On the other end of town, Fluttershy and Discord continued their search for the Teachers when they noticed the hive growing around Ponyville. Discord’s changeling disguise went down and he was back to normal.
“Discord, what’s happening? What is that thing?” Fluttershy asked.
Discord looked at his hands but felt no power coming from them. He tried snapping his fingers to use his chaos magic, but it wasn’t working.
“Oh no! Fluttershy, that’s the same thing that took my magic away when I went after you with Starlight, Trixie and Thorax! It’s a new changeling hive!”
“WHAT?! You…you can’t use any magic?!”
“I’m afraid not.”
Suddenly a swarm of changelings appeared from all sides. They had been waiting for this moment to pounce on Discord once his powers were disabled. Fluttershy noticed and huddled up against him with tears in her eyes. Discord covered her with his arms and head and watched as the changelings spat encasing fluids from their mouths. Unable to do anything to stop them, he closed his eyes and accepted his fate.
Over by the town hall, Starswirl had already lost his magic and his ability to defend against the changelings. He watched in horror as Starlight, Sunburst and Trixie were instantly encased with no way to fight back. Without his magic, he could do nothing to help them. He ran at full tilt with his horn in front to charge the changelings, hoping to distract them so the unicorns could escape. He only managed to push a few out of the way until they began to encase him. His fellow Pillars and some Pinkie clones tried to stop them, but they too were encased. The dragons all rushed in to help, but the changelings were too great in number.
“THE CHILDREN! SAVE THE CHILDREN!” Starswirl called out one last time before he was covered.
“We’ll hold them off!” Pharynx shouted to the dragons.
“Go! They need you!” Little Strongheart told them.
Spike and Buttercream looked at each other fearfully. They looked back at the dragons.
“Come on, we’ll get the kids out of here!” Barb called to them.
Spike looked back as the buffalos, Pinkie clones, and good changelings fought as hard as they could. At least the changelings still had their powers, but their black counterparts would soon encase them. Right now, the best thing to do would be to protect Flurry like he was meant to do. He flew over with his siblings to see Chrysalis hovering over everyone else. Flurry and the others were all there.
“It’s been fun, ponies, but you were fools to think you could stop me,” Chrysalis continued. “My changelings have already taken the teachers and they will never find the Elements, and now your royal family can’t even use their magic to stop me!”
Pinkie Pie lowered her head in despair.
“What do I do now?” she asked herself. “We’ve come so far. We can’t possibly lose like this. No. I’m not going to let her win!”
Pinkie then jumped up to the Party Tank’s cannon barrel and crawled into it. Cheese Sandwich watched in hesitation at what she was doing at first, but at this rate, there was nothing more they could do than fight back.
“Cheese, launch me!” she called from the inside.
Cheese aimed the cannon and fired Pinkie at Chrysalis. Pinkie flew through the air with one hoof out like a superhero. Chrysalis noticed her in time and Pinkie flattened like a pancake around a shield the changeling queen conjured. She used her magic to grab Pinkie and opened her mouth to begin absorbing love. Suddenly, something black flew by and grabbed Pinkie by the tail, taking her away to safety. Chrysalis looked to see Elytra rescuing her. She flew after them but was blocked by Billow who wasted no time in swiping at her with Beo Tuag. The sentient axe swung back and forth, hitting Chrysalis like she was metal. She didn’t even flinch or blink her eyes. Finally she blasted Billow in retaliation. The half-awake dragon princess plummeted to the ground before being caught by Scorch. Beo had separated from Billow and flew back up to Chrysalis. Chrysalis tried blasting her, but Beo flew above and then let herself drop. Since Chrysalis was unworthy to lift the magical axe, she fell down to the ground with Beo on top. She was instantly pinned, unable to get back up.
“What is this infernal thing?!” she growled.
“Looks like you’re not worthy,” Billow chuckled, crossing her arms.
“There is only one worthy of the title of queen, foolish princess!”
Chrysalis then teleported out from underneath Beo and blasted the axe with a green lightning bolt. Billow rushed over to retrieve her axe with Scorch accompanying her. Chrysalis directed her attention to the plump dragoness and her handsome rescuer. Sensing a touch of romantic love magic inside both of them, she assumed they were a couple and decided to make them her next victims. Before she approached them, the other dragons started giving her trouble. Barb, Singe, Spike and Buttercream all raced in and blew fire at her at the same time with Scorch and Billow hurrying to join them. Chrysalis stretched her abdomen out and sunk her stinger into each of them one by one, putting them to sleep with her venom. Although they had thick scales, Chrysalis’s stinger was still sharp enough to inject the venom. The effects didn’t work as quickly as they did with Thorax, but all five of them plummeted to the ground and slowly went comatose.
“SPIKE!” Flurry shouted.
“Flurry…run…” Spike said before he fell asleep.
“Everyone, we need to get you out of here!” Elytra shouted.
Everyone ran off in the opposite direction as Cheese turned the Party Tank around with Pinkie riding on it with him.
“LOOK OUT!” shouted Cadance.
She dove to rescue Pinkie and Cheese before Chrysalis blasted the Party Tank into a million pieces. Cheese looked in horror as his creation lay in a heap with smoke and fire rising out of it. Pinkie walked in next to him and put her arm around his shoulder. They looked up to see Smite and Chara arriving on the scene behind Chrysalis. They had been watching from a nearby mountain but were no longer willing to stand back safely after seeing what happened to their kids. Chrysalis laughed maniacally but was suddenly stepped on by Smite. She disappeared and her laughter was muffled out.
“This is for my kids!” shouted the mighty dragon king.
Unfortunately, he could not keep her down for long. His foot moved up with an orange aura surrounding it. Being underneath his foot did not break Chrysalis, but she had been pushed into the footprint he left. She used her magic to toss him asside. He stumbled but was caught by Chara before he could land on a building nearby. Chrysalis ascended and met them both in the air, while everyone else escaped below. The king and queen dragons blew fire at her for a long period of time, only to find it had no effect. They tried swatting at her with their tails or punching her, which also did no good. Chrysalis then blasted both of them into a nearby hive root. Before they could do anything, she used a powerful spell to quickly encase them in a crystalline substance.
“Hahaha! Even the mightiest of dragons will fall when tussling with the Queen of the Changelings! With the two of you in here, your love for each other will be a delicacy! And don’t worry about your friends. My drones will find them. No one can hide from me now that I rule an entire continent!”
As Chrysalis spoke, everyone else ran through the back streets of Ponyville to avoid detection. Changelings had already covered the perimeter of the town with no way to escape. Their only option was to find a house to use as a temporary shelter. It was hard to see now that a dark solid object covered most of the sky, but they moved carefully in the shadows. Once they reached the end of an ally, Pinkie signaled to Twilight.
“Twilight. The Party Cave,” she whispered.
“Right. Everyone, follow Pinkie,” Twilight told the others.
They quickly ran into the rear door of Sugarcube Corner. Thankfully no changelings were in there at the moment. When they got inside, they walked through the Cake’s living room and into the kitchen. Cheese activated the secret trap door with the slide just underneath it. He let the kids and their parents in first, followed by Elytra, Maud, Twilight, Shining Armor and Cadance.
“Do you think they’ll be safe down there?” Pinkie asked.
“I don’t know, Sweetie Pie,” Cheese told her. “I can’t think of any better place. Go on in. I’ll go lock the doors and windows.”
“I’ll help you out. I’d rather be captured with you than without you.”
Cheese smiled to his fiancé. Quickly, they both went around the building and locked all the exits and barricaded the bi-fold door entrance with some furniture. Everyone in the Party Cave waited patiently until they finally slid down in with them, carrying some flashlights and various snacks they took from the retail. Cheese turned one of the flashlights on and placed it on a nearby table.
“Is everyone alright?” he asked them.
“I think we’re okay right now,” Shining Armor said as he huddled up with Flurry and Cadance.
Cheese and Pinkie looked around to see everypony else with their families. Annie and Pumpkin had already started crying, while their brothers and parents comforted them.
“Thunder, where are the other two?” Rainbow Dash asked her husband.
“They’re with your parents,” he responded.
“Why isn’t Storm with them then?”
“It’s okay, Mommy,” Stormy said. “The Spirit of Harmony sent them to Grandma and Grandpa’s, but She wanted me and my friends to stay so we could find the teachers.”
“The Spirit of Harmony?”
“All six of us were called to look for them,” Flurry explained. “We found them, but it’s a shame it all ended like this. I’m guessing the teachers never found the Elements.”
“I don’t get it. Why won’t the Spirit of Harmony do anything to help out now?” Applejack asked.
“The moment has to be right for Her to step in, Applejack,” Twilight responded. “There have been plenty of times we got through our journeys without divine intervention. There has to be a way to stop the queen, and we need to figure it out.”
“How though? We’ve exhausted ourselves of all other options,” Tex said.
“I…I don’t know. If the teachers are still out there, perhaps the Elements are close. Sadly I can’t do anything to help from here on out without my magic.”
Pinkie began to cry as Cheese put his arm around his fiancé. Maud and Mudbriar sat down to comfort her.
“Everypony, I’m so sorry,” she said. “I wish we could have prepared for this better.”
“It’s not your fault, Pinkie,” Twilight responded. “Thanks to that memory spell, no one was ever ready for this invasion.”
“Technically, we were all fooled by them,” Mudbriar said.
“He’s right, Pinkie,” Maud added. “We did the best we could.”
“I know, but Cheese and I worked so hard for this wedding, and now it’s been ruined and you were all caught up in it.”
“I’m the one to blame for all this,” said Elytra.
Everyone looked to the changeling. She had her back to them as she sat in a corner.
“I helped Mother with this invasion. I was with her when we started. I was planning on defecting, but I could have done it way sooner before Mother got the kiss. They didn’t even tell me about the plans for the new hive. I was hoping this would all work out, but it didn’t, and it’s all because of me. I’m sorry, everyone.”
Elytra turned to them with tears flowing from her eyes. Flurry stood up and walked over to comfort her. As she sat next to her, Elytra turned her head away and bawled.
“Elytra…” Flurry began to say.
“I’M A FAILURE, ALRIGHT?!” she shouted. “I don’t know if Ocellus told you, but I had a chance to leave this all behind years ago! After Thorax started his rebellion and Mother retreated, there were some changelings in the old hive that refused to transform. Me, Scutellum and Pharynx were some of them. We all wanted to return to the ways of old, and when Thorax found out we were planning a takeover, he threatened to banish us. Pharynx decided to stay because he thought he could convince Thorax, but Scutellum was still loyal to Mother. Ocellus begged me to stay, but I chose to go with Scutellum. I missed Mother at that time. She and I were close when I was young. There was a time when I believed the things she said. I wanted to see her get revenge, but not long after I went into hiding with Scutellum and the other black changelings abroad, I started to regret it. I wanted to talk to Mother myself and convince her to stop. Hearing the news about her being turned to stone pained me, but I knew she brought it upon herself. I never had the chance to leave because Scutellum was strict about traitors. I think he even started to notice I was planning on defecting. By the time the wedding came, I tried several times to talk to you, Flurry. You seemed like the only one who noticed something was off, but my timing couldn’t have been worse.”
Elytra stopped and wiped her tears. Silence fell upon the room. The only sounds that could be heard were the children sniffling and the sound of changelings buzzing around outside. Flurry hung her head. She thought about what Elytra said, but then realized that Elytra still had not transformed. She suddenly remembered how Thorax and the other repentant changelings managed to overcome Chrysalis when they underwent their own transformations.
“Elytra?” Flurry asked. “You still haven’t transformed you know.”
Elytra turned her head to Flurry and wiped her tears. She looked quizzical.
“Look, I was just a baby when it all happened, but I remember learning that the power of Thorax’s transformation was enough to shatter Chrysalis’s throne. What if we did it again with your help?”
“Flurry, that wouldn’t be enough,” Elytra replied. “Thorax got help from dozens of other changelings in the throne room. That was enough to destroy the throne, but I’m just one changeling. I doubt it would have any effect.”
Flurry’s smile went away as she realized Elytra was right. Her ears perked up again once she looked at the others around her. The sight of all of them hugging and comforting one another brought another idea into her mind.
“Then…then we combine your transformation with their love!” she exclaimed.
Elytra turned back to Flurry and everyone else opened their eyes. Flurry then walked into the center of the room and explained her plan.
“Guys, think about it: we’ve got five married couples in here and Pinkie and Cheese, plus the love we all have for each other! If Elytra could harness all that love, she could redirect it and use it to destroy the hive! The hive probably isn’t even that strong just yet since it hasn’t grown big enough! We have to do it now while we still have the chance!”
“Flurry, don’t ask me to do that,” Elytra begged. “I already vowed to never steal anyone’s love again!”
“But you wouldn’t be stealing it, Elytra! Not if they give it to you willingly!”
“I…uh…”
Elytra looked at everyone and thought hard. They all stepped forward to her.
“Elytra, I think Flurry’s right,” Pinkie said. “We’ll let you have our love.”
“Are you sure? I don’t want to hurt anyone.”
“The reformed changelings don’t steal love, Elytra,” Twilight explained. “In order for a changeling to reform, they have to do the opposite of that. Their power comes from sharing love, but also when love is shared to them. The power of a changeling transformation has very capable properties. It cancels out the effect of the rocks and it should destroy those black vines that are growing from them. Starswirl studied this effect. It’s more powerful than you think.”
“It…it is?”
“Go ahead, Elytra,” Cheese said, holding Pinkie’s hoof.
“Yeah, it’s no problem,” Rainbow Dash added.
“If ya can use our love to power that transformation of yours, it might be just the right thing to take down that hive,” Applejack added.
“And once the hive is down, Cadance and I can use our spell to get rid of Chrysalis and the others,” Shining Armor added.
“Of course!” Elytra said as her ears perked up. “Flurry you’re a genius! Alright. I’ll do it.”
“Come on, everypony,” Tex said. “Let’s use our love and show these changelings what happens when you mess with our small town.”
All the couples in the room held hooves and their kids came in next to them. Not only would Elytra be receiving romantic love, but all other love she could possibly muster from her friends. She felt enormous amounts of love magic emanating from them. She then closed her eyes and began a spell to allow magic transfer into her own horn if it was being sent willingly. Pink auras floated through the air and were absorbed into Elytra’s entire body. She began to glow and then opened her eyes, to the sound of changelings getting closer outside.
“Come out, come out, wherever you are, little ponies!” said Chrysalis outside.
Now fully-determined and ready to act, Elytra knew what she had to do. She had already absorbed enough magic and was ready to transform, so she quickly teleported outside of Sugarcube Corner.
“ELYTRA!” Flurry shouted.
Outside, Chrysalis was hovering around near Sugarcube Corner with Scutellum and an entourage of changelings around her. She had been producing more hyper changelings from her abdomen to make her army grow until she was interrupted. She saw something flash in front of the building and looked down to see Elytra standing there.
“Well if it isn’t for my favorite, or should I say former favorite daughter!” Chrysalis jeered.
“You will pay for your treachery, Elytra!” Scutellum barked.
Chrysalis then noticed the pink energy that Elytra had around her. She knew this energy felt familiar and then it dawned on her what it was. Her thoughts turned back to the day Thorax transformed and the other changelings followed suit.
“Mother, I am no longer your slave,” Elytra said, bravely.
The defective changeling finally closed her eyes and curled up in a fetal position. A sparkly substance wrapped around her and formed a glowing cocoon. The cocoon charged up with abundant energy and finally burst.
“WAIT, STOP!” shouted Chrysalis, but she was already too late.
The explosion from the cocoon pushed the changelings back a few yards and stunned some of them, but it did not harm them. Instead, it shattered the hive that was still in the process of forming over Ponyville. The magic cancelling rocks from before were all that was left. The remaining dark roots growing out from them disintegrated into green embers, while the rocks plummeted to the ground. They still had their power, but it only reached a few yards around them and would not stop any magic elsewhere. The hive and its widespread effect were now gone.
Chrysalis and Scutellum squinted in the sunlight that could be seen once again. They looked down to see a glowing object where the cocoon was. They could not make out the now-reformed changeling, but what happened next had them even more worried. Most of the ponies hiding inside Sugarcube Corner came out and Shining Armor and Cadance had teleported outside next to Elytra. They already had their love spell charged up. It was too late for Chrysalis to do anything in response.
“NO! DON’T DO IT, YOU FOOLS!!” she shouted.
A huge explosion of pink energy in the shape of a heart burst from the royal couple. The black shell on Flurry’s horn shattered first. Next, every single black changeling in and around Ponyville was sent flying back. The ones inside the crystal castle were magically ejected from the building past the walls. The pods the teachers were in cracked open and they were free. They looked around to see all the changelings had been phased out of the walls of the castle and banished, leaving the Elements of Harmony behind. The teachers all got up and smiled as they reached for the golden necklaces. They weren’t sure if the Elements were needed anymore, but they put them around their necks and carried them back out into the town just in case.
In town, the harvesting pods containing Discord, Fluttershy, the Pillars and all other victims of the changeling horde were disintegrated. The love spell was so effective; they had no ooze left on their bodies, and the scent of it was even gone from anyone who had been in one for the past few days. Even Spike and his siblings had already been healed from Chrysalis’s venom and began to wake up. Smite and Chara were let down gently onto an open area in town. They looked over to see their children getting back up and noticed that the hive had been destroyed already. They went over to check on their kids who had already started celebrating the victory.
As the changelings hurdled through the sky uncontrollably, Chrysalis used her claws and all the magic she could gather to hold onto a nearby cottage with all her might. She watched as her own spawn zoomed past her at blinding speeds, shrieking in terror. Scutellum was just clearing Ponyville when suddenly he was stopped in midair. Discord then appeared right in front of him.
“Oh hey there!” he told Scutellum. “Sorry, but I can’t let you leave with Princess Twilight’s memories still in that thick skull of yours. That’s some top-secret national security that you are not privileged to have.”
“What?!” Scutellum cried.
“Hold still. This won’t hurt a bit.”
Suddenly, Discord’s eyes shone brightly. Scutellum was already too late to look away. He had no idea what Discord did at first, but it didn’t take him long to find out he no longer remembered anything he copied from Twilight Sparkle’s memories.
“That’s better. Now off ya go! Auf Wiedersehen!”
“YOU FOOL! AAAAGGGHH……”
Discord watched as Scutellum and all the other changelings soared into the horizon like tiny black specks until they were no longer visible. They had been sent to the farthest reaches of Equestria and beyond thanks to the love spell. Fluttershy flew in next to Discord and hugged him as he hugged her back.
All across Ponyville, everyone that had still been hiding now came out to see that the hive was gone and so were the changelings. They began shouting and whooping. Shining Armor and Cadance levitated back down to the ground gracefully. Flurry went in to hug them both and then turned to see Elytra. Everyone watched as she fully metamorphosed into her new reformed state. She stopped glowing and stood up slowly on all fours.
Elytra was now slightly taller and resembled a beautiful moth. She was mostly pink with some orange and yellow highlights and spring green eyes. She still had her horn, but her ears were longer and looked like moth antennae. Around her neck was a scarf of soft, fluffy fur. Most notably were the beautiful wings and tail she had. They were translucent yellow with pink ripples in the center. Her tail was now two smaller hind wings the same color as her wings.
Flurry walked over to Elytra. Elytra slowly opened her eyes to see the little princess before her.
“Elytra, you did it!” Flurry shouted.
“I…I did. It worked!”
Elytra looked at her hooves and turned her head to observe the transformation. She opened her wings and flapped them. They were bigger and heavier than before, but her body was also stronger and she had no problem moving them up and down. She put her legs up to the scarf around her neck and felt the soft touch of the coat of moth fur. Even more pleasing was the lack of holes in her legs. They were now mended with a full, solid carapace. Her entire body felt so new and healthy. She no longer hungered for love to consume. Never before in her life had she felt this good. Tears formed in her eyes. She opened her arms and let Flurry jump in to hug her. Flurry nuzzled up against her warm fur as Pinkie and Maud joined in the hug. They suddenly felt something pick them up and lift them in the air in a tight squeeze. It was Buttercream who had just run in on the scene.
“YOU GUYS DID IT!!” she squealed. “Oh Elytra, you’re so soft and fluffy and warm and fuzzy and I just can’t help it!”
“Hehe, thanks Butter!” Elytra replied. “I couldn’t have done it without Flurry’s help though.”
As Buttercream set them down, everyone else began to cheer and clap. Flurry looked around to see familiar faces walk in to congratulate her. The Pillars had already arrived, so she rushed over to meet Starswirl. She didn’t get to talk to him much during the battle and was so eager to see his reaction.
“Princess Flurry Heart!” he exclaimed while holding her. “Was it really you that figured this all out?”
“All it took was Elytra to transform and then Mom and Dad used the love spell! I can’t believe it actually worked!”
“I’m still glad you didn’t accept that scholarship to the Crystal Empire Magic Academy, but my goodness, I can really see why Polished Hooves wanted you there!”
Flurry giggled and then felt herself being lifted by someone rather tall.
“CONGRATULATIONS, FLURRY!” said Discord as he let her go and she turned around to see him. “You actually figured out how to defeat the changelings! And you didn’t need me to lift a finger to do it! Oops!”
One of Discord’s digits on his eagle arm detached and fell to the ground as he spoke. He quickly picked it back up and reattached it to his knuckle. His face then turned appeared bashful.
“Sorry I didn’t do much to help when you came to me asking about all this. Had I known the changelings were coming and that it would have been this bad, I would have stepped in.”
“It’s okay, Discord. You were right that I should rely on my own instincts. We kept trying this and that, but we finally found something that worked.”
“And he did manage to help out a lot with getting ponies out of here safely,” Fluttershy said, flying in next to Discord.
“Well, I had to do something. I’ve spent the past 24 hours looking all over the place for ponies to rescue while avoiding Chrysalis.”
“Thanks, Discord,” Flurry said, gratefully, giving him a hug once again.
“FLURRY!” called Spike behind them.
“SPIKE! YOU’RE OKAY!” she replied, diving to hug him.
“I thought we were goners for sure back there! What did you do?”
“Oh, Spike, you wouldn’t believe me if I told you!”
“Long story short: Elytra transformed and her parents got to use the love spell,” said Pound next to him.
“You should’ve seen it, Spike!” Pumpkin chimed in. “We all lent our love to Elytra, and look at her now!”
“Oh, Elytra, that’s you? Gosh, you look great!” Spike said, turning to Elytra.
“Thanks, Spike,” Elytra replied, appreciatively.
“Flurry Heart?” asked Cheese Sandwich behind her.
“Yeah?”
“You have our sincerest thanks for helping to save our wedding.”
“Yeah, Flurry! That was the most amazing thing ever!” Pinkie added.
“You’re welcome. It’s the least I could do for you guys. I’m just sorry this was such a disaster.”
“Eh, it’s okay,” Pinkie said. “I’m sure all of Ponyville will come together to rebuild the town hall and any other damage that was done.”
“We might have had our wedding ruined, but we still have each other and can exchange vows,” Cheese said. “Come to think of it, I think if we work together fast enough, we can get a makeshift wedding completed before the end of the day. It’s not even noon yet!”
“Not a bad idea, Cheesie!” Pinkie said, nuzzling against her fiancé.
Flurry looked around to see everyone else pouring in to congratulate them. Her parents had already started talking with some of the Pillars and royal sisters, while they brought Elytra in to show everyone who it was that destroyed the hive. She saw Smite and Chara watching from behind a nearby building with Barb, Scorch and Singe hovering around them. Billow and Calida were perched on a nearby building, watching as everyone celebrated. Even Tirek could be seen behind a building with Melody and Cozy next to him. Behind them, other ponies that had been hiding were coming to see what they could do to help clean up. Flurry felt a warm feeling of gratitude for how this day turned out. Twilight finally walked in to talk with her niece.
“Flurry Heart, you never cease to amaze me,” she said as she hugged her.
“I’m just glad we finally got rid of the changelings. That took forever, but we figured it out!”
“All because you trusted your instincts and figured out a way to do it.”
“Thanks. We still have to fix up a lot of this damage though.”
“It’ll be alright. Everyone will work together to fix it. For now, I think we should all-AAAGGGHH!”
Flurry’s heart stopped as she watched a beam of orange light blast Twilight in the side, sending her hurdling. Everyone in he area turned their heads to see the Princess of Equestria tumble around on the ground. Her tiara and regalia scattered as she was scuffed up in the dirt. They then looked in the direction of the blast and saw a pile of rubble moving. Chrysalis emerged with a powerful orange aura surrounding her like fire. She had held on with her magic the entire time and never left the scene. Her power was so great, not even Cadance and Shining Armor’s love spell was enough to banish her. A booming voice from her mouth echoed across the entire valley and sent shockwaves that caused pebbles on the ground to vibrate.
“YOU IDIOTS!!! I WILL INFLICT UNSPEAKABLE PAIN UPON ALL OF YOU FOR THIS INSOLENCE!!”
They all looked up in abject terror at the possessed queen. No one had ever seen Chrysalis this angry. Her eyes and the cracks between her armored plating glowed bright orange. Everyone could feel the heat coming from her body from this distance. Now was the time for the changeling queen’s revenge, and no one was ready for it.