---------- Melody’s Tale - Blood and Feathers ----------

Chaos erupted. Sounds assaulted Melody’s ears, muddling together into this unintelligible medley of noise and confusion. Screaming, hollering, clanging, scraping.... The sights filled her eyes, things she couldn’t stop, things that were and had happened, and she felt so completely helpless to do anything against them. Her muscles felt weak. Her voice was gone. She watched as the changeling slid the long sword from Spitfire’s throat, the open, gaping wound spurting crimson blood out onto the table. Spitfire’s hands flew to the wound, trying to hold it closed even as she splattered more blood onto the table. The changeling mounted the table, his dripping blade swinging around in a wide arc…

It never completed it’s journey, thanks to Twilight… A vicious blast of magic knocked the changeling back against the wall, even as Dash pulled Spitfire out of her chair, away from the rest of the officers who were quickly pulling their blades from their sheaths. The screaming continued. With a rough grunt, Lily flew into action. She and Rainbow Dash dragged Spitfire across the table as Twilight kept casting spells at the changeling officers. They turned blades on them, they turned blades on one another… It was pandemonium.

“Lily, take her!” Dash cried as she yanked one of her own knives free from it’s place on her belt. Noth took Dash’s vacated spot at Spitfire’s shoulder just as the avian cut a small pouch free from Spitfire’s belt line. Noth and Lily dragged Spitfire across the table, away from the heated fray. Twilight’s spells ricocheted off the walls, one of them hitting the bench in-between Verse and Melody. That made her muscles finally respond. With a thin squeak, she followed Noth and Lily away from the fray, her eyes still fixated on the back of Spitfire’s neck… There, just to the right of the middle of her neck, was a long, thin gash that gurgled blood. Verse was by her side just as Dash gave a cry of anger and rage. Her hand flew forward, the contents of the pouch she had cut filling the air. Thin, shredded, dried herbs landed on all the combatants… And every last one of them was a changeling.

“Run!” Dash said, realizing then that she and Twilight were easily outnumbered. Their true forms finally exposed, the changelings had no more cards to play. It devolved into a brawl, all of them done fighting with one another in an attempt to cause confusion. There were probably a dozen of them. More, even… Twilight was doing her best to hold them all back, but those blades were coming awfully close. Melody, still shocked, could do nothing to help. But Verse could. He joined his mother’s side, casting spells that thumped through the air and dropped one changeling, two… For every one that fell, two took his place, blades flashing forwards…

Melody knew what she had to do. Noth and Lily were busy pressing their hands into either side of the sickening wound on Spitfire’s neck… There was blood everywhere… She roughly pushed them aside, her hands already glowing as she started working. Everything else faded away in that moment… The sound of Twilight and Verse’s magic, Lily’s panicked breathing, Noth’s guiding words… None of it reached her ears anymore. Melody was in her element. She laid her hands to the bleeding gash, her magic stitching the ragged, torn flesh back together. The bleeding slowed as she worked, though the pool underneath Spitfire’s head had grown until it dripped off the edge of the table. She ignored the huge quantity of the crimson liquid, ignored the bodies bumping into her sides… The wound closed, the bleeding was done…

But she was gone. Spitfire was immobile beneath her, her muscles relaxed atop the table. Melody’s magic washed over the woman, using every rejuvenation spell she knew, every blood replenishing charm. Her hands were a blur, casting spell after spell after spell, not a single one having any effect. When a hand looped around her bicep, firmly drawing her away, she shrugged out of the hold and returned to casting the spells. Spitfire wouldn’t move. Breath didn’t fill her lungs again. In a desperate effort, she began casting one last spell, but a pair of glowing hands clamped down on her own.

“Melody, stop. She’s gone, we need to run.” Twilight’s voice filled her senses, the first and only sound she heard. Wide eyes looking up at the mayhem still surrounding them, she didn’t hear the clanging of blades, the thump of magic, or any of it… “Melody, come on. I need you to focus. Lily, help me with her!”

“Come on, hon.” Lily’s voice joined Twilight’s. Melody blinked, looking from one mother to another, down to Spitfire’s prone body, face-down in a pool of her own blood… Then she realized. The screaming was her own. She tasted blood, even as Lily woodenly pulled her towards the balcony. “Melody, I need you to focus now, come on hon… Listen to me.” Melody felt numb. She couldn’t feel her limbs, or her mother’s hands shaking her, but she could hear her words. Her scream had died off a moment ago, and the wind whipped around her as they made their way out onto the balcony. A loud crack of magic filled her ears as Lily continued to speak.

“Baby, listen to me… You need to trust me. You. Are. A. Changeling. You can change, just like me, just like Noth, just like those changelings in there. You have the power in you. You can do this. Think about Rainbow Dash’s wings. Think about them, Melody. Can you hear me?” Melody heard the words. She opened her mouth to speak, but her numb throat couldn’t form words. An unintelligible weak sound came out, thin and pathetic. She settled for a nod, still feeling slow and shocked. A minute, maybe, had passed. It felt like a lifetime.

“Can you see them, Melody? Can you see them in your mind?” Lily said insistently, giving Melody a shake. She nodded again. Dash’s wings. White feathers, tendons and ligaments. Hollow bones, strengthened by a unique brand a magic inherent in all avian. Strong. Beautiful. She had studied them, similar wings, avian physiology… She knew about wings. “Good. Keep that in your mind. I’m going to teach you to fly the same way Chrysalis taught me.” Melody felt Lily’s hands tighten on her shoulders for a moment.

“What- LILY, NO!” With strength beyond her slender frame, Lily pivoted her hips and hauled Melody over the edge of the balcony, out into the open nothingness…

----------

“Princess!” The guard snapped to attention and saluted as he stopped in front of the desk. Celestia glanced up at him, saw he was a messenger, and tore her gaze away from the map spread out before the two of them.

“Give me a moment, Mathias.” She said softly. The changeling spy bowed his head and slipped away, exiting the room and leaving Celestia alone with the messenger. “Report.” She said curtly, giving a small, almost imperceptible nod of her head to the soldier.

“All squads along the northern line report their positions secure, milady. Trueform deposits stand at the ready and all squads are clear of infiltrators.” He shifted slightly, looking marginally uncomfortable. Celestia arched an eyebrow at the sudden break of courteousness, her expression silently urging him to continue. After a short moment, he opened his mouth once more. “Also, I carry a message of… Personal nature… From someone who calls themselves a friend.” Celestia was intrigued now. She smiled softly and nodded her head.

“Go on, corporal.” The man shuffled his feet, looking over his shoulder.

“She… Insisted she be present when I deliver the message.” This made Celestia worry. None were allowed close to her without proper clearance… Then again, if his demeanor was any indication, the bearer of his burden stood on the other side of that door. She would have been subject to trueform. All of them were these days. Even Celestia herself was subject to exposure. The herb was in higher demand than wheat.

“Well, bring her in, then…” Celestia said gently. The messenger saluted and turned to open the door. Hushed words were exchanged, and when the messenger re-entered, it was with another woman. Dark, ebony skin and long, raven hair accentuated the gentle curves of this slender woman. She was hauntingly familiar… Celestia had seen and met so many over the thousands of years it was sometimes difficult for her to match a name or a face to a person, or a place… But this one nagged at her so much, she just had to know. No matter the outcome, she would learn this woman’s place… She felt determined.

“Ahem. This soldier tells me you have a message for me, miss…?”

“Sierra, milady…” The woman spoke very softly, her voice incredibly raspy. So much so, in fact, that Celestia began to wonder what was wrong. Then, her eyes picked out the thin, pale line of a scar along her throat… This woman had been hurt. Very badly. Her raspy tone continued as she struggled to speak. Her voice cracked often, making her words difficult to hear, and as it became painfully clear, very difficult to say. “It may not be proper, but I needed someone to hear.” She took a step forward, passing the front of the guard. When she did, the hardened soldier winced. His expression showed he did not like what he had just seen…

“Go on, Miss Sierra.” Celestia said, her tone quiet with concern. The woman cleared her throat, a rough, scratchy noise that nearly made Celestia shed a tear. It obviously pained the woman, but she drew a shaky breath and spoke very quietly, very calmly.

“I was a prisoner up until recently,” She started, her eyes closed. “They… Used me…” Celestia opened her mouth to speak, but the woman shook her head slightly, a courteous sign that she had more to say. “I… Was a whore before. I was used to it, but…” Celestia furrowed her brow. A whore? She had visited a whorehouse before… Was she…? “But they… They did more than that…” Celestia leaned in, enraptured with this poor, abused woman… What had the guard blanched at? What had they done to this poor soul? Slowly, she turned around, the back of her blouse exposed. This was normal in Canterlot, a popular fashion amongst avian women. It allowed their wings to be free, but didn’t leave them exposed as other methods of covering themselves had in the past…

That is, if this woman had any wings… Hers had been removed. And from the look of the mangled, deformed stumps jutting out from the flesh just beneath her shoulder blades, whoever did it had not been gentle about it. In fact, they looked almost as if they had been…

“Ripped off.” She said in her scratchy, thin voice. Celestia felt nausea well up within her. She had seen gruesome things before, but this… This was just brutal… Slowly, Sierra turned back around. Celestia placed her face, then… This woman had worked at Maggie’s. She had been a friend and co-worker of Lily’s. Of Maggie…

“I’m… I’m so s-“

“Don’t.” Sierra cut her off. The raspy word was louder than any she had said yet, shocking Celestia with the volume and passion she had said it with. “Don’t apologize. That… That won’t help my sacrifice.” Sierra slowly approached, desperation and fury in her blazing brown eyes. Smooth and easy, she took Celestia’s hand in her own, the skin worn and dry, callused. The changelings who had captured this woman had not been kind. There was passion, fear, anger, hurt, and vengeance in those eyes. They combined into a dull, heated glow, an ember that Celestia knew could have sown destruction and death with the proper means. She knew, because she had used it before. She knew what came next, even before the words left the avian’s thin, cracked lips. What once had been a very beautiful woman was now a dried, abused shell of a thing, tossed aside to make way for whatever came next. Celestia looked into the smoldering rage that filled Sierra’s eyes, her own cold and unforgiving. The words Sierra spoke next always struck a chord in Celestia. It was a rare event that she ever heard them… She only ever had four times in her long life. Each time, they made her shiver. Each time, they filled her with a purpose, made her feel empowered, righteous, and oh so very, very… Violent.

“Kill them all.” Sierra whispered.

Celestia, princess of Equestria, goddess of the sun, most powerful magi to walk the lands, could only do one thing in that moment.

She grinned.

-------------------

Melody couldn’t breathe. She couldn’t think. In that moment, the split second that seemed to be completely frozen in time, her wide, shocked eyes stared up into the brilliant blue sky. The rain clouds were gone. The sun shone bright, lighting everything from horizon to horizon for her to see…

Time caught up. And Melody fell victim to gravity. Her stomach met the back of her throat in that moment, robbing her of breath, of speech, she couldn’t even get a squeak out. Her mouth hung open as she began her long, fast plummet towards the city of Eyriewatch spread out below… Not that she could see it… She was looking upwards, into the open sky above her. At the bottom of her vision, the imposing stone wall slowly came into focus, the balcony she had been thrown from shrinking slowly… Another thing entered her vision shortly. It was a person. Slender, tall, and just as shocked as her… It was Verse.

Together, she and her brother plummeted down, picking up more and more speed as foot after fleeting foot carried them closer to their doom.

Lily’s words hit her, then… ”Think about Rainbow Dash’s wings.” Why? Why did her mother want her to think about wings, then? What good would wings do her? ”You. Are. A. Changeling.”

Realization, like a hammer striking hot iron, hit her then. “Focus on her wings.” Melody said softly. She twisted her form in mid-air, looking down at the approaching ground. The wind began to roar in her ears, the gusts grabbing at her, tugging her this way and that… Her wide eyes focused on the slowly-approaching ground… Or maybe it just LOOKED slow… Maybe it really was fast… Oh, yes… It was coming very fast… She didn’t have a lot of time. “Focus on her wings!” The ground was RIGHT THERE. She could count the shingles on the roof she was heading for. It began to fill her vision. She couldn’t see the edge of the plain where it met the outer wall of Eyriewatch, couldn’t see the entirety of the short buildings splayed out beneath the tower without turning her head… Not that she needed to, her stare was fixed on the roof that would be her impact point. Where they would scrape her off of the rough shingles after this whole affair had blown over…

“FOCUS ON HER WIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII-AAAAAAUUUUGH!” Mouth open in a scream of defiance…

Melody shifted.

---------------------

“Do you really intend to go through with this, sister?” Luna asked gently. Celestia’s gaze still bore the burning passion she had acquired from the poor avian just earlier that morning. She and Luna had met to lower the sun for the evening and raise the moon, to paint the sky with stars. Celestia was exhausted, as she always felt, but it was the type of mental exhaustion… She hadn’t exerted herself physically, and as such her body said she didn’t need sleep, but all her mind could think about was vengeance and her soft bed.

“I very much do, Luna.” Celestia said gently, her eyes focused on the blazing disc of light in the sky. “We both know my imprisonment was voluntary. I could have leveled the palace rather than let them take it… But because I allowed myself to be captured, to be… Subjected to those things…” She shuddered slightly at the memory of Chrysalis’ rough brand of ‘Love.’ And not the sort of rough Celestia enjoyed. “We won the palace back, and gained much valuable intelligence…”

“A noble move, sister. Worried as I was, you came through it perfectly fine… And we were better for it. It speaks volumes about your character, that you would willingly submit yourself to such a thing…”

“That’s the thing.” Celestia interjected during the pause. Luna fell silent, waiting for Celestia to continue. “I did it willingly. That woman,” She gestured weakly with her hand, indicating Sierra. “She didn’t have a choice. She was FORCED to do those things. And what for? To feed the horde? To be a toy of their amusement and nourishment? They could have just kept her chained, or restrained or in a cell… No. They… They…”

“Sister, you don’t-“

“They fucking RIPPED her wings off, Luna!” Celestia snapped, her eyes alight with tears and anger. Her fists shook as she cried, her anger making the air crackle. “They sliced her throat and ripped her wings off, like a child with a moth in its hands! WHO THE FUCK DOES THAT?!” Her scream reached out past the balcony. Tile cracked under her feet and pillars shuddered nearby. Luna’s hair barely lifted from her shoulders. She barely blinked.

“Relax, Celestia.” Luna said softly. Her hand reached out to gently lay on Celestia’s shaking shoulder. “There will be a time and a place for your rage… Right now isn’t the time, and right here isn’t the place.” She stepped closer, pulling Celestia into a gentle hug. Not the first time Luna had played counselor to her stressed sibling. “I feel your pain and her’s… I really do…”

“More than that,” Celestia said softly, clinging to Luna for a few moments. “She wasn’t the only one. I know she wasn’t. She couldn’t have been…” Celestia sniffled and pulled away, wiping tears from her eyes. Moment of weakness gone, it was only her low, smoldering anger that filled her voice now. “If Chrysalis wants to subject me to the horde, fine. I will gladly feed their desires and ambitions with my body and my life, if need be…” Luna knew Celestia meant it. Her becoming prisoner hadn’t been the first time her sister had laid her life on the line for the greater good of Equestria. “But… You put them in that position.” She waved a hand out over the balcony, gesturing down to the dark streets below them. To the homes that held huddling, war-torn families, to the prisoners and pockets of changeling resistance slowly being rooted out by brave soldiers of the guard, to the safe guards in their barracks, slumbering the night away or waking up for the always-hard night watch…

“I won’t have it, Luna… I won’t.” She said, her tone low and dangerous. “Sierra told me to kill them all… Sun and Moon help me, I will… I swear by every name in our family, I won’t rest until I shoulder the death of every single changeling in Equestria…” Celestia curled her fist once more, her solemn vow echoing into the approaching night… Before the budding moon and the wilting sun, before all the powers that filled the wide world they called home, the princess’ promise did not go unheard… Luna was not the only one to acknowledge her vow. She was, however, the first to speak upon it.

“Every last changeling?” Luna said, her voice testing Celestia’s resolve. “What of Mathias? He stands on the other side of those doors, sister. Call him in here and rip his heart out. Or what of Noth? It was thanks to him Dash was sent to save Verse and Melody. What of Lily? She’s been more of a friend to us than anyone in the past four thousand years. And what’s more, what of Melody and Verse? The Children of Love themselves?” Celestia’s gaze was dangerous as she glared at Luna.

“You know what I mean, Luna. Not every changeling is the same. There are those that stand independent of Chrysalis and her horde.”

“They are still subject to her magic. Their loyalties may lie with us, or with someone else, or with themselves, even… But they are still hers. When Chrysalis fades from their lives, they still turn into primes…” Luna said. “You can’t be safe until every last changeling is dead.”

“Fine, then!” Celestia threw her hands up. “I’d kill them all! Lily, too, even! If it means ridding the world of this, this… This bug, then I will!” She gestured towards the North, where the fighting had died down for the night.

“Melody? Verse?” Luna asked, still testing her sister.

“They’re not changelings… They’re something more. You know that as well as I.” Celestia growled, her gaze turning towards the Northeast… Towards far-off Eyriewatch. Luna crossed her arms and looked in the same direction, both of them watching the horizon.

“They’re more changeling than you give them credit for…” Luna said dangerously.

Celestia had no words for that. Instead, she watched the darkening horizon, wondering where the Children of Love were in that moment…

“Is that…” Luna’s words made her eyes snap to focus. “Is that… Dash?” Celestia saw it, then… A glimmering light on the horizon. The same horizon they looked at in that moment.

“I believe so… Is she… Coming for us? I’ll light her way…” Celestia knew well the capabilities of a Sonic Rainboom. If Dash was on the horizon, she was twenty-seven miles away. She would be there in less than ten minutes. Hands glowing brilliantly, Celestia summoned a light, bright as a star burning in the night sky, giving Dash a target. Slowly, the glimmering rainbow-colored light grew and grew.

“She’s moving awfully fast…”

“Faster than I’ve seen her yet.”

“Sister, she… She isn’t slowing.”

“Get ready to catch her…” Celestia said. Dash had their beacon. At that distance, anyone would have seen it. The streak curved low to the ground, and in two minutes was twice as large as it had been when they first saw it… Celestia let the light fade, noting the gentle curve in the avian’s flight. She saw. She knew. And she wasn’t slowing down.

“Oof!” Hardly three minutes later, Dash collided into the magical grip of the two princesses, her gut wrenching at the sudden stop. Her head spun, which wasn’t helped by the thin oxygen she was getting in her frenzied flight. She panted, gulping ragged breaths of air as her muscles twitched, her entire body aching.

“Dash! What is wrong with you?!” Celestia asked, laying the avian down on her back. Dash tucked her sore wings in, groaning as the cool tile pressed into her. She struggled to speak, her flat chest rising and falling smoothly. Her face shone with tears. Even now, more coursed free.

“She’s crying… Rainbow Dash, what’s wrong?” Luna interjected, sweeping around to crouch against the other side of the winded avian. Luna’s expression darkened. “Where are Melody and Verse? Twilight and Lily? Noth?” Dash struggled to draw a breath, her thin breath interspersed with spasmodic coughing. Luna urged her to recover, praying Dash found the strength to tell them what was wrong.

“Eyriewatch has…” Dash gulped, the tears streaming freely now. Her chest shook with sobs. “Eyriewatch has fallen!”

Celestia was airborne in a second.

--------------

The morning sun burned in her eyes as Melody felt the wind rush through her hair. The rooftops skimmed along beneath her, one after the other, her feet inches from the tops… The pressure on her shoulders said her wings ached with the effort of pulling out of the dive…

Wait…

Wings?

Melody had wings! Flexing the muscles experimentally, Melody felt herself lift a few inches… The roofs didn’t seem so close now… Repeating the motion, she climbed higher… And higher! And higher! She couldn’t fight the laugh of glee that bubbled forth, the wind tugging at her hair, nothing between her and the sky.

The happiness was lost when she realized what was happening below… In the streets of Eyriewatch, the guard fought with hordes of changelings, thousands of them amassing in the streets. Her smile froze as she watched a group of at least a dozen changelings rip into an innocent mother and her child. The faint sound of the woman’s scream reached her ears, making her falter…

“Melody!” The voice distracted her, made her wobble in the air. She swung dangerously close to a chimney… The recovery was over-compensated, her amateur maneuver carrying her over in a half a barrel-roll. She was free and into the open air again, just upside-down… She rolled over again, twisting and wobbling in the air. Changeling instinct had told her how to shift. Avian instinct had told her how to fly. Neither of those told her how to fly well. A hand wrapped around her bicep, steadying her in the air. She looked up at the stoic face of Rainbow Dash, her jaw set as she looked down at Melody.

“I’m okay.” She panted, using Dash as an anchor point to settle herself. She flapped several times, gaining altitude.

“Fly West, to the forest.” Dash said, pointing at a thin green gash of trees on the horizon. “The guard will cover your escape. Lily and the others are right behind you…”

“Twilight? Where’s my mom?” Melody asked, fear still in her voice.

“She needed to get the books.” Dash grimaced downwards. Melody followed her gaze, spotting a dozen changelings taking wing into the sky. “Listen, she’s going to try a long-distance teleport. I described the glade to her. Use her seeker spell on the books to find her when she gets there. Melody, focus. She’s going to need you. You and Verse. Follow Lily, land in the plains, and find Twilight. The guard will do everything in it’s power to help you escape. Go. Go now!” Melody flapped harder in her panic, even as Dash banked away. She glanced downwards, watching as Dash bowled into the changelings, her knives flashing in the sun. Six of them fell from the sky in the first few moments. She tore her gaze away from the black-blooded display and towards the plains. She needed to focus right now… She needed to get away from Eyriewatch. Far away.

Verse entered her periphery, the two of them flying well enough together. Slowly, like two new flyers, which they were, they made it out over the walls of Eyriewatch, out into the open plains. Gone was the initial wonder and thrill of flight. It was replaced very quickly and very suddenly by fear, terror, cold, heart-stopping despair and anxiety. They needed to move, to fly, to run, very, very far away very fast… Panic fueled their wings. Fear pumped their hearts. And terror gritted their teeth.

“Faster!” The word called out over the wind whistling through their ears, the sound of Lily’s voice spurring them on. She caught up with and passed them slowly, probably because she had the better form for flight… Melody had seen her change into Dancer once or twice, and the story she had told still stuck in her mind. At that moment, though, Melody fixed her gaze on the bottom of Lily’s feet, which were stretched out flat behind her. Flapping harder, they went after her, the sweat of their exertion already making Melody uncomfortable.

“There!” After close to fifteen minutes of fast flying, Lily pointed down at a hill. She tucked her wings and dove, followed clumsily by her two children. It was then and only then that they paused to look behind them. Eyriewatch, the tall stone tower, had smoke billowing from the open windows and balconies, the black flag of it’s pain rising into the sky. Melody gulped air, her wing muscles quivering as she looked at the fight in progress. Only very few changelings took to the air. Those that did were battered down by the avian guard, their long spears keeping the distance far enough that they suffered very few casualties in the air. On the ground, though, they were losing the battle. The changelings swarmed any avian that landed, ripped him to shreds in a moment. None followed them, and Lily guessed it was thanks to the line of guards, the small dot of color that was Rainbow Dash standing with them.

“Cast it now.” Lily panted, drawing Melody’s attention away from the burning city.

“What?” Verse asked, his own chest heaving.

“The seeker spell.” Lily said curtly, looking at Melody. “Twilight should have retrieved the books and teleported out of there by now. She’s somewhere in that forest.” Her long, slender finger pointed at the ever-growing trees that they had been flying towards. “We need to meet up with her, make sure she’s okay. Use the marker she used on the books for her own seeker spell.” The way Lily described it was very amateur, but then again, she only knew the very basics of magic. She could hardly levitate things. Melody knew what she was talking about, and after a brief explanation to Verse, they both settled their breath and began to cast the spell…

”Arturo, Hamaheen, incanstino, NYX!” The chant opened Melody’s eyes, her vision not a part of her body any more… The magic of the spell carried her mind’s eyes far and away, the forest growing larger and larger. The trees whooshed by, her passage completely silent. Half a mile into the forest, the trees thinned and turned into a clearing… The spell carried her across the clearing to a mossy boulder. Against it sat a lone figure. In the blue tinge of arcane magic, Lily couldn’t see the color… But she knew what she was looking at. She returned to her body with a gasp, both her and Verse wide-eyed and shaking.

“What?” Lily said, looking between the two of their shocked expressions. “What’s wrong?”

“Sh… She spliced.” Melody said, her form shaking. “She’s bleeding out.” Her scared eyes met Lily’s own. “Twilight’s dying.”

-------------------

“Celestia!” Luna called. Her sister was gone. Nothing could stop her, now… Not in her current state. Rainbow Dash passed out on the balcony, her form limp on the stone, her chest still rising and falling smoothly. “Fuck… Mathias!” She called towards the balcony doors, which promptly swung inwards. The changeling lieutenant, defector and spy, spotted the predicament, the cracks in the balcony tile.

“What happened?!” He said, smoothly falling to his knees beside the unconscious avian. It was General Dash, Luna’s personal bodyguard and liaison between the secret changeling spies and the princesses… She was unconscious, breathing heavy.

“Lots, but nothing we can do about it right now.” Luna said, pulling on Dash’s arm, ducking under the woman’s slight frame and hefting her like a limp sack of potatoes. “Take her into my room, make sure she’s stripped and tucked in. NO funny business.”

“Of course.”

“Leave some water and food at the side of her bed, and then lock the door. Bring the key to me. I need to set the sun and raise the moon. It’s going to be a very, very long night…” Just as Mathias went to take Dash from Luna, though, the avian’s eyes snapped open and she gripped Luna’s blouse in a iron grip. Luna gasped, her hand clamping over Dash’s. Eyes wide with panic, Dash looked up at her. She spoke two words before passing out again…

“Twilight… She’s…”

“Get her inside. Now.” Luna said, handing her off to the changeling lieutenant.

Celestia’s wings picked up in speed and velocity. Her form cut through the air like a comet, bending and twisting the atmosphere around her. ’Hang on, everyone…’ She thought to herself, her determination hard as diamond. ’I’m on my way. Just hang on. Celestia hadn’t flown fast enough to cause a sonic boom in a long, long time… The last had been during the raid on Naga-haal. Now, though, was the time for her own sonic rainboom… Only hers wasn’t colorful or very flashy. Hers was simply power incarnate.

Pumping her wings hard and fast, Celestia burned through the thin layer of atmosphere before her, the ripple of her breaking the barrier clashing with the sparks from her wings. Molten gold erupted through the air, the shockwave of sound rumbling over the hills and valleys of Northeastern Canterlot. Luna had set the sun, but her speed erupted in a premature daybreak, the light radiating outwards like a halo through the air.

Rainbow Dash’s sonic rainboom was nothing but light particles. A product of her avian magic. Not like a magi’s, the avian brand of magic could not manifest itself in spells and enchantments. Theirs allowed them to fly with ease, to walk upon the clouds and move them at will. Among talented flyers, they could control weather to some degree, and even strike lightning…

So when Celestia broke the speed barrier, her own brand of powerful avian magic erupted the oxygen in the air, her fire as intense as the sun’s and bright as day. The ground underneath her lit up under the faux sunshine. She didn’t care. She didn’t even see it. She only saw Eyriewatch, the wind ripping through her hair and clothes as she moved faster… Harder… The fire burned out before it reached the ground, but if there were any avian in the area, they were in danger. She had to risk it. She couldn’t allow Eyriewatch to fall.

It took her a half an hour. The tower breached the horizon, and she flared her wings out to slow down marginally. Still breaking the speed barrier, her burning halos coming less frequently, she circled the town from on high once, twice… Everything appeared to be in order. Sure, there was a battle going on, but it appeared as if the guard had it all in order. She slowed down enough to get a better look… Oh, that was the issue… The guard controlled the skies, but inside the tower and on the streets, the changelings had the advantage. Spotting one large unit, she flapped down to them, her clothes singed at the edges but mostly intact.

“Major,” She said, noting his rank on the shoulder of his uniform.

“Princess! I… Pardon me, but fuck, she did it!”

“General Dash, I assume?”

“Yes, Princess. She left two hours ago to alert Canterlot. Are you… Heh… Our reinforcements?” They flapped, hovering above the city, the sounds of skirmishes and fighting still sounding below them.

“Indeed I am, Major. Though I’m afraid my priorities lie elsewhere… Can you re-take the city?” The major looked down into the city, heaving a sigh.

“With time, my princess… We have to whittle away at them from the skies. They’re burning our main stores of trueform, but we have smaller stashes all over the city. We can rain the fires out-“

“No.” Celestia cut him off. “The rain is the property of the Roc now. The last thing we need is the anger of a newborn god. Here, hold out your spear.” The major brought his spear forward with a blink. Celestia ignited a brilliant ball of burning fire in her hand, holding it out to the bladed edge. The metal caught fire, burning hot and bright, but not melting…

“Spread that among the others. Rain fire down on the changelings. Burn them out. If Eyriewatch has to burn to keep it out of changeling hands, then so be it. Use this to your advantage on the ground. Use it’s light to fight through the night, identify your own guard by it. Any of them not carrying the flame die.”

“Y-yes, princess!” The major stuttered, automatically passing the flame off to another airborne spear. The flame leapt to life all around, everyone holding the impromptu torches in their hands. The air above Eyriewatch was aflame.

“Now tell me, Major.” Celestia said. “Where are the Children of Love? Twilight Sparkle and Lily? The changeling spy Noth?” The major swallowed and seemed to think hard for a few moments.

“The forest, milady… They fled there as soon as the attack started. We kept the changelings from following them. They seemed more intent on taking the city than following them… As far as I know, they are safe…” He was talking to Celestia’s retreating backside now. The princess had turned and flown away as soon as he pointed to the forest. Panic gripped Celestia’s chest… The guard could win the city back. She had faith in her Dawnfire. But she didn’t know about Twilight, Lily, Melody or Verse… She flew fast as she dared, looking over the trees, searching… There! A glimmer of magic. She followed it to a clearing.

“Celestia!” Noth, shifted into his human form, approached her as she landed.

“Where are they.”

“Princess, you don’t want to-“

“WHERE?!” She roared. She was moments away from killing him and searching for them on her own.

“There…” He pointed. “Please, princess, we couldn’t-“ She stalked off, sweeping him out of the way carelessly. The boulder he indicated was twenty yards away. She swept around the back edge, saw them there… Melody and Verse stood, tears coursing freely from their eyes. Lily, on her knees, sobbed as she clutched Twilight’s head to her chest…

Celestia saw blood.

So… Much… Blood…

“No…”

----------- Notes from the Author -----------

There are some indentation issues. I can't fix them. Sorry.

Next chapter is due by Monday.