You stand alone in the throne room, the center of the hive. Your body remains rigid and tense, casting a long glance down a row of six newly formed chrysalides.
Closest to you, you see Pinkie Pie, struggling futilely against her bonds. To her left is Rarity. Every few moments a spark floats out of her horn, producing no effect. True, she may not have Twilight’s raw ability, but you watch her nonetheless. I’m not about to let the same escape method work twice.
Further down the line you see Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and Applejack, all straining with every ounce of strength they have. They can fight all they like, but they won’t last for much longer… not after I have my way.
Furthest from you, in the oldest of the set of cocoons, is none other than Princess Luna. She is unconscious, already broken, her heart already pouring its love into the hive. She won’t be interfering again.
You begin to march down the line, face expressionless, looking at each of our victims only in your peripheral vision. As you pass by Applejack, a loud thud resounds through the floor. You look in her direction, only to see her hooves pressed against the walls and her face contorted into a look betraying desperation and pleading.
“Dusk, you’ve gotta get us outta here! Fight it!” she says.
I let your gaze linger long enough to give her a sense of hope before you turn to continue your march. It’ll make breaking her down that much more satisfying.
“Don’t bother,” Rainbow Dash mutters from her prison. She fixes you with another glare, as if she were capable of no other emotions. “I knew she was trouble from the start. We should have-”
Fluttershy cuts Rainbow off with a loud sob, her eyes filled with tears. “This isn’t Dusk’s fault… she’s probably in there, and she can’t do anything…”
i
Oh no you don’t. Keep marching.
“Girls, you’re missing the point,” Rarity suddenly chimes in, voice labored after another attempt at using her magic. “You realize that we’re closer now than we’ve ever been to finding our dear Twilight.”
“That’s right,” adds Pinkie. “All we’ve gotta do is escape!”
Rainbow Dash snorts. “Good luck with that.”
Applejack growls in frustration. “Rainbow Dash, I have had it up to here with-”
“No,” Fluttershy says, her body curled into a ball, suspended in her cocoon. “Let her think what she wants… it’s not like it matters anymore…”
“Now hold on a minute!” Rainbow Dash argues. “All I did was-”
“When she found out,” Pinkie says, her struggling coming to an abrupt halt, “Dusk was the first one to even think of a rescue mission. She was going to go… all by herself. But Fluttershy and me insisted on coming along.”
You stop marching. Far be it from me to ignore a good show.
“I was thinking about it for a while after that, and I came up with something - maybe, just maybe, she knew that something like this could happen. But you know what? She still tried. She tried super hard. And with me and Fluttershy and you guys and Luna… maybe she could have had a chance.”
You get a good look at Rainbow Dash’s face - as expected, it’s the picture of shock and shame. Next to her, Fluttershy looks just about ready to collapse. You can’t buy this kind of entertainment.
Applejack smirks and drives a hoof into her cocoon, threatening to shatter it. “Well, who says she don’t got a chance now?” Her struggles start anew. “Let’s get outta here an’-”
“Ha. Cute.”
You take wing, attending to me immediately, and the five Bearers follow your retreating form towards the doorway, where I have decided to make my grand entrance. All exactly as planned.
See how much easier it is when you just listen? You know, instead of suffering mental breakdowns due to mistaken identity and concocting unworkable plans against insurmountable odds? Of course you do. That was a rhetorical question.
Applejack, in top form, is the first to cut to the heart of the matter. “Where’s Twilight? You bring her out here, or Ah swear-”
I begin a slow, measured approach towards the line of chrysalides. “Making demands and threatening me, all before I even welcome you to my realm? My, how uncouth.” I grimace. “Wouldn’t you agree, Lady Rarity?”
Rarity does not gratify that with a response.
“Well, then, if you must know… Twilight is here. Alive - in a manner of speaking.” I can already feel the love for their missing comrade in the air - it tastes absolutely divine. “She’s no ordinary pony, you know,” I begin, surveying the lot of them, monitoring their expressions as you march blankly at my side. “She never gave up on you. Even if she hasn’t seen you in… how long now… Dusk, would you be a dear and…”
“Nine months,” you reply automatically. “Not since the wedding of Cadance and Shining Armor… not since being left alone at the wedding rehearsal.”
I can watch their hearts sink from here. It’s almost as delicious as the love.
“Oh, is that right?” I ask airily. “I suppose it is - you’re the one with all Twilight’s memories locked up in that head of yours.” You stand stoic as I rap a hoof smartly against your forehead.
“T-Twilight…” Fluttershy breathes the name, and it comes out almost like a sob.
“Oh… well then… her very last memory is of all of you abandoning her, isn’t it?” I put a hoof to my lips in a brief show of theatrics. “Oh, how strong she must have been to still care for you, even after you all broke her heart…”
And down goes Fluttershy.
It’s nothing I haven’t seen before, in countless other victims. The slumped posture, the closed eyes, brimming with tears, the slightly open mouth, jaw slack… she’s given up; her spirit is broken. One down, four to go.
The others react vehemently to Fluttershy’s collapse. It’s the usual fare - cries of “no, please” and “you’ve gotta stay strong”… all things I’ve heard time and again, in every crop of victims, right before I- Well, that would spoil the surprise, wouldn’t it?
Go on, have another look at them.
They’re all on the verge of tears by now. Applejack’s staying strong, I anticipate that I’ll be dealing with her last. Pinkie, on the other hand…
“I suppose you’re all wondering what I’ve done with her, aren’t you?” Just like that, their curiosity is piqued. I begin to reel them in. “Well, after one messy escape attempt, I hit upon a revelation. Twilight Sparkle is quite possibly the most powerful unicorn I’ve ever met. Though that much was clear from the get go, in retrospect. How else would she have earned these?” I hook a hoof under one of your wings and bend it past its full extension, watching as Rainbow Dash cringes instinctively.
“All that magic, and all that love… it would be a shame to simply break her down and leave her to die, or turn her into a drone, like what I’m going to do with all of you- oh, did I let that slip?” Much to their credit, the remaining Bearers seem more interested in Twilight Sparkle’s fate than their own. That’s quality friendship if I ever saw it.
“It made more sense for me to keep her alive and sane - at least, sane enough to function on some level. A power source is no good if it’s dead, you see.” I smirk at the four identically enraged faces before continuing. “The normal methods wouldn’t work here. So I had to try something else. Care to take a guess?”
The four Bearers stare into my eyes, varying degrees of curiosity, outrage, fear, and disgust playing across their faces.
“I let somepony rescue her.” Their confusion quickly turns into shock and anger as the extent of my machinations becomes clear. I decide to reinforce the idea with a visual aid, taking the shape of the Lunar Princess once again.
“Whether it was the Royal Sisters, crashing through the hive and threatening to turn me into dust…” I say using Luna’s booming voice.
A quick change allows me to take on a different form - that of the Captain of the Guard. “...or, perhaps, her beloved brother, leading the Royal Army in an dramatic charge against overwhelming numbers…” My voice has the timbre of a seasoned veteran as I speak. “Or maybe…”
I grin, taking on the delicate, graceful curves of the yellow pegasus trapped in the container right next to them. They stare at me, transfixed with shock. “With the power of love and friendship, we were able to overcome every obstacle, weren’t we, girls?” I coo in her demure, dulcet tone, before breaking character and flashing them a sinister smile.
“You… you’d better fucking drop that disguise… right… now…” I glance at Rainbow Dash’s chrysalis, where she is straining to use her wings and grinding her teeth.
I shrug and return to my normal appearance. “The point is, I let her hope and dream. I let her smile.” I look directly at Pinkie Pie, whose breathing is getting heavier. “And then… I took it all away.”
A sound erupts from Pinkie’s gullet - a mixture of a sob and a pained yelp and a laugh all at once.
“And I did it… over… and over… and over again.”
Pinkie Pie deflates, figuratively and literally, if her limp hair is any indication. “I… girls… I can’t…” she mutters before slipping into unconsciousness amid cries of protest from her friends.
The three remaining Bearers look to each other, and then to me. Their eyes are steeled, as if they are ready to take on another assault to their psyches. But I’m hardly a one trick pony. This is about the right time to try a different tactic. You look at each of them in turn, singling out the one most likely to lose her nerve next… and I strike.
“I’m going to level with you. I hardly expected my plan to work as long as it did. Twilight really does think the world of you, after all. So loyal, and strong, and clever… surely somepony must have noticed anything off in my little double agent.” I turn to the white unicorn as her eyes widen in fear. “Somepony with a keen eye for detail, perhaps?”
Rarity is lost for words, eyes darting back and forth.
“Don’t listen to her, Rarity,” Rainbow Dash warns, but the unicorn isn’t inclined to listen in her current mental state.
“What was it she said again?” I press on. “Something about…”
“My friends might be a little short-sighted… but they’re not stupid. They’ll know she’s a fake!” you parrot.
“Yes, yes, that’s it exactly! She was so sure of herself, wasn’t she?”
“My friends will notice I’m gone, and they’ll come for me… and when they find me…”
“Goodness, it’s like listening to a recording. How interesting.” My eyes linger on Rarity, who has her hooves clasped over her ears, trying to block out the noise.
“You won’t get away with this!" you continue. "My friends will-”
“Stop!” Rarity cries in anguish. “Twilight… I can’t… I’m so sorry…” Her voice trails off into unintelligible muttering as she, too, loses the will to resist any further.
“Rarity!” Applejack bellows, trying to get through to the mare.
“Don’t give up! It’s not your fault!” Rainbow Dash says.
“Oh, don’t be silly, Rainbow Dash. Of course it’s not her fault.” I sidle up to Rainbow’s cell. She leans back, trying to put as much distance between us as possible. But between your emotionless gaze and my words, she has no choice but to listen. “It’s yours.”
“No! Land’s sakes, get out of her head, ya damned parasite!” Applejack yells, slamming her hooves against the rigid walls of her cocoon.
I envelop myself in the green fire of changeling magic and take on the shape of Rainbow Dash herself. She only has the time to look at me for a moment when I suddenly charge, picking you up bodily by the neck and throwing you against Rainbow's cocoon, pressing you into the translucent walls. The pegasus can only watch her own face twist into an angry grimace, one that you saw firsthoof several times over the course of days. You, for your part, play the helpless victim perfectly, flailing and gasping for air right on cue as if your life truly depended upon it.
“Where is she?” I roar in Rainbow Dash’s voice, so that she can hear. “What did you do to her?”
Faced with her own reflection, Rainbow Dash can’t do anything but cower. Her eyes flick over to Applejack, who seems unable to comprehend the scene herself.
“What… what have I…” Rainbow Dash mutters, her eyes wide.
“Damn it, RD, you stay with us now, hear?” Applejack roars, and for a minute, Rainbow Dash almost seems ready to listen.
But I’ve already prepared a riposte. “You made her run,” I say quickly, throwing you violently to the floor and returning to my true self. “You scared her off, and sent her right into my waiting arms. She hated herself for her betrayal… and begged me to take away her pain.”
Rainbow Dash freezes, poised to speak, but unable to form the words. Her eyes water. Her muscles slacken, and I know in an instant that she is mine.
I turn to Applejack, who quickly masks her fear with stubborn pride. “T-try all ya like, I ain’t goin’ down without a fight,” she spits.
You return to your feet, slowly and gracefully, and approach Applejack in her chrysalis. Your face, for the first time since that morning, finally betrays a sense of life. Your eyes shine, and your lips curl up ever so slightly. You part your lips and begin to speak.
“It’s alright, Applejack. Everything’s going to be fine.”
The farm pony’s brow furrows, but she says nothing.
“You didn’t mean for any of this to happen. I had a silly notion and a half-baked plan and I dragged all of you along for the ride.” Your tone is apologetic. “So you took charge. I mean, somepony had to be the responsible one… what with Twilight being gone…”
Applejack chokes back a reply.
“You tried from the very start to look out for all of us. Apple upbringing, perhaps?” Your voice sounds almost sultry as you lean in close, peering through her chrysalis to look deep into her eyes. “You tried so hard… but here… at the very end… you failed. But it’s okay...” you whisper, sending a shudder down her spine.
“Sh- stop…” Applejack manages.
You shush her gently. “No, no, AJ… don’t worry… everything’s going to be fine. See, with Twilight’s power, and all of us helping, my Queen will take care of everything.” You look lovingly towards me. “Everything will be… just perfect.”
Applejack strains against her bonds, but the effort is half-hearted at best. She’s exhausted, physically, mentally, and emotionally. It won’t take much to send her past the tipping point.
You look at Applejack with half-lidded eyes. “I’m sure, if you ask nicely, we can stop in Ponyville on our way to take the capital. We can pay your family a visit… and we can end their suffering before it begins.”
Applejack sobs long and loud before petering out into silence.
I set my horn alight, finally ready to continue. My magic works its way freely into their minds, unhindered. I mouth the words, knowing that it is resonating clearly within their heads.
“Who is it that you love?”
Streams of green mist flow out from each of their chrysalides, tinting the air a beautiful emerald as their love finds its way back to me. Soon, broken hearts will become empty ones… and the transformation will begin in earnest.
“Who is it that you-”
“Stop. I will not allow this to continue any further.”
Oh... well this is a surprise, isn't it?
Although, by capturing Luna, I really should have anticipated this outcome.
A blast of powerful magic tears a hole into my ceiling, and down streams a beam of heat and light so intense it's as if the sun itself is positioned directly above us. And in a sense, I'm exactly right.
“I AM Sol Invicta, the Unconquered Sun. The might of Equestria runs deep within my veins. I am your Light. I am your Goddess.
“And you have made me angry.”