Some days are worse than others. Some days you wake up and everything goes alright: weather's nice, you got a full eight hours of sleep, and you find that your favorite breakfast has been prepared: overall a good day. Then there are your bad days when you wake up late because your alarm clock didn't go off, on the way out you get your sleeve stuck in a door, and some unknown evil force from another realm invades your world, threatens your family, and tries take control of your body, all the while systematically trying to ruin your life, and then attempts to kill you: definitely an example of a time to maybe be using one of your "sick days".
Jon was trembling in his seat, looking down the pointy end of large horn being shoved in his face. He didn't know what was going on or who this pony was, but what he did know was she must have gone through some incredible lengths to get here, and for what? To get on his show? Jon was just so unsure. He racked his mind, trying to comprehend how a relatively bumpy morning could lead to this.
"Wha...what do you want from me?" Jon said, his hands in the air to show he would not fight back. "What have you done with Lyra?"
"Lyra is safe, for now...and as for what I want it's simple, human." Chrysalis said. "I want to be on our show." Jon prepared for the worst, but her request was oddly straight forward and didn't seem all that important, which is why he felt so confused. Other ponies before had tried to muscle their way onto his show, but never had someone threatened him to do so.
"T-thats it?" Jon asked, his eyes still on the sharp horn. "Why on earth do you want to be on my show so bad."
The evil queen lowered her head so her horn would be pressing up against his neck.
"That is not your concern," she said. "The only thing you should be worried about right now is your own safety...Do exactly as I say and no harm will come to you."
Just then, however both of them heard a noise from the other end of the door, followed by a voice.
"Mr. Stewart?" one of Jon's interns called out, his voice soft. "We heard a noise like a crash or something...is everything alright."
Queen Chrysalis quickly turned her head to look at the door, giving Jon momentary relief. But before he could breathe, she swung back around and placed her horn back on his neck.
"Tell them...your fine," she said, pressing her horn even closer. Jon took a moment to think, but soon, his eyes wandered over to Selina, who was still on the ground; she looked hurt. He gulped, which only brought his throat closer to her sharp horn. He didn't want anyone else to get hurt, least of all his staff.
"I'm...I'm fine!" Jon called out. "I just dropped something...please get back to work."
There was a hint of nervousness in his voice, but it was difficult to hear from the other side of the door, so the intern thought nothing of it.
"Oh okay," he called back. "If you need anything." And with that, the sound of the intern walking away prompted Jon to let out a sigh of relief.
"Now then...where were we?" Chrysalis said with a grin. "Ah yes, that's right, my debut appearance."
"Please...just, please don't hurt anyone," Jon pleaded.
"Nopony else has to get hurt," Chrysalis said in an eerie tone. "As long as I get what I want, nothing bad will happen."
Jon was certain that whatever this thing was, it couldn't be trusted, since it had already gravely injured someone, but nevertheless, he vowed to do whatever it took to make sure no one else got hurt. He looked over at Selina, still lying on the floor, and felt guilty that she had been injured at his expense. Relief washed through him a moment later as she began to lift herself up.
Jon was about to call out but his faithful intern gave him a signal to stay quiet. She looked to be in bad shape but slowly and stealthy she walked across the room. Jon saw this and decided to stall for time.
"What do I have to do?" Jon asked the frightening beast.
"Again, it's simple," she answered. "All you have to do is interview me on your show...live in front the entire world."
Jon was only partially paying attention to her demands. He was too busying trying to not look around Chrysalis at Selina, who had now gone to the other side of the room to grab one of the many Emmy Awards that was displayed in his office.
"I will go on live television as the one called 'Lyra' and you will pretend that nothing is amiss," she continued. "Afterwards, I'll leave your world and you'll never see me again...sounds fair, no?"
Limping on one leg Selina made her way towards Chrysalis, brandishing the large golden statue in her hand.
"Tell me...why…why are you doing this?" Jon said, stalling for time. "You could have just made an appointment?"
"Cute...do I look like the kind of pony who will just willingly explain their entire plan?" she asked as Selina inched herself closer. "Again, you needn't concern yourself with why I'm doing this. All you need to worry about is putting on the best interview of your career...which reminds me..."
Bending her long neck over, she once again pointed her long horn right at Jon's face. It began to slowly pulse with magic, which set him nervous. Soon, a concentration of green magic began to form on the tip of her horn, and in a flash, it jumped at Jon, circling all around him.
In fear, he began to swat at it like it was an annoying fly, but soon it disappeared along with any sign that Jon was ever sick along with it. His nose was no longer running and his head felt clear like someone had flushed out the aches and pains. Whatever magic she used, it cured him of his mild cold.
"There we are, good as new." Chrysalis said with a smirk. "We can't have my interview being ruined by the host being sick now can we?"
Jon didn't know whether to be grateful or concerned. Had she just sneaked her way in for the sole purpose of being on the show, Jon might've considered it, but this thing went above and beyond that. She had threatened Jon and used her magic to harm Selina, who was now in a position to hit Chrysalis over the head with the Emmy Award.
Jon tried not to look but his curiosity got the better of him. For a brief second, he looked past the evil queen at his assistant, who was now a foot away from the intruder, raising her weapon high above her head. Unfortunately, Queen Chrysalis noticed Jon's wondering gaze and turned around accordingly.
"SELINA NOW!" Jon yelled. In one quick motion Selina swung the heavy object down, but it was no use. The Queen was faster.
A burst a of magic emanated from Chrysalis' horn, but since it happened in between her and Selina, Jon couldn't see what it was from his angle. Unlike before, where she used a spell to make Selina freeze in place, this time Chrysalis used some kind of magic that shot forth a series of green strand-like objects all around Jon's assistant.
The way the green filaments shot in the air looked remarkably like a party popper being set off, only instead of eventually falling gently to the ground, they engulfed Selina and carried her upwards to the ceiling. Jon watched in absolute horror as his dear friend was propelled upwards to the ceiling, her screams of fear quickly being muffled by the whatever it was that was wrapping around her.
Once everything was set and done, Jon looked on as Selina now hung upside down from the ceiling in what could only be described as a green cocoon filled with a kind of liquid. The look on her face was that of concentrated fear. She struggled to break free, but her prison was stronger than her, and her screams were only barely audible.
"SELINA!" Jon yelled.
"Sit down, human." Chrysalis said.
"JESUS FUCKING CHRIST!" Jon said as he got up to help her down. Turning around, the queen glared at Jon with evil eyes.
"I SAID SIT DOWN!" she roared. Her eyes began to glow, as did her horn, and it was then that Jon felt his esophagus close up. Whatever she was doing was making it harder and harder for him to breathe. It was only when Jon sat back down did his airway clear up and he drew breath.
"Enough games!" she continued. "You will have me on your show or you'll suffer the same fate as your assistant!"
A hurricane of emotions swirled inside of Jon. He felt scared for his life, yet at the same time anger for what she had done to his longtime friend. He wanted to take a swing at her, but he knew if he even tried she would use some kind of magic to stop him.
"You won't get away with this," Jon said, eyes filled with contempt. "Celestia will find out what you're planning and will stop you!" His threats did very little to scare Chrysalis, if anything, they amused her.
"Celestia! You think I'm afraid of that royal simpleton?!" She laughed. "Please, human...I've dealt with her before and soon I will confront her again."
"It may be sooner than you think," he said. "Celestia thinks Lyra is only here for a quick visit...when she hasn't heard from me she'll know something is up."
"Actually...you are mistaken." She chuckled. "Celestia thinks Lyra is here for an interview...she won't expect to see me back for quite some time."
"Th...that's impossible!" he exclaimed. "I just talked with not fifteen minutes ago! We had an agreement about—"
Before he could finish, Queen Chrysalis began to laugh maniacally to herself. If Jon had said something funny, it was lost on him.
"You still believe you talked with Celestia!?" she blurted after she was done laughing. "You homosapiens really are stupid...tell me human...did your conversation go something like this..."
Taking a deep breath the corrupted Queen arched her neck back and closed her eyes. She began to clear her throat like had something stuck in it but soon she went back to looking at Jon.
"Hello Mr. Stewart...it is I...your dearest friend Celestia," Queen Chrysalis said, mimicking Celestia’s voice. "Listen, I have a favor to ask of you...there is this pony who is just dying to meet you."
Jon felt his heart sink into his stomach. The way she spoke sounded a lot like Celestia...in fact it sounded exactly like Celestia right down to the soothing tone that Jon loved so much.
"That....that was you," Jon said, his voice shaken with fear.
"That's riiiight," Chrysalis said. "And last night...Celestia got a call from you saying that you wanted Lyra on your show."
"No," he said.
"Oh yes," she corrected. "I believe you said something along the lines of..."
Again she took a deep breath and threw her head back. Jon knew what was coming and tried to brace himself accordingly, but when she began to speak, he was still taken by surprise.
"Hello your majesty it's me, Jon Stewart," Chrysalis said in Jon's voice. "Listen, I don't have much time right now because I'm so busy but could you please have Lyra Heartstrings sent to me tomorrow morning? I want her for my show."
Even if Jon wanted to get up and retaliate against his intruder, he wouldn't have been able to...his legs felt like they were made of Jello and he felt as if there was a heavy lump of red hot lead in his stomach. A now-terrified Jon tried to speak but he found that he had temporarily forgotten how to.
"H...h...ho....h-h-how—" Jon said before getting interrupted.
"How did I pull all this off? How did I trick both you and Celestia at the same time? It's simple...I used this!" Chrysalis said. Using her magic he produced a rectangular piece of metal from under her wing, she tossed it onto Jon's desk. "I believe you dropped this?"
"Where did you get that?" Jon asked. He scooted back in his chair as if it was about to blow.
"Oh this little thing...I found it," she said in an off putting tone. "Works just fine if you're wondering...you can have it back. I have no further use for it...but thanks ever so much for putting both yours and Celestia number in your contacts...it really helped me out a lot."
Jon said nothing. He had tried having his provider cancel his phone line, but they had trouble doing so; possibly because it was in another world. So he made plans to get a new one, but he never fully went through with it since it was a private line, which he rarely used, and not his professional number.
He was certain he'd never see his original phone again, but here it was....fully charged and by the looks of things, still fully functional. He tried reaching out to it but his hand refused to move.
"You know...I've actually been planning this for quite some time," Chrysalis continued. "But I never went through with it because I didn't know how exactly to get here...that and among other things, how to even begin to get on your show...but having this machine yours really helped speed things up."
Jon finally grabbed a hold of his phone...it felt cold in his hands like it had been left in a freezer. It was still functional but it now had scratches all over it.
"So...I think we're in an agreement here...you do what I say and nopony else has to suffer," Chrysalis said in the most smuggest of tones. "Now then, it has come to my attention that whenever you have a guest from Equestria, the real Princess Celestia likes to call in to confirm their safe arrival...in about a few minutes she’s going to do just that. When she calls you to make sure Lyra made it to your world alright, you will answer the phone and tell her that all is well and that you are thankful for her assistance...understand?"
Clenching the phone in his hand, Jon got up to try and match eye level with the demented creature; he was visibly angry. He did not like to be pushed around like this, and above all, he hated that she expected him to help her.
"And what if I don't?" Jon asked with gritted teeth. "What if instead I say...that you disguised yourself as Lyra and that you're trying to take over my show?"
Instead of trying to compete with his level of emotions, Chrysalis just laughed in his face and flew off the desk. She walked under the cocoon that held Selina and admired her handy work.
"You won’t," she said with much confidence.
"How can you be so sure!?" Jon said "All it'll take for Celestia to teleport herself here and kick your ass is one hint that I'm in trouble! Just one!"
With a chuckle, Chrysalis flew up to gently rub the cocoon that she had created like it was her grand masterpiece.
"Tell me human...do you have any children?" She asked a now stunned Jon Stewart. "Because I do...I have thousands of them...that's actually how I found your device." Using her magic, she commanded Jon's phone to come to her and it did. She began to examine it like an egg about to hatch.
"A truly wondrous device this is," she continued. "Did you know that you've stored quite a bit of information on this thing like...where you live, where you work, contacts for your friends, and the fact that...you have a wife and two kids."
Without even having to ask, Jon sat back down in his seat. He slumped in his chair as the gravity of the situation began to set in slowly and painfully. Jon only listened, which meant he didn't see Chrysalis use her hoof to cycle through picture after picture in his album application.
"Such beautiful children you have...says here their names are Maggie and Nathan...they can't be more than ten years old," she said in a tone that made Jon want to vomit. "And this must be your wife...I don't know much about human appearances but to me she doesn't look like much of a looker...you could have done better. Says here her name is Tracey McShane...and if I look up her profile it gives me her address as well as where you two live..."
"Please stop," Jon said. He tried to convince himself that none of this was happening...but it was.
"Now...here's what's going to happen...when Celestia calls, you're going to put on your best game face and tell here that Lyra has arrived safely and that everything is alright." She ordered. "Because if you don't...I'll make sure you never...see your precious family ever again...okay?"
Before Jon could answer his newly delivered cellphone began to ring, and immediately he knew who it was. The ringtone was the song "Her Majesty" by The Beatles which he had set to be played whenever Celestia called. He had thought it was clever, but at the moment it only made him nervous. As it rang, Chrysalis used to magic to set it very delicately in front of him.
"Answer it," Chrysalis said from across the room. When Jon didn't move she teleported herself back on top of his desk and pointed her horn to his face. "I said...answer it."
Slowly Jon took the phone in his hands, and when he looked at the screen, he confirmed it was indeed Celestia. He pressed the answer button but didn't immediately put it to his ear. He looked in Chrysalis' eyes, which conveyed that she was serious and slowly placed the phone against his ear, where he heard Celestia already in the middle of talking.
"...I said hello? Hello Jon are you there?" she said. "I’m just calling to make sure everything is alright?"
Jon tried to speak but no words came out. In response to the Chrysalis pointed her horn to his neck.
"Uh yeah hello...I'm...I'm here. I’m fine," he said in a nervous tone. "How uh…how are you?
"Ah there you are, and I'm fine, thanks for asking! For a second I thought I had dialed the wrong number," she said with a chuckle. "Though I don't know many other Jon Stewarts."
When Jon didn't respond right away, Celestia called out to see if he was still there. Jon was so nervous he had forgotten how to carry on a conversation, something which made Chrysalis dig her horn deeper against his neck.
"OH! Uh ha, ha that's a goood one...Celestia...r-real funny," he said. "So...what's this about?"
"Well as you know, I like to call and make sure your guest made it alright," she said in a tone like a mother asking a school teacher about their child. "And I know you're very busy right now so I won't take up too much of your time...did Lyra make it alright?"
At that moment, time seemed to slow down for Jon to the point where it just stopped. He knew that all he had to do was tell Celestia that this monster was here and that she'd do something about it. Maybe she'd teleport him out of the room or use her magic to stop Chrysalis from moving the way she had done to him. He was one second away from calling for help when he looked over at Selina, still in her cocoon prison.
He then imagined that same enclosure being worn by his two children and loving wife, hanging upside down with the same expression of fear and pain. It was a thought that made him almost vomit right there...he couldn't risk it.
"Jon?" Celestia called out. "Is something the matter...you sound disturbed." For the sake of his own life and that of his family, Jon threw his head back up and puffed out his chest. Years of acting kicked in and he began to talk more fluently.
"Sorry about that Celestia, I'm fighting a cold at the moment," Jon said. His tone was smooth and collected like nothing had ever happened. His straight face was so convincing that even Chrysalis found herself shocked by his acting. "And as for Lyra yes she made it safely...gotta admit though, it’s odd seeing her without that earth pony friend of hers...from what I understood those two are connected at the hip."
"Oh trust me, you're not the only one surprised by that," Celestia said as Chrysalis gave Jon a nod of the head. "I thought for sure she'd want to go on TV with her partner, but she insisted she go it alone."
"Well I can understand why," Jon said. "I mean I love Tracey but I wouldn't take her with me everywhere I went."
"Well I'm afraid I can't chime on this. I don't have any significant other," she said with a giggle. "Speaking of which how is Tracey?"
Before answering Jon looked at Chrysalis who gave him a signal to get things moving along.
"Uh she's great but listen I hate to be rude but I really must go," Jon said. "I have a client in my office right now and she's looking very upset."
"Oh of course. I'll leave you to your work," she said. "Can't wait for tonight's show."
"Me either." Jon said with a fast appearing frown. "It's sure to be a blast."
Having said their goodbyes, both parties hung their phones with Jon looking depressed, as if he was just forced to say goodbye a friend.
"Excellent performance!" Chrysalis exclaimed. "Make sure to leave some room for more of that tonight when I'm on stage...I want you to be at your absolute best."
"If I do this...you promise you won't hurt my family," Jon said in a sickly tone.
"Oh of course, you have my word," she said with a smile that did very little to reassure Jon. "Now then, you should rest up for tonight...I on the other hoof, need time to prepare."
"Selina can help you..." Jon deadpanned. "Just get her down first."
"Oh, you mean you're human slave? Good idea...oh and by the way...Don't even think about trying to call Celestia for help while I'm gone. I had some of my children infiltrate the castle, disguised as guards. So if you try and send her a message about me...I'll know," Chrysalis said to Jon. For emphasis she tapped her horn and gave a grin like she knew what he was thinking. "But just in case you're still thinking about trying..."
Again, she pointed her horn at Jon's face, but unlike before, he didn't react as much; he just sat there, slumped in his chair like he was slowly sinking. A small green light shot forth from her horn and went right in between his eyes. Jon felt no pain, but just like before, an odd sensation began to envelope Jon's brain like he was slowly falling asleep. The sensation eventually subsided and he suddenly felt like his head was heavier.
"There...a little insurance," she added. "Now even if you are foolish enough to try it, I'll immediately be alerted." Once she was satisfied that her spell had worked, she hopped on down from the desk and made her way to the center of his office.
Using her magic, she turned back into her smaller, Lyra form. Her horn began to glow and as it did, the cocoon that housed Selina burst open and out she fell, no longer covered in ooze but gasping for breath.
"Selina was it?" Chrysalis said to the terrified assistant. "I'll need you to escort me around the office...maybe take me to your designer...my hooves could use some polishing."
"Why...you..." Selina said as she slowly got up. Making a fist, she looked like she was about to pounce on Chrysalis like a large cat, but before she could even think about what she would do, Jon called out.
"Selina don't," Jon said from his seat. She looked over at her boss with a surprised look about her. "Do as she says...whatever she wants...make sure she gets it." Since she was in the cocoon, she hadn’t heard anything they had said, she was shocked to see Jon look so defeated.
"Very good, human. Keep this up and I can guarantee all will be well," Chrysalis said in her now-Lyra voice. Turning on her hoofs she walked towards the door and faced Selina. "Come along slave, I'm wanted in makeup."
Selina watched as her boss let the smug faced attacker walk out of his office.
"Jon?" she asked a scared tone.
"Just go, Selina," he said. She obeyed and followed Chrysalis out the door.
"Oh and one more thing...you can't stop me...so don't even try. I appreciate you might not fully comprehend my power, so for now, I'll just say this..." she said as she slowly turning to face Jon. "Back in Equestria, there are old stories about a species of monsters called the 'Changelings'."
The name itself got Jon's attention. He had no idea what they were, but he had briefly heard about them at one point.
"Ponies tell all kinds of stories about them...about how they sneak in houses at night and take away misbehaving fillies and colts," she said with a serious face, which was now giving way to a sadistic smile. "Well I'm here today to tell you that such monsters exist...and I'm their queen."
No one said anything. An eerie silence fell over the room, leaving Jon to think about his present situation. Feeling like she had gotten her point across, Chrysalis exited the room with Selina following behind very hesitantly. On her way out, she closed the door to the office as she always did out of habit, leaving Jon all alone.