//------------------------------// // Prologue // Story: Unfriendship: Pony Gods // by littleman001 //------------------------------// Canterlot. The magnificent city where the castle of Princess Celestia was located and where the elite of the ponies of Equestria lived was a shining beacon of pride and reminder of greatness for all of ponykind to look up to. Even in itself, the magnificent structure was a sight to behold. But the main reason ponies looked up to the city and the castle with a sense of pride and safety was knowing that it was the residence of their just and powerful ruler, Princess Celestia, who always watched over them and on whom they could always rely on. For as long as anypony could remember, the city has always stood tall and proud and everypony was certain that it would keep standing like that for the rest of eternity. Within one hour, the rock solid belief of those ponies were shattered. Today, Canterlot, the capital of the great nation of Equestria, the home of the princesses and the symbol of the ponies greatness was lying in ruins. The mountain that city was standing on was shaken by a tremendous explosion that went off in the crystal caverns that run beneath the palace. The blast was so big that not only the royal palace's, but the entire city's structure was destroyed and the once magnificent city collapsed down the mountain. The only ponies at the sight right now were the pegasi of the Royal Guard and the Wonderbolts looking for survivors with combined effort. A few others were staring at the unbelievable and horrifying sight in utter shock and devastation. No one had any idea how this could happen. But a few hours later in the small town of Ponyville, things were now becoming more clear. The newspapers with the giant headline 'CANTERLOT DESTROYED! TENS OF THOUSANDS DEAD!' were selling like hot cakes. Everypony wanted to know who could have been so demented to do this and how they could have accomplished it. According to the newspapers: after thorough investigation, the culprit was identified and arrested and was currently being interrogated by the Princess herself at the town hall secured by her guards. It turns out that a group of changelings lead by Queen Chrysalis once again infiltrated Equestria and spent the past few months setting up explosives in the abandoned crystal caverns, but there were no further details beyond that. Celestia herself was currently trying to get these details out of the diabolical changeling queen, but what she found out was so unimaginably depraved and horrifying that it wasn't even fit to be printed. Celestia rubbed her face with her forehoof in frustration. Dealing with the changeling queen was never easy, but in the light of what she's done and her nonchalant attitude about it, she felt like she was losing all of her patience. She angrily slammed her hoofs on the table Chrysalis was sitting at and glared at her. "How did you reverse your changeling magic towards my ponies?!" she demanded. But all Chrysalis gave in reply was an evil grin. "Really, Celestia? I just kidnapped two of your subjects, tied their life forces to a bunch of explosives I've been gathering under your castle - right under your nose, I might add - tricked your student into killing her parents, wiped Canterlot off the face of the planet and all you're interested in is how I reversed my changeling shape-shifting magic to make those ponies look like changelings? Wow, and ponies call me cold-hearted." she chuckled as she laid back in her seat with her back hooves put on the table and her fore hooves folded behind her head. Celestia turned away from her in an effort to calm herself as she felt like she was on the verge of doing something she will regret for the rest of her existence. "I always knew you were demented, Chrysalis, but what you did today defies all explanations. How would destroying Canterlot benefit you? How would that get you the love to feed your changelings?" Chrysalis smiled up at the alicorn princess. "Ah, now that is a much better question. You see, sunbutt, while Equestria does have enough love to feed my hive for generations to come, I realized that I will never going to get it as long as you and those pesky elements are in my way. So I decided to break your perfect little harmony. If I remove the head, all of it will come crashing down. And now that I have broken their leader, the Princess of Friendship herself, I'd say it's only a matter of time." Celestia glared down at her. "It won't work, Chrysalis. Twilight Sparkle has the strongest will and resolve out of anypony I've ever known. She will grieve, she will mourn but she will not break." Chrysalis gave her a knowing half-smile like she was thinking the princess was trying to convince herself instead of her. "Is that so?" she asked in amusement as she felt an approaching source of power burning with rage and hatred. And apparently Celestia felt it too, as she turned towards the wall with an uneasy look on her face. "Well..." Chrysalis chuckled. "...I guess we're about to find out, aren't we?" In that moment, the wall exploded with a deafening blast that sent rubble and clouds of dust into the room. Celestia was about to call the guards standing outside as she was afraid the wicked queen's changelings have come to break her out, but instead she was horrified when she saw a pair of eyes glowing with dark lavender light glaring through the dust. When the dust has settled, she saw none other than Twilight Sparkle standing there, glaring at the changeling queen with a look of pure, unadulterated fury. "Get... away... from her..." she growled through her gritted teeth, her voice dripping with venom, even though her words were directed towards Celestia. "Twilight, I have things under control." Celestia told her, but the smaller purple alicorn paid her no mind. She marched towards Chrysalis until she reached the table she was sitting at but the changeling queen didn't seem bothered in slightest. When she looked down at Twilight, she merely shot her a mocking smile which caused the alicorn to lose all of her self control. She shoved the table that separated the two of them away, grabbed Chrysalis and lifted her into the air. "You tricked me!" she screamed at her, enraged. "You made me..." she looked down in despair. "My parents... Shining Armor... Spike..." she wept. The whole family gathered in Canterlot to celebrate the anniversary of Night Light and Twilight Velvet and they were all caught in the blast. Chrysalis seemingly relished in her pain. "First your brother's wedding, now your parents' anniversary." she mocked. "You seem to have a knack for screwing up your family's most important events. Maybe you should have gotten a cutie mark for that instead." Twilight raised her head back at her with hatred in her eyes. Her horn started lighting up as she got ready to blast the changeling queen away. Celestia noticed it and went to intervene. "Twilight, don't!" she yelled in despair. "Don't do something you'll regret for the rest of your life!" she seemingly got through to her as she lowered her head and the magic from her horn faded, but she still threw Chrysalis at the wall and she slumped down at the table she was sitting at just a minute ago, breaking it. Despite this, she chuckled as she got up. "Oh, you pony princesses are just too easy." she laughed darkly. "You think you and your subjects can live in peace and harmony and if you spew your "Friendship is Magic" nonsense at all of us we will all just magically accept it and the whole world will be one big happy family. " she walked back to the chair she was sitting on before Twilight entered and sat back on it. "For a pony who claims to be so smart, you can be really dumb sometimes." she told Twilight. Twilight struggled to keep herself under control. "Shut up or I swear to Faust, I'll..." "Oh, you'll what?" Chrysalis interrupted. "Banish me and my followers from Equestria forever? You already tried that. Didn't really stuck as I recall. Or you'll just turn me into stone and put me on display in your statue garden? Look at how well that worked with Discord." Twilight felt ready to explode with anger. "So go ahead, do your worst! Flush us down the toilet, we'll crawl right back like we always do! The only tricky part is that I can't think of anything that might top what I've done today! No matter what you'll do, you can't protect Equestria from us for good!" Chrysalis mocked. Twilight has had enough. "Yes, I can." she replied coldly as she used her telekinetic grip to lift Chrysalis into the air. Celestia decided that this has gone on long enough. She walked up to Twilight and put a hoof on her shoulder. "Twilight Sparkle!" she yelled, using the Canterlot royal voice. "You will restrain yourself!" But Twilight was having none of it. Not this time. Celestia felt herself pushed back against a wall hard. She didn't expect Twilight to attack her, nor did she expect such a powerful outburst from her student. Just how strong had she become? Chrysalis saw this as the perfect time to deliver the finishing blow. "Hey, Twily. Sorry if I come across as insensitive or anything, but do you think you'll ever start a new family of your own? Maybe your incompetence won't end up killing them." That was the last straw. Twilight's horn and eyes lit up with sharp purple light as she raised her hoof. She tightened her grip on Chrysalis and then she brought her hoof forward. All Celestia could do was watch in horror as her student executed the changeling queen in front of her eyes and passed the point of no return. But little did she know at the time, this was only the beginning.