//------------------------------// // Chapter 24: Fight and Flight // Story: A Time to Think // by The Sonic Mage //------------------------------// For a time, there was a great stillness and quiet. Nobody moved, nobody spoke. Chrysalis shifted her front, right hoof. And then, a lot of things happened at once. Chrysalis broke into a run. She knew that there was a staircase at the other end of this long hall of storage rooms.  As she began sprinting, Thorax started running after her, in the hopes of catching up and calming her down.  Shining Armor and the two royal pony guards would have started running after Chrysalis. However, the Changeling troopers slammed the blunt handles of their spears down on the backs of the pony guards, and then slamming the back of their heads. The pony guards were dazed.  Shining got a little farther, before Pharynx drove his hoof straight into a bruised spot on his chest. They had bought themselves some time.  ‘Okay,’ Pharynx thought, ‘Shining and his two punching bags are down for now. That just leaves-’ The sense of actual magic in the air broke him from his planing. Cadence got into a combative stance, wings outstretched, magic gathering at her horn. A look of anger formed on her face  ‘...The other half of the relationship.’ Pharynx finished his initial thought. The rest of their pony guests began to step forward, but Pharynx summoned a thick wall from the floor, leaving him with only Cadence to deal with. He took a breath, his troopers getting beside him, and braced himself for the impending onslaught. Time was all they could buy. >~~~~~~~~~~~< ‘Run’ Chrysalis had never ran so much for so long in her whole life, as far as she could remember. Her breathing was frantic and audible. Blood rushed to her head making her slightly dizzy. Her hooves pounded against the floor. ‘Run’ She just had this urge to escape, to get somewhere she felt safe.  ‘Run!’ “Chrysalis!” Thorax called out, trying to gain speed. “Please, stop!” Chrysalis started to slow down. Maybe she was panicking over nothing. Maybe- “Get her!” Shining Armor barked to the two pony guards. He was red in the face and breathing heavily. Chrysalis returned to running as fast as she could. “Oh, come on!” Thorax ached, resuming his pursuit of Chrysalis, trying to stay ahead of the guards.  Thorax was never the most athletic Changeling, however, so his admirable efforts were basically for naught.  Chrysalis knew the two soldiers were descending on her.  ‘What do I do?’ Chrysalis frantically looked about her surroundings, ‘Where do I go?’  ‘Right’ Without thinking about it, Chrysalis made a sudden, hard right into the first hallway she came across. The guards stumbled and skidded across the floor. She had created a little more distance before the two pony guards got back on their hooves. Shining Armor, ignoring the pain of his bruises, soon got ahead of the troops, and was starting to get closer to the Changeling he wanted to catch so badly right now.  Fear pumped into Chrysalis’s veins at the sight of this pony stampeding behind her. She pushed herself to keep going. >~~~~~~~~~~~~~< Thorax and Pharynx were trying to catch up as much as they were running for their lives. They needed to reach Chrysalis, but they also needed to dodge all magic blasts and airborne punches getting in their way. Princesses Cadence was trying to either physically block them with her body, conjured obstacles, or just zapping them. Many a blinding, shielding, and short teleport spell had been expended between the two. “Pharynx!” Thorax called between breaths. “What?” Pharynx barked. “This might be a bad time,” Thorax admitted, “But I take full responsibility for this happening!” “Oh, you better!” Pharynx shouted, before a pink magic bolt whizzed past their heads, exploding only a few feet ahead of them. A cloud of dust and shrapnel kicked up in the air, cherry-topped with a crater being made in the floor. The two Changelings jumped up and over the smoke filled pothole. “Well, your Majesty, any ideas!” “I’m thinking…” “And?” “You’ve got access to the Hive-Mind, you know exactly what I’m thinking!” Thorax wasn’t wrong. Pharynx did have access. “I believe the fact that we need to distract her is painfully obvious right now!” Pharynx yelled. “There’s more to it, okay!” Pharynx resumed listening to Thorax’s train of thought. He was surprised by what he heard.  “Are you serious!?” “I don’t hear your brain coming up with anything!” Thorax refuted. He ducked under another spread shot aimed at his antlers. “You don’t have a better bad-idea than that?” Pharynx asked. “That is the best bad-idea I have, Pharynx!”  Pharynx was so lost in the reality of what his brother was ordering that he almost didn’t cast a deflect-spell when Cadence chucked another enchanted stalactite squarely at his head. Yet another unwelcome close call in his book.  “CEASE YOUR RESISTANCE!!!” she demanded, here Royal Canterlot voice on full blast. Pharynx looked to his brother, “Thorax?” “Yeah?” “You scare me.” “Just give the order!” Pharynx asked no further questions. He simply accessed the Hive-Mind and sent out a call. “I want a Scorcher unit on this floor, now!” It wasn’t long before three Changeling soldiers teleported into the hall, a little ways ahead of the fleeing brothers. Each one had a hollow rod, like a funnel, mounted in front of their mouths, with a ball of magic energy inside it.  The trio of troops were awfully surprised to see their superiors running from a very angry pony Princess. “Smoke!” Thorax called out to the troops, “Now!” The troops were surprised and apprehensive. An order to attack Equestrian Royalty? “Uh, Your Majesty?” Pharynx cut in as a star-spell exploded above him, “Now, damn it, now!” Wasting no further time, the middle solder stepped forward, taking in a deep breath. The fleeing brothers, knowing what was about to happen, quickly dropped and slid across the floor between the troops they had just called in. The middle soldier blew into the funnel and onto the ball of magic, as it began to glow white. In an instant, thick, black smoke filled with charged magic particles, came out the other end of the funnel at high speeds and flooded the hallway before them from floor to ceiling. Coughing and many statements of confusion could be heard from within the cloud. “Light it,” Pharynx ordered the other two soldiers.  They turned to their General in utter shock. “S-Sir, She-” “Did I stutter!”  Assuming that there must be a good reason for this, the two Changeling troopers turned to the cloud of smoke, and blew into their own funnels. >~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~< Twilight, her friends, and the Royal Sisters had finally broken through the wall that Pharynx had locked them behind. They quickly made their way out of the lower chambers. While they didn't have the murderous intent that possessed Cadence and Shining, they still moved with similar haste. “Twilight!” Rainbow Dash pulled up alongside her friend. “What’s the game plan?” “Catch up to Thorax and Pharynx and figure what the hay is going on.” “I don’t think there will be many obstacles stopping us from that goal.” Luna said as they came to the top of the staircase. Pinkie Pie noticed an odd scent in the air. She took a long sniff wondering what it was. As she did so, a violent warning twitch electrified her body.  “Wait!!!” She hollered jumping through the air to the top of the stairs in front of the stampede of Equestrian figureheads. “Twitchy ear!!!” Pinkie shouted causing her five other friends to grind to a hault which also stopped the Royal Sisters.  “Twilight,” Luna asked, “Why do we delay?” “Whenever Pinkie gets all twitchy like that, something unpleasant is usually on the way.” Applejack answered. “What do you mean by ‘unpleasant’?” Celestia inquired. At that very moment, a wave of heat and fire filled the corridor in front of them. Everypony jumped or tumbled back, awestruck by the destructive display before them. “Like that,” Applejack said. >~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~< A bright, green glare from their magic spheres briefly filled the room before it was soon replaced by heat, as streams of green fire sprung forward into the cloud of smoke. The particles of magic in the smoke then ignited, engulfing anything or anyone in a visually spectacular fireball. “Sir,” the middle Changeling asked Pharynx, “Why are we doing this?” “I’ll tell you why later,” the Changeling General said, “Just hold her as long as you can!” “Yes Sir!” With the confirmation that they would no longer have bolts raining down on them for a few minutes, the brothers resumed their pursuit of Chrysalis and Shining Armor. >~~~~~~~~~~~~~< ‘Left’ Another hard turn down a hallway, and Chrysalis saw something. A light. Daylight at the end of the hall. ‘Come on, just a little further!’ Shining Armor was galloping as fast as he could. He cursed in his thoughts. He would have been able to go faster if it weren’t for the bruise on his chest that made his ribs and lungs feel like they were being stabbed as he breathed.  Still he pressed on, slowly getting closer to his target.  “Shining!” A voice called out from behind him. Shining glanced back. Thorax and Pharynx has managed to catch up.  The brothers could see who they’ve been chasing, who they had put so much effort into helping. But they needed to get past the ponies in front of them now.  ‘It’s just one thing after another,’ Thorax lamented. Pharynx called to his brother, “Thorax, I have an idea.” “Really? What is it?”  “You’ve got access, don’t you?”  Thorax had a feeling that he knew where this was going. He looked at the idea Pharynx had in his head. “Pharynx, you know that transformation makes me dizzy!” “You, got a better bad idea than that?” Yep, Pharynx was doing this to him.  Thorax simply shook his head, and readied himself. The two of them gathered their magic, and focused best as possible on the image in their heads. They leapt forward as their magic engulfed their bodies, and changed them.  They landed upon the ground as rolling balls of armor, gaining speed as they caught up to ponies ahead of them.  Shining Armor was distracted from pursuing Chrysalis by the sound of something rolling along the ground, and the sound was getting closer. He allowed himself a glance behind him.  He was greeted not with the sight of two royal Changelings, but rather a ball of segmented insect armor coming down at his face. He barely had time to blink before it crashed into his forehead. His body bounced and rolled across the ground. He was absolutely dazed as he slowly raised to hooves. That insectoid bowling ball was coming at him again. Angered, he quickly channeled magic into his back hooves, and kicked it as hard as he could.  There was a cracking sound as Shining’s hooves made impact. Green, fire-like magic came off the armor ball as the form fell away. Pharynx’s body hit the ground and skidded on his side. The immense pain in his back refused to let him get up. He couldn’t tell if his shell or wings had been damaged, but it definitely felt like it.  Managing to open his eyes as he lay on his side, Pharynx could see Shining Armor looking down at him in anger. A second armored ball zipping by drew the white unicorn’s attention away. Shining didn’t want to waste any more time chasing it, or Chrysalis for that matter. He’d just blast them both. He began to gather magic at his horn.  Pharynx, realizing what was about to happen, ignored the possibility that he was bleeding as best he could, and focused on gathering magic at his antlers. Not without a bit of frustration and pain, he launched a blast of magic right into Shining Armor’s back leg. It struck him right where his cutie mark was.  Shining cried out from the sudden pain he felt, collapsing to his knees and losing focus on the spell he was trying to cast. He clenched his teeth as he tried to ignore the fresh, brutal burn on his calf. The fur of his coat sizzled as the skin beneath it seethed in pain. He looked down the hall. They were getting away. She was getting away. Again.  >~~~~~~~~~~< Chrysalis came to the end of the hall and found herself looking at where that light had been coming from. A window. A very large and very nice window at that. And beyond that window was the great outdoors. An expanse of grass patches, flowers, and rocky dirt that led right to the Everfree Forest. She could lose her pursuers there. She could hide. She- “Chrysalis!” -Took too long contemplating how the forest would be a great place to escape to. Chrysalis whirled around in time to see what looked almost like a giant rolly-polly uncurl in mid-air and lunge at her. A scream barely escaped her mouth before the large thing tackled her and they rolled across the floor, into another room.  Chrysalis groaned, laying on her back, as she regained her bearings. She quickly registered the super sized insect standing over her, looking her in the eyes. “Uh…” The former queen couldn’t tell if it was the awkward silence or the huge arthropod that was weighing on her chest. “Oh, right!” Magic flames washed over the body of the giant bug, reverting it back to being the young King of Changelings.  The awkward moment didn’t get better until Thorax rushed over to the door, slamming it shut and turning the lock.  Thorax let out a sigh of relief. “You alright, Chrysalis?” “What are you doing!?” Chrysalis frantically asked, “Just what are you playing at? And why the heck were you and all those other ponies down in the cellar where I was hiding?” “Shhh, keep it down!” Thorax urged. “And to answer your second question: Pinkie Pie ran down there out of nowhere.” “Of course it was the annoying one.” Chrysalis put her face in her hooves, completely exhausted by the absurdity of those ponies. ‘Oh, who am I kidding, they’re all annoying.’ “Look, it’ll be okay,” Thorax assured, “We can talk to the Princesses, get this whole mess sorted out and we can all live ‘happily ever after’, right?”  “...No…” Thorax blinked. “What?”  “I can’t do that…” “Why not? I thought we went over this! The Princesses are not going to kill you!” “It’s not about that!” Chrysalis shouted. “Then what is it about?”  “You!” Chrysalis replied, “It’s about you, and your brother, and every Changeling in this Hive!” There was a moment of silence as Chrysalis regained her breath.  “Listen,” she continued, “You and your subjects have given me so much. You’ve housed me, fed me, entertained me, and all these things. And I know exactly how you feel about it. “But I have no idea how I feel about it. I’m completely lost and I don’t have the room or time to figure it out. I can’t sit in the room you gave me, because I’m surrounded by all the things you gave me. I need to be away from all of this, and them.” She pointed at the locked door. “Thorax…I need some time to think…about everything.” Thorax stepped towards her, worry returning to his face. “But where are you gonna go?”  “I’m not sure…” Chrysalis admitted, “But I can’t stay here. Especially not now.”  “Please, Chrysalis, don’t do this,” Thorax pleaded, “You’ve come so far!” “You may believe that, but I need to believe it to. And right now, I don’t” A pounding came at the room’s door. Muffled shouting and bickering was beyond it. Time was short. ‘Run’ Chrysalis grabbed Thorax by his shoulders, making direct eye contact with him. “Please…” Thorax grimaced as he tried to look away. He really didn’t want to do this. But at the same time, he didn’t want Chrysalis to hate him.  Begrudgingly, he caved.  “Please…Come back when you’re done.”  ‘Please, come home,’ Thorax wanted to say it so badly, but he felt it would be too forward. “I’ll see what I can do,” Chrysalis said making her way to the balcony Thorax got into the best fighting stance he could manage in front of the door, which at this point was being hammered. Chrysalis looked back at the young king. “Thorax…” she said. Thorax glanced to Chrysalis. “Take…Take care of the Changelings, okay?” She almost said “children” rather than “Changelings”. “Only if you promise to come back,” Thorax responded. Another pound hit the door. A massive crack appeared in it. Thorax turned back to the door, bracing himself for the pony storm that was trying to get through.  *WHAM!* Another hit. Chrysalis slowly walked towards the edge of the balcony.  ‘Jump’ ‘Or I could just fly,’ Chrysalis determined. She went through a quick checklist. ‘Wind speed and direction…Wing strength…Target in mind-’ *WHAM!*...and then…*CRUNCH!* Splintered wood flew through the room. One large chunk hit Thorax square in the face and forced him back, as he hit the ground.  Chrysalis knew it was time to go. She vaulted over the balcony banister and got her wings moving. Being out of practice didn’t help her speed or mobility, but she was airborne.  Shining Armor limped his way to the balcony of the room. He wasn’t going to miss this time. He forced himself to stand on his unsupported legs and lined up his horn.  Thorax rose from the shambles of what used to be the door. His head ached and his body was sore. That didn’t matter when he registered that Shining Armor was taking aim.  Thorax scrambled to his splinter filled hooves and leapt at Shining, grabbing him by the neck and head, trying to haul him back.  The sudden lurch caused Shining to lose aim and misfire. The blot seemed to travel in slow motion through the air. It just missed Chrysalis’s body.  What it did hit, however, was her right wing. Chrysalis’s cat like pupils thinned into lines, as she quickly plummeted to the ground. The ground came closer and closer as Chrysalis fell, expecting nothing but death. Chrysalis felt her whole insufferable life flash before her eyes before- *THUMP* Chrysalis’s body hit the ground, and was still. For a time, there was silence. Then a groan came from the black and green body. Chrysalis opened her eyes slowly rolling onto her belly. She found herself…surprisingly less hurt than she should be. There were scrapes, cuts, and cracks, but nothing was broken.  “There she is!” “Get her!”  The voices of pony guards reached her ears. Chrysalis quickly rose to her feet and thanked the fact that her body could still produce enough adrenaline to keep her going. As she raced to the tree line she took a moment to look back. Back at the balcony she had fell from, at the hive she was running from again. Then, she turned back to the forest she was running to again, and pressed forward.  >~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~< Princess Cadence was exhausted, as was her opposition. The entire corridor was blackened by endless fighting. It reeked of burned stone, boiled sweat, and singed fur and feathers. The three fire-throwing Changelings had held their ground for a while but it couldn’t last forever. Cadence eventually managed to get some magic bolts through the chaos. After a while the three Changelings ran out of magic and strength.  Despite her wounds, Cadence pressed on. She wanted an explanation, and she was willing to get it through whatever aggressive means she could think of. She only had to walk through a lot more hallway to get it. >~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~< Pharynx, still on the floor where he lay, sensed Thorax’s distressed thoughts. He sensed that his brother was in a bad spot.  He sensed that Chrysalis had fled The Hive and was still being pursued. Pharynx grit his teeth, growling slightly, and sent out an order through the Hive Mind. “I want my two best trackers to pursue Chrysalis and bring her back. If those royal guard ponies get to her first, you’re done for!” Pharynx took a moment to breath and ease the pain he was in, before sending out another order. “Kraft! Get your unit up here, now!” >~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~< The Royal Sisters and Mane 6 couldn’t help but be frozen with shock by the sight before them. It looked like a whole war had been fought right there in the hall. The borderline horrific sight prompted Twilight to ask the only appropriate question. “W-Why did this happen?” >~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~< Shining was enraged by the sight of the former Changeling Queen racing across the land towards the Forest. He would jump down there and chase her himself, if it weren’t for his wounded leg. That and the the Changeling King whom he was wrestling with at the moment. Thorax did his best to keep Shining from the balcony, worrying that the pony may do something crazy.  The two rolled across the ground until they kicked away from one another and hit their backs against the walls of the room.  Shining leaned against his wall, gripping his wounds, while Thorax lay on the floor, breathing slowly, staring at the outside world through the balcony.  The sound of clattering hooves echoed through the hall. Thorax’s eyes began to water, as he continued staring at the horizon, a few tears dripping and hitting the floor.  One sorrowful word escaped his lips… “Chrysalis…”