Aurora stared furiously at Chrysalis, gritting her teeth and pawing a forehoof at the ground. She'd come too far now - there was no way she was going to let the Queen she sought to replace spoil her plans at this crucial stage. Her horn glowed with the usual changeling green-colored aura - although it was slightly wispier than normal flame-like changeling magic. It resembled the natural phenomenon known as the Aurora Borealis, and as such was the reason she had chosen her name.
Though it looked different, its effects were no less deadly. She shot a thin, concentrated beam of energy at Chrysalis, who quickly dodged to the right. The beam hit a nearby tree, burning a hoof-sized hole through it almost instantaneously. The same fate befell the 13 trees immediately behind it - Chrysalis turned around and looked down the hole. She could see straight down through all 14 of the thick trunks and out of the other side, smoke and glowing embers clearly visible in the increasingly dim light. It seemed that Aurora's powers were significantly stronger than she had imagined.
Quickly shaking off the moment of doubt, her own horn charged its magic, and she unleashed a wide sheet of translucent green flame which enveloped Aurora - a forcible de-disguise spell. After the flames surrounding her died down, Aurora stood before Chrysalis in her true form. Her body shape was that of a royal changeling, despite being born a drone. Her stature was slightly shorter than that of Chrysalis, with a deep crimson tint to her wings and her eyes, despite her previous rank of General, had irises and pupils like Chrysalis'. All of these physical mutations and abnormalities were a direct result of her years of experimenting with, and absorbing, dark and forbidden magics. She shot Chrysalis a piercing glance, her pupils shrinking to pinpricks within her blood-red irises.
"What is the meaning of this?" she snarled.
"You've done enough in my name for one lifetime!" snapped Chrysalis in response. "At the very least you can fight me as yourself!"
Aurora didn't need any further prompting - she charged headlong at Chrysalis, who stood her ground and lowered her head. Aurora likewise lowered her head and braced for impact - the two changelings violently locked horns, a sickening crack echoing through the nearby woods. The two pushed against each other with all their might. With the remnants of the power she stole from Chrysalis' plus her own considerable strength, Aurora proved to be more-or-less evenly matched with the Queen she battled against. Neither was willing to back down, and both kept pushing, ignoring their bodies screaming at them to stop. Both could feel the pressure building on their skulls, and the muscles in their legs on the verge of tearing. As they stood in their stalemate, both combatants occasionally flicked their heads upward, in an effort to break the other's horn.
Though this particular strategy didn't work for either of them, Chrysalis had begun to tire. It seemed that she hadn't been as comprehensively re-powered as she'd initially thought. Trixie watched in horror from her hiding place as Aurora seemed to gain the upper hoof, and pushed the straining Queen backwards several steps. Trixie wanted to help, but her joints were becoming increasingly painful to move - the transformation was beginning to have internal effects.
"This is why you were never fit to lead!" growled Aurora to Chrysalis between shoves. "Not only did you allow your species to lose its status, but you yourself are weak! Changelings need a strong leader to look up to, like me!"
Chrysalis sniggered at this.
"There's more to strength than cheap tricks and power siphons." she retorted, her voice straining. "If it's real power you want to see, try this!"
With this, her horn flashed with a sudden burst of green-yellow light, as Chrysalis activated a repulsing spell. Aurora was thrown back several meters, the suddenness of the impact momentarily disorienting her. Chrysalis immediately followed this up with a fast-moving ball of destructive energy aimed directly at Aurora. She just managed to avoid the projectile by ducking, although the top of her horn and her carapace bore scorch marks from the fireball. Enraged, Aurora fired another beam of energy back at Chrysalis, this time a solid orange color, and far more powerful than her previous efforts. This was apparently one of her many non-changeling magics.
Chrysalis, unfazed, emitted a string of changeling-green flame from her own horn, far brighter than any she'd fired previously. It collided with Aurora's orange beam of destructive energy, causing a brilliant white light to pour from where the two beams met. Both changelings readied themselves for what would almost certainly be a protracted stalemate, each continuing to fire their beam in the hope that they could overpower the other.
----------
Meanwhile, not far from where the changeling leaders dueled, Leech and Switcher were struggling to their hooves. They'd crashed through a bush, and slid across the muddy forest floor to yet another clearing. This clearing in particular had several interesting features - firstly, a body of water known locally as "Two-Mile Lake". Although less than a mile square in surface, this particular oddity of the terrain was an entire two miles deep. To all intents and purposes, it was a bottomless pit that happened to contain water. Additionally, this clearing was where the Soldier drones had deposited the rest of the Necrosia pods for safekeeping during the invasion. They stood in a gigantic stack near the bank of the lake, similar to how they had been back in the hive.
The tumble through the woodland had done Leech's wound no good whatsoever. Now that the additional motivation of preventing harm to Trixie was gone for the moment, Leech felt the pain far more acutely than he had previously. As he made one final, painful effort and got himself into a standing position, he heard a maniacal laughter from behind him. Leech didn't even bother turning around as Switcher approached him.
"I must say, 1017, you've been far more trouble than I'd ever have given you credit for! I'd be impressed if you weren't such a joke in every other respect." he chuckled, surprisingly jovially.
Leech said nothing, he just looked at the floor and waited for Switcher to make his move. However, the General wasn't done with his taunting - Switcher had always liked the sound of his own voice, and often took delight in tormenting enemies before finishing them.
"I still don't know how you survived the Necrosia creation process, but I won't make the same mistake twice. I'll annihilate you with my own hooves this time, and then I'll make a Sentry out of that disgusting little pony friend of yours." Switcher continued.
Leech tensed at hearing Switcher mention Trixie again.
"I honestly don't get your bond with that creature, anyway. Changelings aren't meant to form bonds with lesser beings, we are meant to dominate them! You've lost your way 1017, you and all of the changelings under Chrysalis' command. But soon, myself and Aurora will change all that. Too bad you won't be around to see it." Switcher finished, and waited for a response from Leech.
Leech however, did not respond. He simply continued to look at the floor, his eyes narrowing and a look of concentration on his face. Switcher was mildly annoyed at this.
"Well, go on then!" he smirked, prodding Leech's shoulder with a hoof. "Let's have your usual buzzing nonsense about how I'm not allowed to touch that stupid unicorn buddy of yours!"
Leech finally raised his head, and turned around to Switcher, an uncharacteristic snarl adorning his face.
"Buzz thizz..." he whispered, before following it up with a surprisingly powerful front-hoof sucker punch to Switcher's jaw.
The blow took the General by surprise, and he staggered back several yards. Feeling his chin with his hoof, Switcher noted he'd been wounded where Leech's digging spur had impacted with his face. Leech was also surprised - he'd never thrown a hoof like that in his entire life. It looked as if he was going to have to throw a few more, as the furious Switcher rushed him, his own forehooves swinging wildly.
Leech attempted to take to the air to dodge the windmill-like flurry of hooves that Switcher was dealing, but was no longer able to fly due to his injury. A massive swinging blow caught Leech on his left cheek, sending him sprawling to the muddy ground again. As he picked his head up, he felt a familiar sensation in his mouth. His re-grown left fang was gone. Again.
His rage now amplified tenfold from its already considerable level, Leech immediately picked himself up, ignoring the damage he was doing to his wound by doing so. He lunged towards Switcher, landing two more front-hoof hits to his face, and then quickly spun around and caught the General with a double back-hoof buck. As Leech crushed his hindlegs into the General's thorax, Switcher's chest armor split with a substantial crunch.
As Switcher dropped to the ground, bent double and clutching at his fractured exoskeleton, Leech saw a chance to gain the advantage. Noticing the Necrosia pods stacked at the far side of the Two-Mile Lake, all he had to do was make one last-ditch effort to fly over there. He could grab a pod from the stack and use it to repair the wound in his side. Even better yet, he could grab a pod from the bottom of the stack as he'd done back in the hive, and cause the rest of the pods to fall into the lake. He could fix himself up and ruin Switcher's plan for good!
Leech mentally congratulated himself on forming a coherent plan. Twice in one lifetime! He was definitely on a roll!
With the General still having difficulty with his chest injury, Leech agonizingly buzzed over to the far side of the lake, and landed heavily between the edge of the bank and the Necrosia stack.
Once again, however, Leech had landed too heavily.
The banks of the lake had been softened by the falling rain, which by now had begun to ease. The earth beneath Leech's hooves began to crumble and slide into the shimmering depths of the lake. Leech leapt out of the way as the land he'd been standing on disappeared. He couldn't risk falling into the water - changelings were generally poor swimmers due to the holes in their legs.
He stumbled and hit the ground with a painful thud, then turned his head to watch what was happening. The bank near the Necrosia pile continued to disappear, great chunks of soil falling away and disappearing beneath the ripples. Before long, the Necrosia pile itself became unsteady as the collapse of the land continued underneath it. It wobbled to one side... teetered to the other... then with an almighty splash the entire stack fell forwards, the mass of pods throwing up a wave of water as they hit the surface. The pods spread out and floated for a few seconds, before gravity took effect and slowly dragged the heavy spheres into the darkened depths - never to be seen again.
Leech briefly lamented the loss of the swarm-mates contained within the Necrosia, but knew they definitely wouldn't have wanted to be part of Aurora and Switcher's vile scheme. Whilst he was pleased that the plan was now thwarted, he couldn't help but feel disappointed that he hadn't managed to secure a pod for himself. With his wound worsening, he really could have used it.
Switcher had managed to stand up just in time to see everything. He stood agape on the other side of the lake as he helplessly watched several months' worth of planning, toil and sacrifice sink into the watery void. He was frozen in place as his mind attempted to comprehend what he had just witnessed. With a shake of his head, he put the shock aside, quickly took to the air and whizzed around the surface of the lake, his horn glowing like a minuature green sun, desperately attempting to levitate at least some of the pods back to dry land. But alas, his powers had no effect - the water simply diffused his magic as soon as it hit the surface.
"No... no... nonononono! Not now, not when we were this close! No! NOOOOO!" he roared. His attention turned to Leech, his eyes burning with the fury of Tartarus itself.
Leech lay on the remnants of the lake's far bank. He'd given it absolutely everything he had, and could no longer pick himself up off the ground. As he began to lapse to unconsciousness, possibly for the last time, he hoped that Chrysalis and Clone could finish defeating the invasion party. He hoped Trixie would ultimately be cured, would be able to continue with her traveling shows without him, and that Chrysalis could rebuild the swarm. His eyes suddenly jarred open as a flash of green magic made a crater in the ground next to his head. He quickly shifted his glance to see Switcher, who was flying towards him with a deranged scowl and a glowing horn.
"You... you have ruined everything! Our plan, our destiny to further our species, reduced to nothing! And all by a substandard maintenance drone and his misfit friends!" he screamed. "But rest assured, even if we cannot take Canterlot, I will console myself with the pleasure of destroying you, Leech!" he added bitterly, using his enemy's assumed name for the first time.
----------
Leech had no fight left in him, and was utterly defenseless. Or rather he would have been, had it not been for yet another timely intervention. A green energy bolt shot out from the surrounding trees and took Switcher out of the air. High General Clone stepped forward. He'd finally managed to put the Soldier drones into a stupor, and had immediately headed off in pursuit of Switcher. He'd witnessed the continuing energy tug-o-war between Chrysalis and Aurora, and had wisely decided not to intervene. That was his Queen's fight.
Switcher, on the other hoof... Clone definitely had a score to settle with him.
Switcher went swerving out of control, slamming head-first into a tree. He picked himself up almost immediately, so driven by pure hatred and fury that even head injuries did nothing to slow him down. Upon inspecting the tree however, he noticed something which made him shudder. His horn was still embedded in its bark, the impact having broken it off. Injured, his plan foiled, and now unable to use his powers, Switcher was too enraged to care.
"I'll destroy you both, with nothing but my hooves!" he laughed, clearly in the throes of a mental breakdown.
With an insane laughter, he began to run towards Clone, when he noticed that the High General's gaze was not focused upon him. It seemed to be looking around him. Switcher momentarily halted his advance, and quizzically turned around. His eyes lit up to see his four Sentry drones calmly walking towards him.
"Ha! You're for it now!" he shouted to Clone. "My troops will make short work of you both!"
He focused his energies, ready to give the order to attack, when he suddenly remembered he no longer had a horn. Switcher's laughter very quickly faded as he realized the full implications of what was happening. The loss of his horn also meant he was no longer giving off the subliminal brainwashing that kept his Sentries loyal to him. Which in turn, meant that these Sentries' own pony personalities would reassert themselves. Switcher turned to face the Sentries again, and sure enough their usually emotionless faces were contorted with anger.
"Sorry, General." said one.
"I'm afraid we don't work for you anymore." added another.
"For a year, you ordered us about, fully aware of what we were doing but powerless to stop ourselves." continued a third, through gritted teeth.
"And now, YOU are the one who is powerless to stop US." finished the fourth, as the Sentries closed in around their former commander.
Switcher looked around in desperation. He saw Clone watching with interest, and called out to him.
"Clone! Help me!" he implored. "We can let bygones be bygones, right? Destroy these four fools for me, and we can rule together! I'm sure Aurora won't mind!"
Clone grinned, and said nothing. His horn glowed as he gently gathered the unconscious Leech up in his aura and flew away into the night without another word, leaving Switcher to the tender mercies of his ex-slaves.
Switcher spun around within the circle of Sentries he was trapped in the center of, his eyes desperately searching for an exit. But wherever he looked, all he could see were faces twisted with an unstoppable desire for vengeance. The four synthetic drones' horns began to glow in unison, each building up a powerful bolt of destructive magic.
An intense flash of green, followed by eternal blackness, was the last things that Switcher saw.
----------
Back at the invasion site, Trixie still was hidden behind her tree stump, her joint pain beginning to ease as the muscle structure of her legs finished reforming itself. She felt two bumps beginning to rise near her shoulders - she shuddered as she realized that eventually her changeling wings would sprout from these. Forgetting her own problems, she stood up and checked how the continuing struggle between Chrysalis and Aurora was progressing.
For nearly half an hour, the two determined changelings had stood face to face, their beams of power continuously streaming towards one another and cancelling each other out. Occasionally, one of them had seemed to gain the advantage and had pushed the beam of the other back. But it had never lasted, and now the stalemate seemed to be as solid as ever, with the brilliant white light almost perfectly central between the Queen and her usurper.
Aurora, despite her concentration, attempted to engage in verbal combat once again in a bid to distract Chrysalis enough to defeat her.
"Some Queen!" she scoffed, being careful not to lose her focus on her own magic. "You couldn't even protect yourself against a General and an exile!"
"I....was....depowered....at....the....time!" snarled Chrysalis, the taunt having its desired effect and causing her concentration to wane.
Aurora's beam pushed forward as she began to gain the upper hoof.
"And what's worse than a Queen who can't protect herself? A Queen who can't protect her swarm!" continued Aurora.
"My... swarm..." Chrysalis thought sadly, her beam becoming even weaker.
"Once I'd taken your form and powers, it was NOTHING for me to take over your wretched hive!" Aurora mocked. "An entire fifth of your swarm, reduced to Necrosia! What does that say about you as a Queen?"
As Chrysalis mentally digested Aurora's words, a new fire began to burn within her mind. A fire of fury. A fire of vengeance for her fallen subjects. Despite the swarm's somewhat clinical social dynamic, Chrysalis cared for each and every one of her changelings, and had been distressed to hear of what had happened under Aurora's rule. Thinking of them, she drew new power from this fire in her soul, and with it Chrysalis redoubled her efforts. Her fiery beam grew stronger and more vivid than ever.
This hadn't been the intended effect on Aurora's part. She became increasingly concerned as Chrysalis' power seemed to suddenly grow a thousand fold. Chrysalis' beam was now pushing her own back, with the burning white light almost touching her horn. She desperately attempted to stand her ground, but the force behind Chrysalis' attack was too strong, and she began to stagger backwards.
A smile appeared on Chrysalis' face.
"So, Aurora, you fancy yourself as a Queen, do you? Well then, you'd better be able to handle the power that comes with the responsibility..." she began calmly.
With one last effort, Chrysalis' fire engulfed the exiled changeling before her. There was no scream from Aurora - there hadn't been time.
"... otherwise, it will consume you." Chrysalis finished, her aura fading.
Where Aurora once stood, there was nothing but a patch of burnt earth, and a few ashes that fluttered away in the breeze like charred rose petals.
Physically and emotionally exhausted, Chrysalis stood still for a few moments to regain her composure. No matter the reasons, she never enjoyed destroying one of her own kind. Presently, Trixie slowly crept out from her hiding place.
"...is it safe?" she enquired.
Chrysalis turned to her and smiled.
"Yes, it's quite safe now." she said reassuringly.
Both her and Trixie's gazes were drawn by the Soldier drones emerging from the trees, yawning and rubbing their heads as the effects of Clone's spell left their bodies.
"Status report?" asked Chrysalis.
The battalion leader saluted his Queen and responded.
"All soldiers present and accounted for. We're not sure where General Switcher is, but other than that, everyling is OK!" the drone reported.
At this moment, a morose-looking Clone gently landed beside Chrysalis and Trixie.
"No." he whispered. "Not everyling, I'm afraid."
With this, he set the limp and barely-breathing form of Leech down onto the wet soil and hung his head.