//------------------------------//
// Pest Control 
// Story: Long Live The Empress 
// by Mystic Sunrise 
//------------------------------//

"I still think this is the craziest idea I have heard in a long time," Princess Celestia said with a sigh as she looked around at the gathered ponies and one dragon.

Cosmos just smiled. "What part? The part of what I plan to do to Chrysalis and her hive when I confront her face to face?"

"The part where her Exarchs offered themselves up as bait to lure any changelings out and kidnap them?" Spike added.

"Or the part where we just now realized that they're all missing?" Sci Twi added. And it was true. No one had seen any of the girls for a few days now. Nopony seemed to notice till today though.

Celestia rubbed her forehead irritably. "All of the above. You are taking a huge risk using them like this."

Cosmos shook her head. "I'm not using them for anything Celestia. I never asked or told them to do this. They did this on their own."

Celestia still wasn't convinced though. Ever since the revealing of the Changeling Masquerade, her nerves had been on edge. "And what of the other hives?"

Cosmos snorted. "Chrysalis and her hive are outcasts. Disowned by the rest of their race. Blackrose won't take her back, and Blackthorn sure won't. The Winter Court would rip them to shreds before long."

"I still can't believe you talked to one of them," Twilight said with some awe.

Cosmos smiled. "I wouldn't have minded no matter who it was honestly. Blackthorn is the consummate plotter, but even he knows not to touch this."

"And what about Kevin? Where does he fit in all of this?" Spike asked, referring to Ponyville's resident changeling.

Cosmos rolled her eyes. "He has no part to play in this. I don't know where he came from or why Ponyville isn't freaking out about him as they should be, but he's safe."

Before anyone could say anymore, Cosmos suddenly stood straighter and flexed her wings. "There you are," she whispered.

"Where is what?" Celestia asked as everyone looked around the Golden Oaks Library and saw nothing.

"I know where the girls are. They just pinged me where they were taken. Right in the middle of Chrysalis's Throne Room," Cosmos replied.

"So where is the hive then?" Twilight asked.

"The Badlands, close to where I thought it would be too," Cosmos replied as she ignited her horn.

Everyone took a step back. "You're leaving now?" Spike asked.

Cosmos smirked. "Oh no. I'm taking my time to get there. I'll be leaving in a moment, but it won't be a hop, skip, and a jump, over there, even if it could be."

"Why take your time?" Celestia asked. As much as she knew about Cosmos, this didn't seem like something that would make sense in any way or form.

Cosmos chuckled. "Because it's more fun this way. The girls can take far worse than anything Chrysalis can give them. I'm not worried about them."

Before anyone could respond, Cosmos vanished in a flash of teleportation, leaving the group worried no matter what she had said.

***

Cosmos wasn't impressed as she looked up at the Changeling Hive. Really, this didn't even make her top 200 Best Villain Lairs list.

"Xenomorph rip-off. It would be so easy to drop a hive of them in here and enjoy the fireworks," she grumbled as she walked up to an opening, not even bothering to hide her presence.

She shook her head. "But then we would never stop them there. It would be the Earth Wars all over again, and we don't have anyone crazy enough to stop them like that."

Walking through the hole, Cosmos immediately felt the effect of the Magic Suppressing Throne at the very top of the hive. An annoyance mostly, but still not comfortable as she blinked several times.

She didn't exactly have an idea of where she was going. Tunnels went off in every direction around her, and they didn't always stay open either as she watched.

Cosmos had come in her Unicorn Form, which made things around her even bigger. The size was massively overrated though to her. Except of course if you were a kaiju, but that was a whole different story.

She stopped as she heard the buzzing of wings all around her. Perfect. Time to get this show on the road as she spoke to the surrounding darkness.

"I am here to see Chrysalis. She took those closest to me. I want them back. If she can't be bothered to get off her lazy flank to come to see me herself, then take me to her."

That seemed to catch everyone off guard as they chittered to themselves. Cosmos didn't bother to translate them, even though it was well within her power.

One finally took flight and landed before her. A warrior by his markings, a step above the usual drones that filled the hive. That made things more interesting. 

"Big talk from such a small pony. Why should we let you see the queen? You have no business here, but you will be good for food," he said.

Cosmos smiled as she returned to her normal form. Recognition dawned in the warrior's eyes as he beheld her. "Does this answer your question? You know who I am. I suggest you take me to her, or your head will fall first."

That seemed to catch every 'ling off guard. Cosmos could smell the faint pheromones passing between them. Good. That made things even more fun.

The warrior studied her for a moment as if daring her to attack him before he turned away. "Come then. The queen is expecting you."

Cosmos nodded before following him, though none could see why she would or why she seemed to be in such a good mood.

***

As expected, Chrysalis was waiting for her at the top. How long it took to get there, Cosmos didn't know. She didn't mind though. It was more fun that way.

Also as she had thought, her Exarchs all hung from the roof in individual cocoons. They all appeared to be asleep, their chests rising and falling steadily.

A quick pulse confirmed that they were indeed asleep. Some form of suspended animation, not dissimilar to the one her first Exarchs had used to await her return. Interesting.

Chrysalis noticed her look and sneered. "You should be more concerned about yourself. And to think, ones so young will see what I will do to you."

Cosmos only grinned. "Oh how cute. You still think you can win. Try to make this interesting for me. I haven't culled a whole hive in a long time, and that last one was far more interesting."

Chrysalis laughed as she stood up. "Fool! You have no power here. Whatever it is you did to Tirek and Discord will not work. You're hopelessly outnumbered, and I have your Exarchs."

She chuckled at the surprised look on Cosmos's face. "Oh yes. I know all about you, Empress. I'm not impressed. I'd thought you would be bigger for how big you talked to Blackthorn."

Okay, so Cheeselegs knew more about her than she had expected. Unexpected yes, but that didn't change anything as Cosmos frowned. "So you know about me. It changes nothing."

Chrysalis laughed as the room began to fill up with changelings. "I think it does. You're outnumbered, you have no magic." Her smile darkened. "And when I give the word, your family in Canterlot and the Crystal Empire dies. I win Sparkle. You threw your life away for nothing."

Cosmos blinked, before beginning to chuckle, then cackle, her expression darkening every second. Ever changeling shared a confused look at the sight.

Chrysalis herself was annoyed. "And what's funny?"

Cosmos stopped laughing, her expression as cold as ice. "You are. You think you know me, that you understand me." As she took a step forward, every 'ling took a step back. "You know so little about me. I need no magic to end this charade."

She smiled in a way that would have made a serial killer blanch. "I'm not trapped in here with you. You're trapped in here, with me."

Her eyes narrowed. "I've only used this once before. But it is more than enough to put this hive to the sword. There will be no survivors. You will die last Chrysalis. You will beg for my mercy by the time I finish with you. But I have none to give."

She raised a hoof. "I had to do a lot to get Omni King Zeno to give me this power. But it was worth it in the end. They call it Power of Destruction. But I prefer the other name for it."

She paused and then spoke only word as her hoof came down.

Hakai.

Nothing happened for a second after Cosmos's hoof touched the floor of the Throne Room. Chrysalis even began to think this whole thing was nothing but a charade.

And then the screaming started. 

It was not the sound of regular pain. Chrysalis knew every kind of pain and the sound every being made while suffering through it. She even knew what changeling pain sounded like. More than once she had dispensed it herself when in a particularly bad mood.

But this went beyond that. This was a soul screaming in terror as its very essence was destroyed and unmade in every sense of the word. Thousands of them.

The whole hive was screaming. Chrysalis could only watch as those changelings in the room with them began to dissolve away into nothing. Even after their heads were gone, they kept screaming, until there was nothing left.

Soon even the hive structure itself began to dissolve away. First to go was the Magic Suppressing Throne. Cosmos was able to catch the girls' cocoons as the roof was dissolved away and held them in her magic.

And Chrysalis felt each and every death of the hive. Not even the newborn nymphs or the eggs in the Hatcheries were spared, though by some miracle of her mother, those at least were quick and none of them felt any pain.

She glared at Cosmos, even as the hive dissolved around them. "What have you done? You monster."

Cosmos laughed. "You're calling me a monster? That's rich coming from you Chrysalis. I have nothing against your kind. But you brought this on yourself."

Chrysalis didn't buy it. "If this is about the wedding-"

Cosmos shook her head. "This has nothing to do with the wedding. Not anymore. Cadance and Shining made a mess of everything long before you took Cadance's place. I'm not even mad about what you did to my brother. He was always an idiot in a lot of ways. You just proved it."

Chrysalis could feel the truth behind that statement. But it was still a shock to hear it from Twilight Sparkle all the same. "Then what is this about? What's the point?"

Cosmos frowned. "The point? Changelings have been feeding on love from Equestria and Equus as a whole for thousands of years. I didn't even plan on blowing the Masquerade wide open with Blackthorn as I did. But then you had to change all that, to throw it all away."

"My children were starving. I had to feed them some way," Chrysalis snarled. "The love we were getting before wasn't enough. I didn't even plan on taking that pink pastel filly's place. But a wedding was a perfect chance to feed the whole hive for a long time."

Cosmos's expression softened. "Did it ever occur to you that there was another way? I know a way for all changelings to get love, without stealing it from other races. I was even going to share it with your mother and her spouse."

Chrysalis laughed. "I don't believe you. Why would you ever care about us? Even if I did believe you, I hate my mother and all my sisters. I would never take anything from them."

Cosmos nodded. "And that Chrysalis is why you have lost everything. All of this could have been avoided, your hive would have lived. But you threw it all away."

By this time, the screaming had ended. Both of them knew why that was. There was no other changeling left now but the queen. The hive itself was now nothing but a small stump barely a hundred feet off the ground.

Chrysalis looked around as the group finally reached the ground as the last of the hive was dissolved away. To her surprise, however, once the last piece of changeling made form was gone, nothing else was touched. 

Cosmos saw her look and rolled her eyes. "Give me some credit. I came here for the girls and to teach your race a lesson. I won't touch the rest of Equus with that kind of power."

The ex-queen gave her a sharp look. "Then what do you plan to do with me? I won't go easily Sparkle. And I refuse to be taken alive. Not now. Not ever."

Cosmos smiled as she gently settled the girls' cocoons off to the side. None of them even so much as stirred at the slight jostling they received. "That is all I needed to hear from you Chrysalis. Because now you deal with me with no advantage."

Closing her eyes, Cosmos spread her wings. Immediately, the sky clouded over and the area black as night. In fact, this was a blackness that was not normal. The shadows were drawn to Cosmos, coiling around her and enveloping her in darkness.

Soon Chrysalis couldn't even see five feet in front of her. She laughed. "You're going to have to do better than that Sparkle. A little blackness doesn't scare me."

"It will," came a voice. It sounded like Cosmos. But dark, dangerous, and sibilant as a serpent. "You're in my world now Chrysalis. Here, I make all the rules."

The voice came from every direction. A million voices speaking as one, each and every one of them like nails on a chalkboard, the sound of ten thousand damned souls in Tartarus. It made Chrysalis's ears bleed just to listen to them.

From out of the darkness, a shape emerged. It shouldn't have been possible to see it in this darkness, yet it glowed with an unlight. It was impossible to describe in any sane terms. Just looking at it made Chrysalis's eyes burn. When it spoke, it spoke with the voice of the End Times, the Destroyer, the Unmaker of all things.

"Welcome, to my nightmare."

The shape pounced on her, and Queen Chrysalis knew no more.

***

Several days had passed since Cosmos had gone off in search of her Exarchs, and her Ponyville friends were getting worried. No one had heard a thing from her since her departure.

While the Rainbooms were still relatively new to much of what it meant to be a pony and Equestria as a whole, even they felt the same for Cosmos. And they had known her the shortest time.

Spike had gone to stay with Rarity until she came back, so no one worried about that at least. Princess Celestia had joined them this day at Sugarcube Corner, and all could see she felt the same as everyone.

So when a scroll suddenly materialized out of nowhere in front of her, all were interested.

"Is it from Cosmos?" Fluttershy asked.

"Is she alright?" Spike asked.

Celestia shook her head. "It is not from Cosmos. It's from Empress Blackrose."

Everyone shared a shocked look. All of them knew by now that name and who she was. But how on Equestria had she been able to do this?

"What does she say?" Applejack asked.

Celestia read the letter, her eyes growing bigger with each word. "She wants to meet with me, Luna, Cadance, and Cosmos to discuss..." she paused as if she couldn't believe what she was reading.

"What? Come on, don't leave us hanging," Rainbow complained.

Celestia's ears fell as she looked up. "Her unconditional surrender and peace terms with Equestria. And I quote "One hive put to the sword is more than enough. No more."