> Saving Equestria
>  by Damaged
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Prologue - Part 1
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chrysalis had her army arrayed before her. Shining black carapaces gleamed as her little insectile minions stood ready. Before them, on the castle walls, brave Royal Guard soldiers, they had spears and heavy armor, the swarm before them had numbers.

"Your turn, Shining Armor." Chrysalis' tossed the set of dice over to the stallion, her green magic landing them right before him. She was disguised, of course, a deep brown fur covering a unicorn's body. She had used her own mane color because nopony she knew had seen a changeling before—let alone a changeling queen—so it was a safe bet. "You mind turning this up, Beastie Colts are the best."

Shining used his magic to adjust the little record player in the corner. The repeating beat and droning voices was perfect to help him disconnect from the real world and bring him to strategy. "I think you have me again, I really hoped the pegasi squads would have done better to blunt your wedge." Nonetheless, he rolled for his army's magic attacks and banished a few of the amazingly detailed monsters that his opponent commanded. "Damn, the dice got me, you have this for sure Chryssi."

"Of course I do!" Chrysalis started bobbing her head to the music—the tune one of her favorites. "Oh, hi Cadance." She hadn't believed it at first when her two best friends started dating. Chrysalis could remember when she had left them alone for their first kiss, Cadance had become a princess. "Just beating your coltfriend again."

Cadance twitched her wings and looked about the battle-board. Little figurines were scattered here and there, Royal Guard soldiers were fallen left and right, some with a small swarm of bug-monsters. "You beat him every time, why don't you cut him some slack and let him win one?"

Chrysalis laughed and grabbed the bottle of cider she had been nursing. Tipping it back and guzzling it down, she snorted as Shining moved some of his miniatures forward, toward certain doom. "Because if I let 'future captain of the Royal Guard' Shining Armor off even once, if I let him realize what winning is like, he won't push as hard to learn tactics."

"She's right. Half my classes I take are just so I can maybe beat her, just once. Captain of the guard? I can't even beat my best friend at Invasionmallet." Shining turned and kissed Cadance. He never focused on Chrysalis' face, not when he embraced his "Cady," but if he did he would have seen a bliss that rivaled his own. 

Chrysalis drank. She had only meant to attend the pony college for a few months, just long enough to grab some books and leave, but she had found friends, real friends. "I can't take any more of this. if anypony asks, I left you two love-birds sitting apart and not even able to look at each other." Chrysalis heard giggles from her friends. Walking out of the house the three shared, Chrysalis stepped through the night, tracking the path toward the Canterlot Library.

"Hello?" She poked her head in, saw the caretaker librarian behind the counter. "Hi Tight Shelves, mind if I…"

"Of course not Chryssi, you love these books even more than I do." Tight didn't even look up from her book, she knew the mare's voice well. "You want to check any out, you just tell me."

"I prefer to read them here, thanks Tight." Chrysalis couldn't help but smile, being among the ponies for most of her life had given her a lot of respect and even love for them. They might not be my species, they might even be food, but they live every moment of life only looking at the good.

The librarian left Chrysalis to her study, but it likely wasn't what she thought. Roaming through the shelves, Chrysalis made her way to the history section. A scrap of paper pulled from her saddlebag got her the list of books she was last working on. Lighting her horn and burning the precious love she had gathered from her friends, the changeling queen lifted down a heavy tome. "Now, summer sun celebration…" She reached a hoof up to push her glasses into position. "Let's see if my calculations are correct. A thousand years, minus uh…" She got out her notepad and started scribbling in it with a quill. "Just what I thought, the thousandth day. Why is this all hidden, why isn't somepony doing something about the lost sister?"

"Are you okay, dear?" Tight's voice sounded a little worried. Mostly Chryssi was so quiet she wouldn't have heard a peep from her.

"Oh, uh… do you know any more books about Nightmare Moon? Or Nightmare Night?" Chrysalis carried the heavy tome out to the librarian. It was always easier to just ask. You catch more changelings with love than anger, and all that.

"Well now most of the ones about Nightmare Night are in the foal's section, wait, we did have another one, a book about the sisters and their fight… I think it might be out at the moment. We normally wouldn't lend a one-of-a-kind, but it was Princess Celestia's personal student." Tight had checked the cards while she spoke, confirming the borrower. "You could try her, Twilight Sparkle, she has her own private library you know."

That got Chrysalis' attention. She looked at the book floating in her magic. "I just have a bad feeling about something. Did you know the summer sun celebration this year is exactly a thousand years since Nightmare Moon was banished?"

"You," Tight chuckled, "have been reading little filly stories, I think. Would you like to borrow that one?"

A stark realization came to Chrysalis. Something bad is going to happen and nopony will be there to stop it. Her heart beat a little faster, in panic. I… I am a changeling, what can I do? "N-N-No, that… that's alright."

"You sound a little upset, dear. I'll put that one back for now, do you have a friend you could go visit?" Tight Shelves checked the markings on the book and knew exactly where it had to go.

"I… yeah." Chrysalis stuffed her notebook away and, the moment she was out of the library she bolted, her hooves flashing as she galloped "home."

"Whoa! Could you knock?" Shining jumped up off the couch as Chrysalis came inside. "Hey, I was only joking, what's up Chryssi?" He saw the clear shock and worry on the mare's face; it was contagious.

"Nightmare Moon is coming. She is… I don't even know what. What would you do if you were banished to the moon for a thousand years? You would be pretty annoyed, right?" Chrysalis dearly wanted somepony to take her seriously but the moment she had said "Nightmare Moon" she got that same look from Shining And Cadance. "I am not joking here! This is all going to-"

"Chryssi, stop! It's a foal's tale to make little fillies and colts snuggle into bed and not try to stay awake. There is nothing to this." Cadance stepped up to the mare, inadvertently flooding the changeling with enough love to feed her entire hive—of twelve.

"Wait, I remember now. Where was that book?" Chrysalis moved away from the warm source of love and found her own stash of books. Flicking through one, she found the map she was looking for. "There is an old ruined castle in… the Everfree. The Castle of the Two Sister… that must be where she will come back!" Slamming the book closed, Chrysalis looked around, spotting Shining and Cadance both looking at her. "We need to go there, we have to try to fight Nightmare Moon!"

"Where?" Shining blinked. "Isn't that forest out near Ponyville?" Cadance nodded to him. "Well, it can wait until tomorrow, right?" 

"But… but…" Chrysalis' eyes narrowed in panic. "Tomorrow is the day of the summer sun celebration…" A chill went down Chrysalis's spine. "Cadance, can you… can you get me there?"

"Chryssi, Princess Celestia will be in Ponyville, don't worry about any old story." Cadance waved a hoof in the air.

"I… I gotta go." Chrysalis bolted out of the house, slamming the door behind her. 

"Chryssi! Come back!" Shining stuck his head outside, looking after his friend. "Hey, Chryssi!"

"Shining, she can't go anywhere, come back inside. The trains aren't running at this hour and she isn't a pegasus." Cadance stepped up beside her coltfriend. "Besides, she always comes back eventually so let her work out what she needs to, we can snuggle more."

Galloping through the streets of Canterlot, Chrysalis was on a mission. She raced to the house she knew she was always welcome at. Bursting in the door, she looked around the apparently empty room. "My drones, we need to move. A horror that will destroy the world is coming."

Furniture flashed green, one lamp, then a couch, a chair—more and more. Once the light show ended, there was a dozen drones looking to their disguised queen with absolute devotion.

Green fire boiled around Chrysalis and a pair of brown pegasus wings spread from her sides. "Pegasi, quickly. We are heading to Ponyville!" Flames flashed up and soon a small army of pegasi stood before the queen of the changelings. "We fly."

Wings thundered as Chrysalis and her drones took to the sky and winged down from the mountain. "Nightmare Moon is coming back tomorrow, she is going to destroy Equestria!"

"My Queen, if you say it is so, then it is so." Braced Might flew beside and just behind his mother, his Queen. "Morning is not far off, we should reach the town just after it."

"I don't know if there will be a morning, Braced." Chrysalis powered forward, her form breaking a wave of air ahead of the V formation, dragging her force down to the village below.

They flew in silence, the dark night swallowing their shapes up, but at last Braced broke the quiet of wings in the air. "It should be morning, My Queen."

"I know, something is very wrong, I… it must be Nightmare Moon." Chrysalis' heart hardened and she paid for acceleration with altitude. Diving shapes moved after her, the small hive she supported always keeping up. Just as they reached the outskirts of the town a huge rainbow shot into the air, lancing the sky from the direction of the dark Everfree Forest. "What is that?"

"Pure magic!" Braced halted beside his queen. "Something gave off an enormous amount of energy." thirteen changelings stared in shock, panic rife within them. "We are going to investigate?"

Chrysalis flapped her wings, sending herself forward—her drones kept up. Reaching the border of the forest, she was about to enter it when the sun started to rise. "What?"

"My Queen, you have a horn…" Braced flapped and put himself between Chrysalis and a little procession of ponies that appeared on the edge of the forest. 

With a flash of fire Chrysalis adjusted her form into that of a regular pegasus. "What is going on?" She poked her head past her faithful drone and saw Princess Celestia, accompanied by a bunch of young mares. "Is that another alicorn? Wait, that must be the other sister!"

The changelings all landed and walked the short distance back to town. The presentation Celestia was making was short, and typically "pony", but Chrysalis got everything she needed to know from it. The young mares had saved the day, practically by accident. "Excuse me! Twilight Sparkle?" Chrysalis trotted up to the purple unicorn who had, apparently, saved Equestria. "How did you do that?"

Twilight beamed in delight. "With the help of my friends, we unlocked the Elements of Harmony and-" 

"Okay, and how did you know about them?" Chrysalis pushed, fluttering her feathered wings a little in worry.

"It just felt right. There wasn't really anything I could find about them, but when I met my friends it all came together!" Twilight felt a little odd about the strange pegasus. "Do I know you?"

"Oh, uh… probably not. I was just flying past with my... friends." Chrysalis wasn't quite the best at making up lies on the spot—she preferred to plan them carefully. "So you just sort of stumbled on it? Unlocking the Elements and… saving all Equestria?"

Twilight thought about it, it did sort of make sense. "Yup." Her answer seemed to have shocked the strange pony and, shuffling away, she left Chrysalis.

"She… it was dumb luck?" Chrysalis trembled. "This is so wrong, the world can't be left to chance, it just can't!"

"My Queen?" More than one of her drones moved in close, murmuring and seeking reassurance. Braced pushed in to face his mother. "My Queen, mom… what's wrong?"

The voice tore Chrysalis from her panic. "Equestria is unprotected, Princess Celestia…" She started to hyperventilate, panting hard and staring blindly ahead.

"Send her a letter?" Braced leaned in, pressed his hornless head into her shoulder. "She has guarded the world fine until now, maybe she just doesn't see the threats?"

The steady words of her foal grounded Chrysalis. She got her breathing under control again first, then managed to stop the crazy rumble in her head. "You're right, of course you are right. And now if she has her sister with her, surely they can stand together against future threats? Maybe we can help her, be the eyes Equestria needs!"

Snapping to attention her drones seemed the very pillars of support she needed. Chrysalis smiled wide. "Come on, we will get back to Canterlot and I will write Princess Celestia a letter."

The changelings spread their wings and followed their queen and feeling the sure conviction behind her decision. It was a more relaxed, if difficult flight; they had to regain all the altitude they had burned up for speed the previous night. Chrysalis got back to the house she shared with Shining and Cadance around midday. "Hey, anypony home?"

"Chryssi? Where'd you go last night?" Cadance's voice came from the living room, and shortly the disguised changeling met her there. "Have you slept at all, Chryssi?"

"It was a long night." Chrysalis tried to keep the pun out of her voice, but a pillow was lobbed at her.

"The princesses came back a few hours ago and made a proclamation. Luna is recovering but it seemed really odd. You were totally right, she was the Mare in the Moon…" Cadance got up and stepped up to her friend, putting a foreleg and a wing around her. "I am sorry I acted that way, I guess it just seemed so strange."

Chrysalis was shocked by the apology, she reached up a hoof and hugged the pink alicorn back. "It was pretty out there. I am going to apply to Princess Celestia… I think I am good at finding these things before they happen…"

Cadance drew herself back from the unicorn. "That is a great idea! Chryssi, you are sharp as a nail, you should totally do that!" Both mares felt their hearts soar at the idea. "You want a drink? I was just chilling with some cider."

After the hug and the raw friendship radiated by the novice princess, Chrysalis was quite full, but she had to keep up appearances. "Sure." She slumped down onto the couch; muscles she didn't even have right now ached.

"Oh, you probably missed the news, Shiny got into the guard, with his schooling he is going in as an officer… just between us, it is totally stupid mares can't join." Cadance poured another long glass of cider and topped hers off. "You beat him, every single game…"

Chrysalis blushed. "Real fighting isn't that game. In real combat you… what?"

"You, you know the difference between your little game and the real world, that is the most important step." Cadance floated the glass over to her friend. Slumping down on the couch, she reached out her magic to the little record player. "I really wish I could apply for an assignment, but no, I had to go and get a horn. I want… I want to help ponies, to really push out and make the whole of Equestria safe."

The words were inspirational for Chrysalis, as she began to write out her letter to Princess Celestia, she mulled over the other mare's words. "How do you mean? Fight all the monsters that come?"

"Well, if Shiny was with me, sure. But I don't work like that, you know I can't help but love everypony, it…" Cadance looked back over her shoulder, gazing at her cutie mark.

"Love." Chrysalis sighed. If it were just Cadance, Shining, and myself, I could be happy and survive, even thrive. She really has so much love. "I know you will find your place one day, Cadance, this world is many things, but unjust to good ponies…" It made her think back to the little town of Ponyville, and what would have happened if Twilight and her friends hadn't just happened to guess right.

"It's not!" Cadance giggled and sipped her drink. "So, how is your letter going?"

"Badly, how do I write this that will have her take me seriously?" Chrysalis crossed out the start of the letter again.



Dear Princess Celestia, I discovered the return of Nightmare Moon, before the event, and I think I am qualified to aid in further such events. At present I am studying history and law, but I think you will find I could be a great help to finding future disasters in advance and dealing with them. Your faithful subject, Chryssi Cross.



"It's a bit short…" Cadance frowned. "Here, let me embellish it a little."

Chrysalis blushed. "It doesn't need embellishing, it is the truth!" She tried to grab her notepad back from the alicorn, to little actual effect. Not that Chrysalis ever used her full power.

"The truth is not always what Auntie wants to hear." Cadance started rewording and writing out the letter, expanding the core facts out to nearly four pages in very short order. Staring over Cadance's shoulder, almost mesmerized by the eloquence used, Chrysalis' jaw hung open a little.

"You're the best, Cadance." Chrysalis sighed and watched as Cadance, with her tongue sticking out to the side, went on for nearly ten pages. By the time the alicorn had put down the quill and cracked her neck to one side, the disguised changeling had finished her drink and had gotten them both another.

"There, now you just copy that out onto a scroll and let me deliver it." Cadance beamed at her friend, if there was one thing she could do, that was take care of friends and help them be just what they should be.
> Prologue - Part 2
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Chryssi Cross?" Celestia set down the long scroll that she had been working through. Beside her Luna perched to one side and, beside Luna, Cadance was trying to pull faces without either of the two rulers seeing her—with marginal success. "Well, when my protege approaches me with a letter from a prospective assistant, I am always prepared to listen. And I must say, this letter is spectacularly written." Celestia gave Chrysalis a wink. "Thank you for that, Cadance."

"Your Highness?" Chrysalis was in awe of the Princess, she was strong, she was perfect. "I really want to help, I told a friend about the Nightmare Moon incident, she tried to make it in time to help."

"Be that as it may, what proof do you have you can be useful in this?" Celestia looked at the disguised changeling without knowing the full nature of the supplicant.

Chrysalis' mind raced, she tried to come up with the next problem. "Twilight Sparkle and her friends are now controlling the Elements of Harmony, right?" Celestia nodded. "And that is what you used to send your sister away?" Luna lowered her head; a big white wing curl around her protectively.

"Your point had best be a good one." Celestia was mostly even tempered, but for the moment her sister's feelings were a sore point.

"You were bound to the Elements, and used them to defeat and bind foes. Are there any others that you did?" Chrysalis' mind raced to the conclusion and she saw the one visible eye of the white alicorn narrow in surprise. "There is, I can bet. Those prisons could be weakening too." Chrysalis fumbled around for anything more but was cut off.

"You are hired. Please be mindful of your words around my sister, she was not at fault for her recent… problem." Celestia turned and nuzzled her sister, her lips moving as she murmured something to the mare. Turning back to Chrysalis, Celestia dismissed her, "Have Cadance find you a room in the castle to work from-"

"Your Highness, with respect, the house I am in right now is quite fine." Chrysalis wouldn't be able to take her drones into the castle. Or could I? "Unless you insist of course."

"It would be best to keep you close, I wish to know any further thoughts you have." Celestia smiled at the changeling.

It was a dismissal, and Cadance quickly trotted forward to walk with her friend. "You get to live in the castle, with me!" Chrysalis gave a happy sigh, Cadance's love was a constant and wonderful thing. "The room right next to mine is empty…"

"Cadance, I don't want to hear you and Shining… doing things." Chrysalis put up only a minor protest, their "doing things" was a feast for her. She let out a, dramatic sigh. "Alright, if it will make you happy. I can move my bed to the other side of the room, I guess."

"This will be great!" Cadance pranced as they headed through the castle to one of the towers. "And… here it is!" She threw the door to the little suite of rooms open. "All yours!"

Chrysalis stepped in and despite herself, had to smile. "This day has been just… perfect. I am totally going to have to get my things." And my foals.

"So…" Cadance rolled a hoof around the floor in a tight circle. "What do you think she and Luna used the elements to bind? Maybe a huge dragon?" Cadance flopped on a couch, fluffing her wings around her and leaning to one to pick through her feathers.

"Dragon? Nah, she would just send a squad of guards or her Wonderbolts, to deal with that. I bet it is something really freaky…" Chrysalis trailed off. "Freaky… the draconequus…" She looked around for a bookcase, her bookcase, but of course she hadn't moved in yet. "I need to go to the library!"

"Sounds like work. Maybe you should… move… in… first?" Cadance watched her friend gallop out the door and away. "Guess I will move your stuff in then. Hope she doesn't mind if I do a little arranging, too."

Chrysalis pounded along and realized—slowing down—that she had no idea where the library was in the castle. Spotting a familiar face she trotted up to a royal guard stallion. "Excuse me?" She tapped the shield-emblazoned flank with a hoof. 

Shining Armor spun around in shock that quickly changed to delight. "Hey Chryssi! I heard the news from the throne room guards, congratulations." He held out a metal-shod hoof to the mare and got a careful bump.

"About that, do you know the way to the castle library?" Chrysalis couldn't help but feel a little safer with the stallion, but she knew it was partly a ruse and partly wishful thinking. The armor makes them look much more powerful than they actually are, stupid psychology...

"Sure, but until you are cleared for anything special, you can't go past the regular section." Shining pointed and led the way, leaving the bespectacled mare to follow. "What's the first target? Already figured out what the next 'big bad' that is going to attack?" It was meant as a joke.

"Well, I have a lead on one, I think I remember reading about a draconequus that was imprisoned by the Elements, that was a long time ago…"

Shining was a little surprised, he hadn't expected an actual answer. "What, so this dragon thingy could break free and attack?" He looked back and caught Chrysalis' nod. "Well, then you had better find out all about it."


~~~~~+++++~~~~~


Chrysalis slowly moved her drones in. She carried them in as furniture or as some art pieces for her room, but every waking hour not spent smuggling her children in was spent in study, pouring over what books were available and even trying to sneak into the restricted areas.

It was on one such foray that she finally found what she needed. "Discord?" She read the name from the ancient book. Pulling out the notes, she added the name into the relevant place. "I have it all, I can finally see-"

"Ahem?" The voice was distinct, Chrysalis knew who it was. As she spun around, she spotted Princess Celestia herself staring down at her. "I don't remember giving you access to these shelves."

"Princess Celestia! I found out all the information on one of the worst of the detainees!" Chrysalis spun her notepad around to show the ruler. "See! Discord, Spirit of Chaos and Disharmony. A dracone-"

"Draconequus, I know of him. He is safely secured." Celestia had to admire how the mare had managed to get past the royal guard posted to protect the section she was in. "The magic holding him is well secured. As for you, this is a grave breach of trust."

Chrysalis' face dropped. "But… I came because I needed to find the books with the information-"

"Then you should have come to me, I could have saved you some time." Celestia gave a sigh. "Maybe you need a little more time in school before such studies are undertaken."

Her blood ran cold, Chrysalis looked up at the Princess of the Sun. "But…"

"Dear, it is for your own good, don't you see? I already know of these problems and have everything in hoof. Twilight and her friends will save Equestria, no matter what." Celestia gave her beatific smile to the overly focused "unicorn." "Now, I won't kick you out of the castle, don't fear that, but you will return to your studies. For now though, you are no longer researching on my behalf."

As the words sank in, particularly the ruler hinging the entirety of Equestria on one little group of young mares—as Chrysalis realized just how deluded the idea was—her hope broke. She gathered up the book she had been using and carefully returned it to the rack.

"I admire your work, Chryssi, and once you have learned a little more in the way of manners I will assuredly ask for your service again." Celestia smiled, beaming at the disguised mare. Grabbing up her notes, Chrysalis made for the exit.

Her hooves felt extra heavy as she clopped along the hallway and up to her room. Slamming the door behind her, Chrysalis stumbled inside and flopped onto the bed.

"My Queen?" Braced was first to her side, shedding his disguise as her chest of drawers. "My Queen," he repeated, "what has happened."

"The Princess is useless, she won't see reason or try to defend Equestria." Chrysalis' heart had sunk about as low as it could. "She fired me, she ignored my warnings. She believes, no matter what, that Twilight Sparkle and her friends can save the day."

"Can they?" Braced rarely spoke without giving his mother an honorific, but with the mood radiating from her now he didn't feel up to it. 

"They might. They did once, by dumb luck. They might just be lucky again. But will they always be this lucky? Can they possibly always get it right just at the last second?" Chrysalis let her own disguise drop completely, revealing her shape to her children. "I can't trust that, luck is luck, but it should be backed by plans."

"My Queen?" The tone of his mother had changed perking Braced up. "What is your plan?"

"I… I need to work on the actual plan, but there will be one, if this Discord comes into being, we will fight him, but then…" Chrysalis felt a dark pull in her chest. "We have to invade Canterlot, we have to… to protect the ponies."

Every drone gasped at the pronouncement, it made Chrysalis feel good that such a declaration of intent would shock them. Closing her eyes, she took three deep breaths. "We will start planning, a year… a year and a half should be enough. We need more changelings for a start." Smiles lit up among her foals. "I didn't want to begin a hive, hives get found, invaded, and destroyed. We won't build a hive, we will build a nation, a shield around Equestria."

Chrysalis waited with her children, waited until the elite royal guard had either all gone to sleep for the night or had been changed out to bleary-eyed night guards. "It is time." She lifted to her hooves and stepped over to gather the letter on her writing desk. "Cadance, Shining… I hope you both can forgive me for this." Striding out of her room she slipped the letter under Cadance's door and marched off through the castle, going ever deeper. One by one her drones followed, picking disguises that would blend in. "I knew they were down here." Chrysalis had reached the entrance to the old crystal caverns below Canterlot.

"My Queen, we are almost all together, what is your command?" Braced was puffing out his chest, feeling his mother was more a queen now than ever before.

"We build, we need barracks, hatching grounds, a war room, some chambers for myself and," Chrysalis inhaled deeply, "a nursery." It will take time, I have never had my foals build like this. Let's review things.

Marching to one wall, Chrysalis lit the surrounding area with her horn. Lifting out the careful notes, she began to review them. "So, my facts are… Celestia hinging national safety on her own student. Her student… is not stupid. She found out about Nightmare Moon almost a day ahead of me." Chrysalis tapped her chin. "Not stupid by half. Okay…" Chrysalis set a notepad down with Twilight's name emblazoned on it. "She is part of all this, I just know it. Celestia isn't completely stupid, she sees something in Twilight… she must have seen her grow, become something amazing, in a prophecy..." Chrysalis opened Twilight's pad and started writing notes in it. "But she can't grow if she is put in front of every threat to face Equestria."

Another pad came out next. "Cadance… you are bound to him." Shining's pad landed beside Cadance's. "Inseparable, a powerful combination… a fuel source." Chrysalis beamed at the sketches she had made of her two best friends. 

Celestia's pad landed out next. It was packed nearly three times more full than the others. "Why wouldn't you just listen? Or tell me?" Chrysalis set a hoof down on the sketch of the princess. "I just wanted to help you, to be your shield." The hoof drew back. "I need to think about this, but not here."

Marching down, Chrysalis inspected the room that would become a nursery. Crouching low, the queen of the changelings caused changes within herself—vast changes. "Celestia won't listen to reason when it is offered, what about if I demand, an ultimatum?"

"My Queen, what about an offer, from a position of power?"

Chrysalis' head snapped around to the drone building the wall up. "Something to try, but first, we need the power." Her body rippled and seemed to tremble, mostly toward her rear. Panting and swearing suddenly, Chrysalis' body shivered and disgorged an egg. "The first of many." It was a determined look that she wore, as she started pushing out the next. And the next. And the next.


~~~~~+++++~~~~~


Egg, egg, egg, egg. Chrysalis disliked wasting her time but of course it wasn't really wasting it. "Braced!" Egg, egg, egg. "BRACED!"

The sound of wings buzzing furiously heralded Chrysalis' smartest son's arrival. "My Queen?" The drone froze, in awe of his mother. "My Queen!" His stance changed, he perked right up seeing Chrysalis crouched, laying eggs. Around her were nearly half a dozen eggs, a clear indication of her intent.

"Braced, I… I need something to keep me sane. Bring me Twilight's file and a quill." Egg, egg, egg. "The first batch are nearly done, mostly Brutes, there are to be a few of mother's specialties." Chrysalis disliked speaking of her mother, and it showed. "Ten Foragers, ten Farmers."

"I… I don't know what those are, my Queen?" Braced flicked his wings in agitation as he looked up. "What about drones to tend to new grubs, what about the spawning room?"

"Those will be there too. You will see what I am doing, Braced." Chrysalis reached out a hole-filled hoof. Egg, egg, egg. "Please bring me the file… and some sudoku…"

The drone gave a giggle and kissed his mother's cheek. "It is now my life's mission, my Queen." He hugged his mother once more and took to his wings.

"Egg, egg, dratted egg!" Chrysalis slumped back down to her bulging belly, "It wouldn't be so bad if my instincts didn't make it feel so right." She was halfway to her first goal. Her eyes dipped a moment, she relaxed and startled back to full consciousness by the feel of another egg leaving her body and by a happier sound; Braced was back with a bundle of things gathered in his forelegs. "How are the reserves going, are the visits into the castle working?"

Setting down the folder and a little flip-book of number puzzles, Braced nodded. "We are sustaining food, even with the need to pour it into your eggs. What… what are we going to do? Are we going to capture ponies?"

"We are, Braced. We need to capture some, for the good of the hive and all Equestria. They will go free when we are… established. One way or the other." Chrysalis picked up the folder pertaining to the unicorn and started all the way from the start. Adjusting her glasses, Chrysalis began reading.

"My Queen, I will return to organizing the hive construction." Braced was a troubled 'ling. On one hoof the plan Chrysalis had formed would be for the best of all, ponies and changelings. On the other hoof, some ponies were going to have a lousy time for a year or so.


~~~~~+++++~~~~~




Dear Twilight Sparkle. I don't know how to explain this easily, so I will put it as bluntly as I can, please keep Equestria safe, do the best you can and I promise you, help is on the way. Chryssi.



Chrysalis pondered balling this letter up and throwing it into the waste with the others. "Twilight Sparkle, if I could give you all the strength to protect Equestria, I would…" She ran a hoof down the small drawing of the unicorn mare.



If you need anything, anything at all, stand in the town square of Ponyville and shout my name.



Why did I even add that? Now I have to leave a drone in town to watch her. "Braced!" Chrysalis looked back, spotting a few of her eggs almost ready to hatch. "Braced?" Chrysalis relaxed a little as the drone in question appeared. "Braced, please deliver this to Twilight, in Ponyville." She saw the shock on Braced's face. "I know, this is not part of the plans, but if there is no Equestria left to save by the time we are ready all is lost."

"My Queen!" Braced took the folded letter. "I will have a drone take it-"

Chrysalis cut in on her foal's words. "Pick a good infiltrator, have them stay there. If Twilight, or any of her friends call for me, they are to give aid or get to us." She gave a deep sigh. "I really hate having to sit here and lay eggs."

Braced froze, realizing his mother needed more from him than blind obedience. "My Queen." He stepped closer to Chrysalis, reaching up and hugging her neck. "We are all giving something for this. Equestria needs us."

Chrysalis blinked in shock and had to readjust her glasses. "It does. I wish I got to just stay in school, keep learning about the amazing things that ponies have done and made. If I did, I would be giving up any hope of those things staying around." She reached her forelegs up and pulled Braced tighter, squeezing the smaller changeling. "How is the harvest going? Things will be easier once the first of these hatch."

"It goes well, we can sustain ourselves and feed you and the eggs." Braced's attention focused on the eggs, briefly. "I don't want stupid siblings, we are giving all we can so they grow up just as smart as us."

"They will not be." Chrysalis sighed and looked into the eyes of Braced. "Most are more stocky drones, what mother called Underlings. A drone egg can only sustain so much 'ling, for them, energy is spent on their strength, their wings; all else about them will be less than what you are."

Braced blinked a few times at this, not sure what to say about these "lesser" changelings. For Equestria... "Then our little brothers and sisters will be kept safe and will be loved by all." He was squeezed tighter by his mother and he smiled to her. "What about the other ones, my Queen? You said 'Farmers?' "

Chrysalis giggled at her drone. "Yes, farmers of a sort." She reached a hoof up and brushed Braced's fangs. "Vestigial, is the word for these things. At least for you. Infiltrators are not the only types of drones a queen can make. Underlings, Farmers, Gatherers." It is good to just relax and talk, talking to eggs is very one sided. "Farmers, like most of the other drones, have venom. Theirs works slow, but it completely numbs and knocks out a pony. They can bring them carefully back to the hive."

"We are foalnapping?" Braced had to harden his heart, but regretted it instantly when he saw his mother leaking tears of her own. "My Queen!"

"We have to. A dozen drones, a few hundred eggs? Ambient love can feed that. A few hundred drones and a thousand eggs? We need a food source now, we need healthy and strong drones. Of course we can't just start stealing them right away. So the other ten, are Gatherer drones. Much like the Farmers they have venom, but theirs is… the pony stays awake, but they will feel a huge boost to their emotions. If a bite is given to a happy pony, they could feed a dozen changelings on their own." Chrysalis felt her words were coming from her mother. "They can store more honey too, more love." Chrysalis pulled out her little pad, with calculations all over it.

"So we will use those pod things?" Braced remembered the one time his mother had made one, it was to protect a wounded pony while they recovered, but it had poured out love from the trapped pony.

"No pods, not now." Chrysalis consulted her notes. "Not ever if I can help it. After this lot I will recalculate where we are and our projected love intake, then lay some more. By the end of the year I will be talking with Cadance and Shining, I need to get their opinions..."
> Prologue - Part 3
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Chryssi Cross!" Cadance rushed forward to her old friend and quickly wrapped both forelegs around the mare. "It has been… almost a year? What did you do? You haven't been at school or anything!" Something felt odd to Cadance, her introverted friend was usually a little more outgoing, with her at least.

"I had… family to take care of." Chrysalis finally gave a sigh and returned the hug. Scared scared scared scared. What will she do? Will she freak out? "Cadance, I have something I have to show you, and tell you. Promise you won't freak out?"

Cadance drew back from her friend. "What's the matter Chryssi? Are you in trouble?" She brought a wing out and up, touching her friend's shoulder in concern.

"Not me. Equestria." Chrysalis scanned the room, spotting the door—still chocked and bolted—she looked up at Cadance. "Do you promise?"

"Of course I promise, what is-" Cadance's words died in her throat. Her best friend caught fire, green flames pouring around her, flooding over her body. She pulled back from Chrysalis. "C-C-Chryssi?" The creature looked less pony, and more insect. "What…?" Cadance's vision wavered a little but she stopped, centered herself and opened eyes she had forgotten she had closed. "What are you, Chryssi?"

Her strength failed her, Chrysalis, queen of the changelings, started to cry. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have-"

Cadance rushed back to her friend, ignoring the sharp fangs, the long, hole-filled legs. Wrapping both forelegs and both wings around her friend, Cadance pulled Chrysalis into a hug. "I promised I wouldn't freak out, I didn't mean to break it."

The hug was a catalyst, or maybe fuel for the tears that the changeling shed. She sobbed and cried, hugging her friend and let out a flood of negative emotions that were eating her alive. She cried and cried until even her time spent laying eggs felt productive compared to her time in the room with Cadance. 

Hearing her friend's tears slow, Cadance drew back barely a few inches, enough to look into those big, green eyes. "You said Equestria was in trouble?"

Chrysalis nodded, sniffing sharply. "Twilight and her friends saved us once… I tried talking to… to Princess Celestia." Cadance nodded to her friend, remembering Chrysalis' brief time as a researcher. "She is ignoring it, all of it. There are creatures, monsters that she and Princess Luna beat and locked up. Their jails are weak, too weak!"

"What has this got to do with you? Why don't you tell Princess Celestia?" Cadance tried to guide her friend to a couch to lay on. "We can call her here right now."

"No, she is the problem! I was dismissed because I had found one, the draconequus. Discord." Chrysalis fell onto the couch, but the truth was the love pouring to her from her friend surged into her. "I warned the Princess, I told her all about him, about what he would do… she told me I was no longer needed!"

"You are just about the smartest pony I know of, Chryssi… that is your name right?" Cadance tilted her head, drawing one hoof down to tilt her friend's face up.

"Chrysalis, but… but please, call me Chryssi." Chrysalis was practically drowning in love, but she didn't care, not for an ounce of it. "You have to believe that time we were all together… at school…" Her attention drifted, remembering the wonderful days when things outside school and their house just didn't matter.

"Chryssi!" Cadance giggled. "You are the same mare I became friends with. So what are you going to do about this? I could organize a meeting with Princess Celestia-"

"That… that is what I need. I have a feeling something is going to happen, something soon. I am so scared Twilight and her friends aren't going to be so lucky this time." As Chrysalis said the unicorn's name, Cadance's eyes widened.

"Twilight? Twilight Sparkle?" Cadance's eyes widened more as Chryssi nodded. "I used to foalsit for her, she was Princess Celestia's personal student… Shiny's little sister. What has this all got to do with her?"

"Celestia should have stood up to her sister. Rallied the Elements of Harmony and sent her back to the moon. I… I cannot fault her as a mare, for wanting her sister back," Chrysalis gave a half smile to her friend, suddenly thinking on what she would do for Cadance, "but she put all of Equestria at risk for it. Twilight and her friends were in terrible danger, everywhere was. I… I took my foals, we made ready to fight if need be." Chrysalis knew what she would do for Cadance, she would invade Equestria.

"Your foals?" Cadance blinked, eyes wide. She closed them then, started working a spell, a spell that would trace and show lines of love. "C-C-Chrissi… what… I am starting to freak again. How many foals do you have?"

"Two hundred and twenty." Chrysalis knew them all, she had personally made each of their eggs, had been there as each came free and opened their eyes. "I sent a letter to Twilight, begging her that if she ever needs help, to call me…"

"You would give yourself away for her?" Cadance smiled at the mare. "You met her, I take it?" Now she saw Chrysalis smile.

"She was so brave, she faced down Nightmare Moon! She managed to put the facts together and even, at the last moment, figured out how to use the Elements." Chrysalis looked up at Cadance, stared into her friend's eyes. "What if, next time, she isn't that lucky? What if the Elements aren't nearby, what if her friends are taken out of the equation first?" Chrysalis didn't even notice the slight tick in Cadance's eyes when she mentioned the Elements of Harmony.

"If she isn't lucky… then we…" Cadance took a steadying breath. "You have told Aunt Celestia?" She mentally cursed herself for calling the Princess her "aunt," it had become a habit. "What are you going to do?"

"I am going to get you to convince her to see me, and I… I am going to ask her, beg her, to let me and my foals protect Equestria. A young mare shouldn't have to deal with this, not the way Twilight has been thrown into it!"

"You… you're right." Cadance closed her eyes. "Give me two days, I will get a meeting with Princess Celestia… wait, can you change like that, into other ponies?" Chrysalis nodded. "There… there is something else. Celestia has the Elements. Tomorrow, meet me here, before dawn. We will get those, send them to Twilight for safe keeping." Cadance's heart was thundering like a freight train. "Then the day after we meet, you tell her… you tell her your army will defend Equestria."

Chrysalis leaned up and hugged the pink alicorn, squeezing tightly. "I knew I could trust you." She squeezed more, when more tears came they were of relief.

Outside, in the lovely sunny day that was Celestia's gift to all ponies, three young voices shouted…

"It's confusion!"

"Evil!"

"Chaos!"


~~~~~+++++~~~~~


A blue flash appeared before Chrysalis in the dark tower room. She blinked at it, trembling nervously. "Cadance?"

"Of course it is me… uh, Chryssi?" Cadance looked at the alabaster alicorn a moment. "That is amazing, you could do anypony like that?" She reached a wing out, checking to see if the Princess Celestia before her was some kind of illusion.

"I can. I can't believe she was keeping the Elements here, they aren't tied to her anymore." Chrysalis followed the pink alicorn as she walked through the empty hall. "Twilight must have them, and close. If anything terrible happens she needs to be able to grab them and use them!"

"Shh, keep it down a little, Chryssi. Okay, this door here is locked with a combination of Celestia's magic and her horn. I can fool the magic part, but you have to have her horn perfect." Cadance started her magic, reaching out toward the lock. "Celestia took me on to tutor me in being a princess, but it isn't the only teaching I got…"

Chrysalis nodded and leaned forward, pushing her horn, or at least Celestia's horn, into the lock. There was a thunk and light burst everywhere, then the case was visible. "It worked!"

"Of course it did. I'll…" Cadance suddenly sighed. "I don't suppose you can get these to Ponyville?" She levitated the elements out and into a hollowed out book she had prepared.

"Easy, nopony will even know it was me." Chrysalis grinned and flared with green fire, becoming a duplicate of Twilight Sparkle. A little melancholy flowed over her while she wore the disguise of the mare she admired. "Let's get out of here before Celestia returns."

Sounds of doors opening, of the two princesses returning, echoed in the empty tower room. Her eyes widening, Chrysalis burnt power, a lot of power. Ripping a circle of travel into being, she grabbed Cadance and dragged her through it. 

"What was… wow that was cool." Cadance's heart was pounding, she looked to her friend. "Can you do that all the way to Ponyville?"

Drained a bit, but recovering, Chrysalis shook her head. "That… takes a bit from me." Hefting the book, she tucked it in the saddlebag she had slung on her back.

"Where… you weren't wearing that before!" Cadance gestured with a hoof at "Twilight's" back. "Where did you get it from?"

"When I shift… you saw all the regalia I was wearing, as Celestia?" Chrysalis blinked at Cadance and then giggled. "You completely forgot about that, didn't you? She wears it all the time!"

"So you can make stuff?" Cadance poked the bags with a hoof. Chrysalis nodded. "Huh, neat. Well, if you can't teleport there, how will you get to Ponyville?"

Chrysalis snorted and shook her head. "Train, of course. Don't have to use magic for everything. Wish me luck… not that I need it." She was grabbed in a hug, Cadance pulling her smaller body into a tight squeeze.

"Good luck, Chryssi Cross." Cadance kissed her friend on the forehead. "I trust you with Equestria's future. Princess Celestia will too, you will see."

"You…" Chrysalis froze a moment, then bowed down to a knee. "I promise not to misplace your trust. Everything I do, I do for Equestria." She looked up and saw a smiling friend and an offered hoof. Taking the hoof, Chrysalis smiled, fire rippling around her as she became her normal self once more. 

She left her friend and the castle behind in the early morning sun. Nopony stopped Chrysalis on her way to the train station, nor while buying a ticket. Full of love and with a purpose and task, it feels good to have something to do… that isn't egg related. She looked around and then froze, there was a whole crowd of ponies around her and it suddenly felt like they were squeezing in. She closed her eyes and focused on numbers. Orderly rows, neat columns. 

"One, seven, two, five, four, nine, six…" Chrysalis closed her snout and smiled, she was in a happy world where there were no ponies rushing around her. She was building up more and more complex puzzles when a single voice cut through the numerical daydream.

"All aboard!"

Chrysalis, imagining a swirling shield of numbers around herself, boarded the train and found a seat. The countryside soon passed her by and Chrysalis realized she liked being on the train. There were not a lot of other ponies onboard and she could really see outside a long way. The clock-tower was the first she saw of the town, poking over a hill, then the train pulled around and she saw it all. Ponyville.

Thankfully, of all the ponies that got on the train, only Chrysalis was departing. Stepping off the platform she looked around town. "Excuse me!" A gray and blonde pegasus mare—wearing the simple uniform and saddlebags of a mailmare—was collecting letters. "Uh, excuse me?" She stepped closer.

"Oh, hi! Are you new in town?" The mare looked around, left and right, then under her mailbag.

"Uh, yeah. Just dropping a book off for Twilight Sparkle." Chrysalis slid the fake book out a little. "Could you tell me where she lives?"

"Of course! If you follow that path," the mare gestured toward the center of town, "you will soon find a big old tree. You can't miss it!" She lifted a hoof up. "I'm Derpy. Pleased to meet you."

Chrysalis couldn't help but smile at the mare, lifting her own hoof to bop against the pegasus'. "I am Chryssi, thanks so much, Derpy!"

Turning back to her mail, Derpy suddenly stiffened. "Oh, and if a pink pony finds you, tell her you are just visiting and can't stay long. If you can stay, you really should let her throw you a party." The warning made the gray pony giggle.

"P-Party?" Chrysalis had to bring back her numbers to ignore that feeling from earlier. If only they were family, I don't have this problem with all the new nymphs. "Okay…" Chrysalis made her way from the quirky mailmare and the train-station. She followed the directions given in a little daze. This town is so small, but spread out. There is barely anypony ar-

"Hi!"

"Hi!"

"Hi!"

Chrysalis froze and looked at the three tiny forms; for a split second she imagined them as her own nymphs. A rush of certainty, that what she was doing was very "right", flooded her. Crouching down and laying on the ground, she was much closer to eye-level with the fillies. "Hi there," Chrysalis grinned a mile wide, "and to who do I have the pleasure of speaking?"

"We are the Cutie Mark Crusaders!" All three little voices raised and the fillies jostled around in obvious delight at being able to shout it together. The little yellow filly continued. "I'm Apple Bloom, this is Sweetie Belle, and that's Scootaloo."

"No cutie marks yet, huh?" Chrysalis was already in their world, their affection and love for life as a whole was amazingly infectious—particularly to a changeling. "Well, have you tried any things out? What are you all good at?" All three began talking at once, leaving a giggling Chrysalis to stop them with a hoof to two of the fillies' snouts. "Scootaloo first."

"I can go really fast on my scooter!" Scootaloo produced said scooter from thin air. "Nopony can go as fast as I can… except Rainbow Dash!"

The hoof came away from Sweetie Belle's grinning face next. "I can sing really clearly, Rarity says I will be really good at it."

The last hoof came from Apple Bloom's snout. "I am really good with potions! I once made one that made the ground…" The filly trailed off, her eyes widening. "We forgot something important!" The other two looked at her in shock. "We didn't ask her her name!"

"I am," Chrysalis couldn't stop herself, "Chrysalis. But I am trying to arrange a present for Twilight Sparkle, so you mustn't tell anypony I was here. Do you know if she is home?" It was all the truth, more truth than Chrysalis wanted to give, but the three fillies were impossible for her to really lie to.

"Her house is right over there, we could check for you?" Sweetie Belle gestured at the tree-library with a little hoof.

"That would be perfect, if you could come back and tell me if she is home. Then I can sneak in and leave her present!" Chrysalis felt all the better for not involving the fillies beyond a basic task. All three, giggling and bouncing, dashed off toward the library.

There was much shouting and knocking, and soon the fillies raced back to a still-laying-down Chrysalis.

"Nopony is home, not even Spike!" Apple Bloom managed to shout both the loudest and first. "You want us to help sneak in? We could get our cutie marks in it!"

It was utterly impossible for Chrysalis to deny the fillies anything. Am I this easy to manipulate? She got up and nodded. Yup. "Come on then, we need to be quiet." Chrysalis looked about as suspicious as she ever could and still be disguised. She slunk from building to building, badly. She dove for cover and hid whenever another pony looked at her. The only thing keeping anypony from approaching was that there were three fillies copying her every move. Plenty of ponies turned and looked, but all smiled.

"We are here, how do we proceed?" Scootaloo had her back pressed to the door, leaning and resting her ear against it.

"Well, first I take out the present." Chrysalis used her green magic to lift the book from her pack. It was heavy, the weight of Equestria's future within it. "Can you open the door, Sweetie?" The filly in question's eyes widened and she gave a little nod. Reaching a hoof up, she opened the door to the library.

"Oh, hello girls." Twilight Sparkle met the three fillies who as one, squealed at having been discovered. "And who is your friend?"

"Twilight!" Apple Bloom raced into the house, diving around the unicorn mare. "What's this book?" She reached for one at random, lifting out a dictionary.

Rolling her eyes and winking to Chrysalis, Twilight Sparkle trotted over to explain what Apple Bloom needed to have explained. "Well, that is the dictionary, it is like a look-up table of all the words you could ever use."

As Twilight was explaining, Chrysalis hefted the big fake book up and stowed it on a high shelf, hidden among its twins. She turned, having placed the Elements of Harmony in the unicorn's library, and beamed at Apple Bloom.

"Well, that's interesting Twilight, thanks!" Turning, Apple Bloom trotted for the exit and with her friends to help, quickly herded Chrysalis out and closed the door behind them. "That was close! You are really good with your magic, Chrysalis!" 

"Thanks!" Chrysalis was almost in a complete panic. It totally worked. If I hadn't been nice to the fillies and brought them along I would have had that clever mare with only me to focus on. She took a deep breath. "You fillies are really clever and quick. Thanks Apple Bloom."

"Aww, that's alright!" Apple Bloom blushed a little under the attention. "WAIT!"

Chrysalis froze in terror, wondering if she was about to be given away. "W-W-What?"

Three fillies slowly turned and inspected their flanks, a collective "Awww" betrayed the fact that they had not gotten their cutie marks in being amazingly stealthy.

"Better luck next time?" Chrysalis felt the pang each filly did, not having their cutie marks was a hole in their little lives that they all desperately worked to fill. "Maybe you could come and wait with me, for the train to return?"

Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle looked at each other, but it was Scootaloo who spoke. "You two go, I know your sisters wanted you to help them today. I can wait with Chrysalis."

Something isn't right there, a filly shouldn't have that much "rejection" inside them. "Sure can!" Chrysalis wanted to help, wanted to be there for this one pony. "So," the changeling waited until Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle had both left, "what's up?"

"Alone, mostly." The little orange filly buzzed her wings, further reinforcing the "nymph" vibe for Chrysalis. "They both had to help their families today." Scootaloo walked slowly beside the "unicorn."

"What about yours?" The moment Chrysalis asked she felt pain and guilt stab at her, self blame mixed into the horrible feelings in the filly. She couldn't stop herself from lifting Scootaloo up and hugging her tightly. "Lost them?" There was a nod against her neck, Chrysalis felt some tears dampen her disguise's fur. "I lost my mom a long time ago."

Scootaloo looked up at the unicorn. "Lost her?" The mare nodded. "What happened?"

"She was old, she didn't want to hurt me by being around when… when her end came." Chrysalis gave the filly a tighter squeeze, got a tighter one back herself. "I just," stupid tears, why does this affect me now? "I just wish I could have said something more, thanked her."

"Me too." Scootaloo squeezed the mare tightly, feeling a bond just as tight as the one she shared with her fellow Crusaders; this bond was different, but strong. "Hey, maybe we can be sisters?"

"Sisters?" Chrysalis looked at the filly and couldn't stop herself. She leaned in and rubbed her nose to Scootaloo's. "I would love to be your sister, but," Chrysalis pressed a hoof gently to the filly's snout to stop her from talking, "I have a better idea. I am going to show you something Scootaloo, something very important and very special. Do you promise not to tell anypony?"

The filly's eyes were wide, she didn't feel the soft hoof pull away from her snout, so she just nodded. 

"Where do you live?" Chrysalis followed Scootaloo's hoof when it pointed. "You live alone?" There was a tiny nod. "Not for much longer." This is a bad idea, the worst, but I can't leave her here alone. She set Scootaloo on her brown-furred back and started walking toward the house. "You promise not to freak out at something really crazy, if I show you?"

Scootaloo shook her head, eyes wide. She had seen Rarity carry Sweetie like this, even Applejack carry Apple Bloom. She relaxed and nodded. "I won't freak out!"

Carrying Scootaloo felt more like a sacred duty to Chrysalis than a simple task. The filly had basically flopped in place and hadn't moved. Entering the little house, she walked on through to the hallway at the center of the building. "Two bedrooms?" A little nod met her question, a hoof raised to point at one. "Well, this will be best in the other one."

"Okay…" Scootaloo was unsure what was going on, but Chrysalis seemed so easy to trust, she felt "right." Green magic picked her up and set her on the bed. She looked up and gasped as green fire took away Chrysalis, leaving her with a much larger creature, all darkness and iridescent colored wings. "Are… are you a princess?"

"No, I am a queen." Chrysalis lay down on the floor and began something that she hadn't planned to, that she knew she shouldn't. "Will you do two things for me, Scootaloo?"

Scootaloo was frozen, watching the nice mare, Chrysalis, expelling something from her body. It was big, elongated. "Is that an egg?"

"Clever, very clever. And you know who is inside it?" Chrysalis reigned in her body's desire to make more eggs, to keep making more and more until she flooded Ponyville in changelings. The filly shook her head. "Your little sister is in there."

"My little…" Scootaloo's attention was completely on the egg. "There is a pony inside?" She climbed off the bed, laying on the opposite side of the egg from Chrysalis, both looked down at it.

"Not a pony, Scootaloo, a changeling. She will grow up slowly compared to most, did you know my other foals grow from tiny little eggs like this, to full grown changelings in just a month?" Chrysalis was hypnotized by the sense of wonder pouring from the filly. "But there is more. Scootaloo, your little sister will grow up into a changeling just like me, but she will need to be looked after, need to be able to follow somepony."

"I will be the best big sister!" Scootaloo was on her hooves, fire in her eyes. "I will take the best care of… of… " She tilted her head to the side. "What's her name?"

"You need to decide that, but the important thing is, you will need to be like her, Scootaloo. It takes a changeling to raise a queen." Chrysalis saw uncertainty in the filly's eyes. "You are young, your change will be quick and then, like me you will be able to disguise as a pony. As yourself."

"And my friends?" Scootaloo suddenly thought of Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle. "I can't lie to them!" 

"Your mom brought your little sister, you need to look after her." Chrysalis reached a hoof out to the filly and smiled as Scootaloo didn't lean away from the affection. "And I did. As for you, ponies will see the filly they know, they won't expect you to be anything diff-"

"I'll do it!" Scootaloo cut in on Chrysalis. "What do I do?" She looked up at the big mare. When Chrysalis smiled wide and leaned down, she stood her ground.

"Open your mouth, this takes a special touch my little princess." And with that Chrysalis pressed her lips to Scootaloo's and let go of the love—of the royal honey.

Scootaloo wasn't ready at first, coughed and gurgled around the flood of warm, thick liquid. But it was sweet, relaxing, and in a moment she closed her eyes and gulped it down. With her belly starting to bulge, Scootaloo felt the flow stop. "What… what was that?"

"Changeling honey. You are young, this won't take-" Chrysalis stopped, watching as the filly started to fall over, her eyes wide. Reaching with green magic, Chrysalis caught Scootaloo, the unconscious filly's legs already darkening, her fur thickening and melding together into black chitin.
> Prologue - Part 4
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Scootaloo woke up stretching and yawning. She felt good, well rested. Movement caught her attention and her eyes focused on the room around her. "The spare room?"

"Good morning, sleepy-'ling." Chrysalis beamed at the nymph. "How do you feel?"

The world crashed back in for Scootaloo. She now remembered her new friend Chrysalis, and that she wasn't a pony. Her friend had laid an egg, that… that… My hoof is black… I… am I like her? "Am I like you now?"

"Yes, but much smaller. How do you feel? Give those wings a try-out." Chrysalis watched as the nymph examined herself, looking over her body and finding all the odd little bits and pieces that made up a changeling. One thing stole the filly's attention.

"W-W-Wings?" Scootaloo looked over her shoulder, spotting the iridescent little bug-shaped wings. She buzzed them, then faster. Taking a deep breath she buzzed them even more and she lifted up. "Chrysalis! I am flying!"

"You can do a lot more than that, but I think you can get the hang of most of this. Lesson one, food." Chrysalis giggled at the nymph not wanting to land. "You are okay like that?" Scootaloo nodded back. "Well, okay. You feel that warm sunshine all around you, falling onto you?" Another nod. "That is ambient love. It is tasty as a snack, and will probably sustain you, but your sister will need more than that."

"Love? What do you mean?" Scootaloo could certainly feel all the niceness. Really nice.

"We eat love. You are going to need to learn to harvest it and produce honey. Your sister will be hungry until she can feed for herself, and it is up to you to feed her." Chrysalis could sense the lingering love the nymph felt toward her new sister. Soon even that will be gone and she will radiate no more. "Firstly, open your mouth and inhale, imagine some of that warmth coming into you." 

Scootaloo opened her snout, her tongue rubbing the fangs she now sported. Closing her eyes to better focus, the nymph inhaled. Coughing and opening her eyes wide, Scootaloo stared at Chrysalis. "That is... wow..." I can taste the love of... She smiled and gave a happy little chirp.

"It is quite that, and more." Chrysalis reached a hoof up and booped the newest member of her hive on the nose. "Keep drinking it and let me know when you are full." Chrysalis settled and watched as Scootaloo went through the motions again and again, gathering up the strong ambient love around Ponyville. "That should be enough. Now you need to make the honey your little sister will need."

"Was that what you gave to me? Will I be able to make others into... whatever we are?" Scootaloo felt really full, delightfully full.

"You could, but I would ask you not to." Chrysalis pressed her hoof gently to Scootaloo's cheek, but further back where the hinge of her jaw was. "There are glands here, they can turn the love you have drunk into honey. It... it is like wanting to give someling your love, but you need to push into it a little."

Using her tongue, Scootaloo explored that part of her mouth and felt rippling folds of skin right where Chrysalis said they would be. "Okay, let me-" She didn't get any further, coughing and spluttering as a thick golden substance filled her mouth. 

"Swallow it and try again." Chrysalis brushed Scootaloo's now-green mane to one side. Again and again they practiced until Scootaloo could reliably make honey without choking. "Okay, next you need to bring your energy back up to full." 

"Does everything we do need energy?" Scootaloo nonetheless started inhaling the love again.

"Yup." Chrysalis waited a few moments. "Now you have your energy raised?" Chrysalis could feel it, but waited for Scootaloo to nod. "Right, so now remember what you looked like, what you were, with your little wings and adorable little hooves." The nymph, her eyes screwed shut, nodded her head. "Push that image into your horn, Scootaloo. Push it through your horn and pull it back down over you, like a costume." No sooner had Chrysalis told her the last part of the trick than the nymph caught fire with burning green flames and, where a changeling stood, now a little orange pegasus blinked.

"I'm… I'm me again!" Scootaloo did a dance, her wings flicking around. "Wait, can I fly now? Like this?" She looked up at Chrysalis and got a dark, hole-filled hoof rubbing her head. 

"Like this? No, but I will tell you what, each week you think of those wings just a little larger and, in no time, you will be able to fly." Chrysalis suddenly had a filly attached to her neck. "Welcome to my hive, Scootaloo." A loud banging sound came from the other end of the house, startling both changelings. "What's that?"

"Wait!" Scootaloo tried to get in front of Chrysalis, but the bigger changeling was deliberately trying to impose herself between her and the door. "It'll be my friends!"

Chrysalis froze. "I… not a mob of ponies to come and…" I am letting my imagination get the better of me. Chrysalis took a deep breath, and a moment later donned her disguise again. "Sorry, you really do have quite a hoof on things here, huh?"

Scootaloo fuzzed her wings out. "Of course, and I need to be in control more than ever now." She strutted to the door, looking back over her shoulder. "I have a little sister coming soon." Reaching up, she opened the door to see Sweetie Belle carrying one of her sister's umbrellas to shield both herself and Apple Bloom from… "Chocolate milk?"

"What have you been doing?" Apple Bloom raced inside and then pointed back out. "The weather has gone bonkers, even Rainbow Dash doesn't know what is going on!"

Chrysalis' blood ran cold. Chocolate rain… what looks like pink fairy floss clouds... "Discord." Three little heads snapped around to Chrysalis. "Uh, you know, spirit of chaos, the draconequus?"

"But we saw that statue yesterday!"

"It was chaos!"

"Please, stop. What did you see? Tell me everything." Chrysalis gave a look at each filly in turn, ending up giving Scootaloo an even more meaningful gaze.

"We were on a field trip to Canterlot, and we had cotton candy!" Sweetie Belle was bouncing in place. "It tasted like green!"

"Then we went to the castle garden and looked at the statues!" Apple Bloom puffed her little chest out. "I am going to get a cutie mark of victory!"

"Are not!" Sweetie poked her friend in the shoulder.

"Am too!" Apple Bloom was giggling now, ruining the argument completely.

"Then Cheerilee showed us the statue, she said it was a draconathingy." Scootaloo looked up at Chrysalis, seeing a hint of the panic behind the mask her… her… She is as close as I will get to a big sister. Warmth filled the disguised nymph. "She said he was the spirit of discord."

Chrysalis focused on Scootaloo. "She really said that? That it represented Discord?" Scootaloo shrugged a little. "Of course, she is just a teacher, a lot of meaning can be lost over a thousand or more years, I bet."

"I saw it crack!" Sweetie volunteered the information, surprising both her friends. "When we were all walking away, I dropped one of my mane-clips when we tussled." The filly reached a hoof up and plucked one of her prized clips. "Rarity gave them to me, I didn't want to lose one. But when I walked back to get it, there was a long crack running up the middle of the statue."

"It wasn't a statue, it was a prison." Chrysalis lifted her hooves to her face, anger and fury like she had never felt before, ripping through her. The touch of a little hoof was like an earthing rod, causing it all to drain away. Chrysalis looked down at Scootaloo, the nymph looking scared.

"What… what happened? Did we do something wrong?" Scootaloo looked up at the nice mare, the only adult who had not only understood her, but had welcomed her. "We didn't mean-"

Chrysalis pulled Scootaloo into a hug as she dropped to her belly. "It wasn't your fault, any of you. I warned…" Chrysalis stopped her explanation, then cursed her adoration of the little ponies. "I warned them about him, about any of the prisons that the Elements of Harmony were maintaining. Princess… what have you done?" The other two fillies rushed up to the crying mare, latching on to her neck like the most adorable limpets ever.

"It's going to be alright, Twilight and our sisters… and their friends, they all went to Canterlot to see what they can do!" Apple Bloom was trying to boost Chrysalis' spirits, but it seemed to have the opposite effect.

"I need to get to Canterlot, I need to find out what…" Outside, Chrysalis could see the paths between houses quickly turning to custard as long-legged forest creatures stampeded through town. "Wait, Twilight and her friends went to Canterlot?" Chrysalis' eyes widened. "What have I done?"

"Calm down Chrysalis, it's okay, our sisters and their friends have this. They will stop that draconinquest and save the day, just like when Nightmare Moon attacked!" Sweetie Belle hadn't noticed Chrysalis' color pale more and more by the moment.

"What's the matter?" Apple Bloom was more observant than Sweetie however, and picked up on Chrysalis' greater shock.

"It was luck last time. They found the Elements of Harmony, worked out how to use them… But they aren't in Canterlot!" Chrysalis jumped to her hooves. "I need to get them and-" A little orange hoof poked Chrysalis in the nose.

"Calm down, Princess Celestia, Twilight, and all her friends will do this." Scootaloo's absolute belief managed to calm Chrysalis a little, the panic ebbed back and she started to calm down.

"You… you're right, she has to win." Chrysalis looked out as the rain-shower passed them by, the chocolate milk on the ground pooling in places, flowing over the custard. If she doesn't, nothing will stop Discord from destroying everything, absolutely everything. Resignation and anticipation was pumping in Chrysalis' blood.

"Of course they will win, they always win!" Scootaloo grinned wide.

"Unless Pinkie Pie's Pinkie Sense is involved." Sweetie cut in after her friend, taking some of the wind from her sails. "And unless-"

"Calm down, we shouldn't think about that." Apple Bloom took charge of the situation as best she could, she really had hoped the "adult" would, but Chrysalis seemed a little odd to the filly. "I know, let's play a game!"


~~~~~+++++~~~~~


The puzzles had done the intended, Chrysalis was so engrossed in trying to get her little blue ponies into Equestria, the part of the world that Sweetie Belle controlled, that she didn't notice the sound of arguing at first. 

"What the…" Chrysalis turned her head and looked outside as night fell suddenly. "What is going on, Luna isn't normally-" She cut off, watching as six ponies trudged into town. Her heart sank, all but Twilight looked drained, detached from their usual selves. 

"Chrysalis!" Scootaloo's voice followed the queen as she left the little house. 

Stopping, Chrysalis watched as Twilight Sparkle, her coat stained gray, walked past with chocolate rain falling on her. "Tw-" Chrysalis halted her call just after the first letters came out. Discord was taunting the mare. She stalked the pony all the way back to the library. 

I need to do something, this is it, the world will be in chaos if Twilight doesn't- Chrysalis' thoughts were shattered as Twilight rushed out the front door of the library, revitalized and full of color.

"What do you think her odds are of winning?" Discord's voice came from right behind Chrysalis and she spun around to face the spirit. "Oh stop, don't you dare get angry with me for this. This is my element, this is how the world is when I am free, nothing can stop it."

"Twilight will!" Chrysalis felt the burning flame of hope in her chest grow hotter, crowding out the fear of facing what her notes hinted at was an actual god of chaos. "Twilight wi-" Chrysalis panicked as her mouth suddenly sealed shut.

"Ugh, I thought you were supposed to be a villain in all this? Seriously, act like one." Discord snapped his paw and Chrysalis was suddenly seated on a throne. "This is what you want, isn't it? It's yours. Keep it, I don't even want it. We can both go back to Canterlot right now and you can sit where ol' bright-butt sits, and tell the ponies what to do." Discord, having wandered away casually, spun back and glared at Chrysalis. "Of course none of them will listen, they will be too busy trying to stop all the giant bunnies from eating their houses, or the sun from burning them down."

Chrysalis reached a hoof up, feeling the zip where her lips should be. Pulling the tab to one end she gasped. "No, I don't want that! I'm not the villain, you are!" 

"Me?" Discord laughed. "I am not a villain, I am a force of nature. Look around, Queen, the kingdom is sponge cake." Discord laughed at his own joke, a slight chuckle. "Oh, hold that thought, I am due back on set."

Dumbfounded, Chrysalis watched as Twilight sauntered back into town, all five of her friends with her, and filled with color. "Oh… oh wow…" Chrysalis' eyes were wide as they argued with the spirit, then widened further when Twilight teleported, saved her friends, and then the rainbow came. 

"Told you!" Scootaloo and her friends had trotted up to Chrysalis, watching as the six mares unleashed magic like a tsunami. Discord wasn't just defeated, he was once more locked in stone. "See? Easy!"

"That… okay, I have to admit, that was super-cool, but what happens if the next bad guy doesn't stand up and make himself a target like that?" Chrysalis watched the six mares congratulating each other. A little pony snuggling at her side broke Chrysalis from her focus on the scene. "What's the matter little grub?"

Not realizing the implications of the "cute name," Scootaloo looked up at Chrysalis. "What… what would happen? They have to win, right? Every time? They are so awesome..." She trembled a little, it wasn't her sisters that were Element Bearers, the tremble even reaching her voice.

"I have a plan." Chrysalis leaned down and nuzzled the nymph's mane and ears. "It will make sure every pony in Equestria is safe and that no pony—not even your friends' sisters—have to stand against such an enemy on their own." And I will, they shouldn't have to do this.


~~~~~+++++~~~~~


"She had no plan, Celestia had nothing planned to deal with Discord except to hand the weapons to those mares and point them at him." Chrysalis looked out at the cavern. Eggs, lots of eggs. She inhaled and kept explaining her problem to the silent and mostly-still offspring. "And then, as if it was her plan all along to move the Elements to Ponyville, as if she had hidden them from Discord, she stands proud and celebrates their victory. Don't get me wrong, she runs the country just fine, but outside threats… monsters…" 

The few drones working in the egg-chamber kept their heads down, they were used to their queen talking to the eggs. 

Braced trotted across the floor of the room, his eyes bright at seeing the future of the hive. "My Queen!"

Chrysalis' head lifted as she heard her foal. "Braced! How goes Scootaloo?" Her heart ached that she had left the nymph behind, but she had been so adamant about being a "Crusader" still. "How go the plans?"

"My Queen, all is going according to schedule. We have nearly fifty ponies down here now, but your new visitors are what I wanted to talk about… Scootaloo sends her love." Braced turned, moving to the side.

"Shining? Cadance?" Chrysalis saw the two ponies standing tall. "Just the two friends I needed to talk with, I have a proposition..."
> A Wedding to Remember - Part 1
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Shining Armor looked down at the notes, the plans, and the maps. "Chryssi, you are going to attack Canterlot?" He looked up and saw the little nod from Chrysalis. Taking a deep breath he looked around at all the changelings he could see; working in alcoves or in the open cave they were standing in. "Chryssi Cross, I am placing you under arrest."

"Shining…" Cadance rushed a look to Chrysalis but her worry melted when she saw only amusement on her friend's face. "Shining, hear her out. I know it seems… it still seems wrong at first, but Chryssi has her reasons."

"You don't get it, Cady, I am a lieutenant in the royal guard, I can't just let this go." Shining looked at Chrysalis, holding the familiar stranger's eyes. "But as a friend, Chryssi, why?"

"Princess Celestia is the kindest, nicest ruler any country could hope for." Chrysalis gestured to the picture of the alicorn drawn on the castle in one of the maps. "Despite loving what she has done with Equestria, how she has made it so wonderful, there are dark things looming, Shining."

The description and obvious love the changeling had for Celestia disarmed a little of Shining's panic. "Dark things?"

Chrysalis pulled out the files she had. "Nightmare Moon, Discord… I was doing research, remember? These are just the things I found out about. There are probably a dozen more bad things held by the Elements that can now break free. Celestia and Luna at their peak disabled and bound them." Chrysalis hated to do this, but it was her trump card. "Now, only Twilight Sparkle and her friends stand before whatever is coming at Equestria."

Shining froze. "What… what do you mean?" He stared ahead, past Chrysalis, past Cadance, past even the crystal cavern wall.

"Twilight Sparkle is one of the smartest ponies I know. She has defeated an alicorn without spilling a drop of blood. She recaptured Discord after less than two days of being free." Chrysalis looked at Shining, holding her words until he finally focused on her again. "I don't want to see her fail, ever."

Cadance stepped forward gesturing to the plans. "None of us do. But Chryssi, are you going to take over? You are so sure you are better than Princess Celestia at running Equestria?"

"Me? Run Equestria." Chrysalis gave a snorting giggle. "Could you imagine it? I wouldn't have the first clue how to do the myriad little things Princess Celestia does every day. I would have everypony miserable within a week."

"So what then? Beg her to keep her old job and let you do yours?" Shining browsed through another of the contingency plans Chrysalis had made, it chilled him how perfectly designed they were.

"I have a plan for the Princess, she will even have a choice. Your sister is going to try to fight me." Chrysalis gave a sigh. "I would love to invite her here for the duration, but I ran all the angles I could and she is too smart for them, too smart and too convinced Celestia is doing the right thing."

"So what then? What is all this in aid of?" Shining tossed the plans down, grabbing another. With all this knowledge I could easily fend off any number of these plans. Why is she showing this to me?

"So I can defend Equestria. Tell me, Shining, who would you rather have standing between the next big bad thing, Twilight, or my drones?" The argument was an easy one to win, now she had it in those words. Chrysalis shook her head. "They are my little ones, my nymphs, my grubs. If you think this is an easy thing for me to decide, then you are mistaken. I have spent over a year now Shining, trying to come up with a way to resolve this."

"How many children," Cadance was still having trouble with the idea of all these creatures being her friend's foals, "do you have, will you have?"

"I have nearly five hundred active drones, and the eggs for another seven hundred are… ready. I will not hatch them until after I have control." Chrysalis saw the look of horror on Shining's face. "You know my plans, Shining Armor. You are the closest thing to an equal I have when it comes to planning. If you took yourself out of the equation, how do you think I would-"

Shining cut Chrysalis off. "You would win, Chryssi. You might need a contingency plan or two, but you already have those worked out." He gestured at the table. "But why tell me? Why tell us?"

"What do you feed on?" Cadance cut in on her coltfriend. "You have so many of your own children down here, but what are you all eating?"

"Love." Chrysalis smiled. "Love, lots of love."

"Love?" Both Cadance and Shining were caught out by the answer and spoke over each other.

"Love. I can taste it on the pair of you, most ponies feel it every day of their lives." Chrysalis closed her eyes and inhaled. She purposefully ran her metaphysical "tongue" down the spines of Cadance and Shining. "That is what we feed on. It doesn't harm a pony, you don't even feel it, unless we feed too much… or make you feel it."

Cadance froze and her horn lit. She wove a spell that would her see the flow of love. "My goodness…" She watched the flow of love, lazy and decidedly one way, from herself and Shining, right into Chrysalis' snout. Cadance did something she didn't often do, she looked back at herself.

Shining and Chrysalis both knew the spell Cadance was using, both left her to her examination. "So what are you going to do when you take over?" Shining poked the plans with a hoof.

"Princess Celestia will—if I can help it—stay the ruler of Equestria. She is good at it, she is amazing at it." Chrysalis gestured upwards. "All I want is ponies to… to live. To be happy."

"To feed you?" Shining gave the changeling queen a flat look. "Come on Chryssi, is this just about the food?"

"When I was living with you and Cadance, I had everything I needed. I had, certainly, enough love. I had a few children with me, I kept them fed." Chrysalis gave a sigh and stared past Shining, right into the past. "But I found out about Nightmare Moon, and watched myself, what Princess Celestia did and what she risked, just to have her little sister back. Have you talked to Twilight about what happened?"

Shining blushed crimson. "I… I am stuck in my job now, I have a duty to protect-"

"You don't protect anything, you stand around looking proud. Twilight has to protect Equestria, it all  rests on her withers, and those of her friends." Chrysalis almost spat the words, fury rising in her on the Element Bearers' behalves. "They all have families. Rarity has a little sister. Fluttershy has a brother and parents. Pinkie Pie and Applejack almost have as much family as I do!" She was panting in frustration now. "And 'she' threw them all in harm's way, just in the hope her sister was redeemable. What if Nightmare Moon had taken the artifacts for herself? She surely had a history with them."

Shining felt lower than a snake's underbelly. The big guard lieutenant stared at the floor, tears coming to his cheeks.

"Let me do what I must, let me be the shield of Equestria." Chrysalis felt pride pour into her, she felt more bound to her purpose than before. I just convinced myself, too.

Cadance spent the intervening time checking every inch of her aura, the core of magic and emotion that was "her." There was a constant drain on it, pouring to her friend, but she couldn't spot a single patch of anything strange. Banishing her magic, she realized that both Chrysalis and Shining Armor looked at each other, both had a similar look in their eyes.

"I will stand by so long as nopony is hurt. The first injury, Chryssi, and I will fight you to my last." Shining lifted his hoof, holding it up and out to the changeling queen. "And if you pull this off… I volunteer. Let me fight for Equestria."

"By doing this, Shining Armor, you are already fighting for it." Chrysalis lifted her hoof and clopped the big stallion's one. "Back with us?" She turned her head to face Cadance.

"Your feeding doesn't hurt, doesn't leave any marks." Cadance took a deep breath. "You have my word, I stand with Shiny in this. Wait, I am not enough to feed all of you, am I?"

"I am treating the rest well. Would you like to see them?" Chrysalis shook her head. "I never could keep anything from you forever. Come on, might as well meet them."

Shining was a little struck down about his choices, his mind raced with what he had done. I agreed to this, I am a traitor… a traitor or a patriot. All those plans, and all of them hinged on us giving in. "Chryssi, what if I had said 'no'?"

"There are plans for that, Shining, it would have been… depending on the situation I would have had a lot of lives resting on every action. With you both there, I can do this without the mess, the pain." Chrysalis turned and gave her friend a smile. "Thank you."

"Sweet Celestia…" Cadance stared out of the little cave they had been wandering through, out into a huge, brightly lit cavern. There were changelings everywhere, training, teaching. "That is them?" She pointed at a large group of ponies.

"No, they are practicing disguises." Chrysalis giggled. "Over there." She pointed at a group of ponies, looking relaxed, talking with some changelings.

Cadance energized her magic again as they approached the group. "Pony Joe?" She inspected the pony as best she could while still keeping abreast of the conversation.

"Your Highness, long time no see." Joe had a changeling working their hooves into his back, helping him relax. "Uh, not to sound stupid, but you are the real princess?"

It was impossible to find a fault in his auras, although Cadance could see quite a lot of love flowing from the merchant into the creature helping him relax. "I am, Joe. You want out of here?"

"Out? Are you kidding? Chrysalis said she needed some help, let me train up one of her little-uns to work in my shop for a few days a week. And I get to finally have a break." Joe's eyes closed a little as more tension—and more than a little love—was worked from him by the talented drone.

Chrysalis snorted at the surprise on her friends' faces. "You thought I was foalnapping ponies and what, stuffing them in pods? I like Joe, he gave me free shakes remember?" She reached out her hoof and bopped it against the one Joe had lifted lazily. "I opened a spa, ponies come to relax, I offer them a three week holiday and they jump at it."

"A spa? But… your foals aren't exactly… normal… looking…" Cadance waved at the drone still working away on Joe. "They would have panicked!"

"By the time they see my drones uncovered they are already relaxed, and calming further. A little nibble and the pony would give off even more love, but we don't need that, plenty are donating." Chrysalis turned and gestured to the other scattered ponies. Some relaxed and calmly stretched out, others had attendants working on them. "Now not to brag or anything, but there are going to be a lot of changelings needing food soon, it would be so much easier if a good chunk of Canterlot already are happy to be taken care of."

"And after this… thing?" Cadance looked askance at the surrounding ponies. "What then?"

"Then? Then I will ask everypony to just relax, to treat my little ones as any other pony. You can see that it doesn't hurt, you know that it doesn't hurt." Chrysalis gestured upwards. "The days will be perfect, you will see."


~~~~~+++++~~~~~


"Mi Amore Cadenza?" Princess Celestia's voice broke through Cadance's distraction, court had just finished and it had been a boring one for all involved.

"Yes, Princess Celestia?" Cadance couldn't help thinking of all Chrysalis had told her, seeing more of her words' clarity in everything Celestia did. She is simply amazing to watch when handling internal affairs. I really hope nothing else external happens before Chryssi… am I really hoping for this now?

"Please, call me Auntie." Celestia narrowed her eyes. "The nobles seem a little restless, and I think their emotions mirror the populace." She adjusted the one cushion that was a concession to the firm seat of the throne.

"Auntie," Cadance gave a sigh, yet she was always sure to call me by my full name, "I can see that, they are upset about how Discord was handled, maybe…"

"Luna." Celestia knew what the problem was. "I know I have… a bit of a temper when I see somepony talking about her problems, am I really that bad?"

"A little. Why don't you have a parade or a party? I don't suppose Luna's birthday is soon?" It was her hope—a fervent hope—that maybe Celestia would see the light with these attacks, but all Cadance could do was nod along and try to put suggestions up.

"I had one idea. You and Shining Armor have been together for quite some time now." Celestia smiled to her protegee. "Have you considered marriage?"

"A royal wedding?" Cadance was brought up short, unsure how to respond. "Well, I did want to ask him, but only once he was Captain…"

"Done then." Celestia grinned. "How do you feel about next month?"

"N-N-Next month?" Backed into a corner, Cadance railed against the idea. "Why so soon? They would be just as delighted with an announcement that we would be married in a year… maybe more."

"I think it needs to be sooner rather than later. Things are not getting any more calm. If next month is too soon, what about the month after?" Celestia blinked, although only one eye was visible to Princess Cadance. She spotted the mare's panic still riding her, "assuming you want to marry him…"

"Of course I do!" Cadance felt backed into a corner, both politically and emotionally. "Two months… got it… I have so many friends to tell!"
> A Wedding to Remember - Part 2
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"A wedding?" Chrysalis stared at Cadance. "Congratulations!" She wrapped her dark legs around the pink alicorn. "Wait, what's wrong? You love him… he love-"

"Celestia!" Cadance leaned her head forward against Chrysalis' chitinous shoulder. "It is all her idea. I want to marry him, and he me, but it is all so soon!" The dark limbs tightened around Cadance and she couldn't help but let out a little sob. "She said it was 'for the good of Equestria'." The tears started, they began to pour from Cadance.

There was a million and one things Chrysalis could be doing, but she needed to be here for her friend. "What are you going to do?" There was love to be drunk, but it had an odd twist of bitterness that Chrysalis did not like.

"Marry him… run away… cry in your cave until everything is over?" Cadance tried to pull back from the hug but her friend wouldn't let her. "Chryssi, it just makes so much sense. She laid it all out for me and she was right, this will make everypony happy."

"No it won't." Chrysalis finally let go of Cadance and stepped back. "There is at least one pony who is not happy. What about Shining?" When Cadance shook her head, Chrysalis gave her hoof a little stomp. "Well, it is a week early… if you help me with something, I will come and ruin your wedding."

Cadance's tears stopped, she blinked at her friend. She snorted, then giggled. "You would ruin my wedding just for me?" She had to lift a hoof to cover her snout, but her laugh broke past it.

"For you? Cadance, for you and Shining I would invade Canterlot." Chrysalis joined her friend. "You will see, I am already coming up with the best trick ever. I…" She tilted her head. Twilight is the linchpin, she needs to be convinced about this. "You get a whole week holiday too, care of my hive."

Snorting with laughter, Cadance lifted her head high and let off a pulse of her magic. "Oops…" She rushed over to Chrysalis and grabbed her friend as she nearly fell down. "Sorry, sorry, I didn't mean it!"

"You didn't mean it? Cadance, you really are the best pony ever." Chrysalis let out a little giggle and struggled to get her hooves under her. "Okay, so the way this is going to work is, for the week leading up to your wedding, I am going to take your place."

"You what? Why?" Cadance was about to ask more but a hoof planted against her snout. "Mmfmr?"

"Celestia is going to invite Twilight and her friends. If I barge in and stop things, you can bet that they would beat me down quicker than you could say 'I do'." Chrysalis shook her head. "We need to give Twilight something to focus on, to agonize over. She is smart, Cadance, smarter than I am."

"Smarter than you are?" Cadance smiled at the admission. "I will admit I haven't seen her for a while, but that is good to hear."

"If I have any hope of holding Equestria together I need both Twilight and Celestia to help. Twilight… despite everything, she is amazing. Celestia is everything Equestria needs to run." Chrysalis looked up when she got a tight hug from her friend. "It's true, once I have control I… I don't want it all, I promise. But most importantly I need somepony smarter than me, somepony to check everything I do and to tell me if I am being a bad pony."

"You aren't being a bad pony, Chryssi. Look at this," Cadance gestured around the huge hall, at all the changelings working away, "I remember the mare who just wanted to learn and study, I remember her well. Tell me, Chryssi Cross-"

Chrysalis cut in. "That wasn't really my name."

"It is to me. So tell me, Queen of the Changelings, then. Tell me honestly you would rather be doing this than going to school, spending time with your friends, learning about this lovely world. Tell me you would rather do this and I will call you a bad pony." Cadance gave her friend a grin, she knew she had already won. "You are a good pony, Chryssi, you really are. A bad pony would have taken her drones and left, or stayed studying until the world crumbled around her."

"So I am good for taking over Equestria?" Chrysalis saw a little of the logic her friend was using, but she had to play devil's advocate, even against herself.

"Yes, you are a good pony for being willing to do this much, to risk everything you are, just to make the world better. Do you think Twilight believes any different?" Cadance saw she had hit a nerve when Chrysalis flinched and looked at her with a look that was fueled by an epiphany, she knew she had hit her mark.

"I have to protect her as best I can, she needs somepony to dislike in this but… I really wish it didn't have to be me." Chrysalis wore a half smile. "I promise not to let them marry us, even if things don't work out."

Cadance blinked and, without meaning to she giggled. "Marry Shining? Now that would save me having to have all the wedding and everything; and could you imagine Celestia's face?" She was outright laughing now, her friend joining her in mirth.


~~~~~+++++~~~~~


Scootaloo sighed in delight as she got home. "You here, lil-" She didn't get to finish, she never got to finish. The little queen changeling rushed from her bedroom and bowled the filly over backwards. "Whoa, you are moving faster and faster!"

Letting her disguise down, Scootaloo rolled on her back, making happy chirping noises with the nymph. "Had to apologize for all the bad things we were saying in the newspaper. Felt good and," Scootaloo leaned up and kissed the nymph, feeling her honey glands start pumping out liquid love to her sister, "ugh… and after it, well, you can taste it can't you?"

The bright chirp Scootaloo got from the nymph had her smiling wide. "Okay, for reals today, are you going to get your shape right?"

Another chirp was Scootaloo's answer and she watched the little changeling close her eyes in concentration. "Imagine your image, your pony self. Push her up into your horn." I still can't believe I have a horn, Chrysalis is the best sister ever!

Scootaloo felt the little rush of magic, even felt the flames of energy start to rush out. She is going to do it! With a swirl of fire around her tiny form, the little queen nymph was suddenly a tiny pink filly with bright orange mane and the most adorable little wings. "You did it!"

"Yay!" The filly spread her wings and buzzed them, not getting much done but looking absolutely adorable. 

"You can talk?" Scootaloo blinked at the little filly, but she shook her head. "Oh, but you can understand me, which is really cool. Okay, if you can keep this up all evening and tomorrow I will totally introduce you to my friends, you can be a Crusader too!"

The tiny foal managed to drag herself up to her tiny hooves and bounce on Scootaloo's chitinous body. 

"Now, I am going to have to get some things, and we are going to have to play-act a little." Scootaloo reached her hooves up to play with the nymph, the black, hole-filled legs no longer freaking her out. She is so cute. My own little sister.

A knock at the door shocked Scootaloo and she quickly pulled her flame over herself, pushing her image out into her horn and building her "Scootaloo" disguise. "Coming!" Lifting her sister up and setting the filly on her own back, Scootaloo made her way to the door and opened it. "Bloom! Sweetie!" She turned to the side. "Guess who is taking care of her little sister for a while?"

Two shocked faces stared on, looking from the tiny filly to their friend. "She is the cutest!" Sweetie Belle gave in first, racing up and cooing to the little disguised nymph.

"Since when'd you have a little sister?" Apple Bloom was a little more skeptical, tilting her head a little.

"Well, look at her Apple Bloom, since a few months ago. Okay, technically she is my big sister's foal, but I am still looking after her while sis is off… doing stuff." Scootaloo didn't want to lie. Technically this is the truth, right?

"She is a little filly, but you ain't telling me something. What is the truth?" Apple Bloom looked at her friends, both of them making much of the little foal.

"That… I can't tell you all of it. I am looking after her, can you trust me?" Scootaloo looked at her friend, nearly in tears at being called out on her lie so quickly. "I don't want to lie to you, Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, but she really is my little sister and I really have to take care of her."

"She is cute." Apple Bloom smiled. "When'd you get so good at lying? I almost believed that one!" She stepped closer to look over the filly. "What's her name?"

Rainbow Dash. Scootaloo. No! I can't use those! What will I name her? Scootaloo was wide eyed. "That… is one of the things I have to do." She almost trembled, even though it wasn't a lie, she didn't like the half-truth. "We need to name her. We need a meeting, this could give us our cutie marks!"

"Glory Wings!" Sweetie Belle started bouncing. "Afternoon Shine!"

Apple Bloom wanted to try to pick holes in her friend's proposal, but she couldn't help going with it. "Apple Seed?"

"Her wings are pretty cool." Scootaloo turned her head to smile at the changeling on her back. "Bright Smile?"

"Ohh, that one is good!" Sweetie Belle stopped her bouncing and lifted a hoof. "Are you Bright Smile?" She pressed her hoof to the filly's snout. The little "filly" reached up both forehooves and grabbed the big hoof, kissing it.

Scootaloo looked at her sister, she tilted her head a touch. "Bright Smile?" The disguised changeling queen nodded enthusiastically. "Bright Smile it is then!"

All three of the Cutie Mark Crusaders quickly turned and looked at their flanks. "Awww." It was a cry in unison, but all of them started giggling.

Finally, recovering from the joviality, Sweetie looked at Bright. "Shouldn't little fillies be wearing a diaper?" Sweetie Belle tapped her chin. "There are a lot of things you are going to need!"

"Where would we get those?" Apple Bloom looked out into the town. "Oh, I know. We could go and ask the Cakes!" She grinned wide, so happy to have thought of the perfect solution.

"Well, I got some money, the worst case is I buy some things from them." Scootaloo stepped out into the early-afternoon sun. "I really am glad we got to apologize. Diamond Tiara was such a meanie!"

"Yeah, why is she so mean? It isn't like she always had her cutie mark." Sweetie Belle looked over at the tiny filly; her heart beating a little faster just at how cute she was.

"That's your sister yelling for you, right Sweetie?" Apple Bloom pointed with a hoof as Rarity noticed the Crusaders. "Here she comes."

"Darlings! Come quick, we need to get your dresses fitted and adjusted… oh no, there won't be time, you will have to come with us!" Rarity started to go into a bit of a panic. "Come on quickly, there is no time to waste!"

"Rarity, what's wrong?" Sweetie Belle tried to catch up with her sister. "Rarity!"

The cry pulled the unicorn up short. Rarity turned. "Sweetie, Apple Bloom, Scootaloo-" It was clear that Rarity was going to say something else, she might be in a panic but until her eyes fell on Scootaloo she was still functioning.

"Meet Bright Smile. I'm taking care of her for a while." Scootaloo smiled. No lie at all! "Rarity?"

"Taking care of her? Oh my is she your-" Rarity's brain had mostly caught up, but she almost asked something that would be crass.

"She is my little sister." Scootaloo's wings buzzed a little, tickling the filly on her back. "What were you saying about dresses?"

"Dresses!" Rarity started hopping from hoof to hoof again. "Come quick, you can help me pack!" Rarity was off again, the issue of a new filly completely forgotten.

"RARITY!" All three fillies were stopped dead, looking at the retreating unicorn. A little squeak and "Ity!" sounded from Scootaloo's back.

"Darlings, we must hurry. Twilight has been allowed to hold the train but we really shouldn't abuse that, we need to get to Canterlot for the wedding!"
> A Wedding to Remember - Part 3
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Come on Shining, get it together. All the plans are out the window and Chryssi came up with something new." The stallion inhaled deeply, closed his eyes. Counting to ten in his head he opened his eyes again. "Nope, the place is still crazy."

"What was that dear?" Chrysalis stepped out, wearing Cadance's form as a disguise. "Oh look at you, all ready for when Twilight arrives?" She walked right up and leaned in against Shining, as she had seen Cadance do a thousand and one times.

But Shining had already guessed. "Chryssi, drop the disguise." He waited, and waited. "Well?"

"I am not going to drop it, it is part of the new plan." Chrysalis pouted and drew back from Shining. "Also, Cadance won our bet."

"What bet is that?" Shining was full of questions, but he wanted to know what the two mares had bet on first.

"She bet me that you would find me out almost immediately. How did you do that?" Chrysalis walked over to the bed and flopped on it.

"Cadance walks a little different when she is alone with me. She… she uh… shows off." Shining blushed a little and grabbed his helmet to pull on his head. "I take it the threats were you?"

"Of course, keep Princess Celestia and Princess Luna dancing around, looking outside the city." Chrysalis sprawled on the bed, spreading Cadance's wings out and squirming on her back. "How are you handling the shield spell? Keeping it up okay?"

"Yeah." Shining disliked being outside the "know" for Chrysalis' scheme, but it did make things more exciting. "There are a few other things you will need to know about Twilight, if you are going to fool her."

"No, no I don't want to fool her. Twilight needs to have something to focus on or she will find what I am really planning. Her brother in the hooves of an evil monster is perfect." Chrysalis bounced a little on the bed. "Wow, you really got a great mattress."

"She is going to catch you out so fast it isn't funny." Shining stepped up to the window and watched the plume of smoke slowly drawing into Canterlot train station.

"Nope, there is a secret little trick, and it didn't work with you because there was only you." Chrysalis flopped off the bed and onto the graceful pink legs of Cadance. "Now, let's greet your sister."

Shining looked at the changeling, stared at her. "You have her form down perfect. So how long will the charade last?" He walked past the fake fiancee, reaching for the door with a hoof to save his magic.

"Until Twilight is ready." Chrysalis shook herself off, then used a blast of green fire to restore her form back to pristine neatness. "She is the lynchpin in all this." The queen was suddenly confronted by a very focused Shining Armor.

"Don't hurt her feelings." Shining didn't see Cadance any longer, just the mare he had been friends with since they were both foals. "You know how much Twily means to me, I am betting Equestria on you not hurting her."

"It," Chrysalis paused a second, not wanting to lie to her friend, "may seem like I am hurting her, but I am going to help her see the side of Celestia that we see. She can't do that without a little hurt."

"Then this is all off, Chryssi." Shining turned around and started for the door, finding it closing in his face. "Chryssi!"

"Shining Armor, she needs to see that her teacher has been using her. The longer this goes on the more it will hurt her to see that Princess Celestia is just another pony, one that makes mistakes and can keep making them. While she thinks the Princess is pristine and perfect, she can't be freed." Chrysalis let go of her disguise and parked her plot on the floor. "I won't let her hurt long, I promise."

"You care for her?" Shining turned, hearing an edge in his friend's voice, an edge that spoke of Chrysalis not liking her own plan. She is willing to do anything she can to help Equestria, that includes Twilight. "Okay, but Chryssi?" He waited for her to look in his eyes. "After this is over, I am explaining how you manipulated her, right to her."

"I would love to be friends with Twilight Sparkle." Chrysalis gave a deep sigh. "But having her work with me will have to be enough." She was shocked when a pair of big white forelegs wrapped around her withers. Chrysalis was pulled into a hug with Shining.

"We'll do it together, then. You are too much like Twily not to be friends." Shining squeezed the queen changeling and let her go again. "Let me greet her first, take the brunt of things." He marched for the door. "You come in when you think the time is right."

"Got it." Chrysalis had to fight her tears, she wanted to hug the stallion more, but the plan needed her to act as Cadance would.


~~~~~+++++~~~~~


"Cadance!" Twilight started in on her dance. "Sunshine, sunshine. Ladybugs awake! Clap your hooves and do a little shake!" 

"What are you doing?" Chrysalis suddenly wished she had asked Shining Armor for help. Twilight and Cadance would have had to have a special greeting.

"Cadance! It's me, Twilight!" Watching the alicorn walk past her, Twilight barely registered the rest of the conversation. Something was really off about her former foalsitter.

Leading the disguised Chrysalis away, Shining got all the way back to his room before he started giggling. "She is going to catch you out so fast." He pointed a hoof at Chrysalis. "She already caught you on the very second thing she did!"

"I can't be too subtle, I want her to suspect me." Chrysalis grumbled and stalked over to the balcony. "There is just one 'wild-card' that I haven't been able to plan for, well not in the basic plans. I have no clue how Princess Luna will respond in all this." She gazed up at the tower that the Princess of the Night slept in.

"Couldn't get a feel for her?" Shining joined his not-fiancee at the doorway.

"Not at all. She seems to be mostly hiding, but I don't know from what." Chrysalis didn't play her role, Shining had seen through her and keeping her ploy up was more effort than she liked. "The main reason I am doing all this during the day is to avoid her. Once her sister is under control, a simple request for her presence should be all it takes."

"You sound nervous." Shining turned and looked at Chrysalis. "If you get that far you will have my backing." He held up a hoof to Chrysalis.

"I appreciate it." Chrysalis clopped his hoof in mid-air. "And I promised Cadance, and you now," Chrysalis grinned, "I will not marry you."

Shining lost his composure and started laughing. He lifted his helmet free and set it on the armor stand in his room. "Nothing personal Chryssi, but I don't want to marry you either…" His laughter drained into a sigh. "This is all so sudden, feels like just a few weeks ago I got promoted, then this."

"You think it's bad for you? I was planning to invade and she organizes this in the middle of it." Chrysalis gave her friend a sideways look. "Let's just do the best we can and if it comes to it I will drop my disguise before she gets those words from me."


~~~~~+++++~~~~~


"Could I speak to you for a moment, dear?" Chrysalis saw the accusations almost boiling out of Twilight, but she kept her eyes focused on Shining. 

"I better see what she wants." Shining nudged his sister and tried to buoy her spirits with a smile. Following the changeling—still disguised as his fiancee—into the next room he closed the door; or thought he had.

"I hate every second of it. I had to be really mean to her friends. Shining, I don't know if I can do this." Chrysalis slumped, none of her plans had accounted for her not being able to perform her role, she had no clue how it would turn out if she just dropped her disguise now.

"You are strong." What the buck am I doing? Am I giving her emotional support to help her take over Equestria? Shining braced against his friend. "You can do this, you have all the plans, the army an-" A jolt of pain pulled Shining from the conversation, the strain of keeping the pointless force field taking its toll.

Chrysalis felt a bubble of curiosity coming from the main room. No, it is closer than that, the doorway? She looked from the corner of one eye and saw a crack, and a unicorn peeking through it. Panic rushed her, she wanted to help Shining but… Time to let more slip. Plan ZZ15s. "Oh dear," with a plan chosen, the panic subsided, "are you getting another one of your headaches?"

Shining had a fraction of a second, the pain still paralyzing him, to see Chrysalis' horn energize green. Sudden relaxation flooded him, the world seemed to tint to green as she sank her magic into his head. He let out a whimpering groan, the pain was gone.

"Feeling better?" Chrysalis helped her friend up with a hoof. She could see his eyes were stained green with her magic, and they were a little derpy. 

Rubbing the side of his head with a hoof, Shining felt that magic pinging around in his head still. It was amazing stuff, it took away all the pain. "Mmm-hmm." He nodded, regretting the motion immediately. The sound of racing hooves caught his attention. Stepping to the door, Chrysalis at his side, Shining called out, "Twilight!?" Only the mare's tail was visible as she raced from the townhouse. Turning back to Chrysalis, Shining shook his clear head. "What did you do to me?"

"If I were an infiltrator, with barely any grasp on controlling my magic, you would be in a stupor and thinking only happy things." Chrysalis trotted forward to close the door. "But if I ease up on the stupor bit, it just leaves you feeling clear and happy. Great way to show off, too."

"You knew Twilight was watching? And you used your changeling magic?" Shining rubbed the side of his head again, feeling none of the agony of moments ago. "So you are stepping things up?"

"The rehearsal is in the morning, it will be the first time we are all together. It will be her watershed, if I judge Princess Celestia right." Chrysalis leaned sideways against Shining. "Thank you, for going further than you said."

"Hey, you are a friend, Chryssi, I am helping you, not your plan." Shining reached a leg over the mare's back and gave her a squeeze. "So tomorrow you be gentle." He wanted to do more, to tell Chrysalis that she didn't have to do this, that everything would be okay. But he couldn't.

Chrysalis leaned into the hug. "Thank you, Shining Armor. If this world had a lot more stallions like you, I wouldn't need to do this. When it is all handled, you can be the knight you want to be. I will give you an army."

"What would I do with an army?" Shining already knew, however. He had spent some time talking with Chrysalis' drones, getting to know them. "Scratch that, I know. The next Discord, the next Nightmare Moon… do we even know when it will happen?"

"Step one, build the defense. Step two, employ it preemptively to cut problems off." Chrysalis ducked out from under Shining's foreleg. "I'll take the couch again." She smiled to the stallion and made her way to her impromptu bed. 


~~~~~+++++~~~~~


Evil. The word echoed around in Chrysalis' head. She wanted to drop her disguise there and then and admit everything. She wanted to tell the cleverest pony she ever knew what was going on and beg her for forgiveness. Tears came first, her cheeks staining with them. Celestia, Twilight's friends, Shining, and the guards looked on. The script came back to Chrysalis, reminding her what to say. "Why are you doing this to me?"

Chrysalis bolted, she ran from the room, leaving everypony behind. Evil! The horrible word echoed in the changeling's head, blocking out anything anypony said. There was something worse, though. She heard the tale-end of the conversation.

"And you can forget about being my best mare." Shining had to keep facing away from Twilight, he wouldn't be able to finish if he saw her ears tuck back, her terror. Chrysalis, you had better be there for her. "In fact, if I were you, I wouldn't show up to the wedding at all." Tears were in his eyes, more than enough to match Chrysalis'. He heard everypony following him, streaming from the room. The last to come was Celestia and her guards.

Chrysalis worked her magic, teleporting back into the room where the ceremony was to be held. Twilight was in tears, laying on the stairs leading up to the dais. 

Twilight looked up, her tears staining her cheek and dripping down her snout. "I'm sorry…"

"No, never be sorry Twilight Sparkle." Chrysalis brushed the mare's mane with one hoof. "I know how it feels to be where you are." She lay down on the platform and gazed over Twilight's head. "I studied history, research. I found out about a great evil that would come back to Equestria on the longest night of the thous-"

"Thousandth year…" Twilight's thoughts were hijacked by the research she herself had done. "Nightmare Moon."

"Nightmare Moon. Celestia should have fought her, she could have sent her back to the moon. She wanted her sister back." Chrysalis had the full attention of the unicorn. "I have to admire a mare who would risk an entire world to get her sister back, but would I trust her to run a country?"

Twilight's jaw hung open. "Cadance?"

"And then with Discord. I warned Celestia nearly nine months before he got free. Did she hide his statue? Did she prepare you and your friends for him? She threw me out of the castle." Chrysalis shook her head and lay it on Cadance's beautiful pink forelegs. "I am tired, Twilight. I can't bear to see these things happening to Equestria, and each time you and your friends are thrust forward into the vanguard… not even the vanguard, she pushes you forward without any backup."

Twilight, despite her chewing out by Celestia, felt she had to defend her. "What do you mean? Princess Celestia always-"

"Princess Celestia is just a pony, she makes mistakes. She doesn't see as clearly as you or anypony else believes and worse of all, she thinks she knows what she is doing." Chrysalis took a deep breath and called her fire. 

Time seemed to freeze. Twilight watched the mare that used to foalsit for her suddenly burn up, the pink and pony natures fading and leaving a black creature behind. "What… what are you?"

"I am just another pony. I love Equestria, I can't bear to see it be left open to abuse. I love all the ponies in it and, most of all Twilight Sparkle, I made myself a promise." Chrysalis was as nonthreatening as she could be.

"A promise?" Twilight feared what the answer might be. Her world had been shaken, she had so much to think about before the wedding later. "The wedding?"

"Another of Princess Celestia's mistakes. Shining Armor and Cadance love each other, they didn't need to be pushed." Chrysalis started to summon her magic, wrapping fire around Twilight. "My promise, Twilight Sparkle, is to protect Equestria better than anypony else can. Even Celestia."

The green rush of magic flowed over Twilight and she found herself, soon enough, in a crystal-lined cave. She had no idea what was going on, or what would be happening. "Cadance?" She looked at the pink alicorn.
> A Wedding to Remember - Part 4
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Twilight!" Cadance started to rush forward but halted before hitting Twilight's force-bubble. "Twilight? It's me, Cadance!" Chryssi must have revealed herself... "Sunshine, sunshine-"

"Stop! I already showed Cadance… the other Cadance, that." Twilight stomped a hoof, tears returning to her eyes. "Tell me something only Cadance would know."

"You aren't just a unicorn." Cadance watched as the force bubble shattered and a crying young mare ran into her embrace. "And you never will be."

Minutes passed, seeming like hours to Twilight. "What is she?"

"Chryssi? At her heart, she is a pony." Cadance eased off with the hug. "She looks a little different, she can do different things, but she is a good pony. She is smart, she admires a unicorn I know."

"Admires?" Twilight blushed and suddenly caught a giggle from Cadance. "What?"

"She had to study you, study us all." Cadance looked up at the clock on the wall. "It is nearly time for us to make our dramatic entrance. I can't wait to see Celestia's face."

"What? What do you mean, are you… working with her?" Blinking her eyes in shock, Twilight looked on Cadance with dawning realization. "You know her, you… is Shining in on this too?" Cadance nodded to her. "Why?"

"She is right." Cadance slumped on the ground of the cave, ignoring the clock. "You need to know her better, Twilight. She is clever, she has researched all of this, everything. She laid it out to Princess Celestia, and was spurned for it." Cadance got up suddenly. "Come on, I need to show you something."

Twilight was unsure about just about everything. Her brother, her foalsitter, her friends… even Princess Celestia seemed to have left her adrift. She followed along after the alicorn. It was impossible to imagine, but when they left that small cave she started seeing more and more of the things. "What are they?"

"Changelings." Cadance led Twilight all the way to Chrysalis' "office." Walking up to the desk, Cadance started opening folders. "Here, start with this."

Walking up to the table, Twilight saw the first thing in the folder was a picture of Princess Celestia. "What is…" Trailing off, she began to read. Pages flipped past, the more she read the more Twilight realized just how analytical the writer was, how precise and careful they examined every detail. A lump formed in her throat. "C-C-Celestia is… is she bad?"

"No! I mean, no she isn't. She just doesn't understand what is needed to make everypony safe. Chryssi tried to reason with her, was going to try to negotiate with her too, you know what happened nearly nine months after she was fired?"

"I read it. After warning Princess Celestia about Discord, she tried to demand an audience."

"That was going to be the day after Discord actually got free. Chryssi cried to me, she wept and wept. If you think this is the course of actions she wants," Cadance gestured upwards with a hoof, then around the cave, "then you need to get to know her. Chryssi would be a happy pony if she could spend the rest of her life studying pony history."

"She studied history?" Twilight was snapped from her deep introspection by the revelation. "But she would know that Celestia and Luna used to defend Equestria. She would know that…" Twilight trailed off, thinking about her questions. "I need to talk to her."

"You do, but make sure you have a list of questions, Twilight, and make sure you are willing to add to that list." Cadance looked up at a changeling marching directly toward them. "Braced?"

"Your Highness, I am Braced. It is time." Braced bowed to Twilight as well; knowing all too well how much his mother respected the mare. "Twilight Sparkle," he gave her a bow, "my Queen will be excited to meet you again." 

Twilight blinked at the creature. The fangs are scary but... She composed herself. "I look forward to it as well." She didn't manage a smile for him. "Hold on," gears spun in Twilight's head, she looked to Cadance, "if you are helping her, is this whole wedding a ruse?"

Cadance giggled. "It is a ruse, but a double one. Princess Celestia politely suggested it as a way to please the population, to calm them down after the recent problems." The distaste in Cadance's voice was loud and clear. "All this? This is just timing and Chryssi doing me a favor."

"What favor is that?" Twilight was walking along beside her foalsitter now, the comfort of the past returning like a blanket, keeping her warm despite the chilling thoughts of the present. "Wait, don't you love my brother?" Twilight knew she had said something wrong when Cadance froze, dead still.

"Of course I love him, he means the world to me." Cadance thought of her "Shiny." The whole hive seemed to tremble and surge. "But I will not have my life—his life—manipulated." 

"So Chryssi is going to take over?" Twilight looked up to, and got a nod from, Cadance. "She is going to interrupt the wedding, she is going to take control and become the princess… or queen, of Equestria?" Getting another nod from Cadance, Twilight grinned at the mare. "So why not get her to marry you and Shining?"

The bottom dropped out of Cadance's world. I love him, a week without him has left me aching to be at his side. Should I? Should I ask him? "I…" Cadance stopped as she started trying to talk. "I think I might." She smiled. "On my terms, not Princess Celestia's."

Sure steps led the two mares up through the caves. It wasn't until they were at the top, in the old rooms that Chrysalis had first stayed in at the castle, that they realized there was a huge line of changelings behind them. "Please don't hurt anypony," Cadance said to the first 'ling in the line. There was a faint hint of blueish liquid balling on the tips of their fangs.

"Your Highness," the changeling gave a bob of its head, "the reason I am going first is so nopony does get hurt." The Farmer caste changeling smiled around its singularly unique fangs. "My bite disables a pony, nothing more."

"Then good luck." Cadance turned back to the doorway, throwing the door open with her magic. "Come on, we need to make this good, this is a show!"


~~~~~+++++~~~~~


"Your Highness, darling, we have half an hour before you need to be ready." Rarity was fussing and both Chrysalis and her knew it. "Just enough time to-"

"Rarity, I am sorry how I acted." Chrysalis turned in her chair, the perfect image that Cadance should have been. "But I think we both know I am as ready as I am going to be." She smiled at the unicorn. Why can't I talk this easily with ponies when I am not disguised? This is going to be so crazy...

"RARITY!" Scootaloo stampeded into the room, her little sister on her back. "I dropped my flowers again!" 

The sight of the two nymphs stabbed into Chrysalis, she wanted to drop her disguise and dash over to hug them; it was agony not to.

"Oh Scootaloo, I have emergency bouquets made up, but you have to be more careful with this one." Rarity floated a fresh bunch of flowers to the filly. "Here you go."

"Thank you again Rarity." Chrysalis was relaxed at last, she didn't have to put on the "song and dance" for Twilight. "Scootaloo could you wait a moment?"

Rarity knew a dismissal when she heard one, besides, she had to get into her own dress and meet up with her friends. "Ta-ta darling and remember, this is your special day."

With the unicorn gone Chrysalis snorted. "She doesn't realize how true that is." Turning to Scootaloo she reached out a hoof to the filly. "How are my favorite little queens doing?"

"Queens?" Scootaloo's heart raced for a moment. "What? Who…?" Things clicked, slowly. She stared up at "Cadance's" smile and realized she knew the expression. I can't stop having happy dreams about that smile. Scootaloo gave a delighted chirp of excitement. "Chrysalis!" She dashed into her "big sister's" embrace, letting her disguise drop in the process. "What are you doing? This is meant to be Princess Cadance's wedding!" A new thought came to Scootaloo, it was impossible not to blurt it out. "Are you Princess Cadance?"

"No, but she is my best friend." Chrysalis gathered both nymphs up and hugged them. "And believe it or not, I am doing most of this for her; and you. Princess Celestia is a little confused, she is not defending Equestria enough. It just isn't fair that Twilight has to do all the work to keep us safe. I am going to help."

It was too much at once for Scootaloo to take in. "You are going to keep us all safe? What about Princess Celestia?"

"She will be safe too." Chrysalis booped both her hive-mates on the nose. "Now, did you give her a name?" Scootaloo nodded to her. "And what is it?"

"Bright Smile!" Scootaloo was trapped between deep and unsettling thoughts and happiness about Bright. "Do you promise to be nice?"

"I do. Cadance, Shining Armor—even Twilight and her friends—everypony is going to be better off. If I have my way, no pony will ever have to be the only thing between the life and death of Equestria." Chrysalis saw the nymph's eyes widen. "You know, you have a lot more brothers and sisters now, you are going to meet them today!"

"How many?" Scootaloo couldn't contain her excitement. Part of her wanted to worry on the deep issue. I am just one little filly, what can I do but watch?

"My last count was over seven hundred. More are hatching, Scootaloo, more each day." Chrysalis watched the nymph's eyes go wide, so very wide. "We are going to be the shield Equestria needs. My drones, my foals, my whole family."

"Me too?" Scootaloo looked up, her spirit captured by the enormity of what her big sister was proposing. "Would I be part of that shield?"

"When you grow up that would be a decision for you to make." Chrysalis gave the nymph's tangled mane a rub. "But until then, I think you have three sisters you need to keep safe. Things could become… a little turbulent." 

Using a word that a pegasus would have a lot of synergy with aided Scootaloo's understanding. "Is the wedding the start?" Chrysalis nodded to her. "Good luck!" Scootaloo's worry slid from her. "If you don't manage it, I will keep Bright safe."

"That's my nymph." Chrysalis beamed at the filly, setting her back down on the floor. "Now you two head out with your other two sisters."

Scootaloo blinked, then again. The sense of her big sister's words suddenly hit her. They are like my sisters, like Bright, like Chrysalis! "I will, I promise I will keep them safe!"


~~~~~+++++~~~~~


Gold and blue magic grabbed the huge doors in front of Chrysalis. The fillies, with Bright on Scootaloo's back, were all bouncing in place. The doors swung open. "Perfect." She could see them, Shining Armor looking at her, she gave him a smile. Celestia was there and that made everything just so perfect. "Let's go girls."

Scootaloo, Apple Bloom, and Sweetie Belle started prancing and bouncing ahead, each throwing rose petals all around them. Scootaloo was almost floored by the love in the room, it lifted her spirits higher still and she almost felt ready to disgorge honey on the spot. This is more than I have ever held before!

Chrysalis put one gold-shod hoof before another, making her way gracefully down the aisle. The power she had put into Twilight's teleportation was repaid and then some. I am full. She beamed and stepped up to stand opposite Shining.

"Cady?" Shining knew it wasn't his "Cadance," it was still Chrysalis.

"Mares and gentlecolts," Celestia was beaming with bliss, everything was running according to her plan, "we are gathered here today to witness the union of Shining Armor and Princess Mi Amore Cadenza." 

Chrysalis zoned out a little, looking across at her best friend. "Shining?" She tried to get his attention, but his eyes were glued on the entrance doors. It seemed like Celestia didn't even notice his distraction at all.

Celestia was getting to the good bit, she loved the good bit. "Princess Cadance, Shining Armor, I now pronounce you-" 

"Stop! STOP!" Twilight bounded into the huge hall, at the end of the aisle. 

"What is it now?" Chrysalis turned to look, spotting Cadance herself stepping ahead of Twilight. She muttered, "Oh finally, I thought I was going to have to take matters into my own hooves."

"Because it's not your special day, it's mine!" Cadance was back in drama class, one of her favorites. "Wait, no, it is her special day. Queen Chrysalis?"

"Oh finally." Chrysalis stepped to the edge of the dais. "Ponies of Equestria! Too long has your safety ridden on Twilight Sparkle's shoulders alone. Princess Celestia is not willing to aid her former student beyond good wishes. I will do more." Fire wrapped her form, Chrysalis shed the disguise she had maintained for a week.

"No, you won't." Celestia stood resplendent, her mane and tail blowing in the constant cosmic breeze that bore them. "Now that you have so foolishly revealed your true self, I will protect my subjects, from you!"

Cadance ignored both the leaders' back-and-forth; her eyes and attention belonged to one pony. "Shiny." She trotted forward, and he trotted for her.

"Cady." Shining felt the pink wings wrap around him. Love for his fillyfriend almost overwhelmed him. "Cady I love you."

"I love you too, Shiny." Cadance leaned against the stallion.

"Just perfect." Chrysalis had kept only half her attention on Celestia, the rest on her two best friends. "You have lost." She spoke the words just as Celestia fired a beam of pure power at her. Chrysalis responded, her own reserves that of an overstuffed changeling. The white beam was far too much, however, it got closer and closer.

"Yield!" Celestia was winning, as she always had in days gone by. Even her own sister hadn't stood against her when she was at the peak of her power. But then something went horribly wrong.

"You rely on luck too much, Princess, I promise you I will take good care of your ponies." The white beam was almost at her horn, but she had her ace. She began to devour the love of Shining Armor and Cadance; it wasn't just powerful, it was divine. She was instantly back to full, then past it. Green fought back against the yellow force, it drove it to the halfway point and further. "And more, I promise you can still lead your ponies, just give up, Princess."

"Never!" Celestia pulled on her power more and more, forcing all her reserves into the duel. But it wasn't enough. Her eyes widened as the green power surged along her magic and pressed into her horn. Her power snuffed out like a candle, overwhelmed at its source. The world went an odd shade of green before she fell to her belly, dazed.

"You fought to your last. Commendable." Chrysalis walked across to Celestia, leaned down and pressed her fang-filled snout to the Princess' ear. "I will keep my promise, you will still rule, but you will do everything I say."

Celestia expected more magic, she expected mind control, or even a cage or collar to wrap her. Instead, the creature before her picked up her crown and set it back on her head. "You had the bravery to fight me when I had planned this so meticulously, do you have enough still to stand at my side?"
> A Wedding to Remember - Part 5
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Your side?" Celestia glared at the changeling, her body still trembling from the magic duel. "You are a monster! What do you know of promises and ponies? I have ruled Equestria for longer than you have existed and it has been safe!"

Chrysalis shook a little, she had a plan for this accusation but having "Princess Celestia" call her a monster still hurt more than the changeling cared to admit.

Cadance's snout was pressed to Shining's, but the accusation against her friend didn't sit right. "Princess Celestia." She strode over to Celestia, looking down on her. "Chryssi is my best friend, she even came to you to help, she worked hard at school and is a good pony. Say what you want about all this," Cadance waved her hoof at the charade the wedding had become, "but don't you dare call my friend a monster."

Shining moved in with Cadance, taking the opposite side of Chrysalis.

It left Celestia with a shocked look. "Chryssi?" She blinked and looked at the queen changeling standing over her. "I… I didn't want you digging… Luna and I have so many… so many secrets. We are not proud of all of them." She felt herself breaking a little, memories of some of their less valiant times returning right on cue. We did it for Equestria, all of it…

"You are going to tell me all of them, now." Chrysalis reached a hoof down to touch Celestia's cheek. "Tell me all of them because you know now what I am willing to do to protect Equestria."

Celestia shook her head. "You did all this to 'protect' ponies?" She looked around and was a little shocked that the attendees were mostly calm about things, then she realized that some ponies were missing. "Where are Twilight's friends?" 

A sinking feeling filled Chrysalis. Okay, it's okay. I didn't plan for those five to leave yet, but... A shoulder pressed against Chrysalis's left side, then one on her right. Her breathing was speeding up and it was like a runaway train.

"Slow down Chryssi, you are just having one of your attacks." Cadance spoke low, hoping her friend would be okay. "Make a new plan, don't panic." She felt as the changeling's breathing started to slow.

Chrysalis' world came back into focus, she took one last slow breath and sighed. "So, Celestia, will you administrate Equestria still?"

"You really are serious about this? You are going to defend Equestria?" Celestia looked up at Chrysalis, unsure still if she could trust the changeling.

"I will. My children and I." Chrysalis grinned, showing a little fang. "If anypony wants to help they will be most welcome. You can refuse if you wish." She turned and spared a look at Twilight. "Your second in command would have your spot."

"Second in command?" Twilight looked shocked. "What do you mean? I am just a unicorn and-"

"You are not just a unicorn." Celestia, Cadance, and Chrysalis all spoke at once, then all stared at each other. A nervous chuckle came from each of them.

"You will be queen?" Celestia asked, getting a nod from Chrysalis. "Then Twilight and myself will both be princesses. You will have my word that I will not interrupt your… defense, until you put Equestria at risk; do that and see how fast I will come for you."

Green magic wrapped around Celestia, lifting her up and setting her on her hooves, shaky as they were. She was at eye-level with the changeling. 

"So you are both organized?" Cadance smiled. "I had to admit, I was a little worried you would turn her down." She lifted her gaze over the changeling's back, toward her coltfriend. "Shining, come on, we have something to do."

"What?" Shining blinked, but turned to follow Cadance. "Cady, what are you doing? Wasn't this all meant to be a joke?" He stood opposite her on the dais.

"Chryssi, your first duty as queen is right here." Cadance wore the biggest, cheesiest grin ever. "Shining Armor, will you marry me?" She watched shock, surprise, confusion, and then something that really made her smile.

"Mi Amore Cadenza-" Shining had to halt his saying of Cadance's full name by lifting a hoof to press to the Princess of Love's snout. "Cadance. I would want nothing more." The cheer of everypony in the room covered the buzzing of Chrysalis' wings as she flew up beside her friends.

"What am I supposed to do? Everypony is watching…" Chrysalis knew that her whole "invasion" wasn't riding on this, but it was still further from her comfort zone than she liked.

"My Queen," Celestia tasted the way it sounded and found something amazing about it, "I think I can help you. You heard the nuptials I spoke last time?" It is a yoke, a heavy yoke. I am not carrying it anymore. Celestia almost trembled at the thought. I hope she is strong enough for it. The thought surprised the princess so much she froze a moment. Gathering her wits, she continued, "Introduce everypony to them, explain how you have known them, then ask them both if they wish to be wed."

It wasn't one of her normal structured plans with alternate sequences and backup ploys, but Chrysalis was nervous enough that she grabbed at it. "Everypony." She looked up, seeing dozens of intrigued faces staring back at her. Then things clicked, the plan started, "We were here today, to see Shining Armor," Chrysalis lifted a hoof to Shining, "and Princess Cadance, wed." The wave of love she got from both her friends almost was enough to feed the swarm. "I first met these two, together of course, as the best of friends. Being what I am I could see something growing within them even then. I headed off one of the school teachers from catching them when they had their first kiss."

Celestia's eyes were wide; suddenly she realized just how right Cadance was in calling Chrysalis a pony.

"Since then I have watched them grow closer and closer. After Cadance got her cutie mark, and her horn, it wasn't long before a brave little stallion defended one of his friends from a bully. So, it is an honor that the first thing I do as your queen, is to bind them together as Mare and Colt." Chrysalis quickly looked around. Where are the… there! Her green magic found the pillow Twilight's little dragon had carried the rings in on. Levitating it over in her green magic, she offered it to Cadance first. "Will you take this stallion, until the end of your days, to be yours?"

"I do." Cadance was practically bouncing in place, she plucked a ring from the pillow and reached it up, settling it on Shining's horn.

"And do you take this mare, until the end of your days, to be yours?" Chrysalis offered the pillow over to Shining Armor. They aren't even noticing me; they are so cute.

"I do." Shining lifted the second ring free of the pillow and set it over Cadance's horn.

"Then let it be known," Chrysalis lifted her voice, "that you are now married. Shining, Cadance; please show these ponies how much you mean to each other."

The whole hive fed. Not a single changeling missed the pulse of love. Eggs suddenly filled with love and were ready to hatch, every drone in the city stopped and gazed to the castle. Chrysalis was at ground zero.

Night fell, not slowly, not calmly. The moment the two broke for air from their kiss darkness filled the sky.


~~~~~+++++~~~~~


"C'mon fillies, we's leavin'." Applejack didn't like where things had gone and with her little sister present she really didn't want anything bad to happen. Sharing a conspicuous glance with her friends, she began slinking around behind "the action" so that soon all five mares, the three fillies, and little Bright Smile all slipped from the main hall.

"What's going on?" Scootaloo looked between the mares, unsure of things. Her heart was pounding from the things that had happened. Did my big sister really just beat Princess Celestia and then make friends with her? She shook her head. "Please tell me what is going on!"

Rainbow Dash looked at the stopped filly and her little sister. "We don't know, but when all that madness starts happening, cool as it would be to fight, we have to get you to safety first." It ate every instinct Dash had not to charge in, but she liked Scootaloo too much to leave her in danger. And with that monster beating down Princess Celestia there is no telling how much danger there is. "Applejack, are you sure I can't go back in to help?"

A new voice, deeper and sounding ominous, replied, "No, Rainbow Dash." It was Princess Luna. "We…" I really need to use more common speech. "I felt my sister fall. What happened?"

"We were at the wedding and then Shining and the not-Cadance were about to kiss but then the real Cadance came in with Twilight and the not-Cadance said she was taking over and then Princess Celestia attacked her and then Shining Armor and Cadance kissed and the not-Cadance seemed to get stronger and…" Pinkie took a deep breath. "What?" Everypony was looking at her. "I'm done. That is when we left."

"The creature got stronger when Shining Armor and Princess Cadance kissed?" Luna wracked her memories and had a name. "Changeling. We have to leave, that monster will not be-" turning, Luna saw the hallway was lined with black creatures, their blue eyes focused on the ponies before them. The unnerving thing was the green venom dripping from their fangs. "Run!"

As the ponies around Luna began to move into various poses to fight, the alicorn lowered her horn and let off a bolt of darkness that filled the hall ahead. Scootaloo blinked, recognizing her other siblings. "What are we doing?"

"Princess says run, we run darling." Rarity pointed a hoof down the opposite hallway. "Come on fillies, full speed now; but do mind the dresses." She was already charging ahead, trusting her friends to keep her little sister and the other fillies on the move.

Without another option, Scootaloo broke into a gallop with her friends, chasing after the impeccably dressed fashionista, who somehow managed to make the mad dash not only look graceful, but did it in her full dress.

"What do these changelings do?" Applejack was running now, with Luna at her side.

"They devour love, they stuff ponies in pods in huge underground caves and treat them as grain." Luna focused on the running for a bit. "They will lie and scheme until they have everypony so caught up in confusion and then they strike. Those you saw, their venom can do many things." Turning the next corner she and AJ almost ran right into the other mares and the fillies. "More of them, it is time we leave."

A slight trembling of the floor nearly knocked all the ponies and changelings over, as Luna reached out and grasped her namesake. Heaving with all her might, Luna upended the day and plunged Equestria into an early night. As the blackness settled on the land, the Princess of the Night grew in power and reached with all her magic; gathering up the ponies and then taking them elsewhere.

Scootaloo's eyes widened as she recognized the inside of Twilight's library. Turning her head she saw her sister still in place on her back and leaned around to nuzzle her. They had gone from having the best feast of their lives to very little love in moments. "What's going on? Where is... Twilight?" She had almost said "Chrysalis" but saved her words at the last moment.

"Twilight Sparkle is a brave unicorn and is smart enough, I hope, to make her own way out." Luna looked around at the few she had rescued. "We must make ready to…" She trailed off, blinking and dropping to the floor. "Please be alright, Tia."


~~~~~+++++~~~~~


Twilight had been dumbfounded during the whole encounter, but when darkness fell over Equestria she snapped from her daze. "What happened?" She dashed to the windows to look out. The pink dome protecting Canterlot was gone, as too was the sun from the sky. "The moon is out!"

"How were you going to persuade my sister to your side?" Celestia looked at Chrysalis, her eyes trying to get a read on the changeling. Her memories dredged up reminders now, of her kind.

"I was willing to let her work beside you, or even go free if she wished. I guess this is for the best." Chrysalis was teetering on the edge of worry. "I will admit that this was not part of my plans."

"You are the strangest changeling I have ever met." Celestia had finally narrowed down where she had met Chrysalis' kind before. That one had been just as ruthless, but had none of the morals. I think I like this Chryssi more.

All of Chrysalis' attention fell on the Princess of the Sun. "You know of changelings? Where? When?" She had to fight her instinct to grab the alicorn.

Celestia probed at her memory. "When I was much younger, when Luna and I shared the defense of Equestria," that alone let both Twilight and Chrysalis know that it was over a thousand years ago, "all I remember was being captured, Luna saved me. Apparently I have a blind side."

Hearing her former teacher admit to such a grand fault startled Twilight; she trotted up to Celestia's side. "But that is for Chrysalis to worry about now, right?" She looked between Celestia and Chrysalis. "I mean, Queen Chrysalis."

"Princess Twilight." Chrysalis smiled at the unicorn. "Do not fret with titles so much. What Celestia was trying to point out was that I had captured her just as surely as what were likely my ancestors did."

"What about the other ponies? How many losses did your plan account for?" Celestia hated herself for asking, but she needed to know. She looked at the mare who now held the keys to Equestria with a little trepidation. How many will I rationalize? Five percent? Ten?

"Zero. The drones I sent out were told to protect the castle only, and even then with only words first, paralysis venom second. Their orders were to surrender if overwhelmed, two friends insisted on it." Chrysalis turned her head to Shining and Cadance. They taught me how to be a pony.

The Queen smiled widely until she realized someling was missing. "Scootaloo?"
> Establishment - Part 1
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Your High-" Twilight cut herself off. "Your Majesty, Scootaloo and her friends left with… with my friends. They probably thought you were going to… well, get a lot more weird and 'attacky'." 

"Your Majesty, Your Highness," Celestia looked between her new queen and the newest "princess" and gave a tilt of her head. Maybe there is some good coming from this, Twilight's growth will surely accelerate and I hope she will be safer now. With the attention she sought, Celestia continued, "I believe we should leave the festivities to themselves. Unless you think a show of power is needed?" Celestia looked right at Chrysalis.

"Show of power? What would that gain?" Chrysalis still felt too revealed, too open. "But you are right, there are a lot of things to discuss. We could write up a charter."

"That would be incredible! Spike!" Twilight was looking around frantically, only for her "Number-one Assistant" to come running over, his arms loaded with scrolls and quills. "Follow us, Spike, we have important documents to write!"

Responding to the excitement leaking from Twilight, Chrysalis almost bounced on her hooves. "Ooh, we need to define what my duties are, redefine Princess Celestia's, and draw up your own." It was impossible for the changeling not to get excited. This is just like planning but for a whole country!

Celestia was left blinking at the two who were so snared up in the idea of rebuilding the structure of leadership. I could take it all back with a well placed blast. She isn't paying attention... The alicorn shook her head at even thinking it. If I beat her that way I would have lost everypony and everything that matters. She thinks she can defend Equestria, I want to see it. She started to trot after the two, giving waves and smiles to the few ponies still remaining in the hall.

Twilight and Chrysalis both paused after leaving the hall and looked around a little confused. "This way," Celestia said, as she walked past. "We need a cozy room and some tea." All the tea in Equestria isn't going to make this problem go away, but it could calm down a potential headache.

"I still don't see why anypony will accept me as a princess, I am just a unicorn." Twilight followed after her mentor as she talked with Chrysalis. "Sure there is a precedent for princes, with Prince Blueblood, but a princess is much different."

"So we make a rank of princess, that advisers to the Queen hold. It doesn't make you any less a princess, and it makes sure that the role carries with it sufficient weight in everyponies' minds."

Leading the way into her private sitting room, Celestia found a comfortable spot on some pillows in the corner. Once each of her guests were inside she closed the door and activated the silence spell on the room. "I could attack you, I could refuse to raise the sun until you gave over command back to me, I could even raise a resistance against you. You need to prove to me, Chrysalis, that I shouldn't try all of these things."

Twilight stared at her mentor, blinking a little in surprise. She turned to look at the changeling, suddenly realizing that this new friend was still a conquering leader.

"Well, let's look at Discord." Chrysalis found her own comfortable spot to settle down. "His magic is still magic. There are a lot of ways to disable even a princess, without resorting to the Elements of Harmony. Cutting off his magic would be my first thought."

Celestia smiled. "Granted, it would have been wonderful to see him dealt with in a way that didn't let him run rampant, I like to think Twilight learned a good lesson from it."

Chrysalis shook her head. "She learned the lesson that madness sucks? That it takes a lot of power to overthrow a crazed spirit?" Looking to the unicorn in question, Chrysalis smiled. "So, given what I just said, what would be your first-"

"Trap him in a magic vacuum? Use a pair of magic-blocking rings?" Twilight jumped to her hooves. "Wait, is there a spell that sucks all the magic from a place?"

"There is," Celestia answered, her voice ringing at the same time Chrysalis said, "There isn't." Both mares looked at each other.

"Well?" Twilight grinned and looked between the two. "Is there a spell that can suck all the magic out of an area?" She looked to Celestia.

"There is." Celestia looked to Chrysalis and smiled. "You can look in the special vaults now, you can find it if you wish. But it is not the sort of spell that would have been usable. When you remove the magic from the area, it takes a very long time to return."

"But that would have been perfect for Discord. You could have had him trapped and frozen, with the spell wrapped around him. He would never have gotten free." Chrysalis waved a hoof in the air. "But there is another way to accomplish the same thing. There is… a particular stone. Too much of it and you would blanket all the castle so that only changelings could use magic; but just the right amount and Discord would be in his cage of stone forever." Both Celestia and Twilight stared at Chrysalis with open mouths. "What?"

"Why didn't you bring that in to take control?" Celestia was first to jump to the obvious use-case. "You would have complete control-"

"You aren't listening!" Chrysalis almost lost her temper. She looked at Celestia and mentally calmed herself. "I don't want 'complete control,' I couldn't handle it. Equestria is too much for one mare." She gave Celestia a smile and had to correct her glasses, that had slipped a little low. "If I had come in with that I would have had everypony against me, absolutely every single one."

Celestia blinked. She really is good at this. If nothing else, this will be the most interesting time in Equestria's history. "Where do we get this substance? Will it require mining or any special attention?" 

"It should be a priority, once we have everything established." Twilight passed a blank scroll over to Spike. "Spike, take a list. Establish government, recover anti-magic material…" She looked up to Chrysalis.

"Ease integration of changelings. Oh, we need to find your sister and straighten things out with her and Twilight's friends." Chrysalis tapped her jaw. "Not usually how I plan, but I can see merits to this."

"What about Scootaloo?" Celestia saw Chrysalis' face immediately show worry. Got you, what about her indeed. "You mentioned her name at the end of the ceremony."

Chrysalis blinked and tried to pull herself together. "She is a good friend… more like a little sister to me." She let out a breath she didn't even know she was holding. "I was worried about her, I didn't want anything bad to happen."

That is the truth, she loses her guard when she is shocked or panicked. Celestia smiled. "You are more of a pony than I thought. No matter how unreasonable my sister may become, she would not harm a filly."

"How many drones do you have?" Twilight asked, jotting down some of her own notes.

Chrysalis smiled. Either she is planning to overthrow me already or she is interested in helping plan. Either way, a smarter pony is in charge. "I have just shy of nine-hundred changelings hatched, and after that blast of love from Cadance and Shining that number will soon be closer to fifteen-hundred." 

"Have I said yet how happy I am you have decided to like ponies?" Celestia started pouring tea for them. "Twilight dear, please close your mouth."

"Over a thousand?" Twilight's eyes bulged. "How do you have so many so quickly? Cadance said only two years ago you were…"

"Do you really want to know?" Chrysalis grinned, knowing a fellow knowledge-sponge when she saw one. "I am sure there would be-"

"Yes!" Twilight cut in, almost dropping the tea being passed to her. "How do you… do you have stallions… what about-" A hoof pressed to Twilight's snout, Chrysalis' hoof.

"I promise, Princess Twilight Sparkle, that you will have free rein of my hive to study and talk with my foals. As well, I will answer any question you have." Chrysalis was delighted with the enthusiasm.

"You shouldn't have offered that. Twilight was my former student," Celestia cautioned, "she can come up with a great many questions. Perhaps I would suggest getting her to make a list?" Celestia was setting a friendly trap, her student's propensity for lists was a not-so-well-kept secret.

"Spike! Take another list!" Twilight was already in full gear before Chrysalis could hope to divert even an ounce of her enthusiasm.


~~~~~+++++~~~~~


"Prepare the town! Equestria is at war!" Princess Luna used the Royal Canterlot Voice to good effect, not a single pony in Ponyville missed the call. Most came out of their homes to investigate, some were already on the streets.

"That was Chrysalis!" Apple Bloom exclaimed suddenly. "That strange pony at the wedding!"

"I know, what was going on? She beat Princess Celestia." Sweetie Belle worked her way to the side to be with her friends. "I was scared…"

"You shouldn't be scared." Scootaloo felt the need to defend her "big sister," it wasn't like Chrysalis was here to defend herself, after all. "I don't think she really wanted to hurt ponies."

"She was nice to us…" Sweetie scuffed a hoof in the dirt.

"She looked funny, all those holes…" Apple Bloom joined in with the pondering. "Taller than she used to be, too."

"She is nice." Scootaloo couldn't stop herself blurting it out, thankfully they were now a good distance from the crowd, on their way to Sweet Apple Acres. "She… she is like a big sister. She lost her mom too…" Suddenly there was a filly on each side of Scootaloo, pressing in tight against her. On her back, Bright Smile squirmed forward to hug her neck.

"You aren't alone with us, we are like your sisters!" Apple Bloom radiated so much love and friendship that even the overfull Scootaloo almost burped.

On the other side Sweetie Belle was doing a similar job. "Right, Cutie Mark Crusaders forever!"

Three hooves lifted up together to clop, with Bright flailing to try to join in. "Thanks!" Scootaloo felt so close to her friends that she couldn't hold it back anymore. "But I have something I need to show you."

"Are you a changewing too?" Sweetie Belle looked at her friend.

"That's changeling." Apple Bloom corrected.

"Yeah, one of them." Sweetie looked at her friend and saw the shock clear as day. "You are?" Scootaloo nodded. "Like, forever?"

"Somethin' like that. It was back when we all met Chrysalis. We talked and… she was so nice…" Scootaloo trailed off. "I wasn't meant to tell anypony about this, but you are my best friends, my sisters…"

"So is the real Scootaloo locked up somewhere?" Sweetie Belle was already off on a tangent. "Is she being held captive by the evil queen? We need to rescue her!"

"Sweetie, this is Scootaloo." Apple Bloom, ever the voice of reason, led the way up the ramp to the clubhouse. "Hey, do changelings even get cutie marks?"

"I don't know, I just… I just want to be with my friends…" Scootaloo was suddenly in tears, raining them down on the floor of the clubhouse as she entered. "Now I have to leave and live with a circus just like Diamond Tiara said."

"Diamond Tiara said that?" Sweetie was distracted from her changeling-musing. "Well that's not right, Cutie Mark Crusaders stick together, forever!"

"But you have to tell Applejack, Rarity…" Scootaloo looked between her friends, who each shook their heads. "But… but…"

"Cutie Mark Crusaders, Secret Keepers cutie mark attempt!" Sweetie and Apple Bloom both chorused together, giggling.

"Nopony will find out about you." Apple Bloom smiled to her friend.

"What do you look like? Do you have fins on your head and tail like the smaller changewings? Oh, OH! Do you have wings? Can you fly?" Sweetie was bouncing up and down now, but suddenly froze when Scootaloo revealed herself, green fire stripping away her "pony guise."

"This is me and," Scootaloo started buzzing her wings, floating off the floor to hover, "I can fly!"
> Establishment - Part 2
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Luna looked around Twilight's friends, leaving the fillies to head off and leave them to the "adult stuff." It didn't matter to Luna beyond the fact they were safe, even their sisters seemed to have relaxed now that the fillies were back in Ponyville.

"What were those things?" Fluttershy's voice seemed loud only because it was the question everypony wanted to be answered. "They looked scary…" I wonder if they are really bad? I mean, well, even Mr. Manticore was nice when I helped him. Maybe they need help too?

"Yeah, what were they?" Dash stepped a little in front of her timid friend, always ready to protect Fluttershy from dangers real and imagined. "I never seen anything like 'em, their wings were really strange."

"Changelings." Luna gestured to Twilight's tree-house. "We should head in there immediately and get the Elements. There is no telling what would happen if my sister or Twilight got hold of them now." A shudder ran through Luna as she even thought the words, let alone said them.

"Hold on here, yer Highness." Applejack stepped up to Luna and tried to place herself between the alicorn and Twilight's home. "First thing's first. What were they?"

"Changelings…" Luna froze, repeating her answer again. "They feed off ponies, sucking the very emotions from them until nothing is left. They are like locusts. Their queens, as you saw, control the minds of ponies and warp them. Nopony who has been in their presence can be trusted."

Rarity stepped up beside Applejack and narrowed her eyes. "Even us? Even you, Your Highness?" She was startled when Luna looked back with the darkest look ever and worse, nodded. "So how do we test for it?"

"When ponies act strange, when they seem intent on getting you to do a particular action. I can tell in their dreams, but…" Luna trembled a little. "No, I don't dare enter the dream world around Canterlot, they have minions that can fight me."

"Hey, when'd you get so clever with the testin' and the questions?" Applejack squinted at Rarity. "Maybe one o' em got to you before the weddin'. You spent a mighty long time workin' on that varmint's dress."

Pinkie Pie chose right then to bounce up and look deep into Rarity's eyes. "Nope, no mind control in her!" She giggled. "My tail goes all kinds of sideways when I look into the eyes of a pony being mind controlled." Everypony, especially Luna, stared at Pinkie. "What? It is my Pinkie Sense!"

"Then check all of us, please." Luna gave a sigh and was about to lower her head to the pink earth pony's height when she realized Pinkie was eye-to-eye with her, hanging from a balloon. The temptation to pop the balloon was a sudden one, but Luna held back the almost playful tendency. This is serious.

"But darling, wouldn't you know if you were hypnotized by them?" Rarity watched, nonetheless. "I mean, surely an alicorn would know, if anypony."

Pinkie spent more than the brief time spent looking into Rarity's eyes, but at the end of it giggled and pronounced, "All clear, no bad things controlling you." But her eyes lingered on Luna, and in a lower voice the mare continued. "But you need to face that, it shouldn't be in you."

Princess Luna froze and looked back at Pinkie. "You… you know about it? The Tantabus?" When Pinkie's grin got a little wider, Luna realized she had just given herself away to one of the oldest ploys in the book. "We need to talk later."

"Okie dokie lokie!" Pinkie dropped from her balloon and pronked in a circle. "Who's next?"

One by one each of the mares that had evacuated from the wedding got tested, and one by one Pinkie cleared them. 

"What if Pinkie was the one mind controlled?" Rarity suddenly looked up in shock as the thought came to her and unfiltered, straight to her mouth. "She might be telling us she can tell when she really can't!"

"I trust her." Luna looked to Rarity, then around to the rest. "I have seen into Pinkie Pie's dreams, that is the same mare who I see here today." She turned to the tree and began walking. "They can, as you saw, disguise as ponies—anypony—using their magic. They will stop at nothing to bring Equestria down, most of them are reasonably mindless, but some are quite clever. It is going to take everything we have to stop them."

"No problem. We round up everypony we can and charge in, beating their heads together and clobbering this brainy bug!" Rainbow Dash hovered in place, throwing a few kicks and punches.

"Ah'm with Dash on this. Why can't we just beat this monster up? It was right there at tha weddin'!" Applejack waved a hoof around, as if Chrysalis was right in front of her. "I coulda bucked it so hard it wouldn't have walked for a week!"

"She can you know, and then I could have given it the ol' one-two!" Rainbow Dash held her hoof up to Applejack and got a solid clop from the other mare's own hoof. "Nothing messes with our friends!"

"You don't understand." Luna stared not just at the two tough mares, but through them and into the past. "This isn't the first time they attacked. Last time they captured my sister, too." Trembling, Luna reached her hoof to Twilight's door. "They almost won that time. I fear now they have."

"Wait, won?" Rainbow blinked at the terrified-looking princess. "What do you mean, 'won'?" She flew up beside Luna. "They got into Canterlot, but there was only a dozen of them. If we get the elements we can easily beat them!"

"Dozens? Rainbow Dash, how many eggs do you think a changeling queen can hatch in a year?" Luna felt anger at the simple—and a little ignorant—view. "The last time they attacked, their queen had three months to prepare and came at us with nearly five hundred drones."

"F-F-F-Five hundred?" Rainbow Dash sank to the ground. "Uh… we need a better plan…"

"We do." Luna smiled for the first time since arriving, glad to see the mare could reevaluate the situation without a command to do so. "Where were the Elements kept in here?" She looked around the library as she walked in, seeing rows and rows of books.

"Here." Rarity floated the big, fake book from its place on the shelf. "Oh drat, it's empty." She could tell just by the weight of the thing. "They must be in…"

"Canterlot." Luna almost gave a sob at how immense her task had become.


~~~~~+++++~~~~~


Bulk looked like a million bits—literally. Slipping back into his house the huge stallion took off the first tiara. "By the eggs of the queen this is crazy, I can't believe I managed that." He was panting hard, slipping off one after another of the Elements of Harmony, stuffing them into a box. How am I going to get this to Canterlot?

The stallion's thoughts raced until he heard a knock at the door. "Uh, COMING!" He leaned back into his role, squinting his eyes down in his huge head. Hiding the box containing the Elements behind a chair, Bulk made his way to the door. Opening it, he smiled in relief. "HI DERPY!"

"Hello Mr. Bulk, I have another letter for you; you really are popular!" Derpy fished a letter from her pouch, passing it to the stallion. "Did you have anything you wanted to mail back this time?"

"YES!" Bulk grinned as best as he could. This will be perfect! "GIVE ME A SECOND TO PACK IT!" He clomped over to the box, stuffing a cushion in on top of the Elements and folding the top down. Carrying it over to his desk with ease, the big disguised changeling scribed an address: "Chrysalis, c/o Canterlot Castle. Canterlot." Proud of his idea, Bulk trotted back to the door with the package. "THANK YOU DERPY!" Love washed over the changeling. She really loves her work. He grinned more but then realized something that had him startle enough so that he almost dropped his disguise. She is staring at me!

"I said, could you sign here Mr. Bulk?" Derpy held out her pad for Bulk to sign. He is so cute when he gets confused.

Bulk fumbled with the little quill that was offered, but managed to scrawl a rough signature. "WILL THAT DO?" Derpy turned a radiant smile up at him and gave a nod. She is so cute when she is working...

"Yup, maybe you will get another letter tomorrow!" Derpy put the box into her extended pack, braced her wings, and took to the air. "Bye Bulk!"

"BYE!"


~~~~~+++++~~~~~


"We have to go back down." Cadance pressed her cool snout in against Shining's belly. "You know we can't sit up here forever… are you still mad about actually having a wedding?" She lifted her nose up and looked her husband in the eyes. Husband!

"I was a bit shocked by it, but then I realized it was what you wanted, and I wanted it too." Shining kissed Cadance, the rest of the world fading around the pair as their love swelled to new heights. Words were needed, Shining knew it and Cadance knew it; reluctantly the two drew apart again. "And I have a promise to keep."

"You are really going to help her drones fight?" Cadance leaned and rolled, dismounting the bed and giving a shake of her body, wings, and neck. "I don't think Chryssi would hold you to that."

"But I do." Shining was a little more graceful, slipping off the bed on the opposite side. "So I am going down there, I am going to spend even more time studying strategy, when I can, so that Equestria will never falter."

"Good." Cadance fussed around, looking for her little tiara. "Because I am going to enlist too." She looked past the rough fall of her mane at her husband. I love that word, I should say it out loud… a lot. "If my husband is going to fight, then my spot is at his side."

"Cadance!" Shining's mouth was opening, his brain started lighting up red with warnings and alarms as it worked out that his mouth was about to unleash something that would get him a lot of bad looks.

"Yes, dear?" Cadance waited, wondering how silly her new husband was. "You had something to say about me joining the army?"

"You…" The alarms got louder in Shining's head, practically screaming for him to close his mouth, change the subject, or perhaps just run and jump from the window. I am such an idiot. Shining closed his eyes. "I am too used to thinking as things were, aren't I?" His eyes flew wide open when a pair of soft lips pressed to his own.

Breaking the kiss, Cadance lifted a hoof and gently booped her husband on the nose. I am totally going to use it again. "My husband, sometimes it is better to spot a weakness in yourself, than to let it limit you. Well done." A brush started working at Cadance's mane and tilting her head, she just caught sight of pink magic wrapped around it. "And you know the right way to brush my mane? Shining Armor, I think it was a great idea making you my husband."

Fetching more brushes with his magic, Shining helped his wife get herself straightened. "And what sort of position would my wife wish?" That sounds good, no matter how much Cady being in danger stings. My wife...

"Why, at her husband's side, of course. I am an alicorn, surely there is something to be said for having a horn and wings, when all is said and done. Look what your sister did, all she had was a horn!" Cadance diverted one of the brushes she controlled to attempt to tame Shining's mane. "Hold still…" Working the brush through his mane seemed so easy, it just sat right after a moment's touch with the bristles.

Finishing off his wife's tail with a pair of brushes, Shining sent them all to the side and gave a nod. "Come on, time to find out if something crazy happened and if we are still free or if Auntie wants us locked up for treason." Despite the dourness of the words Shining Armor felt more sure of himself than ever.

Heading down, Cadance saw a lot of happily smiling changelings wandering around the castle. "Where is our Queen?" The words got a bigger grin from the drone.

"Your Highness," Shiver tried to keep his fangs from dripping the venom his particular breed of changeling—farmers—were known for, "Her Majesty and the other two princesses are still in their meeting in Princess Celestia's sun room."

Cadance's eye caught one little drop of clear venom as it fell from the changeling's fang. "Thank you." She tried not to panic about it, tried to remind herself that this was one of the realm's protectors now, that they were one of her best friend's foals. "Sorry," Cadance turned back to the drone, "I didn't ask for your name." She spared the changeling the biggest smile she could.

"Shiver, Your Highness." Shiver dipped his head.

"I don't think I saw any other changelings with venom, apart from when I was coming up for the wedding. What does it do?" Cadance was intrigued and realized this would all be important to her later.

"I could show you, just a little prick." Shiver trembled with anticipation and hope—during the "invasion" he hadn't been able to bite anypony—looking up at the alicorn princess. "It is not deadly, in case you were wondering."

"Just an explanation will do, thank you." Cadance tried not to shiver at the thought of those big fangs biting her.

Shiver stood proud. "I am what mother calls a 'farmer.' My bite overwhelms a pony, relaxes them into a stupor and—or so I am told—makes them feel extreme amounts of love." He smiled.

"You are told? You haven't bitten anypony?" Shining cut in on the conversation. At the changeling's sad nod he felt himself emboldened. "Okay, just a little prick."

"Shining!" Cadance turned on her husband in shock. "What do you mean, you have to talk to the Queen and-"

"Cady, I need to know the effects of my troops if I am to lead them." Shining looked at Cadance, stared into her eyes and searched for her dissent; he watched it crumble. "Okay, as I said, just a little bit."

Shiver trembled in delight. "Yes, my Prince!" He knew the title wasn't official, but had personally delivered a tray of tea to his Queen and knew some of their plans. Leaning forward, he reached his forelegs out on instincts and grabbed the much larger stallion. Pressing his fangs to Shining Armor's neck, he pressed only a little and felt an almost overwhelming desire to pump and pump with strange muscles, a desire he had to fight. Yanking back the moment some of his venom entered the stallion, Shiver couldn't stop himself spraying more of it on the floor.

"Is it supposed to be fast?" Shining looked at the changeling. "Because it doesn't seem to be flarble…" He blinked, the world going a little wobbly. Cady? Shining tried to say his wife's name, but all he could do was smile at her and think of how wonderful he felt to have her with him. She was talking to the nice changeling, then she led him away, calling his name. I love you so much Cady!

Shiver was breathing hard. The love radiating from Shining Armor had been almost as heady a meal as when Shining and Cadance had kissed. "This is amazing…"
> Establishment - Part 3
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Twilight yawned, despite her best efforts and normally indefatigable love for law and books, it had been a long and trying day. "Sorry Chryssi, could you repeat that again?" Her brain was having a lot of trouble latching on to the newest concern of her new friend. Friend? Wait, she just overthrew Equestria, can she be a friend and a dictator? The question in her mind floated a moment before the door burst in.

"Twily!" Shining tried to gallop into the room but tripped over his own hooves and fell in a giggling heap, hugging a cushion. "Uh… Twily? You are softer and more squishy than normal." Two alicorns, a unicorn, and a changeling queen watched one of the most impressive military minds reduced to a dribbling, huggy pile of cuddle-pony.

"Ignore him, please. He lost a bet with one of Chryssi's drones." Cadance closed the door behind her. "I am here to officially inform everypony that it is night time and you are all going to bed. Auntie, I don't care how chipper and excited you look, please lower the sun… and assuming Princess Luna doesn't, raise the moon."

Chrysalis reached a hoof out and gently poked Shining's shoulder, only prompting the stallion to cuddle the big cushion tighter. "He shouldn't take too long to get it out of his system." She smiled, unable to avoid the love radiating from him. "Tasty though."

Stretching, Celestia climbed to her hooves and arched her back. "I'll get the sun, but I think we can leave the moon to Luna tonight, to see if she will do it." Her heart was split over this. It could be just what Lulu needs to jolt her back from the state Nightmare Moon's removal had left her in. She looked out the window at the sun and, with a heave of her magic, sent the orb of life down below the horizon.

"Twilight, Princess Cadance is right, I… I didn't want to say anything earlier, but it has been a big day for everypony." Spike began gathering up scrolls and parchment, carefully sorting them into order.

Watching the baby dragon, Chrysalis was delighted by how well Twilight had taken to instituting a new system of government. "We still have the sections of the Princess of Balance's duties to define." She looked at Twilight and saw her blank look at the title that nopony knew. "That is you, Twilight. You will be able to challenge my orders, and I need that. I will not always be right, nopony can be."

"Do you mean that?" Celestia blinked at the pronouncement. This changeling is nothing like the others we had encountered—okay, she did invade—where was that hunger for absolute power?

Cadance cut in on the challenge from Princess to Queen. "Has she actually lied yet?" Her question drew everyponies' attention—except Shining, who was snuggling two cushions now. "Well? Twilight, Celestia, I have known Chryssi for quite some time; she is as honest a pony as I know."

"Now I definitely need to sleep." Celestia waved off the question with an air that was both dismissive and acknowledged that she didn't have a good answer for it. "If anything needs my attention, talk to either of the other two princesses. Or our Queen." A thousand years… no, more. Celestia inhaled deeply as she left the room. I can relax my guard.

"Well, she didn't admit it. But did you notice how relaxed Auntie looked when she left?" Cadance was still blinking at the door. "I wish Princess Luna had stayed, I would love to ask her about her sister."


~~~~~+++++~~~~~


The news of the "takeover" spread almost as fast as the darkness of night. In Ponyville a train with just one carriage dumped a pile of newspapers on the platform and raced off into the moonless evening. Princess Luna plucked out one of the papers, which was just a two page broadsheet with the details of the wedding. Pictures of the couple, of one of them revealed to be a "changeling," and of the continuing wedding abounded.



Even as the creature that called itself Queen Chrysalis helped Princess Celestia up, the blushing couple demanded the wedding continue. There was some question about proceeding when night seemed to come early, but it faded just as quick. Princess Luna has not been available to comment. 

The last word we have received from the Canterlot Castle is that tomorrow will be business as usual, that these changelings are indeed citizens of Equestria now and that—and this is the strange one, fillies and gentlecolts—"We are to extend them every possible welcome and allow them to go about their business." This reporter for one will be spending his time next morning at the castle, demanding answers. —Scoop Story



"They are moving fast, Your Highness." Rarity was reading another of the papers. "Will you be raising the moon tonight?"

The question startled Luna, she lifted her head and looked up. "No, there is something I need to do, something dangerous. Raising the moon will leave me a little weaker, and Equestria cannot afford that now. She turned, folding the paper back up. Stepping down from the platform, she began to make her way to the library. "I will need to prepare, rest well tonight."

"Yes, Princess Luna." Rarity watched the alicorn leave and turned to gaze at the twinkling lights of Canterlot in the distance. "Twilight, I hope you are safe." 

Luna curled up on the smallish bed. Stretching her neck out she slowly closed her eyes and stepped into the dreamscape of her own mind. Of course it was there.

"You weak little filly, you couldn't stop them this time, either." Nightmare Moon stood over Luna, miles tall and impossibly huge. It was the Tantabus of course. "Why don't you just fly back, curl up and let the changeling queen that took your sister have you too? It is all you are good for."

No matter how big it seemed in her dream, Luna knew it was a small monster, she made it after all. "Begone this night, I have work." She stepped from her own dream and felt around town. Ponies slept, some well, some ill-at-ease. She did what she could without going into any dreams. I can't afford to touch them, if there is just one dreamling here they would call in their brethren—I would be lost before I even started.

"What are you doing? Come back little filly!" The Tantabus pushed and railed at Luna's own dream, trying to break free and follow her. But it wasn't quite strong enough to break her wards.

Luna set her sights on a particular dreamer. "All the risk, but it has to be taken. Maybe the queen ignored Twilight Sparkle in favor of controlling Tia directly." The unicorn's dream was distinct and Luna sped toward it, covering the gap between Ponyville and Canterlot as if it were nothing. She slipped into the dream-world of Twilight Sparkle, and smiled.

Twilight was in heaven. There was the biggest library of all time around her, she had a special little pile of cushions and books lay all around her. Presently, she was reading over the law notes they had been working on before bed, notes that she could recall clearly only because they had been her entire focus for the evening. She was surprised, then, when a new book floated down from her shelves and landed beside her. "That's strange…" She reached out a hoof, feeling the cover as slightly cool, and opened it.

It was a story about Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, apparently from a long time ago.



Once, a long time ago, two sisters ruled over all ponykind. They were kind, and loving, and cared for everypony. But one day they met a new pony, who seemed very nice.



There was an illustration of what had to be Celestia dancing about with another pony. Twilight blinked at it, unsure when she even turned the page, but apparently dreams didn't care about such things.



But all was not as it seemed. While the new pony danced and played with one of the sisters, she whispered things into her mind, slowly making her think that the new pony was not just better than her sister, but better than herself.



Again the page turned, now Twilight could see what were clearly changelings, attacking ponies, capturing them, all while Celestia watched.



The pony was revealed as a changeling queen, a creature that cares for just one thing, food. Its hive spread among the ponies, turning them into nothing more than food, degrading them and denying them the ability to even control their own emotions.



The library around Twilight changed as the story went on. It grew chill where it had been comfortable warmth, dark where it had been light. There was a soft hiss and when Twilight turned, she saw a group of changelings spraying something over a pony. She tried to get up, to solve the situation, but couldn't move as the pony was encased in a squishy pod.

Again and again Twilight saw the scene play out, and every time once the pony was in the pod their terrified looks turned to a forced smile. The changelings fed.

"This isn't right… the changelings are nice. Chryssi isn't a bad pony!" Twilight tried to fight the nightmare, to shake free of its grip; but even as she did it closed in tighter. A group of changelings approached her, one opened its mouth to spray a green goop at her from its fangs. 

"I am sorry Twilight Sparkle, but you need to see this, to feel it." Luna spoke quietly, but didn't expect the unicorn to actually hear her.

"Princess Luna?" Even as the goop was covering Twilight, she bucked and shook free. It stuck to her in clumps. "Princess! What is all this? Please help me fight the nightmare!"

"Twilight Sparkle, this is the only warning I dare give to you." Luna clopped her hoof down sharply, increasing the power of the nightmare around Twilight. "You have to believe how badly you are being deceived!" 

The green slime got thicker around Twilight, she felt the changelings spraying more of it at her. She saw Luna in the distance through the green wall of her prison. Then the pain of changelings feeding on her ripped through her body.

Waking from her nightmare, Twilight heard screaming so loud she thought the glass in the windows would shatter. Jerking left and right, she saw that it was still full dark out and, a moment later, her door was broken open. Two changelings stood with a halo of light coming in around them. It was like in the nightmare and Twilight heard the screaming grow louder.

"Your Highness! What is wrong?"

The words from the changeling broke the scream off in Twilight's throat and she started trembling. The nightmare had felt so real, so nasty and bad that she trembled. Closing her eyes, Twilight felt tears leaking from her eyes, but it was the legs that wrapped her in a hug that surprised her more. Snapping her eyes open, Twilight realized that one of the changelings had moved in and hugged her.

"Please relax, Your Highness. It was just a bad dream." Soft Clack had left her fellow guard when she saw the only danger was a terrified mare. "It can't hurt you."

Twilight was caught. The dream still inspired some negative reactions to the changelings, but there was something to be said for being comforted after such an ordeal. "T-T-Thank you…" Bit by bit the horror subsided, giving way to the measuring and meticulous mind of Twilight Sparkle. "It was Luna, she… she wanted me to see a story about changelings."

"Mom has told us that we are… were, not well loved." Soft didn't let up her hug of what her brain was insisting was a nymph who needed more hugs. "Do you want to tell me the story? A problem shared is a problem halved."

"I… I would like that." Words of wisdom were still wise, no matter who said them. Twilight calmed herself down, her mind wandering back to the bad dream. "It started in my normal dream, in the best library ever." A smile curved the unicorn's lips, it was impossible to even think about that place without feeling her heart lift. So many books… wait, keep focused.

Twilight continued, "Then another book floated down and opened. It talked of Princess Celestia and Princess Luna before… okay, it must have been a long time ago, before Princess Luna was banished. Changelings attacked them, a queen…" Twilight trailed off. Can changelings do that? Some sort of mind control? Would I notice if they were? Would… I should just ask. She took a deep breath. "Can changeling queens mind control ponies?"

Soft Clack blinked a few times and lowered her snout. "Mom said she would never do it, that she hates the idea of it… but she can."

"Is there a way to tell if a pony is under mind control? Am I under Chrysalis' control?" Twilight's nervous mania started to rise. "How do we know if everypony in Canterlot is under her control?" She was shouting, at least, as much of a shout as Twilight even built up. The hug tightened and Twilight heard the changeling giggle. "What?"

"If you were under mom's mind control, would she—being clever as she is—let you even be able to think that you were?" Soft saw the moment when Twilight's panic slipped and broke.

"I… you… but…" That is so right, though. If Chryssi was controlling me, I don't think she would leave any chance of knowing. So I mustn't be. Twilight relaxed a little again, trying to remember the nightmare—felt it slipping away in the odd comfort she was being afforded. "She showed me ponies being captured in goo, bound up into pods. Do you use pods? I haven't seen any…"

"We can make pods." Soft sighed a little. "They are not nice, they make ponies remember all the happy times they have had so that changelings can feed easier."

"Do you use them?" Twilight needed to know, had to know. "Do you rip the love out of ponies trapped in pods?"

"Rip? Wait, slow down. Queen Chrysalis declared we would not use pods, ever. Ponies are just far too happy to need them anyway. And 'ripping love out'?" Soft Clack gave a sad little chirping click of her wings. "A changeling learns how to feed safely, love drinking doesn't have to hurt. I can show you, if you like?"

The offer surprised Twilight, enough that the nightmare faded more. This could make an interesting experiment. She smiled, banishing the emotions that had been ripping her mood down into the gutter. "I would like that, but we are going to need some-" Twilight stopped, feeling a slight tingle.

"That is feeding. I couldn't do it before because you were too afraid." Soft explained the process. "A good 'ling skims the excess love off the top, not needing to 'rip' anything. Oh…" Her blue eyes flashed a little brighter, feeling an odd kind of love in the mare, but a powerful one.

"I need to measure this!" Twilight flared her horn, casting detection and analysis spells and focused them either on the changeling or herself. "I… I can't measure anything… oh! Uh, my name is Twilight Sparkle, you can call me Twilight." It was a little odd to be getting a hug from a pony she didn't know. She is a pony, changelings are, just very odd kinds of one; and I will prove it!

"I am Soft Clack, pleased to meet you, Princ-" Soft cut herself off and blushed green. "I mean, Twilight."
> Establishment - Part 4
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Luna jerked awake, pulling from the dream-world at the same time as a mare in Canterlot was screaming. "I am sorry Twilight Sparkle, but you needed to know, and I had few choices in how to tell you."

Climbing from the slightly undersized bed in the tree-house, Luna climbed down to the library itself. The place was impeccably kept, the books in perfect order, except for one spot. Luna stood over where the Elements of Harmony should be kept. She lifted her hoof and gently rubbed the shelf. "No dust." The book to the left of the empty spot fell into the gap. "Elemental Disturbances and Time Anomalies." Luna read the title and felt a cold shiver of fear through her. "Twilight wouldn't have left a gap like this—for these books to fall into—without…" Luna lifted down two bookends with her magic, and fit them in the gap. It looked like they had seen this duty before.

Looking out the little window of the library, Luna confirmed what her senses told her. "I need to be fast, I need to find this changeling quickly." Laying down comfortably, she reached back into the dream-world and raising her horn, drew everypony in the town into it. She plucked up ponies as far out as she could and, while holding them in the dream, fought more to keep the Tantabus from being revealed. "Ponies of Ponyville! Look around, mark who you see here."

"What is going on?" Sweetie Belle trotted over to Apple Bloom, smiling at her friend. "Where's-"

Luna cut off what the filly was about to ask. "And mark more who you do not. I need to know what ponies are missing that should be here." She gazed around, pinning ponies who looked nervous.

"Excuse me, Your Highness." Rarity yawned despite not feeling tired, after all it was still nighttime. "I presume there is a good reason for this?" She made sure to cover her mouth lest another yawn break free.

"Rarity, the Elements of Harmony were taken from the library some time after everypony left for the wedding. Either a pony or a changeling in this very town moved them. Changelings… most changelings, cannot be pulled into a shared dream like this."

Nearby, Derpy was panicking so much her wings were twitching. She had overheard Luna's conversation with Rarity and knew a pony who was missing. Dancing from hoof to hoof, she tried to piece together all the reasons for Bulk not to be in the dream. "Early morning training? Maybe he got woken up by a muscle cramp? Oh Bulk…"

"Derpy, what's wrong?" Apple Bloom, still waiting for Scootaloo to join them, trotted over to the distraught pegasus. "Are you alright?"

"Bulk…" Derpy couldn't say anymore, she had her eyes screwed up and was almost crying. "Princess Luna said anypony not in the dream is a changeling."

Pieces fell into place and Apple Bloom looked around before ducking under Derpy and carrying her despite the size difference. It was a dream after all. 

"Apple Bloom, what are you doing?" Sweetie Belle trotted along beside her laboring friend. "Where are we going?"

"Hiding." Apple Bloom trudged on, able to carry the panicking pegasus with ease. "Okay, here will do. Derpy, are you sure that is what Princess Luna said? That anypony not here is a changeling?"

Derpy nodded mutely. "Bulk Biceps isn't here… why wouldn't he be here?" Tears started again, she couldn't stop them. I like him, I like how into life he is, how much he doesn't care if I am a little off-center now and again! It isn't fair!

Sweetie nodded to the sad pegasus. "And S-" Suddenly Sweetie Belle was tackled, two yellow hooves over her snout and holding it closed.

Apple Bloom heard shouting in the distance, a lot of it. "We have to wake up, whatever way we can. Derpy, come to our tree-house, okay?" 

The gray mare had a fraction of a second to nod before a huge yellow hoof connected with her snout, knocking her awake and leaving her rubbing her jaw in the waking world. "Bulk!" She sat up sharply, looking around. Falling out of bed and landing sideways on the floor, Derpy flapped her wing on that side. Suddenly she was struggling for the door and reached it only to find a pony already waiting for her. "Princess Luna?"

"You are a ghost in this town, Derpy Hooves. You travel around and everypony sees you, but nopony notices you. You had access to Twilight's home, you could even have shipped the Elements of Harmony off to Canterlot." Luna clopped a hoof sharply on the ground. "And nopony remembered seeing you in the dream."

Rainbow Dash was the first of Twilight's friends to reach the confrontation and without hesitation followed her heart. "Princess!" Dash crashed into the ground between Luna and Derpy. "She might have just been having a bad night's sleep. How do we work out if she is a changeling or not?"

"Hi!" Pinkie Pie pronked up. "I hear somepony might be a naughty-buggy!" Pinkie produced a muffin from her mane. "Do I need to plan a changeling-coming-out party?" She practically beamed at the idea of having a reason to throw a party.

"If she is a changeling, the real Derpy will be gone, trapped in their hive." Luna was on edge, she needed Pinkie to reveal the truth and she needed it fast. "Pinkie Pie, please find out."

Derpy was almost on her belly behind Rainbow Dash. She pulled her forehooves over her face to hide from whatever fate was coming.

"Hey, Derps, it is you isn't it?" Rainbow Dash waited for the trembling pegasus to nod. "Cool, I thought so. Look, just sit up and look into Pinkie's eyes, okay? I'll keep the Princess from getting at you." I really hope I don't have to fight a princess...

Pinkie offered Derpy the muffin she had. "A pony so sad she doesn't want one of my triple-butter muffins? It is still warm-" Pinkie didn't get any further, Derpy was in front of her and cramming the muffin into her snout. "Well now I know you are Derpy, but I guess we have to put on a show for 'Princess Accusey-Pants.' "

Derpy munched on the muffin as Pinkie squared up and looked into her eyes. 

"I can't tell." Pinkie blinked a few times and tried again. There was not only no sensation of her Pinkie Sense telling her she wasn't a changeling, but it simply didn't work at all. "Oh, silly, it is her eyes. Derpy, can you look right at me?"

Derpy blinked a few times before realizing what her friend wanted. Fighting the nature of her eyes, she got one and then the other looking forward at the same time. "Ow, this feels odd…"

"Gotcha!" Pinkie pulled a second muffin out and passed it to the mare. "Now, if you excuse me…" she turned and looked up at Princess Luna. "STOP BULLYING MY FRIENDS!"


~~~~~+++++~~~~~


"Twilight, I have already started a list of everything you need to do to-" Spike halted, scroll almost dropping from his fingers. "Twilight? What's wrong?" He was a little surprised to see a changeling march into the room where Twilight was still tucked into bed, a tray of food held aloft in their magic.

"Just had a rough night, Spike." Twilight didn't want to freak her Number One Assistant out, even if she felt like freaking out herself. "Oh, this is Soft Clack. Thanks."

Soft set down her tray of pancakes and syrup before the pony. "Your favorite?" She didn't need the unicorn to answer, Soft could taste that if not favorite, this was certainly a food Twilight Sparkle loved a lot.

"Mmm!" Twilight was grinning around the mouthful of pancake she stuffed in her snout.

"You may have just made a friend for life. Can you keep producing those pancakes every day?" Spike tossed the writing things up on the bed, then followed them himself. "So, I was talking with Braced, he said our Queen wishes a morning of celebration for Shining and Cadance, and to welcome her own rise."

Twilight stopped munching, her brain halting from its present occupation of "food intake controller" and spreading out to the more world-relevant tasks of examining speech and extrapolating ideas. "Clever. Everypony is happy they got married, rub some of that off on herself. Some will see it for what it is, but enough won't." She nibbled her next fork-load of pancake. "How do these pods work?"

Soft Clack was caught between conversations and topics. She blinked her big blue eyes a few times to process and mentally shunt the old info around and get what was needed ready. "We don't have any, Queen Chrysalis forbids them."

"But if I asked her, could you make one? What happens to the pony in them? Does it hurt? What would-" Twilight halted as her fork deposited another mouthful of pancake in her open mouth. It was held by a purple dragon claw. "Hrmmff!"

"You have to understand, Twilight thinks she is a changeling of knowledge, able to feed off it alone." Spike was already loading another fork-load before Twilight could even finish the first. He flashed an impish grin at Soft. "So her number one assistant frequently needs to remind her that once breakfast, lunch, or sometimes even dinner; is finished, then science can happen."

Soft was giggling so much she snorted and tried to cover her snout with a hoof, which just meant she was snorting through one of the holes in it. She barely got herself under control when Spike fed Twilight the next mouthful, he then leaned over the side of the bed to see the "scary" changeling infiltrator rolling on the floor laughing.

"Huh. Well, looks like the invasion will have to be called off, I figured out how to defeat all the changelings." Spike sat back from the edge. "Science comes after food, you promise?" He looked at Twilight, his eyes serious.

Knowing she wouldn't have the heart to fight Spike's efforts, Twilight reluctantly nodded and agreed. She took the fork from him, glad to get control of her breakfast back. "I am supposed to be a princess now, don't I get to say what I do?"

"Actually," Soft had managed to recover from her giggle-fit, "you haven't been officially crowned, and even then… have you seen how busy mom gets?"

Twilight blinked at the changeling reverting to "mom" instead of Chrysalis' full title. It is really sweet... "So I don't get to start my own school and spend my days studying?" Something poked Twilight mentally, she sat a little straighter. "Are my friends okay?"

"Princess Luna wouldn't hurt them." Spike suddenly felt like a very small dragon, the problems of the world of Equestria massive compared to him. "Maybe we should send them a letter? Or go visit?"

"We could certainly ask the Queen." Soft smiled, almost chittering in happiness at the amazing taste of love Twilight had just put out. "I think I would really like to be there when you meet your friends again." Over-excitement borne of the heady love she had just fed on made Soft blush a bright green and then chirp when she realized what she said. "Oh, I mean-"

"What's the matter, Soft?" Twilight looked at the drone as she had another mouthful, hearing Soft chirp a few more times in sudden worry.

"I was feeding off you." It wasn't like I could help it, she tasted so good. Queen Chrysalis is going to squish me… Soft lowered her head but was stopped by something glowy at her chin. Tilting her head back up, she saw Twilight's horn was lit.

"For one thing, it is the law to let you feed off me. But more importantly, you looked really happy when you did, and it doesn't hurt." Twilight set her food aside and scooted to the edge of the bed to reach out and pull the surprised Soft into a hug. "Feed off me all you like, but make sure you let me know how happy it makes you, okay?"

Soft blinked at the question, not fully realizing what Twilight was asking. "You… you really mean that?"

Twilight nodded. "If just feeding a little off me can make you so happy, then I consider it worth the price… uh, is there a price?"

"No science until after breakfast!" Spike bopped both unicorn and changeling on the nose in the nicest way possible. He couldn't stop himself giggling, though, and it caught with both Twilight and Soft. Apparently laughter was always on the menu.
> Establishment - Part 5
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Pinkamena Diane Pie, that is no way to speak to a princess." Rarity joined the conversation, looking between Pinkie and Luna. When Pinkie looked to be about to cut in, Rarity narrowed her eyes. "Even if she has done the wrong thing."

Luna was the first to react, lowering her head. "I am sorry, Pinkie Pie, if I have-"

"You need to apologize to Derpy first." Pinkie stepped aside, revealing the still-scared pegasus. "Look, she barely managed to eat the second muffin!"

It was a bad mistake, clearly this changeling—wherever they are—is more canny than I thought. "Derpy, I am sorry. I know how it is to be persecuted for something bad and… and I beg you to forgive me."

Derpy looked up at the alicorn, giving a little nod, but not moving from where she cowered. 

"Now it is your turn, Pinkie." Rarity looked to her friend.

"Sorry I was a big inquisition buzz-kill." Pinkie Pie held out a hoof to Luna. "But what is this all about? I mean, I can't see any of those change-whatchamacallits around." She made a point of looking.

Luna carefully shook hooves with Pinkie. "They can hide themselves, disguise like a pony. Remember at the wedding, when the queen stopped looking like Princess Cadance?" Everypony nodded. "They can almost all do that. If we are lucky there might only be one or two of them here."

"You aren't alone, Princess Luna." Rarity stood proud and tossed her mane. "We all have a score to settle with these ruffians. But we are going to need a better plan, one that has less margin for error." She had the full attention of the Princess. "The dream idea was a good one, but there can be too many ways for a false positive. I could name nearly half a dozen ponies that were missing."

"But… why didn't you tell me? They could be changelings." Luna felt a little betrayed until she saw the disapproving look Rarity was giving her. "Uh, well, they could be."

"Right, or you could terrorize another ten innocent ponies, like Derpy, and turn the whole town against you." Rarity raised an eyebrow. "Darling, you don't think I got where I am by scaring ponies away, do you? We have to convince everypony that something bad is happening, get them interested in helping us. Then we can narrow down the infiltrators in our midst."

Luna blinked and looked to Pinkie, then Rainbow Dash, and finally back to Rarity. "I can see why Twilight has become the mare she is; with such good and wise friends to guide her. Please, I need help." She felt all the worry and panic start to well up. "The last time this happened I only barely drove them off. We… we might not be able to, this time."

"C-C-Can I go?" Derpy had since finished her muffin and was looking around.

"Sure you can, Derps." Rainbow Dash spared a look to her friends and the Princess. "You need me to hang around?" She settled her eyes on the mailmare.

"I… I just need to calm down. Everything is happening a bit fast…" Derpy eyes were wet again.

"Okay then, we'll leave you be." Rainbow looked around, suddenly remembering that she was inside Derpy's home. "Oh, right, I'll be going then." She blushed and made her way outside.

"Oh thank Celestia, they're gone." Derpy spoke the words fast, practically fighting to blurt them out into her once-again quiet home. Slowly, her breathing and panic slowed and while the former returned to normal, the later was almost gone before it poked her again. "I need to visit the fillies!"

Derpy's hoof was halfway to the door before her brain reminded her who was probably still out there. Fear flickered again, but she instead turned around and trotted for the back door. She barely had the door open when a huge white pony pushed it—and her—inside.

"Derpy." It was the softest voice Bulk had ever used in his disguise. "Derpy, it isn't what you think."

"Are you a changeling? Princess Luna said anypony not in the dream was a changeling, but then I left early and they thought I was a changeling and… what is a changeling?" Derpy had run out of steam, she was emotionally drained and seeing her friend was more comforting than it had any right to be.

"I…" Bulk slumped, which was more than a little comical for a pony of his size. "Please don't call her back, I'll leave. But please, after I go, you need to look after Scootaloo and her sister." With his piece said, he turned back for the door.

"Wait! Bulk!" Derpy threw herself at the big stallion, unable to really grab hold of him, but she tried to at least grab one leg. "What are you? Show me!"

"My name is Swift Stride." Bulk's form dissolved in green fire that poured over Derpy too, but unlike Bulk, Derpy didn't change—but she did stay holding on. "I am a changeling."

"Was… who is Bulk?" Derpy's eyes were screwed shut, she didn't want to see the creature her coltfriend had become. "Was he real at-" Her question was cut off as a pair of hole-filled legs wrapped around her, pulling her free from the back leg she had hold of. 

Swift's hug was returned with interest as Derpy pulled him into a tight snuggle. She wept and wept, the tears flowing down his back. "It was me, Derpy. I don't play a role when I take a disguise, the disguise is me, a side of me."

"You could be perfect, you could be a princess!" Derpy wasn't thinking about gender—it was clear—she just saw "princess" as being "perfect." She jerked back to look at what Swift had revealed himself to be. "Why did you disguise like that? Why did you act like… like that?"

"That's me. The shouting… okay, that was over the top." Swift lifted one hoof up to rub the mare's chin until she opened her eyes and looked at him. "Bulk is, almost completely, me."

Derpy looked into the odd blue eyes, studied the fangs, saw the cute ears tucked back atop Swift's head. "So… Swift?" She watched him nod. "Do you still like me?" Derpy was pulled back into a tight hug by Swift, one she was happy to return.

"You are the cutest mare in town, of course I like you." Swift hugged for all he was worth. "But I really should go, if they came for you, they will find me eventually. I like you too much to put you in danger."

"Danger? What is going on?" Derpy pulled back and narrowed her eyes at Swift, although the gesture lost a lot since the mare's eyes still drifted off in different directions. "And what does Scootaloo have to do with it?"

"How do you… right, I said so. Scootaloo and her sister are very important. If anything is going to happen… get them on a train to Canterlot." Swift leaned up and stole a kiss on Derpy's cheek. A rush of green fire returned his oversized form. "DID YOU SEND MY… ahem. Did you send my package?" He set the giggling mare down.

"Of course I did, it went on the last train to Canterlot." Derpy was shocked when she got another kiss, although she certainly wasn't displeased. "Wait, Princess Luna said…" Derpy's askew eyes flew wide. "They were the Elements?"

"Yeah. I couldn't risk the Princess doing something silly. I wasn't meant to do anything, unless Twilight Sparkle asked for help, or if Scootaloo and her sister were in trouble." Swift reached up for the door and pulled it open. "I need to go talk to her, before I leave."

Things started to fall into slots, like mail in a post office. Each little fact, however, fell into one single box. Scootaloo wasn't in the dream with her friends. Swift asking after the filly. Changelings couldn't be in the dream. "Did… did you hurt the real Scootaloo? How long has she been replaced for?"

"She wasn't replaced, she is still Scootaloo. Just now she is… she is my sister, too." Bulk stepped out of the door and into the morning sun. "ARE YOU COMING TOO?"

The shout, her coltfriend's voice at its "normal" volume, snapped Derpy out of her contemplation. "I should go and wait for the mail…" She looked down at her hooves and thought a moment. "No, this is a little more important. Everypony will just have to get their letters a little late for once."

"OH YEAH!" Bulk trotted out, feeling the rush of air as Derpy fluttered along at his side. Nopony in town noticed the pair, the mare with her eyes a little damp caught an eye or two, but she was with the stallion they all had long-since paired her up with as special someponies, it was right that he was taking care of her.

The houses were soon behind Derpy and Bulk, they made their way in relative silence, passing under the sign that pronounced "Sweet Apple Acres."

"Derpy's here!"

The yell drew the focus of both Derpy and Bulk, they spotted Apple Bloom. Derpy flew forward and landed at the base of the little ramp to their clubhouse. "Certainly am, and I brought a friend!"

"HELLO CRUSADER!" Bulk didn't even try to fly, it wasn't really his thing. "DERPY SAID SHE NEEDED TO VISIT YOU AND I NEEDED TO TALK WITH SCOOTALOO!"

Apple Bloom blinked at the stallion, his head on the same level as the floor of the clubhouse. "Uh, yeah, about that. This is special crusader business, Derpy, we can't-"

"You know Scootaloo is a changeling, don't you?" Derpy shocked the filly, who had quickly stared at Bulk.

"What? No! Of course Scootaloo isn't a changeling!" She clopped her hoof three times sharply and a blur of orange leaped out of the clubhouse window and tried to fly.

The problem for Scootaloo was twofold. She wasn't really used to how normal pegasus wings worked, and she had a little foal on her back. She got nearly twenty feet before she plowed into the ground. On her back a little voice cried out, "Agwen!"

"SCOOTALOO!" Bulk beat even Derpy to the downed filly, leaning down to her and reaching with what everypony could see was reverent awe toward Bright Smile. "My Queen-to-be…"

"Your…" Scootaloo's head was spinning and she couldn't think completely straight.

"I'll save you Scootaloo!" Suddenly a little white unicorn interposed herself between Scootaloo and Bulk. "Back! Uh… please?" She energized her horn, the thing throwing tiny sparks and flares.

"Everypony calm down." Derpy trotted over to the crash-scene. "Scootaloo, Bulk is a changeling."

" 'ling!" Bright chirped happily on Scootaloo's back and bounced off, trotting to Bulk and looking up at the huge stallion. " 'ling!" She pointed a hoof up at him and was further delighted when a huge white hoof reached down and tapped her pink hoof.

"Yeah." Bulk arrested his "normal" voice down to something more discrete. Looking up to Scootaloo, he began to spill everything. "Mom sent me to keep an eye out for Twilight Sparkle at first. But then when she came here and… well, made you into a princess, she wanted me to stay on and watch over you too." His head tilted back down. "She is amazing. She is going to rule the hive one day, you know? All of Equestria will be hers to protect."

" 'tect!" Bright looked between the changeling she could sense and her sister. " 'tect, 'loo!" She pointed at Bulk. "Mus' 'tect!"

Scootaloo got her limbs sorted and got to her hooves. Something felt good about being near Bulk. She stepped up to him and grinned. "Yeah, Bright. We need to protect. But that starts with you first!" Scootaloo leaned down and nipped at the disguised nymph's neck, lifting her by her withers and setting her down between her own wings. "This is a lot to take in."

Derpy rolled her eyes, which was not only an amazing feat but had been known to make some ponies feel ill. "Don't get me started. Princess Luna thought I was a changeling." She turned and started walking for the clubhouse ramp. "We should probably go inside so we can talk."

"THAT IS A REALLY- That would be a good idea." Bulk trotted up to the ramp and realized the problem of trying to fit a big stallion in the little clubhouse. Glancing around, he winked to Scootaloo and then burned with fire, becoming a perfect copy of her.

Apple Bloom looked between the former stallion and her friend. "That's amazin'!" Her neck was rubber-banding back and forth. "Scootaloo, he looks more like you than you do."

"Do me, do me!" Sweetie Belle bounced up to Swift and tried to get his attention.

"Inside first." Swift shook her head and walked up into the clubhouse. "Come on…"

Derpy was left staring at the filly that had been her coltfriend. He is… she is… still my coltfriend, but she… he… looks different is all. It hurt her head a little to think about, so she followed Scootaloo and the others into the Cutie Mark Crusaders clubhouse.

Once everypony was together in the clubhouse, Apple Bloom closed the door. Trotting up to the front she stood up behind a lectern. "I hereby call this emergency meeting of the Cutie Mark Crusaders to order. We have two non Crusaders present, but I vote we make Derpy Hooves and…" She looked at Swift.

"Swift Stride." The second Scootaloo's voice even matched up properly.

"Derpy Hooves and Swift Stride are to be made honorary, limited members. All for?" Scootaloo quickly counted four hooves raised, which included the real Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle, and two from Bright Smile. "Motion carried. Alright, Crusaders, we have a problem!"

"Everypony seems to be a changeling!" Sweetie Belle blurted out, looking around the room. "How do I know if I am one too?" Everypony just stared at the filly. "What?"

"Sweetie Belle, you would know." Scootaloo smiled to her friend. "Wait, are there anymore here?" She looked to Swift Stride.

"I don't know. I don't think our Queen sent anyling else." Swift looked to the "princess" nymph. "Uh… technically, you could check. You saw how Bright knew what I was?" he watched the filly nod uncertainly, "You should be able to do the same. Reach out to me as if you wanted to drink from me."

Scootaloo looked at her twin and focused. Try to drink, don't actually. It might hurt him… her… should I use different pronouns for him? "Okay." She focused on what she had been doing naturally for nearly a year. There was some amazingly strong sources of love in the room, but where Swift sat there was an oddly cool sensation.

Trembling a little, Swift closed his eyes and gave a little chirp. "Okay, you… you worked it out… can you stop please?"

"Sorry!" Scootaloo drew back her power, tucking it back down inside. "That felt odd, you taste cool, blue… familiar."

"Well, we are technically brother and sister. Chrysalis made you a changeling, and she laid my egg." Swift wasn't prepared for a tackle-hug by two nymphs. Scootaloo and Bright were atop him, each having shed their disguises. "Hey, what?" Then he realized, his own disguise had dropped while she touched him with her power.

"I just found out I have a brother too now!" Scootaloo sounded so happy that nearly every single word got a little chirp along with it. "Wait, how many more sisters and brothers do I… we, have?" Her brain didn't register the word Swift replied with, it was too busy fainting at what her ears told her sounded suspiciously like "hundreds."

"You killed her!" Sweetie Belle jumped to her hooves and rushed to her undisguised friend. "Scootaloo! You have to come back! We have more crusading to do!" She held her friend's head between her hooves and was shouting into one ear.

"Sweetie!" Apple Bloom had to climb down from the podium and poke her friend with a hoof. "She fainted, she didn't die. She just… she never had a family, let alone a big family. And I don't think I know anypony with a family quite that… big."

Scootaloo slowly roused, looking up into Sweetie's face. "Uh… what happened?"

Swift smiled at the nymph. "Well, I said you have-" A yellow hoof had appeared in his snout, right between his big fangs. "Fmfmmf?"

"Don't tell her again, we need to get through our meeting!" Apple Bloom waited for a nod from Swift before taking her hoof back. "You have more siblings than I do now, Scoots, deal with it." She marched back up to her lectern and took her place. "Alright. So what are we going to do?"
> Establishment - Part 6
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Twilight Sparkle?" Chrysalis poked her head around a shimmering corner of the under-hive. She didn't spot the unicorn she was looking for, but she did find her "number one assistant." Stepping into the room that held the sum total of knowledge Chrysalis had gathered on her kind, the changeling queen smiled. "Spike, where is Twilight?"

"TWILIGHT!" Spike at least turned his head, shouting down a hallway that led out of the library. "She will be coming soon. Now, where is… ah, the S section." The baby dragon wheeled a little cart laden with books.

Distracted from her search for Twilight, Chrysalis watched Spike find the spot he was after and start rearranging the books. "What exactly are you doing? Sorting them?" She strode over, towering over the dragon.

"And building a catalog. Twilight likes her books sorted and easy to find. And since the incident with the frogs—seriously, don't ask—we aren't going to risk any knowledge being lost." Spike gave a firm nod. 

Chrysalis reached for one of the little cards the dragon had made and lifted it up. "You have read all these?" She cocked an eyebrow when Spike nodded. "Name the different types of changelings that you know of." She set the card down on one of the books.

"Farmlings, gatherlings, guardlings, infiltrators," Spike had his little hand up, ticking claws off one by one, "dreamlings, underling, bruteling…" he trailed off. "Is everything alright?"

"Ahem, uh, the dreamling and bruteling, where did you read about-" Chrysalis stopped as the dragon trotted to the other side of the room, pulled out a book and wobbled his way back over with it. Not recognizing the tome, Chrysalis carried it to the table and set it down. The world seemed to fade away, Chrysalis' snout was buried in the book and there was no coming back.

Twilight returned to the mini-library, two little bouncing nymphs still at her side, chirping away. She saw Chrysalis and leaned down to the little changelings and lifted her hoof up to her snout to indicate silence. Lighting her horn, she levitated one, then the other, carrying them over to their mother. "Hello, my Queen." Twilight bowed, then blinked a few times when she hadn't been acknowledged. "Uh, Queen Chrysalis?"

"She has been like that since she opened the book, look at her eyes moving." Spike walked up on the other side of the big changeling. "I thought she was using some kind of spell, but she keeps asking for more books." He gestured to a little pile he had made to the side.

Realizing she might have found her equal when it came to bibliomania, Twilight grinned widely and set two suddenly chirping nymphs on Chrysalis' shoulders.

The world flooded in around Chrysalis again, her meditation-like state was broken in the most delightful way she could imagine. Dropping off the chair, rolling to the floor and levitating the two little drones up, she nuzzled each. "Who let you two out of their sight?"

It was absolutely impossible for Twilight not to giggle at the sight of the "conquering Queen" squirming on her back with two of her offspring. "That would be me, Your Majesty." Twilight stopped as Chrysalis looked directly at her. "Sorry, did I offend…?"

"No. Please just call me Chryssi." Chrysalis rolled over, setting the nymphs on her back. "I came down here to ask if you would be attending the afternoon's work on the charter?" 

Chrysalis gave Twilight a grin that told her all she needed to know: she had missed the morning work on said charter. Panic flooded in around Twilight, she suddenly felt like she was drowning. "I-I-I'm sorry!" She dropped down in a huddle, bowing all the way to the floor. "I had a bad-"

"You had a nightmare sent to you, that was probably quite accurate. Soft Clack told me everything. I imagine Princess Luna was trying to warn you that changelings are monsters, that we can enslave ponies with very little work, that with all the types of drones at my disposal I wouldn't even leave you the release of your dreams?" Chrysalis tapped her notes she had scrawled, particularly on "dreamlings."

"She… was she really just trying to warn me?" Twilight lifted herself up from her submissive pose, her brain skipping between topics quickly enough that she had forgotten why she had even dropped to her belly. "I don't know what to do! I need to talk to my friends, but they are going to think I am under your mind-control, aren't they?"

"Any who go there are. I fear for the few drones I have living there, but I have to hope that your friends will keep Princess Luna from doing anything we would all regret." Chrysalis pulled her notes closer. "But this might help to relieve you from any further nightmares." She tapped at the short-horn notes.

Scanning the notes, Twilight tilted her head. "These 'dreamlings' can control dreams? Like Luna does?" She was still scanning, the rough notes were not particularly easy to follow, but she had learned short-horn writing in school.

"I think so. There is one way to find out." Chrysalis tapped the top of the notes, a series of squiggles that none but a changeling queen would be able to understand. "Why don't I make a few?"

Twilight was stunned at the plan, that Chrysalis would just… make new changelings. "But, what about all the…" she paused and started running calculations in her head. "How long will it take for them to gestate and grow? Will we be able to have them help experiment while still nymphs?"

Chrysalis couldn't help but blush. "Well, the time it takes them to grow depends entirely on their food. In my mother's hive, drones took nearly a full year to mature from nymphs." Chrysalis floated one of her squirming offspring from her back, holding them up to tickle their belly. "I could raise a grub to adult in weeks with the love we have down here. But it is better to go slowly, to teach them. From what this says, dreamlings are quite different to all other drones."

Reaching to the notes with her magic, Twilight looked at Chrysalis before lifting the papers up to read. This is amazing, they could even help ease Luna's duties… She found herself leaning against Chrysalis as she read, working through the condensed short-horn quickly, but rereading the whole document a second time.

"Your thoughts?" Chrysalis waited until Twilight looked up at her to ask, not wanting to interrupt.

"The information is sketchy, but it does show lots of hope that we could at least spare some ponies from nightmares. What do these symbols mean?" Twilight left unsaid that she really didn't want Princess Luna "educating her" anymore on changelings, but she did poke her hoof at the marks at the top of the first page.

"Those are… it is hard to explain to a pony… or even a drone." Chrysalis realized Twilight was still leaning against her, and suddenly colored. Getting up, she lifted up her two chirping little nymphs. "That code is a recipe, a set of… instructions, how to build a 'ling." She nuzzled each of her little ones. "There is… a lot about a drone that makes up those squiggles. Their intelligence, their strength, magic, even flight." She passed over another sheet. "This is for another new 'ling Spike found," it was almost impossible for Chrysalis not to beam at how the young dragon puffed out his chest in pride, "this one is much different. These two strokes, are physical strength. Notice the dreamling has neither?"

"So couldn't you just add them all together?" Twilight looked between the two, trying to imagine it as a new language, or new way to write mathematics.

"There is only so much you can put into a 'ling. My little underlings for example. Not the smartest little darlings, but rock solid. I wish I could push them to be a little smarter…" Chrysalis' face suddenly fell into a mask of pain, so much so that her two nymphs flipped around in her magic and swam through the green energy holding them to nose and nuzzle at their mother. "My mother showed me why we do not do this. She said the drone she would make would not live through nymph-hood. She lasted barely a week."

"What happened?" Twilight reached up, instinctively putting her forelegs around the much larger mare's shoulders.

"She made an underling, pushed them to have more magic, not even a lot." The comfort of her little ones helped carry Chrysalis through the moment. "She didn't grow right, Chirp was happy, she loved life and wanted to be as big and strong as I was, but she couldn't, she wasn't even able to be an underling." The tears came quickly, they practically poured from Chrysalis as she relived the memories. "She-she told me it was a lesson every queen learned, that their nymphs were not playthings."

Twilight squeezed a little tighter. "Who came up with the variants already known?" She found a little nymph snouting at her own mane and had to smile at the empathic little "foal."

"Bad changelings, very bad. I can't imagine how many died to find these patterns, but I don't intend to meddle. Tonight I will lay the first dreamling I have ever had, and a group of ten brutelings."


~~~~~+++++~~~~~


Cadance lifted her head and smiled at the open doorway. "The two mares I admire most." She grinned and started to pour some drinks for Chrysalis and Twilight. "Was the morning pleasant?"

Chrysalis was the first to respond, perking up at her friend's presence. "I spent most of the morning arranging for my drones, but then I found out there was a pair of intruders in my hive." She tilted her head toward Twilight, walking in behind her with Spike on her purple back. "Needless to say, a pair of my bravest warriors subdued them and brought them to my attention."

Giggling, Twilight took a glass of juice from Cadance. "What she means is, I found her private library on changeling lore, needed to use the little fillies' room, and found the nursery instead. There were eggs, little squirmy changelings, grubs I think you call them?" She waited for Chrysalis' nod to continue. "And then a pair of nymphs wanted to play."

"Brave nymphs!" Chrysalis giggled and took her own drink.

"Brave warrior nymphs." Twilight conceded the point. "When I finally gave up looking, I returned to the library to find a fellow student studying hard, aided by my number one assistant."

"Spike is now all of Equestria's number one assistant." Chrysalis lifted her hoof to her brow, marking off an inexpert, but completely believable, salute. "Really, I wish you could teach Musty how you sorted those, he would love to attack the royal library and get all the books sorted and cataloged."

"And then you came right back here?" Cadance realized it was up to her to try to bring some order to the silliness. "Well, I hope you are all ready for more work. We have the basic duties of the ruling pony government defined, and that is why Princess Celestia is out for the afternoon, reassuring everypony that things are okay."

"Oh! Do we get to define our High Queen of Chirping?" Twilight waved her hoof in the air, trying to get Cadance's attention. All she got was a cushion tossed at her.


~~~~~+++++~~~~~


"Right, so our plan is…" Sweetie Belle was so sure of herself, until she reached the part of her speech that she completely forgot. "Uh… line?"

Scootaloo couldn't help giggling at her best friend, her wings rubbing together to produce a few little chirps. Beside her, Bright was looking around at the combined group of changelings and ponies.

"Sweetie, remember, Operation Complete Confusion?" Apple Bloom trotted over to her friend and stood beside her.

"O… Okay." Sweetie looked to Apple Bloom, then to Derpy, Swift, Scootaloo, and Bright. "So our plan is Operation…" A whispering hit the little unicorn's ear and she brightened. "Operation Comprehensive Constipation!"

"Let me explain it…" Apple Bloom lifted her hoof and Sweetie Belle tagged it, walking over to the watching adults, taking the spot on the end beside Scootaloo. "Okay, Operation Compre… now you have me doing it! Complete Confusion. We already saw how confused things became when Princess Luna realized Derpy knew nothing about any changelings, so we are going to extend that."

"Oh, is that what it is?" Sweetie cut in on Apple Bloom's speech. "I thought you wanted me to make up a backup plan."

"No, this is the only plan." Apple Bloom waved at the chalk-board—covered with notes and scenarios—with a hoof. "The plan we spent the last two hours coming up with. The plan that you named!"

"Oh, that plan!" Sweetie Belle leaned across to Scootaloo. "I thought she meant the plan where we were going to get our cutie marks in deforestation. No more trees!"

"Remember, Big Mac wouldn't let us have the saw." Scootaloo rubbed Bright's little spiky mane. "I think we should listen to Apple Bloom now. She is turning as orange as her sister."

Bright rolled to her side and started poking at Sweetie's foreleg, eventually earning a giggle from the filly as they started playing hoof-a-cake.

All eyes but Bright and Sweetie's turned back to Apple Bloom. She looked back and half-shrunk down behind the podium. "That… that is kind of it. If we can make enough ponies be suspect, then they will have to suspect everypony in town of being a changeling."

"Even Princess Luna?" Scootaloo smiled up at her friend. "Because that would make an awesome part two of the plan."

Swift had, more or less, been amazed at the details the fillies got into with their plan, but this new bit of deviousness had him staring at Scootaloo.

"Something wrong?" Derpy's eye had caught the astonished changeling's reaction.

"Yeah, just realizing how amazing it is to be working under a queen again." Swift grinned, showing off more than his usual two fangs. 
> Establishment - Part 7
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Twilight pulled the desk through the under-hive, it was just a little too heavy to lift and carry completely, so she made do with dragging it. About halfway through to the nursery, she heard a soft chitter behind her and turned. "Oh, hello." The changeling looked bigger than the others she had seen, their fangs didn't drip with any venom. "Is there something I can do to help you?"

Twitching their tail-fin in excitement, the underling couldn't reply, but they certainly could understand that the nice and tasty pony offered to help them. They shook their head and stepped over to the desk they had watched her drag. 

Trying to work out the changeling's intent, Twilight was surprised when they energized their horn and lifted one end of the desk, grabbing the other with their forelegs. "Oh Celestia, that… this way!" She blushed brightly and quickly trotted ahead. Leading the way, Twilight soon guided the underling to set the desk down beside a particular cluster of eggs. "Just here, thank you."

Setting their load down, the underling practically melted into the love the pony heaped out, even giving a little chirp of delight.

Something connected in Twilight's head and she lifted up a forehoof, offering it to the strong changeling. "I take it you are one of the underlings?" They responded by pushing their snout into her hoof, nuzzling it. "You can understand me?" They nodded against her hoof. "These are going to be your new siblings." She kept rubbing the underling's snout, the soft chirps coming from their wings, along with their nuzzling, showing how much they enjoyed the contact. "Your mother doesn't even know what they will be like, but I think they are going to be big and strong, like you."

Turning their attention from the nice pony, the underling looked at the ten big eggs. Instead of approaching them, they leaned to the little one and gave an inquisitive chirp.

"That is somepony special as well. A new type of changeling, a dreamling." Twilight giggled at the caring nature the simple changeling displayed. "Queen Chrysalis said that they would grow faster and better with some pure love around, so I figured I could do my paperwork down here." She gestured to the desk. "Do you have a name?" Looking back to Twilight, the underling shook their head. "Would you like one?"

The reaction was so fast Twilight barely saw the creature move, one moment they were looking at her passively, the next she was on her back getting nuzzles and licks. "Whoa, slow down, please! I need to-" she giggled as they just dropped down to lay on top of her. "Well, you are strong, friendly, and caring… Gentle Midnight. You love your family, and your chitin is so… can you hop off me, Middy?"

Gentle's eyes were wide, they didn't get off of Twilight but did give her face another series of licks. At last they got up and shook themself. Gentle Midnight. They smiled widely and considered pouncing back on the nice pony that had given them a name.

Righting herself, Twilight opened her saddle bag and lifted out a ream of pages with her magic. Setting them on the desk she climbed up on the seat attached. "Now, first thing, form one-one-eight-C, Queen Evaluation to be completed by Princess of Balance. I still can't believe they made me a princess…" She worked some ink onto her quill and began. "Or that I get to fill these out weekly."

"Excuse me, Princess."

The words shook Twilight from her flurry of work. She blinked and looked up from the seventh page of her report. "Oh, yes?" Gentle was parked beside her desk still, but the new drone was carrying two big casks of something. "Oh, what is that?"

Not expecting interrogation, the changeling set down both the casks she carried. "This is honey, direct from Queen Chrysalis. She wants this batch to be as strong as they can be." The drone froze. "Forgive my manners, Your Highness-"

"Just Twilight is fine, please. And what is your name?" Twilight smiled, in her time in Ponyville she had become much better at making friends, a good greeting being the first important part.

"Tender Glow, Your…" Tender trailed off, distracted from her words by the warmth coming from the pony. "Sorry Twilight," she had a slight pause to see if it really was okay, "but you surprised me. A pony princess, with one of our underlings cuddled up at her side, spilling love for our eggs?"

Twilight beamed and gave a little nod. "I was just doing paperwork, I always enjoy that. Queen Chrysalis said it would be best if they could have some love nearby, and I figured it would be best to do the things I enjoy doing here, and then Gentle came and helped-"

"Gentle? You named them?" Tender started pouring one of the casks over the first big egg, the golden stuff having a slightly green tint to it. "They look to like you a lot, normally I would have to tell them to return to the central hive and find more things to do… but if a princess told me I can't…"

Catching on quickly, Twilight couldn't help but giggle at the way the changeling found a way around a rule. "If Gentle has work to do, I won't stop them, but it is relaxing having them…" She cleared her throat. "I require underling Gentle Midnight to be at my side." The giggle after her first real proclamation as a princess stole a little of the authenticity, but she didn't really care.

"Good enough for me." Tender blinked at the egg she was pouring honey on. "You are feeding these quite well, won't even need a full jug on them." 

"That is honey, you said?" Twilight investigated the cask nearest her. "Why do you just pour it on?" Without a word, she dipped the edge of her hoof in, lifting out some goop so she could examine it.

"It carries love, pure and refined. This is all from mom." Tender finished tending to the eggs. "I don't know what else it is good for, but since I spend most of my time down here tending to eggs I don't get my love in other ways… well…" A soft green blush covered Tender's cheeks. "Except for you being down here, that is."

"I really have to work out a way to find out when I am being fed on." Twilight mused, absently bringing the honey to her snout to sniff. "I don't mean in any negative way, more so I can study it properly, and work out how to maximize your food."

Tender grabbed up both casks with their magic, lifting each up.

"Hold on, please." Twilight absently licked her hoof clean. "Could you bring a jar of that, I am sure I can repay it by feeding them more directly." She gave Tender a smile.

"These were both meant for them, they should have gobbled it up, but look how it stays smeared on the surface? They are full little eggs." Tender reached a hoof up and gently petted one of the big eggs. "I am sure this nearly-empty one could stay."

"Thank you, I will leave it here when I am done." Twilight turned back to her paperwork, absently licking the last of the honey off her sticky hoof. "Now, where was I?"


~~~~~+++++~~~~~


Apple Bloom reached up and crossed off "Mayor Mare" from the chalk board. "Who are we going to implicate next?" She studied the names remaining with much consideration. "What about Mr. and Mrs. Cake?"

"We didn't need to do them," Sweetie Belle was in her element, crusading and messing things up was definitely her cup of tea, "remember at the start of the week? Pinkie Pie accused them when Mr. Cake put raisins in some cupcakes by mistake."

Scootaloo giggled at the memory. "They sure looked tasty, though… Oh, I know, we make Princess Luna look like the changeling!" 

Both Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle stared at their fellow crusader. 

"This will be the best one ever." Sweetie started hopping from hoof to hoof in excitement.

"Cutie Mark Crusaders, Confusion Cutie Marks!" Apple Bloom raised a yellow hoof into the air, soon getting a white and two black ones clop against it.

"Cwusaders!" Bright's little wings buzzed as she hovered in the air, high enough to meet the hooves of the other fillies. It was plain to see that in a week she had grown more than a filly should. 

"Somepony's coming." Swift Stride banged on the door from outside, warning the fillies. "ARE YOU GIRLS READY FOR YOUR TRAINING?" Bulk's voice was easy to relax into, even if it did put a strain on his throat.

"Yeah, yeah. Keep your hooves on." Apple Bloom rolled her eyes and turned the blackboard around, revealing a list of cutie mark-related activities. Turning back to her friends, she saw both Bright and Scootaloo looked like ponies again.

"What'n tarnation are ya doin' out here, Bulk Biceps?" Applejack trotted up to the clubhouse. "You said somethin' about training?" She narrowed her eyes at the big stallion.

"YES MISS APPLEJACK! I THOUGHT IT A GOOD IDEA TO HELP TRAIN SCOOTALOO AND HER FRIENDS IN CASE THEY SEE A CHANGELING!" Bulk wasn't lying, he was greatly bending the truth. It also helped that he wasn't actually a pony. "AND JUST BETWEEN YOU AND ME, I DON'T THINK IT IS SAFE LETTING THEM BE ALONE ALL DAY!"

AJ blinked a few times at the thundering voice, her normal sense of horse-apple detecting not able to locate anything in the noise. "Uh, well that's right good of you, Bulk. Ah didn't honestly think about any of that myself."

"IT'S OKAY! YOU'RE WORRYING ABOUT EVERYPONY." Bulk gave his best awkward smile. Just then, the door behind him opened and four fillies bounced out.

"Howdy big sister!" Apple Bloom trotted right up to her sister and hugged her. "We were just going to do some training with Bulk! We might even get our cutie marks!"

"Ah just needed to check with you fillies, are you sure you saw Mayor Mare carrying a big box to the mail-train?" Applejack looked from her sister and around to her friends.

"Well, it might have been Luna…" Scootaloo lifted a hoof up to her chin. "It was a bit dark…" She tried to look a bit confused, but something was wrong, she knew Applejack wasn't buying it.

"Alright, what is really going on? You fillies have been playing the slippery eel all week." AJ looked from one to the other, ignoring Bulk almost entirely.

"Grab her!" Sweetie Belle shouted and jumped at the same time, landing on Applejack's leg. "Get her other legs!" She clung-on for dear life.

"Sweetie." Apple Bloom looked at her friend, then up to her sister. It was small comfort that Applejack looked more amused than angry. "We gotta tell the truth. I told you we couldn't keep this up."

Scootaloo looked to Bright, then up to Bulk. "It's okay girls, I'll fess-up." She stepped down the ramp, walked up to AJ as if it were her final march. "You see, Applejack, I'm-"

"Ah know you're a changeling." Applejack smiled and lifted a hoof up to rub Scootaloo's mane. "Ya think y'all could keep this hidden, on my farm? What Ah don't know is what is really goin' on. Are you girls really doing all this mayhem?"

Staring up at the mare as if she were somehow magical, all three fillies were speechless until Bright Smile trotted up and stood beside Scootaloo. "You no hurt!" Bright leaned and stuck her snout under Scootaloo's little wing.

"As good as an admission. So why are y'all doin' it then? Is there an invasion force coming, like Princess Luna said there would be?" Applejack couldn't honestly be worried about the little fillies being those odd creatures. "And as long as the real Scootaloo is alright Ah got no beef with ya."

"But I am the real Scootaloo. Chrysalis turned me into a changeling so I could have a little sister." She spread her tiny wing to show Bright's worried little face, before tucking the wing back down around her. "And we are only doing it, I guess, to keep the Princess from finding her… and me."

"Wait, so she made you into a changeling, who did she make into little Bright?" Applejack reached out a hoof to the tiny filly, trying to show she wasn't dangerous.

"She really is a changeling." Bulk walked up to the little meeting. "And I am too. I am the one the Princess is really trying to find. I sent the Elements of Harmony to Canterlot. Mom… Queen Chrysalis, she just wants ponies to be able to live as they please. This is all a giant mix-up!"

The stallion's voice completely threw AJ for a moment but she recovered. "Ah think we need to have this talk somewhere a little more private. But first, all three o' ya Pinkie Promise me not to do this anymore." Applejack looked around, adding Bulk to her glare.

"We promise not to do it." All three fillies gave a sigh. "Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye."

"Right, now come on. You too Bulk. If'n that is your real name." Applejack's eyes narrowed a little.

As the mare started to walk, Bulk said, "Swift Stride, ma'am." He smiled. "But Bulk is fine." He turned to walk with them.

Once everypony was in the barn, with the door closed of course, Applejack started over. "Right, so yer the real Scootaloo, Bright is a changeling, and Bulk is too. Bulk took the Elements and sent them to Canterlot. Y'all were responsible for causing all the madness over the last week." She looked around at each of the fillies. "Ah got it all?"

"Please," Bulk stepped forward, lowering his big head, "if you have to take anypony to Princess Luna, let Scootaloo and Bright go to Canterlot and I will face her wrath."

"Dagnabbit, see, now that is just the sort of thing a pony would do. Ya had to make this hard on me didn't ya?" Applejack was smiling, making her words seem a bit odd. "How am Ah meant to give you over when Ah hear you say things Ah'd say?" She held up a hoof to forestall any reply. "Okay, Ah got the little ones in a Pinkie Promise, how long have you been here, been Bulk?"

"A year. I know what a Pinkie Promise is." Bulk was both worried and resigned.

"Then Ah want you ta Pinkie Promise all you will do is protect ponies." Applejack's look was deadly serious. "You promise that and Ah can say Ah trust everypony in town."

"You know changelings lie, it is like our best trick?" Bulk looked right at Applejack, her death-stare had turned into a half-smile. "Well, I better do this right," Swift dropped his disguise, "I promise you, Applejack, that everything I do in this town is for those two fillies, and I would not have any real harm come to a single pony. Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye." Of course he finished with a hole-filled hoof pressed to his eye, but the other one saw Applejack's smile really fill out.


~~~~~+++++~~~~~


Twilight had the honey arranged on the bench in various test-tubes, some with different colored substances mixed in, others with crystals. Some just had notes stating what magic was used on it. "I just don't get it, it seems mostly to just be like honey… delicious, though." She blushed and looked to her empty plate, moments ago it had held a honey sandwich that had been positively delicious.
> Spreading Out - Part 1
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Are you sure they are going to hatch today?" Twilight's magic held a quill and paper, but as well as that she had Spike with his own supplies. "They don't look to be-" She cut off as the egg nearest her started to shake and move.

"They shouldn't be hatching this soon, but somepony fed them a strong mix of love." Chrysalis gestured to the nearby desk. "Now we will all get to see what my newest children look like." The movement had her excited too, she didn't lean forward like Twilight did, however. "You might want to lean back, if a dreamling is anything like their other envenomed siblings, they will probably be a little 'bitey' from the get-go."

Twilight started to pull back from the egg, but a tiny head poked out of the top of the suddenly shredded ovoid. She felt the tingle run down her spine, the newly hatched little drone feeding directly from her. "They are so adorable!" All warnings were forgotten as she reached out to the grub-like changeling, lifting them from their egg and bringing them in for a cuddle. 

Chrysalis feared the newborn would bite Twilight, but was amazed when it just nuzzled in against the pony. A sharp bite on her own forehoof revealed that one of the brutelings had hatched. She marveled at it. The bruteling was nearly twice the size of a normal grub, and larger still than the tiny dreamling. "And what do I have here?" She picked up her newest "foal" in her magic and looked at them, seeing intelligence in their eyes.

Captivated by the little grub that she was holding, Twilight almost missed the telltale tingling grow in intensity. "Hey, are the others…" She saw five of the much bigger grubs nuzzling against her hooves. "When did they all hatch?"

"When their favorite food started leaking love all over them." Chrysalis' droll tone was more in jest than truly aimed to hurt. "Now you get to name them." She spread her grin wider, showing off her fangs. "And if you think coming up with names for eleven changelings is tough, try doing it for eleven-hundred."

"Twilight, lunch." Spike had put down his paper and quill to bring his friend something to eat. "And you know the rules, food first, then science." He liked this rule, it let him boss around a princess.

Settling the grub onto her back, Twilight tried to extract her forelegs from the brutelings without hurting them, with limited success. In the end, she teleported out of the pile trying to snuggle her to death. "Thanks Spike! Oh, you made my favorite again." She beamed and bit into the sweet sandwich.

"Sure did, you really love that honey, although we are almost out." Spike jumped up onto the seat of the nearby desk. "I guess I should ask Tender Glow for more."

Chrysalis' eyes went wide and terror filled her. She had a moment of real fear shoot through her when she saw a drip of the honey leak off the bottom of the sandwich—gold and green. "Twilight! SPITTHATOUT!"

Twilight's attempt to defend her sandwich was defeated, mainly because unlike her, Chrysalis seemed to be fighting for real. Gulping down her mouthful, she looked at the big queen, hurt feelings on her face. "What are you-"

"Stop eating that, you… this is bad!" Chrysalis used her magic to pick Twilight up and hold her upside down. "Cough it up now! It might not be too late!"

"What," Twilight couldn't help but cough, not with magic patting her on the back, "is going," she coughed more and gagged, "on-" finally she lost control, her body voiding.

Spike managed to grab the dreamling grub and got a bit away from the odd scene. His own honor warred with self-preservation, but he had somepony important to take care of. "Don't worry, little guy, I got you." He gave the grub a little squeeze.

"Twilight, where did you get this honey?" Chrysalis was in a blind panic, she put Twilight down and desperately tried to remove the mess. "Did you eat any before now?"

Still coughing and spluttering, Twilight was in no position to reply, but she did register a little fear that maybe something had gone wrong.

With things quieting down, Spike approached the two. "She has been eating it in everything for the last few days."

"Ugh… well…" Twilight looked at the passed-out changeling queen. "That was… Spike? What do we do?" She felt more than a little worried at the fact that their "Brave Queen" had passed out in a panic. "BRACED!"

Twilight's shout echoed through the hive, resounding off the walls in various caverns and echoing back at her. "Is she breathing? Is she okay? Oh… I have only ever seen Rarity do this before, and she always had her couch nearby."

"Princess?" Braced's wings were buzzing, pushing him as fast as they could. "What happened?" He looked for any danger and only saw a woozy unicorn, a baby dragon cuddling a small grub, and ten curiously large grubs swarming their mother to protect her.

"She freaked out over me eating a honey sandwich!" Twilight pointed at what remained of the sandwich. "I don't know what was wrong, why did she panic?"

Braced stared at Twilight a moment before blinking. "First thing first. Mom…" He leaned down and pressed his little horn to her huge one. A small jolt of magic was all it took for him to be almost thrown aside when Chrysalis jerked up.

"Twilight! Don't eat my honey!" Chrysalis blinked, then saw the results of the scene. "You ate it? How much? How long?" Her tone was growing frantic again.

"Stop!" Spike marched between Chrysalis and Twilight. "This is going too far. Queen Chrysalis, what is that honey-stuff?"

"Royal honey. I… I make it to feed my drones faster. But it shouldn't be eaten by ponies!" Chrysalis' tone evened out a little, then grew panicked again at the end. "How much-"

"Shhh!" Spike held up one claw to the Queen. "Twilight, where did you get that honey?"

Twilight blinked at her friend. "Tender Glow gave it to me, it was the honey she was feeding the eggs… with…" She stared at Chrysalis, her own panic starting to rise.

"Now, Queen Chrysalis, what does that honey do to ponies?" Spike held the finger up, trying to keep Twilight from talking now.

"It… it turns them into a changeling." Chrysalis' words caused everypony to freeze, herself included, but now she was explaining it she couldn't stop. "If you were a young filly, the change would be fast, rapid. Scootaloo changed in minutes."

"Scootaloo?!" Twilight was yanked from her stupor. "Wait, so she is a changeling? What is going to happen to me?"

"If you stop eating it…" Chrysalis looked to the side. "You shouldn't have had any, but if you stop now your body will still change, but… it will not be as perfect. You would burn up your own energy and love and wind up hollow. Y-You need to drink more, that is why you are craving it."

Parking her plot on the ground in shock, Twilight looked to Spike. "I am going to turn into a changeling?" She needed a hug more than anything, and Spike wasn't one to disappoint. She squeezed him tight and felt him hug back. A pair of tiny legs added to the hug and Twilight looked into the oddly cute little face of the dreamling. "At least I won't be alone."


~~~~~+++++~~~~~


"Let me through!" Flash Sentry tried to push his way through the guards at the entrance to the throne room. "It's important, I need to see the Princess!" He froze when the two guards he was struggling against burned with green fire. "What…?"

"Hold up, don't hurt him." Shining Armor thanked his lucky stars that he was wandering past. "Flash, good to see you, I think. What do you have to report?"

The familiar voice made Flash spin around. "I have to see Princess Celestia! Quick, this is important!" He spun back to the two changelings that were blocking him off. "The fate of Equestria depends on it!"

"Guys, let him through." Shining walked up and looked each drone in the eyes. "Flash wasn't here when our Queen took over. He doesn't know, I'll sort it out." He reached a hoof up to rest on the pegasus' shoulder. "Flash, things have changed since your squad left, things got… okay, Princess Celestia is still running civil matters, but we have a queen, Queen Chrysalis, to handle security. I… work under her."

"So Princess Celestia appointed somepony new to handle the Guard? That's great. I… I didn't feel right how she was doing things, she-" Flash stopped at the odd look on Shining's face. "What?"

"Queen Chrysalis tried helping, it didn't work. She took control, bested Princess Celestia." Shining saw surprise, shock, fear, and incredulity race over the other stallion's face. "So our first report is to Princess Celestia, but only so that we can wait to tell the Queen."

"Sir!" Both changelings guarding the doors to the throne room saluted Shining as their horns lit, opening the doors. "Sorry about the hard time," one of the pair continued, "things got a little mixed up. We were commanded to keep the throne room safe."

Once both stallions were inside, the doors closed behind them. "What are those things?" Flash tried to keep his voice down, but it carried a little too well in the huge hall. 

"Those, are changelings." Princess Celestia looked at the new arrivals. "Flash Sentry, you were stationed-" She froze. If Celestia was any color but white, she would have blanched. "The north…"

"Yes, Your Highness!" Flash Sentry stepped forward a few paces and took his helmet off. "Captain Shining Armor gave me a little of a rundown. If you need me to fight you free, just tell me." His chest puffed out, his eyes roaming all the ponies in the room, judging their skills as a fighter.

"That will not be required, but your support is well meant." Princess Celestia took a deep breath, it felt good to have ponies that believed in her so much that they would risk everything—good, and wrong. "Please, Queen Chrysalis has made it abundantly clear that my choices in defending Equestria are not good ones. The Crystal Empire has returned, then?"

Flash felt the ball of adrenaline that his body had been ready to unleash push back down. "Your Highness, it has." He bowed to her. "What are your or-"

"Hold that, Flash. Princess Celestia doesn't handle that anymore." Shining heard a familiar clopping of hooves, two sets that he recognized. "Our Queen comes. Don't fear her, she… oh! You remember Chryssi?"

"Chryssi? Nerdette extreme? Played that silly InvasionMallet with you? Yeah." Flash looked a little confused, which matched his thoughts to a T.

"Flash Sentry, I haven't seen you since you tried to help Shining Armor beat me in our little games." Chrysalis buzzed her wings a little, smiling. "I hope you have gotten as good as he is at it."

"Your Majesty." Shining dipped his head, Chrysalis might be his friend still, but in the throne room she was Queen. "Flash Sentry was reporting news from the north."

"Chryssi?" Flash looked up and up, eyes wide at the changeling queen's differences from the young mare he had met, who had shared a house with one of his friends. "Err, Your Majesty?"

"Report, Flash. Then we can catch up." Chrysalis looked to Shining, then to Celestia. She froze when she saw the Princess' features.

"The Crystal Empire has returned. My squad… it was a fighting withdrawal." He looked between Chrysalis and Celestia. "The King is back."

"This King… Princess Celestia, what do we know of him and his 'empire'?" Chrysalis looked at Celestia, this was the first real test of her rule.

"King Sombra was… is, apparently, a master of shadow magic, a tyrant, a subjugator of ponies." Celestia felt real terror. Looking to the side of the throne, the crystal was still there. She lifted the glass lid, floated it out. 

"Ex-excuse me." Twilight stepped up from beside Chrysalis, looking between the changeling queen and her former mentor, Celestia. "If I can help with this, whatever is going on, I will." The issue with honey and changeling… changes, slipped from Twilight's mind. "But first I must see my friends, and begging Your Majesty's pardon, I don't care if they will try to mob me."

"You will need honey to take with you." Chrysalis gave Celestia a look that was a question about the newest princess. What she got back was a slight nod. "And I will send a legion of my-"

Twilight cut in. "No, if it is okay with you, I will take Sweet Dreams." The dreamling grub poked their head out from Twilight's mane. "Sorry, but this can't wait. I… I can feel it is my destiny to go there, and that means it is my friends' destiny too."

Twilight Sparkle didn't wait for her brother, her princess, or her queen to reply, she turned and left. I am the only pony who can fix this. They made me a princess, I intend to act it!


~~~~~+++++~~~~~


Twilight got off the train in Ponyville. The town seemed quiet, expectant. In her mane, Sweet Dreams seemed to have found a bit of mane and latched on, fast asleep. "Gentle, are you okay?" She reached out a hoof to the big drone at her side, the underling tilting their head up to snout the offered hoof.

"He really is a big softie." Spike, ever present in his place on Twilight's back, looked fondly at the big changeling.

"Oh, hi Twilight!" Derpy poked her head out of the mail-room of the station. "Welcome home-" She froze, staring at Twilight. "Um… Twilight?"

Walking closer to Derpy, Twilight indicated for Gentle Midnight to follow too. "What's the matter, Derpy?"

"You know they are hunting for changelings, and your… your friend there is…" Derpy shook all over, then took a deep breath. "Are you here to fix all this?" She looked at Twilight as if the unicorn was already an alicorn, and not just princess in name. "I really like Swift, I don't want him to get squished by Princess Luna…"

"I promise… Swift?" Twilight waited for a nod from Derpy, "Swift won't be squished. I should probably go, do you know where Princess Luna will be about now?" 

"Oh yes. She is staying in your library." Derpy's face brightened. "Thank you Twilight, for coming back. I don't know what was going to happen if Scoo-" Freezing, Derpy looked scared and covered her snout with both forehooves. "I didn't say it!"
> Spreading Out - Part 2
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Relax, Derpy. I know some of this already, and I think it should be revealed completely, once things are all in hoof." Twilight soothed Derpy's panic. "Which means I need to pay Princess Luna a visit."

Derpy pulled her hooves away from her face and smiled, instead of saying anything, she wisely just waved to Twilight and her companions. Getting back to her mail, she noticed a large package that was marked "return to sender." Putting the big package in her bag, she didn't even glance at the address.

Twilight trotted toward her library, smiling at the soft sounds of sleep coming from the changeling hiding in her mane. Her ears spun forward when she heard her name yelled. "Whoa, calm down!" A black blur rushed past Twilight, from behind, stepping in front of her. "Gentle… LUNA!" Twilight's hoof lifted and came down with a sound like a thunder-crack. She blinked at the slightly overboard use of magic. "Okay, both of you stop it right now. Gentle, she is not going to attack me. Princess Luna, we aren't here to fight."

"And yet you bring Equestria's enemy into our sight!" Luna had let the magic fade from her horn, but only barely. She glared at the changeling that stood between her and Twilight. "You will not have her." 

Gentle wasn't a fighter. They didn't have much concept of fighting for higher motives, but when they saw the big pony charging a lot of magic at Twilight, Giver of Names, they moved. But then the big pony stopped the magic, even though they still had the stink of not-nice emotions around.

Lifting a hoof and settling it on Gentle's back, Twilight walked slowly alongside the oversized changeling. "Relax, Gentle. She isn't going to hurt us." Twilight looked up at the alicorn. "Are you, Luna?"

"She had better not." Rarity didn't step between the two parties, but she did stand to the side and give Luna her best glare. "I for one want to hear what Twilight has to say, before you execute her on the spot for… what was her crime again?" Rarity batted her eyelashes at Luna.

"Yeah, Ah'm thinkin' that we hear what Twilight has to say." Applejack smiled across to Rarity, standing on the opposite side of the tense little stand-off. "But why don't we let the Princess start."

"Well-" Twilight froze when everypony looked at her. "Oh, right. Sorry." She blushed and tried to hide beside Gentle, which was easy.

"Long ago, we noticed our sister, Princess Celestia, behaving very oddly. She… made unsound choices, always listened to the words of a few new ponies that had started to remain at her side. She was under the influence of a changeling queen." Luna resisted the urge to use her magic to give images to the story from her past. "We had to fight to save her, then. We will fight to save her again."

"You don't need to." Twilight pointed to Canterlot, high up in the mountain to the north. "Princess Celestia isn't under any influence, apart from politically. Chryssi… Queen Chrysalis, just wants to protect Equestria." Twilight blew out a sigh and looked at Luna. "In your day, if a threat like Discord returned to Equestria, what would you have done?"

Luna's wings ruffled a little, but she fought the urge to lift them up. "We would summon the elements and fight him, you know we did!"

"And what did Princess Celestia do this time?" Twilight hated this, hated having to pull back these curtains. "Did she fight him? Did she call for you to battle? Did she stand against him while we," Twilight gestured to her two friends, "could get the Elements of Harmony?"

Luna shook her head. "What does that matter? Equestria is under the yoke of a monster!"

"Equestria is under the 'yoke' of a pony who tried to warn Princess Celestia that Discord would break loose, she even came here—to Ponyville—to fight another old enemy that wanted to enslave ponies." Twilight looked significantly at Luna. "I don't regret saving you from the nightmare you were lost in, Princess Luna, but protecting everypony is too important to leave to just me and my friends."

"And what is the tyrant going to do, then?" Luna's anger wasn't quite as hot as before, she couldn't help the niggling feeling that Twilight had given her a lot of things to think about. "What happens when the next monster returns?"

"He already has." Twilight turned to look at Applejack, then over to Rarity. "I came to get my friends, because even though I know what Queen Chrysalis' plan is likely to be, I don't want to see anypony hurt, not even changelings." She stroked Gentle's neck. 

" 'He'?" Luna's head spun with options. "Which 'he' is free?" She shook a little, watching the seemingly passive changeling accepting Twilight's casual treatment.

"Sombra." Twilight saw the effect the name had on Luna. The Princess of the Night paled.


~~~~~+++++~~~~~


It was almost like being back in school. Shining Armor had drawn up plans for his army to head out, had drawn up several redundant plans, and had them all stowed in a neatly filed folder. He passed it to his Queen. "This takes into account several events."

Chrysalis took out the first set of plans. " 'Plan Katydid'? Ah, this is no resistance, forced march into the Empire and no Sombra." It wasn't so much a battle plan, as relief plans. "Very good, have you been taking lessons?"

"From the best, Your Maj-" Shining stopped and gave a sigh. "Chryssi, I went over all your notes for your invasion. Even the ones you didn't want to show me." He lifted a hoof to forestall any questions. "You wanted me to be the best strategist at this, and that means getting better at it than you."

"Sombra on his own, Sombra with hostages, Sombra with guards, Sombra with an army… You have most reasonable cases covered. Why not use the train?" She looked up from the notes, holding them steady in her green magic.

"The rail would be expected. And although he might not expect us to use that the first time, I don't dare underestimate him." Shining Armor used his own magic to tease out one of the appendices. "A small scout unit will go in first, via train. Disembark well before the city and take up position."

"How long do you expect to take to march there?" Chrysalis didn't really need to ask, she had the details before her. She was testing Shining so that Sombra couldn't.

"No more than two weeks. The less mobile warriors will be skipped forward by the underlings, with our more special types always having a defended location when they themselves land. From what I understand of the notes, the Crystal Empire was mostly all crystal ponies, we will take advantage of the lack of magic and airborne units."

"Your logistics are short, how will you be keeping your hive supported?" She knew the answer, Chrysalis had spoken with Cadance just before the meeting, begging her to rethink—thankful she refused to.

"Well, I seem to remember a particular queen who did quite well feeding off my wife and I. Only the underlings will be stressed in any way on the trip there, so food levels should be maintenance only, until the fighting starts." Shining pulled out another report he had already written, detailing the use of the train once they were safely entrenched. "All our plans revolve around acquiring the railroad as primary target. With the logistics that gives we can haul in honey…" He saw the big smile on Chrysalis' face. "I passed?"

"Am I going to have to get you a gold star?" Chrysalis bopped the stallion on the shoulder with a long leg. "Here, take your plans with you, but I bet you have them memorized. If I didn't know who your sister was, I would think you an oddity, Shining." Stretching, Chrysalis focused her magic and produced two mugs of cider. "Equestria rests in your hooves." She floated one to the stallion.

Not wanting to question the arrival of the drink, one Chrysalis knew he enjoyed, Shining raised his mug and tapped hers, his pink magic holding it steady. "And in yours, make sure we have somewhere to come back to."

"Ugh, I hate having a conscience." Chrysalis guzzled half the drink in a gulp. "I need to tell somepony… other than Twilight." She folded her legs under her and curled up in as small an area as a changeling queen could.

"What is this about? Is something happening I need to know about?" Shining Armor pulled out his satchel again, started to rifle through his notes.

"No, no your plans are perfect." Chrysalis reached out with her magic to stop Shining from obsessing over the plans. "You know changeling honey? Purified love, ready to eat?" She waited for Shining to nod at her, he knew about honey, had to for his plans. "Okay, there is another kind, uh, Royal Honey." 

"Your honey?" Shining blinked a few times. "How is it different?"

"Well, it is more potent than regular honey, by an order of magnitude." Lifting her hoof up, Chrysalis adjusted her glasses. "A queen changeling egg, and nymph, needs it to grow up. And there is one more thing it does." Chrysalis tucked her hoof back under herself. "It will make a pony into a changeling."

"Twilight-" The moment Shining said his sister's name, he saw Chrysalis cover her face with a hoof. "Did you force it? Did you make her drink it?" The words were dangerous, Shining held the future of Equestria in the tone and pause, while he waited for Chrysalis' reply.

"No!" Chrysalis' head shot up, shaking. "Of course I didn't! Twilight could be… would have been, the greatest unicorn to ever live! She is smart, caring, forgiving, and…" Tears started to fall from Chrysalis' eyes, she snorted a sob but couldn't hold it back.

"Dammit Chryssi, how did this happen then?" Shining circled around, started pacing. "And what, is she in a pod somewhere?" He stopped and looked at his Queen again.

"She was spending time in my hive, looking over some of my records, and spending time with some of my foals." Chrysalis tried to rub at the tears, to make them go away. "I don't know what to do. I had Braced detail a dozen 'lings to researching it. The drone who… who gave her my honey, she didn't know about it, she was young herself."

Shining waited, standing still and staring past Chrysalis, waiting for the story to continue. "It will be slow, the more of their life a pony has lived, the longer it takes. A foal changes in moments, a pony could take a year or more." She lifted her head and looked at Shining. "She has to keep drinking my honey now, or she… it won't be pretty."

"She has honey with her, then?" Shining felt a little empty, emotionally drained from his anger and fury. "What will become of her? What kind of changeling does a pony become?"

"Of course she has honey. I didn't want this, Shining, I have only given my honey to one other pony ever and she… she had nopony else. She became a princess of my hive." Chrysalis floated a handkerchief over and started trying to dry her eyes.

"Chryssi," Shining reached out and took the hanky from Chrysalis, "blow your nose." On command, she did. "Now, if things go well with Princess Luna, she will be back either tonight or tomorrow. I can't wait for her."

Looking up at the stallion, Chrysalis realized how much of a compromised position she kept putting herself into with the siblings. "I will send her on the first supply train. I broke my promise, Shining."

"What?" The words caught Shining Armor off guard. "What promise?"

Chrysalis hung her head. "I promised to keep all the ponies safe, and I couldn't keep Twilight-"

"I don't like this, Chryssi, not at all. Not until I talk to Twilight." Shining grabbed up his satchel of plans with his magic and walked to the door. "But she isn't lost yet. You said she would become a princess, then she will be the best princess you have ever seen. Just… just let me work through this, let me talk to her." Opening the door, Shining looked back one last time, then left the queen to her own devices. Determination drove his hooves, heading for the guardroom to make ready.


~~~~~+++++~~~~~


"What are they saying?" Sweetie Belle pushed at the bush around her, turning her ears this way and that to attempt to hear.

"Well, I could hear if you weren't talkin'!" Apple Bloom was pushing forward to better hear as well.

Both fillies froze when they saw Scootaloo walking out, Bright sitting on her back. Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle looked at each other, panic in their eyes. 

"We gotta go." Apple Bloom started moving, glad that Sweetie hesitated only a single heartbeat longer before joining her.

Scootaloo felt her friends press up on each side of her and faltered a little. "What are you doing? They will see you!" And of course, her exclamation caught Twilight and Luna's attention. That Rarity and Applejack were looking hard at their little sisters went without saying.

"I'm sorry, Luna." Scootaloo walked right up to the princess, only her two friends at her sides gave her the courage to keep talking. "It was me who you were looking for. Please don't be mad."

When the green fire swirled around Scootaloo, Luna took a step back, then another. Her mouth worked but no sounds came out.

Apple Bloom stood beside her best friends, dipping her head. "She didn't do it alone, we-"

"We both helped hide her." Sweetie Belle looked over at her friends. "Please don't squish us."

"Where is the real Scootaloo?" Luna felt a little of her fire remain, most having been smothered in the emotions the three fillies brought up. "What have you done with her?"

"She is the real Scootaloo." Twilight walked up behind the fillies, Gentle at her side. "It is a long story, Princess. But I don't have time to tell it here. Please, come back to Canterlot." She looked up at Luna, really looked, and saw a very scared mare fighting to hold on to what she believed was right. 
> Spreading Out - Part 3
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"You understand, Twilight Sparkle, that I am still not convinced this Chrysalis has the right to lead. She took an action that, by its very nature, goes against pony values." Luna stood up as the train began to slow, balancing her mass over her four hooves. "I have only come here to see her for one reason, to see if you are right."

Twilight felt a measure of relief pour through her. "You will see, Princess Luna, Queen Chrysalis isn't a bad pony, she did what she thought she had to." She reached out a hoof to wake Gentle, the big changeling blinking a few times before they leaned into the hoof. 

Luna watched the wordless exchange between the two, unsure how deep either seemed to treat it. "Come on, then, I will meet with Equestria's queen." She marched off the train and froze as she reached the platform. "Tia?"

"You came back." Celestia rushed forward, wrapping her sister in a hug that took both forelegs and her wings, yet still seemed insufficient to express how she felt. "What you fear isn't happening." I hope she believes that, I don't want to see her hurt.

Giving her sister a shy smile, Luna nodded. "Twilight Sparkle told me. I saw all the horrors that changelings have done and thought they would again. What convinced me, in the end, was myself."

Celestia blinked at the odd words. "You convinced yourself that this wasn't bad?"

"No. I convinced myself that I shouldn't blame this Chrysalis for what her kind did back then. Would I want another race to judge all ponies based on what I did?" Luna felt the grip of her sister tighten, and fought the tears that threatened to come. "I was a monster, Tia, brutal and… I hope nopony… well, no other creature, even looks back at those thousand years and judges anypony on it."

Inside the train, Twilight and her friends were sorting out their baggage—most of which was Rarity's, of course. 

"So what, we work for this new queen whats-alis?" Rainbow Dash only had her duffel, the Wonderbolts colored kit-bag that she kept only her most important things in. 

"Ah'm not sure about the whole 'queen' thing, to be honest." Applejack packed even lighter than Rainbow Dash, only bringing a spare box for her hat, and ties for her mane and tail. "What was she queen of before, anyway? Weddin' invadin'?"

"She was a queen in absentia, she was a political exile!" Rarity had clearly built up the title, and what history Twilight had told her about Chrysalis. "And to think, she wants us to help her? Oh it is exciting!" She produced a fan from somewhere and began to wave it in quick, short motions of her magic.

Fluttershy was far too engrossed in Gentle to notice what was going on between her friends; after her initial panic at the big pony-like creature, she immediately softened to them. "Aren't you just adorable you big buggy." She rubbed Gentle's shoulder, which had the effect of Gentle almost collapsing into her. "Oh, you needed a rest did you?" She traced up to the base of the underling's wings, rubbing them. "I bet you like a back rub just as much as Harry does."

" 'Queen' is a role within a changeling hive, that makes them the leader. But in this case Queen Chrysalis carried it over to the title, Queen. She is Queen to her drones, and now she is Queen to Equestria." Twilight almost jumped at a touch to her mane. Turning her head, she saw Pinkie Pie had her hooves up, tapping at something.

"Patty-cake, patty-cake. Baker's colt!" Pinkie Pie tapped her hooves up in time with the tiny changeling, giggling along with them. "Hey, hold still, Twilight." She looked at her friend, who was totally being a party-pooper. 

Gentle Midnight was in the changeling state known as "bliss," they looked up at the nice yellow and pink pony and gave a soft chirp of their wings. Not only was Gentle completely full, but the pony was still spilling love all over them. Rolling to their back, Gentle offered their belly to be rubbed, and realized everypony was staring at them.

Rarity couldn't help smiling at her friend, Fluttershy clearly quite enamored with the changeling. Turning to Twilight, she murmured, "I don't suppose that would work on Princess Luna?" The words were loud enough for everypony to hear them, and while it broke the startled moment, it did remind everypony that Luna hadn't seemed completely won over.

Climbing off the train, Twilight watched the two royal sisters already departing. She thought about galloping to catch up, but she didn't want to leave her friends behind. "Come on girls, we have an empire to save."


~~~~~+++++~~~~~


Luna could tell her sister wasn't controlled, it wasn't just instinct but memory. She remembered the slightly not-quite-right way she talked, the fact that her wings had drooped a little, and trembled. "Tia, she isn't going to try to take me over, is she?"

"She had better not." Celestia felt a little fire fill her, she lifted her wing up and set it over Luna's back as they walked through the castle. "Part of the new laws are that such is illegal. Queen Chrysalis looked like she was going to be sick when I brought it up during the chartering." 

"Now I really want to meet her. Tia, if things don't work out…" Luna took a deep breath. "You have my flank?" The wing squeezed her tighter, the two pausing in an empty hallways to lean together and hug.

"Lulu, if you go that far, if I think you are right… I will have your flank, even against her. With Princess Cadance and Prince Shining Armor gone, she shouldn't even be all that powerful." Celestia shrugged. "Just make sure that your reasons are valid."

"So no going off at the drop of a hat, allowing an evil spirit to infect me and taking over?" Luna rubbed her cheek with her sister's. "Come on, I need to meet this mare and get everything over with." The two walked up and, as casually as they could, joined the short line to see the Queen.

"Excuse me, Your Highnesses?" Braced gave his most winning smile to the two mares. "If you would follow me, Queen Chrysalis will see you both." He waited for a nod from each before turning, walking past the petitioners who were patiently waiting to speak to Celestia. "If you don't mind, Princess Luna, I have to say I am happy you have returned. The problems in the north are… worrying, and I found mother's old books that speak of the Princess of the Night as a protector."

Luna barely managed to keep walking, she blinked rapidly a few times to wrap her head around what the changeling had said. They know about me? It was a tiny voice, a very small one that hadn't been heard since just before she became Nightmare Moon. If just one pony had said that, back then, a lot of problems would have been avoided.

"Presenting, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna!" Braced Stepped to the side and backed against the wall. "Your Highnesses."

"Your Majesty." Princess Celestia bowed her head. "May I present to you, Princess Luna. I hop—" She froze, Luna was striding past her, each hoof-strike against the floor sending sparks and sounding like thunder. Please be careful, Lulu.

"I challenge your right to rule my Equestria." Luna let power enter her lungs, driving out the Royal Canterlot Voice at full volume. "I want you to prove to me, as protector of Equestria, why you deserve to sit on that throne!"

Chrysalis smiled. "I would be delighted." Standing up slowly, she stepped down from the throne a pace at a time. "Princess Luna, Bringer of the Moon, Mare of the Night, Protector of Equestria… I could go on and on about your titles." She reached the bottom of the stairs and buzzed her wings a little in excitement. "I accept any challenge you, or Equestria, put before me."

Luna didn't so much charge her magic through her horn, as relax the tension she usually held herself back with. Her wings flared as the darkness flowed out from her, wrapping the throne room. She pulled her power back a little, peering through the inky blackness.

Chrysalis had barely a moment to move, her heart beat faster. Oh buck, she isn't holding back. She didn't buzz her wings for flight, knowing how quickly that would make a target of herself. "Princess Luna, please accept my apologies." She circled around more, using magic to echo her voice from all around. 

Staring into the darkness, Luna realized that it might not have been such a wonderful idea; she could see better than the average pony in the night, but when the changeling started using magic to confuse her it proved that it was a mistake. She drew the night back in, looked around and saw her own sister standing at her side. "Tia?"

Chrysalis saw the mare's guard was down, it was time. "No." Green magic poured from Chrysalis' horn. It slammed against Luna's horn, to be met with black energy. "You are stronger than your sister?" It was a miscalculation, Chrysalis started glancing around for something to feed off.

"Didn't she tell you that?" Luna began pouring more and more power out, forcing the green magic back toward Chrysalis' horn. "You used ponies, at the wedding, to feed off. A good strategy," Luna drove the magic back almost all the way to Chrysalis' horn, barely an inch of green struggled to hold back the night, "What will you do, if I let you go?"

"You… you will rule. I can't beat you." Chrysalis trembled, her magic failing under the onslaught. "I just want to be what Equestria needs, I don't want ponies to get hurt, please don't let them get—" The dark magic stopped, she jerked her head up to look at Princess Luna.

"I know a pony who could smell a lie from a mile away, but she is young. All I wanted to hear was the truth, and I am sure I heard it." Luna shook her head. "I tried to rule, to take over. Ponies stepped in my way at every turn. But they didn't step in yours. You can be queen, Chrysalis, but if you dare to do a bad job of it…" Her threat was left hanging, Luna—and the rest of the court—waited to see what the changeling would do.

Chrysalis blinked, she had drawn back her own magic the moment the Princess had. She felt an awe settle over her. "I didn't plan for this. I planned for everything, even losing. If I lost, and Equestria became yours, I would have followed every order. I don't…" Chrysalis shook her head. A hoof reached out to her, it was a guide, a life-raft. She held up her own and was pulled to her hooves by Princess Luna. 

"My Queen." Luna bowed her head. "I wish to see the charter my sister speaks of. She seemed to imply you had restricted yourself, and your changelings." Lifting her head back up, she saw that Celestia herself was approaching now.

"Lulu, what did I tell you about pushing this?" Celestia leaned in and hugged her sister. "If anything had happened to you, I don't know where I would be." She pressed her cheek against Luna's.

"Princess Luna!" Chrysalis had been given enough time, by Celestia, to come up with a course of action. "The throne of Canterlot recognizes you as a protector of Equestria and asks if you would be willing to take up a new position, that will need to be passed into the constitution?" Her eyes gleamed with half-shed tears—the honor Luna had displayed made her feel even more, the heavy weight of rulership.

Celestia pulled back her wing and let her sister stand before the Queen.

"What position will that be?" Luna narrowed her eyes in suspicion at the changeling.

Chrysalis grinned, showing off her four prominent fangs, and propped her glasses up a bit higher. "I dub thee Knight of the Queen. Your role will be twofold. The first is to ensure all of Equestria is safe." She paused and looked at Luna meaningfully.

Luna's suspicion faded. She gave a little nod to this.

"And the second is to assist your sister in managing Equestria. It may not show, but I am terrible at dealing with ponies." Chrysalis buzzed her wings a little. "You understand what your duties will be in this?"

"Terrible at dealing with…" Luna shook her head. "I understand these duties, and as I swore already, if Equestria needs my help, in any way, I will give it. As for standing at my sister's side," Luna turned to Princess Celestia, "I think I could get used to that."


~~~~~+++++~~~~~


"Next wave, move!" Shining Armor's voice echoed over the field a moment before a deep thrumming sound started. Nearly one-hundred underlings buzzed their big wings, picking up the wingless soldier drones and heading off into the distance. "Cady, you know—"

"I am your Lieutenant, Captain Shining Armor." Cadance gave her husband a mock glare. "And the answer is still 'I am coming on this campaign, whether you like it or not. Between us we have one thing that will give every changeling an edge."

Shining grinned. "I know, Lieutenant Cadance, but you have to forgive me for wanting to protect you, too." He noticed the next wave of underlings was lumbering up, one was advancing on him. "You get to fly yourself, keep up." Without warning, Shining moved closer to Cadance and kissed her cheek.

The rush of love from the pair halted every changeling on the field, nearly two-hundred heads turned with happy smiles. 

Shining spun around. "Get ready!" The sound of buzzing wings behind him was something he had trained for already. Shining Armor felt the green magic wrap around him, pulling him up to the belly of the hovering underling. "Thanks, Buzz." Lifting his voice, he looked across at the last wave that would be moving, and yelled, "Move!"
> Spreading Out - Part 4
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Twilight had a full laboratory setup now, using various magic lenses and potions on the honey and her own samples. It was a laborious task testing each and every effect, but it was her future she was working for. 

"Twilight? Darling, you are still at it?" Rarity was first into the room, but turned and raised her voice. "She is in here!"

Finishing her latest experiment, Twilight stepped back from the bench to greet her friends. "Sorry I dragged you all here for no reason…" She was quickly wrapped up in five hugs from her five best friends.

"Pfft, it's not like we haven't been busy." Rainbow Dash waved a hoof. "Princess Luna has us checking up all over Canterlot, making sure all the new laws are being followed by everypony. I mean, it is kind of exciting, but everypony is just so… so… normal about it."

"What do you mean, 'normal'?" Twilight suddenly regretted spending three days locked in the lab. "I helped write those new laws…"

"The laws are workin' great." Applejack squeezed her friend a little tighter. "Near as Ah can tell, nopony is really having to act differently. The big difference is the—"

"The beauty spa!" Rarity's voice rode over Applejack's, she lifted one hoof to her forehead. "Oh it is simply divine, Twilight, you simply must take the afternoon off so we can visit." Rarity batted her eyelashes.

"I…" Twilight looked back at her lab gear. Memories of what it was that made her who she was pulled her attention back to her friends. "Alright. But what is so special about the spa here?" she reached out with her magic, gently brushing the crest of Sweet Dreams. The little drone gave a chirp and jumped to their hooves. Her attention turned to Spike. "Come on, Spike, let's have a break from this."


~~~~~+++++~~~~~


"Captain Shining!" 

"Eye Spy." Shining turned to the infiltrator who was still rushing toward him. He hadn't had a lot of experience seeing changelings flustered, but he was a quick learner when it came to his comrades. "Report in."

"Sir." Eye could tell Shining was less interested in honorifics, and more in details; he decided to leave out the full title he would have used. "We have seen ponies, sir. Nearly twenty."

Enemy. Shining took a deep breath. "What mix are they? How are they deployed?" His mind raced, bringing up memories of his plans. It all depended on the report.

"They were all wearing some kind of mask, like this." Eye changed his form into a pony, but a pony with an odd-looking mask covering its head. Ditching the disguise, he returned to his black, chitinous self. "All working in lock-step, really strange and almost jerky movement… Oh, all earth ponies."

"I need to see them. Those masks worry me. They could be something to give the ponies magic, they could be a trap, exploding if we try to free them…" Thoughts racing, Shining reaching a hoof up to give the drone a pat on the withers. "Good work, can you take me there or will we need to fly?"

"Short flight. Or we could run it." Eye stomped his legs. "We would be back before the next leap forward."

"Hold on, we aren't going alone. Lieutenant Cadance!" Shining's yell earned him an inarticulate reply, but it was enough to work out direction. "Come on." He trotted after his wife, soon finding her with a cluster of drones around her, and a deck of cards shuffling in her magic. "You aren't swindling my army, are you?"

"Sir!" All the drones shot to their hooves, sketching perfect salutes to Shining.

"At ease." Shining leaned down and gave Cadance a kiss. "We have found their scouts, Cady. I am going with Eye Spy to investigate. Wait!" Shining pressed a hoof to Cadance's lips. "No, we aren't going alone."

Cadance used her magic to remove the offending hoof, after giving it a little kiss. "You do that. I would suggest two guards, three underlings, and another infiltrator." She looked up at her husband. I don't know whether to hug him and tell him not to go, or charge off at his side, ready to blast the enemy.

"You have been reading my notes." Shining leaned in and kissed Cadance, landing his lips against hers. A sudden silence fell over the huge camp of changelings, not that either of the ponies noticed. Only when the kiss ended did everyling seem to animate again. 

"Of course, I want to learn, I want to be at your side." Cadance spoke the words with her lips still brushing Shining's. "Go on, before I change my mind and come with you." Cadance used her magic to give Shining a good swat on the plot.

"Yes ma'am!" Shining laughed and turned to an adoring bunch of changeling faces. Realization struck, that he and Cadance had just gave them a good feed. "I need the best two guards, the bravest three underlings, and another scout." He turned his gaze to Eye Spy. "You can find me the latter, I will get the rest. Meet me on the north-edge of camp."

In no time, Shining was on the north edge, his small group arrayed before him. "Eye, who do you have?" 

"Extra Sharp, sir!" Extra Sharp gave a salute. "Eye said you wanted a smart bug?" She gave her commander a cocky grin.

"Smart bugs are good, smart bugs who follow orders are better." Shining reached a hoof up, rubbing Buzz's side with a hoof. I trust you to get me in and out. "Okay, listen up. We have found what we think is a scouting force from Sombra's army. Earth ponies with strange helmets on, we are observing only." He stared at the two big guardlings. "But if it comes to a fight, I don't want to lose. Got it?"

"Sir!" The grunting yell was sharp, clear.

"Let's go. Eye, get us close, but don't get us so close that we are seen in the air." Shining looked up to Buzz, the underling easily big enough to carry him. "Come on, buddy, let's start this war."

They won't hear the buzzing, they won't hear the buzzing. It is just because we are close to each other that we can hear it... Shining tried to keep telling himself that they were actually being stealthy, but there was no stopping the kernel of worry. "How much further?"

"Down there!" Eye pointed to some forest ahead, and as one the changelings all lowered down to land on the edge of it.

The moment Buzz let go of him, Shining energized his horn. A pink sphere wrapped around his squad as they settled to the ground. "How far by hoof?"

Eye pointed deeper into the woods. "This way, Sir." 

The going was slow, Shining followed Eye closely, stopping when she stopped, dropping to his belly when she did. Then at last they saw their targets. "Using the woods for cover, wait, you said there was only earth ponies?" Shining gestured to one side of the group of helmeted ponies.

"That unicorn wasn't with them before." As Eye replied the unicorn turned, the helmeted head facing directly at the party. The eye-slits of the helmet flashed briefly with green light.

"Buck." Shining was throwing up his shield as the other unicorn's horn energized, meeting their dark magic bolt with a wall of pure force. Decision time, hit them or retreat. Advantages and disadvantages. Shining's thoughts raced, speeding faster and faster as adrenaline hit his system. Nopony to report on us if we get them all, facing an unknown enemy, outnumbered. I don't like it. But letting them go is giving away information, no more element of surprise. "Hit them, use my shield as cover from the unicorn. Heavy Lift," he addressed the bigger of the two guardlings, "that mare is your target."

Eye watched Shining climb to his hooves, and practically face-hoofed. "She will cook me like a lobster if I don't defend him." She smirked and shifted, her body growing larger, fire wrapping her and turning her body pure white. Beside her, Extra was quick enough of thought to see the ruse. She stood up as well, her own Shining Armor disguise in place. 

Buzz was scared. Their best friend was shouting to the others, but nopony told them, or the other underlings, what to do. Smiling, they buzzed their big wings and raced to Shining Armor—Buzz had kept track of the real one—and picked him up with their magic. 

Shining disliked the ruse Eye and Extra were using, but he wouldn't ruin their ploy by shouting to them. He almost dropped his shield when powerful magic lifted him up, Buzz tucking him solidly under his body. "Don't drop me, Buzz, let's go forward as fast and hard as we can." He pointed with a hoof to where the helmeted earth ponies were advancing. 

Circling around, keeping low, Heavy Lift let her Captain's distraction do its job. They had trained for this, and she had to admit that the stallion was almost sneaky enough to be a changeling himself. She had no disguise, she had passable magic, but it was barely enough to get her into trouble, literally. Heavy twitched the glands in her mouth, felt the sacks there, bulging, ready. Every muscle was tight as she crawled on her belly.

But the guardling knew she wasn't going to reach the pony before they noticed her. Turning toward the closer threat, the unicorn's eyes flashed briefly, giving Heavy the chance to throw what magic she had into a shield. Her body had been ready for this, very ready; Heavy Lift broke into a gallop, rushing forward as her emerald shield flared with dark magic. She was at least a length from the pony, when her magic gave way.

Shining watched as a bolt of black magic lanced out and caught Heavy in the side. "There!" He pointed so that Buzz could see where he wanted them to go. Moving closer, Shining watched as the big guardling crashed against the unicorn, knocking their head up as she closed her mouth around the helmeted mare's throat. "Next targets! Drip, start working on the earth ponies. Don't let them hit you!" With the unicorn down, Shining focused his shield around Heavy Lift.

Heavy gave the unicorn an extra dose of her venom, the pony paralyzed and limp in her jaws. She could feel a lot of pain down one side, and released her grip to check on herself. The thump of a body slamming into a shield startled her before she could really look, and she lifted her head to see a bright pink earth pony, with a pink helmet, looking at her. "Thanks, Sir!"

Shining Armor waited until Heavy had her hooves under her and a good stance before he dropped the shield. Not for the first time he saw what seemed like the most savage of killing blows fell a pony nearly instantly. Not for the last time—he knew—he thanked Celestia for guardling venom being so fast.


~~~~~+++++~~~~~


Drip wasn't as big as his fellow guardlings, but what he lacked in size he made up for in staying power. Leaping to the back of a helmeted pony, he sank his fangs into their shoulder and gave them a dose. 

He flashed a shield up as an earth pony was about to slam into him, but with the force they used it still rocked him, knocking him off the paralyzed pony and to the side. Two more earth ponies joined the first, but Drip noticed something that made him smile. The moment the original rusher focused on him, Eye and Extra dropped their disguises and tripped the earth pony.

"Nice work!" Drip practically pounced onto the pony, sinking fangs into soft flesh and taking them from the fight. "Care to do that again? Worked well!" He climbed up from the downed pony.

Eye grinned at how effective their ruse had been. "Absolutely, I wonder what these helmet things are?"

"Captain said not to touch them." Extra poked Eye in the side. "I see two more of them over there, sneaking around behind the Captain." She buzzed her wings, but instead of flying she pulled up a disguise, mimicking the pony Drip had just put down. A glance revealed Eye copied the other. Galloping as fast as they could, they joined the two flankers.

Drip waited for his two sisters to join the ponies now harassing Shining Armor's shield. He moved up on one, pouncing to their back as Eye and Extra tripped the other up. He watched, his mouth clamping to the pony's shoulder, as Heavy Lift grabbed the tripped pony in her jaws and held on.

"She is out of venom!" Shining yelled the warning to Drip. It made him tremble in excitement and panic both, at just how effective the changelings were at taking out the ponies. "Is that all of them?"

"Yeah, this was only half that scouting party, even if the unicorn was new." Eye helped hold down the last of the earth ponies while Drip put them out. "Should we take their helmets off now?"

"I don't know." Shining armor looked first to the unicorn. "Let's start with them. I have never seen magic like that before…" He walked over to the unicorn mare and crouched down beside them. "Stand back." 

He didn't give them a chance to protest, but as he wrapped his magic around the helmet, Shining felt another force, definitely magical in nature, clamping it down onto the pony. "Buzz, help me." The presence of the big underling at his side never failed to surprise Shining, among ponies he was considered big, but Buzz was something else. Green magic flowed down his own, wrapped around it. He felt when the changeling latched on to the helmet with him and, working together, they pulled.

Eye recoiled a little from the look of terror on the unicorn's face. Her eyes flicked around wildly, then her mouth opened. "Wait—"

The wailing cry startled Short Burst. She heard the screaming, feeling her heart racing. Her brain tried to process that it was her making the noise, but all she could do was focus on the big unicorn stallion and the monster huddled over her. Her mouth snapped closed, green magic pushing her jaw up.

"You're safe, we got it off you. You are safe." Shining could see the terror in the mare's eyes, the hope. He reached down and picked her up into a hug. "Shh, calm down please. Can you tell us what happened?"

Short shook, but the hug was something real, very real—and more importantly it was nothing like the helmet. "Get me away, please… I don't want that thing on me again, I will do anything you want!" She meant every word. She tucked her snout down into the stallion's neck, tears pouring from her eyes. "They put it on me, they made me…"

"Shh, shh now." Shining kept soothing the pony as best he could. "Gather them all up, we aren't leaving a single one behind." He used his magic to pick the mare up, setting her on his back since she didn't want to give up hugging him. "Something is very wrong with these helmets."
> Spreading Out - Part 5
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

His hooves climbed the stairs slowly. King Sombra didn't wear his iron boots to do this, he relished the precision, the exactness, of each and every step. His thoughts were calm, slow, focusing on the amount of work it had taken the ponies of the Crystal Empire to build his castle, without flight or magic. 

He took his time, of course, because the entirety of his empire was waiting, their breath caught in their throats. Re-helmeting his army had been his first priority, after reaching the castle. Then sending out regular military scouts. But it was all leading up to this moment—this long, drawn-out moment. At last he reached the top of the stairs and looked at his prize. "It has been too long." The words dripped with his desire, to control, to master, to rule. A flick of his magic dispelled his wards and traps, and Sombra stepped up to the Crystal Heart.

A chill settled over not just the Crystal Empire, but all of Equestria. Ponies felt ice run up their spines, as far away as Appleloosa, when Sombra wrapped his magic around the heart. "Now you are mine, I think we will speed things up a little." Sombra collapsed into a swirl of black magic, smoke that poured back down the castle, enveloping it in an avalanche of darkness. Coalescing himself back at the bottom, the King stepped up to where the Heart should reside. 

Sombra reached up with his magic, holding the Crystal Heart upside-down, and set it into the magic field that would support it. All at once he drew his smoke in, folding and bending it back into himself. 

Every crystal pony present, guarded by more of their number wearing the mind-control helmets, gazed at their King, watched him with a sinking despair. 

The heart drank up the ponies' emotions, gathering them up in a gluttonous rush, and stained its surface black like a dark onyx. More and more of the despair the heart consumed, until finally it seemed to tremble with the effort to contain it. 

Sombra himself groaned as the wave of despair rushed outwards; it poured through the stallion's body, but he held it back, his pride a levy-bank against the torrent. "Yes."


~~~~~+++++~~~~~


The wave washed toward Shining's army. He watched the boiling mass of raw magic and emotion flooding outwards. "Cady?" The pair of them had been sitting with the unicorn they had rescued, trying to rouse them from their terror. "What is…" Shining's eyes widened, he drew in a breath for a full parade-ground shout. "EVERYPONY DOWN!"

A few weeks of training, a week in the field, had taught everyling to listen to that voice—that Shining's emotions ran a mix of worry and terror, led impetus to their actions. Just short of a thousand bodies crashed to the ground, a few of the underlings crawling to the fore in a noble attempt to protect their hive-mates.

The wave of darkness rolled over the camp, licking tendrils of magic down to coax at the minds and emotions of the ponies within it. Shining turned his head to Cadance, saw the darkness lash down and wrap around her throat briefly before moving on. "Cady?"

"Shiny!" Cadance fell against Shining. Emotional pain was tearing through her, as love fought with despair. She wasn't alone, Shining Armor was at her side, and she hugged him with forelegs and wings both. Even then, the two of them weren't alone. 

Buzz could taste what Shining felt, and disliked it immensely. They got up to their hooves and walked closer, butting in on the other side of Shining from Cadance. The emotion ran stronger, despair fighting to grow other emotions, acting as a seed in the stallion's mind. Buzz chirped his wings—a deep, soulful, sound.

More and more of the army crowded in; they found not only Shining Armor and Cadance, but the unicorn they had rescued, and the terrified crystal ponies. Slowly, the swarm picked up and carried each of the lost ponies to their leaders.

Shining was pressed in from all sides, at first it was just changelings, but then the captured scouts were brought in. But of all the bodies, one had Shining Armor's full attention. "Cady?" He nuzzled up against his wife, the raw power of her love radiating out, fighting off the despair within him. 

Her nickname made Cadance turn to Shining, and smile. "Shining Armor, my Shiny." The last remaining taint of despair fled her, overwhelmed by love. She pushed it all out, sharing her love with the ponies and changelings. 

All around, among the hundreds of changelings, a soft chirping started, as each of them started to rub their wings together. When Cadance stood up in the middle of them, pink force pouring off her, the noise of their wings rose into a deafening roar. Suddenly, silence reined: Cadance opened her mouth. "We will fight on, I will not let you fail, we cannot fail! For Equestria!"

Shining Armor stood up, letting Cadance's power wash through him. "For Equestria!" His voice tried to gain the impetus to sound inspiring, but it was too tainted with his love to really sound the part. Fortunately, changelings didn't just hear with their ears. The roaring of their army was almost deafening, but what really got Shining's attention, was the unicorn.

Standing up, Short Burst looked at Cadance with undisguised adoration. "P-P-Princess…" Words failed her, she couldn't help but stare at the pink glow emanating from the Princess of Love. All the horrible things, all the terrible stuff the helmet had done to her, seemed muted, softer. Short could remember what had happened still, but it didn't hurt anymore.

Cadance's mouth opened as a single thought hit her. "Canterlot…" She turned her head, watching the wave of darkness heading towards the city. It burned her inside that she wasn't there to protect them.

"No, Cady. We have to push on, as fast as we can." Shining lifted his hoof and pointed to where the billowing despair originated. "We can't let this continue."


~~~~~+++++~~~~~


Chrysalis stared. As one, every pony in the room suddenly looked terrified, then fell down. "What is going on?" Panic welled up, something she hadn't planned for had happened. She looked around and saw Celestia, and Royal Guard aplenty, all felled. "What is happening?!" Her voice shook the throne room.

The taste of every pony she could reach to was disgusting, almost making Chrysalis retch. Drawing her powers in tightly, she looked to the only two creatures still standing, apart from her. "Find out what is going on, rouse the hive!"

Braced rushed into the throne room, gliding past his two hive-mates, and just before what he had suddenly realized was anger incarnate. "Princess Luna is—"

"Out of our way!" Luna stormed past Braced. She spotted her sister, her sister's pupil, and her anger grew. "What have you done? Is this the result of drinking all their happiness?!" The Royal Canterlot Voice was well deployed, she noticed Queen Chrysalis shrink back.

"No! This isn't… we didn't do this, it was something else!" Chrysalis looked around at the felled ponies. "Why isn't it affecting you?" Her tone was more curious than accusing, but the question seemed to strike the dark alicorn just as hard as if she had been blaming her.

"Ugh, stop it, you are only making it worse…" Twilight stumbled past Luna, one hoof raised to her forehead, her horn lit and active. "A wave of magic hit Canterlot, it was—"

Luna's face blanched, she interrupted Twilight. "It came from the north, despair and terror." Her voice was small, giving the negative emotions their first foothold in her. "No, your army is too late, or defeated."

"What, how did he do…" Twilight winced, her horn glowing brighter to strengthen her defenses. "How did Sombra do this?"

"This is the Crystal Heart." Luna gestured out the windows, to the gray sky. "Remember the story? When darkness reigns, the Heart radiates that instead. This is the darkness." Luna shook herself and bared her teeth again. "My Queen, I am sorry for accusing you." Her anger rushed through her, but it was aimed now, pointed like an arrow, directly at King Sombra. "With your permission, I will join up with the army."

Chrysalis was fumbling for a plan, her mind racing to put things in order. "Yes, yes you may." She stepped down from her throne and neared Princess Celestia. "I don't want this threat hanging over our heads, or the heads of future ponies." Her own fangs bared as she looked at Luna. If I didn't agree, she would have gone anyway. Or worse, stayed. Chrysalis buzzed her wings angrily. "Take the train, if you are half-spent by the flight then you will be no good to Captain Armor."

Luna stepped forward, every inch Equestria's protector. She stepped carefully past the guards, but stopped at her sister. "Tia…" She leaned down, touched her horn to Celestia's. "Guard her, my Queen. I will do what we should have, a thousand years ago."

Staring at the scene, Twilight felt a tremble of shock go through her. She almost sounded like Nightmare Moon. A soft chirp from behind her, drew Twilight's attention. "Sweet, you protected me." She looked at the sun-dazed little changeling. The feel of her leg, where he had bitten her—enabling him to seek her dreams—was barely a memory. What Twilight Sparkle did remember vividly, however, was sleeping late in the hive, having spent the night studying. Her dream had started to turn dark before the little changeling had grown, and grown. Waves of green magic had burned in her mind, protecting her.

"Anyling would have. It was lucky you were asleep." Sweet wobbled a little on his legs, disliking being awake for any reason. Buzzing his wings, the little changeling alighted on Twilight's back. "Mmm, maybe I should go back to sleep, maybe—"

"That's it!" Twilight charged her horn, flashing from her position to the carefully calculated spot at Celestia's side. "So the magic has forced her to dream, right?" She looked up to Princess Luna, judging her to be the best to make the call.

"Twilight Sparkle," Luna reined in her immediate reaction, to talk down to her sister's student, "what is it you plan? My sister sleeps, though I could not reach her where she is."

"You don't need to!" Twilight tittered a little, her excitement getting the better of her. "Sweet Dreams is a dreamling, he could—" Twilight dodged to the side, away from Luna's attack. "Princess! Please calm down! He saved me from it already, he could bring Princess Celestia out."

Luna turned to glare at Chrysalis. "You made dreamlings without asking my permission? Dreams are my domain!"

"Princess Luna!" Sweet Dreams climbed down from Twilight's back, picking his way past Celestia's stretched-out legs. "Then join me. I—" Sweet's conversation was stolen in a yawn. "I promise I won't hurt her. I just want to help." It was getting harder for the drone to stay awake.

"Please, Princess Luna." Twilight looked up at the mare she had saved. "Do it for me? Sweet is a nice pony, he protected me from the wave, he might be able to protect Princess Celestia." Twilight focused on Luna's eyes, trying to impart her trust in Sweet on the alicorn.

"I sometimes think you might know my sister better than I do, Princess," Luna stressed the title, "Twilight Sparkle. The Princess Celestia I remember… she sent her own sister to the moon, rather than risk her ponies." Luna looked down at Sweet, and had to fight her sense of dread at seeing the face of a dreamling, outside of a dream, for the first time. The danger, Luna realized far too late, was the creature looked not only sincere, but cute. "And now, she plays softer games than she or I ever would. If you can guard my sister, Sweet Dream, while I hunt the monster down, then show me what you will do."

Sweet had trouble keeping his eyes open. Lifting his plot up, he walked to one of Celestia's big limbs. He leaned down, lips kissing her fur reverently, before his tiny fangs sank in. Flexing the tendons around his poison sacks, Sweet delivered the dose to the Princess, then was offered a dark blue one. Looking up, he bowed to Luna, and then repeated the bite for her. "I only have a little left, maybe one more pony."

Luna nodded. "I am sure our Queen will decide who else is rescued, I would suggest a pony capable of fighting off the smog." She laid down, setting her head between Celestia and Sweet. One eye was focused on her sister, the other the changeling. "Cross me in this, and I will not make your life easy."

"Your Highness." Sweet yawned and closed his eyes. "Good night."

Relaxing her breathing, Luna steadied herself down into sleep, and froze. Before her stood a changeling that burned with all the power she remembered his kind having, it was everything she could do to resist wanting to blast him. "Sweet Dreams?" She froze when the drone bounced close, and bowed.

"Your Highness. Thank you for trusting me." Sweet had seen Twilight's dream, didn't want to guess at the things that would drive a pony to inflict that on somepony else. "I can feel Princess Celestia's dream, it is not a nice place."

"I can feel it too. I…" Luna hated to admit it. "I can't enter that dream, it is too much. She… she hates everything in there with her, she would see me as an invader." The huge row of doors appeared for her, almost every single one thrashing and threatening to burst the nightmares outwards.

"Princess Luna, allow me." Sweet burst with green fire. His coloration didn't change, so much as his form. His little wings stretched into a big pair of leathery bat wings, his eyes focused down into slits, and he grew a mane. "If I am going to serve you, I should look the part?"

The vision of the changeling changing to look like one of her guard, tickled Luna enough that the tension eased. "Of course." She spoke the words, and summoned a chariot. Sweet positioned himself perfectly, letting the bars of the chariot land on each side of him, the dark black traces lacing along his body, forming a Night Guard uniform. Climbing up onto the chariot, Luna lifted her head. "We go!"

Sweet had never actually fantasized about such things, but there was a certain amount of fun in playing in a dream-scape with another who could manipulate it so well. Leaping forward, he spread the big wings and started pumping, driving the dream-stuff behind them and gaining height. "She cannot resist my entrance, as she could yours."

Luna's eyes flashed a moment, before Sweet turned the flight into a crash-dive. She gripped the chariot tight as it dove, slamming down into the door to her sister's dream. A chill of terror suffused Luna for a moment, before a glowing green ball wrapped around them both. It was a storm, a tornado, tearing up any positive emotions it could find and sowing terror, despair, and worse. "We have to stop this!"

"I… I don't know how." Sweet looked around in terror, he could appreciate the mind it took to have such an expansive mind-scape, but that had meant the despair had grown far beyond what Twilight had been afflicted with. "It's too much!"

The panic Luna heard in the changeling's tone caught her off guard. Always, when dealing with dreamlings, dreamlings had been confident for a good reason: dreamlings are powerful in dreams. In a split second she realized that those had both been more and less than Sweet. Sweet was young, inexperienced, but he was also honest and, despite her initial misgivings, nice. "Help me, lend power to my actions." No sooner did she say it than her body boiled with green light—it was intoxicating.

Sweet looked back at the alicorn. "That is everything I have, Princess Luna. The rest is protecting us, but I don't dare—" 

"Trust me." Luna knew she was being a hypocrite, but her sister was the one at stake. "Give it all to me." The changeling—disguised as one of her own Night Guard—hesitated only a moment. He let the barrier down and gave all his magic to Luna. Of course she had a shield ready, she wasn't stupid. "I will not stand for my sister being like this!"

The reins lashed at Sweet's neck, he was giving all his magic to Luna, but he was still the pony pulling her chariot. Guided by the lines, he winged them closer and closer to the middle of the maelstrom, where a single spark rested.

Luna dismounted the chariot, banishing the construct and leaving her standing beside Sweet Dreams. "This is Tia, her center. The wind is cold, there is nothing to burn." Luna folded her legs and curled up beside "Celestia."

"She needs to burn again, grow?" Sweet looked at the beautiful spark, the hint of a flame. "What does she need to burn?"

"Nothing more than a promise." Luna extended the barrier around the spark, something that ate a great deal of Sweet's magic. "Sister? Tia? Are you there?" The spark flickered. "You are safe here, Tia. We are going to protect you," Luna paused, knowing the next words were the tinder, "I promise you are safe to grow."

A fire burst into being, like a tiny candle it wavered, flickered, but the calm Sweet's magic imposed was enough to keep it from guttering. The flame seemed to reach up to Luna.

"You did the right thing, Tia. You were right about Chrysalis, she has the fortitude to do what is right. Even her drones are… surprisingly well mannered, and very useful." Each word of praise built the little flame brighter. "I love you Tia, I need you safe."

Sweet didn't have time to blink, the fire didn't grow—it exploded. When his vision cleared of the flash, a burning, white-hot mare stood before them, prancing in place and glaring around her. "What did this?"

Luna smiled up at the "old Celestia" that seemed to be before her. "Sombra subverted the heart. If we had gone immediately, maybe—"

"You said our Queen has the fortitude to do what is right?" Celestia was angry, like she hadn't been in over a thousand years. "What is she doing?" Her hoof struck sparks off the plane they were on.

"She is sending me." Luna bared her teeth, rising to her hooves. "She sends the only pony who can bring true light in the darkest night." 

The tornado of emotions didn't stop, but Celestia bled out all her anger and rage at the winds. Sweet was almost overwhelmed at the heat, he was literally in the middle of the hottest fire that had ever existed, and the flame loved him. "Princess Celestia." He bowed his head to the heat.
> Spreading Out - Part 6
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Princess Celestia woke, the horror of the dream she had been trapped in started to crash in around her in the waking world. "No." Power flowed, she poured it out. Her power wasn't like other ponies she had taught over the years; they would ball up their magic and push it out. For Celestia, working magic was like opening her mouth and breathing: she never had to push, it just rushed out.

Gold light formed a sphere that grew outwards, wrapping not only herself, but her guards, Luna, and a curious little changeling. "That was you?" Celestia looked in surprise at the little, yawning changeling.

Lifting his head, Sweet Dreams gave a yawn along with a nod. "Yes, Your Highness." He yawned again, realizing that the dream had taken a lot out of him. Sleep was impossible to fight, when it swelled up around Sweet. The little drone just curled up into a ball, pushing his tail down to his back hooves and drifting off.

"I was scared of them…" Luna watched the changeling that she had so despised, chirp their little wings in a dream. "How many dreamlings are there?" Luna turned to look at Chrysalis, then giving a slightly guilty smile. "My Queen."

"We," Chrysalis gestured to Twilight Sparkle, "hadn't anticipated the need for more of them. Sweet is the only one. I wish I could speed up and breed more, but—"

Luna cut off her Queen. "But if the ponies of Equestria are like this much longer, your food source is gone. How long?" She watched Chrysalis nod, a grim look on her face. So much expression. Were those other changelings this… pony-like? Luna's musing was cut short by her pragmatism. "We must go as soon as possible. Twilight Sparkle, gather your allies."

Chrysalis waited for Twilight to gallop from the room. "I have honey to maintain my hive for nearly two weeks. It is the army I fear for, they were filled with love before they left, and I have no doubt Shining Armor and Cadance have kept them topped off, but now I cannot be sure."

Looking to her sister, Celestia, caring for her pony guards, Luna closed her eyes. "I will do what I can. My sister always cautioned against… against permanent solutions—" Luna froze at the clop that sounded from Chrysalis' hoof.

"Look at what he is doing to our ponies?!" Chrysalis gestured to Celestia and her guard. "This isn't isolated, is it? This is happening everywhere. I don't want to hear his name again, Princess Luna. Is that clear enough?"

Twilight and her friends had entered the throne room just in time to hear the pronouncement. While Twilight was fine, her five friends had all lost some of their color, and even the threat in Chrysalis' tone barely gained an "Oh my…" from Fluttershy.

Luna felt dark fire burn in her, she tilted her head up and felt her moon—out of sight, but never gone—soaring. "We need a train, as fast as possible." She turned from Chrysalis and marched toward Twilight and her friends. The moment she was near them, color rushed to the ponies. 

Most notable was Pinkie Pie's mane. "Ugh, what's that? I felt 'un-Pinkie.' " She shook her fuzzy mane, that had just sprung back up to maximum curls.

"Stay close, we are going to deal with this problem." Luna didn't slow, and the six mares quickly trotted up to do as she said. The group almost made it out of the castle before it was stopped by a little dragon and a big changeling. 

"There is no way you are going without us." Spike looked at Twilight alone, not trusting himself to even try to meet Princess Luna's gaze. "Come on Twilight, you know you need me and Gentle." Under him, Gentle gave a deep chirp. 

"Of course you can come, Spike." Twilight looked up to the worried look Luna gave her. "After all, we really should have somepony along who isn't affected by this." She waved a hoof in the air. Almost right away Spike vacated Gentle's back, scampering across and jumping to land on Twilight's. "Okay, now we go."

"I remember last time I did this, things were very different." Luna walked along the streets of Canterlot, watching all the washed-out ponies struggling to get through their day. "I begged Celestia to let me deal with him properly." A wave of the old anger, the darkness that had invited the Nightmare into her, assaulted Luna, but was quickly pushed away.

"Is that what Princess Chry… Ah mean, Queen Chrysalis, was sayin'?" Applejack gulped, not liking the implications. "Ah'm not sure Ah like the direction of all that." She took a deep breath, and felt Pinkie put a hoof on her shoulder. It really helped her get her words out. "We faced a mean-ol' mare a while back, turned out she was a nice friend we hadn't met yet." She looked at Luna.

That is so underhooved, but right. Luna sighed. "You haven't known him like I have." She heard six mouths open, and decisively cut them off. "And I won't let you. You may offer him friendship, but when that fails you will let me do what is needed." She looked around each, finding staunch defense of their values in their eyes. 

The six friends, Spike, and Gentle (of course), were all quiet for the rest of the walk to the station. The sounds of a train pulling in greeted them, and soon the sight of two particular ponies made them all blink.

"THERE THEY ARE, DERPY, SEE?!" Bulk had a heavy box sitting on his back, his size balancing it easily, his muscles supporting it without any problem. "SORRY YOUR HIGHNESS, TWILIGHT SPARKLE, BUT DERPY WOULDN'T LET ME LEAVE THESE TO THE MAIL!"

Derpy felt terrified, any hint of bravery stolen from her, leaving her washed out. "The… the Elements…" She pointed to the box. "Also, we had to… had to bring Scootaloo and Bright. We were at the train station, when everypony fell over, and then…"

"I can't eat!" Scootaloo pushed her way through the crowd, Bright Smile sitting on her back. "It sucks. Everypony feels terrible, there is no love anywhere!" 

A blue and rainbow blur charged up and checked on the filly, before stepping back. "You alright, squirt? Apart from the hunger thing… I don't… I don't get that…" Rainbow Dash was doing everything she could to show she cared for the filly, and still maintain her aloof hero-pose.

Scootaloo shrugged her shoulder. "Hard to explain. It's kinda like smelling the nicest thing ever, and feeling full because of it."

"Go up to the castle, Scootaloo." Twilight walked up to the filly, her insides twisting a little. "I promise I'll find a way to undo this…" To her shock, the little filly flashed with green fire, dropping her "disguise" and revealing her carapace.

"I don't want to 'undo this,' I have a sister because I am a changeling." Scootaloo looked up at Bulk Biceps. "And a brother, too!" Almost in tears, she raced toward the castle, leaving the ponies behind her. She hated the idea of losing her family now she had finally found them. A soft chirp from her back made her slow down and look back at Bright. "I don't care what they say, or think, or manage to make." She focused her horn, her magic—I've got magic!—and lifted the little queen nymph from her back.

Bright, not yet able to follow the full conversation that had happened, only cared about her big sister not feeling right. She gave another authoritative (or so she thought) chirp, and nuzzled Scootaloo's neck.

"I love you too, Bright." Scootaloo settled her little sister on her back again, and started to trot up to the castle. She slowed to a walk at the front doors, looking at the big stallions guarding it. Okay, this might be more scary than I— She was cut off as Bright climbed up her neck, peeked over her head, and gave a little chirp of her wings. Scootaloo's jaw nearly hit the ground; both the big guards dropped their disguises, revealing large changeling bodies that hulked above her and her sister.

"Your Majesty."

Scootaloo ran as fast as she could, her holed-hooves pounding as she ran past the changelings. But it didn't stop. As she ran through the castle, looking for the widest halls, there were changelings, and every time Scootaloo and Bright passed, they stopped and bowed to them. "This is weird, Bright." She knew she sounded worried, because Scootaloo felt worried. At last she was in a hall she recognized. Running through the doors, ignoring all the bowing changelings, she froze. "Chrysalis!"

Turning, the Queen of Equestria spotted Scootaloo and Bright. Her wings buzzed, she raced over to them and plucked each up and pulled them into a hug. No words were needed, she had already heard how well her two special fillies had done. 

Celestia looked sideways, nudging one of her guards. "Did Queen Chrysalis just chirp really loudly?" She wore a smile a mile wide, the reunion was something she had sorely needed to see on such a dark day.

"I didn't see anything." The guard, trying to hide their own grin, gave their wings a little buzz. "Wish I had a camera, though, Your Highness."


~~~~~+++++~~~~~


Night was falling, Shining Armor was already cursing as hard as he could—which wasn't much. "And you saw them?" He looked at Eye, then across to Extra. "How many?"

"A lot, moving fast." Eye Spy's wings buzzed a little in agitation. "I counted sixteen rows."

"And each was easily thirty ponies." Extra cut in after her sister. "Sir, they will be here before dawn." She actually chirped a little in fear.

Shining Armor took a deep breath. "Then we will have our first battle here." His heart was racing. This isn't our games on a tabletop, this is the real thing. When my changelings… Shining grit his teeth, refraining from continuing the thought. "Everyling! Incoming enemy, make ready!" His voice carried well in the evening air.

Thousands of hooves and wings began to make noise, the whole army preparing for a fight. "What's going on?" Cadance rushed up to Shining, a unicorn and some crystal ponies behind her, keeping close. She neared her husband and pressed her snout to his neck.

"They're coming, around five hundred." Shining lifted a foreleg and hugged Cadance. "Our first fight went well, because they weren't ready for us, we got to use tricks they didn't know. I can't assume that this time." 

"Are you trying to talk yourself out of the job, or think it over?" Cadance could feel the slight tingling draw, as dozens of changelings sipped just a little from her. "You have trained them well, they will fight for you, and Equestria."

"I know, I just wish they didn't have to." Shining Armor stepped toward the northern-most corner of the huge square the changelings had formed up around him. I promise you, Chryssi, I will get as many of your foals home as I can. Shining steeled his heart and energized his horn. Sending a white-pink blast of magic into the air, he detonated his firework up high, sending bright light out on all sides, and lighting up the helmeted army slinking toward them. 

As soon as the light went up, the helmeted army charged. Shining felt the shake in all the changelings as the crystal ponies came against them, it was an amazing feeling. "Buzz, lift me up!" Green magic wrapped around him, and Shining was lifted up onto the big underling's back.

He watched as the helmeted ponies tried to break up their square, dashing themselves against it. In response, his guardlings were grabbing them—one by one—biting them and pulling them into the changeling lines. As each guardling's venom was spent, they worked with the changelings to their left and right, helping them before falling back, making room for more. 

A black head dipped down, but Shining could tell it wasn't someling going for a bite. "Higher, up Buzz!" On the big underling's back, Shining watched as one guardling was pulled down by the incredible strength of the helmeted crystal ponies. "N-N-No…" His horn charged, and Shining threw a bolt of energy down, putting up a half-sphere wall around the fallen changeling, The changeling line bulged, pushing forward behind the cover and pulling the drone back.

From the corner of his eye, Shining saw another changeling go down, then another. His shields couldn't be everywhere at once, but he started to recognize the move that was bringing his army down, piecemeal. "WATCH YOUR LEGS!" His bellow was lost in the sounds of battle. 

The worst, apparently, was yet to come. Black power swelled in the shadows, at the edge of the magic light. Shining saw Sombra step into the light. The armor, the mane, the way the stallion stood; he reeked of power and privilege unearned. 

Dark tendrils reached for changelings, dragging them from the square formation in greater numbers, Shining reached out with his shields but his magic was nothing compared to the raw power that boiled in the dark shadows. 

"Princess Amore?!" Pain, anger, and blind rage consumed Sombra, all he could see, all he could focus on, was the strange pink alicorn. "PRINCESS AMORE!"

The bellow from the back-lines of the helmeted crystal ponies caused the ground to shake. Shining felt fear that had nothing to do with the miasma, and everything to do with his wife flying beside him. Black magic flew toward the pair of them. "Cady…" The world seemed to stand still, as the black ropes of power streaked toward them. "CADY!"
> Spreading Out - Part 7
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

A blue, pink, and green barrier wrapped around Shining, Cadance, and Buzz. Changeling magic, based on love itself, slotted seamlessly in with Cadance's power, and hers always married perfectly with Shining's. But despite the effort of the three, the shadow magic picked and bit at their barrier, peeling magic from it like an onion.

"Princess Amore! I destroyed you, how can you be here?" Sombra was in a blind rage, he was hurling power at the shield, ripping away at it. In his mind the torment he had relived over and over in his thousand-year-exile sprang fresh. Amore ignoring him, Amore triggering the Crystal Heart, Amore smashed to pieces. "I don't know how you came back, but I will end you now!"

Shining Armor felt a chill spread from the magic force-field around him, down through his magic and into his horn. As his magic wavered and failed, Shining could feel sharp pains in his horn, of something growing from it. 

Seeing her husband slump on Buzz's back, Cadance put her all into the shield. She spared a moment to look down at the fight below, seeing the changelings pushing back the helmeted ponies, the latter seeming severely uncoordinated suddenly. She knew that would change when King Sombra began using his magic on them, again. "I won't… I won't fail…" 

Buzz was struggling to hold their magic up to support Princess Cadance, while holding up Shining Armor too. Black magic started to sink into the remaining magic of their shield, and while Buzz couldn't feel it encroach on their own horn, they could see it funnel down into the Princess', growing little black crystals from her horn. Buzzing their wings furiously, Buzz dove under Princess Cadance, catching her on their back. 

There was only one left, Sombra couldn't reach the strange pony's horn, but he didn't need to. Wrapping his shadows all around the green shield, he started to squeeze.


~~~~~+++++~~~~~


The train trip was both horribly mundane, and exciting. Twilight was sitting next to Princess Luna, and had to keep reminding herself that she was a princess as well. "Princess Luna, you were introduced as 'Protector of Equestria,' "Twilight felt there was information here that she would find useful, "what does that mean, exactly? I never heard Princess Celestia called that…"

"It is an old title, before the millennium I spent locked in the moon, before I was even sent there…" Luna's thoughts tracked back to that time, when it was her and her sister; Celestia sitting proud on the throne, as they had agreed, and Luna being the steel that every ruler needed. "Tia… Celestia, she was always the better leader. Just looking at her inspired ponies to be good, to make all the right choices. But though she was the soft velvet covering, I was the striking shoe underneath."

Twilight began putting some facts together in her head. "Queen Chrysalis defeated Celestia—"

"Our Queen was backed up by the power of both Shining Armor and Princess Cadance's love, but you are right. Chrysalis could have overwhelmed Celestia even without that, allowing her to remain at full power afterward." Luna remembered watching that, feeling the terror that her sister would be once more under the hoof of a changeling. She smiled a little, I was right, in a way.

"But you were stronger than Chrysalis." Twilight was fighting for the numbers she wanted, that she craved, but all she had was the facts. "So you are more powerful than Princess Celestia?" The question frightened Twilight, the implication that she had gone against so much power when she faced Nightmare Moon almost raised a cold sweat.

"Yes." Luna didn't say the word loud, but she made sure Twilight would hear it. "In the past, Tia would aim me, like a modern doctor does their knife—"

"Scalpel." Twilight blushed hotly the moment she interrupted, but she just couldn't stop herself.

"A scalpel. She used me only when things were dire. Discord, Sombra, Windigo." Luna took a deep breath, her mind playing back each of the fights she named, and countless others. "But every time she had me fight, she would order me back at the end, demand I let the enemy live. We banished, we imprisoned, we did everything we could to make our problems, your problems."

"Our problems?" Twilight tried to follow the logic. Slowly it came to her. "Oh…"

"You carry the Elements of Harmony now." Luna lifted a wing to lightly brush the tiara Twilight was wearing. "You have a lot of power, a lot of responsibility. But know one thing, Twilight Sparkle; Queen Chrysalis has told me to make sure King Sombra is not a problem again, I promised you your chance at him, and I will stand by that, but you must not stand in my way."

"I have a hypothesis about that." Twilight lit her horn and trembled a little. With the Element on, all my magic feels so much stronger. She focused her thoughts down and lifted a small book from her saddlebags. "Discord is locked away again, right?" She waited for Luna to nod. "And he will probably break loose, in another thousand years." Another nod. "But you aren't going to turn around and step right back into evil, are you?"

Luna froze a moment, the tickling in the back of her head, of her Redemption, doing its job of reminding her of how dark she could be. "Every minute of every day, Twilight Sparkle, I remind myself how bad that was. I love Equestria, and I have found out that it loves me too."

It wasn't the answer Twilight wanted, not by a long shot. "My hypothesis might need some work, then." She took a deep breath. "We should be nearing the train station near the returned empire. The castle might even be—"

"We need to go, now!" Luna wasn't looking out the left window of the train, at the spire of the Crystal Castle in the distance; she was looking to the right, the huge dark magic lancing across the sky in the distance. She was on her hooves and rushing to the exit of the train.

Twilight shrugged to her friends and followed Luna. Turning her head to look at what had gotten Luna's attention, her jaw hit the ground. Power boiled in the air, black clouds of magic that made her skin crawl. "We need to get there now…"

"Of course, but only Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash can move—" Rarity got no further. All six of the friends from Ponyville, Spike, and the big changeling Gentle Midnight, suddenly blinked out of the train in a loud POMF.

Luna turned to see the teleportation spell go off. She cursed herself for not wanting to burn up her own magic too soon. "I guess this will give her a chance to make friends with Sombra." Jumping from the speeding train, Luna spread her dark wings and soared into the sky.


~~~~~+++++~~~~~


Buzz barely held, their wings working for all they were worth to stay aloft with two heavy ponies on their back, but the real struggle was magical. It helped that Buzz had Shining and Cadance cuddled together on their back, but the power they were pushing into the shield wouldn't last.

Shining was fighting to keep conscious, trying desperately to keep on Buzz's back and clutch to Cadance. He titled his head to see the magic pouring at them from King Sombra, only to have the sight blocked by a big magenta shield. "W-W-What?"

Twilight's horn was burning with the power she poured out. The Elements, so close and worn by their bearers, spent their own magic into her. She stared up at the King, and lifted her voice. "Sombra! Come down here and talk!"

The new voice, combined with the renewed shield, distracted Sombra from his intended target. He blinked and looked around, spotting the small group of ponies on the ground. They weren't within the line of changelings, still fighting his own army, they were off on their own. "Fit them with helmets!" His fangs tickled the insides of his lips as he roared the command, not that it was needed. He held all his army's minds in his own clutches, thanks to his amulet.

"Ah don't think he wants ta talk." Applejack spun around to deliver two quick bucks to a pair of crystal ponies, helmeted of course. She pointed at the dark unicorn, standing proud on a jutting upthrust of crystals he had summoned. 

"I can get up there." Rainbow Dash bunched her hindquarters up, coiling her muscles like springs. Kicking away, she pumped her wings, building altitude and speed both.

Rarity, charged with magic from the Elements, gasped as a pony tried to insinuate themselves on her person. "Oh no you don't. I will not be drawn into roughhousing with you!" She struck backwards with her hooves, as Applejack did; unlike Applejack, Rarity pushed magic into her hooves—achieving the same effect as her friend did.

Rainbow Dash didn't fly right at Sombra, she knew he wasn't stupid enough to let her get away with that. She zoomed around in a spiral of rainbows, winding up into the sky. Every loop she made, she watched the King lift his head to spot her, which was just what she planned. Circling behind him one last time, Rainbow stroked her wings back hard and aimed down. "C'mon, Element of Loyalty…" Rainbow smiled as she felt power pouring off the amulet, wrapping around her wings and body. "Yeah, let's do it for them."

Sombra had a moment to realize that when he looked up, the rainbow-maned pony was not circling. He quickly scanned the sky and saw her, wrapped in more magic than he could counter, aiming right at his platform. "No…" He jumped down, dropping to the ground with a thud.

With Sombra's magic no longer battering their two precious leaders, Buzz turned and dropped back down into the army of changelings below. Looking around in panic, Buzz couldn't find anypony, or anyling, who could spare time to help.

"King Sombra!" Twilight strode forward, her friends wading through the disrupted army of helmeted ponies. "Stop this, please." She ended up no less than ten yards from him. "You don't have to fight, to hurt."

"You are wrong." Sombra summoned his magic and dodged to the side as Rainbow Dash roared through the air he was standing a moment before.

"Rainbow! Get down here!" Twilight turned to catch her friend in a bubble of magic. Turning back, she found Sombra was only five yards away now. "I am sorry, we need to talk this through. Why are you like—"

"Like this?" Sombra's mouth pulled up into a smile that showed off his fangs. "It is simple, she made me this way." He pointed his hoof toward the army. "Princess Amore! Can you hear me? I am going to petrify you again, Amore. I am going to—"

"Who are you talking about?" Twilight stomped a hoof, not liking being ignored when she was doing her best to save Sombra.

"Princess Amore. The former leader of the Crystal Empire. I petrified her, shattered her." Sombra sneered at the gasps from the six ponies. "And I don't know how you did it, but it will be my pleasure to do it again."

"Princess? The only princess here was Cadance." Twilight stepped forward this time, standing right in front of Sombra. "No pony here is from your time!" Twilight saw the slightest bit of recognition in his eyes. "Sombra, please let's just talk."

"Talk? Talk?!" Sombra turned his full attention on the little mare, and saw something that terrified him. "The… Elements…" He started to step back. "No… no!" Black smoke wrapped around him, he pulled his power back from his army and started to withdraw. 

"Listen to her, Mad King." Luna crashed to the ground behind Sombra, sending a wave of earth radiating out from around him. "She is the only pony here who will fight for you."

The Elements of Harmony, and now Princess Luna. Sombra decided in an instant that discretion was the better part of pretty much everything that didn't result in him losing his head before sunset. Pouring power into his body, he faded into the smoke around him and fled.

"No!" Luna crashed her power down around her, trying in vain to force Sombra to reform. "Come back here you coward!" She spread her wings and was almost into the air before a shimmering wall of power appeared before her.

"Stop, Luna wait." Twilight leaped up beside Luna. "Don't go alone, he might have a trap of some kind. Besides, you are the only pony familiar with his magic." She gestured to the field around them, at all the helmeted ponies who had suddenly stopped dead in their tracks. "Like what is going on here?"

Trampled into the ground, its shine hidden, an amulet glinted once more with the big red stone mounted in the center of an alicorn's chest, before the mud claimed it.
> Spreading Out - Part 8
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Shining tumbled from Buzz's back, his only thought was to cushion Cadance as she tumbled after him. Catching his wife, he hugged her to his belly as he landed. "Gotcha, Cady." The pressure of catching an alicorn left Shining's back twinging in pain, but he ignored it with the dedication of a loving husband protecting his wife. 

With their cargo safely off their back, Buzz felt his energy wane at last, and fell to the ground. The impact wasn't what was hurting them, but the nearly complete emptiness inside.

"Princess Twilight!" Extra Sharp raced through the lines of their army, less-formal now all the enemy were milling around. "Princess Twilight! Please come quickly!" She buzzed her wings in panic. "Prince Shining and Princess Cadance are barely moving."

All of Twilight's attention locked on the changeling. "Where—" She didn't get any further, cut off as Extra turned and buzzed their wings to fly over the army's line. In a mad dash, Twilight dove into the chitinous mass, weaving through until she reached the center. "BBBFF!" Hooves didn't carry her to her brother's side, her magic did. "Shining?"

"Ugh…" A voice was calling his name, but Shining didn't want to respond. "Ten more minutes, I don't want to go to school…" He knew he was incoherent, but didn't really care. "I am alive." He gave a gentle squeeze around Cadance, feeling her chest push back as she took a breath, but she didn't whimper in pain. "Check on Buzz."

Twilight didn't budge at first, her brother was hurt and that was more important than everything, but then she heard words, chittered by nervous and worried changelings:

"Are they going to be okay?"

"All their reserves are drained, I can't believe they stood against him like that."

"We won't let them die in vain." 

The last words she heard, snapped Twilight out of her fixation on her brother. "What is going on? Who is dying?" She spotted the big form of Buzz, slumped on their side. "What can we do?" She marched over to the underling and reached a hoof out to the changeling.

"Nothing." Soft Clack looked up at Twilight. "They gave themselves for the Prince and Princess. It was what we all promise mother we will do." She leaned down and nuzzled the larger changeling.

Something hardened in Twilight, the stupid war, with a stupid stallion, over something as stupid as power, had her burning in anger. She wanted to stop this, stop everything. She wanted to wind back the clock and get here early so she could drive Sombra away. 

"Stop."

The single word cut into Twilight's thoughts because of the pony it came from. "Luna?" She turned and looked at Princess Luna for maybe a second, before rushing up to her. "You were right, Queen Chrysalis was right, this is… they shouldn't need to do this!" Dark wings folded around her, pulling her into a hug.

"Nightmare Moon was born from this thinking. I had all the power, and I saw ponies harmed by what I thought were bad decisions…" Luna squeezed Twilight tightly. "There was a reason why I let you try friendship first."

Twilight pulled her head back a little, tears staining her cheeks. "What? So… so they," she pointed a hoof at Buzz, "could be hurt?"

"Ponies will always be hurt, whether we charge in and blast, or offer a hoof in friendship. But remember, once we blast an enemy they can never become a friend." Luna felt a sense of completion, a feeling of connection that had everything to do with helping the pony that had helped her. "Now, do you have any of that honey?" Twilight was distracted a little, but nodded. "Then give it to him." She pointed to the fading underling.

"Of course!" Twilight used her magic to flip open her saddlebag and pull out one of the jars, safely packed. "Um, Buzz?" She neared the big changeling, laying down in front of Buzz. "This might help, something really special." She smiled and opened the jar. Holding the jar close, she realized Buzz didn't seem able to even lick the substance. Her thoughts raced, all the ways she could feed it to him using magic. A calm descended and Twilight turned the jar upside down, taking a huge mouthful of the stuff herself. Leaning forward, she pressed her lips to Buzz's.

Just as Buzz's eyes fluttered, their life-force the last thing trying to depart, they felt soft lips at their own, and then something sweet flood their mouth. It was honey, but not just regular changeling honey. More was pushed in, and it became quickly apparent that it was very special honey indeed. Buzz chittered their wings a little, looking up at the princess that was feeding them. 

Twilight's heart soared at seeing the changeling look more aware, her renewed feelings helped feed Buzz even further. "Are you okay?" Her mouth took some work to clear of honey, and she swallowed a bit. Holding up the jar with her magic, she offered the rest of it to Buzz. 

"Princess Luna?" Shining Armor looked long enough to recognize her, then closed his eyes again. "I don't suppose you know how to get crystals out of a horn?" The throbbing in his horn seemed to not let up, and working magic only made it worse. 

Luna watched Twilight's friends make it through and to her side, but her main attention was on Shining Armor. "That spell is particularly annoying." Luna leaned down and inspected the small crystals protruding from Shining's horn. "The magic to remove them is beyond me, you need somepony who can work similar magic to Sombra."

"And just who can do that? Isn't… wait, Princess Celestia!" Shining lifted his head up, opened his eyes, and regretted doing both. "Ow…"

"We have a pony with us who can do it." Luna wanted to offer comfort to Shining, but it wasn't her place to. "Twilight?"

Twilight's ears twitched and turned, then her head followed them. "Princess Luna?" She drew back from the tight hug with her friends. "Hold on a minute." She gave her friends another squeeze. "Fluttershy, can you make sure they drink another full jar?"

Fluttershy caught the second jar of honey as Twilight floated it to her. "Of course, he was so brave!" Her voice was barely a whisper, though she put effort into making herself as loud as she could.

Turning back to Princess Luna, Twilight walked closer to where she stood beside Twilight's brother. "What can I help with?" Her eyes drifted to her brother, and she saw the sharp little spikes of crystal protruding from his horn.

"I think you can see already." Luna gestured with a hoof to Shining's horn. "When my sister showed everypony the crystal, and what would happen if Sombra won," Luna closed her eyes a moment, "you resonated with that dark magic." She held up a hoof, anticipating Twilight's protest. "It isn't bad in and of itself. There are two ways to gain mastery over shadow-magic. The first involves being very bad, letting the power go to your head. The second, is study and careful focus." Luna looked into the young mare's eyes. "I wouldn't ask this of you if I didn't think you were capable of resisting its lure."

Twilight took in the words, her mind straying back to the meeting where Princess Celestia had turned the throne room into a demonstration of the importance of the Crystal Empire. The tingle of pleasure that had rushed through her when the dark magic lit her mentor's eyes with green and red, the purple smoke pouring off them. It came to her, it rushed to her touch. "What do I have to do?" It felt good, it felt warm, it wanted her to do things.

"You have to pull the taint from Shining's horn. Be slow, gentle." Luna knew how much Twilight Sparkle loved her brother, it was the main reason why she asked this of her. "Feel the crystals and gently make them go away."

The power wanted to rush, it wanted to form a storm of magic that would bathe all of Equestria in darkness. It raged and railed inside her, begging her, tempting her. Twilight gulped and spun a single tiny thread of it. Working the shadow into a useful spell was hard, it was like trying to grab smoke out of the air. I promise, I will learn to use you. She tried again and whether by her promise, or because of a placebo effect, it worked. The tiny thread worked first into a spell, a way of seeing what was really there.

Luna had to fight the urge to step back from Twilight, she fought hard enough to spread her wing over the mare's back. She watched as purple streamers of magic flowed around the young mare's eyes, and if she took a bet she would guess that her eyes were green with burning red pupils. 

Just a little more, I need another thread. Twilight drew another thread of the shadow-magic out, ran it into her horn and started working it into the standard-fare telekinetic grip any unicorn could do. She saw into Shining's horn, the moment her spell touched it. Twilight reached in with the darkness, felt the crystal as a blot of pure magic, and sucked it away. "Ugh, that is horrible!"

"Darling, you can do it." Rarity had no conception of the magic her friend was using, but she watched as another of the crystals in Shining's horn seemed to fade away.

"Rarity, you know how you can feel the magic when you let it out?" Twilight pulled the magic out of Shining's horn, while part of her explored just how it was likely done.

Rarity tried to hide in her mane. "Sometimes. You know I am not the—"

"It is like that, but imagine you get a mouth full of dirt every time you do it. Sombra's magic is… eugh." Even Twilight had to smile at how horrible she managed to make it sound. "Last one… and…" The last of Sombra's crystalline magic was removed. "Gotcha!"

The pain eased, and Shining looked up at his sister with a kind of awe. "Thanks, Twily." He looked to his side, where Cadance lay. "But you need to help Cady too. If I can help…"

"Just when I am getting good at it?" Twilight grinned down. "Don't worry, BBBFF. I will have Cadance's horn free in just a moment." Again she drew up her magic, the shadow-magic. It was easier to work, it obeyed her desires without shoving, and without trying to slip away. Each time she pulled out a shard of magic it made her gag, and by the time she was done she was actually feeling nauseous. "Princess Cadance?"

Cadance's mind was cleared of the constant pain in her horn. She lifted her head for the first time since crashing and saw a chilling sight. Twilight Sparkle stood over her, eyes burning with the same effect as King Sombra's had had. "T-Twilight?"

It was impossible for Twilight to miss the brief look of terror on Cadance's face, but it faded once she banished the shadow-magic completely. "I think you have somepony to thank." Twilight pointed with a hoof. "Buzz didn't do so well, but I think he is going to live."

Rainbow Dash, not knowing when was the wrong time to make a comment, had to defend her fellow flier—even if they were a changeling. "If it weren't for his awesome flying, you both would be—" She stopped when a dark-blue wing poked her in the side.

"Buzz?" Shining Armor struggled to his hooves. "Oh sweet Celestia, Buzz!" Cadance was at his side—if a bit wobbly—as they made their way to the underling. "You really are the best. You stood up against Sombra on your own, and didn't let us drop!"

Buzz chirped, licking the bottom of a jar of royal honey clean. Looking up and seeing Shining and Cadance, they struggled to get to their hooves; a pair of gentle yellow hooves made movement impossible.

"Mr. Buzz, you aren't well enough to stand yet." Fluttershy's grip wasn't immensely strong, but nopony and no animal would ever risk incurring the softly-spoken mare's wrath.

"Better do what she says, Buzz." Shining dropped down low to hug the changeling. "You kept Cady safe, thanks buddy." It wasn't exactly the "stallion" thing to do, but Buzz had been about as brave as anypony could be, and that meant he could bend the "guy-code" a little.

Cadance leaned down next, fighting the minor headache that her horn insisted she have, and kissed Buzz on the cheek. "Thank you for keeping both of us safe." She felt the tingle, the sure sign that the simple changeling was feeding on her, and Cadance was glad. "You will be well for the next fight?"

Buzz chirped loudly, their wings trembling in delight.
> Spreading Out - Part 9
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Shining took a long, steadying breath. He counted to ten and let it out again. Princesses everywhere, and I have to try to keep this army under control. "Heavy Lift?! Eye Spy?!" He looked around, and spotted the two changelings running to him. "Report. What happened while we were keeping Sombra busy?"

Heavy looked to her smaller sister, gesturing to Eye to go first.

"Commander Shining, things were going badly with his magic in play, a lot of guardlings were pulled out of our line, but when you took the full brunt of his attacks it eased up for us," Eye Spy gestured to Heavy Lift, "to do our job."

"The fighting was fierce, sir." Heavy Lift showed a few marks and a new dent in his shoulder. "Those ponies were fighting as if we weren't even hurting them. No fear, no pain. The only way we could take them down was with a bite."

"When the big guy left, it all turned." Eye pointed uselessly off in a vaguely north direction. "It was like marionettes with their strings cut. They all stopped and let us remove those helmets." Her face twisted a little. "Fear was the main emotion that poured off them at first, but then they started to look around, to see that we weren't hurting anypony." She blushed a little.

"How are they doing?" Shining had a good idea, based off Eye's expression.

"Relief. Hope. Love. Mostly hope." Eye licked her lips and even chirped a little. "So much hope. It is like a wave, and it was directed at us!"

"How soon before we can move?" Shining looked around, watching as changelings seemed to split off into groups, teamed up with their former enemies. "And what are the numbers on wounded?"

Heavy Lift's face fell into a mask of neutrality. "Forty-six dead, an even mix of ours and theirs, trampling. Buzz," she gestured to the big underling standing like a fierce warrior beside Princess Cadance, "is a good indication of a lot more, nearly one-hundred-and-fifty changelings injured to the point where they need time to recover, and about twenty of the captives are the same—they were tough as old bugs."

"Prepare who we have left to move. Once these crystal ponies are calmed down, I want to leave them with whoever can keep guard. We are going—" Shining stopped as he noticed crystal ponies wandering towards him, from groups of their kind all over; changelings escorted them, he was glad to see his troops made sure he wouldn't be out-numbered if something dire happened. "Can I help you?"

"Your Highness." The words were murmured by a dozen crystal ponies as they neared Shining Armor.

Shining's instincts clicked to something, picking up little clues like the way they stood, and held themselves. "Guardsponies?" Twelve heads nodded to him. "Don't worry, there is still a lot of fight left in my 'lings. You can stay here and guard—"

"Sir." All twelve snapped to attention. "Lieutenant Shifting Spray of Princess Amore's Royal Guard, reporting for duty!" Shifting stared ahead, past the Prince before him. "And by duty, sir, I mean we are ready to join you."

Twelve very loyal stallions. Shining looked to Eye Spy, and got the most minute nod back from her. "Right. You need to train with my army, and have almost zero hours to do it. We are moving on within the hour. I can spare the underlings to move you twelve." Royal Guard are Royal Guard. They can guard me as well as they guarded… wait, who did they say they guarded? "Who was it you said you were the guards for?"

"Princess Amore, sir. The princess that… The Usurper… killed." Anger flushed through Shifting's heart. "And Your Highness, it will not just be us," he pointed with a hoof, indicating the twelve groups of crystal ponies scattered around, "not all of them can fight, but we can field two hundred. That is allowing for some that will stay behind and guard the others."

Shining's mind raced, doing the math and coming up with his army having swelled to greater than its original size. "We move fast, that amount will require an extra trip by our underlings." He looked around at the twelve Guards. "You want to fight for your home, your ponies—"

"And our Princess, sir." Shifting stood as straight as he could. "They are militia, but they want to fight, especially after what happened here. We would have accepted casualties as being part of what was needed to… to subdue us." He clenched his teeth, memories of the trampled ponies and changelings joining the shattered form of his Princess in his head. "We can't let Sombra go unpunished." A chorus of support rang from the other eleven crystal ponies.

Weighing his words, Shining Armor stared across to his little sister and Princess Luna talking. He watched both of them for a good minute. "Very well. You are your own unit. You, Shifting, are promoted to," Shining thought quickly, "First Lieutenant of the Royal Crystal Militia. Your first duty is to prepare those who will be staying, and make ready. We will be moving as soon as we can, that monster needs to be displaced. Dismissed."

As the twelve crystal ponies walked off together, Shining let out a deep sigh. "What am I going to do with them? They will not forgive me if they don't see combat, and I don't want to throw them into a hard fight; they don't have the venom to make a take-down safely." He lifted a hoof up and rubbed the side of his head.

"Sir, we could move them up as support for the main assault. They are tough as rocks, and could prove to help revive us with some emotions, as well as help us subdue any more Sombra might have under his command." Heavy eyed the crystal ponies. "I didn't get a good read on them, Eye?"

"They would follow Captain Shining into Tartarus, if he said Sombra was in there." Eye shook her head. "Devotion, hope, certainty. A heady drink, so long as the target of it doesn't falter." She looked Shining in the eyes.

"If you are sure. That would be a dangerous position to have them, if Sombra could extend his control back again." Shining gave a nod. "See to it Heavy, a mixed force of them and your guardlings. Let's make those forty-six the last to die." Shining Armor lifted a hoof to snap a salute. "Dismissed."

Following his earlier look, Shining Armor approached Princess Luna and Princess Twilight Sparkle. Shining couldn't keep a note of pride from chiming whenever he connected his little Twily to being a princess now. As he approached them, he saw Cadance coming from another angle.

"BBBFF!" Twilight disregarded any hope of maintaining princess-like status by throwing herself at her brother, hugging him tightly. "That was amazing! How long did you hold out against his magic for?"

"Twily." Shining hugged Twilight back tightly. "How are you feeling? Last time I saw you, you had…"

"Shadow magic. It is strong, it wants to be used." Twilight inhaled and focused inwards. It was there, lurking, waiting for her to want to use it. "And I will again, but I will never do what Sombra did with it." She touched at the magic inside. I will never misuse you. You want to be used, I will use you, but only to help ponies.

"I trust you, Twily." Shining gave Twilight one more squeeze before Cadance joined their little group. "How are the crystal ponies?" He looked to his wife, knowing that she would have seen to them.

"Sore, some are confused. Most are…" Cadance blushed at the thought. "These ponies need somepony to follow. They looked at me—"

"Not it!" Shining raised a hoof. "Nope, I have to lead the army." He looked at Luna and Twilight. "Either of you want to rule an empire for a while? I am sure Queen Chrysalis wouldn't mind either of you having it until somepony can be found from among them."

Princess Luna blinked. "I can't, I am Queen Chrysalis' oversight, and weapon." She looked to Twilight. "It could be a promising position for the newest princess."

Twilight shook her head. "Oh no, no no no. I don't know the first thing about running a country!" 

"Empire." Shining helpfully corrected his sister.

"They are even more a mystery!" Twilight started to hyperventilate, until she heard the others giggling. She spun around and glared at Shining. "Wait, why don't you stay? They are going to need help until all of them are safe again and…" Twilight took a while to realize when she was being poked for fun. "Ha, ha."

"None of us have any experience running a country." Luna turned her head to look to the north. "They should have their own princess to lead them. Princess Amore was the last, and a kind soul. She… had problems."

"Sombra shouted that, when he first saw us," Shining said, venturing his opinion.

"It wasn't us, Shiny." Cadance looked at Luna. "Describe Princess Amore." I already know what she is going to say.

"She was a crystal pony, pink of fur and darker pink of mane. A unicorn too, which is a sign of princesshood among the crystal ponies. He might be mistaking you for her." Luna looked at Cadance, trying to see Cadance without wings. "Close enough that, across a battlefield… What did he do when he thought he saw her?"

"Threw everything at us." Shining rubbed at the base of his horn with one hoof. "I could hold back an army with my magic, but he blasted his way through it—"

"I was helping, too; as was Buzz." Cadance's snout pulled into a wide smile as she remembered the changeling's actions. 

"Sombra is a powerful magic user. We might be able to use this against him." Luna pondered her choices. "Princess Celestia had him banished last time, and even under the effect of the Elements of Harmony he was able to rip an entire city out of existence with him. He should not be underestimated, but neither should we count out the option of confusing him."

"We have to assume there is more armed forces at the city." Shining itched to get things moving, to order the army to start advancing by air. "My guardlings are literally the best at dealing with them. Few casualties, only minor injuries."

"Casualties?" The bottom dropped out of Twilight's world. She stared blindly past her brother. "P-Ponies… died?" A wing grabbed her from one side, a foreleg the other; Twilight was squeezed between Shining and Cadance. "Why did ponies die? I thought the poison would knock them out…"

"Twily, anytime you put nearly a thousand upset ponies in that close an area, somepony is going to get hurt. The numbers are low, lower than some of my projections by a long way." Shining leaned his head down, cheek pressing to his sister's. "What we need," his eyes were closed, "is somepony to deal with Sombra while we are doing our job."

"That," Luna looked at Twilight, "is our job. Princess Twilight Sparkle, you must give King Sombra another chance; clearly he was a little out of his mind last time. Can I trust you and your friends to offer him a hoof in friendship?"

All eyes turned to Twilight. She looked to Shining Armor, then to Cadance. Her heart filled with strength at seeing the two. Then she turned to Luna. She had battled Nightmare Moon, not realizing at first what she was really fighting. At that moment I could have sent her back, banished her to the moon for a thousand more years. Twilight inhaled, closing her eyes and drinking in the surrounding scents. Then she breathed back out. "I can try. He has been doing really bad things, but I have faced ponies who did bad things before, and made the right choices."

"I would have nopony else at my side, Princess Twilight Sparkle." Luna ruffled her wings, and to Twilight's astonishment, dipped her head to the newest princess. "Prince Shining Armor, how long until your forces will be in position at the city?" She turned her look from one sibling to the other.

"By midday tomorrow. Some of my forces will not be sleeping tonight, but most will be." At least Shining hoped they would be. "Then we will fly in hard, fast, and hit Sombra's city quicker than a changeling can chirp."

Luna blinked at the unfamiliar euphemism. "How fast is that?" She knew, the moment she asked, that she was likely to get a silly answer or demonstration. Sometimes propriety needed to be sacrificed for morale.

"Eye Spy." Shining didn't need to yell, the mare who had become closer to a personal assistant slipped up on his free side. "Chirp, please." She didn't hesitate in asking, she chirped her wings together, just like a cricket would, but much bigger. "Your Highness, that fast."

Realizing that she wasn't the butt of a joke, Eye Spy rolled her eyes and wandered off. But she did smile a little, knowing that even in all of this mayhem, their Commander could make a joke.
> Spreading Out - Part 10
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Twilight's heart was heavy. She looked out at the setting sun, and felt a keenness to her senses that she always had at dawn and dusk—twilight, it was in her name. A big changeling walked slowly up beside her, their wings giving a soft, deep chirp of welcome. "Gentle." She leaned sideways, resting against them. "Why do ponies have to get hurt? I just wish Sombra would… would stop, and come quietly. What happened to him that made him so…?" Twilight waved a hoof in the air, her inability to come up with anything was holding her monologue back. 

Gentle had no answers, and even if they did, couldn't explain them. They stood there, letting their friend relax, knowing that the time for relaxing was coming towards an end. Leaning down, Gentle nuzzled Twilight's croup, having to stir the young mare awake from her gentle slumber.

As she woke, Twilight knew she had barely gotten a moment of sleep, yet the sun was down and a bright, silver moon was rising. The night seemed alive with power and possibility, and it sent a shiver down Twilight's spine. "Please, Sombra, don't make us do this." Taking a deep breath, Twilight straightened up. "Thank you, Gentle."

"Hey there Sugarcube." Applejack, flanked with Twilight's core group of friends, walked up to find the youngest princess: Twilight Sparkle. "Your brother said everypony is moving out soon." She looked from Twilight to the big changeling, sensing a moment had happened between the two. "And how're you doing, Gentle?"

Turning to look at Applejack, Gentle gave a chirp of their wings.

"We're gonna give 'em a good thumping!" Rainbow Dash grinned at her friend. "I already beat him up once, just gotta do that again, then you zap him with the Elements!"

Twilight looked past her friend, in the direction of the changeling camp. A deep thrumming noise started. She had to tilt her head up and back to watch a wave of infiltrators pass by overhead, shortly followed by another of guardlings (carried by the larger underlings). "We should be going too." Twilight looked at her friends. "Uh, did my Brother arrange—"

"He sure did!" Pinkie waved a hoof behind them. "First Rainbow Dash said that she could help carry us, and then Shining Armor told her no. Then she insisted, and he explained that her best flying might be needed. And then…" Pinkie had to pause for breath, an uncommon situation.

"Think we got it, Pinkie." Applejack rolled her eyes a little. "So we should have some of them 'underlings' coming to help us move."

Sure enough, three big changelings buzzed over to the little group and gave soft chirps of their wings.

"Are we absolutely certain we have to travel like this?" Rarity looked at the underling approaching her, feeling like a filly next to it. "Couldn't we just teleport there, like last time?" She looked back to Twilight, only to see Gentle Midnight standing over the Princess. As she watched, the big drone's wings started to buzz, and they gripped Twilight with all four legs. "Well, if a princess can put up with—" Rarity's words were cut short when a big underling stepped over her. She had barely a moment to hear the buzzing of their wings before she was gripped and lifted. "Ohmygoodnessdon'tdropmeeeee!"

"Ha, not as fast as a pegasus, right Fluttershy?" Rainbow Dash looked to her foalhood friend. "Oh come on, surely you can't be afraid of changelings by now?"

"There is just so many, and they are so big…" Fluttershy watched the dark shapes fade into the night sky. "On their own they are nice…" Nonetheless, she spread her wings and joined Rainbow in the sky. "Twilight seemed really focused on this. What if Sombra doesn't want to surrender?"

"You know the answer to that. We blast him with the rainbow." Rainbow Dash wasn't trying to make it sound more awesome than it was, but nonetheless using the elements together tended to be the be-all and end-all of solutions.

"What…" Fluttershy's wings half covered her soft voice. "What if that doesn't work?" As soon as she said it, she realized what a bad thing that would mean for Equestria.

"We have two princesses, hundreds of changelings, and us. What could possibly go wrong?" Rainbow Dash did a tight aileron roll to show off.


~~~~~+++++~~~~~


Shining hit the ground at a trot. "Form up! Everypony in position!" He marched up behind the line of ponies and changelings, staring at the dark, crystal castle in the middle of the city. "You know the plan, let's free them!" His shout was returned with a roar, buzz, and chirp from the combined army. 

No changeling should be in the sky, but Shining saw a group of shadows pass between him and the moon. Tilting his head, he watched as the Princess of the Night, along with his little sister and her friends, flew forward—aimed right at the castle. "March!"

Eye Spy slipped up beside Shining. "Sir, scouts are reporting that the streets at the edge of town are empty, but there are more helmeted ponies near the castle." She stood as straight at she could; the pride in her own work, and the work of her kin, making her practically vibrate with excitement. "But there are ponies in those houses."

"What?" Shining spun to Eye. "There are free ponies in the city? Where?" He looked forward, then realized the futility of such. "I wish Buzz were with us…"

"Sir. Our line will reach the city any minute. Give me your orders." Eye realized, suddenly, what her commander needed. Sucking in her cheek, she shape-shifted, green fire boiling around her and flicking away, leaving a stairway that jutted up.

"Thank you, Eye." Shining gingerly stepped up as far as he needed, assessing the view over the top of the ranks of his army. "Halt!" Shining's voice bellowed out, and as trained the army froze on the next pace." Silence, or as much silence as hundreds of changelings and ponies together could keep themselves to, reigned. "Heavy Lift!"

Scrambling through the lines, Heavy made her way to where Shining was standing. "Sir!" He snapped to attention as Shining climbed down from the rock.

"Group up the crystal pony guards we have with your squad, I want two lings per pony. You are now our vanguard. Make sure the crystal ponies knock on every door and… and guard their plots." Shining Armor stared through Heavy. I hope this works. "Call out when you are ready."

Heavy sketched a salute and dove back into their lines. Pushing and shoving his way to his squad, he began to set the plan in motion. 

"Thank you, Eye. I don't know what I would do without you." Shining, and the army, waited for the signal from Heavy Lift. "If I could clop my hooves together and have the city safe, I would." Cadance, who had been organizing the rest of the army to be brought in by underlings, walked up beside him. "Cady, all here?"

"They are. What changed?" Cadance gestured to the army, now holding at the city edge.

"War being war. Thankfully he hadn't mind controlled all the crystal ponies, but ignoring them leaves a large amount of neutrals at our back. I ordered Heavy to have his squad escort our Crystal Guard to each house, so they could spread word that we are here to liberate them."

"So we aren't fighting today?" Cadance's voice tilted up in joy and hope. Just as quickly, she sighed; Shining's face hadn't registered to her as being supportive of her evaluation. "So there are some left to fight?"

"It will never be easy." Shining leaned across to Cadance and nuzzled her cheek. "I love you." His words were low; his eyes clamped closed so he wouldn't cry.

"I love you too, Shiny." Cadance replied without hesitation; she was with the stallion of her dreams, after all. "Now wha—"

"Sir! All is ready!" The distant shout of Heavy Lift carried over the army.

"Come on, let's stop this madpony from causing further destruction." Shining drew in a breath. "Move out!" He tilted his head away from Cadance before yelling, but felt her nuzzle his cheek as he did.


~~~~~+++++~~~~~


Landing before the castle, Twilight turned to Gentle Midnight. "Go, head back to my Brother." When the changeling didn't budge, Twilight gave a heavy sigh. "You can't help with this." All she got in reply was a chirp.

Princess Luna landed beside her sister's prodigy. "Princess Twilight, there stands the heart." She gestured to the middle of the underside of the castle. Spinning, an inky-black onyx heart spun, upside down. Beside the heart, some scattered pieces of rock were a stark contrast to an otherwise clean crystal floor. Princess Amore. Luna didn't want to say the name out loud.

Between them and their goal stood the remainder of Sombra's army. Two rows deep, the helmeted ponies stood dead still, their glowing eye-slits staring outwards. Each one was covered in spikes of metal that were easy to understand as being their weapon. 

Rarity, Applejack, and Pinkie Pie were dropped off, and like Gentle Midnight their escorts were not ready to leave. 

"You are all here?" Sombra stepped from the castle, his mane and tail the color of midnight; his teeth gleamed white. "Oh, of course, the gnat." Sombra watched as Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy touched down. As one, the helmeted guards shuffled aside to reveal the king in all his splendor. "I do hope you don't mind, but I brought some backup this time."

"Amore?" Twilight watched a unicorn crystal pony, wearing a heavy mind-controlling helmet, march out of the castle and join Sombra's side.

"Don't you DARE say that name in my presence!" Sombra's calmness evaporated into unbridled rage. He seethed like a mad animal for a moment, then closed his eyes and drew the anger back inside. "Guess again." Sombra began charging his magic, black globs of power boiling around his horn, when the oddly powerful purple unicorn got his full attention.

"Stop! Parlay! Cease fire!" Twilight shook her head. "Why are you fighting? Tell me that, King Sombra. Why are you fighting this war?"

Luna recognized the twisting-snakes cutie mark on the heliotrope furred flank of the helmeted unicorn. Despite her promise to Twilight, anger burned in Luna. The scene played out perfectly in her memories, of receiving the visitor. "Radiant Hope." While Luna had flown at her sister's side, Radiant had, apparently, teleported ahead of them. And now the mare's mind and body were slaved to her former playmate's will.

"Parlay can only be begged for by a ruler. Who are you, purple unicorn, to dare to make such an advance?" Sombra was calm again, back in charge of the situation. "Last I heard, only alicorns got to claim any sort of role of leadership in Equestria. Although, my information is mostly out of date."

"She is Princess Twilight Sparkle of Equestria! Chosen envoy of Queen Chrysalis, and your only hope." Luna tasted the weight of her words, and found them to her liking. "At her word Prince Shining Armor and his army will stand down. At her word, I will stand down."

"Really? Oh this is entertaining." Sombra bowed, barely tilting his head. "Then by all means, say your piece, Princess."

"It is you I want to know about." Twilight stepped forward, and heard all her friends take a step with her. "Why are you doing all… this?" Waving a hoof, Twilight indicated the whole of the crystal empire.

"A lovely, sweet word." Sombra licked his lips and took a deep breath. "Revenge." Memories welled up and nearly drove Sombra back into a killing-rage. But the capstone for all his memories, for the pain of what the crystal ponies and Amore in particular, did was Revenge. "Every year they would celebrate, they would hold a festival that celebrated how much power they had over my kind. It flayed me to the quick." Sombra shook his leonine mane of black hair out. "And Amore, she was the worst of all. She knew what was happening. She knew it was the yearly ritual that was hurting me. She did NOTHING!"

Twilight tried to brace against the fury of the shout, but found herself struggling to do so. "What happened? What was hurting you?"

Sombra lifted a steel-capped hoof and gestured behind him. "The heart. It was made to hurt me. It was designed to keep me out of the Crystal Empire. When it activated, agony tore through me. When it pulsed, I screamed." Sombra's pulse slowed down from the rapid beat it had been. Calming, but not fully letting go of his anger. "So for years she tortured me, all of them did. The only crystal pony who didn't contribute to the Heart's attacks on me, was Radiant Hope."

Looking to Luna, recognizing the name the alicorn had just said, Twilight turned to look to the helmeted unicorn at Sombra's side. "And this is her reward?"

"Yes. Her reward for summoning Luna and Celestia. For forcing me to retreat into limbo for a thousand years!" Sombra smirked. "I grabbed her, though. I pulled her with me, and now she follows me without question."

"Take her helmet off. Take all their helmets off." Twilight looked at Sombra with hope that he would do what she asked. "Princess Amore was… she was just a pony. Ponies make mistakes, like you are making now."

"No." Sombra smiled, flashing fangs at Twilight and Luna. "If you want me to stop this, you will have to kill me."
> Spreading Out - Part 11
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Very well." Luna started to step forward, charging her horn. She barely got two steps when a purple barrier spell halted her advance. "Princess Twilight Sparkle, we had an agreement. You would ask him to surrender, and if that failed I would work under our Queen's orders." Idly, she noticed that the last two words she spoke invoked a startled look on Sombra's face.

"Please," Twilight held her barrier up before Luna, but spoke only to Sombra, "you don't have to throw your life away. Just… just end the madness…" She trailed off, unable to say more past a sob she never intended to make.

"Alright." Sombra closed his eyes and took a deep breath. When he opened them again, he saw a surprised look on every pony standing opposite him. "If my choice is death or slavery, I will choose slavery. He stooped a little, and hung his head. Sombra, however, was far from broken. He watched through crocodile tears as the young Princess Twilight Sparkle approached.

"I am so glad you accepted." Twilight sniffled past her own heavy emotions. "I just didn't want to see anypony die today." She gave Sombra her best, winning smile.

"Really?" Sombra made his voice sound so sincere. "But I do. Kill her."

The world seemed to slow down. Luna was stuck behind Twilight's barrier still, and though she was ready to act, she had no way to directly affect events. She stared in terror as the helmeted Radiant Hope charged her horn with black, shadow magic. She had a moment for one yell as dark tendrils of power lanced towards Twilight Sparkle; each one seemingly aimed right at Twilight's head.

Twilight's eyes narrowed to pin-pricks. She watched the black, writhing tips of the tendrils of deadly magic pour towards her. She started a teleport spell, a shield spell, and her own counter-attack all at once, but a sharp pain in her horn was her only result to all three attempts. Sombra's horn was glowing, and Twilight knew he had blocked her magic. Guess I don't have to worry about turning into a changeling after all…

A green barrier of force crystallized into being right before Twilight's snout. It thickened and thickened until she could barely make out the shadow magic dashing itself against it. Her heart raced, adrenaline suddenly spurring her to action. "No…" She stepped backwards—one step, then another.

Luna barely caught the sight of their changeling "transport" all powering their horns as much as they could to defend Twilight. I was so wrong, I hope I can make up for my stupidity. She watched as the shield just before her faded, its source of magic snuffed out like a candle. "You idiot." Luna called her own darkness, fueled by the moon, and snuffed out the light around Sombra and Radiant Hope. Luna stepped into the darkness herself.

"Twilight, I'm thinkin' it might be time to let Princess Luna do her thing. Sometimes ya just can't fix a critter's problem." Applejack tried to herd her friend away from the darkness spilling over the courtyard under the castle. 

Twilight wanted to dash into the darkness and help Princess Luna, but without her magic she wouldn't be doing that. Just thinking about magic hurts my head. What is worse is there is nopony who can remove it! She blinked for a moment and relaxed her hold on the shadows inside; it was like the crystals weren't even there. The pain faded from Twilight's head and she grinned.

"Hold it." Rainbow Dash zoomed in to assist Applejack. "You totally can't go in there. Just look at it!" She pointed a hoof at the swirling magic. 

"That is why I have to go, Rainbow. Princess Luna is in there, fighting a—" Twilight froze as the dark magic swirled and spiraled away. Luna stood with her horn pointed right at Sombra's chest, and a hoof stomped down on what was left of the corrupted Crystal Heart. "Princess!"

Boiling the magic inside her, Luna smiled sweetly down at the stallion. Sombra was on his back and moments from destruction. To her side, Radiant Hope had her horn already charged, aimed at Luna.

"We are at an impasse, Princess Luna." Sombra smiled widely despite the threatening magic looming over his heart like a god-wrought hammer. "If you kill me, Radiant will kill you. And if she attacks you, you will kill me. Oh things have just gotten so exciting, haven't they?" 

"Do you honestly think I didn't come here, prepared to put my life before Equestria?" Luna started to channel more, her magic now more than enough to render the King down to his component parts. "And don't even dream of using your magic to slip away, I am fast enough to finish you before that."

Twilight worked as fast as she could, plucking the crystals from her horn with her shadow magic. It burned in her, wanting her to ignore the crystals and to embrace it fully. No, you will not control me. Do my will or I will never use you again. Twilight felt the magic relent, taking to the task easier. Now, I will use you properly. The rush of excitement as Twilight channeled the shadows up almost overwhelmed her. Power unlike any she had commanded coursed through her. She saw Luna and willed her to be away from Sombra. 

Black tendrils of shadow spiraled up Luna's legs and, before she could release her magic, she was yanked down into the ground. A moment of panic filled her, she had recognized the shadow magic used, and feared Sombra was the cause. When she slipped from the paved ground beside Twilight and her friends, she gasped. "Twilight?" She stared at Twilight Sparkle, dark magic wrapped around her, her eyes holding a steady orange. It unnerved her more because she expected the green and red pattern. "What is going on?"

"Princess Luna," Twilight didn't spare a look for Luna, instead focusing on Sombra, "be ready with your magic, this is going to get odd." Yes. Twilight released the flood gate on her shadow magic, but also unleashed all her regular magic, too.

Staring at Twilight in wonder, Luna nodded. "Yes, Princess Twilight. No more ponies should suffer." She charged her magic. It was easy to compare her power to Twilight, in terms of regular magic. Luna was a dark star of power. A blinding energy source that could match anything, but Twilight had more than that now. 

"No dice, Twilight." Rainbow Dash flew up beside her friend. "As if we'd let you do this alone!"

"Rainbow Dash has a point, darling." Rarity took another flank. "We have always stood by you, it is what friends do."

"Yup. No varmint is going to hurt my friends." Applejack stepped up beside Rainbow Dash.

"Um, he isn't a nice pony. Not nice at all." Fluttershy felt as power started to course through her, and was reminded of what had happened when they dealt with Nightmare Moon, and Discord.

Pinkie Pie pronked up and was already starting to glow. "What? You expect something deep and meaningful from me too?" She beamed.

"Alright girls, let's do this." The rush of power flooded Twilight, forcing her to float into the air slightly. But the magic of the Elements wasn't alone; dark magic swirled around and formed the shadows of that brightness. "I'll save Radiant, if you can take Sombra."

"Of course." Luna's voice wavered only a little. Beside her was a combined power much greater than her own. Nightmare Moon had feared the Elements of Harmony, but Luna welcomed their light and power. She felt the shadow magic grasp her again, but this time she was aware of it pulling her into that magical inferno. 

Twilight took aim toward Sombra, but he wasn't her target. Luna's power swelled the already incredible force of the Elements. "Please be okay." She let go of the magic, unleashed it all directly at Radiant Hope.

"Kill them, don't just stand there!" Sombra dissolved into smoke and started to rush forward. A little voice in the back of his head screamed for his attention, but he couldn't afford to break his focus now. 

Luna flew along the magic, burning the air with the power of the rainbow that carried her. She felt when the magic slammed into Radiant, but Luna kept going. Climbing her way from the ground behind the targeted unicorn, she felt the rainbow itself bathing her in magic. Not your enemy, not anymore.

Sombra stopped and stared at the rainbow as it burned away at the helmet on Radiant Hope's head. "No… no you can't!" He turned from his charge and started to race back to Radiant. "No no no!" Materializing beside her, he tried to grab at the helmet as the last bits of it disintegrated, shielding Radiant with his own body.

Circling around behind Sombra, Luna was amazed at how fixated he was on Radiant. "Oh—" She froze as Sombra leaned into the burning magic of the rainbow and hugged Radiant. 

"Sombra is sorry." Sombra felt the powerful magic ripping at him, tearing away his darkness. "Sombra went too far, didn't he Hope?" The tears—real tears—finally came. "Sombra can't believe they fired at you first. This… this was all wrong. Sombra doesn't care anymore." He stepped further into the light, feeling as it tore at his very form. 

"What are you doing?" Luna's eyes widened at the gray unicorn. No longer looking evil and imposing, he was simply another pony. "What twisted you like this?" Luna stepped close to the pair, but felt the burning heat of magic around Sombra. The Elements are deciding his fate. Or have they already decided?

Sombra looked down at his hooves, spotting the shattered Crystal Heart. "It didn't kill Sombra, not in the end." He pushed some shards with his hoof, but then he felt a hug. Jerking his head up quickly, Sombra saw Radiant's tear-filled eyes as she hugged him to her. "Sorry, Hope."

"I thought you were scaring the fairies, when I first met you." Radiant Hope could barely see in the intense rainbow around her. The nightmare of wearing Sombra's helmet was gone, blown away like dust on the wind. "But you didn't scare them, you excited them." She pulled Sombra further into her grip and squeezed as he shrank.

A wrenching sensation left Sombra dizzy, and he watched his horn fall to the ground. It looked like a crystal, just another shard among the ruin. He was shrinking smaller than ever. "No, Sombra doesn't want to hurt anypony again." He pushed forward.

The rainbow stopped as Sombra pressed against Radiant Hope's chest, a glorious outline of a breezie now stenciled there. "Sombra…" Radiant cried, the big tears rolling down her cheeks. "Sombra why did you do all of this?"

"He thought the Elements were going to banish her, or hurt her." Luna stood, flabbergasted by the last act of King Sombra. Her eyes focused on the design of a breezie, now showing beautiful spread wings across Radiant Heart's chest. "Was that all he was?"

Radiant's head lifted. "Princess Luna?" She blinked at the alicorn. "What happened? I remember…" she lifted a hoof to her mouth and blinked, "not a lot, actually." She looked across from Luna to Twilight and her friends.

"Hi." Twilight definitely didn't feel like trotting, but making a new friend was important. "My name's Twilight S—"

"Princess Twilight Sparkle." Radiant's lips moved all on their own. "I remember you from when I first saw a reflection in the Crystal Heart. A great princess would save me and I would…" She trailed off, blushing. I can't become a princess…

Luna trembled, remembering one of the visions she had seen in the Heart once. "Finish it. What else did it show you?" She was nearly out on her hooves, the duel with Sombra having drained her more than she wanted to admit.

"That I would become a… a princess." It can't be true. I can't be a princess. Radiant was so sure of herself that she didn't see the crystal shards glowing around her. The Heart called to her, sang in her ears loud enough to drown out any other words. "Do you hear that?" She leaned down, the biggest shard that was near her oddly familiar. "Sombra's horn. Maybe this time it won't hurt him." She touched her own horn to the crystalline shards.

The pieces of the heart started to pull back together, each successive piece causing the light around Radiant to grow brighter and brighter. "Wow." Twilight watched as Radiant Hope's magic rebuilt the Crystal Heart. "It's not enough." Twilight started to move forward but was stopped by Luna. "What…?"

The Equestrian ponies watched as crystal ponies flooded the surrounding streets. Coming out of their homes, eager to see that Sombra was really gone. A single voice called out, "Radiant Hope?" It was the first of many, mutterings of Radiant's name spreading like a wildfire. 

"She's beautiful!"

"Look at her shine!"

"She defeated Sombra!"

Twilight was about to cut over the top of the voices to correct them, when a deep blue hoof pressed gentle to her snout. She looked up to Luna.

"Let her have that. Princess Twilight Sparkle." Luna drew her hoof back. "Wait for it…"

"She's a princess!"

It only took one pony saying it for that to spread, change as the crystal ponies echoed it.

"She's our princess."
> Spreading Out - Part 12
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"You are doing it." Shining Armor was adamant. "Me and Cady run the army—and I might say we did a good job, considering—Princess Luna already did her job as the Queen's Right Hoof." He smiled at his sister. "Come on Twily, you are a princess now."

"But I…" Twilight gave a sigh, interrupting herself. "Alright. But what am I meant to say? 'Welcome back, by the way you have just been conquered by—" She mumbled the last words into Shining's forehoof while he hugged her and tried to stop her saying anything. Shaking her head, she glared up at Shining. "What?"

"Maybe Princess Luna would be better." Shining conceded the point. "Twily, this is important. I just spent weeks, and lives, freeing these ponies." He knew a slightly clouded expression flowed over his face. "I don't want to have to tell them we are invading." The last he spoke very quietly.

"Would… would we really have to do that? They are ponies, not monsters." The reminder that there had been a mortality rate in all this sank home for Twilight. She put things together. "Our Queen commanded it, didn't she?" Her brother nodded. "And this is up to me. Okay. I will try."

When Twilight walked toward Princess Radiant Hope, Shining followed at her side—if slightly behind. Seemingly out of nowhere Princess Luna walked up and took Twilight's other flank, and Cadance took his side. He leaned over and nuzzled Cadance's cheek, just once.

"Princess Radiant Hope." Twilight's voice was not commanding—not quite. She ran quickly through all the ways she could phrase this, and dredged up some official-sounding things she remembered from a book. "I would have a word with you."

Hope turned to face the entourage from Equestria. Princess Twilight had addressed her as a princess, which was reassuring. Having to face Princess Luna and another alicorn was less so. "Of course Princess Twilight." Radiant Hope stepped closer to the group of powerful ponies. "What can I help you with?"

The relaxed nature of the reply momentarily put Twilight off guard. She tried to rally her thoughts and steer the conversation. "Equestria, under the guidance of Queen Chrysalis, would like to extend its hoof in welcome." 

"Sombra destroyed us." Hope hated having to say it, but from everything she had seen of her kin she could no longer deny it. "The Crystal Empire has nothing, we barely have our lives." She turned her gaze to Shining Armor. "And I hear I have a Prince of Equestria to thank for that. I already came to Equestria for help initially. If you would have the Crystal Empire as an annex, I certainly wouldn't be opposed. But there will be conditions, of course." Smiling, Radiant Hope saw that she had gained a minor advantage over Equestria's spokesmare.

Twilight fumbled again, unsure about the quick capitulation; it didn't feel like capitulation at all. "Perhaps we should discuss the conditions?" With the biggest smile Twilight could muster, she gestured for Princess Radiant Hope to a table where they could sit together.

Shining stood with a princess on each side of him, but only one made him want to lean in and snuggle her. From the corner of his eye he spotted a familiar crystal pony approaching them. "Shifting Spray. I was glad to have your help."

Shifting snorted. "What is going on now?" His head tilted so he could keep his eye on Princess Radiant Hope, but though he could plainly see her there was a dark alicorn between him and her. 

"Princess stuff." Shining said it as easily as he would say "stallion stuff." "Princess Twilight and Princess Radiant are discussing relations between Equestria and the Empire, as far as I can tell." 

Out of earshot of the others, Hope sat down at a little table with Twilight opposite her. "What does Equestria want with us? If it is a tithe… we are a long way from being capable of supplying such."

"What? No." Twilight blushed a little. "All we," the realization that she spoke for Queen Chrysalis suddenly hit Twilight, "we want the Crystal Empire to grow. Queen Chrysalis only has one requirement of the nations under her." Pausing on the statement, Twilight made sure Radiant Hope was almost at the edge of asking what it was before she continued. "That changelings be accepted within your borders, and that they be allowed to feed."

" 'Feed'?" An almost-panic started to grow in Hope's thoughts; she began to wonder if all of this—the ponies, the friendly army, everything—was a setup for her to give her country to a bunch of monsters. "What do they feed on? It mustn't be trivial or you wouldn't have mentioned it."

"Love. Happiness. They feed on positive emotions. But!" Twilight lifted her voice a touch to keep the other Princess' attention. "They will be careful, it neither hurts nor harms." She couldn't help but smile a little more at thinking of all the changelings she had met.

"But they must be allowed to? What happened in Equestria? When I left—a thousand years ago—it was only ponies living there. What changed to have the whole nation living under another species?" 

"Queen Chrysalis didn't think Princess Celestia was doing enough to defend Equestria." Twilight hated saying it, but she knew this—at least—was the full truth of the matter. "She approached Princess Celestia, several times, and wasn't happy with how her warnings and offers of help were received."

"She staged a coup? I notice Princess Celestia is… missing." Hope gestured to Twilight's companions. "What was done with the deposed princess?"

"Well, after Queen Chrysalis beat her in a magic duel—one our Queen practically cheated at—Princess Celestia vowed that if Queen Chrysalis put Equestria in danger she would fight back. But now, according to Equestria's new official charter, Princess Celestia is in charge of the civil side of Equestria." Twilight wasn't sure what she would have done if her teacher had been exiled or imprisoned. "Queen Chrysalis delegates, she admitted Princess Celestia knows how to run Equestria better any anypony else."

It was a lot for Radiant Hope to take in. She thought about it. "I need to meet this queen before I can say for certain. I trust you, Princess Twilight, but it is not you who I will be giving my ponies to."

The weight of her station eased, and Twilight breathed a sigh of relief. "I promise, the changelings are just ponies too, mostly. And you have my word that you will be safe in Equestria." A sudden pang of need hit Twilight, and stole a gasp from her. She needed more honey.

Radiant Hope leaned forward holding out a hoof. "Are you well, Princess? Here, let me help you." Without thinking further, she lit her horn and reached her magic forward through her hoof.

Power poured into Twilight the moment Hope's hoof touched her own. Her eyes flew open and pure white magic poured out from within. She stared at the other princess, and felt her strange power pour through her. Feeling little changes being made here and there, Twilight could do nothing to halt the energy. She trembled in place, but until the magic was done with her she was merely a passenger. At last Hope's magic receded, flooding back into its owner and letting Twilight slump in her seat.

"Oh my stars, Princess Twilight?" Radiant Hope had expected a case of flu, or a sniffle; what she had found was a major systemic attack on the Princess from within her own body. Weakness flooded Hope, she felt herself start to slump back in the chair as loud hooves approached rapidly.

"TWILY!" Shining Armor moved faster than either of the alicorns—despite their wings. He was at Twilight's side and cradling her in his magic, hugging her to him to keep her safe from whatever threat had attacked. "Princess Luna, guard us please." Command voice or not, Shining Armor was not prepared to keep pony egos safe while his sister was in danger. "Cadance, what happened?"

"Princess Radiant used a lot of magic on Twilight. I'm not a doctor Shiny, I don't know what she did to her." Cadance not only wasn't a doctor, she wasn't overly practiced with her magic at all. She checked the obvious things; Twilight was breathing steadily, and had a pulse.

"Stop, please Princess Luna." Shifting Spray stood between the dark alicorn and his princess. "I failed my Princess once, with Sombra. I won't do it again."

"I helped teach Hope." Luna disregarded the other princess' title, she liked to think she was her friend. "I just wish to check what she did, nothing more. You have my word I will do nothing else." She looked into the Lieutenant's eyes and saw one of the bravest ponies she had ever known.

"Your word?" Shifting was so close to trembling he had to lock his knees to not fall down. He had seen Princess Celestia and Princess Luna fight Sombra; had seen them defeating him before the displacement happened. When Luna nodded, his honor was preserved. "Nothing more, then."

Luna stepped past Shifting Spray and reached for Hope with her magic. "Nothing bad has happened." She recognized the state immediately. A thousand years of exile and imprisonment was not enough to make her forget what Radiant Hope's aura looked like when she saved a pony from death's door. Luna looked to Shining. "Take Twilight to a room," she tuned back to Shifting Spray, "and take your princess to her own room. She is worn out after a major healing. I kept my word."

Shifting looked to Princess Radiant Hope, then back to Princess Luna. His problem was clear on his face apparently, judging by the look on Luna's. "Please, can you help me. It would do my Princess' honor no good to have one of her guards put her to bed."

"As you request." Luna found herself quite liking the stallion, even liking the slightly clipped way he talked. As she lifted Hope in her magic she realized why; he spoke like ponies spoke a thousand years ago.


~~~~~+++++~~~~~


Twilight's head was sore. She reached outwards from the painful place where her mind resided and upgraded the report to "everything was sore." Magic was out of the question, but she poked her snout out from under the blankets on the soft bed she was in.

"Twilight, you're awake." Cadance stood up and approached the bed Twilight had been recovering in. "I will get Shining, and Princess Radiant Hope." She turned from the bed and opened the door to find Shining slumped asleep against the wall outside. "Shiny…"

"Wait I…" Twilight trailed off as her sister-in-law trailed away. "What happened?" She wasn't asking anypony in particular, just trying to work through what happened. "I was talking to the princess. Then I felt hungry and… Come on Twilight, what happened?"

"You were sick, I tried to heal you." Radiant Hope walked into the room while Shining got a good talking to by Cadance about finding a good place to sleep. "There was something very wrong, Twilight. I need to check that I got all of it."

Twilight stuck her head out of the covers properly and looked at the crystal unicorn beside her bed. "W-W-Wrong? Uh…" She weighed up what she should say. "I… I ate something I shouldn't have. Changeling royal honey." She blushed at the memory of the flavor. "I didn't know what it does to ponies." She saw the confused look on Hope's face. "Changeling royal honey… produced by Queen Chrysalis, will turn ponies into a changeling."

"That explains this, then." Radiant Hope lit her horn and reached a gentle hoof up to lightly press to Twilight's nose. There was more; she felt the spread of the strange stuff the moment she reached into Twilight with her magic. "You didn't want this change, did you Princess Twilight?"

With her eyes wide open, Twilight couldn't pull back from the gentle boop on her nose. It took all her energy just to open her mouth. "N-N-No…"

"Here, relax." Hope pressed her magic in, opening her flood-gates and letting it pour into Twilight's body. She wasn't taking chances this time; Hope had been resting for a day now, and she was more than ready to fully clean Twilight Sparkle's body. The infection was tenacious, it clung to Twilight in ways that Hope had never felt before. At last, she had to relent.

Twilight felt like she had been turned inside out, washed with a hot sponge, and then turned back again. "What is that?" She slumped down completely in the bed. She pulled the blankets back up to hide as much of her head as she could and still have her nose out.

"Is Twily okay? Twily, are you okay?" Shining rushed up to the bed and set his head down on the pillow just like he did when Twilight was too sick to go to school. "Hey Twily." He pressed his snout against the bridge of her nose. 

"Don't you dare." Twilight's mouth barely moved, but her nightmares were filled with memories of soft noses poking her, then all the covers being pulled off at once. "If you think you are pulling that stunt on me now you have another thing coming." She wished fervently that she had the magic to hold on to the covers.

"Nah, not going to do that. I only did that when you were pretending to be sick." Shining breathed warmly over his little sister's cheeks. "Princess Hope said she is going to try to burn all that changeling stuff out of you."

"I almost had it all on the first go. There was some more left this time, but another try… later…" Hope smiled a little, "would be for the best. I trust you were the only pony infected?"

"No…" Twilight poked her head out now, and displaced Shining's head a little. "Scootaloo, but she is completely changed. Queen Chrysalis said it goes faster in foals." A memory of the filly's reaction to there maybe being a cure came to Twilight's mind. "I don't think she wants to be a pony."
> April 1st Special
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chrysalis was reclining in her favorite place. It wasn't the mighty throne room. It wasn't the depths of the changeling hive under Canterlot. It was the Royal Library, and beside her was a pony she had learned to call friend. A book sat between her big forelegs and thanks to her glasses she was able to focus down on the words and follow them perfectly. 

Then something else on the page got the Queen of Equestria's attention. Something that moved. "What is that?" She narrowed her pupils down, focusing her eyes on the tiny creature before it jumped from the page. "Princess Twilight, what—" She froze at the sight; Twilight Sparkle, Princess of Equestria, and savior of the Crystal Empire, had one back-hoof raised up behind her ear and was kicking at her neck with every indication of enjoyment. "TWILIGHT!"

Snapped from her daze of relief, Twilight blinked a few times at her Queen. "Y-Y-Yes, Your Majesty?" A tiny itching pain lanced at her neck again, and before she could stop herself her leg started up. "Ugh… much better."

"What is the meaning of this?!" Chrysalis shot to her hooves, pointing one at Twilight. "What is wrong with you?"

"Oh, this?" Twilight gestured to her back leg while it kept scratching at her neck. "It was a warm year, just a few fleas going around. You know how it is, no matter how many times you bathe in that gunky stuff they just keep coming back." She turned her head more sharply, finding just the "right spot."

"Twilight Sparkle, what do you mean 'going around'? Is this a common thing?" Chrysalis' mind worked, searching for plans and solutions. Her horn lit and she floated a book over, Pony Ailments Without Magic, and opened it up.

"Well, if we have a warm summer it is. Then you have all the extra ponies coming and going…" Twilight trailed off as she saw Chrysalis' focus completely home in on the book. "What are you reading?"

"So, according to this there are three solutions. Have the pegasi end the warm-spell early," Chrysalis looked over the top of the book to gauge Twilight's opinion, "getting everypony who is affected to have a bath at the same time…" She raised one eyebrow.

"What? There is a third?" Twilight knew she sounded desperate, but the other solutions were logistically impossible; getting everypony in a whole city to take a bath at the same time, or ruining the last growing season of the year with an early Fall.

"It is a spell, a terrible spell." Chrysalis looked through the component words and runes. "But it will solve your problem." She floated the book up, turned it, and sent it to Twilight.

"I can't cast this!" Twilight stared at the spell, her sharp mind divining the effect almost instantly. "It will make all my fur fall out… my hair too! If you made me cast this, it would—"

"Yes, Twilight. We must end this blight. I had noticed the taste of the city's love was getting… sour, now I know the reason. For the good of ponies everywhere," Chrysalis took a deep breath, "I must shave Equestria!"


~~~~~+++++~~~~~


Twilight relaxed for the first time in weeks. There was no itching, no ongoing biting of all her extremities, and even better was she was nice and cool. "Princess Celestia, you must do this. If you do as our Queen says I promise you that you will stop itching and provide a good example for the rest of the city to follow."

"Twilight, you look ridiculous." Princess Celestia stared at her former student. Twilight was completely bald; from the tip of her snout to the frogs of her hooves, Twilight Sparkle was a mottle-toned, depilated pony.

"I am aerodynamic!" Twilight giggled at the reply. "But in all seriousness, I couldn't focus on anything before, thanks to that itching. Now I can just relax and not feel that… itch. The growing tendril of almost-pain," as Twilight described it, she watched as Celestia's neck started twitching, "the scratching feeling you can't banish. Always on my flank," She watched as Celestia's muscles twitched under her white fur, "biting, bleeding me for—"

"JUST DO IT!" Celestia spun around and was biting her flank, her teeth working at her cutie mark that itched so abominably. "Please Twilight, make it stop…" 

Twilight aimed her magic and cast the spell. That amazing tail was the first to go, the huge mass of hair that hadn't been trimmed in thousands of years, flopping to the ground. The magic worked like a wave, Celestia's fur fluffing up a little as it worked over her. Soon, even Princess Celestia's mane stopped waving and flopped to the ground. "Princess?"

Celestia twitched one ear, and it was like a chain reaction. All her fur had been removed from her body, but sat on top of her until the wave of twitching muscles sent it up in a great cloud of white, and not a few feathers too. A moment later, the Princess of the Sun gave a soft sigh. "I am sorry, Princess Twilight Sparkle, you have shown me that sometimes humility is the best way—even for a princess." As she stood up, Princess Celestia revealed the whitest of pasty-white skin and the biggest chicken-wings ever seen.

"No more itching? No more scratching?" Twilight beamed in delight, grinning from ear to ear like the most adorable naked mole-rat ever.

"No itching, and you were right. I feel like I could run forever like this! I should have trimmed my mane and tail years ago." Celesta stretched her naked wings out and flapped them in quite possibly the least graceful display an alicorn had ever put on. "We must tell everypony else!"

Chrysalis walked into the throne room and smiled at the two princesses. "It is working?" She got two nods back, there was no need for explanations. "Good, once the ponies of Canterlot see their royals safe and free from the accursed parasite they are sure to follow."

Walking in behind Chrysalis, Luna had two garden rakes held in her magic. There were no leaves to gather up yet, but the Princess of the Night had several worn patches on her body already. She looked from Twilight to Celestia, then to Chrysalis. "What is going on?"

"Princess Luna!" Twilight pronked just like Pinkie would, bouncing right up to Luna. "Queen Chrysalis worked out a way to stop the itching: Shaving Equestria!"

To Luna's ear it sounded like the worst catchphrase ever. "No. What ever you are planning, I will be in my tower having a bath." She took a step backwards, then another. When Luna spotted Twilight's horn start to energize with magic, she turned and bolted.

"Come back Princess!" Twilight had to gallop to keep up with Luna. "This is for your own good!" It was no good, Luna knew the castle better than Twilight did, and had longer legs. 


~~~~~+++++~~~~~


"I am not coming out!" Luna had no compunction about using the Royal Canterlot Voice to shout at the ponies assaulting her domain. "I will stay in here until winter comes, then the itching will stop like it does every year!"

Twilight appeared in the room beside Luna with a loud POMF. "Princess Luna, this is for your own good. Your sister didn't mind, nor did Shining and Cadance. We have to show solidarity for the ponies of Canterlot!"

"You're a loony if you think I am going to let you cast that spell." Luna put a hefty barrier against magic up. "Forget it, Twilight, you cannot bypass my magic. I am the most powerful pony in Equestria and…" Luna trailed off with her monologue, watching as Twilight unstacked the furniture that had been piled up. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?"

"Clearing the way for my friends." Twilight lifted back the last bookcase—a well-stocked one that Twilight made a note to return to later—and flung the door wide. Outside, five young mares stood.

"You really should give it a try, Darling. The bald look is in this year."

"I might not be able to fly right now, but I can run faster than any pony alive!"

"This is so neat!" Pinkie Pie managed to pull a cupcake out from just behind her head, munching on it a moment later.

"Well, Ah thought it was a might strange at first, but it sure beats havin' ta itch all the time, and Ah don't need to tie back my mane anymore!"

"Oh…" Fluttershy actually stood a little straighter than usual, it helped that she looked just as ridiculous as her friends. "Uh… yay?"

What shocked Luna, though, was that all five were wearing their Elements of Harmony, and worse, Twilight lifted hers up onto her bald head. "You wouldn't!"

"Girls…" Twilight felt the magic of friendship unite between them, each mare pulsing with power and feeding it to Twilight. With her eyes going pure white, Twilight floated into the air and aimed her horn at Luna. 

The rainbow blasted towards the Princess of the Night, and slamming into her shield, which for a brief moment, looked like it might hold. But the rainbow was implacable, and was charged with a nearly-divine purpose. "No…" Luna whispered the word as she was struck for the third time in her life by the rainbow magic from the Elements of Harmony. Her mane, tail, feathers and fur all evaporated in the single blast of incalculable magic.

Twilight floated back to the ground now that the magic of the Elements was spent. Blinking away the white magic, Twilight looked at Luna. "Wow…"

"I want to see Lulu!" Celestia's voice echoed from down the hall as heavy hoofbeats neared.

Luna looked to her sides, spread her featherless wings and slumped a little. "I…" She paused, about to begin a tirade before she noticed something. "The itching has stopped." She rushed forward and lifted Twilight Sparkle into the air, dancing with her. "The itching has stopped!"

Celestia finally reached the door and watched her bald sister dancing around with Twilight Sparkle. "This, right now!" A camera flash lit the room, followed by Celestia's giggles and a cry of, "RUN!"

Side by side, Celestia and Photo Finish galloped away, the latter's camera bouncing along.

"COME BACK HERE!" Luna's fury was roused, but at least the itching had stopped. She actually giggled between bellows.


~~~~~+++++~~~~~


"What I don't get, Your Majesty, is why you collected all the fur and hair." Twilight had some minor itching again, mainly stubble growing in. With a slight toss of her head, she recast the spell and ended the annoyance.

Chrysalis lifted a hole-filled hoof and gestured at the window. "Twilight, what do you see?" She levitated a basket over, lifting out two long needles.

"The sky? Clouds?" A little distracted by what her Queen was doing, Twilight had no hope of getting the correct answer.

"Close. Princess Twilight, that is a sky preparing for the pegasi to bring winter." Drawing a coarse length of spun textile from the bag, Chrysalis began to strike the needles together, beginning a rhythmic Click-Clack sound.

"I don't understand, what does that have to do with all our fur?" Twilight was fixated on the needles as they worked, watching them clack and strike over and over. She gave a little shiver and pulled a blanket over her furless form.

"Sometimes you miss the obvious, my little pony." Chrysalis relaxed as her magic worked at the needles, slowly knitting a line, then doubling back on it. "And I forbid you from using that spell again until you have enough fur for a pair of socks at the least."

Twilight's jaw dropped open, and her brain finally made sense of the purple colored wool her Queen was working with. "Y-Y-Yes, Your Majesty." She had to ask, though. "What are you working on?"

"A cap first of all. Full sweaters and pants are going to the ponies who have to work outside all day. You are perfectly fine under a blanket with a book." Chrysalis smiled widely then checked her plan. "Knit two, purl one…"
> The Show - Part 1
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Pulling her wagon along, Trixie Lulamoon was enjoying the lovely spring day not at all. She grumbled under her breath at nearly everything, and even cursed when her wagon hit a rock that caused it to tug painfully at her harness. 

"The Great and Powerful Trixie deserves better than this!" She stomped along, mood completely in the dumps. "Ever since Twilight Sparkle and her friends heckled her, Trixie has been—" She cut off suddenly as a cracking sound came from the same wheel that had hit a stone earlier. "What is it this time?!"

Unfastening the wagon, Trixie stomped around to inspect the wheel. A large crack split the felloes, and a spoke had popped out completely as a result. "Oh, great! First Trixie gets lost looking for Neighagra Falls, and now her stupid wagon is broken!" Lashing out with a hoof in her anger, Trixie kicked the wheel hard. 

Years on the roads of Equestria—and in some cases not roads—had given Trixie more strength than the average unicorn. The wheel turned suddenly to kindling, and Trixie spotted something shiny in the muddy soil. "What was that?" Reaching down with her magic, Trixie felt something sing to her, calling to her power.

The amulet looked like it was carved from steel. It had a glowing, large gem in the middle, but the stylized alicorn that made up the body of it had red markings on the leading edges of its wings, and a glowing red eye. 

Trixie's magic seemed to pulse with promises of power. She stared into the gem and was spellbound by the perfection of the necklace. Standing still, Trixie lost track of time, not that the world dared to offend her while she was lost in the necklace's power. 

"With…" Her mouth was dry, feeling like she hadn't had a drink in days; it was the truth. Working some moisture into her mouth by rubbing her tongue around, Trixie's mouth pulled into a wide grin. "With this, Trixie can show all those ponies who is truly Great and Powerful." 

Power sang from the amulet, and Trixie could feel her own magic drawn in, enhanced, and fed back into her being. Lifting the necklace up, she fastened it around her neck and gave a gasp of excitement. Heat burned in her horn—heat and power that wanted to be used. Trixie looked askance at the remains of the wheel she had kicked, and blasted.

For the first time in Trixie Lulamoon's life, real power shot from her horn. Bright red, the magic seemed to scorch her horn as it lanced out at the wood. The flash of energy ripped apart what was left of the wheel, exploding it into a thousand, tiny pieces. Trixie's rage wasn't done, and she screamed her joy and swung the mindless destruction onto her wagon. Her life was gone in an instant. The wagon exploded violently, and the life of a lonely showmare was history.

"The Great and Powerful Trixie thinks this is very, very good." Turning towards Canterlot, Trixie used the mountaintop city as a guide; her true target was Ponyville.





Derpy was delivering letters when she saw the strange pony walk in from the outskirts of town. Smiling brightly, she dropped to the ground and trotted up to the black-cloaked unicorn. Since the incursion of Sombra, and the change of power from Princess Celestia to Queen Chrysalis, Derpy's nerves have been wound a little tight. She paused and shook her head; her trusting Swift "Bulk Biceps" Stride had been just about the best thing ever. 

"Hi! Welcome to Ponyville!" Derpy's smile lit up her face. But a moment passed, and the other pony hadn't replied. "Uh…" Now Derpy was nervous, and when she got nervous, she got clumsy. "I just… I wanted to welcome you to Ponyville. I'm Derpy Hooves!" She held out a hoof, throwing the last of her confidence into the attempted hoof bump.

"The Great and Powerful Trixie wishes to know where Twilight Sparkle is." Trixie's fury was barely kept in-check; she was breathing heavily, and hadn't blown something up (or otherwise used a big chunk of her powering) for nearly an hour. "Take Trixie to Twilight!"

"Trixie?" Derpy's worry immediately evaporated. "The Great and Powerful Trixie was the best show ever! I'll get Princess Twilight!" She began to turn, when a steel-like grip of magic latched on to her shoulder. "T-T-Trixie…?"

"Take Trixie to her." Power and potential pooled around Trixie like an ocean. She felt magic practically bursting to get out. "Take Trixie to this false princess." Tossing back her hood, Trixie Lulamoon revealed her face to the stuck pegasus. 

"I c-c-can't lead you to her if you don't let go…" Derpy had stopped trying to fight the tight grip of the magic. Attempts at movement on caused pain, sharp jolts of magic sinking into her with each tried escape attempt. Suddenly she could move, and ruffled her wings. "T-T-Thank you…" 

"Don't let it be said Trixie doesn't treat her servants well." Trixie felt on top of Equus. "Lead on!" She didn't so much fall in behind Derpy, as strutted. Making their way to the center of town, she noticed that the pegasus was getting more and more nervous. They had done two full laps around a tree house when she got suspicious of something. "Where exactly is Twilight Sparkle's home?"

Derpy spun around, her nerves flaring into full gear. As she turned, her legs got tangled up and she tripped, falling forward. "P-P-Please… I think she might be out or something…" Derpy's jaw was pressed to the ground and her snout barely touched Trixie's hoof.

"Begging and pleading will get you everywhere." Working on a whim that just came to her, Trixie reached a hoof out and pressed it to Derpy's forehead. Power surged, and Trixie didn't hold back the rush of energy that flooded down her limb.

"W-What—?" Derpy couldn't talk, couldn't think. Magic wrapped tightly around her head and squeezed. She felt a bond forming between her and her queen. Smiling beatifically up at Trixie, Derpy's eyes were clouded by red magic as surely as her mind was. "What does my Queen wish?"

The word "queen" seemed to trigger very interesting thoughts in Trixie's head. She drew back her hoof—noticing that the limb shook somewhat—and took in the sight of Derpy. The pegasus lay on the ground now, belly in the dirt before Trixie, and wings spread and held down. Trixie recognized it as the most passive and submissive gesture a pegasus could make. "Your Queen demands to know where is Twilight Sparkle?"

"My Queen!" Derpy loved to say the words, and further she loved being able to answer her queen's question. "Princess Twilight Sparkle will be in Canterlot if she isn't here." Serving felt so good that Derpy wanted to do it forever.

"Humph…" Trixie thought for a moment, a moment when she reached out with her power—unconsciously—and stroked the magic along Derpy's spine and mind. "Then the Dominant and Regal Trixie will claim ownership of her new town!" 

"WHAT IS GOING ON HERE?! DERPY?!" Swift Stride—in his guise of Bulk Biceps, mainly keeping it because it was comfortable—made his way over to investigate why his fillyfriend was squirming in the dirt.

A spark of recognition flared in Derpy's head. She turned to face Swift Stride. Looking up at the big stallion, she squirmed more on the ground; something about her back felt strange, like the magic of her queen was changing her. Though the stallion who had stolen her heart was right before her, Derpy couldn't answer in the presence of her queen.

"And who does Trixie have the delight of meeting?" Trixie turned and looked up, and up, and up. Bulk Biceps' size was legendary. "My…"

"That is Bulk Biceps!" Derpy barked the words out, and felt the magic slip into her mouth as she spoke. "He is my—"

"He now belongs to Trixie!" Trixie sent her magic out to capture the big pony, but something seemed odd about them. She leaned into the magic more, only to see the big pony look at her with shock. "What is this? You are just a pegasus!"

Swift Stride wasn't sure what was going on, but he could tell somepony was trying to use really nasty things on him. The natural slipperiness of an infiltrator would only keep the mare from changing tactics for a moment, however, so he decided that it was time to leave. 

For the first time in "Bulk Biceps" life, he didn't say a word before acting. Kicking forward, he bowled past the unicorn and up to Derpy. He didn't have time to worry about the feathers she seemed to be shedding, and just opted to grab her and fly. 

Trixie stumbled upright to see a flash of green light. Flames coiled around Swift Stride, but all that changed in the stallion was his tiny wings were replaced by huge ones. Pumping the new limbs as hard as he could, he left Trixie spluttering curses on the ground. "You are stealing Trixie's servant!"

Dealing with a mare that was suddenly all claws and fangs, Swift pumped his wings as hard as he could. "I DON'T KNOW WHAT IS HAPPENING TO YOU, DERPY, BUT I'M TAKING YOU TO OUR QUEEN!" A blast of red magic shot past Swift. There was nothing he could do but gain more altitude and hope the crazy unicorn would go on missing him. In his grip, Derpy seemed to have gone limp, and Swift could only hope it wasn't from a hit.

"Blast, blast, blast!" Trixie stomped her hooves in annoyance. "Very well. If that is how you want to play, Trixie will make all of Ponyville her servants!" Gathering her magic, Trixie felt the amulet sing around her neck as it empowered her. "The Amazing and Majestic Trixie will be the best queen you have ever known!"

"What's going on, Bon Bon?" Lyra walked up beside her best friend, then followed her gaze to where a familiar—if cloaked—unicorn stood. Red magic boiled out of Trixie's horn, and Lyra managed to take a step back before it lanced out and grabbed her horn. Lyra's eyes narrowed to pin pricks as she felt the power sink into her head, heart, and body.

Trixie walked up to the crowd of supplicating ponies. She let her magic sink into each one, but lamented the one that got away from her. "Spread out like this, Trixie's magic isn't going to be quite as effective as working on just one…" Movement caught her eye, and when she turned to get a better look a blue blur of speed slammed into her. 

"Whatever you are doing, Trixie, give it up." Rainbow Dash jerked back from the unicorn, but reared up to be ready to deal with her physically again.

"Rainbow Crash…" Trixie's tone held almost as much contempt as she had for Twilight Sparkle herself. "And Trixie can assume the rest of your band of hecklers are around here somewhere?" Getting up to her hooves, Trixie held back on her magic for the moment—she wanted answers.

"Yup! Applejack and Rarity are right behind me!" Rainbow flew closer to Trixie, hovering and brandishing an upraised forehoof. "So don't try anything tric—" She froze as a red glow filled out Trixie's eyes. It took only a single flash of the light to make her unable to do anything but hover in place. She watched as Trixie's eyes seemed to leak light. The magic flashes of color flowed out of the edges of the unicorns eyes, streaming to the sides. "S-S-Sombra…"

"What're you doin'?" Applejack stood slightly in front of Rarity. The sight of Trixie's flashing, streaming eyes shocked her. She too remembered Sombra's eyes, but his had been leaking shadow. 

The amulet seemed to have reached a new level of rapport with Trixie's magic, and she felt a new confidence burn inside. "Trixie has a fun game. She is sure this is one none of you have seen. Trixie says, 'Grab them.' " She pointed a hoof at Applejack and Rarity, and on her command the crowd of bowing ponies jumped to their hooves, and jumped at the Element Bearers.

"This ain't right!" Applejack buckled like a bronco, clearing enough area around Rarity so that her friend could raise a magical shield. "You okay Rares?"

"This is not…" Rarity puffed a little at the strain. "… not what I wanted to do… today." Combat magic wasn't her forte, nor was it for the rest of the ponies of Ponyville, but that didn't stop Lyra, Vinyl Scratch, and Dark Moon from leveling their horns at them and letting loose credible blasts.

Alone, their makeshift blasts would not have stressed even Rarity's weak shield, but together, and combined with dozens of ponies throwing themselves against the shield, it started to weaken and show cracks. 

"I can't hold this much longer!" Rarity's voice was filled with despair. "If you have a plan, Darling, now would be a great time to—" She froze as a familiar face appeared in the crowd, just outside the bubble. Staring directly into Rarity's eyes, was Rainbow Dash.

"Just give up, Rarity. You'll see. Queen Trixie is pretty awesome once you get to know her." Rainbow tapped on the shield, smiling widely, just wishing she could be looking at her queen's face again. "Please? Just let it down so I can sneak in too."

"Don't listen to her, Rarity!" Applejack was looking everywhere but at Rainbow Dash. "If'n I can just figure out how to—"

"Applejack, Darling?" Rarity felt her reserves weakening. "I would suggest running for someplace safe. I… I'll do what I can, but do be good and don't look back."

"Rarity? What are—" Applejack's voice cut off as the shield dropped. A flood of magic washed in at the pair of revealed ponies, but with the last of her strength Rarity threw a bubble of power over Applejack like a cloak.

"Run, Darl—" Rarity wanted to continue, but something stole her attention away from her friend's departing flank. "Trixie." The word suddenly meant everything to Rarity, and more. "Queen Trixie." She bowed low, leaning down to kiss her queen's hoof. "I am so sorry I let her get away. I simply don't know what came over me."

"Trixie is prepared to forgive your treachery, but she is going to require an amazing outfit. An outfit worthy of a queen!" The amulet around Trixie's neck flared bright, and she felt a pulse of energy rush out to engulf the town in her magic. "This will be Trixie's best show ever."





Galloping as fast as her hooves would take her, Applejack couldn't think any further than doing the last thing Rarity had told her. Focusing on the dark, Everfree Forest as it wrapped around her, Applejack could think of just one pony who wouldn't have had any chance of being in town when Trixie returned. "Zecora…"
> The Show - Part 2
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Applejack's hooves pounded the trail through The Everfree Forest. Tears leaked from her eyes, and they were tears that she neither could nor would stop. "Dagnabbit Rarity. When'd you end up bein' the brave one?" Her choked words only brought more tears.

The forest was stirred up by the rush of nearby magic. Timber wolves howled, and even a manticore roar penetrated the looming trees to Applejack. Never before had the terrors of The Everfree made Applejack feel safe, but today they did. Timber wolves, manticores, cockatrices; they were all a barrier between her and what Trixie Lulamoon had become.

"Halt your running hooves, and tell me what danger this proves?" Zecora, wearing her full shamanistic regalia, stood in the middle of the path. Applejack hadn't seen her through her tears, and it seemed to the mare as if the zebra were a great monster of The Everfree.

"Zecora!" Slamming her hooves into the ground, Applejack sighed in relief. "Please tell me Trixie ain't got to you, too?" She looked at the strange mask Zecora wore and shuddered a little; the pattern on it reminded her of a timber wolf head.

Seeing the worry in the mare's eyes, Zecora tilted her mask up and back. "This is all that showmare's fault? It had the feel of an angry colt…"

"Definitely Trixie. She came into town and just… she was makin' them all act crazy an' do what she wanted them to." Shaking with the horror of all her friends turned against her, Applejack shed some more tears.

Zecora reached a foreleg over Applejack's withers and pulled the smaller mare into a hug. "Did another pony manage to flee, or is it just us, you, me, we?" Guiding her friend, she led the way back to her hut.

"Derpy got hit the worst. When Trixie came into town, she did somethin' real strange to her. Then her coltfriend rushed out and tried to defend her—he's a changelin', Swift Stride Ah think was his name—her magic didn't seem to work so good on him, but that was changing. Quick as a shot he took off with Derpy clutched tight." Remembering the event made Applejack have a little hope. "If her magic don't work so good on the bugs, maybe they can come and defeat her?"

"Of war you have not seen much, to rely on it is a major crutch." Zecora's rebuke was undone by her tone, her own experiences robbing any outwardly directed harshness. "You were at Sombra's downfall where ponies milled like cattle, how many lives were cut short by the battle?"

A grim reminder flared in Applejack's memory. She recalled how many ponies and changelings were reported undone in the various skirmishes. "They could still help somepony get in and… and stop her." Applejack clung to the hope that the rising of "Queen" Trixie could be stopped without bloodshed. "So what can we do?"

"Pragmatic and ready to plan, together we will do what we can." That the mare was still able to think of fighting back filled Zecora with hope; she was always fascinated at how resourceful ponies could be.





All the hive knew who Swift Stride was; a master infiltrator, guardian of both the hive's young queen and its only princess. So when he practically crashed into the main doors of Canterlot Castle, action was taken. 

"Please! I need to see our queen!" Swift clung tightly to the snarling creature his fillyfriend had become. Two big guardlings stood their ground while another infiltrator raced off as fast as possible. "Derpy?" Pulling the mare away from him, Swift almost lost his grip on her. 

Big, leathery wings spread out, their claws slashing at Swift's body. Derpy was panicking, and needed to get back to the only important pony in her life. "Where is my queen? Where is Queen Trixie?!"

"Derpy, stop!" Swift fought back against Derpy, but unlike the mare he sought only to restrain without hurting. 

Stomping into the courtyard, Chrysalis could see her drone wrestling with the strange pony. "Swift! What is going on?" As she rushed over, other drones approached. Appreciating the support, she nonetheless would have rather kept things less open.

"Trixie Lulamoon arrived in Ponyville." At the look of confusion, Swift clarified, "A traveling performer who had met with a rough audience. She came back and her power… She did this to Derpy, and mind-controlled her."

"Mind-control? How did you get away?" Chrysalis gestured to one of the guardlings in the crowd. "Drip, please come and lend your expertise." She waited for the undersized guardling to make his way through the crowd. "Can you sedate her?"

Drip nodded to his queen. "Of course, Queen Chrysalis. Sedating her without overwhelming her body completely and killing her, is another thing." He stepped up beside Swift, and had to dodge a claw swinging at him. "Heavy! Get over here and hold this mare for me."

"I'll hold her!" Clenching his teeth against the repeated slashing claws on his chitin, Swift Stride was almost in tears. "I couldn't protect her…"

Making her way through the crowd with a lot less problems than Drip did, Heavy Lift practically stalked forward. Her frame was big enough that it dwarfed even the guardlings at the gate. "My Queen, Infiltrator Swift Stride." She gave a bow to the former, a nod to the latter. "What's up, Drip?"

"Little miss fury of claws here needs to be held very still while I knock her out." Drip still didn't approach Derpy and Swift. "How about you help Swift Stride keep her steady so I can do this?"

"Like old times, Drip?" Heavy moved into the danger zone around Derpy, and ignored the sharp thumb-claw that lashed out to rake down her chest. "She is a feisty one. Special somebuggy?" Her words were directed to Swift, getting his attention as she brought her weight in from the side and carefully lay down atop Derpy. 

"Yes… Yes ma'am." Swift barely registered one of the heroes of the Northern War lending him assistance. "She got zapped by some strange magic, ma'am." He watched as Heavy Lift secured Derpy's new wings down against gray fur, planted her heavy limbs on each side and just held still. "W-What do you want me to do?"

"Hold her head." Drip approached now, trusting his life to the biggest guardling of the hive. "I need to clamp my fangs into her neck and hold still. Each time I give her more venom, I need to wait to see how she takes it."

Swift did as instructed, bracing himself and pinning Derpy's thrashing head down. "Please be careful with her." He barely got the words out before Drip bared his fangs and struck. The action of driving his long, hollow fangs into the mare had to be a sharp one. Once the small guardling with the over-productive venom glands latched on, it was obvious that he was having some effect.

Twilight Sparkle made it to the courtyard in time to see Derpy Hooves struggling under the weight of three changelings. Her blood started to pump, but one of her best lessons learned had been to evaluate before doing rash things. "What's happening?" She approached Queen Chrysalis, knowing that it was her word that was law.

"A pony arrived in Ponyville, and she used strange magic to twist Swift's friend here. She is also mind-controlling ponies." Chrysalis watched as the furious gray mare slowly relaxed. "I am having Drip sedate her so we can decide on a course of action."

Her mind racing, Twilight gasped in excitement. "Wait, don't fully knock her out yet!" Her magic flared and Twilight popped from one place to another with a rush of teleportation magic. Looking around, she oriented herself with where she had come out. "Sweet Dreams! Sweet, wake up!" Trotting through the rooms she stayed in while at the castle, she found the drone in her bedroom, curled up on the bed like a cat.

"What's going on?" Sweet blinked his bright blue eyes at Twilight and yawned. But rather than a rational answer, he instead was floated into the air on a cushion of purple magic. "Twilight?!"

With her charge on her back, Twilight shook her head. "No time to explain, Sweet. Hold on!" Another rush of power and Twilight, with a screaming dreamling clinging to her back, appeared back in the courtyard with a POMF of magic.

"Aaaaaahhhhhhhhhh…" Sweet Dreams trailed off when he realized he was looking directly at his queen. "T-T-Twilight! I said not to do that!" Despite his queen-and-mother being present, the shock of being teleported still upset Sweet a lot. 

"There is a good reason I made you a princess, Twilight Sparkle." Chrysalis quickly picked up Twilight's plan. "Sweet, you have plenty of venom?" The drone in question nodded, his outrage overwhelmed by his queen's words. "Good. Bite this poor mare so that we might have some hope of finding out what happened to her."

"Exactly!" Twilight stepped closer to Derpy, her eyes glued to the weakened, most gentle pony she knew. "I am so sorry, Sweet, but she needed you as quickly as possible." Using her magic, Twilight lifted Sweet Dreams up from her back and set him on the ground.

Yawning widely again, Sweet walked on wobbly legs towards where his much larger siblings restrained the gray pony. "What's with all the muscle? She doesn't look so menacing."

"Tell that to Swift Stride, and he is her special somebuggy." Heavy kept her weight over the pony, but didn't have to press down as much to hold Derpy in place. "Haven't had much to do with you guys. Dreamling, right?"

Sweet was quick, almost uncannily so. His white fangs flashed and a small bite mark was left on Derpy's shoulder. "Yeah. Now ease her out completely." He couldn't stop another yawn, and leaned down to rub his cheek along Derpy's shoulder, where he had bitten.

Drip hadn't had time to get to know any dreamlings either, and the speed with which Sweet Dreams worked astounded him. Keeping his eyes rolled up to the top of his head, he watched as Sweet curled up beside them and promptly fell asleep. Focusing back on Derpy's heartbeat and breathing, Drip leaked a little more venom into her.

Relaxing into his own dream-plane was the easiest thing Sweet could ever do. Falling asleep was as simple as breathing, for a dreamling. He waited, and in the dream world time got all kinds of stretchy, so it seemed like a week to Sweet before the portal appeared. Wreathed in burning black-green fire, the portal into Derpy's dreams was not an inviting-looking target. "The things I do—"

"Sweet Dreams." Princess Luna was suddenly beside Sweet. She had easily made her way from the overarching dream world into the dreamling's own personal plane, since she had his permission to. "What is going on? Do I need to wake up?"

Stretching, his form shifting to a much more muscular stallion, Sweet shook his head. "A changeling from Ponyville arrived with an injured pony. Some kind of mind control that seems to not affect changelings." He looked at Luna, his form putting him at the same size as the alicorn—at least in his dreams. "Which is why I must ask you not to follow me."

"That looks like King Sombra's magic." Luna gestured forward, slightly amused at Sweet's need to change his form to be an equivalent size to herself. "I don't understand how this can be. Maybe an artifact, or a spell?"

"Princess Luna, this is what a dreamling was born for." Striding forwards, Sweet gave the Princess one last look—even daring a wink—before stepping into the fire.

The actions of the dreamling started to make sense to Luna, and she widened her eyes in surprise at what she figured out. "He is trying to impress me?"

A swirling vortex of purple fire tore and ripped at Sweet Dreams. Memories of Princess Celestia's dreams came to him, and the changeling railed against it. The fire wasn't cleansing, like the Princess' had been. The flames licked and tried to burn his chitin, but Sweet was in control of the shared dream. "Where are you?"

The dimmest whimper caught Sweet's attention, and the changeling focused on that direction. Swooping through the nightmarish flames, he spotted a caged pony. The horrific fires flickered and reached into the cage, trying to contact the pony. Everywhere they touched her, they left raw, sizzling welts.

Derpy was alone, trapped in her own head, and nothing she did could stop the pain of fire from burning her. She had given up trying to dodge it, her mind weary and weak. When a voice had cut through the flames, she screamed as loudly as she could. When the strange changeling appeared in the fire, she thought it was just another way it was going to torture her.

Sweet reached the cage, and touched a hoof to the lock. It wasn't complicated, he could open it, but something about its construction seemed inconsistent with the dreamscape. "You made this cage." When the pony didn't answer, Sweet expended a hurricane of energy to shove the fire away. "You made this cage to hide in?"

"Y-Y-Yes…" Derpy was, for the first time since Trixie's spell had gripped her, not being assaulted by burning flames. "Who are you?"

"I am Sweet Dreams, and this," —Sweet gestured around the cage— "is not a sweet dream. What did this to you?" Rather than risk opening the cage, Sweet instead built walls around it, sealing another layer around the both of them. The moment he was done, flames rushed in and started burning the wall.

"Trixie…" The moment Derpy through the name, an image of the mare she thought of as her friend appeared. "She cast a spell on me with her eyes! It hurt so much…"

"Is this what she looked like when she did it?" Building the image up more, feeding it energy, Sweet built it into a rotating likeness of Trixie Lulamoon. "Was she wearing anything else?"

"Oh! Yes!" Derpy focused on the image, and the hat and cape were gone, replaced with a heavy cloak. After a moment of further thought, she added the strange amulet Trixie had been wearing. "Just like this!"

Sweet studied the amulet, but didn't recognize it. "Hold on a second. The best thing about dreams is…" He reached out with his forehooves and plucked the amulet from the fake Trixie's neck. "… if you can think it, you can do it."

Derpy's eyes widened, and despite her condition watching the clever changeling work rose her spirits. "But… what about this?" She gestured a hoof at the walls of her self-imposed prison.

"Those walls will only hold as long as I am in here, and I need to leave to show Princess Luna what this is." Sweet Dreams took a deep breath. "But there is something else. This is your dream, Derpy."

"S-So? Can't you just sweep all this fire away?" Derpy looked up at Sweet, and immediately saw in his eyes that he couldn't. "The fire is going to come back, isn't it?"

"Yes, and no. A dream like this cannot be broken in one go. So," —Sweet Dreams snapped a hoof, dispelling the cage— "I am going to teach you some tricks. This is your dream, and despite all my power, I can't affect it in quite the same way you can. Would you like to learn?"

"W-W-Won't it take too long? You have to get that to Princess Luna." Derpy pointed at the amulet.

Reaching up, Sweet booped Derpy on the nose. "We are in a dream. The fire might burn, and we might be asleep, but in here years can pass before you wake." Stretching his power, Sweet dilated the dream-time, stretching it out like pasta noodles. "Now, first thing; imagine a brick. It is a strong brick…"
> The Show - Part 3
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Tell Trixie again."

The Golden Oaks Library was Twilight Sparkle's home, but now it was Queen Trixie Lulamoon's abode. She'd had a throne installed in the middle of the tree-house, which while it made things a little cramped, made for an amazing spot to have ponies grovel.

At that moment, Trixie could feel the power of the amulet, and how it gave her absolute control over all the ponies in the town. She could feel each mind tingling in the grip of her power, but for the most part she let them go about their business. But not this pony.

"Well. Come on. Tell Trixie how Great and Powerful and Queenly she is!" Glaring down at Rainbow Dash, Trixie put a hint of power into her voice.

Had the amulet been fully affecting her, Rainbow Dash would have neither had a problem with replying, nor felt bad about it. As it was, all Trixie made her do was talk. "Grrr. Why are you doing this, Trixie? This is really wrong!"

Rainbow Dash winced at the look of pity on Trixie's face. "I can't believe you'd do this after causing so much trouble already." A stab of mental pain sliced into Rainbow's mind. She grunted and struggled under the mental weight of the amulet bearing down upon her.

Trixie savored the sight of Rainbow Dash, loyal to a fault, straining just to stand in Trixie's presence. "Just say it. Tell your queen what she should hear from all her ponies." 

"Y-You're the G-Greatest and—and Powerfulest pony in E-Equestria." With the words snarled through teeth clenched against the mental pain, Rainbow Dash collapsed to the floor. The moment her belly touched the wood the pain left. A soft whine of relief left Rainbow Dash's mouth.

"See? All you had to do was praise your mighty queen. Now, your new duty—nay. Your only duty now is to tell this to Trixie every day." Lounging back on her throne, Trixie tried to ignore the creaking sound—wooden thrones painted gold might look the part, but it wasn't quite what she wanted. "Starting now, of course. Tell your queen what she is."

The sound of grinding teeth echoed from Rainbow Dash. She had said the words once and made them as hollow as she could. "You're the Greatest and Powerfulest pony in Equestria." Her delivery was so dry and without emotion that Rainbow Dash expected to be punished for it, but to her shock Trixie didn't seem to care.

"Good. Now the Great and Powerful Trixie will have to come up with something to keep everypony under control. We simply can't have them running away until I can put on my big show." Lifting a hoof up, Trixie tapped at her chin with a hoof. Her musings were interrupted by a red shimmer from the Alicorn Amulet. The flicker of light began at the bottom of its gem, and flickered up to reflect in her eyes.

Trixie sat up on the throne. Blinking a few times, she let out a little gasp. "Yes." Her voice was uncharacteristically quiet. "Yes. That will work perfectly." Leaning forward, Trixie aimed her horn directly at Rainbow Dash.

Red magic poured from Trixie's horn and bathed Rainbow Dash in blinding light. She tried to lift a wing up to shade her eyes, but couldn't move. She tried to open her mouth and shout at Trixie, but something wrapped around her snout and squeezed down tight.

The binding sensation rolled up Rainbow Dash's cheeks, and she felt the magic pull behind and on top of her head. The light flickered out, and Rainbow Dash felt the grip around her body relax. Shaking herself, she felt the magic still around her face. "What'd you do to me?!"

"Shhh." Trixie lifted a hoof to her lips, gesturing for silence. She waited and watched Rainbow Dash, and saw the exact moment when the pegasus realized she couldn't talk. "Isn't it wonderful? Trixie's Great and Powerful amulet has all kinds of useful bits of information. A bridle that can impart Trixie's will upon the wearer? You can only talk, Rainbow Crash, when you are praising Trixie."

"Wonderful and Brilliant Trixie, you can't do this! Ponies need to be able to talk!" Rainbow Dash's brain slowly caught up with what she had said, and she shuddered: she hadn't meant to praise Trixie at all. Covering her snout with both forehooves, Rainbow flapped her wings to hover.

"If Rainbow Dash wishes to leave the Great and Powerful Trixie's presence, she must ask." Smirking from cheek to cheek, Trixie looked down at Rainbow Dash. "That is, if you don't wish to remain with Trixie and keep praising her."

"C-Can I go—" Rainbow Dash tried to bite down and hold her mouth closed, but against her will her lips parted and she continued. "That is, if it pleases the Most Majestic Trixie?"

A purr started in the back of Trixie's throat; she was enjoying this greatly. "You may go, but when you do, send another pony here, and don't warn them they will be getting a bridle too." Power stroked at Trixie's ego nearly as much as her demeaning of Rainbow Dash had. The name now put a smile on Trixie's lips, rather than a frown. Rainbow Dash, the reason Trixie had lost her wagon, her bits, and most of her props.

Idly, Trixie watched Rainbow Dash leave the library, and moments later Rarity strode in, looking slightly sheepish. "Rarity! Is Trixie's new royal gown ready?"

With just one day's notice, Rarity hadn't had much to work with. No imported fabrics. No hours spent searching for inspiration. She had been commanded to make a dress, and she was doing her best. "Not quite—"

Rarity's voice cut off as red magic flared from Trixie. It blinded Rarity, but she just couldn't look away. Staring, she felt familiar straps pull around her face. She knew what the feeling was, had felt it more than once. The moment the magic stopped, Rarity looked up at Trixie. "A bridle? Please tell me it is a nice fit…?"

Reaching behind her head, Rarity used her hoof to gently probe for the bridle's clasp. Every bridle had a clasp—except this one. "Tr—" She gulped back what she was about to say. "Queen Trixie Lulamoon, the Great and Powerful, why did you put this on me?"

"You like your bridle." Trixie started to climb down off the throne. "You love your bridle." She stood just before Rarity, and stared into the other mare's eyes. "You don't ever want to take your bridle off."

Each phrase confused Rarity more. She knew the thing likely clashed with every color on her, but no matter what, she found herself loving the bridle. She blinked at Trixie, and the red glow came again. This time, when bright red magic poured from Trixie's horn, it seemed to burrow into Rarity's own. She gasped in shock, but found her forelegs folding underneath her.

Trixie had just come up with the wonderful idea, and was putting it into motion. She forced a chunk of magic into Rarity. She pushed it, shoved it, and then bound it into Rarity's horn. "And above all, you want to give a bridle to everypony you know."

The final command settled into Rarity's mind, and she blinked. "W-What? I…" She trailed off, her brain forced into patterns it normally wouldn't take. She shivered, and looked at Trixie. Power bubbled up within Rarity, and a red glow spilled from her horn, while her mouth curved into a smile.

"What are— NO!" It was too late for Trixie. Red magic bathed her in its light, and the power poured from Rarity and around Trixie's snout. She gave a soft whimper as the bridle formed around her head.

Rarity took the wonderful magic back once it was done with Trixie. "There. Isn't that much better? Come, Trixie. Let's give everypony a bridle. You'll love doing this." She noticed a panicked look in Trixie's eyes for just a second before the growing smile on her lips washed all the panic from Trixie's face. 

From the edge of town, hiding in edge of The Everfree Forest, a pair of changelings watched as the two unicorns left the Golden Oaks Library.

"What're you seeing?" Applejack didn't want to poke her head past the two shapes, but she desperately wanted to know what was going on.

Eye Spy shook her head. "Bridles, or something. I can't tell, but I think things might be getting worse."

"They aren't like the masks Sombra was using, but they are giving me the same vibe." Extra Sharp nodded to her hive-sister, and refrained from her instinctual chirping her wings together. "We need to report to our Captain."





Derpy liked to flap her wings. She spread each one out, slowly. The brick fence circled her little house and kept the fire back. Once each wing stretched out to her sides, she lifted them and gave her first flap. 

Of course, she didn't need to flap her wings in here, but she liked to. The wall that stretched around her was solid, more solid than any she could think of. The walls of Canterlot itself were not as carefully placed or strong as the wall around the core of Derpy's mind. She had, after all, spent a full year practicing.

"You are getting really good at this." Sweet Dreams stayed sitting on the grass beside where Derpy hovered. "Next we are going to move on to more advanced things. Would you like to learn how to fight the fire?" One moment Sweet was looking at the wall before him, the next a gray pegasus hovered a hoof-width from his nose, her splayed eyes gazing to each side of his own.

"I'll take this as a yes." Lifting one hole-filled hoof, Sweet booped Derpy on the nose. "But first you need to learn the full extent of what is happening to you. This fire is being produced by the grip of the amulet within you. Princess Luna explained that it leaves a taint on those it touches, and it cannot fully be cleared away until the owner of the amulet is divested of their power."

"So if it is tainting my mind, how do I stop it? Trixie has the amulet-thingy..." Derpy dropped to a low hover, her wings barely moving.

"There is another you out there." Sweet pointed out, past the brick wall. He gave a sigh. "It looks like you, it thinks like you, but all it wants is to destroy you so it can live here." He buzzed his wings in distaste for the nature of the magic working within Derpy's mind.

Landing, Derpy folded her wings at her side. "How do I help them?" When she watched Sweet Dreams clop his forehead with a hoof, she blinked in surprise. "What? They need my help."

"Derpy, they aren't even a pony. What you need to do is defeat them and bring them up instead." Waving a hoof at the wall, Sweet shook his head. "They aren't, I know it!"

Derpy blinked at the vehemence Sweet Dreams unleashed. "But you just said they are another me. Were they made as a copy of me and then corrupted?" Walking over to the wall, Derpy ran a forehoof along the solid surface. "Maybe they are hurting, too?"

Sighing, Sweet Dreams recognized somepony who wasn't going to listen to him. If there was one thing he was used to, it was dealing with mares who rethought everything you told them. "You're not going to listen to me, are you?" When Derpy Hooves shook her head, he sighed. "Okay. If you aren't going to listen to what I say, will you at least let me teach you how to defend yourself against her?"

" 'Her'?" Derpy grinned at having won her little argument. "If she is being forced to attack me, then I need to defend against that while we help her." A big smile lit up her face. "So teach me how to defend, first, then we can work on helping her."

"Well, she is going to be just like you, but corrupted, and she—" Sweet froze as his brain reminded him of a little detail. "Wait! She isn't going to be just like you." With a wave of his hoof, an image of what Derpy Hooves now looked like in the waking world appeared. Big leathery wings spread out from each shoulder tipped with a claw at the hand.

Derpy walked up to the copy of her, and tilted her head a little to the side. "Why like this?" She reached her hoof and gently teased back the lips of the clone, revealing sharp fangs.

"That is what the amulet did to you." Stepping up to the Derpy-clone's side, Sweet reached a hoof up to fold the huge wing up. "Maybe the destruction of the amulet will return you to normal, but we don't know."

Rubbing the side of the snout of her strange clone, Derpy kissed their nose. "Then I'll be the best whatever this is that I can be. But first, I have a friend to save!" She booped her clone. "You look almost like one of Princess Luna's guards!"

Sudden excitement grew in Sweet Dreams at the mention of Luna. He was distracted by his own thoughts for a few moments, and when he shook his head to clear ideas of joining Luna's Guard, he was looking at a giggling Derpy. "What?"

"You." Derpy pointed at Sweet. "Whenever I mention Princess Luna, you always stop and stare into space for a moment. It's really cute!" 

"What?" Sweet realized he sounded like a broken record, and shook his head. "Is it that obvious?" Derpy Hooves nodded to him, and Sweet slumped a little. "I can't tell her! She's an immortal alicorn, and I'm just a—"

Derpy interrupted Sweet. "The only dreamling. Or so Swift Stride said."

"Not even the only one anymore. Chrysalis told me there will be more soon: the eggs are already maturing." Blowing out a sharp breath, Sweet's size deflated a little within the flexible realm of dream. "Okay, first thing, you need to build the same kind of wall as you already did, but you need to make the bricks a little different.

"You need to make them this shape, and thinner." Sweet demonstrated what he wanted, using his willpower to make a single, clear hexagon appear.

"That doesn't look anything like a brick." Despite her protest, Derpy fashioned a similar shape, putting as much solidity as she could without it not being clear anymore. "But how do I put these together?"

Bringing his power to bear, Sweet Dreams made another hexagon, and another, and another. More and more snapped into being and butted up against their twins, and as he floated slowly upwards they formed a sphere around him. "Like that."

Sticking her tongue out the side of her mouth, Derpy Hooves made a start. A second hexagon was thrust into being by her will, then a third, fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh. She pressed the six new hexagons around the first, forming a clear wall. 

Sweet watched Derpy assembled the full bubble, rotating it around herself so she could see what she was doing. A proud teacher, he was surprised at how easily she turned it, but didn't say so. "Okay, now let it go."

Derpy, proud of her perfect barrier, looked up at Sweet. She watched his mouth move, as if he was talking, but no sound came out. "Uh… Sweet?" It took her a moment before she realized it was the barrier stopping her from hearing him.

Blinking at the wall, Derpy finally realized what she needed to do. Plucking out just one plate, she giggled. "Sorry, I couldn't hear you through the wall."

"Just let go of that one. We need to work on one you can talk through." Sweet waited for Derpy to let all the plates dissolve into nothing before starting over. "There is no reason you can't hear through them, they aren't thick enough to stop sound."

Eyeing the plate she had removed, Derpy examined it a little closer. "But they just were!"

"You made them too noisy. Think of each plate as being still, not moving. When your voice hits one, it will vibrate with your words, and they will vibrate all the way through!" Completely lying, Sweet Dreams knew how important it was to believe something, and giving Derpy a reason to believe she could talk through a barrier was enough to make her actually able to.

"You lie badly. This is another, 'As long as I believe it,' thing, isn't it? Like the fire not harming the bricks." Derpy watched as Sweet's face fell. "Thought so. For a changeling, you don't lie very well."

Derpy shook herself and let the last hexagon fade. "Besides, I have a better design." She began building her sphere again, but this time she used triangle-shaped "bricks" that snapped together much faster than the hexagons did. "You made this overcomplicated. You should make things simple for me; I'm not smart like Twilight Sparkle."

Staring in shock, Sweet Dreams' jaw nearly dropped open. "N-N-Not smart?" His senses, sharp as a razor in the dream of a pony under the effects of his poison, revealed just how much stronger the shape Derpy built was. Shaking his head, he smiled at the mare in a bubble of force he wouldn't have been able to shatter if he tried. "Okay. Drop that one, and build it faster."

Doing as instructed, Derpy spent months training just on that shield. She made it stronger still, faster, and thinner. Again and again, she built up and tore down her shield until it was instinct. Sweet started throwing attacks at her, randomly, and Derpy would have to get her shield up in time to block them. 

In a dream, you don't actually need to sleep—since you already are. Days. Weeks. Months. Practicing over and over, it wasn't any wonder that when a flash of cobalt magic alerted pegasus and dreamling to an intruder, that each snapped a powerful shield up.

"It's been two hours." Luna gently floated down to land on the soft, cloud-like ground. "What do you have to report?" Her full attention was on Sweet Dreams, but she couldn't help but admire the powerful shield that Derpy had in place.

"A year and a half of practice at building dream-constructs. Derpy wanted to make a defense, I showed her, and she improved it." Sweet Winked at Derpy. He couldn't help but puff up a little in pride.

"Defense? Why only defense? Derpy, you need to fight off this monster inside you." Turning to Derpy, Luna saw a mare resolute. There was something harder about Derpy Hooves.

Derpy lifted her chin and looked right into Princess Luna's eyes. "I want to help her."
> The Show - Part 4
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Memories of the fire stung at Derpy's mind. The flames were made to inflict mental pain, and to make it stick. Behind her, Princess Luna and Sweet Dreams stood, but she had to face the fire alone. 

"We'll wait here." Sweet looked sideways at Princess Luna. "If you need to fall back, just call for us." He stood just as tall and proud as an alicorn in the dreamscape, and it was only partly to look good for Luna.

Luna wasn't immune to the posturing or glances Sweet Dreams shot her way, nor was she unaware of them. After a thousand years spent thinking she was unloved by anypony, however, it was quite refreshing. "Fight well, Derpy Hooves." She risked a look at Sweet, only to be caught looking at him while he was looking at her. Over a thousand years old, and Luna could still blush and look away like a young mare.

Derpy had looked back at her mentor in time to see the nonverbal exchange between Luna and Sweet. Seeing the pair, so coy and new at love, buoyed her determination to do what she knew was right. Forming the improved, triangle-based bubble, Derpy flew off the ground and flowed through the brick wall around the center of her mind.

The flames that had been licking the walls and eating away at the bricks started turning their attention on Derpy's shield. The flames weren't just stupid fire, they were alive, guided, and they all seemed to crowd around the glowing shield.

In the middle of the inferno, Derpy could see that all the roaring flames came from one direction. She smiled and flapped her wings within the shield. Despite it being just a dream, flapping her wings propelled Derpy faster, and her target was the source of the fire.

"There you are!"

Derpy's head snapped around, focusing on the voice. A pony that looked like a cross between some kind of bat and a pegasus, but on fire, was in the heart of the flames. They stared at Derpy with slit eyes, and trembled with fury. "Hi!"

Put off guard by the cheery greeting, Derpy's Nightmare slowly flapped its wings to keep in place; up until it had seen Derpy flapping hers, it hadn't needed to actually flap them to fly. "Give up. You can't fight me forever: every moment I am here I grow stronger and you grow weaker."

Giggling, Derpy nodded. "Yeah, I know. They told me I had to come and fight you, but you are too strong to fight, aren't you?" Watching the bat pony smile and nod, Derpy shrugged her shoulders. "So you might as well get rid of the fire, and I'll get rid of this shield, and we can talk."

The logic was confusing, but there was enough of Derpy in the Nightmare to shake its plan of destruction. For a moment it thought about it. "Do you think I'm stupid? If I stop the flames you will wrap me up in one of those bubbles!" The Nightmare pointed a hoof at Derpy's shield. "You drop your shield and I will pull back my fire!"

Derpy knew it was a trap, and knew she was about to get burned—badly burned. "Okay." She tried to keep her tone upbeat, in the hope the Nightmare would have a change of heart. The moment she let her shield puff out, the flames rushed her.

Gasping in pain, Derpy threw her shield back up, wrapping it around her singed feathers and fur. "Ouch! That really hurt!" Safe again, she looked at the Nightmare. "You said you would call your fire away!"

"I lied!" The Nightmare laughed and intensified the rush of fire around Derpy's shield. "Did you really think I would play fair? Just give up and drop your shield. You know you are meant to be out here, with me."

Scrunching her snout up, Derpy looked at the Nightmare. "You're being mean, but you're right. I should be out there, and in control."

Derpy let her shield crumble. Each of the triangular plates that made up the barrier crumpled and faded, except one. Each time a fire strike came at her, Derpy spun that one barrier around to block it. "Why are you doing this?"

The Nightmare snarled, flashing a set of fangs at Derpy as she sent fire at the mare again and again. "Because it is what I am! I was made to crawl into you and take over. I am a monster!"

Too slow with one rush of flame, Derpy winced as burning flames licked her side. She floated up closer to the Nightmare. "But you're me! What did the amulet do to you to do this?!" She pointed a hoof at the Nightmare.

"It wants me to—" The Nightmare faltered a moment, missing a few beats on its flaming assault. Eyes widening, the Nightmare shook its head. "It wants me to kill you to make room for him."

"Who's 'him'?" Derpy stopped whipping the shield-plate around, the attacks had stopped. She was barely half a pony-length from the Nightmare, and couldn't help but admire how pointy she was. Hooks at the thumb of each wing looked sharp enough to slice a sheet of parchment, and the Nightmare's fangs looked like they might skewer her own lips and tongue at any moment.

"H-Him! The amulet's maker. K-K-King Sombra." The Nightmare's pupils were narrowed to the barest of slits, and she looked suddenly terrified.

Derpy was suddenly off-balance. "He's in here?"

"No." The Nightmare stared past Derpy, stared into the flames. "I don't think so. I think a tiny piece of him is in the amulet."

"Insurance." The moment Derpy said the word, the Nightmare snapped her attention back on the pegasus. "He put a little of himself in the amulet, and set it to do this—all of this." Derpy gestured around, and finally at the Nightmare. "He is using me and you. And he is using Trixie.

"We have friends who can help stop him." Derpy lifted a hoof and poked the Nightmare on the nose with a soft boop. "He needs a body, right? One where the owner can't fight him?"

"That's why I'm here, why I want to fight you." The Nightmare's eyes focused on the hoof that poked her nose. "I'll be destroyed either way. King Sombra wouldn't allow me to be in his body."

"My body." Derpy straightened at the talk of her body as Sombra's. "It's my body, and I say who gets to stay in it!" She let out a snort, staring at the Nightmare. "They told me I had to fight you, that you were bad—"

The Nightmare, no longer commanding the flames, cut in on Derpy's words. "I am bad!"

Letting loose a giggle, Derpy Hooves shook her head. "You're only bad if you want to be." She gestured around with a hoof. "You aren't being bad right now."

The Nightmare froze, staring at Derpy. For what seemed like hours to the mind-demon, they both just looked at each other. She looked at the innocent-appearing mare, and was surprised by how deep her thoughts actually ran. It was simple logic: she didn't have to fight just because she could.

"I don't know how this will work, with you inside my head, but it will." Derpy gave a sharp nod to punctuate her words. "And do you know why?" The Nightmare just shook her head. "Because a friend told me that in here,"—Derpy gestured around with a hoof—"I am in control. I get to decide how things'll work.

"You have my memories?" Derpy finally stopped flapping her wings, and imagined some soft grass under them. Pushing, the ground came into being and she alighted upon it.

"S-Some. Things are hazy, smokey." The Nightmare found herself able to easily float again, but surrendered to the pull of the soft grass.

"You weren't meant to last much beyond removing me, were you?" Settling down, Derpy folded her legs and relaxed. "But that's alright, and you know why already."

Blinking her big eyes, the Nightmare tilted her head a touch to the side. "Because you don't want me around anyway?"

Derpy drew her head back a little in shock, and she shook her head. "No! I mean you are in my head, and I have control of things in here. Sweet Dreams said so." Spreading a smile back on her face, Derpy had another shock. "Oh right! I should call them over. C-Can you get rid of all this fire?"

Though the Nightmare wasn't directing the flames, there was still plenty around. Each lick of fire was a fraction of the Nightmare's fury, and bit by bit she pulled it in, drawing all her anger inside. Softly, just to herself, she promised that she would find a better target for it. 

When the flames died out, Luna let out a tiny sigh of relief. "Derpy has won." She tried to avoid looking at Sweet Dreams, partly because she didn't want to admit that she had feelings for him, and partly because she didn't want him to catch her looking at him—again.

"Then let's fly, Princess Luna!" Spreading his black, bat wings, Sweet caught the princess looking at him again, and barely managed to stop his smile getting wider. Every time she had glanced towards him, his heart beat faster, and soon enough it would explode out of his chest if he didn't make a move.

Big, bat wings spread out and flapped beside her, and Luna couldn't help but feel excitement. She spread her own wings and gave chase before she realized what she was doing. Flapping her wings hard, she kept her eyes on Sweet—she could make the excuse now, after all, that she had to watch where he was flying.

It wasn't long before two sets of wings brought Derpy's guests to their little field. "Don't be scared of them; I won't let them hurt you…" Derpy's ears shot up, and she blinked in surprise. "Do you have a name?"

"I—I'm your Nightmare…" The Nightmare suddenly didn't like the name, hated it. She didn't want to be anything bad to Derpy. Derpy didn't deserve her.

"Oh. I could call you Night Mare, if you like?" The moment Derpy suggested it, she saw that was a bad idea: the Nightmare's internalized anger expressed itself as a halo of flame. "Something different. Fire Dancer?"

The burning ring around Fire's head snapped out and she blinked her big eyes a few times. "Fire Dancer?" She held up a forehoof, and let her fire dance along it. A big smile spread across her face, and she juggled some flames.

"Stand back, Derpy!" Luna saw Fire Dancer start to rekindle her fires, and tried to warn Derpy. "It's preparing an attack!"

Fire Dancer shot to her hooves, and her anger spilled out at Luna. Flame licked up her legs, and boiled over her fur, and she began to channel more still, when Derpy jumped between her and her target.

"Stop!" Derpy spread her wings, making herself too big a target for either Luna or Fire Dancer to attack the other without hitting their friend. "Fire Dancer won't hurt us, and neither will Princess Luna." She turned her head, looking between the two.

Sweet Dreams landed a little to the side of Luna, and looked over Derpy Hooves and Fire Dancer. He tilted his head to the side, and reached one leathery wing out to rest on Luna's back. "It—she—isn't attacking us."

"Yes. I have dealt with her kind before. Nightmares sent by King Sombra to destroy ponies and puppet them around." Luna didn't calm down, instead she summoned more magic—dream magic.

Behind her, Sweet Dreams' flames felt hotter and hotter. With Luna's magic swelling before her, Derpy realized things were escalating. Luna had Sweet Dreams at her side, but Fire Dancer was all alone, so Derpy sucked up her courage and sidled closer to Fire Dancer, risking the flames that grew more intense.

"What are you doing?!" Fire Dancer had to rush to pull her anger in, to surrender her flames. Just as she got the last of her anger in check, Derpy was close by her side, and spread a feathery-soft wing over her back. The gesture was worth more to Fire Dancer than anything else so far. She leaned to the side a little, and pressed the side of her head against the side of Derpy's.

The dream wavered, and with a snap the poison that had kept Derpy sedated reached a point where her new, altered metabolism could compensate for. Opening her eyes to the real world, she smelled something hot, something burning.

"She's awake! Make sure those chains are secure!" Heavy Lift gestured to the heavy chains that were welded into the very stone of the room. Each led to the collar around the gray bat pony's neck.

"Um…" Derpy's body felt awash with strength and explosive energy. She stood up slowly, the weight of the chains feeling like it was nothing, although once they were at their full extension, she couldn't move her head. "C-Can you undo this, please?"

"Send word to Princess Twilight." Heavy gestured to one guardling, and they went galloping off. Squaring herself, she turned to Derpy, or what she hoped was Derpy. "We have to keep this on until we can confirm that you are you. Princess' orders."

Derpy tilted her head to the side, causing the chains to rattle, and one to creak. "Oh, okay!" She smiled, and promptly poked her bottom lip with an overly sharp fang. "Ow! Ow! Ow!" Each time she exclaimed, she poked another part of her lips or tongue with a fang, perpetuating the chant.

Waking from his restless sleep, Swift Stride lifted his head. He looked at Derpy, and concern warred with hope. "Derpy, is that you?" At his words, she stopped biting various parts of her mouth.

"Swift!" Derpy's face lit up, and her heart lifted. "Swift, you saved me!" She took a step, and without realizing it strained at a single chain enough that each of the links stretched, their magic pushed almost to their breaking point.

"You're calm? It's really you? Princess Luna said that it might be something really bad, and I—" Swift cut himself short as the princess in question entered, with Princess Twilight. "Is she alright?!"

Before Luna could answer, Twilight rushed in and past all the chains to hug Derpy. "You're alright! Princess Luna and Sweet said you made friends with what the amulet had put inside you?"

Derpy nodded, her attention split between two royals, her coltfriend, and the tiny changeling almost asleep on Princess Luna's back. Sweet Dreams looked like the cat that ate the canary. "Fire Dancer isn't a bad pony, Princess Twilight, Princess Luna, she just didn't know she could be good." Heat boiled inside Derpy, and she could feel the flames Fire Dancer embodied.

"I'll take responsibility for Derpy Hooves, Heavy Lift." Twilight nodded to Heavy, and the big changeling nodded back. Channeling magic, Twilight used the special magical "key" that had been built into the collar.

The moment the restraint snapped open, and Derpy was free, she rushed at Swift Stride and wrapped him up in her forehooves and her wings. It was at that exact moment she realized what was so different. "I have Fire Dancer's wings!"
> The Show - Part 5
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Applejack squeezed her eyes closed for a moment, the image of Rarity still playing over and over in her head. Rather than cry, however, Applejack's jaw set like a steel trap. Standing up, she surveyed the edge of town, and then whistled.

Trotting along, patrolling the edge of town, Cheerilee had not a care in her head. The bridle she wore made sure of that. Until, of course, she heard the whistle. The tack wrapped around her head jingled softly as she turned. "Applejack! I'm so glad I saw you!"

Of the three kinds of pony Applejack could have startled, she was glad for it being an earth pony. "You should come quick, Cheerilee. There's somethin' important I gotta show ya." And, having said her best straight-line, Applejack turned and started to run.

Cheerilee was confused at first. When she saw somepony, she was supposed to lead them to the town center, but Applejack was going the wrong way. "Wait! Come back!"

Running after Applejack, Cheerilee got just within the edge of the Everfree Forest when something landed on her back. She was an earth pony, which meant that the heavy weight on her back wasn't as debilitating as it would have been to a pegasus or unicorn. "Get off me! You are being really naughty, and need to come back to the town!"

Eye Spy knew she wasn't the right bug for the job, but there were only three of them. Extra Sharp had headed back to take word to the approaching detachment of changelings, while Eye had opted to stay and help the locals. "A little help?"

Circling back around, Applejack came in out of Cheerilee's line of sight. Pulling out a coil of rope, she got it around one of Cheerilee's legs and pulled hard. "Th' trick with earth ponies is not to get in a tussle with 'em. Failin' that, ya gotta get 'em off their hooves fast."

Lacking the venom of a guardling and the overwhelming power of an underling, Eye Spy only had one thing left she could do to make herself useful. She called her magic, let it boil around her, and built up a royal guard pony form around herself. Shapechanging was the only game-changer an infiltrator had, but lucky for Eye Spy it was a really good one.

Cheerilee fell to her side and felt the weight of a big stallion land on her. "G-Get off me! We need to go to the town center right now!" While she yelled, Applejack took the time to tie her legs together. "Why are you doing this to me?"

"That's a might-good question." Applejack finished tying the knots to keep Cheerilee bound despite the strength she possessed, and looked up at a fourth figure. "Why're we doing this again?"

Zecora stepped from the shadows of the forest. She looked at the bridle on Cheerilee's head with obvious dislike. "The reason you already knew, the addition of a bridle we must undo."

Applejack couldn't help looking at Eye Spy, disguised as a royal guard, a little odd. Zecora inspecting the bridle pulled her attention away from the changeling. "Can we git it off her?" She reached down to tug at the bridle and froze.

Buzzing magic started to shoot up Applejack's leg, trailed by a strap leading from Cheerilee's bridle. She was stuck, her leg not responding to her desire to pull back from it. As the strap of the bridle almost reached her barrel, she opened her mouth to yell in panic.

Eye Spy had believed everything her mother had said. Eye trusted the ponies that accepted her. She offered help to them too. When she watched the unknown magic reaching for Applejack, she moved before having to think about it. Leaning into a shove, she knocked Applejack away with every bit of her assumed bulk.

The strap pulled free from Applejack's foreleg, and lashed around for a new target. With Zecora jumping back in shock, that only left Eye Spy. 

Grabbing the changeling, the magic spiraled up her foreleg quickly and shoved itself up her chest and around her head. Eye Spy squealed in panic and tried desperately to pull away, but it was too late. The straps settled, tugging taut around her muzzle, ears, jaw, and behind her head. 

Eye Spy shook her head, her mind filling with panic. She jumped back from Zecora and Applejack, scared that she might spread this thing to them too. "Stand back!"

Zecora kept watch on Eye while Applejack got to her hooves. She narrowed her eyes a little, and then a smile spread over her lips. "The bridle's power over changelings is sure, but on a changeling loyalty fails to ensure."

"It does tingle a little. How would I tell if it was controlling me?" Eye Spy still kept her distance from Applejack, but when Zecora approached, she held her ground.

Keeping her distance from Cheerilee and Eye Spy, Applejack considered the situation in the blunt, direct way that she was well-known for. "So yer sayin' it ain't doing nothin'?"

"I can hear whispering. Sort of like a buzzing sound in the back of my head. It's trying to do something to me, but I don't think it's taking." Eye Spy shook her head, trying to clear the noise, but it was ever-present. "Might get annoying."

"Before you say it, I know what you're going to ask. And you're going to be right." Turning to look back at the town, Eye Spy shoved at the voices in her head, and while they quietened for a moment, they were back just as loud as ever. "No one is better suited to get in and take a look around than me." She turned to Applejack. "Be careful of that bridle. I won't be around next time." 

With a deep breath, Eye Spy set her hooves moving toward the town. "I just had to sign up to be the hero. What's wrong with me?" As Eye Spy broke through the edge of the forest, she spotted a pony already walking toward the spot. The closer they got to her, the louder the noise in the back of her head became. "H-Hi!"

"What happened to Cheerilee? Is she okay?" Looking back the way Eye Spy had come from, Caramel held a hoof up to his bridled head. In the back of his mind a small voice whispered that he needed to find out what happened. Caramel couldn't avoid listening to that voice, and he couldn't disobey it.

"Th-They captured her. Well, we did. But then her bridle grabbed me. I really want to go to the town square…" Admitting the truth was unavoidable, but in her disguise Eye Spy was perfectly situated to give as much false information as she could hope to. "C-Can you take me there?"

—Find out what happened.— Caramel's head turned to look at Eye. "What happened to her? How many of you are out there?" The voice in his head was insistent.

"Th-There was me and two others. They grabbed Ch-Cheerilee and took her deep into the forest. I managed to s-slip away!" Eye Spy cast a few longing looks toward the town. The buzzing in her head had settled into a background drone.

Caramel paused, waiting. He was just getting worried when the voice started whispering again. —Take her to town.— Sighing in relief, Caramel nodded to that voice. "Okay. I'll take you to town." He didn't expect Eye to misstep, or do anything out of the ordinary—she had a bridle on, after all; she had her own voice to listen to.

"S-So. What's actually going on here?" Eye Spy hoped the bridles were just commanding, and not fully controlling the ponies. If it was the latter, she was about to have a bad day, or so she thought.

"Oh! Queen Trixie and Empress Rarity are giving everypony bridles. Isn't it so much easier just listening to them, not having to think for yourself?" Caramel trotted along at Eye's side. —Find out everything about her.— "So, what's your name? I'm Caramel."

"Sure Guard. Err, my n-name's Sure Guard." As an infiltrator, picking a new alias was as smooth and easy as breathing for Eye Spy. The stutter had been her first choice to stand out by not standing out. A simple and silly name was the second. "It's lovely to be here with you, Caramel."

"You're a Royal Guard, huh? I thought they were all stallions?" Despite his words, Caramel was happy they weren't all stallions. Sure Guard looked quite attractive a mare to him.

"Y-Yeah. Since all that changeling takeover stuff, Queen Chrysalis has been l-letting anypony join. I always wanted to protect Equestria, but now I just want to protect Ponyville!" Eyes Spy didn't fail to notice that Caramel's eyes kept straying to her. Flattering as it was, she had a job to do.

As they drew ever closer to Ponyville, Eye started noticing the voice getting more insistent, and gaining in volume. She could make out words now. —Turn yourself in.— —Tell them you're a spy.— —Let them make you whole.— They weren't affecting her, still, but it was getting annoying.

—Lead her to the town center. Present her to your queen.— Glad that he didn't have to ask anymore pointed questions, Caramel relaxed a little more. "Your eyes are pretty."

"P-Pretty?" The statement was completely unlike everything else Caramel had said. Eye Spy thought about it, and she smiled a little. "Yours too." —Surrender.—

"… everypony come close! We are beginning the spell!" Rarity's voice resounded over the town, Trixie's amplification spell working perfectly. —Begin summoning. Make them help. This spell must be cast.—

—Give in.— Eye inadvertently (and uselessly) tucked her ears back. The voice was getting loud enough that it was really annoying. When she saw what was happening in the town center, however, she felt real panic. 

Rarity stood across from Trixie. Both unicorns wore similar bridles. Between them lay another bridle, black straps seemed to eat the light, but on the cross-piece where a strap passed above the wearers eyes a curved, red horn was attached. 

Around Rarity and Trixie, arrayed in a circle, was every unicorn in the town. One by one, each started channeling magic. Each pony built up their power and then sent it forth into either Trixie or Rarity.

Eye Spy didn't like what she saw one bit. She recognized the horn, and figured the rest was pretty obvious. If the bridles were making ponies do this, then it was important that it happen—or not happen as the case may be. —Put the bridle on.—

"Ohhh. They're starting!" Caramel walked closer to the ritual circle, milling up with the other non-unicorns gathered around. "Come on, Sure Guard!"

"C-Coming!" Moving to Caramel's side, Eye Spy could feel the strength of the voice in her head growing. —Present yourself. Take up the mantle.— "Shut up." Eye froze. The surrounding ponies were staring at her, although the unicorns seemed to be completely focused. "Err… Uh… What's that?!" She pointed a hoof back the way she had come.

Caramel was a smart stallion: he knew a ruse when he saw it. But he was the only one. "What are you doing?" 

—Surrender your will to me.— Eye Spy was wearing the form of an earth pony built on a large scale. She shoved with her back hooves, and leapt into a gallop. —Accept your fate.— There was five pony-lengths between her and the unicorn circle. When the gap was just one length, she planted her forehooves and shoved upward. —Be their ruler.—

"Shut up!" Eye repeated, her voice coming through clenched teeth as she soared into the air and over the unicorns. —Take me.— Ignoring the voice, Eye Spy's focus was on the bridle on the ground. Magic streamed from Trixie and Rarity into it, and the thing seemed to glow and writhe with power. —Become power.—

Eye Spy hadn't realized what was happening until it was too late. The voice was working, but it had taken proximity to others to have it really sink in. She slowed, walking toward the horned bridle. —Pick it up. Put it on. Become my avatar.—

The black bridle writhed, squirmed, and when Eye Spy's hoof reached out to it, it stretched tendril-like straps toward her. 

"Stop."

So focused was Eye, that she couldn't tell the commanding tone of the voice wasn't coming from inside her head. She froze in place, not quite making contact with the dark bridle. —Ignore them. Take it.—

Just as Eye Spy reached her hoof a little closer, another limb reached into her field of view and pulled the bridle away from her. Lifting her head, Eye Spy stared at Derpy Hooves. She watched as the bridle started crawling its way up the bat-winged pony's body, enshrining itself on her head.

"This wasn't your fight." Derpy shook her head, feeling the bridle pull tight and the base of the horn—that the strap parted around—kiss her forehead. A lance of pain stabbed through Derpy, and she threw up her defense as fast as she could.

Time seemed to stop as Derpy's focus slipped inward, and once more she was trapped in the fortress of her mind. There was no fire this time. Darkness wrapped around her bastion; cold, chilling darkness.

"Let me in. I promise to spare you and everypony you care for."

Derpy shook her head. "I don't care. You hurt a lot of ponies!" She didn't believe a word the darkness said. The darkness around Derpy's little fortress throbbed with power, and she watched as all her walls creaked in distress. Worry assuaged her, and she started rebuilding the walls of her mind.

The walls trembled, and Derpy Hooves struggled to hold them. But she didn't struggle alone.

"You look like you need some help." Fire Dancer stood beside Derpy, looking like her twin now. "I like the wings, by the way."

"Fire!" Derpy hugged Fire Dancer, using her forelegs and her wings together. "You're okay! I was worried he would do something to you."

"He should have. He's what was in the amulet, what I should be now. I don't know what stopped him from absorbing me." Leaning into the embrace, Fire Dancer pressed her cheek to Derpy's. "I'm glad you did this. Nopony else could stand up to him like this."

Derpy shrugged. "With both of us here it'll be a pushover. Let's—" Her voice died as darkness tumbled through her walls, spread around the two of them, and started contracting.
> The Show - Part 6
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Fire Dancer couldn't see anything, but she could feel Derpy. She knew what she had to do, and knew it would hurt her friend, but there was no other way to stop the darkness. She burned.

Suffocating in black tar, Derpy's ears tingled in delight at the sound of her own screams. Flames licked all over her, but they were flames that kept the darkness away. She drew back a little from Fire Dancer's face and giggled despite the heat. "We need a shield of fire."

Jumping up and away from Derpy, Fire Dancer spun in a circle to look over the remains of the fortress. The outer walls still held, although fire now scorched the inner area. She remembered Derpy's shields that had held back her flames, but fire couldn't be built like that.

Derpy watched Fire Dancer start to turn—slowly at first, but then picking up speed. A hurricane of fire built, and soon an eye opened up in it. The flames stopped licking her, and Derpy was left watching in awe as Fire spun the flames all the way to just outside the wall.

Stopping her twisting dance, Fire looked down to see Derpy cheering for her. She spread her wings and spiraled down to meet the mare she felt was her sister. "That should hold him for a bit. What are we going to do?"

Her spirits raised, Derpy looked around at the wall of fire, and reinforced her own walls and fortress within them. Turning back to Fire Dancer, she shrugged. "I don't know!"

Fire Dancer had a moment where she was sure despair and panic should slot in, but the confused look Derpy gave her left no room for them. "You made a friend out of me, despite my trying to destroy you. Apart from that, what could stop him?"

Derpy reached a hoof up to tap her chin. "W-Well, Princess Twilight and her friends used the Elements of Harmony." And in the past I think Princess Celestia and Princess Luna tried to use them on him. Maybe they're the only way?"

A resounding thud came from the wall. Derpy and Fire both shot into the air and flew toward the source of it. Sombra stood just outside the ring of fire, projecting a spear of crystal before him—through the flames—and into the wall.

"Please stop."

Sombra froze at the words of the bat-winged mare. He glared at her. "Give in. I'll make this painless."

Derpy frowned and tilted her head to the side. "No you won't."

"Clever. No, I won't make it painless. This can never be painless. I will consume you, and you will become me. Give up now." Striking one of his hooves on the ground, Sombra pushed against the wall with his crystal battering ram again.

"Why not stop fighting and be friends?" Derpy glided down to land on the wall Sombra was trying to smash. "Fire Dancer already made friends, you could live in here too."

"You think I would be content to live out my days in your head? Trapped again, unable to do anything?" Sombra dug his forehooves into the ground, turned, and bucked the crystal ram into the wall. "I was born to rule!"

"I don't think he'll surrender." Fire Dancer landed on the wall beside Derpy. "You're not going to surrender, are you, master?"

Derpy and Fire both froze at the last word that left the nightmare's mouth. Sombra, however, smiled like the cat that ate the canary.

"You were meant to defeat her." Sombra's eyes burned with green fire. He stared at Fire Dancer with hatred and hunger. "You are my minion. Come, bow to me and feed me your strength!"

"N-N-N—" Fire Dancer felt a chill run through her. She shook her head, but couldn't finish saying no to Sombra. She could barely even think the word at him. Tears flooded from her eyes, and her shoulders started to shake. "H-Help, Derpy…"

Sombra felt the bond start to flare, it connected Fire Dancer to him like a leash and collar connected a dog to its owner. He tugged.

"No!" Derpy wrapped her wing around Fire Dancer and held on, stopping her friend from moving. "You aren't his. I didn't fight this hard for you to lose you. I…" Constructing a shield of force, Derpy sealed the edges of it.

When all the plates of force sealed, Fire Dancer could think again. She breathed deep, shuddering at what she had almost done. "I don't like him."

"Me either, but I don't think I can fight him." Marshaling her focus, Derpy held the barrier around herself and Fire Dancer while strengthening her wall. Buttresses grew and dug into the ground behind her. "There."

Sombra felt, when his ram hit the much more solid wall, that there had been reinforcing done. He turned to look up at the two mares on the battlement. "You are more formidable than any pony I have invaded. It will be—pleasant when I explore your mind. So many wonderful tricks to devour."

A chill ran down Derpy's spine at the pronouncement, but what she saw next caused her to panic. Stepping from the mist all around the wall, shadow-clones of Sombra drove crystal battering rams through the flames and against her wall. Derpy had to struggle to reinforce the rest of her wall—the moment she stopped focusing, he would be through.





Princess Luna walked into the main square of Ponyville with a heavy heart. All the native ponies of the area wore bridles—dark-magic bridles. She walked among the ponies until she reached the middle of the square.

Derpy Hooves lay on her side, the dark bridle wrapped around her head. Prominent was King Sombra's horn. A shudder ran through Luna at the presence of the dark thing. It wasn't just the magic, she could feel Sombra's essence in the horn and within Derpy.

Luna ruffled her wings and looked back at the tiny shape on her back. Sweet Dreams looked minuscule, weak, and unassuming. It brought back a little smile to Luna's lips to see him (the monster she had been scared of for so long), trusting her to keep him safe. "Sweet, we need to help her."

Pulled from the haze of almost-sleep, Sweet Dreams yawned like a little cat. As far as his present position went, he couldn't be a happier stallion. He almost felt like chirping. "She needs something she thinks will defeat Sombra."

It was an easy jump of logic to make. Luna looked behind her, and up. Twilight Sparkle was riding in a royal chariot with Queen Chrysalis at her side. Two brutish stallions pulled the royal pair ever closer.

"Princess Luna!" Eye Spy's ability to shape-shift was—she hoped—temporarily suppressed by the bridle. When all the others had collapsed, she had struggled not to do so as well. "Scout Eye Spy reporting. I tried to stop her, and them. I don't think it would have worked right if I'd been the one to—"

"It's not the time. Do you know where all the Element Bearers are?" As she looked around, Luna could see Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, and she knew Twilight was coming. "Where's Applejack?"

The pony in question stepped out from behind a house with Zecora at her side. "Ah'm here. What's goin' on?"

Sweet Dreams yawned again, then once more for good measure. "Derpy Hooves is fighting Sombra in her head. If he wins, he takes over her body and might just become an alicorn. If she wins, he gets defeated for,"—Sweet yawned again—"forever. We need to get her all of you, the bearers of the Elements of Harmony, because everyling knows that only the Elements can defeat him."

Applejack narrowed her eyes. "So…?"

Luna reached back with her magic to rub Sweet Dreams on the cheek. "It means, Applejack, that you and your friends need to help Derpy stop Sombra. I can gather your friends, but you and Twilight Sparkle will need to allow Sweet Dreams to poison you."

Twilight Sparkle galloped ahead of Queen Chrysalis. Her hooves danced between the ponies of Ponyville, each a friend to her as well as a client of her library—every one looked like a marionette with its strings cut. She hadn't heard all but the last few parts of Luna's words. Then she saw Derpy.

A gasp of shock leapt free of Twilight's mouth. She didn't need her magic to see Sombra's horn sinking black, magic roots into Derpy. "How do we help her?"

"Like this." Sweet Dreams was too tired to be explaining things, again, in the waking world. He stood up and stretched, then jumped over to Applejack's back before the mare realized what he'd done. His bite was swift and—again—used up the last of his venom.

Luna felt the slightest tug in the back of her mind. Her blood suddenly ran warm as she felt Sweet's latent poison affect her. She didn't fight it, even as she watched Applejack and Twilight Sparkle fold their legs. A moment later all three mares were on the ground around Derpy.





The dreamscape expanded around Luna. She could see all the ponies of Ponyville wrapped in nightmares. She didn't wait for Sweet Dreams to bring Twilight and Applejack—Luna began walking among the trapped dreamers.

"Rainbow Dash." Luna leaned down and kissed Rainbow's cheek. The darkness sinking fangs into the sleeping pegasus' head screamed and fell away.

Jerking from the nightmare, feeling like she had been doused in icy water, Rainbow Dash stared up at Princess Luna. Blinking her eyes a few times, she realized what was happening. "I'm having that dream again. I need to wake up!"

"R-Rainbow Dash?" A little confused, Princess Luna did the only thing a princess of dreams could do when being ignored by a dreaming pony—she poked Rainbow Dash with a hoof. "This isn't your dream, Rainbow Dash. This is a nightmare."

Memories rushed through Rainbow Dash's head. Suddenly, everything came back. "Princess Luna! Rarity's using her magic to—!" She stopped because there was a dark-blue hoof in her mouth.

"It's alright. We need to wake your friends and then help Derpy." Luna withdrew her hoof after a moment. "Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, and Rarity."

"But Rarity was the one—" Rainbow Dash cut herself off this time. She watched Luna put her hoof back down. "What's Derpy doing?"

Finding Fluttershy, Princess Luna leaned down and blew all the nightmares away from the mare. "Derpy is fighting Sombra. We need to enter her dream and help her."

The truth sank into Fluttershy the moment the bridle of nightmares was gone. She looked up at Luna and quickly jumped to her hooves to sketch a bow. "S-Sorry, Your Highness. I must have fallen asleep there. Y-You need our h-h-help?"

"Here's Rarity." Free of the bridle's influence, Rainbow Dash could see her friend trapped by the bridle she still wore. Without a thought, Rainbow tried to pull the black mass from Rarity's face.

Luna used her magic to blast both Rainbow Dash and Rarity free. The former backed up a little, while the latter jerked upright. "Relax, Rarity, you are safe now."

"Oh goodness! What did I do? This is—this is all my fault!" Panic gripped Rarity—panic and a yellow wing. 

Smiling, Fluttershy cradled Rarity's head with her wing. "A pony needs our help, Rarity. You can faint again after."

Leaving the three Element bearers to rousing their friend, Luna searched for Pinkie Pie. She almost didn't believe that the dark magic could harness such a mare—Pinkie seemed so vital and resistant to negative feelings.

"I found Pinkie Pie." Rainbow Dash called. Luna was quick to respond and revive the last of them.

Pinkie barely seemed to recall anything of her ordeal. She remembered Trixie offering her something in a bag, then black shadows leaping out of it, and being trapped in a nightmare. "What happened?"

"Evil bridles, King Sombra, mind-control." Rainbow Dash waved a hoof in the air. "The usual. Princess Luna's helping us get ready to help Derpy fight him once and for all."

Looking up, Pinkie Pie realized the dark shadow over her wasn't a bridle anymore, it was Princess Luna. "Oh! Derpy's fighting against Sombra in her dreams because Sombra used the amulet to make Derpy's body all roar and now we have to go help Derpy and her inexplicably nice twin blast him because we're the only ponies Derpy thinks can do it?"

"Yes." Luna was still processing Pinkie Pie's statement when she felt an intrusion upon the dreamscape. If it were just months ago, Luna would have screamed and attacked—now she smiled. "Sweet. You have them both?"

Sweet Dreams, in the dream world, stood as tall as any alicorn, and was as powerfully built as any stallion. He smiled at Luna in as suave a manner as he could manage. "Of course, Princess Luna."
> The Show - Part 7
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

It was poetry. Sombra's shade swung at the little pony, his attacks all deflected, but he could taste the slow creep of fatigue seeping into her. She was fast as ever, but each wall she made was a little less distinct and was similar to the previous one. 

When he detected the pattern she used, Sombra built a special attack tailored to ripping through the defense. He struck with it, just like he had hundreds of times, but now his attack shattered the wall and sped toward the shadow-clone Sombra's magic had made of the mare.

"Puppet. Marionette. Come to me. Be mine." At the last second before his power sank into the clone, however, Sombra watched in surprise when it hit the mare herself. "Interesting. But my magic works as well on you as it does on it."

"She's not an it! She's Fire Dancer!"

The strings were attached, Sombra didn't care what the mare thought. He pulled, yanked hard, and jerked the shocked mare toward him. "If you beg, I will let you survive within me. Honor me with your will and you will survive this."

"No! I—"

Sombra cut short her cries by turning the strings to fire. "That's your final answer?"

Trembling, the mare went very still. The fire still wound around her limbs, and it was clearly eating its way to her core, but she seemed beyond pain. "I will never join y—"

"Gooood." Sombra drew the word out, and poured more heat into the bindings. "I would have been disappointed in you if you had. This is going to hurt you, a lot, and if you find yourself enjoying it, just relax and let it happen."

The representation of the mare was the literal core of her being, and Sombra slowly inched into it. Behind her, the clone he'd made stared in shock as Sombra slowly won.

A blue flash of light, followed by a rainbow, shot through the dreamscape. It swung around in an arc and tore through the space between Sombra and his target. Magic lines of power sizzled and fell asunder. "What is this?!" Sombra's bellow chased after the gray-pelted mare as something pulled her away from him.

"Silly. This is the bit where you lose!" Pinkie Pie, having pulled her friend back to where their little group, stood in front of Derpy. "And I don't mean small change, because seriously, who has time for half-bit-pieces?"

With Twilight and her friends taking care of Derpy, Luna stepped forward—and was pleased that Sweet stepped up beside her. "You are but a ghost of a monster. Begone, Sombra. Find your rest." She stomped a hoof, and like a ripple in a pond, a wave of the dreamscape itself radiated out and toward Sombra.

The force slammed into Sombra, but even as his own clones—still besieging Derpy's mind-castle—were destroyed, he merely laughed. "Foolish princess, you think you can expel me from that which I own?"

Luna smiled, her blood practically boiling with the excitement of battle. It had been far too long since she'd unleashed herself fully. "Not on my own."

"Oh! Uh—" Sweet Dreams fumbled for a cool thing to say. He knew he should have one, everyling did after all, but in the end he shrugged. "We're Derpy's friends. We won't let you do this!" He risked a glance at Luna, and saw the princess smiling still.

Derpy still hurt all over from the spell that'd bound her, but being free of it made the pain tolerable. She looked up at the smiling faces around her. "Thanks!"

"We can handle him now." Twilight Sparkle with her five friends at her side, stepped forward, even further so than Princess Luna. "Your time is over, Sombra. We banished you once, now we'll do it again."

The power of the Elements of Harmony burned bright. Twilight's element—worn on her head—poured raw energy down into her body, even as the other five invested her friends with similar power. But it wasn't each pony that held the true power of Harmony.

Friendship was the key to the Elements. As each—Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, and Rarity—linked their power to Twilight Sparkle, through friendship, the Element of Magic hummed more. Becoming whole in intent, the combined Elements seethed within Twilight Sparkle.

There was evil nearby—disharmony—and the Elements of Harmony directed their current host to aim them.

Twilight Sparkle aimed the Elements of Harmony at Sombra.

White magic boiled around inside Twilight, and it poured out toward where she aimed. Behind that little streamer, the full majesty of Harmony flowed.

The guiding streamer struck Sombra, then the rainbow rushed along the established line and into its target. A blinding flash of white light engulfed the dreamscape, dazzling everypony present.

Sweet Dreams was the first to see the result of the strike. He gasped.

"I told you. You cannot evict me from my property," Sombra said.

Where the Rainbow of Harmony had struck, Sombra was burned and missing, but as seconds passed, his body rebuilt itself. "This is MY PONY! My new vessel. Nothing can stop me from taking full control of it!"

"Uh. Twilight? Shouldn't that have, well, rainbowed him?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"I can stop you!" Fire Dancer stepped up beside Twilight and her friends.

Struggling to her hooves, Derpy got to her feet and walked up beside Fire Dancer. "We can stop you. This is my mind and you're not welcome!" She began building new things. The first was a set of bladed claws to strap onto Fire Dancer's hooves. Then a sword for Rainbow Dash, a party cannon for Pinkie Pie, a rapier that resembled a seam ripper for Rarity, Fluttershy got a small swarm of assorted angry animals, Applejack's rear hooves gained a pair of heavy horseshoes, and finally Twilight Sparkle got a robe and a hat.

With all her focus invested in the weapons—weapons Derpy believed would hurt Sombra—she stretched out a wing on Fire Dancer's withers to steady herself. She just leveled her wandering-eyes-smile at Sombra. "You can't win."

Rainbow Dash tossed the sword from one hoof to the other. The blade crackled in the air, little sparks of blue dancing along it. "Yeah. I think we got this now. Come on!"

For a heartbeat, Fluttershy worried about the little animals around her. They were tiny, but they all seemed so alive. "Uh. I-If you could help me and go—" She was cut short by each of the little animals, one by one, turning into much larger versions of themselves. "… stop him, please?"

"Imagination is real in here?" Rarity looked around at all their various weapons. "Well, I'm not going into battle like this." Light shimmered around Rarity, and the most elaborate and flowing armor wrapped around her body. Looking nothing so much as a traditional neighketeer, she jumped onto the back of one of the bigger mice and kicked it into motion.

"Oh no. You're not beating me!" Rainbow Dash spread her wings and shot forward until she was shoulder-to-shoulder with Rarity. "You take one side and I'll take the other!"

Bored already of the ponies standing before him, Sombra lashed out at them with a whip of magic. Moments before it struck, Rainbow Dash manifested a shield on her foreleg and slapped it aside. The first edge of worry started in Sombra's shade. He swung the whip around and brought it about, cracking repeatedly, to lash before the first two ponies.

Twilight, following Rainbow's example, vaulted onto another of the animals. With Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, and Applejack beside her, she formed the lead of a charging V formation. A spell lanced out at them, and when Twilight built her own magic defense, the hat and robe seemed to thrum. The shield didn't just hold the magic, it absorbed it and became stronger. "This doesn't make sense, but I think this makes us able to fight him!"

Applejack nodded and leaned further forward over her rampaging mongoose-mount's neck. "Jus' get me close enough t' give 'im what-for!"

A blast of thunder sounded, and then another. Pinkie Pie reloaded her cannon and fired it into the air. The barrel was almost tilted straight up, but she was sure it would hit exactly where she wanted to. Another shot, and another. "We got this!" She loaded the weapon with another cake.

"Mmm!" Fluttershy nodded her head and pointed a hoof to where Sombra was using his whip to keep Rainbow Dash and Rarity away. "C-Could you please go and help them?"

The deafening patter of giant-tiny feet catapulted a wave of critters to one flank. They swarmed up on Sombra and caused him to change his focus.

"Gotcha!" Rainbow Dash wheeled about in the air and brought her sword down on Sombra's whip just as Rarity brought the blindingly sharp fork of her weapon in from the other direction. 

Rarity jumped down from her steed's back and galloped to confront Sombra head-on. "Darling! Great shot! Now, as for you—en garde!" To back her words, Rarity used her magic to jab at Sombra with the fork-bladed rapier.

With the rest of the six friends joining the fray, Sombra was hard-pressed to keep any one of them from inflicting a wound, and he was pressed beyond that. A cake hit him in the side, only rather than the soft splat of sponge, it felt like a cannonball had hit him. "You'll pay for that!"

Luna galloped with Sweet Dreams at her side. In this place—a dreamscape—her power was second only to that of the dreamer themselves. She built layer upon layer of heavy armor on her body, and when she glanced to her side, so too did Sweet Dreams. "Weapons!" she called.

Derpy's head shot up from where she rested. She saw her princess and her friend galloping along like a pair of locomotives, and imagined huge lances for each. Long, dark poles of steel and wood that both ponies bore forward with great velocity. "I need to lie down, Fire."

"What's wrong?" Fire Dancer guided her twin to the ground and settled beside her. "Is it too much?"

"No. Yes. I need to go over there." Derpy lifted a hoof to point at the fight. "Can you help me?"

Nuzzling her way under Derpy's belly, Fire Dancer pushed and then stood. "Come on, it's not far." Lifting her hooves one at a time, she started to walk, then trot, then she lengthened her stride into a canter.

Rarity's armor was taking a beating. Sombra kept lashing out with spells and weapons—each left its mark on her beautiful protective wear. "You really—huff—really should have let the—huff—rainbow do its—huff—thing." Parrying more and more, Rarity was losing her momentum. 

On the other side, Sombra was using magic to keep Twilight and Rainbow Dash busy. He hurled deadly spells at each, over and over, forcing them to keep on the defensive. Knowing he was not gaining ground, Sombra settled for wearing the ponies down with the duration of the fight.

The sound of thunder met Sombra's ears, and he turned to face the new threat. Too late he saw a pair of dark forms in black armor part the milling crowd around him. "No—" 

At the last moment, Princess Luna lifted her forehooves and kept them up so her whole weight bore down through the lance. Beside her, Sweet Dreams hadn't been quite so knowledgeable on the finer points of getting his point across, though he seemed to do well enough.

King Sombra's scream shook the ground. One of the dark lances was buried in his lower flank, while the other had spitted him completely from one shoulder to the other. With only one leg still obeying his command, his knees bent and limbs folded under him. "No!"

Thanks to the wonders of dreams and movement within them, Derpy and Fire reached Sombra only a few moments later. Climbing off Fire Dancer's back, Derpy struggled to keep her hooves under her. Walking up to Sombra, the giant animals winked out one by one, and even the various weapons the six champions of Ponyville carried vanished. 

With each release of her focus, Derpy found strength returning. She maintained her focus on the lances, though. "Why weren't you a nice pony?"

"What?" Sombra shook his head and laughed. "You simpleton! I needed power!"

"Princess Celestia and Princess Luna would have helped. Why didn't you ask them?" Walking all the way up to Sombra, Derpy stopped not even half a pony length from him. "Why didn't you ask a friend?"

Drawing in a painful gasp of breath, Sombra shouted, "I have no friends!" 

Turning her head to Princess Luna, Derpy let out a breath she didn't know she was holding. She hated having to ask the question, but Luna was the best one to answer it. "Can we help him, princess?"

"Sombra cannot survive without a body, now that he has left the confines of the amulet, and there is far too much to him to live in your head. He would eventually grow and take all of you." Seeing where Derpy wanted to take the conversation didn't take much work. Luna had seen Derpy befriend a nightmare version of herself, and believed that if anypony could pity Sombra, it would be her. "The kindest thing you can do, is—"

"Boop." Derpy said, lifting her hoof and shoving it—with every ounce of her will behind it—against King Sombra's nose. "I'm sorry."





Thrown out of the dreamscape, Luna shook her head at the impending headache that was accruing. In doing so, however, she spotted a tiny form curled up against her belly. Leaning toward Sweet Dreams' ear, she nuzzled him. "We'll speak later."

The town square of Ponyville was full of ponies waking from nightmares, but none more so than Derpy Hooves. She lifted her head from the ground and pulled a funny face. "Um. Can somepony help get this thing off me?"

Chrysalis, having to watch over the nightmare-bound ponies, rushed to Derpy Hooves' side. "What of him?" she asked, using her magic to tear the straps of the bridle around Derpy's head.

Sadness filled Derpy. She looked down and let her Queen remove the nasty thing from around her head. "I couldn't help him. If I let Sombra have my body, it would have meant Fire Dancer would have been hurt!"

Pulling the last of the bridle—the horn—from Derpy's head, Queen Chrysalis was acutely aware of just how much of a pony attitude Derpy had. Holding the horn up in her magic, she pushed as much energy as she could into it. The horn launched into the air where a blue spear of cobalt light struck it. 

Chrysalis turned to Princess Luna. "Thank you."

"I live to serve Equestria, Your Majesty." The words felt strange at first, but Luna could well recognize how much better it was to be Chrysalis' weapon, rather than Celestia's. A weapon was useless if it was always sheathed. 

"Unless you know of some other threat your sister swept under a rug for a thousand years?" Sarcasm wasn't Chrysalis' favorite weapon, but right now she was getting sick of surprises.