Equestria was a land of magic. Love. Friendship.
So why was Chrysalis living a nightmare?
Between the ponies adoring her every second of the day, she also constantly had to seek out Shining Armor to continue feeding on his love for his bride. When he got too intimate, she would zap him with the mind control spell, bringing him ever closer to her total control. Already he’d begun to just take most of her lies at face value, and soon she was able to convince him to have her room remain unguarded, as to keep away the prying eyes of the guards.
At one point she had to go into the Canterlot caves herself to retrieve the bridesmaids, if only because ponies were starting to wonder where they’d gone. She used a much milder version of the spell that time, bringing them under hoof without totally zombifying them, and decided they were better used around her than to guard Cadence. It’s not like she could escape from the caves anyway. She also had to order more dresses for the three minions, since in their short time in the caves, their own had been ripped to shreds.
A day before the wedding, her army had still not arrived. A cold, creeping feeling wormed its way through her soul as she dreaded what would happen if she were forced to act out the honeymoon before reinforcements came.
She’d lost track of Shining Armor that morning, and only after some extensive asking around did one of the guards mention he was going to go meet his sister at a bridge between two towers.
Getting lost again, she finally managed to find the bridge in question. The torture she’d endured over the last few days had completely drained her patience, and the pony princess act had effectively evaporated. She just wanted this over with, and she was not happy about having to chase Shining Armor all over the forsaken palace.
She walked out of the tower on one end, seeing the male unicorn consorting with another of his kind, this one smaller and female.
“Hope I’m not interrupting anything important?“ she asked sarcastically.
The purple unicorn turned to see her, and her eyes lit up with joy. “Cadence!” she shrilled, and jumped over. She began a bizarre dance, singing in tune with her emotes.
“Sunshine, sunshine, ladybugs awake! Clap your hooves and do a little shake!”
She finished by shaking her rump in Chrysalis’ face.
Now ponies were just doing random insane dances in front of her. Great. Her foul mood turned fouler. “What are you doing?”
The pony seemed confused for a moment, but her optimism rebounded. “Cadence, it’s me! Twilight!”
If she started to act like she knew the unicorn, she’d just dig herself in deeper with lies. Best to ignore her completely. “Uh huh,” she muttered, ignoring Twilight and walking past her into Shining Armor’s embrace.
“I’ve got to get back to my station,” Shining Armor explained, “but Cadence-”
Chrysalis’ heart dropped. But Cadence what?
“-will be checking in with all of you to see how things are going.”
No.
No no no.
He’d just drafted her!
He kept talking. “I think I speak for both of us when I saw we couldn’t be more excited to have you here. Right dear?”
Every fiber of her being wanted to just give up and throw both unicorns from the bridge. She pushed past the urge, remembering the light at the end of the tunnel.
“Absolutely,” she agreed.
Shining Armor told the purple one they had to get back to it, and walked alongside Chrysalis as the went to the other side of the bridge. When they’d put distance between them and the smaller unicorn, she had questions.
“So, dear,” she quizzed, “who should I check up on first?”
“Hmm. Why don’t you check out the kitchen? I think Twilight’s friend Applejack is helping with the catering down there.”
“Great! I bet it’ll be wonderful!”
Shining Armor’s expression softened. “That’s why I love about you. Always have something nice to say.”
She saw the body language of a kiss before he even began to lean in, and took off before he could do anything, only calling behind her back that she didn’t want to waste her husband’s time.
The kitchen, turned out, was on the ground level of the palace. The guards let her through easily enough, opening the double doors for her. She was immediately assaulted by the worst hick drawl she’d ever heard.
“Howdy, princess!” the orange earth pony greeted.
It’d only been a day ago that she’d learned Cadence’s full name, and had been dropping it at every opportunity to build her credibility. “Please, call me Princess Mi Amore Cadenza.”
“Hiya, Princess Mi Amore Cadenza! You come to check out what’s on the menu for your big day?”
Sure, that was why. Not because she didn’t want to lock faces with that absurdly lunkheaded unicorn. “I have!”
The orange pony brought a tray of apple fritters over to her with hopeful eyes. Chrysalis lifted into her mouth, biting down and swallowing.
It was like she’d just eaten a pie made of dirt. She fought back tears; barfing in the middle of the kitchen wasn’t going to do her any favors. “Delicious! I…love, love, love them!”
The earth pony seemed proud at her false praise, and brought up a paper bag. “Aw, shucks. Why don’t you take a few to go?”
She saw the unicorn from earlier glaring at her from across the room. Was she getting suspicious? Couldn’t risk it. Chrysalis grabbed the bag, turning to leave the kitchen while Applejack returned to her work, droning on to talk about how brides always forget to eat.
Before she left, she threw the bag of fritters into a garbage pail, where it belonged. She walked out the kitchen, angrily shutting the doors behind her.
No sooner had she left than her three enthralled bridesmaids cornered her, telling her she needed to report to one of the towers to inspect a dress being made.
Chrysalis’ legs ached from all the walking, up and down the eyesore hanging on the side of the mountain. She kept her complaints to herself, her bridesmaids following her as she worked her way up to the room where she had to meet some pony about some stupid dress.
As she approached the doors, she heard the voice of the purple unicorn doing a sarcastic, poor imitation of her own, much better imitation of Cadence. “Please! Call me Princess Mi Amore Cadenza!”
The changeling wasn’t up for being mocked. “Did I hear someone say my name?”
Before she could force an apology out of Twilight, a white unicorn zoomed in front of her, bowing. “Your highness! Let me just saying what an honor it is to play a role in such a momentous occasion!”
She hadn’t heard that twenty times already. “Uh huh. Is my dress ready?”
The unicorn stammered out a ‘yes’ before following Cadence over to the dress, detailing her craft. “I’ve been working on it ever since I was given the assignment, and I think you’ll be pleased with the results!”
The dress was impressive, but she figured if she was stealing a whole city, she might as well get the most out of the dress as well. “I was hoping for more beading and longer train.”
The unicorn sat there for a moment before bringing up a notepad, scribbling down her corrections. “Yes! Of course!”
She came up to the bridesmaid’s replacement gowns, and had a word for them as well. “And those should be a different color.”
Unprompted, Twinkle spoke up. “I think they’re lovely.”
“Me too!” Minuette agreed.
“I love them!” Lyra chimed in.
Chrysalis looked over her shoulder, shooting venom at her minions. They shut up, cringing at her glare.
She turned back to the white unicorn. “Make them a different color.”
Chrysalis didn’t really care about the dresses either way, but corrections would keep the dressmaker busy, and off her back. She left as soon as she could excuse herself; she overheard the purple horse complaining about her demands, but was far too annoyed to care.
Once clear from the tower, she shooed off her bridesmaids and headed back to her room, exhausted.
Then out of nowhere, a pink earth pony appeared from seemingly nowhere and dragged her off to another part of the castle.
She was taken to one of the palace’s many grand hallways, where the pink pony explained all the festivities she was planning. After going over them once, she disappeared, then materialized over Chrysalis’ shoulder.
“Okay!” the pink one announced, “Lemme see! We’ve been over the games…”
She scrambled over to the side of the hallway, picking up some dice and excitedly tossing them onto the floor. She smiled at the results, looking over the Chrysalis in hopes of spreading it. She didn’t reciprocate, but that did little too dissuade the pony.
“The dances!” she continued, going over to a playing record player and doing a funky dance.
She bounded up to Chrysalis, eyes sparkling with delight. “I think this reception is going to be perfect! Don’t you?”
Chrysalis gave her answer. “Perfect!” she replied in fake enthusiasm, and then walked away. “If you were celebrating a six-year-old’s birthday party!”
The pink pony gasped. “Thank you!” she declared with genuine happiness.
Even her sarcasm wasn’t working anymore. What was left?
Leaving the pink pony to herself, she wasn’t interrupted again by some other colorful abomination trying to drive her insane. It was time to track down Shining Armor; a few more spells, and he’d be totally under her control.
Of course, she’d gotten lost again and only by chance happened upon Shining Armor talking with Twilight. She didn’t like that little unicorn; having her around only meant more probing questions. She’d have to deal with her sooner rather than later.
Then, something occurred to her. Despite the incident with the bridesmaids, Twilight was the only one that had really been suspicious. The rest of the ponies were far too toady and demure to even think of questioning her. So what if the unicorn accused her of being an imposter? The way every other pony was acting, not one soul would believe her.
That was it! She’d force Twilight’s hooves. Make her play her cards early, and ruin her reputation. All she needed was something to push her over the edge…
She loudly cleared her throat, getting the two ponies’ attention.
Twilight mumbled something about her sneakiness, by Chrysalis ignored it to concentrate on Shining Armor.
“Could I speak to you for a moment, dear?” the queen asked, motioning him over to an nearby room.
Once inside, she deliberately cracked the door open, just enough for Twilight to peek inside.
Shining Armor spoke up first, trying to vouch for his sister. “Look, she’s okay. She just-”
“Just listen to me!“ Chrysalis demanded.
Shining Armor backed down, ears drooping. “I’m listening, I’m listening.”
Twilight was almost certainly peeking in by now, so she made an effort to be as catty as possible. She chose something petty to criticize about Shining Armor’s suit, a ceremonial piece of armor tied to the front of his chest.
“I thought I made it perfectly clear I didn’t want you to wear that!” she scolded.
Shining Armor tried to defend it, pointing at it with pride. “This was my favorite uncle’s.”
“And?”
“And I think I should wear it.”
“Are you disagreeing with me?”
For the first time in a few days, Shining Armor managed to stand up to his temptress. “I guess I am—Ah!”
He patted the back side of his head, reacting to a sudden migraine. It seemed to be a particularly bad one, causing him to forget all about his argument and shudder in pain. He collapsed in pain onto the floor, barely able to think.
“Oh dear!” she faked, “are you getting another one of your headaches?”
A good a time as any. She fired another mind control spell at him, his eyes going lopsided and green. He endured the spell, then slowly rose from the floor.
“Feeling better?”
Not cognizant enough to give a real answer, he simply nodded, giving an affirmative “Mhm-hm”.
She heard whispering coming from the crack in the door. She tugged her groom towards the door, hoping to catch Twilight in the act, but heard hoofsteps clopping away from them as they neared the door.
When Shining Armor went out first, they saw Twilight taking off towards the door in full stride. He called out her name, but she didn’t stop.
“Let her go,” Chrysalis assured, nuzzling the side of her victim.
Shining Armor remained puzzled. “Huh. It seemed like she had something else she wanted to tell me.”
The unicorn would almost certainly accuse her now. But how could she make it blow up in Twilight’s face the most? She’d need as many ponies as possible, in a situation as inappropriate as possible. And what about those other five ponies that seemed to hang around her? If she could turn them against her, she’d have no allies left.
Her faced curled into an unnatural grin when the solution presented itself. “Dear?”
“Yes?”
“Why don’t we do another rehearsal of the wedding?”
“Another? We’ve already done five.”
“Just one more, so it’s fresh on our mind for tomorrow.”
“Hm. Well, okay. I’ll go see Celestia.”
He walked off to go find the princess. When he was gone, she shouted at the top of her lungs.
“Lyra! Twinkle! Minuette!”
Out of nowhere they appeared, rushing into the room, eager to please.
“Yes, Princess Cadence?” they all chimed.
She zapped them with the control spell, its effects taking over before they could react. Their normally cheerful faces were replaced by the blank glower they had the first time she’d blasted them.
“I need you three out of the way,” Chrysalis told them, “so back to the caves you go.”
A pregnant pause later, Lyra spoke. “So are we still getting that bouquet or…?”
Chrysalis screeched, banishing them into the underground without another word. When they were gone from sight, she trotted out of the room, spirits high. Time to turn Twilight’s greatest weapon against her.
She got lost again. Chrysalis swore on the changeling hive that she would burn down Canterlot once this was all over.
After nearly an hour of wandering, she found the room where all of Twilight’s friends were congregating. She kicked open the door, announcing her presence.
“Your highness!” Rarity shrilled, running over and bowing at her hooves. “What brings you here?”
“Yeah!” Pinkie added, “and where’s the groom? Wait, did we miss the wedding?”
Chrysalis had to start speaking or she’d be until next morning dealing with these idiots. “I just popped into say that I’m supremely grateful how much all of you have helped in your time here. I might have been a little short-tempered, and for that I’m sorry. To make it up to all of you: would you like to be my bridesmaids?”
Rarity fainted, while the others gasped.
“Your bridesmaids?” Applejack asked, “didn’t you already have three?”
Oh, right. They were trapped underground forever now. “I…did?“
“No need to look into that further!” Pinkie Pie cheered, running over and bringing not-Cadence into suffocating hug. “Of course we’ll be your bridesmaids!”
Fluttershy voiced a concern. “I’d be glad to help, but I’ve never been a bridesmaid.”
Chrysalis pushed Pinkie away. “That’s fine! We’re just about to do a last rehearsal, but before that…”
She turned to Rarity. “I know it’s very last second, but could you make some dr—”
She stopped when she saw unicorn looking at her with a very serious face, holding five dresses with her magic, a trunk open behind her.
“Did you make dresses in advance on the offchance I’d ask you all to be bridesmaids?”
Rarity remained stone-faced. “Yes.”
“Uh huh. Well, I’ll give you all time to try them on. We’ll be doing the rehearsal first thing in the morning.”
Chrysalis wondered if the unicorn was going to explode from excitement as she jumped into the dress, giddy at her own craft. She left the room, letting the ponies bask in their new status. If she was lucky, Twilight would come across them and see that even her own friends had been completely bought out.
Now, for Twilight to make her move.
Celestia had been more than happy to do one last rehearsal the next morning, especially upon finding out Twilight’s friends were the bridesmaids. Chrysalis had hit a snag in her plan when she realized that Celestia might not start the rehearsal without her prized pupil taking their place as the best mare, but for some reason nopony noticed her absence.
The queen waited behind the double doors, letting the ponies act out the first part of the ceremony. She heard Celestia speak Cadence’s name, signaling her part in this facade. The massive double doors were opened by the guards flanking each side as she strode in, taking her place at the altar.
Chrysalis touched horns with Shining Armor, letting Celestia explain her part in the charade. “I’ll say a few words, and then we’ll begin with the vows. Shining Armor, you’ll get your ring from your best mare.”
He turned, expecting his sister to be holding out the ring for him. Like everyone else, it was only then he realized she wasn’t there.
“Hey, has anypony seen Twilight?”
As if on cue, the doors slammed open to reveal the pesky unicorn. “I’m here!”
She trotted forward, teeming with righteous indignation. “I’m not going to stand next to her! And neither should you!“
Shining Armor recoiled at his sister’s outburst, turning to Chrysalis with apologetic eyes. “I’m sorry! I don’t know why she’s acting like this!”
Chrysalis pulled the ol’ reverse psychology out of her bag of tricks. “Maybe we should just ignore her.”
Twilight doubled down in a scowl. “You have to listen to me!”
A concerned Fluttershy ran over to calm Twilight down. “Oh goodness! Are you okay?”
“I’m fine.”
Applejack slid up next to her. “You sure about that?”
Twilight lifted AJ’s hat off and stuffed it in her face, leaving the rest of her friends behind her in shock. “I’ve got something to say!”
She lifted a hoof, pointing it right at Chrysalis. “She’s evil!“
All the ponies present murmured among themselves, floored by the accusation. To be fair, she wasn’t wrong.
Twilight continued her verbal onslaught. “She’s been horrible to my friends, she’s obviously done something to her bridesmaids, and if that wasn’t enough, I saw her put a spell on my brother that made his eyes go all…”
She rolled her eyes around in her head, trying to imitate Shining Armor’s numbness of mind.
All the ponies turned to her, even Celestia. Twilight smiled assuredly, certain they’d all join her side. But Chrysalis had a secret weapon: waterworks.
Using the forbidden black magic of method acting, she brought up tears. “Why are you doing this to me?!”
She ran off to drive the point home, letting Twilight dig herself deeper.
“Because you’re evil!“ she bragged, then teleported at the double doors to say it once more. “And if I don’t stop you, you’re gonna ruin my brother’s life!”
Chrysalis kept crying as she ran, only letting up on the tears once the main room was well behind her. She’d worked out a path ahead of time to run around on; just long enough for Celestia to kick Twilight out of the room, and then let Chrysalis double back and put on another round of sobbing to really make that unicorn seem like the villain. Then when nobody in Canterlot wanted to talk to Twilight, she’d dispose of that pony at her leisure.
After about a minute, she was sure she could return back to the main hall. She concentrated and teleported to the back of the large room, well out of sight, walking out expecting to be showered with sympathies by the other ponies. Instead she found an empty room, save Twilight singing a sad song about upsetting her brother. Everypony had walked out on her.
Well, well, well. This worked out even better. She let Twilight finish her bit, then walked over to stroke her head. She looked up, tears wet with regret.
“I’m sorry!”
If she only knew.
Chrysalis become cocky, letting her disguise fade just enough to show her true, green eyes. “You will be.”
The ring of green fire lit up around Twilight. She barely had enough to time to even react before she was pulled into Canterlot’s cave.
She walked off, her plan secure. Everything was in place. She just needed to do one more thing, absolutely vital to her plan…
Gloating was a vital part of any plan. If she couldn’t rub it in the one pony that had found her out, what was the point?
Alone in the bride’s room, she concentrated to bring up a view of the caves where she’d banished the meddling pony. Finding the unicorn was easy enough; her magical signature was incredibly strong. Twilight was currently stumbling about a crystal formation, completely ignorant of her situation.
“Where am I?” Twilight asked herself.
Chrysalis made herself known, magically bringing up her face on every facet of the crystalline walls. She spun a tale about the cave’s purpose, combined with info on a Canterlot tourist pamphlet she half-remembered reading a few days ago.
“The caves beneath Canterlot. Once home to greedy unicorns who wanted to claim the gems that could be found inside. And now—your prison.”
Twilight ran away from one of the gems with Chrysalis’ face, screaming for help.
“It’s no use!” she continued, “no one can hear you. And no one will ever think to look for you, either.”
Twilight cowered from Chrysalis’ visage on the gem faces.
“Most ponies have forgotten that these caves even exist. Which is why they’re the ideal place to keep the ones who try to interfere with my plans!“
She cackled, delighted at her evil monologue. But instead of falling into despair, Twilight just looked up at her with confusion.
“Plans? What plans?”
The innocuous question blindsided her. She didn’t have an answer. Only after a noticeable pause was she able to slap together a reply.
“Why—the plans I have for your brother, of course!”
Twilight’s fear’s dissolved into righteous indignation, her horn glowing with power as she jumped forward. “Don’t you dare do anything to my brother you—you monster!”
She was amused by Twilight’s outburst, and dismissively waved at her. “Only way to stop me is to catch me!”
Chrysalis laughed, bringing her visage over to one of that glasslike surfaces. “Over here!” she taunted, prompting Twilight to hurl a magical beam at her face. It bounced of harmlessly, ricocheting around the cave walls before exhausting its energy.
She played a little game with Twilight, moving her face around the cavern as Twilight destroyed each gem hanging off the walls. After a few rounds of the unicorn doing nothing better than ruining perfectly good giant gems, she grew bored and abandoned Twilight in the caves to her fate. Whatever Twilight did now, she wouldn’t be able to do it in time.
Only one thing left. She walked over to the door, peeking her head out and shouting at a guard to go get Shining Armor.
Minutes later, a knocking came at the door. She opened it, letting Shining Armor in while she fell into her role as the happy bride.
“Shining Armor!” she announced with a blush. “You’re not supposed to see the bride on the day of her wedding!”
He rubbed his head. “Uh, didn’t you ask for me? Something about a last minute change?”
Chrysalis nodded while he began to discreetly charge up her spell. “Of course, dear husband. Something I think will make the wedding one to remember.“
Shining Armor cringed at the word ‘husband’. “Uh, yeah, I have a suggestion too. I’m having second thoughts about this…”
“What.”
He threw up his hooves in a defensive gesture. “I still love you, Cadence! I’m just—I’m just not ready! We need to call the whole thing off!”
Her eyes twitched. “I spend days in this matrimonial preparation prison and you want to back out?”
“It’s just—”
“I picked dresses! I did rehearsals! I’ve had to put up with your disgusting advances for days! I had to eat an apple fritter!”
“But—”
That was it. She blasted him full strength, the tendrils of the magical beam worming its way into his head. He buckled, but instead of falling down in a fugue, he simply stood in place as the magic overtook his mind. His eyes became that familiar shade of green, and did not fade. At last, he was under the queen’s control.
“Finally,” she grumbled. “Now go to your room and don’t come out until it’s time for the wedding.”
The enslaved Shining Armor gave a blank-eyed soldier’s salute, and walked out the door.
After a few moments alone, she nearly shot into the roof when she realized her army had not yet arrived. She rushed out onto the balcony, looking up for any sign of her minions. She sank in relief when she saw a swarm of black dots high above the dome, and then nearly panicked a second time when she realized all anypony would have to do to see them was look up. But no panic had engulfed the city. Ponies went about their day, not a single one of them glancing up and raising the alarm.
Might as well make use of that. She scanned the swarm, looking for one changeling in particular. She found him, hovering near the mountain and doling out orders to the other minions. Pharynx.
Making absolutely sure no pony was around, she flew up to the edge of the barrier.
Pharynx saluted his queen when she approached. “Queen Chrysalis! I’m sorry for our delay!”
“I need you to start attacking this barrier in one hour. That should be right when the wedding ends.”
“Yes, Your Majesty! We’ll pop this bubble!”
“And one more thing. Smack your brother for me for leaving me in this vile city.”
“I’ll make him see stars, Your Majesty!”
She nodded, flying back down to the balcony. As long as literally not one pony looked up within the next hour, her plan would go perfectly. Everything was going perfectly, more or less. Canterlot would be hers, and soon all of Equestria.
She felt a song coming on.
♫ This day is going to be perfect~ ♫
♫ The kind of day of which I dreamed since I was small… ♫
The wedding was almost over. She could hear the faint banging of her changeling swarm chipping away at the barrier above them, just quiet enough for ponies to pay it no mind.
She’d had to sit through Celestia’s insufferable speech about love and ponies and friendship, and then choke through an “I do” when Celestia asked her if she took Shining Armor to be his bride.
Shining Armor, still under her control, had a much more verbose consenting line, when he blurted out the words “I will do anything my queen asks.”
Celestia didn’t question it, moving on to her final declaration that they were married. “Princess Cadence and Shining Armor, it is my great pleasure to pronounce you—”
“STOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOP!”
Now what?!
The entire wedding turned to Twilight walking through the entrance, eyes glaring at Chrysalis.
How did she escape?!
Chrysalis did her best damage control. “Ugh! Why does she have to be so possessive of her brother?!”
Celestia gave her a strange look. Wrong act.
She shifted gears, her voice becoming a soft quaver. “Why does she have to ruin my special day?” she sobbed.
“Because, it’s not your special day!” another voice boomed from behind Twilight. One Chrysalis hadn’t heard in several days.
A very ragged Cadence stepped in front of Twilight, teeming with fury. “It’s mine!”
In her confusion, Chrysalis demanded an answer to their breakout. “How did you escape my bridesmaids?”
Shouldn’t have said that.
Cadence and Twilight looked to each other with knowing smirks.
“We threw them a bouquet,” Twilight bragged. “Guess they had other priorities, huh?”
How badly did those mares want to get hitched?!
“Clever,” Chrysalis complimented, “But you’re too late!”
AJ shook her head. “I don’t understand! How can there be two of ‘em?”
The twin sister excuse has probably sailed by now.
Cadence stomped forward. “Because she’s a changeling! She takes the form of somepony you love and then gains power by feeding off your love for them!”
Welp, jig’s up.
She’d grown tired of Cadence’s form anyway. She’d been forced to wear her disguise almost constantly for the last few days to avoid being found out. It was time to show these ponies what they were truly against.
Chrysalis summoned a great tower of green energy around herself, shedding her disguise in a horrifying display. Her wings cast their feathers to reveal shining green transparency, green energy snaked its way down her pink fur to unveil black chitin filled with holes, and the last of her disguise wore away at her face. She opened her green eyes to the wedding reception, laughing as the ponies stared on in awe.
She could still hear her changelings pounding at the barrier. She had to stall everyone, but how? Might as well explain the rest of her plot.
In for a bit, in for ten.
The queen of the changeling marched forward, triumphantly explaining what she intended to do every everypony present.
“Right you are, princess! And as queen of the changelings, it is up to me to find food for my subjects! Equestria has more love than any place I’ve ever encountered! My fellow changelings will be able to devour so much of it that we will gain more power than we’ve ever dreamed of!”
“They’ll never get the chance!” Cadence spat back, “Shining Armor’s protection spell will keep them for ever even reaching us!”
Chrysalis chucked. “Oh, I doubt that. Isn’t that right, dear?“
Her horn glowed, the shackles around Shining Armor’s mind forcing him to nod in silent agreement.
Cadence charged forward, but stopped when Chrysalis stomped her hoof down. “Ah-ah-ah. Don’t want to go back to the caves now, do we?”
The princess backed off, eyes still fiery.
What’s taking the swarm so long?
More stalling. “Ever since I took your place, I’ve been feeding off Shining Armor’s love for you. Every moment he grows weaker, and so does his spell. Even now my minions are chipping away at it.”
The looked up, and so did everyone else. Only then did they notice the massive swarm outside.
Chrysalis noticed something else. Why were only a few of them actually banging on the shield?
All of you attack, you idiots!
She feigned another evil laugh, bringing one hoof under Shining Armor’s chin and bringing blank his face towards hers. “He may not be my husband, but he is under my total control now!”
Cadence gasped. Was it really not apparent to her Shining Armor was brainwashed?
“And I’m sorry to say, unable to perform his duties as Captain of the Royal Guard!”
Cadence feebly reached out, devastated. “Not my Shining Armor!”
Really running on fumes with the monologue.
“Soon, my changeling army will break through! First, we take Canterlot. And then, all of Equestria!”
“No.”
Chrysalis looked over her shoulder to see Celestia marching forward to confront her.
“You won’t.”
Oh right. Her. Immortal alicorn princess. Completely forgot.
“You may have made it impossible for Shining Armor to perform his spell, but now that you have so foolishly revealed your true self—!”
Chrysalis ran forward, locking horns with the princess to prevent her from getting off a spell.
“I can protect my subjects!” Celestia continued, breaking the stalemate and lifting herself into the air. “From you!“
A surge of yellow light shot forth from Celestia’s horn. Chrysalis was only barely able to sling forward a magical beam of her own in time, and the two streams of energy clashed together, locking the two into a magical duel.
Mistakes were made.
Celestia’s beam easily overpowered Chrysalis’ own, swiftly pushing back against her green spell. The queen flinched; closing her eyes and bracing herself for the pony’s magic to blast her across the room.
Many mistakes were made.
When she felt herself still alive, she opened one eye to see her magic pushing back against Celestia’s, surging forward. The pony’s eyes went wide as it finally made its way to the tip of her horn, exploding in a ball of power.
The force of the blast threw off Celestia’s crown and she was launched across the room, hitting the floor and sliding against the smooth surface, her horn blackened and smoking from the blow.
The ponies at the wedding gasped, shocked at their monarch’s defeat. Twilight called out Celestia’s name and rushed over to her, her friends joining her.
No way.
She couldn’t believe what had just happened. She’d faced Celestia in a straight-up slugging match, and won. She could barely contain her glee.
“Shining Armor’s love is even stronger than I thought! Consuming it has made me even more powerful than Celestia!“
She heard the sun princess whispering something to the unicorn, but she could hardly care. She was more powerful than the most powerful pony known! What could stop her now?
The ponies ran for the door, throwing off their dresses while the white unicorn lingered for a moment, trying to collect them before retreating as well.
Chrysalis flew up to the open doors, reveling in her victory. “You can run, but you can’t hide!”
Her swarm had now fully surrounded the bubble on every side, still pounding away at it. Cracks began to form in the magical barrier, and finally her minions slammed it all at once. With a deafening crack, the barrier shattered, and Canterlot was finally exposed to her army.
As the barrier collapsed, most of the ponies at the wedding ran out screaming. She let them go; her soldiers would be able to feed on them at their leisure.
With Canterlot’s defense down, her soldiers dove into the city, ready to deal with Twilight and her troublesome friends. Flashes of light erupted in the city streets as her minions engaged the six ponies. She thought about assisting, but trusted her main force was competent enough.
As the ponies battled it out in Canterlot, a few of her higher-ranking guards flew in, awaiting orders. She instructed them to seal Celestia in a cocoon on the ceiling, and bind Cadence at the altar. Nothing like a little delicious irony to spice up an invasion. Shining Armor stood where was, still well under Chrysalis’ control.
That left the small dragon in the suit and top hat.
“So,” the dragon asked, “you gonna do anything to me?”
Chrysalis laughed. “Why would I need to? You’re no threat to my plans.”
An awkward pause. Celestia was still unconscious, and Cadence just kept glaring at the queen.
The dragon spoke up again. “So, queen of the changelings, huh? Does that mean Shining Armor’s a king now?”
“I—what? Do you really think the wedding is legally binding at this point?”
“I mean, Celestia did it. Sounds pretty legal to me. What do you think, Celestia?”
He looked up at the cocoon, seeing the unconscious Celestia dangling from her legs. “Oh. Right.”
“Are you done asking your ridiculous questions?”
“One more thing. You got seducing stallions down to a science, but what about mares? Because a friend of mine likes this unicorn—”
“Finish that question and it’ll be the last one you ever ask.”
“Fair enough.”
Her changelings eventually finished the cocoon around Celestia, just in time for her to wake up and feel the weight of her failure.
“You’ll never get away with this!” Cadence finally yelled. “Twilight and her friends will—”
She was interrupted by the doors behind creaking open. In walked her troops, Twilight and her friends as their prisoners.
Good timing.
Chrysalis looked to Cadence with a smirk. “You were saying?”
Twilight looked outright shocked at their capture. Chrysalis couldn’t resist the opportunity to brag. “You do realize the reception’s been canceled, don’t you?”
She turned to her minions. “Go! Feed!“
They eagerly zoomed out of the room, ever so ready to begin their harvest of Equestria’s love. She closed the doors behind them, leaving her alone with the ponies.
“It’s funny, really,” she explained, tipping up Twilight’s chin, “Twilight here was suspicious of my behavior all along.”
Twilight batted her hoof away.
She flew over to the altar, intent on letting everypony know just how stupid they were. “Too bad the rest of you were to caught up in your wedding planning to realize those suspicions were correct! Hahaha!“
“Sorry, Twi. We shoulda listened to you,” Applejack quietly apologized.
Twilight kept her anger on the queen. “It’s not your fault. She fooled everypony.”
Oh, good compliments are hard to get these days.
Chrysalis walked over to the window overlooking the city, haughty in her walk. “I did, didn’t I?”
She knew now that her total supremacy was secure. So secure, in fact, that she felt a reprise coming on, singing as she reveled in the sacking of Canterlot below.
♫ This day has been just perfect~ ♫
♫ The kind of day of which I dreamed since I was small~ ♫
♫ Everypony I’ll soon control! ♫
♫ Every stallion, mare, and foal! ♫
♫ Who says a girl can’t really have it all?! ♫
She continued to watch the destruction unfurl in the capital. Despite a few…bumps in her plan and more than her fair share of improvisation, things had panned out magnificently.
Maybe she wouldn’t burn down the city after all. Despite the horrid palace, the location was supurb…defensible location, high altitude to survey the land, sprawling cave system to imprison dissidents…really, the only thing missing was some green goo and black towers. With a little bit of hard labor by her minions, she could come to think of Canterlot as a hive of her own.
But once she had the capital, then began the process of taking over all of Equestria. That’d be easy enough; just use Celestia as a hostage. The ponies would practically beg her to steal their love if it meant saving their beloved princess.
And really, why did she have to stop at Equestria? Once she’d taken all the love from the land of the ponies, the whole world was her oyster. She’d conquer the Dragonlands! She’d roll right over Griffonstone! And she’d find the Storm King and turn him into dust! There was nothing stopping her now and what was that pink light behind her?
She turned and her mouth dropped in horror when she saw Shining Armor and Cadence floating off the ground, enveloped in pink magic. It was love, pure and absolute. So strong it seared her being just being near it, and she threw up a hoof to shield her eyes.
So that’s what they mean by ‘tunnel vision’.
The magical light consumed the bride and groom, and a wall of magic pulsed out from them. Chrysalis could only scream as it hurtled toward her, scooping her up like trash and throwing her from the balcony. It kept going, keeping the queen pinned as more changelings with caught with the spell, while leaving every pony unharmed.
Only when her entire swarm was clear of the city did the spell disperse, throwing them all outward with a final push.
As she disappeared into the sky with her army, Chrysalis screamed to the heavens at her failure.
All things considered, it could have gone worse.