Among all else, this is going to be an interesting chapter.

There's a link to my blog in My Bio that holds… pertinent information for this fic and I'd recommend everyone read.

I'd encourage you to do so.

~TCL~

Part 5

She rode out the shockwave of green magic, eyes closed as she used half of what remained of her energy to keep herself hidden.

'Shining Armor.'

Opening her eyes, Cadance looked around the wedding venue and found that the building was now lacking any form of architecture besides the floor!

She surveyed the ponies in the center of the room before, with a flicker of her auntie's horn, they were teleported to safety. Or, at least anywhere safer than here.

She watched the byplay between those who remained before watching as Spike and Dinky went off to help Moondancer.

She was starting to think that maybe staying here wasn't such a good idea. The thought had been done in the heat of the moment, when everypony had been taken off guard by the blast of her auntie's.

Now, she had no real way out but a teleportation spell which would leave her completely and utterly vulnerable to whoever, wherever she ends up.

She let out a haggard sigh, disheveled hair coming into view.

"Princess…"

Eyes looking slightly to her right, she saw the unicorn guardspony who'd been with her beforehand.

Another who'd been caught up in her little momentary rash thinking.

Giving the unicorn guard a small, tired smile, they moved slowly across the edge of the area.

They tucked themselves to the farthest reaching part of the platform and prayed for a miracle.

She had lined all of them up, she and her four sisters. Looking them each over, she smiled that smile they all craved. One she gave just easily as Emotion to her own hive, but only to them.

It was always a momentous occasion when she did this and they cherished each moment of it.

They were the special ones. The ones who she will her most specific and refined specification.

Her Favored children. Ones who received her "will" to lead the hives. Each of them given a Preference to lend unto their own, when the time came.

Lined up in her personal haven, she walked by each of them, stopping for moments at a time to get down on her knees and give personal judgment for each of their "gifts".

She looked down at her arms and couldn't help and wonder about her own.

As the "Arms", what did that entitle her to?

Aurelia never really knew.

Her wings beat at hundreds upon hundreds times per second. Her body slicing across the distance between the mountain and the place where the King lay.

Ever still, she allowed her eyes to flicker to and fro among the battlefields, mind at ease in the disarray.

This place of ruckus, chaos, and violence was where she was most relaxed. She was aware of everything going on around her.

So that's why she lunged backward as a veritable flash of heat slammed down in front of her causing her to grin.

She twisted in the air as blast after blast of heat came from her front, the Princess of the Sun's eyes narrowed in on her as her staff was raised in her direction.

She curved around several beams before she sank just a smidge lower towards Canterlot, causing the princess's hold on her staff to tighten into a probably bone-whitening grip.

Aurelia felt her inner conflict with this action but continued nonetheless.

Things such as this were beneath her, especially if she imagined herself in Celestia's place with her hive at stake. That said, she was impeding her progress towards her big fight.

Sometimes, underhanded tactics were necessary.

Turning her thoughts away from that line of thinking, her grin returned with a vengeance. She was too close now for the Princess to simply blast her anymore.

The King stood there arms crossed as she broke past the final vestiges of distance between them.

Right as she was maybe 30 feet away two things happened.

Out of the corner of her eye, the young drake and pony left around the side of the broken structure.

Second, the King jumped back, to reveal a narrow-eyed Derpy Hooves.

The mare, down in sprinter position, shot off towards her with a sound of something resembling static before she found herself confused.

The mare had been rushing her before dashing off at a sharp angle to her side. Right as she was about to turn to look for her, you never leave yourself open at the back after all, she found her momentum arrested by… nothing?

Not "nothing" per se but she'd run into something that not only stopped her movement but she felt a slight shock flitter through her before the pegasus got behind her.

One of Derpy's arms locked around Aurelia's neck, securing a tight grip on the Queen before the mare's other arm maneuvered Aurelia's right arm high behind her back. The mare's side pressed against her right side, keeping her arm in place.

For that scant moment, the Queen's eyes widened, as the blonde King's grin reached her.

Then the pegasus twisted them both in the air before launching her away from the area altogether.

Watching Aurelia get flung across Canterlot was a blast in and of itself but Nympha had bigger fish to fry.

She leaped across several more rooftops in one jump before stopping to get a look at the world around her. She kneeled behind a chimney and connected to her hive.

Her senses open to all the moving thoughts and pieces as she directed several groups of changelings towards more sparsely populated areas to spread out from.

Making sure to reassure them of areas where they were to ignore and move around before she cut off from the hive and focused back to catch the sight of the flying teens as they landed on a roof several rooftops to the side of her, nearer to the bridge between the castle and the school.

She gave it all the attention of a couple seconds before preparing to take off.

-Mistress Nympha-

She came to an abrupt stop, mind reeling at the telekinetic intrusion before she growled.

'Who is this?!'

-This is Shining Armor, speaking in place for my Queen-

And she was already tired of hearing his voice.

'What do you want and make it quick!'

-Of course. Chrysalis says you need to go after the drake and little pony-

"What?!" she growled outward, forgetting he wasn't in front of her to violate for a quick few seconds before he continued.

-My Queen says that there was a reason that the Invasion Potentials were more than just the King. These are all creatures who could pose a threat to the invasion as a whole. My orders were to impress upon you the IMPORTANCE of their incapacitation-

She reigned in her anger at the utter gall Chrysalis seemed to be employing and responded with all the vitriol of a vindictive disemboweled lioness.

'Tell that bitch she can do it her-fucking-self. If they're so damn important she can get off her candy ass imprinted throne and take care of them with her own hands.'

She waited to hear the retort and after a second or two passed, she grinned to herself.

She fell to her knees not a moment later.

Her eyes bulged as she grabbed at her head. Agony ran its course through her mind for a moment before it fell silent, leaving her gasping, light sweat going down her forehead.

"Wha-hah… hah… what was-?"

-Unless you want it to happen again, you'll rescind your previous comment and do as We say-

Her eyes went wide as another voice filled her mind, this one bringing with it a sense of dread and fear.

-That's good. Now move it-

Just as quickly as it came, it left. Leaving her feeling like no more than a helpless child that she'd been all those years ago.

"Why do you and your sisters keep harming each other?"

The small changeling child flinched as the roaming light of her mother's magic touched on the wounds. The cracks in her chitin, leaking blue blood, sealed at a quick pace. In moments, the wound had all but disappeared, a white mark holding the wound's previous position.

This Queen's long hair was stark white, easily coming down her shoulders to reach the back of her knees and then some. The Queen's white eyes gazed down towards the mark and softly rubbed her thumb over it causing her to fidget slightly.

"Nympha."

"Yes… Mother?"

Her mother sighed as she let go of her limb, standing to her full height that even Celestia would find impressive.

"How did this happen?"

Fidgeting a bit more, Nympha relented.

"... It was Chrysalis and Aurelia!" she exclaimed. "Ever since Aurelia got her "Arms" she's been using that to beat me and Chrysalis. Chrysalis's "Crown" made it so she got me in the way and-!" a finger placed itself on her lips, silencing her completely.

Looking up, Nympha could see the disappointment in her mother's eyes and a slight bit of rage as well. She felt a giddiness rise within her.

'They're gonna get it!'

Looking back down to her, her mother gave her a questioning glance that left her daughter befuddled.

"Mother?"

Her hand came down to Nympha's cheek before traveling to her head, where her membrane lay.

Running her fingers through a flock of it, she gave her daughter another look. This time, Nympha actually huffed a bit before looking away.

Seeing her progeny like this, the Queen dropped it altogether and moved onto a more important topic.

"Then, why didn't you use your "Body" then, Nympha?" white eyes roamed her countenance for an answer and found it in her daughter's disgruntled expression.

"Because it doesn't do anything besides anything I couldn't do before! I can't place down secondaries, withhold traits into my arms like Aurelia and the less said about Cocoona and Catera the better." she looked down ashamed.

"I'm not special like the others and will be the weakest once the time comes for the Enthronement Royale."

She didn't see her mother's grimace at the words "Enthronement Royale" but she did look up when the Queen brought her chin up with a finger. Her mother's smile brought a warmth to her chest and hope to her mind.

"How about I tell you, exactly how to use this "Body" of yours, hm?" White hair curtained over a grin that set Nympha's mind soaring with possibilities.

'What the fuck was that?!' she remarked inward. All the indignity and shame she felt rushing through her burst into anger and rage.

I don't see the problem, her copy responded mentally, stirring her anger all the more.

Focusing on both reprimanding the copy and handling her ride, Chrysalis was livid.

That was too far! Once again, she'd broken another rule laid down by her mother and it tore up at her.

The fact that it didn't seem to find anything wrong with doing such things just meant that Chrysalis would have to quickly end its existence once this invasion was said and done.

She, focused on directing her mount, had a set of parting words to give.

'We will be having words once this is all said and done.' Her piece "said", she fully turned her attention towards her goal of conquering Canterlot.

Inside her mind, she could feel the Black one sneer as a murderous gleam touched her blackened eyes.

She saw a blip of red in the distance, as she soared above Canterlot, the blue wings of the creature below her casting Shadows across the chaotic city.

Shining Stood kneeled behind her, eyes never moving from the location of Naruto and Celestia as he cited spell after spell.

Each chant dropped from his lips caused another glittering of magic to cover them before another took its place. After the sixth chant, he stopped and stood at the ready.

With that done, the casual pace at which they flew increased. Each flap of her mounts wings brought them closer to the King before they now stood above the former wedding venue.

At that point, the creature's form shrunk and they fell.

Their eyes widened as the two landed, both Naruto and Celestia couldn't help but stare at the third figure that floated down besides Chrysalis.

It was shaped like a snake with wings sprouting from its sides near it's head base. Green scales, blue feathery wings, and yellows eyes were its main features, as it settled for coiling around Chrysalis. It's size shrinking to be the size of a full grown pony.

His eyes widened as the snake's state would flicker between transparent and solid.

A spirit. A goddamn spirit! And not just a low level one like Trixie had but this was an advanced spirit that actually held a form.

His eyes turning to Celestia, her own narrowed, he focused back in on the enemy.

"This is your last chance to surrender Celestia," Chrysalis stated, eyes gliding over him for a moment before continuing. "You can save our ponies all the suffering if you give in to the Changelings."

"The time for mindless chatter is over, Chrysalis."

The Queen frowned at the princess before she chuckled.

"Hm, hm, hm, very well then."

Both the spirit and Shining Armor launched at them upon the last word. Chrysalis's arms twirling to her front as her horn glowed.

Her limbs struck out towards the two and both ninja and princess found themselves flying backwards from the trio, as Shining and the spirit's charge sped up considerably.

Naruto grit his teeth before slamming his hooves into the floors, breaking his flight to a ground breaking halt. Yet, as he looked up, he quickly threw his upper body backward. A sword tracing an arc over his chest before he turned, swinging his leg out into Shining's side.

Seeing this, the captain allowed it to happen, the blow nailing him in the side and launching him away before he regained his posture with nary a grunt of distress.

Celestia had allowed her wings to extend, using the force to loop back around in the air and dodge to the side of a torrent of wind bellowing from the spirit's mouth.

The snake tracked her as blast after blast shot towards the princess, causing her to dodge every which way in the air.

Sliding past another burst of air, her horn glowed before she blinked out of existence and came back behind the spirit.

Right as she swung her scepter, a forced brought it to a stop, her eyes trialing to Chrysalis who glared at her.

The spirit turned turned around, air gather at its wings. Seeing this, Celestia's horn glowed, her scepter top doing the same, before a wave of flame shot ou,t dispelling the winged-serpent's magic and it's controlled flight.

Chrysalis brought a hand down, the wave splitting in front of her and bypassing her completely.

Naruto and Shining both jumped at the attack before Naruto dug through his ninja pouch and threw several shurkin in Chrysalis's direction.

"Denied!" Shining exclaimed as his sword shined before he swung. Blades of magic flew from the weapon before colliding with the barrage of throwing stars causing Naruto to grit his teeth.

'Of course.'

It simply wasn't going to be that easy.

The chaos that ensued hadn't been unexpected but it was way worse when you were in the middle of it.

Rainbow on your left, 4 meters! Fluttershy and Rarity keep togethe-No Rarity that's a fake hit her!

Twilight's vision inted purple as she stood, hidden, in the shadow of a building. Her hood pulled over her head as a astral screen projected itself in front of her, carrying data on both her friends and her opposition.

'This is insane.' she couldn't help but think as she raised a finger to her forehead. The mental map of Canterlot splayed out in her mind, as the inhabitants lay colored white, her friends their ally green and the changelings rage red.

'The more I look at it, this was definitely premeditated far in advance! There's no possible way for there to have been this many changelings near Canterlot. Especially not with Naruto around.

'Focus Sparkle, now's not the time.' she reminded herself, as another triplet of changelings soared overhead; two of them red with a green one lagging in the back before he stopped and stared in her direction.

She grimaced as she took off into another cover under the ruckus of combat but the changeling pursued.

"I knew I sensed somebug\around here!" her pursuer announced, as he flew towards her.

Watching her turn a corner, he smirked before flying up.

"As if I'd fall for som-"

His eyes went wide as he was met midair by Twilight, who's horn glowed.

She frowned before blasting him into a nearby building.

She landed on a rooftop and ran off. Leaping from roof to roof, levitation helping along the way, occasionally stopping to blast the random changeling to help out groups of soldiers and ponies.

By the time she stopped, she found her friends all doing combat with the invasion force.

She leapt at a nearby changeling with little hesitation. Jumping on the back of the changeling, knocking him off balance, before blasting several of his squadmates nearby.

"Who-What?" looking down on the changeling, she kicked him forward before blasting him into another group of his kind.

"Twilight!"

On Rainbow's call, all of her friends grouped towards her, giving her a good look at them. The most of them looking no worse for wear, besides a few scratches, though Rainbow seemed to be spotting a few singes on the outer tips of her wings.

"Golly Twilight, we couldn't find you when we got here!" Pinkie chimed, the pink themed pony in question was still smiling despite the situation.

Twilight eyed her before smiling herself.

"I had to get a good map of everything happening."

The changelings around them seemed to finally be regaining their bearings. Many shuffled for a bit, as their composite eyes landed on Twilight.

Rarity blinked for a moment before whispering in Twilight's direction.

"Why does it appear that they fear you a bit, dear?" Flicking her eyes in Rarity's direction, she narrowed her eyes.

"I've been hearing about this 'Invasion Potentials' list over and over again. I guess I'm on it." she said.

"And I'm not?!"

"Rainbow! Now is not the time, dagnabbit! You really want all of them after you for something like that?!" Applejack whispered hotly as she turned her twitching brow towards Rainbow Dash.

"If it gets them looking like that? Heckin' yeah!"

Watching the group of ponies bicker amongst themselves brought a rather stunned effect to the invaders.

One green-eyed changeling stage whispered to a red-eyed one.

"Ya think now would be a good time to attack?"

The red-eyed one blinked twice, as if coming out of a daze, before he looked to the other changelings and then the ponies.

"Uh…."

"TRIXIE HAS ARRIVED!"

The decision was taken out of their hands a moment later as a large elephant came stampeding through their squads. Squadmates were thrown everywhere, others taking to the skies in scores, only to be shot at by the blue pony atop the animal, azure beams slamming into everybug.

"What?!"

The unicorn jumped from atop the elepony, spinning in the air before landing in a crouch, a purple cape filled with stars surrounding her before she swung her arms back, her cape following.

"Trixie has cometh invaders! Student of her master, best of five pupils, and Grand Stage Researcher! Who dares challenge her might?!" the now named "Trixie"'s voice played over the area as changeling and pony alike stared at her.

The elephant from before now wore an annoyed expression, as it trotted over and hit her over the head with its trunk.

"Hey!" Trixie glared up at the animal.

Twilight felt her eyebrow twitch.

"TRIXIE!"

"Yes, yes, Twilight, Trixie can hear you. Didn't you see her entrance?" the stage performer said, waving a hand in a nonchalant manner towards the scattered, gaping, changelings.

It took everything in her power to not tell Trixie off right there.

Then the elephant from before seemed to shrink in an enveloping flame before ANOTHER changeling walked out of it. A teen, if she was gauging the bug-pony's age right.

"Trixie, I swear to the All-Mother, I'm never letting you do that again!" the purple-eyed changeling said, the feminine pitch to her voice identifying her gender.

Twilight looked at her for a moment before turning her gaze towards Trixie.

"Explain."

Seeing the look on Twilight's face, the blue unicorn shrugged.

"There's nothing much to explain. Trixie met Pupa," Twilight's eyebrow rose. "A day or two before the events going on now. We spoke, and she was looking for Master for something."

"What Trixie is trying to say is, that I'm not your enemy. I'm not part of this." the now named Pupa waved a hand at the recovering changelings. "I never was, I was looking for the Queen, I mean King, of Canterlot I'd heard about."

Twilight held the bridge of her snout, as she groaned.

Taking several breaths, she snorted before just screwing it all.

"You know what? Fine, but she's YOUR responsibility Trixie!"

"Hey, I'm not some pet!" Twilight sent a frustrated look to the floor before sighing.

"Okay, fine, I'm sorry!" Pupa didn't look convinced.

"Fine, fine, Trixie will make sure her acquaintance doesn't stab us in the back." Pupa's "Oi" went unnoticed. "But Trixie means it. She worked things out with Pupa already."

The changeling teen pouted, arms crossed under her poncho.

"Are ya guys done yet?!"

As one, Pupa, Trixie, and Twilight tuned back into the world outside of themselves. The crashing and screaming of changelings and ponies alike near them made them focus on the annoyed Rainbow Dash. Said pegasus was currently armbarring a red-eyed changeling, a fierce look on her face before she preceding to aerial suplex him.

Getting up, while also dusting herself off, she put her hands on her hips as she sent the trio a glare.

Ponies and changeling alike shuffled nervously before joining the fray.

He hopped over the changelings, twisted and swung down the greatsword now in his hands and crush them underneath. With the swing's momentum, he launched himself into the next enemy with a dropkick.

He uprighted himself as the changeling crashed into and through the wall of a house before mumbling.

"I hope they have some insurance."

He turned from the broken wall to the newest troupe of invaders before they found themselves blown off their feet from a bombardment of red light.

He smirked as a short sword came into existence in his palm before launching himself off towards another group. His blade streaked through the air, the space igniting behind it, as he struck a changeling in their chest. He spun as a rapier took shape in his opposite hand, kicking off the ground to stab into the next. The tip exploded into flame, blasting the invader from the edge.

He fell into a crouch, several changelings grouping up behind him only to be hit by several arrows of purple. Those changelings found themselves captured in spheres. Several of their comrades tried to help only to step into the fields and hit the ground, straining to get up.

Spike didn't spare them a look and continued his rampage through the following troops.

She aimed, pulled back and let go.

Another one captured.

Breathe in, aim, pull back and release.

Another.

Her eyes shone a bright yellow as she sniped the changelings surrounding Spike. Each one met with a violent barrage of violet lights.

She released again, her hand coming to rest by her side as her horn glowed. The golden bands she wore enlarged as she levitated another set of gems out of a hole in the side of one of them before they returned to their normal size. The gray hilted dagger at her waist shook with the movement but stayed stationary.

She held an emerald in her right hand, filling it with magical power as she changed its nature, as it changed to a glowing green orb. Wind could be felt flowing from it as it blows her hair back, reminding her to reinforce her stationary kneel, a trick learned from Naruto.

She put it into the string of her crystal bow, pulled back, aimed towards Moondancer's location and fired.

The wind broke, as the glorified magical missile broke all wind resistance in its wake and blew apart a pair of chimeras. The animals hitting the ground harshly before transforming back into the red-eyed changelings that made them up.

She continued time and time again, switching back and forth between Spike and Moondancer's location.

Dinky felt her attention slip from the two battlegrounds as the sound of something landing behind her broke her focus.

"Why hello there~" Her eyes widened as she leaped forward from the roof of a high standing apartment. She twisted in the air, bow already notched as she eyed the Red Queen before she let go.

The multiple strings of yellow light flew Nympha's way, causing her brow to lift ever so slightly.

"Interesting... but…"

She rose a hand, magic gathered there for a moment before a glowing red polearm appeared in her hands.

She spun it once before swinging out in six arcs, redirecting the magical arrows into the buildings besides her.

She juggled the naginata twice before reaffirming her grip.

"Those had some weight to them." Nympha analyzed before jumping after Dinky.

The young filly eyed her pursuer for a moment as she stopped her attack and proceeded to dash away.

Holding a hand to her ear, her crest glowed.

"Spike, can't talk, being chased. Going to Moondancer. Meet me there."

Her hand fell before she focused on her destination. A now glowing dome where Moondancer was.

Following after the filly, Nympha's mouth fell into a frown as she saw the little pony's destination and what was there.

'Noted.'

Watching the explosion of wind throw the group changed changeling-chimeras, Moondancer's finger quickly worked its way through the air. The light trailing behind the digit hanging there as she completed it. Shining for a moment and then disappearing.

'One more,' she thought.

She hopped over the yellow changeling's leg sweep, landing before sending a punch in her direction. The invader palmed the attack to the side before reaching forward with her other hand, grabbing hold of Moondancer's shirt.

The cream-colored mare snaked her hand around the offending limb before grabbing hold of the changeling with both hands, twisting and slamming the invader into the ground. Her enemy gasped as she bounced once, eyes closed in pain, never seeing Moondancer's fingers swiftly trace a mark into the air.

It shone as Moondancer ran away before a violent light hit the changeling left behind, taking her out.

She allowed herself to smirk as she turned back to the remaining three changelings. She got back into stance, prepared for a fight, only to find herself not needing too as she realized something.

Smiling to herself, she quickly wrote a rune into existence. The green-eyed changelings tried to reach her but were too late.

They seemed to freeze in place, the shock on their faces playing out as they struggled to move their limbs.

She waved them off as a dome erected itself around her and spread out like a wildfire, pushing them back all the way into a building; never to be seen from again.

"All forty boundary runes completed and set," she said with a hint of pride.

'I should be able to spread this all over Canterlot as soon as I can get to the four corners of the city.'

She was about to move to do just that only to be interrupted by the entrance of Dinky. The filly notched a glowing blue sphere before launching it into the distance.

Following shortly after her was Spike, as he landed beside them.

"I'm here! What the Tartarus is going on?!" He asked as he turned to Dinky, an alert look in his eye. The younger unicorn of the group grimaced yet before she could respond they were interrupted.

"I guess this would be considered some form of good luck." A voice spoke out, the slight husky undertone glazing the speech.

They turned to see another red changeling. This one FAR more familiar to the lot than all the goons they'd fought to this point.

Nympha looked at the three, identifying all of them as being the Invasion Potentials.

She eyed each of them, noting the new unicorn who was "Moondancer" and bringing up the mental list of the abilities that Chrysalis had deigned to share with them.

Dinky Hooves - Good with Bows, slight spell caster, and something about magic she shared with the drake next to her.

Spike Solaris - Adopted son of Celestia, swordsman, magic pertaining to swords, and something about 10 swords he had that each contained different abilities.

Moondancer - Expert in rune, spatial, and boundary magic.

A very diverse set of skills that were pretty much pointless to her to know. She'd fought her sisters for centuries and had seen her fair share of magic from that bitch of a sister of hers.

She moved a hand, watching as they flinched, and smoothed out her membrane-mane, pushing a couple strands behind her shoulder.

"I wasn't expecting to find three of you here but it's for the best. Knocking down three of you will go a great way to making this go as seamlessly as possible."

She allowed her magic to unfurl, red vapor rising into the air, as a constructed naginata found itself once more in her hands.

"Come now. Let's make this quick. I have a King to claim."

~TCL~

She landed with a "crunch", the ground beneath her feet cracking as she relaxed from her crouched position.

Her uncoordinated yellow eyes looked every which way as she began to run.

"I know I saw her land over here." Derpy Hooves couldn't help but mutter.

Sending that yellow changeling in this direction had been part of the plan to keep them all separated, of course. Yet, that still didn't make this any less daunting to her.

Here she was, a housewife, fighting some enemy of Canterlot metaphorically alongside her husband and the princess.

Honestly, had you told Derpy that in the past, long before she met Naruto, she'd have thought you were an avid book lover like herself with an overactive imagination.

Nowadays, she'd be more tempted to consider them a prophet of the days to come.

She ran past building upon building, wings fluttering with every meter passed, her head turning towards every alleyway or broken home.

Right as she passed by a half-collapsed Canterlot apartment, she felt her wings twitch and leaped into the air as a black shape shot out of the rubble like an rattlesnake!

"Whoa!"

She moved through the air at sharp angles, as the black blurry objected followed her before it stopped and retracted.

She watched in shock as the yellow changeling from the wedding venue stepped out, casually wpatting off some dust from her bared shoulder.

"Not bad. Not bad at all." She said, voice tinting in interest near the end of her phrase. Looking up, she grinned at Derpy/

Aurelia could have worse ways for her day to go. Finding out about the King had been more than interesting but learning that his wife had some fight in her had been even further entertaining of a thought than she could have come up with.

If she could have fought them together, she'd have been over the moon! But alas, it wasn't to be.

Oh well.

Catching eyes with the pegasus, her brow raises only slightly before ignoring the disability, she project her voice.

"I'm beside myself with Joy, to find that there were so many strong individuals here in Pony country." she watched as the mare sent her a weird look and continued.

"Besides the Elements of Harmony, I wasn't expecting for their to be much of a fight with anybug that wasn't the Royal Guard or the Princesses. Glad I was wrong! I am Aurelia! Queen of the Topaz Hive! Announce yourself!" Aurelia would see if this pony was any sort of warrior.

Most didn't respond in kind to her indulgences. Well, most who were worth a damn, anyway.

Derpy looked down at her with her arms crossed before she nodded.

"I am Derpy Hooves of the, uh…" she thought about how the changeling, Aurelia, had presented herself and tried to come up with a similar moniker. " the Hive of Uzumaki!"

The Queen looked at her strangely before she chuckled.

Aurelia had been expecting the mare to say "Sapphire Hive" but shook it off. The King had already been shaking off convention by his gender alone, who was she to judge his hive declaration?

"Well said Derpy but…!" She cut herself off mid-sentence and blasted off towards a surprised Derpy. The mare had enough reaction to cross her arms as Aurelia slammed into her, bringing them both sailing across their corner of Canterlot for a moment.

"The battle begins NOW!" her piece finished, the Queen's hands seemed to bend at unnatural angles to catch the insides of Derpy's elbows and returned her favor from earlier.

Spinning once, she launched the pegasus away, before following after in hot pursuit.

This was already becoming more tedious than she was expecting.

She flew through the air, dodging past blasts of compressed air as she tried to make distance between her and the spirit.

"Honestly." Celestia couldn't help but mutter as she dipped into a downward spiral. The winged serpent gave chase, mouth opening at rapid intervals to disperse more attacks.

Naruto wasn't fairing all that much better. Mind you, he could handle Shining on a normal day, it was the added support by Chrysalis that made things difficult for both King and Princess.

He slammed his shin into Shining's wrist, his blade coming loose. The captain grunted but, instead of reaching for the blade, he kicked out against Naruto's chest.

The blond flew backward, easily righting himself before he was hit a second time by a burst of telekinetic force via the Green Queen herself.

The ninja rolled backward, mitigating the damage, as he skidded to a stop. A bright flash of light above had the spirit hitting the floor in front of Chrysalis as Celestia floated down by Naruto's side.

"That creature is quite persistent."

"Yeah, I get ya. Not only that, Chrysalis has been making trying to take Shining down a real pain in the ass." he never knew how annoying a precision based Psychic could be before he'd faced Chrysalis.

She was real subtle about it too. Subtle in an "adjusting everything he did" kind of way. Leg sweeps were pushed slightly off angle, punches were weaker and kicks didn't really pack a lot of power as well.

The only hits he could make that seemed to have full effect were ones she couldn't really see. Which basically came down to underhanded elbows, knees and finger flicks, and even then Shining's array of defensive spells made most damage close to a none issue.

Quite frankly, he's was slowly getting more and more pissed as time went on.

They watched as the spirit picked itself up, shaking off the disorientation, before floating next to Chrysalis.

The two sides watched one another, the noise around them always present but not distracting them in the least.

Chrysalis frowned from where she stood.

'This is taking longer than I was expecting.'

It wasn't right to say that the invasion was being stopped in any real way. Yes, her forces were being confronted by the Royal Guard but that was more an time thing. There were simply far more changelings than there were pony soldiers.

Was it arrogant on their part? They'd planned this for the past month, including their sisters was simply par for the course considering their sisters were subordinate to her. As they should have been from the very beginning.

Chrysalis stopped, her frown becoming more and more pronounce. She blinked once, emerald eyes switching to a black and green pair before they focused on the pests.

Shining's horn glowed, as did his sword, before he swung twice. Blades of blue flew before they transformed in shields, causing Naruto and Celestia's eyes to widen.

Dodging to opposite sides, they moved again to avoid another volley. Each swing of Shining's sword was accompanied by a glow of Chrysalis's own horn, the blade shields multiplying at each glow.

Doding another barrage of attacks Naruto found himself levitated behind Celestia who released a wave of blazing orange that caused Shining Armor to erect a barrier around himself and Chrysalis.

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"

The brainwashed unicorn's head snapped above as several clones of his blonde enemy fell down on the barrier. Four axe kicks slamming into the four corners of the shield caused it to rumbled, only for a fifth clone to come down with a shining sphere.

"Rasengan!"

Slamming into the barrier, it exploded, dispelling the clones from view and leaving the outside of the dome shield encased in smoke.

They looked left and right before Chrysalis closed her eyes and her crown fidgeted. Her eyes snapped to the left where a growing whirring sound came from.

A shuriken, a rather large one, came slicing through the smokescreen towards the barrier leaving Shining confused for a fraction of a second.

His eyes widened.

"My Queen!"

Chrysalis's own eyes widened as she watched in slow motion as the thrown weapon sliced through the barrier towards the middle. She'd been able to make space for it to pass in front of her, just barely, before she noticed the shadow.

There was a second one. Why was there-

The second exploded into smoke to reveal a familiar and, at that very moment, horrifying blonde.

Blue met emerald before she found a painful smack situated to her forehead,

Chrysalis flew back and over the platform edge, blown back from the platform like a sonic arrow. Her spirit following in her direction.

"My Queen!"

"Now princess!"

"Hu-?!"

Shining's angry yelled found itself cut off by a pair of lips and a glowing light. The still rebellious portion of him tried to remove his offended but found his body halted.

Celestia allowed her horn to stop glowing, her work done, as she watched Cadence's magic work its way towards fixing Shining.

Naruto landed beside her, a frown on his face.

"You seem disappointed."

"I just have a really bad feeling about this. Her eyes keep changing."

Yes, she had noticed and wasn't sure what to make of it.

Chrysalis didn't seem to get more powerful with the switches and Celestia had been making sure to keep an eye out for any small magics decorating the area.

A truly worrying situation… but on the upside.

"Ca-Cadence? Naruto?" The now "awakened" unicorn captain turned to see his veritable ruler, gown in disarray. "Princess Celestia! What happened? Are we-?" he cut himself off as he now noticed the crashes, screams, yells, and overall violence happening around him.

His eyes widen and cheeks went pale as he saw the mayhem occupying Canterlot.

"What happened?!"

The spirit cooed and garbled as she slowly picked herself out of the wreckage of an apartment she found herself in. Rocks and bits fell from her body, leaving her looking none the worse for wear.

She calmed her spiritual companion, hand coming up to pat its cheek, while she looked at her other hand.

"Defensive spells of his caliber would be beyond my hives capabilities." She observed, eyes flicking through her magic-seeing vision to observe the defensive enchantment on her shell.

She could see all the little connective points and how they were constructed before the spell fell from her, causing her to curse.

'They released him from my grasp somehow. This will complicate things.'

She stood, spirit at her side, as she looked up at the platform. She let her hand flare outward, a wave telekinetic energy rushing outward to dispel the group of soldiers trying to surround her.

Looking down at her stylishly tatter dress, she let out an acceptable hum before freezing in place.

She frowned, eyes flickering pink before shaking her head, the green returning immediately.

'This needs to be immediately addressed.' was what she thought but she still had an invasion to finish and a King to conquer.

She clashed with the young dragon, focused rubies staring into his furious emeralds.

She tossed his sword to the side with a flick of her polearm, body twirling as she struck out with a leg.

Crossing his arms, the hit landed and he flew. Back crashing into three separate houses before he came to a rolling stop.

He got up, shaking away the disarray of senses before staring at the homes he'd gone through.

'What kind of crazy strength does she have?!' he couldn't help but think.

Nympha smiled coyly at him before flipping away from several shots of violet.

"Spike!"

He looked to his marefriend atop a building. He nodded to her as he turned back to the enemy who was now being engaged by Moondancer.

The researcher growled as she lashed out with a jab that the changeling dodged with a grace she wasn't sure was possible for the middle foa battlefield.

Nympha smirked, as she thrust her naginata at the pony who palmed the weapon to the side before launching a kick at her abdomen.

In what could only be call an abnormal act of flexibility, the Queen twisted. There simply wasn't a better way to put it. Moondancer saw her contort her abdomen in such a fashion that the female's center of gravity found itself parallel to her extended fist, leg curled around the limb.

Not even touching the ground, Nympha's body spun in pace before tossed Moondancer into the side of a clothing store. Brick, glass, and mortar fell as the pony groaned and moaned.

She leaped backwards as a broadsword swung down at her previous location. She sidestepped as a rapier lunged towards her sternum and batted aside a stray projectile with a flick of her polearm.

She tucked her arm to the side as a punch launched its way towards her shoulder, a glow about it, before jumping back and away from a furious Moondancer.

Arms aflame with her telekinesis, Moondancer blurred towards the now curious Queen. The researcher lunged with a group of jabs before twirling into a backhand.

All along the way her fist glowed which held Nympha at a weird mental conundrum.

She had no idea what the magic did. In nature, it may have been a simple enhancement but she doubted that highly.

Dodging a swipe, she thrust with her naginata. She watched as the pony shifted to the side. Which was honestly more baffling than it was at first glance.

The Queen frowned before continuing to thrust at Moondancer. Each time she seemed to dodge and yet other times she seemed to "dodge". There simply wasn't a better way to describe it.

It was dodging but unusual. Not like her own but probably just as confusing to look at if you've fought for a long time.

She could sense these little shifts in magic every time she did whatever it was the pony was doing.

Her eyes widened as Moondancer skipped left before a pair of swords slammed into weapon. Holding up her guard just in time, she stared at the smirking Spike before the area below them cracked.

"Increase!"

She grunted as the weight tripled, ground shattering beneath her hooves, and let out a another pair of grunts as Moondancer slipped back in to lay a sequence of blows into her back.

'Time to move.' she thought.

Spike's eyes widened as a flicker of flame flickered over Nympha before he found himself flung away with low effort. Moondancer flickered to life besides, looking him over in concern.

Nympha frowned at them before leaping away from several purple lights. Landing on top of a building, she had to revise her plan.

'This isn't looking to go as easily as I was expecting.' which made this all the more aggravating, which she couldn't let get to her.

Keep control. Keep control.

Two breaths and she reviewed her situation.

She peered down at the trio who regrouped. Never looking away from her they narrowed their eyes in unison before Moondancer leaped away from the others.

Spike's eyes glowed as his dual swords disappeared into green motes of light before a newer sword came through from a portal of swirling flame.

It was longer and larger than the teen himself. Stone grey with dirt like splotches in places and strange cracks that didn't seem to impede it in any way.

Then something beyond her expectations happened.

Moondancer started running at the dragon and filly! Her hands glowed as they raised into fists.

The Solaris prince didn't miss a beat, sword touching the floor and glowing a bright yellow as he also charges at Moondancer. Dinky launching yellow spheres of light at the sword, the weapon seemingly absorbing them, causing it to glow brighter.

Whatever they were planning, she planned to stop it. She'd launched herself at the researcher, a hammer forming into her grasp.

Right as they were to clash though, as she was right on top of Moondancer, she'd realized she'd been deceived right when she saw the smirk on Moondancer's face.

The mare's right-hand finger raised and twisted.

And Nympha found herself in front of a horribly enraged Spike, eyes wide.

"Great Dirk!"

He watched, with glowing satisfaction, as the Queen's body seemed to bend into the swing of the "sword" and flew into a group of homes. He swore he heard a crack in that swing too, which made it all the sweeter.

His eyes glowed in satisfaction at his handiwork before they shifted from glee to horrified bafflement.

"Shining, I will hear no more of this. You were in no better state of mind than a slave. I will not punish you for something you couldn't control."

"But, I-" he saw the look the princess was giving him and conceded. "Very well, by your will Princess Celestia." causing her to sigh.

And she'd been working so hard to get him to call her auntie too.

Naruto looked over the side, as a clone, now transformed into a chair, held Cadence's exhausted form.

He locked onto the signature of Chrysalis and kept vigil for her eventual teleportation.

He heard the pair of hooves travel up to his back and watched both Royalty and Captain settle at his sides.

"We can't allow this to persist. Staying here, while keeping the danger away from the ground floor, isn't helping our current situation." Celestia said.

"If anyone has any ideas I'm game. I'd love to just go Sage Mode and wreck everything but that's not gonna work with the ponies of Canterlot being here." the King crossed his arms in annoyance.

"I agree. I didn't really hear much while under her control but one thing I can see being to her advantage is the fact that we're IN Canterlot. We're trapped and- oh wait." Shining added before he realized something.

He focused up at the spell surrounding the city and allowed it to disappear. The violet shield falling away to clear the skies above.

Staring up at the sky, all three of their eyes widened before a smirk tugged at the blonde's lips.

"I think we know what to do."