Chapter fifty six

The usual transition from one place to another for the lavender alicorn through the use of magic is a completely different feeling when you are unprepared for it from the beginning. Everything goes from bright like staring at a star, to all of a sudden dark, and back to the now evening sky that is given to both the queen and the princess as they end up on the roof. Chrysalis bucks Twilight backwards on to the flat roof as they land. It seems to be almost like a sort of large balcony up here, from what Twi had read it was used as an observatory for the one time user’s portable telescopes, or in times of fighting, an easy landing area for the princesses.

Coming to a stop before hitting the siding. The mare gets up on all fours as she eyes the enemy before her, now stronger than ever. The magic pulsates through the queen’s body, an eerie glow in her veins as they radiate a dim red light to them. The sheer power at her horn is almost unimaginable even to her.

“I’m almost kicking myself, honestly…” Chrysalis looks over her form as she hovers off the ground still from her wings, in awe of it herself, “…how did I not think of this before? I mean to think having this much raw, power, going in to oneself… it’s almost like pure love being pumped in to me!” she shakes a bit at even the thought.

Noticing Twi bringing her sword close to her side now. In an instant Chrysalis focuses the five elements around her, shooting a single spell in to the five, they all focus on in to the sixth, magic. The ray that is produced is enough to blast away nearly half the wall that the alicorn was at moments ago. Missing it narrowly, while dust and dirt cover her now, the princess hears nothing but the psychotic laughter of a rather prideful mare.

“Oh this is just, Amazing!” Chrysalis lets loose several more blasts from her horn, each one contacting something, though none what she was hoping for. Twilight quickly summons a Mist spell and blankets the roof top in a thick cloud. The queen holding herself firm as she listens for her sounds to give way to the location in the haze.

“You may be powerful!” Sparkle yells back at her, the monarch’s ears perking up at the shouts and zeroing in on a location, “but you still aren’t truly in control of the Elements! Otherwise your attacks would be much faster!” several black fireballs fall out of the sky and destroy some of the roof as a result. Leaving nothing but open craters to the inside. Not even knowing if she did any damage, Chrysalis peers in to the fog, looking for the mare.

“That would explain why they are still resisting me…” she mumbles under her breath, keeping it out of the princess’s ears “…Even so, I still have more than enough power with them at my hoof tips to destroy everything that you hold dear!”

“Not if I stop you first,” Twilight mutters, leaping out of her screen and meeting the queen’s blade with her own.

Her magic may be powerful, but if she can try and engage her like this, then maybe there is a chance. The block gets broken as Twilight beats her wings just a tad faster and brings her leverage down on the target. Causing them both to get grounded and winding up with Twilight pressing the blade closer and closer to the queen’s throat.

“You’re angry…Twilight,” Chrysalis whispers between them as she still holds her own, “I didn’t think it was possible to get a pony such as yourself, so worked up,” she jabs a knee in to Twi’s gut. Causing the slight taste of vomit to come up in the mare’s throat as she herself is tossed away.

“You haven’t… seen anything… yet,” Twi manages to get out between breaths and tries to get the acidic taste from her mouth.

“Oh really now? What are you going to do?” the darkened mare stomps her hoof down on the ground and causes several columns of stone to leach out of the material around them, shooting them up in the air before they turn around, heading straight towards the princess. With every amount of concentration she can offer the enchantment. Twilight summons a full level Spike shield above her, breaking the stones apart as they collide and leaving nothing but a ruble shroud around her to show for the queen’s attack.

Chrysalis waits patiently for the dust to clear, almost hoping that it hadn’t ended too quickly, and rather relieved that she sees the mare stumble out, “You, Twilight, will never be able to take up what you were trained for.”

“What makes you so sure of that?” she asks more than anything to give her a moment to catch her breath.

“That’s easy… because no matter how many you may have put down in your time as a princess. With that rather special blade of yours, or your own magic,” Chrysalis grins, having recalled some of the things she has done in the past herself as a queen, “you sometimes have to make the choices that will hurt you more than anything, and those that you so dearly love… and that isn’t possible for you… considering you always want to keep every pony happy!”

With a glow to her horn, the queen sends some of the vines that grow on the side of the ruins out and entangle around the princess. Trapping each limb in their tight grasp, and keeping her wings and horn under control as one wraps around her neck. The strain to breathe becoming more and more difficult as her face starts to look more to Rainbow Dash’s as she fights to hold on. Though it’s a losing battle, for after every breath that leaves her. The vines around her chest tighten, offering a little less to be taken in each time.

“That’s it… just let go now,” Chrysalis mocks, only to get a hefty stone to the side of her body after being propelled from the skies.

Flash lunges down and severs the vines with his blade expertly in a few moves, and catches the princess as she falls in to his hooves. “Are you alright?” she starts to cough up to him.

“You sure have a way of cutting things like that close.”

“Better late than never at least” he snickers, setting her down to her feet while Chrysalis gets back up and looks at the bruised side on her that the guard left with his attack.

The two ponies taking their places next to one another, readying themselves for what attack the queen may deliver. In her anger, the queen breaks out the Elements once more, Chrysalis focus all six around her in a hex as they all shoot out individual rays. Twilight brings up what ward she can to protect both her and her coltfriend, though as the sixth and final ray contacts, all of them join together in one large beam. Even with the new vigor of having Flash near her, the princess will be lucky if she can hold back the relentless barrage, already feeling the edges of her ward start to crack.

“I don’t think. I can last long. Against this!” she shouts to him, feeling her magic reserves starting to wither.

Flash now slightly cursing the fact that he can’t use magic what so ever, does what he can to help. Darting around the protection while the queen is distracted, to try and draw her attention from Twi. “Leaving so soon?” the queen does exactly as intended, and breaks off the large beam. Splitting it back off in to six once more for a better chance at hitting the guard, while she starts to skeet shoot the Pegisy from the sky.

‘Twilight, you better appreciate this one,’ the voice in his head speaks as he pulls moves that even the Wonderbolts would be proud of. Several shots coming to close for comfort as he does. The princess though shakes her head clear, and after seeing the queen taking pot shots at her guard, allows the anger to flow inside as the one she loves is about to be hurt.

“Don’t…you… DARE!” a large ice block hurtles itself towards the queen. Catching it just in time, Chrysalis draws out the Element of Magic and sends a clear green beam through. Slicing it in two right down the middle as they peel off to the side. Though that isn’t enough for Twilight to give up as she plows between them and hurtles towards her target.

“Not so fast now,” Chrysalis lifts her hooves up and slams them down on top of the princess’s head, casing her body to dig in to the ground as she scrapes against it.

Though the quick recovery isn’t nearly anticipated as the queen falters after getting a single blast of purple magic to her jaw, causing her to tumble over on to her back against the cold stone roof. Twilight gets back to her feet as the scrapes and bruises on her face and chest from the impact become apparent from minor trickles of blood dripping down.

“Is that…” the queen cracks her neck, “the best you can-” she gets cut off by a swift hind kick to the back of the head by a golden bracer by the guard that she forgot about. Slamming her face back down in to the ground, Flash goes and takes his place by his mare as the queen stumbles, “…oh, that was classy.” Chrysalis aligns the Elements around her, sending not a rainbow in to the sky above, but a darkened mass of the same effect upon the two. Sentry quickly doing what he can, kicks his marefriend as hard as he can to get her out of the way.

‘Sorry about that…’ he speaks through his mind, attempting to get out of the way himself, its fast. But not fast enough, for his wing to get out of the ray after the roll.

Twilight picks up the audible yelp coming from the colt, as she perks her head up, taking sight of his now scorched wing. The sight of blackened burned blood, dripping down his wing where many feathers are now gone paints her eyes. As several bones are completely desolate now from the spell, leaving just a frame there barren. Even if she hadn’t heard him, the look on his face of pure despair and torture, of a Pegasus that has literally been stripped of what makes them who they are, shows clearly.

“Flash…” she mutters, barely enough for him to hear as he flips over from his spot on the ground.

“Yea…” Flash tries to keep his hopes up, “…that’s going to leave a mark,” though at heart the pony knows full well that even if they were to heal. The things that his race held most dear to them will never carry him very far, or very fast now in their state, if at all.

Twilight flutters her way over to his side, caressing him like everything around them has stopped. When in reality the Queen is grinning to herself to take out two birds with one stone. “Are… are you going to be okay?”

“Physically, yes… though this will need some,” he tries to stretch out his wings, though they falter and crumble back in to his sides as the pain shoots up in to his mind and it goes limp, while a few scorched feathers fall away on to the ground, “…work.”

The princess watches him drift in and out from the shock, before his head falls down in to her chest out of just pain. Realizing that he isn’t going to be able to help in this state, she snaps her eyes to the chuckling queen off in the distance, “you…” she stares her down coldly.

“Oh who? Me?” Chrysalis holds a hoof over her chest sarcastically.

Twi gently lays her coltfriend down on his back, gifting him with a tender kiss to his soft lips, before drawing her attention now to the issue. Watching as the queen powers up yet another Elements attack as they all align in front of her, she sends a single Ray spell through her horn and in to them as they focus the beam in to a wider and wider arc. Soon making it large enough to encompass her whole body size, as it tears up portions of the ground around her feet and along its path of destruction on towards its target.

Twilight stomps her hoof in the ground, drawing what energy she can from her very soul and pushing it all in to her horn. ‘Flash can’t get up right now after an attack like that, let alone fight… if this is where he’ll fall… I would rather be nowhere else,’ she whispers inside her head before the charge built up inside herself lets loose, and impacts the oncoming terror mid-way.

Although the princess’s enchantment is no match for the queen’s at their core, Twilight’s has far more passion and drive put in to it, as she presses harder and harder in to Chrysalis’s force. Each of them meeting in the middle as the beam projects back and forth, every time it would take the side of one adversary, it plunges back in the middle ground. Leaving them both trying to hold their ground, right where they started.

“They still aren’t in your control, Chrysalis!” Twilight shouts out over the sound of the spell being cast, “And they will prevail!”

“Don’t be so sure of yourself now!” the same expression of fatigue on the young alicorn’s face, is shared on her own while she tries to keep her own hopes up. Every use of the elements against another causing her to lose control little by little, without anytime in between to re-corrupt them, “after all… even if I may not have full control, I’ll last longer in this war of attrition than you!”

“Maybe so… but that doesn’t mean I’m going to give up!” the will in her voice pushes back towards the queen and even causes Chrysalis to stumble a bit before evening out again.

“For all the fight in you… for all the will in your mind… for every last bit of love you have for your friends and loved ones. It all means nothing! Look at you now! Where are they?” Chrysalis motions to her sides where she indeed finds herself alone…

All except for one Pegasus that will likely never fly because of his attempt to save her. Not because it’s just his job, but because he loves her. The spell begins to fail her, as the princess finds her feet digging in to the ground and even cracking some of the stone roof below her. The beads of sweat dripping down as she grinds her teeth more and more to overcome the pain of this realization. The queen is right, she can’t over power her.

“You’re almost there, Twilight Sparkle…” the monarch jests as her voice sounds like nails to a chalkboard, “…just a little more.”

“Nev-er!,” escapes the mare’s mouth as Twilight feels the queen’s casting getting closer and closer to her. The heat and the back surge of power and magic pushing back in to her as her body begins to fail. Followed shortly by her own mind. ‘I can’t do it…’ Twi tells herself, ready to crumble down to the ground and accept her fate, ‘…I can’t hold her off. I let every pony counting on me down, all of Equestria, my friends, the princesses…Flash…’ the weight of it all pushes her down even further as she feels the pain in her heart rising up.

“Im Sorry…” a single tear falls down Twilight’s face, as she mutters those final words.

Unknown to her that one has been watching this whole time, but still trying to recover his own strength from his injury and blood loss.

Flash cracks his eyes open as he hears the spells hit one another for the first time. Watching Twilight push all that she can, and then some, he sees the weakness build up in her as she falls and is pushed down by the force from the attack. The single tear dropping from her eye, it hits the ground and he, even without a physical connection to her at the time, can feel the princess’s pain in himself.

A sudden spark occurs in Flash’s eye as he recalls something that was said to him… something while he died, by a very special alicorn, ‘Flash Sentry, you yourself will have to help her in this, a sacrifice. Though only your strength of heart will save you.’

The words resonate in his mind as it clicks to him finally what she meant. It will all be alright, everything will be okay, even if he may not be… Flash reaches out with what strength he can muster, and puts his good wing over the shoulder of his one and only mare.

“Flash?!” Twilight overzealously almost loses her concentration to hold off the inevitable as she sees her coltfriend in his state.

“Twilight… you’re going to hate me for this…” Flash watches her eyes widen, wondering what he could possibly mean by those words, “the Love drain Spell. Use it…” he pauses for a moment to swallow his nerves, “…use it on me.”

The realization of what he is asking of her hits and in a split second she brings out a shield spell to go on the defensive, mustering what she can keep them safe so she can hear him out. The cracking of the queen’s spell hitting hers now fills the air. As it’s no longer a matter of if she can hold it, but when it will break, while the powerful spell chips away in an instant from the time it hits.

“Flash, I can’t do that!” Twilight starts to sob at the very thought, knowing full well what the spell did to her brother, leaving him in a weakened state. And even Discord, which left him weary, after being in full heath. Who knows what it will do to a pony that already is teetering on the edge of blacking out, “Please… don’t ask me to!”

“You have to! You aren’t going to last much longer, and you need to hold her off!” he practically begs her, “Chrysalis is too powerful, you need the edge!”

“You’re already hurt! You may not survive if I-”

“I know, Twilight!” Flash screams at her, cutting her off, while she remains a little shocked at his actions.

Taking a more calm approach, he knows exactly what this could do to him. Flash holds one of her hooves close to his chest, right over his heart as they both ignore the sound of the queen’s onslaught. She can feel the strong heart beat with in him, slowly tracing up his chest to his eyes as he accepts what has to be done. “I know what could happen… we both know,” the water works are held back on his part, as the guard tries to remains strong for his princess as best he can. Though Twilight’s own eyes are a picture of a water fall, while tears continue to stream down her cheeks, “I’m not afraid, Twilight. I waited so long to have you this close to me, but no matter how short it may have lasted,” he kisses the end of her hoof, “I’m ready to go, if it means you can have a tomorrow.”

“But I… I… I-” a single colt’s hoof holds Twilight’s mouth closed so not a single word can be spoken. Only looking down in to the same cobalt eyes she fell in love with on the first day she met him, when she sees the same caring smile grace his face. And with but a nod, the deal is sealed. Although she may not want to say it, Twilight knows exactly what must happen.

What she must do.

The mare wraps her hooves around her colt while powering up the spell to use, as she casts it on her guard, feeling his body tense up as it takes hold. “You’re the only colt I could have ever asked for, Flash…” Twilight responds before giving a heartfelt kiss on his lips, while he returns the same gesture. Pressing back in to her own as the emotion flows between them.

Both of them hope it to last a life time, but alas, all good things must come to an end. She pulls back while noting the wince in Flash’s face as it takes effect, and the opposite flow of energy in to her as she feels every emotion of true passion he has for her, forced upon her very being from the deepest parts of the colt’s heart.

“I love you, Flash Sentry,” she lets loose one more tear.

“I love you too, Twilight Sparkle,” he kisses her hoof as he eases his grasp of it, and wipes away her tear, “Please… keep me close to your heart. I wouldn’t want to be any other place.”

Letting her get to the one responsible for this mess. The mare shakes lose all restraints on her mind as she reflects the force of the queen’s spell, breaking it off in one go while Chrysalis stops to see what the princess’s game is. Though after a second or two, the shield that managed to hold for so long, crumbles only to reveal the pissed off princess standing there. Fuming at the nostrils, “Let’s do this…” Twilight mutters, taking the mare by surprise as she fires off the same spell as before.

“Oh now you’re getting back in to the game?” Chrysalis remarks, getting no such response at all as she can barely see the cold violet eyes across from her.

The pressing of the spell back in to the queen’s own horn becomes apparent, as Twilight fights with more energy than she has ever had before. Though at a terrible cost… Flash beside her watches as his marefriend fights back, but only in-between moments of black outs while he tries to stay awake to ensure she is alright. Chrysalis though is left wondering where this new vigor came from all of a sudden, going from near defeat, to full alicorn strength in a minute or so is almost unheard of. But as the queen looks down towards the guards fading in and out. She of all creatures, would recognize her own species spell from anywhere.

“I have to give credit where credit is due!” the mare calls over from their distance, “you can make the tough calls when you see fit! Even going to the point of using my kind’s own spell on the one you love… that hurt both you and him, didn’t it!” while she is overjoyed to see the princess in emotional turmoil from having to do this. Chrysalis is too focused on ensuring Twilight’s demise, to notice the door creaking open to the roof as a black form falls out.

“I can learn to make the calls that have to be made!” Twilight responds to her surprise, “Though, perhaps you should think about some of the ones you have made before…” she motions behind the queen, having seen who emerged to greet their presence.

King Sombra struggles to even drag his way out of the ruined castle. Having all of his energy zapped from him at the queen’s doing, it becomes painfully obvious what she has done all along. Why he was brought back from the grave, why she flirted with him, why she slept with him and teased and taunted him all the way. And here lies the target of his aggressions, right in front of him.

“C-c-c-chry-y-y-ysal-l-l-lis-s-s-s!!!” the shriek pierces in to the mare responsible ears as she finally realizes who is there with them now.

“S-S-Somb-b-b-ra…?” her heart stops for a moment, trying to figure out how to even beat again, as she adverts her eyes to the king’s stumbling form. With one last push, the queen breaks off her spell against the princess. Though instead of attacking, Twilight waits for a moment, allowing her to concentrate.

“You… you did all of this!” the pain Sombra has been feeling from her meddling is apparent in his voice. Not even just that of physical pain, but emotional as well, as he feels the last tinge of his soul start to slip away, “Everything you said, everything you did was nothing… but a cold hearted, gut wrenching, lie!”

“No! Sombra please!” Chrysalis tries to plead with him, but to no avail as he stops moving. Not even bothering to use what strength he has to get to her side, leaving her to reach out to him, “I. I. I swear, I can explain!”

“And to think…” the oddest of things happens, as he ignores her. The king of the Crystal Empire, ruler that enslaved those under him and slaughtered hundreds… allows a few tears to escape down his cheek, for a mare, “I loved you! I loved you and you betrayed me!” several more tears can be seen dripping down his face as he spews it out, “The first pony I loved and you, bucking trashed it!”

“Sombra… My King-” her voice goes cold as all the blood rushes out of her throat, finding no more words at the time from him lashing back at her like a whip.

“Don’t, call me that!” he snaps at her.

The pain that Sombra feels presses over in to Chrysalis’s very soul, as the rejection from her efforts hits home inside her. Her heart now feels like it has been torn clean out of her chest. She has been left there for the ticking of time to pass while it all sinks in. Completely ignoring the mare that she was fighting with, to try and reason with the colt she has found a place for in her heart. A heart which the queen sees, she may not even have had in the first place, as she stole the cold heart of the colt, she isn’t even worthy of to have. Left only to remember the pain, the heart ache, and the sorrow that she caused so many others over the years…

‘This is what it’s like?’ Chrysalis mutters inside her head.

“Do you feel that?” Sparkle asks of her. Watching the twitching in Chrysalis’s neck, as what she feels ride up in to her head, “that’s called remorse, guilt… That’s what you get, when you hurt one that you care about!”

Sombras eyes twitch after hearing the princess speak, ‘What?’ he stays quiet as it repeats in the back of his head. One out of pain, and two just to listen to her speak.

“You just betrayed the one that you loved, and now the pain that he feels is pushing back in to yourself, at your own actions… like I said before, you’re a heartless witch!” after letting the two monarchs say their piece for a bit, Twilight has built her own strength up enough.

Summoning up a Concussion spell atop her horn, the sound barrier is broken as it lets loose against the queen. Catching her off guard, she has no time to brace for the hit. Breaking her stance as the final straw is pulled. Each of the Elements of Harmony snap out of her grasp as they are sent scattering about on the roof away from her. The crystal, magical relics finding their resting place on the stone while they return to their former colored glory at the disconnection of them from the queen.

All the while, Chrysalis herself is sent skipping across the ground from the hit. Leaving her body riddled with the tears and cuts in her coat, oozing out green blood on to the stone floor below as she even coughs up some from her throat while trying to breathe. If what she had asked for was mercy though, it wouldn’t be received, at least not by the princess.

“You have done nothing but cause pain and misery, Queen Chrysalis…even when you found something to cherish, it was all a game to you. A pony who was as bucked up as you, still loved you for who you are… but you let it fail,” Twilight curses at her, powering up her own horn as she takes aim at the pair. Summoning over the Elements from their resting place on the ground, with all the energy from her love urging her on. The mare doesn’t need the others here to use them, all she has to do is point… and shoot, “…and for that, you both will pay for what you have done to those around you,” Twilight’s eyes go dark as she calls upon a dark magic spell. Violent arcs of energy skip around on her horn and even contact part of the ground, while it starts to glow bright red, pulsating up the length of her magical appendage. Powering up for a spell, it breaks off in to the Elements to enhance the charge for the final blow.

To end it all for them, and this nightmare.

Chrysalis looks at the angered alicorn, cursing herself for every word Twilight said to bring her to this state. All of it true… she has done nothing but spread misery where ever she went, and even when she found Sombra at the end of her long dark tunnel. She cherished him for the brief happiness that he brought her, but in the end, never released him from her grasp. Trying her best to back up, her hoof rests on that of one she would have called her own. Now only seeing the lost and broken eyes of the crazed king in a blank stare on his face, as he gives up on all that surrounds him.

‘No… I can’t let it end like this…’ Chrysalis concludes, ‘I don’t have long, neither of us do. But he, at least, must have some piece of mind,’ taking what breath she can to rectify this situation and ease his burden. “Sombra… Please I beg of you… listen,” she wishes while running a hoof along his cheek, watching him pull back while even just her touch seems to burn him.

“Nothing of it was true… can you even speak without having it come out at falsehoods?” He asks, as a burning tear falls.

“…Sombra, King Sombra…” a tear comes to her eye as Chrysalis lives up for what she has done. All the while watching Twilight’s spell grow stronger and stronger, knowing full well there is nothing she can do, “It was all part of my plan, I needed somepony to make me stronger, one so I could become strong enough to use the Elements of Harmony for myself. That was the intent, and that was my game, but the outcome was far more beautiful than I could have imagined… and developed further than I could have hoped.”

A steady stream starts to come from her ducts while she leans sideways, resting a caring hoof on her seemingly missing heart, only wishing there was a way to repair his own for which she has shattered. “I never meant to hurt you… just as much as I didn’t think I would start to feel something for another. But while we argued, and bantered back and forth… and even tried to kill one another on a few occasions. I felt something else spark up in me, something real, and something that my race has longed for, for what seems like an eternity…” the queen takes only a second to breath in what she needs, to say what has to be said, “Love.”

Sombra rolls over to face her, willing to at least give some time to the mare that crushed what he thought he had going for them, and in truth longed for, while they don’t have much time left. Considering what he heard Twilight mention, “Than why, why all the games? The flirting? Was that all to get me under your wing?”

“At first it all was…” she admits to him, “but it didn’t take long for it to fester in to a wicked attraction that I would have never imagined possible,” a quaint smile crosses her face. Bringing the hoof that covered her heart up, and kisses it lightly. Chrysalis covers his chest, right where his would be if it were still in one piece. “In the darkest sense, it was incredible… and if I could do it all over again, there is so much I would change. Though I wouldn’t change what happened between you and I, just how we got there.”

Sombra glares over to her with nothing more than ice in his eyes for the queen, from what she can see at least, “You know forgiveness isn’t in my heart…considering I didn’t even know I had one at first,” he remarks, taking her words in more than she would ever know.

“I don’t expect you to forgive me… if anything, I’d expect you to torture me while we burn in Tartarus together…” the slight chuckle in her throat goes on deaf ears while the loud snap her ears pick up, lets the queen know that Twilight has done whatever she was going to do, from the sound the spell made after being cast. Only watching through the corner of her eye as the Alicorn, and the Elements. Shoot out an onyx, green arching, ray up in to the sky, as it gathers speed. “But if you could find it in your heart… please… believe me when I tell you this…” she leans in, and plants what she can only think would be the final kiss between them.

That speaking far more than she would ever see in his eyes. The passion between them not failing, as Sombra still feels lights fire off in his head. Just like the ones that were present when he first kissed her, when they first made love, when their very souls intertwined with one another. The purity to it doing wonders to his strength, as he now has some feelings back in his legs, chest, and even heart. The steady beat of his pump, which Sombra now knows he has, matching her own as he can feel Chrysalis’s in her chest, as it rises with his. Something that he would only expect if those words were true…coming from a mare, which has told him almost nothing but lies.

All the while the spell reaches its peak, and it starts to head back down towards them.

‘In a sick and twisted kind of way… you do care,’ Sombra responds in his own mind as Chrysalis draws away, the tear soaked and blood shot eyes from such actions plastered all over her as she speaks her final piece.

“I… I love you, Sombra. My king.”

She closes her eyes. Content with her surroundings, and the impending spell that is well on its way to their destruction. Though so long as the queen is by this colt that despises her with every fiber of his very being, Chrysalis would rather be nowhere else, than to share the downfall. However, just as the spell is moments away from impacting the couple. She feels the weakened hooves of the stallion wrap up around her waist and pull her, in one last embrace.

“I love you too, Chrysalis… My queen,” Chrysalis hears those final words, as she is lifted up in to his hooves, and held close to his heart.

Sombra leans down, touching her horn to his own as the queen’s magic that remains flows in to his own to urge him on. While the king summons all he can fathom, from the bottom of his soul, to break the looming obliteration. Twilight’s spell breaks around them, in combination with the king’s own making contact, it leaves only a large white light that can be seen for miles all around in every direction. The princess herself, shields her own eyes at the sight, while the shock wave hits her chest. Lifting her and Flash off the ground and throwing them against the railings as the entire structure shakes down to its foundations. Whatever windows that were once intact are no more as even several of the more rickety walls that remained up fall under the impact from the earthquake like effect.

The light finally receding, Twilight doesn’t even look over to see her handy work. Only noting the large crater that has been created in the wake of the spell, and the smoke that seems to cover it. She instead turns her attention to one more important at the moment. “Flash…we did it!” the guard remains only a few feet from her as she crawls over, having not gotten the strength to even stand up just yet, “Sentry? Can you hear me? We stopped them, together. Its going to be-” the young alicorn halts when she finally reaches his body. His chest remains still, the blue eyes she loves locked away for no one to see, and after she puts a hoof to his neck, no pulse can be felt coming from his body.

“…Flash, wake up!” Twilight exclaims, not willing to make sense of what has happened. Ignoring the signs left and right, she runs her hoof along his chest, “…please be okay,” she lifts his motionless form up in her hooves as she holds her head down on to his chest.

Listening for any sort of beat to it, all she finds is a dark silence in her ear still as the only thing to fill her ears is the soft sounds of whimpers on her own behalf. The sobs brings themselves about, filling her eyes to the brim while the tears pave a trail down her muzzle on to his own chest. In her, more or less, silence. The mare ignores the door to the roof opening up once more. While Discord, Luna, and a rather battered up Shining Armor make their way over to the pair.

None of them have any idea what has happened up here while they took care of the business down stairs. Though what they see, speaks more than any explanation ever could, from word of mouth. There is no sign of the queen, or even Sombra for that matter, who they would have expected to come up here to help his so called beloved. The only two they can see is Twilight, holding in her hooves, a rather limp Pegasus. Even that telling more and more with their own eyes when they see the colt, which is usually so smitten with the princess who currently captivates him, now left with nothing more than a blank expression on his face as he is rocked back and forth while being cradled by the alicorn.

“Twilight…” Shining rests a hoof on her shoulder. Although he may have not seen what went down, just from the look on her face and the cool expression he wears. It’s all too eerie what may have happened to the guard, “… it might be-”

“Don’t you say that!” Twilight snaps back at her brother in an instant. A hoof extending out with in inches from his muzzle with a speed that makes even Discord and Luna jump at first. Immediately turning her attention back to her guard, Twilight runs a hoof along the side of his neck, “he has to be alright… he just has to be. It can’t end like this… It… just… cant!” her tears fall down on to his chest. Making a small puddle on his coat, while they soak through the fine hairs and bathe his skin.

“What happened to him?” Discord examines the guard, although all of his wounds are fairly recent from the fighting. Even with the rather nasty wound on his wing, none seem to be lethal.

“Chrysalis used the Elements as best she could, they may have not been under her total control. But the magic in them was potent none the less…” a single bead of a tear falls down her face, even the thought of what just happened moments ago bringing her to this point, “…My magic was no match for hers, and even with Flash’s help. We couldn’t best her… so he made a choice for me… and urged me on to follow through.”

“What choice was that?” Luna asks. Though with some of the late night conversations she has shared with her sister, and hearing about some of the more interesting spells that Twilight has picked up. Luna already has a clue to how this may have played out, and even herself, wouldn’t wish it on another.

“I... I… had to use the Love drain spell to give me strength, strength I could have only gotten from him,” she rests her head against his cold neck, “and I took it, when he needed it most.”

All three of them look at one another. Discord to Luna, and Luna to Shining Armor in hopes that at least one of them will find words to say on this matter. Sadly her brother is the one to do it, and they aren’t the most helpful at the time, “As much as I may hate to say this Twi…” Shining shakes his head as he puts a caring hoof on his own shoulders shoulder.

“Don’t… You… Dare,” she whispers coldly to him. Already knowing the words that were going to come out of his mouth, “a sacrifice of one for the protection of a nation is an honorable thing. But what no pony looks at, is the ones close to that individual, that the cost hurts the most,” Twilight squeezes him more and more, almost forcing the water works to continue out her own eyes as they trail down her mournful muzzle.

The moisture running down his sides causes him to have an odd reaction. Although none of those around him can see it. Even though Flash’s heart may not be working, his mind is still active, and right now all it can hear is a voice he knows all too well. ‘Very well done, Flash… I told you that you’d know what to do when the time came,’ the soothing sound enraptures him while the images of the pure white alicorn with the flowing red mane and tail fills his head, ‘although I wasn’t able to answer you, if it would all end well… I look forward to seeing you…’ She seems to reach out with her hoof, and touch his chest, ‘However, not quite yet.’

His body surges, as the alicorn lays a hoof on him and Flash’s mind seemingly pulls itself through a narrow hole. Tearing him away from the abyss that he was surrounding and back in to the cooling breeze of the night, and the warm touch of the mare beside him. The soon to be night time sky becomes clear to him as he starts to see colors and shapes after being in the mist for what seemed like another life time. Not even really sure what to make of it all, as Flash starts to pant. Taking in gulps of breath, while the heavy pain in his chest after having his heart forcefully started up, almost strains him too much to even notice those around him.

Though, not enough to ignore nearly getting killed by his marefriend.

“You’re alive!” Twilight crushes him with in her fore hooves, not even noting the breath that he just took in, now being taken back out by her actions.

“That I am,” he says smoothly, allowing the mare to have her fill while he feels his ribcage pushing back in from her grasp. Welcoming that, over yet another brush with death any day.

With some much needed help from Twilight, and her brother, to get to his feet. The only thing the captain can do, is stare in awe at the colt, “I’m not sure how you did it. But you circled the grave once again there,” without another word, Shining places a gentle hoof on his back, “good to have you back in the land of the living.”

“Good to be back, somepony must be watching over me,” Flash lets out. Looking up to the open sky above, the stars shining bright, as the moon lights the rooftop for them. Though Sentry knows full well, what else the sky holds, “Thank you… Faust.”

“What was that?” Twilight over hears him.

“Nothing…” Flash spots Luna’s light smile after she picked up on his mutter, “…nothing at all, dear.”

Looking over to the crater in the roof, Flash motions towards it as he leans on Twilight while they go over to investigate the supposed remains at the hooves of the princess. Instead of finding a carcass or bones, or even a pile of ash belonging to the king or queen…

They find something a little more, intriguing.

In the crater, beyond the smoke that clears. The group comes across a solid emerald crystal, laying perfectly intact after Twilight’s spell. Without even a single sign of a scratch or imperfection in it. Clear from one side to the other, it only holds on display what it truly embraces on its inside. Chrysalis remains in Sombra’s grasp, as they both hold one another, closer than they ever did while they were free. While in the middle, their lips meet each other, in a trance that could last forever. Their eyes remaining closed in the moment of passion that they shared, as their wicked attraction met its pinnacle, and the true sentiment flowed between them both. Ignoring all the lies that were told before, for at least one moment of peace.

Now captured for all those to see around them, as Luna rests a hoof above the evil pair.

“Im not sure what to make of this?” the moon mare remarks, tapping the outside.

“And somehow, neither do I,” Discord puts his talon to his chin, thinking about what could have done this, “It seems to be a sort of protection spell, one of Sombra’s, considering its construction. Though like Chrysalis, it’s also a cocoon.”

“Do you think they can get out of there?” Twilight raps her blade against the clear stone, not even making a scratch in it.

“I don’t think they are in the mood to do anything at the moment. Nor does it look like they are going anywhere,” Discord starts to walk off towards the exit, “while we on the other hoof, after this fight, have many more things to attend to,” they all nod in agreement as they follow the prince out off of the roof.

The fighting has finished in the rest of the ruins and in the surrounding area. After the large explosion from the roof pretty much signaled the end of the Queen and King’s reign, many of the changelings have either taken off out in to the distance, or have thrown their hooves up in the air to surrender. Many are wounded on both sides at the moment, many are dead, and many will be crippled for the foreseeable future. Though one thing’s for sure, for now they can rest easy that the fighting has stopped, and the healing can start.