//------------------------------// // 17 - Interlude... // Story: So, You Want to be a Princess? // by Meep the Changeling //------------------------------// Princess Luna - 5/16/2018 Canterlot — Equestria Princess Luna was in heaven. She had returned to her duties as the Princess-General of Equestria and discovered her sister’s diplomacy had ended all conflicts, substituting trade deals and sanctions for honorable combat, and economic might for conquest and the integration of former foreigners into one harmonious collective. In short, her job had been eliminated. Her role in the Kingdom reduced to ceremonial in nature, with the occasional bit of monster hunting should Celestia’s personal brute squad be unable to handle it. The mighty general, relegated to the B-Team. Luna longed for the three weeks she had naively believed her punishment had ended with her return from the moon. Which is why the genuine greatest festival she had attended in three thousand years being interrupted by a genuine military invasion gave her the warm fuzzies. When the shield had failed and changelings began to pour from the sky, Luna hadn’t noticed. The chaos caused by the party had blocked it all out. The moment the invaders touched down that Luna noticed, smiled, and charged headlong into the first line of bugs she saw. A fact which the Royal Guard defending the castle simply could not believe. Luna laughed as she telekinetically beat a changeling unconscious with a different already unconscious changeling. The alicorn was high in the air, hovering over the reception hall in single hooved defiance of the swarm. Defiance which the changelings simply couldn’t overcome. “Come, fools! Strike me down if you dare!” Luna demanded with a grin on her lips. The Swarm responded as they had been for the entire battle, with a never ending stream of spellbolts, hexes, and curses (magical and verbal). Luna nimbly dodged every one of them she could, relying on her telekinesis to direct a collection of disabled and deceased changelings orbiting her into the paths of attacks she couldn’t avoid otherwise. Luna focused for a split-second, drawing on her magic to super-heat a large chunk of the air above her. Changelings screeched as the heat dried up their wings, and they fell to the ground below like bricks. Luna rolled in the air, flying as if she were in a stunt show to mock the changelings attacking her. Their tactics are crude, predictable… I don’t need my precognition charms to know where their shots are going. It’s as if their entire strategy is their numerical advantage. What foal taught them to fight? A glint of blue caught Luna’s eye. A changeling with some armor, sitting behind a small wall of changelings her wing-frying spell had revealed. An officer! Luna reached out with her magic, allowing herself the extra energy expense to take hold of such a distant object, and pulled the changeling officer to her, forcing “Which kindergarten playground did you attend for your commission, sir?” The changeling gurgled as Luna crushed his exoskeleton slightly with her shimmering aura, then added his limp form to her ‘orbital meat shield array’. While fun, this defense is a bit grisly, isn’t it? Luna thought to herself as she juked right to avoid a rather powerful bolt of crackling emerald fire. Perhaps I should use a conventional shield? Then again, this is less mana intensive, and their numbers are a real problem… Where in Faust’s name is Celestia? We need more spell power. Luna spared a moment to glance at the reception hall below her. The palace grounds around the reception hall had become the Guard’s field HQ. The rest of the palace was inaccessible, filled with pockets of guards, EUP troops, and civilians doing their best to hold out against the endless tides. Luna’s efforts had kept it clear enough, and for long enough to allow the guard to move in and set up a command post, which had freed her up to try to secure a city gate to let more EUP troopers into Canterlot. Unfortunately, basic military training had slid quite far down the mountainside while her sister had been in charge, and Luna had to rush back to the HQ to protect it almost immediately after leaving. The princess glared down at the Royal Guards who were performing crude field enchantments on their weapons and armor, desperately seeking more combat effectiveness. Especially in our soldiers. Sister, we will be having very serious words after— A brilliant ray of prismatic light blasted through the swarm, cutting a visible hole through changeling ranks as it raced for Luna. The Princess spotted the spell out of the corner of her eye and froze. The pulsing, shimmering, rainbow-like ray bore more than a passing resemblance to the elements of harmony. Luna dropped out of the sky like a rock, frozen in terror. The beam sliced through the air where she had been a moment before, taking a large chunk of her “shield” with it to oblivion. Luna shook herself out of her terrified stupor just in time to spread her wings and soften her landing. Her head snapped up as she scanned the sky. “Sister! I have nothing to do with this!” A second prismatic blast flew from the heavens. Luna jumped out of the way, knowing full well that's shield would do nothing against the elements. Her heart skipped a beat as she saw the beam bight into the earth and boil it away into nothingness, carving a ten pony deep pit into Canterlot’s foundations. Faust’s Blood! They can be used to kill?! Luna tucked her wings tightly against her sides and began scanning the skies, desperate to find the next shot before it was fired. “CELESTIA! I AM ON YOUR SIDE!” A twinkling white light from within the swarm warned Luna of her attacker’s location. High, above, and to the left. Luna frowned, that wasn’t how her sister would engage you in combat if she had to fight. Celestia would approach from the front. Of course! Celestia’s use of the elements against family broke the principles of Harmony. The elements rejected her. They are being used by— OH BUCK ME! “TWILIGHT! STOP!” Luna screamed into the heavens. “I AM ON YOUR SIDE!” A group of changelings suddenly rushed away from one of their comrades. They had seen what happened to their comrades during the last two shots and wouldn’t suffer the same fate. Luna’s eyes narrowed in rage as she saw her attacker. A changeling, larger than most, with a glowing amulet around his neck. An amulet which erupted with prismatic light as another of the pony-side beams of annihilation plunged down towards Luna like a sadist’s knife. Luna’s lips peeled back as she growled. A deep-blue shield spell shimmered into existence in front of her, intercepting the beam with a flash of black-purple lighting as the beam washed over the shield, chipping away at it, but ultimately finding no way through. Luna’s left eye twitched as she felt the attack burn through a noticeable percentage of her energy. “So, some of thee can fight,” Luna growled as her aura blossomed around her horn. “Two can play at that.” Luna’s spell reached across the world, up through the palace, into the tower, and beneath her mattress. There it found her halberd, Lightdrinker, and teleported it to its mistress’ side. The moment Lightdrinker was secure in Luna’s arcane grip, she whipped the blade up in front of her into a classic guard position, spread her wings, and charged. The changeling fired another disintegration blast. The prismatic light of vengeance raced through the sky and slammed into Luna’s shield, shattering it as the shield just barely stopped the magical energy in its tracks. The changeling seemed dot grow larger and larger as Luna charged towards it. He’s nearly my size… No, bigger! Perhaps as large as Celestia. The changeling began to move up and to the right, calculating the best way to avoid Luna’s charge. Luna flashed her opponent a cheeky smile and moved her halberd as if she were going to strike him from below. The Changeling reached for a large meat cleaver held onto the back of his armor by a magnet and ripped it free, chopping down to intercept Luna’s slashing blade. One… Luna struck the Changeling in the face with the butt of her halberd. Chitin cracked, the changeling swore in a language Luna didn’t recognize. Two… The alicorn smashed the changeling across his barrel with her weapon’s haft, using it like a staff to throw him away from her, while also smashing the amulet using the changeling’s breastplate as the anvil to her halberd’s hammer. Three… Luna’s horn pulsed, the air around the changeling shimmered and rippled as it reached six hundred degrees in an instant. The changeling screeched, his wings failing to keep him aloft as the hotter air both cooked them, and became much less dense. Luna let the changeling fall for a few seconds, then rolled herself over to dive towards her plummeting foe, halberd’s spear blade aimed straight for him. And… Luna folded her wings and let herself drop. The air whistled past Luna’s head as she plunged down, through the ranks of changelings, past the palace roof, blade gleaming in the light. The ground rushed towards Luna like the inevitable end of a mortal’s life. The falling Changeling slammed into the ground with an audible crunch, denting the topsoil inwards by a noticeable amount. Luna didn’t even blink. FOUR! Luna plunged blade first into the Changeling’s chest. She felt her blade break the hard exoskeleton, slide through softer tissues, then break through the other side and embed itself in the ground. The very second her weapon hit the earth, Luna opened her wings, killing her momentum with a single mighty flap, allowing her to pull her weapon free and somersault a safe distance away, ready to block a counter attack. A counter attack which didn’t come. The changeling lay still, silently languishing in the small crater he had made on impact. Luna frowned, she hadn’t expected a wizard powerful enough to use an arcane weapon of that caliber to be killed so easily. She took a few steps forward, blade aimed at the changeling, ready to plunge home if he moved. I can’t turn my back on an opponent I do not know isn’t out of the fight. The large changeling moaned as consciousness returned to him. Luna stabbed him twice in the side. The changeling coughed, and turned his head to look Luna in the eye. “Think you’ve won?” “Nope,” Luna said as she calmly stabbed him again. “I am twelve. All our bodies are in this one form… You have—” Luna stabbed the changeling again, her eyes narrowing in irritation. “To stab you twelve times? Can do.” The Changeling coughed and growled at Luna as her blade plunged into him again, doing seemingly buck-all. “You have no idea—” “Six,” Luna said as she thrust her blade home once more, and then again and again. “Seven! ... Eight!” Luna's eye began to twitch. “You have no idea what I can become if I— OW! Stop that!” The Changeling yelped as Luna stabbed him six times in rapid succession. Luna's head snapped downwards to glare into the Changeling's eyes. “Why won’t you die?!” "Magic! Duh!" The changeling proclaimed as he erupted into a ball of green fire as he called upon his shapechanging powers. Luna, who had never seen a changeling transform before jumped back, worried she had punctured something volatile inside the bug as she tried to finish him off. The emerald flames raged, growing larger and larger with each passing moment. Realizing her opponent was assuming a large creature’s form, Luna trotted backward and begun to fire bolt after bolt into the burning mass. It didn’t help. Her dark blue magic was simply devoured by the flames, adding yet more energy to the changeling’s transfiguring form. Luna watched, wings flared, eyes weary, as the twisting flames built up and up upon themselves, forming a large mass of arcane fire the size of a fully grown dragon. Dragon, eh? Well, that will be a problem, if a little boring. The flames cleared. Luna was not looking at a dragon. The reptilian monster stood on two massive, muscular, taloned legs, much like a Diamond Dog. Unlike a diamond dog, it was hunched over, with its body almost at a right angle to its legs. As if a quadruped had evolved away its forelegs into small grasping claws, but the beast never chose to learn to stand up properly. The monster balanced itself with a long tail which easily allowed it to move its square shaped head and powerful jaws filled with saber like teeth. The monster the changeling had become looked down at Luna and roared. The roar managed o pierce the clash of sword and spell all around the city. Windows shook. Ponies dove for cover in fright. The Bears Fluttershy had gotten to assist the ponies flinched. The changeling was not able to speak in this body, but he didn’t need to. His earth-shaking roar said everything Luna needed to know. Without a doubt in her, nor anypony’s mind, the roar had said, “I am a motherbucking T-Rex!” Luna smiled. I wish I didn’t have to kill you… You’d make for an interesting sparring partner. Queen Chrysalis - 5/16/2018 The Palace - Canterlot, Equestria Chrysalis ran down the halls towards the throne room, broadcasting her identity to her drones with each step she took. The plan was half in action now, her drones had to ensure every pony who saw her making her way to the throne room survived the battle, but was injured enough to put the idea they were allowed to go beyond question. Chrysalis’ drones swarmed around her, firing spells, but intentionally missing, or under powering their shots, so they would harmlessly plink off the mare’s sleek blue shield, and fizzle away to nothing. Chrysalis, on the other hoof, cast more lethal spells. The weapons she had taken from Cadence were stored in the jacket the moment she realized they drained much more magic than she could afford to expend with each shot. Her hon would have to be her main weapon, even though she knew Cadence couldn’t perform any magic of note she knew the ponies thought she could. To the dozens of Guards and Troopers she saved along the way to the throne room, the alicorn Princess’s extra bright spellbolts, intense ray spells, and awe inspiring hexes were simply what an Alicorn was supposed to use. The only one I need to fool is Celestia, and not for long. Chrysalis fired another spell with each step she took, her swam dropping to the ground around her. Her drones were willing to die for the cause, after all, she had made them long for nothing more in life but this singular purpose. All of her older drones, the ones she cared about, were out securing the city, or preforming specific jobs. The bodies she strode over were replaceable. Given life via specific minor thoughts she’d almost forgotten about before giving them to her last three clutches of eggs. There were plenty more where these disposable props had come from. Chrysalis praised as she split a drone’s head open with a bust of spellbolts. Chrysalis telekinetically wiped the hemolymph off her shield to clear her view of the battlefield. She was nearly to the throne room. The hallway she stood in now had been fully occupied by her swarm. She could even see her changelings pretending to try to break down the throne room door in distance. No ponies in sight. Celestia will be scrying the door, and I know how limited her remote vision is. I can ask for a field report here. I need to know how much time I have to take Celestia down. Chrysalis turned and plucked a changeling at random from the air, pulling it close to her and slamming it to the floor with her magic, before placing her hooves on its chest. After all, somepony she couldn't’ see might be watching. “Alright, bug,” Cadence growled in what she believed a passable impression of Cadence’s tone of voice. “You’re going to tell me how the rest of your swarm is doing outside, or I’ll feed you your horn!” The Changeling squeaked, genuine fear running through her for a moment before she understood what was truly happening. “I’ll talk, I swear!” “Then do it!” The changeling gulped. “Uh— Our greatest warrior, Blazing Glory, has engaged your Princess Luna! He was disarmed, but he can take the form of any monster every imagined in your darkest nightmares! Even now he has her cornered, fighting the dark alicorn in the form of a Tyrannosaurus!” Chrysalis’ left eye twitched, nearly popping a blood vessel. He LOST my amulet?! If Luna doesn't kill him, I will lay eggs in his belly and let the larvae eat their way out! “I see,” Chrysalis said with deadly calm in her voice to contrast the psychotic twitch in her eye. “What else?” The changeling quickly conferred with her other bodies eyes to do a check of every part of the battlefield she could see. “Our numbers are endless, we will overwhelm your bears soon, and even if your Wonderbolts discover our mountaintop hideout, you will not have the ponies to clear us out of our next, fool!” The changeling smiled as she called her Queen a fool. That felt especially good, and made her impending death just a bit more bearable. Chrysalis’s eyes narrowed at the insult. Her horn flashed with sickly-blue light as her hex burned into the changeling’s mind. The spell ate through the drone’s brain, racing down the links between her bodies until the last of her five bodies dropped to the ground in limp heaps. “Fool, huh?” Chrysalis mused. “I suppose it takes one to know one.” Chrysalis stood up and flared her wings for dramatic effect before taking off into the air. She flew towards the windows, landing next to them and sticking her head out just long enough to get a look at the sky and the top of Mount Canterlot. She could see the tiniest flash of blue and gold among her swarm’s upper layers. The Wonderbolts really are trying to see where we are coming from. If they discover our mountaintop lair, Celestia may abandon the throne room to try to seal us in. I can’t have that. I need her to be where she is now. Chrysalis scanned the skies, looking for anything which could be of use to her. Her eyes settled on the thick blanket of clouds. TO tell the truth, she couldn’t see through them, which meant she couldn’t see the very top of the mountain, where her hive’s entrance lay. The mare’s eyes lip up as a sudden flash of inspiration managed to claw itself out from the tiny fragments left over from expunging her geeky side. That may work. The Queen closed her eyes and directed her mind towards several of her more powerful mages, sending them a specific mental picture. She gave her mages a few moments to begin charging up for such a large illusion spell, then issued Swarm Wide orders to help sell the deception. Chrysalis closed her eyes, and counted to twenty, then opened them and looked up. As if on cue, six large, silver hulled flying saucers slowly descended through the clouds. Changelings poured from their open hatches while massive pony sized spellbolts rained down from small weapons blisters, blasting chunks of Canterlot to dust. The Wonderbolts dove down the second the illusions began to drop from the clouds. Chrysalis watched them go, five blue and gold streaks of light, fleeing from the exact swarm they had been comfortable flying through moments ago simply because of some magically arranged light. Multiple rays of light scorched the sky as every pony mage who was free to fire at the attacking “ships” cast their best spells up into the sky. Chrysalis couldn’t see the result of nearly half the unicorns in Canterlot no longer stemming the tide of changelings, but she knew what those beams meant, and what it would mean for the number of her soldiers who could make it to the ground. Chrysalis smiled, resisting the urge to throw her head back and laugh. Fools! You’ve never seen or heard of human mythology. If humans saw this, they would know it couldn't be real because it’s exactly what their fiction looks like. But to you ponies, this is all real! The Queen allowed herself a short moment of laughter. Her plans had been disrupted, nearly broken, but now… Everything is back on track. Chrysalis turned away from the window and began to run for the throne room doors, firing a barrage of spellbolts as she ran, cutting down changeling after changeling. “Die, monsters!” Princess Celestia - 5/16/2018 The Solar Throne Room, The Palace - Canterlot, Equestria Princess Celestia stood alone in her throne room, facing the doors and listening to the repeated dull thud of changeling hooves and spells trying to break it down. She hadn’t intended to make her stand on her own. Forty EUP troopers and twenty Royal Guards had accompanied her to the throne as the attack began. All of them had fallen along the way. The Swarm had proved to be far more dangerous than anypony had anticipated. None of them were particularly strong, but everypony knew that a swarm of ants could pick apart a careless jungle explorer in seconds. Changelings worked on much the same principal, only they were larger and also wizards. Celestia’s guards had dropped like flies as the Swarm almost literally eroded her protection away, each of them hoping to bring their Queen Celestia's head and earn her love. Celestia wasn’t in good shape after the three-minute fight through the swarm herself. The Princess was bleeding from three half-healed wounds, a gash along her left side, a deep puncture in her left foreleg, and a hex-produced burn along her left cheek that oozed blood. Celestia had taken many more while making her way to the throne room. Fortunately, her rapidly diminishing soldiers had carried healing potions and mana potions in their saddlebags. It had been a very, very long time since Celestia had needed such potions. It had been longer still since she’d fought an army. Of all the things to not be like making a salad, why battle? Ancient sayings regarding the impossibility of forgetting how to prepare basic meals were not the only thing weighing down Celestia's mind. She had come to her throne room for it’s single entrance. When Chrysalis came after her, she would have but one way into a room that you could not teleport into, nor out of. A choke point. A choke point which Celestia couldn’t flee from. Not unless she wanted to open her vault in the middle of an attack. Celestia frowned as she debated that potentiality. Once sealed, they would never get in. The vault is genuinely magic proof. They could keep me in there for years… But I might be able to find a tool in there to reverse all of this. Not all of those artifacts are Dark. Perhaps one holds the solution? Celestia sighed and closed her eyes. Her armor creaked as she rustled her wings. Clearly, Twilight had failed. The lavender mare would have used the Elements by now if she could have. Twenty minutes was more than enough time for that mare to do nearly anything. At least, as far as Celestia’s experience indicated. Celestia’s thought were interrupted by the sound of intense spellbolts detonating on the other side of the door. She hefted her sword with her magic, it’s blade shimmered, flashed, then ignited, transforming into a column of solar fire. This is it… The thuds continued, growing more and more urgent. Almost as if somepony were trying to defend the gate from the outside. Celestia frowned, debating the use of her mana to check the doors remotely. If that’s a new spell the changelings are using, I’ll have wasted a good bit of mana. If somepony is trying to push the swarm back from the throne room, I should bring them inside… Celestia sighed, closed her eyes, and focused her magic. She didn't see the glow of her horn as her spell completed. Instead, Celestia’s eyes seemed to fly away from her, through the door, stopping on the other side and turning around. Her astral vision focused on the door, looking through the swarm to check on the noise… And saw Cadence. It had to be Cadence. She had the jacket shining had given her, and was screaming obscenities while firing complete overkill spellbolts into the changelings near the door. Changeling after Changeling dropped from the air, forming a barricade of corpses around the pink Alicorn as she kicked the door to knock on it. “Celestia! Open up!” Cadence shouted, kicking the throne room doors with a rear hoof. Celestia canceled her spell. When did she learn to use battle magic? She knew full well Cadence hadn’t learned to cast even a basic spellbolt. A nagging suspicion that this was an impostor began to burn in her mind. I know there was an impostor. Somepony told me there was an impostor Cadence. If only I could remember who… No, that’s not important right now. What is important is determining which one this is. Celestia thought through every scenario she could, trying her best to figure out how and why an impostor would know about Cadence’s jacket. If she were wearing it when she was replaced… No, that can’t be. Whoever reported to me said there were two Cadences at once. Chrysalis wouldn’t allow any changeling to impersonate Cadence other than herself. I can rule out two impostors. Which means the real cadence would have her jacket if she had gone to get her weapons from Harley instead of from the Armory. Celestia took a deep breath as she realized the one way she could quickly check. I can open the door and fire a transformation spell at her. Something simple. If it works, she’s not a changeling. If it doesn't the battle you’ve been waiting for has begun, and in the place you wished for it to happen. Celestia turned her head and looked up at the door, beginning to walk towards it. “It’s time…” She said out loud. Celestia walked to within ten steps of the gold-plated doors, then, with a mighty heave of her telekinesis, pulled the doors open wide. The hallways was revealed in an instant. Cadence, still clad in her jacket, firing bolt after bolt into the Swarm, barely holding them back. Celestia quickly focused her magic into a shield breaker charm and blasted Cadence full force. The white hot ball of light, effectively a huge disruptor bolt, slammed into her, almost knocking her off her hooves as her shield exploded in a flash of blinding light. Cadence yelped in surprise, spinning around, her horn glowing as magic flooded it in preparation to defend herself. Her spell went uncast as Celestia fired the first transformation spell that came to her mind. The spell leapt from her horn as a golden ray of light and struck “Cadence” in her left flank, sinking in and going to work immediately. Chrysalis, being a changeling born on Equestria and not Earth, like Quick Study before her, was warped by the spell as it successfully molded her into a new form. Cadence, but with much jigglier flanks and a bouncier plot. To the point where she now made other mares look as uncurvy as a stallion. Celestia managed to hide her blush as she pulled Cadence inside Why did Luna’s favorite transformation spell for pranking stallions come to my mind before anything else? Celestia wondered as she tried to prevent herself from laughing at the absurdity of her rushed choice of spell. Chrysalis bit her lip as she was pulled inside and the doors slammed behind her. She let her magic dissipate into the either, realizing she hadn’t been found out thanks to Shining’s revelation of Celestia’s “Changeling Test”. She cleared her throat as Celestia set her down on the red carpet leading to the throne. “Did you have to give me brood mother flanks?” Celestia cleared her throat. “I’m sorry. I chose the transformation at random. Why are you here? Am I needed outside? I was hoping to lure Chrysalis into a trap.” Chrysalis nodded and feigned a tired smile. “No, you’re right where you have to be. Before the attack I found a Changeling and made her talk. Chrysalis is trying to get her hooves on something in your vault. She’ll be here any minute. I was worried I was too late when I saw changelings trying to break in. I thought you were fighting her and managed to lock her backup out.” Celestia shook her head. “No, she’s not here yet. But now that you’re here, and we know she’s coming, we can devise a better strategy!” Celestia frowned for a moment. “How did you learn to cast spellbolts? Did you gain any instinctive master over your magic? If so, there might be an artifact or two we can use against her.” Chrysalis nodded, swishing her tail eagerly behind her. “I didn’t want to drain my mana firing the guns, Shining gave me a quick tip and I worked out a few simple things. The battlefield is an excellent school, as it turns out.” Celestia turned and looked at her throne, or more accurately, the vault hidden behind it. “Where is he?” “He’s injured… I had EUP troopers escort him out with other casualties.” “Any word on Twilight?” Chrysalis faked a sigh and hung her head. “None. I ran into Rainbow Dash and told her to find her and the rest of the Elements. But that was three minutes ago. I think they are too separated to use the Elements anytime soon. It’s up to us. If we stop Chrysalis, her drones will likely surrender.” Celestia nodded firmly. “My plans exactly! Unfortunately… I expended far more power than I expected getting here. I am at half strength, what about you?” Chrysalis bit her lip and with a shrug of her wings, lied. “Running pretty low.” Celestia frowned, something about Cadence’s tone was off. That was a lie. “You're nearly dry, aren't you?” Chrysalis smiled slowly and shrugged her wings. “Probably… I’m not entirely sure how to tell.” Celestia sighed and turned towards her throne, beginning to walk towards it. “Then we have no choice. The swarm is too dangerous, normal ponies will not be able to reinforce us, and she will enter this room at full strength. We must arm ourselves better.” Chrysalis trotted forward, coming alongside Celestia and looking at her out of the corner of her eye. “Didn’t you say there were artifacts in there that could end the world if misused? Why not erase the swarm from existence? We could end this right now, with one blow.” Celestia paused and bit her lip in thought. “It’s tempting… But I do not collect these to use them. The risk even with someone as skilled as I as the wielder of the more serious artifacts is to grate. Luna attempted to conquer the dragons with one. We spent two decades years putting everything back to normal.” Chrysalis blinked. She’d never heard that story before. “You mean you were collecting these before you built Canterlot?” Celestia nodded and reached the base of her throne. “Yes.” “What happened?” “We accidentally made everypony alive into sexless creatures. Like dolls. Including us.” Chrysalis snorted, then clamped a hoof over her mouth to keep herself from laughing more. “That seems a small price to pay for ending this war, to be honest.” Celestia shook her head and turned to look Chrysalis in the eye with an expression so serious the Queen honestly felt frightened. “No! You don’t understand. The spell removed everypony’s sex. It did not remove their sex drive. Do you know how much damage upset stallions with no release for their needs can do in two decades? Then how much more damage will be done when they finally get their equipment back after twenty years? I will not put the world through that again.” Celestia turned and pressed the throne’s hidden switch. The golden throne hummed and slid away to reveal the staircase. Celestia descended it in an instant, Chrysalis following along behind her, almost directly on her tail. Celestia reached the vault door and with a quick thought cast the key charm that turned the lock. As the vault door hissed and slid open Celestia stepped aside and waved Chrysalis towards the vault. “Step in. I’m sealing the throne entrance, so she doesn't sneak up on us while we look.” Chrysalis nodded and waked inside, smiling wickedly the moment she knew she was out of Celestia's sight. The Queen’s eyes probed the vault, everything appeared to be in the same places since she had last been inside. Celestia pulled a small lever down and the throne slid back in place over the entrance. She knew that Chrysalis knew about her vault and how to get in, but the moving throne was loud enough where they would have the split-second warning of the enemy's approach. Or at least, they would have if she weren't in the vault with her. Celestia sighed, her wings rustling nervously. The thought of giving any of these artifacts to a novice caster was not remotely appealing, but she had little choice. “Cadence, give me a while to find something you can use without, say, making every blue stallion into a werewolf.” Chrysalis triple blinked. “Is— is there something here that could do that?” Celestia nodded. “Yes. Do NOT touch the statue of a green  mare turning into a house cat.” Chrysalis’s ears lay back against her head as she decided to find whoever made a statuette with a green mare turning into a cat turn blue stallions into wolves and beat them till they soiled themselves. Chrysalis trotted over to the left side of the vault, and stood next to a large onyx chalice with a single large red ruby set in a silver bezel on its front. The chalice rested atop a wooden shelf which seemed unnaturaly dark thanks to shadows which oozed and slid from the open chalice like mist. “Okay. I’ll just stand here by this… Cup, thing.” Celestia spared a glance at the cup, her heart fluttering nervously. She smiled in relief. “Oh! The Chalice of Shadows. That’s perfectly fine. You won't do anything that could activate it. Trust me.” Celestia turned around to begin examining the low level danger shelf, pondering which if any item she should give Cadence from the shelf. Chrysalis turned around, faced the Chalice, slid a small knife out of Cadence’s jacket, pricked the frog of her left hoof, and let her blood fall into the chalice…