Desolation
The protector let out a massive bellow as it destroyed the trees holding it to the ground. It tore them up by their roots and threw them aside as if they were twigs. After pulling the sheet off of it's face, it looked around to see that it was surrounded by what looked to be a kind of barrier. In the distance, he could see three familiar ponies running away for no more then two seconds before they disappeared into the small town. Letting out another roar, it charged for them, only to knock into whatever that strange field was. It smashed its fist into it, and it seemed to give for a moment before coming back to it original fortitude. The Big Daddy reeled it's drill back and slammed it into the force field several times in a row, but the field still did not give.
The Big Daddy was far from deterred, however, so it continued to smash into the field relentlessly. With each and every hit, it seemed to become more and more weak. It roared as it released another drill punch into it, and it finally gave way. The Big Daddy wasted no time in moving toward that little town. It hadn't seen where it's new charge had gone, but it did see those three familiar ponies moving into the town. That was the best place to look.
_____
"The plan was simple." Twilight said to Applejack, who now took shelter in the library. "We were to disorient the creature long enough to get Scootaloo away from it. Hopefully, it doesn't know where she is now. We just have to hope that it doesn't find her."
"But what if it came to Ponyville to look for her?" Applejack asked angrily, making Twilight frown heavily. "Did ya even consider that?!"
"She hadn't eaten, Applejack! I was thinking about her!" Twilight retorted.
"Both of you stop!" Rarity yelled. "We don't have time for any of this! In case you didn't notice, there's a small army of changelings outside."
"All we can hope for at this point is that it'll look somewhere else other than Ponyville long enough for Princess Celestia and Princess Luna to get here." Twilight said. "We need them now."
"Come on, Twilight." Rarity said, moving the princess toward a hiding place. "You need to hide. If the changelings find you..." Rarity shook her head and lead the princess down to her lab beneath the library.
"Barricade the door and don't open it for anypony until this is all over." Rarity said.
"Rarity! Where are you going?" Twilight asked her.
"I've got to get to my sister." Rarity said. "She won't know what to do!" The unicorn closed the door to the basement behind her.
"Wait!" Twilight cried out. "Let me help! Don't leave me down here!" Twilight Sparkle sighed deeply and begrudgingly began to move large and heavy objects to the door. Despite what she may have said, she was still incredibly weak from producing and maintaining the force field for that amount of time against such a powerful force. Something that could break through one of her force fields in that amount of time was certainly not to be trifled with. She began to question the effectiveness of the plan she devised. What if the creature really did follow them here? And if then, did it have some sort of extra sense that allowed it to find Scootaloo?
She definitely couldn't have helped fight the changelings. She had used up most of her power on the force field and she was sporting an obvious weak point. Her broken wing throbbed deeply, making her stop for a moment and attempt to tend to it. Her bright purple fur was soaked with crimson. She tried to make it unfurled, but it only went about halfway, and the main limb of the wing was crumpled like a paper bag, definitely broken in more than one place. Despite the pain currently in her new limb, the alicorn was thankful she was alive. The wing was beginning to throb more and more as time passed, and Twilight came to accept one horrible truth.
She had to set it.
She had to set the bones if they were to ever properly function again. Twilight had read a large amount of medical books, and she at least had the book knowledge of how to set limbs; even wings were covered in most of the books. The part that worried her was that she had absolutely no experience. She knew she had to have something to bite on, so she took one of the leather belts from one of the lab coats and put it in her mouth, biting on it. Twilight then enveloped her broken wing with magic. Her eyes widened and her breathing increased with each second that passed.
'Okay...Okay...You can do this...' She thought.
She looked back at the wing, horribly bent and bloody.
'One...'
She closed the magic on the wing a little tighter.
'Two...'
She bit down on the leather as hard as she could.
'Three.'
Twilight screamed and screamed.
_____
Applejack and Rarity struggled to push the bookcase in front of the laboratory door to conceal Twilight's presence from any changeling invaders. It was packed to the brim with smell tomes and potion lists, so naturally, it was incredibly heavy.
"Applejack!" Rarity said when they finished. "I need you to come with me to the boutique. Sweetie Belle is there and I cannot risk her safety." Applejack nodded and stood up.
"It's on the way to the farm, so Ah ain't got a problem with that." The farm mare said. "Either of y'all wanna come with?" The farm mare regarded Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy, who sat together. Fluttershy held tightly onto Pinkie Pie, who had her fore legs wrapped around the Pegasus as well. Pinkie nodded before talking to Fluttershy.
"Fluttershy, we need to go." Pinkie Pie said, bringing the yellow mare to a stand. "We're not safe here."
"Ah'll go get Dash." Applejack said as she moved up the stairs toward the room where Rainbow held Scootaloo. She found Rainbow Dash standing guard faithfully in front of a bed that Scootaloo hid underneath. "Dash! Hey, come on, let's get out of here."
"Why?" Rainbow said, not taking her eyes off the window.
"Because we need to take shelter, that's why!" Applejack said to Rainbow Dash, who slowly looked at her.
"Who's gonna guard Twilight from the changelings?" Rainbow said. "And even more importantly, what will that thing do if it finds all of us guarding Scootaloo versus just one of us?...You go." Applejack approached Rainbow Dash, a look of sorrow on her face.
"If you die, Ah'll-" Applejack was silenced mid-sentence by Rainbow's lips on hers. The farm mare's eyes widened heavily and her face heated up. Her heart pounded heavily in her chest as Rainbow Dash separated from the kiss.
"If I die?" Rainbow said, smirking with a blush on her face. "Come on, AJ. This is me we're talking about." It took Applejack a few seconds to regain her composure and she nodded, her own heavy blush on her face.
"Just...be careful." Applejack said as she left the room, watched every step of the way by the cyan pegasus.
If Rainbow died that day...at least she'd die with no regrets.
_____
"Are the guards and chains really necessary?" Booker asked, raising an eyebrow at Celestia, who sat in the seat in front of him and Elizabeth, who was also chained to the floor of the chariot they were in. "I mean, you got the report of the Big Daddy. All we want to do is help."
"Who are those peculiar creatures again?" Discord asked Princess Luna. "I forgot whilst staring at their strange tentacle-y appendages." Luna rolled her eyes and began describing what Booker and Elizabeth were to the Draconequus. The little sister merely sat where she was and hummed lightly to herself, her distorted voice noticeably making the guard watching them uncomfortable. Celestia turned her head toward Booker, her eyebrows furrowed.
"Until we know for absolutely certain that you haven't been lying to us, you will remain in those chains." Celestia said before levitating Booker's shotgun and Elizabeth's pistol before them. "I assume these to be weapons, are they not?"
"Yeah, they are." Booker said. "Weapons that we want to use to help you."
"Booker, relax." Elizabeth whispered to him. "They don't have any idea what we can do."
"Take the fact that I healed your injured wrist as consolation that we will not harm you." Celestia continued. "But we still can't trust you until we know for sure. I mean no offense."
"Yeah, none taken, your highness." Booker deadpanned, rolling his eyes. "If you don't trust us, why the hell did you bring us?"
"Booker, calm down!" Elizabeth scolded him.
"Because if the monster reported truly is the 'Big Daddy', you two are the only ones who know how to stop it." Celestia said.
"And we'll need as much assistance as we can possibly get to combat the changelings." Luna added, looking back at the two humans. Booker took the time to look around at the massive detachment of Royal Guard that was accompanying them. It wouldn't be a good idea to try something fancy, seeing as how they were outnumbered about forty to one.
"So it's not that you don't trust us...it's just that you don't trust us." Booker said, raising an eyebrow. He was obviously making fun of Celestia's attempts to be courteous.
"I like this guy." Discord said, raising an eyebrow and smirking.
"While I don't appreciate your humor, Booker, we do not." Celestia sighed, furrowing her eyebrows. The princess began to mentally prepare herself for the battle that lied ahead. The last time she had encountered the malicious race known as the changelings, she had been defeated by their Queen. Chrysalis.
While Celestia was indeed very powerful, Chrysalis was too strong for the princess to fight efficiently when she had been feeding off of the love of Shining Armor, the captain of her royal guard. A long period of time had passed since then, and the princess of the sun knew not if Chrysalis had been empowering herself in the same fashion as before. Even so, she had her sister Luna by her side this time. Celestia herself had seen Luna in battle when she transformed into Nightmare Moon. The princess of the night possessed a distinct ferocity in combat that she often kept hidden behind a veil of grace and pristine regality.
"Well, princess Celestia, I think you'll find that my friend and I here can definitely be trusted." Booker said as he patted Celestia on the back gently. Celestia smiled to herself and nodded. Perhaps they could be trusted.
Wait...
He had patted her on the back.
He had been chained to the floor of the chariot.
Celestia immediately turned around, her eyes widened, to see Booker holding his shotgun on his lap. He raised an eyebrow at the princess.
"Tears..." Booker said, holding up the key he had obviously used to unlock the shackles. It had a strange hazy appearance to it. "They're marvelous things, aren't they?"
"How...How did you..." Luna said, dumbfounded. "Discord! You could have stopped them!"
"Wha- I..." Discord said as he pretended to notice the key for the first time. "Oh, darn." He said, smiling at Luna.
"Look, I could have easily killed both of you with this just now." Booker explained, holding up his shotgun. "But as luck would have it, we want to help you. So naturally, I didn't kill you."
"Why you-" Luna began, anger visible on her face.
"Please!" Elizabeth said. "He's right. All we want to do is help. That Big Daddy could destroy an entire town easily. We just want to get it out of here."
"Calm yourself, sister." Princess Celestia said. "I suppose even if they aren't deserving of our trust by now, it doesn't matter." Luna sighed and nodded.
"You make a valid point." Luna said before glaring at Discord.
"What?" He said. "I believe them!"
"I should have figured one of your chaotic sensibilities would." Luna said as she rolled her eyes. "What does that do by the way?" The princess asked, pointing to the shotgun. Booker held up the shotgun and smiled at the princess.
"You just point and-"
"No..." Celestia gasped, interrupting Booker. Luna, Discord, Booker and Elizabeth looked at Celestia, whose face was contorted into an expression of despair. They then stared at the massive force field surrounding Ponyville, and the small changeling army inside, brutalizing the citizens of the small town. Fires raged as buildings collapsed. The sound of death was audible from where they were.
"Guard!" Celestia said, almost frantically. The guard closest to the princess flew to her and addressed her.
"Yes, your highness?" He said, intimidated by what he saw happening to Ponyville.
"Contact Princess Cadence and tell her to bolster the ranks of the Crystal Empire." Celestia said to him. "We need to be prepared for war."
War.
The word sent a noticeable dark chill throughout the group, seeing as how war was virtually unheard of in Equestria. The guard merely stared at her, his eyes widened in disbelief. He said absolutely nothing to the princess as she looked into his eyes.
"Go!" Princess Celestia shouted, her true, booming voice sounding throughout the air around everyone. The guard immediately flew in the direction of the Crystal Empire. Booker furrowed his eyebrows as he loaded his shotgun and cocked it.
"Never thought in a million years..." He mumbled as he watched Elizabeth load her pistol.
"What could they want?" Luna asked her sister, who stood straight up in the chariot. "Sister!" Luna nearly cried, her eyes widening.
"Twilight."
_____
Screams...
So many screams.
"Applejack! Come on!" Rarity cried out as she let a blast of magic loose into a changeling that was seemingly targeting Fluttershy. The farm mare fought with a changeling physically, her splint doing absolutely nothing to help her. It hissed at her as it began to push her back. The farm mare let out a massive blow into the side of the changeling's head with her splint, knocking it unconscious. Applejack immediately returned to Rarity's side, breathing heavily.
"Got-dang splint." Applejack said as they continued to move through the town. Fluttershy took cover by Pinkie Pie's side. In any other situation, the pink party pony would try to make light of the horror around them, but every ounce of her fun spirit was suppressed the moment she had glimpsed three changelings mercilessly beating a stallion while his family watched and screamed.
He had looked to be dead.
Pinkie tried to help...tried to stop the three awful changelings, but she had been stopped by Applejack, who knew better. The same would just happen to Pinkie Pie. They weren't supposed to be heroes right now. They were supposed to survive.
The changelings were not like they were before. They weren't even bothering to hide their true forms. They were murderous...obviously ordered to give no quarter. Pinkie Pie's eyes filled with tears as she held onto Fluttershy and attempted to keep her now-straight mane out of her eyes. The group stopped in an alleyway that was sheltered from the chaos...for that moment at least. The roar of the ursa minor echoed throughout the entire town and the ground shook as it stepped.
"Applejack...from here, what is the quickest way to the farm from the boutique?" Rarity asked between deep breaths.
"We take a left straight outta the boutique and then make a right." Applejack said. "It's a long way, but it's a straight shot." Rarity nodded at her and looked at Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy.
"Did you both get that?" Rarity asked. Pinkie Pie nodded, but Fluttershy seemed to be in a state of shock, merely staring ahead, her eyes wide. Rarity didn't try to speak to the yellow pegasus anymore. She nodded.
"Okay." Rarity said. "On three. One...two...three!"
They sprinted out into the alleyway, dodging attacks from Changelings and fighting back when neccesary. A changeling jumped onto Applejack's back, sinking it's teeth into her shoulder, making her cry out in pain. She bucked it off and kicked it in the head. It's body seemed to go limp. As they continued to run, the boutique came into their view.
"We're almost there!" Rarity cried. "I just need to get Sweetie Belle!"
"Ah don't think it's gonna be that easy." Applejack said, her eyes widening heavily as she pointed at something. Rarity turned around and saw the thing she wanted to see the least in this entire situation.
The monster...the same one that held Scootaloo prisoner was stalking toward them.
It seemed to recognize them.
"No..." Rarity said under her breath.
It roared as it began to charge straight for them.
"Run!" Rarity screamed.
_____
Twenty Minutes Earlier
The Big Daddy ran as quickly as it could in the direction the ponies had run in. It moved surprisingly fast for it's massive bulk, making the ground shake as it ran. The earth crumbled beneath it's mighty boots as it steadily approached the town. It ran into the buildings, smashing through corners and knocking whatever was in it's way out of it's way. Several ponies screamed, but it didn't pay them any mind. They were not what it was after.
If it found those ponies that were running away, it found it's little sister.
A massive force field appeared around the town, making the Big Daddy groan confusedly for a moment before getting back to its business. It didn't care what happened around it, it just needed...needed to find it's little sister. She was here in this town, somewhere, and the steel behemoth would tear it apart brick by brick if it had to to find her.
A strange pressure resounded throughout the back of the Bouncer's steel carapace, making it stop in its tracks. Something was attacking it. It's portholes turned red and it jumped onto it's back, making whatever had attacked him squeal in agony. The Big Daddy turned around to see some strange creature, horribly crushed and whining. It was black, had four legs, wings and a horn. It hissed angrily at the Big Daddy before it plunged it's drill into the creature's body, ending it's life.
It felt another attack, and immediately grabbed the attacker, another one of the strange creatures, by it's head. It struggled, doing absolutely nothing to stop the powerful steel Behemoth. It squeezed the thing's head and once it felt a distinct popping come from it's skull, it threw it away and continued to run through the city.
Another creature attacked and the Big Daddy tore it's wings off and crushed the creature's spine with it's boot as it ran through the city. These strange creatures began to surround the Big Daddy, at least twenty of them landing around it, slowly closing in to mob it. The protector roared and plunged it's drill into the ground, sending a massive shockwave through the earth and stunning to creatures.
The Bouncer went to work, immediately grabbing a changeling by it's leg and smashing it into it's comrades, breaking their bones and mutilating their bodies. It launched it's drill into the crowd of them, the sharp weapon penetrating through three at a time before the Big Daddy recalled it to it's arm.
At that point a changeling that was bigger than the manticore the Big Daddy had killed arrived on the scene. It roared at the Bouncer, prompting the Protector to return the roar. They clashed, the changeling brute attempting to bite the Big Daddy's arm. But just in time, the Big Daddy landed a punch on the Changeling's ribs, caving them in. The changeling squealed in agony before the Big Daddy plunged it's drill through it's meaty neck, nearly severing the head and sending dark green blood everywhere.
The changelings fled from the Protector, convinced of it's invulnerability, as it charged through the city. The chaos around it was merely a secondary concern to the Big Daddy. It turned a corner and set it's sights on it's target.
The ponies from earlier.
It stepped toward them, angry that it's charge was not with them. It would kill them anyway, seeing as they had attacked it before. Their eyes locked on it just as it began to charge.
_____
"Run!" Rarity screamed as the four mares moved as quickly as they could away from the Big Daddy, which sprinted after them. It was certainly much faster than it appeared to be, as it began to close the distance between it and the group of ponies. "Faster! It's gaining!" Rarity cried.
Applejack breathed heavily, her splint making it much more difficult to run for her. Her fractured limb throbbed in horrible pain as they kept trying to get away. They ducked through alleyways, only for the Big Daddy to smash through them in it's pursuit.
"How are we going to get away?!" Pinkie Pie cried. Rarity looked back at Pinkie Pie to answer as she saw the Big Daddy lift up a large wagon with one hand and hurl it at the four of them. It would crush them. Rarity immediately stopped and focused on the wagon.
"Go!" She cried as she caught it with her magic. She strained heavily as she hurled it back at the Big Daddy, only to smash through it in the air. As the behemoth barreled toward Rarity, she didn't even have a second to think. She teleported a few feet away from the Big Daddy, just in time to dodge it's drill, which plunged into the ground. With a scream, she dodged a powerful swipe from the Bouncer that would have surely left her crippled.
Rarity sprinted to catch up with her friends, even though she was already out of breath from the teleportation. She looked back quickly to see a swarm of changelings distracting the Protector. She had barely caught up when they reached the boutique, leaving the Big Daddy behind as it slaughtered its attackers.
"Alright! Go!" Applejack said as Rarity ran into the house. "Ah think it's comin' again!" The statement struck a chord in Rarity as she sprinted through the house, searching for her sister. The boutique had already been ransacked and destroyed. This sent fear coursing through Rarity as her breathing became frantic.
"Sweetie Belle!" Rarity screamed. "Sweetie Belle!"
"Rarity?" A timid voice called from her bedroom. Rarity whimpered as she sprinted for the room and found Sweetie Belle hiding underneath the bed. Tears streaked down her face.
"Oh, Sweetie Belle!" Rarity cried out, immediately grabbing her sister and holding her close. "I'm so happy you're alright!"
"What's happening?" The filly asked, terrified.
"I don't know, my dear." Rarity said. "But we have to go now. We're going to Sweet Apple Acres. You'll get to see Applebloom." Rarity pulled her sister up as they began moving toward the door.
"What about Scootaloo?" Sweetie Belle asked through a sob. Rarity teared up herself, not knowing what had happened to the little orange pegasus. As she turned to answer her sister Applejack, Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy ran into the bedroom and took shelter against the far wall from the door. They breathed heavily in fear.
"Rarity-" Applejack began frantically before a massive drill crashed up through the floor, the pronounced ridges cutting through Rarity's leg as she fell back.
"Hide, Sweetie Belle!" Rarity screamed as a massive hand reached through the floor and took hold. "HIDE!" Sweetie Belle took shelter in Rarity's closet as the Big Daddy began to pull itself through the floor. It groaned loudly, it's red portholes glowing brightly.
"Ah'm gonna distract it while y'all get outta here!" Applejack said, looking at Rarity, Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy, their eyes wide in disbelief. "Take Sweetie Belle and go!" The Big Daddy began to pull itself up through the hole.
"NO!" Rarity cried, tears beginning to streak down her face. "I can't let you die!"
"What else are ya gonna do?!" Applejack nearly screamed. "Tell my family Ah love 'em."
Just as the Big Daddy began to come up into the room, it stopped.
It let out the loudest roar that any of the mares had ever heard. The boutique shook from the sheer force of the sound, which left the mares' ears ringing. The Big Daddy let go of the ledge and and dropped down through the hole. The four mares watched it move through the boutique quicker than it chased them. It smashed through the front wall of the house.
It was gone.
They had been spared. They all stood in a sort of trance, staring at the gaping hole in the floor.
"Come on!" Pinkie Pie cried suddenly. "We have to get to the farm!" Rarity snapped out of her trance and immediately helped Sweetie Belle out of the closet.
"I thought..." Sweetie Belle said through her tears. "I thought he was good..."
"No." Rarity said. "He's not good." Rarity cringed as Pinkie Pie finished wrapping a tourniquet around her injured leg. The five mares then left the house and ran for the farm as fast as they could, away from the changelings, away from the Big Daddy...
Away from the death.
_____
Celestia and Luna cast a powerful spell, one that had the strength the create a large hole in the force field.
"Charge!" Celestia cried. "Protect the citizens at all costs!" The large detachment of the royal guard and night patrol flew through the hole and engaged the changelings, their powerful offensive magic providing a decent cover for the landing of the Princesses, Booker and Elizabeth. The bat ponies, mostly incapable of magic, fought with an animalistic ferocity that surpassed that of many wild beasts in Equestria.
"Come!" Celestia said as she launched a magical blast that took out at least five changelings. "We must hurry!"
"Where are we going?" Booker asked before shooting a changeling down with his shotgun. He then let out a burst of Electrobolt into a changeling, the plasmid paralyzing the creature, allowing him to get off an easy shot.
"We must rescue Princess Twilight Sparkle!" Luna cried, letting out a large magical blast of her own. "She is extremely inexperienced and likely the target of this assault!"
"Perfect!" Booker said as he lit a changeling aflame with incinerate. He looked at Elizabeth, who was in the process of opening a tear. From the tear came a samurai warrior, who began to eviscerate changelings. "Hey. You good?"
"Yeah." Elizabeth said as she scored a perfect shot on a changeling with her pistol. "Let's go."
The princesses, Discord, Booker and Elizabeth moved through the town, repelling changeling attacks as the skirmish occurred behind them. The number of changelings was staggering, hundreds of them engaging their soldiers. While they were holding their own quite well, they were beginning to fall into a disadvantage. As they reached the town square, they and ten to fifteen of their soldiers were surrounded by what looked to be at least one hundred changelings at once.
"You guys ready?" Booker cried out as he cocked the shotgun. "This is gonna get pretty ugly real fast!"
"You wanna see ugly?" Discord scoffed. "Visit my grandma. She could teach these guys a thing or two."
"We need to save Twilight." Celestia said, furrowing her eyebrows. "Whatever the cost."
"Well, then..." Elizabeth said. "We'd better get to work."
The changelings attacked, swarming the small group. Elizabeth shot a changeling in the head before being tackled to the ground by one. Booker immediately ran forward and kicked it off of her before shooting it dead. He helped her up, immediately turned and bashed a changeling with the butt of the gun. As a large group of changelings approached Discord, he snapped his claws, causing a nearby building to come to life to attack them. Wooden beams fused together to become limbs with large claws. razor sharp boards of wood came from the font of the house forming a mouth. Discord watched, satisfied as his creation began to kill the attackers.
"Oops." Discord said, an evil grin spreading over his face. Celestia launched a bolt of magic into a group of changelings, taking out a good number of them before bucking several behind her with her powerful legs. Just as a rather large changeling jumped on her from behind, Luna blasted it off of her. The royal guard and bat ponies began to fall, crumpling from the overwhelming might of the changeling army.
A changeling sunk it's razor sharp teeth into Booker's leg, making him cry out in pain before caving it's head in with a blast from his shotgun. He froze a changeling that pounced at Elizabeth solid with winter blast before kicking it into hundreds of ice shards. Princess Luna felt a sharp pain in her back right leg as it was stabbed by a changeling horn, making her grit her teeth in pain before bucking it away and blasting several more with bolts of magic. Realizing they'd be overwhelmed eventually, Celestia began to charge a spell, the pure power of it heating up the area around her.
"Luna! Booker! Elizabeth! Discord! Get as close to me as you can! NOW!" The princess cried. Luna, aware of what her sister was doing, began to push Booker toward Celestia.
"Wait, why?" Booker asked.
"You'll see, just move!" Luna said as Elizabeth moved toward Celestia as well.
"This should be fun." Discord said after teleporting to coil around Celestia's body. Once they all were with Celestia, the sun princess let out an offensive spell that appeared to be a large shockwave of fire. It coursed throughout the town square and not much farther, wiping out many of the changelings attacking, and sending many of the rest fleeing.
"Why didn't you use that earlier?!" Booker cried immediately as he reloaded his shotgun.
"Look around you, Booker." Celestia said, furrowing her eyebrows. As Booker looked around, he saw the bodies of the soldiers that had assisted them. They'd all been killed. "I couldn't kill them."
"Jeez, I..." Booker said. "I'm...I'm sorry."
"We have to go now." Celestia said, moving in the direction of Golden Oaks Library, the residence of Princess Twilight Sparkle. For all she knew, they were too late. They hurried throughout the streets of Ponyville, fighting the chaos around them as they went. They turned the corner and began to approach the library.
But what they saw transpiring left even Princesses Celestia and Luna in complete and utter awe.
"Oh, wow." Discord gasped. "What is that?"
_____
Twenty Minutes Earlier
Rainbow Dash sat on the bed in the upper bedroom of Golden Oaks Library, holding Scootaloo close to her as the filly cried. The situation began to get more and more hopeless as time went on. There wasn't any sign that the chaos outside had ended, there was no positive reassurance. Eventually, the changelings would come to this library in search of Twilight and find her and Scootaloo. From that point, there were two possibilities that Rainbow saw happening.
They'd find them and Rainbow would fight them as well as she could and die to hopefully give Scootaloo some time to escape. But assuming Scootaloo didn't escape, she'd be killed as well.
The massive steel behemoth would find them, and it would kill her. Afterwards, the behemoth would hopefully resume its protection of Scootaloo, keeping her safe from the changelings.
Rainbow Dash desperately hoped that it was the latter. She knew she was going to die, there was no way around it. Above all, though, she wanted Scootaloo to live. She cared deeply for the filly, as if she was her younger sister. Rainbow slowly stroked Scootaloo's mane and kissed her on the head again.
"Whats..." Scootaloo said. "Wh-What's gonna happen?"
"I'm gonna protect you," Rainbow said. "And kick the flank of any of those changelings that want to mess with you."
"You don't honestly believe that, do you?" Scootaloo asked. Of course Rainbow didn't believe it. But she had to stay positive for Scootaloo.
"Yeah, I do!" Rainbow said. "Do I detect you doubting my awesomeness?"
"Oh, no." Scootaloo said, wiping the tears from her eyes. "You're so awesome, Rainbow. It's just that if they all come here and gang up on you..."
"You know what? You're right." Rainbow said. "But you know what I know for myself?"
"What?" Scootaloo said.
"You're going to be absolutely fine." Rainbow said.
"How do you know?" Scootaloo said.
"Because I know." Rainbow said. "I'll die before-" As Rainbow said the words, the ceiling of the library caved in to reveal Chrysalis, Queen of the Changelings riding atop the head of an Ursa Minor. The bear's fur was black as night and it's eyes glowed a bright blue.
"My sincerest apologies for interrupting, but did someone say 'die'?" Chrysalis said as she stepped into the room. Rainbow immediately stood up in front of Scootaloo, hunching protectively. "Oh, that's cute." The evil queen said before lifting Rainbow Dash up with her magic and levitating the pegasus before her.
"Put her down!" Scootaloo cried out.
"Not likely, my dear." Chrysalis said. "Where is Twilight Sparkle?"
"Not here, if that's what you're wondering." Rainbow Dash said with a smirk. "What, you think you can just take an ursa minor for a walk through the woods without somepony getting alerted to it?"
"What are you talking about?" Chrysalis asked, making Rainbow scoff and roll her eyes.
"Stupid changeling." Rainbow said. "Celestia knew about your little attack before you even got here! Now Twilight's in another place, and you're feeling really dumb." Rainbow Dash lied. Fortunately, Rainbow Dash always was skilled in the art of deception. Chrysalis growled and used her magic to pull Rainbow's wings out to be fully extended behind her. The pegasus grunted and attempted to resist the magic, but she failed. The Queen threw Rainbow Dash roughly into the wall of the bedroom, wings first. An audible crack was heard, and Rainbow screamed in agony as her wings broke.
"Rainbow Dash!" Scootaloo cried out, tears welling up in her eyes as Chrysalis picked the pegasus up again and slammed her into another wall roughly before throwing her down on the ground. Rainbow Dash coughed deeply as she rolled onto her side, blood leaking from her nose. Chrysalis stepped on one of the broken wings, making Rainbow shriek.
"You may be good at lying, my sweet. But you cannot lie to the best liar in Equestria." The evil Queen approached Scootaloo, who trembled as she stood above her. "Now, where is she?!"
"I...I..." Scootaloo said.
"WHERE?!" Chrysalis shrieked right in Scootaloo's face, making the filly's ears ring. The filly turned her head away from Chrysalis, and stood firm.
"I'm not telling." Scootaloo said. At that moment, Rainbow Dash leaped into Chrysalis' side, knocking her off balance and making her stumble. The pegasus let out a flurry of punches into the Queen's head, making the evil changeling screech with fury.
"Changeling piece of-" Rainbow snarled before Chrysalis pulled The pegasus off of her with her magic once more and slammed the pegasus against a wall, this time moving the magic around her neck, cutting off her air supply. Chrysalis continued to strangle Rainbow Dash, breathing deeply with hatred before calming down extremely suddenly.
"You...have heart." Chrysalis said before spitting out a glob of blood. "And a tremendous amount of gall. I respect that."
"You let her go!" Scootaloo screamed through a sob.
"If you don't want to tell me where Twilight Sparkle is, fine." Chrysalis said. "Then you won't mind my friend here destroying this house with you and your blue protector still in it." Chrysalis shot a magic beam at the ursa major that, until this point, had been waiting patiently by the library. It roared loudly and began to demolish the library, pulling the walls apart. Scootaloo screamed at the top of her lungs, knowing now that she would die.
From the distance, came a very familiar roar. One that Scootaloo remembered hearing in the Everfree Forest as she was being attacked by a manticore.
"What in the..." Chrysalis said, confused by the roar that was obviously not her ursa major. "No matter. It would appear that you and your little blue guardian are-"
"She's not my only guardian." Scootaloo said, furrowing her eyebrows at Chrysalis.
"What?" Chrysalis growled as she narrowed her eyes, "You dare interrupt-"
"If you think that Rainbow Dash is the only thing here in Ponyville that is willing to fight to the death for me..." Scootaloo said. "You're dead wrong!"
"What in Equestria are you-"
Chrysalis was interrupted by a squeal of pain from the ursa minor behind her. The queen turned around to see it get pulled down to the ground. The ground shook from the impact. Completely and utterly surprised, Chrysalis flew out of the room to see what was brutalizing the ursa minor this way. The Big Daddy, only a third the size of the ursa minor, had impaled it's drill into one of the back legs of the bear and pulled it to the ground. The ursa minor immediately turned around and grabbed the Bouncer and prepared to bite into it with it's massive jaws. With a massive and deafening roar, it opened its mouth.
As it clamped it's teeth down onto the steel carapace of the Protector, it's teeth shattered and it cried in pain as it brought the Bouncer out of it's mouth. The Big Daddy wasted no time in launching it's drill into the massive bear's eye, making it drop the steel behemoth. With a massive roar, the Big Daddy pulled the Ursa Minor to the ground head first and recalled the drill to it's arm. It then ran toward the ursa minor and jumped onto it's head, it's weight keeping the bear's head on the ground. It rotated it's drill at high speeds and plunged it's drill into the ursa minor's head, making it squeal in agony. The bear's limbs flailed about, destroying parts of the library. The Big Daddy withdrew the drill and plunged it in again in a different place in the bear's skull cavity. With this second impaling, the bear expired, ending the long and awful struggle.
The Big Daddy stepped off of the ursa minor's head, leaving the dead beast behind like it was nothing. It then looked up, locking onto Chrysalis. The Queen gasped and flew back into the bedroom as the Big Daddy quickly scaled the side of the library to get to her. She immediately lifted Scootaloo and Rainbow Dash with her magic and began to fly out of the room when the Big Daddy grabbed her leg. She immediately turned and screeched loudly, before producing an intense light defensive spell, disorienting the Big Daddy and making it step back. She immediately flew out of the library to see Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, Discord and two strange creatures she'd never seen before.
"Celestia!" Chrysalis said. "That is quite the enforcer you have!" Celestia responded by launching a magical blast at Chrysalis, who dodged it.
"It isn't one of ours." Luna growled, scowling at the changeling queen. "We don't know what it is."
"Well, no matter." Chrysalis said. "If Twilight Sparkle wants miss Rainbow Dash here to live, she knows where to find me." The changeling Queen began to fly away before she was interrupted by Celestia.
"Chrysalis!" Celestia said, her eyes filled with rage. "I hope you know...you've started a war."
"Good." Chrysalis said, an evil grin crossing her face before letting out a massive screech, calling the rest of the changelings to follow her as she flew away with Scootaloo and Rainbow Dash. The force field dissipated as they flew back to their hive. The Big Daddy launched itself from the massive hole in the library and began to pursue the changelings.
"Guard!" Princess Celestia cried, earning the attention of one of the remaining royal guard.
"Yes, princess?" He said.
"Find Princess Twilight." The princess of the sun said, furrowing her brow as she watched the cloud of Changelings disappear. "Consider that an order of the highest priority."
"Yes, your highness!" The guard cried out as he returned to his fellow soldiers to give the orders.
"So what do we do now?" Booker asked, breathing heavily as he watched the Big Daddy break through the treeline into the woods.
...
No response.
"Princess?" Elizabeth said gently. She still received no response from the sun princess.
"Sister!" Luna said. "What are we to do?"
"We prepare for war."
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Yes, please lead the rampaging metal monstrosity away from all the squishy ponies. Hell, they should be paying her to kidnap Scootaloo!
Just....*squee*
Big daddy kill all channglings.
Chysalis appears to have signed her own death warrant.
You have satisfied me.
On another note: Is that one ability that lets you passify a big daddy still in effect from the original Bioshock or are we goin' native wit' dis' bi+#h.
3674084 Oh, hypnotize Big Daddy? Hmm... ;)
Huh... I don't know what to say about this chapter. I thought the bouncer would kill a lot more and save the day.
Prepare for war...
Yeah... I think the big daddy will take care of that.
3674716 Because with that,You just cast plasmid,Aim big daddy at target,And watch the carnage unfold
SHIT! This would be a good time for the Big Daddy, Booker, or Elizabeth to get here!!!
THE MOTHER FUCKING CALVARY HAS COME!!!!! BO YA!!!!!!! Now, to war! The big daddy's the spearhead. HELL YA!
I kind of feel bad for the big daddy, all he wants to do is protect his little sister, but we keep on killing them and the little sister is alone after that.
Oh well, time to play some bioshock