//------------------------------// // 241. The Loss of Faith - Part 22 - Time to Wake Up // Story: Blaze the Pony Tale // by Wolven5 //------------------------------// Growling, Shining Armor cast a bubble around Chrysalis and launched her out the throne room like a cannonball before he turned to check on his sister. “Twily! You okay?” “Ugh, she’s strong…” Twilight groaned as Shining Armor and Thorax helped her to her hooves, “but we’re stronger together!” “Then let’s take her down together!” Shining Armor charged his horn and Twilight nodded before taking flight and zooming out the throne room after the queen. Shining Armor almost followed when he noticed Thorax was about to follow too but barred the young changeling’s way with his good wing, “No Thorax, stay here.” “What?! But I-” Thorax flabbergasted. “Stay here… and get these ponies out of those pods! Without their love and joy to feed on, Chrysalis will be easier to fight,” Shining Armor instructed before glancing at his bandaged wing. “With my wing like this, I won’t be able to fly while fighting Chrysalis. The best I can do is attack her from a distance and provide backup for Twilight! Get those ponies out of those pods and out of harm’s way! Do you understand?” Thorax realized what Shining Armor was entrusting him to do, and nodded. “Don’t get separated from Twilight no matter what! Chrysalis will try any dirty trick she can to win!” The alicorn prince nodded and then galloped out the throne room to go back up his sister, and Thorax looked up to the Pods attached to the ceiling. “What's wrong little ponies?” taunted Chrysalis as she slowly walked towards both Twilight Sparkle and Shining Armor as they tried to attack from a distance. Twilight shot blasts of magic that would either harmlessly ricochet off her chitin or she would counter with a ball of gew that would pepper the hall with its slimy remnants. Shining on the other hoof was using very few offensive spells, mostly to conserve his mana. He needed to find a weakness in the changeling queen's armor and from Twilight's bombardment of blasts, nothing seemed to be working. “Can't stand up to your better?” “You're nopony’s better!” yelled Twilight as she swooped to the left to avoid a returned volley from Chrysalis. Before she charged her horn to return another blast. Only for it to be intercepted by another ball of gew from the Changeling Queen's mouth. “I would beg to differ, as your side’s troops out there are slowly but most assuredly being decimated by my forces and those that survive will become nothing more than our food,” she grinned fiendishly as she continued to slowly chase the two. Shining growled as he remembered his fellow comrades were still out there on the battlefield. He then began to focus on his magic, a thick wall of dark magenta magic formed in front the Queen as she looked at it unimpressed. “Do you really think your little shield spell is going to stop me?” She leaned back as a sickly emerald green glow of her horn intensified before unleashing a blast upon the shield. In seconds, cracks began to riddle the conjured wall of magic before it shattered like stained glass, the pieces vanishing like burnt-out embers. The blast continued down the all blasting a large hole into the outer walls of the castle. The energy blast could be seen by everypony outside, soaring out and vanishing into the horizon! Both Shining and Twilight looked on in amazed at the sheer power of the changeling queen, and slowly turned to see the queen grinned as her fangs glinted in the light. At the same time, her horn was still alit with magic as she readied another spell. Back in the throne room, Thorax was looking over the room trying to figure out the best way to get the pods down from the ceiling. The scary sounds out in the castle halls told him he had to work fast. The only thing he could come up with was using his gew to form a web-like safety net. “Here goes nothing,” Thorax began to create a large amount of gew, and his magic shaped the gew he spat from his mouth, and it spread out, forming a web that quickly hung itself beneath the pods. Thorax flew up and carefully landed on the web, testing it to be sure before he was satisfied, and then flew up to the pods, getting to work. Meanwhile, Chrysalis was starting to grow bored of playing with her opponents. “I think I've played with you long enough,” she sighed, sounding bored, before she launched another powerful blast towards the two alicorns. A small smirk crossed Shining Armor's muzzle as he brought up smaller shields. This time he placed only one in front of the blast. He turned slightly to the left, right as the Queen's magic struck upon it. It didn't break right through it as it almost bounced right off it towards the wall or more precisely. Right into another shield like the first. This chain continued until the blast was redirected back to the source, Chrysalis herself. The queen watching this grinned as the blast nearly connected and blew the debris from the fight so far, creating a smoke screen. The smoke blocked the alicorn's sight of the queen as they began to breathe heavily. Did we get her? Shining watched the debris slowly fall. His eye widened as he noticed the queen was still standing with a smirk on her face. “Are you kidding me?!” Shining was beginning to get scared… when he realized Chrysalis was standing there shielded in a bubble of magic. The very same kind of shield Shining used to cover the city during his wedding. “That's my shield spell!” “I didn't just take your love that day, Shining,” sneered Chrysalis, looking far too pleased with herself. “Then you should know what happens when a shield spell is overpowered,” Twilight smirked back. Shining blinked as he turned to his sister, completely confused. “What are you talking about Twily?” Shining asked confused. “Radiant Shield's third principle of mana shield dynamics,” Twilight answered right off the bat, looking at her brother who just stared back in a clueless fashion. Much like how the queen was at the same time. “I think I may have slept through that lesson…” Shining shrugged a tad sheepish, his annoyed Twilight as she let out a frustrated growl. “The principle states that if a shield is over-saturated with magic without the correct variables in place” – Twilight worked her magic , willing it to splash over chrysalis’s shield while she explained – “It must resize itself to become stable.” By Twilight’s explanation, Chrysalis’s shield began to shrink and compress with her still in it! “I don't think so!” Chrysalis focused her magic and large emerald green flames consumed her as her form changed. The once tall queen was now a very large hexapod with each of its six legs ending in sharp points. The blacking chitin of its body was complemented with the gradient green to blue-green tinted stripes. The same with its larger armored thorax and abdomen that looked like it was segmented further leaving a nasty looking stinger. The head of the creature was angled and closely resembled a spider’s head, just with a large bottom jaw. Filled with fangs and instead of the natural eight eyes, this form only had five neon green eyes that went with its gradient head. The side of it easily overpowered the diminishing shield forcing it to pop as if it was nothing more than a soap bubble. “You can't defeat me that easily,” Chrysalis snarled, her voice beastly and growling. “Maybe, but that doesn’t mean you can’t be tricked!” Shining Armor lit up his horn and cast a bombardment of Magic Arrows! The arrow-shaped bolts of dark magenta mana flew towards the monstrous looking queen. Most of them pinged off the chitin and fizzed out. Others aimed true into the weaker parts of the legs. Chrysalis let out a painful roar as she dropped to her form’s knees. She then opened her mouth as a massive amount of gew flew in a few shades brighter color than the stuff she threw out before. Thinking fast, Shining Armor erected his shield covering both him and his sister, right before the goop splatted against it and dropped to the floor. A small sizzling sound could be heard coming from the goop as it dropped through the floor as it burned its way through. “We've got to watch out for that stuff,” Twilight charged her horn. “No kidding,” Shining began to focus his magic and dropped his shield. Right then Twilight disappeared and reappeared behind Chrysalis as Shining began to cover the floor in a barrier a few inches thick, going unnoticed by Chrysalis as she turned to face Twilight. She unleashed a torrent of magic that smashed against the queen’s head. Instead of being able to stand her ground, her legs began to give out, as they began to scuttle to and fro, trying to find footing on the barrier Shining Armor had coated the floor with, making it slick and slippery like ice. Shining Armor took a running start before sliding along his magical handiwork, slipping along right under the queen and fired more arrows, hoping to hit a soft part of her underside. No such luck but he was able to at the very least get himself in front of her. In the throne room, Thorax had managed to finally get all of the Pods down to the floor. “Okay, hard part’s over” Thorax panted before he began to try and bite into the nearest pod, hoping to tear it open. But it was like trying to bite into a tightly sealed drum as the membrane of the pod was merely pushed inward but never gave way or punctured. “Darn it, how am I going to open these things?” Thorax rubbed his chitin-covered hoof over his chin thinking… when an idea popped in his head. "Ah-ha!" With a flash of soft opal-blue mana, the once black insect-like changeling was replaced with a rather large black-feathered griffon with a dark gray pelt to complement the rest of the body. He brought up his black talons and stabbed into the pod, barely making enough leeway to get the other talon in. With every bit of his strength, Thorax fought to release the pony within. Once torn, the rest of it came away with ease as translucent green ooze flooded out while Thorax made the hole bigger to reveal the pony, an earth pony mare, inside. The mare that was once contained remained unconscious, to Thorax’s relief, as he didn’t need her waking up and panicking. So he moved her to a corner behind some of the gew structures so she would be safe. “One down...” he said as he looked back to the over a dozen pods, “…and a lot more to go.” He sighed before cracking his griffon form’s talons to get back to work. With each pony freed from the Pods, the magical link of love and joy was disrupted and cut off from the queen. At first, it was unnoticeable, given Chrysalis was on a power-crazed high. The others captives filled in the missing gap as more love was drained. But after the seventh or so pony was released, the loss of power began to grow apparent. With the next blast from Twilight, her love-enhanced chitin began to lightly crack and Chrysalis growled in frustration of this. She decided to change up tactics by shifting her form from the massive bug-like monster to something closer to her normal form. As it looked like the front half of her was more attached to the main body and abdomen of a spider with matching legs. She grinned as she used her magic to create a smokescreen large enough to cover the whole hall. Just for her to make her escape to the roof, and as the smoke cleared. She released a large amount of the gew to cover both Shining Armor and Twilight Sparkle, making it hard for either one of them to move. Chrysalis grinned as they both looked up to see the more spider-like changeling queen. “Just hold that pose….” she said as she began to open her mouth wider than most changelings could. A larger glob of the acidic gew began to slowly droop down towards Twilight who began to panic and fought more to get released. Right as the last strand of gew snapped with the promise of a painful demise, Shining brought up a bubble of magic to surround his sister. It was enough to cut some of the gew that covered her and caused the glob to slide off the side. Unfortunately, a few small flecks of the acid sprung off as the glop rolled down to the floor and they got Shining Armor in the left foreleg. His coat began to smoke and burn as the acid began to burn away small spots of his coat, leaving his skin exposed with burns. It looked much worse than it was, but that didn't keep Shining from crying out in pain as it felt like his leg was on fire. Chrysalis began to grin when she felt more and more of her powers began to slip away. “You two stay still now, I have a traitor to deal with.” She then sprung off the ceiling and returned to her normal form. Returning to the throne room, she saw that the floor was completely covered in the translucent ooze from the pods and a griffon trying to break into the last pod. The very pod that was holding Midnight himself! Infuriated, knowing who that griffon really was, the queen spat a volley of sticky gew globs at each of the limbs pinning the griffon to the throne itself. “You dare undermine your Queen!?!?” Chrysalis’s eyes promised bloody murder as she slowly stepped closer. Her horn began to glow with a venomous green light as the sharper spikes of gew began to break off from over the room and float beside her. “Before I'm done with you, you treacherous grub, you will beg for the sweet release of death!” She willed the first spike to launch and it flew through the air with a speed of a cannon. It pierced right into Thorax's right foreleg, making him scream in pain as his disguise dropped to show his leg was dripping the green ichor that most changelings had. He looked on at the queen in complete fear as he saw his life flash before his eyes. Guilt… This awful, cold, gut-twisting guilt! Where was it coming from?! He stood there in the castle’s entry hall, so confused by this strange guilt and had no idea why he was feeling it! Midnight had just come to the castle to pick up his daughter, Penumbra Velvet, or Penny as she preferred. She’d wanted to spend time with her Gramma Tia while Midnight had surprised his parents with the new house he’d bought for them. But looking back… he’d felt like somepony had been there, somepony had been trying to reach him, and once he’d reached the castle… that somepony he couldn’t see or hear… He’d felt such a tangled mess of emotions he knew were not his own, but those emotions had reached something inside him! Guilt, regret, anger, heartache, hatred, a cauldron of conflict and stress boiling within him so intensely that he began to feel sick! Midnight groaned as he leaned against a wall, trying to clear the storm of confusing thoughts and questions and feelings thundering in his head when he looked around… and noticed something was off. The hall- No… Everything around him! His surroundings all seemed to slowly change color… everything appeared to take on a slight greenish shade before a slight tremor beneath Midnight’s hooves caused him to yelp and then suddenly notice everything looked normal again. What was going on?! “Daddy?” Flinching, Midnight turned and felt relieved to see… through Penny?! His little filly was standing there, looking up at him concerned… and he could see right through her! As though she were a ghost! “Daddy, are you okay?” Penny came over and hugged his foreleg, feeling solid, which felt reassuring as she then looked solid too. But why had…? “Daddy, are we gonna go?” Penny’s question brought Midnight out of it, and he looked at her, dumbfounded. “Uh, yeah… We got a train to catch, baby,” Midnight answered slowly. “Then let’s go! I can’t wait to hear Mommy tell me a bedtime story,” Penny scampered out the castle doors, Midnight following hesitantly, unable to shake that troubling feeling that something was not right. Walking through Canterlot as afternoon began to fade into the evening hours, Midnight thought, Just get home, put Penny to bed, and get in bed with Twi, everything’ll be fine after a good night’s- !!! Princess Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns seemed to take on a greenish hue and look oddly vague, details in the architecture fading before it all came back! “Penny, did you…?” Midnight gasped again at the sight of his filly! Penny was happily skipping and la-la-la-ing… and her form was transparent even though she acted as though nothing were wrong. But something was wrong, as Midnight realized, Everything is wrong! “Penny?” The little filly turned to look at her father, whose head hung low, casting a shadow over his eyes… before raising them with a forced smile as he said, “Let’s… take a detour. There’s something I wanna talk to you about.” “Um, okay, Daddy,” Penny followed her father closely, wrapping her little tail around his, causing him to smile down at her, which she warmly returned. That smile, Midnight thought about the first time he saw that smile. So tiny, so beautiful… He almost led them down the wrong avenue but quickly got his head back on track, and brought Penny to Canterlot Public Park. A beautiful little spot of nature near the edge of in the City of Unicorns, with a playground, an open field with a baseball diamond in one corner, a public swimming pool, and a high rise that led to a balcony with coin-operated viewers to gaze out across Equestria from the high vantage of Mount Canterhorn upon where Canterlot was built. The setting sun had already signaled to parents to collect their tired foals and take them home, but Midnight led his foal to the balcony, and levitated a silver bit for her, pointing to the viewers and Penny quickly got the idea. She smiled, accepting the Bit, and quickly hurried over, slid the bit into the coin slot, and looked through the viewer. Even though he couldn’t see her eyes as she looked at all that could be seen, Midnight knew. Penny was seeing a land where everypony was happy, where all lived in harmony, where everything was just fine. And that was the problem. The nightmares he’d been having, these feelings… They’d awoken something inside him, vague echoes that didn’t fit yet somehow he knew they were true. Just as he knew that all of this… “Daddy, I think I can see our house from here!” Midnight snapped out of it and looked at Penny, so beautiful, so innocent… His baby! But she’s not…! Midnight thought before he spoke, “Penny? Come here.” “Daddy?” Penny got off the viewer and scampered over, seeing her father sit down, so she did too. He reached over to place one of his hooves on her shoulder, giving her the warmest, most tender and loving look he could give her as her father. But in his eyes, Penny could see something was bothering her daddy. “Daddy, are… Are you okay? You look sad!” “…Penumbra Dawn Velvet,” Midnight spoke, barely able to keep his voice calm and smiled, “The day I married your mommy, I thought it was the happiest day of my life! I was proven wrong that warm and beautiful night when you were born. “The first time I saw your adorable little face, your tiny hooves reaching out to me…” Midnight reached up with his other hoof to caress Penny’s cheek, “I’d never felt so happy as when I held you for the first time, and I swore then and there I would give you the world!” Penny smiled, reaching up to hold her father’s hoof in her own as he went on. “Every day, every night, every first, being your father has been my greatest journey! But… the journey has…” Midnight couldn’t hold back the tears anymore as he struggled to stay composed even as the tears flowed down his face, “Oh Faust help me…” “Daddy?” whimpered Penny, suddenly afraid. “Penny… I think… the journey ends here.” “Daddy, what are you saying…?!” Penny’s little voice shook, the look she gave her daddy was heartbreaking. “I’m saying that… I don’t think… this is real,” Midnight began to sob, “That any of this is real! I don’t think… you’re real.” “Daddy! Don- Don’t say that!” Penny cried as she reared up, throwing her little forelegs around her father’s neck. “You’re scaring me!” “No, no, baby, I…” Midnight hugged his filly close, nuzzling her head to his own, “You are everything I wanted in a daughter! All of this, it’s… It’s everything I ever wanted out of life!” Then Midnight gently pushed Penny back so he tell her face-to-face, “But… there are others who need me, sweetheart. There are… promises I have to keep! So I… I have to go.” As the heartache brought them together in embrace, Canterlot... no, all of Equestria, everything around them began to fade. The orange sky that held Celestia's sun gave way to a sullen darkness that held no moon and held no stars to guide the lost. The land began to turn shades of gray as it blew away as if it was nothing more than dust in the wind. The once luscious flowers, trees, and other plants began to wither away into ash, and the walls and towers of Canterlot crumbled away into nothing, and everypony else faded into emptiness. All the while, sensing it was all closing in on them, Midnight held his daughter, his little filly, his sweet Penny as close as he could in a warm and protective embrace. "I promise you, Penny! I'll never forge-" was all he got out through his tearful words when he felt Penny fade away. His foreleg went through the space his daughter once occupied, as the thought finally hit him. Penny was gone, and he was alone. He tried to peer around him to find anything to hold on to, but there wasn't anything but the eternal darkness that surrounded him. The cold, empty, and soul crushing loneliness that only this kind of darkness could bring... The memories flooded his mind. Of the all the bright and warm and perfect times with his wife and daughter, each and every happy and beautiful moment he’d shared with them filled his mind even as an unfeeling voice in the back of his mind told him they were false. A fake reality that he knew he had to deny. It didn't change how much it hurt, to feel the heartbreak, anguish, and the complete despair that followed with that left him with only one thing he could do. Scream... A scream that if anypony heard it, it would tell of years, even decades of pain all released in that moment. A scream for nopony but the darkness itself to hear. “UGH!!” Twilight was sent tumbling head over hooves with such force, she couldn’t stop herself nor did she have the clarity of mind to do so. She was bruised and battered, her primaries on her left wing had been burnt off, she was utterly exhausted, physically and magically, there were nasty cuts on her chest and right hind leg, and she was finding it harder and harder to maintain consciousness. She wasn’t sure if it was blood loss or if she’d been poisoned, but as she tried to gather her wits and ignore the utter agony her body was feeling, she analyzed her situation: Thorax was nailed to the wall above the throne and unable to move because of the sticky gew he’d been covered with. Midnight was still inside the pod and trapped in some bittersweet fantasy. Shining Armor lay unconscious, his multi-shaded blue mane a mess and his white coat and feathers stained with his blood. And she noticed she was lying at the foot of the throne, just below the golden dais it was set upon. Also, needless to mention, was the cruel and wicked changeling queen savoring the moment as she slowly approached, and laughing to herself, taking sadistic pleasure at the dispirited look on Twilight’s face. I have to… do something! Twilight groaned, her body screaming with pain, but she forced herself with the drive to stop Chrysalis and save her Midnight. She rolled herself over onto her belly, the cut on her chest stinging and bleeding, and slowly rose up on her shaky hooves despite the awful aching of the bruises on her legs. Gritting herself and grinding her teeth, Twilight finally forced herself to stand tall and looked Chrysalis in the eye until they were standing only a few hooves apart. Chrysalis looked down with a contemptuous sneer while Twilight looked back with defiance. “So brave, and yet… so tragically pathetic. What more do you expect to do, Princess Twilight? You can barely stand on your own hooves, you’re exhausted, battered, bleeding, and I highly doubt you have the mana left to cast even one Magic Arrow. You know what, I’m feeling oddly generous right now so let me make you an offer – Submit to me now, and I won’t kill you! “Instead, I’ll place you in one of my Pods! Think about it – You can leave all of this behind! No more troubles, no more worries, only happiness. All that you ever wanted, you’ll want for nothing, you will live life happy and content. No one will ever hurt you again…” A Magic Arrow straight into Chrysalis’s eye was Twilight’s answer, and the queen shrieked in pain, stumbling back before she reached her hoof up to the wound. She pulled back to see the green ichor of her blood stained on her hoof. She growled in rage as she looked down at Twilight with pure hate in her remaining eye. “So be it, princess!” Chrysalis spat in anger as she slowly walked up to the princess. Twilight was too exhausted and bruised to be able to move an inch and stood helpless as Chrysalis growled, “You have been nothing more than a thorn in my side, a pest constantly getting in my way! That ends now.” Standing only a few hooves away from the lavender princess, Chrysalis raised her right hoof as it was engulfed with emerald flames and replaced with the scythe-like limb of a praying mantis. “But don’t worry!” Chrysalis sneered despicably at Twilight, who was frozen in fear and agony, “I’ll take good care of your Midnight…!!” As the bladed limb came down to seal Twilight's doom, she was about to scream out in horror- *Thump* “What the?!” Chrysalis froze, only a few inches away from ending Twilight's life, and turned to the only remaining pod in the room. She tilted her head slightly in confusion as she slowly stepped up to it after reverting her leg back to normal. This doesn't make sense, he should be consumed by the pure bliss of the fantasy. Chrysalis tried to peer in, using the Hive Mind, only to see flashes and glimpses of whatever was going on in Midnight’s head. This can't be, he’s becoming self-aware! That’s impossible! Unless… His love is my only remaining boost in power but I must have overextended the Pod’s ability to keep him entrapped! All she could sense from Midnight was the utter heartache and despair coursing throughout his very being. Igniting her horn, Chrysalis tried to subdue the alicorn, force him back into his fantasy, before- *KASHPLAM* For only a split-second, Chrysalis had seen Midnight’s eyes suddenly open, shining a pure white light before a magical force EXPLODED from the pod with a force powerful enough that it sent Chrysalis flying against one of the far walls, almost out of sight. An opaque green haze filled the room but very quickly began to disperse, revealing an alicorn slick with translucent ooze, stumbling and disoriented as he took a few shaky steps forward and looked around, his blurred vision clearing up as he got his bearings. “Where… What happ…?” Midnight mumbled when finally he was able to see clearly enough that he noticed a battered and bloody Twilight. That snapped his brain back into focus as he rushed over to her. “Twilight! What happened?! Who did this to you?” Midnight forgot his own physical ailing as he looked his Twilight over, and she looked up at him, her eyes glimmering with joy to see him, to hear his voice… when an undesirable voice spoke up.  “That would be me.” Midnight turned and his eyes widened to see Chrysalis as his inner voice representing common sense yelled out that this was impossible, that she should be dead- “In fact, I was just about to cut off her head when you-” was all she got out before the prince had disappeared for a split second before her view was filled with nothing but pain. Everyone else had blinked and now saw Midnight suddenly in front of Chrysalis and burying his hoof into her face with force so hard, that she was sent flying through the throne room doors down the hall like a cannonball! The doors were blasted into splinters as Midnight's left eye began to twitch, a match had been lit inside him and he was about to explode! His eyes lit up with a light of burning white while his pupils narrowed into predatory slits that glowed a burning blue, his horn lit up and in a flash of magic was gone as Twilight looked on in deep concern, afraid of what was about to transpire. She moved her shaking hoof up to wipe the tears away and focused on the task at hoof. With the last embers of her mana, she began to slowly but surely break Thorax out of the Queen's gew while a serious of blasts could be heard from the halls. “Do you have any idea…” Midnight seethed his eyes burning with unforgiving hate, as he held Chrysalis up close in his magic, choking her, “…what you DID TO ME?!?!” The Queen smiled as she brought up her back hooves and bucked Midnight just right to make him lose his hold on her. Her wings began to buzz as she righted herself in the air and landed. “I gave you the chance to experience a life of joy without a care in the world,” Chrysalis smirked before her horn lit up and a piece of wall floated up. With a flick of magic, the large piece flew at Midnight who blasted it without thought but with emotion. As the debris from the blast blew away, what he saw standing in Chrysalis’s place shook him. Where stood the queen of the changelings was now a tall unicorn stallion that closely resembled Sombra before becoming an alicorn, albeit a little heavier in muscle. The color of his coat was a vibrant scarlet red, his mane and tail were obsidian black black with highlights of metallic gold. But it was his eyes, those blazing red eyes Midnight always saw whenever his little brother looked at him. If it wasn't for the fact that he knew this wasn't the pony he thought it was, even if he had a cutie-mark shaped as a flaming sword and shield… “Drop that form.” Midnight snarled as he bore his fangs and his horn became ablaze with magic that behaved like burning blue fire. “Oh, not in the mood for dear old dad? Maybe this one will do.” The stallion was engulfed in emerald flames and gave way to reveal a soft silver-white unicorn mare, with a mane and tail two shades of sky blue, and her eyes were a perfect reflection of Midnight’s own turquoise eyes. “Does this one suit you better?” she asked as her horn lit up with more rubble floating up. Midnight growled as he blasted the rubble before they could have been thrown. He glared with such hatred that even the imposter felt a twinge of fear before snorting. “No?” the fake’s playful tone was striking a nerve when she gave him a look that Midnight knew his mother - his real mother - would never give him. “I know you'll like this one...” She changed again... into Penny. The sight of her, her shiny black coat, her purple, blue, and magenta mane… and her green eyes! Now Midnight could see it. This image, this filly who never was, the proof of her falsehood had been looking at him from the very start! Penny had the same green eyes of Chrysalis! “I know about every little detail of your blissful fantasy,” she spoke in that little filly’s voice as she began to fling more rubble at Midnight. This time however, Midnight was too shaken to blast them. He dodged one, another struck him in the shoulder, a part of him that was clinging to that awful beautiful lie just didn’t have it in him to attack even this spurious semblance of something he deeply desired. “The happy little family with mommy and daddy, a loving home, where nothing could go wrong,” she mocked as Midnight was slightly distracted and could only blast the rubble as he couldn't take his eyes off of her. To him, all he could see was the once sweet daughter from the warped fantasy. “And let’s not forget the loving wife and your precious daughter,” she giggled derisively as she continued to step closer and at the same time, Midnight could only slowly step back. “But… I will make you a deal. If you simply go back to the pod, I will let you go back to your blissful little world. Wouldn't that be nice... Daddy?” She smiled so sweet that shook Midnight to his core. It sounded just like the fake daughter from the fantasy. At that point, something snapped within Midnight. His horn began to light up as the shadows around him reached out and engulfed him. “That’s right, run away and hide,” Chrysalis sneered as she watched him disappear as the shadows moved down the hall. With a flick of magic, Chrysalis returned back to her normal form. What she didn't notice however was the shadow only turned around and began to beeline directly for her. As it slipped right under her, two back hooves bucked her from under, knocking the wind out of the queen and sending her up into the air. The shadow then shot up the hall and a hoof shot out, punching the queen in the face and sending her pummeling into the wall. Just like before, the shadow was there to meet her as a long thin tail wrapped around the Queen's neck and dragged her against the wall, right into some of the gew-constructed spikes and pillars for almost the equivalent of miles of hallways before she was flung right into the throne room. She rolled as the shadow flew right in and Midnight rose out of it before flying over and willing two large tendrils of shadowstuff to lash out and ensnare the changeling queen's hooves, preventing her from moving. “You dare… Out of all the things you could change into…” he spoke in an almost chilling cold tone that everyone in the room could feel, “you had to pick them.” As he spoke, the shadows began to hold her forelegs up leaving her at an awkward angle against the throne's back. Just lower than where Thorax had been earlier before Twilight was able to get him down. “Out of everypony.” Midnight’s voice turned into a growl as the shadows around him began to cover his forelegs, “you picked my father.” He continued as he moved his right foreleg and the shadows that held Chrysalis forced herself to punch her own muzzle. “My mother.” This time it was it was her left. “And Penny.” This time, he formed the shadows around his hooves into long and terrible claws, seizing the queen by her throat, and with his other shadow claw he reached up… *YANK/CRACK* “AAAAUUUUGGGHHHH!!!!!” Chrysalis let out a piercing scream of sheer agony as Midnight ripped her horn right out of her skull! Twilight watched in horror as Midnight tortured the changeling who had begunto cry out and whimper in agony as shock settled in. She needed to do something but her body ached to no end, and she could barely stand. Let alone move to stop him, but that didn't stop her. With each step, her body rang out in pain, with each little shift made her want to drop. “You forced me to live a beautiful, wonderful despicable lie!!” Midnight cried with eyes of hate and tears as he finally reached the queen who was now bleeding from the wound on her head where her horn had been. She didn't have the strength to stop him and was barely conscious to hear his words. He brought the queen down as he raised his left foreleg, his hoof concealed by the shadows stretching into talon-like claws. “You have been weighed, and you have been measured…” Midnight judged as he pulled back, those claws, black as a nightmare, poised and ready to rip out this monster’s throat! “Midnight, stop!” Twilight cried out as she used the last of her strength to jump onto Midnight's leg, preventing him from striking the queen. “Twilight, let go!!” snarled Midnight, his glare affixed to the broken queen. “No please! Just stop, Midnight, she’s suffered enough!” Twilight pleaded, as she looked at Midnight. The sound of her voice finally made Midnight pause, his gaze left the queen to look at his Twilight, the love, the concern, the fear in her eyes… The Fires of Hate burned out to the Warmth of Love, and Midnight closed his eyes to blink away the tears of shame as Twilight began to caress his cheek. “Prince Midnight!” He turned and noticed Thorax, a makeshift bandage covering his right foreleg as he pointed with his left to the pod. Midnight eyed the changeling before him, wary of him. “He's on our side,” Twilight assured as she leaned against Midnight as a method to hold herself up. Trusting Twilight and deciding to take her word for, Midnight unceremoniously tossed the queen into the pod and they watched as Thorax opened his mouth and released a small stream of translucent greenish-blue gew from his mouth, refilling the pod with Chrysalis in it before following up with a thicker and darker gew to seal it up. With a wave of the smaller changelings horn, the pod lit up for a second before fading back to normal with a beaten, battered, and bloody Chrysalis asleep in it. “Enjoy your happy lie, mother…” Thorax glared unhappily at Chrysalis, now only a silhouette inside the pod. “I hope you rot in it…” After a few moments of watching the queen slumber in her new prison cell, the last of the adrenaline that Midnight had been running on, had burned out. With a small thump, his rump hit the floor followed by his forelegs slide out from under him. “Midnight!” Twilight gasped quietly, groaning from her wounds, as she looked at her stallion. “I’ll go get help!” Thorax shapeshifted into a pegasus guard and hurried off. Twilight watched Thorax disappear out the doors, before sighing with relief as she sat down, looking warmly at her Midnight. She had him back. It was over. Or at the very least, she hoped it was.