The War of the Mark

by Wise Cracker

A Change In the Heir

Pain dominated the swarm.

Chrysalis could barely breathe, and the whole of her army was suffering the same way she was. Every breath in was laboured and forced, and every breath out came in a long, slow whine of a wheeze. Closing her eyes, she tried to feel out the source of this corruption, perhaps isolate that accursed Pegasus magic and shut it down.

Bastion kicked her in the head then.

“Let the ponies go,” he commanded.

It was no use. He was only a child, but with her body crippled as it was, even a child would be enough to best her. He flew up for another blow to her head, but she managed to block him in mid-air. Her magic was still shut down, so restraining him wasn’t an option.

He still had his magic, though, and he clearly enjoyed hurting her.

“Let them go now!”

A point-blanc lightning ball exploded in her face, driving her back. She almost slipped on the slick cave floor, and she would have tried to fly away if Bastion didn’t cut her off with another prismatic sphere, ice-flavoured this time.

She growled in frustration.

So close. I can’t lose, not now.

He punched her in the gut.

“Give her back!” he screamed.

Even now, he barely did any real damage, but it was enough to hurt, enough to distract. Sooner or later, he would get a lucky shot in, damage her eyes or crack a joint to really cripple her.

Glaring at him, she already saw the calculations in his head. Even in his pathetic excuse for a righteous rage, he stayed at a distance when she could keep her eyes open. He was still lucid, he was still thinking.

He was still planning to outsmart her.

I don’t have a choice. There’s only one way to get rid of this handicap.

“Give me back my mom!” Another hard blast, acid this time, and she was blinded momentarily again.

She heard his wings buzz. He was going into melee again.

“Enough!” With a force of will and a pulse of magic, she obliged him. The wave of force sent him back a few paces, but she didn’t care. She threw her head back and let seep the power she’d been building up all day. Green swirls of energy spiralled out from her and wandered out, fading as they went.

Soon, she’d ejected all the pony magic she’d gathered that morning, spitting out the soulstuff that granted her those new powers.

She blasted him into the crystal wall with a snarl on her face. “Ah, that’s better.” She cleared her throat and rubbed at a sore spot. “It’s a shame, but you forced me. Good job, Bastion: you really are a worthy successor to your uncle.” She took a step forward. He wasn’t getting up yet, wobbling on his hooves.

The poor little thing was tired, and she couldn’t blame him. All that adrenalin, all those emotions coursing through such a little body, the strain must have been tremendous.

“Your plan worked: you’ve forced me to give back all the magic. Now what? You’re still down here, in a cave, alone, with me. One little child that everyone abandons, against a near-perfect changeling Queen.” She grabbed him by the throat and pressed him against the crystal again. “What’s your plan now? Are you expecting your Pegasus friend to get up and hit me in the back? I’m sure he’ll put up a nice fight, but he can’t surprise me. I know what a Stormcrafter can do when they’re unarmed, assuming he can even move after what I did to him.”

He gasped for air, and she pressed down harder.

“What, no clever comeback this time? Go on, let’s hear something. It’s not like I haven’t had to listen to these stupid little ponies and their jokes all day. It’s very annoying, you know, hearing every little thing they say to your army. Go on, Bastion, tell me. How does the heir of Faux Pas get out of this one? What bright little next step did you have in mind to defeat someone thrice your size and armed with magic you can barely dream of?”

“Y-you…”

“Yes? Go on?” She leaned in closer, waiting for the moment his body would shut down.

There was a flash in the crystal. A reflection, she realised, in a split second.

Pain wracked through her, and only her now. Light filled her world, and agony filled every fibre of her being. Thunderous sounds quaked through her ears and rattled her very blood.

When it was over, Bastion snuck out from under her grip.

She turned to keep her eyes on him as he retreated. Her body was shaken from the onslaught, her regeneration was too slow to recover.

She saw what he was retreating to: the little Pegasus, Doldrum, had made his way to the chamber. He was a mere ten paces away from her.

And beside him there stood a Unicorn, holding a golden amulet, and a pair of trinkets.

Her mind drifted back to that fight.

I flew over him. I went right by him.

The Pegasus took the amulets and gave them to Bastion before she could react.

She recognised the designs, even from afar: one a platinum snowflake pattern with six sapphires in the middle, the other a flower pattern made from a mix of blown glass fortified with silver edges.

A Healing Amulet, and a Revitalising Trinket. Midnight Castle design, fifth century, maybe sixth.

One to heal wounds, one to regain energy, temporarily.

Three charges each. Four, if she was lucky.

Bastion saw her stare at the things while he healed his wounds as best he could. Then he tossed them aside. He followed her gaze, and shrugged. “You never checked Live Wire’s pulse.”

---

Celestia embraced her rage. Her hide, already a pearly white, became a blinding phosphorous beacon, while her mane and tail ignited into pure flame. Her senses merged with the light of the Sun itself, seeking out her foes.

The courtyard, the Academy, the streets of Canterlot, everywhere a changeling Queen stood in the light, she now knew their precise location.

She froze. Two of them were carrying a weapon, and aiming at her.

Shtunk!

She didn’t move from her position, even then. She didn’t need to to see what had happened. With her expanded senses, she saw the giant black root that had popped out of the ground behind her, and that had blocked the shot.

“Discord?”

I told you you wouldn’t like my plan. Go for it, Celestia. Full Daybreaker, let’em have it.

She growled. “Oh, no, not yet.” The power wasn’t enough yet. Her fangs grew, her eyes changed, and fire build up in the air around her.

“Chrysalis! You dare call yourself a Queen and try to strike at me?! You do not know what kind of powers you’re playing with!”

The drones around her started to take off.

Then they faltered, and landed. Some of them were clutching their throats.

What the…

“There’s what I was waiting for. Now you get to see why they called me Day-breaker!”

Celestia took a deep breath in, closed her eyes, and let the light flow. A burning beacon formed above the garden, one that quickly split and dripped off into spiralling rivulets of flame, dozens of them. The fires sought out the changeling drones, and instantly turned them to ash when they made contact.

She saw it through the eyes of the sunlight. The garden, one by one, was cleared.

The Academy, even a few indoors. Down the streets, she spotted Fancy Pants trying to make a bandage of his suit while three Queens stalked him from a rooftop. That rooftop held no threat mere seconds later.

Pony Joe’s shop was overrun.

I liked those donuts.

Another little sliver of anger fuelled the flames that cleansed the place.

She lost count around the sixty mark, but she never lost awareness. Always there was a drone, a Queen, clutching its chest feebly. Under normal circumstances, a lot of them might have dodged this attack, only getting grazed. Not now, though, not when they were paralysed and gasping for air.

Eventually, the spell came to its end, and she could feel no more enemies in the light.

Canterlot was clear.

Her head swam. The flames of her mane died down, her tail required a little more flicking and swishing to go out. She blinked to get her eyes back to normal. Licking her lips, she found her fangs were still there. Those things never went away when she wanted, and it gave everything such a strange after taste.

She swayed on her hooves, then leaned against the statue.

“There. We saved Canterlot. Good job, Discord,” she said with a sigh. “Couldn’t have done it without you.”

Don’t sell yourself so short. You’re a powerful fighter when you want to be. And, um, about that weed in your garden…

“Tell me about it later, please.” She breathed a sigh of relief. “I’m too tired. That spell takes a lot out of me. I was so angry, I forgot. I knew she was going to try that, and I almost fell for it. That could have gone… so much worse.”

How did you get it to hit all of them? Did your ponies have a mass paralysis spell or something?

“Something like that. It was a simple gambit, really: she knew I would have to resort to the Daybreaker. I knew she would strike when I cast it, because I’d be vulnerable. The only way for me to win was to force her hand. Sunburst shut down her magic.”

But she had her speed again. She ate an artificer, a strong one, and a fast one.

“Speed and strength don’t matter if you cannot breathe. She let her guard down.”

Very clever. But it’s not over yet, Celestia, you know that.

“I know.”

The real Chrysalis is still out there, she’s still trying to finish her spell. And she still has her live drones for reinforcements.

Celestia chuckled.

What’s so funny?

“You. I am in no condition to fight anyone right now. I’m spent, and my Treeguards will have to protect me. But I am not the only pony fighting Chrysalis, you know.”

No, but you’re the only Alicorn who can fight her! You’re going to get swarmed by the next wave once they get here!

“If they get here, you mean.”

What?

“There are two Princesses defending Canterlot, Discord. My sister went to the Hive when the attack began. I’m sure she has them all under some illusion or dream spell by now.”

And the changeling boy? What if Chrysalis gets to him?

“With crippled lungs? I doubt she’ll do much of anything.” Celestia chuckled, then furrowed her brow. “Come to think of it, I didn’t know Luna could do that, she usually tries paralysis first. Regardless, Luna has control over the swarm now, it’s only a matter of time before she can get to the real Chrysalis. That connection between her and her drones leaves her open, that’s why she used the corpses first. No living brain, no entry to the Dream Realm.”

I hope you’re right. That’s still a changeling Queen you’re dealing with, alone with a child.

Celestia’s ears flicked. “Ah, speaking of which, I think I hear the cavalry.” She looked over her shoulder and groaned with pain when she saw who it was. “Chancellor Neighsay, just the pony I wanted to speak. Would you be a dear and head down into the catacombs? There is someone we need to collect there.”

---

Chrysalis braced herself for the fight. Three children, all exhausted, two of which should have been deceased, it was an easy victory.

The Pegasus was on her before she could blink, swiping her front hooves out from under her body.

Oh no.

The attack was quick and brutal. With her balance shaken and her body still recovering from the mass ejection, the Unicorn unleashed another pillar of lightning on her. She gritted her teeth, but her body could take it, a simple electric current that went from her horn to her hind hooves didn’t linger in her body long enough to do any real damage.

Then the Pegasus reared up for a punch, and her world exploded into light. The blow to her gut alone made her sick to her core, but that innate cloud-wielding magic played through her body and scattered the lightning. Instead of passing through and surging in a straight line, the lightning crackled and ripped through all of her body.

She twitched hard enough to dislocate her own joints: left arm, right ear, one of her abdominals, even her tongue cramped. Another blow drove her back further, and she felt a breeze through the pain.

Bastion was behind her head.

The spurs on his arms hooked across her horn in a scissor motion, and he reared back for a point-blank blast.

She screamed.

White filled her vision. She was being pulled back. Another kick loosened a fang, a third went straight to her throat.

Two more punches landed directly on her shoulders, though the left one hit decidedly harder than the right.

Darn kids, they’re aiming for joints.

She would have praised them if it hadn’t hurt so much. As she fell over, horn clattering to the ground, the Unicorn finally let up his assault.

That’s it. Now’s my chance.

She saw her chance. All it would take was one swipe to get some distance, a few bites to the neck of that uppity Pegasus, and one blow to crush the Unicorn’s skull. Bastion was still the weak link of the three, she could take him easily.

The plan formed, the motions seemed almost automatic. However, her body wouldn’t respond.

What? Why can’t I move?

Looking down, she saw ethereal chains binding her body. The Unicorn had an amulet in his hooves: Neighsay’s amulet. She hadn’t even noticed through her drones’ eyes. The old coot wasn’t wearing it anymore, he’d passed it on.

The Pegasus brandished the amulet and made some quick arcane gestures. Chains burst forth from the trinket and wrapped around her limbs, tying her down and tightening hard enough to bite into her hide.

Bastion spit a gob of green goop on her before she could squirm out. Tailtip, legs, torso, arms, all the way up to her neck she was coccooned and chained.

The boys panted. A concerted strike, all-in to finish a superior opponent quickly, she had to respect it, to some degree.

She struggled against her bonds. Closing her eyes, she summoned her reinforcements. It would take them some time to arrive, but the ponies were weakened now. The next wave would finish it.

All she had to do was teleport out, and she didn’t need an intact horn to do that. Or she shouldn’t have.

She tried to teleport again and again, but nothing happened.

“Trying to teleport out?” Live Wire asked. “You’re not going anywhere.”

“How?” she asked. “You can’t hold me.” She flexed her sore body and tried to break through the goop.

Her arms went still. Her legs stopped moving. Her body was unresponsive. She was paralysed from the neck down.

“How?”

“EEA-issue restraints,” Doldrum said. “Ponies don’t like it when you hurt foals. Teachers usually don’t let you get away with it.”

“But, but… you don’t…”

Doldrum along the amulet’s sides, making the chains rattle and tighten further.

It finally dawned on her: Neighsay had deactivated the amulet, making it impossible to trace. That little bastard artificer Pegasus had turned it back on and set it to trapping mode.

She still had her reinforcements. She could still call out to them.

The number you are calling is currently not available. Please leave a message after the beep.

Beep!

That voice. The voice was in her head. The voice was where her swarm should have been.

Thinking back, she realised things were out of order. She’d seen the Unicorn with the amulet just now, and the chains, but the Pegasus only the cast the chains after that.

The Unicorn couldn’t wield an amulet like that, so where had those first chains come from?

I have you now.

Chrysalis growled. “Luna. That royal pain is in my head. But how? I kept my drones away from her, I used the dead ones. She couldn’t have found a way in.”

“Unless she got to them back at the Hive, which I’m guessing you left undefended,” Bastion taunted. “It’s over.”

“The dead ones you used are wiped out,” Live Wire said. “Princess Celestia destroyed them.”

“No. I hit Celestia with a poison arrow, there’s no way she could withstand that poison. I won!”

You lost. I am in your base, taking control over your Hive. You took a great risk, linking your senses to theirs. I control what they see and hear now. And I have found the backdoor to do the same to you.

“I can still fight you.” Chrysalis clenched her eyes shut and concentrated. “You made a big mistake, trying to get into my head.”

Normally, I would agree. Corruption is a great risk in these battles, after all. But you are spent, your magic is as exhausted as your body and, let’s be honest, your mental skills were already crude as it stood. Your network is under my control now. I don’t need to take any chances with your mind, your body and senses are more than enough.

Chrysalis let her head fall back. Her hearts sank.

“That’s it, then. This is the end of it all. Centuries of hard work, and I’m defeated by my own creation.” She smiled at the three and closed her eyes. “I suppose that is traditional for Titans like me. Alright, boys, you may finish it. Take the honour you deserve.”

Silence fell.

“Well? What are you waiting for? Finish me off already. You know you want to. I killed your uncle, Bastion. Every single bad thing that has ever happened to you is my fault. I tried to take away your mother, all of your mothers. You don’t even know what lovely things I’ve done in Ponyville.” She smirked. “Oh, you’re going to love what I did to Sugarcube Corner.”

“Shut up,” he replied.

“And what about little Apple Bloom, then? You think she’ll ever be safe while I am alive? Don’t think this is the last of me, little boy, not if you let me live. As long as I draw breath, I will be looking for revenge. I’ve spent centuries preparing for this day, I can start all over if I really need to. So do yourself a favour, and finish me off. Even the ponies won’t hold it against you. You’ll be a hero.”

She opened her eyes again. Sure enough, the boys were considering it.

“It’s your call,” Doldrum said. “I’ve done this already.”

“I don’t think the Royal Guard would kill her like this,” Live Wire offered, “but it’s your choice.”

Bastion raised a hoof above her face. A drop of green glue fell on her, coating her mouth. Then one drop shut her left nostril, another sealed the right.

The air was cut off from her body. Even her spare airholes were sealed with the coccoon. The burning in her chest intensified, her hearts pounded.

But when she started seeing black spots, Bastion ripped the nose blocks off. He snorted, stared at her, and leaned in. His voice was calm, tired, almost defeated, even, yet somehow relieved.

“You don’t get to tell me what to do anymore. You don’t get to tell me what to think, you don’t get to tell me how to feel. You are nothing to me. And it doesn’t matter what you’ve done: in about two weeks, I’ll be back home, and I’ll be happy. I get to have a life without you in it, and you don’t get a say in that.”

Chrysalis mumbled in the makeshift gag. Her eyes flared with anger, but all he did was walk away.

“I’m done with you, Your Highness.”

It was the same tone of voice, the same defiance, the same arrogance.

He was truly his uncle’s heir.

“I win.”

Author's Note:

So, coming back to last chapter: the boobytrap was going to put Chrysalis in an illusion spell. Yeah, the original concept was drafted at a time when both Naruto and The Invisibles (the latter of which is where the bulk of this story came from) were fresh in my mind.

Part of the difficulty in writing this was: the OC's aren't supposed to be that powerful. They fight by husbanding and leveraging their strengths, as well as relying on outside help. The biggest issue was timing when Luna manages to get to the real Chrysalis: it's when the trigger is pulled. That's why she doesn't realise her army is destroyed while fighting Bastion solo. I'm intending to put that in the next chapter, but I know some people can't wait, so... early explanation here.

One more chapter, ending and epilogue, and then it's done and I can close this series. Still need to write that chapter at the time of writing, though, for the most part. It's a simple four scenes, drafted, but the details need tweaking.