Shining Dash

by Ianpiersonjdavis

War

It took some more time than she would have liked, but Rainbow Dash flew at a moderate speed to catch up with the others. If she flew at top speed, she knew that she could inadvertently cause a Sonic Rainboom. And while at any other time that might have been awesome, if the Changelings hear the boom-they might assume it was an explosion and pre-emptively attack them. She knew that some of the others in Cloudsdale and Ponyville thought she was stupid, just because she wasn’t book smart like Twilight, but would an idiot have realized that might have been an issue? Sometimes she wondered if her friends thought of her the same way as they came into view.

“Hey guys,” she greeted, landing beside Applejack. “Where’s Twilight?”

“We thought she was with you.” Applejack replied, irritably.

“Well, she was-but, then she did that teleporting thing, so I thought she was with you guys.”

“If she knows where we plan on going, then she’s probably waiting for us further ahead.” Shining Armor reasoned.

“I hope so, we can’t use the Elements of Harmony if we aren’t all together.” Applejack reminded him before looking back at Dash to make sure she was wearing hers.

“Did you get Twilight that crowny-thing?”

“Yes, and she put it on.” Dash replied exasperatedly in a manner reminiscent of a filly being nagged by her mother.

“Well, I for one am certainly glad to hear that.” Rarity chimed in. “It wouldd be a dreadful shame to have to stoop to such barbaric means of defending ourselves, especially with the risk of getting my coat and mane ruined.”

“But, that’s not really what’s important, right now.” Applejack replied, slightly irritated.

“Yes, I’m well aware of that, but wouldn’t you prefer things this way over a physical confrontation?”

“I dunno,” Dash admitted. “I know we’re supposed to be playing it safe, but part of me was kinda looking forward to a good fight.”

“Um, I’d rather not fight…if it can be helped…” Fluttershy added quietly.

“Why fight when you can make friends!?” Pinkie jumped in.

“Haven’t ya been listenin’? The Changeling’s Queen is probably the one pulling the strings and even without her they might not see reason and even if they do, there’s still all kinds of politics to figure out. Like where they’re gonna live and how they’ll be able to fit into society.” Applejack reminded her.

“Great, more politics…” Dash grumbled.

“What’re you complaining about? The Princesses are the ones who that’ll have to deal with the fallout from all this-not us.” Applejack pointed out.

“Yeah, I guess…”

Dash looked around the city, before it had been easy to push it into the back of her mind with everything else that had been going on, but now she couldn’t hide from it. After discovering that the Changelings had infiltrated Cloudsdale and had gotten to her boss and some of her co-workers, she was worried about her Dad. She knew that he was tough-he was able to raise her, after all-but, after hearing about trained guards and Sunset’s friend losing their lives to them, it was hard not to worry.

“Hey…you okay, Dash?” Shining asked softly.

“Uh, yeah…I was just wondering if you were jealous.”

“Yeah, because the Elements can pretty much take anyone down no problem, no matter how tough they are.”

“Kinda,” he admitted. “It would definitely make my job much easier.”

Part of her felt guilty for lying to him, but it probably wouldn’t help if things if he or others got hurt because he was wasting time worrying about her. Besides, if something had happened to her Dad-it wasn’t like there was anything that could be done about it now, anyway. Right now, what was important was preventing the Changelings from causing any more damage.

Twilight was standing in the middle of the street up ahead with the entire Changeling swarm approaching from the other end of the city. They appeared to be flying, now that they were closer as the swarm looked like an ominous, dark cloud ready to engulf anything in its path. Despite herself, Dash felt a sinking feeling in her gut-now she understood why that guard had been so shaken up. Still, part of her was curious to see what the Changeling Queen looked like…she imagined something like a giant fire-breathing ant with wings and a scorpion tail that could shoot magical laser beams from the stinger. Actually, that would probably be a pretty cool Daring Do book, A.K. Yearling should probably pay her for coming up with ideas.

“Princess Celestia!” Twilight exclaimed, rushing towards her. “I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to pass you! I just overshot my destination because I forgot to take your travel time into account!”

“That’s quite alright,” Celestia replied. “And I see you still have your Element of Harmony.”

“That’s right, and I got here as soon as possible!” She continued, seemingly fearful of accidentally provoking her mentor’s wrath.

“Without me.” Dash grumbled, bitterly.

“It’s fine-if anything, I worried that you may have been attacked by Changelings.” Celestia replied calmly. “So, I’m glad you waited for me instead of trying to confront them on your own.”

Everyone’s attention was redirected to the swarm descending not too far from where they were standing. The Changeling leading the way appeared to be the tallest, Dash assumed that she must have been the Queen. Like the others, she had holes in her legs, fangs, and insect-like wings. What stood out to her more however, were the differences in her physical appearance from the others that she actually found more disturbing as they were more Equine-like than she was expecting. The Queen’s eye were an emerald green with actual pupils and sclera with what appeared to be a mane that looked like it was made from gossamer.

“Hello, Princess.” She greeted.

Her voice was also more feminine than Dash had been expecting, but it also had an echo-like effect, as if there was another voice speaking with it, only slightly out of sync.

“I take it you are the Changeling’s Queen?” Celestia prompted.

“Indeed I am.” She replied, grinning. “My name is Chrysalis.”

“Why have you attacked my subjects?”

“Hm?” Chrysalis replied, as her eyes scanned the crowd.

“Forgive me, but I was under the impression that there were three Princesses in Equestria-of course, it’s understandable that your ‘niece’ couldn’t be bothered to show up. But, do you still respect your baby sister so little as to make her stay behind? Are you so insecure that everyone must know that you are really the one who is in charge?”

“Luna and Cadance will both be here, shortly.” Celestia replied, curtly. “Now, I would like an answer as to why my subjects have had to suffer at the hands of yours?”

“You should know by now that we Changelings feed on love-and Equestria has far more of it than any other place we’ve so far encountered.” Chrysalis replied, grinning once more. “If I refused what they’re hunger demanded…well, could you in good conscience deny one of your subjects a feast if you knew that they were starving?”

“And where does murder, abduction, and conversion fit into all of this?” Celestia demanded, despite trying to keep a relatively calm demeanor she allowed some of her anger to seep through to show Chrysalis that she would not take the abuse of her subjects lying down.

“We have to keep our numbers steady, survival of the fittest is our way of life-you Equines here are so sheltered, most of you have probably forgotten what it’s like to fight for survival-through any means necessary-those who have been killed or captured were far too feeble to survive.” She continued. “A side-effect of your rule; a princess with a head as soft as her heart, you probably didn’t even have the stomach to execute the Changelings you’ve captured? That’s you found out so much about us, right? They spilled their guts?”

“We are seeking to prevent any further bloodshed-especially, if it happens and later turns out to have been completely unnecessary-that includes prisoners, who we try to treat fairly.” Celestia replied. “That is why I am willing to negotiate, to seek some common ground that may be beneficial for both of us.”

Chrysalis let out a mocking laugh.

“Oh, that is rich…you either risk looking like a coward by surrendering or a genocidal monster by going to war and seeking to eradicate us like any competent leader, yet you seek a more neutral option…very well; surrender yourself, your nation, and all of your subjects to us and we shall spare your lives-it’s not so bad…you won’t even remember being such weak, pathetic beings.”

“You know I won’t allow that.” Celestia warned, lowering her horn threateningly as golden-yellow sparks emitted from the tip of her horn.

Chrysalis’ grin turned into a scowl, clearly she had been hoping for an easy conquest based on Equestria’s reputation for trying to remain peaceful and harmonious.

“What other choice do we have?” She growled. “If we don’t feed, we shall die…are you really willing to condemn us to extinction purely based on what we are?”

“No, of course not. I would never dream of doing such a thing-I merely disagree with your methods as you clearly care more for the well-being of your subjects than my own.” Celestia replied calmly. “I understand that you are in a difficult position, but disregarding the lives of my subjects will not help your case-especially when you are the one responsible for their destruction.”

“”And just what do you propose?” Chrysalis hissed.

“Perhaps, you feel as if we would decline aid to your species based upon your requirements for sustenance.” Celestia reasoned. “I propose that we may co-exist with an attempt at a symbiotic relationship, rather than a parasitic one-no attacking or converting my subjects into Changelings and you and your subjects would no longer have to rely on deception to survive.”

The Changelings behind Chrysalis appeared to have been exchanging glances-though, it was difficult to tell-and some of them almost sounded like they were having discussions on the merits of what Celestia proposed.

Chrysalis glared back at them, silencing all discussion before returning her attention to Celestia, her eyes now a little bloodshot as she bared her fangs.

“No! You’re lying! And even if you weren’t-Equestria would never accept us for who we are-especially after what we’ve done!”

“For the queen of a species whose specialty is espionage, you seem to have been paying very little attention-we can be very forgiving, but only towards those who are willing to change.”

Once more, discussion started up again among the Changelings only for Chrysalis to glare back at them once more.

“For someone who preaches about peace and harmony, you certainly seem to have gathered a large enough following for this conflict.” Chrysalis continued, nodding towards the crowd on Celestia’s side. “And I’ve been paying enough attention to know what you plan to do with those trinkets your pawns are wearing.”

“I would have been perfectly willing to speak with you on my own, had you not shown hostility towards both my subjects and myself.” Celestia retorted. “They are only here in case they are needed.”

This time she didn’t need to turn around, her fears had been confirmed-she was losing control of them, if she wanted to avoid the risk of having her thralls turn against her, she would have to act now in order to feed them and keep their complacency.

“ENOUGH!” Chrysalis shouted, stomping her hoof. “YOU WILL NOT TURN MY SUBJECTS AGAINST ME!””

Her jagged horn lit up with emerald green magic as Celestia took flight, Chrysalis kept a bead on her as she ascended, charging up the magical power she had gained from all the love she had absorbed before releasing it towards the Solar Princess.

Celestia fired a powerful, yellow-golden magical beam down at Chrysalis in retaliation-as regrettable as it was-she now had no other choice if she wanted to protect her subjects from the Queen’s wrath and she fully intended to use all of her power to do so.

As the blasts collided, there was a ball of mixed color in the center where both sides’ magical energies mixed in a struggle for dominance over the other, bathing the area in flashing gold and emerald light.

It had appeared that the result of Chrysalis’ boldness wasn’t simply just arrogance-the love she had absorbed really had put her on par with Celestia’s magical prowess-the princess clenched her teeth as she put more force behind her blast, causing a droplet of sweat to run down the side of her face as she reached into her magical reserves.

Even with the additional power added, it appeared that Celestia was gaining the upper hand with the ball of energy surging lower down towards Chrysalis, until she utilized the same tactic, giving her own magic an extra boost that seemed to be pushing it back up towards Celestia before steadily moving back and forth from an equal distance between them.

“Twilight!” Celestia called down. “You and the girls must use the Elements of Harmony-we have no choice now!”

Even if she did manage to defeat Chrysalis in this magic duel, she would be too drained to help fend off her Changeling army.

“GET THEIR JEWELRY, YOU IDIOTS!” Chrysalis shouted frantically to her subjects, immediately their wings began to buzz as they took off, charging towards Twilight and her friends.

A few guards up front tried to prevent them from reaching the girls, while other Changelings simply flew above them before launching their attacks.

“Hold on to your Elements, girls!” Twilight warned, hitting a Changeling diving towards her with a magical blast, knocking it out of the sky and causing it to crash onto the ground, rolling across the pavement.

“Protect the girls and their Elements!” Shining Armor ordered. “The Princess should be able to take on the Queen herself!”

Hopefully, they could hold them of until they got enough breathing room to use the Elements or Luna and Cadance showed up to provide reinforcements.

Rainbow Dash instinctively darted back towards Fluttershy, unlike the rest of them she wouldn’t be able to defend herself in a normal situation, let alone such a violent onslaught. She tackled her, pushing her out of the way of another dive-bombing Changeling.

“You alright?” she asked.

Fluttershy nodded.

Dash looked up to see Flash galloping towards them.

“Are you two okay?”

“Yeah,” Dash panted. “Listen, I need you to look after Fluttershy-she can’t take care of herself in situations like this-and I can’t focus on taking down these freaks if I keep having to babysit her.”

“Okay,” he replied, taken off-guard by Dash’s bluntness. He would have thought that she would protest to the assertion that she was so weak and helpless, but not only did she not protest-she did even seem to be in the slightest bit offended by the statement. Maybe she had more self-esteem issues that he thought?

“I will defend her with my life.” Flash pledged.

“You’d better.”

Applejack’s strong athletic legs allowed her to easily dodge the Changelings dropping from the sky in a serpentine pattern however, one of the Unicorn guards she passed wasn’t so lucky as one collided with his chest, causing his breastplate to crack as he was winded and thrown backwards. One of the Changelings she had narrowly avoided had crashed into the pavement behind her, creating a small crater. It hissed before lunging towards her, when she retaliated by bucking it in the face. Some of its teeth clattered to the ground as it was thrown backwards, landing with a lopsided jaw-it was motionless, save for a twitching foreleg.

Several guards around her looked on in bewilderment as Pinkie Pie pulled a cobalt cannon with wheels which had a flower painted on them seemingly from out of nowhere. However, instead of questioning it, they decided to be thankful for the extra firepower. The how and why of a non-military personal getting ahold of such artillery, much less move it around so stealthily could be sorted out later.

“Good thing I never go anywhere without my trusty Party Cannon!” She exclaimed gleefully before pulling the rope at the end of it and firing it at a group of airborne Changelings. A blast of confetti struck them, knocking them out of the sky. It was not with the lethality that the guards were hoping for, but at the very least it seemed to have dazed the Changelings enough to give them some breathing room.

Rarity found herself alone and surrounded by a group of Changelings. As they rushed towards her, she squeezed her eyes shut and focused gathering as much magic as she could into the tip of her horn. It lit up with a brilliant azure glow that steadily became brighter and brighter, blinding her attackers.

Twilight meanwhile, had actually impressed herself with how easily she was able to blast moving targets, much less alternate between those who were airborne and those on the ground. She was about to aim at another one in the sky before she was knocked off her aim as pain enveloped her side. The magical blast narrowly missed its target as she collapsed to the ground, sending her crown skittering across the pavement. Another Changeling descended to pick up the crown before its wings began buzzing in preparation to take off again. She futilely reached a hoof towards the crown before the Changeling took off with it.

The pain in her side grew with the additional pressure of the Changeling who must have tackled her, now standing on her side. As Twilight looked up at her assailant, it lowered its head and hissed at her, hitting her face with a blast of its hot breath and droplets of saliva. It then opened its jaw wider before lurching down towards her throat with its razor-sharp fangs.

Twilight was well-versed enough in anatomy to realize that she wouldn’t have much time left after those fangs pierced her jugular veins. Everything was happening so fast, she couldn’t believe it-everything seemed surreal. The only task Celestia had given her was to hold on to her Element, but she failed it. Now, there was nothing she could do, but hope that her friends, family, and the rest of Equestria wouldn’t have to pay for her mistake.

But, the killing blow never came. Instead, a rainbow blur flew across Twilight’s line of sight, knocking the Changeling off her. Still dazed, she sat to see a small violet, transparent dome appear around her, Rainbow Dash, and the Changeling. Sitting on top of Twilight’s attacker, Dash punched it in the face-the dazed Changeling barely had time to comprehend what was happening before it was struck again.

Twilight’s ears perked up as she heard someone galloping towards her.

“Twilight!” Shining Armor called out. “Are you okay?”

“I-I think so,” She stammered. “But, I lost my crown-one of the Changelings flew off with it! We can’t use the Elements of Harmony if all six of us don’t have them!”

“It’ll be okay, we can get it back.” Shining Armor reassured her, offering his hoof to help her up.

As she got back onto all four of her hooves, they looked towards Rainbow Dash, who really seemed to be going to town on that Changeling. Just from where they were standing they could see its face had been contorted in an unnatural manner as a result of the broken cartilage in its nose. As it drew its head back from the recoil of the previous blow, Dash struck it again-more of its greenish blood poured from its nostrils and splattered across the pavement. Rainbow Dash felt herself overcome with a seething rage-the likes of which she had never felt before- it filled her with hatred and the desire for revenge fueled by fear.

“R-Rainbow Dash?” Twilight called over to her, shakily. “It’s okay, I’m fine now-you can stop. I don’t think it’s going to be able to hurt anyone else, now.”

Hyperventilating, Twilight’s words barely registered for Dash as she stomped of the Changeling’s throat with both fore hooves.

This shocked both siblings as they exchanged uneasy glances before rushing over to her.

Dash put more pressure on the Changeling’s throat, as it was still alive. These things were much sturdier than she had originally thought. It didn’t matter though, she would squeeze the life out of it if she had to.

Sunset Shimmer had been right all along; these things were monsters that needed to be wiped out. If she didn’t attack when she did, Twilight would be dead right now. Their Queen had made it very clear that they had no problems with killing them all-what was she going to do if she lost any of her friends because of these freaks? Before she had no problem fighting, but killing seemed a little excessive if wasn’t necessary-but, now she understood. Dash understood how Sunset could hate them so much and want to wipe out their entire race-she had lost her only friend to them.

At this point, Dash felt her forelegs involuntarily remove themselves from the Changeling’s throat as they were spread apart and held at her sides. Upon inspecting them, she noticed the violet magical auras surrounding them. Looking back, she could see Twilight and Shining Armor approaching her, horns aglow.

“Rainbow Dash! What do you think you’re doing!?” Twilight asked in a tone that was meant to be angry and demanding, but instead came out as shaky-betraying her anxiety.

“What does it look like?” She snarled, her eyes bloodshot. “I’m trying to kill this thing!”

In all of the time they had known each other, Twilight learned early on in their friendship that Rainbow Dash could be impulsive and hotheaded, but she never saw her express such hatred until now.

“Well, you can stop.” Shining cut in, resuming his authoritative tone. “You already took it down and Twilight is safe now-there’s no reason for you to keep beating on it.”

“This thing tried to kill my friend! Your sister! And you want me to just let it go!?” Dash screamed in outrage. “Doesn’t that piss you off?”

“Of course it does, but it’s already down and doesn’t look like it’s going to be back up again for a while.” He replied. “We were lucky that you were able to save Twilight in time, but if you stay here just to keep beating on a Changeling that you’ve already taken down-how would you react if your other friends got seriously hurt or killed in the meantime?”

This seemed to have resonated with Dash as she looked down at the Changeling before taking a deep breath.

“You’re right,” She admitted. “You guys can let go of me now.”

Twilight looked towards Shining Armor uncertainly, until he nodded in confirmation. Reluctantly, she complied. Both magical auras faded as they released Dash’s forelegs.

“You really scared us-I’ve never seen you like that before…” Twilight spoke slowly, still cautious that Dash could be set off again.

“Sorry about that, guys.” She apologized, getting off the Changeling. “I guess I saw what was happening and I just…kinda freaked out.”

“Well, if you’re cooled off now-I can lower the shield and we can get back into the fray.” Shining replied. “Just as long as this doesn’t happen again-we can’t afford to reckless.”

As he was about to lower the shield, two magical beams rained down from the sky. One was a darker shade of blue and the other, a lighter, more recognizable one. The trio followed the beams with their eyes, watching as they carved through the Changelings in their path.

“Looks like Luna and Cadance finally made it.” Shining observed, growing more confident.

“About time they showed up.” Dash muttered.

As Chrysalis continued to her struggle with Celestia one of her ears flicked at the sound of the ponies cheering.

Glancing aside, she could see Cadenza and that would-be lunar tyrant decimating her Changeling forces quite easily.

Now that she was distracted, Celestia saw her chance and pushed back with her magic while Chrysalis was still open for an attack.

“No! No! NO!” Chrysalis screamed, struggling against the additional force of Celestia’s attack, while feeling the additional pressure of her reinforcements being inbound.

“I told you they would be here!” The vindicated Celestia stated, proudly.

This couldn’t be happening! She had come so far! She was so close to claiming Equestria! She couldn’t lose now!

She wouldn’t lose now.

“Take down the princesses!” She ordered. “Everything else is a second priority!”

Almost immediately, a wave of Changelings sprung up from the ground, latching onto the princesses’ wings and legs before sinking their fangs into their flesh.

Cadance screamed out in shock and pain as she began falling from the sky, trying in vain to stay aloft as Changeling hooves transformed into dragon-like claws, tearing at her wings. She soon began plummeting to the ground. Fortunately, everyone below had moved out of the way as she landed on her side, crushing her wing and the legs of the Changelings that were holding onto it as she could hear the sound of her ribs crack.

“CADANCE!” Shining shouted, lowering the shield and galloping towards her before he was stopped as he felt something pulling on his tail.

Looking back, he could see Rainbow Dash with his tail firmly clenched between her teeth.

“Let me go, Dash.” He commanded, his anger and anxiety overriding the pain in his tail.

“Nrroh, you shhhed we couldn’t get recklesh.”

“I can’t just leave her to get killed!” He shouted, stomping his hoof adamantly.

“Rainbow Dash has a point,” Twilight cut in. “You’re getting just as worked up as she was-I’m worried about Cadance too, but their Queen just ordered them to incapacitate her and Luna-not kill them-that wouldn’t serve their purposes.”

Shining Armor looked back at his sister with mixture of hope and skepticism.

“They’re in Equestria because they need to feed on our love-we’re resources to them, remember? That’s why they wanted to abduct Cadance. They only reason they tried to use lethal force was because Sunset and Flash were there to protect her.”

“I hope you’re right.” He sighed, watching Cadance until his line of site was completely obscured by the Changelings surrounding her. “So, what should we do, then?

Twilight returned her attention towards Celestia still struggling against the Changeling Queen.

“Princess Celestia is still having trouble-we may not have all of the Elements, but there’s got to be some way to help her while the rest of the Changelings are focused on Cadance and Luna-even if we can just distract her somehow, it just might be enough for Celestia to get the upperhand.”

Luna, being older and more seasoned in battle than Cadance didn’t panic as the Changelings bit and tore away at her. She knew from experience that as long as she kept the Changelings away from her wings, she could regain control. Instead, she thrashed her legs in an attempt to shake them off while turning her head and trying her horn at those clinging to her wings before firing a blast of magic at one of them. The blast knocked the Changelings off, Luna winced as the blast also singed the part of the wing it was hanging on to, causing a few feathers to fall after it. Through the searing pain, she realized that she was quickly losing altitude-the remaining Changelings released her after seeing the way their allies were injured after their assault on Cadance.

Seeing the ground coming closer at an alarming speed, Luna cast a cushioning spell. Managing to land on her hooves, her legs still bent with the shock and pain from being unable to cast the complete spell in time before falling onto her side as the Changelings who had already been waiting on the ground tackled her. They took advantage of her weakened state by pinning her down. Once again, she winced at the additional pressure on her wounded appendages. Looking over, she could just make out Cadance in a similar predicament before her line of site was blocked by the Changelings continuing to dogpile on her, keeping her down.

While she realized that they were fortunate to even still be alive thanks to their Alicorn fortitude, if the horror stories she had found in Sunset Shimmer’s subconscious were true-they would soon wish they weren’t-it was no surprise that she didn’t wish to share all of what she knew in detail. There wasn’t any way she could see them killing Cadance-given that spell of her that Twilight Sparkle had abused, they could easily use that to their advantage. Since Celestia was still struggling against the Queen-Twilight Sparkle and he friends must have lost one or more of the Elements if they hadn’t yet utilized them.

Cadance’s body was now wracked with pain and completely surrounded by Changelings, any attempt to heal herself could easily be mistaken for an attack spell. As unlikely as it was that they would kill her-she didn’t want to take any chances with all of the injuries she was trying to endure. If Celestia couldn’t handle the Queen on her own and they couldn’t use the Elements of Harmony-there was only one more source of magic she could think of. It was so strong, she could feel it when the returned-and as much as it would hurt her, they needed to do it if they wanted any hope of getting out of this alive.

Summoning what remaining strength she had left she shouted as loud as she could to be heard amongst the chaos.

“RAINBOW DASH! SHINING ARMOR! YOU HAVE TO USE THE POWER OF YOUR LOVE TO REPEL THE CHANGELINGS!”

Rainbow Dash released Shining Armor’s tail as they exchanged glances.

“What is she talking about? And how does she know about…?”

“Cadance is the Princess of Love, so she is slightly empathic where she can sense different levels of affection and they are easier for her to pick up on depending on their strength.” Twilight explained. “Just like hate-it can be used to fuel magical properties-she seems to believe that your feelings for each other may be strong enough to stop the Changelings.”

“Will that even work?” Dash pressed, skeptical of the idea that an emotion could overpower brute strength.

“It might,” Shining replied. “There’s no guarantee, I mean-we barely even really knew each other before a few days ago, but it’s not like we have anything more to lose if it doesn’t.”

“Okay, but how are we supposed to do this?”

“I’m not entirely sure, but I think I have a pretty good idea,” He replied, slowly closing the distance between them. “Just follow my lead.”

Closing his eyes, Shining Armor tilted his head as he lowered it to press his lips against Rainbow Dash’s, taking her by surprise. Her eyes widened before slowly closing as she melted into the kiss, the sounds of the chaos around them slowly faded into the background as she pulled herself closer to him, the only sound that she could hear was her own heartbeat as it rapidly increased with along with her breathing. All of it seemed so surreal, especially now that this was actually happening-it was almost as if it were only the two of them in the entire city and that time had slowed down before completely stopping. She also found Shining Armor’s lips to be surprisingly smoother than she expected.

Twilight watched the couple with a strange feeling she couldn’t quite place, seeing one of her best friends kissing her brother-it was definitely strange for her to see and would take some getting used to. Even stranger was Cadance’s request for this to happen, though as they realized earlier-it wasn’t like they had too much of a choice at this point. Hopefully, their mutual affection for each other was strong enough to repel the Changelings.

As the kiss continued, Rainbow Dash could feel a strong surge of energy and an increased sense of elation from her chest as Shining Armor began to feel the same sensation.

Lacking the same empathic ability as Cadance, Twilight was shocked when she realized that even she was able to sense the strong magical energy emanating from their love. The energy itself was a pinkish steam-like aura that became brighter as the energy grew more stable, she also soon realized that it wasn’t just her as guards and Changelings alike stopped what they were doing as they turned to so what was causing such a powerful surge of magical energy. It was actually surprisingly intense, it was the same kind of intensity Twilight had felt when they used the Elements of Harmony.

It was at this point that Twilight realized that everyone else could now actually see the magical energy as it bathed the area in a bright pink glow. Out of the corner of her eye, Princess Celestia could see the couple kissing and quickly grew confident that their victory was assured. This power was easily equal to that of the Elements of Harmony-perhaps even greater. Which was why she was confused to hear Chrysalis giggling to herself like a school filly.

Why? Why was she laughing? Even those who weren’t attuned to the nature of magic could surely tell that she and her forces would lose in mere moments due to the extraordinary power of Rainbow Dash and Shining Armor’s love. Had her sanity actually collapsed under the weight of all the pressure she was under?

“You fools!” She shouted, as an extra surge of magic coursed through her horn as a second ball of energy flowed through the emerald beam of magic as if it were a ball of liquid being sucked through a straw, until it collided and combined with the first blast before pushing back against Celestia’s in mere second before striking her horn.

Celestia fell from the sky as her subjects looked on with a mixed sense of confusion, disbelief, and horror before her body crashed onto the ground, creating a small crater beneath her and fracturing the remaining pavement around her as her crown clattered away from her with smoke still emitting from her singed horn.

The entire battlefield fell into a deafening silence.

Comments

[Imperator45]

DON'T BUCK WITH EQUISTRIA AND IT'S PROTECTOR.

[Rainbow87dash]

6162710 SH*** GOIN DOOOOWN!