//------------------------------// // Chapter 115: Operation "Kill That Overpowered Filly" // Story: A Sweetie Dream Land // by Lucar //------------------------------// Some of the ponies can barely hide their snickers at the sight of Luna now wearing a shirt with 'A filly kicked my flank' written on it. The poor mare's head has almost totally turned pink in embarrassment, both at wearing such a shirt and at actually getting her flank kicked by a filly, and very badly at that. She is the most skilled alicorn of the four! In the past, she was the one fighting the monsters to protect the ponies! As Nightmare Moon, she would have even defeated Celestia if she hadn't used the Elements of Harmony! And she has just been defeated by a little filly not even in her teens yet! A filly that now uses the Everfree Forest as her training ground, but still! And of course Celestia and Discord will make sure that she never forgets this, judging by their smirks. However, as the two princesses walk toward their chariots to return to Canterlot, followed by Twilight and her friends as they say their goodbyes, they don't see an earth pony stallion entering an alley, followed by a green light coming out of it. The next instant, a different stallion, a pegasus, comes out of the alley and flies away. In the southwestern part of Equestria, there's a barren land with a tall castle-like structure full of holes with twisted towers. This structure serves as the home of the changelings, an insectoid pony-looking race of shapeshifters who eat love to survive. In this structure is a huge black throne with a similar design, and sitting on it is the queen of the changelings: Chrysalis. A guard enters the room, and after bowing to his queen, says "My queen. One of our spies has returned and asks for an audience." "They can come," replies the queen. The guard nods and leaves the room. The next instant, a different changeling enters. "Speak. Why did you leave your post?" asked Chrysalis. "Sorry my queen, but I saw something that I deemed important to report. The other day, a filly that had disappeared came back. Apparently, she had been teleported to another dimension." "Get to the point. Why would I care for a filly?" "Well, my queen... That filly fought Luna in a duel and won." Chrysalis stared at the guard. "Are you trying to fool with me?" "No, my queen! I swear! I saw the fight! Apparently, in the other dimension, the filly became a very powerful and skilled hero who saved the world and the universe more than once! Luna defied her, but despite all her power, the filly was able to win without even looking winded, and she barely had a scratch!" The queen stares once again at the spy for a few more seconds. "If what you say is true, then she may be a threat to my plan, but I have a hard time believing that a filly could defeat an alicorn. Show me this filly." The spy does as ordered and, using his shapeshifting magic, transforms into Sweetie Belle. "What?! You are telling me that Luna was defeated by such a young and plump filly?! She's so small that I wouldn't feel her punches! Her magic must be so weak that she would tickle me! And with that weight, she must be so slow that I could catch her by just walking!" "And yet, I saw that filly self-levitate, levitate ten objects at the same time, deflect some of Luna's beams with her hooves, manipulate five swords, escape a huge Moon Beam, and fire a beam that could rival with the one you used against Celestia, among other things." "And you said she wasn't even exhausted after the fight?" "Yes. She probably could have fought Celestia too and still win." Chrysalis rubs her chin in thought. "Somepony that strong must be dealt with. Trying to capture her will be too risky. No, I will have to send an assassin." She looks back at the spy. "Then, once she's killed, you will take her place and continue to spy those mares." "Yes, my queen!" Sweetie Belle is humming the Gourmet Race Song as she's walking toward the clubhouse to gather with her fellow Crusaders, followed by Spiky. It's good to train every now and then, but she hasn't returned to Equestria just to train. She has returned to be with her family and her friends, and this means, going crusading with them. With all that hero stuff, she had almost forgotten about her Cutie Mark. On the way, she's joined by Scootaloo. However, when she spots the pegasus approaching, Sweetie Belle looks at her with a raised eyebrow, then fights to stop a smirk from forming. "Hello, Scootaloo!" "Hey, Sweetie Belle! Ready to go crusading after all this time?" "Of course! I can't wait to go crusading with you girls again! I really missed it!" says Sweetie excitedly. "I wonder what we will try." "Let's wait to be with Apple Bloom to decide, but I have a few ideas, like..." Scootaloo suddenly reveals a dagger from under her wing. "Assassination!" But before she knows it, the dagger is sent to the sky with a swing of Sweetie's hoof, and she's violently punched in the stomach. She immediately loses consciousness, and a green fire covers her, turning her back to her real form: a changeling. Just as she falls on the ground eyes blank and bile coming out of her mouth, the dagger drops back and plants itself just beside her head. "Seems like you aren't good at this, but it was a nice try," says Sweetie Belle with a laugh. "So, changelings? Twilight will be interested in this." At this, the filly grabs the dagger in her magic, then grabs the changeling's back legs, and starts dragging her to Twilight's castle. She then turns to Spiky. "Can you go warn Apple Bloom and Scootaloo that I will be late?" "Roar!" Meanwhile, in the branches of a nearby tree, the changeling spy gulps. "I can't believe it!" yells Queen Chrysalis. "How could she fail?! She just had to assassinate a little filly! This is not complicated! And now, the ponies will be on their guards!" She takes a big breath to calm herself. "Let's do it again. It was probably dumb luck." Four changelings disguised as pegasi are transporting a piano, and fly above the target before dropping it. The target has barely time to push away her friends before the piano falls on her. Mission accomplished. But then, the target comes out of the remains of the piano, body turned into metal, and glares at them. Mission failed... The changeling, hidden behind a boulder, spots the target at the bottom of the slope on which he is, resting with her friends under the warm sun. Using his strength, the changeling then pushes the boulder to make it roll toward the target and crush her. His jaw drops when he sees the target punch the boulder with enough force to turn it into rubble. The next instant, he's flying away with the target hot on his tail. The target enters Sugarcube Corner with her friends. Two changelings, disguised as the Cakes, are waiting. The changeling disguised as Mr Cake takes the commands, and the one disguised as Mrs Cake prepares them, adding a special ingredient in the target's one. As both changelings are looking at the poison dropping in the target's food, they don't see said target standing on the counter behind, giving them a murderous glare. A few minutes later, the two changelings have to be transported out of the bakery on stretchers, Twilight looking at them beside Sweetie Belle, sweating. "Don't you think you went a little far, this time?" "They were ruining good food." "Dedede rubbed too much on you." "I know." "How long do you think they will continue?" "Probably as long as it will take them to understand that I can sense their changeling magic, and so that it's no use to try to assassinate me." Chrysalis yells in rage and fires a powerful magical beam that the poor changeling spy barely avoids by lowering his head. "Since it's like that, I'm going! We're never best served than by ourselves!" Sweetie Belle is in the middle of a training session in the Everfree Forest. Right now, she has just finished destroying a pack of about twenty timberwolves. She huffs. "Those stupid dogs are so easy I can barely call that a training." She starts searching for new targets when she suddenly turns around just in time to see a squirrel jump from a branch, only for the squirrel to transform into Chrysalis trying to impale her with her horn. She jumps to the side to avoid it, and readies herself. "Wow! I didn't expect the queen herself to come for me!" "You made too much a fool of me and my subjects! It is time for this masquerade to stop! Be ready to die!" Sweetie giggles. "Well, I was asking for a better training target... Bring it on! Oh, but before, why are you trying to assassinate me?" "You are too much of a threat for my plan!" "Oh I see. You were planning to take over Equestria, but you saw that I was too strong." She gives a big smile to the queen. "Sorry for ruining your plan without knowing." "I couldn't believe that you defeated Luna, but just in precaution, I decided to get rid of you. Now I know that my spy wasn't kidding. You must disappear!" yells Chrysalis before she fires a powerful magical beam, only for the filly to avoid it by jumping aside, smirking. "Let's see how long you will last." At a speed that takes Chrysalis off guard, Sweetie charges at her and punches her on the muzzle, sending her flying through a few trees before slamming against a last one, toppling it. The queen, muzzle broken, her back badly hurting, remains down on the tree, an expression of disbelief on her face. This expression slowly turns into an expression of rage, and despite her injuries, she suddenly gets up and charges toward the filly, ready to bite her head off. Sweetie Belle tries to punch her again, but Chrysalis transforms into a small bird and flies around her before turning into a manticore. She uses her scorpion tail to impale her, but Sweetie Belle catches it and uses it to slam the changeling queen a few times on the ground until she transforms again. Now a teen dragon, Chrysalis breathes fire at the filly, forcing Sweetie Belle to drop her tail before she creates a mirror to send the fire back at her. As a dragon, the fire has no effect on her, but she doesn't see Sweetie Belle charge toward her neck, grab it, and do a neckbreaker. Chrysalis returns to her normal form and uses her magic to throw the filly toward a tree, only for her to use her legs to bounce from it without damage. Smirking, Sweetie Belle then starts levitating her ten cannons, and turns each of them into a double beam sword before twirling them around. Using her shield, she then forms a big hammer that she grabs. "Enough playing. Time to squash a bug," she says. Chrysalis gulps. The changeling queen limps back inside her throne room, more enraged than ever. She lost. She lost against a single little chubby filly. She can't believe it. Now, her muzzle is broken, her front left leg is broken, her mane has been cut to only a few inches, and her shell is badly cracked in many places. She barely escaped thanks to her wings. Screw Celestia. Screw Twilight. Screw the ponies. Screw Equestria. Now, this is personal. She WILL kill that filly! "She is right about one thing," she says once she's on her throne. "Enough playing." Sweetie Belle enters the clubhouse, only to discover that it now looks as if a tornado passed, and her friends are nowhere to be seen. "Scootaloo? Apple Bloom!" she shouts repeatedly as she looks around. Then, she finds a paper with a map drawn on it. It is showing a part of Equestria, with Canterlot at the top right, Ponyville under it, and a holed castle-like structure somewhere at the bottom left indicated by an arrow. Under it is written "Come, if you dare!" "That queen really has a death wish..." says Sweetie Belle as she resists the urge to burn the paper. "She's coming! She's coming!" yells a changeling as she enters the throne room. "Let her come," says Chrysalis before she turns to two fillies trapped in a green slimy prison. "I'm surprised you are not panicking more. Without her magic, she will be killed." Apple Bloom and Scootaloo don't answer and simply look at each other with a knowing smirk. A few minutes later, Sweetie Belle enters the throne room and quickly spots Chrysalis on the throne and her friends beside it. "Release them," she orders. "You aren't in position to give me orders! You are in my kingdom, surrounded by thousands of my subjects ready to drop on you at my signal, and you probably felt it, you can't use your magic anymore thanks to my throne!" Sweetie Belle looks at her friends who look back at her, and they all smirk. Sweetie Belle gets on her hindlegs, and places her forehooves at her right. "Why are you taking that pose?" asks the queen. Sweetie belle doesn't answer as she starts to gather energy between her hooves. "I can use other energies than magic." The changeling queen looks at her in panic. The quiet of the barren land is suddenly disturbed as a giant energy beam comes out of the castle of the changelings, blowing a huge hole that causes the main tower to topple. The next instant, thousands of changelings fly out of it in panic, some of them transporting their unconscious, badly burned queen. Sweetie Belle, followed by Scootaloo and Apple Bloom, exits the castle and stares at the fleeing changelings. "Shouldn't you go after them?" asks Scootaloo. "And leave you behind at the mercy of the predators of this place? No. Hopefully, they will learn their lesson. Let's return to Ponyville."