//------------------------------// // Chapter 18: Kinsbane // Story: Equestria’s Changeling Princesses and the Kinsbane // by vren55 //------------------------------// Mirage’s attempt to block the blow saved her life, but just. The Kinsbane slammed what the princess suspected was some kind of superheated fire spell into the steel shield, blasting it apart. Her head felt like it was being squeezed in a vice, but from all sides and she screamed as her own magic was turned against her by the backlash. “Mirage!” Kyria galloped to her sister, grabbed her and tried to hoist her half-limp form on her back. But unlike Mirage, she wasn’t militarily trained. She managed to get her sister on her back and take five paces, before a dreaded pink glow surrounded her, holding her in place. “Aw, that’s adorable. Too bad you’re going to die with your sister,” Atracina hissed, trotting forward at a leisurely pace.  Grandma! Please! Help us! Begged Kyria,  Focus on your link! We’re coming! I just need to pinpoint your location! Kyria was, but Atracina, the boogeypony of the changelings, the most famous traitor to their species, had turned her and her groaning sister around and was pulling them towards her. What can I do? What can I- Mirage, still groggy, blinked, eyes shooting to her sister’s peytral. “Kyria, your gun!” As quickly as she could, Kyria whipped out her father’s revolver and pumped the trigger as fast as she could.  Unfortunately, she took too long to aim and Atracina had thrown up two layers of magical shields to block the bullets, which pinged off the barrier, making whining screeches as their paths were forced off by the magic. The focus Atracina needed to throw the shield up though led to her dropping the pair, and before they hit the ground, their wings were buzzing, taking them as far away as possible. “Mirage! Do you have anything left?” Kyria begged. Her elder sister shook her head. “Use the smoke!” she screamed, grabbing her cutlass as she ran, she threw it at Atracina and yanked a smoke bomb from the emergency packets in her peytral and threw it to the ground. A cloud of smoke emerged behind the two sisters, but from nowhere, a strong, warm wind, blasted the smoke away, revealing the still-enraged Atracina in hot pursuit. However, the green circle of flames that opened in front of the sisters and the queen that charged out of it wiped all the blood-cooling fear they felt. “Atracina!” screamed Chamelia. Her magic screeched, deafening ears as the crackling bolt flew over Mirage and Kyria’s heads. It slammed into Atracina’s shield, and was immediately returned with a beam that slammed into her niece’s green shield. Scrambling to her hooves, Mirage grabbed her sister and yanked her behind a tree stump. They were both screaming as magic crackled and exploded around the clearing. “Kyria, your gun, and bullets!” Mirage managed to yell. Kyria glanced around, and tried to find her weapon with her magic, but groaned as her horn fizzled weakly. “I… I think I dropped it, I’m sorry.” “It’s alright.” Mirage shook her head to flick away a lone fly and peaked out from behind the stump. She narrowly dodged a deflected lightning bolt that seared a crater into the forest. Muttering to herself, Mirage poked her head back out, more cautiously this time. The two queens had to be throwing everything they had at each other. Chamelia’s horn and Atracina’s jagged stump both seemed to glow red as bolt, beam, curse and ray slammed into one another’s shields. There was no rhyme or reason to this, it was a slugging match. Chamelia staggered back as a particularly brutal lightning spell shattered her shield, but managed to dissipate most of it. “Why? Atracina? Why?” she hissed raising her shield up again. She ducked below a blood-pink beam and retaliated with one of her own. Atracina didn’t block the beam so much as strike it with one of her own, knocking it off course. Spitting venom she screamed, “You led the army that killed my daughters and nearly killed me! You killed Ragnar!” She ripped several trees full out of the ground and slammed them on Chamelia. Mirage and Kyria, watching from their cover, felt their hearts freeze mid-beat as their grandmother vanished beneath the pile of trees. And for a moment, everything was still, except for the lone persistent fly hovering above the pile. But it was only for a moment because Chamelia teleported out, wincing, but firing rays of magic that seemed to cause the air itself to screech, while also scorching the ground they hit. Atracina blocked one, but dodged away from the others. “You brought down all of this yourself! You tried to kill my mother! You murdered aunt Matari, and Latrodexa! You tried to kill my children, and my grandchildren!” Chamelia punctuated that with one last beam that Atracina tried to block, but wasn’t able to get her shield up in time. The beam shattered the pink magic like glass, and hit Atracina’s wing. The Kinsbane screamed in agony as emerald flames turned her wing into ash. Somehow, she launched what could only be described as a hammer of magic at Chamelia, a huge, flatheaded bolt the size of a changeling. The queen tried to dodge, but already tired from a long march, her hind leg was caught by the hit. “No! Grandma!” screamed Kyria as Chamelia was spun around by the blow. She was still spinning when she hit the ground headfirst. She struggled to her hooves, but the carapace around her head was cracked and she was groaning. Atracina picked Chamelia up with her magic, sneering at the dazed-looking queen. “Latrodexa killed Araneae’s daughters. You’ve killed nieces or grand-nieces or tried to kill them! I did what’s necessary to survive!” Mirage wanted to dash out, and… she swallowed. What could she do? Hit her great grand-aunt with her cutlass? No, that would get her killed. She had no magic left, and yes some modern tools, but nothing to hurt, or even distract the Kinsbane. She’d be no better than a fly trying to annoy an elephant. She blinked, why the hell was a fly on the battlefield, flying behind Atracina. Suddenly, pink flames whooshed into existence from behind the Kinsbane. Atracina heard it and tried to turn, but Chamelia, suddenly alert, seized the Kinsbane with her magic, fixing her in place, her lips curling into a grin. Thera, the “fly” that had been loitering on the battlefield, appeared from the flames, and smashed her hammer onto Atracina’s spine, right between her neck and barrel. The blow drove the Kinsbane to the ground, snapping her spine. Atracina’s head slammed into the ground, and her body lay crumpled behind her like a puppet that had its strings cut. Her breath came out, broken, wheezing. Mirage and Kyria peeked out from behind their cover, watching as Thera faced her mother, her gaze calm.  “Thera. My daught—” “I am no daughter of yours,” Thera said, her voice quiet. “You told me that yourself.” She sighed, both pity and old anger in the pink eyes that were an exact match for the dying queen in front of her. “And after all you did to me, why would I consider you my mother?” Atracina winced, but she didn’t move. She probably couldn’t move, and her breaths were growing shallower. “I… I’m sorry. That’s why I didn’t kill you…” she croaked. Thera, eyes wide, stepped back. “You…” She swallowed, staring at her mother, who was still looking up at her, her eyes slowly closing.  “Goodbye. Atracina,” said Thera quietly. And the Kinsbane shut her eyes.