“Ow…ow…ow…ow…”
“The more you are wont to flounder in agitation, Chrysalis, the more painful this shall be…”
The changeling queen gritted her fangs against the pain as the gleaming needle pierced her membrane again, barely restraining the urge to bite the smug pegasus nag’s face off…
Shadow Kicker raised her head slowly, blonde locks going to gray poking out from under her red helmet, revealing a pair of hard blue eyes set into crinkled sockets over a withered, scowling muzzle. “You shouldst be grateful. The wound would – in all likelihood – kill you were I not to do this…”
Chrysalis scoffed to herself, refusing to look at Shadow or answer her. A wound? Her? Chrysalis, the extraplanar womb of all life?
She kicked her broken, useless forelegs against the crude splints holding them in place as the pegasus calmly plunged the needle into her ruptured egg sac again and again, drawing the string tightly across the slash.
“None of that…” Shadow grated testily as she pulled the needle out sideways, “If you were to break the stitching, then we would have to begin again. I have no wish to spend any more time in your deplorable company than I must, changeling queen…”
Chrysalis gave a contemptuous hiss to convey the feeling was mutual. She was hardly capable of doing anything better at this point…
As the painful ordeal went on, her eyes drifted over to Shadow’s honor guard. Two pegasi in red armor hung back, unmoving and expressionless, as their leader stitched up this apparent abomination – no doubt the likes of which they had never seen and hoped never to see again.
Chrysalis grinned to herself, relishing that little flicker of emotion she tasted on them…compared to the vile swill coming off their leader.
Fear and revulsion were feelings she could enjoy…but the muted, controlled pity rolling off Shadow Kicker was an insult Chrysalis had no mind to forgive. How dare this withered old mortal pity her?
“’Tis quite a mystery…” Shadow mused, “just how it is you managed to carry so many eggs within your womb? ‘Twould be a trying and somewhat awkward chore, neigh? Especially so if you were planning to do battle with one of the Dark Lords of Tartarus…”
Chrysalis fixed Shadow Kicker with a glare through her matted green tendrils sticking to her face. Ignorance or impudence – it mattered not. It had been her honor to carry a whole swarm of her pure children in her belly…and she hardly had any choice in the matter of battling the Tartarian while heavy with egg…
She felt the mad sting of anger as she gazed out over the rocky turf of the Badlands. The hive was burned to ashes, and her precious, unhatched children lay scattered where they had fallen from her egg sac, drying in the open air.
It would take centuries to rebuild the hive now…
Her eyes fell on one of her closest eggs, black, translucent and no larger than a stallion’s forehoof. The shell allowed her a glimpse of the pale changeling larva within. It had already sprouted its front legs, the rest of its body still curled up and only starting to swell. The tiny, open mouth in its face made it look even more desperate…as though it were making its final frantic gasp for air…
“Mayhaps Vusk was hoping to make a meal of you, Chrysalis…if the tales of him are to be believed…” Shadow muttered, pulling the needle out again, “If so, you should consider yourself fortunate we arrived in time to save you…”
Save me?! It is their fault my children are dead! If they arrived sooner… Chrysalis’ heart burned with rage as she remembered the terrible horror of Vusk’s razor-sharp shards reaching for her and splitting her abdomen right down the middle…her precious children spilling out into the demon’s glittering paws as he grinned viciously…
With a tug, Shadow Kicker pulled the last suture closed, the wound knitting together. The pain receded slightly, but Chrysalis’ fury did not. Again, she strained to pull her head free of the iron binding her. How she yearned to wrap her jaws around the wilted old nag’s neck and crush flesh and bone between her fangs!
She felt Shadow’s gaze on her as the pegasus rose back onto all fours and flapped her wings. Shadow winced slightly at the grinding in her old, wounded body, rising stiffly off the ground…
For just a moment, Chrysalis felt savage pleasure as she tasted a hint of regret. Shadow Kicker cast her eyes to the side and twitched her ears, a haunted look briefly flickering across her face.
Chrysalis knew that idle moments were a torture for Shadow – she felt it in the emotion that she gathered from the nag’s touch. And she knew that even when alone…Shadow Kicker was never truly alone.
The moment passed, and the pegasus warlord fixed her with another glare, her cobalt eyes again as hard as diamond.
“Grateful or no, you are fortunate Commander Celestia wishes your survival, changeling queen. Mayhaps Sunbeam Sparkle would have left you for dead after what you have done...” She frowned deeper, “However, this time, you were the lesser of two evils…”
She flapped her wings harder for departure, rising up with her honor guard, declaring coldly “If I may offer you counsel – do not tempt fate again and fade back into whatever pit from which you were spawned, Chrysalis…”
I grunted and rolled over, trying to hold on to that pleasant little dream.
I’d been back in Las Pegasus, standing upright at the roulette table with one forehoof around Luna and the other around Flitter, Applejack’s hat dangling on my head as the croupier pushed the chips my way again. After downing another maretini for courage, I raised the stakes and made my biggest bet yet. With every win, the crowd of beautiful, sexy mares hanging off me was getting larger and larger. At this rate, the orgy in my royal suite above was going to shake the whole hotel down…
…then Shadow Kicker stepped out from behind an ice sculpture of Fleur De Lis – scowling as only a family matriarch could – and whapped me upside the head with a wing…
”Wake up, Cloud Kicker…”
I swatted at the air with a forehoof, letting out a groan of protest and groping for my bedsheets…
…and then I heard the screaming.
“Lyyyyrrrraaaaa!”
It came back all at once.
The wedding. The changelings. The underground. All of it…
Oh no…
My first terrified thought was I’d been out for too long. That I’d gone and slept through the whole thing and all hope was gone. That when I opened my eyes I’d see only the smug grin of Queen Chrysalis herself…
…but my ears were working too. I could hear a lot of panicked yelling and the unmistakable thrumm and crackle of magic in the air…
Battle…
My mind slammed back into full consciousness and I leaped back onto my hooves…
…and then the pain hit me again like the kick of a mule and I groaned, sinking back onto my belly.
“Captain! Are you alright?!” When I cracked an eye open and squinted through my clearing vision, I could see it was one of the Kicker pegasi we’d brought down into the caverns. He was looking at me, his eyes darting all over the place in obvious fright.
I snorted sarcastically as I painfully levered myself back up onto my hooves, “Oh yes, perfectly fine!” I growled, barely daring to stretch and look myself over.
Most of me was still covered by the armor, but I knew I wasn’t bleeding heavily and had mostly minor cuts and scrapes. I was badly bruised though, and probably wouldn’t even be able to stand up in the morning. My head was pounding and my hooves felt like they’d been rubbed with sandpaper for hours.
But, more than anything, I was seriously pissed off…
When I get my hooves on Chrysalis, I’ll…
I didn’t have any chance to finish that pleasant, half-formed thought of the dozen or so ways to swat a bug before I saw the scene below the ledge and my blood ran cold…
Bon Bon and Star were down there. My cousin had summoned a shield barrier while Bon Bon cowered behind her, sniveling miserably with her hooves over her ears. Star had gritted her teeth and was sweating profusely from the strain of holding up the barrier.
And I could clearly see why.
A massive golden fist with long, cruel-looking nails was pounding repeatedly against Star’s shield like a wrecking ball. Another one was circling Bon Bon and Star along the ground, scuttling like a spider waiting for the shield to fall so it could strike…
Lyra, I knew at once.
And it was. She was wearing a long gray overcloak and her face was cowled, but it was her – no doubt about it. She was standing opposite Bon Bon and Star, watching impassively with her horn lit.
I felt a cold knot of dread tighten in my guts. She was still possessed.
I immediately lifted my wings to take flight…or at least, I tried to.
When I did, a spike of pain shot up my back and my left wing only twitched. I glanced over my shoulder in horror – after all, for a pegasus, losing a wing is a nightmare come true – but it was still curled against my side.
Slowly, I tried to flex my wing again, but the pain only got worse after it twitched the first couple of inches…
I grimaced. What the-?
I lit the armor, calling on Shadow for healing. Sure enough, my wing slowly straightened and the pain faded, but it was taking far too long. I needed to get down there now!
This was Lyra. Lyra Heartstrings. I needed some way to stop her without hurting her. Basic West Hoof tactic for taking down unicorns non-lethally was the almighty hoof to the horn, but…
My mind screeched to a halt. I had just heard something.
My ears were hurting, but I was hearing this constant hum, like somepony was whispering slightly into my ear…so slightly in fact, it was barely a sound at all…but no matter where I looked, I couldn’t see who made it…
…I shook my head. Probably just imagining things. Shadow and I could stop this. We had to!
I leaped from the ledge, gliding down to the cavern floor and heading straight for the possessed unicorn. There was no time to hesitate: even if it would hurt her I had to put Lyra down now, or at least break off her attacks on Star and Bon Bon. If she was still in there watching, I knew the real Lyra would prefer I tie her in a knot than let her hurt them…
But before I could barrel into Lyra’s side and knock her off her hooves, she turned and saw me.
Those bright, lively and slightly mischievous golden eyes I remembered and adored were gone. And in their place burned twin orbs of evil green fire that flickered when they saw me.
Chrysalis…
I could tell from the sudden burn and twist of the fire in her eyes – the pure spite and hate. Those eyes knew me…
Chrysalis wasn’t just controlling Lyra remotely anymore. Part of her was in Lyra…
The horrifying realization that now she’d know about the decoy we left at camp made me almost lose flight momentarily and instinctively stretch out my hooves for a crash-landing…
Which slowed me down just enough for Lyra to pull her cloak over herself and vanish.
Wha-?!!
I froze in mid-air and wheeled one-eighty on instinct, my eyes darting in a cone before me. West Hoof’s first procedure in case of enemies teleporting in was to prepare for an attack from the rear. Only then, my rational thought process kicked in...
Lyra couldn’t ever teleport. Never. Not on her best day. Something was really wrong with this picture…
I was no expert on magic, but even I knew teleporting was a difficult and draining spell, and even when the unicorn had the ability and raw power to do it, it was rarely ever instantaneous. A unicorn needed to have complete control and Twilight Sparkle-sized powers of concentration to manage it within even a few seconds. No kidding, it was dangerous to rush the teleportation spell! Try imagining moving every little piece inside your body from one place to another only for your skin and bones to turn up in one place and your internal organs in another. Only the very greatest magi in history had ever managed it…
…and if there was one thing I knew about our precious Harpflank – she wasn’t that. It couldn’t have been a teleport…not unless Chrysalis was somehow channeling power into her too…
I was broken out of that disturbing train of thought by the nasty sensation of something heavy slamming into my blind side. I was knocked off my hooves, but I rolled with the momentum and came back up.
Before my eyes, the golden hand that just knocked me over braced itself, rearing on its claws like a hunting spider. My head clouded by new and old pain, I lifted off the ground, stupidly trying to get right out of its reach, but of course the hand simply floated up after me.
I banked around, swiping at it, but the blade simply passed through the hand. It’s cruel nails groped for my face. Those wicked-looking fingers might not have been able to pierce the armor, but I knew they might be able to claw my eyes out if I let it get too close. I knew Lyra – or Chrysalis more likely – couldn’t keep these hands up forever though. I could just try to fight the thing off or run for it until it disapp-…
“Cloud Kicker!! LOOK OUT!!” Bons’ hoarse, panicked scream rang out from across the cavern.
Instinctively, I dived – just in time for the other hand to come screaming over my head and crash into the other one with an ear-shattering crack!
Damn. That was really dumb, taking my eyes off the other hand. If Bons had been just a second slower…well, let’s just say I wouldn’t usually mind being the veggies in a sandwich, but not that kind…
Thankfully though, that impact had apparently destroyed them both. The hands were gone.
As I shook the ringing from my ears, I chanced a glance over at Star and Bons. My little cousin was lathered and breathing heavily from the exertion of maintaining that shield, and she looked like she was ready to fall over any minute. Bon Bon was clutching her throat, still reeling in pain from that warning she’d just shouted to me. When I squinted, Shadow’s enhanced vision showed me what happened: there were fresh strangle-marks on her throat. She’d made the same mistake as Star…
Another golden hand, smaller and floating this time, came clutching at me from the dark. I darted out of the way, and it faded. But then another grabbed my tail. Cursing, I kicked the hand…just in time for another to seize me by the wing and yank. I lost flight for just a second…but that was still long enough for yet another clawed hand to punch me in the face.
The pain exploded across my muzzle and I spat out a tooth…even as more hands clutched at me, dragging me down to the cavern floor. They may not have been that strong, but there sure as hay were a lot of them. I counted at least a dozen hands groping at me…and not in a pleasant way!
As my hooves hit stone, I lit the armor, calling on its power to repel the magic. Again, the shadows responded - flaring out and causing the hands to rear in fright before they disintegrated completely with a crack.
And again, I could hear the faint whisperings in my ears, which were starting ace from all the noise of the last few minutes. Just what was that? I knew I wasn’t imagining it…
As I straightened, Lyra shimmered back into existence again, right in front of my face! Before I could react, she grabbed hold of me and pulled me in, wrapping me in a lip-lock.
Whoa!
Oookay - in retrospect, I should’ve been able to realize what was going on and forcibly break away from our overly-amorous and none-too-brawny Harpbutt in the space of a heartbeat. In my defense, let me say the sensation of a familiar and all too-pleasant minty kiss after a long, painful day would probably make you hesitate for a second as well…
…okay, fine - two seconds.
No, that’s all you’re getting, clop-o!
By the time I pulled my muzzle away and raised a hoof to take her down, Lyra already had two new, monster hands circling us, crawling like crabs along the cavern floor. Those soulless, glowing green eyes beheld me over the cold smirk plastered across Lyra’s face.
“Such deliciousss weaknesss,” she hissed in a voice that wasn’t hers, smacking her lips mockingly, “Maybe your reputation isss well-dessserved, Cloud Kicker…”
Chrysalis!
Without waiting a moment longer, I lashed out with my forehoof for Lyra’s horn. I couldn’t let that nag keep control of her!
Lyra dodged it though. Damn her occasional surprising and completely unpredictable feats of agility! Couldn’t she have saved that one little slice of luck for when the bug queen tried to crawl into her head instead?
Next thing I knew, the two hands were pouncing on me. I spun and swept my blades through the air, but again, it didn’t do anything to the hands. Those ghostly, clawing fingers wrapped around me, crushing my head, neck, and torso into one of its golden, rock-hard palms, while the other grabbed hold of my hindquarters.
They were starting to pull in opposite directions…
…and I was going to be torn right in half when they did!
The whole time, Lyra stood there, watching me coldly with those soulless green eyes. Her gaze suddenly sparkled darkly and she twitched her muzzle in a cold smirk, “You could have killed her, Cloud Kicker. You could have ssstopped me from using her, but here you are…torn between the need to fight and your love for my little pawnsss!” she cackled, “A fitting end for the bearer of Shadow’sss armor, Cloud Kicker…”
I saw red. No chance I was going to let that nag get away with all she’d done.
I lit the armor and flared the shadows again, but this time, they didn’t pierce the hands. They did burn though, and their claws released me and backed off, smoking and reconstituting themselves from the sparks.
And…yep, the throbbing and the murmur in my ears also got worse.
But before I could even make another move on Lyra, she threw up her hood and vanished again.
Horseapples! I knew I couldn’t chance an area-wide spinning attack to catch her. Shadow’s wingblades would probably cut Lyra’s legs off.
Then Star rejoined the fray, cantering over to me and blasting the hands with her horn, which disintegrated under her assault.
Silence. Except for that annoying murmur somewhere in my head.
“Where’s Bon Bon?!” I hissed at Star.
She looked around worriedly, and I understood. Bon Bon must have lost her nerve and run for it. I couldn’t blame her. Sturdy mare or not, it must have been crushing to have her possessed fillyfriend trying to kill her. I mean, sure, I loved Lyra too, but I could only imagine how I would feel if Chrysalis had…
Oh cripes – Fluttershy!
Please, Celestia, tell me it wouldn’t ever occur to Chrysalis to pull the same thing with Eepysqueak! I wasn’t sure I could stomach that…
“Cloud Kicker, this is war!” Shadow sounded impatient. “Thou must do whate’er is required of thee to protect thy clan and thy princess. When ‘tis time to strike Chrysalis down, then thou must do it…”
She didn’t say it directly, but Shadow’s meaning was clear. If Chrysalis sensed my weakness, she’d exploit it – just like she had with Lyra. And that would mean defeat. And that would mean everypony, not just Fluttershy, Lyra, Rainbow and the princess, would all end up as food for the changelings.
I had to harden my heart. Right now I need to be a Kicker first, and Cloud Kicker second…
Lyra was there. I knew she was. The only question was where?
There was a telltale hum of magic in the air. Star and I immediately went back-to-back to cover every angle of approach. The constant whispering in my ears was simple enough to block out, but the rest was a puzzle. We had both heard Lyra lighting her horn, but the sound was reverberating all through the enclosed cavern – and the thrumm of the resonant magic crystals didn’t help matters either.
In this echo chamber and at this distance, it was impossible to pinpoint her exact location by sound…
…but then Bon Bon darted back around the crystals she’d been hiding behind and leaped for a seemingly-empty patch of air.
There was a dull thud, a muffled grunt, and the extremely odd sight of a creamy candymare floating in mid-air and grappling with her hooves at a particularly uncooperative empty space.
Bon Bon! She’s found her!!
I wondered how Bons had done it. If I was feeling romantic, I’d say it was her powerful bond with her fillyfriend – that her heart always knew where Lyra was even if her eyes didn’t…but it was more likely she’d just happened to be there when Lyra summoned her magic and the echo didn’t put her off like it did for us.
She paused in her mid-air struggle with her muzzle over a certain point, looking like she’d found something she was looking for, and then promptly chomped down on something and pulled her head back.
Right there, Lyra shimmered back into existence again as the hood fell from her head. Bon Bon, looking madder than Tartarus, gave an angry yell as Lyra fixed those poisonous green orbs on her and planted her hooves back into the ground, yanking hard.
There was an enormous RRRIIIIPPP that echoed all through the cavern as Bons tore the cloak clean off her. No doubt about it, that earth pony strength comes in handy at times. The cloak was shredded and I was guessing, without it, Lyra couldn’t vanish anymore.
That was proven a moment later by the screech and furious hiss as Lyra lit her horn again and a golden shield flashed into existence around her. Lyra summoned another giant hand, and before I could move to rescue her, the thing seized hold of Bon Bon, immobilizing her.
“Ssstay back!!!” Lyra hissed angrily as I started forward, “If you come any clossser, Cloud Kicker…” The hand holding Bons squeezed, making Bon Bon grunt in pain, her armor squeaking menacingly.
I fell back to my hooves, glaring, “You’d better let her go right now, Chrysalis…” I snarled, “Let them both go! Or I’ll–“ I stumbled, wondering just what I could threaten Chrysalis with. She wasn’t here, not physically, and now that she knew we were down in the caves…
Chrysalis cackled coldly as she sensed my predicament, “Hah! If you want to hurt your beloved Lyra, Cloud Kicker…go right ahead and ssstrike me down!” I felt my eyes widen in alarm as she started tightening her grip on Bons, who cried out in pain.
No! Oh no!
“Not that it would matter, you witlesss bitch – I’ll kill thisss fool mare right away and my children will ssswarm you within the–“
She suddenly halted in her speech, gawking in surprise, before her face twisted into a pained and incredulous grimace. The hand froze in mid-air, sparking and fizzling in and out of existence while Bon Bon struggled and tried to break free.
Chrysalis hissed and put a hoof to Lyra’s forehead, where her horn was sputtering and sparking furiously.
“Now’s our chance!” Star whispered from my side, lighting her horn, “I’ll get Bon Bon out. You take her down.”
But before I could do a thing, Lyra (or it may have been Chrysalis, there was no way to be sure) gave an enormous scream, clutching her head in both hooves and shaking it. The glow from her horn intensified, growing brighter and brighter until Shadow’s vision made it almost painful to look at.
“Why do you ssstill live within me?!” Chrysalis suddenly howled, collapsing onto Lyra’s knees with her eyes tightly shut, “I-I thought you were dead!”
Her eyes then suddenly opened. They were shining with golden light , flickering back into and out of shades of green as Lyra’s minty-green body slowly began to glow with a nimbus of golden light and levitated itself off the ground.
A magic surge.
With a whistle and a crack, Star’s magic shot out and ripped Bon Bon free of Chrysalis’ grip. The hand holding her writhed and twisted as though it were in pain before it vanished. She landed beside us in a heap, gasping for breath. I immediately bent down and ran Shadow’s eyes over her. Bons looked battered and in shock, but nothing was broken…
I lifted off my hooves and shot forward at Lyra. I had to end this now!
WHUUUMP!
Word of advice: don’t ever try to put your hooves on a unicorn when she’s in the middle of a magic surge. Tumbling with Harpflank wasn’t something I was unfamiliar with, but we usually did it on a bed in a fit of giggles – not on a solid, painfully coarse stone floor with Lyra shrieking and burning with magical overload. Even with Shadow’s armor protecting me, I was still singed slightly…
We came to a rest with her muzzle-down into the stone and I on her back with her limbs stretched flat. I placed a hoof over her horn, pressing hard and willing the armor to disperse the magic.
But it didn’t. The shadows recoiled from the surge.
What are you doing?!
“’Tis impossible to halt a magic surge, descendant. Nothing may be done ‘til the surge hath run its course…” Shadow’s voice was grim.
Lyra, meanwhile, was beginning to twist and contort her body as I gritted my teeth and struggled to hold her down against the burning pain.
Then Lyra spoke.
“Never, I…I…”
That voice…
It was the one I remembered…
Lyra was still in there, fighting Chrysalis for control. The glow from her horn intensified.
“I WON’T DO IT!!!”
Lyra glowed a brilliant gold, a poisonous black-green aura beginning to seep out of her orifices as her magic surge spiraled out of control…
Chrysalis was fighting for Lyra’s body. Lyra was obviously trying to push her out, but the golden aura around her was growing fainter and fainter, while her body seemed to start shrinking under my hooves.
The pain intensified, and I think I almost soiled myself when I saw one of my hooves start to smoke and blacken…
…but right then, before our amazed eyes, the aura coalesced into a pair of glowing green eyes floating in mid-air.
“SKRREEEEE!!”
Lyra had loosened Chrysalis’ grip, but now the changeling was tightening it again…
Chrysalis’ triumphant cackle sounded around us as her eyes started to glow brilliantly, the black-green aura around us growing menacingly large. Then, a poisonous green beam of energy lanced from the floating eyes, striking a crystal cluster nearby.
THHHRRRRRRM! It bounced off and travelled in a perfect beam to a crystal cluster on the opposite side of the cavern, and then another, and then another…
THHHRRRRRRM! THHHRRRRRRM! THHHRRRRRRM!!!
It finally struck the last crystals hanging overhead, illuminating the whole cavern with poisonous green light. The shadows running over me suddenly recoiled, writhing as though they were in pain, and quickly seeped back into the engravings on Shadow’s armor.
Suddenly, it was getting very hard to breathe with all the evil magic in the air. From the choking and gasping sounds I could hear behind me, Bons and Star were having similar troubles. After struggling for a few moments, I couldn’t hold on anymore and let go of Lyra to clutch at my throat, trying not to panic.
Cold fingers were lancing deep into my lungs, and every time I gasped for breath, the pain only seemed to intensify…
NO!!!
“You ssshould not have come ssso clossse, Cloud Kicker…” Chrysalis’ voice hissed through the air, “Now it endsss…”
I began to choke. Suddenly, there was no air to breathe in, and every gasp was just empty…
“Cloud!!!” Shadow’s voice was like a slap in the face, “The crystals!”
W-what?!
Black spots were appearing before my eyes and my body felt heavy and sludgy. I could hardly put together a coherent thought.
But Shadow murmured, and I listened.
Knowing there wasn’t a moment to waste, I tried to shrug off the effects of the poisonous air and took a deep, painful gasp before shooting up into the cavern. Without breath, my wings slowed and began to tire almost immediately, but I knew what I had to do.
I drew over to the first crystals the changeling queen had illuminated and spun in mid-air, kicking them as hard as I could.
I doubt my bucking did much damage, but the strength of Shadow’s armor busted right into the lattice, cracking the outer layer clean off. Before my eyes, the beam from Chrysalis’ floating eyes broke, and the air was suddenly much sweeter again as the shattered crystals fell to the ground. I took several deep gasps almost immediately.
But before I could even celebrate my new, clean breath, the cavern reverberated with an agonized shriek!
“AAAAAARRRRRRRGGGGGGGHHHH!!!” Chrysalis was screaming, and not just in frustration or the pain of having her spell shattered.
No, she was screaming in fear. Like her worst nightmare had her in its hooves and wouldn’t let her go…
Her eyes were staring right at the face of the crystal lattice I’d just busted in. It was by no means a clean cut of the underlying cluster – zig-zag lines from broken lattice roots poked out of the rock, but the sub-lattice formed a murky, jagged, crystal mirror.
I couldn’t see the angle clearly from where I was, but from the position of Chrysalis’ eyes, she was looking at –
…she wasn’t…was she?
The eyes promptly vanished, along with that foul aura that had been the changeling queen.
She was gone. Disappeared. With no more sign than a subtle change in air pressure.
I just hovered there for a moment, panting, barely daring to believe what I’d just seen…
I think time must’ve stood still for a few moments. I didn’t remember going back down to the floor of the cavern again. I didn’t remember Lyra collapsing to the ground, pale as a ghost. I can only remember waiting warily and gazing around, adrenalin pumping through my body as I waited for the bug bitch queen to reappear…
…but she didn’t.
I can’t believe it I thought, it’s true…
Shadow was silent, but I could feel her approval.
After several seconds, the echo of clattering hooves approaching from behind snapped me out of my trance, and I turned to look at the pegasus conscript I’d left back up on the ledge. Damn, I almost forgot about him and the others…
The others! I looked around for the unicorns who’d been with us before we crossed the bridge. Without them, we couldn’t activate the Sanctum Solarion! We’d be doomed…
No. I sighed with relief as they came out of hiding. Looks like they had scattered and hidden in the cavern mouths and niches around the chamber while the battle was going on…
Okay, it was a bit irritating they’d decided to just sit on their flanks the whole way through the battle without lending a hoof, but then I considered I might just have ordered them out when the whole thing came to Lyra anyway. None of them knew who she was, didn’t know why she couldn’t be hurt. They might’ve used lethal force against her…
I was broken out of that train of thought by Bon Bon, who had scrambled back to her hooves, blue in the face. She let out a cry and dived for Lyra, clutching her close. I cantered over myself as I remembered my hooves, and so did Star. The three of us gazed down at her.
Lyra was back. Her face was pale and sweaty and she looked too weak to stand, but those familiar golden eyes glinted up at us…
She slowly raised a hoof and pointed up, saying a single word…
“Cadance…”
Then her eyes rolled up into her head and she went limp. Bons whimpered in fright, but no…
The sweet, minty mare was breathing – shallowly and noisily to be sure – but breathing. Star slowly placed a hoof on Lyra’s neck for a pulse and nodded.
“She’s alright. Just exhausted. A magic surge will do that…” Star sighed with relief, and I couldn’t help but join in.
Bon Bon looked at us briefly, then back to her unconscious fillyfriend. “Cloud…you saved her…”
“Huh?” I couldn’t help but quirk an eyebrow at that, “Of course…didn’t I say we’d rescue her if we got the chance, Bons?”
She shook her head, “No, th-that…that thing…whatever it was…it was controlling Lyra…” She looked up at me with wet, mystified eyes that almost made my heart melt. Of course, this wasn’t the time to think about how sexy that look was on her face. “I thought you might…I mean…” Her eyes flickered to my wingblades, then to the armor, then back to my face again…
I don’t think there was really a word anywhere in the Equestrian language that could describe how I felt then. Bon Bon really thought I’d…
I mean…I was shocked and sad of course – how couldn’t I be? – but when I glanced at one of my wingblades, noticed how sharp it was, and then at Lyra, and just how tiny and light she looked right now…
I shook my head to clear it. “No, Bon Bon! I’d never do that!” I said, trying to force myself to believe it. Hay, I had made a point of taking Lyra down without seriously hurting her, hadn’t I?
“I know you wouldn’t, but…” Bon Bon then shook herself too, and the moment of insanity passed as Star gave an insistent yell.
“We have to go! Before Queen Chrysalis comes back!” Star voice rang out clear and firm, snapping the rest of us out of our shell-shocked state, “Listen, Bon Bon, I’ll carry her, but I want you to-“
Bons cut her off, “No, I’ll do it…” her voice turned soft, “I’ll take her. We still have other ponies to save and I’m not letting go of her until all this is over…”
She leaned down as close to the ground as she could and, with the nimble hoofiwork only an earth pony with a lifetime of practice could manage, she expertly rolled the unconscious Lyra over to face her, draping the unicorn’s left fore and hind legs over her back. I moved to help her, but Bons waved me away. As she hoisted Lyra’s weight up over her back and rose up onto her hooves, Lyra didn’t slip for a moment, but her head tilted slightly to bury itself into Bons’ two-tone mane.
I was puzzled. Bons looked like she was going to bite the hoof off of anypony who tried to help her. I could understand her need to keep Lyra close, but it didn’t seem like her kind of practical mare to turn away help from anypony when she was in need and there was no danger in doing so…
And the other thing was…Bon Bon’s movements were painstakingly precise and tender – almost as though Lyra were made of glass…I mean, even with the state the poor unicorn was in that seemed like overkill…
…unless…
I had a sudden thought and looked at Bons’ face…and yep, sure enough, she was casting worried glances at Lyra’s belly…
…which, incidentally, was a couple of inches larger than usual.
I felt my eyes widen. It was a moment I would never forget, and I knew then I had done the right thing bringing Bon Bon along…
Chrysalis collapsed to the floor of the throne room, panting heavily from her screaming.
The room was now silent, save for the faint echoes of her screams and the low squelching and rustling from her captured enemies’ new accommodations…
No! It couldn’t be. It couldn’t.
Her eyes darkened from poisonous green to an angry red, and a fierce snarl spread across her muzzle.
She had to act now.
Listen to me, ALL of my children! Her will thundered through the hive mind and a nearby drone collapsed, twitching.
Find the Kicker ponies! Attack them! Kill them!! ANNIHILATE THEM!!
“This is it!” Star rushed up as the massive set of jewel-encrusted golden doors that led to the lower floors of Canterlot palace came into view, “Hold on, I think I remember the spell to…” Her words slowly faded as she skidded to a halt. She looked surprised.
When I finally managed to quell that annoying ringing/murmuring sound in my ears and squinted through Shadow’s vision, I could see why.
The golden doors were already open.
And not just by a small gap either. The inner faces of the doors had been blown inwards by what looked like an explosive ordnance...and funnily enough, Shadow’s vision showed a faint, gleaming signature of purple magic in the air…
“‘Tis plain to see, descendant…” Shadow said, “somepony entered this way prior to our arrival…albeit with seeming force and haste…” The magic sensors along Shadow’s armor buzzed slightly as our party approached the busted door. Shadow didn’t recognize the aura…but I did…
The wisp of extremely-concentrated magic detected by the armor felt vaguely familiar – from my own memories, not Shadow’s – and I almost facehoofed when my new sense of smell detected a whiff of lavender in the air…Trust Twilight Sparkle to get so worked up she’d blow a priceless gold door in when a simple unlocking spell would have done the trick…
Wait…does that mean she’s still here? Is she inside?
I’d guessed Twilight and the others were prisoners, but if she was still inside and free somewhere…a unicorn as powerful as Twilight could probably power the Sanctum Solarion all by herself. I’d have to keep my eyes open…
“Cloud Kicker, there may not be time. We must complete the mission and return Princess Luna to Canterlot…”
I didn’t argue. It’d be great to search for Twilight and Rainbow and the others, yeah – but I couldn’t forget that now Chrysalis knew where we were. Within minutes, these caves were going to be swarming with changelings. Our forces outside too, probably. We had to get out of sight quickly…
A faint glow rose from Star’s horn as she summoned a magical, transparent illusion of the Canterlot palace. “The Sanctum Solarion chamber is under the Royal Library, beneath the Star Swirl the Bearded section…” she said breathlessly, spinning her illusion with a turn of her head, “this way…”
As Star, Bons, the still-unconscious Lyra, and our remaining Kicker forces entered the dark, dusty, and almost-forgotten hallway beneath Canterlot palace, our hoofsteps echoing lightly through the deserted chamber, I remembered something.
Shadow’s armor should have stopped me from being knocked out by that changeling back there. Down here, beneath the earth, there were no clouds for me to kick, sure…but all the defensive enchantments should still have been working…
…right?
I sure as hay didn’t want to chance coming face-to-face with Chrysalis again without them…
Are you still in there? I thought.
“Do not be foolish, descendant. Where else might I be?”
Yeesh, Shadow! Tetchiness already set in by the time this armor was made? Back there with the behemoth…I got knocked out, right?
“Indeed. Thou wert lucky to survive after that foolish blunder of thine…”
I grit my teeth, trying to stay calm. How in Celestia’s name did Gale put up with this?! Why didn’t you stop it?! Your armor could’ve stopped me from passing out, right?!
There was a pause. Shadow, for some reason, was hesitating to answer.
What was it? Couldn’t you stop it in time?
“No, descendant. That is not the reason…” If I could see her at that moment, I was sure Shadow would be taking a deep breath – the kind you take before explaining something to a pony that they should’ve learned years ago as a foal and somehow never did. “Cloud Kicker, as thou mayest recall, I told thee thou wert unworthy to wear my armor?”
Sure. Like I’d ever forget.
“Mayhaps fortune might still favor thee with the chance to prove me wrong…” Her voice became deep and somber, “Cloud, thou must swear an oath on the honor of the Kicker Clan ne’er to repeat what I shall tell thee now – not even to the clan!”
I hesitated. This sounded like top secret stuff…
…but I had a city full of ponies, two princesses, and a family and clan to save. Hay, I couldn’t let one little oath get in the way of that. Plus, I usually make a habit of keeping my mouth shut about other ponies’ secrets anyway (considering I must be the only mare in Ponyville who could tell you something new about the cute stallion or mare you sat next to in the bar the other night).
Sure, Shadow, I swear it…
For a moment, I thought that sounded a bit crude, and guessed Shadow might insist on a better, more formal acknowledgment with all the bells and whistles for the sake of what she was about to reveal…but she didn’t.
“Dost thou recall what I told thee of my prior encounter with the changelings? ‘Twas no matter of happenstance, Cloud Kicker. I did not simply stumble ‘pon Queen Chrysalis in a state of injury…I was commanded to save her by Celestia…”
Well, this was new. Shadow had told me she had locked horns with Chrysalis in the past and, eventually, saved her from a serious injury. But she hadn’t mentioned why or how…and it looked like I was about to find out…
“She was doing battle with one of the Lords of Tartarus. A being named Vusk, the Lord of Vanity…”
I stumbled slightly, swallowed, and tried to keep up my normal pace before the others noticed anything. Have to be in control – my teammates might wonder about me if I started randomly yelling in disbelief…
“Vusk was a cruel and cold being, descendant, with a fascination for breaking the wills of lesser beings and forcing them to submission. Not even his fellow Tartarian Lords Nazkuth or Tirek could hope to match him in his foul talents for enslaving the creatures of the world. I wore this very suit of armor for my battle with him…”
“The clan and I fought and defeated Vusk. We shattered his body in the end and banished him back to Tartarus, but not before he had broken Chrysalis’ will and enslaved her with false promises of beauty and power. Vusk was no mere simple demon – his chosen form was a living mirror…a giant vortex of crystal shards. When Chrysalis looked into him…” Shadow left it hanging ominously, but I could guess what had happened.
“I did not escape unscathed either, descendant. Vusk’s power left a mark ‘pon my armor,” she paused, “He was the lord of all crystals. Even with him long since banished back to Tartarus, the crystals of this world still follow his final command. Whilst we are near them, my armor cannot focus my shadows. The mirrors show them to be a mere illusion…”
I gulped, suddenly a lot more aware of the decorative crystal clusters that poked into the hallway from the caverns outside.
So, with all of these things thrumming all over the place, the armor’s power was blunted. If I stuck around too much, Shadow’s armor was probably just a well-crafted suit of steel…
“Do not lose heart, Cloud Kicker…” Shadow sounded weary, but her tone was slightly coy, “The crystals hold no high power above the earth. Guide my power as ably as I grant it…and neither of us will fall…”
Right. Shadow was right. I wasn’t going to slip up like that again! We had a war to win…but sooner or later, I would have to find a window. Back out in the open air, I could only hope Shadow would restore herself back to full power…
The caves had squashed my sense of space and made me forget how big that sky was up there…the mountain peak, the Cirran Plains, Cloudsdale. For a second, I wanted nothing more than to get out, spread my wings and get lost up there in that magnificent blue sky. Staying alive… that had seemed to be the only thing that mattered down there in those dark, cramped caverns with our every word and action echoing right back at us. Here, back in Canterlot palace, that cramped feeling of danger and fear fell away…
I guess it’s true what they say. I couldn’t speak for the unicorns and Bons, but from my own feelings, there was probably some truth to the old saying that pegasi weren’t meant to be underground…
“Indeed…” Shadow said simply.
Suddenly, I heard it again. Some meaningless noise in the corner of my head. It was weird stuff. I knew whatever those sounds were, they were supposed to be words of some sort...but it was almost impenetrable - meaningless white noise like when ponies babble at you in dreams...
But the strange thing was...it was getting a little louder. By now there must have been at least three of them chattering away in their crazy baby-talk. I wondered just what it was. Was this another side-effect of Shadow's armor? Was I hearing whatever somepony was trying to say about me?
I finally shrugged it off and looked at my second-in-command. Star was pale and sweating, but her expression was determined. My brave little cousin was going to see this through the end, I knew it, and I knew Storm and the others would be proud. Bon Bon was still lugging around the unconscious Lyra, not looking in the least bit tired of it, but her expression was more worried as she glanced around. Yeah, now that she had Lyra back, Bons must’ve been starting to feel the pressure of being on this kind of operation where she didn’t belong. But I knew the earth mare, and I knew she wouldn’t run for it now unless I insisted.
Lyra was still insensate, even though it had been over half an hour since our battle, and her breathing was deep and noisy. Sure, our Harpflank was notorious for sawing logs in the most unlikely places with such determination even a hammer to the horn wouldn’t wake her up – but I had a feeling she wasn’t just being a lazy bum this time.
Hay, Lyra just being a lazy bum would’ve been a blessing from the heavens with the way our luck had been going recently…
The troops – our only remaining pegasus and the five unicorn conscripts all looked equally scared and exhausted, but I could see determination in their faces. They knew how much was at stake, and like all good soldiers – even ones before and past their best – they knew they had to put the little things like fear and weakness after duty at times like this…
Suddenly, the Kicker insignia on my chest started to gleam, and my thoughts vanished into thin air.
“Halt!” I whispered loudly. With the silence in the hallway, everypony heard me and promptly froze in place.
There was a faint buzzing in the distance, approaching slowly. Changelings. Everypony promptly closed formation, weapons at the ready…
…but the buzzing slowly faded. The danger had passed by.
“You think she’s expecting us?” Star whispered.
I nodded, “No doubt about it. I guess she’d want the lower levels patrolled now…we’ll have to be careful. Maybe my armor could take many of them down…but if we’re caught down here and surrounded, it’ll only be a matter of t-…”
I stopped. Something was there. As Shadow’s vision pierced the gloom, I could see something large and pale gleaming at the far end of the unlit corridor. I motioned for silent movement with my wing and took a step closer.
Something large and fat was hanging from the ceiling up ahead. It was a pale, sickly green, close to that of changeling ichor. As I moved closer, I could see it was a large, oval sac with a resinous skin.
Egg, was my first thought. Was Chrysalis trying to replenish her forces right here in the palace while she held it hostage? I motioned the ponies behind me to follow and crept over to it. I made a point of silence and readiness – we didn’t know what a changeling egg could do…or if it would have some kind of defense mechanism…
But when I was a few feet from it, I froze.
A normal pony couldn’t have seen it, but with my vision, the sac was just this side of translucent.
There was a pony in there. A full-grown, armored guard pony. It wasn’t an egg. It was a prison.
Star looked at me nervously, but I just frowned deeper, “Levitate it,” I muttered to her before I swept my wing around. Star recovered just in time to catch the cocoon in her magic as I slashed at the resinous tether holding it to the ceiling. Upon removal, the pale, moist skin burst, splattering heavy, treacly ichor in a puddle on the floor and releasing the gasping pony within.
A unicorn. He didn’t look seriously hurt, but he’d obviously taken a knock or two. He was wearing the armor of the Royal Guard, but the unadorned shoulders on his plate suggested he wasn’t an officer of rank, likely just one of the younger soldiers. From the way he was blinking and coughing, obviously out of it, I was gonna go out on a limb and guess that gunk we’d just pulled him out of had either rendered him unconscious or dulled his senses enough he’d need a minute or two to pull himself together.
Several of the unicorns behind me muttered and murmured fearfully, but I gestured to the captive and shook my head, “He’s not a changeling. I can tell…”
The young guard blinked at that and looked up at me in surprise. His jaw fell open as he took in the insignia on my armor and his eyes grew to the size of dinner plates…
Oh sweet Celestia, he didn’t…
Before he could start yelling, I spun around and kicked. A bit unfortunate he’d just got back to his hooves only for me to knock him off them again.
Before he could rise from my buck, I placed a forehoof on his throat and raised my other to my lips. My pissed expression must have done the rest of the work, because in the next instant, he had gone pale – an impressive feat for a pony with a white coat – and he was nodding silently as I threw Shadow’s senses around for any sign changeling patrols had heard us.
After a few tense moments of waiting and listening, when we were fairly sure no bugs had heard, I raised my wing and yanked the guard back up onto his hooves. “Report, soldier!” I growled.
On reflex, he immediately forgot to be indignant, straightened up and saluted before he started speaking in a quiet, hoarse voice. “First Battalion, Third Subterraegis squad. Private Glass Eye…” (I squinted – nope) “…assigned to afternoon shift guarding entrance to Canterlot caverns. We were ambushed from the rear!”
His face crumpled, a snarl forming on his lips at the memory, “Damn bugs came out of nowhere! Overpowered us before we even knew what happened! One moment we heard the relief was on the way so we could head up to the wedding party…and then suddenly…” he shook his head.
“Your squad?” I asked tightly.
He shook his head sorrowfully, “The bugs got me first with that gunk they spit out. My two squadmates had just enough time to get ready for a fight. Filthy things swarmed them…I couldn’t help!” He shut his eyes and grimaced, “The screaming! It was horrible...”
I reached up and gripped his shoulder, “You want revenge, private?”
He looked at me, wonder starting to enter his eyes again, “You…you’re not joking…” His eyes narrowed, “You are…Ephor Shadow Kicker? It is you, right?!! I’ve read all about you since I was a colt…” He cleared his throat again.
“…You have come back to save us, haven’t you?”
I exchanged a look with Star over my shoulder, who nodded slightly. “Yes…” I replied slowly, “…she has.”
“This way…” Private Glass Eye lit his horn and twitched aside the not-so-ancient tapestry, sprinkled with false dust to give the idea it’d been left there untouched for centuries to anypony who didn’t know better. It was, in fact, the entrance to a secret passageway…
“It’ll lead us up to the Atrium, and the pathway to the Royal Library, right?” I asked, fighting back another interruption from those noises in my ears.
He nodded. It wasn’t surprising the guardsponies were informed of the location and uses of the palace’s secret passageways. Aside from the fact they could be used to get a late or sleepy guardspony to his post double-time, they served a strategic purpose for allowing quick regroup and rapid response to intrusion. It only made it more frightening the Royal Guard had managed to be completely overwhelmed within minutes when they had that kind of advantage. Chrysalis really had outsmarted everypony…
Well, all the more reason to get to the Sanctum quickly. Who knew what she was planning now? I doubted she’d consumed Princess Celestia or anypony else significant yet…she wouldn’t dare do that while the Kickers still held the outer city…
Assuming they still did. Chrysalis had seen me down in the caverns and would know about the decoy. The changelings would no doubt be hammering against the Kicker compound even now. We’d erected enough defenses to last a while, but…
No point thinking on it. We had left orders to commence counter-attack immediately if the deception was compromised. The Kickers’ objective was now either invading the palace…or escaping the city if the shield wasn’t put down in the next couple of hours...
I ducked into the passageway, my team following. With any luck, the changelings wouldn’t have shown any interest in the Royal Library yet. Sure, it was a fair bet they’d be in the Atrium that led there…but I couldn’t imagine they had much use for books…
It was a nightmare.
That was the only way to describe it.
They had turned the Royal Atrium of Canterlot palace into a bucking meat locker. Luminous green sacs hung from every pillar, every balcony, and every flagpole. There must have been hundreds of captive ponies hanging unconscious – some of them still whole, some fed upon…some nothing more than empty shells…
“This is…hideous…” Star whispered from my side. Her eyes were wide and her jaw hung open.
“Another thing those bugs have to answer for,” I growled. Worst of all were the cocoons holding foals. I couldn’t bear to look at those…
“Sh-shall we cut them down?” Glass Eye asked hesitantly, his horn glowing with the effort of sustaining his conjured blade.
I looked around. There were hundreds of ponies imprisoned here, likely dragged from every corner of the palace, and our clock was ticking. Even if we somehow had time to release them all, the huge force would compromise our stealth when we moved for the library. It didn’t matter we hadn’t seen a single bug yet – the kind of commotion it’d cause having a hundred ponies tromping around in the Atrium was bound to draw some attention…
I sighed, “We can’t, solider. It’d compromise our mission. Don’t worry, we can release them prior to the counter-…” I trailed off. I had just heard something. A real something, not that...you know...sorta hallucination thingy...
The whole atrium and the massive archways out had all gone dark. The sun was still stuck in the sky above, so daylight was still streaming in from the windows above, but somehow the atrium was darkening quickly…
…Shadow’s hearing wasn’t blunted, however.
Dozens of running hoofsteps and a faint incoming buzzing.
Changelings were approaching. Fast.
“The library! Now!” I hissed loudly. My troops and Bons didn’t need to be told twice. We all darted down the next hallway for the stairs that led up. The unicorns’ hooves pounded and their armor rattled, complete with the slapping sound of Lyra bouncing on Bons’ back.
Shadow’s armor or not, caught there in the Atrium, with every escape route cut off and approachable from all sides wasn’t how I wanted to do battle. As we ran, Star conjured up her map of the palace, floating in mid-air in front of us as we moved. “The entrance to the sanctum…it’s under the central pillar. Glass Eye, can you open it?”
The unicorn nodded, “I think I can help y-…”
There was a snarl from the gloom behind us, followed by a high, shrieking laugh I recognized only too well. The bottom fell out of my stomach, “She knows where we are…”
“Move it!!”
Sparkler huddled down in fright as the sounds of battle erupted from outside. The changelings were attacking again. She could tell from the screeching.
Sparkler was torn. On one hoof, she was slapping herself for not getting out of that med tent to help the defense of the Kicker compound. On the other, she didn’t want to leave Uncle Cirrus’ side again, especially since he was going to be left completely defenseless with all the chaos. Several patients were twitching and struggling, aware of the danger and yelling to be set free. Their doctors were trying to calm them down, but the ponies weren’t stupid. They knew that danger was coming fast and they weren’t going to sit tight and wait for death.
They knew it was fight or flight. Sparkler didn’t blame them.
She just sat there silently, huddled against her uncle’s bed, listening to her own heart hammering against her eardrums…
She wished Cloud Kicker was still here…
“Defensive grid! Keep them away from that tent!” the sergeant roared from outside, just as another screech came from right behind Sparkler. She jumped and spun around.
There was a changeling right on the other side of that canvas flap…
She steeled herself, gulping and starting to gather her magic.
Now or never… If that thing came for her uncle…
With a click and the low grinding of ancient stone cogs, the pillar moved aside.
I glanced around. The Star Swirl the Bearded section was pretty much the kind of place you’d expect to find a magical sanctum or something like that. All those musty old tomes, scrolls and the creepy deep purple lanterns gave the place a disturbing air of voodoo-hoodoo…
The gate to the restricted area had been a bit problematic at first, since it was warded and protected against the universal key. I had started hammering on the door in frustration until Shadow gave an exasperated whisper in my ear…
After I groaned and said “Please open up”, the gleaming lock had promptly disengaged.
Good old Star Swirl…I’m sure he was having a giggle somewhere. Centuries in his grave (or so everypony said) and still leaving behind practical jokes for anypony who dug into his work. Jackass.
Anyway, after we had shut and barred the thing against our pursuers, Glass Eye had flipped the hidden switch and the central pillar did its thing.
Underneath was a long stone spiral staircase. As the pillar continued to rumble, magical apertures set in golden frames down the wall gleamed and started giving off a pale golden light. We didn’t waste a second hurrying down. From the looks of things, Chrysalis didn’t know about the Sanctum Solarion, but if her children caught up and saw the secret entrance, it wouldn’t be too long before she could figure it out.
Unfortunately, it didn’t look like there was any way to close the staircase from inside. At least not here at the top. We needed to keep moving. When I looked down, squinting against the gloom, I could see the staircase went at least fifty feet down.
“How far is it?” I asked Glass Eye, but he just shrugged. Yeah, of course he hasn’t been down here before.
Snorting in annoyance, I motioned for everypony to hurry, hissing in irritation at another noise in my ears. Those voices or whatever they were just weren't shutting up!
Star hesitated for just a minute at the top, and when I turned to see what was keeping her, I could see her engraving a deep blue glyph with her magic into the stone wall…
“An alarm ward…” she said when she cantered down to me, “When the changelings find it, I’ll know.”
Clever. Star had just found a way of letting us know if were compromised. There was no doubt the bugs knew we were here, but the tower was a big place and we’d been running fast. All of our six unicorns and the remaining pegasus guard were lathered and breathing heavily. Fun fact: Canterlot palace may look sleek and slender from the outside because of its height and the circular towers, but the interior is actually much larger than it seems. Could be more of that unicorn magic at work…
Bon Bon, the only earth pony among us, was faring better. But not by much, since she was still carrying Lyra around.
“Bon Bon,” I began quietly as we descended the steps, “I think you’d better let me-”
She shook her head without looking at me, then set her jaw and sped up a little to get out of whisper range.
Well, how could I blame her? Even if what I suspected about Ponyville’s cutest couple wasn’t true (though I was fairly sure of it by now), I don’t imagine any force in Equestria or Tartarus would make Bons let go of Lyra after what had happened…
It occurred to me that after our mission down here was over, I’d have to do something about Bons. Her part in this was over now, and it was just too dangerous to keep her around for the counter-attack. I’d have to tell her to get someplace safe with her fillyfriend and hope she was in the mood to listen…
Even though the entrance had been narrow to stay well-hidden, the stairway within was wide and even, with the inner pit stretching several meters in radius. Every stone step was worn and polished from years of passing hooves. The Sanctum Solarion had seen frequent use in the years following the Lunar Rebellion, but even after Princess Celestia recovered, I was willing to bet court wizards had made a trip at least every few months to inspect the sanctum and keep it in working order. That was good. If the thing didn’t work now, it wouldn’t matter what we did – the whole Kicker compound and the entire city would be overrun again in a matter of hours…
We needed Princess Luna…now! If we could lower the sun, there would be nothing to stop her raising the moon and double-timing it back…
…I hoped.
Finally, the staircase spun to an end before a raised archway, carved in large, cream and purple-veined marble, complete with yellow stone busts of the sun and the moon inlaid over the entrance. Between the two were a sequence of ancient glyphs carved in some language I didn’t know.
Star seemed to, though. “Yeah, this is definitely it…” The bluish light from her horn illuminated her sweaty face, throwing the fine creases into shade and making her look older and more haggard than she was, “The glyphs say this is where we can find the ‘orbs of the sisters’…”
I shook myself. We made it.
“Then let’s not waste any time,” I went back into command mode and stepped through the arch, the other ponies following me. As we entered, lights slowly flared into life from the slats in the stone walls as we walked.
The ceiling slowly came alive with an ancient, bluish star map that illuminated the whole cavern. A perfect copy of the night sky…I could see almost every constellation that I’d often lingered on top of clouds to gaze at on a lonely night…
Okay, rare I admit, but even I enjoyed a quiet night from time to time…
And when I looked back down into the lower area, I saw what we had come for…
A quiet murmur arose from our troops and Glass Eye as they looked around. No doubt about it – this place was impressive. Even though the sanctum was only nine hundred years old – a fairly recent magical construct by Canterlot standards – it had been conceived and designed by Star Swirl the Bearded ages earlier than that. It was only after the Lunar Rebellion that had Sunbeam Sparkle dug the plans out of the Canterlot Archives and convinced Princess Celestia to finally allow its construction. After what had happened in the final days of the war, it had only seemed prudent…
I wondered if either of them had ever guessed the Sanctum Solarion would one day be used to bring the night instead of day – like we were going to do now…
The sanctum apparatus was made up of a massive golden globe set into the floor of the chamber, surrounded by engraved magical glyphs and inlaid carvings of alicorns sprinting and flying around a fertile green landscape. Above and around the globe, a large pair of golden rings were set into the floor. They were obviously made to spin in a full sphere around the globe, but they were inactive and still at the moment.
Attached to the outer ring was a larger golden orb with wavy prongs. The other, inner one had a smaller silver orb with perfectly-inlaid streaks of gray.
The sun and the moon.
The walls flickered with enclosed magical torches that left most of the walls in shadow, but when I squinted, I could see long, deep grooves carved into them. Long lines of light blue stone glinted dully from within.
Magic pathways. They didn’t glow or gleam – they were inert. Deactivated…
I straightened. “Alright, time to light this candle…” I turned to Star, who nodded and lit her horn. The other unicorns all followed suit except Glass Eye, who I waved off and motioned to guard the antechamber.
While the unicorns went to work divining the chamber’s core, I glanced over at Bon Bon, who was settling Lyra against the wall beneath the staircase. I strode over to them. Okay, technically I was supposed to be playing the tough officer, but I figured I’d ignored them too long already…
Lyra still didn’t seem any closer to waking. Even though it was probably a bad time for it, I couldn’t help but feel a flash of worry for her. Maybe blowing Chrysalis out of her had been a little more damaging than we thought? What if she stayed that way?
Just then, Lyra twitched. One of those stiff, jerky, whole-body movements a half-asleep pony might have when in the beginnings of a bad dream. It was a sign – maybe not a very good one – but a sign, that Lyra was beginning to find her way back to consciousness…
Bon Bon looked up at me slowly, “Cloud Kicker…” Her voice had a pleading tone.
I leaned slightly down to her, “What is it?”
She glanced sideways at her fillyfriend again before answering, “If something happens to me…you will take care of Lyra, won’t you?”
I blinked. If something happened to Bons? “Why in the hay are you-”
“Cloud Kicker!” Her voice was firm and insistent, “You will take care of her, right?!”
“Bon Bon, nothing’s going to happen to you!”
“Cloud Kicker!”
I was at a loss. Bon Bon, of all ponies, should have known I would never cut and run on Lyra no matter what. Why on earth was she asking me th-?
Oh…
I groaned, applying one hoof to face and raising another in a placating gesture, “Goes without saying, okay Bons? Now please knock it off! Nothing’s going to happen to either of you.”
She didn’t answer me, but the next glance at her lover’s slowly-rising and falling belly made the unspoken attachment obvious. Even if I hadn’t figured it out just now. I sighed. I didn’t know why Bons thought that would change anything, which it wouldn’t. Even if something did happen to her - which it wouldn’t! “I’ll take care of you all no matter what. That’s a promise.”
Her eyes softened finally as relief flooded her expression, “Thank you…” She leaned in to kiss my cheek, but I quickly stepped away, quickly straightening my legs and re-assuming my military air. Bons nodded in understanding and I turned away. I perked my ears up and listened for any sign from up above, trying to focus Shadow’s hearing and those annoying voices I was still hearing!
So far as I could tell, the changelings didn’t know where we were yet. There was a faint buzzing noise from back up the staircase, but it was muffled and weakened by the stones. Even if they had tracked us to the library…I could tell they hadn’t found the entrance to the sanctum yet...
If we got this thing working though…that was going to change.
I heard a grunt from Star and looked over at her. She screwed her face up in concentration for a few moments, straining as her horn glowed brightly, and I briefly wondered what was up until she relaxed and her horn went dark again. When Star opened her eyes, she was frowning slightly, “My divination isn’t as good as it should be, Lieutenant – there’s a lot of interference down here – but I think I know how to operate it…”
I nodded and stepped before our assembled unicorns, who recognized the early signs of a field briefing and snapped to attention.
“Very well, ponies of Clan Kicker…” I nodded in Glass Eye’s direction, “…and valiant defenders of Canterlot! Once we activate the sanctum, this area is gonna get hot very quickly! The enemy will know where we are in moments! And moments are probably all we will have! You must lower the sun as fast as you can! Be prepared to establish a perimeter and alternate between guarding your team and focusing the sanctum! Fear not, with the power of Shadow Kicker’s armor, I will protect you until my last breath! These bugs caught us all by surprise, played us for fools and stole our city and our princess from us…”
I took a deep breath, “…and now it’s time to take it all back! For Celestia! For Equestria!” I finished in a deep, throaty growl!
There were salutes and growls of approval from the troops, and they immediately swung into action.
“Soldier!” Star barked, turning to one, “Secure the hour of the Timber Wolf!” The old battlecaster hastened to obey, lighting his horn and cantering over to an arrow etched into the globe’s outer ring, a timber wolf etching snarling out of the floor.
“Soldier! Hour of the Ursa!” The young grandson wasted no time obeying, practically leaping onto the arrow showing a growling bear face. “Good! Hour of the Fruit Bat! Hour of the Cragadile! Hour of the…”
Star choked for a second, glancing at me before she finished, “…Hour of the Diamond Dog!”
As each unicorn lit his horn and took up his position, Star shifted her posture slightly so she stood on the Hour of the Quarray Eel.
She looked at me. I nodded. Star cleared her throat, “On three…” Her strong voice echoed throughout the chamber.
“One…two…”
“Three!” The unicorns all immediately lit their horns, filling the sanctum with bright shades of light.
The walls suddenly groaned. A real, deep groan – not the kind of thing you get from shifting stone or anything like that. It sounded like a long, deep horn far off in the distance…only it wasn’t…
Slowly, the runes carved into the chamber floor began to glow with a pale blue light. Each of the unicorn’s auras started to flare and grow as the runes beneath them responded to their power, with the blue glow slowly spreading out along the floor…
Each glyph slowly flared to life like an eye slowly opening after a long sleep. The deep grooves along the walls began to come to life, glowing with an inner blue and the sound of a deeper rumble. The rings around the globe slowly began to move, starting to twist and rotate in place, vanishing into the gaps in the floor as their rotation dipped them below the globe…
Star grunted from my side and I turned to look at her. She was all aglow with a deep blue aura from the sanctum, but she was already sweating and her muzzle was clenched, eyes squeezed shut as she concentrated. I grimaced and looked around. The sanctum was working alright, but getting it to do what we wanted was obviously going to take a while…
Just then, the floor jolted and, unnervingly fast, a deep black void, lit only by the glowing blue glyphs, suddenly opened up beneath us. I felt an instinctive twitch of panic at the sudden freefall pit below and flapped my wings briefly on instinct…
…before I realized the floor was still there. When I looked closely, I could still faintly see the distortion from the gaps between the bricks and tiles beneath us…
The floor had gone transparent.
I immediately looked at Star, who was still focusing and didn’t seem to be aware of the change. One of the other unicorns wasn’t so fixated on his work though. He glanced down and immediately yelled in panic, scrambling with his hooves. I promptly shot over to him and placed a restraining hoof on the recruit’s back. After breathing heavily and sweating for a couple of seconds, the young unicorn looked sideways at me before squeezing his eyes shut and refocusing on the beacons…
Then there was a deep groaning, and slowly…the floor began to rise as the sanctum’s elevator mechanism kicked in…
I could only hope the bug bitch queen didn’t realize what we were up to until it was too late.
Celestia cringed and did her best to stop herself from writhing as Chrysalis struck her cocoon with her magic yet again.
The chamber was alive with changeling activity. Almost everypony had been cocooned and strung up, including Twilight Sparkle and her friends. Some were dragged away somewhere, and any who resisted were bitten and beaten by the drones before they were dragged off. Chrysalis gleefully informed her that a beaten pony made no less of a meal for a changeling than an unmarked one, much to Celestia’s disgust.
Shining Armor and Cadance were the worst by far. Cadance had been pulled from her hooves and suspended in ichor by Chrysalis herself who – cackling with glee – had ordered Shining Armor to raise his shield around the palace grounds – unless of course, he wanted to see Cadance stripped down to the bones by her childrens’ jaws. Shining Armor had no choice but to obey despite Cadance’s pleading with him to forget her and save Canterlot. The same pleas that nearly broke Celestia’s heart…
For the eternally-benevolent Sun princess, the thought of causing another’s death was abhorrent. But now, her regret that she had commanded Shadow Kicker and Midnight Sparkle to save Chrysalis’ life in the past was threatening to overpower that.
If this went on, the mercy she had shown Chrysalis was going to harm more of her little ponies than her displeasure had ever done…the thought was almost enough to reduce Celestia to tears.
Chrysalis had told her Cloud Kicker was already dead – that she had destroyed her in the crystal caverns when she attempted to force her way into the palace. She had refused to believe it, but some of Chrysalis’ story rang true.
The caverns? Why would Chrysalis make up something so unusual? There is at least some truth to this…
Then she felt another jolt…
She stiffened, opening her eyes again.
Another one of her ancient wards had just gone off. Magic was filtering into her horn from a source she had not felt in years…
Her eyes widened. The Sanctum. The Sanctum Solarion…
She glanced out the only balcony that still remained uncovered by changeling slime, itching with the centuries-old urge to lower her sun into the horizon and allow night to begin…but anytime she lit her horn Chrysalis’ cold, wet blanket of power fell over her…
Just then, Celestia felt something. Something unpleasant. Even though she was not consciously controlling it while Chrysalis held her captive, she could still feel her eternal body up in the heavens…
…but just now, she had been shunted aside, her consciousness thrown into a deep corner of the Sun, while someone…or something, had just pushed past her…
She then realized what was happening.
Luna…they are trying to bring Luna back…
She raised her head as far as she could against her ichor restraints and gazed into the far horizon – a horizon where, she knew, the moon would be struggling to rise against the unyielding light of her older sister…
Celestia lowered her head again, too exhausted and saddened to smile. Hurry, Cloud Kicker. There isn’t much time…
Chrysalis stood alone on the balcony overlooking the palace grounds, watching through a thousand eyes as her children threw themselves upon the Kicker clan defenses, at the same time they searched the palace catacombs, at the same time they hung her captives in the meat lockers.
Celestia, Shining Armor, and Mi Amore Cadenza were her trophies however. They would remain here in her power until she found such a time as to sate her hunger…and to let them marinate in tasty fear over their fates for as long as she found it so delicious…
But where was Cloud Kicker?
Chrysalis growled under her breath. The pesky nag was likely hiding under some rock after her children had become aware of her in the palace and she sent them to root her out. It would only be a matter of time until she was found. And then…
She snapped her jaws fiercely at the memory of what that nag had forced her to see down in the caverns…
No chances this time. The instant her children flushed Cloud Kicker out, she would send her entire swarm to destroy her. No slow, gentle feeding this time – she’d allow her children to indulge and tear Cloud Kicker limb from limb…
Just then, Chrysalis’ green eyes refocused, returning from their journey into the hive mind. There was an odd sound in the air...
Chrysalis’ antennae crown twitched and she strained to hear whatever it was that was causing that faint rumbling…
She then took a curious step closer to the edge of the balcony. Whatever it was, it was somewhere in the palace and it was getting louder every moment…
Louder, and louder. Until, instead of a rumbling, it became a massive, ground-shaking roar.
Chrysalis knew something was wrong – she took to the air, looking down upon the library tower below, attached to the palace proper by a long marble bridge…
Right then, dozens of her children combing the library all screamed in instant, blinding agony and their vision broke from the hive mind, snuffed out by the crushing impact of the stone floor bursting beneath their feet!
Chrysalis shrieked – the sound drowned out by the massive explosion that followed. The upper spire of the Canterlot Royal Library burst open like an overripe fruit with an ear-shattering crash!
A great, blue glare greeted the changeling queen’s eyes. The magical nexus within the shattered tower was expanding rapidly, stretching out arcs of fierce blue lightning.
Right there, before the thousand eyes of Chrysalis, the brilliant blue sphere collapsed on itself, leaving a large, diamond circle in the open air, straddling the remnants of the library spire.
Three great spinning globes surmounted a diamond platform – and she knew instantly what they were…
No…no, no, no, NO!!!!
This was impossible! This couldn’t be happening! Not after she’d come this close to her final revenge!!
But there she was.
Cloud Kicker, still clad in the armor of her ancestor, was standing on top of the inner golden globe, wings flared and blades raised…and she was looking right in Chrysalis’ direction…
Before she could move, speak, or think, the yellow orb mounted above the globe glowed brilliantly…
Cloud Kicker opened her mouth.
“NOW!!!!”
There was a brilliant blue flash from six glowing pony-shapes on the platform, and the golden orb opened its outer layer like a huge eye…
That massive, deep black hole rolled up in its orb towards the heavens…and promptly shot a massive golden beam into the air, engulfing Cloud Kicker in light – though her silhouette stood firm within the rising pillar of fire...
The stream of living, raging light snaked and flickered and clawed its way up, and up, and up into the sky…
…and struck the sun.
NO!!!
Thousands of changelings across the city stumbled and fell as their mistress’ mind blanked in utter shock. The sun was falling, fast, heavily, and almost wearily, as though it were tired of its work and speeding towards a long-overdue nap. It would be forever remembered as the fastest sunset in Equestrian history…
The changeling queen’s eyes fell back down to the device, where Cloud Kicker, red, raging, and defiant, glared up at her from the now-dark, sleeping eye in the center…
“DEATH WAITS IN THE SHADOWS!!!” She roared as the moon began to emerge from the dusk, “FOR YOU, CHRYSALIS!!”