> Chrysalis's First Sleepover
>  by Chaospaladin
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> The best laid plans
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chrysalis was late.

The sleepover party was in full swing and the main guests had already arrived:  Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Fluttershy, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie. Considering this was an all-mare’s sleepover, Twilight gave mercy to Spike and made arrangements to have him spend the night at Applejack’s place to hang out with Big Mac, leaving Starlight to be her support for the evening.

Currently, the main party room was hosted at the council room within the Castle of Friendship. Long tables of food, cake, and various goodies were lined up on one side of the room. Vibrantly colored streamers and balloons, courtesy of Pinkie Pie, were strewn all over the room while an assortment of party supplies and games were carefully placed in the corner.

“...and that’s when Daring Do pointed her hoof at all the goons and said ‘Bang’!” Rainbow Dash finished the retelling of her favorite scene, standing on the circular table in dramatic fashion. Everypony who sat at the table with her either laughed or rolled their eyes in amusement.

Starlight, who had taken her seat next to Twilight, gave her a concerned glance. “Hey, are you alright?” she asked quietly, so as not to draw attention from the others who were swapping stories and jokes with each other.

Twilight perked up as she was pulled out of her thoughts. “Huh? What do you mean?”

“You look a little dazed and disappointed. Are you worried about, well, you-know-who?”

“Um...” Twilight glanced to make sure the others weren’t listening. “Yeah. She’s over an hour late. At this rate, I don’t know if she’ll make it in time for—”

“Who’ll make it in time for what?”

“GAH!” Twilight jumped, nearly tumbling out of her seat at Pinkie Pie’s sudden appearance behind her seat. “D-don’t do that! You nearly gave me a heart attack!”

“Sorry! I was just really curious about what you two were whispering about, so I wanted to listen in!” Pinkie shifted closer to Twilight, who had now drawn everypony’s attention. “Who is this ‘you-know-who’ that’s coming? Do we know her? What time is she coming? Why are you being all secretive about it?”

Twilight shifted as she smiled nervously, desperately wanting to tell Pinkie to put a sock in it. “W-what? Me, being secretive? No way. It’s just a friend that I invited at the last minute.”

“Oh my, you have another friend joining us? How exciting!” Fluttershy smiled softly. “Who is she?”

“She, uh...” Twilight gulped. She quickly began sweating under everypony’s stares. Thanks to Pinkie, it was too late to rescind the fact somepony was coming. She didn’t want to outright lie to her friends, but she couldn’t tell them Chrysalis was the surprise guest. “S-she’s a really good friend. You guys will definitely like her.”

“You’re being surprisingly vague about this, darling,” Rarity pointed out, a sly grin slowly spreading on her muzzle. “You’re acting like a filly talking about a crush. Is this a special somepony we should know about?”

Twilight coughed. The implications alone on the idea of Twilight and Chrysalis being a couple was terrifying. Chrysalis was difficult enough as it was to handle without having the added mess of a romantic relationship thrown in. “It’s not like that!”

“Then who is it, Sugarcube?” Applejack inquired, “Maybe Celestia or Luna?”

“Maybe she’s bringing some of her other friends, like Moondancer?” Rainbow dash added.

An idea coming to mind, Pinkie decided to volunteer her thoughts on the matter. “Wouldn’t it be crazy if she invited Chrysalis?”

Silence.

The upbeat atmosphere fizzled away in an instant, awkwardness and discomfort filling the gap. Twilight felt disheartened that the mere mention of Chrysalis always seemed to drag this mood out of them. Pinkie and Fluttershy were usually either passive or concerned about the idea, but Rarity, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash always regarded any mention of Chrysalis with hostility.

“Don’t even joke about that,” Rainbow shuddered, “there’s no way Twilight would invite somepony… ling ...whatever like her to the sleepover.”

Twilight felt a spark of heat in her chest. She narrowed her eyes at Rainbow. “That’s a little harsh, don’t you think?”

“A little harsh?” Rainbow asked incredulously. “Are we forgetting what happened when I tried to hang out with her?”

“I...well…” Twilight winced. Regardless of how much the badmouthing of Chrysalis annoyed her, Twilight had to admit Rainbow did have solid grounds to be angry with her. “To be fair, she did apologize for that, and you shouldn’t have challenged her to a prank war. Besides, your mane and tail grew back, so all’s well that ends well, right?”

Judging from Rainbow’s glare, Twilight knew not all was forgiven.

“No offense, Twi, but I hafta agree with Rainbow on this one,” Applejack said, “this ain’t like the situation with Maud way back when. Chrysalis is not a family friendly changeling, if ya catch my meanin’.”

Twilight attempted to think of a rebuttal, only to remember what happened the last time Chrysalis visited the Apple family farm. “Okay, I knew she taught Applebloom a few, er, questionable things, but she really was trying to help her feel more confident.”

“Speaking of questionable,” Rarity spoke up this time, “need we forget the horrors of what transpired when I invited her to the spa?”

Starlight chose this moment to intervene and help with the defense. “That could have ended a lot worse. Twilight did eventually get them to remove the lifetime ban from the spa that was placed on you two.”

“I-I don’t think she’s a bad changeling,” Fluttershy offered timidly.

Twilight sighed with relief. Thankfully, at least one of them hadn’t joined the anti-Chrysalis squad that seemed to be forming.

“Although…” her friend continued,” she is a little intimidating and hard to talk to.”

“Tell me about it!” Pinkie exasperated. “I mean, I don’t personally have a problem with her. I just wish she would accept my party invites and stop running away whenever I tried to throw a surprise party or even say hello. Sometimes I think she’s afraid of me or something. Whenever I surprise her she goes all ‘EGAH!’ and runs away.”

Twilight was both relieved and surprised Pinkie and Fluttershy didn’t have some sort of crisis in dealing with her. Oddly enough, it was the only argument she didn’t have a rebuttal for. It was simply a pain in the flank to get Chrysalis to open up or attend any social gatherings.

“But you still didn’t answer my question, silly. Who’s your friend that’s coming to the sleepover?” Pinkie asked.

“A-ah, well...it’s…” Twilight gulped as all the curious eyes drilled into her, sans Starlight, who was unable to aid her mentor. 

Twilight found herself between a rock and a hard place. Outside Spike and Starlight, all of her friends were wary of the reformed queen of the changelings and more often than not avoided her at all cost. For her plan to work, they couldn’t know she was coming. But she knew they would continue drilling her and tossing speculations until they managed to pull the truth out of her. The situation was rapidly deteriorating.

That was, until the doorbell rang.

“Don’t mind me, I’m just going to answer the door. Just relax, and don’t follow me to the door. I’ll be right back!”

Flash!

In a flurry of lavender light, Twilight reappeared before the entrance. Twilight was not a fan of lying to her friends, but she was determined to have Chrysalis get over her discomfort with her friends and vice versa. The only way they would exist in the same space together would be if neither knew the other would be there.

Twilight groaned at the mere thought of the copious amount of dodging from both sides. If all went well, then tonight would finally put an end to it all.

Putting on her best smile, Twilight used her magic to swing open the door. “Welcome to the sleepover, Chry—”

She stopped, and blinked rapidly upon discovering a young purple drake rather than the tall and dark changeling queen she was expecting.

“Spike?” she asked dumbly.

Spike blushed, wearing a guilty grin. “Sorry, I forgot to bring some extra games to play with Big Mac. Is it safe for me to come and grab them?”

Twilight let out a relieved breath, and smiled. “Oh, is that all? Sure, go ahead and— waiiiit a second.”

She had almost made a critical mistake. If Chrysalis was supposed to be arriving around this time, then this had to be her in disguise.

Twilight couldn’t remember when it started, but whenever Chrysalis would visit the two would always play a game of deduction. Twilight's goal was to catch Chrysalis in disguise before she could be invited inside and set hoof in the home. Whoever won earned a ‘favor point’, where they could call in a favor. 

At first, Twilight was annoyed with this spontaneously created game. But eventually she began to enjoy the challenge of figuring out who was Chrysalis in disguise. That, and Twilight didn’t dare allow herself to lose a battle of wits against her. Twilight had yet to lose at this game, and tonight was not going to be the night.

Unfortunately for Chrysalis, disguising herself as Spike was surprisingly sloppy of her. There was no need for quizzing or deductions when she could invoke her secret weapon for this game. “Spike,” she started with a silky sweet tone, “what’s the password?”

Spike stopped to think for a moment, then his eyes lit up with recognition. “Flashlight!”

“Thank you, Spike! Go ahead and grab what you need.” Twilight stepped aside, closing the door behind Spike.

“Almost forgot she was coming today. Good thing you’re too smart to let her catch you off guard,” Spike said.

“You got that right. No way she’s going to sneak past me.” Twilight puffed out her chest proudly.

“Just be careful with her. She almost had you last time.”

“True. Had I not remembered that Celestia would rarely, if ever, visit during the night, she would have…” Twilight trailed off, and blinked. “Hold on. How did you know about that time?” 

“Huh?”

“I distinctly remember you being out on an errand during that time. I never told you what happened.”

Spike thrummed a claw along his chin, frowning in thought. “Could’ve sworn you told me about it. Maybe you just told me in passing.” He shrugged.

Twilight thought to probe further, but she decided to ignore her instincts this time around. Spike had given her the secret password that automatically cleared him of suspicion. Still, with Chrysalis being so late, Twilight began fearing she had changed her mind or ran into a major delay.

The doorbell pulled her out of her thoughts, filling her with renewed hope. This had to be Chrysalis.

“Oh, this should be good. I’ll bet that’s Chrysalis right now. I wonder what disguise she’s gonna wear this time,” Spike grinned with anticipation.

Twilight pulled open the door to find… 

… Spike?

Spike blushed, wearing a guilty grin. “Sorry, I forgot to bring some extra games to play with Big Mac. I’ll just run in and—”

Magenta magic suddenly wrapped around Spike’s nose in a light telekinetic pinch, causing him to yelp. “H-h-hey! Cut it out!”

“Got your nose! I win again, Chrysalis!” Twilight smirked.

Moments passed.

Usually at this point, Chrysalis would reveal herself and go on about how she was sure this would work this time. Oddly, ‘Spike’ was still dancing in place while he tried to pull away from Twilight’s magical grip.

She frowned. “You know the rules, Chrysalis:  if you messed up and I got you with good reason, you have to reveal yourself.”

“Is that right, Twilight Sparkle?”

Twilight froze. 

That reverberating voice did not come from the Spike in front of her, and the flash of green magic behind her confirmed her fears.

Releasing her grip on the real Spike, Twilight turned around. “How did—”

Nom.

Twilight blinked, gawking at the ebony muzzle that proceeded to nom her nose. She couldn’t stop staring wide-eyed at Chrysalis, with her bright emerald eyes filled with jubilation and mischief. 

After a few seconds she pulled away from Twilight, her smile stretched wide across her mouth. “Got your nose, Twilight. I win.”

“But I… how did you… when…” Twilight’s eyes bounced between Spike and Chrysalis, utterly lost and confused.

Chrysalis cackled. “Oh, you have no idea how long I’ve dreamed of seeing you make that face! Finally, I’ve conquered you at this game!”

“How in the world did you know the password? There’s no way Spike would betray my trust!”

Chrysalis stopped laughing to give her a skeptical glance. “To be fair, he was not easy to crack. It took far more gems and coaxing than I expected.”

Twilight’s stare turned to Spike, who cast his gaze to the ground in shame. “...They were really tasty… and she had a star sapphire too, Twilight. I couldn’t help it.”

“You traitor!” Twilight admonished. Suddenly, she whipped her head to glare at Chrysalis. “Fine, you get a favor point, cheater.”

“I do get a favor, don’t I? In that case…” Chrysalis’s eyes lowered as she moved closer to Twilight, giving her what she could only describe as bedroom eyes. “I’m going to claim my reward right now.”

“C-C-Chrysalis? What are you— eep!” Twilight yelped when Chrysalis pulled her into a tight hug.

“Now, now, Twilight,” Chrysalis whispered huskily, “this will be easier for both of us if you stop resisting and let it happen.”

“...Goodnight, everypony!” Spike turned about face and made a speedy retreat, leaving Twilight to her fate. He knew how this was going to end, and was not in the mood to gain mental scars. Again.

Chrysalis roughly nuzzled Twilight, who was kicking off a fit of futile wiggling and squirming. “H-hey, take it easy! I’ll feed you later!” she squeaked.

“I haven’t had a decent meal all day. Mommy needs her medicine, Twilight.”

“I know it's been awhile, but just relax and— ah-AH! -hey, don’t do that! My wings are sensitive!”

“Exactly! And also delicious.”

“If you would please stop and turn around for a second, you will see that we’re being watched!”

“By Starlight, right? Don’t worry about her. I’ll bet she likes to watch.”

“For the love of all that is decent, phrasing!”

“Open yourself to my will, my faithful student.”

“You’re doing that on purpose! And please don’t say that using Celestia’s voice!”

“You know you like it when I—” Chrysalis stopped just as her mouth hovered an inch away from nomming Twilight’s neck, staring wide-eyed at the sight she caught at the corner of her eye.

Rainbow, Pinkie and Applejack were slackjawed, their muzzles burning red. Rarity had fainted on a conveniently placed divan, while Fluttershy hid her face behind her hooves, though Chrysalis questioned the point when she saw her peeking through an opening. Starlight stood out amongst the sea of speechless mares, crimson-faced and facehoofing out of embarrassment. With Twilight on her back and Chrysalis lying on top, only Starlight could tell the queen had merely been acting playful and needy with Twilight. 

That knowledge did not make what she or anypony else witnessed seem any less innocent.

Even Chrysalis was caught utterly flathoofed, dark tints of red piercing her muzzle. It was one thing for her to mess around with Twilight and make her uncomfortable, but another to do it when her friends, barring Starlight and Spike, were gaping at them. The silence that stretched was more than enough to not only kill the mood, but completely unsettle her.

“H-how silly of me!” Chrysalis attempted to laugh off as she scrambled away from Twilight, though her laugh came off rather manic and forced. “Our, um, diplomatic conference was due for next saturday, not this one! Please, forget I was here… and what you heard… and saw…”

As Chrysalis’ nerves began to unravel, she knew there was no other choice. She had to use that.

“Discord!” Chrysalis cried out and pointed behind the gawking audience. “Please refrain from showing such lewd pictures of Celestia and Shining Armor!”

All but Twilight and Starlight turned around. Rarity shot up from the couch like a bullet. Twilight, who had recovered from her prone position, facehoofed hard, while Starlight added a groan and another hoof to her facehoofing.

The distraction was just long enough for Chrysalis to make her daring escape. Straight into the closed door.

The loud thump refocused everypony’s attention on the hissing and swearing Chrysalis, who sat with her forehooves clutching her wounded muzzle and pride.

“This… isn’t the way I’d planned for all of us to meet, but it will have to do.” Despite Twilight’s face burning red from being flustered and her mane disheveled from her tussle with Chrysalis, she seemed surprisingly calm. Almost too calm.

“Twi, mind tellin’ us what in the heck is goin’ on here?” Applejack inquired.

“Yeah. What is SHE doing here?” Rainbow jerked her hoof at Chrysalis, who merely scoffed.

“I invited her to this sleepover, just as I invited you all. While I know it was wrong, I made sure to keep it secret that you all would be meeting each other.”

It was Chrysalis’ turn to gawk at Twilight in shock. “You said it would just be you, me and Starlight at this sleepover! How could you lie to me so blatantly?”

Twilight’s answer was a quirked eyebrow aimed in her direction. Chrysalis returned her gaze with a flat stare. “My question is still valid, Sparky.”

“Don’t throw stones in glass houses, Chryssi,” Twilight snarked.

“Truly, Twilight, this is rather surprising of you to arrange things this way. Why didn’t you just tell us Chrysalis would be attending the sleepover?” Rarity asked.

“I only did this because you guys keep avoiding each other, and I’m tired of seeing my friends treat each other as though we were still enemies. So tonight, I decided to solve this problem once and for all. Surely, you all could stand to spend one night together and find a way to bond, right?” Twilight asked hopefully.

The two sides gave each other concerned glances, Chrysalis and Twilight’s other five friends respectively. Chrysalis felt especially stressed from the emotions she could sense from Fluttershy, Rainbow, Rarity and Applejack. She had a feeling they would attempt to stay because of Twilight, and that in itself was admirable, but Chrysalis considered an alternative plan to both ease her tension and avoid dealing with the ponies.

“I suppose I can stay if you wish it, Twilight,” Chrysalis bared her pearly fangs in a hungry grin, “I’m pretty famished, so I could use a good meal.” To complete the intimidation tactics, she winked at the nervous mares who stood across from her.

Suddenly, everypony began speaking at once.

“Just remembered I have to practice some new moves—”

“N-now that I think about it, I believe Sweetie belle—”

“I-I-I should check on the animals—”

“I gotta wake up early to take care of the farm and—”

“Do ponies taste like cake? Do you like cake? Oh, oh, what if I was eating cake while you—”

The sound of the door locks clicking in place robbed their attention. They looked to see Twilight’s magical grip on the castle’s massive double doors.

“Chrysalis, I know you’re only saying that to get away from everypony, so knock it off. Nopony’s going anywhere.” Twilight shot the queen a pointed look.

“Worth a shot,” Chrysalis shrugged, “besides, if I really wanted to leave, I could just use a teleportation spell to do it. Like this!” In a last ditch effort to escape the awkward event, Chrysalis sparked her horn with green energy, focusing her magic to relocate her beyond the castle walls.

Nothing.

For reasons Chrysalis could not fathom, her magical reach could not penetrate the walls. A suppressive force blocked all attempts to reach the outside, like attempting to push through an immovable pillow fort. Now that she realized it, her connection to the hive was also severed the moment the door closed, something that required a substantial amount of power. Was it just her, or did Twilight…

Chrysalis’s eyes widened.

“You there, Marshmallow!”

After a few seconds of hesitation, Rarity realized Chrysalis was referring to her. She huffed. “How rude! I have a name, and it is—”

“Try to teleport outside the castle walls!”

“Teleport? I suppose I can try, but I’m not sure why you suddenly asked me to… oh!” Rarity’s horn, alight with blue magic, faded moments after igniting. “How odd. I can’t feel my magic beyond these walls,” she noted in confusion.

Starlight bit her lip nervously. “That’s because there are magical suppression enchantments placed all over the castle. We can’t teleport out of the interior.”

A sense of dread washed over the sleepover attendees. Twilight decided to answer the unasked question for them. “I’m the one who decided to place the barrier enchantments. And as Rainbow Dash will soon find out, there are military grade security locks and barriers placed on all windows and exits.”

“WHAT!?” Everypony gasped in horror. Just as Twilight said, it was only now they noticed a dusty outline where Rainbow had stood only seconds ago. 

Rainbow rushed back into the area out of one of the nearby rooms, eyes wide with alarm. “Girls! There are some crazy strong gates everywhere! I don’t think anypony can get out!” 

Distress began to spread among the ponies in the room, except for Starlight, who wore a look of uncertainty and guilt.

It was clear nopony was going to be able to leave unless Twilight deemed otherwise. She hated to get her own student involved in all the preparations, including preparing all the intricate locking and isolation spells that could stop a being as powerful as Chrysalis, but failure was not an option.

“Um, Twi? Don’t ya think this is a little, I dunno, extreme?” Applejack asked.

“Tell me about it,” said Chrysalis, who tossed Twilight an appraising look. "This seems like something I would do. Perhaps I've been a bad influence on her. Can't say I disapprove…”

“I'm only doing what's best for everypony. Now, this is what’s going to happen, everypony.” Small portions of Twilight’s mane and tail turned frazzled and came undone, giving her a manic disposition. “We are all going to head back to the party room. Then, we’re going to find a way to enjoy ourselves and have a normal, fun, bonding sleepover. Is that clear?”

Everypony, Chrysalis included, gulped as they nodded.

“Great! Then let us go back to the room and engage in some fun activities.” Twilight trotted happily to the party room, while the rest of the party guests were stunned into silence.

“...You know,” Chrysalis remarked, “Twilight’s pretty cute when she goes crazy.”

“I know, right?” Pinkie piped up.

Starlight groaned. “Chrysalis, Pinkie, just… no. Please stop.”
> React and Act
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Chrysalis hadn’t felt this awkward since she was exposed during the Canterlot invasion.

The air was suffocating as everypony sat at the table, barely uttering a word. Chrysalis took her seat to Twilight’s left, who held a strained smile in a vain attempt to pretend she hadn’t noticed the charged atmosphere. Starlight, taking Twilight’s right, offered a few words and questions to try and distill the awkwardness, with no success. Everypony was either talking among themselves in small whispers or squirming in their seats. Even Pinkie was glancing around worriedly at her friends.

To the ponies, this was simply a case of uncomfortable tension. But to Chrysalis, who fed on and sensed emotion on a much higher level, it was insufferable. That itch she felt when placed in uncomfortable situations had been raging at her since she found herself stuck in this castle with Twilight’s friends. Chrysalis had a dozen ways to stir the pot and make things more ‘interesting’, but one important detail stopped her: Twilight.

Despite Twilight looking only marginally crazy on the outside, Chrysalis was able to sense the crushing aura of disappointment pulsing from her. Unlike that royal meeting last month where Twilight was excited and eager, she was noticeably desperate to make this work. It was agonizing to see her in this state, and one way or another, Chrysalis knew she would have to do something to fix it. Perhaps, she considered, some light conversation would help lighten the mood.

“Did you know there is a mare in this room that is gay?”

All but one pony stared at Chrysalis in shock. Twilight, meanwhile, was too busy dropping her forehead on the edge of the table.

“Really, Chrysalis?” Twilight exasperated. “Going straight for the throat on this one? No warm-up or warning?”

Chrysalis tossed Twilight a skeptical glance. “Was that an admission of guilt, Twilight?”

“NO IT’S NOT AN ADMISSION OF GUILT!” Twilight’s head shot up, her eyes boring holes in the smirking queen’s forehead. “Why are you even bringing up something like that, anyway?”

Chrysalis shrugged. “Just thought it was interesting. I know who it is, but I was curious if any of you did.”

"I, that is, w-why are we even talking about this? So what if there’s a pony here who is into mares?”

Despite herself, Twilight found herself pondering the question, as did the other ponies in the room. Simultaneously, all slowly began looking at a certain cerulean pegasus who, upon realizing the unspoken accusation, glared at her friends.

“Why the heck are you all looking at me like that? Do you seriously think I’m into mares?” Rainbow snapped. Her face burned red from anger and embarrassment. The other mares shifted uncomfortably as they averted their guilty gazes. “Well, I’m not! Seriously, what makes you all think that I was into mares the first place?”

“To be fair, Sugarcube,” Applejack spoke hesitantly, “ya kinda have that, er, vibe.”

“Vibe? What vibe?!”

Rarity, who sat next to Rainbow, placed a comforting hoof on her shoulder. “Darling, what Applejack is trying to say is that the way you carry yourself sometimes, it lends itself to a sort of stereotype that fits a, ahem... fillyfooler.”

“Hold up! You mean this whole time you all judged me just because of the way I act and look? What the hay?!”

“U-um,” Fluttershy shrunk into her seat and used her pink bang as a shield. "T-t-there was also that time you had too much cider in Las Pegasus, and when you came to my hotel room while I was asleep, you—”

Rainbow slammed her hoof on the table. She was flushing red hot, now. “That was different!”

Twilight perked up, her morbid curiosity getting the better of her. “I don’t think I’ve heard this story before. What happened?”

“Nothing happened! Besides, if we’re talking about two mares going at it, shouldn’t we be talking about the elephant in the room?” Rainbow jerked her hoof at Chrysalis and Twilight. “If anypony here is into mares, it’s gotta be Twilight.”

“W-WHAT?!” Twilight choked. 

Applejack, after looking at them for a beat, nodded. “That’s a good point. You two were friskier than two jack rabbits in heat.”

“Yeah! Chrysalis was going all ‘Om nom nom’ and Twilight was like ‘my mind’s telling me no, but my body’s telling me yes’! Gotta say, it was pretty hot!” said Pinkie, grinning ear to ear.

“You shouldn’t show such i-intense displays of affection in public like that,” Fluttershy advised meekly, “I’m sure if you asked, we would’ve given you two some privacy to—”

“Wait a minute! It’s not like that at all!”

Chrysalis pouted as she looked at Twilight. “It’s not?”

“Hush, you!” Twilight growled. “Look, Chrysalis only gets like that when she’s hungry and wants to eat. It’s not as, um, provocative as it looks.”

“Of course, Twilight doesn’t mind me being playful while I’m eating her.”

“C-Chrysalis! For the love of— phrasing, dang it!” Twilight stammered, her crimson muzzle matching the other ponies in the room. 

Starlight, sensing her mentor’s plight, sought to jump in and change the subject before Chrysalis got even more out of hoof. When Chrysalis felt pressured, there was no telling how far she would go to share her discomfort. “That reminds me: Chrysalis, this is your first sleepover, isn’t it?”

“WHAT?!” Pinkie gasped as her hoof slammed on the table. “This is your first sleepover?!”

Chrysalis hesitated. The pink mare looked ready to explode. Whether out of eagerness, shock, or rage, it was difficult to tell in the volatile keg of emotions that was Pinkie Pie. Suddenly she found herself regretting her decision to spark a change of pace. “Um, well, yes?”

“Omigosh, we have to do something, everypony! Wait a minute, I get to finally throw Chryssi a party! I FINALLY GET TO THROW HER A PARTY!” Pinkie bounced in her seat with energy that made Chrysalis dizzy. She was sure if she tried to feed on Pinkie now, she would get diabetes.

The outburst dispelled the suppressed atmosphere. For the moment, everypony seemed a little more alert and excited for the sleepover and forgotten the thought-provoking secret Chrysalis dropped on them. She caught Twilight releasing a sigh of relief, pulling a small smile from her.

“So wait; changelings don’t have sleepovers? What about birthday parties or holidays?” Rainbow asked.

“Depends on how you look at it,” Chrysalis replied. "Because ponies are typically at the height of jubilation during a holiday, we tend to celebrate with them while they are distracted. It’s not to say we don’t have our own kind of fun. We have games, downtimes, even dates just like a pony.”

At the last part, Rarity perked up. “That does beg the question; what is dating like for changelings? Are they allowed to have genuine relationships with ponies? Does the concept of romance apply to changelings as it does to ponies?”

Chrysalis chuckled. Leave it to romance to be the icebreaker for Rarity. “Any ‘genuine’ relationships must be approved by me, as I must ensure their potential mate poses no risk or complications to the Hive. As for the concept of romance and dating, we do share some courtship similarities with ponies. However, the core difference lies in what we seek in potential mates. After all, we can mate with any species, so any taste or preferences we have will rarely involve anything physical.”

“I reckon that makes some sense. And considerin’ y’all can look like anything ya want, physical attraction would be mighty questionable.”

“Good catch, Applejack. When I say we focus on what’s on the inside, I truly mean that. No matter what you look like, if your heart is genuine and in the right place, that tends to be enough for most.”

“My, how fascinating! I can only imagine romantic tales told from a changeling perspective!” Rarity’s eyes gleamed with intrigue. “Forgive me for prying, but I simply must know; what sort of preference would a queen such as yourself, have?”

Chrysalis stopped to ponder the question. She lost count of how many years she stopped worrying about such things and had focused on her own objectives. In the end, what she wanted was the same desire all of her changelings wanted. “Should there be a strong mate who catches my eye, my primary concern is if they ‘get me’. Chemistry, if you will.”

Rainbow tilted her head in confusion. “I get the ‘get me’ part, but dunno what you mean about chemistry. Do you take a pill or something for that?”

“Pill? Oh, no, no, I don’t mean that kind of chemistry. Although, that does remind me of a certain project I’ve been dying to get Twilight to work with me on for awhile.”

Twilight flushed angrily at the recollection. “For the last time, I refuse to work on any ‘growth hormone’ experiments!”

“Growth hormone experiments? Wasn’t that the same project Prince Blueblood commissioned a few weeks ago?” Starlight asked.

“The one and the same,” Twilight grimaced. “It seemed like a safe enough project at the start. But the moment I learned how he wanted to use it for certain activities that I will not mention at this table, I refused to take part in it.”

Chrysalis quirked her eyebrow at Twilight. “You mean sex?” 

The other mares in the room turned deep crimson as they put two and two together.

“Oh no you don’t, Chrysalis! We’re NOT going there!” Twilight growled.

“Hold up! Twilight was making sex pills?” Rainbow asked, bewildered. “I didn’t know you had such a wild side, you dirty mare!”

“N-no, I had no intention of doing it! I swear I had no idea what they were meant to be used for!”

“That is...I-I didn’t realize you were into that kind of thing, Twi. Nothing to be ashamed of, though I prefer a more natural means of spicing up the night life.” Applejack said.

Twilight rubbed her temples as she groaned. “We’re not going to have this conversation!”

“I think it’s a rather healthy conversation to talk about. There’s nothing to be embarrassed about, Twilight. After all, sex is very natural and healthy. It’s okay if you have urges you wish to explore.” Fluttershy spoke with a surprising amount of calm and wisdom.

Twilight was rendered speechless, as were the other ponies in attendance. Fluttershy was shockingly calm about the subject matter.

“I couldn’t agree more, Fluttershy!” Chrysalis grinned cheekily. “I think we should do an analytical perspective on Twilight’s fetishes to get a better understanding of our dear friend...and the rather risque pictures of Celestia cleverly hidden in her room.”

“Huh. I thought I was the only one who knew where they were hidden.” Starlight wondered to herself aloud. 

“MOVING ON!” Twilight slammed her hooves on the table, brought to the brink of embarrassment and frustration. “Why don’t we ignore all of that nonsense and get right to the games?”

Though Chrysalis wanted to mess with Twilight further, the talk of games peaked her curiosity. “Games? What games?”

Pinkie beamed. “We have all kinds of games! We were about to play one of my favorites before we caught you and Twilight getting it on!” Twilight released an exasperated groan, which was promptly ignored. “It’s called React and Act. Do you want to play? It’s really easy, and should be perfect for a changeling!”

Perfect for a changeling, you say? Chrysalis mused. Her curiosity was piqued. How could a game crafted for ponies be perfect for a changeling? “I suppose I could humor you ponies and take part in this ‘React and Act’ game. How do you play?”

The grin that spread on Pinkie’s muzzle gave Chrysalis the impression she signed up for something she was about to regret.

“Rather than be boring and just talk about it, let’s get started and help you learn along the way!”





Times like these, Chrysalis began questioning her choices in life.

The game started off harmlessly enough. Everypony was given a sheet a paper and pen to write an event. Once the papers were collected and placed in a top hat conjured up by Pinkie Pie, the group was split into two teams. This was the first sign to Chrysalis that she was going to have a bad time.

Chrysalis had been placed on the same team as Applejack, Rainbow and Rarity. They openly detested the set up as much as Chrysalis did. unfortunately for them, Twilight refused to let them change teammates. Once the teams were picked, everypony picked an event at random from the top hat. Thus came the second sign Chrysalis was going to have a bad time when she read what her event was:

‘The scariest thing you’ve ever seen in your life is about to hug you.’

What kind of game is this?! Chrysalis paled. 

Since the rules were only being explained as they played along, Chrysalis had little to no idea what this message actually meant. As the ponies looked at their events, a mixture of horrified gasp, laughter, and whimpering ensued. Chrysalis briefly wondered if it was too late to back out.

Once everypony was in position, Pinkie started the game off for her team. “Alright, now that we drew the lots, our team should start first so Chrysalis can see how it goes! Is everypony ready?” A mixture of grunts and affirmations echoed from both teams. Not sure what to expect, Chrysalis waited with bated breath. 

For the final preparations, Pinkie took out a wind-up clock and placed it on the nearby table after setting the timer. “Don’t forget, you only have thirty seconds for you event. And if you see an event that you created, you can’t give away the answer, so no cheating and give it all you got! Alright team, let’s do this! Counting off in three...two...one...aaaaaaand GO!”

And that’s when Chrysalis’s true horror came to life before her eyes.

“HOT! HOT! HOT! IT BURNS! FOR THE LOVE OF CELESTIA, SOMEPONY HELP!” Twilight screamed at the top of her lungs as she sprinted in a frenzied panic, rolling all over the floor while patting herself.

“OH NO, I GOTTA HURRY! RUN!” Pinkie flailed about and yelled as she hurriedly packed a suitcase and began sprinting in a wide circle around the town. Chrysalis had no idea how she kept the oversized luggage in her mane, nor where that piece of toast hanging out of her mouth came from. Combined with Twilight panicking all over the place, chairs and objects were knocked over from the ensuing chaos.

“O-oh, me? You want to talk to me? W-why I...um...that’s great! Oh my, um, this is such an honor!” Starlight went from calm and composed to a stuttering, mumbling fool who could barely get a sentence out. She rubbed her neck nervously and flushed as she continued chatting it up with an imaginary pony.

Just when Chrysalis thought sanity was beginning to slip from Twilight’s team, it was Fluttershy who stole the show.

“You want a piece of me? You think you can handle little ol’ Fluttershy? Well guess what, bub? Ain’t nopony gonna mess with me and get away with it!” Fluttershy bounced on her back hooves while throwing out punches shadowboxing style. The feral snarl, combined with the fire burning Fluttershy’s eyes, made even Chrysalis feel dread. “If somepony messes with me, give them a stomping spree! When things get rough, you gotta get tough! NOW SIT DOWN AND EAT YOUR CARROTS, YOU GOOD-FOR-NOTHING, FREELOADING RABBIT!”

To the ponies in Chrysalis’s team, this was a hilarious mess and they were in tears from laughing so hard. But Chrysalis could not believe this was simply part of a game. It looked like some barbaric and horrifying ritual used to unlock some unknown layer of Tartarus mortal eyes dared not to look upon.

DING!

Instantly, the madness ceased. The dramatic ponies stopped to take a breath and regroup. Twilight and Starlight were giggling to themselves while Fluttershy attempted to disappear behind her mane. Pinkie grinned madly at the other team. “Alright, now you all have to guess what we were doing!”

“Are you kidding me?!” Chrysalis cried. “I can’t even guess the kind of substance one would have to overdose on to cause such madness, let alone have a clue what you all were doing!”

“That’s the whole point, Chrysalis. Did you already forget about the events we wrote on paper? Tch, I knew having her play was going to be a lame idea.” Rainbow rolled her eyes. Chrysalis said nothing, but shot her a look that warned the pegasus was treading on thin ice. 

Rarity cleared her throat, noting the rising irritation and confusion from Chrysalis. “They’re simply acting, Chrysalis. Whatever event they drew from the hat, they have to pretend to be experiencing that situation and stay in character for the full duration. Part of the fun is watching them act silly.”

“Eyup,” Applejack nodded, “and it’s our job to figure out what they were actin’ out. Whoever gets the highest score, wins. It’s a mighty simple concept, and it can get downright ridiculous.”

“I...see.” Now it was beginning to make sense what the whole point of the game was; acting and trying to guess what event they were acting. No wonder Pinkie figured changelings would find it easy. “So, an example would be that Twilight was screaming and rolling around like she was on fire? At least, that’s what it looked like.”

“Yep. Actually, you guessed it right, so your team gets a point.” Twilight answered as she walked over to hoof her note to Chrysalis. The note read ‘You’ve been set on fire’.

“I think I can guess what event Pinkie Pie had.” Rarity mused. “It had something to do with running late by chance? Like, a meeting or important event?”

“Yup!” Pinkie hopped over to Rarity and handed the note that read ‘You’re late for the most important event of your life’.

Rainbow hummed thoughtfully to herself. “The other two are pretty tough. Whatever Fluttershy had, it was definitely a ‘something got you angry’ kind of event. I’m gonna say...Fluttershy had an event that read something like ‘a friend did something horrible that made you upset’.”

“U-um, sorry Rainbow, that’s not close enough to get a point. Here is what it said.” Fluttershy gave Rainbow the note. Chrysalis peeked at the note and read aloud.

“Your greatest rival challenges you to a fight?” Chrysalis blinked as she glanced at Fluttershy. She nodded shyly. “How in the world did that involve your rabbit?”

“U-um, we have a complicated relationship,” she muttered quietly.

“Guess it’s up to me to figure out Starlight, huh?” Applejack paused, rubbing her chin as she narrowed her eyes at Starlight. “Hmm...she’s actin’ mighty shy, like some big shot was talkin’ her up. I take it some special somepony ya liked started chattin’ it up with ya?”

“Yep, you nailed it right on the head!” Starlight beamed and handed the note that read ‘Your biggest idol asked to hang out with you’ to Applejack.

“Alright, that concludes round one! Looks like Team Chryssi got three points! Great job girls!” Pinkie cheered. “Now it’s your turn to act!”

Chrysalis stiffened. As much as she enjoyed goofing around in her own special way, humiliating herself in front of these ponies, especially Twilight, was not something she was looking forward to. Perhaps if she transformed to look like a pony…

“By the way, you can’t transform for this, Chrysalis. YOU have to be the one who is acting.” Twilight pointed out.

Curse you, Twilight! Chrysalis grimaced. It was clear on Twilight’s grinning face she was enjoying her torment in the face of utterly embarrassing herself. One way or another, Chrysalis was going to make Twilight pay for this.

“Chrysalis, are you alright?” Rarity gently prodded the stunned queen who jumped at the unexpected contact. “You seem rather troubled.”

Get a hold of yourself! Once they begin to pity you, it is all over! You are a predator, not prey! Chrysalis  shook off the creeping trepidation and flashed Rarity a confident smirk. “Troubled? Hardly. Changelings are masters of deception and acting, after all. Surely I can play my part so convincingly, they would be lost in awe.”

“You talk the talk, Chrysalis,” Twilight tossed a coy smirk, “but can you actually walk the walk?”

Chrysalis blinked. Twilight seemed surprisingly competitive about this game. Was she still sore about losing the identity game at the door earlier, or was she simply trying to bolster Chrysalis’s confidence? Either way, Chrysalis was not going to let that challenge slip by. “Surely you jest, Twilight. Need I remind you of the magnificent talents I’ve displayed time and time again? I can surely beat this challenge, and our team will crush yours!”

“I’ll believe it when I see it. Show me what you got, Chryssi.”

“You asked for it, Sparky.”

“Oh, did we start already?” Pinkie piped up. “Oh, oh, this must be ‘your lover is talking dirty to you’! Did I get it right?”

Twilight flushed and facehoofed while Chrysalis froze. After a moment’s pause, followed by giggling from the other mares, Chrysalis forced a smile. “Very good guess!”

“Just get on with it already!” Twilight bellowed.

As Chrysalis’s team prepared to act their events, Chrysalis stole a look at each of their events and had to keep herself from giggling. Now that she understood the main idea of the game, watching these ponies act out ridiculous events was rather humorous. But still, it was a game that required a winner, and Chrysalis had a dire need to rub her victory in Twilight’s face. 

After making a mental checklist of the rules, an idea suddenly came to her.

“Team, I require a moment of your time,” Chrysalis whispered to them.

The ponies gave Chrysalis an odd glance before closing the distance. “What’s up?” Rainbow whispered back.

“I have an idea on how to beat Twilight’s team, but I will require your cooperation.”

Applejack raised a skeptical eyebrow. “This isn’t exactly much of a strategy game. Just us goofin’ off and having a good laugh. Besides, Twilight is usually too good at this game and will likely see through any tricks we try to pull.”

“Heh. How little you fathom the power and flexibility of an effective strategy. But alas, I shall enlighten you three on something interesting, just this once. I shall teach you the power of changeling strategies by showing you one of our most powerful techniques…” 

From here, Chrysalis gave a quick overview of the idea that came to mind. The three mares were skeptical at first, but eventually found themselves nodding and catching onto a secret brilliance of the plan.

“Are you girls actually scheming?” Twilight asked, having observed them huddled together.

“Scheming, you say?” Chrysalis laughed as her team broke from the huddle, all of them wearing sneaky grins. “Of course we are!”

“Must you be so blatant about it?” Twilight deadpanned. Never had she meant somepony who was so proud of being sinister. “Well, are you four ready? We don’t have all night.”

“We most certainly are ready to blow your minds with our grandiose acting!” Chrysalis swept her hoof in dramatic fashion. “Let us commence this game and show you ponies how the real players play!”

“Alright, the timer is set for thirty seconds!” Pinkie sounded off, grinning ear to ear. “Counting off in three...two...one...aaaaaaand GO!”

Immediately, Chrysalis’s plan went into motion: she didn’t move.

Sitting on her haunches, Chrysalis was stone still as she stared wide-eyed at an upward angle, her ears pinned back and jaw ajar. It was a clear indication of being stricken with fear while adding an unsettling element of not even blinking or flinching. Twilight’s team couldn’t help but gawk in confusion, especially when this bizarre effect was greatly enhanced by the three awkwardly blushing mares around her.

“My, my, aren’t you a naughty mare. I didn’t realize you had such a way with words.” Rarity fluttered her eyelashes in a sultry fashion as she nuzzled up against Applejack, who gulped and shrank back from the flirty fashionista.

“I-I-I didn’t realize you felt that way about me. Aw shucks, I ain’t good wit this touchy-feely stuff.” Sweat rolled down her cheek as her eyes never left Rarity, who was making circles around the farmer while rubbing against Applejack’s coat.

Rainbow Dash flailed her forelegs in a panic as she wailed. “Could you seriously stop? Like, right now? Ponies are watching and-agh! This is just the worst! Somepony kill me!”

Twilight watched on as the oddly synchronized mares not only stayed in character, but seemed to actually interact with each other without explicitly hinting at it. As the seconds ticked by, Twilight’s teammates were both baffled and nearly rolling with laughter at the antics of Team Chrysalis. Twilight, however, kept her focus on Chrysalis. She knew the queen to be incredibly cunning, so it was rather uncharacteristic for her to be simply stuck in place, terror stricken. Was she hit with stage fright? Was Chrysalis even capable of it? Perhaps this was acting out an event the entire time?

The moment the timer hit fifteen seconds, the second phase of Chrysalis’s plan went into action.

Chrysalis released a loud hiss, drawing the attention of Twilight’s team to herself as she sparked her horn and teleported behind Twilight. Before Twilight could act or question her actions, Chrysalis locked her forelegs around her and held her towards Twilight’s teammates like a hostage.

“N-now, now, let’s talk about this!” Chrysalis’s voice quivered as she began scrambling back with Twilight in tow. “You don’t want me! Take Twilight instead! Have you seen this coat? It’s so colorful and fluffy! It’s perfect nuzzle material! I’ll prove it!” Chrysalis began roughly nuzzling her cheek against Twilight, who seized up and turned several shades of crimson. “You see? She likes it and...hey, this is quite nice, actually!”

“C-C-Chrysalis! Cut it out!” Twilight stammered. It didn’t help that her own teammates were brought to tears with laughter watching her. Even Chrysalis’s team, who were still in character while the antics were going on, struggled to continue acting as their cheeks puffed up from their attempts of desperately restraining their laughter.

“You can just tell she’s enjoying it! Feel the heat burning off her! It’s like a fuzzy furnace you can just cuddle up to nuzzle all day long. Hay, if you don’t want her, I’ll be more than happy to keep the fuzzy muzzle nuzzles to myself! You can’t get more huggable than this!” The nuzzle roughhousing lasted throughout the remaining fifteen seconds. Once the timer ended, it instantly ended the nuzzle-spree and acting. The laughter, however, was still going strong.

“Oh my gosh! That was priceless!” Rainbow clutched her stomach as she rolled on her back in uproarious laughter. 

“Truly a brilliant performance if I do say so myself!” Chrysalis grinned as she mussed up Twilight’s mane. Twilight, in turn, crossed her forelegs and pouted as she glared at Chrysalis. “Aww, and you look so cute when you’re all pouty. You all should really try nuzzling her coat. It’s softer than it looks!”

“Oh, pick me! Pick me! I wanna nuzzle Twilight!” Pinkie chimed in as she raised a hoof high in the air.

Starlight snorted, failing to contain her laughter. “I-I suppose a little nuzzle wouldn’t hurt.”

“GRAAAAH!” Twilight yelled as she angrily swatted at the giggling changeling queen. “Would you knock it off already?! Let’s just get this game over with!”

“Oh yeah! Now we have to figure out what events Chryssi’s team was trying to act out! I was so distracted by Chrysalis’s...pffft...acting, that I’d almost forgotten!” Pinkie chuckled.

“Almost forgotten...that’s it!” Twilight gasped, then shot an accusatory glare at Chrysalis. “This was all part of your plan! You purposefully waited until our focus was solely on Applejack, Rarity and Rainbow so we wouldn’t have the time to guess what event you were acting!”

Chrysalis cackled. “And you all fell for it! Now there is no way you all can guess what it is!”

“I know what it is!” Pinkie giggled. “I totally recognize it because I wrote it! But I can’t say anything since I’m the creator of the event. But still, that was absolutely perfect, Chrysalis! I knew you would be great!”

“...Hehehe...HAHAHAHA!”

To everypony’s surprise, this time it was Twilight who cackled madly.

“Unfortunately for you, Chrysalis, I already figured out the event you were acting out!”

Chrysalis’s smirk fell. “You’re just bluffing, Sparky.”

“Afraid not, Chrysalis. You may have tricked me at the door, but you can't outsmart me this time. I knew you were up to something, so I made sure to mentally note every possibility that matched your expressions, movements, and words. It’s clear from the first half that you’re acting out something that is scaring you. And when you used me to barter for your own survival—something you and I are going to have a friendship lesson about at a later date—you focused primarily on nuzzling—”

“That you were totally enjoying!”

“Hush, Applejack,” Twilight said without missing a beat. “Anyway, between those aspects of your acting, I can deduce that something frightened you and wanted to do something that involved cuddling. Therefore, I conclude that—”

“NEEEERRRRRD!”

“Shut up, Rainbow!” Twilight paused to glare at the snickering pegasus. She was about to continue when her eyes count onto Rarity, whose lips trembled and eyes watered. “What is it, Rarity?”

“You, erm, have something on your cheek.”

“My cheek?” Twilight rubbed at her cheeks with her hooves, but found nothing. “What’s on my cheek?”

“Nothing much. Just a bad case of...the fuzzy muzzle nuzzles!” Rarity suddenly burst into a fit of giggles, along with Applejack and Rainbow.

“Anyway!” Twilight exclaimed heatedly, unable to keep her flustered complexion in check. “The point I’m trying to make is that Chrysalis’s event has to be she’s being chased by something scary that wants to cuddle or hug her!”

Silence.

Chrysalis merely stared at Twilight, who in turn gave an impatient stare. “Well, Chrysalis? Am I right? I have to be right! It can’t be anything else!”

More silence. 

Twilight growled. Was this another game? What was Chrysalis playing at? “Well? Don’t just stand there, say something.” 

Suddenly, without the slightest warning, Chrysalis quickly leaned forward and licked Twilight’s muzzle. 

The room fell silent as Fluttershy, Pinkie and Starlight’s jaws dropped in shock. Twilight went stiff as a board, speechless and gaping at the widely grinning queen.

“Congratulations. You got me.” Chrysalis grabbed Twilight’s limp hoof and dropped the event note in her hoof. Then she leaned into Twilight’s ears and whispered so quietly Twilight had to focus her frazzled mind to hear it. “I win again, Twilight.”

“W-what?” Twilight was left breathless as Chrysalis stepped back and sauntered over to her own team. 

“Well, ponies?” Chrysalis gave a bored look at the stupefied mares across the room. “Go on. You still have three guesses to go.”

An uncomfortable silence stretched over the next minute. Fluttershy, Starlight, and Pinkie blinked and tossed each other questioning stares. “Um...do any of you remember what Applejack, Rarity and Rainbow were acting?” Starlight asked.

“Not a thing!” Pinkie answered.

“I-I was so distracted by what Chrysalis was doing I completely forgot. I’m sorry.” Fluttershy said. She then turned to Twilight, who was still left in a daze after getting her muzzle licked by Chrysalis. “Um, Twilight? Do you remember what Rainbow and the others were acting?”

“Huh? Wha?” Twilight shook her head, ridding herself of the stunned state she was left in. “Wait, you girls don’t remember?”

“How could we when we just watched you get licked by Chrysalis?!” Pinkie exclaimed.

“Urk!” Twilight flushed as her eyes darted among the members of Chrysalis’s team. She couldn’t remember anything they were doing. She had been too busy focused on…”AH!”

As if on cue, Chrysalis’s insidious smirk matched those of her fellow conspirators. “Game, set and match.” Chrysalis raised her hoof towards her teammates, who hoofbumped her in unison.

Twilight was stunned again, but for a completely different reason. “Chrysalis used misdirection!”

“It was super effective!” Pinkie exclaimed. “...By the way, what’s misdirection?”

“It’s a deception tactic you use when you want to distract somepony by shifting their attention to something else. She kept us focused on her when it counted so we would completely forget what the other ponies were doing.”

“And it worked like a charm! Like taking candy from a filly!” Rainbow boasted.

“I wasn’t sure at first, but that was mighty brilliant of ya, Chrysalis!” Applejack grinned.

“I’m afraid we also used a bit of misdirection when we were interrupting Twilight’s explanation to make her more frustrated and stuck on the idea of revealing Chrysalis’s event. It’s a shame our own act was forgotten, as it was a marvelous and unique combination of our events.” Rarity said.

Chrysalis stepped forward, bearing a toothy grin at Twilight. “And the icing on the cake was the last thing you would have ever expected; a kiss from Yours Truly. It’s the oldest trick in the book my children use to create their own bit of misdirection.”

PInkie hummed thoughtfully to herself as she rubbed her chin. “Huh. So all I have to do is lick somepony’s face to use misdirection?” 

“Don’t get any ideas, Pinkie.” Twilight shot her friend a deadpan stare, who smiled back all-too innocently. Her attention back on Chrysalis, she released a heavy sigh. “Fine, you win this game...cheaters.”

Chrysalis’s team whooped, reveling in their victory over Twilight’s team. Despite feeling irritated at losing to Chrysalis’s cheap tricks again, Twilight noticed how Rarity, Rainbow and Applejack no longer seemed nervous around Chrysalis, and vice versa. They were smiling, laughing, and joking with each other like a team that just won a major Buckball game. Perhaps, Twilight reasoned, she could let it go this time if it meant her friends could bond with Chrysalis.

Looking over at Starlight, the unicorn winked at Twilight, noting that she too noticed the positive change of group dynamic.

“Outside a certain elements of surprise, that was actually pretty fun!” Twilight smiled.

“Oh really?” Chrysalis wiggled her eyebrows suggestively. “Or are you just talking about when I licked you?”

“H-HUSH!” Twilight shrieked, her face completely flushed.

“I’m not hearing a no~”

“NO, AND I SAID HUSH!”

“Perhaps we should just move onto the next game?” Starlight offered.

“And I know just the one!” Pinkie proclaimed. Everypony turned to the earth pony, who brandished a wide grin. “How about we play…”
> Secret Moon
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“What a curiously named game,” Chrysalis thought aloud, watching Pinkie grab the board game box from the stack in the corner.

“I just know you’re going to love this game, Chrysalis. It just screams ‘you’,” Pinkie said.

Twilight’s smile broadened as she helped Pinkie set up the game. “I couldn’t agree more. This game is all about deductions and bluffing. You have to really use your head in order to win. I almost feel like you get a home field advantage or something here.”

Chrysalis pursed her lips in doubt. “Something similar was mentioned about the previous game too. Will this also require acting like a maniac?”

Twilight giggled as she organized the game pieces with her magic. “No, but it’s more fun if you roleplay it. Imagine that we are all members of a cabinet in charge of trying to reform the struggling Equestrian government that’s on the brink of collapse. As loyalists, we have a duty to ensure we pass all the good policies to make sure we save Equestria.”

The first object to go on the table was a gold rectangular board with the word ‘Loyalist’ branded on the top. Five squares were connected in the middle, the fifth square marked with Celestia’s emblem of a fiery golden sun.

Twilight continued. “When the loyalists pass five good policy votes, they win.”

“I’m sensing this won’t be an easy feat,” Chrysalis guessed.

“That’s right, because there’s another group who is attempting to change all of Equestria into their own twisted image; the separatists and their evil leader, Nightmare Moon.”

Twilight placed a similarly shaped midnight blue board labeled ‘Separatist’ next to the loyalist board. Six squares were on this board, except each square outside the first and last had written text. The final square had an emblem of Nightmare Moon’s cutie mark.

“This is where things get interesting. Two separatists and Nightmare Moon herself have infiltrated our ranks and are hiding among us. If the separatists get six bad policies voted on, they win. I’ll explain some of the more intricate rules as we play, but the best part of the game involves these envelopes. Take one, but don’t open them yet.”

Twilight hovered a stack of eight blank envelopes in the middle of the table. Everypony took one at random, leaving the last one for Twilight. “Pay close attention, because this is the most important part of the game. Inside the envelopes are slips that will explain whether you are a separatist or a loyalist. Unless a rule says otherwise, you can never reveal your slip. It is for your knowledge only.”

The gears started churning in Chrysalis’ mind. “So that’s it. We will have no idea who the separatists or loyalists are, relying on our wits to tell one or the other apart.”

“Exactly!” Pinkie exclaimed. “There’s a few special twists in this game, but let’s get started and explain along the way rather than sit here and talk about it.”

“Good idea, Pinkie,” Twilight nodded. “Alright, go ahead and open your envelopes to see what side you’re on.”

Chrysalis used her magic to carefully remove the thick plastic slip inside the envelope as well as two square chips, one with a green circle and the word ‘yay’ and the other with a red X and the word ‘nay’. On the slip was a picture of a regal-looking white unicorn stallion with a smooth, slicked-back blonde mane and bright azure eyes that reminded her of a particular prince for some reason. Underneath the stallion was a single phrase embedded on the center: Loyalist.

It took considerable effort to contain the surprise on her face. She had hoped to get a spot in the separatist faction to really cut loose on manipulating the ponies around her. Then again, being the ‘good pony’ was a refreshing change of pace, albeit seeming like a boring path to venture.

Confirming her selection, Chrysalis inserted the slip back inside and looked up at everypony else’s expressions. Each of their faces struggled to look as unassuming and passive as possible, likely trying to avoid revealing which side they were on. Smart move.

Once everyone seemed ready, Twilight brought out a deck of seventeen cards, each with the words ‘policy’ written on the back and an eight-sided die.

“Okay, everypony,” Twilight started, “now that everything is set to begin, fold your hooves on the table, lower your head, and close your eyes. And no peeking until you are told to do so… Chrysalis.”

“Tch, like I care about peeking.” Chrysalis scoffed as she followed the directions, secretly burning with curiosity.

“Go ahead and take it from here, Pinkie.”

“Okie dokie, Twily! Alright, listen up! Whoever’s a separatist and not Nightmare Moon, open your eyes and look around. Make sure you remember who is who and keep that secret.”

As a tense silence followed, Chrysalis was struck with a cold realization; the separatists would know exactly who belonged with what faction. Why Nightmare Moon had to keep her eyes closed was a mystery, but the separatists had a critical advantage. Villains always did have the best advantages.

Chrysalis sighed, reminiscing on the good old days of tyranny and infiltration. Good times.

“Now, if you are Nightmare Moon, keep your eyes closed and raise your hoof.” Another beat of silence. Chrysalis shifted uncomfortably, struggling to keep herself from peeking.

“Good! Now everypony return to your starting position. Back to you, Twilight!”

“Thank you, Pinkie. Eyes open, everypony!”

Chrysalis’ eyes fluttered upon, taking quick stock of the sudden shift of atmosphere. Applejack and Rainbow threw scrutinizing stares at everypony, especially Chrysalis. Rarity, Starlight and Twilight looked calm on the surface, but their eyes were filled with intensity and alertness. Fluttershy was grinning to herself for reasons Chrysalis couldn’t imagine while Pinkie Pie was smiling widely.

“Ooh, I can tell this is going be a good game! Everypony’s so tense!” Fluttershy chirped.

Twilight smiled. “This is where the fun begins. I’ll go ahead and roll this die to randomly pick a player who will go first. Going clockwise, it will be me, Chrysalis, Rarity, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Starlight, Applejack, and Pinkie Pie.” Shaking the die in her hooves, Twilight rolled it towards the center of the table. Chrysalis held her breath.

Four.

Fluttershy squeaked. “Oh, wow, so I’m the first Princess? Oh, o-okay. Let’s see…” As her eyes scanned the room, she landed on a confused Chrysalis. Suddenly, an idea seemed to pop in Fluttershy’s mind. She smiled, and said, “Chrysalis, I choose you to be my Chancellor.”

“Seriously? You’re picking Chrysalis for the first Chancellor? Whatcha up to, Fluttershy?” Rainbow’s eyes narrowed with suspicion.

“I-I-I’m not up to anything!” Fluttershy raised her hooves in defense. “I just wanted to show her how the game plays during each turn. The first turn is the safest turn, so we wouldn't risk it one way or another.”

“It’s all good, Sugarcube,” Applejack waved off, “whether either of them are separatists or not doesn’t make a lick of difference this early. Best to see how this plays out. Let’s vote on it.” All but Chrysalis nodded in agreement.

“Princess? Chancellor? What does this have to do with the game?” Chrysalis asked.

“Remember how Twilight mentioned we were tasked to help the government?” Fluttershy asked. Chrysalis nodded. “Well, each turn represents an election term, where a Princess is picked as a candidate. That Princess, in turn, designates a Chancellor to help pass policies with. Then everypony, you and I included, will vote on whether this election will pass or fail. If majority votes pass, then we go to the next phase of the turn. But if the number of fails is equal to or greater than the number of passes, then that election fails and, effectively, skips the turn.”

Chrysalis’ eyes lit up as everything clicked. “I see. So if I suspect somepony is a separatist that’s about to become the next Princess or Chancellor, I can vote against them.”

Fluttershy smiled. “That’s right. Now, let’s pull out the ballots. Or rather, the chips inside the envelope. Once everypony decides whether they want to pass or fail this election, we will all reveal it on the count of three.” After a few seconds, the ponies and one changeling queen withdrew the desired ballot chip and held them face down on the table. “Okay, so one… two… three!” The ballots all flipped face up simultaneously.

Eight passes.

“Yay! Now we get to create a new policy from the policy deck.” Fluttershy cheered. Her hoof hovered above the policy deck as she explained the next set of rules.

“When you look at the policy cards as a Chancellor, you must select a policy and play it face up to show everypony. All other cards go to the discard pile while still remaining face down, which I will show you once I go through my part. Nopony is allowed to see what the other results were and we cannot speak until after you revealed the policy. We’re going to vote together now, so make sure not to say anything until after you voted.”

Chrysalis nodded and watched with interest as Fluttershy drew three cards from the deck, keeping the results hidden behind her hooves.

Fluttershy gulped, going wide-eyed.

Taking one of the cards and putting it face down next to the policy deck, Fluttershy slid the other two towards Chrysalis, keeping those face down as well. As Chrysalis took the cards into her hooves, the air thickened with tension. The other mares burned holes into Chrysalis’ head with their stares. She peered into the two policy cards.

Both cards had blue faces, the word ‘Separatist’ printed on them.

“THIS IS TOTAL BULL—”

“Chrysalis! No talking!” Twilight cut in quickly.

With a growl, Chrysalis angrily slammed one of them face up on the first square of the separatist board and the other in the discard pile. Suddenly, she jerked a hoof at Fluttershy as if it was a weapon. “You’re setting me up! Both of these cards were separatist!”

“T-that’s just bad luck. There are only six Loyalist policies in the deck. All the other cards are Separatist, so sometimes we will be stuck with the bad ones.”

“Or,” Rarity aimed a sly grin at Fluttershy, “there could have actually been a loyalist card among those three, but a certain Princess is trying to play coy. I’m willing to trust Chrysalis’ reaction that she was thrown under the cart, but you can’t fool me, Fluttershy. I bet you’re actually a separatist trying to throw us off!”

“Let’s not forget Chrysalis,” Twilight chimed in, “she’s really good at faking expressions and shock to get what she wants. Remember how she fooled us during the last game?”

Doubt flashed in everypony’s eyes as they cast suspicious glances towards Chrysalis, whose jaw hung agape. She growled, “Why that conniving little… look, I’ll prove that these cards are all—”

“Nuh-uh, Chryssi!” Pinkie halted her before she could reveal the unused card. “You can only reveal the policy you put into motion. No matter what.”

“That’s Chrysalis to you, Pinkie,” Chrysalis seethed, feeling sore about the concealment ruling.

“Well that’s not fair! Twilight gets to call you Chryssi!”

“Only Twilight has my permission to call me that.”

“Oho, exclusive pet name basis with each other? Color me intrigued, Sparky,” Rarity tossed a sly glance over at the facehoofing Twilight.

Applejack shrugged, “if what we saw those two doin’ at the entrance was any indication, there’s probably more intrigue than we would ever want to know.”

“Oh hush!” Twilight glared at the chuckling mares.

Despite the welcomed distraction, Chrysalis found herself troubled. This was a bad start, and it didn’t help that her reputation as a cunning manipulator was going to be used against her, especially if she continued getting all separatist choices. The game had barely started and Chrysalis already wanted to scream out of frustration.

Confound these ponies and their silly games. 

“My turn to be princess, and I already know who I’m gonna pick for chancellor!” Rainbow beamed as her eyes swept the table and landed on her target. “Hey AJ, why should I make you a Chancellor?”

“Because I’m an honest apple, and I can honestly tell ya that I’m a loyalist, just like you, RD,” Applejack proclaimed.

“Now hold on just one minute.”

All eyes turned to Rarity and her scrutinizing gaze. Rainbow quirked an eyebrow. “What’s yer argument, Rarity?” asked Applejack.

“‘Honest apple’? Nevermind the times you’ve lied in the past, but your Element holds no bearing here. I think she’s hiding something.”

“‘Scuse me?” Applejack glared. “My honor as bearer of the Element of Honesty holds true no matter where I go. Yer just tryin’ to confuse good ol’ RD because you’re a lyin’, good-fer-nothin’ separatist!”

Rarity gasped. “How dare you compare me to those scoundrels? That sort of tactic is something a separatist would say. Don’t you agree, Rainbow Dash?”

“Uh…” Rainbow looked between Rarity and Applejack, scratching her head. “Well, it’s hard to say.”

“Interesting,” Twilight stated as she gave Rainbow Dash an appraising look. “Honesty is indeed a critical virtue to carry no matter where you go. I think you made the right choice here. If there’s anypony here making themselves suspicious, it’s you, Rarity. No offense.”

“She has a good point,” Starlight added as an aside.

Rarity faltered, a hint of doubt flickering in her eyes. “T-that’s preposterous! All I am saying is that simply saying you’re going to be honest in this game because of your element is rather unfair. What if she was a separatist?”

“Then the separatist power would help Rainbow figure that out for us if Applejack picks separatist,” Starlight countered.

Chrysalis blinked. “Powers? Separatists get powers?”

Starlight nodded. “Different powers trigger depending on the separatist votes. See the text on the board?” Using her magic, she floated the board over to Chrysalis. “Once the separatist vote triggers, the Princess at the time will get to use the power if it’s a one-time ability, such as the upcoming ability.”

Chrysalis frowned slightly. Villains apparently got all the good stuff while the loyalists got nothing. She read the text for the upcoming ability.

The Princess investigates a player’s identity card.

That was indeed a powerful ability. Figuring out who was aligned to one side or the other would be a critical asset to winning this game. This give Chrysalis an idea; if she could get a pony to target her with that power, she could show undeniable proof that she was a loyalist.

During her reading, she noticed the other squares had abilities too, deciding to read ahead to gather intel on how future turns may progress.

The next ability was an interesting one: The Princess picks the next Princess candidate. Chrysalis kept that in the back of her mind, recognizing that she would likely never get picked for that power.

When she read the next power, her jaw dropped: The Princess must kill a player.

“We can kill other ponies?!”

“Am I the only one who is a little worried about how excited she got just now?” Starlight quipped.

Twilight gave Chrysalis a deadpanned stare. “Not literally, Chrysalis.”

“If I didn’t know you, I would assume you were being a smartass, Twilight,” Chrysalis snarked.

“And if I didn’t know you, I would assume you might get too creative about that separatist power,” she shot back. “Anyway, it’s exactly as it sounds; whoever gets that power has absolute authority to take a single player out of the game for good. And once they’re out, they can’t talk and can only spectate the game. The next separatist vote has the same power, but also the ability for both Princess and Chancellor to agree to discard all the policies without revealing them. Pretty important since the separatist would win if another separatist policy would get added.”

The escalation of the game was clear. When the separatists gained power, the rules of the game would change drastically. If she was going to stay in the game and win this, she needed to ensure she earned the trust of everypony before the assassination powers were activated. Otherwise, she was positive she would be the first person to be taken out.

Chrysalis’ only path to victory was to make friends.

Nodding to Starlight, the unicorn placed the board back on the table. Attempting to gain favor while also discerning who was a separatist was going to be quite the balancing act. For now, she could only play the waiting game and seek opportunities to make herself out to be a loyalist.

Rainbow contemplated her decision for awhile longer before eventually arriving at a decision.

“I’m gonna stick with AJ. If she’s a separatist scumbag, we’re gonna find out with this turn. Let’s vote.” With that, the game moved into the voting phase, everyone picked their choices and, Rainbow counting off, revealed the votes.

Eight passes.

Applejack smiled at Rarity. “Glad you could see things our way, Sugarcube.”

“Hmph. I’m still not a fan of the idea, but alas, I have no counterpoint… yet.”

“Yeah, yeah, we’ll see once we pass this policy.” Rainbow waved off, drawing three cards from the policy deck. As she picked a card out and slid the rest to Applejack, the farm mare’s choice was instant: a card with a gold face that had the word “loyalist” on the front.

A collective sigh of relief was released as Applejack placed the corresponding card on the gold board. Even Chrysalis had to admit the tension was surprisingly thick. But knowing her team received a point in their favor was exhilarating.

“Ya see, Rares? I’m a good-natured, honest loyalist. No foul play here,” said Applejack.

Rarity, in turn, released a sigh of relief. “Well, Glad to see my fears were proven to be unfounded.” When her eyes went towards Chrysalis, a sly smile spread on her lips. “My, my, looks like you’re starting to get invested in this game, Chrysalis.”

When all eyes fell on her, Chrysalis straightened herself up and wiped the smile off her face. “Nonsense. I’m just glad my team scored a point in this silly game.”

“There’s nothing to be shy about, Chrysalis!” Pinkie reassured, beaming. “This game is super fun! There’s so much intrigue, backstabbing, and mystery involved. What’s not to like?”

Chrysalis hesitated, noting the expectant looks on the their faces. Feeling just marginally embarrassed, she scoffed as she waved off Pinkie’s statement. “Whatever. I suppose there’s just a little bit of a redeeming factor in this silly game of yours.”

“Whatever you say, you big softie. It’s my turn now.” Starlight giggled, ignoring Chrysalis’ pointed glare. “Let’s see…” Her eyes swept across the table, surveying the stares of the ponies in the room. When the eyes fell on Rarity, they lingered.

“Rarity, why should I pick you as Chancellor?”

“The answer is clear, is it not? I am a noble and purehearted pursuer of the truth to save our glorious kingdom and overthrow those nefarious separatists!”

“And trying to win the award for being the more overdramatic mare in the room,” Chrysalis said.

“Don’t be such a fun police, Chrysalis. The game is far more fun when you invest yourself into it. Just imagine it; the fate of the kingdom lies in your hooves. The enemy is hiding in plain sight, just waiting to trip you up and make you suspect your closest friends of treason. But you must stay resolute and keep your eyes sharp! Question every motive! Pursue every clue! The tension! The suspense! The—”

“You marathoned that ‘Manehattan Noire’ series recently, didn’t you?” Starlight cut in with a knowing grin.

Rarity paused, flushing as she averted her eyes. “...It’s a timeless classic.”

“You’re a timeless classic," Applejack snarked.

“Shush, you! Ahem, anyway, you can rest assured that only the loyalist policies would get passed in my hooves.”

Starlight smiled. “Alright. Do any of you girls have objections?”

Chrysalis growled mentally to herself. As much as she wanted to argue that she should be picked Princess, she had no solid ground to hold her argument. All she could do was hope that Rarity picked loyalist with her choice.

With no objections giving, the two moved into the voting phase. Starlight drew three cards. The moment she glanced at them, her face twisted into discomfort as she passed two to Rarity. Rarity gasped, grumbling as she placed her policy down.

Separatist.

“Rarity, you traitor!” Rainbow barked, pointing a hoof at her.

“I swear I’m not! I was given two separatist policies! It’s Starlight who sabotaged me!”

“I don’t know,” Twilight started, “you’ve been awfully aggressive with your questioning and pressure. That’s a separatist sort of move to keep a pony from thinking things through.”

Chrysalis couldn’t argue that point. The faster one kept things moving, the easier it was to trip somepony up. She couldn’t deny that Rarity’s credibility was looking rather bleak.

“Hold on, everypony. Rarity is totally innocent in this,” Starlight intervened. “All three of my cards were separatist, so please don’t blame her for it. This round was kind of a bust for us.”

Chrysalis’ eyes narrowed. Fluttershy had said something similar during her turn. Yet, the likelihood of drawing three separatist cards twice in a row sounded a bit too far-fetched for her liking, even if eleven of the seventeen cards were separatist.

But wait, now the next power is active.

Seeing an opportunity, Chrysalis decided to seize it.

“Starlight, you should have the power to see identity cards now. Please use that power on me.”

Starlight blinked in surprise. “Really? Usually players would attempt to point this power at whoever they think is a separatist.”

“Oh ho ho, I think I know. Chrysalis, you sly changeling!” Pinkie beamed. “You wanna show everypony that you’re a loyalist. Good thinking!”

“Yeah, that’s pretty smart. Gotta admit, I really want to know what Chrysalis’ alignment is,” Rainbow said.

“Certainly sounds like a compelling argument,” Starlight said, “but I’m not going to pick you, Chrysalis.”

Chrysalis frown. “What?! Why not? You will get to prove that I’m a loyalist!”

“I don’t need to look at your identity card to know where your loyalty lies, Chrysalis. Besides, there is one pony in this room that I need to figure out. That pony, is you!” Starlight pointed her hoof at a surprised Twilight.

“Really? Why Twilight?” Fluttershy asked.

“She has been poking holes in everypony’s argument since the start. Also, if she’s a separatist, it’s better we know now rather than let her stay hidden until the end.”

Chrysalis, though annoyed she couldn’t have proved her innocence this turn, couldn’t resist wanting to know Twilight’s alignment herself.

“Huh. I reckon I hadn’t thought about Twi being a separatist spy, but it makes sense with the way she’s been prodding everypony’s reasonin’. If dat were da case, she would be mighty dangerous. Yeah, definitely voting for Twi on this one.”

“W-wait, I haven’t been poking holes in every argument!” Twilight defended.

“You’re always poking my holes,” Chrysalis quipped with a sly grin, eliciting a blush from the ponies in the room, especially Twilight.

“Hey, I only did that once and— I-I mean, I don’t poke holes in all of your arguments!” Twilight recovered, sweating bullets.

“So about these holes you’ve been poking—”

“Zip it, Pinkie,” Twilight interrupted, clearing her throat. “Anyway, I have nothing to hide—”

“Except for all those self-insert stories with Cel—"

“Nothing to hide!” Twilight glared heatedly at the snickering Chrysalis. Pulling out her identity card, she slid it towards Starlight while keeping the face of the card hidden.

Starlight picked it up, breathed a sigh of relief, then gave the card back. “Yup, she’s a loyalist. That’s good news for us.”

Chrysalis blinked. She was expecting Starlight to reveal the identity for all to see. However, thinking about the wording, the power simply said to investigate the card. Whether it was true that Twilight was a loyalist or not would only be known to Starlight, who Chrysalis had begun to believe was a loyalist as well. Though nothing was conclusive, at least there were some positive signs of fellow loyalists.

“Now, with that done, looks like it’s mah turn to be a Princess, and I think I know who I wanna start with. Pinkie, why should I make ya a Chancellor?”

“Because you want the loyalist to win, silly! Vote for me, and I’ll guarantee an awesome victory and a helping of booze for all!”

“Now you’re speaking my language! All hail Chancellor Pinkie!” Rainbow cheered.

“How about we don’t mix alcohol and deduction games together?” Twilight asked.

“Oh, don’t be a wimp. A little bit of cider ain’t gonna hurt!”

“Normally, I would agree. But I brought something a bit special for tonight that I'd rather save for later,” said Applejack. Chrysalis pondered on asking about this mysterious beverage Applejack talked about, but chose to let it slide for now. “I say let’s skip on the booze for now and just focus on winnin’ this game.”

“Okie dokie! Ready to start when you are!” Pinkie readied her voting chip, as did everyone else. On the count of three, they revealed the votes.

Eight passes.

“Alright! Now let’s get ta votin’!” Applejack drew three cards from the deck and passed two to Pinkie.

Pinkie’s face morphed into anger as she slammed down a face-up separatist policy on the board and pointed at Applejack. “You’re a phony! A big, fat phony!”

“Hey, watch where you’re pointing that hoof! Don’t blame me because we got a bad hand! ‘Sides, I voted loyalist last time, so ah am innocent!”

“There’s no way we had a round of separatist cards that often! You’re lying through your teeth!”

“Now listen here, I’m tellin’ ya I ain’t a dirty varmit, nor am I calling you one! But iffin’ ya tryin’ ta shift the blame at me, I reckon yer loyalties aren’t as pure as you’re claimin’!”

“You take that back! I’m super duper loyal to Equestria!”

As the two bickered, Chrysalis frowned. Three separatist passes, all claiming to have been dealt bad draws? Now that was too much of a coincidence. Somepony at this table had been lying about the policies given to them, whether by another player or from the deck.

Chrysalis was able to narrow down five potential suspects; Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Rarity, Applejack, and Starlight. Though Fluttershy, Rarity and Pinkie did something to show the biggest red flags for being separatist. However, Fluttershy, Starlight and Applejack were the ones who dealt the cards leading to it. She knew she was onto something here, but needed some sort of clue to help her narrow down the suspects.

“That’s enough, you two!” Twilight interjected, silencing Applejack and Pinkie Pie, who glared daggers at each other. “What’s done is done, and we have to deal with it. The main thing to worry about now is the second phase of the game.”

“The second phase?” Chrysalis echoed.

“Oh no, and to think we are so far behind before this phase!” Rarity gasped. Her expression turned dead serious as she regarded the confused changeling. “Now that the separatists have three points in their favor, they have an alternate win condition open to them. If you recall, two separatists and one Nightmare Moon hides among us. From this point on, if Nightmare Moon is elected as chancellor, they will win.”

“What?!” Chrysalis slammed her forehooves on the table. “That’s unfair!”

“Which is why we need to find Nightmare Moon, pronto!” Applejack declared. “However, that ain’t all that’s changin’. We get to the next ability now; I get to pick the princess for the next turn. For the next Princess, ah am gonna choose you, Chrysalis.”

This drew a gasp from the rest of the table, and a shocked stare from Chrysalis.

“Wait, really? Why would you do that?” Chrysalis asked.

Applejack smiled. “Mah family raised me better than to deny a friend a good time, and things have gotten hairy when you haven’t even had a chance yet. Now granted, still not sure if you’re a separatist or not, and this could make things worse for all of us, but I wanna make sure you’re having fun too, just in case things get sour before you had a chance to play.”

“O-oh. I see. Thank you, Applejack,” Chrysalis spoke cautiously, still stunned by her kindness and the smiling faces around the table who nodded in agreement. Perhaps, she began to realize, she'd misjudged these ponies. Suddenly, the fact Twilight imprisoned everypony inside with her didn’t seem so bad anymore.

“Awww,” Fluttershy cooed, “Chrysalis is so cute when she blushes.”

“W-what? N-no I’m not!” Chrysalis barked, feeling her face glow hot.

“You totally are, you big softie!” Starlight joined, grinning ear to ear.

“Silence! A queen doesn’t do things like blush or be soft!”

“No, instead they put up a strong face to hide their sensitive side.” Twilight quipped.

Chrysalis glared. “Keep it up, and I’ll show you my ‘sensitive’ side!”

“Does it involve holes?”

“Silence, Pinkie!” Chrysalis decided to rescind her previous thoughts. Confound these ponies.

“Hmph, getting back to the game, I think the pony I will pick for my chancellor will be….” Once her mind was back to focusing on the game, the pressure of her choice was all too real: if Chrysalis chose wrong, it was game over.

She likely couldn’t pick anypony she tagged as a possible suspect, which left Rainbow and Twilight. The choice seemed simple from here, as one of them had been scanned and identified as a loyalist thanks to the separatist power.

“I’ll choose you for my chancellor, Twilight.”

This time, Twilight was the surprised one. “Oh! Well, thank you, Chrysalis, it would be my honor to be your Chancellor.”

“U-um, Chrysalis? Are you sure?” Fluttershy asked hesitantly. “I-I mean, I don’t have anything against Twilight, but we can’t pick somepony blindly. If she turns out to be Nightmare Moon, we lose.”

Chrysalis almost missed the annoyed look that flickered on Twilight’s face. But rather than bring it to light, she kept it in the back of her mind. “I’m sure. After all, Starlight uncovered that she’s a loyalist. Probably the safest bet at the moment.”

“Sounds about right. Let’s vote on it,” Starlight agreed. Though there was some hesitation from the group, nopony offered an alternative before voting went into place.

Eight passes.

Chrysalis waited with bated breath for a few seconds to see if Twilight declared herself Nightmare Moon. Once it was clear the game was still going, she exhaled a sigh of relief. So far so good. Now it was time to draw her three and see what the options were.

Two loyalist. One separatist.

Running the math in her head, the previous hands must have had very little loyalist cards, adding merit to some of the claims of bad draws. With only two cards in the deck left, it dawned on her how much the odds were stacked against the loyalists. The next few turns were going to be absolutely critical, especially when the loyalists only had one policy in their favor against three.

However, if there was a time to make a gamble, it was now.

Chrysalis took a loyalist policy card and slid the other two to Twilight. If she was a separatist, now was probably the time for her to pick the separatist vote to to further their lead. Once the cards were in her hooves, Twilight picked one and revealed it face up on the appropriate board.

Loyalist.

“Yes! Take that, foolish separatists!” Chrysalis cheered ecstatically. Finally she could do some good for her team.

“Great job, you two! Now we just need three more to win!” Starlight smiled.

“That’s right. Let me go ahead and shuffle the deck to create a new stack.” With her magic, Twilight shuffled all the cards in the discard pile, sliding it under the two remaining policy cards. The chances those two cards were loyalist were fairly low, which worried Chrysalis.

With the voting phase done, now the turn order was restored. “I suppose I shall hoof the crown of Princess to Pinkie Pie. I trust it will be in good care?”

“Yup. Hold my beer and watch this!” Pinkie nodded, put on a ‘serious’ face as she made Chrysalis hold onto a half-empty can of beer with the word “Alamo” emblazoned on the side. Where in the world it came from, she had no idea and decided not to ask.

After a minute of pondering, her eyes set upon her target and dramatically pointed at her. “Rarity, I choose you!”

“Whoa, now hang on, Sugarcube,” said Applejack. “Nothin’ against Rarity, but she flipped a separatist card not too long ago. What if she’s Nightmare Moon?”

Rarity gasped. “Applejack! How could you accuse somepony as lovely as moi of being something as vile and sinister as Nightmare Moon?”

“Hey, I’m just tellin’ it like it is. I don’t think we can trust anypony who flipped a separatist card. Ya need somepony honest, like me. Although, I suppose you could go for Starlight as well if ya don’t feel comfortable picking me. After all, she did help us find a fellow loyalist.”

“Hmm. True. I could go for you or Starlight. Thinking about it, Starlight wouldn’t be a bad pick. Hmmm….” Pinkie’s eyes lingered as they landed on Starlight. “I’m kinda leaning on Starlight for this one. She hasn’t really made much of a fuss or anything.”

“Oh. Um. About that…”

Fluttershy squeaked as the eyes turn towards her. “J-Just because somepony is quiet doesn’t mean they are not separatist. I know I may look suspicious saying this, but Nightmare Moon is usually the, um, most reserved player.”

Chrysalis’ eyes widened. How could she have forgotten one of the most important rules of infiltration? Hiding one’s presence was quintessential to maintaining a low profile and slipping into places unnoticed. Assuming the girls knew about the rules ahead of time, whoever Nightmare Moon was had to be playing it extremely safe in order to not get caught out.

In which case, that automatically made Fluttershy the number one suspect. If so, then why did she state such a thing out of the blue and risk singling herself out? Was it a mind game she was playing? Was she actually a loyalist? It didn’t make sense.

“That reminds me,” Twilight’s eyes narrowed, “didn’t you win the last time we played this game because you were Nightmare Moon?”

Fluttershy shrank in her seat as the eyes around her grew more suspicious. “U-um, I-I-I don’t remember all that well.”

“Oh yeah, that’s a good point. In which case, I’m gonna go for Rarity, since she’s been one of the loudest!” Pinkie declared.

Rarity blinked owlishly. “Erm, I suppose I’ll take that as a compliment?”

“Not gonna lie, I feel like this is a bad idea.” Applejack said.

Pinkie shrugged. “Gonna go with my gut on this one. I’m sure we’ll be fine.”

Again, Chrysalis caught a flicker of irritation from Twilight. It was clear she wanted to say something, barely struggling to contain it. Probably the argumentative side of Twilight threatening to burst.

Settling on Rarity being the chancellor, everyone took a vote.

Seven passes. One fail.

“Sorry AJ, looks like you got outvoted. Better luck next time,” said Pinkie. Applejack merely shrugged. Thankfully there was no declaration of victory by voting in Nightmare Moon, moving the game to the voting phase.

Pinkie placed her hoof on top of the deck, eyes closed and entering a state of complete focus. A minute passed. Then two. Then three. Sweat began to pour down the side of her face, drawing concern from her friends.

“What do you think you’re doing?” Chrysalis asked.

“Shhh, give me a minute,” Pinkie muttered in a hush whisper, “I’m trying to channel the heart of the cards…!”

“JUST DRAW THE CARDS ALREADY!” Everypony yelled.

“Okay already! Sheesh!” Pinkie pouted as she finally drew the three policy cards. Once she passed the two cards to Rarity, she cast her policy: Loyalist.

“See that? Loyalist! Take that, non-believers!” Rarity boasted proudly.

“Well now, would ya look at that? Looks like I was wrong about ya.” Applejack said.

“Alright, so far so good! We just need two more loyalist policies and we’re home free,” said Pinkie. “Looks like it’s your turn, Twilight! Let’s win this thing!”

“That’s exactly my plan.” Twilight’s gaze moved to the policy deck, staring at it contemplatively for a few moments before moving to her designated target. “I have a pretty good feeling about this choice. I’m gonna go with Fluttershy.”

“Hold on, Twilight,” Chrysalis spoke up suddenly. If her guess was right, the chance of Fluttershy being Nightmare Moon was disturbingly high. “Didn’t Fluttershy just talk about the quietest one being Nightmare Moon? Of all of us, she’s been the quietest one here.”

“Yeah, not gonna like, that’s looking mighty suspect, Twilight,” Pinkie added.

Twilight looked calm about this decision. Almost too calm. “Funny you should mention that. That’s exactly why I don’t think she’s Nightmare Moon. Fluttershy is more than smart enough to not single herself out as Nightmare Moon. However, there’s something I want to see with Fluttershy; if she’s a separatist or not. Being this close to victory, we need to thoroughly check everypony to make certain who a loyalist is.”

“I really hope you’re right, Twilight. We’re getting pretty close to the finish line.” Rainbow said.

“I’m positive. Let’s vote on it.”

With no other objections, all the players casted their votes.

Five passes. Three fails.

Chrysalis had a feeling that she and Pinkie would be voting no, but the surprising turn was Rarity, who gave Fluttershy an apologetic look.

“Nothing against you, darling, but I too believe it’s a bit too risky.”

“It’s okay. I understand.” Fluttershy smiled.

Chrysalis had to stop and wonder about Fluttershy. She hadn’t declared victory, so she was clearly not Nightmare Moon. Yet, all the signs seemed to have pointed to her until now. At least Twilight was correct in her assumption of her not being Nightmare Moon.

The two initiated the voting phase, Twilight drawing three and passing two to Fluttershy. A worried look fell on Fluttershy as she cast her policy.

Separatist.

The tension in the air instantly thickened as the group gawked at Fluttershy in stunned silence.

Applejack was the first to break the silence. “Fluttershy, you sneaky varmit! You’re a separatist!”

“W-wait a minute, I’m not a separatist!”

“Sorry, Fluttershy, but you can’t talk your way out of this one,” Twilight’s piercing gaze shot through the petrified Fluttershy. “There were definitely two separatist cards in the pile, but I did give you the only loyalist card in there. That’s twice you’ve doomed us, and this late in the game, we can no longer take risks.”

Fluttershy’s eyes widened in shock. “T-Twilight! This whole time… you’re a separatist!”

“But that wouldn’t make sense,” Rarity pondered. “Starlight cleared Twilight when she checked her identity card. Not to mention, you were the one who gave Chrysalis bad cards too. Though it’s clear you’re not Nightmare Moon, it is looking rather clear that you are a separatist.”

“B-b-but I—”

“Sorry, but we can’t trust you, Fluttershy. I have no choice but to invoke the power vested in me to do what is necessary to save our kingdom.”

Chrysalis started pondering what Twilight was talking about, but then she remembered the separatist power coming into play: kill a player. It was clear who Twilight was about to take down.

“But I’m not a separatist! Twilight is trying to fool us all!”

“Sorry, separatist spy, but nopony is going to fall for your tricks!” Twilight said. “By the order of the Celestial Council of Friendship, I hereby sentence you to execution!”

Chrysalis didn’t know what fascinated her more; that a council of friendship was issuing an execution, or how natural Twilight seemed to be in giving out said executions. Perhaps, Chrysalis mused, she had been a bigger influence on the friendship princess than expected.

“However, I have but only one question for you, though we all know the answer: Are you Nightmare Moon?” Twilight asked.

Surprised and betrayal rippled through Fluttershy’s expression, eventually compounded by defeat. “No. No I’m not.” With a sigh, she folded up her cards and items in the envelope and placed it at the center of the table.

Fluttershy had been killed.

“Oh my gosh, you killed Fluttershy!” Rainbow exclaimed.

“You monster!” Pinkie wailed. She wiped a tear away. “And to think, she was only a few hours away from retirement…”

Twilight took in a deep breath, as though maintaining her composure. “Sorry about that, everypony. I know there was no way she was Nightmare Moon, but with only one separatist and Nightmare Moon herself at the table now, our chance of winning this game is much better.”

Those last words echoed in the back of Chrysalis’ mind. Increasing the chances of winning. Something about that previous moment bugged her that she couldn’t shake off. “With these assassinations, I find it strange that we don’t vote on something that major.”

“That’s why separatists are a scary thing to deal with,” Starlight said. “As they grow in power, they take away choices. That’s why we need to get those policy votes in before Nightmare Moon’s elected or the separatists get power, especially with the way the cards have been.”

“Exactly. I do believe it is Chrysalis’ turn.”

Chrysalis was ready to burst with excitement. This was her chance to turn this game around and get in some loyalist votes. So far, the suspects for Nightmare Moon were Applejack, Rainbow, Starlight, and Pinkie Pie. It was a tough call to make, but if there was any pony in this room she had gotten a positive bead from, it was Starlight. While she may have been involved in a separatist vote, the way she played so far showed some semblance of trust to rely on.

“I think for this turn, I will choose Starlight Glimmer.”

“Whoa, hold on a second, Chrysalis; why not pick Rarity? We just proved she wasn’t Nightmare Moon a second ago.”

“Yeah! I mean, I know she picked separatist before, but she picked loyalist earlier. I think she’s a safe bet,” Pinkie added.

“Which is why we need to save her for next turn,” Twilight stated. “After all, we only need two more votes to win. When Starlight passes the loyalty vote, we can secure the win by making Rarity a chancellor.”

“That seems a little too risky, don’t you think? I imagine it’s simply better to pick me and secure what we can,” Rarity countered.

“If we leave the last round to chance, that also poses too much risk. Why don’t we vote on this and let the results see for themselves?”

“Or talk it out a bit and make sure we’re doing the right thing.” Rainbow added.

During the ensuing arguments, Chrysalis watched with piqued interest, noting that Starlight had yet to speak in her defense. Seeing as the next few turns were going to be the most crucial, it made sense to try and come up with a strong plan. But something kept prodding the back of her mind, screaming that something wasn’t right with this whole set up, and this feeling intensified with Fluttershy’s execution.

“Right, Chrysalis?”

Chrysalis looked up from her thoughts, noting that Twilight had asked her a question. “What was that?”

“I asked if you agreed with my theory on this?” Twilight repeated

“Oh. Right. Yeah, definitely.” She lied. At the very least, the argument on leaving Rarity to be the last one to help secure a victory sounded like a legitimate plan.

“Exactly! So let’s vote and try to secure the loyalist votes!”

With no other arguments to interject, the group began picking their votes. Chrysalis’ hoof touched the pass chip, her mind racing to figure out what was bothering her about this. She decided to start from the beginning.

“So on the count of three. One…”

Chrysalis thought back to the first turn of the game. Fluttershy started with her being chancellor when everypony else thought it was an odd choice. Under normal circumstances, Fluttershy being a separatist would make sense considering she gave her only bad cards. However, noting how she herself got two loyalist cards towards the very end of the deck, the probability Fluttershy indeed got three separatist cards was not as impossible as it seemed.

Then it dawned on her; what if Fluttershy was actually a loyalist?

“Two…”

Her theory so far hinged on the idea that Fluttershy was a separatist. But if she was actually a loyalist, then that turned everything she thought she knew about the players on its head. In that case, if she was right about Twilight being a separatist, and Starlight, who checked her identity card was the one who said Twilight was a loyalist…

Chrysalis broke into a sweat, remembering a critical detail: Nightmare Moon, though a separatist, did not know who the other separatists were. That meant she would have to rely on her mysterious allies to give her the best possible opportunity.

Suddenly, the answer Chrysalis had been trying to figure out clicked in her mind. Though she didn’t have all the pieces to the puzzle in place, she only had one chance to save this game, and it was now.

“Three!”

On the count, everypony cast their vote for the election.

Three passes. Four fails.

Surprise coursed through the ponies in the room. Twilight in particular looked at Chrysalis in shock, who had just failed her own election. “Chrysalis, what do you think you’re doing?! You’re the one who wanted to make Starlight chancellor in the first place!”

Chrysalis grinned wickedly. That reaction from Twilight was all the evidence she needed to realize she made the right call.

“I’m saving Equestria from falling into separatist hooves.”

“What do you mean, Chrysalis? Have you figured it out?” Rarity asked.

“Hmph, of course I did. I admit, I was fooled from the start, but now I know the truth.” Chrysalis stood up and jerked her hoof at Starlight. “Starlight, you’re Nightmare Moon!”

Everypony gasped in shock. Starlight reeled back, pupils shrinking.

“W-w-what? That’s insane! There’s no way I’m Nightmare Moon!”

“That’s right!” Twilight also stood out of her seat, glaring daggers at Chrysalis. “That’s a pretty bold claim, Chrysalis, but you’re wrong! There’s no way she could be Nightmare Moon!”

“Objection!” Chrysalis slammed her hoof on the table, making everypony jump. “All of the clues point to Starlight being the culprit!”

“Interesting. Got any evidence to back up that claim, Chryssi?” Twilight sneered.

“Of course I do.”

The grin on Twilight’s face dropped. “What?”

Chrysalis dramatically pointed her hoof at Twilight. “Think back to Rainbow’s comment about you poking holes in everypony’s arguments. I thought it was strange at first, as being antagonistic is a good way to get you suspected. But now I know the truth; it wasn’t just you trying to play Tirek’s advocate, but you trying to send signals to Starlight that you were a separatist!”

“Not so fast!” Twilight slammed her hooves just as strong as Chrysalis did. “That is purely conjecture! I simply needed to show everypony both sides to an argument to help find the truth!”

“Is that right? Then why did you stop doing so after Starlight looked at your identity card?”

“Urk!” Twilight reeled back for a moment, struck hard by the counter. After a moment, she regained her composure. “That’s not a fair argument! Of course I’m going to slow down after getting pushed back from doing such a thing. If I continued, that would only make me look even more guilty, so take that!”

Chrysalis hissed. That was a fair counterplay. However, she knew she was onto something big here. A major conspiracy was bubbling just underneath the surface, and Twilight was in the center of it all. The question remained of how she would convince the others that her argument did have weight. More importantly, she couldn’t let herself get distracted from targeting Starlight.

“That’s a fair assessment, though I may have been more inclined to believe that if you hadn’t gone after Fluttershy so mercilessly. When she started throwing wrenches in your plan, I caught the look on your face. In fact, it wasn’t until she argued against choosing Starlight as chancellor that you realized you needed her gone because of the slight chance she suspected Starlight of being Nightmare Moon!”

Twilight growled. “Don’t get ahead of yourself, Chryssi, I didn’t go after Fluttershy because I wanted to. Are you already forgetting how she gave you separatist policies and chose the separatist card in mine? Unless you’re a separatist, you can’t refute that!”

“Not so fast! I can absolutely refute that, and it’s all thanks to something I’ve noticed earlier with the deck. During my turn, I found two loyalist cards, which were near the bottom. The previous turn had at least one loyalist card, likely part of the remaining two cards before we had to reshuffle the deck. Now, Twilight, correct me if I’m wrong, but considering there was only one loyalist vote before my turn, it’s easy to guess that the chances that Fluttershy was actually telling the truth was fairly reasonable. Am I right, Twilight Sparkle?”

“It’s not impossible, but it’s just as possible that she did draw a loyalist card and attempted to place blame on you!

“Exactly, just as it’s possible that she didn’t draw any loyalist cards! Looking at that possibility, the chances of it happening again are rather rare!  I’m willing to wager that the last two separatist votes that resulted in this are the ones to suspect the most. Now tell me,” Chrysalis’ grin widened, “who were the last three princesses who did such a thing?”

For a brief second, Twilight tensed. Eyes from around the room narrowed suspiciously at Twilight.

“Wait a second… son of a biscuit, she’s right! Starlight, Applejack, and Twilight were all princesses during those times!” Rainbow exclaimed.

“Wow. What a twist!” Pinkie breathed. Rarity said nothing, but the surprised look on her face as she looked at Chrysalis told the queen all she needed to know; her point was rock solid.

That is, until Twilight smiled.

“You know what? That’s not a bad argument. All except for one, teeny, tiny problem: You can’t prove any of this. You can’t even prove you had two loyalist cards, which would skew the math quite drastically. Sure, I’ll agree it’s all a possibility. However, let’s stick to facts. Here’s one you can answer; who’s a better liar; you, or me?”

Chrysalis reeled back, struggling to find a counterpoint. Before she could speak, however, Twilight continued.

“That’s right; you’re a much better and cunning liar. Just like in the last game, you used misdirection to fool us!”

“To be fair, it was worth it to see your face get licked.”

“No one asked you, Pinkie!” Twilight bellowed as she blushed. “Ahem, anyway, my point is that as much as you’re attempting to shift blame and call Starlight out as Nightmare Moon, it is far more likely that you’re starting to feel pressure about how this game is progressing and are now trying to trick us all, especially now that I took out your partner in crime.

“Of course, if you have some sort of evidence to back up any of this, please, enlighten us.” Her cold, calculating eyes silenced Chrysalis.

No matter how she attempt to develop a comeback, Chrysalis found herself cornered.

She knew without a shadow of doubt that Starlight was Nightmare Moon, making Twilight and Applejack separatists. But the lack of irrefutable evidence made it too difficult to penetrate Twilight’s ironclad defense. Even worse, now it was clear she was in opposition to Twilight, making Chrysalis the next target to be taken down if another separatist vote came through. These were dark times for Chrysalis.

“I’m going to have to disagree with you on this one, Chrysalis. In fact, I fear you may have alienated yourself as a separatist! There is only one way to prove your claim, and I’m going to be the one to do so.” Rarity smiled mysteriously.

Chrysalis sighed. “So be it, Rarity. It’s your turn anyway.”

Rarity took in a deep breath, exhaling with a happy sigh. “I must say, it’s been such an invigorating and illuminating game. However, I fear this game is preparing to end its course soon, as my next decision will either spell defeat or victory for us fellow loyalists. So, with this turn, I’m going to cast my gambit.”

Rarity’s fixated on her target, her expression being calm. “I’m going to choose Chrysalis as Chancellor.”

“WHAT?!” Twilight roared. “You can’t be serious! It’s clear that she’s a separatist from the way she’s attacked me! I’m willing to bet she’s Nightmare Moon!”

“That, I’m afraid, is false. After all, Nightmare Moon is smart enough to avoid making such outrageous and questionable claims, especially when the evidence is mediocre at best. But my decision is this; If Chrysalis really is a separatist, she’s going to have to choose separatist to keep us from possibly securing a win in the turn after. If she does,” a dangerous glint flashed in her eyes. “I’ll execute her myself.”

Chrysalis gulped.

“Dang, that’s some pretty high stakes. Don’t think I would take that deal. Pretty easy to get screwed over by those cards.” Rainbow said.

“Yeah, but I also wanna see what happens. This is gonna be so clutch! I can feel it!” Pinkie was nearly bouncing out of her chair out of anxiousness.

Chrysalis paused to think, swallowing hard. If she lost this gambit, then she was out of the game and the separatists would have too much advantage. However, if all went well, then the loyalists would have a chance.

“Do you accept this condition, Chrysalis? If we get a bad draw, it means you will have to die.” Rarity warned.

“I… I will accept those conditions!” Chrysalis declared.

“Are you sure about this, Chrysalis? Considering the luck we had so far, you may have signed your own death warrant.” Twilight advised.

“Indeed. I will show my loyalty to the kingdom by taking on this challenge!”

Rarity nodded approvingly. “Very good. Now, let’s vote on this.” The players cast their respective votes in.

Four passes. Three fails.

Chrysalis noted that Rainbow, Applejack and Starlight chose to fail this. It was no surprise Twilight was all for this plan; likely guessing that it was going to backfire and give her the win.

Chrysalis’ heart pounded fiercely in her chest as Rarity drew her three cards. After a pause, she took one and slid two to her. Their eyes locked as Rarity gave her a meaningful look before Chrysalis took the cards in her hooves.

One loyalist. One Separatist.

Her hoof moved to play the loyalist card when she stopped herself. What if… this was a test? Sure, she could score a point for the home team, but that still left risk in the air. But what if Rarity had a plan for giving her this particular assortment of cards? Clearly she was given a choice of either passing or failing this policy.

Then it hit her; Rarity trusted her to make the right call.

After taking a moment to settle the butterflies in her stomach, she casted her policy.

Separatist.

“What in tarnation?”

“No way!”

“Oh my gosh! She did the thing!”

“Chrysalis, how could you?!”

Most of the mares responded explosively to the shocking move. Twilight’s grin went ear-to-ear.

“Looks like your luck ran out, separatists!” Twilight boasted.

“I suppose so. I can only hope my sacrifice opened the path to the truth.” Chrysalis directed her attention to Rarity, ready to accept her fate. “Do it.”

After a moment of dramatic silence, Rarity pointed her hoof at Chrysalis.. “In Celestia’s name, I hereby issue an order of execution on…”

Suddenly, her hoof whipped around to another target. Her true target.

“You, Starlight Glimmer!”

Everypony in the room reeled back in shock. Starlight’s eyes were wide as saucers.

“Now answer; are you Nightmare Moon?”

A chill went through the air as the deafening silence fell. Twilight and Applejack’s faces were utterly stupefied. Everypony else’s jaws were slacked in awe of Rarity’s audacity.

After a tense moment, Starlight sighed heavily as she dug into her envelope and revealed her Nightmare Moon card.

“Yeah. You got me.”

Once the grip of shock left Chrysalis, reality hit her with full force.

Nightmare Moon was killed. The loyalists, her team, won.

Chrysalis' heart swelled with joy as the true loyalists jumped up and pulled both her and Rarity into a victory hug, being Fluttershy, Rarity, Rainbow, and Pinkie. Applejack and Starlight groaned while Twilight fumed, her glare never leaving Rarity and Chrysalis.

“Wow, that was awesome! Way to take it to the enemy!”

“That was the best game of Secret Moon EVER!”

“I’m so glad we won. Good job, you two!”

Chrysalis hushed Fluttershy’s cheer with a raised hoof, brandishing a gentle smile. “To be more accurate, Fluttershy, we couldn’t have pulled it off without your sacrifice. We won that game thanks to you.”

Fluttershy’s eyes widened. “O-oh, really? I thought I messed up by talking too much.”

“Messed up? Darling, you were glorious! I really do need to thank you for giving Chrysalis and I the critical clue we needed to win!” Rarity boasted as she gave Fluttershy a big hug. “Although, I must admit, Chrysalis, you played your part quite beautifully at the end there. Glad to see my trust in you paid off.”

“Couldn’t have tricked Twilight into voting me as chancellor without your clever performance. We make quite the powerful team.”

“Hold up!” Twilight slammed her hooves on the table, outraged. “You mean all of that nonsense about executing you if you chose separatist was all a sham?!”

“Sort of.” Rarity answered. “You see, I’ve been paying attention to everypony’s expressions and words this entire game to try and figure out who was with what faction. Once I was convinced Chrysalis was a loyalist back when she wanted to be chosen to have her identity viewed, I knew she was going to make an incredible ally. Then when that argument about Starlight occurred, it helped me piece together all the necessary clues to figure out who was Nightmare Moon."

“However, as you did with Fluttershy, any open opposition risked one of us getting killed before we could reach Nightmare Moon. Alone, I couldn’t have opposed your arguments. One might say, the power of friendship saw to our victory.” At that, Chrysalis gave her teammates hoofbumps.

“The power of friendship my flank,” Twilight huffed.

“And to think; not only did I beat you at our guessing game, but now I’ve dominated you in both React and Act as well as Secret Moon! I do appreciate the opportunity to show your friends how much better at these games I am than you.”

Twilight’s frown deepened. “You just got lucky, Chryssi.”

“Luck had nothing to do with it.” Chrysalis cackled. “It’s all skill. Skill that I clearly surpass you in.”

Pinkie looked between Chrysalis and Twilight, a sneaky grin spreading on her muzzle. “She has a point, Twilight. Boy did she whoop you good!”

Twilight growled. “Look, I made a miscalculation or two, alright? A victory or two here or there means nothing!’

Rainbow seemed to also catch onto Twilight’s competitive fuming, and joined in the fun. “You can talk all day, Twi, but you can’t take this lying down! I mean c’mon, Chryssi here outsmarted you in a game. Are you just gonna let that happen?”

Starlight looked worriedly at her teacher, realizing that the prodding was starting to take a toll on Twilight, whose anger was beginning to intensify. “U-um, let’s not focus too much on who won or lost, alright? I mean, as long as we’re all having fun.”

“True, but where’s the fun in that?” Applejack joined. “Ah mean, playing games is fun and all, but everypony likes winnin’. Though I gotta admit, when you’re known for yer smarts only to get outplayed at a mind game, that’s gotta suck.”

“AJ!” Starlight hissed, whispering, “if we keep teasing Twilight about this, she’s gonna do something crazy! You know how competitive she could get!”

Applejack grinned. “Ah know. I wanna see some fireworks.”

Fluttershy sidled next to them, whispering as well. “U-um, I kinda wanna see it too. Twilight has a lot more fun when she cuts loose.”

“You girls are crazy!” Starlight hissed. Looking at Twilight, the alicorn looked ready to explode as Chrysalis continued to egg her on.

“Alright, Twilight, so what game shall I beat you at next? Tag? Hide and seek? What shall it be?”

When Twilight’s face went from rage to disturbingly calm with no inbetween, Starlight knew Chrysalis was about to be in for it.

“Oh, I got a game for you, alright.” The low, haunting tone from Twilight was enough to send chills down Chrysalis’ spine. “My team against yours. Starlight, Pinkie, Rainbow, you three are part of my crew.”

“Dis gon’ be gud!” Pinkie grinned maliciously as she flipped out a metal folding chair and took a seat, adjusting her baseball cap. Again, Chrysalis dared not to question how or why.

“Oh, I know that look. You girls are going down!” Knowing it was game time, Rainbow took Twilight’s side.

Starlight merely sighed as she hung towards the back of the group. “Welp, at least this is going to be an exciting evening.”

Chrysalis grinned proudly. That fire burning bright inside Twilight was always a pleasure to see and feed off of. It was enough to make her mouth water. “Alright, Twilight, so what silly game are we going to be playing this time?”

Twilight’s horn sparked with vibrant energy as her grin grew wide, almost maniacal.

Before Chrysalis could blink, a pillow crashed into her face, knocking her off her hooves. Chrysalis scrambled to stand up, gaping at the terrifying look on Twilight’s face as she pulled another pillow into her hooves and gave it the most threatening looking fluff she had ever seen.

Sharing a smirk, Rainbow, Pinkie Pie, and Starlight shouted at the top of their lungs in unison.

“PILLOW FIGHT!”
> Song of vice and feathers
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

When Twilight challenged her to the pillow fight, Chrysalis was confident this would turn out to be the same as the previous games. This competition favored physical combat, to which Chrysalis surmised she had a clear advantage over the smaller mare. She knew this battle was as good as won.

“TO VICTORY, BATTLE SISTERS! MAKE THEM BEG FOR THEIR LIVES!”

Chrysalis couldn’t have been more wrong.

Deafening war cries muddled into screams of agony and horror as Twilight’s forces dove forward, crashing into Chrysalis' horrified squad in a whirlwind of fury and feathers. Chrysalis had no chance to organize a counterattack or strategy, barely holding on as Twilight and Starlight barreled down on her position. Every blow to the head rocked Chrysalis’ senses, throwing her across the hallways like a ragdoll. Barely a minute into the battle, and Chrysalis found her carapace getting hoofed to her on a silver platter.

After weathering the initial barrage, Chrysalis scrambled for the nearest pillow and attempted to fight back, only to be pelted by a hail of magically gripped pillows from Starlight’s position. This unbalanced her long enough for Twilight to lunge at her, a pillow in hoof and bloodlust in her eyes. Pure luck and unbridled fear broke Chrysalis out of her shock as she quickly used her pillow to guard the blow. Feathers exploded from both pillows as Chrysalis faced a war on two fronts; Starlight’s bombardments and Twilight’s ravaging strikes.

Praying to find some sort of opening to strike from, Chrysalis looked to her teammates to see if they could provide backup. They did not fare much better.

Fluttershy flailed her pillow wildly to strike at the agile Rainbow Dash. Even with Rarity’s help of telekinetic pillow strikes, Rainbow was more than able to dance around the attacks like they were in slow-motion.

“You’re too slow!” Rainbow mocked, striking Rarity hard with a swooping pillow maneuver.

The fashionista gasped for breath, struggling to maintain the panic swelling in her chest. “We could use some help over here!”

“Ah’m on it, Sugarcu— ACK!” Applejack was knocked back mid-dash from several yards away. As her eyes found the source of the interruption, her eyes widened with terror.

“You wanna play rough?” Pinkie asked as she slammed her hoof on the party cannon. The grin on her face terrified the farm pony. “Say hello to my little friend!”

“What in tarnation are you— GWAH!” Applejack barely avoided the shot from the high-impact pillow shell, a feathery explosion erupting where she had stood a moment ago.

“Dance, Motherbucker, dance!” Pinkie cackled madly as she constantly fired off shots, each blow winding Applejack or knocking her into the floor.

Chrysalis hissed with frustration. If she had a chance to deal with Twilight alone, there might have been a chance to fight back. But Starlight’s teamwork was far too difficult to overcome, the two interchanging attack patterns to throw her off. She could sense the anguish and desperation of her team, morale dropping to bleak levels. If this went on for too much longer, surrender was inevitable.

“Fall back!” Chrysalis ducked under a pillow thrown by Starlight and Twilight as she dashed in for her team.

Twilight wasted no time issuing countermeasures. “Pinkie, suppressive fire on Chrysalis! Rainbow, intercept! Starlight, Blizzard Pattern!”

Within seconds, pillows rained down in a hail of fluffiness upon Chrysalis’s team thanks to Twilight and Starlight’s combined magical talents. Combined with Pinkie’s rapidfire strikes and Rainbow’s quick and vicious swooping attacks, there was no safe position to hide from the ensuing barrage.

After recovering from some particularly brutal pillow blows, Rarity levitated several pillows to erect a shield to weather the attacks. Rainbow attempted to interrupt Rarity, only to get knocked out of the sky by Applejack’s deadly precision, causing her to crash on the ground. Catching on, Chrysalis picked up several pillows and followed Rarity’s tactics to protect the flank. This left Fluttershy to cover blind spots and guide everypony and Applejack to deal with anypony that got too close.

“This way! Curve left! No, no, too far! Now right! Hurry, through here!” Fluttershy cried as she tried to direct the group. Once they were out of Twilight’s line of sight, it came down to running for their lives, putting as much distance between them as possible. Were it not for Applejack’s and Chrysalis’s expert precision to focus down Rainbow Dash, escape would have been all but forsaken.

Even as they barely manage to put distance between them, the shouts from Twilight’s group reverberated throughout the castle.

“Engage breach and clear maneuvers! Don’t let them escape!”

“You girls are going down!”

“FLUFFS FOR THE FLUFF GOD! FEATHERS FOR THE FEATHER THRONE!”

Chrysalis realized then she was in for a long night.





“Huff… huff… I think we’re… safe for now,” Chrysalis heaved for air as she sat with her back to the closed door. Her team slumped onto the floor, hungrily gasping for air.

“Ah don’t think ah’ve ever seen Twilight get this crazy in a pillow fight before! She’s somethin’ else!”

“I couldn’t agree more,” Rarity wiped sweat off her brow. “Their offensive strength and teamwork is simply devastating.”

Fluttershy was shockingly calm despite the terrorizing assault from Twilight. “I haven’t been part of a pillow fight that intense since the one we had with Discord and Angel.”

This gave Chrysalis pause. “As in, you all had a pillow fight with the Lord of Chaos and the rabbit?”

“Aw shucks, I remember that! I almost died!”

Chrysalis snapped her eyes to Applejack. “What?”

“It was quite the close call! Who knew Angel could do so much damage with pillows? It took over a week to rebuild that half of Ponyville,” Rarity laughed.

Fluttershy giggled. “To be fair, I was so invested in our duel, I hadn’t noticed how much damage I’d contributed. Thankfully nopony was hurt.”

“Wha—but—how did...ugh,” Chrysalis groaned, deciding it was likely better to not ask. “Nevermind that nonsense. We need to stay focus on the fight ahead of us. This position won’t be safe for long.”

At the reminder, Fluttershy, Rarity and Applejack took a collective, depressed sigh.

Applejack flopped back, tipping her stetson over her eyes. “Not sure how we’re gonna get out of this one. Ah’m a good shot and all, but I can’t beat Pinkie’s party cannon. That thang packs a wallop.”

Rarity nodded. “Too true. And my magic may be good, but it can’t compare to powerhouses like Twilight or Starlight. In terms of raw power, I admit, I’m at a disadvantage.”

“I may not be as fast or strong as Rainbow Dash, but, um…” Fluttershy’s brow scrunched together, deep in thought. “I-I know everypony’s tickle spot! Maybe that can help?”

“No. No it won’t.” Chrysalis sighed. So much for having a competent team. Normally, an underpowered team simply meant they would have to utilize changeling tactics to ambush and attack the weak link. The problem was Twilight, who was not only privy to such tactics, but knew exactly how to counter them. With both power and tactical advantage, the situation was growing bleaker by the second. There had to be an angle somewhere, but it wasn’t coming to mind.

As Chrysalis thought about it, she realized that this was the first time she'd ever took part in a pillow fight. She knew nothing of the rules or win conditions. “Alright, I need one of you to tell me all the rules to this pillow fight game. I imagine simply hitting each other with pillows is not the only way to play.”

The uncertainty on everypony’s faces made Chrysalis even more worried.

Rarity spoke first. “Well, to be honest, the only real rule is to not actually hurt another pony, and only use pillows to fight. It’s not a very complicated game.”

“Alright, so how do we win?”

“Beat the tar out of the other team until their team leader surrenders. That’s about it,” Applejack answered flatly.

Chrysalis paled. “So the only way to win is to make the other team give up? As in, making Twilight Sparkle, the very definition of willpower, surrender?”

“Eyup.”

Chrysalis grimaced, throwing her hooves up in frustration. “That’s going to be impossible! Do you know how long I’ve tried to bend Twilight to my will?”

Applejack tipped up her hat just enough to toss Chrysalis a suspicious gaze. “Ah have a question about that phrasin’ there, Chrysalis.”

“Not important,” Chrysalis waved off quickly, “what’s actually important is finding out how to deal with Twilight.

“Twilight did seem super determined to beat you this time. Making her surrender is going to be a doozy,” Fluttershy said.

Chrysalis fell quiet. That did not help. Her shoulders slumped down, and she gazed up forlornly at the ceiling. Having been beaten so soundly, the idea of giving Twilight a ‘freebie’ win crossed her mind, in hopes of playing a game that had a leveled playing field.

“U-um, Chrysalis?”

“What is it?”

Fluttershy rubbed her hooves together, glancing shyly at her. “I, um, want to apologize for misjudging you.”

This caught everypony’s attention, but most of all Chrysalis, who blinked, tilting her head in confusion. “Where did that come from?”

“I was just thinking that tonight has been the most fun I’ve had in a sleepover for a long time, and it’s all thanks to you making things so interesting. Everypony is having so much fun, a-and when Twilight told us we would all be stuck together, I thought you were going to be super scary. But it turns out that you’re super fun to be around, and are surprisingly kind. So, I’m sorry.”

Chrysalis stared at her dumbly. Her jaw slowly dropped down, until she pulled it back up so quickly it made a light clack. What was with this pony? Fluttershy? Fluttershy was the one coming out to… apologize to her? Of all the ponies to be troubled by her presence, she expected the shy mare to be at the top of the list. Truthfully, she thought she might have simply huddled underneath the proverbial bed when the pillows began flying.

She cleared her throat, but when she spoke, her voice was low, and hesitant. “P-please, there’s nothing kind about me.”

“Oh puh-lease, you don’t have to act tough about it,” Rarity giggled. “The way you praised Fluttershy back in Secret Moon spoke volumes for your character. Sure, you may need some lessons on proper etiquette, especially in spas, but I have begun to see the warm lovebug burrowed underneath that carapace.”

Chrysalis’ lips pursed into a thin line. She crossed her forehooves and huffed, averting her gaze. “Hush. I’m just merely playing nice for Twilight’s sake. There’s no ‘lovebug’ to be found anywhere under my carapace.”

Applejack chuckled. “Heh, look at you, gettin’ all embarrassed. Ain’t no shame in droppin’ the tough gal act when you’re among friends. You might be The O’mighty Queen Chrysalis to yer hive or royalty, but to us, you can just be yourself and live a little. You’re among friends ya can trust, Chrysalis, and we would love to do this with ya next time we hold a sleepover.”

Chrysalis huffed again, puffing her cheeks stubbornly. “C-Confound you ponies and your silly speeches.”

An awkward pause followed. She didn’t have to look to tell they were grinning like idiots at her. Chrysalis thought back to all the times she avoided interacting with them after Twilight showed her the path of friendship. All those awkward attempts at attempting to play nice, only for her to do something to screw it up. For the longest time, she considered Twilight to be her only pony friend.

Warming up and being more ‘open’ with Twilight’s friends was like dipping a hoof into a cold pool on a hot summer day. Though Chrysalis preferred to keep her circle of friends strictly small, she found herself growing slightly more comfortable at the prospect of expanding that circle.

But only a little bit.

And definitely not because of their silly, endearing friendship speeches.

“Fine. Since you all are so bloody adamant about it, I’ll entertain this idea. But for now, we need to focus our efforts on defeating Twilight and her squad.”

“Oh, right, we still have to beat Twilight, don’t we? We’ve certainly let ourselves get distracted.” Rarity laughed.

The word ‘distracted’ rang a bell in Chrysalis’ mind. A distraction. Making Twilight surrender. Twilight was a formidable opponent, especially with her friends backing her up. But if Twilight was taken away from her friends...

Her eyes lit up as a beautiful, terrible plan formed in her mind. If this worked, she would have Twilight isolated and all to herself.

“So just to make absolutely sure; if I make Twilight surrender, we win, right?” Chrysalis asked.

“Eyup. That’s the rules,” Applejack nodded.

“Perfect. If all goes well, I can do that. The only issue is the others. I can’t deal with Twilight while the others are there to provide support.”

“You leave that small detail to me, my dear,” Rarity laughed haughtily. “You stay focused on taking care of Twilight while we take care of the rest.”

Applejack tossed Rarity a deadpanned gaze. “It’s kinda scary watching you two scheme together like a pair of thieves preparin’ a heist.”

“This is getting so interesting! I feel like a supervillain plotting against a bunch of heroines!” Fluttershy giggled, her wings fluttering with excitement.

“Well now, color me impressed, Rarity,” Chrysalis bared her gleaming fangs, wearing an evil grin. “You and I make a better duo than I expected.”

Rarity flicked her mane back, a devious smile dancing on her lips. “I couldn’t agree more. Once in a while, it feels good to let your mane down and be just a little naughty. You, of all ponies and changelings alike, would surely understand this.”

“Wiser words have never been said.” Chrysalis smiled, locking eyes with the cunning fashionista. “You can be my scheming partner anytime, Rarity.”

“No, Chrysalis,” the heat in their gaze intensified, “you can be mine.”

“Oookay, this is getting a little too weird for me. Let’s get to planning already.” Applejack interrupted.

At the interrupting, Chrysalis and Rarity averted their gazes, chuckling nervously. Fluttershy sighed, disappointed.

“Oh. Aha. Right. The planning. Let’s do that. Ahem,” Rarity feigned clearing her throat. “Let’s start with how you plan on distracting Twilight, Chrysalis.”

Getting her head back into dealing with Twilight, Chrysalis nodded. “It’s rather simple. I just have to do what I do best: hunt like a Changeling.”





Despite the aggressive start to this game, Twilight was no fool when it came to dealing with Chrysalis. Her time spent suffering Chrysalis’ shenanigans had taught the princess a variety of changeling tricks and tactics on how they approach prey. Though she swore to keep the majority of these a trade secret as a sign of trust that such tactics wouldn’t be used against ponykind, this didn’t mean Twilight wouldn't use the knowledge to defend her team as they took down the tyrant hive queen. It was a bold strategy, but Twilight had the perfect counter in mind to deal with her.

“We’re going to just wait for her to come at us? But that’s so boring!” Rainbow wailed, hovering just above the group.

“I know. And believe me, I would love to just go and beat the tar out of her,” Twilight agreed, “but Chrysalis will no doubt be laying down a trap to deal with us. She’ll get impatient and come at us eventually. That’s when we will spring our own trap.”

Starlight blinked, giving her mentor a curious look. “Hey Twilight, I know you’re really into winning this thing and all, but I really can’t remember the last time you really wanted to ‘beat the tar’ out of somepony.”

Pinkie took this time to chime in. “Well, there was this one time somepony called Celestia 'Princess Sunbutt', and Twilight threatened to beat the shi—”

“—aaanyway,” Twilight interrupted quickly, “this plan will work for sure. Just don’t forget to stick together and remember our signals. Stay in the Apex Formation, check your corners and don’t take any chances.”

“I think somepony’s been reading her brother’s Royal Guard training manuals a bit too much,” Starlight commented under her breath.

The sudden sound of sparks and shattering glass echoed all over the castle, everyone but Twilight springing to action with pillows ready. As the sounds grew louder, light in the castle grew dimmer by the second. Tension thickened.

“Stand down,” Twilight ordered. “This is part of Chrysalis’ plan to draw us out. She’ll shut down the lights and attempt to blind us. Unfortunately for her, Starlight and I could easily provide light sources. Combined with Pinkie’s inability to be surprised and Rainbow’s great reflexes, any ambush attempts will easily be foiled.”

Several more lights popped, forcing Twilight and Starlight to spark lavender and teal light sources from their horns respectively. The only lights left were in the initial halls leading to the council room her squad stayed in. Twilight attempted to listen for any clopping on the hard crystal floor, but to no avail. Chrysalis was being careful, which was expected.

“We’ll wait a little longer, then proceed carefully while checking one room at a time,” Twilight advised. “It’ll be a little slow, but that will make Chrysalis nervous. If we keep this up, we will win without any casualties.” Though her friends looked uncertain, Twilight knew her plan was rock solid. Chrysalis would likely try some foolish attempts to provoke her into attacking. But Twilight was determined to beat Chrysalis, no matter the cost. Absolutely nothing would deter her to break this perfect strategy.

“Um, is this magic working? Can everypony hear me?”

The team jumped up, alert. The projected voice echoed from down the hallway, emanating from an unknown but clearly distant origin.

“Hold up. Is that… Fluttershy?” Rainbow asked.

“Somepony must be using a Vox spell to amplify her voice. But the question is, why?” Starlight pondered.

Twilight’s eyes narrowed. “Probably an attempt to taunt us into finding her. Don’t fall for it.” Her squad nodded, gripping their pillows tighter with anticipation.

“Chrysalis gave me this really interesting book and asked me to read everypony a bedtime story. Don’t worry, this was written by Twilight, so I know it will be a good story to read. Oh, this is exciting. I get to do a dramatic reading for everypony! Yay!”

Rainbow chuckled. “Fluttershy’s gonna tell us a bedtime story? I dunno about you all, but this seems like a really lame attempt to taunt us. Bet she’s trying to put us to sleep over something. But it’s something Twilight wrote, so she’s probably hit the mark on that.”

“Hey!” Twilight gave Rainbow a withering glare.

“Alright, everypony, I will now be reading ‘Celestia’s forbidden love’ by Twilight Sparkle.”

All eyes turned to Twilight, who paled, shrinking in on herself like a prune.

“Ohoho, been holding out on us, eh?” Pinkie gave Twilight a playful nudge on the side. Twilight remained unresponsive, wide-eyed and sweating bullets.

“Okay, trick or not, I just gotta hear a romance story written by our favorite Egghead.” Rainbow rubbed her hooves with anticipation.

Starlight hummed thoughtfully to herself. “This title sounds kinda familiar. Not sure why, though.” Noting that her mentor was started to look stressed-out and anxious, she frowned. “Are you alright, Twilight?”

“Y-yeah, I-I-I’m totally fine. Chrysalis isn’t going to get me. No siree!” Twilight said, moreso to herself.

“I approached the bed chambers as ordered by the beautiful and illustrious princess of the kingdom, trembling with excitement with every step. It’d been so long since she had offered to teach me new, wonderful things. But this was not going to be like other lessons. 

Tonight, my princess warned, I was going to learn a lesson that only a chosen few in history was ever privy to know. Something forbidden for anypony else, and could only be taught to me when everypony else was asleep.”

The sound of chewing caught Twilight’s attention. She looked back to see Pinkie stuffing her muzzle with popcorn, and sharing a theatre-sized tub with Rainbow and Starlight. All three stared at Twilight with piqued interest.

“I-I, erm, t-that is…” Twilight gulped, heat burning off her cheeks. “T-this totally isn’t what it sounds like.”

“Uh huh. I totes believe you,” Pinkie said nonchalantly as she chewed through another hooffull of popcorn. “Don’t mind us, just listening to some totally-not-smut written by definitely-not-Twilight.” The others nodded in agreement, wearing equally unconvincing expressions.

“S-s-s-smut? What are you talking about? This definitely isn’t—”

“As I opened the door to the chamber, the sight of my princess on the mattress stole my breath. She laid on her side with the moonlight washing over her smooth white coat. There were no regal garments on her tonight, only a smile and seductive stare that stirred something wild inside me. I hesitated, paralyzed by her beauty.

“Come to me, my faithful student,” she spoke with a low, demanding tone that left little to the imagination. “It’s time to learn your next friendship lesson.”

My breathing was labored as I nodded numbly, and, lost in a trance, I followed her command. Every instinct in me told me this was wrong. However, there was no denying what she wanted, and no longer could I deny what my body craved more than anything.

The moment my hoof touched the mattress, Celestia closed the distance, seizing the back of my head with her hoof as she kissed me aggressively. I melted at the touch of my lips, returning her kiss with equal ferocity. 

What lasted for seconds felt like years as we parted, leaving me breathless. I blinked, not realizing that in the heated moment of passion, she had pulled me onto the mattress, laying me on my back. Celestia climbed on top of me, her predatory stare making me shiver with anticipation.

“Now,” Celestia growled, “open yourself to my will, my faithful student.”

“Y-yes, my princess. My body is yours.”

Unable to restrain myself, I thrust my head upward to capture her lips as Celestia slid her hoof down to my—

“W-we have to find Chrysalis, everypony! We can’t wait any longer!” Twilight commanded, though it drifted more closely to frantic panicking.

“Awww,” everyone pouted.

“Don’t ‘awww’ me! Stay focused on the mission!” Before anypony could say otherwise, Twilight charged forward, a mixture of rage and embarrassment waging war in her rapidly beating chest. Thankfully, her friends were keen to her movements and quickly followed, struggling to keep pace.

“We were about to get to the good part, too!” Pinkie whined.

Rainbow shrugged. “It was starting to sound pretty good. Could use some work on building up the setting more, though.”

“I know, right?” Starlight started. “I wouldn’t have minded more build-up to the sex, though. Just going straight for it at the start sounds really cheesy.”

“I would love to see some chemistry to make the romance believable,” Pinkie agreed. “Also, I’m willing to bet Celestia would be all for being the bottom mare. She would make sure her students were able to provide practical application of their lessons, if you know what I mean~”

“ENOUGH!” Twilight roared, her entire coat burning red from intense blushing. “Just get off it, already!”

Pinkie wore a look of uncertainty. “I would, but it’s really awkward when other ponies are watching you—”

“Stop, stop, STOP! Just focus on Chrysalis, and absolutely nothing else!” Twilight’s voice cracked in a shriek. Getting the message, they nodded eagerly and did not speak further on Fluttershy’s dramatic readings.

At least, not while Twilight was looking.

Far enough from the council room, the team was plunged into a thick darkness with occasional streaks of light flowing in from the windows, Twilight and Starlight being the only visible light source. Per Twilight’s suggestion, the mares walked in a close-knit formation. Rainbow hovered nervously just above the group while Starlight took up residence as the rear guard, eyes cautiously checking every shadow and suspicious corner. Twilight took the lead, leaving Pinkie in the middle, acting as an enthusiastic center to help keep everypony’s spirits up.

“I think I saw something like this in a slasher flick once! A group of mares lost in a spooky mansion and are picked off one-by-one by a crazy serial killer! Great movie!” Pinkie chirped, not an ounce of concern in her voice as her friends stiffened.

Twilight facehoofed. “You had one job, Pinkie. Just one job…”

At least Starlight, privy to Chrysalis’ behavior, did not seem bothered by the unsettling atmosphere affecting the other mares. “Now that you mention it, Pinkie, these are some pretty smart tactics. Chrysalis would make a great murder— agh!” She gasped as she received a strong, magical poke in her side, courtesy of a disgruntled Twilight.

“Not. Helping.” Twilight hissed. The last thing she needed was for her friends to freak out and break formation. As long as they stayed together and kept calm, Chrysalis could not slip in through their defenses very easily. “We need to focus. Knowing Chrysalis, she will try to capture us one by one, and will use any means she can to distract us. Whatever you do, don’t break formation, no matter what.”

“Don’t have to tell me twice,” Rainbow said. Despite the brave face she tried to put on, her brow was coated in sweat, and her eyes darted about rapidly.

SLAM!

One of the nearby doors swung open with a burst of force, rattling both the walls of the castle, as well as the nerves of the ponies. They froze, waiting on Twilight’s word , until she isolated the door that was slammed: Spike’s room.

Twilight took a deep breath to calm her heart. Chrysalis really was going all out to catch them off guard. “She’s most likely inside this room, but we can’t let our guard down. Pinkie and I will take point. You two watch our flanks.” Once the mares gave their approval of the formation, the two point mares kicked opened the door and dashed in, pillows at the ready. Rainbow and Starlight quickly followed inside, watching the rear closely.

Outside the use of Twilight’s magic to generate light, the windowless room was pitch-black. Once she was able to find the small, messy mattress in the corner of the room covered in comic books and gems, she recognized Spike’s room.

“Doesn’t look like Chrysalis or her team is in this room.” Pinkie said as she went about checking under Spike’s bed.

“Don’t let your guard down. Just because the others aren’t in here doesn’t mean Chrysalis isn’t. Changelings can not only look like other ponies, but some objects as well. Size and complexity vary depending on magic level and experience, and while there are a few physical limitations, there’s no telling where she is—”

“Oh my gosh! Twilight!” Pinkie gasped from under the mattress, her body half buried in it.

“What is it? Did you see something suspicious under the bed? Is it Chrysalis?”

Pulling herself from underneath the bed, Pinkie flashed a wide grin as she waved a magazine in front of her. “Depends. Can she look like a first edition June issue of Playcolt?”

“Seriously? Hot damn! Go Spike!” Rainbow hurried over to Pinkie’s side, looking at the magazine with her. Starlight simply shrugged and followed suit.

Curious, Twilight took the book from Pinkie and flipped through the pages. The pony on the cover was a vaguely familiar unicorn with a milk-white coat she could have sworn she had seen keeping Fancy Pants company on occasion. Twilight briefly wondered if Spike was getting interested in high society culture.  “Huh. Thinking about it, I recall Chrysalis giving Spike this magazine. Something about mastering pony biology and getting to know Rarity, but I never did get a chance to see…” As she reached some of the more detailed pages, her jaw dropped, muzzle turning stark red.

Pinkie slipped next to Twilight to see what caused her to gawk like she did. “Oh ho ho! Gotta say, I can really dig this sort of education system! Go Spike!”

“THIS is what he had been reading?!" Twilight cried, her voice strangled until it was almost a squeak. "And Chrysalis has been supplying him with this… this filth?!”

“Hey, this isn’t filth! This is art! Look at that face! That pose! There’s nothing dirty about that.” As Pinkie leaned in to turn the page, one of the thicker pages unfolded into a large three-piece picture spread. Twilight’s pupils shrunk into pinpricks as she viewed the full size image, while Pinkie’s grin grew lecherous. “Now THIS is filthy! Hehehe!”

When Twilight peeked at the spread page, her jaw dropped, face completely flushed. “Sweet Celestia, how could anypony bend like that?!”

“Actually, if you were to move your back legs like this and limber up, you can actually—”

“Forget I asked!” Twilight yelled. Next time she saw Spike, they were going to have a very long discussion about proper reading materials for a dragon his age.

“Be careful of some of the pages. I’m sure you don’t want to find yourself in a sticky situation.” Pinkie snickered.

“Sticky situation? But why would the magazine be stick—”

Twilight froze as it suddenly clicked. The book slipped from her hooves as she stood rigidly, pure horror etched in her expression.

It was going to take a lot of alcohol to make herself forget the epiphany she'd just had.

Rainbow’s ears suddenly perked up as she looked towards the door. “Hold, everypony. You hear that?” Moving to the door, ensuring it was safe to move to the door, she waved her team to move to her position. “You might want to get out here and get a load of this!”

Twilight perked up at this. Never before had she been glad for a distraction. “I’m on my way! Pinkie, let’s go and—”

“Dang, check out the fifth leg on this stallion! He could slay a dragon with that thing...or lay one, hehehe!”

“For goodness sake, would you put that down already?!” Twilight’s voice jumped a few octaves as she used her magic to slap the magazine out of her hooves and drag the party pony out of the door. The moment she and everyone else got to the hallway, Twilight stopped dead in her tracks as soon as she heard it.

Though it was faint, she could hear the sounds of music echoing down the halls.

“That music doesn’t sound very far, though it sounds pretty familiar,” Starlight mused.

“It doesn't make sense why she would put on music, but we need to search it out; carefully. Let’s go, girls!” Twilight trotted after the source, carefully checking her corners to make sure they weren’t rushing into a trap.

As the team moved forward, the music gradually grew louder and clearer. It didn’t take long for Twilight to round the corner of the long hallway, where the source of the music emanated from.

“Aha! That music is blasting from right down this corr—” Twilight’s words died on her lips as she stared at the sight, jaw hanging agape. Once her teammates came around to her side, they were rendered just as speechless.

At the other end of the corridor, illuminated by a ray of dazzling light, was Princess Celestia. Her tall, regal form faced the squad hindquarters first, back legs spread out as her flank moved in hypnotic circles, flowing tail spinning and swishing about in sync to the music. The sultry smirk on Celestia’s face made the alluring dance all the more distracting as she sang.

“You spin me right round, Twily. Right round. Like a record, Twily. Right round, round, round~...”

Twilight, in all of her worldly knowledge and wit, knew this was Chrysalis in disguise. She knew the real Celestia would never do such provocative and taunting dances, nor would she give Twilight a look that tripled her heart rate. It was all part of some sort of scheme to distract her, a thinly veiled plot at that. She knew she couldn’t afford to let herself get distracted.

Unfortunately for her, it worked.

“Twilight, snap out of it!” Starlight waved her hoof in front of her, getting little more than an affirming grunt and twitching of fully erect wings as Twilight’s eyes stayed glued to Celestia’s waving plot. Even Starlight’s eyes found themselves occasionally drifting towards the ensnaring maw of the void.

Starlight never thought she would see the day she had to save Twilight from Celestia’s plot.

After a few seconds of indecision, Starlight found the courage to brave the deadly void, unleashing a hail of magic bolts to rain down on the position, if only to scare the disguised Chrysalis away. It worked, forcing ‘Celestia' to reposition and dash away to break line-of-sight.

“Phew!” Starlight breathed, sweating profusely. “That was too close. Celestia’s butt almost got us… wow, that’s something you don’t hear everyday. Scratch that one off the bucket list.” Facing the still-hypnotized Twilight, Starlight shook her fiercely. “Twilight, wake up!”

After copious amounts of shaking, Twilight was finally broken out of her stupor. “Huh? W-what happened? Why are my wings so stiff?”

Starlight hesitated, flushing crimson. How did one tell somepony that their mind was almost crushed by a Princess’ groovy flanks?

“Chrysalis… err… u-used a mind control spell! A crazy powerful one!”

Twilight blinked in confusion for a moment before smiling gratefully. “I see. Well, thanks for getting me out of that. Who knows how long I would’ve been stuck if you didn’t pull me out… uh, Starlight? What’s so funny?” Her expression morphed into concern as Starlight staggered, covering her mouth as she cheeks inflamed.

It took several deep breaths for Starlight to regain control. “N-Nothing. I’m just glad that I could save you from Chrysalis and her hypnotising ways— PFFFT!” Her body shook as another burst of giggles threatened to break her composure.

“Look, this is no time for funny business. If Chrysalis is using mental magic, we need to be extra careful. Rainbow, Pinkie, I’ll enchant you so you don’t… girls?” Looking back, Twilight found neither mare behind them. Panic rose in Twilight as she looked around for her other friends.

Starlight gulped, realizing she had been so distracted by the situation and Twilight, she'd neglected to check on those two. “Rainbow? Pinkie?! Where are you?”

Almost as if on cue, the screaming started.

“AH! AHHFFF, STOP, HAHA, STAHP! SHE'S GOT MEEE!"

“PFFAT TICKLESH, AH! AH! TWILIGHT! STARLIGHT! SAVE US!”

The pair nearly jumped out of their skin. Eyes wide, ears perked and alert, they scanned the darkness, but could not discern where their friends were. Their cries and helpless laughs seemed to come from everywhere at once, echoing loudly off the tall walls in the too-spacious hallway they occupied.

As quickly as the screams came, they went, and an ear-ringing silence filled the void.

Twilight and Starlight shared a blood-chilled look of uncertainty. The instinct to go after them nearly consumed Twilight. Starlight moved to follow the screams, only for Twilight to reach out and catch her hoof, emphatically shaking her head.

“I’m afraid it’s too late for them," she said grimly. "Chrysalis must have gotten them when we were spellbound.”

Starlight’s eyes lingered down the hallway, but there was no trace of their friends except the lingering echo of their cries. The hesitation lasted a few seconds before she sighed in defeat. “Damn it, you’re right. Sorry I messed up.”

Twilight shook her head. “No, I’m the one that messed up. I should’ve been more conscious of Chrysalis’ cunning so I wouldn’t have fallen for her plot.”

It took all of two seconds before Starlight broke, collapsing into a fit of uncontrollable giggles.

Twilight sighed as she attempted to bring Starlight back from her laughing fit before moving on. Though Starlight refused to admit what made her laugh so hard, Twilight had a feeling it was over something rather immature.

The next several minutes were spent moving through the castle as stealthily as possible, making sure Chrysalis couldn’t ambush her. Two members down, the odds were stacked against them. Tension was thick, every sound or clop that echoed in the castle making the two freeze up, staying on high alert.

Approaching the final corridor of the castle that hadn’t been checked yet, a lone, light-blue source of light illuminated the other end of the hall. Twilight hugged the corner and peered down the path. Standing before a large double door, poised in a relaxed stance with her horn alit, was Rarity.

Twilight halted at first, getting a pillow ready to snipe the fashionista and signalling Starlight to do get ready to attack.

“Now, girls, don’t be shy. As you can clearly see, I carry no pillows to fight with,” Rarity said, projecting her voice.

“Where’s Chrysalis? Where did she take the others?”

A teasing smile danced on Rarity’s lips. “Chrysalis is beyond this door, waiting for you, Twilight Sparkle. If you wish to face her, all you have to do is walk in.”

“How do I know this is not a trap? You could be preparing an ambush.”

“Come now, surely you know we’re smarter than to try that on you,” Rarity laughed. “Don’t be so reserved. Come to the door. I swear on my heart, this is no ambush or trick.”

Twilight hesitated, pondering her options. Fluttershy and Applejack were nowhere to be seen, so the chance it was going to be this easy was low. But seeing how Rarity showed no signs of carrying a weapon, and the only door in the hall was the one behind her, leading to an unused bedroom, she eventually found herself too curious to ignore what was going on.

Motioning Starlight to follow with a nod, the two closed the gap to meet with Rarity, eyeing every inch and corner for some cleverly concealed trap. Once Twilight realized Rarity was telling the truth, she released the breath she had been holding.

“Alright, Rarity, spill it; what’s Chrysalis up to?” Twilight demanded, narrowing her eyes.

“It’s quite simple, really. She wishes to challenge you to a duel. 'One-on-one fluffmatch,' to use her parlance. Winner takes all with no interference from other side.”

“Pfft, what? Does she think I’m that easy to trick?” Twilight laughed.

“I assure you, this is no trick. Rainbow and Pinkie were forced to be… removed, simply to ensure you wouldn’t be tempted to dishonor the challenge and make it a one-on-four. A necessary safety precaution.”

“I don’t know about this, Twilight,” Starlight rubbed her chin, casting a suspicious gaze. “This sounds very risky. I really don’t want to abandon you.”

Twilight smiled gratefully at her only remaining ally. “Thanks a lot, Starlight. I trust you to stay by my side.”

Starlight puffed out her chest proudly. “Of course. Being your faithful student and all, there’s nothing that can separate our teamwork and friendship."

“Starlight,” Rarity called out, “would you like to watch the two fight with me? Fluttershy will be making popcorn for us.”

Starlight paused to give Rarity a withering look. “Seriously, Rarity? You’re trying to bribe me with popcorn? I would have to be really shallow to fall for—”

“We’ve got white cheddar flavor~...”

After a beat of silence, Starlight turned to Twilight, pure determination on her face.

“Twilight, I’ll be rooting for you in spirit as you take on Chrysalis.”

“YOU SPINELESS TRAITOR!” Twilight bellowed.

Starlight waved her hoof in defense, smiling nervously. “C-come on, Twilight, it’s not so bad. You totally got this. I’ll even wait until you strike the first blow before I dig into the popcorn.”

“I’m walking into a room where Chrysalis is waiting for me, and you’re going to abandon me for popcorn?!” Twilight threw her hooves into the air as she cried out in frustration. “Ugh, why are all of my friends so easy to bribe?!”

“Hey, a girl’s gotta eat. Don’t worry, I’ll try to save you some when you get back.”

“You’re dead to me,” Twilight deadpanned, giving Starlight a dark, unimpressed look.

“Ahem,” Rarity cleared her throat to get Twilight’s attention, “assuming you have no further objections, Chrysalis awaits you to enter the arena.”

Stepping to the side and with showmare flair, Rarity used her magic to open the door to the chamber. An icy chill flooded out of the pitch black room, causing Twilight to shiver. Seeing there was no other choice, she kept the pillow held in her magic close as she entered the room.

Darkness swallowed Twilight as the door suddenly closed and locked behind her. Even with her horn glowing to light the way, the darkness in the room was suffocating.

Suddenly, the ceiling lights flared on, momentarily blinding Twilight. She quickly readied her pillow to attack, bracing herself for an ambush. But the blows never came. Once Twilight’s eyes adjusted to the sudden flash of light, her jaw dropped at what she saw.

The entire room had been gutted out of all furniture, replaced by piles upon piles of pillows hugging the edges, creating an empty arena in the middle. At the other end of the circular room was a massive pillow pile forming a makeshift throne. Atop of it, hind legs crossed and forehooves pressed together, was Chrysalis.

“So glad you could finally make it, Twilight Sparkle.”

Twilight’s eyes narrowed. “Chrysalis…!”

She cackled. “This is just like old times when you first stormed my hive. Braving the elements, stumbling upon my throne room, it’s really quite nostalgic.”

“Enough playing around. Where are my friends?”

“Being attended to. Don’t worry, you’ll be joining them shor-AH!” Chrysalis gasped as a pillow sailed from across the room and crashed into her cheek. She flushed, glaring at the offender. “I was in the middle of my evil monologue! Do you have any idea how long I’ve been waiting to-ACK!” Another pillow sailed into her from the sidelines, courtesy of Twilight’s telekinesis.

Twilight scowled beneath her glowing horn. “It’s long, boring, and cliche. Who even does evil monologues anymore?”

Chrysalis bristled. “Hmph. What would a goody-two-hoof like you know about evil monologues?”

Twilight smirked.

“You orchestrated this mess of a plan to keep me separated from my friends. One by one, you picked them off, and now have me locked in here with you. You had every opportunity to do the smart thing and beg for my mercy, but in your ignorance, cast that chance aside.”

Twilight took a step forward, lavender sparks of energy flowing around her as her horn ignited. “What you thought was an assured victory is nothing more than your first few steps into oblivion, and I am your executioner. Your fatal mistake wasn’t trapping me in here with you. It’s you trapping yourself with ME!”

With a stomp, electricity rippled across the floor and washed over the room, prickling Chrysalis’s carapace. Silent tension followed for a moment as Twilight held her confident smirk, Chrysalis staring, lips parted, as if she was caught in a daze.

“...Take me.”

Twilight paused. “What?”

“I-I said fight me!” Chrysalis growled out and hopped off her throne, sliding into a crouch. A tint of red appeared in her cheeks.

“I’m pretty sure you just said-GAH!” Twilight yelped as a telekinetically-assisted pillow slammed into the back of her head.

“Quit your blubbering and fight me already!” Chrysalis’ blush intensified as she grabbed a pillow in her hoof, which then glowed a furious green under her magical aura, and dove towards Twilight.

Twilight slipped under the attack and countered with an upward strike, sending the queen reeling back. This allowed Twilight to score several more blows with a series of lightning fast assaults before Chrysalis was able to block with her hooves, summoning more pillows to aid her. To dodge the onslaught, Twilight took into the air, utilizing her aerial mobility to dodge and block incoming fire while launching pillow bombardments of her own.

Chrysalis proved faster than Twilight expected, also taking into the air with her rapidly fluttering gossamer wings. Twilight attempted to stop her charge with a well-placed pillow shot. This proved folly as Chrysalis ripped the pillow out of the air mid-flight and charged straight for Twilight, staggering her with a pillow slap to the face. The strength of the blow stunned Twilight long enough for Chrysalis to channel several more floating pillows, causing them to whirl around the room like a feathery whirlwind.

The moment Twilight recovered, she was forced to dodge pillows flying at her from all directions. With Chrysalis pressuring her further with relentless attacks, Twilight was put on the back hoof, barely able to defend herself from the heavy strikes while also avoiding the quicker pillow strikes from the fluff storm. But Chrysalis got too cocky, charging up an overhead strike for a decisive, but ultimately slower blow. Slipping under the attack, Twilight grabbed Chrysalis’ back hooves, spun her round and round like a top, and threw her into a corner of densely filled pillows, creating an explosion of feathers.

Now that Twilight had a moment to breathe, she channeled her magic to lift several dozen pillows into the air, creating her own torrent of magically guided missiles. Knowing she only have a few scants seconds to prepare, she grabbed two pillows out of the air, gripping one in each forehoof with an iron grip.

“It’s over, Chrysalis! I have the high ground!” Twilight sneered.

“You underestimate my power!”

Twilight noticed too late the shadow cast on the ground below her.

Mild discomfort exploded on the back of her head, stars filling her vision. Twilight was sent spiraling into the same pile of pillows where Chrysalis had been seconds ago. Twilight emerged out of the pillows with a magical burst, sending them sailing down onto the floor, and glared up at Chrysalis. She was about to rush at her to rejoin the battle when she noticed her weapon of choice.
.
The pillow was triple the length and density of the normal pillows, covered in a high quality cloth featuring a rather familiar yet provocative image of Celestia that made Twilight’s face light up red.

“W-w-where did you get that pillow?!”

Chrysalis’ grin widened. “Oh, this little thing? I just happened to find it stuffed away in a lonely vault hidden beneath the castle. Conveniently next to that lovely bedtime story Fluttershy is reading to your friends as we speak.

Twilight bristled, wings flaring in outrage. “Surrender that pillow and the book… w-whichisdefinitelynotmine!”

“Oh no. I think I’ll keep this. This pillow is just so soft and warm.” Chrysalis kissed Celestia’s face on the pillow, smirking at Twilight’s deepening frown. “Feels just like the real thing, too.”

With an angry growl and a burst of energy, Twilight soared into the sky, flying straight at Chrysalis with blinding speed. Chrysalis barely had enough time to block the attacks, the strength of her oversized pillow matched only by the speed of Twilight’s double pillow barrage.

The two clashed continuously in the air, occasionally using the floating pillows around them as makeshift projectiles to unbalance each other. Though Twilight was able to get in more blows with her swift dual-wielding pillows, the stopping power of Chrysalis’ body pillow more than made up the lack of speed and accuracy. Despite each side scoring several staggering blows on each other, neither was willing to relent to the other.

Then, in a display of lightning-quick reflexes brought on by pure adrenaline, Twilight feinted a horizontal strike at Chrysalis' legs, forcing her to pull her guard in to avoid being imbalanced; momentarily leaving her sneering head exposed. Twilight then twisted her other pillow in the air to whistle through the opening, soundly smacking Chrysalis' head with a profound pomf. 

The Changeling queen let out a grunt of surprise, dazed by the sudden blow. Twilight surged forth with a wave of magical force that manifested in a second layer of overglow around her horn, overwhelming Chrysalis' hold over her own pillows like water displacing oil. “I’ve had enough of this game! Playtime’s over, Chrysalis!” she exclaimed triumphantly. Further pressing the advantage, Twilight also grabbed the remaining pillows on the ground and gathered them into her grip, flourishing the depth of her magical prowess.

“This night has been interesting, but your winning streak ends here. Any last words, Chrysalis?” Twilight sneered, almost able to taste the victory looming over the horizon.

Chrysalis sucked in a breath and shook the daze out of her head. Every single pillow that wasn’t held onto a hoof hovered around her, poised to drown her in fluff. She shot Twilight a glare, eyes burning with determination.

There was no boasting. No posturing. No threats or false bravado. Battered, weakened, and at a clear disadvantage, the changeling queen only had one thing to say to the Princess of Friendship.

“Suck. My. Teats.”

“RAAAAAAAH!” With an earsplitting roar, Twilight unleashed her full barrage, every pillow in the room surging towards her at full power.

Chrysalis sucked in a breath and closed her eyes, her body pillow gripped with both hooves held at her side like a blade ready to strike.

The pillows closed in.

Her eyes snapped open, and a blood-curdling war cry ripped from her lungs.

With speed and ferocity that rendered Twilight speechless, Chrysalis spun her weaponized pillow and struck down every pillow flowing at her. The body pillow flailed and whirled around her like a barrier of pure feathery fury, the pillow assault unable to penetrate her impeccable defense.

Twilight, for a moment, was slack-jawed.

“So cool…! I-I mean, TAKE THIS!” She channeled even more magic, quickly turning into a third layer encircling her horn, and the pillow barrage doubled in speed and power.

That opportunity was all Chrysalis needed.

Chrysalis teleported in front of Twilight, who only had a chance to scream as Chrysalis unleashed her ultimate attack.

“This is the end for you! SHINING SUNBUTT BARRAGE!”

Twilight was mercilessly struck full-force by the body pillow. The blow sent Twilight flying backwards, only to get knocked upward by Chrysalis, who teleported again. Then slammed to the side. Followed by getting smashed downward. Then upward. Left. Right. Down. Up. And finally, with a battle cry, she unleashed a final overhead strike. All Twilight saw before the blow hit was Celestia's lasciviously lifted tail and bedroom-eyed smile.

POMF!

The crushing force sent the beaten-down princess crashing into the ground, where some of the pillows had conveniently fallen to cushion her fall.

Twilight struggled to stand on her hooves, staggering and gasping for air. She was thankful that Chrysalis too had expended substantial stamina, catching her own breath rather than seizing the advantage. Chrysalis’s combo attack had stunned her out of her hold on the surrounding pillows, and when she attempted to grasp them again, she realized there was resistance.

She paled at the implications, daring herself to look up.

Exhausted, but smirking victoriously, Chrysalis hovered above Twilight, all of the pillows in the room except for the two in Twilight’s sweaty hooves captured in her magic.

"Foolish pony, I have you right where I want you!" Chrysalis cackled. “I’ll give you one chance to surrender to me before I commence the full wrath of the pillow swarm upon you!”

Despite the harrowing position she found herself in, Twilight smiled.

"Oh, Chryssi,” purple magic began to burn off Twilight’s horn and eyes, electricity rippling through her body. “When you will ever learn to stop putting your hoof in your mouth?"

Chrysalis and Twilight held each other’s gazes as they hesitated. A pregnant silence filled the charged air as they gathered themselves for the clash.

Suddenly, with a load roar, the two charged at each other and—






“—then they kissed. The end.” Fluttershy concluded, smiling shyly at her audience from her seat in the council room. The five other mares stomped their hooves in applause, each of their faces burning red.

“Boy howdy, now that was sexy! Who knew Twilight could write these kind of stories?” Applejack fanned herself with the stetson.

“I totally called it. Twilight’s gonna be a super freak in the bed.” Pinkie smirked.

“Oh my. I simply don’t know whether to be proud or concerned of her, ahem, creativity in such matters. I may have to talk to her and compare notes.” Rarity muttered the last sentence to herself.

“The story is decent and all, but I’m ready to check out the fight with Chrysalis and Twilight like Rarity promised.” Rainbow said. Starlight nodded in agreement, too busy chewing on popcorn to speak.

Rarity nodded. “Indeed. After we ‘captured’ you two, Chrysalis told me to wait a bit before unveiling the fight. Preferring to ‘soften’ her up first to put on a good show, as she put it.”

“I’m just glad we don’t have to beat each other up with pillows anymore.” Fluttershy smiled gratefully.

“Not that it would’ve stopped you,” Pinkie shrugged. ”Chrysalis pulled you off really good when she was reading that story at the start. Totally didn’t expect you and AJ to ninja us like that with that really awesome distraction.”

Rainbow shuddered. “Don’t remind me. Note to self: never mess with Fluttershy in a tickle fight.”

“Yeah, that took me by surprise. Almost as much as Twilight going so crazy over winning this game. And here I thought me and Dash were the super competitive ones. Not that Chrysalis was helpin’ any. She was fannin’ those flames more than a dry summer storm.”

Starlight laughed. “Well, I’m just happy when—"

The castle suddenly rumbled, causing everyone to jump up in their chairs.

“Did… anypony else feel that?” Starlight asked.

“I-I have a really bad feeling about this,” Fluttershy said.

Rainbow shrugged. “Please, it’s just a little bit of rumbling. How bad can it really be?”

The shaking intensified. A distant sound of crashing erupted.

“What in tarnation…?”

Rarity started sweating bullets. “W-why don’t we just take a look and see what’s going on? I’m sure everything’s fine.” Sparking her horn, Rarity conjured a light blue magical screen against the wall. Within the magic screen, an image swirled and began to take shape until a clear image of the room Chrysalis and Twilight were fighting in came to view.

Searing flames filled the room, catching onto and spreading through the countless feathers of all the destroyed pillows. Odd, rectangular impressions were embedded into the surfaces all over the room, seeming as though some pillows were thrown hard enough to actually dent the structure. The hot winds created by the flames sent sparks and stray feathers dancing in the air almost by the hundreds. Beyond the ravaged landscape and cracked floors and ceiling was a gaping hole in the wall that looked suspiciously like Chrysalis.

“I’m gonna say that bad,” Pinkie quipped, staring wide-eyed.

Rarity channeled the visual to follow the path they had taken. More holes in the walls, some in the shape of Twilight, others in the shape of Chrysalis. Each room they saw was either on fire, the ceiling collapsed, or was rendered inhospitable thanks to the wanton destruction left in their wake. Beds, dressers, and various other furniture were thrust to the side or outright broken into fragmented wooden pieces.

Another, much bigger quake rippled through the council room. Dust and small debris leaked from the ceiling.

“U-um, girls? That sound came from above us.” Rainbow commented.

The group was rendered speechless, recognizing that mistakes were made.

After a pause, Fluttershy spoke up. “So, are we gonna watch the fight, or what?”

A few seconds of hesitation later, everyone left their respective snacks and rushed up to the upper level, stepping over broken pieces of debris as they ascended the spiral staircase. The path to finding Chrysalis and Twilight was easy, as the group simply followed the broken walls and torn-up landscape.

The group arrived to see a haggard Twilight and Chrysalis, their manes messy and bodies covered in sweat, striking at each other with their respective pillow weapons at blinding speeds and force. Every strike emitted a magical shockwave that knocked back everything within a three-yard radius. They could only watch in awe as the two exchanged blows that would likely kill a lesser mare.

“I think we should do something before they destroy the entire castle,” Rarity suggested awkwardly.

Rainbow gulped. “Alright. You go in there and tell them to stop.”

Rarity gave her a look. “Do I look suicidal to you? I’m simply too young and beautiful to die.”

Chrysalis and Twilight jumped away from each other to catch their second wind. It was only then, they noticed they had an audience.

“Girls, you’re okay!” Twilight sighed with relief.

“Rarity, I told you to keep our captives out of sight! Capture them before they retaliate!” Chrysalis demanded.

“Oh no, you don’t!” Twilight growled, glaring at Chrysalis. “Girls, attack Chrysalis now! We have her on the ropes!”

“Tch, you have me on the ropes? I’ve only begun to fight seriously! You’re the one who is on her last legs!”

“I got all night to kick your flank all over the castle!”

“Please, I merely took those blows to catch you off guard! Your paltry attacks are nothing!”

“Whoa, whoa, let’s slow down here!” Starlight cut in pleadingly. “In an effort to make sure there’s still a castle left to sleep in, why don’t we call this a draw?”

“Never! I'm going to WIN!” Both Chrysalis and Twilight hissed, glaring at Starlight.

“Nopony is going to win if there isn’t a castle left afterwards! Oh boy, what a mess.” Starlight uttered a long-suffering groan.

Applejack hummed to herself, pondering a solution. Considering the number of bouts she'd had with Rainbow Dash, this no-win situation was nothing new to her. Suddenly, the perfect idea came to mind. “Ah think ah got just the tiebreaker game for you gals. Just hear me out.”

Chrysalis and Twilight said nothing, nodding slowly as they started glaring at each other, watching for any signs of movement or attack.

“In the council room, ah got us a huge crate of some zap apple hard cider. I was fixin’ on having us endin’ the evening with a relaxing drink. But if ya’ll are wantin’ to figure out who is the top mare, then I pose this challenge; whoever can outdrink the other will be the winner.”

Outside Twilight and Chrysalis, everyone else gave Applejack a look as if she just grew another head.

“AJ, why do you think that would even be a remotely good idea?” Starlight asked incredulously.

“Eh, it worked for me and Rainbow. Figured it would work for them too.”

“I know, but Zap Apple hard cider? There’s no telling how much crazier these two could get with that in their system!”

Chrysalis carefully pondered the idea. She'd never tried the drink, but every other changeling was familiar with the legendary Zap Apple hard cider. Countless regrets and cases of debauchery were caused by this alcoholic beverage. To subject herself to such a drink seemed far too reckless, even for her.

However, noting that Twilight’s friends—her friends—were concerned for the wellbeing of Twilight’s home, this made Chrysalis at least consider the idea. Considering that they, at least the three who talked to her, did not view her as a completely unlikeable menace, she figured she could at least give them the same courtesy. Not that they had to know that, of course.

What truly influenced her decision was the chance to witness the mares falling to its influence. Primarily Twilight. That alone negated the concern of how the drink might affect her own conscious state.

“Fine. I’ll accept this.”

“Hold on, are you serious?!” Twilight exclaimed. “Zap Apple hard cider is way too risky! I, for one, would rather finish you here and now than settle the tiebreaker in such a dangerous game!”

I’m sorry, Twilight, I think there’s something in my ear.” Chrysalis leaned her ear towards Twilight. “Could you repeat yourself? I could swear I heard you say ‘I’m too scared and feeble to challenge the almighty Queen Chrysalis to a drinking challenge.’”

Twilight fumed. She opened her mouth to speak, only to hesitate. She knew Chrysalis had never tried the drink before, and if there was ever a chance to make Chrysalis be the one to make a fool of herself, that in itself was payback enough.

Stepping towards Chrysalis, Twilight flashed her a smug grin. “You know what? I’ve changed my mind. I’ll accept this tiebreaker challenge! I’m going to enjoy watching you act like a fool!”

Chrysalis also stepped forward, glaring down at the pony before her. “It’s your funeral, Sparky. I’ll crush you in this challenge as I’ve done in the previous games.”

“Gloat all you want, but you’ll be the one begging for mercy.”

“Look at you, so overconfident. I’m going to enjoy watching you squirm.”

“I’m simply stating facts, like how I’m going to beat-uh, what?” Twilight blinked as she felt something press against the back of her head, noting that Chrysalis had also felt the same sensation with her head being pressed forward.

They both looked at the culprit, who was attempting to press their faces into each other.

“Now kiss!”

“DAMN IT, PINKIE!” They bellowed, flushing crimson.
> Good night
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The rules of the drinking challenge were simple: Whoever drank the the most zap apple hard ciders before one of them fell unconscious or ended up getting sick won. It was a battle of pure endurance and willpower with no magic, shapeshifting or sabotaging allowed. Once the two agreed to the conditions to play fair, the tiebreaker went underway while the other mares set about dousing the fires and repairing what damage could be immediately fixed thanks to the destructive pillow war, leaving the pair to their own devices after making them swear not to cheat or destroy any more of the castle.

Driven by sheer competitiveness and determination, Chrysalis and Twilight pounded glass after glass with relentless fervor. Only a few glasses in, and the potency of the infamous cider was already taking a toll on them. Their bodies started swaying dangerously, speech gradually getting more slurred and raucous as the dizzying effects started taking hold. The other six mares secretly took bets on how long they could keep this up, capping at an hour max.

Two hours of non-stop drinking later...

“Ah’m gonna… gonna get ya. Then I’m gonna finally beat Sparky!” Chrysalis droned, lazily grasping at the fourth bottle of cider at the edge of the table she laid sprawled out on.

The bottle was barely out of reach for her. Despite being drunk out of her mind, glassy eyes dizzily attempting to stare down the bottle to will it to her, Chrysalis might have been able to move barely enough to grab it were it not for the equally drunk Twilight latched onto her back like a sleepy sloth.

“Nuh-uh, ah’m gonna win. Ya can’t beat th' great 'n powerful Sparky!” Twilight slurred, giggling madly to herself. Any attempt to go after the bottle herself halted as she started rubbing her cheek against Chrysalis’ back. “Dish is so soft. It’s like a… like a thing that’sh soft.”

Chrysalis’ body shifted as she chuckled. “You ish so magical with words.”

“Damn straight! Ah’m like a wizard. Or somethin’.”

“Wha? Nah, you’re too fluffy ta be a lizard. Stay fluffy!”

Twilight gave a weak, playful slap on the back of her head. “Nah, fool! I dun said wizard! Wiz! Erd!”

Chrysalis craned her head to look at Twilight. “Da buck is a wizerd?”

“A wizard is, you know, t-the thing. That’s magical and awesome. Like, Swirl-star the afro awesome!”

Chrysalis gave up her attempts to go after the bottle, resorting to simply staring out into space as she flopped on the table. “Oh dang, I like afros.”

Sighing wistfully, Twilight curled up on Chrysalis’s back, drawing circles on her carapace, “A-a-and that’s why I wanna be like ‘Lestia. She’s got a super cool afro. A-a-and she’s really pretty, and smart, and n-never called me Egghead, and just totally understands me, and… and...” She trailed off, mumbling incoherently.

“Hmph. I never called you Egghead...” Chrysalis muttered bitterly.

“Huh?”

Chrysalis wiggled angrily, albeit uselessly thanks to Twilight’s weight, attempting to grab the bottle again. “Doesn’t matter! Ah’m gonna drink this, and beat you, a-a-and feel good about mahself!” Her hoof suddenly shot into the air triumphantly. “Ah’m gonna make Queen Chrysalis great again!”

“Whatchu talkin’ about, Chryssi?”

“A-ah was the bestesh queen!” Chrysalis bristled, raising her voice. “Everypony thought ah was the knees bees! B-but then you had to come along and ruin everything!”

“O-oh no, I did the t-thing?” Twilight’s eyes began to water, her ears pinning back.

“All the things! The friendships! The kindness! A-and makin’ me feel fuzzy and wanted! Ah don’t want the fuzzies! Fuzzies are for squares!”

Twilight started tearing up, sucking in her lower lip. “But-but-but I love the fuzzies!”

“A-a-and then you started beating me up, you bully!” Chrysalis clenched her eyes, slamming her hoof on the table. Tears threatened to slip through her closed eyelids. “Y-you are just so good at everything, and-and friendly, and everypony loves you! But ah’m just scary bug horse who doesn’t know how to make friends or win games! You win at games, you win at life, you win at things! I’m just a big, scary loser.”

Twilight let out a sharp gasp. She sniffled in a dry sob, and murmured pleadingly, “No, Chryssi, no…”

“LOSER!” Chrysalis slammed her hoof on the table, causing Twilight to wince. “Ah’m always gonna be a loser! Cuz momma told me ah was a predator! And my momma’s momma told her she was a predator, and-and predators are super strong and win at everything! And my momma’s momma’s momma—"

“—But you won today!” Twilight exclaimed, cutting through her tirade. “Ya beat me up real good!”

“Fool!” Chrysalis swung her body around with all the grace of a wrecking ball, forcing them to face each other, and bumping their skulls together with a light bonk. She glared at her hotly, pressing her face against Twilight's snout. “Ah didn’t win nothin’! Ah couldn’t has done no good without your bud-buds!”

“But they be your bud-buds too! Like ah’m your bud-bud!”

“I don’t wanna be scary bug horse who can only win with bud-buds! I wanna be a strong, independant queen, who don’t need no bud-buds! Even if they're super nice and made me feel good, or say stuff like “let’s play again”! Ah dun wanna be weak loser anymore! Ah wanna be a winner!”

Twilight threw her hooves around Chrysalis' shaking withers, and pulled her in tightly, pressing their barrels together. “Ah’m sorry, mah queen! Ah dun messed up by being super scary and I made you saaad!” she wailed. “Ah jush wanted everypony to see how super special awesome ya are! Ah know everypony kinda sorta thinks you're scary bug horse, but ah wanna show ‘em who ya are!”

“Dat I’m a loser?!”

“Stupid Chryssi! Hush!” When Chrysalis opened her mouth to argue back, Twilight lurched forward and angrily nommed Chrysalis’ nose, causing her to yelp. She pressed herself up on her hind hooves until their faces were level, and then a little higher, bearing down on Chrysalis with a stern gaze. “Ya ain’t a loser! You’re, like, the coolest thing ever! Ah have to be on my super duper tippy hooves when playin' with you! Cuz you're smart, and strong, and tricksy! Ah’m strong 'cause you are strong! You are my amazing, bestes rival and beshtest friend!”

“Say whaaa?” Chrysalis drawled out breathlessly.

“Exactly! But ah don’t wanna make you sad! Sometimes, ya drive me crazy, but happy Chryssi is pretty Chryssi! Pretty Chryssi is best Chryssi!” Wearing a goofy smile, Twilight extended her feathery wings and threw them tightly over Chrysalis' neck, cuddling her for all she was worth. “Best Chryssi is mah Chryssi! Mah cool rival friend!”

A lopsided smile found its way onto Chrysalis’ face. She leaned back under Twilight's comforting weight, until her head came to rest on the table. She shifted her head around to nuzzle Twilight's cheek, making the alicorn let out a breathy squeak. Her foreleg reached up, shivering nervelessly, and she simply lay it over Twilight's comfortable back. “Dat. Right dere, is why ya will always be my bestie and rival too. Ah admit, I was scared of ya bud-buds.”

“Huh? Why?”

“Because they be important to ya. And… a-and I didn’t wanna mess up and lose ya cuz I’m scary bug horse.” Chrysalis suddenly glanced to the side, taking particular interest in the texture of the table. “Ah like your friends." Her voice was low, cracking wistfully around the edges. "Ah just wish I was awesome like you so they can like me too.”

“I just said ya were awesome.”

“Ah know. Just… ya know how I get. I didn’t have ta think 'bout feelin’ stuff and makin’ friends till ya came 'round. Ah hate… ah hate feelin’ all nervous ‘n stuff when ah’m under pressure.”

“Dat’s why I trapped mah bud-buds in here with you! Yay friendship prison!”

“Friendship prison is best prison!” The two laughed together. Gradually, they fell into a comfortable silence.

Chrysalis was the first to talk. “Sparky?” she whispered softly.

“Ya?”

“Thank you for being beshtest friend and rival.”

Twilight cooed happily, smiling a soft, peaceful smile. “Awww, I like you too, ya big lovebug," she murmured, nuzzling at Chrysalis' neck.

Suddenly, Chrysalis started spazzing out in horror, throwing Twilight off her barrel as she rolled around and patted herself.

“GAAAH! THE FUZZIES ARE BACK! GET IT OFF! GET IT OFF! GET IT OFF!”

Twilight flailed about in panic, rapidly patting Chrysalis’ body as if trying to put out a fire. “AH’LL SAVE YA, MAH QUEEN! THOSE FUZZIES AIN’T GONNA GETCHA!”

“IT’S GETTIN’ WORSE! SAVE MEH!”

“AH’M SAVING YA! DON’T DIIIIE!”






Outside the entrance of the council room, six pairs of eyes watched the ensuing madness from a safe distance, drinking their own bottles of hard cider while sitting on foldout chairs courtesy of Pinkie Pie. They had long since finished repairing what they could. But rather than go to bed and letting Starlight keep an eye on Chrysalis and Twilight, Starlight suggested they could all stay up and enjoy the sheer entertainment of the drunken duo.

“So girls,” Starlight started after taking a swig, “didn’t I promise the midnight show was going to be amazing?”

“Heck yeah. No way I could miss out on Lovebug and Twi going wild! Totally worth staying up late!” Rainbow laughed.

“Wow, who knew Chrysalis was such a softy? Kinda cute, in a weird way.” Pinkie said.

“I should be more upset that Twilight locked us up here, but I’m kinda glad we got to see those two actin’ cuter than a pair of playful kittens in a catnip field. Never gonna let Chrysalis live this down, though.” Applejack smiled as she took a generous gulp of her family cider.

“I couldn’t agree more, Applejack,” Rarity sighed blissfully. “Although I would rather not have to deal with any more property damage, this has been a most lovely sleepover.”

“U-um, speaking of cute,” Fluttershy began, “am I the only one who thinks they look cute together?”

The group turned their attention towards the council room. Chrysalis ended up flailing on the ground, crying that this was the end for her. Twilight staggered about in a flustered panic, grabbed the last bottle of cider with both hooves, and poured the contents all over Chrysalis to “purge the fuzzies”. When Chrysalis calmed down, gasping in relief, they both took a swig, smiling to themselves.

“I couldn’t agree more. They really do bring out the best in each other.” Starlight giggled.

“Just one question, though.”

All eyes suddenly turned to Rainbow. “So who was the gay pony Chrysalis talked about earlier?”

“You’ve been thinking about that all night, haven’t you?” Rarity asked, smirking.

“H-hey, I just wanna set the record straight, alright? Besides, you girls can’t seriously tell me none of you are curious about who Chrysalis was talking about.”

“I think the answer is pretty clear,” Fluttershy answered sagely as she took a calm sip of her cider. All eyes turned on her.

“Oh yeah? So who’s the mystery mare Chrysalis was talking about?”

Fluttershy smiled as she tipped her drink to the drunken duo, as Chrysalis was nuzzling Twilight’s cheek, thanking her for saving her life from the fuzzies.

“Chrysalis miscounted. There’s actually two.”

The other mares gave each other confused looks at the ambiguous answer. But after a few seconds, they all collectively gasped in awe.

Starlight lifted her drink, tapping it against Fluttershy’s. “I’ll toast to that. To friendship, great sleepovers… and whatever the hay that is.” she said as she nodded her head towards Chrysalis and Twilight, who decided to break out into the world’s goofiest music number, happily singing— more like shouting—about pink fluffy unicorns dancing on rainbows.

The other mares clinked their drinks together and continued to watch over their friends, both old and new.

“To friendship and weirdness.”