Trixie realises her destiny as the most powerful unicorn in Equestria
Continuation of "Interview with the Changeling".
The Changeling threat has been averted and Trixie is once again traveling Equestria on her own, on an endless quest to find her destiny.
Stumbling upon an ancient tomb, Trixie finds a secret that will teach her the truth about herself.
Join Trixie as she attempts to piece together the remains of her life, learn how control the new powers she had been gifted with, and most importantly, show up that stupid sexy Twilight.
Includes Twixie shipping and implied Trixie x Blueblood
A/N: This is a follow up to "Interview with the Changeling. please read that story first, lest this story not make much sense.
Disaster had been averted, and once again the kingdom of Equestria was locked in the vice like grip of an almost uninterrupted peace. The sun was shining down over fields of verdant green, birds were singing and chirping as was their want and travelling down a sun drenched dirt road was a single azure blue unicorn in a tattered and dirty purple cape and hat.
Trixie Lulamoon, also known as the Great and Powerful Trixie, saviour of Hoofington, defeater of the Ursa Major, High Magus of Sheldor, slayer of the Chimera, wielder of the hidden holy flame, keeper of the light, knower of the forbidden secrets, and generally the best unicorn to have ever lived was not having a good day. She was hungry, thirsty, tired and didn’t have a single bit to her name.
During her brief interlude with the royal ambassadors she had forgotten just how much her life sucked at that particular point. Her cart had been stolen from her by some unknown pony and almost every town in the greater Equestria area had banned her from returning, some pitiful excuse like ‘you cause too much damage, get out’ or ‘you monster, you could have killed my children’.
“Trixie will show them, Trixie will show all of them. The Great and Powerful Trixie will become the strongest unicorn to have ever lived. Then they will rue the day they chose to snub Trixie’s obvious greatness.”
Even with no other pony around, Trixie refused to drop her stage persona, to her there was no persona, no second ego. Trixie was Trixie, and that was all there was to Trixie.
Despite her defiance and massive confidence, Trixie knew she was in a rather tight spot. With no money, she had no food or water. The grass growing in this region, while edible was not particularly nutritious, and streams with running water suitable for drinking had been scarce. Without a miracle, she would not last more than a few days.
This did not deter Trixie from her plans however. Such was her overwhelming confidence that she was destined for greatness that she simply refused to accept an outcome where she did not rise to the top, and as such there was no way that she could possibly die here in some Luna forsaken backwater hole of Equestria. The universe owed Trixie too much to simply allow her to perish here.
Trixie continued down the dirt road, the sun beating down on her back, the hat and cape keeping the worst of the heat from her, but still it was almost unbearable. Distantly, over a hill or two, Trixie caught the sound of running water and turned directly towards it, breaking off into a gallop. Cresting the hill she was a small stream running out from a cave, the entrance just large enough for a pony to enter if they squeezed.
Trixie didn’t hesitate and dived right at the water, cooling her aching hooves in the icy flow. Pausing a moment to cast a spell, Trixie checked that the water was safe to drink, then began to drink her fill, slaking her thirst in this pristine flow of water, cleaner than almost any she had encountered before. Only once had she had better water, when she had managed to steal a single bottle of Princess Celestia’s Private Reserve Aqua Vitae, and this water came close. The Aqua Vitae was the most expensive brand of bottled water in Equestria and Trixie could have sworn they may have just been bottling it from here.
Her thirst parched, Trixie decided that this would be a suitable place to rest up for a few hours, regain her strength, and find some grass or leaves to eat. The cave offered a tantalizing rest stop out of the sun, the coolness of the water and breeze flowing out through the gap hinting at a pleasant chill inside.
The grasses growing along the banks of the creek were significantly more juicy and succulent than Trixie was expecting, eating them was almost pleasant, a fact the Trixie attributed to the high quality of the water. Further up along the hill stood a grove of elderberries that, despite not seemingly having been tended by anypony still were full, their branches sagging under the glut of fruit waiting to be picked. Trixie quickly stripped off as much of the ripe berries as she could stomach, revelling in the sweet taste and texture. Still it did not compare to a well prepared meal, filled with oh so fattening yet delicious fried foods. That was perhaps the greatest thing Trixie missed from her original wagon, the ability to prepare a simple meal for herself. Her now lost replacement wagon had had no such facilities and ration cubes of alfalfa only went so far.
While the royals in canterlot had said they could procure her a new wagon if she wanted it, Trixie was not going to simply turn up there with nothing, lest she look desperate. Trixie would never beg, she would rather die than beg. Only once she had found something impressive to show those snobs in Canterlot would she consider returning to mainstream Equestria.
Trixie finished up her simple meal and moved to wash off the berry stains in the creek, red juices mingling with the pristine waters. Once she was clean Trixie moved towards the inviting embrace of the cave, the noticeable drop in temperature not a concern. Ever since she was a little filly, Trixie had never been bothered by cold. While other fillies were wrapping up in scarves and hoof booties, Trixie would prance around oblivious to the near-freezing temperatures around her. Within moments, she had squeezed into the cave, her slightly malnourished frame fitting in between the mouth with ease.
Inside the cave, the light from the entrance quickly vanished as the path of the water led Trixie around a sharp corner. The unicorn lit a light ball from her horn, revealing a dank moss covered wall, with water trickling along the floor. Despite the close walls and lack of light, Trixie was not afraid. Something about this cave was calling to her. While she couldn’t place it, something about this cave told her that the thing she was seeking would be found here. Plus, she was the Great and Powerful Trixie. Nothing could best her.
Deeper and deeper into the cave tunnel Trixie went, stumbling over a rock and landing in the running water, soaking her coat and mane, the frigid water seeping onto the ground. Trixie felt the chill of the water but paid it no mind, she had experienced far colder without complaining. “Stupid Rock, get out of Trixies way” Trixie called as she telekinetically picked up the rock and flung it away from her, disappearing into the inky blackness. Trixie continued for a few more paces until she noticed something odd: She had never heard the rock hit the other side of the cave. It seemed that the cave was more of a cavern, much larger than she had originally thought.
Trixie continued unabated by this new knowledge, she still felt something calling to her. In the light of her horn, the walls of the cavern started to subtly change, rough hewn rock gave way to polished stone, the trickle of water moving through clean cut channels. It was clear that the area had been worked over by something or someone.
Quickly Trixie found that the walls opened up and she entered into the main chamber of the cavern. Worked obsidian stone rose up to form a dais in the center, pillars and columns surrounding stairs leading up to the top of the dais, polished and reflective surfaces bouncing the light from Trixies horn around the cavern revealing its immense size. Trixie felt the static charge of very powerful magic filling the stale air. Something here was generating a massive amount of magic. This had to be her destiny, if she could find out what this magic was, she could master it.
On a pillar directly next to the entrance, Trixie could see a single tabled inscribed with words. Bringing her horn around to view it, she could see that it was in a language she was able to recognise – Ancient Equestrian. ‘it must have been ponies that made this chamber’ Trixie thought, looking closely at the tablet
Upon the tablet Trixie could make out words hewn into the surface. Despite the feeling of age within the cavern, the carvings were as fresh as the day they had been etched.
‘The Three Lords – Wielders of the primal forces. The Star – Archon of Fire. Burning as brightly as her namesake The Moon – Scion of Ice. Frigid as the endless void The Elder – Prelate of Lightning. Master of the Heavens
‘What could this mean? Who are these three, and what is this about fire, ice and lightning?’ Trixie moved on undaunted, coming to the full end of the tunnel she had followed to get here.
With a single step into the main chamber Trixie felt the stone beneath her hoof depress slightly. Grinding of stone on stone could be heard from within the walls. Trixie jumped back into the relative safety of the tunnel and watched the main chamber. The feeling of magic intensified to an almost painful level, all the fur on her coat standing up, small arcs of electricity flowing along her horn.
With a whoosh sound, 4 torches mounted on the dial podium lit in rapid succession, casting a weak blue light over the scene. Arcane glyphs and sigils began to glow on the pillars, pulses of energy shooting out from the bases, streams of light filling up channels carved into the obsidian floor, creating large runes of light. Something or somepony was waking up, clearly Trixie had triggered some kind of trap stone. She was not afraid, whatever was in this place, she could handle it.
From each of the pillars, a beam of blinding energy shot out, converging on the dial. With a thunderous crash, the magical aura of the chamber vanished, the pillars sucking out every drop from the air. The closest pillar sent out a second beam, this one latching directly onto Trixie’s horn, leaching out her magical aura. Trixie quickly clamped down on her magic as she felt it being drained, shutting of all her spells, but not before a sizable portion of her stored magical power had been sucked out of her.
In the light of the torches, Trixie could see something happening on the dais. All the energy was condensing into a single form, recognisable as a pony, though ethereal. A light glow permeated the figure, wisps of ectoplasm coming off its body. It seemed that this cavern was actually a tomb, but for whom, Trixie had no idea. She knew one thing, she would banish this ghost and claim its power for her own.
After a moment the ghost turned its face directly at Trixie, two empty sockets looking at her, piercing her very soul. Slowly it started down the steps towards her, its empty eyes never wavering. With a voice like the rustling of the wind over a pile of bones the apparition spoke.
“The warmth of life has entered by tomb. Who dares disturb my eternal rest?”
As it came closer, Trixie could see that the ghost was a unicorn like herself. It made sense, many of the most powerful magi or warlocks of ancient times built elaborate tombs for themselves, designed to amplify their magical abilities so that they may continue to exist after death. The Princesses had banned such practices after they came to power.
“I am the Great and Powerful Trixie wraith. It is my destiny to be the greatest unicorn who has ever lived, and I will not allow a spirit as feeble as you to stop me.”
Trixie quickly opened up her magic, charging up a spell she had learned but never actually used before, one she had decided to call the ‘holy sea of banishing light’. The original owner of the spell, the mage Lord Ixion was unlikely to notice the theft, he had been dead for many millennia.
The wraith stopped as it watched Trixie charge and cast her spell, a blinding wash of pure white light blanketing him, blotting out Trixies ability to see the ghost for a moment.
As the spell faded, Trixie could no longer see anything, her eyes having been dazzled by her own brilliance. As she regained the use of her eyes, Trixie saw that the ghost was still standing right where it had been, only now it was laughing, a laugh that did not reach the voids where its eyes would have been. Trixie suddenly felt very afraid.
“Ha. Pitiful witch, to think that you could banish me, using one of my own spells. Me, the great lord Ixion, prelate of lightning, wielder of the powers of the void. Do not think that your petty magic, already drained of its weak power can harm me. Now ‘weak and feeble Trixie’ taste the frost of unbridled winter breath.”
The ghost of Ixion lit his own horn, the glow almost indistinguishable from the light of his own body. Trixie tried to turn and flee, but her hooves were stuck to the ground, due to a spell the ghost had cast or simply her own terror, she knew not.
“Farewell young magus. Your life force shall serve me for eternity.”
With that the ghost released its spell, and Trixie watched as a wave of ice and frost blasted out of its horn. Trixie closed her eyes, not wanting to see the end coming, as she felt the bitter chill of the ice surround her body, trapping her within its cold clutches.
The ghost watched as the upstart blue unicorn was caught and covered in his conjured ice. Nothing could survive in there for more than a few seconds. Soon her meagre soul and magic would be used to fuel his own body, and once more he would live again. None of the other sorcerers of his time had had the foresight or raw talents to practice necromancy, not even his former friend and eternal rival Star-Swirl. Before long, the world would once again tremble at the name of Ixion.
The ghost turned back up the stairs, moving himself into position to receive the incoming soul of the unicorn. Draining her magic had been tasty, but hardly filling. The mare had fire in her, but also a bitter coldness to her heart. Her soul would make a far better meal.
From behind the ghost there came a loud CRACK, and the block of ice encasing Trixie first cracked, fracture lines appearing all over the surface then shattered revealing the mare inside. Ixion watched in mixed horror and fascination as for a brief moment Trixies body turned a translucent pale blue, flecks and sparkles of light could be seen refracting from within. Trixie’s mane resembled an icicle, sharp and angular, even her eyes, normally a light purple, had turned an icy blue. The show only lasted for a moment before Trixies body and mane abruptly turned back to normal, fur and hair returning to cover her. Emotion returned to her eyes, and the only thing they conveyed was pure fury, directed exclusively at the form of Ixion.
“Impossible. Nopony has ever survived such a blast before. Who are you?”
Trixie snorted. “I am the Great and Powerful Trixie Lulamoon, and I serve nopony.”
At the mention of her name, Ixion glanced over at the inscribed tablet, his empty eyes falling on the second line.
‘The Moon – Scion of Ice. Frigid as the endless void’
He turned back to Trixie, fear and wonder entering his voice. “It’s you. You are the Scion of Ice...”
“The Scion of Ice. One of three Elemental Masters” the ghost of Ixion replied, his tone changing to one of respect.
“What does that mean, what did you do to Trixie?”
The spectre shook his head “I have not done anything to you, rather it is you who have done this to yourself. But hold on. If you are indeed one of the Elementals, this deserves a bit more than a mere apparition.”
For a moment, the ghost glowed brightly, then vanished, leaving Trixie alone in the cavern. After a brief silence, all of the pillars glowed brightly again, charging up their energies before blasting out forks of electricity to converge on the spot the ghost had vanished. A lattice work of electricity formed, taking the shape of the long dead pony. Slowly the frame filled up, the holes in the lattice closing over with the appearance of flesh and fur. Trixie shielded her eyes with a hoof as stray arcs jumped out from the pillars until all went silent.
Standing before Trixie was a vibrant orange unicorn, with a pure white mane and tail, an image of forked lightning appearing as his cutie mark. Like his mane, the pony’s eyes were pure white, milky and glassed over.
“Ugh, thE corpOReal form, so liMited” he muttered out, putting strange intonations of his words, as if he had not spoken for a long time.
“What are you” Trixie asked, looking at this new pony who had appeared to be made from pure electricity.
“I am IxIoN. Normally I like to reMain as pure energy, so much less encuMbered than your physical forms, but you, Scion deserve something better” replied the stallion, his unseeing eyes focusing on Trixie. By the end of his introduction he seemed to have gotten the hang of speaking again, his intonation settling down.
“Why do you keep calling Trixie that word?”
Ixion sighed, a pointless gesture while having lungs, he was still dead and thus had no need to breath. His new body was still composed of lightning, just lightning given a physical form. “Because that is what you are. As you broke free from the ice, which would have killed you if you were not, I saw your body take on its elemental form, just as mine is doing now. For a brief moment, your entire being – body, mane, eyes were constructed of living ice. Such magic is only available to the elemental masters, of which there are three. Myself – the Prelate of Lightning, you – the Scion of Ice, and a third pony – the Archon of Fire. United the three were said to be able to do great things”.
Trixie considered the words of the pony standing before her. While much of her mind claimed that what he was saying was impossible, that such claims as a pony being made totally out of ice or fire was insanity, the proof was standing before her. A small part of her minds however knew that what he was telling her was the truth. She had felt her body shift and change while in the ice. For a brief moment she had drained all the energy from the ice, taking it within herself, becoming the very thing she was surrounded by.
Trixie did not trust Ixion, he had tried to kill her and steal her soul after all, but if he could teach her how to use this new power she had found then he could still be of some use to her.
“Can you teach me? Show me what this power means. Is there more than simply turning to ice?” Trixie asked.
Ixion nodded, his opaque eyes not leaving Trixies form for a moment. “Much more. For starters, you may have noticed that you are not disturbed by cold?” Trixie nodded in return at this.
“That is a mere latent power. Now that you have awakened, you will find that all water and ice responds to your call and touch. The ability to blanket a town in frost and snow at a whim, the summoning of a cascade of water, the creation of solid ice in whatever shape and size you need are all powers that you have been blessed with. There are others, but I do not know of them. Much of it is simply how creative you can get”.
Trixie thought about this new information. If she could truly turn herself into ice and wield power such as Ixion was describing, then she could go and show up that bookwork Sparkle once and for all. Not even Celestia’s prized gift to pony kind could stand up to such power. Trixie would be able to prove that she truly was the most gifted unicorn in Equestria, and win back the respect she had seen stolen from her when those two inbred morons had tricked an Ursa to town.
“How do I change into the ice form, can I do that at will?” Trixie asked, her mind far away, still focusing on the potential power trip she was about to experience.
Ixion smiled at her. This mare is far too easy to manipulate, just dangle a little power in front of her and she is like putty in my hooves.
“Yes you can change at will, though it will be easier for you in places where snow and ice are common. To do so, you much focus your entire being on the change. Feel the essence of ice – its coldness, texture, the harshness of its being. Become one with it, accept it into your very core.”
Trixie did as she was told and focused her mind. Images and feeling rose up in her thoughts: the sensation she felt during her first time in the cold and ice, the coldness of the wind during a blizzard she once was stuck in, the gleam of freshly landed snow.
A new feeling came over Trixie, her skin and fur began to tingle. Ixion watched as her body glowed for a few moments before reverting to her normal blue sheen.
Trixie let out a held breath, releasing the tension in her muscles. “I can’t do it” she said, deflating.
“Don’t worry little witch. It is always hard the first time. Once you do it once though, it will become easier. There is an easier way, if you think you can handle it” Ixion asked, touching a nerve and goading Trixie on.
“Trixie can handle anything you can dish out Lightning Rod, Bring it on.”
“Very well then. The trick I learned was stress brings out your powers” Ixion asked, his face telegraphing barely concealed mirth. “With that in mind oh ‘Great and Powerful Trixie’, I’d like you to meet a friend of yours. Let’s just say that you didn’t part on very good terms last time you met, Ha ha ha ha”.
Ixion stood aside and pointed towards one of the still darkened recesses of the tomb. Trixie looked up but could not see anything. She could hear whatever it was though. Now that Ixion had pointed it out, Trixie could hear heavy breathing, followed by growls and a snarl or two. Trixie had a sinking feeling, only one thing came to mind as to what could be making such noises.
“But it can’t be. I killed it” She breathed, slowly seeing a shape resolve in the corner. Multiple heads turned as one to stare at her. A blood chilling roar followed, flashes of teeth were caught in the weak light of the torches.
“Did you?” Ixion replied. “Are you sure you simply didn’t banish it somewhere else.”
Moving into the full light the Lion and Goat heads stared at Trixie with molten fury, the stump of the snake head writhing with anger. It was the Chimera she had defeated outside the Changeling hive, and it was not pleased to see her. With one final roar, it lunged at the blue mare…
Ixion watched the scene unfold, his laughter cutting through the roars of the Chimera and the shouts of Trixie. There was no way this could end badly for him. If the Chimera was able to beat Trixie then he would simply take her soul as he had originally planned, the drain and soul trap spells cast by the pillars were still active on the mare. If she did manage to win, then he would do the same to the Chimera. Either way he would get the soul he desired.
The magic the pillars had drained out of Trixie had allowed him to reconstitute his physical form, but without a new soul for his body, he was still bound to the magic of his tomb. Soon though, one of the two combatants before him would be beaten and he would claim their soul as his own.
Trixie was in trouble. Despite having had one its heads cut off earlier, the Chimera was running on pure rage, and all that rage was directed purely at her. Dimly she could hear Ixion laughing behind her.
The Chimera was relentless in its pursuit of the mare which had banished it from its last home. That fate had seen fit to send her to it again seemed like too good and opportunity to pass us.
Trixie for her part was attempting to dodge around the monster, looking for a chance to strike. The Chimera had all the weight and height it needed on her. She would not win this by trying to wait it out, she had to strike at it before it caught up to her.
Ixion had finally stopped laughing and was now watching the match with interest. “Remember, stress brings out your powers. Try transforming again” he called out to Trixie, not entirely sure if she could hear him at the moment, all her attention was focused on the creature trying to make a meal of her.
The Chimera lunged in close, taking a swipe at Trixie with one of its claws, nicking her side and leaving 3 ragged marks, blood sluggishly dripping down her body onto the floor.
“AAARRRRGGG” Trixie screamed out as she felt the claws rake at her body.
‘Gotta focus. Ixion said stress was the key, well this is plenty stressful’
Trixie lit her horn and teleported to the other side of the cavern, putting the dais between herself and the Chimera, hoping that it would provide her with a brief moment of respite to focus her mind.
As she saw the Chimera look around for her, she closed her mind, once again picturing the images of winter and ice she had called upon the last time. A icy blue aura swept around her body as the Chimera found her, letting out a bestial roar before charging, lowering the goats head, brining the short horns in line to gore Trixie.
Ixion watched in fascination. One way or another, this fight was about to end. It made no difference to him which contestant won. Either would be suitable for his purposes.
Trixie focused on the strongest memory of winter she had: Spending a day in the middle of winter with her family. Everypony else had been wrapped up in so many layers that they were almost unrecognisable as the members of her family. Trixie had simply run around without bothering to put anything on. She remembered the others telling her that she must be freezing, that she should put something on lest she catch cold, the feel of the snow on her body as she rolled around in it, oblivious to the freezing temperatures that had forced her brothers and sisters inside. With that memory in her mind, and the threat of the Chimera impelling her on, Trixie felt her body start to change again.
She felt her body shift, her skin felt like it was freezing over though there was no pain. A thin sheet of ice rose up from her hooves, moulding itself precisely to the contours of her body, leaving her body a translucent blue. Trixie watched her legs and tail take on new forms, her tail freezing over into an angular chunk of ice, though she still appeared to be able to swish it as if it was made of hair. The three cuts along her side filled in with ice, instantly vanishing and becoming a smooth part of her now unblemished body, many small refractions of light sparkling from within her now icy form.
Even in the cold of the tomb, small wisps of frost and mist rose from her body, and frostbloom radiated out from her hooves, blanketing the ground in ice, clearly indicating just how cold she had now become. Lastly her eyes, already a light blue clouded over totally, finishing the illusion that she was simply a perfectly sculpted figure of ice.
The Chimera did not appreciate any of these subtleties however, it was still focused totally on destroying its opponent. Putting on a final burst of speed it rounded the dais and angled itself directly at the ice mare in its path.
Trixie turned her frosty visage upon the creature bearing down on her, a wellspring of power she had never felt before rising up from within her. Compared to this new power, every feat she had ever performed felt petty. She turned to face the Chimera full on, her horn glowing.
A wave of ice, identical to the one that Ixion had cast on her, discharged from her horn, shooting out at the Chimera. The Chimera realised the danger approaching it far too late and charged directly into the miniature blizzard. Ice crystals formed all around it, trapping its body and two remaining heads inside. Trixie continued to blast away at the creature with her magic, encasing it inside an icy tomb.
Quickly it was clear that the Chimera was not just trapped but fully frozen solid. Trixie ended her spell, looking at the new ice sculpture she had created. With one final flick of her horn, Trixie shattered the Chimera, parts of its body scattering all over the cavern floor.
Ixion quickly activated his pillars, each one shooting out a lance of energy at the largest of the icy chunks. Standing in the centre of the pillars he felt the remains of the Chimeras life force enter his body. New energy flowed through him as he absorbed the soul of the monster he had just watched be slain. His heart began to beat again, blood ran through his veins, infusing his muscles with fresh life. His lungs screamed out for air, having been starved for far too long. After millennia of waiting, he had made good on his final promise and laughed in the face of death itself. He, Lord Ixion the Eternal, greatest necromancer Equestria had even known had returned from the grave. First he would have to rest, regain his strength and marshal his forces. Then and only then, once he was strong enough would he inform the world of his return. It would be glorious.
Trixie, still in her ice form watched the Chimera shatter under the power of her magic. “Try getting up from that. When Trixie tells you to stay down, you do it.”
Having beaten the Chimera, Trixie tried to revert back to her original form, focusing her mind on her normal form – flesh, fur, her silver mane of which she was immensely proud. Quickly she felt her body undergo the change again, mane and tail returning to normal, the icy shell that had been covering her quickly dissipating. She was quite pleased to see that the wound to her side had healed over totally, not even a faint trace of scar tissue remained. It seemed that shifting between her forms would allow her to rapidly regenerate injury.
CLAP…CLAP…CLAP… The sound of hooves knocking together slowly attracted her attention. Ixion was watching her from atop the dais. Even from her distant spot, Trixie could feel the new power radiating from his body. For a moment she was afraid of what she may have awoken in this tomb. From the few books she had actually read on Equestrian history, Ixion had not featured as a particularly nice pony.
“A very impressive display, my dear Lulamoon, you are indeed gifted. Now that you have awakened into your birthright, it is time for you to go. It is your destiny to find the last of the Elemental Masters, The Star, Archon of Flame”.
“What happens to you now?” Trixie asked Ixion. Even an idiot could see that he had his own agenda.
“I am still bound by the magic of this tomb” Ixion replied, blatantly lying to the mare, but she didn’t have to know that. “As you leave, I will return to my slumber. It was my destiny to awaken you, now you must do the same for the Star. Farewell Trixie Lulamoon, Scion of Ice. You have been granted the powers of a God, use them for good. May we someday meet again.”
Ixion allowed his body to return to its pure electric state before retreating into the embrace of the pillars, their natural ability to absorb and store magic and energy easily accommodating his now intangible body. As far as the rather dull mare before him would be aware, he would have simply faded away, as if he was truly just a ghost returning to the spirit realm.
Trixie puzzled over Ixion’s final comments. Who could this Star be. How would she know them when she met them. Trixie shook that thought from her head, it was time to leave the cave. Lighting her horn again, she followed the path of the water back out of the cave system.
With every step she took in the freezing water, Trixie could feel her body gaining strength, her skinny frame filled out as if she had just eaten a filling meal, her coat and mane reached a new lustre, shining like she had just had herself groomed.
Trixie stepped out of the cave and into the fading daylight. What had felt like days to her had only been a few hours in reality. Looking out over the green flowing hills, Trixie felt a new purpose come over her. Finding the Star could wait, there was a certain purple unicorn in the hick town of Ponyville with whom she had an overdue appointment. It was time for Trixie to show Twilight Sparkle who was the most talented spell caster in Equestria was once and for all…
Ixion waited several hours before reforming his body. With Trixie gone it was time to get to work. Slowly he walked off the dais and out to the edge of the obsidian stonework. This had been his limit while he was still a spectre, the magic that had been sustaining his spirit would not allow him to cross this threshold. With one confident step, Ixion passed over the boundary, proving that he was indeed fully alive again.
Though nopony was around to hear it, mocking laughter echoed throughout the cavern…
Far away in the rustic town of Ponyville Twilight Sparkle was having a very good day. She had finally gotten her hooves on the final ingredient for the most complex and powerful piece of magic she had ever attempted – powdered loadstone crystal.
Ounce for ounce, loadstone crystal was one of the most expensive commodities available in Equestria. Only the Diamond Dogs knew the secrets for locating and extracting the rare crystals. Her brother, Shining Armour had once told her off the record that this was the only reason that the Princess allowed the Diamond Dogs to remain in Equestria.
In its powdered form, the crystal acted as an alchemical catalyst, increasing the power of any magic that it was used in. Twilight had scrimped and saved for months and had finally managed to buy enough of the crystal to fuel one spell. She had spent many days trying to decide what the spell should be, creating checklists and flow charts, and checklists of the flow charts summarising the earlier checklists. Finally she had decided on a summoning spell. But not just any summoning spell. If she could pull this off right, she would be able to summon one of the greater kakòdaimons of Tartarus and seal it under her control, if only for a short time.
Such a feat would be almost unheard of from a mare as young as Twilight was, and would be sure to earn her the respect of her academic peers and rivals in Canterlot. While she was still nervous about her ability to correctly summon the creature, all the theory suggested that if the spell was not performed correctly, nothing would happen at all. She had also cast multiple redundancy wards around the library in case something else happened. Once she began, nothing would be able to enter or exit the library until she removed the wards.
With the arrival of the crystal powder, Twilight and Spike were ready to prepare the spell. Twilight concentrated, summoning power to her horn, a bright purple glow shedding light over the interior of the library. Around the library exterior, multiple layers of her signature bubble shield blazed to life, sealing the library off from the outside world. Until they were finished with this delicate operation, they were totally cut off.
“Ready Spike? No distractions remember” Twilight called out to her draconic assistant.
“Ready Twilight, but are you totally sure this is a good idea?” Spike asked back.
“No, but progress demands unconventional ideas. Rather than ask why, ask why not?”
Twilight rubbed her hooves together with glee. It was these moments that she lived for, just her and Spike against the unknown, ready to stretch or even break the accepted boundaries of theoretical magic.
With all preparations in order, Twilight looked over her notes for the spell one last time. She had slaved over these, making sure that every step was exact – the amounts of ingredients were perfect down to the milligram, the ritual incantations had been practiced. The binding slave rune, which Twilight would wear herself had been prepared. All was in readiness, and it had to be. Such a delicate spell demanded no mistakes. If something went wrong, at best nothing would happen. At worst, Twilight could find herself dragged down into the pits of Tartarus by the very daemon she sought to dominate. History was littered with examples of sorcerers being destroyed by their own lust for demonic magic. Such was the laws of magic; abuse your power, and it will turn on you.
Twilight was not worried about that though, her talent for magic was unparalleled. With the library sealed off, and final checks for Pinkie Pie coming up empty, there was nothing within the library that could possibly distract her from this task. Spike reported that Pinkie had been seen outside the barrier since it had gone up, and there was no way she could get through, even with her strange ability to warp reality.
Twilight readied herself and began the spell, adding in Manticore venom and powdered swamp root to a lit brazier, acrid smells quickly wafting through the air.
“Oh blackest night and coldest void, I call upon thee Grant me thy power, that I might do thy will.”
Twilight cast a selection of spells, opening up her natural reserves to fuel the powerful magic. Runes and glyphs appeared in the air around her, each one radiating its own aura into the mix.
“Hear me, Lord of Hell. Hear my voice and obey. I summon you with the power of the Bell, the Book and the Flame.”
As she spoke these words, Twilight struck a small bell, its clear tone ringing out. After that she quickly and deliberately closed a large book, specially enchanted for this purpose. Finally she blew out a ritual candle she had prepared. The runes swirling around her increased in power, a feeling of unease sweeping through the library.
Even outside the barrier, ponies were finding excuses to not go near the library, a sense of dread lingering over it like a pall.
Twilight watched with excitement as a large rift opened in the centre of the spell circle she had created, it was working! Time to add in the last ingredients.
Placing her left hoof above the burning brazier, Twilight felt the heat of the flame. While most ponies would have quickly retracted their hoof from the heat, Twilight didn’t mind it. It almost felt pleasant. In a quick motion, she brought up a knife and made a small cut, hissing as the metal bit into her skin. Several drops of her blood entered into the mix, sizzling away into the flame.
Finally it was time to add the loadstone. This was the ingredient that would allow her to summon the more powerful kakòdaimon, rather than a lesser imp or scamp. Absolute precision was required, as she only had just enough powder for one try.
Carefully she brought up the vial to the brazier, making sure not to lose any of the precious material. She was just about to add it to the mix when a pink hued she-demon appeared out of the swirling portal, ramming into her and spilling the loadstone all over the floor, or scattering it to the swirling winds of the portal. With the spell focus broken, the portal quickly lost cohesion and closed in on itself, leaving no trace that it was ever there.
“HIYA TWILIGHT, What are you doing, OOOHHH is it something fun, I Know, Lets throw a ‘Twilight is doing something Sciency Party” Pinkie Pie yelled out, bouncing up and down on the spot in her classic style of stotting.
Twilight simply stared in horror at the mess Pinkie’s entrance had wrought. All the lodestone was worthless now, even if she managed to recover it from the floor, there wasn’t anywhere near enough to allow her to try the spell again. Months of planning and saving had gone down the drain, all because of some insane pink pony with a party fascination. One who was currently standing right in front of her, grinning like a madpony, which in Twilights mind was exactly what she was.
‘Deep breaths Twilight, Pinkie didn’t mean to wreck your experiment, the one that you slaved over for days, the one that you ate nothing but ramen hay for months for so you could afford the crystal, the one that you and Spike put up flyers for weeks ago telling everypony the library would be closed toady for delicate experiments. I’m sure she would be sorry if she… AH BUCK IT’
Twilight simply let her repressed rage and anger at this pink ball of destruction loose. Every inexplicable thing Pinkie had ever done that defied scientific reasoning, including how she managed to somehow get through the portal Twilight was opening flooded her brain, overloading her reasoning and common sense.
Pinkie finally started to realise something was wrong as she saw Twilight’s mane and tail begin to smoulder, smoke rising up into the air, as if there was a burning ember embedded in her coat. Her oblivious smile faltered and she took a short step back.
Twilight simply exploded, her entire body catching fire as it had done once before, at Froggy bottom bog. But this time it did not put itself out as it had that first time. Twilight was far too enraged for that to happen.
“PINKIE PIE, do you have ANY idea what you have done here today?” Twilight yelled, smoke spewing from her mouth as she rounded on the now terrified pink party mare. Small spot fires erupted with every hoof step. The fire retardant spells Twilight had placed on the library after Spikes mishap with the astronomy book tried in vain to cope with the sudden outbreak of fire, but nothing appeared to work. The flames upon Twilights body seemed unquenchable. The water landing on her body sizzled but had little other effect.
“Twilight, you’re scaring me” Spike called out, hiding behind of the couches in the lower levels of the library. He flinched as the flaming pony turned to look directly at him, blazing eyes full of rage.
Through the haze of bloodlust, Twilight caught sight of her assistant and closest friend, cowering in fear at her. A moment of lucidity came over her and she reverted into the normal purple mare that she was, albeit somewhat charred and blackened with soot and ash.
“Oh Spike, I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to frighten you like that.” Twilight knelt down near him, hugging him in close to her body, hoping that she hadn’t caused him or the library any serious harm.
Pinkie was watching the exchange from the other side of the room. As soon as she saw Twilight change back into her normal form and embrace Spike, she began stotting again, bouncing her way over to the pair, her frizzy mane bouncing all over.
“ThatwassocoolTwilight,canyoudoitagain?” Pinkie was so excited at the strange happenings that she ran all her words together, not even bothering to breathe.
Twilight felt all the anger draining out of her. Pinkie hadn’t meant any harm, and she had snapped at her over something as trivial as money. She could always save up some more bits and get more crystal. If she had hurt Spike or Pinkie, they were irreplaceable.
“Pinkie, how did you get here? I sealed off the library. Nothing was meant to be able to get in.” Twilight was perplexed, but that was Pinkie Pie. Often when asked about her unusual abilities she had simply replied ‘Screw physics, I’m Pinkie Pie’ as if that was all the explanation needed.
Pinkie bounced with glee, her eyes half closed and a goofy smile plastered all over her face. “Silly Twilight, you called me here, so I just jumped in the portal and came. Easy as that!”
Twilight was stunned for a moment. Her portal was meant to call an elder daemon from Tartarus, not a local pony. “Pinkie that is impossib…” Twilight trailed off as she looked into Pinkie’s eyes for a moment.
For a brief moment, staring into those cool blue orbs, Twilight felt her mind touch the essence of pure madness, beyond all ability of logic or reasoning. A presence older than any pony stared back at her from within Pinkie, the sheer power of madness flowing from her body, warping reality and threatening to break the minds of lesser mortals. Twilight felt herself drowning in those bottomless pits, each eye promising horrors and hedonistic revelry beyond the limits of the sane mind. Twilight could swear she heard a voice telling her that ‘it was a lovely day in the isles’.
It lasted only for a second before happy-go-lucky Pinkie was back, skipping around the library, then out into the Ponyville main street. Somehow she passed directly through all the wards as if they were not there at all. Twilight shook her head, watching this impossible act, attempting to clear the cobwebs that had formed there. Suddenly she was not so comfortable about having Pinkie around on her own.
With the spell ruined, Twilight began the task of deconstructing her ward spells. Each one was heavily re-enforced with symbols of power, and not easy to take apart. This would take a while.
Trixie stumbled over the last crest and the town of Ponyville came into view. For the most part it looked like any other small rural town, it had a central town hall, scattered housing and businesses, and large tracks of farmland on the outskirts. Trixie remembered the last time she was here, most of the ingrates and hicks had seemed in awe of her abilities right up until those two morons had actually found and brought an Ursa minor to town. It had been partially her fault for making such wild claims, but still she never expected somepony to actually go ahead and test them.
It had seemed that the few years since she had been through here had not had a kind effect on the memories of the townsfolk. Most of them had either actively avoided her, or refused to talk to her, taking to muttering once they thought she was out of earshot. One white mare had actually spat on her, mumbling something about ‘green hair’. Only one pink mare actually stopped to talk to her, before gasping and dashing off, babbling something about a ‘welcome to Ponyville party’.
Still, Trixie did not need their approval. All she needed was to show up that stupid Twilight, then she could go cash in that favour the royal family owed her, get a new wagon and embark on the quest Ixion had charged her with.
Images of Twilight, with her arrogant, superior smile, her pristine hooves that reeked of time spent at a spa or groomers came into Trixies mind. ‘Her mane is such a stupid colour, with its purple highlights and her… rather shapely plot, and curvy flank’
Trixie cut that thought off quickly, though images of Twilight wiggling her plot in the air continued to float through her mind, teasing her mercilessly.
“Stupid Sexy Twilight, get out of Trixie’s head” Trixie muttered under her breath, her eyes roaming around for anything that could lead her to the mare of her dreams, mostly bad dreams, but still dreams.
One building looked like a good candidate, a large tree surrounded by multiple layers of energy shielding, some of which seemed to be disappearing. Such magic was easy for a spell caster as accomplished as Trixie was, so it stood to reason that the slightly less gifted Twilight could be the one doing the magic. It certainly beat just wandering around, attracting the ire of the townsponies.
Trixie reached the tree house just as the last of the barriers came down. Through one of the windows, she could see Twilight, her horn glowing as she undid whatever magic she had cast in the first place. Trixie noticed just how shapely her horn was, the spiral ridges were perfectly spaced. The rest of her face was also perfectly sculpted, and seriously cute.
‘Stop it brain, I’m here to show her up, not fall for her’
Twilight finished removing the last of her wards and looked around at her library. Scorch marks and debris littered the insides, testament to her rage and fury earlier.
“What happened to me, how did I cause all this damage. Did I really turn into a fireball?” Twilight asked, more to herself than to anypony in particular. The only pony she had ever heard of actually combusting into flame without suffering injury was the Wonderbolt Spitfire, and not something she did all that often. Never had a unicorn been able to do such a thing. This would take a lot of study to get to the bottom of, study she would not be able to do as long as there was the pink ball of destruction roaming free and some obnoxious blue mare staring in through one of the windows. Twilight turned to get a better look at the gawker, noting her blue coat, silver mane and eyes similar to her own.
‘Distinctive colour, wait a minute. That almost looks like…’
Trixie saw Twilight notice her and rise to her hooves, making for the door. Trixie backed away from the window, becoming more convinced that this was a bad idea with every step. She didn’t get more than a few steps before Twilight got the door open and caught her.
Twilight pulled Trixie into the library, yanking her almost off her hooves. “Trixie is that really you? I was hoping I would get to see you again. Shining Armour told me all about what you did and I wanted to thank you myself for saving his and my sister-in-laws lives”.
Trixie found herself powerless to resist the purple mare and within moments was seated on a couch, looking nervously around the well appointed library. Twilight was seated opposite her, an eager expression plastered all over her face.
“Spike, Spiiiike. Get down here, Now” She called out to the upstairs.
“What Twilight? I’m busy cleaning up here” the baby dragon replied, stomping into view at the head of the stairs.
“We have a guest, can you make tea?”
“Fine Twilight, I’ll just drop everything to go and help you. Who is this guest anyw… TRIXIE!!!” Spike jumped back, dropping the cleaning mop he had been carrying downstairs. He quickly pointed an accusing claw at Trixie, who shrank back from him. Things were not going as she had hoped, having lost the initiative in this encounter.
“What is she doing here Twilight. Don’t you remember what she did the last time she came through here?”
Twilight shot a withering glare at her assistant, effectively silencing any further arguments.
“Spike, Remember when Shining came over last, and mentioned the trip he and Cadance went on to the Changeling hive, about how they ran into a Chimera?”
“Yea, kinda. I sorta slept through most of that” he admitted, eyes downcast.
Twilight harrumphed at that. “Well Trixie here was the one who saved him, and the others as well. My BBBFF and Sister in Law could be dead if it wasn’t for her, and you will show her some respect.”
Spike grumbled slightly but wandered off into the kitchen. The sounds of boiling water and moving pots came soon after.
Trixie watched the exchange with a mild disinterest. No matter what she did, she could not take her eyes off Twilight’s cute body, and her starburst cutie mark. While still fit, her body was just a little bit on the pudgy side, and Trixie found it adorable.
‘How can I be having feelings for this mare? I hate her remember, I came here to show her up’
Zoned out of it, Trixie eventually became aware that Twilight was looking at her funny, as if she was waiting for a reply to a question.
“What was that again, Trixie didn’t hear you?” she asked.
Twilight didn’t seem to mind the fact that Trixie hadn’t been listening to her. “I asked if you were going to stay for a few days, I have space on the couch for you. I want to thank you properly for what you did, and maybe you can get the town for forgive you for the last time you came through here.”
Trixie hesitated. Part of her wanted to take Twilight up on her offer. The mare seemed so genuine, she actually cared about what people thought about Trixie. The other part of Trixie wanted to turn tail and run out the door, leaving behind this rube filled town forever.
“Tea’s ready” Spike called, appearing directly behind Trixie, and relishing the sight of the blue mare jumping up out of the couch for a moment. He put the tea pot and mugs down on the table between Twilight and Trixie, shoving Trixie’s down just a little bit too hard. Twilight didn’t seem to notice her assistant’s rude behaviour, still caught up in waiting for Trixie to answer her.
Trixie looked from the steaming tea to Twilights eager face to Spikes disapproving scowl. She could not stay here, best to leave and forget all this ever happened. Go get her wagon and move on with her life, there had to be some town out there where she was still welcome.
“Trixie is sorry, but she can’t stay. She has business to attend to in Canterlot you see.”
Twilight seemed a little bit crestfallen but didn’t argue the point. “I understand Trixie. It was good to see you after all this time, say hi to by brother for me if you see him.”
Trixie nodded and stood up to go, Spike getting out of the way all too eagerly, still shooting daggers at Trixie when he thought she wasn’t looking.
“Hey Trixie, Wait for a moment” Twilight called out. Trixie paused, but did not re-enter the library, and an air of expectance on her face.
“This may sound strange, but have you ever heard of a pony turning into a fireball before, aside from Spitfire I mean.”
That question brought Trixie up short. Of all the things Twilight could have said, Trixie was not expecting this. “What do you mean? Like spontaneous combustion?”
Twilight shook her head. “No, I mean that earlier today, just before you arrived, I burst into flames while snapping at one of my friends, but I wasn’t harmed by it and I don’t know how I did it. It’s happened to me a few times before but never as strongly as this time when I was really angry.”
‘NO, It couldn’t be her could it. Why her? Damn it universe, why are you mocking Trixie like this?’
Trixie turned back around and looked at Twilight, noticing clearly for the first time just what her Cutie mark represented – A magical starburst, or simply a 6 pointed Star. Based on the prophecy, and from what Twilight had just described, she was the Archon of Flame. Either Trixie had gotten very lucky in her quest or fate had a seriously twisted sense of humour. Trixie would have put down money on the second one.
Trixie looked Twilight directly in the eye. “I think I may know what happened. We need to talk… In private.” That last comment was directed at Spike, who after getting a nod from Twilight, simply left out the door. Trixie could just make out something about going to a ‘Fluttershy’s house’.
Twilight looked at him go. She knew that he would come around eventually, all he needed was to see that Trixie was a changed mare. The small dragon crested a hill and was lost from sight. No sooner had this happened when Twilight had turned back to Trixie, hope and expectation dancing over her face.
“Now this is going to sound very strange but Trixie assures you it is all true. What happened to you also has happened to Trixie, but different.” Trixie began to regale her new tale, noting that even to her mind it sounded totally insane, and she knew it was true.
When she got to the part about her taking on her Ice form, Trixie stopped. This was one of those things that would be better if she simply showed Twilight what she meant.
“Come with me Twilight, I need to show you something. Is there somewhere outside that we will be alone?”
Twilight nodded and led Trixie out the back of the library. Once they were both outside, she cast a visual and audio null spell. To the outside observer, the back of the library would appear as a black sphere. The neighbours had once complained about it, but had long since gotten used to the reality of having a magically gifted, somewhat unstable unicorn living next door.
Contained within the sphere Twilight looked at Trixie with a question on her face.
“Ok Trixie, we are alone. What is it you want to show me?”
Trixie closed her eyes and focused her power on shifting to ice. As it had before, a wave of cold began to spread out from her body, coating the ground and causing Twilight to shiver slightly. The change happened faster than the first time, and Trixie was pleased to note that she felt in control over her change at all times.
When she opened her eyes she was greeted by a view of Twilight staring at her, mouth open in shock, eyes bugging out of her head in disbelief. Looking at her own body, Trixie was very surprised at her form. While she was in the cave, her ice form had appeared as dull and cloudy. Out here in the light of the sun she was dazzling as if she had been carved from a gigantic sapphire. She could see right through her own limbs, and presumably her body was also translucent. No trace of organs or bones could be seen, she had converted her body totally to a single block of ice.
Twilight watched in awe as Trixie conjured some strange kind of magic around herself, the blue mare being lost in a glow for a moment. Twilight quickly noted that the temperature in her sphere was dropping rapidly, and she started shivering. While she didn’t mind heat, she felt the cold very much. When the glow surrounding Trixie vanished, Twilight was shocked to see that she had transformed from the blue coated mare into something that more closely resembled an ice sculpture. The most freaky thing was that the ice appeared to move and bend as if Trixie was still formed of flesh.
The frost creature the resembled Trixie turned its chilling gaze on Twilight, two eyes that at once seemed both unseeing and all seeing catching her and seeming to chill her to the core.
Twilight suddenly realised what ponies meant when they said that that the blood in their veins turned to ice. She could feel her body temperature drop rapidly as the air inside her sphere plunged and approached freezing point.
“T-T-Trixie” she got out as her teeth began to chatter against each other “What are you d-d-d-doing? Stop.” Puffs of steam emerged from her mouth as she spoke, the wave of frost rapidly expanding to touch her front hooves.
Trixie seemed to notice the effect she was having on Twilight and recoiled from her, bumping against the back of Twilight’s barrier.
‘She is freezing. Gotta change back quick’
Trixie rapidly reformed herself back into her flesh form, fur reforming to cover her coat. As soon as she finished changing she rushed over to Twilight’s form and threw her cloak around the shivering mare. The cloak had been enchanted to keep Trixie at a comfortable temperature at all times and it would help to stabilize Twilight.
At the same time, Twilight broke her barrier, exposing the pair to the warmth of the shining sun. Trixie’s wave of frost remained on the ground, but the edges began to melt under the heat. To Twilight, the power of Celestia’s sun was the greatest thing she had ever felt and she just stood there, basking in its rays.
Only once she felt like she was getting back to her normal core temperature did Twilight speak. Blushing slightly she shook herself out of Trixie’s cloak and handed it back over to the blue mare. Their hooves brushed together for a moment and both retracted as if they had been shocked.
“What the Buck was that Trixie? You just changed into a living block of ice. That’s not scientifically possible.”
“Trixie knows you must have many questions, Trixie does fully understand it herself but she can give you the basics. There was a prophecy regarding three unicorns, each one gifted with the powers of the gods. One controlled lightning, another commanded ice, and the last had mastery over fire.”
Trixie breathed in before continuing, trying to straighten out her story. “I met the ghost of the Prelate of Lightning in a cave. He showed me that I was the Scion of Ice and charged me to find the Archon of Fire, telling me that they would be known as ‘the star’.”
At the mention of a star, Twilight turned to her side, gazing down at her cutie mark; a large 6 pointed starburst, which she had always thought represented her skill with magic. Could it also be a mark of something else?
“So what does all this have to do with me?” She asked Trixie.
“If you are the Archon, then supposedly I am meant to take you back to the tomb. Ixion said something about ‘uniting the three’ but Trixie does not trust him.”
Twilight considered her words, but decided to press on. “So how did you change into ice?”
“Trixie isn’t sure. She focuses on the power of ice and frost and she changes. Maybe it would also work for you if you focus on fire.”
Twilight shut her eyes and focused her mind.
‘Fire, heat, the burning pits of Tartarus. That one time I drank hot sauce raw, huddling up against my fireplace with my friends roasting marshmallows.’
Twilight focused as hard as she could, blocking out all the other thoughts from her mind, an annoying smell of smoke trying to distracter her. A pleasant feeling of warmth spread over her body
‘Wait a minute. Smoke comes from fire. Does that mean…?”
Twilight opened her eyes and look at her body. Her coat had changed to a bright yellow colour, almost white. Her tail was ablaze, flames replacing her hair. Reflected in a window of the library, her mane was similarly caught in a conflagration. Her normally luminous purple eyes had turned a deep shade of red, a fury burning in them that matched the rest of her body.
Below her body, the heat radiating from her hooves was rapidly melting the remaining frost created by Trixie. Within seconds, the frost had evaporated and the grass was beginning to crisp and wither. Small spot fires began to emerge in different locations, some were put out by Trixie, others were close enough to the library that Twilight’s anti fire charms took care of them, but it was clear it was a loosing battle.
“Trixie, how do I change back?” Twilight heard a voice that was not her own emerge from her lips. Wisps of black smoke rose from her nostrils and mouth. For a moment, Twilight though she knew what it must be like to be a dragon.
“Focus on yourself, think about being a normal pony. Remember who you were before this happened.”
Quickly Twilight’s body began to change back to its normal form, purple fur returning and her blazing mane and tail extinguishing and returning to their normal shapes with the two highlights.
Twilight looked at herself in the window reflection and saw the purple toned bookworm pony she had always been, there were no signs on her that a few moments ago she had been fully caught in an inferno. She breathed a sigh of relief that she had managed to control herself as easily as she had. A runaway fire was a dangerous thing, especially in a town like Ponyville where almost everything was made from wood or straw.
“That was intense.” She said, not to anypony in particular.
“You think you had it bad? Trixie had her first full change while fighting off a monster.” Trixie chipped in, instinctively trying to one-up her rival.
“Does this have any practical applications, or am I just going to burn anything I touch?”
“Trixie was encased in ice and was not harmed, maybe you get similar resistance to fire.”
Twilight had no desire to test such a theory at that moment, she could do without deliberately trying to burn herself.
“I’ve never read about such magic before, my friend Rarity can change herself to look like a crystal pony, but for her it’s only cosmetic. You’re saying that we can change ourselves to be formed totally from our element?”
Trixie nodded. “That is what it seems to be, yes.”
“I think that the Princess needs to hear about this. I always send her a letter when I learn something new about friendship or magic, but I think that something like this needs to be discussed in person. You said you were planning to Canterlot, do you mind if we go together?”
“Trixie was planning to go to Canterlot after leaving here. She supposes that she could take on a travelling partner for the trip.”
“Great, just let me tell my friends I will be going out for a few days. Spike can take care of the library.”
Most of Twilights friends had not reacted well to her announcement that she would be going to Canterlot with Trixie, but they had accepted it eventually. The dragon Spike had agreed to look after the library on the proviso that Trixie would not be there and that Twilight would pick him up a gem on the way back.
It had taken the pair almost half a day to get Twilight ready. Every time she had thought she was packed for the trip, Twilight would remember some trivial thing or decide to triple check her bags for the twentieth time.
Trixie was pleased to be getting out of Ponyville again. The townsponies didn’t like her, and she had no intent to try to change that mindset. Once she had her wagon, she would head on out to some other town and start fresh. Ixion could just wait until the next ‘chosen’ one appeared.
The trip to Canterlot itself clearly wasn’t going to be a simple one. The moment Twilight had started walking she had extracted a quill and ink and demanded that Trixie retell her story from the top, so that she would have all the facts to give to her mentor. Trixie shuddered inwardly but began to recite her tale again. The trip to the Train station just outside of town was a short one, but full of questions and the sounds of a quill scribbling down notes.
‘If she keeps this up the entire trip, then Trixie may have to freeze her solid until she can find some other way to shut her up.
Finally Twilight seemed to get all that she needed and turned the conversation to other matters. She was particularly interested in how Trixie had learned the spells she had used while travelling with her brother. This was a subject Trixie was more than willing to discuss as it was all about her.
The train to Canterlot eventually arrived and the two mares boarded. Trixie noted that Twilight seemed to be sneaking glances at Trixie on a few occasions when she thought Trixie wasn’t looking. Trixie decided that it was ok, after all who didn’t want to check out her body?
The train departed and Trixie left the town of Ponyville behind for what she hoped would be the last time.
The border guards had been easily dispatched. They were inattentive and poorly equipped, soldiers in name only. The few that had attempted to put up a fight had been silenced rapidly. The remainder had surrendered when they realised that their situation was hopeless, choosing captivity over bodily injury. The highest ranking members were press ganged into service, a simple hypnotic charm turning them into little more than puppets.
Equine shapes flooded over the border, entering the heartland of Equestria. As the invading army moved in undetected, a pair of glowing eyes observed the scene with satisfaction. This time it would be different. This time Celestia and her damnable ponies would not be able to resist the flood that would sweep over the land. Canterlot would fall and a new reign would blanket Equestria.
Twilight and Trixie found Canterlot decked out in full festive designs. Banners and posters proudly proclaimed that the second wedding of the century was occurring that day. The Noblecolt Fancy Pants was to marry his long term girlfriend Fleur-de-lis in a ceremony that looked as if it would be able to rival the Royal Wedding for grandeur and majesty. Not a single expense had been spared from the decorations through to the catering.
In a move that had stunned the rest of Canterlot, Fancy Pants had opened his wedding to anypony who wanted to attend, regardless of social rank. Anypony from the highest socialite through to the lowest of the blue collar could attend this event. While not technically required, Princess Cadance had agreed to officiate the ceremony as a show of support for the soon to be wed couple. Celestia and Luna agreed to come along as well.
While she was busy preparing for her appearance, Celestia had been more than happy to grant Twilight and her friend an audience. Within moments she had invited the pair to the wedding as her special guests, and had them follow her to a private dressing room so that they may be fitted for formal attire. Once they were alone, not counting a few attendants who were presenting dresses for them all to wear, Twilight and Trixie launched into their story.
Celestia listened attentively, not interrupting at any point, but clearly taking down mental notes to ask them later.
“And that’s what happened Princess. We came to you in the hope that you might know something more.” Twilight said and an attendant finished clasping a bejewelled necklace around her neck, the amethysts matching her eyes and coat perfectly. Trixie had opted for a ruby broach to contrast her blue coat.
Celestia smiled down at Twilight, a maternal expression creasing her face. “Your story is certainly an interesting one my dear student. I have no doubt that you are telling the truth as you understand it. Trixie, your mention of Ixion is a matter for concern. During his life he was one of the most powerful unicorns alive, easily the equal of Twilight. If he had really found a way to endure after death then we will need to act. But for the moment, I want you both to enjoy the festivities. Equestria can wait for one afternoon.”
“Are you sure Princess? If it is important should it wait?” Twilight was still concerned.
“Twilight relax and enjoy yourself. Attend the wedding with me and tonight we will discuss this matter in greater detail. I will admit to being very interested in your abilities to turn yourselves to fire or ice. I’ve never heard of that in all my many years. Once this is over, you will need to show me how you do it.”
Trixie quickly became bored with the academic talk that passed between Twilight and Celestia. She was far more interested in the entertainment that Fancy Pants had arranged. All over the palace and in the streets of Canterlot, he had provided a carnival style atmosphere. Jugglers and acrobats plied their trades in the streets and parks. Trixie saw a number of other magicians trying to impress the crowds with simple tricks or slight of hoof. Within a moment Trixie had worked out how one particularly untalented unicorn was trying to do a simple vanishing trick. His actions were stiff and his disguising of his magical aura was poor at best. A seasoned performer like Trixie was could see through his trick in a moment.
She decided that she could not stand by while such sub par talent was allowed to perform.
“Twilight, Trixie is going for a walk until the wedding starts. She wants to look at the performers.” Trixie said as she levitated off her gown and jewels, replacing them with her well travelled cloak and hat.
Twilight barely noticed as Trixie left, she was so absorbed in being able to talk to Celestia again.
Trixie walked out of the castle and out into the streets, looking for the amateur performer again. Eventually she found him again, still trying to amaze the crowd with a trick a child could do. Trixie considered it her civic duty to save the citizens from such a weak act.
Looking around she found a simple hand cart that was left unattended. Taking a quick look around, Trixie mounted it and took stock of her available list of spells and tricks that she could perform on such short notice and with minimal props.
Her hat had been enchanted to act as a pocket dimension and contained a small stock of fireworks but not much in the way of actual props. Still Trixie prided herself on being able to make something out of nothing.
Preparing herself to start her impromptu show, Trixie began to cast an augment on her voice.
It was time for the Great and Powerful Trixie to make her glorious return, and Trixie knew just how to do it: With a bang
“COME ONE, COME ALL AND WITNESS THE AMAZING MAGIC OF TRIXIE”
Two of her fireworks went off around her, blasting out in multi-hued explosions and attracting the attention of all around her. Trixie drank in the attention, her cape fluttering in her personal wind.
“Welcome masses, witness the amazing magic of the Great and Powerful Trixie, making her grand return to the stage.”
All eyes fell upon Trixie as she reared up, another of her fireworks detonating directly above her head.
“Trixie had travelled far and done much. She has learned of magic’s far beyond that of any other unicorn and she is going to share that magic with all of you. BEHOLD.”
Trixie decided to start small, turning an observers top hat into a jesters crown, earning both laughter from the crowd and an ‘I say’ from the sap.
Trixie began to shift through her repertoire of tricks and spells, selecting the flashiest ones she could do without many props.
Simple tricks like conjuring a bouquet of flowers was simple fare but never failed to please the mares in the audience. A collective gasp of appreciation, Oooohs and Aaaahs rose from the crowd as Trixie summoned a small batch of ruby red roses.
Following the flowers, Trixie moved onto her selection of weather spells, her horn blazing as it hadn’t since she was last on stage. A small number of dark storm clouds appeared at her command, whizzing around the crowd setting off small bolts of lightning. Trixie ensured that none of the bolts hit the crowd, that would be a sure way to lose anything she had gained in the last few moments.
“Watch in awe as Trixie harnesses the power of the elements themselves.” Trixie cried out, calling back her clouds with magic and combining them into a single larger thunderhead.
As it formed, the cloud rumbled ominously and sever members of the crowd near the front began to take a step back. Trixie didn’t blame them, if she wasn’t as talented as she was, then she might also fear her ability to do this next trick.
Up in the palace, Twilight finally noticed that Trixie had been silent for some time, and with Trixie that was generally a bad sign.
“Trixie, what’s on your min-.” She asked turning around and finding Trixie not there anymore.
“Where did Trixie go?” She exclaimed.
“She let some time ago, didn’t you notice Twilight? She told you that she was going to look at the performers outside. I think that by now she has decided to join in rather than just watch.” Celestia said, conjuring up an image of the performance area of Canterlot, her horn and eyes flaring up with the power of the sun. In the space before Twilight, the image resolved into a shot of mare standing on her hind legs on a wagon of some kind.
Twilight recognised the cape and hat instantly, Trixie had found herself a performance and was holding the attention of a fair size crowd before her. A number of pyrotechnics appeared to be stockpiled behind her and Twilight wondered how Trixie had managed to get her hooves on them at such short notice.
In the image, Trixie appeared to be keeping her boasting and audience participation down to a minimum, a fact that Twilight approved of. Maybe Trixie had turned over a new leaf and would just leave it at a simple magic show. Most of the ponies in the audience looked like they were enjoying themselves from the smiles and claps they were giving Trixie.
‘Maybe this won’t turn out like the last time. Maybe she really has learned her lesson this time’
Twilight saw Trixie form a large thunderhead cloud before her, using her magic to raise it up into the sky above her. Several ponies gasped as the cloud rumbled and flashed before unleashing a massive bolt of electricity from its core. Trixie’s horn flashed once as she rose to her back hooves, allowing the bolt to hit her horn on the tip, voltage arcing from the thunderhead into her body.
Twilight realised what Trixie was doing quickly. Shining Armour had described to her how Trixie had once used a lightning strike to augment her magical power through the use of an elemental absorption spell, something that Twilight had never gotten around to studying yet. Such a spell was regarded as a cheap way to boost magical power and could never take the place of focused practice and experience. It seemed that Trixie had no such qualms about using the spell in conjunction with her weather magic.
Trixie’s horn flashed as multiple strikes hit it, each one causing her body to glow slightly. As the last strike from the cloud hit her, the cloud dissipated and Trixie lowered herself back onto all four hooves. Twilight saw that her eyes were a solid mass of white, similar to how her own eyes looked when she was casting her highest level magic’s.
In the image, Trixie focused her new power through her horn, a pencil thin beam of magic erupting from it and blasting out into the sky. The audience followed the beam and saw the shape of an adult dragon forming above them, appearing to be made from Trixie’s crackling magical discharge.
Even formed from ethereal energy, the dragon was a menacing sight. Once it was fully formed, it snarled at the crowd and plunged down towards them, wisps of energy trailing behind it as it bared a mouth full of fangs. Several mares in the audience fainted as they were overcome by terror.
Twilight looked at the image of Trixie. She had a smug smile on her face as she controlled the dragon. She was clearly up to something and Twilight just hoped that she knew what she was doing.
Trixie’s plan was revealed a moment before the conjured dragon was going to crash into the crowd. With a resounding crack, the dragon disintegrated, devolving into a burst of snowflakes and confetti which rained down over the assembled crowd in a shower of white and various coloured dots.
It took the audience a few moments to process what had happened before they realised that was they had just seen was an illusion. First one stallion started to stamp his hooves on the ground in appreciation followed by a second and finally the rest of the crowd followed suit, cheering out Trixie’s name and praising her magical abilities.
Twilight sank back in relief as she saw Trixie manage to keep a lid of her magic. Her illusion had the potential to go horribly wrong, but she had managed to maintain control over it long enough to entertain the audience without harming anything. Maybe Trixie really had learned a new respect for others and her own magic. Maybe this time her shows would be different.
Twilights hopes were dashed as she saw another unicorn appear in the image. This one, a colt looked like he was about to launch himself at Trixie simply for being there.
Through the projection she heard the colt speak to Trixie.
“I remember you. The Great and Powerful Trixie, you nearly destroyed my hometown the last time you came through there. You are nothing by a fraud and I challenge you to a magical showdown.”
In the image, Trixie bristled at his barbs. Twilight prayed that she would not snap and revert to her old ways. The new Trixie had such potential in her, the old one would simply return to being hated.
Through the image, Twilight heard the words she had feared.
“Trixie is no fraud. Anything you can do, Trixie can do better.”
Outside the castle, Trixie stared down her new opponent. A sea green unicorn, he was standing up to her defiantly, head down and snorting. Every inch of his posture screamed that he was ready for a physical fight and that he expected Trixie to refuse his challenge outright, which would give him cause to attack.
Trixie had no issue in taking his challenge. She knew that she was easily in the top 3 most magically gifted unicorns in Equestria, having to grudgingly accept that Twilight Sparkle may be fractionally more gifted than she was. Dispatching this stallion should be easy for a mare of her skills.
“Trixie accepts you challenge. Anything you can do, she can do better.”
The stallion didn’t waste any time in getting to the point, igniting his horn and sending a barrage of magical pulses towards Trixie. Two of the pulses shot by Trixie’s head close enough for her to feel the energy bleed off them. If one of the bolts hit her square on, it may not kill her but it certainly would hurt her badly. It was only the fact that the other unicorn had not bothered to take proper aim that had prevented her from being knocked out with the first blast.
Trixie quickly raised up a shield around herself, the magenta barrier appearing around her body and deflecting a new wave of energy bolts. Some simple smashed into the shield and dissipated, others would bounce away and shoot off in a new direction. A couple angled themselves toward the crowd, pinging off the ground near the outer edges.
Much of the crowd took that as a signal to get out of the way and quickly the area around the two combatants was emptied of all ponies with the exception of a few not quick or smart enough to realise the potential danger they could be in.
Behind her shield, Trixie ran through a list of combat spells she could use to counter this other unicorns magic. His magic was not exceptionally powerful, but each hit drained her reserves and weakened her shield. Compounding that was the fact that she had just expended a large chunk of her magic controlling the dragon. Still she could hold her shield out for a decent amount of time, more than enough for a bystander to attract a royal guard if it came down to that. Trixie had no intention of simply letting that happen however, she was going to prove to this upstart that she truly was great and powerful.
Timing she shot for in between two waves of bolts, Trixie dropped her shield and called forth a telekinetic shove, a wave of raw magical energy pushing the other unicorn off balance and allowing Trixie to take the upper hoof. Mimicking his own spell, Trixie sent forth a barrage of energy bursts, each one the power of a hard slap, enough to be annoying and painful but not leave any lasting damage.
The stallion, still reeling from Trixie’s magical shove, didn’t react fast enough and was clipped directly on the chest by two of the bursts, one knocking the wind out of him, the second forcing him off his hooves.
For a moment he lay on the ground, trying to recover his breath. This gave Trixie all the time she needed to prepare a finishing move and she knew just what to use.
The stallion eventually recovered enough to try to scramble to his hooves only to find Trixie’s horn pointed directly at his forehead. Steam evaporated off the horn as the stallion felt a wave of extreme cold emerge from Trixie. Small icicles began to appear over her coat and horn, but Trixie herself didn’t appear affected.
“Yield.” Was all she said.
The stallion ignored the comment and charged forward, attempting to gore Trixie with a quick lunge. As he struck, he found his horn deflected off her body as if Trixie was formed not of flesh, but of stone or metal. She was solid as a block of ice, and he quickly realised that she was as cold as one as well.
He fell back again, his horn throbbing from the contact with the frigid mare and watched in awe as all the ice covering Trixie melted and disappeared, not leaving even a puddle to suggest that it had even existed to begin with.
“And once again Trixie has proven herself the most powerful unicorn in Equestria. She is not a fraud as you so claim.” Trixie proudly said to her vanquished opponent.
The stallion was not placated with having lost however. He got up in a huff and turned tail to leave. As he reached a bend in the paths, he turned around to a parting shot. “If you really were that powerful, why did you run away when we needed you?”
With that he was gone and Trixie found herself alone once again. Well almost alone, as out of the corner of her eye Trixie saw Twilight watching from the edge of the combat zone, panting slightly as if she had just been running hard for a few moments.
“Did you like what you saw Twilight?” she asked the new arrival.
Twilight was pleased that Trixie had managed to win her duel, and even did so fairly from what she had seen. Maybe there was hope for the blue mare yet.
She ran over and gave Trixie a quick hug, proudly exclaiming “You did great Trixie, where did you learn how to summon that illusion dragon?”
Both mares seemed to realise that they were still locked in a hug, and Twilight quickly released Trixie, both mares blushing slightly from the unexpected closeness and contact.
Behind the pair, Celestia was also watching from a further distance. She came over and interrupted the two mares, reminding them that they still had to finish getting ready. She had brought Trixie’s dress with her and levitated it onto her body, replacing the cape and hat for a tiara and ruby broach.
“A most impressive display of magic my dear Trixie Lulamoon, I understand now how you were able to save everypony during that Chimera attack. I just hope that you don’t allow such power to go to your head. But now, we have a wedding to attend. By now, Cadance should just about be ready to start the ceremony.”
The princess and her two guests walked towards the building that Fancy Pants had rented for the wedding ceremony. The only place that was big enough to house the expected crowd was the Canterlot town hall, and even then it had to have several modifications made to the internal structure. Fancy Pants had paid for all the renovations and reconstruction as part of the wedding. When he was asked where he got all his money from, he shrugged and simply said that money never had nor would it ever be an issue for him. The Canterlot bank had once said that Fancy Pants had an unlimited line of credit with both them and most of the other major financial institutions of Equestria, though they had never quite explained as to why a single pony would need multiple lines of unlimited credit. It was eventually chalked up as one of the eccentricities of the pony and left alone.
The town hall itself had been decked out for the occasion. Flower garlands covered the walls and carpets of a deep royal red lined the floors. Streamers and confetti covered every exposed exterior surface.
Celestia led Twilight and Trixie inside the town hall. Despite the fact that it was fully packed by every variety of pony, the congregation seemed to have no issue parting to make room for their princess and her personal guests. Four seats were quickly freed up near the front of the hall, two for Twilight and Trixie and another two for Celestia, her significantly larger Alicorn frame requiring more room on the bench rows than a normal pony would.
At the front of the hall, Princess Cadance stood with Fancy Pants, the latter dressed in a perfectly fitting tuxedo. At the sight of Celestia arriving, Cadance took the opportunity to begin the ceremony, nodding to a small four piece ensemble set up in one corner to begin the wedding march.
At the sound of the music, the door to the hall opened and in walked Fleur-de-lis, her wedding gown and train gleaming in the sun.
As Fleur walked down the aisle, Twilights thoughts turned to the events of her own brothers wedding and the attempted changeling invasion. Surely this one would go off without a hitch. There had been no activity from the changeling hives for some time now and certainly Chrysalis or another queen wouldn’t be so stupid as to try the same thing twice.
“Don’t you just love weddings?” She whispered to Trixie and Fleur walked past them to approach the dais. Trixie did not respond, she was focused on something else. One of the unicorns at the edge of her row seemed very familiar to her, but she could not place where. His light blue coat and unremarkable features rang a bell in her mind, but such a colouration was common enough. Still the unicorn seemed to be trying to get the attention of either her or Fancy Pants without appearing as if that was his goal.
Trixie dismissed the unicorn from her mind, whatever he wanted could wait until the ceremony was over.
Up on the stage, Fleur had reached the dais and Fancy Pants had taken her hoof in his own. Cadance was preparing to begin the rites to bond the two. Her powerful voice rang out across the hall.
“Guests of the beloved couple, we are gathered here today to bond these two ponies in rites of marriage. I was there when Fancy Pants here proposed for Fleur and it was one of the most ‘loving’ things I had ever witnessed. We should be honoured to witness their union now and I wish the happy couple the best of fortune.”
Cadance paused for a second, appearing to gather herself, perhaps flashing back to her own wedding and how different this one was going to be from that one. After a moment she was ready to go again.
“If the couple will join hooves, I will perform the rites and join these two in matrimony. Fancy, do you?”
The stallion nodded. “I do.”
“Fleur, do you?”
Fleur nodded back, not taking her eyes off fancy. “I do.”
“Then by the power vested in me by our lord and protector, Princess Celestia, I pronounce you Mare and Colt.” A pair of simple golden horn rings were floated up and levitated over Fancy and Fleur’s horns to thunderous applause from the crowds.
While the attention of the assembled ponies was on the now happy married couple, Twilight turned her attention to Cadance who was standing behind them, seemingly waiting to the applause to die down. In a heart wrenching moment, Twilight saw Cadance’s eyes flash green for a second and the blood in her veins turned to ice.
“Oh no” she muttered.
Cadance arched her wings, drawing all attention back towards her and causing all the noise in the hall to stop.
“And now, ladies and gentlecolts, we move onto the main event, so to speak. I hope you have all enjoyed yourselves today but for now, CHANGELINGS GO!!”
All around the hall, on the end of each row and dispersed within the crowds, washes of green fire erupted as seemingly normal ponies revealed themselves to be changeling infiltrators. All over the hall, ponies screamed and attempted to surge out of the hall, only to find that every exit was full guarded by groups of changelings. From a rough count, there may have been more changelings present than actual ponies.
A number of changelings instantly surrounded Celestia with their black curved horns glittering, ready to fire off a spell if it looked like she was trying anything other than simply sitting there.
Up on the stage, Cadance also was consumed in a jet of fire, to be replaced by the black shelled form of Chrysalis, holes appearing in her legs and hair as she took on her normal form once again.
“Surprise.” She said, laughing as she surveyed the scene before her. In one swoop she had captured Celestia and much of the ranking members of Canterlot. And this time she had made sure that the real Cadance and Shining Armour would be unable to assist. They were currently dispatched to the other side of Equestria, courtesy of some orders from ‘Princess Celestia’ and it would take days for them to return even if they heard about this right now.
One of the changelings, the one that had been in the form of the light blue unicorn if Trixie remembered its position right approached Celestia. Looking up to her, it spoke.
“For what it’s worth, I’m sorry about this, but I cannot defy my queen.”
Celestia looked down at the changeling, comprehension dawning on her face.
Celestia looked down at the changeling before her. The drone appeared identical to every other drone in the hall, but she had been struck by a sense of familiarity from this one.
“Yes princess, I am Drone. Please do not do anything rash. My Queen has ordered us not to harm anypony if we can avoid it, but if you resist we will have no choice but to subdue you and your companions.”
Around them, the hall was in a total state of panic, ponies were crushing against the doors and windows in an attempt to get out and escape from the invading changelings. For their part, the changelings had prepared for this well, and had ensured that all the entrances were bared off and locked, trapping everypony inside. Screams and cries of pain echoed throughout the hall as some ponies tried to fight back and were quickly subdued by the co-ordinated efforts of the changelings.
Up on the stage, Chrysalis cackled with glee, rubbing her hole-ridden fore hooves together as she surveyed the pandemonium before her. A number of magical images sprang up around her, images of her field commanders reporting in.
“Guard Barracks secure”
“Train Station secure”
“City Hall secure”
It was all going to plan, her forces had infiltrated the city and disabled key points in its infrastructure before revealing themselves, something she hadn’t done the first time around.
“Yes Celestia, don’t do anything rash and you will all survive this day unharmed.” Chrysalis quickly turned her attention to Twilight who had been trying to charge up a banishment spell. “I wouldn’t do that, Twilight Sparkle. My drones roam free once again, and without me to command them, who knows what destruction they may cause.”
Twilight glared at Chrysalis but slowly lowered her spell, glaring at Chrysalis as she did so.
Celestia put a wing onto Twilight’s back, her regal presence calming her student down slightly. “Don’t worry Twilight. Chrysalis needs us alive and unharmed if she wants to feed off of us. Isn’t that right Chrysalis?” That last question was directed at the changeling queen.
Chrysalis was looking back amused, her sea green eyes beaming with mirth as she watched. “Quite right, my dear Celestia, quite right.” She paused for a moment before addressing the entire hall with a magically augmented voice.
“HEAR ME PONIES OF CANTERLOT. YOUR PRINCESS IS SUBDUED, YOUR DEFENDERS BEATEN. CHANGELINGS HAVE TAKEN EVERY KEY POINT OF YOUR CITY. BUT DO NOT DESPAIR, WE HAVE NOT COME HERE TO HARM YOU.”
Chrysalis paused for a moment, looking around the hall as the booming of her voice echoed through out the room and further into the city. By now, her army would have infiltrated all the major areas of Canterlot and would be in position to prevent any resistance from forming. Areas like the guards barracks and law enforcement headquarters were simply caught in a stasis spell, cast by a number of mage drones working in tandem. One of the many advantages of having an entire army already in a city before attacking.
Twilight looked around and noticed that none of the drones appeared to be paying attention to her or Trixie, focused as they were on the proclamation of their queen and Celestia’s reactions to it.
“Trixie, we need to do something to stop them, something to slow down the invasion.” Twilight hissed to Trixie.
Trixie shook her head. “This isn’t an invasion Twilight, this is a victory.” Looking out one of the windows, Trixie saw the black insectoid forms of drones marching along the street, ponies fleeing before them and the festive atmosphere of the day long forgotten. A pair of royal guards burst forward from one house, brandishing weapons and attempting to herd a family inside to assumed safety. They were quickly overwhelmed by a patrol of drones and covered in some form of organic matter that hardened around them.
“It is far too late to stop them Twilight. They have already won.”
Up on the stage, Fancy Pants and Fleur pushed past their guards and stood before Chrysalis.
“What is the meaning of this Chrysalis. You gave us your word that we would not see you again.” Fancy demanded of the ruler of the changelings.
Chrysalis turned to face the gentlecolt. “Ah, the aristocrat. You of all ponies should know a lie when you hear it After all everything that comes out of your mouth is a lie, is it not?”
Fleur’s normally calm face contorted with rage as she heard Chrysalis insult her new husband. “No pony insults Fancy Pants like that. He is one of the most honest ponies I have ever met. Take that back, now.”
Chrysalis laughed. “And the model who thinks she is a warrior. All style, no substance. Drones, restrain her. I have heard all about her supposed skills and lineage.”
Two drones instantly detached from guarding the congregation of ponies and moved over to hold Fleur down. Chrysalis knelt down near the struggling body of Fleur and began intoning a spell. Her jagged horn glowed with a sickly green light as the spell neared its end, a beam of light emerging from the razor sharp tip and connecting to Fleur’s, the two mares connected by a single thin beam for a few seconds. Fleur’s eyes quickly changed colour from her normal light purple to the sick green as energy from the changeling queen entered her body. In a moment, her struggling ceased and she remained perfectly still.
Fancy pants could see his wife’s skin glow as Chrysalis’s power flowed through her, her veins transporting it through out her body. Soon the spell ended and Chrysalis removed her head. Fleur’s eyes returned to their normal colour and the glowing around her body ceased. The two changelings guarding her also let go and Fleur got back up to her hooves and moved over to stand next to Chrysalis, looking perfectly at ease.
“Fleur? What are you doing?” Fancy called out, but didn’t get any response from his wife. “What have you done to her?” he asked Chrysalis.
Chrysalis looked at him, but addressed the entire crowd. “This mare is now under my control, totally and utterly. She won’t even breathe unless I allow it.” As if to make a point, Chrysalis looked at Fleur and the lanky model ceased to breathe in, her face slowly beginning to take on a darker purple tone. Fancy could do nothing but watch.
A moment before Fleur was likely to pass out, Chrysalis dropped her will and Fleur began to breathe again, calmly and measured, as if she hadn’t just about strangled herself.
“You all now have a choice. You may fight my power, in which case all of you will die, or you can voluntarily submit, in which case only some of you will die – the ones foolish enough to continue struggling. Guards, bring me the next one. Celestia’s student will do.”
Twilight was instantly grabbed by a pair of black insectoid arms and dragged across the hall towards Chrysalis. Her eyes grew wide as she saw Chrysalis begin to charge up her mind control spell again.
“Chrysalis, enough. You win.” Celestia said, bowing her head in resignation. Very slowly, she cast the same magical voice augmentation spell that Chrysalis had been using.
“ATTENTION PONIES OF CANTERLOT, THIS IS YOUR PRINCESS. EFFECTIVE INSTANTLY, I WANT ALL GUARDS TO LAY DOWN WEAPONS AND SURRENDER. I REPEAT, LAY DOWN WEAPONS AND SURRENDER. ACT IN A CALM MANNER, DO NOT RESIST INSTRUCTIONS GIVEN TO YOU AND YOU WILL NOT BE HARMED. CANTERLOT IS TAKEN AND TO FIGHT ON NOW IS A LOOSING BATTLE. WE WILL HAVE ANOTHER CHANCE.”
Celestia turned off her augment spell and looked Chrysalis directly in the eye. “Now what happens? Are we all to be your slaves? Or pawns in your mad dreams of conquest?”
“Oh, a little from column A, a little from column B.” Chrysalis chuckled. “But thank you for ordering a surrender. That will make things so much easier. Fleur, be a dear and take them all down to the prison.”
Fleur nodded and stepped down from the stage, motioning for a group of drones to follow her. Drone joined the group and without any ceremony the cluster of drones gathered around Celestia, Twilight and Trixie and began to force them off at spell point.
"Wait" Chrysalis called out, comming over to Celestia and pausing to excrete a mat of organic goo over her horn. Celestia felt her control over her magic slip, and she couldn't get a good grasp on any spells. Chrysalis waved them on again.
“Fleur stop, think about what you are doing.” Fancy pants cried out and he tried to follow, only to be held back by Chrysalis. No matter how he struggled, Fancy could not shake off the Changeling and he was quickly brought to his knees. Trixie’s last view of the gentlecolt was of him being struck by the same mind control spell that had felled his wife.
Fleur cleared a path between the drones and the hostage ponies, the spell she was under clearly giving off some kind of signal to the drones that she was working for them, as every drone that she passed made way without a fuss or obeyed orders that she issued without complaint.
The doors to the wedding hall opened and Trixie saw the world outside. Ponies galloped in all directions, trying to escape the insect menace that assailed them, most without success. A small group of royal guards appeared to have not listened to the order to stand down and were still trying to fight off waves of flying black drones. A fight that they were clearly loosing, as one by one the members of the guards were struck down and encased in the organic slime that had covered their bretheren earlier.
The carnival settings fluttered in the breeze, but nopony stopped to appreciate them. In an almost ironic sense, the sun remained shining high in the sky, perched in a deep blue ocean unfettered by clouds. It beamed an undeserved sense of peace and calm over the entire scene of chaos and panic. Before the group, a mother was trying to shield her foal from the nightmare creatures while the father was trying to erect a shield spell around them. Every time that he cast the shield, one of the changelings would shatter it with one of their own spells.
“Let them go, they are a family with child.” Celestia pleaded to Fleur, hoping to break through the control that now twisted the unicorns mind. Fleur returned her plea with a blank look, indifferent to the plight of the family.
“The child is suitable for conversion. We must expand the hive.”
Celestia’s mind blanked in horror as she realised what Fleur was talking about. Drone had informed her once that foals could be turned into changelings if they were converted early enough. Clearly this was at least a part of Chrysalis’s plan for the city and likely the entire kingdom. “You can’t do that. You have no right. I won’t let you.”
Fleur laughed, a hollow noise bereft of any measure of mirth. “And just what do you plan to do to stop us. My Queen has already captured this capital, and from there we will spread out again and again until every city and every settlement has been taken. Colts and Mares will be harvested like crops in a field and a portion of all newborns will be converted into the next wave of drones, eager to serve their queen as I do now.”
Fleur returned to the head of the group and lead the way briskly towards the Canterlot jail complex. Celestia tried to hang back and assist the family, but three drones blocked her way and forced her back into the group, their spells aimed no only at her, but also at the family, a very clear message to the sun goddess not to interfere or else it would lead to trouble for all involved.
Celestia considered trying to take the drones of in hoof to hoof combat, but eventually she dismissed the idea. For all her magical powers, Celestia hadn’t taken exceptionally good care of her physical body. She would be more likely to harm herself and others in a fight than to actually achieve anything beneficial.
Although it may serve as a distraction for Twilight and Trixie.
Just as she was about to make her move on the closest drone, Fleur turned around and stared directly at Celestia. “No, I don’t think so princess. I heard you inhale and your hoof step tense up. Don’t do anything rash or I will gut your dear student like a pig. You know I can handle a sword, and I know just where to cut so that she dies in agony, slow and screaming.”
Fleur’s words chilled Celestia. Even if she knew that it was only because she was under a mind altering spell, it was still disturbing to her a pony that Celestia had considered a friend speak so coldly and of actions that would have revolted her normally. The remaining fight left Celestia’s body and she resigned herself to the trip to the jail. She would have to wait for a better opportunity to present itself later.
The procession marched through the now nearly deserted streets, the few ponies out trying to stay out of sight, and unable to help their princess. One earth pony tried and was quickly subdued by Fleur with a quick sleep spell, a drone picking him up and buzzing off to somewhere with his sleeping form.
Eventually the grim, foreboding structure of the Canterlot Penitentiary came into view. Unlike most of the city, which was done up in a white marble and gilt with golden filigree, the Penitentiary was constructed of solid grey stone, squat and solid as anything could be. It was mostly viewed as a relic of a long passed time, when ponies were less civilised than they were now. Now days the prison was mostly used as a tourist stop, but there was one wing still in service for those offenders deemed dangerous enough for segregation. The building itself was only a front however, the actual cells and innards to the jail were carved directly out of the mountain. The idea had been so that there would be only one way in or out, every other direction other than the exit would be bounded by solid rock.
The design was efficient, as in the prisons history, there had only been one escape and that was mostly down to the resourcefulness of the prisoner, who had spent 30 years planning his escape down to the last detail, only to end up rushing a guard who was still a little drunk one day and just waltzing out the front door in his uniform.
Celestia didn’t hold out much hope that she would be able to replicate such a feat inside a single day.
As they entered into the main entry hall, Celestia, Twilight and Trixie were pushed roughly to the ground and a trio of magic suppressor bands were attached to their horns, clamping down and cutting of their control over their magical abilities. Trixie flashed back to when she was captured by the royal guards, the feeling of being totally cut off from her magic was not a pleasent sensation.
Twilight had never had a suppressor band put onto her horn before and she panicked as she realised that she was without magic for the first time since she was a little foal. It had always been the defining attribute for her, and without it she was helpless to do anything. She started to panic, hyperventilating as she tried to cast a spell, the lower half of her horn glowing but being blocked by the band from going any higher.
Trixie saw her panic and moved over to put a hoof on her shoulder, catching Twilight’s purple eyes in her own. “Relax Twilight. Your magic isn’t gone, we just can’t use it for the moment. We will get that band off you soon, just breathe for now.
Celestia was fitted with a band but one of the drones also coated her horn with a layer of saliva, which instantly hardened to form a crystallised shell around the magical appendage. As the saliva solidified, Celestia felt her connection to the elemental primal magicks of Equestria fade.
Before Twilight’s eyes, Celestia’s muted rainbow mane ceased flowing in the solar wind and faded away until it became a solid mass of pink. The magical presence that Celestia exuded at all times, the regal bearing and hints of vast and untapped power vanished, leaving Celestia a hollow shell of her former glory.
Twilight’s own panic vanished as she felt outrage and indignation towards the handling of her mentor rise in the back of her mind. “What have you done to her?” she demanded of the changelings surrounding her.
Drone stepped forwards to offer an explanation. “We have not harmed your princess. Alicorn magic is far more potent than unicorn magic and must be treated as such. The secretions that now coat her horn disrupt her abilities to control that magic. Do not fear, it will not be permanent. Providing that you all follow instructions, it will only last a short while.”
Celestia looked over her now solid mane and tail. “Why Drone? Why are you doing this?”
Drone gave Celestia a hard look. “I told you, I cannot defy my Queens orders. After the delegation and I split ways, Chrysalis returned to the hives to consolidate her rule. She dispatched 2 other queens who implied that she was unfit to retain her title and conscripted their hives in her own. Her plan has not changed, she still intends to drain Equestria dry of love and joy and use it to fuel her empire. Those who are not suitable for conversion will be mind controlled like our friend Fleur. She will be condition to love and admire the queen endlessly, a constant buffet of emotion for her to feed on. Those who are deemed too much of a risk, not worth the effort or those who struggle against her rule will simply be removed from her way in much the same fashion as the other queens.”
“Enough drone” Fleur cut Drone off coldly. “We have much work to do, take these prisoners to the cells and let’s be done with them.” Fleur began marching again, passing through the hallways and into the prison complex proper, her white coat standing out against the gloom and dust on the walls.
Celestia recognised where they were headed. Fleur was leading them towards the maximum security wing, a place that hadn’t been used in any meaningful way for nearly three centuries. The cells in this wing were special - they had been enchanted with dimensional locks and null fields. Within each cell, a unicorn could use magic providing that they were not wearing a suppressor band, but the bars on the cells had been constructed so as to nullify all forms of magic that came into contact with them, and the entire prison was contained within a dimensional lock that prevented teleporting and phase shifting.
As the trio progressed deeper into the prison, the noticed that the trappings of modern society gave way to rough hewn walls and far simpler designs, no carved stone or fancy decoration. It reminded Twilight of her trip down into the Diamond Dogs warrens. The cages that they passed were old and rusted, but still appeared to be strong – a solid piece of wrought iron tacked onto the front of a blasted out hole in the wall. A small ditch in each cell acted as a privy, but the cells had been abandoned for so long that no smells came from any of them.
Only a few of the cells had been prepared by the changelings however, as the bars on these ones had been coated with the same secretions that covered Celestia’s horn, further negating any spells that could be used down here by the prisoners.
Fleur opened one of the cells and shoved Twilight and Trixie into it, pausing for a moment to remove the suppressor bands that locked their magic. Now that they were in the cages, they would not be needing them. She locked the cage behind her and walked away, leading Celestia further into the line of cages.
Twilight watched her mentor go, Celestia looking back at her and trying to send reassurance through her expression.
Trixie however was more interested in the contents of their cage. There were a few stands of straw that clearly were meant to serve as a bed for the occupants. Other than that, there was nothing of any significance.
There seemed to be some other ponies in the cells next to her, but she couldn’t make out who they were. One white unicorn seemed to be very familiar though.
“Twilight?” A crisp cultured accent asked.
Twilight recognised the voice instantly and it brought her out of her musings over the fate of the princess. “Rarity! Oh thank goodness you are alright.” Twilight rushed over to the edge of her cage, hoping to get a better view of her fashionista friend.
Rarity was unharmed but covered in dirt and dust. To her credit, she didn’t seem worried about it, as she had far more pressing matters to attend to – namely not allowing the changeling goo to touch her instead. She was close to the bars so as to get a better look at Twilight but was still clearly holding back from actually netting near it.
“Twilight, what’s going on? What happened to the princess?”
Twilight sighed. “The changelings are back again, they infiltrated the wedding of Fancy Pants and Fleur-De-Lis and captured the princess. I don’t quite know how they did it.”
“Ah Twilight, I meant after that. I was at the wedding too. Did you really think I would miss the event of the season?”
Twilight skipped ahead in her recap and brought Rarity up to speed on everything she and Trixie had learned from Drone and what they could surmise from what Fleur had been saying. It wasn’t a lot to go on – just that Chrysalis planned to turn Equestria into a love battery and use it to fund and fuel her plans for total domination. It was clear that Chrysalis had to be stopped in any way that they could do so, and somehow prevented from being able to try again. Twilight had never killed anypony before, but she grit her teeth on this one. For the safety of her friends, to avenge what had happened to the princess, and for the common good of all ponies everywhere, she would kill Chrysalis if she had to.
“What we need is a plan to get out of here and free the princess. I’m sure that we could win if we had her help. We can’t just blast our way out through the bars, and we don’t have the time to try and dig our way out. Rarity, Trixie, do you have any ideas.”
Rarity shook her head, but Trixie was busy inspecting the bars of the cage, trying to send small pulses of magic energy through them. Every pulse of magic quickly fizzled when it came too close to the bars, evaporating until there was nothing left. Likewise when she tried to teleport a rock away from her, if vanished for a moment, only to reappear a second later right where it had been.
“Its useless trying to bust out with magic Trixie, I once researched the wards around this place for a paper, not even the princess could escape from these cages unless she had help from the outside. That was the point of them – that if these cages can hold the princess, what hope could a normal unicorn have?”
Trixie didn’t seem to be listening to Twilight though, as she held up a hoof and got closer to the bars, allowing the magical null field to close her magic off as she reached out and touched one of the bars. “Quite, Trixie is thinking.”
Quickly pulling her head back and then jerking it forward, Trixie spat. A glob of her saliva flew through the air, passing cleanly through the bars of the cage and landing on the floor of the walkway.
“Ugh, Gross. Do you really have to do that now?” Rarity wailed as she backed up away from the offending spit, afraid that it may somehow come to life and try to dirty her coat.
Trixie just stared at the glob of her saliva, sitting there and mocking all the ponies with its ability to pass between the cage bars. Twilight could see the gears whiring inside Trixie’s head, an idea bulb all but plastered above her head. After a few moments, the metaphorical bulb lit up and Trixie jumped up.
“Trixie has a plan, but she has no idea if it will work or not. Timing will be critical and she will need your full and unhesitating help for it to work Twilight.”
Twilight perked up at the mention of a plan that she could help with. Whatever it was she would do her best to help Trixie if it meant them all getting out of the prison soon. “Alright, what do you need?”
“Trixie wants you to melt her.” Trixie replied calmly.
“Say what? Melt you. Have you lost your mind Trixie? I can’t do that.” Twilight exclaimed, her conviction of assisting in anyway she could of a few moments ago vanishing like smoke.
“Look, the cage is set on an incline, water would flow out of it and into the walkway. We all saw how Trixie could get a spitball through the bars. If you melt her into water, then she can run through the bars and reform on the other side. Once that has happened, Trixie can find the guard with the keys and free you all.”
Twilight was not convinced. “Are you even sure that your powers can work like that?”
Trixie shook her head. “Trixie only knows that we will get nowhere just sitting in here. Do you have a better idea?”
Twilight dropped her eyes. “No, I don’t. Fine, I’ll try.”
“Good, now before we try, remember what happened when Trixie showed you in Ponyville.”
Twilight thought back. “That’s right, I almost froze. Everypony, get as far away from us as you can.”
The ponies in the other cells back off except for Rarity. “Twilight, what are you talking about?”
Twilight looked over to her friend. “Rarity, Trixie has a plan that might work, but you all need to get as far away from us as you can. It will get very cold in here soon.”
Rarity back away from the bars and joined up with the other ponies in her cell. Trixie for her part moved over close to the bars on her own cell, trying to find the perfect spot for water to flow out through the gaps. “Remember Twilight, you must commit to this fully, else the others in here may freeze. We will only have one shot at this. Are you ready?”
“No, but do I have a choice?” Twilight admitted.
“Not really, now get ready.”
Trixie’s body glowed and she began to shimmer, her coat and mane freezing over as she shifted into her ice form. She found that each time she had done it, it was becoming easier to shift and even in this dank place filled with magic disrupting enchantments it was no problem.
Over in the other cell, Rarity and the others gasped and shrank back as far as they could as they felt a sudden drop in the temperature of the air, frostbloom beginning to form over the slimy gunk coating the cage bars and quickly creeping towards them. Through her crystal eyes, Trixie could see them beginning shiver and their warm breath appear as steam in the air.
“Quickly, Twilight. It’s now or never.” Trixie demanded of Twilight, her voice coming out like the breaking of ice, harsh and scratchy.
Behind Trixie, on the other side of the cage, Twilight also focused on shifting into her elemental form, flames bursting from her mane and her coat changing from her normal purple to a searing hot white.
In the other cage, Rarity’s jaw dropped as she watched her friend burst into flames, her discomfort of the cold momentarily forgotten as she gazed at one of the most intensive displays of magic she had ever seen. While she could make it look as if she was a translucent crystal pony for a short period, Twilight and Trixie appeared to have changed so that they were composed of their respective elements. Burning embers flicked off of Twilight’s coat and settled on the stone ground.
Twilight’s eyes glowed a bright red and several spot fires erupted around Trixie, surrounding her in a wall of flame. The sound of sizzling water quickly followed and Twilight could hear Trixie hiss as the flames licked at her body.
Twilight gasped and the flames surrounding Trixie began to die away as she broke her concentration.
“No, keep going.” Trixie cried out, her voice laced with pain. “We can’t stop now.”
Twilight grit her teeth and focused again on her control over the flames. The fires, which had receded to flickering embers burst forward again and once again encompassed Trixie’s frozen form. Steam began rise up from her body and Twilight could see through the flames as if there were not there.
Trixie’s body was beginning to loose definition, droplets of water running down her flanks and forming slowly expanding puddles on the floor. Her icicle mane was drooping down as if melted and Twilight could see Trixie’s expression as she felt her body melt away into water, she was clearly in pain but was suffering silently. Twilight wanted to stop, but knew that they were too far gone to stop. From this point on, it was total commitment or bust.
With a sickening crack, Trixie’s body shattered into several pieces as her legs broke apart from her body, so melted that they could not support her weight. The water user her body began to flow away from the cell and Twilight quickly doused the fires around the exit point.
As the first drops of water began to flow out and past the bars, the last remains of Trixie’s body melted away into the puddle – her head had landed so that her eyes were looking directly at Twilight’s. Even through the deformation of her features, Twilight could make out the ‘trust me’ look on Trixie’s face.
With no ice remaining, Twilight doused the remaining flames, plunging the prison cell back into the partial dark that it had once been in, glowing crystals providing just enough illumination to see by. Her body quickly followed, her burning tail and mane settling down into her purple mane with the pink forelock, a few charred points the only evidence that she had been consumed by fire just a moment ago.
She settled down on the hot stone floor behind her, hoping that Trixie was right, and that she hadn’t just killed one of her newest friends.
“Twilight, what was that?” Rarity called out tentatively from the other cell, fear of what had just happened colouring her voice as she struggled to comprehend what she had just seen. From her perspective, Twilight had just incinerated Trixie, not even a single strand of hair remained, just a puddle of what she hoped was water. “What did you do to Trixie?”
Twilight looked from the puddle of Trixie that was slowly forming a new pool of water in the middle of the room to Rarity. “She said she had a plan. That puddle of water on the floor IS Trixie. I just hope she knows what she is doing, or we are all in a whole lot of trouble. As to what happened to me, Trixie showed me something about myself when she came to town. We are part of some prophecy, I don’t know exactly what it entails.”
Both ponies turned to look at the expansive puddle that was now welling in the centre of the room. Nothing appeared to be happening at it, it was just resting in a depression on the floor.
Please be ok Trixie, I don’t want to loose you now, not when you are so close to reaching your potential
Minutes passed and nothing seemed to be happening to the puddle. It just remained still, as any puddle of water would do in a similar situation. Twilight felt the bottom fall out of her stomach. She had just killed Trixie, and she was trapped inside a prison controlled by changelings who were going to either turn her into a changeling or convert her into a love battery. She didn’t see how this day could get any worse.
The approaching sounds of hoof steps called her attention back outwards. From around the corner, Fleur came striding out with purpose. In the time that she had been gone, Fleur had found time to don some light barding armour and had strapped a sword to her side. She was not ready for battle if it should come to it. She strode through the puddle of water, pausing only to shake her hooves and glancing around to see if there was a leak of any sort.
Not finding anything, Fleur inspected the cages. Rarity’s cage was exactly as she had left it, all the ponies were accounted for, but the cage containing the two unicorns that had been with the princess was missing one.
“You there, purple one. Where is Trixie?” Fleur demanded of Twilight.
“I don’t know” Twilight lied, hoping that Fleur would not pick up on it. “She just teleported out of here the moment you left us. She is the greatest unicorn that ever lived after all.”
Fleur didn’t look impressed. “You lie. Nopony, not even the Alicorns could escape those cages. Now where is she?”
Behind Fleur, unseen by almost everypony, the puddle of liquid Trixie began to move and shift. Four small mounds of water began to rise up out of the liquid, soaking up the puddle as they rose higher and connected together. Slowly the liquid began to take on the shape of a mare, the four pillars of water resolving into legs and hooves. Twilight saw the spectacle and realised that Trixie was not dead, but was up to something. She would have to keep Fleur attention until Trixie made her move.
“She said something about having another appointment to keep, then she just vanished in a burst of magic. She could be anywhere by now.”
Out of the corner of her eye Twilight saw the liquid pony form finish forming. If looked just like Trixie would, except that it was perfectly clear, exactly as if it was a pony that was comprised out of gravity defying water. With a quiet squelch, Trixie began to take a step forward, her hooves and lower legs beginning to take on a solid shape and her natural blue colour.
“Maybe she is just using a cloaking spell.” Twilight offered a little bit louder than she had been speaking before, hoping that she would be able to cover the sounds of Trixie’s movement. On the stone floor of the prison, hoof steps would echo and reverberate loudly.
Slowly Trixie make her way over towards Fleur, her body now almost fully reconstituted, though her fur and mane were very patchy, looking as if she had had large chunks of her coat ripped off, revealing the pink flesh beneath. As she get behind Fleur, Trixie lifted up a hoof and twirled it in the air behind Fleur’s head, a sign for Twilight to get her to turn around.
Fleur snorted at Twilight. She clearly didn’t believe Twilight’s stories. “I will ask you one last time. Either tell me where Trixie is or I can have you executed right now. Chrysalis remembers you from the last time, all you so called ‘Elements’ were put on the list of ponies too dangerous to keep alive. A public execution would have been preferred, but needs must.”
Twilight took a breath, affecting a look of sadness, as if she was really about to betray another pony. “You want to know where Trixie is. Well she is…”
“Right behind you.” Trixie finished for her.
Fleur whirled around to face the new voice, only to find that a dark blue hoof was rushing directly at her face. She tried to duck, but Trixie was too fast for her and the hoof connected solidly with her muzzle.
Fleur fell to the floor like a dropped sack of potatoes and lay there, not moving in her quilted cloth gambeson but for her breathing. Trixie took a step back and kicked Fleur once again for good measure.
“That was for stepping on me you pompous turncoat.”
Twilight looked up at Trixie in amazement. “I can’t believe that actually worked, Trixie you really are the most talented unicorn in Equestria.”
Trixie looked back at Twilight, her showmare smile plastered all over her face. “Was there ever any doubt?”
Over in the other cage, Rarity was getting a little impatient. “Not to try to rush you or anything, but do you think you could, oh I don’t know, GET US OUT OF HERE?”
“Rarity is right. Trixie, search Fleur and see if she has a key or anything on her.” Twilight agreed.
Trixie got down next to Fleur’s prone body and began searching through the various pockets and pouches she had on. In one pouch she found a filled canteen of water, which she took and kept searching until she found a pair of small keys kept on a thin metal chain around the model turned jailer’s neck. She quickly grabbed both keys and walked over to Twilight’s cage.
“Trixie will have you out in a moment.” Trixie said as she inserted one of the keys and turned it, noting the clicking sound of locks retracting and the door swing open on its rusted hinges.
Twilight literally jumped out of the cage and hugged Trixie in tight, burying her face into the dishevelled remains of Trixie’s mane. “Oh Trixie, I was afraid I had killed you, but you did it. You saved me.”
“Trixie… Can’t… Breath.” Trixie managed to choke out as Twilight continued to squeeze her in tightly, blocking off her airway. Twilight noticed and quickly released her grip, blushing fiercly as she realised what she had been doing.
Trixie gasped for a few moments, sucking in the musty air of the prison before floating the other key over to Twilight. “Go and get the others. Trixie is going to lock this one into our cell.” Trixie indicated Fleur.
Twilight nodded and walked over to Rarity’s cage as Trixie levitated Fleur onto her back and began to walk into the empty cell, dumping the model on the floor with no grace. Back outside the cell, Trixie closed the door and locked it tightly again, sealing the traitor inside. No doubt she would come around and scream out for another guard eventually, but this would hold her for the short term.
As Twilight was opening the other cage and ushering the ponies inside out into the common area, Trixie lifted up the canteen and opened it, pouring all the water out and onto the floor where she had lain herself not a few moments before. Once all the water was out on the floor, Trixie stood in the puddle and she felt energy surge up through her hooves as she had when she was leaving Ixion’s cave.
Her tattered coat and mane began to repair themselves, water appearing over her body and resolving into undamaged hairs. On the other side of the common area, Rarity watched in fascination as Trixie was able to heal herself through nothing more than water, leaving her coat a sparkling blue as if she had just stepped out of a salon. Rarity looked down at her own dusty and matted coat, sighing as she began to tally up the bits it would cost to get herself looking even half as splendid as Trixie looked now.
When Twilight finished getting the last of the ponies out of the cage, the group moved as one in search of where the changelings had stashed princess Celestia. They would need her help in order to rid themselves of the Changeling threat once and for all.
Fleur-De-Lis found herself floating in an endless sea of darkness. All around her was an expanse of black, tinged with a sickly green glow. She found that there was nothing below her hooves, and she couldn’t feel which way was up.
Scanning around the expanse, Fleur found that there was only one feature to be found apart from herself. A large green crystal could just be seen floating off to her right, pulsating with the same green glow that permiated the entire region.
Despite its off putting colouration and the waves of vile magic that the crystal was putting out, Fleur didn’t feel repulsed by it, she almost felt as if she should listen to it, allow its magic to consume her and control her body for its own purposes. It promised her happiness free from the crushing burdens that were free will and choice.
She was almost about to open herself up to the crystal’s power when a commanding voice came from behind her.
STOP.
Fleur looked behind her and saw another pony, a unicorn like her, one whom she had never seen in person before, but recognised instantly.
The mare had a dazzling white coat that radiated out its own light, banishing the green glow of the crystal. Her eyes were miss-matched, one a burning red filled with fury that seared all it saw. The other was a frozen blue that pierced into Fleur’s soul and left no nook untouched. A closely cropped shock of blue hair made up her mane, except for one forelock that was a deep purple, which had been left longer than all the surrounding hair.
Strapped to her sides were two curved and wickedly sharp blades, each embedded with jewels and precious stones. Runes banded in gold marked the blades. One blade read ‘Take me up’, the other ‘Cast me away’. The mare radiated a feeling of power that Fleur had only ever felt from the Alicorn royalty.
It was her ancestor, the blademaiden Freize.
All other thoughts were purged from her mind as Fleur dropped to her knees before the greatest member of her family to have ever lived.
Member of my noble line, you have fallen from the path set down to you. Foul sorcery clouds your mind and twists your morals.
Fleur bowed her head at those words. Freize glared at her and condemned her even from the grave.
You must rise above this trickery and become the mare that you have always been destined to be. Your princess will need all the defenders she can get and it falls to you to be the one that shall carry on my legacy.
Fleur heard the sound of straps being undone, followed by the clatter of metal at her hooves. Looking up she saw the twin blades of Freize resting before her.
Take my blades and strike down that which clouds your mind. Purge its evil influences from your soul, become one with yourself once more.
Freize stepped back and Fleur got back to her hooves, picking up the swords and strapping them on to her body. Each of the twin blades left light in her magic, and the gems that adorned the hilts glowed brightly. She turned back to the green crystal, a new sense of purpose allowing her to overcome the wave of energy that lashed against her will.
Unlike before, Fleur found no difficulty in moving towards the crystal, her hooves finding purchase on ground that was invisible to her eyes. Soon she neared the crystal and drew the blades, the energy of the crystal threatening to overwhelm her senses again.
“What are you doing?” another voice came from beside her. Fleur turned to see the form of Chrysalis approaching her from beside the crystal. “Submit to the crystal and you will be at peace once again.”
This foul creature is the source of the taint upon your mind. Strike her from this place and free yourself.
Fleur lifted one of her blades and with a quick motion sliced through the image of Chrysalis, the changeling bursting apart into a cloud of greasy black smoke.
“AAAAAHHHHHHHH” the smoke hissed as it disappeared from view, vanishing inside the crystal and adding to its power.
Strike now, while the guardian is weakened. Cleave it in twain
Fleur lifted both swords up and above her head, the crystal’s power bearing down on her harder and harder the closer she got to striking. With one last burst of magic she sent both blades crashing down upon the crystal, each blade cutting cleanly through the crystal and exiting out the other side. The crystal flashed one and shattered into fragments that broke apart into nothing when they hit the ground.
A splitting pain in her head caused Fleur to loose her grip on the swords and they clattered to the ground. She quickly followed, dropping into a prone position as she clutched her head in agony.
As she rolled around, wishing either for the pain to cease, or the sweet embrace of death to remove her from her torment, Fleur felt a hoof touch her forehead. At once the pain receded from her mind and she lay still. Freize looked down at her, her twin coloured eyes glowing with compassion.
Go now my descendent, forge your own destiny. Equestria is in terrible danger and you must defend it. May Gram and Hrunting serve you as they served me
A bright light burst forth from Freize’s body and Fleur was blinded to all else, the light burning its way through her body and touching her very soul.
Fleur awoke to find herself lying of the floor of the prison cell that she had one used to keep Trixie and Twilight captive. The memories of her encounter with Freize were etched into her mind and she found that she could no longer find any trace of the changelings influence within her mind. It seemed that she was free from Chrysalis’s mind control spell. Getting to her hooves, Fleur began to look around the cell. She needed to find a way out of here so that she could help to save Equestria.
As she stepped forwards, her hoof clattered against something cold and sharp. Looking down she found two blades glittering with magic before her, one was fully formed, while the other seemed to be constructing itself out of the air. The blades were curved and marked in golden runes.
They were Freize’s blades, Gram and Hrunting, two swords not seen in Equestria for hundreds of years. Legends passed down through her family said that they would one day appear again to only a descendent of Freize who was worthy of the title of Sword Master. Fleur had always scoffed at such tales, but here she was, looking directly at the weapons of legend. They had chosen her, and she would honour the call.
Lifting the blades together, Fleur swiped at the bars that blocked her path to freedom. The blades glittered as they flew through the air, gripped tightly in Fleur’s magical glow. The blades cut through the metal and the goo covering the cage door as if they were made of paper and the door instantly fell off its hinges, creating a gap through which Fleur could escape the prison.
Sheathing Gram and Hrunting, Fleur stepped out of the cell and made her way towards the exit. She may have banished Chrysalis from her mind, but her blades now thirsted for the real thing.
Twilight, Trixie and Rarity galloped through the catacombs that were the lower levels of the prison, frantically searching for any sign of the princess or even of any drones. Twilight led the way, her horn glowing as she threw a bright purple light over their path. Rarity took the middle position, her own horn adding a much weaker white light to the mix. Trixie ran hard along the back, holding her magic back in case they were attacked.
Dimly, she recollected that this was almost exactly how her last group adventure had turned out; her and a bunch of others running down a long dark tunnel, searching for a group of changelings.
“Any idea where… they would have taken… the princess?” Rarity called out from the middle, her breathing becoming laboured as they ran. While physically fit, Rarity had never been one for much outdoor activity, and she was beginning to struggle now. Under the glow of her magic, a fine sheen of sweat could be seen forming on her brow.
“No, no idea at all. We just have to keep searching... until we find her,” Twilight yelled back, not slowing her pace as she glanced into a pair of derelict cells. Both were empty, devoid of any sign of activity.
Trixie pulled up along Twilight, leaving Rarity to cover their back, not that anything was chasing them at the moment. “Trixie has an idea. Horn locked or no, the princess would have left a distinct magical trail behind her. Everypony does.”
Twilight came to a dead halt at Trixie’s idea, Rarity having to turn out to the side in order to not crash into the halted mare, tripping over and sprawling to the ground in a ball of splayed limbs and dust. The light that her horn was emitting stopping abrubtly as she lost all concentration. Twilight looked directly at Trixie. “Trixie, that’s brilliant. Why didn’t I think of that? I know the princesses magical signature better than anypony. Give me a moment.”
Twilight’s horn ceased glowing, and the tunnel was plunged into darkness. Trixie quickly picked up the slack, her horn emitting a similar purple light over the walls. It showed Twilight deep in concentration as a number of thin webs and strands of purple magic coalesced around her body. Arcs of purple arcane energy crackled around her horn before blasting forward ahead into the tunnel. A thin trail of violet mist remained, clearly leading off towards one side of the tunnel before turning down a corridor that looked exactly the same as all the others. It only lasted for a moment before vanishing to all but Twilight's eyes.
“This way,” Twilight called out as she followed the glow of her magic down the corridor. Trixie took a moment to check behind them before following.
Rarity however remained still, trying to fix up her mane and tail which had become tangled and messy in her tumble. “Twilight wait, can’t we have a moment to fix our manes? And I think I am getting sweaty. Twilight?” Seeing that she wasn’t going to get a response, Rarity took off after the others, every step adding a new scratch or chip into her hooves. In the back of her mind she was adding up the running bill of spa treatments she was going to have to have done the moment she got home.
“Later Rarity, we have to focus on finding the princess now. Your spa appointment will have to wait,” was Twilight’s reply from down the tunnel.
Up at the front of the group, Twilight was following the trail of violet mist through the corridors and cross tunnels of the prison. She didn’t know where it was leading her, but she was sure that it was the way that the changelings had led Celestia earlier. With her eyes narrowed with resolve, she picked up the pace, her hoof steps clopping over the hard stone ground and drumming in her ears. If their quarry was listening, then they would know that she was coming far before she actually arrived.
“Are you…sure that…this is the…right way?” Trixie spoke from just behind her, her words coming out in short gasps between breaths. She couldn’t actually see the trail that Twilight was following, as much like Rarity’s gem finder spell, it could only be seen by the caster.
To Twilight the trail was becoming stronger, a clear sign that they were getting closer. Soon the mist had become almost a solid fog covering the tunnel and Twilight knew that they were just a few moment behind the other group and very near to Celestia. She cut out the spell and signalled for a halt. Rarity took the moment to nearly collapse on the ground, her chest heaving as she sucked in the stale and musty air.
For her own part, Twilight was also breathing heavily. Like Rarity she didn’t participate in regular physical activity often, generally choosing to remain in her library and study. It was only after her second running of the leaves, when she had placed third to last that she had realised just how out of shape she was becoming. She had had Rainbow Dash and Applejack put her on a training regimen after that, with reasonable success, though she was still far from being fully fit.
Trixie was also panting but she didn’t collapse, her body dripping sweat onto the ground. Twilight attributed this to her lifestyle of being on the road – she did pull her own wagon most of the time. She seemed to suck oxygen in deeper and had more even breaths than the others and sure enough she was the first one to settle down into a regular breathing pattern.
From up ahead, Trixie could just begin to make out some noises that were not themselves being reflected back at them. It sounded like the fluttering of wings and the occasional chirping of an insect, such as a cicada but it had far more body to it. From the way that Twilight tensed up it was clear that she could hear it as well. It was a very good bet that the changelings that had taken the princess were up in this last hall.
“Wait here. Trixie is going to take a look,” She hissed to Twilight and Rarity, keeping her voice low enough so it wouldn’t carry far down the hallway.
“Be careful Trixie. I don’t want to loose you as well,” Twilight replied, taking one of Trixie’s hooves in her own. It was a gesture that was not lost on Rarity, who looked at the two mares with more than a little interest as her laboured breathing slowly returned to normal.
Trixie nodded. “I promise to be careful,” she said, breaking from her normal third person speech. “If I’m not back in 5 minutes, just wait longer.”
Flashing Twilight a final cocky grin, Trixie began to inch her way down the tunnel towards the sounds of the drones, her body pressed up against the side of the tunnel walls to muffle the sound of her approach and close off one avenue of flanking.
Twilight watched her go until she was lost around one of the corners. While there was nothing stopping her from simply following Trixie, she knew that one mare would have a far better chance of getting a look at what was ahead undetected than three would.
Without warning, Rarity spoke up behind her.
“You like her, don’t you Twilight?”
Twilight tore her gaze away from where Trixie had been and refocused on Rarity, a confused look on her face. “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.”
Rarity shook her head. “I don’t mean like that darling. I mean you LIKE her,” she said, putting enough emphasis on the word like to smash through a plate glass window.
It seemed that it was just enough to penetrate Twilight’s mind and for a moment the purple mare was still as she tried to process what Rarity had said. As soon as she did process it, she began blushing fiercely, her cheeks glowing until they almost began to give off light themselves.
“No, it’s not like that. I just like her as a friend.”
Rarity was unconvinced. “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?”
The word love seemed to smash through the remaining guards that Twilight had in place. It resonated deep in her soul and she somehow knew it to be true. She did love Trixie. To some degree she always had. She found her confidence attractive, her brash personality quirky, and her potential for magic was easily about equal to Twilight’s own. All Trixie needed to truly become the greatest unicorn in all Equestria was a chance to study with Twilight. Through Rarity’s words, Twilight was finally able to admit to herself the truth: She loved Trixie Lulamoon. Assuming that they both survived this day, she was going to get her mare, no matter the cost.
Emerging out into the blazing sun of the noon day sky, Fleur-de-lis shielded her eyes with a hoof as she blinked several times, trying to get her eyes to adjust quickly to the intense light.
As her vision returned, she looked around at the deserted yard surrounding the jail. No a single soul could be seen in any direction, nor could any drones. She took that as a good sign, as whatever enchantments that had been upon her to make the changelings recognise her as one of them would have almost certainly been dispelled when she broke free from Chrysalis’s control.
Now that she was out of the prison, Fleur took a moment to examine the two gifts that had been bestowed upon her – the swords that had been wielded by her ancestor that had now passed on to her. Pulling out the blade from her left side sheath, Fleur examined the silvery blade. The sword, Gram was a true work of art, a perfect blend of artistic flair with the lethal simplicity of a weapon that was to be used for the ending of another’s life. The edge was honed to a razor sharp point. Even just running it along the bottom of Fleur’s hoof was enough to cause the blade to bite down, leaving a deep score in her hoof. The hilt of the weapon was done up in gold and embedded with rubies that matched the fiery burning heat that had been Freize’s right eye. Etched into the metal of the blade was an inscription in what looked like old Equestrian. Fleur translated it in her head.
‘Take me up’
The blade was slightly curved and was as light as a feather in Fleur’s magical grasp. The balance was exquisite and it twirled and spun upon her slightest command, but never for a moment did if feel as if she could not control it.
Putting it away, Fleur drew up the other sword that Freize had bestowed upon her. This one, Hrunting was longer and heavier than Gram, but still retained its balance and beautiful design. Elegant wave patterns adorned the blades surface on one side, while the other was also enscribed in the same flowing runic script that had marked Gram. This one Fleur was able to translate as ‘Cast me away’. Unlike Gram, Hrunting was adorned with Sapphires that mimicked Freize’s icy blue left eye.
Taken together, the swords made up the legacy that had been told of in her families history for centuries. Fleur had always been told that the blades would come to only the pony who was destined to carry on Freize’s legacy and bring honour to the bloodline once again. It was one of the reasons that so many of her cousins had joined the royal guards through out the years, they all wanted to prove themselves the worthy successor to their ancestor.
But it seemed that Freize had chosen her, the swords would not have come to her for any other reason. She had been chosen to take on the mantle of her family and defend Equestria from this terrible scourge that had befallen it. For the good of her friends, her family and her country, Fleur would wield these swords in defence of all that was good in this world.
Sheathing both blades, Fleur made towards the palace. Before she could go and save Equestria, she had to go and save her husband…
Trixie made her way through the warrens inside the Canterlot mountain, following the noises of her quarry. They were not hard to find, and none of the changelings seemed to think that there was any chance of them being discovered this deep underground. Edging around one last bend, Trixie saw that they had set up in what was a medium sized cavern. In the middle of this cavern was a large cocoon of green slime, hanging from the ceiling. Several small glowing orbs cast a weak light over the room, orbs which Trixie recognised from her time within the changeling outpost inside the gem mine. The cocoon also emitted a dim glow which pulsed in a regular rhythm. As Trixie focused on it, she saw that it was occupied by the princess, who appeared to be asleep inside it. Celestia wasn’t moving much, but her eyelids were twitching endlessly as if she was having a bad dream.
Arrayed around the cocoon were four drones. Three of them were clustered together and were secreting green strands of goo which they were arranging into barricades and low walls behind which they could take cover. The last one appeared to be patrolling around the edges and searching into each of the nooks and crannies, checking for any possible concealed traps or guards. Aside from the one entryway that Trixie was looking from, there was no other way into the cavern. As Trixie watched, the patrolling drone began chittering loudly when it looked into a nook on the other side of the room. Two of the other drones rushed over to take a look and investigate what was found while the last one remained setting up its barricade.
Trixie had a choice. She could either try to take out the four drones by herself while they were distracted, but with the space between the cluster and the solitary drone it was unlikely that she would be able to take them all out by herself. On the other hoof she could go back and get Twilight and the pair of them could easily handle this small group but going back to get her would give the drones more time to prepare for intruders.
Eventually she decided that she could need Twilight and she fled back down the tunnel after taking one last look at Celestia’s trapped form.
The flash of movement that her leaving caused caught the attention of the solitary drone. It looked up at the tunnel entrance and spotted a single glance of a streak of blue retreating back into the darkness. Narrowing its eyes, the drone glanced over to its companions who were now searching fixatedly around the nook, a mouse skittering around at their feet. The drone shook its head and returned to its work, shoring up the barricade. It had a good idea as to who the flash of blue had belonged to and it knew that alerting its companions would only result in a greater mess.
Trixie rushed down the tunnel and rejoined Twilight and Rarity. Rarity had recovered her breath and both were looking eager to hear what Trixie had found out.
Trixie got up close to them, leaning in so that she could whisper easily to them.
“Trixie has found the princess,” she said, noting the effect that news had on Twilight. Her face became even more serious and she almost charged off down the tunnel until both Trixie and Rarity put a hoof on her to restrain her. “Don’t be a fool Twilight Sparkle. The princess has been trapped inside some kind of cocoon and is being guarded by four drones. Together we should be able to easily deal with the drones and release Celestia, but rushing in a rage will only get you killed.”
Twilight took a breath and her body relaxed. “You’re right Trixie. Okay ponies, we need a plan.”
Rarity coughed lightly, attracting Twilight’s attention. “I have an idea,” she said softly.
“Okay Rarity. Let’s hear it,” Twilight replied.
Rarity turned to Trixie. “Trixie, what other ice powers to you get? Can you create a cone or beam of cold or ice?”
Trixie nodded. “Trixie is a master of the ice. What do you have in mind?”
“The changelings are basically insects yes?” Rarity asked.
Twilight nodded. She had read all the reports that had been gathered from Celestia’s interview of the changeling Drone. He had mentioned that the changeling hives had a very rigid caste system, just like an insect hive. “That’s right. And insects hate the cold. Some of them go into hibernation during the winter and literally freeze over. Rarity, you’re a genius.”
Rarity tried to play it down, waving a hoof dismissively. “Oh it was nothing dear. Anypony could have thought of it,” she said. Trixie thought that her tone was clearly asking for more praise, but she had better things to do than pander to Rarity’s vain desires right now. Maybe later, after they had finished what they came here to do in the first place.
Having finished congratulating Rarity for a good plan, Twilight was already hard at work coming up with a plan on how to tackle the drones and free the princess. Her horn glowed brightly as she levitated a small rock around on the ground, using it to score marks in the rock floor, clearly trying to position each of them so as to be able to handle the drones in any situation.
Trixie looked on in interest as Twilight planed out their rescue effort until she realised that Twilight had moved on from the realms of likely strategies and was now trying to plan out if the drones had somehow managed to create an army of self aware robotic attack walkers, each one armed with stasis beams and magical counter refractive shielding. The chance of that happening was so slight that Trixie decided she was just going to go with her original plan – storm the place and hope for the best.
Quietly she got up and moved back down the hallway, Rarity following her just as silently. Twilight didn’t seem to notice that both of her audience members had gone, her mind having slipped quite by accident into her deep focused study mode from which nothing short of messing around with her books or equipment could bring her out. Trixie had to use her magic to yank away the rock that she had been using as her quill just to get Twilights attention.
Twilight noticed the others already on the march and quickly trotted over to join them.
“Now remember everypony, we don’t want to hurt them. If we can convince them to release the princess and let us go then we take that option. If not then Trixie hits them all with an ice spell while Rarity and I work to release the princess,” Twilight said, trying to recap on her earlier plans that didn’t involve hordes of robotic attack drones.
“Are you all ready?” she asked.
Rarity didn’t look ready. She looked pale, even for her normal white complexion. “Oh, I do so dislike battle. My coiffure is going to get even more ruined than it is now, not to mention the damage to my hooves,” she whined.
Trixie had had enough of her whining and decided just to get it over with. With a piercing yell that bounced off the enclosed walls of the tunnel, she charged straight at the cavern that was just out of sight around the corner. Twilight looked at her in shock for a moment before regaining her senses and charged in after her; Rarity once again taking the back position.
Trixie burst into the main chamber to find all of the drones huddled around the cocoon, their faces showing surpise as far as a hard exoskeleton could allow. Each one was beginning to charge up a different kind of spell. One looked like it was going for a shield while another was levitating something else – a rock by the looks of it. Trixie didn’t even stop for a moment, calling up her magical reserves and lowering her horn.
From the tip of her horn an expanding tornado of jagged ice crystals and frost burst forward, enveloping three of the drone’s cleanly inside. Their black armoured carapaces were quickly covered in ice and in a moment they were trapped with solid blocks of ice, mirrored expressions of surprise and shock plastered on their faces as they fell down to the ground. The remaining drone was faster than the others and managed to jump out of the way just in time to avoid the initial blast of cold. It vanished behind on of the barricades for a moment, its body vanishing in a wash of green fire as it shifted into the form of a light blue unicorn, the same one that Trixie had seen at the wedding.
While it hadn’t spoken once, she had a fairly good idea as to who this particular drone was.
Twilight caught up behind her and spared one glace at the three drone ice feature that now formed the centre piece of the room. “So much for plan A then?” she remarked.
“Trixie had a more efficient solution,” She said before turning her attention to the one remaining drone. “Drone, come out of there now. Surrender and Trixie may show you mercy.”
Drone looked from his frozen comrades and then peeked out at the three unicorns all holding spells at the ready. He could either go down fighting a useless battle or he could surrender and at least hope they would be merciful. Equestria was famed for its treatment of its prisoners, one of the reasons that Chrysalis had chosen it for conquest to begin with – she viewed mercy towards prisoners of war as a weakness.
He made his choice. “Alright, I am coming out and am unarmed. Do not attack.”
Twilight and Trixie watched as Drone, in his pony disguise slowly climbed out of his cover and walked out into the open. His milky blue eyes held no malice as he looked at Trixie. “I’m glad you were able escape from the cells, Trixie Lulamoon. I figured that if anypony would be able to resist out advances it would be you.”
Twilight turned from Drone and began investigating the cocoon that was encapsulating Celestia. The Princess was still held in a state of forced sleep.
Horror crept into her voice as she stared into the pulsating green mass, “What are you doing to her? How do we get her out of there?”
“Celestia is not being harmed. Even Chrysalis knows that the fastest way to cause an uprising would be to kill of your leaders. No, she is doing something far more insidious. Left unchecked, Celestia will be programmed to act as a puppet leader. She will be a willing thrall to the changeling nation, eager to allow the queens free access to all of Equestria. But she will not know that, she will think that she is acting on her own accord.”
Horror gave way to pure anger. “You low down filthy scum. How do we get her out of there? NOW.”
Rarity and Trixie both took a slight step backwards as they noticed Twilight begin to smoke again. Rarity had only seen her do this once before but even so, she could feel a wave of heat begin to blast forward from Twilight’s body. Off to the side, Trixie could see that the block of changesicles was starting to melt; cracks were forming in the side and Trixie knew it wouldn’t be long before it shattered totally. Taking cover behind one of the barriers scattered around the room, she focused on maintaining and reinforcing her ice spell.
Drone also appeared to be cowed by her display of power. While he had seen Twilight’s display of power before, this was new to him. Underneath his disguise, his carapace was able to absorb much of the heat that was building up around him but even that wouldn’t protect him from a direct burst of flame if it was as powerful as the burst of ice that had felled his comrades.
With the option between becoming a roast drone and maybe managing to live long enough to actually salvage this situation, he made the only choice he could. Even drones have a self preservation instinct, though it only kicked in during situations where absolutely nothing was to be gained by throwing ones life away.
“Alright,” he admitted. “I’ll tell you. It isn't an easy process however, and it may take some time."
Twilight began to calm down slightly at the mention of a way to get her mentor out of the cocoon. Gently her body began to cease its smoking and the ambient heat of the cavern began to drop rapidly as the natural cool of the mountain reasserted itself.
Rarity spoke up as she noticed Twilight return to her normal self, cutting off Drone’s explanation of how they could extract the princess. “I have a better idea,” she said as she levitated a long and fairly smooth piece of rock from the ground. Everypony watched as she ground it along the floor, wearing one of the edges down to a sharp point. Once she was satisfied that it was sharp enough, Rarity lifted it up to the top of the cocoon. Connecting the cocoon to the roof was a single thick strand of gelatinous goo.
“Trixie, can you freeze that strand for me, or even the whole thing?” She asked. Trixie nodded and turned her attention from maintaining the frozen drones and instead focused on applying the same magic to the cocoon containing the princess.
As Trixie worked her magic upon it, the cocoon froze over, the goo hardening into a very rigid, but also quite brittle solid. Drone looked on in mixed horror and fascination as he realised just what the two unicorns had planned.
Once she felt that it was hard enough, Rarity swung her makeshift sword and struck it against the hardened strand. Chips of the goo flaked off with every strike and with each one, Twilight could hear the sounds of ice cracking.
“Rarity, that’s a great idea. Wow, two in a row,” She said, congratulating the dressmaker for her ability to think under pressure.
“Oh, it’s nothing dear. Anypony could have thought of it,” Rarity replied.
With one final swing, Rarity managed to cut through enough of the strand for it to break free and fall directly towards the floor where it would no doubt shatter into thousands of smaller shards and hopefully release the princess without causing too much damage to her.
As the cocoon hit the floor, it shattered into a wave of jagged fragments of ice, each one shooting off like a minature arrow head. Twilight recognised the danger they represented at once and cast up a bubble shield around herself, expanding it to encompass Rarity, Trixie and Drone. She winced as the blocks of ice began to ping off her shield, putting more power into the spell as some of the larger blocks landed around them.
Once she was sure that the cascade of ice had ceased, Twilight banished her shield and the group was able to get a good look at the princess. Celestia was covered from head to hoof with green slime and melting ice crystals. She was breathing, though it was shallow and rapid. Her eyes still moved as if she was fighting off invisible demons in her dreams. Her entire body was shivering as well, clearly suffering from having been trapped inside an ice cube for a short while.
Despite the chill of the ice cutting into her hooves, Twilight rushed over to her mentor and cradled her head gently. Twilight’s eyes began to water over as she looked at the pitiful state that Celestia had been reduced to. Rarity and Trixie followed her over but Drone kept his distance behind them. After all, his usefulness to them had just expired and he didn’t want to end up like his fellow drones – trapped inside an ice block until it had melted away, which could be a very long time down here inside an already cool mountain.
Twilight began to channel her fire magic through her hooves again, this time actively tempering it so that it came out as a healing warmth, just enough to melt the ice but not to harm Celestia. Normally Twilight would not have worried about burning her mentor - Celestia was the regent of the sun. But in her weakened state, Twilight wasn’t sure that Celestia would be able to handle the kind of heat that she could pump out.
The ice covering Celestia’s body melted rapidly and the princess ceased her shivering. Slowly she opened her eyes, blinking rapidly as she tried to clear her eyes of the gunk that clung to her coat. Coughing and spluttering her tried to get to her hooves, lifting her head out of Twilight’s hooves and looking all around. She was clearly looking for kind of attacker, but she finally focused on the outline of her student.
Recognition flooded across her eyes as she realised that she was looking at Twilight, with Trixie and Rarity standing behind her. Further back from them was a light blue pony that she vaguely recognised.
“Twilight, Trixie. How did you escape? How did you free me?” Relief was clear in her voice as she spoke, only to be cut of as she began coughing again, a hacking deep chested cough that spat out a quantity of the changeling’s green ooze. Twilight moved around back behind Celestia and began to whack her on the back, causing Celestia to spit up even more of the green phlegm.
It took a good 30 seconds for Celestia to cease her coughing fit and begin breathing normally. When she was recovered she turned to Twilight, expectation on her face as she waited for her answer. “Well Twilight?”
Twilight looked over to Trixie and Rarity, a beaming smile at having rescued her mentor lighting up her face. “It was mostly them princess. Trixie got us out of the cages by having me melt her ice form into water and she ran out between the bars and reformed. Rarity came up with a brilliant plan for beating the drones that were guarding you and for how to get you out of there. They deserve most of the credit. I didn’t do anything.”
Celestia turned to look at both of them again. “Rarity, Trixie. It seems that Equestria owes you both a debt again. I regret that it has to be under these circumstances.” Celestia turned to look at the remaining pony. “And what about you, Drone? What side are you on.”
The blue unicorn was engulfed in green fire for a moment, and when it cleared Drone stood there, his solid aqua eyes looking directly at the princess. “My loyalties still are, and always will be with my queen. That will never change.”
Celestia’s face fell as she realised that Drone would not be willing to help her, but she still had to try. She could never condon the killing of a sentient creature, or any creature for that matter unless it was an immediate danger to the lives of others, but she knew that she would have to silence Drone if he proved to be resistant to helping them. She didn’t want to have to do this, but if she had to harm one changeling drone in order to save the entirety of Equestria from being subjected to the cruel whims of Chrysalis she would do it. But she had to give him one last chance.
“Help us Drone. I can tell that you don’t want to be doing this anymore that we do. Help us put a stop to this attack and I promise you asylum with our people for as long as you like. Whatever you want, it is yours.”
Drone shook his head sadly. “I’m sorry Princess Celestia, I can’t. I can never betray my queen. I have sworn my eternal fealty and unwavering loyalty to her and her cause. I would never abandon my people, not now when they need me.”
Celestia’s face fell further as she realised that Drone would not be willing to assist them against Chrysalis no matter what she said. She was just about to indicate to Twilight to cast a stasis spell on him when he held up a hoof, forestalling her judgement. “But I can wait for five minutes before reporting in that you have escaped. Go princess, go and save your people.”
Celestia gave Drone a long look, one filled with all her years of wisdom. “Thank you Drone. I won’t forget this,” She said before gathering Twilight, Trixie and Rarity together with her. Closing her eyes she focused her magic and all four ponies vanished in a burst of golden magic.
Drone just watched the point where they had left for a moment, musing on what he was going to tell his queen when he reported in after a few moments had passed.
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.”
Through a deep haze, Fleur heard the sounds of a constant beeping and the voices of several ponies. Their words were indistinct, but she could catch the occasional fragment of a sentence.
’Severe lacerations… Gauze that cut... Somepony get those ponies out of here; this is an operating theatre, not a petting zoo.
Fleur’s mind wandered as the voices faded away. She could recall that she had been fighting. Fighting who? It had been important that she had done so, but she couldn’t quite remember why.
Briefly she managed to open her eyes for a moment. Around her was a blurry white space and several brown blobs that she assumed were the ponies that had been speaking before. One of the blobs resolved into a mare with a white nurse’s hat when she moved in and held a light before her eyes. Fleur tried to blink away the bright light, but her lids seemed far too heavy to move again.
“Doctor Purple Heart, she’s waking up.”
The other pony shaped blob came in closer. “Damn it CC, she isn’t ready yet. Another dose of morphine now,” a very gruff voice flooded her ears.
A tiny flare of pain followed, and Fleur felt the world slipping away again. As her vision faded, she could have sworn that she saw another mare standing behind the medical ponies. A pair of miss matched eyes looked down at her before the mare nodded once and vanished.
Fleur dreamed. She dreamed of times spent on the fashion circuit, of posing in long flowing dresses, or short and skimpy summer thongs. She dreamed of meeting Fancy Pants for the first time. He had come backstage after one of her shows and offered to introduce her to some of his aristocrat friends. He had come back the next day, and the one after that ‘just to see your beautiful eyes’ he had said.
Fleur dreamed of the days that she had spent in training as a young mare; toning her body and sparing with her brothers and sisters. She had been so proud when her brother was accepted into the royal guards.
Her dream shifted until she saw herself looking at Fancy Pants. He wasn’t holding a sword, but she was. She lifted up one of her swords and swung it hard at his face. She watched as the flat of the blade connected and Fancy dropped like a sack of stones. Fleur didn’t stop to look at him, bringing the sword she had used to hit her husband to bare again at a dark figure that had been watching her. A pair of sea green eyes bored into her soul as she looked at the dark shape.
Fleur gasped and sat up in bed. A moment later she screamed in pain as her entire body felt like it was on fire. She instantly fell back into the bed and almost passed out. Breathing through the wave of pain, she got up far slower and looked around her. She was in a hospital room. She had been dressed in a generic hospital gown, but under that she could see bandages covering almost every inch of her body. Her mouth felt like it was a desert. A set of tubes and piping ran its way over her body, a nasal cannula pumping fresh oxygen into her nose. Several IV drips were plugged into her fore hooves and a heart rate monitor was beeping regularly off to her side.
Over in one corner she saw two ponies sleeping, one was in a chair while the other was on the floor. Fleur’s parents looked like they hadn’t moved from that spot for a week; her father had a noticeable stubble on his face and her mother’s crows feet were very pronounced as if she hadn’t bothered to apply makeup for days.
A nurse passed by the room, but stopped when she saw that Fleur was awake. She came in one she was sure that Fleur had seen her.
“Welcome back miss Fleur, you have had a very rough couple of nights,” she said, sounding very chipper. A beaming smile was etched on her face.
Fleur lifted one hoof and struggled to point it at the empty water glass on her table. The nurse recognised the motion, something she often saw from patients that had been out for several days.
“Do you want some water?” she asked, taking the cup and refilling it from a jug that stood next to the cup. She lifted the cup up to Fleur’s mouth and gave her several measured mouthfuls to swallow.
Once she had some water to wet her mouth, Fleur asked the question she had been meaning to ask since she woke up. “What…”
The nurse interrupted her. “What happened to you? You were brought in here with multiple contusions, lacerations and extreme blood loss. It was touch and go for several times, but you pulled through.” The nurse’s tone turned serious as she continued. “The doctors did the best they could, but you are going to have some scarring. I’m sorry.”
A gentle knocking came from behind the nurse. She turned around and instantly dropped into a low bow when she saw who it was who was visiting Fleur. The Princesses Celestia and Luna were both waiting out in the hallway, clearly wanting to come it but waiting until they were called in.
Celestia motioned for the nurse to rise up. “Please get up nurse Flat line, no need to stand of ceremony here. How is your patient today?”
“She is awake and coherent your majesty. I don’t know how much she remembers.”
Celestia and Luna walked into the room and came to rest on both sides of the bed Fleur was resting in.
Luna was the first one to speak. “Maiden Fleur-de-lis, how fare thee?”
Fleur looked at the moon goddess for a moment until Celestia translated for her. “Fleur, how do you feel? Are you up to talking?”
Fleur nodded but looked over towards her parents. Neither of them stirred, but Celestia took the hint and lowered her voice.
“I suppose I should get the important things out of the way first. You are in the Nightingale memorial hospital on the outskirts of Canterlot. When we found you and Fancy, you were just about to expire from exsanguination. Following Chrysalis’s defeat, the drones that were holding Luna prisoner scattered; they were operating on a hive mind linked through her in order to sync the shield spell for maximum power. When Chrysalis was frozen, the link was broken and they fell apart. Luna hunted down many of them, but some scattered to the winds.”
Celestia gave Luna a disapproving look at her actions but Luna didn’t respond. “Once she arrived in the throne room, Luna was able to stabilise you for transport. It was a challenge to find a doctor available to treat you in the chaos of Chrysalis’s defeat but we did it. You owe your life to the doctors here; Purple Heart and CC.”
Luna picked up the thread. “I was able to hold the last flicker of your life force in place until medical help arrived. Lord Fancy Pants was treated here for the cuts to his face and other non life threatening injuries. He was discharged yesterday and had been trying to call for calm. You need not worry for him, his mind is once again his own.”
Fleur relaxed as she heard that Fancy was ok.
“Fleur! You’re awake. Oh thank Celestia.” A feminie yell came from the side of the room. Fleur’s mother, the venerable Fleur-de-sel had awoken from her slumber and seen that her daughter was awake. She rushed over but stopped short of actually hugging Fleur. A warning look from both Celestia and Luna, along with Flat Line had stopped her.
Instead she turned back to her husband who was still asleep on the floor and gave him a none to gentle shove. “Honey, she’s awake. Bull Rush, wake up.”
Bull Rush grumbled around how hard the floors were but got up anyway. Several cracking and popping noises could be heard as he stretched out his back.
Bull Rush was a large dark coated unicorn. A lifetime of service in the Equestrian military had left him with a somewhat rough look and despite his advancing years he was still highly muscled and cut an imposing figure. His cutie mark was of a unicorn’s head, horn lowered in a charge. The very tip of his actual horn had been broken off in battle long ago. As a result he had to wear a regulator band at all times.
Fleur-de-sel looked like an older version of her daughter. A delicate white coat with a flowing pinkie purple mane and tail. Right now she was torn between being overjoyed at seeing her daughter awake and horrified at how damaged she had become.
Bull Rush spoke first once he had finished his stretching and ambled over. He had a deep and gruff voice to match his appearance. Every word commanded respect.
“So, I hear you made yourself out to be some kind of hero. Picked up a few battle scars along the way. Ya did good Fleur, I’m mighty proud of you.”
Fleur-de-sel was no where near as calm. “Oh, my poor baby, just look at you. Cuts and scars and who knows what else. You had us so worried.”
Bull Rush turned away from the bed, choosing to look out of one of the windows instead. “So what exactly happened in there Fleur. What made you choose to take up the sword again? I know that when you were offered that modelling job, you all but gave it up.”
Fleur struggled to get up in her bed. Flat Line and Fleur the elder helped her to get into a partial sitting position. “I got some help from a very old friend. She showed me the path I should be on and gave me a gift.”
“That is putting it mildly.” Luna’s dry voice cut through the room. Luna levitated over two swords to Fleur’s bed. “I think you dropped these after your battle. They are exceptionally well crafted, and the enchantments on them are powerful indeed, though they are not responsive at all to my magic.” To illustrate the point the gems embedded in the hilts were dull; they didn’t gleam in the light. Luna continued, “A unicorn would have given their life to forge these blades. How did you come by them?”
Bull Rush turned around at the mention of two blades. Despite being retired, he still kept up with military developments and weapons memorabilia was a passion. He froze though when he saw the weapons that Luna was presenting to Fleur. Like every member of his family, he knew exactly what they were. “Fleur honey, are those what I think they are?”
Fleur nodded. “Yes dad. I saw her and she freed me from Chrysalis’s control. She told me that I had to take up my birthright to save the kingdom.”
Bull Rush indicated that he wanted to see one of them. The blade was passed over to him. Caught in his magical grip, the gems began to glow weakly, recognising the familial links. Gram knew that it was being held by a member of Freize’s family and it reacted accordingly.
Bull Rush’s tone turned to one of reverence. “I had always hoped that I would get to see this sword with my own eyes, but I never expected to actually get to hold it.”
Very gently he put the sword down on the table alongside Hrunting. There was a new respect in his eyes when he looked at Fleur.
A commotion outside caught everypony’s attention. A voice could be heard out in the corridor.
“I say, that’s my wife in there. Let me in.”
The door to the room opened and a royal guard leaned in. “Sir Fancy Pants to enter, your highness.”
Celestia nodded to him. “Let him in Phalanx.”
The guard saluted and stood aside.
Fleur looked up as Fancy Pants entered. He had a few gauze patches over his muzzle and one bandage near his eye, but other than that he looked unharmed.
Fleur broke into a painful smile as Fancy came over to her.
“Fleur my dear, I’m so sorry about what I did. I couldn’t help myself. Chrysalis had control over my mind; all I could do was beat upon the glass and watch.”
Fleur nodded. “I know how you feel. I don’t blame you for anything. I hope I didn’t hurt you too much.
Fancy chuckled as he unwrapped the gauze, showing off a nearly healed cut to his face. “Oh I think it looks rather dashing, gives my face a little character.”
His face fell as he realised the next part of the conversation. “But I’m afraid I did far worse to you my dear. I don’t deserve your forgiveness but…”
Fleur cut him off. “You were not it your own mind Fancy. I forgive you, even if it means the end of my fashion career. I love you, my husband; I always will.”
Celestia coughed slightly. “I’m sorry to have to be the one to bring this up, but you two aren’t actually married. Technically you were married by Chrysalis, so that makes the entire ceremony void.”
Fancy and Fleur both looked horrified by that news. Celestia however motioned to Luna who pulled out a pair of golden horn rings.
Celestia returned to the pair. “Fleur, do you?”
“Yes.”
“Fancy, do you?”
“Yes.”
Celestia smiled. “Then as the true ruler of Equestria, I pronounce you married.”
Luna levitated the rings over their horns.
Fleur-de-sel began crying her eyes out as Fleur and Fancy embraced in the hospital bed.
Trixie held her poise perfectly, all but one of her hooves balancing in the air. One fore hoof was planted into the soft earth next to the stream, the others were splayed out in the air as she held herself rigid. Around her rotated four globs of water.
Twilight’s serene voice echoed throughout the woods. “Focus, determination, willpower. All these things are the key to magic. Let the power of your magic fill you. Block out all other distractions and concentrate only on controlling your horn.”
Twilight had spent the time since they had returned to Ponyville teaching Trixie about magic. For all her power, Trixie had a surprisingly poor understanding of many of the basics of magic, a remnant of her self taught style. Twilight had offered to train her in the basics and teach her a few higher level spells along the way.
Trixie held her focus as hard as she could, but having to split her concentration over 7 different actions was draining her rapidly. She had been holding this position for well over an hour as a test of her endurance and her muscles were burning. Her horn flickered as she burned through her magical reserves. Soon she ran dry and the four orbs of water splashed down, sprinkling the grass or returning to the stream depending on their position.
Trixie’s fore hoof gave in as well and she tumbled to the ground in a heap. From her new vantage point she could see Twilight hovering above her. Twilight had been floating above her the entire time, holding herself up with her magic. Both fore hooves had been held out in perfect balance and she sat cross legged in a mediative position as she had been taught by the local witch doctor.
Opening her eyes Twilight saw Trixie lying exhausted on the ground and she floated herself down to the ground. Streaks of sweat ran down Trixie’s face and she was panting as she rested.
Once she was safely back on the ground, Twilight walked over to Trixie and extended a hoof to help her get back up onto her hooves. “That was much better Trixie. You were lasting so much longer than when we started. I think you might almost be ready for the next stage of your training soon. Now come on, it’s time to get some lunch. Rainbow wants to hear how you beat Chrysalis again.”
Trixie shuddered. “That pegasus is relentless. I’ve told her that story a dozen times in the last 3 days and still she wants to hear it?”
Twilight laughed. “Oh she just likes to hear about cool things and you rescuing a princess and being an ice cold badass is just what she likes to hear about. In a few days she will move on to the next moment and leave you alone.”
“Trixie could use a little more alone time… with you of course,” Trixie replied coyly.
“Down girl. Not in public,” Twilight hissed, looking around the woods for any sign that they were being watched. While most of Ponyville could tell that they were dating, Twilight still wasn’t comfortable in public displays of affection. In the privacy of the library however…
The pair exited the woods and made a bee line for the library. Trixie had left a vegetable stock bubbling when they went out, watched over by Spike, and the library was filled with the mouth watering aromas of cooked carrots and leeks. As Trixie finished attending to the soup stock, Twilight prepared a crisp lettuce salad filled with seasonal fruits and garnished in a light balsamic. Once she was done the pair sat down at the table.
They were about to dig in when loud knock at the door caught Twilight’s attention. Trixie grumbled slightly but got up anyway and opened it to reveal a wall eyed grey pegasus standing there. She had an oblivious smile on her face and a postal cap on her head. Trixie wasn’t quite such which eye she should be looking at, so she opted to just look in the centre.
The mare pulled out a pair of packages from her saddlebags that Trixie noticed had a muffin shaped clip on them and a list attached to a clipboard from under her wing. Frowning she looked carefully at the board, her eyes coming together as she focused on it. “Uh, a delivery for a Trixie Lu-la-moon?” She asked in a bubbly voice.
Trixie smiled. “That’s me. I’ve been expecting this.”
The mailmare handed over the first package, which Trixie rapidly opened. It revealed a single bran muffin that had been carefully packaged with foam inserts to keep it safe.
“Uh mailpony…”
“Ditzy, I’m miss Ditzy Doo.”
“Ditzy then, why have you given me a muffin, this isn’t what I ordered.”
Ditzy smiled. “Never say no to muffin. Everything is better with muffins. It’s a scientific fact.”
Trixie facehoofed. “Do you have anything else for me?”
Ditzy handed over the second larger box. “Just this one.”
Trixie opened the second package and found that it was exactly what she was hoping it would be. She had to cash in a few favours for this one, including the one she had been saving for a rainy day, but it would be worth it in the end.
Ditzy ticked off her list and flew off, just avoiding a cart filled with Carrot Tops vegetables that she was taking to market.
Twilight put her soup down and came over to see what Trixie had gotten. She looked over Trixie’s shoulder at what she had received and her jaw almost dropped off when she realised what she was looking at.
Trixie had gotten her hooves on a delivery of loadstone crystal, but not just a single dose as Twilight had managed. She had a massive quantity that would last for months of careful use. Such a quantity would cost thousands of bits on the open market, far more than either she or Trixie had. “Trixie, how did you get that?” Twilight asked, almost frothing at the mouth as she thought of all the magic that she would be able to cast with that precious substance. She just hoped that Trixie hadn’t stolen it.
Trixie grinned at her. “Trixie was owed a few favours by royalty. She called them in and got the rights to a newly discovered low yield mine. We shall be getting a delivery like this one every few months for a least a year. Trixie had planned on surprising you with this, as thanks for all you have done for Trixie.”
Twilight was beside herself now, jumping up and down as she realised what Trixie had just said – she had said ‘we’. Trixie planned on sharing it with her.
“Oh thank you, thank you, THANK YOU.” She cried out, clopping her hooves together in glee.” She froze when she realised the second piece of information that had been contained in her comment. “Wait, you said you used up your favours with the princess. Wasn’t that reserved for a new wagon?”
Trixie waved off the concerns. “Trixie doesn’t need a wagon anymore. She has no reason to leave here without you.”
Twilight’s cheeks grew a rosy red. “Trixie, that’s so sweet of you. How can I ever pay you back?”
Trixie lifted a hoof to Twilight’s face, stroking her gently. “Trixie can think of a few things we can do…” She said as she led Twilight upstairs towards the bedroom, their lunch all but forgotten in the moment.
Two weeks later
Under a heavy guard, a small contingent of changelings approached the gates of Canterlot. They had sent in one drone to begin with, undisguised to inform the Equestrians that a delegation would be approaching and to request an escort.
Among the procession was a rare sight. Two queens walked with their drones. While they looked identical to Chrysalis, they had a far different bearing. Celestia and Luna met them at the gates, along with Fleur, Fancy, Twilight and Trixie. The other Elements of harmony were present, but all indications were that this was to be a peaceful summit. The queens had only brought a smattering of drones with them.
The procession arrived at the gates and one of the queens stepped forward. She gave a long, slow bow to Celestia. Not a trace of irony could be seen in it, it was a true bow of respect.
Once she was finished she rose up and introduced herself. “Princesses Celestia and Luna, I am Queen Pupae of the eastern hives.” She indicated the other queen with a hoof. “This is Queen Kakunna. We have come here to offer our apologies for the actions of our royal sibling and to assure you that something like this will never happen again.”
Celestia nodded at Pupae. “I respect your position of peace and I welcome an offer of friendship between our lands. We both have much to gain from an alliance between our peoples.” She paused for a moment before indicating the other ponies around her. “These are the ones whom are most responsible for having defeated Chrysalis. My student Twilight Sparkle, her apprentice Trixie Lulamoon, and the honourable couple Fancy Pants and Fleur-de-lis. They are the ones who did most of the work.”
Pupae gave the assembled heroes another long bow. “We are indebted to you all for your actions. I sincerely regret any injury that Chrysalis may have caused you all.”
Kakunna spoke up. “If we may ask, what has happened to Chrysalis? She has been branded a war criminal and must be brought back to stand trial.”
“Chrysalis has been restrained since the attack was beaten back. As a sign of good faith to the hives, I will allow you to take her back for judgement,” Celestia said, earning a glare from Luna. Luna had wanted to execute Chrysalis or leave her frozen forever. “Better to just be done with her” had been Luna’s exact words.
Pupae took the lead again. “We have also been authorised by the leaders of the other hives to open diplomatic ties with you. We have a list of demands and concessions that we are allowed to make in order to secure an alliance with you.”
“We are sure we can reach a position that is mutually acceptable. But out here in the open is no place for such important discussions. Follow me into the palace, please.”
Celestia led the changelings into the palace and took them to the grand meeting hall. It had been outfitted for the occasion; ribbons and decorations littered every exposed service. A large table and seats had been set up.
Indicating the other row of seats, she and Luna sat down at the table. Pupae and Kakunna sat at the other side. Attendants served an array of steaming refreshments and delicacies to all.
Pupae opened the negotiations with a list of concessions that the hives were willing to make as part of the reparations for Chrysalis’s actions; trade and imports on exotic changeling produce, assurances that no hostile moves would be undertaken again for as long as an alliance stood, and the possibility of military aid if Equestria ever needed it.
Trixie quickly became bored with the discussions. She had never been one for politics or longwinded speeches. Twilight on the other hoof appeared to be totally absorbed in the meeting, her passion for knowledge and the affairs of the nation shining through clearly.
“Trixie is going out for a walk,” she said. Twilight nodded and gave a noncommittal grunt, but made no clear indication that she had actually heard Trixie. Trixie shook her head and moved to leave, having to scoot through attendants and delegates from other cities to get out.
Out in the hallway Trixie found that Fleur had apparently had the same idea, having exited out the other doorway. Fleur’s injuries had healed over, but they had left several long scars on her body and face. The longest one ran directly along her face from her horn to her muzzle. Another one almost perfectly bisected her cutie mark.
Fleur waved greetings to Trixie and Trixie came over.
“Oh, I just can’t stand listening to court politics anymore. The words are different but the lies are all the same, it just goes round and round in an endless circle. I used to think that looking pretty was all that mattered to me, it certainly was all that mattered to Photo Finish and Hoity Toity.” She indicated her healed scars with a mirthless smile. “Now they won’t even return my letters. Still I’ve found that the other nobles appear intimidated by them; they think that I’m going to carve them up for the slightest offence.”
“Trixie is sorry to hear that,” Trixie said. She actually meant it. The few times she had met Fleur, she had seemed like a good pony thrust into a bad situation.
“Oh, don’t be. That stage of my life is over. Luna has offered me a position with the Lunar Guards, with or without augmentation if I want it. I think I’m going to take it. I can certainly do more good out there in the world that I can in front of a camera. Besides I have to live up to Freize’s legacy.”
Trixie led Fleur out into the castle gardens and the two mares found an unoccupied bench in the shining sun. Around them, they could see the repair jobs that were occurring to Canterlot; scaffolding surrounded many of the major buildings. Like the festivities during the wedding, Fancy Pants had bankrolled much of the repairs, knowing that it might take years for everything to be brought back to normal if it was left to the discretion of the office of urban planning, which was under the purview of Prince Blueblood. Fancy had been quoted as saying that ‘my beloved Canterlot deserves better.’
“So,” Trixie began, looking off into the distance at a passing cloud. “How is married life?”
“It’s great, we share everything and Fancy is a great provider. He is really supportive of all my ideas. Just between us I think that he was the one who suggested to Princess Luna to offer me a job.”
“Must be nice. To have someone who you can trust like that,” Trixie said, a wistful tone creeping into her voice.
The two mares lapsed into a comfortable silence as they watched the world go by for an hour or so. Ponies came and went around them but none approached them until they heard a set of hoofsteps came to a stop behind them. Turning around, Trixie saw a light blue unicorn standing behind them.
“I was wondering when you would show up again,” she said, turning back to look at the sky.
“Well to be fair, I don’t exactly have anywhere else to go,” Drone replied, moving up and taking the final space on the bench. Fleur gave Drone a short nod; one filled with neither friendship nor malice. She just didn’t care about the changelings anymore.
Drone didn’t seem perturbed. “I will be going back with the others soon, but I wanted to say goodbye first. I doubt that I will be coming back again. Pupae and Kakunna will want to know what happened out here and I seem to be the only drone left that they can find. A pity, I kinda liked it here.”
“You don’t have to go, you know. I’m sure that Celestia could find some place for you here,” Trixie said.
“You are kind to offer, and you are probably right Trixie, but I couldn’t do that. The hives deserve answers and I am the one to give them.”
Drone stopped talking after that. All three watched as the sun began to set over the horizon. As the sky turned a bright orange, Drone got up and prepared to head off.
“Farewell Trixie Lulamoon, and you Fleur-de-lis. I hope you have a long and full life. We will not meet again.”
Trixie watched as Drone walked away down the path towards the city. Trixie found her throat begin to burn and her eyes watered as she watched him go. She hadn’t ever really considered Drone to be a friend, but the finality of his leaving cut her more than she had expected.
Eventually, Fleur got up and put her hoof on Trixie’s shoulder. “It’s time for us to go too Trixie, they should be finishing up any moment now.”
The pair left the garden and headed back into the palace. Once they got in they could hear the sounds of the negotiations wrapping up. Pupae and Celestia were discussing the establishment of a consulate in Canterlot. Pupae had offered herself to serve as a Consul and it sounded like Celestia had agreed to the idea.
Twilight was still standing almost exactly where Trixie had left her and she showed no sign that she had noticed Trixie having slipped out for several hours.
Trixie took her place just in time to see Celestia and Pupae shake hooves and sign the treaty sealing the alliance between the two species. A wide smattering of applause from the assembled crowds and flashes from the cameras of the journalists lit up the room in a constant strobe.
“It’s really over, isn’t it?” Trixie said to Twilight.
“Yes, it is. Celestia is going to prepare an expedition to the hives now that we are at peace with them, maybe even establish our own embassy over there. It would be a great opportunity to study changelings in their natural habitat.”
Trixie shook her head. “No offence Twilight, but I’m done with the changelings for a long time.”
Twilight gave her a sympathetic hug. “I understand Trixie. We don’t have to go this time.”
Trixie was more than happy to let somepony else take that job. She had earned a long vacation from the affairs of state.
Two days later the changelings left Canterlot, minus one queen but plus a frozen block of ice. Kakunna had assured Celestia that Chrysalis would be delivered into harsh justice for her actions and would be stripped of her title and rank. Her hive would be absorbed into others.
Twilight and Trixie saw the procession off before heading off themselves to the train station. Twilight had set up a do-over of her summoning spell and was looking forward to getting a fresh start on it. Between the two of them it should be an easy feat to pull off, providing they didn’t run into any pink monsters along the way.
Walking away from the castle, Trixie looked back at the majestic spires and gleaming pillars. It must have been her imagination but she could have sworn that she felt a pair of eyes watching her.
Looking up at the top of the spire, she caught a momentary flash of orange, but it vanished too quickly for her to get a good look at it. Twilight saw her stop and gave her a quizzical look. Trixie shrugged and dismissed it as a trick of the light.
“Ready to go home?” Twilight asked, giving Trixie a quick kiss when she was sure nopony was looking.
High atop the tallest spire of Canterlot Castle, a solitary figure watched the proceedings below with great interest. Ixion looked down at the defeated figure of Chrysalis and the pathetic delegation of changelings that had come to collect her. That something as insignificant as a mere changeling, even a queen could cause such havoc and devastation to the kingdoms capital spoke volumes about how ready Celestia was to deal with a real threat. Sure, there would be a token increase in alertness, but Ixion had waited for centuries; he could afford to wait again.
Even if Celestia had both the Elements of Harmony and the other two Elemental Lords at her disposal, she would not be able to stop him when he began his own bid for power in earnest. The Scion of Ice had mastered her powers far faster than he had expected, but that was no matter to him. All it would take was a little extra planning, the acquisition of a couple of highly ranked members of the court to his plan and of course, an ‘accidental’ disaster to distract the fawning public and Ixion would be ready; Ready to take the throne that wasn’t his by right.
Soon Celestia would grovel at his hooves and beg for mercy before his army. Soon Luna would be his bride and together they would return her to her true nature as Nightmare Moon. Together they would rule this land in an iron shod hoof. They would be unstoppable.
And once Nightmare Moon had exhausted her usefulness to him… well then he would just have to assume the heavy mantle of ruling alone. Nightmare Moon’s lifeforce would grant him life eternal and command over the entire heavens.
His milky eyes gleamed as he looked down over the city. Oblivious ponies scurried about like the ants that they were. Soon they would fall over each other trying to be the first to pay tribute to Ixion’s majesty
Yes, it was all coming together perfectly. And he had a certain blue showmare to thank for all of it…
