Castle Crashing the Palace
"Alright, everypony huddle roun...huddle roun...I said, everypony huddle...orange knight, if you don't stop swinging that sausage around, I will take it from you, now get over here!"
Stopping for a moment, Twilight breathed in deeply. Getting the red knight to sit down for a minute had been easy. Red knight was the most rational, Twilight liked red knight. She figured that green knight would be the hardest, but a swift slap to back of the head by his blue friend had brought his attention back to Twilight. It had been convincing the orange knight to step down from his ride for a second so she could talk that had been the problem.
Finally though, through much prodding and bribery in the form of tofu sandwiches, she'd amazingly found herself able to hold the knights attention for a brief moment. And she intended to use every second. Floating a stick past her head, Twilight sketched a small diagram into the dirt.
"Alright, everypony listen. I know you want to charge down there and start doing...whatever it is that you guys do; I'm still not quite sure myself what it is, but you do it well, that's all that matters. Here's the deal though, Canterlot isn't just some small town set up on an empty plain. There's a sheer cliff drop on one side, an impenetrable wall of mountainous stone on the other, a moat, two sets of walls, several miles of street buildings and just for good measure, another wall built in it surrounding the palace. Add onto the fact that the city is nearly overrun with changelings and Chrysalis herself is there and we're really not looking at an easy fight."
Glancing up, Twilight bit her lip in anger. All the knights except the red one had wandered off, distracted by absolutely nothing. It did little to mitigate Twilight's anger to see that the red knight was scratching the bottom of his chin and nodding softly. Slowly, he grabbed the stick out of the air, tapping it on the ground twice around the moat.
The green knight materialized on his shoulders; sudden interest returning in the plan. Snatching the stick, he drew a crude four legged figure next to the moat. It wasn't a pony, ponies didn't have tails that big, so Twilight was at a lose for what it was supposed to mean. The stick was snatched off of him by the blue knight, who immediately set to drawing four squares on the back of the figure.
And then it hit Twilight. It was a manticore. Rubbing her head, Twilight still didn't understand though. How was a manticore supposed to do anything?
And then the orange knight appeared, scratching his symbol over the entire map of Canterlot. Turning away and blushing, Twilight trotted forward a bit. Ahead of her lay the path to Canterlot; a twisty turney path that ran down the side of the mountain until finally levelling out at the entrance to the city.
Glancing behind her, Twilight sighed heavily. A quick wave of her hoof later, and the knights were already rushing past her, finally sure of the way they needed to go. Just before she stepped forward to catch up to them though, a pink hoof pulled her back.
Looking up into the eyes of her sister in law, Twilight smiled nervously.
"Twilight, I just...want you to be careful out there. Canterlot's a dangerous place now, you could get seriously hurt."
Twilight kept up her grin. "I need to go, Cadence. These knights are...odd to say the least. If they don't have somepony around to open doors and tell them where to go next, they just fall apart. Somepony needs to be there for them."
"Then let me go. I'm stronger than you, I can take your place. You say all I need to do is point the way, I can do that."
Shaking her head, Twilight began to turn back around. If she waited too long, then she'd never catch up to the knights in time. "I'm sorry Cadence, but like you said, it's too dangerous. What would you do if something went wrong? The Crystal Kingdom would be left without a princess again, Shining would never get over you and I'd never get over that fact that I let you go. You have a duty as a princess to protect the crystal ponies and they are safe, your obligations end here. I have a duty as the bearer of magic to make sure that Equestria remains safe, and I intend to do so. Now let me go."
Lingering for a second longer than it should; the hoof slowly moved off Twilight's back, letting her continue on her way. She didn't want to look back as she wandered down the path; it would be too painful for the both of them. So instead, she kept her eyes forward, never straying from their purpose and goal. Twilight just hoped she was making the right choice.
Twilight rubbed her eyes to make sure she was seeing this right.
Nope...still there and still utterly ridiculous.
The orange knight was laying in the curve of the manticore's tail, his eyes glancing around in pure joy. The rushing river sat in front of them, too powerful to swim across and too long to attempt flying over. Or so Twilight had assumed. Looking over the faces of the knights gathered though, and watching the manticore rear backwards in preparation, it seemed like that was exactly what the knights intended to do.
"No. No. I refuse this time. No. This is too wacky! That's not some kind of advanced catapult or tri-bucket, that's a manticore. That's one of the most dangerous creatures in the Everfree forest, you can't just turn it into some kind of throwing device. The river's too wide, it'll never throw you far enough. For your own safety, you will get down from there now. We'll find another way."
The orange knight shuffled a bit, keeping his head down as he moved. Twilight let out her pent up breath when she realised that they were finally listening to her. Maybe this wouldn't be so hard after all. Perhaps she could still get out of here with her sanity.
Swinging his sausage hand down, the orange knight slapped the manticore across the back powerfully. Twilight could barely shout out as the monster reacted on instinct, stinging forward hastily. A few second later, the orange knight flew through the air, thrown clear off the stinger.
He sailed through the air like a graceful swan, perfect and free from his imprisonment on the ground. The very sight was nearly enough to make Twilight cry in joy. Looking around, it became clear that the knights shared the same sentiment. It was a perfect throw, sending him far over the water.
Then the knights chuckled as he landed face first in the sand on the other side. Twilight was still reeling from surprise as the next knight loaded himself into the manti-pult.
"But...but that shouldn't work!"
Another quick slap, and the green knight was sent soaring to the other side of the moat. He hadn't even landed before the blue knight jumped up to do the same.
"Stop that this instant; it doesn't make any sense!"
The manticore reared back again, and Twilight was given a small glimpse of her assistant; just hovering in the air next to the knight. All he could do was shrug before the knight kicked down violently, sending him across the river to meet his friends.
Twilight felt something touch her back; relaxing when she realised it was just the red knight. Almost sadly, he pointed at the manticore. It was at this point that Twilight was at a loss of words to say. It was one thing to have to put up with the shenanigans the knights got involved in, but to actually get involved herself? That was going too far. She'd had enough of a conflict at Zecora's without adding all this onto the top of it.
Looking up at the face of the red knight though, it was rather a necessary evil. The red knight didn't seem like the kind of person who would involve himself in their crazy games either, but he always did. He complained and raged the whole way, but he did go along with them. And why? Because for all their insanity and lack of attention, they worked. Almost miraculously, they're schemes and plans worked.
Gritting her teeth, Twilight moved closer to the manticore. She just needed to...go with it. Close her eyes and pretend everything was alright.
An arm wrapped around her side as the red knight hoisted her into the air. Stopping to make sure she wasn't hurt or uncomfortable, he leapt up onto the manticore. He was determined, that much was clear from his stern stare, as he kicked the manticore in the side. A slight delay caused Twilight to weed her eyes open slightly before the sudden movement punched the wind out of her chest.
Just when she was sure she'd managed to catch another breath from the rushing wind that forced air into the back of her throat, she landed, once again forcing her lungs to empty themselves. The sand beneath her feet felt wonderful as she honestly considered kissing the ground. She didn't like flying; leave flying to Rainbow Dash.
A soft pat on the head was all she got to bring her back to earth as the knight moved on, rushing towards the walls set up just a few feet away.
Well, that took care of the moat, at least. From somewhere behind her, a manticore roared; one continuous and loud roar that faded into the mountains as the beast returned to his home, most likely to shower heavily.
A voice greeted the group as they walked closer to the wall; not yet close enough to attempt to pass them. Twilight wasn't sure how the knights intended to do so, but...she just needed to run with it. Surely they had a plan; a working plan, she just needed to trust them.
"Well, hello down there." A strange snicker-like clicking rang out for a second before the voice continued. "Welcome to...to shining Canterlot, jewel of the world."
Pulling her head up and scanning alone the top of the wall, Twilight locked onto a pair of changelings leaning over the edge. Twilight simply increased her pace; just trust in the knights.
"I'm afraid we're in a bit of a lock down at the moment. Nopony's allowed in. Try...try coming back later, I'm sure we'll be able to...find you a nice comfortable cocoon." The changeling fought back a loud laugh with his hoof.
It wasn't until Twilight was so close that she could touch the wall that she bothered to turn around. Just ignore the changelings, she was going to fix everything. The knights fell into formation, almost from sheer memory, as they caught up to Twilight at the base of the wall. How she'd managed to get ahead of them was a mystery, but that wasn't important.
A series of short whispers wafted over the parapets of the wall as the two changelings talked, before eventually the same one from before stuck his head out again. "Come on, bugger off. We're busy. The city is closed. It is impossible to enter. There is no clear way to get into the premises. Get out of here already."
The knights stared at the changeling on the wall, unblinking.
"What are you deaf? Get out! Shoo! Were your parents both a cross eyed pony and particularly handsome rock? Leave. Le-eave!"
There was no movement from either side. Sighing, the changeling pulled his attention away from the knights, just for a second. He searched around for a moment, eventually focusing on Twilight again. "Hey pony, are these...things with you? Get 'em out of here. Are you ignoring me? Hey purple pony, look at me!"
Twilight really wanted to do what the changeling said, she really did. Look at him, that was, not get rid of the knights. She didn't think she even had the power to do that. At the moment though, she couldn't tear her eyes away from the absolutely brilliant plan that the knights were swiftly executing.
It started slowly, almost unnoticeably. The blue knight took a step forward, before kneeling down on one knee. The knight behind him carefully stepped onto his back. The both of them then straightened back up, with one standing on the others perfectly flat head.
Next the red knight bent over and, with a pretty impressive jump, the blue knight landed on his head, wobbling a bit as the three of them found their balance.
All eyes were on the knights as the green knight bowed his head sadly and stood in front of the others. With a practised rhythm, the red knight climbed onto his head.
The tower of knights wobbled again as it moved forward; all four of them holding their hands out to keep what little balance they could muster to stay upright. Swapping glances between each other, the changelings on the wall shrugged, argued and just generally tried to understand what was going on.
"Uh...shouldn't we...like, push them over or something? They're nearly as tall as the wall itself, one of them might, you know, climb up here."
"What, why? They're harmless. Obviously. Look, clearly they're some kind of circus performers, that's why they're dressed in distinctive colours and can do this totally sweet stunt. Seriously, do you have any idea how hard it is to stack four changelings on top of each other? It's not easy."
"And how would you know this?"
"That's not important, me and...uh, Click Clack got some friends together and tried it out one day."
"You would spend time with Click Clack over me?"
"No no no no, see, you were out on the whole Canterlot invasion thing. You couldn't have been involved even if you wanted to, you were busy beating up royal guards and kidnapping princesses."
"Well yea, but still man. You couldn't have waited until I got back? You know we were kicked out by Cadence nearly instantly."
"Look, I screwed up, and I'm sorry, that's what's important here. I'm sorry I didn't wait for you to go changeling stacking, are you happy?"
"Yea, yea, you're right, I'm over reacting here. Give me a hug, man, I'm sorry."
"No, I'm sorry, get over here."
"I love you, Clicks."
"Wait, what'd you say?"
Peering over the top of the wall, the orange knight felt a glimmer of hope deep within his soul. He couldn't hurt such good friends, not when he himself had friends that were exactly the same. It just wouldn't be right. It would hurt him too deeply if something were to happen to his friends, and he knew it was the same for these changelings.
Pulling himself up so he wasn't resting on the blue knights head any more, the orange knight slinked forward, sausage at the ready. Without a word or a noise to mark his presence, the knight applied light pressure to the back of the changeling's heads, sending them sprawling along the wall from the force of the strike.
Glancing around once to make sure he was truly alone, the knight turned to the wall. Leaning himself just a bit further than normal, he grabbed the hands reaching up from below, and pulled. Through a combination of the knights pushing off the wall and the orange knight anchoring them in place, all four knights plus dragon orb managed to scale the wall safely.
Twilight could only nod acceptingly. Trotting back a few steps so she could get a better view, Twilight flagged down one of the knights. "Umm, you haven't forgotten about me, right? I'm still down here! Take me with you!"
Looking over the faces of his companions to gauge their reactions, the red knight snapped his fingers. Pointing further along the wall, the knights stared dumb-founded for a moment. Twilight couldn't even imagine what they saw that had actually caused them to stop for even a moment. Something dropped in Twilight's chest as they disappeared from sight, not even giving her the grace of telling her what to do next.
Not that it wouldn't become apparent. The earth shook as something large and heavy fell several feet from where Twilight was standing. Turning suddenly, it didn't take Twilight long to realise what it was.
A thick, slimy frog tongue. Tracing it back to it's origin, Twilight gawked at the strange beast sitting on the walls; four knights riding proudly on its back. It's yellow, buggy eyes moved around more than the knights did and it's green skin looked fairly out of place in the refined city of Canterlot, but that paled in comparison to the fact that the creatures long tongue was the stretching all the way down to greet her.
The knights waved for a second, breaking Twilight out of her surprise. Swallowing her pride and sanitation, Twilight took a tentative step onto the frogs tongue. The wind blasted past her at an impossible speed yet again as the frog snapped her closer; depositing her on the wall instead of simply devouring her.
She couldn't stop the shiver that ran through her spine as she felt the wet muck that had stuck onto the bottom her feet. Breathing in deeply, Twilight turned to face the knights; just in time to see the frog jump forward and throw them from its back.
She offered a hoof out to them; slightly forced smile on her face. "Come on, one down, two to go."
Twilight wandered alone down the main street of Canterlot. To her sides lay the signs of a great siege on the city. Boarded up windows lined her view as far as she could see, translucent green goo hung off the sides of buildings and deep hoofmarks were gouged into the dirt. Despite all this though, Twilight remained calm. Keeping her breath calm and steady, Twilight moved forward.
Her ears spun forward as something buzzed through the air in front of her, then another, and another. The wind punched her in the face as the changelings landed; confident sneers on each of their faces. "Well well well, what's all this then? A little unicorn, travelling on her lonesome? That's just not right. Come with us, and maybe we'll give you a nice cocoon. No promises though."
Twilight chuckled to herself. "No, I don't need a cocoon. If you could just point me to the palace, please, that would be very kind of you. I just have some business there I need to take care of."
"Haha, how about no? Now how about you just come along quietly before we do things our way, and nopony needs to get hurt. We run this place now, so just...do as we say."
"Haha, how about you point me to the palace?"
"Alright seriously, stop that. I will hurt you, pony. Look at my face, this is not the face of some bright pink square headed pansy who hands out hamsters in his free time and throws magical rainbows at people because friendship is equal to or below magic, this is the face of a super serious business guy. So stop playing around, and we'll just get through this together. Except you'll end up in a feeding pod and we'll be the ones feeding, but it's the same deal."
Twilight giggled excitedly. "Alright, let's do this your way." Stomping her hoof three times, Twilight had to fight to hide back her smile. "Now!"
Her words echoed through the streets of the city for a minute, before the knights made themselves known. It had taken red several long minutes of non stop signing, but somehow, Twilight had finally agreed to go along with the plan.
The sun darkened in the sky as the red knight leapt forward, jumping off the roof of one of the buildings to Twilight's right. Wind and thunder crackled in the air as he landed, legs spread and a single hand resting on the ground. Pushing himself back up, the world was lit up by a flash of lightning as he drew his sword and pointed it menacingly at the changelings.
The green knight was next, dashing up from behind the changelings impossibly fast. From his point of view though, everything else was just slow. He made sure to give the head changeling a light tap to the side of head as he passed by, like an owner would give a bad dog, before ducking under his slow moving hoof and taking a place at Twilight's left.
An explosion of ice and wind signalled the arrival of the blue knight as he burst into existence, drops of water floating off him and freezing in the air as he focused himself. The temperature of the street lowered from the simple preparation of his spells, each on designed to cause maximum frost to his opponent.
And then the orange knight appeared, falling from the sky. With a tremendous clap, he collided with the ground face first, the rest of his body stretching backwards to greet him.
A minute of confusion for both sides passed, before the knight over extended himself and fell onto his back.
Twilight sighed as the knights around her dropped their guards. Red lowered his sword weakly, green just stared at the ground sadly and blue cradled his head.
"Come on orange, really? Three times in a row? We've rehearsed the thing for crying out loud, you shouldn't be screwing this up. Look, all you have to do is drop from the sky, fire shooting out of your back like a jet pack and land in front of me. Is that so hard?" Twilight said, stopping her hoof angrily.
"Um...maybe we should just...go? I think maybe...I mean, we really aren't the...uh, fighting changelings."
Twilight pointed at the changelings hastily. "I'd recommend that. If you wouldn't mind, could you not tell anypony else about this? We're still trying to get it right, orange is just a slow learner. Oh, and we do actually need to know the way to the palace, thank you."
Pointing further down the road, Twilight simply nodded. "I thought so, thank you. Now, if you don't mind us, we'll just be on our way. Back to positions, everypony, let's try this again."
Staring as the knights hurried back to their places in the shadows, Twilight continued onward alone; fully content in her own safety and...maybe hoping for another chance to surprise the changelings, just a little.
It seemed her hopes would have to rest for now, because slowly but surely, something new was gracing her ears. The sound of...music?
She noticed the wall long before she noticed the source of the sounds. The second wall; the one that always sat between the high class who lived in the spires and the lower class who lived on the mountain. And at the moment, she needed to figure out how to get past it.
Twilight zoned away from the wall for a second, scanning her surroundings. A pair of heavy wooden gates sat in front of her; signs of age wearing on its lumber. Along the top, the occasional changeling would rear its head, only to scurry back behind the thick stone walls. And dragging her eyes down to the ground, Twilight noticed everything else.
A single speaker; easily several times larger than herself, set up and facing the wall. A multitude of wires ran down its back and disappeared into the houses and shops lining the street. Looking to her left instead, Twilight noticed another stand; like the one the speaker was on, only this one sat empty and useless. Turning back to the way she'd came, Twilight nearly tripped over the random pile of instruments strewn across the floor as she walked closer.
"What...what is all this?"
Dust kicked into her face and a hand was thrust under her nose as the knights jumped down to assist her. Giving a slight cough, Twilight jumped back to her feet. To her surprise, the knights were huddled together; their hands moving too fast for Twilight to keep track of. If she didn't know any better, she'd swore it looked like a game Spike used to play, what did he call it? Rock Paper Scissors?
Finally, the knights straightened themselves and pulled themselves back to their full heights. With a simple wave of his hands, the red knight ushered Twilight closer. Breathing deeply and bracing herself, Twilight trotted over to the knight.
At first, Twilight wasn't sure of what the knight wanted. He'd simply pointed at a particular spot further along the wall. Even if she had known what he wanted, even she needed a second to understand what she was even looking at.
It looked as if someone had beaten a changeling to a pulp with a speaker. Thick green muck splattered up against the wall, and the ground and the buildings and the speaker and absolutely everything. She could barely make head or tail of the scene. That did little to stop the knight from continually motioning to the battle site, occasionally shaking Twilight violently.
And then it hit her. "You want...the speaker?"
The knight nodded hastily; taking the time to also point at the empty stand next to the gate.
"I...guess? Should I just put the speaker on the base then? How is this going to do anything though?"
It didn't reassure Twilight that the knight simply shrugged at her before motioning back at the speaker again.
With a tired and true heavy sigh on her lips, Twilight carefully lifted the speaker out of the muck. She made especially sure not to get any of the green goo on herself; it would be nearly impossible to get it out. Twilight chuckled as she remembered Rarity was already coated in the stuff; ah, she would never hear the end of it from her friend.
Focusing back on her job, Twilight slammed the speaker down on the base. To Twilight's shock, some kind of pale blue magic rose from the base, snapping wires and cords into the speaker without any help from Twilight. Well, at least she didn't need to set it up; she didn't even know how.
Twilight turned around suddenly, searching for the red knight before realising that he wasn't even near her any more. "I still don't see how this does...anything." Twilight really needed to stop talking when a great revelation was about to be relieved to her. Making a note to do so less often, Twilight took the brief second she still had left to cover her ears.
And the knights, wearing the entire assortment of instruments on the ground, started to play a strangely familiar song.
The ground shook from the sudden explosion of sound that launched out of the speakers. The music was so loud that Twilight had to close her eyes before the vibrations rocked them right out of her head. She couldn't hear the sounds of the changelings on top of the wall fly backwards from the beat or the door creak dangerously from the force suddenly being blasted into its side.
The knights though, the knights weren't even fazed. Green beating the magic out of the drums he'd set up, Red strumming his guitar into oblivion, Blue classically playing on the viola, Spike on the most important instrument, the triangle, and Orange taking the lead, his head pressed against a microphone. Well, it's the thought that counts anyway.
It wasn't enough though. Fighting her way through the pain, Twilight managed to steal a glance at the gate; powerful and unmoving. The music had stripped away a layer of wood, but it wasn't enough. They needed more power! They needed to be...louder.
Twilight knew she was going to regret this. Using the last ounce of her sanity and magic, she fumbled around with the aura that was her magic until she found what she was looking for. A faint prayer of forgiveness to Celestia later, and Twilight turned the dial up to eleven; just as the knights finished their song and moved onto the next one.
It started out slow, with a simple strum of music from the blue knight. Even that nearly silent chord was enough to shake the buildings of the street. And when the rest of the knights joined in, Twilight couldn't even hear herself laugh as she recognized the song.
The gates never even stood a chance. With a crack that was barely audible over the deafening sound of the music, the gates exploded inwards; shards of wood flying off the lock. Through the gap of the wall, Twilight could see changelings fly through the air; each one trying its hardest to stay where it was despite the sudden and unexpected noise that had ripped their ears to shreds.
And then everything went dark for a second. Twilight waved her hoof in front of her face, still not seeing anything. Waves of panic began to shot through her as she fumbled around in the dark, until everything went silent. All she could hear was the blood rushing through her head and a constant flat ringing.
It took a moment, perhaps a bit longer than she had, but slowly, her vision returned to her. To her surprise, the knights were already moving on. Shedding their instruments and throwing their weapons back onto their backs, they walked deeper into the barren city. If anything had survived the onslaught, it certainly didn't make itself known as the knights inched down the street.
Twilight waited another moment for her hearing to return. It did, but that damn ringing was still there too; just sitting in the background grinding behind her ears. Hopefully it wasn't permanent, she couldn't imagine having to live like this, it would drive her mad.
Yawning to pop her ears out, Twilight hurried after the knights. Only one more gate stood between them and the princess now. Only one more wall until she could finally be free from these nonsensical and quite frankly insane creatures.
Theatres and high end shops passed her as she rushed to catch her protectors. It wasn't that hard to find where they'd went; usually it was a straight line and marked with the twitching bodies of changelings.
Or it was, until the bodies suddenly stopped and Twilight found herself truly alone. For the first time since entering the city, Twilight felt scared. For the first time, she didn't have the protection of the knights behind her. The sudden change was enough to make Twilight's head spin. Nothing seemed right, everything seemed too big or small.
She tried to scream as something jumped out at her from one of the alleys between buildings. Only a small 'pip' managed to get out before something was shoved over her mouth, cutting off her shout suddenly. Next, her legs were swept out from under her and she crashed to the ground; dragging across the white stone path until she was in the alley.
The magic she was gathering on her horn faded the instant she finally got a look at her attacker. Or rather, her friend.
"Red knight! What's going on, why did we stop going forward? Why are you hiding in the alley? What's happening?"
Rolling his eyes, the red knight softly grabbed the edges of Twilight's head; poking it out into the street. Removing one of his hands, the knight pointed further down the street. Twilight searched, and for a moment couldn't see what the problem was, until, at the edges of her vision, she saw it.
At least four blocks ahead of them was the final gate. The path to the palace winded into oblivion on the other side of that brilliant wooden door. Pulling her eyes down though, Twilight figured that they would need to figure out how to get past the changelings first.
Letting herself get pulled back into the alley, Twilight spun around to face the knights. "Alright, I assume there's a reason you're not just charging in there like a group of barbarians. What is it?"
"The door only opens outwards. You and I know this. Unless somepony's on the other side to open it for us, it's impossible to get in. And I don't think there's going to be any more speakers set up, that seemed like a one time thing."
The shock of having someone reply to her dried up quickly once she realised it was just boring old Spike speaking. Luckily, like a fly that simply refused to leave her alone, the shock returned when Spike finished speaking.
"But don't worry. The five of us are going to use...stealthy ninja techniques."
Twilight lowered the hoof from her head and placed it back on the ground. Dragging her head back up though, Twilight decided she hadn't done enough cradling just yet and put it back; occasionally shaking her head from side to side.
"Spike, are the knights wearing...moustaches?"
"Yep."
"Moustaches they drew on themselves while I wasn't looking?"
"Yep."
"And this is their definition of stealth?"
"Yep."
Twilight sighed. "Fine. Pass me the marker; lets do this."
Floating the open pen over to herself, Twilight was able to get a good look of the new and improved stealth knights. The red knight had crudely scribbled a bushy moustache into the middle of his head. Blue had added onto his design by stretching it down the side of his head and combining it with the beard he had also drawn on himself. Green had kept it simple; two curled lines that barely reached the green of his head and orange had given himself a unique design of his own, one that bore a shocking resemblance to the symbol on his chest.
Twilight was in no mood for shenanigans and simply swiped under her nose hastily, not caring what it looked like.
And with that done, the knights charged into the street, waving their weapons above their head and making a straight beeline for the gate. But stealthy, like a ninja.
"Sometimes I wonder if it's worth it."
"What do you mean 'it?'"
"I mean, we go through all this effort and fighting and deceit and things just for a decent meal and sometimes I wonder if there isn't an easier way."
"Well, there isn't."
"But what if there is? Ponies aren't an angry race; we attacked them. They live in peace in little towns and things, maybe we can do the same. If we just...live with them, maybe we can get our love naturally without having to siphon it out of them like Disney morning villains."
"Live with them? Clicks, that sounds like...heresy."
"No no no no, nothing like that, if we just made peace at least, maybe we could research other, less violent, ways to feed ourselves."
"That sounds extra heretical. Do I need to report someone to the higher ups?"
"You wouldn't do that, we're mates. Now look alive, I see...oh great, Click Clicks doing that thing again."
"Really? Oh mother."
"Just...I dunno, play along."
Twilight trotted closer to the changelings. She could feel the sweat running down her neck. There was no way this was going to work, it was impossible. It made no sense. Everything made no sense, her world was full of nonsense. The knights had graciously chosen to wait for her; evidently because they needed someone to bluff the guard. Swallowing nervously, Twilight tried to do exactly that.
"Um, greetings senor! I am...um, Twilight...Clicks. Twilight Clicks. How are you this fine evening? Suppressed any ponies recently? Because I would know all about that, being a changeling myself; yep, suppressing and imprisoning all day every day."
"Not really, I was thinking of visiting the opera later today. You could hear the music from here, I bet it's amazing. You ever been to one before?"
Twilight could feel a bead of sweat forming on her neck. "Um, no. I can't say I have."
The guard shrugged. "Meh, your loss. What do you want?"
"The...the changeling queen needs our help back in the palace, since the six of us are clearly changelings and she knows who we are. And as changelings, which is what we are, we have no choice but to listen to her call and try to assist her as she asks us to."
"And the queen needs you because...?"
"Yes, we are changelings." Twilight froze for a second. "I mean, the queen needs our help because...because...she's really hungry?"
The air around Twilight seemed to increase in weight as both of the guards stared at her. "The queen is...hungry?"
The sweat on Twilight's neck was like a cold finger running down her back. "Ye...yes. Yes she is." Thinking quick, Twilight yanked the sausage out of orange knight's hand, hovering it in front of her. "She personally requested we bring this...thick, slimy sausage to the palace immediately. She has quite the craving for sausage at the moment."
"Um...Click Clicks, I don't think she meant that kind of..."
"Are you questioning me? Do you really want to risk angering Chrysalis because you were worried about specifics? That seems like a bad decision."
The guard rubbed the bridge of his nose. "But why do all of you need to go? This is a level three invasion, you need a special permit just to look at Chrysalis at the moment. There's no way I can safely let all six of you through."
"Are you implying that Chrysalis didn't ask for all six of us, specifically? Because once she hears of this--"
"Once she hears of this, she can come down and pick the rest of you up herself. For now, only you and..." The guard scanned around for a second, before resting on the orange knight. "You and the changeling with the sausage can go through. Everyone else stays here."
Twilight swallowed. "But...but we need all of us together."
"Why?"
Looking over the faces of the changelings again, Twilight quickly back peddled on her decision. "No, no, you're right. Only us two, makes sense. As changelings, we can understand the need for caution. Come on, Orange, lets go deliver our thick sausage to the queen."
The orange knight took a hasty step to her side; the gates swinging open with a tired groan. Twilight couldn't help but glance back at the knights. She nearly had to fight the urge to laugh as she realised that red knight was the only thing stopping them from simply beating their way through the changelings now that the door was open. Maybe it was the fact that her head was spinning from the fact that the moustaches worked, or the fact that the red knight looked especially confident at the moment or perhaps it was one of many small things, but she knew at that moment that they weren't going to rush in and save her. She and orange were in this alone.
Trotting forward along the path she'd walked a million times before, Twilight and her knight in orange painted armour walked towards the palace.
Back at the gate, the changeling guard inched closer to the knights; smiling happily. "Has anyone ever told you that the four of you have excellent moustaches? How do you do it?"
"This is it."
Twilight said the words slowly; letting their meaning sink in. This is what it had all lead up to. From the darkness of her basement to the green glow of the town hall to the dusty path leading towards Canterlot to the mountain pass to Canterlot to the palace. Such a long journey, made longer by the fact that she was travelling with a group of attention deficient children, but looking back...Twilight wouldn't change a thing. It had been crazy, it really had. Between the sandwiches, the gardening and the general bad assery, it was impossible to say anything else.
And now this was it. It all ended now. On through this open door was the reason she needed the knights at all. Chrysalis. The name itself was enough to run a shiver down Twilight's spine. Such a creature of evil and spite and deception, truly there was no mercy left for a such a creature.
Summoning up her remaining her courage, Twilight reached forward to enter the palace, only to find that the orange knight had rushed in while she was thinking and she hadn't even noticed.
Well, that was that then.
Chasing the knight into the palace, Twilight noted how strangely empty it was. There was just...nothing as far as she could see. No goo, no glowing moss, no changelings, no ponies, no cocoons, just nothing. A completely empty palace. The sun shined through the stained glass windows as the two trotted down the hallway; casting a rainbow of colour on the ground in front of them.
In the empty silence of the castle, Twilight started to hear something.
Hey Celestia, Celestia, give me a hoof bump. Come on, just a little one. All you need to do is move your hoo...oh that's right, you can't! Haha, you can't, because I'm the winner now."
Twilight subconsciously increased her pace until she was quickly outpacing her escort. In response to this, the knight squeezed his weapon tighter as another voice echoed down the hall. "I have faith that the elements will be able to stop you Chrysalis. Your victory is but a temporary phase; one you would do to enjoy before it passes."
"The elements? Do you still believe the elements can stop me? Maybe they'll do it the same way they did at the wedding! Oh wait, they didn't stop me at the wedding, my mistake. Face it Celestia, there is nothing left alive that can defeat me."
Stopping for but a brief moment at the end of the hallway, Twilight threw her weight against the door; flinging it open violently. "I object!"
From where she was standing, Twilight couldn't see Celestia. The very same door she'd kicked open a few seconds ago was blocking her view and hiding her mentor. Chrysalis however, had the better sense to stand in the middle of the room. The rainbow light from the windows shined off her pitch black coat back onto the ceiling; that of it that wasn't caught in her swamp green mane or menacing green eyes. Focusing on Twilight almost immediately, Chrysalis turned. "What?"
Twilight took an embarrassed step backwards. "I uh...object to your claim."
Chrysalis' pupils shrunk to slits as she recognized her. "Well well, Princess, it appears we have a guest for our meeting. None other than your esteemed pupil herself." Twilight could hear something suddenly struggle out of her vision. "Twilight was it? I wasn't expecting you to rush up here to your Princess' aid. Leaving your friends to their fates; that's not a very kind thing to do. Fluttershy would be ashamed of you."
Twilight grinned. "My friends are just fine, Chrysalis. They're never looked better. I'm not looking forward to cleaning all the goo off them, but that's just a thing I need to do now."
"You're bluffing. I know for a fact that we captured them not a few hours ago."
"Oh, don't get me wrong, it was a very long few hours. Feels like a few days on my end, what with all the walking I did to get here. But I didn't come here alone, Chrysalis, so I am going to give you one warning to leave Canterlot and never return before I force you to."
Chuckling to herself, Chrysalis took a confident step forward. "I don't know how you got here, Twilight, but the elements won't work on me. They're trinkets; nothing more than shiny baubles compared to me. Nightmare wanted to lose, and Discord was a fool. I don't make mistakes, I don't lose to fancy gems set in gold. So how about you leave, and never return, and I might just make a note not to send changelings to hunt you afterwards."
Twilight's grin only got bigger. "Elements? I never mentioned the elements, why would you think I brought the elements? My friends and the elements are safely back in Ponyville, silly."
"Then who...?"
"Something stronger than I ever imagined. A force since the beginning of time, something that has always protected the world, from you, and Discord, and Sombra and any other monster that thought they could prey on innocent ponies without consequence. Something that, for all my life as lain dormant at the foot of this palace, simply waiting for the day that somepony like you would come along and try to take whatever you want." Twilight paused for a second. "So I will say this once, Chrysalis. Leave. Leave and never come back. Take your changelings, take your weapons, take your goo, take everything that you've brought with you into Celestia's kingdom and go. Get out of my sight. Because if you don't, I will destroy you. No ifs, no buts, no maybes. I will destroy you, Chrysalis. And I will drive your changelings from this land myself and I will destroy them as I go. And I will destroy everything and everypony that even so much as thinks of reviving the hive, from now until the kingdom itself crumbles into dirt. And even then, I will use that dust to bury every trace of your existance from the land of Equestria, until your name is not even the name mothers tell to their foals to scare them into bed. And I will do this, because my friend is one who is strong, and smart, and powerful and above all, just barely restrained."
Twilight stepped forward, until she was just a foot away from Chrysalis. "All it takes is a single word, and you're undone. So what's your decision?"
"And what would this word be?" Was all Chrysalis asked.
"Now!"
Twilight's shout echoed down the hall behind her, stirring the ancient creature to action. Pulling his magma forged shield off his back and bringing his weapon to bare, the knight charged forward. His footsteps were like claps of thunder, resounding throughout the walls of the palace; a challenge to his opponent. Reaching the door, the knight leapt in, ready to fight.
Only to trip at the last second, slide about six feet across the ground on his face and simply hang upside down on the ground for five seconds, before collapsing onto his stomach.
Twilight pursed her lips. "Come on Orange, we practised this! I gave a cool speech and everything! No, no, this is not acceptable, you will go back up that hallway and do it properly. Then we will defeat Chrysalis, save Celestia and everything will be fine again, just like the plan said it would. Now move!" Twilight said, pointing back down the hallway.
The knight started to move, until a terrified mumbling started to fill the room. "No no no no, not you. Anyone but you, please. I killed you, I saw it happen! You can't be here, I finally got rid you!" Chrysalis shouted, back-peddling down the room. "You...you don't even know what you've done, Twilight! What you've released into the world! You think I'm a monster? Look at yourself, you've singly handedly brought back the most dangerous monster in all of history. I can't even...you can't make me fight them. Not again."
"Chrysalis, considering this blinking door is in the way, can you please tell me that my student didn't do what I think she did?"
"Haha, Celestia, of course! Perfect!" Focusing for a brief second, Chrysalis winced as a bolt of green energy flew across the room, striking something out of Twilight's view. With a sinking feeling though, Twilight knew that there was only one thing she could have been aiming at.
With a sudden scream that tore Twilight's heart out, the movement from behind the door stopped and Chrysalis continued. "Celestia, you will stop them for me. Maybe you can save me a few minutes, if you're lucky. And if they take turns beating on you. Good luck."
And with that, she vanished; a flash of green and a ring of soot marking where she had once been standing.
Hurriedly, Twilight rushed into the throne room. She didn't know what to do first. Celestia needed her help, but Chrysalis was escaping and if she got too far it would be too late to stop her but if she went after here than Celestia was in danger and she couldn't let that happen but she needed to, she had no choice.
With a heavy thump, the door behind her swung closed; trapping her and the knight in the room. And revealing Celestia in the process.
The princess' eyes flashed a dark green as she struggled against her bonds, trying desperately to rip her legs free from the goo encasing them to the ground. Twilight could hardly recognize her. Her normally white coat had sunken to a dull grey, her mane had darkened to a sick green; patchy and full of holes and her horn seemed blunted and twisted in the light. The wind kicked up around her as she spread her wings suddenly; feathers falling off her sickly frame.
"Twilight...run!"
Celestia growled the words out, barely able to voice them in the first place. Then she attacked.
A single bolt of magic, travelling faster than Twilight could see. One moment she was standing up facing her mentor, the next she was lying on the ground; the orange knight standing over her.
Black marks dotted his shield from where Celestia had kept firing, but he didn't seem to care. Steeling himself, the orange knight took a careful step forward. Impact after impact slammed into him, but neither side showed any signs of tiring. Beams of pure white and yellow flashed into existence and left just as fast as the two forces inched closer.
And then the shield snapped in half.
Twilight felt like the most useless pony in the world as Celestia's assault continued; tearing into the knight mercilessly. With nothing but a brief pause, Celestia fired one final volley, stronger than the others. The knight never stood a chance as the force sent him flying backwards onto Twilight. He landed heavily, not moving.
Everything was moving too quickly for Twilight. She...she didn't understand. The knight wasn't moving, but that wasn't right. The knight couldn't die, he was a knight! He was supposed to be the hero, to save the day, to be the strongest. Twilight thought...she thought they were unbeatable. This wasn't right, this wasn't right at all. This wasn't supposed to happen, it couldn't be happening.
Twilight looked up, away from the knight, straight down the length of Celestia's horn. Slowly, she got to her feet. "Well? What are you waiting for? Get it over with, shoot me already!"
A flash of something went over Celestia's face. Regret? Hesitation? Mercy? Twilight didn't have clue; didn't even care. It was all over anyway. If Celestia could beat one of the knights while not even moving, what chance did the others have once she broke free?
"Shoot me, Celestia! Equestria is done for anyway, so do it already!"
Being the element of magic, Twilight considered herself an expert on the subject. All her life she had felt it; the ebb and flow of the magic around her, it was nearly a part of her at this point. So when she felt the magic in the room disappear; pulled towards Celestia's horn, she knew it wouldn't take too long. Maybe it would be painless, just a quick prick on the skin before total oblivion. It was certainly better than some of the alternatives.
Just like she assumed she would, she felt the attack before she heard it. The air around her heated up for a whole second before Celestia released her magic with a crack. Twilight couldn't bear to watch it happen and closed her eyes tightly.
A second loud crack caused her to open her eyes hastily again. She was...alive. As far as she could tell, the attack hadn't hurt her. A deep joy filled her heart, until he actually realised why she wasn't hurt.
The red knight had come to her aid. Twilight didn't know how, but he had. And currently, he was the only thing standing between her and the mind controlled goddess.
With one arm thrust forward to counter Celestia, he half turned towards Twilight. He was trying to say something, Twilight knew it, but she just couldn't figure it out. He'd point at the fallen knight, and back to his own face before pointing back down again at his friend and changing it by tapping his chest rhythmically. What did he want?
"I...I think he's a little too far gone for CPR, Red."
The red knight blocked another volley and simultaneously punched himself in the forehead. He simply pointed faster, trying to convey his meaning more clearly.
"He's gone, Red. I can't...it won't do anything."
A loud clang echoed through the room as the knight slammed his head against his own shield. Pausing for a moment, he turned back around, waving his arm downward to show how calm he was. Or how calm he wished he was. He tried again, this time simply pointing at Twilight and staring. At this point, she wasn't sure whether it was the heat of the room of the heat of his glare that made her uncomfortable.
Leaning over the knight, Twilight wasn't sure what to do. She moved a hoof over his face, searching for a mouth or a hole or something. She needed something to do CPR with. "I can't there's...there's no mouth or anything."
It was like the time Spike tried to take up the drums in the throne room; just a repeated symphony of clangs and noise as the knight beat himself over the head. With each self inflicted attack, it was almost as clear as if it were punctuated. "Just. Do. The. Damned. C. P. R. Twilight."
Twilight panicked for a bit and placed her hooves on the knight's chest. What was she supposed to do, just push down? That's not how CPR worked! You needed air, and blood and other important details like that, you couldn't just beat on the patient like a bowl of salad.
Words from before bubbled up from the past to greet her. Just trust the knights. They haven't lead you wrong yet. Breathing in deeply, Twilight did only what she could.
She tried to mimic the same rhythm from before; a swift one, two, three, four. The more she worked though, the more she was sure it wasn't doing anything. The knight was showing no sign of change.
Her heart skipped a beat as half a shield flew past her face; embedding itself in the tiled floor. She threw herself to the ground on reaction; directly on top of the orange knight.
And then he got back up.
Like so much she'd already experienced, it was surreal. For a second, the knight was under her; completely unmoving, and then he was standing over her; arm poised straight forward and sausage flying through the air. It had barely left his grasp before he rushed forward blindly, not caring about the danger around him.
A sickening smell hit Twilight's nose. It smelled like burning flesh, or perhaps cooked meat. She hated it either way, it was a disgusting smell. Fighting through that though, Twilight looked up just in time to see yet another example of why the knights were considered the best.
By some miracle of luck, the orange knight's, now fully cooked, sausage had somehow managed to spear itself perfectly down the length of Celestia's horn. Her magic wavered and built around the base of the meat, but with no release against the insulator of the sausage, she was essentially helpless.
And the two knight walked towards her slowly; a swift fist bump being exchanged between them.
Celestia struggled to no avail as Twilight could only watch on. She wasn't sure what the knight's were planning; perhaps they knew something Twilight didn't? Maybe they knew how to bring Celestia back to her regular state of mind.
Any hope of that disappeared with a bang though, as the plug keeping Celestia helpless exploded in a flash of heavenly light. It happened before any person in the room could react; a single beam shot forward aimlessly, more of a by product to Celestia's freedom than an actual attack.
All that mattered though was the fact that it hit the red knight.
Time seemed to slow down as he flew backwards; propelled by the force of the bolt. He bounced along the floor, once, twice, and lay still. Twilight was too scared to go to his aid, what if Celestia fired at her again?
Another loud crack signified that Celestia had attacked again, this time at the orange knight. And as the fire flew towards him; impossibly slow yet somehow faster than Twilight could respond to, something changed in the knight.
No sword, no shield, no potions or bows or sandwiches, just a knight; in his most pure and original form. And somehow, something changed. His brow bent down; a look of extreme anger appearing on his face. The dirt and mud marring his body seemed to evaporate as the bolt came closer, shining him the light of the glass windows. His fingers; heavily encased in his thick gauntlets, clicked together, following a rhythm only he could her. Straightening himself and destroying his slouch, the knight raised his hand out in front of him.
Celestia's magic hit him head on; straight into the palm of his hand. And he didn't falter, or fall. Applying his beat to the world, the knight moved back, pulling the magic along with him. It was a single line of magic trailing of his hand as he spun. The ground nearly knocked against his arm as he braced himself yet again.
Nearing the end of his spin, the knight willed the magic bundled in his hand; twisting it to his own means. And by the pure force of focused will, by Celestia's grace, Twilight swore she saw it change.
A great inferno, the likes of which had never before been seen within the palace. Flames whiter than the sun burst forth from the orange knight's hand; spraying forward in a V towards Celestia. The very air around her was replaced with fire in an instant; burning off her bonds and her magic and Chrysalis' magic and even somehow managing to singe her mane; intangible as it was.
By the time it was over; with only a few licks of melted stone and burning tapestries remaining, the knight rushed forward. He crouched down at the last moment, catching Celestia mid-fall and lowering her to the ground slowly.
And with all the experience of a Spanish dancer, he leaned in for the kiss.
It wasn't long by any definition, nor would it be anything to write about, but it happened, and that's how it went.
Pulling himself back, the orange knight stood back up; glancing around the room. Celestia decided she'd rather keep lying on the ground until the world stopped spinning. "Orange knight, we really can't keep meeting like this. Surely there is a better way of introducing yourself besides drowning me in hell-fire and stealing a kiss before I notice?"
The orange knight ignored her as he walked to his friend. Brethren before Wenches and all that. Twilight, content that the two knights could take care of each other, rushed to her teacher aid.
"Celestia! Are you alright? That...that looked painful. Are you sure you're not hurt, I could get Spike to bring some water or...or--"
"I assure you, Twilight, I am quite fine. I've been meaning to take a bath for a while now; the knight was simply helping me with that. There is no cause for alarm."
"But...but the fire, and the fighting and all the changelings and Chrysalis...Chrysalis! Chrysalis is still here, Celestia, you have to stop her before she summons the whole army against us!"
Celestia groaned. "I'm afraid I won't be able to do that at the moment. I'm not as...fit as I used to be. But it should be no problem, turn around Twilight."
With a confused smile, Twilight turned around. The knights were gathered behind her, all four of them. And with them, the same look of direction-less confusion they carried around like a burden. "They need a leader, Twilight. A knight is nothing unless he has a noble voice behind him telling him what to do. Without one, they become lost and easily misguided towards evil. Be that noble voice, Twilight. Lead them to Chrysalis and finish this. Drive her from my kingdom without regret, for your actions are noble and right and your voice is one of reason."
Twilight spun around quickly. "But...but I don't even know where she went! She could be anywhere, there could be thousands of changelings waiting for us when we do find her! Where do I even begin?"
Celestia chuckled. "Chrysalis no doubt fell back to protect the one thing that's important to her. At the top of the obligatory tower that every palace must have, somepony waits for you. You specifically, Twilight. The entrance is behind my throne, now go. Enter the tower, defeat Chrysalis, save the final princesses and be the hero."
Twilight still had dozens of thoughts buzzing through her head. The final princess? Entrance behind the throne? Voice of reason? Waiting for her? Who was waiting for her, what did it all mean?
Before she could question Celestia further though, a tap on her shoulder told her it was time to go. The knights were growing restless, Chrysalis was increasing in power and time was running out.
Standing up and facing the secret door behind the throne, Twilight motioned for the knights to follow her.
She didn't claim to understand what Celestia was talking about; that was beyond her. What she did know was that Chrysalis had hurt her friends. Her friends, and so many others. She felt a single tear form as she remembered the fate of the fluffy bunnies of Wuvy-Doovy Smoochy Land.
Well no more. Now was the time to take a stand.
Now was the time to end it all.
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PLEASE tell me there will be dramatic battle music next chapter!
THIS. IS. HILARIOUS.
It's gonna be sad when this story is over.
2091761 Agreed. Also, when they were talking about sausages with the changelings, all I could think of was: Bow-Chicka-Honk-Honk!
mouy bueno
This next chapter is one Ill be waiting for.
If you make the epic battle music for the next chapter Rick Ashley's "never gonna give you up" I will give you all my internets.
Hey, author, don't stop doing whatever it is you're doing. Cause it's amazing.
When you look at the cover image for your story, the Green Night is the one who appears to be the leader. As the red has an amused look on his face, and green is staring rather darkly at you. I dunno, could just be me.
amazing
Orange Knight is a Beast!
2092091
Meh, I just assigned them personalities based on what the colour reminds me of.
Green reminds me of the woods and in relation wilderness, so I made him easily distracted and wild. And fast, so, so fast.
Blue reminds me of ice, and ice is pretty chill, so I made blue the most calm of the bunch.
Red reminds me of leaders, because red is eye catching and generally determined.
And orange reminds me of orange, so I made him orange.
Can I recomend an epic final battle theme?
-Kiryu
>throws sausage
>sausage gets destroyed
>essentially redirects and amplifies the power of the Sun without breaking a sweat
And that's why you don't mess with the quiet, strange ones.
2091576
I just spent the entire chapter listening to the Castle Crashers theme remix anyway. And I plan to do that for all future chapters.
This is Australia...
This is what Iisten to
Hm. So I went back and reread it from the start, and my prediction from last chapter is... slightly wrong. Orange did get Celestia, but Red actually already kissed Twilight, back in the first chapter. And, apparently, there are still more princesses, but Luna and Cadance are already accounted for (Green and Blue, respectively), which means we're out of canon princesses.
So I'm a bit stumped. The only thing I can think of is that, defying all logic, Twilight's friends are up there, and Celestia was going to make all of the Mane Six princesses right before this invasion hit, so they just don't know it yet. And if that somehow is the case... Red gets Applejack, Blue gets Fluttershy, Green gets Rainbow, Orange gets Pinkie, and Spike gets Rarity. And then Red kisses Twilight again.
fucking classic with the can can song
the last princess? 50 bits its faust oc or its the queen of the changing her self
Welcome to Discord's fun land Twilight!!
Hilarious!!!
And i'm loving that innuendo,
Great story, can't wait for more!
O, and here's my theory about the last princess: either it's Twilight, or Chrysalis
I get it!
When Twilight becomes a princess (for whatever reason) the last knight will get to kiss her!
2092262 Orange reminds me of....orange....what the hell does orange remind me of?
...Ah well, not like it really mattered anyway.
2094010
To be honest, Orange was originally supposed to be the wise old mentor figure until I decided that, with Red filling that role in, it was redundant. So instead, his theme is now 'oh man, how cool would it be if orange did this? Pretty sick, that's how cool.'
2095148 I found what Orange reminded me of. View this picture, and all will make sense.
google.com/search?hl=en&site=imghp&tbm=isch&source=hp&biw=1366&bih=643&q=raptor+jesus&oq=raptor+jesus&gs_l=img.3..0l6j0i5l3j0i24.2648.5772.0.6355.12.11.0.1.1.0.225.1344.5j5j1.11.0...0.0...1ac.1.2.img.K-f1BxSLzEA#imgrc=pclIWClw-oI_YM%3A%3BwjosCrZ10jCLdM%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fstatic.fjcdn.com%252Fpictures%252FRaptor%252BAND%252BJesus_68b786_3971719.jpeg%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.funnyjunk.com%252Ffunny_pictures%252F3972163%252FRaptor%252BAND%252BJesus%252F%3B280%3B400
justsaypictures.com/images/fucking-awesome.jpg
Orange knight wins.
IT'S OVERFLOWING WITH EPICNESS!!!
also... the fate of the fluffy bunnies of Wuvy-Doovy Smoochy Land?
I always figured the Orange Knight was concealing some extremely overpowered ability. The clumsiness, the silliness, there just had to be something more behind it. I was not disappointed- one of my favorite parts of the Orange Knight of Castle Crashers has always been his fire magic, seeing it in such an overpowered way was just great.
Also, calling the Final Princess being Twilight. Somehow.
2096321
i47.tinypic.com/334225h.jpg
A terrible fate indeed.
Looking good, can't wait for the finale!
2096698
THOSE POOR BUNNIES!
Only after I finished this chapter did I get castle crashers. Best 17 or so dollars I ever spent. (I bought the DLC soooo, yeah.) Also, what does Spike do as an Animal Orb? Does he breath fire on enemies? Does he just do nothing?
2101172
Spike spits fire on opponents when they're knocked down and helpless, as evidenced by the Windigo.
2101516
Ah, I was thinking "Uses a fire attack on downed foes, and provides an extra 10% chance for Fire-Effect weapons to activate"
And then they never use Fire-Effect weapons
On the other hoof... My Boss Theme for Celestia was the following:
[url=[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch/?v=4cETvfG1j48]]Darkened Skies
I think it did rather nicely.
2101516 Ah, in that scene, I thought he was being used as a weapon, instead of an Animal Orb.
2106150
I'm sure something happened to them. In fact, I'd bet to say that whatever happened was no doubt funny and exciting, and it's a shame no one here can truly show what happened to the changelings in question.
To be honest, I imagine they went to the same place the barbarians surrounding the barbarian boss did.
Though realistically, they probably fled back to Canterlot when Luna threatened them.
Though you won't understand that, not having played the game.
Anyway, to answer the questions,
-no, the knights don't wear helmets, they just have face paint on. It covers their entire head except for a small cross that centres at where their mouth would be.
-They're very emotive with their eyes, know over fifty kinds of sign language and occasionally produce a powerful psychic field when excited, which allows Twilight to 'sense' what they want to say.
-Alright, give me a moment.
"Twilight had never seen anything like them before. Standing at nearly twice her height, the knights certainly dominated the room with their presence. This presence was only strengthened when Twilight realised that the knights were nearly all muscle; their legs covering not even half their height. Stubby little things; but powerful from hard work. Much like Applejack's were.
Dragging her eyes upwards, Twilight only lingered on the knight's chests. They were only wearing a simple chainmail shirt, except obviously modified to fit their large frames. The only thing that marked the uniforms as theirs was a belt coloured to fit the specific knight and a small symbol stitched into the middle, unique to each knight.
Finally, Twilight rested her eyes on the knight's heads. And what heads they were. Huge, solid, bare things. Devoid of everything except a pair of eyes and buckets of paint. Depending on which knight she looked at, the colours painted onto their faces changed. Despite the colour difference though, each one was decorated the same way. Full face paint, running all across the back of their head and the top and over every possible surface to put paint. Save for a clear white line that ran past their eyes, and an intersecting vertical line that crossed where their mouths should be. They didn't have mouths, evidently."
That should do, consider it bonus reading. Any more questions?
Umm..... Did Orange just use V-create?
2091576
DRAMATIC BATTLE MUSIC YOU SAY?!
AND FINALLY...
EPIC BOSS MUSIC IS A GO!!!
You killed me. It is unbelievably hard to type as a ghost.
Winning!
That, is now my favorite double-entendre. Seriously, read that out of context.
I patiently await the next (final?) chapter.
So, why aren't the knights wearing helmets in this? I mean, they wear them in the game...
They battle theme easily the ending song from the original pc halo not Xbox but PC
2091576
Okay, I'm gonna hazard a guess that, judging by the final princess in the game, the one HERE is Discord!
I'm calling it now before I even start the next chapter!
I'm... Shouldn't it be they've