The Trap in the Tree
The day was bright and sunny, as per the norm, and the ground was just beginning to heat up under the summer sun. The averageness of the weather belied the events of the day before. The citizens of Ponyville had been witnesses to a battle of gods and the founding of a kingdom, and that was only part of the oddities that had occurred. Every Equestrian had lost their magic, be it unicorn, pegasi, or earth magic, and a new artifact had been found, rivaled in power only by the lost Elements of Harmony.
A new council had been formed, the Council of Friendship, and had commenced their first meeting the next day. They had discussed their futures and the role that they would play in Equestrian lives. However, the meet had not taken long, so the group had dispersed quickly thereafter. Princess Twilight Sparkle had gone off to study in the Castle of the Two Sisters, deep within the Everfree Forest. Rarity had gone off to design some new dresses and Pinkie Pie had left to help with Sugarcube Corner. Fluttershy and Discord had run off to have their missed teatime, while Rainbow Dash had gone to whip the Wonderbolt Reserves into shape.
Applejack, however, had gone to work on the family farm. She was currently walking through the West field, inspecting the various apple trees as she passed beneath them. Everything was looking good, except...
She stopped, turning around in place to peer closely into each apple tree. Her Apple senses were tingling. She didn’t see anything out of place...
There! Hidden in a bush of leaves, a fruit was hidden deep in the shadows. That’s no apple... Applejack peered closer and was surprised to find that the fruit was an orange.
She froze. Catching her breath, she slowly turned around and casually strolled out of the clump of apple trees. Ears perked for any sound that might alert her to—
Snap!
Applejack ducked down, then dove into the nearby bush. Where her head had been only moments earlier, a chitinous claw had cleaved the air. The changeling whipped back, looking for Applejack, who was safely concealed in the heavy shrubbery. After a quick look around, the changeling turned to prepare a bright green magical beacon to war its comrades.
It was never able to send the signal. Applejack leapt from the bushes, bringing a hoof down hard upon the changeling’s horn. With a crack of chitin, the changeling fell, unconscious. Applejack dragged the body into the shrubs, then took off into a sprint towards Ponyville. Ah’ll show them to hide in mah apple trees!
~~~
Twilight was just returning from the Everfree Forest when Applejack arrived in town.
“Twilight! Thank Celestia! We have a problem! Changelings have returned! I found one hiding as an orange in mah farm, but they may have spread much further than—”
A crackling explosion ripped through Ponyville, knocking the two ponies to their hooves. Struggling to stand up, Twilight was shocked to see a neon green sphere of magic envelop her castle-tree. I’ve lost two trees in as many days. That’s kind of depressing. But there was no time to mourn the loss of her tree. Standing tall, she shouted to Applejack, “Get everypony together at the Castle of the Two Sisters! I’ll meet you there, but we need everypony! Anypony you can gather, bring them there.”
In the corner of her eye, Twilight could see two forms approaching from the sky; one was boasting a rainbow contrail. Exactly who I needed to see next.
“Rainbow Dash! Get the Reserves together; meet us at the Castle of the Two Sisters. Fluttershy! Get any animal friends that you can and meet us at the same place.”
Both pegasi gave quick nods before dashing off in separate directions to go fulfill their tasks. Twilight turned to look over the shield once more before a flash from her horn teleported her away.
~~~
“Okay, ponies, gather round! Queen Chrysalis has taken over my tree and we’re gonna take it back! Pegasi, you’ve been organized into different wings, twenty-six in all, named alphabetically. You’ll be the most important part of this operation. We need you in order to reclaim air superiority.
“A small band of Earth ponies will assault the Town Hall, there the shield is being projected. It is well defended, so a larger force would be detected too soon and thus stopped.
“Unicorns will be stationed here to provide communication links to all the teams. This castle will be codenamed Home One and this will be our central base of command. Everything will be directed from here.
“Everypony understand their job? Alright ponies, three hours until liftoff. May the Friendship be with you.”
~~~
Scores of pegasi leapt from the castle balconies as Operation Save The Tree began. Inside the command center, unicorns kept magical comm links open with the leads of every flight wing, as well as the infiltration group.
“I want A wing, E wing, and X wing to engage the changelings over the shield and provide cover for the heavier assault force. This force will consist of B wing, K wing, and Y wing. They are to drop Pinkie’s Extra-Super-Duper-Fireworks over the shield until it goes down. Once it’s down, they should spread out, taking out targets of opportunity. Remember, it’s save the tree, not blow it to smithereens, so try to avoid collateral damage.
“And I cannot emphasize this enough: do NOT try to engage the indoor base. Our infiltration squad is tasked with this, and it’s a suicide mission for anypony else. It’s too well guarded against aerial attacks, so don’t even try.”
Minutes passed; the display showed the wings of pegasi growing closer to Ponyville. The dots inched closer, moment by moment, leading up to the first battle of the Changeling Rebellion. Suddenly, a small blip of changelings appeared south of the wings.
A technician shouted out, “Ma’am! There are enemies in Sector 47. It’s a very small force; only a few changelings. A wing is on vector to intercept and destroy.”
Twilight shot to her hooves. “It’s a trap!” But a bright flash on the screen accompanied her words, then A wing flashed out of existence. Twilight sank back into her chair. Only a few moments in and an entire wing already gone. All because of my orders. What right do I have to be a general?
But the circumstances didn’t allow her to doubt herself. Already, the forces were beginning to clash, sending bright flashes over the display. Blips were winking out all over the screen, both friend and foe. The assault flights were just beginning to reach their targets, flying through the corridor that the vanguard force had cut through.
Bright flashes lit the screen as the firecrackers burst against the shield. After the first pass, the shield held strong, daring the attacks to try another pass. As the assault flights banked to do so, activity was detected within the shield, adding a murky depth to the shields crisp lines on the screen.
But it was a different series of lights that caught Twilights attention. X wing was breaking off from the main fighting, and headed off in a vector that led away from the battlefield. Nothing’s out there except... Clicking open a magical comm link to X wing, she shouted, “Rogue squadron, where do you think you’re going?”
An arrogant, self-satisfied voice clicked back. “Ma’am, with that shield up, we don’t stand a chance. We’re going to take down the indoor base.”
I said not to do that, right? “I believe I specifically said not to do that. That’s a suicide mission, rogue leader; it’ll be impossible to survive that.”
“That’s what we do best, ma’am.” With a click, the link was broken.
Lightning Dust... If she gets her wing shot down, I swear I’ll join the military and court-martial her.
Ignoring the rogue wing, Twilight returned her attention to the main battle on the screen, and noticed something happening in the shield. Deep within the core of the shield, pillars of changelings were beginning to arrange themselves in a cone within the sphere of the shield; nine pillars in total, converging at the apex on a lone changeling.
Twilight’s eyes narrowed. Chrysalis.
Power began to flow up the pillars as the changelings linked their magical fields. This power reached the apex and became a visible aura around the changeling queen. A slight movement, and the pent-up energy shot out through the battle, eradicating scores on either side. The lance of energy continued, flying high, past Ponyville, beginning to arc down over the Everfree Forest, right towards...
That’s bad. With a flick of her horn, the entire command crew was teleported to a hill outside the boundary of the castle, just in time to see it wiped from the face of Equestria. Not a stone was left standing. Twilight checked the ponies around her to make sure they were all okay and none had been left behind. Panting slightly from the magical exertion, Twilight teleported to a nearby field that had been emptied of all obstacles to be used as a practice field.
Once she had made sure she was alone, she began to inscribe a rune upon the field. Patterns began to flow, lines drawn, marking paths of power and energy. Once her sigil was complete, she stood in the center and began to sing:
My time is coming soon,
As the sun rises, so does the moon;
As love finds a place in every heart,
I am a princess; I must play my part.
I call upon the Three
To become what I need to be
To save the day, to turn it around.
My time is coming soon,
As the sun rises, so does the moon;
As love finds a place in every heart,
I am a princess; I will play my part.
At that precarious moment of twilight, the sun and moon both stood upon the horizon. An aurora of light shot from the north, sending rainbows of light across the field. Light from the rising sun and falling moon refracted through the aurora, coming to focus on Twilight. The rune around her hooves began to light up, from the outer symbols inwards.
Allowing her magical field to expand, Twilight could feel titanic amount of magical energy begin to flow from the sun, moon, and far north. Absorbing it, she exerted her will against the opposite forces, bringing them into balance as pure magic, the kind only she could wield. Not even Celestia could wield pure magical energy. But as the energy flowed into her, it began to challenge even Twilight’s ability to control it. But this was nowhere near as much energy as she had received only a few days earlier; she could control it. She would control it.
With only a thought, Twilight stood in the center of her throne room. Guards flanked her, circling the entire room, but they mattered little. She walked to the balcony, and any guard too stupid to run from the halo of magic surrounding Twilight soon found themselves locked in Tartarus.
Walking onto the balcony, Twilight shouted a challenge to Chrysalis. “CHRYSALIS! YOU DARE ENTER MY CASTLE?!”
Chrysalis whirled around to face the unexpected intruder, surprise written across her face. Lighting her horn, magical light once again flowed up the pillars of changelings, twisting and wrapping its way towards Chrysalis. Drawing heavily upon this magic, she focused her horn on Twilight and let the full wrath of the changeling army fall upon the princess.
Bah! The breath of a child in comparison to the gods themselves! Undaunted by the cylinder of magical death bathing her, she briefly basked in the pure magic before reaching out with her magic and ripping the magic out of Chrysalis’ horn. Stripped of the ability to cast magic, she began to fall, unable to gather the pegasus magic required to fly, before being caught in a purple aura.
Twilight noticed the shield begin to fall around her. She eyed Chrysalis, wondering if she had been powering the shield, rather than the other base, but a fly-by of a wing of pegasi dispelled that notion. Impressive job, Lightning Dust. I’ll remember that for next time I need the impossible done. I might even reconsider that court-martial.
~~~
Twilight Sparkle stood upon the balcony of her castle, slowly releasing her pent-up alicorn magic into the twilight, observing the rows of pegasi escorting the changelings into camps for relocation to the changeling hives. Paperwork was already stacking up on her desk, citizens concerned about another invasion, politicians demanding embargoes upon the hives, alliance requests from nearby nations wanting Twilight on their side, etc.
I despise paperwork. If I wanted to be cruel, I’d ask Spike to do it. But I’m not that mean. There would be rebuilding to do, true. But ponies were resilient about those types of things. The Apples are already piling into town.
Twilight could sense a brink of change coming. The other princesses were loosening direct control, allowing regional leaders to take lead in their nations. A proposal of a representative Senate had been anonymously submitted, though it had Celestia’s name written all over it. But Twilight didn’t mind, as she had been imagining her Council of Friendship as more of an advisory council, rather than the direct rulers many had assumed it would be.
A New Republic was dawning.
Author's Note
I may have included a slight reference. Very small, you probably didn't even notice it.
