Altered Visage

Jade Flare convulsed uncontrollably from the pain of the spell that Chance had just cast on him. Unable to keep up his own spells under the torturous onslaught, his disguise and the barrier he had placed over the door fell. Within seconds, though it seemed much longer to him, the pain ceased and he was finally able to catch his breath.

As Jade struggled back to his hooves, a large crash echoed through the room from three pony guards breaking down the door. Within moments, Jade was faced with a trio of weapons being levelled at him and two angry changelings staring him down, one of which was nearly a queen.

“Give up, Jade Flare. You’ve lost.”

Not yet I haven’t, Princess...

Jade Flare closed his eyes and began to channel a spell of which he was very familiar.

___________________________________

Shining Armor stood vigil next to his bedridden wife, Princess Cadance. He had felt tremendous guilt over having failed to adequately provide protection for her when Chrysalis had abducted them from the Crystal Empire those weeks ago, so now he took it upon himself to guard her day and night to ensure her safety. He refused to allow anypony near her that could not conclusively prove that they were not changelings, and given the difficulty of such a task, very few ever got to see her.

Unfortunately, he was only a pony, and he needed rest just like anypony else and he was becoming quite fatigued by his constant watch. Previously, he had only ever trusted Luna to relieve him of his duties, and only after she demonstrated that she was truly Luna by moving the moon. Even then, he had slept in the same room as Cadance just in case something happened. He felt guilty taking up so much time from the lunar princess, though. He had heard that Twilight was in Canterlot for one reason or another, perhaps he could send for her to watch over them instead.

As Shining stepped towards the door where a considerable contingent of guards was stationed, the room lurched around him and then cut to black. Disoriented, he tossed his head about in search for any indication as to what had just happened to him.

“Greetings, Prince Shining Armor.”

Shining nearly leapt out of his fur at hearing the voice of a changeling behind him. He swiftly flipped himself around to face his sudden opponent and blasted the bug with a concentrated beam of magic. He breathed heavily as he cut off the flow of energy. His eyes darted back and forth, searching for any indication of what had happened to the changeling.

“That wasn’t very nice.” The changeling’s voice chastised him from behind. Shining jumped in surprise and turned to face him again only to get a face full of a green magical cloud. “Is that how you treat all your old friends?”

Shining shook his head, attempting to rid himself of whatever enchantment that had just been placed on him. He gripped as hard as he could to the idea that the creature before him was a changeling, something that was proving to be harder and harder the more time passed.

“I won’t let you have Cadance!” He shouted in defiance.

“It’s not me who wants your wife, my Prince, it’s the changeling queen.”

“You....you’re a changeling...you...want...” He struggled to keep hold of his senses, hoping that stating the truth aloud would help him maintain control.

“What are you talking about? It’s me, Emerald Blaze. I’m a pony that’s been helping you fight against the changelings for years!”

Shining cradled his woozy head in his hooves. It was a changeling in front of him, no matter what he said. He was going to hurt Cadance. Blink. He couldn’t fall to his tricks. Blink. What was he just thinking about? Something about tricks? There was a pony in front of him, but something was wrong about him. Blink. A smile broke out on Shining’s face as he recognized the pony standing in front of him.

“Emerald Blaze! It’s a relief to see a friendly face!”

“I wish I could say it was good news I brought, my Prince. Queen Chrysalis of the changelings is about to attack Canterlot, and she is bringing her daughter with her.”

“She has a daughter?!”

“Yes, and she is far more cruel than her mother, as hard as that is to believe. The two of them will destroy Canterlot and take Princess Cadance for themselves. You must stop them.”

“What about you? Surely you could help!”

Emerald Blaze shook his head. “No. They have already captured me and I will be executed soon, or worse. You must do this without me. You must save your wife by killing Chrysalis and her vile progeny.”

“I don’t know if I have the strength to kill them.”

“Perhaps not, but I may be able to help you with that.”

Emerald Blaze closed his eyes and channelled a new spell. Within moments, a gently glowing stream of magic connected his horn to Shining’s. A newfound energy poured into Shining Armor’s fatigued body. He could feel his already substantial magical power swelling considerably. Within moments, the stream connecting them faded and the other pony sagged on his hooves.

“There, I have granted you my power as well as knowledge of what Chrysalis’ daughter looks like. You may be able to take one of them on in a fair fight now, but I advise you not give them that chance.”

“Thank you.” Tears of gratitude coursed down Shining Armor’s cheeks. “I won’t let your sacrifice go to waste.”

Emerald Blaze smirked at his words as he faded from view from the mental link between them beginning to fail, a side effect of giving up so much of his magic. Once he completely disappeared, the ethereal plane they had shared collapsed and Shining’s senses were assaulted by the jarring return of the infirmary around him. He returned to his wife’s side as she lay there, peacefully unaware of the disaster that was approaching her. He gently kissed her on the cheek and then strode resolutely out of the infirmary. He had changelings to kill.

______________________________________

The glow around Jade Flare’s horn flickered and then faded entirely as he opened his eyes. He stood up straight to hide his sudden weakness from giving up the majority of his power to Shining Armor. Just because he could barely overpower an untrained foal at the moment didn’t mean that that anypony else needed to know that.

“I surrender. There’s no point in getting myself killed.”

He nearly laughed at the look of shock that both Princess Visage and the pony guards had on their faces. The guards quickly hid that surprise and rushed forth to apprehend him. He followed them willingly out of the room and quickly cast another, much smaller spell in the form of a more traditional telepathic message before they’d have a chance to slap an inhibitor on his horn.

“Cease your spell casting, changeling!” One of the guards growled at him. With his message sent, he gladly did as he was told.

He didn’t much like relying on these back up plans, especially since he hadn't even known if what he had tried with Shining Armor would work. He was susceptible to mind control due to how strongly and completely Chrysalis had controlled him before, as well as a few minor enchantments that Jade had layered on him over the course of several more personal meetings, but it had still been at great risk of failure for him to try controlling him over a connection between their minds instead of in person. As it is, he couldn’t take complete control. He had only been able to implant a strong desire in the stallion to do as Jade wanted by cultivating his natural desire to protect his wife and country. That he had given up most of his magical reserves only made him dislike the plan even more, but it gave him the best chance of success given the circumstances.

If neither Visage nor Chrysalis were killed in the battle and Shining Armor failed to kill at least one of them, then all his years of patience and plotting would be for naught. His true motives would be revealed and any hopes of becoming the hive’s next king would be destroyed. As tempted as he was to have Gold Shine try to help Shining Armor in killing those two, he knew that using her to get out of captivity would be infinitely more useful. If the pony prince did fail, then the last place he wanted to be was in a cell waiting for a furious royal to come tear him to pieces at her leisure. Free, he could at least finish his ascension to royalty so that he could stand a chance when they finally hunted him down. Heck, maybe he could even try to start his own hive if he could convince some to leave Chrysalis'.

The ground suddenly shook from a distant explosion and Jade’s lip curled into a small smile.

___________________________________

My body trembled furiously. I thought I had more time. I thought that I could have reached Mother before she attacked Canterlot. I had drastically misjudged the situation and now ponies and changelings both were going to die. Who knew how long it would take to find Celestia now that the attack had begun. It's entirely possible that she wouldn't even be in the castle and that searching for her would be a wild goose chase. We couldn’t afford to do the equivalent of sitting around twiddling our nonexistent thumbs.

“We need to find Mother now.” I declared.

I didn’t wait for Drymanid to respond before I opened the window. I took one deep breath to steady myself and leaped through it. As my hooves dangled in the air, my mind began to panic. It screamed at me that humans weren’t supposed to be in the air and that I was going to plummet to my death. I forced that voice down, tucked in my legs, beat my wings and began to fly. In moments I was soaring, somewhat less than majestically, over the castle courtyard.

Beneath me I could see a flurry of activity from the royal guard. I had no time to worry about that, though, so I focused on the dual task of not crashing and making my way to the source of the earlier explosion. While I couldn’t be sure Mother was there, it seemed like the most logical place to start.

“Watch out!” Drymanid screamed right before he tackled me. A bolt of blue energy flew through the spot that I had just occupied.

As Drymanid helped me regain my balance, I searched for the source of the attack. It had come from those guards below that I had chosen to ignore in favour of my prime objective, and the menacing glow coming from three separate unicorns informed me that they were ready to take another shot any second now. Within moments, a pair of pegasi guards approached us.

“Surrender peacefully, or the next shot won't miss.” They warned us.

How did I not see this coming? Changelings attack the city and I thought I could just fly away from the castle unimpeded? Just put it on the pile with the millions of other stupid things I've done since I had come here.

In an effort to avoid being shot full of magical holes or dive bombed out of the sky, I descended at a slow pace and landed near the unicorns and was followed shortly by Dryma. Before they decided to try clapping me in chains or whatever they had planned for captured changelings, I addressed them.

“I am not your enemy! I was trying to get to the changeling queen so that I could persuade her to call off the attack!”

“A likely story.” The lead unicorn snorted. “Take them to the dungeons, we’ll deal with them later.”

“It’s true! I’m the queen’s daughter! She’s attacking because she thinks that Celestia killed me! I can get her to stop!”

Drymanid dropped into a combative stance and bared his fangs as the group of ponies advanced on us, undeterred by my words. I didn’t want to fight them, I wanted to stop the violence, but I realized that I may not have a choice. I couldn’t afford to be stopped here. With considerable hesitation, I lit up my horn.

“Halt! You are not to harm those changelings!” A mare’s voice cut through the tension. The guards surrounding us immediately snapped to attention at the order and a crystal pony, the one I had seen when we had our audience with Celestia if I wasn’t mistaken, trotted up to us.

“But Captain—“ the lead unicorn began to argue before being cut off by his superior.

“These changelings are Princess Celestia’s guests and are under her direct protection. To attack, imprison or otherwise harm either of them would amount to treason.”

The unicorn paled. “Understood.”

“Go and assist with the civilians, the lot of you.” When the group hesitated, she continued. “Now!”

“Yes, ma’am.”

As the guards trotted off to help the ponies that were streaming into the courtyard by now, Drymanid and I finally relaxed.

“Thank you, ma’am.” I sighed with relief.

“It’s Garnet Targe, and don’t mention it.” She answered. “Is what you said true? Can you convince your queen to stop this attack.”

A niggling doubt in my mind surfaced at her question, but I couldn’t afford to let her know of it. “Yes.”

“Then we had better get you to her as soon as possible.”

“We?” Drymanid interrupted.

“Yes, we. I’m coming with you.”

“You can’t fly!” He argued.

“You won’t be able to, either, if you’re shot down by any of the guards that are in the city. I can stop any of them we run across on the ground from attacking you, but only if I’m with you.”

“We can disguise ourselves as pegasi, then!”

“And get shot down by changelings instead. Much better plan.” She retorted sarcastically.

“Then send a pegasus with us!”

“Feel free to take one with you.” She made a sweeping gesture to several nearby pegasi, many of which glared at us with open hostility. “I’m sure that they’d never go against my orders to not cause you harm once they're out of my sight.”

I stared warily at those pegasi and shivered. Their cold contempt and mistrust was palpable.

“Look, if we travel together, I can stop ponies from attacking you, and you two can stop the changelings from attacking me. You can stop them from attacking me, right?” She stared at me as she waited for an answer and I in turn looked to Drymanid.

“Could I?”

“Well...yes, you should be able to. The sight of a royal changeling should at the very least give them enough pause for us to explain ourselves, even if you aren’t finished your transformation yet. It doesn’t matter, though, we don’t have time to be slowed down by going on hoof!”

I bit my lip as I considered the options. “I’m not a very good flier. If we’re getting shot at a lot, I won’t be able to avoid getting hit and even if you manage to tackle me out of the way every time, that’s going to cause us to lose a lot of time. You may not like it, but I think we need her for this, at least until we get beyond the areas where most of the ponies would be.”

Drymanid groaned in frustration. “Fine!”

“Perfect. Now do you know where your mother is?”

“Well, not exactly. We were going to go towards that giant explosion from earlier.” I answered.

“I see.” Garnet paused to glance towards a group of guards near the gate that were helping to direct the influx of terrified civilians onto the castle grounds. “That may well be where she is, but I would like to check in with our scouts first to see if they have anything more solid than that. If you’ll excuse me one moment.”

She trotted off towards them, leaving Drymanid and I alone among a group of armed ponies that harboured ill will towards us. At that moment, I wished that I couldn’t detect emotions. I was awash negativity and it was making me feel very nervous. It wasn’t all the suspicion and resentment over me being a changeling, either. The emotions I detected from the swiftly growing throngs of terrified civilians were far worse than anything else. In the case of the closer ones, I could tell exactly where they were almost as if I were looking right at them. I suspected that if I wanted, I could have walked through the entire crowd without bumping into anyone based purely on my ability to detect their emotions.

Not wanting to be left without Garnet Targe to chase off any ponies that built up the nerve to attack us, I made my way to the gates that she had gone to. I warily eyed those around me, the constant barrage of mistrust and fear making me paranoid. A particularly loud outcry, both verbally and emotionally, drew my attention from my path. It was a little foal, crying with anguish as he, or perhaps she as it was hard to tell from my angle, was comforted by an adult.

It was as I looked at this sorrowful child that I bumped into somebody.

“Oops, sorry.” I impulsively apologized to the one I had bumped into, a guard apparently.

“Not to worry, it was entirely my...” The guard’s words trailed off as our eyes met and realization struck both of us at the same moment.

I couldn’t detect his emotions.

He quickly turned away from me, tensed to bolt away, but was stopped when he came face to face with Drymanid.

“Drop your disguise.” He hissed.

“Somepony help! The changelings have attacked me!” He screamed. Shock emanated through the nearby crowds, and I could see from the corner of my eyes a few guards levelling their weapons at me. Before anything more could happen, Garnet Targe forced her way through the crowds.

“What’s going on?” She asked me directly with a level tone.

“This ‘guard’ is actually a changeling.” I answered.

Garnet eyed the mentioned pony. “Fine. Take him to the dungeons.”

The guard’s eyes bulged at this proclamation. “You’re going to take the word of a changeling?!”

“We do not have the time to deal with this right now, so you are to go directly to the dungeons until we do have time, and that is an order.”

The impostor’s eyes darted back and forth between Garnet Targe and myself, and then he unfurled his wings and took flight. Drymanid leapt after him, but I was faster. My horn glowed its eerie green and my telekinetic field engulfed the disguised changeling and brought him down to the ground with a clatter of metal against stone. The changeling groaned as its disguise fell, leaving it in the very ill fitting armour of a royal guard. As the changeling was carted away by a pair of real guards, I recognized that it was Gold Shine, Jade Flare’s accomplice. I gave a mental sigh of relief over her capture. Who knows what kind of trouble she could have caused if she had gone unnoticed.

“Princess!” Garnet Targe spoke to get my attention. “Our scouts say that the changeling queen has been moving towards the castle from the source of the earlier explosion and that Princess Twilight and her friends are currently moving to intercept her. We won’t be able to get there in time to stop the confrontation, but with some luck we may be able to prevent any casualties from it.”

I nodded. “I understand. Lead the way.”

Drymanid and I followed after the guard captain. At first, most of what we saw were panicking ponies that were running away from the earlier explosion, many of which were headed for the perceived safety of the castle. Scattered among them were small groups of guards trying to help the fearful civilians. If it weren’t for the fact that we occasionally found the corpse of both changelings and ponies, mostly hidden away in darker corners and alleys, one may have come to the assumption that changelings hadn’t made it this far. It seemed apparent to me that at least a few of them had been sent ahead in disguise. I hoped that there weren’t any in the castle grounds yet, but I knew it was naive to believe such a thing. I had to hope that they were mostly there for reconnaissance and wouldn’t cause any real trouble for awhile yet.

The further we got from the castle, the fewer civilians we saw, at least living ones anyway. Both pony guards and undisguised changelings grew in number, often times clashing with each other. Our little band tended away from the main streets where most of the open combat seemed to be taking place in favour of the more secluded alleyways and side streets. Though these same areas were where most of the violence seemed to occur closer to the castle, out here where they openly fought without disguises they seemed content with the more open spaces.

I could hear screams, both of ponies and changelings, as we scurried our way through the city. The smell of smoke, blood and seared flesh stung my nose. Though I knew I was physically unable, I felt like I could taste the destruction in the air. Emotions flying about were of fear, anger, confusion and pain. Every time we drew near to a source of traumatic emotions, I desperately wanted to stop and help, but even if I did save an individual here and there, every moment that I delayed in getting to Mother would result in several more deaths everywhere else in the city. As much as it pained me, I couldn’t afford to help those near me, though that justification did little to assuage my guilt as I ran past them. Tears coursed down my face in a steady, silent stream as I lost count of how many times I felt a source of emotion vanish.

As we were about to bypass an alley where I could sense hostile emotions, I heard a loud bang. I knew that sound, but not from anywhere in Equestria. Immediately following the bang, the hostile emotions ceased and only one source of weakening pain and confusion remained in the alley. Though I knew it was a bad idea, I had to investigate the noise. I hoped with all my being that it wasn’t what I thought it was. I dove into the alley, ignoring the protests of my companions.

What lay awaiting for me was a grisly sight. There was a human wearing a tattered and filthy RCMP uniform sitting against a wall, breathing shallowly. A pool of blood formed beneath him, fed by a flow from his gut where an Equestrian spear had impaled him. One of the human’s hands was held at the wound, trying futilely to stop the bleeding, while the other lay at his side, holding a handgun and soaked with blood. A pony guard, the source of said spear, lay in front of him with a small, bloody hole in its forehead.

When he saw me, an influx of fear and hatred entered his emotions. He tried to back away from me only to descend into a fit of coughing. He lifted the hand with the gun, but the weapon slipped from his blood slicked fingers and clattered to the stone below.

“What is that?” Captain Garnet Targe asked with enough shock and wonder to overcome her sense of urgency.

”It’s a human.” I explained in barely more than a disbelieving whisper. “He’s from my home world.” How could Mother do this? How could she force humans to fight in this war? Wasn’t being abducted and used as a food source bad enough?

“We can’t help him, we have to go.” Drymanid urged me. I nodded in response, not taking my eyes from the dying human.

“I’m sorry.” I whispered to the man. His eyes bore into my very soul with the power of his hatred.

“Fuck you...” He spat out, causing my chest to tighten. With a heavy heart, I turned from the bloody figure and trotted away.

As we stepped out of the alley, my eyes were drawn to the skies above the city in the distance. A bright, beam of green, changeling magic had been shot from up in the air down at the ground below, and moments later a beam of golden magic was shot into the night sky in response to the prior attack.

Drymanid and I shared a horrified look. We were running dangerously low on time.

__________________________________

Twilight Sparkle panted heavily as her eyes readjusted to the dimness of the ruined Canterlot street, lit only by a few scattered fires and the pale moonlight, after being nearly blinded by the clashing of one of her spell’s with Chrysalis’. In the place where her foe had previously been standing was little more than a small, smoking crater in the road. As much as Twilight would have loved to think it was over, she couldn’t believe such a thing. How she wished she still had the Elements of Harmony to help with the situation, but they were with the Tree of Harmony now. She and her friends were forced to do this the hard way.

“Did we get ‘er?” Applejack asked as she frantically tried to find any indication of the changeling queen.

“I don’t know.” Twilight answered.

“There she is!” Rainbow Dash shouted from rear of the group. “She just went around that corner!”

Without hesitation, the group galloped in the direction that Rainbow Dash had indicated, all except for Dash herself. She landed gently on the stone street with a light click of her hooves and her forehead began to glow an eerie green.

Twilight, sensing a sudden build up of magical energy behind them, turned to see an inferno of green flames surging towards them. She erected a barrier just in time to save them from incineration. Her shield cracked beneath the power that was poured into it, but held until the last of the flames vanished. Twilight fell to her knees, drained from absorbing such a powerful attack, and watched as Chrysalis, still disguised as Rainbow Dash, stared at them.

“What have you done to Rainbow Dash? Where is she?” Twilight demanded.

Impostor Dash snorted derisively. “I think you should worry more about yourself.”

“Give her back!” Twilight growled through gritted teeth as she got up off her knees.

“You can have her back once I have Celestia’s head.” Chrysalis snarled in return.

Twilight shot a quick bolt of energy from her horn, but it was effortlessly deflected by an equally quick counter spell from Chrysalis. Before the others could act, Chrysalis lifted them all into the air in a great big cloud of green energy.

“Is that the best you can do? You can’t even break out of my hold, can you? You wasted far too much energy fighting me.” As the mares struggled against their magical bondage, Chrysalis gazed at the young princess hungrily. “Come to think of it, so did I.”

Chrysalis walked right up next to the group and stood face to face with Twilight and she closed her eyes as she channelled a new spell. In unison, the element bearers stopped struggling and their mouths drifted open. Currents of swirling green, more concentrated than the field of magic holding them in place, poured from their mouths and was inhaled by the changeling queen, reinvigorating her while simultaneously sapping the five’s energy. This went on far longer than Chance’s demonstration had and Twilight recalled with panic the words on what happened when changelings fed too deeply on their victims.

A flare of golden light slammed into the false Rainbow Dash, blasting her away from the mares and breaking the spell that held them in place, causing them to fall to the ground below with a chorus of thuds. Chrysalis quickly regained her footing and growled with frustration over having her meal interrupted.

A set of gold clad hooves landed on the stone by Twilight’s head with a clack. Trembling, Twilight's gaze followed the legs up to find Princess Celestia standing between her and Chrysalis protectively, her horn glowing like a miniature sun. Moments later, Princess Luna landed next to her sister with her own horn glowing a cool shade of blue. Celestia created a protective dome around their entire group, physically separating them from Chrysalis.

“Are you okay, Twilight?” Celestia asked in a steady voice with barely restrained fury behind her words.

“I...I think so.” She answered weakly.

“We are sending you and your friends back to the castle.”

“But, Princess—”

“No arguing, Twilight, you’ve done enough. We will handle this.”

“She has Dashie!” Pinkie Pie blurted out.

“Worry not, young ones,” Luna answered her, “we will find her. Now off with you.”

Luna directed her magic towards the five exhausted mares and with a small flash of light and a popping sound, they disappeared.

“Celestia!” Chrysalis hissed at the two remaining ponies within the protective bubble. She dropped her disguise and approached the solar princess and her lunar counterpart. How she had longed for this confrontation. Soon she would have her vengeance against this murderer of her kin.

“Queen Chrysalis.” Celestia acknowledged her curtly. “We need to talk.”

Chrysalis studied the dome protecting the pair. It was an impressively powerful shield, as was to be expected coming from an alicorn. Not powerful enough to be unbreakable, though. She began building up the power necessary to do so.

“I did not kill your husband, Chrysalis. I do not know who is responsible for his death, but we can help you bring the guilty party to justice.”

Chrysalis’ eye twitched at the deception she spouted at her. She knew what had happened. Changelings she trusted had seen her do it. Her lies wouldn’t help her now.

“This war is an unnecessary one, nopony else needs to die. We know your people are starving, and we can help you if you would just call off the attack. Peace can be attained!”

Chrysalis continued to ignore Celestia’s pleas. She only offered peace because she was afraid to die. Chrysalis wasn’t afraid to die. She would see this to its end.

“Please! Your daughter wants an end to the fighting! Come with us to the castle and we can all talk this over!”

Chrysalis’ stream of power faltered and faded at the mentioning of her daughter. It had almost sounded like she was suggesting that she wasn’t dead.

“How dare you use my daughter to try and fool me so soon after you murdered her?”

Celestia exchanged a worried glance with Luna. “I do not know what you have heard, but the last I saw, your daughter was alive and well.”

They were nervous. Both of them were. Chrysalis could feel it. Was it the natural fears arising from the assault on their home, or was it over lying to her about Visage.

“If Visage is alive, then why haven’t you brought her with you?”

There it was! Another spike of nervousness aligned with a definite hesitation to answer! Telltale signs of a liar.

“We do not know where she is right now. I had gone to fetch her when your changelings had attacked only to find her room in shambles and its occupant nowhere to be found. ” Celestia finally answered, then added on eagerly. “My guards told me that one of her companions was murdered by a changeling assassin, though she herself survived.”

Chryalis glared at Celestia. She was lying. She had to be lying. One of her own changelings tried to kill Visage? Ludicrous. If her emotions hadn’t been enough to convince her of this, then her actual words proved it beyond any doubt. If she were so foolish as to believe the princess, she was nearly certain that she would be executed as soon as her guard was down.

Chrysalis began charging her horn once again.

Celestia’s emotions were shaded with sadness. She looked to her sister and gave a slight, almost imperceptible nod.

The domed shield fell and Luna charged straight at Chrysalis. The changeling used the spell previously meant for the shield to lash out at the approaching alicorn, but with a quick flash of light Luna disappeared and her spell only hit empty space. A sudden appearance of hostility behind her warned Chrysalis of her reappearance, but she couldn’t react quickly enough to avoid being struck on the back of her head by a powerful swing of Luna’s hoof. The blow staggered her, distracting her from the bolt of golden energy that the other princess shot at her. It struck her solidly in her side and sent her sprawling on the cobblestone street.

“Give up, you can’t defeat us both.” Celestia ordered as Chrysalis bounced back to her hooves.

Chrysalis answered with a blinding flash of light then transformed herself into a pitch black raven and flew into the air where the inky dark sky would camouflage her. She positioned herself where the two sisters wouldn’t immediately see her casting a spell and channelled magic into her currently hidden horn, aiming directly at Luna.

“Watch out!” Celestia screamed as a massive beam of green magic flew directly for her sister. She shoved her out of the way with a hastily cast blast of her own magic, barely saving her sister from taking the full force of the changeling’s attack, and then shot a beam of her own into the air where Chrysalis had just been. A quick volley of green energy bolts screamed through the air from a completely different part of the sky, striking Celestia from behind and dropping her to her knees momentarily. These bolts weren’t nearly powerful enough to keep her down, but they were still quite painful and much more quickly cast than the flashier energy beam Chrysalis had first used.

Chrysalis continued a routine of bombarding the two with the low energy volleys and flying to a new location to avoid their counter attacks, trying to wear them down a little at a time. By the third volley, the sisters had stopped answering with volleys of their own and stood inside a new barrier, this time supplied by Luna. With her quarry immobilized beneath a shield, Chrysalis charged up for another larger spell.

Suddenly, Chrysalis felt a field of magic approaching her like a net. The sky lit up in a golden crisscross pattern and then concentrated right where she was flying as it ensnared her. She squawked in surprise as she was dragged out of the sky, completely immobilized by the spell, and landed with a heavy crunch back on the stone street, her disguise failing from the painful impact.

The two sisters galloped towards the fallen queen as she once again struggled back to her hooves and faced them. Seeing that Luna was winding up for another strike with her hoof, Chrysalis wildly shot magical energy her way, not even bothering to aim. Luna disappeared with another small flash and reappeared beside Chrysalis again. Having anticipated a repeat of the last time, she had erected a small shield to defend from both Luna’s physical and Celestia’s incoming magical attacks. She swung her own hoof at Luna when her attack was deflected harmlessly and landed a glancing blow only to have her disappear yet again and appear behind Chrysalis, facing away from her this time and poised to buck at her. Both of Luna’s hind hooves hit their mark and Chrysalis was sent soaring through the air and slammed into the ruined remains of a building’s wall.

The pony princesses approached her again, much more slowly this time. They sensed victory was imminent as Chrysalis merely laid there against the broken wall.

The queen took note of her injuries. Her chitin was badly cracked in multiple places and rivulets of blood oozed from those fissures. She was almost certain that at least a few of her bones had been fractured by the multiple impacts she had suffered too. She had taken a lot of damage and was forced to acknowledge that Celestia was right. She couldn’t fight both of them at once. If she wanted to stand a chance, she had to take one of them out as quickly as possible so that she could focus on the other. First things first, though. She wasn’t going to be able to fight at all if she didn’t treat her wounds. She didn’t like wasting her love on healing herself, but she couldn’t get revenge if she bled to death first.

She turned her magic onto herself and felt the itching sensation of her chitin fusing back together and the uncomfortable pressure of her damaged bones being reinforced. She forced herself off of the ground and stood in defiance of her two opponents, her horn crackling as she prepared more spells.

With a dejected sigh, Celestia’s horn glowed in response, and Luna flew in to try and land a blow that would finally end the thus far one sided battle.

Chrysalis opened by sending her first spell directly for Luna who, as she predicted, disappeared with another flash. As the spell reached Luna’s previous location, it veered sharply towards its intended target of Celestia, catching her off guard and stunning her momentarily. It caused no real harm, but it wasn’t meant to.

Immediately when Luna reappeared next to Chrysalis, she let loose with a second spell. It was a small shockwave that radiated around its caster. It travelled through the lunar princess, seeming to do little more than momentarily knock her off her balance, which she easily regained.

Chrysalis used this second’s delay to face her attacker and cast her third and final spell. A torrent of green flames poured forth from her horn. Luna, with the calm of a well disciplined fighter, merely cast another teleport spell. Her eyes widened and a delicious spike of confusion and fear entered her emotions as she realized too late that she couldn’t do so. The flames engulfed Luna and she screamed from the searing agony.

“Luna!” Celestia screamed, emanating panic to match her sister’s. She erected a golden barrier around Luna, staving off the last of the flames. When Chrysalis stopped casting her spell, Luna was left in a smoking heap beneath Celestia’s shield. Her sister’s intervention, perhaps along with a measure of her own natural magical resistances, may have saved her life from those fires, but there was no way she was going to be able to continue this fight.

Chrysalis looked to Celestia with a cocky, toothy grin.

With a scream of rage, Celestia launched herself at Chrysalis. The changeling put up a shield to deflect the enraged mare’s tackle, but a small spike of Celestia’s own magic pierced through it and sent cracks all across its surface. The impact of the alicorn charging into it directly afterwards shattered it entirely and she tackled Chrysalis with the full force of her weight, knocking her to the ground with her assailant mounted on top of her. Celestia pummelled her furiously with a rain of hoof blows, causing her head to slam against the stone with every strike.

Frantically, Chrysalis let loose an unfocused blast of energy which managed to knock the princess from atop her. Before she could even stand up, a golden glow snatched one of her legs and began swinging her wildly, beating her against the ground with repeated sickening crunches. She could feel the hastily patched up cracks in her chitin bursting open again, along with many new ones forming all over her body. The stones she was being crushed against were beginning to be stained a deep red.

Just when she though she couldn’t take any more, Chrysalis was flung into the air with enough force to send her backwards half way down the street. Whether Celestia intended to release her or had merely slipped in her rage, Chrysalis didn’t know, but she did know that she had to take advantage of this or she would be done for. She locked her attention on the raging solar princess below and poured all the love she could spare into another torrent of flames. A moment of shock entered the princess’ eyes before she was engulfed in a green inferno. That shock quickly gave way to more rage. Still, she didn’t escape from the blaze, so Chrysalis kept pouring everything she had into her attack. Moments later, Celestia burst through the flames, splitting the stream of fire in two with a golden shield as she flew hooves first directly towards Chrysalis. She struck her belly from below like a javelin and her shield exploded on impact. Chrysalis was sent soaring through the air like a rag doll.

With a miraculous amount of effort, Chrysalis managed to steady herself in the air and maintained her flight. Her head pounded with every beat of her heart, and she felt woozy from being doubly drained of both love and blood. She had been knocked back another tremendous distance by Celestia’s unrelenting assault and was only a couple hundred meters away from the crater that had resulted from the explosion she had used to signal the start of the invasion.

A frantic search for where her opponent was revealed the alicorn to be flying towards her, a rocket of pure anger and killing intent jetting through the sky to finish her off. Chrysalis couldn’t possibly keep fighting, she had nothing left, so she turned tail and fled as quickly as her broken body would allow. Unfortunately, it was nowhere near as fast as the one pursuing her. If she could just make it back to that crater she might be able to survive this yet. Just a little bit further.

She risked a glance back only to see Celestia right on her tail with a lance of pure light conjured up and ready to impale the fleeing changeling. At the last second before being skewered, Chrysalis veered left. She avoided being struck in any vital areas, but was still hit by the lance in her leg. Just another little sting to add to the sea of pain she already felt. Celestia barrelled past her and directly over the crater.

Chrysalis screamed telepathically.

Celestia turned sharply in the air, readying for another attack, when she was struck in the side by a solitary dive bombing changeling. She swatted it away effortlessly with her magic only to be struck by another from the other side. Within seconds, she was being bombarded by an entire army’s worth of changelings which either rammed into her with their bodies, or threw volleys of magical bolts at her. She erected a shield around herself, but it only lasted seconds before shattering underneath the might of the changeling swarm. She was left beating them off, many of which had latched onto her with their razor sharp teeth.

Chrysalis used the distraction of her soldiers to fly to a nearby roof, one of the few in the area that was still standing. Three orange eyed changelings stood there, having not joined in on the all out attack on Celestia. They stared in open horror at the damage that her body had sustained.

“You, try and heal my wounds,” she indicated towards one of the three combat medics, “and you two, give me your love. Quickly!”

The three set to work following their queen’s orders as swiftly as they could manage. Cracks in her chitin once again refused and she felt the chill of love starvation dissipate. They couldn’t do anything for the dizziness she felt from blood loss, nor could they empower her to a level anywhere near what she had been at the start of the attack. They could barely do more than the bare minimum to keep her alive in the time that she gave them before waving them off and lifting herself into the air with the intent of rejoining the fray.

Celestia had gone on the offensive and was tearing through her little changelings. She lashed out with hoof and spell against any changeling that came within reach. Many a changeling fell from the sky, dead, and it broke Chrysalis’ heart knowing that she failed to prevent this from happening. She knew that no individual changeling aside from herself could stand a chance against Equestria’s ruling sisters, or even against Twilight and her band of friends. They had all been aware that only a very large force of changelings could hope to overpower them and that many of that force would die in the attempt. That was why she had faced all of them alone. She had wanted to spare as many of her subjects' lives as possible.

Dozens of changelings had fallen at the hooves of the princess, and despite being a force easily two hundred strong, they were at a very real risk of losing.

Chrysalis flew up high into the sky above the frantic mass of changelings. She locked her sights on the radiant alicorn, using her emotional signature to avoid losing her whenever she was hidden behind a mass of black, and dived straight for her. The wind screamed past her form as she straightened out her body to minimize wind resistance. She dropped her emotional barrier so that her soldiers could detect her coming and would get out of the way as she dived into the battlefield. Celestia, lacking the ability to detect emotions, was not so lucky.

Far too late, she looked up to see the diving queen. She didn’t even have time to brace herself. Chrysalis crashed into her like a meteorite, knocking her out of the sky and into the rubble below hard enough to send a ring of debris and dust flying from the impact site. Chrysalis rolled onto her back, gasping in pain over her aggravated injuries. She was barely conscious, but that was more than the unmoving Celestia could boast.

The trio of combat medics from earlier landed next to their queen and began to tend to her once more. As soon as she was able, she crawled to her hooves, much to the protests of those healing her. She ignored them. She had to finish what she had come to do. She had to kill Celestia.

Celestia lay there, unconscious and covered in blood and dust. She was so vulnerable. A simple spell would be all it took in her condition, but something about that didn’t appeal to Chrysalis. It didn’t feel right. It wasn’t personal enough. She eyed the princess’ exposed throat and came to a decision. With bared fangs, her head began its descent.

“Mother, no!”

_________________________________

My wings and lungs burned with the effort of my frantic flight. On and on, closer and closer Drymanid and I flew towards that battle between Mother and Celestia. We had left Garnet Targe on the ground, no longer able to afford the costs associated with having her protection. An occasional bolt of magic soared by me, nearly striking me from the sky, but I couldn’t afford to worry about that.

Drymanid, as the stronger flier, flew ahead of me, allowing me the relative ease of travelling in his slip stream. It allowed me to fly faster than I had ever flown before, yet I couldn’t help but feel that it wasn’t nearly fast enough.

We finally drew close enough to properly see the two combatants instead of just their magical outbursts. My heart sank as I realized that Celestia was chasing Mother down through the air as she fled directly away from us. She had some kind of solid light by her side and I had to fight against a rising urge to panic over what she was going to do with it. Suddenly, Mother turned sharply and Celestia blew right past her.

Mother’s voice rang through my mind. She sounded desperate and in pain. Moments later, I lost sight of both of them as my vision was obscured by an entire swarm of changelings appearing from their hiding places within the ruins. We drew close enough to hear the sounds of the battle and to feel Celestia’s emotions. Though I still couldn’t see her, I could still tell her approximate position in the swarm.

Just then, I felt another source of emotions from up above. I don’t know how, but as the source dropped from the sky at speeds that I doubted even Rainbow Dash would turn her nose up at, I knew that it was Mother. Barely a second later, the two sources of raging emotions collided and fell to the ground. One set of emotions faded into tranquility, while the other smouldered on in a considerably weakened state, then faded entirely. I could only hope that it was Mother putting her emotional shielding back up and not one of them dying.

The cloud of black changelings began to clear out, revealing Mother standing over the fallen Celestia. I could sense her murderous intent and could just make out her glistening fangs as her head began to dip towards the prone princess.

“Mother, no!” I screamed as loudly as I could manage.

Dryma flew to the side, nearly causing me to lose control as I lost his slipstream but giving Chrysalis a clear path to see me. I rocketed straight down to them as she and several of the smaller changelings turned to find the source of my shouting. I reached the center of the crater at top speed and tried to land, but I had far too much momentum and far too little flight experience to pull it off. I hit the ground hard and tumbled head over hooves across the rough, rocky terrain. A trio of orange eyed changelings had to dive out of the way to avoid being bowled over by my bulk. With a pained groan, I came to a stop when I rolled right into Celestia.

“Don’t...don’t...kill her...” I forced out between gasps for breath, lacking the energy to even right my sprawled form.

“Visage?” Chrysalis asked, her face twisted into one of shock. “Is it really you?”

“Sort of. At least partly anyway.” I answered. Before I could explain anything else to her, she scooped me up into her hooves and hugged me tight enough to hurt me. I felt a slick, slippery liquid covering her and transferring to me as she held me close and realized it was blood. She barely looked like she could stand.

“I thought you were dead!”

“I—” I began to respond, but was interrupted as she held me at arm’s length to get a good look at me.

“You’re ascending!” She observed with wonder, merriment and a hint of pride that clashed with her broken form. “That must be how you survived Celestia’s attack! A normal changeling wouldn’t be so lucky as to come out of that just covered in blood.”

“It’s not my blood, Mother, it’s yours!”

“Oh.” She responded as she let me go and looked down on her bloodied body with embarrassment. “I am a bit of a mess.” She admitted somewhat giddily. I had to wonder if all the blood she was losing was affecting her ability to think. “Jade Flare will be delighted to hear that you survived. How did you escape?”

“I didn’t escape, I was never their prisoner to begin with!” I shouted, hoping to break through to her.

“What?” She asked, blinking a few times as she wavered. One of the medics stood next to her to support her.

“I was trying negotiate peace with them as their guest! Celestia never attacked me, Jade Flare lied to you!”

Mother’s eyes narrowed and her jaw dropped as she tried to comprehend what she was hearing.

“He’s trying to overthrow you!” I pressed. “He’s been trying to kill us both for years!”

“That’s...that’s a very serious accusation.” She said as she pushed away the medic supporting her only to fall to her rump where she remained sitting. “Are you sure?”

“Yes. He tried to kill me while I slept in one of Celestia’s guest rooms. I survived thanks to Drymanid and Pupa and cast that mind delving spell you taught me on him.” I winced as the memory of Pupa’s dead body came back to me.

“I...I can’t believe it.” She whispered, the pain of betrayal was evident on her face. I began to wonder if perhaps she had seen Jade Flare as more than just an advisor.

“Pupa...he died to save me.”

Tears began to flood down Mother’s face, leaving trails in the dirt and blood she was covered in.

“I never did like him, but perhaps Jade wasn’t the only one I misjudged.” She admitted. “His mother will need to be informed. Is there anything else I should know?”

I nodded. “Jade Flare is responsible for Father’s death. He framed Celestia for the crime in the hope that you would get yourself killed seeking out revenge.”

Chrysalis looked past me at Celestia’s unconscious form.

“I nearly did." She whispered. "I have made a terrible mistake.”

“It’s not too late to make it right, we can still make peace.”

Chrysalis nodded and her horn began to glow.

Mother’s voice echoed through my mind once more, and moments after she finished there were countless changelings flying from the city to the south, all but the three orange eyed medics nearby were leaving.

“You three are to help here. One of you is to help Celestia, and the second is to find and help Luna.” She turned to the third medic. “Rainbow Dash is hidden beneath some rubble further into the city where I fought Twilight and her friends. I put her into a slumber, but you should still be able to lock onto her emotions easily enough. Find her and bring her to Canterlot Castle as a gesture of goodwill with a message that I am willing to negotiate for peace.”

“Yes, my Queen.” She answered and then flew off into the city.

“What about you?” I asked, my brow wrinkled with concern.

Chrysalis grimaced. “I just need some rest. I will worry about the details of the negotiations, and hunting down my ex-advisor, later.” She looked to me with a wan smile. “Come, little one, let’s go and meet up with the others outside of the city.”

Mother stood up and took a shaky step forward, nearly tripping over her own hooves. I stepped up next to her and dragged one of her forelegs over my shoulder so that she would be forced to let me carry some of her weight. She sighed, but didn’t resist my efforts to assist her, and we began hobbling away.

As I was fussing over her in an effort to make things easier for her, Mother’s ears swivelled towards a sound somewhere behind us. Before I could look to see what had caught her attention, her horn flashed a bright green and a shield went up behind us. Barely before it had been erected, a massive wave of pink magic hammered into it. Mother trembled under the strain of the sudden attack and hair line fractures began spreading through the surface of her shield almost immediately. She looked at me, eyes wide with horror. She knew the shield wouldn’t last.

With an unintelligible cry, Mother forced me to the ground with the leg that was draped over my shoulder and threw herself on top of me, covering me entirely with her now only somewhat larger form. Then the shield shattered.

Mother screamed in pure agony, but I could barely hear her over the roar of the pink ray of death. I was nearly crushed beneath her by the overpowering force of the assault, making it difficult to breathe. I could feel the heat of the magic searing my flesh and singing my newly grown hair. Yet through all of this, I could only think of how it must be infinitely worse for Mother.

As suddenly as it began, it stopped. Though I hadn’t seen it and would only learn of it later, Drymanid had tackled Shining Armor and put a halt to his destructive attack.

I was pinned beneath Mother, the scent of her burnt hair and chitin so thick that it choked me. I turned my head around to face her. Her eyes were barely open more than a slit and her body lay atop me listlessly. She hadn’t even the energy to maintain her emotional barrier, though I could barely tell with how weak the emotions that I could detect were.

“Mother!” I screamed in horror, hoping my voice would bring her from the brink of unconsciousness and, I feared, death.

“Are you...okay?” She asked in a barely audible whisper that I couldn’t possibly have heard if her lips hadn’t been so close to my ears.

“I’m fine, but you...”

Relief seeped into her rapidly fading emotions, along with a small measure of joy.

“Doesn’t...matter. As long...as...you’re...”

Mother’s words trailed off as her eyes closed.