//------------------------------// // 18 - Jumping Sharks // Story: So, You Want to be a Princess? // by Meep the Changeling //------------------------------// Princess Cadence - 5/16/2018 The Palace - Canterlot, Equestria Cadence’s chest burned. It was like someone had cut deep into her sternum and was filling the cavity with boiling hot coffee. Her eyes flew open, a bloodcurling shriek on her lips as she sat bolt upright, wings flaring, legs flailing, every part of her body twisting to avoid the pain. Or throw her attacker away from her. Her left hoof smacked into something metallic, throwing it away from her and to the marble floor with a loud thud. The something groaned. “Ow…” Cadence rolled onto her belly and pushed herself up on her hooves. Her chest still burned, but whatever Chrysalis was doing, she would stop it momentarily. The pink alicorn turned towards where the thing had landed and lowered her head, instinctively leveling her horn at— “Harley?!” Cadence said as she watched the changeling climb back onto her hooves. The changeling was in her natural form and looked more than a little distressed. She looked Cadence in her eye with a serious expression and pointed to the alicorn’s barrel. “Look at your chest.” Cadence looked down. Her eyes fall upon deep gash with a small amount of scar tissue at each end. Blood oozed from the wound, which seemed to be slowly pulling back open. Cadence’s tail raised in alarm. “Oh… How, how am I breathing?” Harley pointed to the floor. “Mom, lay down. Now. Please don't throw me off again.” Cadence winced and gingerly lowered herself to the ground and rolled over. Each and every movement brought a fresh spike of agony. Harley looked around herself, searching for the potion bottle she had been holding. The small round glass bottle was laying three meters away from here, having rolled away as she was tossed. She fetched the bottle with a quick spell, making it float to her side as she returned to Cadence’s. “You’re so lucky this didn’t break. It’s the last one.” Cadence tilted her head slightly, hissing as her moving neck pulled on her chest. “Last one? When did we have any potions?” “I looted the corpses of the Lunar Guard my hivemates left behind. They didn’t touch the bodies… for some reason. Her Highness didn’t either when she left. They also ignored me. I guess they don’t care. ” Cadence bit her lip as Harley put a hoof on her chest. “Please, don’t struggle. I know this hurts bad, but potions work faster when poured into a wound. Says so on the bottle.” Cadence didn’t even have time to say ‘wait what?’ before Harley tipped the remaining liquid out of the bottle and into the gaping wound in her chest. The fire became a pit of lava. Cadence’s legs flailed, her back arched, a soundless scream contorted her lips. The gaping wound in her chest shrank, slowly forming a thick scar. Cadence went limp for several long seconds as the pain receded. She couldn’t think straight. There was only the burning. Then dull throbbing. Then nothing. Cadence closed her eyes and rolled over slowly. “Buck me… How can that hurt so much?” Harley shrugged and reached into her saddlebags, pulling out a small cylindrical bottle half full of a violently pink liquid. “I don’t know. Here, finish this. It’s some mana-potions dad concentrated.” Cadence took the bottle and frowned. “Dad?” “Yeah. Shining.” Cadence tipped the bottle back and swallowed, doing her best to ignore the flavor. Ew! It’s that stuff they call grape flavor in medicine that never tastes like grapes! “Is he back to normal?” Cadence said as she set the bottle down and looked around the armory. “Also where is—” Cadence winced as the potion kicked in, sending a cold chill down every last part of her body as her mana reserves went from next to nothing to a quarter full. “A— Ack! That… Why… ugh,” Cadence shivered and turned to Harley, expecting answers.   The changeling shook her head. “No, he’s still Gleaming. He should be back soon, he slipped out to try and find more potions, because the hallway is clear here.” Cadence turned and looked out the door. The hallway was indeed free of enemies for as far as she could see. Piles of changeling bodies lay in heaps, almost like a carpet, preventing Cadence from calling it “clear”. Cadence winced and closed her eyes, turning her ears this way and that to try and hear anything. She could hear the sounds of battle from deeper in the palace, and from outside, but nothing nearby. “So… I guess they are winning,” Cadence murmured. Harley nodded once, her ears drooping. “Y— yeah.” Cadence took a few steps forward and then frowned. “Where’s my jacket?” “Chrysalis took it.” Cadence grit her teeth. “Great! Celestia will probably let her right into the throne room. That jacket was intended to be a password.” Cadence closed her eyes for a moment and focused on the situation at hoof. “You know… This whole plan was terrible. Celestia’s plan, I mean. Yeah, sure, I did wetwork for the CIA. In a totally different body, with entirely different equipment. If I had the right kit, I would get to the throne room, blow the door, and follow the breaching charge with some gas grenades.” Harley shuffled her hooves. “Sooo, there’s nothing you can do about this?” Cadence took a deep breath. “I wasn’t the planning person, that’s the real problem. I was the person who made the plan happen. I took the shot. I detonated the bomb. I planted the poisoned cigarettes. Celestia thought she got the planning person. “Instead, she got me. I don’t have any tools to work with. The right tool for this job is magic, I know jack about it. I don’t even have a weapon anymore.” Harley raised an eyebrow and swept her hoof across the room. “Uh, hello? We’re in an armory.” Cadence nodded and picked up a spear which had been laying on the floor suspiciously close to her. “Yep! All of which are probably magic, which I can't use. Then there’s the mundane weapons, which I can’t tell from magic weapons, and am not trained in using because humans haven’t used spears and swords for about ten generations now. “What’s more, a spear wont stop Queenie! She’ll use her horn-mounted-phaser and blast my plot to dust while I try to get into ‘poke with a sharp rock’ range.” Harley trotted forwards with an irritated look on her face and tapped Cadence’s chest. “A spear stopped you for a while. If I hadn’t jumpstarted your magic with that potion and a bit of my own mana, you’d be dead, mom. I didn’t think it woudl work, but I tried anyways because you have to!” Cadence laughed and shook her head. “I’m not giving up. I’m pointing out that we have no assets, no plan, and are down a man. We’re going to die… So…” Cadence sighed and dipped her head down to look Harley in the eye. “Go. Go anywhere. I don’t care where. Just…” Cadence stopped and smiled. “Heh, just transform and roll out.” Harley shook her head. “Nope! All we have left is each other. I’m not going to run.” The rustle of hoof on chitin made Cadence’s ears twitch hand her head rotate. Her wings flared in alarm, only to return to her sides as she saw Gleaming pull herself over a mound of changelings and slide to the base. “I didn’t find anything,” Gleaming called loudly. “No more squads were in the clear zone!” Cadence rushed towards Gleaming and pulled her into a tight hug. “I almost died. We have no assets. I’m going to so my best to stop her anyways. I want you to take Harley and get out of here.” Gleaming blinked, returned her hug, then pushed away from Cadence and shook her head. “No. I swore an oath. I’m helping. Harley, you can go if you want to.” “I’m staying,” the changeling informed with a stamp of her hoof. “Listen to the battle outside. It’s getting further away from the palace. The Queen is winning. You need me because without me you’re on hoof and it could be over any minute!” Cadence bit her lip. Harley’s words rang true. Far more true than she’d prefer. The pink alicorn sighed and closed her eyes. “Okay… Gleaming, grab anything that looks dangerous. Harley, be yourself. We move out once Gleaming has—” Gleaming’s horn glowed with a bright pink light as she snatched up a belt of spell rods and strapped them over her barrel. Harley’s body vanished in green flames as she elongated and twisted into her motorcycle form. “Let’s go, this is about all I am qualified to use,” Gleaming said. Cadence and Gleaming frowned in unison. “You run on gas?” Harley revved her engine. Queen Chrysalis - 5/16/2018 The Palace - Canterlot, Equestria Chrysalis held back a mad cackle as she watched her blood fall into the chalice. Soon it would all be over. She had but to cast the spell which would activate its dark magics. The changeling queen turned her head and looked over her shoulder. Celestia hadn’t noticed. She was still looking intently at the shelves in front of her, her wings twitching from time to time. Chrysalis could tell that the Alicorn was exhausted. The way she stood slightly slumped over. Her mane’s less than energetic twitches. The way her feathers seemed to sag. Chrysalis turned her attention back to the unholy artifact in front of her. Fool! When I learned you were not only never the military head of your nation, but had not practiced any form of combat in the last five hundred years I knew you would be a pushover. If I had simply thrown a few hundred more changelings at you, you would have fallen to them, wouldn’t you? Celestia sighed and stepped back from the shelf for a moment. “She’ll have numbers… I never did well with numbers, you know.” Chrysalis hummed, feigning interest with a slight tilt of her head. She pushed as little mana as possible into her horn to suppress her glow and focused on the chalase’s activation spell. “Why not? Aren't you an ancient wizard? Shouldn't you have been in all kinds of battles?” “Oh yes, I was. But that was a different age, and even then I was but support for Luna. Shields, charms, artillery, that sort of thing.” “Well, if I knew magic, I could probably take Luna’s old roll for this,” Chrysalis said flatly. Celestia turned to look at Chrysalis, but the transformed queen didn’t notice. Celestia's eyes widened as she saw the bug queen’s quiet spellcasting. Then a slim smile parted her lips. Celestia calmly returned her attention to her collection of ancient and dangerous relics. “You have your weapons. If you make use of them, I promise I can provide support.  My magic is… Well, more devious than anything else.” Chrysalis frowned. Something about the way Celestia had leaned on the word didn't sit right with her. How much longer do I need to keep this spell up? … It cant be long now. It feels almost ready to activate. “So what? I make her focus on me while you turn her to jelly?” Chrysalis asked with a huff. “Or is fetishistic transformations more of your thing? Can you undo these stupid flanks? I think they’ll hinder me in the fight.“ Celestia ran a hoof over a small jade amulet in front of her simply to kill time. “I really am sorry about that. Today is a very stressful day, and I did just have to take over a thousand lives… That’s never set well with me. Killing… Luna had no problems ending a life. It’s why I am certain she’s out there right now making a sizable dent in the swarm. She’s probably having a good time too. “You know the barbarism of those ages long past suited her well. She’s blunt. Right to the point. She’ll take the direct approach every time. No matter if that means violence or peace. With her, the only correct path is the one which brings her goal closest. It’s why she never told me her problems before becoming the Nightmare. She’d rather confront a problem head on.” Chrysalis frowned as her tail twitched nervously. She knows! She has to know. Or does she? Come on you stupid thing! Finish up! Flecks of shadow began to boil within the chalice as its magics awoke. Chrysalis smiled and picked the ancient relic up with her left hoof and turned around. “Why mention her? Wishing she were by your side? It won't save you…” Celestia nodded once and flicked her tail. “No. It won’t. Especially since I forgot I gave her a password. I assume you’ve activated whatever weapon you wanted to subject me too?” The Queen nodded solemnly. “I have. It’s a bit odd that you’re not trying to stop me.” Celestia turned around and sighed. “You have her jacket, which means she is dead. Nopony has come to reinforce the throne room, which means your forces are holding the palace at best and winning at worst. I am nearly drained. I will be of little to no help should I best you, and despite the warrior my sister is, the endless tides will turn even the greatest rock to sand given time.” Celestia looked wearily into Chrysalis eyes. “I’ve lost. If there’s one thing I’ve learned in my thousands of years, well… Why struggle? Fate will have its way in the end.” Chrysalis smirked and tipped her head back while gently swirling the boiling shadows around in her glass. “How uncharacteristically submissive of you. Where’s the Celestia who locked me in the dungeons when I simply read one little primer on Dark Magic? Where’s the mare whose enchanted tongue can make even the most reluctant ear listen to her, if not obey?” Chrysalis held up the chalice and moved as if to tip it over. Celestia winced, her wings opening in fear. The Queen laughed. “You know what this is, don’t you?” She asked. Celestia nodded once. “Of course I do.” The Queen swirled the contents of the magical cup once more. Flecks of green and purple light emerged from the shadows, fragments dark magic seeking to be made whole. “Then you know I won the moment the shadows began to boil. I am invulnerable until I make my wish. That’s why you’re not fighting me… As for why you’re not trying to talk me down, well…  I think I’ll discover that mystery later. After all, in a moment, you’ll have no choice but to be honest with me.” Celestia smiled and shook her head. “You know, it would be funny if I had simply activated that old thing and left it on the shelf, never making a wish. I’d still be invulnerable to this very day. It doesn't expire until the wish is made, you know.” Chrysalis chuckled and tipped her head to smirk in Celesita’s face. “Oh, is that why you’re not afraid? Well, I assure you, I wont hurt you in the slightest. Why would I do that?” Chrysalis inhaled and tipped the chalice over, letting the shadows spill out onto the ground. “Grogar! Hear me and obey!” Somewhere in the distance thunder rumbled. Celestia yawned and ruffled her wings. “You do know you don’t need to speak his name, don’t you?” Chrysalis rolled her eyes and focused on the pool of spilt shadows. “Make Celestia Sol Invictus my ever loyal and adoring slave!” The pool of shadows flared, transforming into a sea of black fire. Chrysalis yelped as she felt a large chunk of her magic slide out of her body into the flames before they burst, plunging the vault into blackness and a foul stench like rotting meat and decaying timber for what seemed to be an eternity. Then, the world returned to normal. The Queen and the Princess stood facing one another, Chrysalis with a victorious smile on her face, Celestia with a seemingly tired yawn. Chrysalis took three steps forward and looked around the vault, searching for the Identity Matrix. Where is that stupid thing? … Why am I looking for it, she knows. “Celestia, set the Identity Matrix up so everypony will believe I am Cadence,” the queen ordered. Celestia smirked. “No.” Chrysalis’ eyes shrank to pin pricks, her wings flared in alarm. She spun, glaring daggers into Celestia’s eyes. “It didn’t work?!” Celestia nodded. “Accurate.” “What did you do?!” Celestia smiled thinly. “Did you really think I would keep a whole vault full of dangerous weapons under my throne if they could hurt me?” Chrysalis blinked. “Well, yes…” The mare flared her wings and charged her horn with magic, making it shimmer with sunlight as she wrapped herself in a shell of protective solar fire. “I cursed every single item in this vault. Using one on me will… Well…” Celestia smirked. “Look at your left hoof.” Chrysalis spared a second to glance down at her forehooves. Her right hoof looked normal. The left hoof was covered in hair thin lines of marble which were slowly creeping up her leg. Chrysalis narrowed her eyes and slowly began to back up towards the vault door. “You should have made the petrification instant. I can stop this, and you!” The Queen jumped backwards through the vault door and slammed it shut with a pulse of magic. As the massive door slammed shut with a clang of metal on metal, she spun the handle, locking Celestia inside. Chrysalis turned around, flicking the lever to move the throne with her magic, and bolted up the steps. The second Chrysalis was on the solar dais she skidded to a stop and held up her hoof to examine it. Her eyes narrowed and brow furrowed as she watched the slowly growing stone engulf her hoof. The Queen experimentally flexed her hoof, relieved that it still moved. I won't be immobilized till the stone completely overtakes me. At this rate, it will be ten minutes. Plenty of time to negate her curse. I’ll start with Iron Aura’s Dis— A flash of gold light blinded Chrysalis as Celestia appeared three meters in front of her and blasted her squarely in the chest with a sunlight infused spellbolt. The Queen screeched as she was flung to the floor under the force of the bolt. She jumped to her hooves, the fur on her chest smouldering and sizzling as she cast a shield charm on herself. Celestia smiled softly. “I’m also the one exception to the ‘no teleporting’ wards.” Chrysalis popped her neck. “I didn’t want to kill you. I wanted to show you I was right. Now I have to kill you, and you know that I can.” Celestia nodded solemnly. “There is a good chance you will. Even with the power I leached from you, you’re still in much better shape than I am,” Celestia flared her wings, creating a burning aura on the floor around her in the shape of the sun. “Come, this is for fate to decide.” Chrysalis rolled her eyes. Fate? Please. This is for the ace in my sleeve to decide. Chrysalis dismissed her equine form with a flash emerald flames, using the distraction to send a dozen black and purple crackling hexes flying Celestia’s way. “My pleasure!” The throne room descended into chaos as the two demigods began to fight in earnest. The duel wasn’t flashy. It was ugly. It was not elegant. It was brutal. Spells were cast and countered on the fly so fast the very air itself began to spark and glow with magic. Bits of the throne room twisted and mutated, becoming ash, ooze, or bursts of elemental energy as hexes missed their targets. Solar fire ripped dark magic constructs asunder. Dark magic chipped away at Celestia’s shields, peeling them away layer by layer while making cracks run deeper and deeper. The stone grew at a steady pace, covering more and more of Chrysalis’ body. First her leg, then her shoulder, head, and upper body were consumed by the curse. Despite her slow petrification, Chrysalis was not loosing. Celestia’s spells hit with less and less force. Her shields crumbled more and more quickly. Even worse, Chrysalis knew this. The Queen launched a flurry of spellbolts at her nemesis and smiled. “Fool! My changelings will break through the doors any second now. You have no hope against them! I could start dispelling your little curse right now, if I didn’t want to kill you myself.” Celestia smiled defiantly, her chest heaving as she struggled to breathe. It had been millennia since she had been this active. “Do you really think, after what you’ve seen of my vault, that the doors to my throne room are not just as secure? You may beat me, but we will have a draw a moment later.” Chrysalis frowned and bared her teeth in a fit of rage. She’s right! There’s no way the doors are not enchanted to put up a shield of broken down, at the very least. “Then I’ll make my own door!” Chrysalis focused all of her magic into a single massive beam of destruction and let it fly directly at Celestia. The alicorn mare jumped to the side, snapping her wings open to extend her jump enough to dodge the beam which ripped into the wall, blasting a truly massive hole into the open air beyond the tower wall. Celestia’s ears drooped back as she realized the ancient enchantments protecting the palace walls had clearly been drained away by the extended battle. “... Well… I underestimated a few things there…” Chrysalis smirked. “Underestimated? Ha! You didn’t think of this possibility at all, did you?” The sound of a thousand changeling wings buzzing grew louder and louder as the swarm raced to obey their queen. Princess Cadence - 5/16/2018 The Palace - Canterlot, Equestria Cadence raced down the palace hall, her ears plastered back not only by the wind, but by fear. The roar of Harley’s engine would most definitely attract changelings to them, and the throne room was still quite far. Not physically. The tower it sat in was a mere twenty meters to her left. But the route to reach it was surprisingly long. Gleaming looked out through the broken windows to their left and shook her head at the burning section of palace she could see. “I wish I could see what’s happening below us.” Cadence nodded. “Yeah… it sounds like there’s a dragon or something!” Gleaming sighed. “I hope so. I know a few live in Canterlot.” Cadence pressed her hoof against Harley’s throttle even harder, as if that would help. “Hon? Can you speed up any more? It’s been two minutes and we don’t know how much time we have.” Harley answered, her telepathic voice sounding quite labored. Cadence sighed, wishing she could close her eyes, but not daring too while riding. “It’s okay. Either we make it, or—” A blazing pillar of emerald light blasted out from the throne room at an upwards angle, slicing into the wall, floor, and ceiling just ahead of the speeding motorcycle. Cadence yelped, twisted the handlebars, and pulled on the breaks, forcing Harley to turn sideways sand skid to a halt with a screech of rubber. The three stopped next to the fresh pit in the floor, teetering for a moment as momentum threatened to carry them over the edge and into the flames of the burning floor below. Cadence took a deep breath and let it out slowly. Very slowly. Unfurling her wings, she flapped as hard as she could, steadying the three of them as best she could. “Harley… drive us away from the edge, please.” The bike rumbled and rolled forward, pulling a tight turn to get some distance between them and the hole. Gleaming let out a nervous breath she didn’t remember holding. “I can’t believe nopony swore during that…” she chuckled, hoping the humor would let her heart calm down a little. It didn’t. Cadence turned and looked at the hole in the floor. The entire hallway had caved in, crashing down on the floor below. A six by twelve meter pit stretched in front of them, making the trip quite impossible. “Well, buck…” Cadence grumbled. Gleaming turned and looked out the newly created hole in the wall, her eyes drawn to the hole blasted in the throne room’s tower… Which lead into the throne room itself. “Cadie! You can still get in there. That hole goes right into the throne room. Fly in!” Cadence’s ears perked up. She spread her wings and flapped them once. Yeah! I can fly. I can just get right in there and… and… Ummm… “Then what? I don't have a plan,” Cadence grumbled to herself. “You’re the one with the weapons. I was going to just let her hit me.” The pink alicorn turned her head and squinted at the hole. She could see Celestia standing close to it. The white mare looked exhausted. A shield spell covered her, but even from this distance Cadence could see the cracks and dents in her magic. It wouldn’t last much longer. And a column of changelings was heading right for the hole. If she’s in that bad of shape, Chrysalis is probably almost done too… And those bugs will turn the tide. Maybe I can stop them? Well, yeah. If I were at the hole with Shining on my back. Cadence turned to look Gleaming in her eyes and tell her to climb onto her back when another thought occurred to her. Harley has magic too. She can help too… Can I carry them both? That’s when Cadence noticed the ceiling beam that had fallen in such a way as to angle up from the floor after falling out of the ceiling, and realized the throne room was a floor below them. Cadence smiled as she recalled steadying the three of them a moment ago. Is it just me, or did we lift off the ground just the tiniest bit? A plan took form in her mind. It was suicidal, but so was trying to stop the evil queen armed with her hooves, a motorcycle-bug, and an angry fiancee. Cadence gunned Harley’s throttle and raced down the hall back the way they had come. “What are you doing?” Gleaming asked with a worried frown. “The servants tunnels will be in chaos! We need to go up a floor.” Cadence shook her head and turned Harley around with a sharp u turn. “We’re going in the hole!” She informed. “What?” Cadence gently pat Harley’s gas tank. “See that beam? We;re going to use it as a jump. I’ll flap as hard as I can, and we are going to glide right into that hole, then run the bitch over. Got it?” Gleaming eked and squeezed Cadence’s waist tightly. “Can I talk you out of—” “No. Look at the bugs inbound.” Gleaming turned her head, looked out the window for half a second then nodded once. “Okay… Let’s go.” Harley’s engine rumbled worriedly. Cadence nodded. Nope. “Yeah.” It’s not like we have a better option though… Cadence gunned the Harley’s throttle twice, revving her engine while she drew upon her inner confidence. She took a deep breath,then smiled to reassure everyone else. “Okay, let’s do this!” The mare twisted Harley’s throttle. The three surged forward, Harley’s engine roaring like a dragon as she crossed the remaining hallway, hopped up onto the beam, raced across it, and out into open space. Cadence spread her wings and beat them as quickly as she can, closing her eyes under the strain of slowing their fall. Then, worried she might miss their target, she opened them, taking in the insanity of the battle below. The small courtyard between the palace’s main hall and the tower had descended into pure chaos. The flames from the burning palace surged beneath her like a living wall. A dark blue alicorn was falling towards a roaring Tyrannosaurus, her right for leg bent to deliver a pile-driver right to the beast’s temple. A squad of EUP special forces, clad in their black gi, clashed with a group of changelings who had fortified a small swimming pool by becoming a school of sharks, while their mech-shifting member became shark-accessible laser cannons. Cadence scarcely had time to take any more of the madness in before movement near the open hole in the side of the tower drew her attention. Celestia filled the broken entryway, her head turned back to see what in Equus was roaring through the air at her. Her eyes widened in a mixture of shock and hope. The alicorn’s knees bent lowering her to the ground as she dove forwards out of view. Cadence felt a wave of relief pass through her as Celestia got clear of her bike’s landing zone. Then a blur of white and black filled the entryway as the white alicorn pulled Chrysalis into the opening, her hooves tight around the insect queen’s neck and hips as the two grappled on the floor. The two struggled, pushing each other back and forth on the stone tiles. Chrysalis struggled to break free, her eyes fixed on her opponent, entirely unaware of the danger gliding towards her at his speed… Until Celestia pushed her away from herself and laughed. Chrysalis turned her head and saw the bike flying wards her. Cadence had just enough time to smile before she plowed straight into Chrysalis with a thunderous crunch that shook the tower. Deep green sparks flew out from beneath Harley as the impact shattered the Queen’s weakened shield. The weight of two ponies and a large motorcycle dropped onto Chrysalis scraping against her petrifying flesh with the distinct sound of hooves on a chalkboard. The queen gasped for air, and with the last of her strength, heaved with her back, tipping the bike and ponies over and wriggling out from under them. Only to then flop over in a daze as the blunt force trauma of the impact beat her adrenaline into submission. Cadence scrambled away from Harley, trying to get to her hooves before Chrysalis could retaliate. Celestia took advantage of the distraction to look Cadence in the eye, and ask what she should have asked the last Cadence. “Password?” Fortunately, Cadence hadn’t forgotten. The mare angrily gestured towards the stunned changeling “DIDACTIC. NOW SHOOT HER!” Celestia flared her wings for dramatic effect and stepped closer to glare at the moaning, petrifying, slightly dazed queen. “Surrender.” Chrysalis nodded slowly. “Yeah… Yeah, okay…” Celestia smiled. “Good. Tell your forces to stand down, and—” Chrysalis reached down to her left pocket. Cadence growled and stamped down on the queen’s leg with her right forehoof. “Oh, no you don’t!” Unfortunately, she didn’t see the Queen’s other hoof reaching for her right pocket. Cadence’s phaser rifle was withdrawn from the magic pocket in one fluid motion, and sent a brilliant yellow stun beam directly into Celestia’s throat. Golden sparks flew as the spell burned most of its energy bleeding through the cracked, brittle shield. For a moment it seemed as if the shot would be absorbed by the solar fire, then, the blast pierced the alicorn’s weakened shield, and Celestia dropped to the floor unconscious. Cadence grit her teeth and drew back her hoof to begin beating the queen unconscious, but the but of a phaser rifle smashed into her teeth, sending her tumbling backward then across the floor. Chrysalis focused her magic, shapechanging into a copy of Gleaming Shield as she dropped Cadence’s coat and weapon to the floor the second Cadence’s eyes were no longer upon her. A quick illusion spell to hide her petrifying body and dash later and the Queen stood next to Gleaming. Cadence staggered to her hooves and looked up, her left eye twitching with rage, only to find two Gleamings staring back at her, their backs to the open hole in the wall. The Gleaming on the left pointed to the one on the right. “Cadie, that’s Chrysalis! Get her!” The Gleaming on the right went pale. “Celestia, no! She’s Chrysalis!” Cadence took a deep breath and looked between the two. Bucking… This cliche? Really? Well buck this noise. Cadence reached into her discarded jacket’s pocket with her magic and removed her pulse rifle, and charged the firing handle. “Harley, did she swap the bandoleer of rods or is Gleaming still wearing them?” Cadence smiled. “Thanks.” Chrysalis winced. She pointed the rifle at Chrysalis and paused only for a second. “Shiny, I’ll help shampoo your fur clean after this, okay?” Chrysalis shook her head. “No, no! You have the wrong one. It’s her! Don’t shoot me, Cadie!” Cadence snorted. “Yeah, no. Bye!” Cadence’s magic pulled at the grenade launcher’s trigger. Chrysalis dove to her left and grabbed onto Gleaming, pulling her tight against her chest. “Fire and I’ll make sure you kill us both!” Cadence’s left eye began to twitch again as something deep within her snapped. She’d had enough of this. Enough of being the weapon for others without having the proper equipment or training. Enough of seeing people she loved in danger. Enough of being in danger. Enough of killing. I’m going to find a way to end this right now! Chrysalis’ horn glowed green as she charged her magic, working on an anti-curse spell while tightening her grip around Gleaming and transitioning it into a sleeper hold. “You know you’ll need the explosive round from that to kill me! You can't pull a marksman and take out only me while leaving him alive!” Cadence’s other eye began to twitch. Her blood began to boil. “You have no magical training. Nothing you do can stop me without hurting him too. Put your gun down and surrender.” Cadence grit her teeth. Her wings flared open. Chrysalis squeaked as she felt every last little restraint holding back the alcorn's rage snap. “You’re wrong!” Chrysalis slid backwards, dragging the gurgling Gleaming with her. “If you lose control, you’ll kill everyone here except for you. That includes Shining!” The very deepest part of Cadence’s being called out to her. Reminding her of the god-like though uncontrolled power which lay within her. It reminded her of how she warped her weapons to her will before, and how she could do it now. The pink alicorn wanted nothing more than to get Chrysalis away from Shining. Nothing that is aside from all changelings to be far, far away from Shining. She pushed her desire into her weapon, followed by nearly all of her magic and pointed the weapon at the floor just in front of her. She frowned. An Alicorn’s worth of hatred didn’t seem like enough energy to properly squash the bugs. There had to be another source nearby. Cadence closed her eyes and did her best to feel for anything else in her body she could use. Chrysalis smiled sinisterly. “Good pony,” she said as she dropped her illusion spell, revealing her nearly fully petrified form. “Now, put the weapon down.” Cadence smiled as she felt the bond between her and Shining. It was still there, despite her anger. A bright gleaming line of love connecting two souls as if they were one. Cadence’s smiled and gently pulled at the bond. Cadence gently pulled at the bond, and a tiny bit of energy trickled down it, mixing with her own magic and flowing into her weapon. Cadence looked Gleaming in her eyes. “Hon, I’m going to barrow your magic for a second.” Chrysalis frowned. “You can’t do that.” Gleaming smiled, she’d felt the energy leave her and flow to Cadence. “Take anything you need, Cadie. I trust you.” Chrysalis narrowed her eyes. “If you try anything, I’ll put a spellbolt in the back of his head so fast tha—” Cadence pulled the pulse rifle trigger. An Alicorn’s worth of power blasted from the barrel in the form of a bright pink light. Rage, love, trust, and desperation mixed together in the blast, shaped only by Cadence’s sole desire. Make the changelings go away. The blast hit the ground as Shining’s magic mixed in with Cadence’s. The budding spell latched onto Shining’s talent and blossomed into a massive shield bubble, exploding outwards like a shock wave. The shield grew and grew, swelling with the power of an alicorn behind it as it passed harmlessly through everything… except for changelings, and Gleaming. The small sparks of dark magic which Quick had cast in desperation had embdued Shining’s implanted transformation gem with part of a changeling’s essence, and so the shield hit him, throwing him out the hole in the wall. Cadence’s eyes widened with horror as she saw him fly away from her. “NO!” The shield slammed into Chrysalis as well. The Queen shrieked in rage as she began to be flung backwards. Seething hatred burned in her mind as she realized she wouldn’t be able to cure her petrification in time. She would fail. She would be good as dead before she even hit the ground, and the one responsible for her fate would go unpunished. Unless… The Queen pushed all of the magic stored in her horn for her first curse breaking attempt into a new spell. A Dark Magic spell. Her eyes locked onto Cadence’s as rather than scream, the Changeling Queen repeated an incantation she’d overheard her archmage use many times. “Klaatu Varata Nikto!” Cadence felt dark magic dig hooks into her mind. She screeched in pain as everything went black for a split second, only for the world to return. Only now she wasn’t standing in the tower watching Shining fly into the distance. Now Cadence was flying away from the tower, watching as her own body dropped to the ground, covered by marking ribbons of dark magic. Wait, what just— Then the curse placed upon Chrysalis’s body overtook it, not caring in the slightest that the mind in that body had been switched, and world went black once more.