“Cadance?! Cady, honey, let’s talk about this. Everything’ll be alright.”
Shining Armor’s hoof scraped at the door and his magic jangled at the ornate handle. With a small scoff, Chrysalis held the lock tight with a burst of her own telekinesis. She flicked away the tears collecting on her pretty little pony lashes, and desperately tried not to laugh. Who knew all it took was a few little tears, a keening of the voice, for the elite of Equestria to submit to her every whim? Honestly at this point she was hardly even trying, and yet--
The tip tap of hooves sounded outside the door: the shuffling of Twilight Sparkle’s friends. Amidst the quiet clamor, Chrysalis could just make out the sound of Celestia’s pony shoes among them.
“Please, dear,” Chrysalis whined, with just that little bit of tremor to really sell it, “I just need to be alone for a little while. Okay?”
Not even waiting to hear the fools wander off, Chrysalis immediately turned to the plan swarming in her brain. So far, everything had gone quite deliciously. Even without extensive study of Cadenza’s habits, with just a bit of acting and a pinch of changeling magic, even Princess Celestia had fallen for her grand trick. The others went on glibly, happy to fret and fawn over a pretty bride. Shining’s love for said bride wasn’t anything to scoff at either; as Chrysalis paced her suite which she’d hidden herself away in, she could feel the stretch of her stomach, the warmth and contentment that came with a rich, filling meal. Her legs were stronger than they had been for what seemed like eons now, and as she flicked to her changeling form for just a moment, she saw the new slimy sheen dancing beautifully from her healthy, scrape-free carapace. The reflection in the body-length mirror beside her bed smirked back at her with whitened, wickedly hard fangs. She was practically a new bug! Everything was going absolutely perfectly.
Except, of course, for Twilight Sparkle.
Chrysalis scowled. She prowled to the other side of the room to her balcony looming over the expanse of Canterlot, and her flicking tail knocked one of those hideous mannequins over with a plastic thud. With a grin, she thought of Twilight Sparkle, that idiotic little foal, lying shivering and alone at the prepped wedding hall, all of her warnings falling on deaf ears…
But her smile soured, worming up on her face like a dead slug. Certainly it was a good thing that all of her friends had so far failed to heed Twilight’s words, but the fact that the mare so stubbornly kept at the queen’s throat? It wouldn’t do. Surely the little pony would only need to bury her nose in a book and discover the existence of changelings, then she would be parading around shouting about how evil her new sister-in-law was again. If even a single pony in that crowd stopped to give her accusations any thought?
Chrysalis moved her gaze across Canterlot, teeming with ponies milling about and absolutely glowing with love magic, so much so that their coats and manes dyed themselves such garish pastel colors. Then she looked upwards, to the pink shield pulsing over the skyline and casting the entire city in a faint magenta glow. What a waste it would be, if her drones were not to feast tonight.
While Shining Armor’s love tasted divine, Chrysalis wasn’t so sure the meathead’s affections could ward off the power of Celestia and Luna, at least not until her drones had broken through Shining’s barrier. Of course she had him wrapped around her hoof, ready to throw himself off a cliff with only a pretty bat of her eyelashes and a flick of her horn, but if the alicorns or the bearer of magic were to cleanse him of her influence at the last second? It would ruin everything.
Chrysalis needed to remove Twilight Sparkle from the equation entirely.
With a hum, Chrysalis instantly thought of the catacombs where her doppelganger was still waiting, all alone - assuming she hadn’t dehydrated or somehow fallen down a pit of crystal daggers and ended herself already. Unicorns and the alicorn of love had been successfully trapped there before, after all, and there were the old bridesmaids below to act as guard dogs if need be.
But then Chrysalis thought of just what little pony she was contending with. The mare had banished Nightmare Moon, if Chrysalis’ intel was correct, and currently held the title of Bearer of the Element of Magic, which came with the key to a superweapon of Harmony whose level of power hadn’t been seen in thousands of years - and true, she couldn’t access those powers without the support of her so-called friends, but that didn’t mean Celestia’s little lapdog was a threat to be underestimated. Though the catacombs were far below Canterlot Castle and had so far held an injured Mi Amore Cadenza, there was no telling that this intelligent little mare, the only one to suspect Chrysalis of anything, would be so easily thrown away.
Her mind buzzed with thought, images flitting behind her closed eyes: of Twilight Sparkle breaking through the crystal with her raw magical strength, of her finding her way through the twisting paths and minecart rails, of her simply teleporting herself back to the surface with a particularly strong effort. Perhaps it was a long shot, and that purple pesk was just as weak and stupid as the rest, but the Queen’s hive could not go hungry again. Not this time. Cast out from Equestria as she was, Chrysalis was still more of a royal than those two pompous alicorns could ever hope to be, and her drones would not go hungry because she made a hasty error only a few hours before showtime.
So then, Chrysalis thought, lifting up the mannequin she had tipped aside. She levitated it in her sickly green aura, and twisted it around as she thought. With the pretty dress draping across it, she could almost imagine this hunk of plastic was Twilight Sparkle herself. What to do about this pathetic little unicorn?
As the mannequin waved dizzily in Chrysalis’ grip, swaying along with her in a silent dance, Chrysalis thought of all the ways she could dispose of one little pony. The most obvious way, she thought with a flare of her horn, a heating of the plastic, was to simply kill her and replace her with a drone until the moment was upon them. It would be so very easy to just-- twist.
The mannequin’s head snapped from the base.
But, with a husky, clicking laugh, Chrysalis thought that was almost too easy, and a bit of a shame. True, her pony friends would probably fall for the charade for a while, but it seemed like such a waste. After all, the little mare had such a mouthwatering aura of platonic love about her…
A thought clicked into place.
A giddy laugh bubbled into the queen’s carapace, tumbled out of her hissing throat. With another thought, she twirled up the pieces of the mannequin with a wave of magic and fervor. With a few more satisfying snaps, the limbs of the mannequin had also unscrewed themselves from the base. The bits of plastic jumbled and waved like a happy pony doing a jig in place, while Chrysalis maneuvered each piece as easy as breathing. It was no longer a mannequin, but a puppet: a plastic, empty, hollow doll that danced only for her.
Chrysalis shimmied side to side, and once again felt the bulk of Shining Armor’s love within her. The stallion had given her a few rather filling portions, but she figured she had some room to spare since he was weakening, and the previous bridesmaid’s affections had been so flimsy and fleeting.
She made her little Twilight puppet bow down to her, low and lower still. Even more thoughts, more puzzle pieces, clicked into place with devious ease within her buzzing mind. It was all so obvious.
The Twilight mannequin burst into green flames before Chrysalis. It burned and smoldered all for her, at her whim, and then turned to ash along with a patch of carpet. Chrysalis smashed the flame into the floor with her hoof, but if she hadn’t, that little ember would have slowly but surely crawled its way all over Canterlot.
This day was going to be perfect. And even if it wasn’t, Chrysalis imagined she’d soon have another powerful pawn in her corner, one who even Celestia wouldn’t want to touch.
If nothing else, Queen Chrysalis was at least going to have one very satisfying snack.
Twilight sniffed harshly into the floor below her. The linoleum echoed her hot breath back over her tear-stained face, made her muzzle drip even worse than it already was, but she couldn't find it in herself to move or wipe her nose because- oh stars above, what had she done?
She had thought that she was doing the right thing, saving her friends from an evil fraud who only wanted to use her brother for his title or money or something- right? Hadn’t she? Or maybe her friends were right, and she was just paranoid because of a jealousy she didn’t want to face? Either way, she…
Twilight shivered, another pitiful sob muffled into the cold tiles. She’d never felt so awful before. She’d ruined everything. She’d gone and been her overbearing paranoid Twilight self, and accused her old foalsitter of being some evil supervillain during the rehearsal for her wedding, in front of everypony (another wash of shame flew hot and achy down her entire body because why would she do something like that?) and it had cost her everything. This one moment, a crazy accusation born from a lack of control, had lost her a place in her own brother’s wedding. Shining had never screamed at her like that before. They’d had petty fights as foals, of course, but they were always over something silly like a dog-eared page in a book, not the pony that he loved with his entire heart. Now Twilight wouldn’t get to see Shiny, in his regalia, with those happy tears in his eyes as he watched his beautiful bride prance down the aisle. Years from now, their family would look at the scrapbooks from the most important day of Shiny’s life and Twilight wouldn’t be in a single picture, because she’d so badly burnt that bridge. And Cadance… she could have had a sister…
Not to mention her friends probably hated her or thought she was even more of a neurotic mess now, and the look Celestia had given her…
Twilight just felt so cold. So heavy. The shame tore her stomach to shreds.
Eventually the racing thoughts buzzing around in her mind all smushed together into a mind-numbing static. A numbness settled over, and all she could do was lay there, and cry, and cry.
Tip-tap.
Twilight’s heart leapt into her throat so fast she thought she might vomit, and she snapped her head up with a dizzying crack. Was it her friends? Celestia?! Oh stars, what would Celestia think of her? Would she not want Twilight to be her student anymore?--
Cadance!
Cadance was standing there, eyes turned down at her, looking at this little mess of a pony that she currently was. Before Twilight could even think, she propped herself onto half-curled legs, dragged herself to Cadance’s side as her tears blurred everything together. Oh stars, she had a chance. She would do anything to fix this, anything!
“Cadance,” she croaked, “I-I’m so sorry, I…”
“Oh, honey, I know.”
And then Cadance brought a hoof to her face, so soft, so gentle. Just like when Twilight was a little foal who had hurt herself falling off the swingset, Cadance swooped her into a crushingly warm hug. Her wings folded over her shaking sides like a blanket, her mane curled over Twilight’s face and replaced everything with a swirl of pinks and yellows and the smell of her sweet perfume. Twilight relaxed and heaved a sob into that mane before she could register she was even doing it - she was a little filly again, crying to Cadance about the bullies who’d stolen her saddlebag full of books. Just falling into that warmth and comfort and--
--And Twilight didn’t deserve it. She couldn’t understand. Why was Cadance comforting her instead of the other way around? After all Twilight had said.
She pushed away from Cadance, rearing back to look at her kind eyes. She still couldn’t breathe right. Her chest was stuttering. “No, Cadance, really. I -- I shouldn’t have--”
Cadance brought up a wing-tip to shush her, her eyes sparkling as if Twilight hadn’t just denounced her as some evil beast.
“Enough of that,” Cadance said. She paused for a second as if thinking, and then, with a huff, “Oh, it is really my fault. I really have been kind of awful to you and your friends, haven’t I?”
Twilight’s heart cracked just a little bit more at that. “No! I mean- you have been different, but I haven’t seen you in years and- and it’s your wedding! Of course you’ve been stressed! I… just…”
Cadance hummed, and gave her head a shake. Her mane bobbed playfully, like it always did when Twilight had said something particularly odd or silly as a kid. “You just? What you just did, is react to me acting off when there’s currently a threat against the city that could have hurt Shining-- I mean, Shiny. I’ve been thinking about it and honestly, I’m glad you love him so much to worry like that. I forgive you, okay… ladybug?”
Twilight gaped. Her mouth was dry. Her stomach still churned and her heart pounded-- just like that. After the whole scene, Cadance would forgive her off the bat, with barely an apology. Even… even Celestia and her best friends had been so very disappointed with her, and she’d have to work to earn their complete respect again, so Twilight had assumed that Cadance would hate her forever. At least, there would be a few tense family reunions where Twilight rightfully got the cold shoulder she deserved. But Cadance really would look past Twilight’s outburst just like that. It seemed so ridiculous.
But then again, she thought, with a glowing warmth setting alight in her chest, so did most of her friendships. After all, after the terrible “Love Me, Need Me” incident in Ponyville, her friends had stepped in to plead her case - and thinking about it, accidentally mind-controlling half of Ponyville was probably worse than shouting at her soon-to-be sister-in-law, if less personal. Plus she remembered Cadance, fixing her mane after she’d mangled it with the scissors trying to cut it herself, putting bandages on her scrapes, kindly but sternly disciplining her for throwing temper tantrums. This was no different, really.
The weight inside her lifted so fast it choked her. Cadance… she was such a good pony to forgive her like that, a wonderful pony, one who Shining would be lucky to call his wife…
“Hey, come on,” Cadance laughed, swiping at Twilight’s cheeks. “I said I forgave you, didn’t I?”
Twilight sniffed, and gave a wobbly smile. “Yeah, you did. I’m so sorry, Cadance, and I promise this won’t ever happen again. I would hate for my jealousy to get in the way of your and Shiny’s happiness.”
Cadance rolled her eyes. “Oh, don’t worry about it. You know how Shiny gets, after the wedding he’ll forget it ever happened. And you know I wouldn’t let him stay angry at our Best Mare.”
Twilight started, her breath smashed out of her. “You-- I’m-- You and Shining would still have me as Best Mare? But, he said--”
“Don’t worry, Ladybug,” Cadance cooed, gently caressing Twilight’s cheeks again. “I already talked to Shiny about it. Besides, shouting and banning you from the wedding without my say like that? Well, I won’t say it was completely out of line, but with him and his temper…”
She trailed off, staring out into space. Her eyes went cold and distant, and Twilight wanted to perk up -- after all, she never really thought of Shining Armor having a temper, and it was Twilight’s fault he’d snapped-- but then Cadance pulled a face. Her muzzle scrunched as if she’d smelled something foul, and she yanked her hooves away from Twilight’s face as if she’d been burned.
“Oh, but Twilight,” she whined, disgust squirming all over her face; Twilight realized that with all her crying, she’d gotten tears and snot smeared all over Cadance’s new ponyshoes. Twilight’s face burned hot. Oh, how else could she mess up today?
“Ah,” Twilight hissed. “Sorry, I--”
“Forget about it,” Cadance snapped, flicking the mucus from her hooves. Droplets landed in the little puddle of misery that Twilight had cried herself a couple feet away. Then Cadance looked back at her, and suddenly all of that disgust melted away into a honey-sweet concern, a sad smile that warmed Twilight to the bone. “Anyway, with you crying like that, you must have some sinus headache. Maybe I can use the spell I use to treat Shiny’s migraines on you, so you can see how it really works?”
Twilight only felt dumber and dumber the more Cadance talked. Now the mare was willing to treat her well-deserved headache with a spell that Twilight had accused of being evil? She really had let the jealousy and bitterness get to her head, hadn’t she? Before she could apologize again though, Cadance rolled her eyes again.
“And we can treat it like, a, uh, truce. This is a gift, so you know that I forgive you, and now you know better than to do it again, and you can stop beating yourself up about it, okay? Really, it’s just a little spell, it won’t bother me to cast it.”
After a second of hesitation, Twilight nodded. “Of course, Cadance, if you really want to. I really am sorry about what I’ve done, and I’m glad to have your forgiveness. It will be wonderful to have you as a sister.”
Cadance smiled, so very sweetly. “Of course, Ladybug. Now you just lean back and relax, alright?”
Twilight did. The relief pooled in her chest as she settled back onto her haunches. Just a second ago Twilight felt like a broken mess of a pony, but now, because of forgiveness, because of an act of friendship from a pony who was going to be her sister-in-law soon(!), she already felt lighter. Friendship really was magic, and though she’d have to work on apologizing to Shiny and her other friends, with Cadance by her side, she had hope that things would turn out alright.
Cadance lit her horn and took a mighty step forward. Her magic, a brilliant shimmering green, sparkled off the floor like green embers, lit her fur a sickening mix of colors. Twilight smiled as she stepped forward, leaned her head down, and-- and smiled at her, like--
Cadance’s face twisted. One moment she was Twilight’s foalsitter, gently cleaning up one of Twilight’s boo-boos, and the next her face shifted into horrifying glee. Her mouth twisted up and up into a smile full of ghastly teeth, pointed and grotesque. Her eyes alit with green flame, sparkling with self-satisfied joy, so sharp, so triumphant, so cruel. Twilight felt the terror, remembered at the last awful second of clarity she had that Cadance’s magic was actually a soft baby blue, the same time Cadance’s horn touched her own. It was cold, and hard, and then came the ripping.
Twilight screamed as the pain first stabbed into her chest, then into her heart, but Cadance leapt onto her. As Twilight’s body went slack of its own accord despite the panic desperately trying to get her limbs to move, Cadance pushed her body to the ground, smashed her horn against Twilight’s with a click, covered her mouth with a heavy wing.
Twilight’s mind swam. One second she was on the floor with Cadance smashing her into the carpet, and then her mind was floating- she saw her mom and dad holding her hooves, she saw her friends hugging her close.The Grand Galloping Gala flashed by in a sickening rush of memory, all of that emotion of the night surfacing to her mind. She remembered Celestia, so desperately wanting to be with Celestia throughout the night, only to talk with her like an old friend over donuts and see another side of her for the very first time. She remembered the Running of the Leaves, defeating Discord, the surprise party for Pinkie Pie, helping Fluttershy with Philomena- and with it all came a rush of nostalgic, heart-aching love and care. It pounded in her chest, forced a smile onto her face made her feel so full and warm and happy to have such wonderful friends by her side-- and then a tug.
A wisp of that emotion rushed away like sand in a sieve. Somewhere, Twilight Sparkle cried out in physical agony at the tearing pain in her head, but inside all she could feel was the loss. So much feeling, a love which pulsed in her veins and made her feel alive and useful and loved, suddenly was nowhere to be found. Nothing but a crater was in its wake, so hollow. Then that claw of magic from Cadance twisted like a dagger in her heart again, and again, and more of it faded with a pang. She still saw her memories. She saw herself, sitting there sipping apple juice with her friends while Spike ate some baked bads, saw herself laugh-- but it was so very empty, now. Like a strand of film decaying over time, blackening at the edges and dusting over with specks of dirt. It hurt, oh stars, it hurt so bad, and she reached desperately to grab it back but Cadance just twisted the magic deeper, and deeper, and deeper, so harshly Twilight thought her brain was ripping into two meaty chunks.
Vaguely, Twilight thought about the day Spike was hatched. She knew, logically, that at the time she had been bewildered and terrified and excited. Only weeks ago, she had looked at a picture of him as a baby and almost cried at the swell of happiness, of pride, and had to go scoop him up into a hug and ruffle his head-scales.
Now she felt nothing. A numbness. A crater in her soul. Something told her that if somepony were to trot up to her right now and tell her that Spike had died in a terrible accident, she would offer her condolences to the ponies who actually cared, and then she would continue her day with only the bat of an eyelash. It would mean nothing. He meant nothing to her. He used to, maybe, but not now.
Twilight’s body felt alien to her. Something wanted to sob. Something wanted to reach out in desperation and plead, beg to give her that love, that friendship, back, fill her up with emotion and purpose. She wanted to fall to the ground and weep, and mourn, and apologize until her dying breath, but she didn’t know why. The tears were dripping down her face, her throat was raw from screaming, her body spasmed wildly on the ground in a stabbing pain worse than she’d ever felt before. But she didn’t understand why.
After all, all she was doing was reliving some memories of Spike the dragon and some of her old ponyfriends. And yes, objectively, they’d been wonderful friends in the past and she recognized the love she’d felt before, but the truth was that she just didn’t feel the same anymore. She’d changed, is all, and came to realize that she just happened to be more compatible with Cadance.
Cadance, as in the Cadance, the greatest foalsitter in the history of foalsitters, the most amazing pony ever! Beautiful, caring, kind Cadance.
Then Twilight Sparkle finally fell unconscious from the pain, and a sickeningly full Queen Chrysalis’ new plan fell into motion.