Family Business

by TCSNxs

Family Business - original

Her eyes opened slowly. Her body was sore and she felt her magic had weakened quite a bit. The last thing she remembered was being violently expelled from Canterlot Castle via a large pink wall of energy. Slowly gaining her hooves, Chrysalis found herself lacking strength, but not entirely defeated. Her green eyes looked around, trying to gauge where she was. She saw nothing but pine trees all around her. She heard a few birds chirping that was back dropped by the sound of a raging river.

"Well, this is a change," she remarked to herself. She looked over her form and found no permanent damage. Minus a few cuts, she seemed to be fine. As an immortal being, she'd have time later to sort out what happened and to, perhaps, try again.

She'd have to recoup her energy and her army before making another try at Canterlot, but she had reason for hope. She fooled nearly everypony, including the powerful Princess Celestia. She'd even bested the solar alicorn in magical combat. Granted, she had some help from Shining Armor's rather immense capability for love, but a win was a win.

"Would you care to try again, my 'love'?" she remarked to nopony in particular. The forest didn't seem to want to answer back. Her first task would be to find the remnants of her army. Then she could fall back and regroup. She would live to fight another day.

After taking a few tentative steps, she found her legs would hold her. She began a quick trot through the expanse of trees, seeking to find what other Changelings she could. She found the forest dark, despite the fact the sun was still high overhead. A few birds seemingly chirped at random, almost mocking her in a way.

"Shut up," she said, but the birds kept on in their mirthful songs. She thought she heard a bird shift in a branch, but dismissed it.

She hoofed for seemingly hours and found no sign of any of her charges. She came across a rather interesting serpent with a green and purple mustache, a manticore that believed itself to be a kitten, and the remains of a rock slide, but no sign of any other Changeling. She eventually came across some old ruins with two half-fallen towers rising above a main hall.

"It's as good a place as any other," Chrysalis commented. She knew she'd need a place of repose before continuing back towards her stronghold near Tartarus. The apparent main hall of the structure had seen better days. Walls were falling apart and even the foundations had cracked in spots. She looked around, surmising it to be a seat of power at one point.

She cantered up one set of stairs, minding her hoofsteps on the weakened structure. At the top of the stairs, she found an wide room with large open windows. A doorway to what was an old washroom was off to one side and the long construct seemed sturdy enough. She walked though it until she found a set of four hoofprints scorched into stone. A few pieces of black metal were laying around the hoofprints, seemingly burned by something. Chrysalis let curiosity get the better of her.

"What happened here?" she asked to herself as she leaned in, studying the fragments of charred metal.

"Family reunion," somepony spoke behind her in a melodic alto voice.

Chrysalis was quick to react. Her horn sparked to life a fierce green light as she turned to face the intruder. She gathered as much of her magic as she could muster before launching a green streaking shot towards where the voice originated. She only found a silver flash where it was as the green bolt thundered into the wall, blowing loose a few pieces of stone while the wall groaned in protest.

Another silver flash stole the vision in front of her, leaving tracers across her vision. A second later, the side of her face exploded in pain that cascaded into the back of her skull. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she knew she was falling backwards quickly before being stopped suddenly by the hard stone floor. Her vision slowly came back into focus. finding a tall dark sapphire pony towering over her, her wings easily tucked at her side and a silver glow on her hip.

Chrysalis reached up and touched the side of her face. Pulling her hoof away, she saw her normally black fur lined with a dark crimson. Looking up, she watched as the alicorn's cyan eyes promising torment if she so much as made a threatening gesture.

"My apologies that we weren't formally introduced," she spoke, never releasing the Changling Queen from her gaze, "My name is Princess Luna, Lunar Regent and Diarch of Equestria."

Chrysalis wanted to speak, but the words died in her throat. She struggled to move her body back from the alicorn, trying to get some space between her and the co-ruler of Equestria. She sought to summon some magic, perhaps to teleport away. Even as her horn sparked to life, she found her horn shift immediately from its normally green glow to a sliver aura. Chrysalis tried to summon forth enough energy to break through the magical blockade, but there wasn't enough left in her. She was trapped.

"I believe you've met by sister, Princess Celestia," Luna surrounded the Chyralis in her magical grasp and lifted her off the ground. Luna plunged the Changeling Queen onto the stone again, "and I believe you are quite familiar with my niece, Princess Mi Amore Cadenza." She picked up the Changeling again in her magical grasp.

Chrysalis struggled against the telekinetic hold, but her limbs would not move. She found herself rotating to face the wall her magic punched through a moment before. A quick burst of acceleration and the magical hold was released. Finding the wall coming too quick to react, her vision exploded again in tracers and stars before landing in an unceremonious thump.

"Also, I believe you've met Shining Armor, Captain of the Royal Guard and Princess Cadenza's fiance?" Luna deadpanned as she thrust the Changling against the wall again for good measure.

"I also believe you are familiar with the Elements of Harmony, are you not?" Luna spoke evenly with no emotion in her voice.

Chrysalis found herself levitating again, her magic nullified in Luna's grasp. Somewhere in her mind, Chrysalis knew she wanted to scream, but couldn't find the tongue for it.

"Applejack," Luna spoke as she broke Chrysalis against the wall yet again, "Rainbow Dash." Again, the Changeling Queen was thrust against the stone wall again, her body making a sickening sound while her mind wracked against the burst of pain.

"Pinkie Pie," Luna spoke again, this time reversing direction and putting the Changling Queen through a stone pillar, toppling most of it over, "Fluttershy." The queen was thrust against the base of the pillar, causing it to nearly topple over as well. "Rarity," Luna continued as she crashed Chrysalis against the bottom step of the dais at the end of the room.

"And let me not forget, of course, Twilight Sparkle," Luna's magical grasp thrust the stunned Changling Queen through the wall. Chrysalis took flight for the second time that day as she left the room atop the tower while a silver flash ignited below her. Chrysalis crashed through a portion of the roof to the main hall and landed hard onto the stone floor.

She was hurting badly. Being an immortal being though, it would take more than a physical thumping to do any permanent damage. Though Chrysalis knew she was deeply bruised and having a hard time breathing without sharp pain, she would heal. Or she thought would until the silver flash ignited in front of her again.

Chrysalis reached in herself, trying to find any sort of magical spell to be rid of the vengeful Lunar Regent, but she had nothing left. Looking up, she saw those terrible cyan eyes again, promising death if she even looked away.

"Stop," Chrysalis meekly asked, "I'll leave and shall never come back! I promise!" she coughed, trying to find her breath.

"I shall accept your word," Luna spoke without emotion, those cyan orbs never breaking.

"You...you shall?" Chrysalis spoke in hope. She might get out of this with her holey torso intact.

"Oh yes," Luna's horn began glowing in a fierce light again, with her eyes joining in that terrible silver glow. The ground began to shake as the ancient Castle of the Pony Sisters groaned in protest. Luna's voice took on an almost electronic undertone as she continued, "After all, who am I to question the word of royalty? Though 'never' is such a long time and I should love to see you again."

The quake continued to gain in strength as the silver glow grew in brightness, quickly filling the room. Chrysalis's form began to become less than whole, as if her physical form were being ripped apart into nothingness. She tried to scream in protest, but found her voice came out as nothing but a meek protest in the wind.

"One day," Luna's glow died away, leaving a smoking outline of where Queen Chrysalis once was. Luna's gaze kept even with the spot.

"Hello everypony! Did I miss anything?" Luna asked as she landed next to her sister and the Elements of Harmony with a quiet smile on her face. Celestia gave her an inquisitive look, though Luna smiled in her own innocent way. She looked over her sister, the newlyweds and her friends. Indeed, it was an eventful night.

As the festivities continued, Celestia and Luna stole away while Twilight was doing her best to cut a hit single. The sisters were quietly sipping glasses of wine while overlooking the gathering from Celestia's balcony.

"Is it done?" Celestia asked quietly, never breaking her gaze to the party below.

"It is," Luna replied, looking up the moon where a new shape seemed to be forming on its surface. Luna would chalk it up to another "creative whim."

"And the rest of them?" Celestia said in pure nonchalance before sipping her wine.

"It's being handled," Luna said. Her vaunted Lunar Guard did have a gruesome reputation that was well earned.

Celestia nodded, knowing that was all her sister needed to say on the matter. Twilight and her friends were busy mingling amongst the crowd, enjoying their night as the sisters watched from above in silence. The two would need to go back to the party soon before anypony suspected something was amiss. Luna watched with particular interest, almost fascinated by the party that seemed to be gather steam despite the late hour.

"It's good to have you back, sister," Celestia turned and gave a small smile.

Luna simply smiled as the two spread their wings and took off, gliding casually down to the edge of the festivities.