“Quiet night, isn’t it?” Iron Bar said while leaning to the castle wall and looking at Canterlot below. “My sister never believes me when I keep telling her how boring being a guard at the Canterlot Castle actually is,” he finished with a chuckle.
The guard pony standing next to him, Steel Glaive, didn’t respond. He wasn’t looking at the city below them and instead stared at the castle’s towers above them.
Iron Bar turned around to look at the castle as well.
“What, did you see a glimpse of Princess Luna?” he said with a smile.
“I think I saw some lights coming out of her tower’s window,” Steel Glaive said with a slight frown on his face.
Iron Bar raised an eyebrow.
“You sure?” he said and also looked at the tower of the Princess of the Night.
“Look! There she is!” Iron Bar said and pointed his hoof towards the tower. The unmistakable silhouette of Luna stepped out on her tower’s balcony and then rose into the air.
“I think she is going to Princess Celestia’s tower,” Iron Bar said as they followed the princess. Luna stepped into the balcony of her sister’s tower and walked inside.
Both guard ponies looked at each other.
“What do you think is going on?” Iron Bar said in a hushed tone.
Steel Glaive's response was a noncommittal shrug.
Both of them stared at the tower for a minute or so, but nothing happened.
Finally, they turned back to look at Canterlot.
A flash of light erupted behind them.
Both guard ponies jumped up and turned around again, only to realize that something moved above them.
They looked up and their mouths dropped open.
Two shooting stars, one blue like the night sky, the second like a miniature sun, streaked across the sky.
The two guard ponies followed how the two shooting stars descended down the mountain on which Canterlot was built on and disappeared from view.
There was a stunned silence.
Finally, Iron Bar spoke.
“T.. that was Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, wasn’t it?” he stuttered out.
Steel Glaive nodded and narrowed his eyes, and looking into the direction where the two alicorns had disappeared into.
Iron Bar noticed the look on his friend’s face and looked around them.
“South, they went south,” he said. “What in the world could have happened for them both to leave in such a hurry in the middle of the night?” he finished with a puzzled look on his face.
Steel Glaive frowned.
“Something very important,” he said and turned around, starting to walk away.
“Hey! Where are you going?” Iron Bar shouted after him.
“I have a feeling that in a moment we will be called to the barracks for an emergency announcement. I will tell the others and see you there,” Steel Glaive said and walked down the stairs on the side of the wall descending to the courtyard.
Steel Glaive walked around the corner and looked around him. Once he was sure that nopony was in sight, he walked under the shadow of a nearby archway.
Careful to cover it with his hooves, he took a small object from inside his armor.
It was a tiny scab made of some sort of black, stone-like material.
Steel Glaive gently pressed one of its wings with his hoof and it clicked open.
The dim, green glow coming out of the scarab was mirrored in Steel Glaive’s eyes as he started whispering to it in a calm tone.
Applejack crouched and a giant limb swung past her above her head. It hit a tree behind her and snapped it in two with a loud crack, the earth pony jumping aside to avoid the falling tree.
She didn’t waste any time and charged at the giant insect which brought down its second limb in response. Applejack just barely managed to avoid the blow, the giant limb hitting the ground with an impact that sent grass and dirt flying up in the air.
With both of its frontal limbs outstretched, the giant insect was now open. Applejack didn’t waste the few seconds she had and ran under it. She jumped up and turned around in the air, slamming her back hooves against the insect’s stomach.
The giant insect squealed, the impact of the blow actually rising its entire body from the ground to the air.
With a pained growl, it started beating its wings, their buzzing filling the air.
The giant insect rose up in the air and started hovering out of Applejack’s reach. It growled again and coughed, spluttering bile, spit and blood out of its mouth.
Applejack wrinkled her nose at both the sight and smell of the gooey mess falling down on the ground but didn’t turn her gaze away from the giant insect.
She hoped that the disgusting vomit was a sign that the giant insect wasn’t in a shape to continue their fight. There was a sharp pain in the side of her chest and she had trouble breathing.
Her vision became blurry, but she refused to stagger, stubbornly keeping her hooves still. If she showed any sign of weakness, it would be over.
“H… had enough yet?” Applejack said between her ragged breaths as she looked at her opponent.
The giant insect stared down at her and narrowed its eyes. Then, it charged down at her.
Applejack jumped to the side.
Or at least, tried to.
Her limbs felt like lead and refused to move. There were black spots in her vision and all she managed was a clumsy stumble.
She tried to shake her head to clear her vision, but it just made her feel dizzier.
The giant insect growled in triumph and stopped moving its wings, falling down towards the earth pony, intending to crush every bone in her body with its sheer bulk.
Applejack tried to move again but her hooves refused to cooperate.
“I’m sorry, everypony...” she thought as she looked up, refusing to give her opponent the satisfaction of seeing her cowering in fear.
A multicolored flash of light slammed into the giant insect’s side, its body twisting awkwardly under the impact as it screamed in pain. The force of the blow made Applejack’s disheveled and ragged mane flutter in the air.
The giant insect was knocked to the side and it slammed against a tree before falling down, sending a small tremor outwards as its massive body hit the ground.
Rainbow Dash landed next to Applejack, who only managed to blink at her friend before falling down on her knees.
“Applejack, you okay? You look really awful,” Rainbow Dash said with a worried frown as she looked at her friend.
“D… don’t mind me, Rainbow Dash,” Applejack stuttered out before taking a deep breath, “watch… out for the...” her sentence trailed off and she took in ragged, rapid breaths.
Rainbow Dash smiled and shook her head.
“Don’t worry about that creep, looks like it’s done,” she said and pointed her hoof at the giant insect.
The war-form flickered and in a flash of sickly green flames, disappeared.
In its place, there was a changeling.
Pharynx opened his eyes and looked at the two ponies. The changeling captain hissed and rose up to stand. His armor was dented and broken, pieces of it clattering down on the ground.
“I… I will not surrender,” Pharynx said, before falling down on his knees and coughing up blood.
“You should,” Rainbow Dash said and narrowed her eyes, “it’s an order from your Queen,” the pegasus finished.
Pharynx blinked.
“Queen Chrysalis would never...” he started, but Rainbow Dash shook her head.
“Not that hag. Fluttershy is telling you all to stop,” the pegasus said.
“Chrysalis is the queen of the hive, not that whelp!” Pharynx spat out and rose up to stand.
“You sure about that?” Rainbow Dash said and snorted. “Fluttershy is out there making her case right now. I know damn well who I would follow if I were a changeling.”
Pharynx’s eyes narrowed at the words. The changeling captain hesitated.
“Could you say that one more time, Rainbow Dash? Fluttershy is what again?” Applejack said with a puzzled frown as she looked at the pegasus.
Rainbow Dash sighed.
“It’s a long story, AJ,” the pegasus said with a smile, “I’ll explain later. We need to get to Twilight and the others. I don’t think Chrysalis is going down without a fight,” she finished with a sober expression.
Pharynx looked at the two ponies and hissed at them. The changeling captain’s horn started to glow with sickly green light.
Rainbow Dash charged at the changeling captain, but before she could reach him, there was a flash of green light.
When the light faded, Pharynx was nowhere in sight.
“Well, that takes care of that, I guess,” Rainbow Dash shrugged and looked around them before turning to look at Applejack. “Let’s go, I’ll explain on the way,” the pegasus said.
Applejack was feeling adrift, not sure what to think about any of this.
Finally, she smiled and shook her head.
“You better do, Rainbow Dash,” she said and went after her friend who was already flying towards Ponyville, “none of this makes more sense than it oughta.”
Twilight blinked and looked at Fluttershy who smiled back at her.
Behind the young changeling queen, Twilight saw Rarity and Spike helping Starlight to stand, the purple unicorn shaking her head groggily but looking otherwise uninjured.
“Is that really you, Fluttershy?” the alicorn said as she looked up down at the young changeling queen.
Fluttershy nodded and opened her mouth to speak, but a frustrated scream interrupted her.
“How?!”
Chrysalis rose up to stand and growled at them both, her eyes narrowed into a deep frown.
“Where did you get that much love from?!” Chrysalis shouted, her chest rising up and down as she took deep breaths. “How many ponies did you kill?” she finished and gave a poisonous glare to the younger changeling queen.
Fluttershy looked around them. Ponies and changelings alike were all silent, looking at her.
She wanted to flee. She could feel cold sweat running down her back.
Fluttershy hated crowds and she absolutely hated being the center of attention. She had spent most of her life trying to avoid situations like this.
But, the warm, pleasant energy coursing through her gave the young changeling queen strength. It was like a part of Rainbow Dash was standing right beside her, shouting encouragement to her.
It made her want to cry. Everypony, including changelings themselves, believed they were emotionless monsters incapable of love or kindness.
Yet, changelings were probably the only beings in existence who could feel the love of others.
How could beings like that be incapable of the very same feeling that sustained them?
Fluttershy turned to look at Chrysalis and shook her head.
“Rainbow Dash. Just her and nopony else,” she said calmly, raising her voice so everypony present could hear her.
Chrysalis hissed at Fluttershy.
“Ridiculous! No single pony could ever have that much love, no matter how much you took from them!” the older changeling queen spat out the words.
“I didn’t take any love from her,” Fluttershy said.
Chrysalis blinked and then blinked again. She frowned and opened her mouth to speak, but Fluttershy interrupted her:
“I didn’t take any love from her. Rainbow Dash gave it to me,” the younger changeling queen said.
Chrysalis stared at her, puzzlement plain on her face. Changelings around them mirrored her expression.
Fluttershy sighed and took a deep breath.
“I didn’t take the love. I didn’t steal it, I didn’t deceive her. What she gave to me were her genuine and honest feelings towards me,” the young changeling queen said.
Chrysalis no longer looked surprised. Her eyes narrowed and she stared at Fluttershy with gritted teeth.
“Has any changeling ever done that before?” Fluttershy turned her head and looked at all the changelings around them. “Befriended a pony as themselves, without pretending to be somepony else?”
Some changelings were smiling, mostly the ones who had come from the hive with Fluttershy. The rest still looked either disbelieving or puzzled.
“I have lived with ponies all my life. I have never fed on anypony. Their love towards me was all I needed. I never stole any love, ponies around me shared it with me without even noticing it,” Fluttershy said with a smile and continued:
“You all think that you need to prey on ponies to survive. That is a lie! I’m a proof of that! The reason why you are always hungry is because you have isolated yourselves from everypony! If you lived among ponies openly, you would never need to feed!” she finished and slammed her hoof down on the ground.
Fluttershy turned to look at Chrysalis and gave the older changeling queen a cold stare.
“The love Rainbow Dash gave to me is more powerful than love stolen or taken by force can ever be,” the young changeling queen shook her head and looked at Chrysalis, her voice rising at the last words she said, “ponies and changeling can coexist.”
Twilight looked around them. Most changelings still looked puzzled. Some were whispering to each other. Others shook their heads. The ones Fluttershy had brought with her stood proudly, smiling and looking relaxed.
The Princess of Friendship could tell that if they could only keep this up, the battle would end right here and now.
Chrysalis still looked angry, but she was also looking around them. Her eyes moved rapidly from side to side and she took a hesitant step back from Fluttershy before gritting her teeth in a snarl.
Finally, she smiled and laughed, her voice echoing in the air.
Only Fluttershy and Twilight noticed how forced it sounded.
“Absolutely idiotic!” Chrysalis shouted, silencing all chatter of the changelings around them before turning to look at Fluttershy.
“Ponies are prey. They are weak and pathetic. It is the natural right of the changelings to rule over them,” Chrysalis said and stared into Fluttershy’s eyes. “And even if that weren’t so, ponies are cowardly and hate anything they don’t understand. Them accepting changelings is just a naive fantasy. At best, they would quarantine changelings from themselves or treat us as their slaves,” the older changeling queen finished.
“No, they won't,” Twilight said calmly.
Everypony turned to look at the alicorn princess who stepped in to stand between Fluttershy and Chrysalis, turning around to look at all the changelings around them.
“The road to peace won’t be easy, I won’t pretend otherwise,” Twilight said and shook her head. “However, that doesn’t mean it isn’t worth it.”
The alicorn raised her hoof to her chest.
“I, Twilight Sparkle, Princess of Friendship, give my personal guarantee that any changeling who wants to live in peace can do so. I know Princess Celestia. She is a kind and understanding ruler. I’m certain she will understand and agree with me.”
Twilight looked at every single changeling present and smiled at them.
“If anypony tries to imprison or exile any changeling simply because of what they are, they must go through me first!” the alicorn said with determination ringing clear in her tone.
As Princess of Friendship’s declaration echoed in the air, nopony spoke.
Changelings exchanged looks among themselves again. Many had stopped hovering in the air and were now just standing there with their wings folded.
“Hurts, doesn’t it?” Starlight Glimmer said as she walked from the crowd to Twilight and Fluttershy and looked at Chrysalis. “Trust me, the sooner you accept what just happened, easier it will be,” the unicorn finished with a chuckle.
Chrysalis gave Starlight a murderous stare but stayed silent.
“Traitors!” a voiced shouted from the back of the crowd and everypony turned to look at the speaker.
Pharynx was standing there, his armor cracked and dented. The changeling captain’s helmet was gone and he was limping from one leg. He looked like he would fall over any moment.
Yet, the changeling captain’s fury radiated from him in a way that made all changelings close to him step away as he made his way towards them.
“Don’t believe the lies of the enemy!” Pharynx screamed. “Only the weak submit to ponies and their ways!”
Chrysalis glanced around and saw how everypony's attention was on the changeling captain.
Seeing her opportunity, she smiled and charged forward.
Fluttershy yelped when a heavy slam from the older changeling queen’s hoof sent her tumbling to the side.
Starlight had time to turn around to face Chrysalis before a burst of green fire hit her and knocked the unicorn back.
Twilight blinked when she saw Chrysalis now in front of her.
Then, the alicorn princess lowered her head to look at the older changeling queen’s horn pointing at her chest.
Chrysalis grinned to Twilight and shot a ray of sickly green magic straight through her.
Fluttershy rose up to stand and turned around just in time to see the alicorn’s limp body falling down on the ground.
“Twilight!” she yelled and ran towards her friend.
From behind her, Pharynx’s voice screamed an attack order and everything around the young changeling queen descended into chaos.