Strange Bedfellows

by BRBrony9

Farewell, Old Friend

Celestia dodged Chrysalis's attack as the blast of green Changeling magic ripped through the ceiling of the bridge. Immediately there was a loud bang, and a roar filled her ears, along with the wailing of the decompression siren. The air began to pour out of the bridge, normally protected by void shields and thick external shielding baffles. These defences were not designed to protect against damage inflicted from within, however, and the ceramite hull, while capable of taking lance fire and direct hits from missiles, proved to be unable to withstand the incredible power being unleashed by the dueling royals.

A thick fog filled the bridge as the moisture in the air, carefully maintained by the climate control systems to approximate that on a habitable world, rapidly cooled and condensed due to the sudden pressure change. It lasted only a moment or two before the air was sucked out through the ragged hole and into the void of space beyond. Both Chrysalis and Celestia were able to maintain their positions despite the powerful suction effect that dragged every loose item with it, including many of the drones, the bodies of the dead human bridge crew, and countless pieces of debris and sundry pieces of equipment, spewing out of the gash in the hull along with the venting atmosphere, catching the light from Celestia's sun and glinting like a momentary constellation.

Both royals were protected from the vacuum by their shields, the lack of atmosphere not of concern to them. Celestia, at least, could survive even without it if necessary. The proof lay with her sister, and her exile to the moon, which showed beyond question that Alicorns could indeed survive in a vacuum. The Princess did not know if Chrysalis had a similar ability, but either way, her shield kept her safe. The lack of air did, however, mean that she could no longer hear, which had the benefit of being unable to hear Chrysalis's taunts, but also that she couldn't hear anything which might be of value to her. She could at least see something of value; Chrysalis wore the Element of Magic atop her head in place of her normal crown.

Chrysalis flashed about, teleporting to and fro in the blink of an eye and firing magic across the bridge. Celestia managed to avoid each shot, which tore gouges in the deck plating and bulkheads, ripping straight through the thick metal and taking consoles and display screens with them. Chrysalis was fast; faster than Celestia recalled her ever being before, even the last time they had fought outside of the volcano Hive. Her magic seemed stronger, too, more powerful and more direct. Maybe there was indeed some truth in what she had explained to Twilight, about her intention to increase her power through exposure to large numbers of humans, gathering more love enabling her to create more drones, and thus expand her strength through their love for her, allowing further expansion and so on and so on, in a theoretically endless loop. If that was indeed the case, then she had to be stopped, here and now.

Celestia tried once more to use her restraining magic on Chrysalis, to bind her limbs and horn with magic tendrils and prevent her from moving or using her own magic in retaliation so that she could grab the Element from her. It had to be taken back, or failing that, it had to be destroyed so that Chrysalis could not obtain the other Elements and use them against Equestria. She tried desperately to hold Chrysalis, to lock her in place and overpower her. Once again, it failed. She could not get through the Queen's shield. That, too, seemed even stronger than before, barely even rippling when struck with a heavy blast of magic, showing no signs of breaking or buckling under the pressure of Celestia's strongest attacks so far. Nor was she affected by the decompression and the exposure to vacuum.

The bridge of the Emperor's Judgement had become a junk yard, shards of pulverised metal and ceramite floating and filling the air like a dirty snowstorm. Celestia did not know of the capabilities of human repair teams and maintenance crews, but it seemed that the bridge would likely be beyond saving, given the state it was now in. Another hole was opened to the void as one of Celestia's shots missed wide and tore through the exterior hull as effectively as any point-blank lance beam would have done.

There had to be some way of stopping Chrysalis, but Celestia could not see it. Perhaps with Luna's help? But they had failed to defeat her before, and if anything, the Queen seemed even stronger now than she had at the volcano. If she was not defeated now, she could get even stronger, until she was beyond the ability of anything, even the Elements or all three Alicorns, to end the threat she posed to not just Equestria, but, potentially, the rest of the galaxy as well.

The fight moved on, the bridge not being enough to contain the two royals. Chrysalis teleported outside of the ship's hull and fired down upon it, a monstrous blast of energy that shattered what remained of the bridge deck almost entirely. Celestia's shield was bombarded by debris and the white-hot burning energy of the Queen's intense magic, magic which had only one purpose; to destroy, and to kill. Her shield held, though she could feel it starting to falter under continuous exposure. She hurriedly teleported away, onto a lower deck. Chrysalis's magic was definitely stronger; there could be no doubt any longer in her mind. Such a blast would not have caused any particular stress to her defensive shield before, but a relatively limited exposure had given her pause for thought this time.

The lower deck was overrun with Changelings, dozens of drones moving back and forth, suddenly startled by the appearance of the Princess in their midst. They hissed and snarled in alarm, alerting their fellows and, through their mental link, their Queen also. Green magic flashed and struck Celestia's shield, and she responded with a powerful eruption of golden lightning that leaped between drones, killing most of those in the wide corridor where she had materialised, frying their brains and singing their bodies. Within moments, Chrysalis was there again, appearing in a flash of light as she teleported in from outside the ship none the worse for wear from her time spent floating in space.

Celestia tried her lightning again, this time aimed at the Queen. It finished off the few drones that clustered around their leader, but once again could not penetrate Chrysalis's defences.

'Running away, are we?' the Queen sneered, able to speak once again as the lower deck currently had an atmosphere, unlike the ruined bridge. 'Have you finally realised the futility of your actions, Celestia? You cannot defeat me and you know it!'

'We shall see,' Celestia replied simply. She tried another blast of magic, but Chrysalis dodged to the side, her wings flittering, though she did not need them, using her magic to move much faster than any physical action could carry her. Celestia's magic struck something farther down the corridor, a generator perhaps, some kind of power conduit. An explosion ripped through the passageway, filling it with thick brown smoke. The lights flickered and the deck plating shook beneath them. More drones began pouring out of a doorway behind Celestia, though they did not concern her. They were as ineffective against her shield as her own attacks seemed to be against those of her arch-nemesis.

'Why not just accept the inevitable?' Chrysalis questioned, teleporting behind Celestia so she could attack her without threatening her own children.

'Nothing is inevitable, Chrysalis. Not unless one surrenders to it,' Celestia answered. Somewhere, the power supply to the deck faltered and failed, and the lights flicked off. Blood red emergency lighting bathed the corridor and the combatants. The eyes of a hundred Changelings glowed malevolently behind their Queen, arrayed in serried ranks as if they were on the broad plains of eastern Equestria, and not in the cramped confines of a narrow metal corridor aboard an Imperial starship.

'Perhaps you should surrender, then,' Chrysalis chuckled. 'I am a reasonable being. If you surrender to me, then you have my word that you will be unharmed.'

'Unfortunately, your word means nothing any longer, Chrysalis,' the Princess replied. 'You do not really expect anypony to trust anything you say, do you?'

'Alas, no,' Chrysalis answered. 'You have brainwashed them all to follow your plan, to follow you as though you have all the answers to the questions they never thought to ask. But you have no answer to me, do you?' she smirked.

'You can continue to imagine yourself undefeatable, if you wish to live in your dream world,' Celestia replied. 'What goes on inside your head does not concern me, only what you do to my citizens.'

'And yet here you are,' Chrysalis gestured with a hoof. 'Here you are, not in Equestria any longer. Not even on the same planet! Even when I am not affecting your precious kingdom, you cannot keep your nose out of my affairs. Do you really pursue me with such vigour because you believe I am a threat to Equestria? Or is the reality that you cannot get over the fact that I bested you?' She smirked, memories of the Royal Wedding running through Celestia's brain, as Chrysalis had naturally intended. The Queen had indeed beaten Celestia in single combat, though only because she had caught her by surprise with the extra power boost that absorbing the love between Shining and Cadence, as well as the rest of the festival goers, had given her. The power she had displayed then was a shadow of her current strength, however, and that was Celestia's biggest concern.

'I am here because your actions threaten not only Equestria, but also my human ally,' Celestia replied. 'You do not imagine that I could allow you to have control of a ship of this power, do you?'

'No, but that is not your decision,' Chrysalis replied. 'This ship is already mine.'

'Perhaps. But perhaps not for long.' Celestia teleported away once more, drawing an angry growl from the Queen as her foe vanished. She would surface again soon enough; there were drones all over the ship, after all. She could not hide from the Hive Mind.

Twilight paced nervously. She had so many questions, and Luna could only provide so many answers. She needed more than that; she needed reasons, and she needed assurance, a guarantee that everything would be alright.

'But, Princess Luna...' she began once more. 'Why did she go up there? How did she go up there? To...to space?'

'Twilight, it is simple,' Luna replied, still sitting on her throne, seemingly as calm as Celestia would have been in the same position. 'She teleported to the human vessel because they were under attack by the Changelings. Her goals were threefold; firstly, to assist our allies in the same way they have assisted us. Secondly, to stop Chrysalis and her Changelings from obtaining full control of an Imperial space vessel. And thirdly, in the hope of recovering the Element of Magic from Chrysalis herself.'

'But she's all alone up there!' Twilight pointed out; not strictly true since there was an entire Imperial fleet, but metaphorically, certainly correct. She was the only pony out in space. 'You should go with her!' Twilight urged Luna.

'If I went with her, then who would be here to defend Canterlot?' Luna pointed out reasonably. 'With all due respect to Princess Cadence...she does not have anywhere near the combat experience that either I or my sister possess, and we have already seen that the enemy Sorcerer has the ability to break through her defensive shield. My sister and myself both agreed that one of us must remain in the city at all times. That is why she went alone, Twilight.'

The younger mare nodded. Luna's words were, of course, sensible. She knew Celestia was more than capable of handling herself, but being in such an alien environment, alone...

'I understand the caution, Princess, but...what if something goes wrong?' Twilight asked.

'The benefits outweigh the risks. That is what we have determined,' Luna replied. 'My sister was the obvious choice to go. She has visited the human ship before, she has developed a relationship with the Imperial commanders, and she stands the best chance of defeating Chrysalis.'

'And if Chrysalis's plan is coming true? If she is gaining strength and power all the time, with every human she comes near to?' Twilight questioned. 'What if she is too strong for Princess Celestia to beat her?'

'Then she will retreat, if it becomes necessary,' Luna assured her. 'My sister is wise; she is not foolish. She knows that even she may have limits when it comes to combat. But if Chrysalis is on board, and we can only assume that she is, then the best chance to defeat her is for my sister to be there, helping the humans to take back their vessel. We have to try, for a vessel of that size and power in the hooves of the Changelings could be the end of Equestria as we know it.'

Twilight nodded. She knew that part to be true, just from the force of a potential impact with the planet if nothing else. They had seen for themselves the destruction that could be unleashed by such an action when the Chaos cruiser had exploded in the atmosphere during the initial invasion. That had not even struck the planet, yet it had still caused a tremendous amount of damage to the eastern coastal plain, according to surveillance reports from the airship EAS Canterlot when it had gone in search of Chrysalis and her Hive. A collision with the planet's surface could be an extinction-level event that would be on a par with any potential asteroid impact.

An asteroid, Twilight knew, could be diverted easily enough with Alicorn magic, no matter how large it might prove to be. Celestia had indeed performed just such a feat on two occasions in her life, and had told Twilight of them both when she was studying advanced astronomy and astrophysics at Celestia's Magic School. Asteroids could be deflected or moved with magic, but a ship was powered; it had engines which could drive it across the stars, between solar systems in an impossibly fast time. There was no guarantee that a ship, fully powered and with collision in mind, could actually be stopped by magic in time. Nor, once the ship reached a certain point, would its destruction by magic be a safe solution. If the ship had entered the atmosphere and made enough headway, then, like the Chaos cruiser, its remains would be spread across the sky like rain, to pummel and pulverise whatever lay below. A city, Canterlot, for example, would be a sitting duck, unless a shield could be raised in time.

'Is there nothing we can do to help?' Twilight asked. She longed for something meaningful and useful to fill her time again, instead of the chore of tending to the civilians. That was not what she was good at, and was why she had left her friends down in the catacombs dealing with them, while she roamed the palace grounds in a desperate search for fulfillment, for something to tell herself that she still had a purpose.

'All we can do right now is to wait, and defend the city if it becomes necessary,' Luna replied to her query with the same response that Twilight had heard several times from her sister. It did nothing to help her mood, nor assuage her fears, even though she knew deep down that Luna was right. Once again, waiting was all they could do.

The main reactor chamber was busy with drones, some in disguise, others not. The human crew had been slaughtered, caught by surprise; they had no comprehension of the fact that Changelings could appear on their deck, in their midst, so far from the reported point of boarding many decks above. Yet appear they had, and they had taken full control of the reactors, the great beating hearts of the Emperor's Judgement that provided both its lifeblood, for powering its internal systems and weaponry, and its motive power, through the monstrous engine nozzles mounted on the rear of the huge craft. Without the reactors, the ship could not function, could not carry out the will of whoever was in command of the vessel.

That was where Celestia appeared, causing just as much surprise as the drones themselves had done. She had been briefed by Captain Marsten on the broad layout of the ship, and where the vital areas were located, including the bridge, though she was already aware of that particular position, as she had visited it herself previously. The reactor chamber was one of the places that Marsten had specifically mentioned, as it was, together with the bridge, one of the two most important locations on board the ship.

The reactor chamber was a cavernous space, the size of several hangar bays combined into one vast area, dominated by the two reactor cores themselves. They throbbed and thrummed with barely restrained power, swirling plasma in vast quantities kept inside by magnetic fields and a thick containment vessel, to be directed and shaped as required. Each one held the power of a small sun inside.

There was now a sun outside the reactors, as well. Celestia went to work immediately, firing off her lightning attack. The drones were caught by surprise, and large numbers of them died immediately. The large space of the reactor room was an advantage for the Princess, enabling her to fly around, stay above the range of enemy shotguns, not that she needed to; her shield kept her safe from the drones, no matter how they tried to attack her. They did what they could, but Celestia was not there to fight them. She was there for an entirely different purpose.

Chrysalis appeared mere seconds into her rampage, alerted by the Hive Mind she shared with her drones the moment Celestia materialised in the chamber. The Queen's pursuit was relentless, as she fully intended to keep control of her ship, the ship she had stolen from right under the noses of the Imperium.

Celestia had other ideas.

She tried to distract Chrysalis with some more of her golden lightning, which scattered the remaining drones, even as more of the creatures began to flood in from the surrounding corridors and passageways to support and aid their Queen. More of them died under the barrage of crackling magic, but others were able to avoid harm, taking to their wings or charging across the deck toward the Princess in a futile effort to strike back at her, or at least to distract her. But her mind was set, focused on what she had to do. She had been informed by Captain Marsten of exactly what the best method of achieving her goal was, and advised that it was the best course of action. When she had teleported away from the bridge, she had momentarily returned to the bridge of the Indefatigable, where Lord-Admiral Marcos had been taken. Made fully aware of the situation, combined with his own experiences, Marcos had agreed with Marsten that there was only one course of action which could be taken at this point.

'Still you run, Celestia!' Chrysalis teased, her tongue hissing angrily as she flitted among the support beams and columns of the reactor room. 'Why not stand and fight? Afraid, hm? You know you will fail, that is why you run!' she shouted.

Celestia did not intend to fight, not at this moment. She knew that Chrysalis was right; she could not defeat the Changeling Queen, not by herself and not with Chrysalis at such a level of power. The Element of Magic would have to be sacrificed; it could not be recovered. At the edge of the chamber, she lowered her horn, fired one long, powerful blast of magic, and teleported away as swiftly as she could.

The magical shot tore through the thick metal pressure vessel that contained the No. 1 reactor core. The protective covering and sheath was designed to protect the reactor against damage, falling debris, fire and blast, even from the explosion of a torpedo warhead inside the reactor room itself. It was not, however, designed to protect it against Alicorn magic, and Celestia's attack ripped through into the boiling, molten interior, where plasma swirled and eddied like a whirlpool in a river of heat and pressure. With a hole in the containment vessel, all of the pressure and power contained within the reactor had a way out, an escape from the molten core.

A blinding flash of white filled the reactor hall, and filled Chrysalis's eyes. She hissed and snarled in anger, having no time to speak before there was another, almost instantaneous flash, and the reactor exploded.

'Captain, power surge!'

The Auspex officer on the bridge of the Indefatigable shouted across the deck, and Marsten was ready with his order.

'Raise shields!'

The battlecruiser's shields went up, and flash traffic was sent to the other ships of the fleet that were close enough to be potentially in harm's way, though all vessels had moved to what was hoped to be a safe distance from the Emperor's judgement at Marcos's command, in anticipation of what was to come. Marcos had taken the responsibility on himself to give the approval for what was now starting to unfold on the viewscreens. As the ship's commander, it was his duty.

His vessel had been lost, completely lost to the enemy. It was overrun with Changelings, untold numbers of them swarming over each deck. They had come on board disguised as flies, hidden away in the transport barges; there could be millions of them, and an effort to recover the ship would result in vast numbers of Imperial casualties. Celestia had said that she could not spare the time and effort to clear the ship herself; she and her sister were needed in Canterlot until all the threats they faced had been defeated. With the ship under enemy control, Marcos had no choice but to move his flag to the Indefatigable, and give the order no captain ever wanted to give.

Celestia had carried it out on his behalf. A tremendous blast ripped through the hull of the aft section, blinding against the black backdrop of space until the viewscreen's polarisation filters kicked in and dimmed the flash. There was another a moment later as the other reactor core went up, and four miles of battleship tore itself apart in a heartbeat, debris spiraling away in all directions, propelled by the force of the blast. Entire decks were totally vapourised, flashed to nothing in a moment by the incredible heat unleashed by the detonations of the two mighty reactors. A second sun appeared in the skies over Equestria as the Emperor's Judgement died, the noble vessel, veteran of a hundred campaigns, finally succumbing to the ravages of battle and the sharp grip of a previously unknown enemy.

'Farewell, old friend,' Marcos muttered. His faithful steed of so many years was finally gone.

'I am sorry it came to this, Admiral.'

Marcos turned away from the viewscreen. Princess Celestia stood behind him on the deck. He had been so caught up in watching his ship die that he had not even heard the pop of displaced air that signaled her arrival, though she stood only a scant few feet away.

'Thank you, Princess...and thank you for your assistance in this matter,' Marcos addressed her with a sincere nod of his head. 'I know you must be eager to return to your city, and to your sister, but I appreciate your help with this...disaster.' Celestia returned the nod of respect, and Marcos turned to speak to the bridge crew.

'Vox, alert the Barnham's Pride and the escort groups. They are to target...'

'My Lord, strange readings in the debris field!' The Auspex officer interrupted him, singing out his warning.

'What kind of readings?' Marcos queried, swinging round to the viewscreen. The remains of the Emperor's Judgement now formed a dead nebula above the planet, millions of tons of twisted metal and blasted ceramite, the graves of potentially thousands of surviving crew and countless Changelings. Countless drones, but not, it seemed, their Queen.

'Heavy concentration of the unknown particle, My Lord,' the Auspex officer called. 'It's pegging the scale out. Can't get an accurate reading.' Marcos stared at the viewscreen, and sure enough, there, floating in the midst of the debris cloud, was a small green bubble. He ordered magnification, and the screen revealed the sickening truth.

The ship had torn itself apart with enough fury to shatter an entire mountain range, to kill any living creature, from this world or the Immaterium, except perhaps a Greater Daemon or one of the living Necron gods. Yet there, amid the sight of such fury and destruction, was Chrysalis, appearing to be none the worse for wear for her experience.

'By the Emperor...that's impossible!' Marsten spat in disbelief. 'Nothing could have survived that!'

'And yet,' Celestia replied, 'it appears that something did.'

Comments

[OneAmongOthers]

Of course the queen wouldn’t die... it’s not like losing pretty much her entire hive the source of her power would have done anything.

[Emulator]

Dammit, I thought she was dead

[Booster Spice]

just how much of her personal energy has Chrysalis used to get through the battle, and how much of her hive exists on other ships that transfered between the fleet before the last main movement to the flagship?

Pity Celestia couldnt use the reactors power directly to level things up, or is Twilight getting so desperate as to consider trying to recreate teh Nightmare Moon event, grab power back from the lost Element of Magic by forcing its recreation to herself and maybe attacking Chrysalis by sympathetic resonance?

[BRBrony9]

10472333
You forget, with the arrival of millions of Imperial and Chaos forces, it is no longer merely the emotions of Equestrian natives that feed her!

Of course, that doesn't mean she is invincible...

[warpsmith]

10473838
If there was a protectorate then there would be at least a mention about it, but nothing has come from heresy books not even a hint. I tried to even look from lexicanum and wiki but nothing came. Fulgrim was asked about a idea of such be he refused. Only mention that could ever be considered to be even close of such is a bad example in Belisarius book the great work. In a very first chapter it says something of a race called Ardinians, that were harmless and left to be under imperiums protectorate. It did not mention if they were intelligence race however because same applied to crome bugs in beast series, dangerous animals don't count. And they were ultimately killed off because their blood had healing properties on human body. Sou they were harvested to extinction.
Sou that does not really count.