The Eighth Element?!

by PaisleyPerson

Chapter 17

Chapter 17

“A love that controls the fate of Equestria! Ha! You aren’t giving off enough love to feed a single one of my drones!” Chrysalis hissed, glaring at her new Torchwood-shaped slave. He stood at attention, too dumb to reply.

“You, however, are giving off a sizable amount of love. Not only for your sister but for your fiancé as well. Still, not the feast I deserve. I am a queen, after all.” Wild Flower, Cedar and Torchwood all blankly stared. She huffed. “Now I’m talking to my drones. Just what I need.”

“Acrylic? Torch? Anypony home?”

“Blast! Him again. Act natural, you foals!” The three mechanically moved over to the table and pretended to eat while Chrysalis, still disguised as Acrylic, moved to answer the door. “Time Turner, what a lovely-”

“I can’t find Ditzy anywhere. Or Princess Cadance, for that matter. Please, you must have seen one of them?”

“I’ve already told you, Time Turner, I can’t help you.”

“Fine,” he sighed. “But just tell me,” he stuck his hoof in the door before she could shut him out. “Is Graphite Sketch still coming over today? I need to have a word with him.” Chrysalis panicked.

“Uh... as far as I know, yes.”

“I was afraid of that.” The Doctor whipped out his sonic screwdriver and blared a frequency that left Chrysalis rolling on the floor. He glared down at her. “This Acrylic doesn’t even know who Graphite is.”

He stepped over her convulsing form and rushed inside. He found Wild Flower, Cedar and Torchwood who all seemed to have fallen under her control, but not the real Acrylic or Ditzy. “Fine. We’ll do it your way. Alright, everyone up. Hey, snap out of it!” He clapped his hooves in front of Wild Flower’s nose, but she didn’t flinch, and just continued to sip at her tea. “Wakey, wakey, rise and shine.” He tried adjusting the settings on his sonic screwdriver, and pointed it directly in Torchwood’s ear. “Ba! What’s going on? Why isn’t this working?”

“It’s useless.” Chrysalis had finally recovered, and stumbled into the room. “They are under my complete and total control.”

“Really? Because as I recall, it takes months for you to establish that sort of power. That’s why you took Princess Cadance’s place so early, is it not? To make sure you had a firm hold over Shining Armor so nothing could stand in your way?”

“Hmm, perceptive.”

“Time traveler,” he corrected. “Release them, now. All of them. And I’ll let you go in peace.”

“Ha! What can a tiny insect like you do to stop me?”

“You’d be surprised. Let them go and end this now. Nopony has to get hurt.”

“I’m afraid it’s too late for that.”

“If you’ve hurt Ditzy, I swear-”

“You’re rather fond of that mare, aren’t you? Well, why don’t we pay her a visit?” The Doctor’s mind filled with white as she teleported them away. The teleportation didn’t take long, but it left him dizzy and queasy, so he stumbled around for a bit just trying to regain his balance.

“I think I much prefer my teleports,” he gasped. “This magic thing doesn’t sit well with me.”

“Doctor?” Ditzy’s mouth hung ajar. He looked up to find his friend flanked by who must have been the real Acrylic and Princess Cadance.

“Girls! Just in time!” he grinned, trying not to trip over himself as he pranced up. “We have to get out of here. Acrylic is actually Chrysalis... which you must know by now.”

“Yeah,” all three chimed at once.

“But she’s got your friends under her control, Acrylic. Wild Flower, Cedar and Torchwood.” The mare stiffened.

“If she’s hurt them, I’ll-”

“You’ll what?” Chrysalis appeared behind her, completely exposed in her changeling form. “You can’t do anything!” she cackled. “No one can stop me- not even you. Though, I have to say, you all have left quite a mess for me to clean up. I can’t have anyone catching onto my plan, just yet.”

“And you said she’s my son’s future tutor?” Acrylic doubtfully whispered.

“You TOLD her?!” Ditzy shrugged.

“What else could I do?”

“NOT tell her?”

“I can’t lie like you, Doctor. I just can’t do it.”

“This is bigger than a few petty lies, Ditzy! The fate of time itself is at stake!”

“Yes, yes, I know! It’s all so much bigger than us. But there’s gotta be a better way to go about this, Doc. We’re supposed to be the good guys!” Chrysalis, Cadance and Acrylic had all been staring on in silence.

“EHEM!” Cadance intruded. “Sorry to interrupt, but, uh...” she gestured back to Chrysalis. “Big scary changeling threatening to take over Equestria...”

“She’s not all bad,” Ditzy spoke up. “And before she was a changeling, she’s actually really pretty. Still a little scary sometimes, but nice enough.”

“You must have me confused with somepony else,” Chrysalis sneered.

“No, I don’t, Topaz.” Chrysalis froze. “You’re Smoky Topaz, former Chief of Research in the Everfree Palace. You served under Princess Essence. You were a good, trusted friend. But then Kindling came along and twisted you.”

“No.”

“Something went wrong with your experiment. It turned you into a changeling. You just wanted your friends to love you again. But who could love a monster like that?”

“Stop it.”

“Kindling could, right? He came along and promised that he loved you. But what did he not promise, Topaz? He wouldn’t promise his hoof in marriage until your army had gotten him what he really wanted- complete and total control of Equestria.”

“YOU’RE WRONG!” Chrysalis shrieked. “He did love me! He cared about me when no one else did!”

“He used you. I’m sorry, Topaz, but it’s true.”

“STOP CALLING ME THAT! DRONES, DESTROY HER! DESTROY THEM ALL!”

“That worked a lot better in my head,” Ditzy gulped, expecting a swarm of changeling drones to pour in. Instead, only three appeared- Wild Flower, Cedar, and Torchwood.

“See how you like it when your love tears you apart!” She vanished then, leaving them alone with her drones.

“This is bad,” Ditzy whimpered.

“We can beat them. It’s four to three,” Cadance pointed out.

“You don’t understand,” the Doctor shook his head. “Torchwood, the tall brown one there, is a fire dancer. A powerful one at that. He could easily take us all out on his own.”

“I don’t understand. What’s a fire dancer?” To answer her question, all three of the thestrals burst with fire, the crackling flames almost covering up the sound of cracking bones.

“That’s fire dancing.”