//------------------------------// // Day 3 Part 5 // Story: A Venomous Queen & A Poisoned Princess // by Flikaline //------------------------------// Day 3 Part 5 ‘Do you know where her room is?’ Zecora asked Twilight Sparkle, who nodded. They had reached the main part of Canterlot. ‘How long have we got?’ Twilight Sparkle asked. ‘Only ten minutes,’ Zig-Zag told her. * ‘Maybe, maybe you should sleep . . .’ Cadence breathed painfully. Shining Armor shook his head. ‘I won’t sleep until you’re well again,’ he insisted, putting his arm around her. They were both pretty exhausted. Cadence smiled at him, a small suffering filled smile. ‘Anything I can get you?’ he asked. Cadence’s hesitation may either have been caused by uncertainty or pain. ‘I’m, I’m thirsty again,’ she told him weakly, ‘I’m sorry,’ she added softly. Getting Cadence to swallow anything in this state was a bit of an ordeal. ‘Don’t apologize, Cadence,’ Shining Armor told her, ‘I’ll be back as soon as I can.’ Within a few seconds of Shining Armor leaving the room, one of the larger window panes appeared to disappear by itself. Cadence slowly turned her head and shivered as gusts of early morning wind hit the room. For a few moments, the open gap was surrounded by a green light. Then, to Cadence’s horror, the changeling queen entered the room through the gap, evidently in a good mood. Despite her terrible state, Cadence still managed to glare at the queen. ‘Trust you to turn up when I’m in need of bed rest!’ Cadence uttered through a grimace of pain. ‘Don’t you mean, on your death bed?’ Queen Chrysalis sneered. Cadence stared blankly at her. The queen looked confused for a moment but then she gave a nasty, gleeful grin. ‘You, you actually don’t know, do you?’ she asked before letting out an evil laugh. The sense of dread became combined with Cadence’s many other pains. ‘If you’ve hurt anypony . . .’ Cadence began, struggling with the effort to speak at all. The changeling queen spluttered with laughter. Cadence would have demanded to know what she was finding so funny, but the princess just couldn’t. It seemed like she was getting weaker every moment, plus, all her symptoms and pains seemed to be getting worse at a more rapid pace. Queen Chrysalis strolled over to the bed and smirked as her victim let out a cry of pain. ‘You thought you were ill, I suppose,’ Queen Chrysalis chuckled, ‘thought it would just go away after a few days? Well I’ve got news for you, Princess, it’s not an illness, it’s poison!’ Cadence’s pained eyes widened in horror and terror. ‘But don’t worry, it will go away,’ the queen continued, stroking Cadence’s cheek with a holey hoof; Cadence was too weak to push her away; ‘in five minutes you’ll be dead!’ Cadence was determined not to cry, not this time, no matter how much this changeling tortured her. ‘Now it’s 4 minutes 57 seconds,’ came the cruel voice of the queen, ‘4 minutes 56 seconds, 4 minutes 55 seconds . . !’ ‘GET YOUR HOLEY HOOVES AWAY FROM MY WIFE!’ Shining Armor had returned to the room. ‘Not for much longer,’ the changeling jeered, ‘only until “death do us part” as far as I recall . . .’ Shining Armor glared at her. ‘And what’s that supposed to mean?’ Shining Armor snarled, while trying to drive her as far away from Cadence as possible. ‘Don’t tell me you don’t know either!’ Queen Chrysalis sniggered, while hovering in midair, ‘you two must at least be the only two ponies in Canterlot who don’t know, maybe even in the whole of Equestria! Your lovely wife has minutes to live . . !’ ‘What . . ! No . . !’ Shining Armor gasped. The queen giggled. Shining Armor glared at her. ‘You poisoned her, didn’t you!’ he growled. ‘That basically sums it up!’ Queen Chrysalis snickered. ‘How dare you!’ Shining Armor shouted. ‘She was supposed to die eventually down in those caves,’ hissed Queen Chrysalis. ‘I’m going to make you sorry for everything you’ve done and tried to do, you monster!’ roared Shining Armor. ‘Whatever you do isn’t going to be able to save her! No-pony can now!’ Queen Chrysalis declared. Suddenly, the door opened, revealing Twilight Sparkle, Zig-Zag and Zecora. ‘We have the cure!’ puffed Twilight Sparkle. ‘What!’ Chrysalis spluttered. ‘Oh, thank goodness!’ gasped Shining Armor. Queen Chrysalis glared. There was no way she was going to let them get that cure to Cadence, especially not in the last three minutes. ‘Come and assist your queen,’ Chrysalis called out. Ten changelings, who had been hiding in various different places, flew into the room. Twilight Sparkle stared. They were going to have to fight and dodge these changelings if they were ever going to get to Cadence in time. ‘Watch your back, Zecora,’ Twilight Sparkle muttered, chances are they’ll try to get the cure off you.’ Zecora nodded. The changelings had one distinct advantage: they could fly. If they did get the cure, the three of them, being two zebra and a unicorn, would be very unlikely to be able to get it back. ‘I’ll watch her back for her!’ Zig-Zag told Twilight Sparkle. They quickly went into battle. Twilight Sparkle had been right about the changelings trying to get the cure from Zecora, luckily, she and Zig-Zag were tougher than they might have looked. ‘Get off me!’ one of the changelings had snarled when Zig-Zag had jumped on his back. Twilight Sparkle was having her share of problems as the seconds ticked past: she was having to fight a varying average of five changelings at once, and, maybe it was just her, but Twilight Sparkle was finding it harder to fight them in their true form and, perhaps, they were a little stronger than before? She had almost been badly attacked from behind by three of the changelings, fortunately, Shining Armor had noticed this out of the corner of his eye just in time and had surrounded his sister with a temporary repelling shield. I must learn to perform that spell myself, thought Twilight Sparkle as she was recovering from the shock. Shining Armor himself seemed to be having the same strength problem while fighting Chrysalis, either because Cadence’s contribution to Shining Armor’s spell, as well as getting rid of the changelings, had, at the same time, fed their unable to be satisfied hunger, or, they had gained power from a new temporary source. 1 minute 35 seconds left. A dark shape could be seen against the window panes. It flew towards the gap. It was Luna. She flew directly at the changeling queen who only just avoided her attack. ‘You dare to show your face after what you’ve done!’ Luna snarled. There was soon magic flying in all directions as the changeling queen and the princess of the night started fighting viciously. Some of the changelings were surrounding the bed to guard against Cadence getting cured while the others had cornered Zig-Zag and Zecora. Twilight Sparkle had hurried over to her brother to make sure he was alright. He was, and charged at the changelings surrounding the bed. Zig-Zag realized the changelings would get the cure unless . . . ‘Twilight!’ Zig-Zag called out. Twilight Sparkle ran towards her, and, as she did, Zig-Zag threw her the flask containing the cure which Twilight Sparkle caught in her mouth by a chord which had been used to attach it to Zecora’s side. She ran as fast as she could in the direction of the bed but was blocked by changelings. ‘I’m open!’ Shining Armor shouted. Twilight Sparkle threw the flask to him. 30 seconds left. It went from Shining Armor to Zig-Zag, to Twilight Sparkle, back to Zig-Zag. Amongst this chaos was a green flash. 20 seconds left. ‘Throw it to Zecora!’ Twilight Sparkle shouted. Zig-Zag spotted her aunt and was about to throw when . . . ‘Don’t throw it to her! She’s trying to trick you!’ Zecora shouted. Zig-Zag looked up to see two Zecoras standing by the bed. Queen Chrysalis was no-where to be seen. 15 seconds left. Zig-Zag looked from one Zecora to another with a panicked expression. ‘Throw it Zig-Zag, we must save the princess!’ shouted one of them. Zig-Zag thought she could detect some malevolence in her tone but she couldn’t be sure. The real Zecora was panicking too, she had to think of something and fast. 11 seconds left. ‘Your parents sent you to me because they were unable to look after both you and your brother!’ the real Zecora blurted out. ‘What’s that got to do with anything!’ the fake Zecora snapped. Zig-Zag threw the flask to the real Zecora while Shining Armor, Twilight Sparkle and Luna attacked the fake who quickly reverted to her true form (five of the other changelings fled). Zecora administered the cure to Cadence as the sun was rising. Queen Chrysalis glared furiously (the five other changelings fled now too) but after a few moments her expression changed. Cadence’s eyes were closed and she wasn’t moving.