//------------------------------// // 61 - Change: Part 1 // Story: Change // by tom117z //------------------------------// Ponyville, the day of the battle The town was silent as Queen Crudelis laid her blood red eyes on it. She could picture a tumbleweed just blowing right on down the street, the town was completely deserted. Her changelings had kicked down doors and ransacked all the houses in search of any remaining inhabitants stubbornly refusing to flee, and yet found nothing. Even as far out as Sweet Apple Acres was empty. They most likely fled to the forest, and hunting them would be a simple task. But that wasn’t why they were there, they were getting Twilight Sparkle’s attention and that was all. All those other ponies were irrelevant, and could go hide in Everfree and be Timberwolf snacks for all she cared. Twilight Sparkle would come, all she had to do was wait patiently. A defensive perimeter had been set around the town, Ponyville becoming something of a fortress for Crudelis and her changelings. A fortress that would soon be a warzone. For now, Crudelis was standing outside the Golden Oaks Library. She momentarily considered how it was a good thing for the tree that Twilight moved out, lest it would have been destroyed by the multitude of enemies she had made over the years. Crudelis herself momentarily considered setting it on fire, but it would honestly be a waste of magic. Still… Crudelis placed a hoof on the door and made her way inside. The interior was as dark and empty as the rest of the town, and yet signs of Twilight Sparkle were easily evident, even if she no longer was the librarian. Just by a perch with the nameplate titled ‘Owlicious’ engraved onto it, was a picture frame on the wall. She didn’t know why the current librarian had kept it there, but neither did she really care. It was a photograph showing six mares, all seemed to be ponies, but Crudelis knew better. The bearers of the Elements of Harmony in their earliest days together. Twilight Sparkle in her unicorn guise stood right in the centre of them, just behind the yellow Pegasus. They all seemed… happy. “Your highness,” one of her drones spoke over the hive. “Yes, what is it?” “They’re here…” Twilight Sparkle was flying alongside Queen Draco, the alicorns and Captain Carduus on approach to Sweet Apple Acres. The vast farm spread out beneath them, apple trees littering the ground for many acres. They were at the head of the force moving inwards quickly, and below them many groups of EUP ponies, including Broad Sword, Vladimir and Shining Armor, were moving up with Pegasi acting as eyes in the sky. Flying through the air not far behind them, several of the EUP’s helicopters cut through the air flanked by Twilight and Draco’s changelings. “Crudelis’ changelings, dead ahead!” Carduus shouted, directing their attention to the area near the farmhouse, where a group of changelings were gathering. Not a moment later, green spellfire was thrown straight up in their directing, flying all around them. “BEGIN THE ASSAULT!” Celestia ordered in her Royal Canterlot Voice, the EUP squads below drawing their weapons and engaging the closest hostile changeling they could see. And these minor skirmishes were just the beginning. Lightening cracked down onto the changelings near the farmhouse as directed by both Celestia and Luna, their eyes glowing a pure white with sheer power. While Cadance fell back to provide defensive spells for their soldiers, Queen Draco landed directly onto a group of changelings and quickly got to work tearing them to pieces. As the royal sisters continued their lightning strikes, Queen Twilight and Carduus veered back to meet up with their drones. While the EUP ground forces pushed in from the front, the changelings and the EUP in the helicopters were going to drop right down onto the town itself. Down below, Shining Armor bucked a charging changeling and watched as Broad Sword cut him down. Vladimir used his wings to leap upwards and down on top of one changeling, crushing his skull in before picking off another with his blade. The EUP with them made quick work of the others, and one last changeling attempted to flee, only to be dropped by a single spell launched by Prince Armor. “That’s one group down,” Vladimir stated. “We’ve got more of them further in by the farm’s entrance.” “Alright ponies,” Shining Armor shouted out. “Move on up!” The ponies gave an enthusiastic battle cry as they dashed on forwards, catching glimpses of their changeling allies swarming overhead towards the town. Sentries within the town saw those several hundred drones incoming, hundreds more approaching from behind the first wave, nearly all one thousand of the surviving soldiers of the Badlands Hive were there, eager for payback. Ponyville and much of the surrounding area was about to be set ablaze. Twilight and Draco’s drones shot directly down onto the town, many grappling with Crudelis’ own changelings on arrival. Clangs of steel could be heard from many blades as spellfire was exchanged between the changelings on opposing sides. Several bolts tore a group of changelings to bits from the crossbow turrets of the helicopters as they moved in to land. One was hit with a volley of green spellfire and went down in a spectacular ball of fire. Many more landed and unloaded the EUP held on board, one pony quickly crossing blades with a changeling as they exchanged strikes back and forth. Their cargo delivered, the helicopters took off again into the air to provide support where needed, two more being shot from the sky and crushing several homes, each quickly being set ablaze. As the fire began to paint the sky with an orange glow, Twilight and Carduus landed right in the thick of the chaos the centre of town had quickly become. They were right by the town hall, and Twilight had her eyes peeled for any sign of Crudelis, but had yet to spot her. “Twilight, look out!” Carduus warned as an arrow whipped on by. Twilight caught the arrow with her magic, and flung it back at the changeling who shot it, killing them instantly. Queen Twilight then spun on the spot and fired a quick group of lavender fireballs into a group of changelings in armour coloured both blue and red, reducing them to ashes. Several drones saw her and made a move to strike, but Twilight made quick work of each, downing most with her magic before they even reached her. Carduus struck at the ones who got closer than most, his blade clanging off of theirs as they traded blows. Carduus’ blade locked with his combatants again as they struck against one another, Carduus quickly stepping back to unbalance his opponent before decapitating him in a single strike. He turned and stunned another with a bolt of green magic, before quickly being launched into combat against another adversary. “We need to find Crudelis!” Twilight shouted amidst the fighting. Carduus punched a drone in the face before answering. “She’ll be here!” The fighting at Sweet Apple Acres was packed, dozens upon dozens kicked and stabbed as the full scale battle was truly underway. Celestia swooped down, but she was too late to save a small group of EUP surrounded by changelings, and their dying screams assaulting her ears. Enraged, she landed directly on top of that group and lifted each one into the air simultaneously with a single levitation spell. As they struggled, each one was crushed under the applied pressure and before long nothing much left existed of them aside from a tiny ball of twisted armour covered in blood. Another brave fool was cut in half by the Princess’ halberd, the single bolt of magic he let off before death pinging off her armour without leaving a scratch. The very ground at Celestia’s hooves burned and enemy changelings actively shied away from attacking her, the Princess of the Sun striking fear into their hearts. That was when Celestia saw her. Near the entrance to the farm Queen Crudelis picked up some poor pony. A red lance of magic sliced the ponies’ chest and stomach open and gravity disembowelled them. Her red hued magic then trailed upwards into the sky; several Pegasi scrambled to avoid it, but not all of them succeeded, and a few fell to the ground, dead or dying. Celestia’s eyes trained in on Crudelis, and with one teleport she was standing directly in front of the changeling queen. Crudelis’ eyes momentarily widened in surprise at the alicorns appearance, before quickly placing a shield to block a golden lance. “Princess Celestia,” Crudelis smirked as she deflected the attack and burst out the shield to knock Celestia backwards. “It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance.” “SILENCE FIEND!” Celestia shouted, striking forwards with her halberd. Crudelis ducked to one side and took to the air, scrambling away from the furious alicorn. Celestia followed quickly, the two heading towards Ponyville itself. A short ways down the path, Crudelis decelerated and shot back past Celestia, who once again struck out with her weapon. The halberd missed Crudelis by an inch, and the Queen used her magic to pry it from Celestia and throw it far backwards and into the ongoing battle below. “Watch out!” Cadance shouted in warning, placing up a shield to protect Shining Armor from the stray golden halberd flying at him. The halberd shattered against the blue shield, and its pieces clattered to the floor. “Thanks honey,” Shining Armor said as he eye the broken weapon. “Isn’t that Celestia’s?” “It was,” Broad Sword managed to remark as he grappled a changeling. Vladimir helped his friend out by grabbing the changeling by the neck and pulling him away, using his blade to slit his throat. Broad Sword gave a nod of thanks, and took a moment to catch his breath. “Looks like the battle here is moving towards the town, away from the farm,” Vladimir noted. “Did we break their lines?” “I don’t think so,” Cadance spoke up. “Looks like they’re just regrouping.” “You are correct,” Luna stated as she landed next to them. “Queen Crudelis is moving back while battling my sister, and thus so are they.” Luna looked unscathed, but her sword was dripping with changeling remains. “Come,” she gestured to the fight. “We have much work to do.” After getting nods of agreement all around, they all rushed back off to re-join the fight. As they went, they could see Queen Draco, flanked by two of her personal guard, lay waste to some of Crudelis’ changelings as they tried to fall back. Back in Ponyville, a chunk was taken out of the town hall by a blast of a small mana bomb. Several more houses were on fire now as the fighting continued, becoming fiercer every passing second. Twilight and Carduus had fought their way through the streets looking for Queen Crudelis, but still had yet to see her. Their search had taken them to the Golden Oaks Library, where barricades had been set up by some EUP ponies and the library turned into a battlefield triage centre, a place where they could take the wounded and get them medical attention. Twilight and Carduus passed the ponies and changelings guarding the perimeter, dead changelings wearing red and blue armour, signifying them as being with Crudelis’ force, were scattered around on the ground. They quickly entered the library where the wounded were being seen to by medics. “Check downstairs,” Twilight suggested to a nearby doctor. “There should be some medical supplies in the cabinets. “Thanks,” the doctor said. “The sergeant is upstairs if you want to talk to her.” Twilight nodded, and quickly headed up while Carduus went to help with the wounded. On entering the bedroom Twilight saw a map of the town had been set up on a small table nearby, but her gaze was momentarily captured by her old bed, memories running through her mind of her time living in the very library in which she now stood. From the first party Pinkie had thrown her the night Luna returned, all the way to the wedding that had forever changed her life. All those memories were written in the bark of the tree, and lived on through the very roots and leaves of the old Golden Oak. “Sergeant?” she called out towards a grey mare with a black mane suited in silver EUP armour. “Yes?” the mare turned to see the sound of the voice, looking up from the map. “Oh! Your highness, I wasn’t expecting you.” “How are things going here?” Twilight asked. “Better than expected,” she admitted. “The area around this library has mostly been secured, the changelings are too busy elsewhere to give us much thought right now.” “What about Queen Crudelis?” Twilight asked, getting to the point of her visit. “Have any of you seen her as of yet?” “Not yet,” the sergeant shook her head. “But I would check towards the farm.” “I will,” Twilight stated. “Stay safe, and keep the library intact if you can, it is still a home to me.” “Understood,” the mare saluted as Twilight went to retrieve Carduus and head towards the farm. But as Twilight left the library, Celestia was locked in a deadly battle with Queen Crudelis, their horns locked as they grappled each other in the air. A golden pulse separated the two, and Celestia hit Crudelis directly with a golden beam of magic. Crudelis gave a shout of agony as she was pummelled backwards and into a Ponyville street. In a painful heap, Crudelis struggled to her hooves as Celestia landed a short distance from her, firing several bolts of magic. Crudelis shot back, catching and deflecting several of Celestia’s attacks but being hit by several more. Knocked to the ground again, she looked up to see Celestia charging a large spell within her horn aimed directly at her. Quickly, Crudelis launched a small stun spell at Celestia, and it hit her directly in the chest. The spell had enough power to make a small hole in her chest armour and cause Celestia to fall to her knees as she lost balance. The spell she had been charging flickered out as she tried to stand again. Crudelis was the first to stand, and she fired a beam of her own at Celestia, who rolled to one side as the beam streaked past and into a group of changeling from both sides. Celestia stood up and her eyes glowed a dangerous white as she flared her wings, her horn crackled along with the clouds as lightning barraged around Crudelis, who placed a shield around herself for protection. The supercharged lightning struck a building next to Crudelis and brought the entire structure crumbling down towards the Queen, who released her shield and used her wings to propel herself backwards and away from the building. Dirt and dust was kicked up into the air as the building impacted with the ground, turning into scattered piles of rubble. Celestia quickly flew up over the wreckage in search of Crudelis, landing on the other side and scanning for her. To Celestia’s rage, all she found was the remnants of a portal spell. Crudelis had fled from the Princess of the Sun. Elsewhere, as Twilight approached the edge of town, something caught her eye. The very changeling she had been searching for sprang up from a portal and stumbled out. “Carduus, go on ahead and meet with Shiny and the others,” she said to her Captain, who hadn’t spotted Crudelis. “Why, what are you doing?” he asked. “Just go!” she ordered. “I’ll catch up.” He gave a reluctant nod, before heading off towards the fighting. When Twilight turned back to Crudelis, she found that they had in fact spotted each other, and Crudelis was now glaring and Twilight expectantly. “There you are,” Crudelis stated casually, approaching her niece’s daughter. “Here we are at last.” “Crudelis,” Twilight spat. “You are looking worse for wear.” “I had a run in with Celestia,” she stated. “Believe me, the damage she dealt is mostly cosmetic. But she had the upper hoof at the time, I do not fight when I know I cannot win.” “And you think you can win this,” Twilight questioned in disgust, motioning to the chaos around them. Crudelis too examined the scene, nodding in acknowledgment to Twilight’s point. "My force far outnumbers yours, but with Draco and the princesses this might actually be a fair fight.” “A fair fight?” Crudelis smirked. “This has been a long time coming, and either of us could ultimately come out on top, either both the Badlands Hive and Equestria will finally fall today, or I will. So, Queen Twilight Sparkle, let's have one last dance." Crudelis’ horn sparked dangerously as she launched a massive beam of red magic towards Twilight, who met it with a lavender one. The beams connected for a few moments, before Twilight rolled to her left and let it fly right by her. She proceeded to fire several bolts in quick succession as Crudelis took to the air and avoid them. Several more spells were shared back and forth, with none hitting their target. Crudelis picked up a discarded spear and lunged at Twilight, who side stepped. Crudelis tried to bring the spear around, and Twilight grabbed onto the shaft. They began to struggle over the weapon, they eyes meeting, both casting hateful glares at one another. “You know,” Crudelis panted as she continued to struggle with Twilight. “It was with a spear tip that I ended your mother’s life, I think it would be fitting for you to meet that same fate!” Twilight gave a snarl of rage as she pushed against Crudelis and gained possession of the spear, which she quickly threw towards Crudelis. Crudelis fired a spell at the spear which reduced it to splinters and twisted metal, before being jumped on and pinned by Twilight. Crudelis held Twilight back as she snapped at Crudelis with her razor sharp fangs. Crudelis fired a quick spell that sent Twilight flying off of her and into a nearby tree. Crudelis launched another spell at Twilight, whose eyes widened at the sight of it as she came out of her daze. A quick teleport deposited her into the air and her wings buzzed to life, the tree catching on fire from the strike meant for her. Crudelis took to the air after Twilight, who flew backwards while firing spells as she went. Crudelis placed up a shield and charged towards Twilight, who placed up her own. The two bubbles collided with each other several times before breaking off, Twilight unleashing flames towards Crudelis. Crudelis avoided them, and retaliated, their fight continuing with one thing apparent. By the end, one would most certainly die. But as their fight continued, things weren’t looking good around the farm. Crudelis’ changelings were regaining lost ground and pushing back against the EUP. “Stand steady!” Broad Sword shouted, he along with Vladimir and Shining having been separated from Cadance and Luna. Shining Armor ducked down onto the ground to avoid the swing of one changeling’s sword, before said changeling was dispatched by a EUP pony, who in turn was eviscerated by a spell. “And this was going so well at first,” Shining grumbled, being helped up by Broad Sword. A shout from Vladimir caught their attention, and they found he had received a large gash along his side from a blade, having lost his own. They tried to rush to help, but were intercepted and distracted by some other changelings. Broad Sword kicked the changeling assaulting him away, but before said changeling could come back he was taken out by a green bolt of magic. “Broad Sword!” Carduus shouted on arrival. “What’s going on?” “The changelings are making push back at us, and succeeding!” he informed him. They turned to try and reach Vladimir, but were once again blocked. Vladimir dodged to the side with a well-timed strafe to avoid a death blow from the changeling he was fighting. He was in pain and without a weapon, things were not looking good. The changeling struck again, and once more Vladimir dodged but this time moved to punch the drone. The changeling expected this, and caught his hoof in his magic, before hitting the thestral with the hilt of his blade. Vladimir fell to the floor, helpless as the blade was struck down onto him. Only for a humungous bang to startle the drone and stumble him, saving Vladimir. This was accompanied by a prismatic blur landing directly onto the drone and reducing him to paste. Vladimir, laying on his back, saw a large rainbow explosion up in the sky right above where the drone had been. A cyan hoof reached out to him, and on accepting the help up he encountered none other than Rainbow Dash in full Wonderbolt uniform, a couple other bolts flanking her. “Rainbow Dash!” Shining shouted as he and the others finally reached Vladimir. “What are you doing here?” “Didn’t feel right just staying put,” she stated. “And Soarin and Fleetfoot here came in with the first wave of reinforcements, so I joined them.” “What about the rest of the town’s inhabitants? And your friends?” “Zecora’s,” Rainbow answered. “She’s offered to house the town in the area, they’ve set up a perimeter to protect against the wildlife. They should be safe until this blows over.” “We’ve got a while to go yet!” Carduus shouted, gesturing to some incoming drones. “Soarin, Fleetfoot, it’s time to show these guys how awesome the Wonderbolts are!” Rainbow Dash shouted in her usual enthusiasm. “You’d better,” Carduus stated. “Because this is far from over.” To Be Concluded...