Essays Index
Remarked Timelines series: Part 1 - Overview | Part 2 - Sombra | Part 3 - Chrysalis | Part 4 - Nightmare | Part 5 - Tirek | Part 6 - Discord | Part 7 - Flim & Flam | Part 8 - Wasteland

The Chrysalis timeline:
In this timeline, the race at the flight camp does not even occur at all, as Starlight Glimmer instead steps in to broker peace between Fluttershy and the two bullies. By talking with the three of them before Twilight can stop her, she is able to make Dumb-Bell and Hoops see the error of their ways through partial application of her Equalism philosophy, and the three become friends. Twilight attempts to convince Dash to do the Rainboom anyway, but fails, to say the least.

The friendship sticks after Starlight and Twilight leave, with Fluttershy and Hoops becoming close. Rainbow Dash, still feeling a protective streak for her friend, is wary of the two at first, and initially tries to warn them off. However, being genuinely friendlier ponies now, both Dumb-Bell and Hoops quickly grow on Dash, and they become a circle of four, which later becomes five when Gilda is brought into the fold. At some point during all of this, Fluttershy and Hoops begin dating.

Just as in the prime timeline, Fluttershy eventually discovers a talent for handling animals, and moves to Ponyville to live on the ground and work with them, with Rainbow Dash soon following. However, because of their friendships, both Dash and Fluttershy make regular trips to Cloudsdale, and Hoops and Dumb-Bell also frequently visit Ponyville. Hoops visits especially often, and even eventually moves in with Fluttershy outright, despite his dislike of living on the ground. The two by this point are in a serious romantic relationship, or at least the best approximation of one for a pair of teenagers.

Meanwhile, Celestia continues to plan for Nightmare Moon's eventual return, continuing to recruit her elite team of Royal Guards to face her sister. With no Dumb-Bell in the Royal Guard, the only familiar face on the team is Shining Armor. Shining and the rest of the team all take their jobs seriously, and are much better at listening to authority than Dumb-Bell is, meaning that a similar mishap to the one which occurred in the Sombra timeline does not occur here.

When the day comes, Celestia and her team engage Nightmare Moon in a professional and very precise manner. Even when Nightmare Moon appears to be winning, the Royal Guard hold back, keeping to Celestia's order to take Nightmare Moon alive at all costs. Sure enough, they succeed, and Nightmare Moon is defeated and captured. However, Shining Armor tragically loses his life in the process.

Celestia imprisons Nightmare Moon in the Canterlot dungeons, in a cell specifically constructed for her, and begins studying the nightmare spirit in an attempt to find a way to force it out of her sister. Shining Armor is mourned by his family, his death sending both Twilight and Cadance into states of deep despair. Twilight retreats from society completely, closing herself off from even the meager few relationships she still has, while Cadance similarly withdraws from public life, not feeling able to fulfil her duty as Princess of Love with a broken heart.

As both Celestia and Nightmare Moon remain alive, and there is yet no sign of any new bearers awakening the Elements of Harmony, there is no reset effect. Both Discord and King Sombra remain safely imprisoned, neither of them likely to menace Equestria in the near future, and so Equestria enjoys a period of uninterrupted peace, during which time Celestia is able to focus on saving Luna with a single-minded persistence.

Just as in the Sombra timeline, Flim and Flam approach the Apple Family with their Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000, and Applejack is able to convince her family to do business with them. Tirek breaking out of Tartarus also occurs just as before, completely unnoticed and unopposed.

It is now Queen Chrysalis's time to rise. Once again, Chrysalis does not have the royal wedding to exploit as an opening, but what she does have is a much easier time gaining access to Princess Cadance, who is not under any heavy guard, and is still in a state of emotional distress. Chrysalis kidnaps Cadance, just as in the prime timeline, but rather than merely replace her, she first exploits her love for her dead would-be husband, taking his form and draining her completely. Cadance is left a husk, and her love for her lost Shining Armor gives Chrysalis the same level of power that she enjoyed in the prime timeline.

Equestria does not suspect any kind of attack right now, and again, Chrysalis has been planning her revenge on Celestia for years, already having spies everywhere. To this end, she goes the same route as in the Sombra timeline, foregoing the threat against Canterlot and impersonating Cadance, and simply taking the city by surprise. This time, there's not only no Elements of Harmony, but also no royal couple and no Discord. With the additional advantage of the love she drained from Cadance, Chrysalis and her changeling army conquer Canterlot with ease, and both Celestia and Nightmare Moon are captured in the process.

Nightmare Moon attempts to bargain with Chrysalis for her freedom, but Chrysalis has her entirely at her mercy, and has no desire for eternal night, so she declines all of Nightmare Moon's offers. She then tries to subject both her and Celestia to changeling mind control, in an effort to maintain the solar cycles. Celestia is fully enthralled without complication. The nightmare spirit resists for a brief while, and then voluntarily abandons Luna's body to rejoin its kin instead. Luna is then subjected to more successful mind control immediately after.

From her victory in Canterlot and her new strategic position, Chrysalis then begins coordinating a series of attacks across the surrounding lands. She begins by targeting the cities, sending out her soldiers to attack them just as they did Canterlot, with assistance from her sleeper agents already stationed in the target locations. Over many months, the cities fall, starting with those with no military presence, and then working up to the more fortified ones.

Meanwhile, her spies in Equestria's government offices and armed forces use acts of sabotage to impede any attempts to respond to the invasion. The Protective Pony Platoons are quick to realise that they have been infiltrated, and initiate a purge of their ranks, but their paranoia, fear, and distrust of one another works against them. The changelings are able to exploit their feelings to great effect, and are even able to turn whole branches of the military against one another. Once the major cities all fall, Chrysalis then focuses on the military in earnest, and soon crushes them.

If ever Sunset Shimmer was hoping for an opening, by this point it becomes clear to her that her moment has passed. Canterlot and the other great cities have fallen, all three princesses are captives, the military are all but wiped out, and Chrysalis and her changelings are too strong for Sunset to even consider fighting. Watching the changeling conquest from the human world, Sunset realises that she can never go home again, and is left with only an empty feeling of regret.

Elsewhere, the Nightmare Forces are all reunited, and collectively decide to do something about the changelings, since Chrysalis personally offended them with her treatment of Nightmare Moon. The changelings and the nightmares go to war as Equestria crumbles around them, but the small towns still haven't fallen yet, and militias and other resistance groups have arisen since the changeling invasion began. Some of the more desperate members of these groups reach out to the nightmares, hoping to secure alliances, and a few are even successful. They soon come to regret this, as Chrysalis specifically targets any settlements that deal with the nightmares.

The war between the changelings and the nightmares is relatively brief. While the nightmares are creatures of fear, and changelings feed primarily on love, the changelings are still thaumivores, and are able to devour the nightmares. With the bulk of the Nightmare Forces destroyed, the few remaining stragglers soon give up and flee for their castle on the moon, leaving Earth to the changelings and ceasing all hostilities.

Tirek, meanwhile, has been capitalising on the fall of pony society to build his strength faster. The changelings prove to be easier to drain than any of the three races of pony, and by preying on them for long enough, Tirek gains the ability to drain unicorn magic much earlier than he could in the prime timeline. This just so happens to occur while he is still skulking around the Everfree Forest, where Zecora's resistance group have set up their hidden campsite.

In the dead of night, Tirek attempts to infiltrate the resistance camp and drain all the unicorns he can find there, of which there aren't too many. As he goes through the camp, however, he is discovered by Fluttershy, who panics upon seeing him. Tirek attempts to silence her, but while he does so, he is found by a second pony. That second pony is Hoops, Fluttershy's extremely protective coltfriend, who saves Fluttershy by wrestling Tirek off of her and beating him into a bloody pulp. As he presents a functionally similar danger to them as the changelings, Tirek is executed by the resistance shortly afterwards.

Fluttershy is shaken by the incident, but recovers over time, and puts Tirek behind her. Far worse for her is when Hoops is later captured by the changelings when out fighting. The unfairness of the world greatly affects Fluttershy, who becomes embittered by everything, growing harsh and losing her gentle streak as she develops a true hatred for the changelings.

Without Discord being free at any point, the plundervines never have what they need to grow, and the Tree of Harmony still lives on, but it matters very little. By the time of Twilight and Spike's arrival in this timeline, even Ponyville and the other small towns have been overrun, and Zecora's resistance is next. By this point, there is almost nothing that can prevent Chrysalis's total victory.