//------------------------------// // Through Smoke // Story: A Beam of Light // by OutofCuriosity //------------------------------// The night before the Royal Wedding Moonlight filtered through Shining Armor's shield spell as Princess Celestia approached the balcony where Luna stood guard over the night skies of Canterlot. Celestia's brows were knitted together and a frown was present on her face. "Luna, do you have anything to report," asked Celestia. "No reports of anything missing from rock farms or gem mines and no reports of anything strange wandering the streets of Canterlot," said Luna glancing at her sister. She promptly did a double-take upon seeing Celestia's expression. "Is something wrong Tia?" Celestia sighed before responding. "I just witnessed my student verbally assault her future sister-in-law until Cadenza burst into tears and ran from the room." Luna's jaw fell open at that statement. "Surely thou art jesting sister. When we met with her during Nightmare Night she helped us reconnect with our subjects," said Luna, oblivious to her relapse into the old manner of speech. "What could Cadenza have done to drive such a filly to act as thou claim?" "Marry Shining Armor and, in Twilight's eyes it seems, steal him from his little sister." Celestia walked towards the balcony and rested her fore-hooves on the railing. "Twilight burst in on the practice ceremony and accused Cadenza of outright brainwashing Shining Armor, among other things. I must confess I'm disappointed that Twilight chose to see this happy event in a negative light. I thought for sure she would be overjoyed for her brother finding somepony to spend the rest of his life with." Celestia lowered her head onto her fore-hooves and gazed at the slightly shimmering bubble of the protection spell. Luna continued to search through the telescope as she said to her sister, "We...I believe that Twilight's current attitude is a rather saddening turn of events but I have faith she will change her opinion in due time." "I truly hope she does. I've seen too many of my friends lose their way instead of improving themselves in due time. And as I was just so unpleasantly reminded, even we can't always predict the actions of others." Celestia felt her eyes grow slightly moist as she was reminded of that awful time a thousand years ago when, because of her own foolishness, she had almost lost Luna forever. Celestia tried to blink the moisture away slightly when she felt a wing being draped across her back. "Then it's a good thing she has many noble friends to help her see the truth and make the right decisions," said Luna. The two of them sat there in silence for several peaceful moments until Celestia broke the silence with a chuckle. "I've had to be the one ponies rely on for suppport for so long I forgot how nice it is to know I can turn to somepony else," Celestia said turning to face her sister. Celestia nuzzled her sister before getting to her hooves with a ruffle of her wings. "When did you become the wise one Luna? I seem to remember you constantly hounding me for advice on how to do everything," she said with a smile. "I think you misremember events sister. I only asked because I wanted to make sure you could understand all those long words with your simple mind. After all you had a thousand years to catch up and still I need to explain everything to you," said Luna with an overly dramatic sigh. The sisters shared a laugh. Then Celestia extended her wings and flew to her study to plan for the next day and Luna resumed her watch over the night sky. Down in the crystal caves I'm going to have trouble dealing with green ponies now that I can honestly say I don't like the color green, thought Cadence as she observed the shell the changelings had once again entombed her in. She had spent most of yesterday focusing her magic on drilling a small hole in the shell casing. A hole small enough to be unnoticed at a distance but it was enough to make the job of breaking herself out easier when the time came. Then she had a far easier time falling asleep while hanging upside down than she thought she'd have. Idly Cadence realized she wasn't as disturbed by her predicament as she had been. I guess it's true that you can get used to anything given enough time. Now once more over the plan. 1. Cause a distraction, 2. Quietly get out of cocoon, 3. Extinguish lanterns, 4. Subdue Aduro and changelings in that order, and 5. Escape from this forsaken place. Cadence readied her magic and hoped she had calculated the distance between her shell and the exit tunnel correctly. Flitter was bored. No two ways about it he was bored. Admittedly standing guard over one of the three Princesses of Equestria had been interesting enough without the frequent jailbreak attempts every so often. But that still left hours in between of nothing to do but stand around and stare at a dimly lit corridor and he couldn't do anything to kill time because that defeated the whole purpose of standing at attention. Flittered snorted and shot a glance behind him at Tsetse. How does the soldier caste deal with guard duty doldrums? Flitters musings were cut short as blue sparks suddenly appeared in front of him and just as quickly vanished. Then all thought was banished from his mind except for one. What an amazing rock! Aduro was awoken from his sleep by the sound of hisses and buzzing wings. He was met with the sight of the changelings under his command tackling one another seemingly over...a rock? Aduro felt a desire for the clear rock grow within him and he had taken several steps forward before a thought crossed his mind why do I want a rock? He clung to the thought and felt the desire struggle to be at the forefront of his mind. Magic! Aduro realized. Fighting to keep himself still, Aduro raised a claw and pointed at the rock, currently being held in the mouth of a changeling. The rock began to shine brilliantly, blinding almost everyone in the confines of the corridor and melted causing the changeling holding it to run off shrieking in pain from a burned mouth. When the rock was nothing more than a small glowing pile of slag the changelings stopped fighting each other and blinked the spots and confusion out of their eyes. Aduro turned to look into the cave and found only an empty shell and the remains of the lanterns scattered around the room. She dared to use mental magic? I might have underestimated what she's capable of. "The Princess has escaped," roared Aduro. "Find her and return her to this place alive. You three will follow me," Aduro pointed to the changeling pile that contained Tsetse, Flitter, and a changeling named Culex. "The rest of you, cover all the exits and aim for her wings and horn if you encounter the princess." Without another word the dragon rushed down the tunnel with his entourage following close behind. The tunnel was choked with the black forms of the changelings as they flew past the dragon who could only run within the small confines. The dragon reached an intersection of three tunnels and finding no hoofprints leading down any of them, sniffed the air twice. Princess Cadenza left a strong scent trail of blood and sweat that was easy for him to follow, fortunately for him. Gesturing for his companions to follow, Aduro went down the left most tunnel. Aduro repeated this action for the next three intersections when hoofprints joined the scent leading down what he knew was a dead end. The dragon signaled with his wings for Tsetse and Culex to remain at the entrance while Flitter entered, flanked by an invisible Aduro. The dragon and changeling crept down the dark narrowing tunnel, the only source of illumination from the glow of the changeling's horn. I will never ask for something interesting to happen ever again. In fact I will forget the emotion boredom even exists, thought Flitter as he placed one shaky hoof in front of the other. As the pair went further in both tensed in anticipation of a cornered pony's struggling and wild blasts of magic. None came. Instead they reached the end of tunnel and found nothing. "How?" Aduro murmured as he became visible again. He looked down at the ground and confirmed that no tracks were heading in the opposite direction. A sniff told the dragon that the scent had lead here. Unless... "She fooled us again," said Aduro impressed. "She must have teleported back to the crossroads and then teleported down another path. Hurry, she's gaining more ground as we speak." And it means she isn't as ignorant of my abilities as I thought. She is dangerous, Aduro noted as he raced back. Upon returning to the crossroad, Aduro sniffed down the other paths like a bloodhound finding the scent again on his second try and giving chase once again. The next interruption in their progress came in the form of a pile of rubble that had once been a wall separating the tunnel from an adjoining cavern and a new scent joining the Princess's. The new scent was of ink and parchment and Aduro didn't like this new development at all. Now we have two escaping prisoners to contend with. And it seems this newcomer is also a formidable unicorn. Unless an Earth pony decided to take the time to break each piece of the wall into gravel. Damn it Chrysalis you've just made it easier for your plan to come crashing down on your head. And potentially mine. Aduro took off at a much faster pace than before, now growing more and more worried at how events were unfolding. The trail became harder to follow as it vanished occasionally and Aduro had to find where it began again; another indicator that the new prisoner was a unicorn. One who was capable of teleportation too if the number of gaps in the trail was any indication. As time progressed and no indication that they were gaining on the prisoners, that feeling grew worse in the pit of the dragon's stomach. Then a pair of unconscious changelings were found and he could see sunlight being reflected off some crystals a hundred feet away. Aduro knew a new plan of action was needed. "Culex, stay here until they awaken and then gather the rest of the guards. The prisoners have most likely made it to the surface by now and we need to regroup before the entire Royal Guard is in pursuit," Aduro instructed. "That will not be necessary, Culex," said Tsetse. Aduro looked at the changeling soldier in disbelief. Tsetse had practically been attached to him since his release from Tartarus and throughout the time neither had ever contradicted the other's orders. In fact, the two had barely spoken to each other unless it involved the invasion of Canterlot. "Why is not necessary to prepare for the complete failure of your plan? The moment Princess Cadenza steps into the same room as your Queen, Celestia and Luna will not waste any time investigating this. The next thing you know, Equestria declares war on all changelings and I'm put back into that infernal pit for the rest of eternity. And you say nothing needs to be done about that?" Aduro finished his rant, panting from both weariness and the emotions threatening to overwhelm him. "I recieved instructions from the Queen herself last night dictating that the Princess's captivity was no longer necessary for the invasion to succeed." Tsetse said calmly despite the anger rolling off the dragon just a few feet from him. "Culex, Flitter, Aduro, we will head to the surface and await the signal for us to take the capitol today. Leave these two here, they'll find their way out eventually." Without so much as a backwards glance at the dumbstruck dragon, Tsetse took off from the ground and flew at a comfortable pace towards the surface entrance. Culex followed wordlessly and Flitter nervously skirted around Aduro before following his fellow changelings. So I am just another pawn. I was a fool to think anything else, thought Aduro. He walked after the trio, catching his breath and mentally preparing himself for what was shaping up to be a very unpleasant day. The Royal Castle, One Hour Later Princess Celestia was having a bad day. She'd discovered too late that her niece had been impersonated and now Canterlot was being invaded all because she'd been unable or unwilling to see the signs. She watched Twilight and her friends rush to gather the Elements of Harmony before letting her head sink back to the stone floor. She barely noticed the stampede of panicking ponies as they ran as fast they could away from the creature that had defeated her. She barely noticed the changeling queen's cackling growing louder as Shining Armor spell finally shattered allowing the swarm to bombard the city with green fire. Celestia did take notice when the queen placed a hoof on the Princess's head and declared, "Thus ends the reign of Princess Celestia and thus begins the reign of Queen Chrysalis." Righteous fury swelled in Celestia's chest as she struggled to control the magic within herself and attack Chrysalis. I may not be able to defeat her, but does she really think I will let my kingdom be invaded without a struggle? I have not been beaten yet, thought Celestia as her horn began to glow with golden light. Chrysalis was enjoying herself immensely, despite Cadence's appearance at the wedding throwing her plans for sabotage out the window, everything else was going according to plan. She felt both Princess Celestia's and Princess Cadence's anger as the pair prepared to attack the 'distracted' queen. Almost causally Chrysalis stomped on Celestia's horn, elicting a cry of pain, then jumped to the side as Cadence flew through the space formerly occupied by the queen, blue magic blasting from her horn. Upon missing her target Cadence swerved to avoid flying into a pillar and turned around, another spell at the ready. She never noticed the white blur streaking towards her until it slammed into her and she crashed to the floor. Cadence attempted to rise to her hooves but stopped when a clawed foot was pressed into her back and twin pricks of pain arose from the base of her wings. "I warned you before I would have to resort to more serious measures if you made another serious escape attempt." Cadence looked up to find Aduro standing over her. "Consider this your second warning. There won't be a third," he stated simply. The pain in her wings increased and Cadence realized if she tried anything, she'd lose use of her wings. Even if the damage would heal, Cadence didn't want to cripple herself for nothing. She stopped struggling and complied...for the moment. "Aduro, I see that you're able to move independently. So tell me, why is there a Princess under your foot rather than underground?" Chrysalis asked still in a relaxed pose. "She used neuromancy on me and the other guards to provide a distraction. Then she recieved assistance from another prisoner, one I had no knowledge about." By this time Tsetse and a squad of changelings arrived and bowed before their queen. "Prepare a pod for the good Princess," Chrysalis lowered her horn to Celestia's and the Sun Princess fell unconscious. "I want her to enjoy the sight of the captured Elements of Harmony, her imprisoned sister, and the conquest of Canterlot. And know she is unable to do anything." Chrysalis let out another cackle as her changelings gathered around the Princess and in unison formed a green cocoon magically. The cocoon was then attached to the ceiling and left to hang. Cadence began to hyperventilate, a nervous habit she thought she'd outgrown years ago, as the changeling queen approached her. I must not panic, Twilight won't go down easily. If she was able to defeat Discord, then this bug has no chance. Cadence forced herself to take deep breaths as Chrysalis bent her head to look directly into Cadence's eyes. "Now what to do with you. Hmm...oh well, I have plenty of time to decide. Aduro," said Chrysalis. "You are to capture Princess Luna and bring her here, understood?" "Yes." Aduro lifted his leg off of Cadence who was quickly restrained by having her hooves and wings encased in a familiar green covering. The dragon unfurled his wings and was about fly when Chrysalis abruptly stood in front of him. "I asked you if you understood my orders. I'm still waiting for a response." Chrysalis leveled her gaze at the dragon who didn't meet it. "Yes, your majesty," said Aduro. The Queen nodded her head in acknowledgement and stepped out of the dragon's way. Aduro ran towards the balcony and dove off, letting his wings catch the air before flying off in search of his target. He didn't have to search for long despite the plumes of smoke rising from the city. Princess Luna had been sound asleep and enjoying a rather pleasant dream involving the most amazing new creation during her banishment: nightclubs, when a nearby explosion sent her tumbling out of her bed. Luna ripped off her sleep mask to find a snarling, black, insectoid pony standing in front of a hole in her bedchamber's wall. The changeling charged only to met with a blast of magic that sent it flying back out the hole it had made and down into the castle hedge maze. Luna poked her head out of the hole in the wall and saw legions of the insectoids dive-bombing the city. It took less than a second for her to understand what she was seeing and she took off at a speed many Wonderbolts would have been impressed by. Luna immediately flew into the city firing off beams of magic at every changeling she encountered. She had just freed a pony cornered in an alleyway by three changelings when something landed on her back. Luna automatically threw herself against the nearest wall and was satisfied to hear the grunt of pain as her attacker was knocked off of her. She whirled around to find a white dragon recovering from having the wind knocked out of it. "Lucere? Is that you?" Luna asked. "That is a name I haven't heard in a long time. Luna, I am sorry it had to come to this but, I'm going to ask that you surrender quietly." Aduro got to his feet and pointed a claw at the alicorn. "Please don't make this any harder than it needs to be." "Lucere...thou art allied with these changelings?" Before Luna could say anything else an explosion ripped through the air and Luna started to gallop towards the source but a beam of light from Aduro's outstretched claw cut her off. The princess glared at the dragon. "Lucere, We shall protect our subjects and We shall remove any obstacle keeping us from our duty." "I was afraid of that." Aduro raised his claw and a white orb shot out from it, flying up in the air where it erupted into a bright flash. Suddenly the roofs of the buidlings on either side of the alley were covered in changelings leaping down towards the alicorn. Rule number 1: Have more allies than enemies if possible, thought Aduro. Luna merely frowned, vanished in a flash of magic, and reappeared on the roof of a building a block away. She formed a shield around herself and flew in the direction the explosion came. The changelings flew after her and threw themselves at the shield again and again with more and more gathering around the princess. She tried to press on but the sheer number of blows to her shield took its toll on her. Luna teleported again, this time ending up inside a bedroom with a view of the mass of changelings that dispersed all around the immediate area. There are too many of them and it seems they're after me specifically. I can't help anypony if I'm spending all my time avoiding that swarm. Where are you Celestia? And Lucere...just what is your role in all this? Luna concentrated her magic, this time to change her form to that of a blue mist. Luna flowed down the stairs of the house and under the crack in the door. She swept down the street, over the craters and scorch marks, unnoticed by the swarm above. Then a blast of heat grazed the mist and Luna reverted back to her normal form, coat steaming slightly. Rule number 2: Know your opponent's plans. Aduro leaped from his perch, claws aiming for the Princess's wings. Rule number 3: Cripple your opponent's movements as soon as possible. Aduro scored Luna's back with deep cuts, causing her wings to fall limply at her sides. Luna craned her neck and fired magic at the dragon. He dodged and vanished into thin air, leaving Luna to dart her head back and forth in search of her opponent. Rule number 4: Keep your opponent guessing about your next move. A trio of changelings flying by saw the Princess and dove at her, auras of green fire covering them. Luna sidestepped the attack simultaneously throwing up another shield spell just in time to block several large chunks of rubble that shattered against her shield. Luna turned, grabbed the three changelings in her magic, and threw them in the direction the boulders had come from. The changelings crashed through the window of a bookstore and wound up at the bottom of a book avalanche. "You can't fight off an army all by yourself Luna. Just lie down and let me bring you to the queen. Changelings feed off emotions," said the voice of Aduro which seemed to be circling around the alicorn on her left. "The more ponies alive means more food for them and they receive the most power from love than any other emotion." Aduro continued to circle the Princess, her eyes tracking the approximate area where the voice originated from. "So, following that train of thought, a harsh and oppressive environment is hardly an ideal environment for harvesting love." By this time more changelings had arrived but kept their distance from the wounded alicorn. Luna blinked sweat from her eyes and tried to flap her still healing wings but they remained motionless. Aduro finished his attempt at convincing Luna to surrender with, "All things come to end eventually, even your reign had to end someday and this is that day." Luna was quiet for a moment then said quietly, "Is that what they told you or is that you tell yourself to ease your guilt?" The only sound was the shuffling of the changelings. "I will ask you one last time to give up on your own accord. I don't need to state the alternative," Aduro said at length. Luna looked down at her hooves and the dark patches of cobblestone where her sweat and blood landed. She continued to stare for several moments before lowering her shield and sinking to the ground. A surprised silence fell over the crowd of changelings and they hesitated then closed in on the princess. Aduro backed away uneasily. That was too easy. She wouldn't just surrender that easily...or has she really changed over the last two millennia? Then he heard Luna whisper something that made his mind up for him and he scrambled to get out of her path. "Rule number 5: Never underestimate your opponent under any circumstances." With that Luna's eyes glowed white as she charged the swarm. An aura of dark blue magic enveloped her and she simply ran through their ranks with changelings being launched into the air as her magic swept them aside. The street broke beneath her hooves as she ran past. But Luna wasn't finished. The roofs of no less than twenty of the surrounding buildings were wrenched off and sent them smashing down on the changelings like giant fly swatters. By the time her eyes stopped glowing white, hundreds of unconscious changelings lay scattered around like leaves. Luna let out a snort and prepared to gallop away when a white beam passed through her ethereal mane, grazing her right ear. Whirling around Luna saw a silhouette outlined in the dust kicked up by her attack and she fired a beam of her own at the figure. Luna saw the dust swirl as the beam connected and knocked back the figure. Luna sent several more blasts of magic in the direction of the silhouette for good measure. She trotted closer to confirm she had hit her target. Passing through the dust cloud she found Aduro leaning against the remains of a wall for support, blood oozing from multiple wounds on his body. His body shaking, Aduro limped closer to the princess, parts of his body disappearing and reappearing as he tried to turn invisible. He tripped over a piece of rubble and collapsed to the ground. Luna thought that was the end of it but was surprised to see Aduro slowly drag himself forward with one hand. "Lucere, please stop. Thou art only causing thyself even more harm. Once these invaders have been stopped We will send aid. Then Celestia and...I will decide what to do with you." Luna looked down at the beaten dragon, only pity in her eyes as galloped off to defend Canterlot. Aduro watched Luna depart and flipped onto his back to stare up at the thousands of changelings still besieging the city. Is this what I've been reduced to? A mere pawn in another's plan? I'm not even a capable servant, I failed both of the assignments I was given. I've betrayed the only friends I've had and now what will I have to show for it? Luna won't be able to defeat all these changelings and Chrysalis by herself. And once Chrysalis has the Elements of Harmony under her control, what need does she have for a useless dragon? None. Aduro was content to stare up at the sky until a wall of pink magic lifted him off the ground by his wings along with all the unconscious changelings near him. As he was passing over the peak of Canterlot Mountain Aduro felt something tear and he began to fall down. Fortunately for him, the ground was close and he tumbled down the side of the mountain instead of hitting the ground straight on. When he finally stopped rolling the dragon looked up at the city and found himself unable to see any changelings in the air around it. He quickly considered and discarded possible answers for the event and came to one solution that fit the most, the invasion failed. Tapping into reserves he didn't even know he had Aduro gathered his magic and teleported as far away as he could. Finding himself deep in a forest and in an exhausted state he decided to climb a tree in a feeble attempt at self-protection. When his limbs refused to move Aduro concentrated the very last dredges of power and teleported to the top of a very tall oak tree. With the last of his strength spent he soon passed out from sheer exhaustion.