Servant of the Queen

Not a sound was made throughout the whole of Canterlot Park except for the rustle of tree branches and grass. There also seemed to be a hum of power coming from the blood moon above them, but Chrysidea didn’t know if she was imagining that.

Sunset Shimmer and her friends stopped at the base of the hill, musical instruments in hand. The changeling princess had no idea how Pinkie Pie had brought her entire drum set, but that wasn’t important right now.

They just stood there, staring up at her, not a word being uttered.

To her dismay, Home Run stood near the back, looking between his friends and her. She really hoped he wouldn’t be here to see all this. To see her beat his friends.

That other girl was here too, the one with teal and grey hair and blue skin. Chrysidea forgot her name, but she remembered seeing her in CHS before, on the baseball team.

And then the most puzzling sight was in the middle of the ground, where two Twilight Sparkles stood. One had long straight hair, while the other was more familiar to her, sporting her curly tied up hair and a large pair of glasses. The unfamiliar one must be the princess from Equestria her aunt had been meeting with.

Chrysidea decided to try a move she had seen in a film once. She took her sword and used its tip to score a straight line in the ground in front of herself. The message was clear.

“Stand aside,” Sunset finally spoke up. The first words said tonight. She readied her right hand against her guitar strings as though she was ready to fire a bullet. “We’re here to stop you.”

Chrysidea tilted her head to the side. “I can’t do that.” she replied in her undisguised voice.

“The world is at stake here,” Sunset tried to reason. “If the sirens get their powers back, there’s nothing to stop them from trying to take over again.”

“Duh, except us!” Rainbow Dash waved her instrument. She was dressed as a motocross rider with a slash mark across her chest. “It’ll just be harder if we try to stop them later.”

The rest of them were dressed in their normal clothes. It was a little weird that only Rainbow had a costume on on Halloween night.

“They’re bad guys,” Applejack chipped in. “They ain’t gonna see reason. We’ll have to show ‘em who they’re dealin’ with here.”

Chrysidea stepped forward and planted her feet in the middle of the entryway. “I cannot let you pass. Go home.”

“Ready, girls?” Sunset looked at her friends.

Everyone with the exception of Home Run got their musical instruments ready. Chrysidea reached into her pocket and pulled out the electronics jammer that her mother had given her. She found the button on the top and pressed it.

The effect was immediate. Pinkie Pie’s electric drum kit failed to make any noise, and Rarity’s keytar fell silent.

“What? What happened?” Pinkie tapped a drumstick to a snare drum and was rewarded with a pathetic tat as the stick made contact.

“Go home,” Chrysidea ordered. “Your instruments are of no use against us.”

Sunset strummed on her guitar, but all she got was a thwack, and then the sound fizzed out.

The young changeling grinned. That was all too easy. All it took to stop a magically infused group of girls was a jammer, which required no skill to use.

“This isn’t good,” Equestrian Twilight Sparkle put her mic away. “There must be another way to use our magic.”

“There is.” Sunset’s eyes widened. “Remember during the Friendship Games, girls? We were able to channel our magic through its elements.”

Chrysidea did not like the sound of that. She hoped that the ritual to restore the siren gems was already in progress, because she was about to try something a little drastic. Putting the jammer back into her pocket for now, the changeling princess picked up one of the old swords that were stuck in the ground and threw it in an arc high up into the air, where it turned end over end and stabbed into the ground in front of the girls.

“Tell you what. If one of you can best me in combat, I will let you through. Though I’m sure none of you are that good.”

“Oooohhhhhh!” Pinkie cupped her hands around her mouth.

The girl whose name escaped her stepped forward, but then Sunset raised one of her hands. “No, Velvet. I should do it. We don’t know how skilled she is, and I’m the better swordsman.”

Princess Twilight stared at Chrysidea, as if trying to figure out something. Her mouth worked silently as she thought hard.

“No magical tricks,” Chrysidea quickly added, so they knew what they were getting into. “Just good old fashioned sword fighting.”

“I don’t recognize her…” Chrysidea heard Princess Twilight say.

The changeling couldn’t help but smile. Her aunt had really fooled them with all her different disguises. They probably thought she was one of the people who spoke to them.

Eventually, Sunset stepped forward and picked up the sword. She gave it a few swings, then nodded.

“I’ll be your challenger. If I win, you let us through.”

“Fine. But you won’t win.”

“What are you fighting to?” the girl called Velvet asked. “To the death?”

“Let’s just say till whoever can no longer get up,” Chrysidea answered cheerily. That way she could buy her mother a lot of time. “And if I win, you will clear out. All of you.”

Sunset pointed her weapon at her. “You’re on.”

Feeling the red moon’s power burning through her veins, Chrysidea made the first move, darting across the expanse between her and Sunset and striking at Sunset’s left arm. Sunset guarded with her own weapon, blocking it perfectly in one swift motion.

Without missing a beat, the changeling used her momentum to aim a backhand slice at Sunset’s waist, but the fiery haired girl had already anticipated it and her weapon was already there, parrying Chrysidea’s blow aside with a resounding clank of metal.

The young changeling was knocked off one foot by the unexpected parry, and Sunset was already swinging her sword in. Unable to recover in time, Chrysidea kicked forward instead and leapt off Sunset, cutting off a lock of her red and yellow hair as she performed a somersault over the CHS girl and landed behind her.

Doesn’t make sense. How can she keep up? I’m stronger and faster than she is.

Sunset advanced slowly, but kept her blade in a perfect low guard position. Chrysidea looked up at the sky. The moon was directly overhead. Midnight.

That moment of distraction cost Chrysidea the attack, and Sunset came in with a diagonal strike. However, Chrysidea knew that the blades of the swords she had been given, minus her own personal one, were not as sharp as they could be. The strike fell upon her chainmail armor and did no damage, though it knocked her off balance again and Sunset barreled into her with a shoulder, knocking her to the ground.

Chrysidea hit the grassy floor hard, but she quickly got up and tried to catch Sunset off guard with a stab backwards. The stab pierced her jacket, but missed Sunset’s body.

“Clock is ticking…” Twilight said anxiously as she looked up at the moon.

Sunset must have heard her, because her expression changed to one of determination and went for a cut at Chrysidea’s midsection. Bending with the blow, the changeling allowed the strike to fall on her chainmail armor again, then grabbed Sunset’s sword with her free hand and wrenched it aside before opening a cut on Sunset’s cheek.

“Easy, easy,” Chrysidea said more for herself to hear and let out a kick at Sunset. She planted it in the girl’s back and she fell to the ground. “Had enough?”

“Not yet,” Sunset said through gritted teeth, getting back up and picking up her weapon.

“I don’t get it…” Princess Twilight fretted. “I don’t think she’s human, but what…”

Three more strikes were exchanged, sword hitting sword and sparks flew.

Chrysidea swung low, trying to catch Sunset’s left leg, but the girl jumped clear of it and when Chrysidea was focusing on the sword, she failed to notice Sunset’s knee until it hit her square in her face. She had been surprised by the attack. She knew Sunset could fight well, but not like that.

She fell back on the ground and clutched at her nose. It was bleeding, but it was easily fixed with a little love energy, plus with the blood moon, she felt as though she wouldn’t run out of healing any time soon.

Her sword arm twitched and a line of steel flashed toward Sunset Shimmer’s shoulder, but it was batted aside.

Makes no sense…

An image of her aunt flashed by her mind’s eye. “Your claws are your most reliable weapon, but once you bring them out, prepare to kill everyone fast because it’ll give away exactly what you are.”

She shook her head. She didn’t want to have to kill anyone, nor did she need to. She had to stall them and so far, they were being stalled just fine. All that was hurt now was her pride. She didn’t want to lose.

“Come on, Sunset!” Rainbow Dash encouraged from a little distance away. “You can do it!”

Getting back up, she shot Sunset a dirty look, then dashed right in, stabbing her sword forward faster than an eye could blink. But Sunset simply leaned to the side and the thrust went wide. Sunset then made a precise cut at Chrysidea’s face, but the chainmail inside her hood blunted the strike. The changeling princess did not like this. Three times now she had been saved by her armor, and she wasn’t going to be wearing it all the time. She needed to be more careful. Although it did confirm her aunt knew what she was doing when it came to this kind of thing.

Shifting onto the defense, Chrysidea decided to see if she could read Sunset’s attack patterns. If she could just decipher that, then the duel was as good as hers. However, Sunset didn’t press the attack either. The pair of them circled around each other like a pair of lions, each looking for the perfect opportunity. Either way, this just helped her stall more.

“Why are you doing this?” Sunset asked quietly as her eyes darted around for an opening. Blood ran from the cut on her cheek and dripped off her chin. “Why help the sirens? World domination?”

“Nothing of that sort. But why should I bother telling you anything?”

Both of them still stood apart from one another, neither doing a thing. Chrysidea knew it was already past midnight and her mother would likely already be performing the ritual. She didn’t know how much longer she needed, but at least time was being bought here. She smiled to herself. Things were going perfectly.

And then finally, Sunset moved first and slashed at her furiously, her attacks increasing in speed as she slashed away. Chrysidea found that she was instantly forced on the defensive, only able to block Sunset’s attacks with no room to attack back. She had incredible skill and the young princess had no idea where or how she had gotten so good with a sword. On the bright side, at least she was defending quite well against her attacks.

And then as Sunset’s arm went high for an attack, Chrysidea found her opening and threw her scabbard out. The fiery haired girl parried it away with ease, but that at least gave the changeling time to press an attack, swishing her sword from left to right as she performed a series of attack combinations.

Sunset continued to block and attack, not allowing Chrysidea a chance to knock her down and they just continued to trade sword blows. But Sunset’s weapon was older and with each strike, the changeling could feel her sword starting to wear away at Sunset’s blade. It was only a matter of time before her next strike would break it.

As the moon was now at its peak, Chrysidea could feel her strength and speed increasing, but Sunset was also keeping up with her, being a pony from Equestria, her magical energy was also powered up from the blood moon.

And then there it was. While their strengths had gone up, their swords did not, and Sunset’s weapon shattered on the next impact, splintering the blade in the middle.

Chrysidea was about to let out a cheer and to proclaim Sunset’s defeat, but to her astonishment, Sunset hadn’t just stopped, even though she was now weaponless. Instead, she spun around and slid towards the changeling princess, closing the distance between them enough that Chrysidea could not swing her sword out at Sunset. The fiery haired girl already had her hand around her eastern sword and she leaned forward and kicked back, prying the weapon from her hands. Following up without losing any momentum, Sunset twisted herself around and drove the point of the sword into Chrysidea’s abdomen, too fast for her to even attempt to dodge it. For a moment it seemed as though her chainmail armor would stop the blow, but there was a sudden sound of breaking metal and she felt a lance of pain through her skin and her guts.

More out of shock than anything else, Chrysidea fell backwards, the sword sliding out of her body and clattering onto the ground.

Impossible. That couldn’t have just happened.

Sunset looked down at Chrysidea, a strange look on her bloodstained face.

“I… know you,” Sunset said, an expression of recognition dawning. “I’ve fought you before.”

“What do you mean, you know this person?” Home Run asked, stepping forward. “What are you getting at? Is she from those Assassin days?”

Chrysidea focused her love energy on the spot where she had been stabbed, but she couldn’t summon the power to heal it instantly like she had seen her aunt do. There was still no indication of whether the ritual had worked or not, which worried her immensely. Had she bought her mother and aunt enough time to finish?

“You know nothing about me,” Chrysidea forced out. “We do not know one another.”

“Your fighting… I have faced it once… But where?” Sunset mumbled. “Swordfighting. Fencing… The Friendship Games…” Then her eyes went wide. “Si-Silver Rose?”

For a moment, Sunset’s eyes and the changeling princess’ eyes locked and it was as though a recognition passed through the fiery haired girl. Chrysidea sniffed at the air. She tasted odd, almost like she was shocked, but a little sweeter than that.

“Of course…” Sunset gasped and took one step back, more in surprise than fear. She continued mumbling, but in her pain, Chrysidea only managed to catch a few words. “Those eyes… My dreams… She was there… Changelings…”

That last word struck a chord deep in Chrysidea’s chest. Sunset knew of them. She knew of changelings. But how? Sunset couldn’t be allowed to leave with this knowledge. She had to take her to her mother.

Sunset wiped the blood off her face and winced as her fingers brushed the slice on her cheek. “I won,” she said to Chrysidea. “Now let us pass.”

A flicker of anger flared up in the young changeling, and suddenly she understood why her aunt and mother had such disdain for supposed do-gooders. She reached into the depths of her coat and closed her fingers around the hilt of her knife. She waited, staying on the ground to see what would happen next.

“We’ve wasted enough time here,” Applejack said urgently as she picked up her bass. “We’ve gotta stop whoever’s up there fixin’ the gems, and we gotta go now.”

“What do we do about this one?” Rainbow asked, pointing at Chrysidea.

“We could just leave her…” Fluttershy suggested.

Chrysidea’s mind raced. If these people knew about changelings, then that could mean that their entire way of life had been compromised. Her mother had to be alerted. She would know what to do in this situation, and the princess had done all she could.

The other girls began to step towards the hilltop. Chrysidea staggered to her feet and pulled out the flare gun, pointing it at the Rainbooms with a loud chick-chak.

Everyone else’s eyes went wide as they saw the gun.

“Woah!” Rarity shrieked. She immediately jumped behind Applejack’s body.

Chrysidea smiled. Gotcha.

Then she aimed it high and pulled the trigger.

With a loud whistling sound, a bright green flare was launched high up above their heads, glowing like an evil star. And while everybody else’s attention was on the pretty lights, Chrysidea unsheathed her throwing knife and hurled it at Sunset Shimmer in a blur of silver. If she could take out that girl with a paralytic, then she could drag her to her mother and get away, and they could learn just what Sunset knew about their kind.

In slow motion, the drugged knife flew at Sunset, turning once over in mid flight, its polished blade catching the green and red glow of the night. She was still unaware of the coming projectile and it would soon hit her.

“Sunset, look out!” Home Run’s voice cried out, the baseball player pushing Sunset aside. The knife, still on its deadly course, missed Sunset entirely and instead stabbed into Home Run’s leg in a small spray of blood. The boy fell back and clutched at his thigh and winced as he rolled from side to side.

“No, no, Home Run!” Chrysidea felt overcome by emotion and she ran to his side, much to the shock of Sunset and her friends, and much to his confusion as well.

“W-What?” Home Run asked slowly. Then he looked down at his leg and spotted the dagger in it. “Wait… I recognize that…”

Chrysidea reached over to pull the dagger out, but at that exact moment a shadow fell over all of them. A shadow cast by the Queen of the Changelings herself.

“So. I can’t even leave you alone for fifteen minutes, can I?” Chrysalis snarled in her dual voice.

The rest of the girls, who had crowded over Home Run now stood up and eyed her cautiously.

“I-I’m sorry, mother,” Chrysidea answered disappointedly. She had really hoped to impress her mother tonight.

“Chrysalis!” Princess Twilight gasped in surprise. “How did…?”

“How do you know that name?” Chrysalis held out her hand and a green fireball ignited in her palm, spreading until it covered her entire arm. “What has my miserable daughter said to you?”

Chrysalis whipped her hand down and a glob of emerald flames arced towards the Rainbooms, who scattered. Leaving flaming footsteps in her wake, the changeling queen stomped over to Chrysidea and picked her up off the floor. The princess squeaked with surprise as her mother slung her over her shoulder like a bag of flour, staring at the Rainbooms with her mouth open to display her impressive set of fangs.

And then with a most powerful jump, Chrysalis threw them both into the air. Chrysidea opened her eyes to see they were now high in the sky and they were very quickly leaving the park behind as they began descending towards the closest building, which was an apartment complex. From there, her mother continued jumping from rooftop to rooftop, and it was an amazing feeling to be flying through the air like that, but Chrysidea also knew that she shouldn’t bring up how awesome it was. Her mother was likely very angry at her for failing like that and for Sunset and her friends for even knowing what a changeling was. Even worse, they knew her mother’s name.

She knew that at the end of their travel, her mother was going to have some words for her. Deciding to say nothing, her attention was caught by a sudden flash of crimson in the east end of Canterlot. As she looked, a pillar of bright red light shot up into the heavens like a laser beam before fading away. Chrysalis saw it too and grinned.

“Just as planned,” she said smugly.