"Queen Chrysalis I presume?" Rocky asked casually, calm as can be. Flash Sentry gulped and smartly let his friend do the talking.
"You presume correct, food." Queen Chrysalis approached licking her lips hungrily. "My drones tell me, You've been giving them quite the run around lately. You managed to cause enough of a stir that I am obliged to intervene. Bravo." Chrysalis clapped her hooves mockingly before signaling to her closest drone. It gave a single nod of assent before disappearing down a darkened alley-way. Moments later he and a few other drones pulled out six pony mares that were bound by ropes and chains. Two earth ponies, two pegasi and two unicorns. Rocky recognized one of them.
Twilight was bound and gagged. She didn't struggle but remained compliant and Calm. Too Calm for somepony who had been defeated. Did she have a plan? Rocky didn't count himself as a genius but he figured that a good plan wouldn't involve getting captured. The more pressing matter was; where was Cadence? Rocky felt through the white noise of fear and hatred to get a sense of where Cadence was. He didn't need to look long. There was a small glimmer of desperate hope and love in the distance. There was so much love and it was growing in the distance. Rocky forced back a smile and when he made eye contact with Twilight he relaxed. She did have a plan after all.
"Oh she told me about you and your plans to stop the invasion. To use so called elements of harmony to defeat me. Well it didn't work as you can plainly see." Chrysalis motioned to the captured mares. "Celestia's champions will not stop me...But I have a proposal for you my little pony. Join me. Train my drones to fight as you do! Together we will conquer Equestria!"
Rocky brought a hoof to his chin as if seriously considering the offer.
"You're not actually considering this are you!?" Flash whispered harshly into Rocky's ear.
"I'll be honest Flash, I'm just about spent. We can do nothing but buy time." Rocky mumbled back. It wasn't a lie, the power he drained from the planet was quickly returning to its source. With each passing moment he found it harder and harder to breathe.
"But that doesn't mean we can just give up now!" Flash pleaded. Rocky was impressed. Here was a Pegasus knight. An initiate in fact, willing to sacrifice it all for the slimmest chance of victory. It was commendable. There was a flash of green light and Flash Sentry was on the ground, paralyzed.
"He's not part of the deal." Chrysalis said brushing Flash aside with a blast of magic who landed in a trash can, unable to move. "Make up your mind now. Clock is ticking."
Rocky exhaled, and dropped his staff at Chrysalis's hooves. It clattered to the ground noisily. With an exaggerated motion, he knelt down onto his forehooves. Chrysalis cackled. "Excellent my little pony. Your service will be greatly rewarded I assure you."
There was something that really got under Rocky's skin. Hurting his friends. Flash Sentry, one of the first ponies to share the battlefield with him. Discarded so carelessly into the trash. Not to mention Octavia, or Cadence, or Twilight or any of his fellow ponies behind him in the Mountain Chill laying Paralyzed. For the moment, Rocky did not care what Twilight's plan was. But it would have to include him beating the living shit out of this witch in front of him.
"You called down the thunder, now reap the whirlwind." Rocky mumbled almost reverently.
"What was that?" Chrysalis asked moving closer. "Speak clearly to your queen."
"Behold the third gate. Gate of Flash and Fire."
Chrysalis blinked and Rocky was gone. Before she could react he reappeared behind and delivered a fiery diving kick right onto the Changeling Queen's flank. The impact was so sudden and so forceful that the bug queen's knees buckled and she doubled over. Before Chrysalis could even gasp in pain, Rocky disappeared again in a thunderous crack before reappearing beneath her. A flame full of hoof later and Chrysalis was in the air, cracks in her chitin beginning to show. Dumstruck at the audacity of what was going on the changeling drones looked on in disbelief at what was happening to their queen. For the final strike Rocky Road appeared above her and pummeled her into the cobblestone streets with a diving thrust of his rear legs, yelling out a primal cry of fury and rage that reverberated throughout Canterlot.
Everypony was silent as Rocky tried to follow up his strike but found his power wanting, this was it. He was out of siphoned earth magic and thus out of time. Damn. Probably shouldn't have let his anger get the best of him. He stumbled back and pumped his hoof into the air.
"My name is Rocky Road! Formerly known as Lord Macadamia of the Earth Pony Clan Tol-Do-Rok! I am the last of my kin, and the last master of Tei-Rah-Do! As long as I stand you will not lay a hoof on my kind!"
The drones were still, watching, waiting for their pummeled queen. Had Rocky done it? Was the queen done for? The shattered cobblestone shifted. Of course he hadn't. The bug queen emerged from the shattered stone, eyes ablaze with rage and green light.
"How dare you" Chrysalis' breath finally returned. The cracks in her chitin were slowly starting to heal itself. Rocky Road stumbled backwards, using all his might to remain standing. He struck the pose of the Second Gate. Waiting for the retaliation that was intended to finish him off. All he had left was his earth pony resilience, and it would have to carry him to victory this day. After seeing their queen returned, the changelings began to close in, buzzing in anger, but Chrysalis stopped them.
"NO! Do not interfere! He is mine! Such insolence will not be tolerated!"
The gut punch Rocky received, was something he did not see coming mostly because his vision was beginning to fail him. Fresh blood trickled out of his mouth and onto the rubble in the streets as he stumbled backwards but remained standing, he struck his resonance gate form just in time to sense a powerful kick aimed for his head He moved to block and was successful, but a follow up strike caused, his hind legs buckled from the force and he dropped to all fours. The strikes were clumsy and done out of rage, easy for even a novice to deflect and take advantage of, sadly Rocky doubted he could take on even an inductee at this point. One final strike to his back sent him flat against the hard surface.
"Such a strong spine, I hope you don't mind if I CRUSH IT." Chrysalis pressed down hard on cracking the cobblestone underneath.
"Maybe I'll tear it out and hang it above my throne."
Rocky wanted to scream in pain but there was no air left. This was it. He saw his death and tried to find comfort in it. As expected he found none. Instead he found Twilights despair and muffled cries for him to hold on. His resonance gate was beginning to rupture. Twilights muffled cries once again urged him desperately to hold on. Were those tears in her eyes? "Sorry to disappoint you unicorn but I think this is it for me." Suddenly he felt love. So much love. It blasted from a source in the distance.
It grew and grew until it was all he could feel. Rocky clung onto it desperately, trying to avoid the pain of death. It seemed to be working, so he clung to it harder. As he felt the pressure on his back loosen. He could hear a panicked Chrysalis yelling commands he didn't understand. All the hatred and fear was leaving him and moving towards the source of that love. The Resonance Gate finally broke and then there was nothing but darkness.