//------------------------------// // 13. Battle in the Forgotten Castle - Part 1 // Story: The Legend of Friendship - Outcasts // by Danieru //------------------------------// Everyone in the Forgotten Castle was up early once the sun began to rise at the horizon. The castle, however, even seemed to look dark while being covered in the sunlight, giving it an even more secluded and ominous presence than before. Mystic, who already was on his way to leave, looked over to the castle with a thoughtful expression on his face. Soon, second thoughts of leaving this place came into his mind. He did not care about the others or what would happen to them from now on. He just wanted to take care of his own business and his own life. He couldn't waste a thought of caring about others and their problems. With those thoughts in mind, he kept staring at the castle for a while and carefully thought about what to do next. A little later, inside of the castle... "So he left, huh..." Tagma said disappointed, lowering his head in the process. "Looks like it," Fade replied. The rest of the group gathered in the throne room. Fade took the opportunity to share what Mystic told him about his past, about what happened to his sister and his previous encounter with the Royal Guards. To some degree, the others began to actually understand Mystic and why he was acting so aggressively towards the Royal Guards. Of course, they couldn't force him to stay along with them. If he wanted to be on his own, then they just had to deal with that. Especially since they know how he can be sometimes. Still, Tagma had problems to deal with this situation and was just sad. "Tagma...miss...Mystic?" Wildheart asked as he petted the Changeling's back out of concern. "Yes..." Tagma replied. "You wanted to leave together with him?" Rosa asked. Tagma took a moment to think about it. Of course, he didn't want to be separated with any of his newfound "friends" but he knew Mystic for a little while to realize that he probably preferred to be alone. There were actually times where he regretted to travel with Mystic just because he was like a ticking time-bomb at times. Still, he had to at least one thing. "I'm going to look for Mystic and say goodbye!" He said determinedly. "Good idea!" Rosa agreed. "Yes, maybe you can even convince him to stay with us," Fade further pointed out. "I'll try my best!" Tagma said excitedly before he dashed off to the main hall of the castle, trying to catch up with Mystic before he left for good. Fade could only shake his head with a smile on his face. "I'll never expected to see a Changeling chase after a Pony because he was worried. Things really changed so much recently..." he said a little amused by the irony of it. "Am I seeing some progress?" Rosa asked smugly. "What?" Fade responded confused. Rosa explained. "I think you are finally looking at him as a Pony and not as a member of the Royal Guard. I mean...would you still try to hand him over to Princess Celestia just because he is a Changeling?" She asked, hoping that Fade would give the answer that she was expecting. Fade had to admit that fighting against Changelings was his bread and butter before all those things happened and if there was a chance to somehow get back to his previous life then he would try to grab it, no matter what. At least, that's what he thought before... Meeting all those new ponies and Tagma gave him some more insight about the ponies in Equestria that he would never have discovered while just doing his job in the Royal Guard. Things just happen that cause others to change just like that. Whether it was loneliness or the way they were born, Rosa, Wildheart, Tagma, and Mystic would be considered different or maybe even dangerous by anypony else who didn't know what they went through. But as for now, his opinion on them was set. "No...probably not..." Fade simply replied which put a smile on Rosa who was happy to hear that. "Tagma...friend..." Wildheart added. "Yes..." Fade replied with a slight smile on his face. In the meantime, Tagma was rushing down the hallway to reach the entrance of the castle and finding Mystic to say his goodbyes. Whatever the reasons were for him to leave, the least he could have done was saying goodbye even if he didn't want anyone to accompany him. With this in mind, Tagma felt a little sad. Mystic stated multiple times that he didn't care about others and that they were no friends but Tagma wanted to believe otherwise and believed that deep down he and the others were at least important to him because they were all alone, just like him. Tagma increased his speed to make sure that he wouldn't miss Mystic in the last second. He definitely wanted to make sure to say his goodbye to him. But as he walked further through the hallway of the castle, soon someone walked towards him, making Tagma stop in his track for a moment. Tagma couldn't figure out who the figure was, mainly because of how dark it was inside of the castle. Tagma knew that it couldn't be Fade, Rosa or Wildheart because there was no way that they could have come from this direction since they were most likely still in the same room from where Tagma came from. Soon, the figure was in plain sight. A dark purple coat, a dark blue and yellow mane, and dark blue eyes. There was no mistake. "Mystic!" Tagma said in his excitement as he saw the Unicorn walking towards him. Even though he probably won't like it, Tagma jumped at him and gave him a big hug. Strangely, Mystic didn't seem to mind and just petted Tagma's back in return, waiting until the Changeling would release him. "You came back? I thought you wanted to leave this place for good," Mystic waited a moment before he responded. "I changed my mind," he responded while rubbing his neck. "Actually, I am still not sure if I want to stay..." "Why not?" Tagma asked. "How about we go back to the others and talk about it?" He suggested. "No, don't..." Mystic instantly responded. He looked around the hall to make sure that no one was around and explained his reasoning for this quick response. "I don't want my friends to worry about that," Those words made Tagma's eyes widen. "Friends?" He asked confused. "Yes. We are friends...are we not?" Mystic asked with a confused look on his face as well. For a moment, it felt like time was staying still for Tagma. Something was wrong. Mystic clearly stated that he and Tagma or any of the others were not his friends. And now, all of the sudden, he actually called Tagma "friend". Something was definitely wrong and the Changeling had a good clue what it could be... Meanwhile... Fade, Rosa and Wildheart were still in the throne room and waited for Tagma's return. They didn't expect Mystic to be with him when he returned. But to some degree, they would not be to upset, especially after Fade shared his story with them. Eventually, Rosa came up with something that they could have done earlier. "You know...should we have followed Tagma? I mean, saying goodbye to Mystic and all?" She asked, causing Fade to react with surprise. "You are literally the last pony I expected to say this," he boldly replied. Rosa turned her head away embarrassed. "It's just...no matter how to mean this guy is or how less he cares about us, I still think that after spending some time together, just letting him leave without a word is kind of wrong," she explained. Wildheart surprisingly added something unexpected to those words. "Mystic...not mean...Mystic...sad," "What?" Rosa replied confused. Wildheart explained further. "Mystic...eyes...sad...don't know...friends...don't know...family...anymore...We...help...Mystic..." "Maybe staying with us is actually the best thing we could do now..." Fade added. "Loneliness can make you stronger but it can also hurt you. Friendship is something that can prevent it. We can help carry some of his sadness, even if he doesn't admit it. But he is too proud to let anypony help him so he prefers to stay alone and deal with it himself. On top of that, his hate towards Princess Celestia is something that I am worried about as well. I would like to talk him out of this hate if possible," Fade explained in greater detail. Soon, Rosa and Wildheart agreed that going after Mystic was not too late yet. Rosa began to smile determined. "Alright! This stubborn Unicorn might not want our company but we will give it to him no matter what!" Fade nodded. "Then let's go and try to catch up to him," he said before he leads the way through the hallway of the castle. However, Wildheart did not follow them and looked around in the room, sniffing the air in the process. Rosa noticed this behavior. "Wildheart? What's wrong? Are you not coming?" she asked confused while Fade was also paying attention to the little colt's strange behavior. Wildheart continued to sniff the air and seemed to figure out what it was. "Air...smells...different..." he said as he looked at the two ponies in front of him now. "new smells...in castle...smells...no friends...smells...dangerous..." he tried to explain. Fade and Rosa seemed to had a good idea what he might mean by this. Fade walked up to the little colt. "You mean...there is someone else in this castle?" Wildheart nodded with a serious expression on his face. "Many..." he added afterward. Fade and Rosa began to worry about what this could mean but soon the answer came right to them. Hissing and wing-flapping sounds could be heard from the distance. While Wildheart and Rosa were slightly confused about those, Fade knew exactly what those sounds were since he didn't hear them for the first time. "Stay close to each other...we might be in some trouble," he advised as he and the other two ponies stood back to back in the throne room, preparing themselves for whatever was coming at them now. Meanwhile... "Is something the matter?" Mystic asked towards a very confused Tagma who stood there as if he saw a ghost in front of him while slightly backing up a little in the process, something that was not unnoticed by Mystic. "Hey! Talk to me!" He said in a little more aggressive tone which actually fitted Mystic. Tagma thought about what to do next. There was a chance that he was just imagining things but he had to make sure. "Remember how we shared all our stories yesterday? There was something in your story that I didn't really understand. Mind if I ask you anything about that?" Mystic kept eye contact with Tagma while having a serious expression on his face. "I really don't like repeating my story so if you mind, let's not talk about it, okay?" He replied, which again was something that Mystic would have probably said. However, one thing was off. One crucial thing that proved that this pony in front of Tagma was not Mystic. One little thing that Tagma said, tricking the imposter to reveal himself. "You didn't share your story..." Tagma quietly said directly into the fake Mystic's eyes, causing him to react in shock. "You refused to share your story with us because you didn't care about us. You also would have never called me or the others "Friends"," Tagma explained, fully revealing that he knew what was going on here. Mystic was silent for a moment. He didn't make any rash movements and actually began to smile after a while. "Well, done. You at least were able to trick me. I didn't expect that, judging from the first impression that I had from you, Tagma." It was exactly like Tagma thought. The identity of the imposter was now clear. Green flames began to cover the fake Mystic and soon he revealed himself as what he really was. A Changeling. And not any Changeling. It was the same one that Tagma met when he was on his first mission. The serious and stoic Changeling commander who tracked him down, back then near Sole's farm. "No more tricks then. I get straight to the point, " he said as he approached Tagma further, causing him to step back in response. "The queen wants you to come back to us. And this time, you will not escape us!" He said before he charged right at Tagma with his horn glowing in a light green aura. Tagma was too late to dodge in time and prepared himself for some pain coming right at him but luckily, a magic beam got between the two and stopped the Changeling Commanders attack who just kept an eye open from where this shot came from. Tagma also was curious about this and was happy once he saw who helped him just now. "You Changelings sure are stubborn. How about you just let one of your guys...I don't know...do whatever he wants?" The pony said looking at the Changeling Commander with the serious look on his face that he always had. "Mystic! You came back!" Tagma said in excitement before he went towards him, hugging him in the process just like before with the fake Mystic until he realized that this might as well could be someone who was transforming into Mystic as well. "Did you come back because we are your friends?" He asked just to make sure. "No, I didn't" Mystic quickly replied before he pushed the Changeling away from his body. "Just when I left the castle, I noticed how there was a whole swarm of Changelings flying towards it. I figured that dealing with them would be too much for you so I decided to lend you a hoof while I am still here," Mystic explained, although Tagma couldn't figure out if Mystic was genuinely concerned and tried to hide it or if he still didn't care. Of course, the Changeling Commander was everything but happy about this interruption and straight out charged at Mystic because of it. Both Mystic and Tagma managed to dodge to the side in time and Mystic countered with his magic that the Changeling Commander managed to dodge. Soon, both of them exchanged attacks. The Changeling Commander resorted to use magic beams as well, to counter Mystic's attacks but the Unicorn seemed to have the upper hoof for most of the time. Eventually, the Changeling Commander began to get angry by all of this. "Stay out of this!" He said angrily. "This is none of your business! Why does a pony even bother helping a Changeling?" He asked in a mix of frustration and confusion. Mystic replied smugly. "Maybe I just like messing with you Changelings?" The Changeling Commander got even angrier than before but surprisingly, he quickly calmed down again and even smiled. Confused by this sudden behavior both Tagma and Mystic kept their eyes open for anything suspicious that the Changeling would pull. "Tagma...you need to return to us! You honestly can't expect to live happily in Equestria surrounded by ponies. Do you think they would accept a Changeling among them? That you could just live in one of their towns or villages, expecting them to treat you like one of them?" Those words began to hurt Tagma. Especially since he actually believed that himself. Of course, living in Equestria as a Changeling was not easy if not even impossible. For a moment, Tagma actually considered to listen to his commander and reconsidered returning to the Changeling Kingdom. But one thing kept him from making this decision. One thing remembered him how things don't have to be how the Changeling Commander described them. Tagma touched his yellow headband and bravely stood up to the Commander with a determined expression on his face. "Maybe not everywhere, maybe even most ponies won't even give me a chance. But I think...no...I know that out there, are ponies who will accept me! Ponies who don't see me as some kind of fuel for their species and who don't want to conquer Equestria! In the short time that I spent in Equestria, I was happier than in all those years that I grew up in the Changeling Kingdom! That is why I will not return! So go back and tell that to Queen Chrysalis!" Mystic was surprised to hear those words from Tagma and even seemed a little proud to hear them. But the one who those words should have affected was not taking them seriously at all. "This is not over! I am not going anywhere," he replied before he looked over to Mystic. "I know that I can not win this battle on my own but I also know that you won't leave this place with your other friends still being here. So how about we see each other later?" He said with a victorious smile on his face. "As for your words from before...how about you tell them to our majesty herself?" He simply said before he ran away and vanished into the shadows of the hallway. This gave Mystic and Tagma a second to catch their breath. However, those words still gave Tagma a really bad feeling. Whatever it was, not only he was affected by this attack. His friends were too. "Mystic! We have to go back to the throne room! The others might be in danger!" Tagma said in his frustration. "And that is my problem because?" Mystic coldly replied. Tagma then grabbed Mystic's shoulders. "Please!" He begged with tears almost coming out of his eyes out of frustration. Just the realization of his friends getting in danger was enough to drive him into this. But the question is if Mystic would help him out now... In the meantime... "Hiya!" Rosa exclaimed as she was kicking a Changeling away who was about to attack Wildheart, sending him flying across the room. "Thank you...Rosa..." Wildheart replied. "Don't worry about it. Just stay right behind me!" She advised as she kept an eye out for every Changeling that could attack them. She also kept her view on Fade, who was doing most of the work on fighting off the Changelings that were all over the throne room. Some of them charged at him in large groups and some of them stayed behind and analyzed the situation. Fade did a good job fighting off every single Changeling that came after him and sometimes after Rosa and Wildheart but with probably hundred of Changelings inside of the room, waiting on the ceiling or all around them, not even he would be able to fight them all off. And he was fully aware of that too. What worried Fade, even more, is the fact that there could be even more of them outside. Then again, the question was why there were so many Changelings, to begin with. But Fade had a slight guess why that would be the case and before he knew it, the answer revealed itself after he was done fighting another group of Changelings. "Enough!" A female voice said from afar, causing the Changelings to back up a little. They all walked to the side and let another Changeling enter the room. This Changeling was bigger than the rest of them. She was about as big as Princess Celestia. She had a long dark cerulean hair color, a black skin color like the rest of the Changelings, big see-through wings and a big horn on her forehead. Her eyes were green and on her head was a small crown. She walked over to the three and only looked arrogantly at them. "We don't have time to waste with ponies like you," Fade had no doubt who that was and decided to get close to Rosa and Wildheart before he focused his sight on the female Changeling again. "So that is why there are so many of them here," he mumbled just loud enough for everyone in the room to hear it. "Normally, most of the Changelings stay behind to protect their queen from danger but now she stands right before us..." Rosa was shocked to hear this. "Wait...you mean that is...?" "Yes," Fade replied. "The leader of the Changelings, Queen Chrysalis," he said, looking directly into the eyes of the queen. "Exactly," Queen Chrysalis replied proudly and with a smile on her face. "And judging from your armor, you are one of Princess Celestia's lapdogs. But judging from the color of your armor, you are not an ordinary member of the Royal Guard. In fact, this purple armor only belongs to the Captain of the Royal Guard," she quickly figured out, much to Fade's dislike. "This, however, begs the question why the captain would be in a place like this," she added as she began thinking about an answer. "Maybe Princess Celestia somehow found out about Tagma and tries to use him for herself?" Fade already expected the queen being here because of Tagma. Luckily, he was not there at the moment but sooner or later he would either be captured by some Changelings or return to the throne room, falling right into a trap. Fade had to prevent this. Not only did he want to protect Tagma from being captured but he also needs to keep him away since Queen Chrysalis has clearly planned to use Tagma for attacking Equestria sooner or later. This was the perfect opportunity to take care of the Changeling Queen. They might be outnumbered but if Fade takes out Queen Chrysalis then the other Changelings may retreat. There was a slim chance for that "plan" to work but right now, it may be the only thing to do. Fade readied himself for an attack directly aiming at Queen Chrysalis, who was only reacting in surprise. "You're kidding...you're kidding, right?" She only said back to Fade. "As a pony of Equestria, it is my duty to protect it from creatures like you who want to take over it! I will deal with you, right here, right now!" Fade said determined with his horn glowing already in a bright purple light. Queen Chrysalis only chuckled mockingly and began channeling some magic in her as well, covering it in a light green light. She was very confident that Fade would not stand a chance against her and waited for Fade to fire his shot. Fade realized this and took his time to concentrate as much magic as he could. Rosa and Wildheart could only watch and hope that Fade would overpower Queen Chrysalis. Then, almost out of the blue, Fade fired right at the Changeling Queen who returned a magic beam of her own. The two beams clashed in the middle, releasing a shock wave that could be felt all over in the throne room. Both Fade and Queen Chrysalis seemed to be fully concentrated and the beams were not moving that much to either of their directions, meaning that none of them were overpowering the other. That was until Fade decided to go out even more which slowly caused his beam to overpower Chrysalis. However, instead of feeling threatened by this, she only smiled. "It is really amusing to watch how you think that you can defeat me!" She said, still smiling widely. Only seconds later, Someone landed a few meters next to Fade. It was the Changeling Commander who dealt with Tagma and Mystic a few moments ago. Fade recognized him as well as the commander who he fought against back then before he accidentally attacked his own men. As soon as the Commander noticed the surprised look on Fade's face, he began smiling for a moment. "It's time to repay you for beating us up earlier," he said before his horn began to glow in a light green light. Rosa and Wildheart quickly realized what he was about to do and tried to step in, to help Fade. However, their way was blocked by a bunch of Changelings who were not even thinking about letting the two through. As if that was not bad enough, even more Changeling's began to surround Fade. Of course, he knew what they planned but he couldn't stop his attack while Queen Chrysalis was still shooting at him. If he focused on the Changelings around him, then he would get hit by her magic beam. He was trapped, and there was nothing that he could do. "It's over!" The Changeling Commander exclaimed, giving the other Changelings a signal to attack. Fade closed his eyes and prepared himself for the impact while still trying to block Queen Chrysalis's attack. Soon, all Changelings around him were shooting at him, causing him to scream in pain and forcing him to drop down to his knees. "Fade!" Rosa screamed in shock. Queen Chrysalis saw her opportunity and increased her magic, powering her magic beam up even further. Fade got hit directly and was thrown across the whole room until he got knocked directly against the single throne at the end of the room. He was unconscious after this attack and laid on the throne as if he was literally sitting on it. Rosa and Wildheart only looked in shock and felt helpless after seeing this. They wanted to run straight at him but were blocked by Changelings who only laughed at their misery. Queen Chrysalis joined the laughter and stepped forward a little. "As expected by Princess Celestia's little guards. At least, now we have no more interruptions and can focus on retrieving this little traitor. Which reminds me," she said before she turned towards the Changeling Commander who bowed down to her. "Where is Tagma?" She asked. The Commander was about to answer but got interrupted by someone else. "I'm here!" Said Tagma who stood at the entrance of the throne room, accompanied by Mystic. Queen Chrysalis turned towards Tagma with a serious expression on her face which quickly would have intimidated him if Mystic wouldn't stand next to him. They both realized the situation the others were in. Fade was unconscious and Rosa and Wildheart were surrounded by Changelings. Things were not looking good but Mystic decided to step in front of Tagma in an attempt to show that he is not afraid. "What did you do with Fade!?" Tagma exclaimed. The Changeling Commander ignored this question and explained to his Queen. "As expected, his newfound pony friends are so important to him now that he can't leave this place," Queen Chrysalis did not seem to be happy about this one bit. "I am glad that you spared us the time to look for you but the reason for you to return here is quite disappointing. It is already bad enough that you betray us, but now you decide to side with ponies?" "They are my friends!" Tagma replied. "Friends!?" Queen Chrysalis screamed angrily while hissing at the little Changeling. "Once we drag you back to our Kingdom, I will make sure to knock those stupid things out of your skull!" She said before she gave a signal to some of her Changelings to go after Tagma. The Changelings slowly walked up to the two in an attempt to attack them but Mystic stepped up and made sure to let them know that they had to get past him before they want to take Tagma with them. In fact, he looked like as if he was about to attack them instead. "Hold on for a moment!" The Changeling Commander said, grabbing Mystic's and Tagma's attention. He then pointed towards Rosa and Wildheart who were surrounded by even more Changelings now who were ready to attack them at any moment. "You better watch out if you don't want your friends to get hurt," Of course, The Changeling Commander didn't know Mystic all too well or else he wouldn't have resorted to that. However, Tagma was concerned about this and stepped in front of Mystic. It was similar to what happened recently with the Royal Guard attack. Mystic was aware of that as well. "Listen, I know exactly what you are trying to do now. You want to go with them so that the others won't get hurt. But look over there," he said as he pointed towards Fade who was still unconscious on the throne. "Fade already got hurt because of you and I will probably get hurt too because I will not run away now," "What? Why?" Tagma replied confused. "This has nothing to do with you, right?" "Exactly. I will stay here and fight because I want to and for no reason else. And you should think about what you want to do and how you want to live your life. And for that, you just have to do what you believe is right and not what some kind of stupid queen tells you," Mystic replied while he stepped forward preparing himself to fight every Changeling in the room. The Changeling Commander was not really intimidated by those words. "This pony is actually strong, your majesty but there is no way that he can take on every single one of us," "Of course not..." Queen Chrysalis replied confidently before she gave a signal for her Changelings to attack. "Here they come!" Tagma exclaimed in a panic. "Let them!" Mystic said before he used his magic to create a thick mist in the whole room, causing all Changelings to lose sight of the two. The two were no longer at the entrance and split up. Hidden under the mist, Rosa and Wildheart saw their chance to slip away from the Changelings that surrounded them. With the help of Wildheart's sense of smell, it was easy to navigate around the Changelings. They decided to meet up with Fade to check if he was okay. Queen Chrysalis, just like everyone else in the room couldn't see anything and kept her eyes open for anything suspicious. All she could hear were noises of confused Changelings and some battle sounds. But luck turned in her favor once a familiar face approached her. "Your majesty!" Said the Changeling Commander as he walked up to his queen to make sure she was safe. "They are over there!" He said pointing to his left. He most likely meant Tagma and Mystic who were taking advantage of the mist to escape somewhere save. Queen Chrysalis followed to where the Changeling Commander was taking her so that she could deal with the two themselves. But to her surprise, the commander led her to the corner of the room with neither Tagma or Mystic in sight. Of course, Queen Chrysalis was confused by this and turned to her commander. "Where are they?" She asked in an angry tone. "Above you! Your majesty!" The Changeling Commander then shouted. However, the voice came not from in front of her but from her left, further away. There were now two Changeling Commanders and the one in front of her smiled before he changed back to none other than Tagma who was hiding his yellow headband cleverly under his wings. "You little!" Queen Chrysalis began as she readied her magic to shoot at the Changeling. Unfortunately for her, she completely forgot the warning of the real Changeling Commander and did not look above her. Because above her head was Mystic, who levitated himself with magic preparing a huge magic blast to rain down on the Changeling Queen. Eventually, Queen Chrysalis noticed the bright light coming from above her and looked up but by the time she noticed, she was already hit by Mystic's magic blast. The blast was strong enough that it blew the Changeling Queen right through the ground and to the floor below, leaving a hole in the ground. After this attack, the mist slowly vanished again. The Changelings did not know exactly what was happening at this moment, but they do know that something happened to their queen so they were all quiet and looked at Tagma and Mystic in shock. The one who was shocked the most was the Changeling Commander who only stepped forward a little. "Your...majesty..." he said in shock, reaching out his front leg. Rosa and Wildheart could feel the sudden change of atmosphere in the room. They only saw shocked Changelings who were concerned for their queen and Tagma and Mystic, the latter one being a little exhausted from the last attack. "Mystic...won?" Wildheart asked. "I don't know..." Rosa replied confused. Mystic was already on the ground again, breathing heavily from that last attack. Still, with all the Changelings looking at him, he could not afford to show weakness so stepped right up to the Changelings. "Did you see that!? There is more where that is coming from!" He shouted across the room to intimidate the Changelings. And it worked. The Changelings began to step back further after this outburst. Even the Changeling Commander could only clench his teeth in anger and frustration after seeing that. but Mystic didn't stop and continued taking away the spirit of the Changelings. "What's the matter!? Who is next!? Did you really think that your numbers scare me!? I'll take every single one of you on! I will crush you all! Just like I will crush-" "-HOW DARE YOU!" Suddenly Queen Chrysalis came flying through the ground, with her body surrounded by a bright green aura. She directly rammed Mystic in the process and knocked him through the air. Mystic had no idea what hit him by the time he was landing on the ground, rolling and coughing in pain after this blow. "Mystic!" Tagma screamed before he attempted to go and help him but Queen Chrysalis stepped right in front of him before he could do anything. Being tricked and treated like this made her more than furious right now. She clearly had enough from all of this. "You are coming with us now," she simply said before the aura around her horn began to glow even brighter, making her look more intimidating than ever before. "Don't even think about resisting!" She said, giving Tagma a glare that almost froze his blood. Rosa and Wildheart attempted to help out Tagma but as soon as they even moved a muscle, the Changelings around them blocked their path and prevented them from doing so. Things quickly went downhill. Mystic was down, Tagma was about to be taken away, Rosa and Wildheart were outnumbered and there was nothing that could prevent this now. "Let's go. We've wasted enough time here," Queen Chrysalis said to the Changeling Commander. There was no response from him though. He just stood there with his eyes widened looked at the end of the room. "What's wrong?" Queen Chrysalis asked before she looked at what her commander was looking at. After Queen Chrysalis was keeping her eyes on whatever the Changeling Commander was looking at, soon every other Changeling turned around which eventually caused Rosa and Wildheart to turn around as well. As soon as Rosa saw what it was, her face was colored in surprise, shock, and even fear. It was Fade. He was no longer unconscious and slowly stepped forward as if he was still not fully awake with his head still looking at the ground. But that was not what caused everyone to react in shock. What caught everyone's attention was the dark aura that was surrounding him. "...Fade?" Rosa said in fear after seeing him in this kind of state. Wildheart quickly saw a resemblance of what he saw years ago and stepped back a little. Tagma also had a really bad feeling about what was happening next. Queen Chrysalis instead, was too confident to get afraid or confused by this. She even decided to take care of him. "Keep an eye on Tagma while I take care of this," she ordered to the Changeling Commander but he didn't reply and had his eyes glued to Fade. His eyes were filled with terror and he simply could not hear the words of his queen who was slowly losing her patience. But soon, she got only surprised by the next words that he said. "It's...like back then..." the Changeling Commander said as his knees began to shake in the process. "No...not again..." he said in a trembling voice. Fade began to raise his head and looked towards Queen Chrysalis. His eyes were glowing in a white light and the expression on his face was nothing but determined to defeat the Changeling Queen. The battle would start soon... And the end will determine if Queen Chrysalis can be defeated or if they succeed to take Tagma away... To be continued...