//------------------------------// // Chapter I: Fate of a Nation // Story: Terrible Things... // by Diceman //------------------------------// Chapter I : fate of the others? Princess Cadence walked up to Twilight's weakened brother and set the tip of her horn on top the weakened Captains Horn. "My love will empower you" she whispered as sparks began to fly from her horn, landing gently on Shining Armor. The tall insect like changeling Queen by the balcony huffed haughtily as she spoke. "What a ridiculous sentiment!" she said as she looked down on her minions in the street below, slowly rounding up the citizens of Canterlot. As the changeling Queen stared down at the chaos below, Shining Armors power grew with the assistance of his bride's love until it reached a crescendo of bright pink and white light, radiating from the lovers horns. The changeling Queen turned her head just in time so glimpse a massive pink bubble of power knocking her minions away and closing in on her position. They actually had that much power left in them?! Surprised the Changeling queen dug her hooves into the floor, opened her mouth wide and braced for impact. I'm so going to get indigestion from this but... She could feel the shield spell powered by love quickly approaching her muzzle. Three...two...one... The shield struck the Queen as she began inhaling with all of her might. The pink expansion of power began to destabilize and enter the queens mouth as she continued to inhale with everything she had. Just...a..bit...more! The queens horn lit up and began siphoning off energy from the shield and flinging it up harmlessly at the ceiling. After a few tense moments the energy from the shield was completely swallowed up with a satisfying gulp. "But...but how...that had both me and Shining backing that up!" Cadence yelled, clearly bewildered. The smoke around the changeling queen slowly dissipated to reveal a slight bulge in her midsection and a slightly singed muzzle. "Did you really think you could make a shield, powered by love and then use it on a creature that consumes love? You may as well assault that one giddy pink pony with cake for all the damage it will do." The giddy pink pony in question, Diane "Pinkie" Pie jumped up in exuberance shouting "Oh cake fight!? where? Someone hit me with a chocolate one!" The rest of the ponies in the room rolled their eyes in unison as Applejack whispered in Pinkie pie's ear. "There's no cake fight sugar cube, she was being sarcastic." "Is that a kind of cake?" "No, sugar cube, its not." The pink pony's ears folded back in disappointment as she stopped hopping in place. "Oh phooey. Well maybe after we beat this big meanie we can have a cake fight!" Pinkie Pie arced her back and gritted her teeth, ready to pounce. "Pfft what are you going to do ditzy one, make me surrender with a card game?" Pinkie Pie puffed out her chest in pride. "I'll have you know I play a mean game of go-fish!" "Twilight!" came a muffled sound from a green cocoon hanging from the ceiling. "Hit her with everything you have, if she wins, all of pony kind will be enslaved!" The purple coated, indigo maned unicorn nodded at the Alicorn trapped in the cocoon and pointed her horn at the changeling queen, pawing the ground with her hoof. "Your going down Changeling...thing. You stole my brother, locked away Cadence and struck down my teacher but I swear I will beat you." "My, my, the prodigal student finally steps up to the plate. Oh and please call me Chrysalis. Being called a monster or just changeling is getting old." "You're evil, monster seems fitting if you ask me!" Twilight retorted. "You dare call me evil? You who has never experienced true hunger, cold and strife dare to call me evil? Maybe you will understand me better after I put you on the ground." Twilight began to focus all of her magical might onto the tip of her horn. Swirls of deep purple and magenta flowed around her horn as if it were a colorful miniature hurricane. Arcs of purple and red lightning crackled along the floor as she took aim at Chrysalis. The intent to kill in her eyes. Oh my, she is dead serious isn't she? She must be a really loyal student to kill for her teacher. "Twilight! that's too much power, turn it down a notch. I can't stand for you to kill anyone in my name, even if she's evil." Twilight looked up at the trapped Alicorn and shook her head somberly. "I can't do that Princess, you held back too much of your power and look where it landed you. I must use everything I have, the hopes and dreams of every pony she wants to enslave depends on it." I don't remember saying I wanted to enslave them, maybe just a short occupation to just feed of their love for a bit. Twilight gritted her teeth as a large ball of purple energy formed at the end of her horn, crackling and tearing up the marble floor panels in its wake. "Applejack! when I fire this thing, catch me!" The orange, blond maned Earth pony nodded her head and positioned herself some distance behind Twilight. Steadying herself to catch the unicorn if she loses her footing. "Take this monster!" a large ball of purple and magenta magic fired at Chrysalis, ripping up the marble as if it were leaves in the wind on sending Twilight flying into Applejack's forelegs. This isn't good, only one option. Chrysalis opened her mouth and a familiar pink shield covered the front of her body as her midsection shrunk in size. "She kept the shield intact!?" Yelled cadence as the ball crashed into the pink barrier with a thunderous crash. No sooner had the ball hit the pink shield had Chrysalis noticed it quickly began to give way to Twilight's power. Looks like I have to back up this spell with my own. Chrysalis lowered her horn and began to form a green colored barrier of her own behind the failing pink one she absorbed from Cadence and Shining Armor. Just as she completed her own barrier, the pink one holding back the blast shattered like glass and slammed hard into her own, buckling it with ease. This is going to smart... Chrysalis poured as much magic as she could into the barrier in a clear panic to save her own hide from imminent destruction. Just..a ...tad...more. The green barrier shattered, the ball of bright magic slamming into Chrysalis with the force of a large bomb, throwing up a large puff of smoke and debris over the impact point. Twilight staggered to her hooves, beads of sweat rolling down her face, her breathing ragged and shallow. "It's over, nothing could have survived that." A eerie, cold, familiar laugh came from the clearing smoke. "My, my, my here I was trying to absorb Shining Armors love to feed and gain power but all along a little no title pony, A student of Celestia's with power far surpassing her teachers is what I should have been going after." The smoke cleared to reveal Queen Chrysalis, barely singed around the edges but no worse for wear. "I...I don't...how.." Twilight Sparkle tried to say, panting heavily. Chrysalis lifted up her hoof and pounded it hard into her chest. "Heavy chitin armor, magically reinforced before every battle. If it weren't for me being extra cautious this morning and doubling the magical layer that attack would have made changeling burgers out of me." "You lie! If you hadn't absorbed our shield, Twilight would have wrecked you, just like we are about to!" both Cadence and Shining Armor charged forward, horns down in a attempt to skewer Chrysalis. "Heerrmm ptah!" Chrysalis sucked in a large amount of air and pushed it out all at once, firing a large chuck of slime at the charging lovers hitting both of them in the front logs like a bola, pinning them to the ground. "Ew ew ew, she snotted on us. That's so nasty." Cadence complained as she tried pulling herself from the green booger like substance. "I..I think I'm gonna lose my breakfast." Shining Armor mumbled as he dry heaved a few times, barely keeping his food down. "Tsk, tsk all this resisting when all we want to do is eat a bit of love. It's not like this is a permanent arrangement or any thing, just a temporary occupation till we get our fill. Besides, all this sunlight and happiness is going to make me sick if I'm here too long." Twilight Sparkle staggered to her feet, small droplets of blood running from the base of her horn. "No...no one is going to love a evil monster, you will find no food here. I already know you mind altering spell isn't permanent , so why don't you and your minions love each other under whatever rock you crawled out from under." All that magical power she let out yet she still wants to fight. I will break her myself, I want to taste that power, that Vigor first hand. Queen Chrysalis walked up to Twilight Sparkle, circling her as if ready to pounce when she lowered her head to her ear and whispered. "We have ...other ways of taking the love from you." Applejack's and Twilight's faces froze in horror. "You...you wouldn't dare do that to a lady, bein one yerself and all" Applejack said, slightly sweating at the brow. "See , monster...only such a evil creature would contemplate such a terrible thing." "Oh please, for one all changelings are both male and female and honestly I have no idea what you would hate our other means of extraction so much. Honestly after awhile you find it ...quite pleasurable." Chrysalis Put her hoof to her mouth and gave a sharp whistle. Mere seconds later a platoon of five dozen changelings flew into the room. Pairs of them carrying large grey boxes with what looked like whip strings hanging out the sides. "Platoon one, I want you to set up the love feeding rooms." The changelings saluted Chrysalis before flying off with the large grey boxes in tow. "Platoon three , Take princess Celestia to her chambers. Do not remove the magic proof cocoon until her room has been layered with a barrier." The set of large war scarred changelings grabbed Celestia's cocoon and started dragging it down the hallway. "Unhand me you filthy curs! when I get out of here I swear I will have my vengeance!" Celestia yelled. "Quit your bitching, your majesty. We will be gone within a week depending on how much love we consume. You can get right back to throwing terrible tea parties and being uptight cunt after we are done." Chrysalis's gaze fell upon Shining Armor and Cadence, both of which were pinned to the ground by her earlier ...upheaval. "Drone seven, fourteen and nine I need you to clean off these two lovebirds and give them a room to themselves." "But, your majesty, were you not feeding of the captain here?" drone seven asked nervously. Chrysalis pondered the drones question for a moment before setting her gaze on Twilight Sparkle. "I was drone, but his mate can have him, I have recently found a much more suitable food source. Take them to their chambers and make sure every amenity is provided for them." "What...I thought you were going to?" Cadence said surprised. "Oh I was going to steal him from you, if only temporarily but...since I have a better target I wouldn't want to mess up your ...honeymoon." Chrysalis gave a sly wink, getting a deep crimson return blush from Cadence as they were both hauled off to a room on the far end of the corridor. Chrysalis turned her attention back onto the remaining elements of harmony."Platoon four, I want you to separate each individual pony and begin the process of love extraction but leave the Purple Unicorn in room one while I go freshen up." "Yes my Queen! at once!" one of the drones saluted as he made his way over to Twilight Sparkle whose horn was still bleeding slightly. "My queen, this one is injured. Shall I call a medical drone?" Chrysalis Stared Twilight Sparkle in the eyes. "Yes, do so. I want my...plaything to be clean and unharmed when I return." Chrysalis bent down over Twilight's mane and inhaled deeply, much to the unicorns displeasure. "Oh the things we will do together. You may even ...like our 'other" means of love extraction so much that you come to me every week for it" Chrysalis said smiling as she whispered in Twilight's ear. "I ...will never like something so ...so.." "You will learn to love it, trust me. I am here to open your world wide open...among other things." Chrysalis said as she walked away whistling a oddly familiar tune as more guards flooded into the room to carry off their spoils of war. "I will be back after I freshen up a bit Twilight Sparkle. Then we will ...commence with the extraction.