• Published 17th Dec 2017
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Life of a Wanted Changeling Season 4: At Luck's End (Comment Driven Story) - BrownDog77



The Final Adventure of Bugze the Changeling, AKA You. (Comment Driven Story)

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Episode 98: Tainted Love

Ponygamer12’s Comment

Grey Rebl’s Comment

After she says that very creepy thing, you only have one logical response.

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Out in the Snow

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

“Huh, the wind sure is picking up,” Garble says.

“I don’t think that was the wind,” Frost responds.

“No, no it most certainly was not,” Sombra says with a frown.

Out in Ponyville

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

“Whoa, did you hear that? Sounds like someone screaming for help,” Discord says weakly as he tries to sit up in his bed.

“Honk Honk,” Crackle agrees tiredly.

“Probably Canterlot, though things got quiet with them like two days ago,” Vinyl says pushing Discord back on the bed.

“I would be screaming too, that red ape thing is running rampant,” Octavia sighs and rubs at her temple. “May the gods have mercy to whoever is in it’s path.

Out in the Human World

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

“Urg,” B2 grunts putting a hand to his temple.

“What’s wrong?” asks Luna as Nightshade starts ordering the human girls around.

“I don’t know, just feel like someone walked over my grave,” he answers with a shiver.

Out in Deep Space

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

“I didn’t touch her Mr. President I swear!” the Brown Dog grunts, waking up in a stupor.

“Brown Dog!”

“Huh? Wha? What’s happenin’, where am I? Why’s it so dark?”

“It’s me, Kersey, here to rescue you,” the formerly fat pony says looking through a crack in the Dalek chasis. “Solarkness and Rutherford just blew up the generators a few levels below, and we’re in the Anger Management Hanger.”

“Anger Management?” His brows furrowed under his sunglasses. “I don’t remember being angry…”

“Exactly. What were you thinking getting high with the Daleks of all aliens?! You’re lucky they just brought your sorry flank here for ‘rehab’ instead of shooting you on sight, since they never found out who smuggled it in. Now half of the damn fleet is in here for suspected substance abuse, ready to go through some creepy BDSM ritual to prove their undying hatred. You’re welcome by the way.”

“It worked, didn’t it? Got them distracted and everything,” he chuckles before pausing. “...You guys DID get the self-destruct codes, right?”

“Yeah, Grey’s bringing it up there to the brig disguised as their exalted captain or whatever, playing up all that fire and brimstone OCD janitor talk they know and love, and Kichi’s trying to sell them on marketing techniques,” Kersey responds.

“He’s got a flair for the theatric,” the Diamond Dog chuckles.

“Ugh, do you have any idea how hard it was to find you? Usually I’d follow the scent of booze and drugs, but it’s everywhere. All these look-alike Dalek shells just makes it so hard to figure out who’s who among us.”

“Heheh… annoyingly outdated memes.”

“You should really think more about your health and how your actions affect others,” he chides.

“You know, somedays I miss fat evil Kersey over fit social justice warrior Kersey,” the dog grumbles

Clack, clack—clang~!

"Arrrgh! Stupid space wrench!" the pony grunts.

“Oh yeah, by the way, did you hear someone screaming unnaturally loudly? Sounded like a frightened woman,” the dog asks.

“Can’t say that I have, all I’ve been hearing is the sound of stoned alien robots and my stupid transponder that won’t stop beeping!”

“Transponder?” the dog asks and holds up his own wrist in the darkness, seeing the light flickering. “Doesn’t that mean Torchwood on Equus has got a situation?”

“They’ve always got a situation, but we got our own problems right now,” he says as more bolts are loosened.

“Eh, guess you’re right, not like there’s some silly creature poking holes in reality across hundreds of alternate dimensions or anything, right? We’ve got aaall the tiiiime in the woooorld~!”

Click, click. Clack!

“Woohoo! Free at last!” he says emerging from the robot shell and smirking at the pony. “Never knew how stuffy it’d be inside Dalek, though maybe I should go back. The sights are horrifying.”

“Oh whatever, I never want to be in one of these giant peppershakers again. Now come on fearless leader, we still gotta find Snap Drake and Rutherford before Solar gets sus’d out and stop Rebl before he pushes the ‘cleanse the world’ button for fun!”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m coming,” the diamond dog says, forgetting about the distress beacon on his wrist.

Out of Your Mind

Down With Chrysalis’s Comment

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!”

You finish screaming after what seems like an impossibly long time.
Cadence and Twilight look at you in amazement for not only the sheer pitch of it, but for the duration as well. Chrysalis on the other hand just looks at you as if she were patiently waiting.

“Better now?” she asks.

“…A little yes,” you reluctantly admit.

“Good, because though I do so love the sound of your voice @#$&, I’d rather we save the screaming for later…” she insinuates and you whimper slightly.

“Leave him alone!” Twilight shouts.

“Yes stop this Chrysalis, even you should be able to see he’s producing no love for you!” Cadence calls out and the queen scowls.

“Then your senses are dulled you twits, I can scarcely breathe with what he’s producing,” she says in delusion. “He wants me just as much as I want him.”

“B-b-but we can’t d-do that! I-“ you try to excuse, but she starts talking over you, her eyes focused, yet unfocused at the same time.

“Oh how long I’ve desired you @#$%&,” she coos. “When we were young I’d fantasized about you, but I had other distractions in the past. That long, long year in the prison though, you never left my mind.”

Dear Luna, this is beyond obsession, you think fearfully as she starts caressing your hind leg.

“After you told me to be Happy, I truly did, because my love for you became my sole focus,” she continues ranting, licking her lips. “It became my glorious purpose to escape and it’s what kept me powered and alive all this time. Where others fell or became weak, I persevered because I would not let the flame of our love die.”

That actually gets you to scowl back at her.

“You didn’t persevere because of that, you fed on the others!” you accuse, but she just smiles.

“Their purpose was to get me back to you $%@#&, so it was a necessary step,” she says nonchalantly and you bristle.

“Wait, she fed on her own subjects?” Twilight asks from above, which actually gets Chrysalis to give her a side glare.

“Yes she did! It’s perverse and evil!” you explain and continue glaring at the mad mare. “Love is what a Changeling thrives on! Their life force! They stayed by your side, and that’s how you rewarded them?!”

“They knew what they gave, and they did so willingly…” she says unperturbed.

“How could you do that?” Cadence says horrified, realizing how cannibalistic it all is. “To your own species?”

Chrysalis snarls up at the pink alicorn.

“Because that is their purpose! To serve the crown and love me unconditionally. And because my love thrives for him, they helped me to get to this very day in any way they could!” she rants before she turns back to you and her face becomes softer. “But in the end, after getting out of that prison, I no longer needed their love. I had an abundance gifted to me by you. It was all the power I needed.”

“That’s not power Chrysalis! You’re eating yourself!” you growl, but your words have no affect on her as she just giggles.

“Is it so wrong to give in to such a strong emotion?” she asks sweetly.

“Yes!” you shout in frustration.

“What do you mean she’s eating herself?” asks Twilight.

“She’s feeding off of her own supply of love! That’s poisonous to a changeling and it twists the mind into madness!” you explain, though you direct that response to the Queen herself.

“Oh that explains a few things,” Cadence deadpans.

“Quiet slut! If I want your feedback I’d ask for it!” Chrysalis barks.

“Bitch, you’ve ranted and raved and gloated to me and Twilight for three days! If you didn’t want us to talk back you’d have covered our heads!” Cadence snarls back.

“I’m sorry, I can’t hear you over the sound of #$%&@’s love for me,” Chrysalis sing songs, covering her ears.

“That’s not my name anymore! It’s Bugze! And you need help Chrysalis!” you implore.

“Of course I do,” she says with a grin. “The kind of help only you can provide…”

And with that her hoof slips a little further down south and your face flushes.

“I’m saving it for marriage!” you shout and scoot back from her to the edge of the couch.

Kichi’s Comment

“Oh, must you be so prudish?” she pouts before suddenly getting up off the couch and walking towards the thrones. “I mean, of course we’re going to get married, but that doesn’t mean we can’t have fun before.”

“Wha?! I’m not gonna marry yo-“ you try to complain, but she ignores you as she levitates something from behind the throne and holds it in front of herself.

“Hey! That’s mine!” Cadence shouts from above and Chrysalis snickers holding the wedding gown from the Canterlot Invasion.

“Oh come now, it’s not like you’re going to use it again, and besides, I wore it for longer than you did,” the queen insults and Cadence sneers.

“But what do you think my love? Isn’t it thematically perfect?! The day we were both reborn was another’s wedding, but now it shall be ours!” she cackles.

“…What are you even smoking?!” you exclaim. “You killed me that day because I helped the mare who owns that dress!”

“Yes, but I brought you back did I not?” she points out. “That was a turning point, for I remembered my love for you and gave back. And now it’s time for me to receive my reward.”

“That doesn’t make any Gorramn Sense! What in the blue buck are you tal-“

"This day is going to be perfect..."

Chrysalis interrupts as she begins to sing and twirl around.

“The kind of day of which I dreamed sinc-“

"Hey, that's my song!" Cadence interrupts.

"What? No! It's mine!" Chrysalis shouts back, stopping her musical number.

"No, I sang that in the caves, right Twilight?!” she asks her sister in law.

“Of course, This Day Aria, I remember. Especially when I had to push that mine cart and you did nothing to help!” she chides and the pink alicorn blushes in embarrassment.

“What are you going on about? I sang this while disguised as you in your room after I’d sent Twilight Sparkle to play with you!”

“I do recall someone talking about her singing,” you admit playing advocate.

“Wait, did we both sing it at the same time?” Cadence and Chrysalis ask at the same time.

“There have been recorded cases where the musical number that entails a duet will reach both recipients despite both of them not hearing the other,” Twilight mentions. “I mean, it happened for me and all my friends when our Cutie Marks were switched.”

“I bucking hate the intricacies of the musical numbers bending our reality,” you grunt.

“Oh…well it matters not! I don’t need a duet this time, I’m claiming it for myself and for my love!” she declares. And before Cadence can argue further, Chrysalis lights up her horn and some of the goop from hers and Twilight’s cocoons comes from below their necks and over their mouths.

“Mmf!” Cadence and Twilight yell muffled.

"There we go. Now, as I was saying, ahem,” she coughs into her hoof before starting again, this time accompanied by sourceless music.

“This day is going to be perfect...
The kind of day of which I dreamed since I was small ♬"

“You say that but you’re the one who rejected me when we were young remember?!” you catcall. She flinches at that, but continues singing.

"Everypony will gather 'round
Say I look lovely in my gown
What they don't know is that I have fooled them all"

“Who’s they? Who do you think you’re fooling?!” you demand. “And what ponies are gonna gather around unless you force them to?”

"I could care less about the dress
I won't partake in any cake
For I oh so love the groom
All my thoughts he does consume
Oh %$#@&
we'll be there very soon"

She says longingly looking at you as if you’re a piece of food.

"Where is ‘there’?” you ask frustrated. “And you obviously care about all that other stuff or you wouldn’t even be dancing with that dress!”

"He will be mine, all mine... And neither Nightmare Moon nor that little brat will stand in my way!” she sings and begins cackling. Once more though, you are pissed more than you are scared.

“I don’t think even you believe that deep down. Selena and Nightshade aren’t just going to abandon me to you, you nutjob!” you insult and her eye twitches briefly, before she turns to you with another creepy smile.

“They won’t have a choice my love. You will be mine, oh yes, you will be mine…” she says, and through the sickeningly sweet tone, you can catch the maliciousness.

WARGAMES’s Comment

Nightslayer’s Comment

"Yeah? Well good luck trying to marry me thot! It’s kind of hard to romance a vegetable!" you declare as you raise your hoof. “Would You Kindly Shock, Shock, Shock?!”

And with that the electrical pain returns as it rebounds inside of your specialized gloves back into your body. And though your body twitches and spasms and the pain is immense, you keep letting it flow for as long as possible, your goal being unconsciousness.

“Bugze!” Twilight calls out in concern, spitting the slime off of her mouth, but Chrysalis…Chrysalis just watches as you hurt yourself with that same loopy grin, as if you’re doing nothing more than just relaxing at a tea party.

Eventually though, you can’t continue and you stop riding the lightning. Unfortunately you don’t pass out and all you’ve done is barbecue yourself a bit. The pain in your chest returns and your breathing becomes labored as you hunch over the side of the couch and your vision swims.

Oh come on! I was passed out for three days and got choked out by Pharynx, but now I can’t lose consciousness?! Buck you Lady Luck! You think angrily as Chrysalis starts coming towards you. Gods, what I wouldn’t do for a timely rescue right now!

Suddenly a beam of magic strikes Chrysalis, throwing her to the ground.

“What?” you say in surprise as you look to the door and see a humnoid figure dressed in blue and purple garbs and with a skull face.

“Nyeh heh heh!” the figure laughs, holding a staff with a ram’s head at the end up in the air.

“A human version of Skeletor?” you think, briefly disappointed because it reminds you of the obsessed MLH artists that would Humanize any and every fictional character with no rhyme or reason. But then again, beggars can’t be choosers, and if he’s good enough for that human motel manager back in the Human World you briefly met, it’s good enough for you.

“Oh Skeletor, even if you’re humanized, is it really you and not some bullspit horribly written bait and switch woke garbage by some lying sellout old bastard?”

“Nyeh!” he responds.

“Oh thank the gods,” you cheer in happiness.

“Oh, you think your skeleton will stop me?!” Chrysalis declares, briefly overlapping with a younger version of herself in the sandbox, holding a buff stallion figurine. “I have He-Mane on my side!”

Then landing in front of her is the classic He-Mane in all his equestrian glory, wearing his revealing clothing. He then sings at the top of his lungs,

"Hehehyayhehyayhehyay"

“Nyeh heh heh heh!” Skeletor declares and the two of them charge at one another ensuing in an epic battle.

“Yes, yes! This is all I’ve ever wanted!” you cheer and start chanting, “Skeletor! Skeletor! Skele-“

“$%&#@, there’s no time for daydreaming,” Chrysalis’s voice pierces through your head.

“Huh?” you ask before suddenly there is a slap on your cheek and your eyes swirl back to focus. There are no mythical versions of your childhood, humanized or other, fighting for your life, there is only you, still chained and powerless at the mercy of the Changeling Queen.

“You shouldn’t play around with lightning so much, it makes your thoughts jumbled,” she coos and sits right next to you.

“But…It…it was epic…” you whimper as the tightness in your chest returns and she leans her face closer to yours.

“Don’t you feel silly? Don’t you feel, stupid? Don’t you feel, a little ashamed?” she asks in a strangely playful yet sinister manner as she taps on the encasings around your hooves, which you notice have some red glowing crystalline properties.

“…Not a day goes by that I don’t,” you grunt as the pressure in your chest ceases.

“Think my lover, think,” she says tapping the sides of her temples with both hooves. “There is no need to fight anymore. It’s been four years of all this nonsense in you trying to be a hero. You’re not a hero #$%@&, so just let it go and become my king like you were always meant to be…”

Kichi’s Comment

Grey Rebl’s Comment

"Ah, well, you see, uh,” you stammer before a light bulb goes off in your brain. “Wait, we can't be married!"

"Not again Darling, you can’t be getting cold hooves this close to-“ she starts but you interrupt.

“No, I mean, legally we can’t be married since you’re still married to Shining Armor!” you say rapidly as if you were a lawyer.

“Huh?” she asks, taken aback for the first time since you woke up.

“Hmm?!” Cadence asks, still muffled.

“What?” Twilight says confused.

“You legally married him before we were all banished out, so by law I can’t be your king since he already is. In fact, that makes Cadence’s marriage to him invalid, so before we do anything, you’ve gotta get an annulment presided over by an Equestrian Bureaucrat.”

“Really? But I’m a supreme ruler now so-“ she starts, but you talk over her.

“Hey, I don’t make the rules. The only other option is to wake Shining up, because he could just as easily declare you and Cadence as his wives without all the paperwork.”

“He can?” Chrysalis asks while Twilight and Cadence share a confused look.

“Of course he can, and so as his wife you’d need permission to marry me anyway since then it becomes a weird polyamorous relationship. Like King Tutankabee, remember?”

“Wait, hold on-“ she holds up your hoof, but you continue.

“King Tutankabee had several wives in ancient Anugypt, but any time he got a new one, the other wives had to accept her. So in that regard, you’d need Cadence’s permission too.”

“Uh…” Chrysalis drones dumbly as you overload her with info.

“So really you should take them all out of the pods so we can sort this out,” you bargain. “Also, if we’re gonna get married, shouldn’t you ask my Grandbuggy for permission? You know, since both our folks are gone, but still it’d be proper wouldn’t it?”

“Why-I-What?” she stammers.

“I mean, I know I have bad luck already, but why tempt fate like Queen Hatshepbettle did in Mesopomaria? The gods didn’t like her breaking tradition,” you point out.

"I-Yes... Of course I remember the story of Hatshepbettle,” she says unconvincingly. “But her story doesn’t-wait a second, how do you know so much about ancient history and pony politics? I thought you failed those classes in high school?”

“I have an assorted yet random collection of many topics with no rhyme or reason,” you shrug. “Which is why I will shout for hours about Dinosaurs NOT having feathers!”

“Wait, what?!” Twilight gasps. “But recent discoveries have shown that-“

“NO FEATHERS!!!” you snap at her before coughing into your encased hoof and looking back at the crazed queen. “But yes, thanks to all those factors, we should take it slow, right?”

There is a long pause after that, from everyone conscious in the room, before Chrysalis simple says,

“I never married Shining Armor.”

“What?!” you exclaim.

“It’s true, me and Cadence stopped her just in time,” Twilight admits reluctantly and Cadence nods, still trying to get the goop off.

“Oh…well I have been under a false impression for the last four years,” you say feeling dumb.

“That you have been,” Chrysalis nods before smiling too wide. “But I suppose that’s just your charm. Any more revelations you’d like to throw out? The Hive tax consultant is actually a robot from the future? Dentists are the real world superpowers? Not even foals can see why they love Cinnamon Toast Crunch perhaps?”

You frown at the mocking and just say,

“Yeah, the rest of the drones should have put you on decaf months ago.”

She just smirks at that and wraps her hoof around one of your chains.

“I stopped drinking coffee years ago. But even if I hadn’t, they wouldn’t dare do so unless I told them to,” she says with surety.

“Yeah, right, because I left only the most loyal and idiotic with you,” you shake your head in disgust. “But loyalty can only go so far Chrysalis. You think they’ll stick with you as you destroy the world?”

“Destroy the world?” she asks with a raised brow.

“Yes! Without Celestia and Luna moving the sun and moon then one half of the world is gonna burn while the other is going to freeze to death!” you exclaim.

“Oh really now?” she says with a playful smirk and your eye twitches.

“It’s basic common sense! There’s not gonna be enough unicorns to do the job forever, and once everything is cooked and frozen everything will die out!” you reprimand. “Sure maybe dragons could hold on for awhile, but once everything else is dead they’re gonna run out of food eventually too. You can’t live on gems forever!”

“Oh, that sounds so fascinating, especially about the part where ponies are useless and can’t survive harsh conditions,” she giggles and you go bug eyed.

“How can you be this crazy? I mean seriously, I already went through this conversation with Flag Burner three days ago and I know you were watching on the screens while we had that spiel, so how can you seriously ignore that you’re gonna destroy the world?!”

"Oh there you go again, destroy, destroy, destroy, it’s hilarious," she smiles while that ever-present mad glint in her eyes shines another color, one sicklier than the last. She then starts giggling again. She giggles and giggles and giggles, covering her mouth that does nothing to stifle the poisonous sound as it bleeds through the holes in her hoof.

“Why are you laughing?!” you demand at a loss for how she could be this far gone.

"Oh my lover, I’m laughing because you are thinking such silly things,” she says catching her breath. “I’m not like that ignorant metal pony you defeated. Why would I kill Celestia and Luna when they make such good batteries?”

“…Huh?” you say surprised.

“My dear, I have drained the powers of all the ponies in this room, so moving the celestial bodies above shall be a trivial matter,” she hoof waves before smirking. “And I assure you that I much prefer your taste over them.”

“Oh…uh…” you say dumbfounded that she’d actually taken that into consideration. “Well, I mean usually with the track record of some of the villains I’ve fought I just thought…”

“And that’s why I found it funny, you really underestimate what I would do for you,” she giggles again into her hoof. “Why would I destroy the world when I intend to rule it? And don’t you know? The one who controls the sun and moon controls the world.”

“…Huh, I actually can’t find fault in that logic,” you admit reluctantly, a bit angry that that part of her plan is fool proof. “I mean, you’re letting the Empire freeze so I figured that you might not care about the bigger picture and all.”

“Oh letting it snow outside is just a tactical decision, for we changelings don’t have issue with the cold,” she says with another giggle. “And you need not worry about the rest of the world my little love bug.”

The way she says that sets off alarms in your head as you hesitantly ask,

“Uh, wh-why is that?” she giggles once more before her hoof falls away from her face and you flinch back as razor sharp teeth fill her face-splitting grin.

“Because my lover, I am going to give it all you to you.”

“Wh-What?!” you ask in disturbed fear.

"I am going to give you EVERYTHING,” she says leaning over you now. “And because I will rule the world, I will give the whole world my future king…”

“B-b-but why would I want that?” you ask and she raises her brow again.

“Why wouldn’t you?” she asks sweetly.

“Because there would be so many problems and headaches to deal with,” you say truthfully. “I went over this with Human Twilight Sparkle, but conquering so many nations you would have to deal with so many conflicting ideologies and there’d be rebellions and resistances and every other unhappy group formed.”

“You don’t think they’d fall in line with all the might we now possess?” she asks as if you’re a simpleton, which most of the time you are, but right now you are laser focused.

“Look how many times villains have beaten the princesses in the last 4 years. You took their power so you know they’re not invincible,” you point out. “Plus, out in the world are other magical powers and doodads that could be used against you.”

“But the Elements of Harmony are no longer an issue,” she argues.

“W-Well that’s true, but there could be others. Just look at all the artifacts used that separated me from Selena and Sombra! There’s bound to be more,” you urge. This time she actually stops and seems to be considering that. Noticing her moment of confliction, Twilight speaks up.

“H-he’s right Chrysalis! There are many different artifacts out in the world that have immense power,” she says and the queen grimaces.

“More powerful than this Crystal Heart?” she demands tapping at the crystal power source hanging around her neck.

“Absolutely!” Twilight nods. “There’s the…the uh…” she struggles to lie so you jump in.

“The Ban Hammer!” you say.

“Ban Hammer?” she and Twilight both question.

“Yes! The Ban Hammer! It’s a tool used by out of touch corporate executives to smash the hopes and dreams of their fans!” you say thinking about a certain Neighponese Game Company and a Games Workshop that makes figurines for an expensive Table Top RPG.

“How would smashing hopes and dreams affect our rule?” she questions.

“Demoralization leads to anger and unruliness and you’d have a lot of riots to deal with,” you say confidently.

“Hmm, sounds more like an annoyance,” she says before looking at you quizzically. “Though it sounds like you know where this object is?”

“Not really, though I heard that on his death bed, Neighomoto hid it in Las Pegasus somewhere but left clues sprinkled around the world, like a key in the Everfree Castle which opens a box in the dragon lands that has a map somewhere in the Grffon lands,” you keep bullspitting. “But the next clue is protected by an army of Nintendoids.”

“By what?”

“Nintendoids,” you repeat. "They’re small rectangular robot things that will throw cartridge ammo at you,” you lie.

“Uh huh…” she says though her face starts to become less weary. Above you, Cadence and Twilight are silently trying to tell you to shut up, but you don’t notice as you keep lying.

“Also, I’ve heard tale of the Ring of Power in New Zebrand in the village of 'Taumatawhakatangihangakoauaotamateaturipukakapikimaungahoronukupokaiwhenuakitanatahu.’”

“Traumawhateverkangaroo..." Chrysalis attempts to say.

"Taumatawhakatangihangakoauaotamateaturipukakapikimaungahoronukupokaiwhenuakitanatahu" you say again without stuttering once. “It’s a ring that will turn you invisible and also control the other rings and their wearers.”

“Right…I’ll get the drones right to looking for that one my bug,” she giggles again and shakes her head playfully.

…Somehow, I don’t think she believes me. Dang it! You mentally shout as Twilight and Cadence look at you in disappointment. As love crazy as she is, I thought she’d be a little more unstable and believe more lies! This is what happens when I have to think alone!

And it’s true, you are alone. Alone in mind, alone in body, alone in soul, trapped with a mentally unstable dictator.

My head is a little too empty without Selena and Sombra, you think in melancholy. I used to be able to bounce ideas and get feedback. Sure I’d ignore it sometimes, but it was always nice to have options. Right now all I can think about is chewing off my hooves to get away like in that nature documentary that traumatized me as a kid.

“You are being awfully quiet darling, what’s on your mind?” Chrysalis asks as she rests her head on your shoulder and you begin to sweat. “Hopefully not more silly lies or wrong assessments?”

Ugh, I can’t afford to be lonely right now, you mentally berate with a sigh. For now it’s probably best to let her think I’m on board with being with her and then wait for an opportunity to escape.,

With that, you pull yourself together somewhat and say aloud,

"Of course not, I was just, um, thinking about how good your plans actually are.”

“Oh, I’m glad that you’re finally seeing reason love,” she says absolutely beaming. “And once you’re my king, everything will be at your hoof tips.”

“Right, yeah, that’s what I was considering,” you lie before holding said hooves up. “Speaking of which, would you kindly take the casings off? I kind of want to touch you.”

You say it pretty convincingly as you see her cheeks flush in excitement, but on the inside you want to hurl. You were in love with her once, but she’s not the same mare from all those years ago.

“Oh, you don’t need your hooves to touch me darling,” she says placing one of her back legs over yours, causing you to tense. “And besides, those are for your protection until I can purge your body of those nasty plasmids.”

“Oh, but uh, they’re kind of hardwired into my DNA now,” you say as you try and fail to shift away from her. She only gets further into your lap and though and says,

“We’ll find a way #$%@,” she says sensually and starts leaning her face towards you. “We have all the time in the world…”

And as time seems to slow down and her face gets closer and closer to yours, suddenly there is a knock at the chamber doors. She pauses and her face fills with anger and frustration.

“Ugh! Who is it?!” she shouts tersely turning away from you and you let out a gasp of relief. “I said I was not to be disturbed! If it’s about that Metal Fox thing then handle it your-“

"Filly Scouts of Equestria!" a high pitched voice says from the other side of the door and she pauses.

“…What now?” she asks.

“It’s the Filly Scouts ma’am. Would you like to buy some cookies?” the voice asks again. Chrysalis looks dumbfounded at that and looks between you, Twilight, Cadence and the door. Unfortunately for her, none of you have any answers for her.

“Is this some kind of joke?” she asks through the door.

“Not at all ma’am. We Filly Scouts are all about serious business. Now, we have a special where royalty gets a 10% discount on all orders, as long as they buy the custom mini fridges.”

“Mini fridges? We’re in the Arctic!” she shouts as she gets up off the couch and starts walking to the door.

“Yes, but keeping food in the snow is just asking for a yeti to come along,” the voice says.

“Oh for, how did you even get past my guards?! Your organization is supposed to be banned from the Hive?!” she growls.

“Well, a lot of the guards are drunk so…”

You remember the story Thorax told you, and as crazy as it sounds, you kind of believe that a troupe of little fillies might be behind that door.

“Help! Run Little Fillies! Get the Equestrian Guard! The Princesses are captured!” you shout just as she opens the door…and on the other side are not Filly Scouts, but some younglings who start laughing as Chrysalis seems shocked.

“Gotcha!” they shout in unison before running off laughing down the hallways.

You and Chrysalis sit there stunned for a moment before she shouts after them.

“You little brats are on indefinite latrine duty! Mark My Words!” she calls out just as Pharynx rounds the corner. “Sergeant! Why were you not at your post?!”

“Sorry ma’am, you did not want to be disturbed and I was checking the progress on that mechanical fox. We lost track of it out in a glacial trench and-“

“After those children immediately!” she shouts and he shuts up. “I want them disciplined, kept from sweets, and their parents reprimanded!”

“A-as you wish my queen!” he salutes and runs off. She then grunts and slams her hoof against the door frame, cracking it slightly.

“Uh…e-easy there Chrysalis, they’re just kids,” you try to placate, but she turns to you with an angry expression.

“Oh don’t think I forgot what you said earlier! Trying to get help from those infernal Filly Scouts!” she spits in rage as her mane gets a bit frazzled. You whimper a bit and try to make yourself seem small as she huffs and puffs, but after a few moments, she perks up and starts laughing.

“You know what? I guess it’s not all that bad. I’m now in the mood for some cookies, how about you?” she asks in a Pinkie-esque manner.

“Um…”

“Great! I’ll be back in a moment, I’m going to bake you a batch worthy of our love,” she says with her eye twitching. “Don’t get any funny ideas my darling!”

And with that, she exits and closes the door, leaving you alone with the hanging Elements, Princesses, Shining and Spike.

Nightslayer’s Comment

TartarusFire’s Comment

You just sit there in stunned silence for a few quiet moments as you hear her hoofsteps getting quieter and quieter. Eventually, it’s Cadence who breaks the silence, having finally gotten her mouth free.

“That girl is all kinds of bucked in the head,” she sighs.

“Yeah, no kidding,” you grumble in depression.

“I know we’ve had to hear her mad ramblings for three days now, but with you around it’s so much worse,” Twilight shudders. “We have to get out of this Bugze.”

“I know that Princess!” you huff back in annoyance. “Unfortunately, I’ve only got my own brain cells left and a power that hurts me more than it hurts others! Not to mention I’m still chained!” You rattle the chains and casings for emphasis and they wince.

“Calm down Bugze, we’re just as stressed as you are,” Cadence tries to soothe.

“Hey, at least you’re not the ones getting groped! Every time she talks and touches me I feel violated!” you say in disgust. “So yes, I know my two options are either escape, or become the Changeling King, which isn’t a thing by the way, and I can tell you this for free, I am not marrying Chrysalis!”

“Of course you’re not,” Twilight encourages.

“I just need to get rid of these bucking chains!” you curse and start rattling the hunks of metal. “Seriously, how do these things even work? There’s no keyholes or anything.”

“I’m not sure, they’re either of Changeling or Crystal Pony make and I’m not familiar with the design,” she admits.

“Wait a second, if this is crystal pony make…” you murmur remembering a conversation you’d had with Sombra in the human world.

Flashback

The day before the Battle of the Bands, you had been discussing the best methods for capturing Midnight, and you were still very much adamant about your peanut butter trap. Sombra however, was not.

Chains, you dumb cockroach! Chains is what we need!

“Chains don’t work well in a net trap smokey,” you argue, rolling your eyes as you gathered four jars of peanut butter. “She’d hear them clanking anyway and would ruin the surprise.”

Oh for the love of, he groans and you smirk victorious.

I know you have a track record in chaining up your enemies, but I don’t think Midnight will be brought to heel so easily, Selena adds, siding with you.

Yes, yes, I know that, he grumbles before sighing. And I know they wouldn’t be as good as the one’s I developed in the Empire, but still…

“What’s so special about your old slave chains?” you ask.

They suppressed magic, and would harm the wearer if they tried to remove them, he explains, though you detect a note of shame in that. I actually came up with the concept before I took power. They could also only be removed by a password of my choosing.

“Right…well those aren’t here right now, so let’s stick with the peanut butter,” you say definitively.

Present Day

“…I really should have humored him more and asked about the passwords,” you berate yourself.

“Huh?” asks Cadence, but you ignore her as you hold up the chains in front of you face.

“Okay, uh, King Sombra is amazing?” you guess, but nothing happens.

“Bugze?” asks Cadence.

“Uh, King Crystal?” you guess again but nothing happens.

“Bugze what are you doing?” asks Twilight.

“I like stairs? Crystals are awesome? Princess Amore is a whorse?” you throw out.

“Bugze, what the hay are you talking about?!” Cadence demands.

“I’m trying to figure out the password for Sombra’s stupid chains here!” you grunt in frustration. “I love Radiant Hope?”

“…Bugze, those aren’t Sombra’s chains,” Cadence responds.

“Say what now?” you ask looking up.

“Shining and I got rid of most of his old technology, it was too traumatic for the Crystal Ponies to keep around,” she explains.

“And keeping items of slavery wouldn’t have looked too well for their rule,” Twilight adds.

“Oh…” you say feeling even more like an idiot. “Then are these just keyless chains then?”

“Yeah, now that I get a better look they appear to be changeling in origin than crystal pony like Twilight hypothesized. You can tell by the uniform black coloration,” Cadence instructs.

“Ah, I suppose that should have been my first clue,” Twilight notes.

“Well that’s just peachy!” you growl and toss the hunks of metal out of your forelegs. “There goes my one idea.

“Don’t fret so much, it’s not like I don’t have any ideas left,” Twilight encourages.

“Okay shoot then, tell me what you got Purple Smart,” you order grumpily and she frowns.

“I’ll overlook that for now,” she rolls her eyes before going into lecture mode. “Look, you still have access to your Plasmid abilities correct?”

“Yes, but as you saw shocking myself isn’t really helpful.”

“But that’s just it, don’t you have other non-damaging plasmids?”

“I mean, I’ve got insect swarm, but that’s not helpful anymore after I broke the Hive Mind last year,” you say. “And I’ve got Telekinesis and Bucking Bronco, but these covering things would just rebound those too.”

“The Bucking Bronco one is where your target gets launched into the air right?” Cadence asks.

“Yeah that’s right,” you nod. Cadence and Twilight then share a look at this and nod before Twilight speaks up again.

“If the Bronco or Telekinesis rebounds on you, that means it would propel you as well right?”

“Yeah? But how’s that going to help m-“

“Bugze, the chains holding you are attached to the couch,” Cadence points out. “It may be heavy, but with enough force, you may be able to propel yourself to the thrones. That’s where your Saddlebag is.”

Looking over you do indeed spy your trusty Inventory, almost taunting you in how close and far it is at the same time.

“Surely you have something in there to help right?” Twilight asks.

“I’ve got quite a few things actually. But I think I understand what you’re getting at,” you say as a light bulb lights above your head.

“Excellent,” Twilight grins. “Now, angle your hooves behind you and-“ she starts to instruct, but unfortunately you are two steps ahead of her.

“Would You Kindly Bucking Bronco!” you shout, as you leap from the couch awkwardly.

“No wait! Don’t-“ she tries to call out, but it’s too late.

“Wwwaaaggghhh!!!” you cry out. Because of your awkward angle, you are flipped end over end as your bones rattle up your hooves painfully. The chains holding you go taught, and your momentum turns into a swinging motion with your face heading right towards a pillar.

“Oh Son A-*WHACK*

“Oooohhhh,” Twilight and Cadence wince as stars fill your vision.

“Iz albrite! Am kk!” you slur as a bit of blood leaks down your forehead. “Just gon…”

And with that you lay your head on the stone as your vision swims.

Really missing my healing factor right now, you think dazedly. But don’t pass out body, I know I tried to earlier with the shocking, but not right now!

And as you give a herculean effort to not lose consciousness with Twilight and Cadence giving words of encouragement…

Puzzling Frost’s Comment

Ponygamer12’s Comment

Nightslayer’s Comment

POV CHANGE: Sombra

“So, how many more times do you think we’ll have to move the ponies around?” a changeling guard asks.

“As many times as we need to till Nightmare Moon and the child are flushed out,” the other guard grunts.

“Are we even sure they’re still in the Empire? Maybe they got out?” asks the first guard.

“Noling escaped, and even if they did, we would have found their corpses in the wastes by now.”

“Yeah alright, I’m just getting bored of babysitting all the time. Those guys that got to chase after that fox robot thing probably had some fun.” the first guard sighs. “It’s such a pain to keep corralling an entire city’s worth of ponies each day. Things would go so much more smoothly if we just cocooned them all.”

“That would take up too much time and energy. Besides, the cold keeps them in line,” the second guard assures. “But once those two have been captured then our Queen will push back the blizzard and we can…we can…”

The second guard trails off.

“We can what? What can we do?” the first guard asks looking to his compatriot before pausing in confusion. “What the…?”

The second guard’s eyes are glazed over and he is looking off into space unfocused.

“Um, are you oka-“

“AGH! Get them out! Get them out! I can feel them buzzing around inside my skull!” the second guard suddenly shrieks, startling the first.

“What?! What is it?!”

“Oh no not the bees! NOT THE BEES! AAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!” the second guard shrieks as she starts swinging wildly, striking his fellow guard.

“Ow! Hey, get a hold of yourself! Stop it! Guys I need some backup!” the changeling calls out as he tries to subdue his screaming comrade. And while a few more guards come over to help with the commotion, you extinguish your horn.

“There, that ought to do it,” you say with a pleased smirk. You’re grateful that your mother and sister were able to give you a bit of a boost in your magical recovery since you’ll need a lot to open the door, but this doesn’t take too much at all. “Who’d have thought that a giant bug’s biggest fear would have been smaller insects?”

“At least it makes more sense than that one who was afraid of clowns,” Hope says as she leads a small group of ponies from a house. “Seriously, what’s so scary about those?”

You freeze up as you remember those times when you were ‘put in time out’ within the cockroach’s mind. Surrounded by his nightmares did take a toll, especially with the clowns with sharp teeth.

“Y-You’d be surprised what modern creatures find frightening,” you deflect, hiding your disturbed face.

“I suppose that’s true,” Hope nods before she starts instructing the ponies on where to go.

The both of you, after hearing that strangely universal scream, had left the prison entrance leaving the Windicolt and Dragon behind. And as you entered the freezing city, you still found traces here and there of ponies, mostly visitors from the games, being transported further in. Taking the opportunity, you’ve shown these random scattering of changelings why you are the King of Fear.

It hasn’t been much, maybe 20 or 30 ponies, but it’s made Hope happy…and you suppose it’s the right thing to do.

“Just follow the trail we left in the snow and you’ll come across a blue colt and a small red dragon. They’ll take it from there,” she instructs.

“O-Okay,” they say giving weary glances to you. Even if they themselves aren’t crystal ponies, your reputation precedes you.

They then depart while you watch from the side as the changelings subdue their comrade.

“And one more for good measure,” you say lighting up your horn. Suddenly one of the guards starts screaming about commitment and how he’s not ready to settle down!”

“Wh-what?” says one of the female guards sounding hurt. “B-but we’ve been together for five years!”

“I know and it’s a good thing we’ve got going! Why do we have to go through with all that wedding stuff?! Nothing good ever happens at weddings!” he shouts fearfully.

“You already bought me a ring!” the female guard shouts, allowing the bee fearer to get loose and start running around.

“Because I got pressured into it! All those bits and we could have put into savings, but we didn’t!” he exclaims and the female changeling starts crying.

“…Okay, now I feel bad for them,” Hope says regretfully as they continue to argue.

“Hmmph, better they fight now than regret it later,” you shrug nonplussed because it isn’t your problem. “Now come along, we’re almost near the entrance.”

“Oh, alright,” she says looking back at the squabbling changelings. “Kind of makes you wonder what everyone’s deepest fears might be since they’re all varied.”

“Yes they are. And they are always constantly shifting based on life experience.”

“I guess that makes sense,” she nods. “Although why that other changeling feared hair loss is beyond me. He didn’t even have hair.”

At that you stiffen again, remembering your human counterparts chrome dome.

“…Many stallions have that one ingrained,” you lie with shifty eyes and she raises an eyebrow.

“Oh really?” she asks skeptically.

“Yup! Though I have no such fear. My glorious mane isn’t going anywhere,” you say running your hoof through it.

“The long cut definitely suits you,” she nods mesmerized watching as your mane flows in the wind. She then smirks and says, “But you kind of lost a strand there. I’m currently wearing it like a moustache.”

“WHAT?!” you exclaim and whirl around so fast you hurt your neck a bit. “Please don’t tell me it’s also started in this wor-“

“Gotcha!” she says before laughing aloud. Her face has none of your hair on it, and none of your locks are missing.

“Oh…” you say in shocked embarrassment before blushing and looking away.

“Yeah, you’ve definitely got that fear too Sombra,” she teases and you huff.

“It was merely just a glance,” you excuse. “For all I knew, you’d taken scissors to my mane.”

“Heh heh heh, I wouldn’t do that Sombra,” she giggles before swiping her own hoof through your mane. “Besides, even if you did start losing your hair, I’d be able to fix it.”

That actually gets a chuckle out of you as you shake your head good naturedly and keep trudging through the storm. You and her navigate the snowy streets relatively easily. Sure some modernizations have been added here and there, such as the street lamps, but for the most part these are still the same streets she and you grew up on.

“Hard to believe it’s been a thousand years,” she says looking all about. “It only feels like yesterday.”

“It’s seemed a lot longer than that for me…” you say regretfully to which she picks up on.

“Oh…well when I was with the Umbrum, time kind of was wonky for me. It sure didn’t seem like a thousand years while I was in there,” she explains. “Though I don’t know much about how your banishing spell worked.”

“It was almost instantaneous if you can believe it,” you respond. “The return left me incorporeal, but it was as if I’d just fallen asleep.”

“Ah,” she nods. “I just figured when you said it seemed longer and all…”

“I meant it felt like it when you weren’t around,” you clarify and she pauses in her tracks for a moment before giggling and catching up to you.

“Hey now, don’t go catching a mare off guard like that,” she giggles and you smirk.

“Sorry, can’t help it. I’m just full of surprises,” you joke, and she giggles more, which sounds absolutely divine to you.

It’s almost as if nothing has happened between us, you think, feeling a little lighter. Like we never hurt one another, or anypony else…

You pause at that thought as you look at the ice covered structures and sigh.

No, that’s not true at all, you think in melancholy. If I had succeeded that day, I would have just gone back to the torment and suffering. I would have allowed the cold in, and I would have broken all their minds once more.

There’s no second guessing yourself, you know for a fact that it’s what you would have done. It’s what you had planned. Had Bugze, Nightshade and those mares not been around, you would have continued your march of conquest and fear.

“Sombra? Are you alright? You’re spacing out?” Hope asks looking at you worriedly. You meet her eyes and the thoughts recede somewhat.

“Y-yes, just lost in thought. I’ve…far too many unpleasant memories. Many of them by my own design,” you admit.

She still looks worried for you, but she gives you that bright smile of hers.

“It’ll be alright. Once this is all over, we could just leave. There’s no need to stay in the Empire once everyone’s been freed and made happy.”

Even after all these years, her optimism is still as strong as ever.

Of course it is, how else could she ever have still had hope for me after all I’ve done? You think with an inward chuckle.

You smile back at her to assuage her worries.

“That sounds like a fine plan Hope. I can’t wait.”

She beams at that, and the cold feelings inside are pushed away just a bit more.

To think, if I hadn’t run into that insect, that shadow and Nightshade, I wouldn’t be here right now seeing that smile again, you think humorously. Such a strange relationship I’ve developed with my former enemies. With my…friends…

You bring your pondering to an end however as you finally are in sight of your destination.

“We’re here,” you proclaim nodding towards the structure ahead. Hope gasps upon seeing it and looks to you curiously.

“I thought the streets were rather familiar. But I never thought you’d lead us back here,” she says truthfully.

“This is where it all started,” you tell her plainly. “And when I took over, I figured this would be the perfect place should it all end.”

And with that, you lead her into the place that housed you as children. Back to the Orphanage.

The insides haven’t changed all that much either, and that was by design. When you took over, you evicted the orphans and forcefully placed them in other family’s homes. Maybe it was some sort of small kindness, but in the end, they were all your slaves afterward, whether they had families or not. And after all these years, it seems that nopony has tried to move in or restart the organization. Which suits your needs now just fine.

“It looks untouched,” Hope says as she goes over to a wall with a few crayon drawings of pixies and will-o’-wisps, ones she drew.

You both remain silent for a few moments as you relive your childhood memories. The times you built forts, told stories of fantastical beasts like pixies and humans, and how you two were just there for one another. Not even the blowing wind outside can take you from these happier times, and it is ultimately yourself who forces your way back to the present.

“Yes, it is untouched, for the most part,” you say as you open the door to the basement. “But there have been some modifications.”

“Oooh, mysterious,” Hope says with curious eyes. “Is this something perhaps we could lead other ponies to?”

“Nah, not this one. They’d be lost in the dark without a guide. Besides, the ones we sent off to the kids should suffice for now,” you say with surety.

Back at the Prison Entrance

“It’s the Umbrum Walkers! Winter Has Come! Winter Has Come!” a very nervous long maned stallion in a big winter coat shouts upon seeing Frost’s ghostly visage.

“Hey now, I’m not an Umbrum, I’m part Windigo!” the colt says in offense.

“As I said, WINTER HAS COME!!!” he emphasizes throwing his hooves up in the air wildly, which causes him to lose his balance and slip on the ice. “WHAGH! Oof!”

The other ponies in the group look this poor sack as he groans in the snow and shake their heads.

“Forgive him, he knows nothing,” a red maned mare apologizes.

“Yeah it’s alright,” he hoof waves. “Least I’m not getting the attention Garble is.”

“For the last bucking time you stupid ponies! No I’m not Spike the whatever stupid titles you’ve given him covered in ketchup! No I’m not his long lost twin, and no I don’t have any Sunny D! I don’t even know where that last one came from!” Garble shouts in frustration as several ponies surround him.

“Oh, well he’s sort of become the mascot for it here at the games. He’s on quite a few billboards,” a crystal mare says.

“And it is some really good juice,” a stallion nods.

“Well too bad! I don’t have any!” Garble complains. “Now follow me and the ghost if you wanna get out of the snow!”

“Yes, and don’t use magic when you get inside, the residents were very adamant about that,” Frost adds ushering the ponies into the igloo and towards the red crystal.

Back With You

GreyRebl’s Comment

Ponygamer12’s Comment

“This secret tunnel…is it your doing, too, Sombra?” Hope asks with wide eyes.

“Surprisingly, yes,” you say proudly.

The passage is long, dark, and lonesome yet spacious enough to fit at least three ponies wide. The clippity-cloppity of your hoofs echo in the dim, cold air, and the only illumination coming from the magic light cast by your horns.

“So this wasn’t always under the orphanage?”

“Heh, no. But I made sure to place it there,” you explain. “Even as the Crystal Ponies lived in fear of outside threats, thanks to the Crystal Heart, the idea of escaping to the cold, harsh world beyond their sphere of comfort had not once crossed their mind.”

You close your eyes. It is still fresh in your memory, the time when you ruled as the Crystal Empire’s one and only tyrant, where instead of running away the Crystal Ponies just hid in their homes as you took your time turning them into your brainless slaves one by one. You sigh.

“Ironic, really. Their place of safety turned out to be a prison of their own making. This passage was built so such a mistake would never repeat on my watch. So I swore to build some practical structures.”

“Mmhm, so you say everything’s practical huh? What about the Flugelhorn Storage room?” she inquires in a bubbly voice.

You swear, you can feel her eyes flinging stars and glitter at your head, with a smile bright enough to out glow her horn. Awkwardly, you pretend to clear your throat and find a sudden interest in the opposite wall.

“That’s, uh… It’s practical, alright? Keeping the same instrument in one room is convenient.”

Giggling, Hope starts to trot a little bit closer, a certain spring in her hoofsteps.

“And here I thought your only architectural love had been stairs.”

“What’s wrong with stairs?!” you balk at her and she only laughs more.

Eventually, the passage opens up to a wide, spacious chamber. Old boxes and supplies lie seemingly abandoned from corner to corner, with cobwebs and dust lining the edges. The air becomes easier to breathe, indicating the smart, if you may add, presence of ventilation.

“Ooh, what’s this place?” Hope asks looking up to the carved earth and crystal.

“An underground safe house,” you explain. “I had the citizens carve it out in case of hostile occupation.”

“Oh…so your curse wasn’t your go to plan?” she asks in genuine curiosity.

“Of course not,” you shake your head. “That was quite literally my weapon of last resort. And it became my last resort when Luna nearly killed me.”

You wince at that memory of her coming at you with the scythe, gaining a second wind and power that you now know was due to Selena’s influence.

“Ah, I see,” she says rubbing at the back of her neck awkwardly and you sigh.

“I have many sins, but vanity isn’t usually among them. Arrogance though? I had that in spades and still do,” you shake your head. “But I’d had plans. Plans to wage a war from the shadows with those I controlled, with or without my Umbrum brethren. I’d envisioned a vast network throughout the whole Empire, but we simply ran out of time.”

“So are there more of these tunnels?” she asks.

“No, just this one, and it was never used. Until now that is,” you say matter of factly. “To think, it’s finally going to serve it’s purpose after a thousand years.”

“For a shadow war?” she asks sounding nervous.

“Perhaps,” you shrug. “This tunnel leads back to the bowels of the palace, and to the door that holds my people. Should it be necessary, they could be funneled underground. We won’t know for certain since that Changeling Queen has the Heart.”

“Oh, that’s what you meant,” she sighs with relief and you raise a brow.

“What you’d think I meant?” you inquire and she looks away guiltily.

“I…might have worried that you would keep some Umbrum under here to get back at the crystal ponies later,” she admits and you are taken aback.

“What?” you ask in shock.

“After all the time I’ve spent with them, I know they very much resent the Crystal Ponies. Even if it was their ancestors that imprisoned them, that kind of hatred can fester,” she explains, sounding guilty. “I was just worried that you would utilize that hatred.”

The accusation hurts…but it’s not unfounded. After all, you gave into your own hatred in the past.

“Hope…I honestly don’t want to fight anymore,” you admit with a heavy sigh.

“Y-You don’t?” she asks quietly and you nod.

“These last two years, I’ve experienced and learned so much, and I’ve reached the conclusion that I don’t want to keep going down this path. I don’t even want to rule anymore,” you confess and she puts a hoof to her mouth in shock. “My mother, once she’s freed, can rule the Umbrum however she sees fit. As for me…I just want to be where you’ll be.”

“Sombra…” she says breathlessly looking at you with awe.

“Being in that moron’s head made me realize what I truly want, and for the longest time I never dared believe that there could be a future with you in it…but…” you admit as you lean gently against her side causing her to stiffen “I…I just don’t want to waste this second chance Hope. I never want to lose you again.”

“Oh, uh, ha ha, I…” she stammers as her cheeks turn red, yet she leans into you as well and gulps. “I’ve wished for this second chance as well, for so long…”

You can’t help but blush yourself. These are words you wanted to say to her so long ago, perhaps something you should have said when she realized her destiny. There’s three other words you wish to say to her right now, three BIG words.

“Hope?” you ask nervously looking her in the eye.

“Y-yes?” she stammers holding your gaze.

“I…” you start to say, but you trail off because something’s not right. “Wait...”

“Huh?” she asks dumbfounded as you start darting your eyes left and right through the chamber.

“Something’s off here,” you tell her plainly as you hold a foreleg to her chest to keep her from moving. The minute you say that, she instantly raises her guard, eyes and magic scanning the darkness.

At first, you’re not quite sure what’s given you this feeling of dread, but you know better than anyone to listen to something your subconscious picks up before you do.

And then, as you strain your sense, you finally hear it: a dull, ominous noise, artificial and out of place in an underground cavern. Static.

“I...Don’t suppose that’s by design?” Hope asks with a gulp.

“No,” you whisper, a low growl in your throat as you prepare for a fight. “No, it is not.”

Going back to back, your lights swim from corner to corner. Nothing here, nothing there… No matter how much you look, you can hear it but never see it anywhere. Unless...

You freeze. A memory comes up; not of the Empire, but of your time spent in a certain bug’s head. Twice had he heard this sound, once in this world, and once in the human world. Gulping, you swivel your ears and realize it is right above you.

You face Hope, who looks back quizzically at first, but when you flicker your eyes up once then twice, the horror dawns on her as well. Slowly, raising your horns, you both look up.

“SKREONK!!!”

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!” you both shout holding onto one another as a white and pink maw full of sharp metal teeth screeches in your face.

You both unleash a magical blast wildly, as the hulking form swings out of the way and lands before you. You both turn towards it…

Only to see as Mangleoid starts barking in mechanical laughter and slapping at her knees.

“Oh you dirty little maggot!” you curse as your heart beats a million miles a minute thanks to the adrenaline, but she continues to laugh.

“W-w-wait! Isn’t that Nightshade’s fox monster?” Hope asks, the color still drained from her face.

“Yes it is,” you spit before glancing up at it. “What was that for?”

“Couldn’t resist mate,” a sound clip from some sort of Pirate Movie you recall Bugze viewing plays.

“Well pick your battles! There’s a time and a place Mangle!” you shout before you realize, this is actually the first time you’ve ever directly interacted with the machine. “Hold a moment, how do you even know who I am?”

“I briefly traveled in Nightshade’s inventory with you earlier,” Hope explains. “Nightshade kind of gave this thing the run down while we were in there. Of course, she was a lot smaller then.”

The two head creature looks down at itself before holding a finger up. The mechanical pieces of it then start twisting and turning as she becomes more dense, yet smaller. Eventually she goes back to the form you are most familiar with.

“Easy peasy, neighponesey,” she plays another movie audio clip. Something about a jail if you recall.

“That is very unsettling,” Hope shudders, and you nod in agreement.

“Alright robot, how did you get into this tunnel?” you inquire.

“Skreonk,” she barks and points towards one of the ventilation tunnels high up on the ceiling.

“Okay, not sure how you did that seeing as how those go clear out into the wastes, but whatever,” you shake your head. “If you’re here, then where’s Nightshade?”

“Skreonk,” she barks, sounding sad as she shrugs.

“You don’t know?” you ask in surprise.

“Aren’t you always with her? I got that impression,” Hope asks.

Mangle nods, before opening her mouth and a recording from earlier is played. It’s Nightshade’s voice instructing Mangle to cause a distraction at the dance so that she and her father could get Grandbuggy out.

“Oh, so you’re the reason we ran into some patrols as we entered the city,” you realize and the robot shrugs.

“Well do you know if she was successful?” you ask, worried over the tiny alicorn. Once more, the robot shrugs and you groan.

“I’d assume we’d have heard some sort of announcement if Nightshade had been captured,” Hope points out. “Chrysalis was very determined to have her and Night-er-Selena.”

“That is true…” you say while biting at your lip before shaking your head. “But whatever the case, there’s nothing we can do about that now. We still have to get to the door.”

“Oh, but of course,” Hope nods before looking hesitantly at the robot. “But, um, what about…?”

“She can come along,” you say offering a hoof to the robot who looks at you a bit hesitantly. “Nightshade would be very upset if her precious pet was lost underground.”

“Skreonk,” Mangle agrees with a nod as she clambers onto you…and it is a very strange sensation.

“Ick, now I see why that idiot is weary of machinery,” you shudder and the fox lightly bops you on the horn. “Gyah!”

To this, Hope giggles at the absurdity and shakes her head.

“Well okay then, let’s continue forth and see about getting you back to your owners okay?” she asks.

“Skreonk!” Mangle barks excitedly and pulls on your mane, trying to direct you.

“Oh you little-don’t make take back my charity machine!” you growl, but you do comply.

You ruined a very tender moment there dumb robot, you mentally grumble even as Hope continues to snicker.

And while the three of you continue forth, down the tunnels, you eventually reach the hidden underground of the palace. You open the entrance to your secret study, and there before you is The Door. The seal keeping your people imprisoned.

The Human World

POV CHANGE: Nightshade

Kichi’s Comment

Nightslayer’s Comment

Ponygamer12’s Comment

After ordering the human girls to use their magic to wake up Grandbuggy and your Mom, they decided that doing so out in the open wouldn’t be a good idea. Plus human Twilight said she might have something to help, but needed an area with a lot of electrical outlets. And so, that is why you are currently walking down the hallways of Canterlot High with the Human versions of Dad, Luna and Sombra carrying your Mom and Grandbuggy with Iron Will’s help.

It would surely be a sight to see if this were a normal school day, but thankfully it’s Friday after hours so there’s no one stopping your progress as you head to the Theatre Club Room, which Twilight assures are many electrical sockets.

“Ugh, are we there yet?” you complain as you still wobble here and there on your bipedal legs.

“It’s just a bit further,” Human Rarity assures.

“Yeah, be patient kid,” Rainbow Dash says.

“Oh I’m sorry, it’s not like my Dad is currently in the clutches of a crazy supervillain or anything and I’ve wasted enough time jumping around the multiverse!” you complain which shuts her up.

“Hey now, if we’re gonna do this, we gotta do it right,” Sunset encourages. “And that means no more public displays of magic. We keep having to do clean up after each one.”

“Principal Celestia really has been strict on that,” Applejack agrees.

“She is going through a lot to be fair,” Fluttershy points out, looking to her Vice Principal helping carry another version of herself.

“I got it, I got it, let’s just hurry this along please?” you beg.

“Of course, but until we get there, do you mind if I ask you a few questions?” Human Twilight asks, pushing her glasses up on her nose.

“I guess if you have to,” you shrug as Lightning Dust trips once more over her feet and falls on the ground.

“Okay, so from what Bugze told us, and from what I glimpsed inside his…mind,” she hesitates before coughing into her fist. “You are that little pony with both wings and a horn right?”

“Yup, I’m an alicorn, just like the real version of you and my mom,” you say pointing a thumb towards her. You really like doing that gesture.

“Right, right, but you are also part Bugze’s race right? A changeling?” she asks, scribbling in a notepad.

“Yeah, I got some gifts from it,” you nod. “Though they don’t really show unless I want them to.”

“Fascinating, fascinating,” she nods. “And from what I glimpsed, these Alicorns move the Sun and Moon?”

“Uh, yeah?” you say as if it’s obvious. “Why? What moves the sun and moon in this world?”

“That’s the thing, nothing does,” she lectures.

“Say what now?” you ask doing a double take.

“The earth actually rotates around the sun due to it’s immense gravity, and our moon rotates around us because of our own gravitational pull.”

“That…that doesn’t sound right, but I don’t know much about planets to dispute you,” you admit and Sunset shakes her head.

“Believe me, I had a hard time coming to grips with this myself,” she says. “But it’s true, the planet here moves and the Sun doesn’t.”

“That’s…that’s just…” you say while putting a hand to your head which starts to throb.

“I mean, it’s basic science,” Twilight continues. “The fact that beings in your world can move a star and satellite on their own seems preposterous! It’s more than likely that these alicorn princesses move the planet itself,” she says writing down more notes.

“But wait a gorram minute! I moved the moon in my world! I know it because I felt it’s weight when I was moving it around!” you declare and she looks at you incredulously.

“I keep telling you Twilight, the planet and sciences are different in Equestria,” Sunset sighs, as if she’s said this multiple times.

“Nonsense, even if there is magic, it’s still something that can be quantifiably calculated,” she argues and all the others sigh too.

“There she goes again,” Pinkie snarks, rolling her eyes.

“Making sense of alternate realities isn’t boring Pinkie,” Twilight chides.

“Wow, you really are just like the real Twilight,” you say and she chuckles.

“Your dad said that a lot,” she says.

“You are wrong about one thing though, gravity is boring. Ask about the dragons and stuff!” Humbra says with a grunt, shifting Grandbuggy’s weight.

Twilight looks from him and back to you and puts her pen to her chin in thought.

“Mmm, yes, you’re right. The native species would probably be easier on someone her age,” she nods.

“How old do I look? That’s a complicated thing back home but I don’t know how to gage humans,” you ask.

“Eh, about middle school I would guess,” she says. “But anyway, Bugze once said my puppy Spike’s counterpart is a dragon?”

“Yes, he’s my best friend,” you nod before frowning. “And what’s up with that? Why is he just a dog in this world?”

“Probably because it was a marketing technique to sell little girls dolls with little plastic accessories and they didn’t want to make a little boy doll,” Pinkie says under her breath.

“What was that Pinkie?” asks Sunset.

“Nothing,” the pink girl chirps back.

“Right…well yeah we got loads of dragons back home, like Ember, Torch, Smolder, Smaug, Garble,” you list off.

“Amazing names, what other species exist? Are there Fairies? Manticores?”

“Honest Politicians?” Applejack snorts under her breath.

“Yeah we got manticores, and if by fairies you mean the Breezies, yeah we got those too. The only politician I ever met was Mayor Mare, but I don’t know her too well to know if she’s honest. The CMC once did a story on her about dying her hair though.”

“She’s probably got other secrets, Honest Politician is an oxymoron,” B2 scoffs.

“Good point,” Twilight nods. “Now, besides your impossible space bag, do you have any other magical items?”

“Well I did, but I never got around to picking those back up after the fight in the stadium,” you say regretfully, thinking of the Dark Canon and Junk Jet. “Also I had an Ocarina that I only recently found out does control the weather, but that got lost too.”

“Wait, a magical Ocarina?” Luna perks up. “Like in The Legend of-“

“Yeah, just like in the video game,” you interrupt. “My dad took down a Video Game Mafia where my friend Greta used to work, and we took some souvenirs with us.”

“So do you not have anything else left?” Twilight asks.

“Right now all I got is my Power Pole with Daddy’s Boomstick attached to it,” you say. “Ones a stick that can stretch pretty far, and the other one goes Boom when you hit things with it.”

“Oh…I remember that last one,” Twilight says subconsciously rubbing at her belly.

“You’d think with a groovy name like Boomstick, that it’d be more impressive,” B2 says.

“Right?” Humbra nods. “Speaking of which, if you’re all dead set in jumping into a magic portal to fight aliens, I could run home and grab my 12 Gauge.”

“Hey yeah, that could make things easier if we’re going to a fantasy world,” Rainbow agrees. “You guys don’t have guns right?”

“I mean, they’re kind of movie things, but I did have a laser pistol thing…that’s also missing,” you admit.

“So not common huh? Well if Sombra brings his shotgun, then we’ll be able to blow this evil queen’s head off no problem and be back in time for dinner,” Rainbow points out.

“Exactly,” Humbra nods with a grin.

“I don’t know about that, I’m all for helping Bugze out of a jam, but killing a leader in a world that ain’t our own?” Applejack says apprehensively.

“What? She’s evil right?” Rainbow shrugs.

“Yeah, but we kind of have this whole “Not Killing” policy,” you point out. “If anything you guys will help me turn her to stone or send her to the moon or something.”

All the humans look disturbed at those alternatives.

“Yeah, I think I’d rather have my head blown up than suffer through that,” Humbra quips.

“No one’s pulling a Cobain anytime soon,” Luna grunts.

“And besides, when we get to Equestria, we won’t exactly have fingers in order to pull a trigger,” Sunset points out and Humbra looks down at his hand, before making a fist.

“Good point.”

“I mean, I would, I naturally have hands and-“ Iron Will starts but you interrupt him.

“Anyway, whatever human gun things you have we won’t have time to get any. We really don’t even have the time to be waking up Mommy and Grandbuggy, so time’s of the essence!”

“Right, right,” Twilight mumbles making more notes. “But while we are still traveling…”

“How big is this bucking school?!” you curse but she continues,

“Do you have any questions for us?”

“Uh…”’ you trail off, not having expected that turn. “I mean, probably a lot for when we got time to sit down and stuff.”

“Come on, just off the top of your head? I’m curious,” Twilight begs.

“Uh…do you guys have your own Discord?” you ask randomly.

“Ain’t that that chaos god yer dad was always going on about?” Applejack asks.

“Yeah, he’s really a nice guy once you get to know him,” you say. “But yeah, do you have your own? Mine is kind of sick and powerless but having another one would be helpful.”

“Yeah, that’s not happening,” Luna says offhandedly.

“Why?” you ask.

“Because he lives in another state now,” she explains with a roll of her eyes. “He was a science teacher here but he disregarded safety all the time, and it literally blew up in his face. Plus, he used to date Celestia and things didn’t end so well with that.”

“Wait, your sister actually dated someone?” B2 asks in shock and surprise.

“Huh, Discord and Celestia?” you ask, trying and failing to picture the real ones dating. “Yeah, I don’t know if that’s something that happened in my world. Right now he’s dating real Fluttershy I think.”

“Wait, what?” Fluttershy asks but you ignore her.

“But anyway, if there’s no Sombra to bring along, I guess the only question I can ask is, where do babies come from?”

Everyone immediately stops dead still as you ask that, with Lightning Dust once more tripping over her feet.

“…What?” asks Sunset incredulously.

“I wanna know where babies come from! Everyone back in Equestria keeps avoiding the question and saying they’ll tell me when I’m older and I’m sick of it!”

Everyone in the room all glance at each other, before they turn reluctantly back to you.

“Well, the thing is…” Twilight starts.

“Yes?”

“…You’re gonna have to wait till you’re older,” Sunset says sternly.

“Gorramnit!” you curse and kick at the ground, which almost sends you teetering into a trash can.

“That’s up to your Dad and Mom to discuss kid,” B2 points out.

“But you’re kind of my Dad right?” you plead but he just nervously avoids your eye contact.

“Alright fine! Keep your secrets!” you huff just as you reach a door that has a plaque that reads Theatre Room.

“That we will, but thankfully we’re here now,” Sunset says as she pushes open the door.

And as you all walk into the theatre room, you can’t help but compare it to that world where that Dog was directing a play about your life and that snooty brat Nyx who played you. This place isn’t as big as that world’s stage, but still, it left a sour taste in your mouth. So much so that it takes you a few seconds to realize that there are already some figures up on the stage speaking.

“We shouldn’t do this, for the pony world could be too dangerous,” a small pale skinned human girl says reading from a script.

“But nothing is too dangerous as long as I’m with you,” a small orange skinned girl says, reading stiltedly from a script as she hugs the other girl. And judging from the voices you immediately know that these two are humie versions of Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo.

The buck?

“But this love is forbidden, I’m not even from this world of humans!” Sweetie says dramatically with a hand to her forehead.

“But I don’t care about that I…” Scootaloo pauses as she flips a page. “I will go anywhere you go Sunset for my- Oh come on that’s cheesy-For my heart is yours and yours alone.”

“Uhhh, what?” Sunset says taken aback as every other human looks on in shock as well.

“Yeah, my thoughts too, what?” you add.

"Okay, CUT! CUT!" shouts the voice of Apple Bloom from one of the audience seats. Looking over you see as a yellow skinned human with red hair and a familiar bow stops recording on one of those cell phoney things. “Scootaloo, your delivery is terrible!”

“Because the writing is too freaking mushy! Sentry’s a jock! He’d never say stuff like this!” Scootaloo excuses.

“Hey! It’s not too mushy! A lot of Rarity’s books have dialogue very similar to that, so it’s gotta be romantic!” Sweetie Belle huffs.

You quickly give a side glance to human McStabflank who turns beet red and avoids eye contact with the others.

“Well sure, but it’s supposed to be all sappy and stuff!” Applebloom points out before turning to your group. “And as for who interrupted that was very rude! This is supposed to be a closed set an-Oh…” she pauses as she sees exactly who is in your group, including your big sister.

“What? Who is it? The lights are kind of blinding me?” Sweetie Belle asks, holding a hand above her eyes to cut out the glare.

“It’s our sisters and their friends and Ms. Luna’s band mates,” Applebloom says looking embarrassed and suddenly the girls on stage turn beet red too.

“Oh…” both of them say as you all walk into the light.

“So…what you girls doing?” asks Applejack.

“Oh, we’re just practicing for a short skit is all,” Applebloom says nervously.

“And what skit is that?” asks Rainbow teasingly and Scootaloo looks away.

“That’s uh…it’s not my first idea,” Scootaloo mumbles.

“Why was my name in the skit?” asks Sunset.

“Yeah, it’s uh…It’s a secret,” Sweetie says nervously as her sister looks at her with narrowed eyes.

“Sweetie?” Rarity demands.

“Alright fine! We’re working on short film for the Canterlot Film Festival,” Sweetie Belle relents.

“The theme is star crossed love, so we decided to make a sad scene for when Sunset Shimmer eventually goes home and leaves Flash all broken hearted,” Applebloom admits.

“Wh-What?!” Sunset stammers with a blush as the other girls look to her.

“Yeah, so we were just practicing the lines and stuff before we start casting, but it’s like, really sappy,” Scootaloo nods.

Rainbow Dash, Applejack and Rarity all look to one another before rolling their eyes, probably used to their sister’s antics just as much as the real versions are.

You though look up at Sunset.

“Wait a second, you’re dating human Flash Sentry?” you ask and she goes red.

“N-No!” she stammers before coughing into her fist. “We used to date when I first came to this world, but that was just so I could gain popularity.”

“Really? Then what was the deal with you and him sharing a milkshake at Sugar Cube Corner the other night?” Pinkie asks.

“Pinkie!” Sunset chides.

“What? The guys a good kid, when he’s not turning into the Hulk and trying to kill me,” B2 defends and the red and gold haired girl blushes harder.

“But really? Flash Sentry?” you say baffled before looking at Human Twilight. “Shouldn’t he be dating you?”

“What?! Why would that be the case?” Twilight asks in surprise. “I already have a boyfriend thank you very much.”

“I’m surprised Timber’s still with you after beating up his sister and everything,” Fluttershy says and Twilight starts getting shifty eyed.

“We’ve worked past that! It’s all fine! Everything’s fine!” she says deranged.

“Right…” you say incredulously before looking back to Sunset. “So I guess you’re like one of THOSE MLH fans huh?” you ask with a quirked brow and she frowns. “Hey hey, I’m not judging…much, but if you’re gonna date someling who’s not a pony, there’s cuter species out there. Like dragons for example.”

“Ooh, that’s a good one,” Sweetie says and makes a note on her script. “Maybe we could make Sunset a dragon and boys will be tricked into seeing this film.”

“Heck, I’d date a dragon if given the chance, dragon’s are awesome!” Scootaloo nods.

“Right?! This girl knows what’s up,” you praise and Sunset sighs and facepalms.

“Look, let’s overlook this blatant invasion of my privacy for a moment, we’re in a hurry remember?” she urges and your eyes widen.

“Oh right, sorry! Got caught up in all the gossip!” you say, lightly smacking your forehead to focus. “Sorry humie versions of my friends, but we need the stage to wake up my mom and Grandbuggy.”

“I was wondering why ya’ll were carrying an old guy and another version of Ms. Luna,” Applebloom says nonchalantly as the two of them are laid on the floor.

“Rest assured girls, it’s another magic situation,” Luna grunts as she stands over your mom.

“Oh, so that means it’s more of that other Hooded Offender guy?” Scootaloo asks excitedly looking to your counterpart.

“Kind of, but he’s not here right now. Just his daughter, wife and Grandpa,” he answers.

“Oh cool,” Sweetie says looking to you. “So you’re from Horse World?”

“Yeah, but there’s more than just horses there,” you nod before getting serious. “But there’s no time to explain, I’ve gotta wake them up and get out of here.”

“Oh, okay then,” Applebloom shrugs. “Well whatever you’re doing make it fast so that we can get back to rehearsals.”

“Yeah, we need to stick to our schedule or our producers will get antsy,” Sweetie Belle nods.

“Producers? You’re taking money for this?” Applejack asks.

“Well if we want a good camera we kind of need it,” Applebloom points out.

“Yeah, Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon also really like the concept and wanted to star in it as well,” Sweetie says and you quirk a brow at that.

“So wait, are you guys on good terms in this world, or is it like how it was before I got involved where they were bullying you?” you ask.

“Eh, they’re not so bad,” Scootaloo shrugs. “I mean sure they can be snooty, but it’s not like they’re huge jerks or anything.”

“Good to know,” you shrug as you look back to Twilight. “So, you’ve got all your electrical outlets, you guys good to use the magic?”

“I believe so,” Twilight says as she starts dragging extension cords and lights towards her. “Though there most likely will be some electronic damage to the outlets.”

“Whatever, we were going to have to renovate those anyway,” Luna shrugs. “That eccentric Theatre Instructor will probably welcome it.”

“Well, just let him know it was you guys who broke the outlets and not us. We told him we wouldn’t break anything,” Sweetie Belle pleads and the Vice Principal in rocker gear nods.

“Okay, so get to magicing I guess. Is there anything we can do?” you ask. “I mean, maybe Flim and Flam could help with the machine stuff?”

“Can we please not? I’d rather not have to do this a thousand more times,” Lightning Dust complains as she leans on a chair to keep her balance.

“Iron Will agrees…besides they’re not here,” the humanized minotaur says.

“What?!” you say and look for the twins, but they aren’t in the group. “Where the buck they go?!”

“I don’t know, I was focusing on not falling. Gods I hate these feet things!” Lightning Dust complains.

“You mean the Ronald McDonald twins?” Humbra asks.

“Yes them!”

“Oh, some emo looking guy in a hoodie dragged them off as we were walking past the cafeteria,” he says simply.

“What?!” you ask incredulously. “Why didn’t you say anything?!”

“Yeah, that didn’t look like a me problem, and I was carrying this old dude,” he says offhandedly.

“They’ve got our dimensional whatamacallit thing!” you chide and pull at your hair. “Ugh! Go ahead and start doing magic, I’ll handle this…”

With the Flim and Flam

Both unicorns turned humans are currently sitting tied to chairs in the back room of an office with no windows with the only light being a dim florescent one hanging over the brothers, leaving lots of shadows to fall over the room.

Both brothers have duct tape over their mouths and their muffled groans fill the silent room.

"Hush now you’re going to ruin my fun,” a gruff voice says. Sitting just out of the light next to a school wheel in TV is a purple eyed dark skinned, dark haired human male in a grey hoodie jacket and wearing a black bandana. The human is currently in the process of setting up a camera on a tripod pointed right at the brothers. “At least wait till we’re recording.”

“Hmm?” the brothers ask through the duct tape.

“Well we gotta keep this for prosperity’s sake,” the figure says before walking over to Flam slowly, anger filling the human’s eyes. “We meet again Flam, it’s been too long.”

“Hmm?” the helpless universal traveler grunts.

“But you didn’t to see me again huh? Well I never thought I’d see you walking past my hallways,” he says in an intimidating manner as he rips the duct tape off of Flam’s mouth, which takes some of his moustache hair.

“Ow! What are you talking about?! Who are you?!” he demands.

"Your worst nightmare,” the human says getting into his face. “Now tell me, where’s my God Damn Money?!”

“Money? What money?” Flam asks confused.

“Don’t play dumb with me! You and your brother scammed me out of a thousand bucks! That camera was not what I paid for and your shop was gone the next day when I tried to return it!” he growls.

“Listen, human, you’re obviously mistaking me for someone else,” Flam pleads.

“Really? I’m mistaking two Ronald McDonald knock offs who took my hard earned money?” the figure deadpans.

“Okay, probably not, but listen sir, we aren’t from this world! You’ve obviously run into your world’s versions of my brother and I and-“

The human slams his fist on the table making a loud bang.

“Quit trying to bullshit me! Who in their right mind would buy that?!” he snarls and Flam whimpers, scrunching into himself while Flim worriedly spasms in his bonds.

“But it’s the truth!” Flam begs.

“Right, and I’m the lead guitarist of the Crimson Knights,” he says rolling his eyes. “Look, there’s a film festival coming up and I need a new camera! There’s even some little girls in my theatre right now practicing for it, and I’m NOT gonna let Nightslayer Productions miss a festival you got me?!”

“I get you, I get you, but we’re not the ones who have your money!”

The human then pulls something small and rectangular out of his coat pocket.

“Tell me where my money is, or else I’ll make you suffer,” he threatens and Flam’s face pales.

“What are you going to do?” he asks eyeing the rectangle.

“Whatever I have to to get my money,” he says as he clicks a button on the rectangle, and the TV behind him turns on, revealing a weirdly drawn cartoon of some kind.

“Um…” Flam trails off, sharing a confused glance with his still gagged brother.

"You're going to tell me or else I will ruin your childhood,” the human threatens.

“Ruin my childhood? Human, I wasn’t even born here so how can you…you…” Flam stops as the cartoon begins to depict uncomfortable, horrific things.

“Oh gods, what the buck is this?!”

“It is your reckoning! Now where’s my God Damn Money Flam?!”

“I don’t have it!”

“Where’s my money?!”

“I don’t know! Please change the channel!”

“Where. Is. My. Mo-“

“Oh there you to are, what are you doing playing around for?!” you say as you walk into the room and flick on the lights. After hearing Flam’s cries, it was obvious where to look.

“Nightshade! Help us! This human has-“

“Yeah, yeah, yeah, I can see that,” you say looking at the human man before doing a double take of the cartoon on the TV. “What in the buck?”

“Listen little girl, walk out and close the door. I’m in the middle of something not for your eyes…” he says in a tone that just makes you feel annoyed.

“Yeah, how about no Emo Jones? I got places to be and these nimrods need to be with me as we go to them.”

“Oh you can have them, but not before I get my money! These bastards cheated me out of-“

“Yeah, I don’t give a buck,” you say offhandedly as you send out a wave of magic from the Alicorn Shards which strikes the human, sending him flying through the TV, destroying it and crumpling him against the desk where he starts groaning in pain.

“Oh thank you Nightshade! Thank you!” Flam says with tears in his eyes. “That cartoon was horrifying!”

“Yeah, yeah, no problem it’s whatever,” you say in a fed up tone as you release the brothers. “Friggen humies, always trying to go off on their tangents, we ain’t got time for any more side plots.”

With Flim finally getting his duct tape off his mouth, he rubs at where his wrists where tied and says,
“Couldn’t agree more. Though I certainly hope our human counterparts pay off whatever debts that human thinks they incurred.”

“Whatever,” you say, rolling your eyes as you all exit the room…and run right into Celestia’s human counterpart.

“I heard a crash, who are you three?” she asks confused and you facepalm.

“We’re with your sister, there’s magic stuff going on again which apparently you don’t like, so let’s just leave it at that okay?” you groan and she raises an eyebrow.

“More magic stuff?” she asks, taking a peak in at the passed out human in the room. “And since there’s violence involved, I’m guessing it’s from that Bugze fellow’s side of things?”

“Yep, and I’ll bring a lot more as his daughter if you keep asking any more questions!” you threaten, your shards glowing, along with your eyes.

The tall human woman tenses up at that before sighing.

“Very well then. I suppose I’ll just call an ambulance for our Theatre Director then,” she says as she steps out of your way.

“Good call, and have them send the bill to Flim and Flam,” you huff.

“What?! But why would-“ the brothers start before you groan again.

“The OTHER Flim and Flam. Come on guys!” you shake your head in disappointment. And as the three of you walk back towards the Theatre Room, Celestia sighs and pulls a flask out of her pocket and takes a swig.

“You know, I’m starting to miss the days when Discord was the only chaotic thing to worry about in school,” she complains with a sigh just as the school lights start flickering off and on.

Back in the Theatre Room

After walking through the flickering hallways with the twins, you reached the Theatre Room just in time to see a cacophony of rainbow colors dissipating.

“Wow, that was epic! I never get tired of seeing you girls in action!” B2 cheers.

“It’s always so trippy and magical,” Humbra agrees with a grin.

“And exhilarating,” Luna nods breathlessly.

“Yeah it was cool,” Lightning Dust admits reluctantly.

“Iron Will thinks it was the most beautiful thing he’s ever seen!”

“It was…amazing…” Applebloom says, as she and the bright eyed Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle hold their phones out in front of them.

“Oh gorramnit! You guys made me miss the magic!” you chide the twins who flinch.

“Hey now, it wasn’t our fault!” Flim complains.

“Yeah, that human kidnapped us!” Flam argues.

“Well you should have screamed stranger danger! Everyling knows that!” you huff as you walk back towards the stage where your mom and Grandbuggy now glow slightly.

“Oh you’re back,” Sunset says. “How did-“

“I took care of it, I’m assuming you did the same?” you ask and she nods.

“Focusing our thoughts on healing I think might have helped. Look, the old guy is already stirring,” she observes, pointing to Grandbuggy, who starts groaning, and trying to shut his eyes tighter.

Tartarus Fire’s Comment

Ponygamer12’s Comment

“Awesome!” you cheer and go to his side. “Get up Grandbuggy!”

“Mmmm,” he groans.

“Come on, get up!” you order as you shake his side.

“Mneh!” he groans again and waves his arm about.

“Come on, chop chop!” you say a little more sternly.

“Nmm! 5 more minutes!” he grunts and rolls over on this stomach, hiding his head under his arms and your eye twitches.

“Oh for the love of-Grandbuggy! Slendermane’s back and he wants 20 more bits!” you shout, and almost immediately he sits bolt upright.

“The buck he is! There’s no accrued interest you filthy faceless fruitcake!” he yells before holding the sides of his head and groaning. “Oh gods I hate hangovers.”

“Take it easy old bug, you just got a boost to wake up,” you tell him as you rest you steady him.

“Oh, no wonder I taste Tuesday,” he says as he blinks his eyes.

“Easy there mister, your vision will clear up soon,” Sunset says as his eyes start twitching.

“Well that’s good to know mysterious lady voice, I’d hate to have to get spectacles this late in life,” he says as he starts rubbing at his eyes before pausing. “…Why do my hooves feel spidery?”

“Well, about that…” you start awkwardly.

“He…he sounds just like him,” B2 says in awe as he watches the old man wake up.

“Huh? Boy is that you?” he says looking around with bleary eyes. “You sound funny. You hurt?”

“…No, it’s uh, nevermind,” B2 says shaking his head. “You’re his Granddad, not exactly mine.”

“Huh?” Grandbuggy says completely lost.

“It’s a long story Grandbuggy, one we don’t really have the time for right now,” you say and he raises a brow.

“I’m not completely in the dark hun, I don’t know how long them little brats had me cocooned, but I drifted in and out of consciousness, and I sure as buck remember Chryssy ruining everything,” he says with a growl.

“Yeah she did,” you nod. “The Crystal Empire is controlled by her, but it’s freezing over, she’s powered by the Crystal Heart, and we rescued you, but Daddy got caught and is being brought to her, so that’s why I came here for help.”

“Oh son of a-“ he sighs and shakes his head. “Of course it’d end up like this, Buck You Lady Luck…and where’s here exactly?” He then proceeds to rub his eyes and blink a few times and freezes as he sees all the human’s faces.

“Um…hello?” Sunset says awkwardly with a wave. Grandbuggy, unlike you or Dad, takes this development in stride.

“Ah, human alternate universe, been awhile,” he says simply.

“You’ve been here before?” asks Twilight in surprise.

“Briefly, had to help Clover bury something or another while the Doctor was indisposed, and I was kind of drunk at the time,” he shrugs before looking to the unsure looking B2. “…I’m guessing my counterpart kicked the bucket in this universe?”

“Yeah…decades ago,” he nods solemnly.

“Sorry to hear that,” he sighs. “If things are as similar as they are back home though, you still got a grandma.”

B2 and Applejack share an awkward glance at that.

“Yeah, Bugze said something along those lines, but we ain’t tried to look into it yet,” the farm girl says.

“Right, right,” Grandbuggy nods before shaking his head and bolting up to his feet, which he has no trouble with. “But never mind that, why are we hanging around in Human Land? My boy’s in Chrysalis’s clutches!”

“We were just getting to that old bug,” you say as you stand up and steady yourself against his leg. “Since there’s dampeners in place, we’ll use their magic to snatch up Daddy and haul ass out of there until Hope and Sombra show up with reinforcements.”

“Right, right,” he nods before looking at Sunset. “I’m guessing your Celestia’s rogue pupil?”

She blushes in embarrassment at that and nods.

“Well good, always nice to have a heavy hitter on the team,” he says and looks around at everyone else. “And ya’ll are obviously them kooky mares’ counterparts, so I bet ya’ll can take a good scrap. But let me tell ya, fighting with hooves is much different than fists.”

“Hey, punching is punching right?” Dash says, shadow boxing for emphasis.

“That’s the spirit! Now which one of ya’ll was the one who commanded monkeys?”
Twilight blushes and looks down at that in shame.

“I, uh, I can’t do that anymore,” she says. “Plus I shouldn’t, it really wasn’t humane in the first place.”

“No it was not,” Fluttershy agrees resolutely.

“Alright, fine fine, but you’re another version of the egghead so that’s something. Plus we got another boy, Luna and Sombra by the looks of things…where’s your hair?”

“That’s what I’ve been asking for the last ten years!” he huffs.

“Look into bowlers boyo,” he responds and looks to Hope’s group.

“Alright so a big dude, some lanky human and…oh great, humie versions of you Machine Toting Swindlers!” he growls.

“No, those four are actually Equestrians too,” you point out. “They were working with Radiant Hope, Sombra’s girlfriend, and now they’re all working with us against Chrysalis.”

“Wait, for real?” he asks and you nod. “In that case, buck you two red heads! You’re still not welcome in Ponyville after trying to push that youth tonic bullspit on my Smithy!”

“You still owe us for damages you crazy old fool!” Flim counters.

“And for physical assault!”

“Those were just love taps ya pansies!” Grandbuggy huffs, but you get between them.

“Alright, alright, we’ll fight later,” you break up the argument. "We’ve gotta get going as soon as Mommy wakes-“

“Mmmm…”

You immediately freeze up as you hear the groan behind you. Whipping around quickly, you spy as your humanized mother scrunches her face and begins to stir.

“Mommy!” you call out happily.

“Ah, well I’ll be,” Grandbuggy says impressed. “Guess I wasn’t seeing things before I passed out at that meeting.”

“Huh? What’s that? Nightshade?” you mom asks sleepily as she starts to sit up.

“Yes it’s me!” you say as you throw your arms around her neck and start hugging. “I’m so glad that you’re awake!”

“Awake?” she asks as she starts blinking her eyes, before they suddenly widen. “Wait, this feels different. Am I…”

“You’ve got a body Mommy!” you cry out cheerfully and she stiffens.

“I…I do?” she asks sounding overwhelmed and unsure.

“Yes, you’ve been asleep for a few days, but now that you’ve had a magical infusion, you’re all better!” you explain as you snuggle deeper. Still with blurry eyes, your mother looks down at you and her breathing quickens, before she suddenly wraps her arms around you and starts returning your hug with a vengeance.

“This…this is…” she struggles to say as tears begin falling down her cheeks. She eventually just gives up on trying to speak and only focuses on hugging you.

Now, you’ve embraced your mother quite a few times in the Mindscape, but doing so physically, even as a human, blows all of that out of the water. It’s just more real, more personal, and it feels as though the love flows just that much easier.

“I love you, I love you so very much my precious daughter,” she bellows.

“I love you too mommy,” you admit and even more tears come to your eyes.

“Daaaawwww,” nearly everyone else coos as they witness this mother and child reunion.

“I’m so glad you’re finally in the real world,” you say as she begins running her hand through your hair.

“N-Neither can I my precious, I’ve dreamt of this moment for so long that I…” she blubbers before taking a moment to breathe. “This is better than I could have hoped. Being able to pick you up, brush your mane with my hooves and…wait a second.”

It’s then that the sensations of her body really catch up to her overloaded mind. She pulls back from the hug a bit and holds her hand in front of her face, squinting at it.

“…Why do I have hands?” she asks perturbed.

“Oh, right, funny thing about that actually,” you giggle as you gesture to the group surrounding you. Looking around, she squints her eyes again, before rubbing them and looking once more, where they widen.

“Hi there!” Pinkie Pie says jubilantly.

“We’re back in the human world again?” she asks confused.

“Yeah, it was kind of an emergency,” you admit and she raises a brow.

“Is this Sombra’s doing?” she asks looking at Humbra before her eyes widen upon seeing B2 and Luna in her punk garb.

“I’m afraid not ma’am,” Sunset says and your mom’s eyes immediately light up.

“Sunset Shimmer! So good to see you again!” she says enthusiastically, attempting to sit up.

“Oh, it’s uh, good to see you too, outside of the mindscape and all,” she responds, scratching at her neck.

“I know right?! Truly I wished I was waking up in my own equine body, but this is such a pleasant surprise all around!” she says happily.

The beaming smile on your Mommy’s face being directed at Sunset kind of irks you as your shards light up briefly.

Oh what the buck is that all about?! You’ve got your own cute little daughter right here, you don’t need to look at her like that! I don’t need a big sister I need a little one! You think in jealousy. This temper is quickly quelled though after she starts petting at your hair again, and the shards lose their luster and you give a victorious grin at Sunset. Yeah, that’s right. My Mommy!

The orange girl is understandably confused about the look you give her but she lets it go, just as Grandbuggy speaks up.

“It ain’t actually as pleasant as ya think girly,” he says and her head turns to him.

“Grandbuggy?” she asks confused.

“The one and only,” he nods. “But yeah, there’s really no time to reminisce. Stuff’s going down as it usually does for us.”

Your mom seems perplexed at first before she starts looking around at all the faces, and notices that someone is missing.

“Hold a moment, where is Bugze?” she asks sounding concerned and Grandbuggy bites at his cigar.

“Like I just said, stuff’s going down,” he sighs. “Do you remember what happened when you got your body three days ago?”

“Three days?” she says putting a hand to her head, trying to remember. “We defeated that robotic terrorist, and we palavered with the Princesses and Elements and they were showing forgiveness…”

“Yeah, and then it got ruined,” you say grumpily and suddenly her eyes widen as the memory comes back to her.

“And then SHE was there!” she snarls with absolute venom, and many of the humans back up.

“Wow, is that what I look like when I’m angry?” Luna asks B2 and he nods reluctantly.

“I remember that glare during the mind battle,” Twilight shudders as the other girls huddle together. Iron Will, Lightning Dust and the twins huddle to each other, muttering about the boogey mare. Even you, still in her embrace are a bit weary of how angry she looks.

“She was standing over him as my consciousness faded! She…she…” your mother pauses. She then gently unwraps her arms from you and stands up, barely even wobbling on her unfamiliar human legs. A look of extreme determination is within her eyes. She looks from Grandbuggy, to the surrounding humans, pausing a bit longer on B2, before she looks back at you.

Despite knowing that she holds no ill will towards you and never would, you can’t help but gulp, because right now you can tell she is barely containing her rage. She then asks, in a tone of forced calmness,

“Nightshade, where is your father?”

POV CHANGE: Bugze

Nightslayer’s Comment

Kichi’s Comment

After some time keeping your mental faculties running, you eventually sit back up and put a hoof to your head. The blood has dried, but the cut is still there and it’s tender. Not only that, but your right hoof throbs from where you activated the Bucking Bronco.

Bucking A, I got so used to a quicker healing factor I forgot how much lingering pain hurts, you think, groaning aloud

“Bugze, are you alright now?” asks Cadence worried.

“Not really, but I can stand,” you groan back as you get on unsteady hooves still incased in metal.

“That’s a relief,” Twilight says. “Now, let’s try this again, only this time listen to my instructions first.”

“Yeah, yeah,” you nod.

She then goes on a tangent about angling your at an angle whilst holding onto the couch with your other limbs, which should allow you to slide it with you towards the throne.

You follow her instructions, and with a gulp, you hold your hoof at an angle and brace for the coming bone rattling.

“Would You Kindly Bucking Bronco?!” you call out. Despite being braced, your hoof still smarts with immense pressure, and you swear you hear something crack, but sure enough the momentum carries you, and the couch towards the throne, stopping right at the edge of it.

“Yes! It worked!” Cadence cheers.

“I told you it would,” Twilight says pridefully.

“Yay~” you snarkily cheer, taking a moment to rest on the couch and cradle your damaged hoof.

“Alright, you should be able to reach your bags now if you just reach,” Twilight explains. Nodding, you get up, favoring your good hooves and see your Inventory hanging at the top of the ornate throne.

Looking at your chains and back up at it, you realize that it’s gonna be a bit of a stretch to reach it. Getting up on your hind legs you reach for and stretch as much as you can for the bag of wonders, and you’re only inches away.

“Come on…just a bit more…” you grunt, straining your limbs against the chains.

“Oh shoot, it’s just out of reach,” Twilight sighs.

“Maybe he could break a piece of furniture and then-“

*POP*

“Sweet Mother of Buck!” you shout in agony as your shoulder dislocates. Twilight and Cadence wince at the sound it makes, but it works. Thanks to the freed joint, you are able to grab your inventory with your other hoof. You fall back onto the couch, your inventory in your lap as you whimper and hold your loose foreleg.

“Oh by the gods this sucks,” you moan before digging into the inventory and pulling out one of your healing potions.

“Wait Bugze, what is that?!” Twilight asks suddenly.

“It’s a healing potion, and I really bucking need it!” you say peeved off.

“Don’t take it yet! You need to put your shoulder back into place first!” she implores just as you were about to take a swig.

“Oh for crying out loud!” you snarl as you scramble up onto the couch towards the throne again.

“Just hold it steady and then slam it against the armrest,” Cadence instructs.

“Already on it!” you retort. And after psyching yourself up a bit, you slam your foreleg and shoulder against the throne while pushing it back into place.

*POP*

“Buck Me!” you cry out again as even fixing it hurts like a motherbucker.

“Is it back in pla-“

“Yes!” you cry out, and immediately down the health potion, which tastes like cherry kool aid surprisingly enough.


REMOVED FROM THE INVENTORY

1 Health Potion

Almost immediately, the dull throbbing pain from your head, neck, hoof and shoulder becomes nothing more than pins and needles as if they’ve fallen asleep. After awhile, even that sensation goes away, but what surprises you more is that your chest feels tight again for a bit before your breathing becomes easier.

“Whoa, okay…okay, I think I’m…I think I’m good,” you pant as you toss the empty bottle away.

“Alright good, now quickly, what do you have to get out of the chains?” Cadence urges.

“Hang on, let me check,” you say as you immediately open your bag and start digging around.

Good thing only me and anyone else I allow can get in here, you think, glad that none of your stuff has been stolen. You find exactly what you’re looking for pretty quickly.

“Ah, there you are,” you say triumphantly as you pull out the Jet Stream Sam Sword. It’s a bit difficult to hang onto since your hooves are still incased.

“Careful with that sword Bugze, trying to cut off hoof casings might end up hurting you more,” Twilight instruct.

“I’m just gonna worry about the chains for now,” you agree as you place the blade over one of the chains and whisper the pass phrase to unsheathe it. The high frequency blade hums as you gingerly slide it out and place it against the chain, but despite your gentleness, it cuts right through it and into the couch itself.

“Yes!” Cadence cheers and you actually smile for the small win. You then quickly, yet carefully cut through the rest of the chains, but you hesitate in cutting off the hoof casings. You still can’t wield the thing effectively, and you know beyond a shadow of a doubt that one wrong move will leave you missing a hoof.

“I’m gonna hold off on these until someone else can get them off,” you tell the princesses above you. “Preferably one of you.”

“What are you talking about? You have to get out of here immediately!” Cadence orders causing your eyes to widen in shock.

“What?!” you exclaim. “I’m not gonna leave here without you guys.

“You have to Bugze, Twilight and I still can’t use our magic, and we kind of stick out,” she says sadly.

“Not to mention we can’t just leave the others while saving ourselves,” Twilight explains. “They’re still weakened and even if we woke them up they’d be in no condition to move.”

“Bu-Wha-I…” you stutter at a loss for words. “But that’s what I would be doing. Leaving you to save myself. That’s…wrong.”

“Bugze, you’re the only one who knows where the rest of your group is. Reunite with them and then you can try to pull some heroics,” Cadence says, still with sad eyes. “It’s the only chance we have.”

“I…I could cut you all down and stuff you in the inventory or-“

“You can’t reach us, not without magic or being able to fly,” Twilight says with a sigh. “And we still don’t know when Chrysalis is coming back. Please listen to us Bugze, you have to go.”

You know what they say is logically sound, but you still feel like a dirt bag for not finding fault with it.

“Ugh, Okay! But I will come back for you all! I promise!” you say desperately, and they both give solemn nods.

Gor-bucking-rammit! You mentally curse as you stow away the sword. You then look all around you and realize that the only ways out are the chamber doors and the ice covered balcony. Okay I’m not particularly suicidal, so front door it is. But what if Pharynx or others are out there?

You hesitate for a moment, before reaching into the Inventory and pull out one of the transformation potions. You hadn’t used them earlier when sneaking about because the times before when you utilized the, you had looked like a pony.

Maybe I can look like another changeling? You think before shrugging. Only one way to find out.

You then down the potion, thinking the whole time that you want to look like a different changeling.


REMOVED FROM THE INVENTORY

1 Transformation Potion

Since it is more of an illusion rather than your own body transforming, you don’t exactly feel any different after drinking the potion, but from Cadence’s and Twilight’s shocked gasps, you realize it’s worked.

“What in the-I thought you couldn’t transform?” Twilight accuses.

“I can’t, this is all alchemical,” you tell her.

“Well, it fits, though you should probably take a higher pitch when talking,” Cadence suggests.

“Huh? Why? What do I look like?” you ask as you go over to a nearby wall mirror, and pause by what you see. There is a female changeling with a red mane staring back at you. “Okay…didn’t expect that…is it weird that I think I look hot?”

Twilight and Cadence give you weird looks at that, but you can’t help it, the changeling in the mirror is a solid 11/10, even if she does still have your normal voice.

I just hope Grandbuggy doesn’t try to flirt with me before I can tell everyone who I am, you think with a shudder. You then quickly cover your encased hooves with the Smokey Joe bandana and the orange bandana from your western wear.

“Alright,” you say practicing a higher pitched voice. “I’m just a food drone that burnt her hooves on a stove…yeah.”

You then make your way towards the door, turning one last time to look at Twilight and Cadence. They nod at you, and silently gesture for you to leave before it’s too late.

“I’ll be back,” you promise. And with that you open the door and slip outside.

Fortunately, no guards are outside the door so you breathe a sigh of relief.

Okay, so if Pharynx chased after the kids to the left, then the right path is the safest bet, you theorize and immediately start heading down that pathway. I just gotta keep my head down, not talk to anyling and make my way to the Flugelhorn room and-

“Ah!” you yelp as you turn the corner and nearly run into Chrysalis carrying a tray of cookies.

“Ack!” she shrieks in surprise at your surprise.

Oh come the buck on! You mentally shout as you try to compose yourself.

“Watch where you are walking drone!” she snarls and you stiffen.

“S-“ you start to say before coughing and adopting the higher pitched tone. “Sorry my Queen, I was…looking for disobedient younglings.”

“Hmmph, very well then,” she huffs. “Still you should keep better focus. If you had spilt any of these cookies I made for my beloved, I would have peeled the chitin from your hooves!”

Gulping you nod.

“Yes my queen, it won’t happen again,” you say, the fear in your tone completely genuine.

“Good,” she nods before she starts looking over you inquisitively. “I don’t recall your designation drone.”

“Oh, um I’m…Carissa, I usually work the kitchens, which is where I got these burns,” you say holding up your bandana covered hooves.

“Ah, I see, I see,” she nods sounding understanding. “Well in that case, I only have one other question for you Carissa.”

“Yes my queen?” you ask nervously and she leans her face down towards you.

“Did you really think that was going to work $%#&@?” she asks with an unhinged grin. Your eyes widen and you attempt to reach into your Inventory, but she encases you fully in her magic, lifting you off the ground.

“Ah, ah, ah, none of that my dear,” she tuts and takes the Inventory off of you.

“Son of a Buck!” you curse, not even trying to hide your true voice. “How did you know?!”

“Oh my dear, sweet love bug, you might have fooled me had you not gotten so close, but I know your scenet better than anyling…” she insinuates and the color drains from your face.

What. The. Buck? Ew! you think in horror as she giggles.

“Now, as pretty as you are as a female, I prefer the real you,” she says as her horn glows brighter and a tickling sensation spreads over your body. You don’t even have to look to know that your disguise is gone.

Why can’t anything go right for me today?! You think in frustration.

“There we go, now let’s get back inside our throne room shall we?” she asks “sweetly.”

“Umm, before we do, you think I can go to the bathroom first?” you all but plead, hoping to get out of this.

“Yeah, no,” she answers simply as she starts walking with you in her magical grip.

“Pretty please?” you beg.

“Nope.”

“Pretty please with a cherry on top?”

“Silly, we don’t need cherries, we have delicious cookies after all, I baked them myself,” she laughs and you slump in her grip.

“…I hate everything right now,” you moan as you are brought back into the throne room. Your grand escape only lasting a minute.

If only I hadn’t spent so long checking out my female disguise! You think regretfully.

Down With Chrysalis’s Comment

Ponygamer12’s Comment

Cadence and Twilight sure are surprised to see you back so soon, and the minute they see you in her grip, a bit of their hopes and dreams dies.

Chrysalis views the broken chains and the couch wedged against the throne and she clicks her tongue.

“Tsk, tsk, tsk. You sure are being naughty love, and not in a good way,” she lightly chides.

“Can you really blame me?” you sigh in depression.

“Yes I could, but I’ll overlook it for now,” she says before holding up the Inventory. “I wish I could get in here for whatever goodies you used to escape, but we’ll just keep this out of reach for now.”

And with that she throws the Inventory up onto the ceiling into an unoccupied section of goop where it dangles once more, out of reach.

“Now then, since you’re too good for chains, let’s use something a little more pleasant,” she coos and walks you over to the throne where she sets you down. Before you have a chance to move…she starts gooping your back legs to the throne.

“Oh what the-Ew, Ew, EW! Stop it!” you shout in disgust. You’d seen many of your compatriots do this many a time, but you’d never been on the receiving end of it. It is very, VERY unpleasant.

“Hush now dear, what better way to keep you to myself than by using my own fluids?” she shushes as she finishes.

“Oh gods, don’t say it like that!” you bellow and try to squirm, but it is useless.

The goop almost immediately solidifies, and you feel as though you are restrained by drying concrete.

“There now, isn’t that better?” she asks as she sits down beside you in the large chair, putting her foreleg around your shoulder.

“No…” you whimper and look away from her, but she continues press closer to you.

“Oh don’t say that, this is how we’ll station ourselves once everything is ours,” she says wistfully. “Just you, me, and every insignificant creature brought before us to grovel.”

“I don’t want that. Noling sane would want that,” you say in defiance. “Please Chrysalis, please just stop this.”

She frowns a bit at that, before smirking again.

“You’re just being grumpy because you’re hungry,” she chuckles and levitates the tray of cookies before you. “Why don’t we fix that?”

“I’m not hungry,” you grunt and try to turn your head, but she twists it back to face her.

“I insist,” she says with that mad grin of hers. She then opens up your jaw with her magic, despite your resistance, and she shoves one of the cookies in.

“Mmf!” you protest, but she shuts your jaw, preventing you from spitting it out.

“I’m so glad you get to try my home cooking. Bon Appetite,” she says staring at you expectantly.

Despite your defiance, the cookie starts to get mushy in your mouth, so you give in and start chewing it. Much to your surprise, it doesn’t taste bad at all.

“Well? Delicious isn’t it?” she asks excitedly.

“Actually yeah, it’s pretty good,” you nod truthfully as you continue chewing. The chocolate chips, the not too firm yet not too soft texture of the cookie, and some other taste that you can’t quite identify. You swallow the food and she starts breathing heavily.

“See?! I told you you’d enjoy it!” she pants and holds the tray up. “Have another!”

“Okay, okay, just don’t force feed me,” you placate as you take a cookie from the tray and pop it into your mouth. “You know, despite how horrible everything is, these got a good flavor. What’d you put in them?”

“Only just my secret ingredient. I made them with Love!” she smiles wildly.

“Um, every baker says that. What’s really in it?” you ask as you try and fail to identify that unique spice.

“I just told you, Love!” she says as she starts to pant rather heavily. “Each and every cookie has been infused with my LOVE NECTAR!”

“Love Nectar?” you ask confused. Having grown up in the hive, you know you would have heard of something like that. “What is that, some sort of honey?”

“Oh, you could say that,” she spews, her voice heavy and on the verge of mania.

“Oh Sweet Celestia! You Bucking Sicko!” Cadence shouts from above and you both look to her. “That is absolutely disgusting! Bugze spit that out!”

“Quiet Wench!” Chrysalis snarls, but you do stop chewing confused.

“Why Cadence? What is this nectar she’s talking about?” asks Twilight just as oblivious as you are. The Princess of love squirms and scrunches her face up in embarrassment.

“It’s, um…it’s slang,” she says.

“For what?” you ask and your friend looks even more uncomfortable.

“…Okay, when a mare gets…aroused,” she starts looking very disturbed. “She, um…there’s certain areas on her that…moist.

She says that last word looking like she’d die from embarrassment. After a few moments, Twilight gasps and looks at Chrysalis disgusted. It takes only a few more turns of the hamster wheel in your brain to reach those same conclusions moments later. And when you do, you really wish you hadn’t.

“Oh My-Blagh!” you shout as you spit the wad of chewed up food out and start retching.

Why?! For Buck’s Sake, Why?! I Need A Toothbrush!

Chrysalis of course, does not take kindly to that.

“There is nothing wrong, love is quite nutritional for us changelings. Eat some more!”

“NO! I’m never eating again!” you gag. She starts to shake a bit at that, even though the smile doesn’t leave her face. She then looks back at Cadence with murderous eyes.

“Quit ruining the mood slut!” she shouts and throws the plate of cookies at Cadence. Since she can’t dodge, they all hit her.

“Ew, ew!” she squirms before looking back at the changeling queen. “You have no right calling me that!”

“Oh please, I’ve only ever been devoted to my one true love,” she retorts as she grips you closer, even as you use the bandanas to scrub at your tongue.

“Chrysalis I’m not your one true love! True Loves don’t put…THAT in each other’s cookies!” you shout.

“True, but I at least wanted you to have a preview of what you can taste later from the source,” she says with heavily lidded eyes as she starts caressing your inner thighs again.

“Stop that!” you cry out, not appreciating the harassment, but she does not listen and you try and fail to squirm out of the goop. "I said get your filthy hooves off me ya mad nutjob!"

“Oh, you and your funny way with words,” she chuckles in a twisted manner, ignoring your shouts. “I do adore the way you talk dirty.”

The tainted love coming off of her is nauseating and poisonous, even to you who can only sense emotions and not eat them. That combined with what she just made you ate causes you to puke over the side of the throne.

“Quit trying to spread your sickness to him!” Cadence shouts as you continue to pant.

"Quiet you insolent tart! Our love is truer than yours is with your pathetic husband, you should be honored to bear witness to it!" Cadence shouts in defiance.

"Your 'love' is appalling and goes against everything I stand for! Its tainted and just...wrong!" Cadence growls, gagging a bit herself since she’s able to sense the poisoned love. Her tone then becomes more pleading as she looks the queen in the eye in desperation. "Chrysalis, please, end this madness before it’s too late. You-you need help!"

In response to her words Chrysalis growls almost like a rabid animal as she leaves your side and flies up to the captured princess and slaps her across the face.

“Hey!” you shout angrily.

“Cadence!” Twilight shouts in worry as the changeling queen gets in the Princess of Love’s face.

"Watch your mouth you whorse! My love is pure, and not some sort of disgusting mess as you claim it to be! If I didn't need you for the ceremony I would have starved you like I did all those years ago, remember your place!"

Cadence glares defiantly at the psycho, working her jaw back and forth while you seethe over your friend getting struck. Amidst these high emotions, Twilight whispers out,

"What ceremony?"

At her words Chrysalis’s face quickly shifts to one of sickening glee as she flies back to your side and once again starts groping you, despite your objections.

"Why I'm glad you asked Twilight Sparkle! I do so enjoy explaining to lesser beings the glory that is changeling culture!" she says haughtily. “For you see, for a Queen to take on a royal consort, or in this situation a king, we must be wed before an official of love and knowledge.”

“I’m not going to marry y-“

“Sadly however, my advisor of knowledge lost his usefulness during our imprisonment and had to be let go, and as for my advisor of love…” her tone gains a dangerous edge and she grips you tight enough to hurt. “That traitorous tramp left with the other deserters when my darling broke the Hive Mind…but who needs her?! I’ve gained a truer appreciation for love with her gone and know it’s many depths.”

“Tainted Love is not a depth! It’s a taboo!” you try to complain, but she keeps going.

“I know my heart sang for you the day of the dance,” she says with a faraway look in her eyes.

“What?! You dumped paint on me and made me a laughing stock you-“

“I’d been led astray by those I thought were my friends, and they coerced me into their plan,” she says dramatically.

“Oh come on, that’s not how it went down, and you know it!” you argue.

“I was helpless to stop them and I tried to warn you-“

“No you didn’t!”

“But it was too late. I wish I had stopped them, then we wouldn’t have had to wait so long to be together.”

“Yeah, I wish you hadn’t dropped that paint on me either, but you did! It’s too late to try and salvage anything from that Chrysalis!” you say truthfully.

“But after all these years, I now know the depths of true love, and I can now properly explore these feelings with you my love bug!" she announces before grabbing the sides of your face and forcibly connecting your muzzle with hers.

“MMMM!!!” you shout becomes muffled as her tongue snakes it’s way into your mouth, and Cadence and Twilight gasp in shock.

Now, you’ve been pulled into quite a hoofful of surprise kisses over the years, and despite how strange and unique the situations were, they weren’t altogether unpleasant. This however, you take no enjoyment from. Her poisoned love is worse than acid, her tongue is like a snake and all you want to do is breathe fresh air again. Eventually, after what feels like an eternity but was really only a few seconds, the queen releases your lips from hers.

“Ah, finally, after so long,” she says breathlessly as she licks her lips. “It was all worth it.”

You hear Cadence and Twilight choking back disgust by what she’s just done, but you…a rage fills your heart as your breath quickens.

“Was it as good for you as it was for me?” she purrs.

You, in response, spit in her face which causes her face to freeze and for Cadence and Twilight to gasp again.

"I've tasted mud that was better than that you psycho!" you growl, letting your rage and disgust flow through you so that there’s no doubt she won’t sense your feelings.

She does not move after that for what a long couple of moments with no emotion betraying her thoughts. Her eyes don’t even appear to truly see you despite being the only thing she could possibly see.

Did…did I break her? You wonder, and just as you do, she begins to twitch.

“Heh…heh heh…heh heh heh heh Ha Ha Ha HA HA HAAA HAAA HAAAAA HAHAHAHAHA!!! She begins to lightly chuckle, before full on laughing in an unhinged manner right to your face. You share an uncomfortable glance with the trapped princess above you as Chrysalis's laughter comes to an end just as abruptly as it started.

“Oh my dear, dear #$%&@,” she says gently, stroking your cheek once more, the snapped look in her eye now tenfold. "Spitting on your queen is a rather unsightly thing to do in front of an audience after all, not to mention mocking my kiss. Tsk tsk, now that just won't do my precious."

“Well tough luck, because that’s all you’ll ever get out of me. I. Don’t. Love. You!” you say harshly, but she doesn’t appear to hear your words. Her hoof falls from your face and trails downward, stopping at your scar from the Other World, the exact spot Mira's sword pierced your flesh all those years ago.

"Oh my…I do believe that with such unneeded conduct," her hoof pulls back from your chest, "Requires the proper punishment."

And suddenly she thrusts her hoof back at your scar, with some sort of unnatural strength allowing her to dig into your flesh where the sword had once done so.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!" Your blood curdling scream echoes throughout the chamber, drowning out the cries of concern and shock from the captured princesses above you. Chrysalis meanwhile just stares at you blankly, seemingly waiting for you to finish screaming like it was some trivial action.

Eventually no more air can escape your lungs and all falls silent, aside from your shocked whimpers and the squishing sounds of your blood seeping around her still embedded hoof.

"Now my sweet, apologize to your queen and all that pain will go away," she orders.

“Gah, gah, gah, ack, hrk, y-you-you-you!” you gasp in shock as you try and fail to pull her hoof out of you.

In response she sighs before twisting her hoof digging into your wound further.

“GGGYYAAAAGGGHHH!!!” you cry out in misery as more blue blood flows.

“STOP IT!” Cadence and Twilight shriek, but she ignores them.

"Now don't make me do this love, you think I like hurting you like this?" The mad queen somberly says, tears seeping from her eyes as she speaks. "I hate hurting you like this, but you’re making me do this. Please, please just apologize so I don't have to hurt you anymore. Your pain is nothing compared to the pain I feel when I do this to you!"

“I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I!!!” you stammer out, shock and panic overwhelming you. This only causes more tears to flow from her. She lights up her horn, and the glow surrounds all of the cocoons aside from Cadence, Twilight, Celestia and Luna.

“Please apologize. I’d hate to lose such valuable trophies, but I’ll have to dispose of them one after another to punish you,” she all but pleads. The look in her eye seems desperate, but you know she is one hundred percent serious.

“I-I-I’m-I’m-I’m-“ you try to find your words, but the hammering tightness of your heartbeat coupled with the adrenaline and panic aren’t helping. She purses her lip at this.

“If you don’t, you’ll have to choose who goes. Should I start with the quiet animal freak, the annoying speedster, or the simple hillbilly?”

“None! None of them!” you gasp out through your own tears, still gripping at her hoof. “I’m sorry alright?! I’m sorry! I won’t do it again!”

"Now, was that so hard my love bug?" Chrysalis gently says, with a smile that would have appeared angelic if it wasn't on her face. She then removes her hoof from your wound, and the blood starts leaking out uncorked.

“Hagh,” you gasp and your breathing quickens, but she makes a roll of bandages appear in her magic, and she starts haphazardly wrapping them around you.

“My love is tough but fair my darling, but now we can move on from that unpleasantness,” she says protectively, holding your head against her chest.

“You are too far gone Chrysalis,” Twilight says with pity. “You are nothing but a monster now.”

Chrysalis shuts her eyes at that and sighs before looking up at the purple princess.

“A monster would not help tend and care for the male she loves,” she argues back.

“You are the one who injured him!” Cadence growls.

“These wounds are nothing, he will heal,” she hoofwaves, but even as she says that you can’t help but feel weak as the bloodstained bandages staunch the flow. Your breath is shallow and the dull ache in your chest returns, not to mention your reopened scar. “And in the end, all he needs is my love to heal.”

“No, what he needs is proper medical care!” Twilight argues.

“Oh, you doubt my claims? Fine, bear witness! In fact, let everyling bear witness!” she exclaims as her horn lights up again. At first you think she is going to start blasting like she threatened earlier, but instead, she removes the goo from around the heads of every other cocooned individual in the room. They all start to groan, and a few of them begin to blink their eyes blearily.

“All of you, all of my esteemed trophies, you will see now that love will solve everything! My dear sweet %$#@& will be healed with our love making!” she says to the barely awake ponies who still seem to be in a drunken stupor.

“You’re going to what?!” Cadence asks horrified and Chrysalis smirks at her.

“You heard me,” she says confidently as she props you against the throne and leans over you. “You all heard me.”

“S-Selena…” you breathe out sadly. “Nightshade…”

“Now I thought we weren’t going to talk about them anymore?” she says with a pout as her hoof nears your chest again and you whimper. “Put them out of thought and mind they will both become irrelevant once the cold finally drives them to me. And when they are both gone, there won’t be any more distractions for your love…”

“B-b-bu-bu-but…” you whimper and she shushes you again.

“Don’t think about that whorse or that thing you call your daughter, all you need is me, and the child we’re about to create.”

“Wha…?” you sputter, too drained of resistance for anything more.

“You will provide me the Hive’s Heir, a strong and pure child that will lead the Hive into a new age of triumph,” she says as she brings her face closer to yours again. Once more her lips press firmly against yours, and there’s nothing you can do. Your eyes look pleadingly up to the others. Even in their dazedness, each of them look on in horror, disgust, anger, and fear, but most of all, they look at you with pity, for there is nothing that they can do either.

Chrysalis breaks the kiss briefly and straddles you as you lie helplessly.

“Please, don’t…” you beg but she only smiles more at that.

“Just let it happen. Just give in and let everything else go but me. We will be together forever…” she says breathlessly as she holds you in place “And together, we will all live happily ever after…”

And with that she captures your mouth with hers again, as she begins to caress you in other places…and you’re not powerful enough to stop it.

Please, someling…save me… you think in anguish as you close your eyes shut.

*KRAKOOM*

A deafening explosion rings out as the chamber doors come flying off their hinges, shattering into splinters as they strike the walls and floor.

“What in the Tartarus?!” Chrysalis exclaims, freeing your mouth and allowing you to breathe. Both you and her focus your attention on a cloud of dust where the doors used to be, and as it fades a dark figure makes it’s way out of it.

Her hoof falls are heavy and meaningful, her eyes are filled with fury, her mane and tail whip about in an unseen storm, and her horn shines alight with brilliant purplish blue magic.

“GET AWAY FROM HIM YOU BITCH!!!” Selena roars, every ounce of her hatred and malice being directed at the Changeling Queen.

“Selena!” you cry out in glee as all those on the ceiling look on with dropped jaws.

“Impossible!” Chrysalis yelps in startled confusion. “Your magic should not be accessible or-GRAGH!“

The insane queen is interrupted as a powerful beam of magic flies forth from Selena and strikes her right in the chest, blasting her off of you and into a wall.

“Do I Look Like I Give A Buck About What’s Impossible Or Not?!” Selena snarls before looking to you with worry. “Bugze!”

The dark alicorn mare leaps over to you with a flap of her wings, with a flash of her horn, you are freed from the goop attaching you to the throne.

“Oh my gods, Bugze,” she says fretfully as she bends down and cradles your head, looking at your blood stained bandages. “What did she do to you?”

You don’t immediately answer her as you are still in shock, but when you do speak, the only thing you can gasp out is,

“Selena you’re awake!”

That actually gets her to smirk amidst her worry and she chuckles.

“Yes, yes I am,” she says happily as she lights up her horn, and the casings around your hooves shatter into pieces harmlessly around you.

"You…you came back for me…” you say touched as you wipe away some tears.

“Of course I did my bug. How could I not?” she says tenderly as she grips your hoof with hers. “Can you stand?”

“Y-yeah, I think so,” you nod and she helps you to your hoofs, pulling you up with hers. Once you are both standing again you are able to truly look into her dazzling draconic eyes, but you don’t know what to say. That sense of realness from when you hugged her sleeping form earlier is increased tenfold, especially since neither of you have let go of each other’s hooves.

She herself seems a little lost for words, but you can tell what she’s thinking. Her eyes look at you with relief and joy. Where just moments earlier your heart was hammering in fear, now it’s pumping fast for a different reason.

“Thank you Selly…I…I…” you stammer, not being able to express just how grateful you are to her in this moment, especially when she gives you that small, genuine smile and squeezes your hoof a little tighter.

“Anytime my bug, anytime,” she says truthfully. “I will always-“

“Oh you little whorse!” Chrysalis growls as she extracts herself from the wall, breaking the moment. “I Will End You!”

A look of annoyance crosses over Selena’s face, before the righteous fury returns. She lets go of your hoof and pushes you behind her as she gets into a defensive stance, protecting you.

“You can try you miserable slut,” Selena challenges. “But that’s not how it’s going to go down. You Will Not Touch My Male Ever Again!!!”

Somehow, Chrysalis’s eyes fill with even more hatred and she clenches her teeth so hard you swear you hear them crack.

YOUR MALE?!!!” she accuses as green magical energy begins to flow around her.

“Yes…” Selena answers simply, giving you a quick side glance and a wink. “MINE!

And while your jaw drops and your heart skips a beat, the Mare in the Moon sends a blast of magic at Chrysalis, who blocks it with her own. But before the changeling queen can retaliate, Selena flies forward spear tackling the loon over the balcony and into the swirling snow beyond.

“Selena!” you cry out in alarm as you hear their shouts and blasts of magic continue.

“Focus up Daddy, Mommy can handle herself,” your daughter’s voice says from behind you.

“Nightshade?!” you whip around in surprise. “How did you…?”

You trail off as you see your daughter flanked by…The Elements of Harmony.

“Wha-Huh?” you stammer as you look between them and the ones on the ceiling before your mind jumps to the obvious conclusion. “Nightshade! There are changelings behind you! You-“

“They’re not changelings Bugze,” a familiar voice reassures. Stepping out of the midst of the 6 mares, is an orange furred, red and yellow maned alicorn mare.

“Sunset?!” you and Twilight all exclaim at once.

“Apparently,” Nightshade says somewhat dismissively with a roll of her eyes. “But we’ll catch up later. Get your pony counterparts down ladies and let’s get moving! And careful, they’re kind of drunk.”

“Hang on, I’m still trying to get used to wings,” the other rainbow complains.

“Which I thought I was getting, but I’m just a unicorn…and how come my counterpart doesn’t need glasses?” Human Twilight complains.

And while the humans turned ponies struggle to move in their new bodies, you look to your daughter questioningly.

“Nightshade, how did you-“

“A very long and annoying trip,” she answers as she lights up her horn and brings your Inventory to you. “I’ll explain later, we gotta meet up with Grandbuggy the other you, Luna and Sombra and Hope’s friends. They went to get the Sirens and the rest of our friends.”

“They came too?” you say in surprise.

“Yup!” she nods as she takes a healing potion out of your bag. “And because we traveled from another dimension-or a million-the magic dampener isn't affecting us.”

“Wait, how did that happen? Did Sunset really get it open in only three days and-Ulp!” your daughter interupts you as she pops the healing potion in your mouth.


REMOVED FROM THE INVENTORY

1 Health Potion

Just like earlier, the aches and pains turn to dull tingling, before melting away, and you breathe a little easier.

“Oh yeah, that hit the spot,” you say in relief.

“Good, and to answer your question, I got Flim and Flam to open it with Twilight’s machine thingy because I didn’t want to wait around,” she say proudly.

“Wow, uh, good job honey,” you say a bit confused before you hear the sound of a magic blast outside and an explosion. “Alright, never mind that, your mother is-“

“Daddy,” Nightshade says putting a calming hoof on yours. “As much as I’d like to help punch Queen Chrysalis in the nose, Mommy is very, VERY pissed right now. The only time she paused when coming back to this reality was to give me a quick hug in our real bodies before she went rampaging through the palace. I think we should just leave her to it for now.”

You then hear another explosion, followed by a cry of pain from Chrysalis and a triumphant laugh from Selena.

“…Good point,” you relent.

“Right, so quick hug,” she says before giving you just that, “Now I’m gonna go let Spike down, but be ready to run. I’m sure the changelings are gonna notice this.”

“Yeah, something tells me they might,” you agree. And as she flies up to the dazed and confused purple dragon, you immediately go to help the humans turned ponies in getting down the mostly groggy pony versions. Even as you do though, you still can’t help but feel worried for YOUR mare…and a little excited.

“Buck her up Selly.”

POV CHANGE: Selena

You laugh merrily as Chrysalis wipes a bit of green blood from her lip. It’s been so long since you’ve truly flown, since you’ve truly felt the wind under your wings, and since you’ve been able to use magic.

You have many wants and desires now that you’ve got a new body, but unfortunately you can’t engage in any of them until you break this ugly bitch’s face something fierce.

“Stop laughing you whorse!” she roars out as she sends a blast of magic your way, and you only barely dodge it as it slams into the palace. You do stop laughing though, but your eyes glare right into her soul.

She is the reason Bugze was so miserable in the past, she is the one who killed him for showing mercy, and she has the gall to try and take him back! But most of all, she is the reason why you are currently playing pest exterminator instead of holding Bugze like you’ve wished to do for the last two years.

“I warned you last year Chrysalis! I warned you to stay away from Bugze,” you growl as you block a blast of magic with your own. “I told you that if you ever hurt him again, I would pay you back a hundredfold!”

“Maybe you did, but I didn’t listen!” Chrysalis yells in defiance as she flies forward and attempts to bite you, but you catch her jaws with your hooves before kicking her in the gut. “OOF!”

With the wind knocked out of her, you put her in a headlock and put your mouth next to her ear.

“You should have. Let’s start counting shall we?” And with that, you flap your wings pushing you both through the blizzard toward the ground.

She growls and flails, but you do not let go till the last moment as you kick her downward and pull yourself out of the dive. Chrysalis goes through the roof of an empty dwelling before impacting the ground in a nice little crater.

“That’s 1!” you quip as you flutter and hover for a moment before you quit flapping your wings and fall through the hole and onto the splayed changeling’s stomach, knocking even more wind out of her.

“Gack!” she coughs.

“That’s 2!” you say vindictively before picking her up in your magic and slamming her against the ground a few times before punching her in the face with your bare hooves. “That’s 3, 4, 5, 6, 7!”

“GRAGH!” she roars as she blocks one of your punches and headbutts you right in the nose. You stumble back a bit holding your struck sensory appendage. She looks back at you with crazed eyes filled with nothing but hatred before she sends out a magic wave which knocks you through the front door and out on to the street. Shaking your head, you stand back up in the snow and look to the crazed changeling as she pants like a beast.

A few changeling drones see the commotion and look unsure between their queen and you.

“Noling interfere! Your Queen Will Handle This Parasite Personally!” she decrees to her subjects who back off.

“Good, I didn’t want this to be too easy,” you insult as you ready yourself and challenge her. “Come count with me!”

Screeching like a banshee Chrysalis flies through the open doorway towards you.

This fight has been coming for a long time.

WHAT DO YOU DO?

Author's Note:

CAT FIGHT!!!

Hey Hive-Mind,

Finally, the fight you’ve all been waiting for (or at least I have). Selena vs. Chrysalis, New Love vs. Old Love, Tsundere vs Yandere.

In the wise words of Dr. Serizawa

So have fun allowing Selena to test out her new body and give that crazy sack of crazy Chrysalis a good walloping.

Of course, don’t forget that Bugze, Nightshade and the Humane 7 gotta carry their weakened counterparts off and meet back up with Grandbuggy and the Wanted who are freeing the Dazzlings and other friends.

And of course, Ol’ Sombra’s still gotta open that door :pinkiecrazy:

Have fun everyone, and I’ll see you all next chapter.

Brown Dog.

SIEGE OF THE CRYSTAL EMPIRE COMIC ARC

BUGZE’S INVENTORY

Weapons

Jet Stream Sam Sword (Reversed High Frequency Blade)

Knock Out Luna Plushie

Ninja Stars (15)

Power Glove (Plasmid/Vigor Channel with Grappling Hook Attachment.

Second Law: (Air Shotgun)

Tazer

Hover Board: (Catches Fire For Like, No Reason)



Disguises (Human)

Awesome JoJo Outfit: Currently Wearing (Jotora’s Outfit from JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure)

Smokey Joe Outfit: (Rain Slicker, Smelly Do Rag with Weed symbols)



Disguises (Equine)

Baker Sylvester Tennant (Brown overcoat, Yell and black striped pants, White panama hat, face mask,)

Crimson Vengeance: (Alucard Hat, Immortan Joe Mask, Vash the Stampede Coat, red pants)

El Hunko (Fancy Clothes with purple top hat

Orange Bandana


Miscellaneous

Blueprints: CHS, Crystal Prep

Bounty Hunter License

Brown Money Pouch: (45 Bits, a Few Hundred Human Dollars)

Cell Phone

Free Filly Scout Cookies For Life Card

Gameboy (Human Equivalent of Joy Boy)

Grandbuggy and Granny Smith Photo

Grandbuggy with Your Mother Photo

Instant Mail Transfer Container: (Cadence Direct Line)

Multi-cable

Patching Supplies (Vice-Grips, Duct Tape, WD-40)

Pink Lover’s Jewell Necklace

Powers and Spells List

Sapphire Shores Signed Photo (Probably Worth a Lot)

Solar Powered Charger

Trixie’s Black and White Bear Plushie: (Never Forget)


Potion Stash

Healing Potion (4)

Molotov Cocktail (3)

Stink Bomb (3)

Transformation/Disguise Potion (3)



NIGHTSHADE’S INVENTORY


Weapons

Power Pole combined with Boomstick (Black Staff with Red Crystal. Causes shockwaves when slammed)

Miscellaneous

Assorted Movies, Videogames and Videogame Systems

Bugze’s Combined Persona Outfit:

4th Doctor’s Scarf, Deadpool Logo Shirt, El Hunko White and Purple Dress Pants, Nobody Cloak, Stetson

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