//------------------------------//
// Chapter 38: Sacrifice 
// Story: Of Men and Insects 
// by VeganSpyro97 
//------------------------------//

Vancouver fell silent, as the Changeling swarm stopped dead in their tracks, the hold on their minds gone in an instant, and the humans slumped over, like puppets without a puppeteer, or weeds in the rain. 
High above, in the tower in the bay, the Alicorns, Elements, and Allan, stood over the body of the fallen Queen, whose blood pooled slowly out from her in a loose ring, soaking their hooves. 
None of them dared to say a word, as if the very act would shatter the illusion that was their victory, and reveal that the fight was not yet over, and never had been. 
In fact, the only one who even dared to move, was Allan himself. 
His body worn out from fighting, but he limped slowly over to the throne he had passed on his way to the balcony with Connor, and stared at it. The action broke the stupor lingering over his friends, and they joined him, relieved, weary smiled on their faces. 
“We…..we did it, didn’t we? We really did it.” Twilight breathed. 
Celestia had stopped by the body, staring down at her counterpart with a sad frown. “Yes, Twilight. It’s over.”
“Undeniably, she put up one difficult fight.” Luna nodded, still standing beside her sister. “This will be a tale told by many, I fear.”
“It’s not something that will be forgotten quickly. Not with two entire worlds being caught in this tales thrall.” Celestia took off her helmet, shaking her mane free so that it could wave freely, as it always did. “And you are once again the heroes of the land.” Her eyes flickered across all of them, a smile gracing her lips. “I thank you for your bravery once more.”
Allan didn’t respond with the others, instead, he simply stepped closer to the throne, before reaching for the seat with a hoof, and lifting up the lid of the secret compartment her knew he would find there.
“Not yet.” He said, lifting out the contents, his face lowered. “We still have one last thing to do.”
His friends looked on, confused, while the rulers of equestria exchanged worried glances. 
“Whatever do you mean, my student?” Luna asked. “What is that, that you have found?”
“We’ll only be heroes when we make sure that the past isn’t repeated.” Allan said, turning slowly around, and presented the glistening, unhatched egg, held in the crook of his foreleg. “And make sure that her daughter doesn’t share her fate.”
The others gasped, eyes wide. “You mean that that’s….?”
“A queen, yes.” Allan smiled, cradling the egg gently between his hooves. “And I promised Chrysanthemum that I would look after her.”
“Chr-Chrysanthemum?” Luna stuttered, incredulously. “But, Chrysanthemum is Chrysalis!”
Allan shook his head. “Not quite. They were two parts of the same hole, but they were not the same person. Chrysanthemum helped me.”
“Helped you?!”
“It doesn’t matter. What does matter is that we have a chance to do something right. And it starts here.” Allan presented the egg to them. “Help me protect her. Please.”
All eyes turned to Celestia, ever the wise ruler, for the response. She seemed uncertain. But then Allan spoke again. “Thorax. The Changelings. Spike. Discord. Trixie. Why not her?”
Celestia’s eyes brightened, and she smiled. “Yes, indeed. Why not her.” The Alicorn of the sun placed her hoof, gently, on the egg. “I do swear to help guide this young one on her journey.”
Luna’s face softened at her sisters response, and placed her hoof beside Celestias. “I too will pledge.”
“And me.” Twilight chimed. 
“And us too!” Pinkie squealed, happily, dragging all of their friends to place their hooves on the egg. The others did not pull away. 
Even Pharynx joined in. “She’ll always be my sister.”
Allan smiled, happily. “We’ll watch over her. Together.”
“Together!” They cheered. 
Then the tower shook. 
“What the hay!?” Dash cried, zipping out the door to the balcony. “You guys should come and see this!”
Allan, worried for the egg, quickly gave it to Celestia. “Please, keep her safe.”
“I will.”
They dashed outside, Celestia wrapping the egg in as many protective spells as she could. 
Far below, a green, shining light was traveling up the tower, which trembled and shook as it suddenly lit up the room behind them like a star, before exploding out of the very tip of the tower, showering the world around them in magical sparks that threatened to burn anything they touched. The tower was trying to vent the magic it held. 
“I TOLD YOU!” Twilight cried, in horror. “THE MAGIC IS BECOMING UNSTABLE! EVEN WITH WHAT IT’S DISCHARGING FROM THE TOWER’S PEAK, IT’S NOT ENOUGH TO STABILIZE IT!! IT’S GONNA BLOW!!!”
“We must evacuate the city! Save as many as we can before this goes off!” Luna cried, about to take wing. 
“Not a chance!” Dash yelled back. “I worked too damn hard today to just let this world get blown to bits and killed by some magic doohickey! There’s got to be a way to stop it!”
“NO! THERE ISN’T!” Twilight yelled. “THERE’S NO STOPPING IT NOW! WE HAVE TO GO!”
Allan took one look at the beam that tore a hole in the clouds above, and he knew exactly what he had to do. 
Allan galloped back inside. 
“Allan! Come back! It’s not safe in there!!” Fluttershy wailed, dashing in after him, only to stop as she saw what he was doing. 
He had placed a hoof on Anna’s cage, and magic was streaming out of his horn like a faucet. He was using his body to help vent the magic, drawing it into himself using his Earth pony abilities, before converting it as rapidly as possible, and blasting it back out through his horn. And it was killing him. The sheer amount of energy pouring through him was cracking his chitin and supercharging his blood with energy, turning it into a blistering hot, silvery soup that poured down his flanks and scorched his skin. 
“I’m not- letting- this planet- die- like this!!” He forced himself to say the words, but that action revealed the glowing, silvery veins that burned his flesh from inside out, his mouth and eyes both smoking profusely. 
“ALLAN!! STOP!!” Twilight screamed. 
“PLEASE, ALLAN!!” Fluttershy and Rarity cried. 
Celestia and Luna took one look at him, before they galloped forward and slammed their hooves onto the bars as well, their horns blasting holes in the ceiling as they lit up the sky. Cadence jumped in too, her horn glowing brightly. 
Twilight and Rarity joined them after, trying to help, as did Pharynx, but the majority of the magic was flowing through Allan, and it was too much. 
The tower pulsed and quaked, the walls rippling, and the ground for miles behaving less like a continent, and more like an ocean, toppling more buildings and sending tidal waves out into the bay. 
The sheer power of the magic ripped through everything it touched, with the Alicorns manes and eyes suddenly blazing and sizzling with light. Even Rarity started to glow, the ghostly image of a purple gem in a gold necklace appearing around her neck, whilst a lavender star on a golden crown crowned Twilight. 
The others leaped forward too, the elements of harmony uniting once again to save an entire world from destruction. 
They had no idea how long it took, how long the deluge of magical energy coursed through them, but slowly, surely, it began to slow, first to a meandering river, then a gentle stream, and then, to a few drops that meandered lazily through the tower, through their bodies, and off past even the sky, dispersing into the depths of the great beyond.
But the damage was done. 
They all stepped away from the cage. All except one. 
Allan still remained, hoof frozen solid. Just like the rest of him. His chitin was cold, and dull, no longer the shining brown they knew, but a lifeless grey. 
He turned his cracked, blistered and burned head to his friends, and offered one last smile, before he too, collapsed to the floor, motionless. 
The cage was empty, nothing left but a pile of ashes and a few motes of light that lazily floated in midair, before they vanished. 
No one knew who started to cry first.



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“Where am I?” The Changeling asked the void, knowing fully well there would be no answer. “Am...am I dead?”
Nothing. Nothing but white, and silence. Then….
“Not quite. Not yet.”
Spinning around, Allan found his eyes filled with a familiar sight. “Chrysanthemum.”
The Alicorn appeared as a pale image, barely even visible in the great expanse around them, but she looked happier than ever before.
“I thought I should come to say goodbye.”
“You’re….you’re leaving?”
“Yes. With my body gone, my only link to the world of the living is you.”
“So...this is the end then?”
“Yes. It is.”
“Ah…..I’m sorry I couldn’t keep my promise.”
“On the contrary, you did keep your promise. Your friends will watch over her in your stead, and you may yet be able to be there as well.”
Allan blinked in surprise. “I could survive?”
“Yes. Hope remains for you, my friend.”
Allan grinned. “Well then….I guess we just have to wait and see then, don’t we?”


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