It had been bright daylight by the time we got back in the air again, even if we weren’t very high. At the last minute, Shining Armor had ordered Star to modify the balloon so that it didn’t use helium but would instead use hot air. The heating was produced by a very bored Hawk who was lying on her back on deck, occasionally blasting the balloon with her fire to keep the air inside heated. What really amazed me, aside from Star’s knowledge of sewing, was how fast we were going. The spell that had been cast on the Lunar had been broken and the wind was blowing around my face but not from the direction of movement. Glimmer used a wind spell that was normally used to mislead tracking dogs to push us from behind. Armor himself was standing at the bow and was holding up an aerodynamic barrier that further decreased air friction. I was sitting with a still unconscious Trixie at the wall of the captain’s quarters, accompanied by Star who was taking a nap. His blond mane was flowing in the wind, and I asked myself how someone could sleep under such air pressure. The only thing comparable was if one held their head out of a car that sped along at a hundred kilometres per hour.

“If we can keep this speed, we might be able to overtake the train!” Glimmer shouted as she stood above us on the roof of the cabin to maintain her spell.

“And then what?” I called back. The wind made conversations at normal volume almost impossible and sign language was not an option. Not that I had learned it, but I had always managed to order a drink at a nightclub without opening my mouth. It would fail here because of hooves.

“We cannot let them reach any inhabited areas. Once they mix with the locals, it will be difficult to find them.” Glimmer was held in place by having tied herself to one of the ropes, otherwise her own wind would have blown her off the ship.

“What settlement is the closest on this route?” I asked, feeling worried, but I had a suspicion. With all the luck that town had…

“Ponyville.” Go figure, I thought to myself, angry that I hadn’t realised it sooner. I had been to a party in Canterlot, held to celebrate a new railway section. Canterlot was a city of craftsponyship. Jewellers, fine metal works, and other pricy shops and stores adorned the face of the city. When a new source of metals had been discovered, it had been worth a party. “On the journey here, it only passes by Ponyville. The metals are then unloaded in Canterlot and new tools are loaded. On the way back, it also stocks up on food in Ponyville,” I recalled from the stallion that I had to listen to. He had been the owner of the railway if I remembered right. Ponyville’s number one export was, thanks to Sweet Apple Acres and other small farms, food.

“So you do actually know something,” Glimmer called happily.

“I just listened a bit.” Too bad that I could not have had applied those listening skills in school more often. It was something of a miracle that I had graduated with all the points docked for not doing my homework.

“I see the train!” Armor shouted over the wind. I laid Trixie, who had been leaning on me, against the wall and fought my way through the wind up to the bow. Glimmer had come down the stairs and followed me, just like Hawk and Star. A light sleeper but the wind didn’t bother him? I didn’t have the time to wonder about it as a pillar of smoke was rising in front of us. With the tracks below, this could only mean one thing.

“What’s the plan?” Hawk asked, happy to do something else than spew hot air.

“We have to stop the train before it reaches Ponyville. The town is about fifteen minutes away.” The estimation showed how fast we had been. The outbound trip had taken us two days and we had been back within a half one. Canterlot was a bit further away but only maybe an hour by train, half that with a flying carriage. “Hawk, you need to fly ahead and melt the tracks. Once it derails, they’ll need to abandon it. We can use the surprise advantage to end it here and now.”

“What about Chrysalis?” Those were the first words I heard from Shooting Star. His voice was deep and filled with certainty, almost like Big Mac. It didn’t really fit his build but definitely his character.

“If she is there, I will take her. I still have a score to settle.” Armor’s words gave no way for objections. A tree brushed against the bow, prompting Hawk to return under the balloon. We gained a bit of altitude after that and soon we could see the rear wagons of the train.

“One stupid question though. If Hawk is down there working on the tracks, then who is going to keep the balloon heated?” The thought had crossed my mind when we had scraped the aforementioned tree.

“No one, we’re jumping ship,” Shining Armor answered serenely as we kept heading towards the train.

“WHAT?” I screamed at him, making sure that I had understood him.

“We are jumping on the train,” he called back.

“The one that’s going to derail?!”

“Exactly.”

“Are you crazy?!” I couldn’t help but see his wicked smile as some form of madness. I didn’t get an answer because as soon as we were over the train, Hawk shot past me, giving everything to overtake it. We only had seconds before the Lunar would smash on the top of the train. Glimmer had Trixie on her back once more and was the first one to jump onto the roof of the first wagon.

“Go go go!” Armor bellowed as the airship slowed down. Glimmer’s spell had been lifted and we rapidly lost speed. I looked over the edge and had to swallow. We were hovering about two, maybe three meters above the wagon, enough to trigger my vertigo. Having run out of patience, Shining Armor gave me good buck and I fell more or less down on the roof where I rolled around a bit before coming to a halt near its end. The captain landed right beside me on all fours and offered me a hoof to help me back on my legs. The airflow was still hefty but not as brutal as on the ship, the one that was now spinning out of control into the ground behind the train, smashing into pieces. Star was flying beside us in the air.

“Star, head up to Hawk and check on how she’s doing and give us a signal once it’s done!” Armor ordered the pegasus, who disappeared shortly after.

“And what now?” He pointed at the ladder that led to the ledge behind the wagon.

“We enter, what else?” He was the first on the ladder, followed by Glimmer and Trixie. I looked down the ladder, but before I could do anything, I was brought down by the magic of the purple mare.

“Thanks…” I gave as a short answer. Aside from the height, the main issue was that I had no idea how to climb a ladder as a pony. Now we were all standing in front of the door, preparing for a confrontation.

“We need to distract them long enough for Hawk to sabotage the tracks,” Armor instructed before kicking the door open. About thirty heads turned to the now open door and we got a lot piercing looks from the occupants, all ponies.

“Uhhhh?” It was the only thing I could say before noting the green shimmer in their eyes that preceded massive amounts of transformations. The entire room was illuminated in green before the ‘ponies’ showed their true nature while giving off their high pitched scream again. It was enough to even pull Trixie out of her coma. One might be able to imagine what she must have thought in the first few seconds, waking up to thirty or more hungry-looking changelings. She immediately joined the screaming chorus and fell off of Glimmer’s back while fighting to get her composure back. In contrast to both of us, Gimmer and Shining Armor kept their calm, and for a short moment, I thought I could see the stallion grinning again. The first few changelings came jumping from those wide cushions that were used as benches and instantly found themselves pressed against the wagons walls. Shining had used a shield that filled out the wagon’s interior, disabling all its occupants in one go. I realised that close quarters combat was his speciality, being able to further deny the already small fighting space of his enemies. I saw the first changelings desperately gasping for air before falling unconscious one after another. In my amazement, I looked over to Glimmer whose confident smile showed that she hadn’t doubted the outcome of the situation for even a second.

“They wouldn’t have made him captain if he couldn’t deal with a few insects,” she told me as if she could read my thoughts and trotted over to Armor. As soon as the last changeling was disabled, he lowered his shield and Glimmer pulled a rope out of her bags and started tying all of them together into one neat package. It was in the moment she finished that the room was once more bathed in green light. Within said moment, the roof disappeared, giving sight to the sky above. All our sights wandered up where we could make out a hundred or more changelings hovering, including one large specimen. That one had long green hair, almost like seaweed, a horn, double the size of the others and some form of growth behind it. Its build was also close to Celestia’s, leaving no doubt as to whom we were dealing with.

“Chrysalis!” Armor hissed, confirming my suspicion.

“So we meet again, Shining Armor. How is your little princess doing?” She spoke with confidence.

“Don’t even dare to talk about my wife, you monster!” he screamed at her. A shield bashed in her direction but only reached air.

“Are we in a bad mood today?” She was teasing the captain to make him lose his cool. “Would you kindly take care of that?” she said to her little armada, and they all nodded in response. Suddenly the train started shaking, a good sign that Hawk had finished her job. However, with our enemies now up in the air and the few of us still being on the train, the plan was about to backfire spectacularly. Another series of shakes and this time it was enough to throw the train off the tracks. We were about to be smashed against the wagons walls when Glimmer, thinking quickly, threw up a dome that softened our impact.

My head was hammering when I woke up from the noise around me, something that had been happening all too often lately. As I was slowly opening my eyes, I suddenly found myself being thrown through the air. Trixie had used her magic to pull me out of the small crater I had been lying in, the same crater that was now engulfed with green flames. While slowly getting to my senses, I noticed the battle around me being in full effect. After derailing, the train had fallen on its side and had slid quite the distance before coming to a halt on a green meadow. Above our heads, Hawk and Star were desperately evading the attacks of forty changelings all at once. My blurred view went over to Trixie, who was using illusion and teleportation to prevent the enemy hordes from hitting us.

“Thank Celestia you are still alive. You crashed quite hard,” she called to me before teleporting us again. Fireballs were hitting where I had been just lying before, and smoke was blocking our view. Trixie turned to me and I could see that she was almost at the end of her powers.

“Where’s Shining Armor?” I asked as I couldn’t make him out in the turmoil.

“Following Chrysalis. She disappeared with her entourage towards Ponyville.” Some green projectiles shot through the smoke, clearing the view. I detected ten changelings heading straight at us. We might have prevented the infiltration but we were now dealing with a full blown invasion.

‘Nightmare!’

My pleasure…

The dark being, always ready for a fight, once more lent me some of its powers. Even if it was painful, it was what I needed. I quickly formed a circle and changed my crystal into Bladework again. With it, I blocked the first shots and struck the first changeling that was coming through the smoke.

“Trixie, you better hide. You’re not in any condition to fight.” Neither was I from the concussion, but that didn’t matter. I looked around and then it hit me like lightning. “Glimmer?” I asked Trixie.

“Haven’t seen her since she protected us from the train crash.” I nodded. If she was alive, then maybe she would be at the train.

“Good, teleport to safety. I’ll look for Glimmer. Go gather the others and then we’ll meet in Ponyville.” Trixie nodded in approval and disappeared. The remaining changelings were now fully focusing on me and launched further fireballs while grinning in anticipation of an easy kill.

‘More!’

Nightmare did as ordered and I felt powers like I never had before. Now it was my time to grin. “In harmony with the elements…” I evaded their attacks and managed to strike another one with my sword. “Fire, Water, Earth, Air, Light, and Shadow…” A shot hit me on my armor that became painfully hot, but I ignored it. “Justice knows not names…” A changeling jumped at me; all it got was my blade in his neck. “So judge over my enemies as you do over me…” My circle once more became a brightly shining disc, forcing the changelings to shrink back. “Execute your judgement…” It split into the same nine arrows that I had invoked once already. “The bow is drawn, spread bright and clean, Arrows of Light!” With Nightmare’s powers, it was easy to control the nine arrows that were now drilling into one enemy after another. One lifeless body fell onto the next, and I felt how the dark creature inside me was rejoicing at the spectacle. Much to my wonder, I felt the same way a bit. I realigned the arrows, aiming them into the air. Both pegasi were still evading to the best of their ability, and I could make out the marks on Star. His armor featured a big hole now and on one hoof I saw burned flesh. I couldn’t see if Hawk had been hit, but her fire resistance should have prevented the worst. The arrows shot off and took out the first six pursuers at once.

“Heads up!” I called to them. They saw my attack and started to counter the enemy. “Traveller of the darkness, Witness of the past, come down upon us.” Those things made two mistakes: they attack them and ignored me. “Star’s Trail, Fate’s Witness!” Multiple pillars of light struck the enemies and many more lifeless bodies fell to the ground until there was none left. I took a deep breath and released my spells. Both pegasi came down instantly and were hovering in front of me.

“Thanks, Light, that was close. Too close for my comfort…” Hawk was looking around. “Where are Trixie and Glimmer?”

“Trixie is safe; she wasn’t able to fight any longer. I don’t know about Glimmer though…” I looked over to the train wreck and some very unsettling images crossed my mind. Even if we were never on the same line, we were still comrades in arms. I started galloping with both pegasi right behind me. They quickly realised my intentions and started looking under the wreckage.

An explosion echoed over the fields and our heads turned toward the source: Ponyville. Desperately, I used my magic to lift big chunks off the ground. Glimmer was nowhere to be found.

“Light, go and help the Captain, we’ll keep looking for Glimmer.” I looked over to the two and Star nodded. “We can’t fight like this.” Hawk pointed at Star’s wounds and some on her own coat.

“Acknowledged…” I kept looking at the debris for a few seconds before galloping off. I had to help Armor defend Ponyville.

Trixie was out of breath by the time she reached Ponyville. Luna had warned her that invocations took a toll on one’s power, but this was an understatement. She could have fallen asleep right on the spot and nothing would have woken her up for days. She could still make out the pillar of smoke rising from the combat site.

Lightning was striking in the skies, or more like beams of light and she knew that Light was still holding up and, if he was able to summon his magic, might even win the fight. She turned around and kept running for the town square. The village itself seemed deserted. The ponies must have holed up in their homes out of fear. It didn’t take long for her to reach the square but a large shield denied her access. She narrowed her eyes to look through it and in fact discovered two shapes circling each other like predators ready for blood. One shape was that of Shining Armor, which meant that the other one could only been Chrysalis. Something wasn’t right though. She had something in her jaws, something small.

“Shiny, be careful! She has Scootaloo!” she heard the familiar voice of Twilight Sparkle calling. She stood on the other side of the shield together with her friends, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, and Applejack. Turning away, she realised the situation the Captain was in. The changeling queen had a hostage, a foal at that. Both must have been speaking but the shield prevented her from listening in. The Queen was shining in a strange way, and suddenly the next thing Trixie felt was pain and darkness as the shield shattered into a thousand pieces.

As I came closer, I could see smoke rising from the towns square. On my way there, I met some of Chrysalis’ changelings but those were hardly a threat. Their masses were what made them dangerous but in simple one on one combat, they were practically defenceless. It never crossed my mind why I didn’t feel any remorse for killing helpless beings, even if they were enemies. As I entered the square, a sight was offered to me that made a cold shiver run down my spine. Shining Armor was lying in a small crater in the middle, unmoving. Trixie was buried under a few beams of a collapsed building. However, what really made my blood boil was when I found the others. The Element holders were lying scattered all around the place, all showing injuries.

A piercing laugh filled the air and I looked up. Chrysalis hovered over the square, a lifeless orange bundle in her magical grasp.

“CHRYSALIS!” I screamed at her to get her attention. She stopped laughing and glanced down upon me.

“Oh look, another gallant knight.” She levitated Scootaloo to her mouth and large fangs enclosed the filly’s neck, wordlessly telling me what would happen should I even move a muscle.

‘Nightmare, give it all…’

All?

‘All!’

I felt how Nightmare wasn’t just getting close to my soul but was partially invading it. Surprisingly, it didn’t hurt one bit this time. Magic was overflowing my entire being, but I also felt the loss of control. It wasn’t like usual when it tried to overpower me, but more as if we were both in harmony.

“Last chance, Chrysalis! Let. Her. Go!” My voice had mixed with Nightmare’s. It was as if two people were speaking at once. The queen was looking down at me with a puzzled look. I was angry. I imagined tearing her apart in the air, ripping her wings out of her shell, and cracking her skull on a stone like a coconut. Rage and hate were dictating my thoughts, about what she had done to the ponies of Fillyburg, what she tried to do with me, and what she did to my friends.

At first she seemed startled by my outburst, but then she grinned like a Cheshire cat and simply let go of Scootaloo. I shot off like a rocket and caught her in mid-air. Astonished, I looked behind me and caught sight of two large wings jutting from my back. I was in the form of an alicorn, Nightmare’s form. However, before I could get used to it, a magical bolt packing quite a punch hit me square in the chest, sending me and Scoots down to the ground. Using my bewilderment, Chrysalis had launched a surprise attack.

I laughed. I hadn’t felt anything, absolutely nothing. Slowly I rose from the crater my impact caused and floated the little filly away from the queen’s reach. “Now it’s between us Chrysalis!” I launched myself off with full force, and within a moment, I was on eye level with the queen. I tried to lunge her with my sword but she skilfully evaded. She was way better at flying than I was. I was asking myself how I was flying anyway and quickly suspected Nightmare.

“I don’t know who you are but you stand no chance against me! I am the queen of the changelings, Chrysalis! I even defeated Celestia!” Her statement hit me like a brick. If that was true, then it wouldn’t be an easy fight. So I wouldn’t give her time to prepare. “Star’s Trail!” My familiar light beam shot down from the skies, now black instead of white, missing Chrysalis only by an inch. I kept bombarding her with attacks, again and again, using both my sword and my beam strike, yet I always missed. She either evaded the attack with the grace of a ballerina or countered with a small shot herself.

“Fight me, you monster!” I shouted at her as I was heading again for her, barely missing her head with my sword.

“Who is the monster?” she called back. “I am only making sure that my people have something to eat.” I ignored the answer went for her again.

~This won’t do….

It was right, and again the queen evaded. “Human, you should know better than all others how the food chain works.” She must have been able to see into my soul, just like Celestia and Luna, to be able to see who I was. “And the darkness within shows me you know what I’m talking about.” She shot me right in the face that immediately knocked me to the ground. Once more, I felt no pain. Still filled with rage, I rose from the ground. “At least you are persistent,” she told me with a grin and evaded another of my attacks. “But it’s getting boring…” Again a spell of hers hit me but this time it tied me up in the air. I tried to free myself but it wouldn’t do. “How about I show you as I destroy this place?” My eyes widened in shock and I stopped struggling. “Ah, a weak spot… wonderful. I love despair.” She launched a beam right at a nearby house that collapsed in a big explosion.

“Don’t you dare, Chrysalis! I will destroy you!” She laughed again.

“And how would you do that?” I thought about my brothers, my mother, and all those I abandoned on Earth.

“Have fun, Nightmare…” I said before my consciousness fell into darkness.

Author's Notes:

Every chapter is progress ^^

Thanks to LtcWest for translating this chapter.
Special thanks to JBL for proofreading and editing.

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