Queen Chrysalis sneered as three sets of eyes glared at her.
"We need to protect Princess Celestia above all else," whispered Scarlet. "If she falls, all is lost. Stay on the offensive and let me keep her covered."
Tank took a breath. "Don't need to tell me twice. That's gonna be dangerous though; she's absolutely brimming with excess magic..."
"I told you to flee!"
Celestia's voice interrupted them.
"With all due respect, Princess..." Scarlet adjusted her stance, not taking her eyes off their foe. "We will accept discipline for our disobedience if and only if you survive this fight to deliver it."
Celestia sighed, genuinely unsure whether or not their conviction eased her worry. Raising her head, she lit her horn; the sunlight streaming in the windows turned harsh, causing Chrysalis - but no one else - to flinch at the sudden bright light.
Chrysalis snarled, her horn flashing. A barrier began to envelop her, dimming the light passing through it.
"Not so fast!"
In her moment of distraction, Tank had slipped past her defenses. Spinning on the spot, he bucked hard at one of her hind legs, throwing her badly off balance and causing her dark barrier to dissipate.
"Insolent whelp!" Chrysalis buzzed her wings, the air around her rippling as an awful high-pitched noise filled it. Tank staggered backward, holding a hoof over one ear in an attempt to block it out.
A black foreleg lashed out, smacking him in the shoulder and sending him sprawling.
With a sneer, she spun back around to face her real target - just in time to duck beneath a searing beam of light courtesy of Celestia. The air around it rippled from the heat, spawning beads of sweat on Chrysalis' head and neck.
Snarling, her horn flared as she lashed out with telekinetic force, attempting to simply grab her victim and crush her directly - but a shimmering barrier appeared between them, causing the spell to grasp empty air.
Chrysalis snarled at the red unicorn shielding her foe. Why was this so difficult? She should have more than enough power to take on an old hag and a couple of lapdogs! She could feel the huge power boost she'd gotten from draining that blue pony's love! It was all right here...
...but separate. Like oil and water, it had simply refused to integrate with the rest of her magic reserves. Odd, but not an obstacle; she would simply have to tap into it directly.
Chrysalis' horn suddenly lit up in pink.
"Much better!" she crowed as a beam erupted from her horn, aimed at the upstart unicorn. Scarlet cast another barrier to intercept, but it immediately began fragmenting, forcing her to leap out of the way as it shattered.
Another of Celestia's searing heat beams flew at Chrysalis, but this time she stood her ground, raising a barrier of darkness in the blink of an eye. The beam struck her, its intensity reduced from scorching to a gentle warmth.
Sneering, she buzzed her wings and -
"Nope!"
Tank vaulted over Chrysalis' back, his forehooves coming down on one of her gossamer wings and bending it at an awkward angle. In mild alarm, she tried buzzing and flapping it as hard as she could - but it didn't seem to want to lift her now.
It wasn't exactly painful... but that didn't stop the snarl of rage bubbling in her throat.
"I have had enough of you!" Wrapping her magic around his body, she prepared to send him crashing through one of the nearby windows, heaving with all her might - and made a strained gurgling noise as he plopped back to the floor almost immediately.
"Hup!" Tank giggled. "Hey, I think you got a good six inches on that throw. Wanna try again?"
"Hrrrrgh!" The second attempt yielded similar results. "What are you made of?!"
He stomped a hoof. "I train with the greatest sorceress I've ever known. All your power is stolen - you'll never be half the magician she is!"
Scarlet smiled bashfully.
"Oh, and by the way - you might wanna watch out there." Tank casually pointed a hoof over her shoulder.
Chrysalis spun around just in time for a charging Celestia to slam an orb of magic down on her dark barrier, causing a large chunk of it to fizzle into nothing. Before she could mend it, a bluish-white beam shot from Scarlet's horn and struck her in the shoulder, sending her reeling and shivering from the freezing cold.
This fight was going south much faster than Chrysalis had anticipated. She was outnumbered and her flight was hampered; she needed an edge, and she needed it five minutes ago. She didn't want to pull any drones from the main force if she could help it, but their efforts would be in vain anyway were she to fall here...
The answer came to her quickly enough. This chapel was rather an eyesore, anyway.
Hopping backward, she swept a beam of raw pink magic across the ceiling at just the right angle. The floor shook slightly as a chunk of the ceiling gave way, plummeting straight toward Celestia. Without stopping to watch, she spun around and swatted at the air behind her with her hoof - catching the leaping Tank and sending him sprawling again.
Tank rubbed his muzzle. "Ow."
It took the combined magic of Scarlet and Celestia to slow the falling stone and toss it aside... But Chrysalis wasn't done with that trick yet. She shot a malicious sneer at Cadance in the background and carved another portion of the ceiling away - directly above her.
Without letting go of the exhausted Shining Armor or the unconscious Waterwing, Cadance's horn flared; a shield formed around them just long enough for the debris to slide off and land harmlessly on the floor.
Chrysalis huffed. In hindsight, perhaps the power boost she'd gotten from the blue one hadn't been worth failing to disable the Princess.
"Fools!" she snapped. "Resistance is useless! Once I crush you, my dynasty will last forever!"
"My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings," recited Scarlet. "Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!"
Rage filled Chrysalis' vision.
Celestia quirked an eyebrow.
Another green-hoofed kick to her flank, and Chrysalis went tumbling across the altar - but landed on all fours, glaring at her three opponents now that they were all in her field of view together.
You know what? She really didn't need the castle itself, all things considered.
With a roar that could have curdled milk, beams of pink shot in all directions as she poured the stolen power recklessly from her horn, causing the remains of the ceiling - and parts of the walls - to collapse around them. Several windows shattered; Chrysalis grasped the shards and flung them toward her real target and the foolish pony at her side.
Thrown off by the destruction all around them, the spells Celestia and Scarlet had been charging fizzled out - and they each gave a yelp as several fragments of glass struck them in the side, blood trickling from the wounds.
A fine hit - but one Chrysalis didn't have time to celebrate as a hoof struck her jaw from below. Fuming, Tank spun in place, using his hind legs to knock her forehooves out from under her. As she collapsed, he slammed her head to the floor, a hoof held firmly on her neck.
...In hindsight, it was genuinely impressive that her neck was this flexible - but at the time, all Tank could think about was how much it hurt to have a pair of changeling queen fangs suddenly pierce his foreleg.
"Princess!"
Six ponies stood at the entrance to the destroyed chapel, each wearing a sparkling magical gemstone. The hall behind them was littered with unconscious changeling drones.
Twilight's heart sank as her eyes fell on Celestia's injuries - but there wasn't time to worry about it. Her brow furrowed with further worry at the realization that Tank was stuck directly in their line of fire.
Fluttershy paled. "Wh... what do we do...?"
Nursing an injured shoulder, Rarity shook her head. "If we attack now, we'll hit him!"
"Do it...!"
Six pairs of eyes snapped forward. Tank gritted his teeth against the pain, holding the struggling Chrysalis against the floor; it wouldn't be long before she broke free. "Take the shot!"
After a moment's hesitation... Twilight and her friends closed their eyes.
Beams of rainbow light joined their necklaces in a circle, converging on Twilight's tiara at the forefront. As they rose gently into the air, the magic coalesced into a blinding light - and shot directly toward Chrysalis.
A muffled scream rang out as the rainbow beam found its target. Chrysalis flailed as she tumbled end over end, soaring over the crumbling wall and rocketing toward the horizon.
Twilight's eyes opened just in time to watch a green figure, also sent airborne by the blast, disappear over the edge.
"TANK!"
She made to dash forward, but stumbled. Her head was spinning; after using the Elements only seconds ago, she was in no shape to catch him. Glancing at her friends only confirmed them to be in similar shape.
Her heart stopped.
Pink wings flared...
"Welp."
Tank stared downward at the streets of Canterlot rushing up to meet him.
"Remember, it's not the fall that kills you," he reminded himself, "it's the sudden stop at the end."
Giggling, he closed his eyes. It was probably better that way.
The landing came sooner than he was expecting. It also came a lot softer and fuzzier, too.
"Wait, what?"
His eyes popped open, full of confusion. No longer falling, he was still much higher up than the road below - and also clearly not dead. A pair of great pink wings flapped on either side of him.
Head turned just far enough to look at the green pony perched on her back, Princess Cadance winked. "Gotcha."
Tank blinked, feeling his face with his hoof as though to make sure it was really there. "I... I'm alive."
With a smirk, Cadance began gently ascending. "You don't sound too excited."
Tank looked skyward. Black shapes scattered in all directions; apparently aware of their queen's defeat, the invading army of changelings retreated as quickly as their wings could carry them.
"No, no, just..." He shook his head. "...not what I was expecting, that's all."