Challenges
Many years had passed since the wedding of Prince Shinning Armor and Princess Cadence. The couple had lived happily for the five years of their marriage. They even brought a little alicorn into the world; Princess Skyla. Everything was splendid. The Crystal Empire was free of curses and love and happiness was spread throughout Equestria. Discord had been reformed (or mostly) and he no longer wreaked chaos upon ponies. Nightmare Moon was no more now that the two sisters ruled Equestria together. Everything was perfect. Or so they thought.
Much evil was brewing in the lair of the Changeling Queen.
"I am stronger than the others. Why won't you accept that I am the one fit to rule?" asked Metamorphosis.
"Silence." hissed Queen Chrysalis. "You are not ready to take on such responsibility."
"Not ready?" Metamorphosis growled at what the Queen said. "I am the most powerful of my siblings. How am I not ready?"
The Queen of the Changelings walked to the edge of the cliff and observed the swarms of her dear changelings flying around. "Strong? Yes. Powerful? Yes. Eldest of your siblings? Yes. Fit to rule? No. Not yet."
"Not yet? Are you mad? You said you decided the next heir!"
"Indeed I did, my son." the Queen told Metamorphosis. "But the time to know who is not now, and the challenges will still take place no matter what. But then again, I have five of you to choose from, after all."
As Queen Chrysalis finished her sentence, she slowly walked away from the edge of the cliff and into the maze of tunnels that eventually led to the Queen's royal chambers and her royal offsprings' bedchambers.
Five of you to choose from. Prince Metamorphosis couldn't get his mother's words out of his mind. He wanted the throne more than anything. If the crown was given to one of his siblings... well... things wouldn't end well for the sibling. Metamorphosis would go through tough measures to impress his mother to try and convince her to allow him to become King of the Changelings. He wanted the throne almost as much as he wanted love for power, which is saying a lot since Prince Metamorphosis was quite the greedy pony, er-- changeling.
Frustrated, Prince Metamorphosis stormed off to his royal chambers. Once arriving into the privacy of his own room, the Prince started destroying everything he saw. Whether it was by magic or simply knocking or kicking objects with his hooves, it didn't matter. Metamorphosis wanted the throne badly and couldn't bare the Queen telling him he wasn't ready. He knocked down stone sculptures, blasted gemstones from the walls of the cave that formed his room, and destroyed his sets of armor.
A few minutes later, Metamorphosis's sister, one of the three Princesses, walked into his chambers.
"Brother," she said. "What is all this noise about? And why are your possessions destroyed?"
"OUT!" the Prince yelled. "LEAVE! GET OUT OF MY ROOM! YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO BE HERE!"
The Princess stared at her brother in shock, then trotted out of her brother's chambers.
Metamorphosis growled and slammed the door shut using his magic. Like his mother and siblings, Metamorphosis was a changeling alicorn, so he had a deformed horn and translucent wings. He rarely flew around outside, in fear of having been spotted by somepony. If that were to happen, the lair of the changelings would be revealed to the Equestrian army, and soon leading up to an invasion on the colony. But luckily for the changelings, no such thing had happened. Yet. But yet flying was useful inside the colony. The cavern in which the changelings called home was more of a bottomless pit. The changelings lived in gouges on the walls of the cave.
****
A week had past since Metamorphosis's discussion with his mother about the next heir.
Fit to rule? No. Not yet.
The Prince of the Changelings had worked hard improving his strength and skill for battle. He had to be the best in combat, the most skilled in strategic warfare, and the fastest in flying to be able to impress his mother one last time before the final decision for whom to be the heir shall be. In other words, Metamorphosis had to be better than his siblings at everything.
Prince Metamorphosis was ready for a final test to determine who will be the next ruler of the changelings.
"My dear changelings," the Queen announced to the crowd of changelings gathered around the arena in which the final test took place. "This day is unlike any other. This is the day the next heir to the throne shall be chosen."
The crowd of changelings roared in excitement.
"This day will hold many challenges for my five children." Chrysalis continued. "The one who is chosen shall rule this colony and in the future will seek revenge on that wretched unicorn, Twilight Sparkle."
The crowd roared even louder. The whole cavern shook.
"Twilight was the one who ruined my invasion on Canterlot, after I drained her brother of power. She shall perish under my child's hoof!"
The changelings roared and started to fly around the arena uncontrollably, completely filled with joy and excitement.
"But for now," Queen Chrysalis said. "Let the heir be determined."
The Queen of the Changelings flew to a ledge surrounded by changeling guards. She sat down on the stone and watched as each of her children attempted the first challenge. They knew this whole tournament wouldn't be a piece of cake. Only one would come out as the heir and only one would come out alive.
The first challenge was a challenge of strength, Well, in fact, there were two challenges of strength. The first one was how much pain the Changeling Queen's offsprings could endure. This test was preformed by the royal children being unable to fly or use magic and repeatedly have blasts of magic shot at them. The second test of strength was to see how many changelings can you carry out of the bottomless pit in the cavern without dropping them. The test wasn't very exciting to watch, but when your companion is wounded in battle, and it's not fatal, but you'll need to support their weight then the strength you have is much needed.
The next challenge was the challenge of accuracy. How far could you hit a moving target. Whether with magic or another weapon, it didn't matter. The task was preformed by having the five children of the Queen shoot moving targets of pony cut-outs. The cut-outs ranged from Twilight to Princess Celestia.
The fourth challenge was a test of intelligence. The three princesses and two princes had to figure a way out of a locked cell, without using magic. All except one made it past this test.
The next and final challenge was a challenge of focus. The remaining four possible heirs were locked into separate compartments. A toxic gas filled the compartments, and just before Metamorphosis thought it couldn't get worse, since the toxic gas was making him nauseous, hundreds of parasprites filled the room, flying in every direction, knocking Prince Metamorphosis to the ground. On top of that chaos, the Prince had to figure out the combination on the door to get out of the room. The gases had already started to make him go crazy.
After a good ten minutes searching for any clues in the small room to open the door, Metamorphosis found old runes on the stone floor under the gravel. They were symbols of dark magic. Being able to read these glyphs, the Prince of the Changelings recited an incantation. The door opened, the parasprites fled, and the air became breathable again.
Metamorphosis rushed out of the compartment, only to find his sister on his tail. They were the only two who completed the final challenge. There was yet another problem; there could only be one heir.
"Changelings!" shouted Queen Chrysalis. "We have our two successors!" She paused for a moment. "But yet, as how fit to rule both of my children are, there can only be one heir to the throne. As a final challenge, our Prince and our Princess," The Queen paused once more for suspense. "Must duel to the death!"
The massive crowd of changelings roared.