ASSAULT ON CANTERLOT

"TWILIGHT, THIS MIGHT SOUND LIKE A DUMB QUESTION", RAINBOW DASH SAID, "but why don't you just teleport us to Canterlot? It would be a lot faster, you know."

"I don't want to risk us ending up in the middle of a Changeling horde," Twilight said. "I know this seems stupid, but it's a bit safer. Besides, that boy was probably just bluffing, right?"

"He wasn't bluffing," Sango said darkly. "I know he wasn't."

"You said that boy was your brother," Rarity said. "But he didn't seem to recognize you."

"It's a long story."

Inuyasha, who had been pacing back and forth for the past several minutes, let out a frustrated growl. "Where the hell is this contraption?!"

"It'll be here any minute, Inuyasha," Kagome said. "Just calm down. We'll get there."

"I'll calm down when I've taken Jurorenmaru's jewel shard."

A few moments later, the train pulled into the station, its brakes hissing as the engine came to a stop. Twilight galloped to the front of the train to speak with the driver.

"Driver! We need to get to Canterlot, and we need to get there now!"

"I'm sorry, Your Highness," the driver said. "But this line doesn't go to Canterlot. My next stop is Hoofington."

"There's a switch two miles down the track," Twilight said. "That will put us on the line to Canterlot."

"I'm sorry, Princess Twilight, but I can't do that."

Inuyasha had joined them by this point. "Listen, asshole," he said as he brandished his claws. "You either do as the horse says, or you're going to be in for a major ass kicking. Your pick."

"Threatening me won't change the fact that I'm not scheduled to go to Canterlot, sonny."

Okay, Twilight thought. I hate doing this, but it's time to pull rank on this guy. "Listen," she said. "I am a Princess, and I have pressing matters to attend to in Canterlot. I think that entire city might be in danger, and as Princess of Friendship, I ORDER you to take us to Canterlot!"

Even this guy can't ignore a direct order from a princess, Kagome thought to herself.

The driver's eyes shifted back and forth between Twilight – who was glaring at him like she were an angry manticore – and Inuyasha – who had gone from brandishing his claws to preparing to pull out his sword. He had just been given a direct order from a PRINCESS! There was no way he could ignore that, and he was sure that if he DID defy her orders, Inuyasha would probably kill him.

"Well, Your Highness, when you put it like that, I simply cannot refuse. In this case, you and your companions don't need any tickets. Climb aboard. Canterlot it is!"

"Finally, we're moving," Inuyasha hissed.

Twilight gave a small nod to the driver. "Thank you for your cooperation." She joined her friends as they climbed into the train car. "Next stop: Canterlot."

"Why do I have the feeling it's going to get trashed again?" Rainbow Dash asked as the train started moving forward. "Seriously, last time, it took almost a year to fix the city. But I guess that as long as evil alien robots aren't involved, it's fine."

"Do I even want to know?" Shippo asked.

"Long story," Rainbow Dash said.

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They sat on the hillside, about half a mile from the city's gates and well out of sight of any prying eyes. Jurorenmaru was surprised that they hadn't been spotted yet; there must have been five hundred Changelings here, plus himself, Kagura, Kanna, and Kohaku, not to mention the hive of Saimyosho he still carried in his kimono – just in case he needed them.

Jurorenmaru had spent the past half hour sharpening all of his blades; swords, knives, daggers – he wanted them all to be as sharp as the day they were forged. Kagura was leaning up against a nearby tree, her arms crossed. She let out an annoyed sigh; she was getting impatient. Kanna stood by her side, her mirror still clutched in both hands, her black eyes unblinking on her blank face. Kohaku had borrowed one of Jurorenmaru's sharpening stones, and was using it to sharpen the blade on his kusarigama.

"So, Prince," Kagura said, addressing Carapace, who was standing nearby with his two generals. "Are we going to wait here all day for you to do something? The sun's starting to go down."

"Ah, yess. Princccesss Luna hasss begun raisssin the moon."

A princess who controls the moon? Kagura thought. At least it's not Kaguya this time.

"So, what exactly are we waiting for?" she asked again.

"For the cover of night," Carapace replied. "I would prefer to take thisss cccity without anypony noticccing."

"I think they'd notice a bunch of insectoid horses running around. You and your crew aren't exactly what I would call discreet. And do you really mean to tell me that your whole plan revolves around taking this city during the night? How exactly is that going to help you get your revenge?"

Carapace turned to Kohaku. "You. Boy. You sssaid that you delivered the messsage, yess?"

"Yes, Prince Carapace," Kohaku said. "I don't know if Princess Twilight will come, though."

"Oh, she will come. With her older brother the captain and her sssissster-in-law, Princccesss Cadanccce, in Canterlot for the weekend, she will mossst cccertainly arrive. She would be a fool not to."

Jurorenmaru stood up. He sheathed his swords and put his sharpening stone back into his satchel. "Well," he said as he stretched his legs. "If we're going to be doing this, Prince Carapace, I have just one condition."

"Name it."

"We don't kill the townsfolk."

"I beg your pardon, Jurorenmaru? Who are you to order me, the Princcce of the Changelingsss?"

"It's not an order, my prince, it's a humble request. Think about it – the townsfolk, guards notwithstanding, are purely innocent in all of this. As far as you've said, your grudge is only with Princess Twilight Sparkle. So I respectfully ask that the townsfolk be spared."

"Jurorenmaru, are you sure you're a demon?" Kagura asked. "Most demons wouldn't care if the townsfolk got slaughtered."

"Yeah, well, I'm one of the few demons who DOES care, Kagura." He reached into his satchel and pulled out the jewel shard. "Here, Carapace. I'd like you to have this now."

"Your jewel shard?"

"Consider it a good faith payment."

"Good faith? For what?"

"For me, keeping my end of the bargain."

Carapace's horn began to glow with a sick green aura. The same aura surrounded the jewel shard, lifting it off the ground. He examined it closely.

"To think, ssso much power can come from sssuch a sssmall ssstone."

"You'd be surprised," Jurorenamru said. "So, Prince, just give the word, and on your command, I will lead the charge into the city."

"No," Carapace said. "There will be no 'charge'. Here isss what I want you to do. You, Kagura, Kanna, and Kohaku each take a sssquadron of Changelingsss into the cccity. Take it bit by bit if you mussst. You may ignore the townsssfolk, but if any guardsss should get in your way, by all meansss, ssslay them."

Jurorenmaru leaned forward – a respectful bow. "As you wish, My Prince." He turned to the Changelings. "One squad, come with me! We're going to have some fun."

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Jurorenmaru was surprised at how easy it was to take down the guards at the gate; there were only two guards, and each one had his throat ripped out by a Changeling. The gate itself was made of some heavy wood – oak, possibly maple – but even it couldn't stand up against Kagura's wind. With the gate down, Jurorenmaru, Kohaku, and Kanna were free to lead their squads into the city – Kagura had taken to the air on that giant feather of hers to command her squad of Changelings.

Carapace's two generals, Thorax and Arachnae, were with them as well. They had the same orders as the rest of the Changelings – no civilian casualties. At least, no intentional civilian casualties. Oh, sure, the Changelings would probably find some loophole to that, but Jurorenmaru had been around long enough to know the difference between an intentional killing and an accidental killing.

Just to be safe, he had released some Saimyosho to keep an eye on them; Kanna was monitoring them with her mirror. As far as he could tell, that was all Kanna and the Saimyosho were good for – surveillance.

Jurorenmaru took a moment to observe this city. It was massive, much larger than any village or city he had ever been to. And judging from the towers in the distance, he figured that this was probably some sort of castle town. It would make sense; after all, Carapace had said that the princesses lived in this city. But everything about this city was…unusual. The streets were made of interconnected stones; the homes and shops were made out of a white stone that he couldn't identify; the stone was too smooth to be natural. It seemed hand-made. Or in this case, hoof-made.

He was amazed at how fast word spread. Several stallions came rushing to meet them, each one dressed in gold armor and carrying a spear, held in one foreleg while they ran on the other three legs. Jurorenmaru took out his swords, and when the first guard was close enough, he cut the spear in half before severing the guard's head from his shoulders.

Another guard leaped at him. This one had his front legs cut off. He tumbled to the ground, where a small group of Changelings were on him in a second. Jurorenmaru kept his focus on the remaining guards, ignoring the fallen guard's pained cries as the Changelings ripped and tore at his flesh.

From out of the corner of his eye, he saw a cyclone form and blow several armored guards away. Kagura, using her control over the wind to create the cyclone. If those guards weren't dead already, they would be soon, either from their wounds or from the Changelings.

He turned to follow the street, a squad of Changelings following him and attacking any guards they came across. Jurorenmaru himself took out some guards, slashing them with his swords, or in the case of a guard who had managed to get through a small group of Changelings, Jurorenmaru had snapped his neck.

One Changeling lunged to attack. Its target: A family of ponies.

Jurorenmaru ran to intercept, placing himself between the Changeling and pointing one of his swords at it. "Your Prince gave you orders – no civilians are to be harmed." He turned to the pony family. "Get to cover. Now."

He could hear the screams of ponies running from the battle – Battle? More like a massacre – or the pained screams of the guards suffering from their wounds or having their flesh torn apart. Blood soaked the ground. There were bits of flesh and entrails scattered here and there. A leg here, a hoof there, one Changeling running with a guard's severed head in its mouth.

Compared to what Jurorenmaru had seen over the years, human battles were tame compared to this. At least humans didn't eat each other. These Changelings were gorging themselves on the guards like they hadn't had anything to eat in several months.

It was sickening.

But he had a job to do, as did these creatures. And that job was to clear a path to the palace. Which Jurorenmaru now had in his sights.

There was another pony here, a stallion with a horn on his head, standing tall and proud, and wearing the same gold armor as all the other guards.

"I knew humans could be evil," he said, his voice dripping with rage, "but not like this."

"Well then, it's a good thing I'm not human."

"You certainly look the part."

Jurorenmaru tightened his grips on his swords. "Look, I would really hate to add you to the body count. Though I'm sure these Changelings wouldn't mind. But I have a job to do, as I'm sure you do as well. And to be honest, you're doing a pretty piss-poor job of it. I mean, me and these Changelings – we've arrived at the palace, and most of your guards are dead or dying. Just be glad we decided to spare the innocent townsfolk. So I propose a question to you, my good sir – are you going to step aside and let us in, or is this going to have to get even uglier than it already has?"

The stallion responded by firing a magenta beam from his horn. Jurorenmaru quickly dove out of the way. The Changeling behind him wasn't so lucky; the beam found its mark and blew the Changeling's head into a bloody mist.

"I may not be as powerful as my sister," the stallion said, "but make no mistake – I will end you. Understand, human?"

"DANCE OF BLADES!"

A volley of wind blades came streaking towards the stallion. In a blinding flash, he was no longer standing in front of the palace doors – instead, he had appeared behind Kagura, allowing him to give her a good kick in the back and sending her sprawling face first into the ground. She got up and turned to the stallion, glaring at him. Her red eyes seemed to become a darker shade, almost blood red.

"You little – "

"Explain yourselves!" the stallion yelled. "Why have you allied with the Changelings? What is your goal? Why are you doing this?"

"That isss an easssy quessstion to anssswer, Princcce Shining Armor."

Carapace had appeared behind the stallion – Shining Armor, a prince. The color drained from Shining Armor's face. He turned to look behind him, and as soon as he laid eyes on Carapace, the Changeling Prince slammed his forehead into Shining Armor's face, sending him stumbling backwards. Blood oozed from his nose as he glared at Carapace.

"Thessse humansss – no, thessse demonsss – are aiding me. For you sssee, I have busssinesss with your dear sssissster, the princccesss."

Whatever fear Shining Armor was feeling was replaced with anger and rage. "You leave Twilight alone, you son of a – "

Carapace fired a green beam from his horn before Shining Armor could finish. The beam hit, sending Shining Armor sprawling. Several Changelings began to converge on him, their mouths agape, saliva dripping from the blood-soaked and gore-encrusted fangs.

"Leave him," Carapace said. "Allow him to deliver the messsage to Princccesss Twilight Sssparkle. Till then, there are three other Princccesssesss who await usss."

"Please, allow me to escort you in, my prince," Jurorenmaru said. He sheathed his swords and pushed the doors open.

The palace doors were heavier than he'd expected, but they still opened quite easily. As soon as they were open all the way, Changelings – led by Carapace and his generals – stormed inside and headed up the spiral staircase. Any guards in their way were quickly eliminated.

They arrived at their destination – the top floor, where the princesses stayed. Carapace fired a beam at the doors, blasting them open. On the other side, standing with their front legs spread in a defensive posture, with their wings flared and their horns glowing – one was glowing yellow, one was glowing a dark shade of blue, and the other was glowing a lighter shade of blue – were three tall, regal, admittedly beautiful mares. The tallest, with her multi-colored mane and tail flowing like water in a stream, was pearl white, with a sun marking; the one next to her was slightly smaller; her mane and tail were also flowing, only they had the pattern of the night sky; this mare's fur was also colored like the night sky, complete with a moon marking; the third was shorter than the other two, with a bright pink fur coat; her mane and tail were static and multi-colored, and she had a marking of a crystalline star.

The three mares fired their blasts. Carapace and his generals intercepted, negating the blasts, allowing Carapace to shoot out some kind of adhesive green substance, gluing the mares' hooves to the floor, their wings to their bodies, and covering their horns.

He then bowed, leaning forward on his front legs.

"Princccesss Cccelessstia, Princccesss Luna, Princccesss Cadanccce, it isss an honor to finally meet you in perssson. Now tell me, when will the fourth Princccesss be arriving?"