//------------------------------// // Battle // Story: There's More to Magic Than Friendship // by Haoryu Changer //------------------------------// Sweetie Belle stumbled a bit as the ground shook one last time. Groaning, she stood up and attempted to look around with droopy and blurry eyes, dizzy from the impact above. Her ears rang, and her heart was pounding along with her head. Rubbing her head, she saw that Apple Bloom, Sugar Belle, Big Mac, and herself were still together underground but could also notice some of the night sky from above. It seemed the others were separated from them. The caves were a little caved in, but there was still enough space for someone as large as Big Mac to traverse through. Apple Bloom and Sugar Belle were still conscious, holding their heads the same as the small unicorn because of the recent impact. But Big Mac was still on the ground unconscious from using Grogar's bell along with Gusty the Great's magical silk. Other than that, he was unharmed. Apple Bloom, after checking her brother, and seeing he was alright, she breathed a sigh of relief. "Wha... what happened?" The younger Apple sibling strained out. "I think we were attacked." Sugar Belle said, getting on her hoofs. "Where are the others?" Sweetie asked, looking around for any sign of them only to stare at rocks and stone with traces of crystal as well. "They could be anywhere in the cave." Sugar surmised. "One of you, help me carry Big Mac, the other should go forward and look for any others, including the enemy." "Got it!" "On it!" Above the caves, Flurry Heart was unharmed, but she was struggling to get a crystal off of her. "Agh! Come on, you!" After a few seconds of attempts, her body suddenly felt lighter when her mother lifted the crystal off of her using her magic. Panting a bit and looking up at her, the alicorn filly thanked her. "No problem, honey," Cadence said with a smile, before signaling her to follow with a hoof. The two walked past some debris, and find Shining, standing in one of the many new entrances to the caves below, and looking on at the debris, some of which on fire. They went to his side and looked around as well. The many buildings that made Canterlot City were now more flattened than ever, and only a few still stood half as tall as they originally did than in the past. Looking to her left, Cadence noticed realized what her husband was staring at. Or the more correct definition of his expression, glaring at. Chrysalis and Tirek stood not too far away, staring back at them and nothing else. Keeping her eyes on them, Cadence spoke to Shining. "Are the others alright?" Shining breathed through his nose. "They're somewhere under this debris." "And what about Grogar's Bell?" "That too. Luckily, we aren't the only one unknown about its whereabouts." He says, signals towards the two monsters. "As long as they don't have it." "So now's our best chance to beat them once and for all." Flurry said, looking up at the two with a determined look to which they nodded. Tirek noticed they were finally making their way towards them. Smiling, he uncrossed his arms and relaxed them at his sides. The three slowly walked forward, with Cadence and Shining ever so slightly walking to the left where Tirek stood, while Flurry Heart pathed towards Chrysalis. "Careful, Flurry Heart. Chrysalis is as powerful as Tirek." Shining said to her. "I know." "All the running, and we still end up back here." The centaur said. Shining glared at him. "Canterlot, the center point of ponykind." Chrysalis added, giving a grin. "Now tainted by pure evil," Cadence said. "Pure evil?" Tirek asked with a smirk. "We had our purpose. Call it 'selfish' if you will. But I would never say pure evil." "I don't see how any of this is okay to do." Flurry said. "Seems evil to me." "And that is what we call being a naive little child," Chrysalis said, staring down the filly. Charging up her horn, Cadence shot a blast at Tirek, and her daughter did the same to Chrysalis. The two evils blocked the attacks with magic shields, and so the fight began. Giving war cries, the two sides of good and evil charged at one another. Starswirl and Scootaloo traveled across the debris when they began hearing powerful magic in the distance. "It seems the battle has begun." The wise unicorn said. "There's not much we can do to help," Scootaloo said. "Indeed." He said with a nod, knowing he was drained of his magic from Tirek. "Instead we must find and help the others. Especially Big McIntosh, since he has The Bell." "Gotcha!" Scootaloo said with a determined but serious look. The two continued on. "If they get their hooves on the bell, all will be lost." Stygian crawled through the caves, looking back for a second, he called out after some rumbling was caused by the battle from above. "Are you alright Ms. Yona?" "Yona okay!" She said, squeezing through a small gap. "We must hurry and regroup with the others. Quickly! I think we're nearly out." He said, continuing on with Yona behind him. Not too far from them in another section of the caves, Apple Bloom and Sugar Belle carried Big Mac, while Sweetie walked a little in front with the tip of her horn lit up for some light. "I wonder who's fighting." Apple Bloom said. "Hopefully they're alright." Sugar Belle said. "We have to find Scoots so we can fuse again," Sweetie said to Apple Bloom, looking left and right in the tunnel they were in. "Yea, then we can help out." *Thud* Shining her light towards the sound, which came from behind her, she saw that Grogar's Bell fell from Big Mac's neck, causing Apple Bloom and Sugar Belle to pause for a second. Picking it up with her hoof, Sweetie took the lead once again. "Be careful with that thing, Sweetie." Sugar Belle instructed, remembering very well what it did to her love just a few minutes ago. The unicorn nodded. With a roar and a clench of his fists, Tirek fired a magma magic beam at Cadence. Shining rolled in front of her and procured a blue magic shield, blocking the attack. Taking flight in the air, Cadence fired a couple of pink blasts at Tirek with had a direct impact, making him stop his beam before it broke her husband's shield. Growling, Tirek shrugged off the attack and fired multiple blasts at the two, but the married couple dodged them, proceeding to sprint towards the titan of a being. Flying around Tirek, Cadence shot some more beams at him, to which he blocked with his hands. But him being occupied created an opening for Shining, who slid under the tall centaur and shot a beam from below, which caused Tirek to growl once more. He stomped his giant hooves down, aiming for the unicorn. But missed as Shining ran out of his reach. In the side of his vision, he saw Cadence about to fire at him once more. Quickly turning, he fired a blast at her, to which she put up a shield. However, the shield wasn't enough, and the impact of the blast completely shattered the shield. She didn't take an injury to the attack but was knocked back by the force. Turning back to Shining with a glare, Tirek made fists with his hands and slammed the ground, making pillars of the ground come up towards the Prince. Trying his best to avoid the pillars being created, he sprinted in the direction away from the centaur and dodged them left and right. But soon, one was made in front of him and he didn't have time to react and ran straight into it. Tirek fired a beam at the disorientated Shining Armor with a grin full of malice, but before the beam hit Cadence flew down and grabbed her husband before diving to the side to dodge it. Meanwhile, with the fight against Chrysalis, Flurry Heart was doing her best dodging the Queen's attacks but not having enough time to send her own back. "Don't think for a second you belong in this fight!" Chrysalis boomed to the filly, firing a blast right behind her trail, the force knocking her forward. "You should have run south until you were safe." She continued, landing behind the filly on the ground who just now turned over on her back to stare up at the Changeling. "Not stay here and try to avenge the fallen kin you've never met." Before she could do anything, however, Chrysalis pinned her down with her hooves. "Equestria isn't a place for a young foal like you anymore!" She said proudly as she held Flurry down and was just beginning to wrap her in a cocoon. She barked back, straining against Chrysalis's hold. "That's why I'll turn it into a safe place for everyone!" "Innocent dreams will never change, will they?" She said with a smirk, putting her face directly into Flurry's. *BAM* Chrysalis was blasted away by magic that sparked like electricity and was thrown into some fallen houses. She quickly stood up and looked at the cause in Flurry Heart's direction. None other than Tempest landed on her hooves in front of Flurry Heart, not taking her eyes off the changeling for a millisecond. "Woah~," The filly said in awe. Still not breaking her line of sight of Chrysalis, the unicorn said, "Nice comeback, kid." "Brave... but foolish!" Chrysalis zipped towards her. Charging her broken horn, Tempest channeled some electro-magic and made a sparkling ball. Dropping it in front of her she kicked it towards Chrysalis, just as she did towards the Alicorn Princesses with the orbs that could turn one into obsidian statues. Unable to dodge it, Chrysalis was blasted backward but got up once again after regaining her footing. Tempest did a flip and kicked another spark ball directly at Chrysalis's face as Flurry looked on with amazement. Then she kicked two more, both landing direct hits knocking her head backward. Hissing, Chrysalis flew sideways this time, deciding a different approach. But Tempest was quicker, she jumped high in the air and kicked another ball downwards, slam-dunking the Changeling backward and towards the floor. The broken unicorn charged forward, and jumped once again, this time directly above Chrysalis. And flip-kicked another ball of her magic directly south, hitting the queen in the carapace. However, being unable to fly meant she was a sitting duck as long as she was in the air, and the great fighter quickly realized her attacks were barely doing anything against the powered-up changeling queen. Chrysalis, more angered than ever, flew up to Tempest with magic surging through her horn and grabbed her in a hold. And before Tempest could charge her own magic, the large changeling blasted her point-blank, sending Tempest flying into some debris. Flurry Heart was in the middle of flying towards Chrysalis but looked left to where Tempest made her landing. "Ms. Tempest!" She yelled in shock. Chrysalis turned to Flurry and fired a beam, to which the shocked but ready alicorn did the same. For a couple of seconds, the beams clashed and pushed against one another, but before a result could occur, two figures crashed into Flurry Heart; Shining Armor and Cadence. The three of them rolled onto some rubble next to Tempest. Flurry groaned and found she was on her back, she rolled over and stood up slowly, her parents doing the same. They could hear Chrysalis's laughter as she fluttered closer to them, standing tall on a fallen building. "It seems this is the pathetic extend of your little resistance." She boasted. Cadence struggled to stand, and after a moment of attempting to, she fell back on her side, supported by her husband. "It seems your struggles weren't enough," Tirek said, crossing his arms with a smirk. "You all stood no chance against us." "And to think, we don't even have our third," Chrysalis said. "Without the 'Magic of Friendship' carrying your lives, you were always inferior to us." Cadence was about to retort, but then the four of them noticed something that made their eyes widen in shock. They felt their muscles tense and couldn't move at the sight before them. To the south-east, and right behind Chrysalis and Tirek, an army of Changelings marched forward, stopping when Chrysalis commanded to and standing straight. There were hundreds, no, thousands that arrived. The unreformed changelings all stood behind their queen. Immediately, the married couple could tell that there were more changelings here than there were at the invasion during their wedding. "Impossible... there shouldn't be this many changelings..." Shining said. "Now then, for your final moments, you will witness my hive scour and locate your remaining allies. Then, finally, there will be no one left who oppose us." "I think we should head to the dragon lands afterward, and give them a little payback for assisting you," Tirek added. "After that is said and done, once word spread that we brought down hoards of all-mighty dragons, fear alone will conquer the lands." "That's a wonderful idea, Lord Tirek. We shall enjoy ourselves." Chrysalis fluttered down, now standing on the same level as the fallen heroes. "Such a shame. All of your hard work just for naught. You even managed to snatch Grogar's Bell. It seems you didn't know how to use it after all. Now I hope you realize your struggles were futile." As she stood in front of them, grinning evilly with complete confidence, and her form with a backdrop of her army, the four ponies could do nothing but stare back at Chrysalis, the hope in their eyes slowly diminishing. Everypony but one. Flurry Heart slowly and shakily stood up, much to the shock of the others. Cadence had her mouth agape, while Shining tried to reach out to her and failed to utter words. Tempest meanwhile looked on in astonishment, feeling a little proud for the little but courageous filly. She weakly trotted forward a few steps, and stood up straight, staring down Tirek, Chrysalis, and their new army. "When I was a baby, my aunt said I was Equestria's hope..." She said. Chrysalis laughed at that. "I'm not going to let her down." A spark of magic was then heard by Flurry Heart, it was behind her. Cadence and Shining gasped... in happiness. "It warms me to hear that from my niece." Chrysalis's eyes sharpened and Tirek huffed. Flurry Heart was a bit startled, her wings unfurling and standing on ends. She turned around and looked up. A tall pure white alicorn mare stood with a glistening rainbow mane. Her eyes sparkled as she stared into the eyes of another member of royalty. "Wait." She said. "Your niece?" She asked questionably before something clicked in her head and her eyes widened. "Y-you must be..." Celestia warmly smiled down at her and walked past her to stand in front and towards Chrysalis, who could only glare. "It seems your struggles weren't as futile as I thought." The tall princess moved her eyes across the fallen buildings. "It pains me to finally witness what has occurred while I was banished to the moon," She said, looking around. "The city is nearly falling off the edge of the mountain, how horrible." Tirek jumped down and stood beside Chrysalis. "We did some renovations. We weren't aiming for your approval." Celestia glared at the two. "It is time to put an end to the torment you produce to this land." The two laughed. "You and what army?" Chrysalis asked. It was then another teleport spell spark was heard behind Cadence, Shining, and Tempest. Then another. Then a bunch more. The villains watched as ponies, griffons, yaks, and many other creatures appeared in bright blue sparks of magic. The dragon hoard, complete with a bunch of medium-sized dragons, including garble and his gang. They helped Ember out from some rubble. The yak tribe, standing ready with their leader Prince Rutherford. They noticed Yona and Stygian climbing out of the ground and assisted them. The Hippogriff guards, with Princess Skystar and Queen Novo to boot. The strong members of earth ponies, including the Apple and Pear families. Experienced unicorns, including Chancellor Neighsay, Sunburst, Fast flyers, including the Wonderbolts, and the Washouts. Daring Do, with Ahuizolt and Dr. Caballeron. A bunch of royal guards of Canterlot Castle. Luna teleported next to Celestia. "I see you were successful in stalling them, sister." She said with a smile. "I told you Chrysalis loved to keep a conversation going," Celestia said back, which Chrysalis heard, making her grit her teeth and causing Tirek to frown at her, unamused. Yona climbed out of the tunnel she and Stygian escaped out of. When she heard some more teleportation spells coming from her right, she turned. She gasped in joy when she realized who they were. The missing members of the Young Six. The Young Six noticed Yona sprinting at them. Running up to them with teary eyes, the yak tackled them to the floor. "Everyone okay! Yona so glad!" She grabbed them all and pulled them into a big hug. They smiled at their big friend and hugged back as tight as they could. "We missed you too, Yona," Sandbar said. "We're never going to leave you again, Yona," Silverstream said. "We promise!" The others agreed. But there was still someone missing. "Wait... where's Ocellus?" Gallus asked towards Yona, who only gave a somber look in response. "Oh." He said in understanding, knowing she's still with Chrysalis. "Smolder!" The orange dragon had no time to react as a red figure swooped down and grabbed her, pulling her into a caring embrace. "Gar-Gar!" Smolder held him tight. "I'm so glad you're alright! Everyone back home was worried sick!" He said, holding her by her shoulders. "Well, I'm in one piece. And now I'm finally free and ready to go!" Ember had her fists resting on her sides as she watched in happiness. Her most recent friend in Yona finally getting to see her friends again, and two of her own clan reconciling. It could even melt her burning heart. Stygian stared at the scene with a tender smile. He caught Starswirl in the corner of his eye. The wizard did the same, and was about to go meet up with him, but the two old but wise ponies saw a large flash in the middle of the two of them. Appeared were the missing pillars. They smiled and ran to them, eager to speak to them once again and to fill them as to what was going on. They knew they would be helping out in the fight, even with their magic still drained from Tirek. A few more flashes were heard, and Celestia smiled brightly. "You're all alright. Thank goodness." She flew over to the Element of Harmony bearers, sans Twilight, who was looking a little confused. "W-where are we?" Rarity asked. "Princess Celestia?" "No time to explain!" The princess said. "To make it simple and short; the remaining creatures that managed to escape after we failed to stop Tirek, Chrysalis, and Cozy Glow succeeded in freeing us. We now have another chance to save Equestria." They all looked at her with widened eyes and looked to each other, soon dawning determined looks. "We're ready!" Rainbow Dash and Applejack said simultaneously. "But where's Twilight?" Fluttershy asked. "She is one of the few beings that we don't know their whereabouts," Cadence said, floating down, with Shining Armor and Flurry Heart in tow. "Is that Flurry Heart!" Pinkie Pie yelled. "My gosh, she's grown up!" The little filly gave a sheepish nod. "Save it for later!" Shining Armor shouted. "We're in the middle of a battle, and we need all the help we can get." Many others had heartfelt reunions all around the field of fallen buildings. From every creature and race, old and young. But it was short-lived. "Charge!" Everyone snapped their heads to Chrysalis, as her army of changelings obeyed her command and starting making their way towards everyone. Everyone watched in horror as the changeling army was getting closer. Even then, they all took battle positions, ready to fight. Thinking quickly, Cadence rose to the air, speaking in a loud and empowering voice. "Everyone! We mustn't harm these changelings!" Chrysalis hissed and fired a blast at Cadence. However, the pink alicorn didn't flinch as both her aunts rose up and shielded the attack. "They are all innocent!" She continued. "Being brainwashed and controlled by Chrysalis! We must save them!" "And how are we supposed to accomplish that, pony!?" A griffon asked from below. "They aren't going to just sit around and let us save them!" "Subdue them! Pin them down so they cannot fight back! Knock them out if you will! I'm sure they will understand if you must harm them, but please try not to do anything too drastic!" The changelings were getting closer. "She's correct!" Celestia said, turning around. "The only enemies here are Tirek, Chrysalis, and Cozy Glow!" They all started to transform, copying many of the creatures that had just arrived. "Oh no! I totally forgot about that!" Pinkie screamed. Chrysalis laughed maniacally. "Stay strong everyone! Work together! Fight together!" Celestia yelled. They got closer, passing Tirek. "Protect each other at all costs!" They then passed Chrysalis. "And let us take back our homeland!" With that, everyone gave a battle cry and charged forward, clashing with the changeling swarm. They heard rumbling from above. "Something big's happening," Apple Bloom said, looking upwards. "We should hurry! If the wrong creature finds us all will be lost." Sugar Belle said, she and Apple Bloom still lugging Big Mac. "I think we're nearly there!" Sweetie Belle said, her horn still lit up, providing light and still carrying the horn. "This way!" "If only Scootaloo were here, we may have been able to fuse and get out of here easier..." Apple Bloom stated. "We have to group up with her so we can help!" Sweetie replied. Sugar Belle agreed. "Lead the way!" "What are these things!?" Garble yelled out, trying to shake off a snake wrapped around his arm. "They're changelings!" Ember said, helping him get it off. "They can transform into anything using their magic." She pulled the snake off and dropped it to the ground, it transformed back into a changeling who was too dazed to get up. "Magic is stupid!" Garble said, flying up and breathing in. Realizing what he was about to do, Smolder flew up and stopped him. "Don't! We can't burn them!" The red dragon growled in frustration. "They're good creatures, I should know I'm friends with one! They're just under some sort of mind control!" "I know, I know!" "Look out!" Ember yelled, and they dodged an eagle. "How do we even know who to fight?!" Garble asked in anger to no one in particular. A bunch of yaks were stampeding through a group of changelings when suddenly a green flame appeared in front of them and three Ursa Majors appeared. The yaks gulped in shock and began to slowly walk backward. But before the changelings turned into Ursas could do any damage, Chancellor Neighsay galloped forward and tapped his amulet. A surge of orange magic flowed into his horn and he shot a laser at the Ursa's, catching them in blue chains. Then, the changelings reverted back into their forms and were free of the chains. Another seven changelings dropped behind Neighsay and now a total of ten surrounded him. Sunburst charged forward and whipped his horn around, letting his magic flow around the changelings, forcing them asleep with a spell. The two unicorns nodded to each other and continued forward, the yaks charging after them to assist. A bunch of griffons swarmed the air, with a bunch of falcons chasing after them. On top of the falcons were changelings firing magic missiles. Gilda looked to the battlefield below, then back to the falcons chasing her and her accompanying griffons as the missiles flew past too close for comfort. "This way!" She yelled, diving right and dodging some magic, everyone following close behind. She then flew up, doing a loop-the-loop. At that angle, she was a much harder target for the changelings to hit. While the changelings were distracted, hippogriffs General Seaspray, Sky Beak, and Terramar rush in. They flew swiftly into the changelings on top of the falcon and they fell to the ground, seemingly knocked out. "Nice work!" Greta said complimentary. "Amazing bait," Terramar replied. They smiled and continued forward to the fight. Celestia fluttered down, blasting three changelings away with her magic, but not too rough as to hurt them. It was then she saw Cadence standing not too far away dealing with some changelings on her own, using her magic to blast some changelings away reluctantly. "Cadence! Does anyone know where Grogar's bell is?!" She asked. "It's somewhere below the ground, auntie!" Cadence answered. "The last pony holding it was Big McIntosh, Applejack's brother!" "We must locate it at once!" "But auntie, it's too dangerous for any of us to use!" She warned. "You should have witnessed what happened to Big Mac when he used it to free everyone." "Then when we find it we must get it as far away from here as possible." Their conversation was interrupted when Chrysalis dropped in front of Celestia, attempting to fire at her. The sun princess reacted well and flew to the side to dodge the sneak attack. Cadence, however, was occupied by a few more changelings showing up. "We're the ones who shall locate it!" Chrysalis told. "Then, once and for all, we shall finally finish the deed." "You will do no such thing. I won't allow it!" Celestia said, extending her wings to look intimidating. Chrysalis laughed and fired again. This time, Celestia teleported behind some stone, now out of the bug queen's sight. "Princess Celestia!" Hearing a voice, Celestia was approached by none other than Spitfire, the captain of the Wonderbolts. She flew up to her princess and whispered in her ear. With widened eyes and a shocked expression, the white alicorn turned to her. "Tell, Luna. I will keep Chrysalis occupied." With a nod, Spitfire flew off. "I know you're here, Celestia!" Chrysalis asked with a smirk, looking around. "You don't happen to forget what occurred at Cadence and Shining Armor's wedding? I singlehandedly defeated you in power. Now, with Grogar's magic coursing through me, what chance do you have?" "That may be true," Celestia said, speaking up so she could be heard, closing her eyes. "But I have failed enough times. I may not be able to truly bring you down, but I will stand up and fight." She stood up straight, and came out of hiding, glaring at Chrysalis and standing her ground. "For the creatures of this world, for Equestria, and for Twilight!" As the battle continued, Tirek marched up and began charging magic between his horns, gripping his fists. He aimed at a group of dragons handling some changelings along with Luna and fired. Luna was the first to react and used magic to try and push it back. However, Tirek's magic was far too strong, and his side of the beam struggle was unrelenting. But suddenly, Luna felt the attack growing lighter on her magic. With widened eyes, she looked left and right to see some dragons assisting her with their fire breath. Together, they pushed back Tirek's beam some. Unfortunately, it wasn't enough to push it back into the centaur, but the beams exploded in the middle of the collision. Ember dropped down next to Luna, and the two along with a good number of other dragons prepared their fighting stances for a fight against Tirek. Before anything happened, however, Spitfire landed next to Luna and whispered something in her ear, which did not go unnoticed to the red villain. The night princess gasped and nodded to the Wonderbolt. She was about to take off, but she was unsure to leave the dragons with Tirek. Ember must have read Luna's mind, and said, "Don't worry, we'll handle him. Do what you need to do." "But..." She didn't want to leave and regret it later. "Go, Princess. I'll help them too." A new voice said. Luna looked towards the voice and her mouth went agape when she saw Tempest. "Tempest." She breathed out, then looked back towards the dragons, some of which gave her a thumbs up and encouraging nods. Reluctantly, she sighed and unfurled her wings. "You have my prayers for your victory!" She said, taking off in flight. Celestia galloped as she dodged Chrysalis's magic blasts, hitting the ground around her and shaking the vicinity. The bug queen in question chased after her in a flutter. "The ruler of Equestria fleeing? How feeble!" Celestia grit her teeth as she ran, seeing some of the battle going on in her peripheral vision. "Or should I say, the former ruler of Equestria!" She charged her horn with a little more magic and fired multiple magic blasts in a scattered frenzy. The white alicorn skidded to a stop and lit her horn, putting up a shield to block the onslaught, she flinched when some of Chrysalis's magic hit the ground past her shield. Chrysalis laughed, but it came to stop when a purple blast hit her from behind. She turned in surprise to see a changeling, one who originally wasn't one. Starlight glared at Chrysalis and charged her horn. "When you brought your army here you forgot about somepony!" She said. Celestia gasped, recognizing that spiral purple mane. "Starlight Glimmer?! What has happened to you?!" She asked in horror. "I'll gladly answer that!" Chrysalis said, smirking. "When acquiring the magic from Grogar's bell, I gained new and powerful abilities. One of which, complete control of my changelings, and another and much more devious, the power to change any creature into one!" She cackled loudly. Celestia looked up at Chrysalis in pure shock, then back down to Starlight with worry. Starlight looked at Celestia with a sad smile that said, "I'll be fine." "Tell me, Celestia. Did you ever ask yourself why there are so many changelings on my side of the battle?" The queen said. Celestia's heart stopped for a moment. "You're not saying that..." "I think you have it figured out, but if I may just say it out loud; More than half the changelings in the battle are other species I've captured transformed!" She announced. "Monster!" Starlight screamed before shooting another blast at Chrysalis, who simply dodged it and grabbed Starlight in her magic. "The natural-born changelings were easy to control, all but that traitorous Thorax and his brother Pharynx. Thankfully for the latter, he didn't need to be controlled to walk by my side once more. Other than that, I could use my new powers to turn any weak creature into a changeling to do my bidding. With you Starlight, it took some time, but definitely worth the time and energy!" Starlight hissed at her. "And what did you think you were going to accomplish coming here? Hm?" She said with a grin. "If I can control the other changelings..." Starlight gasped and teleported away back on the ground. "What makes you any different?" But it was too late. She lit her horn in green changeling magic. Immediately, Starlight's eyes glowed bright green, matching Chrysalis's magic, and her face went neutral. "Starlight?" Celestia called out. "Now then... why don't you teach your teacher's teacher some proper manners?" The large changeling said, pointing towards the sun princess. Starlight frowned and rushed towards a shocked Celestia. Chrysalis laughed as she watched her changeling slave chase the monarch, the tall pony stuck in a hard place, not wanting to hurt the innocent pony now changeling. Then she turned around. "Now for you... my sweet." She said, looking down at Ocellus, who arrived shortly after Starlight but went unnoticed by the other two, in the eye. She lit her horn once more, making the little changeling's eyes glow. "Go find your little friends and bring them to me. They are somewhere around here lurking." Without a word, Ocellus fluttered off. "Chrysalis!" Now, the bug queen would have been annoyed that another creature shouted out her name, getting bored and frustrated at everyone who faced her. But the voice she heard didn't trigger any of those feelings, instead, the voice of her one ally made her serious at the second. The centaur wasn't too far away, but he was busy dealing with some dragons. Chrysalis rolled her eyes, there was no way a dozen dragons were tough to deal wit- "The castle!" He yelled and pointed behind her. She snapped her head to Canterlot Castle and spotted Luna about to enter it. Gritting her teeth she chased after her. And the only thing tugging on her and Tirek's minds was but only one thing in the castle; Cozy Glow. Her, and only her were they concerned about. However, before she got anywhere near Luna, she was stopped by some flames passing her. Cursing the dragons, she whipped her head to where the flames came from but to her confusion she saw no one, much less a dragon. Once again, flames passed by her, barely touching her chitin, and now making her angrier by the second. She tried as she might to find the source of the fire. Then she heard a roar, not one of a dragon, but of a bird. She observed the flames closely and found that the fire wasn't fired by something, but was something itself. A phoenix. Philomena, Celestia's cherished pet, soared high in the sky and cried again, causing the owner of it to gaze up and smile, before blocking another one of Starlight's attacks. Growling, Chrysalis looked to her upper left and saw one of her changelings. "Pharynx!" She yelled, getting his attention. "Chase after Princess Luna! She's heading into the castle, do not let her go around as she pleases!" "Yes, my queen!" The purple-eyed changeling wasted no time and made his way towards the castle. Chrysalis didn't have time to do much else before two figures appeared before her. She smirked at them. "Trying to get some payback for your wedding it seems." "Oh yeah, totally not for all the evil you've done afterward, just the wedding you crashed years prior," Shining said sarcastically. "To be honest though," Cadence continued. "That too." The two charged towards Chrysalis. Pharynx turned into a griffon and swiftly followed the lunar princess, not keeping her out of his sight until she finally entered the damaged castle through a broken window. But before he got close to the same window, he spotted something in the corner of his eye down below. Hidden in behind a boulder, were two fillies, a mare, and a large red stallion. Looking closer, something caught his eye, something they had in their possession. A bell. Luna made her way through the cracked hallways as quickly as she could, heading towards the place Spitfire told her. She knew the castle inside out, as did her sister, making her way around very easily and swiftly. Luckily, there weren't any changelings waiting for her in the throne room when she arrived. There, in front of the throne, was a stone statue. However, the statue was not normal. One would recognize the statue as Discord, the Lord of Chaos and Disharmony. But he wasn't alone. The part of the statue under him also had two other figures. One was the Princess of Friendship, Twilight Sparkle, and the other was her Number One assistant, Spike the dragon. Discord had a shocked look on his face, while Spike had a claw resting on Twilight's shoulder, who had her eyes closed. Luna remembered very well what had happened that day. Twilight had once again attempted to use the Magic of Friendship to defeat the mightiest foes Equestria has ever faced, but this time, it didn't work. Twilight had her magic drained, and she fell unconscious to the floor, while her friends and everyone else were stunned. The three villains had the bright idea to turn Discord back to stone, and it seemed appropriate to do Twilight the same, as they despised her the most. Unfortunately, right before they turned them to stone, Spike slowly walked up to Twilight and kneeled next to her. When question by his friends, he simply explained that he could never leave her alone, before being zapped and turned to stone. In the present day, Luna now stood before them. She closed her eyes and brightened her horn. "Hold on you three... This will only take a couple of minutes." Tirek grew more frustrated by the second. "Will you just stop already!" As a dozen waves of fire breath soared towards him, he charged his horn and fired some magic back to push back the attack, making the little hoard of dragons split apart to evade his magic. Unluckily for him, Tempest rushed him from below and kicked a magic electro-ball at his chest, knocking him back. "Keep pressuring him! We can't let him pass us!" Ember commanded to her out-of-breath dragons, as they huffed in exhaustion. She too could feel the fatigue catching up to her. Chrysalis had a beam of magic pushing against Shining's magic shield, but the defense didn't budge. "How annoying!" She stopped her attack and zipped around Shining, now behind him. She tried once more to attack him before he could react, but the trained soldier was quick as well, putting up a shield once more. "Your name fits you well," Chrysalis admitted. "Even Twilight's shield shattered uselessly against my power." "Save it," Shining said, putting down his shield to reserve his magic. "I can do much more than that." The queen chuckled, "Like what." He glared, "Keep you talking." She was blasted behind her, and Cadence stepped into the fray, firing once more, with Shining adding to the mix. The bug ducked and hissed. Celestia could only run. Dodging and shielding herself from Starlight's onslaught of magic. The only thing on her mind was how to free the unicorn from Chrysalis' control. She knew several spells she could use to restore any creature from mind control, but there were numerous problems. One, it would take too long to apply the spell this severe. It didn't seem that Starlight was in any sort of control, no hint of her fighting back Chrysalis' orders. She simply didn't have the time to do so. Two, Starlight was using her collection of spells she's learned over the years. Both herself and Twilight could admit that she was a prodigy like the young princess. It would be hard to subdue her and long enough so to try any procedure on her. And finally, she was now a changeling and the Queen's spell was never anything Celestia has ever seen before. Then, someone flew down in front of Celestia and landed before her. It was none other than Thorax. "Thorax!" Celestia said with surprise and happiness. "I'm glad you're alright!" Starlight by now caught up to them and fired another magic missile at the alicorn, who put up a shield in protest. "I can handle this," Thorax said. "Go and assist the rest." "Are you sure?" Celestia asked. The Changeling King nodded. "Starlight's a changeling now, this is more my field." He explained. "I'm far better helping her than fighting with Tirek anyways." "I understand," Celestia said, spreading her wings and beginning to take flight. "Be safe." "You as well." Starlight began to chase after her, but Thorax stopped her by grabbing her in his magic. She hissed at him, as Chrysalis often did, and fired a blast at him. "Woah!" He ducked down and evaded it, before looking back at Starlight. "Oh boy..." They felt their flesh returning to normal. Luna gasped and kneeled to the ground, panting heavily. Looking up, she saw them all laying on the ground for a moment. Before one by one, they squeezed their eyes closed and groaned, rubbing their heads and getting up slowly. Discord was the first to notice he was actually alive and standing, as well as Luna standing in the throne room with them. "It sure is harder dealing with being unpetrified without your magic." He said before he noticed Luna's state. He gasped and ran towards her, helping her up. "Are you alright?" He asked. "I'm fine. Just a tad winded. Teleporting thousands of creatures and unpetrifying three others sure does a toll on you." She looked towards Twilight and Spike, the smaller one making sure his friend was alright. "Twilight, we must hurry and get you with your friends!" She said. Finally standing upright, Twilight nodded and said. "I know. I'll explain later, but we know a lot more than you think." She told. Luna gave a puzzled look, before regaining her composure and beckoning them. "This way, the sooner we get you back to the other Elements of Harmony the better. At this moment in time, Tirek, Chrysalis and Cozy Glow don't have the bell, the only Magical Tool ever capable of stopping the Element's power." "As she said, we know all that." Discord said. "Lead the way." The moon princess nodded and lead them out of the throne room. In the middle of the next hallway, Luna and Twilight kept sprinting, but Spike stopped and looked up out of one of the many cracked windows of the castle. Discord noticed him and stopped as well, looking at him curiously. "Spike?" He looked in the direction the little dragon's eyes faced, and the color on his face dropped. "Spike, I don't thin-" "Just go with Twilight and Luna. Or hide." He said, starting to walk backward and facing Discord. "And what about you? Going there is dangerous. Who knows what could happen to you!" "I'll be fine." He reassured turning towards the opposite direction from him. "Besides, without your magic, you're frailer than I am." He sprinted off, leaving a worried Discord behind. "You'd better be." Sighing, the draconequus reluctantly let him go and chased after the two ponies. If one were to stare out the window and look at the same thing they just were, they would have seen another room with a bright green glow escaping the windows.