It had been a forgone conclusion from the start.

The sheer numbers rumbling down on them, the oncoming waves, set the group on the back-hoof from the beginning. Though they weathered the first tide, it was just the first of many.

Still, Switch fought on, hauling up his former comrades, hurling them overhead even as they crashed against him, only to see them replaced with a few dozen more. Each body his massive talons threw was replaced with three, every two skulls he cracked was replaced by four, and every crotch his super-powered legs kicked was replaced by four.

Still, he fought on. Whipped around. Cracked a skull. Pounded a muzzle. A fang flew off here. A dribble of blood hit his cheek there.

“Pierce the Heavens!”

Bait had apparently turned into one of those protagonists from the Neighponnese comic books he’d read religiously in high school.

Just had to keep going. Just had to push through. Just had to...had to…

He knew it was only a matter of time until something happened and the dam burst, and finally it came. There was a crack. He looked up. Bait had just gone down to a club to the back of the head. Green ichor dribbled in the air. “Baaaiiit!” He screamed, and that moment of distraction was enough. A single guardling wrapped themselves around his neck. He shouted, threw him off, but the Swarm had gotten too close and the guard was replaced with three more. Then more around his legs. His torso. His thorax. He threw a wild jab at one of the changelings around his waist before slamming face-first into the tile. More piled on. He groaned, trying to force himself up from the sheer combined mass atop him, and a flurry of blows to the back of his head and shoulders told him that was a bad move. A bit of cold steel pricked into his spine. He clenched his teeth.

“Stoooooppppp!” He heard. He managed a peek through the dogpile out at the yellow mare standing just outside, gazing back at him through the mass of writhing limbs with wide, desperate eyes. “Don’t hurt him...please...” she whimpered, even as a flurry of changelings took her by the forehooves and pressed her to the ground.

“Fluffershy...nogh...” he choked out, his chest weighed down, his face pressed hard into the tile. But already, her wings were bound in goop once more. She shivered, visibly suppressing tears as she was bound.

“Him too!” Another voice shouted over the spell explosions and flying bolts. Switch managed a tiny groan against the weight on his chest as the robot knelt down and a set of pink hooves stepped into view. “Don’t hurt them...please don’t...” Pinkie sobbed as she too was pressed to the floor and bound.

Despite the ongoing explosions and whipping of wings, it was so obviously over. The chains circling around his hooves made it all a foregone conclusion. Pinkie’s face appeared in his little viewhole between the masses of black bodies holding him, pressed down by a hole-filled hoof. She caught sight of him and tried to smile, but even that was rendered pointless by her tears.

A few minutes passed, and he felt the last shackles click into place, the last explosion sounding, the last crack of hooves on chitin. Finally, he was hauled up by his bonds, getting a clear view of the battle they’d lost. The whole hall was filled with changelings, crowding every surface, even the support beams, all glaring at him. Somewhere in the crowd, Fluttershy’s massive eyes locked on him, shimmering with tears.

“I’m sorry, I’m so--” he started to say before a hoof cracked against his chin.

“No talking!” One of the Praetorians barked as he was hauled from their spot on the floor to the throne room, his bound form passed along atop hooves like a slightly-more-gentle mosh pit. Eventually, he was unceremoniously dumped at the edge of the crowd. Beside him, Bait ‘oofed’ as well, along with the six mares and few remaining stallions.

Rolling onto his back, Bait looked up at the Colonel and snarled. “You fought dirty.”

“We fought to win.” The Colonel scoffed. “You fought with friendship and love on your side. Which was adorable.”

“Let’s see how adorable I am when I ram a hoof up your ass!” Rainbow shrieked, bucking against her bonds.

The Colonel only chuckled as his Praetorians dragged the group into the throne room, the doors already closing to seal them off. He waved the rest of the guardlings off without so much as a second look, so intent on the new prisoners he was adding to the old.

“Sir!” One of his Praetorians saluted. “All prisoners are secure in the throne room!”

“Wonderful...” Col. Thrace chirped. “And the other prisoners? The stallions?”

“One of them peed a little, sir.”

“Excellent,” the Colonel chortled as he turned to the bound mares and their changeling companions. “The almighty Elements of Harmony, proving the power of friendship once again!”

“Miss Rarity!” The group all looked to the captured stallions they had been so intent on rescuing just minutes before. The bartender gazed back at them with a black eye, but otherwise none the worse for wear.

“Ahh...boys.” Rarity sighed. “I do hope you’re feeling well.”

“They took my snifters, the heartless bastards!” He harumphed, settling back in the goo encasing him like a burrito made out of snot and pony. “But other than that, we’re fine.

“For now,” the Colonel scoffed, and the group all turned in their bonds to glare at him.

“You let us go right now, you...you...” Pinkie started.

“...You overgrown, cockroach-like, traitorous pile of McLosers with extra fuckhead sauce!” Bait screamed.

“Dude, that was actually a decent insult,” Dash remarked.

“Well he’s better’n Pinkie, that’s fer sure,” Applejack remarked, even as Bait huffed.

“Traitors?” The Colonel hissed back at them. “We’re the only truly-loyal changelings there are!”

“Oh great. The villain speech.” Twilight groaned, settling back and wishing her hooves were free and that she had a decent book to read.

“We’ve always been the ones to knock the Swarm back on the proper path!” The Colonel barked. “Changelings are mighty because of our strength! Our will! We don’t go around, singing lovely little songs about how wonderful friendship is, we fight and we struggle and we! Win!”

“Raahhhh!” The assembled changelings bellowed, spears rising in a chorus.

“Ohmygosh I haven’t seen this much male insecurity and posturing since the last Crystal Bowl...” Twilight muttered under her breath.

“Now, the only question left is this...” he grinned, pulling a dagger out from the scabbard on his armor. All the defiant grimaces and growls gave way to wide, terrified eyes.

“H-hey now...” one of the stallions stammered. “Th-there’s no need for that.”

“Y-yeah, y-you already won...right?” Pinkie added with a nervous little smile.

“Oh of course, and don’t worry, ponies have their own place in the Swarm.” The Colonel’s smile turned cold and passionless as his gaze fell upon the changeling duo, bound in chains and set to the side. “Traitors, though, have no place anywhere.”

“No...WAIT! Waitwaitwait...” Pinkie gasped.

“You said you wouldn’t hurt them if we gave up!” Fluttershy wailed.

“Oh, that was the regular army. We Praetorians are our own separate entity.” The Colonel tsked, waving a hoof like a parent teaching their foal a hard lesson while advancing on the pair. “Probably should have been paying more attention to our military structure.”

“Th-then let’s make a deal!” Pinkie said. “We’ll...we’ll give you anything!”

The Colonel paused, resting the tip of his blade on his lips. “Anything?”

“Wh-whatever you want!”

The Colonel seemed to give this a moment of thought, the mares leaning forward with hope, but then his gaze sank back to the bound changelings.

“By order of Praetorian high-command.” He hissed, the dagger rising. “Traitors shall not be permitted to live.”

The Colonel advanced, only pausing to determine who would be first to die. Even as the mares cried for mercy, the changelings could only exchange a glance.

“Well dude, I guess that’s it,” Switch rumbled.

“Yeah man...damn, who’d a’ thought we’d go out like this?” Bait added.

“Bound by our fellow changelings after fighting alongside the mares who were our sworn enemies not even a month ago?” Switch chortled. “Sounds like something out of a cheesy-ass bitstore paperback.”

Bait looked up at the advancing Colonel and gulped. “If this is a cheesy paperback, now would be a really good time for a deus ex machina...” he remarked.

Cadence’s eyes drifted open, and then squeezed shut. The nightmare still wasn’t over. She was still stuck in here, her beloved Shining still nowhere to be seen, and the only development outside still being the occasional shift of the changeling guard.

Which...was absent at the moment.

Desperately, she threw herself into a renewed series of struggles. For the first time, she wasn’t being watched! This was her chance! If she could just break free…

Weeks of being stuck in one spot had done her no favors, however, and she found her limbs stiff and weak, even without the goo fighting her. She bit back tears, not wanting to allow her captors to see her cry, but with freedom literally inches away from her hooves, it was hard.

A new shape appeared in her vision. She shrank back, but then she noticed its rich color. One of her little ponies! “H-hey! HEY!” She shouted, throwing herself against her cell. “I’m in here! Please!”

“I hear ya!” The shape spat, their voice so loud Cadence could hear it from the other side of the room and through the walls of her pod. “I hear ya, just...hoboy.”

Cadence paused, biting her lip as she settled back. By that sound, she knew the voice belonged to a mare, but with that ragged wheezing, she sounded like she was in trouble. “E-excuse me? Are you alright?”

“No...” the shape stumbled over the floor and practically rammed Cadence’s pod, sliding down along it. “Not even...a little...but what matters is...getting you...OUT!”

A loud hiss filled the air, the shape on the other side screaming as a warm spot materialized in Cadence’s goo. She gasped, backing up. “Are you sure you should--”

“Yes...I...AM!” The other pony shrieked as finally, a hoof stabbed into the pod, missing Cadence’s muzzle by inches. Still screaming, the hoof shaking as the pod sizzled around it, Cadence gasped as it opened a slight tear in the wall of her prison. Finally seeing her chance at freedom, she seized the hoof and, with a roar of her own, forced it down.

Despite the sizzling, there was barely any heat as Cadence forced the hoof down, using the other pony as a lever to force a tear in the pod’s side. After gaining just about a foot, Cadence stopped it. “Okay! I’m gonna try to slip out!”

The hoof retreated, and the pony on the other side hit the ground with an audible thump, goo pouring out of the breach. “H-hurry!” The mare cried in a ragged voice filled with desperation.

Cadence braced herself against the rear of the pod and pushed off with her hooves as hard and as fast as she could. She still only managed to get her shoulder and head out, but dear sweet Celestia did that fresh air feel good on her face. Like a thousand angels’ kisses. With a determined roar, the pink pony princess wriggled her way through the fissure, thanking the Maker for every calorie she’d forgone, every cupcake she’d had the strength to walk past, every cookie she’d left in the jar.

As she finally flopped out onto the crystal tile, she lay there panting, grateful just for the cool surface against her coat. She turned to her rescuer: a jet-black unicorn mare with emerald eyes and a yellow mane, also panting on the floor.

“Oh Maker...” Cadence gasped, smiling at the savior. “Thank you, madam, you have no idea what--”

“Oh, I have every idea!” The mare shouted, tried to press herself to her hooves, but apparently lacked the strength to make it all the way. “Ugh, damn...happening faster now...really determined to finish this...”

Cadence crawled over, legs trembling like a fawn fresh out of the womb. “Miss, are you alright? You don’t look so--”

“I know how bad I look!” The mare screamed, glaring at the princess with a surprising amount of vitriol. “I-it doesn’t matter! You need to get to him, finish this!”

“Him?” Cadence’s eyes widened. “Shiny!”

The mare nodded, then pointed to Cadence’s horn, and finally the princess noticed the tiny blob of goop shimmering off its tip. “That should be okay now...” she whispered. “Your wings too.”

“I...oh!” Cadence gasped, and shivered with delight as her wings slowly fanned themselves, more of the goop that had bound them for so long sliding off her feathers. “How did you--”

“The dolt, Princess!” The mare spat, voice hissing. “Find your idiot husband! Get your spell! Use your love, your magic, whatever, but get the changelings out!”

Cadence bit her lip, gazing over the mare in concern, but nodded. “Do you know...”

“Oh for...three cells down, it’s the only pod in there!” The mare shouted, her voice now cracking as tears stood out in her eyes. “Go!”

Cadence bit her lip and nodded. She didn’t usually like leaving her little ponies behind, but with the direness of the situation, she knew she had to make an exception. “I’ll be back for you.” She said before galloping out of the cell as quickly as her atrophied legs would carry her.

“Heh...you never were a stickler for details...Princess...” Chrysalis said as she laid there, watching the pink princess gallop to her beloved. Watching Cadence’s flank as she darted around the corner, she turned back to her own blank booty. No cutie mark would be awfully suspicious for a mare her age, but given Cadence’s state, she didn’t think it’d be noticed. And she’d been right.

Splaying out entirely on the ground, Chrysalis gasped in a breath. Her task done, something inside her gave way, and the pressure in her chest exploded. Her sight darkened. A fuzzy blackness filled her skull. But hey, at least it didn’t hurt anymore. No, it was more like a final peace. Just a final gasp before the end.

Well, she could die knowing her mother’s murderer would taste some justice. And hopefully his own ass, if he managed to land badly enough. Really, that was her one regret, she wouldn’t be able to see the look on his face when those two lovebirds threw Chickit’s ass out of the Empire.

Well...okay, there was that, and one other thing.

A tear escaped her eye, her smaller, transformed fangs squeezing out from between her downturned lips. “L-Luna...” she managed. What could have become of that? A new alliance with Equestria’s might? New resources to exploit? Deals to broker? Picnics under the moon? Romantic outings on starlit rivers? A ceremony with tons of flowers where she finally got to wear her mother’s dress?

Heh. Or maybe just a catastrophic break-up.

Would’ve been fun either way.

She gasped in another breath. It was hard now. Every breath needed to be wrestled from the air, battled into submission and forced into her chest. She didn’t have long. It would all be over soon.

Her Swarm.

Her nation.

Her long road to the throne.

Her mother...

”...the stars, Chryssie...like the stars were something they made for you...”

“S-sorry mother...” Chrysalis sighed as her eyes drifted shut. “I found ‘er...took too long to figure it out...th-though...”

As her lips formed that last ‘oh,’ darkness filled her vision. Her breath wheezed out. The light thudding of her heart paused, stuttered out a couple more beats, and finally, strangled by the tendrils of the curse, squeezed its last. Somewhere far off, a burst of magic sounded. Deep in Chrysalis’s brain, a few neurons perceived this as a positive thing.

As she would have thought if she were still capable of it, Chrysalis was promptly scooped up by the wave of pink magic that echoed towards her from a few cells down. What she never would have expected would be to bounce harmlessly off the far wall, landing on the crystal floor with an undignified thud, her eyes bulging open.

“HURK...” she managed before spinning onto her stomach to puke another spurt of black, viscous liquid. Heaving, she groaned, gasped in another breath, and…

And she was fine.

Still gasping, she pressed herself against the ground, slowly rising with trembling hooves. Trembling, hole-filled hooves she noted: she’d lost her disguise. And apparently, not just that. Gasping in air, she looked down at herself, panting, amazed at the ease her breath came.

Her limbs dropping, Chrysalis moaned as she gazed around the cell. Her body trembled, weak as a kitten, but air rushed in and out. Gone was the vice-like grip on her lungs. Gone was the thudding of her struggling heart. She was...perfectly okay.

“What the buck!?” A voice gasped from the door.

Despite the aching weakness forcing her body to tremble, Chrysalis chuckled. “Couldn’t have said it better my--” she started, but interrupted herself on turning to the doorway and finding Cadence and Shining Armor standing there, glaring back at her.

“Ohh, this is awkward,” she managed before a set of twin blasts slammed her against the wall yet again.