Queen Chrysalis paused, blinking twice in succession, trying desperately to shelve her excitement. “So what you’re telling me is that the ponies are wholly incapacitated as we speak?”
Her changeling scout nodded once, cowering slightly. When she got like this, she was often prone to… vehement mood swings. His fear was probably warranted, all things considered, but she chose to ignore it for now. There were bigger ponies to fry.
“…And that they have no chance of defending themselves against us if we were to launch another attack?” she added. “No chance whatsoever?”
Another hesitant nod from the changeling. Another toothy grin from Chrysalis.
“Hmm…” she mumbled, trotting back and forth frantically.
This was a brilliant opportunity; they had failed so miserably all those months ago, but now they had a chance for redemption right here in this very moment. Sure, maybe the changelings weren’t quite up to full strength yet, and maybe their numbers were still alarmingly low, but that didn’t matter if they were waging war against creatures who were just about as potent as stuffed animals.
But… was the queen above kicking the ponies while they were down? It would be a hollow victory, after all, defeating them when they don’t have a chance of defending themselves. It was a pretty terrible thing to do, villain or not.
…
…
…
Chrysalis let out out an abrupt cackle, her evil laughter reverberating off the stone walls of the changeling hive buried deep underground. Her changeling scout flinched, whimpering ever so slightly at the sound.
“Child!” she shouted. “Gather up all your brothers and sisters as quickly as possible.”
Her cheeky grin spread from ear to ear as the changeling ran away, leaving her alone with herself. “Equestria, watch out,” she mumbled. “We’re about to start a war.”
Princess Celestia glanced over Twilight’s letter once last time before passing it to Luna. Celestia then panned her gaze over to the nurse sitting on the other side of the table, gesturing for her to give some sort of explanation.
“It’s a pathological disease, Your Highnesses. We’re not entirely sure where and how it originated as it’s progressed so rapidly, but it is clear that it started in Ponyville.”
Celestia pursed her lips. “Tell us about the disease itself.”
The nurse ran a hoof through her mane. “Well, uh, nopony in the medical field as ever seen anything like it before. It’s caused by bacterial infection, and it is spread through contact with an infected pony.”
Luna pulled her nose from Twilight’s brief letter, re-entering the conversation. “If it is only passed through direct contact, then it should not be difficult to prevent its spread. Yes?”
“One would assume so, yes,” the nurse said. “But the diseases symptoms make quarantine and other methods of disease prevention… erm, markedly more difficult.”
“How so?” Celestia asked.
The nurse’s ears splayed to the side. “Well… uh, everypony over in the research ward has dubbed the disease the ‘Snuggle Bug’. It’s a tad colloquial, especially for so serious a matter, but the name as apt. You see, once it infects a pony, it takes command over their muscular and skeletal systems, controlling their actions while still leaving the body’s owner consciously aware.”
Celestia cocked an eyebrow but said nothing, signaling for the mare to continue once more.
“And once a pony is fully infected, they, uh… have an uncontrollable desire to capture and snuggle with another pony—any other pony. Their primary targets are uninfected ponies, but we’ve observed that they’ll target other infected ponies if the supply of ‘fresh meat’ has been depleted. We’ve determined that the motivation is entirely platonic and non-sexual, but it’s still disconcerting all the same.”
“…Huh,” Celestia said. “I can’t say I’ve ever seen or even heard of a disease as peculiar as this one. What can we do to prevent its spread, then?”
“It’s already spreading incredibly fast, Your Highnesses. Our estimates show that the pathogen has only been viable for thirty-six hours, and yet a fifth of Equestria’s population has already been infected. It’s expected that, should the disease progress unrestricted, all of Equestria will be infected by the end of the week.”
“This is quite the conundrum,” Luna said. “What have you learned about the disease itself? Anything of use to us?”
The nurse sighed. “…Unfortunately, we have not been able to isolate a sample for testing. We know next to nothing about the disease biologically, Princess.”
“Hmmm…” Celestia hummed. This truly was quite the conundrum—there was no readily available solution here. Invoking magic wouldn’t work as the disease had the potential to mutate, which would make the situation far worse than it already was. It was far too late to start quarantining cities, and with only a few days left to find a cure… well, things certainly weren’t looking good.
It was a shame Twilight had already been infected; it seemed as though Celestia wouldn’t be able to pawn off her problems this time.
Just then, a piercing shriek arose from outside the conference hall in which the three ponies sat. Each and every one of their heads shot up, knowing at once what the outcry signified.
“Hold your ground, girls,” Celestia said, her voice level. Her words possessed more confidence than she really had. “As long as it’s only a regular pony or two, we should be able to take them.”
Something smashed into the door form the other side, causing its hinges to tremble. Then it struck again, and the oaken door impossibly beginning to bow inward. Finally, after a third hit, the door crashed in with a sickening crack, revealing none other than their own Princess Twilight Sparkle, a small army of ponies pooling behind her.
Luna turned to Celestia, expression deadpan. “A normal pony, huh?”
Celestia opened her mouth to respond to the jab, but she never got the chance. Twilight, unwilling to wait for the scene to play out in its entirety, had lunged, tackling Luna onto the cold and unforgiving marble floor.
Luna let out a yelp of surprise, trying fruitlessly to pry Twilight off her. “Ah! G-go on without me, sister! Save yourself!”
Celestia pursed her lips, turning to the nurse. After sharing a knowing glance, the two of them nodded, plan firm in mind. Teeth clenched, they both ran, plowing through the horde of ponies. With the element of surprise on their side, they managed to break through the crowd, tearing through the hallways of the palace for their dear, sweet lives.
Once they realized they’d been duped, the horde of infected spun on their hooves and chased after the two of them, snapping at their heels.
“Head for the throne room!” Princess Celestia called out. “We can easily defend it!”
The nurse nodded, but it was a fleeting gesture. Her legs simply couldn’t carry her as quickly as Celestia’s much longer legs could, and she grew tired; the horde was gaining on her.
“Push yourself!” Celestia cried out. “We’re almost there! Run faster!”
In that very moment, the nurse’s legs crumpled beneath her and she fell into a neat little heap. Having run down their first victim, half of the ponies piled onto her, giving her all their unwanted, unneeded, and unprecedented love.
Celestia, realizing she was the nation’s final hope, buckled down and pushed herself further, galloping faster than she ever had in her several millennia of living. After rounding the final turn, she bursted into the throne room, slamming the doors shut behind her.
She slumped down against the door, tired, sore, and out of breath.
Lowly, she whispered, “…What am do I do now?”
As she marched her troops through the streets of Canterlot, the same evil grin still shone on Chrysalis’ face. For the time being, everything was going swimmingly. The streets on the outskirts of Canterlot were desolate, almost as though nopony had even realized the changelings were invading them. It was peculiar, marching through equine territory unobstructed, but it gave her a vindictive feeling of superiority; Chrysalis couldn’t remember the last time she felt this giddy.
Of course, almost empty wasn’t entirely empty. They had encountered a few rogue infected ponies, but her forces had sustained minimal casualties. Usually just one changeling fell per pony, which still left her with the greater majority of her army for storming the capital. Ordinarily she’d be upset that she was losing bodies already, but she’d deemed them acceptable losses. After all, it wasn’t as though there would be any actual fighting going on. It was purely for show.
And besides, the ponies’ attacks had been significantly more… cuddly than she’d expected. It was baffling, sure, but she would take whatever advantages she could. Her “fallen” changelings were not only alive, but alive and well—in fact, the attackers’ incessant snuggling, while irksome much like everything else the ponies did, was still providing them with the sweet, tangy, savory taste of love. Her changelings were fed, if nothing else.
But as they pressed onward, Chrysalis noticied the city streets progressively getting more and more populated. The Queen found herself dodging and kicking away a few more attackers than she would’ve liked to, but they had come so far. It was nothing they couldn’t handle.
She glanced behind her at her changelings—they, while clearly scared half to death, still followed her lead, fighting off their attackers when possible. Behind them, however, were more than a few of her changelings caught in the death grip by their adversaries. They were leaving a trail of fallen changelings behind them, trapped by the ponies’ hugs; she was losing bodies, and fast.
Chrysalis let out a hiss, her cocky grin quickly falling away. “Faster!” she cried out. “We must make it to the castle now!”
She charged, and her changelings buzzed after her, eager to escape the predatory gaze of the ponies lingering about. But just as before, the closer they got to the castle, the more and more ponies appeared, eager to take out her changelings for the mere purpose of snuggling.
Stopping to fight them would have been counterproductive; that would only leave them more vulnerable to attack. No, they needed to keep pressing forward. Otherwise, this whole endeavor would’ve been for naught.
Suddenly, the castle appeared in the distance, looming over them. Destination now firmly in sight, Chrysalis urged her little bugs onward.
She turned around only to see the infected ponies pouring out of their homes, having seen the new potential victims.
Her eyes grew wide.
This… this was a losing battle.
“Take to the skies!” she cried out. “Get to the castle!”
Queen Chrysalis’ own wings buzzed to life, propelling her full-speed ahead toward the residence of her little princess friends. She didn’t dare turn around at this point. Instead, she resorted to praying that enough of her own would survive to be able to take over the castle.
When she reached the gates of the castle, she swooped down and landed gracefully in front of the large gates. Turning around to assess the situation, she let out a gasp—literally every single one of her changelings was incapacitated. All throughout the city they lay, mindless slaves held captive by the slightly larger equines. Chrysalis was completely alone.
More pertinent, however, was the swarm of infected ponies closing in on her. They pooled maybe ten yards away, eyeing her curiously. Chrysalis backed away from them, pressing herself against the gates to get as much distance between them as possible. There was no escape now, though—pegasi blocked any hope of an aerial getaway. She was trapped.
Then, just like that, the horde of ponies paused. After a moment of piercing silence, two ponies galloped up to the front of the crowd—the one and only Princess Twilight Sparkle, saddled atop Princess Luna’s back like a medieval knight. Twilight donned a matching plastic sword and shield, glowering at Chrysalis. Her trusty steed paused some three meters from Chrysalis. Then, after the longest moment of her life, Luna reared up and let out a deafening whinny. Twilight stretched out her monstrous wings, tightening onto the reins around Luna and grinning evilly.
Chrysalis, the mighty Changeling Queen, meekly squeaked: “Eeep!”
Twilight pointed at Chrysalis with a sneer, letting out a noise that resembled the gurgling of marbles. On cue, the infected ponies all reared up and charged, closing in on the helpless Chrysalis.
Chrysalis’ eyes bulged and she spun around. With only one last chance at saving herself, she bashed her head against the steel castle doors with all the strength she had. Impossibly, her hard exoskeleton-covered head managed to break through the metal gate, knocking it off its hinges. Without stopping to register the immense pain, she charged inside the palace, desperate for escape.
The castle was completely empty.
Her heart sunk deeper into her chest.
There… there wasn't even anything left here to be taken over.
This whole endeavor was completely and wholly pointless.
In that very moment—her thoughts almost drowned out by the cries of the infected behind her—a realization struck Queen Chrysalis:
She had made a grave mistake.