Author's Note

Sorry for the delay, but studies have been overwhelming me these past few months.

28- Battle for Canterlot (Part 1)

The sea of chitin we were facing threatened to overwhelm us at any moment while another sea of chitin appeared behind us, blocking our way and as if that were not enough, the sky was becoming colored with arcane explosions that blinded anyone who looked up for more than a second

At least I have the privilege of giving a few last big words “If we are going to die, I want you to know that I blame you for everything!”

“That doesn't help me!” Shining answered, irritated. I can't blame him, just like me, he has been killing bugs without rest

“How good! Let it be known that I died as I lived, being an asshole to the very end”

PUNCH

I didn’t have much time for jokes before I had to punch and smash the face of a very stupid or overzealous Changeling

It may not have been that long, but Shining and I had created what could be considered a mound of corpses, with me being the main enforcer, while Shining protected both of us from the occasional spells that were thrown at us

We had done pretty well, but everything has a limit, and that limit is clearly an alicorn-level spell courtesy of a mutant bug queen

Oh my god, how did the situation come to this in just 2 hours?

2 hours before

Throwing out the fake Twilight may not have been the best of ideas, but Chrysalis, if I was informed correctly, seems to be in much better condition than I was told. It is true that she seems somewhat rickety, but she certainly does not seem to be dying, not with the amount of power emanating from her

“What does all this mean? Who are you?” Celestia was quick to take flight and face the intruder

ZAP

Luna for her part, teleported directly in front of me with her wings outstretched, blocking any possibility of Chrysalis attacking me or any of the occupants of the box

“She's an impostor!” Twilight shouted from afar “Her kind is a parasitic shape-shifter that takes the form of the pony you love and feeds on your love, she and the others kidnapped me days ago, and I don't know who else they could have replaced”

My congratulations Twilight. With a simple sentence, you not only caused panic in the public, but you also sowed doubt among the members of the guard

Chrysalis let out a threatening hiss that reminded me of a snake “How do you know that? And how did you escape?”

“Your guards like to show off almost as much as you do, and I've lived in Canterlot all my life, I've done a lot of experiments with the magic crystals in those mines”

Chrysalis far from being upset, seemed more amused “Very well indeed, I admit I may have underestimated your student, but it's too late now. While you and your foolish ponies were playing politics, my changelings and I were preparing for this moment. Maybe you discovered us too soon, but it won't change anything, very soon all the love of Equestria will be ours, and with it, we will obtain more power than we ever dreamed of”

“PFFf jajajaja” What kind of idiot would laugh at a time like this?… yes, that's me “Sorry, sorry, jajaja, I swear I'm trying to be serious, pf”

“Did I say something funny?”

“Well… something like that. You were doing so well with your evil monologue, and suddenly you jumped to ‘the power of love’ I admit, I didn’t expect it” I couldn’t help but think how ridiculous all this was

Some shape-shifting pony insects that eat love, what kind of high must Mother Nature have taken for these guys to appear, and how do I get some?

“That’s right, and I must admit that feeding on your love was something particularly satisfying” And with that, I shut my mouth. I didn’t see the joke anymore, and it seems that Chrysalis noticed my change of mood. “I see that it doesn’t amuse you anymore, right? Knowing that the one you spent the nights with and the one you gave your love to was not the one you truly loved” Chrysalis smiled evilly at my incredulous expression

I could see the looks of pity that the others gave me, some even looked indignant and angry at such a deception, but I could only think of one thing

“Chrysalis… How can you be so stupid?” My question earned me the confusion of those present, a confusion that was overshadowed by a shudder at the sudden loss of temperature

Even Chrysalis seemed surprised when she saw her own breathing like a mist

“You did what?” The words were said with a coldness that caused me to shudder for the second time, but this time it was not because of the cold at all, but because of the tremendous murderous intent emanating from Luna

Chrysalis was no longer smiling

“You dared to take what is mine, and now you show it off?” Luna began to float without moving her wings, the surrounding shadows seemed to solidify as they lifted her up to a height higher than Chrysalis

Even Celestia moved out of the way as she positioned herself to the side of Cadance who, parallel to Luna, had just moments ago stood in front of Shining defensively

I think it was at that moment that Chrysalis realized the mistake she had made

Never anger an alicorn, much less try to steal their special pony

SHIIIIING

A powerful beam of energy came out of Luna's horn in the direction of Chrysalis, who seemed alarmed, but managed to control herself enough to launch her own beam of energy

Both forces collided in the middle, with enough force to send gusts of wind everywhere

For a second, both forces seemed to compete equally, but one was quick to overcome

The ponies gasped in surprise and panic when the beam of Chrysalis' energy began to gain ground, but I didn't, I knew better because Luna had already explained it to me

Alicorns have to learn a different type of spell than a normal unicorn would learn

A unicorn learns spells to optimize its magic and get the most out of it, but alicorns couldn't afford that luxury. For any magic user, it would be a simple levitation spell, for them, it was a weapon capable of compressing almost any mundane thing, including living beings

That was why the spells the alicorns normally used weakened them instead of empowering them, as you would normally expect

But I had seen what happened when they stopped limiting themselves. Celestia showed me that in our previous confrontation in the Everfree and now that Luna's eyes were starting to turn white, I realized that I would see it once again, but before she showed her true power Luna began to speak

“Equestria has already been threatened and attacked time and time again by villains with selfish motivations just like you, and just like them, you too will fall. Let it be known that anyone who comes after you will have the same fate, EXTINCTION”

BOOOOM

Holy shit! Everything happened very quickly. Luna's magic beam became as thick as a car and overwhelmed Chrysalis' magic, making her crash into a wall and explode

The wall gave way and spat debris everywhere, but Celestia and Cadance were not there as mere spectators, both reacted quickly and protected the ponies present by destroying the flying debris or generating magic shields before they managed to hit

"Cough, raa"

Amidst the dust and rocks, Chrysalis's coughs and moans could be heard. When she was finally in sight again, her appearance had changed noticeably

The queen's chitin was full of cracks from which thick green blood dripped

If there is something I can respect, it is that Chrysalis was still standing despite her injuries

"Enough" Celestia, trusting that her sister would take care of it in case the queen tried to attack, dropped her defenses to approach peacefully “You have been defeated, surrender now, and I will make sure that you and yours receive fair treatment”

At that moment I couldn't and didn't want to hide the foolish smile I had on my face

“This isn't over” Whether it was out of pride or simple stubbornness, it seemed like Chrysalis just couldn't accept defeat

“I think so, accept it, you got your ass kicked!” Rainbow screamed beside me, leaving me half deaf

Her jeers were followed by other boos and jeers from other ponies in the audience who were previously too scared to even say anything, but after seeing the weakened state of their attacker, they didn't hesitate to get brave and mock as if they were the ones responsible for leaving her in such a state

BTfftt

I felt it, the interference

Something wasn't right here. I know Chrysalis has an army, I know she's been overfeeding herself as much as she can, but it should be obvious by now that they won't do her any good

So, why the hell is she still smiling?!

“It's pretty easy to be brave when you're protected by an alicorn, isn't it?”

Hearing the amused tone in Chrysalis's voice, I froze in place, feeling a pit forming in my stomach

Btt

A message from the few drones I dared to put in Carterlot

They have begun their attack! The shifters are invading

“I wonder how they will react when a power like that turns against them?”

What the hell was she talking about?! I desperately searched the surroundings, and when I found the abnormality, I was so surprised that it took me a second too long to react

It was a second too late

“CELESTIA, BEHIND YOU!”

All heads turned in the same direction and stayed there. The only one who didn't turn around immediately was Celestia herself, due to a sudden pang in her abdomen

When Celestia finally managed to compose herself enough to turn around, she could see Cadance's horn imbued with magic buried deep inside her

“C-Cadan-”

“AAAAAAAH”

“NOOOOOOO”

Celestia's words were cut off when Cadance pulled back her horn in the most damaging way possible, exposing Celestia's insides to the world

I don't even know who screamed first. Was it Twilight, her parents, one of her friends, Luna, or someone in the audience? I have no idea, I just know that everything went to hell

Luna, in her desperation, tried to reach her sister while casting spells at Cadance trying to push her away, but in her effort, she ignored Chrysalis, who was waiting for that moment, and did not hesitate to take advantage of it by launching a beam of energy at Luna

I felt like I had a fucking heart attack

With a huge explosion and a hole in the wall, Luna was expelled from the building

The infiltrated changelings began to reveal their true form and jump on ponies who fled and screamed in terror

The members of the guard were quickly overwhelmed

And Chrysalis focused her attention on me

“Capture her, and the last princess will surrender without a fight!” Chrysalis shouted her order. I suspected it was just to show off, as I knew she had a hive mind too, so she had no need to shout orders

I didn't have time to think about that as a group of Changelings took flight in my direction, forming a mini swarm

I didn't feel fear, after what Chrysalis did to Luna, I had no room for that in me

There was only anger

“GRAAA”

I roared like a beast, and far from running away, I took a run-up and jumped towards one of the flying changelings in the swarm and bit it. I then exploded into green flames, forcing the flyers to scatter

I think I took them by surprise, because once I crashed to the ground using the roasted changeling's body as a cushion, I could see how surprised Chrysalis was

I started running as the flames my body generated gathered around me, giving me additional power and speed

Some Changelings tried to get in my way, but with the amount of flames I was generating, it was easy to scare them away or directly burn them

I had it. Chrysalis had not yet recovered from the damage received by Luna's spell, and the amount of magic she had to spend to expel it had left her extremely vulnerable

I accelerated as much as I could, destroying anything that stood in my way, and when I had it within reach, I jumped like a predator on its prey

BOOM

Only to finish, like a fly against glass

A blue barrier blocked me at the last moment. After cursing a bit through my sore nose, I realized the source of the barrier

“Cadance, what the fuck?”

“Hahaha” Chrysalis laughed “Nice try, but she is under my complete control”

I looked back at Cadance, now that she was close, I could notice her expressionless face and her eyes tinted by a green aura. I already figured something like this was happening, but it kept surprising me

I looked into hypnosis magic, mind control, etc., and I can say with certainty that it is one of the most difficult magics out there, even more so than teleportation

The slightest mistake can result in dire repercussions for both the caster and the receiver. Anything involving the brain requires surgical control. Even I, who proved myself capable of using such magic, have not been able to learn even the simplest of spells and I don't think I can do it without months of practice at least

And now Chrysalis was controlling a fucking alicorn!

“How the fuck did you do that?!”

“Quite easy actually, despite her powers, this little princess doesn’t seem to have ever fought, she has practically no mental defenses, capturing her and… experimenting~ on her was extremely easy”

From the way she said it, I think Chrysalis was implying something, but I decided to ignore it

“That won’t last, alicorns are naturally resilient and always bounce back, even Celestia will survive”

“Oh, of course she will, she and all of you will survive solely to feed me and my children”

I felt my front legs being restrained against my barrel by an ethereal blue chain that kept me suspended in the air

Cadance had me captured. Chrysalis took the moment to stalk me, coming closer to me while licking her lips

“I had to expend a considerable amount of magic recently to get rid of that nuisance you give your love to, I think it's only fair that you share a little.”

Chrysalis's jaws opened, revealing her sharp fangs

I was hoping that if she bit me she would be poisoned by my blood, so I let her get close without lighting my flames

That proved to be a mistake when I felt like a hand wrapped around my heart and squeezed it

It hurt like hell, and to make matters worse, some sort of pink weightless substance began to come out of my mouth and nose, preventing me from breathing

The more of that stuff came out the worst and more tired I felt. Chrysalis was about to swallow that substance when a multicolored projectile hit Cadance freeing me

I immediately reinforced my fake horn and headbutted Chrysalis as the pink substance returned to me

I felt strangely invigorated and dizzy as my strength was restored. I took advantage of that moment and that Chrysalis still hadn't recovered from the powerful headbutt to launch a shockwave sending Chrysalis flying

“Hey, Torch, are you okay?”

Torch? And that voice… or fuck me

“I would love to die right now” I replied to Rainbow as I gathered myself

“Dramatic”

I wish I had another option, but I definitely can’t win this fight alone

“Watch out!” I quickly warned Rainbow when I saw the glow on the horn of a recovered Cadance

Rainbow reacted great by dodging with a good aerial maneuver and redirecting to counterattack

“Rainbow don’t try to attack, just distract her!” I tried to warn Rainbow that any attempt to attack would be useless, but I didn’t have time to check if she had decided to obey when I had to jump to the side to avoid a beam of green energy

“Enough of the games!” Chrysalis looked furious, and either because she was still badly injured or she wanted to save her magic for better use, she decided to confront me with an alternative method

For a second, flames engulfed Chrysalis' body, and her body changed into what looked like a huge, purple-striped super wasp

The damn thing looked like a war beast, with its six sharp legs, fangs, stinger, and immense size

Good thing it didn't go into berserker mode. I think it's the River of Silence potion that's the reason I can still keep a cool head despite all this damn chaos

What was I up to? Oh yeah, I remember

Run bitch, runeee!

I wish saying and doing it were as easy, but Chrysalis' size was giving her an advantage

I tore some seats off the floor with telekinesis and threw them behind me, hoping to hit something. I miss having my drones watching my back

I was trying to think of a plan when I heard an annoyed growl and a stereotypical cowboy yell

“Yeehaw!”

I stopped for a second to see what was going on, and my jaw nearly dropped when I saw Applejack riding the beast like in a rodeo, holding on only to a lasso she held with her teeth and had managed to wrap around the beast’s neck

I stood there for a while, looking confused as to how exactly that crazy mare had managed to get there, when I realized that it was the best time to fight back

But I stopped at the last moment, I couldn’t cast a spell that powerful. Hybrid breeds like the ones I’m imitating are known to have weaker magic than a pure unicorn

It’s already problematic enough that my flames are still green. If they see me using that kind of magic, it won't take long for me to raise suspicions, and all it takes to take me down is a simple rumor

But my fire wasn't going to be enough to overwhelm Chrysalis with such a large form

What to do?

Nothing came to mind, but it was clear to me that Applejack was having trouble riding Chrysalis. I tried to help by levitating seats off the ground and throwing them at that witch, but I was achieving little

It was at that moment that I noticed Rarity approaching with a bunch of floating curtains taken from some of the countless windows in this castle

Before I could ask what the hell she was thinking of doing, the fabric moved like a snake, skillfully coiling around Chrysalis's legs and limiting her movements

... Okay, I admit it, these girls are a box of surprises, and they are completely crazy

However, inspiration came to me when I noticed how Rarity began to levitate another set of curtains

“Rarity, stop!” I didn’t stop to explain and lit the curtains on fire, concentrating as hard as I could to order my fire not to consume them

“What?!” Rarity, understandably confused, jumped up

“Applejack, get ready to jump!” I yelled and didn’t wait for a response when she turned to Rarity again “Rarity, gift wrap it!” I said, pointing at Chrysalis

Rarity's mind took a good moment to understand what I was asking. Her sight went from the tip of my hoof to Chrysalis being ridden by Applejack, and she finally stopped at the curtains engulfed in flames when something seemed to 'click' in her mind

Once again, the curtains seemed to come to life and snaked through the beast's legs, stretching out and clinging to its limbs

It was elegant, almost like a dance

Applejack had plenty of time to realize what was happening, Chrysalis noticed it too, but it was too late for her

The second Applejack jumped off the beast's back and removed her lasso from its neck. The flaming curtains tightened, wrapping Chrysalis' body completely and... leaving a cute bow on top

I rolled my eyes at that last thing. I turned to see Rarity, who seemed moments away from vomiting.

“Hey, everything okay?” I asked

“I never thought my art could be used like that, how horrible!” And… Rarity fainted, even making sure to strike a dramatic pose as Applejack arrived in time to catch her

I decided to pay no attention to her antics and focus on the threat

I looked at Chrysalis, engulfed in my flames, growling, roaring and writhing in pain

The curtains trapped her in such a way that, although she had the strength to tear the fabric, the position of her limbs didn’t let her exert her power properly, and as a result, she was being cooked alive

I was surprised by such a level of mastery. Maybe I should ask Rarity for some lessons

“What are we supposed to do now?” Applejack asked as she slapped a stunned Rarity a couple of times

I had planned to say something cool, something that could be considered a protagonist dialogue, but I wasn't given the chance to make a fool of myself

BOOOOM

A multicolored projectile crashed, grazing my face by centimeters

Still shocked by the event, I slowly turned my head, finding a disoriented Rainbow Dash with eyes spinning like a whirlwind.

Strangely, it reminded me of defeated Pokémon

Your pegasus pony has been weakened, tuturururu

I literally felt cold sweat forming on my forehead “You tried to attack her, didn't you?”

“Hey, did anyone write down the number of that carriage?”

Applejack and Rarity ran to their friend's aid as I slowly turned around just in time to see Cadance free Chrysalis with a simple spell

Once freed, Chrysalis immediately reverted to her original form and began coughing up smoke as if she were a chimney

The chitin didn't show the severity of her burns, but I was willing to bet that they were pretty deep. Even if there were no external burns, her internal flesh must have been cooked

“I'm going to kill you!”

I'm running out of ideas

“Rarity, lightning together now!” I screamed and pulled Rarity to face Chrysalis, who was already charging her horn and firing her own magic beam

I responded in kind, and our powers clashed similarly to the previous confrontation between Chrysalis and Luna, with the difference that this time when Chrysalis' beam began to gain ground, I couldn't do much to stop her

Luckily for me, it was then that Rarity managed to react, and either out of impulse or fear she managed to launch her own magic beam adding her power to mine

We didn't manage to unite our spells, the combined spells were too complex and required a lot of practice, something that neither of us had. They were simply two independent magic beams that pointed to the same place, but it was enough with a little extra effort on my part to stop Chrysalis' power in its tracks

“Get her out of here!” I screamed, unable to look away from the front, hoping that Applejack would decide to listen to me and take out Rainbow

It was at that moment that I felt Chrysalis' magic advancing again, only much slower than before

I could barely see Rarity from the edge of my vision, but she seemed to be at her limit, and as a result I had to add more power, but in the long run, that didn't change anything, even if Chrysalis lost her strength before us, Cadance would crush us, in fact the only reason I can think of for why she hasn't done it already is because of Chrysalis' own amusement or carelessness

"L-luna, Luna, please answer" I have no choice but to beg "I need you, please help me!"

BOOOOOM

The answer I got was twofold, Cadance who remained flying above Chrysalis raised a barrier blocking a series of blue magic rockets resembling shooting stars, but what Cadance couldn't block was the bus-sized golden beam that hit with immense force breaking through her barrier and expelling Chrysalis out of the building

Rarity and I immediately collapsed from the overexertion, but I persisted to see the owner of the attack and was shocked to see Celestia's smoking horn in the distance

Did Celestia just save my life?

The poor princess was still on the ground, being besieged by the Changelings who had apparently decided to ignore everyone else and go for Celestia, but she wasn't alone. I could see members of the Sun Guard, Iron Blade, Aspen, even Twilight giving their all to protect her from the swarm

However, Celestia made a mistake in helping me, since seeing her master being attacked, Cadance marked Celestia as a target and tried to attack her, but before she could do so, Luna took off like a rocket ramming Cadance

Cadance crashed into a wall where she recomposed herself and counterattacked with a hundred ethereal swords, which Luna only managed to evade and block with an impressive mix of flight skill and magic

Fortunately, that moment of respite was all I needed to recover, and as soon as I could, I threw another magic beam, but not at Cadance but at the wall where she was nailed, causing her to fall along with it

The wall did not collapse entirely, but its partial fall allowed us all to see a small part of the true magnitude of the attack

With the sky full of Changeling, some kidnapping ponies in cocoons, explosions and screams of panic can be heard in the distance

“Spirit, Celestia, are you okay- BOOOM!” Luna tried to reach us, but as expected, Cadance was quick to recover and burst the rubble she had fallen into

“We're okay, I'll take care of Celestia, you focus on freeing Cadance!” I shouted to Luna

Luna seemed to hesitate a lot, but seeing Cadance's horn shine again and knowing full well that we could end up in the crossfire, she nodded and launched a shockwave as she descended towards Cadance

The shockwave was exaggeratedly strong, it literally sent part of the building flying and everything that was left of the wall collapsing along with Cadance

“What do we do?!”

I was surprised to see Spike helping Rarity up and Applejack with an unconscious Rainbow on her back

However, it was a good question, what to do?

The Changelings kept coming through every damn window, gathering around Celestia's defenders

I know I told Luna I'd take care of her sister, but this would be the perfect time to escape, as it's only a matter of time before the Changelings overwhelm us

Creating a barricade or blocking their entrance seemed impossible or inefficient due to the massive hole Luna made in the building

Moving Celestia somewhere else was an even worse idea, as we'd lose the little defense these walls give us

“Get out of here, find a safe place”

“What?”

“Of course not”

“We can't leave them”

Are you serious? I expected that from Spike because he's a kid, but these two mares are just idiots

“What are you proposing? They keep coming and having to protect you all just distracts me”

“Can't you do something with your magic? Some spell or something?”

I had to resist rolling my eyes. How does this mare think magic works? Now I understand why unicorns make fun of the other races so much

“Yeah, sure, I’ll just put us all in a giant balloon and float us out of here,” I said with obvious sarcasm

“That sounds like fun, let’s do it,” a shrill voice replied

Holy shit! What a scare!

“Pinkie, holy crap, where were you? What about the others?” Rarity recovered faster and was quick to question Pinkie

“We’re holed up with Twilight’s parents, they sent me to find them after we rescued Shining.”

“And you made it across an active battlefield to us without a scratch?” I asked incredulously

“Oh, it wasn't that hard, you just have to run and bounce over and over until you get to where you want to go, it's what I always do in a war zone”

I'm just more confused with each passing moment

I was in shock until I felt a hoof on my shoulder, it was Applejack

“Don't think about it, it's just Pinkie being Pinkie”

Ok… fuck it, I don't have time for this, and I've seen weirder things, whatever Pinkie does can't be that bad

“Pinkie get us out of here”

“Okey-dokey lokey”

I was wrong, VERY wrong.

The worst decision of my entire damn life, I would have gladly stayed where I was waiting to be devoured by these Changelings and tried to follow this demon in the form of a pony if I knew what awaited us

Things happened too fast, my mind has a hard time remembering. I can only theorize that it is such a traumatic memory that my subconscious suppressed it as a way of protecting my mental stability

When I came to, I was running down a hallway with Spike clinging to me.

“Quickly come in!” Night Light yelled from a door. I turned to him, I had no idea what was chasing me, but I had no intention of finding out

As soon as I approached the door, Night Light stepped aside, letting me pass and closing it behind me, but he couldn't close it completely when a giant tentacle tried to break through

I noticed that we were in a warehouse of chairs and other types of furniture, but that didn't matter at the moment

Applejack, Shining and a now awake Rainbow joined Night in trying to close the door while I looked around, noticing Pinkie, Fluttershy, Rarity and Velvet

I handed Spike to Velvet and quickly ran to the door, where I threw my fire at the tentacle that tried to break through. It immediately backed away with a loud screech, allowing us to finally close the door

“What was that thing?! Where did it come from?! What the hell is a kraken doing here?! We're not even near water!” I screamed, feeling my heart jump out of my chest

“I told you that if Pinkie starts shaking, it's because you have to pray” Applejack said in rhyme, which gave me a headache. It seems that my mind is quite reluctant to remember any details of what happened

I shook my head, trying to shake off the headache “Ok, never mind, Shining make a damn shield”

“I can't, this thing won't come off” Shining explained in a fatalistic tone while pointing at the inhibitor ring firmly attached to his horn

I could imagine how suffocating it must be to have that thing restricting you, so I decided to try something

“Let me see” I asked Shining while motioning for him to come closer

“You can't take it off without the correct magic sequence” Shining explained it to me as if I were a child

“Do you think I'm an idiot? I know a trick for this type of situation”

Shining obviously hesitated, but that doubt didn't last. With Celestia injured, his sister in the middle of the battle, and Canterlot being invaded, the poor guy was desperate to join in the action

“Do whatever you have to do, just get this off me.” Shining ducked his head as he brought his horn closer to me

Once the inhibitor ring was within reach, I meticulously inspected it until every detail was engraved in my mind, and at that moment I inhaled deeply, barely noticing at that moment that I had the attention of everyone present when I let out a belch of fire straight at Shining’s head

BRUGH

“AAAAAAAAAAAH

“AAAAAAAAAH

Some of those present screamed, others fainted, and Night Light knocked me down again

I think I just experienced déjà vu

“Let me melt the damn ring!” I could feel Light’s grip loosen as he heard me say those words

“Dad, I’m fine, let her finish!” It was weird seeing Shining talk with his head covered in flames, but luckily his snout was free of fire, so he was able to speak without problems

Night Light looked apprehensive but chose to let go

Now that I had no more distractions, I could devote my full concentration to controlling my flames so that they would condense around the inhibitor ring

“Ah, aaaah” Shining started to complain

“Hold on, it’s almost completely melted” I decided to hurry up a bit

“AAAAAH” Shining screamed, this time I did worry

“Stop”

“You’re hurting him!”

I couldn’t see who was yelling at me, probably everyone, but it was too late to stop

Still, it wasn’t reaping, something was wrong. I could swear that my flames weren’t directly affecting him, but then, what was causing him so much pain?

“The melted metal, it’s burning his face!”

Holy crap!

Night Light is right, I forgot to consider what would happen to the ring when it finally melted

That damn thing isn't part of my flames, so I have no control over it. Shining has melted metal right on his face!

As soon as I realized my mistake, I jumped on Shining, grabbed his head to keep him still, and licked the remains of the metal with my mouth

As a creature of fire, metal at that temperature doesn't affect me, and hooves weren't a good option to remove it, so the best I could do was suck that thing clean and then spit it out, which I did

…

Curiously, the screaming stopped completely after that

Shining wasn't screaming anymore, though there was a horrible burn on her forehead that luckily didn't reach her left eye, but she seemed to have forgotten about the pain as her white fur turned bright red

“Did she just…?” Shining didn't finish the question, and there was no need

Great, I got carried away, now I want to die

There's a lot I don't know about pony culture, I admit that, but even I know that horns are a no-go zone

“This never happened”

Wretched Rainbow seemed to be holding back her laugh

Applejack tried to comfort me “… Well, you did it for the sake of-”

“It never happened!” I repeated, and to divert the conversation, I focused on Shining, who was still as red as a tomato “Shining stop thinking stupid things and form the shield”

Although Shining looked like the living image of an introverted teenager who had just experienced female contact for the first time, it didn’t take long for him to get serious and shoot a ray of light that pierced the ceiling

“Ready, this whole building is blocked” Shining assured us, and I felt that uncomfortable feeling of interference in my hive mind again

The others in the room had no way of confirming it, but it seemed to be enough for the girls, who let out sighs of relief

For my part, I still had things to do, and I wanted to do them quickly until I was knocked back to the ground

“Night Light what the f… fuck” The words died in my mouth when I realized who my aggressor really was

It wasn’t Night Light who was holding me, it was Twilight Velvet, and there was fire boiling in her eyes with the intensity of a thousand suns

“Stop burning my girls’ faces! “Children!”

I suddenly felt small under the gaze of an angry mother, perhaps because it reminded me of my own

I suddenly analyzed my actions and realized how unconscious I had been. When I threw the fake Twilight out of the box, they could have believed that their daughter had died. Then the invasion happened, they had to rescue their son by themselves and seek shelter, only for me to arrive and scare the shit out of them again

I saw Fluttershy and Rarity hugging and crying on each other's shoulders, Applejack and Rainbow with bruises and cuts, but what really hurt me was seeing Spike terrified in Pinkie's arms

... I was wrong, and I no longer have the excuse of corruption by dark magic. I can't keep doing these things, I have to be better than this

“I'm sorry” I didn't know what else to say. For a moment it seemed like Velvet was going to hit me, but Shining came to my rescue

“Mom, I understand how you feel, but I need your help right now”

Velvet looked confused until she realized what she meant “No, of course not, don’t even think about going out there”

Shining didn’t hesitate “There are still a lot of those things inside the shield, and Celestia is still defenseless, I have to help”

“You are no longer part of the royal guard, they kicked you out, they betrayed you!”

Shining seemed to be hurt by that comment, but far from backing down, there was even more conviction in his gaze “They may have taken away my armor, my rank and called me a traitor, but I made an oath not for glory, but because you taught me that it was the right thing to do” Shining’s gaze left his mother and focused on his father, a former member of the guard “Or am I wrong?”

Night Light let out a dejected sigh “Honey, let her go”

At that moment, Velvet knew she had lost, and I felt her grip on me lose strength “If anything happens to any of my children, I will come after you” Velvet did not threaten me, she only told me a fact that would happen without a doubt

“Understood” I must admit. I was a little jealous of the scene that had formed, but I had no time for those thoughts

“Father, I am going to need you to stay here and protect them”

Night Light seemed displeased for a moment, but upon seeing his wife and Spike, the doubt was erased and replaced by a military nod

“You should stay” I said to Rainbow and Applejack as soon as I noticed they were following us

“No way, I still have a lot of this to give away” Rainbow boasted while punching the air

“Celestia and Twilight are still in danger, I can't stay hidden while they face those beasts” Applejack seemed even more determined not to back down

Realizing that trying to persuade them would be a futile effort and that I had no time to waste, I opted to keep quiet and let them fight

As much as it pains me to admit it, I must say that these mares seem to handle themselves quite well in these types of situations

I looked at the rest of the girls, and none of the others seemed enthusiastic about the idea of getting back into the fight, which I approved of. Better a competent enemy than an incompetent ally, the saying goes

With a simple nod, Shining opened the doors, and the four of us ran off, hoping that it's not too late to save Equestria from the Changelings

“Shit, we forgot about the octopus!”

A hope that was diminishing more and more