Not only were her ponies being kidnapped, the cultists had to go and make things personal by kidnapping her protégée. Princess Celestia heaved a great sigh. Darqlon hugged his princess reassuringly.
"I will go search for her," he stated.
"No, you are still injured," Celestia pointed out.
"It is only a matter of time before something happens to her. The more eyes looking for her the better chance of finding her in one piece," Darqlon rebutted. He gave her a long kiss, "I will come back. I promise."
"Okay," she sighed, "Please be careful."
Darqlon left through the balcony doors and flew off. Things were proceeding faster than planned. He had to make his move now.
Darqlon barged into Chrysalis' room.
"What are you-!"
Darqlon stunned her with his red magic along with the pegasi fillies. He then teleported them to their Hive. He then left to go to the forge.
"Hi!" a blue filly greeted him when he opened the door to the forge.
He recognized the collar around her neck, "Where is Grey?"
"Grey went out to help look for-"
Before she could finish, he stunned and spirited her away to the Hive. Darqlon rushed inside and found the crate of collars. He teleported the crate and himself to the Hive.
The Herald barked out orders to the Faithful, the Master was on his way, and she wanted everything to be perfect for Him.
"He does not want Twilight to be harmed, not yet, put the inhibitor on her horn before she awakens. You four, bring the second cage in now. Harbinger, is the ceremony ready?"
The Harbinger finished tracing out the glyphs on the stony floor with the last of the sacrificial blood. She turned to the Herald and silently nod.
"Excellent."
A poof sound grabbed the Faithful's attention. In the middle of the green, pod covered cave, Chrysalis and two pegasi fillies appeared. Before guards could descend on them, the Herald spoke.
"No! That is our ally, Queen Chrysalis and two of our soldiers. They must not come to harm."
The five guard ponies bowed and carefully moved the pegasi to a small alcove. Minutes later, two more poofs sounded, with Darqlon standing in the middle of the cave. The Faithful stopped what they were doing and bowed down to their Dark Master. He scanned the progress inside the cave and was pleased.
"Excellent job, Harbinger. Herald, bring that box and come with me," he ordered.
The gray pegasus immediately did as she was told and the Faithful continued their preparations. He woke Chrysalis from her short coma.
"Where-" Chrysalis shook her head and surveyed her surroundings. "What are you doing to my home?!" she demanded, standing up.
"Queen Chrysalis, I am giving you the opportunity to rule over Equestria, as you always wanted, in exchange for a little assistance from you," Darqlon spoke.
"What?" she said puzzled.
"I am asking you to lend me your strength and the strength of your Changelings. I only need the power of all the unicorns to have enough to send me back to my universe, where I can rule as the God I am." He held out a hoof to her, "You can keep all the love your people need and I can go back home. Do we have a deal?"
Chrysalis thought for a moment, "What about Onyx?"
Darqlon smirked, "I will drain his power and you can keep him." Chrysalis hesitated. "I will also allow you to deliver the killing blow to Celestia," he offered.
"I accept," Chrysalis grinned devilishly.
"Great. I need you to awaken your subjects and equip the collars on them-"
"No!" she interrupted.
"The collars will allow me to channel Twilight's power to them, supercharging them, allowing them to grow into adults faster," he explained.
"Very well."
She felt magic behind her and saw Darqlon. He was panting.
"Did you find Twilight?" she asked, going to him, draping a wing over him.
"Yes," he exhaled, "But she is in danger and I am low on power from teleporting and using scan spells. I have enough power to get us over there. She needs you."
"There is no time to waste then!"
Darqlon grinned, "No, no there is not." With a flash, they disappeared and appeared in the Hive cave.
Celestia saw the Hive pods empty of Changelings, then noticed two cages, one with Twilight and the other open, next to a green pool. She ran over to her faithful student.
"What happened, Darqlon?"
"I guess when I escaped, the cultist pushed their plan into action. Magic will not work on the bars," he explained standing beside her.
"So. . . we take the cage with us!" Celestia pressed.
"Yes, that is why I needed you here," he slammed his hoof on the back of her head, knocking her unconscious. He placed an inhibitor on her and dragged her into the open cage. He whistled and his army entered the cave. Chrysalis entered with a smug grin.
"This. . . this has gone so perfectly! It almost brings a tear to my eye."
"One finally thing we need to do, Chrysalis," he entered the elaborate engram in front of the cages, "We need to drain their power."
Chrysalis joined the black alicorn in the circle, "What do I need to do?"
Darqlon pierced her heart from her side with his obsidian horn, "Die."
With her last breaths of life, Chrysalis knew that she had made the wrong choice. Her selfishness and arrogance: her undoing. If he could betray Celestia, why did she think he would not betray her? He did say he needed all the unicorns. How foolish of her for not noticing earlier.
"Onyx. . ." she gasped as a tear fell from her eye, her world turning black.