//------------------------------// // Chapter Forty Seven : Fury of the Setting Sun // Story: This Platinum Crown // by Capn_Chryssalid //------------------------------// - - - (47) Fury of the Setting Sun - - - A glowing pinprick of Twilight Sparkle’s magic expanded where it had just contracted, but in a new place, depositing the seven equestrians inside on a smoking rooftop. Unlike the dance studio, this area was far from abandoned and far from quiet. Hastily splitting apart from where they had been clustered, a trio of explosions greeted the new arrivals, erupting against an amber-yellow semitransparent barrier overhead and eliciting a frightened squeak from Fluttershy as she tried to hide under her hooves. Everypony else tried to get their bearings as more explosions erupted around them. Buzzing overhead past one of the amber barriers, a wing of changelings juked away from a trio of magic blasts. One of the changeling bombers broke off from her wingmates, twisting in midair and trailing droplets of green from her side. Her left wing, hanging by a thread, sheared right off and she crashed into the side of the roof near the hooves of an armored pegasus mare. Eight of Alpha Brass’s personal guard secured the roof for them: four were big pegasus amazons with humorless faces sporting crimson and silver dolmans, four were smaller unicorns with gilded rings around their horns to enhance their spellcraft. All were mares, but they fought without hesitation or mercy. The pegasus bruisers ripped into any changeling that tried to land or harry them under the canopy of the shields, their size and strength enough that Twilight saw one effortlessly pluck a maneuvering changeling out of the air with her bladed wings. The unicorn quartet fired a steady stream of magic into the sky, warding away the black chitin swarm that milled threateningly overhead. “I am glad you could make it,” a pale unicorn mare with a prim red bun of a mane said, welcoming Twilight and her group. “Twilight. Ser Fluttershy. Ser Pie. Lord Moon. Lady Velvet.” She even welcomed the two newest additions. “Sir Lance. Sir Shot. I am Eunomie Mosaic.” “You know who we--” Crescent Moon started to ask. “Everything Twilight saw and heard, I saw and heard,” Eunomie quickly explained, holding up her hoof. Magic swirled from around Twilight’s face and shot into Eunomie’s left eye, turning the orb there from cataract white to pale amber orange. “Please, follow me. We are almost to Hocksbach.” She signaled to her retainers, and they quickly abandoned the redoubt, a magical ramp allowing them to run to the next roof. A squad of changelings landed ahead of them, throwing tear-gas bombs. Pegasus wind magic knocked the green rounds off the side of the roof, and the guards rushed ahead to engage the creatures in close combat. Bulling past the fight before it even finished, Twilight’s group jumped straight down onto another magical ramp that extended over a modest wall. On the other side of the wall, directly ahead once they hit the ground, was Hocksbach Hall. Built of sturdy brown limestone, the hall had been erected even before Arsenic’s exile from Canterlot. It had passed into the hooves of her Kamacite descendants, and they had maintained it as their most prestigious holding. It was the seat of the Terre Rare family in Canterlot. Open park-ground surrounded the great hall, with fountains and statuary and benches for tourists and city dwellers. On a normal day, hundreds of ponies would be hanging around the hall’s grounds, socializing, buying food and drink from street vendors, playing games and reading. The grounds were now part of a larger battlefield, as fire poured in from the reinforced walls of Hocksbach Hall, now reprising its original purpose as a small fortress in the middle of the city. Swarming changelings broke apart as explosions stitched the sky, keeping them from assembling in any large numbers. Instead, they had to keep to small groups, making quick attacks. Arrayed against them, ranks of unicorns staggered their fire, producing streams of multi-colored light that arced up and in sputtering irregular bursts. “Hold!” a commanding voice barked as they approached the front of the building. It belonged to a stallion in Terre Rare red, his coat snow-white and his mane dark purple. “Star!” Twilight held up a hoof in greeting. “I’ve come as expected.” “This is true, and I see now why you gave us the orders you did, noble cousin,” the stallion replied, also lifting a hoof in welcome. “Tell me, what is the code you sent me in your letter?” “Magic cannot be created or destroyed, only transformed,” Twilight repeated, and her cousin motioned to the guards to keep their focus on the enemies in the sky. “Welcome back to Hocksbach Hall, Twilight Sparkle,” he said with relief. “We have been waiting for--” “HI! OH! Oh! Is that a ‘12-pounder’ bronze cannon? 117-millimeter bore diameter?” Pinkie Pie had already zipped across the intervening distance to launch a full on invasion of his personal space. She pointed past him to one of the cannons mounted on a swivel flanking either side of the hall entrance. “Could I take a quick look at it up close? Please, please, please? I’m Pinkie Pie by the way? Who are you? Twilight said she had a bunch of cousins and half cousins and cousins two or three or six times removed!” A pink terror furiously shaking his hoof, he barely managed to mutter, “I’m… Companion Star, ma’am…” “Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy are my friends,” Twilight explained, passing by her cousin. Fluttershy gave a polite curtsy, dipping her head and her legs, but remained too bashful to do anything else. “You know my Mom and Dad, and Eunomie, right?” “Aye,” Companion Star said, bowing politely at Crescent Moon and Twilight Velvet as they passed. The latter took an extra moment to look over the fortified façade and patio that protected the front of the hall. Eunomie lingered only to watch Velvet for a moment and then follow her in. Companion Star stopped Sir Shot and Sir Lance, directing them to a group of haggard guards recovering outside. Inside the hall was a flurry of activity. Ponies were racing to and fro, some hauling boxes and crates up from storage below, others cleaning and oiling and inspecting weapons or armor before adding it to a rack or pile. Elsewhere, a frightened family was being inspected by an armored mare who then herded them to safety after checking to be sure they were equine. Waiting for Twilight inside was another pony in a light tan cloak with large flaps over the chest, fastened tight with buttons and tiny aiguillettes, the tiny ornamental cords capped with gold. He sported a wavy crimson and gold mane over a pearl-colored coat. A leather tome with a dagger for a bookmark stood on his coat in place of his cutie mark. “Uncle Eclipse,” Twilight greeted the stallion. “These are my friends, Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy.” She motioned to them, rushing introductions a bit. “Guys, this is my uncle, Annular Eclipse.” “Hi!” Pinkie heartily shook hooves with the stallion, grinning happily. “Hello,” Fluttershy said softly, bowing politely again. Annular Eclipse bowed quickly but also very politely. “It is always a pleasure to meet such lovely young mares. Welcome to Hocksbach Hall. Little brother,” he added, smirking at Crescent Moon. “I take it the wedding did not go as planned?” “It did not,” Twilight Velvet answered for her husband, scowling all the while. “Uncle,” Twilight began, walking over to where a large map of the entire city lay draped over a wooden table. “How are our supplies?” “We have enough to support an army of over a thousand,” he answered, rounding to the far side of the table. “Some of the arms and armor are very old, dating back to Arsenic’s era, but if anything that makes them more potent and not less. All have been meticulously maintained. For the time being, I’m keeping the antiques in storage. We have a massive stockpile of modern equipment to distribute first.” “Now we just need to get it to the ponies who need it,” Twilight said, pointing to the table, near where the church had been. “Uncle, you should know that we’re just the advance for a much larger group. After they break out, they’ll head here.” “The wedding guests,” Annular Eclipse assumed. “That’s fine. We’ve also taken in quite a few royal guards. There are other, smaller, houses who have also called up their retainers. Few can stand alone against a determined attack, however, so most have taken to ground. We are attempting to rally them.” “Good,” Twilight approved. All this was not meant to be hoarded, not in a crisis. “What about you?” Annular Eclipse asked, “You left this in my hooves, and I can see why now, but where are you headed next, little Light?” “Here.” Twilight sent a little glow to highlight one dot on the map. “Her Majesty’s Wireless Magical Broadcasting Tower. I need to cast a spell from there, using the antenna.” “And Hocksbach Hall is right in the way,” Eclipse reasoned. “Alright. We’ll lend our aid anyway we can, but if we’re going to linkup with your friends from the wedding then we’ll need a large force to push east.” “I just need you to get me to the underground station,” Twilight Sparkle said, highlighting a line on the city map. “Once there, I’ll go the rest of the way using the Crystal Hall.” “We’ll go the rest of the way,” Twilight Velvet promised. “We are not letting you do this alone, are we dear?” Crescent Moon shook his head. “No. We’re not.” “No, Dad! They need you here, doing what you do best,” Twilight argued, drawing a circle over the map with her hoof. “Your Far Seeing magic might make the difference between linking up with the ponies from the wedding and everypony running right into an ambush. You have to stay here.” Twilight lowered her eyes and took a shuddering breath before glancing up at her father. “Dad. I’m ordering you to stay here. This is the best way for you to help not just everypony, but me, personally.” Crescent Moon clenched his jaw, but he understood, not only his daughter’s reasoning, but that she now held the reins of the Terre Rare in Canterlot. “Fine.” “Surely you’ll be fine taking your mother along?” Twilight Velvet insisted. “As a compromise? Twilight.” Twilight opened her mouth to protest… but just as quickly shut it. “No. You can come, Mom. We might… need you.” “I knew you’d see things my way,” Velvet replied with a faint smile. “Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie…” Twilight Sparkle finally addressed her friends. “If you guys want to hang back, this is probably the safest place in the city right now. We can all meet back here later.” Fluttershy remained quiet. If learning that part of the reason for the detour here was for her benefit surprised her, she didn’t show it. Pinkie Pie, however, shook her head right away. “No way!” she chirped. “We gotta stick together! Rarity has her Rariquest, and you’ve got your Twiquest, and we’re already in your party, so we can’t just bail on you out of the blue! Unless somepony needs a bathroom break or the GM panics because we’re going off script.” She leaned in close, prompting Twilight to move back slightly to avoid bumping noses. “Point is: I betcha you’ll need us at some point. So don’t even think about leaving us behind!” “Fluttershy?” Twilight asked, gently pushing Pinkie off to the side. The shy pegasus forced herself up and onto all fours. “I’m not going to run away,” she answered, her voice shaky. “I won’t pretend I’m not scared, but Pinkie’s right. We should stick together.” “I agree,” Eunomie quietly chimed in, and Twilight gaped at her. “You do?” she asked, tilting her head in surprise. “Yeah!” Pinkie pronked around them happily. “Go Team Twilight! Or is it Team Sparkle? We do have two Twilights, now, since your mom is coming. Oh! Or even better, let’s call ourselves Team Pinkie again! Bar trivia contest winners extraordinaire!” “That was one time,” Twilight noted, but started to smile despite the situation. “But Team Pinkie does have a one-hundred percent success rate.” “The zoology questions back then were just too easy,” Fluttershy tentatively said, also smiling. “This’ll be harder, but I don’t mind.” She held out her hoof, and Pinkie and Twilight both bumped it with their own hooves. “Team Pinkie it is,” Twilight agreed. Expressionlessly watching the three mares, Eunomie remained outside the circle of close knit friends. As much as she and Twilight had connected, on at least a professional level if not a personal one, that did not extend to either of the other two elements of harmony. Instead, Eunomie spared a glance towards Twilight Velvet. The older mare was still scowling. Crescent Moon and his brother were already discussing the defense of the area privately. Everything, Eunomie determined, was going exactly as it should. Alpha Brass would be pleased. “Eunomie!” Twilight’s voice interrupted her thoughts, and she felt her foreleg lift up. “What?” she asked, softly, suddenly finding her hoof deposited on top of three others: one lavender, one yellow, and one pink. “Welcome to Team Pinkie!” Twilight said, smiling brightly. Looking around, Eunomie saw Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie grinning as well, welcoming her into their group. The normally emotionless mare stared, momentarily thrown for a loop. Looking down at their hooves, she blinked dumbly. “T-thank you,” she managed to say, taking a second to recover. They made their final preparations and headed out under heavy escort. - - - Applejack kicked in the backdoor of the restaurant, peeking out into the alley beyond before leading them into the next kitchen. Rarity and Rainbow Dash followed close behind, the former lighting up her horn to help them navigate through the hanging pots and pans and dimly lit larders. Occasionally the trio came across signs of a struggle: violently knocked over food, an oven carelessly left burning, a few splotches of green or red blood. In this kitchen, Applejack held up her hoof, pointed to her eyes and then across the floor to a dead changeling. The hilt of a knife stuck out from its forehead like a second horn. Whoever had been cooking in here hadn’t gone down without a fight. There was a second changeling stuffed into a pantry cupboard, the hind legs of the insect-like equine hanging limp as pasta. Rarity noticed a newspaper clipping, and coughed, prompting her two friends to investigate. “Minotaur opens Minoan bistro in big city,” Applejack read the headline. “Guess that explains the body-strewn kitchen.” “Oh, mushroom moussaka and pilaf?” Rainbow Dash seemed to have skipped the headline to read about the menu items. “This place looks good!” “Next time we’re in the city we can visit, darling,” Rarity promised, peeking over and into the body of the restaurant proper. “My treat.” “Rarity, I never forget a promise of free food, so I’ll hold you to that,” Dash said, vaulting over the counter and into the restaurant. They were keeping to the back entrances and exits and off the main roads. “Not one apple on the menu,” Applejack grumbled, heading over to the side entrance. “I should complain.” Rarity rolled her eyes. “Not everything has to have apples in it, Applejack.” “Fer the sake of our friendship, I’ll pretend ah didn’t hear you say that,” Applejack quipped, forcing open the door with a grunt. She wedged the door open and took a quick look into the next alley. “Shoot!” “What’s wrong?” Rarity asked, stepping carefully around a knocked over table once piled high with food. Two messy streaks in the spilled egg-lemon soup betrayed a struggle as the customers had been bodily dragged off towards the front door. “Dead end,” Applejack answered. “No more back doors. Just a fire escape.” “So we hit the roof?” Dash asked, grinning at getting a little closer to the open air. “Let me think for a moment,” Rarity insisted, stealing a quick look outside the restaurant through one of the front windows. “Royal Review turns to Eighth Blue Belle at the intersection with Dream Valley Road, which is… there. If we cut across and take a left, we should be fine.” “Ah don’t know how ya can tell heads from tails in this kooky city,” Applejack muttered, shaking her head in dismay. “Nothin’ but one-way roads an’ teeny tiny little streets an’ turnstyles. Ah hate turnstyles! Can’t ya’ll just build on a nice grid like Manehattan?” “Canterlot is an old city, Applejack. This is what old cities are like.” Rarity motioned them down with her hoof as a wing of changelings flew high overhead. “Let’s go.” Running across the street, the three elements of harmony weaved between two knocked over carriages. Further down the street, magical blasts crackled upwards, knocking a pair of changelings out of the sky. The two who escaped stopped in mid-air, returning fire from their horns before diving down into the front of another building. It promptly exploded a second later. “Holy smokes! Appleoosa this ain’t!” Applejack remarked, meeting up with Rarity and Rainbow Dash in the narrow cobblestone street. The still smoking body of a fallen changeling lay curled up in the shadow of another luxury restaurant. “Surrender yourselves!” A voice shouted from above, as another wave of changelings buzzed by in tight formation. It had the sort of tinny quality than came from being a recording on the radio. “There is no need to fight. We are not here to hurt you. Cooperate and nopony will be harmed. Surrender yourselves! There is no need to fight. We are not here to hurt you…” The radio faded as the changelings descended to investigate the explosion at the far end of the street. “‘We are not here to hurt you’ my perfect rainbow-streaked behind,” Dash grumbled, but kept hidden, pressed against the wall of the alley. “That’s the exact thing invading aliens would say. Next thing they’ll say they have a book ‘to serve pony.’” “You’ve been readin’ too much science fiction, sugarcube.” “Pffh. It’s only science fiction until it becomes science fact!” “This way,” Rarity whispered, taking the lead from Applejack again. She knew the backroads better than her friend. The cobblestone passed by underhoof as they ran, zig-zagging through poorly lit walkways far too small to support even a modest carriage. The roads didn’t even seem to have names, sandwiched between the spires and white-washed facades of Canterlot buildings. Near the end, Rarity quickly held up her hoof to indicate ‘stop.’ Hiding behind a pile of garbage cans, much to the fussy unicorn’s discomfort, they hunkered down as a procession of changelings buzzed down what had once been one of Canterlot’s fantastic thoroughfares. In addition to the buzzing swarm of flying changelings, leonine ones without wings stalked in formation down the street, pulling carts stocked high with waxy cocoons. More terrifying still, a pair of huge worm-like creatures slithered in lockstep with the armored column. One raised its head to the sky and uttered an ear-piercing trill, high pitched enough to hurt a pony’s ears, but low pitched enough to drop a pit into a mare’s stomach. Rarity, Applejack and Rainbow Dash all kept low and barely took a breath while they waited for the parade of changeling horrors to pass by. “Surrender yourselves!” the voice from before repeated, even now. “There is no need to fight. We are not here to hurt you. Cooperate and nopony will be harmed. Surrender yourselves! There is no need to fight…” When the announcements faded into the distance and the road was clear, the trio of mares resumed their trek through the city, sticking to the maze of narrow streets and alleys that made up much of Canterlot. The changelings seemed to be relying heavily on patrolling the main roads and boulevards. Combined with their control of the skies and the roofs, it was still a formidable stranglehold on the city. Rarity saw only the occasional equestrian face, usually only in passing as somepony glanced out of her window. Those ponies who hadn’t been caught already certainly weren’t in a hurry to surrender themselves to the legions of monsters that overran their city. “This is it,” Rarity whispered, pointing across the street past a decorative iron wall. Beyond the vine-like cast iron grilles that separated each brick pillar that made up the wall, the three mares could make out a beautiful mansion built in the typical Canterlot unicorn style. Much like the Blueblood manor, it had a bright façade facing the front lawn and gardens, decorated with the usual heart-shaped and leaf-like curls and curves that were post-classical Canterlot. The grounds were empty but well maintained, the unassuming appearance belied by the fact that the gate to the house was wide open and the stone marked by strange tracks. “You sure this is the place?” Dash asked, holding out her front hooves. “Most definitely,” Rarity assured her, taking one of the offered hooves. “Are you certain you can get us inside without leaving that trail of color you do?” “Yeah. That’s just a basic tail trick. No problem.” Dash held onto Applejack’s hoof, and spread her wings. “You ready?” “Quite,” Rarity answered. “You betcha,” Applejack said, and as soon as the word was given, Rainbow Dash took off. Her wings flapped hard, propelling herself and her two friends through the air and right over the iron walls of the manor house. The ground sped by under them in a blur. Cyan blue wings angled at just the right moment, bringing them lower until her hind legs found purchase on the grass. Skidding around in a tight circle, she only stopped when one of her legs pressed up against the stonework of the base of the house. “Mah turn,” Applejack said, kicking at the heavy iron bars that protected a nearby window. Each one cracked at the base, a thick metal bolt deforming as she ripped the grate out with hardly a sound. Rarity’s magic finished the job, finding the inner latch and opening the glass of the window. The three elements of harmony hopped inside. The room they found themselves in sported a massive fireplace carved white marble, reaching from the floor to the ceiling. It might have been a trophy room once, but the views of medals and paintings were obscured by heavy wooden crates. They were stacked up, side by side, and as tall as a pony. Each one was labeled ‘construction equipment’ or ‘imported turf’ or ‘statuary.’ One was left open, and it didn’t contain statuary. There were cocoons inside. Rainbow Dash ran a hoof along the edge of one, pulling it out enough to confirm that it was empty. Rarity hushed her before she could say anything, and she motioned for them to follow her. If this building was anything like the manor Blueblood had built, then she should be able to find their way. According to Twilight’s interception spell, the signal of the captured cutie mark crusaders had come from this house, in what looked like the grand salon. The house was quiet, but as Rarity rounded a corner, she caught sight of the enemy. A trio of changelings were moving another crate through the nearby hall, chattering to each other in a hissing, sibilant language. Rarity nodded to Applejack and Rainbow Dash, unrolling her makeshift scarf from around her neck and forming it into a snake of fabric. She struck first, shooting the bolt of cloth into one of the changelings just a second before Rainbow Dash and Applejack pounced on their targets. With the three changelings knocked out, they rushed between the two arcing stairs leading up to the next floor. Another hallway stretched ahead, and the noise from before brought out a pair of curious changelings from inside one of the adjacent rooms. Recognizing the three intruders, one of the changelings hissed and charged at them while the other ran. “Rainbow!” Rarity yelled, blocking the charging changeling and knocking it aside and into the wall with her cloth. “I got it!” Dash said, already moving. She body tackled the changeling before it could escape and spun it around, slamming it into the opposite wall. The creature hissed as its back slammed into a low wooden stand, splintering the wood and the delicate ceramic cups on display atop it. Applejack finished off the remaining changeling held back by Rarity’s fabric, knocking it out with a single kick to the midsection that shook the fixtures in the wall. “Well,” Dash commented, smirking at the changeling she had taken care of solo. “That wasn’t so--” “Zzzhe!” The screech preceded a blast of green light that knocked Rainbow Dash right off her hooves. The chromatic pegasus scrambled away from the open door the changeling before had been running towards, finally finding a safe spot flush against the door frame. More green magic poured in through the door, accompanied by more chattering. It was clearly only a moment’s salvation, however, as the changeling directed her magic at the side of the door, blowing away the frame in burning chunks and forcing Dash to keep scooting over and away. “Applejack!” Rarity yelled, and rushed forward. “Right with ya!” Applejack yelled back, and kept next to her unicorn friend as Rarity rounded the corner. Her cloth shield extended, layering over itself like a big ‘Z’ in front of them. Green magic splashed against it and over the sides. “Go! Go! Go! Go!” Applejack pushed her hooves up against the fabric shield, forcing it forward. “Zrreee!” a pair of changelings hissed, jumping to either side of the fabric shield. Their twisted horns were aglow with viridian energy, leaving bubbling lines of light in midair as they moved. “Hi-yyah!” Rarity cried out a ‘kai’ as she kicked the closest changeling, spinning gracefully on one hoof as she planted the other right into the changeling’s jaw. It didn’t just hit, it knocked the resulting magical blast off course. Green energy exploded against one of the chandeliers overhead, knocking it loose and sending bits of crystal raining down. Applejack lunged with her front hooves at her own target, hitting the creature hard in the upper chest and left shoulder, also forcing it to fire harmlessly upwards. Pushing it off balance, she then spun around and kicked with both hind legs, sending the changeling sprawling as it skipped like a stone across the room. The ‘Z’ of her fabric-shield unfolding, Rarity caught her breath and pointed ahead. “There. Look!” At the far end of the hall, the walls to either side thick with a dozen paintings, sat more of the changeling cocoons. Three of them were lined up against the wall, and to the left of them a large bubble-shaped construct of changeling wax stood out. The cylindrical cocoons were clearly designed for mass-production and both easy storage and handling, but the big, round cocoon was something else. It looked cemented firmly in place, next to another marble fireplace. “I keep forgetting these guys have magic, too,” Rainbow Dash said, emerging from behind the blasted and scarred doorframe. She ran a hoof through her multi-colored mane. “Hey! Is that what I think it is?” “I think so,” Rarity told her, cautiously approaching the bubble and trying to get a look inside. Part of it did seem transparent, and there were shapes inside. “I dunno how you even get this thing open!” Applejack was the first to put hooves on it, but it resisted her digging the edge of her hooves in. “Ah can’t… get a handle on it…!” “Rarity, just cut it open, huh?” Rainbow asked, frowning. “Let’s get the tykes and get outta here.” “Very well. Stand back,” Rarity ordered, motioning Applejack out of the way. With the same fabric she had used to defend them, she curled and uncurled it, snapping the edge out at high speed. Feeling ready for some delicate surgery, she struck at the bubble-cocoon, cutting into the side where there was no risk of harming the fillies inside. Leveraging the fabric in, she then slowly cut horizontally into the cocoon. A second cut followed vertically, creating a flap, and then a third and finally one last horizontal slash. “Hang on, Applebloom! I’m a comin’!” Applejack grabbed hold of the excised wax, ripping it loose with a wet ‘splurtch’ing sound, like the sound of a pony being violently sick. A few gooey tendrils of slime stuck to the rectangle of wax as she pulled it completely free and tossed it away onto the carpet. “Apple… bloom?” Applejack reached into the cocoon and pulled out the horn-less, wing-less filly inside. Despite being covered in jelly-like changeling goo, the filly had Apple Bloom’s bright red mane, her pink bow and even her orange eyes. She was Apple Bloom’s size, and despite being rather limp in her sister’s hooves, she was clearly alive and breathing. It was when the jelly sloughed off her flanks that something became odd, not just to Applejack, but to Rarity and Rainbow Dash as well. “Hey! She finally got a cutie mark, huh?” Dash joked, laughing to lighten the mood. “I guess all ya had to do was get foalnapped! Not how most ponies get their mark, but…” “This isn’t Sweetie Belle,” Rarity interrupted, having also retrieved the horned filly from within the cocoon. The little unicorn was groggily shaking her head. Her pink and lavender mane was done in Sweetie’s natural curls, her coat was Sweetie’s shade of white, but her eyes… they weren’t green. They were blue. “My sister does not have blue eyes,” Rarity told them, using her magic to pull out the last filly; the one who should have been Scootaloo. Dash helped her out, and saw that this filly had a cutie mark, too: an elaborate little painter’s easel. She otherwise looked almost exactly like Scootaloo… except, as Dash picked the filly up to look into her eyes, they were the wrong shade of purple. “They wore blindfolds in tha image Chrysalis showed us,” Applejack remembered. “These ain’t our sisters at all. They’re fakes!” “It was all a trick… from the start,” Rarity whispered to herself, still holding up the fake Sweetie Belle. “She played us for foals.” “Nopony could risk calling her bluff,” Rainbow Dash realized it, too. She set the fake Scootaloo onto the floor. “Hey, kid. You okay? Can you talk?” “The queen…” the fake Sweetie mumbled. Apple Bloom glared up at her would-be sister. “The queen will…” “Kill you all,” ‘Scootaloo’ declared, pushing away from Rainbow Dash. “Wha--” “They’re right, you know,” a voice hissed from behind, and Rainbow Dash spun only to find herself seized and lifted into the air with the same ease with which she had just lifted a filly. Rarity and Applejack leapt to her defense, the latter trying to grab onto Dash and pull her free of whatever had her and the former shooting a ream of cloth into thin air. In clear pain, Dash yipped as whatever had her let go, throwing her into Applejack. “That was quick thinking,” the voice complimented. “Counter-attacking instantly without a moment’s hesitation, even at what you can’t see. In acknowledgement of that--” Rarity snarled, lashing out with her cloth again, zeroing in on the voice. Her fabric snapped like an angry cobra, first aiming for an empty patch of floor and then for the opposite side of the room, cutting clean through a pedestal with a bust of Celestia atop it. “--and because of your title, Baroness, and your prestige, as three elements of harmony--” The voice rose in volume as it suddenly got closer, forcing Rarity to dive away in a panic. A puncture in the bubble-cocoon betrayed where something had struck. When it withdrew, it had punched clean through the wax surface, leaving a hole behind that bled greenish jelly. “--I will let you see my face,” the voice continued. “Behold.” A line shimmered in the air, the edge of a hoof almost, and behind it a face emerged. It was only vaguely equine, with wider cheeks than normal and bulbous eyes, lending it an almost triangular aspect. The jaws broke open in a smile, and it was a frightful rictus of mandibles and teeth. The slender forelegs revealed themselves next, along with the gracile neck and nearly skeletal-thin body, all of it streaked by red chitin. The lower half remained invisible, literally fading away into nothing. “You stand in the presence of Sarai,” the changeling announced, remaining aloft on her hind legs, or so everypony assumed, since her hind legs were still invisible. “Queen Sarai of the Zilant Hive.” She bowed, mockingly. “Sarai Bloodletter. Sarai Fear-Bringer. Sarai Throat Slasher.” “Another Queen?” Rarity slowly backed up so her friends could cover her back. She caught sight of the three fillies she had freed backing away from them. “Are you surprised?” Sarai asked, her upper body moving without a visible lower body beneath it. “Chrysalis is not the only Hive Queen. Until recently, she was just one of many.” “So what are you doing here?” Dash demanded to know, still nursing a bruise around her throat. “You her best Queeny gal-pal or something?” “Hardly,” Sarai replied, casually inspecting her thin blade-like forehooves. “As far as I am concerned, oaths or not, we are still equals… but Chrysalis has a vision that I respect and appreciate. It is for that vision that I brought my Zilant Hive in to assist my fellow Queen.” Sarai spread her forelegs, and the air rippled all around the room. Red-coated changelings emerged from out of thin air. They were more slender than the green changeling drones Rarity and her friends had encountered before, with a severely stunted horn but large, brightly colored wings. At the very least, it seemed to hint that this group of changelings wouldn’t be bombarding them with magic. If there was any justice, that was an ability that the greens alone had. Invisible monsters were bad enough. Invisible monsters blasting you with magic? Rather worse. “Ya’ll never had our sisters at all, did ya?” Applejack eyed the predatory Sarai warily. “Who are these three fillies? You take them from their homes or what?” “Those three?” Sarai wondered, craning her neck to peer over at the false cutie mark crusaders. “I believe they were the children of the ponies who owned this wonderful villa. Once we replaced their parents and started using their home as a staging ground, months ago, Chrysalis had the foresight to keep them around and use them as hostages. Your fear of your loved ones being taken was all we needed. You being here shows that it worked… and that the little beasts have outlived their usefulness.” The changeling Queen glanced over at the three fillies. “Delicious little things, aren’t they?” Sarai asked, licking her mandibles. “I probably would’ve eaten them, myself. Unlike Chrysalis’s picky Biscione, my children have a taste for flesh as well as emotion. It allowed us to better survive the lean times of the Sunkissed Desert… though sadly the other hives oft complain of our table manners. …But now?” Sarai began to fade away into transparency as she paced, broken glass from the chandelier that had fallen crunching beneath her invisible hooves. “There’ll be blood and meat to spare when you creatures have learned to embrace the yoke,” she remarked from the shadows. “Won’t that be a happy day?” “Get ready,” Rarity warned, Applejack and Rainbow Dash bumping flanks with her as they formed a tight, protective circle. “There sure are a lotta them,” Applejack noted, watching the formerly invisible mantid changelings surround them. “Just means more to beat the tar out of,” Dash insisted. “I’ll let you two fight over second place.” “Go,” Sarai commanded, as invisible as a specter. Her children obeyed, and leapt for their prey. - - - “What? Here? They’re coming here? Are you sure?” Vinyl Scratch kept her eyes and nose down but her ears open. The changeling guards watching over the captured radio staff seemed to chatter in a mix of their own language and normal equestrian. Oddly enough, they seemed to prefer equestrian when talking with a changeling of a different color. Maybe they didn’t know each other’s languages? A red-colored changeling had just entered, demanding to speak to the changeling in charge. “Twilight Sparkle herself? And Eunomie, too? Why here of all places?” The changeling in command maintained the disguise of one of the royal guards from outside. The exception being the changeling’s crooked black horn that he or she didn’t bother hiding. It stuck out like a wicked tumor from the otherwise pure white of the royal guard’s forehead. The red changeling was much quieter than the green commander, Vinyl couldn’t hear his or her response. “Yes. Yes, I understand,” the changeling commander muttered, dismissing the red changeling. “We will see to it. You’d best be going.” The red changeling left the room, and the changeling leader beckoned over two others who had been keeping close watch on their prisoners. Vinyl could see confusion on the faces of a few of the other captives. Most of the engineers and other technical radio staff had been taken away. It seemed the changelings were still broadcasting. The radio announcers and talking staff had been gathered together, searched, and immobilized with waxy goo. Their threat neutralized, they were left to sweat in an empty sound stage. Most kept clustered together for mutual comfort… except for Loud Mouth, who still sat alone in a puddle of his own making. Nopony much wanted any of that near them. “You!” Vinyl looked up, and saw the changeling leader pointing towards her. “The unicorn. Bring her here.” “Vinyl!” Octavia yelled, and in a moment, the two changeling grunts were on her. They lifted her by the forelegs and carried her over like a bag of oats. “Hey there! You guys need my help with something?” Vinyl tried to sound confident and unafraid, but her breathing refused to keep steady. She’d seen these changelings beat ponies down without so much as a ‘sorry.’ The way they had taken the radio station was downright professional. They might as well have been griffins. “Unicorn,” the leader said, making it clear why she had been singled out. “What’s so special about this place? Is there something in the building that a unicorn could use?” “Lotta things,” she replied, evasive. “Answer me,” the changeling hissed, slipping a sharp knife loose from his or her armor. “Woah! Calm down! Your question was super vague,” Vinyl argued, struggling weakly against the two changelings holding her upright. “Be a little more specific next time, that’s all! Geez!” “You think this is a game?” the changeling asked with murderous calm. She dug the tip of her organic-looking knife into Vinyl’s cheek, right where it met her trademark shades. Not yet breaking the surface of her skin, the changeling used the knife to slowly lift up the glasses, revealing her real eyes. Vinyl held her breath, waiting. “Vinyl!” Octavia yelled again, and Vinyl could hear a scuffle. “Don’t you dare hurt her!” The changeling leader ignored her. “I said: do you think this is a game, unicorn?” “No.” Vinyl Scratch gulped and very carefully shook her head, mindful of the tip of the knife very near her eyelids. “No!” “Then I’ll ask you again,” the changeling said. “A unicorn is coming here. A spell caster of some skill. What is in this facility that would bring her here? Some device, maybe? Or is she after the tower itself? What does she want that we have here?” Vinyl’s mind raced as she considered the question. Though this changeling didn’t know it, or, maybe, she didn’t think it mattered… but Vinyl had overheard the name of this particular unicorn. Twilight Sparkle. She recognized it. Not that she knew Twilight, really, but she’d been in Ponyville tons of times. She knew the elements of harmony in a passing way, and Pinkie Pie fairly well. ‘Twilight Sparkle is coming here?’ The well-known DJ wracked her brain for a reason why. It had to be for the broadcast tower. A skilled unicorn could use a powerful radio tower like this one to broadcast a spell to receivers across the country. It was why radio existed. Before anypony had thought to transmit music, the tower had been conceived of as a means of transmitting magical energy for remote spell casting. It wasn’t something most ponies even thought about anymore, since it required so much magic just to set up the signal. Only a huge spell could… Only a huge spell could be transmitted. Like a spell that fucked with changelings all across the country. That kind of super spell! “It has to be…” Vinyl licked her lips, making her decision on what to say. “I’m not sure, but it might be the recording studio…” “The recording studio?” the changeling sounded skeptical. “Why? What’s down there?” “Spells can be recorded on disks!” Vinyl lied. Mostly. But the best lies always had some truth in them. “On vinyl disks! You can record a spell and then copy it and distribute it or replay it whenever you want. It’s more complex than just that, but – but you get the idea… I’ve done it myself, actually, and--” “If you’re lying to me,” the changeling cut her off, waving her knife in front of the DJ’s eyes, “you’ll need those glasses to hide what I’ll do to you. Understand?” “Yeah!” Vinyl nodded emphatically. “Totally. One hundred percent. Clear as crystal! Clearer than crystal!” The changeling continued to stare into her eyes, looking for some falsehood. Vinyl grinned, trying to appear as frightened and cowed into submission as she could. It wasn’t hard. She didn’t exactly feel all that much in control of things at the moment. Praying silently that her ruse passed muster, she felt a swell of relief in her heart when the changeling turned away. “Put her back with the rest,” the changeling ordered, finally, motioning to one of her subordinates. “You. You’re in command here until I get back.” Dropped onto her rear next to her old college roomie, Vinyl finally gave a shuddering sigh, all the fear from before escaping with her breath. Octavia brushed up against her, keeping her sitting upright. At the same time, she came close enough to whisper without them being overheard. Usually, the guards angrily broke up anypony who tried to get too close – ‘no talking!’ they’d yell, and kick or punch – but this time they seemed too busy and let it slide. “Are you alright?” Octavia whispered softly. “Yeah,” Vinyl whispered back, starting to smile, “Turns out, a friend’s on her way here as we speak.” - - - Twilight Sparkle led Team Pinkie around a mangled pile of glass and iron scaffolding that had fallen down from the uppermost levels of the Crystal Hall. It meant ducking into one of the storefronts, but otherwise the fallen wreck didn’t obstruct the way any more than the overturned carriages that lined the streets of most of Canterlot. The ceiling of the Crystal Hall was made of cast plate glass held up by an elaborate iron scaffold. Almost all of it was still intact, through just entering had revealed a few sections to have taken damage from changeling dive-bomb attacks. Messy cones of brighter light steamed in through the gaps in the crystal canopy, and in the spotlight below was the inevitable tangled ruin of glass and iron. Luckily, most everypony that could must have galloped for cover, as the falling debris didn’t seem to have caused any visible injuries or casualties. The marketplace itself was deserted, just like Twilight had hoped. She raised a hoof to motion her group forward. “This way, everypony.” The main thoroughfare of the Crystal Hall was a good twenty pony-lengths wide and dotted with food vendor carts and new model carriages that could be won in contests set up by various merchants and businesses. Advertising signs and streamers glowed cheerily alongside magnificent crystal and marble fountains and other pieces of public artwork. Though wide enough to be a street, the Crystal Hall was strictly for hoof-traffic only. No carts or wagons or carriages were allowed except those on display. This was partly why Twilight had picked it to be her means of crossing this part of the city. Though usually teeming with activity at any time of the day, the hall itself sat in the middle of a posh residential area in Canterlot. If there were changelings still lurking around, their focus would be on the often fortified homes of the nearby nobles. Also, because the hall was hoof-traffic only and completely enclosed, it was a far less attractive space to attack from the air, which was the changeling preference. “Is this place the crystal hall or the crystal mall?” Pinkie Pie asked, slowing as she passed by a large Starbucked café sign, advertising a new type of latte. “Hall,” Twilight happily answered, more than ready to deliver much needed exposition and background. “It was originally built for the Second Royal Exhibition celebrating Equestria’s seven hundred year anniversary. While it acts more like a commercial mall these days, it is still technically a reception hall just like Hocksbach. In fact, it remains the largest hall and the largest indoor space in Canterlot, covering almost one million square hooves…” “I’ve always wanted us to go to the mall!” Pinkie blissfully exclaimed, bouncing ahead. “Hall. Hall!” Twilight tried to correct her. “Ma~a~all!” “Is it safe to be under all this glass?” Fluttershy quietly asked while Twilight used her magic to reel Pinkie Pie back in before she pronked too far ahead. “The ceiling overhead is much stronger than it appears,” Twilight assured her. Pinkie continued to furiously try and bounce, despite being lifted bodily into the air with a magenta aura. “Oh. Okay.” “You good back there, Mom? Eunomie?” Twilight asked the last two members of their group. Twilight Velvet seemed to be fine trotting along at a leisurely pace, guarding their rear. Eunomie, though, had been scouting ahead before. Only recently had she insisted on being at the back of the group. “Fine, dear,” Twilight Velvet replied. “Everything is just fine.” Catching a look at Eunomie’s face, Twilight saw that her left eye was closed. That could only mean she was scouting with her intangible familiar, Galen. “No difficulty,” Eunomie answered, deadpan. “I will inform you if I detect a threat.” “Keep to either side under the store overhangs,” Twilight reminded her friends, dropping Pinkie down to her left. “I’d rather not tempt fate and have some changeling see us from above.” The five mares made steady progress through the abandoned hall, Pinkie occasionally gasping softly to point out the various stores and landmarks. The Crystal Hall was one of Equestria’s most famous shopping districts. After a slight decline and a small fire a century ago, it had been energized by new investment. Many famous franchises and exclusive stores, especially luxury stores, leased a gallery floor or two under the glass canopy. There was even a small ski slope and Pinkie practically gasped herself up to the second floor when she pointed it out. It was actually as much a ski store as it was the slope, but yes, ponies could and did ski and snowboard on it. They had just passed a Neighponese chophouse with a decidedly oriental flare when Eunomie spoke up for the first time since Twilight had asked her how things were going covering the rear. The soft spoken and serious mare was not one to chatter on, so when she spoke, Twilight listened. “Trouble ahead,” she warned, saying a lot with only a few words. Twilight used a flash of magic to muffle the less-than-inconspicuous Pinkie Pie to her left and ducked behind the cover of an overturned iron table. Fluttershy was quick to join her, and so did Twilight Velvet a moment later. Eunomie, she saw, slowly ducked behind an ornamental pillar. Still muffled by Twilight’s magic, Pinkie Pie grumbled but finally kept quiet. Feeling a magical tingle around her own left eye, Twilight nodded, and let Galen attach to her like a monocle. Eunomie’s familiar seemed full of tricks. Twilight had already seen much of what it could do back at the Library, where Eunomie had used it as an assistant to intelligently retrieve items and books in storage. Apparently, the familiar’s capabilities only increased from there, depending on how much of herself Eunomie ‘traded’ or sacrificed to it. Usually that was just her left eye, which turned white and creepy enough that the pale mare had learned to close her eye when it was in use. From the start, Twilight had suspected that what Galen observed, Eunomie could also observe. She had been more surprised to learn that what Galen observed, he (or it) could share with others as well. In a way, it was sort of like Eunomie used Galen to attach part of herself to Twilight. In this way, one could see what the other did. It was fascinating! But that was aside from the point at the moment. As Eunomie had said, there was trouble up ahead. Just past the broken storefront of a Boredstrom, next to a Wig Wham, was… “Oh. IHOPP,” Pinkie Pie whispered, having peeked out from over the rim of the table they hid behind. “Wait. IHOPP? Two Ps?” “International House of Pancakes… and Portals,” Twilight explained, pulling her back down and out of sight. “Ooooh! Pancakes and Portals. Yep! That makes sense,” Pinkie agreed, nodding vigorously. Twilight concentrated on the image projected over her eye, courtesy of Eunomie. The other mare had already gotten to a higher vantage point. From what she could see, and what Twilight could see through her, there was some sort of situation going down at the IHOPP. A small group of Royal Guards were out front; three in all, just from what she could see. They had a family of ponies gathered together out front: two young mares and an older mare and stallion. All earth ponies. There also seemed to at least be one more ‘guard’ inside, since slate gray unicorn of the three outside yelled something inside. From the body language alone, it looked like he was growing increasingly impatient. Twilight could imagine the one outside yelling for one – or more – inside to hurry up. There had to be more ponies trapped inside the IHOPP. “Hey, Twilight!” Pinkie said, just as a plan started to form in the unicorn’s head. “I was just thinking, what if the guards are actually guards and those other ponies were actually changelings?” For emphasis, she raised her hoof and somehow twirled it around three hundred and sixty degrees. “Wouldn’t that be totally a twist?” Twilight was on the verge of retorting, when she realized that Pinkie had a point. “That could be,” she admitted, lowering Pinkie’s hoof before her mind started to ask questions about her friend’s physiology that physics wasn’t prepared to answer. “Okay. Follow my lead. We’ll get close enough to talk, then, when I say ‘hay fries,’ here’s what we’ll do. Mom. Use a flash to stun them. All of them. At the same time, I’ll zap them all with my spell to reveal if any are changelings. If the guards turn into changelings, Pinkie, you and Eunomie try and take them out in the confusion.” “Okay Dokey!” “Very well.” “…” “I’ll take that silence to be a yes, Eunomie,” Twilight said, speaking to the one mare not physically present. “What should I do?” Fluttershy asked, as everypony got ready to step out from out of cover. “Umm… just stay close to me,” Twilight suggested, coughing into her hoof. “You can cover my back.” Fluttershy nodded and a moment later they all emerged from cover and started trotting towards the guards. Almost right away, one of the white pegasus guards nudged his partner and pointed their way. He said something inaudible and the gray unicorn Royal Guard turned away from the IHOPP towards the new arrivals. The earth pony family also looked up, but weren’t exactly in a position to say or do anything. “Hold it right there!” the unicorn guard shouted as he approached them. “What’s going on here?” Twilight asked, assuming a commanding tone. “You stand before Lady Twilight Sparkle and Lady Twilight Velvet, Sir. Is there anything we can help you with?” “A pair of noble ladies?” the unicorn asked, narrowing his eyes at their group. “And a pair of…” Pinkie Pie smiled goofily and Fluttershy kept hidden behind Twilight. “A pair of others...?” He shook his head. “I am Sir Black Lance; the two behind me are Lock and Load. No offense, noble ladies, but we are hunting changelings in this area. The city of Canterlot is under martial law. I will have to ask you to bow to my authority and submit to a mandatory inspection.” “Of course, Sir,” Twilight smoothly replied, not sounding the least bit ready to blast him with her horn. “As I said, though, we can help with whatever situation is going on in the IHOPP…” “It isn’t anything you need to worry about,” Black Lance assured her, “Just a few holdouts.” “If that’s the really the case, then please accept my apology in advance,” Twilight said, lowering her horn. “But I sure would like some… Hay Fries!” Twilight Velvet’s horn flashed brightly, just a moment before her daughter’s glowed with the energy of a primed spellcast. The three guards growled as the sudden flash momentarily blinded them. Heeding Twilight’s warning, Pinkie and Fluttershy both covered their eyes with their hooves, allowing them to see when the flash faded. Twilight had closed her eyes as well, and though it hadn’t entirely protected her against the light, it did give her a good look at what her spell had wrought. The three guards were now mares, their colors preserved due to their armor’s uniform enchantments. The family of earth ponies, however, hissed and growled as their equine disguises fizzled and shorted out. One by one their changeling illusions burned out entirely, revealing their true selves. All four struggled against the ropes they had been bound with, now more clearly visible. Fortunately, they seemed disoriented enough by the experience that none of them tried to use the opportunity to escape. “Oh! Sorry!” Twilight quickly apologized again, as the angry unicorn stallion turned mare started to light up her horn for a spell. “I’m so sorry! I just needed to check to make sure you were who you say you were!” “All right! Called it!” Pinkie celebrated by bouncing over to the angry Black Lance, grabbing her hooves, and starting to dance. “It wasn’t even my Pinkie sense! I just thought: hey, what could go wrong? And then figured that would be what would happen! I call it Pinkie’s Law!” “Enough,” the unicorn growled, pulling her hooves out of Pinkie’s grip. “Reverse the spell, please.” “It should expire in just a second,” Twilight promised, and sure enough, the guards quickly reverted to their male selves. All three glowered at the lavender unicorn. “Sorry again. Really! We were just being careful. How did you know those--” She pointed to the family of hissing former earth ponies. “--were changelings? Do you use another spell?” “Olfactory enchantment,” the unicorn lieutenant answered, curtly. He trotted up to Twilight, sniffed, and then moved onto her mother and then Pinkie Pie. “Olfactory enchantment?” Twilight asked, grimacing at being sniffed but already pondering what spell he was using. “That could work. Brass did say that trained dogs could be used to ‘sniff out’ changelings, but I didn’t think he meant it literally… I tried testing smell spells before and--” “You all pass,” the unicorn lieutenant said, after sniffing a cringing Fluttershy. He began to walk back to his pair of pegasus underlings. “But if you still want to help… in truth, we would appreciate it.” “Sure!” Twilight readily volunteered. “It’s the least I could do after… well; you know… what we just did!” “There are portals inside the IHOPP,” the unicorn guard began, leading Twilight inside. “A group of changelings have hijacked one, and we can’t get them out…” “Pardon me,” a voice interrupted, from the second floor of the IHOPP. “Eunomie?” Twilight called up, recognizing the voice. It was Eunomie. The serious mare stood on top of the iron façade that covered the gallery in front of the IHOPP. Rearing up on two legs, she looked down at the ponies below with a typically emotionless expression… an expression that suddenly seemed rather terrifying to be on the receiving end of. Like an indifferent pony about to step on a bug or three, simply because they were in the way. “Plowshares,” she said, horn aglow and extending one hoof to touch the iron scaffold, “to swords.” Twilight Sparkle had seen Eunomie do ‘swords to plowshares’ and back hundreds of times. She had been there when Eunomie learned the spell. That she could do it wasn’t in question. That she could turn one sword into one plowshare and back again, hundreds of times even, wasn’t a surprise. But this? This was the first time Twilight Sparkle had seen anypony turn an entire one-ton metal scaffold into swords. “Damnit all! She’ll ruin everything!” the unicorn next to Twilight yelled, and the Element of Magic found herself being pushed roughly to the ground. “Hit them! Now!” “What is going on!?” Twilight yelled, and gasped as the unicorn grabbed her horn with one hoof and reached for her mouth with the other. There was no way he was doing this to try and protect her from the falling hailstorm of razor sharp swords. The only reason to put a hoof on a unicorn’s horn like this was… The hissing screams of changelings filled the air. Looming over her, now under the cover that was just being inside the IHOPP, Twilight noticed a greenish glow in the unicorn lieutenant’s eyes. His grip on her horn tightened, enough to hurt, and her mind entered panic mode. Tucking in her legs, she tried to kick or push him off her, but just as easily he shifted his body to pin her down. “Hey! Let go of her you meanie!” Pinkie Pie’s voice, so often a source of frustration, filled Twilight’s ears like a godsend. The unicorn stallion above her growled and looked up and away. “Little pest,” he said, simply, and his horn erupted with a concentrated stream of blood red magic. “Die.” “NO!” Twilight screamed, and unable to cast a spell, she did the only thing left to her. She yanked a hoof free using Pinkie’s distraction and grabbed the other unicorn’s horn, mid-cast. She yelled out in pain, her hoof burning as it entered the stream of magic, but then it found purchase. Despite the agony, she held firm and squeezed, a pulse of her own magic interrupting the beam of crimson magic. “RRraaaHH!” The stallion howled, feedback burning his horn raw. His grip on her slackened, and she finally managed to kick him off. A second later and something fast picked her up off the floor, carrying her deeper into the IHOPP. For just a second, Twilight feared that it was a changeling or one of the pegasus guards. If their leader had attacked her then wouldn’t they? It was so hard to tell. Even Eunomie’s gift of shared vision was gone. Her horn hurt and, feeling more vulnerable than she had since the wedding ambush, Twilight sighed with relief when she saw the butter yellow that could only be Fluttershy. Or was it? The genuine look of panic on Fluttershy’s face convinced her, at least for the moment. No changeling could ever mimic the look Fluttershy had when she was out-of-her-mind afraid, but still determined enough to keep from hiding in a corner somewhere. “Get them!” Twilight heard the unicorn guardspony yell, and changeling hisses answered in a viper’s chorus. “Hunt them down! Don’t let them escape!” Then they slipped into a blue portal and the sound was gone. - - - Billowing flame washed across a smooth plane of black, hungry tendrils of fire breaking off to carve bright-red trenches in the ground, setting an entire acre of perfectly cultivated rye and bluegrass to the torch. Swooping low through the conflagration, Princess Celestia banked sharply to her left, narrowly avoiding a sweep of a black brush. The flame that ended up caught by the wave froze in place… and then vanished, erased from existence. Such was the power of Equuleus Pictoris. “Watch this one very carefully, Celestia,” a stern voice whispered in her ear, a memory a thousand years out of date. “The brush of Pictoris has absolute dominion over anything it ‘paints.’ In the heat of battle, you would be wise to keep out of the way and use your speed and versatility to your advantage.” Flying in a tight coil, Celestia dismissed the errant memory. She narrowed and angled her wings, accelerating like a peregrine falcon in a full dive. Bright light escaped from her horn, not as a beam, but as a whip. Flying in place with gossamer wings, the bridesmaid she had been introduced to as Minuette snorted and brought her brush around, spinning it laterally around her waist. A wave of black intercepted the coiling golden beam, capturing and nullifying a long streak of it. The spiral it had formed, however, was simply too wide to ensnare all at once. Those parts that had not been frozen broke off with a sound of tortured magic, like the screech of hooves on blackboard. They continued forward like a spread of birdshot, peppering the bridesmaid and knocking her out of the air. “Finally. I have you!” Celestia adjusted her horn to cast a double-layer shield spell to capture the mare. Her aurora mane began to flex and twist… a piece of it breaking off-- Only to be forced to dodge, hard, to the right as a pointed corner of a black triangle nearly speared her through the neck. Turning slightly, Celestia could see the other bridesmaid, Twinkleshine, floating in the air, her hooves directed forward and beads of sweat on her brow. Her three triangles lanced out fast enough to break the sound barrier, punctuating every thrust with a tremendous boom. Dodging them with wings alone was impossible. Celestia’s back right hoof pressed against a glowing barrier. Then her right front hoof did the same, letting her juke in a new direction. Then the back hoof again. Then her right wing. “RRRAAAHHH!” Twinkleshine screamed, forelegs straining as she directed her attacks with ever greater speed and intensity. “Stand still and DIE ALREADY!!” Little more than a blur of motion, Celestia continued to escape one infinitely sharp barrier-edge after another, until finally Twinkleshine saw her efforts bear fruit. The Solar Princess froze, the edge of an athereal triangle buried in her chest. Twinkleshine allowed herself a triumphant grin. A grin that quickly disappeared when she noticed a shadow overhead. The illusionary Celestia-mirage faded, and Twinkleshine cried out in surprise as the real one appeared only spitting distance away. Her gilded hoof extended… and Twinkleshine tried to avoid being touched… “Come to life,” Celestia whispered, and her golden slipper shot off of her hoof, growing wider and wider. In almost agonizing slowness, one of the bridesmaid’s barriers started to orient to block the ever expanding net of living, liquid gold. Celestia narrowed her left eye, only to suddenly have it drift off to her left. A crackling viridian beam forced her to tuck her wings in over her body like a shell. A cyclical barrier, nearly invisible to the eye, instantly snapped into place around her, deflecting much of the magical attack away and into the ground below, where it exploded like a lightning bolt. Spinning like a top in freefall, the Princess deflected two more beams the same way before snapping her wings out again and diving down into the flames below. Chrysalis hesitated in midair, none too keen to follow the Princess into the raging inferno that had grown on the ground as a result of countless magical strikes and fire attacks. Wings buzzing, the changeling scanned the devastation below with calculating green eyes. A black shield hovered protectively around her, and a moment later, so did Twinkleshine and Minuette. Both bridesmaids searched the blaze for a sign of the Princess, keeping position to guard each other’s backs. “Hiding in the fires will not help you, Princess!” Chrysalis roared, serpentine eyes squinting against the waves of heat emanating from below. “We will find you. We will--” “Sorry to keep you waiting!” a dulcet voice called up from below, cutting the Queen off. “I just needed the fire to spread a little more! Celestial Summoning!” “A summon spell?” Chrysalis sneered, her horn lighting up. “What could she be…?” With a rush, the flames that had spread all across the church ruins and reception grounds swept towards one point, swirling around like a tornado. Shielding her eyes from the brightness of the crucible, Chrysalis hissed, her sibilant tone punctuating similar efforts from her bridesmaids to cover their faces. Tighter and tighter the pool of fire churned, until it began to swell like a bubble about to burst. Suddenly and without warning, the swelling egg of flame split open and two torrents of fire shot forward. A pair of black shields blocked the walls of flame, but just as quickly, they retracted… And spread, like a pair of wings. “Philomena,” Celestia announced, standing atop an arch of fire as it straightened and grew, higher and higher. “Take on the aspect of your progenitor! Ankaa! Firstborn of the Sun! Accept these fires, inhale this ash, and heed my burning call!” The towering phoenix, taller than the spires of Canterlot, opened its cavernous beak. “Shield! Shield!” Chrysalis screamed, and Twinkleshine did as commanded. Front hooves facing towards the threat, the bridesmaid’s first shield expanded, the black triangle growing wider and wider. Beyond the onyx barrier, the Phoenix spoke an indistinct word that thundered across the sky and sent cracks across the lavender city shield. In the wake of that word, a beam of brightest yellow and white poured forth, completely engulfing the black triangle. Chrysalis and the two bridesmaids remained sheltered behind the unbreakable barrier… until the magic parted by the barrier closed back in from behind, surrounding and devouring them alive. Ankaa’s breath continued unabated, and Celestia stood unmoving atop the great creature’s brow. What was left of the breath, after it washed over the changeling Queen and her bridesmaids, stretched on to clash with Shining Armor’s citywide barrier shield. Ankaa’s fire punched clean through it like a red hot poker through a marshmallow, arcing far over the Equestrian countryside below like the tail of a comet. Celestia scowled, warily catching her breath. “I had hoped not to have to harm my two little ponies,” she said, knowing none could hear, not even her summoned phoenix. In this state, it didn’t really understand tiny words from tiny mouths. Only physical contact allowed her to direct it. Prismatic mane billowing wildly behind her, Celestia tapped a hoof gently against the giant bird’s forehead. The maw snapped shut, cutting off the hellish flame. Gradually making itself visible among the embers, the Princess could make out a black shape. It was to be expected. The unyielding barriers of Triangulum would persist, even if the ponies didn’t, at least for a time. Except… these were strange. Celestia leaned forward, physically brushing her mane out of her right eye to get a better look. It was narrow. It was extremely narrow, stretching almost to the ground below. But it was, definitely, a triangle. Celestia sucked in a breath as she realized what she was seeing. Normally, there was no way for just three triangles to completely cover an area. The geometry simply didn’t work out, at least in normal space. That was still true, except the triangle-shaped barriers of the constellation Triangulum could stretch. What stood before her now were three extremely narrow triangles, pressed together at the sides like a cone or a pyramid. It had simply stretched itself as far down as it needed to escape the living flames. The barriers came apart, and Chrysalis emerged from behind Twinkleshine. Celestia had to stifle a rather unladylike curse. She hadn’t needed to put a golden bit in the swear jar in eight hundred and sixty three years. She didn’t intend to start now. But this was somewhat… vexing. “Celestia's Concentrated Conflagrant Circumference,” she whispered, making a circle in the air with the tip of her burning horn. A second later, and she stepped back as a burning accretion disk formed in front of her. “ERASE!” Celestia angled her hoof, pressed down, and Ankaa raised a building-sized wing to shield her from the celestial brush. It was only a momentary defense. With a flash, a long strip of the giant wing vanished, erased, and a roaring bridesmaid rushed through the flaming gap. “Keep her busy,” Celestia ordered the ring of flame, and it shot off on command to intercept Minuette mid-swing. Her aetheral brush was functionally indestructible, but that didn’t matter. It didn’t need to be destroyed. It only needed to be kept from painting on-target. The Conflagrant Circumference could act independently letting her concentrate on the two other threats. “Ankaa. The white one!” She translated the commands into her hooves, and the massive phoenix nodded. “Go!” Wings flapping, it bore a tidal wave of flame down on Twinkleshine and her barriers, forcing them to expand and lock in place to receive the barrage of flaming feathers from the avatar of the Great Phoenix. Privately, as Celestia spread her wings and took off, she wished she could summon the True Form of Ankaa, but the constellation proper would not respond to her. Not anymore. The avatar, the Sun’s Son, was the best she could manage without Luna. Besides, once free, and it would always eventually get free, Ankaa’s only desire was to burn the world to ash; to spread and set all things to the torch until nothing remained anywhere. It was probably best it remained asleep on its starry throne. “CHRYSALIS!” Celestia yelled her challenge, speeding past the indisposed Twinkleshine in a streak of light. The air around her rocked and smoldered with explosions and clouds of stinging ash, the bell-like thunder of her Conflagrant Circumference intercepting Minuette’s every swing ringing in her ears. Mane rippling behind her, Celestia clashed hooves with the source of this disaster. “Princess!” Chrysalis jeered, locking hooves with her as they spun in midair from the collision. Her right foreleg pulled free and morphed, the back edge of it flowing into a blade. “You are only delaying the inevitable!” She struck down, trying to cleave open the Princess’s right cheek. A great white wing deflected the strike at the last second, and Celestia pulled back her still-gilded hoof. “Come to life. Become a Blade,” she commanded, and it responded instantly, stretching into a slender point. Chrysalis snarled, hastily bringing up her foreleg to block the thrust, and face the face the pair clashed, sparks flying as they descended in a wild, uncoordinated spiral. “You are imprecise, Celestia,” the voice from earlier lectured, in her mind’s eye, blocking her strikes with contemptuous ease. “As my first born, I expect better of you. I expect excellence. Do not tempt me to bring Luna in to show you your errors.” A kick to her stomach nearly sent her sprawling. “Do not disappoint me. Do not fail me.” Celestia clutched her midsection. Chrysalis’s kick had barely hit, barely hurt, but this fight was dredging up unwanted and entirely unwelcome memories. It was time to end it. She glared up at the Changeling Queen. Chrysalis was bloody and bleeding, having escaped the exchange in a far worse state than the Princess of Equestria. There was a panicked; there was a desperate look in her green eyes, and her exhaustion showed in her labored breathing. Her hole-pockmarked forelegs were still razor edged and glinting dangerously. Though they had drawn little blood, long strands of aurora-mane had been cut away and dangled from both limbs, like rainbow trophies. “Queen Chrysalis,” Celestia said, not with the Royal Voice, but with her own. “For your crimes against Equestria, I sentence you to death.” Hearing it, Chrysalis sneered, revealing a bloody fang. “You are princess of nothing, not anymore,” Chrysalis hissed. “And I will not be judged by food like you!” “I’ve already sentenced you,” Celestia stated, and only then did Chrysalis notice both of Celestia’s eyes were easily visible. It was because so much of her mane had been cut away in the melee. Too much of it. “Prismatic Prison,” Celestia said, not even bothering to speak more than half of the quad-alliteration spell. This was the easy part, after all. What came next would be far, far more difficult. “What is--?” Chrysalis snarled, the strands of the Princess’ mane that dangled from her bladed legs springing to life. They stood on end, orienting around the changeling Queen’s midsection like the spokes of a wheel. With a sound like interlocking metal springs, the colors of the rainbow filled in the spaces between them. The spokes of the wheel became a solid disk of shifting aurora-light. Her forelegs and hindlegs were still free, and she batted at the lights, but Chrysalis’s wings had been successfully pinned to her sides. “I can’t move,” she stated, numbly. “I can’t move?” “Iridium’s,” Celestia announced, pouring magic into her horn. “Intense.” Even before spoke the alliteration, eight points of glowing light sprung to life in the air. “Incandescent.” Chrysalis noticed them, too, and flailed madly at the prismatic prison around her torso to try and escape. “No! No! No! NO!” “Irradiation.” Horn glowing to move herself telekinetically, the Changeling Queen, even without her wings, managed to push backward and away… only to bump into the forming barrier around her. She grunted in surprise and fear and started to babble, tears welling up in her green eyes. Celestia ignored it and focused on the final alliteration. It was the secret only she knew, and that worked only for her. The final word left her lips, sealing her opponent’s doom. “Imprisonment.” Chrysalis violently threw herself forward, planting her hooves against the transparent barrier, screaming invectives only she could hear. Celestia shook her head. Whatever it was the Queen said, her last words, a plea for mercy, an attempt to bargain, they would be left a mystery. The barrier blocked sound. It had to. Still howling soundlessly at her opponent, Chrysalis paused, finally noticing a forming sunspot in the middle of the transparent cube that imprisoned her. She spun around. It was clear in her body language alone: in the way she froze like a deer faced with a bright light. She saw her death in that glowing pinprick of cosmic fire, and she turned away from it to once again slam her hooves desperately against the barrier. Her mouth opened wide in a long, silent scream. Then the pinprick of light flashed, and the changeling Queen vanished into the fires of the sun. The terrible job done, Celestia concentrated even harder, focusing on the still radiant cube. Chrysalis was gone, but it glowed with a pure white light that burned even her eyes. She could feel the otherworldly fires straining against their containment barrier. “Dispel!” she ordered. “I command you to dispel!” Gritting her teeth, Celestia enforced her will on the flames. They had to return to the darkness beyond and the sea of aether. They had to… or the resulting blast would cause untold destruction. She would save Canterlot only to destroy it with her own spell. That would not be allowed. Finally, almost painfully, it accepted her dominion… …and dissolved into nothingness. Celestia turned towards the two still floating, still flying, Bridesmaids. Twinkleshine and Minuette were shocked still; the later stuck in mid-parry with Celestia’s flame ring, and the former pausing behind her barrier, clouds of fire drifting to the ground all around her. The two stared down at the Princess, eyes wide. Celestia smiled reassuringly up at them. “My little ponies!” she called out. “Return to yourselves! You are free!” Still, they made no move. A thump almost knocked the proud Princess off her hooves, prepared as she was to fly up and literally shake the two maids free of their enslavement. Her wings flapped, weakly, but her body didn’t lift off. Craning her neck, looking back towards her rear, she saw the reason why. A small mint colored mare had her horn jabbed into the Princess’s undercarriage. “No,” the little unicorn mare declared, her voice changing, growing sibilant. “They are still mine… as they always have been!” Lyra’s body wreathed in green flame as she transformed, her legs growing longer, her neck stretching, nictitating insect wings vibrating in excitement. Holes ripped out in her legs, and Celestia felt something shift inside her as a jagged, vicious horn plunged out of her lower back. The sound of laughter assailed her ears, shrill and gleeful and mocking. Coughing blood, the Princess planted a hoof on the shoulder of the changeling Queen and pushed her away and into the dirt. Chrysalis rolled across the burned soil, still laughing, before hopping back onto her hooves. “All this time… all this… and it wasn’t even you?” Celestia gasped, holding a hoof to the gaping wound in her side. Her magic flared… and sputtered. Anemic sparks trickled down from the base of her horn and down her face like tears. “P-poison?” “Don’t sound so sad, Princess! You should be proud of yourself!” The newly revealed Chrysalis cheered, briefly clapping her hooves. “You did kill one Queen, after all, just not the right one.” Celestia’s vision blurred, her opponents becoming indistinct blobs. “Poor Queen Freyja,” Chrysalis went on, tittering triumphantly. “Queen of a race of changelings… who mimic other changelings… she was so happy to imitate me and gain my powers! She was one of the first to join me, but I don’t think she ever really grasped what it meant to be a ‘decoy.’ And here I was a little worried… thinking I’d have to stab her in the back after she beat you! This is perfect! Just perfect!” Chrysalis stood on her hind legs, holding up her hooves and laughing hysterically. Celestia could only try to stumble forward, her wings feebly flapping. She made it two steps before three black lances from above speared her through her shoulders and left leg. The regal Princess hit the ground and screamed, for the first time in a millennium, in undisguised pain. Finally incapacitated and helpless, it only took seconds for her to disappear under a swarm of changeling bodies and legs, Chrysalis’s laughter fading into the horrific din of buzzing wings.