All's Fair

by Equestria Buck Yeah

Chapter 18

The brawl with their shapeshifting enemies had come to a sudden halt when the shadow overtook the land. Twilight had once seen Luna transform in a vision. It took her friends barely a second to piece together what was happening, and although she and her hive had spent years underground and away from the world in their hive planning for ages, Chrysalis knew what she was witnessing as well.

Eventually, the ball of dark energy burst away, revealing the midnight black-demigod inside. Her armored hooves slammed onto the ground, and her narrowed, teal eyes glared hard at the changeling queen.

Chrysalis blinked a few times before shifting her gaping mouth into an arrogant smile. "You needed to become Nightmare Moon to fight me? I am honored," she said with a bow.

"I give you one chance to surrender. Take it and I'll show mercy."

"Are you serious? The mare who wanted to bring eternal night and was, at one time, ready to kill her only sister wants to show mercy?" the bug queen scoffed. "I thought you were made of sterner stuff."

"That was a lifetime ago," Nightmare Moon countered.

"A wasted one then!"

The dark alicorn's charity was refused with a sudden blast of magic – one she easily avoided by quickly swapping to her intangible puff of purple smoke and then back to her normal form. The carrot stand far behind her didn't fare as well. Neither did the Queen's pride. She raised a brow and took a single caution step back. Perhaps it'd be a little more difficult to bring down this sister than she anticipated. Still, she had a few tricks up her sleeve.

Suddenly, Nightmare Moon shifted her gaze just left. A few aggressive changelings decided to take advantage of how distracted their enemies were and went after a frozen Twilight. Before they could grab her however, the lunar ruler squinted and blasted a massive stream of magic their way. The young princess threw up a desperate shield and waited for the beam to hit. When nothing happened, she opened her eyes and her ears caught behind her the sounds of agony. Five whimpering insects were laid out in a heap with one trying and failing to get back to his hooves. She dare not drop the shield yet though, instead turning her attention back to Nightmare Moon, unsure of what to expect next. Did she intend to hit her or was she actually trying to...help?

Nightmare Moon focused on Chrysalis once again. "Call off your army. Leave the others alone. This is between you and me."

With a perplexed blink, the Queen looked across the battlefield at the Elements. "You're defending the ponies who put a stop to your original plans too? Why? They're just as much your enemies as mine!"

"Like I said, that was a lifetime ago."

Chrysalis smirked. "And if I refuse?"

"Then things will not go pleasantly for you."

Through with talks, the shapeshifter shrieked and clicked in their foreign language. Half of those that were left spun toward Nightmare Moon while the rest continued their assault on her allies. Her attacks took off and swarmed at her, but instead of attempting to bring her down, they encircled the princess like a school of bloodthirsty sharks. The constant barrage of black insects across her field of vision heavily masked her friends' locations as well as Chrysalis changing into...something.

Nightmare Moon didn't seem worried about the pests; the others appeared to be a bigger concern to her. She barely saw any glimpses of them as the black, buzzing whirlwind spun about and took an occasional swat at her. A mere annoyance.

However, after a moment of being distracted and desperately searching for the Element Bearers, Chrysalis morphed out of her disguise – one of a simple drone – wrapped her limbs around her adversary and drove her fangs hard into her flesh. Nightmare Moon howled in pain and tried and tried to shake and claw her off but got nowhere fast.

An idea came to her. It was going to take a bit of strength and having fangs driven into her neck was sapping her energy pretty badly. Snarling, Nightmare Moon snagged onto the Queen's crooked horn. Her teeth dug in deeper, but it was never the lunar ruler's intention to try and simply pry her off. Instead, summoning what power she could, she launched herself into the sky, fifteen feet up, and with a powerful flap of her midnight wings, spun them both around, sending them rocketing to the ground.

Chrysalis immediately figured out what Nightmare Moon was up to, but she was unable to break away, instead finding herself violently crushed between the earth and a slowly bleeding princess. The dust that flew into the air upon impact sent most of the insectoid cyclone scattering. Shaking off the cobwebs, the moon goddess stumbled to her hooves and dabbed at her wound. Eh, could be worse. Hopefully she wasn't infected with any type of poison or something. Changeling physiology was still a bit of a mystery.

Either way, Chrysalis was down for a moment but certainly wouldn't stay out – and now she could see the others a lot better. Unfortunately, Pinkie needed a bit of assistance. She turned ethereal and took off.

Pinkie's six opponents weren't terribly intimidated by her boxing gloves. She wasn't going to be stinging like a bee either, especially against real bug-ponies. The first of the group moved in only for all of them to be flattened by a single beastly shoulder check. The least-stunned gathered his bearings and snarled at his attacker...and immediately ran away when the large midnight alicorn growled right back, her wings in full, intimidating display.

"Wow! Talk about a one-hit wonder!" Pinkie quipped. She put aside her humor once she remembered who was standing in front of her. Was Nightmare Moon even capable of laughing in a non-evil way?

"Are you alright?" the Mare in the Moon asked.

"Uh...yeah. I'm good." A beat passed. "How are you?"

"Better now. Stay close to your friends."

Pinkie nodded, allowing Nightmare Moon to check on the others. Rarity could use a quick helping hoof. Halfway there, however, green magic from several small horns grabbed her hind legs and halted her progress. They certainly were persistent.

"Good job, minions!" came from just above. Seemed their queen had recovered.

Her own jagged horn lit up and took over, swallowing Nightmare Moon and rendering her immobile. Chrysalis slammed the alicorn's snout into the dirt and decided to take her for a drag. A nearby coffee shop looked like a good target. Grinning maliciously, Chrysalis sped toward the store, practically shaking the princess' brain loose as she went. It wasn't quite enough though. She took immense pleasure in smashing the princess through one stand after another after another, leaving a trail of destruction in her wake. With only a few feet left to go before hitting the house, the queen slowed and swung her head around, launching Nightmare Moon at the wall. Just before she was to hit it, the green glow surrounding her dropped. Despite her best efforts, the dark princess couldn't completely shield herself and plowed hard into the plaster and wood. Most of the wall and half the roof collapsed on top of her, burying the mare. Chrysalis figured it wouldn't be enough to put her down for good, but hopefully it hurt...a lot.

Ever cautious, the queen backed away and slowly touched down, narrowing her eyes at the wreckage. The dust began to settle and there didn't seem to be any movement at all. A few bits of debris rolling down the pile of broken wall chunks was the only noise Chrysalis heard as her senses heightened in anticipation of any potential retaliation.

When nothing seemed to come, she took a few creeping steps forward against her better judgment. Did she actually do it? Did she really knock Nightmare Moon out?

Not according to the teal blast that suddenly clocked her in the chest.

As she flew back and landed in a crumpled heap, an eruption of magic sent the remnants of the storefront flying. Nightmare Moon stood, battered, bruised and breathing heavy.

Once again, however, something else drew her attention away. Rainbow Dash had taken to the air with several changelings chasing after her, one by one being swatted away. Their numbers, though shrinking, eventually caught up with her. One bugpony snagged onto a wing and twisted down on it with their full weight. Rainbow's scream as she started plummeting stole a gasp from Nightmare Moon's lips.

With fangs baring, the black princess charged hard, straight at the still-dazed metamorph. Seeing an angry alicorn, wings flared, barreling at her brought her somewhat out of her stupor. She struggled to light her horn and prepare some kind of last-second defense, but when Nightmare Moon vanished in a burst of magic a few feet in front of her, it left the queen desperately searching for her, fearing another nasty attack.

Several yards away, Nightmare Moon reappeared beside Rainbow Dash just as she hit the ground. Her three remaining attackers spun about in surprise and cringed at the towering mare. Even Rainbow was briefly taken aback. With a thought, she hoisted the changelings up and cracked their skulls together, instantly knocking them out.

"Let me look at that," the princess insisted, gently spreading the speedster's wing.

Rainbow winced at the pain, but fortunately it didn't look like anything was broken. Just a bad sprain. Nightmare Moon's horn activated, saturating her friend's injury with healing magics. After several seconds, Rainbow flapped her wings, good as new. The small, blue mare's eyes met with her medic's. It baffled her that the once-terrifying Mare in the Moon was helping her.

"How is it? Can you fly?"

"Errr, yeah. Thanks," Rainbow muttered. With a nod, Nightmare Moon raced off to help a struggling Applejack. "Did I just thank Nightmare Moon?"

While her enemy had been tending to the Wonderbolt, Chrysalis managed to get back to her hooves and come to her senses. Once she finally spotted Nightmare Moon, instead of charging straight back into the fight, she took a moment to watch her out of curiosity. This wasn't the first time she seemingly abandoned their little war to help her cheerleader squad. Why was she doing this? They could handle themselves, couldn't they? Her swarm had told her how viciously they fought in Canterlot, and they weren't even at each others' throats back then.

Did she genuinely care about her adversaries? Were they her adversaries anymore like she suggested? A bizarre but strangely, suddenly plausible notion came to mind and she sniffed at the air. Her eyes went wide. She mouth watered and she licked her lips.

A bigger target had never been painted on anyone. Grinning sadistically, Chrysalis focused her energies and launched a shot of concentrated blast of magic. It barely missed a few of her drones, but smashed Nightmare Moon hard in the back before she could reach the farmgirl, sending her tumbling into the gravel. It was a bit of a struggle, but the Mare in the Moon got to her hooves, the center of her back smoking for a moment.

Their eyes met. Still smiling, Chrysalis turned just to the right, aiming at Fluttershy. In an instant, another shot of magic flew, barely missing a pair of her soldiers. Just as it was to hit the normally timid pegasus, a beam of aquamarine knocked it harmlessly off course.

That only encouraged the mad queen. Another blast came for Rarity, then Pinkie Pie, Applejack, and another for Nightmare Moon's face. All but the last were redirected. Instead, magic caught magic, Chrysalis' energies hovering mere inches from the princess' face. That could have gone worse. With the immediate threat subdued, Nightmare Moon simply sidestepped and let the beam fly past.

Chrysalis repeated her attacks with even more aggression, sending the threat of death to each of her enemies multiple times. Twilight was the only one who Nightmare Moon had little worry for; the young alicorn blinked out of the way more than once, letting a few changelings take the intended hits, and erected her own barrier for the rest. Knocking away so many volleys was beginning to take its toll on the lunar ruler.

It would only get worse. While Nightmare Moon was distracted, a piece of the demolished wall suddenly fell a few feet to her left. She barely had a second to look up and see the rest of it on its way onto the battlefield, intent on crushing anything in its way.

Summoning as much strength as she could as fast as she could, the princess fired a jet-black beam at her rival. Chrysalis ducked out of the way at the last second, but it gave Nightmare Moon just enough time to catch everything one piece at a time and toss it away. The queen righted herself and lit her horn again, prompting a defensive position. Strangely, nothing came for several seconds.

"Behind you!" Rarity suddenly yelled as she was tackled.

A nearby, uprooted tree, surrounded in a green aura, was floating overhead and ready to smash the black alicorn. As it dove at its intended target, a lavender slice of magic split the tree in twain as Nightmare Moon caught the leafy weapon. Twilight received a grateful nod and resumed attacking the dwindling changeling numbers. Focusing, Nightmare Moon turned the tree into a flock of birds that fluttered away.

Such a spell forced her to catch her breath. Transmogrification on something so large was never easy. It certainly didn't help that she was already exerting herself like crazy trying to protect her friends. It got even worse when Applejack's cart suddenly landed square on top of her.

Lifting debris off without the use of magic seemed like a feat unto itself, but Nightmare Moon was hurt and nearly spent. With a single, exhausting flap of her wings, she pried herself out from under the woodpile and landed just beyond it, more scrapes and cuts all over. She had no time to relax, however, as a shrieking changeling queen barreled right at her.

There was no time to mount a defense. Chrysalis slammed hard into Nightmare Moon, sending them both rolling through the dirt. The two swatted and clawed at each other with their forelimbs as they fought for control, but eventually, Chrysalis came out on top and managed to pin her enemy down. With a sinister laugh, she lit up her jagged horn, held the princess' head in place and began consuming her strength, much to her friend's horror. Chrysalis was right! She really did care for them!

From the corners of her eyes, Chrysalis noticed the Elements breaking free from their fights one by one and making a beeline for them, but it only halted her meal momentarily. Before they could lay a hoof on her, she managed to grab the six mares and freeze them in place. The increase in strength was already evident, even after only a few seconds; she held them all off and continued feeding unabated.

Nightmare Moon could feel her energies rapidly being depleted, and she didn't have nearly the strength to fight back. But there was one thing she could do. She looked straight into the queen's eyes and smiled arrogantly. Chrysalis blinked but only doubled down feasting. The fool was losing her mind! With the last bits of strength she could muster, Nightmare Moon's body suddenly glowed and forced the last of her spirit down Chrysalis' throat, reverting her back into Princess Luna.

It was enough to finally get the shapeshifter off her, but the damage was beyond done. The queen's heart raced as the insane amount of power coursed through her. Her lungs nearly burst as she started to hyperventilate and snarl through her teeth. Eventually, she managed to calm down.

Through exhausted eyes, Luna managed to look up and see sparks of lightning flying off a wispy green mane that now flowed on its own. Chrysalis looked upon her victim with a wide, fanged grin. Her laugh pierced the air.

Comments

[Hillbe]

"And then a giant purple hand of a dragon who was the size of a large house placed his index claw against his thumb and with a mighty flick launched the bug queen into orbit..."

What?

Please Twilight dear let my Spikey Wikey have this one.

thanks Rarity

where did that pregnant changeling go?

Garble has her now...