My Little Pony, Friendship is Magic: Stallion Edition

by SuperPinkBrony12

Chapter 148: Springing The Trap

Unaware of what had happened to Discord, Starlight, Sunburst, and Thorax were waiting anxiously for him deep inside the hive. Minutes had passed but there was no sign of him anywhere.

At last, Thorax made a decision. "We can't wait for Discord any longer. Between seeing him and Sunburst, this place will swarming with guards. Staying here just increases the risk of us getting captured."

Starlight refused to budge. "But we can't just leave him, he's the most powerful of all of us. And if we do manage to destroy Chrysalis' throne, we'll need him. He could take on the entire changeling army by sneezing if he wanted to."

Sunburst shook his head. "I hate to disagree with you, Starlight, but Thorax is right. Besides, the reason Discord hasn't come back, is probably because he got captured."

"No, that can't be true!" Starlight protested. "Discord's too clever to let a bunch of changelings get the best of him. Watch, any minute he'll show up, and we'll all have a good laugh about this. I hope."

Sure enough, a second later Discord emerged. "Hello, fellow rescuers." He greeted in an unusually cheerful way.

"How did you manage to get away from the changelings?" Starlight asked.

Discord just weakly replied. "Oh, it was easy to outrun them. Eventually, they gave up and went away. So, where to now?"

"We can't stay here, we've got to find the throne and destroy it." Thorax spoke up.

Discord smiled. "Ooh! I overheard some of the changelings who were chasing me say that they know where it is! I'll lead the way."

"'Klutzy'?" Starlight nervously asked, hoping for the right answer.

Discord didn't seem to remember the code word, for he answered. "Hmm? Oh. Yeah, I-I can be klutzy. Now, follow me."

As the group followed Discord through the hive, Sunburst whispered to Starlight. "You know that's obviously not Discord, right?"

"Of course, but letting him know that gets us nowhere," Starlight whispered back. "For now, it's best he doesn't know we're on to him."

---

The imposter Discord led the group to a series of tunnels and went down the leftward path. "This way! We're almost there!" He encouraged.

Thorax gulped. "I know this trick, it's how we changelings deal with intruders. If he says to go left, we should definitely go right. He's leading us to a swarm waiting to attack!"

"Great, then let's dump the chump and destroy the throne!" Sunburst encouraged. "I'll bet if we do that, we'll also free Discord and the others."

But Thorax shook his head. "It's not gonna be that easy I'm afraid. If we all go down the opposite path, the imposter will know for sure he's been detected, and he'll sick the entire swarm on us. One of us is gonna have to spring his trap and get captured, at least that way the others can get away."

"Well, we can't lose you, Thorax," Starlight replied to the changeling. "You're the only one who knows his way around these parts. Without you, we'll be lost. So I guess that means it's down to either Sunburst, or myself."

Sunburst stepped forward and with a sigh he told Starlight and Thorax. "Okay, I'll handle this. You two just get ready to run into the other tunnel when I give the word."

"What?! Absolutely not!" Starlight protested, stepping in front of the stallion! "Sunburst, I can't lose you!"

Sunburst shook his head. "Let's face it, I'm the least powerful of the group. If the throne is destroyed, at least you'll have your magic again. I wouldn't be much help. Besides, if Discord were here, I'm sure he'd say I'm expendable."

"Don't say that, I'm nothing without you!" Starlight frantically insisted! "You've provided me with the moral support I need to keep going! Without you... I don't know if I can manage! Please, there's gotta be another way!"

"Hey, guys, what's the hold up?" The imposter Discord called. "The changelings will be here any minute."

"Coming, Discord, just hang on!" Sunburst called back as he began to trot towards the leftward path. But before he entered the tunnel, he turned around to face Starlight and told her. "There's more to you than just magic, Starlight. I know you're afraid to take charge again after what you did to that village, but it's in the past and you're a different pony now. And there comes a time in everypony's life when they must step up and take charge, whether they want to or not."

"But... but..." Starlight stammered.

"I'll be okay, I promise," Sunburst told Starlight. "And if anything does happen to me, at least it'll have been an honor to get to know you again, even if it wasn't all that long," He then darted into the leftward tunnel and shouted to Starlight and Thorax! "Run!" It was the last command he gave, before the imposter Discord revealed himself to be a changeling, and he and the other changelings pounced on Sunburst!

"Sunburst, no!" Starlight cried!

Thorax grabbed the frightened unicorn and ushered her down the rightward tunnel! "He knew the risks, Starlight! Don't let his sacrifice be for nothing! Come on, we have to go, now!" And the two took off. Very reluctantly in Starlight's case, as she hated having to leave her friend behind.

---

Starlight and Thorax reluctantly split up once they were on the other side of the tunnel, the changelings were in hot pursuit!

At last, Starlight found the throne room. But she was all alone. That didn't deter her though, she just needed to destroy the throne and rescue her friends. Hopefully, without Queen Chrysalis spotting her.

But the unicorn hadn't gone far, when an eerie laugh filled the air. "One little pony all by herself," Then, amidst the sound of limbs cracking, Queen Chrysalis revealed herself between the cocoons of Shining Armor and Flurry Heart. "Oh dear, how will I ever prevent this 'daring rescue'?" She sarcastically remarked as she turned her head upright, just before a bunch of changelings swooped down and managed to trap Starlight!

Chrysalis cackled with glee, her echoy voice carrying clear across the throne room. "Well, well, well, if it isn't the Prince of Friendship's sole and star pupil. I might have known you'd show up eventually," She then taunted her captive. "Honestly, I didn't think you were worth replacing with one of my drones. I won't make that mistake again."

Starlight struggled in vain to break free of the goop that binded her hooves to the floor. "You're not gonna get away with this, Chrysalis! Evil always loses in the end."

Chrysalis only laughed. "Oh really? You think this is some fantasy adventure where the good guy beats up the bad guy and lives happily ever after? Here's a newsflash for you, Starlight. I've won. Nopony is coming to save you. Your little squad was it. And now, there's just you. I'll enjoy draining the love from you."

"It's not over yet!" Starlight firmly protested. "Thorax is still out there, he'll stop you."

Upon hearing Thorax's name, Chrysalis hissed! "Don't even mention that traitor's name in my kingdom! He was a fool to ever leave and even more a fool to return! When I find him, he'll learn just what happens to those who betray the hive!"

Starlight whimpered, and this allowed Chrysalis to take notice of a reflection in the unicorn's eyes that gave away a very clear detail. "And it seems I don't have very far to look, do I..." She asked, as she zapped Starlight, triggering a transformation that revealed her to actually be Thorax! "Thorax? Now, where's your little pony friend?"

Thorax stubbornly protested. "I'll never tell you!"

The other changelings hissed loudly at Thorax, before suddenly there came the sound of something pounding away on solid stone! Chrysalis spun around and saw the actual Starlight trying to chip away at the throne! "No you don't!" Chrysalis replied, zapping the unicorn and throwing her to the ground. "Ah, how very clever of you, Starlight. You thought you could use Thorax to outsmart me. And clearly, he revealed to you the secret of my throne," She taunted. "I very well can't have others using powerful magic or abilities against me. But did you really think you could outsmart me, the master of deception?"

"I... guess I kind of did." Starlight confessed.

Chrysalis just laughed. "Oh you naive little pony, that is why your pathetic rescue attempt failed. I win, and you lose."

Author's Note:

Since Sunburst doesn't have Trixie's performance tricks, and he and Starlight have a different friendship, I knew I needed to change up his capture scene.

The original episode also never made it exactly clear why someone needed to spring the imposter Discord's trap, instead of all of them just running into the other tunnel. So I wanted to correct that here.

Comments

[Comickook]

Again, great job on the exchanges, characterizations and climax set-up in all the right places with this chapter. And, yeah, I can definitely understand the points you gave in the author's notes.

And, yeah, anyway, I DO have a couple of possible lines for the very end of the arc:

1. At an appropriate point, it can be mentioned that Chrysalis escapes BEFORE her captives are back to full strength (since Chrysalis is alone now and no match for that many powerful enemies; if they were already back to full strength [or even at HALF-strength], she should have already been captured BEFORE she had a chance to make a break for it. Ergo, it would make Chrysalis's escape make more sense if she did it while her captives were still JUST BARELY too weak to prevent her escape).

2. And, after Chrysalis makes her escape, somebody of your choice could tell Starlight "She is going to have to be sneakier now because she's alone and doesn't have any anti-magic weapons anymore. Meaning that she is going to have to plan her next move MUCH more carefully, which allows US to take the time to plan and prepare for her return. So, yes, she IS still a threat, but one we can handle on full alert."

But, of course, I can completely understand if you don't like the ideas and I will still be eagerly looking forward to the climax regardless.

[Yoshifan30]

Oh man sunburst that was brave of you man Don't worry your sacrifice won't be in vain