Chapter 114 - A Canterlot Wedding (Part 4)
“If this is how it must end, then let the battle begin!” the towering leader of the creatures roared as Barrier and Twilight fell into defensive postures.
“No,” a firm voice from behind the creature drew the eye of everyone in the room, letting everyone see Celestia as she flew up towards the ceiling.
“I will not allow anyone to hurt my ponies ever again!” the alicorn princess roared as her horn began to glow with golden light. The chintous beast bared her fangs and gritted her teeth and her crooked horn burned with a brilliant green.
In a sudden flash, Celestia vanished from her spot above the altar and reappeared directly beside the dark creature before blasting her with an intense beam of golden light. The creature roared in agony as she was engulfed by the beam which sent her through one of the windows before skidding into the garden like a rag doll.
“I’m giving you one opportunity,” Celestia commandingly spoke as she stepped up to the window, seeing the creature struggling to stand up with her right foreleg now missing; dark green blood dripping onto the grass as her eyes darted between the imposing alicorn and what was left of her severed leg.
“Grr… Not bad, Celestia, but I won’t let you stop me.” The creature glared and growled as she rose back to her hindlegs. “I am Queen Chrysalis of the changelings. My people feed upon love and Shining Armor has given me a great deal of it. More than enough to do this!”
A gout of emerald flame shot out in a pillar from her wound, making the pony onlookers gasp and scream in fright.
A shape started to form in the flames before they extinguished themselves, revealing her injury had fully healed with a brand new leg taking the place of the severed one. Several of the guests screamed as Chrysalis flexed her new leg.
“Thanks to your guard, I can do this and so much more,” Chrysalis boasted as her insectoid wings quickly fluttered, taking her into the skies as the changelings within the hall did the same. “Speaking of, Shining Armor… Ultimum Scutum!”
The pupils of the alabaster stallion became the size of gnats as the blue of his eyes took on a greenish hue. His horn ignited with power as a shield of magical magenta energy engulfed him in a small dome while a similar shield started to encompass all of Canterlot.
“None of you will be leaving this city! Changelings, attack!” Chrysalis roared before she charged at Celestia.The two started to grapple as their horns furiously glowed.
Icy blue light began to emanate from Barrier’s horn as he took aim at the changeling queen.
“Guards!” Celestia barked as she and Chrysalis seemed to be in a physical stalemate. “Don’t worry about me! Protect the citizens!”
“But Princess!” Starshine shouted as a pair of changelings rushed towards her, only for her to teleport aside and blast them with harlequin green magic.
“That’s an order, Captain! You too, Barrier!” Celestia shot back before Chrysalis slammed a knee into her stomach and headbutted her.
“Aye, your highness,” Barrier responded before channeling his initial spell into a teleport instead. In a flash he appeared where the element bearers and Cadance were looking on as Shining Armor stood as still as a statue from within his bubble. As he touched the ground, Celestia teleported out to the gardens with Chrysalis quickly leaping through the window after her with several changelings following closely behind.
“BBBFF, can you hear me?! Please…” Twilight pleaded with teary eyes as she pushed against the shield with her hooves before trying to blast through it with a beam of magical energy.
The stream of magic crackled and scattered as it impacted the shield, sending out a river of sparks and bolts that damaged the marble of the chamber. Twilight gritted her teeth as she tried to pour more of her energy into her beam, but it soon started to weaken before she ceased it all together.
“It’s no use. It’s really strong and I don’t think I could teleport through it,” Twilight said between breaths.
“Twilight…” Cadance said as she placed a hoof on her shoulder. “You need to get to the Elements of Harmony. I’ll keep Shining Armor safe.”
“But—” Twilight attempted to protest before Starshine placed a hoof on her shoulder.
“She knows defensive spells and is almost as skilled as Shining Armor with force fields,” Starshine firmly stated. “She can handle protecting him. You and your friends should try to get to the Elements while I try to rally the troops.”
“I’ll try to evacuate civilians from the palace,” Barrier said before Starshine gave him a firm nod and teleported away. “I know you’ll be able to handle this. You’ve dealt with far worse and I’m sure Javelin’s trained you well.”
“Right…” Twilight said before giving Cadance and Barrier a tight yet brief hug. Once she broke it off, she turned to the other bearers and Spike. “C’mon. We’ve got this.”
As the seven ran out of the room, Barrier looked over the room, seeing only some frightened wedding guests were left with him, Cadance and Shining Armor. They were all clearly frightened with many shuddering or weeping.
“Everypony, listen up!” Barrier barked in a way that reminded him of his early days training his cadets. The room fell silent as the civilians’ eyes fell on him. “I’m going to get you away from this palace and hopefully somewhere safe. I’ll need you all to follow me out and try to remain calm as I try to fight off these…. changeling things. Understood?”
In response, the charcoal unicorn received a collection of silent, yet frightened nods and he headed for the chamber doors with his horn flared, ready for combat.
“Follow me,” was all he said as he started to march into the halls.
As he led the terrified band through the palace, he witnessed several guards grappling with changelings, several of which charged at him immediately. Before the civilians could let out a single scream, a rain of magical volleys rained from Barrier’s horn.
The charging changelings were knocked away before falling limp like ragdolls, crashing into the floor, into armor displays and even through windows. Barrier turned his focus toward the ones that were still preoccupied with the guards and dispatched them with simple concussive blasts. Within a matter of moments, the hall was cleared.
“Keep moving and stay away from the fallen changelings,” Barrier shouted to the civilians as the guards started to examine their enemies. “I don’t know if I killed them or only knocked them out. Either way, keep your distance.”
Several minutes passed as Barrier slowly made his way through the halls, occasionally having to deal with changelings either charging directly at him or launching an ambush disguised as royal guards. Their fate however was still the same. Barrier was rather thankful that these changelings seemed to be far less skilled warriors than the griffins were in the war. He’d not needed to bring out anything heavy yet.
Eventually, when Barrier reached a set of closed doors, he was greeted with a surprising sight as he started to push them open to see if the coast was clear.
He saw slash marks on a small pile of downed changelings as several more tried to rush towards a unicorn mare with a pair of swords held within her magic. When some tried to bite or strike at her, she nimbly moved away before countering with a strike from her silver blade. When others tried to blast her with emerald fire balls, her black sword slashed through the flames and sliced off their horns before she struck them in the face with her hindlegs, sending them sprawling to the floor. Her movements as she fought them were like a dance as she delivered each blow. She spun about and faced Barrier, blades at the ready.
Swiftsword sternly gazed at Barrier. She was dressed in her caped formalwear from the gala; a deep blue vest that matched her cape with gold trim over a silver-cuffed navy undershirt that matched her leggings and cuffed boots. Her eyes were focused and as sharp as daggers as she pointed her blades at the obsidian stallion.
“Surprised to see you’re feeling better after food poisoning so soon, Swift,” Barrier said as she maintained a defensive posture. He knew it would be foolish to take even a single step forward.
“Thankfully, I was feeling better after a good night’s rest and vomiting that accursed mayonnaise out of my system,” Swift firmly replied as she remained ready to strike at a moment’s notice. “However, I was not expecting to encounter these strange beasts attacking the palace… Beasts that could assume the forms of others.”
“And now you want proof I’m the real Barrier and not one of these changelings. Honestly, I’d like the same from you, given one of these things could have easily stolen Swift’s weapons from her guest room,” Barrier said as he looked into the blue mare’s eyes as she remained as rigid as a statue. “What was Radiant Sparkle’s favorite toy?”
The room was so silent one could hear a pin drop. Swift took a deep breath. “It was a doll of a blue unicorn with a purple mane she called Sparkling Dream… What book did Radiant Spell like to keep next to Legends of the Moochick?”
“Habits of Rabbits, much to my father’s annoyance,” Barrier said with a note of relief as he trotted up to Swift as she lowered her weapons. “Good to have you back, Swift.”
“It’s good to be back, Sir.” She nodded as she looked over the frightened civilians behind her former captain. “May I ask what exactly is going on?”
“These creatures, changelings, attempted to kill and replace Cadance so they could feed on love, from what I can tell,” Barrier said as he moved forward with Swift quickly following alongside him while the civilians followed behind.
“Last I checked, their leader, Queen Chrysalis, is grappling with Celestia while the element bearers are trying to retrieve said elements, Starshine’s trying to rally the troops and Cadance is protecting a hypnotized Shining Armor while trying to get him to drop his shields. Meanwhile I’ve taken up the task of moving the civilians somewhere safe, though at this point I’d settle on defensible.”
“Perhaps my black sword would be able to—”
“MEDIC!” A stallion’s voice screamed from around a nearby corner, making Swift take up a defensive stance as Barrier prepared to charge.
“Guard the civilians,” Barrier stated before he took off like a shot to reach the source of the yell.
As he rounded the corner, he saw that on one side of the room was a gamboge and white coated goateed stallion with a vermillion mane and a dark blue cape with teal trim and stars tending to a heliotrope mare with a mane that was a mixture of purples and aquamarine with a sizeable bleeding gash on her side.
On the other side of the room was a verdant and white earth pony with a brown mane and yellow vest sliding into the legs of several changelings before leaping up and striking them down.
“Verdant?” Barrier was surprised by the emerald stallion’s appearance. “What are you doing here?”
“After we got to Rainbow Falls, we found out that while our hotel rooms were fully paid for, there wasn’t really anything meant for Equestria Games training,” the shamrock stallion replied as he looked over the knocked out changelings and Swiftsword arrived with the civilians. “I realized something was up since for some reason, almost none of us were here for the wedding. There were just too many coincidences, so I headed for Canterlot. Once I got off the train, I saw Queen Chrysalis and Princess Celestia fighting in the sky and rushed over.”
“Where’s your bow, Verdant?” Swift asked with a quirked eyebrow as she slowly raised blades. “I recall you taking it everywhere you go.”
“I ran out of arrows earlier, so I had to use it as a club to fight these changelings off,” Verdant replied as he went over to the injured unicorn and examined her wound. He took the cape off of the goateed stallion and pressed it against the gash.
“However, it ended up breaking after I smacked one in the face and I haven’t had enough time to swing by the armory.” Verdant turned to the goateed unicorn. “Keep putting pressure on this wound. That should stop the bleeding or buy her some time.”
“And what of Erica? Wouldn’t she be in danger?” Swift asked as Verdant and the goateed stallion helped move the mare towards the civilians.
“She’s with Storm Cloud and they’re headed for Vanhoover, so I figure they’re as safe as they can be considering the circumstances,” Verdant replied as he hefted the injured mare onto a civilian's back. “In the meantime, we’ve got to get this mare to Rosedust Memorial since I don’t have any medicinal plants on me.”
“I have an alternative idea,” Swift stated as she placed a hoof on Verdant’s back. “My black sword might be able to puncture the barrier around Canterlot, allowing us to evacuate some of the civilians out of the city.”
“Sounds like a plan, but we should try to find either a doctor or at least some medical supplies before we leave the city,” Barrier said before looking back at the gathered civilians. “Everypony, follow me. We’re moving out!” He authoritatively barked before leading the ponies away.
“You heard him,” the injured mare weakly said as the civilians started to move along. “March, march, march.”
***
Reaching the palace entrance, the trio of soldiers bore witness to the sight of countless changelings swarming over Canterlot. Guards on the ground and in the air fought valiantly against the insectoid attackers, but the suddenness of the attack had caught the guard severely off balance.
“Swift, cover us!” Barrier commanded as he lit his horn and fired off several magical volleys, knocking some changelings away from the struggling guards. “Verdant, you and one of the civilians find a pharmacy and get whatever supplies you need by any means necessary!”
“On it!” Verdant shouted back as he dragged off the vermillion maned unicorn with him. “C’mon, Beardo! You’ve been drafted!”
“My name’s not Beardo, it’s Sun—” The stallion was interrupted by one of Barrier’s blasts knocking away a changeling that was about to charge him.
“Keep moving!” Barrier shouted as he led his charges away. “Any civilians, follow me!”
As Barrier and Swift led the civilians towards the forcefield, they were eventually rejoined by Verdant and the bearded stallion, carrying a pair of stuffed saddlebags.
“We owe the pharmacy owner a hefty bill,” Verdant said as he reached Barrier’s side. “He really wasn’t happy I busted his door down.”
“A door can be easily replaced, a life can’t,” Barrier shot back as saw the force field’s edge coming into view. “Swift, ahead full speed! Do whatever you can!”
“Yes, sir!” Swift replied before running ahead, her blacksword held before her as if she were jousting.
The blade plunged into the shield, piercing it like a hot knife through butter, stopping only when the crossguard touched the edge of the barrier.
Looking beneath the blade, Swift saw that the shield’s energy was halted, as if putting one’s foreleg into a waterfall.
“Perhaps…” Swift thoughtfully said to herself as she pulled the blade back and shifted its angle so the gap beneath the blade was wider, just enough for a pony to slip under it. “I’ve pierced it! Everypony, this way! One at a time!”
As the civilians slowly started to funnel out of the gap Swift had managed to create in the shield, Barrier would blast away what changelings would try to charge the civilians with Verdant or Swift striking down the few that slipped past him. After a few minutes, what appeared to be Spearmint in full armor and Lightning Javelin came into view.
“Quick!” Swift barked as she leveled her ancestral blade at Spearmint. “What was the first movie we saw at your sister’s!”
“It was, uh… Oh, Alpha’s Magical Hearth’s Warming!” Spearmint hurriedly answered, drawing a sigh of relief from Swift. “What did you trick me into thinking?”
“That a unicorn’s horn could impregnate a mare.” Swift’s answer brought a smile to Spearmint’s face as she went up to her girlfriend’s side. “It’s good to have you back, dear.”
“Just wish you didn’t leave me at the hospital,” Spearmint muttered as she fell into a defensive stance.
“Sorry, Minty, but not only was I late for the wedding, you looked like you needed the rest,” Swift replied as she kept her eyes forward. “I’ll make it up to you once things calm down.”
“Barrier,” Lightning Javelin barked as he landed about ten feet away from the charcoal unicorn. “What did Flash talk you into eating after Ransacky gave you a black eye?”
“Hollow Shades phantom peppers and her name was Ran Saki,” Barrier sternly replied. “Who’d Lieutenant Blitzwing cause to faint on our first day as cadets?”
“It was… Crap, I know this one… Was it Fizzle? No, it was Highjump! Highjump!” Javelin bellowed with a hint of desperation. Barrier gave Javelin an affirmative nod, letting him come to his side. “So, shapeshifting bug things?”
“Long story short, these changelings failed to replace Empress Cadance, so now they’re attacking. We’re trying to keep the civilians safe while we evacu—”
A loud bang cut Barrier off, drawing everypony’s eye towards the palace, where one of the towers now had a sizable hole with smoke rising out of it.
Before Barrier could utter even a gasp, a large volley of fiery orange light shot out of the hole and struck another tower, tearing the top off violently.
“What in Faust’s name’s going on?!” One of the civilians screamed at the sight of pieces of tower falling in the distance.
“Everypony, please remain calm and make your way through the gap to safety,” Spearmint spoke calmly and authoritatively before turning towards the obsidian unicorn. “Barrier, I think you should head back to the palace and try to help there.”
“Are you sure you can handle things here without me?” Barrier asked as he saw several changelings swarming towards the smoking towers.
“If these three foals can’t handle it, I could just crack open one of the watermelons in that fruit cart and use it to start blasting these bugs full of lightning,” Javelin boastfully said as he took to the skies. “Now get outta here!”
“Right,” Barrier nodded right before he teleported a fair distance away and transitioned seamlessly into a dead sprint towards the palace, hoping the princess was alright.
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Why do I get the feeling that Chrysalis unleashed Daybreaker.
This isn't going to end well for Chrysalis. It's clear that Verdant realized someone was trying to keep the huards drom attending the wedding which is something I like very much.
11807491
Or something close to her. Might just be Celly cutting loose now that thier are no ponies to be collateral damage. With the time line of the wedding being pushed to after Sombra's return. Celestia has seen more threats and gotten less complacent, more aware how fragile her ponies are, and she's going to fight harder as a result.
11807913
Good point my good fellow reader.