The castle entrance of Canterlot, a magnificent spectacle many come to see. Be it for the view of the castle itself, the golden gates or the princesses going out for their morning stroll just to have a nice chat. The gates were always open but closely guarded, not a pony in Canterlot hasn’t stopped for a chat with Celestia or Luna.
Braum sped through the castle grounds, his legs bounding him forward to where it was like he was hovering. Skidding to a halt next to the gates, he eagerly gazed skyward for his friends much to the embarrassment of Lucian who followed slowly behind. “You’re making a scene, big guy…” he pointed out.
“Scene?” Braum asked, his answer being a finger pointing towards the massive trail of cracked ground and torn soil leading to the training ground. ”Oh… I shall take responsibility and fix it with my own two hands!” the strongman eagerly offered.
“No need, pal, this ground’s gonna be fixed in no time by a couple of hired unicorns,” a palace guard interjected. “Stuff worse than this happened before. ‘Sides, wouldn’t be polite to leave as your friends just arrive.”
To Braum’s delight, the flying carriage had just appeared within eye view. Of course, Tryndamere was being Tryndamere by trying to assert dominance by arm wrestling with a blue pegasus while Ashe could only stare on with disappointment and amusement. Squatting, Braum took a deep long breath. Knowing what was to come, Lucan scooted back, gesturing for the guard to do the same. With a mighty shove of his legs, the moustached Freijlordian shot up to the sky and waved his arms to try and get the attention of the carriage. He seemed to overshoot his goal and burst through a cloud on his way, the shockwave from his jump pushing back anything not pinned down in a lengthly radius.
“Uh, what’s with the leaping mound of muscles?” Twilight questioned.
“Friends!” Braum’s voice echoed out to them.
“Oh, that guy’s Braum, he’s with us,” Tryndamere answered, getting distracted from his arm wrestling match to which Rainbow Dash took advantage of to slam his wrist into the side of the carriage. “No fair! I was distracted!”
“Pay up, Applejack,” Fluttershy giggled, holding out a hoof which received a bit from the irritated apple farmer.
“So is he normally this strong?” asked Twilight, gawking at the heights Braum has leaped.
“He’s stronger than that, he barely uses his strength for combat, only to defend,” Ashe answered. “He’s the perfect human shield, always willing to defend those in need with calm words or mighty muscles. My husband on the other hand-“
“Yeah yeah, we get it!” he interrupted.
The archer giggled. “Never change.”
“I don’t plan to.”
The carriage finally landed at the gate, Braum landing nearby with no effort whatsoever and leaving a pair of prints on the bricks. Bounding towards them with arms outstretch he gripped the passengers in a wide embrace and lifted them. “Friends! Nice to see you are all okay!”
“My… lungs…!” choked Rarity.
“We appreciate your concern, but please, gack! They don’t have the bodies for this!” Ashe gasped.
“Speak fer yerself, sugarcube,” Applejack chuckled, simply enjoying the muscular hug as Teemo sat there like a plush toy with a blank stare.
It has been a few hours since Jhin set up camp at the mountain, staring at the balcony of the hive with his cannon at the ready. The weather had changed since, droplets of water dripping down his mask, past the eyeholes and pooling into a puddle beneath him. He hadn’t moved an inch, but had taken a moment to appreciate the rainfall which coated the hive. A bugle had sounded out, grabbing the attention of all the hovering drones. The Queen’s speech to the workers was about to begin.
The whole hive had been stirred, drones from every entrance had flown out like a cloud, surrounding the area of the balcony in a cone. Chrysalis herself strode out, accompanied by two of her finest soldiers with a large umbrella to block out the rain. Under the mask a wide smile crept upon his face. “Such a lovely canvas, such exquisite design. Now, let’s see if your ‘paint’ comes in more colours than red…”
“My fellow empire, it has been close to two years since our alliance with the ponies. It has not gotten any easier to accept the discrimination we still endure at the hands of their law and civilians,” Chrysalis spoke, her voice loud and commanding of respect with a harsh buzz to it.
The crowd buzzed in agreement.
“Brutality, blackmail, slavery… trafficking…” she choked, “are but a few of the cases I have received. However! I will personally fly to Canterlot for my scheduled meeting with the Princesses and God of Chaos himself to arrange an agreement on Changeling rights everywhere!”
The crowd grew into an uproar of cheers.
Taking a deep breath, Jhin aimed at the queen. He had her in his sights, time slowing to a snail’s pace as the virtuoso loaded the bullet into his mass accelerator upon his shoulder with a flick of his thumb. Rain pattering ominously as the speech was drowned out by the downpour and his focus.
“The stage is set…”
His shot crackled like the thunder, the bullet spinning towards the queen’s chest with blinding speed, leaving a red trail. Chrysalis gasped at the pain searing through her, the hole in her chest dripping with green blood. The hole sprouted a sapling before it began to rapidly grow, the wood of a cherry blossom tree slowly raising her off her hooves as the horrified crowd stared on. Her screams were replaced by pained gasps for air as the tree grew around her at an increased pace, branches extending to the balcony to anchor itself in place while the roots dug deep into the hive. Once the horrifying transformation was complete, the queen’s limp body hung as if part of the tree sprouting cherry blossoms.
In one shot, it was all over as soon as it began. Jhin admired his work from afar, the horrified expressions, the tree standing as an eternal gravestone and best of all; the panicked drones flying around in a form of orchestrated chaos. Just like that he was gone, with a crash of thunder.
"PRACTICAL APPLICATION OF LOCOMOTIVE FORM FOUND. SCANNING FOR WHEEL ADJUSTMENTS." Mecha Sion boomed, staring at the tracks before him. "SCANNING COMPLETE."
Stepping over the tracks, the mechanical giant calculated his adjustments for transformation purposes. A distant horn broke his attention. With a grunt he turned his head 360˚ to see the light of another train approaching fast. Perhaps it was time to test the strength of their engineering before making his way, a bout of mindless destruction does a processor good.
Poking his head out the side, the conductor's eyes widened with terror as the visage of Sion approached with a sprint. It only took a matter of seconds before the whole train was a pile of burning rubble and corpses strewn about. His bloodlust sated, Sion turned to the tracks before hearing the coughing of a pony.
The unfortunate soul had his legs mangled, barely alive, but with medical attention could survive. "P-Please...mercy..." he choked as Sion glared down with unending contempt.
"'MERCY' DOES NOT FOLLOW MISSION PARAMETERS," the mech replied, turning away.
"Wait! Don't leave me here to die!" the pony called out.
Without another word, Sion transformed into his locomotive form, letting out a piercing whistle before chugging off.