//------------------------------// // The Wedding // Story: Deception is Magic // by DragonOverlord2012 //------------------------------// Chapter 7 The Wedding Chrysalis trotted down the path to the altar. Everything was in place, and everything was set to go off in a carefully planned series of events, even accounting for several variables. Now all that was left to do was pull it off. She looked to the six particular changelings standing at their designated spots, each fulfilling their role perfectly. Finally Shining stood their, a blank smile on his face, looking tired and lethargic. He was the one thing that could be a metaphorical bump in the road if he didn’t act right. It wasn’t the changelings that were at risk if he faltered, but rather his own career and well being. If it was discovered that he knew all of what was to come, it would be all over for him. Chrysalis had very little to lose, very little at risk, so she was the ideal one to put in the spotlight. The smiling faces plucked the eight pony’s heartstrings. They were so unprepared, and they’d be so scared. Twilight’s parents were there to see their son married. They’d be disappointed. Celestia read from memory, uneventfully leading up to the “I dos”, “Do you, Shining Armor, take princess Cadence to be your lawfully wedded wife, in sickness and in health, till death do you part?” “I do,” he said blankly. “And do you, princess Cadence, take Shining Armor to be your lawfully wedded husband, in sickness and in health, till death do you part?” Chrysalis stood silent for a moment, waiting for her cue. It took one moment for everything to fall into place. A pink pony burst through the doors, tattered and exhausted. “That isn’t princess Cadence!” she yelled, “I am!” Everypony gasped seeing a desperate, practically malnourished and filthy alicorn princess at the door. Chrysalis looked at the door with a face that was seething with rage. “She’s a fraud!” she accused. “Listen to me!” Cadence begged, “She’s a changeling! They pose as somepony you love and feed off your love for them, growing more and more powerful until the pony is nothing but a withered husk!” She pointed at Chrysalis with an accusative hoof. Celestia glared at Chrysalis instantly. “You dare impersonate my family?!” she bellowed. Finally Chrysalis heard the sound she was waiting for. A loud crack sounded through the whole city, and the barrier began crumbling from below. Finally “Cadence” smiled and looked up at Celestia with her true eyes. “I do.” This was a perfect performance. Just as the shield chipped apart like glass behind her, the green flames surrounded her, rising at the same time. In perspective to the audience watching it looked like the flames and falling shield were on the same level, a true spectacle to behold. Appearing completely black for a moment Chrysalis gave her best malevolent laugh. “Oh and it was so easy too,” Chrysalis bragged as she trotted about the altar, everypony else in the room mortified by what they were seeing. “Now is the time of our rise!” she declared. The changeling swarm emerged from below, coming from all directions at once in a perfectly coordinated attack, dive bombing into position faster than the guards could react, overpowering and trapping many of them in seconds in a sticky substance they couldn’t escape from. Celestia looked on in horror as her ponies were trapped, one after another, falling like flies. Several other changelings arose from the gathered guests, attacking the bridesmaids as well. “How dare you attack here,” she bellowed. Chrysalis laughed lightly. “My name is Chrysalis, and I am the queen of the changelings in case you were too thick to figure that out. You were too thick to deduce your own niece was an imposter after all.” She stood eye to eye with Celestia as they locked horns, trying to overpower one another. Celestia was the physically stronger of the two, but Chrysalis was strengthened by Shining Armor’s love to even the field a bit. It was hardly a good compensation for the current playing field. While the two stood deadlocked, many of the attending ponies attempted to run and hide, though Shining Armor stood dumbly at the altar like a zombie. The six bridesmaids ran for the door, only to be caught between the first squad that ambushed them, and another squad that had already captured the Cadence that outed Chrysalis. They fought back at first, putting on a good show, but they were overpowered and held down to the floor. “You have foolishly attacked on a day that I was most prepared for!” Celestia spat at her, pushing her back with all her might, “Now that you have so foolishly attacked here, I can protect my subjects from you!” Celestia flew back into the air and shot a mighty beam of magic, teeming with celestial power. Chrysalis countered with her own beam of magic, pushing back with all the might she could muster. *** “Now what exactly is the plan here?” Shining asked, hoping for a last minute run down of the events to come. “We’ll have to make it really, really quick so we’re not late,” Pinkie said as the rest of them were putting on their dresses on the other side of the room, separated by the door at the top of the towers stairs. “Couldn’t be simpler really,” Applejack told him, “Well, in explanation anyhow. Pullin’ it off is gonna be a mite harder, but ya don’t need to worry ‘bout none of that. First of all, Twilight already gave yer eyes that green tint and all, right?” Shining thought of the sickly stallion that looked back at him from the mirror, with green tinted eyes and bags under them. “Yeah, she did, but I’m a bit confused on why.” “Well, that part really is simple as simple as it sounds,” Fluttershy spoke up, “When any creature feeds off another in large quantities for extended periods of time, visible side effects become apparent. Those illusions are to trick Celestia into thinking you’ve been sucked nearly dry, thus clearing any suspicion that you’re willingly involved in any way.” That put several worries to rest. “Wow. That’s actually pretty smart.” Shining thought a little more. “How are you going to instigate a situation where Chrysalis is forced to reveal herself?” he asked wisely, “It’s not like she can just reveal herself for no reason. Ponies will be questioning why she didn’t stab Celestia in the back while she was still disguised, or actually marry me.” “Got it covered,” Rainbow told him, “When you’re about to do the ‘I dos’, one of our own changelings, hidden in plain sight here in the castle, will put on a little show and out her as a fraud, at what would appear to be the worst possible moment. Just before you’re legally bound to her forever by Equestrian law. If that were to happen, and you were really hypnotized, there’d be nothing anypony could do to fix it. Outing her then would look like a tragedy on our part, and a miracle for, say, your folks.” That added up pretty well too. “Okay then, how are you going to disappear exactly? I mean, you have to join the other changelings right? You can’t be in two places at once.” “That one was a bit trickier,” Rarity admitted, “We’ve mixed in some rather choice ponies into the guest list, who are really other changelings in disguise. As soon as your barrier drops, they’ll reveal themselves with Chrysalis and nab the six of us, dragging us away to who knows where. It will of course be tricky, looking to be overpowered without blatantly surrendering, so it will take some time to put on a proper performance.” “Alright then.” Now came the most important question. “Exactly what do you plan to do about the resisting guards?” he asked suspiciously, “It’s not as though my stallions and mares would surrender.” “Well, that would be a problem, if changelings weren’t masters of non-violent resistance,” Chrysalis responded, her true voice sounding out without the need for caution. “We can produce a substance that will bind them to the ground. Only a magic blast on a certain frequency, created with a sufficient amount of power will evaporate it.” “So…nopony will have to get hurt?” Shining asked hopefully. “Not quite,” Chrysalis responded sorrowfully, shifting back into the form of Cadence to put on her dress, while still keeping her true voice, “Celestia will no doubt try to expel us from the city, if not capture us altogether. She will need to be dealt with directly, and non-violent capture is not an option, as she knows how to escape our standard bindings.” The captain’s ears fell along with his other features. “You’ll have to fight her.” The air felt infinitely heavier with the words finally spoken aloud. Everypony involved knew that was exactly what was going to have to happen, but not a single one of them wanted to admit it. “Yes,” the queen said sadly, “but that is a burden I shall shoulder alone. I have the fewest attachments to Celestia. My only quarrel with the issue is that of morality, which, for the sake of my people, I can look past.” Shining slumped against the wall, finding it harder to hear the words than he thought. “…One last question,” he said quietly, “How are you going to hold her so she can’t escape?” “Large enough quantities of our special fluid can be shaped and solidified in such a way that it would create something resembling a cocoon. Personally, we use it in case we need to hibernate, but in this case it will force Celestia into a conscious stasis, without need for air or food. She’ll be trapped, and no longer a threat.” The false bride and her bridesmaids looked each other over, making sure not a thread, nor a hair was out of place. Twilight, having heard everything and not said a word however, sat in the corner sulking. Not one of them knew how to comfort her. “Twi,” Applejack tried, but the words died on her tongue. “I’ll be fine,” she insisted. Each of them, Shining especially, found it hard to believe the hollow words. “As long as I don’t have to face her directly…I’ll be fine.” “If you say so,” Chrysalis said in Cadence’s voice, unconvinced of her little sister’s words. “The wedding draws near. Shining Armor, you get to the altar and wait. Remember: you are a zombie. You feel nothing but an ignorant bliss.” Shining nodded even though it wasn’t seen and walked off, his hoofsteps being heard clearly as the went down the stairs. Twilight took a deep breath and stood up, already having donned her dress ahead of time. “I’m ready,” she said quietly, her voice rising to her full authority thereafter, “We have a job to do. Now let’s do it.” *** The invading changelings had scared out most of the guests, save for a few that hadn’t quite managed to get out the door before it was blocked by a mass of black. The bridesmaids, still appearing to be struggling were slowly dragged out the doors, slow and rough enough to seem realistic. Rarity in particular was throwing a verbal fit over her dresses being ruined, and a physical one. Several changelings were rubbing their sore noses. Chrysalis pushed back with all the might she could muster, and for a moment she seemed to be winning the power struggle. Then Celestia let loose much more power than Chrysalis, or even Twilight could have anticipated. The golden stream of power barreled down at the hostile queen. The girls looked on, completely forgetting their act for a moment as they saw Chrysalis losing. The plan could still succeed though, they had to keep up their show. Twilight, on the other hoof, panicked. “Let me go!” she yelled at the changelings dragging her off, threatening to blast them for real. “Not a chance!” they said, still thinking it was part of an act. Twilight was in a very delicate position to begin with in this plan. At that moment, everything was about to fall apart because of one miscalculation she should have accounted for. Moreover, her elder sister was in serious danger, so it could be very easily assumed that when Twilight suddenly shifted into her real form and glared daggers at them, she’d officially stopped thinking with any rationality or reason. “I’m not asking you!” she yelled, drawing the collective attention and shock of the remaining crowd. Her friends gaped at how reckless and idiotic she was being, and her parents gaped in utter disbelief. “Have you lost your mind?!” Rainbow screeched. Her cry however, fell on deaf ears. “Leave her alone!” she screamed, tears strolling down her face as she took aim. A magic blast left her horn faster than anyone could stop her, catching Celestia completely by surprise as she was struck square in the ribcage. As Twilight’s beam started to push Celestia back her concentration was shattered, and Chrysalis’ beam struck her in the side of the head. Celestia was flung into the ceiling, both beams colliding with within a mere second of one another.  Time seemed to slow as she painfully dropped from the ceiling. “Twilight?” The dual voice went unheard by all but Shining Armor and Twilight. The first stammered looking at his parents, trying to figure out a plausible way to explain what just happened. He wasn’t doing very well, and he’d broken character. Twilight however, suddenly realized what she just did, panic setting in full force. Chrysalis looked on at Twilight with dread as she realized what she’d done. “Chryssi, I-I just…” the words died on the young queen’s tongue as she heard the thud. All eyes were focused on the dazed sun princess, who’d barely managed to get on her hooves. “Who’s the one that blindsided me?” she asked wearily, regaining her footing. “This is gonna end badly,” Rainbow muttered with a sudden cotton mouth. “No kidding,” one of the changelings said. Celestia looked up and saw the only one who looked to have any amount of power that could hurt her, seeing a very familiar looking changeling queen. Her eyes widened, her breath caught in her throat, and she stepped back in disbelief and shock. “T-Twilight?” she asked weakly. Twilight looked between her mentor and Chrysalis, her heart ripped between the two in a way no other could know. “I...I’m sorry.” She clamped her eyes shut and teleported to Chrysalis’ side. “I’m sorry, but I won’t let you hurt her!” she yelled at Celestia, tears forcing their way past her closed eyelids. “Th-that’s not possible!” Celestia stammered, “I’d have known! I’d have known if Twilight was a changeling. I’d know the difference in her magic!” A very meticulously laid plan was quickly falling apart and had to be salvaged somehow before everything fell apart. Twilight wasn’t in a well enough mental state to figure it out, while Fluttershy, Applejack, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, and Pinkie Pie were still being dragged out in a desperate attempt to salvage things by the rest of the changelings. Thankfully, Chrysalis was able to think quickly. “You wouldn’t know the difference in a hybrid,” Chrysalis explained, shocking all the non-changeling’s in the room, “A changeling queen is a special hybrid; always female, produced when a changeling mates with any of the three other races of pony. We are different in the fact that we inherit the abilities native to our non-changeling parent: stronger muscles with earth ponies, greater ability for flight and weather manipulation for pegasi, or a natural pool of unicorn magic for unicorns.” “Hybrid?” Celestia repeated. “You’d never know the difference,” Twilight said to her mentor. Chrysalis caught sight of Twilight’s parents out of the corner of the eye, giving a small, subtle flick of her head to a couple changelings; ordering them to grab them before they jeopardize the situation even worse. The changelings snuck up on them just as they were about to speak and covered their mouths as they dragged them away. With Twilight’s intervention in the attack, Chrysalis knew there was only one way to salvage her act: act like Twilight was her spy. She stepped forward, and put a hoof on Twilight’s back. Twilight flinched at the touch knowing full full she’d have to commit to her act of betrayal. That knowledge couldn’t keep tears from forming in her eyes. Celestia tried to talk to her once she saw the watery glint in her eyes, “T-Twilight,  I--” “Don’t waste your breath,” Twilight snapped, making Celestia flinch in shock. Twilight did her best to steel herself and shouted, “You already told me what you think of my kind!” Before Celestia could react Chrysalis took advantage of her shock and struck her with another magic blast to her horn. As Celestia screamed Chrysalis ordered her changelings to attack while she was weakened. Celestia managed to knock away some of her attackers, but she was quickly being overpowered. Their combined strength overwhelmed her own, and her magic was stunted by Chrysalis’ blast to her horn. Twilight couldn’t bear to look, and looked away with her eyes clamped shut. “I’m sorry,” she whispers softly, “I’m so sorry, Celestia.” Chrysalis looks down at her little sister sadly. “I’m sorry, Twilight,” she tells her sadly, “I know it hurts, but watching will only make it hurt more. Take your brother and go.” Twilight sniffles and nods. “Y- yes Chryssi, “ she says shakily. Chrysalis turns to Shining Armor, who had been too shell-shocked since the fight began to do anything.. “Console her,” Chrysalis orders, “I need to finish things here.” Shining Armor nods quickly and teleports away with his little sister. Chrysalis sighs heavily and looks at Celestia, who was halfway through being sealed in a stasis pod. “...This day was going to be perfect…”