//------------------------------// // Ch2: Shooting Stars // Story: Captain Equestria: Civil Service // by AppleTank //------------------------------// A dress floated off the table from amidst a sea of cut fabric onto a clothing rack. Rarity jostled it slightly, then turned towards cleaning up the rest of her workstation. The Princess had finished being fitted for her dress, and Rarity had spent the rest of the afternoon cleaning up her workshop.  Of course, that was soon rudely interrupted by screams and the sounds of explosions. Rarity froze for a split second before running to the door. She opened it and was greeted by tall, chitin coated bipedal monsters running through the castle halls. One spotted her and shouted, pointing at her. “Eep.” Rarity slammed the door shut, her heart pounding. Her eyes darted across the room. There wasn’t much, outside of bludgeoning with the sewing machine, though she feared her magic really wasn’t up to swinging large objects around. That was more Twilight’s thing. There was the needle, but there were only a small hoofful of those. With the sound of pounding feet, that was only going to delay the inevitable. Her eyes flashed briefly over a small lockbox in the corner-- She was knocked onto her chest when the door slammed into her back. The lock briefly held, allowing Rarity just enough time to scramble out of the way before flaming planks scattered across the floor. A glint of light-- Rarity flung cut gems behind her. She was rewarded by shouts of surprise. It gave her just enough time to run over to the sewing machine. Her magic might not be strong enough, but she could still kick.  The heavy machine arched through the air and bounced off a changeling’s head with an audible “thonk.” It falling backwards blocked the way of the other changelings behind it. Rarity took the chance to run to the other side of the room, quickly flipping through the box’s combination lock.  Click click click click. Rarity’s magic mashed the button, and reached out for the glowing lights in her mind. A set of ten shaped diamonds lay before her. “I wished we didn’t have to meet like this,” she whispered, “but the time comes again, Vorpal.” With a minor effort of will, ten needle sharp projectiles shot out behind her, easily finding their mark through the chokepoint. Rarity stepped forwards, the diamonds moving to her side and locking together to form a blade. Time to find where the rest of her friends went. The blade held before her, Rarity ran out the door, slapping aside spellfire and changelings as she went. Panicked breaths echoed in the tiny broom closet. Fluttershy had ran for the nearest door the moment explosions had happened, which led to the inside of the castle. She did a lot more running away from changelings before ending up in a room with no windows or exposed spaces. Hence, shivering underneath moist cloth strands, plastic buckets, and cleaning solution. She could easily hear the pounding of feet and the screams of shock outside, which didn’t do anything to keep her blood pressure down. Every time she thought the coast was clear, more hoof pounding stone passed by. She hyperventilated while thinking about how her friends were doing. Was Twilight okay? Rainbow Dash could get away, but she would never think of abandoning anyone. Ever herself. Could she fight through everything alone though? Applejack and Pinkie were together, so there’s that at least. And oh, this was supposed to be Shining Armor and Princess Cadenza’s wedding! How could it have gone so wrong?  She was promptly reminded of exactly how wrong it could get when footsteps paused outside her hiding spot. He breath froze, her heart jerked, her coat drenched with cold sweat. The invader outside sniffed the air, then slowly pulled open the door. He was greeted by a butter-yellow pegasus mare cowering underneath a giant skeletal dog with swirling red irises. “What.” Then a red aura seemed to melt down from ceiling, leaving everything in brain-searing monochrome. An overwhelming pressure pressed down upon it, giving it no time to notice the pegasus disappearing from his sight. The changeling stared blankly into the closet, allowing Fluttershy to scamper off between its legs. “Oh my gosh oh my gosh oh my gosh!” she squeaked, frantically running and looking for something to help her. When Fluttershy turned a corner, she bounced off a hard, rigid chest. A Guard! Fluttershy looked up eagerly and was greeted by a chitinous face and slitted green eyes. “That was easy,” The Queen replied. “Hi!” Fluttershy managed to force out. “Sorry! I’m sure you’re a busy mare so, I won’t take up any more of your time.” Her hooves shakily stepped around the changeling queen. “Indeed,” the Queen agreed. Her hooves shifted.  “No time at all.” She opened her jaws and exposed her fangs. As the pegasus shrank back in teror, a ghostly, skeletal dog rose up. “What?” the Queen asked, and then the world was shrouded in red. Fluttershy poked an eye open when nothing happened, and saw the Queen frozen in place. Cautiously, she continued stepping around, wings slowly spreading and preparing for a sprint.  “My, this is inconvenient.” Fluttershy’s heart started jackhammering again.  “I can see why my drone was stopped.” Fluttershy chanced looking back, and saw the Queen’s form seem to flicker. The Queen then spun on her hooves, eyes closed, and started stepping towards her.  The sound of pounding feet echoed through the hallways. Her dog Stood besides her, but it could only work via eye contact. She was surrounded. “NO!” a voice shouted. The glass windows shattered by a streak of blue. Chrysalis slightly tilted her head back, casually dodging Rainbow’s kick. Chrysalis’s eyes slitted open. “You.” Green flames splashed the wall Rainbow rapidly evacuated.  Chrysalis sighed. “This is taking too long. My chosen children, to me.” Within moments, the two ponies were surrounded by ten changelings. Chrysalis’s horn glowed, and the other changelings followed suit. Rainbow and Fluttershy slowly backed up against the wall, the blue pegasus’s eyes shaking in anger. “Feel lucky, little ponies,” Chrysalis said. “For being slain personally by the Monarch blade.” The changelings seemed to shrink into tiny, chevron shaped shards, then moved to hover over Chrysalis’s head, turning into a heavy, black blade with an aura of green lightning. The blade blurred, and dove towards Rainbow’s head. “Rainbow!” Fluttershy shouted. To everyone’s surprise (though not as much to the yellow pegasus), Rainbow Dash wasn’t inflicted by a fatal case of long division. The forelegs protectively covering her head buzzed with lightning. “Two can play that game,” she snarled. She pushed the Queen’s blade to the side, and backflipped towards Fluttershy. Midair, her body glowed, and turned into a sword with tassels of red, blue, yellow, and a blade of buzzing electricity.  The tassels snapped out and twirled around Fluttershy’s skeletal dog’s outstretched paw. Fluttershy’s eyes flashed, and her blue eyes became mixed with flecks of ruby. Monarch’s blade swung for a backswing, but Rainbow darted forwards and parried it.  Sparks flashed between them. “Did you think it was going to be that easy?” Fluttershy snarled.  Chrysalis’s face twisted slightly in confusion. “What a creative little bag of tricks you have,” she grumbled. Monarch buzzed over Rainbow’s head. Fluttershy ducked underneath Rainbow to kick out at Chrysalis, forcing her to back away. Their blades danced over their heads as they locked hooves, snarling at each other. “I got more where that came from,” Fluttershy/Rainbow said, voices overlapping.  “Pity, it seems I actually have to put in an effort now,” Chrysalis said. Monarch glowed.  Fluttershy looked up with startled eyes, then squeaked when the black blade broke apart into independently flying shards. The pony pair is forced back, Fluttershy hastily stepping around the zooming pieces of Monarch while Rainbow Dash batted away any that get too close. A doorway exploded out, a changeling trailing blood following it. “Pick on somepony your own size!” Diamonds pull out of the fallen changeling’s wounds, slowing to a hover above Rarity’s head, her horn burning like a beacon.  Chrysalis groaned, idly flicking away a lightning blade’s jab. “Here goes another pony working herself up to die tired.”  Rarity stepped forwards to Fluttershy’s side. “Still alright?” she asked. “Not a scratch,” they wheezed.  Rarity’ flourished her blades as pounding feet echoed through the halls. “Keep them off my back. Chrysalis is mine,” she snarled. Fluttershy nodded, and turned away, Rainbow’s blade readied as changelings flooded the halls. Chrysalis tilted her head. Rarity raised an eyebrow. “Surprised?” “I will admit,” Chrysalis replied, “I had not expected someone else to master bladecasting to such a degree,” She shrugged. “No matter, you will fall in the end.” “Overconfident much? I doubt you’ve known how we thrown a wrench in your plans. Maybe if you stop now, I can argue for a better deal for you?” “Now who’s overconfident?” Chrysalis advanced on the ponies, blades whirling in deadly orbits. Rarity’s blades also started accelerating. “A pity.”  They met in the middle, probing attacks and parries showering the floor with sparks. Rarity stared into her counterpart’s eyes, her pulse pounding within her head. A multi-blade jab at her legs was simply hopped over, letting her swipe at Chrysalis’s head, forcing the changeling back.  Rarity catches a brief pattern, and manages to jam one crystal into the path of two. Nine blades lock together in an instant, and she surged forwards. Bits of Chrysalis’s mane flutter away as the changeling dodged, her blades lagging behind as she tried to keep her neck intact. More of their blades locked together. Rarity’s blades hammer down on the sweating changeling queen. Their blades screeched to a halt, Chrysalis managing to pull her blades back before Rarity could reach her chest. Chrysalis snarled, and blasted Rarity back with a bolt of spellfire, forcing Rarity back from the glare it made splashing off her blade. They backed up, trying to probe a weakness in each other’s defenses. Finding it difficult to do so without giving up her own defense, Rarity pulls her blades back into a circle, and pushing as much magic into them she could dare. “Two can play at that game.” The blades flash, sparkling radiance bouncing in every which way. The queen hissed, her eyes blinking furiously. Rarity rushed through the erratic blades, her own Vorpal collecting in front of her.  Chrysalis rubbed her eyes, backing away. “You vermin!” she screeched. “I will--” she coughed wetly. She looked down, seeing three separate diamond blades imbedded in her chest, pulsing with compressed energy. She looked back up, pupils widening when Rarity relaxed her hold. The Queen screamed, arcs of energy exiting out of any weakspot on her skin they could find. Rarity’s horn flared, and she flicked her head, pulling her blades back to her side, sighing, “Dreadful business, but you gave me no choice.” The dead queen flashed in a swirl of fire, leaving a changeling grunt behind. Rarity blinked. “What?” “I promise you, it is very necessary.” Rarity’s eyes widened as a section of wall came alive, the outline of jaws snapping out. She turned, but was too slow to avoid the fangs clamping around her neck. Rainbow Dash feathers flashed, and kicked the changeling off. “Rarity!” she shouted grabbing the unicorn as she fell to her knees. Fluttershy quickly ran over, her face tight as she examined the puncture wounds.  “Rainbow Dash, get a signal out,” Fluttershy ordered. “But--” “Hurry! Before the rest of the changelings get brave.” Rainbow gritted her teeth, but shot out the window, releasing a Sonic Rainboom moments later. Chrysalis slowly pulled herself up on her hooves, rubbing her chin. “A mean hook, that one.” Rainbow Dash buzzed back in, stepping protectively over her friends.  The standoff barely lasted a few seconds when a swirling portal of fire warped into being along a wall. Twilight, Shining Armor, Pinkie Pie, and Applejack tumbled out. Spike followed through a moment later, shutting his mouth and letting the portal close when he hit the floor. Spike jogged over to the pegasi as the rest of the ponies formed a defensive circle. “What happened to Rarity?” he cried, nervously wringing his hands.  “I don’t know,” Fluttershy squeaked. Her eyes darted over the pulsing veins underneath Rarity’s coat. The pegasus shook, and held her head. “Oh no oh no oh no.” Chrysalis spat out some blood. “No matter. I’ve gotten what I came for. Goodnight, little ponies.” She turned around and walked out of the window. “Get back here--hrk!” Rainbow Dash fell to the floor, Applejack stepping heavily on her tail. “No time,” she pointed her eyes at Rarity. “We have to make sure Rarity’s fine.” “Ponyville?” Spike asked. Twilight nodded. Spike took in a deep breath, then exhaled a ball of fire into his palm. He threw it onto the wall, and waved everyone through.