It was hard to describe how they reacted.
Applejack didn't really react much, considering she was nursing a bullet in her leg, fading in and out of consciousness with Fluttershy and Rarity and Pinkie tending to her a good ways away from the thick of it all behind a crate. He could hear Fluttershy scream and sob. Rarity, for all of her vocabulary, didn't say a word. Pinkie was tearing up. Rainbow was frothing at the mouth and speaking what seemed to be another language, barely holding herself back because he was the one holding the gun. Gilda gaped, a look of confusion and almost disdain on her face.
Pino was stony as ever. And Chrysalis was smiling like a shark.
He tossed the smoking Walther PPQ back to Pino.
"Give me the address, Chrysalis," Adrian snarled. "The Elements of Harmony won't touch you now."
"You moron! You jackass!" Dash screamed, her face red. "You hayseed! You're going to trust her?!"
"The address, now. I want a zipcode," Adrian demanded.
She giggled like a little schoolgirl. "Alri-ight. I'll hold up my end of the bargain." She giggled again.
Chrysalis didn't seem like much of a giggler.
"Port of Seattle," she said, very slowly and matter-of-fact, drawing it out. "Look for a cargo ship named The Chameleon. Your precious Lyra will be in a green shipping container marked: P-O-N-U." She smiled the toothiest grin in the world.
Was that it? Twilight dead? Was that all she wanted? Not anyone else? Just Twilight? Then again, he supposed killing one was enough to ruin them all. Anyone could see the devastation in their eyes.
And then she would lure him to Lyra, of course. A trap was set, of course. Because he was going to try and save Lyra, of course. He wasn't getting information from Chrysalis. She was giving it to him.
Of course.
"You best hurry up. I think we forgot to poke holes for her to breathe."
Of course, even the best laid plans can't account for everything. Things like spontaneity, and the human spirit. Depending on how you looked at things, things like, sheer luck and stupidity, or ingenuity.
Adrian kicked her in the side. "The keys."
Much to her chagrin, Chrysalis tossed him the keys to the Audi R8.
"Thanks," he grinned. "Twilight, you okay?"
"What?"
The corpse moaned. "Owwwww..."
Even from all the way over there, he could hear Pinkie scream. "Zombie Twilight! Eeeee!" In the blink of an eye she was next to Twilight.
Twilight stood up slowly, rubbing her sore chest. "That hurt a lot."
"I winked at you. I winked at you," he insisted.
"No..."
"I know you winked at me, but it still hurts," she snapped.
"No, no."
He had expected to say things like, "That's impossible", or, "You're dead", but it seemed like the only thing coming from Chrysalis was the word, "No."
Time was a luxury they couldn't afford. Not that Adrian wasn't above strongarming Chrysalis, but by the time he'd wrestled the answer from her, Lyra would be dead. So he played along. Unfortunately, Twilight had to too.
But this wasn't fiction. Bullet resistant vests weren't bulletproof, meaning that even if he was a good shot (which he was) at that distance, there was a seriously high likelihood of Twilight's ribs being shattered, organs ruptured, or even the bullet penetrating. There was no time to remember what rating the vests were.
Twilight snapped her fingers a few time. Nothing sparked.
"I think my magic got shorted out!"
Twilight had seen his little wink. The only gesture he could do that wouldn't give them away. And she'd stalled him with words, a very dramatic performance indeed. Her dialogue was a bit corny ("there is always a choice"?). She'd formed her glass-like magic shield at the very last moment. She'd sucked in deeply prior to getting shot and held her breath. The vest took most of the blow, but her little magic plate had shattered like glass. Twilight had won a nasty bruise on her chest that almost resembled the color of her pony coat.
He heard them all sigh. Rainbow looked ecstatic. Pinkie nearly strangled Twilight with her hug, snuggling her.
"Pinkie, ow. Ow."
"What?" Chrysalis uttered. Was she having a hard time coming to terms with it all?
Pino locked eyes with him and gave him a curt nod.
Twilight stormed up to him and shoved him. "We are never doing that again! Ever!"
He nodded bashfully.
"Ever!" she screeched. "You big dummy! Next time you tell me the plan!"
"Yeah. At least tell us if you're going to be stupid!" Rainbow snapped. "Jeez!"
"Looks like you should have been more specific. Shoot Twilight in the face? The leg?"
Adrian took one step before turning around and descending upon the changeling queen. He grabbed at her collar, fixing her with the coldest gaze he could muster.
"This is over!" he screamed in her face. "Do you hear me?"
Her head was twitching like mad. Like an insect with its antennae ripped off. "No no no no no..."
"I don't care what you do." He looked at Pino, fixing her with a stare. "But you stay the fuck away from me. And if I ever see you or any of your mooks ever again..."
He paused.
"I'll kill everyone."
The entire time, he never saw. He never saw her hand slowly sliding down her thigh. He never saw it trace down and slowly brush the leg of her pant up. He never saw the black sheath strapped around her ankle. He never saw her fingers close around the grip of the knife, slowly pulling it free.
Only Fluttershy saw.
"LOOK OUT!" she screamed.
Chrysalis screamed, pulling a knife on him. She snagged his collar, jamming the blade right into his vest, piercing through. It was a bulletproof vest, not knife proof. He screamed, clutching his bleeding shoulder, rolling away. She was on top of him. The blade poised over his head, with her, ready to plunge it into his throat. It happened so fast. Too fast for anyone to react, too fast for anyone to pick up their guns buried in the mud.
There was a bang.
That final exclamation point to end everything that had led to this point.
The cause of it all.
Chrysalis sat, the knife poised over Adrian. She swayed back and forth. Her head nodded.
She slumped over and fell to the side, blood blossoming from her chest.
She faced the sky, dead.
Everyone turned to see the one who had fired that shot.
Pino held the Walther with both hands in a clumsy grip, the barrel smoking, a spent shell at her feet. She was on her knees, jaw agape, eyes blank, on her knees, unable to comprehend that she had pulled the trigger. Everyone else gaped as well. No one moved. She let out a whimper. Then a sob.
"I killed her," she whispered.
Her own mother.
"Pinocchio," Adrian rasped.
"I killed her," she said, her voice gasping.
He moved closer, crouching down. "I'm going to take the gun away."
Her eyes filled with tears. They mixed with the rain.
"I'm taking it away now, okay? Pinocchio?" he whispered.
Her body shook.
His hands closed around the barrel. She relinquished the handgun, let out a wail. Rarity and Pinkie were right there, ready to comfort her. She looked down upon Chrysalis' body.
Adrian held the confiscated pistol on her. She didn't move.
"Pino," he said. "Pino, I'm sorry."
And then, a green flash.
It came from Chrysalis' corpse.
Or what was supposed to be her corpse.
Adrian blinked. "Son of a gun."
Pino gasped. "No..."
They all looked down upon the dead changeling that had disguised itself as Queen Chrysalis. They stared. There was a lurch in his gut. He shivered. They were wet and cold and dirty. The rain amplified the invisible wounds on them all, the cuts and bruises you couldn't see caked behind dust and dirt and grimy water.
He felt sick.
"We need to go."
Gilda said it first. She said it loud.
"We need to go," she repeated. "Let's go."
They all stared at the corpse.
"HEY! LET'S GO! C'MON!"
They weren't in any condition to fight again. No choice.
"You take care of AJ and Twilight," Rainbow commanded.
"I'm coming with you," Rarity shot back.
"Forget it!"
"I can help!"
"This is not the time!" Rainbow snapped. "Me, Adrian, Gilda, and..." She glanced at the last changeling standing. "Pino. We're going to get Lyra."
Adrian sprinted to the pearl white Audi R8 V10, disarming the alarm and popping open the door. In any other circumstance he most likely would have spent hours drooling over the sports car. It oozed luxury and class, but at the moment, all that he needed was its horsepower. He settled into the leather seat, heaving a sigh. The engine roared to life. He popped the clutch and smoothly shifted into first gear and sped off into the night.
Pino popped the passenger door open and slid in.
"Hold on, Lyra," he muttered. "I'm coming."