Chapter 6: Regrets of a God
Queen Black Star approached the defenceless city of Canterlot from high above, masking her approach by flying in front of the sun. Her army of thousands of battle-hardened Black Changelings ready to fight and die in her name, and all for one thing.
Celestia's head on a plate.
She did not care her hive had been starving, or they wouldn't last much longer without love to feed upon. She only wanted Celestia, the object of the love of every pony in Equestria, dead.
As she though to herself, she didn't notice the sun quickly slip behind the horizon until it was too late.
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"Wonderbolts, NOW!"
The Wonderbolts flew toward the changeling army like lightning at Crystalia's command. They caught the army off-guard and took a few unarmored warriors down before they were forced to retreat from a rain of magical projectiles.
"ARCHERS," yelled Marshal Stormcry, "AT THE READY!"
His men drew their magical bows and summoned the projectiles of pure magic that the bows were enchanted to create simply by pulling back the string.
The moment the Wonderbolts saw the mass of blue magic below them they broke formation to allow them to fire.
As soon as the Wonderbolts were cleared, Stormcry yelled. "RELEASE ARROWS AND FIRE AT WILL!"
With that, one thousand magical arrows were released at the exact same time, taking out at least twenty of the attackers and injuring hundreds more. Although Stormcry had said fire at will, a second volley of one thousand arrows came seconds later. That was the training embedded into the mind of every trained Solstice Royal Archer Guard, fire as one.
The volleys continued coming and coming and coming until the chagelings were upon the guards, at which point the Solstice Royal Regular Guards of the division lashed out at the encroaching Changelings, not letting a single one even have the opportunity to attempt an attack.
Queen Black Star looked at her changelings in diappointment. She knew they could crush these pathetic creatures, but they held themselves back. She would have yelled at them if not for the wind. Instead, she turned to the rest of her army. "To the castle!"
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"Here they come," shouted Fleet Admiral Edvin Delcourt. "Decloak and engage! Send this monsters howling back to the pit they crawled from!"
The entire 2nd Solstice Fleet appeared before the advancing changelings and immediately began firing on them. The 3rd, 4th and 5th fleets arrived moments later, almost comicaly outnumbering the Changeling army.
"Dive, my changelings! We must get to the castle," commanded Queen Black Star.
Her changelings obeyed her will and dive toward the castle Just as she'd thought, the fleets halted their pursuit.
That was when she saw her.
Celestia was standing on her balcony, watching the battle below, oblivious to the changelings coming from behind her.
She was unaware of the danger.
Queen Black Star would have her prize
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Crystalia watched the battle raging below her. The Black Empire was putting up a fight, and already Solstice Guards had fallen, but not as many as had Black Changelings. She sensed the changelings behind her, and ducked as Queen Black Star took a swipe at her neck, having intended to behead her.
Queen Black Star scowled and came in for another swing. This time, her target grabbed her from the air and slammed her hard onto the ground before jumping on her and growling.
That was when Black Star noticed the fangs.
Those fangs didn't belong to a pony, but to a changeling.
Black Star quickly charged a fire spell and lit Celestai alight, causing her to reel backwards, and allowing Black Star to get back up. She was utterly startled by what she saw next.
Celestia still looked like Celestia, but instead of fur, there was chitin the same colour as Celestia's fur, and a sun cutie mark, and her hair still flowed in an invisible breeze. This was no normal changeling.
Crystalia lashed back with a magical collar that took Black Star completely off-guard and frimly planted her to the wall.
"Ungh, who are you, changeling," asked Black Star menacingly.
"I could ask you the same thing," Crystalia replied in tone the inspired fear in Black Star.
"Queen Black Star of the Black Empire," said Black Star, "And your death."
"Queen Crystalia of Equestria," replied Crystalia, "Princess of Equestria for the last thousand years."
Black Star broke free of the magic in a blind rage. No changeling could impersonate a Princess but her. HER! Not this pathetic excuse for a changeling.
The two were about to face off when a voice that could have been spoken by Equus itself rocked the tower. "ENOUGH OF THIS! I HAVE PASSED MY JUDGEMENT!"
A blinding light appeard before them. When it dissipated, a changeling stood before them. Her chitin and feathered wings were a white almost as bright as her own, and her mane and tail resembled the moonless midnight sky. Her eyes were completely purple, lacking even a hint of an iris.
Both Black Star and Crystalia recognized this changeling from the creation myths.
She was Aetheria, first Queen of Aetherius, homeland of the Changelings.
And she did not look pleased.