All's Fair

by Equestria Buck Yeah

Chapter 17

Rainbow sped out ahead of the others by a few feet, her forelimbs stretched out, plowing straight into the black swarm. Several clotheslines met their marks, but the numbers quickly started to overwhelm her; no amount of enthusiasm for fighting was helping her kick and shove off the growing number of tackles and bites and kicks.

Fortunately, in just as quick a fashion, several blasts of magic fired from an angry purple alicorn did the trick, giving Rainbow just enough edge to shake loose from the pile and get to higher ground. Twilight may have been annoyed with Rainbow Dash lately, but there were bigger things to worry about at the moment.

As Rarity, Pinkie Pie and Applejack collided with their own targets, overhead, Chrysalis and Luna had come together themselves with the insect Queen tackling her smaller counterpart. They spun several times midair until Luna slid her hind legs between them and violently shoved herself off, following up with a quick blast of turquoise magic. It grazed Chrysalis' shoulder, a snarl erupting from her lungs. Luna simply smirked but it didn't last long, quickly erased by a return shot. She spun head over hooves to avoid it only to have Chrysalis slam into her with full force.

Below, Rarity's rage was unrestrained. Twice now, a random drone thought it to be a good idea to grab the fashionista from behind to try and knock her off balance and eventually swarm her into submission. The first received a bloody, blackened eye. The second sank its teeth into her foreleg, but without missing a beat and barely feeling it anyway, she grabbed his ear and twisted him off. Before he could left himself off his stomach, several vicious right hooks cracked several of his ribs.

She looked up and saw another charging her head on. Before he could react, Rarity leapt off her punching bag and snagged his jagged horn, yanking his head side to side with such vitriol behind her swings, he feared she'd snap his neck any second. Fortunately for the changeling, she decided against ending him and eventually slammed his skull into the dirt. Several nearby observers took a step back, stunned at the horrific display. Rarity didn't act so violent the last time they battled her in Canterlot!

"You shouldn't have made me so angry," she hissed.

Suddenly, Twilight touched down behind her, back to back. Half-expecting another attempted ambush, the dressmaker spun about ready to slug another insectoid. Thankfully, the lavender wings and two-toned tail stopped her. Unfortunately, as she turned her attention back to her enemies, her initial thoughts proved themselves true; their toothy grins gave themselves away.

With a sneer, Rarity twirled around again, socking the alicorn hard in the jaw as she moved in for an attack. As the princess dropped, four more changelings brought the furious designer to the ground, barely managing to hold her down. They would be just as quickly lifted off of her thanks to the real Twilight flying overhead and tossed away.

Rarity quickly got to her hind hooves and looked up. Their eyes met and she knew this alicorn was the real one. Why would she have helped if she wasn't? She glanced back down at the imposter, still in disguise. He came to, woozy from the punch, and glanced up. A quick kick in the teeth knocked him and a few teeth out cold, forcing his costume to come undone.

"You okay?" Twilight asked.

"None of this would be happening right now if you had listened to me in the first place!"

"Is this really the time for that?"

The answer wasn't needed. With a grit of her teeth, Rarity barreled her way into another small crowd of changelings as Twilight dashed away herself.

"You're welcome!"

Meanwhile, Pinkie Pie had taken out a handful herself, just not with such brutal tactics. Most of it involved a small swarm fruitlessly chasing her as she hopped and hopped around. As they pursued, she'd occasionally pull a pie or a rubber chicken from her bottomless mane and launch it in somepony's face. It may not have put them down for good, but as long as she kept them busy until they either wore themselves out or came up to somepony else who was more of a fighter than she was, so be it.

Quickly turning left, the silly mare juked out her would-be captors just as they were about to reach her. With a giggle, she bounced her way to a nearby tree and reached behind it. The half dozen changelings arched around and closed in. Unfortunately for the lead, Pinkie pulled out a mallet complete with a smiley face from nowhere and smashed it square on his head, leaving him face first in the dirt groaning in agony.

The other five came to a screeching halt and stared at the assault victim. The tapping of the hammer's shaft in Pinkie's hoof got their worried attention.

"You really shouldn't have done what you did to my friends," she growled, rare anger in her eyes.

"Ah shi–"

One swing later and another changeling turned into a deep fly ball over the rooftops.

Near the outskirts of the brawl, numerous shapeshifters were licking their wounds, almost two dozen. A few noticed a nearby paralyzed pink-maned pegasus still lingering in place, not having moved since the fight began. Several exchanged nods and grins. Even if they managed to grab one of the Elements and drag them off, it wouldn't be a total loss if things ended up going completely south.

The group took only a few seconds to surround her completely, both in the air and on the ground. Smiling wickedly, they inched their way forward, cautious after the light beatings many of them had taken so far. Pausing for a moment, the head changeling blinked and glanced to the fellow drone to his left. They exchanged a shrug and looked back at Fluttershy. Still no response.

Her eyes then shifted to him.

He took a defensive stance, ready for anything. Nothing came. He raised a single eyebrow, unsure what to make of things. If he didn't share another look with his comrade, he may have seen the hoof that grabbed him by the throat coming.

Several yards away, Applejack barely ducked below another dive-bombing bug. The jerk almost took her hat with him! No matter. She had concocted an idea a minute ago to help level the playing field a bit for her. It was sometimes annoying not being able to get airborne, whether by wings or magic, but she had a few tricks of her own – one of which was sitting in the wagon by her apple stand across the street.

Bucking another incoming drone away, she took off. Just as she left it, her trusty rope was sitting waiting for her. She snatched it from its resting place and wove it expertly into a lasso as she ran back into the fray, almost immediately wrapping it around the midsection of a nearby enemy and taking him for a ride. Suddenly, she stopped on a dime and swung her head around, smashing the changeling into an unsuspecting clump of his friends, flattening most of them.

The make-shift wrecking ball's troubles didn't end there. The rope tightened, and Applejack yanked him back in. His eyes widened, almost as if he knew what was coming. Just before he was to collide with the farm girl, she spun about and drove her hind legs into his chest. He fell limp and unconscious several feet away.

"Eleven!" Applejack cheered.

The victor trotted up and undid the lasso, ready to get up close and personal with another bug. It took all of a second to pick her next target. However, as she twirled her lasso, Rainbow Dash suddenly zipped in and drove a nasty kick square into the changeling's jaw, sending him rocketing to the ground.

"Hah! Sixteen!"

"Dangit, Rainbow, that one was mine – and this isn't a competition!"

"Oh yeah? Then why are you counting?"

"I just feel like it, okay?" Applejack snapped.

"That sounds like something the loser usually says," Rainbow countered, sticking her tongue out as she landed.

Their bickering would take a back seat to the horrific shrieking nearby though it didn't sound like it was coming from anypony they knew. Instead, a terrified changeling was crawling its way toward them, seemingly begging for help and dragging a limp hind leg. Suddenly, Fluttershy slammed down beside him, grabbed him by the head and battered him repeatedly into the gravel until he stopped moving. He wasn't dead but likely wish he was.

Mouths agape, Rainbow and Applejack stood there gawking at the normally timid mare who was seething like a rabid animal. Shaking, she found their eyes, her own watering. They tried to speak but utterly failed.

"What?!" Fluttershy screamed.

"N-nothin'!" Applejack muttered.

"That's right, nothing." The yellow pegasus floated past them, fury still pasted on her face. "Twenty-seven."

The pair glanced off to the left and spotted a scattered pile of beaten and broken changelings. Several were crying in pain and even more had obvious fractures and deep lacerations. Once Fluttershy was out of earshot, Rainbow whispered, "Remind me never to get on her bad side."

"You have no idea."

Above the brawl, Luna and Chrysalis rushed toward each other and crashed their hooves together, each alicorn testing the other's strength. Despite the size difference, the nightly princess was holding her own. The leaders snarled as neither gave an inch, every last ounce of physical strength being poured into their battle for dominance.

"I took your sister down the last time we met!"

"After stealing power!"

"I do what I have to to win!"

"And yet you still failed!"

"What makes you think you can handle me when Celestia couldn't – especially after feeding off numerous ponies this time?!"

"Because I am not my sister!"

Luna's horn glowed brightly. Chysalis' quickly followed suit. A pair of powerful beams of magic collided mere inches from their wielders. The combatants leaned in hard, trying to force the other back and hopefully down for the count, but once again, neither lost ground. However, as their horns gradually got too close for comfort, sparks began to erupt from the center little by little until an explosion of energy launched the fighters away. Even those on the ground felt the blast as the two were sent flying.

The Queen lazily glided down until her hooves touched the floor, and Luna followed right behind. The rivals stared each other down, both a touch short of breath. It wasn't anything they couldn't handle, but the small war they were creating was clearly starting to effect them.

The dark princess smirked. "What's wrong, Chrysalis? Getting tired?"

"I'm not tired! You're tired! I can do this all day!"

"I see. I wonder then," Luna gently glided a foot off the ground, lighting her horn and dramatically raising her forelimbs, "can you do this all night?"

Her teal eyes burst white. The moon suddenly crawled out from deep behind the horizon and made its way toward the sun. As its slow trek became complete, the town and its inhabitants were gradually cloaked in shadow.

The battle around them came to a screeching halt with the Element bearers succumbing to wordless horror. Even Fluttershy had been momentarily snapped out of her seething rage. The only changeling who seemed to fully understand what was happening towered over her minions and stood in stunned silence as a ball of blackness and lightning swallowed Luna completely.

Several blocks away, Celestia had turned another corner in hot pursuit of a small cluster of enemies. Overhead, numerous drones buzzed past her, more promising targets on their minds. A few steps behind her, a barrel suddenly exploded in green flame and shrieked at her, getting the attention of over a dozen fellow fiends. Its lunge was cut short by a swat of her wing, but it didn't stop those that heard him from pouring out of nearby shacks and stores and divebombing her above.

The annoying insects swarmed the much larger pony, hoping to overpower her. Though they did manage to get a few good swipes in and knocked her slightly off-balance, a single powerful blast of magic tossed them off like rag dolls.

As the alicorn bared her teeth and lit her horn, ready for round two, the world suddenly became a few shades darker. Curious, she looked around and watched a shadow make its way across the ground and consume everything in its path. Surely it was just a...very large cloud formation, right?

Celestia turned her gaze skyward, and she gasped loudly at the blotted-out sun. She took a step toward where the main fighting was but stopped just as fast. Her younger sister said she had a plan; she said she could handle it. She was handling it, right? The solar princess bit her lip.

"Luna, I hope you know what you're doing."

Comments

[Hillbe]

good chapter
Spike! You know that changeling's not Rarity?
Yeah, Revenge is mine. One hundred twenty six!
Everypony's counting their scores
I can do this all night! One Hundred twenty seven!
?!

[Crimson Dawn]

Pinkie and Fluttershy need to end up with the highest scores just to mess with AJ, Twilight, and Dash.