Crimson

Twilight gulped in panic as she heard Celestia's voice resonate around her and the others. Her panicked mind was struggling to keep from thinking of the worst outcomes possible at the moment, and she knew that if she wanted to stop any of them, she needed to act now.

"Guards, escort my friends inside at once," she said, "I need to go stop Celestia."

With a flap of her wings, Twilight cut off any objections the guards would have had and flew into the air, intent of stopping the conflict before it could escalate to bloodshed.

\\\//////

Chrysalis limped on with a storm of thoughts occupying both her mind and the Hive. Almost all of it was fear and betrayal, only the most hardened of minds thinking that the Spartan had captured them to be delivered to Celestia right after they had put their faith in him. Those were drowned out by the commotion caused by what Celestia had said, thinking she would bring the Sun down from the sky to eradicate them all in the coming moments.

As the Queen limped towards a lift, she heard Sid's voice echo around her.

"Queen Chrysalis, please fall back to the Barracks. The situation will be under control shortly," he assured.

"No! I have to stop her!"

"You are in no condition to stop a Moa."

"Excuse you!?"

"Apologies. I meant to say that you are in no condition to help the situation in any way. You would only intervene and make yourself a liability on the Spartan's behalf."

"I will not stand by while someone else is trying to stop Spirits-knows-what that vile Princess is trying to accomplish. Now how do I get to her faster?"

"I'm afraid Five has already ordered that no Changelings of any rank are allowed near the Upper Hull."

"Well I command you to do so."

"Rank fi-gigigigigiig tttttttttttchzzzzzzz- Command accepted."

The red lights turned yellow above Chrysalis as it lit up a path to the nearest lift.

Unbeknownst to her, several other Changelings were following their Queen, intent on protecting her with their lives.

\\\//////

Celestia's rage boiled as she stared down at the juggernaut of technological superiority that was the alien's Frigate. The fact that something this large was classified as such would have scared the Princess, but her state of mind was far from rational.

Since the moment that alien arrived, Celestia had been hearing something in her subconscious screaming at her to stop it before it could harm any of her ponies. These urges were nothing new to the Princess, as she had heard them since the moment she took the throne. Prevent atrocities by committing them first, some of her Captains had argued during the Dawn of Equestria. Before now, she had disregarded their ideals and had striven to attain security through peace.

Her arrogance had costed her too much.

She had seen thousands burn by her inability to deliver the killing blow, had cities razed because of her refusal to give in to threats, and now had lost a daughter because she couldn't commit to an idea her advisors and dedicated Guards had urged her to enact.

It was time she finally let her hoof down.

"Princess!" a familiar voice called out to her.

'Twilight?' the Princess' unfocused mind mused.

Seeing the lavender form approach had triggered two separate reactions from different parts of her mind. The motherly, kinder side of her mind cried in joy at seeing her most faithful student approach her unharmed. However, the colder, calculating part of her mind that was dominant knew that she had been possessed, and was likely being used as a puppet by Chrysalis to lower her defenses. She wouldn't fall for that tactic again.

Against a minority of her will, Celestia fired off a twisted purple haze at her student, intent on subduing her for the time being. The haze lashed out and broke apart into a crystal fog, shimmering as it surrounded the young alicorn.

"Princess, stop!" Twilight called from the haze.

The haze attempted to snap down on the young alicorn, but Twilight managed to teleport out of it as the haze solidified into a crystal. Twilight ignored her mentor's attempt to subdue her and tried to appease to her good nature.

"Princess, please! Look at what you're doing!"

Pain lanced through Celestia's mind as a small voice told her to stop. Whatever common sense she had was drowned out by the rage that had concentrated in Celestia's consciousness. With another flick of her horn, Celestia launched a wave of purple projectiles at the pesky princess. Twilight quickly erected a shield that stopped one bolt dead-on. The other two maneuvered around her barrier and burst against her wings.

Twilight screamed in pain as her wings retracted in reflex, leaving her to fall prey to the planet's gravity.

Celestia turned to gaze upon the alien frigate with contempt as she began charging solar and dark magic into her horn, her hatred focusing on a certain black and green figure.

\\\//////

Chrysalis slammed her good forehoof down onto the deck as she felt what little magic she had falter under the pulsating aura of the Pale Horse.

"It... it has anti-magic?" she asked no one in particular.

She struggled to get back to her full standing position and barely managed to shift her gaze upwards. Above her, Celestia was blasting Twilight Sparkle with bolts of magic. As two bolts struck the purple alicorn, Chrysalis felt a shift in the Hive as a familiar disturbance erupted a few dozen meters below her fall.

'Well, at least we have one more asset,' Chrysalis thought to herself.

"CHRYSALIS!" Celestia shouted down.

Her heart seizing in her chest, Chrysalis looked up to see Celestia... Princess Celestia... The Sole Wielder of the Sun, gaze down upon her with enough hate to overload Chrysalis' senses.

Still, she had to stand her ground.

"Princess Celestia!" Chrysalis called back as loudly as she could. "You wanted me, well here I am!"

"Changeling! You have corrupted Equestrian Royalty for the last time!"

\\\//////

"Does nobody understand me when I tell them to let me handle this shit!?" Five shouted inside his helmet.

The Spartan-IV stood in the middle of the deck atop the Pale Horse, shrouded by the MJOLNIR-compatible Active-Camo unit. Using the ship's power through a magnetic transmission, he could charge his shields, hydraulics, titanium fibers and other equipment without overclocking the suit's main power core, so long as he didn't overcharge them all at once.

He hefted the Railgun up to his shoulder and zoomed in on the armored pony.

"Damn, too much drop-off."

Gazing back around his shoulder, Five zoomed in on the Rampart cannons mounted near the Bridge.

"Sid, adjust the Rampart cannons to these coordinates and fire on my command..."

\\\//////

'My subjects... forgive me,' Chrysalis thought to herself as she steeled her nerves.

"Well then take me! I surrender!" Chrysalis shouted.

Celestia was unaffected by her words.

"Then bring the rest of your race out of hiding to face judgement," she demanded.

"W-what? No! I surrender myself alone to be judged! Their actions were my own! They don't deserve death for following me to this point!"

"It matters not what you say for their favor! I will not let this transgression go with a simple slap on the hoof! I've let my enemies regroup and rearm too many times! First I let my sister's jealousy consume her before I banished her for a thousand years! I let Tirek flee to Tartarus to regain his strength! I may have let wars boil on the edge for centuries at a time to work out a treaty, but not today! Today, I make an example of those who want to bring harm to my kingdom!"

The low whirring of machinery went unheard by the Princess.

"Now... I judge you, Chrysalis... You have invaded my home... foalnapped my niece... seduced and corrupted not only the Captain of my Royal Guard, but my personal student as well... you have feasted on our emotions, and have ripped families apart with your trickery and deception... for too long your kind has been allowed to grow unchecked... and now..."

Celestia raised Horizon's Edge, lighting it aglow with ancient arcane energies as she hoisted it above her head. It eclipsed the Sun behind her and burned with the intensity of plasma.

"I, Celestia, Rightful Heir to the Sun and Ruler of Equestria, sentence you and your Changelings to-"

The thunder of cannons drowned out Celestia's words as the world around her exploded into shrapnel and flame.

The 50mm cannons roared as they unloaded explosive rounds on the unsuspecting Princess, drowning her in a sea of firepower. Celestia tried to erect a shield several times in succession, but each time she tried to conjure anything, another explosive round burst in the air near her. The overwhelming arsenal quickly toppled Celestia's senses, and she flew straight down to avoid their fire.

A flash erupted beneath the Princess, followed by a quieter burst before pain erupted through her back.

Something fast and heavy broke apart square between the hilt of her wings, crippling her appendages. Celestia managed to catch herself with her magic, and stopped in time to avoid face-planting on the metal surface. The draining effect of the ship's aura quickly sapped a majority of not only her own magic, but her armor's enchantments as well. Lost in her focus, Celestia couldn't manage to react when she saw a red dot grow into a full figure.

A metal boot slammed into Celestia's snout, sending her skidding across the surface of the ship. The taste of copper and something hanging loosely in the front of her maw brought Celestia's senses back as she looked back at what had attacked her.

"Why don't you pick on someone your own size?"