A cyclops-changeling keeled over and died by the hole blasted through its head where its eye had been, at Sombra’s hooves. The dark alicorn prince swung his scythe, dismembering several changelings that had tried to gang up on him, and he surveyed the battlefield.

The two sides were at each other’s throats, and for a while it had been worse when the enemy shapeshifted into guardsponies in order to confuse Sombra’s troops. Thankfully, he’d thought ahead and prepared dozens of crystals imbued with the magic of the Eye of Truth rune he’d used to unmask Thorax before.

Prior to the beginning of the battle, he’d had these crystal grounded into dust before adding them into cherry bomb firecrackers, which he’d then distributed these crystals amongst his soldiers, with instructions to use them if they were uncertain about whom they were facing. The cherry bombs had worked – They’d exploded, making only a loud harmless bang which distributed the magic in them and forced hundreds of changelings within the radiuses of where the cherry bombs went off, which caused magical fields to appear, forcing all changelings within the fields to assume their true forms.

It kept the battle on the ground somewhat fairer, but the changelings’ Bug Bombs were unfortunately turning the odds against them, as the poisonous green orbs were thrown into mobs of pony soldiers. Those that had them donned their gas masks quickly to avoid inhaling the toxic fumes. Those that didn't... they quickly fell victim to the effects of the miasma, crumpling down as limp as ragdolls, and were shortly dispatched by the enemy while down.

Meanwhile, skyward the battle had taken a similar roadblock until some pegasus guards joined the Wonderbolts against the Aerial Swarms, and used the flash bangs to force the changelings to reveal themselves. Alas, the Aerial Swarms called their manticore-hybrids for backup and now the Wonderbolts and pegasus guards had more to deal with, as the manticore-hybrids were armed with claws and long scorpion tails tipped with fearsome stinger that dripped with poison.

The skies over Canterlot were now filled with fire, explosion, and smoke as the dogfights between the two factions turned into a real meat grinder. Trails of chain lightning and changeling magical bolts spewed in lines of fire as the aerial combatants sought to shoot each other down, along with sparks from those who chose blades over magical weapons. Occasionally a smoking soldier would fall from the sky, deceased way before they crashed into the raging ground battle below.

Soarin found himself with a very angry changeling soldier on his tail, absolutely refusing to get off of his six. A hail of green bolts missed to his left, darn those magically augmented crossbows! Banking right did nothing to shake his adversary, nor did trying to lose him in the clouds. It would be only a matter of time before those explosive shots managed to find a place in his soft tissues.

“Where is everypony?!” exclaimed the pegasus aloud, “I can’t get this guy off my tail!”

Determined to claim himself another kill, the changeling cackled to himself and slammed another set of bolts into his crossbow’s chamber, keeping it steady on the pony flying in front of him. He lined up a perfect shot in his sights, and prepared to let loose with what ought to be a devastating salvo.

“Tartarus awaits, pony!”

A huge metal object flew past the both of them, making him break concentration and stare with his bright blue reflective eyes at the intruder. The Warhawk had arrived, soaring past the pair of fighters in a tremendous display of speed and splendor. A gust of air from the main engines knocked him aside, and the soldier hesitated.

“What?!”

Without wasting time, Soarin caught on to his enemy’s break in focus and quickly performed a full loop, spreading his wings to break and drop behind the changeling. Now the tables were turned, with the pegasus flying right behind the enemy at high speed. He reached into his flight suit’s belt, and pulled out a Stormbottle, bottled lightning. Setting off the weapon, the stream of electrical bolts smashed into the changeling’s back, shredding his wings and tearing apart his innards. His organs and fat stores caught fire, and tears ran across his face as his life slipped away.

“Glory… to Chrysalis!”

Soarin watched as the changeling, now ablaze, spiraled out of control before vanishing in a green tinted explosion when his magical ammunition caught fire. Feeling melancholy, he issued the traditional salute with his hoof, while picking up speed to catch up with the Warhawk.

Blueblood held his course steady, the craft rocking slightly whenever the odd explosion popped near the vessel. They had reached the action all right, and they could already see the chaos in the air between the combatant’s weapons and their explosive ends. It was the nature of air combat, but Blueblood could tell that they were losing despite the chaos. There were quite simply, fewer green explosions than blue ones in the sky, meaning more pegasi were getting shot down. That needed to change, and fast.

“All right Silver Goose, what’s giving our friends so much trouble?” he asked of his copilot, steering towards what looked like a decent cluster of action.

“I believe it’s the manticores sir,” answered Goose, “their poisonous barbs are making it impossible for the melee fighters to attack the bomb carriers safely.”

“Then that’s our target,” he replied, “how about the ground conflict?”

“Those giants… er, cyclopes,” came a slow response, “one’s been downed but there’s still others.”

“We need to back up the squadron, then support them,” the prince nodded, pushing an intercom button, “gunners, engage all changelings that attack the vessel, but focus your fire on the manticores. They’re poisoning our stallions!”

The turrets on the vessel began to track the changelings approaching the ship at the high velocity. With speed on their side, the Warhawk was capable of outrunning anything it couldn’t outfight, but Blueblood intentionally slowed down to make sure the enemy was tempted into attacking him. Cutting down the changelings’ numbers was the only way they were going to save lives.

Four attackers came in from the left out of the sun! Reacting quickly, the portside gunner moved his hooves and tracked his crossbow turret up to face them. The weapon made a high pitched grinding noise as the belt of arrows was sucked up into the firing chamber, a stream of bolts flew up to meet the changelings. All of them broke formation and spread out to avoid the fire, another half-dozen changelings joined them on the opposite side of the ship and flew around in circles to avoid the bolts. But the gunners quickly caught on, and two changelings were perforated by the turrets.

Return fire started to strike the ship’s balloon, the shield making loud pinging noises as each bolt was vaporized. Blueblood kept a steady eye on his shield gauge, the craft already one third drained from the amount of shots they were soaking.

“I’m going to go hard right!” he yelled over the microphone, “adjust your fire!”

Now the Warhawk was being pursued from behind, flurries of projectiles striking the craft’s back. A spray of sparks flew inside the engine room, scaring the engineer aboard and making him shout into a nearby speaker tube.

“Sire! They’re hitting the engines!”

Blueblood pushed down on the throttle to try and lose the pursuers, but the changelings seemed focused on shooting him down. His gunners took out another pair caught in the crossfire, but their ammo supplies wouldn’t last forever.

“Save your bolts!” he ordered, “I’m going to cut the engines and drop down into the city! Then we’ll come up underneath the enemy.”

The shield gauge hit the one quarter mark and started to let out a high-pitched wail, alerting the pilot to the failing condition of the balloon. Even without engines they could still float around, but losing the balloon was fatal.

Four changelings continued to pound on the ship mercilessly with their bows, armor plating and structure were blown off of the Warhawk’s hull. One bolt traveled into the ammo locker underneath the starboard side gun, jamming the belt and forcing the gunner to jump off his seat and attempt to fix it.

“We’ve lost our starboard side turret,” commented Silver Goose, sweat running down his forehead, “I’m not sure we’re going to make it!”

“He’ll fix that jam, I know it!” argued Blueblood.

In an act of bravery, a pair of the Canterlot guard flew in with their spears, desperate to assist the Warhawk. They were able to tackle two of the changelings, forcing them into a brawl away from the ship, leaving two remaining pursuers still pumping the vessel full of crossbow ammo. The prince silently thanked them for the risk they took, while spotting a group of four manticores up ahead. Their tails were striking out at the Wonderbolt pegasi trying to attack them, virulent poison spewing into the air. Another detachment of six changelings were escorting them forward, this time armed with nasty looking blades the manticores had so generously coated with even more of their venom.

“We’re a bit too badly damaged to take them on,” said Silver Goose, “not unsupported.”

Blueblood smiled as he noticed three Wonderbolts managing to outpace his ship fly in front of them, waving back.

He chuckled, “Well, we have the support now I’d say!”

The gunner managed to fix his crossbow’s jam, reporting back the repair to Blueblood and crawling back into his chair. Both of them had very little ammo left, but it would be enough if they could get past the guards.

“Sir, jam’s clear. Forty percent ammo remaining in both pipes. Orders?”

Blueblood’s horn sparked with his aura as he flashed it in Morse code for the Wonderbolts outside. Soarin being one of them, he quickly interpreted the signal.

“Attack… the… escort,” he yelled to his friends, “we need to take down the changelings! Leave the big guys to Blueblood!”

The other two full-body suited pegasi saluted, and pulled out a few more Stormbottles to take on the defenders. Zooming forward, the three went straight for the six changelings, who drew their weapons and went to meet them in combat. Silver Goose watched as a lightning bolt leapt from the first Wonderbolt to the nearest changeling, destroying him instantly. Another burst of electricity from Soarin killed the second, his corpse dropping. But now, the remaining four had entered short range, and the pegasi scattered to avoid getting sliced with the blades laced with poisonous goop.

“That poison causes the most gruesome throes,” said Silver Goose, as if about to cry.

“Let’s not waste the risk!” encouraged Blueblood, “I’m banking us left, attack the manticores!”

With a groan of metal from the damage sustained, the ship swerved to the left, tilting on its side so that both gunners could attack. Volleys of arrows spat out rapid fire, cutting down two of the manticores caught in the hail. The other two, enraged by the loss of their allies, dove boldly towards the Warhawk and dug their claws deep into the hull. Sharpened nails pierced the sides, and sheets of metal were being torn off at an alarming rate.

“Crap! Roll! Roll!” urged Silver, Blueblood agreeing with a sharp turn of his hooves.

The machine rolled on its axis, nearly throwing everypony onboard out of their seats. Outside, the monsters dug in as hard as they could to avoid being thrown off, but eventually the force was too great, and they were flung off the side. Not wasting a second, the gunners fired the last of their ammunition, cheering as their enemy’s wings were torn apart by the shots. With any luck, the fall would deal with the other two manticores.

“And that’s the end of that manticore squad!” laughed Blueblood, “Excellent work!”

“Our ammo’s gone,” reminded his copilot.

“Well, we still have one more piece of ammo left,” reminded the prince, batting his eyebrows and raising a hoof, “and one of those cyclopes will make the perfect target for it.”

He activated the intercom one more time, “Solenoid, prepare the weapon.”

“Aye aye!”

The Warhawk flew on, descending from the battle above to make a run near the ground. Now as he looked at the sky, Blueblood could see his allies doing much better than before. Their own contribution had not been gigantic, but the sight of the Warhawk and its shields soaking so much damage had raised intense morale.

Soarin and his two wingponies were still dealing with the four changelings high above the cloud cover, buzzing around each other. They were faster, their insect wings audible to the three, but so far they had avoided any hits, which was fortunate as even a single scratch with that kind of venom could easily be the end. Without any remaining Stormbottles, however, and most of the clouds having been replaced with greasy, useless smoke, it seemed like they had run out of supplies to fight with, and melee was quickly becoming the only option. The changelings were closing in, limiting their time to think.

“I’ve got one more,” said Wind Waker, holding up the tiny glass jar, “so then it’ll be three vs. three.”

“We can take em!” encouraged Soarin.

After a short pause, the other pegasus shook her head, “No sir, it’s too dangerous. That poison will be the end of all of us. I’ve got an idea, you’ll know when to fire the Stormbottle, Wind Waker.”

“Wait, Sunchaser, stop!” cried Soarin, watching his friend pull back.

Far too late to change her mind, Sunchaser engaged the changelings at point blank range. The insectoid warriors all jumped in together to slash the pony to pieces, swinging their blades wildly. Sunchaser’s agility let her avoid the blows handily, and the changelings found themselves having to fly closer and closer together to attack. Wind Waker stopped flying away, and hovered a bit of distance, Soarin staying back as well to help her. The changelings were balling up a little tighter each time in hopes of cutting off Sunchaser’s escape.

Eventually, they all split up and surrounded Sunchaser on all sides, before flying straight for the middle to ensure the kill. She pulled up quickly, and felt a sharp pain in her left hind leg before the changelings all collided into each other. That was the cue, and Wind Waker’s Stormbottle launched its bolt into the ball of bugs, frying them violently and earning the ground four more future scorched bodies.

Sunchaser rejoined them, smiling and taking off her flight goggles, “We did it!”

Soarin saw the wound on his friend’s hind leg, and frowned, taking off his own goggles, “Are you ok?”

“Yeah… I’m fine,” Sunchaser lied, forcing herself not to show any signs she was in pain, “let’s keep going.”

The pegasus felt a strange burning under her tongue, and spurted out a thick green foam. Soarin and Wind Waker felt tears coming to their eyes, knowing what was coming next.

“Hey,” laughed Sunchaser gently, “guys, it’s going to be ok. Canterlot’s going to be safe. We’re… heroes now.”

Sunchaser’s wings stopped flapping, Soarin too late to catch her. The Wonderbolt looked up at the two ponies trying to grab for her hooves, blackness entering the sides of her vision. Although they looked miserable, terrified even, she still felt different. Sunchaser’s very last thought was of nothing but her love for her friends.

Soarin and his wingpony watched the corpse disappear into the cloud cover below them. They had all trained together, spent countless hours exchanging stories in the barracks, and went through both laughter and tears…

Now Sunchaser was gone.

Realizing what it really meant to be a soldier, Soarin looked at Wind Waker dolefully, and felt tears come to his eyes.

Wind Waker tried to remind him they were still in a war, “Soarin… we’re out of weapons. We need to retreat. Let’s not die too.”

Agreeing without words, he followed her away from the scene, the air battle starting to wind down as the number of blasts dwindled.

The Warhawk flew lower, breaking away from the city and approaching the ground battle, blasts and blood still visible everywhere. Their target was one of the titanic cyclops, which was busy smashing every ground soldier and weapon in sight, cackling a deep throaty laugh while doing so.

“Let’s take down that one, shall we?” said Blueblood, “This is as low as we can fly safely. Prepare the Magshot Ballista!”

In the belly of the ship, a few holes allow light in where the manticores had torn up the undercarriage, sat an ordinance room containing a massive ballista mounted on a railing system that could pop out underneath the ship. Solenoid was reading the system for use, a nearby rack containing just three massive arrows meant for the weapon. Curiously though, the giant crossbow lacked a string, instead having a series of magnetic runes mounted on the limbs of the device. The arrow’s core was made of an explosive magical material, likely powdered energems, but the head of it was made of magnetized metal. When the device was to be fired, it would be cranked up, and the runes would use the force of magnets to propel the projectile, in theory.

Solenoid made sure everything was in place, setting the giant arrow down into the machine. The runes glowed a faint blue, drawing the ammo back and locking it into place. Meanwhile in the cockpit, Blueblood watched as a blue colored light flashed, indicating the weapon was ready. A flap nearby was lifted by Silver Goose to reveal a large red button, and Blueblood threw a few switches underneath it. Solenoid watched as the massive crossbow was lowered into a firing chamber, and a hatch inside it opened, exposing the front of the crossbow to the outside world.

A nearby prismatic scope aligned with the hatch was nearby, and Solenoid peered into it like a bombardier lining up a target. He could see the cyclops ahead, within range, completely unaware of their presence and continuing to enjoy his bloody rampage.

That was about to change.

“Target acquired!” stated Solenoid.

“Fire,” ordered Blueblood.

Silver Goose pushed the red button, “Fire!”

TWOOONG

The ballista discharged, a hypervelocity arrow the size of a spear flew out of the tube, purple spirals of distorted air and magical force threw the giant projectile at blinding speeds. Reverb from the distorted air could be felt inside the Warhawk for the split second the magnetically propelled arrow was in the air. Instantly the kinetic projectile entered the cyclops, shredding it from the inside out like it was made of paper when the arrow punched clean through it and the distortion ripped its body apart. Cut in half, it died instantly with no knowledge of its attacker, and the giant arrow smashed into a mountainside, exploding in a burst of purple energy.

“Direct hit! The target was annihilated!” cheered Solenoid.

“Reload for another shot,” Blueblood ordered, smiling.

Of course, the other cyclops was obviously upset about the loss of his brother, and spotted the tiny, puny, EVIL ship flying above. Growling, it reached for a boulder nearby, and swung its arm around quickly, putting some force behind the stone. Then, taking careful aim for a creature of its size, it released the projectile, and the chunk of granite was sent in an arc for the ship.

“INCOMING!” shouted the port side gunner into his speaker tube, warning of the projectile.

“Wait,” was all Blueblood got to say before it hit.

The stone instantly penetrated the shield, smashing into the back of the Warhawk behind the turret and into the engines, perhaps killing the poor engineer instantly and blowing the compressed steam engine to pieces. A massive spray of shrapnel flew out of the back of the Warhawk, the balloon was shredded, and multiple propellers were destroyed. Fire and smoke poured from the craft, a fourth of it missing in just one hit. The control console in front of Blueblood exploded in a blast of sparks and light, frying most of his controls from feedback caused by the damage.

“Engine’s out! The shields are gone, hull integrity failing!” screamed the copilot.

Blueblood could feel his vessel dying underneath of him. There’d be no escape this time, even with his magic, the crash would certainly turn them all to ash. Blueblood considered his certainly dead engineer lucky for not having to go through such a fiery end. The ground was quickly approaching, and Blueblood took a deep, smoke-filled breath, closing his eyes

“I hope I did enough, auntie...”

A loud shattering of glass brought his eyes open again. Wonderbolts had entered the ship, and were desperately trying to pull the crew out. Blueblood was amazed at how fast they worked, getting them all outside of the careening ship. Soon the ponies were in the air, held tight in the hooves of the surviving aces. Even the ever-suffering engineer, believed dead in the engine room hit, had survived, but his left eye was clearly full of shrapnel, and his smile seemed to be missing a few teeth. Blueblood thought about how he might repay the brave soul, but ultimately ended up turning his attention to the Warhawk.

His beloved prototype spiraled out of control, flame and smoke consuming it, before it impacted the ground seconds later. A column of flame erupted from the ground, and pieces scattered all over the battlefield. Blueblood couldn’t help but feel a bit sad, despite surviving, the ship still meant quite a lot.

“It did its job,” said Silver Goose, trying to cheer the prince up.

Blueblood, grunting at the Wonderbolt’s hooves digging into him, managed to lift his head, “I suppose it did, Silver. I suppose it did...”

The sight of the airship crashing and exploding had filled Sombra with dread, as he feared for Blueblood, only to have those fears dashed away when he saw several Wonderbolts fly away from the wreckage carrying Blueblood and his crew.

A screeching changeling lunging at him with a barbed spear reminded him he was still in combat and he swiftly decapitated the bug and batted the head away with his shield. The battle had taken a better turn after Blueblood’s efforts, as the changelings now had less air support.

That did not mean the battle was won. Everywhere there was blood, soaking both sides with the blood of the fallen, friend and foe alike. If there was such a thing as a regular day in Tartarus, this would be a good example.

All around was the crescendo of metal striking chitin, the shaking of the earth beneath thousands of hooves, and the roars of the changelings’ monstrous hybrids. The battle now seemed more even sided but that only meant the bloodshed would last longer, and even a few moments in this raging battle may as well have been hours.

But for one pony, a pony who had seen years of battle both in and out of Equestria, it was only in these terrible and horrific conditions where a pony finds out what he’s really made of!

Right now, Duke Firestorm was in the thick of it alongside his fellow soldiers. He telekinetically swung his two swords with masterful skill, mowing down dozens of changelings with single yet swift strokes, the blades moving so fast that before long no changeling dared get too close. They resorted to throwing Bug bombs at him but Firestorm’s keen eye caught sight of those glowing green orbs and he quickly cast spells that utterly incinerated them, neutralizing their poison and turning them into ashes.

But he was growing weary of cutting down the small fry, where was the leader-

“AAAUUGGHH!!”
“NOOO, STEEEEL!!”

Firestorm turned towards the sounds of distress and saw an earth pony soldier thrown near his hooves… by a hulking changeling minotaur standing nearby the chariot of Commander Thorn, and now the duke was certain he’d found the head of the snake. Without their leader, Firestorm knew the changelings would become disorganized and easier to crush. The pony who’d cried out hurried over to his fallen friend and moaned woefully to find Steel was no more.

“No time for tears, son,” Firestorm prompted the stallion to his hooves, “We’ve got some exterminating to do!”

The stallion wiped away a tear and found his resolve to avenge his fallen brother-in arms as he, and three more soldiers flanked Firestorm, two on each side, two armed with spears, the others with swords.

“Spear ponies, aim for the calves as we pass and swords the hoof! Weaken the legs so this meathead falls!” Firestorm commanded as his swords levitated to his left and right, almost like a pair of metal wings. His soldiers all nodded and they took action!

The minotaur-changeling roared as he noticed them rushing him and he obliged, leaving Commander Thorn’s chariot unprotected, to Firestorm’s satisfaction. The behemoth raised a large double-headed labrys axe before using it to strike the battleground, unleashing a powerful shock wave towards the ponies!

Thinking quickly, Firestorm levitated his swords and used them like steps on a staircase to go up and over the wave of power, though his soldiers found themselves flying back a fair distance.

Not their fault, they just didn’t have the experience that only came with age. But now that left Firestorm alone to face this monster barring him from his objective as it bore its axe menacingly.

“In the spirit of generosity, I’ll make you an offer – Stand down and live or fight and die for a leader who would never do the same for you,” Firestorm bore his swords, furrowing his brows.

The minotaur-changeling roared as he swung his axe at the duke-

*FLASH*

“Huh?!” The beast staggered from the force of his swing when it hit only air, and that the duke had vanished!

The tiny hairs on the hybrid’s horns however detected a vibration in the air, and he swung around and managed to deflect Firestorm’s swords with his axe, preventing the duke’s sneak attack. The hybrid pushed Firestorm off, and the unicorn stomped the ground, smirking.

“Impressive, beast! To have not only sensed my attack but countered it so, it will be almost a shame to strike down so skilled an opponent!”

The minotaur-changeling growled and charged forward, only for Firestorm to send his swords slashing at the hybrid, who halted and quickly raised his axe to defend himself. For such a lumbering oaf, the hybrid was surprisingly quick as he abandoned his offense in order to defend himself from Firestorm’s assault as his blades rapidly slashed at the creature, trying to cut him. Besides his axe, the minotaur-changeling used the thick plates of chitin armor on his forearms to defend himself from Firestorm’s swords, and Firestorm soon began to see he was getting no where.

That chitin of there is more resilient than it looks, the duke thought before saying aloud, “I guess I’ll just have to hit harder!”

He leapt back to put some distance between himself and the beast before sheathing his swords, to the hybrid’s confusion. He watched as Firestorm focused on the ground and formed a large mace make out of compressed stone and then willed a pillar of earth beneath him to shoot him up into the sky. Just fast enough that he could flip over and plant four hooves into one of the flying changelings and kick off back down towards the minotaur-changeling.

In that time said minotaur hybrid swung his battle axe, striking a couple pony soldiers that’d tried to gang up on him, before the beast rose his weapon above his head. The blade of his axe met with the spikes of Firestorm's mace in a resounding boom.

”So the clever bull is using sound crystals to give off a makeshift sonic boom with each blow, enough to throw anypony nearby off their game. Clever beast, must’ve gotten those crystals from the energem mine... Firestorm thought as he shifted his body and used the mass of his mace to slide down the side of the hybrid’s axe.

With a powerful thud, Firestorm was able to land a blow against the chitin cover head of the minotaur-changeling sending a small crack down between its eyes. Enough that the green ichor of its blood began to slowly ooze out of it.

The blow was hard enough that the head of the mace shattered after it was weakened from the blow with the axe before leaning Firestorm a stone rod in his magical hold. The minotaur hybrid recovered faster than Firestorm expected and grabbed the pony before throwing him into the air, almost clipping Sombra as he flew above, scythe in tow.

Noticing the thrown pony Spitfire rushed in to catch the duke, and was able to get her forelegs around the unicorn warrior’s barrel, and flapped her wings to keep them both aloft.

“Sir, are you alright?”

“Just peachy, Captain. Mind helping a stallion out?” Firestorm gave Spitfire a cocky smile, which she returned, eager to see what he had in mind.

“At your service, Sir.”

“I need you a few of your Wonderbolts to give me a storm trail. I have a meeting with that large minotaur thing and I can't show up without a flashy entrance.” Firestorm explained as he shrouded himself with magic.

“Can do, where should I drop you off?”

“At the beginning of the storm trail.”

“Aye-aye, sir!” She said before flying back towards the storm clouds.

It only took a few moments to talk Silver lining and Fleetfoot into it as they worked together to get their contrails wrapped up with storm clouds. Firestorm grinned as he pulled out his two swords again and began to drag them along the cloud as he galloped over them with help from a cloud-walking spell.

With each inch, those swords cut through the cloud. Lightning bolts began to spark as they were absorbed into the metal of the blades. Once he was over the hulking minotaur hybrid again he bucked the cloud under him and dived at the beast. Both of his swords were now charged and crackling with lightning, and with a flick of his horn one sword flew right to the wound in the creature’s head.

It sunk home and in a split second all the captured energy had a place to go. Right through the hybrid's body, it let out an ear piercing roar as pain seared through him till nothing was left was a hollow chitin shell. Firestorm landed on the top of the pole handle on the battleaxe as it was stuck at a forty-five-degree angle from the ground. The force of his landing caused it to fall down and sink itself into the ground letting out another shock wave. One that Firestorm, after jumping onto the carcass of the beast, rode towards the battle with his electrifying sword in his magic and the other being pulled from the chitin. He was ready for more, with a grin on his muzzle and a glint of a wildfire behind his eyes.

They have not seen the eye of the storm, and if he had his way only the fires of Tartarus would be their new homes.

“One down, thousands to go.” He grinned from the thrill of battle as he used the claws of his prosthetic foreleg to reach into a hidden pocket under his armor. He pulled out a vial he kept hidden from under it, the amber liquid glinted in the light of battle.

“Ah, old friend, it's been too long.” He pulled the top out with his teeth and spat it out before chugging the liquid down with one gulp and letting out a hearty belch, that familiar spicy aftertaste making every breath a nice chill in his throat.

His horn erupted with a fiery mana as his muzzle began to glow with magic flames. He ran down the back of the corpse he was riding and into the middle of a squad of changelings. Before he hit the ground he let out a torrent of flames that spread over the ground around him a few good feet. Covering them all in ruby red flames and burning a lot of them to a crisp. The other changelings began to jump over the bodies of their comrades to get to the stallions. All before getting cut down by the swinging swords that were being swung with the air with expert grace and skill.

Sombra flew by using his magic to bombard the changelings below with black crystal shards, impaling them. Before he noticed the display from Firestorm. He quickly took to the ground and using his magic to form a wall of Crystals before him.

“Are you alright, Duke Firestorm?” asked a worried Sombra.

“Never better, Your Majesty!” Firestorm laughed before one of the larger changelings Manticores broke through the crystal and began to charge at both ponies.

Firestorm taking noticed turned and unleashed another torrent of flames from his mouth that burned the creature to ash. Right at the same time as Sombra had created another spike of crystal to pierce the beast, and sealed up the hole for only a moment.

“What in the name of my wife was that?!”

“Dragonfyre Spell.” Firestorm answered with a smirk. “Something I picked up when I trained under a dragon sorceress as a young colt.”

“How are you not burning yourself casting it?” Sombra asked as his horn began to glow brighter preparing a spell.

“Fireproofing potion, keeps me from burning myself to a crisp.” Firestorm explained with a grin.

That was all Sombra needed to know as he unleashed his spell, causing all of the crystal walls to shatter and fire off away from them, giving them enough room to move forward, leaving nothing but crystal ridden changeling corpses in its wake.

Sombra took to the air once more and flew off towards the remaining Changeling-Cyclops as it was picking up a large boulder to throw into the battle. As the battle raged on, Sombra only hoped that the others were fairing much better.

Luna led the others through the castle, Twinken lying dazed on her back, as she spoke, “We need to lend our support to where we will be needed. I’m going to take Twinken to the safe room with your parents, Spike, and Elytra. Afterwards, I will find my sister.”

“But what about what Twinken said?” Twilight brought up, “He said Midnight might be here in the castle!”

“That doesn’t make sense, Twily,” Shining Armor interjected, “Midnight was captured practically halfway across Equestria, why would the changelings bring him all the way back here?

“Better yet, how could they have gotten past… !!!”

“The same way I did!” Thorax voiced Shining Armor’s realization, all eyes turning to him, “The same way Chrysalis did before the first invasion – Through the crystal caves underneath Canterlot!”

“Which means it really is possible Midnight is here,” added Twilight, looking pleadingly at Luna and her brother. “At the very least, I have to look around!”

“Not on your own you will,” Shining Armor declared.
“And I’ll help too,” Thorax offered.

Twilight smiled appreciatively at them and Luna saw their minds were made up, “Very well, search the castle as quickly as you can. But be careful!”

They watched Luna venture down the hall before she vanished around the corner, taking Twinken with her. The three then shared troubled looks as Twilight commented, “I just wish Twinken could have gotten a more detailed look of whatever he saw through Midnight’s eyes.”

“Castle halls… not a lot to go by,” Shining Armor shook his head in hesitant agreement, “where do we even start?”

“Well, if a changeling really did bring Midnight here to the castle, I should be able to sense it if it’s in disgui-” Thorax stopped as an all-too-familiar scent tickled at his nostrils.

He took a few sniffs, then a deeper whiff, following it in the other direction, Twilight and Shining Armor looking on curiously.

“Thorax…?” Twilight tried but then Thorax started hurrying down the hall, “Thorax, wait!”

But Thorax didn’t wait, as worry set his heart a’pounding, Twilight and Shining Armor hurrying to keep up as Thorax took a turn, ran down the next hall, took another… before skidding to a halt, Twilight and Shining Armor as well, bumping into Thorax in succession, and they saw what had caused Thorax to stop!

A trail.

A trail of moist and slimy goo giving off a faint green glow, proceeding down the way, and Twilight worked up the nerve to ask, “Thorax, is that…?”

“It’s changeling gew,” Thorax answered with a feeling of dread, “and it’s fresh…”

“Changeling gew?” echoed Shining Armor, not understanding.

“It’s like a, uh…” Thorax tried to explain, as he looked down the hall the trail led, “it’s… something we changelings can naturally make from glands underneath our tongues. It reacts to our magic so we can make it do all kinds of things, like make cocoons, use it like a glue or rubber…”

While Thorax went on, Twilight looked around at the hall, where they’d found the trail. She could see how recognizable the décor was that Twinken would have reached the conclusion of believing Midnight was in Canterlot after seeing through his brother’s eyes.

If Twinken really did see through Midnight’s eyes then… she thought before following the trail.

“Twily! Where are you going?!” Shining Armor called after her.

“I’m going to find Midnight!” Twilight responded over her shoulder as she began to gallop.

“Twilllyyyy…!!!” Shining Armor hurried after her, Thorax as well although he feared what the trail would lead them to.

Twilight ignored her brother’s calling after her as she followed the trail of changeling gew. A whirlwind of emotions and thoughts and questions ran through her head almost as fast as she ran.

Was Midnight really here? If so, why had he been brought here? What were the changelings planning?

Whatever their aims, Twilight thought determined, I’m going to stop it, and I’m getting my Midnight back!

!!!

Twilight skidded to a halt as she finally saw where the trail was leading her, Shining Armor and Thorax catching up and stopping behind her… as the three of them gazed up at the doors that led to the throne room!

“I have a bad feeling about this…!” Thorax shivered.

“I agree, something doesn’t smell right,” Shining Armor furrowed his brows before looking at his sister, “If she weren’t already dead, I would say this has Chrysalis written all over it.”

“The trail leads here,” Twilight was nervous too, but she had already decided, “If Midnight is in there, I’m going to get him!”

“I’m with you, Twily,” Shining Armor placed his good wing over his sister’s withers, and the two siblings shared a warm look before they gave each other a reassuring nuzzle.

The love between brother and sister was just the thing Thorax needed as looking at Twilight and Shining Armor made him think of why he was here – He’d risked capture, imprisonment, even death, all to protect Elytra. His old life as just another drone among thousands was a distant almost-empty memory, all but devoid of any reminders of his own sense of self or individuality.

The queen’s Hive Mind controlled every changeling she bore, and every single changeling born was given three simple orders they would be forced to live by all their lives:

Obey the Queen.

Protect the Hive.

Never fall in love.

The first two made sense, the third not so much. Changelings fed on positive emotions but Love was the must satisfying sustenance, even though no matter how much Love any one changeling consumed it was never enough. Even now, as he drank in the warm and caring love from the bond Twilight and Shining Armor shared, Thorax felt the bitter hunger returning every time he paused from feeding.

Thorax remembered one changeling from his Nursery Hive who had dared to try and leave the Hive and find love. She’d been captured a few months later, visibly pregnant, and Thorax had looked away in horror but that hadn't stopped him from hearing her brutal execution.

Chrysalis had done so, as she had done at least once every century or two, whenever some `ling somehow managed to work up enough will power to try and leave the Hive, to set an example of how disobedience would in no way be tolerated. Traitors would be given no quarter. If you weren't with the Hive, you were against it.

But after the Royal Wedding, when whatever magic Shining Armor and Cadance had worked to repel the changelings had severed his link to the Hive Mind, Thorax knew that awful and empty life was behind him, that he was free. But he’d remembered little Elytra, among the few of his siblings who’d ever shown him any affection, the thoughts of freeing her and keeping her safe suddenly mattered more to Thorax than his own freedom and safety.

Remembering Shining Armor and Cadance’s words, Thorax found his resolve as he thought, Elytra… I’ll find a way so that you are free too!

“Don’t suppose y-you got room for one more?” Thorax asked with a nervous chuckle. Sure he had his resolve but that didn’t mean he’d lost his fear.

Twilight and Shining Armor gave Thorax a concerned look, the latter saying, “You don’t have to come with us, Thorax. You’ve already helped us a lot-”

“No… I have to help however I can,” Thorax spoke with a weight on his spirit, “Ever since I was freed of the Hive Mind, I’ve done all I could to keep Elytra safe. But now… Now I have a chance to make sure she’s free!

“Princess Twilight, Prince Shining Armor, you can count on me to help you face whatever’s in there!”

Twilight and Shining Armor both smiled and Twilight placed a hoof on Thorax’s shoulder, “Thank you, Thorax, for being here. I’m glad Spike met you, because if he hadn’t, then I wouldn’t have made such a great friend like you.”

Thorax smiled, almost tearing up but then he shook it off and got a… forced game face on, “OK! Get ready… we’re going in!”

“Yes we are!” Shining Armor lit up his horn and everypony braced themselves as he opened the doors to the throne room.

GASP!!!

Celestia’s throne room, on an average day, was among the most beautiful, regal, and pristine rooms in the entire castle. What with its soft purple and white color scheme, the blue, magenta, and yellow stained glass windows displaying the world, the stars, and the seas respectively, and of course the throne set upon a golden dais to elevate its princess, and the paired water fountains set on each side of the carpet that led from the doors all the way up to the throne itself.

Now?

It was revolting!

Changeling gew coated the walls, some of it had been molded and hardened into spiky fixtures, and some slowly dripped from above like syrup on a chilly morning and set upon the throne appeared to be a changeling cocoon!

“What…?” Twilight didn’t know what to make of it as they cautiously entered.
“Seems like some changelings have been making themselves at home,” Shining Armor avoided touching the gew, remembering how effective it was in gluing a pony down.
“LOOK!!” Thorax pointed towards the ceiling, and they gasped again to see more cocoons!

There were dozens of them, silhouettes of the occupants barely visible in the light.

“Thorax… tell me those aren’t changelings!” worried Twilight.

“No, those are too big,” Thorax shook his head, “changeling eggs are much smaller and there’s no way changelings would bring changelings to an active invasion while they’re cocooned!

“And…. Those aren’t exactly cocoons, I’m… sensing… a-a smorgasbord of love and joy coming from them!”

“What does that mean?” Shining Armor wondered, ignoring Thorax’s drooling, when he looked to the throne… and gasped! “That one! Look at it!”

Shining Armor hurried over, Twilight and Thorax with him and they gasped in shock to see who was inside the not-cocoon!

“It’s Midnight!!” Shining Armor, Twilight, and Thorax could see him inside, curled up like a foal, blissfully unaware of what was going on in the waking world.

“What have they done to him?!” Twilight put her hooves to her quivering lip, with a part of her so relieved to see Midnight again but it was embittered by the state he was in.

“I… don’t think he’s hurt,” Thorax took a deep breath and sighed in ecstasy! “He’s… I can feel love and joy and… regret?”

“Well, well, well, so you’ve arrived sooner than expected…”

!!!

“That voice…!!!” Shining Armor’s blood ran cold, for even though he’d just heard it, memory screamed that it was impossible!

The three of them fearfully looked up at the other cocoon-like pods and watched as four pairs of chitin-covered legs emerged from the cluster and pulled out the body they were attached to. The body of someone Shining Armor had seen dead only yesterday morning!

Suddenly it seemed like it’d happened ages ago.

The presence above suddenly dropped, and the three of them jumped back, avoiding the figure as she landed on the dais where the throne was, putting herself between her three guests and Midnight. As she rose to the full of her height, her wings flittered excited, her lips pulled back into a sneer as she threw her mane back as her toxic green eyes reflected her manic glee!

“Chrysalis…?!” Shining Armor was seeing it but he couldn’t believe it, as Twilight and Thorax both stood at his sides, on their guard. “No! No, I-I saw you- You were dead! You killed yourself!!”

“Your eyes do not deceive you, Shiny,” Chrysalis sneered that despicable sneer of her, her every word poisoned with cruelty, her eyes giving the three before her a hungry look, “nor did they deceive you then. For you see, we changelings are capable of so much more than shapeshifitng and feeding on love.”

“Yes, you’re capable of enslaving your own children and robbing them of their free will!” Twilight raised her wings threateningly, but all it did was make Chrysalis frown… before throwing a murderous look at Thorax, who shivered under her glare.

“It would seem that you’ve been hearing things from someone with a big and treacherous mouth,” she hissed, “and I intend to make an example of you. A long and painful example, you filthy ingrate!!!”

Shining Armor put himself between Chrysalis and Thorax, “You leave him be!”

Raising her brow, Chrysalis chuckled spuriously before shrugging, “But I digress… It is true, Shining Armor, for the past months I had been an unwilling guest of your dear Princess Celestia’s dungeons. I can’t tell you how demeaning it was, pretending that I had been captured, taken into your custody. But you see, I’ve been around for a very long time… and when you’ve lived as long as I have, you come to learn the value of Patience!

“Alas, I got so caught up in what I had perceived as my imminent victory during the wedding, and so forgot that important lesson. Which is why, frustratingly boring as it was, I told myself over and over to patiently bide my time and let my machinations move at the pace that I had discussed with my most trusted subordinates even before I’d planned to steal you from Cadance! It was even more difficult since Midnight cut off my horn, preventing me from making contact with the Hive.

“But I had woven my web intricately, and finally after months of incarceration my patience paid off when you, Midnight, and Sombra came to my cell and informed me that things had been set into motion.”

“Stop beating around the bush, Chrysalis!” Shining Armor stamped his hoof, “You’re supposed to be DEAD!!”

“I was dead… for a while,” Chrysalis sneered, giddy by how she’d duped them all, “It’s just as I said, we changelings are capable of so much more than shapeshifting and feeding on love. You see the reason I’ve lived for so long… is I believe in the concept of being prepared.

“Long ago, I was nearing the end of my natural lifespan. But, like few ever are, I was not ready to be taken into the fearful unknown that is death, so I experimented… I made progress, but soon it literally became a situation of do or die!

“I took my most promising project and took a gamble that should very well have been the end of my story. Instead, it paid off! I discovered how I could cheat death! By taking the strongest eggs I laid and preparing them magically and alchemically, and even using my Hive Mind, I could transfer my own consciousness into one of these specially prepared eggs upon the moment of my physical demise!”

Shining Armor, Twilight, and Thorax looked upon Chrysalis with shock, and realized she actually looked rather healthy – There were no holes in her legs, her wings and carapace weren’t tattered, and her horn wasn’t gnarled or twisted! She looked strong, confident, and in a dark and twisted way, beautiful.

She was literally a new changeling!

“So after you’d informed me of the Hive attacking the energem mine, and then tried to telepathically rip information from me, I decided I’d overstayed my welcome in that quaint cell… and yes, I bashed my head in! It hurt, I must say… but the sweet and invigorating relief of being free and reborn anew more than made up for it!”

“But… if you could’ve… escaped anytime you like, why didn’t you?” asked a confused Twilight.

“To fool you fools!” Chrysalis began to laugh insultingly, “You thought you had the queen of the changelings safely locked away and that without their leader the Hive would just scuttle away into the darkness like cockroaches!

“Instead, my children have been continuing my plans and conspiring this second invasion, all per my standing orders and placing my most capable servants in command during my absence. That I was giving you a false sense of security by posing as your prisoner made my stay in that cell bearable, that… and that you inferior creatures are so easy to dupe!! HA-HA-HAAA!!”

“URGH!!!” Twilight lit up her horn, preparing a really nasty hex, when Shining Armor stepped in front of her.

“Wait!”

Twilight calmed, confused by her brother as she echoed “‘Wait’?!”

“Disappointing, Twilight. After your prior meddling, I’d pegged the females of your pathetic species as the smart ones,” Chrysalis poked as she approached Twilight, getting up in her face, “He wants. To know. About. The pods.”

Realization spread over Twilight as she looked to Shining Armor and Thorax, and they watched as Chrysalis approached the pod containing Midnight.
“Even before my prior failure to take Canterlot, I had been considering how our methods to harvest Love was inefficient. We changelings hunger endlessly for love, and a fair number of us die of starvation because I can only afford to feed the strongest among us to maintain the Hive’s strength.”

“You mean you play favorites,” Shining Armor glared at the queen with disgust.

“Mm, perhaps, but then you know… Survival of the Fittest,” Chrysalis shrugged, “After all, when you ponies are scarce on food, who would you give the best rations? The weak and the feeble? Or the strong and the capable who can do more for the many? If your answer is the former, you're even weaker than I thought!

“But as I was saying, I had to make sure my soldier caste was strong enough to protect the Hive and their queen at all times, but I also needed to feed my newborns. Any changeling who couldn’t pull their own weight? They deserved nothing!”

Thorax whimpered, recalling some bad memories.

“So… I questioned ‘why expend so much effort to gain so little? Why couldn't I... reverse that?’ I began to experiment with cocoons and wondered… instead of changelings, what if I placed ponies in them, not merely as prisoners but as... something else? As you know by the Hive Mind, we changelings are a naturally telepathic species. The Hive Mind makes us efficient in learning and sharing information without needing to speak it verbally, and it was then I found my inspiration!

“Telepathy! What if I could harness that to somehow produce far more love from a subject than any agent could ever harvest by infiltrating our enemies’ societies, usurping the identities of loved ones, all the while working to evade the ever-present risk of exposure? I wasn’t able to complete the idea after I was captured, but my children picked up where I left off, and I was so proud of the end result, which you see here!

“These Pods are imbued with properties not unlike the telepathic capabilities of the Hive Mind. Once a subject is placed inside, the Pod reads the occupant’s heart’s desire and places the prisoner within a perfectly convincing scenario of it.”

“You mean he’s dreaming,” Shining Armor realized, while Twilight and Thorax began to wrap Chrysalis’s words around their heads. “Luna couldn’t get in, but Midnight’s brother Twinken could!”

“Is that who was poking around in that empty head of Midnight’s earlier?” smirked Chrysalis, glancing at them before shaking her head in mock-sympathy. “It is far more complex than some simple dream! You see, the subject is utterly convinced he is living a life where he has everything he ever wanted, and…?”

Chrysalis trailed before looking expectantly at Thorax, who got the idea!
“He’s happy! I’ve felt his joy and his love ever since we came in here!”

“Exactly,” Chrysalis took a deep breath, a shimmery mist of faint pink and orange coming off Midnight’s pod like steam, shuddering as though she were on the ultimate high.
“This taste, I can’t get enough… No matter how many times I taste it” – Chrysalis looked at them with eyes full of madness! – “I just can’t get enough!!”

“YOU MONSTER!!!” Twilight couldn’t take it anymore, and lunged at Chrysalis, casting a shower of star-like blasts of magical energy that pummeled Chrysalis, enshrouding her with burning nebula-like smoke, and Twilight leapt right in, ignoring her brother yelling at her to stop.

*THWACK! POW! CRACK!!*

“UGHH!!” Twilight came flying out of the smoke, landing on her back, groaning and with a nasty bump on her forehead, just below her horn.

Thorax came over, checking on her with eyes full of concern, and Shining Armor turned around to see Chrysalis stepping out of the smoke, looking no worse for wear, and laughing ominously.

“You don’t seem to understand,” she said with morbid glee, “I am feeding on the love and happiness of dozens of ponies, including Midnight, who are under the impression they have everything their hearts' desire. If your love alone, Shining Armor, made me strong enough to defeat Celestia…”

Shining Armor’s eyes widened in horror at the implication in Chrysalis’s words as the lady of leeches narrowed her eyes and bore her fangs, “In any case, you, your sister, and that filthy traitor Thorax won’t be joining them in their bountiful reveries. Because you’re already dead…”

This took was exhausting, as battle scenes, especically war scenes, are difficult to write about. So I asked for some help.

Spirals95 did the aerial battle while DFatman did the battle scene with his OC Duke Firestorm, I did the rest and the editing

So Chrysalis isn't dead after all (or at least she was)