Shortly before Twilight Sparkle was melted into the floor of the chapel…
“Cady!”
Princess Cadence looked up through her tears to see Shining Armor galloping down the corridor toward her. She wiped at them with her foreleg like a filly, still sniffling.
“Sh-Shiny?” she managed to choke out through faked sobs.
“I’m so glad I found you! Listen, don’t take what Twilight,” Shining Armor snorted his little sister’s name, “said to heart. I have no idea what’s been going on with her lately.”
“It’s fine,” Cadence sniffed detachedly. From within, Queen Chrysalis could barely contain the urge to roll her eyes. By thunder, this stallion was a sniveling little colt around her, and it was only due to necessity that she allowed herself to get so close to him. His love for Cadence was more decadent than any emotion she’d tasted in a very long time, and the weaker he became, the easier task it would be for her army of changeling dolts to break the shield and feed.
“I suppose it’s my fault. I haven’t exactly kept up contact with Twilight ever since she left for Ponyville and I became Captain…”
Oh please do shut up soon, Chrysalis thought bitterly. That stupid purple unicorn you call a sister stabbed a thorn in the side of my plan, and your blathering on is devouring precious time.
“Why don’t you let me go and talk to her, Shiny?” Cadence cut across Shining Armor’s unimportant monologue.
“Oh, okay! Um, I mean, if that’s what you want to do,” the white stallion said, rubbing the back of his neck with a hoof.
“You go get ready for the real wedding.”
Shining Armor turned to walk away, and Cadence pouted. “No kiss-kiss for Cady?”
“Oh, right,” Shining Armor said sheepishly and turned back to his bride. He leaned his head in for a smooch, and Cadence did as well. At the last second however, she nuzzled him instead. A green pulse shot from her horn to his, and Shining yanked back, hoof to his forehead.
“Are you okay?” Cadence asked with false yet utterly convincing concern.
“Y-yeah, I’ll be fine. Headache again. Once we’re married and on our honeymoon, I can let the shield down and let Princess Celestia deal with guarding Canterlot.”
Shining Armor walked off down the corridor toward the main entrance of the castle. When he was just out of her line of vision, Cadence let an evil grin slip across her face and teleported back into the chapel. Time to say good night, Twilight Sparkle.
~~~
Less than half a minute passed before Luna had gathered her senses and teleported down to the Caves after Twilight and presumably Chrysalis. She miscalculated and ended up landing with rather short but sharp stalagmites poking her in the rump. Screaming in pain was not an option—she was still invisible—so Luna settled for wincing as she galloped on silent hooves through the Caves. How she knew where she was going, she didn’t know, but her hunch proved right when she saw the faint dark pink glow radiating from Twilight’s horn. The poor unicorn was wide-eyed with terror and clearly unable to see well in the dark, for she stumbled flat up against a crystalline wall.
“Hello? Is anyone there?! Where am I?” Twilight called out amidst the distant sinister laughter of Cadence.
Before Luna could yell a response, a multitude of Cadence’s eye exploded into view in the facets of the crystals. “The Caves beneath Canterlot,” she explained. “Once home to greedy unicorns who wanted to claim the gems that could be found inside.”
I came up with that load of manure, you unoriginal wench! You stole that! Luna thought. And suddenly it dawned upon her how Chrysalis knew about the Caves: this was where Luna as Nightmare Moon had fled from Celestia as she stormed around Canterlot Castle in the beginning of their epic fight. Chrysalis had asked how Luna knew of the place, and she’d made up the story of old greedy unicorns on the spot. The Night Princess had forgotten how easily she’d found it to lie back then, but that was before she realized her bond to the Element of Honesty, along with Loyalty and Magic, had been contorted beyond repair.
“Help! Help!” Twilight cried while struggling to find an exit. Luna decided to follow her voice and, without the unicorn’s knowledge, teleported so she was standing right next to her.
“It’s no use. No one can hear you, and no one will think to look for you either,” Cadence responded. “Most ponies have forgotten that these Caves even exist. Which is why they are the ideal place to keep the ones who try to interfere with my plans.”
Rage seethed through Luna, heating her blood to boiling point. If there was one thing she had hated more than anything being Nightmare Moon, it was Chrysalis’ insistence that they gloat around their victims and prisoners. If anything, Luna was more inclined to admire a villain who kept their trap shut and went on with their evildoings; Chrysalis’ problem was that she loved the sound of her own distorted voice too much. Emphasizing Luna’s point, the changeling suddenly broke out in peals of high-pitched, giddy evil laughter, and it was enough to pin Luna’s ears back to her skull.
“Plans? What plans?”
Cadence looked down at Twilight, for once showing a genuine expression on her face: confusion. “The plans I have for your brother, of course!”
“Don’t you dare do anything to my brother, you-you MONSTER!” Twilight yelled. Magic collected in high crackling concentration at the tip of her horn in pure fury.
“Only way to stop me is to catch me!” Cadence taunted. Twilight fired a shot in the princess’ direction, only for it to ricochet off of several crystals and end up nearly scorching her. Pausing only a moment, she charged up once more and fired off in rapid succession at crystals around the chamber, and it was then that Luna finally decided to take action.
Let me point you in the right direction, Twilight. Drawing up her own magic and wrapping it in an invisibility charm, she seized hold of Twilight, nudged her gently to the right of the third crystal she’d shattered, and threw in the force of her own magic with the unicorn’s. Twilight fired, and if Luna’s memory was correct…yes!
The genuine Princess Cadence, although very bedraggled and weary, sat among the shards of the crystal wall that had just been blasted away. Luna knew that Chrysalis didn’t like to stray too far from her prey, yet was always sure to have her own body in safekeeping before trying to taunt would-be heroes. Vividly, she recalled countless ponies of more than a millennium ago, hunting down Nightmare Moon and begging her to release their family and friends caught in the throes of night terrors. In return, Chrysalis would just laugh and plague those that begged with the terrors as well, while Luna sat in a far corner of her subconscious, softly crying…
No. Now was not the time for that, because Twilight had lunged forward and tackled Princess Cadence with the passion of a mad dog.
“Likely story!” Twilight was snarling. Luna quickly rushed over. The last thing she needed right now was for Twilight in her rage to accidentally kill the real Cadence and be tried in court for murder—there were far more pressing issues at hoof.
“Sunshine, sunshine, ladybugs awake—”
What the hay is she doing?
“Clap your hooves—”
“And do a little shake!” Twilight whispered in awe along with Cadence.
Really now, what in Tartarus’ name is—
Twilight leapt on Cadence and embraced her. “You remember me!”
Since when are schoolyard rhymes an acceptable form of identification to anypony?!
Chrysalis’ evil laughter rung out again, both Cadence and Twilight looked up, and they galloped off together, deeper into the Caves, toward their presumed source. Luna thought about stopping them—she knew exactly where Chrysalis was right now—but stopped herself. They need to have their own adventure, she thought, and she teleported back to the castle.
~~~
“This day is going to be perfect, the kind of day of which I’ve dreamed since I was small…”
Oh Lord no, she’s singing. Through the keyhole, Luna could see Chrysalis as Cadence dancing about the large room she’d been staying in, talking to the mannequins and admiring her hooficure. Obviously, Chrysalis was still simply riding high on elation from her plan going positively swimmingly, but was now really the time to burst out into a small-scale aria? Hubris was clearly preventing the queen from caring whether or not somepony heard.
“She well and truly is an idiot,” Luna muttered. She heard Cadence’s metallic hoofsteps—those golden shoes were really quite impractical—and she threw on the invisibility spell from before like an old cloak before the lock on the doors was tumbled open. Unfortunately, the princess didn’t move quickly enough to avoid being slammed against the wall by Cadence throwing the doors open with a flourish. Luna swore she’d never seen shooting stars travel that fast before in her life; her head felt terrible already from her lack of sleep, and this blow didn’t help at all. Once she regained the ability to at least stagger forward in somewhat of a straight line, she followed immediately after Cadence, doing her best not to trip over the very long train of her bridal gown—really, what a waste of good material for it to just trail on the ground behind somepony.
Chrysalis for all her stupidity was a master of dramatic timing, for she arrived at the chapel doors just as the first flourish of the bridal march began. Luna found herself actually thanking the changeling queen silently for demanding a longer train on her dress, since it gave Luna enough time to swoop in on silenced wings behind her and hover above the multicolored crowd for a good view. And what a crowd there was! In the front sat various representatives from the different regions outside of Equestria—Duke Pompadourus was notably absent as he’d promised. The customary Canterlot elite were there, of course, but several prominent pegasi from Cloudsdale had been able to make it, as well as some from Trottingham and beyond. Seated farther back were the middle-class ponies from the likes of Baltimare, Manehattan, and the Broncs, Ponyville and Las Pegasus who’d managed to either buy tickets or win packs at the charity auction held a month earlier. Initially the wedding was meant to be a more exclusive event, but Cadence—the real one—had insisted on the idea of tickets, saying that the average ponies of Equestria should be offered a chance to attend what would truly be a once-in-a-lifetime event too.
Princess Celestia began officiating the ceremony, and Luna noted that what her sister said was what she’d written verbatim. The indigo alicorn chuckled at that, but a knot was forming in the pit of her stomach and only tightened as the large hand on the chapel clock ticked ever closer to the twelve o’clock position. What was keeping Twilight and Cadence from getting here? To be sure, the Caves were rather tortured and twisted due to the crystals growing out at random from the walls and floor, but if a pony was careful enough and kept their focus, the Caves were fairly easy to navigate. It wasn’t as if there were broken mine cart tracks or anything to deter their way, right?
Bells tolled from the chapel roof. Celestia began speaking once more. “Princess Cadence and Shining Armor, it is my pleasure to pronounce you—”
“STOP!”
A collective gasp ran through the congregation, and they turned to see Twilight Sparkle standing alone in the doorway of the chapel, defiant anger in her eyes. Murmuring began to rumble through the room, and it was Cadence who cut across it all.
“Ugh, why does she have to be so possessive of her brother?” she asked, stomping her hoof and rolling her eyes like a bratty foal. Upon a strange look from Princess Celestia, Cadence turned on the waterworks again. “Why does she have to ruin my special day?”
“Because it’s not your special day, it’s mine!”
YES! Luna silently cheered as the real Princess Cadence leapt into the room, once again causing the crowd to gasp and murmur at this new development.
“What?! But how did you escape my bridesmaids?”
What is she talking about? I don’t remember any other bridesmaids aside from Twilight’s friends. Must have been a last-minute change on Chrysalis’ part to alienate Twilight even more.
“Ah don’t understand. How can they be two of ‘em?”
Thank you for asking the question that is undoubtedly on the mind of every pony in this room, Applejack.
“She’s a changeling! She takes the form of somepony you love and gains power by feeding off your love for them!” the real Cadence explained.
Suddenly there was a flash of green light. Luna turned her attention toward the fake Cadence only to have to squint her eyes, as the green light was next to blinding. With horror, she watched as the purple-tipped feathers blew off of spider’s-web-like wings, the pink pelt melted away to ashen gray, and the hair like a colorful sunrise faded to a monochromatic dull blue.
Chrysalis was exposing herself, and Luna couldn’t be more disgusted.
“I can’t believe she was inside of me,” the Night Princess whispered to herself, close to retching. Yes, Chrysalis had made the Nightmare Moon body quite beautiful: Luna had been taller, slimmer, blacker, and finally had the starry blue ethereal mane and tail to complement her sister Celestia. Chrysalis, however, had forced those stupid cat’s-eye pupils and the tiny fangs in to complete the ensemble, because evidently they made Nightmare Moon look more terrifying. But as much of an eye Chrysalis had for aesthetics that long ago, her true form was far from dazzling.
Her body is full of holes and gaps, and she hopes that by feeding on the emotions of other creatures, she herself will become whole. And her name is a stage of metamorphosis—evidently she believes that someday she’ll emerge as a beautiful, whole butterfly, or rather an alicorn. My stars, is she really…that easy to understand? Can her motivation really be so simple? I…almost feel sorry for her. She is not too unlike myself, wanting to change.
Luna nearly clapped her hooves due to her Eureka moment, but she paused, for Chrysalis was speaking.
“Right you are, Princess. And as Queen of the Changelings, it is up to me to find food for my subjects.”
And false, pretentious concern for her subjects immediately kicks any sympathy I had right into the gutter.
“Equestria has more love than any place I’ve ever encountered. My fellow changelings will be able to devour so much of it that we will gain more power than we have ever dreamed of!” Chrysalis gloated.
“They’ll never get the chance. Shining Armor’s protection spell will keep them from ever even reaching us!” cried Cadence, leaning right into Chrysalis’ ugly face. The queen only laughed, turning away.
“Ever since I took your place, I’ve been feeding off of Shining Armor’s love for you. Every minute he grows weaker, and so does his spell. Even now, my minions are chipping away at it.”
How the hay did she summon them?! Luna was ready to rush over to the windows to see what Chrysalis meant, but was frozen in midair by the torture of her all-too-familiar evil laughter. She pinned her ears back, hoping the sound would make the flood of bad memories stop rushing forth…ponies galloping away from her in terror…groves of trees and fields of flowers wilting from lack of sunlight…Celestia’s face full of anger and pain as she strained to pull the sun out from behind the moon’s shadow…the final blow…
“No.”
And just where have YOU been? Out for coffee?
Celestia was marching right up behind Chrysalis, fury etched across her face. “You may have made it impossible for Shining Armor to perform his spell, but now that you have so foolishly revealed your true self—”
Say it again, dear sister!
“—I can protect my subjects from you!”
Celestia launched herself into the air above the altar and sent a charged blast of golden energy from her horn toward Chrysalis, who in turn responded with a blast of green. The two streams collided in midair, and it looked as though Celestia’s was going to win. Hope blossomed in Luna’s chest, and died as soon as it’d been born.
The green swallowed the gold and blackened the tip of Celestia’s horn. The white alicorn’s eyes went wide, and then—
A gold tiara with a purple diamond-shaped gem went spiraling through the air, and clattered on the floor next to its wearer.
Celestia’s body hit the tiled floor, one wing folded in while the other splayed out like a dying swan’s. Her eyes were closed, her hooves frozen in position.
Screams rang out through the crowd, and Twilight and her friends ran to Celestia, who mumbled something Luna couldn’t hear over the cacophony. The six young mares dashed out of the chapel, along with other guests who were simply too terrified to stay any longer. Chrysalis was cackling, but the sound did not clang and pierce through Luna’s mind like it had so many times before. All she could focus on was her sister lying on the floor, looking close to lifeless. Not bothering to cloak her magic, Luna landed next to Celestia and in a flash of blue teleported both of them to the Caves. Tears clung to her eyelashes as she pored over her sister’s body. She was still breathing, but barely moving aside from that.
“Celestia, you fool. Your powers are strongest at apogee, but most difficult to control! You know that! And yet there you went, playing the hero like you always do…” Luna choked back a sob. “No. I am the fool. I should have told you I knew what was going on. I knew the whole time! But you…” She swiped at her eyes, sniffling. “Come back to me, sister, AND HELP ME FIGHT!”
Sadness laced with potent fury pulsed through the alicorn’s veins. “And you, Chrysalis. You dare imprison my niece, and that was foolhardy. But then you struck down my sister at high noon. I’ve let you ruin Equestria once with me as Nightmare Moon, but you won’t get away with this again.
“You will pay.”