"No, no NO! MEDIC!" Aurora cried as he scrambled over to his fallen friend. Ymir was in bad shape, to put it lightly. A small trickle of blood ran from her mouth and the 'fin' on the back of her neck was torn and split, bleeding as well. All that paled compared to the impact site of the magic on her chest though. The chitin there had been, for lack of a better word, melted, leaving raw flesh exposed down a good chunk of her chest and right foreleg.

"Aurora? What's happened?!" Wave's voice came through his comm, barely audible as a panicked small changeling flew through a hail of fire above him, the shots blasting stones out of the wall and showering him with them.

"Ymir's down! I need help here now!" He cried, all semblance of calm lost as he bunkered down behind the larger changeling corpse and tried to get his breathing under control.

"The fighting is getting worse. Crash is struggling and Zippy's been separated from us too," Wave said from her position at the ledge, her voice oddly remorseful. "I'm sorry, I don't think I can reach you now."

As Aurora glanced out from behind the changeling body that was now makeshift cover for him and Ymir, he realised she had a point. The battle had now spread out around the hive, fighting getting more intense as more of the small changelings were being pressed into joining the conflict. Even now a dozen changelings were locked in a fresh engagement between him and the rest of the team, cutting them off. He noticed that a number of allied changelings were at the pods as well, carefully carrying them out the same way the rest of the team had come in.

"Gimme a sec." Water Flare chimed in, waving a pair of changelings down and pointing them over to Aurora. The first was a green coloured female, the other an amber male, they flew over the fight and landed next to him quickly.

"Varcol teffalg." The green changeling told him as they started checking Ymir over. Aurora didn't recognise both words but their intent was friendly and they were trying to help, he had to believe they would save her.

"Torb yees." He told them with strained relief before pushing out from the cover to see what else was happening.

Almost instantly he had to throw up a shield again as a fresh bolt came his way. As soon as the shield dropped he looked at who had fired it and tensed. There was no mistaking that shape even if it was halfway across the hive, Chrysalis was standing right there, making eye contact with him, the look in her eye telling all he needed to know. That condescending, victorious look, coming from the changeling who had been the bane of his family for so long. Aurora had generally done a good job of keeping his anger under control, with the occasional exception, but it was always lurking there. Now, making eye contact with her, something sparked inside him.

She had kidnapped and impersonated his mother.

She had brainwashed and backstabbed his father.

She had seriously injured and quite possibly killed his friends.

She had invaded Equestria and remained a lingering threat for decades.

She was right there, in range of a pony that was the son of an alicorn and who's father had admitted that his latent magic was not as strong as his son's.

He could do something about it. Right now. Any rational thought vanished with that thought.

"I have Chrysalis in sight. She needs to pay." Aurora's lip curled into a snarl as he finished speaking and he broke into a run, ignoring the battle around him, hardly even flinching as magic blasts skimmed past him by mere inches. He could hear voices in his ear, his teammates trying to call him back, but he couldn't stop now. A stray blast demolished a dwelling nearby and pelted him with stones. One nicked his left ear, cutting the armour and disrupting the magic it held. The voices disappeared and he was committed now. He would bring this monster down or he would die.

Strangely, right now he didn't actually care which.

"Don't do it kid!"

"You can't take on Chrysalis alone!"

"Soul, fall back to safety now! That's an order! Aurora!!"

Cipher growled in frustration as he watched Aurora keep running, not even slowing down for anything. It was hard enough to keep tracking him from this distance and as he headed into the heart of the battle it became impossible with so many changelings present.

"Zippy, this is Buddy. Soul's trying to go after Chrysalis alone and we've lost track of him. Can you see either of them from where you are?"

"Sorry sir, it's kind of hectic where I am as well. G-get off me you fucking bug! Graaaahh!"

The sudden cry Flash made before his transmission cut off left a feeling of dread in Cipher's heart. It was bad enough that he couldn't do anything to help the pegasus, nor the one that was fighting to stay conscious on his back, but the fact they had come so close...He didn't have time to dwell though, not on the battlefield. Even as he focused again he was forced to duck as a dead changeling dropped out of the dogfight overhead and just missed him, smashing into the wall hard enough to split its head open. A few moments later, Thorax also dropped out of the fight and landed next to the ponies, panting slightly from exertion.

"The battle is closer than I had hoped," He admitted, looking grim as he looked at the devastation that now made up the ground battle. "How bad are things here?"

"Two of my team are missing, one is critically injured and a rogue changeling that joined us is down out there," Cipher explained, lowering his body slightly so Wave could help Rainbow. "I don't want to leave them but I can't put anypony at any further risk here."

"I understand. Pony and changeling relations would never recover if you died here," Thorax took another look at the battle and clenched his jaw slightly. "Make your way out with the changelings that are evacuating the pods. I will find your friends." Before anypony could reply he took off and dived back into the fray, blasting a changeling that attempted to rush him.

"I told him about us sir. He knows who to look for." Water Flare told Cipher, her words cutting through the indecision that was plaguing him. All he had to do right now was what she and Aurora had done, what ponies always did for each other. Show some trust.

"Alright. Task Force Harmony, move out."

Aurora narrowed his eyes as he finally closed the gap and his horn glowed in preparation. The body of a changeling before him served as a springboard and he brought his front left hoof back in the air as he leapt off it. His gaze focused on the prepared changeling queen before the world vanished around him in a flash as he teleported. He reappeared right in front of Chrysalis as his hoof came forward again, slugging her square in the muzzle. The momentum brought him back to his hooves and he swung round, firing his magic into her side in rapid bursts before he'd even come to a halt.

Chrysalis grunted and staggered in pain as Aurora continued advancing on her. His attacked seemed to be doing negligible damage though, as soon as he was in range she tensed and swung at him, a strike that he met in kind, wrapping their front hooves around each other. She bared her fangs and lunged her head down to bite at him, a move he counted by aiming his horn at her mouth, forcing her to adjust enough that she had to settle for locking horns, staring into each other's eyes.

"Do you really think you can change anything?" She hissed, her mane whipping behind her like fire in a rush of wind from the surrounding battle. "I have the strength to overcome your princesses, the will to transform your world. Only two ponies with a lucky shot were able to delay the inevitable last time, what can one common unicorn do?"

"Funny you should mention them," Aurora replied through gritted teeth. "Shining Armor and Cadance are some of the most powerful ponies alive. You saw yourself how they held back your entire army with a shield spell and love. The thing is, he's admitted that his son is even better than that."

Chrysalis' eyes widened as she realised what he meant, a momentary distraction that he used to whip his head back and headbutt her with all his might. The blow struck home and she staggered properly this time, her wings opening and taking her to the air before he could follow up the strike. Aurora simply turned back to his magic, firing beams at her constantly, forcing her to remain on the defensive with no time to attack beyond the occasional offensive beam. Neither of them were able to land hits at this point, Chrysalis was too fast moving and Aurora's barrage of attacks were throwing her aim off. Aurora growled and decided to change tactics, thinking that he just needed to employ his abilities more...Creatively. He teleported again and Chrysalis paused in the air, trying to locate him and swatting away a brown changeling that got too close in the process.

The whine of magic powering up above her drew her gaze upward, just in time to see Aurora crashing into her with a bright shield cast around his front. The impact knocked her out of the air and sent them both streaking toward the ground. She attempted to fire on him directly but he simply strengthened the barrier in response, intending to crush her with it when they hit the ground. Chrysalis threw her head back and fired a desperate blast at the ground beneath her in response, blowing open a small crater that she fell into, beyond the reach of his shield. Even so, the landing, combined with him landing on top of her as he dropped the shield, stunned her momentarily. Aurora came out of the landing in better shape and wasted no time in continuing the assault, clambering over the larger being, punching at her face and neck, each one punctuated by a grunt of rage.

Chrysalis kept taking hit after hit, gasping slightly as she felt a stinging pain in her jaw. Up until now, she had seen the pathetic unicorn's attacks as an annoyance due to her natural armour, the flailing of an angry child. She couldn't even understand why he was so angry at her right now. If anything he should have been thankful that she accidentally hit the useless, meek drone next to him. Behind all the anger though, she realised there was a pony who knew what he was doing, every strike wearing down her resilience. As another blow struck the side of her teeth, bring a fresh snap of pain, she realised that this runt, this shadow of his parents' legacy, actually had the capacity to be dangerous. That this clown might just be able to beat him. That just meant that she had to stop going easy though. Her head twisted to the right, avoiding the next punch and swinging her horn up at his face, charging a fresh surge of magic.

Aurora saw it coming a moment too late and pulled himself backward to try and evade. The tip of her horn dug into a gap between his helmet and the damaged mouthplate, her momentum snapping the latch again before the follow up magic attack detonated against it, blowing the plate clean off and sending it flying into the surrounding fray. Aurora cried out as the proximity of the attack burned at his right cheek and forced him to finally give some ground, giving Chrysalis time to get back to her hooves. Even as he patted at his cheek to try and soothe it, he saw that she hadn't come out of the exchange completely unharmed either. Her left fang was broken and a thin tickle of blood was visible from between her teeth. Their eyes met again and almost as one, they both acknowledged there was only one option for either of them to end this duel between them.

To the death.

One horn glowed green, the other white, the light from both shining brightly enough to distract the surrounding changelings from their own battles. Almost as one, each of them fired, each sending the strongest beam of their magic that they could muster at each other. The attacks collided with a shower of magical sparks, the force of the collision pushing Aurora back several feet until he could dig his hooves in enough to gain purchase again. His legs shook as he fought to brace himself against the outpouring of magic, the light restricting his view. He could feel Chrysalis' magic pressing back against his though, judge just how much power there was in her attack. That was when it hit him. For all his own strength. All his bravado and determination. The best chance to bring an end to a massive threat once and for all. When it came to his opponent...

He just.

Didn't.

Have it!

Chrysalis may have lost some strength over the years, but she had still been powerful enough to overwhelm Princess Celestia herself. He was using every last ounce of power and yet he was only matching her. At best. She hadn't burned through nearly as much energy as he had and already he could feel his strength draining as he tried to hold his ground. He needed a new plan, but the onset of magical exhaustion was making it hard to think and dropping his magic without one would be a death sentence. Chrysalis seemed to sense his vulnerability and steadily started to advance, only to stop and look not at him but past him. The confidence in her eyes suddenly collapsed like a star collapsing into a black hole. Aurora didn't even have time to see what it was before a beam of concentrated green magic shot over his right shoulder and struck the queen square in the neck.

Chrysalis cried out as the attack hit her, disrupting her focus and bringing her own attack to a halt. Before she could react, Aurora's attack hit her as well, blowing the changeling off her hooves and back through the air with an agonised scream. Her body came down several dozen feet away at the far end of the hive and skidded into the wall, kicking up a huge cloud of dust. Aurora didn't have time to see the after effects as he dropped back onto his flank, panting as his horn glowed slightly from the sheer power he'd put through it. His head was thumping, his vision had tunnelled and his limbs felt heavy, all warning signs he'd pushed himself too hard as his body attempted to start recovering its magic reserves from his already spent energy reserves.

Even through this, he forced himself to look back to see where the attack had come from. The fighting had managed to escalate further as a number of the small changelings were taking advantage of the chaos rising from Chrysalis' defeat to break and run, a few bolder ones turning and attacking their oppressors instead. He could also see where he had left Ymir with the medics. The green changeling was dragging Ymir to better cover than the corpse had provided, as well as the convulsing, heavily bleeding form of the larger amber one. Aurora tried to get up to check on her but he could barely put one hoof in front of the other. Then a bloodstained hoof came into view and he looked up to the sight of a massive red changeling looking back down at him.

"I'm glad you're not badly hurt. We need to get you out of here." Thorax said, offering a clean hoof. Aurora took it slowly and pulled himself back to his hooves.

"Wha...Who're...?"

"I'm Thorax. Water Flare told me who you are, crystal prince Aurora. I can get you back to your friends. If you die here, any hope for peace between our races goes with you."

"A-alright...What about, Ymir?" He said slowly as Thorax moved over him, firing on another rogue changeling and making sure the area was clear around them.

"Your changeling ally? Lanne is a talented healer. If she lives, we will find a way to let you know."

With that, Thorax wrapped a hoof around Aurora and took off, heading for one of the tunnels out of the hive. The unicorn couldn't really focus on much, but he noticed that Chrysalis had not risen from where she had landed and the battle was starting to turn in favour of the allied changelings as a possible result. Then the scenery changed to rapidly passing tunnels and he closed his eyes, using what was left of his flight to rest up. After what felt like several minutes, yet was still far too soon, the stale air of the tunnels gave way to cold air and he opened his eyes again. The mountain interior had been replaced by forests below and a plateau, where he could make out all the changeling pods and the rest of Task Force Harmony, helping a number of ponies out of those pods. It was the middle of the night as well, though a bright moon was out, providing enough light to see by.

Thorax dropped down to the plateau and set Aurora down next to the others. Most seemed to have come out without another further injuries, Bulwark had some extra burns on his armour and Flash Sentry's wing armour was completely shredded. Rainbow Dash looked slightly better than the last time he'd seen her, responding more to Healing Wave's attempts to keep her awake. There had to be at least a dozen other ponies present as well, all of them covered in goo and adjusting to being back out of a pod after heavens knew how long.

"I said I would bring him." Thorax said humbly as he stepped back, letting the others come over and express their elation at seeing him alive.

"And you did! Thank you!" Flare told him as she checked Aurora over quickly. "How're you feeling kid?"

"Like I just took on a princess and lived." Aurora slowly replied, managing a small grin that grew slightly as he saw Cipher taking his helmet off and look over at him. Though the older pony only gave a small smile, the look in his eyes showed just how proud he was.

"Just a governor, but her strength was still more than I expected," Thorax commented. "Now though, she and her rebels cannot keep up their defences for much longer. I must return to ensure that she is detained and returned to our homeland, tried for crimes against Outlani, and Equestria. Will you need help to return home?"

"Thank you, but I think we can manage for now." Cipher said, looking over his team.

"As you wish, I will keep a scout nearby if you do need help," Thorax spread his wings out and flexed them slightly, looking at each member of the team. "I thank you all for your unexpected assistance in this matter, and know that my kingdom will always be open to your kind. And remember, crystal prince Aurora, I will find a way to let you know."

"I...Torb yees." Aurora panted, bowing his head slightly. Thorax looked surprised at the fact he could speak changeling before nodding and taking off, flying back into the mountain.

"So, what IS the plan for getting out of here?" Flash asked, standing up and walking among the pods, making sure all of them were emptied.

"Well from the looks of you, I can't ask you to push yourself to teleport back, Aurora," Cipher said, looking thoughtful. "Flash, how long do you think it would take to reach the nearest town?"

"About, a four hour round trip for me. Assuming I can still fly at all."

"Good thing you don't need to ask then." Aurora said quietly, everypony looking at him just as he teleported out. For a full minute they all just looked among each other, wondering just what was meant to happen now, before a flash of blue appeared and an armoured Princess Luna teleported in before them.

"Aurora collapsed as he tried to report..." She started, pausing and looking at the assembled ponies before her, all of them looking more hopeful as they realised that he had found them a quicker means to get home. After a moment, Cipher stood up and bowed to his commander.

"He was reporting a successful mission, your highness."

Author's Note

And the lesson of the day for new writers is: Always make sure you've actually copied down any changes you've made before splitting up a chapter. I forgot that detail and had to rewrite a third of the chapter from scratch.