Princess Luna vs Queen Chrysalis
The second Rarity and Applejack saw their younger sisters surrounded by changelings, needless to say they were furious, breaking free of their captors and embracing Sweetie-Belle and Applebloom. ‘Are you all right?’ asked the silver unicorn.
‘I think so,’ she replied.
‘Did they hurt you?’ asked Applejack.
‘We’re fine,’ Applebloom insisted, though understood their sisters concern. Scootaloo tried to think of something positive to say to Rainbow Dash as she was dragged over to them, as well as Fluttershy, Pinkie and Twilight, but they all had defeated frowns on their faces. Suddenly they found themselves unable to move, their hooves had been glued to the floor with a strange green substance. Spike was baffled when he found it impenetrable to his flame breath before a few more changelings kept a watch on the baby dragon.
Meanwhile, Queen Chrysalis could not be more elated. She approached Twilight, forcing her to look into those horrible green-blue eyes. The brave unicorn would rather be taking a gloat from Nightmare Moon, Trixie or Discord right now, at least their antics were beatable. ‘It’s funny, really. Twilight here was suspicious of my behaviour all along.’ Twilight was ready to spit at her, but turned her head away, glaring at the floor. The queen leapt to the altar in order to condescend to the others, ‘Too bad the rest of you were too caught up in your wedding planning to realize those suspicions were correct!’
The other ponies knew a part of this was their fault. Due to her honesty, Applejack was the first to feel remorse. ‘Sorry, Twi. We should've listened to you.’
‘It’s not your fault,’ Twilight replied, still glaring at the floor. ‘She fooled everypony.’
Chrysalis turned to the window smugly, ‘I did, didn’t I?’
‘Don’t get too comfortable, Chrysalis!’ shouted the voice of salvation for everypony. Coming through the doors was Princess Luna, standing tall and confident with the most irate look on her face as she looked at the Changeling Queen. ‘Forgetting somepony?’
‘Princess Luna,’ Chrysalis condescended. ‘How nice of you to drop in.’ Everypony looked at her with wild smiles, though one question still stood, and that was how in Equestria did she get through the changeling swarm and look so unscathed? Rarity was the first to gasp when her hyperopia granted that answer. On the floor in the hallway were many of Chrysalis’ subjects, curled in the foetal position, shaking in fear.
‘What the—?’ Applejack ran out of breath to speak beyond two syllables.
Suddenly Luna spat out a pair of fake fangs from her mouth and into her hoof, showing them for everypony to see. ‘The great gifts of a glamour.’ And she threw the fangs over her shoulder. ‘You’re not the only one who can fool those around her, Chrysalis. Having a dual personality comes with many a perk.’
Now the superfluous nature of the queen had disappeared. Twilight and Luna shared a quick wink, reminding one another of Nightmare Night. With mutual contempt and determination for their own success, the Changeling Queen stared down the Princess of the Night and vice versa. But the former knew this new opponent might just be sensitive about her past. ‘Hm,’ she said. ‘Out of all the defenders of Equestria, it is odd that you are the one pony I didn’t bother thinking about.’
Luna passively brushed her front right hoof along the red carpet, keeping the look in her face unchanged. ‘It takes a lot more than playground taunts to make me throw all my strength against you.’
‘Well, you’re smarter than your sister, I’ll give you credit where credit is due.’ They both ignored Celestia’s glower from inside the cocoon. ‘But what makes you think you can defeat me? The energy I have absorbed from Shining Armour alone has made me more powerful than your sister.’
‘Who said you needed magic to defend Equestria?’ Luna’s voice raised through this rhetoric, almost as if she was insulted on behalf of the Pegasi and Earth Ponies whose dreams she protected each and every night. ‘Magic is not the only weapon. Earth Ponies have a great method of defending themselves, shall I show you?’ Chrysalis had not the chance to respond when Princess Luna, of all ponies, struck the first blow of their fight by swivelling around on her front hooves and bucking the Changeling Queen in the face so hard and so forcefully, that she knocked out some fangs.
Everypony winced, even Celestia. Thank heavens she never did anything like that as Nightmare Moon. She could buck a tree right out of the ground, thought Applejack. I wonder if she’s available for Applebuck Season.
Chrysalis immediately regained momentum and tasted blood right from the off. The infamous red fluid dripped from the now empty sockets in her gums. It was as if she was trying to hide a jelly donut in her mouth, but the jelly was giving her away. Granted, Pinkie Pie was the one thinking this – now she wanted a jelly donut.
‘You’ll pay for that!’ snarled Chrysalis.
Luna smirked, ‘You’ll have to catch me first.’ With that she blew the nearest window to shards with her magic. ‘See ya!’ And darted out. Provoked, her enemy followed. This fight had turned into a game. A game that would end in the restoration of Canterlot if the Princess won, or in the destruction of Equestria if the Queen won.
In order to have the upper hand, Luna improvised every single manoeuvre as she soared among the buildings of Canterlot and the clouds up above. She had often seen this tactic used by Pegasi when playing Capture the Flag or Lightning Tag. Now it could be used to the Princess’s advantage. Meanwhile, Chrysalis looked around everywhere her adversary might be hiding. ‘Where are you, coward?’ she called, which echoed all the way back to the ballroom, heard by Twilight and her friends.
‘What is she up to?’ asked Rainbow Dash, as they all leaned to look out the broken window.
‘She’s protecting Equestria, silly, answered Pinkie Pie. ‘Like a Princess is supposed to.’
‘True,’ said Rarity. ‘But she’s not exactly using the traditional method.’
‘Traditional method?’ questioned Applejack.
‘Magic.’
‘She’s looking for an alternative,’ Twilight pointed out. ‘She knows she can’t defeat Chrysalis with magic alone, so she’s fighting the way a Pegasus or an Earth Pony would.’
Fluttershy suddenly gasped, shouting, ‘Look!’ and pointed back to the clouds.
Luna revealed herself to Chrysalis when she leapt out of the clouds, blind sighting the Queen with many small billows in her eyes. This allowed the Princess to pin her beneath her hooves. The two of them began plummeting to the ground. Everypony watched, holding their breath. The two of them locked eyes, glowering towards each other as they fell to the ground. Everypony watched, holding their breath. The two of them locked eyes, glowering towards each other as they fell to the ground faster and faster.
‘No!’ shouted Twilight, hoping they would hear her. ‘Luna! You’ll kill yourself!’
‘No price is too high for my subjects, Twilight Sparkle.’ That voice came telepathically to Twilight and her friends, but the nobility of the sentence brought no comfort. Six ponies and three fillies whom Luna had come to accept as friends; Princess Cadence, who had only known Luna for so long; and Princess Celestia – her own sister – they were all going to stand powerless while they watched Princess Luna sacrifice herself for the good of Equestria.
But Queen Chrysalis was never going to go down without a fight. Using her harnessed magic, she hastily zapped Luna enough to free herself which gave them both enough time to remedy their stature and land on all four hooves in the middle of a construction site in the centre of Canterlot. They faced each other again, horns locked, still glaring. Meanwhile, their spectators breathed a sigh of relief. Fluttershy let out her quietest ‘Yay’ yet.
‘Crafty,’ said Chrysalis.
‘I’m no coward,’ asserted Luna. ‘Would I have stood against my own sister if I was a coward? Would I have dared to bring on the eternal night if I was a coward? Would I have stood up to you if I was a coward?’ The two of them were low on breath as they spoke to each other, but that made Luna’s assertion all the more determined.
‘No,’ replied Chrysalis. ‘Maybe you’re just an idiot.’ She was willing to say anything that might corrupt Luna into using magic the way Celestia did. Allow the hate to flow through the Princess’s veins and unleash her pain, just as she did a thousand years ago.
Luna did use magic to retaliate, but not in the way that Chrysalis had hope. Nearby the Princess’s hooves was a chain. Perfect, she thought. She could use magic, but not only for using objects. No spells, they wouldn’t work. She slashed the chain like a whip, tying around the Queen’s front legs. This allowed Luna to slam her into the walls of surrounding buildings, but relinquished after a few times – Luna only meant to subdue her, not kill her – and she cantered off hastily. The Changelings were not going to react kindly to this treatment of their Queen. Once the Princess was off the construction site, they swarmed around her.
Only, this came to no avail. It seemed the Changelings, while they could feed off of ponies’ fear, were not so good at facing the fear which Luna was so experienced with. As they lunged towards her, she allowed the aforesaid glamour to cover her body. Making her taller. Darkening her coat. Turning her eyes dragon-like. The changelings went stiff and squealed as few escaped being bucked away by her. This cleared her a path for her destination.
Luna locked and barricaded the entrance to the Canterlot Tower, which was empty. Given the lack of changelings, she was able to throw odd the glamour. True, the access to the Elements of Harmony had a spell that Celestia needed to break; but she was also an alicorn princess, that would be easy, right? Whether or not was somewhat irrelevant to her mind as she passed the stained glass windows. Two in particular she tried to avoid looking at. The feeling that the figures in the glass were looking at her didn’t help either. There was a reason why she never came in here. If she could have it, there would be no more trace of Nightmare Moon left in Equestria, save Nightmare Night.
But now it was different, if she could get the Elements to Twilight and co. then Equestria would be saved and she would never be confused with hr darker self ever again. Okay, maybe saving her subjects from Chrysalis had an ulterior motive, but Luna had to win this fight, nonetheless.
She rushed over to the door, started the process that would summon the Elements. The spell was breaking, things seemed secure. That was until Luna realised she was wrong to only subdue her enemy. She should have been merciless, because Chrysalis certainly wasn’t. Out of the corner of her eye, the Princess noticed a figure flying towards the window depicting her banishment. Within seconds the window was shattered to tiny glass splinters. ‘You should have killed me. That will be you last mistake.’
Luna couldn’t finish the spell, not if she wanted to dodge the death blow. But Chrysalis was so unforgiving that she would not give her opponent the opportunity to stop and think for even a second. The others could not see what was going on through the row of windows that were not broken. All they could see were shapes. Still, they shouted supportive words to Luna in case they heard it.
‘Come on, Luna!’ shouted Twilight.
‘Show that Bridezilla who’s boss!’ called Applejack.
‘You’re so awesome!’ cried Rainbow Dash, unfortunately she couldn’t make the face.
‘Yay,’ uttered Fluttershy.
‘There’s a party in it for you!’ promised Pinkie Pie.
‘Don’t let me have made all those dresses for nothing!’ bellowed Rarity. Everypony else looked at her with bemused looks. ‘What? It’s not as easy as it looks.’
The more Luna dogged the attacks, the more she was getting tired out. One minute she was at one end of the room, the next she was on the ceiling. She couldn’t get out of the window Chrysalis came through as it was guarded by the very enemy she was trying to avoid.
Her growing fatigue occurred to the Queen. And for a moment she stopped firing. Luna halted. This was how their fight came to an end. Chrysalis lunged forward before the Princess could react in time. A horn was also a great weapon, and there was a reason why it was so good for putting that bagel donut in a safe place. Luna was lucky not to be skewered through the heart or either of her lungs, but she was hit pretty badly through the shoulder. She cried out in pain – a cry which was heard from everyone in a hundred metre radius. ‘Don’t worry,’ said Chrysalis smarmily. ‘You were much more fun to defeat than your sister.
Without another word, Luna was fired backwards. The impact smashed the window of her defeat as Nightmare Moon. The plummet to the ground seemed to take forever for her, every glass shard that had lodged in her skin saw to that. Nevertheless, she was unconscious by the time she hit the grass below. Those that paid witness stared with a disbelieving open mouth. Was she dead? Was Luna, the Princess of the Night, dead?
One thing for certain, without a pony to reach the Elements of Harmony, the changelings were here to stay.