Devoran Chronicles: Fire of the Phoenix

Cold and harsh rain fell around us as we stood poised for our strike.  For so long, Chrysalis and I had planned this attack and after all these years it was finally going to come to fruition.  We were going to overthrow Princesses Celestia and Luna, and nopony was going to stop us.  I stood staring up at the castle balcony from the entrance; the balcony adjacent to Princess Celestia’s quarters.  Chrysalis, being a Changeling, took the form of a pony similar in appearance to herself, but just different enough to not arouse suspicion from the people of Canterlot or the guards.  Not that it mattered too much, as it was pitch black and most ponies had long since forgotten her since her downfall.  Still, better to be safe than have our whole plan foiled because one idiot yelled “Changeling!” at the top of their lungs.

As we gazed at the entrance from a short distance, I saw the night guards standing firmly in place, not moving a muscle as they were trained so well to do.  Their expressionless faces and unwavering stance could have made me mistake them for statues.  I looked over at Chrysalis, as she was breathing more heavily.  No doubt in excited anticipation of the coming attack.

I gave her a nod and asked, “are you ready for this?”.

“I have been ready for this since the day I was thrown out of Canterlot by Celestia and her subjects.  What sort of question is that?”, she said glibly.

“Hmph.  Just a question, your Highness”, I said, making sure to sneer the last bit at her mockingly.  She glared at me, but I didn’t mind.  I was used to it.   She might be the biggest pain in the flank I’ve ever met, but her and I had developed a very tart, but fruitful relationship.  A Changeling and a Pegasus Unicorn weren’t exactly what you’d call ideal bedfellows, seeing as how her kind usually sought to suck us dry of our love and affections.  Luckily for me, that part of my heart died long ago, along with my parents, thanks to Celestia, so there was nothing left to feed on.

We rose out from the bushes we were standing behind, just as one of the patrols went out of earshot, rounding the left corner of the entrance wall.  We both simultaneously cast as illusion spell to shroud ourselves and walked right up to the guards.  Then, when we were within point blank range, we fired a stun spell.  Our timing was perfectly synced, and the hot stream of blue and green plasma-like aura struck the guard’s sides with such force, it knocked them straight down, as if they were a sack of apples being tossed aside, cracking slightly as it cut through the air.  We quickly grabbed the guards by the neck latch of their armor and drug them behind the wall to conceal them from the guards that would undoubtedly be arriving shortly.  They were heavy while wearing their gold metallic coverings, but a levitation spell helped ease the load.  We walked past the metallic gate entrance and could hear the hoofsteps of other guards coming to see what the noise was from.  However, we had both already concealed ourselves once again, and when they arrived, we were already fast-walking beyond the entrance.  We entered the main courtyard.  It was quite a sight of beautiful architecture, with a large marble water fountain in the center and marble pillars lining the boundary of the yard.  As we stepped past the boundary entering the courtyard, I felt a familiar sensation.  A rippling along my skin similar to a icy tickling and I knew right away that we’d made a mistake.

“Chrysalis, WAIT!”, I yelled.  But it was already too late.  She had crossed the same boundary of the revealing spell’s bubbled barrier and she immediately became visible.  The guards must cast it to keep out sneaking enemies, but the spell was only designed to detect non-ponies.  Probably something that Princess Celestia had put in place after the first changeling attack.  An ear-piercing screech was let out that made me clasp my hooves over my head and a burst of light sprang out as the bubble seemed to explode into a bright flash, like oil turning into flames.  Quickly, trying to react and counter this spell, I cast a charm to dismiss the light, and it quickly faded.

“Well, they know we’re here now.  Let’s move!”, I said sternly.

“Indeed”, Chrysalis said, surprisingly cool after such a startling event.  “We’ll need to move quickly to get to Celestia before she retreats or the guards catch up with us”.

I had already started moving before she had finished her sentence, however.  There was no confusion anymore amongst the guards.  They knew exactly where we were, and spells were ringing out and snapping as they whizzed by our heads.  I rang out a variety of spells at every target I could see.  Fire spells, turn-to-stone spells, and everything else I could think of.  I used barrier spells to protect whenever I could, but this proved too hard to switch between, and I was hit in the flank by a stream of electricity.  My flank burned with excruciating pain, but nothing was going to stop me.  Not now.

“Chrysalis, get closer.  You be on the offense”.

“With pleasure”, she said with a grin.  We moved neck and neck and I cast the most powerful barrier I could muster, engulfing us both in it.  Dozens of darts and blasts whipped and tested its strength, but I made sure it held.  I grit my teeth and continued to re-cast it over and over, reinforcing it more and more with each wave.  I had practiced this spell a great deal and I was confident in its integrity.

I looked and the castle’s entrance and saw two guards sealing the doors.  Chrysalis focused her efforts on them, nailing one and putting him down quick, but the other managed to dodge at the last second, and sealed them from the inside.  All of the guards in the courtyard continued to spray more and more spells at us, and we were cornered near the back left corner of the courtyard.  There was nowhere to go.  Even the entrance to the courtyard was sealed.

“You had to go and get detected, didn’t you?”, I said tartly as we stood holding them off, spells still bashing against my shield with furiousity.

“If I recall, it was YOUR job to make sure these sorts of safeties didn’t exist”, she retorted back.

I peered around, looking for a way to get the upper hand.  I once again looked at the marble balcony and got an idea.

“Brace yourself!”, I barked as I stepped next to her, our sides in contact.  With a snap, and the usual slight tingling sensation of being relocated abruptly, I teleported us directly onto the balcony platform, right next to Celestia’s chambers.

“Where did they go?  Show yourself!”, I heard the guards cry out in annoyance.  We kept our heads down to avoid them from seeing where we went.

“They must have gone someplace inside the castle.  You!  The lot of you!  Get inside the castle now and make sure the princesses are safe!”, I heard them continue from below.  I quickly glanced around the room, and saw the entrance door to the bedroom.  I snapped out a quick sealing charm to keep the guards out.

That should buy us some time, I thought to myself.  Now, all we had to do was find the princess.  We slowly, and quietly walked into the room, peaking around the corner.  Typical silk cloth covered most of the decor, with the occasional gold or silver trimming, well varnished wooden tables, with a spread of fresh fruits and silver plates, and across from a set of double glass doors to the right was a white silk draped bed.  A completely empty bed, in fact, which worried me.  Scanning the room to avoid any unwanted surprises, me and Chrysalis backed up next to each other.

“Reveal yourself, Celestia!”, barked Chrysalis,  “Or are you too afraid to face me again after I defeated you last time?”.

“Who’s hiding?”, said a booming voice from the balcony.  To both our surprise, Princesses Luna AND Celestia were standing there, regal in stature.  Both princesses at once would prove to be quite a match-up, but we had a feeling we wouldn’t get lucky enough to only have to handle one instead of two.

“Chrysalis”, Celestia stated in that soft, soothing voice of hers, “I thought you had learned your lesson the first time you attacked Equestria with your army of Changelings so many years ago.  And then there was the time you attacked Twilight Sparkle and her friends and failed there too.  I see now you’re a hard learner.”

“Celestia”, Chrysalis mimicked back, “I thought you would have been more prepared after I nearly defeated you so easily last time.  Especially without your prized pupil nearby or your niece here to save you again.  However, I seem to have been able to get the better of your guards once again, thanks to my comrade here”.

“Yes, how rude of you not to introduce your company.  Just how exactly did you trick this one into helping you?”, snapped Luna.

The anger I felt toward Celestia was boiling over now and Luna’s comment was only making it worse.  These smugly superior couple of jokes were going to get everything coming to them, if I had anything to say about it.  I finally couldn’t hold it in anymore.

“She didn’t trick me.  I’m helping her of my own will”.

“And who might you be, exactly?” Celestia asked.

“My name is Devoran.  Of course, I wouldn’t expect you to remember me, Celestia.  You’re only the one responsible for the death of my parents,” I boomed rather abruptly.  I couldn’t help it.  It just sprung out of me.  I had planned to stay cool through the entire ordeal and wait until I had defeated them to mock them, but my anger got the better of me.  I had been building it up for nearly 7 years.

Celestia’s face when blank.  I couldn’t really tell if she was dumbfounded by my statement, or if she suddenly knew who I was and was fearful of what retribution I might bring.  From everything I’ve heard from Chrysalis, she generally never showed almost any emotional expression at all, so this expression meant that I had really disturbed her in some way.

“What do you mean?”  Luna asked with a hint of worry in her eyes.  And that, is a long story.

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