Captain Equestria: Civil Service

Chapters

Ch1: Crusaders
Ch2: Shooting Stars
Ch3: Starfall
Ch4: To Make a Long Story Short
Ch5: Eye of the Swarm

Ch1: Crusaders

“Shining!” Cadence cried, hooves reaching out behind a green tinted barrier..

“Cadence,” Shining slurred. His hooves waved blearily back up at her, his head ringing.

“Chrysalis!” the black blob crowed, then raised a hoof, and kicked out again, slamming him through the window.

He cried out from the glass shards cutting into his back, and flailed wildly until he bounced off the hedges below the balcony. The unicorn hissed, slowly rolling over and onto his hooves, leaning against the wall until the world stopped spinning.

Shining Armor levitated a small gem, and tapped it. “Twilight, can you hear me?”

There was a short burst of static. “Shiny! What’s going on?” There was a distorted sound of spellfire.

He pushed a hoof against his head. “Changeling attack. Their Queen has invaded our wedding.” He glanced at the flying black shapes. “We have to regroup, there’s no way we can keep them off separated like this. Where are you?”

“You’re still at the ballroom, right?”

The sound of buzzing started to increase. “In the hedges below the balcony, yeah.”

“Alright, just hold tight. I can get there faster.”

Dark-shelled, bipedal creatures landed around him. “Well, it looks like I’m going to very busy for the next twenty minutes, so please hurry.”

“Hang tight, BBBFF.” The gem flashed, and went dark. He put it back into the pocket of my suit.

“So, gentle-stallions, how’s the reception? I was just about to--” His shield flashed, deflecting a blast of acidic green spellfire. “I see, we’ll do this the hard -- gah!”

Shining hit the floor, magic bolts soaring over his head. His shield flashed into life, just in time as the changelings started attacking him in earnest.

“Not good, not good, not good!” he hissed, crouching lower and lower, his shield shrinking. Sensing blood, the changelings stepped forwards, their attacks increasing in frequency, making Shining Armor’s shield flash so much it turned opaque.

Then it suddenly expanded outwards, smashing the changelings in the face. “Ha, made ya look,” Shining snarked, then groaned, clutching his head. “Ohhh, that still hurts.”

He half limped, half stumbled across the garden paths, keeping to the side and watching through the corners. Unfortunately, his luck didn’t last all that long, before the changelings followed back the arc Shining’s shield bash did and found his trail.

Shining yelped as spellfire set the bush he was standing next to aflame. A barrier ball appeared above Shining’s head and accelerated backwards, smashing a changeling in the stomach. A round shield floated above the unicorn’s head as he slowly turned around.

“Here we go again,” he muttered, as changelings surrounded him, blocking any paths of escape.

There was a brief pause, as both sides eyed each other.

Shining burst backwards. Kick, and spin. The changeling behind him gasped from the hoof embedded into his stomach, while the ones besides him were sent flying from his magical shield.

Shining smirked slightly.

Shining yelped since the changelings didn’t care and just shot at him harder, forcing him to back away behind his shield and shuffle deeper into the hedges.

“Yeeee!” he squeaked, his chin pressed against the dirt as smoldering leaves and drywall rained down on him. “I regret not multiclassing into rogue! Now how the heck am I going to clear them out? They’re not going to fall for the shield smash again.”

As he shuffled about, passing four steel-shoe’d blue hooves, wincing as the hedge shook violently, he caught notice of a torn branch and its glowing embers. “Aha, fire.”

A square shield formed above his head, and shoved the burning hedgerow at the slowly advancing changelings. He dissolved the shield, then quickly formed a new one, a large bubble permeable to everything but oxygen. As the angry, hissing changelings started clawing their way out of the tangling branches, he threw the ball of oxygen at the largest fires.

Shining had to shield his eyes as the flames hungrily consumed the fuel, exploding in a shower of leaf shrapnel. He had to shield his eyes again when his migraine came back in full force, forcing a groan out of his mouth. If more changelings came, he wasn’t sure he would be able to see straight.

A group of metallic thunks hit the ground. “Looks like I got here just in time.”

Shining chanced squinting out of his eyelids. “Twily?”

Twilight Sparkle stepped out of the crater she made with four armored boots. Her chest glowed from an arc reactor embedded in her chest.

“You don’t look so good,” she commented.

“You try getting blown out a window,” Shining said. “Anyways, where to next?”

Twilight bobbed her head towards the castle. “Last I heard, Applejack and Pinkie were at the kitchens.”

Applejack carefully slid a cake out of the oven. This was the 3rd layer, out of five, and she needed to make sure it was ready for frosting and decorations. Pinkie had just gone into the freezer to dig out more eggs, leaving Applejack with some of the kitchen's cooks.

She placed the cooling cake on the counter, and turned to ready the next layer when a wall broke down to a chorus of hisses. There was a quiet splat.

A persistent ringing drowned out all sound from the mare’s ears, as she looked at a pile of fruits and batter crushed and strewn across the floor. The cake was upside down, slowly deflating under its own weight.

She ignored the angry, pupiless eyes staring down at her, reverently caressing a flattened apple. “So driven by hunger,” she whispered. “Yet you are unable to understand it in the eyes of others.”

She took in deep breaths, her body shuddering, heedless to the advancing changelings.

Her mane glowed.

Her hoof snapped up and clenched a black, reaching hand. Applejack lifted her head, her eyes glowing from underneath her stetson. “You gave up any future of mercy!” Her mouth opened, and she inhaled

The changeling screamed as Applejack’s hoof sent his hand ablaze. Applejack crouched low and gave spun to buck the changeling in the chest. Burning hoofprints trailed smoke as the changeling was knocked into his brethren. Another two changelings got flaming holes punched into them before they reacted. Leaping or flying away.

Applejack grabbed a vinegar bottle and pulled the cap off with her teeth. The pulses of life running out of her chest flowed into the bottle, creating steaming bubbles out of the liquid. “Yer ain’t getting away, sugarcube,” she hissed.

Five minutes earlier

Pinkie Pie trotted through the refrigerator, heading for a stack of eggs. She flipped open the carton and counted them out, but paused. Her legs vibrated, which then spread to her hips, then shoulders, then mane. Pinkie frowned. “Oo... that’s a bad twitch. A very bad twitch.” There’d be no time for cakes for a while.

With a heavy sigh, she closed to lid and walked to another section in the chilly room. She tapped the frozen over ground a few times, listening to the echoes. Finding the hollow spot, she took a deep breath. Despite not practicing rock farming for over a decade, she did spend most of her childhood doing it. The Pies’ affinity for rock breaking wasn’t something easily forgotten, and Pinkie was glad she still made time for occasional practice.

So she reared up and smashed the ice covering the floor. It took a few stomps, but she soon swept the ice shards away from a concealed trap door. She dug into the edge with the tip of her hoof and flipped it open.

She was greeted by an armored vest sitting on top of a large briefcase.

Meanwhile, Applejack was crouched behind a counter, lobbing apples at changelings also crouched behind cover, flinging back fireballs. Applejack hears hooves stomping behind her, and when she turns, she’s greeted with Pinkie, who slipped out from behind the freezer door and slid next to her. Pinkie was wearing an armored vest, and a pistol holster thaw was strapped to her foreleg.

Applejack’s jaw dropped. “Where’d ya--”

“Invasion emergencies,” Pinkie replies. “Now get ready. I’ll provide covering fire.”

Applejack kept staring for a moment longer, eventually deciding that there were more important things to worry about. “Alright. On three.”

“Three,” Pinkie repeated, drawing the pistol out of her hoof holster. “One ... two ... three!” Pinkie poked over the edge of the counter and sprayed wildly. Briefly blinded and deafened, the changelings didn’t notice Applejack sprinting up to them until she headbutted a changeling in the stomach. Applejack opened her mouth and sucked in a breath, setting the changeling alight before it bounced off and slammed into its fellows.

The startled creatures turned to face the new threat, giving Pinkie enough time to poke her head out fully to steady or aim. BangBangBangBang! Two changelings fell over, clutching at their chests. More fame spells were sent Pinkie’s way, but she had already dropped behind the counter, switching in a fresh magazine.

Then Applejack reminded them of what they really should’ve have been focusing on by bucking another two changeligns into a wall.

When Twilight and Shining galloped over to the kitchens they were greeted with Applejack sliding beneath a changeling’s desperate kick, hopping into the air behind it, and bucking him in the back. The changeling slid across the kitchen, just enough to Pinkie to fire a bullet into its head.

The two siblings stared, jaws hanging. Pinkie stuck her head out from behind the counter. “Hi everypony!” Behind her, cooks huddled together, their faces pale and their eyes bulging.

Luna poked her head out from the left ajar fridge door and whispered. “Nice.”

“Well then,” Twilight muttered. “Come on, let’s find where the rest of them are.”

Author's Note

References:
Title: Jojo Part 3
Cadence being captured: (Captain America)
Shining Armor: Captain America
Twilight Sparkle: Iron Man (and [SPOILERS])
Applejack: Hamon (Jojo Part 1/2)
Pinkie Pie: Guns. Lots of guns (John Wick)

Ch2: Shooting Stars

A dress floated off the table from amidst a sea of cut fabric onto a clothing rack. Rarity jostled it slightly, then turned towards cleaning up the rest of her workstation. The Princess had finished being fitted for her dress, and Rarity had spent the rest of the afternoon cleaning up her workshop.

Of course, that was soon rudely interrupted by screams and the sounds of explosions. Rarity froze for a split second before running to the door. She opened it and was greeted by tall, chitin coated bipedal monsters running through the castle halls. One spotted her and shouted, pointing at her.

“Eep.” Rarity slammed the door shut, her heart pounding. Her eyes darted across the room. There wasn’t much, outside of bludgeoning with the sewing machine, though she feared her magic really wasn’t up to swinging large objects around. That was more Twilight’s thing.

There was the needle, but there were only a small hoofful of those. With the sound of pounding feet, that was only going to delay the inevitable. Her eyes flashed briefly over a small lockbox in the corner--

She was knocked onto her chest when the door slammed into her back. The lock briefly held, allowing Rarity just enough time to scramble out of the way before flaming planks scattered across the floor. A glint of light--

Rarity flung cut gems behind her. She was rewarded by shouts of surprise. It gave her just enough time to run over to the sewing machine. Her magic might not be strong enough, but she could still kick.

The heavy machine arched through the air and bounced off a changeling’s head with an audible “thonk.” It falling backwards blocked the way of the other changelings behind it. Rarity took the chance to run to the other side of the room, quickly flipping through the box’s combination lock.

Click click click click. Rarity’s magic mashed the button, and reached out for the glowing lights in her mind. A set of ten shaped diamonds lay before her. “I wished we didn’t have to meet like this,” she whispered, “but the time comes again, Vorpal.”

With a minor effort of will, ten needle sharp projectiles shot out behind her, easily finding their mark through the chokepoint. Rarity stepped forwards, the diamonds moving to her side and locking together to form a blade. Time to find where the rest of her friends went.

The blade held before her, Rarity ran out the door, slapping aside spellfire and changelings as she went.

Panicked breaths echoed in the tiny broom closet. Fluttershy had ran for the nearest door the moment explosions had happened, which led to the inside of the castle. She did a lot more running away from changelings before ending up in a room with no windows or exposed spaces.

Hence, shivering underneath moist cloth strands, plastic buckets, and cleaning solution.

She could easily hear the pounding of feet and the screams of shock outside, which didn’t do anything to keep her blood pressure down. Every time she thought the coast was clear, more hoof pounding stone passed by.

She hyperventilated while thinking about how her friends were doing. Was Twilight okay? Rainbow Dash could get away, but she would never think of abandoning anyone. Ever herself. Could she fight through everything alone though? Applejack and Pinkie were together, so there’s that at least.

And oh, this was supposed to be Shining Armor and Princess Cadenza’s wedding! How could it have gone so wrong?

She was promptly reminded of exactly how wrong it could get when footsteps paused outside her hiding spot. He breath froze, her heart jerked, her coat drenched with cold sweat.

The invader outside sniffed the air, then slowly pulled open the door. He was greeted by a butter-yellow pegasus mare cowering underneath a giant skeletal dog with swirling red irises.

“What.”

Then a red aura seemed to melt down from ceiling, leaving everything in brain-searing monochrome. An overwhelming pressure pressed down upon it, giving it no time to notice the pegasus disappearing from his sight.

The changeling stared blankly into the closet, allowing Fluttershy to scamper off between its legs. “Oh my gosh oh my gosh oh my gosh!” she squeaked, frantically running and looking for something to help her. When Fluttershy turned a corner, she bounced off a hard, rigid chest. A Guard! Fluttershy looked up eagerly and was greeted by a chitinous face and slitted green eyes.

“That was easy,” The Queen replied.

“Hi!” Fluttershy managed to force out. “Sorry! I’m sure you’re a busy mare so, I won’t take up any more of your time.” Her hooves shakily stepped around the changeling queen.

“Indeed,” the Queen agreed. Her hooves shifted. “No time at all.” She opened her jaws and exposed her fangs.

As the pegasus shrank back in teror, a ghostly, skeletal dog rose up. “What?” the Queen asked, and then the world was shrouded in red.

Fluttershy poked an eye open when nothing happened, and saw the Queen frozen in place. Cautiously, she continued stepping around, wings slowly spreading and preparing for a sprint.

“My, this is inconvenient.”

Fluttershy’s heart started jackhammering again.

“I can see why my drone was stopped.” Fluttershy chanced looking back, and saw the Queen’s form seem to flicker. The Queen then spun on her hooves, eyes closed, and started stepping towards her.

The sound of pounding feet echoed through the hallways. Her dog Stood besides her, but it could only work via eye contact. She was surrounded.

“NO!” a voice shouted. The glass windows shattered by a streak of blue. Chrysalis slightly tilted her head back, casually dodging Rainbow’s kick. Chrysalis’s eyes slitted open. “You.” Green flames splashed the wall Rainbow rapidly evacuated.

Chrysalis sighed. “This is taking too long. My chosen children, to me.”

Within moments, the two ponies were surrounded by ten changelings. Chrysalis’s horn glowed, and the other changelings followed suit. Rainbow and Fluttershy slowly backed up against the wall, the blue pegasus’s eyes shaking in anger.

“Feel lucky, little ponies,” Chrysalis said. “For being slain personally by the Monarch blade.” The changelings seemed to shrink into tiny, chevron shaped shards, then moved to hover over Chrysalis’s head, turning into a heavy, black blade with an aura of green lightning. The blade blurred, and dove towards Rainbow’s head.

“Rainbow!” Fluttershy shouted.

To everyone’s surprise (though not as much to the yellow pegasus), Rainbow Dash wasn’t inflicted by a fatal case of long division. The forelegs protectively covering her head buzzed with lightning. “Two can play that game,” she snarled. She pushed the Queen’s blade to the side, and backflipped towards Fluttershy. Midair, her body glowed, and turned into a sword with tassels of red, blue, yellow, and a blade of buzzing electricity.

The tassels snapped out and twirled around Fluttershy’s skeletal dog’s outstretched paw. Fluttershy’s eyes flashed, and her blue eyes became mixed with flecks of ruby. Monarch’s blade swung for a backswing, but Rainbow darted forwards and parried it.

Sparks flashed between them. “Did you think it was going to be that easy?” Fluttershy snarled.

Chrysalis’s face twisted slightly in confusion. “What a creative little bag of tricks you have,” she grumbled. Monarch buzzed over Rainbow’s head.

Fluttershy ducked underneath Rainbow to kick out at Chrysalis, forcing her to back away. Their blades danced over their heads as they locked hooves, snarling at each other. “I got more where that came from,” Fluttershy/Rainbow said, voices overlapping.

“Pity, it seems I actually have to put in an effort now,” Chrysalis said. Monarch glowed.

Fluttershy looked up with startled eyes, then squeaked when the black blade broke apart into independently flying shards.

The pony pair is forced back, Fluttershy hastily stepping around the zooming pieces of Monarch while Rainbow Dash batted away any that get too close.

A doorway exploded out, a changeling trailing blood following it. “Pick on somepony your own size!” Diamonds pull out of the fallen changeling’s wounds, slowing to a hover above Rarity’s head, her horn burning like a beacon.

Chrysalis groaned, idly flicking away a lightning blade’s jab. “Here goes another pony working herself up to die tired.”

Rarity stepped forwards to Fluttershy’s side. “Still alright?” she asked.

“Not a scratch,” they wheezed.

Rarity’ flourished her blades as pounding feet echoed through the halls. “Keep them off my back. Chrysalis is mine,” she snarled.

Fluttershy nodded, and turned away, Rainbow’s blade readied as changelings flooded the halls.

Chrysalis tilted her head. Rarity raised an eyebrow. “Surprised?”

“I will admit,” Chrysalis replied, “I had not expected someone else to master bladecasting to such a degree,” She shrugged. “No matter, you will fall in the end.”

“Overconfident much? I doubt you’ve known how we thrown a wrench in your plans. Maybe if you stop now, I can argue for a better deal for you?”

“Now who’s overconfident?” Chrysalis advanced on the ponies, blades whirling in deadly orbits.

Rarity’s blades also started accelerating. “A pity.”

They met in the middle, probing attacks and parries showering the floor with sparks. Rarity stared into her counterpart’s eyes, her pulse pounding within her head. A multi-blade jab at her legs was simply hopped over, letting her swipe at Chrysalis’s head, forcing the changeling back.

Rarity catches a brief pattern, and manages to jam one crystal into the path of two. Nine blades lock together in an instant, and she surged forwards. Bits of Chrysalis’s mane flutter away as the changeling dodged, her blades lagging behind as she tried to keep her neck intact.

More of their blades locked together. Rarity’s blades hammer down on the sweating changeling queen. Their blades screeched to a halt, Chrysalis managing to pull her blades back before Rarity could reach her chest. Chrysalis snarled, and blasted Rarity back with a bolt of spellfire, forcing Rarity back from the glare it made splashing off her blade.

They backed up, trying to probe a weakness in each other’s defenses. Finding it difficult to do so without giving up her own defense, Rarity pulls her blades back into a circle, and pushing as much magic into them she could dare. “Two can play at that game.”

The blades flash, sparkling radiance bouncing in every which way. The queen hissed, her eyes blinking furiously. Rarity rushed through the erratic blades, her own Vorpal collecting in front of her.

Chrysalis rubbed her eyes, backing away. “You vermin!” she screeched. “I will--” she coughed wetly. She looked down, seeing three separate diamond blades imbedded in her chest, pulsing with compressed energy. She looked back up, pupils widening when Rarity relaxed her hold.

The Queen screamed, arcs of energy exiting out of any weakspot on her skin they could find.

Rarity’s horn flared, and she flicked her head, pulling her blades back to her side, sighing, “Dreadful business, but you gave me no choice.”

The dead queen flashed in a swirl of fire, leaving a changeling grunt behind. Rarity blinked. “What?”

“I promise you, it is very necessary.” Rarity’s eyes widened as a section of wall came alive, the outline of jaws snapping out. She turned, but was too slow to avoid the fangs clamping around her neck.

Rainbow Dash feathers flashed, and kicked the changeling off. “Rarity!” she shouted grabbing the unicorn as she fell to her knees. Fluttershy quickly ran over, her face tight as she examined the puncture wounds.

“Rainbow Dash, get a signal out,” Fluttershy ordered.

“But--”

“Hurry! Before the rest of the changelings get brave.”

Rainbow gritted her teeth, but shot out the window, releasing a Sonic Rainboom moments later.

Chrysalis slowly pulled herself up on her hooves, rubbing her chin. “A mean hook, that one.” Rainbow Dash buzzed back in, stepping protectively over her friends.

The standoff barely lasted a few seconds when a swirling portal of fire warped into being along a wall. Twilight, Shining Armor, Pinkie Pie, and Applejack tumbled out. Spike followed through a moment later, shutting his mouth and letting the portal close when he hit the floor. Spike jogged over to the pegasi as the rest of the ponies formed a defensive circle.

“What happened to Rarity?” he cried, nervously wringing his hands.

“I don’t know,” Fluttershy squeaked. Her eyes darted over the pulsing veins underneath Rarity’s coat. The pegasus shook, and held her head. “Oh no oh no oh no.”

Chrysalis spat out some blood. “No matter. I’ve gotten what I came for. Goodnight, little ponies.” She turned around and walked out of the window.

“Get back here--hrk!” Rainbow Dash fell to the floor, Applejack stepping heavily on her tail.

“No time,” she pointed her eyes at Rarity. “We have to make sure Rarity’s fine.”

“Ponyville?” Spike asked.

Twilight nodded. Spike took in a deep breath, then exhaled a ball of fire into his palm. He threw it onto the wall, and waved everyone through.

Author's Note

References:
Title: Shooting Stars song, Jojo Part 3
Rarity: Bladecasting (The Immortal Game)
Fluttershy: Stand (Jojo Part 3), Sharingan (Naruto)
Rainbow Dash: Lightning Blade Weapon (Soul Eater)
Chrysalis: Bladecasting (The Immortal Game)
Spike: Portals (Portal) (A/N: I actually wanted to make him the Avatar, but I ran out of ideas)

Ch3: Starfall

“What’s the prognosis, doc?”

Fluttershy sighed, and looked at Rainbow Dash. “She’s poisoned, Dash. Whatever Chrysalis did, its draining her.”

The Elements sat on a pedestal in Rarity’s bedroom. Generosity’s vibrant purple was slowly becoming less so. “That looks serious,” Luna commented.

The rest of the ponies were waiting downstairs, and all looked up when the two pegasi walked down. “How is she?” Spike asked.

Fluttershy shook her head. “I can’t tell what poison Chrysalis used, it’s strange how it basically doesn’t react to anything.”

“Can I have a look?” Twilight asked.

“I was going to ask you.” Fluttershy waved a wing, and both moved upstairs.

Rainbow Dash collapsed onto the floor, growling. “I should have been able to protect her.”

“Its not your--” Shining Armor began.

“Yes it is! I told her I’d be watching her back, but she got hurt anyways.” Rainbow got up and walked towards the door. “I have to be better.”

She left the rest of the ponies in awkward silence.

Twilight came back down several minutes later. “Chrysalis made some sort of link with Rarity,” she explained. “It looks like the only way to break it is to stop it at the source.

“By source, I assume we’re gonna have ta beat the Queen down?” Applejack asked.

“I still owe her a shield to the face for ruining my wedding,” Shining grumbled.

Twilight nodded. "Looks like it. Everypony, get ready to move out tomorrow. Spike will keep watch over Rarity, and give us updates on her condition."

Pinkie stood up, her mane partially deflated. "I'll go get ready," she said, patting her armored vest."

Over the course of a few minutes, the ponies started filing out. Twilight left last, sending a tired smile Spike’s way. “Don’t worry, we’ll get her back.”

Spike wrung his claws for a moment, then rushed to her, hugging a leg. “You have to come back too.”

Twilight wrapped her other hoof over his head. “Have you seen me?”

“Promise.”

“I will! I’ll take care of everyone. Nopony is going to be lost.” Her eyes hardened. “Not on my watch.”

Author's Note

References:
Title: More Jojo Part 3

Not much else.

Ch4: To Make a Long Story Short

The team found Chrysalis’s hive.

Author's Note

References:
Title and chapter: Captain Underpants

Ch5: Eye of the Swarm

Shining let go of the magic powering his shields, letting the pummeled changeling collapse onto the floor. “Well then,” he said, glaring lightly at Pinkie, “yes, we are here.”

Pinkie raised her hooves. “Woo!” A pistol in her hoof fired. A moment later, a changeling fell from the sky. Fluttershy, hovering next to her, rolled her eyes and shifted the crossbow pressed against her shoulder.

Twilight soared over on flaming hooves and landed besides her brother. “This is the entrance huh?”

The changeling hive entrance was partially hidden behind a rockslide. On the way there, the team ran into a sparse group of defending changelings. Considering the same team blew up half an army while divided, the defenders didn't last very long.

"How much of Generosity do we have back?" Shining asked.

Twilight glanced at a vial in her bags, and grumbled, "Barely ten percent."

"Then we'll just have to punch it out of all of them," Fluttershy said, a frown on her face.

"Onwards then," Shining replied. The team made sure there were no more surprises around them, then moved in.

What followed was almost an hour of flying bodies.

Shining Armor formed a glimmering pink shield, bouncing spellfire away from his allies. Twilight hovered over him, while Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy took positions on either side. Magical lasers, bullets, and heavy bolts flew through the one-way shield.

Applejack leapt over green flames into a group of changelings taking cover behind an outcropping of rock. She punched a hoof through the ground. Shattered rocks glowed underneath the surprised defenders, soon setting their hooves alight. Wispy light left their bodies. “Thank you for holding onto shards of Rarity,” she snarked.

“Bang!” Pinkie Pie shouted. She sprayed wildly, but accurately, downing a hallway of changelings.

Fluttershy pointed her crossbow backwards. A changeling popped out of a side path, but froze upon locking eyes with the bow’s sights. Fluttershy flicked the trigger.

.....
...
..

Shining Armor wheezed as he blew down a wall with a shield made of stone. “We ... are here Chrysalis,” he panted out. “We have wheeze punched out all the Generosity you stole gas[.” He shakily raised a hoof. “Surrender now, or prepare to fight.”

“I know that reference,” Luna commented.

The rest of the ponies piled in after him, covered in dirt and more exhausted than they would like to admit. Twilight looked fine though.

Chrysalis lounged back on her throne. She started slowly clapping. “So you have. Well, if you want the final piece, you’ll have to fight for it.” She looked over her shoulder and called, “Come, my champion.”

The ponies tensed at the sound of hoofsteps. A pink hoof stepped out of the caverns. Black armor. Blank eyes. Wings and horm.

Shining Armor’s jaw dropped. “... Caddy?” He stumbled forwards. “It’s me. Don’t you recognize me?”

Cadence said nothing, standing blankly by Chrysalis’s side. “Your precious princess is no more,” the Queen said, smirking.

“Caddy, you have to fight it!”

“There’s nothing be me, little pony.” Chrysalis laughed. “Fight her, or surrender? What will it be?”

Cadence started walking forwards, and Shining Armor moved to meet her. Cadence raised a hoof to strike him, but Shining managed to catch it with his own. Cadence’s other hoof raised, and was also caught.

“Cadence!” Shining cried. “Please, hold on!”

“Do it,” Chrysalis taunted. “Strike her down!”

Cadence fell over, snoring.

“What?”

Shining armor tossed away a tranquilizer dart. “Admittedly I was planning to use that on you, but in retrospect, I wasn’t sure if I could get past the chitin.”

As Chrysalis spluttered, Twilight walked over to touch her horn to Cadence’s head, pulling out the last shards of Generosity and sending them back home. Seeing the unicorn seemed to spark a memory in the Changeling, her eyes narrowing in thought. “I remember you.” She looked away. “Well then, I guess I have to reveal my next card, my sleeper agent.” The Queen cleared her throat and stated, “T-H-Q-S-5-5-4-C.”

Chrysalis sat back in her throne, grinning smugly. Twilight’s eyes briefly flashed green. “Huh,” the unicorn said. “So that’s what it was.”

Chrysalis stopped grinning.

“I accidentally removed my foreleg when I was four,” Twilight explained, “and it took me a year of reading engineering textbooks before I figured out how to replace it. A few years later, I was confident enough to open myself up and look inside. Took out this weird blob thing that was attached to my spine to figure out why it was there and different. That made me lose feeling in everything below by shoulders. Eventually my family agreed that we had to put it back, but with a bit of donated blood from both my parents I created a copy of it that took control of the parasite through my own will. I got a cutie mark later on, so I guess I’m no longer a soulless robot.”

“What.”

“That means I’m free to kick your flank.” Twilight looked at her friends and waved at the Queen. “Get her, girls. And Shiny.”

“Gee, thanks,” her brother muttered, but lit his horn.

The Queen snarled, and lit her horn. A cybernetic form dropped down from the ceiling, crouching in front of the ponies. Chrysalis’s form glowed, and ghosted inside the cybernetic equine. Blades levitated out of holsters on its back. “You haven’t seen me truly wield Monarch, little ponies. Now you will face my wrath in all its might.”

Blades swirled around the chamber. Shining was able to cover Applejack and Fluttershy with his shield. Twilight protected herself with her own shield, and started firing lasers blasts back. Pinkie merely grinned, flipped her pistols upside down, and started swinging them around like tonfas.

“Twilight?” Shining called. “I hope you have a plan.” He winced as the Queen’s whirling blades began shrieking, biting into his shields with increased force and knocking him back. Fluttershy popped off bolts over his shoulder.

Twilight’s eyes darted around as her hoof jets flew her across the area, kicking away at the spinning blades. “Applejack! The blades are only enhanced in the cut!”

“Got it.” When a blade whirled past Shining’s shield, she stepped forwards, a hoof raised. “Direct Drive!” she punched the blade, shattering it.

Chrysalis pulled her remaining weapons close to her, hissing.

Suddenly, Twilight’s horn flashed. “Rarity’s ready!”

A flaming portal opened, letting Rarity leap in with the Elements floating behind her. They blurred across the room. The crossbow landed in Shining’s hooves. They all floated in the air, glowing. Shining looked particularly confused.

“NO!” Chrysalis shouted. The light of Harmony suddenly wavered and died. Chrysalis had teleported behind them, and held Fluttershy at knife point. Shining Armor dropped to the ground, scratching his head.

“Move a muscle,” Chrysalis said, “and your little friend loses a head.”

Fluttershy’s face was frozen in shock, but slowly morphed into a cocky grin. “Too bad you got the wrong pony.”

“What? You can’t even turn your head--”

The crossbow in Shining’s hooves shook. A ghostly, skeletal dog rose out of it, its eyes locking with the Queen’s own. Chrysalis felt her muscles freeze uncontrollably, as the colors of the world around her bled away. “No ...”

‘Fluttershy' raised a hoof, buzzing with lightning, and slapped the blade around her neck away. She ducked a flailing grab from the changeling, and hit the ground. “Rainbow Bolt!" She twirled and jabbed her blade hoof into Chrysalis's stomach. Green blood sprayed from the changeling's lips.

"And again, girls!" Twilight's horn lit once more. Fluttershy, the actual one, untransformed with a flash. Rainbow Dash leapt to them, the discharge from her attack charring the hair dye, and trailing smoke.

Shining Armor awkwardly stood to nhe side as concentrated Harmony slapped Chrysalis in the face.

"Woo!" Luna shouted, tossing a bucket of popcorn into the air.

It landed on Shining’s head. He slowly turned his head to look at her. “... Luna?” He double-taked. “Twilight!?”

"What," Luna asked, raising an eyebrow. "you only just noticed me now?" Twilight muttered something muffled due to her face being buried in her hooves.

"Well, yes, but, why is my sister here?" he said, flailing his hooves.

"You thought I was a robot[/]?" Twilight screeched, her wings flapping erratically.

Shining's face blanked. "The passing thoughts of my subconscious are not representative of my actual opinions."

"Nice save," Luna commented, nodding. "Well, we must be off now, before your sister tries to see if she can punch your thoughts. I have some ideas to try out. Goodnight, Armor."

The alicorn of the night levitated Twilight (who was still ranting) and herself through the ceiling.

Shining Armor stared at the frozen battle around him. "Well now what?"

Several days later

Shining Armor walked into his room and froze. "Luna? Twilight?! Why?!"

Luna had her flowing mane tied up behind her, and danced gracefully through a cluster of spinning enchanted moonstone blades. She paused, a rear leg pointed in the air. "Yes? Oh!" The blades settled behind her locking together to form one singular sword. "I thank you for introducing me to the concept. I found the book it came from. It is neat."

Shining's face slowly shifted into a grimace before turning to look at his sister. Or rather, sisters. One was staring off into space with a blank smile, and had no wings. The other had her face in her hooves, the tips of her ears turning red. "And you?"

"I built a robot," Twilight mumbled into her hoof.

"Oh."

Beep. The robot turned to Shining. "Hi, Big Brother!" She waved a slightly charred foreleg enthusiastically.

"Oh."

Author's Note

References:
Title: Starcraft 2 HotS
Surrender now, or prepare to fight: Pokemon
Cadence: Captain America: Winter Soldier
Twilight Sparkle: Sweetie Bot (Friendship is Witchcraft), The Iron Man (the japanese one)
Chrysalis's cybernetic body double: Warframe
Pinkie Pie Tonfa pistol wielding: Soul Eater
RD pretending to be FS holding actual FS as a crossbow: Soul Eater/Abandoned fic idea from author
Rainbow Bolt: Poorly disguised Chidori (Naruto)
Luna: Bladecasting (The Immortal Game)
Twilight Robot: Sorta kinda Changeling Doll but not really