Pierce To The City's Heart
“Okay, slow down!” Twilight said in a raised voice to be heard over the winds rushing by. With a snort of disappointment, Rainbow followed the command and slowed to a halt in mid-air, then dropped down to one of the forested natural cliffs that jutted out of the side of the mountain, her hooves impacting the grass and dirt with the earth hard enough to kick up some dust. Twilight took a moment to slide off of Rainbow’s back and steady herself.
“Okay, since you insisted on tagging along, how do you want to play this?” Rainbow asked seriously, glancing up at the walls of the city with narrowed, intense eyes. “Because we only have four hours before sunrise, and that’s assuming Chrysalis is holding to the same schedule that mom did.”
“With any luck, we can be in and out in one,” Twilight replied before shaking herself to clear away some leftover vertigo from their flight. “Give me a second, though. The world’s still spinning.”
Rainbow huffed and shook her head at Twilight. “Oi… I really need to drag you through the sky more often if that is all it takes to make you airsick.”
“Shut,” Twilight shot back before taking one last deep breath. “Okay, okay… alright, the invisibility spell is a pretty big energy hog, so we’ll have to make the trip to the castle in short bursts if we want to keep it ready. I can make us both invisible for maybe thirty seconds before I’ll have to let the spell drop.”
“Thirty seconds eh? If we use alleys or buildings for cover, that shouldn’t be too big of a problem, and I can get us to the main castle entrance in three bursts, four tops,” Rainbow replied before looking up at the city again. “We’ll probably want to use something other than the front door to enter, though.”
“Suggestions?” Twilight enquired while trotting back for Rainbow Dash. “I mean, I’m pretty sure that there aren’t a whole lot of entrances to the castle aside from the main gates.”
“There’s a few; mostly the balconies that connect to the royal suites. There is also one entrance to some old, unused mines somewhere in the castle, but I never bothered to find it. A balcony is our best bet.”
Twilight smiled slightly, feeling a spark of pride in her chest at seeing Rainbow so focused and determined while hashing out the plan. She really had come a long way. Twilight dropped her smile and nodded before putting a hoof on Rainbow’s back. “Alright, give me a second and I’ll be ready.”
Rainbow nodded, patiently waiting while Twilight climbed on and got secure.
Twilight hesitated once she was on Rainbow’s back. “Rainbow… I don’t know how you’ll react to the spell. If it’s too much for you, we should head back, okay?”
Rainbow tensed slightly. “Twilight, I came this far. We came this far. We’re not going to back out at the point of entry because of my phobia. If it’s too much, we’ll think of something else,” she replied curtly before taking a long breath to steel herself for the spell. “Now do it.”
“Alright…” Twilight said, worried about her friend. Still, they had come this far, just like Rainbow said. Closing her eyes, Twilight began to channel magic into her horn, prepping the invisibility spell. She put it on herself, first, swiftly shimmering and vanishing from Rainbow’s back. Then she reached the spell down to Rainbow’s body.
The second the magic made contact with her skin, Rainbow went rigid and she sucked in a sharp breath through tightly clenched teeth. Her entire body began shaking and her heart pounded against her ribs fast enough to hurt. She felt another time, another place, trying to assert itself over the here and now. She was screaming and crying as she shook them one at a time, trying to get them to wake up. “MOM! DAD! PLEASE GET UP! DON’T LEAVE ME!” she begged, burying her face into her mother’s cold, motionless chest.
Then it was over. Rainbow gasped heavily when the real world re-asserted itself. She opened her eyes and lifted a foreleg to wipe away a few tears that had started to leak out of them. She briefly paused when she realized that she couldn’t see her own hoof, then smiled.
“I’m so sorry. Are you okay?” Twilight asked quickly, giving Rainbow’s barrel a tight squeeze from her back in an effort to comfort her.
Rainbow nodded, the shaking in her body slowly dying down. “Y-yeah. Yeah, I’m o-okay,” she said before looking up at the city. “We’re wasting time. Let’s go.”
Her wings snapped open and, with a grunt of effort, Rainbow shot into the air like a rocket. The world plummeted beneath them before she altered her angle and sped over the streets of Canterlot proper.
Seeing it up close made a pit form in Rainbow’s stomach. The once beautiful city was still standing, but its beauty had been lost to the ugliness of destruction and damage. Here and there, Rainbow’s searching eyes spotted movement; shadowy figures with blue glowing spheres for eyes patrolling the night. Changelings. It took a lot of self-restraint to fly down and knock some of their heads together, but they had a job to do, and a confrontation would only serve to undermine the whole point of this mission.
“Rainbow, we need cover,” Twilight hissed in a strained voice, sweat forming on her forehead. “I can’t keep this up any longer.”
“Right!” Rainbow replied before pivoting in the air and soaring down into a series of back alleys. She flared out her wings in her descent, slowing their fall until they came to a gentle landing. As soon as her hooves touched the cobblestone, the two mares became visible again. Rainbow turned and helped Twilight slide off of her back, the unicorn gasping for breath. “You alright?”
“I… I’m okay,” Twilight replied between breaths. “Ugh… just… between spell exertion and air sickness… uuugh…” she groaned queasily before starting to topple over to the side.
Rainbow was there, catching her and stopping her fall with her forehooves. “Woah, there. You sure you’re up for this?” she asked tenderly, looking Twilight over for any other noteworthy symptoms.
“I just need a minute,” Twilight stated as her breathing finally started to calm down. “It’s a lot freakier than you’d think, flying through the air without being able to see the pony carrying you.”
“I wouldn’t know,” Rainbow shrugged noncommittally. “I have wings. If I fly, it’s under my own power.”
“Lucky you,” Twilight snorted, pouting with envy. For about a minute, the two kept to that one spot, listening carefully for any incoming patrols or scouts. So far, they hadn’t had to deal with anything of the sort. After a short time, Twilight got back to her hooves and dusted herself off. “Okay, I think I’m good. Are you?” she asked.
“As I’m gonna be,” Rainbow replied while also rising back to her hooves. “Hop on.”
Twilight wasted no time in returning to her place on Rainbow’s back. A short confirmation later saw her igniting her horn with magic to cloak the two with invisibility yet again.
Rainbow cringed and gasped when it was her turn. “MOM! DAD! PLEASE GET UP! DON’T LEAVE ME!” she begged, burying her face into her mother’s cold, motionless chest…
“We’re in,” Rainbow whispered to Twilight maybe ten minutes later while lightly touching down on the balcony of Princess Luna’s bedroom. She felt Twilight nodding against her neck, then crouched low so she could slide off.
“Okay. The throne room is where Thorax said they’re keeping Celestia, Luna, and Cadance. I doubt they’re going to be unguarded…” Twilight replied while dropping her invisibility spell and scanning the room cautiously. “Our best chance would probably be to try and get to the throne room quietly, then grab the three of them and teleport out before the guards can get a chance to stop us.”
“Yeah,” Rainbow nodded simply before slowly heading for the door. “Hush for a sec,” she whispered before slowly opening the door just a sliver and peeking out. After a moment she opened it the rest of the way and nodded back to Twilight. “Okay, we’re clear. Let’s go.”
The two stepped out into the hallway that housed the royal suites. Any torchlight that might have existed here once was now snuffed out, casting the entire area in darkness. At least, it would have, were it not for the gently glowing green pods with ponies stuffed inside of them. Twilight gasped in shock before cantering up to one of the said pods and looking it over. “...This is… this is Spearhead,” she choked out, looking at the somewhat familiar earth pony stallion inside. “He’s a member of the royal guard. My brother’s good friends with him!”
Rainbow looked around at all of the imprisoned ponies, abhorrence and revulsion twisting her face into a horrified grimace. “...They’ll pay for this,” she seethed under her breath before her eyes rested on the door that led to her room. She paused for a moment, then trotted up to the door with a nostalgic look in her eyes. Curiously, she tried the handle. It was unlocked, to her surprise.
“Rainbow, what are you doing?” Twilight asked in a harsh whisper, cantering after her. “We don’t have time for side tracks!”
“I know, I know,” Rainbow shot back sternly before looking around. “There’s just something in here I need to grab real quick.”
She stepped deeper into the room until she came to a stop right next to her bed. On the bedside table, right under the unlit lamp, was a miniature dust-covered strongbox. Rainbow touched a hoof to the box, and an audible click sounded from the lock. Satisfied, Rainbow opened the lid and peered inside.
Twilight looked over her shoulder, eyes wide. “Wow… A touch-based lock? That’s pretty advanced magic- woah... I’ve never seen that, before,” her inquisitive analysis of the strongbox died away and was replaced by awe at the item contained within.
“Because I never actually bothered to wear it,” Rainbow replied while procuring the crown from inside. It was simple enough, by her request when it was being forged. It was a circle of gold that would fit nicely over her head with an embedded pattern of abstracted lightning running along it, inlaid with silver. There were only four points sticking up out of the crown, each one bearing a small ruby. Rainbow looked it over with a distant look in her eyes. “...I always hated this thing.”
“Then why are we stopping for it?” Twilight asked curiously, studying the item with great interest, if also impatience.
“Because” Rainbow said before looking over at Twilight flatly. “I am done running from my obligations. I’m a princess of Equestria… it’s time I started acting like it.” she then eyed the crown again, then turned fully to Twilight. “So… yeah.”
Twilight put on a small smile, then turned to the door. “...We should keep moving,” she said simply before cantering out. Rainbow watched her go, then looked down at her crown one more time. Then, with her face hardening with resolve, she placed the crown atop her head and followed Twilight out.
The halls were remarkably devoid of changeling security, although the closer the two got to the throne room, the more frequently the green pods with ponies held inside became. Rainbow wanted nothing more than to bust out every single one of them right now, but she knew, as much as she was loathed to admit it, that doing so would be more detrimental than anything else right now. They couldn’t afford to draw attention to themselves, and for every pony, their odds of detection would increase by several orders of magnitude.
Finally, though, they found the entrance to the throne room. The vast majority of the pods around here contained members of the royal guard, although one of them also held some unfortunate maid. The doors were ominous in the green-tinted light, looming over the two mares like a colossal beast.
“Fifty bits says Queen Chrysalis is behind those doors,” Rainbow whispered to Twilight.
Twilight hummed in response, looking the door up and down. “And so are the other princesses… okay, hold still. I’m gonna cloak us, then we can-”
“Oh, I wouldn’t try it if I were you,” a feminine, condescending voice echoed all around them. Green fire exploded from the floor directly in front of them, causing Rainbow and Twilight to jump back in alarm. The fire sputtered and undulated before the silhouette of a tall changeling could be seen rising out of it. “You’d only be wasting your energy…” Chrysalis cackled before the flames vanished around her.
“Twilight, get behind me, NOW!” Rainbow shouted, spreading her wings wide open and backing up.
“Rainbow!” Twilight exclaimed fearfully, glancing back and forth. Changelings were starting to crawl out of the walls it looked like, slipping into the hall from behind and between the various green pods.
Chrysalis smiled sweetly, her eyes lidded as she looked down at Rainbow and Twilight. “I would advise you to surrender, your highness,” she said before her eyes angled and her lips peeled back in a hungry grin, revealing her razor-sharp teeth. “Things will be much easier for you if you do…”
“Run,” Rainbow said through clenched teeth, looking over her shoulder at Twilight.
“Wha-”
“RUN!” Rainbow shouted before turning around, grabbing Twilight and launching for the doors that would take them out to the entrance hall with a quick burst of her wings. Sadly, their escape was blocked. The candlesticks next to the doors were consumed in yet more green fire, replaced by hissing and snarling changeling drones.
“You have nowhere to run,” Chrysalis taunted in delight, sauntering forward. “And nowhere to hide…” a sadistic giggle bubbled up from her throat before her long, forked tongue snaked out and licked her lips.
Rainbow quickly put herself in front of Twilight defensively, locking eyes with Chrysalis, doing her best to stand her ground, despite the fact that her heart rate was escalating and she was on the verge of panicking. Chrysalis noted this and grinned even wider.
“My, my, aren’t you the protective one?” she cooed out before craning her neck to be closer to Rainbow’s eye level. “Is this mare important to you?”
“Sh-shut up,” Rainbow stuttered out in a quivering, powerless voice. She took another step back, eyes wide with terror and fear. I screwed up, she thought. I shouldn’t have come up here… this was a mistake. We’re going to be captured, our friends are going to be sitting ducks, Equestria’s going to fall and it’s all my fault!
Something snapped in her then.
“Rainbow, wait!” Twilight called out, but her words fell on deaf ears. Rainbow Dash lunged at Chrysalis with a powerful flap of her wings, a guttural scream ripping out of her throat.
Chrysalis only grinned.
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Of all times you put a cliffhanger, you had to put it in this chapter...
I'm genuinely scared right now! I'm not kidding, my chest had a feeling of dread and the warmth from my body vanished.
Noooooooo
I. BUCKING. CALLED IT!
This reads awkwardly. I think the second sentence doesn't need "enough", and I don't think the first sentence really makes that much sense on its own. Maybe combine the two? Something like "It was a simple design by her request: a circle of gold..."
*clap clap*. Rainbow massively screwed up in this fic, but it paved the way for some fantastic character development.
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Yeah, that was the idea. I wanted this story (and the next) to sort of show her at her lowest point, and her climb from that depth to her highest peak.
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I think you've done a good job with that. This is a really nice redemption arc of sorts.
NOOOO CLIFFHANGER
I will admit, one of the issues I’ve always had with the changeling arcs in the show is how easily they were always beaten.
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Well, that won't be an issue here.
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I honestly think the other problem I have with changeling arcs is that there’s never a believable way they really could be beaten.
I don’t see that happening here unless Dash manages to leadership the hell our of these changelings.
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Victory?
Wow the development of Rainbow Dash is Phenomenal! This is just a great story and I'm excited to see more! Again AWESOME work!
You really love saying and writing 'oi' don't you?
And your brother + parents are also in such pods somewhere.
Only well can this go...
yup! Silly Rainbow, these things eat love, wouldn't it make sense they could detect sources of it meandering in a place where all sources should be immobile?
This is great! I love it! It's exactly what I look for in these kinds of stories. It's so wonderful when the characters grow into their roles as a result of the circumstances thrust upon them... Rainbow Dash is the Bearer of Loyalty, so it's totally in-character for her to step up, and an exciting step forward for her character! It's always disappointing to see authors put the characters in hard situations, change their upbringing, etc., and yet the charactets don't act any differently, grow, or develop on any way, instead remaining completely static. I'm glad to see this story is NOT about to fall into the same trap.
Having finished this story now, I can say that although it juggles a lot of plot elements (Discord, Changelings, and Starlight Glimmer), even if it isn't *tightly* plotted, it is *smartly* plotted. Starlight Glimmer coming back into the story at the end of it is such a clever direction to take the narrative! It's been a year since I read the first fic in this series, but I remember liking the first half a lot more than the second -- probably because the second half stuck to the same well-trod story beats as the season 1 premiere. This sequel, once it got the Discord stuff out of thr way, was thankfully a lot more free to breathe, unshackled and allowed to go in its own creative direction.
I'm not sure about the Tantabus arc (seemed a little tacked on) or the TwiDash stuff (seems like it resolved too quickly), but I'll hold out judgment on those until the sequels. I'll also confess to skimming over a lot of the Changeling scenes pre-invasion, as at the time they were a distraction from what seemed like the real meat of the story, Starlight Glimmer. I'm not sure the Changeling plot needed quite so much exposition, nor Thorax quite so much introduction. I think that could probably have been tightened up a bit.
I can't remember, what is it that causes Rainboe to suffer the flashbacks every time she encountets magic?
Looking forward to reading the sequel!
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Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, essentially. When her parents died, she was removed from the scene against her will by a unicorn. The feeling of magic on her skin thus became synonymous with feeling utterly weak and powerless, and the despair and grief of the whole ordeal left a permanent scar on her psyche. The first plot arc of Little Fragments actually covers this in detail.