//------------------------------//
// Prologue: Victory 
// Story: A Canterlot Rebellion 
// by Minds Eye 
//------------------------------//

	They had won.  Screams of fear echoed in the distance, punctuated by the impact of her troops falling from the sky.  The faint smell of smoke wafted through the air.  The Almighty Celestia hung helplessly overhead.  Canterlot was HERS.  It was enough to make her want to sing.  She banished the thought with a snort.  There was no time for that now.

"You won't get away with this!"

Queen Chrysalis turned her attention to Princess Cadance.  She was anchored to the floor, weak from exhaustion and hunger from her imprisonment in the caves, but the fire in her eyes was unmistakable.  Chrysalis glanced over to Shining Armor.  There was no indication Cadance's voice reached her fiancé.  He was solidly under her control.  Her eyes moved back to Cadance, who continued.

"Twilight and her friends will-"

She was interrupted by the sound of the giant doors opening.  A squad of changeling guards entered, herding a group of five ponies.  A sixth dangled in the air, held by two more guards.  Chrysalis looked back to Cadance with a cruel smile.  "You were saying?"

She turned back to the ponies.  "You do realize the reception has been canceled?  Where were you six off to in such a hurry?"  She walked towards the purple unicorn at the head of the pack.  Twilight Sparkle.  The only one who saw through her deception.  The one who almost ruined it all.  Chrysalis used a hoof to raise her face, forcing Twilight to look in her eyes.  "Don't you want to see the beautiful future I have planned for your home?"

Twilight angrily slapped the queen's hoof away.  She opened her mouth to speak, but Chrysalis cut her off with a spell from her horn.  The unicorn screamed in pain as her body was engulfed by green light and collapsed to the floor.  The hall erupted with noise: gasps from the ponies, cries from Cadance and the dragon beside her, and an angry shout from the rainbow pegasus.

"You'll pay for that bug-breath!"  She was wrestling with her guards in mid air, kicking wildly.  In an instant she was free and charging the queen, dodging the changelings who took off after her.  In another instant she came to a dead stop.  Green energy surrounded her throat.  Her hooves desperately pried at the magic like it were a physical object.  With a flick of her horn Chrysalis slammed the pegasus to the ground next to Twilight Sparkle.

Chrysalis glared at the other four ponies, horn glowing with another attack.  The orange one was ready to charge, but was restrained by the white unicorn.  The yellow pegasus huddled on the floor.  One of her soldiers was pulling the pink pony away from a large cannon.  

The queen blinked.  Where had that come from?

She looked down at the two mares at her feet.  Twilight had regained her composure and fearfully looked up at her, unsure what to do.  Three guards had jumped on the pegasus and held her to the ground.  Chrysalis sneered.  "Was that anyway for you to treat your new queen?"  She glanced at the three guards.  "Take her away.  Be sure to teach her some respect."  She looked at the other four ponies and said, "Do what you will with them.  Just keep them separated."

The guards left to carry out her orders.  The ponies were dragged out.  Chrysalis loomed over Twilight Sparkle.  Her horn glowed and she lifted the unicorn's body.  She turned and threw her at Princess Cadance's feet.  Cadance immediately crouched down and covered Twilight's head with her own, whispering faintly.  Chrysalis sent a bolt of energy flying overhead, silencing her.

"I have plans for you two."