//------------------------------//
// What's Happening in Canterlot? 
// Story: I'm No Legend 
// by Short Stories 
//------------------------------//

"Thought you could fool me?" Chrysalis sneered as she closed in on the frightened and clueless alicorn. "We knew that spell would wear off eventually. We just wanted to make sure it hadn't already."

"Huh?" Twilight asked, backing away from the frighting villain. "Wh-what spell? Who are you? What are you talking about?"

"That's the downside of this spell," Chrysalis grimaced, "All the questions."

"Where's Spike?" Twilight continued, oblivious to Chrysalis' words, "I need him to help me look up something. Something important. If I can't get the news to Celestia, there's a possibility that the state of Equestria could hang in the balance!"

Chrysalis smiled. "You keep living in your strange little fantasy, Twilight." She walked towards the staircase and laid down, eyes on the alicorn at all times. "I'm so happy I can watch this unfold off-hoof. I wanted to do it before but," she shrugged, "too risky."

Twilight watched the intruder as she moved and talked cautiously, wondering if this pony with holes all over it was a possible threat or not. "Watch what..?" She fired up her magic, "you do realize you're an intruder, right? I might as well call the royal guards and have you evicted from my home..."

"You invited me in, though." Chrysalis lied, "remember? And my relationship with the royal guards goes way back..." It technically did.

"Really?"

"Yes, really."

"You don't look like anypony I've ever seen..."

Chrysalis fought the urge to roll her eyes at the alicorn's current gullibility.  "I know, I'm awfully special, aren't I." She said sarcastically.

Twilight eyed her for a few seconds longer than the queen was comfortable with. She finally straitened, fluffing her wings. "I don't completely trust you, but you're the only source I have at the moment, so you're off the hook." She paused, eyeing the buggy queen again. "For now." Using her magic, Twilight grabbed a broom and threw it at Chrysalis without a second thought, then trotted forward in an attempt to get up the stairs to her studies. "Could you help me clean this place up? I asked Spike to do it before I left, but I guess he's skipping out on his duties."

Chrysalis, knowing she put herself in this situation, but offended nonetheless, decided to take her annoyance out by messing with the current bimbo that was with her. "Why don't you just fly up?" She called, then started sweeping as if she had said nothing at all.

The hoofsteps dawdled, then slowly came to a stop all together.

A pause.

"I HAVE WINGS?!"



The train arrived at Canterlot, though the ride there seemed to take an eternity or longer. Spike, Sweetie, and Scootaloo were the first ones off and were nearly at Canterlot's town square before half of the other passengers were off the ride.

Skidding to a stop, The three watched Chrysaghost glide overhead towards a familiar castle in the distance. He nodded to himself and ran west, the others following. "Whoa...." Scootaloo breathed, "is..that where you used to live?"

"Yeah." Spike said, "the castle in Ponyville is kind of an upgrade but it's kind of a down-grade, too." 

Before Scootaloo could ask what he meant, two mares came over to the small group, somewhat breathless. "There you are," Minuette said between trying to catch her breath, "We've been looking all over Canterlot for you, Spike."

Spike scrunched his nose in confusion. "Me? Why?"

"Because Twilight..." Twinkleshine looked both directions, as if she were nervous they were being spied on. The next couple sentences she said sent a bone chilling tingle all over his tiny body. "Twilight's in danger, Spike. There's somepony in her home. She sent us off to find you."

Eyes wide, Spike looked up again at Chrysaghost, heading towards the old home. He didn't know why he didn't think much of it before, maybe it was the old adrenaline rushing through, making his brain foggy and unfocused, or maybe it was shreds of hope that still clung to him, clouding his sense of reality. The new burst of traumatizing stress that was now bolting through his veins smacked the hope away temporally- long enough for him to realize what exactly was wrong with the whole scenario. "Sweet Celestia!" He cried, drawing attention from the local Canterlot snobs, "Chrysalis is the one in her home!"

"Chrysalis is back?!" Several bystanders screamed. They didn't wait for Spike to confirm it and instead started running around like chickens with their heads chopped off in a type of blind panic.

"Where's Celestia?!" One maroon stallion shouted.

"She'll know what to do!" Another mare added.

"Let's all go and demand she banish this villain from Equestria for eternity!" The maroon stallion directed.

"But how will we know she's not a changeling?" Another stallion asked, "how do I know you're all not changelings..?"

As the chaos and fighting continued, the two mares, foals, and dragon snuck away unseen.



"Oh, cleaning crew~?" Twilight called from her studies. Chrysalis grimaced, mentally cursing the clueless alicorn for-- she didn't even know how many times--in that hour.

She marched up the steps, blatantly irritated. She had tried to tell Twilight that she wasn't a cleaning mare a couple  orders ago, but Twilight didn't seem to be letting it go, for reasons unknown. "I told you before," Chrysalis growled, "I'm not here to clean. I'm your guest."

Twilight stared at her blankly, a small smirk growing across her muzzle. "But I don't recognize you."  She stated, "when did we meet?"

Chrysalis scoffed. "I don't know--"

"--So we're not friends!" Twilight interrupted.

"It was so long ago I can hardly remember." The queen finished.

Twilight eyed her again, but went back to looking at the Mare in the Moon book. "If I apparently invited you in," she said, "and I have a nearly perfect photographic memory, so I don't know why I don't remember that, I'm going to have to ask you to leave."

"I don't think you understand what's going on here." Chrysalis jeered. "There are enemies that are trying to harm you..I'm keeping you safe. You can trust me, I promise you, I'm telling you the honest truth." The lies slipped off of her tongue like turpentine.

"Oh?" Twilight asked, stepping away from her pedestal, keeping a fair distance between her and the villain. "Because I don't think you're telling me the truth at all."