Rainbow reached a hoof to her face to find blood trickling from her left eye.
"Fragile my flank!" Rainbow shouted back. "I remember that me and five others destroyed an entire army of you freaks! Right before Shining Armor did that repulsion spell and knocked you all clear out of Canterlot!"
Queen Chrysalis angrily shot another green beam of magic at Rainbow Dash, sending her rolling backwards and leaving her with some singed fur and a black patch on her rainbow mane.
Rainbow examined the damage. Even moving her right wing proved impossible, as it sent incredible pain through her entire body. She was still blind in the left eye. There was no way she was flying out of this one. Looking around, she only now realized that she was completely surrounded by Changelings. Running was not an option either.
"Yes, you and your friends." She said venomously. "Well, at first I considered enthralling you, and making you work for me against them. But, knowing you little peasants, you would likely find some way out of it. So, I think I will just end your pathetic life instead."
"You will NOT disrupt my plans again!" She shouted as she fired another shot of her foul magic at Rainbow Dash, intending to kill.
Right before the magic reached her, a lavender mare landed on the same spot Rainbow was lying on, in a way that she stood over her, shielding her. Her horn glowing purple and her eyes glowing bright white, a purple translucent barrier appeared in front of them, blocking the magic.
Queen Chrysalis grunted lowly, and Rainbow looked up at her savior. Chrysalis released the cyan feather she was holding on to, which fluttered through the air and landed into a firm spot between the mare's ear and mane.
"T-Twilight?" Rainbow stammered.
"Ah, just the Alicorn I was hoping to see. I get to kill two Pegasi with one stone. Thank you for sparing me the trouble of tracking you down."
"Princess Celestia told me Changelings were spotted in the Everfree. I guess I can confirm that now. But you are not killing anyone today, you monstrosity." Twilight said smugly.
"I beg to differ!"
Queen Chrysalis fired three more shots in quick succession, all being easily blocked my Twilight's magic, a fresh barrier appearing with and disappearing after each shot.
"Get her! Kill them both!" the Changeling Queen growled to her minions.
One Changeling sprung from Twilight's left, and she quickly turned her head and zapped it with a purple shot of magic. Another pounced from behind. She sprung both rear legs back, giving the creature a fierce double kick that knocked it back into the horde. Two more pounced, this time one on the left and one on the right. Twilight snapped both her wings out with extreme force, knocking the Changelings away with ease.
There were too many to fight like this, especially while trying to defend Rainbow at the same time. If only there was some way she could get them all out of the way at once...
Twilight mentally kicked herself for not thinking of it sooner. Immediately after the Changeling invasion on Canterlot, both Princess Celestia and Shining Armor demanded she learn the repulsion spell. She had only a few days ago finally grasped the basics, but it was still nowhere near as powerful as Shining or Cadance could do it. Still, it was her best shot.
Twilight bowed her head and closed her eyes, channeling all the magical energy she could muster.
"Kill them, now!" Chrysalis yelled. Hundreds of Changelings pounced forward. They were stopped by a small purple bubble of magic around their targets. They tried to claw their way in unsuccessfully. A few moments passed, still trying to break the barrier. Twilight's head suddenly jerked up, her glowing eyes snapped open, as a brilliant white light engulfed her, Rainbow, Chrysalis, and the rest of the Changelings.
When the light faded, most of the Changelings appeared to be incapacitated, and had clearly been knocked back a few yards. Even Chrysalis was sitting, dazed, at the base of a tree. As she once again laid eyes on her enemies, she got up on her hooves, still trembling. Many of the Changelings also rose to their hooves. Twilight saw this as her only chance. She stepped back, bowed her head, and launched herself forward, picking up Rainbow Dash and starting a sprint forward in one swift motion. Rainbow landed on Twilight's back after being lifted over her head, and wrapped her forelegs around Twilight's neck. Twilight easily rammed the weakened Chrysalis out of the way and back into the tree she was knocked against previously.
Twilight never knew she could run so fast, especially with a near-unconscious Pegasus on her back, but there was no way she was flying. Despite her sudden speed, the Changelings were catching up to her. She looked back to see one nearly close enough to grab her tail. She looked forward again just in time to see a collapsed tree, and she was just barely able to drop her legs into a crouch and slide under it without Rainbow getting knocked off. Twilight expanded her wings while doing this, knocking out the small log that was holding the tree up, which then fell on the Changeling.
Not all the Changelings were running. In fact, Twilight wondered why any of them were running, as they all had insect-like wings. As a few caught up to her, she decided she would have to fight back while running. Two flew in front of her on the left side, and she quickly shot magic at them, causing them to hit the ground and trip a few of the Changelings behind them. Another approached right next to her, on the right side. The creature rammed into her, nearly knocking her over. Twilight let out a small grunt of struggle as she rammed back with more force than even she thought she was capable of inflicting. It was knocked far off and ran directly into a tree. Two more ran up from the left, and prepared to ram at the same time. Twilight braced herself, and when the two rammed, they were stopped by a Cyan wing, knocking the duo on their faces. Twilight looked back at the smug, triumphant smile on Rainbow's face. She couldn't help but smile back. Her smile was changed when she saw three Changelings burst out from a grove of trees ahead, blocking her forward charge. Rainbow saw the problem ahead, and got an idea. She lowered both of her wings, even the damaged one, and locked wing tips with Twilight. Twilight knew what Rainbow was suggesting. As they approached the changelings who were in turn approaching them quickly, the two did a synchronized wing-flap, launching them forward and up at incredible speed. Twilight landed and stomped on the middle Changeling's head, causing it to smack into the ground face-first. The two immediately snapped their wings out at the same time, knocking the other two Changelings out of the way and into the trees, without stopping their forward movement at all. The movement of her damaged wing caused Rainbow to let out a groan of pain.
The sudden speed alone was one thing, but Twilight never thought she would be able to run for this amount of time either. This was more than adrenaline. Twilight didn't really have time to think, as there was a steep drop directly in her path. There was no way around, and if she stopped, they would both be swarmed by the Changelings. What was worse, this wasn't just any steep drop: it was Ghastly Gorge, a part that ran through the Everfree forest. The forest continued on the other side. Twilight's and Rainbow's wing tips were still locked, and Twilight looked back, as if looking for approval for what they were about to do. Rainbow simply nodded.
Repeating the same thing they did with the three Changelings, the two were launched forward and upward. A massive Quarray eel jumped up and chomped at them, coming mere inches away from them. The two glided over the entire gorge, flapping their wings a few more times. When they landed, Twilight knew better than to stop. The Changelings would still pursue them. However, a few snapped out their wings to late and went too low, and were eaten by the Quarray eel which sapped up a second time. Rainbow was looking back, and let out an overly loud laugh when she saw this. A few changelings approached from above.
"Twilight, above us!" Rainbow said anxiously.
Twilight looked up at the trio, and shot another purple magic beam at them. The magic jumped from one to another, and they all fell, nearly landing on the two ponies. This did not slow Twilight down at all, as she knew slowing down would mean certain death. She looked back once more at the horde of Changelings. When she looked forward again, there was a massive cliff rising far upwards. Looking around, it surrounded them on three sides. They were trapped between the cliff and the Changelings.
As the creatures approached, with Chrysalis in the middle of them all, Twilight began backing up until she bumped into the wall of stone. She threateningly lit up her horn at the horde, seeming to dare one to attack.
"I think this is it, Dash." Twilight said to the Pegasus still on her back.
As the horde seemingly prepared to pounce all at once, they all looked up at a large black shape rapidly approaching from the sky.
"QUEEN CHRYSALIS! WE DEMAND YOU STOP THIS MADNESS AT ONCE!" said Princess Luna in her booming Canterlot voice, as she landed between Twilight and the Changelings. Some of the Changelings actually covered their ears.
"Princess Luna? What are you doing here?" Asked Twilight.
"It's just one surprise after another today..." muttered Rainbow Dash.
"Oh, you are making this way to easy for me. Now I get to kill three Pegasi with one stone."
"Not today. My sister forbids me from ending you now without offering you a chance to leave this place. So, this is your sole warning. Leave, or die."
Queen Chrysalis started laughing at what she had just heard.
"Have you already forgotten that I am more powerful than even Celestia?! What can her little sister possibly hope to do?
Sighing, Luna lit her horn with dark blue magic. Several puffs of black smoke began appearing in front of her. After each puff faded, in its place was a black stallion or mare, Pegasus or Unicorn, or Earth pony, in shining silver Royal Guard armor. After rows upon rows of guards appeared, Luna herself took on the form of Nightmare Moon. The Changelings all began to back away in pure fear. The Unicorns of the royal guards formed in front, with shields of translucent blue magic and magically held spears. The Pegasi flew above them, pointing spears at the horde of Changelings. The Earth ponies, with spears, formed in rows behind the Unicorns. Nightmare Moon, four Unicorns and four Pegasi all landed behind the Horde as they turned to seemingly flee, stopping them.
Queen Chrysalis growled in frustration.
"Let's go! Get out of here!" As all the Changelings flew upwards and away in what seemed to be the direction of the Badlands, Chrysalis turned once more to the two ponies she had been chasing.
"And you! This. Isn't. Over." she said before buzzing her insectoid wings and flying off with her children.
"Excellent work soldiers! You are dismissed." Nightmare Moon said as she transformed back into Luna.
"Yes ma'am!" The guards said collectively as they, one by one, disappeared in the same puffs of smoke they arrived in.
Luna rushed to Twilight and Rainbow Dash. "I'm sorry I could not be here sooner. The guards had reports of an intense white light coming from the Everfree Forest, and my sister told me to investigate, with a large amount of Guards on standby just in case. Are you inj-" she stopped herself as she saw the singed fur, bleeding eye, massive wing gash, and some other less severe cuts on Rainbow. Twilight had quite a few cuts as well from the run through the forest, but it was nowhere near as bad.
"Oh my... she must get medical attention immediately!" Luna said urgently.
"I know. Thank you so much for your help Luna, we wouldn't have made it without you." Twilight replied, as she turned to start running again.
"Wait..." Twilight heard the weak voice of Rainbow Dash. "Princess Luna... could you... get Scootaloo? Please, she... needs to know..."
Luna nodded, turned, and immediately took off for the Cloud Mansion.
Twilight began running in the direction of Ponyville.
"Where are we going?" asked a very weak Rainbow.
"Where do you think? Ponyville hospital."