Chrysalis Wins
Ch.9 “Hope vs. Fear”
Dark lightning cracked against the sky, which threw the cheerful crowd of crystal ponies into a flabbergasted state. All eyes turned to the direction of the tower, and horror slowly crept through the souls of the onlookers.
Black clouds spewed from the top of the crystal palace, and a laugh that boomed louder than a cannon blew through the Crystal Empire. Ponies assembled around the changelings visitors started to scream, and break into hysterics.
Chrysalis’s reaction to all of this was to fly into the air, and shout with her own mighty magical amplification.
“Ponies! This is why I am here! Calm yourselves!”
The panicked stampede stopped moving, but the terror in the crystal ponies’ eyes was far from gone. She was about to address the crowd with more words, but another voice, a deep base voice, beat her to the punch.
“The crystal scum are mine! They will do as I wish!”
From the top of the crystal palace sprouted a broad ramp of pitch black crystal lattice. The organic stone surged forward and none other than King Sombra slid down it. The growth of the crystal kept a steady pace ahead of his sliding hooves.
Eventually the river of stone crashed into the city square, and the crystal ponies scattered. All of their hope was lost upon the sight of their old tyrant, fully reestablished. Ebony crystal towers erupted all over the place, and the vanguard near the queen found themselves buffeted back.
Screams that were delicious to the king’s ears circled through the rapidly degenerated meeting. He chuckled as he slowly strode forward, it was good to be feared again.
“You are neither Celestia nor Luna. Who are you to challenge my rule? An overgrown insect, heheahahahaha! I am not even going to start with how I’ll crush you under hoof, bug. Maybe I should ask one of my slaves if they lost their pet cockroach. Oops, I started anyway didn’t I. HA! You and your pathetic little army will be splattered like the pests you are. Maybe I’ll let you kiss my hoof, and allow you to be my slaves if you surrender right now.”
Chrysalis stood tall to face the king. As Sombra went further and further into his taunts, her eyes got narrower and narrower, and her frown got deeper and deeper. She had heard enough, and ignited her horn.
A baleful lance of energy rocketed forth, wide as a city street, aimed directly at the smug king. The impact of the attack shattered the base of the black crystal ramp, and for good measure Chrysalis pointed her horn further up, which shattered the ramp all the way back up to the top of the crystal palace. A massive hole was blown clean through the midst of the black clouds that swirled over the empire, and blue sky was exposed through the funnel. Gigantic shards of the ebony stone ramp dissolved before they hit the city, and created no collateral harm.
The effort caused the changeling queen to be slightly winded, that blast had been at least a year’s worth of love to feed one changeling. She recovered quickly though and looked with approval at the effect. Her satisfaction was short lived.
“Would you like to try that again, or is it my turn?”
The voice came from behind, that dreadful deep base voice. The queen’s next move was to generate a spherical wall of green flames. It had stopped Sombra despite his shadow form before, so why not now.
She wasn’t a moment too late. A large crystal spire had been summoned right under her, and knocked the shielded queen high in the air. Sombra grunted at the queen’s quick reaction, and proceeded to knock her from place to place. A large burst of flames exploded from the shield every time Sombra tried to impale her with a new pillar of dark spikes.
Sombra wrinkled his snout, slightly bored. He could keep this up all day; this was merely to wear out her defenses. The king’s next crystal attack missed completely, as Chrysalis flew straight up into the air. Her fiery shield was gone, and she appeared to flee straight up into the clouds. The shadow tyrant smiled at the apparent cowardice.
“Are you beginning to realize your efforts are futile?!”
He shouted to mock the retreated queen. Each spire he had used to attack the queen bore scorch marks, but still stood as a monument to how he forced her back.
The dark clouds that billowed above were suddenly blown away. In the midst of the cleared sky was the queen, her horn was wreathed in a blinding aura of changeling magic. She began to dive forward, and the fiery green light formed a cone of scorching energy around her. This was a much exaggerated version of the spell her soldiers had used to dive upon Canterlot.
The shadow king let out a sigh. Another bulldoze attack, how creative… didn’t she learn? One thing changed the equation this time though. As Sombra prepared to meld into shadow to simply dodge the attack he felt a burning sensation about his hooves. When he looked down the ground was flushed with green flames. Even as he tried to turn to shadow, the emerald magical heat worked to dissolve his substance.
So instead of dissolving into a floor of creeping dark cloud, he summoned a crystal pillar to stand upon. It raised him to a safe level above the flames, though he still felt their arcane heat. He growled in surprise, how could the queen cast two powerful spells at once?
That was when he noticed the swarm of changelings. Hundreds of the diminutive buggers had him surrounded. They used their combined magical energy to form flaming barriers similar to the queen’s version. A scratchy female voice shouted at the rest of the insectile soldiers.
“Cut him off on all sides! We’ll make an easy target for the queen.”
Vivisect’s eyes glowed with an orange energy, and her fangs were on full display. The rest of the sentinel class changelings had arrived and added their love boosted magic to the barrier spells. Green fire burned around Sombra on all sides, and he roared at the infuriating soldiers.
“I WILL TEACH YOU TO DEFY ME, YOU PATHETIC INSECTS!”
A large crystal pillar vaulted straight for Vivisect, but she nimbly dodged the slow attack as she flew through the air. The tyrant grit his teeth and redoubled his efforts. He managed to trick the head sentinel by summoning two pillars at once, one that she anticipated, and one that she did not.
The large spiky black rock knocked her out of the air. She was protected from impalement thanks to her extra thick chitin, but the blunt force still made her careen off into a nearby building.
Sombra turned about on his pillar, he was surrounded by walls of green fire, and unable to escape with his shadow form. He glared at the army of changelings that kept him pinned with their collective magical effort. He was about to summon dozens of pillars to swat many down at once, when a high pitched screech reminded him of something else.
Chrysalis was just about on top of him. Her cone of fiery green magic had evolved into a giant emerald meteor over the course of her dive. The king’s mouth hung open, as he realized he was caught between the anvil of her army, and the hammer of the queen herself.
His mobility had been severely limited and there was one last thing he could think to do, given the situation. This queen claimed her magic was powered by love, and positive nonsense. So he charged his curved red horn, and aimed it at the dive bombing Chrysalis.
He Growled angrily as his eyes began to pulse with dark magic, “Don’t think you are the only one with power you whelp. I will show you the true power of King Sombra.”
A mixture of black, purple, and green bubbled cancerously around him, and the purple flames coming his red-green eyes flared more intensely. This type of magical attack drained him more significantly, and drew strongly from his personal feelings of contempt and loathing. This was why he usually preferred to manipulate the plentiful crystals instead, but with the force the queen was coming down, a crystal pillar wasn’t likely to stop her. Sombra poured everything he had into it.
Right before Chrysalis made impact he shot his beam of purple black magic at her.
“FALL AND SCATTER TO THE WINDS, LIKE THE BUG YOU TRULY ARE!”
An enormous shockwave blew through the empire upon the collision of the two forces. It physically distorted the air as it passed by all the crystal structures, and surged across the land.
Crystal ponies still outside were knocked off their hooves and tumbled over the ground. Many of the changelings near the impact were blown dozens of feet backward. As they flailed through the air some managed to catch themselves before falling, yet others were not as fortunate.
When the dust settled two tall equines were left standing. The king and the queen were only a few hoof lengths apart from each other, as they stood in the midst of a crater. Several nearby homes had shattered, and the street it occurred in was a mess. Sombra sweated and panted heavily, and Chrysalis heaved heavily herself. The king cocked up his head to snarl at his rival.
“Gods curse you for the inconvenience you’ve given me cockroach. Now taste the power of true Dark Magic and drown in terror as your kind should!”,
The tyrant’s eyes flashed green, and the queen’s gaze locked with his. Her irises turned red, and the sclera went green. Purple mist wafted from Chrysalis’s eyes as they twitched.
---
The arid air of the Badlands whipped about her face, and her nostrils went painfully dry as she sucked in the hot air. She blinked, how did she get here?
Many clicks and hisses erupted all around her. The changeling swarm hobbled about the dirty and miserable conditions. Thorny weeds which contained devilish parasites tripped up what was left of the swarm as it limped about.
“Your invasion failed Chrysalis, and we have paid for it!”
The high voice of colony screeched at the queen. Her head drone hobbled towards her, with only three legs, and half torn wings. One of the drone’s eyes had a large disgusting gash in it.
“I am your queen, you will address me properly!”
She brought up a large hoof to push back the aggressive and injured drone.
“What little love we had was burned up in that useless fight! We needed that!”
The angry roar of Vivisect startled Chrysalis and she turned to her head sentinel. The proud warrior changeling had her horn and tail sheared off, half of her muzzle was crushed in and missing teeth. Her once proud armor was cracked, exposing part of her insides. The queen’s face contorted in disgust and she recoiled from the sentinel's advance.
“You are a complete fool Chrysalis. I told you this would happen, and you refused listen. No queen in the swarm has ever sunk to such idiotic levels. The ponies will know how to find us now, and it will be your fault when we all die. You just had to ruin everything. I think we should just call you Chrysalis, the genocidal moron. ”
Poisonous words spewed from Shade, who jumped right in front of her and bore his teeth. The vanguard infiltrator’s body was torn in every location,large patches of his chitinous skin were missing and one of his eyes had been gouged out.
“Cease this ridiculousness at once! I am your queen! You'll do what I say!”
She was being forced back by her councilors, and her words held no air of confidence. They were instead full of panic.
“No Chrysalis, you have failed the swarm, and now the swarm will claim you!”
All three of the nightmarish changelings spoke in union. They all opened their mouths and prepared to feed. Other equally disfigured changelings advanced on the queen, and every mouth was open hungrily.
“You don’t deserve the love we’ve given to sustain your worthless hide! We’re going to claim it back, even if we have to rip out your shriveled heart to get it!”
She was completely surrounded, and she found she couldn’t fly, there was no escape. All the changelings started to inhale. Their intent was to drain her to death.
“No, no! Stop! I’ll do something! I can still do something for the swarm! Just nooooooo!”
Chrysalis screamed at her apparent doom. She lifted her hooves to her eyes and started to sob. Her tall elegant body folded down and she curled into a pathetic little ball.
---
“Queen! My Queen! Snap out of this!”
The giant changeling suddenly found her head rapidly shaken back and forth. A pair of hooves was around her skull and moved it side to side. She wrenched out of the hold to see who did it. Vivisect hovered close to her, and a relieved expression crossed the sentinel’s face when the queen regained her senses.
“Where is Sombra!?”
“Over there my queen.”
Vivisect indicated a few body lengths away, where half a dozen sentinels were beating the living crap out of something.
“Oomf! You-, gaw! Will- grrr, Unhoo- AAAARRRRrrrr…”
The voice of Sombra attempted to escape a mound of black chitin that pummeled the poor mashed tyrant.
“You manipulated my mind!”
The queen came to a realization and snarled furiously. She stomped forward with her horn a glow, she was going to return the favor, and mentally rip him to shreds. When she reached the little mob that viciously stomped on his body she pushed them aside.
The shadow king uncovered his head and looked up. Black and blue bruises dominated his grey coat. Most of his battle armor had been stripped off, and his crown was dented in. He smiled up at the queen, one of his prominent canines was missing.
“It’s been a while since I’ve had a physical body – spits out another tooth – I almost forgot what it felt like.”
Sombra stumbled to his hooves, and proudly turned to face the queen. The changeling soldiers had only gotten the upper hoof on him because the fear spell required so much focus. He could already feel his dark energies as they returned, and in a moments he would resume the fight.
Horns were crossed and Chrysalis lashed out with a mind domination spell. The mental attack came against an iron wall. The queen blinked, surprised at the mountain of resistance she faced. The shadowy tyrant laughed.
“Hahaha! You wish to fence with my mind?! I’ve invaded and terrorized every pony in this empire for decades! Even the Princesses COMBINED could never breach my mind, what hope could you have?”
Both of the equines pressed their heads harder against each other, and grunted with great strain. Their eyes radiated with magic, hers were pure green, while his were purple and black.
To an ignorant onlooker, it would seem two tall horse creatures had installed light bulbs behind their eyes, and were in the midst of a very intense ‘whose more constipated’ match.
The mental fight soon ended, and both royal figures fell back on their royal haunches. Both panted hard at the failed effort. Chrysalis beat her front hooves on the ground in a slight tantrum. None of it had worked, no amount of converting love into magical energy seemed to work. The crystal tyrant kept wearing that stupid grin on his face, with that ‘I’m better than you’ look. An idea crossed her mind, maybe she should stop converting the love into aggressive battle magic.
Chrysalis looked at Sombra with half lidded eyes and cocked an eyebrow. A slight smile crept up her muzzle.
“You're full of hate aren’t you?”
The crystal slaver gave an ‘oh really…’ face.
“I would assume you know something about me, since you showed up at almost the same time as i was released. But now I questi---”
Sombra didn’t finish his last sentence because Chrysalis kissed him full on the mouth.
The king of shadows, fear, hate, and all things crystaly, opened his eyes wide in surprised shock. He tried to back away, but the changeling queen locked her fangs over his, and he couldn’t escape.
Chrysalis exhaled deeply, and dumped vast reserves of the collected love right into the fidgety crystal tyrant. Love energy could be given back to ponies, and that was exactly what she practiced now. The effect was rather immediate, and something troubled the unicorn who’s heart was black as night.
The queen of the changelings managed to exhale a few more absurdly large doses of love before the contact between their mouths broke apart. Most of the love she had binged on from three alicorn princesses, and six friends attuned to elements of harmony, had been emptied into the hateful tyrant.
Not a moment after the contact broke Sombra had stumbled backward, and made horrible gagging noises. He flopped onto his belly and heaved.
“W-w-what have y-you done to m-me!!!”
The purple and green around Sombra’s eyes had started to fizzle. The physical abuse he had sustained from the mob healed up, and his self-waving mane fell flat. He trembled and looked frightened.
“No, what is, no, this, what is this!”
The tall unicorn got up and stamped all four of his hooves. He started to beat his head with a hoof repeatedly, as if he could knock out the strange sensation. Both of his hooves suddenly shot to his chest, and terror crossed over his eyes. A violent shake had taken hold of his body, and he looked down to his chest, as if he expected it to burst apart at any moment.
Chrysalis wearily wiped her mouth with a hoof.
“Your mouth tastes like muddy iron… but your fangs aren't half bad.”
5891075
Eh, Chrysalis was just showing off cuz she's all souped up from that massive feeding. Maintaining a shifted form has a constant cost, but it's rather minimal, depending on what it is.
5891272
I really, really like that video it hits a certain kind of feelz lol.
BWUHAHAHAH-hic-HAHAHAHAHA!
OMG, that's rich Chrysalis. Overload Sombra with positivity and he will nullify himself like a cake on Pinkie's party.
Moral from this chapter: For winning it's good to be powerfull, but even better is to have a loyal army.
And Non Hercules contra plures.
Well, that was a creative way to take him out.
5893197 Wow... I was WAY off on that one... That was a very creative way of taking Sombra down The battle was pretty intense and nicely excuted too. Good job
In my personal head-canon, the Changelings can only change their shape and appearance if the pony (or creature) in question is directly within the line of sight and if their love-essence is taken. I can probably make an acception for Chrysalis, as she is eldest and far more experienced in Changeling magic.
Of course, this is YOUR story and YOUR rules, so I won't complain
One other thing I'm curious about though... Is Chrysalis going to change from bad to good in this story? In the last chapters, her reasons for taking Equestria was based solely on the fact that she and her swarm were suffering in the Badlands, instead of the 'So much love! We'll take it!' reason.
Not that it's a bad thing, I'm just curious. And it would be interesting if everything positive she does is all a front just to disguise her more sinister motives and make her takeover more of a success.
congratulations, you did what i thoughht you were gonna do......... oh god there is no explanation, no excuse that can be given. that is just so freaking CONTRIVED.
seriously dude, you make this stupid ship as your answer? you really just proven to me you really have no plan here, no actual idea what the hell you are doing with this.
there is no way sombra would let that affect him. especially not some princess of vermin like chrysalis. heck there is not fucking excuse here about her affecting him in any way. HE is the more powerful and skilled magic user. he has the greater education of darkness. chrysalis mostly has skills that seem attributed to her kind; shape hsifting, hypnosis, vampiric feeding. there is no contest, so you had to create an immensely contrived reasoning behind her somehow coming out on top.
not that it would matter. the heart would take them BOTH out in an instant. BOTH. the heart does not differentiate, it ignores the love in dark creatures.
seriously, you just REALLLLLY disappointed me here. all you have done now is proven my point. there is no way chrysalis would have won here. and you had to make this really dumb idea up in order for her to have a chance. and more than likely, somehow it won't cause the crystal heart to take out sombra despite the fact the heart hurt him even before he turned evil.
5893197 you mean the love that they would not be giving to the obviously evil creature hwo they know will just become.........
you really thought this was a good idea? do you even realize how contrived this whole thing is? or did you just make the mistake of 'i can do whatever i want, no limit' when making this story? more than likely the latter.
your hwole concept about her nullifying sombra is utterly contrived and is nothing short of lazy. you just proven to me that this story is just gonna cut corners rather than actually think out the scenario. hell the hwole fill him with positivity does not work because she EATS it and turns it to darkness. there is no way you can call the magic she is capable of love magic. it is darkness.
it would have been one thing to prove me wrong about your story. instead you confirmed my fears completely.
5893752 sooooo you are ignoring the raw contrivance of this entire scenario? that she turns love into hate by eating it, an that would not impact sombra, and that sombra is the more powreful magic user and there would be no contest at all?
or that the crystal ponies had any love they could give considering the torment and fear they are filled with? they needed hope, and all she is, is darkness.
5894228 Whatever works, I suppose... Sometimes the simplest and most unorthodox method is usually very effective.
Chrysalis did beat Celestia using the love she drained from Shining. And now she had, if I understand the Author correctly, siphoned the love of Shining, all three alicorn princesses and the Mane Six. So yeah... I kinda see how a powerful being like Sombra would be affected by that.
As for the subject of hope? While it is false hope Chrysalis is giving the crystal ponies, it's still considered hope as long as they believe it is. That is, until she reveals her true intentions to them...
5894202
All I can really say is that I disagree with many of your lines of reasoning. I'm confused about the perspective you have on how magic works. A lot of it seems like preconceptions from from other genres. But i doubt any line of reasoning will appeal to you. I think you were just waiting for the first opportunity to condemn me any way.
But let me make a few things clear.
- There will not be a Chrysalis / Sombra ship.
- I like to use different methods at times. and I believe there are several ways to overcome a powerful foe, other than the canon method of doing so. Otherwise there would be nothing to be surprised about
- Contrary to you brushing it off as contrived, several users already found it "creative"
Viewing your personal user page was very insightful. Just looking at the rating people people give your comments on your own home page should tell you something. not to mention almost every comment on your user page is deleted. what do you have to hide?
5894434 ghoing with whatever works is a bad idea and or excuse. it is the reason why fanfics have the reputation of being bad t obegin with.
and she only managed ot overpower celestia cause celestia made a mistake in not being cuatious. chrysalis is not exactly the most talented dark lord we have seen and her power up was temporary....... also she had completely drained shining armor with what is probably willing love, rather than forcefully taking it and in small amounts like she did.
besides she EATS magic. meaning she is using it to sustain her existence, meaning simply having a heart beat causes her to go through that energy at a certain pace. not to mention the idea she could just power up is marred simply by that fact........ not to mention that there is probably a major limit to what she can consume without hurting herself. even tirek had to gradually grow strong enough to handle greater powre, and in that case he was taking the very power of magic rather than the energy it produced. no way for chrysalis to increase her upper limit cause she can't make herself stronger.
even if that did not hold water as an argument, you cannot create powers or circumstances that obviously only exist to progress the story. that whole contrivence i just mentioned exists to progress the story. and as i said, power is nothing if there is no skill behind it. and chrysalis is lacking that.
she would stand no chance against sombra, and the way he twisted the narrative only proves the point further. this is not believable. especially the part where somehow chrysalis was smart enough to restrain the mane six, yet both luna is too stupid to make a retreat, and sombra is too stupid to destroy the obvious threat in front of him in the very beginning. he made chrysalis smarter by taking the intelligence of all the other characters. in other words, it is just one idiot being slightly smarter than a bunch of other idiots.
5894464
If you paid attention, the ability was already mentioned before in the story. Chrysalis gave love back to some ponies in the middle of one of her meetings. The method she used on Sombra was on a different scale.
But your here just to talk crap.
5894464 I still like it
5894496
Maybe he needs a changeling to blow some into him
5894522
blow some love*
5894443 that...... was me questioning the logic of humans vs magic stories to be honest. those were ALL trolls.
you know the stories where you simply question 'well why couldn't they just use magic to blow up gasoline in vehicles' and that call you a retard because of it.
concept of magic is coming from common sense. for starters, the crystal ponies would have no love to give, especially not to another monster who is trying to take over. also taking into account the idea of stealing energy, it always has an upper limit. if she ate too much she would probably kill herself or at least greatly injure herself. put simply since we lack example in the continuity of mlp one should look to similar concepts in other sources, and the majority have it that stealing too much power is self destructive. and that concept does make sense as if you overfill something beyond capacity, it breaks. and that they are solely temporary.
chryslias only beat celestia because she did not know of her own power. if she did she would have boasted and celestia would have created a battle of attrition. chrysalis power level would decrees every time she took a shot, repelled an attack, healed an injury. celestia would be able to rest to restore power, avoid attack. chrysalis would grow weaker every second. because it makes sense that a power that is reliant on stolen energy would burn itself out.
my largest issue is that it is not creativity but plot convenience. chrysals conveniently did not want to feed her vanity, conveniently was able to survive a dagger, and conveniently luna did not just teleport into a retreat, despite that being well in her power to do, and sombra conveniently did not just attack the changleings with illusion and fear and ignored them. also chrysalis conveniently just happened to have the abilities to overpower sombra despite his superior magical abilities, which obviously included banishing an entire empire awya.
also he conveniently did not just do that again when the battle started going out of his favor. which i am pretty sure is the reason why the regal sisters did not directly face him. he would have isply repeated the curse and the crystal ponies would be lost once more.
this story is fueled by convenience. admitably all stories do require a certain level fo convenience. the convenience of the hero being pulled into the conflict with the villain, the convenience of finding strong allies along the way. but his defeat of the villain should not be a convenience. and chrysalis actions have all been how the world is conveniently set up for her to win.
5894554
Lol, trolls.
"and yes, throwing out text walls IS a form of trolling" - lordofmyth
". in other words you are bringing up something that is completely irrelevant now simply to cause trouble." - lordofmyth
from your own user page.
Your comments have been long winded, and contain a lot of repetitive reasoning. They've been eating up lots of space on this story's comment page. And most of the points you bring up are about VERY subjective topics, heavily based on personal views. It's like you're walking around with unrealistic standards that don't necissarily apply here and waiting for someone to question you.
5894482 which conveniently exists just so she can conveniently defeat sombra in a way that wouldn't actually work, which is very convenient.
i didn't say that you did not reveal the ability, its just that it was given solely so she could defeat sombra. it exists for no other reason than that.
and even then, why would that hurt him? it could if he was a windigo maybe, an entity that feeds on hatred to sustain itself with which love is its poison. however he does not feed on hate, he is simply a being full of it. and full of it because of experiences rather than it being his outright nature.
so love might confuse him but nothing else. the light of love, the power of love manifest, he is vulnerable too. which is why the crystal heart is lethal to him. not because he has no love, but because love's light attacks the darkness. and would also take out chrysalis i might add. she is darkness.
so its convenient that he is somehow vulnerable to being filled with an emotion he was already capable of, and that was in fact fueling his hatred.
and you insisting that i am simply being a troll or something sounds like denial to me. i am not being unfair when i say that a lot of what you have brought up in your story seems to exist solely for the sake of make chrysalis win. both in terms of abilities, and in terms of how other characters react. by all means, that dagger hsould have cut her deep. and by all means, sombra would have reked chrysalis and her changelings from the very beginning. yet for the sake of your story you have to ignore those factors and are forced to rely on increasingly contrived reasoning for her continued rule.
put ismply if she did not have this sudden ability to return love, how would she have won here?
It's just like Dragonball Z!
5894482 admtiably they did bring this up http://img4.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20140504164633/mlp/images/3/3b/Comic_issue_18_Alternate_Chrysalis.png an alternate chrysalis who has abilities that are apparently similar to cadance.
however that would imply that something happend to the changelings of the main world, and likely caused them to steal love rather than give it. meaning they would likely lose their abilitiy to spread love because they need it to survive.
5894675 The title does say 'Chrysalis Wins', right?
You may have good points, but why so serious about it? It's all in good fun.
5894443 and allow me also to add that you are ignoring all the ways sombra or luna could use to overcome chyrsalis. you isolate that solely for chrysalis.
5894654 that subject he brought up was literally months old. somethign that literally did not matter.
and i am talking about like a full page scroll of stuff.
perhaps i am being subjective, i will admit that. but i am being subjective in the sense of a more expanded idea rather than your subjective thinking, which is isolated in ways that allows chrysalis to win. even when they are contrived as her puking love into sombra somehow is his primary weakness, despite the fact if it were so easy Cadance could have just done that. considering her power IS love, compared to chrysalis whose abilities use love for fuel, it stands to reason that you concept does not hold water under scrutiny.
you are simply figuring out ways for her to Win, rather than thinking about the ways she could keep herself from losing. you isntead just twist things around her to ensure she wins, such as her enemies not fleeing despite it being in their skillset, or them not using their powers against her in the case of sombra.
seriously dude, how is it wrong for me to point out when things are contrived? forgive for yet another epeat, but you had sombra make the SAME mistake you had chrysalis avoid. the exact same mistake of letting potential threats simply wander around. in other words you are selectively making character less intelligent than chrysalis so she can have the advantage, rather than have her somehow adapt. and that is but one example.
5894698 I watched Stargate Atlantis and it had these aliens called Wraiths that fed on humans, draining them of their life force. What they later revealed, was that they could give that life force back if they wanted to.
5894675
"i didn't say that you did not reveal the ability, its just that it was given solely so she could defeat sombra. it exists for no other reason than that.
and even then, why would that hurt him?" - lordofmyth
I have an explination already written in the next chapter, but whatever. You can take it or leave it at this point
I am not going to pretend i'm some master writer. I'm simply doing this for fun. I am sad that apparently many of the story elements are too distracting for you too enjoy it. But that's why there are other fics, or you can start one. I would love to read what you've written
5894706 the issue is that she is less winning and more her enemies are letting her win so far. think about it, luna did not teleport away in retreat. and sombra did not attack the changeligns despite having a skillset that owuld allow him to utterly disable them.
even the method chrysalis one is obviously a factor that exists solely for her victory here. not to mention it fails to hold water when you realize that even if chrysalis would have that ability, Cadance DOES have a superior version of it. if that was his weakness all along, why didn't cadance just shove love into him from the start? her power IS love, rather than using it for fuel.
ultimately the only way i have seen her 'win' so far is through contrivance. i could ignore the whole her not wanting to feed her vanity thing, if the writer had the foresight to realize luna would have at least escaped. this whole situation with sombra making the exact, same, mistake that the writer made chrysalis avoid (letting potential enemies wander free), it shows that the sotry is set up in ways that allows chrysalis to win rather than her actually earn her victories.
so my issue is that she is not winning. the story is written in a way that LETS her win rather than her struggle against the odds and make concession with her own captives to survive. her somehow just happened to have the right power to beat sombra is a massive example of this. and i already said why that didn't work under scrutiny.
5894798 Well then... How would she win?
5894869 that should be the focus of this story. yet there is no effort put into how chrysalis could defeat sombra, only giving her the ability too.
personally i would think she would be forced to make concession with her captives in this situation.
5894932 Doesn't really answer my question.
How do you think Chrysalis would've won?
5894932
Ya but what would keep them from just blasting Chrysalis too. It's not like the elements of harmony run out of ammo. And their wouldn't be a reason to keep her in power once they were done with sombra. Not yet anyway... I just don't see Chrysalis willing to make a gambit on that, not unless she knows she won't be targeted.
That's also one thing that really confused me about the whole sombra conflict... Why didn't the bearers, bring the elements... They defeated God-like Nightmare moon and discord with them easily enough. Did the show writers just go
- nah man, we need crystally love heart thing to blow up dark crystaly king guy. Ya know for the whole cool love vs. hate symbolism thing, hurdy hur hurrrrrr. So let's make up a new super relic -
How does the crystal heart even compare to the elements? I know it's themed to banish fear and hate, but the elements have shown their flexible at what they can take out. They defeated jealousy - Nightmare moon, chaos and disharmony - discord, and straight up power lust / greed - Tirek. So why not hate? They should abuse the crap out of that thing.
5894952 personally think she would have to rely on releasing cadance, either have cadance repel sombra or have chrysalis try to hold back sombra while she looks for the heart.
ultimately leading to cadance taking over the crystal empire and expelling the changelings. put simply, chrysalis gets tricked. though ultimately cadance herself would be incapable of overthrowing chrysalis at this stage, though at the same time the changeligns cannot even get near the empire.
ultimately chrysalis is forced to make a concesion. she does not get the empire, has an alicorn free, yet at the same time sombra is gone and was a threat beyond her ability to handle. basically they are left at a stalemate. chrysalis rules but is challenged, which is a better scenario than sombra wiping chrysalis out and keeping the alicorns imprisoned.
5894991 I wasn't asking about how Cadance would've won. I was asking about how Chrysalis would've won.
5894980 it would have been better to make a concession than for chrysalis to just happen to have a silver bullet on hoof, metaphorically speaking.
think one half of the reason is that they were planning on returning the elements of harmony soon. considering whta happens season 4, the sisters must have realized that they needed to get things ready, as equestria would be more vulnerable. twilight and co needed to prove their aiblties without the elements at hoof.
the second half may simply be the same reason why they themselves did not go after sombra. sombra has the trump card of his banishing spell. if the elements or the regal sisters came forth, he would simply banish it all away again. he is weaker than them, but enough of a threat that he would not go down easily and would banish the empire first and formost.
already had the thought on that. chrysalis releases cadance, who is said to be vital to defeating sombra. they get the heart, but the heart ends up both killing sombra and repelling the changelings. cadance is not able to overthrow chrysalis, and chrysalis is denied the empire because its magic would keep her kind away. however sombra would have been a foe far beyond chrysalis and she would be forced to accept that these results are better than total defeat.
5894991
One big problem is Cadance didn't know about the crystal heart. Twilight had to find that in a book in one over sized library. Cadance wouldn't know about it. The Crystal ponies wouldn't remember it. They didn't even start remembering things until the crystal fair. Which also, was contained in that one book in an over sized library. The crystal ponies would have moped about being unhelpful, and cadance would be too busy keeping Sombra at bay.
She probably would have just have cast her big ol' shield, then run out of power, then real problems for everyone. Sombra knew about the heart, and would likely have secured it before the pink princess would even start a search.
I don't think Cadance alone would be enough.
Even if Chrysalis somehow convinced cadance to work with her, i'm not sure their collaborative effort would have turned out much differently.
5894980 doing that you could create this power struggle between chrysalis and her own captives. as she tries to repel the threats, she tries to deal with the regal sisters and tries to weigh in what she can sacrifice and what risks can be taken.
she may choose cadance over the mane six because she views them ore as a threat. yet in reality celestia manipulated her into making chrysalis incapable of either influencing or imprisoning cadance again.
5895048
It's not like there isn't plenty more time to develop conflict between Chrysalis and her prisoners. , it's one of the major issues that's going to be addressed next. I can only write so fast
But honestly, compared to the likes of Discord, or Tirek, I don't think Sombra isn't quite on the same level. Celestia and Luna straight up Hai dukened him away. I believe souped up chrysalis could perform similar feats of power. But i wanted It to be more interesting than a 2 second fight. if ya wanna be dodgy, what made Celestia's and Luna's spell so hard to dodge initially. And Don't worry, Chrysalis can't straight up win everything
I know, i know, even though it's the story title
5895042 dude you just had chrysalis use a magic bullet to beat sombra. which sounds more interesting? chrysalis having a magic bullet, or her having to actually work towards a victory? deal with someone who is much more guileful than herself and figure out how to ensure her control is not taken away while dealing with enemies that are more powerful than herself?
also i am pretty sure that cadance would be willing and able in this situation, especially if celestia, through luna, told her that it is the difference between chrysalis and a much more dangerous enemy.
5895048 It almost sounds like you deliberatly want Chrysalis to lose.
Does that mean you have no idea on how she could win?
5895091
Magic bullet? Do you mean the dive bomb, beam magic, mind magic, or the love dump? I think chrysalis had to work to find a way to beat sombra. And again, given the evidnece of Celestia and Luna simply blasting him the first time round, i don't think sombra is necissarly more powerful than her, in a skirmish at least.
As for guile? Chrysalis planned an invasion that was 99% succesful according to the canon show. Sombra just nabbed an empire before he knew was going to be beat. More of a neener neener tactic that says, "IF I CAN'T HAVE IT, THEN NEITHER WILL YOU!"
And if we try to infer that Sombra was good at lies, given that he was probably a guy that seized the throne, he could play political games. Sombra is a statesmen / general, Chrysalis is an agent of espionage / sedition.
"deal with someone who is much more guileful than herself and figure out how to ensure her control is not taken away while dealing with enemies that are more powerful than herself?"
This situation can apply when Discord comes up.
5895089 because that was a visual representation of them defeating sombra rather than the actual event shown? it was likely a far mor complex affair than just zapping him, but they still beat him. he managed to cast the empire away before his defeat after all.
heck you even referenced that the representation did not hold all the tale in your story.
of course he is a lesser threat than the centaur striving to godhood and a chaos beast. but ultimately there is sitll the difference of him being a magic user. chrysalis seems to only have limited magical skills and many almost seem more related to the fact she is a changeling rather than some kind of mystic training. her drones have the smae skillsets, only to a smaller degree.
sombra showed skill in illusion, likely has magical blasts since that is the norm, can turn into shadow and manifest dark and corrupting crystal at will, and his magical skill is great enough that he banished an entire empire for a millenium.
chrysalis has hypnosis, shapeshifting, her energy blast, telekinesis, and projecting mystical goop. she might have a few more skills there, but nothing compared to wht sombra is capable of. the hwole illusion thing in itself is a massive advantage.
as you said earlier, there are differing ways to defeat a more powerful opponnent. sombra is full of methods.
5895152 i meant dealing with celestia, being forced to find guidance with someone who is seeking to undermine you and has reason to. trying ti figure out what advice might secretly hold something that will hurt you, and what is simply a desire to make sure the world remains in tact.
5895153 You're not even trying...
5895153
I think i see where this is going
Could sombra beat chrysalis? yes, definitely. He has ways. I think the next chapter will be helpful in explaining that just a little bit more.
But would he win a straight up brawl in the initial tussel? well the story has to have results. I'm just going to say it was more of exploratory match, neither really each others capabilities that well yet. They both found out quite a bit.
Spoiler : Sombra's not dead, not even disempowered
5895140 going by his origin comics, he took over by turning the original ruler, an unicorn named amore, to crystal and shaterring her, scattering her still living pieces across the world.
he discovered the regal sisters were coming for him, because he sitll had enough love in him to not touch the only friend he knew, allowing her to tell them. so he created the spell to banish the empire, but less to deny the regal sisters, but to punish that friend for the treachery.
chrysalis did not really have a full thought out plan. a part of her character is a lack of forsight and a need to feed her vanity. her plan actually failed because she was exposed. luckly she had unknowingly gotten enough power to overpower celestia. at that point the plan did not exist and she had to wing it. and ultimately could not sustain it.
5895194 ....... okay how is analyzing what celestia showed, comparing and contrasting the powers displayed by both chrysalis nd sombra, NOT trying?
5895215 I just figured that since you sounded so good at providing clever analysis, I thought you could figure out how Chrysalis would've succeeded. Instead you have just avoided the question.
5895203 And the comic isn't canon.
5895237 secondary canon dude. only not canon if disproven..... or if stupidly written. and that was one of the best they did.
and i did ccreate a scenario where chrysalis won. but considering sombra is more than likely a larger threat with more abiliites, even if she somehow gets more omph than he does, it forced her to make a concesion. basically it was either lose to sombra, or lose one princess and not gain new land to control.
the only reason, even in this story, that she is even in control is because of dumb luck with celestia there.
5895194
I think he just wants it acknowledged that Sombra is competent in his own ways. It's frustrating to see an awesome warrior get beat by something you didn't think should win.
For ex:
One fight scene that has really bugged me, but probably not most other people, was the fight between General Grievous, and Obi wan Kenobi, in revenge of the sith. Grievous was a friggin awesome character design, big ol' BA cyborg wielding 4 lightsabers, stronger than humans with all the advantages of machine power. Vs. a dude with one light saber, And despite whirling his blades like a helicopter, he loses...badly... I can't discribe how much that pissed me off.
I know there's all these other explinations like the force powered up obiwan to match grievous's superior to organce skills. But in the context of the movie you don't really understand that. I just just seem force jump and push every once and while, and block some laser shots. Which they even fail at that at times.
So more or less it comes down to something like that -i'm guessing- Could either one win? yes, but only one can win, and it's going to come off as a contrivance if the odds weren't in your favor. contrivance = lucky, in many of these situations.
I can understand from that perspective atleast. Hey and check out "Frienship is Grevious" btw, awesome fic.