Chrysalis Wins
Ch.1 “This day is staying perfect!”
“You won’t get away with this, Twilight and her friends will-"
Cadance’s defiant words were interrupted as the main doors burst open. The six mares who failed to obtain the Elements of Harmony were dragged into the grand hall, which was being redecorated into a slimy organic den. The six ponies were closely escorted by just as many changelings.
With a snide smile, Chrysalis turned towards Cadance in a tone that reveled with smugness as gooey as melted caramel.
“You were saying…”
The frazzled alicorn's eyes widened in dismay. Her shoulders slumped, and tail tucked further between legs as her friends walked further into captivity. The element bearers were still on edge, they battled between discouragement and defiance in their expressions.
The queen struck a dramatic pose as she faced her newest prisoners. Chrysalis stared down at Twilight Sparkle specifically.
“You do realize the reception has been canceled don’t you!”
The 'changeling of the hour' then turned to her smaller subjects, who hovered anxiously in the air. They growled and hissed in anticipation for the expected order.
“Go! Fee-, wait no,no,no, I’m forgetting something aren’t I.”
With a bright flash of green magic, a roll of old parchment appeared in front of Chrysalis, as well as a small pair of reading glasses. It unraveled as she put on the glasses, and peered through the list on the paper. She thoughtfully rubbed a fetlock under her chin while she scanned through it.
“#34 yes, #35 yes, #36 yes, #37... business before pleasure. I can’t let every changeling go free form until the plan is sealed. Wrap up the Element Bearers. The would-be bride and her husband need to be completely out of commision as well. Subjects! Cocoon them all.”
When she gestured towards the prisoners the large holes in her hoof made a quiet whistle. The queen’s entourage quickly obeyed. With a mixture of magic and ghastly coughs, mounds of slime were produced and used to encase the prisoners in fresh cocoons.
Fearful yelps and wails of despair escaped the ponies as they stared at their goo-bound future. Chrysalis chuckled at the particularly furious glare Twilight gave at her.
“You can’t, you won't ge-"
Twilight’s words were silenced with a glob of insect gack, which was delivered via rough smack to the muzzle. Chrysalis carried on in a lackadaisical manner, now that her largest targets were handled.
“As much as I’d like to entertain your pathetic little struggle, I have grander things planned.”
One grapple of magic later, and the pest that almost ruined her plans was locked away. This was followed by each of her silly friends, as they were methodically handled. They were preemptively gagged with slime to prevent any last retorts of defiance or annoying cries of despair.
The new ruler of Canterlot turned to the not-so-happily-ever-after couple at the podium, and took her time to walk up to them until she was just a step away. Chrysalis stared down at defeated peachy princess. The grin on her fanged face was unbreakable at this point.
“Thank you for the disguise. Have sweet dreams on how things might have been.”
“You EVIL WI-"
-gag-
“Tsk, Tsk. How rude, especially after I bid you such a nice farewell, so unfitting for a princess... or any new subject of mine. From here on out there will be consequences for defiance. I think you’ll be one of my prime examples...”
Seized in magic, the smaller alicorn was violently torn from her goo cemented position, and unceremoniously encapsulated like the rest. The queen then turned to Shining Armor, delicately running a hoof along his masculine jaw.
“You’ve served me well, but now your fountain has run dry, rest well Shining. I'll be sure to visit once you've ripened up again.”
The once proud captain of the guard walked himself over to an open cocoon. Mechanically he proceeded to crawl in and use his last bit of energy to seal himself off. Now enclosed, Shining closed his eyes and wore a stupid smile, ever ignorant of the one that controlled him. This caused a sadistic chuckle from Chrysalis.
“Now time to double check if there is anything else I’ve forgotten. Are there any particularly stubborn pockets of resistance, Shade?”
A changeling with a distinct dotted pattern about his neck and cheeks stepped towards his victorious ruler, and bowed low. His purple eyes were sharper than his peers and distinguished him as the head of the vanguard division.
“The princess of the night is holed up in her tower. We found her asleep, but when we tried to enter her chambers some manner of alarm went off. Once awake she proved too difficult and wily to subdue. However, I made sure that every angle of escape has been cut off. I contacted Colony, and she's made sure the underground is flooded with drones. I've also arranged my vanguard to channel a field of magical static, to disrupt any attempts to teleport. We might not be able to fully restrain her without your assistance, but she's not going anywhere fast either.”
“Of course, Celestia’s unstable younger sister, bring the rest of the vanguard and some sentinels. It's better to have over kill than risk my perfect day.”
Chrysalis then turned to her freshly minted prisoners. Her hoof thoughtfully tapped at her chin as she mulled over a few additional options. It didn't take long for her to come to a decision, this one was very tempting after all.
The Queen's long legs brought her over to where the Element Bears and two princess lay captured. Chrysalis's opened her maw hungrily, ready to glut on the mountain of energy before her. If Shining Armor's love alone was enough to throw Celestia off her game, then adding Cadances's, the Element's, and Celestia's own positive emotions should be more than enough to subdue Luna. In fact, it should be more than any opponent would require from Chrysalis, at least any that she knew of.
As the Queen swelled with power, Shade carried out her command and cast a practiced spell. The vanguard’s eyes glowed a fiery purple as a wave of transparent energy blew out from his horn.
“The message has been sent my queen.”
“Excellent, Vivisect call in the sentinels, no pony will free my prisoners. Once my city is secured we can arrange for all changelings to feed at their leisure.”
Vivisect was a massive specimen of a changeling, easily 8-10 times the mass of the drones that skittered about, or 4-5 times that of the more elegant vanguard. She was covered in a thick fortress of carrot-colored chitinous armor, and radiated an authority that didn't need words to be imposing. Her hoof-falls heavily clacked on the tile floor as she acknowledged her queen's command. Without speaking, Vivisect charged a telepathic spell and let it burst forth from her saber-shaped horn. All other sentinels now knew of the summons to the grand hall. Once the message was sent the burly changeling rose and uttered in scratchy voice
“The sentinels will be here shortly my queen.”
“Good, now I will personally put the last princess down."
Chrysalis licked her lips for emphasis, reveling in the hype of energy she enjoyed. It was difficult to describe what this feeling even was. This was somewhere between being dizzily drunk and manically hyperactive. She could feel energy leaking out her ears with the way it thrummed through her body, wracking it with more nutrients than she ever had exposure to in her entire life.
Truly there was nothing like this. Never before did she have access to such ponies with so much potential. She had to consciously keep herself from trembling, for she felt that with this much power she was on the edge of exploding... hmm, but exploding could wait, she wasn't done with business yet. She turned to her head vanguard, trying to keep her composure somewhat regal, but couldn't keep back all the twitching and fidgeting she was compelled to do.
"Sh-Shade, come.”
The room tittered and buzzed with excitement as the changelings and their Queen flew out of the wedding hall. Thankfully the buzz of the crowd was good cover for the compulsive fidgeting of the queen. A broad grin couldn't keep itself off of Chrysalis's muzzle. The sky was flooded with black chitin and transparent wings, a sign of her dominance of the current situation.
The swarm of the queen and vanguard flew across the city toward the Lunar Tower. As they passed a screech of cheers came from the chitinous legions of drones flooding the streets below. Their disturbingly synchronized sound sent a shiver down the pony population’s collective spine. The scene of victory filled Chrysalis with joy and giddiness. She had planned this day, even though so many fears had plagued her in her preparations. However, the scene below made her throw out any doubts as to whether these plans had been worth it. She won the jackpot.
Chrysalis began to laugh, an utterly manic laugh. As her eyes roamed over city street to city street as her compulsive heaving escalated. Each scene was a validation of her superiority, her magnificence, her brilliance, and whatever other word that could feed her vanity. Eventually her rambunctious laughter started to interrupt her flying to the point she felt light headed. Her diaphragm could only take so much punishment. After a particularly wide and unruly swerve, her head vanguard raised his voice in concern.
“My queen, are you well?”
Shade asked, offering a hoof for support. She gently brushed the offered hoof aside as the booms of her laughter died to more manageable levels. Though she did clutch to her sides in an attempt to massage the burn from them.
“No Shade I’m am quite fine. My enthusiasm just got ahead of me.”
“The Lunar Tower is just ahead.”
“So it is.”
The queen and her elite band hovered in front of the structure. The tower's head was completely engulfed in impenetrable darkness. Tendrils of ominous shadow guarded the fearsome abyssal structure.
Dozens of vanguard changelings already surrounded the tower. Each of them contributed to a semi-transparent static energy field, miniature cracks of green lighting ruined the spatial stability of the area. Such a technique had developed during their time in the wilds dealing with various magical beasts. Particularly the snap dragons, named for the sound they made when magically phasing in and out.
These tiny cousins of the great dragons were particularly animalistic and savage and nearly destroyed her swarm with their ruthless hit-and-vanish attacks. In a fit of desperation Chrysalis managed to come up with a technique that scalped from the prench pony's arcane knowledge, griffon thaumaturgy, and splicing changeling portal magic. The result caused the caster to remain immobile, and constantly drain from their magical supply, but she finally had an answer to the devilish snap dragons. This was quickly taught to the most magically capable members of her swarm, the vanguard.
What was once a defensive technique to stave off an aggressor had now turned into an extremely powerful offensive tool, especially when working in concert with other elements of her swarm. If a unicorn tried to teleport now, despite the intense disruption of the spatial field, they'd likely split themselves to pieces. Chrysalis made sure her vanguard were fed enough to at least be a match for unicorns one for one. If Luna wanted to try and simply vanish, she would have to contend with the influence of Chrysalis, plus 700 vanguard.
At this point the queen felt extremely comfortable in her own hooves. She softly nudged her councilor to get his attention.
“Hmm, Shade go fly into the darkness and see what it does.”
The head vanguard flinched at the idea, there were many rumors of ex-Nightmare Moon, or Luna rather. Those rumors gave sufficient cause to fear the Princess of the Night. Yet his Queen had commanded so the head vanguard steeled himself. As reckless as the order may be, he started to fly forward anyway.
Shade’s advance was stopped as a large hoof held him back, he looked up to see Chrysalis stop him from obeying her own order, his muzzle scrunched in confusion. She laughed at his confusion from her teasing.
“I was joking, there’s no need to risk your chitin while I'm here. Get the other vanguards to reinforce my position and prepare to cast some offensive spells.”
The Queen gave her smaller subject a pat on the head and ruffled his neck fin a bit. Shade sighed in relief, Chrysalis's sense of humor was a quite temperamental, even after years he'd never really gotten use to it. He relayed the order and spread out with the rest of a sub-group of vanguard, around two dozen. Shade's optimal position was near the Queen, so he and his detachment could add their magical reserves to hers if required.
Hundreds more vanguard stayed a good distance away, doing the important job of maintaining the disruption field. They would insure that the princess would not simply blink away. Chrysalis turned towards the tower, casting a spell to amplify her already reverberant voice, she resonated with the thunder of a mocking crowd.
“Come out, come out Luna. This transition doesn't have to be painful if you surrender quietly.”
The cacophonous words blew away the air around the tower and tendrils of shadow whipped about like the branches of a tree. Chrysalis patiently waited for a response, when none came forth she graced Canterlot with more rancor.
“I’d rather not damage this beautiful tower, but I will, if you don’t come out, NOW!!!”
Chrysalis’s jagged horn began to glow with baleful energy, as she readied to blast the top of the tower away. Before any energetic green carnage was released, the shadows that surrounded the tower started to coalesce. The darkness condensed around a figure, who stood on the balcony of the tower. It never solidified enough to reveal the mysterious figure who stood there however. Chrysalis’s horn stayed charged as she addressed the new predicament.
“Very good Luna, now there’s a room calling your name up at the wedding halls. I'd like you to quietly check-in.”
The vanguards that surrounded the queen snickered and jeered along with their leader's taunts. Among the darkness a small glow appeared in the center, turquoise eyes with slit pupils gazed out of the abyssal wave.
“Do not address me as Luna fiend! If thou desirest a fight, you will face the Nightmare! ”
The shadows solidified into a tall armored black alicorn. Nightmare Moon reared onto her hind legs then stomped down with her front, shattering the front of the balcony. Pitch black clouds spewed from the top of the tower, and darkened the sky. Lightning cascaded across the clouds, and spooked away large swathes of vanguard too terrified to maintain their positions. The very real fear that they could be collateral in this titanic struggle was all too real now.
Despite the shock to morale, most of the vanguard remained steady. Honestly Chrysalis was a bit spooked as well, but then she shook her head. Things were different now, things were very different now. She had just beaten CELESTIA! The scales were tipped in her favor, she had to remember that. Years of feeling inferior to these demi-god sky ponies was difficult to simply discard. When she collected herself she tried to show her confidence with a good coating of smugness.
“The elements took your edge away Luna, you can stop pretending you’re that fearsome.”
The alicorn's dark persona fizzled as she blinked in surprise and took a step backward, but as a princess to her people Luna wouldn’t let the queen call her out so easily.
“Then taste our power curr!”
Pale blue energy exploded from the majestic spiral horn of the alicorn. Prepared for the aggression, Chrysalis answered with her own emerald ray of power. The two cataclysmic surges collided with violent impact, and a powerful shockwave reverberated across several of the city blocks. Nearby windows shattered under the intensity.
Chrysalis suddenly became afraid of what she was capable of. The magical onslaught pouring from her felt terrifying in how unwieldy it was. Much like a foal trying to play with a stick far too large for them. The queen grunted from trying to restrain herself, and avoid blowing away the city she just claimed. Unconfident in her ability to manage this new power with precision, she called out to the vanguard around her.
“Flank her!”
Shade and his detachment obeyed immediately, and began to pepper the alicorn with their own admixture of paralytic and disruption spells. Luna had struggled to maintain the energy wrestle from the start, the glutted changeling was her first real opponent since she returned from the moon. Once the vanguard launched volleys of spells into her sides it became a critical distraction and she folded quickly.
Luna's magic collapsed as she was overcome and thrown bodily back into the tower chamber. Chrysalis didn’t wait a moment to follow up as she ended the energy attack and dashed in after the princess. She landed with a stomp inside the freshly blasted area. Her vanguard intuitively followed after her.
The circular room reflected the night sky, and stars slowly moved across the walls and ceiling under some magically aesthetic force. Unfortunately it was all smeared with ash and large portions of the walls were scratched away. The details near the center ceiling remained mostly intact, such as the large moon centered at the apex of the dome shaped ceiling.
The changeling queen took only a moment to glance at the details, she could look into fixing the beautiful room later, or simply redecorate it. She was glad it still looked structurally sound. Chrysalis snorted to herself, the battle was still presumably going on in the city and here she was worrying about real-estate damage while standing over a smoking princess. Speaking of which...
Luna lay in a mess on the floor, sizzling. She had smashed through a few book shelves and splashed their contents all over the floor. The blue princess smelled something awful as bits of fur were still glowing with small embers, and feathers lay bout haphazardly. Worst of the injuries was definitely the horn, which had darkened scorch marks all the way to the base, it was painful just to look at, Chrysalis thought she could almost see it throbbing.
Her earlier duel with Celestia had caused the sun princess a nasty burn, but poor Luna looked much worse here. Chrysalis found herself grateful that she managed to hold back as much as she did. It would have been horribly wasteful to have toasted the alicorn beyond salvaging.
Chrysalis stepped with self-assured confidence next to the fallen night princess, and proceeded to place her large hoof on Luna’s raw and hyper-sensitive horn. The defeated alicorn reacted instinctively and convulsed from the rough touch, which also caused her eyes into the back of her head. It was rather grisly, but Chrysalis wouldn't put up with such defiance, not when she had already offered a peaceful alternative.
“I told you a quiet surrender would skip the pain, but you had to spite me.”
Chrysalis leaned into her hoof, increasing pressure and causing a hair-line crack in the alicorn's horn. Luna’s eyes shot open and she gasped in shock. Eventually the queen lifted her hoof off the horn, before it could break. Then she made a lethargic gesture at her Head Vanguard, indicating to the fallen princess.
“You know what to do Shade.”
“Yes my queen.”
“Also send for Colony, I need to establish some ground rules about our open feeding season. Since things have turned out different than the original plan we have to hammer out new details. Tell her to meet me in the throne room.”
“It will be done.”
Shade turned to a fellow soldier and clicked a few times. The subordinate nodded before it flew out of the Lunar Tower.
A long yawn escaped from Chrysalis’s fanged mouth, she raised a hoof to politely cover it. The beat down on Celestia and Luna had been tiring, not necessarily from the magic expenditure, as her reserves were still flooded. Rather the mental stress of it all resulted in substantial anxiety fatigue.
Thinking it over, her fight with Luna made her think back to the defining moment of this invasion. Upon reflection Chrysalis realized Celestia was likely holding back a great deal. They were in a confined area full of ponies, and one stray shot from a careless alicorn could easily kill dozens. Celestia was definitely not a ruler that would carelessly vaporize half a convention room full of her subjects. No, Chrysalis couldn't deny in her own mind that Celestia had held back in their fight, so why had she still come out on top?
Perhaps It was something like what she just experienced with Luna, to have so much power that she was more terrified of loosing control than not having enough power, even if it was over something as petty as not wanting to damage her new property. Chrysalis muttered to herself.
"So she just had a problem dialing it back?"
Come to think of it, when was the last time Celestia had to exercise her full might? There were old stories about centaurs and dark kings, but all of those tales were over a thousand years ago... So she got rusty under extended peace? When push came to shove and she had to fight an invader amongst civilians she'd lost her ability to fine tune and under dialed to the point of eating a magical backlash. Had she fought Celestia the politician, rather than Celestia the warrior? Whatever the real cause, she might be able to peer into the cocooned alicorn's dreams later for clarification.
The point was Chrysalis had been given the opportunity, and now it was her job to keep the advantage. At least now if she had to fight Celestia again, even at full power, Chrysalis felt confident she would likely come on top again. The most loved ponies in all of Equestria were the fuel of her arsenal now.
Finished with her musings, Chrysalis spotted Luna's bed, which was a monstrous thing that could easily fit 10+ normal ponies on it. With a slow trot she looked for a spot that didn't have burnt books or wood splinters all over it. When she found something acceptable she flopped down on it, and enjoyed the first real taste of luxury from her conquest. The spongey material conformed to her body and held her with surreal gentleness.
“oOOo, how exquisite. I think I’m going to like it here Shade. It feels good to finally be in my own skin in civilized society. I think my chitin will finally get the treatment it deserves.”
Shade awkwardly worked to place Luna in a cocoon. Out of habit he was trying to shove her in with his hooves. Since changelings weren't supposed to expend magic like telekinesis for mundane tasks, rations for food had always been so minimal. Luna's stature and extra appendages messed with his conventional methods of pulling her one way or the other. Chrysalis noticed her councilors plight and waved a hoof lazily in his direction.
"Go ahead and use magic to lift her around."
"Oh, I suppose we can afford to do things like that now, ha."
Slightly embarrassed he did as his queen advised, and sealed up the night princess with little difficulty after that. With the task done he addressed Chrysalis's earlier comment.
“From my experience, even the worst pony establishments are paradise compared to the peril of the Badlands.”
“Indeed, that also gives me an idea, I don’t remember the last time I had a real bath.”
Chrysalis tilted her head and stopped feeling the pillow. She looked down at the fuzzy head rest and could see she had already smeared some of her accumulated filth onto it. At first she frowned, then an idea came to her and a wicked grin crossed her features.
“Hmm, I’ll have to see what Celestia used to clean her royal hinny”
Her mirth echoed across the Lunar Chamber. With some regret she hoisted herself from her comfortable position on the night themed luxury. She needed to talk with her Head Drone and see that her prisoners were securely put away. Then she could indulge in some of the comforts these ponies pampered themselves with.
With a buzz of her wings she exited the Lunar Tower, closely followed by the remainder of the vanguard and their newest prisoner of value.
