Chapter Seven – Into the Fray

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Twilight Sparkle

Twilight had lain awake for far too long. She couldn't stop thinking about Shining and Cadence. Applejack's less-than-thoughtful remark had reopened fresh wounds and then poured salt into them. Her violet eyes were plastered red from crying… again.

It seemed like no matter what she did to take her mind off of their disappearances. The only thing she could do now was to hope for vengeance.

They were so close to Chrysalis and her changeling armies. The monsters that had taken away Cadence and Shining from her. Twilight's teeth gritted at the thought, but her resolve was steadfast. She wanted her revenge more than ever.

Feeling herself drifting away, a sudden jolt forced Twilight back to full awake mode. That jolt was a guard bursting into her tent.

"Gah! What the-?"

"Princess Luna has declared a state of emergency," the soldier spoke hastily.

"She did what? Why?" Twilight asked.

"I'm not entirely sure," the soldier said earnestly. "But she wants everypony battle ready in a few minutes."

The soldier pony vanished before Twilight could get anymore information out of him. Filled with ennui, the purple mare reluctantly reached for her armor. Exhaustion really started to kick in at this point, and Twilight chose to leave it for now.

She decided that before anything else was done, she had to ask Princess Luna what was going on.

Twilight raced through the maze of hastily set-up tents, worming her way through soldiers that were scrambling around. Luna's tent – modestly bigger than the rest – was not to far away, but still hidden in the darkness. A quick flare of magic solved that problem as Twilight's horn lit up the night. Several soldier ponies found themselves shielding their eyes as the purple mare ran past them.

The flap to The Princess of the Night's tent was thrown open as Twilight burst in. A dark blue alicorn turned her head to greet her, while a yellow pegasus and an orange Earth pony looked surprised to see her.

"Hello Twilight," Princess Luna addressed her. "Please come in."

"Princess," Twilight said. "What in Equestria is going on? Why did you sound the alarm? Why are-"

With a single raised hoof, Luna commanded silence. "Fluttershy, if you would tell Twilight what you just told me."

The shy mare nodded meekly. "Well… uh… I was just out flying before going to sleep, and I saw a large group of changelings approaching."

Applejack shot a glance at Twilight, wanting to see her reaction. The purple mare's face was an amalgam of confusion and shock.

"Oh my… P-princess, what are we going to do?" Twilight asked.

"We are going to fight," Luna said calmly, seemingly unaware of their odds.

"Forgive me fer sayin' this, Princess," Applejack began. "But that idea is crazier than Pinkie Pie on a sugar rush. Ya can't be suggestin' that these here soldiers are in any condition ta fight."

"They'll have to be," Luna replied. "You three should find your friends and prepare the Elements of Harmony. They're undoubtedly our best hope for surviving this night."

With that, Princess Luna walked out, levitating her armor behind her. Twilight turned back to her friends, and noticed Fluttershy's sea foam eyes darting back and forth nervously. Her hooves shuffled anxiously. Twilight found herself filled with curiosity.

"Fluttershy," She said. "Why were you out flying so late?"

"Oh… uhm… I was just… out flying… and I saw the changelings approaching…" With each successive pause Fluttershy retreated further behind her pink mane. Clearly, she hadn't been prepared for a follow up question. "Excuse me Twilight, but I have to go!"

The cream colored mare darted out of the tent so fast, neither Twilight or Applejack had time to react. The unicorn turned to her friend.

"What was that all about?" She asked the farmer.

"Ah don't know," Applejack responded. "But Ah'm getting' the feeling that she ain't being completely honest with us."

"You mean Fluttershy was lying about the changelings?" Twilight asked.

"No… that part was true," Applejack replied. "But Ah think she's lying 'bout how she knows they're comin'."

Twilight raised an eyebrow. "Applejack, that doesn't make any sense. Why would Fluttershy lie about something like that?"

The farm pony creased her brows together. "Ah don't know."

They were silent for a few moments. Applejack looked like she wanted to say something else. Twilight shuffled impatiently.

"Hey, Twi," Applejack said. "About what Ah said earlier… Ah'm real sorry. Ah didn't mean ta…"

Twilight sighed. Of course Applejack would bring this up again. "It's f-fine, AJ," she said, her voice cracking slightly. The orange farmer noticed. Twilight turned away towards the tent's exit. "I'm fine," She said, her voice a little steadier this time.

"Ya sure? 'Cause Ah-"

"I said I'm fine, Applejack!" Twilight shouted at her friend. Applejack's green eyes widened at the sudden outburst. Twilight began heading for the tent flap again. "Just leave me alone," She muttered.

Outside the tent, the night had gotten much crazier. Soldiers were running around aimlessly, a few barking orders while others shouted inchoherently. One thing they all had in common was the rush to get battle ready.

She heard the flap of the tent open get pushed aside behind her, knowing Applejack still wanted to talk. Not quite as eager, Twilight ignited her horn in a purple glow. While she was exhausted, the recent events had kept her awake enough to preform a simple teleportation spell. Before AJ could blink, Twilight was gone.

The purple mare reappeared outside her tent. She blinked away tiredness and hurried inside, grabbing the rest of her armor to put on. Fastening the straps with magic, Twilight also removed her helmet in order to fasten on her Element of Harmony. The tiara had sat awkwardly on her head, so she readjusted it. She then levitated her helmet back up.

Wearing both the Element of Magic and a standard issue unicorn helmet would have been impossible, but since Twilight couldn't have gone without one or the other she had used her magic to cut a small slit into the top of the helmet. It slid over her head easily, and made a metallic click sound as it locked in place to her Element.

A small dragon who had been sleeping in the tent woke up due to all the clamor.

"Twilight?" he asked. "What's going on?"

"Spike, there are changelings approaching," Twilight said. "You need to get to a safe place."

"What!" Spike ripped his sleeping bag away, wide-awake now.

"Changelings," Twilight reiterated. "Get to somewhere safe, now."

"But I can help," Spike insisted. "I can fight." He puffed out his chest for emphasis.

"Spike," Twilight said softly. "You're just a kid. I know you want to help, but you could get seriously hurt. Please promise you'll go somewhere safe."

"Alright," Spike said. "I think the Gemstone Forest isn't too far from here. I'll go over there and wait. Promise me you'll be safe?"

"I will, Spike," Twilight promised, unsure if she would be able to keep it. She gave her number one assistant a quick hug, and watched him run out of the tent.

Twilight exhaled a heavy sigh, realizing what was about to happen. Her first real battle was coming up. She would have to use violence against the changelings. She would have to kill them.

Her next breath was shaky with anticipation. She was ready.

Stepping out of her tent, she immediately collided with another pony, both of them falling to the ground.

"Ouch! Watch where you're going!" She snapped.

"Sorry," The pony said, his voice familiar.

"Frostburn?" She asked. The armored stallion seemed surprised to hear her voice.

"Twilight?" He asked, lifting his helmet off to reveal his flaming red hair and bronze eyes. "What the hay is going on? Nopony is telling me anything."

"There's a changeling squadron approaching, apparently," Twilight told him.

Surprise and concern filled Frostburn's face.

"W-what?" He stuttered. "Now?"

"Yes now," Twilight responded bluntly. "They should be here in an hour or so."

A look of pure horror ran across Frostburn's face. Twilight grimaced, realizing not everypony was as resolved to fight as she was.

"Relax," she said, a poor attempt to be comforting. "We'll be fine."

Frostburn offered an obviously weak smile and opened his mouth to say something.

"The changelings are here!" A started guard to Twilight's left called out. She whipped her head around, disbelievingly. It was too soon. Fluttershy had made it sound like they had much more time.

Unfortunately though, the guard wasn't wrong. The invading changelings had overtaken the fringes of their camp. Soldiers had already grabbed a few weapons and were fending off the changelings. It wasn't going well for them.

The swarm was overpowering the guards, despite their best efforts to hold them back. Twilight turned to Frostburn.

"Stay close," she insisted. "We've got to find the rest of the girls." He nodded without hesitation. They ran into the wild fray, desperately beginning a search for the rest of the Man Six.

It was then that Twilight realized she did not have a weapon.

Both she and Frostburn were completely unarmed. Sure she had her magic, but it was severely weakened from exertion. A rouge changeling leaped out at her.

"Ah!" She screamed, sending a beam of magic into its face. Instead of knocking it unconscious, blow stunned it for merely a second.

A second was all it took for Frostburn to react. His forelegs slammed into the changeling, forcing it to the ground. As it struggled to get up, he gave it a severe blow to the stomach – the one place unguarded by its tough carapace. With a wheeze, the changeling was out. Twilight looked at Frostburn in earnest surprise.

"Living on the streets teaches you a few things," he said, kicking her unstated question further down the road.

Unable to stay in one place any longer, Twilight began running back to the battle. Her eardrums were overflowing with the sounds of clanging metal, battle cries, and hellish screams. Pony soldiers were beginning to fall back, their line running into her. She weaved through several of them before finding one of the ponies she was looking for.

"Rainbow Dash!" She called out. The cyan pegasus was holding onto a spear, stabbing at the onslaught of changelings but doing little good. She turned when her name was called.

"Twilight," she said. "Where is everypony?"

"I was hoping you could tell me," Twilight replied, pushing back a few charging bug creatures magically. "We need to assemble the Elements, but so far I've only found you."

Frostburn ran up threw the swarm of retreating guards, an orange farmer right behind him.

"I found AJ!" He shouted.

Applejack began to speak, "Twilight, Ah-"

"Now's not the time," she cut her friend off. "We still need to find everypony else."

"Fallback!" a terrified soldier screamed. "There are too many of them!"

Twilight turned her head just in time to see a throng of changelings break through the defensive line of soldiers. Her eyes widened when she saw the size of the swarm heading right for them.

Her violet eyes darted back to her friends. Dash whirled her spear around in an attack stance. AJ's muscles tensed. Frostburn narrowed his eyes, a fierce, yet dull hatred forcing him to brace for a fight.

Then an explosion rocketed the air. The changeling swarm before them was dissipated by a blast of random party supplies. Twilight and the others blinked in shock as little bits of confetti fell before their faces.

"Party canon to the rescue!" an enthusiastic cheer rang out from behind them.

"Pinkie?" Twilight asked in shock. She turned along with everypony else to see the party pony a mere five feet behind them, fully armored and her weapon primed. She beamed.

"Hi Twilight," Pinkie exclaimed, waving her hoof erratically. "Hi Applejack. Hi Rainbow. Hi Frosty."

"Who gave Pinkie Pie a canon?" Frostburn wondered aloud.

"Come on," Twilight said, ignoring Frostburn's question. "We've got to keep moving." They all began to run, save one blue stallion who was still in a state of disbelief.

"I'm serious," he shouted, beginning to catch up to them. "Who gave her a canon?"

Nopony answered Frostburn's question however, they had to focus on the raging battles surrounding them. It was mostly a game of duck and cover. Dash would upon occasion swing her spear like a club to deflect a changeling. Other times Pinkie would wildly fire her canon into the fighting. Luckily she only hit changelings.

Twilight kept searching fervently, but found no sign of Fluttershy or Rarity. Clamoring though the fighting, she did see somepony familiar. Princess Luna.

The dark blue alicorn was a maelstrom of magic at the moment. Surrounding her was an energy shield so powerful Twilight could feel it singe her eyebrows from nearly forty feet away. Arching from the shield were cracks of lightning, each targeting and dispatching changelings by the second.

Several of her foes attempted an aerial attack, dive bombing the princess to avoid the lightning. Without even looking, Luna froze them all in midair. She kept them suspended for a moment, each changeling wrapped in a aura of blue. With a definitive burst they all were forced back.

Twilight looked back to see her friends wide eyed and staring. They were just as awed by the princess's display as she was.

"Whoa," Pinkie whispered.

"So awesome…" Dash said softly.

Twilight shook herself to her senses. "Snap out of it," she demanded her friends. "We have to keep moving while the Princess draws their attacks."

This was met with varying degrees of nods.

"All right then," Twilight said. "Let's-"

"Hey it's Fluttershy!" Pinkie enthusiastically cut her off. Twilight whipped her head around. Sure enough, the party pony was right. Not far away from Luna's onslaught was a recognizable yellow mare.

The group rushed forward. Twilight led everypony in a circle around Luna, ducking as wounded changelings sailed over their heads. The figure of Fluttershy grew larger the closer they got, and Twilight saw another pony right beside her.

He was clearly a soldier, with armor covering every inch of him. He wielded a spear to fend off changelings, but oddly enough it appeared he wasn't trying to hurt them. Just a few side swipes to knock them down or turn them away; nothing like the killing blows other soldiers were dealing out. Fluttershy was standing behind him as he fended off incoming enemies. As Twilight drew closer from behind, the soldier pony whirled around, almost striking her with the spear.

"Smoking, stop!" Fluttershy yelled. His spear froze in midair. The yellow mare sheepishly stepped out from behind him. "Hi girls."

"Fluttershy, are you all right?" Twilight asked.

She nodded and indicated the soldier next to her. "I'm fine. Smoking Dagger has been protecting me."

Twilight turned to the stallion by her friend's side. "Thank you for keeping her safe."

He nodded with a grunt. Smoking Dagger wasn't focusing on Twilight and her gratefulness. His eyes were instead trained on Frostburn. There didn't seem to be any happiness in them either. Even with the sounds of a war raging around her, Twilight heard Frostburn shift nervously.

"Fluttershy, you didn't happen to see Rarity since the battle began have you?"

An explosion in Luna's direction jolted the frightened pegasus for a moment. When she calmed down enough to speak, she said, "She was here a moment ago, but we got separated. I'm sorry Twilight."

"I'll go find her," Frostburn volunteered, stepping out of the group. Smoking Dagger's cold blue eyes followed his movements.

"What?" Dash asked. "Frost, it's a warzone out there! You could get killed."

With a deep breath, Frostburn offered his solemn response. Ripping off his armor. Everypony gasped. Without his armor on, Frostburn was free to open his wings. Free to use his power.

"Let me come with you," Dash insisted.

"No," Frostburn said firmly. "We can't let the Elements be split up any more than they already are." He moved closer to the cyan mare. "I'll be fine." He promised.

Rainbow's mouth remained open but she didn't say anything. Twilight didn't blame her. There were no words for the inedibility of the situation.

Frostburn turned around and ran straight into the war.

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Rarity

Battles raged around her in a violent torrent. She could only stay low and pray a stray sword or spear didn't find it's way towards her. Rarity began crawling across the ground, trying the escape the violent melee. The dirt clung to her, but she ignored it. A little dirt was better than taking a spear to the face after all.

She felt helpless and meek crawling around, looking for a way out. The white unicorn lamented not having a weapon or at least some combat experience.

A sword fell, impaling the dirt in front of her head. She shrieked loudly, causing a few changelings and guards around her to flinch.

"Rarity?"

Her head snapped up in recognition.

"Frostburn?"

The ice blue pegasus was several feet away, but still clearly visible to her. She stood up as high as she dared and shouted, "I'm over here!"

He saw her, and immediately began running towards her. A plethora of soldiers and changelings were in his way, but Frostburn's charge knocked all of them aside, regardless of allegiance.

One changeling leaped to attack him, and had his jaw broken by a well-aimed punch.

The remaining distance between them was covered in the space of a heartbeat. Frostburn grabbed Rarity in a powerful hug. She returned it affectionately. It was then she realized he wasn't wearing any armor.

"Frostburn!" she exclaimed. "What happened to your-"

"I took it off," he stated hastily. "Just in case I had to… you know."

She stared at him with worried eyes. Frostburn was willing to use his powers in the midst of the battle. Rarity barely had time to register this before Frostburn's eyes grew wide with fear.

"Get down!" He screamed, grabbing her and pushing them both to the ground. Rarity felt something leap over there heads, attempting to attack the spot they had just been at. It was a changeling, and it was coming around for another attack.

Frostburn reacted violently, tackling the creature to the ground. The two grappled in the dirt, each trying to find and seize an advantage over the other. Rarity watched as the blue stallion locked the left foreleg of the changeling behind it's back. For a few seconds, all it could do was hiss menacingly.

Then it broke free of the hold and dug its fangs into Frostburn's neck.

He howled in pain. Before she could even think, Rarity felt her horn light up and fire three powerful magical bolts at the changeling. They all hit their mark, sending the creature down. Rarity immediately went to Frostburn.

His hoof was pressed against his neck in an attempt to quell the bleeding. She knelt down hoping there was something she could do to help.

"Frostburn?" she tentatively asked.

"The others aren't far from here," he said in a strained voice. "You have to find them and end this."

"I'm not leaving you here," Rarity firmly said.

"I didn't think you would," Frostburn replied.

With some difficulty, Rarity managed to prop Frostburn up and against her shoulder. He wasn't immensely weakened from the wound – yet – but Rarity felt it was better safe than sorry at this point.

They began running as fast as possible through the battle, Frostburn showing her the direction back to the rest of the Mane Six. Rarity couldn't help but see his wound bleeding profusely as they moved. His blue coat was becoming paler as well, and his breathing labored. It was a miracle he hadn't already passed out. She wanted to veer off course and find a medic, but knew he wouldn't accept one.

As they continued on, Rarity began to notice that lots of soldiers seemed to be running in the opposite direction as them. Curious, she looked behind her, and could not stop the gasp that broke through her lips when she did.

"What?" Frostburn croaked.

"Nothing," she immediately replied, resuming to walk a much faster pace.

"Rarity…"

"All right, fine," she whispered. "There just so happens to be a massive amount of changelings swarming right behind us, now can we please keep moving?"

"How massive?" Frostburn asked, turning his head. He winced at the neck pain it caused.

With an outstretched hoof, Rarity turned his head back to facing ahead of them. He frowned at her.

"It's a lot," she said, obvious fear in her voice.

Frostburn stopped walking and shrugged off Rarity's supporting hooves. He had a resolved face that worried her.

"What are you doing?" she asked.

"I'm going to hold them off."

"What?!"

He looked at her, face like stone. "You've got to get to Twilight and the others and use the Elements, otherwise we all might die tonight. I can hold them off long enough."

"But Frostburn, you're hurt," she argued.

"I can still open my wings," he replied.

"No!" She shouted, pupil dilating. "Frostburn, you said so yourself that you can't control it yet. Don't do this."

Frostburn used his one free foreleg to hug Rarity close. He buried is face in her mane for just a moment before whispering into her ear, "Please just go."

He backed away before she could respond. Unleashing a brutal war cry, he charged at the swarming changelings, just as the last of the soldiers were cut down.

Rarity watched in terror as Frostburn single-hoofedly ran at the creatures.

A single second before he was about to be overtaken, the stallion unfurled his wings.

An explosion rocketed across the battlefield, knocking Rarity down. The mass of changelings released shrieks of fear and pain as they were singed for being to close to the now flaming Frostburn.

Blinking at the sudden influx of light and heat, Rarity looked at the stallion, clinging to the hope that Frostburn would be able to maintain control.

His eyes were glowing a fiery red.

---

Well this was a long time coming. Sorry for the immense hiatus guys, was it like two months or something? Yikes. I apologize again for being such an asshole about updating. Things just kept coming up and I just kept having to push this project off to the side. I hope I can update more often from now on (or at least not another two month long wait, am I right?)

Again, sorry for being an asshole.

Thanks for reading, and let me know what you thought of this chapter or the story as a whole. Or you know, just leave a review complaining about the long wait. That's perfectly justified at this point.