The Line

by Sooks

Ch.20 - Resolve

They awoke to a chorus of horns ringing out across the riverlands, a baritone flock that heralded the end of the world. For a moment, most of them lay in their beds, breath caught in their throats. Against all logic, all of them lay there, hoping that somepony would call a false alarm.

It never came, and Firefly was not one for wasting time.

“Alright, mules, outta bed, outta bed.” She banged on their bunks as she went by, and banged on them if they didn’t immediately get up. “Good news, boys and girls. Last day of the war’s here! Come on, everypony get your suits. We want to look bucking fancy for our date with the dragons. Drifter, are you gonna get all spiffy for your date?”

“Gonna sparkle like a diamond, Captain,” Stratus said around the strap in his mouth. “I shined my shoes and everything.”

“Good stallion. Snowdrift, you been practicing your dance moves?”

“Gonna cut the rug all to pieces, Boss,” the white stallion shouted back.

“Raindrops, you’ve been bucking Twiggy here enough. You gonna buck some dragons with us?”

“I saved something just for them, Ma’am,” the brick red pegasus patted her colt on the back to clear his straps. He whispered something in her ear, and for once, rather than blush, she whispered something back that turned him as red as she was.

“Come on, ponies, the clock’s ticking. Upstairs, upstairs, move it!” Rather than run, all of them flew as best they could in the tight quarters, bounding off walls and gliding to the next one. They reached the top deck to find Celestia already clad in her glimmering armor. “Your Highness, apologies for being late.” Firefly saluted, the rest of her company following suit right behind her.

“No need to apologize, Captain. I didn’t expect you for another minute or two.” The princess smiled at them. “I want all of you to stay close to me. We’re going to be flying directly for the center of their lines. Do not engage until I give you the signal, understood?” They all nodded. “Very good. I think everypony is just about ready. Captain Firefly, I have something for you, as a precaution.” The princess’s horn flashed for just a second, as did the fuschia mare’s body, but nothing seemed to happen. Firefly put a hoof to her throat as if she was choking, but calmed almost immediately. “For the time being, I shall take command of your company.” She gave one last look over them before her wings unfurled. The twin appendages seemed to go on forever, like towering clouds on the horizon, each feather more perfect than a diamond.

Not to be blinded by the spectacle, Cyclone Company prepared to jump. Rainbow Blaze, Pastelight, and more than a dozen others, all too injured to fly, stood by and watched. Night Light stood with them, his preparations already made. For a brief moment, Rainbow’s gaze locked with Firefly’s. After everything they had said last night, what else could they say? So Rainbow just mouthed, “I love you,” to her, and she did the same, and then they were back to business. Some things never really change.

Lily’s outstretched wings fluttered in the wind as she leaned over to Comet. “You’re not going anywhere this time, right?”

“Not without you,” the indigo filly reassured her.

Celestia looked over all of them and gave them a warm, thankful smile. “I know that it is not an easy decision to be here,” the princess said. “But you have put yourselves between danger and Equestria’s future, and for that, you have my eternal thanks.

“I am so proud of all of you.”

The alicorn rose onto her hind legs and dove over the side of the ship backwards, catching the sky beneath her and righting herself into an easy glide. With her drop, hundreds of pegasi jumped from their ships and flew alongside their princess. The wind felt like home beneath Comet’s wings as she soared between the princess and her company. Beside her, Lily Nimbus glided on early morning currents, Willow and Rain beside her, Stratus and Thunder Clap and the twins beside them, and on and on and on. The filly steadied herself; whatever was to happen was already happening, and she had already determined that she would not run away.

“Hey Sun Ray,” Stratus called out to the yellow filly, “what do you hear?”

“Nothing but the rain, Drifter,” she called back. Moon beam laughed. “You think he’s ok?”

“I know he is. If there is a heaven, Ray, then we’ve all earned our place.” The sounds of chatter darted throughout the airborne ponies as they followed their princess. Down below, earth ponies and unicorns could be seen hoisting their weapons skyward, a gesture their winged kin returned with hearty cries. It was a few hundred yards out from the ships that Celestia drew into a graceful hover, watching the dragons approach.

There must have been hundreds, no, thousands of them swarming over earth and sky. All manner of colors, all manner of shapes and sizes, it was hard to believe that they were all of one race. Comet’s heart sank as she saw more than a dozen massive sparklefangs among the flight, all chained as Scholar had been. Apparently, their services as magic wells were no longer needed, for the dragons flew completely free of storm, shadow, or any other magical cover. The early morning sun was blocked out by the shadow of so many dragons flying overhead, and if it were not for the shaking of the trees below, one might have missed the presence of the endless longtails and wingless sparklefangs scrambling along the grassy earth.

Celestia closed her eyes and breathed deep. For so long, she had walked this world, partaken of its beauty and its wonder, and had done everything she could to pass that love on to her ponies. Even in the face of such danger, the soft smell of the river and the trees put her mind at ease. Everything that she was, she gave to her subjects. If she were to die here, then it would be only fitting.

“Don’t you dare give up now.”

The sun princess opened her eyes and declared, with a voice far louder than should have been possible, “Dragons of the southern lands, cease your approach.” And to everypony’s surprise, they stopped. “For too long, our kinds have shed blood across earth and sky for bitterness’ sake. Let this be ended, here and now, with no more loss of life.

“I would treat with the leader of your flight to accept the terms of our surrender.” Waves of horrified murmurs would have washed across the pony armies, had they not been too stunned to speak. Comet felt dozens of eyes turn on her, boring into the back of her head, but she did not budge an inch. Lily nudged her wingpony in panic. Comet’s glare only hardened.

A large, almost fat broadwing separated itself from the flight and lumbered forward. Comet remembered Earnest Hem describe a Mountain King, a title earned by strength, designating a position of leadership over all other dragons. If size was an indicator, this one certainly had a good standing -- it was almost half as large as Scholar, though considerably more round.

“Princess Celestia,” the dragon hissed in a sufficiently feminine voice, “such a surprise to find you here in the flesh. I had not expected to meet you until we had taken Canterlot.”

“Such a thing will not happen, I assure you.” Celestia sent a surge of magic through her horn, and a chest levitated from the deck of the Cumulus and sped out to meet her. “You demanded an item of us a year ago, one that I dared not give you. But the suffering we have endured is beyond our ability to bear. So we shall give you what you demand.

“We will surrender the Elements of Harmony to you and your flight.” Comet bit her lip hard enough to draw blood. “In exchange, you shall leave Equestria, never to return. No dragon is to pass beyond our borders until the ending of the world. Do this, and we shall put our grievances aside. Do you agree to these terms?”

For too long, the Mountain Queen said nothing as she squinted at the chest. Her gaze would flit to Celestia, then back at the chest, then back again. A scaled, fanged smile twisted her lips, and finally she said, “We accept, Princess.”

The chest opened, and six stone orbs floated out in front of Celestia. Each was about the size of a pony’s head, made of smooth, featureless stone, save for a deep carving on the face of each one. Celestia looked each of them over before floating them to the Mountain Queen. The dragon took them in a colossal paw and twirled them like a sextet of ben wa balls. She seemed content to float there, her army neither advancing nor retreating, as she fiddled with her prize.

“Do you know the sad thing about all this, Celestia?” The Mountain Queen said. “You hold someone’s word as an unbreakable oath. You think that, because I have said I will do this thing, it will actually be done. A thousand years, and you are still so naive.” The orbs floated out of the dragon’s hand, held aloft in a murky, turquoise glow. The dragon stretched, and was suddenly consumed in green fire. Her body shrank, her limbs receded, and her leathery wings took the form of billowing, crystalline insect wings. When the fire died, the changeling floated before them, freed of her disguise. She was bigger than the ones Comet had seen before, with longer legs and a jade, web-like mane where fins had adorned the others.

Around her neck, a darksteel amulet dug into her chiten, deep rubies glowing an angry red. The metal wrapped around her throat in the shape of broad, razor sharp wings to match the spear like unicorn head that topped it. “That amulet. Where did you find that!?” Celestia cried.

“You would be amazed what just gets left lying around, Celestia.” The changeling removed the amulet and held it aloft as well. “It has been a most wonderful tool, allowing my swarm to masquerade as dragons, giving us the willpower to hypnotize the strongest among them. But it’s just a toy,” she tossed the amulet, not watching where it fell, “when held against this mighty trophy.

“You have not only given us the Elements of Harmony, Celestia, but all of Equestria. Perhaps all of the world. But don’t worry,” she cooed, “you will learn to love your new masters, as the dragons have. You will love us all.” Tendrils of sickly green magic ensnared the Elements in a macabre web before the changeling queen. She channeled her power into them, and they shed their sedimentary guise, becoming balls of pure light and color. Celestia’s horn flared, but it was a candle against the brilliant light before her. Comet had to shut her eyes as a second sun erupted outward.

~*~

Comet Shimmer arrived in a secluded chamber of the castle around half past who-even-knew in the morning. She had been given a new officer’s collar as a formality, and the glimmering wings that adorned it looked fresh from the mint. Across the room from her sat half a dozen large, stone orbs, perfectly smooth, arranged in a neat little circle. She poked one curiously, but it was heavy enough to resist rolling against the plush carpet.

“Not what you expect legendary artifacts to look like, hm?” Celestia chuckled as she appeared. Comet jumped at her princess’s voice cutting through the silence.

“I thought you said the Elements of Harmony had been lost for a thousand years.”

“And they are still lost, I’m afraid.” Celestia ran a hoof over the stone sphere. “That does not mean I have forgotten their appearance.”

“They’re replicas?” Comet inspected the stones even more carefully.

“Very nearly, Miss Shimmer. Each element is adorned with an engraving denoting the element each stone bears. Do you remember them?” Comet shook her head. “There are, obviously, six in total: Honesty, Kindness, Laughter, Generosity, Loyalty, and Magic.”

“Magic seems kind of out of place, doesn’t it?”

“In a sense, but can you quantify everything that makes a good friend?” Celestia smiled.

“Is that what the Elements are? A… friend maker?”

“It is better to think of it as, friendship is harmony between two parties.” Celestia circled the spheres until she was on the opposite side from Comet. “Are you starting to gather why I have summoned you, Comet Shimmer?”

The filly looked over the stones. Celestia had said the Elements bore an engraving denoting their trait, but these were perfectly smooth from top to bottom. The Elements were without their elements, without the things that made them whole… “You need the traits?”

“I do,” Celestia said. “You dedication to your friends, your determination to find them against all hope, tells me of your love for them. It is this love that shall give these replicas their signatures, and make them so appetizing to the changelings.” Celestia smirked. “Changelings can smell emotions like we smell foods. Love, laughter, joy, these are sweet and delectable. Anger, fear, sorrow, these are bitter, but sustaining when necessary. The Elements are, and bring out, the best in all creatures. Nothing is more appetizing to them.”

“Celestia, how do you know so much about changelings?”

“Because I have fought them before, little one,” Celestia sighed, “long ago. But that is for another time. This work is delicate, but I shall guide you through it as we go. I need you to think of your friends: everything that brought you to them, everything you love about them, all the times that made them ponies that you cannot live without." The alicorn's horn glowed, and a delicate golden thread appeared between Comet and the spheres. "Focus.”

Comet closed her eyes and thought hard on her company. A feeling entered her mind, smooth like cream, colored pink and gold like the softest of roses. A smile graced her lips. The milky glow reminded her of Silver Raindrops. Even before they had become friends, she had always been kind and cordial. Though she never seemed to regard Comet anymore than she was regarded, the brick red filly always gave her a smile, often answered her questions or responded to her input. She was like a mother, nurturing and kind and full of love. She had always put others first, even when she was in as poor condition as they. That she saw something so worth loving in Willow Wisp was only a testament to her kindness.

The feeling changed, tickling Comet with warm bubbles that popped against her fur. She couldn’t help but giggle at the sensation. The twins had always managed to do the same: even in dark days, where there was no reason to smile, they had found a way to. They always had a song, a joke, some sort of act to put on, not just for themselves but for everypony else. Anypony who didn’t like them initially had warmed to them in time. The laughter they shared between each other, they spread as far as they could, leaving smiles in their wake.

The force against Comet’s mind cooled, wrapping around her like a spring breeze. The smell of flowers, maybe a brook, wafted by her, putting her at ease. It took her back to a bar stool from long ago, where a cobalt pegasus had seen she needed help and gladly gave it. Rainbow Blaze had never told her it would be easy, only that they would do everything they could for each other. He had never hidden his approval, his disappointment, his humor, or really even his love. He had been an optimist at times, but never delusional, and he had so driven Comet and the others to be equally honest with themselves and with each other. He'd saved her on that confused and lonely night, and she owed it to him to do everything she could.

The spring breeze washed over her, caressing her from nose to hoof. Everything it had, it gave her. Moon Fang had been that way. It hadn’t just been for her, it had been for everypony. He was always thinking of how best they could succeed as a team, how they could support each other when they were on the edge. His last thoughts had been for her, and she knew she could never have repaid him for everything he had done to see her safely through. He had given everything, everything, for the ponies that he had come to call his family. She only hoped that she could still do the same.

The caressing sensation stilled, becoming almost hard, but not tough. It solidified against her, around her, supporting her in a gentle but firm embrace. Lily -- Faust, Lily Nimbus had been such a pain. She was so loud, so rambunctious, so forthright about everything, it was impossible to miss her presence. And it wasn’t an act, she really was that way, but none of them had noticed the point when her inner fire would set theirs ablaze. She was one of the first out, last back, pushing ponies one way or another to do better. She had never quit. And she had never quit on Comet. She had had so many opportunities to, so many reasons -- the chiroptequus was pretty sure she would have -- hell, she had quit on herself, but Lily hadn’t. She could not have asked for a more dependable friend. No matter what, she had to find her.

The sensation exploded through Comet, swirling, coalescing, burning, living, and dying only to swell into existence again. There was no single pony that could stand out in the cosmos inside her mind. Everypony she had come to know, everypony she had loved and lost, everypony that had made her who she was, was there, watching, smiling, guiding her even now. Her mother, her father, her brother, her teachers, her friends, her squad, her platoon, her company, her ship, they were all waiting for her.

So she went to them.

Comet’s eyes opened and she reached for air. Had she been holding her breath the entire time? How long was “the entire time?” She felt as if she had flown a dozen laps around Canterlot, but she was warmer than she had been in a long, long time. Before her, the fake Elements of Harmony held a soft glow about them. Each of their smooth surfaces was marked by a deep insignia, unlit against their luminescent shells.

“I must say, I am impressed,” Celestia whispered. “I expected the process to be more challenging. Ponies cannot usually recall what makes their friends so dear, so easily.”

“Did it work?”

“Splendidly, little one.” Celestia levitated each of the spheres into a wooden chest. As they settled into the felt lining, their glow ceased. “If your company is present at the rendezvous, their presence will compound the power of our replicas, making them all but real. But there is one more element to this spell that even I cannot conjure, one that will release the dragons from their shackles. For that, we will need help.”

“Who can do the last part? Do we have the time to find them?”

“Oh yes, Miss Shimmer,” Celestia smiled. “In fact, we will be meeting them there.”

~*~

The Elements of Harmony exploded.

A shockwave billowed in all directions from the magical circle, blowing the changeling queen, the dragons, and the ponies back. The dragons and ponies on the ground were pressed against the grass and dirt as the wave fell down on top of them. Even the airships, hundreds of yards away, lurched violently as they were blasted by the aetheric shockwave.

The changeling queen righted herself in midair, panting as she tried to take in the scene before her. The elements were crystalline dust, already lost to the morning winds. The ponies were completely unaffected. And behind her, two centuries of work had been exposed.

Her changelings, precisely interspersed among the dragons, had returned to their insectoid forms. They did not even seem to know until they noticed each other. They looked to their queen in panic, but she had no answers. But worse, even worse, were the severed magical tethers she could see dangling from the dragons they had once controlled. Only a few remained in tact, a pathetic fraction of their vast army. Light began to return to the emancipated dragons’ eyes, the sparklefangs recovering the fastest. The changelings drifted nervously in their formations, surrounded on all sides by creatures that were no longer their allies.

“You…” the queen hissed and turned on the alicorn, “what have you done? What have you done!?”

“The Elements of Harmony will not bow to a cruel heart,” Celestia spat, "or to one who has no heart at all. They have denied you, changeling, and undone your magic. As for your revealment, that is the work of one of those you sought to enslave.” The princess’s gaze hardened. “Your slave army is no longer yours.”

The first changeling to die found its head inside a dragon’s mouth while its body fell to the earth below. The floodgates opened, and the emancipated dragons roared for blood. The insectoids scattered, their remaining puppets throwing themselves against their free kin. Celestia cast a quick spell, and the hypnotic tethers that bound the lost dragons became clear for all to see.

“Captain, if you would,” Celestia motioned to Firefly.

The fuschia mare opened her mouth and split the sky, “All hooves, weapons free. Targets are the changelings and the ensnared dragons. Unshackled dragons are friendlies, do not engage, repeat, do not engage. Leave the slave dragons to their kin, focus on the bugs. Leave no changeling alive.” The ponies charged with a year’s worth of vengeance pushing them forward. The gap between them and the already raging battle closed rapidly, and they could make out the changelings firing some sort of magical beam from their curved horns. Whenever it contacted a dragon, the beast would crumple in agony for as long as the beam held on it. Every so often, one of them would try to transform, but a shimmering, golden light would drag them back to their natural form.

The pegasi, their feathers more sensitive than the leather of a chiroptequus’s wings, were the first to notice the tens of thousands of tiny dust particles floating in the air. The Elements of Harmony hung over the battle in a nearly imperceptible dust, dispelling the changelings’ transformation as fast as they could attempt it.

No more disguises.

No more tricks.

Firefly looped over a dragon, rolled under a second, and leapt off a third to remove a changeling’s head from its neck. Their targets were far smaller than they had been before, but they died so much easier. Left and right, changelings tried to escape to find dragon and pony alike cutting them off, hungry for their green blood.

No one bore that hunger greater than the sparklefangs. Their minds returned to them, their magic obliterated any foe foolish enough to challenge them. One broadwing latched itself to a pearly gray sparklefang, viciously biting at the larger drake's throat. On the third strike, its fangs shattered against magically hardened scales. The beast roared in pain before it was pulled free by a massive hand. The sparklefang clutched it by its throat, gripping tighter and tighter until a sickening crunch sounded from the broadwing's neck. The larger dragon discarded the corpse, turned, and turned a trio of glimmerbacks to ash before they could escape.

Thunder Clap vaulted over a dragon to bear down on a changeling. At the last moment, the insectoid spotted the green pegasus and unleashed a wave of agonizing ether on him. Thunder screamed in pain -- every bone in his body seemed to shatter, and his skin crawled with bites and burns. His missing eye burned like a white hot lump of metal. His wings seized, and he had to let gravity carry him the rest of the way to his target. The changeling met his glaive, and the agony vanished. Panting from the memory of a pain that never existed, Thunder shoved the changeling away and scanned for his squad.

Wren Song saw an opportunity and led her four ponies through a tight corkscrew. She knew she only needed to line them up, and sure enough, they rolled out of the maneuver with five quick kills. A shackled broadwing dropped in front of them, mouth glowing with inner flame, before another dragon of comparable size crashed into its side. The freed dragon tore into its blazing gullet, immune to the gushing flame that billowed from the wound. With the inferno raging uncontrollably, Wren saw no reason to stick around any longer than they had to, and hurried her squad along.

The twins, a few hundred yards down, had been cut off from their squad. Beams of agony lanced around them, striking ponies and dragons and limiting their chances for escape. A beam grazed the snowfall blue twin, causing her to drop a few feet. Sun Ray dove after her towards the mouth of a hungry dragon. She caught her twin right as a column of golden light the size of a train obliterated the dragon that would have swallowed them both. Celestia glided past them, a fifth of Cyclone Company in her wake, targeting dragons left and right. A few of the enslaved reptiles recognized the danger she posed and tried to jump her at once. Eight spears of pure light unfolded behind the princess, angled at the dragons, and skewered them faster than anyone could perceive. A ninth slipped by and struck out at her, but its claw crumpled against a shield the color of dawn. A flash of the alicorn's fluted horn turned the dragon into a brief, tiny star.

The changelings behind the nine deceased dragons turned to flee, but Stratus would not have it. He was the first to reach them, his squad close behind. His glaive angled wide and cut through the changelings wing, so he rolled away, taking the wing with him. Flightless, the changeling plummeted like a stone. A second changeling turned to strike the ash pegasus, but a sparklefang's fiery missile consumed the insectoid before it could so much as blink. Silver Raindrops and Willow Wisp formed up just behind him, each marking up another kill, but the three of them together drew the attentinon of a lanky glimmerback. The beast lunged for them, its mouth wide and drooling. Willow grabbed Rain and dropped as fast as he could right as an amber blast of dragon magic hit the drake in the side, crushing its ribs. The beast rolled in midair, its claw swinging wide and grazing the filly along the base of her wing. She howled in pain and clung to Willow.

“Drifter!” Wisp shouted. His squad mate was right beside him. “I need to get her back to the ship. Cover us!” Stratus nodded, and the three retreated behind Celestia’s endless barrage. To their surprise, they did not have far to fly; with the original plan out the window, the airships had closed in, forgoing the more inaccurate ballistae in favor of concentrated magic barrages. Night Light was doing his part when the three landed on the deck.

“Buck,” the unicorn spat, “I’ll get the medic. Put some pressure on that.” Willow held one hoof against the wound and stroked Rain’s mane with the other. She smiled at him.

“Cheerleader, I gotta get back out there. You two stay here, alright?” Willow nodded, and Stratus Drifter vaulted back over the side of the ship. Just above the tree canopy, the changelings were discovering the lack of control they held over their remaining servants. While the dragons knew to hunt down ponies, they did not seem to be able to distinguish between pony and changeling. Such was the case for the half dozen pursuing Wren Song’s squad through the trees as a broadwing descended on all of them. Without warning, the dragon let loose a sea of fire, consuming all the trees in its path. Pony and changeling alike darted through the woods, trying desperately to escape the inferno. The wall of fire reared like a wave, blasting heated air down on top of the ponies. Lily Nimbus, a tail's length behind her wingponies, was forced towards the ground, but she flared her wings and leveled out with inches to spare. Wren rolled hard to the left, leading her squad out over the river. The changelings tried to pursue, but the fire leapt out to the bank, trapping them and swallowing them in the all devouring blaze.

With the river blocking the firestorm from spreading, Wren and her squad took a second to collect their bearings. The second was interrupted by a ballista shot whistling past to strike a drake on the far bank. The ground battle was even more of a fracas than the fight in the air. The dragons had not crossed the river when the changelings had been revealed, and had since not bothered to cross. When they could, the reptiles would grab changelings and drag them to the water, holding them under until they stopped struggling. Their enslaved kin proved harder to subdue, but the ponies on the far bank aided with careful shots that either killed the draconic servants or divided their attention. A few tried to cross, but as Admiral Merry Weather and her team had predicted, the current proved too great for many of them, and they were carried downstream.

“Alright,” Wren said to her team, “We’re just going to get in the way down here. Rally back up near the princess. If we’re going to end this, that insect queen has to die. Ready?” They nodded and took off after her. Above them, blasts of magic and agony ricocheted about, cutting the air with crackling energy. A squad of changelings swung wide around the sqaud, and a volley of agony lanced past them. Squad Four broke formation and sped after their attackers. A beam caught Sparky Bolts across the hind hoof, locking the leg down in searing pain. Dewbead threw herself forward, blocking the beam with her sabre and freeing her squad mate. Before the changeling could target her, Wren drove her glaive through its back and out is gut while Comet and Lily cleared the two behind it. Five chunks of changeling plummeted, and five ponies continued their climb.

A sphere of empty space surrounded Celestia -- any dragon or changeling that came too close either died by her magic or died by her escorts. The battle had been in their favor from the start, but looking around, it did not look like the changelings could last much longer. But before she could give any orders, the air around her crackled with energy. She vaulted to the side as a beam of black, bubbling, electric magic jolted through where she had been. It continued on, striking the side of an airship. The hull around the impact rotted away, the damage spreading across the side of the ship like burning paper.

Celestia turned back to the changeling queen before her. The insectoid leader was panting in fury, covered in dragon and pony blood, her eyes locked on the alicorn. “Two centuries of careful planning, and you’ve undone it in a day. I subjugated the dragons!” The air around her crackled with malevolent magic. “I brought the oldest race in the world to their knees! I will not be defeated by a prancing foal who plays at leadership!” The energy coalesced into a beam of agony, pitch black and full of hate, all for the princess. Celestia countered with a shining golden barrier, swallowing the agony as it struggled to reach her. Both of them shook from the exertion as the battle raged around them.

The changeling queen howled in pain as a glaive ran through her leg, adding another hole to those already present. Thunder Clap twisted his weapon, his jaw set in a wrathful grimace. With a cry of fury, the queen blasted him away with a pulse of agony, shattering his polearm. Snow Veil and Evening Star caught the dazed pegasus as Stratus and the twins crashed down on the queen from above. She managed to block them with a barrier, but before she could repel them, an attack from Ardent’s squad forced a second shield.

“Do not interfere, you whelps!” A massive pulse knocked them all away, and she resumed her duel with Celestia with even greater fervor. But the interruption had given Celestia the moment she needed, and this time she countered with a magic blast of her own. The two blasts met halfway, devouring each other like crashing waves, and igniting the air as the arcane wills of the two leaders clashed across the sky. But the exertion took a greater toll on the queen than before. If changelings could sweat, she would be pouring buckets. The twins and Clear Morning assaulted the queen from behind, breaking her focus once more. She cried in anger, but Wren’s squad arrived from below and were stopped just shy of skewering her chest. The queen expanded her shield to rebuff them, but she only succeeded in creating more surface area for the ponies to assault.

Cyclone Company pummeled the shield with everything they had. Fur singed, feathers snapped, wood and metal groaned and screeched and crackled, but they refused to let up. The changeling was caught between a dozen relentless pegasi and a furious alicorn princess. A massive weight nearly crushed her as a few of the airships pulled close enough to add their firepower to the assault. A few of the ponies were gently pushed to the side before the magic of three of the sparklefangs crashed into her defenses from behind. As the intensity threatened to crush her, she felt it. Her power was draining.

Changelings can consume all manner of emotions, some for the taste and some for necessity. But they always hid their forms so that they could more easily take from their victim. Nothing stood between her and the ponies she had sought to kill now, the ponies whose friends she had killed by proxy. And they were force feeding her all of their hatred -- one of the few emotions a changeling had no stomach for. It lanced through her like poison, sapping her strength. Cracks formed in her shield. The magic of an alicorn, a few dozen unicorns, and three dragons leaked through, searing her chiten. Green blood seeped from a ever growing number of wounds. She bared her fangs and screamed in defiance at the princess. Only a cold stare returned.

“You will never know what it is,” Celestia said, “to have someone who will give everything for you.”

The queen’s barrier shattered. All of the combined magic surged in on her, crashing together atop her crippled form. The pegasi were knocked back by the blast, thrown hundreds of feet by the sheer amount of power being channeled into such a small space. When they righted themselves, they found only a cloud of black dust falling away from where the queen once stood.

Leaderless, the drones routed in a directionless daze. Only those nearest to the edge of the battlefield were not quickly dispatched by the emancipated dragons, and they were hotly pursued by their former slaves. The remaining dragon puppets, their strings cut and their minds too atrophied to recover, seemed to just turn off. A long, low wail rang out from the dragons as their fallen brethren surrendered to gravity, which was matched by the longtails as their lost kin looked to drift to sleep on the grassy shores below.

Comet hovered beside Lily as she tried to catch her breath. The air could not enter her lungs fast enough. Her mane smoldered ever so slightly as the last of the magic residue cooled. Every muscle was tensed, waiting for the next wave, the next battle, but only the sorrowful dragon chorus echoed across the still battlefield. No changelings remained, no dragons looked to devour them.

It was over. She could not, for one second, believe it, but it was over.

The morning sun was blocked out as a golden sparklefang, seemingly the size of a mountain, descended in front of Celestia. It let out a tenor purr, one she matched with some assistive magic.

“Young Princess Celestia,” the dragon bowed in midair. “It is a joy to see you, truly. Dark have been my dreams of late, but now I wake to find the world darker still.”

“It has been too long, my friend.” Celestia bowed her head. “Our kinds were tricked into killing each other, I am sad to say. The suffering of my ponies is incredible, but your dragons…”

“I know, Celestia. It need not be said. The fault is our own, I am afraid. We should have realized the rot within before it was too late, but we had become complacent. Your kind has suffered horribly for our mistakes. No amount of remorse will do you or your subjects justice.”

“We are all burdened with mistakes, old friend,” Celestia said as she floated over. “We can only hope to amend them in time.” She placed a hoof against his massive nose. The dragon smiled.

“Is this what you hope for, Little Princess?”

“It is.”

The colossal dragon’s smile vanished. “I fear your wish may come true, before too long.”

“What do you mean?”

“The Elements of Harmony you presented to the changelings, I take it they were-”

“Fakes, yes: The irresistible flavor of each element, coating spellwork that undid their hypnosis and blocked their shapeshifting. The basis of the work came from your friend,” Celestia managed the Scholar’s true name, her soft soprano a world of difference from his deep tenor.

“So he is alive and free? Most excellent. That was very clever, turning the queen’s own magic against her.”

“Thank you. I would never have given the Elements of Harmony to anyone, even if I still possessed them.”

“So they are truly misplaced.”

“I’m afraid so. They were lost centuries ago.”

“Misplaced, Celestia,” the dragon corrected, “not lost.”

“What do you mean?” Celestia cocked her head to one side.

The dragon’s voice lowered. “Perhaps you have lived within their influence for too long, but the Elements endure. I can feel their power even now. But it is weaker than before. I fear the day may soon come when the Elements of Harmony are not able to maintain their defense of your land.

“And as their power wanes, their magic may be undone by those who persist under their ward.”

“Luna-”

“You must tread carefully, Celestia,” the dragon rumbled. “A chance to amend past transgressions may arise, but if you are not prepared, the conflict shall consume Equestria as it once threatened to. There is time, I sense, but it must not be spent idly.”

“I understand.” Celestia hung her head. “I will do what I must to protect my ponies.”

“Do not fear the future, Little Princess.” A massive claw raised her chin. “The future is full of possibilities. Do not bear this burden alone, and you may find help will come to those who ask for it.” The dragon smiled. “And don’t forget to look up.”

“Thank you, my friend.” Celestia nuzzled the claw. “What will you and yours do now?”

“There is much to be done to repair the damage we have suffered. Many lives lost, many minds ravaged by dark magicks. But the centuries are plentiful, and we are patient. We will rebuild in time. I imagine you will not see much of our kind for many years to come. Perhaps it is for the best; ponies and dragons have never gotten along especially well.” The dragon bared his fangs. “You are so tasty after all, if not very filling.”

Celestia smacked him on the nose. “Trying to eat me once was enough, thank you. And you will find I am not such easy prey as before.”

Her giant companion laughed long and deep. “Forgive a little carnivorous humor. Do not worry for the dragonkin, Little Princess. We will grow strong again.” He looked over his shoulder at the waiting dragon flight. “We must see these ones home before the remnants of their minds are lost forever. I’m afraid this is goodbye for a time, Celestia.”

“Goodbye, my friend. May your wings carry you to the ends of the world.” The golden sparklefang turned and made his way south. The other dragons fell into a loose, broad flight behind him. The ponies watched them in silence until they were specks on the horizon.

Comet Shimmer drifted close to the princess, quietly watching their former enemies depart. As much as her hatred for the beasts endured, she felt for their loss, and she wished there had been time to truly come to know them. Maybe there would be.

The filly sighed and frowned.

“Princess Celestia?”

“Yes, Comet Shimmer?”

“I quit.”

Comments

[terrycloth]

Very well. Report to the stockade, deserter.

[MysticMelodie]

She quit XD