Armor for two

by LostUmbrella

Chapter 10

At the crack of down, the two alicorn princesses arrived in sigh of crystal city, their rather large army following in suit.
The golden morning light shone bright on their complete armors and on their soldier's.
They were prepared to see a besieged city, to hear the cries of dying ponies and changelings, to fight till death; they were even prepared on seeing the city already fallen in the hooves of the changeling queen.
What they didn't expect and couldn't anticipate was a fluffy maned pink pony waving a 'welcome princesses' flag and faint party music in the distance.

"Tia, correct me if I'm wrong: isn't that the element of laugher? Ms. Pie if I recall right," asked Luna eyeing the hyper energetic mare.

"That's her," said Celestia frowning as they landed in front of the pony just outside the crystal heart barrier.

There, the music was clearly recognizable.

"Welcome princesses!" chirped Pinkie Pie dropping the flag and starting to bounce in place with an impossibly large smile "The party has already started, you better get inside quickly!"

"Pinkamena, would you please explain what are you doing here?" asked Celestia in her usual motherly tone.

"I'm welcoming you, of course. And call me Pinkie! All of my friends call me so!" answered the pink mare with unchanged expression.

"What we intended to ask thee is: shouldn't thou be travelling from Ponyville towards here with the other elements at the moment?" explained the dark alicorn.

"Oh, that! Yes, I was with the girls, but then my tail went twitchy, my right hear floppy and my left rear knee shaky, meaning that a friend of mine needed me, and since I was in Ponyville but nopony was searching me it should have been Twilight, who was already here. So I came here and threw the best 'We have won and Chryssy saved the day, yay!' party!" said the earth pony impossibly fast.

The two alicorns looked even more confused, until salvation came in the form of a smiling but clearly worn out lavender unicorn.

"Pinkie, I take over from here. You are needed inside," said Twilight before bowing to the princesses and then nuzzling her mentor.

"Oh, this is my jam!" exclaimed the party pony rushing inside.

"Twilight, would you kindly explain?" asked the white alicorn still wearing a confused expression.

"Yes Twilight Sparkle, we would greatly appreciate," enforced Luna.

"It's very simple: the changelings attacked the city and managed to break through Shining's barrier, but Chrysalis, who was already here, succeeded in stopping them by engaging in duel their new queen and won, so they retreated," explained the librarian.

"And Pinkam-Pinkie?" asked a still confused, but clearly relieved, Celestia.

"Oh, she's just Pinkie Pie being Pinkie Pie. I wouldn't try to delve anymore in that: it could be very dangerous, trust me..." answered the unicorn with a shrug.

"Then what art we waiting for? Let the fun start!" said Luna gingerly trotting inside the barrier.

Celestia and Twilight exchanged a light chuckle before following her, the army behind them.

---

The changeling woke up in a verdant forest she didn't know.
The high pine trees, which were all around her, left very little sunlight filter through the dense canopy.
Her eyes adapted rapidly to the penumbra but to little avail: a dense undergrowth obstructed the view almost completely.
She decided to check her own body before trying anything else.
Rising her head caused a surge of nausea, but she endured it and looked back.
Her shell was burnt and cracked in many points, but it seemed fine, and so looked her gray mane and tail; what she was worried about were her wings, completely charred to cinders.
Ashley decided it was time to try to stand. After an initial wave of nausea which almost knocked her back she conquered some kind of equilibrium on her wobbly legs.

"Very well. Now, how did I get here?" she voiced her thoughts looking around.

The changeling noticed a pretty big hole in the canopy a little to her left and started pacing in the opposite direction.

"There's nothing for me in the empire, nor there is at the hive: I'm only an outcast" she said bitterly hanging her head, before an idea stroke her mind: "This could be a great opportunity to live a different life: I can travel around Equestria, or I can find a nice pony village to settle down and sell flowers..."

Ashley kept on evaluating her different possibilities for a while, until she crossed the reach of the wood and found she was little far from Crystal City train station. In the distance, a train was arriving.

"Perfect, I'll board that train and settle wherever it stops first long enough to heal my wings, then I'll start travelling," she said giggling like a little filly (well, by pony standard, a week old is a little filly so she didn't care).

She charged her horn and casted an invisibility spell, then she trotted towards the station.

---

It was almost ten in the morning as the train whistling came to a stop in the station.

"Move out girls!" said a certain cyan pegasus darting down out of a window.

"Calm down Rainbow: rushing into the swarm would only prove to be a bad idea," said Rarity stepping down the train with Applejack and Fluttershy.

"Calm down? The train is one hour late! If the changelings won in the meantime..." said the justly enraged pegasus smashing her forehooves together.

"It seems pretty calm aroun' here, don't ya think?" asked the farm mare looking around.

In fact, the train station was deserted, and no sound could be heard except the solitary whistle of the wind and their hoofsteps on the crystalline floor.

"I knew it, we arrived late! Now they'll hear me!" said Rainbow launching herself towards the head of the train.

"Now hold on, sugarcube!" exclaimed the orange mare biting the daredevil's tail.

"Rainbow dear, maybe the princesses were enough to stop the changelings, did you consider that possibility?" asked Rarity while positioning herself in front of her interlocutor.

"Then where has everypony gone?" asked the rainbow maned mare landing between the fashonista and Applejack and motioning all around them with her forehooves.

"Maybe they are all in the city?" suggested Fluttershy in a whisper.

"Why don't we go and check the city before making a deal of it?" proposed the unicorn pointing the near pink dome.

After having come to an agreement, the four of them started pacing cautiously towards Crystal City. As they started moving, the butter colored pegasus eeped and jumped behind Rainabow.

"What is it, sugarcube?" asked the orange mare.

"I think I herd something moving near us," stammered Fluttershy while trembling behind her fellow pegasus.

The group closely inspected the area but couldn't find nothing at all and resumed their march.
Only when they disappeared inside the barrier Ashley decided to leave her hiding spot on the train roof and let herself into the carriage through a window.

When the four remaining elements of harmony finally set hoof in the city perimeter, they realized exactly why the station was deserted; everywhere, beside the unused fortifications, could be seen the leftovers of what could only have been Pinkie's latest party: streamers, confetti, balloons and even a pair of half eaten cakes.

"Oh girls, you finally made it! Too bad the party has already ended..." chirped a voice from a side alley.

There, eating the poor remnants of a multi-layered cake, sat the mastermind behind all that devastation, the one and only Pinkie Pie, waving a hoof at them.

"What happened here? Where are the changelings?" asked Rainbow after overcoming the shock.

"Oh, that's a very long story! I'll let Twilight do the storytelling, but last time I saw her she was napping on princess Celestia's head wearing her crown, I guess they both had far too much punch. Want some cake in the meantime?"

Comments

[Burnasius]

Filler chapter? Not much info on it except maybe for Ashley.
Waiting to see when Shining accepts having two wives.

[Perteks]

Ashley instantly changed her way, just wat? xD

[Sean Retro]

We missed the party.

[Dostoron]

2233987
if i had to guess, she probably hit her head.

[LostUmbrella]

2233987

Ashley, as Chryssy, has never been really evil: they did what they did in order to save the changelings from starvation; if you consider that she simply accepted the defeat and decided to go on

[LostUmbrella]

2233887

The chapter is an introduction for the spin off featuring Ashley (which will arrive sooner or later ); as for Shiny, he will be back in the last chapter, not far in the future

[Burnasius]

2238249

Okay then, will be happy to check on Ashley as well. But really, I need to see Shining faint about the concept of having an alicorn and a former Changeling queen as his wives. It would be hilarious to see it and the bit of coronation of having a queen (Chrysalis) turn into a princess.

[LostUmbrella]

2238271

The coronation will be see, I assure you
I didn't think of him fainting, but it's a nice idea

[Razzy]

So the Crystal Empire survives the invasion, only to fall to A Pinkie party.