Chapter 10: Saving a Friend
The Mane 5, Celestia, Cadance, and Shining Armor (with Spike on his back) flew westward. They just hoped the changelings hadn't have moved to another location already. Thankfully, Celestia was able to cast a speed enhancing spell that allowed the less athletic of their group to fly at a speed almost equal to what was required for Rainbow Dash's Sonic Rainboom. Rainbow Dash sighed as she had to keep from going her full speed (which in her current enchanted state was enough to constantly do her special move).
Finally, they were getting close to the border. However, they were surprised when they saw a group of black bug-like creatures moving them. All of the changelings flew above the treetops, and two of them carried Twilight by her hooves.
"Well well," Queen Chrysalis said as she saw them. "Here I was planning to go back to Canterlot and take you down like before Celestia. Then I would dispose of Luna as well. But it seems I'll be spared the flight for at least one princess!"
"Release my student now, Chrysalis!" Celestia ordered. "We have the Elements of Harmony this time! As soon as we free Twilight we'll be able to use them! If you surrender now, we won’t harm you or your minions!"
Chrysalis merely grinned. "I don't think so! I have-
"Hang on Twilight!" Rainbow Dash said as she dove toward her friend, not noticing the green faintly glowing eyes from this distance.
Rainbow Dash charged at the two changelings holding Twilight and knocked one of them off while the other lost its grip on her and she fell with a scream.
"Twiley!" Shining Armor called in concern and flew down on his conjured wings.
Spike clung to Shining Armor's neck as the stallion managed to catch his (or their) sister by the waist before she could hit the ground. The other changeling managed to steady itself.
Shining Armor flapped his wings as he neared the ground with Twilight and held her closely.
"You're safe now Twiley. I got you," he said as he gently put her on the ground. "I let you down once, I-
He broke off as he and Spike looked into her eyes as she turned to them not in appreciation but hatred. Her eyes were green, just like his had been after Chrysalis completely brainwashed him. Chrysalis had claimed to Celestia that it was a long-lasting healing spell that would be active for the duration of the wedding. But that had just been another lie.
"You let me down and now you'll pay!" Twilight snarled.
Her horn lit up and she shot a beam of her lavender magic that matched Shining's own at him. Shining Armor had no time to recover from his surprise before the beam hit him and knocked him back. It caused a stinging burn on his chest. Spike meanwhile, flew off with a grunt as he rolled on the ground, Twilight’s element crown falling as well.
"Shining Armor!" Cadance exclaimed in surprise from above.
"Spikey Wikey!" Rarity said in almost the same tone.
While she wasn't in love with the baby dragon, she did have a soft spot for him and knew of his crush on her. If he were older, maybe.
"Twilight what are you doing?" Fluttershy asked in frightened surprise.
"Taking my revenge on the brother that disowned me!" Twilight said with an evil laugh. "And all of you are next!"
Their mouths fell open as they heard this.
"My word what did they do to you?" Rarity exclaimed.
"They've brainwashed her like Shining Armor!" Celestia realized aloud.
"That's right!" Chrysalis said. "Now you can't use the Elements of Harmony! I'll destroy the rest of you and then Equestria will lose its head ruler and the greatest weapons at its disposal. I'll keep them as well once we deal with you to make sure no pony uses them again."
Cadance gritted her teeth. "That's never gonna happen! We'll get Twilight back and then stop you just like before."
Chrysalis scoffed. "As if. Get them!"
The heroes charged the villains. Celestia shot a beam of her golden magic at Chrysalis who countered with her own green beam. Celestia struggled, her head sweating. Chrysalis wasn't as strong as she had been during the fake wedding. But she still possessed much of that strength, possibly from draining another creature’s love. Maybe even Twilight's own. Her power as it was now, was just enough to keep Celestia's at bay. The gold and green beams pressed against each other for several seconds, pushing back and forth but not more than a few inches.
Seeing this, both opposing monarchs broke the spell lock and resorted to quick bursts of magic. Multiple beams shot between them and they blocked with shields, canceled each other out in a shower of sparks, or flew to avoid.
Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and Pinkie began taking on the changelings just as they had in Canterlot. Applejack and Rarity both fought with their hooves, with the unicorn shooting a blue beam every so often as well. She wasn't as skilled as Twilight in that regard unfortunately, and these changelings, being part of Trikar's eliteguard, were much more formidable than the mere drones the heroes had fought in Canterlot that formed the backbone of the changeling army.
Rarity, Pinkie, and Applejack lashed out with their hooves, the unicorn had some skill in the event where she might have to defend herself and Applejack was a natural bucker with her hind legs which she focused her kicks with. Pinkie also blew her confetti cannon as well but the changeling put up a shield that blocked the blast and sent it back at the Party Pony. The two changelings grabbed their hooves and hit them before throwing them to the ground. The three of them tried to flap their butterfly wings but the changelings all shot beams through the lovely wings, which vanished upon being hit with the magic. Rarity was just thankful that she wasn't high up in the air this time and about to fall to her to her death, but this wasn’t much better.
The group of changelings that came to Ponyville had consisted of six members, one of which was captured, but the same went for Twilight, who was unfortunately now on the changeling’s side. With Chrysalis among them, the changelings forces numbered a total of seven. But with the addition of Spike, Celestia, Shining Armor and Cadance, they numbered at eight. Unfortunately, Fluttershy wasn't a fighter at all so she didn't really count. She'd been lucky in Canterlot and happened to trip a lot of changelings or had her friends watching out for her.
One of the changelings advanced on her with soulless red eyes. She shrank into a ball, having a horrible feeling that she could not reach this changeling with her kindness. But it was all she could try to do as she couldn't bring herself to hurt another creature.
"Please, surely we can find some other besides violence," Fluttershy said as the changeling bared down on her.
He merely growled.
"Leave her alone!" Spike shouted as he put himself in front of the timid Pegasus, Twilight’s element in his claws.
Spike held the star themed crown out of the way and blew fire at the changeling, but Trikar vanished as the green inferno flew where he'd been a moment ago. Spike looked around in confusion.
"Where'd he go?" the baby dragon asked.
Suddenly a winged cockroach flew onto Spike's nose. He yelled and made to swat at it but it turned back into Trikar who forced the baby dragon to the ground by standing on his head. He forced Spike's face to the ground to disable his fire breath and then took Fluttershy in his magic.
She was lifted into the air and then hit the ground with a pained cry.
"Weakling," Trikar smirked sadistically.
Fluttershy teared up at those cruel words. It was also true, she was weak. She could at least stand up to bullies but not put up a real fight.
Up in the sky, Celestia as well as Rainbow Dash and Cadance battled their own opponents. Celestia and Cadance shot magic from their horns at the changelings, with Cadance managing to overpower the one attacking her. Rainbow Dash also managed to land a solid hoof strike to the head of the changeling that she fought. The two of them then flew beside Princess Celestia who was now panting along with Chrysalis ahead of them.
Unfortunately for the heroes, down below the other changelings had managed to overcome their opponents and trapped them all in slimy green goo like what Chrysalis did to Cadance after the Mane 6 left to get the Elements of Harmony.
"Eww!" Rarity exclaimed as she struggled to try and free herself from the substance to no avail.
The only pair on the ground still fighting were Shining Armor and Twilight. The younger sister sent a lavender beam at her older brother who blocked with his shield. The matching lavender magic hit each other.
"Please stop, Twiley!" Shining Armor begged as tears flood his eyes. "I don't want to hurt you! I don't want to ever hurt you again after what happened!"
She hesitated, his words seeming to reach her for an instant. Shining Armor's mouth fell open. If he could get to her then he maybe-
Before he could say anything else though, the other changelings struck him all sides. Shining Armor groaned in pain as their blows landed with force that was sure to give him bruises. He fell to the ground and was then thrown next to Spike, Fluttershy, Rarity, Pinkie, and Applejack then held in place with the goo as well.
Now only Rainbow Dash and the two Princesses remained fighting up above.
"Fire!" Trikar ordered pointing upwards. "Aid the queen!"
All the changelings below fired beams of magic up into the sky which caught the three flying ponies by surprise. Cadance was hit first and went down with a cry. Rainbow Dash managed to dodge a few beams but was quickly hit soon after wards and followed. Celestia put up a shield while still flying, but Chrysalis flew around her and shot the princess in the back.
All of them were dragged to join the others and held in place. Chrysalis grinned.
"Excellent," she said in triumph. "Now, it’s time to end this. Twilight dear?"
"Yes, your highness?" Twilight asked as she stepped forward, her glowing eyes flashing.
"Finish them!" Chrysalis ordered.
All of Twilight's friends and family gasped. She was going to make Twilight kill them!
"As you command," Twilight said stepping further forward and lighting up her horn. She charged her magic to bring it up to a fatal level. "Who shall taste my magic first?"
"Twiley don't!" Shining Armor yelled in fright.
"No!" Spike screamed.
"Please don't!" Fluttershy begged.
"Twilight no!" Rarity screamed. "Don't do this!"
Applejack looked at her friend. "Twilight, I know no amount of sorry will erase what we did at the rehearsal and you have every right to be angry with us. But this is going too far and you know that! I wish I could go back in time and change it. But you said yourself that if it hadn't gone that way things might not have worked out for the best. Like you wouldn't have found Princess Cadance in the caverns!"
Twilight hesitated as all their words seemed to reach her ears.
Chrysalis growled. "She has a strong mind, I didn't drain enough love to keep her permanently under my control or weaken her over time! Twilight, they abandoned you! They don't deserve your love anymore!"
Twilight's glare returned and she looked among them, trying to determine who to start with. However, her hesitation and Chrysalis’s words caused everypony to feel a spark of hope!
“Twilight’s still in there!” Cadance shouted. “We have to reach her!”
"Everypony speak!” Celestia ordered. “Twilight please you have to fight her! I know what I did at the rehearsal was wrong. Even if you accused without proof and Cadance was my niece, I should have known you wouldn't have reacted that way without good reason. I should have stayed and talked to you."
"We love you, Twilight!" Applejack said. "Chrysalis may have manipulated us true, but we are at fault too for not listening to you. If we'd done that when you first voiced your concerns and not ignored all the signs, you might not have been so stressed and gathered some proof!"
The cowgirl pony looked down. "If you want to punish any of us, punish me first. I told everypony to leave and check on the fake princess. I thought leaving you to think on what you did was the right thing to do after you made her cry, but I was wrong."
Twilight looked at her and saw the guilt on Applejack's face. Her friend was afraid, but also sorry.
“I would have forgiven you Twiley,” Shining Armor reminded her. “If it had really been Cadance under stress, I would have come back after realizing I went too far. I might not have let you be Best Mare but, the wedding wouldn’t have been complete without you. I failed you as a brother then.”
"We all failed you, Twilight!" Rainbow Dash said sadly. "I wish I could say that we'll never do that again but who knows?"
"We have to hope for the best though," Fluttershy joined in, her own tears visible. “We promise we’ll try!”
"Remember all the good times we had Twilight!" Pinkie called with a smile that quickly vanished as she put on the tears. "You really want to never have those again? Cause this is probably the worst ever way to go!"
"Twilight, you are the best sister-in-law I could wish for," Cadance spoke. "Please, come back to us."
"You are my faithful student," Celestia said, managing a smile. "The best I've ever had in a thousand years! Few have been as magically gifted, smart, and kind as you. Please, don't succumb to the darkness like my sister and another student did!"
"Shut up! All of you!" Chrysalis yelled impatiently. "Finish them Twilight Sparkle! Finish them and you can have your revenge! Then you can be the ruler of Equestria yourself under my supervision as we bring changelings and ponies together in a great and glorious future! One where ponies will give us love and also fight alongside us! We will conquer or lands as well!"
Twilight's face scrunched up in disgust. Her forehead sweated as she recalled all her memories. Both the good and the bad. She remembered hanging out with her friends. She also remembered all the times they had fought, such as over the ticket, Fluttershy being mean (which she'd heard about from the yellow Pegasus) after the assertive seminar, Rarity and Applejack during the sleepover, and worst of all the recent abandonment.
All those things hurt, but for all the pain they'd gone through. Twilight knew the good far outweighed the bad. She loved them, even after what happened. True she'd grown resentful after that and even when they apologized after the love wave. But they'd all come for her! That meant they still cared for, and they'd just said they loved her even after she'd just attacked them and was about to do this.
"No!" Twilight exclaimed and with a surge of willpower broke free. The green glow in her eyes faded, and she redirected her magically charged horn toward Queen Chrysalis, the one responsible for all this heartache in the first place. Chrysalis's eyes widened as the fatal lavender beam shot at her. Time seemed to slow down for her as she was sure this was the end.
"My Queen!" Trikar exclaimed as he threw himself in front of her. His body was hit with the powerful beam of light and he fell back.
Chrysalis gasped as her most loyal and capable minion was brought down.
Twilight immediately ran to her friends and freed Celestia first. The two of them then did the same with Princess Cadance and Shining Armor. The three royals stepped forward while Twilight began to free the others. Chrysalis stood there in shock for a moment then regained her composure and growled, knowing that without Twilight's and Trikar's support she and her remaining minions were at a disadvantage, especially with the Elements of Harmony there. Spike quickly handed over Twilight’s element and they all turned to face their enemies.
"You may have defeated me today, but I will be back someday! Equestria will be mine!" Chrysalis announced before ordering her minions. "Retreat!"
They all transformed into small bugs and vanished from sight. They flew off, living to fight another day. But the heroes stood firm and united as they watched.
"You will never take Equestria, Chrysalis!" Celestia vowed to the air. "Not while I'm around!"
She let out a breath of relief, hoping they wouldn't see that enemy again for a long time. They'd deal with her if she ever came back. But for now, Twilight was safe and that was all Celestia cared about.
She turned to her student. “Are you alright, Twilight?”
“Yes Princess Celestia,” Twilight said as she walked to her mentor and nuzzled her. “Thank you for coming for me.”
“Of course, Twilight,” Celestia said, able to feel a bit of pride in herself for the first time in over a week. “I couldn’t leave my student captured by those creatures, could I?”
“Nor could we leave our friend,” Applejack added.
“I could never abandon my sister if I knew she was in danger,” Shining Armor said.
Twilight smiled at them, but it soon faded. “I’m… so sorry for what I almost did!”
Applejack walked forward and put a hoof on her shoulder “Not your fault Twilight! She brainwashed you! Just like she did your brother!”
“But it was the feelings of resentment I had toward you all that enabled her to do that!” Twilight objected.
“It's only natural for you to feel that way after what we did!” Fluttershy said.
“It would have been enough to destroy even the strongest of friendships!” Rarity said. “But you are still willing to forgive us even with that resentment.”
“Yeah, we don’t hold it against you!” Rainbow Dash said. “We got no right to when we know for sure you were mind controlled.”
“Don’t you dare start feeling guilty about it, Twilight!” Pinkie said. “Pinkie promise me you won’t! Cause we’ve had enough guilt here!”
“Yeah, it's time to let love light your way again!” Cadance said.
Twilight was silent for a moment. “You’re right. And this just proves that… despite what happened, I can still count on all of you to be there for me. We’ll definitely have bumps in the road that will test our friendship, but as long as we forgive and come for each other we’ll always pull through.”
They nodded and all shared a group hug, the guilt of the past events gone. They were ready to face whatever might come in the future.
“Let’s go home,” Twilight said.
They began the walk to the nearest train station to do so.
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I didn't spot any grammar mistakes, except maybe paragraph 25 (starting from bottom to top) where it said "but they'd all come back for her," not sure if it should be "come" "came" or "comeback." Maybe it's just me.
Great chapter, I'm gonna guess after this is the final chapter of the epilogue?
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Well we're probably gonna have 12 now. Next up will be Celestia and the others delivering the news of Twilight's rescue and everypony's reaction.
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I'll be waiting!
Of course it's always the villain 101 use their loved ones against them
There you go Twilight I knew that Mind Control won't get the best of you
That was pretty epic and very crazy so it looks like Celestia lead the other ponies to the Badlands and they finally saw Chrysalis and the other changelings and most importantly they saw Twilight but unfortunately they don't know that she was mind control and chrysalis Using her against them and everybody was fighting with each otherBut unfortunately Celestia and her Ponies are starting to losing the battle there again overpowered and with that victory for Chrysalis she was going to use Twilight to blast one of them but the others tried to convince her That she doesn't have to not let the mind control and hearing her friends plead for her woke her up and saved her friends and basically they over the changelings Twilight apologize for everything when she's done but the others convinced that it wasn't her fault because she felt anger towards themAnd hopefully they can recover this decided to head home to celebrate I wonder what else could happen Guess we'll find out next time