As the now grown Spike was ending his presentation, the wedding room was quickly filled with the laughs coming form Queen Chrysalis, not capable of taking seriously what she was seeing at that very moment.
"Is this a joke?!" - She laughed while 'Spike' was looking at her with disappointment while Twilight and her friend where looking at him with faces that went from 'what are you doing?' to 'run'. - "I thought that my warriors were scared of an actually dangerous creature, not a dragon that went through a growth spurt."
'Spike' looked around as if trying to search for someone before responding with a slightly sarcastic tone.
"Well, I'm not seeing anyone else around here so I suppose I'm the only one they could've been running away from."
Chrysalis took the response immediately, stopping her from laughing as she decided to take a better look at the dragon in front of her and noticed a few other changes besides the height. Namely the change on the color of his eyes as well as how one of his claws had a strange symbol on the back of said claw and that wasn't even mentioning how his tone of voice was now more mature.
"I suppose so" -. She retorted. - "But if you want to take the credit of such feat, I recommend you to provide any evidence of what you are claiming, otherwise, you're only making a joke of yourself if you want me to believe that you took down my army on your own."
In that moment the dragon started to smile with malicious intent as his face read how he was accepting the challenge. In that moment, his left claw started to turn black as he started to get close to one of the chairs. He then picked one of the chairs with the black claw and, effortlessly, crushed the wooden chair by closing said claw with such ease that surprised the ponies, who knew Spike wasn't that strong.
Chrysalis raised her eyebrows at the feat. Certainly interesting but not surprising at all. She then looked at one of the walls in the room and, with a piece of her magic, took a chunk of the rock, big enough to fit in Celestia's hoof, while smiling deviously at the dragon, much to the mares' worries.
"Oh, please..." - She said as the piece of rock was levitating besides her. - "Breaking a wooden chair isn't surprising at all. Now, what about this!"
"Spike!"
As Chrysalis shouted, and Twilight screamed with worry, she threw the piece of rock at 'Spike' with a huge speed, at which, he managed to move aside just in time to avoid the attack but still managing to pick the rock with his left, and still black, claw. Chrysalis raised her eyebrow at this and her face suddenly went to shock as the dragon crushed the stone with the same ease as the wood while keeping his malicious smile.
"Tell me" -. He said with complete confidence. - "Is your chitin any stronger than rock?"
Chrysalis quickly took the hint as her eyes widen at what she saw. She wasn't sure how, but that dragon got more than a simple growth spurt and she was now believing the possibility of it being the thing her drones were so scared about, but she still thought that the situation could still be salvaged, all she needed to do was getting rid of the dragon to close any ties that could stop her.
Meanwhile, the ponies were surprised at the display of power made by Spike as they tried to make sense of what he just did.
"Twilight" -. Whispered Rainbow Dash at a surprised Twilight. - "When did Spike got so strong?"
That question took Twilight out of her shock and forced her to asses the situation with as much carefulness as she could before realizing the kind of danger Spike was getting into.
"Spike! What are you doing!? Run away, she defeated Princess Celestia!"
'Spike' turned his head towards Twilight and looked at her with a mixture of boredom, confidence and dismissal.
"Spike isn't home right now, try calling him later" -. He then moved his right thumb towards himself as he continued with a smug tone that reminded Twilight of Rainbow Dash as he smiled by showing his sharp teeth. - "My name, is Greed."
In that moment his right claw started to get black as well and with said black scales (in both arms) covering up his arm to bellow his elbow as he started to get closer to Chrysalis, who started to get a little nervous at the sight of said black scales.
"You should listen to your little friend in there" -. Chrysalis pointed out to Greed. - "Do you really think you can defeat the queen that took down Princess Celestia herself?"
Greed just kept his smile as he started to speed up his pace.
"The answer is simple, do you think your spells can affect my Supreme Shield?"
He then jumped directly at Chrysalis with his right fist prepared to attack, forcing Chrysalis to move aside while preparing a powerful stun spell in the hopes of knocking him up before those arms could even get close to her. As she fired, she noticed how Greed put his arms in a defensive gesture as they took the brunt of her spell, sending him flying away and cracking the right wall, making the debris to fall into him.
"Spike!"
As Twilight shouted with worry and her friends were getting worried for his life, Chrysalis couldn't feel but in control once again as the dragon was quickly put under control.
"You see" -. She quickly said. - "You were no match for me."
In that moment the debris was blown over from the bottom as the dragon raised up from it without a single scratch on his body while he was snapping up his joints, nobody noticing the small red sparks coming from his body as it cracked its bones, and he kept his smile with complete confidence.
"You see" -. He said with complete confidence as he saw with joy how his enemy was now having her face filled with shock. - "Your spells are no match for my Supreme Shield."
All the magical beings were in shock at the display, for it was imposible that the rest of his body could have no damage from it, making them wonder what kind of magic was 'Spike' pulling out right then.
Greed then quickly picked pieces of debris and threw it at Chrysalis, forcing her to fly up, while he ran in her direction and used his black claws to take any spell that Chrysalis threw at him.
"You'll need something stronger if you want to have a chance against me!"
Greed's taunt almost got Chrysalis but she didn't fall for it, well aware that using too much magic would drain her and leave her wide open to be attacked by this unusual dragon but she would try to increase her attacks as she noticed how he was starting to get closer.
Chrysalis quickly raised a shield as Greed jumped at her and gave his first punch, instantly cracking up the shield and sending her to the ground, with the energy of the fall finishing to crack the shield down, which forced Chrysalis to gather up her thoughts quickly at how the situation was getting out of her hooves and Greed was simply smiling with a glee akin to a predator who was about to finish up its prey for the joy of hunting rather than for feeding. The idea of being a simply prey for this dragon sent shivers to Chrysalis.
"Next time" -. Greed said with happiness in his face. - "Don't try to stop my Supreme Shield with a low class barrier. No matter how strong you are, it'll never match up to mine."
In that moment it hit Chrysalis what he was meaning by 'Supreme Shield', the black scales, and, in a desperate act, she quickly moved aside and started to charge her best spell with as much magic as she could. This, instead, gave Greed enough range to start swiping at Chrysalis with his claws.
Chrysalis tried her best to dodge the attacks, for every right swipe she would dodge back or move to the left and for every left swipe she would try to go up or move to the right but she would never stop from charging up her spell even if it meant that her chitin would start to get scratches for Greed's swipes.
"What are those scales made up from?"
It was the main thought going through Chrysalis mind as she tried to focus on multiple task at the same time, and that was including having to watch Greed's face, which showed no doubt or mercy at her as his swipes were started to aim at her legs and horn, something that Chrysalis quickly took notice off and started to react by moving more her legs and trying to stay afloat but Greed quickly put her down by throwing rocks at her at a extreme speed and a deathly accuracy.
In the meantime, Twilight started to notice how the fight was moving both Spike and Chrysalis away from Cadence and Shining Armor, giving her enough time to get close to her and release her from the slime holding her hooves down which, in turn, allowed her to move to Shining Armor and release him from Chrysalis spell.
"Wait.. What is going on?"
As Chrysalis heard Shining Armor's voice, she realized that her love reserves were going to be cut very fast, so she decided to stop charging up her spell and quickly kicked Greed toward another wall with her bare legs, she then got a close range with Greed, close enough that only she was capable of seeing him, and, was now having him cornered, she shouted in victory.
"Let's see if your shield can cover you from this!"
And she then released all her magic spell in a single blow, much to the ponies' worry at the display of power, with a torrent of magic pouring down on Greed as she could see and smell his body burning from all the magical power she put into the attack, hoping for it to be enough to finally put him down as she put all of her strength into this desperate offensive maneuver.
When she finally stopped her attack, she felt in shock at what she saw. The dragon was with many parts of its body damaged beyond repair, his chest no longer had any type of scale from covering his flesh, his head had third degree burns and his shoulders were black as coal but his black scales remained unaffected from the attack but that wasn't just it. What shocked Chrysalis the most, something that the ponies couldn't see for the angle they were in, was how Greed was now expelling red energy from his body as all those burns and damages were being eliminated from his body.
Chrysalis couldn't believe what she was seeing, the dragon was recovering from its wounds at an alarming rate while looking at her with a face that said how aware he was of the futility of her attack. His malicious smile covered by a black face was what made Chrysalis fall into fear at what she was seeing, she never knew of any creature capable of such a powerful shield neither of recovering at such alarming speed, this wasn't a dragon, this was a monstrosity, a monstrosity with enough capabilities to stop her right then and right now as she realized how she used one of her most powerful spells and almost depleted her magic reserves fighting an enemy that just couldn't be defeated by normal means.
It was in that moment that Chrysalis felt that emotion that, as much as many writers can try to describe, it can only be understood by those who feel it: Absolute terror.
All Chrysalis could do was step back from the monster she was fighting right there, for she couldn't defeat it, she couldn't stop it, she was no match for it. She finally understood what her drones felt when they ran at her for protection and she felt despair at the realization that she couldn't protect them from this creature that already recovered from its wounds and looked as if nothing ever happened to him.
"I'll give you credit, that one hurt a lot" -. The monster smiled. - "But it costed you a lot of magic, right?"
It was its plan all along...
In that moment, a huge pink wave, coming from Cadence and Shining Armor, was released and hit a Queen Chrysalis that no longer felt any type of emotion as her senses were overload with the multiple feelings coming from her, all of them unable to give her a proper direction to take except letting her realize that her wishes to conquer Canterlot were already gone and there was nothing she could do about it.
It was over.
The pink wave took all of Canterlot by surprise as all the known changelings were caught up by it and ended up being thrown out of the city, much to the relief of the ponies, especially the ones in the wedding room, who were now feeling extremely happy for their current victory.
"Yahoo!" - Shouted Rainbow Dash. - "We did it! I can't believe it, we were so close to lose but we did it!"
"I have to agree with you, darling" -. Complimented an exhilarated Rarity. - "It was a moment too close for my own liking but I'm glad we made it."
"You are right" -. Continued Twilight with an innocent glee in her face as she started to see Spike. - "And I have to thank you so much Spike, who knows what would have happened if it weren't for you."
And, as she started to get closer to Spike, she noticed that he wasn't showing any type of affection towards her, he wasn't even looking at her as if he knew her and his next words almost broke her heart.
"Thank you but I already told you, Spike isn't home, I'm Greed."