spread across his skin. Ignoring the pain, Lucario created another sphere and threw it towards the queen.
Chrysalis was about to laugh at the Pokémon’s pointless attack. The sphere would just explode against her barrier like all the rest. However, she soon noticed that the blue sphere wasn’t made of the usual blue energy. It was water, and the intense heat in the area soon made it evaporate into a thick mist. The fog covered her every angle, and she realized that she now had no way to know from where Lucario planned to strike.
Still floating a small distance in front of the queen, Lucario charged up his Focus Punch. He intended to finish this battle here and now, and a frontal assault was the last one Chrysalis would expect. He kept track of Chrysalis’ movements inside the fog with his Aura Sense, waiting for the best time to strike. When the queen raised her head to look above her, Lucario activated ExtremeSpeed and charged towards Chrysalis’ unprotected jaw.
The Focus Punch struck nothing but air as Chrysalis teleported out of the way mere inches away from getting hit. In the blink of an eye, she reappeared next to the still off-guard Lucario with her horn glowing in full power.
“As I expected.”
Green flames erupted from her horn as Chrysalis struck Lucario at point blank range. She took great pleasure in watching the Pokémon fall and crash into the ground. Laughing to herself, she soon landed and watched Lucario’s crash site from afar. To her surprise, she saw Lucario stand up on one knee and look back at her. He was visibly grinding his teeth in pain and clutched his right arm. It was then that Chrysalis noticed how the metal spike on Lucario’s right paw was somewhat glowing red from the heat. Realization dawned upon Chrysalis and she let out another laugh.
“Hahaha, and here I’ve been wondering if you even had any weaknesses, Guardian! Those metal parts of your body must be very inconvenient to have when facing great heat, aren’t they? Your arm must be in so much pain from having that spike burning your skin!”
Lucario didn’t answer. What Chrysalis said was true. Being a Fighting/Steel-type Pokémon made him more vulnerable to the Fire element than other Pokémon. Not only was the spike on his hand burning his skin, but his skin was also heated up, burning the muscles inside his arm. The only thing that kept Lucario from screaming in agony was his species’ natural tolerance for pain.
“Do you still think that I’ve lost, Guardian?” Chrysalis mocked him from afar. “Actually, you don’t need to answer. Your near broken and smoking body has already answered that for you. I told you before that you never had a chance to defeat me. However, judging by your eyes, it still seems you wish to stand against me. I’ll admit, I find that impressive… and annoying.”
The fire spheres that had floated above them before fell down in front of Chrysalis’ horn. One by one, they fused together into a single point. But instead of growing in size, their combined form focused itself into a small orb barely bigger than a tennis ball. Instead, it was the blinding light that intensified as Chrysalis caught the orb on her horn and pointed it towards the still grounded Lucario.
“This is the end of your struggle, Guardian. Your end, and the beginning of a new era for Equestria!” She then freed the power sealed inside the orb, intending to let its flames consume the Pokémon once and for all.
That was her plan, before the orb detonated in full force right in her face. Green flames and lava showered over her body, blowing her backwards like a leaf in a thunderstorm. Black burn marks covered her coat as Chrysalis bounced across the ground. Great cracks in the soil were left behind every time she collided with it.
“W-What?” Was the only thing she could force out of herself as she flew. She didn’t have much time to say anything else, as a blue paw struck her limp body into the ground. Feeling it pressing her even harder into the newly made crater, Chrysalis locked eyes with Lucario for the briefest moment.
“Ground-type: Earthquake.”
Shining Armor watched as the plains around the two fighters cracked open. He barely managed to conjure up a protective shield around his men as the quaking earth reached them. While the ground under them remained undamaged, the cracks went past the barrier’s sides and kept going. They eventually stopped mere meters away from the city gates. The vibrations in the ground didn't stop, though, and some of the guards could see the buildings inside the city shake. Even the pegasi flying safely above them could swear that they felt the air vibrate a bit around them.
By the time it was all over, the plains were covered in giant layers of rock that had risen up from the ground. Shining carefully lowered the barrier, knowing that he and his men had to live with the thick dust around them. None of them seemed to care though. They were too busy watching the plains with their jaws dropped. Even the most persistent journalist pony among them finally took several uneasy steps backwards.
“Um, Captain Armor?” one of the guards eventually forced out next to Shining. “I don’t know which one of them is the monster anymore.”
In most cases, Shining would find that sentence insulting towards any of his friends. But this time, a small grin spread across his face.
“I know which one of them is the monster, and I’m sure glad that he’s on our side.”
Lucario pulled back his arm and looked at the barely conscious Chrysalis at his feet. While he hadn’t aimed to kill the queen with his attack, he was impressed nevertheless that she was still awake. Chrysalis slowly rolled onto her side, surely to avoid burdening the several broken ribs in her chest. From what little he could read from her shocked expression, she understandably seemed confused by what just happened.
“Remember that Water attack that I used to cover you in a mist? It’s called Water Pulse, a seemingly normal Water-type move of decent power. What’s special about it, though, is that upon impact, it releases special kinds of water particles into the air. These particles have a chance to disturb the target’s senses, essentially making them confused. For some reason that even I don’t know, this kind of confusion sometimes causes the target to even attack itself. That’s why your attack struck you instead of me.”
“Chance…?” Chrysalis painfully whispered beneath him. “You’re making it… sound like…”
“That it was pure, dumb luck. Yes, that’s true.”
With a sudden furious scream, Chrysalis lifted her head and channeled magic into her horn yet again. Lucario effortlessly dodged the proceeding flames, but decided to back away a bit just to be sure. He silently watched Chrysalis struggling to her hooves, groaning in pain as she did. When she was finally standing again, she lowered her head and gasped for air. Just a few minutes ago, Lucario had been clutching his arm in near defeat. Now their roles had been completely reversed.
And yet Chrysalis laughed. Not in the same arrogant way she had done up until now, but it was just as evil. She didn’t even bother to lift her head to look at Lucario as she spoke.
*gasp, gasp* “Unbelievable. To think that I would ever find myself in a state like this. Even with the power of Princess Celestia herself, you brought me down to this level. Incredible… impossible…”
At last she lifted her head. Only one thing was readable in her eyes as she stared in contempt at Lucario: Hate.
“Unforgivable…”
Her horn glowed yet again, and Lucario prepared himself for another attack. But her horn didn’t glow from fire and flames like before, but from normal magic. A blinding light sparked beside her, and Lucario found himself terrified of the pony that now stood next to the queen.
“L-Luna!” Lucario called out her name, but Luna didn’t respond. Her eyes were still colored green from Chrysalis’ corruption. Still shaking from pain, Chrysalis reached out a hoof to touch Luna’s chin.
“Your sister needs you, my girl. Please… HELP ME.”
Green magic began to drain out of Luna’s body, siphoning into Chrysalis like a piece of cloth absorbing water. The burn marks that once covered Chrysalis’ body disappeared, only to reappear on Luna instead. This was shortly followed by the audible crack of ribs in her chest. Luna’s scream of agony echoed over the plains, coupled together with Chrysalis’ laughter. The whole process took mere seconds, but to Lucario it felt like an eternity. Yet he found himself paralyzed from the sight. All he could do was to watch every wound he had inflicted on Chrysalis being transferred to the pony he had tried to save.
Luna fell motionlessly to the ground, only to be caught up in Chrysalis’ magic grip. Once again at full power, she grinned evilly at Lucario.
“She does a wonderful job at my side, don’t you think? I’m so proud of her, let me tell you that. I bet she was so lonely without me while being together with those boring guards. Good thing that I can summon her to my side whenever I need her.” She looked back at Luna and rubbed her cheek. “Now now, my dear, I know you’re tired. But your darling sister has one more need of you.”
With that, Chrysalis threw Luna to the side. At the same time, a familiar small orb materialized above her horn, which she aimed towards the still flying princess. In an instant, Lucario realized that he wouldn’t be able to carry Luna out of the explosion’s radius. Neither would he be able to tackle Chrysalis’ with enough force to knock off her aim. Even though he knew that this was exactly according to Chrysalis’ plan, he had no choice but to go with it.
Chrysalis’ orb erupted into a giant current of flames. Just as they were about to hit Luna, Lucario appeared in front of her to take on the entire attack himself. As the plains before her exploded in a sea of green fire, Chrysalis just smiled.
“What was it I said before? Oh yes, hahaha. As I expected.”
Twilight and her friends ran outside the city gates at the worst possible time. All of them watched as Chrysalis fired a spell at Lucario and Luna, covering them and the plains in green flames. Fluttershy stopped right in her tracks out of shock. Thankfully, Applejack was running behind her and started to push her the rest of the way towards Shining and his men. Twilight didn’t even call out to her brother as she ran up beside him. She just watched in horror as the flames seemingly burned Lucario and Luna to a crisp.
“No… please no…” Shining finally noticed Twilight standing beside him, having been in just as much of a shock as her. His leadership persona kicked in as he put a hoof on her shoulder.
“Twilight, the Elements. It’s up to us now.” Twilight looked at her brother. Her eyes were already filled with tears. Soon enough though, she dried them with her hoof and turned to her friends with a determined look.
“Come on girls. Let’s finish this.”
Her friends would’ve slowly nodded in agreement there, filled with grief as they were. But instead, they all brought their hooves to their ears. Shining and his men did the same as a screeching sound reached their ears. Chrysalis too lifted her hooves in an attempt to hold off the horrible sound. While none of them knew how the sound exactly came to be, they all knew two things. It sounded metallic, and it came from the explosion site. Shining could only think of one reason for the noise. It was a warning signal.
"Girls! Stay put for now!" Shining shouted over the noise. Twilight turned to him, barely able to make out his words.
"Let us believe in our friend for a bit longer!"
The metallic screech finally died down, and Chrysalis slowly lowered her hooves. Her ears were still pulsating in pain from the sound, but that was the last thing on her mind. She was instead trying to comprehend how the sight before her was even possible.
Luna was lying in the middle of the explosion site, with Lucario standing in front of her. Both of them were completely unharmed, although Lucario was panting heavily. While the ground was burned to a crisp, a small circular area around them was untouched by the flames. Confused anger spread across Chrysalis’ face as she once again summoned Luna to her side. It was then that she noticed that almost all the burns on Luna’s coat were gone. She was even awake and able to stand again, making Chrysalis realize that her ribs must’ve been healed as well. Looking back at Lucario, she also noticed how the burns on his arm were gone.
“What did you do, Guardian?” Chrysalis asked the Pokémon. It was clear from her voice that she was done with sarcasm and expected answers. Lucario panted a bit more before answering.
“Three things. The first one was Normal-type: Protect. It creates an indestructible barrier around the user and his near vicinity. Even an attack such as yours is unable to even scratch it. However, I’m only able to use that move once a day.
“The second one was Psychic-type: Heal Pulse. By using my own aura, I can heal physical wounds on both myself and others. As you can see though, it has greatly tired me out.
“Finally, the screech you heard just now was Steel-type: Metal Sound. I used that just to inform you that I was still alive.”
Chrysalis didn’t care much about how the Pokémon’s powers worked. What both intrigued and terrified her though was that he was capable of such techniques. She hadn’t thought of it until now, but all of her opponent’s skills seemed like powers bestowed upon a higher being. While magic allowed ponies of all kinds to pull off similar tricks, none of them could even use a third of his arsenal. Even Princess Celestia’s powers seemed almost inferior in comparison.
A curious feeling spread through Chrysalis’ body as she watched Lucario slowly catch his breath. She was bestowed with Celestia’s powers, yet all of her best attempts had yet to finish off this creature. In fact, as she stared into his red eyes, she could see that he was still not taking her seriously. Her legs started to shake, and a small drop of sweat rolled down her forehead. She had the powers of a princess, and yet she was afraid.
“Ha… hahaha.” she nervously laughed. “Y-You can try for as long as you might, but you’ll just delay the inevitable. If you hurt me again, I’ll just use Luna to heal me. Then you’ll heal her, and the whole process begins anew. As long as she’s in my control, you’ll never win!”
“Which is exactly why I’ll end that control. Right now.” Lucario lifted his arm and placed his paw just above his right eye. For a moment, his eyes glowed red. Or was it violet? No… Pink?
“Normal-type: Attract.”
Lucario blinked, and a swarm of heart-shaped symbols shot out of his eye. They playfully looped around each other before shooting out towards Chrysalis and Luna.
“Eh...?”
Chrysalis simply stared at the hearts in disbelief. From the sidelines, Twilight, Shining, and the rest of their friends and guards had a similar reaction. Even the journalists nearly dropped their cameras at the ridiculous scene. All of them watched with their jaws on the ground as the hearts began to circle around Luna. After increasing in speed for a few seconds, they finally charged into Luna’s chest, causing her body to briefly glow pink. In the blink of an eye, the green and corrupted color in Luna’s eyes disappeared. In their stead, giant hearts shot out of them.
“OH, DARLING!”
Chrysalis nearly tripped over when the princess of the night squealed and brought her hooves to her cheeks. One spark of light later, Luna had teleported to Lucario’s side and began to dance around him.
“That beautiful blue fur, those charming red eyes! Aaah, I can’t believe a beauty such as yours even exists! Oh honey, let us stay together forever, flooding all of Equestria with our love!”
Aside from Luna’s lovey-dovey talk, the plains were deadly silent. Only a single flash from a camera disrupted the peace, likely from a journalist who took the photo by reflex. Chrysalis herself just looked on, entirely unable to understand what was going on.
“What… what’s the point of all thi-”
Several things happened to Chrysalis at once. In an instant, her mane stopped glowing and fell back over her neck in its usual dirty state. Her coat turned black yet again, and the cutie mark on her flank disappeared without a trace. Worst of all, she felt the near overwhelming power of Celestia leaving her like a blanket being pulled off a bed. In the blink of an eye, she was just the normal Queen Chrysalis again.
No… don’t tell me… Her eyes widened as her brain finally understood everything. He exchanged my mind control with his own!
“DARLING!” Luna flew towards Lucario with open hooves, intending to embrace him. But when she was mere inches away, Lucario disappeared, causing Luna to fall flat on her face.
At the same time, Chrysalis found herself nearly face to face with the Pokémon. He already had his arm pulled back in preparation for a punch.
“D-Don’t-”
“Close Combat.”
Lucario’s punch struck Chrysalis’ cheek, sending her head flying towards the side. Yet another punch intercepted her though, soon followed by an uppercut to her jaw. Two roundhouse kicks nearly knocked her headfirst into the ground, but another kick sent her flying into a standing position yet again.
For what felt like a lifetime, Lucario kept punching and kicking Chrysalis from all directions. Even when she fell towards the ground, another strike would send her back up for more blows. It was like Lucario’s assault was a carefully choreographed dance created for just one purpose: To cause as much pain to the target as physically possible.
Please… stop… These were the only words that echoed through Chrysalis’ mind as she felt her body growing numb. She couldn’t even feel the strikes anymore, just unconsciousness slowly and mercifully trying to claim her.
One final kick to the jaw signaled the end of Lucario’s assault. The strike was yet again just enough to knock Chrysalis into a standing position. To her great displeasure, Chrysalis found herself still barely conscious. Falling forward towards the ground, she found herself suddenly caught in Lucario’s arm. Her head rested on his shoulder as Lucario suddenly spoke next to her ear.
“Did I mention that the Metal Sound from before made you more vulnerable to non-physical attacks?”
Chrysalis couldn’t see the Aura Sphere formed in Lucario’s paw. But she definitely felt it as the Pokémon threw it at point blank range into her stomach. The queen of the changelings found herself knocked backwards from the blast, her body crashing into the ground in a near-broken mess.
Lucario took a moment to catch his breath before walking up to his former opponent. Her body was wounded all over, and there was no doubt that she was in great pain. Still, she would live. She still had to tell them where she had taken Celestia.
“I told you from the beginning, changeling. You’ve lost.”
Chrysalis didn’t answer. Lucario was unsure if she was still conscious or not, but her grunts gave the hint that she was. From the corner of his eye, Lucario could see the changeling soldiers from before lift their heads. They looked at their defeated queen with eyes filled with disbelief. More so, Lucario could sense a hint of worry in them. A few of them even tried to drag themselves towards her. Lucario watched them all for a moment before turning back to Chrysalis.
“I don’t understand you. Your people feeds on love, lives off of it. Your very existence is depended on it. In order for you to survive, you must come in contact with it. You must see it first-hand. Yet you don’t understand it. You claim that you know the true meaning of love, but you don’t even know the simplest form of it. You’re like a child, pretending to be an adult.
“Look around you. At this very moment, your people are worrying about you. They’re willing to risk their own lives to save you. No matter how much you’ve mistreated them or how little you’ve cared about them, they still want to see you safe. You’ve been surrounded by love all this time, and you haven’t even realized it.”
Chrysalis remained silent. Several of the changelings around them began to look between each other, as if a realization had dawned on them. A few of them even let out a low growl, like a child calling to its mother. Letting out a sigh, Lucario turned his back on Chrysalis.
“Once you’ve told us where Celestia is, we will let all of you go. Return to your homeland and think about what you’ve learned. The world can still accept you, and you can accept it as well.” He looked back over his shoulder to look at Chrysalis one more time.
“It’s like what my master taught me long ago: The aura will always be with you.”
He then turned and walked away, intending to leave the rest of the work to Shining and his men. He ignored the few changelings that he walked past, knowing that they knew when to accept defeat. At a distance, he could already see Twilight and her friends running to congratulate him. That is, until they stopped in their tracks and stared at something behind him.
“You’re the one… who don’t understand…”
Chrysalis was lying on her stomach, pressing her hooves down with all her might in an attempt to stand up. She was coughing repeatedly, but didn’t cease her efforts for a second.
“What does love gain you in the end? Once all is said and done, it always ends the same way. You’ll have to watch the ones important to you pass away, one by one. At the end, death is just an excuse to free you from that torment, and watch the ones who loved you feel that pain instead. We’re all better off unconnected. An eternity of solitude would be worth it, instead of living a single day just to watch your loved ones disappear.”
By sheer force of will, Chrysalis stood up once more. Her shouts echoed over the plains as she shouted at her soldiers.
“Do you think you mean anything to me, fools?! Do you think that your queen would even think to spare one thought of your pathetic well-being?! You’re nothing but tools! Your only purpose is to follow my commands and help fulfill my goals! Why?! Because my life matters so much more to me than all of yours combined! Now fulfill that purpose, infidels! Fulfill the meanings of your existence!”
Green light shot out of Chrysalis’ body, sending magical waves over the entire battlefield. As the waves hit the changelings, they shrieked in agony as their bodies evaporated into pure energy. One by one, their energies began to flow back towards Chrysalis, who absorbed their power without delay. Bit by bit, her form began to yet again take on the appearance of Celesta. As the final changeling disappeared and was absorbed into her, she immediately conjured another flame orb above her horn.
“I am Chrysalis, Queen of the Changelings! I’m the herald of a new era for Equestria, and its new eternal ruler! Bow before my might, OR DIE BEFORE MY WRATH!”
For the third time that day, Chrysalis’ flame orb exploded, sending a stream of flames towards Lucario. From a distance, Twilight desperately called out to her friends to use the Elements. She knew all too well though that it was too late. Her friends and Shining called out Lucario’s name, and Cadence hid her face behind one of the pegasi’s backs.
Lucario, however, hadn’t even turned around since Chrysalis began to speak. He was still walking with his eyes closed, as if paying the incoming attack no mind. As the attack closed in on him, he just clenched his fist and whispered to himself.
“You fool…”
His eyes opened up, and yellow light flooded out of them.
The world was covered in light. It engulfed the plains and spread over all of Canterlot. A few ponies back in Ponyville woke up from the brief and blinding light that covered their entire bedrooms. It wasn’t a green light, like the one from Chrysalis’ flames. Nor was it rainbow-colored, like the Elements of Harmony.
It was yellow, and it seemingly covered the world like the rays of the sun itself.
Before anypony had the time to react, the light diminished, focusing itself into Lucario’s paw. In one swift move, he turned around and threw the yellow Aura Sphere against Chrysalis’ attack. It effortlessly pierced through the flames, making them die out by simply being in its presence. Giant cracks in the ground were left in its wake. When it reached Chrysalis, it was as if time itself stopped for the changeling queen. It gave her enough time to think one single thought.
Huh?
The group of ponies on the sidelines watched as the sphere struck Chrysalis. It took her body with it as it continued forward, flying towards the mountain side in the distance. It was but the size of a star in the night sky when it finally collided with the rock wall. Then it exploded, covering the mountain in a giant sphere of light. By the time the light finally died out, nearly a fourth of the mountain was gone. Giant rocks and boulders rolled down its slope, the mere sound of it thundering across Equestria.
The ponies stood in silence as they watched it all. All of them had already watched enough unbelievable scenes to last a lifetime, let alone one night. None of them knew if Chrysalis’ had perished from the sphere hitting her or from the explosion, and none of them wanted to know.
Cadence slowly floated down to Shining’s side. While she was still just as shocked as everypony else, a thought began to cross her mind.
He won. He beat her. We’re saved.
Shining had yet to shake himself out of his shock. Cadence soon remedied that by turning his head around to kiss him. Regardless if it was because of the couple’s kiss or from their own minds catching up, the other ponies felt a similar joy inside them. The first one to speak before the cheers and screams of joy erupted was Rainbow Dash.
“Best... fight... ever.”
Lucario could hear his friends cheering behind him, but he paid them no mind. He looked at the trail left behind his attack, and the mountain side where Chrysalis had met her end. He thought of the words he had tried to tell her, and the words she shouted in response. He thought of the changelings that had pointlessly been sacrificed for their queen’s final stand.
He thought of the similar scene he had seen before, the day before he arrived in Equestria.
As a light breeze blew through the plains, they carried with them the few words uttered from the Pokémon’s telepathy.
“I’m sorry…”
“LUCARIO!”
The deafening shout was the only warning Lucario received before Luna tackled him to the ground. A cloud of dust blew up from the ground in a comedic fashion. Finding Luna’s hooves wrapped around his torso, Lucario began to flail around in an attempt to shake her off.
“L-Luna! I’m fine, you can let go. It’s all over no-”
“Forgive me…”
Lucario stopped his struggles upon hearing Luna sob against his chest. She never let go of him, but she let her tears drop down on his fur as she cried uncontrollably.
“I didn’t want to put you through this... I didn’t want to see you hurt... Please, I’m sorry!”
Lucario looked down at the princess, listening to her apologies. Remembering the pain she had gone through herself due to Chrysalis, Lucario wrapped his arms around Luna in a comforting hug.
“Yeah. I’m sorry too.”
Lucario thought that Luna was still in her attracted state, and simply needed time to snap out of it. What he didn’t know was that under Luna’s closed eyelids, her heart-shaped eyes had disappeared a long time ago.
To be continued…
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Have a moustache !
1078412 I actually already have one, but hey, two is better than one. Thanks!
Stronger than Celestia? Doubtful, otherwise invasion would've occured already unless they were in a state of which they could not interact with the world. Now, you may want to be careful because you're starting OP Lucario so unless you really do bring out some stronger villains that may be a problem in the future. Next, nice work with the attract. Last, can we expect any other pokemon or is Lucario a one hit wonder? It would be understandable if he was the only one but it would be pretty cool to see some more show up.
fianlly i was begining to get scared you cancelled this, good to see its not also first
1078456
I've mentioned before that while Lucario is based on the character from the movie, I've made several changes to his backstory. There is a reason for why he is so powerful, and it will be explained once we reach the "Flashback arc". Yes, Lucario is ridiculously strong, but I haven't made him like that without giving a believable reason for it.
As for his upcoming enemies, you don't have to worry. I have some really nasty villains in store for him. After beating Chrysalis with Celestia's powers, most other villains from both the MLP series and Pokémon series wouldn't be much of a match for him. That's why I'll... Improvise with his next opponent. You'll see what I mean by that soon enough.
I was actually a bit sceptical of having Lucario use Attract. On one hand, it was the perfect way to break Chrysalis' mind control. On the other hand, it's freaking Attract, probably the last move you ever imagine a serious character like Lucario using. It still worked well in the end, and also served as a bit of comic relief in this otherwise serious chapter.
And finally: Yes. You can expect other Pokémon to join the story eventually. Not soon, but eventually.
Thank you for enjoying the story and voicing your concerns. I'm having a blast writing this.
1078492
Well, that's the thing about attract. You don't want to use it but when it's used against you . . . then there's a problem.
And its no trouble, its a blast reading this. A team rocket blast off that is
Hmm... Well played. From start to finish this chapter was nicely packaged together. Lucario was certainly the star of the show, this time around. But in a good way, of course. When one thinks about it, the varied move-pool potential for poke'mon is really something to behold compared to magics and other such in other settings. A very good emphasis on that during the fight. (Because who doesn't like perfectly timing the use of Protect to screw over your opponent.)
Chrysalis won't certainly be the last, but Lucario has plenty of PP left for fools to come get some. And we don't expect 10k chapters routinely of course, considering the action packing this story carries (even if the narration was a lot more dual world-building based).
I await your next update.
MOAR.
1078574 OKAY.
Celestia goes out for five bloody minutes to get some bananas, and half of Equestria gets blown up...
Sad times, where a mare can't even get her long yellow without something getting blown (up).
-Jorofrarie
1078587 I would like to take the opportunity to mention that Trollestia will not make an appearance in this story. She just likes to joke around a bit like she does in the actual show. The reason for her absence is far more serious, as you'll see in the next chapter.
1078426HAVE A BADASS BEARD THEN.
1078492
one mistake the move "Psychic type: Healing wave" should be "Psychic type: Heal pulse"
by any chance have you checked lucario's updated move list for B2/W2?
i take it at this point lucario can use all the moves that its possible for him to learn?
everyone leave lucario alone if you hear him talking in his sleep!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&NR=1&v=posZzKfs_ec
TRES MAGNIFIQUE!!!
I'm so glad that I followed this story!
Anime reference for the win. "You fool!" huh? I recall a certain phrase the main protagonist of a show shouting something similar to his powerful, defeated foe. Coincidently, he fired a yellow beam as well after giving said foe a chance to learn from their mistakes.
Funny how similar it is. Just Saiyan.
Great chapter as always, looking forward to more.
~8chill
Please bring Movie 13 Zoroark, a Flygon, Alakazam,and maybe a Semitoad
When Lucario killed Chrysalis it seem very similar to when Goku defeated Freiza any idea why they seem so similar.
1078670 Ah yes, you're right. I mixed up the english and japanese names of the move there. Thank you for pointing it out.
I've checked out his updated move list in BW2, but there wasn't really anything special there I believe. As for Snore, that doesn't seem like a very practical move for him in this story. Or... Wait a minute...
1078987
i.qkme.me/35xp5n.jpg
As soon as Lucario said "You fool" it reminded my of Goku and Frieza without the shouting
1079003 See my reply to 8chill.
1079090 See my reply to SuperSaiyanBrony about my reply to 8chill.
EPIC FIGHT!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Just wicked cool, really.
tottaly worth waiting about 2 months for.
chapter rating;
Crowning Moment Of Awsome rating; 9.5/10
heartwarming rating; 10/10 Daww... Luna
charecterization rating; 8/10
chapter poltline; 7.9/10
overall rating; 9.999/10
excellent work, here's five stache tokens
Continue please. *Huggles Lucario in her pony form*
dude......just yes....to everything about this story.
1079183
whoops, forgot the lol rating; 7.5/10
here's another stache for you
So is Chrysalis dead? I hope not.
Good things come to those who wait.
Couldn't agree more Dash.
If that was Lucario calm and controlled, imagine how badass he'll get when he's actually pushed to the limit. 
“Remember that Water attack that I used to cover you in a mist? It’s called Water Pulse, a seemingly normal Water-type move of decent power. What’s special about it though is that upon impact, it releases special kinds of water particles into the air. These particles have a chance to disturb the target’s senses, essentially making them confused. For some reason that even I don’t know, this kind of confusion sometimes causes the target to even attack itself. That’s why your attack struck you instead of me.”
1079397 I guess you... Liked it then?
That was freakin badass!
encrypted-tbn3.google.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRaVErgiO254r8fY8p-kNa4MtIOJorI40-vfJGXXqvK-OvoK32EOw
1079460
....I am rendered speechless by how awesome that was. What a story to arrive to after my Skyrim-driven hiatus from reading fimfiction.
Hehehe, Lucario's finishing move reminds me of Goku finishing off Frieza in the Namek sage in DBZ
This story is effcking awesome.
Is it sad that I've gotten every refrence so far?
1079864 I was actually hoping that some readers would get the references. I'm proud, son.
THAT WAS TOTALY, WICKEDLY AWESOME.
THAT WAS THE MOST EPIC FIGHT SCENE EVER.
MORE PLAESE!!!!!
FIVE
Worth the wait, great chapter!
1079911 yay! my insanely powerful mind for remembering th' most useless facts about stuff pays off!
well worth the wait for this chapter
*Sees update* Ohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh! I've been waiting for this!
*1200+ words* ........ YUS
That fight was awesome!
1079088 It's from Dragon Ball Z Goku vs. Freeza.
Also, I AGREE WITH RAINBOW DASH.
It would make so much sense if Celestia had gone to fight the changelings when this happened, but found nothing. RD is turning into AJ with the truth of her last three words.
You make me want to glomp you for sating my never ending hunger for a good read.
I never knew attraction was that powerful...
1084373 It's time for: KANG'S USELESS KNOWLEDGE!
Remember how Cadance freed Shining Armor from Chrysalis' mind control by using her love spell on him? Attract did pretty much the same thing, overriding the previous mind control with another one. But I wouldn't say that Attract is that powerful in a fair one-on-one fight. Attracted opponents still has a chance to attack the Attract user after all. I don't think it would've helped Lucario that much in the long run if he used it on Chrysalis.
Besides, it wouldn't really make for such a badflank battle if our main hero just continued to shoot hearts out of his eyes. It's that thin little line between having the hero use his most effective moves, but without making the battle uninteresting in the process.
"But Kang, what about Chrysalis' confusion? That really helped him out, despite only having a certain chance to work." Water Pulse only had a 20% chance to confuse Chrysalis, and she then only had a 50% chance of actually hitting herself. That's a very big risk to take against such a powerful foe. Lucario only used the move for the mist effect anyway. Had Chrysalis not been confused, Lucario would've probably used Protect to defend himself there before launching a counterattack.
1084421 I wasn't talking about the overall effectiveness of the move I was talking about how Princess Luna acted when she was under the effects of attract...so...yeah... I think you just ranted for no reason now...but considering the title of your rant I don't think you care either way...