Loved And Lost

by EquineAvenger

Chapter 4 (edited 12/26/19)

The day of the wedding had finally arrived. The wedding room was filled with countless guests. The Mane Five were all dressed in their bridesmaids dresses, Spike was dressed a tuxedo, Prince Jewelius was dressed in a light purple ceremonial robe, Shining Armor was dressed in a different styled uniform, and Princess Cadance was dressed in her wedding dress. Everypony was very happy that the day they had all been preparing for had finally arrived. However, none of them seemed to notice two things out of place: Shining Armor’s face had a blank expression with glowing green eyes and Jewelius had a serious expression on his face. Despite these overlooked issues, the ceremony continued on schedule.

“Mares and gentlecolts.” Princess Celestia announced. “We are gathered here today to witness the union of Princess Mi Amore Cadenza and Shining Armor. Princess Cadance and Shining Armor, it is my great pleasure to pronounce you-”

“Stop!” came a voice from the door of the room. To everyone’s surprise, standing in the doorway was Twilight Sparkle. Disappointed and embarrassed looks spread across her friends’ faces, they were getting tired of Twilight trying to mess up the wedding.

“Ugh! Why does she have to be so possessive of her brother?” the bride angrily complained. Celestia was surprised that Cadance would say something like that. Realizing this, the bride changed her tone. “Why does she have to ruin my special day?” she asked starting to cry.

“Because it’s not your special day! It’s mine!” came another voice from the doorway. Much to everyone’s surprise and confusion was Cadance, only her mane and tail were messed up, and right beside her was Jewelius’s assistant, Vivian.

“What?” the bride exclaimed utterly shocked. “But how did you escape my bridesmaids?”

“Oh, I made sure that was taken care of.” Jewelius proudly admitted.

“What?!” the bride exclaimed again.

In the caverns beneath the castle, Cadance and Twilight found themselves outnumbered and cornered by the three brainwashed bridesmaids who were guarding the way back into the castle. But then they something jump down from the exit and into the cave. They turned to find Vivian. The bridesmaids then changed their attention to her. Vivian got into battle stance and before Twilght and Cadance’s very eyes, performed some incredible karate moves that neutralized the three enemies in less than two seconds.

“Vivian!” Twilight said with relief.

“Prince Jewelius has sent me to rescue you.” She announced. “Now come, we haven’t much time.”

“But… Why?” the bride demanded, but the prince just smiled smugly at her. “Hmph. Clever. But you’re still far too late.”

“I-I don’t understand. How can there be two of ‘em?” Applejack asked confused.

“She’s a changeling.” The other Cadance said. “She takes the form of somepony you love and gains power by feeding off your love for them.”

With her deception revealed, the enraged bride engulfed herself in a blinding green light and began to reveal her true form. When the light cleared, standing in her place was a tall, black, twisted, insect-like pony chuckling wickedly. She was no ordinary changeling, she was Chrysalis, the Queen of the Changelings. It was at this moment that the Princess and the Mane Five realized that Twilight was right. This bride really was evil all along!

“Right you are, Princess.” The evil bug queen said. “And as queen of the changelings, it is up to me to find food for my subjects. Equestria had more love than any place I’ve ever encountered. My fellow changelings will be able to devour so much of it that we will gain more power than we have ever dreamed of!”

“They’ll never get the chance!” Cadance snapped at the queen. “Shining Armor’s protection spell will keep them from ever even reaching us!”

Chrysalis chuckled at the princess’s words. “Oh, I doubt that. Isn’t that right, dear?” Her twisted horn started glowing green and Shining Armor blankly nodded in agreement with her. Realizing her beloved groom was under Chrysalis’s mind control, Cadance ran toward him, but was blocked by the queen. “Ah, ah, ah. Don’t want to go back to the caves, now do you?” Chrysalis threatened. Cadance backed off. “Ever since I took your place, I’ve been feeding off Shining Armor’s love for you. Every moment he grows weaker and so does his spell. Even now, my minions are chipping away at it.”

To everyone’s horror, there was an army of black bug-like creatures attempting to break the shield surrounding Canterlot.

Chrysalis laughed at the pony’s situation, then turned to the hypnotized Shining Armor. “He may not be my husband, but he is under my total control now.” Twilight and Cadance gasped in horror. “And I’m sorry to say, unable to perform his duties as captain of the Royal Guard.”

“Not my Shining Armor!” Cadance said fearfully.

“Soon, my changeling army will break through. First, we take Canterlot. And then, all of Equestria!”

“No, You won’t.” Celestia defiantly declared. Her eyes were filled with anger over being deceived and regret over putting her trust in the wrong pony. Now she was determined to undo her mistake and make things right. “You may have made it impossible for Shining Armor to perform his spell, but now that you have so foolishly revealed your true self, I can protect my subjects from you!”

The princess clashed horns with the queen. Then Celestia took flight and the two blasted magical beams at one another which collided. For a moment, the two looked evenly matched until Chyrsalis’s beam overpowered Celestia’s. After a blinding blast of light, the princess lay on the floor, defeated. Everyone gasped in horror.

“Princess Celestia!” Twilight yelled as she and her friends ran to her fallen mentor.

“Ah! Shining Armor’s love for you is even stronger than I thought!” Chrysalis declared with astonishment. “Consuming it has made me even more powerful than Celestia!”

Celestia was weakened, but she still had enough strength to say one more thing to her pupil and her friends. “The Elements of Harmony. You must get to them and use their power to defeat the queen!”

Twilight looked to her friends, who all had determined looks on their faces. This time, they were on her side. They all threw off their dresses and dashed out the door. Rarity, however, was still concerned about the well-being of her works to let them simply fall flat on the floor.

“Rarity!” they all called to her. Finally, Rarity threw off her own dress and joined the others.

Chrysalis cackled as she watched the six ponies running threw the castle. You can run, but you can’t hide!”