Anon felt his blood freeze in his veins as a green aura enveloped him, and then quickly snatched him out of the air, breaking Javelin and Raven's magical holds in the process. He plummeted straight down toward the bug horse queen, his stomach in his throat as he gasped in shock from the sudden feeling of falling. Above him, Celestia pounded on the slightly ajar pod door.

"No!" She cried.

Just before slamming into the ground, Anon was suddenly and abruptly brought to a halt by the queen's magic. He was then forcefully pulled over to the imposing creature and held up for her to inspect. With only a few inches of space between them, and Anon's entire body frozen in place by the superior magic of Queen Chrysalis, he was forced to stare back into her serpent-like, sickly green irises. Her fangs poked far out of her mouth, almost down to her chin, and her mane, if it could even be called that, hung like a torn bedsheet down one side of her face.

"My, my... what an interesting creature you are." Chrysalis purred, her eyebrow raised in amusement.

"Stop it, you filth!" Celestia shouted from above, through the crack in her pod.

Chrysalis let out a cackling, manicanal laugh, "Oh? The Princess of the Sun has something to say? So you fancy this creature? Tell me, what's its name?" She asked, pulling Anon's face right up next to hers.

As if to highlight just how much more power she had over the defeated princess, Chrysalis flicked her long, forked tongue out and licked all the way up one side of Anon's face and around to the other side. Anon struggled not to cringe too visibly from the blatant molestation, while Celestia's eyes burned with rage.

"I. Said. That's. ENOUGH!!" Celestia screamed, pounding on her pod door with each word and finally breaking the door free.

The solar princess quickly dropped down to the floor below with only a single flap of her large wings. Once she was on level ground with the changeling queen, she fixed her with the deepest scowl she could muster. Behind her, Raven and Javelin rushed into the room, their horns ignited and at the ready.

"Oh, please. I've already beaten you once, Celestia. It's not like having your little secretary and bodyguard will change anything this time around." Chrysalis snickered, before breaking into more manicanal laughter.

"Chrysalis, release him at once!" Celestia roared, her burnt horntip sparking to life once more.

"You want me to release him?" Chrysalis responded, before looking at Anon, "Ah, so he does have a gender. I thought I smelled something definitively... male, about him. Well, what an interesting specimen you are." She purred, nuzzling her cheek against Anon's.

"Get away from him!" Celestia cried.

"I think I'd like to keep him. We're already getting along so well. I mean, look, he's such a good listener." Chrysalis teased, floating Anon around like a puppet.

At Celestia's indignant glare, Chrysalis paused, and sniffed at the air. She tilted her head to the side and sniffed again, prompting a look of confusion from everyone else in the room. Finally, the queen looked over to Anon, leaned in close to his face, and inhaled deeply once more.

"Interesting... such a strange love he has for you... hurt, but unyielding... the love he has for you will make an excellent snack." Chrysalis wickedly grinned.

Celestia looked at Anon, their eyes meeting for just the briefest of moments. With her lip trembling, Celestia stared into Anon's eyes as if they were her last moments. The single second of silent communication was all that was needed, and Celestia stomped her hoof on the ground, her eyes glowing white hot with magical energy.

"Release him." She demanded.

"Or what?" Chrysalis replied, venom in her voice.

The changeling queen pulled Anon behind her, but did not release her magical hold over his entire body. Celestia, Javelin, and Raven slowly spread out, nearly encircling the queen as she watched them with a bemused smirk.

"You know, I knew that you ponies were dumb, I mean, I acted nothing like the real Cadance and you were all fooled for weeks, but this has to be a new level of stupidity for you. I mean, really? You're just going to... circle me? I'm not even a pony and even I know that you can't cast any real spells with your horn that burnt, Celestia." Chrysalis spat, her eyes narrowing ever so slightly.

"I think you'll find, that I'm a bit more resilient than you'd think." Celestia shot back, magic arcing off of her horn as she grit her teeth in concentration.

Chrysalis eyed the three ponies circling her for just another moment, before releasing her magic hold on Anon, unceremoniously dropping him to the floor behind her, and firing a bolt of green energy at Raven. Instantly, a golden shield wrapped around the secretary pony, protecting her from the blast, although she nearly fell over from the suddenness of the attack. Across from her, Javelin seized the opportunity and fired a mana bolt at the queen, only for her to effortlessly smack it away with her horn.

Celestia barely had time to conjure another shield for herself before Chrysalis launched a bolt of magic straight at her face. The blast of energy rippled off of the barrier, dissipating harmlessly into the air as Celestia charged her horn once more. To her left, Raven rushed toward Anon, her horn sparking to life as she attempted to help him up. To her right, Javelin similarly rushed toward the queen, sending mana bolt after mana bolt at the Queen sized bug, only for his attacks to barely even make her flinch.

"I had thought that the royal guard might be a problem, but I suppose that was hardly a concern to worry about." Chrysalis chuckled, before her horn flashed neon green.

Celestia's eyes widened immediately, "Javelin, Raven! Get back!" She cried, helplessly reaching forward with her hoof.

Chrysalis released a wave of energy that rippled forward into the secretary and guard, knocking them both into the air and across the throne room. They both hit the floor near the entrance, and were knocked out immediately. Celestia cast a worried glance back their way, before the sound of buzzing wings forced her to return her attention to the changeling queen darting toward her like a bullet.

Before Celestia could even conjure another shield, Chrysalis was mere inches away from her, horn lowered and at the ready. Celestia barely intercepted with her own horn, locking the two in another standoff as their horns grinded against one another.

"Well this certainly seems familiar, now doesn't it?" Chrysalis jeered.

Celestia grit her teeth as she pushed back against the queen, "I won't let you hurt any of them, again." She grunted.

"As if you could stop me," Chrysalis chuckled, "You can barely even stand up or cast any spells right now. You're slow, old mare. You're weak, just like every other pony here... and I'll take so much joy in the meal your little toy over there will be providing me once I've dealt with you." She smiled a wicked, infuriating smile.

Celestia's eyes widened immediately, before her face contorted into a scowl. Her mane and tail whipped back and forth quicker with every second of the standoff, and even her eyes shifted from their usual magenta to a deep amber while flames licked at the tips of her mane and tail.

"I swear by my sun... if you touch him again... I will end you." She growled.

"I'd like to see you try!" Chrysalis sneered, shoving forward, only to find that she couldn't push Celestia back any further.

Celestia pushed Chrysalis back a step, and then another. The changeling queen's smirk quickly turned to a look of confusion as she looked down, finding that Celestia's hooves were pressing so hard into the marble floor that cracks were forming underneath her. Chrysalis glanced up in surprise, only to freeze at the sight of Celestia's now blood red eyes, and serpent like amber irises. The sun princess's mane and tail whipped around behind her, both now completely engulfed in flames as she continued to push forward.

Chrysalis struggled to push forward, finding that the alicorn of the sun was simply too strong to push back. Hoof by hoof, she was forced to retreat under the now hateful gaze boring into her eyes as if she was the sole target of over a thousand years of pent up hatred. Chrysalis felt herself heating up considerably from the proximity to Celestia's flaming mane, and nervously gulped as she stepped back once more.

Finally, after several steps back, Chrysalis broke the horn lock and leapt back away from Celestia. Her wings buzzed as she quickly created distance, only for Celestia to teleport next to her and buck her into the wall across the room. Marble shattered and concrete splintered as the queen's body impacted against the wall at near terminal velocity, and she struggled to figure out what even hit her before she was torn from the wall by bright red magic and thrown into the floor. The changeling queen struggled to recover her bearings before hooves slammed into her over and over again, distorting her vision and making her see double.

"You! Will never! Hurt! Him!" Celestia cried out, tears leaking from her tightly closed eyes as she punctuated every word with another vicious slam from her hooves.

After nearly a minute of beating the queen into the ground, Celestia stopped her attack, panting for breath as she looked at her work. The queen looked intact, but her face was noticeably bruised and bleeding from several places. Then, a voice spoke out that made the sun princess freeze.

"Celestia?" Anon asked, looking up to the mare with wide eyes.

Almost instantly, the flames extinguished, and her eyes returned to their normal magenta color.

"A-Anon..." Celestia began, before Chrysalis suddenly exploded up out of the floor and sent her careening through the air.

Celestia landed on her barrel, her body skidding to a halt just a dozen feet away from Anon.

"Tia!" He cried as he rushed over to her side.

Anon grabbed Celestia's head and cradled her close to his chest while he checked the rest of her body for injuries. Aside form her still slightly burnt horn, she seemed okay.

"You know, I have to say, I wasn't expecting you to put up that much of a fight after the last one." Chrysalis chuckled, before spitting out some green blood.

"A-Anon... run." Celestia tiredly whispered, exhaustion quickly setting in.

"I'm not leaving you. Not again." Anon responded, gently squeezing her closer.

"Aww, isn't that just so sweet." Chrysalis sneered.

Anon released his hold on Celestia and stood up to his full height. Celestia weakly reached out to him, only for her hooves to slip from his leg as he stepped closer to Chrysalis. He bent over and picked up his frying pan from the floor, taking a deep breath in the process.

As Anon stepped toward her, Chrysalis raised an eyebrow in amusement, "Are you serious? You can't be serious."

"I'm dead serious." Anon replied, before cocking his arm back and throwing the frying pan at the queen with all his strength.

The stainless steel pan rocketed through the air, heading straight for the changeling queen. Time slowed to a crawl as the handle spun round and round toward its target. Each foot of distance was covered in just a fraction of a second, but it felt like hours as all eyes followed the stainless steel blur rocketing toward the queen. Then, the pan collided with Chrysalis's face, and bounced off, not even leaving a mark. The frying pan fell to the floor, a small dent in its side as the queen stared back at Anon with a mixture of amusement and bewilderment on her face. Even Celestia looked up at Anon with confusion.

"Did you just..." Chrysalis started.

"Throw a frying pan at her?" Celestia finished.

Anon stood in silence, his body still locked with his hand outstretched from throwing the weapon. He maintained his pose and silence for a few more seconds before standing back upright and coughing into his fist.

"W-well, it still had the effect I wanted." Anon shrugged.

"And what effect exactly was that? To annoy me?" Chrysalis questioned, raising an eyebrow.

"No. To distract you." Anon replied.

Chrysalis squinted even further in confusion, before a realization hit her, and she turned to look at the rest of the ponies in the room. Both Cadance and Shining Armor were in the final moments of casting a powerful spell, if their horns touching and the magic energy swirling around them was any indication, and the rest of the elements of harmony bearers were free as well. Chrysalis moved to stop them, only for the couple to complete their spell, and release a wave of magical energy the exploded outward in all directions, halting her in her tracks.

"Noooooooooooooooooooooooooo!" Chrysalis cried out at the spell collided with her, knocking her out of one of the remaining castle windows and sending her flying off into the distance.

The spell passed harmlessly over everyone else in the room, including Anon, but sent all of the changelings outside and in the castle flying off into the sky, presumably out of Equestria all together. Anon walked over to the window and watched as the little black dots that were changelings soared off over the horizon, and eventually out of sight completely.

"I love it when a plan comes together." Anon smirked, before turning back around to Celestia as she struggled to get to her hooves.

He rushed to her side and helped her up, receiving a grateful smile from the sun princess in return.

"Thank you. A-Anon, I can't even believe you're here right now... are you alright?" Celestia asked, looking over him like a mother would over her child.

Anon chuckled, "I'm fine. You're the one that took a beating back there. How are you?" He pressed, looking over Celestia's bruised body.

"I... I am alright. Just a little sore and beaten, but I'll recover. Anon... what are you doing here? N-Not that it isn't great to see you again! Just... it was so dangerous for you to come here. You could have been seriously hurt." Celestia replied, leaning forward and pulling Anon into a hug.

Anon gladly returned the hug. He tightly wrapped his arms around Celestia's barrel and neck as he squeezed her close.

"I told you, I'm not leaving you again... I know we ended on bad terms... but I didn't want anything bad to happen to you." Anon admitted, quietly.

Celestia choked back a sob as she nuzzled her cheek against Anon's neck just a little harder.

"I-I'm so sorry, Anon... All these months, you're the only person I've thought about... you mean so much to me and what I did to you... I-I just... I'm so sorry." She whispered, tears leaking out of her tightly shut eyes.

"It's okay, it's okay. I forgive you." Anon whispered in turn, his own tears threatening to fall.

That was all it took for the dam to break, and Celestia sobbed quietly into Anon's shoulder as the two stayed locked in their embrace. After a few moments, Javelin and Raven approached them, along with the rest of the ponies in the room.

"Princess? Are you hurt!?" Twilight exclaimed, her eyes wide in alarm.

"We can get a medic over here right away." Javelin spoke up, turning toward the doorway.

"I-I'm alright." Celestia said, finally managing to control her sniffles.

The surrounding ponies observed in silent concern as Celestia gently patted Anon's back and pulled away, wiping the tears from her eyes in the process. Once she had her emotions under control, she turned to see all the ponies present with a grateful smile on her face.

"Twilight, dear, I'm so sorry I didn't listen to you earlier. These last few months have been... well, I have nopony to blame but myself. I should have listened to you. Maybe then this entire ordeal could have been avoided." Celestia admitted, her eyes briefly drifting down to the floor.

"Oh, no, no, no! Princess, you have nothing to apologize for!" Twilight cried, rushing over to Celestia's side, and startling Anon in the process.

"Sorry." Twilight mumbled to Anon as she wrapped her hooves around Celestia's barrel.

Both Anon and Celestia let out a small chuckle at the purple pony hugging the sun princess as if she was her own mother.

"She seems to really like you." Anon smirked.

"Twilight is my most faithful student. I was going to properly introduce you to her before the wedding, but... well, you know." Celestia admitted.

Twilight released her hug on Celestia and looked over to Anon, "I remember you. Anonymous, right? Princess Celestia tasked me with finding a way for you to go home back when Nightmare Moon first brought you here. I'm sorry we couldn't find a way to do that, but I'm glad you were here. That distraction was exactly what we needed." She spoke up, turning to Anon and extending her hoof.

Anon smiled as he bumped the small purple pony's hoof, "I appreciate it."

"So yer that hyu-man that Twi was geeking out over last year?" Applejack spoke up, looking over Anon, curiously.

"The one and only." Anon puffed out his chest.

"You must be really, really close to the princess, huh?" Rainbow Dash added, having watched the spectacle earlier.

"Well when you're engaged to both of them for a little while, you do tend to get pretty close." Anon shrugged.

"I thought that your wedding got called off." Rainbow replied, tilting her head to the side in confusion.

"Eh, there were some... complications." Anon shrugged.

"What kind of complications?" Twilight inquired, looking over to Celestia.

Just as Celestia opened her mouth to speak, a flash of light next to the group startled everyone present. She turned to see Luna standing just a few feet away, both green and red blood mixed on her wings, face, and barrel. Fluttershy cringed and hid behind her mane as Luna folded her wings, small droplets of blood dripping onto the floor from her wingtips. Both Pinkie and Rarity fought to hide similar reactions, while Rainbow and Applejack simply stared with wide eyes.

Luna's teal eyes frantically searched the room for just a microsecond, before turning to the group, and prompting a relieved sigh to escape her lips.

"Oh, thank Faust you're all okay." Luna sighed, rushing over to Anon and Celestia, "I was so worried."

"Princess Luna!" Twilight happily exclaimed, only for her expression to contort into one of horror as she saw all of the blood on the lunar princess, "Oh my gosh, Luna! Are you hurt!?" She exclaimed, rushing to get to her hooves.

"I am fine, Twilight Sparkle. None of the blood is mine, just unfortunate guards who were near me while we battled the changelings. Also lots and lots of changeling blood, too." Luna offered with a lopsided smile.

Twilight blanched while Anon snickered. The rest of the ponies present shared mixed looks of confusion, horror, and just a smidge of amusement. Luna quickly walked over and hugged her sister, before turning to Anon and tightly squeezing him against her. He happily returned the hug, although he cringed at all the blood that was smearing onto his shirt and pants. Regardless, he held the hug until Luna was sufficiently happy and released him.

"You were starting to worry me for a minute there. You're not hurt, are you? Chrysalis didn't do anything to you, did she?" Luna pressed, looking over Anon much like Celestia did earlier.

Anon chuckled, "I'm fine. Really. You guys worry too much." He replied, cupping Luna's cheek and rubbing circles in her fur with his thumb.

Almost immediately, several gasps rang out behind them, but Anon continued to rub Luna's cheek with his thumb, prompting her to softly sigh and close her eyes as she leaned into his hand. Her wings fluttered at her sides, while her tail wagged back and forth in happiness.

"Where are my cheek rubs?" Celestia questioned, putting on her best puppy dog eyes.

Anon chuckled, "Alright, alright. Come here." He held out his other hand invitingly.

Celestia quickly leaned into his hand, and smiled widely as Anon rubbed circles on her cheek as well. Much like her sister, the sun princess's tail wagged back and forth in happiness as Anon gently stroked the soft fur on her face.

"P-P-princess-es?" Twilight meekly stuttered, a hot blush covering her face as she watched the two princesses of Equestria wagging their tails like a pair of excited puppies.

Behind the group, Javelin, Raven, Cadance, and Shining Armor watched in both amusement, and surprise at the scene unfolding in front of them.

"So, Miss Inkwell?" Cadance spoke up, gaining the attention of the secretary.

"Yes?" She replied.

"Do you see now why I did what I did?" Cadance asked, a smug grin forming on her face.

"I... wait, you couldn't have possibly known what was going to happen over six months!?" Raven exclaimed, defensively.

"Of course not, but I did have a hunch that Anon still had feelings for them. I was sure he'd make the choice that would make him happiest in the end." Cadance replied.

"And you just knew that he would be happiest with the princesses again?" Javelin asked, raising an eyebrow, "I mean, for all we know, he might still not want a relationship or anything."

Cadence nodded, "That's true. I have another feeling that he wants more than that though." She replied with a wink.

Javelin and Raven shared a look before letting out a small chuckle. As Cadance walked away to speak with Anon, Raven quickly cleared her throat and fixed Javelin with a suddenly serious look.

"Javelin?" She asked.

"Yeah?" Javelin replied, looking at her curiously.

Raven stepped toward him and gently kissed him on his cheek.

Javelin's face exploded into a massive blush as he sheepishly chuckled, "Ehhehe, w-what was that for?"

"That was for saving me from that pod." She smirked.

"Oh, well I c-couldn't leave-" Javelin begun.

Raven immediately leaned forward and pressed her lips against his, almost knocking the stallion over with her sudden forwardness. After a moment, Javelin's eyes slowly fluttered shut and he returned the kiss, a smile on his muzzle the entire time. After a few moments, Raven pulled away, a small smirk on her face as she noticed how flush Javelin's face was.

"A-and that?" Javelin managed to ask, a dopey smile on his face.

"For looking so cute the whole time." Raven winked.

Javelin opened his mouth to reply, only for Shining Armor to approach and divert his attention.

"Sergeant." Shining spoke up, making Javelin snap to the position of attention.

"Yes, sir." He replied, instinctively.

"You did a fine job fighting your way over here. I wanted to thank you personally for helping to save us from Chrysalis. You all gave us the time Cadance and I needed to finish the spell. You did great work." Shining explained, before offering his hoof to Javelin.

Javelin gratefully bumped Shining's hoof, "Thank you, sir. I only did what any guard would have done in my place." He humbly replied.

"On the contraire, I think you went above and beyond the call of duty today. We're gonna need some new leaders after everything is all said and done here. I would absolutely love to give you the rank of Staff Sergeant." Shining offered, a warm smile on his muzzle.

Javelin's eyes widened in surprise as he stared back at his commanding officer, "I-I would be honored, sir," He replied, before looking over to Anon and the princesses. He bit his lip in hesitation for a moment, before looking back over to Shining, "Although, with all due respect, I think I'd like to stay where I am, for now."

Shining's eyebrows raised at the stallion's answer, before he glanced over to Anon and the group and chuckled, "Found a friend, have you?"

Javelin chuckled, "You could say that, sir. Couldn't have saved the day without him."

Shining nodded, "You could say that again."

Author's Note

Nothing says "I love you" like beating the piss out of an evil queen, huh?

Hope you guys liked this one. It was a lot of fun to write :)