As Blueblood attacked me again, I parried his strike. I whirled behind him, and held my sword inches from his spinal cord.
"Give up," I said, "Or die."
"Oh," he said, "I don't think so. You can come out now, my sweeties."
Half of the General's Bodyguard clashed with the other half, and quickly killed them. They dismounted their horses, and turned into Changelings.
"What the he…" Was all I got out before Blueblood turned around, and kicked me to the ground.
"Let me answer your question," he said, his voice slowly turning into a familiar tone. "I'm not Prince Blueblood. He's been dead for weeks, and I have taken his form. But now that you know that I betrayed Shining Armor, I guess I should ditch this disguise."
I looked, and saw as he turned slowly into Chrysalis, and her sword, once graceful, turned into a staff, no doubt used to suck the love out of others.
"I was merely holding back as you attacked me." She said, "Your love for Twilight Sparkle has made me more powerful than any of you. I can kill you all, and vanish into the forests before anypony can come and rescue you!"
"Try me," I said. I kicked Chrysalis in the chest with both of my feet, catching her off guard. I got up, and reached for my bow. I loaded an arrow, and fired it at her.
"Nice try," she said, hurling it aside with her staff. "Try that again, Imperial."
My brow furrowed as I struggled to think of a good strategy to defeat her. She was just too powerful, I couldn't think of a way to defeat her on my own.
"That's it!" I smiled, "Spitfire, we got to protect Shining Armor. We fight to the end, protecting him."
"I got it," she said, reaching for her War Axe and shield, "Let's go."
We ran towards where Shining Armor lay unconscious, and we readied ourselves for the Changeling attack. I loaded an arrow, and pulled back the string.
"Attack them!" Chrysalis screamed, "Bring me Shining Armor's head!"
The seven Changelings ran towards us. I fired an arrow, and watched as it flew and lodged itself in one's chest. It screamed as green blood spurted from its chest cavity, and fell to the ground, where it died.
I quickly loaded another arrow, and fired it, almost missing a Changeling, only barely hitting the carotid artery in its neck. It came in at an angle, so it sliced it right open. The Changeling choked on its own blood, and died before it hit the ground.
As they reached us, I drew my sword, and charged at them. I brought my sword around from my side, and sliced a Changeling's head clean off. Blood splashed me in the face, but I didn't care. When I was this engaged in battle, it made me look even more intimidating.
I had just pulled my sword out of a Changeling's eye, when a Changeling came flying at me, mouth open and about to devour my neck. It was coming too quickly for me to react, so I couldn't block its charge.
Luckily, Spitfire had been chasing it in the air, and flew over it as she dragged her War Axe up its spinal cord. She kicked it in the head once she had done the job, and landed in front of me.
"So," Chrysalis said, "You called all of them. I expected that, so that is why I installed my Changelings in the entire force you are taking to Baltimare. You won't survive this time, I made sure of it!"
In frustration, I charged her, and brought my sword through her shoulder. She fell to the ground, obviously shocked.
"How did you survive our last encounter?" I asked, "Answer, now."
"I merely had one of my minions give you Changeling blood. You were rejecting, which gave me the perfect opening to attack you mentally. You never killed me, you only defeated me mentally. Although I had expected to kill you, and terminate your nervous system, you thought you killed me, which gave me the perfect chance to regroup my armies."
I stomped on her chest to give me leverage to pull out my sword. She screamed in pain, and looked at me evilly.
"You Imperial bastard!" She seethed, "You can only hurt me, but you cannot kill me! I am too powerful!"
"Don't count on it," I said, "My friends are coming, and we will kill you."
"Oh really," she replied, "You do know that nopony is safe from Changelings? Every one of them could be Changelings, you just don't know!"
"I know my friends," I said, "None of them are acting out of character."
"I wouldn't count on it." She laughed evilly as they came galloping up behind me.
"What's goin' on?" Applejack said, reaching for her bow, "What is Chrysalis doing here?"
"Hello, Applejack." Chrysalis said, using her staff to throw me off her. "You are all too late! Right now, my Changelings have killed both Luna and Celestia! Equestria will be thrown into chaos, much like his precious Empire. Now, we can take you all over with no problems!"
"You won't get away with this!" Rarity said, sending a lightning bolt towards Chrysalis. She caught it with her staff, and threw it back at Rarity. She yelped as she was thrown off of her horse and onto the ground.
The others dismounted their horses, and readied spells or weapons. Pinkie Pie scowled as she drew her Battleaxe, and ran next to me. Twilight teleported to the other side of me, and Fluttershy flew behind me.
Applejack helped Rarity get up, and they ran beside Twilight and Pinkie Pie.
"Oh look," Chrysalis said, "You really think you can beat me? This man's love for Twilight Sparkle is stronger than Shining Armor's, and with him here, I am more powerful than the most powerful god!"
She laughed evilly as she levitated off the ground, and lifted up her staff. Clouds cyclone around the tip, and winds buffeted us on the ground. I stuck my sword into the ground, and went on one knee to avoid most of the winds.
"Rarity!" I called, "Use you electricity spells to knock her staff out of her hand! Without it, she's powerless!"
She nodded, and she outstretched her arms, with one flexed hand on top of the other. Lightning formed in the clouds, and struck Chrysalis' staff. It knocked the staff out of her hand, and sent it tumbling towards the ground. Twilight teleported below it, and caught it.
"Now it's our turn." She said as her horn and eyes turned purplish-white. She rose to where Chrysalis was now flying. Her face showed that of complete rage, and what she did to Chrysalis showed it.
She moved the clouds to swallow Chrysalis. Once they had, she directed the clouds to produce lightning, which was so bright I could see her silhouette in the clouds being electrocuted.
She was not done with that though. Once she had finished with that, she made the clouds form a tornado, which ripped through the forest, letting debris from the forest pummel Chrysalis. She let the tornado stay in place, allowing the shrapnel to kill her.
"Twilight," I shouted, "You've got to stop this! This is madness, she's defeated!"
"No," she said, her voice sounding much more commanding and masculine, "She must die!"
"No!" I said, firing an arrow at her side. The arrow shocked her so much, the white left her eyes and horn, and she fell towards the ground. Spitfire flew up, and caught her.
Once she had put her down, I ran over to her. She looked dead tired, and slightly sick.
"Pliton," she said, stroking my face with her delicate hand, "I'm sorry. I lost control. Destroy the staff; it will destroy anything it touches."
"I will," I said, breaking off the tip of the arrow with my sword, and pulling it out of her side. "Just listen to me, and promise you won't touch it."
"You don't have to tell me twice," she said faintly before losing consciousness. Spitfire left her in my arms, where I held her. She looked as peaceful as a sleeping infant, and all traces of the Twilight in the air fighting Chrysalis had disappeared.
Applejack came to my side, and said, "We best put her down, don't want her to wake up to see you starin' at her."
"Alright," I said, putting her down gently. I watched as Spitfire dragged back Chrysalis, who looked close to death.
"Please," she said, "Have mercy on me. I am defeated."
"Damn right you are." Shining Armor, leaning on his sword, said. "I want her in shackles and brought back to Canterlot. She shape shifts, kill her."
"Yes, General Shining Armor." Spitfire said, placing shackles on Chrysalis' wrists and ankles.
"I want her out of here." Shining Armor ordered, and Twilight nodded and then teleported away with Chrysalis to Canterlot, where she would be held in the Canterlot Castle Dungeon.
"Mount up," Shining Armor said, "Forward march!"
The army moved again, obviously Chrysalis had been bluffing. We began to move at the pace we had before, and soon Fillydelphia was in sight. I saw as a mass of black moved on the horizon towards us.
"Easy men," Shining Armor said, "It's only Fancypants with his army. Keep moving, we're halfway to Baltimare!"
The army shouted its approval, and we moved faster to meet with Fancypants and his force of five thousand. We met five minutes later, and I got my first glance of Fancypants.
He had a white coat, much like Rarity's, and an exceptionally large horn. He had blue hair, which he kept short, and had a small moustache of the same color.
"General Shining Armor, sir!" He said, snapping in salute on his mount.
"Captain Fancypants," Shining Armor said, "Let's get going, we should reach Baltimare by tomorrow noon at the latest. The Daedra there are rapidly gaining reinforcements, and we need to get there while we still have the numerical advantage."
"I say," Fancypants said, "We shall move immediately!"
"Yes," Shining Armor said, "Forward march!"
We began moving again, and when we had settled into a rhythm, Fancypants glanced at me. He looked confused, and turned to Shining Armor.
"Sir," he said, "Might I ask who this bloke is?"
"That bloke," Shining Armor said, "Is Legate Pliton Calleius. He comes from Tamriel, and is more than competent in the field."
"Then it is my pleasure to make an acquaintance with such a man!" Fancypants said, "That armor, where did you get it?"
"I don't know," I said, "But it is usually used by the Daedra."
"My my," he said, "I should certainly get myself such a set!"
"Only the best smiths can make this," I said, "And then, they have trouble making it."
"How much would one cost?" He asked. I will give him this, he is persistent.
"More than you have." I said, "It can take years to make a set."
"Oh," he said, "I see. Sir, how far are we from Baltimare?"
"I'd say about nine hours away." Shining Armor said. "Legate, have you seen Soarin'? He should be back by now."
"No sir," I said. "Twilight hasn't gotten back yet."
"That I can understand," he said, "But Soarin's been gone for a few hours now."
I shrugged, and he gave up. We marched on, but night soon fell upon us, and we needed to make camp. We found a clearing in the woods, and we made camp there.
I had set up a fire, and Shining Armor, Fancypants, Rarity, Applejack, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie and Spitfire had gathered around it.
"Do y'all reckon Twilight ran into trouble?" Applejack said, "She's been gone an awful long time."
"No," Rarity said, "She must be on her way back now. The trial must've taken longer than expected."
"That seems to be the most likely explanation." Fancypants said, "I say Rarity, how long has it been since we last spoke to each other?"
"Oh," she said, "It must've been years. Nowadays I can't seem to get out of my shop, I was so busy. But now with the war and all…"
"I see," he said, "Say, how about when this is over, we share a pot of tea sometime?"
"Oh," she said, "I would love that."
I exchanged few words; instead I watched the fire burn, waiting for Twilight to return. It had been a few hours now, and I couldn't see the reason why she would stay so long in Canterlot.
"Here comes Soarin'," Spitfire said, "Finally. It took you long enough, Soarin'!"
"I got tied up!" He said, "Don't worry, I'm still alive. Did I miss anything?"
"Oh nothing," I said sarcastically, "You just missed Chrysalis attack us in the form of Prince Blueblood."
"Sorry I asked." He said, "You didn't have to say it so coldly."
"I'm sorry," I said, "I'm just overly tired. I didn't get enough sleep last night, and today was exhausting."
"Alright," he said, "Where's Twilight?"
"We don't know," Shining Armor said, "We hope she's still in Canterlot, or else she could be anywhere."
"Well," Soarin' said, "That's not good."
"Nope," Pinkie Pie said. She then thought of something, and her face perked up, "I know how to make everypony feel better! How about some cupcakes?"
She pulled out a bag of cupcakes. I was puzzled, because she was carrying a bag of cupcakes with her the entire day.
"Don't question her," Applejack whispered, "We don't, it makes her seem somewhat normal."
"Got it," I whispered back. Pinkie Pie looked up from eating one, and offered me some. I was hungry, so I accepted. She gave me one with brown icing and with an apple slice and cherry on top.
I bit into it, and instantly, I fell in love with it. It was simply delectable. I finished it in under a minute, a combination of being so hungry and just plain loving it.
"They're good aren't they?" Pinkie Pie asked. I nodded, and she laughed. "Everypony does, they're just so good! Sometimes I have a mix icing, where I have chocolate and vanilla. I can already taste it! I know I put one in here somewhere…"
She was cut off by a flash of light, and a loud poof! We all looked, even Pinkie Pie, who had a cupcake in her mouth.
It was Twilight, and she didn't look good. She had a lot of cuts and bruises, and it looked like she had a broken bone or two.
"Twilli!" Shining Armor said, "What's wrong, what happened?"
"There's something wrong," Twilight said, coughing out blood, "The Daedra, they rescued Chrysalis. I don't know where, but they nearly killed me and Luna trying to get to her."
"I'm going to get help," Shining Armor said, "Somepony get me a healer!"
Somepony ran off, but I didn't look back to see who it was. I only looked at Twilight, her face marred with cuts, bruises and welts.
"Pliton," she said, "They're after you. Molag Bal, Mehrunes Dagon, they want you dead. You can't go to Baltimare, you'll die."
"No," I said, holding her head up so she could drink some water, "I'm going. If I'm going to die, I want to in battle, not hiding in Canterlot."
"But, Pliton," she pleaded, "Don't go. You'll die. They're both there; they're waiting for you to fight them."
Alright, so I'm hoping that you like this, because it's pretty fun to write this. But, what will happen to Pliton once he arrives at Baltimare, if he even goes? Read and review to leave suggestions as to what will happen. Also, tomorrow is my birthday, so I probably won't get any writing in tomorrow, so maybe Monday or Tuesday I will have the next chapter up. So, for now, goodbye and please review!