***Nick***
Less than an hour from Canterlot, if I could fly. Forced to walk, it would be at least a day. Though Twilight has had me lying here. She told me she would be gone when I woke up, and sure enough, when I awoke this morning, she wasn’t here. I lie my head down and sigh, now I have to wait for her.
I stand up and flap my wings, I miss the air, I miss flying, but Twilight has said there are roving patrols of these bugs, and to stay on the ground. We’ve had to avoid several of them over the last few weeks. Twilight always senses them before we get too close, and either guides me around them, or she teleports us past them. Either way, we are working our way closer.
“There you are, love!” I hear her voice as she emerges from the forest into the clearing I’ve been sleeping in. I receive a nuzzle and a hug. She pulls back, “We need to get going.”
I sigh, we always have to keep moving, but we have to stay on the ground. I lift up a hoof, showing her the shoe, “I need new shoes, when we get a chance, all this walking.
She giggles as she turns.
“There you are!” Comes a familiar voice. I turn and look, Twilight Sparkle is galloping towards me, though she looks different, she’s wearing dark armor, and she looks enraged.
I stop as she jumps over me, landing on Twilight. Both of them scuffle and fight on the ground in front of me. I stand there, a hoof lifted in shock.
“Hey there handsome.” Another voice. I look, it’s Cloud Kicker. She’s grinning at me as she turns and watches the two ponies tumble on the ground. I watch a set of teeth come down on a foreleg, getting a yowl of pain out of the one bitten. They scramble a bit, and the other Twilight gets Twilight’s mane in her teeth, she yanks, hard.
I step forward, only to have a wing put in front of me, “I’d let them take care of it themselves, Nick. Twilight has been in a foul mood since you were lost.”
I’m only more confused, “But she’s been here since I was hurt.”
I feel cool chills along my body, and turn to my other side, Sparkler is there, with Derpy next to her. Her horn quiets, “He’s suffering from mild magical exhaustion, Mom. She’s been feeding off of him.”
I sit down heavily, “Feeding?” I whisper.
Derpy comes up and nuzzles me, then she sits down along with Sparkler. I can hear shouted curse words, along with screams of both rage and pain as the two alicorns tumble along the ground. An armored helmet comes flying away, landing at my feet, it looks like one of the Twilight’s is trying to insert a hoof into the other Twilight’s ear.
I stand there, looking at them, mesmerized. I get a wing whapping the back of my head, I look over at Cloud Kicker, she gives me a sour look. “Nick, put your wings down.”
I look back at my wings, yes, I’m popping a pinion, I grin slightly at Cloud Kicker, “Come on Cloud, look at them, you have to admit it’s hot to watch them fight.
She stops and looks at the two ponies fighting, her wings starting to extend slightly as one Twilight grabs the other’s tail, yanking hard, and getting a shriek for her trouble. She giggles, “You’ve got a point there, Nick.”
The Twilight’s fly apart as though an explosion was set off between them. I look at one, then the other. Now both of them are wearing identical armor. That’s odd.
“I won’t let you have him!” One of them screams to the other.
“You don’t need him, he’s mine.” The other one screams.
I shake my head hard, I look at Cloud Kicker, “Could you help me? I didn’t know there were two of her.”
Cloud Kicker, “One of them is a changeling. She’s been feeding off of your love for Twilight. We need to find the queen, Twilight suspects they are behind the bug attacks.”
I turn and look at the two supposed alicorns, they are snarling at each other as they circle each other slowly. I’ve finally had enough, “Okay, you two. STOP!” I scream, causing both of them to stop and look at me.
Cloud Kicker steps forward, “Twilight, this is a time for you to use your magic.”
This produces two very different reactions, one of them cringes and steps back. The other looks up at her horn and giggles, a violet aura enfolding her horn. She grins as she looks at the cringing version of herself. A beam is fired, causing the other twilight to shout as green fire washes over her form, wherever the green fire touches, it leaves behind a black hard shell, bug like wings, and a weird shaped horn. I shake my head as Twilight’s gasps at the form is revealed.
“Chrysalis!” She screams as she catches the other creature up in her aura. She seems to concentrate for a moment, the field holding the bug pony changing shape and merging with the ground. Finally Twilight lets her horn quiet, she turns and smiles at me. I don’t have any chance for thought as her armor falls off of her, and she leaps at me. We tumble end over end and end up with her on top of me, her wings spread, a blush on her cheeks, she leans down and kisses the pure hell out of me.
After time immeasurable, she pulls back a bit, “Oh, Nick. I’ve missed you!”
I stammer a bit, “I’d like to say the same thing, Twilight, but until about five minutes ago, I thought I was with you.”
She giggles as she nuzzles me, then she stops, looking over to the side, her horn lights, and I hear a squawk. Derpy is brought over, and the hug now encompasses three ponies. Derpy nuzzles me as Twilight whispers in my ear, “Derpy finally told me how she felt about you. She’s been helpful in finding you, because she missed you as much as I did.”
I look at Twilight for a long time, just communicating by eye, and finally I bring Derpy closer, “I’ve missed you, my friend.”
Derpy pulls back and looks at me, “Just friends?” She asks, her ears wilting.
I look at Twilight, and get a slight nod from her, then I shake my head, “I’m not used to pony terms, Derpy. I grew up in a world very different than yours. So, how about herd mate?”
She giggles and nuzzles me, “That works” she says as she sighs as she hugs me.
An evil laugh breaks us from our reunion, “You may have your Nick back, but the Crystal Empire and Canterlot are about to fall.”
Twilight tenses as she looks at me, I nod, it’s time for her to do what she does best. She stands up and stalks over to the captured changeling. I flip over and Derpy helps me to my hooves.
“Call them off.”
The queen of the changelings giggles, “I wouldn’t if I could. They have their own agenda. And that agenda is to take the magic from every pony in Equestria.”
Twilight looks at me, then back at the captured queen, “If you don’t help me, I swear by Celestia that I’ll…”
She’s interrupted, “You’ll do what? Kill me? Like your brother and his whore of a wife did to my colony?”
That gets Twilight, she stops, her horn quieting, tears fall from the changeling’s eyes, “My family, my children, reduced to greasy smears on the walls of Canterlot Castle. We had you, we had won. And then you had to free that Cadance, and somehow break my hold on Shining Armor. And his shield blasted me through the window, blasted hundreds of my children for miles. Many survived that blast.” She hangs her head, “But most didn’t.” She starts to sob.
I step forward, putting a wing around Twilight, she watches the changeling sob for a long time. She steps forward slowly, “I’m sorry that so many had to die. That happens in war. A war that you started, if you don’t remember.” Her voice gets hard, “And thousands, if not tens of thousands of ponies are now dead because you brought them here.
Chrysalis looks up at Twilight, “I had to get you, they were the only way I could get you.”
Twilight’s horn lights, and the shield around the changeling melts away, and she is picked up in Twilight’s aura, and brought face to face with Twilight, “And now you are going to show me how to get to their world, and I will let them know that Equestria is off limits to them.”
The bug queen only sobs harder.
***Canterlot***
The roar of a thousand dragons rings through Princess Luna’s ears as she rises up to join them. Brygor is in the lead, along with a thousand pegasi. Drawn from all over Equestria, the Dragon Corps has been trained under Brygor’s supervision since the beginning. But not just the Dragor Corps are attacking, thousands more dragons are joining. The danger to their nesting grounds, to their lives, is very real. They are helping. Princess Luna looks at the new forces coming in.
“I don’t know if you are enough to stop this, General.”
Brygor nods, “If they overwhelm us, we will go down fighting,” he growls. He looks at one of the pegasi, “Attack.” He commands, and the dragons and pegasi streak for the mountaintop.
Luna surveys the scene, the bugs are streaming over their brethren as they head to the walls of Canterlot. The ponies on the walls visibly tense as the Dragon corps descend on the bugs. The pegasi among them are laying about with ashanderi, long lances with what is essentially a short sword blade at the tip. The blade edges have been enhanced magically and slice through the bugs. The dragons rely on their claws and shooting flames. The bug advance falters and stops as the ferocity of the Dragon Corps becomes evident.
Luna smiles as the Dragon Corps starts to actually push the bugs back. She chuckles, “I’d better help them.” She murmurs as she flashes down, her horn lighting, green tendrils of energy lancing out at the oncoming bugs, flashing them to nothingness. She flips over a bug attack, landing with all four hooves on the bug, cracking it’s shell with her armored hooves. She can feel the nightmare inside her, the temptation to use that energy to help pulling at her. She resists that pull, knowing what will be wrought by the nightmare if it is allowed out. She strikes out with her forehooves, smashing another bug as her magic once again lances out. She may have more strength available than her sister at this point, but her power is not infinite. She cannot do this forever.
***Ponyville***
“Ugh, how uncivil.” Rarity murmurs as she uses her magic to finish fitting the armor on a young earth pony. Her magic tweaking the chain mail so it hangs right. She is good at the necessary enchantments for armor, so she does the spell. The armor loses over half of its weight and the earth pony shifts as she feels the change. Rarity smiles at her, “And all done.”
The mare smiles at her and turns. Rarity looks at one link of the chain mail, her horn still lit, she changes the color of that single link to a brilliant blue, to compliment the mare’s mane color as she trots from the room. The next train to Canterlot will be leaving soon, with new recruits that have been hurriedly trained. Canterlot is under siege, though hundreds of dragons are encircling the small town, adding another layer of defense for Ponyville.
Rarity floats a glass of water over, drinking deeply. She sets the half full glass on the table, then she looks at the glass, the water has rippling vibrations in it.
“Now that’s odd.” She murmurs as the vibrations become more evident to her, she feels them through her hooves. A quick glance around makes her leave the boutique, she stops in surprise, a forehoof raised.
Hundreds of bison are marching towards the train station. A yellow pony is walking with the Buffalo that Rarity knows, Chief Thunderhooves. The pony is wearing a cowboy hat and she can see his apple cutie mark.
Rarity jumps off the porch, and gallops towards the pony, “Braeburn!” She calls out. Getting him to move closer, Rarity moves over and walks between Chief Thunderhooves and Braeburn.
“Nice to see you, Miss Rarity.” The buffalo chieftain intones.
Rarity clears her throat, “I was unaware that the Buffalo are joining in this war.”
The buffalo looks at her sideways, “The princess of Friendship, Twilight Sparkle, needs our help. We are here to help.”
Rarity smiles, “Thank you, Chief. Though it looks hopeless. But anyone helping is always a blessing.”
He smiles, “You are most welcome, Miss Rarity. You ponies have been friends to us buffalo, we will help where we can.”
***
Twilight Sparkle grimaces as she works the spell form given to her by the changeling queen. Before her the air is starting to coalesce, a rip starting to form. With a loud grunt, the portal finally opens. Twilight lets her horn quiet.
She smiles, “Got it!” she says as she turns around.
I look at the portal she just created, and back at our little party, “All of us?”
She smiles, “No, love. Just you and I.” She frowns and growls at the changeling stuck in her shield, “And her.”
Sparkler comes up, “You’ve been teaching me magic, Twilight. I can help.”
Twillight nuzzles the pink unicorn, “Oh sweetie, these creatures are resistant to magic attacks. I don’t know if you could really do much to help.”
Sparkler furrows her brow, “Then how can you be effective.”
Twilight giggles, “Because I’m going to use balefire.”
Sparkler gasps, “That is forbidden to use in Equestria, it’s dangerous, not just to those getting hit. It’s one that can unravel reality itself.”
Twilight again nuzzles Sparkler, “I won’t be in Equestria, now will I?”
Derpy comes up and gives me a hug, then Twilight, she then moves over to sit with Cloud Kicker and Sparkler, “We’ll stay here, and wait for you.”
Twilight looks at the swirling portal, “If the spellforms are right, the portal should be invisible on their side.”
“If you performed the spellform right.” The changeling queen smirks, getting a dirty look from Twilight.
Twilight’s horn lights, “Ready to go, love?”
I smile at her, “Most definitely!”