The Princesses flew out away from Canterlot, both speculating about the strength and the nature of the threat that awaited them, but also confident in themselves and their sister’s abilities. They had both led armies in the past, more times than either would care to remember, and always it had been side by side, the Yin and the Yang of Equestria in harmony. Today was no exception.
They approached the Badlands, but nothing appeared to be out of the ordinary.
“Sister, look!” shouted Luna suddenly “A dark cloud on the horizon!”
“That’s no ordinary cloud Luna” replied Celestia “That, I believe, is where we should be heading.”
As they drew closer they could see the grey Bat Ponies in the purple armour of the Night Guard and many different coloured pegasi in the predominantly gold armour of the Royal Guard, with different coloured crests representing their individual units spinning through the air in dogfights and locked in brawls on the ground. Their opponents appeared to be distinctly evil looking dark grey creatures with both wings and horns. Celestia gasped; surely they weren’t all alicorns – were they?
There were definitely more of these evil looking part insectoid, part pony creatures than there were Equestrian forces, so the Princesses split up and started firing off spells from their horns to bring down the attackers and even up the numbers.
As soon as the Bat Ponies and pegasi saw the Princesses, their hearts leapt and morale redoubled immediately, the two graceful alicorns flying int the midst of the fighting and firing off volleys of yellow and blue magic into changeling concentrations and physically ripping others off Equestrian combatants when they looked to be in trouble. Even then, the numbers were still against them.
The hum of insectoid wings that pervaded the conflict was unnerving to pony ears and would have spooked all but the most highly trained and well-disciplined of ponies. They all felt the same subconscious fear, like they were going to be stung by a giant swarm of bees and there was no doubt that the omnipresent buzzing made it difficult to concentrate and focus on the combat, but everypony in the thick of the fighting had to beat that fear in their own way if they wanted to stay alive.
When on the ground, the guardsponies had the opportunity to eye their attackers more closely as they moved in for hoof to hoof combat. Every one that got into this position felt the same shudder as they regarded the moth-eaten appearance, the fangs and the opaque light blue eyes; then there was the unearthly hiss these creatures made, a stark reminder of the disparate evolutionary path that their kind had followed.
The battle raged and eventually it could be seen that the tide was starting to turn in favour of the Equestrian forces. Then the changelings unleashed a particularly unpleasant weapon; they shapeshifted into replicas of Bat Ponies and pegasi!
Instantaneously, the guardsponies found themselves fighting their own colleagues. All were disorientated; some paused in their combat while others disengaged completely, but everypony faltered to some degree suddenly gifting the changelings an advantage that they were swift to capitalise upon.
Luna gasped at the individual transformations happening all around her and flew directly to Celestia’s side.
“Sister!” she called “Look at what is happening! We must cast a spell that reveals the changelings’ true forms or we will lose!”
“Wisely spoken, Sister!” Celestia called back “Quick, follow me!”
The two magically endowed alicorns dove down hard to a rocky promontory and landed beside each other without fanfare.
“What spells do you know?” asked Luna.
“None that seems immediately relevant” replied Celestia “This is beyond anything I have ever encountered. Do you have any ideas?”
“The only one I can think of is Expose Concealed Threat, but I have only ever used that on an individual.”
“That is unknown to me, Sister. What if we combined our power?”
“Very well” said Luna “If you can cast a Banishment spell at the same time, then hopefully the two will combine to our advantage. I have not attempted this before and cannot guarantee personal safety …”
“If we do nothing, the day is lost, Sister” replied Celestia focusing intently into Luna’s eyes with a look that carried the full weight of responsibility for all of ponykind across Equestria. Checking herself, she suddenly realised she was placing an unfair burden on the one pony who had just brought her back from her imprisonment and was still recovering from the effort it had taken. With a mixture of guilt and respect, she melted her expression to one that reflected the true sisterly love she knew Luna deserved and whispered, “I trust you, Lulu.”
“Touch horns, dear Sister, and we shall yet prevail” said Luna, radiating more confidence than she truly felt and adding silently “I pray.”
Any pony or changeling on the battlefield who looked up to that promontory would have witnessed the striking spectacle of two majestic alicorns in battle armour crossing horns, brows furrowed in concentration as their auras merged. A glow began to build, not one on either horn, but from the point at which they were joined, an aura that was neither blue nor yellow, but a rich pink. They could both feel the power building up, but neither was going to back down if this is what it took to protect the ponies of Equestria; something was getting ready to explode!
At an instant, the fighting stopped, the dogfighting, the bloody close quarters combat, everything froze in stunned silence as a bright pink wave of energy blasted over everypony and every changeling present. They all had to close their eyes as the brilliant colour flooded their vision and then just as quickly vanished again.
The guardsponies looked around quickly to ensure that their changeling opponents had not recovered more quickly and were about to deliver a final coup de grâce. But it was not to be; there were none to be seen.
The changelings had been picked up in the rapidly expanding shock wave of pink energy and plucked from where they had been standing, flying or lying and carried away on the crest of the expanding energy wave, blown away to faraway lands before the energy released them, scattered to the four winds.
The Bat Ponies and pegasi, who were still able, all rose to their hooves and looked around before raising a loud cheer accompanied by those in the air who looped and dived in celebration.
Celestia and Luna disengaged their horns and opened their eyes to drink in the sight of ongoing celebrations.
“I think we may have just saved Equestria” said Luna.
“Truly Sister, there is no end to your prowess today” said Celestia in genuine awe of her sister, embracing her as they both watched their triumphant armies celebrating their victory.
“Just like old times” said Luna.
“Amen, Sister. Amen” concurred Celestia.