My Little Pony, Friendship is Magic: Stallion Edition

by SuperPinkBrony12

Chapter 177: Rescued!

The six students were indeed in the crystal catacombs, currently being held prisoner by a very angry Queen Chrysalis (ex-queen according to Ocellus).

They were all bound up inside of cocoons, unable to move or do much of anything except talk. All the while, Chrysalis was smirking with triumphant as she strolled happily back and forth in front of them. "All of the pieces are falling into place," She grinned. "Soon all will learn how dangerous a former queen can be. And what once was lost to me shall be returned! I'll enjoy watching them squirm and suffer."

"How can you do this to other creatures, Chrysalis?" Ocellus pleaded. "Your feud is with Thorax and Shining Armor, not with us."

Sandbar added. "You think you're so tough?! Just you wait, Prince Shining Armor and his friends will come! They'll stop you!"

Chrysalis cackled with fiendish glee. "I wouldn't be so sure of that. I've been planning this, and you are merely pawns in my little game. It doesn't matter whether Shining Armor sends his sister, his student, or himself to face me, none of them will figure out what I'm really up until it's too late."

"That supposed to scare us?" Smolder rolled her eyes. "Whatever you're planning won't work. We dragons don't take kindly to scum like you."

At that, Chrysalis hissed. "Don't you dare talk back to me like that!" She rattled Smolder's cocoon. "You'd be wise to remember that so long as I'm down here with you, you are at my mercy! I could make an example out of you, I could drain your love and turn you against the others."

"That'd be better than listening to one of your speeches," Smolder taunted. "You're all like 'Oh, poor me. I got my sorry butt kicked by my subjects because I was starving them on purpose. Now I'm mad and want revenge, so I'll just kidnap a bunch of random creatures and go from there.' If I weren't in here, I could totally take you!"

"Really? Well then, why don't I let you out of that cocoon and you'll see just how dangerous I can really be!" Chrysalis vowed. But just before she opened Smolder's cocoon she stopped herself. "Nice try, little dragon. I won't fall for that trick. You and your friends aren't getting out of here! Not until I get what I want!"

Gallus rolled his eyes. "We're not friends, we don't even know each other. The only reason any of us even came to this school is because our leaders said we had to. Or in Sandbar's case, because his uncle thought it'd be a way for him to impress the ladies."

"Well it doesn't really matter to me what you are or where you came from," Chrysalis grinned. "All that matters is that you're valueable enough for those pesky do gooders to come and rescue you. And when they do, I'll make them pay! Pay for ever daring to make a fool of me! And then I'll crush Thorax for dessert!"

"You mean King Thorax. Haven't you heard, he's our leader now. And we would sooner starve than submit to the likes of you!" Ocellus roared in defiance. "You give changelings a bad name! It's because of you that ponies still look down on us!"

"Better to be feared than to be loved! To be loved is to be weak!" Chrysalis coldly hissed. "Fear is the only thing anyone ever understands."

Sandbar piped up. "That's what you understand! And that's why you're not queen anymore! You've already been defeated twice, what makes you think you'll come out on top this time?!"

Chrysalis simply grinned. "If I told you what my plan is, you'd try to figure out a way to stop me. You'd blab to your rescuers as soon as they got close. This time, I'll have the element of surprise and the battle will be on my terms!"

"I would not count on it, Chrysalis, former queen of the changelings!" A powerful, echoing voice declared.

Chrysalis spun around in time to see the familiar face of Shining Armor standing before her. She thought nothing of the fact that he was glowing and sparkling. "Ah, so you've come for your new students, prince? How very foolish of you to come here alone. These catacombs shall become your prison!"

But Shining Armor simply replied. "I do not come here to fight you, Chrysalis. I have simply come for the students you have wrongfully imprisoned. Release them at once!"

"You're in no position to make demands to me, prince!" Chrysalis bellowed in fury, her horn lighting up. "The only way to rescue the students is to go through me! I will have my revenge!"

"A poor decision on your part, you have forced my hoof." Shining Armor declared as a powerful gust of wind suddenly enveloped the catacombs.

Chrysalis suddenly found herself struggling just to stand upright in the raging tempest! "What is the meaning of this?! You're supposed to fight me!"

"I told you that I will not fight you, Chrysalis," Shining Armor explained, his tone of voice not changing in the slightest. "You are the one who insists on getting in the way. So I am simply removing you from this situation the only way I know how."

There was a blinding flash, and Chrysalis was thrown against one of the catacomb walls! She fell to the ground and collapsed into unconsciousness. At the same time the cocoons opened up, the six students were freed!

---

"You must come with me at once," Shining Armor instructed to the students. "I will lead you all to safety."

"You mean take us back to the school!" Gallus corrected. "Look, no offense, prince, but some of us don't really care for friendship. It's just not in our nature, so what's the point? How's a griffon like me, or a dragon like Smolder ever supposed to learn about friendship?"

Shining Armor commented with concern. "It is as I feared, you are not yet one. You do not believe friendship is in your nature. Why?"

Smolder snorted, blowing smoke from her nostrils. "Because some of us don't understand the first thing about friendship. We've spent our entire lives up to this point not needing friendship, so who are you to tell us otherwise?"

"That is not acceptable!" Shining declared as the powerful wind gust from before returned, the prince's voice echoing through the catacombs.

Silverstream became concerned as she noticed something. "You guys... I don't think that's Prince Shining Armor! He's glowing!"

"How would you know what he looks like?" Ocellus questioned. "All of us have never seen him before."

"Not all of us! I was on Mount Aris when he came to visit us a few months back," Silverstream explained. "He wasn't glowing back then. Do ponies glow, Sandbar? Is this a pony thing?"

Sandbar gulped and nervously shook his head. "I'm... I'm not sure but I don't think so! E-even so, isn't it better to go with whoever this is rather than stay and let Chrysalis keep us prisoner?"

"Maybe, but why can't we take a third option?" Gallus suggested. "Let's just stay down here until everyone gives up looking for us. We can all go our separate ways and pretend that none of this ever happened."

"Yona not like that option! Yona want out of creepy catacombs!" Yona protested. "Yak have other yaks back home, Yona want to see them again!"

Smolder arched an eyebrow upward at the prince (or whatever it was that looked like him). "If this is some kind of test to make us get along, it's not working."

"A test? Yes, of course," The projection of the prince declared. "You shall each be tested to see if you are worthy. There is but one way out of here, a vent not far from here that leads back to the school. By morning it shall be closed up for good. Finish your test before then and you are free to go. Fail the test, however, and here you shall all stay. Let us begin." And before any of the students could say anything protest, there was a blinding flash of light and one by one they were all whisked away somewhere.

Author's Note:

While this is the end of Chrysalis for this arc, it is not the last you'll see of her in terms of her scheme. After all, we still have "The Mean Six" to cover in this universe at a later date.

Comments

[Comickook]

Really good job on the latest chapter. The exchanges, action and future action set-up are all well done in all the right places. I admit that I really liked Chrysalis actually being Genre Savvy enough to NOT reveal ALL of her plan at this point in time AND to NOT give in to Smolder's goading (but still losing for the time being). I also liked the lead-off to the early-bird analogue to "What Lies Beneath".

I am very certainly going to be looking forward to the next installment.

[Yoshifan30]

"You mean take us back to the school!" Gallus corrected. "Look, no offense, prince, but some of us don't really care for friendship. It's just not in our nature, so what's the point? How's a griffon like me, or a dragon like Smolder ever supposed to learn about friendship?"

Oh man that word its not in our nature really hurts sometimes

[Yoshifan30]

"That is not acceptable!" Shining declared as the powerful wind gust from before returned, the prince's voice echoing through the catacombs.

Oh my God I can't believe I didn't see this coming that's not shining armor that's the tree of Harmony at least the spirit of it

[Yoshifan30]

Silverstream became concerned as she noticed something. "You guys... I don't think that's Prince Shining Armor! He's glowing!"

Yeah I still didn't see that coming and pretty early on in season 8 for that episode what lies beneath