• Published 10th Aug 2014
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Changeling Mine - Futile Task



One mistake leads to one pony holding the fate of an entire race within her hooves.

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Chapter Eleven: Misguided Siege, Part One

They skies over Ponyville were filled with smoke as fires raged, the sources of the fires being several homes which had been put to the torch by errant magic. When Shining and his raiders had exited the train onto the Ponyville platform, the first thing he had done was cast mighty shield spell, weaving into it wards which would repel all who tried to teleport in, including the princesses.

This however had caused problems with his men, for they knew that it would alert the changelings that they were coming. He had simply told them that there was no need for the element of surprise, that there enemy most likely already knew they were coming, but would be too weak to pose any real threat.

However, half way into the town, they had not run into the ragged changeling band they had been expecting. No, instead they had been met by a large group of Crystal soldiers, for unbeknownst to them, the group Cadance sent had arrived early, and had been waiting for their arrival ever since.

Despite this though, Shining and his raiders had been pushing the defenders back, but as soon as they had reached the outer boundaries of the palace, all hell broke loose. The ground had opened up, and then a massive wall of crystals had shot out, which the crystal soldiers had literally melted into as Shining and his guard stared in shock, before pulling back as the defenders retaliated from the wall.

Now Shining was staring at the new barrier, wondering how the hell the changelings had managed to do this, for he didn’t believe for a second that the warriors he was facing were crystal soldiers, even though his own troupes believed otherwise.

“Sir, one of our pegasus scouts managed to fly over and get a look at the palace, and it seems you were correct about the elements, they seem to be in league with the changeling survivors.”

“What of Twilight,” asked Shining.

“She watches from the balcony of what we assume to be her room,” said the guard, “but she has so far not participated in the conflict, likely due to her not being under their sway.”

“Good, let’s keep it that way for now, I don’t want her hurt. Now, what can you tell me about this wall we are which is blocking our way?”

“As far as we can tell it is made of the same crystal in the empire, but it is radiating massive amounts of magical energy, making it so that we can’t teleport behind it.”

“Can it be damaged?”

“We're trying,” said the guard, “but all our efforts have proven futile so far, it seems highly resistant to both physical and magical damage.”

“And what about dark magic,” asked Shining as he kept his gaze to the wall.

“Sir?”

Shining turned his gaze to the guard, “I said what about dark magic, have you tried that yet?”

“No sir, but why would we, its forbidden?”

“Cause this is war soldier,” said Shining in cold clarity, “and in war we have to use every weapon in our arsenal to achieve victory, no matter the costs it might exact. Now, begin ordering the troops to use dark magic on the wall.”

The guard made to protest, only to have Shining cut him off, “You will do as I say Captain, now move it!”

The guard hastened to obey, but as he left he couldn’t help but look back and take notice the green lines which had shown themselves when shining had shouted, which looked like they had spread since the last time the captain had spotted them.

“It’s getting worse,” he thought, but finally he looked away, hoping that when this was all over, the prince would finally let himself be tended to.

On the other side of the wall, the crystal guards began to shiver in fear as they saw the unicorn raiders beginning to charge up some dark spells, one of them turning and yelling the news to the elements, who were busy conversing with the leader of the crystal ponies and the current speaker for the changelings.

“Dark Magic,” said Rarity with concern, “that can’t be, Twilight’s brother would never condone such a thing.”

“This is so not cool,” Rainbow said in agreement, before turning to the crystal guard. “Ok, how long can these walls stand against dark magic?”

“Not long,” said the guard, “for as aww inspiring as the dark crystals Sombra conjured were, they are quite brittle, due to the fact that they are filled with hate and sadness.”

“It will not matter,” said the changeling leader, “we just need something to keep them from attacking the wall. Now tell me,” she said, staring at both Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash, “which one of you is good at manipulating the weather.”

Immediately Rainbow’s hoof shot up, and so the changeling turned to her, giving her a serious look before speaking. “Ok Rainbow Dash, before we do this, I must warn you of the dangers…”

“Can the chit chat,” said Rainbow, “we got no time if we want to keep them from killing you guys.”

The changeling hesitated for a moment, and then finally nodded, “Very well, just don’t complain to me later when the consequences come and bite you on your ass.”

Rainbow made to retort, only to stop as the changelings horn glowed, causing her to suddenly feel as though a dam had been released within her mind, her eyes turning opaque as she began to rise into the sky.

The guards had just let loose with the first volley of dark bolts when the wind began to swirl, dark clouds begging to form overhead as rain began to poor down, soon to be followed by lightening. They would have assumed it had just been some random storm which had blown in from the Everfree, but they discarded that theory due to the shield their prince had erected to keep out interfering forces, plus there was the fact that the bolts of lightning were not random, but were striking in front of and sometimes outright hitting their fellow raiders, yet not a single bolt touched the enemy on the other side of the wall.

Shining immediately went to the town hall nearby, climbing up to the tower and using a pair of binoculars to get a bead on the castle, immediately spotting the glowing form of Rainbow Dash, who he could tell was under the influence of an enemy changeling, which caused him to growl.

His next move he executed without any thought, leaping off the top of town hall and opening up a shadow gate with dark magic, his momentum flinging him out the other side to slam into Rainbow Dash’s back, allowing him to stab a recently transformed hoof easily through the back of her chest and through her heart.

“NOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!”

Twilight stood frozen in shock as she watched Rainbow Dash and her brother fall to the ground, part of the recently constructed wall shattering as Shining touched ground, unaware of the danger which was rising within his sister.

“Shining hurt Rainbow…” thought Twilight, her main and tail beginning to light on fire as she roared in rage, blasting the raiders as they tried to enter the wall with ice before leaping to the ground and blasting her brother away from Rainbow.

She began to stalk around her brother as he got up, keeping herself in front of Rainbow as the others moved to grab her, hoping she was ok. As her brother got up however, she growled once more, summoning a sword from thin air and pointing it at the prone stallion. “Stay where you are Shining Armor!”

At once Shining looked up, a smile stretching across his face when he saw her. “Twily, you’re ok…”

“I said stay where you are Shining,” growled Twilight, Shining looking confused till he finally noticed the sword she had leveled at him, and his raiders frozen in ice.

“Twilight…what did you do?”

“I protected my ponies,” said Twilight without blinking an eye, “all of them!”

“…No…no you can’t mean that, Twilight Cadance got your letter, I know you were being held captive…I came to save you…”

“And what it my letter indicated that I needed saving Shining?”

“You said I was to be given leniency for what I had done, and I know you better then then, you would never spare me at the cost of following the rules, never.”

Twilight looked at him for a moment, and then sighed, her sword lowering as she spoke to him. “Shining, the reason I forced the courts to be lenient with you was because I didn’t want Cadance left alone during this time, and I also knew that if I let your imprisonment, many of the nobles would take their support away from helping the changelings, as I have been asking them to do.”

Shining stared in disbelief, and then something in his mind snapped, his confused look turning into a glare as he conjured his own sword. “You can’t be my Twily, for she would never help the changelings in a million years, NEVER!”

He then charged, his sword clashing against Twilight’s only to get pushed back as Twilight lifted up her head and smashed her chin against his face, causing him to reel as blood flew from his nose. “Come on Shining, you taught me to counter moves like that during summer break, you really expect me to get caught off guard by such…”

“SHUT UP!” he roared, rolling back onto his hooves as he sent his sword in an upward arc, nearly catching Twilight on the chin as she dodged out of the way. He changed the shape of his weapon, the blade growing till it became a claymore, and they he swung again, breaking Twilight’s sword in two, only to have his sword broken as she conjured up a massive axe.

Shining roared, the two halves of his broken sword forming into black serrated claws, his eyes glowing green with rage as his horn glowed with an evil black fire. He slashed at Twilight with a growl, tearing out chunks of her axe and causing her to abandon it, forming a shield which got shredded, before Twilight got hit by a savage back hand to the face.

She was sent flying, but when she got up, a voice sounded in her head, “Twilight?”

“Chrysalis,” thought Twilight, dodging another strike as she focused her thoughts on the changeling queen, “Where are you?"

“Above you,” said the changeling queen, “but from what I can see things do not look good, you will not be able to last long against him.”

“He’s not acting rationally, I think I can…”

“No you can’t,” said Chrysalis, “maybe you could before, but with the foal in your belly his magic will have greater effect on you.”

“What do you…Whoa,” cried Twilight, leaping out of the way of another attack before sending a blast of magic at him, which he blocked.

“We changelings are highly susceptible to emotions, and we become weaker in the presence of dark magic, due to it being filled with hate, which will affect you as well due to you child.”

“Then I’ll just activate my harmony magic and…”

“No,” said Chrysalis, “that would kill the foal due to too much magic exposure.”

“Then what do you suggest I do?”

“…Lend your magic to me.”

Twilight’s thoughts paused as she dodged another attack, which prompted Chrysalis to keep speaking. “Twilight, I can stop Shining, but to do that I need you to lend me your magic, if only for a little while.”

Twilight hesitated, and then formed a barrier around herself, sighing as Shining struck it before closing her eyes and opening herself the Chrysalis.

Then, in the skies outside Shining’s shield, a massive burst of light erupted from a single point, followed by Chrysalis busting through the shield to land, her body alight with harmonic magic.

To Be Continued……

Author's Note:

The battle begins, but it is far from over. Stay tuned for part two of Misguided Siege, and as always, if you guys have any questions or comments, please feel free to drop them on buy, I love hearing from you guys.