15 - Rampone: First Blood
Princess Cadence - 5/16/2018
The Palace - Canterlot, Equestria
Cadence’s heart burned. Her eyes saw only the Changeling before her, and her fiance behind it. She knew it was her Shining, she could feel it. The bond of love between them was there, burning as bright as it ever had.
Cadence did not know how she knew the bond could not be faked, but she did. She knew it as surely as she knew the sun would rise tomorrow and that dropped objects fall. A self-evident truth made manifest by her special talent.
Cadence stepped towards Quick and leveled her M-79 squarely at the changeling’s nose. Quick could feel the blind rage oozing from every fiber of the alicorn’s being. Her gaze was hard, her eyes were like purple lasers, marking a target for immediate annihilation from a missile the target would never even perceive before it reduced them to nothing like a bolt from the blue.
Quick froze. He had no other choice. He had seen hatred before, he had served Queen Chrysalis. Quick had never seen anything like this.
Days of imprisonment. Endless digging. Constantly receiving small cuts and scrapes. Ever present fear and worry about the sake of her loved one. The cocktail of negative emotions Cadence projected overwhelmed the changeling like a cloud of paralytic gas.
All he could do was stare back into Cadence’s eyes, his own locked wide in terror as he looked into the eyes of a predator. At that moment he knew why Celestia had chosen to recruit a human.
Many species were predators. Many species hunted for their food. Quick could not think of another species which would slaughter absolutely everything they saw because of love.
Cadence sneered and made a show of pulling slightly on her weapon’s trigger. “I said get away!”
Quick’s eyes locked on the weapon. He took a step back, his ears plastering down against his head as his body was finally able to move. He racked his mind, searching for any words which might defuse the situation.
None came to mind. Perhaps if he wasn’t terrified he could have come up with something better than a phrase which would damn him to his fate.
Quick gulped and licked his lips to buy himself more time. “I— I’m— I’m not—”
Cadence fired. Her enchanted weapon pulled a measure of her magic from her body, shaped it into an alicorn-strength fireball spell, and spat it out the barrel towards Quick’s shield. A burning ball of arcane fire streaked across the three meters between Cadence and Quick, leaving an orange trail through the air. Everypony had milliseconds to appreciate the strangely beautiful sight before the fireball detonated against Quick’s hard light shield.
Purple hexagons flickered, crumpled, and died, vanishing in puffs of sparks as they left behind the pungent smell of ozone. The fireball smashed aside layer after lay of shield as it expanded, tearing through the magical barrier almost as easily as it ripped through the air.
For a heartbeat the hallway was filled with orange flames. Tapestries charred. Carpets smoked, blackened, and ignited. Stone floor tiles cracked under the heat and pressure. Shining’s panicked scream as he and Quick were thrown down the hallways by the blast was lost in the echoing THUD of the detonation.
Cadence glowed white as her natural wards sheltered her from the worst of the blast. Her mane whipped back and tangled, losing its curl and becoming slightly singed. Her feathers fluttered and squirmed on her wings, some even pulling free under the force of the blast…
Yet, there she stood.
Cadence snapped her weapon’s breach open, ejecting the spent shell with a clatter of steel and brass. The enchanted weapon conjured another shell in her left hoof, which Cadence slammed into the breach just as the ejected shell vanished. The weapon had received its user’s instructions to be ready to fire again, and prepared to drain more of her magic as soon as the pink alicorn pulled the trigger.
Cadence grit her teeth and leveled her weapon at the limp Changeling form. Years of training came back to her instantaneously, exactly like riding a bicycle. Her eyes flicked over Shining’s captor’s limp form, searching for the tell-tale signs of life.
Quick’s chest was still, but his nostrils flexed. He was still breathing.
Cadence suddenly realized she had fired a grenade at close quarters to the person she was trying to rescue. Despite her training, she took her eyes off the target to check on Shining. The white unicorn was climbing onto his hooves, groaning loudly, clearly dazed and missing a large patch of fur on his right shoulder, but otherwise unharmed.
Cadence nodded to herself and lowered her M-79. Then she raised her pulse rifle and fired a burst into Quick’s side.
The pulse rifle pulled a much smaller amount of mana from Cadence’s reserves, but she still felt the energy each of the blue-white bottle of light took from her the moment they sped from the barrel. The five bolts ripped through Quick’s side like paper mache, and dug into the stone below him, leaving pits of molten marble in their wake.
Quick yelped and jumped to his hooves. Adrenaline deadening the pain from each of the wounds. Wounds which by some miracle had missed anything vital. Quick began to limp down the hallway, looking frantically around himself for any kind of cover, forgetting his spell craft entirely as every last neuron in his brain screamed at him to survive.
Shining looked into Cadence’s eyes and gasped. He knew her well, very well. The Equestrian Special Service had gotten their hooves on one of the few recordings of Mister Arvil’s missions. He knew that look in Cadence’s eyes. She would not listen to reason. She would not back down. She would eliminate her target, no matter what.
Shining took a deep breath and closed his eyes. Quick held him as a thrall for a week. Quick had made him say and do things he wouldn’t have for the sake of Chrysalis’s plans. But Quick was a soldier following orders. One who took the first out he had. There was only one thing Shining could do.
The stallion jumped in front of Quick, rearing up and spreading out his forelegs to block as much space as possible. “Run!”
Quick needed no further prompting. The ex-changeling galloped full tilt down the hallway, making his way towards an open door he could see just a few dozen meters down the hall.
Cadence’s eyes narrowed even further. In her mind there could only be one reason for him helping his captors. Mind control. Nothing else made sense. Not one thing.
Cadence let go of her M-79, the weapon swung on its strap, clattering against her jacket’s studs as it fell against her side. Her newly free attention sized hold of Shining with her magic and yanked him to her side where she held him off the ground by his chest.
Shining yelped in fright as he flew towards her. Cadence spared a second to glance at him, enough to make sure she hadn't injured him in any way.
He seemed fine. “I’ll break you free as soon as he’s dead, Shining.”
Cadence turned her attention back to the hallway, her eyes quickly scanning the hallway for her target.
Shining thrashed in Cadence’s telekinetic grip, futilely trying to break free, so he could try to stop the alicorn before she made a terrible mistake. “I’m not— He let me go! He’s defecting!” Shining shouted.
Cadence’s eyes caught a glimpse of a purple tail behind a bronze statue of a pegasus. A Commander Hurricane, if the plaque was correct. Cadence fired two bursts into the statue, which shattered under the force of her spellbolts. Shards of hollow brass statue flew every which way, clattering off the walls, floor, and sticking into Quick’s skin.
Quick didn’t even notice the additional pain as shrapnel peppered his hindquarters. The spellbolts blasting chunks out of the wall above his head blocked out such trivialities. His horn flashed green as he cast a quick spell. A gust of wind blasted down the hall as one of the many massive tapestries lining the walls ripped free from its hooks and fell across the hallway.
Cadence swore under her breath as the thick carpet-like picture twisted midair to form an angular barricade between her and her target.
Quick took off at a sprint, knowing Cadence wouldn’t be delayed by the cloth, it would only provide him with cover.
Cadence opened her wings and took to the air with a single powerful flap, yanking Shining along with her for the ride.
Shining took a deep breath, doing his best to hold in an angry yell as he knew that would only further convince Cadence he was under changeling control. “Cadence! Stop! He’s defecting. Hear him out!”
Cadence ignored Shining’s plea and flew up and over the cloth as it fell in slow motion. She crested the barrier and growled angrily. Quick had taken full advantage of his distraction and was gone.
Or was he?
The alicorn swept her eyes across the hall, searching for any place he might have gone.
Shining waved his hooves, desperate to get even a sliver of Cadence’s attention. “Let him go Cadence, he’s not going to hurt anyone!”
Cadence snapped her head around to look into Shining’s eyes. “I’m not listening, bug! You had your chance to avoid consequences and you chose to throw it away.”
“Cadie, please! I’m not controlled anymore!” Shining pleaded.
Cadence smiled as she spotted an almost but not quite closed door a short ways down the hallway. “Found you,” Cadence warned before swooping down towards the open entrance.
The moment Cadence’s hooves touched the floor she spun around and kicked the door with both rear hooves, putting all of her earth pony strength into the blow. The old wooden door splintered, flying off the hinges and slamming into one of the palace kitchen ovens with the single loudest crunch Shining had heard in his life.
Over a dozen ponies panicked as Cadence spun around and flicked her head across the crowded space. A dozen ovens, counters, and cabinets filled the kitchen halfway, with a mini-herd of ponies filling another quarter as they desperately sought to tend to their duties despite the chaos occurring outside and now at their very door.
Cadence grit her teeth as no sign of Quick could be seen. Buck! Time for some diplomacy.
The alicorn cleared her throat and addressed the mildly panicked chefs. “Shapechangers are attacking the wedding! The Twilight Sparkle who ran in here is NOT Twilight. Turn them over immediately.”
A short brown furred mare with her mane up in a bun turned away from her presently aflame stove to point with one hoof towards a closed door leading to a servant's passage. “She went that way!”
Cadence smiled grimly and began to push her way through the kitchen towards the door. “Thanks!”
Shining cast a quick spell as Cadence rushed past the burning oven, conjuring a ball of flame-retardant foam above the oven which fell onto the flames, extinguishing them. If he couldn’t stop Cadence, he could at least handle damage control.
Cadence shouldered the servant’s passage door open and rushed into the bland, featureless, white-stone hallway. She could hear frantic hoofsteps ahead of her, just around the corner to her left. There was no right hoof turn she could see.
But there was one she could feel. It made no sense for the passage to only go to the left when the kitchen was in the middle of this wing of the palace. It had to also go right.
Cadence galloped down the hallway and turned right, running at what appeared to be a wall. Her hunch proved to be correct as she ran through Quick’s hastily cast illusion spell. Green sparks trailed behind Cadence as she rushed through the magical image accompanied by an odd twinkling, crystalline sound.
Quick winced. The pain of his injuries was starting to catch up to him, but the sound of his illusion being pierced was more painful. The hallways were empty. No protrusions. No cover. No doors to duck into. He had run into a clear line of fire.
A clear line of fire Cadence took immediate advantage of. She squeezed her pulse rifle’s trigger, five deep, near simultaneous, thuds rang out as the weapon blasted spellbolts down the hall. Quick cast a spell by reflex, covering his body in a pale, shimmering green shield.
Cadence’s bolts slammed into the shield, sparking and fizzling as they tried to burn through the magical barrier. Quick hissed, his horn burning as it pushed more and more of his magic into the shield to maintain it under the powerful bolts.
Quick gulped worriedly, knowing his magic was nearly depleted. In desperation, he put every last ounce of speed into his legs. The Changeling’s gallop increased to a frothing mad dash. Each step carried him more than a meter forwards. In a mere twenty seconds he would be at the end of the passage and—
Quick was not faster than spellbolts.
Cadence squeezed her trigger again and a second volley of blue-white bolts blasted through the air, slammed into the changeling's shield, shattered it in a flash of fire, and shredded his back.
Quick gurgled and fell to the floor, his hindquarters limp and unresponsive. Cadence took a minute to regain her focus, the shots she had taken in the last minute had added up, and she felt just a little tired. That was unacceptable, there was a mission to do.
Quick dragged himself several leg lengths down the hall. As he reached out to drag himself further away he froze. A horrible realization flooded every fiber of his being.
There was nowhere for him to run. Nowhere for him to hide. With the weapons at Cadence’s disposal, he couldn’t fight. There was only one thing to do.
Quick turned around, dipped his horn to the ground, and put his hooves behind his trembling head. “I surrender! Don't shoot, I surrender!”
Cadence narrowed her eyes, her tail flicked uncertainty. This stank of a trap. She quickly scanned the surrounding hallway.
Shining snapped. His ears stood up, his eyes narrowed, his lips pulled back. “Celestia, damn it, CADENCE! HE’S SURRENDERING! HE’S NOT A THREAT! STAND THE BUCK DOWN!”
Cadence lowered her weapon’s barrel slightly. Very slightly. Cadence began to walk forward, ejecting the magazine from her rifle as she went to present the illusion she wasn’t firing merely due to a lack of ammo. The weapon conjured a fresh magazine for Cadence, which she began to seat in her weapon while advancing.
“Then let Shining go.”
Quick gulped nervously. “I can’t. I don’t have him under my control! I let him go! Well, I mean, he broke free, but I was going to let him go. I swear!”
Cadence scanned her eyes across the changeling’s body. A large amount of blood was pooling beneath him. The two spellbolts which had pierced his shield and hit something important, of course his earlier injures had of course been bleeding the entire time he had been running too.
Whether the changeling was telling the truth or not was irrelevant. He would bleed to death soon.
Cadence stopped advancing. “Prove it.”
Quick frowned sharply, then hissed as his adrenaline wore off and the pain began to kick in in full. “Ah! I— I can’t… There’s nothing you’d take as evidence. You don’t know magic.”
Cadence nodded. “Exactly,” her eyes narrowed again. “In the storybooks, the mind control usually goes away when the wizard dies.”
She aimed her rifle at the Changeling’s head. Her magic tightened around the trigger.
Quick held up his hooves. “Wait!” he yelped. “I can tell you her plan! That proves I'm on your side!”
Cadence raised an eyebrow. It would definitely indicate he was changing sides. A pity he hadn’t chosen to do that in the hallway. “Make it quick, bug.”
Quick git his teeth for a moment against the pain burning up his spine. As soon as the spike of agony stopped plunging into his back he opened his eyes, looked up at Cadence, and began to speak.
“I am her highnesses’ chief wizard. I know all of her plans details. She runs everything by me. The original plan was not broken by your successfully arriving here. It simply meant we had to snatch you from Equestria. I was able to transport myself, Chrysalis, and seventeen thousand total drones controlled by approximately two thousand changelings to Equestria via my… sorcery. Most of the army is outside the shield. Waiting for the signal.”
Quick grunted as he felt one of his kidneys shut down. Realizing how badly he was hurt he took a moment to breath. “I… If you heal me, you’ll have a way back… I can open Celestia’s portal. It’s never off, only shut. Like a door. I… picked the lock.”
Cadence shook her head slowly, her guts tie into a knot. The combat high was dissipating, and she could feel she may have been doing something wrong.. “I don't know healing magic, Shining can you—”
Shining nodded twice, then closed his eyes to concentrate. His training as a spy had included basic trauma care, unfortunately had hadn’t had any reason to use it over the course of his career, adn the stallion was quite rusty as a healer. “I can slow your bleeding, and try to patch up the holes, but I’m not sure I can save you… I promise I’ll try.”
Light blue flecks of magic began to dart around Quick’s body, sinking into the holes and punctures to try to slow the crimson rivers oozing from his limp form. Quick gunted in a mixture of pain and gratitude, squeezing his eyes shut tightly as Shining’s magic went to work.
“Thank you,” Quick said. “The plan was always to arrive here. Create a public event the kingdom would watch en mass, then stage an attack. Chrysalis would take the place of the new Alicorn, and we would stage her saving Canterlot singlehoofidly… We have real battle plans to ensure the guard, Celestia, and Luna will not make an impact. M— My queen, she… She didn’t know about the Elements of Harmony.”
Cadence’s eyes lit up, her crash course in Equestrian history had included the Elements, and their nearly instantaneous defeat of Nightmare Moon.. “Excellent! We have an easy means of victory! Shining, can we get ahold of the—”
Quick shook his head rapidly, then moaned in distress as one of the hole sin his back closed up. “ “No! You don’t.”
Shining smiled at his success and renewed his efforts. “Come on Shining, you got this…”
Cadence gently tipped Quick’s head back as it slumped down. “Why can’t we use the elements?”
“We have plans for them. Hasty plans, but plans. Each of them are being watched by a changeling. I— AH!” Quick shivered violently for a moment as Shining’s concentration slipped, and the healing magic briefly did more harm than good. “There are eight snipers, covering each one. I… I could have… made them stand down. Good news, a quarter of our infiltrators are on that… detail. You need to stop Chrysalis. If she can finish her plan to… Stop Celestia, then—”
Quick’s horn sizzled and popped. The dark magic he had mastered over the year sensed its masters impending death and kicked in without his consent, feeding on his anger and despair to try to spare its master’s life. Shining grit his teeth and began to fight against the sudden influx of dark magic. The chaotic, courupting waves of energy pushed back, refusing to budge.
Cadence’s eyes softened. No one revealed intelligence as their dying words unless they had truly changed their hearts. Her softened gaze turned hard again as she realized exactly what she had done and why. If I hadn’t been so angry, maybe he could have said something earlier. Maybe I would have believed him… I need to let go of my anger.
“Then what?” Cadence asked as she knelt down closer to Quick.
Quick gasped for air as the light and dark magic struggle within him made one of has lungs seize. Cadence whipped her head around to glare at Shining. “I thought you said you were helping him!”
“I am!” Shining yelped, his ears drooping. “He’s flooded with Dark magic and—”
Quick snorted under his breath. “Stop fighting my magic, fool! Work with it.”
Shining paused for a moment, then fachooved. “Oh, Luna you’re trying to help me…”
“Yes!” Quick snapped. “Stop undoing my help, simpleton!”
Shining stopped pushing his magic, letting the Dark magic run its course ot see what it was doing. The dark energy did seem to serve it’s masters best interests as it pulled tissue together and held them in place. The unicorn changed tactics, applying a simple spell ment to heal cuts to each individual tissue the changeling’s magic worked its way into. One by one, the wounds begna to close.
Though he was still bleeding profusely.
Quick took a deep breath to turn his attention to answering Cadence’s question.. “She’s going to the armory. For the key. The spare key. The one Celestia thinks only she knows about… Key is a little lantern. Looks… Like it’s there for light at night. Brass. Orange glass. Little. Key opens Celestia’s throne room vault. Where she keeps—”
Shining and Cadence’s eyes widened in horror. “The artifact vault?!” they gasped in unison.
Quick nodded and reached back with a hoof to hold one of his larger wounds shut.. “Y— Yes… Once inside, Chrysalis needs only two things. The first… First…” the changeling’s eyes dimmed visibly as he stared off into nothing. “She’ll use the Chalice of Shadows to cripple Celestia. Then, she’ll use the Identity Matrix to make everyone think she is really Princess Cadence. Her false heroics will earn the love of the people. An entire kingdom’s worth of love… Will be hers. She’ll be more powerful than any alicorn, and can take her rightful place as the Queen of the Crystal Empire… without… resist… It’s cold…”
Cadence reached out with a hoof and gently lifted Quick’s head. “I’m sorry. I’m an assassin, you were my target. I didn’t know you— I couldn’t trust— If hadn't been so angry—”
Shining blinked. “Assassin?”
A small dark pit developed in his gut as Shining realized that he had just seen Cadence’s normal response to extreme anger. He resolved to help her recover from the ‘training’ she had been given.
Quick smiled. “You had… every right to be… No reason to trust me. I understand…”
The Changeling shivered and closed his eyes tightly. “Promise… Many others. A third maybe… They hate her too. Promise you won’t… Let them live. Please.”
Cadence paused for a second then nodded. It would be the least she could do, especially for someone she may have killed while they were changing sides. “Anyling who surrenders will be treated fairly. I promise.”
Quick whimpered as his vision began to dim. While his wounds were healing through his and Shining’s magic, he was still dangerously close to the brink.. The world was dark, cold, and closing in on him. Cadence’s voice was there, but faint, echoey, even ghostly. “Surrender? I— I surrendered…”
Cadence nodded, closing her eyes to keep herself from crying. “Yes. I am sorry. I won't— I won't kill anyling else who doesn't shoot first. I promise.”
Shining frowned, his brow furrowing as he looked into Cadence’s eyes. “That’s a bit unwise when there’s a war on.”
Cadence nodded twice and sighed. “Yes, but if a third of the enemy is effectively a slave army… I’ll let them know they can surrender.”
Shining nodded slowly, satisfied by her answer. He turned to look at the dying changeling. “This is his last body… I— I’m not going to let you die, Quick. You may not deserve, but I’m going to give you a second chance, damnit!”
Shining’ shorn blazed like the sun as he channeled everything he had into his healing. He closed wounds. Redirected blood. Regulated breathing…
Quick gasped, his eyes snapped open as Shining’s efforts allowed him to climb a few rungs back towards consciousness. “No! No I don’t want to go! I refuse!”
He pushed the very last of his energy into his horn, desperately clawing for any scrap of magic he could lay a thought on. Dark magic crackled around his horn, building up into a ball of purple and green light at his horn tip. “K— Kla— Klaatu... Varata Ni—”
Quick’s chant was lost in a coughing fit as blood filled his mouth. The last of his strength left him, and the changeling fell limp to the floor, unconscious, but stable. He would survive.
His magic, on the other hand, was quite unstable. The dark magic he had gathered around his horn exploded in a flash of sickly-green and deathly-purple light.
“Buck!” Cadence cried as she dove for Shining, tackling him to the ground and curling around him.
The dark magic maelstrom ripped through the hallway, blasting Shining and Cadence with its umbral energies. Cadence disappeared into a cloud of sparks as her wards fought against the magical discharge. Shining had no such protections.
Though Cadence’s body shielded him from the bulk of the blast, dark magic sank into his exposed hooves, tail, and ear, sliding through his body as it sought to alter, corrupt, and mutate. The magic needed to fill its victim entirely before proceeding and so it flowed into the stallion through every exposed nook and cranny.
It oozed into each and every part of Shining’s being, seeking to perform the task its master had set to it. To grant the target’s fondest wish. A pity Quick had not successfully tamed the spell, leaving it free to do its job in the most vicious and amusing manner possible.
Firs the magic found Shining’s desire to change, to be new things and to live as several personas he loved to be. It worked with that desire, prodding, poking, and altering the Stallion. Subtly at first, bigger changes could come later, once it had entirely occupied its victim.
The dark magic found shining’s transformation gem, took it offline, and performed a little rewiring. Then it found the bond of love between Shining and Cadence. The Dark magic raced to the bond, delighted to find something so pure to corrupt. It hit their bond full force and began to slide along it, seeking out a second target to dissociate into. The magic tipped Cadence’s wards.
Alicorn magic raced back down the link, smashing dark magic aside as best it could. The invisible battle between dark and alicorn magic raged as the waves of green light radiated from the unconscious Changeling’s horn. But then, a second later, the dark magic’s source depleted. Quick’s horn stopped glowing. The magic had no more reinforcement, and Cadence’s magic snuffed it out.
Shining moaned, squirmed free from Cadence’s grasp, took four steps, then vomited. Sparks of dark magic trailed along from his mouth, following the sick as it splashed along the ground. Shining wiped his lips with the back of his hoof then squeaked in panic as he saw the fleck of purple mana dissipate.
“Oh buck! Cadie! I got hit!” Shining spun around to face Cadence, his eyes metaphorically weeping horror. “Am I okay? Do I look normal? Am I melting into, uh, I don’t know, slime?!”
Cadence’s ears peaked in alarm. “Is— is that a thing that could—”
Shining nodded rapidly. “Yes! We got blasted with uncontrolled dark magic! It likes to mutat—”
Shining paused, made a strange face, then sneezed hard as his transformation gem came back online and its altered magic took hold of him. A rippling wave of white light washed across his body, wiping away all traces of Shining Armor, and leaving behind Gleaming Shield.
Gleaming blinked as she noticed her hooves suddenly become more dainty, quickly felt her face, smiled awkwardly and looked up at Cadence. “Uh… heh… Stress,” the mare flashed Cadence a sheepish grin, her cheeks burning bright. “I um, I be Gleaming to relax a lot… So yeah. Stress. Sorry... Let me just change back.”
She closed her eyes, reached for her dark magic damaged gemstone with her mind, and in a flash changed back into Shining Armor. Shining cleared his throat. “There we go… Okay! We need to come up with a plan.”
Cadence started to nod in agreement, but blinked as another rippling white wave of magic brought Gleaming out for a second time. The Dark Magic hadn’t been able to finish its work, but Shining had wished in his heart-to-hearts to be other ponies. Now he would have to be. At least, one particular other pony.
“Um… Hon? I think we know what the dark magic did.”
Gleaming frowned. “What?” The sound of her voice made her jump. The transformed pony looked down at herself and squeaked. “Oh no! Nonononono! I can’t have a broken gem now! I need to be recognizable! There’s a bucking shapechanger attack and—”
Gleaming’s eyes dilated into tiny pools of terror. “Aaaaa!” she ran forward and buried her nose into Cadence’s barrel. “I’m bucked! As soon as the guards hear about transforming attackers if my gem keeps randomly changing my shape I’ll be shot!”
Cadence’s eyes narrowed angrily. “The buck you will. You’ll stay with me. Remember, if they fire first, I’ll fire back.”
Cadence lifted her pulse rifle and inspected it for a moment before storing it in her pocket and taking out her M-60. “Preferably with something less lethal. Celestia said this was for taking out shields.”
Gleaming sniffled, wiped a panicked tear from her eye and nodded slowly. “O— Okay. S— So. What do we do?”
Cadence pursed her lips in thought. “First, check Quick. Is he alive?”
Gleaming nodded slowly then trotted over to Quick and placed a hoof on his neck to check his pulse. She spent a few moments, pursing her lips and focusing then nodded slowly while sighing in relief. “He’s stable… I think he’ll make it. He’s going to need a transfusion if we want him up and around any time soon, but he should be okay. Maybe we can get him to the infirmary?”
Cadence hummed as she debated with herself. “Well, if we can get the Elements of Harmony, maybe we can get their bearers to safety in time to use them. If we do that, we might have the time to make the detour. It may be best to tell somepony he’s here and to pick him up. Or rather pick ‘Twilight’ up.”
Gleaming paused and reached into the saddlebags on her back with her magic and took out the element’s box. “I uh... I have them, actually.”
Cadence did a triple take, her jaw dropping. “Wait, what?! That is poorly written fan fiction levels of contrivance.”
Gleaming shook his head. “No! Princess Celestia gave them to Quick thinking he was Twilight and ordered him to gather the Elements and I made him give them to me to carry as a sign of trust.”
Cadence nodded, her incredulity subdued by Gleaming’s explanation. “Oh… Well, what are the odds we can get five mares out from under the eyes of eight snipers?”
Gleaming bit her lip. “Eight snipers each… He said each.”
Cadence groaned and facehooved. “I forgot! We would need to be able to prevent forty changelings from taking a shot in a row, and do it fast, because there’s no way Chrysalis isn’t headed to the armory right now.”
Gleaming’s ears drooped as she looked at the floor. “Yeah so, we need to leave him here and go stop her. If she gets into the vault…”
Cadence’s wings flared. “Buck! You’re right!” She reached out with her magic and picked Gleaming up, placing the mare on her back between her wings. “Stay on, I’m faster than you.”
Gleaming eeped as she was lifted, and clung to Cadence back with her legs as tightly as she could. “Uh, okay. So, we’re going to charge the Armory?”
Cadence nodded as she rifled through her jacket pockets and took out her phaser rifle and passed it to Gleaming. “Here, use this. It will stun them. I’ll use this—” Cadence floated her M-60 into view. “— to wear down shields. Absolutely nopony gets to stop us. Full speed, no stopping, no questioning. Try not to shoot too much, I think that gun will still draw on my strength even if you’re holding it.
Gleaming blinked and looked at the weapon held in her pink grip. “Um… If it does, then Princess Celestia is really bad at magic. It will probably take a quarter of my power to fire this once. You do know I can cast my own stun rays, right?”
Cadence blushed a bright pink and sheepishly took the weapon back, sliding it into her jacket pocket. “Oh… right… Heh heh!”
Gleaming blushed as well, but for a different reason. “So um, are you sure you don’t want me to just run behind or beside you?”
Cadence nodded and turned her neck to look at Gleaming. “I am going to fly in the hallways. It will be faster.”
Gleaming decided for the sake of expediency to just not mention how riding on someone's back was a sex thing. “Okay! I uh… I’ll do... this. In public... for the public good. So, a— armory. Turn around, left, first door.”
Cadence decided to not poke at Gleaming’s obvious embarrassment, deciding that riding on a pony’s back must be how pony mothers transport young foals. She nodded and wheeled around as quickly as she could. “On it!”
The two ran down the hall as fast as Cadence could manage to go in her current state. Celestia’s warning about using her weapons had been crystal clear, but only in the basic facts. Using her weapons would tire her. Cadence had understood that completely. What she hadn’t expected is just how much they would tire her.
The few shots she had fired made the alicorn feel as if she had run three miles. While she didn’t feel like she was exhausted, or even close to exhausted, she still felt a good amount of fatigue.
How many total shots do I have?
The question weighed heavily on Cadence’s mind as Gleaming guided her back to the main hallways. After all, it would be a simple matter for Chrysalis to organize the palace’s guards to defend the Armory, which would mean Cadence would need to fight through a few dozen ponies at the least before facing the changeling queen.
Will I have enough?
Cadence turned right, following Gleaming’s directions while still deep in thought. Cadence could see the end of the hallway a few meters ahead, and moved her M-60 to cover the door in preparation to open it.
Gleaming’s ears peaked as she realized something extremely unsettling. “C— Cadie?”
Cadence slid to a stop, her head whipped around, searching for an impending attack. There wasn’t one to be seen.
“What is it?”
Gleaming nervously licked her lips. “I uh… Quick said that the signal for the attack was when the shield went down, right?”
Cadence thought back to the changeling’s dying words for a few moments then nodded. “Yes! That means we can postpone her attack by having you keep it up for as long as we need. Good thinking, hon!”
Cadence’s lips stretched into a relieved smile as she sighed her tension away.
Gleaming’s tail and ears drooped. “Uh, a— actually… I uh… I just realized I haven't felt my shield spell since we got hit by the dark magic.”
Cadence inhaled her tension back in as she took in a deep breath. “BUCK!” She turned and punched the wall in anger. “Then the attack is happening right now!”
Gleaming nodded slowly. “Yeah… These passages are soundproof, but uh, just be ready when we open that door. Okay?”
Cadence nodded and adjusted her sunglasses, believing they would come in handy to help prevent her from being blinded by the endless sea of pulsing magical lights she expected would be flying back and forth on the other side of the door. “I’m ready.”
Cadence took three steps and reached the door. Gleaming closed her eyes and drew on her magic, wrapping the two of them in a simple pink shield. It was basic strength. Gleaming knew that an Alicorn could shrug off a lot of punishment, and wanted to save what little magic she had left for offense.
Cadence turned the doorknob with a hoof and pulled it open. The sounds of chaos immediately filled the servant’s passage.
The palace had been one of the first targets when the shield fell. Chrysalis knew Cadence was somewhere in the palace, and the rogue element of her plan had to be removed. The bulk of Changeling forces had descended on the palace exactly like a swarm of locusts. The moment the shield had failed they abandoned their position in the rocky craigs above Canterlot and swarmed down in a thick black cloud.
The EUP and Royal Guard did their best to defend against the attack, but Shining’s shield spell had been their primary means of aerial defense. The place and city’s mage towers had fired bolt after bolt into the swarm as it descended on Canterlot. Red, green, blue, pink, yellow, and orange bolts punched and bit into the swarm in endless streams. Changeling bodies had fallen from the sky like rain.
There were simply too many. For every changeling that fell, another ten made it to the ground. The moment the Changelings landed, the ponies had lost the sky. The mage towers fell first. The swarm sent squadrons directly to the towers to take care of the pony mages. With the enemy’s air defense gone, the battle became a ground game.
Ponies hold up in buildings, desperately defending each door, window, chimney, and air vent they could find. Changelings poured through the streets, flying high and low as they sought priority targets and enacted their Queen’s orders to the letter.
Destroy everything possible. Induce panic and chaos. Do not kill civilians.
Kill Princess Cadence.
The door creaked open, the sound of its unoiled hinges immediately lost in the sea of screams, thrumming changeling wings, sizzling spells, clashing blades, shattering glass, and cracking stone. The open doorway revealed a wall of changeling soldiers. They stood in their natural forms, glossy black exoskeletons and gleaming blue eyes, bared fangs, and stinger-like horns on full display to use terror as a weapon.
Cadence opened fire.
White hot disruptor bolts tore into the changeling line, stripping away wards, shields and enchantments like acetone wiping away nail polish. The line of EUP soldiers who had been trying to secure the hallway immediately fired a barrage of more lethal munitions. Arrows, spellbolts, and spears ripped into the line, cracking exoskeletons and gouging eyes.
Taking advantage of the break in the changeling line, Cadence burst from the doorway and hosed the hallway down with more disruptor shots, doing her best to ignore the staggering amount of energy her M-60 drained from her with each sustained burst.
The hallway in front of her suddenly tinted peach as an EUP mage placed a shield spell across the hallway to protect her suddenly appearing princess.
“Princess!” A unicorn in an EUP sergeant's uniform called. “Get behind us!”
Cadence turned towards the soldier and shook her head. “The enemy is after a relic in the armory! I need to secure it.”
The sergeant saluted and threw a hex into the changeling line, dropping several bugs with the crackling electro-net he had conjured.
Cadence flinched and looked the sergeant dead in his visor covered eyes. “Intelligence indicates a significant number of the enemy are slave-soldiers. Unconditional surrender is to be accepted, and demanded. Understood?”
The sergeant raised his hoof in a salute. “Yes, ma’am! River Bend, spread the word to the other squads.”
Cadence pointed to the door she had just come from. “Twilight’s unconscious in the hallway. We had to leave her behind. She is to be taken to an infirmary and given a transfusion immediately… Well, as soon as Gleaming and I are on our way. We’ll need covering fire.”
The squad’s messenger saluted. “Yes, sir!”
Cadence fired another volley of disruptor rounds at the changelings who had regrouped and began advancing towards the shield spell. Her rounds ripped a hole in the shield, making the pony wizard cry out in pain as their shields began to slowly unravel.
Cadence's ears stood up in alarm. “Oh! Oops! Uh… Sorry, my shields are directional!”
The mage waved her hoof, completely buying the alicorn’s excuse.. “I— it’s okay. Just go!”
Cadence nodded and turned to run down the hallway before turning her head to Gleaming. “Which way?”
Gleaming grinned sheepishly. “Through the bugs.”
Cadence blinked and groaned. “Through the bugs…”
“Yes.”
“Okay then…”
Cadence reached down with her magic and grabbed her M-79. She looked at the weapon as seriously as she could and prayed her plan would work. Alright gun. I love you, and you love me. You run on my magic, so it stands to reason you’ll work how I need you to work. Do me this one favor and I’ll make sure you get a full cleaning and oiling after this is over.
Cadence aimed her grenade launcher at the advancing knot of changelings and fired.
The blazing orange bolt of magic sizzled through the air, passed through the disintegrating shield spell, entered the changeling squad, and exploded in a flash of orange light. Stone shattered with a thunderclap. The palace shook as the floor beneath the changelings shattered, caving in on the empty room below.
A dozen surprised cries rose above the rumbling explosion as the changelings on the ground fell through the new hole in the floor and those in the air were blasted aside by the pressure wave. All without a single changeling getting more than a bruised exoskeleton.
Cadence sprinted forwards, snapped open her wings and took off, jumping over the new hole in the floor and flying down the corridor. Gleaming eeped and squeezed her hind legs tightly, struggling to stay on. Changelings began to fly up out of the hole as the two crossed. Gleaming grit her teeth and fired as many stun rays as she could.
Pink energy beams sizzled through the air, slamming into the occasional changeling, though most dodged around the beams. Spellbolts and spears flew as the EUP squad laid down covering fire, nearly hitting Cadence as she landed on the other side of the hole.
“I thought you were going to fly?” Gleaming asked as she stunned one of the three changeling in front of them.
Cadence squeezed her weapons trigger and stripped the wards from an adorably tiny changeling who had been using an energy-shield to cover one of her larger friends.
“Too many things in the air! I clip a wing on a bug we die.”
“Good point!”
The two began to advance down the hallway as quickly as they could. The going was slow, forcing Cadence to retrieve her phaser rifle and assist in stunning the endless tide of changelings.
The bugs poured out from every doorway. They burrowed up through the floor. They came from behind the tapestries. Windows shattered, letting more and more in as the second ticked by.
After thirty seconds, it was clear no real progress would be made. Gleaming looked through one of the many broken windows as a brief moment of clear skies let a ray of sunlight into the war torn palace. The Northern tower gleamed in the light, appearing strangely bug-free.
Gleaming frowned, her brow furrowed, she turned towards Cadence and yelled, so she could be heard over the sounds of phaser fire and buzzing wings. “We have five hundred meters to go! We won't make it in time. We need another way.”
Cadence nodded in agreement and punched a Changeling in the face to save on energy. “Agreed!” She yelled back before bellowing at the top of her lungs. “Anyling who surrenders will be treated fairly. Continue attacking and I will be forced to kill you!”
Her threat went unheeded. Gleaming laughed bitterly. “I guess these are all from a different third, huh?”
Cadence smirked and nodded. “Guess so.”
The two continued to shoot and blast, managing to take the occasional step forward through the chaos. The bugs constantly moved, coming at them from a dozen angles at once. Gleaming’s shield had thus far kept them safe, but nowhere near as safe as her acting as a turret for her fiance.
Cadence swung her rifle, hitting a changeling in the face with the stock. Her blow threw the bug back, knocking several of his allies over and revealing the beautiful tapestry behind the changeling line.
Cadence smiled as she saw the ancient depiction of the lighting of the Fires of Friendship. Quick, thanks for the idea.
Cadence whipped her phaser up and fired three quick shots. The energy ripped from her reserves left her feeling like she just outran Usain Bolt in the hundred-meter dash, but her three golden rays flew straight and true… Thought they didn’t hit a single changeling.
Gleaming winced as she saw the shots ‘miss’. “Ow, bad luck there.”
The changelings laughed, seemingly amused.
Cadence just smiled. “I wasn’t aiming for them.”
She turned and fired another shot. The blast hit the last hook holding the tapestry up, partially melting it as the others had. The hooks creaked and groaned, their damaged metal now too flimsy to hold up several hundred kilograms of woven fabric. The tapestry ripped free of the wall, tilted outwards and fell, taking the changelings down like a giant flyswatter.
A few pained groans from beneath the tapestry told Cadence they didn’t have much time to escape.
Gleaming’s jaw dropped. “Luna’s teats, hon!”
Cadence sprinted forwards, panting from exhaustion. “You’re my coltfriend. You should swear by my boobs. Not hers!”
“Yours are too small to swear by,” Gleaming babbled as they ran.
The transformed mare’s head was too busy spinning for her to be logical. No normal unicorn could sustain a spell for a week then go right into battle without problems…
Cadence laughed. “Excuse me?”
“Luna’s like… She’s got them! All the time. A cups. Hehe! You’re flat, because you know, no foal.”
The pink alicorn was far too disturbed by her sudden realization about her lacking an element of femininity she’d always wanted to make a good comeback. Fortunately for her sake, as well as Gleaming’s, an engine roared to life down the hallway in front of them, providing the perfect distraction.
Cadence smiled between her desperate gasps as the tired mare pushed herself closer and closer to hyperventilating. “Thank god! Hay’s Angels. They’ll loan me a bike.”
Gleaming frowned. “Who?”
“A biker gang I promised titles too for helping me break into the palace.”
“Oh…” Gleaming nodded in satisfaction, then frowned. “Wait, what?”
Cadence laughed and ran forward as fast as her tiring body would allow. Gotta conserve some energy for fighting the Queen! Can’t burn it all now!
Cadence followed the engine sounds down the temporarily clear hallway and turned right around the corner, running directly into the back of a thick knot of Changeling soldiers.
Cadence whipped her M-60 up and fired a volley of disruptor rounds into the back of the line. “Surrender or die, changelings!”
To Cadence’s surprise, three of the changelings tried to pull away from the rest of the group, only for their squadmates to immediately fire on them. Taking advantage of the confusion, Cadence waded into melee, using the butt of her rifle indiscriminately to conserve her magic for later.
Gleaming fired a few stun rays before swaying and nearly falling off Cadence’s back. She moaned and grabbed into Cadence’s wings with her forelegs to study herself, her eyes fluttering with exhaustion and mana burn.
A changeling watched Gleaming sway and with a quick hex sent a fireball streaking through the air towards her. Cadence saw the fireball out of the corner of her eye and dropped to her belly. The flaming projectile sizzled through the air and hit the carpet, which immediately began to burn.
A deafening roar met Cadence’s ears as something huge rushed past her, slamming into the changelings like a tool chest falling down a flight of stairs. Cadence whipped her head around to see what in even the buck could possibly use a thirty changeling strong squad like bowling pins, and yelled in fright, squirming back as fast as she could.
Cadence's eyes widened in terror. Where the flying buck did a Celestia-damned Grizzly Bear come from!?
“Are you okay, Princess?” A soft mare’s voice asked in a way which was appropriate to a library or a tea party, but not a war zone.
Cadence turned to see who was speaking to her, and more importantly not worried about the 3-meter tall bear. The answer was a small buttery yellow and pink pegasus mare. Fluttershy.
Fluttershy, along with Belt Drive, Gaffer, and Harley, who was in her changeling form. The four were wielding improvised melee weapons and were just a little beaten up, but looked almost exactly how Cadence had always imagined an adventuring group would look when out performing heroics.
“Y— yeah…” Cadence said slowly before pointing behind her with a wing. “Um, bear?”
Belt grinned ear to ear. “This little missy said the best way I could help her help you was to get her a ride to the zoo. She should have told me ‘By the way, I can talk to animals and make them do what I want. Let's go recruit a squad of bear cavalry!’.”
Fluttershy blush faintly and rustled her wings. “S— Sorry…”
Gaffer raised an eyebrow as he saw Gleaming. The stallion tilted his head and pointed to her. “So uh, why is Gleaming here? Wouldn’t Shining be the better choice?”
Gleaming giggled. “Dark magic happened… Fix later… Anypony have a mana potion? I’m seeing things.”
Harley’s ears perked up. “I do!” she reached into the saddlebag fused to her right flank and handed Gleaming a suspiciously purple potion. “Drink up.”
Gleaming took the potion, popped the top and slugged it down like a fratcolt with a cheap beer.
Gaffer smiled and shook his head. “And everypony called me weird for having her hold onto my potions. Told you we would need potions!”
Belt hummed and stroked his chin. “Dark magic?”
Cadence nodded twice. “Yeah, we encountered the Queen’s archmage. This transformation seems to be the extent of it. He passed out before the spell finished... I hope he makes it.” Cadence turned to see how well the bear was doing.
The answer was well. Very well. Changeling spells hit the massive beast, dug in, scorched fur, and drew blood, but only ever seemed to make the bear even angrier.
Cadence shivered and turned back to the adventurers. “I need to get to the Armory. The Queen is going there to get something to hurt Celestia with.”
Harley shivered and transformed back into her motorcycle form with flash of emerald fire. <No problem, mom!>
Belt shook his head and gave the bike-bug a gentle pat on her rear fender. “You’re lucky she decided to ask me to help you more. You’d never make it there in less than ten minutes without a ride… Pritty most of her people are evil. I’d love a living bike of my own.”
Cadence frowned and looked Belt in the eyes as seriously as a pretty pink pony could. “Actually, I have it on good authority that about a third of them are slave-soldiers and would happily change sides if given a chance. See how many you can round up and uh… Actually, they won't look there! Have them gather in the Ferrier Quartz Mine. The entrance is in that suspiciously abandoned section of the city.”
Gaffer frowned and looked down at the chair leg club he was wielding. “Not sure how we could get more than one or two out of this mess.”
Belt snorted. “Please! We have an actual druid. Use your gamer head. She has Mister Growly fight the bad ones off, we get the good ones to come with us, and our numbers just keep getting bigger and bigger until we’re our own army and can make a dent in this battlefield.”
Gaffer’s face twisted into a smile. “Hey, good idea! Alright, let’s do this… I wonder if I’ll level up during or after this battle.”
The huge earth pony saluted Cadence. “You can count on me Princess. One good bug refuge coming right up!”
Much to Cadence’s surprise, Fluttershy offered a salute as well. “We’ll help every goodbuggy get out. I promise.”
Cadence smiled and swung her legs over Harley’s seat. “I’m glad I can count on you. You’ll make for one hay of a Knight-Captain after this. Come on, hon. Let’s go save the kingdom, so I can get busy training to save my own kingdom.”
Gleaming snorted and hopped onto Harley’s seat behind Cadence. “You know, it’s a really bad deal when you put it like that.”
Cadence rolled her eyes. Then, on a whim, she pressed down on the radio pinned to her jacket. “Hey, New Cadence. It’s Cadence Classic again. Guess what I found?”
Cadence counted to three then Twisted Harley’s throttle, making the bike bug’s engine roar.
“You’re in the armory, right? We’ll be there in a bit. Why don’t you wait up for us? The vault isn't going anywhere.”
Cadence let go of the radio’s transmit button, revved Harley one more time, then sped off down the hallway, burning rubber as she drove through the small fire to avoid accidentally hitting the already angry bear.
It’s almost over. Cut off the head, the body dies.
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First
So.....Awesome
Me
I can see Chrysalis now. “I had plans for so many eventualities, but not bear cavalry. Why did it have to be bear cavalry?”
Ouch, that almost turned really, really ugly at the beginning. Surrendering defectors dying to angry heroes is so a 90's cliche
I wonder how much control will Shinning have over his new form. If really bad luck happened, well, Carla will have to get used to toys. Poor girl, finally get's what she dreamt just to have her hubby' sausage and eggs stolen
A proper knight in Shining Armor (or would it be with a Gleaming Shield?
) must charge the Evil Overlord while atop his (her) trusty steed, weapon in hand (hoof? horn?) and with the wind in his (her) hair (mane)!
Or something along this line. A sword to get closer and hit stuff with is mandatory!
Also, don't worry Gleaming, I'm sure Cadence will be more than happy to let you ride her All. Night. Long.
Of course Fluttershy is a dr00d. I wonder, will she get more bears? A bear cavalry (beary?) needs at least five to form a wedge and drive into the enemy formations with the fury of a Fus Roh
!!!
Now this is the Pretty Pink Pony Princess' action pack I am waiting for!
Sept when its a hydra or its a fungus or....... imma just shut up now
Kill the Queen and the Hive dies. SO SQUASH THE BUGGY BITCH!
9142773 Point of order! Fungi do not have a head
9143013
OBJECTION
Then why do they have hats
9142773
Most pressingly of all, add changelings to the list :thinking:
This is kind of violent, Cadance. Poor attempting-to-surrender changeling.
All of the above would be pretty bad.
If Shining turns into icky dark magic goo here, it'd arguably largely be Cadance's fault for pushing the unnecessary fight with Quick so far.
Whoops!
Meeting up with the guard on the front line of the fight worked out pretty well.
Good job getting away from the eight snipers, Fluttershy, though maybe that became less of a thing after the invasion started for real.
Missed this the first time but is this a reference to a Jack Chalker novel?
A WoW reference?
I lolled :)
Stuff I noticed:
to
heart-of-hearts to
yelled
outran
others had
What? I think something is missing here.
9143046 Oh, shoot! My bad :c
9143377
It absolutely would be. But hey, Celestia did go looking for someone who would by training and likely nature be a bit of a violent person...
9143381
I have no idea who that is. Are those any good?
Nah, that's a historical rank. The head knight of a knight order woudl often be called a "Knight-Captain" or "Knight-Commander".
Glad someone else thought that was funny.
Thanks for the corrections!
9143429
I like them though they're a bit of a guilty pleasure. A common theme is body shifting and transformations.
The reason I asked is that one of them is called "The Identity Matrix"
9143450 Ah I see. Well, unfortunately I pulled the name out of thin air after coming up with the concept. A matrix being a mathematical device for transforming things.
9143484
Well, it does fit both stories :)
I'm still not sure where the laser sharks are going to make an appearance.
When did Luna have a kid? Am I the only one confused about this?
9143941
In a lot of cultures, the moon is a symbol of fertility and motherhood. Maybe it has something to do with that.
9144208 Hey! Someone got it :3 THat said, there's also this: 9143941 I grew up on a ranch. Some mares will have very slight teats all the time. I only saw one of them with a foal, but she seemed to produce more milk than a normal mare. TLDR; some horses can be "busty" and keep slight teats all the time.
9144208
9144423
i.imgflip.com/ltotm.jpg
Dark magic run its course ot see what it was doing
to, not "ot"
Pritty most of her people are evil. I’d love a living bike of my own.”
Pity
Poor wizard-bug. Ouch.
Why didn't Armor just drop the borked crystal?
9144585
This is one of the problems with the "chapter a week" format >< If you recall when he explains his transformation capabilities, he mentions the gem is implanted. So yes, he could drop it.. If he had a scaple and about 20 minutes of time... And probably something hard to bite down on.
9145242
Ah. Oooh. Ouch.
9145772 Yeah, a gem that lets you use transformation spells at will (bu drains your own energy with each "firing") isn't something you want to be able to drop, so SS agents have them implanted between the shoulder blades. (on ponies, that's a spot it can go without causing biological problems).
9143941
It's debatable.
When Flurryheart was born, (ICR which) Princess said that they'd never seen an alicorn give birth to an alicorn before
Implying that they had seen an alicorn give birth to a non alicorn
Blueblood called Celestia 'auntie'. It's possible that he is descended from Luna & just left out 1,000 years of 'greats'
9135624
From The Day The Earth Stood Still (1951 movie)
I WANT MOAR. please......
9155022 No worries, tomorrow at noon-ish GMT+9, you get moar.
Charge of The Heavy Beargrade?
All this chaos, and Discords been hitting the weed so hard he still stoned?
9155393 The Commissioner dosnt want Discord showing up in this. My head cannon is this is what weakened his seals enough to let a simple argument among fillies break him free.
Old gif, surprisingly relevant.
stuffpoint.com/my-little-pony-friendship-is-magic/image/96693-my-little-pony-friendship-is-magic-angry-couple.gif
Like Luna's are of any appriciatable size, if anything it should be Celestia's teats.
9170729
noone wants to think of that old hag's anything sexual. ughhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!
How about, “Mercy!” or “I surrender!”
1:36
Did I read that right? Did he just say "Promise you won’t let them live. Please.”