Thorax clutched tightly to her pheromones. She mentally held them in to keep from alerting Queen Chrysalis. The huge hall was filled with ponies, and not a few changelings too.
Disguised as Princess Celestia, Thorax had a smile that was as fake as the form she was shape-shifted to. To her right was Princess Cadance, and Thorax could tell the poor mare was deep in the throes of changeling influence. She could smell the venom that Chrysalis had likely been injecting Cadance with over the floral scene of her flowers.
To Thorax's right was the real problem: Queen Chrysalis. Disguised as Shining Armor, Chrysalis stood proudly. Wearing a most handsome uniform that befitted his position in the guard, Chrysalis' appearance made Thorax sick to her stomach. She knew Shining Armor, and having learned that they were just about the most dependable changeling ever was a betrayal of the position he held in Canterlot.
Steeling herself, Thorax recalled the script, and opened her smiling mouth again. The wedding had been going as well as could be expected, but they were getting towards the final moments. Thorax braced unconsciously; even if none of her allies came to support her, she would not let Cadance fall to Chrysalis without a fight. "Princess Cadance and Shining Armor, it is my great pleasure to pronounce you—"
"Stop!" Twilight's shout from the entrance of the hall cut through Thorax's words. She looked up the hall, noticing Cadance staring blankly on the stage, and her "brother" look at her with a flash of astonishment that lasted barely a moment.
Around the hall dozens of ponies started muttering, lifting the noise floor. Thorax jerked a little as Chrysalis' anger quickly turned to stern disapproval.
"Why are you trying to ruin my special day?" Unable to fathom how Twilight Sparkle had gained her freedom, Chrysalis rolled his eyes and prepared to play the part of "disappointed big brother" again.
Vinyl Scratch, still wearing Shining's disguise, had been about to step into the hall when the real Shining Armor approached. "Oh thank Celestia. Go in, quick!"
"Thanks, Vinyl." Shining gave his mirror image a hoof-bump on the way past and strode in to stand beside his little sister. "Because it's not your special day!" His deep voice silenced the hall. "It's mine!" He looked at the monster on the stage, and then past him to Cadance. Where his wonderful flower should have been standing, was a wilted bloom. Princess Mi Amore Cadenza looked like she hadn't slept properly in weeks, and worse, looked like she didn't care what was going on at her own wedding.
"Ah don't understand." Applejack shook her head in confusion. "How can there be two of 'em?" The question was exactly what everypony in the room was asking themselves, but said most eloquently by the Apple.
"He's a changeling. He gains the form of somepony you love, and gains power by feeding off your love for them." Shining looked around to the crowd, and in the ponies' eyes he could see his words find traction. It was obvious that Queen Chrysalis was carrying himself as a very poor Shining Armor.
Chrysalis looked around the crowd and could see he was losing support. With a dramatic sigh he lifted his hoof up and brought it down once, twice, and then thrice. Around the room the Royal Guards in attendance flashed with green fire and took up attack stances. "Hunger." Chrysalis raised his own hoof and coiling green flames stole the disguise she had loathed to wear. "We are hungry, and ponies are our food!"
"NO!" Thorax released her energy like a flower blooms. She uncoiled the petals of control she held on her "queenness" and let if flow out. "Ponies are beautiful. Ponies are wonderful. You are a monster, Queen Chrysalis, and you don't deserve to be ruler of anything." She dropped her disguise too, shedding the guise of Princess Celestia. Taking two steps forward, she put herself between Chrysalis and Cadance.
"Alright, now Ah'm really confused…" Applejack, ever the voice of the crowd, looked on as seemingly every important pony in the wedding was a black insect-like pony. "Hey!" she said, spinning in response to Pinkie Pie pinching her.
"Just checking if you were a big buggy-wug too!" Pinkie's giggle was misplaced for the tension, however, and she was quickly shushed into silence.
"Queen Chrysalis has been foalnapping ponies, converting them into changelings, and brainwashing them to use as her own army." Shining's voice dominated the hall. He stared hard at the hated queen. "I have been missing because she did it to me in Ponyville." Now he had even Chrysalis' surprised gaze on him. "But her brainwashing didn't work—it didn't stick."
Princess Celestia and Princess Luna took that as their moment to enter the hall. Striding in to take up flank positions on Shining and Twilight's sides, they glared at Queen Chrysalis. Celestia opened her mouth first. "It is over, Chrysalis."
Rage poured over Chrysalis. White hot rage burned in her body at the sight of the princesses, hale and hearty, standing beside Shining Armor. "You don't get it, do you? I destroyed and devoured everything you ever built! I stole your own student from you! I have poisoned thousands of your own ponies and pulled them into my own nightmare!" Lips curling into a spiteful snarl, Chrysalis started to pour magic into her horn. "And now I will take you, too, Princess Celestia!"
Celestia was weakened and out of practice with dueling, but before the blast came a blue shield wrapped around her. Her heart swelled at the sight of Luna's magic, but the blast never arrived.
Having launched herself, Vinyl landed on all fours between Chrysalis and Princess Celestia. "You are a monster, Chrysalis! You are what the Royal Guard were made to fight!" The pronouncement might seem strange coming from a small unicorn mare, but Vinyl didn't care. Throwing everything she had into the shield, she deflected the bolt away harmlessly.
Thorax watched as things started to go very wrong. Vinyl was just a nymph, and with the power of a nymph she would not be able to fight against Chrysalis for long. Letting more of her power unfold, Thorax looked to the five mares standing beside the dais. "Please protect Cadance."
Rarity had barely followed what was happening, but she had a hunch. "No villain would ask us to protect a princess. Come on girls." Leading the way, she marched up to the top of the dais and took up position before the dazed-looking Princess Cadance.
Buzzing her wings, Thorax flew around the hall and landed beside Vinyl. Sloughing off a wave of terpene, she glared at Chrysalis. "You aren't fit to be queen."
"What's this?" Chrysalis' eyes flashed as fury became tainted with disgust. "A rogue drone that has grown too big for my hive? You know what I have done to every over-sized bug in my nest?" To explain her point she took a step forward and brought her hoof down sharp enough to drive a crack into the stone.
A wave of intense submission washed over Vinyl. She whimpered and lost her disguise. No more than the tiny nymph she was, she chirped and started to lower herself to the ground. It was impossible to resist, and by the time her knee touched the ground she actually felt she wanted to give in. A sudden counter came. Fire and power surged around Vinyl and she chirped even louder as the need to give in was forced back.
Thorax was angry. Her own drones were being affected by Chrysalis' pheromones, and it inspired a level of pure and righteous fury that she would dare to do it. Unsure of the source of her anger, Thorax nonetheless used it as a weapon to fight back at Queen Chrysalis. "This whole plan was madness. The hive was stable, and well -fed. Why are you doing this?!"
"Because of her!" Chrysalis spat the words out as she pointed at Celestia with her horn. Her rage flared and she blasted again, only for a shield of emerald green to flared and catch the blast.
"The only way changelings are going to have a hope of not being wiped out by ponies is if we can settle this ourselves. Your fight is with me, Queen Chrysalis." Thorax strode forwards and pulled a disguise up and over herself.
"Am I late?" Sunset Shimmer—disguised as Princess Luna—trotted into the hall in time to see fire recede from Thorax, revealing her sister's combat form. She didn't hesitate for a second. Luna's form melted off her and, like Thorax, flames revealed a similar, armored body to the new queen's. Thick plates of chitin covered Sunset and Thorax's limbs and torso. Spikes adorned parts of their armor, but mostly they seemed to just be a thicker, heavier form of their basic changeling selves.
"Sunset…" Princess Celestia watched Sunset take Thorax's side, and felt her heart swell. "Luna, we can't let them fight like this."
"You're right, Sister." Luna and Celestia stepped forward as one, moving up behind Thorax and Sunset, but as they got closer their eyes widened.
The fight had begun. Thorax dove in, seeking to end the fight quickly with her poison, but a blast of magic drove her back. To her shock—and having never seen Queen Chrysalis in a fight before—two large, articulated spines grew from Chrysalis' back. Glowing green and dripping something that was either poison, acid, or both, they sprung for Thorax.
Sunset was momentarily overcome by warmth. It felt like the sun on a spring day. Releasing a held breath, she inhaled the love that ebbed and flowed around her until she felt afire with it. The mix of controlling presences caused her to be a little confused, but shaking her head broke her from the haze of submissive and protective terpenes that threatened to steal her mind from the battle. "Thorax!"
Thorax's power was running low. She hadn't expected to have to fight quite so an offensive strategy from Chrysalis. Her green shield flared again and again as those two spines reached for her, each leaking more of the green goop. A sudden wash of warmth flooded her with energy, and though she wished she could find its source, she didn't have the time to.
Shoving back with a wall of energy, Thorax began making offensive maneuvers for the first time in the fight. Pressing advantages as she got them, the new queen hoped that whatever source was feeding her love would hold out.
While the fight took place, Shining dropped her disguise and flew to Cadance. Buzzing close to her face, Shining Armor almost cried at the blank look. "I love you, Cadie."
"Now I'm really confused. I thought that was Twilight's brother?" Rainbow Dash gestured to the foal-sized changeling staring into Princess Cadance's eyes. "Hey, bug, who are you?"
"I'm Shining Armor!" Shining's attention was stolen from Cadance by a pegasus right in her face. "Please keep her—"
"Keep her safe. Got it. You are a good bug too then?" Rainbow raised an eyebrow.
Shining Armor turned, but as she did a sliver of love snaked from Cadance and bit into her like a snake. Her eyes grew huge as power flooded her, and a love so pure it caused Shining's body to burn with pink flames almost overwhelmed her. "C-C-Cadie?"
"Shiny!" Cadance was still fighting the grip of Chrysalis' magics upon her mind, and though she couldn't see with her eyes, she could with her heart. Shining Armor burned just as bright to her as an inferno, and she reached out to her beloved with her heart and her magic.
"What… What should we do?" Fluttershy took a few steps back from Cadance and Shining.
Applejack moved forward and spun around to buck a charging changeling away. "Protect both of 'em!"
Every changeling in the room froze where they stood, even the battling queens. Thorax's shield flickered and faded as she watched the tiny nymph float upwards and kiss the pink princess. A rush of love unlike anything she had ever felt filled her to capacity, then well past it. Pink flames burned around Thorax.
"What is this?" Chrysalis looked from one burning pink changeling to the next. The power was pouring from Shining Armor to Thorax, and Chrysalis realized they were bound as drone to queen. Focusing her attention on Thorax, she sensed more love than the hive would need for a year. "I will take that!"
Thorax expected the draining attack to rip the love from her. She couldn't, basking in all the power, even manage to put up the most basic of defenses. But despite Chrysalis using her most powerful magic to try to drink up the love that Shining and Cadance were putting out, it would not leave Thorax. "You don't understand love, Chrysalis. It should never be taken," Thorax said, her voice chirping with happiness. "You can only ever give love."
Lines of burning pink lanced out from Thorax. The first of the magic lines connected with Sunset Shimmer. Floating into the air, Sunset opened her mouth to scream, but she only a laugh came from her. She laughed and laughed as bright colors stole the black from her chitin.
Six nymphs, putting up the best fights of their lives against the other changelings in the room, were next to be hit by the love. Each of the Cutie Mark Crusaders giggled and laughed as their bodies were remade for the second time, colorful patterns and markings wiping away the darkness.
Each changeling in the room, friend or foe, began to burn and glow with pink as their bodies were remade. All except one. Chrysalis clamped her shields up and threw herself away from Thorax. "What are you doing? You… You can't defeat me!"
Sunset floated down to the floor and shook herself. The hunger of being a changeling was, for the first time, fully sated. She walked slowly until she was beside Thorax. "We didn't defeat you." She lifted a hoof and pointed to Shining Armor and Cadance. "They did."