//------------------------------// // 64 vs. The Finale Part 1 // Story: 64 vs. The Underground // by Jman9877 //------------------------------// Chapter 64 Ghost POV “Ah… where… where am I?” I muttered, feeling the world around me spin in 5 different directions. I couldn’t tell if my eyes were open or not, because everything was in total blackness. My hooves and horn felt numb, not letting me get up or illuminate the pitch black darkness I was in. “Anypony? 64?” No response came, but my words echoed through the room over and over, as if something was reflecting my voice like a mirror. I moved my head against the floor I laid on, and felt that it was an incredibly cold and hard stone floor. I clenched my eyes one last time, trying to see if my eyesight could adjust to the dark like I could normally do. Before they could, I gasped as the events of how I got into this situation came back to me. Cadence had been waiting for us at the dressing room, and as the girls got dressed, she asked to speak with me privately outside. Before I could even turn around to face her, a ring of green flames surrounded my entire body, trapping me and eating away at my magic. I could only hear the few words muttered to me as I was sucked into the ground. “You’ll be back with us very soon…” I began to get some feeling back into my horn, and managed to get a small amount of light to illuminate the room. Crystalline walls surrounded me on all sides, a kaleidoscope effect on nearly every single surface, including the floor. I moved to get up and groaned in pain, feeling a very sharp pain in my right foreleg. I looked down at my leg and saw that there was a large crack in the chitin, along with the ankle being swollen a bit. I moved magic towards my leg and felt the healing effects, but a growing pain in my stomach caused me to gasp and stop immediately. I was low on love reserves, meaning I couldn’t completely heal my injury without severely injuring myself even further. “Having fun young one?” A haunting voice rang out, reverberating off of the walls and completely surrounding me. I growled and stood up, avoiding putting weight onto my injured leg. The voice chuckled in response. “How defiant… I’ll fix that the first chance I get…” “It’s you isn’t it!” I retorted. “You’re the queen that 64 told me about! Queen Chrysalis!” The voice laughed once again, a bit louder this time. “My, so receptive too! It’s unfortunate that you made the discovery a bit too late.” Chrysalis mocked. “Do not worry. Such trivial things will not matter once you are one of us again.” “What do you mean ‘us’!?” I yelled, accidentally putting too much weight onto my right foreleg and crying out in pain. I fell onto my side, trying my best to regain my footing and stand back up. “You mustn't injure yourself! It would only make the rehabilitation process even more painful…” Chrysalis giggled forebodingly, sending a wave of fear down my spine. I tried to get up, but I felt energy beginning to leave me, not letting me move my hooves. “Fear not young one, when everything is said and done, things such as pain and fear will no longer be there. All that will exist… is the Hive…” I groaned as I once again tried to get up, but couldn’t. A thick haze covered my vision, as I felt myself slipping from consciousness. All I could hope was that 64 could do something to stop all of this… 64 POV The first thing I noticed was a bright blinding light burning into my eyes, causing me to wince in pain and sit up. It didn’t feel as if I had woken up, but was jerked awake by a bad dream. I looked around, trying to remember the last thing that happened before I fell asleep. “SHINING!” I yelled out, looking towards the door of the small cell I was in and running up to it. I tried to charge up magic and begin smashing through the door, but when my fist collided with the reinforced glass it did nothing but make a loud thunk. “What the…?” I muttered, looking down my entire arm. Now going down both of my arms, were the same tattoos that Celestia had first put on me. The entirety of my arms were covered in the tattoos, now completely holding back my magic. “HEY! SOMEPONY GET THE FUCK DOWN HERE! THE WEDDING HAS TO BE STOPPED! THAT ISN’T PRINCESS CADENCE! THAT ISN’T PRINCESS CADENCE!” I shouted as loudly as I could, but there wasn’t anypony else outside in the cell block. Looking around the room for anything I could use, I saw the metal bedframe of the bed. I threw the mattress off of the bed frame, picking up the frame and rushing towards the door with it. I smashed into the glass, but of course it didn’t give way. Backing up again, I began to use the bedframe as a battering ram, smashing it into the glass over and over as hard as I could. It wasn’t until I saw that the bedframe was beginning to be crushed smaller and smaller that I slowed down, until it looked like nothing but a mangled mess of steel. “Fuck!” I grunted, tossing the destroyed bedframe aside. I looked around for anything else, seeing the sink and toilet there as well. I grabbed the lid of the toilet and proceeded to smash it against the glass, until it too was a mangled mess of metal. I threw it against the wall and growled, knowing that if I was trapped in here, I wouldn’t be able to stop whatever was going on above in the Palace. “You seem to be stuck in a predicament over there.” a Voice echoed through the room, sounding vaguely familiar. “I would think the same thing that put us behind these bars would know well enough to stay on the other side of them.” “Maxis?” I asked, hearing the voice coming from the cell to my right. “The very same.” He confirmed. “Sounds like a bit of ruckus over there. Care to share your problem?” I huffed, resting my forehead against the glass door. “There’s a wedding upstairs, a royal one at that. The bride to be is actually a fake, a changeling, but I don’t think anypony believed me. I gotta get out of here before shit goes to hell.” I narrowed it down, not wanting to dwell on it too much. I still had try and find a way out of this mess, so I continued looking around as Maxis continued speaking. “Forgive me in saying, but didn’t you spend much time in these cells shortly after your birth?” Maxis asked. “Not these kinds. These were retrofitted to hold a criminal. I wasn’t a criminal, I was an experiment.” I answered, looking up towards the metal ventilation grate. Without magic, there would be no way I could walk up the tall wall to the ceiling. “Well then, you escaped that cell somehow, how would you escape this one?” “I faked an illness and managed to take down the two guards that came for me. Now that I think about it… there should have been no way a malnourished 14 year old boy could’ve taken down 2 fully grown guards. Or fight my way out. Or outrun Celestia.” I murmured, squinting at all of the abnormalities now that I thought about it. I shook the thoughts out of my head, knowing that it was all in the past. I leaned on the sink and let out a breath, smoke releasing from my lungs as I did. As I leaned, I felt the sink began to creak a bit, then hearing a few drops of water. My eyes widened, turning to see what had caused the noise. There were a few small drops of water underneath the sink, right below one of the plumbing pipes. I pulled on them a bit, and saw more water start to leak out, a few streams at a time now. “That’s it!” I exclaimed, wiping a few strands of hair away from my eyes. I looked back up at the ventilation grate, and nodded. I grabbed once more onto the pipes underneath the sink, and pulled with everything I had. I stumbled backwards as the pipes came loose, releasing a torrent of water out of the broken plumbing. I looked towards the toilet as well and began to push against it, tearing it off of the floor as the pipes underneath it also began to spew water out. “What are you doing over there?” Maxis called, now hearing the water rushing. “I’m flooding my cell! The cell is sealed up tight, so all I have to do is wait until the water rises high enough to where I can float up to the ventilation shaft, pry the grate off and climb through to the main cell area!” I explained, already feeling the water around my shins. “It’s too bad I’m not much of a swimmer. I could’ve used that ages ago.” Maxis muttered, the water already rising to my waist. It was coming up fast, meaning that I wouldn't have a lot of time to pry off the grate once it was so high that it would completely fill the room. “Alright… it’s coming up to my stomach now…” I called, feeling the water begin to reach my navel. It was a good thing that this room actually wasn’t large, or else it would take a much longer time. I didn’t know what was going on upstairs, but whatever it was, I had to stop it fast. “Maxis! When did they bring me here and how long was I out?!” I yelled, wanting to have a sense of time. “You were brought last night at around Midnight. It’s been about 7 hours since then.” He answered, a grunt coming up from my throat. That meant the ceremony was in about 30 minutes, not a lot of time with the situation I was in. The water was now up to my elbows, so I crouched into the water to get a bit used to it. “It’s fucking freezing in here!” I yelped, submerging my shoulders into the icy water to get a better feel for it. The water was now high enough that I could float a bit, but not high enough for me to reach the grate. My heavy pants and shirt weren’t helping me much, so I hugged the wall to try and push myself further towards the top of the cell. I could feel the familiar feeling of tingling in the back of my neck, my fear of closed spaces slowly coming back to me. “Not right now…” I growled, knowing that I couldn’t just give into fear right now. “I’m coming you Changeling bitch!” 3rd Person POV Ghost laid in his crystal prison, completely drained of love. He was still conscious, but his eyelids felt heavy, and he was unable to make the slightest of movements. Any further movements would have caused his body to begin eating itself, and thats when the blood coughing started. In the pitch black darkness of his prison, Ghost saw a violet light illuminating one of the walls, but very faintly. “Hello…?” A faint voice echoed, muffled by the thick crystals between the two caverns. “Is anyone there?” All of a sudden, the same wall that the violet light and voice was coming from was illuminated brightly for a few moments, but instead of the soft violet, it was replaced with a dark green. A echoing and foreboding laugh invaded Ghost’s ears, causing his head to pulse in pain. Something about it was trying to do something to him, and without the energy to fight back, he felt all of the effects. “Help! Help!” The voice yelled out again, Ghost now recognizing the faint voice of Twilight Sparkle. “Twilight! I was hoping she could help 64 settle things up there!” Ghost thought, now realizing that things were getting worse and worse. “It's no use. No one can hear you. And no one will ever think to look for you, either. Most ponies have forgotten that these caves even exist, which is why they are the ideal place to keep the ones who try to interfere with my plans… Like that strange biped...” All rational thought went out the window at that statement for Ghost. If both Twilight and 64 weren’t up there doing something about what was going to happen, then the results would be catastrophic. After that, the same horrible laugh began to invade Ghost’s ears, causing his eyes to clench in pain and the feeling of bile beginning to rise in his throat. But as the laugh began to get louder, a large blast shook the cavern, causing dust and crystals to come raining from the ceiling. More and more blasts began to shake the room, with more of the terrible intoxicating laughter following each one of them. Ghost was trembling in pain, unable to move or cover his ears. All he wanted was for the laughter to stop, and the room to stop shaking. One final and deafening blast sounded, finally putting an end to the laughter. The blast sent the entire cavern into a frenzy, falling crystals pelting Ghost as they came down. After a few moments, the room became still. The air in the room was now dead, no longer having that feeling of toxic electricity in it. There was now hatred permeating through the walls, the stink invading all of Ghost’s senses. It left him with a thick haze clouding his vision, dampened his hearing to a quiet muffle, and numbed his ability to feel to nearly nothing. The icy blue color in his eyes was now fading to a much duller greyish blue, and his leathery wings were falling from his sides, splaying outwards on the floor he was laying on. There was an excruciating burning pain in his chest, the last few bits of love he had left in him beginning to burn up. Ghost heaved with staggered breathing, closing his eyes as he tried to keep those last few moments of strength. With his eyes closed, he saw an image, one that he hoped he had been able to see one last time. “Applebloom…” He whispered, the last of the will he had being released with that word. “sunshine sunshine ladybugs awake…” He felt it. The last hope he had left. In those muffled words he felt it, the thing that would get him out of the cavern. Love. Not skipping a beat, he absorbed what little love was able to permeate into the room and lit his horn, not caring that every other part of his body was screaming at him to stop. The bright green light coming off of his horn was enough to illuminate the room he was in, causing it to glow green to anyone standing from the outside. Luckily, there were two ponies standing just outside of the cavern. “The light is coming from in here!” Princess Cadence shouted, seeing the faint glow from Ghost’s horn. Both her and Twilight began to charge their horns in unison, charging a blast which would be able to blow right through the crystal walls. Without another word, the two ponies blasted the wall right open, sending more dust and crystals scattering across the floor. Twilight stepped forward, scanning the room carefully. When she saw the green light in the cave, she immediately thought that it was Queen Chrysalis taunting her once again. “Where is she?!” She yelled, her horn still charged to blast anything in sight. “I’ll wipe that smug grin off of her face!” Cadence scanned the room as well, her eyes immediately darting downward towards the black creature in the center of the room. Illuminating the room as bright as she could, she gasped at what she saw. “Ghost!” She exclaimed in horror, seeing the state he was in. Twilight saw the changeling in question, recognizing him as the same changeling who asked her for help in Ponyville. “Ghost, can you hear me!?” The Princess of Love waited for any kind of response, but paled when he stayed limp in her hooves. Charging her horn a rose color, she pulsed a pure wave of concentrated love in all directions, hoping to send some of it into Ghost’s system. “Please Ghost! Please speak to me!” Cadence begged, hoping for any kind of reaction. Unconscious and unable to absorb any love, Ghost stayed limp in her hooves as life continued to leave him. Twilight watched in anticipation as the scene in front of her unfolded, not knowing what to do. She knew very little of Changeling anatomy, but that didn't mean that she would stop trying to help. “Cadence, he can’t take anything in if he is unconscious like that! You have to try and force it into him!” Twilight suggested, trying absolutely anything. Cadence nodded and placed her horn onto Ghost’s, once again concentrating love into her horn. Sending it straight into Ghost, the rose colored magic once again illuminated the crystal cavern they were in. A few tears threatened to fall from the corners of Cadence’s eyes, not knowing if what she was doing was going to save Ghost or not. She pulled away after a few moments of forcing love into Ghost, looking to see if the results did what she wanted them to do. He remained limp, his chest not rising and his eyes not moving. His injured ankle healed due to the exposure to love, but neither Twilight nor Cadence knew if that was a sign that Ghost was going to wake up. “Ghost… you can’t just leave us like this… not against her…” Cadence begged. She wouldn’t just let Chrysalis do this to him. She couldn’t let him die. “We have to take him with us to the surface.” Twilight nodded and grabbed Ghost in her magic grasp, placing him onto her back. “Then we don’t have time to lose. We have to get out of here. We have to stop her!” Twilight exclaimed, as the both of them began to sprint down the hallway. Cadence, for some reason unknown to everypony in Equestria, began to sing. “This day was going to be perfect…” 64 POV “Come on! Almost there!” I shouted, already crawling through the vents. Water was spilling out of the other side of the vent I was in right now, my cell already completely filled with water. I pulled myself forward with everything I had, the incredibly small and very wet air duct being very hard to navigate in. I wriggled forward towards the exit just outside of the cell, an 11 foot drop waiting for me at the other side. My arms were outstretched forward as I reached for the opening, wrapping my fingers around the edge and finally pulling myself forward. I pulled until my head was right above the opening to the ground below me, water spilling out onto the ground at a very fast rate. “You’d think a guard would have come to check on the commotion…” I mumbled, before taking in a sharp breath. With a yelp I pulled myself through the opening, falling all the way down onto the hard concrete surface below. With a splash I landed onto my back, my eyes clenched in pain as a painful groan escaped my lips. “Damn that was always easier to do with magic…” I groaned, remembering that I was able to survive high falls by using magic to cushion myself. “Congratulations, you’re out. Without magic or any weapons. What now?” Maxis said with a bit of snark behind his tone. “Now, I have a damn wedding to stop!” I yelled over my shoulder, already running towards the exit and up the staircase. I had absolutely no time to lose. One of my best friends was getting married to some changeling and he didn’t even know it. I couldn’t let that just happen! 3rd Person POV It took 64 just a few minutes to get back to the surface, heaving loudly and sweat dripping down his face. Without magic to help him augment his movements, his normal speed put a strain on his unaided body. “Dammit Shining, you better hope Chrysalis kills you before I can...’ 64 gasped, running through the same holding cells he did during his first escape from the Underground. Not even bothering to open the door, the human smashed through the wooden barrier with his shoulder, causing it to shatter into pieces onto the floor. He looked left and right down the hallway, making sure there wasn’t anypony who would to try to stop him. After making sure he was clear, 64 sprinted down the hall towards the Wedding Ceremony. “C’mon… I gotta go faster!” 64 growled to himself, unconsciously beginning to pump magic into his legs. The first few tattoos near his shoulders began to turn from black to red, but he was much too focused on getting to the wedding to notice. He turned a corner to find an entire row of Solar Guards blocking his path, with the wedding only down the hall from where he was. Soaking wet and incredibly determined, he stared down the guards. “Let me through! There’s something seriously wrong with the wedding right now!” 64 called, but none of the Guards even blinked. “Oh for fuck’s sake…” Not letting this stop him, 64 ran towards the guards with his hands prepped, knowing he could catch the blades of their Halberds if he needed to. The first guards extended their wings and stayed low to the ground, shooting forwards to stop 64 before he got to them. The fastest guard got to 64 with the spear of his Halberd about to pierce his chest, but the human grabbed the blade and spun around, sending the Halberd and the guard holding onto it over his shoulder. Holding onto the weapon, 64 grabbed the handle and swung at the other attacking guards, making them all jump back away from the offending blade. The guards began to slowly circle around 64, each of them with a deadly glint in their eyes. “Stand down now! Your punishment will be less severe if you surrender and come with us now!” One of the Unicorn Guards yelled out. “I can’t do that! There’s a wedding going on in there which has to be stopped. The bride is a Changeling!” 64 yelled back, grasping his Halberd in both of his hands and keeping low to the ground. The guards all looked at each other in confusion, before they started chuckling to themselves softly. “What’s so funny!?” “Well, that’s quite a coincidence…” The same Unicorn Guard said again. One by one, green flames erupted from every single one of them. 64’s eyes widened, as he was suddenly surrounded by half a dozen black chitinous creatures. “So are we…” Half of the Changelings all rushed 64, some of them jumping towards him, and some of them running. 64 spun and swung his Halberd at the first wave of attacking creatures, only managing to catch a few of them before he was tackled by the rest. He rolled as soon as he hit the ground, grabbing one of the Changelings on his left shoulder and pulling him off. Swinging his head back, 64 headbutt another Changeling which was about to sink it’s fangs into his neck, before reaching over his shoulder and tossing it away from him. Getting onto his feet as fast as he could, 64 grabbed the Halberd off of the floor and went on the offensive. Slicing with the blade end, 64 took long arching swings in an attempt to keep the Changeling’s moving, not giving them a moment to charge and attack. Seeing that one of the Changelings was straying from the group, 64 focused his attention onto him and lunged, sending the spear end of the Halberd towards the creature. It ducked underneath the pike, giving 64 the moment he needed to send his foot into the Changeling’s head. He felt the Changeling’s brain turn to mush at the harsh kick, barely having enough time to spin around and slash into another Changeling trying to get the jump on him. Green blood spattered onto 64’s face and clothing, the metallic taste pervading 64’s senses. A green bolt of magic was shot at 64, making the human drop his weapon and roll away to safety. Now on the defensive, 64 kept running to avoid getting blasted by the volley of hot magic being shot at him. Sliding towards the wall to avoid getting shot, 64 failed to notice another Changeling pouncing behind him while he was distracted by avoiding the fire. The Changeling landed on 64 and bit into his right arm, making the human yelp in pain. Seeing the other Changeling’s charging their horns once again, 64 ripped the Changeling off of his arm and held it out in front of him, using it as a shield as a barrage of magical blast collided with the squirming creature. The human threw the Changeling corpse towards the other Changelings, rushing right behind it as they scattered. Literally not pulling any punches, 64 connected with a devastating hook onto one of the last Changeling’s jaw, before picking it up and throwing it at another one of the beasts. Stunned by the body now flying towards him, the other Changeling couldn’t react quick enough to counter a heavy kick which connected with his lower jaw, before two large hands wrapped around it’s neck. With a quick twist and pull, the Changeling’s neck was snapped into fragments, it’s body falling to the floor limp. 64 was now breathing heavily, covered in Changeling blood. He looked down towards and saw the Changeling he had first threw, awakening from the powerful punch which had sent him into unconsciousness. A growl growing in his throat, 64 raised his foot before stomping it onto the side of the Changeling’s head, sending blood and skull fragments all over the ground. 64 stayed there, taking in deep breaths and shaking a bit. He heard a soft buzzing noise behind him, and looked over his shoulder to find the one remaining Changeling still standing up, but now frightened stiff and shaking. “Come here…” 64 growled, looking at the ground and finding the horn of the last changeling he had just curb stomped on the bloodied ground. He picked it up and turned towards the last one, now taking slow steps forward. The Changeling’s eyes widened as he turned around and bolted in the opposite direction, but 64 wound back his arm and threw the spiked horn like a knife. “GRAHH!” The Changeling yelled as the horn entered his left hind leg, making him fall to the ground in pain. 64 got to him before he could get up, kicking the Changeling in the side of the head. “You stay still…” 64 warned, before grabbing the horn protruding from his leg and pulling it out. The Changeling once again yelped in pain, but 64 silenced his by punching him in the side of the neck. “Now… You’re gonna tell me with they did with that rogue Changeling…” 64 threatened, regarding to Ghost. “T-That deserter? He’s… He’s gonna be reformed… Once again one with the Hive…” The Changeling sputtered out. “And who will be performing the reformation ceremony?” 64 asked, holding his impromptu blade near the Changeling’s eye. “T-The Queen! She’s… She’s the bride!” The Changeling screamed. “That’s all I needed to know…” With that, 64 brought the horn down onto the back of the Changeling’s neck, severing the neck from the spinal cord. The Changeling fell limp, allowing 64 to stand up and take one last deep breath. This was when he noticed that when one of the Changelings had sunk his teeth into his arm, he had ripped most of his right longsleeve off. Knowing it was better to get rid of loose clothing before getting into a fight, 64 grabbed the hanging fabric and ripped the rest of it off. He gasped when he noticed that the tattoos near his shoulders were now red, meaning that they were already beginning to fail. His magic was slowly driving him insane, but he was unsure if he would be able to get rid of Queen Chrysalis without it. Deciding that he shouldn’t dwell on it too much, he began to walk forward, when he heard something else coming up from behind him. Turning with his guard up, 64 snarled at what was coming at him. He gasped when he saw a very disheveled Princess Cadence and Twilight Sparkle. His instincts went wild when he saw Cadence, immediately seeing her as a threat. “YOU!” 64 shouted, running for and pouncing at Cadence. Twilight stepped in front of Cadence and cast a shield spell, knocking 64 away and keeping him back. “What are you doing?!” “64! Calm down. This is the actual Cadence, I found her with me trapped in the Crystal Caverns underneath the Underground Prison.” Twilight explained, but 64 was still unsure. “Oh yeah? Tell me something that only Cadence would know!” 64 commanded, making Cadence put a hoof to her chin thoughtfully. “Hm… Well… I can’t tell if you do right now, but you once had a crush on Princess Luna.” Cadence admitted, causing Twilight’s eyebrows to raise and 64 to blush. “What? Too sensitive?” “N-No… I believe her now. Good to have the real Cadence on our side.” 64 commented, now calming down and actually looking at the two. Cadence looked like she had seen better days, her mane disheveled and her eyes sunken. She looked a bit pale, but ready for a fight nonetheless. Twilight looked well, despite being kidnapped. When 64 glanced at her, he saw something on her back, before realizing just what it was. If that red bow tie was anything to go off of, he recognized him immediately. “GHOST!” 64 cried, jumping at Twilight and gently scooping the young changeling colt off of her back. They way Ghost’s neck simply went limp as 64 picked him up caused the human to audibly gasp, before putting his ear to his chest. In lieu of an actual heartbeat, Changelings had a constant heart buzz, the vibrations channelling love throughout their bodies. There was a buzzing sound coming from Ghost’s chest, and it was very strong to 64’s surprise. He took a few deep breaths, knowing that Ghost would be fine. “Alright, he’s gonna be fine. I’m guessing you shot love directly into his system?” 64 asked, Cadence nodding at the question. “It’s going to take a while before he regains consciousness. That much love entering a colt no less is going to have some adverse effects.” Twilight seemed to eyeing 64 warily, looking up and down at him. “So… you’ve been busy?” She said carefully, seeing the state 64 was in. “Uh… I guess you could say that.” 64 answered. “Look, there’s no time to lose. We have to stop that wedding.” 64 set Ghost onto his back, putting his hooves over his shoulders. Bloodied and tired, 64 followed Cadence and Twilight as they continued to run towards the ceremony. Celestia had already opened the ceremony up, Twilight and Cadence able to hear it just before exiting the Crystal Caverns. 64 listened carefully to the wedding vows as a brainwashed Shining Armor began to admit his love to his ‘wife’, making the real Cadence begin to tear up both in heartbreak, and love. “We’re gonna get him back Cadence, don’t you worry!” 64 encouraged, trying his best to keep the mare calm. This was supposed to be her day, not some love hungry changeling’s. The ceremony was coming to a close, and the imposter was already finished giving her “vows”. All Celestia had to do was close the ceremony with the final kiss. Twilight began running even faster, her horn glowing before she flashed out of sight and teleported to the Wedding Hall itself. “Princess Cadance and Shining Armor, it is my great pleasure to pronounce you–” Celestia began, a smile as wide as the day was long, and completely oblivious to what was going on. “STOP!” Twilight shouted as loud as she could, catching everypony’s attention. Celestia gasped at her students intervention, thinking she would have learned her lesson after the practice run of the ceremony. All of Twilight’s friends looked in exasperation, thinking that Twilight was making a huge mistake. ‘Cadence’ growled in frustration. “Ugh! Why does she have to be so possessive of her brother?” She said, receiving a strange look from Celestia. Realizing her mistake, she managed to have her eyes tear up. “Why does she have to ruin my special day?” 64 and Cadence arrived just behind Twilight. “Because it's not your special day! It's mine!” Cadence shouted, a burning hatred towards the changeling that was trying to take away the one she loved the most. The crowd gasped at the revelations being unlaid before them. There were 2 Princess Cadence’s standing before them, one already in her wedding gown, and one that was supposed to be in it. “What? But how did you escape my bridesmaids?” ‘Cadence’ questioned, a hostile tone in her voice which betrayed her original heartbroken tone. Cadence and Twilight gave each other a knowing look, one that 64 couldn’t make sense of. The ‘guards’ in the Hall were already making their way towards the intruders, but 64 growled and stepped forwards towards them, daring them to come at him. Covered in changeling blood, the ‘guards’ quickly realized what they were up against. “I-I don't understand. How can there be two of 'em?” Applejack questioned, standing next to Rarity and Rainbow Dash. Applebloom stood just next to them with her friends, before gasping at who 64 was holding on his back. Not even bothering to think about her actions, she darted forward towards 64, pushing her way through the crowd of ponies, and her friends following her shortly after her. She made her way to 64, looking up at the unconscious Changeling on his back. “Ghost! Is he okay?!” Applebloom asked, her eyes widened in fear. 64 nodded and eased him to the ground. “He’s gonna be fine AB… Listen, take Ghost and your friends and head towards my room, it’s the room with the red door down the hall just right of here. If you see any guards, try to get around them. Don’t trust any of them. Barricade the door and don’t let anypony in.” 64 instructed, as the yellow filly nodded. She took Ghost onto her back, and ran out of the hall with Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle following after her. Now sure that they was safe, 64 once again focused on what was going on around him. Cadence had explained her doppelgangers true species, and murmurs were already beginning to spread throughout the crowd. ‘Cadence’ began to charge magic, giving off a glowing green glow instead of her natural blue magic glow. She was exposed, but it was already too late. She finally had enough power to enact her plans. With one final flash of green, ‘Cadence’ surrounded herself in green flames, but instead of the normal flash and morph, an explosion of green magic went flying into the air, making everyone in the room cover their eyes. Squinting, 64 looked over his arms and saw the grotesque transformation that Queen Chrysalis was undergoing. Her wings twisted and contorted until finally exploding to show their true insectoid shape. Her legs extended and began to crumble to reveal a black shell underneath the pink fur. Finally, the tip of her horn began to change, becoming jagged and sharp. Her head changed to show that instead of a beautifully done multicolored mane, it was a unkempt mass of green strands of hair. She stood taller than everypony in the room, a few inches taller than Celestia herself. With a deranged cackling, the green flames died down, revealing her true form. Queen Chrysalis… “Right you are, Princess. And as queen of the changelings, it is up to me to find food for my subjects.” Chrysalis explained, slowly making her way towards Cadence. Onlookers stared in horror at the trickery displayed before them, completely oblivious of the switch made right under their noses. Cadence glared at the Queen, shooting back at her. “They'll never get the chance! Shining Armor's protection spell will keep them from ever even reaching us!” Chrysalis simply laughed at the rebellious comeback. “Oh, I doubt that. Isn't that right, dear?” She responded, looking back over her shoulder. 64 looked over at the groom and gasped, noticing that he had a green glazed over his eyes. Shining’s horn glowed a rose color, and 64 looked out the window to see that the shield surrounding Canterlot was beginning to flicker in weakness. Cadence attempted to rush forward to get to her fiancée, but Chrysalis cut her off with a powerful stomp, her bladed horn glowing menacingly. “Ah, ah, ah. Don't want to go back to the caves, now do you?” Chrysalis threatened, knowing that she had the upper hand. Cadence yielded apprehensively, as Chrysalis went back to the altar. “Ever since I took your place, I've been feeding off Shining Armor's love for you. Every moment he grows weaker and so does his spell. Even now, my minions are chipping away at it.” 64 wanted to yell out, but he knew that any unwarranted outburst could spell disaster for everypony in the room. He looked at the guards still in the room, who were looking up at the Queen with grins on their faces. “Shit… no help in here…” He muttered to himself, taking into account everything that was in the room that could help him. He was outnumbered, without his magic, and the Halberd was a manifestation of Changeling magic which was on a timer. It wouldn’t help him long enough to subdue the situation, and if Chrysalis was there to feed them, the Changelings would regenerate no matter how much he hurt them. As 64 kept thinking, Cadence and Chrysalis were going back and forth. “Soon, my changeling army will break through. First, we take Canterlot. And then, all of Equestria!” Chrysalis exclaimed loudly, hovering just above the altar. “No. You won’t.” Celestia finally intervened, her words ladened thick with determination. Her tone reminded 64 of the same tone she used when he was once a fugitive. The air between the two monarchs was filled with electricity, the static tension so thick that most of the ponies in the crowd were beginning to sweat. “You may have made it impossible for Shining Armor to perform his spell, but now that you have so foolishly revealed your true self…” Celestia continued, before charging forward and locking horns with Chrysalis, the ultimate show of an aggressive engagement between two powers. “I can protect my subjects from you!” Celestia flew backwards into the air, her horn glowing an ethereal yellow color. She fired a beam of magic straight at Chrysalis, who returned fire with her own green magic beam. The two attacking spells met in the air, creating another blinding light as the two powers fought for dominance. 64 gaped at the display of combat, feeling the raw magic that was filling the air. The two forces continued to go back and forth, the light coming from the point they clashed getting brighter and brighter. Everypony watched as the light finally got so bright it blinded everypony in the room, and in the blinding light, a scream filled the air. A green explosion rocked the room, as the dust from the battle settled. Everypony looked in absolute shock, as Celestia fell from the air and landed onto the floor with a harsh thud, her crown flying off and landing next to her unceremoniously. 64 gasped at the outcome, as Twilight and the rest of her friends went rushing to the fallen Princess’s side. “No fucking way…” He whispered, seeing that Celestia was completely incapacitated with her horn damaged like the way it was. He couldn’t believe it, that Celestia had lost. Of course he had defeated her himself, albeit that it was her evil alter ego, but he never imagined it could’ve happened twice in his life. “Ah! Shining Armor's love for you is even stronger than I thought!” Chrysalis cheered, looking towards Cadence who was looking on in horror. “Consuming it has made me even more powerful than Celestia!” 64 moved forward towards Celestia, but one of the ‘guards’, tried to intercept him. Simply tackling through him and punching him in the horn, his disguise fell and 64 went right past him. He slid to Celestia’s side and looked her over, seeing that the only thing she was suffering from was a severely damaged horn and a bit of bruising. The changeling guards in the room all dropped their disguises, but apparently not all of the guards were double agents. The actual Solar Guards began to fight the changeling creatures, but 64 knew that as long as the Queen stood, the pawns wouldn’t fall. “The Elements of Harmony. You must get to them and use their power to defeat the queen…” Princess Celestia managed to choke out, grunting her last few words in anger. She then looked towards 64, who still stared down at her wide eyed. “64… you must go into the city and defend the citizens of Canterlot…” “I should go get the Elements of Harmony! Even without magic I can protect the girls on the way there, but I can’t do that for an entire city!” 64 argued, showing her his tattooed arms. The Princess grimaced in pain, before her horn glowed the necessary glow of yellow before all of the markings covering 64’s arms were gone. “That should make things easier… now go, all of you!” Celestia commanded. The Bearers of Harmony all looked at each other and nodded, all of them except Rarity and Twilight ripping themselves out of their bridesmaids gowns and bolting out of the door. 64 was getting used to having all of his magic back. For about 2 weeks he was handicapped from using magic, and the past few hours he was completely without it. Now having all of the raw power of the sun in his hands… it made him feel whole again. He took one last glance over his shoulder at Chrysalis, who was ready just in case he would attack. 64 shook his head and ran towards the window behind the altar, jumping off of the balcony leading outside and landing onto the ground below, creating a crater underneath him. Flames grew in his palms, and his eyes flashed red for a split second. “Alright… let’s do this…” 64 growled, looking up at the bubble shield surrounding the city. There were cracks all over the surface of it, Changeling’s battering it with their own bodies as the flew head first into it. “Ok… secure residential districts first… then commercial... and finally the cliffs…” Royal guards were beginning to flood out of the Palace, also ready to defend their home. 64 dashed towards the residential district of Canterlot when he suddenly felt the ground begin to tremor, knocking him off balance and sending him to his knees. The human looked up once again and gasped, seeing a large black cloud of changelings heading into the city. The buzzing was that of a million frenzied hornets, each of them poised to siphon from and kill every last pony in Canterlot. Like pods dropping from the sky, several changeling drones crash landed into the street around 64, who was now ready with two large swords conjured in his hands. Kicking off of the ground and shooting towards a drone in front of him, 64 stabbed at the creature who jumped to the side, lashing out with it’s sharp fangs and sharpened horn. With a twist and a slice from his swords, the changeling was sent to the ground with a loud screech coming from it’s throat, green blood spewing forth from the two slashes on his abdomen. Not giving the other Changelings time to recover, 64 zoomed from one drone to the next, delivering fatal blow after fatal blow with his newly regained power. Finally seeing an opening that he could escape through, the human ran down the streets towards the residential district, seeing a horde of changelings attempting to get into homes, some civilians running from Changeling pursuers, and Guards doing their best to try and keep them back. The guards were uncoordinated without the captain to give orders, so 64 knew he had to do it for him. “Unicorns set up a defensive perimeter around this block! Pegasi, bring any and all airborne drones to the ground! Earth Ponies, eliminate all drones that are brought down by the Pegasi!” 64 commanded, his voice managing to ring over the sounds of terror and combat. The unicorn guards began to focus not on eliminating the threat, but keeping it out of the block they were defending. The Pegasi and Earth Ponies were working together to bring the drones out of the air, and so far it was looking good. 64 knew that only holding a few blocks wouldn’t be enough, so he looked around him and found a Pegasi guard being tackled from the air onto the ground by a drone. Not wasting a moment, 64 dashed towards the drone and sent his foot smashing into the side of it’s head, killing it instantaneously. The downed guard was lifted off of the ground by 64, who began to bark in his ear. “Relay my instructions to all of the platoons you find fighting! Get going!” 64 ordered, sending the guard on his way. Moving towards another block of a residential area, 64 noticed a large amount of Changelings beginning to swarm the tower which the Elements of Harmony were held. “C’mon girls… you can do this…” Inside of the Wedding Hall, a few Changelings were in the finishing stages of concealing Princess Celestia into a reformation cocoon. It would prevent her from hurting herself during the transformation process of becoming and Queen Changeling. Of course… she would still be inferior to Queen Chrysalis in every way… As the tyro Queen began to look around the hall, she noticed something was missing, something very important to her. Her eyes squinted mischievously and a devilish grin split her face. “Find the rogue pup… I do believe it’s a perfect time to build his cocoon too…” Chrysalis ordered, as a few of the drones left to find Ghost, and a few began using their magic to make another cocoon. Cadence’s eyes widened in horror, trying in vain to pull herself free from the gelatinous substance keeping her stuck to the floor. “No! Leave him out of this!” Cadence begged, but Queen Chrysalis simply laughed. “And leave him to be free? I think not. What if another drone discovered the pleasures of free will? There’d be chaos within my hive… and you wouldn’t want that to happen, would you?” Chrysalis taunted, laughing after the end of her sentence. Cadence tripled her efforts, tugging and pulling as hard as she could on her slimy restraints. She looked to her left and saw Shining Armor standing there was well, his eyes staring forward unmoving and his expression blank. She teared up at the sight of him, but shook her head and continued to fight. She had to be strong. The Cutie Mark Crusaders were all in 64’s room, and had already made quick work of blocking the door with everything they could move. 64’s wardrobe, bed, and work table had all been shoved against the door, along with 3 fillies as they all leaned against it. Applebloom looked towards Ghost’s unconscious form, relieved that he was going to be ok, but afraid that she wasn’t there to protect her. Sweetie Belle saw her gaze and sighed. “He’s gonna be fine AB, we just have to worry about everything going on outside.” Sweetie Belle said, bringing her friend back to reality. “Ah know… ah jus’ can’t stand seein’ him like that. He was so strong when we had to run out of that mountain, and ah had to see him gettin’ beat on to protect me… It’s a bit strange when the roles are switched.” Applebloom admitted, blushing a bit. “All we have to do for now is keep those weird changeling outside, and make sure our changeling is ok.” Scootaloo said, making sure everything was up against the door. As she was adjusting a chair against the door, a thumping sound came from the other side. The girls all looked towards the door with wide eyes, as the thumping became louder and heavier. “Quick!” The fillies all pushed against the door, keeping whatever was trying to get in out. As she pushed, Applebloom looked over her shoulder and saw Ghost still lying on the floor, remembering what she was trying to protect. Doubling her efforts, she dug her hooves into the floor and pushed against one of the desks wedged against the door, a few of the drawers beginning to open under the splintering wood. With a bit of a clatter, the drawer opened up and something fell out, it’s metallic glint catching Applebloom’s eyes. It was 64’s shock baton, and her eyes widened as she made a grab for it with her mouth. “Applebloom! What are you doing?” Sweetie Belle called, seeing the filly in question extending the blunt weapon and putting it into her mouth. “Precaution!” The filly said with her mouth full, the word barely being understandable. The banging and pushing against the door began to get even worse and worse, the barricades barely enough to hold back the attackers at this point. Slowly, the opposition finally stopped, leaving the girls to relax just a little bit. The air was tense for a few seconds after the fillies backed away from the door the silence coming from the outside scaring them more than the commotion. “Did, did they leave?” Scootaloo questioned, leaning forward just a little bit towards the door. As she took one step forward, a huge blast of green magic blew the door and all of the barricades down, sending splintering pieces of wood and plastic towards the girls. As the dust settled, the now cut up and bruised fillies all squinted to see what had done that, before gasping at the 4 figures now stepping forwards towards them. The drones in front of the Cutie Mark Crusaders began to bare down on them menacingly, their fangs bared and their wings flared. Applebloom was the first one to get up off of the ground. “Ah’m not gonna let ya take Ghost away!” She exclaimed, stumbling to her hooves and scowling at them. A drone stepped forward and began to charge magic into his horn, but a flying piece of wood came at him and collided with his horn, making him cry out in pain. Scootaloo stood behind Applebloom, picking up pieces of debris from the explosion and throwing it at the offending changelings coming at them. Sweetie Belle soon joined in on the defensive, picking up still smoldering pieces of debris with her magic and launching them towards their attackers. Not wanting to just leave her friends doing the heavy lifting, Applebloom recovered 64’s shock baton off of the floor and began to swing it at the drones, not managing to hit any of them, but keeping them back in fear of being shocked by the sparking weapon. “Stay away from him! He ain’t goin’ anywhere!” Applebloom shouted again, teeth gritting in determination and eyes squinted in focus. Having enough of the retaliation, the lead drone rushed forward towards Applebloom, tackling her to the ground and holding her down. As she struggled to push the changeling drone off of her, Applebloom brought the shock baton across the drone’s neck, zapping it and bludgeoning it at the same time. As she continued to attack the one drone on top of her, the remaining changelings rushed forward and seized her, grabbing her hooves and pulling her out from under their downed leader. “Let me go ya parasites!” Applebloom cried, struggling against the 3 other changelings restraining her. “Girls! Help!” Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo leapt onto the backs of two changelings, wrapping their hooves around their necks in an attempt to bring them to the ground. But their small sizes allowed the drones to shake them off with ease, throwing them onto the ground with a harsh bounce. Within a few seconds, each of the girls were seized and held back, each of them struggling to get free. The leader of the small pack buzzed menacingly at Ghost, lifting him up with his magic and placing the pup onto his back. “Let ‘im go!” Applebloom yelled, gnawing and kicking to get away from her captive. The alpha hissed and leaned in towards the small yellow filly, her friends staring in horror. Applebloom didn’t cower under the changeling’s gaze, instead matching his stare with an equal intensity. Neither of their gazes willing to let up, the drone simply chuckled in a buzzing manner. “The love radiating off of this one is sickening. A young and naive love like this will barely even be a meal for any of us…” He vibrated, the changeling amongst them chuckling at the jab. Applebloom’s cheeks flushed at this, but the anger in her stare didn’t let up, still struggling against the foreleg wrapped around her frame. The alpha gave one last buzz before picking up the abandoned shock baton on the ground, before swinging it at Applebloom’s temple and effectively silencing her for the time being. Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle yelled in fear as they saw they friend bludgeoned to unconsciousness, their eyes welling up with tears in fear for both themselves and Applebloom. “Take them to the Wedding Hall to witness the Reformation ceremony… I believe these girls have earn front row seats…” The alpha commanded. With that, the Changelings all left 64’s now destroyed room, their objective complete. Bloodied, battered, and belligerent, 64 stood inside of another reclaimed part of the city. Unfortunately for every section of the city that was secured, there was another section that would fall. Allowing the large hammer he held in both of his hands to dispel, he took a few deep breaths as he felt a red haze cloud his vision once again. “Hold your positions! I’m moving towards the commercial district!” 64 barked, relaying his orders to every guard that was within earshot. Changeling drones were literally flying in enormous clouds now, darkening the sky and attacking in more than a dozen at once. Canterlot guards were barely holding out, there being nearly 50 drones for every 1 guard. 64 began to move down the roads as quickly as he could towards the Commercial District of Canterlot, knowing that it was currently the most densely infested. As he ran down a long straight road, he suddenly stopped as his eyes widened at what was coming towards him. A mass of changelings, flying in an almost snake like mass, was zooming down the street towards 64. It spun in a spiraling motion, Each and every one of them hellbent on killing every guard and civilian they could find. The mass buzzed like the sound of a million angry beehives being projected into a megaphone, the sound deafening any coherent thought 64 was trying to come up with. 64 closed his eyes and let out a puff of smoke through his nose, before slowly moving his hands to his sides, and planting his feet firmly to the ground. His fists clenched as he began to focus harder and harder, the buzzing in the air making it hard to do so. Gathering magic into his hands, 64 very quickly and fluidly brought his hands outstretched in front of him, before opening his eyes and revealing them to be a fiery red. “Flame wall…” He whispered, keeping his thoughts on forming a large wall of flames out in front of him, and blocking any forward motion past him. It burned gently, the sound coming from it similar to a campfire on a quiet night. The mass of changeling got closer and closer, before finally reaching the giant wall of fire. Many of the drones fanned outward just before they reached the wall, flying in a different direction to avoid a fiery death. Some of the less intelligent drones flew straight through the wall of fire, their bodies immediately igniting in flames as they began to screech in pain. The morbid pyrotechnic display came to a stop once 64 released the flame wall, seeing the large mass of changelings disperse and fly in different directions. Now with enough time to move forward, 64 dashed forward while watching out for attacks around him, seeing a few drones hovering overhead. Throwing bolts of magic above him to keep the offending creatures at bay, 64 started to realize the magnitude of which the changelings were attacking at. Like fighting a hydra, no matter how many times you cut off the head, they would always grow back with another to back it up. These changelings were the same, their numbers refusing to dwindle no matter how hard the guards in Canterlot fought. Lunar guards had already been awoken from their daytime slumber to join the fighting, most of them being dispatched to deal with drones dive bombing from above. It was a war zone, with the casualties already beginning to pile up on both sides. 64’s heavy breathing was a testament to the severity of the fighting taking place, fatigue from overuse of his reacquired magic already beginning to catch up with him. Unless something ended the fighting soon, Canterlot would fall to Queen Chrysalis without a doubt. “Sir!” A young pegasus guard yelled, nearly crash landing into the ground near 64. He had blood running down his right eye, and his armor looked as if it was hanging onto him by a few chains and hooks. “The Elements of Harmony! The tower that contains them has been overrun! The Bearers weren’t able to reach them!” He breathed out, looking as if he was barely able to stand. 64’s eyes widened, looking towards Canterlot Palace. As the guard said, it was absolutely infested with changeling drones, the black masses covering it’s surface like a macabre paint job. He had the feeling that even if he went with the Bearers of Harmony, they wouldn’t have been able to reach the Elements. 64 was about to rush forward towards Canterlot Palace, but the guard gripped him by his remaining sleeve. “Wait sir! What about the city?!” He cried, his hooves around 64’s arm. The human looked around himself, seeing buildings already beginning to burn, both pony and changeling bodies littering the roads, and nothing but more and more changelings flying overhead towards the Palace. With a scowl forming on his his face, 64 looked towards the Pegasus guard. “Canterlot is lost, tell all remaining guards to fall back towards Canterlot Palace! We cannot lose the Palace!” 64 yelled, sending the young guard on his way. Following his own orders, 64 disregarded heading towards the Commercial District and made a beeline towards The Palace, running as fast as he possibly could through the streets of Canterlot. Any and all opposition 64 met with on his mad dash for the Palace was met with a dance of flames and blades, unable to stop the human from accomplishing his goal. The main entrance Drawbridge was destroyed, collateral damage along with parts of the Palace being bombarded with magic and drones. Leaping across the wide moat, 64 gripped the stone wall of the Palace, beginning a steady and quick climb thanks to his magic. A group of drones saw this and took to the air, flying directly at him. “Shit!” 64 cursed, planting his feet against the wall and holding himself there with his magic. Quickly moving to avoid being gored by the drones, 64 brandished a pair of blades in his hands to defend himself. Standing perpendicular to the wall, 64 spun and cut into the chitin of the drone nearest to him, sending him down to the moat below with a screech of pain. The human lashed out with a kick before attacking with his blades against the remaining changelings around him, one by one sending them to a watery demise. Catching his breath for a few seconds, 64 dispelled the blades in his hands and gripped the wall once again, beginning to once again begin his climb up towards the Wedding Hall. He reached the same window he used to leap out of the room in the first place, lifting himself up to just peek over the ledge. He saw Princess Celestia entrapped in a reformation cocoon on the roof, and Princess Cadence stuck to the ground by some sort of green goo. She seemed defiant despite the chaos enacting around her, a tone of rebellion escaping from her lips. “You won't get away with this! Twilight and her friends will–” At the worst possible moment, Twilight and her friends were pushed through the doors, an entire horde of Changeling drones following behind them. They were battered and bruised, Rainbow Dash having to be restrained by her hooves and wings. She looked the worst for wear, but was still struggling against her captives. Princess Cadence’s demeanor fell, horror and shock replacing her once defiant gaze. “You were saying…?” Chrysalis taunted, her eyes squinted towards Cadence. 64 growled, knowing he had to wait for the right moment to make himself apparent. It looked as if she was going to say something else, until a few more changeling drones burst through the door, each of them carrying a small foal in their hooves. An unconscious Applebloom and Ghost, along with a terrified Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo were brought into the room, 64 gasping quietly at the state they were all in. Applejack saw her unconscious little sister, and feared the worst. “Applebloom!” She cried out, tears welling up in her eyes as she tried to lunge out towards her. A pair of drones restrained her, not letting anyone move. “What didja damn parasites do to her!?” None of them answered, only giving a laughing buzz before bringing their true target forward. 64 swore to himself silently as they brought Ghost forward, placing him into the middle of the room just in front of Queen Chrysalis. “Ah… the Rogue Pup…” She sighed, observing him as he laid there. “To think that a drone was able to experience free will…such a notion would have sent me into a fit of laughter a few years ago. Now…” She looked up towards the same drone that brought Ghost forward. “Begin the incantation for reformation. We mustn't waste any time.” 64 lifted himself up over the edge and charged magic into his hands, his palms outstretched towards the drone and Queen Chrysalis herself. She saw this act and took Applebloom with her magic, lifting her limp body outwards in front of her and stood in front of the Bearers of Harmony. “The human once again graces us with his company! I wouldn’t do that if I were you. Heavens forbid you miss me and strike your friends. Or even worse, you strike this poor little youngling…” Chrysalis taunted, using Applebloom as a shield. 64 made no move to put down his hands, keeping his sights steady on his targets. “Canterlot may fall Chrysalis, but I’ll be damned if I let you walk away from this alive!” 64 threatened, seeing the frightened faces of the girls standing behind Chrysalis. “Hmm… then I guess I’ll have to do something about that…” Chrysalis said, her horn glowing a dark green for a moment. Shining Armor, who was simply standing there with a blank and vacant stare on his face, suddenly shifted and pointed his horn at 64. “Love… kill the human…” Shining Armor nodded his head and charged up magic in his horn, causing 64 to avert his gaze from Chrysalis to cast a shield to his right. 5 continuous bolts of magic flew at 64, the first actually blasting him backwards against a wall behind him. Not letting up, Shining Armor telekinetically grabbed stone decorations off of the walls and sent them flying at 64, making the human roll away to safety. 64 was about to retaliate with a few magic blasts of his own, when he felt a searing hot bolt of magic collide with his back, sending him flying across the room and into one of the walls before he slammed onto the floor, wincing and gasping in pain. Chrysalis stood there with her horn smoking slightly, a smug grin plastered on her face. “Thank you for that honey…” She giggled, causing Cadence to growl in anger. Shining Armor nodded and returned back to his place on the altar, allowing Chrysalis to continue with the Reformation Ceremony for Ghost. 64’s vision was blurred by the concussive force he was hit with, as he so desperately tried to regain his senses and get back onto his feet. He put his palms on the ground and tried to push himself up, but the pain in his back was too much and he collapsed once again. Chrysalis looked around at the many drones still in the room, before bellowing. “The day has been won Changelings! Go! Feed!” She commanded, as she finished up building the cocoon around Ghost. The many drones took flight and flew out of the door, leaving only Chrysalis in the wedding hall. “It's funny, really. Twilight and the human were suspicious of my behavior all along. Too bad the rest of you were too caught up in your wedding planning to realize those suspicions were correct!” Chrysalis taunted once more, causing looks of guilt to be cast among the faces of everyone in the room, the most prominent being Princess Celestia as she looked down at the battered 64. Nopony said a word as Chrysalis turned and looked out of the large window, watching as clouds of Changelings flew throughout the now ravaged capital of Equestria. She took a few steps towards the balcony overlook, as Twilight saw her chance to make her way over to Cadence. One loud hoofstep was all that was needed for Chrysalis to turn around and fire a concussive blast in front of Twilight, blasting and charring the floor in front of her. The Changeling Queen laughed at the feeble attempt to try and free Cadence. “It seems that this one isn’t very happy with the arrangements I set up for the dear Bride to Be! Perhaps she would like to be placed into a cocoon herself!” Chrysalis threatened, grabbing Twilight’s mane with her magic and pulling her towards the same goo on the ground which was encompassing Ghost and Celestia. Twilight cried for help as the rest of her friends tried to take their friend back, grabbing onto Twilight and pulling against Chrysalis’s grasp. Chrysalis growled in anger as her horn began to glow, building up more and more energy to blast The Bearers of Harmony into nothing but dust. 64 looked up in pain as he heard the commotion, barely able to make out any sort of image through the blurriness and haze of the pain he was in. As he saw the magic building up in Chrysalis’s horn, time slowed to a crawl. Celestia looked on in horror from her perch on the ceiling, tears running down her face at the sight of her student about to be hurt. Cadence was fighting tooth and nail to try and free herself from her bindings, also yelling in fear of her soon to be sister in law about to be attacked. Ghost was still unconscious in his cocoon, with Applebloom laid down beside him. Both were injured and unconscious, but they both had the same thing on their minds in their dreamscape. Each other. Shining Armor stood at the altar, a blank look and a dumb smile plastered onto his face. He was totally unaware of his defeat, so blissfully ignorant about the death and destruction happening just outside of the Palace. 64 saw all of this in his slowed state of mind, as a harsh, yet familiar voice had begun to echo at the back of his head. “64… You and I both know that this won't end well… Not unless we take some sort of action...” Super Nova echoed, her voice dripping in amusement at the events unfolding. “Celestia is captured… Your changeling friend is being reformed to be one with the hivemind… and Twilight isn’t too far behind. Canterlot is in ruin, and no one can stop that wretched changeling queen…” “S-Shut up…” 64 quivered, trying once more to get up. Chrysalis saw this and took her attention away from Twilight, pushing her and all of her friends back onto the floor kinetically. She cackled once more at the desperate attempt 64 pulled, before walking over to the downed human. 64 lifted his head and looked up at Chrysalis, his eyes squinted and his teeth clenched in anger. “Y-you…” “Yes… me. Any words of retaliation? Perhaps a last curse of my name?” Chrysalis goaded, standing triumphantly in front of 64. All he did was continue to glare at the Queen, knowing that anything he could say would have no effect. Chrysalis glowered at the look 64 was giving her, before lifting up her forehoof and bringing it down onto his forehead. “64!” Cadence yelled in terror, seeing blood now running down the right eye of the injured human. Chrysalis brought up her hoof once again and repeated the action, this time stamping right onto the back of his head. To 64, the world suddenly exploded into bright blinding lights, and nothing but a loud ringing in his ear could be heard. All that he could feel was the sensation of Chrysalis’s hoof being brought down once again onto his head, and feeling consciousness beginning to leave him. “I won’t allow the last bit of me to be squashed like a bug, by another bug. It looks like I’m going to have to pull rank here.” Super Nova sighed, moving around in the blackness which was 64’s mind at the moment. Her hair began to burn brighter, her black charcoal armor began to redden and melt, and her eyes became a blinding white shining color. As she began to change, the blackness around her also began to change. The black landscape began to glow a dark red color, as her magic began to mold with 64’s mind and body. His muscles augmented to withstand more tearing, and his bones were being blackened to the strength of volcanic rocks. “You’ll thank me for this someday…” Super Nova commented, before finally unleashing the full extent of her magic into the air around her. Chrysalis was about to bring her hoof back down onto the now bloody headed human, when she noticed that he began glow somehow. The back of his head was now beginning to glow with the bright red glow of magic, before it hardened to form a charred and black armor. The clothes of his body began to ignite in flames, as more fiery magic began to cover his skin. Queen Chrysalis stepped back at the spectacle, her eyes widened at the strange occurrence. She was just about to completely crush 64’s skull, when all of a sudden he ignites in flames? Her victory was now diminished at the fact that 64, now covered in complete head to toe with molten rock armor, along with his hair now ignited in flames, was slowly beginning to stand up with no difficulty whatsoever. “What is this?! Stay on the ground!” Chrysalis commanded, blasting a concussive spell at 64. He took the full blast head on, dust and ash clouding around him for a few moments. When it settled, 64 was revealed to now be standing completely upright, his eyes closed with his arms hanging limply at his sides. “What is Tartarus are you?!” 64 now opened his eyes, showing that instead of the deep and rich brown they normally were, they were replaced by a blinding white light. The room began to heat up to the point of unbearable, everypony in the room beginning to sweat due to the sweltering heat. Celestia’s eyes widened as she recognized what had happened, and suddenly didn’t fear Chrysalis anymore. She feared what had become of 64. 64 turned his head with a almost peacefully slowness, but his eyes finally rested onto Ghost. With that, a deep growl was heard from within him, before a roar shook the room with the force of a small earthquake. “YOU WANT TO KNOW WHAT I AM!?” The being roared, fire already building up inside his chest and arms. “I...AM...INFERNO!”