12

Battle of the Rose

Rainbow Dash felt the wind whip through her colorful mane, Chrysalis's demonic form looming horrifyingly towards Equestria. She sped up, zooming past Chrysalis. Chrysalis instantly spotted the bright, pastel-colored pony, and lurched for her – her fangs dotted with blood. Zipping with impressive agility, Rainbow Dash just barely dodged Chrysalis's attack, and headed right for the castle, which was in eyesight.

Ignoring the monster's ugly roar of anger, Rainbow Dash aimed her landing right on the balcony of the sister's castle. However, being away from the art of flying for so long, she crashed right into a window. Glass shattered everywhere.

A dazed pegasus lied on the floor of the throne room, mentally tending to the wounds that the glass had cut.

"Rainbow Dash!" She heard the familiar voice of Princess Celestia. "What is the meaning of this?!"

Getting up, Rainbow shook her head, letting glass fall out of her mane. Looking up at Celestia, her eyebrows sank into a defensive mode.

"That."

The cyan pony pointed in the direction of Chrysalis, who was now running hastily in her direction.

The beast screeched ferociously, clearly coming for everyone in Canterlot. Celestia's eyes wide open in shock and fear, she lifted her wings in a protective, dominant way. The alicorn shot her head in Rainbow Dash's direction.

"You can fill me in later." Celestia whipped her head to the direction of a guard pony, who was trembling at what power Chrysalis had gained.

"Set up a shield surrounding Canterlot at once! And make sure that every single guard is on station!"

"Yes, your highness!"

The guard pony ran off, his tail streaking behind him. Celestia stretched her wings out, and flew out the window that Rainbow had broke. As the pegasus watched, Celestia landed on the balcony that Rainbow was trying to land on. Rainbow Dash grimaced.

What should I do? What should I do?

Almost as soon as she thought it, she saw all the clouds up in the sky, obviously darkened in fear of what treachery lies beneath them. She took off out of the window again, head up high and her wings taking the form of a dart to reach up to the clouds.

Icy winds gripped at her fur – but the pegasus chose to ignore the storm, and whipped up gray clouds, aiming for the top of Chrysalis's head. Before long, fog swept up the land in a heap, which ultimately made the titan stop dead in her tracks. Chrysalis roared with frustration, her crooked horn sparking with corrupted aura. In a deadly blast, she fired her anger out on the land, in an attempt to clear the fog of which blinded her. Rainbow looked onwards, regretting her "help."

Chrysalis was angrier than ever. The possessed queen twisted her head in every direction, trying to see where she was going. She blasted another bright green light at the clouds – of which Rainbow witnessed a whole section of Equestria utterly destroyed.

Suddenly, another bright beam of light struck at the gigantic monstrosity. Rainbow flew over to see the source of the energy beam. The all mighty powerful Celestia was hovering just above Chrysalis, looking determined and dominating.

"You have threatened my home, you attack my citizens, and you destroyed my land." The white alicorn flew higher up, her aura sparking with an oncoming attack. "Your sentence for your transactions is DEATH!" With that, Celestia whipped her head, lashing out at the beast with an extremely powerful beam. It struck Chrysalis right at her shoulder; just where her wing was connected to her body. Chrysalis howled with pain and anger, and fought back with another energy blast. Celestia just managed to dodge, her wings gracefully spinning just out of reach.

"Luna, NOW!" Celestia barked, and out of nowhere, Luna came blasting through with a bright blue beam from beyond the stars. She had hit Chrysalis directly on her back, and forced her on the ground. Chrysalis had had enough.

Using a mysterious red hue, she suddenly gained more power. Bursting back up from the ground, she blasted her newfound power up into the sky – creating dozens of bombs that exploded everywhere. Rainbow zipped away from the clouds, doing her best to evade the explosions.

Chrysalis laughed demonically, the red hue flowing through her scaly exterior. Her humor was cut short when something pink split through her shoulder blade. Outraged by the unexpected attack, she veered her head to see her third opponent. Cadence flapped her wings in the most elegant dance of the detonation in the skies. The artificial alicorn took up more elevation to see how much damage she had actually done.

Green blood partially smeared all around her body, as the three alicorns had definitely given her their all.

"I've beaten you once," said Cadence, "and I'll do it again!"

Through a twisted smile, Chrysalis snorted.

"I feel like I've heard the exact same line from the one little pony that I kidnapped..."

Cadence bared her teeth, her eyes flared with anger.

"...your sister-in-law, I presume?"

"I'LL HAVE YOU PAY FOR WHAT YOU'VE DONE!" Cadence charged at Chrysalis at break-neck speed, shooting thousands of lasers at her face. Chrysalis's eyes flashed a bright red, and suddenly, vanished.

Cadence skidded to a halt in mid-air. "What the-?!"

"It seems I've stumped the dumbest of the bunch." Chrysalis stood right behind the pink alicorn, grinning disgustingly.

"Enough of this foolishness!" Celestia attacked at her enemy again. Her sunlight death-beam went right past the dark queen, whose eyes flashed red once again, and teleported away from the princess's attempt to murder her.

"Oh, so sorry, but you missed!" Chrysalis teased her menacingly. Unsuspectingly, Luna ducted into the clouds; her own eyes illuminated a white light, and started with a banishment curse.

"Oh, how quaint." Chrysalis smirked again, using telekinesis to wrap Luna around with her aura. "Looks like somepony wants to invite me to Tartarus." She began to crush the moon alicorn with her magic. "Well, think again."

A particularly strong attack sliced Chrysalis's side, causing her to release Luna and turn to her opponent's direction.

"Leave her be!" Celestia wrapped her own aura around the queen's head, attempting to rip it off. Cadence joined in, making an aura-rope to tie around Chrysalis's legs. Luna, regaining her life again, used her magic to make sure that the queen held still.

Rainbow Dash flew back into the castle, unsure whether she should assist the princess's gruesome battle, or attempt to find her friends.

"Rainbow Dash!" The pegasus heard a familiar voice call her name.

"What the-? Spike?!" As the purple and green dragon stopped to catch his breath, and held up one claw to catch a breather, he gulped in some air and basically shouted,

"Where's Twilight?! Is she alright?!"

"Hey, relax dude. She's fine, but I have no idea where to find her –"

"Then we gotta find her!"

Spike gripped onto Rainbow's neck, climbing on her back.

"Giddy up!"

"And what, exactly, do you think you're doing?"

"Finding Twilight! Hurry up!"

"While THAT'S happening?!" Rainbow directed her head towards the gigantic battle.

"YES, while that's HAPPENING. COME ON!"

Biting her bottom lip, Rainbow took off again, Spike clutching on as hard as he could, determined to find the purple unicorn.

"How the heck did you get in the castle?! I thought you were at Twilight's place back in Ponyville!"

"I was! Until she sent me a distress note saying that she wasn't the real Twilight! Er, wait, that the Twilight we've been hanging out with wasn't the real – whatever! Point is, I got on the train, and came as fast as I could, and –"

"There they are!" Rainbow Dash pointed out with her hoof. All 9 ponies were running together in the direction of the battle. Rainbow didn't need any prodding from Spike to got and meet them.

Rainbow Dash pulled the brakes in front of the slowing ponies. Flapping her wings a single time, she felt Spike slip off her back and run up to Twilight with tears streaking down his eyes.

"Twilight!"

"Spike!"

The two welcomed each other in a cut-short hug.

"Twilight, I got your –"

"I think we all know I'm the right one, you missed out on the whole 'rescuing thing' and WE GOTTA KEEP MOVING!" Twilight dashed off with the rest of the ponies, Pinkie, Rarity and Sweetie Belle trailing behind them. Spike on Twilight's back, Rainbow Dash sped up to her, asking,

"What are you doing?!"

"The only way to stop Chrysalis is the elements!"

"But we don't know where those are!"

"I do!"

"Okay, fine, you do, but all the princess's have it under control –"

In an abrupt moment, a titanic explosion blew over almost everything, sweeping the trees back. All the ponies' ears ringing, the only thing they could hear was Chrysalis's diabolical laughter covering the ground.

Shining Armor came up to Rainbow rapidly.

"Did you say all the princesses?"

Blinking, the cyan pony nodded her head slowly, remembering who he was married to. Shining's eyes grew smaller. "...No..." He ran up ahead. "NO!"

"Shining Armor, come back!" Twilight ran after him, leaving the other ponies have no choice but to follow the two unicorns. The white unicorn stampeded through Chrysalis's destruction, his head whipping wildly around for Cadence. Sure enough, she was in the rubble of all the ruin.

"CADENCE!" Shining Armor threw away the rocks with his blue magic, helping Cadence out of the wreckage.

"Cadence... I told you to stay back at the Crystal Palace... why didn't you listen to me?"

Cadence coughed feebly, smiling weakly when she saw Shining. Her smile dimmed.

"Because she needed to be taken down."

Her eyes flittering, Cadence blacked out. Shining Armor holding her just in case she lost her breath, he turned to a stunned Twilight and Spike.

"Find the Elements." He spoke in his commanding voice. "And make sure she pays." Twilight blinked.

"But what about the Princesses?"

"I'll take care of that, just go kill Chrysalis."

Twilight took a step back, and Spike clutched onto her mane, then nodded. She then ran past the others, onto the direction of the Elements. Rarity turned to the Cutie Mark Crusaders.

"Stay with Shining Armor – make sure to do as he tells you to and please, please, please don't get killed."

After sulking a little bit, the CMC nodded, and watched the rest of the ponies go off on their way.

"...Stupid." Scootaloo mutters.

Twilight skidded to the right. She'd found the place where Chrysalis had actually hidden them.

"So how do 'ya know this is it, sugarcube?" Applejack asked cautiously.

"Because the Rose said they'd be here..."

"Speaking of which, what is this crazy 'Rose?' It sounds like a new evil bad guy!" Pinkie responded.

"No, it just gives and receives. It's a magical flower that can take in magic, and give some in return. And while in the transition of magic, you can ask it questions in thought, and it will answer them truthfully."

"So you broke out of prison how?" Rainbow asked, completely confused.

"Ugh, the Monster's Saliva can't stand with so much magic flowing around in or out of it, so it's reaction just falls apart. NOW WE HAVE A DEMON TO BEAT, SO LET'S STOP WASTING TIME."

Twilight removed a giant platform out of the way with her aura, revealing a set of stairs that traveled into darkness. Using her horn as a lantern, she started going down them.

"Oh, well, geez, this doesn't seem familiar at all." Spike spoke sarcastically.

"Quiet, Spike! I'm trying to concentrate!"
"Oh, hey! Lookie here, I found them!" Pinkie Pie bounced up and down to a stone with all of their cutie marks carved in it.

"That's great, Pinkie, but, um, how do we get them out?" Fluttershy asked nervously. Pinkie shrugged, and glanced at Twilight for answers.

"Uh..." The unicorn had no answers.

"Well, is it like Discord, when we turned him to stone, only in reverse?" Rarity suggested.

"Well, even if it was, we'd need the Elements, and they're..." Twilight trailed off.

"- Stuck in stone. Yep, that figures. Guess we're all doomed." Rainbow Dash plopped next to Applejack.

"No, there has to be a way!"

Everypony was stumped as to how to get the crown and necklaces out. Pinkie hovered near the carvings, every now and then she would tap on the surface, just so she could listen to it bounce back. An idea suddenly struck her mind.

"Applejack!" She suddenly barked at the earth pony.

"What?!" The cowpony was startled at the outburst.

"Buck it!" Pinkie demanded.

"You want me to do wh'a?!"

"I said BUCK IT!" Pinkie yowled at Applejack.

Without another word, Applejack reared her legs up at the carvings, and slammed her hooves down on the surface. The carvings cracked, but it did not budge.

Applejack, now seeing where Pinkie was going with the idea, tried again. More cracks.

Again.

More.

Again.

Some more.

Finally, a beam of light shined through a crack. Everyone smiled, it had worked.

Applejack continued to buck the wall until it just collapsed all together. There – all six Elements beamed brightly at their hosts.

The necklaces floated towards those who wore them, and the crown sat atop of Twilight's head.

"Alright, girls," Twilight said, "let's go give this queen a taste of our rainbow."

Chrysalis continued to destroy the valley lands, and trying to bring down the shields of Canterlot. She scowled, every moment that slips by takes away her sanity and just replaces it with her desire to destroy. Her inner self wanted to stop; she had already defeated the alicorn princesses, and had the whole empire for herself. She and her Changelings could easily take over and start a new decade.

However, the Rose's magic had other plans. She was no longer interested in "ruling" over anything. All she wanted to do was eliminate. Deep down, Chrysalis silently hoped that Twilight would find the Elements and take her down. She had gone much too far.

As if her prayers were answered, she heard a single voice yell out to her.

"Chrysalis!"

The possessed queen turned to look behind herself. There was Twilight and the rest of the ponies, just standing on the ground, all looking prepared for some sort of fight. The Rose Chrysalis laughed mockingly,

"This is hysterical. You expect me to believe that a bunch of fillies can take me down? Ha! You're more pathetic than you let on, Sparkle."

"Not just a bunch of fillies, Chrysalis." Twilight's voice boomed over the devastated valleys, "We are the Elements of Harmony!"

With that sentence said, all six ponies' eyes glowed simultaneously.

Floating all together to reach Chrysalis's height, their individual colors began to form around them – blue, yellow, pink, purple, orange, and purple all bounced off each other, and spun together in a gigantic, colorful beam of power.

The ribbons of rainbows wrapped all around Chrysalis, stretching from her feet all the way up to her head, muffling her cries of anger.

Then on Twilight's instant silent command, the rainbow burst into a thousand sparkling lights, scattering all over Equestria, repairing all of the destruction that the Rose has caused. Glowing even brighter, the Elements began to suck all of the Rose's magic away from Chrysalis, leaving her on the ground unmoving.

The deed done, Twilight lowered the rest of the ponies back on the ground, to meet a stunned insect queen.

She groaned, slowly rising back up to her feet. Realizing where she was, she faced the six angry ponies head-on.

Rolling her green cat-eyes, she spoke,

"I suppose I should give you a 'thank you?'"

"You have a lot more to give us than that." Twilight said, her horn sparking.

Chrysalis raised her eyebrow. The ponies surrounded her, ready to make another attack if she tried something. The queen rolled her eyes once again.

"What, you don't think I'll come along quietly?"

The ponies stared at her, still tensed and ready to make a move.

Chrysalis staying calm the whole time, the ponies brought her up to the castle, to face her punishment.