//------------------------------//
// Ballad of Wildcard VI 
// Story: A Circle Has No End: Volume I 
// by Gladi Writes 
//------------------------------//

Wildcard woke up, once again feeling like hell, but not quite as bad. He found his wounds had been tended to expertly, and he was in a makeshift triage tent. The sun was giving way to twilight outside, while a cold wind blew over the valley. Fires lit the courtyard, and the gentle rumbling sound of a few hundred soldiers relaxing after a hard day filled the air gently. 

At his side a unicorn mare dressed a wound on his leg, and he sat up to get a better look at himself. He was in fairly bad shape- more bandaged than not- but was in one piece. An armed guard stood near the flap, and stuck his head out once he noticed Wildcard moving. 

He shouted something, and the mare tightened his bandage and spoke to him with a softer voice. 

“I was starting to worry we would have to transfer you back home,” she said, and then shook her head, “Sorry, I suppose this is home, isn’t it? Not much of a home anymore…” 

The nurse was right at that. The changeling hive, once the capital of the entire race, their home and fortress; was a ruin, Both of the giant barracks were brought down to rubble, the surrounding wall was full of holes, and the gun towers were little more than stone pillars. The only thing that remained was the fortress itself; a bulwark refuge for Chrysalis and the chosen few.  The Ace in the Hole hovered above it, and powerful spotlights lit the black monolith as night approached. Tonight, without pause, they would begin excavation into the caves below. Then, the long road would finally end.

Chrysalis was a patient mare, she had waited hundreds of years for her first attack on Canterlot, and could wait hundreds more deep underground. When she had built this place she had built it with a militaristic bent; every corridor and hallway was designed to enhance the defence against an incoming army. Her strategy had always been to wait them out, her enhanced alicorn lifespan combined with underground food-stocks meant she could literally wait out an entire army. 

That wasn’t an option. If she had gone just by herself underground, maybe they would be happy to just wall-up the fortress and leave it be, but she hadn’t. She had taken something dear to the Equestrians, and this army would not pause for a minute until it was recovered.

“Odo,” Wildcard mumbled, 

The nurse didn’t hear him, and apparently finished with him, removed her gloves and stood up.

“You’ll be limping for a few weeks, but you’ll heal,” she said, and strode forward from the bed to take a good look at him.

“Your bones are healing faster than normal for a pony your size, and I swear they’re growing too. How old are you?”

Wildcard shrugged, “Thirty,” he said. In reality he wasn’t sure, but it was a nice even number. 

The nurses eyebrow tilted slightly, but then she seemingly shook-off whatever she was pondering. “Nevermind then,” she said, and left him alone in the tent. 

Wildcard shifted and dangled his legs off the crates that were making due as a bed. The question on his mind at the moment was what had happened to the refugees, and the rest of his revolutionaries. Why wasn’t he imprisoned within the fortress, what was he doing out here? 

The answer would have to wait, since a beautiful blue-coated mare, with eyes and mane to match, strode into the tent. She held her head high, and trotted with an authoritative strut. Had she been anyone else, Wildcard would be cowed into submission by her mere presence. Her posture demanded respect, and her gaze fell on him like a chain leash. Two dark figures stood in the doorway as she entered, armed shadows that added to her presence. 

“First!” Wildcard exclaimed, and tripped over himself in haste to greet his wife.

First Class laid down to kiss her husband, happy to know he was (mostly) together. For a moment they just shared in each others embrace, but it wasn’t long before the rumble of an engineered explosion digging into the Earth reminded them of reality. 

“I’m sorry,” Wildcard said quietly, gripping his wife tightly, and shuddering slightly.

“F… for what?” First Class asked, and pushed him back slightly, looking at him with both confusion and worry.

“I failed, I didn’t get the refugees out, and I got my own people captured. I’m a failure as a leader, I’m a failure as a warrior… and I’m a failure as a husband.”

Wildcard looked into his wife’s eyes, tears beading up around the blue spheres. He grimaced and awaited whatever fate decreed be his punishment.

Instead, she smiled thinly at him, and put a hoof behind the ear on the back of his neck. 

“Wildcard, you’re not a failure. Chrysalis is a slippery, evil, enemy. She’s as smart as she is cruel, and she outwitted us a few times,” she said, and stood to look down on him with a smirk on her face.

“We’re still going to kill her,” she added, and lifted Wildcard to his hooves. She smiled warmly at him, a smirk coming to her lips.

“Do you know what that’s going to make you?” she asked, and gently guided her husbands sore body to the tent flap.

“No.”

“Prince of the Changelings.”

That put a swing back in Wildcard’s step, and he followed his wife with his head held high. The two thestrals quickly shadowed and flanked them as they walked, and their glare kept away any of the soldiers. There were quite a few thestrals around, for some reason, and they kept watch from high positions as the soldiers relaxed near scattered fires. The air was filled with the acrid stench of burning wood, and burning bodies. Dark flames rose from outside the walls, and Wildcard saw what they had done with the fallen changelings.

He realized then, that his race was dead. With the massive loses caused by this battle, there remained perhaps two-hundred changelings, including himself. Perhaps a hundred of those were loyalists and would be wise to count out from the population going forward. That left a hundred or so, down from a population of nearly a thousand before. There were, of course, the mentally stunted drones, but they were unable to breed. Most of them would live out their lives happily in the Crystal Imperial foundries, or tending Equestrian orchards. The rest lived underground, and would probably perish in the coming assault. 

The mission he had started on, months ago, onboard the first train to the Hive had been completed. He had saved his race, by destroying it. Chrysalis would never again raise a generation of them to be her brainwashed servants, or sacrifice them en-masse for her own pathetic and vain glory. They would vanish back into the Equestrian population, and become a historical footnote.

It made him happy. He was the last of his race; and that was good. The things that made him separate from the ponies would be merged back into them, and perhaps their shapeshifting genes would linger. They would no longer be alone however; they would no-longer be trapped in a dark valley under a tyrant queen. He would be Prince of a dying race, but it would die surrounded by friends. 

An odd happiness, but happiness nonetheless. Not only would Chrysalis die, but he had destroyed her legacy. The true justice for a tyrant is to deny them historical infamy- bury their statues, burn their decrees, and confine them to a footnote. A curious bit of historical trivia, the butt of a joke, and perhaps a figure for politicians to compare their rivals to. Strip them of their infamy, and you defeat them as an idea as well as a physical threat. The idea is what lingers, you had to smash that to ward off someone getting ideas 20 years down the road. 

First Class led Wildcard to a hole in the courtyard, and rumbling explosions sounded from within. The fortress doors had been blasted, but as expected it had no effect. Meters upon meters of invincible stone stopped their entry, so they had to go under it.

“The engineers say it will take hours, but we’re getting there Wildcard,” she said, and hugged Wildcard with a wing. “We’ll get Odo back, and that bitch Queen of yours is going to decorate the living room.”

Wildcard laughed, it would certainly serve her right to live as a rug.

First Class poked one of her guards, and gestured at Wildcard. He nodded, and shifted slightly to overshadow the changeling. 

“She’ll keep you safe. I’ve got business to attend to, make yourself useful or something,” First Class shrugged, and flew into the air back to the hovering ship.

Wildcard considered following, but would probably just get in the way of whatever was going on up there. He had been out of the loop too long, and trying to barge into planning now wouldn't help anyone- smart as he was. So instead he turned to the rather large guard, clad in armour that seemed to double the size of her body, and offered his hoof. 

She stared at him. 

“I uh… I’m Wildcard, nice to meet you?”

She continued staring.

Wildcard awkwardly lowered his hoof, and tilted his head at the thestral mare. Her eyes glowed yellow slightly in the dim evening light, and her face was an inscrutable blank slate. She seemed kind of like a robot. 

Wildcard made a mental note to get her drunk one day. 

For now, however, he shrugged, and trotted back to the courtyard. The sun descended below the valley walls as he did, and the only light became that of the dozens of fires. He looked around for faces he recognized, instead all he saw was a sea of strangers. 

He trotted out of the tents and fires, and out a wall in the ruined wall. Outside the stench of fires was less so, as the wind blew it all away. A chilly wind, but Wildcard had his “winter coat” on, and wasn’t fazed. He took a deep breath of the crisp air, and noticed he wasn’t alone. A lone stallion, a rather large one- in width rather than height- held a flashlight in his mouth as he inspected a tank. Wildcard trotted over, and the pony spat out the flashlight to greet him.

Or rather, it turned out, his guard: “Hey, get that damn shapeshifter out of here before he sees something important!” the pony exclaimed, waving his fat arms around in an attempt to hide the massive metal vehicle. It was surprisingly effective considering how fat he was.

The thestral drew her sword with a sharp shwing, and Wildcard had to stick out a hoof to hold her back. The pony was rather confused at this point, and his hoof slowly inched towards his side-arm.

“For Celestia’s sake, don’t you know who I am?” Wildcard asked.

The stallion squinted in the dark, and pointed his flashlight at the pair, “You’re a shapeshifter.”

“… a fat shapeshifter…”

Wildcard growled and shot back, “And you’re a kettle!”

“… a fat shapeshifter asshole…”

Wildcard rolled his eyes and regretted holding his guard back. 

“Oh,” the stallion said, and lowered the flashlight, “You’re the Ambassador.”

Wildcard looked at him with the sort of exasperation one feels when a small, dumb, child reports that fire is hot.

The pony looked back at him with mock offence, “Well, you can’t blame me for being paranoid! We’ve been killing your kind all day, last thing I need is a shapeshifter with a chip on his shoulder getting the drop on me,” he says, and then sighs.

“Colonel Sandstorm, it’s a pleasure to meet you,” he says, and extends a hoof.

Wildcard trots over, “Ambassador Wildcard,” he says, and shakes the stallions rather jiggly hoof. 

“Soo… what brings you out here?” Sandstorm asked, and sat himself back upon the vehicle. 


____


Silver Shield, Wildcard’s most trusted changeling, hissed through the bars of his cage. Deep down in the tunnels below the fortress he and those loyal to Wildcard had been caged up, and forced to watch as Chrysalis caged those that remained. One by one by one, slowly but surely, she imprisoned their ranks. The loud booming from above had stopped long ago, and now gave way to an almost rhythmic thumping sound every few minutes. 

Help was coming, hopefully, but for now they remained caged. A hundred cages in the dark, dank, cave. Chrysalis and her mate “Medulla” stood on a high stone platform, surrounded by loyalists, as she pronounced her will. One by one the rebels toppled off that platform into the cold waters below, locked in cages.

Another thump, this time it shock stalactites free from the roof, and they rained down against the cages. 

“You’re not getting out of this!” Silver shouted, his voice echoing through the cave with a background of hissing, “They’re coming for you, and they’re going to kill you! Even if you kill us all, it still won’t save you!” 

He rattled his cage, as did the others, and the noise echoed throughout the cave. It apparently had the intended effect- angering Chrysalis- as she sent an arcing trail of green lighting from up above to down below, sending bolts of searing pain through them all. 

“You know what?” she hissed, and buzzed up into the air to look down on them. “I think death is too easy for you. You want to live with the ponies; you want to live a pathetic and unworthy existence, to suppress your potential? Fine!” she yelled, and the arcing green lightning changed to a shade of blue.

“You can have it your way, but know this! The penalty for your crimes is that each of you will be the end of your line. I was a fool to think even my own creation could be wise enough to accept my dominance, so let it end!” she shouted.

Silver Shield gasped for air as a pain throbbed throughout his body, an unearthly pain that felt as if his organs were being inflated, and then crushed, with every breath. 

Then Chrysalis left, rather abruptly, as another tremor shook the cave. She took her few remaining loyalists out with her, and then with her magic slammed the armoured door that led from the fortress catacombs to the cave. 

Boom, another tremor. This one shook the whole cave. 

The changelings were alone now, and for the next few minutes listened to the approaching sounds. They increased in ferocity with every minute, and then stopped altogether. 


___


First Class closed and latched the metal door behind her, as she strode into the room where Princess Luna, Princess Twilight (oddly, she wasn’t sure when the youngest princess had arrived), and Spitfire awaited her. 

“The engineers should break through in an hour or so, we’ve got th-“ 

Luna gestured at the empty seat across from the three, and First Class became aware of the fact that the table was blank. No war maps or orders, just cold metal.

“Sit,” she commanded.

The glare of the three of them on her made it seem like this wasn’t a war council.

First Class sat herself down, as ordered, and stared back at the three with her head held high. She allowed them to begin, all the better for her to counter.

“First Class, first may I congratulate you on your success in this endeavour, and I hope better luck finds us. We will rescue your child, you can be sure..”

They need me, and she’s trying to prop my ego up so that I will obey her orders more easily. Tough luck, I’ll be running Equestria soon enough.

“… It has come to our attention, however, that you have been taking a more active role in the military than it is accustomed to by someone with your high office. The nation owes you greatly for your service, and we suggest you leave our generals and commanders to do the fighting…”

They want me to stop running things the way I please? Spitfire must feel slighted, adorable.

“… therefore we request that you join our sister in Canterlot, and assist with matters going forward,” Luna finished.

First Class stared back, blankly. “No.”

“No?” Luna asked.

“No. I’m not going to go back to Canterlot and sit out the rescue of my own child. I am going to go down there, myself, and personally put a bullet…” she raised her hoof, and tapped her forehead, “… right between the eyes of that shapeshifting bitch. I have every right to be here, and may I remind you that the military serves at the behest of the government- not the other way around.”

Spitfire’s eyes shifted to look towards Luna, and First Class awaited her response.

“So be it, Minister of State. If power is what you crave, than power you shall have,” Luna said, and places her hooves on the table, raising herself as she glared at First Class intently. Her eyes almost seemed to glow.

“You walk a fine line, First Class. If you think that I will give power over to someone that doesn’t deserve it easily, you are quite mistaken. Calm your ambitions, learn to appreciate those that you command better, or you will quickly learn the same lessons I have,” she said, and smirked as she tapped her forehead the same way First Class had just moments ago.

“Except you won’t live to realize them. I am an Alicorn, I am blessed with good health and longevity nearly without end. I know powers that can vanquish cities, and I’ve seen people like you rise in power, and die away. Your ambitions are vain, and your place in history is an instant within a blink. You have a great deal to offer Equestria, and you have a great deal to offer yourself. Think which will last longer before you do anything rash.”

Luna collected the others and left First Class alone in that room, quite on purpose, to think. 

“So I’ll become one then,” she said to herself, and strode out some time later.

Towards the bridge she went, and upon walking in found Spitfire had usurped the command chair. First Class allowed this, for now, and looked out the window. They were level with the tip of the fortress, just across from a balcony. Chrysalis had once had her throne but the room had been sealed with impenetrable rock and strong magic now, and the changeling Queen had definitely retreated deeper into the monolith. 

Up there she checked the progress of the engineers, and found to her delight that they were in the final descent towards the cave. A unicorn mare, gifted with a sort of underground vision, had helped them tremendously. Soon they would breach the cave, and put an end to this madness. 

So she strode back out happily, this time to the armoury. It took little more than a harsh glare for the Wonderbolt guard to allow her entry, and inside she beheld racks of assorted arms. Swords and pole-arms for those still not accustomed to firearms, and several Wonderbolt 12.7 guns on a table. For herself she chose one of the standard infantry rifles, a newer unit still gleaming, and bearing the Crystal Imperial stamp. She took it, as well as a bandolier of extra ammunition, and strode out again. 

First Class would, in general, give way to the wisdom of leading from the rear. Shining Armour certainly did- he was set up in a tent down below. Normally she would let the grunts do the dirty work, since that’s what they were here for after all. 

This wasn’t normally.

Chrysalis stole her daughter, and by Celestia she was going to have a personal hand in spilling her blood. 

All politicians get dirty, but most prefer to use other agents as gloves. First Class was no such person, she had no qualms getting herself dirty. Besides, after what Wildcard did to Trotsky, her soul was already tarnished. She had been weak, she hadn’t taken the chance to do what she needed to do herself- so he did it for her. She was a killer.


___


Wildcard spoke with the colonel for a time, and learned how the tanks worked. It was basically a tractor except with armour and a really big gun. Sandstorm was a very happy stallion, and the two traded mock insults (about each others weight) for a time, as he explained and showed off his weaponry.

“…I didn’t think changelings could get fat- wouldn’t your carapace break?”

“… so does yours need a bigger engine, or do you just have one less crew member?”

“…did you just come to Equestria because we have bigger food?”

“… does your flank count as extra rear armour?”

On it went for somewhere around half an hour, and the two were able to relax and forget about why they were there in the first place. Sandstorm, Wildcard also found out, was quite proud of his tanks. He had saved a lot of lives with them, and he gleefully told Wildcard of his ideas for more. Armoured vehicles for transporting infantry- slower than cantering on rough ground, but markedly more defended. Tracked artillery could bring much larger guns than a wheeled emplacement by spreading the weight over a larger area. Equestria was preparing to build thousands, putting the lessons they learned here today to work. 

The War of the Hive served an interesting use, Wildcard noted, in the long run: Equestria had a foe to test its new ideas of war on, and knew that even if those ideas failed they would still win. It was a somewhat terrifying idea, since it would mean that a modern war machine like this would keep needing enemies to fight. All the big states would need to pick on the little states so that the weapons they have could be relied upon when they fought the other big states.

A world of perpetual war. Wildcard shuddered at the thought. There was also the matter of what the larger states would do with all that old gear. The world was entering into a new age, and it was somewhat frightening.

Soon enough though, they had to go their separate ways. A runner arrived calling for Sandstorm to meet Field Martial Armour, and Wildcard headed back into the courtyard. By now the sun had descended fully below the horizon, and darkness covered everything. Thestrals swarmed around, their eyes glowing with an odd vengeance. 

Wildcard met his wife in the courtyard, looking almost humorous with a lanky officers uniform and a rifle slung over her shoulder. She looked mean though, a frown covered her face as she looked down at the hole the engineers had made. Beside her Princess Luna awaited, and the ever-present thestrals shadowed her. His own shadow re-joined them, and they joined their comrades overhead.

“Ah, Wildcard. It is good you’re here, we’re close to-“

A shuddering explosion cut Luna off, and she had to wait for the echoes to stop before continuing.

“-put an end to your old Queen,” she finished.

First Class smiled, but continued her staring wordlessly. There wasn’t much use talking anyway, with the constant explosions rumbling from within that hole. Engineers carted out rubble constantly, dumping it into the courtyard without a care. Over and over they continued, digging downwards towards the caves below. 

The end was nigh, Wildcard knew. He sat beside his wife, and snuggled against her warmth. The explosions continued, and they waited together.

In less time that might be expected, they stopped. The carts of rubble slowed to a trickle, and then a dirt-covered engineer clad in a dirty flak jacket strode out of the hole. He approached Luna, and pulled a small device out of his pocket.

“We’ve breached the wall a bit, looks like a large chamber beyond. Just push this, and you’ll blow a hole open large enough for a pony to get through. As you ordered, the final detonation is in your hooves,” he says, and bows to deliver it.

Luna cackled, madly in fact, and Wildcard swore he heard a thunder strike in the distance- despite the fact it was early winter.

“Hah hah! Finally, finally I have the tool I need to end this vile fiend!” she yelled, and a bursting flash of light blinded all around her. 

The creature that emerged was none other than Nightmare Moon, grinning madly in her otherworldly armour, eyes glowing fiercely. She pointed at the tunnel, and slammed on the remote in her hoof. 

“We go now! To victory, and may we spill enough changeling blood to fill an ocean!” she shouted, and dove (somewhat awkwardly considering how cramped a space it was- but her powerful magic widened the hole around her, melting the rock as she passed- into the hole.

The thestrals followed her, hooves trampling into the dirty tunnel, and yelling war-cries that made Wildcard- even as an ally- shudder. First Class pulled him close with a wing, and looked into his glowing blue eyes. 

“Well, think we can beat Luna to it?”

Wildcard buzzed in reply, and they took off down the hole as well.


___


Princess Luna was, at the moment, happier than she had been in a long time. She had a clear objective, and an evil enemy to squash. A glorious victory awaited her, and it was moments like these she lived for. 

Luna, displaying her guise of Nightmare Moon for all the world to see, burst out of the hole that had been torn into the wall of the cave. Mushrooms grew along the bottom and crept up the walls, casting an eerie green glow on everything. Luna cast her own blue radiance around her, the colours splashing against the dark walls and lighting the way. A stone pillar stood in the middle of the room, and a thin stone bridge crossed the circular mushroom-pit to a dark tunnel beyond. She swept down over this, sending dust into the air around her as she rapidly flew into the tunnel. She soon found a door, which offered little resistance to her powerful magic. Once she blasted it back, she was confronted by a long hallway that split dozens upon dozens of times. The tunnels were a labyrinth, but she had brought an army. She picked a direction, and flew. 

First Class and Wildcard followed into the hallway after a time, keeping close to each other. The thestrals had vanished down the corridors at random- this wasn’t a pinpoint operation, it was pest control. Gunshots, screams, and the odd explosion echoed down the halls. They picked one at random, an unopened door, and First Class spun around to kick it open. Then, rifle in hoof, she led Wildcard into the dark. The green light of his horn showed the way.

First Class held her rifle tight, and both of their ears were perked up for any sounds. Only the water trickling from above, and the chaos behind, was audible. 

“It sure is creepy down here,” Wildcard commented. 

He had never spent much time in the caverns- no reason to. He wished he had now, knowing where the hell he was going would be nice.

“You think that’s on purpose?” First Class said, as she glanced around nervously. “Keep us on our hooftips, ready to jump at our own shadow…”

Wildcard doubled the brightness of his horn, and revealed another door up ahead. Markedly larger than the other one, and made of steel. 

“Well, that’s a good sign…” Wildcard said, as the approached it and looked on the ominous metal gateway.

First Class shrugged, and tapped on it.

A loud clanking came from behind and she tripped over herself backing away, falling to the floor and pointing a shaky rifle at the door.

Wildcard pulled her back up to her hooves, and they both stared at the door side by side, “We don’t have to open it, you know,” Wildcard said.

First Class shook her head, “Either Chrysalis is behind there, or something else is. Either way…” she shuddered, and steadied her aim “… I’m not afraid.”

Wildcard nodded, and spread his hooves wide for support as he drew on his wive’s magic to build up a force in his horn. 

“First?”

“Yeah?”

“I love you.”

First Class leaned over and kissed him, and that gave him exactly what he needed. His whole body glowed green, and his horn burst with energy. Energy directed in a beam at the door, which quickly began to heat and glow. The sturdy steel melted under the onslaught, and warped. It was a simple mater then of pushing the steel inwards, leaving the metal to drip away. That left them a hole, which Wildcard allowed to cool while he gathered his nerve. 

Then he shut down the light of his horn, and leapt through the steaming hole. They entered a wide and dimly lit cavern very similar to the one they had entered from. An ominous clanking sound echoed throughout, increasing in volume as they followed a small stone walkway to a central platform. Wildcard looked over the side, and saw cages below. 

Green eyes looked back up at him.

“Wildcard?!” Silver Shield exclaimed, and the clanking stopped.

First Class and Wildcard spent a few minutes releasing the captured changelings, but had little time to spend on pleasantries. Although they had been released from their prison, and were delighted to hear that Chrysalis was on the way out, they seemed oddly resigned. Silver Shield refused to speak of it, and only re-directed Wildcard to the fact it wasn’t over yet. So they departed hastily as a party; Wildcard, First Class, and a hundred changelings. Back into the hallway they strode, and marched down it towards the end. They passed quite a few fallen changelings, and more than one thestral that had the unfortunate luck of being ambushed in the dark. Silver Shield led them on their way, and eventually they broke down another door. This hallway, unlike the others, was well lit.

That, and they were immediately greeted by gunfire as soon as the door crashed inwards. Wildcard caught a glimpse of a sand-bagged machine gun up ahead before he leapt to the side. They had no heavy weaponry to deal with this- most of them weren’t even armed, and the few that were just had whatever they picked up on the way. The buzz-saw of the machine gun tore into their ears, disrupting Wildcard’s attempts to think. 

What to do, what to do? He tried peeking around the corner, maybe he could get off some magic fire?

His head was nearly lopped off by the gunner in the scant half-second he peered over, and he had a /lot/ of ammunition with him in that makeshift pillbox. They could go find Thestral help, but then they would give away their lead. Both Wildcard and First Class wanted Chrysalis dead- by their own hooves. 

“Wildcard…” First Class said, softly. He didn’t hear her, and she prodded his shoulder. He turned to see her, shaking and clutching her rifle as if it was her lifeline.

“Shield… shield me.” she said. 

Wildcard tilted his head, “Are you sure?”

First Class swallowed and nodded. 

“Okay,” Wildcard said, and took a deep breath. “I won’t be able to hold it for long, so you better do it quick."

He considered shielding one of the other changelings instead, but his magic was powered by love. His love for her was powerful, but for them? Not quite as much. Hopefully their love combined would be enough to give them the seconds they needed.

Wildcard kissed her on the forehead, and then a green shield grew ahead of her chest and extended up to her face. She took another deep breath, nodded, and side stepped into the open. She raised her rifle, and Wildcard cringed in pain as he magically absorbed the torrent of fire that reflected off his shield. He couldn’t hold it for long.

First Class aimed, and managed to steady her rifle. The changeling wasn’t far away, and even she could get a clean shot on his head from this close. She aimed… and aimed… 

In the end it was Silver Shield, who dove behind her and fired between her legs, that ended the threat. The gun fell silent, and the changeling flopped against it. First Class stood there, shuddering and flinching, while the changelings moved around her into the carpeted hallway. 

With a rattling thud, she dropped her rifle, and flopped to the hard cave floor. Wildcard draped a sore arm around her, and pulled her back up to her hooves. 

“It’s okay,” he whispered in her ear, holding her against himself while she cried, “you’re too good for this.”

First Class steadied herself, and pushed Wildcard away, “Too good for this?” she asked, glaring at him. 

“What do you think I am, a filly you need to coddle? I hesitated, so what. I won’t hesitate again,” she said, and picked the rifle back up. She pointed down the hallway with it, “Let’s go, we’ve got a Queen to kill.”

First Class strode off past Wildcard, wearing a scowl that seemed to see through him. He watched her for a moment, as she trotted off. He thought back to how innocent she had been when she met him. How beautiful and elegant, how calm and compassionate. A loving and caring person, and a perfect example of what Equestria was about.

Now here she was, covered in dirt and toting a rifle. Out for blood. He had made her into this. Wildcard cursed himself. He had tarnished something beautiful. 

Still, he followed. They did indeed have a Queen to kill, and once that was done he could worry about the future. The other changelings had huddled up at the end of the hallway, at the end of which an elegant wooden door stood. It had formerly been protected by two armoured guards, which now lay on the floor. First Class waited impatiently for Wildcard.

“Are you ready?” she asked.

Wildcard nodded.

First Class grinned, and used her refined lock picking skills to kick the door in. It splintered and shattered as the door was tossed into the room, and then they as well as their changeling party stormed in as a group. Chrysalis sat on a stone throne, looking as relaxed as ever as the free changelings lined the walls, point what weapons they had at her. She sat with a single companion, looking down on them from her high position. Beside her was a crib.

“Oh look at that Alpha, we have guests…” she hissed, and glared at them, “… do be quiet won’t you? You’ll wake the foal.”

First Class strode up, her rifle steadily pointed at the Changeling Queen, she halted at the foot of the stairs leading to Chrysalis throne, and Wildcard trotted up behind her. 

“Give up now, and maybe you’ll spend your life in prison,” First Class demanded.

Chrysalis patted Medulla on the head, and whispered something in his ear, he nodded and quickly scampered off behind the throne. A dozen free changelings bolted after him, but were shoved back by a green force field.

“Now now, did I say you could go back there?” Chrysalis sneered, and tossed them against the wall before turning back to First Class.

“I refuse. What are you going to do about it?”

First Class pulled the trigger, and Chrysalis deflected her shot easily. Still, she was somewhat surprised from the looks of her, even as she tore First Class’s weapon away and bent it into a useless chunk of steel. 

Odo awoke in an infant terror, and cried sharply. That sound arose all sorts of fatherly instincts in Wildcard, and his hair stood on end as he hissed at Chrysalis.

“Dear me…” she said, and a green sphere surrounded her, “You woke the poor baby.”

She lifted into the air, surrounded by green, and the other changelings took their chances. They all fired at her as well, but their bullets were easily swept aside by the powerful Changeling Queen. She responded with a shock-wave that threw them all against the ground- except Wildcard.

He was glowing, and First Class stood beside him.

Chrysalis cocked an eyebrow at the pair, and cackled. “Such love! I made the mistake of letting that defeat me once, but I won’t again!” she yelled, and a green tendril of energy shot out at Wildcard. 

It hit him painfully, but he held. His own horn flared, and a blast of energy forced its way upwards out of it. Slowly it drew back Chrysalis’ magic, and he drew First Class close to him for support. He focused all his will on this, all his energy and all life. He remembered.

He remembered the first day he saw First Class, and how his heart had fluttered. He remembered the feeling that gave him, seeing someone so perfectly refined, so powerful and yet so kind. He remembered, and pushed back.

He remembered their first date, and how they had shared storied inside the mountain. He remembered the feeling of sharing his thoughts so openly, spilling his soul, and how she had done the same. He remembered the feeling of safety, of being able to crack open his walls and allow someone to look inside. He remembered looking inside her as well. He remembered getting blackout drunk, and ending up in a warm bed. He remembered, and pushed back.

He remembered when she had discovered his subterfuge, and Chrysalis pushed back. He screamed in pain, but quickly remembered as well the result of that. When he had destroyed his lifes work and abandoned the hive, all for a blue mare he met in Canterlot. He remembered, and pushed back.

Chrysalis screamed out at them, “Just give in you bastards, I rule here!”

Wildcard remembered their journey to the Hive, when things were better. He remembered using the power of their love to destroy an entire airship. He remembered, and pushed back.

He remembered the things that he had done, and the things that he had seen, all for his love. He remembered the sacrifices he had made, the lives he had ruined, and the battles he had fought. He remembered, and pushed forward.

He remembered their abrupt marriage, and the delight in finding out he would be a father. He remembered, and drew First Class tightly against himself under his wing. She drew hers around him, and they both stared up at the increasingly terrified Chrysalis. They remembered, and pushed forward.

Chrysalis was given no time for a horrified scream, or for a final plea for mercy. The power of their love pushed up against her, and burned down her horn forcibly. In only a second it continued down to her scalp, and melted her flesh. Down her body it continued, driven by the hatred and love felt by the pair. Two opposite emotions combining for lethal effect, as the Changeling Queens skeleton was stripped of it’s skin, and then soon that too burned to nothing more but ash. With not but a cry, the cinders of the once powerful mare fell into a heap on the floor before her throne.

First Class wasted no time, and was instantly grabbed Odo out of her crib one it was done. She sat herself down, and cradled in her hooves. The foal quieted in her mothers arms, as Wildcard stood behind her. 

Wildcard looked at the throne, and then to Silver Shield. He reached down to kiss his child, and then strode up the steps. He swept aside the ashes of his queen without any care, and sat himself down. 

The free changelings bowed to him, and down the hallway Princess Luna, drawn by the cries from within, trotted up surrounded by thestrals. 

Wildcard, Prince of the Changelings, had taken his place. He looked down on the remains of his people, and bade them to stand. 

“We are free.”