//------------------------------// // Chapter 6 // Story: A Journey Unthought Of: Revival of Chaos // by Hustlin Tom //------------------------------// Princess Celestia regained consciousness to a burning sensation traveling through her whole body. She opened her eyes to find that they were obscured by a thick green liquid, which she found rather odd, until she noticed that she was also hanging thirty feet in the air. Ah. So she was in a cocoon of some sort. Another blasting wave of pain hit her. She silently yelped, as the surrounding fluid muffled her cry. She could feel that there was something horribly wrong with her body. The most crucial thing to understand about an alicorn’s physiology is that they do not possess flesh and blood bodies, but that their outer forms are essentially vassals that hold at bay the primal magical energies that roar like a tempest within them. This is why alicorns are very powerful magic users, and are for the most part immortal. The Princess could feel that there was some kind of extra substance inside of her that the cocoon was agitating, and this was what was causing her such a great deal of agony. She began to slip into unconsciousness once again as she reached her threshold of pain. Her final thought as she escaped into oblivious darkness was, Luna, where are you? Princess Luna had not wanted to miss the wedding of her niece for the world. After she had returned from her thousand year banishment as Nightmare Moon, she had aggressively wanted to socialize and integrate with the current social atmosphere. Her first year had been clumsy and fraught with a few mistakes, but she was confident that she could now relate to her subjects. She might even try to be..what was that one word to express one’s aptitude with the times? Oh yes! ‘Hip’! The Princess of the Night was so excited that she lowered the moon a little early in order that she could start her own personal preparations for the wedding. She was sitting in front of her vanity, doing her best to bring the shine out of the constellations in her ethereal mane, when one of the cooking staff came in with a tray full of delightful breakfast confections. “Your Highness,” the servant said with a thick Stalliongrad accent, “Your breakfast.” The Princess was slightly confused, as she had forgotten that morning to order breakfast in her excitement. She internally shrugged; she may not have ordered it, but she wasn’t going to be rude and not accept her food. “My thanks to you, Miss?” “Edna, Your Highness.” “Miss Edna,” the Princess smiled to her newest staff member, “Thank you very much for taking care of me.” “Eto bylo nichto, Your Highness.” Edna waved her hoof with a smile, “It’s my job, after all!” The Princess looked down at her tray; cinnamon rolls, hay bacon strips, a bowl of gourmet oatmeal, and a glass of hoof squeezed orange juice met her eyes. It looked marvelous! “The oatmeal is a new recipe,” Edna explained, “It may not taste like you expect, so feel free to leave it be if you are not interested.” “Oh no, Edna!” the Princess looked to the cook in alarm, “Do not feel that I won’t enjoy it because it is new! I’ve had to try many new things in the past two years.” Princess Luna gestured to the oatmeal, “Is it yours? Did you make it yourself?” Edna paused for a time before saying, “Yes, I did.” “Then all the more reason for me to try it! I’ve never had modern Stalliongrad cooking before.” The Princess took up her spoon with her magic, and set to eating the oatmeal. She took her first bite, and a flood of delicious sensation burst through her mouth. She could taste tiny bits of apples and peaches that had been cooked into the oatmeal. “Mmm!” the Princess murmured softly. “You like?” the cook asked expectantly. “This is the best oatmeal that I have ever tasted in all of my years!” the Princess said with great enthusiasm. “You’re just saying that to make me feel good,” the cook blushed with pride. “Nay! I mean, no! I’m not pulling your tail; this was the best oatmeal I’ve..” the Princess paused and began to woozily sway back and forth. She looked down at her own body as she saw she was losing her balance, and asked, “What’s..happen..tome?” before collapsing out of the chair onto the floor, where she lay on her side. The cook calmly looked at the sleeping form of the Princess and smiled, “The idiom is ‘pulling your leg’, but thank you for liking my cooking.” Larva set about to securing all the windows and doors leading out of the Princess’ suite with her magic. Every door became locked, and every window was magically reinforced. Everything was soundproofed by the Changeling Royal Candidate. After everything was put in order, Larva felt free to drop her disguise. Crackling green flames consumed her body, until the large Changeling was restored to her true form. She lifted up the Princess’ body and brought her over to the bed, where she softly laid her down on it. Larva’s attention was completely drawn to her task, so she did not notice that behind her there were two shadows slowly creeping their way silently down to the floor. As soon as she was sure that everything was ready, the Changeling conjured up a knife into the thin air. “I despise having to do this in such an underhanded way,” she said to the slumbering Princess, “but my orders are clear. I would have truly loved to have killed you in battle.” A multitude of events happened in the next several seconds. The Princess’ eyes burst open, but they were not her own eyes. A pair of draconic pupils stared up at the Changeling. Larva cursed to herself and quickly made to stab the Princess, but she was tackled to the ground by some unseen assailant. She was beaten senseless by hooves she could not see, and she could not adapt to the threat because of the dark veil that obscured her attacker’s movements. By the time she tried to change the density of her skin to make it as thick as iron, she was already succumbing to unconsciousness from the savage beating she had received. The dark fog lifted from around the Changeling; a pair of grey furred, yellow eyed, and bat winged ponies stepped out of the darkness. With the threat neutralized to their Princess, the two Lunar bodyguards turned to the bed on which their princess had been lain. Their eyes were met by the sight of a dark, imposing alicorn with dark fuschia armor standing in front of the bed. They bowed to the dark shadow. “Nightmare Moon,” they said in unison. The draconic eyes of the black alicorn narrowed, “So, you Antrozi actually have some degree of competence, as opposed to the regular guards. Perhaps I was right to let little Luna take you in as her protectors.” “The Princess is safe,” one of the Antrozi guards said, “Now release her back to us.” The dark alicorn smiled deviously, and her incisors became pronounced, “And should I refuse to allow the Princess to return, Nox?” “The Elements will bind you once again,” the other Antrozi guard, named Umbra, replied, “and your punishment within the Princess’ mind will escalate.” The dark alicorn scoffed, “You two are no fun at all. Very well, I will release her. She will awaken in time. Go about whatever business it is you deem necessary.” The shadow that had been animating the unconscious form of Princess Luna regressed back to within her, leaving her sleeping form lying in front of her bed. Umbra slowly looked to Nox, and the two of them nodded. Nox helped to hoist Princess Luna onto Umbra’s back, and the two of them deposited her on her bed. The two of them then began to police the Princess’ room of any evidence that anything unusual had occurred at all, taking up the spilled breakfast and returning it to the cooks, cleaning up the rest of the mess throughout the room. “What should we do with her?” Nox asked Umbra as he pointed to the unconscious Changeling. “I’ll be watching over her for now.” he replied, “She cannot know of any of this. She would be distraught if she knew she had almost reverted. Return here when you’re done and join me in vigil.” “Yes, brother.” Nox replied as he carried out his orders, returning all the pieces of the ruined breakfast back to the kitchens. Things were not going so well back in the wedding chapel. Twilight and her friends had been captured by the Changelings, and they had failed to reach the cathedral where the Elements of Harmony were stored. Princess Cadence was at her fiancé’s side, while the Queen of the Changelings watched on. She particularly enjoyed the delicious taste of Shining Armor’s despair when he had been asked to perform his shield spell again. “My power is useless now,” he said hopelessly, “I don’t have the strength to repel them!” The Queen then heard a small voice inside her head; You’ve worked long and hard for this success. Why not survey your new kingdom? Look out the window, and taste your victory. She couldn’t argue with that; she had worked many months to come to this point, so why not savor the fruits of her labor a bit? As she approached the window, she heard Princess Cadence say some sappy cliché about her love giving Shining Armor his strength. The Queen of the Changelings laughed mirthlessly at the statement, “What a lovely but absolutely ridiculous sentiment!” She looked out across Canterlot with a new perspective; it wasn’t the city she was trying to take anymore, it was her city now. Ponies of every kind were running in stark terror of her Changelings, and she could taste the sour emotion of fear coming up from the city. It was magnificent! It was a triumph! It was..What was the bright light coming from behind her? As the Changeling Queen turned around, her entire field of vision was filled by a titanic shockwave of magic. The tidal wave of energy hit her, and it forced her out of the window as it carried her away from the wedding chapel, and out above the city. She could see her soldiers were also being blasted away from Canterlot in every direction. She had literally had victory in her grasp, and in just five seconds of letting her guard down, it had been robbed of her! She cried out a frustrated, “NOOOOOOO!” as Canterlot shrank into the horizon, and she and her Changeling Hive were flung far away to parts unknown. Princess Cadence and Shining Armor descended to the floor of the wedding chapel after the magical shield had completely repulsed all the Changelings from Canterlot. Shining Armor laid his head on Princess Cadence’s shoulder, and she laid her head on his. “I’m so sorry,” Shining Armor finally said. “For what?” Princess Cadence asked; she did not remove her head from his shoulder. He opened his eyes to guiltily look down into her hair, “I should have realized it wasn’t you from the beginning.” “Shiny,” Princess Cadence brought her head back to look at him in the face, “Twilight told me she believed you were hexed the entire time. I don’t blame you for anything.” She embraced him with her forehooves and closed her eyes once again after laying her head down on his shoulder, “I’m just happy to have you here right beside me again.” Twilight looked up to the ceiling, having noticed a weird iridescent blob shaped thing from out of the corner of her eye. Up above, she saw that the ceiling was decorated with three pod-like structures, one of which contained..”Princess Celestia!” she yelled. The others ponies all looked up and followed her gaze to the cocoons. Rainbow Dash leapt into the air to get a closer look at the Princess and the others. “Whatever you do, don’t touch the pods!” Shining Armor yelled up to the rainbow maned pegasus, “We don’t know what those things can do if they are tampered with, so just be very careful. Is the Princess okay?” Rainbow Dash peered into the transparent part of the cocoon at the Princess, “She looks fine, but she’s unconscious.” “Who are the other ponies up there?” Princess Cadence asked worriedly. Rainbow Dash quickly hovered around to the other two pods on the other side of the Princess’ pod. “One of’em looks familiar. He’s the one white unicorn with the blue mustache that was there at Twilight’s birthday party!” “Fancy Pants!” Rarity exclaimed in shock, “Those scoundrels got a hold of Fancy Pants?” “This other mare’s a unicorn too. She’s got three fancy looking arrow heads for her Cutie Mark.” “That wouldd be Fancy’s wife, Fleur,” Princess Cadence said as she flew up to meet with Rainbow Dash. With her magic she began to slice away the goo that was binding the cocoons to the ceiling. “Be ready to catch them as they fall,” she called out to Twilight, Rarity, and Shining Armor, “and be sure to be gentle!” The pods slowly fell one by one under the influence of the unicorn’s magic, and in a while the pods’ occupants were disgorged from the green disgusting goo that surrounded them. Fancy Pants and Fleur woke up first from their coma-like sleep. “What day is it?” Fancy Pants asked groggily, “On second thought, don’t bother telling me anything of import for now. I don’t want to even remember my own name until after I’ve taken a shower.” “I must agree, love,” Fluer said as she conjured up a mirror to look at herself, “I look absolutely horrid!” “Rarity!” Fancy Pants said as he caught a glimpse of the fashionista, “Good heavens, it’s wonderful to see you!” “Oh, likewise,” Rarity awkwardly chuckled, “If only it were under better circumstances.” “Indubitably.” Princess Celestia began to stir and moan softly. “Princess,” Twilight softly asked her mentor, “Are you alright?” The Princess got to her feet slowly, “All things considered, I’d say ‘yes’.” Everypony looked to their Princess with concerned expressions. “Are you sure, Aunt Tia?” Princess Cadence asked, and the others mirrored her question with their own. “You’re quite sure?” Fancy Pants inquired. “One hundred percent possilutely absitively sure?” Pinkie Pie asked. The Princess of the Sun faintly smiled, “Don’t worry about me. I’m fine.” She looked to her niece and then to her Captain of the Guard with a smile, “Now that we have our real Princess here, and her fiancé is in his right mind, it’s time to plan once again. You all have a real wedding to put together.” Shining Armor laughed to himself a little as he thought Yeah. Third time’s the charm, right?