Chapter 8
Chapter 8
Twilight and Trixie stood off to one side, helpless to intervene as the watched Fleur advance on her husband. Fancy was armed with his own sword and shield to match Fleur’s double blades and he appeared to know how to use them to some degree. The pair spared and danced around the palace hall, all the while up on the throne Chrysalis was looking on and laughing.
While Fleur was clearly trying only to disable Fancy, he appeared to be going in for the kill. Each of his swipes was hard and vicious. One managed to hit home on Fleur’s flank, cutting through her light cloth padding and drawing a line of blood. Fleur screamed but didn’t falter as she pressed her attack, trying to knock Fancy’s sword or shield away without hurting him.
“HA HA HA, Which will it be my dear Fleur-de-lis? How far will you go to enact your revenge? I am right here. All you have to do is strike down the pony who has captured your heart,” Chrysalis taunted Fleur, who in turn didn’t look away from her sparing partner.
Rather than waste time trying to reply to a clear taunt, Fleur instead put her all into her last strike, swiping with both swords in opposite directions, the motion cleanly slicing through Fancy’s sword and cutting the blade off near the hilt. The motion also caught Fancy across his muzzle, opening up a wound which began to bleed profusely.
Rather than continue fighting, Fancy discarded his broken weapon and shield and moved to stand between Fleur and the changeling queen. From this position he was able to intercept every avenue that Fleur had of reaching the queen. His magic was stronger than hers so she couldn’t just throw a sword past him, he could catch it and they would be right back where they started.
Fleur realised she only had one option left, the one that she had insisted was not really an option. Moving in close to Fancy, she hefted one of her swords.
“What’s the matter Fleur. I thought you loved me. You wouldn’t do anything to harm me now would you?” Fancy’s calm tone brought a flutter to Fleur’s heart, but she had to do this.
“Fancy, I love you,” She whispered to herself before lashing out with one of her swords.
Across the hallway, Twilight and Trixie watched as Fancy Pants, the most influential noblepony in all of Canterlot crumpled to the ground at Fleur’s hooves, a thin trail of blood flowing away from his body.
Up on the stage, Fleur levelled her bloody blade at Chrysalis who was still looking disbelieving at the fallen form of Fancy Pants. As she looked back at the sword wielding mare before her, for the first time Chrysalis looked afraid.
Earlier
In a flash of golden magic, four ponies appeared in the courtyard of the royal palace. The first thing they all did was to fan out and look around for any changelings that may have noticed their entrance. Twilight was the first one to notice what was wrong. While there were several changelings around them in the yard, none of them were moving, and all of them were surrounded by pools of green liquid.
Inspecting one of the drones, it was clear that it was dead. A long cut mark was present on its carapace. Over on the other side of the yard, Trixie reported in that she had found another drone with a similar injury.
Celestia looked around sadly at all the death and destruction that surrounded her. This fighting was all so needless; If Chrysalis needed love to survive, then she could have easily opened diplomatic relations and negotiated a treaty. Celestia was always willing to explore a peaceful option. If Chrysalis had also been willing, then these drones would not have had to die.
Rarity took one look at the corpse of the drone closest to her, and hurled her guts out. Twilight got up from her examination of her drone and rushed over to comfort her friend. Trixie looked up at the pair but didn’t get up. She had seen cuts like this before – somepony had cut these drones up with a blade or a knife. Trixie recalled a bar fight she had been caught up in years ago in which two ponies had been stabbed. One of them had died. She had reacted just like Rarity then, but in the years between she had become desensitised to death to a large degree. That these were also not actual ponies helped a lot.
Once she had finally finished puking, Rarity looked away from the fallen drones, wiping the back of her hoof over her mouth. Twilight kept a leg around her friend, trying to help her through her horrifying discovery. Even when she stopped her retching, Rarity looked distinctly green.
Swallowing back a second wave of bile, she turned to Twilight. “What could have done this Twilight? Who could have killed even changelings in cold blood?”
Once she could tell that Rarity was going to be ok, Twilight switched into forensic scientist mode, going back to examining the body nearest to her for clues.
“I don’t know who could have done this Rarity; but all these drones, they were killed from a single slash with a sword. A very well aimed and executed slash at that. Each one was a fatal cut; note the lack of splatter other than around the bodies.”
“I’ll take your word for it,” Rarity replied, not turning to look at the evidence that Twilight was pointing out.
“This wasn’t the work of a creature, the cuts are too clean and precise. This is the work of a pony with a sword or a wing blade. There must be a member of the guards still active.”
Celestia turned sharply at this. “No, no member of my guard would do this. They would only fight in self defence, this is was a slaughter.” There was a tear in her as she thought about the possibility of any member of her guard taking such an action. Who could it have been? Hoplite or Phalanx, Flitterwing or Constant Vigil?
Unbidden, another thought about her sister came into her mind, one that chilled her to her core.
Where Celestia was the kind and benevolent ruler, Luna was a far more militaristic leader – she liked action over words. While Celestia could never condone the harming of any innocent ponies and regarded the deaths of her guards and opponents as a sad occurrence, Luna was a firm believer in the phrase ‘acceptable losses’. In a situation like this, Luna would not hesitate to strike Chrysalis down with everything she had, even if it meant that a few bystander ponies may be harmed in the process.
Celestia hoped that Luna had not tried to instil that philosophy into her lunar guard. When she had perfected the art of transformation magic, Luna and proudly proclaimed that her lunar guard would be superior in every respect to the royal day guards, and for the most part that was true. They had sharper hearing, better eyesight. Their physical strength was greater. The unicorn guards demonstrated superior control and endurance. They had trounced the day guards at every communal training event or war games exercise they had competed in. And their loyalty to Luna was unquestionable. But for all their powers, Celestia regarded them as being not entirely equine anymore; they had sacrificed a piece of what made them a pony to begin with. The general populace often regarded them with suspicion, something that the lunar guards took stoically in public, but Celestia had felt their resentment and anger simmer under their calm outer surface. If a situation where a single pony or even a few stood between them and an objective occurred…
Celestia shook her head; thinking like that was going to get her nowhere. The Lunar Guard had never given her a concrete reason to doubt them yet. Luna had worked hard to curb her more aggressive impulses. That she didn’t trust her younger sister was one of the reasons the whole Nightmare Moon event happened in the first place.
Twilight continued to examine the drones, but she was unable to learn anything else about what had happened. All she could tell was that whatever had done this was powerful, methodical, and willing to do things that should be abhorrent to ponykind. Eventually she got up and went to go check on Rarity again.
Rarity was making sure to look away from the carnage around her. Her gaze was focused on the sky or on the buildings around her. She was clearly not taking this new turn of events well. Twilight didn’t want to have to expose her to any more death if she could manage it. Her limited magical skills would not be a great help to her or Trixie if they got caught in another fight, and without their other friends present she couldn’t perform as part of the Elements of Harmony. Twilight didn’t want to say it, but Rarity would be better off if she wasn’t here. Fortunately there was a way that she could send Rarity off on a real mission that would put her out of harms way.
“Rarity, I have a task for you,” she called out, garnering the dressmaker’s attention. “I’m going to teleport you out of the city gates and as far as I can towards Ponyville. I need you to gather up the others and lead them back here as quickly as you can. If Princess Celestia, Trixie, and I can’t stop Chrysalis, then we will need the power of the Elements.”
Rarity nodded for a second and looked at Twilight with relief on her face. She was no fool; she could tell that while what Twilight was telling her was true, it was not the only reason. She wasn’t super magical like Twilight or Trixie, or a living god like Celestia. She had no place fighting alongside them now. They would have a better chance of being successful against Chrysalis if they weren’t worrying about her safety.
“Thank you Twilight,” she said quietly.
Twilight gave her a quick hug before she called Trixie over to her. Trixie walked over slowly, looking around her for anything suspicious. The empty yard felt too open and exposed to her liking. The sooner they could get undercover the better.
“What is it Twilight, what do you need?”
“Have you ever tried a meld before? I’m going to send Rarity back to Ponyville, but I need more power to get her out of the city safely. If you can link your magic to mine then I can get her out of Canterlot and a long way back to Ponyville,” Twilight explained.
Despite the situation, Trixie was curious. Unicorn melding was not an unheard of practice. It allowed one unicorn to channel their magical reserves into another, giving the recipient the ability to fuel a stronger or longer spell. A side effect was that the two unicorns would be mentally linked for the duration, all of the others memories and secrets would be an open book for the other to sort through. As such it was usually only used by ponies who trusted the other totally. Trixie had been curious to try it at some point, but had never found a unicorn that she was willing to expose herself to in that way.
Twilight seemed to be something different in that regard, and this was an exceptional situation. Trixie knew that Twilight understood what she was asking and she would not abuse the trust she was asking Trixie to give her.
“Trixie…has not tried that magic before, but she understands the theory behind it,” she admitted.
“I know what I’m asking Trixie. I wouldn’t ask if it wasn’t important,” Twilight said as she moved forward, so that she was now standing directly in front of Trixie.
Trixie lowered her horn so that it was almost touching Twilight’s. “Trixie is ready.”
Opening up her magical reserves, Trixie flooded her horn with pure, undiluted energy. She felt Twilight do the opposite, draining her horn of every vestige of her magical power. As a result, Twilight’s horn acted as a sponge, absorbing every drip of leaking magical energy it could from Trixie’s horn. Trixie felt her energy flow into Twilight and as it did, her mind touched Twilight’s for a brief moment.
The first thing she noticed was just how structured Twilight’s brain was. It felt like a neat file cabinet – everything was placed away in its own little space and clearly labelled. Her mind was compartmentalised to an almost obsessive degree. Trixie was sure that if she bothered to look, she would even find a cross linked index somewhere around here. Twilight was nothing if not an accommodating host to all her mental visitors.
One file cabinet was open before her. Trixie tried to keep herself out, but she found herself pulled in. The file opened up before her and she realised that she was in one of Twilight’s recent memories.
As the memory unveiled around her, Trixie found that she was back in the tunnels of the prison. Around her was Rarity and another blue unicorn that she realised was herself. She was looking out through Twilight’s eyes. Her doppelganger moved off down the hallway and vanished from sight.
“You like her, don’t you Twilight?” The memory Rarity said, her voice distorted slightly with an echo.
“What do you mean, of course I like her. She has shown me so much about magic these last few days, not to mention she saved my brothers life once,” Trixie felt herself reply. It was her mouth that moved, but not her voice.
Rarity shook her head. “I don’t mean like that darling. I mean you LIKE her”
“No, it’s not like that. I just like her as a friend.”
“Please Twilight. You can trust me. I saw the way you looked at her just now, the way you held her hoof, not to mention the way you hugged her when she got you out of that prison cell. You love her, don’t you?”
Trixie gasped as she heard that last comment. Around her the memory began to dissolve and she found herself back in her own body, staring forward at Twilight as she finished sucking out the last few drops of her magic. Trixie felt drained in a way that she had not felt before. She had just been drained of almost all her stored magic. It would replenish itself over time, but for now she was unlikely to even be able to pick up a medium sized stone. She didn’t notice that though; her brain was too occupied trying to process what she had learned from Twilight’s mind. Had Twilight fallen in love with her?
Twilight was almost glowing with magic. Her eyes were glowing a blinding white and she was leaking excess magical power directly into the ground. Turning towards Rarity she charged up her teleportation spell and locked on to Rarity. Rarity looked nervous as she noticed the swirling magic envelop her. She trusted Twilight to know what she was doing, but even still she wasn’t sure that she could channel as much power as she was now using safely.
With a purple flash, Rarity vanished from the courtyard. Twilight tracked her through the ether and found that she was almost all the way back to Ponyville, the spell dumping her on the outskirts of the White tail woods. Twilight realised that she had taken more power than she had realised from Trixie. As her eyes began to return to normal, Twilight looked over to see Trixie sagging on her hooves. She looked as if she had spent an entire day standing up without sleep.
The nature of the meld magic meant that Twilight couldn’t just return the borrowed magical energy; Trixie’s body would not accept it back again. Twilight knew that Trixie would be ok given time, but that was something they didn’t have much of. Celestia would not be able to donate her own energy either, as Alicorn magic could burn out a mortal unicorn if not properly moderated. Twilight would just have to take the heavy lifting for a while and hope that Trixie would recover quickly.
Putting one of Trixie’s hooves on her back, Twilight led her and Celestia towards the royal palace. It was the logical place for the changelings to have gone to after seizing control. The palace was built to be easily defended and was the centre for all information and logistics of the entire kingdom. If Chrysalis wanted to take the kingdom, then she would need to take the palace.
Celestia led the way forward, with Twilight helping a slightly limping Trixie behind her. Along the way the found another drone; it bearing similar marks and cuts to the ones found out in the courtyard. What or whoever had done this had come this way.
“At least they appear to be on our side,” Trixie remarked as she passed by the latest drone. This one appeared fresher than some of the others. They were not far behind.
Fleur’s blades sliced cleanly through the last standing drone with a loud ‘SNICK’. The drone wobbled for a moment before dropping to the ground in a puddle of its own internal fluids. Green ichor stained her blades as she retrieved them in her telekinetic grip.
Fleur looked down at her fallen opponent with a mix of pity and disgust. She knew that what she was doing was wrong; that killing these drones was a terrible act. They had done nothing wrong other than to follow the orders of their queen. They were not personally responsible for the invasion of Canterlot or what had happened to her. They were however allied with her enemy, and stood between her and her final goal.
If she needed to she would cut down every drone in all Canterlot, but she made sure that their deaths were quick, clean and painless. She didn’t want them to suffer. The trouble was that for every drone she dropped, two more would appear to take its place. It was a war of attrition and they had the numbers over her. But that wouldn’t stop her. She knew that the princess would not approve of her approach, but she would repent and atone for this later; once she was finished she would submit to any punishment that Celestia deemed prudent. Right now, this was for her husband. For Fancy Pants there was no limit she would not go to.
Up ahead she saw the palace come into view. This was where she was sure Chrysalis and Fancy would have gone after she had left them. One of the spires of the tower was surrounded by dozens of floating drones. The tip of the spire was covered in a green bubble shield. Fleur look one look at the spire but dismissed the drones. She had no way to get up there, and if she was able to beat Chrysalis, then her army would be disorganised and leaderless; easy prey for the royal guards.
Other than the drones up at the spire, the Palace seemed eerily quiet. Fleur couldn’t see any drones out on patrol on the walls or even a sentry by the door. The total lack of any form of guard seemed very odd to her. Either Chrysalis was far stupider than she looked, or she had another form of surveillance that Fleur didn’t see.
Trying to shake off the feeling that she was about to walk into a trap, Fleur ascended the steps leading up towards the entry arch of the palace. Again there was no opposition. It was unnerving not to find at least a single look out.
Fleur reached the entry to the place without further incident. Before plunging in, she decided to go over her plans, such as they were. She didn’t really have any idea what she was going to do once she found Chrysalis, other than that she was going to kill her for what she had done to her and her husband. If there were drones between her and Chrysalis she would cut her way through any that did not step aside. She was mostly hoping that the death of Chrysalis would destabilize the changeling army and release Fancy from her thrall; cut off the head and the body would follow. If it didn’t work, then she was going to be in a world of hurt. Fleur had vowed to herself that she would not let Chrysalis take her mind again.
Pushing open the door, Fleur charged into the palace. The entry chamber that led up to the wings and the throne room was empty of any living creature, pony or otherwise. It was disconcerting to find what should have been a central hub of activity so totally empty. Fleur’s hoofsteps echoed off the tiled floor as she rushed forwards, every hoof fall reverberating like a cannon blast it her ears. Both her swords were out and ready before her as she galloped up the stairs leading to the throne room. As she hit the lead stair, her hoofsteps were muffled by the thick, plush carpets that lined the floor. Fleur was grateful that they covered her advance. In the silence of the entry chamber, she felt like she was crossing a tomb. A chill like the feeling of being watched prickled its way up the back of her neck.
Pushing on into the throne room, Fleur found it exactly the way she had always found it – cascading waterfalls, a small crystal on a stand. Like the rest of the palace it appeared to be empty, but Fleur’s senses were screaming at her, a very faint humming noise was buzzing in her ears but she couldn’t find the source. Something was wrong.
Giving the throne one last sweep, Fleur turned to go, keeping a wary eye on everything at once. As she moved to exit, the air around her shimmered brightly and dozens of drones uncloaked around her, the air surrounded them rippling with magic. Around her the humming sound resolved into the sound of multiple pairs of diaphanous wings beating in the air. Every drone was either pointing a spell, or wielding pilfered weapons from the guard armoury. She brandished her own weapons, but it was clear that she was far outnumbered.
“Well here we are again.” A voice came from behind Fleur. “It’s always such a pleasure.”
Forgetting the drones for a moment, Fleur spun to find her foe sitting languidly in Celestia’s throne. Chrysalis sat lazily in the throne, one hole riddled leg resting over the side of the seat. Her entire being screamed amusement, that everything Fleur had done was nothing more than a joke to her.
“My dear Fleur, you have fought valiantly and won over many foes, all in the name of casting me down. Well, here I am. Give it your best shot,” Chrysalis sneered at Fleur, one of her fore hooves indicating her body as a target. “My drones will not interfere, just you and me.”
Fleur had heard enough. Despite knowing that this was almost exactly the thing Chrysalis was expecting, and that even if she was successful she would be swarmed by dozens of bugs all out for her blood, she threw Hrunting in her magic, aiming the blades tip at the centre of the changelings head.
Chrysalis just watched it come.
Fleur’s eyes tracked her sword as it shot through the air, tracking straight towards Chrysalis. A moment before it impacted and cleaved the Changeling Queen in twain, it was caught in another magical glow. The blade came to a stop inches away from Chrysalis’s face before clattering to the floor. Fleur looked at the sword in disbelief before her eyes were called towards a new movement.
From behind the throne, a heavily armoured pony stepped out. Solid chain barding covered his body and an open faced helm protected his head. Fleur looked on as her husband, the Noblecolt and Gentlepony Fancy Pants, esquire stepped forward, a plain sword and shield caught in his magical aura.
With little ceremony, he charged at her.
Celestia, Twilight and Trixie followed the trail of bodies towards the royal palace. Every drone that they passed seemed to sap the energy from the princess. All the senseless waste of this conflict was repugnant to her. Twilight noticed her mentor’s increasingly depressed state and tried to cheer her up.
“Princess, please don’t try to think about it. We have to do this or else Chrysalis will enslave all of Equestria,” She said.
Celestia looked at Twilight, a sad, far off expression clouding her eyes. “I know that my faithful student. I am prepared to do what is necessary to defend my kingdom, but that doesn’t mean I have to like it or take pleasure in it. Chrysalis has brought this upon herself; she has rejected every attempt at diplomacy and proven herself to be a threat to the peaceful lives of my little ponies. I can’t let that pass, not again.”
Trixie was still exhausted and being dragged along on Twilight’s back. She was trying to keep up with the others, but lethargy sapped her strength to the point where she was unable. Her pride burned at the fact that she had to be carried like a filly. She was the Great and Powerful Trixie for Luna’s sake.
“Leave Trixie here,” She said, trying to slide herself off of Twilight’s back. “Trixie will only slow you down.”
Twilight looked back at her. “No. I would never leave one of my friends behind and I love you[. She muttered, ears pressed hard against her skull and a rosy glow appearing on her cheeks.
Trixie struggled to hear her last words, but she had a good idea as to what had been said, her memories of being in Twilight’s mind coming back to her. Trixie had to admit that Twilight was everything that she would look for in a mate – powerful, smart, and pretty. ’Ah buck it.’ She thought.
“This may just be the exhaustion talking, but if we both survive this day Trixie is going to take you out for a night on the town,” she said
Twilight blushed again. “I’d like that,” she said. Ok, that settles it. We’re going to live.
Celestia hushed the pair as the palace came into site. Like Fleur, they could see a large bubble shield over one of the spires, but also they could hear something else; the clang of metal on metal and the shouts and grunts of what sounded like ponies caught in combat. It was likely that their mystery vigilante was the source of those sounds.
“Hurry Twilight, we need to get in there and help,” Celestia said, calling Twilight and Trixie over to her. “I’m going to teleport us directly into my study adjoining the throne room. It sounds as if what ever is going on is happening there.”
As Celestia had her comment, they all heard a cry of pain echo out from the palace, followed by silence. It had seemed that somepony had lost.
Twilight got in close and put a hoof onto Celestia’s flank. As they had when they were escaping the prison, she was caught up in a golden flash. The world around her vanished for a moment, replaced by a spinning vortex of energy as Twilight travelled the ethereal planes until her vision resolved itself into the view of Celestia’s study. The study was filled with books and scrolls. An entire shelf was filled with the submitted friendship reports that she and her friends had been sending for years.
Normally when Twilight was in here, it was on some official business or she was meeting the princess in a less formal setting. She would always take a moment to look at some book, or even to give the phoenix Philomena a stroke. Right now she had no time for any of those things and Philomena was nowhere in sight.
Celestia opened the door to her study silently, just enough for all of them to get a look out through a crack and see what was going on.
In the middle of the room stood two ponies, one of whom was holding a sword over the fallen body of another. Thick gleaming metal obscured his features, but Twilight could guess that this was Fancy Pants. Under him was another pony, a mare. A pair of swords lay at her hooves. A trio of changelings rushed forwards to pick the mare up, and in a moment she was flopped onto her side, revealing her face to Twilight and Trixie.
Trixie gasped as she got a good look at the prisoner; it was Fleur. The last time she had seen her, Fleur was knocked out cold on the floor of the prison, and still in the thrall of Chrysalis. Trixie had no idea as to how she had gotten here. Fleur appeared to have been beaten, as small cuts and bruises marred her normally flawless complexion. One particularly long cut now traced a line from the base of her horn all the way out to her muzzle, just missing having nicked her eye on the way. Even if she survived, Fleur’s modelling carer was over.
Celestia saw it too. Fleur was a good friend to her, a balancing force to the petty nobles and one of the most generous ponies she had known. If Rarity hadn’t been the Element of Generosity, then Celestia would have put money down on it having been Fleur instead. The drones held Fleur still and the barded Fancy hefted his sword above her.
“NOOO,” Celestia screamed before the sword could fall. Flinging open the door to the study, Celestia charged forward into the fray. Every pair of eyes turned to look at her and Celestia took advantage of that fact. As she ran, her body burst forth in the radiant light of the sun, a mini solar flare searing the eyes of anypony still looking at her. Trixie and Twilight shut they eyes as quickly as they could, but the light still reached them. Every drone in the room also was blinded as the searing light filled the room. Fancy’s concentration was shattered and his sword dropped on the ground next to Fleur’s body as he covered his face with his hooves.
The pulse of light only lasted for a moment before the throne was plunged into the relative darkness of normal light again. Trixie rapidly blinked, trying to clear out the spots from her streaming eyes. As her vision cleared she noticed Celestia now standing in a protective stance over Fleur’s body. The fashion model still had one hoof over her eyes and the other trying to staunch the flow of blood from the gash on her face. Around them the drones and Fancy were also recovering from the flash of light.
Celestia was looking directly up at Chrysalis, who did not appear perturbed in the least. “This ends here Chrysalis. I cannot allow your reign of madness to last any longer.”
Chrysalis chuckled slightly, covering her mouth with a fore hoof. “It I go down Celestia, your sister is coming with me.
Celestia’s eyes narrowed. “What have you done to Luna, where is she?”
Chrysalis’s jagged horn glowed for a moment and a large window warped into existence before the group. It showed one of the towers at the top of the castle. At least 50 drones surrounded the top of the tower, a large bubble shield being cast by their tandem efforts. Inside the bubble, Celestia could see a dark shape thrashing against the shield. It didn’t take the ruler of Equestria to realise what the shape was or why Chrysalis had devoted so many resources to securing it.
Celestia continued to watch as Luna changed tact, rather than continuing to slam into the shield, she began casting spells fuelled by her command of dark magic. Black magic crashing into the shield, but it didn’t falter any further than if she had continued a physical assault.
“My mage drones were specially trained for this task. They were fed on the purest love we could find and now, working together they are more than a match for your sister. Don’t do anything foolish and she will remain unharmed. That shield can get a lot less hospitable.”
As if to illustrate a point, the shield shrank by several feet, reducing the amount of room that Luna had to operate in. Celestia shuddered to think about what could happen if it continued to shrink and eventually crush her sister.
“Yours has been a valiant effort Celestia, but I’m afraid that it ends here. Guards, kill her.”
Half of the drones that had been holding back during the exchange descended on Celestia in one surge. Black Chitinous plating smothered her white body in a writhing mass. Twilight cried out as she watched her mentor vanish under the wave of drones, but Trixie held her back. They hadn’t been spotted yet, and to throw that away would be foolish. Trixie was only able to hold Twilight for a moment however before the purple mare shook her off and charged the drones, screaming “hold on Princess!”
Some of the drones not tasked with taking out Celestia turned to find an energy beam blast them out of the way. Some tried to charge her while others took to the air in order to avoid being gored by her horn. Trixie followed her out, a surge of adrenaline giving her new energy.
Twilight dodged past a drone that was charging her with a spear and beamed another two, leaving them in a daze. Before she could get to the pile, Twilight was caught in a green glow. Chrysalis’s horn glowed as she picked Twilight up and flung her back towards Trixie, multiple drones moving over and shoving a myriad of weapons in her face.
“No, no, no. No helping please.”
Twilight struggled against Chrysalis’s magic, but the queen was stronger than she was. Eventually she had to stop her fight and settle it down. Behind the wall of weapons levelled at them, Trixie gave her a hug which Twilight returned as the pair looked on at the pile of drones that now covered her mentor.
As it stood, Twilight’s worry was unfounded. With a much weaker burst of light, every drone that was covering Celestia was thrown back violently as a golden magical barrier blew out from her body. The drones were stunned and Chrysalis’s attention was drawn back to Celestia. She stood there, eyes narrowed and level directly at Chrysalis. This time they lack the normal compassion or mirth that had always marked Celestia. This time they were filled with thinly veiled rage and hate. Celestia was done playing around.
What she didn’t notice was that she wasn’t the only pony making a move. Under her hooves, Fleur had been getting ready for one last showdown.
In the chaos or Celestia’s magical attack, Fleur got back to her hooves and snatched her swords from the ground. Fancy noticed and matched her movements and once again the husband and wife paired off in mortal combat.
Twilight and Trixie stood off to one side, helpless to intervene as the watched Fleur advance on her husband. Fleur was calm and collected; despite her clear exhaustion and the pain that her wounds must be inflicting on her, she did not rush and held herself as a skilled fencer would. The pair spared and danced around the palace hall, all the while up on the throne Chrysalis was looking on and laughing.
While Fleur was clearly trying only to disable Fancy, he appeared to be going in for the kill. Each of his swipes was hard and vicious. One managed to hit home on Fleur’s flank, cutting through her light cloth padding and drawing a line of blood, adding yet another cut to the growing number of scars that would adorn her body. Fleur screamed but didn’t falter as she pressed her attack, trying to knock Fancy’s sword or shield away without hurting him.
Celestia had quickly moved away to the side, giving Fleur the space she needed to do battle. She couldn’t get a clear line at Fancy without risking hitting fleur as well. This was also Fleur’s fight. She had no right to interfere in this one.
Up on the throne, Chrysalis was having a ball despite all the setbacks she had experienced.
“HA HA HA, Which will it be my dear Fleur-de-lis? How far will you go to enact your revenge? I am right here. All you have to do is strike down the pony who has captured your heart,” Chrysalis taunted Fleur, who in turn didn’t look away from her sparing partner.
Rather than waste time trying to reply to a clear taunt, Fleur instead put her all into her last strike, swiping with both swords in opposite directions, the motion cleanly slicing through Fancy’s sword and cutting the blade off near the hilt. The motion also caught Fancy across his muzzle, opening up a wound to match hers which began to bleed profusely.
Rather than continue fighting, Fancy discarded his broken weapon and shield and moved to stand between Fleur and the changeling queen. From this position he was able to intercept every avenue that Fleur had of reaching the queen. His magic was stronger than hers so she couldn’t just throw a sword past him, he could catch it and they would be right back where they started.
Fleur realised she only had one option left, the one that she had insisted was not really an option. Moving in close to Fancy, she hefted one of her swords.
“What’s the matter Fleur. I thought you loved me. You wouldn’t do anything to harm me now would you?” Fancy’s calm tone brought a flutter to Fleur’s heart, but she had to do this.
“Fancy, I love you,” She whispered to herself before lashing out with one of her swords.
Across the hallway, Twilight and Trixie watched as Fancy Pants, the most influential noblepony in all of Canterlot crumpled to the ground at Fleur’s hooves, a thin trail of blood flowing away from his body.
Up on the stage, Fleur levelled her bloody blade at Chrysalis who was still looking disbelieving at the fallen form of Fancy Pants. As she looked back at the sword wielding mare before her, Chrysalis for the first time looked afraid.
She got up and out of the throne, the first time she had actually moved since the conflict had begun and tried to put more distance between Fleur and herself. The drones that were still standing were being held at bay by an enraged Celestia who had trapped them all behind a barrier.
Fleur covered the distance between her and Chrysalis with slow measured steps. Chrysalis had run out of places to hide and she had no drones left to fight for her. Fleur’s body however was beginning to falter as the impacts of the extended battle and the loss of blood from her many wounds began to catch up to her. Each step took a bit longer than the one preceding it and her magical grip on her blades was flickering.
Chrysalis saw it and grinned at what she saw was a chance to rid herself of one threat and pounced on it, charging up a killing spell. Twilight and Trixie saw it but were too far away to do anything about it, and Celestia was occupied in containing the drones.
Her vision fading, Fleur knew she had only one chance left. With the last of her strength she swung Gram at Chrysalis. The magical blade connected with Chrysalis’s jagged horn and sliced cleanly through the top third, separating it from the rest of her body. It was Fleur’s last action and as she finished her cut her graceful legs gave out and she collapsed on the floor, where she lay still except for a shallow movement of her chest.
Every unicorn knew that if there was one thing you never did, it was to cut off a horn without first attaching a suppressor band or similar. It connected directly to the brain and the magical reserves and without the entire horn to regulate flow it could result in a massive discharge of raw magic.
Roaring in pain, that was exactly what happened with Chrysalis.
Chrysalis slammed the party with a wave of uncontrolled magic, blasting them all into the walls and pillars of the throne room. Every window shattered as they were blown out, scattering shards of glass over the castle grounds and moat. Trixie was the luckiest of the group in that she landed in the pool at the base of the waterfall with a solid splash. Twilight fared slightly worse, ending up slammed against a bundle of velvet curtains that had been blown away from the windows.
None of the drones were spared either. Those that were floating in the air were slammed against the roof and walls with an audible ‘crack’ as their carapaces split from the force. Others were thrown out of the windows and vanished into the sky.
The bodies of Fleur and Fancy were pushed against the back walls of the throne room, their limp forms flailing like rag dolls.
Only Celestia was able to withstand the force of Chrysalis’s magical wave. The deity planted her hooves and weathered the storm as best she could. When she came out the other side, she found Chrysalis still on her hooves, oblivious to the fact that she was now the only changeling that was still in fighting condition, or that she had just experienced a magical burnout. She charged at Celestia, a feral look in her eyes. The queen had been driven to the point of madness, and the last wrappings of a sane creature were dropping away leaving only madness in their wake. Her grin revealed a full mouth of needle sharp teeth, and the way she was looking at Celestia suggested that she was fully willing and ready to put them to use.
With a leap that belied her physical injury, Chrysalis jumped at Celestia’s throat
Twilight managed to raise her head enough to see Celestia catch Chrysalis’s jump with her hoof, the metal shoe absorbing much of the impact. She tried to get up but was unable to do so. Dimly she wondered what had happened to Trixie.
“ENOUGH, BUG,” A voice boomed out from behind them. Celestia and Chrysalis separated at once as they searched for the source of the voice. Getting back on her hooves shakily, Twilight joined them and she focused on the pool that Trixie had fallen in. Trixie had vanished and the entire body of water was beginning to rise up into the air. Twilight’s mind boggled as she realised just what she was looking at. I knew Trixie was powerful, but this is impossible She thought as she watched the water levitate into the centre of the room. Just as it had in the prison, the water formed itself into the shape of a mare; only this mare was easily three times the size of Celestia. In an instant the water flash froze, and in its place stood the Frozen and Frigid Trixie.
Chrysalis’s jaw dropped as she looked on at the golem that stood before her. Frozen fury seared out from its icy blue eyes as it locked its gaze on her black body. She tried to run, but within a moment she found her hooves had been frozen to the ground. Chrysalis struggled to free her hooves, but in her panic and with the tip of her horn missing she couldn’t focus her magic into any form of useful power.
The living ice sculpture that was Trixie’s body bore down on her with large, lumbering steps. Wisps of steam rose from her body as she moved towards her prey.
Chrysalis kept struggling as Trixie moved down on her. Clamping down on her fear, she shifted her form into a larger body. The increased size caused her legs to shatter the ice that was trapping her. Sensing victory, Chrysalis turned and tried to flee out of one of the shattered windows. She could escape, marshal her forces and find another colony to conquer. All she had to do was to get out of this room.
Her way was blocked by a burst of flame rising up from the floor. In a panic, Chrysalis looked for its source and she found a pony shaped mass of flames standing in her way.
Twilight’s burning form stood blocking the exit. A wall of flame rose from her hooves and created a semi circle between her and Chrysalis. Chrysalis shied away from the intense heat, only to find an equally intense cold on the other side.
As the circle of fire began to close in on her, and the Frosty Behemoth that was Trixie marched in on the other side, Chrysalis’s only thoughts were ‘Front burning, back freezing. Middle surprisingly pleasant.’
Behind her Trixie planted a massive hoof on either side of Chrysalis’s body. Twilight’s flames licked at her hooves, but made no impression. Trixie had learned how to make ice in an oven. With a grim smile, she took a deep breath and expelled a blast of super chilled air before her. Chrysalis vanished in the gas but the sounds of her screams and the cracking of ice forming could be heard all to well.
Twilight conjured a flaming shield between herself and the layer of frost before her. In her molten form she was far more susceptible to cold than she normally would be. The shield held back the cold with ease, and soon the gas began to dissipate before her.
As the fog of cold burned off from the heat of Twilight’s fire, Celestia saw just what had happened. The massive ice Trixie was melting away, the outer layers sluicing away and back into water. In the centre of the sculpture was a solid blue mass. As Trixie melted back into water, the mass resolved itself into Trixie’s actual body, which had been encased in the living ice.
On the other side, Twilight’s burning body snuffed itself out and she rapidly shifted back into the lavender mare she had always been. Celestia was relieved to see that she was unharmed. Between the two there was a perfectly clear block of ice, totally flawless. Contained in the ice was the body of Chrysalis. She was stuck in a huddled position, one see through hoof stuck up in an attempt to ward off the freezing ice that was surrounding her.
The ice surrounding Trixie finally melted away and she emerged from her protective armour. Flipping a hoof through her mane she inspected her handiwork. Grinning she looked right at it.
Celestia came up behind her. “Is she dead Trixie?”
Trixie shook her head. “No, she’s still alive in there, but in a state of hibernation. That ice will not melt for months, years if you store her somewhere cool. Plenty of time to figure out what you want to do with her. Powerful bargaining chip to have.
“HALT YOU VILE FIENDS,” a voice screamed out from behind them.
Turning around Celestia saw her sister Luna come swooping in through one of the shattered windows, a black magic spell charged and ready to throw at anything that moved. The imposing midnight blue Alicorn swept her gaze across the room, lingering on the bodies of the drones still pressed up against the walls only long enough to confirm that they were not a threat before focusing on the ice cube that was Chrysalis.
“Sister, what hath happened here? How did thine defeat thy menace?” she asked, powering down her horn. Luna had generally made strides with her speech but tended to revert in times of extreme stress
Celestia looked at Luna in shock. “How did you escape from the tower Luna? Actually never mind, tell me later.” She shifted her gaze to look proudly at Twilight and Trixie. “It was all them, with a little help from Fleur…” Celestia’s face froze in shock as she realised what she had just forgotten in the heat of the moment. “Fleur, Fancy!!! They need help now. Come Luna, we need your healing magic.”
Celestia rushed out of the throne room looking for where Fleur and Fancy had landed after Chrysalis had gone nova. Luna gave Twilight and Trixie a quick look. “We will talk with you presently Twilight Sparkle,” she said before following Celestia out of the room
Trixie looked over the ice cube that was Chrysalis towards Twilight. She was staring back at her, a slightly confused but triumphant look on her face.
Trixie returned her smile. “Well, as far as first date goes, you sure know how to show a mare a good time.”
Twilight’s smile vanished. “Wh-what? What do you mean date?” She blathered out until Trixie put a hoof on her mouth, cutting of her arguments.
“Hush you fool. Trixie knows how you feel.” Trixie removed her hoof from Twilight’s mouth. Moving in gently she brought her mouth closer to Twilight’s, her eyes locked on the smouldering amethysts that reflected her own perfectly.
Twilight felt Trixie’s lips meet hers, just for a moment before pulling back. Trixie’s eyes held an unspoken question, which Twilight answered by diving in and locking lips again. Trixie relaxed in as Twilight wrapped her fore hooves around Trixie’s head and pulled her closer.
The pair remained clinched together for some time until Twilight broke it off in order to suck in a breath. As she breathed in Trixie ran one of her hooves through her deep purple mane.
“How did you know? I never said anything,” Twilight wondered.
“I saw it in your mind during our meld. You have a very organised mind, you know that, don’t you Twilight?”
Twilight turned crimson as she head that. Trixie laughed slightly as she did so.
Eventually the pair turned to look at Chrysalis. The queen was stuck in her pose. Her eyes were closed tight and turned away.
“So, what should we do with her?” Trixie asked.
Twilight turned to look at her again. “Oh, just leave it for the Princesses. I think we have done enough for one day, don’t you.”
Trixie couldn’t agree more.
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Nice chapter of badassery and portal 2 reference im looking forward to the next chapter.
I also hope you ether make a sequel to this fic or more chapters to this one.
Where you go more in depth with Twilight and Trixies relationship.
With the whole elemental powers deal and what about Ixion.
Im pretty sure he is plotting some evil scheme to take over the world or some thing.
He did seam quite shady and i don't trust him one bit.
2015674 Don't worry, I have not forgotten about Ixion despite his being totally dropped from the latter half of the story.
Final chapters will answer all.
2015674 Oh, Portal reference? Also, have some music: (for Fleur vs. Fancy)http://www.listenonrepeat.com/watch/?v=4j6GcVVxwcY For Afterwards:http://www.listenonrepeat.com/watch/?v=P8NxXr9Wmjs