Jailbreak
With a resounding roar that echoed through the dilapidated castle, the dragon inhaled, the licks of flame he was preparing visible to everyone in the room.
"Scatter!" Crescent shouted, only to be overridden half a second later.
"Nay, converge!" the alicorn shouted, clearing the ring of statues with a single wing-assisted leap and landing before them all. His horn ignited like a miniature sun just as the dragon exhaled.
Flames washed over the group, passing over the statues harmlessly and leaving the growth all around them blackened and scorched. The guards were unharmed however, looking up to see Cimmerian holding up a radiant shield . Turning to the others, horn still blazing with light as the dragon smashed a massive claw against the bubble, he shouted out orders.
"Begin the preparations! Zelus, you shall prepare the anchor as we have previously instructed. We shall deal with the dragon!"
"Please be careful, he's always been nice, Ah don't know why he'd do this!" Apple Bloom pleaded, drawing a nod of acknowledgement from the stallion.
"We shall endeavor to end this without mortal wounds inflicted upon the dragon. See to your duties." With that the dark alicorn released the shield in a massive shockwave, forcing the dragon off balance, Seeking to capitalize on the opening, Tedicae launched himself from his position, the floor shattering under the force of her takeoff. The alicorn struck the dragon in the chest, carrying both combatants out of the room and out of the sight of the guards.
"You heard him, clear an area for me. Let's go!" Zelus shouted at the other guards, even Apple Bloom doing her best to clear an area for the anchor. As soon as the smallest area was cleared, the queen began scrawling on the ground with her chalk, several pieces floating about her and beginning the intricate rune that would allow an easier and safer teleport.
"What was that?" a griffon asked, the thestral beside him drawing a blade and cautiously moving towards the empty doorway to the left of the entryway.
"There's a battle going on, fool, what do you think-" the queen's retort died quickly, her focus turning to the far hall that the thestral was approaching. She yanked the pony back, levitating the chalk to the Apple Bloom and Trixie.
"Take care of the anchor. Trixie knows what we need, ask her for any corrections or questions you may have. I'll take care of this."
Just as the others were about to ask what she was talking about, a single changeling drone walked slowly out of the doorway, its eyes unseeing and empty as it approached the group. Zelus struck it with a quick blow, knocking it aside even as two more stepped into the light. With a roar of challenge, the shape shifter waded into the hallway, bulldozing dozens of the slow-moving drones that were making their way to the throne room. She couldn't get all of them, not without stopping and losing her momentum, but at the very least the griffons and thestrals would only be left with a fraction of the tide to contend with. She followed the stream of bodies upriver for what felt like an hour, the constant impact of chitin hooves on chitin plates, the cracks of the bodies striking the walls or each other, or her own hooves landing heavily on the stone floors being the only sounds that reached her ears. There were so many; where were they all coming from? What supplied them with the emotion to continue functioning?
Zelus snarled again, this time more in frustration than actual anger. She pulled a nearby support pillar down in front of the tide, crushing a few drones and causing the rest to butt their heads against it mindlessly. Eventually the press of bodies would flow over the obstruction, but it would buy her time, time to find the source. Grabbing a single drone in her aura, she flew to the middle of the room, her face taking the expression of a wordless scream as she ripped into the drones mostly empty mind. She was already destroying the things left and right, she'd seen them move. There was no intellect here, no sentience behind their eyes. She tracked the link back to its source, and nearly shouted in triumph when she felt it. It was a sensation she'd feared for years, a sensation that had driven her and her hive from their land; an array crystal was nearby, holding them and forcing these half-dead drones on an endless march to their own slow death-march.
Flying over the still flowing river of bodies, she stopped only long enough to pull down a few more pillars, doing everything she could to give the others just a little more time. After the fourth hallway, she started noticing the changelings' numbers thinning, though they were coming from several directions at this point.
'There's so many, they can't even sleep in the same room, or in the same hive-chamber. If we had the time, I'd suggest pulling back. The effort to get to the throne room and then return to their chambers would likely kill most of them. The Mad Queen won't allow a second chance at this though; she'll post actual soldiers here, or reinforce the hive by feeding it criminals or malcontents.'
Following the ever-thickening layer of black material plastered over the halls, Zelus continued to the heart of the castle's hive. She winced as an echoing crash reached her from the distance, a reminder that she wasn't the only one looking to help free the mares from their prison. A flash of rage ahead of her and to her left brought her to a sudden stop, pulling back and moving to the ceiling just as an alicorn was thrown through the castle walls. A rampaging dragon burst through the walls in hot pursuit, uncaring of the changeling drones that were trampled or crushed by his passing or the falling of stone and lumber. The queen fought her urge to follow, knowing she had her own part to play at the moment. If she could find the source of the changelings, she may be able to make it easier on the griffons and thestrals, or possibly turn the drones against the dragon.
With a renewed sense of urgency, Zelus continued down the halls, still pulling down what few remaining supports she could find along the way. A few sections of the ceiling even fell, causing even more damage to the tide as it passed by, but it was like holding a hoof on a gushing wound. The drones still came, still moved to the throne room.
She finally found it in a dead end, a tattered bed with a bloated queen sitting in the corner of the room laying an egg every now and again, the eggs being carried off by the first flying drones she'd witnessed all day. The mare wasn't what held Zelus' attention though, it was the pile of gold and jewels that sat on the other side of the large room. At the top of the pile sat a large crystal, impossibly perfect in its cut and clarity. Amid all the facets of the crystal though, there were runes and arrays, all glowing with the green pulse of changeling magic; the pulsing power of the link.
With a scream of rage, the changeling queen lauched herself at the crystal, even as she felt it pushing into her mind, attempting to subdue her as it had so many others. She was protected, though; she was already linked to others. She was already in a hive. She would not betray her sister, nor those who saved her from death. She struck it again, a slight crack appearing on its surface, the arrays in the connected facets dimming and sputtering slightly. Seeing her assault produce an effect, she struck again, and again, and again. Each strike punctuated by a shout, a scream, an oath, a promise to destroy the offense against the one thing her species held sacred.
The link was hers, was theirs, it was for changelings to communicate with others of their hive, it was the assurance that they were not alone, that their mother watched them, that their queen knew of their actions, that her hatchlings were alive and well. This abomination twisted that link, turning queen and drone alike into mindless creatures that existed for the purpose of serving one mare. Standing before such a crystal array, she finally had a target. Her mother, her hive, the years in the jungles evading pony patrols and feeding on what little emotion they could find, until they, she and Lestidae, were finally reduced to cycling what little emotion they'd gathered as they fled into the deepest parts of the jungle. Weeks of hunger, months of fear, years of abandoning her hatchlings to a quick death of starvation and predators so that they wouldn't link with her or be captured by the ponies, several instances of her and Lestidae destroying their own eggs to prevent the hatchlings from bringing their presence to the attention of the tracking arrays. It all came back to her, all of it having a target that floated lazily before her eyes as if taunting her.
'I'm the reason your mother is in the shape of that queen behind you,' it said. 'I'm the reason you had no hive of your own. I'm the reason only a few of your mother's hive still live today. Submit, and be made to serve. Submit, and become like the queen on the bed behind you.'
With a final scream of rage, she drove a blade blazing with her own magic deep into the crystal, a large crack going down the entirety of the gem. With a sob, she twisted it, feeling its power failing even as the crystal separated into two sections, falling lazily down to the pile of treasure. She beat it, but its promises lingered in her mind. Purpose, unity. A single hive for a single purpose. She'd see her mother, they'd both work for the master's purpose, seeing the world united under their banner. Her children would be numerous as the stars in the sky, bringing order to the world. So many children, all looking to her...
...with empty, mindless eyes.
With another sob, the queen picked up her blade, putting it away and stumbling off the shifting pile of gold. She tripped, landing heavily on her side, breathing heavily as pained tears fell from her eyes. She'd wanted to, it made her want to listen so badly. It called to her instincts, instincts she felt even now pulling at her as her newest batch of eggs shifted inside of her. She would need to find a place to lay them soon. Luckily they'd foreseen this, and she and Pandinus had even managed to add a few chambers in the mare's chitin armor that could hold eggs in an emergency. That being said, it would be a large drain on her energy, feeding the eggs as well as protecting her sister's mate.
A muffled chuckle drew her attention to the bed, the bloated queen looking at her with tired, unseeing eyes.
"It was beautiful, wasn't it? What it showed you, what it told you, what it promised you?" she asked, her eyes unable to focus on Zelus. "It's all a lie, though. There is no peace, they're not your children once they're under the control of the array. They're another spear for her army, another arrow even, as at least a spear is usually recovered and repaired after it is thrown. She doesn't even give the, the proper food to maintain the numbers she demands, just leaves those who have already hatched to die slowly. I have to take from them, take what little food they scrounge up to survive, letting them wither away to keep myself going."
The changeling's abdomen shifted, her dry chuckles causing her bloated body to jiggle with her dark amusement.
"I didn't even get a choice, you know. I couldn't chose to stop laying, I couldn't let them keep the emotions they stole. I took it all, and they'd all wither away, most not even intelligent enough to realize they were alive in the first place."
Zelus picked herself up off the ground, carefully approaching the other queen even as the drones stood about the room, many collapsing from exhaustion, nothing forcing them to keep moving anymore. She walked up to the newly freed queen, and lifted other mare's head to meet her own.
"It's over. I, I promise. My sister and her hive, our hive, won't let the pony queen keep them all. You, your retention of your mind gives me hope. Maybe my mother is still herself underneath the mindless broodmare she's been turned into."
"It's a possibility, though my own survival has been, it's mostly been thanks to him. I heard something, saw him fighting something. You may want to be careful, dear. An enraged dragon is not something you want to fight," the weak queen said, her eyes squinting as she attempted to focus on the mare before her. "How, how are you so, so brilliant? A few scuffs, a few scratches on the chitin, but no breaks. All the queens had some sort of chips and cracks before this happened. It should be, it should be so much worse now."
"Pandinus has a mate, an alicorn. He and his followers feed our hive freely. We work to keep them safe, help them with construction, defense, foraging, whatever they need. In return, they don't fear us, we don't have to kidnap to keep strong. They, Pandinus and Cimmerian had a fountain of love in the middle of their temple's courtyard; it was beautiful. I wish I could show you, I...I'd link with you if I could, but I don't think we could move you like this," Zelus trailed off, waving her hoof at the queen's body.
The nameless queen looked across the room, Zelus tracking her eyes to a single egg separated from the others. The mobile queen approached it, testing it through the link.
"It's empty."
"The daughter it was to carry, there was not enough emotion to preserve both of our minds. I, I had to let her go, the Master-Link wouldn't allow me to destroy myself to preserve her. Thus the egg went dormant, and my daughter's mind faded. The body is still there though. I, I know it may seem strange, but will you help me?"
Eyes widening in realization of what the mare intended, Zelus trotted over to the egg, lifting it in her aura and bringing it to the immobile queen. The mare gave her a grateful smile, her own horn beginning to sputter weakly as she focused on the transfer.
"Thank you. I, I know it isn't much at this point, but I swear by my magic and my life, I will serve you until my death. Please, just don't leave me here to be retaken. I don't know if I would survive that link again."
Zelus touched her own horn to the shape shifter's, the glow given off by both of them solidifying as Zelus took over powering the transfer. Eventually the light in the queen's eyes faded, and the egg cracked. A weak nymph pulled itself out of the egg, stumbling awkwardly as it took its first steps in years. Zelus carefully lifted the nymph with her forelegs, the eyes staring at her with a mixture of fear and hope. With a deep breath the guardian queen touched her horn to the reborn queen's own horn, pulling the weaker mare into her own hive's link. Seeing the small hatchling shuddering from the contact with other minds she smiled, levitating the shaking nymph over her back. A plate shifted on her back, revealing a chamber she was planning on holding eggs in if she needed to. She set the queen inside, closing the chamber and feeling the gratitude of the mare flowing over the link even as she fell asleep to the faint droning of voices over her new connection to a hive.
"Every queen is one step farther from extinction." Zelus repeated her sisters words, walking up to the now empty shell that even now continued to lay eggs. With a grim expression, she drew a large blade, plunging it into the bloated form that sat on the bed before her. A simple ravenous-fire spell finished the job, ensuring the body would not be used as a broodmare again; it was beyond recovery.
'Queen Zelus, Trixie believes we are finished with the anchoring array. What was that other voice T-I heard?' Trixie called to her, snapping the queen out of her reverie. A quick burst of images explained the situation, and she felt as much as heard the mare sigh over the link.
'I suppose I understand. If you'd given me the choice, i'd likely have taken that solution as well, though I didn't realize a queen could do that.'
'Normally it's not something we do, as it requires swapping with a daughter, or destroying a proto-queen's mind to leave a viable shell for such a transfer. If you messed up badly enough to need such a transfer, you deserved the death you faced,' Zelus responded. 'Times have changed though. Not only does this win us another queen, she will no longer aide the Mad Queen in providing more troops. How are you all holding up?'
'The drones all went catatonic a bit ago, though a few started moving again, trying to bite the guards. They've been reaquired by another array I think, but the signal is pretty weak. Like a true drone being remotely controlled by a queen from a long distance. Why does Trixie know of this?'
'My knowledge is yours, my drone. Just as yours is mine. We pull from each other in times of fear or danger. The knowledge will pass, as you haven't truly learned it, but eventually you may be able to access such things with a thought. That is why the hive is a family. There are no secrets among your brothers and sisters. There is only the things we broadcast, and those we do not broadcast. Warn the others; I'll be returning from the hallways shortly.'
Receiving a nervous affirmative from the blue unicorn, the queen took a swig of the special jar her sister had gifted her, allowing some of the emotion to flow to her newest sister. It also rejuvenated her, causing her muscles to relax as fresh energy flowed into them. Spreading her large wings, the queen took off to the throne room once more, eager to be out of the chamber housing the array. Even now, she could hear the faintest of echoes from it, and the dark promises it tempted her with. The farther she was from it, the better she would feel.
<-(0)->
"Not steal, Mine!" The dragon shouted, unleashing another torrent of fire at the alicorn. The dark stallion/mare dodged easily, firing shot after shot of magic from her bow, but no individual bolt having the power to penetrate the creatures hide. Growling in frustration, Luna launched a few scraps of the crumbling castle at the beast, feeling each brick as it broke against the scaly intruder as a strike against her own heart. This was her home, no matter its condition, and here she was throwing pieces of it at this monstrosity. Were it not for that mare, and this inkling she had in the back of her mind, she would have already started trying to teleport a rock into the beasts brain and been done with it. The scales of a dragon tended to mess with teleportation spells, and the rocks she and her sister tried using in the past often ended up in the beasts eyes or skull, only enraging them further.
"Come, welp, thou believes thine strength is a match for our own? We shall teach thee otherwise!"
With a shout, she launched herself in a sweeping pass, her blades drawing a long gash despite the thickness of the scales. Blood flowed form the wounds for a few moments before a fiery glow sealed the wound, leaving the dark alicorn gaping in shock. Too stunned by the ineffectiveness of her enchanted blades to react, she was struck by the dragons tail. Once more Tuna sent through several walls, vaguely noting the strange black mare she'd seen in the throne room among her guards pressing against a small tide of similar creatures. She pushed the rubble away with a wince, feeling a few dents in her armor as a result of the powerful strike.
"An Arcano-Drake. It had to be an adolescent Arcano-Drake guarding its hoard. Wonderful," Lunacae muttered, using a burst of magic to knock the dents out of her armor. A voice called to her, a faint whisper that echoed in her ears, and she took up a chunk of wood, stripping it into a bolt with a sharp point on the end. She settled it on her bow even as the dragon stormed through the holes after her, waiting for the right chance. Seeing her before him, the drake inhaled, a powerful heat visible deep in his gullet even from across the room. She loosed the bolt as the voice suggested, striking the drakes uvula with a splinter that was enchanted by her bow, holding its form even in the intense heat.
The drake choked, sputtering and hacking as it struggled to remove the splinter from deep inside its throat. Eventually it spewed another gout of fire at no particular target. The splinter was vaporized and the irritation removed, though it still spat out a small amount of burning blood. Looking about the room, it failed to see the panting mare behind a support pillar. With a mighty shove, the blue s-mare knocked over the granite support pillar, the whole thing collapsing on the drakes head and knocking him senseless.
"Huzzah! Victory for Equestria!" the alicorn shouted, before a foreboding rumble rocked the large room. Looking up, the mare blanched as the rest of the ceiling collapsed.
"Perhaps we should have evacuated instead of celebrating prematurely." Luna said, even as a particularly large boulder landed on the armored pony.
<-(0)->
"We're ready." Zelus said, inspecting the anchor for the sixth time. It wouldn't take much to move the mares, but she didn't want to start without the alicorn's presence. Unless he stopped by and said otherwise, she'd wait for him. Looking at the slowly sinking sun, she shook her head. It was past noon now, they couldn't wait forever. She took another sip of her stash, the love causing her eyes to tint slightly as the power flooded her mind. The proto queen hiding safely under her plates shuddered as the smallest amounts of love trickled into her body through the link. It was such a small amount, and yet it was more than she'd tasted in years. Zelus had question for her, but the queen was just not in any condition to field them.
Her memories were broken and spotty, even her name lost to her. She called herself Heart, as she'd been claimed by the dragon as the heart of his hoard years ago. Memories of the queen speaking to him, the only sapient being near the drake for years that he didn't try to run off. He held a claw over her form, the resistance of his scales actually interfering with the array enough to allow her some mental clarity. He offered her what little emotion he could, keeping her going while she spoke to him, her voice calling him back from madness time and again. It was the symbiosis that Pandinus and Cimmerian had spoken of and had been in effect for years. It left Zelus boggling, and even in her near-hibernation inside Zelus' shell, the larger queen could feel Heart's hope that the drake survived the battle with the alicorn.
"Someone's coming," Crescent muttered, the group preparing to repel another wave of mindless drones as they'd done several times before. Instead of drones though, and instead of through the broken doorway, a shape stumbled in from the main doors, an armored alicorn stumbling in with a purple form dragging behind it, several ropes keeping the insensate drake attached to the silvered armor.
Zelus galloped over to the stallion, grasping his head between her hooves and staring into his unfocused eyes. She lit her horn, a small ball of magic floating before the alicorn's eyes as she checked them.
Cimmerian chuckled as he watched the glow moving ahead of him.
"Has anybody told you your magic ball is pretty, Zelly?"
"How badly did you get hit?" She asked him, visually inspecting the stallion and cringing at the blood and rents in the armor. The drake didn't appear much better off, a simple cloth wrapped around his muzzle and eyes as well as several sloppy bandages applied to the purple dragon's body. Cimmerian's body wasn't much better off, covered in scratches and bruises, even his horn had a few chips and cracks along the length.
Shaking her head in irritation, she led him carefully to the anchor.
"Are you still capable of using the teleport spell?"
"The spell," he repeated carefully, his face scrunching up in concentration before his eyes lit up in recognition. "The teleport spell, the spell for teleporting the mares, the spell specifically created for teleporting several objects that we're using to move the elements out of the trap-arrays... that spell?"
"Yes, that spell!"
"Got it right here," he answered, tapping his head before wincing in pain. Walking up to the anchor with the help of the queen, he stumbled before settling down and igniting his horn, the sputtering from the focus drawing a scowl from the stallion.
"I'll provide the power, you just use the spell," Zelus told him, touching her horn to his and igniting her own aura. The alicorn giggled at the contact, rubbing his horn against the queen's in a way that had Trixie and Apple Bloom blushing before pushing the spell forward.
With a blinding flash of light, the statues that were in the center of the room disappeared, reappearing a moment later on the circles that had been scratched into the floor at the front of the room. The arrays flared and sputtered, the traps attempting to activate an destroy the occupants of the other parts of the array holding the elements. The magic flashed and flared, finally sputtering out uselessly as the power ran out, absorbed into the still power-hungry wards on the holding cells on either side of the room. The white and black rooms faded, the black one showing a burned Celestia while the white room held a smoking Luna. Both alicorns took uneasy steps, looking around the room and hearing the sounds of nature for the first time in decades. Both their eyes soon tracked over to the only major source of noise in the room, the small group that had managed to pull this off.
Zelus, upon seeing the unfocused look on the dark alicorn's eyes, began shouting orders.
"Sapphire, check the prisons for secondary traps before entering, then get the alicorns over here. We're not going to have much more time. We need to move. Raymond, you and Durin get ready. You two are each going to be carrying an element. I'll take the alicorn's, Cimmerian will take the drake. Cimmerian, focus!"
At her shout, the stallion blinked, looking back to her from the wall he was staring at.
"The other spell, you remember it? The anti-petrification spell. You need to use it, now!"
The stallion stumbled over to the center of the anchor, his horn sputtering slightly before flaring once more. The magic flowed down the anchor, using the already existing flows to spread the spell to the petrified mares. As the light faded, Zelus heard several bodies hitting the ground, followed by a few pained groans. The voices included the stallion, who now cradled his head in his hooves, likely to stave off an encroaching migraine. The queen growled in irritation. Casting with a concussion was the surest way to make things worse, but they didn't have time to relax.
"There were a few stunning spell-traps set up, but nothing Trixie couldn't spot." Trixie shouted, carrying Luna even as Apple Bloom approached with Celestia.
"The, the girls, are they alright?" Luna croaked, sliding off the hybrid mare's back.
"We'll check them later, we have to move before," Zelus' statement was cut off by an echoing crack, a smoking purple alicorn shaking off the effects of a long-range teleport standing near the throne. Before the Mad Queen could recover, Zelus rushed her, delivering a vicious double-hoof buck and sending the possessed alicorn crashing through the windows behind the throne.
"We are out of time, let's go!" Zelus shouted.
Luna shook her head, standing up and moving towards the alicorn stallion.
"She'll track you down, and all of this will be for nothing. I will delay her. Take the others and leave, Zelus."
"She'll kill you, are you insane? Cimmerian, tell her she's nuts. You know her better than I do, talk to her."
"Unfortunately, I do know her, Zelly. Give me the jar," Cimmerian responded, taking Luna into an unsteady hug. He took the love in his aura, popping the cork and floating it to Luna.
"Focus on your sister, on your subjects, on your love for them ,and drink it slowly. It will help, it's all the help I can give you right now. I'm sorry."
"Protect my sister, and the girls, and I will never demand anything from you, Cimmerian, no matter what I experience," the small alicorn answered, taking a few lip sips of the love. Her eyes flashed with energy at each gulp, her feathers regaining a shine and her singed and matted fur returning to its pristine condition before their eyes.
"Tia can't do this again, not after being so close to freedom. Her mind would break. Keep my sister safe, Theodore. I will wait for you for as long as it takes. I know you can win against her. My experiences in life, with you especially, have taught me to hold onto hope. I will wait until time itself ends if I must."
The dark alicorn smiled lovingly at his mentor, nuzzling her even as he hobbled over to the others. Apple Bloom had her sister on her back, Trixie was carrying Rarity, Zelus had Celestia, and Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy were secured to the back of the griffons. None of the bearers spoke, though he could see Apple Bloom whispering reassurances over her should at the sobbing orange mare. Even Trixie was speaking quietly, while the griffons stoically gathered what supplies they could into their talons, unable to secure it to their backs properly. With a quick but painful flash of magic, Cimmerian pulled the drake onto his back and lashed him down, tying the dragon onto the armor. He took one last look at Luna, and seeing her smiling warmly at him, mouthed the word 'promise' while marking an X across his barrel with a hoof. The alicorn nodded before turning back to the window. Gathering her still recovering power to enact what she knew was likely an act in futility.
The group took off leaving Luna by herself as the Mad Queen returned through the shattered window. It didn't matter though. Tia would be safe, her sister would be cared for as Cadance was.
"This is it?" the mare shouted in rage. "You're supposed to defeat me? Or did they abandon you? Abandon you to a fate worse than death in their cowardice?"
"I chose this, Nightmare. I do this for the mares who freed me, who may one day find the way to free your host. I do this for the sister I love, and for the male who has given me hope when I had none. Why do you fight? To destroy? A pony's magic is strongest when they fight for what they believe in, for those they love. I know you can't beat me, and I know I don't have the endurance to beat you. But you will not harm them this day."
The purple mare's eyes narrowed in fury, stalking up to the smaller alicorn with her lavender aura blazing.
"You knew what would happen if they stayed. Clever, but it will not save you. You're mine now, Luna, your escape was for nothing!"
Allowing her own aura to ignite and push back the possessed mare, Luna stood her ground.
"Your soldiers are the threat. Tia told me about the soldiers she trained after my fall. She taught them how to defeat an alicorn, in case she went mad as I did. She made certain this land was protected from everything, including herself. They have the means to disable us alicorns, to incapacitate our friend, as well as capture queens and drones. In fact, they're already approaching, aren't they Nightmare? It's too bad they won't find them. Even you can't navigate the Everfree Forest freely. This day goes down as a victory for us, no matter what you and yours may do to me."
The Mad Queen circled the blue alicorn like a shark, growling and gnashing her teeth but unable to get closer with the flaring of Luna's aura. Seeing the opportunity, Luna launched several of Cimmerian's own spellblades, the explosions tearing up the nightmare's previous location as she teleported across the room.
"Trixie was with them, Twilight. Our friend told me his changeling ally detected her, and they disconnected her from the hive and connected the mare to her own. Even she wishes for your freedom, if only so that she can lecture you on the hypocrisy of falling for dark magic after complaining about her own fall."
With a scream of rage the purple mare launched a powerful burst of magic at Luna, pushing the smaller alicorn back as her aura sputtered against the raw magic. The love was powerful, but it was still a single bandage on decades of neglect and starvation. With a cry of pain, Luna's aura collapsed and she was thrown against the far wall, even as the impacts of several sets of hooves on the stone floors reached her ears.
"Take her to the prison, make sure she's properly secured. Where's my communication crystal?" Luna heard the mare shout even as her vision blurred.
"Have you launched the attack yet?"
A voice answered, sputtering with static every now and again.
"No, your highness, we've experienced a few issues with unexpected storms. We believe pegasi in the area are the cause, as they're moving directly against our position. We'll be close enough by tomorrow night at the latest."
"Launch the attack now, dammit!" the mare screamed. "Launch the drones and return to Equestria. We don't have time for that, the minotaurs are moving on us even now. I want you ready to move out again by next week for your next campaign!"
"Y-your highness, it will take at least a week to get back if we don't run into any bad weather, it's-"
"Get back in a week, or don't bother returning at all!"
Luna heard the click as the communication was cut, and felt a suppressor being fitted to her horn. After that, the world went dark.
<-(0)->
The group rushed through the forest on hoof, the griffons abandoning most of their supplies as they couldn't run and carry them at the same time. It would make the trip ahead brutal as hell, but between capture and dealing with hunger and the cold, everyone knew they at least stood a chance against the elements. A royal guard managed to catch up to the group, landing ahead of them and slightly to the left and shouting at them to halt, only to scream in pain and fear as, as something grabbed him and dragged him from sight. The alicorn didn't even stop to look though, urging the group ahead, urging them to greater speeds until they were clear of the forest and the dangers within, both natural and Equestrian.
Another scream cut off suddenly from the north, and the mares attached to his guards whimpered in fear and regret at the sudden end of another pony's life.
"This way travelers of the Everfree!" a voice shouted out to them, drawing Cimmerian's gaze. "Follow me, hurry and flee!"
Without a second thought the group charged after the zebra, the mare leading them through several patches of brush that Cimmerian would have avoided altogether before leading them to a yawning cave. Not hesitating in the slightest, the witch of the everfree dove into the cavern, a loud splash sounding as she struck water below. The group followed, several horns lighting up to provide light and allowing the flyers to land on the far bank without even touching water.
"Ptoo, next time, Trixie asks that somepony warns her before asking her to make a dive with another pony strapped to her back."
A squeak of fear escaped several of the ponies, and even a griffon as the light above them suddenly cut out. Breathing heavily, the group gathered back up and looked to the panting form of Zecora for further instruction.
"The Everfree guards those who aid it with fervor. You freed the elements, and thus have found its favor. We must move on though, we mustn't tarry. As the will of the forest is that of a creature with whims most arbitrary."
The weary group picked themselves back up and moved on, following their striped guide through the cave by the light of magic and torch. It would be along road back, but Cimmerian smiled despite his pain and exhaustion, sideling up to Zelus and giving her passenger a nuzzle.
"I told you we'd get you out, Tia."
"M-my sister. Luna stayed. Why, why did you let her?" Celestia wheezed out, looking at the stallion with teary eyes.
"We know you waited for us, for her for a millennia, Tia. We both love you, and would gladly spend eternity in torment for the assurance of your safety. What's a few months to a year to be certain you'll be well cared for?" Cimmerian answered easily, a sad smile on his face.
Zelus for her part was silent, pushing through the link to her sister. After allowing her magic to boost it sufficiently, she managed to get a single word to Pandinus across the distance.
'Success'
<-(0)->
On the deck of the Equestrian navel ship, the commander stepped out into the raging storm. He shouted to the crew, desperately trying to be heard over the howling winds.
"Release the drones on the programmed route, we make back to port now! Alert all hooves, we are moving out the second our payload's cleared ship!"
There was a great thundering buzz echoing through the storm, the burning glow of hungry eyes as they turned to the distant shore. Whether or not the drones would succeed or not, the commander didn't care. The moment the last drone was clear, they crew began preparing to sail home. Their queen had spoken, and the stallion knew better than most that to argue with her was suicide. He'd watch his calendar. If it went badly, or they wouldn't make it, well, there were other things to do, other ways to make a living. He'd have to explain that to the crew as well, of course, but if he had to tell them of those he'd seen that had failed her, so be it. He had no intention of ending up like one of those things.
Stats
Page generated in 0.043 seconds
Total duration
1,030 users online
2,260,949 hits today, 2,054,621 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
Oh, I just realized I broke 300k!
*confetti*
6858268 Pfft, good. To all that.
And it begins 2: electric bugaloo
Once more Tuna sent through several walls,
Tuna? :P ~Snickers~
Poor luna...
was that a Kronk quote?
Correction: Recover alicorn of Day and Sun- partial success...and Luna isn't dead yet...
6859892
*Eats confetti*
Next chapter:
6859976 Oh yeaaaaaah!
6859892 Congrats! *spins noisemakers*
Damn! They didn't manage to complete 2 of the optional objectives.
Well, at least they managed to recover several near dead Heroic Marines and a low health behemoth-class battle cruiser and a low health Thor?
I'm not sure if any character can be classed as Heroic Battlecruiser...There doesn't seem to be anyone strong enough for that.
Alrighty, then. Onto the defense mission.
6859892 Psssth, who cares about 300k? Talk to me when you've broken 9000!
...
What's that? 300k is more than 9000? Well, never mind then... I'll just be over here... in the shame corner...
6857932
Fair enough.
Really bad score. They should have at least have an A rank. Ted must take lessons from Doomguy.
cdn.meme.am/instances/500x/36049374.jpg
cdn.meme.am/instances/500x/36049571.jpg
That was great.
Out of curiosity why is chalk scrawled in the shape of symbols able to help in a teleport? Is the chalk made of ground up unicorn horns? Or is it the symbols that help and chalk is just easy to use? Is the chalk pink? If symbols are what help magic does that mean performing magic in a library is extremely dangerous? Or does the chalk symbols help with positioning like a guide or blueprint?
TL;DR chalk confuses my little monkey brain.
Things are finally heating up! WOOO!!! :D
the entire time i read this chapter, i was leaning forward, and my heart thundered
Blah, Luna be being dumb.
Her last stand was not even worth the few minutes distraction it was.
They might as well have carried her with them and bombed the ruins.
Nightmare Books sure as hell wasn't going to chase them into Everfree herself...
And her "alicorn hunters" are worth crap to a PO'ed eldrich biome.
I get that there is an army chasing them just out of visual range, but leaving Luna was a waste.
Now she is going come back as Super Cyborg Mecha Luna MK2, the Nightmare's brain bleached champion.
At least we now get the baneling rush... after the Temple and its allies initiated a full turtle...
And they found a mind wiped broodqueen who is now a newborn nymph, and thus of little current strategic value...
I enjoyed this, but it was kind of a mess, too many jumps between characters. It got confusing.
Excellent chapter. I had to struggle to identify where the quote was from but it rang a bell at once. There were a lot of typos, largely due to some kind of apostrophe disaster—dare I say, apostrolypse?—in the second half.
This is ... awkward, to say the least. Perhaps "to their own slow death", or "on an endless death-march" or "on a slow, endless death-march"?
aid
bolt had the power
creature's
whelp
(and, I think, "believe")
beast's
Either "and be done" or rephrase to "she would have already teleported a rock into the beast's brain and been done with it."
beast's
from
dragon's
Either "went" or "was sent"
drake's
drake's
questions
alicorns
them, and
naval ... OR this could be the S.S. Belly Button.
6860223 I would be very pissed and sad if something like that were to happen to Luna. PLS Reykan no.
Nooo! Luna
Five Elements recovered, along with their Bearers, one dragon removed from insanity, one new queen-level Changeling linked to the Temple Hive, one Solar Matron rescued, one Hive Array destroyed, one possessed purple alicorn pissed the f
off... all in all, I'd say a pretty successful mission, even if Lulu opted to stay behind as a decoy. However, given Luna's current condition, to stay behind and face Nightmare Sparkle....
Relevant lines are from 8:29 to 8:42
All i thought of at this point of time...
Luna is filled with DETERMINATION!
6860130 agreed
Earth has legends about magic for a reason. The swap spell worked, after all. Maybe, the spell awakened the slumbering gods of yore. I vote that an angel was reassigned from the front ( AKA Fighting off invaders from the void and other dimensions from a buffer plane that's basically utter carnage as deities, demons, and angels lay waste to and get wrecked by those who seek to invade their home dimension. It's why you almost never see them, and if you do, it's always a scrub or a major player.) to investigate how this spell got through. The character finds a new crack in their buffer plane, fixes it, and gets ordered to track down the source. I had a dream about this and thought that it would be pretty cool, so I'm bringing it up.
EDIT: Maybe the reason why the spell worked is because NMM used the Moon as a focus, carving tons of arrays and runes and the like onto its surface while she was bound to it. I mean, just think about the implications of what the spell actually does. Even with an Alicorn battery, that'll take some serious processing power to execute!
I'm guessing the temple group will at least get a B rank on their mission, seeing as they kind of have a lot of advantages coming up in the next battle.
I thought you got strange pleasure out of torturing Ted, Reykan? He got off pretty easy, I think. And that's not even talking about successfully casting what he did with horn/brain impairment. Getting a migraine instead of lobotomy or worse? What kind of OP level is his Luck skill at?
Great chapter, great achievements in the AN, good [read: 'oh gawd why?!?'] cliffhanger.
Now, write! Write like the fate of a nation depends on it!
But seriously, love ya. Thanks for pulling this story by the reins to where it is now.
"Reykan", I have heard that word before. Ever heard of a shoe called Trailer Park Boys?
6860039 Oh lord, I just saw Zelus get a gamer screen with that exact words. I think I have been reading The Gamer too much
Luna? Luna? LUUUUUNNNAAAAAAA!!!!!
[youtube=4agDHw4NuLk]
6860223 Yeah because every new queen has been useless right?
New Queen, pump her full of love and jack her up. Zelus is a huge asset, so will Heart.
Holy crap, that was awesome.
I feel sorry for the changelings: this chapter has really brought their suffering to light.
Somehow I think that the changelings are going to find it quite hard to forgive Twilight after what the Mad Queen has done. 
Why, oh why did Luna stay behind?!
The Mad Queen's been quite frustrated lately, and now she has somepony to take it out on. 
I don't even want to contemplate the kind of torture and interrogation Luna's probably going to go through. 
Poor Luna. It would be horrible if Celestia had to fight her own sister. Again. 
Nightmare Twilight would probably get a kick out of that.
6860462
Except she is... the story admitted she is only good for intel, and even that was questionable.
She is now in the body of a newborn nymph royal... even younger than Cadance's ward.
She also hasn't left that bed in so long she doesn't even remember her own NAME.
Not to say she isn't valuable... but she is a long term investment, not a game changer.
She is kinda in the same boat as Cadance: near vital to the future... almost useless in the present.
"At least the mission's complete, Boss..."
6860375
6860576 I thik she's referring to the fact that she could continiously force new molds untils she becomes a queen again, if she has the ressources. While Pandinus was against it in Amares case because she didn't want to rush her childhood, the other queen already had her own childhood, giving Pandinus no yet known reason to object.
Of course, that IS implying that Heart still has any sort of intel. We don't exactly know if it fully worked or if the new Nymph will be without memories, in which case it is just another case like Amare, which would mean, like you said, that it's currently an entirely useless asset.
So the elite guard who are trained to protect equestria from rouge alicorns are protecting the rouge alicorn from equestria...
You. Had. One. Job.
She must have one hell of a propaganda department if they capture the legitimate leader for her while she's yelling down the comm unit that she's loosing the war.
PS pls tell us that best princess will be recoverable from this, you may tourture her but pls no regicide or mind wipe
No Lulu!! Good chapter though.
Yay achievements unlocked nows time to go to the next and find the 500 hidden artifacts.
So Pinkie got left behind? Or she was Pinkie and teleported to the Temple of Love?
6860039
That's just it, the ship usually has the array crystal on it and it just turned tail and ran back to the capital. How are these "special" drones functioning? Do they have an array with them? Are they the newest bio-weapon; fire and forget cruise changelings? And what of their instructions which are most likely a Scorched Earth policy of some type, eat everything from the grass to the clouds like oversized parasprites? That would explain why the ship wasn't planning on going any further since they would get taken apart too if the drones are set to a fail-safe option so they can't be neutralized by a sneaky alicorn blowing up the array crystal. Pretty sure Nightmare Twilight realized her own protection runes were compromised and set these drones to attack anything when triggered.
The Temple dwellers are safe in their spiffy underground bunkers while the world gets razed topside, I only wonder how bad it'll be for the neighbors who don't have changeling tunnels to hide in. Yes, I suppose that dragon can fry any drones that come close but can he protect an entire village? Not against this chitinous blitzkrieg.
You know, it would be the ultimate irony if Pandinus and Ted/Cim touched horns and made their own Love Nuke, blowing away the enitre invading swarm. Oh god, Chrysalis would be spinning in her breeding chamber if she found out that.
Escape to Everfreedom!
They'll be back for you Luna.
How did Tuna tie a drake five times bigger than him to his back and then run through a forest like that? I'm having trouble picturing that process.
6859949 I wondered who else would notice that. Tuna is clearly Luna's alternate seapony form.
...... Why do i always catch up to stories at the interesting points.....
Oh well, at least this one didn't end with a cliff hanger.
6860746 If you are asking about the sane bearers bit, I think I means Twilight as the insane one.