Discord gushed and reveled in the flash of golden light. He grinned and began laughing maniacally as he floated up in lounged position, a strong defiance to gravity. He did a single backflip in midair before he was interrupted, much to his chagrin.
"Are we done here?" Snape asked.
"Oh, sure; I'll be summoning you again when I need a bit of freshening up...or maybe just when I get bored. You are a naughty one after all, I love it!"
"No, you will not be summoning me again. I cannot have these kinds of disruptions with deformed creatures taking me away from my work and I do trust they will end, because if they don't, I will find you and you will get more than you bargained for."
"Is that a challenge?" Discord asked as he shot down to the floor like a rock thrown off a rooftop.
"Does it look like one?" Snape returned in a serious expression, or rather, his usual expression.
"Bad move, Sevvy," Discord mocked, "with your empowerments, I'm more than a match for you. In fact, I could break you here and now and be done with it!"
"Leaving you without a source of extra power," Snape added.
"Eh. Time heals all wounds. Besides, I'm sure I could find a way to drain all that delicious magical power from you. So go ahead, I dare you to strike first!"
Snape looked Discord eye to eye and felt the eager spirit within the draconeques. In all honesty, a fight with Discord would be a grave mistake. He might be able to push past the Chaos Master's attacks, but at a great price. In all likelihood, Snape would find himself on the losing end of a battle. And yet all that could be reversed with good planning. He knew Discord well enough to discern that the trickster didn't have a plan, while his was already in motion.
So he walked away, silently, but surely into the dead of night.
"That's right, Snapey! Remember who the better magician is!"
Dark clouds gathered over Canterlot as dawn came, but was overshadowed by a force beyond Celestia's grasp. No weather pegasi had been ordered to create these clouds. Trouble was amok, and the citizens below felt the unease. Princesses Luna and Celestia ordered a meeting of the highest importance.
Princesses Twilight Sparkle and Cadence were invited, of course, as were Princes Blueblood and Shining Armor. Snape, as a resident magical expert, was invited as well. A squadron of guards kept their places in front of the meeting room as they arrived. A table with seven seats had been set in place, as had seven chairs, yet the room seemed rather melancholy, more so than serious; the sun was no longer able to break through the veil of clouds above, and morning was far from over.
"How could this happen?" Celestia bellowed with as Snape took his seat, and the doors slammed shut.
"I have made sure of it- nopony in Canterlot or the surrounding area is manipulating the weather," Luna reported.
"Perhaps the real culprit is nature? Maybe this is some new weather cycle, never seen before, that even our magic cannot touch," Twilight suggested. The idea was not met with much enthusiasm, and the lavender princess rolled her eyes down in an awkward admission of defeat.
"There is a known villain in Equestria who operates with the weather," Luna pointed out.
"I doubt Sombra has returned, and why now? We're at our strongest," Cadence replied.
"He wouldn't know that if he was locked up since last time though," Her husband countered.
"We can look into it, I suppose, but I am rapidly losing control of the sun, and I cannot determine the source of this disturbance," Celestia informed the others and looked up into the ceiling with a tinge of unease, "I fear other powers could be taken just as easily."
"We need more information," Shining Armor said as he glanced from Cadence, at his immediate left, to Luna at his immediate right, "to discover the root of the problem. Reconnaissance."
"Exactly, without knowing to what extent this power-negating force goes or who it can affect, we will come no closer to finding the one responsible," Twilight agreed, hoping to redeem herself.
"Then you should begin pouring through books and scrolls as soon as we're finished here," Celestia told her former protege, to which Twilight nodded in answer.
"Maybe it would be wise to ration provisions," Blueblood spoke up as he left his seat, fetching several candles and setting them up to give the meeting better light.
"That is sound reasoning," Cadence agreed.
"Of course it is, how can we royals, oh, and you too...um, Snake?"
"Snape." The wizard corrected, grumpily, from his seat.
"Oh, my bad! Snape. But anyways, how can any of us work without proper lighting and sensory conditions?"
Celestia seemed most disappointed and ashamed with Blueblood's reasoning, but there was no time to correct him about it now. By the time her nephew sat down no one else had spoken up, each evidently thinking the situation through. Snape, most of all, seemed deep entrenched in his own mind as he sat back, arms folded and eyes staring past the table, into some unseen thought processes that played out in his eyes alone.
"Speaking of Equestria's own visiting wizard," Celestia broke the silence,"have you encountered anything like this before, Snape?"
He did not respond at once, but slowly lifted his eyes from below him, reluctant to add his vocal input to the meeting. He looked at each one for a second or two, but finally his sight rested on the Princess of the Sun, if she could be called that under these circumstances.
"No, I have not had the displeasure of meeting anything like this prior to my arrival," Snape dismissed.
"Have you felt a disruption in your powers?" Shining Armor inquired quickly after the answer, leaning towards the man a little.
"No," Snape repeated.
"Well, we can find great use for you in the midst of this chaos, then," Celestia assured with all too much vigor.
"We must assign duties and take action accordingly," Luna told the others, "the sooner we begin to search for this disturbance the better."
"I can help Twilight," Cadence told her peers as her eyes met the foal she used to watch over with a smile, which was eagerly returned.
"I'll have the guards on extra alert; they'll be ready for anything," Shining Armor assured them.
"I will personally search out any leads I can, and I suggest the rest of you do so as well," Celestia brought the meeting to a close.
Shining Armor hustled his way out after a quick and awkward goodbye with his wife. Twilight and Cadence wasted little time in heading to the archives of the Canterlot library, and Luna flew off away from the city. Blueblood had a word with Celestia as Snape stood quietly alone by the window, gazing down into the darkness whilst in deep thought.
Any of them down below could be a problem. An invader. He could have spoken up, but that would only draw more suspicion to him. Shining Armor was intent on seeing Snape gone, and how much more Celestia? Bad impressions seemed to follow him around. As usual, he was best off working alone, in the background dealing with problems most of his peers had no idea of. The depth and magnitude of this situation was beyond any of the ponies, and Snape would be damned, literally, if he failed them.
And that was exactly why he did not put too much trust in them. Trust was dangerous, not like one's hand, given out to strangers as a sign of promise and goodwill. Trust was reserved for those that earned it with nothing short of great effort and attention to detail; intelligence and aptitude was required to earn the reward of a wise man's trust. He was far better off without leaving much work for them to do. It would all pay off in the end.
He was beginning to back away when his eye caught sight of it again. There! He rushed to the window and pressed his hands and face upon it. Then it was gone, just as quickly.
"Snape?" Celestia called from the table, eyebrow raised.
"Does he do that...often?" Blueblood asked his aunt, but she did not respond; she did meet him at the window as he backed away a couple steps and looked her eye to eye.
"Something wrong?" She inquired again.
Snape quickly swallowed a lump in his throat and remembered his vow to keep up his guard, "No. No, I was just leaving."
He did not wait for her approval before he was marching away at a brisk pace. The halls were darker than ever before he had seen them, and the loneliness of the castle had never before seemed so profound. Down the hall he heard the chit-chat of the younger Princesses, but the sweetening atmosphere of their conversation did not reach him as he exited the fortress.
He had no need of shielding his eyes from the sun today; it was almost entirely hidden, with over half of the colossal giant completely stored away behind the thick blanket of clouds. The ponies in town still whispered his name, if they knew it, in hushed tones and quiet voices. He knew almost instantly that more than a few of them were placing blame on him. It seemed no direct impression was as fatal as bad one.
He came upon the lane that led to Celestia's school, but he kept walking straight, and he saw the school in the distance, knowing he would have to go there and confront the dark secrets below it very soon. But the things of his past life took precedent over the woes of this one. They did in this case, anyways.
Soon the buildings disappeared along with the lamp posts and sidewalk full of cracks and he came to a grassy patch on the mountain. Many weeds abounded in the grass, contrary to what one might assume about the city. The living areas were well kept, almost spotless in some cases, the but the splendor of nature on its doorstep was left undisturbed. A good fog was still in place on the outskirts of the city, and he waded through it until he found the spot. It was very close to the edge of the mountain, so close that he felt the winds trying in vain to pull him off into the air below, tempting him with the offer of flying freely away, forever.
He crouched down and felt the damp grass below him with his hands. He looked out into the distance, but his eyes were caught up in the blank mystery of the fog. It was nowhere to be found. She was gone. But what else could he expect? Perhaps he was being too naive about things. Maybe he had endangered everyone by coming here first. He was still not thinking properly.
Besides, what were the odds? A pony, a creature of such a foreign, broken land that so closely resembled his greatest love? A Lily-pony? Practically none. He was a cold man, but it was not easy to be so cold. Death had made him slip a bit, that or this world was affecting him in a way he couldn't have imagined.
Perhaps it was Cadence's fault. She knew too much, was so caught up in her job that she was interfering with his. It made more sense than anything else did. But now he was just getting caught up in the details of it all; he was slipping, discipline was in order. He needed to move. Now.
He delayed himself in the grass a short time longer, making positively sure nothing was amiss, and soon he waded out towards the street again and walked quietly back into the town. Not long after, he came out of the mist and re-entered the city.
Already there seemed to be a decay in the air that eluded most of the ponies, who seemed too concerned with the darkness itself rather than whatever it held or foretold. Snape rushed onwards to the school, sensing that something was definitely off. What he did not sense was the figure behind him, clad within the shadows that abounded in the city, that had been watching over him, sneaking along and stalking him at every turn since he left the castle.
The school seemed fine, ordered and studious as usual on the outside, though oddly isolated. He opened the door cautiously with one arm and gazed inside. The halls were dark, quiet, and he soon discovered that he was alone. There ought to be herds of ponies attending classes, groups of teachers and staff members going about their day. But there weren't. He ran down towards the basement as a single bead of sweat ran down his forehead, then his cheek, then dropped off his face like a tear.
The basement doors had been ripped off. The room had been torn up. Cracks and splinters in the structure erupted from the doorway to the chamber like puss running from an infected wound. The secret entrance, despite his magic, had been overcome. From the inside. He stormed down into the chamber, and entered the room where he had discovered the first of the invaders. Cloaks lay in many number upon the stone floor. He took in the sight of a silent invasion, realizing all too late that his priorities had been wrong. He spun around, and met a figure in the doorway, already in a sprint to overtake him.
Snape's wand was in hand and he fired a swift shot, but the creature seemed to phase right through it and knocked Snape down, taking a bite out of the left side of his neck in the process.
He cried out in alarm as his skin and muscle was bitten into, then ripped from his body with ferocious strength. Blood spurted out onto the ground and himself as the attacker circled around to make another pass at him. Snape formed a shield around himself that knocked the figure back, but little else. With one hand on the chasmal wound, he felt the warm sensation of his own blood trickling out of his body. His other hand was firmly wrapped around his wand; he stood up and let his foe get in close before he shot tightly woven cords around the confronter's legs, yet once more the defensive measure fell short; Snape was knocked up into the air and landed unceremoniously on his back several feet away.
The invader pressed on, preparing for another strike. Snape barely swiped his wand from the floor when the invader was only a few steps away, and it was barely enough for Snape to erect a wall of flame, which managed to keep the creature back, for the time being.
"Snape!" It hollered in an agonized voice, which bellowed through the halls in a horrific manner.
Snape let the flames dissipate but sent a blast of ice at the floor beneath the creature, causing it to slide onto its frontside, allowing for another quick blast to freeze it in place. Fire worked well, but ice seemed to do a better job, so Snape covered the walls and ceiling in ice, sealing any magical properties away behind a frozen blanket.
He ran out as his healing magic began repairing his wounds. He'd live, if he didn't meet another attacker like that. It was possible that this force which plagued Celestia was affecting him too. Speaking of the Princess, he wondered if they had come under siege. If so, things would end up badly. He had blown his chance. Disaster was upon Equestria.
He bolted out the doors and found a sea of bodies littered about the city. Streets sat with bloody piles of equine corpses and the buildings burned with a raging inferno. Thunder struck from above and mocked him as he searched for any signs of life. He did discover one pony that clung to life. She was bleeding, frail and tired from the ambush.
"You..you're the...wizard, right?"
"Where did they come from?" Snape asked rhetorically, "where did they go?"
"You've got to protect...the Princesses."
"Where did the attackers go?" Snape repeated as his wand ran over her wounds, repairing damaged tissue and fighting infection, but her heart grew fainter, and in less than a minute it gave out.
He ceased healing her and looked around as dust plastered itself around the capitol from the storm clouds above, preserving the moment as an everlasting mark of genocide. The dried blood from his own wound seemed to burn as the seconds passed and he wandered closer to the castle.
"Snape! Snape! Snape!" A hidden voice echoed through the streets, around the corners and down the alleys.
He ignored the tricks, the taunting distractions that tried to set him off balance and lure him away from the castle. He hurried on as rain began to pour down, rain that stung, accompanied by thunder that strained his ears. Puddles were forming, many of them red thanks to the pony blood that was being washed through the streets, into the crevices of the roadways and the gutters in the streets.
He reached the steps into the castle, and there upon them, at the very top, was the Lily pony. He dared not approach it carelessly, and he had his wand fixed on its equine heart the entire time he crept up to it, but when he realized that this pony was real, he dropped to his knees.
He knew it was not Lily. It was not the woman that lived in his heart. Not again. And yet the resemblance was incredible, and even the prone figure of the dead pony held an air of grace and simply purity that he recalled too well from Lily's corpse. She wasn't here, but a creature that could pass as her sister in spirit was, and she was dead.
The logical side of his brain told him that this was all a clever trick, a deception meant to demoralize him and make him susceptible for a killing blow.
The emotional part of his mind told him that this was a symbol. An image that paralleled the worst day of his life to let him know that he had failed his new task. For all his careful and methodical planning, his actions were not enough. And it had cost him.
He took in the sight and closed his eyes sadly for a quick moment, then he entered the castle. It was the same in here. Blood. Guts. Death. Pain. And still no sign of the invaders. He knew they were changelings, creatures that could alter form and, to a lesser degree, mindset if they chose. Any one of the "corpses" could be a foe waiting to trap him, finish him off.
But no ambush came, no surprise attack was directed at him. He went up the hall and heard the cry of a female he knew well. Celestia. It was a cry of extreme pain, partially induced by terror.
He kicked open the doors to the meeting room and beheld six figures, laid out in a decorative state of death. His heart sank and his soul cried out with theirs. They lost their lives. Equestria was no more without its leaders. He had failed.
Celestia, the most recent to die lay with open wounds in her gut and a horrified expression.
Luna was missing wings, most notably, as well as her horn. She had probably put out the best fight.
Shining Armor's head was gone. His body looked so lost, disfigured.
Blueblood was chopped into so many bits and pieces Snape could barely tell it was him.
Twilight Sparkle's wounds were comprised of many revealing holes in her body and limbs, though her head was untouched. Little consolation.
Cadence seemed more afraid than any of them. She tried to get away, but failed. Miserably. Her entire chest was torn open and tears of blood ran down her cheeks. Beside her, a small pony fetus laid dead in an eternal silent scream.
The doors slammed shut behind him and all manner of changeling intruders and murderers crept down from the shadows of the ceiling and out of the darkness on the floor.
"Snape!" The same hidden voice rang out.
His wand was already blasting icy bolts of magic at them, but few fell while many leaked in. His face bore an intensely aggravated expression as he flicked his wand around with great precision, as well as unusual brutality.
"Snape!" It called once more whilst he began varying his attacks, sending blasts of extreme kinetic force that shot them through walls, fiery bolts that exploded into pools of flame, and lightning blasts that incinerated fine holes in them. And still he knew they weren't trying. They didn't seem to mind death. He didn't either.
They swarmed around him and the circle of open space between Snape and the changelings grew smaller and smaller as the seconds flew by.
"Snape!"
Magic blast after magic blast but still they came.
"Snape!"
Volley upon volley only felled so many and he was soon overrun.
"SNAPE!!"
Many blasts fired at him and his shield only took so much damage before it gave away and his body began to absorb the punishment. Their first volley put him on one knee and the changelings began gnawing at him before he pushed them back with a repelling spell.
He was already missing two fingers and had been infected with some type of changeling poison. He struggled to remain even on his knees, as the hordes came after him again.
He flung everything he had at them. Sectumsempra, spells and curses and jinxes of all natures, he even resorted to the Avada Kedavra, but it only helped so much. He was overrun again and blasted with several more magic shots, one of which blinded him, perhaps permanently; he had no choice but to freeze everything around him so that he had enough room to fly out through the same window he had pondered at earlier.
The glass shattered as his form, a retreating black mist, burst through it and landed in the middle of the streets. He began to crawl away weakly as the rain drenched him and the swarms followed him outside to resume their hunt. He fired more blasts on instinct, but it was not enough and a single, concentrated blast of changeling magic hit him in the back, ripped through his chest and pierced his heart, and exited through his chest. He stumbled along for another step, then he fell to the floor. Dead.
Snape shot out of his chair and nearly fell over. He had fallen asleep at his desk, but that was no bad dream. He had not felt a presence in his mind so careful yet potent since he had worked under Voldemort. If that monster had somehow made it here, then Snape was just as doomed as that nightmare.
But he doubted that was the case. His mind was being pried at, poked around like a specimen in a lab, unable to protect itself. Until now. He sat back down at once and began running over his mind, focusing on the disruption and attempting to follow it back to the source. His powers of Occlumency were great, and he was sure that his counter-attack would not be without fruit.
By dawn he had learned much. Chrysalis was afoot, and she was gaining knowledge about the city and himself at an alarming rate. But now, he knew where she was getting her intelligence, on the city structure at least, and he would be sure to put that to an end as soon as possible. Where she learned so much of him remained unclear, but now he was learning about her plans. The mind was a two-way street, and Snape had travelled more than Chrysalis had first imagined.
Luna walked quietly into her sister's bedroom as dawn approached. Soon her watch would come to a close and a new day would begin. The guards at Celestia's bedroom door parted for her as she discreetly entered and sealed the door again behind her.
It broke her heart to have to tell her sister of such a thing, but it could not be helped. Severus Snape was not the man they had imagined him to be. The report was short and simple, when her elder sister woke from her deep slumber. Luna thought about how to word it, how she might still be loyal and true to her sister without casting too dark a shadow on Snape. She believed in him, despite this incident, But she knew her sister was losing faith in him almost every day, and this report would not help his case. At all.
"Snape," Luna told her sister quietly, "He's been hiding secrets from us."
"How do you know?" Celestia inquired, well awake at that statement.
"He dreamed about them. I could tell his secrets from his nightmarish fantasies. Some of them anyways, I arrived in his dream, secretly, partway through. He's been hiding a lot. There are changeling invaders in the city. It's not too late to play damage control, keep a lid on things...but I can't say exactly how many have entered."
"How has this come to be?"
"There's a secret chamber beneath your school. It was there they first entered, and rather than tell us, Snape decided he would hide it and try to deal with it himself."
"Do you think he can?" Celestia asked flatly.
"...I don't know. I guess not."
"Rest assured, we will step in. Severus Snape will soon learn that one must play by our rules here."