> The Shadowborne Rampage of a Winning Pony
>  by Gavel Coaster
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> A Shadow Too Bright
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

In that moment, Shadow opened her eyes again and looked directly at me. She lowered her muzzle and spoke in the quietest voice I had heard her use yet - almost a whisper.

"If thou believe thou canst convince me, descendant...by all means."

It was kinda obvious my last comment had upset her. Yeah, I guess if I were a nine hundred year old living memory of the greatest hero Equestria had ever known getting told off by a thirty generations removed dropout nymphomaniac granddaughter for not living up to her own legend I’d be a bit cheesed off too.

"Right. Fine! I'm not worthy to wear the armor!" I steamed, "but maybe you've forgotten there are ponies dying out there! Ponies with friends they don't know where to find! Or even if they're still alive! Ponies with FAMILIES they don't even know are alive! I'm not letting what happened with Mom happen to any other pony, Shadow!" My temples were throbbing, my face was hot, and I'm sure my voice was rising a few levels. Shadow, for her part, was watching me impassively with no change in her expression whatsoever.

"Every pony in the clan always said you believed in sacrifices for the good of all ponykind! Not just you and your own!" I snapped, barely aware of how feathering childish I might have sounded. "And there's never been any better time for that! My father, my little sister, my best friends and every pony in bucking Canterlot needs you now! Celestia needs you!" Even with all that was going on and just how thoroughly pissed I was, I couldn't help but feel the tiniest glimmer of triumphant glee as Shadow's eyes moved briefly to the side when I said that.

Yeah, she and Celestia totally did it.

"Since the bugs have the princess...and Twilight and the others probably aren't in any position to help..." My voice rose again, and suddenly, I could feel pins and needles rising though my skin, my mane stiffened like it was crackling with magic. Huh, adrenaline rush.

"...don't you think the lives of all those wonderful ponies out there might be a little more important than every little thing being right about anypony who wears your armor?! I know I'm not perfect, Shadow...not by a long shot, but I'm good enough to know when the need matters more than the risks!"

By that point, I knew what I was going to do. Clan tradition and respect for ancestors be damned.

"I'm going to use your armor, Shadow. And I'm going to save Celestia and every other pony and the Equestria you fought to save nine hundred years ago! And you can kill me for wearing it with that ancient, scary curse thing if you like, but not before I use the bucking thing to save the princess, Dad, Alula, Star, Twilight, Fluttershy, and everypony else from those monsters!"

Shadow, impassive most of the way through my little rant, was silent for a few moments. Finally, the corner of her muzzle curled up in what might have been either a smirk or a sneer. I couldn't tell...but honestly, at that point, I was beyond caring.

She finally spoke up again, "Cloud Kicker..." It was the first time she had used my name, but the tone of her voice was ambiguous as that bucking poker face. I couldn't tell if she was mocking me or not.

"...thou wouldst truly defy every tradition the Kicker Clan hath ever followed - not to mention signing thine own death warrant in the process - to save everypony else from powerful, terrifying abominations? Thou? The callow, slatternly, impulsive, irresponsible nag of the family?" She scoffed.

Okay, anypony in their right state of mind would have been either seriously pissed off or demoralized to the point of suicidal depression at hearing that kind of put-down from the hero she's practically worshipped all her life. But - and I still have no idea why - all of Shadow's disbelief didn't seem to matter. I was eerily calm, and somehow, I had never been more sure of anything in my life.

"Yes..." I hissed quietly, "The callow, slatternly, impulsive, irresponsible - and good-looking, you forgot good-looking - nag would do that, and more besides..." At any other time, I might've felt like a complete mule to say something so dramatic and bucking cliche, but right then, hissing and spitting just felt like the right thing to do. "...the nag would serve Princess Celestia's next dessert in the bug bitch queen's skull too!"

Shadow actually snorted, cocking her head at me, sounding more amused than shocked however.

I decided to get her back a little, if only I show her just how serious I was, "And I seem to remember another mare who bucked tradition in the face when she saw how much it deserved it. She chose exile from her home because she'd rather fight for honor and the good of all Equestria than sit at home like a good little filly..."

I'd expected anger, indignation and outrage. Instead, Shadow snorted again and bared her teeth. Holy schmolies, she was actually grinning at me! Shadow Kicker, grinning like a timber wolf!

"Cloud..." she said again, "thou wouldst truly compare thine ordeal to mine own?  Thou art a slight...neigh, thou art truly a noble fool if there ever was one..." Her grin grew wider. "Still, mayhaps Equestria's age of noble fools is too long gone..."

Was she...? Did that mean she would...?

"Oh, mayhaps..." I said, drawing out the word and emphasizing it with sarcasm. "But either way, I'm not going to let anypony else die, and I sure as hay am NOT going to let those bugs overrun the Kicker compound! You can magically drain my life force with that ghastly, terrifying curse or whatever later."

I stood up straight, rising to my full height and refusing to show any demure position to Shadow any longer. "I'm taking your damn armor either way - tradition be damned! Help me or don't, materfamilias! Either way I'm not going to sit down and do nothing when I know ponies - Kickers - are going to die!"

Still grinning, Shadow slowly stepped forwards, slowly unfurling her wings. I tensed, waiting for any kind of wing-blade attack. I knew I could hardly put up any kind of fight against Shadow Kicker herself, but somehow I just didn't care! Even dying here in this vision-within-a-vision-whatever-the-hay-it-was would be better than leaving empty-hoofed now...

All of a sudden, the Kicker Compound around us began to brighten, luminescent shades erupting from nowhere. I glanced around, then looked quickly back at Shadow, who was practically muzzle-to-muzzle with me by now, still grinning.

As the light around us grew, Shadow slowly, almost lazily, unfurled her wings further, tilting her head and neck upwards and sticking out her tense forelegs, “So much like my Gale...”

What?

"It has been too long..." Shadow said slowly as the light around us finally became too bright to look at and I shut my eyes, "...since I have stretched my hooves..."

My heart, already working overtime, promptly began hammering in my chest.

*

Star paced restlessly in the courtyard of the Kicker compound. A lot of ponies at West Hoof had said the wait between battles was the worst thing about war, and it was true. Fear of the danger, the uncertainty of what was coming, and knowing something bad would happen sooner or later was all there. It was a terrible mix of hoping the bugs would stay away long enough to rest and prepare, and wishing they would just attack right now so she could get all the wretched uncertainty over with. Star knew from personal experience that at least fear was easier to deal with in the heat of action...

As she looked around, she could see her for herself many other ponies wished the same thing. Some were injured, some were sick, all of them were tired, and a few had even been reduced to a blubbering mess cowering in the corners. Morale was extremely low, and the news that the changeling queen had triumphed over Princess Celestia had very nearly been the final nail in the coffin. The clan might have demanded a surrender if Cloud hadn't gone to the Kicker vault.

Star did not blame them. Every few minutes, she could feel the sudden twitch in her legs to just panic, scream and run for it, far away to wherever the hay there were no changelings...

But she was a Kicker. And a soldier besides, and she knew better. Nothing got a warrior killed faster than panic, and leaving the compound was a death sentence. And then there was Sparkler...

Sparkler...

Star glanced over at what was left of their field hospital where she knew Cirrus Doo and Sparkler would be, yearning to gallop inside and wrap her hooves around her fillyfriend and never, ever let go. Star promised herself that if she and Sparkler somehow came through all this alive, she was going to kidnap the sweet nag, drag her into her bedroom, magic the door locked and spend a week shaking up the whole Kicker compound...

She blinked and forced herself to look back at the troops.

I've been spending too much time with Cloud recently...

Just what the hay is taking her so long anyway?!

Granted, it'd only been a few minutes since Cloud had left for the keep, but it felt like ages. And nothing. No sign of any progress. For all Star knew, her cousin could still be fumbling with the locks on the door...

There hadn’t been any movement from the changelings either. With the Kicker compound fortified and the Home Watch on high alert, the bugs apparently knew better than to try a full-on assault. Pity, Star thought savagely, maybe we couldn’t kill them all, but I bet we could take many of them down with us...

She glanced worriedly over at the gate to the compound, wishing, not for the first time, that she could’ve managed to plant trackers on every pony in the compound. She’d never be able to keep track of everypony at once in a million years, but at least she’d be able to tell if somepony in the Watch was a changeling impostor. Nowhere near enough time or gems for that though.

Groaning, the unicorn levitated herself up the wall and gazed out over the streets. No doubt about it, Canterlot was a bucking mess.

The streets were deserted. Plumes of thick gray smoke that could only mean fire were rising from all over the city. Ponies were either barricaded indoors hiding, dead and out of sight, or caught and taken by the changelings. That was the way of war in the cities. They hadn’t seen another group of civilians or soldiers seeking refuge for more than an hour. And, truth be told, that was probably a good thing. The last sneak attack by the bugs had cost them most of their medical supplies and staff, and they were spread thinly enough as it was. After that, Star wasn’t sure she’d permit anypony to enter even if any did show up...

She prayed to Celestia and Shadow she’d never have to make that choice.

She caught a sudden movement out of the corner of her eye. She whipped her head to the left just in time to see a changeling lower its head back into a window opening across the street before she could light up her horn. 

Old scare tactic. The bugs were reminding them they were still there and they were still watching.

Star was tempted to blast a shot at the window anyway to show the horseapple-eating vermin what she thought of that, but then she remembered Cloud’s warning to conserve her energy. There weren’t many unicorns left in the compound, and if the bugs did manage to get inside the walls again, a little magic could mean all the difference between life and death.

Ducking back behind the walls, she turned and trotted towards the makeshift camps they’d made for the fleeing civilians. From first glance, she could see that at least a dozen were almost too weak to stand. Drained by the changelings and left for dead, these ponies were now almost empty shells. To see the stiff, frozen looks on their faces, the expressions of despair on the faces of their loved ones hovering over them – it was almost too much for Star to bear.

Dammit, Star. You’re a soldier. Toughen up.

She turned around again...almost crashing right into a stallion who had been poised to tap her on the shoulder. Startled, the unicorn reflexively dropped into a stance, lighting her horn.

The civilian who had approached her immediately shrieked and slunk back, “No, don’t!”

Slowly, Star relaxed, rising back to her full height, though she kept her horn lit. “Your cut, citizen.”

The earth pony looked at her, clearly shocked and bewildered, “Wh-what?”

“Your cut!” she repeated, almost snapping in irritation for every wasted second, “If a changeling tried to sneak up on me, I want to know.”

His eyes widened, “Oh! Oh no no, I’m not one of them!” He turned on his side, revealing a particularly nasty-looking scratch just above his mark. The blood was deep red, dripping slowly down his flank to his hind hoof. When Star squinted, she saw he had left a bloody hoofprint behind. She released her focus, letting the glow in her horn fade.

The stallion sighed in relief and stepped back. He was a light yellow with a short, parted brown mane and moustache. He was wearing a coat and a monocle which were stained with blood splatter. Star had a notion he probably looked like the typical, not-quite-middle-aged, upper-class businesspony on a good day. But his expression was something else. His eyes wandered in every direction, like he was still making sense of what was happening and didn’t quite believe his own eyes. His face was crumpled and scrunched with trauma and he looked older than he probably was.

Star decided to try the soft approach. “The Kicker Home Watch is at your service, citizen,” she said calmly, “what do you need?”

That seemed to get his attention. He turned to her and opened his mouth once or twice, then shut it again. Star was tempted to simply cut things off right there when he suddenly blurted out, “We have to give up!”

Star blinked at him "Come again?"

She didn't need her mother's expertise to see the stallion before her was growing more frantic by the minute. "Miss...Cloud Kicker, is it?!"

She shook her head, "Star Kicker, her second-in-command, and sir, I advise you to go somewhere and sit down - you're obviously in a panic."

That made him stiffen. "Miss Star Kicker, I'm afraid I need a moment of your time. The other ponies who made it here have chosen me to-"

Star cut him off smartly before he could dig his hole even deeper, "While we are all happy you made it here, citizen, I'm afraid we simply don't have time to tend to your every need right now. We can expect another attack at any minute!"

"This is going to get us all killed! We have to-"

"Stand down citizen! You're interfering with military operations - a crime that can carry severe penalties for the perpetrator in question!" If Star were ten years older and fifty pounds heavier she knew the scowl on her face might've made him back off, but he plunged on.

"They take ponies alive! We know -we've seen it. But if we continue this way, they'll kill us all! Miss Kicker, we must surrender! They'll-"

"You do not command here!" Star said sharply. "Lieutenant Cloud Kicker's orders were to hold the line and wait for reinforcements! Now go take care of your family, citizen!"

"My family are all gone!" He shrieked loudly, drawing the attention of the ponies around them. "I lost them on the way here! The others lost theirs too! Many of us already lost everything and everypony we had! If we go on like this, we'll all die!" His voice rose even higher, and Star saw to her dismay that many of their beleaguered refugees and wounded were shuffling closer to listen. The stallion began to quiver and stammer, "B-but if we surrender now...m-maybe they'll let us live...and maybe we can see our families again...they must have them..."

Star knew she needed to shut him up. Now. Already one or two of the onlookers were nodding agreement and it was becoming harder to ignore the atmosphere of despair over the wounded. If she let this go on, it could become a full-blown mutiny.

"Stand down, citizen!" Star said loudly and forcefully. "I've already told you our orders are to hold the line. A civilian like you does not-"

"Orders?!" he shrieked, "Buck, your orders are going to get us all killed! Those monsters haven taken over all of Canterlot and they've already taken out the princess! There's no way we can - oof!"

Star spun on the spot and bucked him in the head. The mule hit the ground, but to her dismay he wasn't knocked out. Instead, he just whined pathetically and started crying, pawing desperately at the ground with his hooves as though holding into it would save him. He was obviously scared - really scared. Even worse, some of the other refugees were taking their cue from him and their despair and wailing in the air was growing more audible by the second.

Frustrated and worried, Star turned away from the idiot to find herself face-to-face with one of the older Home Watch members...a clan enlistee named...Left-something. Left Hoof, Left Hold, Left Heart? Star decided to just think of him as Lefty.

Ever the veteran, Lefty saluted crisply, "Permission to speak, Agent Star Kicker?"

From the expression on his face and the tone of his voice, she had a good idea what he was going to say and it was a bad idea. "Denied, soldier. Return to your post - they could attack again at any moment!"

"Agent Star Kicker!" he said urgently, "I take no pleasure in saying this...but perhaps that civilian was right. Surrender may be our only hope of survival now!"

No! Star grimaced and lowered her voice. “What are you doing? Our orders were to hold! You are making this worse, soldier!”

Lefty shook his head, a troubled expression on his face.  His eyebrows were lowered and a deep, sad frown graced his face – as though he didn’t like what he was saying, but he believed it was the only option.  And so he did.

“My sweet great-niece...” he said, “I don’t like this. I never will like this. But I like what will happen if we keep this up even less. We’re facing an army of born killers that feed off our fear. I’ve seen the looks on these bugs’ faces – they were born and bred to destroy! We’re cut off from the rest of Canterlot with barely enough supplies to last us a day and outnumbered a hundred to one. The guard, the princess, everything’s gone! And they came out of nowhere and took us all completely unawares. At this point, and against these odds, there is no shame in surrendering, since further resistance would only get us all killed...”

Star glowered at him, “Princess Luna-“

“-will not arrive in time to save us!” Lefty cut her off. “To march back to Canterlot, she’ll need fresh troops and supplies to replace the ones she’s already overtaxed at the borders – and where will those come from with Canterlot under enemy control?! By the time the Princess of the Night has managed to resupply from the border areas and returned, almost everypony in the city will be either dead or taken – including us! What will all our foolish valor have mattered then? But if we surrender to them, perhaps we can manage to stay alive until the princess does return, and then we can put up another fight...” he paused, his frown twitching as his pragmatism won over his sense of pride again – “...or even if we cannot - since I doubt the enemy would be foolish enough to allow us any such liberty - then at least we will still be alive! Star Kicker, surrender is our only hope!”

“Do you know what these things do to ponies they capture, you complete and utter jackass?!” Star snarled, losing more of her composure for every word she heard from him, “If we surrender, you think they’ll just toss us in nice, cozy cells and say ‘enjoy your room, we’ll bring you supper in an hour’?!”

Lefty shook his head, “Of course not, child. I doubt many of us will survive being their prisoners...” he took the deep, long-suffering breath of a soldier stallion past his prime who had been taught by blood and fire to see the flaw in any cause, “...but there’s a chance some of us might...at least until Princess Luna returns...and surely that’s better than every mare, stallion, and foal under our protection dying pointlessly here and now!” He pointed over his shoulder at somepony behind him to emphasize his point.

Star squinted, and promptly felt a large hole rip open in her heart as she saw what he was pointing at.

A civilian mare, trembling and weeping to herself, was huddled up against the wall of the nearest house, holding a tiny foal in her forehooves. The poor colt couldn’t have been more than a few years old, but his face was twisted and frozen into a rictus of pure terror, pale and drenched with spittle as his breath came in strained, rattling noises.

His mother was shuddering and muttering to herself as she held him close, “Please don’t eat him...I-I’ll d-do anything! Take m-m-me instead! He’s a happy colt...just a happy little baby...please don’t eat him!!”

She was obviously going mad...and from the look of things, her drained and insensate colt wouldn’t be far behind if he ever regained consciousness...

Star shivered and looked down. She was faintly aware of several other Kickers who had been listening in coming closer to add their opinions.

“I don’t like it, Star...but Left Hoof is right...”

“It makes sense...at least we’ll live to fight another day...”

“Pfeh! I can’t believe what cowards you so-called Kickers are! If we die, we die in battle! And ten of these vermin with us for every Kicker that falls!”

“Didn’t you just hear what Lefty said, Steel Heart? This isn’t just about the Kickers!”

“Did you bother asking those civvies what they want to do to those bugs?! I’m sure they’d love to help us kill every single one of ‘em!”

“You stay out of this, Chretienne! Since when did a prancing fool like you ever get the guts to learn the ways of war?!”

“Since I saw my sister get eaten alive by those monsters, Catch! And if you think I’m so damn gutless, why don’t you come over here and say that again!”

“Knock it off, both of you! We have a war to end, one way or another!”

“And if your way of ending it is to give up, Left, then you’re no better than those damn bugs!”

“Look here, you horsefly-infested...“

Star lit her horn and her magical aura flared up around her. “ENOUGH!!!” she boomed, magically amplifying her voice to the point it reverberated all around the courtyard. Every stallion and mare around her fell silent, while the refugees let out gasps of surprise and fright and began to back away.

Star, hot and helpless with impotent rage, was barely aware of Sparkler approaching from behind and putting her hoof on her shoulder. While she didn’t know how long her fillyfriend had been behind her or how much she had heard, Star knew this wasn’t the time to appear weak or sentimental with all these hardened Kicker clanponies watching, so she shrugged her off and took a step forward.

“You thick mules know full and well that there is hope! Right here in the Kicker compound! Something which can save us, and all of Canterlot, from those things!”

A glance of varying emotions went through the semi-circle before her – surprise, fear, polite incredulity, and, perhaps most unsettlingly, faint and joyless amusement.

“You speak of the armor...” Lefty said slowly, his eyes moving briefly up to the ominous, darkening sky.

Chretienne snorted, stamping her silver-shod hooves and overdoing it just as Star knew she would. “Star, my dear cousin...you know I and most of us don’t buy into all those old stories. And besides, what good would just one suit of armor – oh, good armor definitely, but just one suit – do?”

Catch glared at her through his one good, remaining eye, “I don’t like that sniveling, useless filly, but I concede she has a point, Star...” he swiveled towards her with a much gentler expression (and why not, Star thought - after all he was her father’s brother), “I value Shadow Kicker as much as any other pony who calls himself a follower of the Kicker clan, but the armor...there is no proof it was ever anything more than just an antique-”

“There’s no proof it wasn’t either, Catch!” the stallion to his right, somepony Star didn’t know, butted in.

“True...” Catch conceded, shooting another glance over the walls at the plumes of black smoke rising over the city, “...but at this point, can we really afford to pin all our hopes on legends?!”

“Lieutenant Cloud Kicker is down there...” Star said, sensing she was losing ground fast, “And if the armor is our only hope, she’ll find out! And she’ll-“

The crescendo of incredulous gasps, groans, and snorts started almost immediately.

“Cloud Kicker...” Steel Heart snorted, “...ah, yes. Cloud Kicker. The bar-hopping, hoof-dragging, bit-blowing, whorse-banging runaway filly, how could I ever forget?!”

Star lit her horn, but Sparkler beat her to the punch. 

Literally. 

Star wondered faintly how Lyra would feel if she knew all the time she spent with Sparkler led to a large purple magic fist flying in from out of nowhere to leave a grown warrior stallion cross-eyed on the ground. 

Ecstatic, probably.

Chretienne was unable to hide a grim smile at that, but she went on regardless, “I know Cloud Kicker has come a long way in these last few weeks since her mother, Star...but still, that might be a bit much, don’t you think?”

“And in any case...” Lefty said in a tone of finality before Star could reply, “Catch is right. No matter how the stories about Shadow’s armor were or were not exaggerated, we can’t afford to pin all our hopes on just a single suit or the single pony wearing it right now. This is not a children’s story, my dear great-niece – this is war! And we have to assume the worst and hope for the best...”

He straightened, “We must surrender. It is the only way.”

Chretienne immediately started up at him again, “You’re just going to-!”


“STOP!!!” The loud, high-pitched shriek from behind made them all pause. Even Steel Heart, who had been clambering to his hooves and glaring dizzy murder at Sparkler, turned his head.

It was the crying civilian stallion Star had bucked over earlier. He was crawling over to them in the mud, still whimpering as the raindrops hit him, mixing with his tears. Star realized she hadn’t noticed when the rain started.

Then she heard the buzz.

Changelings.

And it was very loud. And getting louder.

Hundreds of them. Star knew any hope of a single small group of bugs making that much noise was virtually non-existent. And from the horrified looks on her comrades’ faces, they’d deduced that too.

It was somehow ominously appropriate, with dark skies, black plumes of smoke rising from the city, and the thick air of despair settling over the compound.

The pathetic, broken stallion crawled closer, his high, screechy voice growing louder with every word, “THEY’RE COMING!! PLEASE!! We have to...stop! Before anypony else...”

But nopony ever heard what he was going to say next.

CRACK!

The sharp, air-splitting noise of an enormous steel chain snapping in the distance immediately drew the attention of every pony in the courtyard.

Star spun around, looking in the direction of the sound.

The central keep.

Right there, before her eyes, one of the stone statues of her ancestors suddenly split right in two with another loud crack before tumbling over to land flank-first in the mud at the entrance. 

Before Star had time to wonder which one of her ancestors had just had his dignity stomped on, there was yet another CRACK! 

This time from within the building, closer than the first. 

And not only that, but the large, decorative Kicker red chains that ran from the apex of the building to the ground were ripping themselves right out of the turf, snapping and shivering right up into the air like heavy steel tentacles before everypony’s wide eyes.

Then there was the rumble. The ground started to heave and groan.

Then the thunder.

But all the noise, all the magic in the air, and all the fear, seemed to vanish. Evaporated in a mere instant, drowned out by the figure that appeared in the doorway of the keep, moving slowly out into the rain.

A lavender pegasus, clad in red steel, had emerged. Her blonde mane seemed to gleam together with the bright armor she wore. Her slitted eyes shone with an unearthy glow behind their lids, a thin line of white light peering from beneath the shadow of the helmet's eyeholes..

The armor was undoubtedly of Pegasopolan forging, the deep inlays and grooves holding the deep, foreboding black of centuries of age, as though each groove held a memory too dark to be shared. And they did. The patterns accross the armor were more than a decoration - they were a history, a story - the story of one of the greatest ponies who had ever lived...

But even the mysteries buried within the armor paled in contrast to the promises it made as it sang with every step...

Star didn’t know how to describe it. The crackling aura that surrounded her cousin was not magic, it was not light, there was no way to say what it was. One moment, the deep, dark, slithering coils of power were there, and the next, they were not - as though a great power were straining to hold itself wthin a vessel too small for it. But the shadows did nothing to hide the proud, brilliant red of the burnished peytral, greaves, crupper, and crested helmet. The Kicker crest surmounting the peytral and helmet glimmered down at them all, and Star swore she could feel it looking at them.

And even at this distance, she could feel her mane standing on end at the sheer presence of the figure clad within.

Cloud looked as Star had never seen her. Was it even Cloud anymore? 

Her cousin had always carried herself with an air of confidence and bravery, but now the flippancy and carelessness was gone. Every hoofstep Cloud took practically roared with strength, and if the iron-hard scowl on her muzzle and the fiery gleam in her slitted eyes was any indication, that was precisely the truth...

As she finally stepped from the entryway fully out into the courtyard - every eye upon her and red chains swirling above her head - Cloud slowly halted.

She unfurled her wings, showing the bright glimmer of razor-sharp wingblades that, Star knew, had once spilled the blood of Nightmare Moon herself...

Cloud then slowly tilted her head back and howled...

“DEATH WAITS IN THE SHADOWS!!!”

The Kicker clan words resounded through the skulls of everypony for miles around.

The red chains whipping overhead promptly condensed into a bundle...

...and then exploded, vaporized into red clouds and scattering over the courtyard.

Star gasped as her armor, dulled and marred from years of use, turned a deep, hard shade of red when the dust landed on it. 

And before she knew it, hard determination raced through her bones, a presence of strength, hope and iron will flowing into her veins. All from her cousin clad in Shadow Kicker’s armor...

Star leaned back and shouted, “Death waits in the shadows!!!”

“Death waits in the shadows!!” Lefty roared from beside her, teeth bared and eyes hard.

Before Star knew it, the Kicker clan words were being yelled all across the grounds over the howl of the wind and rain.

And as the changelings broke over the wall and swarmed into the courtyard, the miserable, disheartened, struggling Kicker compound was suddenly full of growling, battle-hungry warponies rushing and flying forward to meet them...

Cloud Kicker was there, leading the charge with a nasty grin on her face - Star and Sparkler barely a step behind...
> A Shadow Of A Doubt
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Celestia's body was a mess of pain. 

Her hooves and legs felt like someone poured molten lead into her joints, her backlashed horn throbbed like every ounce of magic within was trying to break free, and she could have sworn an Ursa Major must have been using her back as a dance floor for the last three weeks…

Groaning, Celestia cracked one eye open…

…to behold a wall of slimy, poisonous green.

And it struck her all at once.

The changelings! Queen Chrysalis’ attack! Her defeat and the horrible buzz of hundreds of the abominations descending on her city!

She was strung upside down in a green cocoon of changeling ichor. Celestia tried to stretch out her wings and legs – only to find they were restrained by sticky cords. And lighting her horn did no good. A wave of dizziness crashed over her when she tried…

This was no common changeling ichor – Chrysalis must’ve wound her in the stuff herself…

Turning her head with what tiny leverage she had, the alicorn felt sick at what she saw…

The tower was full of changelings from floor to ceiling, a deafening buzz filling the air and drowning out the noise of the scared, sobbing ponies they were holding captive. Practically the entire royal court were down on the floor with their hooves over their heads – everyone from court dignitaries to the vizier to her highest-ranking military officers…

Celestia groaned inwardly. That sneaky, slimy abomination! She’d planned her attack for just the right place and time to round up all of Equestria’s higher civilian and military ponysonnel in one fell swoop! It was the royal wedding of the princess of love to the captain of the royal guard – who wouldn’t be there?!

Which meant all her little ponies down in the city would likely be running around in a panic, unable to organize themselves or form any kind of cohesive defense against these monsters…

Celestia had to stop herself from throwing up and suffocating in this tiny cocoon…

“Ahhh, you’re awake! Good!”

That voice! Celestia tried to light up her horn again – determined to break free and fight – only for the wave of nausea to crash over her again and still her struggles.

“Ah no no no, my dear Celly! None of that now!” Chrysalis’ haughty voice was tinged with cold, harsh laughter as Celestia swiveled to look at her.

The changeling queen was seated under the archway on the dais, gazing down at her children holding the captives. There had obviously been a fight of some sort. One of the armor-clad guardponies was sprawled, unmoving, in a pool of blood at the foot of the dais, with another one being wrestled into restraints by three changeling drones, pinning his wings with ichor and forcing him to the floor. Many of the guests looked like they’d been struck and knocked out cold by the changelings, who’d obviously been under orders to take them alive…

Even worse, one of the unrestrained ponies on the floor had gone pale and stiff-faced, spittle dripping from his mouth as he lay limp in catatonia…the changelings had fed off him.

Celestia’s heart sank at the sight of Shining Armor and Cadance among the captives, trembling and holding each other at the front of the crowd, with Tornado Kicker and his assembled lieutenants not far behind…

“As you can see, Celestia…” Chrysalis declared smugly, tossing her antennae-crowned head and flaring her gossamer wings, “there is nothing you can do. Further resistance is futile! Submit, and maybe your little ponies will survive for as long as they can feed us!” She gloated, chortling, “Although perhaps it makes no difference now whether you submit or not. Canterlot - and soon all of Equestria - is ours!”

Celestia gritted her teeth and squeezed her eyes shut against a rogue tear. Hold tight! Twilight Sparkle and her friends will save us!
She then heard the slow, chitinous clack of changeling legs approaching her prison, and, almost as though she had heard her thought, Chrysalis stood before Celestia’s cocoon.

“If you’re thinking of that nosy, suspicious protégé of yours, Celly…” Chrysalis cackled, “I wouldn’t get my hopes up! My drones have apprehended her and her little friends and have them on the way back here as we speak – ah! Here they are now!” 

Celestia hoped against hope the changeling queen was bluffing, but, sure enough, the doors down the hallway began to creak open…

No! Celestia thought, jerking her head frantically over to try to look at the doorway. No! It can’t be!

But it was.

Twilight and her five friends were there, bound in ichor and being dragged in by changeling drones, and the Elements of Harmony were nowhere in sight…

Celestia slumped in misery. The Elements had been their only hope…

Though, thankfully, she could see Twilight and her friends looked mostly unharmed. A few scrapes and bruises, but she saw no signs of serious injury or catatonia. Obviously, the battered changeling drones who dragged them in gave hide and hoof to take them alive…

“Ahhh…” Chrysalis almost crooned, stepping away from her cocoon to walk towards the captive Twilight, who was struggling with her bonds and trying to light her cocooned horn. “Twilight Sparkle…how wonderful to see you again! During your brief absence from the ceremony, I took the liberty of thinking of several ways to thank you for your inspiring contributions to my wedding…”

The tone of her voice made Twilight freeze in place, then start to quiver with fright…

Celestia broke her silence, opening her mouth as far as she could to yell a threat, “Leave…her…”

She stopped. She could still speak, but the ichor wrapped around her muzzle weighed it down and she felt like she was speaking through a mouthful of treacle. Green, foul-tasting treacle. But Chrysalis obviously heard her, as her head snapped back around to look at her, “Why, dear Celly, what was that?”

Celestia opened her mouth again, “Leave…her…alone…”

Chrysalis smirked, taking two steps closer to her cocoon and cocking her head mockingly, “I’m sorry, Celestia, I didn’t quite catch that. Such a pity you ponyfolk can’t share in the wonder of the hive mind…”

Celestia growled inwardly. She could tell from her tone and expression that Chrysalis had heard her perfectly well; she was only trying to humiliate her further. When she didn’t repeat herself, settling for glaring murderously through her cocoon, Chrysalis halted in front of her. With Celestia’s inverted position, the changeling queen’s sharp grin somehow looked even more menacing with her fangs only inches from Celestia’s eyes…

Suddenly, Celestia was aware of a jolt running down her horn.

Her eyes widened.

Then she felt it again.

An old presence – one she had not felt in centuries – travelling down her horn and into her mind. A warning.

“Sha-“ In Celestia’s shocked state, her surprised exclamation didn’t reach its second syllable with her muzzle still gummed up.

For just a moment, Chrysalis’ triumphant expression seemed to waver slightly, as though she was not sure what she had just seen, “What?!”

Celestia, still startled, gave into the unthinking reflex to try to say it again, but this time, her word was less than a whisper. The changeling queen kept up the stare for another moment, and then, seeing Celestia was not about to repeat herself again, her eyes swiveled sideways to look at her captives, “What a colossally ridiculous irony this is, ponyfolk! Your beloved princess talks and talks and talks when she’s sitting on her throne! And now when she’s strung up in a cocoon before her superior, she talks no more!”

Shaking her head, she then turned to look at the captive Twilight again.

“I know just the way to start punishing you for your bad-mannered meddling, Miss Twilight Sparkle…” Chrysalis said, an evil grin slowly forming over her face, “the perfect way…”

She slowly raised a leg, pointing in Celestia’s direction, “I was going to feed on her out in the town square, before the eyes of every pony in the city…but now that I have you here with us, this is really too sweet an opportunity to miss…”

The gagged unicorn’s eyes widened, and she shook her head frantically, tears starting to grow in the corners of her eyes. Her five friends weren’t happy either – they started giving muffled yells and struggling with their bonds. A half-dozen changeling drones quickly buzzed over and held them in place.

Celestia, still stunned, barely registered Chrysalis’ words as the changeling queen slowly began to approach. A million thoughts were zooming through her mind all at once.

The Armor?! But who is left to…?

As her eyes drifted over to the captive Tornado Kicker, he locked gazes with her for a moment, and quickly, almost imperceptibly, his eyes twitched towards the window and the west side of the city…

The answer hit Celestia like a bolt of lightning…and suddenly, it was difficult to stop herself from smiling.

Chrysalis must have noticed, for she halted immediately. “What lunacccy is this?! You are smiling?! Why do you smile, Celestia?!” Suddenly, the changeling queen sounded less sure of herself, and her smug expression had given way to an annoyed scowl, “Imbecilic pony! Your city and your whole kingdom rests between our fangs, and the only hope you ever had is held captive before your very eyes! Why do you smile now?!”

There may be hope yet…Celestia thought, her smile breaking into an inverted grin.

Chrysalis growled, “Obviously fear has unhinged your mind, Princess Celestia! It will make for quite the tasty-“

BOOOOM!!!

An enormous crack of thunder sounded from outside in the city. The captive ponies gasped and turned every eye to the windows.
Suddenly rain came lashing down and the sky instantly darkened…

And somewhere in the distance, there was a faint humming sound - like hundreds of voices cheering…

The changeling queen spun on her legs, glaring at Celestia again, “What did you-!”

Her slitted eyes then suddenly dilated. Black pools filled up those poisonous, glowing orbs as Chrysalis’ senses went far away...

“NO!” 

The single word burst from her mouth before she could stop herself, spat like a foul curse.

Before the eyes of everypony in the room, Chrysalis took two angry steps and blasted Celestia’s cocoon with magic. She felt the painful sting of course, but at that point, Celestia was too grateful to care. Chrysalis had just confirmed what she hardly dared to hope was true. She kept grinning at the angry abomination, who snorted and blasted her again for good measure.

“A clever move…” Chrysalis snarled, flaring out her wings and lighting her horn as an evil black-and-green aura grew around her, “…but one I shall not allow!”

And with a disgusting sucking noise, her chitinous hide collapsed on itself, deflating like an air balloon and vanishing…

…leaving only a green glowing light that promptly flew up and out the throne room’s balcony.





Changelings are stupid.

Beyond stupid.

Sure, with a guiding intelligence behind them, they can show a basic knowledge of mixed combat tactics with little to no communication with each other - that’s the advantage of a hive mind – but put them in a spot where they’ve gotta improvise or try to sort out the finer points of strategy and they’re no smarter than your average house pet…

So far as I could tell, their sole tactic was shrieking, charging, and leaping at us as soon as they got in range…since thanks to my Shadowborne cloud-kicking their wings were too heavy to carry them anymore. Wet bugs can’t fly, and shaking their wings off didn’t do them any good since more rain was coming down. Pegasi, on the other hoof…

My watchponies formed a solid barrier, weapons extended, while the bugs hammered against us. Naturally, defense had the advantage here in our compound - with the added bonus of the changelings being grounded, but not the pegasi. The bugs were natural killers, but they operated purely on animal instinct - not trained combat skill. Add that to the fact that even the oldest and youngest of us were well-armed and armored, and the only advantage the changelings still had was numbers. And if I had my way, that wouldn’t save them for long…

Drone after drone leapt upon my wall of revitalized Kicker watchponies, promptly being ripped to bits on our wingblades and spears. Forget bugs into the bug-zapper – they were jumping into the bug-grinder!

I wondered briefly why the bitch queen hadn’t bothered transmitting better orders to her mindless minions. She had probably been expecting nothing more than a few battle-weary, disheartened, rag-tag militia left in the compound by this point – hardly a challenge for a massed force of hundreds of drones. 

And to be fair, half an hour ago she might’ve been right. Last time, the changelings had caught us shaken up and with only half of us battle-ready. They almost won then, but they wouldn’t win now!

A bug was bounding right for me, hissing and spitting from a mouth dripping with green goo. It came at me with its fangs bared and died the same way as my wing seemed to move almost on its own. My pinion-adjoining blade tip neatly stabbed right through its mouth and out the top of its skull, and the thing was dead before it hit the ground.

Getting control of the armor had been kinda difficult at first. I remembered trying to take my first couple of steps in it…only to almost faceplant into the wall when I must have leapt about five meters! Controlling the raw power of the armor had felt like trying to balance Manehatten Island on a particularly tiny twig.

Even after I figured out that part of the armor’s enchantment was for flying and lifted off the floor, I was still so discombobulated by my new four-digit equilibrium I must have slammed into at least six walls on my way out of the vault (I now felt a renewed sympathy for a certain rainbow-maned pegasus).

But right here, on the battlefield, it seemed the armor almost didn’t need me.

Another drone tried to leap off the battlements at me. Without thinking, I neatly sidestepped the thing’s clumsy swipe as it descended towards my head. I pivoted and slashed - once, twice, three times - on the rebound. Four shapeless piles of chitin, gross green ichor, and loose changeling guts were the only things that hit the ground.  

They were lithe, quick creatures, but now I was quicker. It looked like they were moving in slow motion when they came at me – and even if any of them were ever strong enough to cut through the armor - which they weren’t - they never got close enough to try it…
I was in awe of my own strength as I kept smashing into any drone I could see. Contrary to what anypony might’ve read in the books and seen in the motion pictures, chopping a pony-sized creature’s head off or cleaving it perfectly in two isn’t easy. Skin, sinew, cartilage, bone - and in this case, chitin - do not part gracefully under a blade. Not unless it’s extremely sharp or moving fast enough for the shockwave to pop the entire body like a balloon…but I was doing it with hardly any effort at all.

Shadow’s wingblades cleaved through the bugs’ exoskeleton easily, the guts within sliced clean as paper…and that was what really surprised me. I knew that shouldn’t have been possible, even with Shadow’s armor.

You see, it wasn’t much known, but Shadow’s wingblades were older than her armor.  Ancient Pegasopolan warlords commonly saved showy, ceremonial pairs of wingblades for their formal armor and used more practical stuff when they had to go into battle... 

…but Shadow didn’t. 

Her warblades and formal trappings had always been one and the same. She didn’t see the point of keeping any ceremony from practicality – a trait she probably inherited from her Striker clan heritage. Sure, the slots on her armor’s backplate had been crafted specially to fit the same pair of wingblades Shadow always used, but the blades themselves technically weren’t part of the magic armor…

…and still I swear I could almost see them cut through the air itself when I slashed. Were Sunbeam Sparkle’s enhancements really that strong?!

The rest of it was all obvious, though. The flickering not-shadows running over the armor protected me from harm, enhancing my special talent while I manipulated almost every cloud over Canterlot into this storm that was grounding the enemy. I never felt as in control of my combat skills as I did then. The smooth motions of strikes, slashes, and stabs were almost an instinct already, but the tiny bump in every step, the twinge I always seemed to have somewhere in my muscles during the most difficult part of a maneuver, the tough twists and clutches for balance that always seemed to be the awkward link in any technique – they were all gone! Every single step of my practiced moves flowed as smoothly as the last, and I swear I could feel the armor sing every time I struck the enemy.

If I were any kind of pony to boast, I’d say I was fighting like a bucking Tartarus-spawned demon!

But then a changeling shrieked in my face while sliding off my blade, and I was painfully reminded of one other effect I didn’t enjoy so much…

The armor was enhancing my primary senses…and trying to keep my brains from melting out my ears was getting hard. My sight, hearing, smell, touch and even the taste of my own tongue were all beating down mercilessly on my head like a tap-dancing dragon!
Seriously, try to imagine looking through a hundred magic telescopes, sniffing ten pots of glue, holding an ear trumpet to a gramophone, and munching on a muzzleful of breath mints all at once and you’d be getting pretty close to how I felt. I don’t know how Shadow could bear it...

And right then, in my own head, I heard her voice again…

“Ignore it, Cloud. Choose some and ignore the others – thou wouldst go insane if thou were e’er to take them all at once…”

…Well, not that I didn’t feel like I was going cuckoo already with all the crazy stuff that’d been dropped on me today, but Shadow was right. I needed to keep my head…for now at least, and put on a brave front for the troops.

The enhanced senses were handy in some ways though – that changeling that had been trying to sneak around my flank might’ve skewered me before I even knew it was there if it weren’t for the armor.

How could you block it all out? I asked the uninvited guest in my skull, it’s like trying to fly away from the wind!!

“At first, yes,” Shadow responded grimly, “but thou needst focus. Thou must remain fixated ‘pon thine objective. Too much contemplation will drive thee insane…”

Right, because it’s so easy to concentrate when I’m seeing, hearing and smelling everything for miles! Couldn’t these little suggestions you keep putting in my head tell me how to turn that off?!

I could almost hear the grim smile in Shadow’s voice. “Now thou art beginning to understand why I would only allow the worthy to wear my armor…”

Right, after that bit of smart-flank from Shadow, I redoubled my efforts at beating back the bugs. There must have been a thousand of the creepy-crawlies, but with the armor, maybe I could swat a few hundred of them. Morale was high for the moment – the sight of me in Shadow Kicker’s armor and the light show it had kicked off had revitalized the watchponies’ morale and they were fighting with renewed vigor – but I knew it wouldn’t last. 

The thing with the raining red cloud I made from the chains was just a cosmetic thing – aside from redoing their paint jobs, my Shadow-enhanced cloud manipulation hadn’t done a thing for their skills or prowess. They weren’t tireless or invincible – and it was up to me and Shadow to turn the tide of battle before the changelings overran us. And I had to do it quick. There would only be a short window between me taking the fight to the bugs and Chrysalis sending new orders to her minions…

I summoned the armor’s power and a flaring aura erupted around me as I leaped off the ground, charging right into the middle of the changeling ranks. Their claws and fangs ripped at me, but they couldn’t do a thing to pierce the enchantment.  Some of them spat ichor at me, but it slid harmlessly off the armor, protected against unwanted adherents. And all the while I still tore into them just fine…

A dozen shrieks erupted around me as I charged into the changeling ranks. Shadow’s armor sang with every swipe of my blades. A large, salivating changeling came charging at me, and I spun on my hooves and bucked it sharply in the face, caving its skull-face in and hurling it right back into a line of its kin. Not one of them survived long enough to get back on its feet.

And I wasn’t alone. The bugs, already halted by my assault, were facing an answering charge from the ponies following me. Star, being her usual clever-flanked self, had drawn up two dozen watchponies in an arrowhead wedge, widening the gap I was leaving behind as they cleaved at the changeling’s sides. No doubt about it, the armor had picked everypony’s spirits up – even if my little light show back there was just that – a show. Everywhere I went, Star, Sparkler, and a column of other watchponies were hard on my hooves, laying about them with earnest. It was payback time. 

Star was following the path I’d made, blasting her magic at any bug still standing. She was lathered and breathing heavily, but she still grinned like a virgin in a whorsehouse as she stomped heavily on a downed bug’s neck, cracking it in two.

Sure, you might think a mare her age who hadn’t even finished military training yet would be trembling like a leaf and working herself up into a traumatized mess over her first real hoof-to-hoof kills – but hay, these things were monsters! Not to mention they had her uncle, cousin, and most of Canterlot held hostage. Right now, shock had to be the last thing on Star’s mind…

Another bug bounded in from my left side, snapping at me with its fangs. I slowed just enough to avoid losing traction on the wet ground as I spun and swept my right wing in a downward slash. The raindrops parted upon the razor-sharp edge of the blade, bursting into tiny, shimmering specks of silver caught in the rush of my arc…

My blade came screaming into the side of the drone’s open, eager jaw. The falling rain was mingled with a spray of slimy green ichor. The changeling froze, stiff as a board, a faint expression of surprise on its crusty face – before it fell, twitching, its head parted lengthways almost to the very back of its throat.

For a moment (just a teeny-tiny little moment, honest) I wished these things were actually capable of thinking and feeling for themselves – it would’ve been oh so satisfying to see them scream, turn tail and run like rabbits after seeing that…

Then, almost as if somepony had heard my thoughts, the changelings broke off their attack, backing away from my rampaging wedge of watchponies and trying to retreat back over the walls, but that didn’t do them any good since they didn’t have ladders and their gossamer wings were useless from the rain…

The rest was all butcher’s work. Or should that be exterminator’s work? I don’t remember too much of it – truth be told I was too caught up in adrenalin. Short version is some of the last remaining bugs took a leaf out of their smaller relatives’ books and crammed together into piles, clambering over each other and building living ramps out of their own bodies to get back over the walls and out of the compound. 

It felt like an hour, but it was probably only less than five minutes before the bugs were either gone or squished. The last drones left in their living ramps hardly even put up a fight as we cut them to pieces - the hive mind obviously knew they were lost.

I was still wheeling around and looking for something else to fight - lost in bloodlust and probably snorting and stamping like an idiot - when I finally heard the cheering…

My watchponies were stomping on the turf, cheering enormously (and very painfully, thanks to my new enhanced hearing). They shook their weapons in the air, the pegasi hovering up to the walls to jeer at the retreating bugs and flip them off with their middle pinions. I knew the war had only just begun, but their spirit was infectious and I couldn’t help but grin as I strutted back among the lines. Sparkler was there too, all aglow with an aura of magic and an adrenalin-powered grin of her own on her face. The cheering redoubled as I raised a hoof in salute at the troops, and they started chanting.

“Cloud Kicker, Cloud Kicker, CLOUD KICKER!!!”

Suddenly, feelings of power bubbled up in my veins. I was unstoppable! A broad grin broke out on my face and - despite myself - I let out a jubilant whinny and reared up, slashing the raindrops in the air with my blades and willing my shadows to flare out, much to the cheering of the watchponies.

“Not now, descendant! Do not let it go to thine head!” Shadow snapped (the idiom had apparently already hit the dictionary in her era), “This serves only to raise their expectations of thee for the battle to come…”

It was true. There was no time. I needed to act before I got swarmed with a crowd of congratulators and everyone got a little too comfortable with the respite we’d bought. I fell back onto my forehooves. There was no question about what to do next. The armor worked, Shadow was with me, and we’d repelled the bugs’ assault. This meant action. Princess Celestia was a prisoner, along with Dad, Alula, and most of Canterlot’s elite military at the wedding. Princess Luna was far away. Rainbow, Fluttershy, Twilight and the others were all likely prisoners…

…or worse. 

I shivered briefly at the thought of Eepysqueak in the clutches of those things.  Sure, she was famous for telling off Equestria’s most feared and deadly predators…but somehow I didn’t think even Fluttershy could guilt-trip the changelings into submission…

It was up to me. With Shadow Kicker’s armor, I was probably the only pony in the world who could stop the bug bitch queen now…

“Sergeant!” I yelled. I knew there were several sergeants in the Home Watch, seasoned and approaching retirement, who were more than capable of doing what I had in mind. It wouldn’t matter which of them responded to my call first.

One of them, a stallion I recognized as Steel Heart, promptly cantered over and saluted. I knew he was a bit of a self-important plothole, but a capable ex-officer nonetheless.

“Take three squads with you and see to the injured. Take stock of the deceased and make sure no changelings tried to hide amongst our troops,” I said in my most authoritative, commanding tone.

I could practically see the protest at being left behind for cleanup duty forming on his muzzle before I turned my back on him and went to call the celebrating Kicker troops back to order.

Shadow’s armor had yet another capability I was planning to use now. Since it was still customary for rulers and commanders to deafen everypony for a hundred miles in Shadow’s time, her armor had a minor enchantment to substitute for the traditional Royal Canterlot Voice. Steeling myself for the pain I knew it would cause until I finally figured out how to turn the damn thing’s enhanced hearing off, I activated the enchantment and struck my smartest pose.

“PONIES OF CLAN KICKER, GATHER THINE ARMS AND STRENGTHEN THINE HEARTS!!” I bellowed, surprising myself as archaic speech came to my lips. Could be I had more of a flair for the dramatic than I knew. Or maybe Shadow was planting more seeds in my head. “THE BATTLE LIES BEFORE US!!!”

The watchponies cheered and stomped their hooves in reply. Now that I was getting a good look at them, I could see not many of them were injured, and there wasn’t a single casualty anywhere I could see. Still, I knew this didn’t mean we could get cocky…

“WE MUST PURSUE THE ENEMY E’ER THEY ESCAPE OUR WRATH! TOO LONG HAVE WE HUDDLED BEHIND OUR WALLS WAITING TO DIE! FORM RANKS AND PREPARE TO TAKE TO THE SKIES AT ONCE!”

I could feel Shadow’s approval as the watchponies hastened to obey without a single objection. “I confess, descendant…I did not expect my story would survive o’er the end of the next generation of ponies. Yet nine hundred years anon, my loyal clan still obeys the memory of me…”

More than that, I thought to her. You’re a legend amongst the clan, and all of Equestria! They even have a cult dedicated to you, and a sect of elders that preach your return…

From the tone of Shadow’s reply, I could imagine her applying non-existent hoof to face. “Is that so? Mayhaps I ought to have discerned there would be those who would continue to honor me as such beyond my final days. ‘Tis likely my own error I did not make my wishes clearer in my memoirs should such nonsense continue forthwith. They e'en changed the hallowed clan words to honor me? I would never have coveted as such! Be warned, Cloud, thou must make thine identity clear to anypony who e’er mistakes thee for I returned from the dead…or the repercussions may likely be severe…”

Right, gotta make sure nobody starts raving about the return of the Chosen One and all that other golden-age Power Pony horseapples. Granted, throwing Shadow’s name around after all this mess was over might cause a lot of trouble, especially in the clan.  There would be a lot of arguing over who I was, if I was Shadow’s unwilling puppet or master, or if I was always carrying my ancestral hero’s spirit around just behind me and so on.  The Cult of Shadow would probably harass me every five minutes, and one or two of the old Pegasopolan clan fanatics might start getting some funny revenge ideas. 

Even if it would get me an army, a castle, and a personal harem of the most beautiful Shadow-groupies in Equestria…

I jumped and tried not to yelp when Shadow zapped my head again. Probably her way of reminding me to focus.

The watchponies had gathered into rank and file, waiting for my signal to lift off.

Oh, right, the objective. Forgot to mention that. No good just scattering into the streets and killing any bugs we happened across…we needed a plan. Well, first objective was to secure the outer grounds to make sure the enemy was really gone and regroup with any survivors we could find. Then, we’d have to divide our forces and head for the palace. Our objective there would be threefold – cut off any escape routes, rescue the hostages, and then find Queen Chrysalis and smash her head so far down her neck she’d be breathing out her slimy, chitinous plot for the rest of her life.

One advantage to fighting a hive mind – take out the queen and the drones would be reduced to mindless lumps that couldn’t even fight back anymore…I hoped. I knew it was a risk to face the changelings without unicorn magic or earth pony strength, but for the sake of speed I might have to leave Star and the other groundbound behind to hold the compound afterwards while the pegasi and I went to secure the palace and anypony the bugs were holding captive there. 

I swallowed behind my new helmet. That’s where I’d find Dad, Alula, Fluttershy, Rainbow and the others…unless…

…No, couldn’t think about that. This time, we finally had a chance to start giving it back to the bugs!

I braced myself and lifted off the ground into the heavy rain, the assembled vanguard following me. Fifty-odd revitalized pegasi and about thirty watchponies groundbound. I hoped it would be enough.

“LUNA FORMATION!” I bellowed, “SECURE OUTER PERIMETER AND WATCH FOR ENEMY! ENGAGE ONLY AT MY COMMAND!” Sure, I could’ve told them to give any changeling they saw a good kick, but - as I learned back during West Hoof mock field operations - it was a bad idea to give a little too much freedom to the troops. The watchponies weren’t featherbrained – far from it – but it wouldn’t be the first time rank and file might take it on themselves to sort out the details of broad and vague orders like ‘smash any bug you see’ only for it to turn out a big mess…

Shadow was silent, but I could feel her approval of my choice as we swept in a crescent over the compound grounds, a guard of unicorns and earth ponies following in a phalanx formation on the ground. The Luna formation was one of the most basic – but very useful – formations for swift movement, allowing for all three pony tribes to take advantage of their respective strengths. The heavily-armored earth pony vanguard lined the front and flanks – the unicorn battlecasters would gather in the center, and the pegasi flew overhead for scouting, skirmish, and bombardment.

It was difficult to see everything in the gloom created by my storm, but the changelings, having few higher brain functions and losing the advantage of air mobility, would probably be simple to spot.

Sure enough, there was a great crowd of them assembling further down the street beyond the compound entrance. They were in the park. Nesting in the old floating gardens… 

And by that I mean the gardens almost floated in mid-air. 

Our ancestors had built them centuries ago with the help of the earth ponies, to honor the dead of the Lunar Rebellion. Each garden was placed upon a circular stone basin, all of which were attached to a massive stone pillar, the gardens spiraling along it in a helix pattern so it resembled a massive, perfectly symmetric tree...okay, it did look slightly ludicrous when viewed from far away - it was one of those eccentric architect’s creations that you had to get up close to appreciate… 

And the fact the bugs were using it as a rallying point was intriguing…if a bit scary and sickening. Tactically speaking, it was a mistake, since we still had the advantage of air mobility while the bugs didn’t, and the open grounds made enemy ambushes impossible.  
However, the floating gardens did look faintly like a giant bug hive at this distance. Maybe the changelings had more homing instinct than we thought…

But on top of it all, they weren’t running or preparing an attack…

…no, they were standing perfectly stock still on the basins with every eye on us. They were waiting.

Suddenly, a chill fell on me as the armor grew cold and heavy on my coat. Startled, I glanced down on pure instinct to see how high up I was in case I lost flight - and saw the Kicker insignia on my breastplate was glowing dully.

A warning.

The bug bitch queen was somewhere nearby.

“HALT!” I yelled, drawing several surprised grunts from behind me at the sudden stop. If I’d looked behind me right then, I’m dead sure I would’ve seen about a dozen young pegasi go face-to-flank into the pegasus in front of them. I don’t doubt that heroic, intimidating show of valiance would’ve sent the bugs running for the hills…

“Pay heed, Cloud Kicker,” Shadow warned, her voice echoing urgently in my ears, “Queen Chrysalis may be very dangerous ‘ere she even lifts a claw. She was but a larva in my lifetime, and even then I gained cause to regret trading words with her. Guard thine heart well, for even my armor cannot protect thee from whatever game of manipulation she may play with thee…”

Don’t worry about that, Shadow. The second I see Queenie I’m gonna…

“Stay thy wrath, foal!” Shadow’s voice cracked like a whip and I knew no force in Equestria would let me disobey her. “Thou shalt show the proper presence of mind whilst ponies of Clan Kicker may live or die under thine command!”

Okay, now that was just dirty. Shadow had just reminded me it was all my fault if this got anypony killed by acting before thinking. And just when I thought I’d finally got a way to settle on my terms too. Things had been going so well up to now that the fear actually faded a little. Then again, just goes to show basic West Hoof training: don’t assume an advantage will last forever.

Well, all the more reason to move fast. Chrysalis might not have any kind of plan for dealing with the armor yet, but that didn’t mean she wouldn’t be able to come up with one if I gave her the chance…

One of the changelings perched on the middle platform suddenly collapsed into the shrubs, twitching. On a normal day, I would’ve wondered if the thing was having a seizure, but with just the one bug sprouting longer limbs and a face swelling to the size of a watermelon on one side…well, I had my doubts…

The thing’s exoskeleton cracked off almost every joint, the foul yellowish-white membrane underneath stretching like cotton candy over gristly black muscle tissue…before the chitin suddenly warped with a telltale glow of magic, and refused itself again with a soft crackling. Two long pairs of gossamer wings sprouted from its stubs, thick with pulsing jigsaw veins pumping some kind of disgusting green crud. Blue-black tendrils sprouted from the top of the skull, eclipsing the tiny horns on its temples and elongating into what faintly resembled a mane…well, a mane that hadn’t been washed or combed for years. The protrusion on the forehead lengthened and twisted. A pair of antennae sprouted from the tiny spines on the top of its head and grew a thin webbing that faintly resembled a crown. The blue glow in the eyes faded and was replaced with a poisonous green as the cornea promptly shifted and sprouted deep, slitted irises.

And when the thing rose on its long legs again, there was no doubt who I was looking at.

Queen Chrysalis. The changeling matriarch.

My first instinct was to charge, lift my blade and slash her right between her eyes, but then I remembered this was the monster who had my father, sister, Eepy and many of the other ponies who mattered to me. And I didn’t know just how much she knew about me. If she could switch hosts like that, who knew if she would be capable of going back to execute somepony if I let her have it right off the bat?

As she stood, glaring at me, I heard several audible growls and agitated flapping from the troops behind me. The watchponies may not have known who the bitch was exactly, but anypony with eyes could see she was some kind of officer or leader. No doubt half of them were waiting for my order to dive and spit her on a wingblade. Before I could make any sort of decision, however, Chrysalis raised a leg and pointed in my direction.

I felt a brief tingling sensation, which rapidly became uncomfortable. When I squinted, I could see Chrysalis’ horn – or whatever it was she had - was lit. Not being a unicorn, my magic had never clashed with another’s before, and I was quickly learning to appreciate that….

I always knew magic friction was supposed to be extremely uncomfortable, but…that was probably even more true for somepony like me who’d never felt it before. I was quickly gaining a new respect for the abilities of Twilight Sparkle and the other magi I knew as I felt the bug bitch queen pounding on Shadow’s protective enchantments.

Shadow obviously felt it too. “Steady thyself, descendent!” she warned urgently. “She is testing my armor’s limits. Thou must not falter even for a moment! Always keep thy full strength hidden from thine enemy!”

Some of the troops were starting to mutter, now really sounding confused. I knew Shadow was right, and I needed to take action quick and deal with the consequences later. Gritting my teeth against the magic assault, I flared my wings and barked a command. “SPREAD AND CIRCLE! VULTURE MANEUVERS!”

 This was it. Hostages or not, there might be Tartarus to pay if we didn’t blow Chrysalis all the way there first. My pegasi were about to encircle the gardens and perch on the nearby rooftops when we all heard the shriek.

“STAY WHERE YOU ARE, CLOUD KICKER!!” Chrysalis screeched (apparently even bug queens needed some way to shout over everybeing else for miles), “CELESTIA DIES IF ANY OF YOU MOVE!!”

That made me halt. So abruptly my wings almost locked up and sent me plummeting to my death. That screeching-stop line must have had a similar effect on my troops as well, because in the next few moments all the air around me was alive with worried, angry chatter. “SURRENDER YOURSELVES AND YOUR CLAN HOLD NOW!” Chrysalis snarled, “AND SURRENDER SHADOW KICKER'S ARMOR TO MY CHANGELINGS…OR YOUR PRECIOUS PRINCESS DIES!”

Well, she may have been a carnivorous, love-drinking, insanely-magical bug queen…but she didn’t know the first thing about negotiating. Drawbacks of being a tyrant I guess.

I flared my wings, powerfully, summoning the clouds. I didn’t need my hooves anymore with the gifts Shadow had given me. The cumuli drew closer with an ominous rumble, slowly elongating themselves into snaking arms that entwined overhead as I answered her.

“THIS IS YOUR FATE, CHRYSALIS!” I yelled, “IF YOU HARM OUR PRINCESS, OR ANY OTHER PONY IN EQUESTRIA, SHADOW AND I WILL CONSUME YOU AND ALL YOUR WRETCHED CHILDREN!” 

I heard the brief mutters around me. I might have been imagining things out of personal guilt, but somehow, I got the idea that me trading Princess Celestia’s life like a strip of haybacon didn’t sit too well with some of the troops. And who could blame them?

“Thou must hold fast, descendant,” Shadow reminded me. “Do not worry - Chrysalis is no fool. ‘Tis known to her that her hold o’er the Canterlot citizenry and duress over Luna dies when the Commander does. ‘Tis known to her that if she cannot force thy surrender, her remaining forces shalt suffer heavy losses to destroy thee. She will only take Celestia’s life as a final resort…or else risk total war she shall not win.”

But the clanponies, Shadow…no matter what we say, they’ll hesitate… I thought back.

It was almost as though I could feel the faintest flicker of a smile cross her face as she answered.

“I shall handle that, Cloud Kicker.”

It’s kinda weird to describe what happened next. I don’t know how to say the feeling exactly. Think of it like your fur is a one-piece domarenatrix suit that just suddenly gets too loose for you and inflates with a rush like a hot air balloon – with you still trapped inside. (If that was what magic felt like all the time…suddenly Twilight Sparkle’s quirky, high-strung personality made a bit more sense…) Anyway, end result was a shade of Shadow Kicker, just as I saw her in the vision, but four times as large, all luminescent, white-eyed and wearing a perfect copy of the armor I was in, flared into sight around me…

…Just in time for the next bolt of lightning and crash of thunder too.

And then she was gone again.

I could almost see Chrysalis cringe as she recognized the pony who stitched her up (literally) hundreds of years ago. 
 
Asymmetric warfare alright.

As if that changeling mug wasn’t ugly enough already, the look of unbridled, frothing rage that followed was almost enough to make me wonder if it was possible to be lethal amounts of hideous…

“What a brave little morsel you are…” she growled up at me, obviously angry, “and what a fool. If you think that enchanted scrap-pile and whatever sliver of Shadow’s putrid, rotten memory lives on in it will save you, then you truly doom everybeing you care about, Cloud Kicker. For don’t you realize my minions hold them all?”

“You kill Princess Celestia or anypony else…” I shot back loudly, “and my guardsponies and I will personally make sure every single changeling in the world is hunted down and exterminated. It won’t matter where you run, where you hide – with Shadow and Luna we will find you, and there’ll be Tartarus to pay!” There was an approving growl from my pegasi, but Chrysalis threw back her head and cackled mockingly.

“The inept, sluggardly harlot threatens me!  Luna is already finished. My children work to destroy her moon as we speak. Shadow Kicker is dead – her stinking bones rot beneath the earth until my children find them and lay the nag to rest more appropriately. Chewing pony bones really does wonders for my changelings’ digestion, you know…" She chortled. As if that was supposed to scare me or something, "And speak of Tartarus to a being who doesn’t call it home, Cloud Kicker!”  

I had heard enough. Summoning a lightning bolt, I fried a patch of earth just in front of Chrysalis' perch. That shut her up pretty quickly...and I admit the angry scowl on her face when she looked up at me again was probably the sweetest thing I'd seen all day...

“KILL THEM ALL!” Chrysalis roared at her children, her hideous shriek quickly drowned out in the answering, deafening buzz and roar of a gale from hundreds of wings as the changelings lifted off their perches to obey…

…and promptly fell to their deaths as Shadow fed her strength into my special talent again. Like I said, I didn’t need my hooves to kick the rainclouds anymore…

Thunder crashed as the rain came lashing down - the changelings with it as their wings suddenly turned into heavy, soggy blankets. Another weakness to a hive mind, I suppose. One poor, emotionally-driven blunder costs a whole swarm of drones, not just the ones dumb enough to take flight in a rainstorm. Grounded and confused, most of the drones didn’t even manage to get on the feet before our ground troops pounced on them like predators and tore them to pieces.

This triggered a scream of rage from Chrysalis, who lit up her horn on her perch, emitting a fierce, black-green magic aura as she began casting battle spells down at the watchponies. 

My jaw fell open as I realized just how powerful Queenie was. Chrysalis was blowing a lot of big holes in the turf…and I winced as she fried both a scuffling earth pony trooper and the bug he was fighting and they collapsed to the ground. Looks like she wasn’t concerned about wasting her own children along with the watchponies...

That’s cold. Even for her.

I knew we could still get in serious trouble if she kept that up. Bug collateral or not, I didn’t want anypony else dying if I could help it. And now, with the armor, I could help it…

I snapped my wings in and dived, aiming for Chrysalis. No doubt about it – I wanted a piece of her (and not in the pleasant, bedroom-y way I usually wanted a piece of a mare either)…

But Chrysalis sensed me and looked up as I drew near.

Come on, I’m close! I can get her before she-

With a hiss and snarl, she promptly sprouted a bright green bubble shield. I was in the middle of a full-on dive bomb with my wings streamlined - no way to stop in time! I shut my eyes and braced for impact. Maybe if I was lucky, I’d crash right through the thing – sure, I’d probably get several serious injuries, but at least I’d still hit Bug Queenie…

Turns out that wasn’t what she’d cast though - maybe she’d anticipated the same thing I had. It wasn’t a solid barrier...it was a damn trampoline! When I crashed into the barrier, it gave and stretched in.  I pushed and flapped with my wings to try to break through shield, but the laws of physics just gave out the closer I got…

And before I knew it…the rebound caught hold and I was spinning snout-over-plot backwards.

The really unnerving experience was how quickly my head cleared. Try spinning fast enough to get so dizzy you don’t know which way is up, only for it to be immediately corrected by an enchanted helmet…like getting high on the air in the upper-atmosphere before shooting back down to the ground…

…Not that I’ve ever done as such, mind you. Ahem.

When my wings kicked in and I regained my balance again, I planted my hooves and set myself down on her floating garden. When I faced Chrysalis and flared out Shadow’s wingblades - that was the first time I saw doubt and fear in the changeling queen’s eyes. We both knew I now had an advantage in close-quarters. Chrysalis was a creature of powerful magic – but that wouldn’t make much difference to her options now, with me clad in magical armor and only a few feet away. She looked cruel enough, but Chrysalis didn’t exactly strike me as the physical, mortal-combat type – not to mention chitinous body armor probably wouldn’t allow her to match my speed and agility. And that’s not counting the reminiscent pain the sight of Shadow’s blades must’ve been stirring up in her memory…

But, to my mixed disappointment and satisfaction, she didn’t turn to run. Instead, her eyes narrowed from wide gorges into venomous slits, and from the hiss and fierce snarl that came onto her face, I guessed she was kinda feeling a bit indignant at her own hesitation.

“So be it, Cloud Kicker!” she hissed, “I gave you so many chances for mercy! I allowed you so many chances of escape that were more generous than your circumstances permitted! Do you really think your Kicker clan survived that long because I could not crush you all any time I wished?!” She slowly ran her green tongue over her fangs in an ominous manner, “Were it not for the respite I left you and so many of my other enemies, every single pony who dared stand against my changelings would be dead – as your mother is…”

She drew herself up and planted her hollowed feet for a charge. I did the same.

I would’ve been an idiot to charge Chrysalis first, since that was probably what she taunted me for. Instead, I waited…until she spoke again.

“Well, what are you waiting for?!” Chrysalis snarled, “A fool and a coward to boot, are you? Pathetic! Has the line of the legendary Shadow Kicker truly fallen so far?!!”

I grit my teeth and tried to keep myself under control as we circled each other. Chrysalis was trying to provoke me into a trap – I knew it and I couldn’t fall for it! I had to wait for her to fall into my trap instead, so I just stood there silently even as the battle raged on around us…

…

…Damn, this was getting difficult.

Chrysalis snorted, “Perhaps your strategy is to prolong this until I die of old age?! That was certainly what your witless, twisted old magpie of an ancestor hoped for! She was too cowardly to kill me as well…”

Keep calm!

“And just imagine what your dear Alula - so full of love for her dropout, failure sister - will think when I tell her you challenged me and balked - right before I suck the life out of her!” she parted her lips and grinned. “A tasty morsel your adoring little sister will make…”

Oh, that was it! Somehow I didn’t care about whatever she was planning anymore – I was gonna break through it and splatter this monster all over the landscape!

I screamed and charged, lifting off the ground and stretching out my wingblades. Shadow called out a warning, but right then, I couldn’t even think straight.

Chrysalis was mine!

The bitch queen grinned, and her throat promptly constricted before she spat out another great glob of green goo at me.

Huh. So that was her bright idea. Apparently, changelings never wise up. 

Ponies do, thankfully.

Without breaking stride, I flicked a wingblade vertically, slicing the ichor missile clean in two and knocking it harmlessly to either side…
…and promptly slammed into Chrysalis herself, who had broken into a charge while the gunk obstructed my sight. 

Horseapples. So, the goo wasn’t it. 

Time stood still for a moment as we crumpled into a tangle against each other, our limbs and rumps slowly lifting in opposite directions from our momentum. My wingblades careened forward to either side, missing Chrysalis’ body by inches. My head was crammed into her shoulder, my neck and breastplate mashing against her torso as our respective inertias did furious battle…

Unfortunately, even though I was faster, Chrysalis was still larger and heavier than I was…

The wind left my lungs as we were hurled backwards, rolling over the turf while Chrysalis snarled and snapped at my face with her fangs. I felt one of my wings creak painfully under my shoulder as we rolled and stifled the urge to scream. Instead I gritted my teeth and tried to push the bug queen under me.

But when we finally rolled to a stop in the fresh mud, I was the one underneath. Chrysalis, hissing furiously, stomped down on my left foreleg, pinning both it and my damaged wing beneath it to the ground. Before I could lift my other wing to slash her head off, she stomped on that one too, pinning me almost helplessly beneath her while I beat at her face with my only free forehoof. I tried to poke her in the eye, but Chrysalis dodged it and snapped at my hoof, missing by a hair’s breadth. 

I wasn’t out of tricks yet though. When she tried to lean down to bite my throat, I braced and pushed up with my free forehoof, my helmeted noggin cracking her square in the jaw.

A trio of buffaloes started tap-dancing on my skull and my ears rang a racket worse than Vinyl Scratch’s Pieday single, but I felt a satisfying crunch as Chrysalis’ ugly kisser caved in and most of her fangs popped loose. 

While she screamed through a broken jaw, I pulled a hind leg free and kicked her in the…well, whatever changelings had between their flanks…before I struggled free and rolled away, gasping and coughing to clear out my winded lungs. Air had never tasted so good. 

My ribs already felt tender and my left wing hurt, but there was no time to check it now. With a furious hiss like a steam engine, Chrysalis got to her hooves at the same time I did. Her horn glowed briefly and her jaw abruptly straightened itself again, new fangs cracking through the chitin, as she glared at me.

Now that I was up close and hoof-to-hoof with the bug bitch queen, I could see this wasn’t going to be as easy as I thought. From a distance her hide looked smooth and streamlined. But this close, I could see her chitinous armor was in fact covered with tiny, razor-sharp spines, and it was irregular in places, with knobby protrusions and thickenings almost everywhere a hoof could hit her without getting pricked. And from the ache in my chest I was slowly becoming aware of, I’d probably already taken a few scratches from our little roll.

But I wasn’t afraid…oh no…not anymore.

As any fighter will tell you, fear only lasts as long as the battle takes to get going. Once you’ve gotten into it and really worked yourself up, all fear vanishes. The hard part was starting a fight, not finishing a fight after you started it.

As I let the bug queen know by returning her snarl with one of my own and raising my wingblades again. 

She had the advantage in size and probably strength, but not speed. From the clash we’d just had and the way she was holding herself now, I could see she was competent in hoof-to-hoof combat…but she didn’t look like any kind of big expert either. There were lots of little holes in her technique that you could see if you squinted. She had braced her four legs in a  pouncing position but they were too far apart and her hind end was raised too high in the air, making a quick break-away impossible. And I was sure she was gathering herself to kick off her hind hooves instead of all hooves at once if I attacked - which would have been slow and clumsy.

Still had to be careful. Those fangs were likely poisonous from that greenish gleam I could see with my enhanced vision. If she did have poison, and if she managed to get a good chomp on me, it would all be over.

Chrysalis advanced on me slowly, more wary now that she knew I could do some serious damage if she tried to slug it out. She probably knew about my combat skills already from what she’d seen through the hive mind…but just how far they went with the armor, she obviously didn’t know. She dropped into a defensive half-crouch as she stalked closer. I did the same.

This time, I let her make the first move.

Chrysalis’ neck snaked out as she bit. I dodged it and stepped back. She chomped at me again, and again I gave ground, snapping my neck to my left. Then, just as I thought she would, Chrysalis didn’t even pause to regain her balance before she lunged at me again, taking the bait. With a beat of my wings for speed, I neatly swung my rump around and sidestepped - giving her a courtesy slash upside her right flank as she bulled past me – before I danced out of range again.

Finally got her.

Chrysalis stiffened and twitched in pain, turning a killer gaze on me. I smirked at her, but it slowly slipped off my face as the long, diagonal gash I’d cleaved into her side glowed a deep, poisonous green and healed itself over.

Then the bitch was the one smirking.

She lunged at me again. I ducked and moved right up into her guard, whapping her in the eyes with my left wing while I stabbed my right into her hind leg with enough force to rip through the chitin before I twisted away again. Chrysalis didn’t screech or fumble at her eyes though. This time, she spun as well and bucked me in the chest as I tried to spin out of range, knocking me right off my hooves.

Ow.

Now that hurt. As if getting a couple of ribs cracked and the wind knocked out of you once wasn’t enough. My vision blurred and I gasped for air before the armor cleared my senses again and I got back up, aware of Chrysalis limping towards me on her injured flank as the messy hole I’d dug in it began to heal over.

Okay, enough messing around! Time to pull out the big hooves from my re-training! Grunting, I pawed the ground and charged at Chrysalis. Snorting, she ran right for me too.

“Your meddling ends here, Cloud Kicker!” she snarled, “Equestria is mine! And soon, so shall you be…”

She dissolved into cackles as we charged each other again. This time, though, I leaped off the ground. Not flew - but leaped, extending and elongating my wingblades into lances as I flew over the bug bitch queen’s head…

One good thing about being tetra-pedal…ponies’ long legs and curved spines make spinning somersaults much easier for us than for bipeds like the minotaurs…

But Chrysalis wasn’t caught off guard. As I leaped – she hissed and instinctively hit the deck. My blades flew wide of her body as I sailed overhead. I landed on all fours heavily, gritting my teeth against the pain in my injured forehoof. Then I immediately leaped and twisted away again before Chrysalis could regain her footing and buck me. But I didn’t retreat. As Chrysalis turned, I was on her again, slashing out. She parried my first attack with one of her bony forehooves, but I didn’t let up and kept pressing the advantage, striking as fast as I could. Chrysalis spat as my blades repeatedly slipped past her guard to nick at her chest, green blood welling up in the slashes.

Yes! This was it. If I could just stop her from retreating now and keep this up-

Then she bit at me again, and this time, I couldn’t get out of the way quick enough. 

Her fangs bit into my cheek, just missing my eyes as I pulled my head to the side. Gasping, I felt shock kick in and my limbs suddenly became very heavy. But I knew I just had to overcome it. If I panicked now, she’d finish me off without any trouble.

So I reared up and slashed as hard as I could. Chrysalis raised her forehoof to block it, but the strength of my desperate attack forced her hoof aside and the tip of my blade scraped angrily across the bug bitch queen’s face. She screeched in agony and backed off as one of her poisonous, green eyes ruptured and leaked out of its socket. But I didn’t have any chance to celebrate as I was too busy trying not to scream myself as my cheek swelled up and started bubbling furiously.

Before I could start to panic about my face melting, the armor immediately grew cold on my body and I felt Shadow’s presence again as a cooling wave of magic washed over me. The flickering shadows on the armor converged over my cheek, healing it. The hissing slowly stopped and the pain went as Shadow pumped her power into me to clear the poison out.

You know what, Shadow? Feather the guard and the weather teams. After that, I’m going to spend the rest of my life cleaning your effigy and garnishing it with flowers whether you appreciate it or not.

As my face returned to its normal size, I refocused on the battle. I expected Chrysalis to take advantage of my distraction while my face melted off, but no…

Chrysalis had collapsed to the turf, gasping, as her legs gave up on her from the pain. Green blood was seeping out of the cuts I’d given her with Shadow’s blades and there was only a weeping black hole in her face where her left eye had been. I stood, hardly daring to believe I’d gotten her good enough to end it…

…and right before my eyes, her horn glowed and her ruptured eye and chest reformed themselves. She leaped back to her hooves again, spinning to face me. She was growling and salivating heavily…obviously even madder now!

Buck me! This is going to take forever unless I can find a way to pull a better number on her…

Shadow murmured again...

What?

Shadow didn’t answer with words. Instead a mental projection flashed in my head…

Shadow Kicker, as I saw her in the vision, was standing on a cumulus under a starry sky, with a flickering, black-coated alicorn shade I recognized as the Avatar of Nightmare Moon hovering overhead. As Nightmare Moon shrieked and dived for her, Shadow lit her armor and leaped backwards. The shadows of her armor remained behind - sprouting colors and closing gaps in an instant - forming a perfect copy of Shadow right where she had just stood. Nightmare Moon fell on it and vanished through the clouds as the copy dissolved. The real Shadow paused, hovering overhead before the moon, before diving after her.

I smirked despite myself as the image cleared. This might be fun…

Right at the minute Chrysalis leaped at me again, wings buzzing, I somehow knew what to do. Shadow tapped the armor’s power and I propelled myself up and away with my wings…

…leaving behind a shadow duplicate of myself.

 Chrysalis, thinking the decoy was still me, shrieked with triumph and tried to bite its neck, but it dissolved into black mist between her fangs. Chrysalis choked and gawked at her own empty hooves before she realized what had happened and started turning…

…just in time for me bank around and zip by her, slashing at her head as I passed.

From the sweet sound of the yelp and furious hiss as I blew past her, that had feathering hurt. I couldn’t help but grin savagely…
I circled round and slashed again, drawing another green line across her neck. I swiveled and banked around for another pass, taking aim for her heart. Stinking bitch has gotta have something in there anyway…

But then a green barrier shimmered into existence before me.

I clenched my wings and pulled up as sharply as I could, missing the barrier by inches. No doubt that would have smarted if I’d hit it face on. And then suddenly, glowing green energy bolts were flying past me…

Looking down, I could see Chrysalis shooting magic missiles at me again...and, horseapples, did she look pissed!

“LITTLE MAGGOT!!” she yelled, her green-black stigmata flaring up around her as the long, glowing scratch I’d gouged into her forehead remained open and refused to knit together, “I’M SICK OF PLAYING GAMES WITH YOU!”

I dodged the next magic bolt she fired before the bitch queen winced and raised a hoof to her face. The slash I’d scored while she was distracted by my decoy had grazed her horn, and it looked like it was starting to spark. I could only guess the wound was interfering with her magic since poisonous green blood was leaking down into her face and it showed no sign of closing. “IF I CAN’T KILL YOU NOW…”

She then screwed up her ugly face and her damaged horn glowed enormously, “…THEN YOUR LOVERS WILL DIE FIRST!”

Chrysalis looked angry enough to explode…which she almost literally did.

Before I could react, she flared an enormous green aura, screaming loudly in a shrill, insect-like whistle, before shooting a gout of green fire up into the sky. I felt the armor’s power tremble slightly.  And then, slowly, the stormclouds I’d called vanished…

I mean they literally vanished into smoke. My rainstorm was gone.

In the moment before she cast her next spell, I could see our surroundings clearly again. My clan ponies below on the ground level had pushed the bugs into a box. They were surrounding the changelings with the air support of my pegasi. With their flight taken away, most of the changelings couldn’t move as rank after rank of my watchponies charged or dive-bombed them and scattered, crushing the bugs even further back into their huddle. The lucky ones who had crashed back onto their perches after I called down the rain or had been buried under their doomed siblings were shaking themselves free and running for it…

And then, as the rain stopped right before my eyes, every changeling raised its wings in unison. The buzz from thousands of insect wings shaking water off was…a scary sound to say the least.

Then, suddenly, it was an air battle again as hundreds of the bugs rose to meet my pegasi.

I swore. Our air advantage was gone. Now it was going to be impossible to trap the things. All of a sudden, I felt heavy again, and I was suddenly more aware of the scratches in my face, chest and legs. My forehoof felt very tender and it hurt to breathe with the cracked ribs from Chrysalis’ buck…

The bug bitch queen raised her head to look at me again, smirking triumphantly through a bloody, green muzzle… 
 
…before she vanished in a flash of green light.

I growled, diving to the ground and smashing into the spot she’d just occupied. Where did she think she’d gone?! We hadn’t finished our fight yet!!

Cowardly nag!!!

“Of course,” Shadow replied, sounding amused.

Why are you so happy? I asked, she just destroyed the only thing that gave us an edge over the bugs.

“Thou shouldst not be o’er-certain of that, descendant. Look again.”

I looked again and then blinked at what I was seeing. There was an enormous roar in the air, the sound of stampeding hooves, and most of the remaining changelings were being smashed to bits…

…but their attackers weren’t who I expected.

The red Kicker armor wasn’t everywhere anymore. The Kickers were still there, but interspersed with the murder squads I could see other, different colors. Some bright, some dull, some of metal, and some of living fur…

Ponies were streaming out of the Canterlot buildings all along the street. Some were military, but most looked like civilians. Some were galloping at the peak of speed, and some were stumbling with age or injury. Some of them had crude weapons of some sort, and others were using their bare hooves or magic.

One thing was true about all of them though: they were beating the living horseapples out of the monsters that had them trapped and cowering in their homes a few minutes ago!

I couldn’t believe it. A wide grin split my face from ear-to-ear. The Kicker counter-attack and Shadow’s self-projection before my tussle with Chrysalis had pulled everypony out of hiding or confinement.  The Canterlot citizens were joining us!

Shadow, you’re a genius!

I could almost hear the smirk in her voice, as she replied.

“Why whatever did I do, Cloud Kicker?!” 

Heh. Okay, the Kicker smart-flank gene definitely came from her…

Again, exterminator’s work. Suddenly overwhelmed and at the mercy of the ponies they’d terrified into submission a few hours earlier, the bugs were soon in full retreat – vanishing around the corners or tried to hide among the ponies on the ground. Most of those that took to the air weren’t making it far…

…and everypony was cheering. “For Clan Kicker” and “Free Canterlot” were being yelled almost every moment somewhere in the crowd…

Best of all, the outer Kicker grounds were ours! This meant we could establish defensive positions and keep everypony safe for now – and then, next stop: the Canterlot palace to boot out Queenie and free Dad, Alula, the princess and the others…

I zipped up over the crowd. “Death waits in the shadows!” I crowed again, pumping a hoof. The answering cheer from the ground was enormous.

But then, before I could yell for another officer, a new voice rang out from below…

“Cloud Kicker!!!” The voice was frantic, insistent, pleading...

I looked down, scanning the crowd for whoever was shouting my name. That voice was familiar. I should’ve recognized it immediately, but with all that had happened that day and my head still muddled from the adrenaline rush of my battle with Chrysalis and pain from my injuries, I was just too out of it to place it.

“Cloud Kicker!!!” The voice was closer, sounding panicked and upset – a sensation which, considering the familiarity of the voice and the half-formed notion of who it was, gave me a very bad feeling in the pit of my stomach.

With Shadow’s vision, I finally saw who was calling…

I felt my eyes widen.

And I dove right for the ground…





Chrysalis snarled as she fluttered through the subterranean Canterlot caverns.

It had all been perfectly planned. Kept perfectly secret. Everypony had been taken perfectly by surprise…

Princess Cadance, Shining Armor, Princess Celestia, Twilight Sparkle…all hers in the end...

And to have come so close to complete, total victory - with so many annoying setbacks along the way - only to have one final, upstart, Tartarus-cursed would-be hero rear her head up at the last moment…

Even a hive mind was not immune to frustration.

That insolent vermin Cloud Kicker is more than I bargained for…she thought sourly, snapping her fangs as she flew on, trying to ignore the gaping green hole in her face. Since I cannot defeat her physically, and that cursed Shadow Kicker’s armor protects her from my magic…I must rely on my changeling cunning…

After all…there is more than one way to skin a pony…

She permitted herself a small smirk as the pawn she was looking for came into sight.

In the dim, dark cavern, illuminated only through the natural glow of the crystal deposits that supplied Canterlot with its wealth, the creature looked tiny and gray.  It had its back to her, its head lowered down to the floor - munching on something, Chrysalis guessed, from the sounds it was making…

Since Cloud Kicker apparently cares for her friends and lovers so much…let us see what happens when she has to go through one of them to get at me…

She cleared her throat, the sound echoing like an ominous rumble down the tunnel…

“Lyra!” she hissed loudly, scraping a hoof on the cavern floor “Here, Lyra!”

The chomping sounds stopped…

“Here, my little pony! Your queen has a little job for you…” she raised her leg in a beckoning gesture.

Chrysalis cackled at the soft clop of approaching hooves as a pair of glowing green eyes emerged from the gloom.

“Yes, that’s it, Lyra! Come to your mistress! There’s a good filly, Lyra…”
> A Shadow Of Hope
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

In the beginning, she was there. She was awake.

She woke up at the same time they did.

The empty void was their universe.

She knew the others were there. She could feel them, though they could not speak to each other.

There was the sun. She was regal, beautiful, and vastly powerful. From her, all their life came. She rained love and warmth upon each of them. Yet she sensed that the sun would consume them if they came too close, and so she always kept her distance.

Then there was the moon. She too was beautiful - but cool, moist and solemn, serving not as a source of warmth, but the bringer of calmness and rest. Though she found the moon’s company more pleasant, she never deigned to look too closely.

The sun and the moon were very close though – and as time wore on – she became aware of them whispering to each other…

But when she tried to speak up and join them, it seemed as though they could not hear her…

And there was another too. The entropy. The spirit of the brightly-colored anomalies that sometimes drifted by. Deep, colorful ribbons of snapping particles, gases, and strange, hard matter for which there was yet no name given. His creations were as beautiful and well-made as any…yet at the same time, they were extremely odd and often useless. But he was the entropy - blessed of a chaotic sense of humor and a desire for change that neither the sun, nor the moon, nor she herself deigned to dignify with a response...

The quiet was enough for them. They watched, they whispered, and they slept.

There was one other though. One that never slept, never spoke, and seemed to glare rather than watch. He was cold, dark…and she knew he hated them all. He was the end. The cold, hopeless end to all things, waiting for them to fall into his clutches – which were to say, the clutches of oblivion itself.

And then, in one single, chaotic moment, all that changed.

The entropy reached out across the void, gathering power, particles, and essence from places near and far. And with his many hands, he worked below them.  The three: herself, the sun, and the moon – all watched, but said nothing.

It was a vast creation. The entropy wove a large, chaotic tapestry of solid, liquid, and gaseous matter. A long stone basin, with great protrusions of rock next to deep furrows and hollows of loose matter. Great mountains split and melted – growing, flowing and freezing across the basin into a gnarled, tortured rocky landscape. Long rivers of molten lava flowed angrily across its molten surface. A great black atmosphere of ash grew above them – widening the new anomaly in the void.

It was…a terrible masterpiece.

The moon was horrified and tried to pull away from the sight, but the sun seemed vaguely intrigued – drawing closer so she could illuminate the entropy’s tapestry and see it better.

And her? Of course, the others ignored her. She doubted they even knew she existed.

Over time, the tapestry began to cool and darken as the great black volcanoes quieted and the rivers of lava ran dry. As the ash settled and it grew cold and dark in places where the sun’s rays could not reach, the sun panicked and became determined to illuminate this new creation fully. She appealed to her sister, the moon, to help her by passing over the tapestry to illuminate it from the other side. But the moon was deeply afraid of the entropy’s creation and refused to draw any closer.

She herself muttered to the sun, trying to tell her that she might be able to help – but again, there was no response. The sun knew her not – and therefore could not hear her…

Finally, the sun released some of her essence, choosing to sacrifice the eternal peace and tranquility of the void to keep this new responsibility of hers alive. Great ribbons of her essence burst free of her body, flickering across the void. They flew in random directions like startled spirits, before coalescing and coiling into great spheres and diamonds…

And before long, each of them had its own place and its own voice, muttering to their mother – the sun.

So did the stars come to be. Under their light, the sun beheld all of the tapestry once again. The great dips and rises of the land were cool now…but they were empty. The great rivers of molten rock were all gone, and hard, lifeless places were all that remained.

As the sun and moon drifted closer to the tapestry, she knew the time had come to take a hand in this and finally make the sun and the moon aware of her…but before she could descend, the entropy returned…

She was startled, and retreated quickly as the serpentine entity descended on his tapestry once again.

This time, he brought with him water, grass, trees, and metals that he seeded into the tapestry. He wove the elements of entropy into the earth – but without unity…forcing them together against their will. As the tapestry grew increasingly chaotic, asymmetrical, and ugly, she knew the sun’s heart was breaking.

The sun did not intervene though. Not then. The tapestry still belonged to entropy by right of creation.

She herself planned to leave for a while and return when entropy had departed.

However, it was too late.

He had become aware of her. He knew who she was.

She shrieked when he seized her tail and she called out to the sun and moon for help…

…again though, they could not hear her. Because they did not yet know her.

The entropy reached his many hands deep within her, pulling her against her will. He collected her essence and energies as she slowly diminished in power and begged him to stop. However, he was deaf to her pleas and continued. He pulled away enough of her to fuel his new plans, raping her until she was almost empty. 

Finally, he cast her exhausted, battered body back out into the void and returned to the tapestry. With the essence he stole from her, mingled with his own spirit of chaos, the entropy released his first living creation: the dragons.

The great, lumbering, brutish animals were a failure. Their instincts drove them to almost destroy the tapestry and each other.

The entropy’s next creations, the river giants, were nearly as bad. Their great hunger drove them to start consuming the land above their homes, sinking much of the tapestry into the great waters and forming new, vast oceans in the place of old rivers and lakes.

His final creation, the living trees, were the worst. Their territorial instincts and refusal to share with the other races led to their near extinction as they swept across the land looking to claim the tapestry as their own.

Faced with the destruction of the tapestry, the sun finally descended, seizing the entropy by the throat with her fiery hands. Naming the entropy as pure discord, the sun snatched the life essence he had stolen and banished him to the furthest reaches of the void.

With the essence of life as well as her powers of light and warmth now in her grasp, the celestial sun spread her hands over the tapestry, claiming it for her sister and herself. She reworked the essence of life into the dragons, clearing their minds and awakening them to the value of life. She took away the sea giant’s desire to eat the land, sending great fish and water-breathing beasts into the oceans to feed their hunger. She commanded the trees into eternal sleep, promising them as much soil as they and their children would ever need, but no more.

All the while, out in void, she shrieked in dismay. The sun had stolen her duty! It was her turn to nurse the tapestry. But she had been cheated of the chance to weave the essence of her being into it, first by the discord, and now by the sun, who was using her stolen power of life to remake the tapestry without even knowing she even existed!

It was not right!

But no matter how loudly she screamed in protest, she remained a mute stranger to the sun and moon.

Quelling her fear of the unknown, the moon slowly descended to join the sun in rebuilding the tapestry. Together, they made the birds, the animals, the monsters of the earth…with her stolen power - while she herself remained a tiny, battered, and emaciated entity, near death at the edge of the void.

But she was not the only being watching…

The dark one was not pleased by the work on the tapestry. Not in the slightest. He knew it would shift the balance of power away from him. He watched alongside her with his soulless black eyes. She was aware of him, but he was not of her.

Eventually, when he grew enraged and descended to make his own mark on the tapestry, she clutched at his tail and he involuntarily dragged her along for the ride.

She let go just beyond the tapestry. She knew the light of the sun and moon had mingled with the lifeblood of the tapestry and it would reveal her to them if she came too close…

The darkness, however, had no such reservation about showing himself. Pushing against the sun and moon, he argued furiously for his right to leave his mark on this new plane. They eventually shoved him away, but not before he rested one single hand on the tapestry…

…and cursed it with the scourge of Death.

Sooner or later, all life upon the tapestry would perish. All life. Whether from violence, disease, or even simple old age – they would all die in the end…

The sun and the moon were shocked and dismayed that they had allowed the darkness to wreak such a fate upon their new, beautiful creations. Wracked by guilt for their failure to stop him, the celestial sun and lunar moon muttered to each other – with her listening and hanging on every word - as they both vowed they would spend their eternal lives comforting their creations against their new, inevitable fate.

Joining hands, the sun and moon made their final creation…

The ponies.

Creatures made to be mortal. Made to live and thrive knowing that one day they would die – because they knew they would always have the sun and moon to care for and watch over them. 

Made to share a special bond with the tapestry and serve as its caretakers and as the link of the sun and moon to the land...

Made to soar the sky above, tend to its weather, and protect its many denizens from the curse of Death…

Made to master and control the entropic energies of magic the discord left behind for the benefit of all…

And all the while she screamed against the injustice of it - her stolen role. Her heart burst with jealousy as the sun and moon claimed all that had been hers by right.

Eventually, the sun and moon withdrew to watch their new creations from afar. But as the eons passed, the sisters became aware of the return of entropy – the discord – who had projected his avatar to the tapestry – now known as the “World” – while they slept.

Sharing a silent nod, the sun and moon each projected their own avatar down to the World, to the land the ponies called Equestria, to restore order to the discord’s interference.

It was during this time, while their gaze was focused elsewhere, that the dark one descended again. He flew beyond the sun and moon’s light to the eternally-dark underside of the World where the fires still raged, twisting and warping it into his own seat of Tartarus…

And again, she clutched at his heel, allowing him to drag her battered, wounded being down with him – all the while unaware of her…

She let go of him during their fiery descent, landing at the edge of the World far from the land of Equestria. 

She was weak, weary and crippled from the pain of the landing and all she had suffered in the void. Her burned skin fused with hard, cracked chitin, which she sharpened to cruel points. Her wings had been shredded by the descent – so she reached out and tore new wings from a nearby dragonfly. She could not eat any plant in such a barren land, so she stole the fangs from a great black wolf and preyed upon the smaller animals as they passed her prone, unmoving form…

She then pulled what few shreds of power she had left to manifest a new form, seeding new life in her own image… 

Pure life…

Not the twisted mockery that first the discord, and then the sun and the moon, had made of her essence…

She instilled into them a hunger for the life and love that was rightfully theirs and had been taken from them, encouraging them to reclaim it by feeding on the life-gifts of other creatures.

And as they fed, her power returned. Her crippled body rebuilt itself and she finally stood from her eon-long immobility. 

The sun, the moon, the discord, and the dark one…

…not one of them knew she was there.

After so long of being unknown and unheard, she finally realized secrecy and the ability to hide in plain sight had always been her greatest weapon…

And so she blessed her loyal, hardworking children with the same weapon: the ability to mimic the appearance and abilities of their twisted bastard cousins, the ponies…

…and named them changelings.

It was time to take back everything that had been stolen from her…





Chrysalis snorted, clearing the memory out of her mind.

Yes. Neither Celestia nor Luna knew.

Neither of them knew she had been there since the very beginning…

Neither of them knew what they had taken from her…

Neither of them knew they had stolen her rightful role in the great creation…

Maybe she would tell Celestia just before she destroyed her.

Maybe when Celestia heard what she had inadvertently done, she would even wish for death…

Maybe the look on Celestia’s face when she learned she was the greatest thief in the universe would make it all worth it…

She grinned nastily as she opened her eyes, awakening from her meditation…and the bleeding wound on her head slowly healed over…





After the battle, the remaining changelings had scattered. Some of them tried to duck around a corner and re-infiltrate our ranks disguised as yet more emerging militia and refugees – but of course, that didn’t fool us anymore. Any changeling who approached was tested, identified and cut down in a matter of seconds. The hive mind seemed to take the point – no more bugs returned after that…

All the while, I had to keep an eye out from the front of the column, making a nice, big show of myself to lure more ponies out of hiding…and in case the bug bitch queen got any funny ideas about lurking around nearby. A lot of ponies had been left in the city after the changelings’ attack, but…

…not all of them were prisoners. In fact, most of the ponies joining us had just been trapped, like we were.

Shadow was right. When they struck from the shadows and took us by surprise, the changelings had seemed almost invincible, but exposed and under fire…well, they suddenly became a lot less impressive.

In fact, I was beginning to wonder how they managed to catch Rainbow Dash, Twilight Sparkle and the others.  Sheer weight of numbers probably. I suddenly had a childish and very out-of-place urge to smile at the thought of Twilight and her whole world-saving team blasting, bucking, cannon-balling, rainbow-crashing, and forehoofing the bugs.

But that train of thought was derailed rather nastily by the reminder of the exhausted pony sitting by my side…

Bon Bon. 

No serious injuries - thank Celestia - but she was bruised and scraped pretty heavily, not to mention downright filthy. Dirt, sweat, and mashed changeling guts had gotten all over her. She was wearing salvaged Kicker ordnance she’d taken from one of our dead scout parties across the district. With Bons’ two-toned mane and light colors, she looked pretty much like a clown in all that red mail – but the green ichor and changeling brains dripping off the mace she was carrying in her tail clearly showed she’d been involved in the fighting…

And if even half of what she was telling me was true – two things had just become obvious. One, my soft-spoken, sweet-baking earth pony friend and casual three-way bang-buddy must have gone ponyfeathering berserk to fight her way here all by herself without remembering it!

And two, I had to bring her down from that state. Fast.

Bons being Bons, she’d immediately figured something was up from the moment Lyra didn’t turn up at Heartstrings Manor after the rehearsals to meet her. Okay, so Lyra isn’t exactly little miss punctual…or ever even really on time at all, for that matter…but she wouldn’t leave Bons hanging on her own in Canterlot. 

She had been on her way to find Lyra’s parents when this storm hit and the changelings broke through the shield, and after a few hours of hiding, she fought her way to our barricade after she heard the noise. With earth pony practicality, she stuck to the back alleys and moved under cover to avoid being spotted out in the open. 

Still, no less than four separate changeling scouts had tried to capture her…

Bon Bon had never killed anything bigger than a spider before...let alone something pony-sized. However, she wasn’t fooled by the two disguised changelings that approached her either. Luckily enough, she’d seen their shapeshifting abilities during the outbreak and knew what it meant. The brains dripping off her mace came from the first one that approached her.

That was faintly unnerving if you thought about it. Wonder what would’ve happened if it really had been a hiding refugee instead of a shapeshifted changeling when Bons gave it a literal splitting headache…

It wasn’t though. And now here she was.

The reaction when she’d seen those hand-shaped bruises on Star’s throat had been the worst part…

“Bon Bon, come on!” I said, trying to ignore the half-panicked, half-awed look in her eyes as she stared at me. She knew about my past in West Hoof of course, but Shadow Kicker’s armor was a complete mystery to her. “She’s inside the mountain. Lost with the bug queen’s other two bridesmaids. Star and the others couldn’t get her under control in time and by now she could be anywhere…”

Bon Bon swallowed. “I have to find her, Cloud Kicker! If she’s down in the caverns, then that’s where I’m going!”

I shook my head regretfully, “Sorry, but you’re a lone civilian. It’s too dangerous.”

The look she gave me was one I’d seen from her too often. Her face set and her muzzle clenched with the kind of determination that brokered no argument. Kinda scary sometimes, the way Bons just pulls that attitude out of her plot whenever somepony tries to pull any horseapples on her. Was it any wonder she had Lyra so completely under her hoof when she needed? Less like Lyra’s fillyfriend and more like her second mom at times…

“Cloud Kicker, she might be lost! She might be hurt! She might be trapped! Or…she might be…” Her face crumpled from rock candy into loose taffy as tears of worry began to swim in her eyes. She didn’t need to finish her sentence.

I knew my first priority should still be the higher palace and the throne room, but…

…I just couldn’t say anything to Bon Bon’s sad, desperate face.

“Stay thy hoof, descendant,” Shadow warned, “I sympathize for thine lost friend and lover…but we have a war to fight. The Commander and her entourage must remain our priority…”

I didn’t protest - though Luna knows I wanted to. Shadow was aware of that, of course, and she spoke again.

“The first rule of war, Cloud Kicker – do not waste lives.” Shadow’s delivery was cold and clipped inthe tone of an officer talking down a protesting subordinate, “I sense thy wish to rescue this Lyra. Every moment thou wouldst delay action ‘gainst Chrysalis to do so would risk the lives of other innocent ponies…certainly more so now thou hast rallied the resistance…”

I knew toying with words and making sentimental excuses was just going to get me even less respect from Shadow, so I put it as bluntly as I could manage. She’s a liability – Chrysalis may try to use her as a hostage against me…

Shadow’s reply was just as hard. “If that cometh to pass, then she is hardly unique in that respect…”

Ouch. Okay, like I needed a reminder Chrysalis had plenty of ponies important to me anyway…

I straightened, forcing myself to think coldly and rationally. Like it or not, Shadow was right. Lyra wasn’t the only one in danger. Besides, if I pressed the advantage we had now and took down the bug bitch queen for good, then Lyra would probably be saved along with everypony else.

I shook my head regretfully, “I’m sorry, Bons. I love Lyra too, but it’s just too risky! According to Star, she dropped her tracker hours ago. She could be anywhere!”

“Cloud Kicker!”

I know, Bons. Sweet Celestia, do I know!

It was Lyra.

I couldn’t help but think about her right there and then – her bright, smiling face when I looked at her, her serene, peaceful expression as her magical hands strummed her harp, the sweet sound of the strings, the silly way she sat on her butt on that park bench, her lazy moaning and swatting when I shook her awake on my couch, her drunken dancing down at the Sun’s Flank, the gurgle and delighted moaning she made when I nibbled my way down her neck…

…and the way she always looked so happy when she hung on to her fillyfriend out in Ponyville square. 

There and then I was almost ready to tell Shadow to go clop herself and take wing for the caverns with Bon Bon right away, but then reality seized me again. The Undermountain was known to be extremely dangerous…there was a reason ponies had abandoned it and most of the maps had been lost after all…

If Lyra had been down there that long…it wasn’t likely she was even still alive…

My thoughts must have shown on my face, because Bon Bon gulped and looked away. I sighed heavily. “Bons…I…”

She cut me off sharply, “I know, Cloud Kicker. I know – it’s hopeless.” And with that, she turned and stamped off.

Part of me wanted to run after Bon Bon and scream that I’d go with her…but I knew I couldn’t. Instead, I sat heavily and beckoned to two nearby pegasi, “Keep an eye on her. She’s going to make a break for the Undermountain first chance she gets. Stop her when she does.” They gave mute nods of acknowledgment and moved to follow Bons.

Suddenly, I was aware of my injuries again and I wanted to collapse on the turf, feeling like an utter mule. But I knew this wasn’t the time to start feeling sorry for myself.

The bite on my cheek didn’t burn anymore, but it was tender to the touch. Thank Celestia for Shadow’s Pegasopolan noseguard. If Chrysalis had been able to chomp me directly I’d probably have no face left. I didn’t doubt she’d cracked some of my ribs when she managed to buck me and from the ache I was certain the cartilage and ligaments in my foreleg were either popped or strained. Breathing was a minor ache, and the dozens of tiny scratches from Chrysalis’ spiny hide stung when I poked a hoof at my chest.

“You need a doctor, Cloud Kicker,” Sparkler said, approaching when she saw what I was doing, “You pulled a real number on that nag, but she got you too…”

I shook my head, “No time. I’ll just slap on a bandage or two. There’ll be enough time for all the right checks once this is over…”

Sparkler, predictably, dug her hooves in, “Star’s already getting her bite cleaned up! And now you need to…do some battle planning with her or something now, right?! Well, the docs we saved can check you over while you do that, right?”

I knew that would probably be possible. Since we’d broken the cordon, a lot of ponies had pushed out of hiding to join us, including several doctors and medical support staff who were busy tending to our injured.

But then again, the injuries I had were hardly life-threatening and, thanks to the armor, the pain wasn’t so bad. Hay, I hurt worse than this when my DI broke my forehoof in boot camp. I had to keep moving before Chrysalis stole a march on us and cut off our new momentum…and besides…

“You need to go back with the doc we’re sending to your uncle, Sparkler…” I said grimly. “Cirrus needs you now, and you’ve been stuck here on the battlefront in the heart of danger for too long already.” Sure, mentioning Cirrus was sorta hitting below the tail. Didn’t make it any less true though.

The teenaged unicorn glanced back, but didn’t budge, “Uncle Cirrus is safe. H-he’s sleeping. He told me to stay with you where I’d be safe…and that’s what I’m doing!”

Damn! I groaned inwardly, wondering for the hundredth time that day just how Derpy managed to stay so patient with this teenage impulsiveness. Maybe Sparkler thought she was just doing what her uncle said, but she probably didn’t realize Cirrus was in so much pain he couldn’t be thinking straight. Or that he wouldn’t have dreamed of telling her to stick with me if he had any clue I’d be charging into the thick of battle soon afterwards…

I groaned and stood up.

“Don’t be stupid, Cloud – I know you’re hurt! You’ve got to get that armor off and get cleaned up!”

I shook my head again and tried another tack, waving a hoof over myself vaguely, “I can’t take the armor off. I don’t dare do that!” I narrowed my eyes, “If I take it off…I might not be able to get it on again afterwards…”

She raised a skeptical eyebrow at that, “How in Equestria could a suit of armor-?“

I pointed at the re-gathering shadows over the breastplate for emphasis, “Even when it’s empty, it’s not exactly empty, Sparkler. You get what I mean? I just can’t risk it yet.”

She gave me a look - probably remembering the illusion of Shadow Kicker - and her eyes narrowed. I already knew Derpy’s adopted daughter had issues about living up to the Doo family name, including the fact that during the Rebellion they stood against Shadow Kicker to the bitter end and then some…

But after a moment, her shoulders slumped and deflated. Practicality can take a toll on a pony’s ego…especially the stubborn, teenaged kind.

“Fine, but at least get the cuts you can get at cleaned up!”

Hmmm…well, if it would shut her up it wasn’t really a bad suggestion. I did need to have a word with Star and briefly give orders to some of our other conscripted officers about our next move anyway. I guess getting a few small patches while I did that wouldn’t hurt-

THRUMMM!!

Before I could say another word, there was a massive, painful humming the air like somepony had just twanged a low note on a ten-storey-tall cello. I swiveled my head from side to side – wondering if Octavia had just joined the battle with lethal sound frequencies – when I saw the look on Sparkler’s face.

Her eyes went as wide a dinner plates – before they abruptly hardened and narrowed to slits, and she muttered something foul under her breath. She was gazing over my head in the direction of the palace…

When I turned and saw it, I suddenly felt like busting a few bug heads myself.

Chrysalis must have put Shining Armor under duress or something…

A bright green bubble shield – exactly like the one the bugs broke a few hours ago – had materialized around the royal palace.





Ten minutes later, I was in a makeshift medical shelter in a tent under one of the floating gardens (we set them up directly under the basins on the off-chance the changelings spying above wouldn’t spot them). One of our docs was urging me to keep still as she would a bandage around my forehoof. She looked haggard and exhausted, and I could hardly blame her. We had more refugees arriving by the moment into our growing safe zone, many of them wounded. 

I had given orders to Catch and some others to begin sending our rescued ponies back to the Kicker compound, slap some weapons on the healthy refugees and get our newly-swelled unicorn ranks in place to to prevent another air assault with anti-air magic artillery. Another round of tests too. The bugs wouldn’t catch us by surprise again with the detection magic Shadow’s armor had placed on the Kickers…but still, better safe than sorry. And we couldn’t afford to stay out in the open much longer. 

I was surprised Chrysalis hadn’t sent the whole swarm after us yet, now that she knew what she was dealing with. My best guess as to the delay in enemy retaliation was that there were other places the bug bitch queen needed to keep locked down and she couldn’t afford a full-scale attack yet. Or maybe she had kept the majority of the swarm with her inside the bubble shield. All the better. We needed time to make a good strategy if we were going to take back Canterlot palace…

The doc groaned and facehoofed as I shook my forehoof at a protesting officer, loosening the gauze she’d just finished wrapping around it, “A full frontal attack will cost too many lives, sergeant! The second we make a big show of marching up to pound on that shield, the whole swarm will know it! They’ll be on us before we can even get there!”

“I agree,” Star put in, wincing as another doc smeared some white cream on her bite, “Even with Shadow Kicker’s armor empowering the lieutenant, we couldn’t take down the whole swarm all at once…”

“Cut off the head and the body will die…” said Lefty sagely from his seat next to us, “We should probably focus our efforts on finishing off Chrysalis first. Hopefully, the changelings will retreat from the city if she falls.” Since our counter-attack, I could see the old soldier had returned to his practical, hard-as-nails self. He had been worried and doubtful last time I saw him - Lefty was the kind of officer who was cool as a cucumber when all the cards were on the table, but tended to fall apart pretty quickly when unexpected circumstances emerged. Not ideal for field work, but good enough for strategy.

Shadow murmured something, and I understood.

I shook my head. “Too risky. Even if we could coax her out from where she’s probably hiding, she’s not an enemy who just stays put and waits to die. I had her on the ropes back at the floating gardens when she teleported away, remember? We could only hope to take one shot at her if we busted in there – couldn’t afford to blow it.”

“Trap her then? Cut off her magic escape?” he suggested, looking to our close-at-hoof unicorn with an inquisitive eyebrow raised.

Star frowned, “That’d take a lot of power from a large group of battle magi. Magi we don’t have. Most of the higher-ups were all at the wedding…”

I had a thought, “Princess Luna could probably manage it though.”

Star looked at me, quirking an eyebrow, “Yes Lieutenant, I bet she could. But she’d take too long to get here.”

Shadow spoke again, and another one of her memories flashed through my head.

A glistening full moon, emerging from behind a storm cloud to shine moonbeams down into Shadow’s vision. Shadow’s face visibly tightened as a familiar haughty laugh drifted down to her…

Though it was harder this time – I caught what she had been trying to tell me when I thought back over it.

“Maybe not…” My mind flashed back to last Nightmare Night in Ponyville. No, not to the first time Luna kinda, sorta flirted with me…the moment she first arri-

I leaped out of my seat (ripping up the tearful, overstressed doctor’s work again). “OF COURSE!!” 

I ran out the tent flap into the daylight – the startled Star and Lefty following close behind.

“Look at the sun!” I pointed with my forehoof, “It hasn’t moved all day!”

It was true. It was early evening, almost time for sunset, but the glowing orb was still in the same place it had been that morning.

“Yeah,” Star agreed, “I noticed that too. Must be ‘cos the bug queen got Princess Celestia…”

“We need to lower it…we need to set the sun!” I could feel my new plan taking shape every second, “As long as that’s up there, Princess Luna can’t raise the moon and night can’t fall…and if night can’t fall, she can’t get back here and trap Chrysalis!”

Star stared at me like I’d just turned my wings upside down and declared myself Empress of Tartarus.

I facehoofed, “Don’t you get it?! Princess Luna can travel on the moonbeams – I know, I’ve seen her do it!” I pointed up again. “If Luna can raise the moon, she can be back here with the Long Patrol and the Night Guard right away! We’ve got to lower the sun!”

Star and Lefty looked at me, and then at the sky – along with the dozen or so Kickers who’d come over to see what the shouting was about.

After a moment, Lefty coughed, looking to the side. It was obvious he badly wanted to speak, but felt it wasn’t his place. Finally, Star chimed in.

“Cloud…how in Equestria are we supposed to do that?!”

I grinned savagely. “Remember your history…”





The Sanctum Solarion was one of the many magical contingencies that had been put into place after Nightmare Moon’s near-return centuries ago. When Princess Celestia had been temporarily inactive in the aftermath of the war, the Sanctum Solarion had been constructed in the lower levels of Canterlot palace and empowered by the princess to act as an alternative means of controlling the sun whilst she slumbered. It was an enormous magic beacon that contained a solar battery powered by Celestia herself – a massive feat of arcane engineering. 

When properly manipulated by unicorn magi, it could be used to raise and lower the sun without the princess. But it needed a large number of powerful casters all through daylight hours to keep it working, which kinda made it more of an emergency measure than Celestia’s ticket to an early retirement…

I’d heard some magi had briefly tried to reactivate the thing again during Nightmare Moon’s return…but we all know the story of how a certain group of six crazy ponies put an end to that threat in a few short hours…and the Sanctum stayed dark.

I pointed to the subterranean chamber that housed the Sanctum Solarion on the large-scale plan of Canterlot palace we’d placed on the table. We’d repurposed the medical tent as a temporary war room, and Star, Sparkler, Lefty, and some other officers we’d conscripted or rescued were standing around the table with me.

“The Sanctum Solarion is located in the library tower of the palace. It’s underground – which should make recapturing and defending it a simple matter until our unicorns can activate it. After that, with any luck, Princess Luna will travel back her on her moonbeams at once and engage the bugs in the city…”

Star looked up, “Are you counting on Princess Luna to defeat Chrysalis, Lieutenant?” she asked formally.

I shook my head, “I hope she can, but right now we need certainties. We need to turn every advantage we can on Chrysalis! The bulk of our troops will join Luna’s attack…but the attack will only be a diversion. Most of the swarm, and – hopefully – the bug queen will head off to deal with our forces – and Luna if she shows up – while we make our way through the palace to rescue Princess Celestia, Shining Armor, Paterfamilias Tornado Kicker, and all the others the bugs must be holding captive.”

Star lit her horn momentarily to make a point, “My trackers should tell me where they are as soon as we get inside! Finding them should be easy.”

Sparkler pumped a hoof, “And then – with you, Celestia, Luna, Shining Armor, Twilight and Rainbow Dash all on our side – we grind the bugs into mush between us!” She grinned, an eager gleam in her eyes that was faintly amusing and made me wonder if perhaps our little Sparkler had a future in the Guard…

But then she was suddenly aware of herself, “Ah, I’m sorry, Cloud Kicker…” She gulped like she’d suddenly remembered she was in a room full of stick-up-the-plot military types and was speaking out of turn.

I turned my head and grinned at her, “No worries…that’s just what I was about to say!”

Lefty cleared his throat. “There are just two problems I can see, Lieutenant…” he looked at me with some doubt, and then frowned at the old plans, “First, can we even be sure the Sanctum Solarion still works? Remember, the unicorns never had time to fully reactivate it during Nightmare Moon’s return two years ago…we can’t be sure it’s still capable of controlling the sun after all these years…”

I shook my head, “No...we can be fairly sure it does, Lefty. Princess Celestia will probably have thought of that and kept it tuned up. Anyway, most of these Canterlot magic artifacts are hundreds of years old anyway, and they still work…” It was true – the floating gardens, the eternal waterfall, the all-seeing aeroscope – all made to withstand the years and still working just fine as far as I knew…although, it was possible that was only because of continued maintenance…

“Very well…” Lefty went on, “the second thing: we will almost certainly be attacked when the bugs see us trying to breach that shield! They won’t miss a force this large and we have no way of knowing how strong it is or how big a window we’ll have to breach it before the enemy overwhelms us…”

I nodded, “I’m glad we agree on that, Sergeant, because that’s exactly what we won’t be doing!”

He pulled his eyes up from the map and looked at me, “You have a plan.” It wasn’t a question.

I nodded, “We aren’t going to attack the shield directly. You’ll stay here, Sergeant Left Hoof,” I tapped the map of Canterlot, “and command the bulk of our troops to lie low and prepare while I take a strike team into the palace to capture the sanctum…” I drew my hoof over the map to the palace.

His eyes widened momentarily, and then tightened, “Lieutenant…you’d be lucky to breach the guard patrols the enemy has in the area – let alone the shield – with just a small force…not to mention the opposition you’d face in the palace itself the moment the hive mind became aware of you! I respect your talents and the power of Shadow Kicker’s armor, but…” he drew a deep breath, “that sounds like a suicide mission!”

I cut him off with a hoof, “Already thought of that. We’re not going in through the front door…” I pointed to Star, “Her recent expedition into the Undermountain came in handy. Thanks to this clever West Hoof cadet, my team can infiltrate the palace through a hidden entrance in the caverns. No shield, no patrols, and probably no alert until we’re already inside and got the sun going down…”

Sparkler jerked her head up and stared at me. Star, on the other hoof, grinned proudly and buffed a hoof against her chest.

Lefty looked at the map again, “I see…and if the enemy detects you before you reach the sanctum?”

I flexed a wingblade wordlessly and Lefty nodded in understanding. 

“We’re taking some of our unicorns with us to power the sanctum. They should able to weld the doors to the chamber shut too if we need to barricade ourselves inside…and when Luna returns…we strike simultaneously. With luck, the changelings will be out in the field without a clue what went wrong, and their hostages will be as good as ours!”

Star pumped a hoof with a vengeful growl, “I’m with you, Cloudy!” 

I nodded – of course, I needed her to find our way into the palace and track the whereabouts of Dad and the others.

“Me too!” Sparkler declared, predictably sidling up to her fillyfriend’s side, but I shook my head. 

“Sorry, Sparkler, but this isn’t something an untrained teenager can do. And if things go bad…well, your mom’ll find a way to bring me back to life just so she can kill me again for letting you get hurt…” Sparkler opened her mouth to argue, but I raised my voice and let a little scowl slide into my voice, “And you know you should be with your uncle! He needs you now, more than ever!”

I’m not going to pretend I didn’t know where Sparkler was coming from by wanting to stick with me and Star, and I appreciated it. But the fact remained – an infiltration wasn’t something an underaged, untrained, conscripted unicorn could manage without becoming a liability…and my irritation at her leaving Cirrus’ side was genuine. I understood he was in good hooves and doped up, but that didn’t mean Sparkler shouldn’t have been with him. It was hard to believe Sparkler had grown so loyal and loving to her adoptive family only to somehow miss that one and only little nugget of family duty…

…Oh, look who’s talking...

“Indeed,” Shadow muttered, a funny note in her voice.

Sparkler deflated slightly at that, looking slightly guilty as she must have only just realized what she was doing. But in a flash, it was gone and her muzzle was set tight again, “Okay, fine. I do have Uncle Cirrus to take care of…and yeah, I guess I should leave this one to the pros…” she said sulkily, “but that doesn’t mean I have to like it…”

Star took away some of that hurt by leaning towards her slightly – not so close or with the kind of contact that would be inappropriate for a military setting – but just enough to let Sparkler know she appreciated her.

Lefty cleared his throat uncomfortably, bringing us all back to the matter at hoof, “I am to command our forward base and assault team while you are gone, then? Lieutenant Cloud Kicker…forgive me, but…once you are gone…”

I understood his point – without me in sight anywhere, the bugs might eventually realize I had left the field and launch another assault – not to mention they’d know for certain if they spotted us in the Undermountain. Sure, we had larger ranks now with all the ponies we’d rescued…but still not enough for them to take down the whole changeling swarm without me…

“Fortifications?” I raised one eyebrow.

As I suspected, he shook his head, “Won’t hold against a prolonged assault…too many approaches.”

I tapped my head with a forehoof in thought. Could I really afford to leave the main force out here in plain sight and bet on getting the moon up before they were attacked? I was no expert, but that didn’t sound too likely…

Groaning, I regretted my decision to major in field operations instead of strategy back at West Hoof – my talent for cloud manipulation made fieldwork more sensible at the time, but if I had more strategy training n-

Shadow whispered in my ear again.

I grinned slightly as her idea took shape, “Then we beat the changelings at their own game…”





I gently pulled Bon Bon off the young officer she’d just beaten halfway-senseless, “Oh, Bons! You’re already here! Great! Saves me the trouble of tracking you down…”

She wheeled on me furiously, “Don’t try to stop me, Cloud Kicker!” 

She hefted her mace from her tail threateningly. While normally I would have considered the sight of Bons with her tail in the air extremely pleasing, that was best done from the rear…and I was in no mood to let her try the thing on me – I didn’t like the sight of the poor cadet she’d just clubbed on the muzzle when he tried to stop her from leaving our camp. He was sprawled on his back, dazed and barely conscious as he pulled his helmet off and rubbed his noggin.

I gave her the ol’ Cloud Kicker get-away-with-anything cheesy grin, “Stop you? Why in Tartarus would I want to do that? After all, you’re joining us in the Undermountain, aren’t you?”

“Huh?” Bons backed down, lowering her tail and looking bewildered, “B-but you said…”

“C’mon!” I took her by the forehoof and yanked her along. Okay, I’m not ashamed to say I normally wouldn’t have been able to drag a sturdy earth pony like Bon Bon anywhere, but with the armor…well…

“What the hay, Cloud Kicker?!” From the disbelieving tone of Bons’ voice and the wide eyes, she probably figured that out too, “Let me go! I’ve got to go find Lyra!”

“That’s why you’re coming with us!” I fired off my words in rapid succession, to give Bons as little time for deliberation and formulating responses as I could, “My team is the only one heading for the caves. We’re getting into the palace and that’s where Lyra is bound to be, right?”

“But-“

“After all, all the paths and the mining routes lead back up there, don’t they? Says so in the histories. Wherever Lyra went, she would’ve gotten back to Canterlot palace eventually!”

“But-“

“Chances are, when we get through the caves, Lyra’ll be there waiting for us. We can pick her up and take her with us. After all-“

“CLOOOOUUUD KICKEEEERRR!!” Bons stomped her hooves into the turf and dug in. Suddenly, even with Shadow’s strength, pulling her got a hay of a lot harder.

After tugging for a couple of seconds, I sighed and gave up, turning to face her, “Yes, Bon Bon?”

Crack!

The hoofslap got me quick and hard. My head rocked on my shoulders and a tiny explosion of stars swam into my vision. And before I could even manage to be shocked, I saw Bons’ angry face inches from my own.

“You think I don’t see what you’re doing, Cloud?!” she growled, “Don’t give me any of that horseapples! You’re not going down there to search for Lyra. And that means I’m not going with you!”

After I recovered and shook my head, I fixed her with a hard glare. “If anypony here is shooting off horseapples, it’s you, Bon Bon. You’ll just get yourself killed if you randomly wander off into the Undermountain. You want to find Lyra, and survive, your best chance is with us.”

She looked faintly aware of what she’d just done, but Bons wasn’t backing down. Hay, Bon Bon might have been too proud to admit it, but Lyra was the only thing that kept her going. Before the unicorn arrived in Ponyville, Bons had been just a simple waitress with no ambitions beyond getting through the day and baking her next batch of sweets for pocket money. But after Lyra arrived, Bons immediately hit the ground running to get ready for their future together. 

She was probably twice the mare she had been before the minty unicorn arrived in town, and I was one of the few who knew that, despite all of her hard encouragement and tough love with her fillyfriend, Bons probably needed Lyra even more than our precious little Harpflank needed her…

I admit I almost envied the bond they shared at times…thank Celestia Lyra met Bons before she could waste herself on me…

I decided to switch tactics. Sighing, I slumped and looked down before Bons’ angry stare, “Bon Bon, please. I want to save Lyra as much as you do, but I can’t abandon my command. But I don’t want to give up on Lyra or let you run off into danger either…” I slowly reached out and gently took her hoof, “Please, give me the excuse I need to do both! Come with us, and I can do my duty to Canterlot and to you at the same time…”

Okay, okay, I know. How on earth could I even contemplate bringing a civvie like Bons on an operation this delicate? Especially after I’d just booted Sparkler out of it for precisely that reason? But I meant what I said – I knew Bons would just slip my troops and go after Lyra alone if I left. The only way she’d stand a chance down there was with us – and I wasn’t going to sacrifice Bons or anypony else if I could help it.

She pulled her hoof out of my grasp, snorting in disbelief, “Since when was it ever about duty with you, Cloud Kicker? All I can ever recall is you ducking out of whatever responsibility you could and keeping things too simple for yourself…”

Okay, now that was going a bit too far on her part. Yeah sure, I’d kinda done a lousy job recently dealing with my mare troubles, but Bons was conveniently leaving out the part I never meant for any of it to happen and started working on it after I found out it really was a problem. And if she was talking about my life in Ponyville and running away from the Guard, well…was she really the one to judge? Considering how badly she wore that mail, I doubted it.

I shook my head, trying to calm my rising hackles. I tapped a hoof on Shadow’s armor for emphasis, “You see this, Bon Bon? There are big things at stake now. This is a whole other game of horseshoe-throwing we’re playing…” I almost added that the little things didn’t matter now, but I stopped myself when I realized Bons might take that the wrong way if she thought I was talking about Lyra. “And I was telling the truth about one thing…if you do want to find Lyra, your chances only get better if you come with us…”

She deflated slightly, “I guess you’re right that she’d try to get up to the palace eventually…” She groaned, “Alright Cloudy, I’m with you, but if we don’t find Lyra before you get to the palace, I’m not staying with you. I’ll go find her on my own.”

“Fair enough,” I nodded, knowing full well I couldn’t allow it. And Bons knew that too, from the way she was looking at me.

Please, Celestia, let us find Lyra before we get there. For both our sakes.





Many uneasy eyes were looking up at the sky. The sun should have set more than an hour ago, and yet it still hung there in the sky. By now, everypony in Equestria had to know something was wrong…

Chrysalis relished that fact as she peered through her changelings’ eyes at the Kicker compound.

Her drone was perched atop a nearby tower – out of range of arrows and spells, but close enough to make out some of the details as to what the wretched nag was up to.

Since Cloud Kicker had secured the outer compound area against her children and thrown up defenses, the rag-tag army of watchponies and conscripts had gone strangely quiet. Chrysalis would have liked to believe they had realized the futility of their cause when she had forced Shining Armor to raise another shield around her new palace and that they had simply chosen to try to hold out…

…but she knew Shadow Kicker would never make that mistake. And so, Cloud Kicker would not.

She scowled to herself. Even with that bitch nine hundred years in her grave, there was still no escaping her for Chrysalis…

At her own reminiscent anger, she almost sent the order to her children to attack the ponies in full force – before she saw a flash of red fly up over their forward camp.

She’s still there.

A light lavender pegasus with a two-toned blonde mane clad in red Pegasopolan armor.

Chrysalis felt her scowl tighten.

What is she up to?!





“You do unwisely in this, descendant,” Shadow said, “Bringing civilians on a military operation – especially an infiltration – is a grave mistake…”

I know, Shadow. But there just aren’t enough powerful unicorns in the Kickers. Besides, it’s the only way Bon Bon’ll survive the Undermountain.

“You could have confined her.”

I can’t do that. She was right.

Shadow didn’t dignify that with a response as we trotted deeper into the caverns.

Star stood by my side, the light from her horn illuminating the passage ahead of us. Bon Bon was behind us with the three able pegasi watchponies I’d chosen for this and five other unicorns. One of them was a retired Kicker battlecaster, another one his grand-colt, and the other three were civilian conscripts Star had chosen from personal examination of their magical prowess.

Six unicorns…it might take a while to kick the sanctum on, but any more would probably be too many and we risked compromising the mission…I prayed to Celestia and Shadow it could be done…

…And if we do find Lyra…

I groaned. Considering Lyra was pretty much a slouch in the magic department and could barely power a lantern, that thought didn’t even make much sense. But the deeper we got into these crystal caverns, the harder it was not to ponder what might have happened to her. The caves were long, winding, and full of way too many creepy shadows. The only light came from the crystal and gemstone deposits which pulsed and hummed in tune with the flickering light from our unicorns’ horns as we passed them by. A lone, minty unicorn could easily get lost…or worse. Those pitfalls didn’t look too shallow…

I shook my head to clear it and forced myself to think about the other problem.

We had entered this tunnel through an old well in the Canterlot public gardens - lucky it was so decrepit and forgotten nopony had ever bothered to seal it up with concrete – though I suspect the Canterlot Guard might have had a hoof in that too. The hidden stone wall entrance had been so clogged with moss and weeds Star had to briefly risk a fire spell to burn it away for removal. After we eventually cracked the lock and got in, we found our way blocked by…

I groaned and shivered in reminiscent fright…

I’d faced a lot of things in my life. I’d been smacked around a bit by thick-skulled bullies, I’d gotten my nose broken by drill instructors more than once, I’d eaten baked bads in one particularly horrific episode, and I’d recently been bucked and bitten by giant, shape-shifting bugs…

…but nothing in the world filled me with more flavors of painfully awkward, highly embarrassing and slightly arousing torment than coming face-to-face with them again!

Apparently, a pack of itinerant diamond dogs had decided to take advantage of the chaos in Canterlot to try and steal the gemstones from Undermountain – something the magic of the princesses usually stopped them from doing…

“Freeze, intruders!” Star had yelled, “You have no business being here! Lieutenant Cloud Kicker, I recommend we run these looters off, and-“ 

She suddenly broke off and looked sideways at me, squinting in confusion, “Cloud…why are you looking at them like that?”

…

So, yeah, glad that incident was behind us now. Although if we got through this alive, I had a feeling Star was going to be snickering behind my back for days…

I shook my head to clear out any lingering thoughts of carnal canine conspirators and tried to refocus on the mission.

We were approaching a long underground chasm which had been crossed with an old mining track. It looked old, but probably still sturdy enough to support our groundbound. I called a halt and ordered Star and the others to wait as we pegasi walked across first – that way, even if the thing collapsed and we had to find another way over, nopony would be lost.

Star promptly floated three balls of light to guide us as we took our first steps onto the bridge. Sure, I might not have needed them with Shadow’s helmet, but the other pegasi did. The glow from the crystals didn’t reach across the chasm. 

Still, it was a risk I probably could have done without. Not to sound paranoid, but this was a rickety old mine track with a great, yawning chasm to either side and only two narrow exits for unicorns and earth ponies. A perfect ambush location.

Shadow murmured, and her helmet immediately sprouted a glow over the faceplate. Night vision.

Perfect.

After about three minutes of gingerly trotting across the chasm – which appeared perfectly harmless to pegasi, but was probably going to give our followers some reasonable sort of scare – the other side finally came into view for me.

Empty. Except for one large boulder and a crashed old mine cart, there was nothing else there.

I motioned silently for the three Kicker pegasi to wait there and flapped my wings. As I headed back to the other side to tell Bon Bon, Star and the others it was safe to cross...well, I couldn’t help but feel a faint sense of nerves.

Everything was going a little too smoothly. Star’s last report was our glamored (and very attractive) decoy in a souvenir copy of Shadow Kicker armor was keeping up her routine of circling the base topside, without any significant enemy activity. We hadn’t seen hide or nonexistent hair of the bugs down in the caverns. And the only thing that had slowed us down so far was a roving pack of long-co-…er, long-pawed canine looters…

So why was this cold knot of dread still growing in my guts? Call it soldier’s intuition – I knew something was going to happen soon…
I saw Star, Bons and the others long before they saw me, thanks to the helmet. As I landed, and told them it was safe to cross, even I could tell I sounded strained and nervous.

Star gave me a worried look, as if she was asking if she should expect something…as we began to trot across the bridge again. The sheer drop on either side was obviously making the unicorns nervous, and they huddled together in the center of the track. Okay, that was maybe a bit dumb since I could probably catch anypony who, by some miracle, managed to fall off the side - but somehow, their spooks seemed infectious.

Only Bon Bon appeared unaffected, trotting across with almost no hesitation while she swiveled her head in every direction. She was probably hoping to catch sight of Lyra huddled somewhere in a corner. Poor mare.

But something still felt…off. I gulped slowly as we reached halfway, and tried to calm myself down by replaying all of our descent until this moment…

There was something…somehow…let me see…something that-

The answer hit me like a ton of bricks and I froze up in realization just a second before I heard it…

“SKREEEEEEEE!!!”

I immediately shot up into the air and broke for the far side where I’d left the other pegasi. I could already hear them shouting. I was hardly aware of the canter as Star and the others broke into a run to follow me. I had a terrible idea what we were going to see and prayed to Celestia and Luna I was wrong…

But no, as the far side came into view, I could see the three Kickers up in air, hovering warily away…from the boulder that wasn’t a boulder…

Yeah, that was it. The flicker in Shadow’s vision earlier hadn’t been the gems stuck in that rock. It had been the rock itself…

I don’t know where to begin. Right before my eyes, the boulder sprouted two pairs of legs, raising itself up in the air. Its dull gray surface flashed with bright green fire, and turned into thick, jagged plates of splotchy, black-brown chitin. It unfolded a crossed pair of enormous, pincered arms from its front, raising up its broad, squat head from beneath a protective hood of chitin plates on a thick, scaly neck. Tiny blue eyes that glimmered with murderous intent showed in its face over a fanged maw crossed with external mandibles.

And we were looking at an eight-foot tall, thousand-pound monster changeling.

I hung there in mid-air, my jaw sagging open, as the thing took one round look at us all before it threw back its head and roared again.

“SKREEEE!!!”

Most of the changeling drones’ screeching had been loud, high-pitched and painful – but this one…with its massive size, cut loose with a deeper, longer roar from the belly of the animal kingdom that reverberated through the cavern. I swear the walls were shaking and the crystals hummed as the sound bounced off them…

Which made it even more downright scary.

The changeling behemoth reared up on its massive, multi-plated legs as the pegasi rapidly backed away. I noticed its limbs didn’t have the light chitinous plating or hollow tunnels of its smaller kin – and there was the lack of wings, which made this one a purely ground unit. Heavy armor or the like.

Apparently, changelings like the one that killed Mom hadn’t been Chrysalis’ only special project...

Was this one self-aware too? I couldn’t tell. Though it obviously wasn’t going to be impersonating any ponies and it didn’t look like the talking type.

I didn’t have any more time to think about it though. The changeling behemoth stopped glaring and immediately started pounding forward towards us, snapping its mandibles menacingly.

Okay, definitely hostile.

“SCATTER!” I yelled. My pegasi didn’t need to be told twice. They immediately broke for high up, way out of the creature’s reach. 
The beast roared its displeasure, but then it turned and refocused on Star and Bons watching, slack-jawed, from the bridge.

It promptly bellowed again and began stomping towards the bridge on its heavy, plated legs. Star summoned her magic missiles, but they disintegrated harmlessly against the behemoth’s carapace as it slowly bore down on them. No doubt about it – that thing was tough.

I grunted and lit the armor. I knew I couldn’t let that steroid-powered bug near them. If it started in on them on the bridge, there was a good chance it’d collapse and take all the groundpounders with it. I was gonna need to pull out a lot of power for this.

Swallowing my fear, I pulled a Rainbow Dash and swept right across the thing’s vison, “Hey scaly-face! I thought those other bugs were ugly, but you take the haycake in the grossness stakes! I think you looked better as a rock! A hay of a lot smarter too!”

Don’t know how much of that the behemoth understood, but I got its attention either way. With a low growl from somewhere deep in its throat, it halted and swung a claw at me. The attack came faster than I thought, but with the armor, I zipped under it easily, swinging up and bucking it in the face on the rebound.

Which seemed to do…nothing in particular.

“SKREEEEE!"

“Oh cra-“

The thing triumphantly swung its arm back around, knocking me snout-over-plot back into a crystal cluster on the far wall.

Thank Celestia for the armor. If I’d hit that thing at that velocity with my bare coat…well, I could never say jewelry was close to my heart but that behemoth almost made a permanent, literal amendment to that.

Groaning, I struggled to pull myself together. I could hardly move and I knew I needed to get free. Luckily, my mule-headed assault had given Star and the others the precious seconds they needed to scatter between the beasts’ legs and run for cover. It was wheeling its massive body around, looking for them…

At last, feeling returned to my legs and I pulled myself out of the shattered crystals, shaking the stars out of my head. The armor’s magic had prevented any of the larger shards from piercing my coat, but some of the smaller pieces had given me a few scratches, not to mention all the bruises I’d be feeling in the morning…

…but I couldn’t think about that now. I needed a plan to take the changeling behemoth down and… fast...

I took one step…and stopped.

Why was…the cave…spinning so…much…?

No, this was no time to get dizzy! I had to take that thing down…there was so much at stake…

Mmm, cozy stone floor…

Wait, when did I lie down?!





“Cloud Kicker!!” Bon Bon screamed as she saw her spin on the spot and collapse unconscious.

“Cloud!!” Star Kicker echoed, watching in horror as the behemoth turned towards her.

They had taken cover behind the overturned mining cart next to the tracks. The other unicorns had scattered into the shadows on either side and the pegasi were circling overhead, trying to figure out what to do.

“Save her!!!” Star called up to the pegasi, pointing to their unconscious leader.

They hesitated of course, but only for a moment before two of them looked at each other and swooped down, snatching up Cloud Kicker by the hind legs between them in a practiced motion. Every watchpony was trained for emergency rescue maneuvers.

The changeling behemoth roared and swiped at them, but it missed by a mile as the watchponies were already up and gone. It pounded on the rocky floor with its pincers before turning furiously to look at Bon Bon and Star.

Bon Bon felt cold dread shoot up her back and freeze up her limbs as the things’ beady, glinting blue eyes landed on her. She shook herself and dived behind the mining cart again, but it was no good since the thing had already seen her. She heard the dreadful thud-thud of its approaching footsteps as Star lit her horn beside her, her face screwing up in exertion. The cart behind them began to glow and tremble – but it did not move.

She felt sweat rolling down her face. The thing was getting closer.

Thud-thud…

“Listen…” the young unicorn hissed at Bon Bon, turning her head slightly, “I need you to get this cart working!”

“What?!” Bons replied dumbly, cold sweat pouring down her muzzle.

Thud-thud…

“Get it back on the tracks!” Star whisper-shouted, jerking her head up the incline, further away from the chasm, “And then up that hill there!”

“What?! But why?!”

Thud-thud…

“Just do it!!” she hissed, before she leapt out from behind the cart, blasting the behemoth with her magic just as it had been poised to bring its pincers smashing down on their hiding place…

“COME ON, YOU GREAT SACK OF FILLYBARF!! THIS WAY!!” 

The unicorn bolted as the changeling shrieked and pounded on the ground she’d just been standing on, sending fine cracks shivering along the surface. Bon Bon gulped as she saw it wheel and turn away from her hiding place to pursue Star, either forgetting her or losing interest…

Okay…okay… she fought to calm her furiously beating heart, whipping her head around in a vain hope to look for help. Cloud’s out, Star’s busy, the others are gone…

…it’s up to me.

She heard Star yelling obscenities with the telltale hum of magic from behind her as she baited the behemoth, drawing it further away…

Okay…okay…

Bon Bon slowly pulled herself up, sweating and trembling on shaky hooves. The mining cart behind her was overturned off the tracks and resting on its side. The frame was smashed in on one corner, but the girders and wheels below looked intact, even if they were rusty. And apparently its crash hadn’t tossed it too far from the tracks. More like some kind of blunt force to the side must’ve just knocked it over. It seemed all Bon Bon needed to do was push it back onto its tracks…

But why? Was Star planning to use it for an escape?

She shook her head. Better to act now while Star Kicker still had that behemoth’s attention. Peeking over the top, she could see two of the pegasi had taken a hint from Star and were playing cat and mouse to distract the thing. Not one of them could pierce its armor, and they were bound to tire out sooner or later…

The candymare placed her forehooves under the lower end of the frame and pulled, but it was no good. It was too heavy – all she could manage was a few inches. Grunting, Bons let it fall again.

I need a lever or something.

Looking around frantically, Bon Bon spotted the unconscious Cloud Kicker and the other pegasus watchpony on a nearby ledge overlooking the pit.

Then her eyes drifted to the spear in the pegasus’ mouth…

Of course. Bon Bon’s eyes hardened. Now that she had a plan and it was time for some sort of action, she felt braver. She glanced out of her hiding place again. The behemoth had gotten lucky and clipped one of the pegasi, sending it crashing to the ground. It howled furiously and drew back to crush it in one of its pincers – only to be stopped as Star seized its arm in her magic grip until the pegasus scrambled out of the way and took flight, much to the beast’s loud displeasure. She could see Star was grunting and straining with the effort of battling such a large and powerful creature…and she needed help soon, or…

One of the unicorns, the old Kicker battlecaster, darted back in out of the shadows and lit his horn, blasting lightning at the behemoth, who roared and switched targets again, to go after him. The unicorn held his ground until the last minute – jaw set in a defiant grimace – until he finally teleported away as the behemoth drew up to stomp on him.

Star, meanwhile, cantered a safe distance, panting, and threw a glance over her shoulder at Bon Bon…

The earth pony nodded at her and slipped out of her hiding place. The behemoth appeared not to notice – it was too fixated on its elusive prey. She cantered closer to the battle and motioned to the watchpony hovering above. He stared down at her incredulously as she pointed to his spear and began gesticulating wildly to let her have it. Bon Bon didn’t dare yell – the monster would hear and then she’d be in real trouble.

After a moment of glancing around in indecision, the young pegasus nodded and tossed his spear down to her. Bon Bon caught the haft neatly in her jaws and ran back to the cart. 

Not wasting a second, she jammed the blade into a gap under the cart and pushed, trying to lever the cart back up onto the tracks…

It was even heavier than it looked. Bon Bon finally realized why Star hadn’t been able to levitate it…

The monsters screeches were getting louder. It was apparently running out of patience…

She grunted and shoved down with all of her weight on the spear. It bent slightly, wood cracking along the inlay, but, much to her relief, the tough, leaden core did not snap. Slowly, the cart began to move…

With a shove and a groan, Bon Bon finally managed to lever the cart up onto its lower two wheels. Thinking quickly, she dropped the spear from her aching jaws and jumped for the side, catching the cart with her back before it could fall and digging her hooves in.

There was another roar, and then a smack in the air and a shout of pain. Bon Bon looked up briefly to see a bloody pegasus sailing overheard trailing loose feathers. 

“No!” somepony yelled, before there was another blast of magic.

No time…to lose! She finally pushed with her hooves and levered the cart’s weight back onto its chassis.

There was a loud crash as the mining cart fell back onto its tracks, releasing the gasping Bon Bon. She rubbed her aching shoulders and backed off, gawking at the scene before her.

The changeling behemoth was coming her way, alerted by the noise. Screeching, it raised a pincer.

“AIEEE!” 

She ran for it just as the behemoth slammed its claw to the floor. It made a grab for her with its other arm, but Bon Bon, panicked and panting, slipped through the grasping vice before the behemoth could get a grip. She felt her borrowed armor scraping against the inner spines of the claw, but they didn’t penetrate…

And then she ran, as fast as she could.

Bon Bon didn’t know where she was running, and was so panicked she hardly cared.  She’d almost been squashed and skinned by a giant bug! Which was still following her.

Thud-thud…

Then there was a sudden crash and a roar.

“SKREEEE!”

Bon Bon noticed the creature had stopped following and glanced over her shoulder.

One of the two remaining pegasi had dive-bombed the behemoth and was trying (unsuccessfully) to grapple with its two pincered arms. The beast had obviously been caught off guard, but it was beating away at the weaponless watchpony even as she watched.

Bon Bon spotted a crystal cluster nearby and dived behind it just as the changeling slammed the loudly-cursing pegasus to the floor and crushed his neck in a pincer. The brave pony stiffened, and went still.

The monster howled in triumph before picking the pegasus’ body up and flinging it into the wall. It turned it’s stubby, hooded head – obviously looking for her…before Star caught up and shot her magic at it again.

“HURRY UP!” Star yelled, and the monster seemed keen to oblige, turning towards her and snapping its mandibles fiercely.

Bon Bon, however, knew the command had been meant for her…

…but she was too scared to move…

Bon Bon could hear the blood rushing in her own ears, trembling and biting her lip to keep from screaming. She had never been through anything like this before. Unbidden, the memory of her quiet candy stand in Ponyville swam to the forefront of her mind. She wanted nothing more than to be back there, selling her tasty treats and soaking in the happy smiles and bouncing of her favorite colt and filly customers, with Lyra by her side…

…Lyra…

That snapped Bons out of her shock. Lyra was still somewhere down here. She had to find her. And this overgrown stag beetle wasn’t going to stop her from getting her special somepony back. She slowly levered herself back up onto her hooves, battle cries ringing in her ears…

Whatever Star’s plan was, Bon Bon hoped she knew what she was doing…

She leaned her head against the mining cart and began to push, digging her hooves in and slowly driving the cart back up the incline away from the bridge. At halfway, she risked a glance over her shoulder, seeing Star cantering over to the bridge behind them, the beast advancing on her slowly.

Then she realized what the young unicorn had in mind…

Gasping, Bon Bon redoubled her efforts. She knew there would only be a few seconds…

Her back ached, her skull throbbed with the promise of a headache, and her hooves cracked from digging them into the stony ground. Bon Bon felt none of it.

At last, she levered the cart back over the incline threshold, leaving a high ramp down towards the battle…

The behemoth roared and jumped for Star, smashing into the tracks as she bolted and sending up a crack of thunder…

“NOW!!” Star yelled. Bon Bon ran to the other side of the cart and suddenly felt a cold sense of dread.

She looked back. The monster was staring straight at her…

Terror shot up Bon Bon’s spine and froze her legs, but not before she had planted her forehooves and bucked the mining cart.

Maybe Bon Bon was lucky, maybe the thing’s wheels weren’t as badly rusted as she thought, maybe the adrenaline rush had cranked up her earth pony strength. Whatever the reason, the cart shot right back down the incline…

…straight into the torso of the changeling behemoth.

The thing roared – either in pain or rage, Bon Bon couldn’t tell, and was lifted off its four colossal legs by the impact…

…and landed right on the bridge.

It creaked and groaned ominously…but it didn’t give way. Apparently, it had been built for heavier loads than that…

NO!!! Star’s plan hadn’t worked!

The beast flailed and clambered onto its legs. Slowly, and with a deliberate grace. It planted its front legs first and then slowly levered its back up. It knew where it was. It knew what too much lumbering and clumsy banging would do…

It fixed them with a beady, glinting blue glare that – somehow – looked mocking to Bon Bon. You’ll have to do better than that, it seemed to say.

Suddenly, the monster jerked and screeched in surprise.

Right before their eyes, an enormous golden object materialized in mid-air over the chasm, pulsing with magic.

It was a hand. The same shape as a minotaur or centaur’s…but much bigger and with a golden hue…

Lyra…

The agile, spidery hand dived forward in an open, grabbing claw shape. It slammed into the changeling behemoth’s chest and wrapped its long fingers around its torso like an octopus enveloping its prey.

The behemoth roared and dug in its legs as the hand began to push, laying on force after force. It beat its arms and snapped its mandibles on the magical hand, but they only passed through the golden energy.

Before the stunned ponies’ eyes, the hand pushed harder and harder. The changeling behemoth began to shriek loudly as its legs loosened and it began to tilt…

…and the hand pushed one last time, shoving the monster off the bridge.

The scaly, hooded insect face with its large grinder mouth and tiny eyes was obviously not made for expression, but if there was ever a face that said I’m screwed and I can’t believe it - it was the behemoth’s right then as its legs grasped at thin air.

“SKREEEEEEeeeeeee….!!!” The changeling behemoth’s final howl echoed all the way down the pit.

The splat at the end was so faint Bon Bon could have imagined it...

Star, lathered and out of breath, cantered up to join her…

“Don’t relax yet…” she said, narrowing her eyes and looking around, “We’re not out of danger…”

But the older mare didn’t answer. She was too busy swiveling her head around. Golden hands…

The air was silent except for the flapping of their remaining pegasus guard, who was carrying the still knocked-out Cloud Kicker down from the high ledge. There was the rustle of the unicorns emerging from their hiding places, also looking around in confusion for the source of the magic that just saved them.

Then there was another soft trotting noise somewhere in the gloom. Bon Bon promptly whipped her head in what she hoped was its direction.

“LYRA?!!”

Slowly, a cloaked and hooded figure approached from the shadows. Forgetting herself, Bon Bon immediately started running over to her. “Lyra!! It is you!! Oh, you silly filly, where have you been, making us all worry?!”

She threw her forelegs around her lost fillyfriend, almost crying with relief. Lyra returned the gesture slowly, looking up and revealing her smiling mouth under the hood.

“Bon Bon!!” Star Kicker’s voice sounded hollow and faint, “Get away from her! She’s dangerous!!”

Her words barely registered as the candymare felt all the adrenaline drain out of her and exhaustion set in…she had come so close to death just then and now she’d found her beloved Lyra nothing was going to stop her from hugging and squeezing…

…and squeezing…

…and…s-SQUEEZING…

Bon Bon gasped for air as a large golden hand lifted her by the scruff of the neck, choking her as her own weight pulled at her windpipe.

“Ly-lyrrra?!” Her vision was starting to dim...

Three blue orbs of magic rocketed in from out of nowhere and pierced the golden hand. It dematerialized at once with a loud crack at the magic clash, releasing the gasping Bon Bon. She immediately backed off, eyes wide with pain and disbelief.

The unearthly cackle that erupted from Lyra’s throat was like no sound Bon Bon had ever heard her sweet, lazy, and eternally adorable fillyfriend ever make…

The unicorn threw back her hood, and Bon Bon knew at once that it wasn’t really her.

Lyra’s eyes had been the shimmering gold she had always adored, shining with happiness and life…

But the creature before her glimmered green with malice and spite…

The pony who couldn’t possibly be Lyra lit her horn a bright, poisonous green – with a fierce glow of magical power that Bon Bon knew her beloved could never have managed on her best day – and a pair of large, fiercely-clawed golden hands erupted from the air on either side of her.

The evil unicorn gave the cold, vicious smile of a predator that had cornered its helpless prey.

“Handsss…” the creature hissed in a high, cold voice that chilled Bon Bon to the core of her being, “The very sssame ssspell by which the Otherssss and I created all - the universsse, the tapessstry, your very worthlesss livesss…” She leaned forwards on her hooves and glared, “Fitting, issssn’t it?! The sssame ssspell that wove the world and gave all ponyfolk life…”

Her horn glowed more fiercely, and the clawed monstrosities grasped at the ponies with the speed of a striking snake…

“…now comesss to take it all away…”
> A Shadow Of The Moon
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Ow…ow…ow…ow…”

“The more you are wont to flounder in agitation, Chrysalis, the more painful this shall be…”

The changeling queen gritted her fangs against the pain as the gleaming needle pierced her membrane again, barely restraining the urge to bite the smug pegasus nag’s face off…

Shadow Kicker raised her head slowly, blonde locks going to gray poking out from under her red helmet, revealing a pair of hard blue eyes set into crinkled sockets over a withered, scowling muzzle. “You shouldst be grateful. The wound would – in all likelihood – kill you were I not to do this…”

Chrysalis scoffed to herself, refusing to look at Shadow or answer her. A wound? Her? Chrysalis, the extraplanar womb of all life?

She kicked her broken, useless forelegs against the crude splints holding them in place as the pegasus calmly plunged the needle into her ruptured egg sac again and again, drawing the string tightly across the slash.

“None of that…” Shadow grated testily as she pulled the needle out sideways, “If you were to break the stitching, then we would have to begin again. I have no wish to spend any more time in your deplorable company than I must, changeling queen…”
Chrysalis gave a contemptuous hiss to convey the feeling was mutual. She was hardly capable of doing anything better at this point…

As the painful ordeal went on, her eyes drifted over to Shadow’s honor guard. Two pegasi in red armor hung back, unmoving and expressionless, as their leader stitched up this apparent abomination – no doubt the likes of which they had never seen and hoped never to see again.

Chrysalis grinned to herself, relishing that little flicker of emotion she tasted on them…compared to the vile swill coming off their leader. 

Fear and revulsion were feelings she could enjoy…but the muted, controlled pity rolling off Shadow Kicker was an insult Chrysalis had no mind to forgive. How dare this withered old mortal pity her?

“’Tis quite a mystery…” Shadow mused, “just how it is you managed to carry so many eggs within your womb? ‘Twould be a trying and somewhat awkward chore, neigh? Especially so if you were planning to do battle with one of the Dark Lords of Tartarus…”

Chrysalis fixed Shadow Kicker with a glare through her matted green tendrils sticking to her face. Ignorance or impudence – it mattered not. It had been her honor to carry a whole swarm of her pure children in her belly…and she hardly had any choice in the matter of battling the Tartarian while heavy with egg…

She felt the mad sting of anger as she gazed out over the rocky turf of the Badlands. The hive was burned to ashes, and her precious, unhatched children lay scattered where they had fallen from her egg sac, drying in the open air. 

It would take centuries to rebuild the hive now…

Her eyes fell on one of her closest eggs, black, translucent and no larger than a stallion’s forehoof. The shell allowed her a glimpse of the pale changeling larva within. It had already sprouted its front legs, the rest of its body still curled up and only starting to swell. The tiny, open mouth in its face made it look even more desperate…as though it were making its final frantic gasp for air…

“Mayhaps Vusk was hoping to make a meal of you, Chrysalis…if the tales of him are to be believed…” Shadow muttered, pulling the needle out again, “If so, you should consider yourself fortunate we arrived in time to save you…”

Save me?! It is their fault my children are dead!  If they arrived sooner… Chrysalis’ heart burned with rage as she remembered the terrible horror of Vusk’s razor-sharp shards reaching for her and splitting her abdomen right down the middle…her precious children spilling out into the demon’s glittering paws as he grinned viciously…

With a tug, Shadow Kicker pulled the last suture closed, the wound knitting together. The pain receded slightly, but Chrysalis’ fury did not. Again, she strained to pull her head free of the iron binding her. How she yearned to wrap her jaws around the wilted old nag’s neck and crush flesh and bone between her fangs!

She felt Shadow’s gaze on her as the pegasus rose back onto all fours and flapped her wings. Shadow winced slightly at the grinding in her old, wounded body, rising stiffly off the ground…

For just a moment, Chrysalis felt savage pleasure as she tasted a hint of regret. Shadow Kicker cast her eyes to the side and twitched her ears, a haunted look briefly flickering across her face. 

Chrysalis knew that idle moments were a torture for Shadow – she felt it in the emotion that she gathered from the nag’s touch. And she knew that even when alone…Shadow Kicker was never truly alone.

The moment passed, and the pegasus warlord fixed her with another glare, her cobalt eyes again as hard as diamond.

“Grateful or no, you are fortunate Commander Celestia wishes your survival, changeling queen. Mayhaps Sunbeam Sparkle would have left you for dead after what you have done...” She frowned deeper, “However, this time, you were the lesser of two evils…” 

She flapped her wings harder for departure, rising up with her honor guard, declaring coldly “If I may offer you counsel – do not tempt fate again and fade back into whatever pit from which you were spawned, Chrysalis…”





I grunted and rolled over, trying to hold on to that pleasant little dream. 

I’d been back in Las Pegasus, standing upright at the roulette table with one forehoof around Luna and the other around Flitter, Applejack’s hat dangling on my head as the croupier pushed the chips my way again. After downing another maretini for courage, I raised the stakes and made my biggest bet yet. With every win, the crowd of beautiful, sexy mares hanging off me was getting larger and larger. At this rate, the orgy in my royal suite above was going to shake the whole hotel down…

…then Shadow Kicker stepped out from behind an ice sculpture of Fleur De Lis – scowling as only a family matriarch could – and whapped me upside the head with a wing…

”Wake up, Cloud Kicker…”

I swatted at the air with a forehoof, letting out a groan of protest and groping for my bedsheets…

…and then I heard the screaming.

“Lyyyyrrrraaaaa!”

It came back all at once. 

The wedding. The changelings. The underground. All of it…

Oh no…

My first terrified thought was I’d been out for too long. That I’d gone and slept through the whole thing and all hope was gone. That when I opened my eyes I’d see only the smug grin of Queen Chrysalis herself…

…but my ears were working too. I could hear a lot of panicked yelling and the unmistakable thrumm and crackle of magic in the air…

Battle…

My mind slammed back into full consciousness and I leaped back onto my hooves…

…and then the pain hit me again like the kick of a mule and I groaned, sinking back onto my belly.

“Captain! Are you alright?!” When I cracked an eye open and squinted through my clearing vision, I could see it was one of the Kicker pegasi we’d brought down into the caverns. He was looking at me, his eyes darting all over the place in obvious fright.

I snorted sarcastically as I painfully levered myself back up onto my hooves, “Oh yes, perfectly fine!” I growled, barely daring to stretch and look myself over.

Most of me was still covered by the armor, but I knew I wasn’t bleeding heavily and had mostly minor cuts and scrapes. I was badly bruised though, and probably wouldn’t even be able to stand up in the morning. My head was pounding and my hooves felt like they’d been rubbed with sandpaper for hours.

But, more than anything, I was seriously pissed off…

When I get my hooves on Chrysalis, I’ll…

I didn’t have any chance to finish that pleasant, half-formed thought of the dozen or so ways to swat a bug before I saw the scene below the ledge and my blood ran cold…

Bon Bon and Star were down there. My cousin had summoned a shield barrier while Bon Bon cowered behind her, sniveling miserably with her hooves over her ears. Star had gritted her teeth and was sweating profusely from the strain of holding up the barrier.

And I could clearly see why.

A massive golden fist with long, cruel-looking nails was pounding repeatedly against Star’s shield like a wrecking ball. Another one was circling Bon Bon and Star along the ground, scuttling like a spider waiting for the shield to fall so it could strike…

Lyra, I knew at once.

And it was. She was wearing a long gray overcloak and her face was cowled, but it was her – no doubt about it. She was standing opposite Bon Bon and Star, watching impassively with her horn lit.

I felt a cold knot of dread tighten in my guts. She was still possessed.

I immediately lifted my wings to take flight…or at least, I tried to. 

When I did, a spike of pain shot up my back and my left wing only twitched. I glanced over my shoulder in horror – after all, for a pegasus, losing a wing is a nightmare come true – but it was still curled against my side. 

Slowly, I tried to flex my wing again, but the pain only got worse after it twitched the first couple of inches…

I grimaced. What the-?

I lit the armor, calling on Shadow for healing. Sure enough, my wing slowly straightened and the pain faded, but it was taking far too long. I needed to get down there now!

This was Lyra. Lyra Heartstrings. I needed some way to stop her without hurting her. Basic West Hoof tactic for taking down unicorns non-lethally was the almighty hoof to the horn, but…

My mind screeched to a halt. I had just heard something.

My ears were hurting, but I was hearing this constant hum, like somepony was whispering slightly into my ear…so slightly in fact, it was barely a sound at all…but no matter where I looked, I couldn’t see who made it…

…I shook my head. Probably just imagining things. Shadow and I could stop this. We had to!

I leaped from the ledge, gliding down to the cavern floor and heading straight for the possessed unicorn. There was no time to hesitate: even if it would hurt her I had to put Lyra down now, or at least break off her attacks on Star and Bon Bon. If she was still in there watching, I knew the real Lyra would prefer I tie her in a knot than let her hurt them…

But before I could barrel into Lyra’s side and knock her off her hooves, she turned and saw me.

Those bright, lively and slightly mischievous golden eyes I remembered and adored were gone.  And in their place burned twin orbs of evil green fire that flickered when they saw me.

Chrysalis…

I could tell from the sudden burn and twist of the fire in her eyes – the pure spite and hate. Those eyes knew me…

Chrysalis wasn’t just controlling Lyra remotely anymore. Part of her was in Lyra…

The horrifying realization that now she’d know about the decoy we left at camp made me almost lose flight momentarily and instinctively stretch out my hooves for a crash-landing… 

Which slowed me down just enough for Lyra to pull her cloak over herself and vanish. 

Wha-?!!

I froze in mid-air and wheeled one-eighty on instinct, my eyes darting in a cone before me. West Hoof’s first procedure in case of enemies teleporting in was to prepare for an attack from the rear. Only then, my rational thought process kicked in... 

Lyra couldn’t ever teleport. Never. Not on her best day. Something was really wrong with this picture… 

I was no expert on magic, but even I knew teleporting was a difficult and draining spell, and even when the unicorn had the ability and raw power to do it, it was rarely ever instantaneous. A unicorn needed to have complete control and Twilight Sparkle-sized powers of concentration to manage it within even a few seconds. No kidding, it was dangerous to rush the teleportation spell! Try imagining moving every little piece inside your body from one place to another only for your skin and bones to turn up in one place and your internal organs in another. Only the very greatest magi in history had ever managed it…

…and if there was one thing I knew about our precious Harpflank – she wasn’t that. It couldn’t have been a teleport…not unless Chrysalis was somehow channeling power into her too…

I was broken out of that disturbing train of thought by the nasty sensation of something heavy slamming into my blind side. I was knocked off my hooves, but I rolled with the momentum and came back up.

Before my eyes, the golden hand that just knocked me over braced itself, rearing on its claws like a hunting spider. My head clouded by new and old pain, I lifted off the ground, stupidly trying to get right out of its reach, but of course the hand simply floated up after me. 

I banked around, swiping at it, but the blade simply passed through the hand. It’s cruel nails groped for my face. Those wicked-looking fingers might not have been able to pierce the armor, but I knew they might be able to claw my eyes out if I let it get too close. I knew Lyra – or Chrysalis more likely – couldn’t keep these hands up forever though. I could just try to fight the thing off or run for it until it disapp-…

“Cloud Kicker!! LOOK OUT!!” Bons’ hoarse, panicked scream rang out from across the cavern.

Instinctively, I dived – just in time for the other hand to come screaming over my head and crash into the other one with an ear-shattering crack!

Damn. That was really dumb, taking my eyes off the other hand. If Bons had been just a second slower…well, let’s just say I wouldn’t usually mind being the veggies in a sandwich, but not that kind…

Thankfully though, that impact had apparently destroyed them both. The hands were gone.

As I shook the ringing from my ears, I chanced a glance over at Star and Bons. My little cousin was lathered and breathing heavily from the exertion of maintaining that shield, and she looked like she was ready to fall over any minute. Bon Bon was clutching her throat, still reeling in pain from that warning she’d just shouted to me. When I squinted, Shadow’s enhanced vision showed me what happened: there were fresh strangle-marks on her throat. She’d made the same mistake as Star…

Another golden hand, smaller and floating this time, came clutching at me from the dark. I darted out of the way, and it faded. But then another grabbed my tail. Cursing, I kicked the hand…just in time for another to seize me by the wing and yank. I lost flight for just a second…but that was still long enough for yet another clawed hand to punch me in the face. 

The pain exploded across my muzzle and I spat out a tooth…even as more hands clutched at me, dragging me down to the cavern floor. They may not have been that strong, but there sure as hay were a lot of them. I counted at least a dozen hands groping at me…and not in a pleasant way!

As my hooves hit stone, I lit the armor, calling on its power to repel the magic. Again, the shadows responded - flaring out and causing the hands to rear in fright before they disintegrated completely with a crack.

And again, I could hear the faint whisperings in my ears, which were starting ace from all the noise of the last few minutes. Just what was that? I knew I wasn’t imagining it…

As I straightened, Lyra shimmered back into existence again, right in front of my face! Before I could react, she grabbed hold of me and pulled me in, wrapping me in a lip-lock.

Whoa!

Oookay - in retrospect, I should’ve been able to realize what was going on and forcibly break away from our overly-amorous and none-too-brawny Harpbutt in the space of a heartbeat. In my defense, let me say the sensation of a familiar and all too-pleasant minty kiss after a long, painful day would probably make you hesitate for a second as well…

…okay, fine - two seconds.

No, that’s all you’re getting, clop-o!  
      
By the time I pulled my muzzle away and raised a hoof to take her down, Lyra already had two new, monster hands circling us, crawling like crabs along the cavern floor. Those soulless, glowing green eyes beheld me over the cold smirk plastered across Lyra’s face.

“Such deliciousss weaknesss,” she hissed in a voice that wasn’t hers, smacking her lips mockingly, “Maybe your reputation isss well-dessserved, Cloud Kicker…”

Chrysalis!

Without waiting a moment longer, I lashed out with my forehoof for Lyra’s horn. I couldn’t let that nag keep control of her!

Lyra dodged it though. Damn her occasional surprising and completely unpredictable feats of agility! Couldn’t she have saved that one little slice of luck for when the bug queen tried to crawl into her head instead?

Next thing I knew, the two hands were pouncing on me. I spun and swept my blades through the air, but again, it didn’t do anything to the hands. Those ghostly, clawing fingers wrapped around me, crushing my head, neck, and torso into one of its golden, rock-hard palms, while the other grabbed hold of my hindquarters. 

They were starting to pull in opposite directions…

…and I was going to be torn right in half when they did!

The whole time, Lyra stood there, watching me coldly with those soulless green eyes. Her gaze suddenly sparkled darkly and she twitched her muzzle in a cold smirk, “You could have killed her, Cloud Kicker. You could have ssstopped me from using her, but here you are…torn between the need to fight and your love for my little pawnsss!” she cackled, “A fitting end for the bearer of Shadow’sss armor, Cloud Kicker…”

I saw red. No chance I was going to let that nag get away with all she’d done. 

I lit the armor and flared the shadows again, but this time, they didn’t pierce the hands. They did burn though, and their claws released me and backed off, smoking and reconstituting themselves from the sparks. 

And…yep, the throbbing and the murmur in my ears also got worse.

But before I could even make another move on Lyra, she threw up her hood and vanished again.

Horseapples! I knew I couldn’t chance an area-wide spinning attack to catch her. Shadow’s wingblades would probably cut Lyra’s legs off.

Then Star rejoined the fray, cantering over to me and blasting the hands with her horn, which disintegrated under her assault.

Silence. Except for that annoying murmur somewhere in my head.

“Where’s Bon Bon?!” I hissed at Star.

She looked around worriedly, and I understood. Bon Bon must have lost her nerve and run for it. I couldn’t blame her. Sturdy mare or not, it must have been crushing to have her possessed fillyfriend trying to kill her. I mean, sure, I loved Lyra too, but I could only imagine how I would feel if Chrysalis had…

Oh cripes – Fluttershy!

Please, Celestia, tell me it wouldn’t ever occur to Chrysalis to pull the same thing with Eepysqueak! I wasn’t sure I could stomach that…

“Cloud Kicker, this is war!” Shadow sounded impatient. “Thou must do whate’er is required of thee to protect thy clan and thy princess. When ‘tis time to strike Chrysalis down, then thou must do it…”

She didn’t say it directly, but Shadow’s meaning was clear. If Chrysalis sensed my weakness, she’d exploit it – just like she had with Lyra. And that would mean defeat. And that would mean everypony, not just Fluttershy, Lyra, Rainbow and the princess, would all end up as food for the changelings.

I had to harden my heart. Right now I need to be a Kicker first, and Cloud Kicker second…

Lyra was there. I knew she was. The only question was where? 

There was a telltale hum of magic in the air. Star and I immediately went back-to-back to cover every angle of approach.  The constant whispering in my ears was simple enough to block out, but the rest was a puzzle. We had both heard Lyra lighting her horn, but the sound was reverberating all through the enclosed cavern – and the thrumm of the resonant magic crystals didn’t help matters either.  

In this echo chamber and at this distance, it was impossible to pinpoint her exact location by sound…

…but then Bon Bon darted back around the crystals she’d been hiding behind and leaped for a seemingly-empty patch of air.

There was a dull thud, a muffled grunt, and the extremely odd sight of a creamy candymare floating in mid-air and grappling with her hooves at a particularly uncooperative empty space.

Bon Bon! She’s found her!!

I wondered how Bons had done it. If I was feeling romantic, I’d say it was her powerful bond with her fillyfriend – that her heart always knew where Lyra was even if her eyes didn’t…but it was more likely she’d just happened to be there when Lyra summoned her magic and the echo didn’t put her off like it did for us.

She paused in her mid-air struggle with her muzzle over a certain point, looking like she’d found something she was looking for, and then promptly chomped down on something and pulled her head back.

Right there, Lyra shimmered back into existence again as the hood fell from her head. Bon Bon, looking madder than Tartarus, gave an angry yell as Lyra fixed those poisonous green orbs on her and planted her hooves back into the ground, yanking hard.

There was an enormous RRRIIIIPPP that echoed all through the cavern as Bons tore the cloak clean off her. No doubt about it, that earth pony strength comes in handy at times. The cloak was shredded and I was guessing, without it, Lyra couldn’t vanish anymore.

That was proven a moment later by the screech and furious hiss as Lyra lit her horn again and a golden shield flashed into existence around her. Lyra summoned another giant hand, and before I could move to rescue her, the thing seized hold of Bon Bon, immobilizing her.

“Ssstay back!!!” Lyra hissed angrily as I started forward, “If you come any clossser, Cloud Kicker…” The hand holding Bons squeezed, making Bon Bon grunt in pain, her armor squeaking menacingly.

I fell back to my hooves, glaring, “You’d better let her go right now, Chrysalis…” I snarled, “Let them both go! Or I’ll–“ I stumbled, wondering just what I could threaten Chrysalis with. She wasn’t here, not physically, and now that she knew we were down in the caves…

Chrysalis cackled coldly as she sensed my predicament, “Hah! If you want to hurt your beloved Lyra, Cloud Kicker…go right ahead and ssstrike me down!” I felt my eyes widen in alarm as she started tightening her grip on Bons, who cried out in pain. 

No! Oh no!

“Not that it would matter, you witlesss bitch – I’ll kill thisss fool mare right away and my children will ssswarm you within the–“
She suddenly halted in her speech, gawking in surprise, before her face twisted into a pained and incredulous grimace. The hand froze in mid-air, sparking and fizzling in and out of existence while Bon Bon struggled and tried to break free.

Chrysalis hissed and put a hoof to Lyra’s forehead, where her horn was sputtering and sparking furiously.

“Now’s our chance!” Star whispered from my side, lighting her horn, “I’ll get Bon Bon out. You take her down.”

But before I could do a thing, Lyra (or it may have been Chrysalis, there was no way to be sure) gave an enormous scream, clutching her head in both hooves and shaking it. The glow from her horn intensified, growing brighter and brighter until Shadow’s vision made it almost painful to look at.

“Why do you ssstill live within me?!” Chrysalis suddenly howled, collapsing onto Lyra’s knees with her eyes tightly shut, “I-I thought you were dead!”

Her eyes then suddenly opened. They were shining with golden light , flickering back into and out of shades of green as Lyra’s minty-green body slowly began to glow with a nimbus of golden light and levitated itself off the ground.

A magic surge.

With a whistle and a crack, Star’s magic shot out and ripped Bon Bon free of Chrysalis’ grip. The hand holding her writhed and twisted as though it were in pain before it vanished. She landed beside us in a heap, gasping for breath. I immediately bent down and ran Shadow’s eyes over her. Bons looked battered and in shock, but nothing was broken…

I lifted off my hooves and shot forward at Lyra. I had to end this now!

WHUUUMP!

Word of advice: don’t ever try to put your hooves on a unicorn when she’s in the middle of a magic surge. Tumbling with Harpflank wasn’t something I was unfamiliar with, but we usually did it on a bed in a fit of giggles – not on a solid, painfully coarse stone floor with Lyra shrieking and burning with magical overload. Even with Shadow’s armor protecting me, I was still singed slightly…

We came to a rest with her muzzle-down into the stone and I on her back with her limbs stretched flat. I placed a hoof over her horn, pressing hard and willing the armor to disperse the magic.

But it didn’t. The shadows recoiled from the surge.

What are you doing?!

“’Tis impossible to halt a magic surge, descendant. Nothing may be done ‘til the surge hath run its course…” Shadow’s voice was grim.

Lyra, meanwhile, was beginning to twist and contort her body as I gritted my teeth and struggled to hold her down against the burning pain. 

Then Lyra spoke.

“Never, I…I…” 

That voice…

 It was the one I remembered…

Lyra was still in there, fighting Chrysalis for control. The glow from her horn intensified.

“I WON’T DO IT!!!”

Lyra glowed a brilliant gold, a poisonous black-green aura beginning to seep out of her orifices as her magic surge spiraled out of control…

Chrysalis was fighting for Lyra’s body. Lyra was obviously trying to push her out, but the golden aura around her was growing fainter and fainter, while her body seemed to start shrinking under my hooves.

The pain intensified, and I think I almost soiled myself when I saw one of my hooves start to smoke and blacken…

…but right then, before our amazed eyes, the aura coalesced into a pair of glowing green eyes floating in mid-air.

“SKRREEEEE!!”

Lyra had loosened Chrysalis’ grip, but now the changeling was tightening it again…

Chrysalis’ triumphant cackle sounded around us as her eyes started to glow brilliantly, the black-green aura around us growing menacingly large. Then, a poisonous green beam of energy lanced from the floating eyes, striking a crystal cluster nearby.

THHHRRRRRRM! It bounced off and travelled in a perfect beam to a crystal cluster on the opposite side of the cavern, and then another, and then another…

THHHRRRRRRM! THHHRRRRRRM! THHHRRRRRRM!!!

It finally struck the last crystals hanging overhead, illuminating the whole cavern with poisonous green light. The shadows running over me suddenly recoiled, writhing as though they were in pain, and quickly seeped back into the engravings on Shadow’s armor.
Suddenly, it was getting very hard to breathe with all the evil magic in the air. From the choking and gasping sounds I could hear behind me, Bons and Star were having similar troubles. After struggling for a few moments, I couldn’t hold on anymore and let go of Lyra to clutch at my throat, trying not to panic.

Cold fingers were lancing deep into my lungs, and every time I gasped for breath, the pain only seemed to intensify…

NO!!!

“You ssshould not have come ssso clossse, Cloud Kicker…” Chrysalis’ voice hissed through the air, “Now it endsss…”

I began to choke. Suddenly, there was no air to breathe in, and every gasp was just empty…

“Cloud!!!” Shadow’s voice was like a slap in the face, “The crystals!”

W-what?! 

Black spots were appearing before my eyes and my body felt heavy and sludgy. I could hardly put together a coherent thought.

But Shadow murmured, and I listened.

Knowing there wasn’t a moment to waste, I tried to shrug off the effects of the poisonous air and took a deep, painful gasp before shooting up into the cavern. Without breath, my wings slowed and began to tire almost immediately, but I knew what I had to do.
I drew over to the first crystals the changeling queen had illuminated and spun in mid-air, kicking them as hard as I could.

I doubt my bucking did much damage, but the strength of Shadow’s armor busted right into the lattice, cracking the outer layer clean off. Before my eyes, the beam from Chrysalis’ floating eyes broke, and the air was suddenly much sweeter again as the shattered crystals fell to the ground. I took several deep gasps almost immediately.

But before I could even celebrate my new, clean breath, the cavern reverberated with an agonized shriek!

“AAAAAARRRRRRRGGGGGGGHHHH!!!” Chrysalis was screaming, and not just in frustration or the pain of having her spell shattered.

No, she was screaming in fear. Like her worst nightmare had her in its hooves and wouldn’t let her go…

Her eyes were staring right at the face of the crystal lattice I’d just busted in. It was by no means a clean cut of the underlying cluster – zig-zag lines from broken lattice roots poked out of the rock, but the sub-lattice formed a murky, jagged, crystal mirror.

 I couldn’t see the angle clearly from where I was, but from the position of Chrysalis’ eyes, she was looking at –

…she wasn’t…was she?

The eyes promptly vanished, along with that foul aura that had been the changeling queen.

She was gone. Disappeared. With no more sign than a subtle change in air pressure.

I just hovered there for a moment, panting, barely daring to believe what I’d just seen…

I think time must’ve stood still for a few moments. I didn’t remember going back down to the floor of the cavern again. I didn’t remember Lyra collapsing to the ground, pale as a ghost. I can only remember waiting warily and gazing around, adrenalin pumping through my body as I waited for the bug bitch queen to reappear…

…but she didn’t.

I can’t believe it I thought, it’s true…

Shadow was silent, but I could feel her approval.

After several seconds, the echo of clattering hooves approaching from behind snapped me out of my trance, and I turned to look at the pegasus conscript I’d left back up on the ledge. Damn, I almost forgot about him and the others…

The others! I looked around for the unicorns who’d been with us before we crossed the bridge. Without them, we couldn’t activate the Sanctum Solarion! We’d be doomed…

No. I sighed with relief as they came out of hiding. Looks like they had scattered and hidden in the cavern mouths and niches around the chamber while the battle was going on… 

Okay, it was a bit irritating they’d decided to just sit on their flanks the whole way through the battle without lending a hoof, but then I considered I might just have ordered them out when the whole thing came to Lyra anyway. None of them knew who she was, didn’t know why she couldn’t be hurt. They might’ve used lethal force against her…

I was broken out of that train of thought by Bon Bon, who had scrambled back to her hooves, blue in the face. She let out a cry and dived for Lyra, clutching her close. I cantered over myself as I remembered my hooves, and so did Star. The three of us gazed down at her.

Lyra was back. Her face was pale and sweaty and she looked too weak to stand, but those familiar golden eyes glinted up at us…

She slowly raised a hoof and pointed up, saying a single word…

“Cadance…”

Then her eyes rolled up into her head and she went limp. Bons whimpered in fright, but no…

The sweet, minty mare was breathing – shallowly and noisily to be sure – but breathing. Star slowly placed a hoof on Lyra’s neck for a pulse and nodded.

“She’s alright. Just exhausted. A magic surge will do that…” Star sighed with relief, and I couldn’t help but join in.

Bon Bon looked at us briefly, then back to her unconscious fillyfriend. “Cloud…you saved her…”

“Huh?” I couldn’t help but quirk an eyebrow at that, “Of course…didn’t I say we’d rescue her if we got the chance, Bons?”

She shook her head, “No, th-that…that thing…whatever it was…it was controlling Lyra…” She looked up at me with wet, mystified eyes that almost made my heart melt. Of course, this wasn’t the time to think about how sexy that look was on her face. “I thought you might…I mean…” Her eyes flickered to my wingblades, then to the armor, then back to my face again…

I don’t think there was really a word anywhere in the Equestrian language that could describe how I felt then. Bon Bon really thought I’d… 

I mean…I was shocked and sad of course – how couldn’t I be? – but when I glanced at one of my wingblades, noticed how sharp it was, and then at Lyra, and just how tiny and light she looked right now…

I shook my head to clear it. “No, Bon Bon! I’d never do that!” I said, trying to force myself to believe it. Hay, I had made a point of taking Lyra down without seriously hurting her, hadn’t I?

“I know you wouldn’t, but…” Bon Bon then shook herself too, and the moment of insanity passed as Star gave an insistent yell.
“We have to go! Before Queen Chrysalis comes back!” Star voice rang out clear and firm, snapping the rest of us out of our shell-shocked state, “Listen, Bon Bon, I’ll carry her, but I want you to-“

Bons cut her off, “No, I’ll do it…” her voice turned soft, “I’ll take her. We still have other ponies to save and I’m not letting go of her until all this is over…”

She leaned down as close to the ground as she could and, with the nimble hoofiwork only an earth pony with a lifetime of practice could manage, she expertly rolled the unconscious Lyra over to face her, draping the unicorn’s left fore and hind legs over her back. I moved to help her, but Bons waved me away. As she hoisted Lyra’s weight up over her back and rose up onto her hooves, Lyra didn’t slip for a moment, but her head tilted slightly to bury itself into Bons’ two-tone mane.

I was puzzled. Bons looked like she was going to bite the hoof off of anypony who tried to help her. I could understand her need to keep Lyra close, but it didn’t seem like her kind of practical mare to turn away help from anypony when she was in need and there was no danger in doing so…

And the other thing was…Bon Bon’s movements were painstakingly precise and tender – almost as though Lyra were made of glass…I mean, even with the state the poor unicorn was in that seemed like overkill…

…unless…

I had a sudden thought and looked at Bons’ face…and yep, sure enough, she was casting worried glances at Lyra’s belly…

…which, incidentally, was a couple of inches larger than usual.

I felt my eyes widen. It was a moment I would never forget, and I knew then I had done the right thing bringing Bon Bon along…





Chrysalis collapsed to the floor of the throne room, panting heavily from her screaming.

The room was now silent, save for the faint echoes of her screams and the low squelching and rustling from her captured enemies’ new accommodations…

No! It couldn’t be. It couldn’t.

Her eyes darkened from poisonous green to an angry red, and a fierce snarl spread across her muzzle. 

She had to act now.

Listen to me, ALL of my children! Her will thundered through the hive mind and a nearby drone collapsed, twitching. 

Find the Kicker ponies! Attack them! Kill them!! ANNIHILATE THEM!!





“This is it!” Star rushed up as the massive set of jewel-encrusted golden doors that led to the lower floors of Canterlot palace came into view, “Hold on, I think I remember the spell to…” Her words slowly faded as she skidded to a halt. She looked surprised.

When I finally managed to quell that annoying ringing/murmuring sound in my ears and squinted through Shadow’s vision, I could see why.

The golden doors were already open.

And not just by a small gap either. The inner faces of the doors had been blown inwards by what looked like an explosive ordnance...and funnily enough, Shadow’s vision showed a faint, gleaming signature of purple magic in the air…

“‘Tis plain to see, descendant…” Shadow said, “somepony entered this way prior to our arrival…albeit with seeming force and haste…” The magic sensors along Shadow’s armor buzzed slightly as our party approached the busted door. Shadow didn’t recognize the aura…but I did…

The wisp of extremely-concentrated magic detected by the armor felt vaguely familiar – from my own memories, not Shadow’s – and I almost facehoofed when my new sense of smell detected a whiff of lavender in the air…Trust Twilight Sparkle to get so worked up she’d blow a priceless gold door in when a simple unlocking spell would have done the trick…

Wait…does that mean she’s still here? Is she inside?

I’d guessed Twilight and the others were prisoners, but if she was still inside and free somewhere…a unicorn as powerful as Twilight could probably power the Sanctum Solarion all by herself. I’d have to keep my eyes open…

“Cloud Kicker, there may not be time. We must complete the mission and return Princess Luna to Canterlot…”

I didn’t argue. It’d be great to search for Twilight and Rainbow and the others, yeah – but I couldn’t forget that now Chrysalis knew where we were. Within minutes, these caves were going to be swarming with changelings. Our forces outside too, probably. We had to get out of sight quickly…

A faint glow rose from Star’s horn as she summoned a magical, transparent illusion of the Canterlot palace. “The Sanctum Solarion chamber is under the Royal Library, beneath the Star Swirl the Bearded section…” she said breathlessly, spinning her illusion with a turn of her head, “this way…”

As Star, Bons, the still-unconscious Lyra, and our remaining Kicker forces entered the dark, dusty, and almost-forgotten hallway beneath Canterlot palace, our hoofsteps echoing lightly through the deserted chamber, I remembered something.

Shadow’s armor should have stopped me from being knocked out by that changeling back there. Down here, beneath the earth, there were no clouds for me to kick, sure…but all the defensive enchantments should still have been working…

…right?

I sure as hay didn’t want to chance coming face-to-face with Chrysalis again without them…

Are you still in there? I thought.

“Do not be foolish, descendant. Where else might I be?”

Yeesh, Shadow! Tetchiness already set in by the time this armor was made? Back there with the behemoth…I got knocked out, right?

“Indeed. Thou wert lucky to survive after that foolish blunder of thine…”

I grit my teeth, trying to stay calm. How in Celestia’s name did Gale put up with this?! Why didn’t you stop it?! Your armor could’ve stopped me from passing out, right?!

There was a pause. Shadow, for some reason, was hesitating to answer.

What was it? Couldn’t you stop it in time?

 “No, descendant. That is not the reason…” If I could see her at that moment, I was sure Shadow would be taking a deep breath – the kind you take before explaining something to a pony that they should’ve learned years ago as a foal and somehow never did. “Cloud Kicker, as thou mayest recall, I told thee thou wert unworthy to wear my armor?”

 Sure. Like I’d ever forget.

“Mayhaps fortune might still favor thee with the chance to prove me wrong…” Her voice became deep and somber, “Cloud, thou must swear an oath on the honor of the Kicker Clan ne’er to repeat what I shall tell thee now – not even to the clan!”

I hesitated. This sounded like top secret stuff…

…but I had a city full of ponies, two princesses, and a family and clan to save. Hay, I couldn’t let one little oath get in the way of that. Plus, I usually make a habit of keeping my mouth shut about other ponies’ secrets anyway (considering I must be the only mare in Ponyville who could tell you something new about the cute stallion or mare you sat next to in the bar the other night).

Sure, Shadow, I swear it…

For a moment, I thought that sounded a bit crude, and guessed Shadow might insist on a better, more formal acknowledgment with all the bells and whistles for the sake of what she was about to reveal…but she didn’t.

“Dost thou recall what I told thee of my prior encounter with the changelings? ‘Twas no matter of happenstance, Cloud Kicker. I did not simply stumble ‘pon Queen Chrysalis in a state of injury…I was commanded to save her by Celestia…”

Well, this was new. Shadow had told me she had locked horns with Chrysalis in the past and, eventually, saved her from a serious injury. But she hadn’t mentioned why or how…and it looked like I was about to find out…

“She was doing battle with one of the Lords of Tartarus. A being named Vusk, the Lord of Vanity…”

I stumbled slightly, swallowed, and tried to keep up my normal pace before the others noticed anything. Have to be in control – my teammates might wonder about me if I started randomly yelling in disbelief…

“Vusk was a cruel and cold being, descendant, with a fascination for breaking the wills of lesser beings and forcing them to submission. Not even his fellow Tartarian Lords Nazkuth or Tirek could hope to match him in his foul talents for enslaving the creatures of the world. I wore this very suit of armor for my battle with him…”

“The clan and I fought and defeated Vusk. We shattered his body in the end and banished him back to Tartarus, but not before he had broken Chrysalis’ will and enslaved her with false promises of beauty and power. Vusk was no mere simple demon – his chosen form was a living mirror…a giant vortex of crystal shards. When Chrysalis looked into him…” Shadow left it hanging ominously, but I could guess what had happened.

“I did not escape unscathed either, descendant. Vusk’s power left a mark ‘pon my armor,” she paused, “He was the lord of all crystals. Even with him long since banished back to Tartarus, the crystals of this world still follow his final command. Whilst we are near them, my armor cannot focus my shadows. The mirrors show them to be a mere illusion…”

I gulped, suddenly a lot more aware of the decorative crystal clusters that poked into the hallway from the caverns outside. 

So, with all of these things thrumming all over the place, the armor’s power was blunted. If I stuck around too much, Shadow’s armor was probably just a well-crafted suit of steel…

“Do not lose heart, Cloud Kicker…” Shadow sounded weary, but her tone was slightly coy, “The crystals hold no high power above the earth. Guide my power as ably as I grant it…and neither of us will fall…”

Right. Shadow was right. I wasn’t going to slip up like that again! We had a war to win…but sooner or later, I would have to find a window. Back out in the open air, I could only hope Shadow would restore herself back to full power…

The caves had squashed my sense of space and made me forget how big that sky was up there…the mountain peak, the Cirran Plains, Cloudsdale.  For a second, I wanted nothing more than to get out, spread my wings and get lost up there in that magnificent blue sky. Staying alive… that had seemed to be the only thing that mattered down there in those dark, cramped caverns with our every word and action echoing right back at us. Here, back in Canterlot palace, that cramped feeling of danger and fear fell away…

I guess it’s true what they say. I couldn’t speak for the unicorns and Bons, but from my own feelings, there was probably some truth to the old saying that pegasi weren’t meant to be underground…

“Indeed…” Shadow said simply.

Suddenly, I heard it again. Some meaningless noise in the corner of my head. It was weird stuff. I knew whatever those sounds were, they were supposed to be words of some sort...but it was almost impenetrable - meaningless white noise like when ponies babble at you in dreams...

But the strange thing was...it was getting a little louder. By now there must have been at least three of them chattering away in their crazy baby-talk. I wondered just what it was. Was this another side-effect of Shadow's armor? Was I hearing whatever somepony was trying to say about me?

I finally shrugged it off and looked at my second-in-command. Star was pale and sweating, but her expression was determined. My brave little cousin was going to see this through the end, I knew it, and I knew Storm and the others would be proud. Bon Bon was still lugging around the unconscious Lyra, not looking in the least bit tired of it, but her expression was more worried as she glanced around. Yeah, now that she had Lyra back, Bons must’ve been starting to feel the pressure of being on this kind of operation where she didn’t belong. But I knew the earth mare, and I knew she wouldn’t run for it now unless I insisted. 

Lyra was still insensate, even though it had been over half an hour since our battle, and her breathing was deep and noisy. Sure, our Harpflank was notorious for sawing logs in the most unlikely places with such determination even a hammer to the horn wouldn’t wake her up – but I had a feeling she wasn’t just being a lazy bum this time. 

Hay, Lyra just being a lazy bum would’ve been a blessing from the heavens with the way our luck had been going recently…

The troops – our only remaining pegasus and the five unicorn conscripts all looked equally scared and exhausted, but I could see determination in their faces. They knew how much was at stake, and like all good soldiers – even ones before and past their best – they knew they had to put the little things like fear and weakness after duty at times like this…

Suddenly, the Kicker insignia on my chest started to gleam, and my thoughts vanished into thin air.

“Halt!” I whispered loudly. With the silence in the hallway, everypony heard me and promptly froze in place.

There was a faint buzzing in the distance, approaching slowly. Changelings. Everypony promptly closed formation, weapons at the ready…

…but the buzzing slowly faded. The danger had passed by.

“You think she’s expecting us?” Star whispered.

I nodded, “No doubt about it. I guess she’d want the lower levels patrolled now…we’ll have to be careful. Maybe my armor could take many of them down…but if we’re caught down here and surrounded, it’ll only be a matter of t-…”

I stopped. Something was there. As Shadow’s vision pierced the gloom, I could see something large and pale gleaming at the far end of the unlit corridor. I motioned for silent movement with my wing and took a step closer.

Something large and fat was hanging from the ceiling up ahead. It was a pale, sickly green, close to that of changeling ichor. As I moved closer, I could see it was a large, oval sac with a resinous skin.

Egg, was my first thought. Was Chrysalis trying to replenish her forces right here in the palace while she held it hostage? I motioned the ponies behind me to follow and crept over to it. I made a point of silence and readiness – we didn’t know what a changeling egg could do…or if it would have some kind of defense mechanism…

But when I was a few feet from it, I froze.

A normal pony couldn’t have seen it, but with my vision, the sac was just this side of translucent.

There was a pony in there. A full-grown, armored guard pony. It wasn’t an egg. It was a prison.

Star looked at me nervously, but I just frowned deeper, “Levitate it,” I muttered to her before I swept my wing around. Star recovered just in time to catch the cocoon in her magic as I slashed at the resinous tether holding it to the ceiling. Upon removal, the pale, moist skin burst, splattering heavy, treacly ichor in a puddle on the floor and releasing the gasping pony within.

A unicorn. He didn’t look seriously hurt, but he’d obviously taken a knock or two.  He was wearing the armor of the Royal Guard, but the unadorned shoulders on his plate suggested he wasn’t an officer of rank, likely just one of the younger soldiers. From the way he was blinking and coughing, obviously out of it, I was gonna go out on a limb and guess that gunk we’d just pulled him out of had either rendered him unconscious or dulled his senses enough he’d need a minute or two to pull himself together.

Several of the unicorns behind me muttered and murmured fearfully, but I gestured to the captive and shook my head, “He’s not a changeling. I can tell…”

The young guard blinked at that and looked up at me in surprise. His jaw fell open as he took in the insignia on my armor and his eyes grew to the size of dinner plates…

Oh sweet Celestia, he didn’t…

Before he could start yelling, I spun around and kicked. A bit unfortunate he’d just got back to his hooves only for me to knock him off them again. 

Before he could rise from my buck, I placed a forehoof on his throat and raised my other to my lips. My pissed expression must have done the rest of the work, because in the next instant, he had gone pale – an impressive feat for a pony with a white coat – and he was nodding silently as I threw Shadow’s senses around for any sign changeling patrols had heard us.

After a few tense moments of waiting and listening, when we were fairly sure no bugs had heard, I raised my wing and yanked the guard back up onto his hooves. “Report, soldier!” I growled.

On reflex, he immediately forgot to be indignant, straightened up and saluted before he started speaking in a quiet, hoarse voice. “First Battalion, Third Subterraegis squad. Private Glass Eye…” (I squinted – nope) “…assigned to afternoon shift guarding entrance to Canterlot caverns. We were ambushed from the rear!” 

His face crumpled, a snarl forming on his lips at the memory, “Damn bugs came out of nowhere! Overpowered us before we even knew what happened! One moment we heard the relief was on the way so we could head up to the wedding party…and then suddenly…” he shook his head.

“Your squad?” I asked tightly.

He shook his head sorrowfully, “The bugs got me first with that gunk they spit out. My two squadmates had just enough time to get ready for a fight. Filthy things swarmed them…I couldn’t help!” He shut his eyes and grimaced, “The screaming! It was horrible...”

I reached up and gripped his shoulder, “You want revenge, private?”

He looked at me, wonder starting to enter his eyes again, “You…you’re not joking…” His eyes narrowed, “You are…Ephor Shadow Kicker? It is you, right?!! I’ve read all about you since I was a colt…” He cleared his throat again.

“…You have come back to save us, haven’t you?”

I exchanged a look with Star over my shoulder, who nodded slightly. “Yes…” I replied slowly, “…she has.”





“This way…” Private Glass Eye lit his horn and twitched aside the not-so-ancient tapestry, sprinkled with false dust to give the idea it’d been left there untouched for centuries to anypony who didn’t know better. It was, in fact, the entrance to a secret passageway…

“It’ll lead us up to the Atrium, and the pathway to the Royal Library, right?” I asked, fighting back another interruption from those noises in my ears.

He nodded. It wasn’t surprising the guardsponies were informed of the location and uses of the palace’s secret passageways. Aside from the fact they could be used to get a late or sleepy guardspony to his post double-time, they served a strategic purpose for allowing quick regroup and rapid response to intrusion. It only made it more frightening the Royal Guard had managed to be completely overwhelmed within minutes when they had that kind of advantage. Chrysalis really had outsmarted everypony…

Well, all the more reason to get to the Sanctum quickly. Who knew what she was planning now? I doubted she’d consumed Princess Celestia or anypony else significant yet…she wouldn’t dare do that while the Kickers still held the outer city…

Assuming they still did. Chrysalis had seen me down in the caverns and would know about the decoy. The changelings would no doubt be hammering against the Kicker compound even now. We’d erected enough defenses to last a while, but…

No point thinking on it. We had left orders to commence counter-attack immediately if the deception was compromised. The Kickers’ objective was now either invading the palace…or escaping the city if the shield wasn’t put down in the next couple of hours...

I ducked into the passageway, my team following. With any luck, the changelings wouldn’t have shown any interest in the Royal Library yet. Sure, it was a fair bet they’d be in the Atrium that led there…but I couldn’t imagine they had much use for books…





It was a nightmare.

That was the only way to describe it.

They had turned the Royal Atrium of Canterlot palace into a bucking meat locker. Luminous green sacs hung from every pillar, every balcony, and every flagpole. There must have been hundreds of captive ponies hanging unconscious – some of them still whole, some fed upon…some nothing more than empty shells…

“This is…hideous…” Star whispered from my side. Her eyes were wide and her jaw hung open.

“Another thing those bugs have to answer for,” I growled. Worst of all were the cocoons holding foals. I couldn’t bear to look at those…

“Sh-shall we cut them down?” Glass Eye asked hesitantly, his horn glowing with the effort of sustaining his conjured blade.

I looked around. There were hundreds of ponies imprisoned here, likely dragged from every corner of the palace, and our clock was ticking. Even if we somehow had time to release them all, the huge force would compromise our stealth when we moved for the library. It didn’t matter we hadn’t seen a single bug yet – the kind of commotion it’d cause having a hundred ponies tromping around in the Atrium was bound to draw some attention…

I sighed, “We can’t, solider. It’d compromise our mission. Don’t worry, we can release them prior to the counter-…” I trailed off. I had just heard something. A real something, not that...you know...sorta hallucination thingy...

The whole atrium and the massive archways out had all gone dark. The sun was still stuck in the sky above, so daylight was still streaming in from the windows above, but somehow the atrium was darkening quickly…

…Shadow’s hearing wasn’t blunted, however.

Dozens of running hoofsteps and a faint incoming buzzing.

Changelings were approaching. Fast.

“The library! Now!” I hissed loudly. My troops and Bons didn’t need to be told twice. We all darted down the next hallway for the stairs that led up. The unicorns’ hooves pounded and their armor rattled, complete with the slapping sound of Lyra bouncing on Bons’ back. 

Shadow’s armor or not, caught there in the Atrium, with every escape route cut off and approachable from all sides wasn’t how I wanted to do battle. As we ran, Star conjured up her map of the palace, floating in mid-air in front of us as we moved. “The entrance to the sanctum…it’s under the central pillar. Glass Eye, can you open it?”

The unicorn nodded, “I think I can help y-…”

There was a snarl from the gloom behind us, followed by a high, shrieking laugh I recognized only too well. The bottom fell out of my stomach, “She knows where we are…”

“Move it!!”





Sparkler huddled down in fright as the sounds of battle erupted from outside. The changelings were attacking again. She could tell from the screeching.

Sparkler was torn. On one hoof, she was slapping herself for not getting out of that med tent to help the defense of the Kicker compound. On the other, she didn’t want to leave Uncle Cirrus’ side again, especially since he was going to be left completely defenseless with all the chaos. Several patients were twitching and struggling, aware of the danger and yelling to be set free. Their doctors were trying to calm them down, but the ponies weren’t stupid. They knew that danger was coming fast and they weren’t going to sit tight and wait for death. 

They knew it was fight or flight. Sparkler didn’t blame them.

She just sat there silently, huddled against her uncle’s bed, listening to her own heart hammering against her eardrums…

She wished Cloud Kicker was still here…

“Defensive grid! Keep them away from that tent!” the sergeant roared from outside, just as another screech came from right behind Sparkler. She jumped and spun around.

There was a changeling right on the other side of that canvas flap…

She steeled herself, gulping and starting to gather her magic.

Now or never… If that thing came for her uncle…





With a click and the low grinding of ancient stone cogs, the pillar moved aside.

I glanced around. The Star Swirl the Bearded section was pretty much the kind of place you’d expect to find a magical sanctum or something like that. All those musty old tomes, scrolls and the creepy deep purple lanterns gave the place a disturbing air of voodoo-hoodoo…

The gate to the restricted area had been a bit problematic at first, since it was warded and protected against the universal key. I had started hammering on the door in frustration until Shadow gave an exasperated whisper in my ear…

After I groaned and said “Please open up”, the gleaming lock had promptly disengaged.

Good old Star Swirl…I’m sure he was having a giggle somewhere. Centuries in his grave (or so everypony said) and still leaving behind practical jokes for anypony who dug into his work. Jackass.

Anyway, after we had shut and barred the thing against our pursuers, Glass Eye had flipped the hidden switch and the central pillar did its thing.

Underneath was a long stone spiral staircase. As the pillar continued to rumble, magical apertures set in golden frames down the wall gleamed and started giving off a pale golden light. We didn’t waste a second hurrying down. From the looks of things, Chrysalis didn’t know about the Sanctum Solarion, but if her children caught up and saw the secret entrance, it wouldn’t be too long before she could figure it out.

Unfortunately, it didn’t look like there was any way to close the staircase from inside. At least not here at the top. We needed to keep moving. When I looked down, squinting against the gloom, I could see the staircase went at least fifty feet down.

“How far is it?” I asked Glass Eye, but he just shrugged. Yeah, of course he hasn’t been down here before.

Snorting in annoyance, I motioned for everypony to hurry, hissing in irritation at another noise in my ears. Those voices or whatever they were just weren't shutting up! 

Star hesitated for just a minute at the top, and when I turned to see what was keeping her, I could see her engraving a deep blue glyph with her magic into the stone wall…

“An alarm ward…” she said when she cantered down to me, “When the changelings find it, I’ll know.”

Clever. Star had just found a way of letting us know if were compromised. There was no doubt the bugs knew we were here, but the tower was a big place and we’d been running fast. All of our six unicorns and the remaining pegasus guard were lathered and breathing heavily. Fun fact: Canterlot palace may look sleek and slender from the outside because of its height and the circular towers, but the interior is actually much larger than it seems. Could be more of that unicorn magic at work…

Bon Bon, the only earth pony among us, was faring better. But not by much, since she was still carrying Lyra around. 

“Bon Bon,” I began quietly as we descended the steps, “I think you’d better let me-”

She shook her head without looking at me, then set her jaw and sped up a little to get out of whisper range.

Well, how could I blame her? Even if what I suspected about Ponyville’s cutest couple wasn’t true (though I was fairly sure of it by now), I don’t imagine any force in Equestria or Tartarus would make Bons let go of Lyra after what had happened…

It occurred to me that after our mission down here was over, I’d have to do something about Bons. Her part in this was over now, and it was just too dangerous to keep her around for the counter-attack. I’d have to tell her to get someplace safe with her fillyfriend and hope she was in the mood to listen…

Even though the entrance had been narrow to stay well-hidden, the stairway within was wide and even, with the inner pit stretching several meters in radius. Every stone step was worn and polished from years of passing hooves. The Sanctum Solarion had seen frequent use in the years following the Lunar Rebellion, but even after Princess Celestia recovered, I was willing to bet court wizards had made a trip at least every few months to inspect the sanctum and keep it in working order. That was good. If the thing didn’t work now, it wouldn’t matter what we did – the whole Kicker compound and the entire city would be overrun again in a matter of hours…

We needed Princess Luna…now! If we could lower the sun, there would be nothing to stop her raising the moon and double-timing it back…

…I hoped.

Finally, the staircase spun to an end before a raised archway, carved in large, cream and purple-veined marble, complete with yellow stone busts of the sun and the moon inlaid over the entrance. Between the two were a sequence of ancient glyphs carved in some language I didn’t know.

Star seemed to, though. “Yeah, this is definitely it…” The bluish light from her horn illuminated her sweaty face, throwing the fine creases into shade and making her look older and more haggard than she was, “The glyphs say this is where we can find the ‘orbs of the sisters’…”

I shook myself. We made it.

“Then let’s not waste any time,” I went back into command mode and stepped through the arch, the other ponies following me. As we entered, lights slowly flared into life from the slats in the stone walls as we walked. 

The ceiling slowly came alive with an ancient, bluish star map that illuminated the whole cavern. A perfect copy of the night sky…I could see almost every constellation that I’d often lingered on top of clouds to gaze at on a lonely night…

Okay, rare I admit, but even I enjoyed a quiet night from time to time…

And when I looked back down into the lower area, I saw what we had come for…

A quiet murmur arose from our troops and Glass Eye as they looked around. No doubt about it – this place was impressive. Even though the sanctum was only nine hundred years old – a fairly recent magical construct by Canterlot standards – it had been conceived and designed by Star Swirl the Bearded ages earlier than that. It was only after the Lunar Rebellion that had Sunbeam Sparkle dug the plans out of the Canterlot Archives and convinced Princess Celestia to finally allow its construction. After what had happened in the final days of the war, it had only seemed prudent…

I wondered if either of them had ever guessed the Sanctum Solarion would one day be used to bring the night instead of day – like we were going to do now…

The sanctum apparatus was made up of a massive golden globe set into the floor of the chamber, surrounded by engraved magical glyphs and inlaid carvings of alicorns sprinting and flying around a fertile green landscape. Above and around the globe, a large pair of golden rings were set into the floor. They were obviously made to spin in a full sphere around the globe, but they were inactive and still at the moment. 

Attached to the outer ring was a larger golden orb with wavy prongs. The other, inner one had a smaller silver orb with perfectly-inlaid streaks of gray.

The sun and the moon.

The walls flickered with enclosed magical torches that left most of the walls in shadow, but when I squinted, I could see long, deep grooves carved into them. Long lines of light blue stone glinted dully from within.

Magic pathways. They didn’t glow or gleam – they were inert. Deactivated…

I straightened. “Alright, time to light this candle…” I turned to Star, who nodded and lit her horn. The other unicorns all followed suit except Glass Eye, who I waved off and motioned to guard the antechamber.

While the unicorns went to work divining the chamber’s core, I glanced over at Bon Bon, who was settling Lyra against the wall beneath the staircase. I strode over to them. Okay, technically I was supposed to be playing the tough officer, but I figured I’d ignored them too long already…

Lyra still didn’t seem any closer to waking. Even though it was probably a bad time for it, I couldn’t help but feel a flash of worry for her. Maybe blowing Chrysalis out of her had been a little more damaging than we thought? What if she stayed that way?

Just then, Lyra twitched. One of those stiff, jerky, whole-body movements a half-asleep pony might have when in the beginnings of a bad dream. It was a sign – maybe not a very good one – but a sign, that Lyra was beginning to find her way back to consciousness…

Bon Bon looked up at me slowly, “Cloud Kicker…” Her voice had a pleading tone.

I leaned slightly down to her, “What is it?”

She glanced sideways at her fillyfriend again before answering, “If something happens to me…you will take care of Lyra, won’t you?”

I blinked. If something happened to Bons? “Why in the hay are you-”

“Cloud Kicker!” Her voice was firm and insistent, “You will take care of her, right?!”

“Bon Bon, nothing’s going to happen to you!”

“Cloud Kicker!”

I was at a loss. Bon Bon, of all ponies, should have known I would never cut and run on Lyra no matter what. Why on earth was she asking me th-?

Oh…

I groaned, applying one hoof to face and raising another in a placating gesture, “Goes without saying, okay Bons? Now please knock it off! Nothing’s going to happen to either of you.”

She didn’t answer me, but the next glance at her lover’s slowly-rising and falling belly made the unspoken attachment obvious. Even if I hadn’t figured it out just now. I sighed. I didn’t know why Bons thought that would change anything, which it wouldn’t. Even if something did happen to her - which it wouldn’t! “I’ll take care of you all no matter what. That’s a promise.”

Her eyes softened finally as relief flooded her expression, “Thank you…” She leaned in to kiss my cheek, but I quickly stepped away, quickly straightening my legs and re-assuming my military air. Bons nodded in understanding and I turned away. I perked my ears up and listened for any sign from up above, trying to focus Shadow’s hearing and those annoying voices I was still hearing!

So far as I could tell, the changelings didn’t know where we were yet. There was a faint buzzing noise from back up the staircase, but it was muffled and weakened by the stones. Even if they had tracked us to the library…I could tell they hadn’t found the entrance to the sanctum yet...

If we got this thing working though…that was going to change.

I heard a grunt from Star and looked over at her. She screwed her face up in concentration for a few moments, straining as her horn glowed brightly, and I briefly wondered what was up until she relaxed and her horn went dark again. When Star opened her eyes, she was frowning slightly, “My divination isn’t as good as it should be, Lieutenant – there’s a lot of interference down here – but I think I know how to operate it…”

I nodded and stepped before our assembled unicorns, who recognized the early signs of a field briefing and snapped to attention. 

“Very well, ponies of Clan Kicker…” I nodded in Glass Eye’s direction, “…and valiant defenders of Canterlot! Once we activate the sanctum, this area is gonna get hot very quickly! The enemy will know where we are in moments! And moments are probably all we will have! You must lower the sun as fast as you can! Be prepared to establish a perimeter and alternate between guarding your team and focusing the sanctum! Fear not, with the power of Shadow Kicker’s armor, I will protect you until my last breath! These bugs caught us all by surprise, played us for fools and stole our city and our princess from us…” 

I took a deep breath, “…and now it’s time to take it all back! For Celestia! For Equestria!” I finished in a deep, throaty growl!

There were salutes and growls of approval from the troops, and they immediately swung into action.

“Soldier!” Star barked, turning to one, “Secure the hour of the Timber Wolf!” The old battlecaster hastened to obey, lighting his horn and cantering over to an arrow etched into the globe’s outer ring, a timber wolf etching snarling out of the floor.

“Soldier! Hour of the Ursa!” The young grandson wasted no time obeying, practically leaping onto the arrow showing a growling bear face. “Good! Hour of the Fruit Bat! Hour of the Cragadile! Hour of the…” 

Star choked for a second, glancing at me before she finished, “…Hour of the Diamond Dog!”

As each unicorn lit his horn and took up his position, Star shifted her posture slightly so she stood on the Hour of the Quarray Eel. 

She looked at me. I nodded. Star cleared her throat, “On three…” Her strong voice echoed throughout the chamber.

“One…two…”

“Three!” The unicorns all immediately lit their horns, filling the sanctum with bright shades of light.

The walls suddenly groaned. A real, deep groan – not the kind of thing you get from shifting stone or anything like that. It sounded like a long, deep horn far off in the distance…only it wasn’t…

Slowly, the runes carved into the chamber floor began to glow with a pale blue light. Each of the unicorn’s auras started to flare and grow as the runes beneath them responded to their power, with the blue glow slowly spreading out along the floor…

Each glyph slowly flared to life like an eye slowly opening after a long sleep. The deep grooves along the walls began to come to life, glowing with an inner blue and the sound of a deeper rumble. The rings around the globe slowly began to move, starting to twist and rotate in place, vanishing into the gaps in the floor as their rotation dipped them below the globe…

Star grunted from my side and I turned to look at her. She was all aglow with a deep blue aura from the sanctum, but she was already sweating and her muzzle was clenched, eyes squeezed shut as she concentrated. I grimaced and looked around. The sanctum was working alright, but getting it to do what we wanted was obviously going to take a while…

Just then, the floor jolted and, unnervingly fast, a deep black void, lit only by the glowing blue glyphs, suddenly opened up beneath us. I felt an instinctive twitch of panic at the sudden freefall pit below and flapped my wings briefly on instinct…

…before I realized the floor was still there. When I looked closely, I could still faintly see the distortion from the gaps between the bricks and tiles beneath us…

The floor had gone transparent. 

 I immediately looked at Star, who was still focusing and didn’t seem to be aware of the change. One of the other unicorns wasn’t so fixated on his work though. He glanced down and immediately yelled in panic, scrambling with his hooves. I promptly shot over to him and placed a restraining hoof on the recruit’s back. After breathing heavily and sweating for a couple of seconds, the young unicorn looked sideways at me before squeezing his eyes shut and refocusing on the beacons…

Then there was a deep groaning, and slowly…the floor began to rise as the sanctum’s elevator mechanism kicked in…

I could only hope the bug bitch queen didn’t realize what we were up to until it was too late.





Celestia cringed and did her best to stop herself from writhing as Chrysalis struck her cocoon with her magic yet again.

The chamber was alive with changeling activity. Almost everypony had been cocooned and strung up, including Twilight Sparkle and her friends. Some were dragged away somewhere, and any who resisted were bitten and beaten by the drones before they were dragged off. Chrysalis gleefully informed her that a beaten pony made no less of a meal for a changeling than an unmarked one, much to Celestia’s disgust.

Shining Armor and Cadance were the worst by far. Cadance had been pulled from her hooves and suspended in ichor by Chrysalis herself who – cackling with glee – had ordered Shining Armor to raise his shield around the palace grounds – unless of course, he wanted to see Cadance stripped down to the bones by her childrens’ jaws. Shining Armor had no choice but to obey despite Cadance’s pleading with him to forget her and save Canterlot. The same pleas that nearly broke Celestia’s heart…

For the eternally-benevolent Sun princess, the thought of causing another’s death was abhorrent. But now, her regret that she had commanded Shadow Kicker and Midnight Sparkle to save Chrysalis’ life in the past was threatening to overpower that. 

If this went on, the mercy she had shown Chrysalis was going to harm more of her little ponies than her displeasure had ever done…the thought was almost enough to reduce Celestia to tears.

Chrysalis had told her Cloud Kicker was already dead – that she had destroyed her in the crystal caverns when she attempted to force her way into the palace. She had refused to believe it, but some of Chrysalis’ story rang true. 

The caverns? Why would Chrysalis make up something so unusual? There is at least some truth to this…

Then she felt another jolt…

She stiffened, opening her eyes again.

Another one of her ancient wards had just gone off. Magic was filtering into her horn from a source she had not felt in years…

Her eyes widened. The Sanctum. The Sanctum Solarion…

She glanced out the only balcony that still remained uncovered by changeling slime, itching with the centuries-old urge to lower her sun into the horizon and allow night to begin…but anytime she lit her horn Chrysalis’ cold, wet blanket of power fell over her…

Just then, Celestia felt something. Something unpleasant. Even though she was not consciously controlling it while Chrysalis held her captive, she could still feel her eternal body up in the heavens…

…but just now, she had been shunted aside, her consciousness thrown into a deep corner of the Sun, while someone…or something, had just pushed past her…

She then realized what was happening.

Luna…they are trying to bring Luna back…

She raised her head as far as she could against her ichor restraints and gazed into the far horizon – a horizon where, she knew, the moon would be struggling to rise against the unyielding light of her older sister…

Celestia lowered her head again, too exhausted and saddened to smile. Hurry, Cloud Kicker.  There isn’t much time…





Chrysalis stood alone on the balcony overlooking the palace grounds, watching through a thousand eyes as her children threw themselves upon the Kicker clan defenses, at the same time they searched the palace catacombs, at the same time they hung her captives in the meat lockers.

Celestia, Shining Armor, and Mi Amore Cadenza were her trophies however. They would remain here in her power until she found such a time as to sate her hunger…and to let them marinate in tasty fear over their fates for as long as she found it so delicious…

But where was Cloud Kicker?

Chrysalis growled under her breath. The pesky nag was likely hiding under some rock after her children had become aware of her in the palace and she sent them to root her out. It would only be a matter of time until she was found. And then… 

She snapped her jaws fiercely at the memory of what that nag had forced her to see down in the caverns…

No chances this time. The instant her children flushed Cloud Kicker out, she would send her entire swarm to destroy her. No slow, gentle feeding this time – she’d allow her children to indulge and tear Cloud Kicker limb from limb…

Just then, Chrysalis’ green eyes refocused, returning from their journey into the hive mind. There was an odd sound in the air...

Chrysalis’ antennae crown twitched and she strained to hear whatever it was that was causing that faint rumbling…

She then took a curious step closer to the edge of the balcony. Whatever it was, it was somewhere in the palace and it was getting louder every moment…

Louder, and louder. Until, instead of a rumbling, it became a massive, ground-shaking roar.  

Chrysalis knew something was wrong – she took to the air, looking down upon the library tower below, attached to the palace proper by a long marble bridge…

Right then, dozens of her children combing the library all screamed in instant, blinding agony and their vision broke from the hive mind, snuffed out by the crushing impact of the stone floor bursting beneath their feet!

Chrysalis shrieked – the sound drowned out by the massive explosion that followed. The upper spire of the Canterlot Royal Library burst open like an overripe fruit with an ear-shattering crash! 

A great, blue glare greeted the changeling queen’s eyes. The magical nexus within the shattered tower was expanding rapidly, stretching out arcs of fierce blue lightning. 

Right there, before the thousand eyes of Chrysalis, the brilliant blue sphere collapsed on itself, leaving a large, diamond circle in the open air, straddling the remnants of the library spire.

Three great spinning globes surmounted a diamond platform – and she knew instantly what they were…

No…no, no, no, NO!!!!

This was impossible! This couldn’t be happening! Not after she’d come this close to her final revenge!!

But there she was.

Cloud Kicker, still clad in the armor of her ancestor, was standing on top of the inner golden globe, wings flared and blades raised…and she was looking right in Chrysalis’ direction…

Before she could move, speak, or think, the yellow orb mounted above the globe glowed brilliantly…

Cloud Kicker opened her mouth.

“NOW!!!!”

There was a brilliant blue flash from six glowing pony-shapes on the platform, and the golden orb opened its outer layer like a huge eye…

That massive, deep black hole rolled up in its orb towards the heavens…and promptly shot a massive golden beam into the air, engulfing Cloud Kicker in light – though her silhouette stood firm within the rising pillar of fire...

The stream of living, raging light snaked and flickered and clawed its way up, and up, and up into the sky…

…and struck the sun.

NO!!! 

Thousands of changelings across the city stumbled and fell as their mistress’ mind blanked in utter shock. The sun was falling, fast, heavily, and almost wearily, as though it were tired of its work and speeding towards a long-overdue nap. It would be forever remembered as the fastest sunset in Equestrian history…

The changeling queen’s eyes fell back down to the device, where Cloud Kicker, red, raging, and defiant, glared up at her from the now-dark, sleeping eye in the center…

“DEATH WAITS IN THE SHADOWS!!!” She roared as the moon began to emerge from the dusk, “FOR YOU, CHRYSALIS!!”

> A Shadow Of Liberation
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Blossomforth pumped her wings hard, struggling to keep up with the larger, fitter ponies leading the column.

The borrowed militia suit she had been given from the old Ponyville armory didn’t fit her so well, especially around the wings. The pinching was annoying, and also made her feel like she couldn’t get up to full speed. Flying in armor must have taken a lot of practice for the Guardponies…

Derpy was there too (and despite everything Blossomforth felt a certain guilty pleasure seeing her wrestle even harder with her silly lime-green conscript suit). She was panting and sweating heavily, no doubt regretting all those extra muffins as she flapped her wings to try to keep up.

She clenched her jaw, ashamed of herself. Derpy had much more to be worried about than she did! Not only was Cloud Kicker still in Canterlot, but Sparkler and the whole Doo family were there too! If there was ever a time Derpy deserved a break, it was now. Blossomforth had to admit she couldn’t even imagine what must be going through her mind right now…with her parents, brother, and teenage daughter trapped in a city under siege by an unknown, enemy strong enough to snatch the capital right out from under their muzzles…

She then turned back to the horizon, where the Night Guard, headed by Princess Luna herself, were leading their flight. Blossomforth had been completely stunned when Luna recognized her back in Ponyville town square and commanded her to round up as many volunteers from the Ponyville weather team as she could.

They were going to war…

Most of Ponyville already guessed something was up when the sun wasn’t setting, but it was only after the arrival of Princess Luna at the head of an army that everypony knew something had to have gone horribly wrong. Monsters called “changelings” had somehow shut down Canterlot and trapped the Night Guard and the Long Patrol in the outer reaches of Equestria…

Cloud Kicker…

Blossomforth swallowed a lump in her throat, redoubling her efforts to get ahead. They had to get there as fast as they could. Cloud Kicker’s life might depend on it!

Long Patrol trooper Storm Kicker led their column in silence, her head turned straight towards the northern horizon with her jaw clenched.
She’s angry, Blossom thought. 

And who can blame her? The rest of Long Patrol had divided the Ponyville and Cloudsdale volunteers between them for leadership, and there was no doubt they had to cut back on speed for the sake of their untrained and under-equipped followers.

At this rate, it was going to take them at least a day to make it Canterlot…and that was only the advance pegasi force. The massive sky-chariots behind them carrying Big Mac and all the other earth ponies and unicorns would probably take even longer…

Blossomforth glided down to where Derpy was. The other pegasus looked at her, but said nothing, shifting in mid-flight to swing her rusty old crupper back into place again. Blossomforth leaned down and bit on the strap on Derpy’s shoulder, pulling it tightly between her teeth until it slid through the catch and Derpy’s breastplate hiked up into place.

Derpy looked at her for a moment, eyes narrowing, before she nodded and turned back to the horizon, “Thanks…”

“We’re going to get there soon, Derpy,” Blossomforth said, wishing she believed it as much as she pretended to, “I’m sure Sparkler’s fine. We both know Cloud Kicker would do anything to keep her safe, no matter what…”

Derpy made no response beyond biting her lip and flapping harder, redoubling her efforts to keep up with the group.

Blossomforth sighed to herself, her less-than-successful attempt to reassure Derpy already starting to sting. I probably just made it worse.
At this rate, we’re all going to strip ourselves down to our last feathers and still get there too late!

Wait…what’s that noise?

Suddenly, out of the deep blue ahead, there was a rumble in the air. A hungry growl was echoing through the ears of every pony in Blossomforth’s platoon. Many of her fellow volunteer-militia faltered in mid-air, craning their heads around to look for the source of the deep, rolling sound.

Blossomforth felt a brief tremor of panic. Her nerves were already frayed and more surprises were the last thing she – and probably everypony else – needed right now. She felt her wings twitch slightly as she hovered.

Then there was a jolt!

An invisible, but perfectly detectable, burst of force through the air that rattled everypony’s armor and sent the chariots to waving…
She instinctively cringed back from the mysterious force…but it wasn’t in the least bit painful. The force came and went through her with no more than a faint jump of her bones. Blossom didn’t know what it was, but it was strong, and obviously, coming from very far away…

What was that?!!

Princess Luna’s ear-shattering Royal Canterlot Voice echoed out over the clouds.“HALT!!!” 

And then, they saw it.

Out in the far distance, over the horizon, a thin, golden beam was arcing across the sky. Whatever it was – it was far away and no thicker than a needle, but it couldn’t be missed for the forks of golden lightning that branched and flickered off as it flew across the sky, arcing over to the west…

Wha-?!

The beam began to swell up and gather speed, and Blossomforth realized it was getting closer. She turned her head and followed its path, as the rest of the force watched, mystified…

The beam arced around over the north-western horizon and struck the sun...

…which quivered in the sky like it had been struck, and slowly began to crumple to the ground…

Darkness fell around them in a matter of seconds, the sun turning a sullen orange, then red, and then vanishing completely beneath a darkening horizon in a matter of seconds…

Shocked gasps erupted all over the column. Nopony had ever seen the sun set so quickly before. Blossomforth however, had a sudden thought and turned to look at the Royal Chariot again…

Princess Luna immediately flared into life. A silvery-blue aura surrounded her, eyes turning white as her horn glowed brilliantly…
Stars immediately appeared in the sky, blinking into existence like raindrops on a great glass window. Shimmering streaks of silver emerged from the gloom and the great eyes of swirling nebulae winked down at the ponies as Luna’s night fell.

Blossomforth whipped her head around and…sure enough…in the gathering night, she saw the faintest outline of a white orb emerging through the gloom.

Night had fallen…

…In less than ten seconds.

What the hay is going on?! Blossomforth would have pinched herself if she could move that far in her armor...

The Royal Chariot promptly wheeled in mid-air to face the ponies. The pegasi were still staring at the almost-instant nightfall, and the sky-chariots floated on their limp chains, many of the ponies within muttering and obviously scared about the halt. Blossom did not blame them, it had to be unnerving for a groundpounder to suddenly be floating on a tiny platform miles above the earth…

“FRIENDS, PONIES, LOYAL SUBJECTS!!!” Luna boomed from the royal chariot, her face seemingly unfazed and set with determination, “GATHER THINE ARMS AND STRENGTHEN THY HEARTS! NIGHT FALLS NOW THAT OUR ALLIES IN CANTERLOT HATH STRUCK THE SUN TO ITS SLUMBER!!” As she spoke, her mane and coat began to glimmer. Her horn and cutie mark shone with magic as she gathered her power…

“PREPARE THYSELVES NOW!! WE RIDE UPON MY MOONBEAMS TO THE CAPITAL WITH ALL HASTE!!!” Her horn lit and up and Luna’s aura swelled powerfully, becoming a flaming white pillar.

There was a chorus of muttering all around – becoming cheers and approving yells as the moon finally came fully into view, the sky darkening into deepest night…

Blossomforth swallowed, glancing at the rusty old wingblades the Night Guards had slapped on her. She had never used wingblades before, and had only the faintest idea of how they worked from the crash course Long Patrol had given them before take-off. Hope my special talent lets me adapt to wingblades too…I don’t want to cut myself.

She glanced at Derpy, who had clenched her jaw and was raising a giant mallet (she’d “borrowed” it from Pinkie Pie’s home) in her forehooves. Blossomforth quirked one eyebrow at her and turned to look at Storm Kicker, who had drawn herself up in a stoic soldier’s pose, eyes flashing with determination.

Princess Luna tuned her head to face the moon, which – somehow – also managed to look larger and more powerful than usual, gleaming with bright white moonlight.

Luna’s horn gleamed as she cast – not with a gentle chime or whisper like Blossomforth usually heard from unicorns, but with a massive crack that startled her.

Storm clouds immediately gathered. Before everyponies’ eyes, the clouds clutched at each other, blocking the face of the moon. The night grew darker and darker, as the clouds drew closer together, embracing and snaking around each other…until only a single, wide shaft of gleaming moonlight shone through their midst.

Without hesitation, Luna’s Night Guard dived straight for the moonlight. They gathered speed, descending faster and faster…until they pulled up and expertly landed on the moonbeam with a slam. As though it were solid ground...

As Luna’s chariot thundered towards the gap in the clouds, Storm Kicker wheeled around and faced them.

“It is time, citizens of Ponyville!” she barked loudly. Her voice was strong and authoritative, not wavering or betraying a hint of fear for even a single moment, “These changeling monsters have come to take our families and loved ones!!I think it’s about time we show the changelings how Equestria deals with pesky bugs!” She pumped a hoof, scowling, “We SWAT ‘em!!!”

The answering roar was immediate. Even Blossomforth felt like joining in, adrenalin bubbling up in her veins and pins and needles erupting everywhere over her body. Even the armor didn’t bother her anymore. Storm’s courage was infectious…

She scowled, the butterflies in her stomach forgotten. Then what are we waiting for?!

“Forward!!!” Storm Kicker roared, diving for the moonbeam – Blossomforth, Derpy, and most of the Ponyville weather team right behind…

Blossomforth hardly felt the sudden, rough landing on the moonroad. She hardly felt the dark, grasping fingers of the storm clouds as they galloped towards the light. Didn’t even care it was too bright to see when the moonbeam finally swallowed them...

*

“CLOSE FORMATION!” I yelled, as the first wave of changelings descended on us. The Sanctum Solarion had already shut down and was beginning to float back down into the spire.

The upper dome of the library tower had shattered, the sanctum’s shield protecting us from the debris as we emerged. Whichever bright-spark architect had the idea of building that massive purple onion on top of the elevator shaft obviously hadn’t counted on the sanctum ever being used again…

The gyroscope platform was rotating slowly in mid-air as it descended, the central globe now dark and lifeless. We had done it. Night had fallen – and fast – but I knew the enemy would be on us in a matter of seconds and it was going to be tough with just the ten of us fighting them off until the sanctum sank back into the tower. And even that was no guarantee we’d be safe – the changelings would probably just swarm inside…

Bottom line, I had to take the fight to the enemy right now and hold them off by myself until Star and the others could escape.
Now that we were outside in the cool, night air again, I could feel Shadow’s power spilling out of the grooves in the armor again. With no crystals anywhere around, she was up and raring to go…

My forehooves clenched and I raised my wings, shooting up into the air as the buzzing grew louder, “Here they come!”

At least fifteen changelings were coming at us, and that was just from above. I had no idea how many could be approaching from the palace floors below. Even with Shadow’s armor, I was going to have my hooves full fighting them all off at once…

“Get back down and into the atrium,” I yelled down to Star, “Get those ponies strung up down there back out!”

Although she must have had her doubts about me engaging those changelings alone, Star clenched her jaw and snapped off a salute before she turned and yelled to the unicorns, “Shield!”

There was a rush in the air, and before I knew it, horns lit up and a large blue magic shield had sprung up around the gyroscope. Once again, I was glad for my little cousin’s brains. That barrier wouldn’t last forever, but at least it’d give the unicorns some much-needed breathing space and, hopefully, the time Star needed to come up with a plan…

Turning, I saw the lead six changelings flying for me with fangs bared.

Well, Shadow, let’s see what your armor can do in the air this time…

She didn’t reply, but her shadows flared out, and I let out a snort so hard I could actually see my breath in the cool, misty air. Shadow’s strength rolled through my muscles like a crashing tidal wave, and these poor bugs were flying right for it…

That hyper-balance, equilibrium thing I mentioned before was back in the play, and through the eyes of Shadow Kicker’s helmet, I could see every single current of air those bugs were diving on. Let’s see how many I can knock off ‘em, then…

I clenched my wings and climbed, extending the blades as I blew past the drones. A matching pair of high, shrill shrieks and mismatched tatters of disembodied insect wings floating through the air told me it’d had exactly the effect I’d wanted – the changelings were plummeting to their deaths.

The next two were in close formation, but that didn’t faze me. I angled my charge to compensate and sped on, knocking them aside like they were made of cloud – before I pulled up sharply at a 90-degree angle, snapping my body like a whip. Before either changeling could right itself, I was on them with blades bared. The first one died without even a scream as I cut its head off. The other one was slightly faster and dodged my first couple of swipes, hissing furiously, before it opened its mouth to spit goop. It never got the chance though – I’d already slipped my blade in under its guard while my other wing obstructed its sight, neatly gutting it from throat to abdomen.

The drone stared right at my snarling face through those hollow, turquoise eyes before it gurgled weakly and went limp. I kicked it off my blade and readied myself again as more changelings appeared below…

One of them smashed head-first into Star’s shield and fell, cross-eyed, to the platform. Good, it couldn’t get through…but on the other hoof my troops couldn’t hit the thing while it was still on the other side of their shield either. And the changelings following it weren’t quite as dumb. They slowed up and started pounding against the barrier. Star flinched slightly and grit her teeth, pumping more magic into it together with the other unicorns.

That other, glowing green shield was still in place around the palace grounds, and we were now inside it with a wall of green between us and the emerging night sky; the changelings out in the city couldn’t get to us, but there were still dozens of the things flying out of the palace itself. This was bad.

I dived back to the gyroscope to take out Star’s attackers, but the changelings parted before my charge, hissing – every soulless blue eye on me as they retreated several steps back.

They didn’t move to attack again after I landed. Something was up…

 “DO YOU THINK YOU HAVE MADE A DIFFERENCE, CLOUD KICKER? DO YOU?!!”

That voice.

I looked up and across the towers at the balcony of the Royal Solar, where Chrysalis was glaring down at me, her children flanking her sides. Unbidden, I felt my lips stretch out into a snarl and fury bubbled up in my veins…

The gathering night made the greenish gleam from her eyes all the more ominous as she scowled at me in return, fangs glittering with venom as she spoke, “IF PRINCESS LUNA TAKES ONE HOOFSTEP WITHIN THIS PALACE, I WILL CONSUME HER PRECIOUS SISTER AND EVERY LIVING BEING WITHIN! THIS CHANGES NOTHING!! NOTHING!!!”

“You take one single life, and not one of your children will ever escape from us, Chrysalis!” I yelled back, “I swear on Celestia not a single changeling will survive!”

I glanced down briefly, before I saw Chrysalis’ scowl morph into a twisted grin. “BRING HIM FORWARD!” she commanded her drones.
I groaned inwardly, knowing where this was likely to go. Of course Chrysalis would try that! Still, it would buy Star and the others some time until the Sanctum sank back into the tower…

There was movement behind Chrysalis in the archway back to the throne room…and Shining Armor walked out onto the balcony.
His face was pale and haggard, his mane tangled and breath coming heavily. His formal wear was frayed and smudged with green changeling ichor, but his eyes were the worst of all.

They were a deep, poisonous green.

Chrysalis had him in thrall. Just as she had Lyra.

It all clicked.

Finally, I understood. Shining Armor’s behavior. His muted warning to me. The Canterlot shield falling. The whole conspiracy unraveled like a loose bandage...

Chrysalis, you sneaky parasprite…

“Kicker clan militia, citizens of Canterlot…” Shining Armor slowly spoke, but his voice was hollow and cold, as though he was speaking through an enormous metal pipe, “On the authority of the Captain of the Guard, you are ordered to stand down and surrender yourselves! Canterlot has surrendered and Princess Celestia has been imprisoned. Queen Chrysalis is our rightful ruler now.”

I didn’t even bother dignifying that with an answer. Instead, I simply lifted Shadow’s wingblades, tapping into their ancient enchantment. Deep, orange flames burst from the tips of the blades, licking up and along my wingspan. Chrysalis was right in front of me, and one lucky charge with the full force of Shadow’s power might end this for good...

The bug bitch queen hissed, probably realizing my train of thought. Instead of fear or rage, however, her face morphed into a twisted grin, “I WOULD NOT DO THAT IF I WERE YOU, CLOUD KICKER…”

She turned her head, back into the alcove behind her, “Aluuulaaaa! Come here, sweetling! Somepony’s here to see you!”

My heart froze.

I still don’t know how I managed to keep enough wits about me to stay airborne over the events of the next few seconds. There was a shout from the alcove behind them, and squeal of pure terror that sent shivers down my spine, and the sounds of a muffled struggle, followed by a pained grunt and a thud…

Then a changeling drone dragged my terrified, tearful little sister out of onto the balcony by her hind hooves. Alula was struggling, wailing and crying, uselessly scrabbling on the floor with her forehooves as the thing dragged her out.

I went cold.

Then red hot…

“GET YOUR FILTHY HOOVES OFF HER!!!”

Alula froze at the sound of my voice, her head whipping around to stare, the flow of tears clearly visible under her reddened, terrified eyes.
“Cloudy!!” She somehow managed to kick her legs free of the drone and ran for the edge of the balcony, but she didn’t get more than a couple of steps before a large, hollow leg scooped her up around the middle…

My little sister screamed loudly and kicked at Chrysalis, who lifted her up to look her right in the eyes.

“Such a ssspirited little brat, isssn’t she, Cloud Kicker?” Chrysalis said in a revoltingly-sweet tone, turning those hateful green eyes in my direction, though her face did not move from leering at Alula, “And a little filly’s spirit tastes so deliciousss…”

“ALULA!!!” I couldn’t help but yell at the sight of her struggling. I didn’t dare move. Chrysalis was more than ten wingspans away. Even Rainbow Dash probably couldn’t make that distance before Chrysalis had time to bite. There was no way I could hope to wrest her from Chrysalis’ grip in time if I charged…

Then I felt Shadow’s presence again.

The events of the following few seconds will forever be a jumble to me. Suddenly, I was hovering there in mid-air, wings flaming for a charge, and then I felt like I was suddenly shunted back into a corner of my own consciousness. I was aware of my own body, but it felt like somepony else was pulling the strings. Whatever Shadow was doing, she apparently needed to take a few liberties with my body to do it…

It was then I realized Shadow had been practically shouting in my ear for the last ten seconds while I hovered there in terror and shock. Since she couldn’t slap my senses back into place, Shadow had apparently shoved me out of the saddle and taken the reins…

When I came to, I was somehow hanging off the wall below and to the left of the balcony. Clutching the wall like a spider.

In my place up in the air, a shadow clone was hovering where I had just been. Chrysalis obviously didn’t notice any difference if her hideous gloating was any indication.

“Ssso quiet, Cloud Kicker? Just as well! There isss nothing you can say, vermin, and nothing you can do!”
They couldn’t see me from where they were. If I lifted back up, I could probably take Chrysalis by surprise…

“I have your full attention then? Where are your brave taunts and insults now, Cloud Kicker?”

…but it’d still be pretty risky. Who knew if there’d be time to give Alula that one fatal little bite?

“Surrender to my drones now…and give us the armor…or your precious sister will meet the same end as your mother did!”

I suddenly felt a chill in my left forehoof. Glancing down, I almost had a heart attack.

The moonlight was doing a pretty good job of illuminating the place (if you didn’t count the slight greenish tint from the shield), but of course there are all kinds of nooks and concave alcoves where the gloom stays. My left forehoof had landed in the shadow behind a balcony pillar and almost literally melted into it. My foreleg was gone almost to the knee in the shadowy stone.

Then I realized the armor was glowing again.

A vivid scene flashed in my head as Shadow shared another memory with me.

She stood there, tall and proud, with several snarling monsters bearing down on her. They looked like ponies made of living darkness, except bright orange flames licked up and along their bodies, and their gaping muzzles were like nothing equine. Probably warlock's conjurations.

Shadow stood there quietly and impassively as they approached her. When one finally got close enough to bite, Shadow lit the armor and thrust a hoof right into the shadows beneath. It swallowed her hoof, her leg, then all of her. She faded into the shadows below, slithering through the darkness as a flat, insubstantial shade. I could see her position clearly by her glowing blue eyes, but the fire-things all gazed around bewildered until Shadow leapt back out of the pool of darkness and ambushed them...

...then the memory faded.

Smirking, I lit the armor.

My body melted down into the shadow and the color faded from my vision. 

I could see, but everything was hazy…purple and hazy.

I was a flat shadow, slithering along the marble surface of the tower…

…was there anything this old hunk of magic metal couldn’t do?

I knew I was invisible, just another crawling after-impression of some tower that caught the moonlight to the changeling’s eyes. I could climb up to the top and…

…end…

I clearly heard that word. I froze.

The whispering in my ears I’d been hearing all night was much louder now. As this crawling shadow, I was…hearing them clearly. The voices in my head were saying something…and they didn’t sound happy…

…war…cruel…blood…end…lie…no hope…

I felt a shiver run down my spine. Just what were these voices?

“If I recall, descendant…” From the tone of her voice, I could just imagine Shadow looking up at the sky and rolling her eyes, “’Twas it not always said to be unwise to tempt fortune by pondering its gifts rather than being grateful for them? Thy sister awaits above…”

Right.

Alula. 

Couldn’t worry about phantom voices now when my precious little sis was stuck in that monster’s paws… I felt my lips peel back from my teeth in a snarl as I resumed climbing with ringing in my ears.

As I crawled up the wall, completely unseen, I could hear Chrysalis taunting my decoy in front of her, though in my present state, her voice sounded hollow and far away…

“I will not say it again, Cloud Kicker! Tell your pathetic militia to surrender, or I will consume your precious little sister right here and now!”

The changeling drones in the air still weren’t moving, hovering there tensely, every muscle coiled for instant action their queen commanded it. I was going to have to do this fast…

“Do you think I’m bluffing, MAGGOT?!” Yeesh, it sounded like my decoy’s lack of response was starting to piss her off.

At least Star, Bons, Lyra, and the others were out of harm’s way. When I glanced down, I saw the Sanctum Solarion gyroscope platform had sunk back into the library tower and the drones hadn’t bothered trying to stop it. I could only hope my little cousin could get everypony back out okay…

“This is your last chance, Cloud Kicker!” Chrysalis hissed, lifting my squirming sister in her forelegs and baring her fangs threateningly as I continued to climb.

“Surrender now!”

I positioned myself on the apex above the balcony, slithering over the keystone and looking down. Chrysalis was directly below me, Shining Armor on her right, and Alula in her left foreleg’s grip. They were still staring at my double…

I powered down the armor, and my body began to rebuild itself from the shadow. Color returned to my vision. I wasn’t sad to hear those voices die down either…

“VERY WELL!!!” Chrysalis suddenly screamed in frustration, “Your sister is MINE!!”

“CLOUDYYY!!!!” Alula screamed in pure terror as Chrysalis slowly opened her jaws wide in front of her face.

“NO!!” I yelled, the armor amplifying my voice, “YOU ARE MINE, CHRYSALIS!!!”

Startled, Chrysalis spun around and had just enough time to scream in fury before I barreled right into her.

The three of us crashed together against the stone banister, which cracked and groaned threateningly, but did not give way. With a thought, fire flashed along my wingblades and I swept one up in an arc, neatly severing Chrysalis’ foreleg as I pinned her against the railing.

Alula cried out as she tumbled to the floor, the severed appendage still hanging onto her. I stuck out a hindleg to try and slow her fall, but that proved to be a mistake. Chrysalis took advantage of my weakened balance to shove me back, snarling and hissing in pain and anger.

As I stumbled to regain my balance, I was faintly aware of a gasp from behind me and the faint rustle of a head shaking. Then Shining Armor nickered in surprise, “Shadow Kicker?!! WHA-!!”

Alula squeaked on the floor and tried to struggle out of the severed foreleg. Chrysalis looked down and made a grab for my sister with her remaining foreleg, but I slammed her back into the balcony.

“ALULA, GET INSIDE!!” I roared as I grappled with Chrysalis, “RUN AWAY! RUN AWAY AND DON’T LOOK BACK!!!”

There was a sudden crackle of magic and, despite myself, I glanced behind me and saw Shining Armor, pale, haggard, and jaw set with fury, sweeping Alula up in his magic. His eyes had unglazed and his horn was lit a bright blue instead of the poisonous green.

He was himself again.

Two changeling drones emerged from the alcoves behind him, hissing and snapping their jaws, but he blasted them both with his magic. As they fell to the floor, twitching, Shining Armor glanced at me and gave a quick nod. He lit his horn again and shot a blue bolt at his green bubble shield.

The shield shuddered and let off a loud groan as though it were in pain…before great shivering cracks started to sprout along its surface…
 Shining Armor then turned and ran back into the dark throne room with my little sister.

“Cloudy! CLOUDYYYyyyyy!” Alula screamed after me all the way.

Sweet Celestia, please let them be okay…

That silent plea was rudely interrupted by the screech of fury from Chrysalis – right in my face – and she lit her horn.

She promptly reared her head skyward, bright green magic flowing up from her horn and crawling like a massive, bright-green slug over the shield, hurrying to try and mend the cracks to hold the weakened shield in place…

I held her pinned sideways against the stone banister, her one remaining foreleg flailing uselessly and her back bent sideways over the rail so she couldn’t get any hold with her hind legs. She hissed at me, those poisonous green eyes staring into mine with a killing glare - before I stumbled back against a crackling, stinging green magic burst that made my forehooves smoke.

Then Chrysalis lunged at me and we collided with a loud KERRANNNG that knocked all the air out of my lungs and lifted me off my hooves…carrying both of us back through the archway…

* 

After what seemed like forever, the light finally faded.

Blossomforth slowly opened her eyes, half-dazzled by the moonbeam and half-afraid of what she’d see…

Oh sweet Celestia! No!

She had only been to Canterlot three times, and kept two of her visits short. Cities, especially groundside cities, had never been Blossomforth’s thing. It struck her as terribly boring to simply try to admire so many buildings she’d never enter and gardens she’d never use, and she often wondered how some tourists could be so fond of the ‘scenic’ route. For Blossomforth, looking at groundside city was always like reading a map with a lot of big stone paperweights on it. Except what she was seeing now was beyond a feathering map with stones on it!

Canterlot was covered in a thick layer of smoke. Most of the building and towers were dark and lifeless, not gleaming and shining as the city usually did under the moonlight. Even worse were the large, greenish-gray masses sticking out of the city blocks. They looked like wasp’s nests, except they were enormous, and wide, black apertures stuck out in the air.

Changelings.

The roar was immediate from the column of ponies as the moonbeam faded behind them. Everypony was shouting in anger, fear, or surprise.

Then, a large column of pegasi rose up from the city streets, seemingly flying up to rendezvous with them. There were a lot of them – at least two hundred – and Blossom sighed with relief.

Whew! I guess we got lucky. They must have cleared out most of the bugs already! I guess if we’re already on the offensive I can go find Cloud Kicker and the o-

“Halt!” Storm Kicker barked, “Ready arms!”

Wha-?! Blossomforth, stunned, barely managed to rein herself in before crashing into Raindrops in front of her. 

At the front of the column, Princess Luna had lit her horn, glowing with silvery-blue moonlight.

The Princess of the Night lowered her horn, and a great white bubble burst from the tip. Blossom shut her eyes and looked away from the painful white light…

When the hum of the spell faded, she opened them again…and Blossomforth felt her jaw fall open in shock. The pegasi before them were letting out inequine shrieks, writhing in mid-air as green fire erupted along their bodies.

Princess Luna! What did she-!

One of the leading pegasi suddenly gurgled and fell from the sky. As it dropped, the green fire enveloped it completely. Blossomforth’s first thought when the flames cleared was that the poor pony had been burned to a crisp…

…but that wasn’t it. The creature had large, insect-like composite eyes and wings, and it was only-vaguely equine in shape and encased in chitinous black-green hide. And instead of a deep, toothy muzzle, it had a beak full of sharp teeth that glittered up at them…

The creature fell, limp, until it finally crashed with a sickening crunch on a rooftop below.

The pegasi…they’re…

Shocked, she looked up to see the other creatures writhing in pain and flashing green as each and every one of them turned into dark, winged monsters…

She had never seen anything like it. She knew the changelings were shape-shifters, of course. It had been in the “briefing” they’d been given by the hurried officers before lifting off. But seeing it for herself was another matter altogether…

Blossomforth gulped, suddenly very aware of how many of those monsters there were. She felt heavy in her armor, the wingblades on her wings felt large and clumsy, and the ground seemed much further away…

Then she was aware of a hoof on her shoulder.

She glanced up to see Derpy there, looking at her pleadingly. Her expression was full of fear and worry as she looked out over the city. Blossomforth could tell she was hoping to see some sign of Sparkler…

Sparkler…Cloud…Rainbow Dash… Blossom set her jaw. I’m not going to run away and leave everypony I care about in danger, even if I am just a weak, clumsy weatherpony who has no business fighting monsters...

Storm Kicker immediately reared up in mid-air. “Charge!” she yelled.

Derpy let out a high shriek and immediately barreled forwards with some of the other seasoned soldiers leading their group. Blossomforth was hot on her tail, drawing up her wingblades.

Okay…okay, if I got this right…the idea is to lock my wings up and clip those bugs’ wings while dashing past them. No head-on collision…too dangerous! Just get in and out without hitting anything solid. It’s no different from basic aerodynamics…C’mon Blossomforth, you can do this!

They were approaching the bugs fast, who she could literally hear hissing with fury. Blossom grit her teeth and, despite herself, shut her eyes tightly as her unit hit.

The roar, snarling, and crash of armored warponies clashing against thick, chitinous hides was like nothing she had ever heard. Cloud Kicker had told her several stories about mock battles she’d been through in West Hoof, describing them as exciting, heart-pounding clashes where all sense of caution, all of your fears, and all of your inhibitions faded away in the driving fight-or-flight instinct.

But at the same time, Cloud Kicker admitted it was probably nothing like what a real, life-or-death skirmish would be like, and it was true. What her mock battles didn’t include was the screaming, the cursing, the furious shrieks of enraged monsters, and the shocking sprays of blood and sticky green ichor that seemed to hit Blossom from every corner of the mass of shifting, writhing bodies.

She felt her knees start knocking in moments after they crashed into the changeling swarm. Blossom’s head swam and she felt like she was going to puke. It took all of her willpower just to keep her wings locked as she plowed on through the walls of black chitin, trying to focus on Derpy’s hindquarters right in front of her.

Just…gotta…keep going…

Then something grabbed her wing. Blossom’s charge stopped taut and her legs flew up in the air as she was yanked to a halt. A furious screech rent the air right next to her ear…

“SKREEEEE!”

Blossom screamed, terrified tears filling her eyes, and without thinking, she spun and sliced…

The changeling thing that had grabbed her gurgled and let go of her wing, thick green ichor welling from the gash she’d cut into its neck. It glared murderously at her with glittering blue-green eyes. Blossom could only hover there in shock, unable to believe what she’d done. She glanced at her wingblade, and almost fainted at the sight of thick, green blood staining her feathers…

The thing opened its mouth. Its neck cavity constricted, a deep hollow ramming down its throat, scooping something up…

And a heavy club descended on its head from behind.

There was a loud crack, and the changeling’s head collapsed on itself. Blossomforth was still so deeply in shock she hardly registered the sticky green stuff that was squeezed out from between the beast’s crushed jaws. The changeling lost flight and fell, and she was left staring at a snarling, blood-spattered Raindrops, lifting the club back up in her forehooves.

She was roughly turned and shoved forward by the other pegasus. “Move!!”

Blossom shook her head.

I-I must go on…I can’t give up now…Oh, Cloud Kicker, where are you?!

*

Sparkler gulped as the changeling cut its way through the tent, leering at her. The sounds of battle were ringing everywhere outside. She could hear crashing, groaning, and loud battle-cries. Whatever was going on, the Kicker clan was right in the middle of it now.

As the thing advanced, Sparkler knew what was coming and tried to fight off her fear, swallowing a lump in her throat.

Uncle Cirrus and the other patients were in here. If she got scared and ran off, the thing would kill them all even if it didn’t catch her first. She couldn’t count on having enough room to escape in time anyway. The tent was narrow and long, and there was still lots of heavy med equipment around, like the storage fridge and cabinets, as well as the metal gurneys and beds for patients.

Sparkler tried to remember all she knew about fighting, as well as the tidbits Cloud and Star had taught her about hoof-to-hoof combat…

This was going to hurt. That was the first thing she had learned growing up in the system. If you got into a real fight, then you weren’t going to miss out on the pain unless you were really, really lucky! And that wasn’t going to happen here, with the way Sparkler’s luck had been going recently…

But she also knew changelings weren’t quite as fearsome as they looked. Their only natural weapons were their jaws and that green goo they loved to spit. Their horns were too small and blunt to be used as weapons, and their legs were hollow and too light for bashing. Even a full-on buck from a changeling probably wouldn’t do more than crack a couple of ribs.

But that didn’t mean she could get cocky. They were also quick and agile from what she’d seen, and the only places they were vulnerable were the joints between their body plates, all of which were creases no more than a few inches long...

As she lit her horn, the changeling spared a brief glance around at the med tent – then promptly flashed with green fire. It shifted and twisted as the light bent around it. The turquoise eyes darkened to amethyst, bright pink fur erupted from the plates, the wings vanished, a horn elongated and warped into a bright, pink cone, and a two-toned violet mane flashed into existence. A trio of diamonds became visible on its flank…

And Sparkler was looking at a mirror image of herself.

She snorted inwardly. Is that supposed to scare me?

The thing leered again, grinning, and she groaned. Sweet Celestia, does my face really look like that from the side? I guess that is scary!

Second thing she’d learned: retreat and counter-attack wouldn’t work more than once. If she kept falling back from the changeling’s assault, she’d be stuck on the defensive and the thing would get her eventually.

So take the offensive and strike first. As hard and dirty as you can. Sparkler planted her hooves and gathered her magic. The air around her began to hum and her horn pulsed with power.

The changeling drew itself up and charged just as she let fly with her spell. Crystal materialized before Sparkler, spinning in a fast, razor-sharp cone that ran in the air, guided by her horn. The changeling snorted and leapt aside, dodging the attack, but Sparkler didn’t let up, turning her head and guiding the crystal lance after it. The second time, she lunged, the changeling just barely managed to twist out of the way and came for her, the fire peeling its fake jaws back as it stretched out its neck to bite…

…and got a mouthful of crystal shards for its trouble.

It screeched, green fire erupting from its hide as the disguise fell away. Sparkler wasn’t sad to see it go – watching herself choke, scream, and spit green blood out of a mouth full of razor shards was not pleasant. It was like she could almost taste them herself.

She pushed, trying to force the crystal cone deeper down the thing’s throat, but in the next instant, green ichor erupted from the thing’s mouth and her crystals vanished, cut off from her magic.

Sparkler grimaced as her horn started to throb. Having your spell shattered really did a number on your skull…but she knew she couldn’t hesitate for a moment. She still had the advantage. Her hard, persistent attack had knocked the changeling off-balance, and she had to put it down before it could recover and fight back. With her horn still stinging, she did the next best thing, lifting her forehoof and whacking the monster right across its bloody jaw. She knew from fisticuffs in the old orphanage that even if the blow did no damage, the changeling would still feel the pain from its ruptured mouth…

Crack!

“YeeeoOWWW!”

…Although, she did forget what happened when you punched a solid skull without rearing up and putting your whole weight behind it first…

She hopped around in pain, clutching her cracked forehoof, while the changeling barely stumbled, hissing in anger. It whirled on its legs and bucked out, and Sparkler went down into the dust, air whooshing from her lungs at the impact.

As she choked and spluttered for breath, the bug snapped its injured jaw back into place and spat a glob of goo at her.

Sparkler felt the adrenaline take hold and she rolled, the goo only just missing her as she came to her hooves, panting.

Okay, now she was officially mad. Sparkler felt all her fear vanish and she bared her teeth at the bug. She didn’t care about whether the thing got her or not anymore. She just wanted to kill it before it killed her, and nothing else mattered.

It hissed in return and ran for her immediately, snapping its bloody jaws. Sparkler lit her horn again, ignoring the ache, and pushed out an expanding forcefield. The bug slammed against the barrier, hissing furiously, and Sparkler pawed the ground and charged, pushing the changeling along in front of her, slowly lifting the thing off its legs on her shield as she picked up speed. It realized what she was about to do and tried to move, but it had no leverage against her shield’s smooth surface.

Sparkler rammed the bug against the row of empty hospital gurneys the docs had set up. With an enormous crash, most of the gurneys jolted and were jarred out of the way by Sparkler’s charge, but every single one struck the bug right in the back, drawing a shriek from it every single time.

She finally hit home, ramming the thing against the heavy med fridge in the corner of the tent. Her magic failed and the shield disintegrated on impact, but Sparkler didn’t care – she had the monster right where she wanted it! She kept going, ramming her own body shoulder-first into the bug, mashing it against the fridge door.

Loud cracks resounded throughout the tent, a foul smell filling the air as the changeling’s back plates split open and ichor welled out.
It let out a high shriek, which slowly faded into an agonized whine, cut off as it vomited green ichor from ruptured lungs..

Sparkler slowly grit her teeth and pulled back, letting the broken changeling slide down to the ground. It twitched weakly, slimy black-green ichor spilling out of its broken back. Its wings fluttered, but couldn’t find any grip on the air. All the while, it whined pitifully, every moment obviously agony.

Sparkler, pumped full of adrenaline, snorted and reached up with her good forehoof.

Slowly, she took hold of the back of the med fridge…

The bug’s eyes widened, and its twitching suddenly became much more frantic.

Sparkler began to ease it forward…and then slowly tipped the fridge over onto the broken changeling.

It had just enough time for one last shriek before vanishing under a hard, white wall with a crash!

Sparkler snorted again. She might’ve tossed off a one-liner about pushing the fridge if she wasn’t so tired... 

She limped back to Uncle Cirrus, gritting her teeth and trying to ignore the throbbing in her forehoof and ribs. She slowly collapsed, exhausted, back at her unconscious uncle’s side, “What would you say if you saw all that?” She half-laughed and half-sobbed, “Mom would fuss all over me and say ‘I’m so glad you’re okay’, then she’d ground me for a week and tell me never to do anything like that again…”

Before she could pass out, however, there was an immediate roar from outside.

“Clan Kicker! Clan Kicker! Free Canterlot!!”

Loud voices were cheering. The buzzing sounds were growing louder, much more frantic, and then there was an enormous clashing noise. 
Sparkler raised her head groggily.Wha-? Is there some kind of celebration going on? Did…we win?

Overcome with curiosity, she limped to the hole in the tent her bug friend had generously provided and peered out.

Sparkler felt her eyes widen. Wait, could it be-?! Did Star and Cloud and the others do it?!

Ponies were diving from above. Some of them were tight in pegasi formation, others were landing in massive sky-chariots pulled by black-armored guards, and some were already grappling with the changelings, overpowering the furious bugs as they shrieked and hissed.
She could see a hooffull of changelings were trying to disguise themselves, halfway between pony and bug form, but bright blue flames kept erupting from their bodies and licking up their sides when they tried. Not a single changeling could hide, and not a single changeling was safe from this overwhelming counterattack.

“FLEE IN DESPAIR, ABOMINATIONS!!” an enormous voice roared, “FOR THIS IS THINE FATE AT OUR HOOVES!!”

Sparkler jumped. They did it! I-I…don’t believe it…Princess Luna’s back!

Her face split into a huge grin and Sparkler did a little dance. Yeah, I knew they could do it!! Those bugs are in for it now!!

Wait…wha-

Before she could finish her thought, Sparkler felt something slam into her side, wrapping its forelegs round her  – her already-bruised ribs creaking and forcing a scream of pain from her throat. Sparkler’s anger flared back into life, and without thinking, she rolled over, grabbing hold of her attacker and pinning it to the floor.

I’ll show you, you damn, clopping- But when she raised her forehoof to bash the changeling’s skull in, a familiar voice rang out.

“Sparkler!! Sparky honey, it’s ME!”

That voice.

Sparkler opened her eyes and slowly lowered her hoof.

“M-m-m-…” She felt tears start to sting to her eyes and her lower lip started to tremble, “M-m-m-mommy?”

*

I groaned and staggered back, trying to ignore my impressive new shiner. I imagine I looked even more charming than usual – scratched, grimy, and bleeding with my left eye purple and swollen up again.

Chrysalis didn’t let up, darting forward on her newly-regrown foreleg and ramming into me. This time, I managed to pivot the momentum and fling her around behind me, but she landed on her legs and bucked out. I only just managed to duck before she could splatter my brains against the tapestry.

I lit Shadow’s wingblades with flames and tried to take advantage of the opening by slashing at Chrysalis’ exposed legs, but her head whipped around and she took flight. My blades flew wide and I barely pulled back before Chrysalis stomped back down on them. This was not too good. The bug queen may not have been a match for me while I was at my peak, but I was wounded, tired, and even with Shadow’s armor there was no avoiding muscle fatigue.

I was starting to slow down and unless I found a way to end this quickly, Chrysalis was going to get the upper hoof...

We were back in the throne room. The walls were speckled with luminous green cocoons I guessed were holding prisoners, including one particularly-large one above the central dais. I couldn’t tell from this range, but I was fairly certain it was holding the Princess…if its size and location were anything to judge by…

The drones were likely still under orders to keep guard – apparently, Chrysalis hadn’t gotten hot enough to lose her head and command them to abandon her prisoners and swarm me. Either that, or I just wasn’t giving her the chance…

But I didn’t have any time to get a closer look who they were guarding – I couldn’t take my eyes off the bug bitch queen for a moment unless I wanted them bitten out…

…And she was trying her very best to do just that if her expression was anything to go by.

Hay, if I thought she was mad before, she was downright pissed now. Her eyes were flashing red and I swear I saw smoke rising off her. Hard to blame her, right? After all, I’d just kicked her plans to splinters practically right under her muzzle - almost exactly the same way she’d managed to snatch Canterlot in the first place. How’s the irony taste, bitch?

The moon was up, her shield was cracking and failing, her children were losing the city, Princess Luna was on her way back, and now here she was locked in mortal combat with me again. Not counting her initial invasion, absolutely nothing had gone right for poor Chrysalis…
…and it was all because of me.

That sudden realization pumped new strength into my weary muscles.

Because of me.

I snarled and stomped a forehoof into the floor again and again to display my eagerness for combat, “Bring it, Chrysalis! That head of yours is gonna look pretty good stuffed and mounted on my wall…”

Chrysalis hissed in reply, dropping into a lunging stance, “Bah! Your tauntsss are hollow,” she hissed back, “I can taste your deliciousss fear from here.”

I snorted, bringing my fiery blades up in a defensive half-crouch, “Oh yeah, really scared here! Think I just want to go crawl in a hole under a rock…”

Chrysalis braced and smirked at me, “That isss where you’ll be when I’m through with you…”

This time, I was ready for her.

When Chrysalis charged me, I tapped into the armor’s power and slid to the floor in the shadows again. The voices in my head reached a deafening roar for the split-second I was a shade, but it was over before I could really notice it. Chrysalis cursed loudly as I vanished from her sight and she slammed on the brakes, but I was already behind her and she was in no position to protect herself from the rear when I attacked.

I pivoted and slashed horizontally, aiming at Chrysalis’ hind legs. Even with my fiery blades, I knew I couldn’t cripple Chrysalis permanently – but at the very least, hamstrung legs would slow her down for a few seconds. Hopefully enough to try for a lethal strike. Let’s see if she could heal up from a blade through the brain…

Chrysalis shuddered as I raked her legs, penetrating the chitin and severing the black muscle tissue beneath, but she didn’t collapse. She spun back around and bit at my face, but I expected that. My stab just missed her snapping mouth, scraping painfully along Chrysalis’ cheek and neck.

Her body quivered slightly against my wing, and I guessed her back legs were spasming from my slash. She was leering up in pain, unbalanced – so I promptly crouched down and charged her point-blank, butting my helmeted head right into her exposed underbelly.
The bug queen was heavier than she looked, and I had to shove off my hooves hard. But it worked. She teetered to and fro like Pinkie’s Party-sized Precariously-perched Pineapple Cake before toppling over backwards.

With me on top too. Always a great position to be in with a mare. Especially if you happen to be unloading a thirty-ton barrel of whoop-flank on her! Huh, can’t imagine Chrysalis was enjoying me repeatedly slugging her in the face as much as I was though…

She croaked in pain, dazed, as I finally let up to catch my breath. She was breathing heavily and almost cross-eyed. I didn’t doubt that she was still conscious though, and if she was letting up…it could only be because…

I took the second to check around us for any intervention. We were back in the throne room of the Canterlot Palace. Several changelings were about, but they weren’t attacking me. Instead, they were buzzing out the doors and the windows. I could only guess they were all scrambling to intercept the Kicker clan militia and anypony else attacking the crumbling green shield outside. Shining Armor and Alula must have fled out the far doors, which were yawning wide open…

Chrysalis twitched under me, signaling an end to my moment of contemplation and snapping my attention back to the problem at hoof. I knew I couldn’t let her recover.

I doubted she could survive a severed head so I raised a wing to finish Chrysalis off. But that was a mistake…

As I did, Chrysalis’ bright green eyes unglazed and glared at me, full of hate and rage. She was playing possum, I had time to think before she lifted a forehoof and dug it into my side. She was too close, too quick, and the second I’d let up had given her just the chance she needed to find a gap in my armor…

There was a crunch, a sharp crack, and a stab of pain lanced up my side. A strangled scream erupted from my throat, and before I knew it I was on the ground next to the bug bitch queen, writhing in pain.

I clutched instinctively at my side with my forehooves, and to my horror they came away sticky and positively drenched in dark blood that looked almost black in the dim moonlight.

As I stared in shock at myself, Chrysalis chortled and got to her hooves, seemingly unfazed by the craters I’d just smashed into her face.

I managed to roll over, keeping my injured side high, as Chrysalis stood over me and bared her fangs, no doubt planning to rip my throat out while I was still helpless…

The voices grew louder and louder in my ears, and it was getting almost painful by the time the armor finally responded...

Chrysalis’ fangs snapped shut on empty shadow as I dissolved into the floor again, slithering over to the cocoons. She hissed and followed me with those poisonous green eyes...or at least, she tried to. Through the misty purple of my vision, I could see her eyes darting in all directions for a surprise attack after I vanished into the shadows.

I reconstituted myself behind one of the cocoons, letting out a sharp, pained breath I prayed the bug queen didn’t hear.

That was unpleasant, and doing it with this injury was even worse. The pain had dulled when I faded into shadow, but coming back out made it seem all the worse now…

Shadow murmured, and the armor glowed faintly, healing my shattered hip slowly. Too slowly. And those pesky voices, whatever they were, got louder and louder every time I drew on the armor’s power…

Was I going crazy? Or was this just some other effect of the armor enhancing my hearing? Whichever it was, I was in the middle of a fight for my life and I couldn’t afford to be distracted by it now…anymore than I could by the painful hole in my guts, the bites, the concussions, or my tongue still bleeding where I’d accidentally chomped down on it…

“There isss no point in hiding, Cloud Kicker…” Chrysalis hissed from somewhere around the cocoon behind me, no doubt checking the throne room from corner to corner, “My children are on the way asss we ssspeak! Your pathetic militia will never overcome the entire ssswarm whatever the outcome of the battle at your compound. And while I hold Celestia, Luna can do nothing…”

I gave a small smirk despite myself as I held on to the wall.

The bug bitch queen had forgotten one thing…

*

“This way!” Star Kicker hissed to her followers as the Sanctum Solarion finally groaned back into place at the bottom of the library spire, “Lyra and Bon Bon…you two stay here and hide!”

Bon Bon nodded, finally lowering the mumbling, barely-conscious unicorn from her back. Seems all that ruckus up in the sky had finally woken Lyra from her slumber…

Star swallowed as she cantered back up the stairway, her horn lighting up as she disengaged her wards on the way to the library.

What in Celestia’s name am I doing here? I’m just a West Hoof cadet barely out of agent training…

But somehow, fate had dealt her this card. Well, fate and being trapped in a city suddenly gone dark and full of monsters, at the side of the pony who claimed one of the most powerful artifacts in the world…

She swallowed and pushed down her doubt. No different from another mock-field operation at West Hoof…we’re all flesh and blood…hay, even General Thunder Heart himself couldn’t do any better…

She snorted lightly. And maybe he could do a lot worse since he’s probably strung up in a cocoon with all those other ponies in the Atrium…

The Atrium. That was the next stop. Luna and the Night Militant had returned, Cloud had taken the fight to Chrysalis and the bugs, and the Kickers would be charging into the palace any minute now. There was only one thing left to do…

As she erupted from the secret passage below the Star Swirl the Bearded section, a changeling sentry promptly turned and hissed before Star unleashed a volley of magic missiles, splattering half its head against the wall…

Damn…they know where we are…

“Move!”

As they barreled back down the hallways, Star could only hope the changeling hive mind had too many problems right now to throw any more forces at them.

And, luckily for her, it did.

*

Sparkler choked and stumbled back in amazement, wide-eyed, nearly gagging from the smell as Princess Luna roasted another changeling drone alive.

Since her return, Princess Luna had made a point of avoiding too much of the public eye, and if there was ever a reason why, Sparkler was seeing it now…

Her Highness’s face was drawn, tight and lined with fury – a fierce, fanged snarl on her muzzle – as her horn glowed with such a heavy aura of power it almost bowled Sparkler over…

The changeling shrieked and whined, flailing helplessly as dark blue fire licked up and around its body, superheating its chitinous armor and cooking the flesh inside. Within moments, it collapsed, thrashing and squealing weakly.

Sparkler retreated another step after one too many lungfuls of the bug’s aerosolized corpse, and backed right into her mom.

Derpy, still crying, wrapped her wings around her daughter, “It’s okay, sweetheart…Oh, I’m so glad you’re okay! It’s okay! We’re all okay!”

At any other time, Sparkler would have rolled her eyes and grumbled at her mom’s coddling, but right now she was just too relieved to care…she didn’t even mind the chafing from that ridiculous suit of green armor her mom was wearing.

Princess Luna turned her head briefly to glance at the two of them, before turning back to glare out at the exposed courtyard of the Kicker forward camp. Changelings were pouring out of the city alleyways, grounded by rain that weighed down their wings. It was an advantage, but it made ground-based counter-attacks slow and meeting with stiff resistance.

The Princess of the Night turned away from the two of them, barking orders loudly to begin a pegasi bombardment tactic to push the bugs back.

Far above, Storm Kicker – Sparkler’s heart leapt as she recognized her – and several other official Guard-looking types promptly snapped into formation and flew over the bug ranks, tossing immobilizing gum-bos down to ensnare the bugs. Some of them tried to disguise themselves as ponies when they were caught, but that didn’t do any good since it was plain to see they were trapped in the stuff and surrounded by the enemy. But even when they got these bugs under control - the work wouldn't be done. There was still the palace...

The princess, meanwhile, was drawing all of her magic into a concentrated beam. Her horn glowed and pulsed with enough energy to make Sparkler’s fur stand on end at that distance. She could only watch, mesmerized, as the Princess of the Night began to levitate over the ground. She was all aglow, eyes burning with white fire, her wings flared but stationary as she floated in a way that had nothing to do with flying...

Luna slowly lowered her head, as though holding such power where it was took all her effort.

She pointed her horn directly at the Royal Palace in the distance. The changelings’ shield was still there – cracked, faded, and phasing in and out every few seconds as if it were being hit repeatedly with a giant hammer – but it was there…

Luna cut loose with a long, white magic beam, which arced out over the city.

Sparkler followed it with her eyes, and time seemed to slow down as it reached the shield…

CRAAAACKKKKKKK!!!

*

Chrysalis suddenly screeched and fell to her knees as a massive, concussive blast filled the air outside.

I had been poised to dodge another charge from her. She’d gotten me with a lucky scrape that had gashed open my shoulder but luckily missed my wing, and I was fairly certain I had another cracked rib – but Chrysalis was bleeding from half a dozen cuts and she was starting to tire out and slow down.

She was just trying to lull me into a false sense of security again – I’d already sniffed it out. Hay, she’d already played possum once and I wasn’t fooled by the fact that she wasn’t even trying to heal herself up.

This though, was something else altogether. Chrysalis let all her guard down and just collapsed, clutching her head between her forelegs as she howled in agony.

Bewildered, I couldn’t help but turn my head in the direction of the blast…

I grinned, the pain in my body suddenly a lot easier to bear.

The shield was completely gone, shattered into thousands of arcane shards that dissipated into ether as I watched.

The backlash from having a palace-wide shield spell cracked like an egg must have been quite uncomfortable, if Chrysalis’ moaning was anything to go by...

Suddenly, there was another, wet, squelching crack! 

Princess Celestia’s massive cocoon had sprouted a long, gooey rent in the middle. The crack was small, no larger than my forehoof, but it gave and stretched out as a blue glow erupted from within. Disgusting yellow tendrils of goo broke like old string as the gap began to widen…

But the bug bitch queen wasn’t done yet…

As I turned my gaze back to her, Chrysalis’ eyes snapped open and glared at me, full of hate and rage. She made a loud half-groaning, half-screeching noise and levered herself back up onto her legs.

I felt the adrenalin punch me in the gut again. The now-familiar pins and needles erupted along my body as I fell back into combat mode, pain and fear vanishing.

“It’s over, Chrysalis…” Was it me who spoke? Or Shadow? Or was it those voices that relentlessly screamed in my ear now?

Whoever it was, she wasn’t impressed. 

“Not yet, Cloud Kicker…” she snarled, “Not yet. I ssstill have you! And I ssstill have your preciousss Celestia! My children have overwhelmed your pitiful little militia – the cccity is oursss! And the maggotsss who followed you here are my childrensss’ prisoners! Sssurrender now, and I may show you mercy!”

I felt Shadow give out a mental snort at almost the same time I did. Seemed like she and I were doing that more often now – thinking and acting in sync…

This was the fourth time she’d demanded my surrender, each time with less to dangle in front of my muzzle... 

Well, Chrysalis was either a brilliant actress, or she really was as stupid as she looked.

I only lifted my wingblades in response, fire flickering up and down their lengths.

She hissed, her eyes darkening to red again…

There was another loud crack, and then another, powerful voice rang out in the throne room “You shall do no such thing!”

*

“Almost got it!”

Star scrabbled with her hooves, digging through the membranous coating of the prison egg for the silhouette within.

Her horn sparked, exhausted and deprived of magic, but she didn’t need it anymore. Hooves worked just fine now. Across the Atrium, Glass Eye pulled again, rupturing the front of the egg and releasing the gasping, gunk-lathered purple unicorn mare within into a flowing green puddle. The remnants of the egg promptly shriveled and hung limply in the air as the guard helped the shivering mare up…

Grinning as she recognized Twilight Sparkle, Star finally dug her own prize out. She gently lifted the unconscious pony’s head from its still-encased body. She’s alive. Good.

The light-blue, rainbow-maned head twitched in her hooves and took a deep gasp of breath, air flooding back into the captive’s lungs.

C’mon Rainbow Dash, please don’t be a changeling trying to trick me…

Rainbow Dash opened her eyes – slowly and calmly as if she were waking up from a good nap – and stared at Star…

Then her eyes unglazed immediately, and she stared down at her body. She promptly stuck her tongue out and gagged. 

“Ugh! Gross!!! Lemme out! Get me outta this thing! And where in the hay is that bug-faced bitch?! I got some serious flank-kickin’ to do!”

Star just rolled her eyes. That’s her alright.

*

Chrysalis lowered her head and hissed venomously as Princess Celestia summoned a magical aura.

Her cocoon disintegrated, bursting like a ripe fruit in a flare of sunlight. The princess was all aglow with an aura of power. Even the bruises and burn marks on her horn didn’t make her visage any less intimidating as powerful magic appeared around her.

I had to hoof it to the princess. She had to be exhausted and in pain from her earlier defeat and Chrysalis holding her in a powerful magic grip all this time. But now that the bug queen was weakened by her shattered shield spell, Shining Armor breaking free, and all the damage I’d piled onto her…

…well, let’s just say there was probably a bigger chance she’d come out second-best this time.

Chrysalis’ glare shifted between the two of us, me standing tall with my wings raised and flickering with fire, and Celestia aglow with light, wings flared and eyes burning like the sun…

Well, even she knew this was a fight she couldn’t win.

She began to back away from us, summoning a green shield.

“I spared you once, Chrysalis!” the princess said, her light, melodic voice still somehow managing to resonate throughout the chamber and shake the pillars, “And now my foolish mercy has cost the lives of so many of my little ponies! I hoped the years would grant you wisdom, and now I see all they granted you was yet more darkness…”

Chrysalis did not reply. Instead, her eyes tightened. Her expression was a bit hard to read. She looked pretty angry, sure…but it wasn’t quite…what it should have been. Something was…off.

An odd thing happened at that point.

The voices in my head. Suddenly, it seemed – just for a moment – like their nonsensical chatter made sense. It was brief, just for a fraction of a second, but I suddenly had a knot of dread in my guts that was gone before I even realized what it was. I tried to grasp it – remember what it meant – but…somehow…it just seemed that even the memory of it was gone too quickly.

Just what were those voices saying?

I felt a mental prod on my skull. Shadow was letting me know it was time to make a move…

I raised my wings and let out a battle cry. Time to end this now, while I had Chrysalis outgunned. I charged, leaping off the floor and rocketing at full speed at the changeling queen…

…who turned tail and ran.

“Coward!” I yelled, skidding back down onto my hooves as she headed full pelt for the doors.

But just as she reached them, they were slammed open in her face.

Shining Armor, Dad, Star, Bon Bon, Lyra, Rainbow Dash and all the others were looking right at her. I had to stop myself from cheering out loud! My clever little cousin had got them all out!
I’d never been more relieved in my life when I saw Dad rear up on his hooves, bashing his way through the few remaining changeling sentries. He was bruised, bloodied and stained with ichor, and his fine clothes had been shredded by his battle with the changelings, but he looked madder than Tartarus as he glared at the bug bitch queen. Rainbow and Twilight and the others were poised, ready for any action.

And Fluttershy - my heart leapt - she was there, with them. She was okay!

Relief flooded into me. Eepysqueak was still there for me. I swore I was never going to let her out of my sight again once this was all over.

Rainbow Dash – true to her usual resigned, patient self – immediately tucked in her wings and dive-bombed right for Chrysalis’ face. But she turned and ran again, making for the far balcony…

…only to be cut off by a beam of brilliant moonlight and the clatter of silver horseshoes hitting the marble as Princess Luna descended to the balcony, eyes shining with power.

“THOU WILT PAY FOR THIS, ABOMINATION!” Luna snarled, the Royal Canterlot Voice reverberating throughout the chamber, “EQUESTRIA SHALL NEVER FALL TO THE LIKES OF THEE!”

I’d only ever seen Luna that scary once before, back when she was Nightmare Moon at the Summer Sun Celebration. Right now, she wasn’t holding anything back – great living beams of moonlight coalesced around her like hungry snakes, snapping hungrily at Chrysalis…

Who turned and ran again, for the other balcony.

Guess what? Her way was blocked again…

…by a wave of Kicker pegasi, rising up with wings flared in the moonlight as they streaked up and above.

My heart leapt again as I saw Storm descending to the balcony with an armed escort. And she wasn’t alone…

Blossomforth? Derpy?!

It was them. Blossom was decked out in some old Ponyville militia suit and carrying a pair of wingblades, but it was her, no doubt about it. My beautiful Blossom…she must have volunteered, or been conscripted, when Luna and the Long Patrol stopped in Ponyville. I swallowed, hoping she’d have the good sense to start running quick if things got violent again. I knew for a fact she couldn’t even swing those blades straight. Better have a word with Storm later about who she brings to the front lines…

And Derpy…she was wearing some Doo clan family armor…and, sweet Celestia, was that Pinkie Pie’s mallet she was lifting up in her hooves? I knew she was packing some strength behind that sweet, bubbly exterior (what with how she’d given me the other black eye) but damn…if her face was anything to go by, she was just itching for the chance to use that thing on the monster who’d put her daughter and her family in danger…

Chrysalis, her expression starting to waver, backed away yet again.

Right into the middle of the chamber. Surrounded on all sides.

There were no more exits. She was trapped.

I felt a grin spread out on my face as the bug bitch queen started to show signs of panic, a fierce snarl on her muzzle as she gaped around in every direction…

Shadow whispered in my ear again. Her voice was louder, more insistent…

And then, suddenly, the voices tripled in volume and I felt myself being shunted aside again, just like out on the balcony. I was just suddenly watching from the sidelines again as Shadow acted with my body.

But this time, Shadow used my mouth…

“Chrysalis, did I not warn thee?”

The bug bitch queen froze, her eyes suddenly wide.

“Did I not warn thee to ne’er tempt fate again? Did I not warn thee to return to whatever pit from whence thou wert spawned and ne’er bring my hoof down upon thee again?”

Then she was gone again, and I was back in my body...

The events of the next few seconds probably marked the most emotion I had ever seen from the bug bitch queen. First, blank shock registered on her face…and that in itself was saying something with it being the rigid, inflexible chitinous mug that it was…then raw anger, then what might have been…sorrow?

“From whence I wasss spawned…?” Chrysalis hissed, her voice low and unwavering. “Tempt fate?! You ssstill do not understand…” She had drawn herself up, all hesitation gone, and swept her foreleg in a vague half-circle, “None of thisss is yoursss. None of it wasss meant to be…”

I decided to step in then before she could get into her cornered ‘I-was-trying-to-save-you’ speech. “Save it for the trial, Chrysalis! You’re done!”

“Wait, Cloud Kicker…” To my utter surprise, the princess waved me off, her eyes fixed on Chrysalis, “Hear me now, changeling queen – that this may put your selfish quest for power to rest forever. As I have raised all of my little ponies to know, this land was made for them. It is theirs by right.”

I didn’t know why the princess was bothering. We already had Chrysalis, and she wasn’t going to make any sort of trouble by the time we were done with her. Why was Celestia doing this? Did she really believe this little speech was going to snap the bug bitch queen out of it?

“I know this because...I was there when this world came to be!” Celestia said, pausing for dramatic effect…

…but before she could say another word, Chrysalis spoke up again.

“Ssso was I, Celessstia…so wasss I!” She stood tall, flexing her battered body and summoning a dull, green aura of magic. “And your greatest missstake was not hearing my cries…”

She threw out a magic barrier, shoving us all back against a telekinetic blast. It was just a futile gesture, not strong enough to immobilize anypony, just enough to make us all stumble. But that was apparently all Chrysalis needed…

She turned her horn skyward and blasted a hole in the ceiling, revealing the starry night sky above to us all.

“…and not knowing what you ssstole from me!” she snarled before shooting off the floor and up into the sky…

As the commotion died down, I got to my hooves and glared up after her retreating figure.

“Oh no, you don’t!”

Lighting the armor, I extended the shadows, lifting off my hooves and soaring into the sky after her…

This ends here and now…
> A Shadow Of Victory
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chrysalis didn’t make it far.

The clouds were thick and the stars and moon were hidden by the rain, but that didn’t blunt Shadow’s vision. Through the helmet, I saw the bug bitch queen clearly as she tried to make a getaway.

She was trying to double-back due east, right back over the top of the palace. She must have figured we’d try to follow her, and purposefully switched direction to try to throw off pursuit. But I wasn’t fooled. That was one of the first tricks we’d been taught in retreat maneuvers…

She sensed me behind her as I closed the distance. Her wings were buzzing frantically, trying to pick up speed, but my wings were still faster. 

Her horn glowed, and the air suddenly came alive with crackling green energy nexuses. I threw up my wings and banked just before I plunged into one of the burning clouds right in front of me.

She was trying to slow me down – make her escape while I floundered. Dumb. The nexuses she’d summoned didn’t even cover much of the sky – all they really did was block my view of a few angles and it’d be a simple matter to…

…wait a minute…

Just a second too late, it struck me why she’d make such an obvious mistake. The nexuses were a feint, a dummy shot before her real attack…

I looked up just in time to see a green lightning bolt incoming…

Aw, gimme a break…

The spell hit me square in the chest with all the force of a sledgehammer. The world became all pain and a spinning circle of clouds, rain, and stars for the next few moments as I tumbled head over hooves in mid-air. My flesh sizzled and popped menacingly over the faint sound of Chrysalis’ mocking laughter…

I knew only the armor had saved me. If that thing had hit me without it I’d have been fried to death.

I gritted my teeth against the terrible pain as I struggled to stay airborne, flapping my wings to get a grip on the currents. I tasted blood and realized I must have bit my tongue again. I couldn’t breathe properly – the heat from the missile had superheated the air and swollen my throat shut. My breastplate was blackened and scorched, the deep, inlaid grooves glowing faintly with an ominous red, but the flesh underneath was worse. Much worse.

My fur was mostly gone, and what little remained was blackened and smoking. The skin had burned away in parts, but thank Celestia I didn’t see any bone poking out. I don’t think I could’ve dealt with that. Burned flesh is always unpleasant to the nose, but when it’s your own it’s even more overwhelming. I might’ve puked all over myself if it weren’t for the fact I hadn’t had anything left in my stomach for hours…

Shadow’s armor grew cold and heavy on me again as the healing magic kicked in, and to my immense relief, the burning pain subsided enough that I could open my eyes and draw breath again.

“Hold fast, Cloud Kicker!” Shadow warned, “’Tis not a fatal wound. Thou shalt live. We must complete our mission now, lest we ne’er have another chance! I allowed Chrysalis mercy once – I do not intend to make such a mistake again…”

She was right. We needed to catch Chrysalis. If I didn’t bring her down now, then she’d escape and there’d be nothing to stop her from returning with another changeling army in the future. Maybe not tomorrow, maybe not even in my lifetime – but I knew there was no doubt Chrysalis would return one day... 

The only way Equestria would ever be completely safe was to kill the bitch. And…somehow…I was going to do it. For Mom, for Fluttershy, for the princess, for every single pony whose emotions had been fodder for her monstrous children…

I grit my teeth and cranked my wings, regaining full flight as my streaming eyes refocused through Shadow’s vision. Chrysalis was clearly outlined by her green magical aura as she buzzed ahead of me at full throttle. When she sensed I wasn’t done, she turned her head again and hissed as her horn lit.

The pain from my injury was preventing me from getting back to full speed – I couldn’t even perform a full wingstroke without wincing in pain – and I couldn’t hope to gain on her unless I slowed her down somehow. 

Shame I didn’t have any kind of long-range weapon, but I’d never had much talent with javelins or crossbows anyway, not to mention they’re easy to avoid in mid-air. And for all its power, Shadow’s armor had no energy-projection properties – apparently Shadow herself hadn’t been much of a long-range markspony either…

That left me with just my cloud manipulation talent…and Shadow’s power behind it.

I lit the armor, reaching out – and kicked the clouds.

Chrysalis hissed and slowed to a safe pace as gigantic black stormclouds popped up before us. Visibility went down to almost zero, obscuring the palace towers and filling the horizon with hidden surfaces for the unwary speeding flier. 

She vanished into the fog, but thanks to Shadow’s armor, I could still see her aura clearly. I knew I only had a few seconds to intercept and bring her back down to the ground – we had almost cleared the palace grounds and I didn’t dare take this fight out over the city. Who knew how many innocent ponies or changeling drones could still be out there?

I drew up behind and above her, sensing she had lost sight of me. I had a hoof on several interception tactics, but this was a perfect opportunity for one of my old favorites…

As she turned her head in every direction to look for me, eyes blazing furiously, I snapped in my wings and dove hooves-first right for Chrysalis’ back, aiming between her withers.

We collided with a wham and she squawked and lost flight, her wings whipping uselessly in the air under my added weight.
I seized her under the forelegs with my forehooves, wincing as the sharp spines along her hide dug into my skin again. I slammed my helmet into her head, and we grappled in mid-air all the way down. She twisted around and tried to bite at my eyes, but I kept my face clear and kicked at her underbelly. I knew she barely felt it, but I couldn’t go for her with my wingblades while we were still in freefall – otherwise I could catch an air current under my feathers and get blown clean off her…

After several moments of struggling, we broke back down below cloud level and behind Chrysalis’ head I could see the roof of the palace’s outer tower coming up fast…

But as I clenched my wings and tried to glide off her before impact, Chrysalis must’ve read my expression. She immediately reached up and snatched hold of my barrel, mashing me to her belly…

I grimaced, flapping my wings to slow the descent and bracing for what I knew was coming…

Oh horseapples…

CRASSSSHH!

As Rainbow Dash could probably tell you, smacking into a rooftop at high speeds isn’t fun. It’s especially un-fun when that rooftop is made of stone. And it’s even more un-fun when it’s a perfectly-flat courtyard and there are no slopes to roll off the shock of a crash-landing.
Even though Chrysalis hit first, I still felt the shock in every single inch of muscle and bone in my body, and the breath went out of my lungs as we skidded along the rain-slick parapet. Chrysalis lost her grip on me and we tumbled apart. The shock was just too heavy to try to control my momentum and my limbs were mercilessly slammed into the stone again and again as I rolled. I felt one of my wings creak painfully under the armor and stifled a scream.

Shadow was at work before I even slowed to a halt. The armor glowed, pumping strength into my weary body. My legs felt heavy and tender, and if it hadn’t been for the armor I felt like every single one of my hooves might have shattered. My poor abused ribs hurt with every breath, and I could only pray one of them hadn’t poked me in the lungs. I couldn’t tell because I was still winded from the fall.
On top of everything else, I could barely feel my right wing. I glanced at it and almost fainted.

The joint had pulled right out of my withers, and my wing was hanging limply at my side. Trying to move it just hurt – it didn’t even twitch…
But this was no time to lie around nursing my bruised and battered self. There was still a battle to be fought. White hot fury filled my brain at the sound of Chrysalis hissing and scrambling to her legs behind me…

I didn’t care about my injuries anymore. I just needed to hold on until I could finish Chrysalis…

I slowly pulled my tender legs under me and rose onto my forehooves, trying to ignore the painful scrapes, burns and abrasions as I heaved my upper body up. I was still intact…mostly…and that meant I could still fight.

Fortunately, Chrysalis looked at least as rattled by the crash as I was. Her magic was seeping through green rivets in her chitin, one of them splitting her main carapace plate right through the middle. Smoke rose from her as her magic fused and mended her exoskeleton. I guess that since her muscles were attached to her armor, she could hardly move at all until her chitin mended…

Well, I couldn’t afford to give her that chance. 

Bracing myself for the pain, I reached out across my wet body and took hold of my dislocated wing. I leaned to my right, ignoring the pinching as my wing unfurled itself across the roof…and shoved the bone back into its socket.

“AieeeeEEEEE!”

Damn, did that hurt! But at least I could move my wing now…even if it did feel like somepony had poured molten lead into the joint…
Chrysalis had been watching me the entire time from across the rooftop as her broken body mended itself, those piercing green slits flashing with fury. She was slowly rising back onto her legs. Looks like I couldn’t just take her out helpless on the ground after all…

“No more running, Chrysalis,” I couldn’t help but cringe as my voice came out more like a pained whine than the menacing growl I’d intended – guess the lies your body can tell you get a bit jumbled when you’ve had a long, painful day. 

“No more disguises. No more minions. No more hostages. Just you and me…” I narrowed my eyes, the growl finally coming back into my voice as I rose back onto my hind legs, “Just you…and me!”

Chrysalis snorted, “Bah! Do you not count that putrid, ssstinking corpssse guiding your every move, Cloud Kicker?”

I circled her slowly, the armor’s power running through my body and soothing the aches as rain streaked down my sweaty muzzle, “You never quite got over Shadow saving your life, did you?” I snarled at her, “Kinda pathetic to still be nursing some grudge over your pride all these years…”

I’d hoped that would provoke her to make her first move, but Chrysalis just smirked at me, “No more pathetic than your betrayal of your family to sssate your petty impulsiveness and lussstful fantasies, Cloud Kicker…”

I snorted as I advanced. That was a low blow I’d been hit with before and I knew better than to lose my cool over it now – with so much at stake, “Going in circles, Chrysalis. You really think my mistakes matter now if Shadow Kicker herself agreed to join me?!”

Okay, that was only sorta half the truth. Didn’t see any reason to let Chrysalis know it was only the memory of Shadow whispering in my ear though. Best to let her squirm thinking her old enemy’s spirit was looking right at her…

But to my surprise, Chrysalis did not look upset or angry as she took another step towards me. In fact, she was sporting a rather smug expression I didn’t like the look of. Something told me I wasn’t going to like what she said next.

“Indeed…” she fixed me with a slitted stare, “You seem very clossse…close enough, I’d wager…to have begun to hear the voicesss…”

I stopped in mid-step…

…which, unfortunately, was just what she had been waiting for.

Chrysalis flared her wings and hissed, leaning back into a pouncing position as her horn glowed. I felt something strike the armor, the shadows retreating faintly back into the grooves. My wings suddenly felt heavy, and I was more aware of the throbbing pains from my wounds again.

A hex. She’d just hit me with some kind of weakening hex. Even though I’d been forced to train while under the effects of one before back at West Hoof, I still couldn’t stifle a gasp as every muscle in my body suddenly cried out like I’d just run a marathon. Given my poor, abused body had already suffered a lot today, that was the last thing I needed…why in Shadow’s name didn’t the armor prevent it?!

She pounced on me, raking her legs against my breastplate as she snapped for my face with her fangs. I tried to flip Chrysalis over me, but my strength was failing and I had to settle for shoving her back. We butted heads in a classic shoving match while we both scrabbled with our forehooves for leverage.

I made a swipe for one of her forelegs with my good wing. She immediately pulled back and I dug in my hooves hard to push her back and down onto her knees. But I couldn’t press the advantage since she chose just that moment to snap at my ear. Her poison wouldn’t kill me thanks to the armor, but a baseball-sized ear in my helmet still wouldn’t do me any favors.

I broke the grapple and blew out of range with a painful crank of my wings. My right shoulder was screaming, but I knew I couldn’t chance retreating along the ground. If I lost my balance even for a second – a very real possibility with the rain, cobblestones and weakened legs – Chrysalis would have me right where she wanted me…

She didn’t pursue, holding her ground as I backed off. Her horn was glowing.

I readied myself for an attack spell, but Chrysalis just smirked at me, eyes glinting with unspoken menace.

Her horn sparked and a muddy green shield flared into place around her. I raised an eyebrow. She was going on the defensive when her other enemies closed in behind us every second? Just what was the bitch up to?

Suddenly, I was more aware of those ghostly hallucinations whisper-shouting gibberish in my ears again.

“Monster…liar…abomination…Tartarus take you…”

Something must’ve crept into my expression, because Chrysalis was smirking triumphantly, “Shadow Kicker…those vain, ssself-flattering memoirs of hersss told you she conquered her enemies and retired with pride, did they not? How quaint.” 

She snorted, a puff of mist rising from her fanged muzzle, “Did they tell you the secret she kept until her death…a secret known only to me?! She tried to conceal her fears from me as she stitched me closed…but no being foolish enough to touch me can hide their deliciousss dread from Queen Chrysalis!”

I knew this was hardly the time to be exchanging words with a powerful, deadly enemy, especially not about harmless echoes from the past of a long-dead ancestor, but something…something in the tone of those hateful voices, and my own inexplicable sinking feeling about what they were…made me pause.

“After Shadow’s firssst death, Cloud Kicker,” Chrysalis hissed, slowly stalking closer, “when she was betrayed and murdered by her enemy, she was indeed dragged back to thisss plane by the machinations of Celestia and Sunbeam Sparkle…” She snorted haughtily, “But she had been gone long enough to hear the voicesss from beyond...”

The voices in my head had fallen silent except for the occasional murmur, almost as though they could hear what Chrysalis was saying…

“You hear them, Cloud Kicker?” She gave me a hideous, fanged smile as she took another hoofstep, her shield vanishing, “The nag heard them too. Ever louder and ever more clearly to the very end! The mighty Shadow Kicker heard the voices of all those she had killed, all those she sent to their deaths, all those whose bitter and meaningless end she played a part in…” she cocked her head, grinning mockingly and scrutinizing me with one green eye.

“And, ever after, Shadow Kicker knew what awaited her at the Gates of Tartarusss after her second death” her slitted eyes narrowed, “Every enemy she ssstruck down, every soldier she sent to his death, every warlock she ever burned…whispered hate and blame in her ears until the very end…”

I could hardly believe it. Shadow had heard the voices of the dead? I never read anything about that in her memoirs. Well, okay, if the meaningless babble I heard in my head earlier was any indication, she may not have realized what the hallucinations were until much, much later, but...

“Shadow feared them,” Chrysalis sneered, “She heard the righteous fury of every fallen, friend or foe. Her doubts gnawed away at that pitiful little mortal mind of hersss ‘til her death. I know because I felt it, Cloud Kicker! I fed on it when she was ssstupid enough to save my life with her own hooves! And all her secrets were made known to me.”

Chrysalis had drawn to within striking distance now, but I was mesmerized, hanging on her every word even as I stood poised for any sudden movement…

“She wasss haunted by those vengeful voicesss of the dead until her last breath, Cloud Kicker…” Chrysalis licked her fangs with relish, “In the end, your revered ancestor was no more than a sssenile, frightened old nag running from the shades of her past!”

I couldn’t stop myself.

Somehow, the voices were speaking clearly now.

Every single voice was cold with fear, pain, anger and sadness…

…betrayed…dead…all lies…

Chrysalis’ muscles clenched again right before my eyes. I reacted, but too slowly.

She swatted my blocking hoof aside and reared up, slamming a foreleg against my head. Stars exploded into my vision and my head rocked to the side, but I wasn’t stunned enough to freeze up yet. I instinctively shifted my hooves and slid back out of range as she tried to follow up on that first strike.

When Chrysalis fell back onto her forehooves I took advantage of the opening and cut loose with a three-step attack, ramming against her torso before slashing, spinning on my momentum and bucking out – but my attack was sloppy thanks to the pain in my chest, and I couldn’t help skidding along the rain-slick stone. 

Chrysalis hissed and fell back, a new, bright green gash visible in her chest which began to heal over before she’d even taken another breath. And she was still smirking.

She cackled at me, “You think that nag can save you, Cloud Kicker? She couldn’t even sssave herself in the end…”
I asked Shadow before I could stop myself.

Is it true?

“It is, descendant…” I could have sworn I heard her sigh heavily. “When I awoke from my attempted murder at the hooves of Bright Charger…the ghosts had followed me back. ‘Twas not known to me Chrysalis knew of that, however…”

I can hear them…

“Not thee, Cloud Kicker. ‘Tis only the echo within the armor, as am I…Thou needest not doubt. Whate’er my personal demons may have said, ‘tis only the hunger of those long since satisfied. Stand tall and fight!”

‘Satisfied’? What did she mean by that?

I didn’t have any time to ride that train of thought, because Chrysalis gathered herself and sprung at me again. Her evil smirk had faded and she was snapping her jaws menacingly again, eyes glowing with such intensity I could hardly see anything else in her face.

She bashed her head against my helmet, aiming for my eyes. Probably thinking I would cringe away and she could go for my neck. Pfeh, learned better than that on the school playground, queenie! 

I easily swung a blade around into her foalish attack and gashed open her cheek, following up with a barrage of light blows as she hissed and fell back.

Chrysalis stumbled and gave ground, repeatedly flinching as my fiery blades raked across her hide. I had to keep her on the retreat and disoriented, until she gave me an opening for a heavy blow. Every killing stroke I had ever learned was heavy and slow, meaning I had to knock an opening in Chrysalis’ defense to deliver it.

Thing is, she was too cool-headed to lose control and panic. Thanks to her damn healing magic, her wounds were closing as fast as I could inflict them, and it looked like she could barely feel-…

Traitor!

That loud shout in my head made me halt, stalling my wing just long enough for Chrysalis to swing a foreleg into my jaw. I felt my lower lip explode and warm blood spurted out onto my muzzle, mixing with the raindrops.

I spat red foam and clenched my eyes shut against the sudden searing pain. Chrysalis took the offensive, beating away at me with her spiny forelegs in a tactic embarrassingly-similar to how I’d just put her on the ropes. 

I felt a faint, tingling sensation in my wound that had nothing to do with numbness from a blow, and when I saw the smirk on Chrysalis’ face again, I realized she had tasted my emotion. If she still had any doubts before, she was certain now…

She knew.

She knew I could hear the voices. And she knew they scared me.





“Horseapples! We gotta bucking find them, dammit!”

Rainbow Dash struggled against the rain and howling wind, pumping her wings to the point it hurt as she and the other Guard pegasi tried to break up the wild storm. It was almost zero visibility – thick, wet mist clouding the air even as rain lashed down. And this was no natural storm. Rainbow could feel magic in it.

Somepony – either the bug queen or Cloud Kicker – had put this storm here deliberately to keep them out…





I sprawled on my back, limbs splayed out to my sides as I spat out another tooth, head spinning and vision blurry.

Chrysalis pulled her hind legs back from her bucking position, sneering down at me. I tried to roll out of the way, but my whole body felt numb from the shock…I couldn’t even twitch my hoof.

Gotta get back…

…Liar…Traitor…you killed us all…

Those damnable voices were how Chrysalis caught me solid with a buck. They never shut up now, and I could hear them clearly…like they were right next to me. It wasn’t just creepy, it was downright terrifying, just the way they said it…I honestly couldn’t imagine how any voice could talk like that…so full of hate. How could Shadow stand it?!

Chrysalis drew over me and smirked, stomping her forelegs down onto my wings to prevent me from taking flight, “You may have ruined my plans today, Cloud Kicker, but time isss the one thing I shall never lack! Sssooner or later, I will return…I will have what is rightfully mine!”

She bared her fangs, fixing her gaze on my exposed throat… “But you will never live to sssee it…”

Shadow murmured, “Now or never, descendant…”

I lifted my foreleg, exposing the broad surface of the gauntlet to Chrysalis’ gaze…

…and thank Celestia the armor’s power kept it shiny and gleaming all these years.

Chrysalis immediately hissed and froze as she stared down at the surface of the gauntlet.

She saw it. There was nowhere to turn, no disguise to kid herself with, no hiding from it...

A hideous, cracked face of hard brown chitin, flaking, scraped and full of rivulets oozing green ichor, over a muzzle of yellowish, dripping fangs and a dark, slavering maw. And the poisonous green glower from those slitted eyes. Eyes full of hate, rage, and bitter hunger for the suffering of all others…

It was what stopped her from possessing Lyra in the caverns below. It was the one thing that allowed her to be manipulated and enslaved by Vusk in centuries past. It was the one reason she would never love herself despite how much love she stole from her victims…

Chrysalis feared nothing…

…except the evil in her own unspeakable face.

She promptly froze, icy terror flickering through her body as the memory of Vusk’s torture crashed right back through her mind. How she was forced to stare at her own twisted self for hours on end, restored to beauty within moments – only to have it all stolen away by the reflection in the Tartarian’s glittering grin. Over and over again, with no disguise to hide from herself…

She let out an anguished howl, pulling her legs up to shield her eyes and turning her head away…

With my wingblades free, I swept them up right at Chrysalis’ face. I heard a satisfying hiss of metal cutting through chitin. She yelped and recovered, starting to turn back just in time for my fiery blade to bite right into her jaw. It promptly collapsed, her severed tongue flying out of her mouth.

She stumbled, apparently too disconcerted by the shock and pain to remember her magic and fry me where I lay…

Summoning every last ounce of my strength, I pushed back up onto my hooves, the armor’s shadows flickering over me like angry snakes as I advanced on Chrysalis, raising my gauntlet. Shadow whispered again, and it started to gleam like it had just been shined to perfection.

Panicking, Chrysalis tried to pull her gaze away from her reflection in my extended forehoof, only for me to strike again as she stupidly took her eyes off me. My blade burrowed a full five inches into her chitinous breast. She twitched and tried to pull away, but I didn’t let up…

“You see it, Chrysalis?” I slashed at her foreleg, popping out one of her knee joints and prompting another scream as she fell back.
I thrust out my gauntlet again, “The monster you are?! The truth you always tried to hide behind the illusion of those whose faces you stole?!” I rammed my shoulder into her ruptured ribcage, drawing satisfying cracks from beneath.

“The filthy abomination you beheld when Vusk tore apart that foolish, vain delusion of thine?!” 

That last taunt was Shadow’s, not mine. I claim full credit for the pivot and heavy horizontal slash that caved in Chrysalis’ cheekbone and spun her on the spot though…

I let out a triumphant battle cry as I spun and bucked out, knocking the bitch right off her hooves.

She was obviously terrified, flailing helplessly on the roof as she tried to pull her legs under her. But she couldn’t stand on her broken knee and shattered carapace. Her thrashing looked just like a bug that had been stomped on but not quite killed. Kind of an apt metaphor for what I’d just done. 

It was time to finish this.

“This ends now!!” I approached her, raising both my wingblades. They glowed and flickered in shades of red and orange as Shadow gathered herself, pumping power into the blades for the last, fatal blow.

This was it. For Mom. For Dad. For Alula. For every pony this bitch had ever tried to hurt.

This is where you get yours, Chrysalis…

I shouted as I swung down both of my wingblades – as hard as I could – right for Chrysalis’ neck.

They fell. 

Faster than they eye could see, yet I saw every fraction of that split-second.

Faster than the air could follow, leaving massive waves of heat that shimmered in my sight.

Faster than Chrysalis’ single visible eye-slit could contract to follow its path.

And somehow…it still wasn’t enough.

Her wings buzzed into life and she shot up and away. 

My blades clanged against the stone rooftop, shattering the cobblestones and sending long, black cracks shivering along the surface. Shock ran up my wings and into my withers, up along my spine and into my brain.

NO!!!

Chrysalis hovered in the air before me, hissing and bleeding from a dozen injuries, her horn sparking and flickering menacingly with green magic, but her eyes were the worst of all…

Pure, unbridled hate lanced out at me from those two slits.





“ARRRrrrgh!” Rainbow grunted with satisfaction as she finally managed to break the massive cloud apart, shoving through and …

…okay, so the magic from Twi and the Princesses sorta helped, but it was mostly her awesome cloud-bucking, right?

As the clouds parted, Rainbow looked around at the crowd with her. Twi and the others were landing their chariot on the rooftops, but Fluttershy, tears streaming from her eyes, blew overhead faster than Rainbow had ever seen her go…

It’s OK, Fluttershy, we’ll get there in time…

Even though Rainbow would never have admitted it, that thought was as much to reassure herself as Fluttershy. She knew Cloud Kicker would never go down without a fight, but Chrysalis was a monster and it had taken both of them to bring down that other changeling in the cave. There was no way she was sitting this battle out…

Cloud Kicker and Chrysalis came into sight just ahead as the clouds parted, and though she couldn’t see it clearly at this distance, Rainbow was sure it was turning into a pretty ugly fight. And she wasn’t in the business of sitting out an ugly fight when her friends were in danger…

As she clenched her wings and dived for the scene of the battle, Rainbow suddenly noticed the whoosh of the other pegasi closing in behind her. Tornado Kicker, Star, Storm and the others were all there, and from the clenched, grim looks on their faces, Rainbow could tell they were aching to save Cloud Kicker themselves, not to mention getting a piece of Bitch Queenie…

Blossomforth and Derpy…

They were there too.

Rainbow was about to zip over their heads and tell them to get back to safety, but the half-terrified, half-determined expressions on their faces somehow told her it wasn’t worth the effort of trying. She would just have to cover for Blossom and Derpy if any trouble showed up…

Hold on, Cloud Kicker! Just a few more seconds…





Horseapples.

Chrysalis had lost it. She didn’t care about healing up or escaping anymore, or even if she lived or died. 

She just wanted to destroy me.

She began to glow brilliantly…

A massive, poisonous green aura began to form around her as she hissed venomously. Her eyes came alight, the blood seeping out of her wounds began to glow, and her horn sparked and crackled as she summoned every ounce of magic in her being.

Right there before my eyes, her chitin started to crack…

Great plates of carapace burned clean off her body and evaporated into thin air as the burning intensity of her power displaced her flesh and blood…

I felt the air around me grow unbearably hot, and it was getting difficult to breathe. I lifted my wings, but the blades suddenly seemed like a futile gesture against the burning entity. 

Hot as Celestia’s sun…

Her face was barely visible now through the glare, appearing only as a skeletal black imprint in a sea of green. The eyes though, were clear. I had seen them before…in the caverns below. The burning eyes that spoke of spite, hate, and hunger eons old…

“BEHOLD MY TRUE FORM, CLOUD KICKER!!!”

That thunderous voice shook the rooftop we were standing on, making me stumble as I could only gape, jaw hanging slack at what I was seeing…

“What…the…BUCK?!!!”

The voices in my head rose to crescendo, hurting my ears as they hissed at me to look…

 “I AM THE BEGINNING OF LIFE, THE DEVOURER OF DEATH, THE AMNION OF NURTURE FROM WHICH YOUR WHOLE WRETCHED RACE WAS SSSTOLEN!!!”

The eyes focused on me, growing larger and larger in my sight, closer and closer…

I realized what was happening a second too late.

Chrysalis was invading my mind…

“DO YOU SEE IT NOW? THE BLOODY CRUEL LIE YOUR PONY RACE HASSS BECOME? THE POINTLESS MOCKERY - THE BASTARDY – FOR WHICH MY DESTINY WAS SSSTOLEN FROM ME? FOR WHICH YOUR MOTHER, YOUR CLAN, AND YOUR ANCESSSTOR ALL DIED?”

A myriad of visions passed through my mind. And what I was seeing...wasn’t meant for mortal eyes!

I won’t repeat any of what I saw here. I refuse to. I’d go insane…

Chrysalis was not of this world? She was a cosmic being?

And everything the ponies were…should have been her?

Everything we lived and fought for…all the trials of travel and rebuilding, and all the blood spilled for ponykind throughout history – was all never meant to be?

…Liar…Traitor…Fake!!!

That last shout from the voices made all the strength fade out of my legs and I collapsed to my knees on the rooftop, mesmerized, as Chrysalis raised her wings, now fully transformed and aglow with green fire…

Her first sweep caught me on my side, lifting me clean off the rooftop and throwing me off to the right. I felt a crack as my ribs broke, though I was too numb to feel the pain.

Her second strike was a cross with her foreleg. My ears rang and the world spun in a starry kaleidoscope as I tumbled backwards head-over-hooves. Shadow’s helmet ripped free of its slots and fell off my head. It sailed away through the clouds, caught in the wash of power from Chrysalis’ attack.

I didn’t scream, I didn’t cry, I didn’t even so much as groan despite the fact that my injuries must have been agonizingly painful. I just felt…nothing.

It’s weird to describe how I felt…

I had just learned a secret nopony was ever meant to know. Something not meant for pony minds.

It was all pointless.

The ponies were a mistake.

We were a mistake. Stolen property of the abomination that had just spent the last thousand years walking among us plotting revenge.

A copy.

A fake.

In the end, what had it all been for?

It sounds so funny, saying that to yourself. It would never make sense if you said it to anypony else. But when you feel it yourself. When you’ve seen and felt the truth with your own being – glimpsed secrets that had always been forbidden to mortals – it somehow becomes a lot harder to ignore…

I felt the impact before Chrysalis’ third strike even hit.

Her magic struck me squarely in my exposed face. It wasn’t fire. It wasn’t ice. It wasn’t even that nasty green goop that her whole, unblemished creations had been spitting at me for the last couple of days.

It was her.

The Amnion, itself.

That sickly, foul, poisonous green was all we were made from…all we were ever meant to be.

Chrysalis had probably made the dirtiest move in history for this fight. But I couldn’t argue it was effective.

“Descendant…” Even Shadow sounded awed, “We must…fight. It cannot all have been for nothing…”

It was, Shadow.  All of it. We can’t win!

“We can, Cloud Kicker…and we must!” The voices in my mind followed her every word, screaming hate at Shadow and urging her to give up. There was no doubt that even as I struggled with Chrysalis physically, she had been fighting an internal battle against her tormentors from beyond the grave.

Chrysalis, it seemed, was done. Ready to put me out of my misery.

She stood before me, blazing with the ethereal green form of the Amnion…that fiery face devoid of expression as her horn glowed, readying her next spell.

Great green fangs snapped through the air, wriggling in bursts from Chrysalis’ aura like hungry, hissing snakes, as they converged on me…

“Cloud Kicker!”

Shadow was trying to take control again. To push me out of my own body and make me move. But it didn’t work. I felt as cold and heavy as a stone…

“Cloud Kicker!!!”

I immediately felt my ears perk up. Another voice. Not Shadow’s. A real voice.

One I knew all too well.

Chrysalis gathered her power and all her snapping, green jaws converged like a murder of crows and dived for me…just as Rainbow Dash came flying in from the clouds, faster than I’d ever seen her go before…

There was a telltale hum in the air, and Rainbow trailed great ribbons of color before the ground shuddered and a Sonic Rainboom shot up and down through the palace grounds as Rainbow dived…

…right into the path of those swarming green teeth.

There was an enormous CRACK, and a massive green flash!

Time seemed to slow.

Rainbow Dash went limp in mid-air, glowing green, still looking at me while her eyes slowly closed… 

She sailed bonelessly through the air, crashing into a heap right in front of me…

Shocked, I tried to rise, but I couldn’t. I was just too stunned.

Rainbow…

I barely recognized the hoarse, stricken voice that came out of my throat.

“RAINBOWWW!!”

My mind became a flurry of panic as I immediately ran my forehooves over her for signs of life. Her blue fur was singed and bloody. Her mane was burned and missing great chunks where it had been seared away. Worst of all were the gaping fang-marks in her flesh…

“Rainbow…”

I stared down at her. Was it tears blurring my eyes, or was it just the rain, or was it the shock going to my head. I suppose I’ll never know.

Chrysalis let out an ethereal hiss, turning her fiery head in the direction Rainbow had come from…

Ponies.

Celestia. Luna. Fluttershy. Twilight. Dad and the others. They were all there.

“YOU ARE THE MOCKERY, CHRYSALIS!!!” Celestia’s Royal Canterlot Voice roared out across the palace towers. “AMNION OF LIFE OR NOT, YOUR SPITE AND MISGUIDED ANGER HAS TURNED YOU INTO A MONSTER!” The princess was alive with magic, her ethereal multi-colored mane flared and crackling with power. Both her eyes were visible and shining with energy, “WHATEVER YOUR ROLE AS LIFEGIVER HAD BEEN AT THE DAWN, YOU ARE UNWORTHY OF IT NOW AT YOUR END! YOUR GIFTS OF LIFE WOULD NO LONGER BE WORTH HAVING! SEE THE HORROR YOU HAVE BECOME!”

Celestia’s gaze flickered to her sister hovering beside her. Luna nodded grimly and the two of them shot in opposite directions up and down, banking into a great circle in the air, which promptly flickered and became a great, translucent mirror…

Chrysalis let out a deep scream as her fiery, green self glared right back at her, and she tried to turn her head away…

…but Celestia and Luna banked around, horns aglow as they conjured, extending the mirror around the rooftop…

It encircled us completely.

Chrysalis let out another scream of fury as she beheld her reflection no matter where she turned.

Right there, before our eyes, two great green drops of flame formed within that hideous, glowing face. They trailed down from Chrysalis’ eyes, down her cheeks, and to the cobblestones below, burning and sizzling where they touched the stone.

“YOU CANNOT!” Chrysalis roared, her voice sounding higher and shaky, as though she couldn’t choose between desperate sadness and overwhelming rage. “I AM THE AMNION! ALL YOU WERE MEANT TO BE IS I!!!”

As I lay there, still cradling Dash in my forehooves, Shadow whispered in my ear…for the last time.

Dash…

Now I knew what I had to do…

“You, Chrysalis…” I felt strange then, hearing my voice as if it was somepony else’s, and seeing myself as though through another pony’s eyes as I rose back to my hooves, stepping over Rainbow Dash. “You…are a bad memory. A failed purpose. A creature twisted into a hollow mockery through its own petty jealousy and spite…”

She turned her gaze to me again, those sickly green eyes half-enraged, and half-hesitant at what I was going to do next...

Shadow’s armor flared into life. 

I didn’t have the helmet anymore, but now I didn’t need it. 

The shadows seeped out of every groove and rune in the armor, wrapping up and around my wings and now-fiery wingblades. They wove their way around and within my flesh, pumping power into my weary muscles as I advanced on the bug bitch queen, calling upon every last strand of magic it had. 

The caresses of the shadows across my body were strangely…soothing. As if the shadows knew this was the last time they would serve me and they were kissing me goodbye. I’ve known the farewell caresses of a whole lot of lovers, but somehow, this was perhaps the only time I’d felt truly sad to see them go.

…Isn’t that strange?

As I advanced on Chrysalis, the princesses’ mirror vanished. Celestia must have known what I was planning because I saw her and Luna urging my shouting friends and family back. Fluttershy, in particular, was being really insistent. She was actually pounding her forehooves on Celestia’s magic force field as the white alicorn pulled her away shaking her head. Twilight looked confused too, but she was trying to pull her friends back to follow her mentor’s command. Ah, bless Twilight’s faithfulness for getting Eepy back to safety for this…

Blossom was there as well. She was trying to take flight, but Dad must have realized what I was going to do too. He knew several of the secrets of Shadow’s armor, and he knew it wouldn’t be healthy for Blossomforth to be this close when I used it. But I could plainly see the fear on his face as well as on Storm and Star. No doubt this was the worst test they’d ever faced… 

But if they had to risk losing me, or losing everything…

…no, this was my choice. And mine alone.

This bitch had masterminded Mom’s death. Brainwashed Lyra. Captured Fluttershy and my Dad. Held my little sister hostage. And done her best to kill me and every other Kicker in the city…

There was no way I was leaving her alive…

I focused, my rage boiling to the surface and feeding the shadows, which flared massively. If Chrysalis looked like a burning torch right then, I must have looked like a massive black hole…

…and I was going to relish every second I let Chrysalis have it...

I broke into a canter as Chrysalis began summoning another spell…

The shadows flickered and I felt Shadow Kicker’s presence. She was with me. Every hoofbeat, every pull of my muscles – I felt her mirroring it within my flesh as she lent her strength to my own.

“Thou art a true Kicker, Cloud…”

I broke into a charge, flaring my wings and extending my blades as Chrysalis’ horn began to hum and spark…

“And I am proud to call thee my descendant.”

My own voice scared me when my fury bubbled right out of my throat and I opened my mouth to scream.

“YOU’RE ALL MINE, CHRYSALIS!!!”

I crashed into her fiery form, feeling the searing heat burn into my flesh, the crackle of magic sting as it lanced across me, electrifying every nerve in my body. And it didn’t slow me down for a second.

I rammed my fiery blades repeatedly into Chrysalis’ form, kicking with my forehooves as we moved in a slow, grappling dance on our hind legs across the stone…

She bit down on my shoulder, but I simply tugged it free, tearing the flesh, before I stabbed her in her exposed gut. Everywhere I struck her, the shadows flickered and broke free of my body, invading the seeping wounds of fire in Chrysalis’ body.

Chrysalis lifted her face to look at me. At this distance, despite the dazzling green light, I could still see her face clearly. She was enraged, but at the same time scared and faintly…puzzled? I couldn’t tell.

I drew a line across her side, severing one of her wings. As the thin, veiny green object fell, it was consumed by the shadows as they slowly fed up its length through the jigsaw veins.

My pinion feathers burned and gave off thick black smoke along my left wing as I struck her. But I hardly even felt it. The fiery blade still worked, and that was all that mattered to me as I plunged it between her ribs.

Her loud, pained scream echoed all through the city again before her horn lit up and she began casting another spell…

…but I reached up and placed both of my forehooves on it.

The shadows flickered up my forelegs and invaded Chrysalis’ horn, silencing her spell and feeding their dark, cold essence into her body…

Chrysalis twitched in surprise…and then screamed as the power of Shadow’s armor invaded her being. Glowing rents opened up in her body, leaking inky spills as the armor’s power burned her from within. She bit desperately down on my foreleg, shattering the bone, and then bit me again on my cheek…

…but I didn’t move.

“Death waits in the shadows” I hissed at her for the second time that night, “For you, Chrysalis…”

Chrysalis’ glow began to fade. Her legs failed her and she slumped to the rooftop, me still holding on and channeling shadow into her as her vile strength leeched from her body. She glared right at me, enraged, and opened her mouth to let out one final scream…only to vomit a great gout of darkness as the shadows tore her lungs inside out.

Her glow faded…and then was gone.

The air was silent. Even those bucking voices had gone quiet.

Chrysalis – carapace, flesh, and magic all burned away – fell limply to the rooftop, barely able to lift her head. Nothing more than a weak, shriveled husk of a being.

Those poisonous green eyes glinted up at me as I lowered back onto my forehooves, gazing back down at her.

“It was truly a sad fate for thee, Chrysalis…” Was it me or Shadow speaking? Did it matter? “For the Amnion of Life herself to have all that made Life worth living taken away from her…”

“Th-then…” Chrysalis couldn’t speak. She had no mouth, tongue or voice left. Only the tiniest shreds of magic still left in her being could make the faint whispers in the air, “…why did you come against me? Why did you stop me from taking my own destiny back? Do you want the sphere of Life for yourself?”

I shook my head. Or Shadow did. “Neigh…but we could ne’er permit it to be thine again either, Chrysalis. If thou wert to possess the sphere of Life once more…ponykind’s little piece of it would ne’er be safe…”

She choked, making short, rattling noises through the twisted, mangled remnants of her jaws. And I realized she was laughing.

“A bloody farce, all of it…” Chrysalis’s slitted, eternally-green eyes fixed on me, filled with no less hate or loathing than before… 

“Farewell, Cloud Kicker. I will be waiting for you…at the Gates of Tartarus…”

And then they went dark. 

Chrysalis’ head thumped down to the stone.

I just stood there for a moment, looking down at her. 

Somewhere, a breeze blew through the rooftops, ruffling my feathers.

Right there, her body dissolved into fine green dust, which caught in the breeze and blew away as my gaze followed it…

…and then it was gone.

I slowly sat down, “Bucking bug bitch queen…”

Then I slumped down onto the rooftop, and would have passed out right there and then if it wasn’t for the sudden swarming of concerned ponies…

“Cloud Kicker!”

The world suddenly became a mess of multi-colored feathers, sobbing, fussing and relieved mumbling from Blossomforth, Fluttershy, and Derpy. Ordinarily, having three mares fussing over me wouldn’t have been in the least bit objectionable, but right now I had something bigger to worry about…

“Rainbow…I’ve got to see her,” I tried walking, but the stab of agony in my forehoof was enough to make me second guess myself there. Blossom offered me her wing, supporting me as I slowly got up. Alula let go and fell into step beside us as I half-walked and half-stumbled over to my friend, the other ponies following behind…

“Cloudy…” Fluttershy placed a forehoof on my back, biting her lip, eyes teary as she looked at Rainbow...

Twilight, Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie Pie and Princess Celestia were standing over her where she lay. Rainbow was lying in a pool of her own blood with her back to me, unresponsive as the glow from the princess’s horn washed over her.

“Is she…?” My own voice sounded hollow to my ears.

Twilight looked at me, half-awed and half-concerned. Tears were running down her cheeks. “Cloud Kicker…she…the Rainboom…” Her voice became higher and higher as she went on…

Right then, Rainbow slowly let out a low groan and rolled over painfully. She opened one eye and gave me what was probably the cheesiest smirk I’d ever seen. And somehow still the most beautiful...

I choked out a laugh as she winked. “Aw c’mon, Kicker! I’m not gonna die for that big ol’ dumb bug!” She coughed painfully, clutching her midsection. “It just reaaally hurts!” she said with an over-exaggerated whine, before grinning at me again, “Nice job on Chrysalis by the way…almost as awesome as my Sonic Rainboom! Almost, that i-…Yeoowwww!”

The rest of her cocky bluster got cut off as Fluttershy and I simultaneously pounced on her in a hug.

I understood it finally. Seems Rainbow had one of her famous half-formed, arguably-suicidal battle plans. The surge from the Sonic Rainboom must have dispersed most of the magic in Chrysalis’ fatal attack...

But it hadn’t been enough to completely knock it out, which led to the not-so-well-thought-out part of Rainbow’s plan to take what was left of the strike herself and save me…

“Ow! Easy, guys! I’m…wha-…Cloud, you…”

Her voice trailed off as she ran her eyes over my body. I must have looked a real mess – broken ribs and forehoof, torn shoulder, burned feathers and coat, bruises from head to hoof – yeah, I couldn’t blame Rainbow and the others really. I was biting my lip to keep my streaming eyes under control from the pain.

The armor was completely drained, so apparently I could kiss that marvelous healing ability goodbye. Hope that medic got here soon…

This was the worst I’d ever felt in my life. The only thing soothing the ache was the reassurance Chrysalis was finished…

…and my family and friends were finally safe.

“Cloud…”

“Cloudy…”

Dad and Alula. I could only just lift my head high enough to smile at them. ‘Lula promptly cantered over and hugged me, tears in her eyes. “Ya s-saved us, Cloudy! Ya saved us all!”

I nuzzled her back as best I could through my pain and fatigue. To my little sis’ credit, she didn’t even flinch at the feeling of all the crusty blood and grime in my mane. Didn’t look like she was planning on letting go anytime soon either. It was nice now, but eventually I might need a crowbar or something before I ended up walking everywhere with a filly huggy enough to give Dinky a run for her money fused to the side of my head.

When she eventually let go, I opened my eyes again and I could see Dad standing over us. He looked down at me, at the armor, as though he could still hardly believe it…

Then he stood up straight and saluted me briskly, clicking his hooves together, “Well done, Lieutenant,” Then he abandoned all pretense and hugged me, tears forming in his eyes. “Very well done indeed, Cloud. I can’t tell you how p-proud I am!”

“The captain speaks for the whole Equestrian military as well…” Shining Armor – buck him for showing up at a time like this – moved up beside my father, offering a salute of his own. He then lowered his gaze and spoke more softly. “And you have my personal thanks, Cloud Kicker. My foalishness almost cost us everything. If that monster hadn’t fooled and ensnared me so easily, none of this would’ve…” He grimaced, and tried to compose himself, “You have my word all Equestria will know you saved us…”

I snorted loudly, somehow not giving a buck what anypony thought after all this. But he was obviously trying to make amends in his own awkward, Sparkle-style way. “Thanks, Shining Armor, but right now I just want a doctor and a bed. And I mean a big bed!” I glanced meaningfully at everypony still fussing over me, too tired for subtlety.

Shining Armor raised one eyebrow, while Dad simply snorted lightly and glanced at ‘Lula, who was cooing, “Awww, sleepover! I wanna come too!”

I gave a half-grimace, half-smile before Shining Armor shook it off and called over his shoulder for a medic.

The world was starting to get dark and hazy and keeping my eyes open was getting difficult. I knew I was going to pass out soon. There was only one more thing I needed to-

 “Ow!” I yelped as a sudden, fresh bolt of pain lanced down through my broken ribs again. Now that the adrenaline and relief was flowing out of my system, I realized it hurt to breathe. My foreleg was agony and I couldn’t stand on it. My cheek was swollen and throbbing with pain and my wings pinched from ripped and burned feathers. From the way my gut felt, I’d probably be passing blood for a week if I tried to eat anything.

I groaned and teetered on the spot, my vision going blurry. Everything was coming down on me all at once. I could hardly even see straight through the pain and fatigue.

“Princess!” Twilight’s voice arced out in concern, sounding louder and more wobbly than it should have done. I scratched my suddenly-itching eyes with my good forehoof as I was aware of Princess Celestia trotting over to me.

As I looked up at the princess, I could see her expression. Celestia’s face was lined with fatigue and worry, concern evident in her eyes. Her horn slowly lit up and her warmth washed over me.

I could feel it. Within the armor, Shadow’s essence seeped out gladly to meet her magic. Clasping it as though one would clasp a long-lost friend in fondness. I could feel Shadow’s approval beneath the surface, and when I squinted, I could see the faintest flicker of a sad smile on Celestia’s face as she pulled back her magic…

Somehow…I felt much better after feeling that. 

Shadow had made peace with her again.

Everything…was going to be alright…

Maybe now I could finally fix up all my troubles too…

The princess’ eyes slowly focused on my own again. Her expression was hard to read. Somehow…she looked worried…

“You…Cloud Kicker…you have…” The princess, somehow, looked troubled. Well, maybe I could pull out some of the ol’ Kicker charm to ease her mind about me…if I felt that good. Somehow I didn’t. But I wanted to try to keep up appearances with all these other ponies watching us...

I tried to ignore the pain and bow to her, “Lieutenant Cloud Kicker of Clan Kicker always ready to serve, Your Highness! As is my duty as a loyal subject of Equestria and the true ruler of-“

I was cut off sharply by a wave of pain and weakness crashing over me again, stronger than the last. I choked and let out a strangled scream as I collapsed to my knees…

…Suddenly, I felt as weak as a kitten.

The air came alive around me with screams and yells of panic as I fell, shivering in pain…

The armor was cold and heavy…again…

I coughed painfully. 

To my horror, blood splattered onto the cobblestones beneath me…and I could feel more dribbling down my muzzle.

Somehow I managed to look up. The princess was staring down at me, and she was crying. Tears were slowly falling from her single, visible eye.

She slowly turned her head away with a sorrowful expression, “Oh, Cloud Kicker…”

No…

No...it can’t be…

“Cloudy!!!” Fluttershy’s voice was right next to me as she gripped me around the barrel, tears starting to form in her eyes.

I couldn’t answer her. My dear, sweet Eepysqueak…I couldn’t answer her. I couldn’t make a sound – my throat was full of blood and it hurt to even try to speak. I tried to turn my head to look at her, only to slump over and collapse to my side as she squealed with fright and Blossomforth and Derpy rushed forward to join her.

I couldn’t feel my legs. Even the pain from my broken foreleg was gone. Everywhere, my sight was starting to get fuzzy…

What are you doing?!!

“You agreed to this…” Shadow’s voice was flat.

No…no, not now…

“Descendant, thou wert aware of the price thou wouldst pay…”

No…not yet, not like this! I can finally make everything right…

“Thou hast already done that.”

Somehow, I had rolled onto my back, hooves and wings limp. I felt water dripping down on my face. Was it raining again? My vision was getting dark, but I could see the faces of Fluttershy, Rainbow, Derpy, Rarity, Applejack, Pinkie, Twilight, Blossomforth, Dad and Alula…

They were all crowding above, squirming to look at me, yelling and shouting my name as tears rolled down their faces…

No, not rain then.

The sound of their voices was getting further away.

I was starting to feel kinda cold…

My vision sheeted over with white…





I had been here before. I knew where I was.

But this time, it was just us.

Shadow was there, dressed in her armor and blades once again (minus the helmet). While I stood in a dented, banged-up copy of the same artifact right in front of her, my wounds gone.

“Shadow, I-…I’m dying, aren’t I?”

Her expression didn’t change. Those cold blue eyes remained fixed on me without any expression or emotion.

“Yes.”

I swallowed, “But I can’t, Shadow! Not yet! After all that’s happened, I can finally make everypony happy! Everyone I’ve ever hurt or disappointed! I can finally put things right after all this time! I can’t go yet!!”

Shadow slowly closed her eyes, and then opened them again. She didn’t speak, so I went on.

“I mean, yeah, Shadow, I know we destroyed Chrysalis and everything, but…my friends, Fluttershy, Blossomforth and Derpy. There’s still so much to fix! Still so many things I’ve done to them!”

Shadow cocked her head and spoke slowly, “Indeed, descendant. I am certain there are many things thou wouldst put to right after what we hath accomplished this day…if thou possessed the opportunity to do so…”

I looked at her. Her tone wasn’t mocking or condescending. She sounded genuinely thoughtful, like she was mulling things over.

Sensing hope, I spoke again, “I could make the clan first among Celestia’s guardians again! I could make the ponies I loved know I never meant to hurt any of them! I could rebuild our Clan’s home! I could…”

At that, Shadow raised a hoof in a sweeping, powerful gesture honed from a lifetime of practice commanding soldiers that demanded attention. Old instincts kicked in and I immediately went quiet and straightened on the spot, stopping myself from clicking my hooves together just in time.

Shadow took several hoofsteps closer, her armor clinking and the noise echoing through the void as she drew muzzle-to-muzzle in front of me. Her expression wasn’t hard with the command of an officer, it wasn’t sympathetic with filial concern, it wasn’t even angry or indignant. Shadow, somehow, looked like somepony familiar…somepony welcoming as though I’d known her for years…

“Cloud Kicker…” she said, her voice low and neatly clipped, “Thou must have more faith in those who know and love thee…”

I could only stare. This was happening? Now?! Right at the very worst time?

I was never sure if that old story about anypony who used the armor dying in it was true or of it was just some clan myth – and even when I heard Shadow mention it back during the vision I wasn’t sure if she was serious or not. And to be hit with it now…now of all times when it finally looked like everything was going to be okay…

It just…wasn’t fair.

“Descendant…” Shadow fized her gaze on me with unusual intensity, “Thou wert warned. Thou wert given every inkling of what would befall thee if thou wouldst use my armor…”

“But why, Shadow?” I asked, a whine entering into my voice much to my own embarrassment, “Why take it all away right now?!”

She lifted and eyebrow and shuffled her wings slightly before replying, “Cloud Kicker…whilst thou made masterful use of my armor…it drew upon thine own life as its source. The armor...is not a simple arrayment. It is…a vessel. Whilst thou wore it, thine own being was not within thine body…but within the armor itself…as was I myself once…”

I felt a shower of pins and needles along my back as the implications of that hit me. It was true. Shadow Kicker’s armor had saved her life from the Avatar of Nightmare Moon by holding her soul within itself while her dead flesh mended…or so her memoirs said. 

If so, there was nothing stopping it from…

“Cloud…” Shadow had drawn closer to me, and raised a hoof to my shoulder, “Mayhaps thou hast doubted the truth of the price for using my armor? Mayhaps thou believed ‘twas only a final test of faith or somesuch and thou couldst use it with no more consequence than thou wouldst a blade or thundercloud?” She was looking searchingly at me with those cold, piercing eyes, but her tone was sympathetic.

She lowered her hoof and shook her head slowly, “Neigh. Thou art as much a part of it now as I was. The armor will forever hold a mark of you within itself, and that piece can never truly return to thee, Cloud Kicker. Thine exertions and the power you called upon to destroy Chrysalis now call upon thee…”

“B-b-b-but…but…” I started to panic despite myself as the reality of it set in, “YOU didn’t die after you used it on Nightmare Moon!”

Shadow sighed, closing her eyes for a moment before looking at me again, “Not Nightmare Moon, my child. ‘Twas but a shadow of her in Bright Charger’s flesh. And thou hast drawn ‘pon more power than I e’er did to destroy Chrysalis. She was the cosmic Amnion of all life…or at least, ‘twas how she began. Such a being cannot be destroyed by simply ripping it from the flesh, as the Avatar was…the price this time was much higher…”

I looked down, my mouth drying up as cold fear lanced through me.

It was true.

I was going to die.

“B-but I…” I wondered briefly who had spoken in that hollow, far-away voice, before I realized it was me, “I…I’m afraid…”

“Cloud Kicker…” Shadow’s voice was soothing now, like she genuinely sympathized, “Surely after all thou hast been through, death would not seem so daunting? Thou hast faced it many times already this day, and every time it seemed less terrifying, neigh? Thine real fear came from the danger of failure, not death. So why fear it now?” She spread her wings slightly and tilted her head, “Surely after all thou hast accomplished, descendant – if there was e’er a pony who deserved the best in the next plane, it would be thee, neigh?”

I looked at her, “I…I don’t need to be afraid?”

She gave me a small, grim smile, “After thine great boon to ponykind and the world, descendant, I think not...”

I sighed, looking up at the great white void above as I thought about it.

It was true I’d always known that I could be facing death ever since the invasion of Canterlot…but with how much had been at stake and with much bigger things to worry about than myself, I hadn’t had much time to think about it. Would death really be so bad?

I’d had a good life in many ways. I knew I’d done many good things, and made a lot of good friends, and despite all the hiccups and bumps along the way, I’d finally proven myself loyal to the family and clan in the end. Hay, I’d probably be celebrated as one of the greatest Kickers in history! I’m talking gold-statues and oil paintings!

…But the mistakes I’d made…all the times I’d hurt somepony close to me and never had the chance to make up for it! Like Dad, like Rainbow, like Fluttershy, like Derpy…true, I’d done some things to try to make it right but…had it really been enough for them? 

Could they really remember me without the pain my mistakes had caused them? Would it grow and consume them and turn them to bitterness at my memory? 

Or worse yet…would my death make them sad. So sad they’d never recover? So sad they’d spend their whole lives just wishing to see me again before we never got to say those last words?

I felt Shadow’s forehoof on my shoulder again.

“Cloud Kicker…” Shadow was smiling now. It was a genuine smile that looked odd on her hard face, “Come now…as I said, surely thou canst afford to show some faith in thine friends and family. Surely they know thou wouldst never have harmed or disappointed any of them by intention…regardless of whate’er they may have said at the time. After all, thou hast fought to thine very last breath to protect them from being consumed and enslaved…”

She rolled her eyes in their sockets to glance up slightly, as though she were pondering, “E’en though Rainbow Dash would ne’er admit it, she knows thou wert her guiding light to prove herself as a weatherpony as well as a Wonderbolt. She does not and has ne’er truly blamed thee for thine scuffle nor the injuries she sustained for being foolish enough to raise a hoof against a Kicker…”

She looked at me again, the faint hint of a smile at the corner of her mouth, “Thy dearest Fluttershy, such a gentle sweetling…surely ‘twould be completely adverse to her nature to blame thee for the time thou has lost. For her, even these few weeks thou hast shared after thine reconciliation will be enough for her to always treasure the memory of thee.”

“And Blossomforth? Doubtless she will be sad for a time, but ‘tis her nature to change to circumstances and she knows thou hast never sought to harm her or place her in distress. She will mourn of course, but doubtless she will forget thine shared errors and always remember thee as her first and true love.”

I could only stare as she went on. “Thine mistakes with Ditzy Doo will take time to fade from her memory, ‘tis true, and yet thine actions saved her beloved daughter and all her family this day. Despite her stubbornness – no doubt inherited distantly from her ancestor the Ephor – she hath always known thou didst truly love her and would ne’er hold the memory of thee with bitterness.”

As I stood there staring at her, not quite believing how she knew so much about my life – things I’d never told anypony in entirety – Shadow held my gaze with a glint in her eye that somehow looked a little too smug…

The answer came slowly from the back of my mind, and somehow, I couldn’t hold back a strange chuckle that I myself didn’t quite understand. 

“Shadow Kicker…” I was choking out snorts of dry laughter, “You didn’t tell me the truth back in the compound, did you? You’re not just a memory…not just some imprint or dream left in the armor…” I looked at her, “It really was you all along, wasn’t it?”

Shadow struck an innocent pose, “It seems my cunning ploy hath finally been revealed despite my most painstaking efforts to assure thou wouldst not discover the truth…” The ghost of a smirk worked onto her muzzle, “It certainly took thee long enough, descendant…”

I straightened up. I guess what Shadow said made sense. As much as I hated this, I needed to have faith that everypony I loved would remember me as it truly was, instead of just the very worst way they possibly could. To do otherwise would not just make no sense, it’d be an insult to my faith in them. Shadow was right about one thing, I could count on them to keep sight of what was really important.

But the thought of leaving them all…of not being able to go into the future together with them. Of not being there for all the great things in their lives. Of not growing old with them. Of leaving without telling them how much I loved them all…

It still…hurt.

A lot.

“Cloud Kicker…” Shadow’s expression was thoughtful as she gazed at me, “I believe there may be one final thing I may do for thee…”

My ears perked up and I looked at her. Shadow set her jaw, as though she were making a decision against her better judgment, “I do not usually permit this…since ‘tis usually a mistake that only makes the user’s pain worse…but…I believe thou might have the strength to return one final time…”

“Really?!!” I fought the urge to prance. Okay, it was probably only going to be a short time, but…

Shadow nodded slowly, “Indeed. But be warned, descendant – to see everypony whom thou hast loved in thy final moments will make the passing more difficult than ever – for thy loved ones as well as thee. Before thou dost commit thyself to this, Cloud, I would advise thee to consider it most carefully.”

I looked down.

This was it.

Either way, this was the end.

I couldn’t leave everypony without saying goodbye. 

“Hear me descendant,” Shadow said with a grim smile, “I tell thee in all honesty – time will be short…”

She flexed a wing, “Prepare thyself…for the greatest battle of all…”





“C-c-c-cloud Kicker!”

I opened my eyes slowly as the clouds parted and I came to. I couldn’t feel my body and I felt strangely light – like I wasn’t a pony at all – like I was just something bobbing inside my broken body.

Everypony was still crowding over me where I lay, tears gushing from their eyes. As they sprinkled down on me, I felt no drops. Only small, rapidly-fading pools of coolness erupting over me like pins and needles. 

It’d be almost pleasant if it wasn’t for…

I saw the faint, shimmering face of a pony I loved above, butter-yellow and with that silky pink mane I’d loved burying my muzzle into. Her eyes were squeezed tightly shut as she wailed to the sky with her friends clutching her.

“Eepysqueak…” My own voice sounded hollow and far-away in my own ears, like it was echoing up from a deep tunnel in the clouds.

Fluttershy promptly froze, her eyes shooting open and staring at me, shining with tears.

“Cloudy…”

Before she could say another word, six more heads appeared above my gaze, every one of them wet and twisted with grief.

Derpy. Blossomforth. Rainbow. Dad. Alula. Star.

“Cloud Kicker…” Blossom’s freckled face was red with tears and I could see she was trying her very hardest not to wail, “D-don’t try to speak! We’ll get you to…”

I gazed at her, “N-no time…can’t stay…long…”

Her eyes widened, and there was a collective moan of dismay from everypony around me.

“P-please don’t! I need you! We all need you! Don’t leave us…”

I weakly tried to raise a hoof to her face, but I couldn’t do much more than twitch it. After a moment, I gave up and simply heaved a short sigh.

“I’m sorry, Blossom…”

“C—c’mon Kicker, don’t say weird stuff like that!” Rainbow’s scratchy voice was slowly getting higher and louder as she tried her hardest to speak without sobbing, “It’s not so bad! Look at me – I took everything that bug could dish out and I’m alright! You’re gonna be okay…” Her watery cerise eyes looked desperately in appeal to the others, “…isn’t she?!”

Dad had shut his eyes tightly and was looking down, his face crumpled, and that hurt so much I almost regretted what I had done, “The armor…th-there isn’t…it’s…I’m so sorry, Cloud!”

I tried again to move, but I could no longer feel my forehooves. “It’s okay, Dad. It was my choice, and mine alone…”

He opened his eyes and gazed down at me, holding Alula in his forehoof as she sobbed. “Cloudy!!! Don’t go away!! Pleeease!” From how close she was I knew she was holding on to me – probably my foreleg. I would’ve given anything to be able to hold her back. I was sure I was trying to smile – even though I couldn’t feel it – but I was sure tears were falling from my eyes too.

“It’s okay, ‘Lula…I’m not gonna be far away…” She slowly raised her teary eyes up to meet mine, her lower lip quivering as she tried to stifle her sobs.

I tried to smile again, feeling nothing, but from the sudden shudder and wail Alula let out I knew she had seen it. If only I could do more…

I knew there wasn’t much time.

“Everypony…don’t blame yourselves for this…” I didn’t know how loud my voice was – I could hardly hear it myself. With what few shreds of strength I had left I tried to raise my voice, but it didn’t feel like I was really in control anymore, and I was tugging my mouth like a puppet on strings, “Don’t forget…I did what I did because I chose to…”

“Cloud…don’t leave us…” Even Star was having trouble keeping herself under control, her forelegs twitching and trembling under her.

“I’m so sorry, everypony…” I tried to smile, but I don’t know how it looked. Or if my face even moved at all. And there was no change in their expressions. Just sadness, anguish, and tears.

Now I know what Shadow meant…

I turned my eyes back to Fluttershy, “Eepy, I love you. I always have…and I’ll never stop…”

She took my hoof in her own, “Cloudy…” Those beautiful blue orbs swam with tears. 

“I wish…we had more time…but I’ll always remember…”

She tried her hardest to smile, wet rivulets running down those beautiful cheeks, “I love you too, Cloudy…I always did…” She bent down and kissed me. I barely felt it…only a light cooling where my lips would have been.

Eepysqueak. My beloved Eepy. It all started with her. I could only hope she’d be okay with Rainbow, Twilight and the others taking care of her when I was gone. I tried to squeeze her hoof, but she didn’t react beyond squeezing her teary eyes shut and I couldn’t know if she had felt it or not.

I looked at Blossomforth next to her, who was biting her lip hard even as tears ran down her face. When she saw me looking at her, she howled and threw herself over me, “Cloud Kicker!”

I tried to lift my hoof to hold her, but I couldn’t feel it anymore. My vision was starting to swim and I knew I didn’t have much time left.

“Blossom…” I wanted so much to touch her one last time, “Do me a favor…don’t let me hold you back…move on…have the life you deserve…”

She turned her head to look at me, eyes wet and empty with grief. But she leaned over and kissed my cheek. I felt a cold ripple on my face that could only have been a tear, “Cloud Kicker…don’t go! Please don’t! I only just found you…the real you!”

I tried to smile at her again, but the effort was exhausting. “And it was all worth it…all of it…just for you to see the real me, Blossom…”

Rainbow stood on my other side, not bothering with her usual tough-mare act, standing stock still and staring down at me, her mouth open in a dismayed crescent, eyes wide and silent tears pouring down her face.

“Cloud…I…c’mon, don’t do this now! You were always so tough! You can take it…can’t you?!”

Her voice was starting to sound farther away…

“Rainbow…” I smiled again, or at least I think I did, “I don’t regret a thing…all our time together…I’m glad we met back in Cloudsdale…”

From the way her head suddenly shot forward and she turned an ear, eyes widening in desperation, I guessed my voice was fading. Her head then shot back up again as she yelled into the crowd, “C-c’mon everypony!! We’re losing her! SOMEPONY do SOMETHING!!”

“Rainbow…” I was grateful to see Twilight placing a hoof on her shoulder despite the sadness in her own face, “Sh-she’s too far gone. There’s nothing anypony can do…I’m sorry…”

She roughly smacked Twilight’s hoof off with a half-snarl, half-sob. Twilight backed off slowly, looking down. She knew, just as I did, nothing she could do or say would make this easier for Rainbow.

“R-Rainbow Dash…” I summoned all of my strength as she looked down at me again, “Take care of everypony…and don’t blame yourself…It was never your fault…never…”

She slowly squeezed her eyes shut and nuzzled me, “Cloud…you’re…my best friend…I don’t wanna…l-lose you…”

My voice must have been a whisper. 

“You never…will…”

I looked next at Derpy, who was in a flood of tears, hugging my shoulder and nuzzling me. Though I could barely feel it. As she caught my gaze, those wonderful golden eyes fixed on me.

“Derpy…I’m sorry…I should’ve been better with you…”

She held onto me, “I-i-i-it d-doesn’t matter now, Cloudy…you saved us all! Y-you saved my Sparky! You’ve done so much! I love you more than I c-can say!”

I smiled - though again, I don’t know if she saw it.

“I know…you’ll always…take care of her. And Dinky. Take care of yourself too. I won’t be far away…”

She squeezed me, crying cool patches onto my fur, “I will, Cloudy…a-always…”

I could feel the last of my strength slipping away. I was exhausted and sleepy, and I probably couldn’t have said any more. Thank Shadow I had the time to say goodbye. It was painful…so painful to see everypony I cared about wailing over me…but at the moment I was lucky (as far as dying mares go with ‘lucky’) to have the chance to say real goodbyes…

I felt tears of my own again, somehow, as I fixed my darkening gaze on Dad and Alula. My sweet little sis was biting her lip and trembling, but Dad was trying to encourage her by smiling at me through his own tears…

I locked eyes with my little sister, trying to tell her…somehow…that I’d always be with her…

…Cloud…Cloud…

It was a voice.

But not like the voices from Shadow’s past. Not the hungry, vengeful whisper of a fallen enemy.

A soft, loving voice from far away…

…Cloud…Cloud...

Mom?

Then I heard Shadow’s voice.

“It is time, Cloud Kicker.”

I knew it was the end. I couldn’t see anymore.

As I left my body, I moved my mouth one final time…for all the ponies I loved.

“Thank…you…”





The Kicker Clan compound was silent.

A rare occurrence with the number of ponies who lived there.

And even rarer considering the number of armored Kicker soldiers proceeding down to the burial grounds. Hooves rose and fell, but not a single one made a sound, flowing with practiced and somber reverence.

Tornado Kicker and Alula led the way. The former held himself stiffly in his formal armor, face an impassive mask, but the practiced charade could not hide the emotion in his eyes as the procession went on.

For the young one, of course, even walking took an effort.

The Kicker Clan were joined outside their compound by a long line of mourners from elsewhere, two of them royal sisters, six of them national heroes, and many, many others all carrying their invisible burdens as they fell into step with the Kickers.

It was evening, and the grounds were lit with somber stone lanterns. Flames gleamed within, their dull light shimmering across the bodies and eyes of the crowd as they arrived.

The casket was open.

And she lay asleep within. Armored, decorated, and face serene in her final rest.

Every pony came forward. Most laid a flower before the grave. Some whispered final farewells to her. Some even kissed her forehead. Soon, not a dry eye was to be found.

At the conclusion, Princess Celestia herself ascended, standing beside the casket.

“One would never say…” her soothing, warm, composed voice reached every ear, “…that any pony’s fate is set in stone. Our beloved Cloud Kicker was the rarest of ponies – for she always chose her own path. In a world where so many allow their birthright and tradition to rule their fate and dictate the course of their lives to them, Cloud Kicker never hesitated to act on what she thought was the better path. Whether she was right or wrong to do as such was never what defined her as a pony or as a friend, or daughter, or sister, or even…as a lover…”

The princess paused, briefly wiping a silvery tear from her eye with her wing before continuing. Alula was sobbing now, holding onto her father, while Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy held each other.

“What defined her was she always did what she believed to be right. Even if others disagreed, even if danger faced her, even when she faced insurmountable odds…Cloud Kicker never halted, and never turned back. Her acts of heroism would not have been possible without that. And while they claimed her life, she saved us all, saved our families, our nation, and our future…”

There was a mumble in the assembled mourners. Derpy blew her nose loudly as her youngest daughter sniffled against her foreleg, the elder standing beside her with tears shining in her eyes.

“Cloud Kicker’s determination, courage, and selflessness will never be forgotten…” Celestia continued, her ethereal mane flowing in the breeze, “For she will rest forever among Equestria’s greatest heroes…but we must never forget the pony she was, just as we must never forget her legend…”

“Whatever her mistakes, Cloud Kicker’s intentions were always pure. Her courage to stand against all the odds against her in every way was never in doubt…”

“…And her love…her love for all things. Cloud Kicker loved many and all. She sought to bring comfort to those who crossed her path. In her way, she brought warmth to everypony’s life…”

Celestia briefly noticed her sister, Luna, letting her self-control slip slightly as she looked at Cloud Kicker’s body. For the second time since her return, Luna looked ready to burst into tears. Celestia would have told her sister to let it all out, but before she could catch her sister’s attention, her impassive mask was back in place again.

She cleared her throat – with only a slight choke – and went on, “So let us all remember her. Not only as the hero who saved us all. Not only as the once-outcast who claimed her family’s greatest honor. Not only as the brave warrior who struck down the fallen Amnion. But also as we all knew her – the pony who loved and loved to be loved…”

“A winning pony…”

Another tear ran down her face as she kissed Cloud’s forehead and left the casket.

There was a polite smattering of applause before the mourners said their final farewells. The casket was covered and placed over the open grave next to the resting place of Nimbus Gust.

Princess Luna slowly raised her head, her horn glowing. The light glittered off her tears as the clouds parted overhead…

The moon rose, shining down upon the burial grounds, illuminating the plaque as the casket was lowered.

“HERE LIES CLOUD KICKER”

“FOR EQUESTRIA”