Everything comes at a cost. Somewhere along the lines of her impersonations and machinations, Queen Chrysalis forgot that, but it didn't take long for Fate to remind her. Canterlot is hers, and soon all of Equestria will fall under her rule, but deep beneath the ground on which her new throne sits is the one who paid the price for her perfect day.

Chrysalis owns Equestria, but Twilight Sparkle is as close to death as one can be: frozen in time, a fraction of a second before her soul would have vacated her mortal shell forever, and hidden in the Crystal Caves until Chrysalis can think of a way to save her.

But the new Queen of Equestria has more problems to deal with than one near-dead unicorn: elsewhere in the world, Princess Luna is gathering forces to drive her out, whilst wheels within wheels turn inside Chrysalis's own government and in the frozen north, an Empire and the tyrant who banished it grow closer to returning by the day.

Note For New Readers: Whilst this story is cancelled, I will be writing another with the same base premise in the near future. A blog post for this version will be posted to notify you when the redo is on site.

Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon are best friends.

Or, at least, they seem to be... until one last straw breaks the facade and Diamond lashes out. Alone and friendless, the rich filly has to make amends, and fast. Now that Diamond has outlived her usefulness, Silver Spoon has no reason not to make good on the threat which tied Diamond to her bidding for the past three years, and Diamond can't hope to deal with the consequences alone.

Even with friends by her side, though, life in Ponyville rarely conforms to expectation, and there are still some ponies determined to make Diamond suffer for her past sins. The truth about her bullying years might just save her, but after three years, things aren't going to be easy. With her father and Cheerilee to guide her, and new friends by her side, Diamond just might make it through this trial in one piece.

Note: the Alternate Universe tag is there for the following small changes from canon: Diamond Tiara's mother died when she was young; the CMC's cutie marks will be different, and Diamond's has a different meaning; and at the start of the story, there is no significant Rich-Apple trade.

We all know the story of "A Canterlot Wedding" by now, but what if Chrysalis wasn't the first impostor to take Cadance's place? What if the deception went back a lot further than that, back to the princess's very childhood? When Changelings are involved, nothing is ever as simple as it seems.

[Was written based on pre-season 3 knowledge, inconsistencies with S3 and S4 plot may exist.]