//------------------------------// // Sorry by Europa (Tragedy, Dark, bad end) // Story: Tainted Love: A Twysalis Prompt Tag Collab // by Foals Errand //------------------------------// by Europa It hadn't been enough. That was the sole thought that raced through Twilight's head as she, with her friends accompanying her, galloped frantically through Canterlot, ready to summon forth the Rainbow Power and bring it down... upon Chrysalis. She was glad they were with her, without her friends next to her Twilight couldn't summon the Rainbow Power. The alliance hadn't been enough. Cadance's friendship hadn't been enough. Twilight's love for her hadn't been enough and Queen Chrysalis had again turned on ponykind with ruthless efficiency. Her first strike had been to frame Discord and trick them into petrifying him again. She didn't know where his statue was, but Twilight feared the worst. After that, changelings throughout Equestria wrought havoc, and Chrysalis herself conquered the Crystal Empire before it could so much as call for help. With the full power of the Crystal Heart fueling her, she'd turned her attention on Canterlot, which was why Twilight and her friends were running there now. But it was slow going. If she thought that Chrysalis had brought a lot of changelings to invade Canterlot the first time, it paled in comparison to the full might of her half-million strong army. Horseapples, her army was as large as the entire population of Canterlot, and it showed. They blotted out the sky. Twilight had seen Luna and Celestia both take to the air to battle Chrysalis herself, but the wall of changelings - seemingly following her and her friends - kept her from seeing where they'd ended up. "Come on, Twi!" Rainbow shouted, taking point. "Move it!" "Right," she panted, pushing herself harder. While in theory they could've teleported, she wanted to keep her magic in reserves in case her ex-workerfriend had a trick up her carapace. Twilight would've been surprised if she didn't. As they grew near the castle, the changelings made their move and dove down at them in a funnel. All six of them gaped as the black, chitinous swarm grew closer, and closer. Twilight gulped, and Fluttershy whimpered. "Here goes nothing!" She was no Shining Armor - wherever he was - but she was no slouch with a shield either and had much more raw power than him. A violet shield flickered into existence around her and the girls, flickered again, then solidified. The changelings swarmed around it, blocking all sight beyond, and began blasting it. The power pummeled her shield, but she held firm. She knew the castle by heart, and pointed the way. "Go, hurry!" They ran, but the bombardments grew into a perpetual hailstorm. And then, green rings opened inside the shield, winking out with a flash as changelings teleported inside. ***-_***_-***-_***_-***-_***_-*** She summoned all her might into one finishing blow, and defeathered Princess Luna's wings. Without the feathers to channel her pegasus magic, the dark alicorn cursed and fell, quickly surrounded and overwhelmed by her swarm. A moment later she heard a telepathic message confirming that Luna was cocooned. Chrysalis turned her attention on Celestia, and winged out of the way of a fireball. As the flame orb passed it shot out tiny, fiery darts in all directions which peppered her hard carapace uselessly. She retaliated with an emerald beam, one that simply scattered off of the Daybringer's golden shield. That wasn't the end, though. She grabbed hold of the scattered magic and turned them into emerald swords, driving them into the shield and cracking it. While Celestia focused on repair it she flew over, turned around, and bucked the shield with both legs. It broke like glass under her immense imitation-earth pony magic. "Down you go!" she shouted, wrapping Celestia's throat in her magic and squeezing. She flew out of the way of another beam and tossed Celestia down into the castle. Celestia was battered and exhausted, but Chrysalis was strong, empowered, and fresh. She flew down, through the hole Celestia had punched in the throne room. Wrapping herself in emerald flame she slammed into the ground next to Celestia, throwing the alicorn through the air. Before Celestia could hit the ground, Chrysalis reached through her hivemind's link to the Crystal Heart and siphoned power, then prepared the spell and blasted Celestia into her throne. Immediately, the pretty pony princess was wrapped in a cocoon in the midst of a gasp of pain. That let the oxygenated slime travel down her throat, sedatives and all. Chrysalis stepped forward and looked down emotionlessly as the alicorn gasped, sparked her horn, and pawed desperately at the cocoon with her hooves. She and Celestia made eye contact, the pony begging her to stop, for mercy, right up until the slime's effects took hold and she fell asleep. She... she did it. She'd won. She'd won. ... she'd won. She didn't really feel like it. Her betrayal to the one she cared about still clawed at her but... she had no choice! It was the only way to save her hive, to stop the disease spreading through them. Cocoons gave so much more love, enough to stop it, and it was the only way and she hated herself for doing it! Chrysalis reached up and wiped a tear away, just in time for the doors to the throne room to open. In spilled the one mare she was hoping not to see, and her friends. With a mental command, Queen Chrysalis called her soldiers away from them, letting them enter the room unmolested. "So," Chrysalis said at last, turning to face her. Twilight nodded, face grim. "So." She looked to her friends, and nodded. "Alright girls, now!" The pony closed her eyes, tensed... and nothing happened. Chrysalis watched, unsurprised when the five ponies around her workerfriend flashed into changelings, then teleported away. Without her friends next to her Twilight couldn't summon the Rainbow Power. Twilight's gasp was heartbreakingly loud. "No, no no no no..." She dismissed her shield and looked up at Chrysalis, her face grim. "I-I don't care. I'll find a way to make this right, I have to, I have to..." Chrysalis frowned. "I know this is hard for you, Twilight. I have no choice, though." "Don't give me that, Chrysalis! There's always a choice, always, and you... dear Celestia, no." She swallowed, and lit up her horn. "I have to try, I have to try." She nodded morosely. "I know Twilight, I know you do." This was really happening. She was going to fight Twilight again. A few months ago she would have relished in the chance and jumped for the opportunity, but now she wanted to be somewhere else, anywhere else. She too fired up her horn. Clearly, getting to her had tired out Twilight. She only released a simple magic ray, not even marking Chrysalis's carapace. The next hit came to her thorax, barely warming her. Chrysalis bit her lip, hard enough for her fangs to draw green blood, then fired her own magic at Twilight. The alicorn gasped in pain and buckled as the eldritch energy shot through her, but grit her teeth and, swaying, got back to her unsteady hooves. "Please stop," Chrysalis pleaded silently. More inaccurate magic blasts fired. One hit her in the snout, another in the hoof, one passed right through a hole in her leg. When one hit her eye - that actually stung - she winced, closed her teary eyes, then opened them and fired another spell. "YAAAH!" Twilight screamed as changeling magic burned through her nervous system. She collapsed to her side, panting weakly. Princess Twilight stared up at Queen Chrysalis, made a brief futile effort to stand, and reignited her flickering horn. "Please Twilight," she begged as her love shot at her from the floor. "Please just stop, don't make me do this." Another blast went wide, hitting the throne. "Stop, please!" Two blasts hit Celestia's cocoon to no effect. Another one hit her in the chest. "Please, please Twilight, don't make this harder than it has to be." Another shot, to her horn. "Please, please just lay there. Please!" Twilight shot her one more time, then Chrysalis shuddered, cursed herself, and attacked her workerfriend again. Twilight twitched, and then fell still. Were it not for the weak rising and falling of her chest, Chrysalis would've assumed her dead. She almost wished that was the case. Letting her haunches fall, Chrysalis bowed her head, the only one awake in the dimly lit throne room. "I'm sorry," she whispered, over and over. "I'm sorry."