Echo woke up the next morning and noticed that it was unusually dark outside. He took a quick look at his clock and saw that it was apparently eight o' clock in the morning, but it looked outside as if it was still in the middle of the night. He got out of bed and walked over to his balcony window, feeling a little discomfort at what he saw. The entire skyline was covered in a thick blanket of black clouds. However, the clouds were all traveling very quickly and in all different directions.
He ran downstairs and out into the street looking around for anypony who might need help finding shelter. "Shit!" Echo thought to himself in a panic, realizing that he was still in his changeling form. There was nopony there, so once he changed into his pony disguise, he flew to the main plaza to see if anypony was there, secretly hoping to find Fleur in need of his help. "Oh well..." He muttered , not finding anypony there either.
He took one step to head back to the hotel before a large bright lime-green bolt of lightning struck the ground a few feet ahead of him, propelling him several yards back and into a wall of a building. "Wha- What the hell?!?" He yelled in frustration as he struggled to get up. His eyes widened in an unexplainable fear as he felt the air pressure increase to unnatural levels, finding it increasingly difficult to stand. Everywhere in Canterlot it was happening as well; even Celestia and Luna could feel the vast amounts of energy coming from the plaza.
Echo adjusted his eyes to the sight before him, not quite believing what he was seeing. There in front of him stood his former Queen, Chrysalis. However, she was much larger than before and had a more "rotting" appearance about her, with a revolting pus and slime oozing out of her black, crusty skin, her face much scarier in general, with her razor-sharp teeth much larger and her eyes a lifeless sickly green and grey. She was definitely not the same changeling as before. Not even acknowledging Echo, she promptly ignored him and turned around, leaving massive disfigured hoofprints in the cement. She was about to unleash a massive bright green laser beam from her twisted black horn when she was interrupted by Echo. "HEY!" Echo shouted at her, suddenly feeling anger and confusion. "Just where the hell did you go, leaving your faithful hordes behind, and why do you look like that? What the hell did you do to yourself?!" The new Chrysalis simply looked at him in blank confusion, but ignored him again and readied her horn beam for a massive retaliation against thee city. Echo used his own horn to send his own beam at her to get her attention. He quickly regretted it. She sent the already charged beam in his direction, whirling her head back at him. It struck him point-blank, uplifting the pavement in large boulder-like chunks and sending him several hundred feet into another wall.
He fell to the hard cement, his body imprinted on the brick wall. He felt surprisingly well for how hard he hit it, simply having to snap some of his joints back into place. Meanwhile, from one of the top floors of a few buildings away, Fleur had noticed what was going on outside. She was shocked to find that the kind colt she had met just the other day was now fighting for Canterlot and for his life against a massive and horrific creature. She immediately galloped downstairs, unsure of what to do, but carefully thinking of any way she could help him.
Chrysalis flew at Echo at speeds too fast to keep track of; she appeared behind him almost out of thin air and used her massive jaws to bite down hard on his eco-skeleton, her blade-like teeth slowly piercing his armored shell and sending painful shocks down his spinal cord. "Aaaahhh!!" Echo grimaced in agony, his bodily insectoid fluids seeping out of the bite holes. Tears of pain ran down his cheek as he struggled to break free. But it was no use, as it only made the pain even worse. The monstrous Chrysalis spun around and let him go, sending him through the air and across the pavement, only giving him a few scratches and puncture wounds. He got up slowly, his entire body twitching with agony, but still able to stand. "What the... that... should've killed me... this is insane... but fine, as long as I can still fight her, I'll just have to find out what I can really do!" Echo flew up into the sky again, feeling better already, with Chrysalis following close behind him.
The former Queen let out a glass-shattering roar as she flew top speed at him in anger, feeling incredibly provoked. Echo flew blindly in the pitch-black storm clouds, hoping to escape from the clouds again for even a few seconds so that he could strike her in a distance; he flew in every possible direction, weaving back and forth to try and lose her. Suddenly, thousands of miniature beams from Chrysalis's horn scorched through the sky, several of them striking Echo again. They tore at his wings, surprisingly not ripping them, but till damaging them enough that he was losing altitude. He then plummeted back to earth, trying as hard as he could to minimize the damage from impact. Chrysalis spotted him as he fell and knocked into him again, sending him flying uncontrollably into yet another wall.
"Damn..." Echo mutter as he fell once more from the wall. He hit the ground face first, hesitating to get up, knowing that his Queen was readying the finishing blow. "Why.... is this happening..." Echo thought, feeling overwhelmed with sadness that his brand new life was already ending. "Everything was going so well... and now it's about to be taken away from me... again.." Echo felt a tear ran down his face, thinking of the memories he would get to have. "Fleur... I wish you could've been mine..."
".....I want you to be mine too." Echo's ears perked up at the familiar voice. He could't believe what he saw, and especially couldn't believe what he heard. Fleur was standing at his side. He then blushed heavily as he realized that he had said that last part out loud. Before he could reply, he noticed the mutated Queen's laser beam heading straight for them. He reeled his head around as quickly as he could and summoned all of his strength into his horn, firing his own energy in a stalemate against hers. The two green beams collided, but it was only a matter of time before Chrysalis would overcome him.. "I... have to... fight... I have to.... WIN!" His eyes widened as they became a bright lidless green and his own beam became much stronger, pushing against Chrysalis's. The energy between the two was overwhelming and could be felt throughout the surrounding area for miles.
However, Echo focused so much of his energy into the fight that his pony disguise was starting to fade completely. "Shit shit shit shit shit shit shiiiiit!" Echo thought to himself as he noticed that he was changing back to normal. Fleur looked on in surprise as the colt she thought she knew slowly transform into a changeling. Knowing it was too late, Echo tried to ignore what Fleur would think for now and focused on defeating Chrysalis. "HHHHUUUUUUUAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!" Echo yelled in determination as his beam pressed against hers even more, strengthening the energy of the singularity between the stalemate. He was then surprised to see a light pink beam of magical energy conjoin with his own. He peered over at his side and saw Fleur, also using her energy to overcome the monstrous changeling Queen. They both lifted several feet off of the ground, their energies combining into one as its power was maximized, firing point-blank at the monster. Chrysalis's beam was overcome almost immediately, as she was engulfed in the energy.
All three of them fell to the ground soon afterwards, the dark clouds in the sky soon clearing. Echo and Fleur recovered first, smiling gently at each other as they looked up. They then noticed a body lying in the midst of where Chrysalis had been. It was a white alicorn with an azure blue mane, covered in a serene white glow. On her head she wore a golden crown engraved with blue jewels. Echo and Fleur got up and slowly walked to her, waking her up. "Uhhh..... hello?" Echo asked, not sure what to think. "Mhhhh....huh?" The alicorn asked daily, soon realizing what had happened and where she was. "Oh my... I have a lot to explain..." She said to herself, standing up. "Come, follow me. You can trust me." Echo and Fleur looked at each other hesitantly before following her, convinced that she no longer had any evil intent. They soon found themselves in Celestia's castle with the Princesses themselves.
"My name," The mysterious alicorn continued, "is Princess Papillon. I became Queen Chrysalis when these strange horrible creatures attacked me and injected me with some sort of black fluid... it was horrible... and then it became even worse when I came to my senses momentarily and tried to escape after our defeat, but they somehow found me again and one of the actually went inside of me... I could feel it seeping into my skin..." Unable to continue reliving the awful memories, Papillon turned her head and shed several tears. The other Princesses comforted her, hoping they would never have to go through the same thing that she did. "And the worst part is," she continued, "I am not their only victim there will be others who will go through the same thing that I did, maybe even worse... I propose that we hunt down thee creatures before they do any more harm. I don't know what they were, but they must be stopped at all costs. From what I remember while it was inside my mind, I have a feeling that they will strike very soon. I have this impression that I was one of their first victims...."
Celestia turned to Echo, taking him aside so they could speak alone. "I was wondering if you can explain some things to me," Echo asked her. "Before you ask," Celestia responded, "I will just tell you first. You are not like other changelings. This is no coincidence." She took a book off of the shelf with her magic. "There are 6 Elements of Harmony. Nearly everypony knows this. What hardly ANYpony knows is that there another whole set of Elements. These are known as Ultimelements. These Elements are at a much higher dimension than the original Elements. They are assigned to the six most capable ponies, or in your case, changelings, in all of Equestria who can defend from a disaster that the Elements of Harmony would not be able to defeat. These are not physical objects, these are traits that only come to those who deserve it. You proved yourself with all you've been through earning you the Ultimelement of Determination. You were able to endure unnatural amounts of damage because of your possession of the Ultimelement. The black liquid that Papillon was referring to is Nightmare Fuel, which causes mutation and merciless wrath in those who get it into their system. The creatures that she mentioned..... even I am not sure." She put the book away and walked back the the other princesses, signaling for Echo to follow. Princess Papillon thanked them for freeing her from herself as they sent Echo and Fleur on their way. "Sister.." Luna turned to Celestia and asked, "what if we need them again? And what of the other Elements?" "The Elements will discover themselves, in due time. They will be there to defend Equestria. Because that is what heroes do."
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Echo no longer needed to live in the hotel and stayed with Fleur in her luxury apartment suite. He still worked at the hotel, however. Echo also no longer needed to be disguised a pony anymore, since everypony now knew he was a changeling and there was no longer a boycott against his kind.
As they were enjoying one of their first real dinner dates as a couple in the apartment, Echo asked Fleur casually, "So... you're okay with me being a changeling? You... don't think I'm ugly?"
"I'm more than okay with you being a changeling, and of course not," Fleur replied happily, "In fact, you're looking particularly handsome...tonight..." She got a seductive look in her eye, making Echo blush heavily. She got up from the table in their dining room and headed towards the bedroom, winking at him before she disappeared behind the door. Echo ran in after her, shutting the door behind him.
THE END
Echo and Fleur will return in "The Grimdark Saga"