//------------------------------//
// Chapter 12: The Calm 
// Story: The Changelings Have a King 
// by Jade Ring 
//------------------------------//


Ponyville


Hayseed Turnip Truck yawned loudly as he pushed open the door to the nearly completed manor house. The sun was barely in the sky and his boss had already told him that he needed to do a final sweep of the interior before Prince Blueblood and Duchess Janice came to give the place a once over before the big celebration that day. He closed the door behind him and took one step forward.

His hoof met nothing but air.

"Whoa!" He suddenly found himself rolling into a dark pit. He skidded to a stop and shook his head. His lucky green cap floated back down onto his head as he looked around to get his bearings. Strange glowing lights painted the floor around him green. There were tunnels everywhere around him. He looked up and saw the landing where he'd been standing. "Gosh. I knew puttin' this place up so quick was a bad idea. Guldern floor gave in." He stood painfully and looked down the tunnel closest to him. While he was alone in the pit, he could hear voices echoing down the carved hallway. "Hello?" When there was no answer, Hayseed gulped and started making his way down the corridor.

He followed the voices, unconsciously treading lightly so his hoof-steps would not echo. He lost track of how long he walked, but it was long enough that he had to wipe the sweat from his brow with his lucky cap. Before long he spied what appeared to be the end of the tunnel and the source of the voices. He perked up his ears, hoping he would recognize them.

"But why are they all males?" A female voice asked. "And why do they look so... different?"

"How would I know, my love. You've been a Changeling far longer than I have." A male voice replied.

The word 'Changeling' made Hayseed pause. His work had often brought him to Canterlot and while he had not been there to see it himself, he had heard more than enough about the day of the Royal Wedding, when the emotion-eating beasts had nearly conquered Equestria. He carefully crept up to the portal and peered inside the room with the voices.

There were two of them. Changelings. They were standing together and gazing at something in the room's center. Hayseed looked and nearly had to stuff his hoof into his mouth to block his gasp. 

The center of the room dipped slightly. All around the rim of this dip were strange, black fragments that were still dripping with green goo. The dip itself was filled with a squirming, writhing mass of darkness. Occasionally a hoof would appear or he would see a flash of green eyes. The room echoed with the sounds of clicks and shrieks. 

The mass pulled apart for just a moment and Hayseed saw that it was not one mass, but many. It was a pile of Changelings. They were lumped together and moving this way and that. He was suddenly reminded of how puppies look when they're first learning to walk.

The Changelings had parted just long enough to toss something away from them. It coasted through the air and landed near Hayseed's hooves with a hollow thud. His eye twitched as he took in the stark whiteness of the thing, the gazing empty sockets, and the obviously nibbled upon horn on the forehead.

It was a unicorn's skull.

Hayseed took a step back... and found something impeding his retreat.

"Mr. Turnip Truck." The smooth voice of Prince Blueblood's butler whispered in his ear. "What terrible luck you have."

///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Chrysalis looked down at her children and tried to figure out why they were the way they were. They were unlike any Changelings she had ever seen. 

The hatchlings were larger than the drones and stockier. Their front legs were longer than their back ones and this gave them an almost hunched over appearance. Only a few had wings.

And their teeth...

"Mother?" 

Chrysalis' eyes widened as one of them spoke to her. She knelt down and smiled. "Yes, my little one?"

"Still hungry." The hatchling's voice was raspy and high pitched. It's sharp teeth clacked in it's mouth.

Chrysalis nodded and touched her jagged horn to her child's forehead. She gave it a burst of love and thrilled at how she was able to give freely without need of rationing. Her husband had seen to that. She watched as her son's  face shifted into one of contentment... and then back into want. "Still hungry."

"Go play with your brothers." Carapace told his son. "You'll have plenty enough to eat soon enough."

Chrysalis stood back up and resumed her puzzling. "I know that our kind once subsisted on more than love, but I didn't know we had such strong... appetites."

"Growing boys, my love." Carapace shrugged his shoulders. 

"I just wish I knew why they looked so different."

"Perhaps it has something to do with the magic you used to create me. Perhaps they are the next step in the evolution of the Changelings."

Chrysalis wished she could share in her husband's lack of worry. She tucked her wings more tightly around her. "And they're already talking. At this rate, their shells will harden faster than normal as well."

"Good. Then we are precisely on schedule."

She cut annoyed eyes at Carapace. "So preoccupied with your conquest that you cannot take a moment to relish in our success?" She gestured at the brood. "Our kind are saved! The Changeling race will live on!"

Carapace smirked. "And I will celebrate that when I have a place from which to see that race continue to grow, my love." He turned away from the brood. "Molt!" He barked.

The butler Stiff Upper Lip approached and bowed. Emerald fire burned away his disguise and it was Molt who rose from the bow. "Apologies, sire. I had to bag something for later." 

"Is your drone in place?"

"Squelch? Yes. He's awaiting my arrival and the departure of my subject."

Carapace nodded. "Good. Be ready the instant the dragon arrives."

Molt bowed again and looked over at his queen. "Long live the Changelings, my queen."

Chrysalis swelled as she felt Molt's love touch her heart for the first time in what seemed like ages. "Long live the Changelings."

Carapace rolled his eyes like a petulant child. "Just go. And do not fail me."

"Never, your majesty."

As Molt left, Chrysalis again knelt down and reached out a hoof to touch one of her children. She recoiled when one snapped at her before returning to rolling around with his siblings. 

She looked at her hoof and watched as a small scratch appeared from where the teeth had grazed her.

Was this what she had done so much for? Was this the glorious return of her kind? She forced away her doubts as best she could. Of course this was what she wanted. Wasn't it?

For the first  time in years, Chrysalis felt the nagging tug of doubt in her mind.

Carapace ignored his wife's ponderings and smiled wider at his sons. Already their shells were forming, the shiny leather becoming impenetrable armor. Unlike his wife, he was absolutely sure this was what he had wanted.

His little monsters would be the perfect objects of his revenge.

/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

"And yer sure you'll be alright?" 

Applebloom rolled her eyes. "For the hundreth time, yes."

Fluttershy helped Macintosh with his saddlebags. "It doesn't seem right that you should miss the celebration. You worked so hard and got that house up so fast."

"That's exactly why I'd love to just sit around the empty house and watch Scarlet." The red foal on her back let out another hacking cough that somehow still managed to be adorable. "I'll make her some soup and lay with her. Read her some books. You all go on and have a good time."

Applejack frowned. "I dunno..."

Applebloom looked her sister dead in the eyes. "This is about yer fight with Rainbow Dash last night, isn't it?"

Applejack opened her mouth to respond and let it close a moment later instead. 

"Look, you know she's gonna be there. This'll be good fer you, I'm sure of it." She threw her forelegs around her and hugged her tight. "You can trust me."

Applejack returned the hug. "I know I can. There's nopony in Equestria I trust more than you." She kissed her younger sister's cheek. "I love you, little bit."

"Love ya too." Applebloom pulled back and smirked. "Now get goin'!" She finished, punctuating her command with a slap on the mare's rump. 

"You be good for Auntie Applebloom." Mac rumbled at his tiny daughter.

"Okay, daddy."  Scarlet replied miserably, her throat killing her.

Fluttershy floated over and kissed Scarlet's tiny cheeks. "We'll be back soon."

Scarlet nuzzled her mother and coughed again. "Love you, Mommy."

"I love you too."

"Alright, enough of the sappiness. Let's get to this shindig." Applejack hoisted a fully loaded picnic basket onto her back and adjusted her hat.

"Shindig? I thought this was a hootenanny." Mac chuckled.

"If it's gonna be a hootenanny, we're gonna need some more cider."

The three ponies set off down the road, laughing and enjoying the beautiful day.

Applebloom watched until they vanished from sight and then turned her neck to look at the filly on her back. "How does soup and a nap sound?"

"Okay." Scarlet yawned and coughed again. "Story too?"

"A'course. But just the one." Applebloom closed the door and reached deep into the nearby couch's cushions. "Auntie Applebloom has some reading to do herself, after all."

With a small, triumphant grin, she pulled the tome known only as 'Apple Family Secrets' from where she'd hidden it before anypony else had woken up.

/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Spike paused mid-step when he noticed the door to Carousel Boutique was standing wide open.

The dragon did not immediately assume it was a break-in. Ponyville, being the friendship capital of Equestria, had a crime of rate of next to nothing. Ponies rarely, if ever, locked their doors.

But Rarity never left the door open like this. She was too terrified that the smallest speck of dust would come sailing in on an errant wind and land on one of her precious creations. 

And besides, Rarity was already on her way to the celebration in the park with Crescendo and Cheerilee. He had only come back to grab a few extra gems to munch on. 

Had she forgotten something? Or was it somepony else after all?

Measuring each step, Spike slowly made his way towards the open door. Voices drifted out from within. At first he could only make out that there was a male and a female. 

"Please! You forget yourself, sir. This is hardly appropriate behavior."

"I'm tired of being appropriate when I'm around you, darling. It takes every inch of willpower to stop myself from just taking you into my hooves when I see you."

Spike's eyes narrowed as the voices became clearer with each step he took.

"Crescendo, I mean it. Stop this foolishness at once. I am a taken mare!"

"Not yet you aren't, Rarity. But you will be soon enough."

A shocked gasp. The shattering of a vase.

Spike bounded the last few steps into the Boutique. "What in Celestia's name is...!" The words died in his throat when he saw the sight before him. 

Rarity's chez lounge had been pushed against the table next to it, toppling the vase of fresh flowers meant for waiting customers. Rarity herself was splayed across the plush red fabric, her position and waving legs indicating that she had just been thrown there with some force.

Looming over her, holding her down with a grin on his face, was Crescendo.

Rarity's panicking eyes met Spike's. "Spike! Thank goodness! This brute is trying to have his way with me!"

Crescendo rolled his eyes as he also looked over at the dragon. "You really are incapable of knowing when you aren't wanted, aren't you?" He looked back down at Rarity and licked his lips. "Fine. The lizard can watch while I show him how to really take care of a mare."

Spike the Dragon had been raised by one of the most intelligent ponies in Equestrian history. His education had been long and fruitful, and he now proudly counted himself as one of the most intelligent of his kind. He took great pride in having overcome the bestial instincts of his reptilian brain. While proud of his draconic heritage, Spike was quietly prouder that he was more pony than dragon when you really looked at it.

All of that ceased to matter in an instant.

Something in Spike broke. His suspicions about Crescendo had been proven correct. His mare, his mate, was being threatened by another male. His eyes narrowed into thin, black slits. His claws extended a further two inches. He fell to all fours and drew in as deep a breath as he could manage.

He roared, the rippling sound waves tinged by flashes of dangerous orange fire. It was a bellowed challenge.

Crescendo stared at the bared, dripping fangs of the dragon and gulped. "I take it that's my cue to exit." The unicorn bolted and smashed his way through a nearby window. 

Spike lunged after him, his overwhelmed mind not bothering to check on the pony he loved. All that mattered was the other male. Catching him. Tearing him. Gutting him...

The purple dragon smashed through the wall of Carousel Boutique in hot pursuit of his prey.

Rarity sat up and gaped at the massive hole in the wall. She watched as Spike pursued Crescendo down the lane...

...straight towards the celebration in the park.

She smirked as emerald flames surrounded her. When they faded, Molt stretched his wings and took off into the sky to find a comfy place to watch the ensuing fireworks. 

He only hoped Squelch would get the same opportunity.

//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Ponyville's park was alive with activity. It seemed that the entire town had received an invitation to partake in the festivities surrounding the dedication of their new royal resident's nearly palatial estate. Various vendors were spread this way and that offering delicious confections from candied apples to frozen carrot pops. The younger fillies and colts took in a free puppet show while their grateful parents took a moment to sample some of Sweet Apple Acre's finest ciders. 

Fluttershy took in the scene sadly. "I can't really enjoy myself knowing Scarlet's sick at home."

Her husband put one great foreleg around her shoulders and kissed her cheek. "Don't you worry none, little wing. She'll be just fine. You relax and have a good time." Nearby, he heard cousin Fiddlesticks let out a wild whoop and holler as her band swung into a bit of classic country music. "Come on. Let's dance."

"Dance?" Fluttershy giggled. "You know I've got four left hooves, big bunny. Remember the wedding?"

He winked at her. "How could I ever forget how graceful you can be?"

She laughed as he pulled her into the growing crowd of dancing ponies.

Applejack reclined on a park bench and clapped her hooves along with the music. She watched her brother and sister-in-law dance and smiled at how happy they were.

"Hey."

Her smile faltered as the pegasus she loved landed beside her. "Hey." She pointed a hoof. "Cider tent's that way."

Rainbow Dash grabbed the farmer's hoof and kissed it. "Nope. I found what I was after right here."

Applejack looked at Dash and raised an eyebrow. "You? Turnin' down cider?"

Dash chuckled and nuzzled her hoof. "I know I've been a little rotten lately..."

"A little?"

"A lot." She looked at her marefriend with pleading eyes. "I'm sorry. I want things to be good between us again. Before the drinking and the fighting."

"Before Pinkie."

Dash nodded sadly... and squeaked when she found her lips claimed by ones that tasted like apples. 

Applejack held the kiss for a moment before pulling back and smiling. 

Dash smiled, a ditzy glaze in her eyes. The earth pony tended to have that effect on her. "Wanna dance?"

"Sugar, you read my mind."

Rarity and Crescendo watched as the two mares joined in the dance. "Do I hear wedding bells?" 

Rarity laughed airily. "I certainly hope so. The sooner those two are joined in the bonds of holy matrimony, the better." She sipped from her glass of cider. "That might end their ridiculous rivalry once and for all."

"I wouldn't count on it." Cheerilee joined the unicorns and passed a cider to Crescendo with a kiss on his cheek. "Those two will be butting heads until the day they die."

"I'll drink to that." Rarity clinked her glass with Cheerilee's.

"And I'll drink to anything at this point." Crescendo chuckled.

The three ponies laughed as Mayor Mare, Prince Blueblood, and the Duchess Janice asceneded the stairs of the small stage that had been erected in front of the large manor house. She tapped on a podium-mounted microphone and cleared her throat. "Fillies and gentlecolts, if I may have your attention!"

The band stopped playing. The conversation and laughter began to wind down. All eyes turned to the stage.

And in the quiet that followed, a new sound became audible. 

It almost sounded like roaring.

It was Carmel who was the first to see what coming... and the first to scream.

All eyes turned and widened in terror as a demon beast came bellowing down the road towards the park. It galloped on all four legs and fire flew from its nostrils. It's speed was unimaginable, the creature appearing to be nothing more than a purple blur to those with dull eyes. 

One pony knew that shade of purple better than anypony. Rarity's stared at what was coming in absolute confusion. "...Spike?"

Spike roared again as his eyes scanned the crowd of ponies for his prey. The unicorn had vanished from sight just a few seconds before, ducking into what looked like an almost newly dug hole. Spike was no fool. He knew where Crescendo was heading. He roared once more as his eyes focused on the confused face of his prey. He jumped over the heads of the horrified ponies in the park, paying no mind to their screams or stares of terror. 

Crescendo's magic flickered and his glass fell. "Uh, why is he looking at m...?" Spike's collision with the smaller unicorn drove them both to the grass. They skidded several feet before stopping beside a booth selling custom horseshoes. Crescendo gasped as the combination of impact and Spike's weight bearing down on him drove the air from his lungs. Spike growled and grabbed the unicorn by the throat and hoisted him in the air. With another roar of fury, he hurled Crescendo into the booth and watched with satisfaction as the wooden walls crashed and collapsed from the impact.

Coughing and heaving, Crescendo forced himself to his hooves. "I don't suppose you could tell me why you've just threw me like a javelin?!" He demanded.

Spike growled a single word, the only form of communication that was able to get through his now instinct-driven brain. "Rarity."

Crescendo's eyes shot open. "Now Spike, look; I don't know what you think you've figured out, but things have changed. I've got a good thing going with Cheerilee and I think I might..." A bolt of pain shot through his foreheard accompanied by the distinct PING of metal meeting bone. Crescendo cast his eyes up to see the still spinning horseshoe Spike had just rang around his horn. 

Well then.

His eyes narrowed. "You understand, of course, hoc est, qui bellum?" His horn lit and tossed away the horseshoe. "I never wanted her to come between us, old boy. I want you to know that."

Flames blazed from Spike's nostrils. His claws dug into the earth.

"I always had a feeling you wouldn't take it well if you ever found out. I never imagined you'd actually try to kill me." The wares beneath the collapsed booth began to glow. "Well, if you thought that I was going down without a fight, then you are sorely mistaken!" 

A spark of light and a hundred brand new horseshoes blasted from beneath the wreckage and began pelting the enraged dragon like machine gun bullets. Spike roared in annoyance and swatted at the projectiles. 

Not wasting a moment, Crescendo galloped towards the dragon and swiftly pivoted at the last second to deliver a buck to Spike's face.

Spike recovered from the blow a moment later and swiped his talons at Crescendo's head only for them to meet nothing but air. Another buck drove the air from his chest as Crescendo slid to attack his soft underbelly. Bellowing with rage, Spike threw his limbs outward and brought all his weight down on the unicorn.

He grinned with a mouthful of fangs as the unicorn squirmed beneath him.

The purple dragon was suddenly wrapped in an emerald aura that lifted him several feet off the ground. As the gathering bystanders watched, Crescendo's magic hefted Spike up just high enough that the professor could pull himself free. He stood on unsteady hooves and wiped his muzzle. The streak of blood on his hoof filled him with a savage sort of thrill.

The adrenaline of a warrior. 

He stared right into Spike's eyes and craned his neck back. 

Spike lifted higher into the air.

"Now, physics was never my specialty." He adopted his favorite tutoring tone. "But I seem to recall one incontrovertible fact of the universe." He smirked. "What goes up..." He let the magic in horn die. "...must come down."

Spike fell rapidly, his legs already tensed to catch himself.

"Unless, of course, you have magic." 

The magic returned just before Spike landed. He glared at Crescendo. 

The unicorn winked. "Enjoy the ride, old boy." With a cry of effort, he hoisted the dragon back into the air and then brought him crashing back to the ground. Before Spike could recover, Crescendo lifted him and slammed him down again.

And again.

And again.

And again.

Each impact shook the earth and made nearby ponies lift several inches into the air. The grass was flattened into a dragon-like shape that soon was embedded in the park's very soil. 

Sweating profusely and panting with effort, Crescendo managed just enough magic to to hurl Spike backwards into the puppet-master's mobile theater. It exploded into a pile of wood and cloth. Tiny puppet bodies were hurled everywhere.

Silence followed the ungodly crash.

His horn now burning the flesh of his forehead slightly, the unicorn carefully made his way to the wreckage. "Now, if you've had enough, maybe we can discuss this like gentle..."

Spike's claws exploded from the wreckage and wrapped tightly around Crescendo's neck. The dragon launched himself forward and pinned his prey to the ground.

Crescendo's head smacked against the earth, knocking him silly. He looked stupidly up at the growling predator. "I... I never would have taken her away from you, Spike. You have to believe..."

Spike's claws squeezed.

Crescendo squeaked and beat at Spike's impassive, scaled face with his hooves. His eyes grew wide as his brain screamed for oxygen. 

Spike squeezed tighter. Already he could feel his prey slipping, his heart-beat slowing with every beat. He drew in a great breath of air as though to mock the suffocating pony beneath him, but the glow of flames in the back of his throat betrayed his true purpose. He opened his jaws...

"ENOUGH!" 

The tattered cloth curtains from the puppet wagon became bathed in blue light and lashed out like vines. They wrapped around Spike's own throat and pulled him away from Crescendo.

The unicorn took a deep, thankful breath.

Spike's claws made short work of the make-shift ropes. He swung outward at the foolish pony who had thought to intervene in his battle.

His beloved stared at him in confusion as his talons, tiny daggers each, approached her face at deadly speed.

He stopped his swipe just before it reached Rarity's beautiful face. 

She narrowed her eyes in worry. "Spike, love; please calm down. This isn't you. This isn't the dragon I fell in love with."

Her soothing, melodious voice slipped into his rage-clouded brain and touched the rational part of his mind. He lowered his claws and blinked rapidly. "But... but he hurt you."

"What?" Rarity looked over at Crescendo. The badly beaten unicorn was being tended to by a nurse pony who had come for the festivities. Cheerilee held his head in her hooves and whispered reassurances to him. Rarity looked back at her lover. "It looks like you're the one who hurt him, Spike."

"No. I mean..." Spike growled in frustration as his rational mind fought to regain control of his body. His talons retracted and he lifted back onto two legs once again. "Back at the Boutique. He was trying to take advantage of you."

Rarity reached out a hoof and touched the place on his scales that protected his heart. "Darling, Crescendo's been here this whole time. So have I."

Spike's eyes returned to their natural state and he held his suddenly aching head. "But... but I saw..." He looked around at the wreckage he and Crescendo had caused in their fight. He saw the terrified looks in the eyes of the ponies he called his neighbors.

He saw a little filly hiding behind her mother's leg.

"What have I done?" He murmured, falling to his knees. "What did I become...?"

"Stop." Rarity rushed to him and threw her forelegs around him. Instinctively, his arms wrapped around her. "That wasn't you. Whatever that monster was, something turned you into it. You're my sweet, caring Spikey-Wikey." She kissed him. "That's who you are."

He kissed her back and the tension in the air seemed to lift. Ponies began to talk amongst themselves about what they'd just seen. Some cheered at Spike's recovery. 

"Well, who'd have guessed." Crescendo grinned dopily. "'Erat autem silentium faciebant in pulchritudine gerens.'" He coughed.

"Lay off the ancient languages, you ham." Cheerilee smiled at him. "Let them take care of you."

Up on stage, Mayor Mare cast an uneasy grin at the royal couple. "This kind of thing... well, I won't say it never happens. But it doesn't happen that often anymore."

Prince Blueblood said nothing. His glaring eyes were focused on Rarity. On the smile on her face as she rested her forehead on Spike's.

Janice noticed but said nothing.

Spike looked into Rarity's eyes. "What did I see? Back in the Boutique, I mean?"

Rarity's eyes narrowed as she pondered. "I'm not certain. Who could have replicated Crescendo and myself with such perfect accuracy?"

"CHANGELINGS!"

All eyes turned to see Hayseed Turnip Truck burst from the manor's front doors. He was still coated in the slime of the cocoon Molt had hastily shoved him into. His hat's bill was still clean, a testament to how he'd used it as a saw to get out of the cocoon after Molt had neglected to put him all the way in. He looked around at the crowd with panicking eyes.

"Hayseed?" Mayor Mare gaped at his appearance. "What in Equestria happened to you?"

"Changelings!" The earth pony cried again, pointing a shaking hoof at the royal couple. "They're changelings! Just like the ones that attacked Canterlot a few years back! They've got a whole nest of grrrk!" Hayseed's terror-stricken face suddenly vanished as emerald energy grabbed his head and twisted it one hundred and eighty degrees. 

The handy-pony collapsed like a twitching sack of potatoes. 

"Well." Blueblood sighed in exaggerated exasperation, the magic in his horn fading. "I guess the cat's out of the bag, my dear."

"It would seem so, my love."

The horrified ponies watched as emerald flames coated the pair, melting away their fur and revealing the chitinous armor beneath.

Carapace and Chrysalis, King and Queen of the Changelings, grinned down at the crowd. 

Applejack forced her way towards the stage and glared at the intruders. Rainbow Dash floated overhead "And just what are you doing here, uh...?" The pegasus paused in her demand, wracking her brain for the queen's name while also doing her best to ignore the still twitching body on the platform. "...Queen Crystal Priss?"

"Chrysalis." The queen corrected her and examined her hoof with disinterest. "We simply heard that Ponyville was the perfect place for couples settle down. Lay down some roots." Her eyes flashed green as she sent a signal down into her nest. "Start a family."

Applejack spit and looked back at Ponyville's residents. "Now ya'll calm yerselves down. Don't let yerself feel anything. Not even fear. These monsters feed on emotion."

Carapace's grin grew wider. "Your memory serves you well, Applejack. Most Changelings, like my wife and I here, do indeed subsist on the emotional spectrum." He looked back at the open manor doors. "Our young ones, however..."

Applejack and Rainbow Dash looked and noticed for the first time that the darkness that lay in the manor wasn't simple lack of light.

It was moving.

Dozens of glowing green eyes flashed from inside the house.

"They need a bit more protein in their diet." Carapace's magic grabbed a stunned Mayor Mare and, before she could even scream, hurled her into the darkness.

The ponies began to draw back from the sounds of tearing and crunching that followed.

The sounds ceased. The darkness began to inch beyond the borders of the doorway.

"Now, I believe it's time to get this dinner party underway." Carapace's wings lifted him into the air. He looked down at the ponies and relished in their fear. "My love?"

Chrysalis looked back at her sons. "Have fun."

The darkness spilled forth from the manor like a great black wave of death. Some of the beasts flew. Some simply launched themselves into the air. As one they attacked. As one they hissed a single word that echoed for miles.

"Flesh."

The wave came crashing down on the citizens of Ponyville.