Fight for survival (redone)

(Chapter 4)

Upon entering the throne room Straight and I were greeted to the sight of changelings upon changelings. More changeling then I could count were present on the ground, in the air, and even on the walls and ceiling. "Why hello, and what is this?" I heard from the thrones. Looking over I saw a changeling around the size of Princess Celestia with a dark blue mane and tail as well as green slitted eyes. The most surprising thing however was the sight of Princess Celestia and another alicorn, who had navy blue fur and an ethereal mane and tail that looked as though stars were trapped inside of it, on the ground heavily injured.

"Who are you and what is your business here?" I asked sternly, only to moments later feel like a complete dumb ass when everyone went silent and just stared at me with a 'are you shitting me?' look, even the princesses gave me that look. "*sigh* never mine, just surrender so I don't have to kill all the changeling here," I said, feeling myself blush due to this being one of the rare moments where I actually felt embarrassed.

"HAHAHAHA! so you think that you can take on my subjects and win, kill them," she (I think) ordered the other changeling, who all started to advance on me and Straight.

"Hey Straight, you got anything I can use against these guys?" I asked, just realizing how under equipped I was without armor or weapons, hell I barely had any clothes on.

"I'd say you could use my sword, but if what happened earlier is any indicator I'm gonna need it more than you right about now," Straight answered as he drew his blade, getting into a fighting stance as we awaited our opponents.

"Alright, fisticuffs it is then, damn, this is probably going to hurt like hell in the morning," I muttered to myself as I took my own stance, staring down the changeling closest to me. "well, if I'm going to die today, might as well go out with a classic, LEEEEEROY JEEEENKINS!!!" I yelled with a smile as I surprised the changeling horde by charging them. I had gotten to the one closest to me before it could recover from shock and grabbed by the neck and breaking it, killing the changeling instantly and snapping the others out of their stupor as they all came down upon me like a tsunami. As I was attacked I punched, kicked, elbowed, and kneed as many changeling as I could, but for every hit I dished out I received one myself, and withing moments I was bleeding in several places where I had been bitten or cut by the changelings. The changeling started to dog pile me, adding more and more bodies onto me by the second as they tried to weigh me down, so with a desperate attempt I put all the strength I could into my legs and jumped and threw my arm to the side, effectively launching the changeling off of me as I landed back on the ground, still surrounded by a circle of changeling. Moving quickly I ran and grabbed one of the changeling and threw it at another, using the moment of the throw to allow me to spin kick another and knocking all three out, but even with those three down and out, there were still hundreds, if not thousands, more to fight.

"GAH!" I shouted as I felt sharp fangs bite into my left shoulder, making me reach back with my right arm and grab the assaulting changeling and tearing it off of me, much to my own displeasure at the accompanying pain. Slamming it down on the ground I stopped on its head, causing it to splatter as the creatures brain matter coated the floor. "WHO'S NEXT? HUH? WHO'S FUCKING NEXT!?" I Demanded, feeling anger well up inside of me and pump adrenaline through my body, numbing the pain I felt and helping me to stand tall. With a screech several changelings charged at me with their heads down, intending to run me through with their horns. I jumped to my left, narrowly avoiding being skewered as the changeling went slightly pass and killed a few changeling that were about to jump on me from behind.

I couldn't tell how long I had been fighting by the time the changeling were really thinning out, but I knew it must have been a long time with how many changelings there were to start off with. Straight and I were standing next to each other, battered, bloodied, and bruised, while we faced off against the last of the changelings, which were around 30 in total.

"How are you feeling Straight?" I asked as I looked at him out of the corners of my eyes.

"Not too good, how about you?" he asked back.

"I feel like I'm bleeding from every limb, so not too bad," I answered with a grin as the changelings, and more than likely our death, slowly advanced on us, knowing we were severely weakened. "Where the hell are reinforcements, you'd think someone would have gotten here to help by now," I muttered out loud enough for Straight to hear.

"Probably dealing with changelings as well, that or they didn't catch any changeling impostors before being attacked," Straight said. Before I could say anything else one of the changelings broke off and charged us, only to meet a blast of magic.

"Damn, looks like hell in here," I heard a familiar voice say from behind. Turning around I saw Crimson and River, both covered in injuries, while Crimson also had lost his helmet at some point.

"'Bout time you showed up, I thought you were gonna miss all the fun," I said, as I Sparta kicked back a changeling who had gotten too close for comfort.

"Miss a party like this, never," River responded with a grin as she shot a blade of wind from her horn, cutting a changeling in half as he lunged at me.

"Thanks, now LET'S SAVE THE DAY!" I yelled before feeling energized again and running back into the fray full steam. Together as a team we managed to make short work of the remaining changelings, but before we could celebrate I felt a VERY large amount of force slam against my side before I was sent flying into, and then through, a column before hitting the ground hard. "*cough* did anyone *cough* get the *cough**cough* licence plate of *cough* the truck that hit me," I said as I coughed from the stone dust that had gotten into my lungs from the destroyed column.

"HOW DARE YOU KILL ALL OF MY CHILDREN YOU APE! I AM QUEEN CHRYSALIS! QUEEN OF THE CHANGELINGS, AND IF YOU KNOW WHAT'S GOOD FOR YOU, YOU WILL BOW TO ME LIKE THE INSECT YOU ARE!!" The larger changeling (apparently queen chrysalis) demanded as I slowly got back to my feet. Looking over to her I could see my teammates being held in her magic and unable to help me.

"How about this, I fight you, I win, and you get the fuck out of here," I responded as I glared at her defiantly.

"How dare you, do you really think that I would be scared of a pathetically weak creature such as yourself?" She asked, anger and annoyance etched across her face. "How about this, just because you've shown yourself to be such an adept warrior, I'll let you live, all you have to do is leave, your choice," Chrysalis offered with a now sinister grin.

"I'll admit, while I have never really feared death, I have never wanted to die, so your offer is very tempting..." I started as I turned my gaze to the floor, letting my hair fall to block my face from everyone in the room as I continued, "... but these ponies have shown me more kindness and acceptance in two days than I have ever gotten in my life, without hesitation they offered me a place to stay, a job, clothes, a team, they have given me all this regardless of what I am, of who I am, or of how I get here, so I will happily die for them, even if I only met these ponies yesterday, I WILL PROTECT THEM WITH EVERY FIBER OF MY BEING!!!" I shouted as I shot towards her, running full tilt, and moving so fast that she was caught by surprise. Taking advantage of her surprise I jumped up when I get to her and slammed my knee into her jaw while leaning back, allowing me to back flip and kick her in the chin with my other foot as I moved away from her. My attacks had the desired effect, shocking Chrysalis and causing her to drop my teammates as she moved back a few steps.

Before I could take advantage any more Chrysalis snapped out of her shock and glared at me with unbridled fury. "HOW DARE YOU WEAKLING, I WILL NOT GIVE YOU A SECOND CHANCE, NOW DIE!" She yelled before letting out a large blast of magic where I was standing just moments before, while I had managed to just barely dodge the blast. "stop moving and DIE!" she shouted again as I ran around the room as she followed me and kept firing blast after blast at me.

"NYANYANYANYANYA YOU CAN'T CATCH ME!" I yelled back in the taunting voice of a child before laughing as I dodged yet another blast from Chrysalis. Taking the initiative now I started to slowly make my way towards her while still dodging her magic blast. As I got closer I could see the signs of fatigue on Chrysalis from all the energy she was using, each blast she sent tearing the ground apart as she tried, and failed, to end my life. When Chrysalis was panting and sweating heavily I started to run directly at her, getting her to go on the defensive as she put up a shield around herself just in time to block a punch aimed at her head. Stepping back I looked at her shield to see that is was unharmed, making the Queen begin to grin again as she let out an evil laugh.

"HAHAHAHAHA!!! You thought that you could get a hit in with such simple tactics, well it's going to take a lot more tha that to get me," Chrysalis said, her grin turning into a maniacal smile. Frowning I took a several steps back as I prepared for my next move. "My my, where is your bravado now? Is the little hero afraid? well he should be because he has no chance of beating a Queen," Chrysalis taunted, making me smile. "Why are you smiling?" she asked as she noticed that I wasn't afraid as she had previously suspected.

"Oh, just enjoying your bitchy attitude before I knock your ass down a peg or two," I said merrily, getting a look of anger and annoyance from the Queen. Before she could say anything however I started to run at her again, this time jumping much higher into the air before slamming both of my fist onto her shield with every last ounce of my energy and strength, creating a small shock-wave that sent me flying back into a wall cracking it, as Chrysalis's shield shattered and she passed out from some form of energy overuse.

"Jack, are you okay?" I heard River ask as she, Crimson, and Straight came over to me, all of them limping to some degree.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine," I answered as I tried to stand up, but failed to do so as the adrenaline began to leave my body and my vision swam a bit.

"You're obviously lying," Crimson stated as he used his magic to help me up to a sitting position against the wall.

"Tis but a flesh wound, and a few broken ribs, and a punctured shoulder, and leg, and wing, and arm, and whatever the hell else is wrong, but besides that, I'm fine," I said with a small grin as Crimson just face palmed (hoofed?) as he shook his head a little with a smile on his face.

"Crimson Vision, Straight Arrow, River Breeze, and Jack Cresten, I thank you for stopping Chrysalis in our time of need," Celestia said as she walked over to us, limping slightly as she favored her left fore hoof.

"We were just doing our job our majesty," Straight said as he and the others bowed.

"Forgive me for not bowing Princess, but I think my reasons are good enough not to," I said with a small smile as I looked over my blood covered form. 'Ugh, it's like my arrival to this place all over again, well, at least I didn't need to get tortured this time' I thought to myself, giving a dry chuckle in my mind.

"I believe that is acceptable young human, you have seemed to sustain quite a few injuries after all," The other alicorn (Luna if I'm not mistaken) said with a slight nod.

"Rise my ponies, you have done your job, now is a time for rest," Celestia said as the others got up, as did I.

"Sorry princess, but I think you might be wrong," I said as I clutched my left shoulder in pain as it got jostled in my rising.

"What do you mean young Jack?" Princess Luna asked.

"What I mean is where are the other guards, with how long we've been in here fighting there should have been reinforcements much sooner, so what happened to them?" I answered with a question of my own. Luna and Celestia looked at each other in realization before they ignited their horns and cast some sort of spell.

"I sense one changeling sister, what about you?" Luna asked as she turned back to Celestia.

"As do I, but it's gathered with all of our other guards, but for what reason," Celestia said as she and Luna started to try and work out what could be happening.

"How about you go find out while Straight, River, Jack, and I stay and deal with Queen Chrysalis," Crimson suggested. The Princesses agreed and in a flash they were gone, leaving us with the still out cold changeling queen. "River, I want you to find me an anti magic ring, an anti-magic potion, and a cork," Crimson ordered as river saluted and ran off. "Straight, I want you to find me rope strong enough to hold down an alicorn ASAP," he instructed, getting another salute as Straight ran off as fast as he could. "And Jack..." Crimson started, making me perk up and focus on him more as he continued, "... I want you to sit back down and rest, as soon as we're done taking Chrysalis to the dungeons, we're all going to get medical treatment," He commanded. With a sigh and a weak salute I eased myself back down into a sitting position.

Crimson and I waited for several minutes for Straight and River to get back. River was the first one back and we quickly put the anti-magic ring on chrysalis's horn, and I found out why Crimson wanted a cork, as the ring wouldn't fit on her uniquely shaped horn and wouldn't go down more than an inch or two, so he put the cork on the top of her horn to keep it from just falling off. another few minutes passed and Straight finally returned and we quickly had Chrysalis tied up and ready for transport as we took a moment to rest.

"Alright, first stop, the dungeons," Crimson stated as we all stood back up. Crimson and River worked together to lift Chrysalis with their magic, grunting a little from the effort but seemingly not to bothered by the strain. "Alright, let's go," Crimson said, as we all began to walk down the hallways of the castle and towards the dungeons. 'I wonder when I'll get to be out of the castle?' I wondered to myself as we walked.