Two Background Ponies Quickie: "To Where and Back Again" Aftermath · 7:46pm Oct 22nd, 2016
Ponyville was in surprisingly good spirits that morning, considering the fact that none of their local celebrities or royalty were present, and that all of them had learned the unfortunate news that for the past couple days the Princess of Friendship and those with her hadn't really been there, but had rather been Changelings in disguise. But news had broken that the real princesses had been recovered, the Changelings had not only been defeated but were now a kingdom of new allies, and while over in a remote corner of Equestria the resultant celebration was going on, news was spreading far and wide and so was the rejoicing.
However, two individuals remained somewhat reluctant in joining in.
A green stallion was seated at his blue friend's dining room table in his apartment, having relocated their cookie outing to inside his place for a change. However, at the moment, his friend looked like he had seen better days. Sam Listens-To-Carl's-Problems' appearance was rather haggard, sore, irritable, and even hungry as he glared at Incarlsistency with clenched teeth. As for Carl, he was leaned back in his chair and giving a whistle.
"Well, if we thought 'Mary Sue' was bad before, now she just saved Equestria." He sighed. "But, I suppose we shouldn't complain. Another Changeling invasion is foiled, and ponykind wins freedom again."
Sam let out a low growl. "Yes...how simply wonderful..."
Carl looked skyward and tapped a hoof against his jaw. "Something still gets me, though. Somehow the Changelings snuck right into Ponyville without anypony noticing. This town is so friendly we notice everypony new who comes in. Hell, you can't move here without Pinkie Pie throwing you an obligatory party. It's in our town charter and everything. So I can't help but wonder how they got here..."
Sam let out a low hiss.
"I thought about it, and finally there was only one thing that made sense. They had to have waited for somepony to leave on vacation for an extended trip, captured them, replaced them, then came back. Once here, they'd go about replacing everypony they needed to. The question is...who?"
The blue stallion's teeth began to grit.
"Somepony common...probably somepony most people think of as 'being in the background'... Somepony who might have been biding their time until a relative was sent out to find them, then they had to come back to Ponyville before more suspicion arose... Hmm..."
Sam's hooves began to dig into the floor.
"Perhaps somepony who left a calling card of some sort months earlier... But who? Who...?"
Letting out an insectoid hiss, Sam slammed his hooves on the end of the table, flipping it over and discarding the cookies on it, then shot to his feet.
"Oh, you insipid little moron... You're supposedly so good at inconsistencies and you can't see one in front of your snout?! I can't take it anymore!"
Carl looked up in alarm, then recoiled as "Sam" burst into green flame. A few ripples of energy later, and his skin turned black and hollowed out, his teeth grew sharp, and a long twisted horn and mane of green messy hair exploded from "his" scalp. The light died down...revealing an all-too-familiar Changeling standing there.
The green stallion recoiled. "Uh...heh...hi, Queen Chrysalis."
"Not ANYMORE." She seethed in absolute rage. "I was replaced by a worthless maggot... And I'm not even being insulting; I was literally replaced by one of my own worthless maggots. I was finally poised to have absolute victory and now I'm the last real Changeling of my own hive! Do you have any idea how hard it is to start a new hive by yourself? How much wood fiber I'm going to have to be eating for the next nine months before I can lay my first new eggs?!"
Carl, shaking like a leaf, recoiled and cringed, but then paused and blinked. "Um...I know right now I'm supposed to probably be in petrified terror of you, but I can't help but ask... How did you manage to simultaneously replace Princess Twilight, all of her friends, Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, Princess Cadance, Shining Armor, and Flurry Heart all together?"
"The same way I got here, you imbecile." Chrysalis sneered. "Like all true ultimate comic villains, I do the bulk of my legwork 'off screen'. It doesn't matter how I get in a situation..." She leaned her head in close, causing Carl to recoil further. "All that matters at the end of the day is I'm here and exactly ten seconds from sucking all of the love you have for Sam Listens-To-Carl's-Problems out of you and then I'm going to do something to what's left involving a pair of needlenose pliers and a blowtorch. Oh, this is not your lucky day, Carl. I was content simply to cap off my conquest of Equestria with your death...but now? Now I'm going to vent all of the rage that I can't unleash on Twilight's little toadie on YOU."
Carl, surprisingly, looked less threatened.
"But...wait. You thought that Starlight Glimmer didn't merit replacing even though she was a powerful unicorn, but you thought you needed to replace Spike? The guy whose biggest achievement was carrying the Crystal Heart 50 feet and then dropping it? I mean...granted, they gave him a statue and herald him as a demigod for that, but still-"
Carl was cut off as a beam of deadly green energy from Chrysalis' horn blasted him off his feet and knocked him into the nearest wall so hard it left an impression. As he slowly peeled out of it, the former Changeling queen's face went wild.
"ShutupshutupshutupshutupSHUTUP! I can't stand it when you do that! I've been looking forward to this for a while... It'll almost be worth Twilight or Celestia finding out I'm here if it means stopping your incessant yammering forever!"
As she took aim to finish the stallion, however, he suddenly pushed his head off the ground with a smirk.
"Heh...not so fast, 'Krissy'. You didn't really think a pony like me who's so good at noticing inconsistencies didn't catch on to you a long time ago, did you?"
The former queen paused as he pushed himself up higher.
"And look what I did! I formed my own gang of secondary characters to stop you! Get her, guys!"
Chrysalis looked up, just as the door to the room busted open. She wheeled on it, and watched as a small brown earth pony with a helicopter beanie, a fluffy-haired blue pegasus with an overbite, and a purple unicorn with gems for a Cutie Mark all burst in at once and got themselves ready for a fight. Yet that only lasted a moment before they looked confused, and then gaped.
"Wait a second..."
"You bribed us all to fight...her?!"
"Queen Chrysalis! Run for your love and life!"
The three immediately turned and bolted for it back the way they came. Carl's face was left stunned, and he swallowed as he slowly turned back to a glaring Chrysalis. "Uh, yeah...those were the only ones available on such short notice." Pause. "I...really didn't think this plan through. Starlight might have learned a lesson in leadership, but I-"
Carl was gagged as Chrysalis used a spell to throttle him and hoist him off the ground by his neck. Her teeth sharpened as she held him in front of her.
"I'd ask if you had any last words...but frankly I don't want to hear them. DIE."
Her mouth opened wide as Carl braced for the end...
When a whistling sound came through the air. It started off quiet, but quickly built in intensity...sounding like a bomb incoming. Chrysalis, hearing the noise, suddenly pulled Carl away and looked around.
"What's that-"
She got no farther as one of the walls erupted and, in a blur, a form shot in and smashed into her so hard she was catapulted straight through the nearest wall, out into the air, and launched into the horizon...cursing all the way.
Carl was immediately dropped, and he blinked and shook his head. He looked up through the smoke that resulted, and saw what had been his savior.
Lying in a disheveled heap on the ground, shaking her head, was a walleyed gray pegasus in a delivery uniform. She blinked and looked up to him.
"Oh...sorry about that. Here."
She reached into her saddlebag and got out a letter, passing it over to Carl. Silently, still a bit unsettled, the green stallion reluctantly took it and opened it up.
Carl, the 'me' you see in town isn't me. I've been replaced by a Changeling and recently set free. Dawn and I are headed home. Until then, don't do anything stupid like let it know you're on to it or try to take it out yourself. I wanted to get this message out sooner but you never invested in a Pacific Seashell like I told you to and baby dragons don't just lie around waiting for ponies to send messages through them. Sam.
Slowly, Carl lowered the mail and looked at the deliverypony with a frown, ready to give her a tongue lashing for why she couldn't have brought that sooner. But then he paused, looking up to the two holes in the wall. He looked skyward and thought for a moment, then back to her.
"Say...if anypony asks...you wouldn't mind telling them that I recruited you for a special team to defeat Chrysalis, would you?"
I am entirely okay with every aspect of this turn of events.
This was fun. I'm guessing I missed the history between Chrysalis and these two.
4267020 You should read "Two Background Ponies Go on an Adventure". That also explains their history with Princess Twilight Sparkle.