//------------------------------// // Chapter Five: Decoy // Story: Canterlot Wedding Remix // by chronicLurker //------------------------------// The sun rose, heralding another clear and bright day for the ponies of Equestria. Most of the residents of Canterlot were far too distracted by matters of the heart to pay the dawn much mind, but a few looked up to see an odd sight in the bluing sky. Princess Celestia hovered high in the air over the palace, her great wings flapping slowly as she glared down at her home. Regardless of whether they had noticed the princess before, no one could miss what happened next. In a voice that rattled distant windows, Celestia shouted, “Changelings! Enemies of Equestria! Your invasion has been discovered! Come forth and surrender now or you will rue the day that you set hoof in my lands!” She waited, but not for long. Minutes later, a swarm of royal guard pegasi a hundred strong rose from the castle, led by a winged unicorn with hard eyes. Celestia seemed unperturbed as they surrounded her. She kept her eyes on the one who wore the appearance of her niece. When they hovered face to face a scant few meters apart, the princess commanded, “Remove your disguise.” “If you insist,” the false Cadance replied. Green fire erupted from her horn, setting the air around her alight. Her silhouette bulged and grew as her horn became twisted and her body stretched to proportions more like Celestia’s own. She still had wings, though they were ragged and insect-like. Her mane and tail grew lank and lifeless, the colors fading to a dull blue-green, and her pink fur was replaced with a matte black carapace. Disconcertingly, she had fangs and slit pupils and her limbs were riddled with gaping holes. She smirked at Celestia’s obvious surprise. “I am Chrysalis,” the twisted creature announced in a voice that carried a hint of a mosquito’s buzz, “Queen of the Changelings.” “I am Princess Celestia,” the white alicorn returned with stiff formality. “You have assaulted my city and brought harm to my little ponies. As I am merciful, I will give you one last chance to peacefully take your changelings and leave Equestria forever.” “How noble of you,” Chrysalis drawled mockingly. “However, I think that I have you at a disadvantage, Celestia. Your army and the wielders of the Elements of Harmony are already under my control. You can’t hope to defeat us all alone. ” She smiled unpleasantly, putting her fangs on display, and purred, “No, Princess, my swarm won’t be going anywhere until we’ve drained every last shred of feeling out of your ponies and left them as empty husks. In the meantime, why don’t you try my little changelings on for size?” At her words, the surrounding swarm attacked as one, diving toward the alicorn in a hissing fury. Unperturbed, Celestia merely lit up like a star, her whole body shining so brightly that her attackers experienced the light as thousands of volcanic fire ants eating at their brains. The disorientation shattered their illusions and forced them to revert to their true forms as smaller, less distinctive versions of their queen as they tumbled through the sky for quite a ways before managing to right themselves. Warily, they rose again, this time maintaining a greater distance from the princess. “Nothing that I can’t handle,” Celestia observed. “My mistake,” Chrysalis retorted snidely, eyes narrowed. Her horn shone as she readied a spell that formed an ominously twisting ball of green and black in front of her. “I had hoped to deal with you in a less direct manner, but don’t think that you’ll find me an easy opponent.” She lunged forward in the air, her tattered wings a blur, and fired the spell. A tremendous explosion roared over Canterlot, the shockwave sending many citizens into a panic while others stared open-mouthed at the sky. Small black forms darted in and out of a midair brawl between two larger shapes, one black and one white. Flares of green and gold power illuminated the city like lightning, accompanied by the thunder of explosions. Occasionally one of the smaller combatants would fall unheeded to the streets below. In the royal gardens, two mares appeared with a flash and a pop. They hit the ground running toward the nearest entrance to the palace. Twilight cast a worried look up to the sky as she ran and called out, “I thought she’d win easily!” Luna shook her head without breaking stride. “The changeling queen appears to be far more powerful than we anticipated, but Celestia is not fighting in earnest. It would be devastating for my sister to use her full strength over the city; many ponies could be badly hurt. For now, she is merely distracting our enemies.” “Then we’ll hurry,” Twilight said as she flung open the doors to the palace with magic and ran through. The hall beyond was empty, so the unicorn teleported to the end, trusting the alicorn to be able to keep up with her. She could hear the sound of Luna’s large wings as she took to the air for speed. Looking around at the intersection of corridors, Twilight got her bearings again and set off running. She kept the route as direct as possible, teleporting whenever she could do so and remain in Luna’s line of sight. They saw no guards in their headlong rush toward the old archives. “Here,” Twilight said as she appeared at the top of the tunnel which led down into the crystal caves. She was breathing a little faster from the flagrant use of magic, but she was far from winded. Luna flicked a glance at the unicorn, assessing her condition, before frowning at the gaping maw of the entrance. “We may face ambush in the caves,” she cautioned. Twilight nodded and trotted into the tunnel, her horn bursting into light. Five of the wielders of the Elements of Harmony were gathered in the center of the room that connected their suites. With the exception of the cheerfully humming Pinkie Pie, they were in various states of worry and ire. Rarity wanted to return to her work, from which she’d been unceremoniously pulled, Applejack and Dash were concerned about whatever was happening outside, and Fluttershy was curled in a nervous ball, her wide eyes flicking around the room anxiously. For the moment, they were being placated/forestalled/comforted by four stallions in various colors, all of whom seemed intent on keeping their charges stationary. A fifth stallion – a blue unicorn – was beat-boxing amateurishly along to Pinkie’s melody. The colorful ponies were surrounded by a dozen grey unicorns in the barding of royal guards. They came and went out the short hall that led to the rest of the castle in pairs, but the number of guards in the chamber stayed relatively constant. Though their stated purpose was the defense of the Ponyvillians against an unspecified threat, it was clear that they were more concerned with preventing the mares from wandering off. “No sign of the Element of Magic or our brother,” one grey unicorn told another. “A more thorough search is not possible now.” The second unicorn was identical to the first, but he carried a certain air of authority. He nodded shortly and said, “He may still have her contained in another part of this sprawling hive. It is irrelevant. As long as we have the rest of them, she can do no harm. How goes the fight?” “Deadlocked, but the alicorn will falter as her energy wanes.” He looked uncertain, though, as he told his leader, “We have the advantage of numbers, but only a quarter of our force is in flight. None have joined us from the city.” The leader frowned, eyes narrowing at the unwelcome news. “This makes no sense. If the alicorn has the power to restrain the swarm, then why change her tactics to retake this empty palace? Can the Element of Magic be responsible?” He glanced toward the captive mares and immediately jerked back when he found a grinning pink face roughly an inch from his own. “I’m gonna call you Grumpy Wumpy,” Pinkie announced effervescently, apropos of nothing. “It’s a good name.” His expression went through a series of gymnastics encompassing the full spectrum of irritation and chagrin, ultimately landing a dismount with icy disdain. “Please remain with your friends,” he requested coldly. “For your own safety.” “Okie Dokie Loki!” She zipped back to the other mares in a pink blur and plopping down next to the bewildered blue unicorn once again. “They may be more dangerous than the Queen thought,” the subordinate unicorn murmured. Before the other could respond, a battered white pegasus half flew, half staggered in through the door of Fluttershy’s quarters and nearly crashed into a guard. He had apparently entered the tower through the balcony of the suite. There was something wrong with him beyond his dented armor and the burns and bruises that marred his coat. His wings twitched erratically and sometimes out of sync, buzzing rapidly for a second and then flapping more normally for even less time. As he moved, his flesh seemed to crawl along his frame in a strange, slick, slimy sort of way. His eyes glowed a flat blue that blotted out pupils and irises. “The foe is strong,” he announced loudly, his voice distorted by a strange buzzing undertone. “Aid is required.” “Yes,” Grumpy Wumpy said. “We will join the battle. But first, we must neutralize the Elements of Harmony. I will take no risks with our Queen’s glorious plan so close to fruition.” He cast his uncaring eyes over the group of mares and raised a hoof in their direction. Raising his voice so that it could be heard by all of the soldiers, he commanded, “Kill them.” Twilight and Luna halted at the base of the tunnel while the princess surveyed the crystal cave with wide eyes. Looking to the unicorn for guidance, she asked, “Which way do we go?” “I think this is the right way,” Twilight ventured cautiously, pointing a hoof almost straight forward, “but I’m not sure. Maybe I can modify the gem tracking spell to find winged unicorns...” Green light flashed in the darkness ahead and Twilight flinched, automatically raising a shield which deflected the blast of magic, sending it ricocheting off of crystal walls. A barrage of green bolts followed, but Twilight merely had to solidify her defense. The attacks were powerful, but merely maintaining a shield was relatively easy. Her mind worked furiously as she tried to figure out what to do. Fortunately, she’d enclosed Luna in the translucent pink bubble as well, but they were too exposed in the middle of the room and the shots peppering the shield were too well aimed. If she dropped it, either she or Luna would be hit. She could teleport both of them, but without a clear destination ahead, it would have to be a retreat. They needed to pass through the caves to reach Cadance. Luna leaned in over her shoulder and asked, “Twilight Sparkle, can you move while maintaining the shield?” Twilight’s expression of concentration scrunched up a bit more and she slid a hoof forward, but almost immediately she shook her head. While moving her body was possible, moving the bubble was too taxing. She could cast a second shield to seal off the tunnel and maybe catch the changelings with a ricochet. Suddenly the volley cut off as a dull thump and the sound of a large, armor-clad body falling echoed through the cave. A moment later, a flurry of green flashes illuminated two ponies in combat; one was a gray unicorn in barding, the other unusually large and pale-coated with both wings and a horn. At their hooves lay an unconscious guardspony. One of the bigger pony’s blasts took the unicorn directly in the chest and there was darkness again, followed by a pair of thuds as a body struck the wall and fell to the floor. Luna nudged the unicorn with a wingtip, her eyes narrowed as she tried to see through the slight distortion of the protective magic and into the gloom beyond. Hesitantly dispelling her shield, Twilight prepared to recast if necessary as the sound of hoofsteps came closer. Finally, the white-coated pony stepped out of the dark tunnel and into the light. For an instant, it was possible to mistake him for Celestia; the size, coloring, horn, wings, and cutie mark were the same, his multi-hued mane and tail even glowing slightly and flowing in an unseen current. The differences were minimal: a slightly more squared muzzle, a subtly more muscular form. He was still rather willowy for a stallion, but he carried it well. He regarded the two mares with concern and asked in a low, gentle voice, “Twilight, are you alright?” Twilight scrambled away from him in something approaching a blind panic. Luna stepped between them and lowered her horn at the newcomer. “Foul creature, art thou so foalish as to steal the form of our sister and twist it so? We will not be tricked by such a flawed disguise!” The changeling barely spared Luna a glance as he paced sideways to get a glimpse of the unicorn who was cowering behind her. “Please, love, I was so worried about you.” “That’s not true!” Twilight glared around Luna and accused, “You just want to feed on my emotions!” He seemed honestly hurt as he protested, "How can you say that? I love you, Twilight!" Princess Luna was taken aback. She craned her neck to give Twilight a rather odd look while still keeping an eye on the changeling. “Twilight Sparkle, is there something you would like to share?” Face glowing with heat, the unicorn abashedly explained, “He’s...he’s the one Cadance made me fall in love with.” “In truth?” At Twilight’s blushing nod, Luna blinked and turned back to face the stallion fully. “We...I see. This makes a kind of sense. A love spell works equally on both parties. If you were forced into blind devotion, so too was this creature." Twilight’s jaw dropped and she stared up at the princess with wide, horrified eyes. "You don't mean..." She shifted her attention to the changeling and weakly insisted, "You don't love me. It's just a spell." His eyes flashed, but there was only determination in his expression. "You’re mistaken, love," he replied, caring but firm. "I know what I feel. You’re my world, Twilight.” “Is that so?” Luna regarded the white changeling with curiosity. “Then you would protect her from harm?” He nodded and she cajoled, “We seek to thwart your queen’s plan, and in return your brethren attack us. If you truly intend to protect Twilight Sparkle, then will you stand against your own kind in more than a skirmish?” He nodded again, his determined eyes locked with Twilight’s. “Yes. I won't let anyone - not even Queen Chrysalis - harm you." Twilight had to swallow against a sudden urge to be sick, but Luna smiled ineffably and commanded, “Then lead us to the captured princess, changeling, that we may free her.” “This way,” the changeling said, indicating the tunnel he’d emerged from as he wheeled around and started off in the direction Twilight had originally suggested at a fast walk. Luna nudged the unicorn to follow and they fell in line with Luna taking up the rear. Twilight was silent for a while as they went deeper into the cave, but at length she raised her voice to ask, “Why do you still look like that?” The changeling looked over his shoulder at Twilight to find her watching the floor as she nearly trotted to keep up. “This is the form you know," he answered cautiously, slowing his pace slightly. "If I changed my appearance, you wouldn’t recognize me.” She ventured, “But you could...look different?” “Well, I can’t change my gender,” he replied, “or turn into anything other than a pony, but I can match the coloring, general build, and cutie mark of anypony you love,” he replied. “Would you like me to be one of your friends? Maybe your brother?” “No,” she said quickly, glancing up with narrowed eyes. “What about your true form?” Behind her, Luna pricked her ears to listen. The changeling looked a bit uneasy. “I don’t think you’d like that. We don’t look much like ponies anymore.” “Anymore?” Distracted, Twilight stumbled over a cracked chunk of crystal, but a green glow wrapped around her and prevented her from falling. She shot him an uncomfortable look which he returned forlornly. He let go quickly once she was on her feet again, tucking his flared wings back against his sides as he explained, “Well, according to the old stories, our ancestors were ponies.” At the incredulous looks he received, the changeling nodded as if acknowledging that it seemed absurd. “It’s true. The old ones say that our people were abandoned to a dark, cold place, and as the food ran out, they learned how to survive by eating emotions. There were a few unpleasant side effects.” Twilight looked over her shoulder to ask the trailing alicorn, “Princess Luna, could that be true?” Luna was frowning as she scrutinized the changeling with new interest. Thoughtfully, she answered Twilight’s question by saying, “I...am not sure. There are many things in this world that even my sister and I do not know. It seems plausible, though horrifying.” “We’re here,” the changeling announced, slowing to a stop as the path widened. He peered around warily, his nostrils flaring as he scented the air. “She’s alone, I think.” In the center of the chamber, Cadance sluggishly raised her head at the sound of his voice. Her eyes widened when she saw the three equines entering her prison. For a moment, she almost looked hopeful; then she recognized the white stallion and her face fell. “It’s okay,” Twilight assured her, trotting briskly to the chained princess’s side with the changeling following her closely. Luna remained at the mouth of the tunnel, scanning the shadows with sharp eyes. “He’s not going to hurt you.” Cadance fearfully slurred, “But, but he-“ “He’s still under your spell, so he thinks he’s in love with me,” Twilight grumbled, embarrassed. “Before we get out of here, could you fix him?” “What? No,” the changeling objected, stepping back. “Don’t you dare. I don’t want to stop feeling this way. You can’t make me.” Twilight was ready to argue, but Luna called out, “Let him be, Twilight Sparkle. We haven’t the time to debate the issue.” The unicorn subsided with a distressed frown in the direction of the changeling. He gave her the most resolute puppy dog eyes ever in return, and she looked away quickly. Once again, hurt dulled his eyes, but it was overshadowed by concern. Cadance’s pained gaze bounced between Twilight and the changeling as she looked increasingly distressed. She struggled to speak around the bit, pleading, “Please, don’t fight...” “Sorry,” Twilight apologized a little grudgingly. “I’m just frustrated because somepony is being completely unreasonable.” With a beleaguered sigh, the changeling muttered, “You cut me to the bone, love.” Twilight ignored him as she focused her magic on the chains that bound Cadance. “Won’t work,” Cadance mumbled in despair, “chains are resistant to-” She stiffened and gasped as the heavy collar and hobbles were casually shredded into fragments of scrap metal which fell to the ground all around her. Twilight was more careful with the bridle, unbuckling the straps and gently sliding it off. Free for the first time in weeks, Cadance clambered to her feet unsteadily, working her mouth and licking her lips compulsively to try to remove the taste and feel of the bit. Tentatively, she asked, “What happens now?” It was the changeling who responded, regarding the pink princess with determination and telling her, “You're going to help us save Canterlot."