Strange Bedfellows

by BRBrony9

Take It Back

'What are you talking about, Daemon?' Chrysalis demanded. 'You have not helped me, and nor would I want your aid!'

'On the contrary, Your Majesty,' Malaranth answered, as jets screamed by overhead and explosions rippled below. 'Perhaps not overtly, and perhaps even by accident at times, but I, or rather my Lord Tzeentch, has been helping you for years. Decades, centuries.'

'What nonsense!' Chrysalis scoffed. 'You have been here on this planet for, what, days? A week or so?'

'Indeed. But behind the scenes, Your Majesty. Behind the scenes.' Malaranth chuckled. 'My Lord works in the shadows, in the mind...manipulation is key, Your Majesty. The threads of fate can be woven together, or separated into individual strands, all to achieve an ultimate goal many years in the future. the true nature of which even I may not understand until it comes to fruition. You are one such goal, Your Majesty. Many things were tweaked or altered just enough to set an individual, a ship, a planet or even an entire race, down a particular course. And your course was very important to us.'

Chrysalis frowned. Now she was listening. She was listening intently enough to not even bother evading a blast of magic from Celestia, which just bounced off of her shield. 'My course? I owe you nothing! Why would you be interested in me and yet not even show yourself on this planet until now?'

'Because sometimes the organic development is more important than direct meddling,' Malaranth replied. 'Small tweaks here and there can result in enormous changes down the line, and sometimes acting overtly will have less of an effect. We saw your potential, but we knew that it would take time to achieve it. You see, we saw what you could do. We know the abilities that you have, the strength your species has...and we knew you were perfect.'

'Perfect?' Chrysalis laughed. 'I have never claimed to be perfect. Even Celestia will agree with me on that.'

'Perhaps, but you were, and are, perfect for the task you were to be assigned. You were perfect for the exact kind of plan that you imagined yourself,' Malaranth explained. 'To spread your species among the stars, among the worlds of the Imperium, to sow discord and confusion, fear and disquiet. To upset the social order, to slowly tear down the Imperium from the inside out, as friend turned upon friend, father upon son, mother upon daughter, because they simply no longer knew who they could truly trust. When you cannot trust the man next to you, when you cannot trust your superior officer or your subordinate, when you cannot trust your governor or your neighbour or your own family...that is when everything starts to collapse. And that is exactly why the Changelings are perfect. You have proven it beyond doubt. You took control of the Polaris Maxima, an Imperial capital ship, without anyone outside of its hull being aware of that fact. You can mimic appearance, voice, mannerisms, almost beyond any possibility of detection. Moreover, you learn merely from touch, absorbing knowledge, and the more you know, the more convincing you become to those who you seek to deceive.'

Chrysalis was silent for a moment before responding. 'So you are saying...you have been using me all along? For your own ends?'

'Not using you, Your Majesty, no. Helping you!' Malaranth answered. 'Helping you to a mutually beneficial future. One in which both you and my Lord will gain. To this exact point in time. It was no coincidence that the Crusade fleet arrived here. Nor was it a coincidence that they were being pursued. It was all predicted, and sure enough, it came to pass. My Lord knew that the only way for your species to get off of this planet was for outside forces to come to your aid, in the form of starships. The course of both fleets were subtly manipulated over the months and years that they were away from port.'

'Enough!' Chrysalis shouted. 'You can call it what you wish, but the fact is you have been using me, and I do not take kindly to being used. Perhaps you will soon regret all of your so-called plans, Daemon!'

Her horn flashed, and Malaranth was forced to teleport out of the line of fire. 'Perhaps, Your Majesty,' it replied once it had reappeared. 'But nothing my Lord Tzeentch ever does is truly regretted. For every success, every failure, every outcome is still change, and change is His currency. Perhaps I shall be defeated here, or perhaps you will be. Perhaps we shall all three of us die, but it will matter not to Him. Lord Tzeentch revels in change. He Is change.'

'Then I am more than happy to help you meet with your maker once again!' Chrysalis snarled, firing once more. Malaranth moved away just in time, and Celestia joined in the fight, swooping into the fray. She was not sure who represented the bigger threat, Chrysalis or Malaranth. Both were immensely powerful creatures. Chrysalis was her old foe, Malaranth her new one. Both wanted to destroy Cantelot, or perhaps capture it, and either way they had to be stopped. But part of her said that she might be better off letting them fight each other. At least they might wear each other down, present openings in their defences, leave them vulnerable.

Chrysalis went after the Daemon with a fervor she had reserved only for Celestia herself in the past. Malaranth responded with furious attacks of its own, and the city quaked beneath the blaze of power displayed above it. Celestia kept her distance, keeping a weary eye on the combat, ready to step in at a moment's notice and engage if she spotted some kind of opening. But below them, below the trio of godlike beings, the rest of the battle continued to rage.

Corporal Breeze scrambled carefully down the side of the hospital. It was a ruin, and it would have to be torn down and replaced in the future- assuming there was a future for the city. It was more than a ruin, though. It was a tomb, a mausoleum for countless ponies. The Corporal had no idea how many bodies lay buried inside, trapped and crushed like Private Mercury. He again shuddered as he remembered her lying there helplessly, and he could still feel the warmth of her final breaths on his hoof, the last twitches of her dying body. Entire platoons must have been lost when the building came down, but he was sure that he was not the only one to have escaped with their lives. Others must have been lucky, able to dive to safety before the collapse, or crawl free afterward like he had.

Of course, that also applied to the enemy. Breeze kept hold of his rifle. He didn't know where the enemy might be, nor where he might find friendly forces. Had the whole line broken, or could he move down to the next intersection and link up with other ponies?

The streets were fraught with peril. Enemy aircraft wheeled overhead- or at least, he assumed they were hostile, but Imperial fighters may well have been mixed in as well. What was definitely hostile was the Changeling Queen and her minions, who he had seen flying in over the mountains, sending a jolt of fear through him. The Chaos troops were bad enough, but now to have to fight both humans and Changelings at the same time? He could do nothing alone, without his platoon. They were, he assumed, all dead, or at least most of them, lost in the hospital collapse. He had to find friendly forces. Wandering the streets alone was an invitation to a quick death from one source or another.

He moved as quickly as he could, though the ache in his left hip and hind leg slowed him down somewhat. He stuck to the shadows where possible, trying to stay hidden and not simply trot down the middle of the road. He kept a sharp eye out for any movement on the ground or in windows and doorways. Snipers could be around, or the enemy could have heavy weapon teams set up. He simply didn't know how far the Chaos troops had been able to advance in the time he had been trapped. Nor indeed did he know how long had passed while he had lain unconscious, though the fact that the Princess had still been fighting above, and continued to do so, suggested it had perhaps not been too long.

Breeze decided to head for the second line of defence, to the rear and closer to the palace. That was the best bet; moving along the line to another strongpoint might prove a grave mistake if the entire line had collapsed or been overrun. Better to head back and be reassigned to another location if needed. At the very least he could report the collapse of the hospital and the loss of the position to a superior so that they could adjust their plans as needed. Given the speed of the collapse, it was entirely possible that nopony in headquarters knew about it; none of the human vox operators would have had a chance to send out a message.

There was gunfire up ahead; at least, he thought it was ahead of him. In the canyons of the city streets, sound echoed and carried in strange ways, distorting the perceived direction for the listener. Soon, though, he could see gunfire as well as hear it. There were flashes ahead, both bullets and las-fire coming from the buildings close to the palace that formed the second line of resistance. Evidently it was still intact; the enemy had not yet reached the palace itself, and the defensive shield was still in place, Breeze could see. That was good. What was not good was that he was on the wrong side of the line. The enemy were between him and friendly forces. He could see them; men rushing across the plaza ahead, taking cover behind fountains and stone planters, ducking out from behind lamp-posts to return fire. But there were not just infantry. He could see at least three vehicles; tanks, like the one which had accompanied them at the hospital, though these were in the colours of the enemy.

They had broken through, then. The main gate must have fallen, and the enemy armour allowed to race into the city and roam the streets. That changed the dynamic considerably, and Breeze was no longer confident that the line would hold. He had seen what the Imperial tank had done, ripping through the ranks of enemy infantry with ease as they flailed helplessly against it with their small arms. It was perhaps the human equivalent of a strong unicorn with a magic shield and a powerful attack; able to take large amounts of fire and dish it out in return. If the enemy were bringing them to bear against the defences, then there was every chance they might break through toward the palace.

Breeze knew he had no chance of getting through the enemy and reaching the friendly line. Nor could he turn and go back. With enemy vehicles in the city, they could pop up anywhere at any time, and he didn't know if any resistance was still being mounted by the first line. All he could do, he decided, was to hide. To take cover somewhere until everything blew over. Or...wait, the sewers! Yes, he could...maybe...if he could get down there, he could bypass the enemy and reach the friendly lines. Over there was a sewer grating. He trotted over, looking both ways down the street. Nobody was around, but he could hear a rumbling, a grinding sound. It must be a vehicle, another tank; it sounded like the Imperial vehicle had when it was maneuvering into position. He had to be quick; it was getting closer.

Breeze gripped the grating and tugged on it. It moved, but only a little. He tried again as the noise of tank tracks got louder and louder. The cobbled street began to shake as the war machine neared. He pulled and strained as hard as he could, and finally the grating came loose. He scrambled into the hole, pulling the cover back across the hole so as not to arouse any suspicion. He dropped down to the ledge just below, as the world shook around him and a tank rumbled overhead, blocking out the light for a few moments, the clanking of its tracks and the whine of its turbine engine almost deafening in the confined space. Then, it was gone, the noise slowly receding. Breeze dropped down again.

The sewer was as he expected it to be; dark, damp and malodorous. It was old fashioned, too; Canterlot, being built on a mountainside long ago, lacked the modern and efficient sewage pumping systems installed in other cities like Manehattan. Rather it had simple tunnels, where water, usually from mountain streams but sometimes pumped in by a basic system installed as a backup, would flush the waste down from the city and into the valley below, where the pipes would arrive, finally, at a treatment facility, their being no room for such a building inside the city walls. Even though the system had seen extremely minimal usage since the invasion, it still retained the foul smell that was surely the stock in trade of any sewer, from the muck of decades of waste ingrained in the walls and floors of the tunnels.

Breeze wrinkled his nose at the smell, but if it got him safely to friendly lines, then having to inhale the stench of shit for a few minutes was worth it. There was not much light, but every few dozen feet, a street grating did admit some illumination from above, giving him just enough light to able to see clearly where he was walking. There were narrow walkways on either side of the sewer, allowing him to, theoretically at least, not have to walk through pony waste, though even the stones of the walkways were coated in a certain amount of filth. He didn't know how far he had to go in order to come up behind the lines. He was most decidedly not used to navigating via sewer street gratings. Nevertheless, he was able to make good progress under the city streets, unencumbered by enemies, though he could hear the gunfire still raging above. It grew louder as he approached the evident position of the enemy, then fainter briefly until it grew louder for a second time.

This must be it, he reasoned. He must be under the friendly lines, the second set of gunfire coming from the defenders. It was time to get back up to the surface; carefully, lest he be mistaken for an enemy and shot. He approached the next grating cover and clambered up to the ledge below it. He could see nothing peering through the grate. No movement was visible from his position, though he didn't have the best angle. He could still hear gunfire, but he knew he had to come up from underground at some point. Carefully, Breeze pushed against the grating. Like the previous one, it was heavy and resistant to his attempts to raise it, but it started to move as he leaned heavily against it with his shoulder. Finally it opened with a clang, and he scrambled out to the surface, quickly looking around in case he had been spotted.

There were ponies nearby, but they were busy for the most part, firing around corners and up from behind crates and barricades. He was beyond the defensive line and beyond the far edge of the square where the enemy were making their push. He was safe, temporarily, but safe, as always, was a relative term.

'Hey, hold it right there!' somepony shouted. 'Where did you come from?' Breeze turned to find a squad of reinforcements that were either coming up from the reserve or specifically assigned to guard the sewer grates in case the enemy tried just such a sneaky bypass of their line as Breeze had done. Several were aiming their rifles at him with suspicious eyes.

'From the sewer!' Breeze explained, holding his forelegs out to the sides as a sign of passivity. 'I-i was at the hospital...did anypony else make it out?'

'Yeah...yeah, I think so,' the squad's corporal replied. 'What unit are you with?'

'Apple Platoon, 4th Company, attached to the 2nd Canterlot Battalion,' he explained. 'We were in the hospital. I don't know what happened but it got hit by something. The whole thing collapsed. I got out, I figured I'd better get the hell back here and warn whoever's in charge that the line was broken, but...' he glanced over his shoulder. 'I guess that's pretty obvious to them by now anyway.'

'Yeah, no shit...' the corporal nodded his head. 'Alright, just...I guess fall in with us if your unit is gone. We need all the help we can get.'

'Right...' Breeze moved to form up with the rest of the unit as two of its members dropped the sewer grate back down. There were other ponies around, in windows nearby, and it seemed that Breeze was lucky not to have been shot out of hoof when he first appeared. Clearly the defenders were aware of the potential danger from below, and that eased Breeze's mind somewhat. What did not, however, was the prospect of going back into battle, but the palace spires looming overhead to their rear told him that he would have to do just that. With the rest of his new squad, he trotted to the frontline.

Though news was slow to filter down from the surface and into the catacombs, it was not too long after Chrysalis's arrival that Twilight became aware of it. It was a deep, deep shock to her already fragile state. The Queen was dead, wasn't she? That was what she had been told. That was what Celestia had said, and Twilight was loathe to admit that the Princess might be wrong about something so important. But it was, of course, possible. She had been wrong before, though only rarely. Chrysalis was a master of disguise and it was certainly possible she had simply lain low somewhere, waiting for the chance to strike again. But Twilight had wanted to believe that she was truly gone, that the Changelings were a dying race, no longer a threat and lacking the leadership that their Queen provided.

It was clear now that that was not yet the case. Not only was Chrysalis back, but it was reported too that there were drones, thousands of them, also attacking the city. At least, it seemed, they were not devoting their entire effort to killing ponies, but rather were also attacking Chaos forces in a seemingly mindless orgy of violence that the human enemy would be very familiar with. Chrysalis, however, surely only had one goal in mind. She had her foe, her nemesis, and it was Princess Celestia. She would want to get her out of the way, to finally defeat her, and it seemed that she might have the power to do just that. The news that filtered down also included the fact that Princess Luna had disappeared, presumed dead or captured.

Twilight paced up and down, as she had done so many times since being confined to the catacombs after the atomic attack. She and the other civilians had scarcely left the underground chambers since then, but this was it. This was too much for her. She knew she had to do something, she had to at least try. Chrysalis had returned, and so far as Twilight knew, the Queen was still in possession of the Element of Magic- her Element of Magic. If, somehow, just...somehow, she could get the Element back from Chrysalis, then she and her friends might be able to use their powers to help the city.

Twilight couldn't stand the inaction any longer. She gathered up her friends from their tasks. All the others still had their Elements on them. Only Twilight felt impotent and naked without hers, but if they could get it back, make the set whole again, then they might just be able to achieve something good. She explained her plan to the others. Applejack and Rainbow were approving; they hated the enforced inaction as much as Twilight. Pinkie was suitably excited by the prospect, while Rarity and Fluttershy expressed their doubts. Going above ground was dangerous, wasn't it? They had been told to stay below for a reason.

'I know what Princess Celestia told me,' Twilight replied to their comments. 'I know she told me to stay here and help the civilians. But she needs help too. The whole city needs help, girls. If...if Princess Luna is gone, then Celestia is fighting alone against both this Daemon and Chrysalis, and as strong as she is, I don't know if she can defeat both of them. But if we can get that Element, if we can take it back, then we can help. We can fight alongside her, and together, we can win!'

Applejack and Rainbow clapped their hooves approvingly, while Pinkie cheered at her speech. Though Fluttershy and Rarity were more reluctant, they nodded resolutely. They knew she was right, and they were certainly willing to put themselves on the line to help the rest of the city. Celestia had told them to assist the civilians, but that was exactly what they would be doing, wasn't it? Defending the city and protecting the ponies who called it home was the best way they could help out right now. Staying underground and handing out blankets was all well and good, but it would all be for nothing if one enemy or another was able to capture the city.

Together, the six Elements headed for the stairs up to the surface. The guards were resistant; they had been told not to let anypony out. But Twilight was insistent, and she was, after all, Celestia's student. The guards relented and let them pass, and the group of girls headed above ground, blinking in the sunlight. They looked around, looked up. Apart from Twilight, they were seeing the sun and the sky for the first time in quite a while. They also saw the palace shield, glimmering above them, held up by Princess Cadence, and she was the target of Twilight's mission.

In the palace, they found her, along with Shining Armour and the human Major Barritt, coordinating the defence of the city. The palace was safe from attack so long as Cadence kept her shield up, at least unless the Chaos forces worked whatever magic they had done before to create an opening. Maybe they would in due course, but they were still being held at bay by the second line of defence for the time being.

'Princess Cadence!' Twilight called. 'We can help. We have to help. I...I have to help.'

'Twilight?' Cadence looked over at the sudden intrusion. 'Twilight, no. You have to go back underground.'

'No!' Twilight replied firmly, shaking her head. 'I can't just sit around any longer. The city is in danger. Princess Celestia is in danger. I know you can't go out there and help her because you're protecting the palace, but we can. If we can get the Element of Magic back from Queen Chrysalis, then we can...'

'Twily, you can't go out there!' Shining interrupted her. 'It's too dangerous for you without that Element.'

'That's why we have to get it back!' Twilight argued. 'It's dangerous for the whole city without it. Princess Celestia can't fight both the Daemon and Chrysalis at the same time, and if she fails...then there won't even be an Equestria any longer, whether or not we win this battle.' Both Shining and Cadence knew Twilight was right, but that didn't make it any easier to agree with her request to fight.

'How will you get the Element back?' Cadence asked. 'You can't fight Chrysalis, Twilight. You'll die. She's not going to give it up just like that.'

'I don't know...' Twilight had to admit. 'I don't know, but...we'll think of something. There has to be a way, but we've got to at least give it a try! It might be our only chance of winning this fight.'

Cadence closed her eyes for a moment, and then nodded. 'It might be...what do you think?' she asked Shining, who looked over at his little sister with worried eyes.

'Just...please be careful, Twily. Go out, but do NOT go beyond our defensive line. If you see ponies falling back, then teleport yourself and your friends back here immediately. Just don't go pushing any boundaries, Twily. Promise me you won't.'

'I promise...' She nodded, meeting his gaze. We'll do what we can. Wish us luck.'

Comments

[Violagameboy]

The finale is comming.

[Booster Spice]

The Demon has tweaked off Chrysalis just a little too much. Then again, if the Changelings destroyed the Imperium, how would Chaos get the conflict it needs to survive? By that time, Chrysalis might be powerful enough to start grinding the Eye Of Horus closed. Then all would be changelings and Chaos would be stuck spectating onlyonce more?

Pity Twilight cant form Magic again like last time, by getting Chrysalis to effectively reboot, shut down the Element she is carrying?