The Chimera

by Scarheart

Chimera 19: Broken Symbols

Scarheart could not understand the commotion. The young and nearly mindless dragon watched a brilliant light show explode in the skies above him. Though he was often left alone as ponies tended to be too terrified of his presence to even want to go near him, there were always guards watching him warily, though he was seemingly harmless now. Ever since the big floating thing floated away in the sky long ago, the dragon had done little more than snooze, greet the sunrise every day with a chirping call and a mournful bugle when it set. The moon would rise and he would happily watch it, his great tail thumping upon the grounds of what used to be a part of the Royal Gardens.

Home for the better part of five weeks was confined to a patch of grass and manicured cypress trees large enough for Scarheart to pace about it and unfurl his wings to their greatest extension. The guards who did come to check on him were nervous, having never dared to come too close to those massive jaws filled with razor-sharp teeth. Pink Pony was his last playmate and he missed the little pony. Her name was the only one he could remember in his fading mind, the very one so ravaged and invaded and scrambled, he could barely remember how to speak. Understanding basic commands from his caretakers was sometimes difficult. Scarheart was essentially the mental equivalent of a six week old puppy, with half the enthusiasm.

He napped, sunned himself in the day and bathed in the light of the moon. Carts of gems were brought to him to munch on every morning, as they were in abundance and not that hard to find. They were the preferred food of dragons, but they also liked to munch on other things. This usually fell under the category of meats, which in turn made a lot of ponies squeamish at the prospect of feeding flesh to Scarheart. There had been talk of moving the dragon to the Crystal Empire and a plan had been approved. However, the importance of the project had been placed on the back burner as the war ground into a bleak drain on available resources.

Scarheart was not doing nothing in his spare time. He could be useful if motivated properly and his strength was used in the weeks since his awakening. Simple commands were taught to him and Scarheart was affixed to ropes and pulleys and helped construction crews move materials. The white pony with the Pretty Mane and Tail would visit him when she could find the time, petting him like some vast puppy, though her visits were few and far between. He found he liked the presence of the big white pretty winged thing. Sometimes there was a big dark pretty winged thing with large green eyes accompanying her who eyed him warily. Scarheart found he also liked her, though any attempt he made to nuzzle her was met with disdain. Lately, she had been a bit nicer to him, at the urging of the white one. Scarheart liked to be petted and was eager to warble his affection for a hoof scratching under his chin.

It was a simple life with simple needs.

Although he was a far cry from the sentient intelligence he once was, Scarheart still had his feral instincts and desire to hunt and protect what he considered his territory. Though he was technically a chimera, thanks to his father's manipulations, he was more dragon than he was either pony or changeling, just as Silent Wing was more pony than changeling or dragon. He knew something was happening in the world. He could feel it! There was even something nagging in the back of his shattered mind he should know exactly what was going on, but it escaped him time and time again. This left the dragon with the attention span of a goldfish when it came to such things.

However, seeing part of the castle literally explode, shaking the ground brought his head perking up from where it snoozed, turned towards the rolling ball of flame and smoke from where the Royal Apartments were located. Curious, Scarheart stared, watching a dark form dart from the flames. It became very noisy as the alarm was sounded. His sharp eyes caught the one the white feathered pony with the horn called...what was the name? Scarheart could not remember. Green Eyes! He remembered her as Green Eyes! Where was Pretty Mane and Tail? She had not shown up yet today and the precise little clock in his mind oddly functioned properly.

Green Eyes cut a pretty profile with the moon behind her. Scarheart crooned happily at seeing her.

Behind Green Eyes burst forth with a roar a snake-like dragon with green and blue stripes like a tiger, the tip of his tail a black whip. It bore a beard of crimson streaked with a single white stripe through it. Feelers like a catfish hung from his narrow muzzle. His jaws were agape in hungry anticipation, revealing hundreds of foot long serrated teeth like steak knives. No wings propelled him through the air, but he undulated his body from side to side like a crocodile. Green Eyes was a bug before the Flying Snake, as Scarheart could tell.

Sitting up, he cocked his head to one side, eyes wide and curious. What fun was this? Why was it so noisy now? Would they let him play? Why were there suddenly ponies everywhere? Why did they seem so upset? With his sharp eyes, Scarheart could make out angry faces. At first the thought he had done something wrong. So much anger! Was it him? Did he do something bad? He cringed, whimpering a little and trying to make his huge form look as small as possible.

Magic flared in the sky, adding to the smoke and confusion. The ponies went after the Flying Snake, who was still chasing Green Eyes.

There's something else. In the back of his mind, there's a sensation of distant pain, far away and unending. Scarheart shuffles uncomfortably, from one clawed hind leg to the other as he partially rises on his haunches, swinging his neck to and fro as he tries to seek out the source of this odd pain. It's his, yet it's not. Then there's Green Eyes landing in front of him, looking up at him with flaring eyes and yelling loudly. Scarheart didn't know what to do, his mind muddled. Whining piteously, he looks up and sees Flying Snake diving at him!

---

Chrysalis screamed at the cowering dragon, "You useless lizard, do something!" Covered with little wounds and bruises from horn to tail, she already was panting from the exertion of evading what had once been Ivory Buttons. Scarheart shied away from her, making a mewling sound.

Panting heavily after less than five minutes of trying to stay alive, the shape-shifter looked up and could see her opponent coming at her. He noted Scarheart and pulled up short. Bolts of magic from unicorns began to streak up at him, bouncing off his natural scaly armor. The dragon's long face spread into a grin after a moment of uncertainty, his body forming loose coils beneath him. His mane and beard flowed as he shifted his massive head from side to side. Saliva dripped slowly from his mouth as he shifted his attention back to Chrysalis.

"Him? Surely you jest, former queen of the bugs," he taunted her with a hiss. Oh, he sounded just like Ivory Buttons, but his voice was vast in proportion to his size.

Pegasi dove at him with spears, others hurling javelins. The whole of the Royal Guard was assembled with more on the way. Spinning in the air suddenly, Apex unleashed a cloud of green chlorine gas upon the diving attackers. Ponies who drew too close to his spreading cone and subsequent cloud left in its wake began choking and falling from the sky. More than a few were dead before they struck the ground. The rest writhed in agony and died horrible choking deaths upon the castle grounds.

Chrysalis drew her magic to herself, concentrating as she held her breath, releasing it with an explosive breath as she summoned a wind to keep the falling cloud from enveloping her. "Flap your wings, Scarheart!" she screeched desperately, flinging her attention briefly at the huddling beast behind her.

Flap? Wings? He half unfurled them, turning to one, then the other. Yes, he could do that! It was easy! Those two great leathery wings of his expanded, encouraged by Green Eyes with her urgent voice. Slowly at first, he started pumping his wing muscles with Green Eyes telling him to flap faster and pointing at the green cloud falling towards him.

"Blow it away, Scar!" she cajoled, offering the half-witted dragon a winning smile. "Blow the nasty green cloud away! That's a good boy!" Chrysalis hated talking to the dragon like he was a newborn, but as with her past encounters with the witless beast, simple words and a soothing tone seemed to coerce the best reactions from him, if any at all.

It was like trying to command a stubborn dog.

As he did so, Chrysalis called out to her guards, using her telepathy to warn them she was in danger. She had used it earlier, but they were slow in coming. Why? There! Just as she wondered what was taking them, half a dozen landed behind her, staring up at the dragon and waiting calmly for their queen to command.

"What took you so long?" she demanded angrily, turning on the nearest one.

He did not flinch. "My Queen, Canterlot is under attack!"

It would happen at night. Chrysalis never took her eyes off the snake dragon hovering a few hundred feet in the air and in front of her. He had grown wary, watching with interest as more and more changeling soldiers gathered to their queen. A sort of three dimensional phalanx was beginning to form beneath the droning of several dozen sets of wings.

"How?" Chrysalis demanded, her magic jerking the changeling's face up to her. Emerald fire blazed. Spittle flew into the poor soldier's face from her outburst.

"Mass teleportation, my Queen!" he declared hoarsely. "Their numbers increase by the moment!"

Chrysalis was stunned. The amount of magic and concentration to move an entire army was inconceivable to her.

Scarheart was happily using his wings to knock away the green stuff with the gusts created by his wing beats. Apex grinned as his coils looped around and around in eager anticipation. He hovered where he was, swaying back and forth as his neck formed a graceful S curve.

"Ah, looks like you're in time to see the fall of Equestria," Apex noted with a great sigh of satisfaction. "I will offer you this one chance to surrender, Chrysalis. Father has no interest if you live or die. Perhaps he would even allow you to be reunited with your precious daughter. Would you like that?"

Behind him appeared two massive shapes - dragons - as well as two smaller forms roughly the size of the Queen. They were high behind Apex, the largest bearing the singular crimson eye glowing like a gate to Tartarus.

Scarheart quailed upon seeing the familiar form. He recognized his father. The beating wings stopped abruptly.

Flamespyre had come. With him was a female white dragon as well as a pair of what appeared to be changeling queens. Chrysalis did not recognize the shape-shifters, but the eyes of the ghostly dragon were unmistakably those of Draccaria, the thief.

"You!" she shrieked, focusing her attention on the daughter of the Dragonking.

"Ah," crowed Draccaria with porcelain grin, "the fallen queen. So nice to see you up and about. Myzanum sends his regards."

Scarheart shivered, whimpering like a beaten puppy and shuffling behind Chrysalis. Flamespyre gave him an open look of contempt, sneering as he shifted his attention to Chrysalis. "Blood Assault must be battling Celestia. Bloodsong shall assist him if she is not already there. Two of my children should be enough to stop the sun, don't you think my daughter?"

The two peculiar queens regarded Chrysalis with great interest, sharing identical smug expressions, stances. They mimicked each other perfectly. Twins. Only three other times in changeling history could Chrysalis recall hearing of such a thing. Two minds sharing a combined pool of magic, one thought, always in council with each other. Such a combination had the potential to be lethal. Or heavily flawed.

"Stand down, Chrysalis," demanded Flamespyre amiably as she seethed, her shocked expression going from one dragon to the next, then to the pair of queens.

"We are curious to know what became of our Wraith," called out the two queens in unison. "She should have easily dispatched you. We are disappointed she has not moved against you."

The Queen turned to the two as they drew near, passing Apex upon buzzing wings. They appeared unconcerned with the three dozen elites before them, taking a moment instead to look at the cowering red dragon with interest before settling their two sets of bronze eyes upon their counterpart. Apex grinned at them, admiring their exotic forms and how they swayed as one being. The dragon slinked into the sky, his coils relaxing, stretching like ribbons on the wind.

His sister gave him a look of disgust as his lusty sigh for the queens reached her sensitive ears. Flamespyre smirked.

"Nice to be free of such small forms," Apex told his sister.

She snorted, spitting a small gout of flame in his direction. "Do not lust after that which is not yours, brother."

"Just window shopping, Draki."

"Don't call me that!"

"Enough, you two," Flamespyre growled irritably. Topaz changelings swarmed by the hundreds around him, a fraction of the invasion force. To them, he commanded, "Go with your queens. Subdue the Emeralds. Kill them if they resist."

Eager to protect Chrysalis, her soldiers fell back in a defensive position around her. Each one spouted griffon claws on their right hooves, gleaming with mechanical patience in the light of the moon. Grim determination clouded each of them. To fight to the death in protection of their Queen was what they had trained for their whole young lives. Not one was over the age of seventeen. The youngest was fifteen.

Yet they were not afraid to die. They were already blooded in battle, had seen their brothers fall. They could not afford to be afraid. Their new home was falling. Their Queen needed them.

Chrysalis was in a dilemma. If she fell, what was to become of those who had enough faith in her to follow her steps into Equestria? What good would it serve to give them the false hope by dying even as the Alicorns' rule came to an end? What of her daughter? She was still dealing with the loss of Silent Wing. Chrysalis trembled, her resolve beginning to crumble. Three dragons loomed before her. Thousands of changelings bore down upon her. Two changeling queens watched her warily.

She focused on them.

"Wraith?" she asked, summoning her bravado. "Was that the name of your assassin?"

Two weeks ago her elites discovered a white twisted changeling in the guise of a chambermaid. There had been a terrible fight in the servant quarters. The twisted thing had killed three of Silent Wing's soldiers before succumbing to the relentless attacks of the younger, swifter warriors. She had never gotten within a hundred yards of Chrysalis.

"I thought its smell was familiar." Chrysalis smirked and shrugged. Why were the dragons holding back?

Tappis and Tappaz wore neutral visages, their eyes flickering with no trace of emotion as they ruminated on this news. They called to Wraith, heard nothing. Seconds passed. Still nothing. Both sisters sighed, flames igniting within their harlequin orbs.

"Lies do not become you, Chrysalis," they said with a hiss. They landed a short distance away from the Emerald Queen, no longer paying heed to the dragon huddling still behind Chrysalis.

The changeling queen flicked an ear back. "My children are very good at what they do. Sniffing out other shape-shifters is a specialty." She was already envisioning the deaths of the young warriors behind her. They weren't even adults! She could not bear to send them against odds such as this.

The whimpering dragon behind her wasn't helping things any.

"Ah, so Wraith has failed us," Tappis sighed with great disappointment.

"Perhaps it was a mercy she fell at last. Such a twisted, poor thing."

"Too old."

"Too frail."

They spoke to each other, sharing a gaze, muzzles less than an inch from each other before they again focused upon Chrysalis. By now, their own Topaz Changelings were landing around them, taking formation and leveling spears at the much smaller force.

"Shall we let them play?" Flamespyre mused to Apex and Draccaria. "Go see to the battle, my children. I want the castle secured by sunrise. I want the city in my claws within twenty-four hours. Go."

Draccaria glared, flashing a concerned look at her two queens. Well, they were technically under the watchful eye of Blood Assault, but in the sparse meetings she had with the young queens, she felt they shared her thoughts on a great many things. They were clever, oh so very clever! She was surprised to see them leave the confines of their comfort. Perhaps their own curiosity had led them to follow the invasion force.

"Father, you cannot possibly expect them to stand up to her!"

"Think of it as a rite of passage." Apex slid past his father as the one-eyed dragon reprimanded his daughter. "If they are to be a part of the future, then they must first be able to defeat the past."

Chrysalis flinched as his words fell upon her ears, glaring at Flamespyre with seething hatred.

Draccaria lingered for a moment longer, masking her worry with a snarl and departing with powerful strokes of her wings. A swarm of Topaz warriors trailed after her in loose formation as they headed towards the sounds of heavy fighting to the south.

"My Queen?" one of Chrysalis' elites queried, awaiting her command.

She turned her head to him, seeing the hardened young veteran ready to do her bidding. She closed her eyes for a moment before casting them over the rest of her small force. Offering a smile, Chrysalis said, "I want all of you to go to Our people. Guard them. Protect them. Lead them into the Everfree. Go!" Her eyes flared emeralds in her insistance.

He nodded slowly and hissed her orders at the others. They zipped away, darting skyward and into the night, their forms shimmering to match the sky. More than a few cast one last look at their queen, their worry evident.

Scarheart rumbled behind her, his snout hovering as he crept closer to her. The simple-minded beast wuffed at her, a mix of fear and confusion. Chrysalis ignored him, her attention squarely upon the Topaz Queens.

Above her came an aerial battle as two dozen changelings engaged half a dozen of Luna's Night Guard. Magic blazed through the starry night sky between the two groups. More than a few bodies fell from the sky from both sides. Flamespyre noted this with keen interest, a spectator enjoying a gladiatorial match in a very open stage. With his attention fixed on the fighting, Chrysalis made her move.

Quietly she had building up her spell, to teleport to some place of advantage, to get a way, to reassess. Canterlot was under siege and spectacularly so. When she released the spell, her triumphant grin was wan, hollow. Her subjects needed her and she abandoned all pretense of defending her allies. Her concerns were of her kind and their well-being. Equestria needed Celestia, not some changeling queen who had tried conquering these very lands a decade and a half in the past.

Tappis and Tappaz watched her wink from her spot, leaving behind green fire and smoke. It was a flourish, they noted, unnecessary to teleporting, but every spell caster always had their own signature when they released their magic. Chrysalis appeared to naturally be inclined towards black smoke and green fire. However, the pair had a lock on their opponent, focusing on her aura. Flamespyre prodded them to pursue with a warning growl.

They did so, fearing the outcome in the battle to come.

"No guards, my dears. Prove you belong," his voice fell upon their ears ominously.

Those were the last words they heard before their own magic pulled them after the departed Chrysalis. As one, they gave chase, disappearing as their soldiers stood firm, leaving them staring at Scarheart.

He mewled at them piteously.

Chrysalis remembered the assassin. Rather, she remembered beholding the corpse as her guard brought her to it. The white, twisted thing at her hooves found in one of the quarters. The white changeling had some sort of seizure, exposing herself from the form of the maid she had replaced. The battle following had been ferocious, awakening all of Canterlot Castle as guards swarmed. Five Emerald changelings fell at the white creature's merciless desperation.

Celestia had been quiet, staring mutely at the corpses as Chrysalis inwardly mourned her fallen children. No, she did not give birth to them, but all changeling queens had a motherly instincts towards changelings near them. It was a holdover from the past, before Flamespyre altered their genetics, turning them into something more than just a hive. The creature lying in the pool of its own blood had a twisted grin in its fanged mouth. The two matriarchs left the guards and staff to cleaning up the mess, but not after Chrysalis took a moment to give each of her fallen one last nuzzle of thanks.

Thought to be callous by those who did not understand changelings, the Queen loved her people. It felt wrong for her to express her love after the life had been torn from the body, but the love she felt from them meant the world to her. It was her way of appreciating their sacrifice, by bestowing upon them a mother's kiss of farewell. This simple gesture earned more respect from those who had trained with Silent Wing.

Her chosen location was the peak of the mountain against which Canterlot was nestled into. Snow was already capping the peak in the early autumn night air. Up here, the wind was cold and harsh, foretelling the winter to come. The city far below was shrouded by the night, yet flashes of magic here and there as the battle raged fiercely told her the ponies were not about to give up. Landing on an icy outcropping of granite, Chrysalis believed she would not be alone for long. Behind her the mountain peak sloped slightly, offering a relatively flat plane with a slight planing before giving way to a thousand feet of angled cliff face. It was the backside of Canterlot Mountain. The absolute top of the mountain was a lump of broken stone, chiseled by erosion into a series of sharp angles. There was no vegetation. The snow seemed a pale blue under the watchful gaze of the moon and made the exposed rock appear darker.

Chrysalis looked down, watching, waiting, sensing for the inevitable. If she felt the cold, she did not show it either from within or without. She had sensed something upon the pair, something of hers. The scent had been unmistakable, once Scarheart had stopped flapping his wings. They had settled upon her nostrils, tickling her and igniting a fire within her the earlier sense of profound loss had nearly extinguished.

She had suspected before, in the courtyard moments ago. Why was the scent of that most dear to her upon them? Why did those two queens carry the faint aura of her rightful property? Seething anger was beginning to broil within her heart as it began to occur in her mind the most unthinkable violation had been happening. Why was her daughter's emotions drifting from those two living carcasses? It was like the evaporation of unseen steam only a changeling mother would know should she have the senses keen enough to pick them up. Only a Queen of her power could define it, digest it, identify it. Chrysalis felt the surge of magic behind her, the sound of hooves crunching in the hardened snow. The wind picked up for a moment, swathing her head and neck in the wild tangles of her spiderweb mane. The Queen closed her eyes, falling within herself as she kept her ears focused on the silent queens behind her.

---

Flamespyre felt something immense begin to build at the top of the mountain, taking his attention from the fighting. With great interest he could feel the magic building, his dark form lifting lazily to see what would transpire. The evil grin on his face conveyed upon the memory of the warning he had given weeks ago to the two young, stupid queens.

He simply had to see how this would play out.

In an off-hand gesture, his magic took hold of Scarheart and hauled the suddenly panicking young dragon after him, using a second spell to silence the yowling cries of fear coming from his mindless son.

---

"You decided to follow me, have you?" Chrysalis spoke in a voice that was cordial, even friendly, yet through a wicked half smile. Half turning her head over a shoulder, one eye gleamed in the moonlight at the two silent Topaz monarchs who were not expecting the calm form of an unmoving Emerald queen not bothering to face them. "To face me? Alone? Upon the peak of the world?"

Tappis and Tappaz looked at each other, sharing their own thoughts and wondering if Chrysalis was mad. Their magic was charged, ready to strike, yet seeing the back of the most powerful changeling in the world presented to them was far more unnerving than facing her head-on. One nodded to the other. The second one conceded in kind. The split apart, spreading out to either side of Chrysalis for as much as the top of the mountain allowed them. Both Topaz queens lowered their heads, narrowing their eyes to expectant slits. Chrysalis for the moment held the high ground. She did nothing to exploit her advantage.

The three changelings felt each other's emotions, feeling rage, anger, fear, wariness. They could mask them as well, but there was no real point now. The wind picked up again, howling into ears pressed flat to their sides. Unused to the cold, Tappis and Tappaz shivered, not at all liking the feel of ice around their hooves. Chrysalis turned at last to face them, slowly, with slitted eyes and curled lip. The entire length of her crooked horn glowed.

"Your allies are fallen," Tappis began, with her sister finishing with, "There is nothing left for you now." Both smiled as if one being controlled both bodies. "Defeat is inevitable."

"You fed upon my daughter!" screamed Chrysalis in a frightening voice, shrieking at the two shape-shifters with open spite. "You filthy love whores! Your deaths are assured. Your fate is mine to decide and I choose to leave your corpses scattered in pieces upon this very mountain!"

Her magic thundered to life, flinging loose bits of stone and shards of ice from her form. An enormous bolt of energy formed at the tip of her horn, splitting into two green beams. With another shriek of rage, Chrysalis unleashed it, sending her bolts at the two Topaz Queens.

Not believing a changeling could have such magic at her disposal, the two none the less sprang from the attack, using their own magic to deflect the powerful assault. There was no way they could stop such magic directly. Tappis responded, diving to the left and returning fire with her own magic at the unmoving Chrysalis. Tappaz zipped straight up into the air, hissing as fury overcame her fear. She responded in kind, firing away with her own magic.

The missiles dove in true to their intended target. Chrysalis growled and swatted them away with a flickering pulse of green magic at each bolt with contempt. Seizing the Topaz queen hovering in the air, she had to battle her will and magic. Sheer rage overcame what should have been a formidable defense, a mother attacking one of those responsible for feeding off her daughter. A surge of fear washed over Tappaz as she felt Chrysalis defeat her defenses through brute magical force, a slow and steady squeezing of her body making her squeal in pain.

"Sister!" Tappis cried, rising to her hooves and feeling Tappaz's pain. Desperately, she charged at Chrysalis, sending rapid bolts of magic at the enraged Emerald queen.

Flamespyre arrived, lighting easily upon the slap of stone jutting into the night sky. Scarheart was unceremoniously plunked into the snow at the far end of the peak, away from the battle. The dumb dragon blinked at the battle, shifting uncomfortably as he was not allowed to take flight and fly away. Seeing one of his queens in trouble, Flamespyre's claws crushed stone beneath them as he glowered his one eye, following the path of magic to Chrysalis. She seemed to have not noticed his arrival, focused on her two opponents. Even now, she released Tappaz, facing Tappis with a scream.

The two locked horns, foreheads touching, emerald eyes blazing into the topaz orbs. Chrysalis was the larger of the two and enjoyed an advantage in strength. With her magic, she grabbed her enemy by the scruff of the neck, lifted and hurled. Tappis sailed through the air as another magical blow like a hammer slammed into her chest, accelerating the arc her flailing body described through the air. With a thump and a crack, her spine slammed into flat rock and the Topaz changeling cried out. She spied her master and pleaded to him wordlessly, unable to speak as she fought for breath.

"I told you not to feed upon the child," Flamespyre rumbled with a shake of his head. "You must learn, my young queen, what it is like to face the consequences of your actions to the whim of a creature mightier than you." He snorted, producing a small metallic ball to hover before him. Shifting his gaze between it and the angry Queen Chrysalis, a small smile appeared upon his scaly lips, his fangs beginning to gleam in the moonlight.

A mental message filled his thoughts, respectful and with news. It worked. She is in custody now, Father.

"Good. Good!" Flamespyre chortled with an evil glint in his eye. Bring her to me.

As you wish, Father.

Another general call went out to his children. It was time to end the game.

Tappaz, meanwhile was now facing the full brunt of the anger of the fallen Emerald queen. She had heard of her power, learned of the defeat of the Diamond Queen at the hooves of this sorceress. The hubris in her own power and the power she shared with her sister was laid bare in humiliation now, even as she could feel her sister's cries of pain not only with her ears, but within the mind they shared. They had believed the love they drew from the children would have and should have been enough to overcome Chrysalis. The Dragonking had even tasked them with bringing the queen to heel.

Flamespyre's commands always came with an asterisk, so to speak. The order in itself was simple, but the target in question was far from it. Both knew this was a punishment for disobeying him, to face the mother of the princess upon which they had fed upon. The harshest part of the lesson was realizing it after having their collective plots kicked all over the pinnacle of Equestria.

She expended a great deal of her magic pool within her already in simply trying to deflect the enraged assaults of the emotionally charged Chrysalis. Her eyes were blazing emeralds as she bored down upon Tappis. Despite her berserker appearance, the Queen was quite collected, if not overly focused upon her target. The deadly intent she bore were poison daggers, boring into the very soul of the opposing queen she now stalked. With her head low to the ground, Tappaz watched as Chrysalis curled her lip, baring her fangs as her breath came out slowly, frosting in the wind and carrying with it the low growl of a predator. Her wings buzzed in anticipation and Tappis knew she could not win this fight. Her mind already reeled from the pain her sister suffered, their single mind muddled and confused with one concussed and fighting cobwebs.

Around the two combatants, dark forms appeared upon great leathery wings, save one. They ringed the two queens in silence, the only sounds above the winds were wing beats and the pulsing release of magic as teleportations were completed.

The Brood of the Dragonking gathered, spectators to a one-sided battle. Each one landed around the fringes of the peak, finding purchase where purchase could be found. Blazing dragon eyes fell upon Chrysalis stalking the now cowering Tappis, each one aware of why this event unfolded before their eyes. One of the children of Flamespyre carried in his claws a feebly moving white form, of feathers and fur and pale pink mane. It was covered with fresh blood, yet was carried gently. Blood Assault flickered a questioning look at his father, the massive black dragon deferring to his single-eyed sire for further instruction.

Flamespyre smirked, nodding at Chrysalis as he produced from seemingly thin air the same sort of silvery sphere he had shown Twilight Sparkle. He considered it for a moment, then shifted his eye towards the sound of a gurgling shriek. Tappis was being magically manipulated, trying to shriek through a windpipe being closed by a squeezing green aura around her throat.

Chrysalis drew her close, pulling Tappis to within inches of her own face and studied her with hate-filled eyes. "You fed upon my baby."

"P-p-please!" Tappis gurgled, her hooves thrashing in the snow as she struggled with all her being to break the magic hold upon her. It was a futile effort. She saw her own death in the larger, darker queen's eyes.

"SILENCE!" Chrysalis hurled Tappis away with disgust, tossing her head and slowly following after the tumbling form rolling across the hardened snow pack.

The Topaz queen came to a stop on her side, not far from her cowering sister. She herself whimpered, finally understanding the depth of the consequences of feeding on another queen's offspring. They had even known such an action was folly, yet their greed overcame common sense. Their disrespect of a changeling they did not know and had only scant information on was now a living nightmare. Struggling for air was a challenge, fear now a constant. Tappis felt her nose was warm and wet, gingerly wiping it with a hoof and seeing the blood. Her body was sore from the abuse and she gasped.

"Forgive!" she cried, struggling as she bowed to the approaching Chrysalis. "Master!" she howled to Flamespyre.

The Dragonking snorted, taking a moment to observe the slow pace of Chrysalis. For the first time, she noticed him, it seemed and threw a glare of pure hate at his eye. Asserting his mind, he reached into hers...

...and found a wall. His one eye opened wide in annoyance and she grinned at him in open defiance. "You dare?" he asked, tilting his head to one side, the metallic ball twirling in the air next to him. Chrysalis stared at him, her brows knitted, eyes narrowing to slits as she bared her fangs at him.

No, there was something else about her that was different. It had been fifteen years. Before, her mind - as powerful as it was - could be invaded because of what she was, a descendant of one of his creations; a slave to command at whim. Yet, here she was, defying him much as Silent Wing defied him in the past three other times. Here, the influence was the same, that which had prevented him from gaining control.

"Fascinating." Flamespyre was neither upset at this development. His curiosity overrode the irritation and he slid down from his perch like an enormous cat, his belly passing over the huddled form of Tappaz. Claws crunched in the snow, pulling him to a position of towering over Chrysalis and next to Tappis before he sat on his haunches. "I had long thought she had passed on. Yet she somehow managed to shield your mind from me. I wonder how she managed that even in death. Through her son, perhaps?"

He spoke at Chrysalis, but not to her. With a claw, he reached out and scooped up Tappis, pulling his favorite queen to his belly and between his forelegs. With telekinesis, he did the same with her sister, lifting her with great care and pulling her next to her sister. There, they huddled together, whispering their thanks. Each one wrapped their hooves around a foreleg and stared at Chrysalis with unreadable expressions.

"Oblivion," he spoke the word like the sounding of a bell. The metallic sphere flared to life, blinking once a brilliant red before throbbing to a dull pulsing as it hovered where he left it.

Chrysalis felt her magic suddenly drop, her glowing horn not even fizzling. It simply winked out, leaving her feeling very vulnerable. Startled, she drew back, staring at Flamespyre. "What did you do?" she cried in confusion, shaking her head and staring down at herself. Again and again she tried to summon her reserve of magic. She felt nothing, as if it had never existed. "What did you do!?"

Flamespyre simply raised a claw and brought it down upon her, pinning her to the ground. The startled mare gasped and let out a shriek as she thought her death was coming. The Dragonking nodded to Blood Assault. His son approached, the figure in his claws still having ceased struggling and was now watching what was happening. Not too gently, he placed her next to Chrysalis and stepped back.

Draccaria, having been silent like her other brothers, remained still, though her eyes never left her father. They glowed with a seething hate, unseen but not unnoticed.

"Your sphere worked well," commented Flamespyre to Blood Assault.

"She still tried to fight me," shrugged his massive son with a rumble. It might have been admiration in his words, yet the curled lip banished the thought from Chrysalis as she stared at the white form next to her.

The wounds were bad, but not life-threatening. Her breathing came in ragged gasps, labored. Perhaps there were broken ribs? Chrysalis was not sure. She was in shock at seeing the figure, one she knew well enough to know battling her would be a fool's errand. Yet there she was, next to her, matching her gaze with bleary confusion. One eye was nearly swollen shut. Their eyes met and the white mare shuddered, not having the strength to rise. She did not know what had happened and both monarchs knew they lost everything.

Chrysalis also understood one thing; Celestia no longer had access to magic. Her... comrade lay there, panting, regarding her with loss in those magenta eyes.

"Kill them now?" asked Apex professionally, coiling himself into a ball against the icy claws in the wind. "Or do you have something else planned for them, Father?"

"I'm sorry," Celestia mouthed to Chrysalis.

"So am I," returned the shape-shifter with an apologetic smile.

The Dragonking actually considered it as he removed his claw from pinioning down Chrysalis, settling back as he used the back curve of a claw to stroke one of his queens thoughtfully. First, he focused on Celestia, his red eye narrowing.

"Public execution for you, my dear," he said with a smile and a nod. "Messy. To the point. Sending the right message I wish to convey. I think there is an eclipse planned in a few weeks. That should do nicely."

Celestia glowered at him, unafraid. "Don't harm my ponies," she said.

"What are you going to do?" snorted Apex. "Bleed on him?"

Flamespyre stilled his snake-like son with a raised claw, his eye boring into the Alicorn's, having never lost contact. The two Immortals stared at each other for long moments. "Be a bit more respectful, my son. She did give her all?" The question was tossed at Blood Assault.

"She did."

"Then she shall face death with regal pride. I do respect my fallen foes, after all," Flamespyre shifted his attention to Chrysalis. She still lay where he had planted her. "As for you..."

The fallen Queen hissed at him.

The tip of his tail snaked through the air and casually slapped Chrysalis in the left shoulder and side, sending her sideways with a cry into the snow and almost right up against Celestia. The battered Alicorn was able to right herself long enough to catch the skidding changeling.

"You will spend your days in darkness, never knowing the fate of your daughter." Flamespyre drew himself up high, glaring down upon her like a god made displeased by a sacrifice. His voice thundered, "She has placed her touch upon you. She has corrupted the one queen I had hoped ruthless enough for my needs. This makes you unsalvageable, Chrysalis. Useless to me. However, as I am a kind master, I shall let you keep your life."

Who was this 'she' he mentioned? Chrysalis wondered as she wheezed, staring through the spots in her eyes at the towering monster. "You intended to kill me," she managed. "Your lies are as unimpressive as that empty socket in your head, beast." Chrysalis spat and was not surprised to see flecks of blood spray on the churned snow before her.

A dull red form burst into Flamespyre's line of sight, wedging itself squarely between the two mares and the monster with his shivering queens. Red wings tipped with black flared, fully obscuring the view. The black dragon arched his one eye in surprise, not at all expecting this development. His brood stared at the smaller form trying to protect Celestia and Chrysalis, a whining growl issuing from a swelled throat.

Scarheart splayed his talons in the snow, digging in as he glared fearfully at his father, terrified, yet knowing something Bad was Going to Happen to Green Eyes and Pretty Mane and Tail. He liked them and wanted to help, but he didn't know how. Instincts took over and he suddenly found himself under the wrath of Dark Father, as he knew this dragon to be.

Draccaria hid her shock well through clenched teeth and raking her claws deep into the stone, leaving long gouges. It was true she hated Scarheart, but hers was a sibling rivalry as he had always been the closest to her age. She hated Flamespyre far more and truly hated her father for what his manipulations had done to the shadow of the intelligent dragon she had harbored grudging respect for. Mutely she looked on, as did her brothers. Scarheart had always been the smallest of them, Silent Wing notwithstanding. The two were the same and Father was in no rush to make them whole again.

Flamespyre was not amused.

"Move or be moved, whelp," he snarled, rearing back a claw to swipe at the smaller dragon before him. Tappis and Tappaz took an unspoken command to move out from under their master, shuffling away quickly as they stumbled through the snow on shaky hooves.

Scarheart dug in his claws and arched his back, curving his neck in a 'U' as he glared up at his father. A smokey hiss escaped his mouth and nostrils, splaying his legs out for balance. Carefully, he backed up until the bulk of his chest hovered over Celestia and Chrysalis, his taloned feet stepping gingerly around them. In defiance of the mighty Dragonking, he slammed his tail repeatedly against the frozen ground, sending blocks of ice and snow flying everywhere. The mind-blasted dragon roared angrily, tears forming in his eyes.

Chrysalis felt something from Scarheart. It was vaguely familiar, something she knew well, yet could not quite put her hoof on him. She chanced a wondering glance at Celestia, who was as equally perplexed by this display. The princess gave no indication she knew what Chrysalis was sensing. It dawned on her in her recent studies in regards to Flamespyre and his children changeling blood intermingled with these dragons, who were in actuality chimeras. All of them. The children of the Dragonking were not true dragons. They were dragonlings, chimeras shaped and formed to appear as dragons, but with the blood of several different species. They had been carefully selected, experimented with to find a combination to follow their father without question, to obey, to be the perfect children.

With Scarheart, she sensed her adopted son within him. It was not actually him, she realized, but being in this close a proximity to Scarheart's body allowed for him to clearly feel his emotions. Each individual has their own personal flow to their emotions. They were like markings; no two were ever the same. Here, she could feel a familiar pattern, though far more subdued, as if it was but a part of the whole. Right now, at this moment in her life, she felt from Scarheart fear, hate, concern, anger, and...love.

It was directed at both herself and Celestia, almost as though he viewed the two mares as his...

"Silent Wing?" she whispered. Celestia heard her, turning an ear first towards her before her gaze followed. A weak smile formed on the lips of the Princess of the Sun.

Impossible!

No, Scarheart was not Silent Wing, yet...

The stance of the dragon, his defiance towards a larger and more powerful opponent. The way he carried himself, unable to hide his emotions. The concern, the swelling determination, the exact same desire to protect.

Tears welled up in the changeling queen's eyes. She blinked, reaching up with a shaky hoof to touch the plated chest of Scarheart. It wasn't her baby, yet Scarheart embodied Silent Wing, an extension. Yet he was also his own creature, though his mind was long gone, leaving behind a creature run by sheer instinct.

"They are one and the same, divided. Two parts of a whole," Celestia managed, shifting her eyes towards Flamespyre. "He hesitates," she noted, then winced in pain with a ragged gasp.

"Last warning, child," Flamespyre whispered in a terrible voice like the onset of a winter long blizzard.

Scarheart shrieked at him, with rage, in defiance.

Scarheart charged at the Dragonking.

Author's Note:

One chapter to go!

Comments

[Evowizard25]

Hmm, they took away Celestia magic...I dunno, maybe it's just me, but I personally thought she is the sun's mortal form, so unless it was night time, she should have magic to spare and possibly able to regenerate a new body if her mortal form is slain...but maybe that's just me and my headcannon. {Still, he has harmed the Immortal God Empress. He shall die like all the other heretical spawn that plague the earth. DEATH TO HER ENEMIES!}

[Scarheart]

3804445 The old girl has been around for a while. Don't you find it odd she's let these things happen to her?

[Evowizard25]

3804466 Maybe she likes letting her enemies get a hit in now and again. I mean, plowing through enemies through the centuries must be tiring, when they don't offer much of a challenge. {Or this is a convoluted scheme to have Twilight save the day....again.}

[Scarheart]

3804486 Twilight's got her own problems!

[Evowizard25]

3804492 Doesn't she always?

[Razzy]

Effing cheater. He doesn't have the balls to face Chryssie without the anti magic field.