You stand alone in the throne room, the center of the hive. Your body remains rigid and tense, casting a long glance down a row of six newly formed chrysalides.
Closest to you, you see Pinkie Pie, struggling futilely against her bonds. To her left is Rarity. Every few moments a spark floats out of her horn, producing no effect. True, she may not have Twilight’s raw ability, but you watch her nonetheless. I’m not about to let the same escape method work twice.
Further down the line you see Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and Applejack, all straining with every ounce of strength they have. They can fight all they like, but they won’t last for much longer… not after I have my way.
Furthest from you, in the oldest of the set of cocoons, is none other than Princess Luna. She is unconscious, already broken, her heart already pouring its love into the hive. She won’t be interfering again.
You begin to march down the line, face expressionless, looking at each of our victims only in your peripheral vision. As you pass by Applejack, a loud thud resounds through the floor. You look in her direction, only to see her hooves pressed against the walls and her face contorted into a look betraying desperation and pleading.
“Dusk, you’ve gotta get us outta here! Fight it!” she says.
I let your gaze linger long enough to give her a sense of hope before you turn to continue your march. It’ll make breaking her down that much more satisfying.
“Don’t bother,” Rainbow Dash mutters from her prison. She fixes you with another glare, as if she were capable of no other emotions. “I knew she was trouble from the start. We should have-”
Fluttershy cuts Rainbow off with a loud sob, her eyes filled with tears. “This isn’t Dusk’s fault… she’s probably in there, and she can’t do anything…”
i
Oh no you don’t. Keep marching.
“Girls, you’re missing the point,” Rarity suddenly chimes in, voice labored after another attempt at using her magic. “You realize that we’re closer now than we’ve ever been to finding our dear Twilight.”
“That’s right,” adds Pinkie. “All we’ve gotta do is escape!”
Rainbow Dash snorts. “Good luck with that.”
Applejack growls in frustration. “Rainbow Dash, I have had it up to here with-”
“No,” Fluttershy says, her body curled into a ball, suspended in her cocoon. “Let her think what she wants… it’s not like it matters anymore…”
“Now hold on a minute!” Rainbow Dash argues. “All I did was-”
“When she found out,” Pinkie says, her struggling coming to an abrupt halt, “Dusk was the first one to even think of a rescue mission. She was going to go… all by herself. But Fluttershy and me insisted on coming along.”
You stop marching. Far be it from me to ignore a good show.
“I was thinking about it for a while after that, and I came up with something - maybe, just maybe, she knew that something like this could happen. But you know what? She still tried. She tried super hard. And with me and Fluttershy and you guys and Luna… maybe she could have had a chance.”
You get a good look at Rainbow Dash’s face - as expected, it’s the picture of shock and shame. Next to her, Fluttershy looks just about ready to collapse. You can’t buy this kind of entertainment.
Applejack smirks and drives a hoof into her cocoon, threatening to shatter it. “Well, who says she don’t got a chance now?” Her struggles start anew. “Let’s get outta here an’-”
“Ha. Cute.”
You take wing, attending to me immediately, and the five Bearers follow your retreating form towards the doorway, where I have decided to make my grand entrance. All exactly as planned.
See how much easier it is when you just listen? You know, instead of suffering mental breakdowns due to mistaken identity and concocting unworkable plans against insurmountable odds? Of course you do. That was a rhetorical question.
Applejack, in top form, is the first to cut to the heart of the matter. “Where’s Twilight? You bring her out here, or Ah swear-”
I begin a slow, measured approach towards the line of chrysalides. “Making demands and threatening me, all before I even welcome you to my realm? My, how uncouth.” I grimace. “Wouldn’t you agree, Lady Rarity?”
Rarity does not gratify that with a response.
“Well, then, if you must know… Twilight is here. Alive - in a manner of speaking.” I can already feel the love for their missing comrade in the air - it tastes absolutely divine. “She’s no ordinary pony, you know,” I begin, surveying the lot of them, monitoring their expressions as you march blankly at my side. “She never gave up on you. Even if she hasn’t seen you in… how long now… Dusk, would you be a dear and…”
“Nine months,” you reply automatically. “Not since the wedding of Cadance and Shining Armor… not since being left alone at the wedding rehearsal.”
I can watch their hearts sink from here. It’s almost as delicious as the love.
“Oh, is that right?” I ask airily. “I suppose it is - you’re the one with all Twilight’s memories locked up in that head of yours.” You stand stoic as I rap a hoof smartly against your forehead.
“T-Twilight…” Fluttershy breathes the name, and it comes out almost like a sob.
“Oh… well then… her very last memory is of all of you abandoning her, isn’t it?” I put a hoof to my lips in a brief show of theatrics. “Oh, how strong she must have been to still care for you, even after you all broke her heart…”
And down goes Fluttershy.
It’s nothing I haven’t seen before, in countless other victims. The slumped posture, the closed eyes, brimming with tears, the slightly open mouth, jaw slack… she’s given up; her spirit is broken. One down, four to go.
The others react vehemently to Fluttershy’s collapse. It’s the usual fare - cries of “no, please” and “you’ve gotta stay strong”… all things I’ve heard time and again, in every crop of victims, right before I- Well, that would spoil the surprise, wouldn’t it?
Go on, have another look at them.
They’re all on the verge of tears by now. Applejack’s staying strong, I anticipate that I’ll be dealing with her last. Pinkie, on the other hand…
“I suppose you’re all wondering what I’ve done with her, aren’t you?” Just like that, their curiosity is piqued. I begin to reel them in. “Well, after one messy escape attempt, I hit upon a revelation. Twilight Sparkle is quite possibly the most powerful unicorn I’ve ever met. Though that much was clear from the get go, in retrospect. How else would she have earned these?” I hook a hoof under one of your wings and bend it past its full extension, watching as Rainbow Dash cringes instinctively.
“All that magic, and all that love… it would be a shame to simply break her down and leave her to die, or turn her into a drone, like what I’m going to do with all of you- oh, did I let that slip?” Much to their credit, the remaining Bearers seem more interested in Twilight Sparkle’s fate than their own. That’s quality friendship if I ever saw it.
“It made more sense for me to keep her alive and sane - at least, sane enough to function on some level. A power source is no good if it’s dead, you see.” I smirk at the four identically enraged faces before continuing. “The normal methods wouldn’t work here. So I had to try something else. Care to take a guess?”
The four Bearers stare into my eyes, varying degrees of curiosity, outrage, fear, and disgust playing across their faces.
“I let somepony rescue her.” Their confusion quickly turns into shock and anger as the extent of my machinations becomes clear. I decide to reinforce the idea with a visual aid, taking the shape of the Lunar Princess once again.
“Whether it was the Royal Sisters, crashing through the hive and threatening to turn me into dust…” I say using Luna’s booming voice.
A quick change allows me to take on a different form - that of the Captain of the Guard. “...or, perhaps, her beloved brother, leading the Royal Army in an dramatic charge against overwhelming numbers…” My voice has the timbre of a seasoned veteran as I speak. “Or maybe…”
I grin, taking on the delicate, graceful curves of the yellow pegasus trapped in the container right next to them. They stare at me, transfixed with shock. “With the power of love and friendship, we were able to overcome every obstacle, weren’t we, girls?” I coo in her demure, dulcet tone, before breaking character and flashing them a sinister smile.
“You… you’d better fucking drop that disguise… right… now…” I glance at Rainbow Dash’s chrysalis, where she is straining to use her wings and grinding her teeth.
I shrug and return to my normal appearance. “The point is, I let her hope and dream. I let her smile.” I look directly at Pinkie Pie, whose breathing is getting heavier. “And then… I took it all away.”
A sound erupts from Pinkie’s gullet - a mixture of a sob and a pained yelp and a laugh all at once.
“And I did it… over… and over… and over again.”
Pinkie Pie deflates, figuratively and literally, if her limp hair is any indication. “I… girls… I can’t…” she mutters before slipping into unconsciousness amid cries of protest from her friends.
The three remaining Bearers look to each other, and then to me. Their eyes are steeled, as if they are ready to take on another assault to their psyches. But I’m hardly a one trick pony. This is about the right time to try a different tactic. You look at each of them in turn, singling out the one most likely to lose her nerve next… and I strike.
“I’m going to level with you. I hardly expected my plan to work as long as it did. Twilight really does think the world of you, after all. So loyal, and strong, and clever… surely somepony must have noticed anything off in my little double agent.” I turn to the white unicorn as her eyes widen in fear. “Somepony with a keen eye for detail, perhaps?”
Rarity is lost for words, eyes darting back and forth.
“Don’t listen to her, Rarity,” Rainbow Dash warns, but the unicorn isn’t inclined to listen in her current mental state.
“What was it she said again?” I press on. “Something about…”
“My friends might be a little short-sighted… but they’re not stupid. They’ll know she’s a fake!” you parrot.
“Yes, yes, that’s it exactly! She was so sure of herself, wasn’t she?”
“My friends will notice I’m gone, and they’ll come for me… and when they find me…”
“Goodness, it’s like listening to a recording. How interesting.” My eyes linger on Rarity, who has her hooves clasped over her ears, trying to block out the noise.
“You won’t get away with this!" you continue. "My friends will-”
“Stop!” Rarity cries in anguish. “Twilight… I can’t… I’m so sorry…” Her voice trails off into unintelligible muttering as she, too, loses the will to resist any further.
“Rarity!” Applejack bellows, trying to get through to the mare.
“Don’t give up! It’s not your fault!” Rainbow Dash says.
“Oh, don’t be silly, Rainbow Dash. Of course it’s not her fault.” I sidle up to Rainbow’s cell. She leans back, trying to put as much distance between us as possible. But between your emotionless gaze and my words, she has no choice but to listen. “It’s yours.”
“No! Land’s sakes, get out of her head, ya damned parasite!” Applejack yells, slamming her hooves against the rigid walls of her cocoon.
I envelop myself in the green fire of changeling magic and take on the shape of Rainbow Dash herself. She only has the time to look at me for a moment when I suddenly charge, picking you up bodily by the neck and throwing you against Rainbow's cocoon, pressing you into the translucent walls. The pegasus can only watch her own face twist into an angry grimace, one that you saw firsthoof several times over the course of days. You, for your part, play the helpless victim perfectly, flailing and gasping for air right on cue as if your life truly depended upon it.
“Where is she?” I roar in Rainbow Dash’s voice, so that she can hear. “What did you do to her?”
Faced with her own reflection, Rainbow Dash can’t do anything but cower. Her eyes flick over to Applejack, who seems unable to comprehend the scene herself.
“What… what have I…” Rainbow Dash mutters, her eyes wide.
“Damn it, RD, you stay with us now, hear?” Applejack roars, and for a minute, Rainbow Dash almost seems ready to listen.
But I’ve already prepared a riposte. “You made her run,” I say quickly, throwing you violently to the floor and returning to my true self. “You scared her off, and sent her right into my waiting arms. She hated herself for her betrayal… and begged me to take away her pain.”
Rainbow Dash freezes, poised to speak, but unable to form the words. Her eyes water. Her muscles slacken, and I know in an instant that she is mine.
I turn to Applejack, who quickly masks her fear with stubborn pride. “T-try all ya like, I ain’t goin’ down without a fight,” she spits.
You return to your feet, slowly and gracefully, and approach Applejack in her chrysalis. Your face, for the first time since that morning, finally betrays a sense of life. Your eyes shine, and your lips curl up ever so slightly. You part your lips and begin to speak.
“It’s alright, Applejack. Everything’s going to be fine.”
The farm pony’s brow furrows, but she says nothing.
“You didn’t mean for any of this to happen. I had a silly notion and a half-baked plan and I dragged all of you along for the ride.” Your tone is apologetic. “So you took charge. I mean, somepony had to be the responsible one… what with Twilight being gone…”
Applejack chokes back a reply.
“You tried from the very start to look out for all of us. Apple upbringing, perhaps?” Your voice sounds almost sultry as you lean in close, peering through her chrysalis to look deep into her eyes. “You tried so hard… but here… at the very end… you failed. But it’s okay...” you whisper, sending a shudder down her spine.
“Sh- stop…” Applejack manages.
You shush her gently. “No, no, AJ… don’t worry… everything’s going to be fine. See, with Twilight’s power, and all of us helping, my Queen will take care of everything.” You look lovingly towards me. “Everything will be… just perfect.”
Applejack strains against her bonds, but the effort is half-hearted at best. She’s exhausted, physically, mentally, and emotionally. It won’t take much to send her past the tipping point.
You look at Applejack with half-lidded eyes. “I’m sure, if you ask nicely, we can stop in Ponyville on our way to take the capital. We can pay your family a visit… and we can end their suffering before it begins.”
Applejack sobs long and loud before petering out into silence.
I set my horn alight, finally ready to continue. My magic works its way freely into their minds, unhindered. I mouth the words, knowing that it is resonating clearly within their heads.
“Who is it that you love?”
Streams of green mist flow out from each of their chrysalides, tinting the air a beautiful emerald as their love finds its way back to me. Soon, broken hearts will become empty ones… and the transformation will begin in earnest.
“Who is it that you-”
“Stop. I will not allow this to continue any further.”
Oh... well this is a surprise, isn't it?
Although, by capturing Luna, I really should have anticipated this outcome.
A blast of powerful magic tears a hole into my ceiling, and down streams a beam of heat and light so intense it's as if the sun itself is positioned directly above us. And in a sense, I'm exactly right.
“I AM Sol Invicta, the Unconquered Sun. The might of Equestria runs deep within my veins. I am your Light. I am your Goddess.
“And you have made me angry.”
So bad end before the good end?
Wow I was pretty close with my guess last chapter wasn't I? Please let this story have a happy ending. it would be awesome to see dusk be epic and take Chrysalis down.
Fuck your cliffhangers.
3238719 You mad?
...
...
Okay, I'm sorry. Really. But this is an appropriate end to this section, considering that the climax of the story is going to unfold over the next few(?) chapters. I promise not to take eternity and a day to write it out.
And Dusk continues to watch, trapped within her own body, unable to do anything.
Deus Ex Sol.. Ghost in the Sun. Interesting phrase there
3238771
[egghead]"Deus ex Sol" means "God from the Sun." It's a nod towards the phrase "Deus ex Machina," a plot device in Classical Greek plays where when the characters found themselves in an inescapable situation, one of the gods would come down and resolve it for them (the "machine" came in because they were traditionally lowered onto the stage by a crane, thus "God from the Machine").[/egghead]
I think I prefer this version with minimal mindbreaks, tyvm.
3238831 I knew I fucked up in translation... Thanks for correcting me
3238763 For now, yes. For a protagonist she isn't really doing much... er... protagonist-ing.
3238831 Thank you for explaining it better than I would have.
3238771
"God from the Sun" actually.
It's a play on the phrase "deus ex machina" which translates to "God from the Machine" ("deus" being latin for "[a] god" and the origin of the modern English word "deity" and "ex" being "from") and refers to the type of plot device Celestia's arrival may or may not represent, depending on how you define "contrived".
To quote Wikipedia: "a plot device whereby a seemingly unsolvable problem is suddenly and abruptly resolved, with the contrived and unexpected intervention of some new event, character, ability, or object."
The name (god from the machine) refers to how, in ancient Greece, playwrights who wrote their tragedies into a corner and were too lazy to fix things properly would would resolve the problem by having a god magically appear on stage (by lowering the actor on a crane or raising them through a trapdoor using a lift) to fix things.
3238981 first time I was corrected it was useful, now this is the second time and I get the feeling it won't be the last... It's now annoying... No one reads all the comments before replying anymore sorry I just don't like being correct more than once for the same thing...
3238988
When I started writing my reply, nobody had corrected you. By the time I posted it, someone had obviously beaten me to it.
Serves me right for not refreshing before posting when I got called away in the middle of it.
3238992 it's not a problem... When I posted it I already realized I had screwed up but was too lazy to look it up to fix it. Then I get corrected by someone and I thanked them... I just get annoyed over stupid things I know. Now I need to go and beat myself with a book xP glad we cleared things up a bit
3239003
Fair enough.
As far as laziness goes, were you aware that both Firefox and Chrome make it easy to configure keyword searching so you can just hit either Ctrl+L (give focus to the location bar in the current tab) or Ctrl+T (new tab... which automatically gives focus to the address bar) and then type something like "wp deux ex machina"?
I find that, combined with the "I'm Feeling Lucky"-style search on Wikipedia and "go back to previous tab" behaviour on Ctrl+W (close current tab), that really helped my friends and family with their laziness.
I bet all of this is not real. I bet Dusk is still out in the forest trying to be manipulated by the queen. The Queen is trying to break her, and all this is just a show to do it!
3239049 hehehe, my level of laziness generally depends on my energy levels which have tanked pretty drastically from the chaotic nature of a party I recently attended(pinkie and discord were unfortunately not in attendance.) so I was very lazy. Excuse? Maybe and I don't use Firefox or Chrome. I use either Safari or(in extreme circumstances..) Internet Explorer. anyway this has been an interesting talk
3238730 Nah I've got plenty to read.
And I didn't care if this updated two weeks from now.
Cookie for all.
Wuba Dub Dub Motherfucker!!!
3239141
Ahh. I have a touch of obsessive perfectionism in my personality, so it'd take a lot to make me not check Wikipedia, but I definitely know the feeling.
If you ever do feel like using keyword search, you can either use this Safari extension or set your default search engine to DuckDuckGo. (They have hundreds of what are called !bang commands so you can send a search to Google by including "!g", to Wikipedia with "!w", etc. ...plus other goodies.)
I don't always right chapter titles, but when I do, I chose the best...
Not bad, i hope Dusk can fight vs will of Crysalis, but this not happen and now Celestia is involved... This can end bad, if Crys win.
3238763>>3238857
And that is why TCB stories creep me out, both sides. It isn't the forced Ponifacations, it is the sudden change in personality. Implying that the original personality is still in there, looking out but unable to act. A prisoner within their own soul. Dusk here is suffering the same thing, only without the pretense of a second personality to hide the fact from others.
I know it's effective to crush the spirits of somepony like Fluttershy for the Queen's purposes, but still... ouch.
Also, brilliant speech at the end. Even if it goes to hell after this, that's a great moment.
3241778
Not sure exactly what you mean. I take it you refer to being under the unavoidable thrall of Chrysalis, but still having an individual personality and thoughts, etc?
3244183
Exactly. To be trapped in your own head while someone else is controlling your body. Able to see and hear everything, but unable to do anything about it. That is a slice of Tartarus right there.
Also, this chapter makes me think: "It is always darkest before the Supernova." As in, the last death throws of a dying sun. I just don't think Celestia is going to be the one to wrap things up in this story.
3244438
If not, I certainly hope we're not going down this rabbit hole again. It seems fairly preposterous that Chrysalis could trap both sisters and in any case, getting love by breaking them doesn't make a whole lot of sense. Hopefully the story will get around to explaining.
3239089 No nesting. That's rule number one in the list of storytelling rules I arbitrarily made up.
3244438>>3244766 I spent like five minutes trying to come up with some way to respond to this discussion without spoiling anything. But I've got nothing. I'm up to 82% sure that you two won't be disappointed with where I take the story next.
3248763
Thanks for the effort.
And then Celestia turns into Hulk.
Holy Carp this chapter is dark
update soon please
frankly given what I feel Celestia's power levels should be I think her presence should magically fix everything.
“I AM Sol Invicta, the Unconquered Sun. The might of Equestria runs deep within my veins. I am your Light. I am your Goddess.
“And you have made me angry.”
Brilliant! I am so using this! (If you're okay with it of course! I just LOVE that line!
Celestia vs Chrysalis round two?
Okay, Celestia doesn't need to fear hitting bystanders in Chrysalis' hive... Or does she? The Elements are right next to her target.
And her in her hive, surrounded by paralyzed ponies she's feeding on, Chrysalis may be even stronger than she was with just Shining Armor, even if no single pony can match him.
chapter title: "Chrysalis the Professional villain"