The mane six stared in horror as the orange filly tumbled through the air after being released by the changeling soldier. The panic they felt was minor compared to the adrenaline coursing through Scootaloo when the ground started moving towards her. All the lessons she had been taught in gliding seemed forgotten as she tumbled end over end. A small part of her mind for some reason hoped no one would see the tears forming as she realized she couldn't gain control of her fall.
After what seemed like hours, but in fact was only a second, Rainbow Dash recovered from her shock and rocketed towards the filly. Worry about the changeling forces, about everything else was gone: replaced by her desire to save her number one fan. The Commander changeling seemed to grin as he watched Rainbow take off and decided to make things a bit more interesting. Quickly aiming, the Commander fired a powerful bolt of magic at Scootaloo as she fell, figuring either he hits her, and the rainbow pony realizes she was too slow to save a life, or it hits both of them, and the element will be more permanently removed from the battle. The changelings on either side of the Commander could be heard chuckling at the sight.
Swift was surprised at the speed with which everything had turned around. When Rainbow shot after Scootaloo, he turned to move in on the Commander, but was stopped when the changeling fired his magic. Turning to see where it was targeted made his heart skip a beat.
'He's after Scootaloo!' The thought just finished as Swift launched at full speed to catch up to the magic.He could see Rainbow was getting closer and could catch the filly, so he needed to stop the magic. Unfortunately he had nothing to stop it with. He had to go faster.
Rainbow sped towards the falling filly and could see the green flash of the attack as she accelerated.
'I have to go faster.' Rainbow could feel the air resisting into the all to familiar cone from before, until there was a brilliant flash of light and a rainbow shockwave flew out around her. She braced for impact as she reached out and caught the filly in her arms, ready to take the force of the spell. Then she heard the spell hit.
But felt nothing.
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Swift watched as the bolt of magic approached the two ponies he held dear. He could see Rainbow speeding up, and even tell she was close to causing a sonic rainboom, and knew he needed to go faster as well.
'Come on Swift, FASTER!' Swift shouted to himself as he pushed harder and harder, not noticing the cone forming around himself. Just as a flash of rainbow light bathed the area, a matching flash of purple light mixed with it as Swift matched speeds with his marefriend, passing between her and the lethal bolt of magic just as she caught the filly. He couldn't help but smile at the last thing he saw before the magic collided with his back with full force.
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Rainbow quickly slowed and spun around when she realized that she never felt the spell hit her, and saw what all her friends were also viewing with equal horror. Swift was falling to the ground unconscious and trailing green smoke from where the magic had impacted him. Even she knew the armor couldn't help with an attack that strong. Scootaloo started reaching out just as Swift reached the ground with an impact that echoed not just through the streets, but the minds of the nine ponies who witnessed their good friend impact the ground hard enough to leave a small crater.
Rainbow Dash was silent, even as Scootaloo was shouting for Swift to get up. No one else could move as two changeling soldiers approached the body and casually kicked it to check if he moved. The dull thud of a hoof on armor was all that was heard before the changelings grinned to each other and knocked their hooves against each others in celebration of an enemy down. Three more changelings quickly closed on Rainbow and restrained her before she regained her senses.
"...Swift..." Rainbow just mumbled the name as she was forced back to the ground and the rest of the group where corralled and forced back to the grand hall, prisoners of the changeling forces now effectively in control of Canterlot.
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Cadence was growing tired. Her body was covered in burns and bruises caused by the empowered magic of the changeling queen before her. As soon as the Elements had ran for help, Cadence had turned her attention to her part time doppleganger.
"Is that all you have, little princess? To think all these years we have worried about the might of the Equestrian Royalty, and today we expose the lie of all that power." Chrysalis paced across the stage where Shining Armor still stood with a vacant gaze. His hooves were fused to the ground with the strange green substance the changelings seemed to be able to form, and during their fight, a few changelings had managed to cocoon Celestia in a pod made of the stuff. With so much power at her disposal, Cadence wasn't sure how she was going to defeat the queen.
"Just you wait! I'm not alone. Once the Elements get back you will...." Cadence was cut off by the sound of the heavy doors slamming open. Behind them stood more changeling reinforcements, but this didn't worry Cadence as much as what they carried.
The six bearers were all being restrained by the changelings guarding them, but this wasn't the worst part of what she saw. Behind the elements, three changelings were holding fillies who appeared to be part of the wedding party, as well as two dragging the limp body of Swift in his borrowed guard armor. The lifeless way Swift lay there and the hollow look the orange filly had as well as Rainbow Dash herself told the story.
'Oh no, Swift... and the elements... what now?' Cadence could feel what remaining fight she had in her draining at the sight. Chrysalis however had the opposite feelings.
"Fantastic! Excellent work children!" Chrysalis approached the main group, reveling in her impending victory. As she approached, her forces pushed the prisoners into the corner while keeping an eye on them. Applebloom and Sweetie Belle ran for their sisters as soon as they were free while Scootaloo ran to Rainbow Dash who picked her up in a crushing hug. The changelings holding Swift's body tossed him aside as they moved to help guard the more lively prisoners. Cadence watched as Swift's body landed mere feet from her and got a good look at the damage to his armor. Along the right side the metal was destroyed with a large hole burned through it, allowing her to see his flesh which had been burned from a powerful attack. She was surprised by the lack of blood, but the wound appeared to be burned closed.
As Cadence got a closer look at the damage to Swift, Chrysalis reached her goal before the final defense of Equestria.
"Welcome back Elements. Your remaining Princess and I were just discussing what would happen when you returned. She seemed to believe you would bring help. Instead, you return captured, with children, and a dead wannabe guard," the changeling queen's voice was soaked with the arrogance of victory with the capture of the Elements. The Elements themselves, however, stopped listening to the queen as she boasted and looked to Rainbow.
Before Chrysalis could say much more, the rage that had been building up within Rainbow and mixing with her grief finally boiled over. With a shout so full of anger that her friends would likely never forget the sound, Rainbow charged at the queen, fully intending to take her to the ground. Unfortunately, she only managed to move a few feet before she slammed into a wall of green magic protecting the cackling queen.
"HAHA! You really thing we would just let you stand around?" Chrysalis stepped up to just the other side of the green wall forming around the group and looked directly into Rainbow Dash's eyes. As she did, Twilight and the others noticed that the wall had encompassed them inside of a large cage of magic.
"You are going to stay here and provide more energy for my forces. With your power, Celestia, and the love between this little princess and her Shining Armor, I will have more than enough power to take on Princess Luna when she returns." Turning to Cadence as she taunted them, she noticed the princess in question looking at the lifeless body beside her.
"Unfortunate that he had to die though. His chaos magic could have been useful to us." This comment drew surprise from everypony in the room, Twilight most of all.
"Chaos magic? What are you talking about? Swift was a pegasus, he couldn't use magic, much less chaos magic." Twilight walked to the edge of their cage, confused at what this queen was talking about. Pegasi used an innate magic for some of their cloud control, but it was all order magic and well understood at that.
"Oh how little you ponies actually know. This 'Swift' is closer to a changeling than a pegasus. Aren't you Celestia's little protege? Could you not sense his power?" Chrysalis found she enjoyed the confused look on the smug little unicorn who had so nearly cost her everything.
"That's Princess Celestia! And yes, but I haven't ever detected any magic in Swift. He is just a pegasus!" Twilight defended her friend. Rainbow Dash was still recovering from the wall she slammed into and remained silent but was more attentive now than she ever had been for anything. She had flown with Swift and knew he was a pegasus, but something was digging at her mind. Something they weren't connecting perhaps.
"Oh please. We changelings are creatures born of chaos magic. I can detect another with such magic and this...thing...was certainly one of us. I wonder how he came to be." Chrysalis approached the body, inspecting his face with Cadence nearby braced to attack if she did anything. They were outnumbered, so blindly attacking would solve nothing, but Cadence wouldn't allow her to desecrate his body.
"Discord created us, but who created you?" Chrysalis spoke aloud but was obviously talking more to herself at this point, trying to work out how Swift came to be.
Twilight overheard this and gasped. Discord created the changelings? He had found a way to create life with chaos magic at its source, something long thought impossible? But Twilight knew Swift dealt with order magic the same as any other pony. If he didn't, healing magic wouldn't work on him as it had in the past. Though if Discord is involved there is no telling how the chaos magic would react.
'Well he is able to pull the changelings from their disguises. Could that be an effect of his chaos nature?' Twilight gasped at a realization.
'Wait, he doesn't just pull them out of the disguise, he could be repelling the chaos magic. If so, then the magic that killed him...' Her eyes locked onto Swift's body as she looked for proof of her thoughts.
Rainbow noticed Twilight's change of attention and walked up beside her.
"Twi? What's going on?" Dash whispered to her friend as they watched Swift. Twilight simply leaned over slightly, never taking her eyes off Swift and responded.
"I might be wrong, but if she is right about Swift, we might be in for a surprise."
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"Here again?" Swift looked around at the black void he floated in
'Still, I'm alive, which is a surprise.' Swift looked down at the armor he was wearing and noticed it looked badly damaged. When he looked to his left, he grew worried. The wound he could see looked bad. So much so that he started wondering if perhaps he had actually died. As soon as these thoughts entered his head, two familiar eyes appeared.
"Welcome back Swift. We really should stop meeting like this." The voice said, the humor thick in what it spoke. Swift couldn't help but laugh as well.
"Indeed. If seeing you is what I get for nearly dying, I should stop nearly dying." Swift watched as the eyes moved around the void.
"Death? Please, that isn't what brings you here. It takes something much more powerful and chaotic than silly death for me to piggyback on and have our little chats," the voice explained, suddenly sounding very serious.
"You should feel privileged. There are very few I can communicate with like this." Swift rolled his eyes at this.
"Really? I don't even know who you are, so why should I feel privileged?" Crossing his arms, Swift stared down the entity, hoping to get more useful information.
"Few ponies get to meet God. Well, a god. Some would argue that, but for you, I am certainly a god of sorts. Eventually we will meet and you can see for yourself. Until then, you have things to do." The eyes started fading and Swift could feel his own eyelids getting heavy.
"I can't wait to see the chaos you bring." Swift tried to respond, asking what that meant, but before he could, his eyes finally closed and sleep took him again.
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Pain. A pain he had never imagined. This was all Swift could focus on as he started to come to. His right side felt like it was on fire, and his left and back felt like he flew headfirst into the side of the library. Even when he first woke up in Ponyville hospital he hadn't felt this bad.
'Guess this is the real world then.' Swift managed to clear his head and started trying to stand when he heard a voice speak up.
"What's this? You're alive? Amazing, perhaps you will be useful indeed." That voice! He knew that voice well. The last time he heard it, it had threatened to kill Rainbow Dash before sending him into the caverns below. Opening his eyes confirmed this as the changeling queen stood over him, a manic grin on her face.
"Swift! You're alive?!" A second voice, which was joined by several others pulled his attention. Rolling off his side to his stomach so he could attempt to stand, he saw Rainbow Dash, Scootaloo, and the rest of the gang trapped behind a magic field in the corner. A quick glance around and he could see Celestia trapped in a cocoon and Cadence nearby where he was now.
"Yeah....I'm still...in this fight." Swift had a hard time forming the words as he managed to get on his feet. He thought his body hurt before, but the stress of simply standing was showing him what pain truly was. Nonetheless, he stretched as best he could and extended his wings, glad to find they weren't damaged in the fall.
"Don't worry about fighting for now Swift! Run and find Princess Luna!" Twilight shouted, realizing Swift had no chance against the queen. Chrysalis turned to face her as she shouted and approached the magic field, shaking her head.
"You continue to be trouble, even trapped in this cage? What should I do with you?" Chrysalis appeared to consider her options while looking at each pony trapped in the cage.
As Chrysalis threatened her prey, Cadence moved over to Swift and tried to subtly heal his side. Swift nodded a thanks as the pain receded as the spell did what it could. His wound was still massive and his joints were still in pain, but it wasn't as blinding as it was.
"Thanks, but what's the plan? We need to stop them." Swift whispered to Cadence, who shrugged.
"I don't know. She has us pinned. The elements are missing, and Celestia is trapped." Cadence explained the situation, the hopelessness in her voice growing rapidly. Swift nodded that he understood the situation and glanced around, spotting Shining Armor on the stage.
"What about Shining Armor's spell. Could it repel the changelings?" Swift wasn't sure how his spell worked, but at this point anything was better than waiting to die. Cadence perked up at this and nodded.
"It could, if we could get him free of Chrysalis. He could focus the spell to impact changelings and push them away. It's not optimal as unless we pin Chrysalis, she will likely escape or die." Cadence didn't want to kill anyone, but she didn't want to see this enemy escape either. Swift however had been hardened slightly in the fight and could feel strength at his core, as though a power was building.
"If she dies, it is her fault. But we can try to prevent that. Try to free him. I'll cause a distraction." Swift motioned Cadence towards the stage as he took his first steps towards the queen when she finally spoke again.
"I don't need your power to handle the lunar princess," Chrysalis suddenly lowered the shield around everypony and spoke to her children.
"Kill them."
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Two words. That was all Chrysalis had spoke, but they changed everything. The hive in the large room all moved at once, closing in as quickly as possible to rip the ponies to shreds.
Twilight and the gang braced for round two from outside and prepared to defend themselves. Their attention was focusing in every direction around the room as the hive raced in, though none of them had focused on the queen herself. Unfortunately this left them confused by what happened next.
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"Kill them."
The casual method with which she spoke, the same as she had before sending him to the caverns, ignited the same ball of rage from before within Swift. This time, she wasn't just threatening Rainbow Dash, but all of his friends. Nonetheless, it was Rainbow his eyes sought in the crowd when the words were spoken. Moments later, the sound of the hive moving grew as the queen turned from her prisoners, a small little grin on her face.
A grin Swift felt needed to be wiped as it pushed his anger over the edge. Using the rest of his strength and adrenaline, Swift shot off from his spot on the floor at full speed, hoof extending to connect with the queens grin.
It was the second time Swift would be able to say he matched Rainbow Dash for speed.
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Twilight readied a spell to clear a path in the oncoming changelings when a loud bang interrupted her. Before she could glance around for the cause, a body crossed her path and slammed into the wall nearby.
Every changeling in the room froze as their queen slowly proceeded to get up from where she had impacted. Cracks in the wall stood as a testament to the force she had impacted, as well as the green blood dripping from her mouth. From the look on her face, she was as confused as everyone else.
"Swift?" Twilight heard Rainbow mutter their friends name in confusion and turned her gaze to where he had been standing. When she noticed he wasn't there, she looked further around to where the queen had been and gasped at the sight.
There stood Swift, but the armor he wore looked different. The chest guard no longer sported the solar crest, but instead had a single round gem. The surface was smooth, but what stood out was the inside, which appeared to constantly change, yet stand still. As Twilight stared at it, she felt confusion grow. One moment it appeared to be a spiral slowly rotating, but as she thought that, it seemed to be a pulsing circle. When the change happened she couldn't recall, and as she thought about that, it seemed to simply ripple as though it had been all along. The rest of the armor was gold just as the normal armor, but the shoulder covers and wing covers seemed perfectly polished as though they had never seen battle.
Swift himself appeared to be fine as he lowered his hoof and hovered in place, flapping his wings looking ready to attack the queen yet again. The emotion in his eyes caused Twilight to wonder for a moment why he was holding back and not moving again, but was interrupted before she could think on it further.
"You vile mutant! How dare you lay a hoof on me! Who do you think you are?! CHILDREN! DESTRO....uff!" Chrysalis was cut off as Swift shot in and again punched her, this time knocking her to the ground.
"You talk too much. Surrender now and you won't be attacked again." Swift's voice sounded no different, but the authority he seemed to project was almost tangible. The queen however didn't seem as moved.
"So you imagine because you have a fancy new set of armor that you are a match for a changeling queen? I have feasted on the love of a Princess of Canterlot. I have captured the Elements of Harmony. I am the most powerful being in Equestria, and you would dare threaten me?" Chrysalis stood and puffed her chest out as she spoke, appearing to have shaken off the damage of Swift's attacks. Twilight knew she should help somehow, but found herself frozen at the standoff between the two. The changeling force thankfully seemed to have the same issue, not wanting to disrupt the encounter. Something managed to catch Twilight's attention though, and it worried her.
Blood.
Whatever had changed Swift's armor didn't seem to have done anything to his injury and his rapid movement wasn't helping. If the fight kept going, she wasn't sure he would survive.
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Swift grinned as Chrysalis spouted about how powerful she was, but it was to mask his pain. As cocky as he was trying to appear, he knew he only had a couple of really good swings left before it became too much.
"You brag of power, but you have been throwing it around for a while now without a refill. And if the power of your soldiers is any reflection, you changelings are pretty weak without a constant charge. No one has providing love to you since this little coup began so you gotta be running low on power." Swift taunted as he circled around the queen slightly, placing the wall along their side instead of the queen between him and it. Hopefully his backup wouldn't be much longer. Otherwise this might hurt...
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Chrysalis seethed as this peasant spoke to her with such disrespect and a distinct lack of fear. She also seethed from his rather astute statement. Since the fight started, she hadn't had a chance to recharge and the attack on Celestia had taken a huge part of her reserves.
'I can wipe that grin off his face though, and my army will handle the rest. Victory is still mine!' Her thoughts calmed her as she started summoning more and more of her power.
"Well, little Swift. If you really thing I'm out of power, then this shouldn't hurt you. If if you are wrong, do you have any last words?" The power building around her horn glowed a bright green, pulsing and begging to be released. Swift seemed to glance around the room before smiling.
'Why is he smiling?' Worry found its way into her thoughts briefly before he spoke.
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The power radiated from the queen, and Swift thought he might have underestimated how much power she had left. Nonetheless he had committed to this path, so he had to stay the course. Thankfully the queen couldn't go without gloating one more time.
'Is she ready yet?' Swift glanced over to the raised dais and saw exactly what he had hoped. Grinning, he turned back to the queen and spoke.
"I get final words? Well then, I better make it a good one. How about....FIRE!" Swift shouted as he glanced over to where Shining Armor and Cadence stood, his magic appearing to be charged as well, ready to go. Everyone followed his eyes and saw Shining just as he released his shielding spell, slamming rapidly into every changeling in the room, flinging them full force away from the source.
Chrysalis had no time to react as the spell slammed into her, forcing her to blast her magic at the wall, blowing a hole in it. This is the sole thing preventing the magic from crushing her against the wall and knocking her out or possibly killing her. As the magic expanded, the army in the city was thrown full force away from the castle and into the distance. Most would be separated from the pack, some would be knocked unconscious, and others worse. The magic used to build the cocoons holding ponies such as Celestia prisoner was also destroyed, freeing the captive citizens of Canterlot.
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The entire attack took just a few seconds, but seemed to take forever as the ponies remaining in the hall looked around in relief. The enemy was routed. For now at least. Silence sat for a minute in the room before a moaning pulled attention to where the princess lay on the ground.
"Celestia!" Twilight ran to her mentor to check on her as the rest of the group followed. Celestia was slowly opening her eyes and smiled as she saw the group standing over her with worry.
"Twilight...Cadence....all of you. Well...done." Celestia praised the group as best as she could, given the energy drain she had undergone. The group was about to start asking how she was when a group of soldiers burst into the room, finally free from the attack, and moved to check on the royalty in the room.
"Princesses! Apologies for being so late! The enemy was holding us off. Is everyone well?" The guard lieutenant asked the group, his main focus on Celestia herself.
"I am fine, lieutenant. Cadence, how about you?" Celestia asked, looking to the bride.
"I'm ok, just a bit sore and tired. I think we are all ok." Cadence looked at the group of mares around Celestia and not noting any major problems. She quickly realized however that someone was missing.
"Swift?"
Attention turned to the stallion in armor over by the wall that had been damaged. Once everyone glanced over, Rainbow realized he was leaning against the wall and wasn't looking well. Without waiting for anyone else, she flew over as quickly as possible to Swift to check on him.
"Swift, what's wrong? I thought you were better." Dash glanced around at his pristine armor and noticed what Twilight had seen earlier. Blood was slowly pooling below him as he leaned against the wall. Nonetheless, he managed a grin to his marefriend.
"Not quite. Just got some new armor somehow. I'll be fine though...I just need...to sit down..." Swift's voice grew faint as his eyes closed and he slid down the wall, drawing a cry from Dash. The guards quickly ran over and began looking him over and prepping him for a move to an infirmary.
Twilight watched as they readied to move him and was torn between following him and staying with her mentor. Celestia seemed to notice as she finally sat up and spoke to her student.
"Twilight, go and check on Swift. Make sure he is taken care of. I'm sure Rainbow will as well, but someone with a bit more of a level head will help." Celestia said with a smile. Twilight started to speak, but in the end simply nodded and stood to follow.
"All of you should go. I'll be fine, as will Cadence. Make sure Swift is ok." Celestia motioned for everyone to follow, and was met with little resistance. Soon, the entire group was heading out to make sure Swift was ok.