//------------------------------// // The Friendship Festival. // Story: Chrysalis' unexpected Life // by coto616 //------------------------------// --------------------------------- The Friendship Festival. An idea proposed by Lord King Cocoon --------------------------------- Canterlot is the capital and most important city in Equestria, where most of the political, judicial, and economic power of the entire nation is concentrated, it is also the home of Princess Luna, the former Princess Celestia, and occasionally the new and flamboyant Princess Twilight Sparkle, It was a great responsibility and a great way for the young princess to practice her leadership and delegation skills, and Luna knew that it was a lot of work for any pony, so she knew that Twilight would have to delegate some tasks to her friends or another pony. The city was almost at its limit with ponies from all corners of the land, and hundreds of changelings had come from the Hive just to see the festival, there were also a few individuals from other races, but most of them were those who had already lived in Canterlot by the time the festival was held, the other races did not place as much importance on friendship as the ponies did, There were many reasons why the other races thought the ponies were so friendly and most of the time the conclusion was that being a herbivorous race and natural prey for many of Equestria's animals and monsters, they had a strong sense of herd instinct and grouped together to have a greater chance of survival, but it could also be that if they were not friendly with others they could unleash an eternal winter. The celebrations in the streets were still in their infancy but the feeling was already there, some of the games and shops were full of happy ponies and changelings enjoying the delicious food that was being prepared, and in contrast to the celebrations in the streets inside the castle there was a completely different atmosphere, The ponies were running in all directions, helping as much as they could to organise the festivities, and among the hundreds of documents and permits that needed to be issued for the various stalls that would be set up for the celebration, a small group of mares was sitting in the Throne Room, summoned by one of the Princesses to ask for their help. "Do you think there is going to be a problem with your sister not being present at the celebration?", Chrysalis asked watching from one of the windows of the castle throne. "There will be a few sad faces in the crowd, but I have no doubt that there will be no protests, although there is another group who are of more concern to me." Luna laughed a little and pointed her hoof at the small groups of dark horse creatures running almost uncontrollably between the different game and food stalls of the festival, they looked like a huge group of foals on a sugar rush, which was not far from the truth as most of them besieged the cake stall and bought everything there was, the only happy one apart from the changelings seemed to be a very cheerful unicorn who hung up a closed sign before taking a huge sack full of coins with him. "It'll keep them going for a few hours and then they'll calm down, it happens every few days in Ponyville, we changelings love to eat candy." "I can vouch for that, Shining and I have caught Thorax raiding our fridge in the middle of the night on a number of occasions." "Luna, can you tell me something I'm not getting?" "What do you want to ask Chry-." Twilight Sparkle opened the door and walked into the throne room, not realizing that she had interrupted the conversation of the monarchs, she was accompanied by Spike who was a little further back with a pile of scrolls and a board. "Greetings Princesses and Queen Chrysalis, thank you all three for seeing me. I have had an idea that could make our Friendship Festival the most wonderful celebration Equestria has ever seen." "Yes Twilight, we are very excited." Luna said. "Ponies have been arriving all morning from all over." Cadance replied. "I'm sure everypony came to see you and Songbird Serenade, but why am I here? I'm a guest like everypony else, and technically not involved in the organization." Chrysalis asked. "Technically, you should be helping to organize the festival because you are a monarch, just like Twilight, Luna, and I, and you have lived in Equestria for a long time, and your race is integrating into our society just like other races." Cadance replied. "Twilight's job is to organize the festival, and she'll have plenty of help from her friends, and my job now is to... supervise the festival and the games to... keep them... safe for... my subjects, lucky you." The queen was on her way slowly and triumphantly to the main door when Cadance tapped Luna on the shoulder to have a look at her in action. "I hope you finish your work soon Chrysalis, I heard there are a lot of ponies interested in taking a tour of the Hive and there are a lot of reporters who want to interview you and also take the tour, Thorax helped me a little with the Crystal Empire ponies and a group of Yak that came to the festival and right now they are at the castle waiting to talk to you and they also want to take a tour, but I am sure it is not a big group, it will be about 200 ponies?" Cadance looked to the side, thinking of a random number for her made-up story, and Chrysalis, as she walked towards the door, subtly changed her direction to face the young princess of friendship. "So Twilight, what idea did you come up with?" The queen asked as she looked at the board full of drawings and some mathematical calculations. Cadance and Luna just chuckled. "I want to make the festival special, and I can use your help." Twilight stepped up to the board and explained that with the sun and moon moving a few degrees more to enhance the show's lighting, Cadance's help in creating a Northern Lights display over the stage, and the changeling's magic in creating fireworks, Twilight wanted to make a show unlike any other in history. Cadance and Chrysalis looked at Twilight with a bit of hesitation, and Luna didn't seem to be too receptive to the idea. "Twilight, you want me to move the sun and moon just for the party?, I can't do that, those two things are big, fat and very heavy, it still takes me a lot of effort to put the sun in a similar position every day as before, and the only reason no pony has noticed it's silly is because if you look at it directly, it burns your eyes out." "I know how to make floating hearts and magic shields, and I can try to make an aurora borealis, but without Luna's help to move the sun and the moon, I don't think it will do much good." "I'm sorry to be blunt but all my servants are here enjoying the day and I won't ask them because I know they will follow my orders without asking, for many of them this is their first time out of the Hive and they are still servants blindly following my orders, they will do what I tell them without asking even if they know they can say no, they are free changelings and not my slaves and I need them to learn that by experiencing the free world first." "Then that's a... no." Twilight's spirits were crushed by the refusal of the other princesses and the queen. "But relax Twilight, you have all the magic you need." Luna said with a smile to try and lift the spirits of the young princess. "Yes, you have your friends to help you and they always solve everything." Cadance pointed out. "They cause collateral damage that is sometimes worse than the problems themselves, but they mean well and it always comes together somehow, so just chill." Chrysalis joined in. "Thanks." "Don't worry about it, but let's see how the girls are doing with the arrangements." Accompanied by a slightly calmer Twilight, Chrysalis left the room. -------------------------------------------------------------------- "Why does she always make these lists if she only follows them half the time?" Chrysalis asked the dragon. "She likes to make them, and they keep her focused, but it's also because she's got OCD." "Spike!" shouted Twilight. "I'm not obsessive." "You didn't miss any punctuation in that list either." The dragon replied. "A WHAT?" Twilight yelled before frantically checking her list for the aforementioned error. "Where? Where? Where? I can't find it." "I think I was wrong, sorry Twilight." The dragon replied, reassuring the alicorn. "Spike, don't scare me, I have too many problems to worry about something so serious." While Chrysalis chuckled at what had happened, Twilight took a few breaths to calm herself. "Hi Twilight, hi Chrysalis." All the girls said in unison. "Hi Spike." Rarity especially greeted the little dragon, who returned the greeting nervously. "How did it go with the princesses, did they like your idea?" "Not really, they think I can make it perfect without their magic." "And we are right, you have everything here that you need to make this festival a success." "But what if it doesn't, what if Songbird Serenade hates the stage, or no pony makes any new friends, and if I fail at the festival, who am I?" The pressure to organize the most perfect festival in all Equestria consumed the young Alicorn. "Twilight, look at me." Pinkie said, hoofing up to the Princess' face and looking her straight in the eye. "This will be the greatest celebration Equestria has ever seen, as Princess of Friendship you cannot fail, this day will define who you are." Pinkie pointed her judging hoof over the princess. "The pressure is intense." She said dramatically. "It's like it's too much for a mere pony to handle, AAAAHHH!" She shouted over a frightened princess, scaring everyone around her, only to end up jumping backwards at the end. "But you have us, so stop worrying." Finally saying with a smile. Suddenly, a lively music with drums began to play, and the queen looked in all directions, trying to find out where it was coming from, but it seemed to be all over the place and coming from nowhere. It's time to show 'em what you've got It's time to go and get things done But you don't have to do it on your own 'Cause you've got friends right here to make it fun We got this You got this As if waiting for something, the group of colorful mares turned their heads to look at the queen. "Come on Chrysalis, that was your cue." Rainbow said. "My cue for what?" The queen asked, raising an eyebrow as she tried to think of what that meant, until she finally figured it out. "Ohhhh no no no no no... I don't sing, that's a colored pony thing." She finished, taking a step back. "But you have to sing, it's part of what we do." Pinkie commented. "Right, it's part of what you ponies do, what do you think, we live in a fantasy world?, I'd rather check out other parts of the festival, thank you." The queen replied, taking a few steps back to get away from the danger zone. "Ok, but it is your loss, ok girls from the choir." Rainbow cleared her throat before continuing. "3... 2... 1... and..." We got this You got this We got this together At that moment, Rainbow grabbed Twilight's hoof and dragged her with her until she disappeared between the clouds. The queen sighed calmly and quickly left, saying goodbye to her friends, grateful to have dodged the bullet. -------------------------------------------------------------------- "I think everything will be to your liking, the installation is complete and only some exterior aesthetic details remain." Said the queen, who was walking next to a famous mare and her bodyguards. "That's excellent, then I won't have a problem doing my sound check. But I'd like to talk to the pony in charge and arrange the final details." Songbird Serenade replied. "Sure, she's Twilight Sparkle and she's... covered with pie?" The queen asked, somewhat confused. Twilight quickly stepped out of the giant cake and walked over to the singer. "Greetings, my name is Twilight Sparkle and I am the Princess of Friendship in charge of the Friendship Festival." The Alicorn began to speak faster and more nervously than she expected. "It's not that we have more Friendship Princesses in Equestria, or that I was elected Friendship Princess to run the Friendship Festival, of course you should know that since you're from Equestria, he he, it's just that I'm the Friendship Princess, and since the Friendship Festival is about making friends, then I..." Chrysalis put her hoof over the princess's mouth, preventing her from speaking any further and saving her from any more embarrassment than she was already in. "Twilight, calm down and take a deep breath, I already told Songbird everything she needs to know about the festival and she just needs to set up on stage to do the sound checks and see if they need to adjust anything, okay?" The princess nodded her head a few times. "Ok, now I'll remove my hoof, but please relax and think about what you're going to say before speaking." Just then, thunder rumbled in the sky, catching everypony's attention and causing them to lift their heads to see a huge black cloud looming over Canterlot. "Storm clouds? I ordered perfect weather, Rainbow Dash?" The princess asked, looking at her winged friend with a bit of annoyance. "Uuuuhmmm, I don't think those are storm clouds." Rainbow replied as the ominous cloud continued to approach. Out of the cloud, a large, dark-colored, metallic airship appeared, coming in for a landing. "UuuuuUUUUUhhhh, those must be the clowns I ordered." Pinkie commented, jumping up and down in glee, but the craft continued its descent, destroying a couple of stone pillars and a booth filled with clown items and balloons. "Or definitely not the clowns I ordered." He finally said suspiciously. The ship finally landed and dropped a metal platform on which a balloon-shaped animal was crushed to death. "Brian! Nooo!" A soul crushed unicorn cried out as he watched his latex friend deflate to nothing. Down the platform came a small, chubby gray creature that looked like a strange cross between a pig and a weasel, but it had an amazingly cool haircut, between its stubby claws it carried a metal box and gasped with each step until it fully descended and placed the box on the ground, from the box an amplifier appeared and the creature took what looked like a microphone and began to speak. " Ponies of Equestria!" The creature shouted. "We come on behalf of the fearsome, the Po-." "Who are you, and why have you decided to invade us?" The queen shouted menacingly at the strange creature who interrupted his speech. "Me?" he asked nervously. "Well, my name is... I'm Grubber and I don't know, we were sent..." "Silence, minion." The strange being was instantly silenced by a dominant female voice from inside the ship. From the inside, an equine figure with armor and a menacing look appeared. She was a unicorn of a dark orchid color, a dark red mane and green eyes, her cutie mark couldn't be seen, but there was something unusual about her appearance. "She's... a unicorn?" Twilight asked. "Looks like it, but what happened to her horn?" Spike replied. Cadance and Luna appeared out of the air and landed on the ground next to the queen. "Are you sure it's an invasion?" Luna asked muttering to the queen. "Absolutely, how many troops are at your disposal?" The queen replied. "Active duty, a little over five hundred, the rest are on rest, but surely they have already been alerted and are in preparation." "Excellent, I have about two hundred changelings in the city, most of them are not fighters, but they are all capable of self-defense." "I brought a small contingent of twenty-four Royal Guards, my personal escort, but the best my realm has to offer." Cadance added in the same tone. "Well, any hoof that can fight is useful, but we won't be able to make a battle plan if we don't know who we're fighting, we'll have to do some improvisation on the defenses." Both princesses nodded and prepared to fight. The unicorn stepped out of the ship, but stayed on the platform so everypony could have a look at her. "Who are you and how did you guess it was an invasion?" "It's an old hobby me and my minions had when we were hungry or... bored." "Minions?" The unicorn asked, raising an eyebrow. "Exactly, I am the one and only Chrysalis, Queen of the Changelings, and you are?" "I am Commander Tempest, and I come in the name of the Storm King to demand your complete and total surrender." "Hello." Twilight greeted shyly, emerging from behind Cadance. "I don't know what's going on, but I'm sure we can talk about it." She said with a nervous smile. Tempest had a look at the group of princesses next to the queen and couldn't help but notice the absence of one very important figure. "Weren't there four princesses from Equestria, where's your big sister, where's Celestia?" The unicorn asked. "My sister is unavailable at this time." Luna replied, to which Tempest just gave her a look with a raised eyebrow. The unicorn's question, and the way she reacted to Luna's answer, told the Queen that this unicorn was coming from a place far away and had very little contact with Equestria, which gave her an advantage because it showed that this invading force did not know much about who they were trying to attack and therefore could not be sure if what they were saying was true or lying. "Don't you read the news? she tried to take over Equestria, we stopped her and locked her in Tartarus, you can go try to talk to her, we'll wait here." The queen said with a bit of sarcasm to draw Tempest's attention to her and to eliminate the possibility that she would doubt Celestia's true location. "Three princesses and a mocking queen is better than nothing." Tempest replied as she descended the metal platform. "Here's the deal ladies, I need your magic, so please hand it over nicely or we'll make it difficult for everyone." "And why should we bow to you, you are one and we are hundreds." Tempest let out a small, sinister laugh at Luna's words. "I was hoping you would choose the hard one." At that moment, two large beasts appeared behind Tempest and many more ships like the first appeared from the cloud, the ponies screaming and running in fear as huge gray armored beasts fell from the sky to attack the city. Amidst the chaos, Tempest threw a dark green orb towards the princesses, Cadance quickly formed a shield to protect them all, but it was useless as the orb passed through and hit her directly. "Cadance!" Princess Luna shouted. "I can't... stop it." Cadance said as her body was covered in dark crystal. "LUNA!" Chrysalis shouted. "Retreat to the castle, take as many ponies as you can, gather as many troops as possible, I will give you as much time as possible." The princess of the night nodded and after dodging a few enemies she flew towards the castle, but without warning she was hit by another of the black orbs that also turned her into crystal and she fell to the ground and her doom, but a few changelings who saw the princess fall flew quickly and grabbed her seconds before she hit the ground, Chrysalis saw everything that was happening and knew what would happen to her and the city. "We are doomed." The queen said to herself, then turned to the only princess present. "TWILIGHT!" The queen shouted. "Listen to me well, the city will fall and so will I, run fast and don't stop, go south across The Badlands until you reach the ocean, you will need a vehicle to find the island of the hippogriffs, ask Queen Novo for help, she knows how to defeat the Storm King." "But you... what are you going to do?" Twilight asked worriedly. "I, along with my changelings, will try to save as many of the ponies as we can, Cadance and Luna, and then..." Chrysalis saw a green ball over Twilight's shoulder heading her way. "...GET DOWN!" She shouted, knocking the young princess to the ground. She felt the ball ruffle her mane. "Go Twilight, NOW, I'll be fine." The queen said before she pushed the alicorn out of the danger zone and then joined the other troops in defense of the city. "Over here, all of you." Was the last thing the queen heard as somepony yelled at Twilight before she turned her full attention to the battle at hoof. -------------------------------------------------------------------- Although the queen fought bravely for a long time, she knew from the beginning that it was a lost battle, her troops had the ability to transform into an infinity of beasts, but they were outnumbered and inferior in physical resistance, slowly they were exhausted as well as the Canterlot guards, Cadance's guard and the few ponies that joined the fight. One by one the changelings fell, one by one the ponies fell, and the castle fell too, finally the queen was left with a small group of changelings and guards, without energy or magic, wounded and very exhausted, surrounded by dozens of enemies laughing as they watched the ponies fall one by one, and in the final attack to end the weak resistance, a single thought crossed the queen's mind as she watched her comrades fall and felt her body turn to a dark crystal. To have given Twilight enough time to return with help.