//------------------------------// // Chapter 9 // Story: My Secret Life as an Evil Insect Overlord // by LordBrony2040 //------------------------------// Chapter 9: I Become Backstabbing Loser So…sex with Twilight… I’m not going to lie, it was pretty awesome, especially for her first time…and mine…technically. Definitely…different than what I was used to as well. But I’ve been stuck here for…seven weeks? I think it’s time to start adapting. It also helped the room was kind of dark what with only candles for light. … Okay, fine, celibacy was an option too…but I’m…mostly male, and originally from a species that puts sex on a pretty high pedestal, then turned into a creature that was meant to breed. It’s not going to happen. All in all I’m just glad my plumbing worked right, or at least was able to create a reasonable imitation. Don’t know why I was so worried about that though, I’m pretty sure some of the nobles we replaced were married, and their wives/husbands would have gotten kind of suspicious if their special somepony couldn’t put out. Oh, right, taste buds. Because changelings don’t have taste buds, we can’t reproduce them in our pony form. But, we do have the reproductive system so…yeah. And speaking of reproduction, after being introduced to the act apparently awakened some kind of…I dunno, triple pony tribe alicorn sex drive or something, or maybe its that ‘always the quiet ones’ stuff, because Twilight wanted a repeat performance when we woke up later that morning. Then she decided to take a hammer and shatter my ego with the first words out of her mouth that weren’t loud cries of passion… “I think last night was definitely better.” I couldn’t stop from wincing at Twilight’s declaration while we cuddled in the afterglow of morning sex, our muzzles centimeters away from touching. She didn’t have that awful morning breath humans sometimes get, so I just moved my head forward and kissed her on the nose. “Well that’s-” I managed to stop myself before I went on to say ‘I ate your love during that last orgasm’ and just went with, “because first time is always a little more special…or something. Don‘t ask for sage wisdom after sex.” Twilight smirked and returned my peck on the nose. “Instinct and intelligence are on the opposite ends of the mental spectrum,” she reasoned. We just laid there for a moment, looking at each other, I’m sure Twilight was having some lovely fantasy about her and Flash Sentry getting married, having kids, or foals-whatever, and all that junk. I on the other hand was a little weirded out about the fact I had basically just had sex with a horse and…wasn’t freaking out about it. I mean, I could write off the night before as being cornered by an aroused…mare and not having a…okay, I had a choice in the whole thing, Twilight may have come on strong but no matter how I played it back in my mind, there was no way in hell the alicorn would have gone as far as something like rape. Especially since Twilight had been on her belly and we had done it ‘traditional style’ as she says. But it had at least been pretty dark. This morning sex, not so much. I had been able to see every purple hair on her body and feather on her wing. There had been no denying what had happened, or some kind of mental trick to make it seem like I was really doing a different species. I had sex with Twilight Sparkle, and it had been awesome. So my whole ‘no touching the ponies’ thing was truly fucked. With the silence stretching a bit too long for my taste.  “Mind if I ask you something?” “No.” “Why last night?” I asked. “I mean…that was our first real date.” Twilight’s eyes rolled back a bit, as if she was looking at the top of her eyelids for a cheat sheet, then the purple alicorn looked back down to me. “Well, I count it as our third.” Unable to follow her logic, I shuffled around a bit until the alicorn let me go so I could sit up. “How do you figure it’s our third? And what’s so special about that anyway?” “Well,” Twilight began as she also moved around to prop herself up against the headboard of her bed, “I count the first day as our first date since it was our post introductory meeting, as we met in the Crystal Empire. We had the traditional cheap meal as we introduced ourselves and basically sized each-other up. The second was our outing to find Daring Do, when we had an activity of hunting down AK Yearling and…well, I realized that my feelings for you may have been a bit deeper than just friends. Then our third was at the restaurant. There, I talked with Cadence about us, and I came to realize that what I feel isn’t brought on by the pain of loss or some need to find companionship.” I gulped. I knew what was probably coming, and needed an escape route before she opened her mouth and I either found myself wrapped around her little finger, or ripping her heart out. “Twilight, umm…it’s just…a little sudden, I mean. We’ve only known each other a week.” My conscience was also quick to remind me that this was a little late to be saying things since we both had a mess between our legs and the whole damn bedroom smelled like sex, but…better late than never. Right? “No Flash…I…I’ve known you a bit longer than that…in a way,” Twilight said, making my conscience turn from a whisper into a full on shout about how I was officially a piece of crap since Twilight was about to spill the beans on the whole Equestria Girls thing. But since I wasn’t 100% sure of that, I was able to fight off my ulcer inducing little shoulder angel. “You see, there’s a mirror in the Crystal Empire that leads to,” Twilight began. Then she went into her a slightly altered story of what happened during Equestria Girls. I noticed that the alicorn downplayed just how much Sunset had done, just making it sound as if she swiped the crown and caused a minor bit of mischief while blaming it on Twilight. There as no mention of the demonic transformation either. It had me wondering just what the hell she had told Princess Celestia when she had asked about her first student. Still, it didn’t help ease my gut to find out that she was also covering for Sunset’s darker actions for the day when the unicorn could possibly return to Equestria. Then, Twilight took a final turn on the guilt trip. “I know you’re not really him, but…I kind of associated you with that Flash at first. I think that’s why I was so…enamored with you, even after we just bumped into each other in the Crystal Empire,” the alicorn said. “But I know you’re not him.” Oh you have no idea, I told her mentally told the alicorn. “You’re better.” No I’m not. “You’re honest.” Deceitful. “Kind.” Cruel. “Intelligent.” Foolish. “And so very brave.” I’m a coward, if I wasn’t such a coward I would have told you… “Twilight,” I said. “And that’s why I fell in love with you,” she said before leaning in to kiss me. Somehow, I found the strength to pull away. “Twilight I…need to tell you something. I…” I’m a monster that parades around in the coat of a pony. I came here for duplicitous reasons, lying not only to you and your friends, but to my own people as well. I sit here with you, knowing the end is coming, and all I can think about is how to try and lie to everyone and make it all last longer, I mentally said. What came out of my mouth was, “I love you too.” It was a lie, an empty platitude I told the purple alicorn to try and keep things going for just a few more seconds, minutes, or hours. The truth was, love takes courage, and that was just something I didn’t have. The expression on Twilight’s face became one of pure joy that stabbed into my heart as she wrapped her forelegs around me and took me down for another kiss. Eventually, we had to get up. We never even cleaned ourselves off after last night’s sex, Twilight kind of passed out after I fed you see, and it’s pretty hard getting that stuff out of a coat. As soon as both of us got done showering, scrubbing, and washing, Equestrian timing hit and Twilight’s elder siblings showed up to take her to the Crystal Empire. If they noticed anything…oh who am I kidding, it’s Cadence! I would have been surprised if she didn’t have some kind of virgin alarm for Twilight. Or maybe I was thinking of the wrong pink pony, I mean, Pinkie was also in town. Okay getting off track… My whole idea to keep Twilight from going to the Crystal Empire was a simple one. I just asked her if she thought ponies would accept an explanation from the princess who was basically Cadence’s sister because that did not sound like an impartial party to me. Twilight just gave me a look that said the idea confused the hell out of her. After all, she was gathering scientific data, not…lying to everyone she met like me. I didn’t even bother to bring my Flash Sentry in case I needed to change forms and resume his later. After all, If Chrysalis was alive and making do without the Crystal Heart, then I could back out of helping her by saying I had no way to resume my disguise. I also left the rest of my guard back in Ponyville with the excuse they also existed to watch the other Bearers and it was doubtful more guards would be needed inside the Crystal Empire. But for the most part, I pinned all my hopes on Chrysalis just being dead. I hadn’t heard from her last night either, so my ability to delude myself with that possibility kept me silent. After all, I had two more days left with Twilight, and I spent them for all they were worth. We had so much sex. We did other stuff too of course. We talked, we joked, I got to know Shining Armor and Cadence a little better, heard the story of how they met. It was kind of disturbing to find out that ponies played polo as a school sport, although Shining Armor being a former nerd made a little sense. The smarter guys that think ahead always get the best positions come adulthood, the jocks…not so much. The two days passed much too quickly, and I found myself looking out the window while we drew nearer to the Crystal Empire. “Okay, so…why is it snowing so much up here?” I asked as I looked out the window into the whiteness. I mean seriously, pegasi control the weather, so how can there be a constant snowstorm without pegasi messing with everything. Sitting in the seat across from the one Twilight and I were occupying, Cadence sighed and hung her head. “We really don’t know. Some ponies believe that after the windigos were removed from Equestria, they flew north and still roam these lands. I have to admit, the snowstorms have been getting a little bit more…fierce these past few days.” The news didn’t seem to go over well with Twilight. “Are we in any danger? What if too much ice builds up on the track and the train derails? What if the windigos attack?” she asked before pausing to frown. “Wait? Do windigos attack ponies? From what I understood, they just fed off the animosity of ponies, eventually starving them to death.” Shining Armor chuckled beside his wife. “Don’t worry Twily, we should be passing into the range of the crystal spires any minute now,” he said while looking up at the clock at the wall across from all of us. A minute passed. Then two. It wasn’t until we were five minutes behind that I was getting that chill down my spine that said something bad was probably about to happen and was perhaps Celestia had simply invented daylight saving time or something, and forgotten to tell everypony about it. Ten minutes after Shining made his declaration, the deafening screech of the brakes filled my ears a second before there was a loud crash, and the entire room spun when the train derailed. With Twilight right next to me, I grabbed onto the princess and unfurled my wings to try and…I wasn’t quite sure, get into the air so we weren’t tossed about like sardines in a can I guess. But the second I moved her, Twilight snapped into action, and I felt the familiar sensation of being teleported… …and was a little confused when the flash of purple in my vision cleared to reveal we were exactly where we had been just a second ago, and now completely out of control. Both of us grunted in pain as the car that might as well of been our whole world spun and slammed around, taking us into the sides of the train car. We gripped each other tightly, and could do nothing but roll with it while I spent what little bit of concentration I had to keep from reverting back to my normal form each time we hit something. I think there was a total of five impacts. When it was over, I picked myself up, and looked around in a panic to try and find Twilight, calling out her name until a groan at my feet made realize we hadn’t been separated at all. Still, she was pretty banged up for a pony. There was a bruise on the side of her head, and her wings looked like they were in need of a severe preening. In contrast, Shining and Cadence looked completely immaculate. This was probably due to the shield that had been thrown around the couple by the prince in which they were floating in the middle of. But I really couldn’t have cared less if they had both their necks broken at the moment. Twilight was on the ground and groaning in pain. “Twilight, are you okay?” I asked before bending down to look her over. Thankfully, I knew quite a bit about the anatomy of all three tribes. All changelings did thanks to the shared unconsciousness. It made us better killers. But it also gave me the knowledge I needed to look over the pony and check her for any major injuries. A second later, Shining Armor was standing next to me, and the purple princess was getting to her feet. “I should be asking you that Flash,” Twilight mumbled as she stood up and unfurled her wings to check them. “I’ve got earth pony durability and pegasi defenses. It takes a little more than that to hurt me.” “I’m fine…must have gotten lucky,” I assured her, trying to sound as good as I could. “I’ll say, not a feather out of place,” Shining mumbled as he eyed me up and down. I gave my best shrug, then went to helping Twilight pick at her feathers, something I had learned to do during her and Rainbow Dash’s flight training. As for my feathers and fur, they were fake and would repair cosmetic damage so instantaneously that no one would be able to notice anything had been out of place unless they were looking right at me in the half a second it took to fix things. The bruises underneath my coat were another matter. “Just what the hay happened anyway?” I demanded to no one in particular as I looked around the room that was standing on its side. Twilight hung her head. “I don’t know! When the train went out of control, I tried to teleport us out, but the spell just deposited us where I tried to move. “It’s like somepony’s set up a dimensional lock.” As I helped Twilight preen, Cadence finished getting the door to the cars open and then we started moving through the train, looking for survivors. Since I was the only guard stupid enough not to be wearing his armor when the crash happened, none of the ten crystal guards the royal couple brought with them were injured thanks to the defensive enchantments the shining earth pony’s had on. Me and Twilight were the only ones that needed looking at for cuts and bruises. “What about the engineer and his staff?” Cadence asked while she checked me over at Twilight’s instance. The alicorn frowned as she inspected my wings, but other than frowning at them for a moment, she didn’t seem to find anything wrong. Shining Armor was the one to answer the question. “The guards found them in the snow, they managed to see the other train and jump clear in time.” “THE WHAT?” Twilight shrieked. “Are you telling me we just got hit by a train?” “Technically…no, we’re the ones that hit it,” Shining replied. “It’ll make sense when I show you.” The prince led us out of the destroyed train car and into the snow. A moment after we set hoof into the cold, he surrounded us all with a light shield that killed the wind and kept the snow from falling on us. Then he brought us to where the rest of the guards were waiting, and I couldn’t help but stating the obvious when I saw we were standing at the edge of Crystal Station, at the edge of the Crystal Empire, well within the weather boundary…where it was still snowing so much I could barely make out the Crystal Palace in the distance. “Well…that isn’t good.” Cadence looked at the snow covered area in astonishment, then lifted herself up into the air for a few feet so she could search the city from a higher vantage point. “The city it’s…it’s all covered in snow! But how could this have happened?” “You!” the nearest crystal pony shouted as he pointed a hoof at me. The stallion was an odd shade of purple and if Twilight hadn’t been next to me, I might have actually been a smartass and tried calling him Sparkles. “You pegasi did something, didn’t you? You cloud farmers finally snapped and did something to the crystal spires!” Twilight was quick to jump to my defense. “Just what do you think you’re saying guardsman?” I raised an eyebrow and put on my best snaky voice. “Okay I admit it. I secretly created and directed the entire PU from within the shadows of Ponyville and set up this whole thing, waiting for just the right moment when everypony dropped their guard…to…” Oh bucking hell, that’s exactly what she did. I could practically hear Chrysalis’s laughter off in the distance somewhere. “So you confess!” I ignored the idiot and looked over to Twilight. “Princess,” I spoke to make sure I got her attention, she hated it when I called her that. “We need to get under cover and get away from that smoke, now!” “Flash-” I grabbed onto Twilight with strength born of desperation and unfurled my wings to help me drag her along. “JUST RUN DAMN IT!” I shouted while trying my best NOT to think how long we had been in the train while a giant smoke signal was being sent into the air to announce our presence. Thankfully, Twilight’s wings were a little sore or something because she didn’t try to fight me, and the snow gave poor traction for her hooves. A few seconds later, Shining and Cadence took off after me, the brother’s face marked with a frown. “Guardsman Sentry, just what do you think you are-” was as far as he got before the area behind us where the crystal ponies had been standing near was bathed in a bright green light before they all screamed and fell like puppets with their strings cut. It was a psychic attack that overloaded their pain nerves and caused their bodies to shut down in response. The whole thing had Shining Armor stop mid-stride and turn around. “That’s changeling magic!” And where the hell did it come from? I asked myself as I looked around. The amount of energy in that blast had been massive. I looked up at the Crystal Palace with wide eyes. Could she had really put that much power into a concentrated blast and sniped at us from all the way up there? I had been expecting a group of changelings to charge at us, not…THAT. But it was the only structure tall enough to hit us at a wide dispersion to take out the whole train. “Then I would suggest we get to cover before a group of drones show up to just harvest their new catches, Sir,” I added at the last moment, although my tone was anything but respectful. Should have said sire, hell I think I even missed a pony-ism or two a few seconds ago as well. Although trying to speak with a horse mouth usually mangled the english word I was trying to say. Fear of impending death was making me slip. Well, Twilight’s impending death anyway, my side was about to win. Shining Armor smirked. “If it is the changelings, we don’t have anything to worry about. I thought I told everypony about what happened last time they tried to take a city I was in. This isn’t going to be a problem.” “Umm, guys,” I heard Twilight say, obviously trying to place peacekeeper. I stepped forward. “Yeah, I saw what happened. Chrysalis made you her love slave, stuck Cadence in the Canterlot catacombs with Twilight, beat Celestia in a power struggle of magic, and pretty much took over Canterlot in a single afternoon before she got cocky and let you near your wife! Did I miss anything? Oh right, she also captured the Element Bearers. Almost forgot that one.” Shining kept his frown, but it lessened to one of confusion. “Who?” Of course, that was when Equestria's 'let's answer that question in the worst way possible' laws decided to kick in. You know, the ones that have the bad guys show up as if they are literally waiting for a que. “Chrysalis,” A sickeningly familiar voice spoke from above us, making me turn around and look up. There she stood, on top of the train platform with half a dozen changeling drones just buzzing behind her. “It’s my name, you see. Unlike most of us, the monarch class of changelings possesses a name rather than a number, the first queen decided on it since we’re really the only ones of any real importance.” As the three horny ponies looked up at Mom with a frown on their faces, I just gulped. Oh good god, her hair is glowing…why the fuck is her hair glowing? I asked myself as I watched the physical signs of a barely contained mana pool whip around too slow for it to be caused by the wind every which way like some sick sea anemone. Then there was the rest of her, although I doubted any of the others noticed. The outer covering of her caprice had grown thicker, the fangs more pronounced, and her insect wings had a visible amount of mana running through them. The bitch had managed to take so much power from the heart that it caused physical growth! “We’re giving you one chance to surrender Chrysalis,” Cadence said as she stepped forward. “I know you don’t harm your…food. So if you turn yourself in, I can promise imprisonment-” Chrysalis threw back her head and laughed. “Really Cadence? You think I would have done all this, just to surrender? You’re an even bigger fool than my daughter.” Oh, that doesn’t sound ominous at all, I told myself before backing away from the ponies. While Twilight frowned in confusion over the comment, Shining stepped forward to take his place beside his wife. “Have it your way then!” “Flash get back, we’ll deal with her!” Twilight told me a second before Shining and Cadence touched horns and I had time to wonder if Shining’s stupid shield spell only worked on revealed changelings, or all of us before the spell was cast and Chrysalis reared up and leaped at the expanding dome of pink energy while her horn began to glow and the changeling’s queen’s hooves became covered in green fire. “HAHAHAHAHA LET’S SEE WHAT YOU’VE GOT!” After that, everything quickly went to hell. Honestly, I’m not even sure if the damn magical shield did hit me or not. One moment I was flying back and trying to gain altitude, and the next, there was a deafening explosion as Mom connected with Shining’s magic. I found myself getting knocked back into the turned over train car while being serenaded by Shining Armor screaming out in pain as his magic was overloaded. “SHINEY!” Twilight screamed before the air was filled with the sound of multiple magical beams meant to mangle their targets being flung. Mom‘s voice reached my ears after I heard a rather loud explosion. “That tickles little girl! Let me show you really use combat spells.” I managed to force some air back into my lungs, and looked up to see Twilight go down in a heap from a bolt that erupted into a explosion of green fire. When the blast cleared, it left her wings and coat heavily singed before she dropped from the sky. Not far away, Cadence lay in the snow, hopefully unconscious. “Oh come now you foal, quit acting like you’re dead, that wasn’t enough to finish you off,” Chrysalis said as she walked towards the purple alicorn. “Now get up, I’m not through playing with you yet.” Slowly, I managed to get to my feet as Twilight struggled to rise. “Get up or I’ll PUT YOU DOWN PERMANENTLY!” Chrysalis shouted as her face twisted into rage and her horn glowed with power. Twilight managed to make it halfway to her feet before the bug queen nailed her with a concussion blast that struck Twilight’s wing and sent her rolling in the snow towards me. After stopping, the alicorn tried to rise again, and collapsed halfway back into the snow. I on the other hand, had managed to get to my feet and walked over to the injured alicorn. “That’s enough,” I growled to the larger changeling. “Flash…run…you’ve…got to run,” Twilight told me as she started to rise once again, much to my horror. As close as we were, I could see just how an amazing feat that was. The mare’s body was covered with burns and cuts, and I could make out half a dozen welts that showed even through her coat. Chrysalis laughed. “Oh, now why would she do something like that? After all, my darling Flash is the reason we’re all here.” I felt as if I had been kicked in the gut. “Shut your mouth Chrysalis.” “W…what?” Twilight managed to choke out between gasps for air. I guessed the last attack had knocked the wind out of her lungs. “I truly must commend your plan my daughter,” Chrysalis continued as she spread her wings to hover a few inches off the ground and took a more bipedal stance to use her forelegs like arms. “None of this could have happened without you. And even then, you have your own devious little ideas on top of them that you never told me about. You send me to the Crystal Empire, while you stay in Ponyville and feed off the love of an alicorn princess. “Then you get it into your head that you might be able to rule better than me? You actually think that by tricking this poor mare into loving you, you might have been strong enough to take my crown.” Twilight gulped and looked over to me with wide eyes. “Flash, what’s she talking about?” “Shut up Chrysalis,” I mumbled as I tried to think of my options. If we had been able to make it into the city and hide, or even gotten to the throne room or wherever the hell the hag was stashing the heart, I might have been able to drain its power to match the witch. But as things, stood, she had me cold in the snow. Then, I saw Twilight looking at me out of the corner of my eyes, and backed away from her. While I wilted under the alicorn’s gaze, the changeling queen moved forward to clip Twilight across the jaw with her hoof. “STOP IT” I shouted at the monster before Twilight was wrapped in a green aura hand hauled into the air. As I watched her just float there, my whole body shook with a strange combination of anger and fear. Anger for what she was doing, and fear because there wasn’t a damn thing I could do to stop her. “Oh come now Twilight, I thought you were supposed to be the smart one here,” Chrysalis continued. “A dashing knight that just comes along and takes interest in you, and all the things you do? Don’t you think there’s a reason somepony such as your darling colt friend would take interest in a mare whose never been able to attract the attention of a single stallion before? That this particular stallion would come calling? That-” “GET AWAY FROM HER YOU BITCH!” I shouted before leaping at the giant bug queen. Chrysalis actually laughed. “Are you actually challenging me? Now of all times? Why would you-” My action seemed to snap Twilight out of her daze, and she looked up to call out. “Flash!” “Oh…Oh I see! Oh my dear, this is just too perfect!” the changeling queen said before looking at Twilight. Flash Sentry yes it is he but not as you know him I missed connecting my hoof to the changeling’s face as she floated away with Twilight in tow while breaking out into a disturbingly familiar musical. Oh dear god no, I told myself while trying to recover from missing a full tilt attack. Up above me, Chrysalis pulled Twilight in closer to her, and raised the alicorn’s chin to look her in the face. Read my lips And come to grips With reality! Regaining my balance, I spread my wings and flew up to meet Chrysalis as fast as I could. All I needed to do was nail her horn to make her drop Twilight, and then…well, that was the extent of my planning. He’s not some blast from your past That lie was too good to last So say hello to your precious Flash Sentry! Oh shit, I thought when I got in too close to dodge and Chrysalis dropped the TK holding Twilight to focus her magic in a magical blast that engulfed me completely, burning my skin to the extent that I had no choice but to revert to my natural form and let my protective caprice take soak up the damage. What I landed in was thankfully, a giant puddle of melted snow. After getting back to my feet, I heard a startled gasp and grit my teeth. “F-Flash?” Twilight stuttered. I didn’t look at the purple alicorn…I didn’t want to see what I could already detect with my other senses. Confusion, pain, despair…heartbreak. Even if Twilight had some magic left in her, I didn’t think she was in any shape to fight emotionally. As stupid as it is, all I could say was… “I’m sorry.” Returned to my natural form, I found nearly all my injuries quickly mended by my magic and my body reacting better than it had been before. Even thought we were shape shifters and I had stayed with Flash’s look for over a week, it was still a foreign shape when compared to my rightful body. So Sentry  turns out to be Merely this lack wit I grit my teeth and looked back up where Chrysalis was floating above me in the air, nowhere near Twilight. And with the teleportation locks in place, I didn’t have to worry about her just jumping over to nab the alicorn or escape. “Oh shut up already!” I shouted before launching myself at her. Just a pawn Need I go on? Take it from me With only one real chance at victory, I started by doing what I had been while in the body of a pegasus, I flew right at her as if I expected to shatter her body with my hooves. Then, when Chrysalis dodged, I charged the magic of my horn with everything I had, all my hatred for the creature in front of me, and the anger at being put in this situation. On top of that, I piled the disgust I felt towards myself at letting it get this far. Twilight was in pain, and I could have avoided it all because of…what? Fear of rejection? Fear of what would happen between me and the others when they found out the truth? Like a selfish, shortsighted jackass, I selfishly clung to a false sense of belonging and desire to be welcomed. So, I gathered up every bit of energy I could muster. I took all of that self hated and threw it at the monster in front of me with the intent to kill. The attack slammed into the changing queen, with the full force of an alicorn’s love. I thought I heard a sickening crunch as the blast struck the ground, then just kept going straight down. As the light faded, as the magic in my wings burnt out and I fell back into the snow. A moment later, I made my way over to the edge of the hole and peered over the side of the pit that just been blown into the earth. Even with my eyes meant to see in dark places… Good God, there’s no bottom to this thing, I told myself as I looked down into the abyss. “Did that actually work?” I asked myself in disbelief. Chrysalis was an overpowered monster, but she was an overconfident one as well, and I had no way to gauge just how powerful the love of an alicorn was. When a pissed off changeling queen didn’t come rising out of the pit with a bruised eye and some burn marks like some OP Dragonball Z villain, I almost made a stupid comment about her never defeating the power of weaponized love, but then my brain reminded me of something much more important. I turned and galloped over to the purple princess’s downed form and put my hoof on her shoulder. “Twilight,” I managed to gasp out before turning her over. “Twilight, please tell me you're okay.” The alicorn looked up at me with confusion, then her eyes widened in fear before she tried to move away from me. The expression drove me away from her, and the next thing I knew my nose detected the scent of changeling pheromones before a long and jagged horn erupted from my lower neck when Chrysalis pierced me from behind. My world went white with pain, and I’m not even sure if I had the ability to scream. Then I felt Chrysalis lift me into the air  on her horn before tossing me to the side and I impacted the snow. My body wouldn’t move, and I found myself gasping for breath despite the fact that Chrysalis had actually missed my throat. “Oh, now where do you think you’re going?” the monster said before I heard Twilight let out another cry of pain. A few seconds later, and Chrysalis was standing over me with the injured alicorn back in her magical grip. There was a crushing sensation all over my body, and the next thing I knew, I was looking Chrysalis in the face as she held me up to look her in the eye. “So, was that it?” she asked while I floated there, unable to do much more than struggle. Since I didn’t have some witty comment and my vision was starting to go out, I kept my mouth shut. So Chrysalis turned her attentions to Twilight. “I must say my daughter, you have made my revenge more sweet than I could have ever hoped it to be alone,” she told me before reaching up to caress Twilight’s foreleg. “I could have hurt her friends, her family, ruined her kingdom…but you…you gave me everything I needed to show Twilight true despair. Isn’t that right, my dear?” Next to her, Twilight let out a shudder, followed by a choked sob. “But then you just had to ruin it by being so greedy,” Chrysalis began again. “Foolishly changeling me for my crown because…what? You managed to trick a single alicorn into loving you? I must say… Such personality flaws Give me adequate cause Chrysalis lowered her horn and pointed it at me. To send you packing on a one-way trip So your prospects take a terminal dip For a moment I thought about struggling, but what was the point? I was so low on magic the most I could do is glide for a few minutes before even that gave out. In a wasteland frozen The punishment chosen The queen’s horn lit up and I absently noted it was a concussion blast. Is no less than death for Ye! Then there was a brought flash, and I felt my caprice crack as the beam swept me into the sky. So long ex-Flash, Seeeeeen~treeeeeeeeee The strange light from the cauldron continued to give the hut an eerie green glow as I finished the last bits of my explanation as to why a changeling princess was standing in front of a rather confused zebra.  “Well, that’s my story. “The attack didn’t kill me of course, Chrysalis doesn’t actually need to waste power on all the magic it would take to do that much damage. I went up against her in combat and lost, basically translating as to betraying the hive. The next time I go to sleep…I won’t be waking up. “I pretty much road Chrysalis’s magic back over the Crystal Mountains and most of the way here. Then I landed at the edge of the forest, realized where I was and found you to patch me up. “If Twilight and Cadence aren’t dead, they’re already in cocoons, just waiting to be fed upon. I have to admit, I’m curious to just how much power Chrysalis is going to be able to suck out of the Alicorn of Love. “As for me, I’ve been up for…what? I'm not even sure, too long. I can barely keep my eyes open, and when I do fall into my recovery trance to heal, the hive mind will turn me into an empty vegetable. Coming here, telling you this was pretty much the only move I could make. Everypony else I know wouldn’t stick around long enough to listen, or be powerful enough to kill me on the spot. “So just run into town and tell Rainbow or someone to get one of the princesses, or have Spike send a letter to Celestia with the proper warning. Tell them not to send Discord…trust me, it won’t end well if he runs into the changelings again. There’s a very distinct weakness to his brand of magic that we can exploit. “I have no idea what the sisters are supposed to do, some last minute heroic rescue, or hell, maybe this is all some big harmonious thing and it really is the end of the pony race. Everything has to come to an end sometime, right? “Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go lay down somewhere and die. It’s what I deserve.” Across from me, the zebra continued to sip her tea. “An interesting tale it is you tell,” she said. “Stranger, who from another world fell. Although all of it does not make sense, I shall render to you assist.” I groaned and did my best not to fall over where I stood. “Zecora, the only thing you can do is go to town and have the girls warn Celestia. That was the whole reason I’ve been sitting here for three hours yakking!” “But according to your own twisted tail, such action will only fail,” she replied with a raised eyebrow. “Instead, come up with new insight, to create a future much more bright.” “And how am I supposed to do that when I can barely stand?” I demanded. She slid the drink at her hooves over to me. “This contains the alertness you seek, to keep you awake for at least a week,” she said before resting her hooves on the wooden table we sat at. “Now tell true, if the crown did fall to you, with it…what would you do?” Once again, I groaned at the fact I was talking to a creature that only spoke in rhyme. The singing was bad enough, but this was just torture! “Honestly? It all goes back to the mirror pool,” I began before explaining my idea to the zebra. By the time I was done, her eyes were wide, and there was a smile on her face that she could not…conceal. Zecora nodded. “Chrysalis is truly such a dope, to see such in a limited scope. For your people to thrive, should you not share this with the hive? To your mistress they have not spoken since, you control their cognizance.” I groaned while translating the damn zebra’s words. “Look, I already told you. It doesn’t work that way. The hive mind will…wait, you’re saying I should…what? Paint my little betrayal as the right thing for the hive to do? Even if I can manage to pull that off to get enough support not to have my brain eaten. I still don’t have enough power to take her on in one on one combat, which is how this will all come down to if I can’t get the full support of the hive!” “Then look to others and gather support, from those with whom you wish to report,” she countered before reaching under the table to retrieve something and pass it along to me. “And if the changeling mind will not easily bend, then this can help you make amends.” I frowned at the Alicorn Amulet on the table, then back up at her with a frown. “You know, even if that doesn’t turn me into a megalomaniacal maniac, which is a big if, there’s no way a fancy necklace is going to let me match Chrysalis blow for blow.” Once again, Zecora had one of her damn rhymes to reply with. “Trixie wore this amulet for days, limited exposure may not change your ways. Her mind was weak, and while your courage is too, it is not revenge that gives fuel to you. “Now hurry up and decide, whether to fight or run and hide,” she continued. “To find your friends and make amends or let them all meet their ends, to take your place as a queen, or to never again be seen.” The drawn out rhyme had me groaning as I picked up the amulet. “Okay fine, but even if I don’t turn psychotic…even if Rainbow Dash doesn’t pound my face in when I tell her what’s going on, how the hell am I to convince thousands of creatures whose only drive is to eat to hold off on the one directive that governs our entire lives?” “In this land, there is a way to debate that gives an argument a greater weight-” “Oh god, please tell me you’re not suggesting I sing a song," I moaned.