//------------------------------// // Chapter 60: The Reformed Characters (Part 2) // Story: The Cassandra Chronicles // by CassandraMyOCisBestpony //------------------------------// "Don't worry, I brought back someone who can help us," said Cassandra. "Come on out, Thorax." "H-hi," said the nervous changeling. Cassandra preemptively put a bubble around Trixie so that she didn't start screaming. "He's reformed," explained Cassandra, "I brought Discord too. We're going to form a rescue team of reformed characters." "But Cassandra, you can't be reformed, you never do wrong" said Starlight. "Don't be so sure," said Cassandra, "I too have made a mistake in the past." "Collective gasp" said the others "I yelled at Twilight once," she explained "The Great and Powerful Trixie is gobsmacked!" "I sought forgiveness from her and eventually achieved it, but there was one pony whose forgiveness I could not attain." "Whose?" "My own." "Oh, Cassandra," said Starlight sympathetically, "we all forgive you, you're too hard on yourself." They had a group hug. "Thanks everyone," said Cassandra, "now there's no time to lose, let's hurry to Chrysalis, evil lair." "I'm on it," said Discord, who took orders from Cassandra because he respected her. He teleported everyone there, but forgot Cassandra who was standing outside his teleportation radius "Oh crap we forgot Cassandra!" said Thorax "What took you so long to get here?" asked Cassandra. To their confused looks she replied "I flew here myself - I figured he would 'forget' to include me because he was too proud to ask for my help." "Guilty" confessed Discord. "Now, before we go in, everypony should know that only Changeling magic will work beyond this point," warned Cassandra. "That's a disaster!" cried Discord, "without my magic, I'm just a series of unfunny obnoxious behaviors." "Then count yourself lucky that nothing's changed for you." said Starlight. "That was a great and powerful burn!!!" added Trixie. "We have to move carefully," said Thorax, "only I and Cassandra know how to navigate the hive." Before long Discord was captured. "What are we going to do now, Cassandra?" asked a concerned Trixie, "without magic, I'm the not-so-great and pathetic Trixie. Trixie wouldn't tell this to anypony else." "Trixie, you need not worry. We can defeat them without magic if we have superior wit." "Like the time you helped Twilight defeat Trixie when she had the Alicorn Amulet?" asked Trixie "Exactly," said Cassandra. Her calming words put the wind right back into Trixie's sails. "Stand back and watch the Grrreat and Powerful Trixie save the day without magic!" She switched to her stage voice. "Attention Changelings!" They all turned to look at her. "The Great and Negotiable Trixie would like to offer you a generous trade! In exchange for all of your black magic, and the release of the hostages, Trixie is prepared to offer you... This doorstop!" Cassandra facehoofed. The Changelings' expressions changed from curiosity to glares. With a hiss, they all began swarming Trixie. Trixie laughed nervously, "Eheheheh... Trixie thinks perhaps she misremembers how Twilight executed that. Well, The Great and Self-Preservational Trixie isn't sticking around here!" She tore off like a bullet. "Come on," said Cassandra to her two remaining comrades, "that'll do as a distraction to get us into the hive." They stepped into the inner sanctum where Chrysalis was expecting them. "Join me Starlight, and I will make your face the grrrreatest in all of Equestria. Or else you will die!" "You don't have the guts," said Starlight. Chrysalis responded by shooting Applejack with a death beam. "Well ok, maybe you have some guts, but I bet you wouldn't kill somepony I like." "You know me too well," said Chrysalis, "too well for a pony, that is." She shed "Starlight's" disguise revealing she was actually Thorax. In that moment of silence, she heard a tapping noise. She looked up to see the real Starlight pathetically chipping away at her throne with a rock. "Oh, was Thorax supposed to be a distraction for you?" she asked mockingly. "Nope, Starlight was the distraction for me!" Cassandra raised her back hooves and kicked the throne. It shattered into a million pieces, and with her magic usable again, Cassandra turned all of the Changelings good, and made Thorax their king. But Chrysalis wasn't happy "I'll get you, Starlight! Somehow, someday!" She flew off in a huff "Awww, my little pupil has her first rival" cooed Twilight, stroking Starlight's mane, "I remember my first one, she was such a bitch." "Hey, I'm right here!" said Trixie. "Such a dumb, friend-stealing pony. She was fun to break." "There's still one thing I don't understand," said Starlight, politely brushing off Twilight, "Princess Celestia, you're the most powerful pony in all of Equestria besides Cassandra, how did they get you?" "Well....” began Celestia Celestia sat in the royal pantry, scarfing down every dessert in sight when Luna walked in. She cocked her head, curiously. "Here to judge me for what I chose to eat for breakfast?" scoffed Celestia. "Of course not, dear sister, I would never judge you." Celestia's eyes narrowed. "Who are you, and what have you done with my sister?" she asked. Luna chuckled. "I know that's supposed to be a rhetorical question, but I can't help myself. I'm Queen Chrysalis and I've kidnapped your sister, and now I'm going to kidnap you, hahahahaha!" Celestia noticed a bit of uneaten cake in the corner, and knew she had only a second to decide between using horn to pick it up, or to stop Chrysalis. "Wow, you beat seven thousand changelings with just a dessert fork?" asked Twilight, glowingly. "Yep, all seven layers, er I mean, seven thousand. But then the next wave overtook me," she finished, surreptitiously wiping cholocate off her muzzle. "Say, shouldn't we be chasing after Chrysalis?" asked Starlight "It's no use, she's too fast" said Rainbow Dash, "to catch her, we'd need somepony who can fly at like, Triple-Rainboom Speed." Suddenly there was a loud boom that knocked them off their feet, as three rainbows flashed across the sky. The brave and intrepid Cassandra stood before them with Chrysalis hogtied and her magic disabled. "You've made my list, Cassandra! I hate you with the passion of a thousand suns, but I'm also kind of attracted to you!" "Save it for your lawyer," said Cassandra, "You're going away for a long time." "No prison can hold me," bragged the ex-Queen. "No, I expect not," said Cassandra, "that's why I'm also a bounty hunter with a 115% capture rate." "Hold on, that can't be right" said Rainbow, "the percentages only go up to 20." "Impressive Rainbow," said Cassandra, "you are so right and so wrong at the same time. I capture all the bounties I'm assigned, plus some poines that they didn't even realize escaped!" "So I guess the lesson is, some ponies just suck, no matter how hard you try to fix them," said Starlight. "You mean like Trixie?" asked Twilight. "Well yeah, but I'll just suppress my anger and force myself to put up with her no matter how bad she gets. What's the worst that could happen? THE END.