Diamond Journals Issue 1: A Quest for Memory

A renegade changeling by the name of Thorax led Twilight and Pinkie to the Changeling Hive.

"Remember, my friends, magic won't work around the hive, so you'll be left without one of your most important means of defense." Thorax told the ponies. "Don't believe me? Just try it." he dared. Twilight turned on her horn, then walked up to the magic-absorbing barrier. As soon as the horn touched it, the magic was dispelled.

"You aren't wrong. Storming the hive will be harder than I thought. But regardless, we need to in order to turn off the orb. Pinkie, you know what to do."

"I got it, Twilight!" Pinkie shouted, bringing a hoof to her mouth seconds later.

"No, it's fine. I've heard the swarm is out, but the rest are still there and ready to attack. Don't get noticed. I also heard that Chrysalis has got a Robot Master there as her personal pet and guard. Be especially careful of him." Thorax said. "I can't go in there with you, unfortunately. See if you can earn the trust of another changeling in there."

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The Changeling Hive: a maze that loves to change. Earning the trust of another changeling was surprisingly easy, and the duo were through the maze in no time. However, as the ponies approached the throne room, Snake Man and Shadow Man ambushed them. Snake Man had lost the fight he'd had with Shadow Man and was hypnotised by Queen Chrysalis.

"If you know what's good for you, you'll leave this premises now." Snake Man warned. "If you do wish to face my queen though, you'll have to get through us."

"Well, that shouldn't be too hard." Twilight said, forgetting she had no magic capability. She tried to charge her horn to no avail, then appeared confused as to why nothing happened for a few seconds. "Oh, right. No magic." she remembered. Pinkie, however, dug out her party cannon from who knows where, priming it to fire at the two robots. When it did fire, Snake Man popped instantly, but Shadow Man suffered minimal damage.

"Really? A party cannon? Let's see how it fares against THIS." Shadow Man said, throwing his Shadow Blade and splitting the cannon in half, leaving Pinkie Pie stunned, which turned to rage.

"YOU'RE GOING TO PAY FOR THAT!!" she yelled, releasing a flurry of melee strikes too fast for Shadow Man to avoid. He popped within seconds. After cooling off, (literally) she grabbed the two Weapon Cartridges and stuffed them into her hair before following Twilight into the throne room.

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Chrysalis was snoozing on her throne, oblivious to the fight outside. Her nap was interrupted by the ponies bursting into the throne room, however. Jerking awake, she readied a battle stance.

"Chrysalis! We're-" Twilight began.

"Shh!" the changeling queen hissed. "The rest of the brood is sleeping..." she pointed to the other changelings in the room.

"Oh, sorry..." Twilight whispered. "Regardless, we aren't here to fight. We just need to get to the orb so we can deactivate the shield on Wily's fortress." she added.

"Is that so? Well, you won't be getting to it without a fight. We'd better not have it here, though. Shall we take this to an area outside the range of the hive?" Chrysalis said quietly. "You win, the orb is all yours."

'I'm not very good at the whole "quiet" thing.' Pinkie thought. "It's a deal, Chrysalis." she said as quietly as possible, so not to disturb the other changelings.

"Then let us leave." Chrysalis whispered, preparing her magic and warping the three outside.

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Who knows where they ended up, but they were out of the throne's range.

"Perfect. Now, we fight!" Chrysalis bellowed, firing a magic beam. Twilight followed with the same spell, overpowering Chrysalis's beam easily. It didn't down her in a single hit - it didn't even do too much damage. The process was repeated a good five times before Chrysalis charged forward and sank her fangs into Twilight's neck, which hurt, and she wasn't planning to let go. Pinkie fixed that problem and Twilight followed by casting a flurry of combat spells. Chrysalis was able to block around 95% of the spells with a Shield Spell, but an Alicorn Beam was a bit too much to defend. She was knocked back, Twilight collapsing from the recoil, but mostly from pain.

"I...have to give you props, Chrysalis. You're good..." Twilight said. "Almost as good as me. But...I think it's safe to say I win..."

"Agreed, my...uh..." Chrysalis struggled to form words. "Never mind. You win, so do what you will with the orb. I'll warp you back in. Just let me head back to sleep." she told the duo, charging her horn.

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The three materialized on the throne moments later. Twilight and Pinkie made thier way over to the orb, while Chrysalis collapsed on the throne and began snoring within seconds.

"We're in place, Mega Man! Let us know when you're ready!" Pinkie said into thier comm.

"As a matter of fact, everyone's ready!" Mega replied. "Alright, everyone! On my count. One...two...three!" he signalled. A bunch of static over the comm told the story. Everyone struck at the same time, as was planned.

"Shield's down, everyone! Mega, Proto, get over here! I'm going in!" Diamond said into his comm. "As for everyone else, just get out of your area and wait outside. Maybe we can disable the shield from inside!" he said.

"Roger that, Diamond. We're on our way out." Twilight said. "Well, hopefully..."