Nyx Takes Charge

by Bronyxy

5 The Final Assault

In the skies over Canterlot, the random unchoreographed feeding frenzy took on a sinister new focus as Queen Chrysalis suddenly decided to regroup in preparation for an all-out assault on the castle where she suspected the Princesses would be. Her initial priority had been to allow her changelings to feed following a long period without the love they needed to survive, and had stood back while they all took turns to take their fill, but now she felt that somepony with powerful magic was on to her and had to act before the Princesses could be restored.

The guards on duty at the Royal Castle blanched at the sight of changeling hordes forming into attack waves in front of them. Each was scared, but none was prepared to show any fear as they all stood firm, waiting for the attack to begin and the inevitable defeat that was bound to follow. They had all sworn an oath to protect the Princesses and each would carry out that duty until the end irrespective of the personal cost each would suffer. Even a casual glance at the sky told them that they were outnumbered, not just by a narrow margin, but overwhelming odds. Each guard knew that they were looking into the black heart of their destiny and this was the end for them.

High above, some dark alicorns were scything through their massing ranks, firing their horns and bringing down dozens of changelings, but although their successes were impressive, hundreds more were taking their place. Sure, these black ponies were buying some time, but the sheer arithmetic of their fight confirmed that the most they could hope to win was a slight delay.

One guard broke the stoic silence and began to cheer on the brave black ponies and soon all the guards; Royal Guards and Night Guard alike were all chanting, “Nyx! Nyx! Nyx!”

As the changeling army finished massing for their attack, one came to the forefront to lead the assault. She was bigger than the others and known to all present.

The chanting stopped as the guards all recognised who they were facing.

Princess Cadence and Shining Armor had beaten her before, but they weren’t here now. The guards raised their weapons and braced themselves.

The three Nyxes in the dream realm stared at the sickly yellow-green coating covering the dream bubbles, all sharing the same perplexed look on their faces. There had to be a way of freeing the Princesses from this love curse, but none could think of it. There were three of them, but as each was a clone of the others, all were having broadly the same thoughts at the same time; it wasn’t as if any had anything to offer over her colleagues.

“Girls” said one turning to the others, “I know this sounds crazy, but I talk to myself when I’ve got a difficult problem. Maybe if we try and look at this together it will be a bit like that, I mean, anything’s worth a try, right?”
The other two nodded their approval and grouped together to thrash out the problem.
“Queen Chrysalis has somehow cast a spell on the Princesses that makes them fall in love …”
“A bit like Big Mac and Miss Cheerilee on Hearts and Hooves day …”
“Only a lot more sinister. That heartbreak is far worse than I’ve ever seen; it is so severe as to stop them performing their Royal duties.”
“It was clearly a plan to get the Princesses out of the way …”
“Yes, but what can we do?”
A pause followed as the hopelessness sank in.

“Use raw magic?”
“And risk injuring the Princesses? No way - that stuff’s way too unpredictable.”
Another pause.
“OK, this is going to sound really silly, but we’ve tried brute force …”
“Yes …”
“But didn’t Princess Cadence and Prince Shining Armor defeat Queen Chrysalis with their love?”
“What, you mean …?”
“Yes, we could direct our love at the curse. Might be worth a shot, right?”
“Who shall we do first?”
“Mom. Come on, let’s all get round her dream bubble and think of how much she’s done for us, then project that through our magic all at once.”

Quickly all three surrounded Twilight’s bubble and focused hard on what she meant to them. Once the feeling had built up, each felt this wonderful warm glow of love and projected it forward. They cast it unlike any spell they had ever performed, each being surprised that the magic came not from their horns, but from the heart. Three powerful beams of love shot forward and enveloped the bubble, the oily green covering melting before them to reveal a grey coloured Twilight in a fitful dream inside, surrounded by a monochrome setting devoid of colour. As they continued, the last traces melted away and slowly the colour inside started to return.

Once they had stopped, they watched as the scene inside changed to a much happier one, bright joyful colours bursting through and the colour seeping back into their Mom’s lilac coat.
“We’ve done it girls!” shouted one in triumph, “Quick, Princess Luna next!”

Queen Chrysalis felt a sudden sharp tug in her magic as her control over Princess Twilight was lost. She howled a roar of anguish and gritted her teeth, diving in to attack the pony guards with more venom than even she had thought herself capable of. Her plan was beginning to unravel, and she knew she had to move fast while she still held an advantage. A second later she smashed into the front row of guards protecting the castle’s main entrance, sending them flying into the solid stone walls as the changeling army pushed forward around her.

The Nyxes quickly freed Princess Luna; she had borne her heartache on the inside and not shown it as openly as the other two, but it was still a deep and powerful curse. Now they faced a problem.
“Look, I don’t know if I can do this” said one of the Nyxes, “She did take us away from Mom. I just don’t think I can summon the same feeling …”
“OK” interrupted another, “Just think of how much happiness she gives Mom and Princess Luna, and all the ponies in Equestria. It may be a slightly different kind of love, but it’s love just the same, right?”

Each harboured a degree of scepticism, but they all hid their individual misgivings in an attempt to help convince the others that it would work, and so they all prepared themselves to cast another spell in the hope of releasing the Sun Princess. This time it was harder because although each had tried to push the negative thoughts from their mind, an underlying bitterness remained; they had forgiven, not forgotten.
“Come on girls!” shouted one of them, “For Equestria!”
Slowly the green sludge began to melt away and with the first signs of success, they redoubled their efforts, projecting more and more positive energy into destroying the last vestiges of the malevolent spell.

Finally, the Nyxes fell back on their haunches, drained. All three dream bubbles now contained the contented forms of the Princesses in all the rich colours of their vibrant dreams, and the Nyxes looked on knowing that before they could allow themselves the luxury of recovering they had to return back to the throne room and wake them up to defend Canterlot from Queen Chrysalis.

The Nyxes awoke from their meditations and shook the startled Princesses awake; none expressing any recollection of anything that had happened over the last few days. The sounds of fighting could be heard from within the throne room echoing loudly from all of the different doorways. The main doors were being pounded from the other side and flexing dangerously as they resisted the pressure from a large force of changelings trying to get in; it was clear they had less than a minute to get themselves rallied behind a plan.

“Remember what happened last time Queen Chrysalis attacked?” asked Nyx assuming command, let’s join horns and do it again!”
With no better ideas, this sounded a persuasive suggestion and the three Princesses joined their horns, lowering their heads so that the three Nyxes could join in too, one between each Princess.

They all focused on how much they loved, respected and owed each of the others in the circle, and a spark crossed between all of their horns as a pink mist began to swirl around them, gaining in power.

Suddenly there was a big bang as the large doors at the main entrance to the throne room gave up their resistance and burst open, their locks splintering as they were forced back with a crash into the stone walls. Chrysalis charged through, her look of vengeful anger melting into one of shock as she saw what was happening. Her mind flashed back with frightening clarity to a similar image she had seen when she had been defeated last time and she screamed a loud “Noooooooooo!” as the six alicorns began to rise from the floor.

She recoiled in horror, eyes wide and powerless to do anything more than watch as all six turned a blinding white before her. The last thing she saw was an explosion of white light that hit her on a wave of purest magic, sending her and her army tumbling out of the castle and out of Canterlot.

Everything was eerily quiet as the six alicorns floated gently back down to the ground, each wearing a contented smile on their faces; they were back together again, and as if that wasn’t enough cause for celebration in itself, they had seen off Queen Chrysalis too.

“Nyx” said Twilight, breaking the silence, “Unless I’m concussed, I’m seeing three of you. Did you do that dividing trick that you did when the monsters attacked Ponyville?”
“Yes Mom” they all replied in unison, then the two furthest away exchanged a look and let the one closest to Twilight explain. Celestia and Luna listened intently too as she catalogued the events that had led them all to this point, each of the Royal sisters blushing brightly when they heard how overtly they had been crushing on Twilight under the spell’s influence.

As the story unfolded, they became aware that the number of black coated ponies in the audience was gradually increasing, as the clones that had been outside fighting the changeling horde returned through the window. Some of those newly returned were bearing battle scars, but these weren’t the ones that caused concern, moreover it was the ones that hadn’t returned that could prove most damaging when Nyx came to rejoin back into her one true form again.

Once the key points of the story had been told, Celestia gave her apologies and went to check on the guards to provide whatever medical assistance was needed. Twilight and Luna meanwhile set off in search of the last two Nyxes. The streets and the landscape beyond were surprisingly free of any remnants of the battle, as all changelings had been completely blown away leaving everything deceptively tranquil. They focused on the immediate area around the castle and then flew an expanding spiral outwards. Nyx’s dark coat did not stand out as clearly as say Applejack’s or Pinkie’s in the long shadows, so progress was not as quick as either would have liked.

Suddenly Twilight saw a dark coloured pony trotting down the street below and called to Luna before diving down to see whether it was one of the clones. As she got closer, she recognised the distinctive features of her daughter and could see that she was carrying her wing awkwardly. She called and Nyx looked up, her smile not fully covering the pain she was clearly suffering.
“Mom! Mom!” she panted, “I’ve hurt my wing, I’m so sorry.”
“Do you have any other injuries?”
“No; I knocked down a changeling that was moving in on a scared little filly. I had to do something …”
“You did well. Now can you climb on my back and I’ll take you to the castle?”
“Yes, that would be nice” agreed Nyx, ”Like old times.”
“Yes Nyx, just like old times” agreed Twilight with a tear starting to form in her eye.

Comments

[Love able chaos]

Not bad Nyx not bad

[Bronyxy]

She's done well, but what of the last clone? She's going to need all of them to rejoin successfully ...