Hot Chocolate Comes to Town

by Bronyxy

6 The Best Laid Plans

Bat Ponies from the Night Guard used their unparalleled night vision to guide their respective insertion parties over the moonlit fields on their way to one of the various hive entrances. Luna led one of the biggest parties to the rear entrance while a Bat Pony guided the other bid group led by Celestia to the front. Every entrance was to be assaulted in a synchronised plan that reflected who had to be where by when for unicorns to link together to overwhelm those stationed inside.

There was a slight breeze, sufficient to cause a ripple through the trees and the long grasses, conveniently masking the sounds of advancing ponies from the guards that were bound to be posted, maintaining the element of surprise.
One by one, each of the groups got into their positions. Each of the access points looked sinister and foreboding, doubly so without the benefit of night vision, every shadow, every hole appearing to harbour some unseen demon waiting to gobble up any who dared venture too close.

They waited.

All were in position.

High in the sky, a slow shooting star traversed the nocturnal sphere. Its path took it across the sky in such a position that it could be seen by all of the Equestrian forces, but hidden from the guards at the front entrance by the hill in which the main tunnel to the hive had been bored.

Flying over the darkened landscape was a Bat Pony carrying a large bottle of fireflies, each of which flickered on and off creating a most beguiling and unmistakable sight. On this signal each of the groups began a countdown calculated with Twilight’s help to ensure that each started to move at exactly the right time so that all would be in place poised to break into the hive at precisely the same time.

All ponies in their turn prepared to move forward or down as the case was for each of them, then once poised in position everypony just had time to swear an oath to Celestia, to Luna or to whichever deity they believed in before beginning their part of the assault.

Unlike most of the other access points, the front entrance had no appreciable cover and as the time counted down, Celestia surveilled the interminably long wide open expanse in front of her. Everypony, whether battle hardened or not would be feeling the same tension, a weight that would only be lifted once they began their run in and the adrenalin rose to drown out all other sensations.

They waited.

They waited.

Then, at a time precise to the second, the order was given and Celestia rose into the air, eyes fixed ahead on the guards at the entrance. She did not look either to her side or behind, but could feel the combined might of Night Guard and Royal Guard pegasi escorting her closely. She could feel their determination as a palpable entity, but knew not by which sense this was being delivered; sound, smell, she didn’t know, but its presence was unmistakeable and she allowed herself to relish briefly the tingle that ran through her.

The changeling guards raised their weapons and Celestia had no doubt they were being pointed at her, but she kept on wringing every ounce of power she could from her magnificent white wings. Her horn glowed yellow and streams of magical energy shot forward, disarming the guards who stared stupefied for an instant before each felt the uncushioned force of a full grown pegasus slam into them, ending their defence.

The force led by Celestia swooped in through the entrance line astern, only to emerge a few seconds later into a large chamber from where they came under attack from the air and from the ground, individual dogfights breaking out while the outnumbered attackers held their enemy until the earth ponies and unicorns galloped in behind, pitching in to help out as soon as they were able.

One of the smaller groups containing Twilight burst in through waste disposal; the startled changelings staring in surprise for no more than two seconds before turning to face their attackers, hissing menacingly. The Bat Ponies, and earth ponies allocated to provide the muscle in this group spilled through the entrance, literally smashing their way through anything and everything in their path, the changelings being steamrollered or thumped as they were encountered, one even being drop kicked into the wall by an earth pony practicing his apple bucking skills.

Twilight’s calculations had been so accurate, that each insertion party burst into the unsuspecting changelings at a time separation synchronised to no worse than ten seconds; all except one.

Luna led the other major assault force, that which took on the other major entrance at the rear. The approach was concealed by trees and shrubs so allowed them to get quite close, and superficially it looked to be quite an easy assault. At the allotted time signal, Luna led her force in and overpowered the guards, washing over them like a tsunami and then drove on deeper into the tunnel only to find her way barred by piles of debris.

The headlong momentum of the forces rushing in behind couldn’t stop in time and there was a pile up along the tunnel as the attack foundered. Seizing the opportunity, changelings emerged from holes in the sides and the ceiling of the tunnel, mounting a series of attacks along the disarrayed column, picking off individuals wherever they could.

They were under attack and Luna’s first duty was to her guards with whom she was fighting alongside at this very second. Her sister’s much vaunted ethics may have had their place in diplomatic negotiations, but this was the fog of war and her guards were being cut down around her. Immediately, she switched into deadly force; too much was at stake to risk losing by showing restraint. She promised she would apologise to her sister if they survived, but that was for later – for now it was a fight for survival.

The insertion party could not afford to be stuck here, exposed to asymmetric attacks along the column and had to break free before mounting casualties became an issue; not only that, but Luna as one of the key spellcasters had only a limited time to get in position to ensure that the spell would reach maximum coverage within the hive.

Cornered, she ordered her forces to break through the walls using magic, hooves or anything else they could marshal to find a way out. After some desperate efforts, holes started opening up around where the changelings had been mounting their sneak attacks. Bit at a time, brave ponies fought their way through into the reality that awaited them on the other side, with no prior knowledge of what it would be; only that it was not the killing field that they were in currently, and that was a good enough reason.

One at a time ponies found their way through, widening the holes as they went and taking their revenge for what had been done to their colleagues; Luna had been the less forgiving of the two sisters from the outset, and now with a red mist descending, she was venting her wrath in a truly frightening display of sword skill and magic in her quest for retribution.

Abruptly, she felt her bloodlust begin to falter, not out of any fit of conscience, but instead of a magical summoning demanding her attention and dragging her away; the others had started and she wasn’t ready!

“No! No! No!” she cursed, feeling increasingly helpless as the magical vortex gained momentum. She needed to add her alicorn magic or there would not be enough power to perform the task that they had set out to achieve, and then they would be overcome by the changelings’ superior numbers. She just had to get free to focus and quickly!

Her horn began to glow, not with the usual blue, but instead with a combination of all the other auras that were reaching out to her at that moment. She was acting as a conduit and beginning to absorb all the power being generated by the others! She could feel the individual auras of her sister, of Twilight and many more that she recognised but could not name. They were waiting for her, they needed her and she had to start transmitting her aura too before she became overpowered.

Luna’s breathing became rapid and she started to hyperventilate as her eyes suddenly flashed white. Unicorns around her could feel the aura, but were not attuned directly; they could however see what was happening and shouted a command to protect the Princess. Luna was now powerless to decouple from the rising magical power and had to either start transmitting or absorb the power overload on her own. She had no choice and focused her power to join the others, although she was nowhere near where she should have been and she and her group were dangerously exposed.

Those nearest to the Princess fell as more changelings piled in, but her Bat Ponies and Royal Guards remained unswervingly loyal even in the face of such danger, buying her time that she desperately needed. Her aura shook off the multicoloured hue it had carried and instead turned its rightful shade of blue as Luna gasped with the force of her concentration.

Finally, all synchronised, the linked unicorns with their two alicorn leaders set about weaving the love-based spell that they had planned. As one at a time, the pieces drew together, the power being created changed form until a humming could be heard and then felt. Something caused the changelings to suspend whatever they were doing in mid-action as they all braced expectantly for something, but they didn’t know what. If their faces could have shown confusion, now would have been the time.

Suddenly there was a blinding pink flash and the changelings were bowled over, coming to rest in untidy heaps as so many discarded rag dolls.

The spellcasters lost the strange luminous moonstone glow from their eyes and returned to their normal forms, although physically and mentally exhausted.

While the guards took a moment to tend to their injured and fallen colleagues, the Princesses each made for the queen’s chambers at the heart of the hive. Celestia arrived first and composed herself before walking in to survey her defeated enemy, but before she could take in the scene in front of her, a bolt of green magic crackled through the air and hit her in the heart. Her eyes opened wide in surprise and her mouth fell open in shock as her forelegs buckled and she fell heavily to the ground, completely unable to shield herself.

Still the evil energy poured into her body, directed from the horn of the black changeling queen who looked just like Chrysalis and was staring at her malevolently as she kept her magical grip tightly around Celestia’s stopped heart. The Sun Princess gasped for breath while she felt the magical grasp like icy fingers clenched around her heart squeeze ever more tightly as her adversary began a maniacal cackling laugh, throwing her head back in triumph.

Suddenly the grip was released, but the barely conscious Celestia was unaware as to why, feeling that the coup de grâce could not be long from being delivered, ending her reign, even her immortality. She struggled to face her adversary for what she expected to be the last sight she would carry into eternity, but instead saw the familiar dark blue coat of her sister.

Luna was angry. She had lost brave and loyal guards and now this evil queen was trying to kill her sister. When she had been Nightmare Moon, she had merely sought recognition, now she felt a much stronger motivator; revenge. She braced her forehooves into the floor, lowered her head and shot a beam of purest blue from her horn, channeling a rage that exceeded any she had ever displayed during her time as Nightmare Moon.

The queen tried to redirect her magic, but it was so wrapped up with torturing the white mare in front of her that she couldn’t extract it in time. Before she could react, Luna drew upon the power of the darkness, a power as infinite as the universe and directed it into the queen, where she began ripping all the evil magic from every part of her body, even out of her very soul. She writhed in agony, screaming at the intensity of the pain wracking through every fibre of her existence, even calling for mercy as for the first time in her life she felt real fear.

Her body was smouldering where Luna continued to focus the infinite power under her control with forensic precision to rip her entire being apart, and her screams had now transcended from those of extreme torture to the incompletely formed gurgles emanating from her throat. Still Luna’s rage was not sated, and she focused more and more power into the smoking body that now only twitched before her and started to distort under the intense heat, the beam of blue magic relentless in its pursuit of her utter annihilation.

Celestia, still unable to move, begged her sister to stop; she had beaten her opponent, there was no need for this gratuitous display. Luna heard, but was in no mood to comply.
“Restraint be damned!” she thought to herself.

She left the queen’s eyes untouched as the rest of her body was destroyed piece at a time, just so she could stare upon the face of her nemesis; the last thing she would ever see being the pure unforgiving hate in Luna’s eyes.

Behind her, somepony else entered the chambers and Celestia directed the lilac pony to Luna with a weak wave of her forehoof, desperate to stop the carnage before it was too late. Twilight’s eyes grew wide in horror as she instinctively raised a forehoof to cover her gaping mouth. Sensing the urgency, she shouted at the top of her voice “STOP!”

Twilight, the brave little unicorn who had challenged Nightmare Moon and restored Luna to her rightful place in Equestrian society, was the only pony whom she would even entertain listening to at the moment. Exasperated by the interruption, she stomped her forehooves indignantly and abruptly terminated the power that coursed through her body, contemptuously surveying the incinerated remains of the queen whose terrified eyes remained fixed sightlessly towards them, her body twisted in a distorted parody of what she had been only a few minutes before.

Luna turned to face Twilight still wearing the look of pure hatred and gave her a sustained evil glare of the kind that would have made the most battle hardened guard run under the nearest table whimpering. Twilight crumbled inside but kept her gaze fixed on Luna, not betraying how close she was to breaking herself.

“Sometimes Twilight” scowled Luna with barely supressed anger “Being a Princess is not just about knowing how to smile and wave.”

Twilight stood resolutely staring the much larger mare down, a fixed frown on her face staring back into the most frightening sight she had ever seen and didn’t say anything; she couldn’t.

Luna turned and stomped off to organise the recovery of bodies. Once she had gone, Twilight’s knees buckled and she collapsed, shaking as the adrenalin bled out of her and she started to cry. What had she just witnessed?

Celestia struggled over to her protégé and despite the pain that wracked through her, draped a wing over the lilac unicorn and snuggled her trembling body. Luna’s actions had frightened her too, but for now she was grateful for Twilight’s intervention and knew her duty was to comfort her.

Behind them, the charred remains of a changeling queen stared into space. She never would get a name now.

Luna knew why the changeling queen had not been subdued. If it wasn’t for the blocked tunnel, she would have been able to get into position before the spell was cast, thereby providing the complete magical coverage of the hive as planned, but because she had failed, her sister had almost been killed. As she berated herself, she thought about what she had just done; she questioned whether she had been right, then saw a pony from the Royal Guard being wrapped up in a body bag and felt fully justified. She may not have done right by her sister, but at least she felt she had done right by her guards, and by herself. Doubtless, words would be exchanged at a later date.

She summoned the senior officers and issued orders for all ponies to be put to work gathering the changelings into the main chamber once they had taken care of their own. It took time, but the military and academic unicorns worked well together in clearing the hive. The next step was to have been Celestia’s to take; sending them to the moon. Luna mused how this was a spell that had been first used a little over a thousand years ago, but felt no bitterness towards her sister now, just the strength of an immortal sibling bond.

Celestia was unable to provide any magic to help out, so Luna enlisted the most talented unicorns present, including Twilight to assist. If the lilac pony felt any residual animosity towards the Princess, she kept it to herself and focused on the challenge at hoof. At Luna’s command, they formed a circle around the pile of changelings and lit their horns, their auras combining to levitate their captives before Twilight’s pink aura shone in prominence to release the changelings from their enchantment, followed shortly by Luna’s that initiated a bright blue flash, and suddenly the chamber was empty.

Luna went back to check on Celestia, her heart feeling lighter than it had at any time since the start of the attack.
“It is done, Sister” she said simply.
“Thank you, Luna. It won’t be long before we hear from Chrysalis and can broker a deal.”
“I suggest that the negotiations are best handled by you, Sister.”
“Yes, I think you’re right there” said Celestia, looking at the burned remains of the young changeling queen “Diplomacy really isn’t your strong suit.”