• Member Since 14th Feb, 2012
  • offline last seen 6 hours ago

horizon


Not a changeling.

T

Chrysalis has once again overrun Equestria — and this time, her victory is complete. She's captured all four princesses and the Elements of Harmony, and the clock is ticking on their death sentence. She'll show those pathetic ponies the true meaning of power.

So why can't she beat them in a simple game show?


Third place, "Keep Pretending" Writeoff! Expanded and edited for FIMFiction.

Story occurs during the Season 6 finale ("To Where And Back Again").

Chapters (1)
Comments ( 26 )

Story occurs during the Season 5 finale ("To Where And Back Again").

...Don't you mean the Season 6 finale? The Season 5 finale was about Glim Glam's time travel shenanigans. :twilightsheepish:

. . .

Sorry, it's just that the s5 finale is relevant to my own works so the inconsistency instantly threw me for a loop. :twilightblush:

Oh, nice! Luna saves the day, huzzah! :pinkiehappy:

This was my fave from that round, IIRC. Glad to see it here.

"Usurper" is certainly an interesting accusation. How did Chrysalis come to power?

In any case, I love the ambiguity here. I'm legitimately unsure whether this is Chrysalis's much-abused better judgement trying to warn her or the Mare in the Moon showing her how evil is really done.
... Okay, I am leaning towards Luna, because the idea of Chrysalis even subconsciously coming to this conclusion on her own is a bit much. Still, fantastic read. Thank you for it.

9594424
I love the idea of Luna being able to mess with Chrysalis, even while in a pod. Know any other good stories along that line?

Lol, nice.
But yeah, it is S6 finale not S5

This is the kind of thing that should be a crackfic, yet somehow it isn't?

9594699

This is the kind of thing that should be a crackfic, yet somehow it isn't?

Welcome to Horizonville, population: ascended crackfics played straight. :raritywink:

9594285 9594584
:facehoof: I even looked it up to double-check. And then I fat-fingered and typed the wrong number. Thanks for the catch.

9594298 9594330 9594340
Glad you enjoyed! :twilightsmile:

9594424
That was certainly the implication I was going for. Death of the Author and all that, but there's a reason she's in the character tags and cover art despite not having any speaking lines.

How did Chrysalis come to power?

For purposes of this story, "queen" is implied to be a political rather than biological title. Obviously people's headcanons are going to differ on that one, but at least I can point to Thorax becoming leader of his own rainbow hive and say the idea seems to be compatible with canon.

9594542
Good question! I can't think of any others off the top of my head, but I'm sure there are others. I'd love to know as well.

Her sentence trailed off into a strangled little cough as she felt the tingle of magic clench around her tongue. "Stars and clouds," Starlight shouted toward the ceiling, ...

..., "I find your lack of true villainy disturbing"

herp #13 · Apr 30th, 2019 · · 6 ·

Have a downvote. chrysalis wouldnt waste food.

for a minute I thought that the cover image was hinting too much. then I changed my mind, I think it's so much better this way. :raritywink:

9595992
I personally feel like a disagreement over what a character would or wouldn't do seems like a petty reason for downvoting -- but I know not every story is going to work for every reader, and I do appreciate you explaining your reasoning!

And yes, I feel like a smart leader would know better than to waste food. But then again, a smart leader would have just taken over Equestria via infiltration rather than a military campaign which terrifies the ponies they're trying to draw love from. (Isn't that a textbook case of wasting food? And it's canon.) And a smart leader wouldn't have tried to invade twice, after her victims were alerted to her existence and her army was broken.

9596202
I went back and forth on it. Honestly, I think the story works better from a complete cold start, but FIMFiction isn't set up that way; if I'm going to tease it, I'm going to at least subtly highlight the big theme I'm trying to draw out.

herp #16 · May 1st, 2019 · · 4 ·

>And yes, I feel like a smart leader would know better than to waste food. But then again, a smart leader would have just taken over Equestria via infiltration rather than a military campaign which terrifies the ponies they're trying to draw love from. (Isn't that a textbook case of wasting food? And it's canon.) And a smart leader wouldn't have tried to invade twice, after her victims were alerted to her existence and her army was broken.
Following your retarded logic, that chrysalis is not smart at all and is an incompetent buffoon, that would make twilight and the gang twice as stupid, since they fell for both of her ploys twice in a row. Celestia even lost in a contest of raw strength, and the only thing twilight did was play directly into chrysalis's plans to cause infighting inbetween the elements of harmony, and all princesses where kidnapped the second time, meaning every single pony failed to account both intellectually and physically for the problem they knew was at hoof for years!

Why I have the feeling Luna dreamception Chrysalis

Ooh, this was nice. Explain some of why Chrysalis does what she does (in addition to the basic "she's stupid," which it seems like she was in the middle of correcting), yet also give just enough to ask--just how serious are the dream-ponies?

Also, did you drop this in one of the most incredible Jeopardy! runs ever on purpose?

9606741
Thanks!

Wasn't aware of it, but I love how the timing worked out!

9598596 Actually, the writers of that episode were stupid and incompetent. They had to hand-wave how Chrysalis managed to capture everyone a second time by having it all take place offscreen and never have any shred of explanation... meaning they couldn't even come up with a half-assed rationale for it.

Remember, that's also the episode where ALL THE CHERNGELERNGS, save Chrysalis and Pharynx, suddenly decided to become happy Skittles Bugs despite being absolutely evil and showing ZERO TRACE OF HESITATION OR REMORSE right up until the last moment. That's some seriously D-grade kiddie show writing, right there.

You have too look beyond merely what's on screen and realize flawed people are writing this stuff. It makes perfect sense when you realize they just aren't that good at plot construction and characterization. Always keep in mind that characters are merely puppets, and their performance and behaviors are only as good as the ones writing and delivering their lines.

It's like 'Why is "The Room" so bad?" You don't ask questions of the fictional characters, instead you recognize it's because Tommy Wisseau is a crazy man with delusions of grandeur.

Eh, getting people to follow you is a 'sort' of power, but it generally only works on those who are very weak-willed and suggestible and/or are flat out wrong in all of their beliefs because they were never taught anything correct.

Absolute power is being able to reshape the laws of physics to your will.

THAT'S da shizzle I'm aiming for! :pinkiecrazy:

9739764
On the bright side, that's what makes deconstructing it such an interesting exercise.

9739930 It's like making a story where Luna deliberately sat back and watched Chryssi invade the first time because she realized that somehow it would all work out, cuz she thought back and was like, "Waiiiiit, how did I lose in the first place? I should have mopped the floor with Twi & Co! WHY DIDN'T I JUST SHOOT THEM?! Ok, clearly we're all being manipulated by some Omnipotent God Troll or something, otherwise I'd have been permitted to be really evil and murder them all. I'll test this by seeing what happens with these bug ponies. And if they actually manage to win, I'll snipe their Queen from the tower."

And then the Deus Ex Love Blast happened and Luna was like, "Well, puppets of a cruel god it is!"

And that's when Luna totally stopped caring. :trollestia:

9739764
>Actually, the writers of that episode were stupid and incompetent. They had to hand-wave how Chrysalis managed to capture everyone a second time by having it all take place offscreen and never have any shred of explanation... meaning they couldn't even come up with a half-assed rationale for it.
not an arguement. this kind of logic can be used to attack any part of the story equally.

9740953 You're right. It's not an argument. It's a fact.

:trollestia:

Login or register to comment