Even Changelings Wear Masks

Midnight loved to think he was a decently popular stallion....in the market at least.  While his talent was astronomy, he from time to time created paintings and sculptures that depicted the night sky.  He was soon to be known well for these pieces of art he would occasionally sell at the market.  And it was this way he was able to touch on the subject to get his backing for what he called 'The Purge of the Changeling Virus'.

His plan to spread out his word was the most simplistic he could think of.  He would call over the common pony, trying to avoid Twilight, Cadence, Shining, and Chrysalis, and give them an invite to an extremely important meeting.  So far, he has been able to hook himself a few of the Elements of Harmony, a great success in his opinion, and a great deal of the common ponies.

At this meeting, he would make sure he had no unwanted guests and continue on to expose the existence of Queen Chrysalis in the town as well as her cover.  He would, of course, pull out his photographic evidence to prove that she was there.  In the end, he hoped to have a good amount of the town behind his back as he marched down to the library to hang the queen as she deserved.

"Excuse me, sir." called out the voice of a mare he really hoped to avoid.  He turned his head to see Twilight Sparkle approaching his stall.  As soon as he saw the approaching mare he prayed to the moon and stars that she hadn't found him out before he could save her from the Queen's spell.

"Yes?  How may I help you, miss?" Asked Midnight, keeping calm for the sake of not being found out.  Twilight looked over him for a second.

"You wouldn't have had been out by the library last night, would you?" She asked, raising an eyebrow.  Midnight bit his cheek but kept his warm smile.

"No I haven't, Ma'am.  I'm only out on the fields over there on the weekends.  If I'm correct, it's the middle of the week." said Midnight.  Twilight narrowed her eyes at him for a moment before sighing in defeat.

"Sorry, thought you were somepony else.  Nice paintings, by the way.  May I purchase the one of the Milky Way?  I have always had a great deal interest in that part of the galaxy." said the mare, pointing to the almost expertly painted copy of the collection of stars.

"Of course.  That'll be ten bits, ma'am."  He watched as the mare pulled out the correct amount of bits before walking away with the purchased painting in her magic.  The stallion sighed.

If only you weren't tainted by that monster, Twilight, I would have loved to meet you in better setting.  But, I think my chances should be greater once that monster is taken care of. thought the stallion.  He chuckled and went back to his work.

Applejack sat at the front of the crowd that was gathered in one of the few theaters in the  small country town.  She could have guessed by the sheer number of the crowd that nearly the entire market staff and regulars were there for the meeting.

"Still trying to figure out what this is about?" Asked Rainbow Dash as she landed next to the orange farm pony.  AJ nodded and gave the mare a quick peck on the cheek, causing her to blush madly.

"Eeyup.  Midnight never really talked much so Ah'm not sure why we are here." said AJ as she tried to look for the said stallion.  Midnight, however, was not to be found.  She then switched targets to either Twilight or True Hearts, but that came up short as well.

"Applejack, Rainbow Dash, fancy meeting you here."  The couple turned to see Rarity approaching them, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie not far behind.  Five out of six elements.  It didn't sit well for the farm pony.

"Do either of you know what's going on?" Asked Rainbow.  The three of them shook their heads, earning a sigh from the other two.  Applejack casted one final look through the crowd.

"Ah don't know, y'all.  This don't feel right." said Applejack in a worried tone.  Rainbow nodded.

"I know what you mean.  I've been standing here for five minutes and this still hasn't started!  I could be practicing right now!" Said the rainbow maned Pegasus, earning a chuckle from a group.  Their mirth was soon cut off as the house lights switched off, prompting the stages lights to focus.

A  black stallion with a silver mane walked onstage, he was wearing a slight smirk as he did so.  Something about him made AJ's stomach turn.  Midnight Star approached the edge of the stage and gave the crowd a look over.

"Fellow citizens of Ponyville!  For months we have feared a new threat that has come to our attention during the wedding of Princess Mi Amor Cadenza and Captain Shining Armour.  This threat has made us weary of our loved ones, making us think they aren't who we believe them to be." said Midnight, starting to pace the stage as he continued.

"The changeling threat was supposedly dealt with during the wedding, banishing them to the furthest regions of our country with a blast of magic.  I am here to tell you that they have returned and chose our town to start a new invasion!"  There was a collective gasp as everyone, save for five mares, were hit with panic.  The elements, however, glared down the pony, though kept their mouths shut to try and not make matters worse.

"The changeling queen, Chrysalis, has chose our own Element of Magic to prey for love.  She has fallen under the queen's spell.  Chrysalis was even able to capture Cadence and Shining Armour as well!"

"Prove it!" Shouted Dash.  The other elements nodded slowly.  If he had some proof of Chrysalis' existence, then it was all over.  He would have the town hooked and it would make trying to convince them otherwise impossible.

Midnight nodded and lit his horn.  The projector mounted in the back of the theater turned on and projected a clear image onto the screen behind him, causing the crowd to gasp and the elements to look away in defeat.

Twilight and Chrysalis were sitting next to each other in what seemed to be the library kitchen.  The two mares had their tails entwined while Shining Armour and Cadence sat across from them.  The four where chatting like normal ponies, though the five mares knew that the town wouldn't see it that way.  But Pinkie Pie was going to make sure they did.

"And what is that supposed to mean?" Asked the pink mare, silencing the murmurs throughout the room.  "All I see is two couples talking together."

"And that's obviously what she wants you to think!" Countered Midnight, but Pinkie was ready.

"And you have met her?  You have seen how she operates, works?" Asked the pink mare.  "The Chrysalis I saw was a queen of a starving race who did what she had to to keep them alive.  Besides, she wouldn't risk being in the open like that." said Pinkie.

"And how do we not know you aren't controlled by her as well?" Asked Midnight, earning a gasp.  Pinkie cursed under her breath.  "You obviously seem to be friendly with Chrysalis.  Who, may I inform you, is actually our Orphange's head mistress."  The picture switched to True Hearts exiting the library, earning another gasp.

"Not true!" Shouted Pinkie Pie, her hair starting to go limp.  Midnight didn't seem fazed.

"Grab the elements and contain them.  We need to kill the queen to break the spell on them as well." said the stallion.

"No!  You have no clue what you are doing!" Shouted Rarity as she was grabbed by a pair of stallions from behind.  Fluttershy and the now depressed Pinkie took only one where Applejack and Rainbow Dash needed about five earth ponies to hold them down.

"Tonight we charge the Orphange!" The crowd cheered as the elements were hauled off.  Once the meeting was over, Midnight split his followers in three groups.  One to invade the library and capture Twilight, Shining, and Cadence.  Another was to stay behind and prep the town hall for the hanging of the queen.  The final was with him to capture the queen.  If they succeeded, he would be declared an Equestrian hero.

"Do you really have to stay the night?" Asked Twilight, glancing over at her brother who was sitting down by the fireplace, a book on ancient war techniques held in his aura.  The white stallion nodded as his wife walked back in with a pot of tea.

"Yep.  I want to keep an eye out for this stallion for a few more days as well as keep an eye on you two." said the stallion with a wink.  Twilight turned crimson at the comment.  The mare huffed and looked away.

"I think it would be wise to pay more attention to the threat at hand instead of my sex life." Answered the mare as she walked back over to the couch where Cadence set the tea in front of.  She sat down next to the pink mare and proceeded to pour herself a cup.

"I'm actually here just to see how this turns out." said Cadence, lifting her own cup to her lips.  "As you can imagine, being the Princess of Love, I'm very attracted to the idea of putting two ponies together."  The pink mare giggled.

"Yeah, she loves the idea so much she has a list of ships." said Shining with a chuckle, causing Cadence and Twilight to choke on their tea.

"Shining!  I thought we agreed not to tell anypony about that!" Exclaimed the pink alicorn, causing the stallion to break into laughter.

"You ship ponies for a hobby?" Asked Twilight in disbelief.

"I just write down who I think would be a great couple!" Said Cadence defensively.  Twilight sighed before laughing, soon being joined in by Cadence.  It was refreshing to know that they went from going at each other's throats the night before to laughing along with each other like a family.  Except for the fact that Chrysalis had Orphanage work.

The sound of knocking at the door went ignored by the laughing ponies.  Spike, who was trying to read one of his comics in the main lobby, attempted to ignore the insistent knocking until it was certain the others were not going to answer.  With a sigh, he set down the comic and shuffled towards the door.

"Yeah, yeah, don't worry.  I always got the door." said the drake with a sigh as he opened the door.  "I'm sorry, but we ar-"  Spike paused at the sight of over twenty ponies standing in front of the door, each armed with a club from he could tell.

"I'm not going to get to reading tonight, am I?"  His answer was given by the feeling of a bat connecting with the top of his head.  The purple dragon was lucky that his race were notoriously hard headed, literally.  However, the sound of the bat cracking over his head did well to alert the other three ponies that were in the home.

"Spike, is everything alright?" Asked Twilight as she cautiously walked into the lobby, Shining and Cadence behind her.  The cup that, for some reason, was still in her aura fell to the ground as she caught sight of the unconscious drake.  Shining sighed inward.

"See?  This is why I insisted on staying the night."  With a battle cry, the mob entered the library.

Chrysalis, without her disguise of True Hearts, sat in the main living room in front of the shocked faces of the kids and few staff members.  The changeling queen casted a worried look over the children, hoping for no screaming.  She was equally worried about the staff members trying to remove her as head or trying to get the town against her.

"Cool!"  Chrysalis blinked as the one voice of a colt broke through the silence.  It wasn't long until the other children started agreeing.  Chrysalis visibly relaxed as the weight was taken off of her shoulders.

"See?  I told you the kids here wouldn't mind." said Scootaloo smugly.  Chrysalis chuckled and looked over at the orange Pegasus next to her.

"Yes, but I'm more worried about them." said Chrysalis gesturing to the three staff mares.  Chef, and two maids who helped keep the Orphanage clean as well as take care of all the foals and children.

Standing, she motioned for the three to follow her, leaving the kids to talk amongst themselves.  Chrysalis chuckled at the sight before leading the three ponies into her office and closing the doors.

"Why are you here?" Asked a grey mare with a pink mane the moment the doors closed.  Chrysalis sighed and sat behind her desk.

"To start over.  If I had some grand plan to take over Equestria, I wouldn't reveal myself until the last minute." said the queen.  She smiled softly.  "Besides, I have all the love I could need."

"So you're just feeding off of the children's love?!" Shouted the other mare, a green earth pony.  Chrysalis shook her head.

"Not mainly.  Yes, here and there, but it's freely given.  They give it to True Hearts, who doesn't even exist beyond here, and I feed on that from time to time.  My main food source is my marefriend, who knows who I am and is more than aware of what I did in the past."

"But why tell us?" Asked Chef, the only calm headed one.

"Because I need support." said Chrysalis.  "My plan is to restart my race, of which I am the last of.  To do so, I need to obviously feed on enough love to help me survive pregnancy, which I need to check results next week, and then once my child is born, I plan on trying to open a peace treaty of Equestria.  It's better to have allies in this battle."

"So you're opening up to anyone you can trust." finished Chef.  Chrysalis nodded.

"Yup.  I have no mind-control spells, no evil plans, just a simple goal to fix my mistakes."  The other two mares were about to respond when the sound of the door of the Orphanage getting kicked in and children screaming reached their ears.

"You didn't tell anyone else, did you?" Asked Chef.

"Besides the elements and my marefriend's brother and sister, no."  Chrysalis shot of her chair, switched into True Hearts, and walked out into the main living room to see a large group of ponies armed with torches and clubs.

"You better not get any of that on my walls!" Shouted the grey mare, pointing at the torches.  True shot her a deadpan look before facing the mob once more.

"May I ask why I have a mob in my Orphanage?  If you do not leave, I will be forced to call on the Local Guard and have you arrested for Breaking And Entry and Property Damage." said True, staring at the intruders.  A midnight blue stallion with a silver mane stepped ahead of the crowd.

"We know that you are Chrysalis.  There is no point in hiding anymore." said the stallion with a smirk.  Chrysalis blinked and shrugged.

"Alright.  That only means I can charge you with Invasion of privacy since, according to my marefriend's brother, you caught us doing certain..." Chrysalis paused looked around at the terrified foals.  "...activities when you peeked in our window."

"Just come quietly so we can finish this and release the ponies under the spell all the more quickly." said the stallion.  The ponies behind him advanced, causing Chrysalis to involuntarily step backwards, her nerve starting to fail her again.

"I have no pony under my control.  Do you even know how hard it is to control one, let alone four?  It's impossible!" Said Chrysalis, starting to panic.  The stallion growled.

"Lies!"  A tap on his hoof made him look down at a terrified blue filly who looked up at him.

"Pleawse, mista, leave miss Chywsalis alone.  She didn't do anything." pleaded the filly.  Chrysalis smiled warmly at the sight.  It warmed her to know she was able to impact the children's life the way she did that they would protect her.  However, the stallion just scoffed.

"Now she resorts to using foals to do her work.  Mind control on fillies and colts is unforgivable."  sneered the stallion, looking back at the mob behind him.

"What?!  How evil do you think I am?!" Asked Chrysalis as the others in the room, save for the three staff members, grumbled their agreement.

"Unfit to walk on this earth." replied the stallion, causing Chrysalis to freeze.  The mare watched on horror as the mob approached.  Ponies held back the staff members and any daring foals as the midnight blue stallion approached her.

"P-please, I didn't do anything." pleaded Chrysalis, starting to shrink back in fear.  The stallion scoffed.

"I've had enough of your lies."  Her world turned black.

The world faded back to life in a mixture of sound and pain as it lanced through Chrysalis' skull.  Memories of what just occurred flashed through her mind as her surroundings slowly came to life, black giving way to Town Square.

Chrysalis found herself bound in front of a crowd of ponies, some stone faced while some were horrified.  She didn't need to look down to see she was in her true form, it was obvious as of now.  However, she was more curious as to her full surroundings.

"Turning her head to the right she found the five elements of harmony, similarly bound such as her, but that was it.  Only rope held the five mares as they stared at the crowd, AJ and Rainbow Dash fighting against their ropes.  She then turned her head to the left, and felt her heart drop.

The method to quietly take ahold of Twilight was ruined by the mares effort to fight back the forces of ponies.  Her, Shining, and Cadence all had multiple cuts and bruises on their faces and bodies from fending off clubs and spells casted at them.  Twilight, however, had a good,trickle of blood down her cheek.

Now fully awake, Chrysalis became fully aware of the splitting pain coming from her horn.  Letting out a scream of pain, the queen thrashed in her restraints to try and discover and relieve her pain, only to stop as a jagged, black horn was tossed in front of her.

"Didn't want you casting any spells before we finished." said the black stallion from earlier.  Chrysalis stared at her horn then turned back to her marefriend who stared back with tears in her eyes.

"What have you done to her?" Asked Chrysalis through gritted teeth.  The stallion scoffed.

"I should be asking you that.  She keeps trying to tell us you are innocent, that you two are a happy couple, but we all know that is not in changeling ways." said the stallion as he crouched down so he was level with her.  "Now, what did you do to them?"

"You want to fucking know?" She growled.  She turned her head so she was staring at the crowd.  "I dropped a mask I put up in the face of hunger, trying to find a way to feed a race that was doomed from a decision I made before any of you were a thought!  I came here for food as the last of a race.  I made friends, I got a marefriend, I lived life as I would have liked my race to.

"And yet you," she spat, looking at the black stallion.  "You just want to kill me because I frighten you.  Because you don't know who or what I am.  You are afraid so your solution is killing me while justifying your actions by saying I'm evil and taking control of ponies."

"You don't scare me, insect!  No pony scares Midnight!  And how else do you explain her comfort with you?" Asked Midnight.

"Because I saw a side of her that ponies refuse to believe exists."  Everyone turned towards Twilight, who thankfully only had on a limiter.  "I watched as she had to let the last fifty changelings of her race die.  I watched her show emotion that many don't believe is possible because of what she had to do to survive.

"Look at her," said Twilight, gesturing towards Chrysalis, who was still shaking from fear, with her head.  "She is terrified.  Tell me, if she is a monster, what does that make you if you kill off the last of the changeling race?  Monsters only fear bigger monsters."   Midnight scoffed.

"And what proof do you have of this?"  Twilight went silent.  Chrysalis however, found now a good time to try and run.  She instinctively made to clean her fangs, something she remembered leading to am accident only a week ago, but spat onto the chains bonding her.

Once the metal was mostly eaten through, the changeling broke free from the restraints and lunged forward, grabbing the remains of her horn in her mouth before preparing to run over to Twilight's side.  The lavender unicorn saw this as well as the ponies running towards the changeling.

"No!  Run!" Shouted out Twilight, fighting against the rope.  Chrysalis shook her head, causing Twilight to groan.  "I don't want to watch you die so get your flank out of here!"  Chrysalis froze, looking around her surroundings, watching as ponies closed in around her.  The changeling casted one last look at her beloved.

I love you.  Chrysalis took to the air just as the ponies around her pounced.  Before they could reach her, the changeling was already setting a course for Canterlot Castle, ignoring the sound of pegasi trying to catch up behind her.

For you, my children yet to be conceived, and the future of our races, I will come back and save you.  With that, the changeling broke speed records for flying on insect wings as she raced towards the throne room.

"Sister!  We require your audience!" Shouted a worried Luna, switching back to Royal We in her slight panic.  While Celestia was busy trying to settle border disputes with the Gryphon Empire by negotiating with the ambassador, Luna was set with the task of trying to get back in contact with Cadence to set up some trade negotiations with the Crystal Empire.  Of course, she wasn't able to find or contact the other alicorn.

"Luna, I am in the middle of a meeting." said Celestia in an annoyed tone, wiping the exhaustion from her eyes as the indigo princess rushed into the throne room.

"It is an important matter we must discuss now!" Said Luna as she walked past the rather pissed Gryphon ambassador.  Celestia sighed as the alicorn approached.

"What is so improtant that it couldn't wait until the meeting was over?" Asked the elder mare.

"I can't contact either Twilight or Cadence." said Luna in a concerned tone.

"They are probably busy with some other business."  said Celestia with a wave of her hoof.

"Tia, don't you remember why exactly Cadence and Shining Armour actually went to Ponyville and who is also there?"  Realization slowly dawned on the white alicorns face.

"You don't think they figured ou-"  Celestia was cut off as the throne room doors were opened a second time, a frantic guard rushing in.  The gryphon ambassador face palmed and marched back towards his room for the night.

"Princess Celestia, Queen Chrysalis is at the gate!" Announced the guard.  The two royal sisters looked at each other before standing and following the guard down to the gates.

"Why do you think she came all the way down her in her true form?" Asked Luna quietly.  "She knows how much hate the public still holds for the wedding."

"I'm not sure.  She should have been in disguise by the time she made it here." said Celestia, her wings twitching in anxiety.

"You think that she wasn't able to?"

"Luna, why wouldn't she be able to?  It's a natural function to them." argued Celestia.

"I don't know, but I just have a bad feeling." said the younger alicorn.  Celestia sighed and nodded.

"I know exactly what you mean." said the solar goddess as they rounded the corner.  The two froze as they saw the scene before them.

Chrysalis was laying on the cobble stones, breathing heavily but kept a firm grip on the jagged object in her mouth.  Green blood trickled down her face from a stump which one could tell once was a horn.  Bruises covered her chitin in multiple places.  The two could only gape as the half-conscious changeling slowly sat back up and placed her horn on the ground.

"Took you two long enough." said the queen, spatting out a glob of green blood onto the floor.

"What in the name of Equestria happened to you?" Asked Celestia, slowly approaching the injured changeling.  The queen look away, growling slightly.  The guards around her instinctively raised their spears, thinking it was directed at the princess.

"Some plot hole caught me and Twi....uh...doing stuff and managed to get pictures of me both in and out of disguise." said Chrysalis, staring at the remainder of her horn that sat on the ground.  "He rallied up a large number of ponies and capture me, Cadence, Shining, the elements, and Twi."  A growl escaped her throat.  "They beat her despite thinking she was under my control."

Celestia fell down onto her haunches in shock, her sister following suit.  The brutality of what had occurred without them knowing was beyond belief.  The detaching of her horn alone was a painful process due to the nerve bundles spread throughout, plus they didn't know if changelings grew back their horns as unicorns and alicorns do.

"Ponies did this?  Our ponies?"  Asked Celestia quietly.  Chrysalis nodded slowly.

"What I did is still deep in ponies minds, despite my reasons and justifications.  In their eyes, I'm a monster that needs to be killed for everything to be right in the world again." said Chrysalis.  She growled lightly before wincing, pain surging through the remainder of her horn.

"They removed your horn as well?" Asked Luna, concerned for the changeling Queen.  Chrysalis nodded.

"Apparently a horn limiter was too much to ask for." grumbled Chrysalis.  Luna slowly approached the changeling and inspected the black stump on her head.  Blood poured from the jagged wound on her head.  It would take a pony three months to regrow, an alicorn one.  Changelings, however, might not regrow them.

"How long will it take before it grows back in?" Asked Luna, staring at the stump.  Chrysalis slowly pushed the indigo princess out of her personal space before speaking once again.

"It doesn't.  I have to physically reattach it to my skull and wait a month before I can do more than levitate small objects." said the changeling with a sigh.  Celestia sighed herself.

"And how do we exactly do that?" Asked Celestia.  Chrysalis blinked and looked around.  Her eyes stopped at one of the guards who immediatly started to sweat.  She then, much to the confusion and relief to the guard, removed his helmet.

The Queen took a deep breath and spat a wad of acid into helmet.  Acting fast, she punched herself in the gut and forced herself to spat out blood into the helmet, stopping the acid from eating through it.  She then took her hoof and stirred the resultant.

"It's a healing base that we usually use for reattaching horns.  It only works with horns since it can't recreate or reconnect muscle." answered Chrysalis before anyone could question her.  She paused and looked into the helmet before setting it down and turning to Luna.

"I need you to find me some cloth to wrap around my horn to keep it in place before we can get a proper cast on it." Luna nodded and pointed to a guard who nodded and went to fetch the object.

"What else do you need?" Asked Luna.

"I need you to levitate my horn close to me." said Chrysalis, reaching her hoof back into the helmet.  Luna complied and brought the jagged horn close to the changeling's reach just as the guard came back with a piece of tapestry.

"Alright, I need you to listen closely." said Chrysalis as she finished lathering the concoction on the base of the horn.  "I need you place my horn back on my head exactly how it should sit.  Then, as soon as it's on, wrap the cloth firmly around the break off point." finished Chrysalis, dipping her head slightly to give Luna a more detailed view of the stump.

It was easy to see how the horn fit since she could see a rise in the back with a matching dip on the actual horn.  The challenge was fitting the two together without hurting the queen.  She bit her lip as she carefully lowered the horn fragment over the stump, held it there, and pressed the pieces together.

Chrysalis hissed as pain lanced through her skull, barely feeling the cloth slip around it.  Tears started to form just as the patching was finished and the two backed away from the Queen, letting her recover.

"Damn, that hurt like hell." mumbled Chrysalis as she straightened back up.  "So now what are you going to do besides hover over me?"  Celestia sighed.

"Well, I think the only thing we can do is to fly to Ponyville as fast we can and fix this before they cause more damage to the town and the others." said Celestia.  The thought of more pain befalling Twilight made the changeling growl slightly.  Celestia noticed.

"Chrysalis, can you handle to be teleported in your state?" Asked the goddess.

"I should be.  Why?" Asked the changeling.

"Oh, no reason."  Celestia lit her horn and engulfed the three alicorns in a golden glow before teleporting them in a flash of white.

Twilight had to admit that her day could have been better.  Getting beaten by ponies definitly wasn't on her to do list.  Neither was getting captured, witnessing her marefriend lose her horn and nearly get decapitated for crimes that don't exist.  And to make it all worse, the stallion that made it all possible was hitting on her.

"I seriously hope you realize I'm gay." said Twilight, glaring at Midnight.  The black unicorn just waved her off.

"Yeah.  I'll probably have better chance when we remove from Chrysalis' spell.  It's a shame such a beautiful mare such as yourself fell under her spell." said the stallion, lifting her chin up with a hoof, eliciting a growl from Shining.

"Oh come on, how can I be afraid of you when you fell for the same trick twice?" Asked Midnight, looking at Shining.

"I will enjoy beating your ass when we are released." said the white unicorn.  Midnight scoffed.

"That changeling could have hardly gotten anywhere in her state.  I doubt she could have gotten help from her changeling kin." said Midnight with a wave of his hoof.

"What other changelings?" Midnight turned over to Twilight.  "I don't know if you are aware, but she is the last living changeling and did what she did because she had to in order to try and save her hive." said the unicorn.

"And I'm supposed to believe that?"  There was a flash of light and a collective gasp as two alicorns and one changeling appeared in the center of the square.

"You can go and check the caves in the Everfree if you want.  You will find a hives worth of dead bodies." said Chrysalis from her position on Celestia's shoulder.  She casted her gaze to the shocked Twilight and smirked.  "I'm tough to get rid of." she admitted.

"Now you try and make us believe that these are actually the princesses?" Asked Midnight, keeping relatively calm despite most of his followers giving in and bowing.

"I can assure you, I am very real, and very disappointed." said Celestia in cold tone.  She took a step torwards where the others were, keeping in mind of the Changeling leaning against her shoulder.

"Despite what you believe, I watched as Chrysalis cut off the life support of her remaining changelings and ended all magic.  I even checked the caves myself not that long ago to find them filled with dead changelings." said Celestia.  "I'm even more disappointed in your 'method' of handling this.

"Imprisoning the innocent, beating them, dehorning them, and nearly removing their heads is not how we handle things in Equestria, even in the olden days we rarely resorted to those methods." said Celestia, stopping just before the quivering Midnight.  "And as punishment, I will have you throne into the Castle Dungeons for a lifetime for attempted murder.  As for the rest of the town, a warming.  If I learn that harm becomes of Chrysalis or Twilight in the form of a pony, I will start throwing even more ponies in jail."

Chrysalis limped away from Celestia's shoulder and made her way to Twilight, wetting her tongue with acid to help remove the rope.  Twilight watched as the beaten changeling worked at the ropes, wincing every so often in pain.

"I'm so sorry.  I should have put more wards around the library." said Twilight, tears starting to for, in her eyes.  Chrysalis pulled her head back as the last bit of rope broke free.  She turned her head and gave a quick peck on the mares cheek.

"It wasn't your fault.  I guess I was a bit too reckless and that nearly got me killed." said Chrysalis sheepishly.  Twilight rolled her yes and kissed the mare on the cheek, wanting to avoid her mouth for now.

"Just rest and let me get the others." said Twilight, using her hooves to remove the limiter from her horn.  Once free, she cut the ropes off the others and removed their horn limiters.

Once free himself, Shining Armour stood a strode over to Midnight, who was still shaking under Celestia's glare.  Catching him off guard, Shining landed a blow just below the stallion's chin and sent him flying across the square.

"I told him I would kick his ass." said Shining.  Celestia chuckled and began looking for the local guard.  Back over by the Town Hall, Twilight held Chrysalis in her hooves while the others tried to find help.

"You know you were crazy for trying to fly all the way to Canterlot, right?" Asked the unicorn mare.  Chrysalis scoffed.

"I had to make sure I got a chance to have my turn." said Chrysalis with a wink.  Twilight laughed and kissed the changeling's forehead.

"I love you." she whispered.

"I love you too." whispered Chrysalis just as her world faded.