Chapter 12*

Jack’s POV:

“Looks like the plan worked…” Selene said as she peeked her head out around the corner of the building we were hiding behind. The sounds of explosions and massive smoke clouds filled the air above the train station where Joel was making a mess of things no doubt. Selene quickly pulled her head back as the sound of changelings rushing by towards the train station passed by us. “…I’ll be the first to admit it, he was right on this one.” Selene said with a sigh and I gave a soft chuckle as I recalled how we ended up her.

*five minutes ago*

“Are you completely stupid or has Krieg gotten to your brain?” Selene snapped at Joel who just explained his plan to reverse the ambush and cause a distraction at the train station.

“Regardless of whether or not it’s stupid isn’t important, the fact still stands that it works. I’m the only one who can take on a swarm of changelings without any fear of serious danger.” Joel retorted and to be completely honest he had a point. Joel could take out an army single handily with all his skills from Krieg, at worst he would get downed and start throwing dynamite around. “If I can get the swarms attention I can give you guys a window to slip by completely unnoticed and you will have the element of surprise on the queen.”

“But this isn’t like your game, this is the real world, if you die you die for real.” The rainbow pony, Dasher I think her name was, said and was followed up by the yellow pony.

“She’s right, if you get hurt you get hurt for real. I don’t want you to get hurt…” She mumbled and Joel chuckled.

“I’ll be fine guys just trust me on this.” He said looking over to the princess of the night who had remained quiet this whole time. Neither of them spoke a word but the look on their faces said they were holding a very important discussion threw they’re silence. Finally, Luna spoke.

“Very well. Joel will take the train to the train station and cause a distraction so we can slip through the city unnoticed.” She said, bring and a shout of protest from the others but she quickly dismissed them. “Do none of you have any trust for Joel?” She asked and they fell silent for a minute before Selene spoke up.

“It’s not that I don’t trust him, it’s just…” She mumbled and Luna smiled softly at her.

“I understand your fears but knowing what Joel is capable of and what he can do, I have no doubt in my mind that he will be just fine on his own.” She said and Selene looked like she wanted to argue against the idea more but Joel spoke up before she could start.

“I’ll be fine Selene, I’ve turned off the release the beast skill so there isn’t a chance for another ‘accident’ like earlier.” He said as he walked over to her and gave her a look of comfort from behind his mask. Selene frowned and punched him on the shoulder softly.

“Just promise me you won’t do something stupid.” She said and Joel smiled from behind his mask and nodded.

“Promise.”

*present time*

“Okay the coasts clear, let’s move.” Selene whispered to us as we made our way across a main street and into a back alley. Even with Joel causing trouble at the train station Luna suggested still taking a stealthy approach to be on the safe side. The city was completely wrecked from the invasion and battles fought between the royal guard and the changelings. We kept quiet as best we could to not draw any attention to ourselves from any of the changelings that may still be around and not on their way to the train station.

“So where are your friends being kept? Any ideas?” I asked quietly as we took cover in a back alley, Luna smirked a bit at me.

“If there is one thing I know about Chrysalis it’s that she’s very egotistical and boastful of her deceptive tactics as much as she is of herself. More than likely she’s hiding out in Canterlot’s high tower to watch her forces destroy and consume everything.” She explained as Selene motioned us to move up and we continued our way towards the castle.

“And you think she’s also holding everyone up there with her?”

“Without a doubt in my mind. The Queen enjoys showing off the fruits of her labor to those whose lives she is destroying.” The princess said as we finally made our way to a back alley just across the street from the castle. The front was heavily guarded by at least thirty or more changelings in some form of dark armor chiseled from crystals it looked like. “The Queens elite forces, I should have expected as much.” Luna mumbled as she gathered us all up into a circle and motioned us to be quite. “Alright here’s the plan, Selene I want you to-“

“I WANT TO BATHE IN YOUR BLOOD WHILE HEARING YOU SCREAM IN AGONY!!!!”

“God damn it…” Selene groaned as she face palmed as Krieg came running down the street at full speed, Buzz axe in hand. The changelings instantly jumped into a formation to defend the main gate from the new intruder. I sighed and sat down and simply enjoyed the show as it were since I knew already the outcome of this fight. Krieg pulled his buzz axe back behind his head and chucked it straight into the center of the changeling formation. Even though the axe missed the changelings, the explosion from the TNT attached to it was more than enough to kill one of the shape shifting bugs, and that was all that was needed. After the first one died from the explosion its body exploded from Krieg’s bloodsplosion skill, one kill exploded into two, two to four, four to eight, and finally eight to fifteen. The elite’s formation they used proved to be they’re greatest mistake in this fight. The blood from the explosions covered the street in front of the castle, to Krieg it was nothing but a giant slip and slid.

“So much for the element of surprise…” Dash mumbled as Krieg slid on the blood soak street while laughing like the freaky maniac he was.

“DARN IT KID YOU BLEW OUR COVER!!!” A male voice yelled out from the direction Krieg had been running in from. Looking down the street a unicorn stallion in dark armor with a sword held in his magic came down the street and came up to Krieg who had stopped laughing and was wiping the blood off his body. “I told you to tell him to take dem out QUIETLY! Q-U-I-E-T-L-Y!! What part of dat did you not get?!” He blared as he finally came up to Krieg who I’m guessing had switched back with Joel by now.

“Oh yeah sure just let me convince a murderous psychopath not to kill people, yeah that’s a wonderful plan I can see why you’re a drill Sargent.” Joel retorted in an annoyed voice. “Now quit your complaining and let’s get in there! Luna and my friends have probably already snuck in and are fighting the queen.”

“We would be if you didn’t show up you dolt!” Selene snapped out as we walked out of the back alley, grabbing both of their attention.

“Princess!” The stallion exclaimed and immediately saluted to his ruler who simply nodded to the guard.

“At ease, we are in the midst of a raging battle, formalities have no place here.” Luna stated as the stallion dropped his salute. “What is your name soldier?” She asked and he quickly answer.

“Sargent Stellar Sheen your majesty.” He announced and Luna seemed to recognize the name.

“Ah yes I remember now, thou art the trainer of our elite guard are thou not?” She said and he gave a quick nod.

“Sorry to interrupt this pleasant reunion but we are standing at the base of the tower where the queen is hiding and probably holding our friends captive. Can we please save the chit-chat for later?” Joel said and Stellar gave of a grunt of annoyance but Luna chuckled and nodded to him.

“Indeed, we do have more important matters to attend to do, do we not?” She said looking back to the rest of us and we gave her a nod. “Then let us press on. Take head that I do not know what we shall find in here but be prepared for a fight should worst come to worst.” She said as we made our way through the court yard and into the large double doors of the castles front entrance.

Everything was strangely quiet and it bugged me to no end. The castle was a mess sure but there wasn’t a changeling in sight or signs of any ambush or trap. Luna couldn’t sense any magic in the area which only bugged me even more. Why would the queen leave the inside of her castle completely unguarded in case of intruders? There should have been something, a magical force field, a trap door, magically cloaked changelings, I don’t know just something! I wasn’t the only one either, Luna and Selene didn’t like this either it was just too easy for us.

“This is it…” Luna said as we came to a stop outside a large door with the depiction of the two alicorn princesses moving the sun and moon. “…there isn’t a better place to watch a city burn then here.” Luna said as we readied ourselves for anything as Luna tried to open the door with her magic. “What is this?!” She exclaimed as her horn flared up and the magical aura around the door glowed brighter. “It’s not opening!” She exclaimed and Stellar’s horn flared up as well and he began to try and open the door.

“She’s right. It’s locked with some kind of magic.” He said as he then tried to push the door open and it didn’t budge. “It’s no good, it feels like it weighs a thousand pounds.” He said looking back to us. “Princess, I’m afraid we’ll have to find another way in.”

“Umm guys, hello?” Joel spoke up and held up his buzz axe and walked over to the door. Neither Luna or Stellar tried to stop him which meant it was worth a shot for what had in mind. Pulling his axe back he slammed it into the door, chopping into the wood with a loud thunk and crunch. He repeated the process over and over again in certain little spots till he had outlined a hole in the door and kicked the massive chunk in.

“KNOCK KNOCK QUEEN BITCH! THE WOLF HUNGERS FOR YOUR BLOOD!!” Krieg’s voice yelled out into the room as we made our way in cautiously. The room was a large hallway lined with stained glass windows, some of them were shattered. At the end of the room was a set of thrones, one for each royal sister. On one of the thrones sat a black figure with glowing green eyes that stared us down like daggers to the chest.

“Well now, so these are the “monsters” I’ve been hearing so much about from my changelings.” The figure spoke as she rose from her seat. The queen had long hair and stood about as tall as Celestia with a jagged horn on top of her head. “How sickening…” She hissed.

“Enough! Where are you holding mine sister and the other bares of the elements of harmony?!!” Luna roared at her and she laughed.

“Oh they’ve been dealt with accordingly Luna, though I can’t say whether they’re alive or not by now.” The queen replied as Luna horn flared with magic.

“How dare you!” Luna roared as she pointed her horn at the queen but her magic ceased just as fast as it had appeared and Luna tumbled to the ground.

“Princess Luna!” The ponies yelled out in unison as they rushed to they’re princesses side as they queen laughed.

“You honestly think I would be foolish enough to challenge you in fair combat?” The cackled as she approached us. “That magical seal I had placed on that door was designed to suck away your magic and energy the moment you tried to use it again.” She said as Joel and Selene stood between her and the others.

“You coward…” Luna muttered as she tried to catch her breath as the queen laughed as the two pegasus joined Joel and Selene to confront the queen while I helped the new guy took care of Luna. The queen chuckled as we got ready for a fight.

“Oh you stupid foals, you really think I would waste my time fighting you?” The queen said as her horned flared with magic and green flames encircled us.

“Get out of the fire now!” Joel yelled as he grabbed hold of the yellow pony and jumped through the flames while shielding her from their blaze. I was about to jump out as well before the flames completely encased us in a fiery dome. I tried to move but I found that my feet were sinking into the floor and I was locked in place, and I wasn’t just me. Everyone one of us that were in the fiery sphere were sinking through the ground itself. I struggled to get free but nothing worked as I sank deeper and deeper into the floor.

“Joel!” I yelled out as the floor went past my chest. “Beat her to a pulp!” I hollered out just as my mouth sank past the floor and I was able to hear Joel’s answer before I was completely engulfed.

“Count on it!”

Joel’s POV:

Chrysalis chuckled in amusement at my reply to Jack as they finally sank into floor just like in the season two finale. I had managed to pull me and Fluttershy out just before the flames completely surrounded us and escaping her spell.

“I must admit I’m surprised you were able to get out in time.” She chuckled as I readied my buzz axe as she approached. “Not many know what that spell does, Twilight must have warned you of that trick before she came here, but no matter. I can’t sense any magical energy from you and your friend there is nothing but quivering mess.” She taunted and glanced over to Fluttershy who was shaking in fear.

“Relax Shy their okay, she just used some type of teleportation spell on them so they’re not hurt.” I assured her and it only seemed to calm her down a little bit as Chrysalis laughed.

“That’s where you’re wrong monster, I sent them to the canterlot caves where a mass of our hive awaits them.” She said as her horn flared with magic. “But you get the misfortune of having to fight me!” She yelled as she fired a magical blast straight at me. I quickly jumped out to the side to dodge her first attack ash she now charged at me as I tried to regain my balance. I tried to swing at her with my axe but she was already on top of me and the buzz saw couldn’t connect as the handle hit her horn.

I pushed back against the Queen as we became locked in a contest of strength, something that I could easily win. However, Chrysalis wasn’t exactly going to let me over power her with my brute strength while she still had magic to spare. Her horn flared up again as I began pushing back against her. With a quick flap of her bug wings she angled herself so her horn was now aimed straight at me face and fired. The first part of the blast wasn’t exactly painful but more disorienting than anything else, then came a second pulse of magic. It felt like I slammed face first into jagged wall made of obsidian and was strong enough to take out half of my health bar and knock me flat on my ass.

I tried hard to regain my focus by I was still blinded and confused by the first part of the magical blast that I could only see vague shapes and shadows through a heavy green tint. I tried to recover from the attack but I was struck back down by another blast to the side, knocking me down into the critical health of my health bar and it sure felt that way. My breathing came in rapid gasps for air, my muscles ached, and my head felt like it was being pounded in with a sledgehammer being swung by the world’s strongest man. I was just about ready to black out until I heard a cry from Fluttershy.

“Joel look out!” I heard her cry before something shoved me off to the side with enough force to push me across the ground a couple of feet. At first I thought it was Chrysalis hitting me but a long and drawn out scream of pain told me something else had just happened. I finally was able to regain my full sight as I struggled to get up, my eyes fixed towards where I was just a few seconds ago. There, on the ground, smoking and unmoving was Fluttershy, a massive hole burnt through her right wing’s feathers and singed on her side.

“How pathetic…” I heard the Queen comment as I crawled over to Fluttershy to check and see if she was okay. “…jumping into the way of a blast like that would have killed her, and for what? I mutated freak of nature, a monster who destroys anything that stands in his way. What a stupid little foal she was.” I rose to my feet after I was sure Fluttershy had a stable pulse, she was just grazed by the blast, nothing more than some minor burns except for her wing, she just fell unconscious, probably from the pain. “What’s the matter monster? Did I strike a chord? Or did I-“

“SHUT THE FUCK UP YOU BITCH!” I yelled as I turned to face Chrysalis, my hand clenched tightly to the axe in my hand.

‘Don’t do it kid…’

“You really want to see a monster?” I asked aloud as I opened my skill menu.

‘Kid stop!’

“I’ll show you what a REAL monster looks like.” I said as I switched off bloodsplosion and pulled up release the beast.

‘Aww fuck…’

“Then I’m gonna make sure you never hurt anyone ever again!”

*Click*

Author's Note

Well here's chapter 12, kinda took longer then i would have liked to put together but it turned out alright.

So for those wondering about this Stellar Sheen OC I'm bringing in, you can expect to see more about him and how Joel met him after this arc is over(about five or so chapters from this one if things go as i want.)

So yeah, hope you guys enjoyed this Chapter and look forward to the next one. ^_^