The light shone into the throne room, as Celestia stared down the changeling queen who stood before her. As large and imposing as Celestia herself, the queen felt dangerously powerful. "Ha, ha, ha..." Chrysalis laughed, her insectoid voice sending chills up the spines of anypony who heard it. "The Elements have been defeated. I have captured all your subjects with my swarm. You are the only pony left, Celestia. There is no hope."

Celestia held firm, stamping a hoof down. "Not yet, Chrysalis! Even without my subjects, I can still defeat you with their hlopes... I mean, their hopes and dreams!" Chrysalis glared at the pony princess, and her horn started to glow. A green laser shot out at the princess, who met it with her own laser. They met in the middle, and the battle of powers had begun. The princess' face grimaced with the effort, as Chrysalis similarly seemed to pour all she had into her attack.

The beams wavered, then slowly began to head towards Celestia. She seemed surprised, then lowered herself farther, channeling more of her power into the beam. Slowly, it began to change direction, heading back to the Changeling Queen! The drones gathered around were speechless, looking at their queen as the beam slowly, but inevitably, reached the Queen's wicked horn! A great burst of light emanated from the horn, and the sound of a number of bodies falling to the ground was evident.

When the light died down, the changelings had all collapsed, including their queen, and Celestia stood over them, a conquering heroine. Then, she turned and bowed at the fillies and colts in the audience, as the changelings got up and did so too as they applauded. Cheerilee walked in front of them, smiling. "Now everyone, please thank Chrysalis and her changelings for coming here all the way from their hive to put on that show for you!" She said to the gathered little horses.

"THANK YOU CHANGELINGS~" They all chorused, as they were taught. The group got up and left the stage, leaving Celestia and Chrysalis standing next to each other.

"Look, I'm sorry I flubbed my lin-" Celestia started to say, turning to Chrysalis. Chrysalis was obviously trying her best not to laugh.

"Y-you know how hard it is to seem evil when I'm holding back my laughter??" Chrysalis asked, in an accusatory way. "I thought I was going to die in front of all those kids!" She said, starting to chuckle. "You did that on purpose, didn't you?" she managed to say, before bursting into laughter.

Celestia smiled mischievously, and moved next to Chrysalis, waiting for her laughter to subside. "I can't hide anything from you, can I?" She said, patting the changeling queen's head with a large hoof. Chrysalis didn't try to stop her, as the laughter slowly dwindled. "Though you've sure gotten strong recently, haven't you? I had to try a bit harder to pull off that fight scene." She smiled. "I think it added to the drama, though. The foals certainly seemed to like it."

Chrysalis nodded, then stood back, looking out on Ponyville as the schoolponies all went back to class. "Sometimes I wonder what would have happened if I ever did try to invade, you know?" She said, looking at Celestia. The changeling queen's green, eerie eyes staring at the princess of the sun. There was no malice in her gaze. No envy.

Celestia smiled. "You think you might be able to beat me?" She asked, her voice gentle and mischievous, not a hint of worry that such a thing could ever happen was present in her voice. "Besides, you wouldn't want to exhaust yourself with all that PLANNING that goes with a war, would you?

Chrysalis grinned in response. "That's a good point but still, I don't know... I would have grown quite powerful off all that love... maybe I'd even be able to defeat you in a duel like that! I mean, I am getting stronger all the time, Celly." She teased, poking Celestia with a hole-ridden hoof, her expression mirroring her friend's.

The two monarchs looked at each other, then laughed. "That'd never happen." They said in unison, before hugging and slowly leaving the little stage behind, the small volunteer cleaning crew already at work. The two returned to the castle for a while, spent time catching up with each other (And Luna, of course), and then Chrysalis left, with a fresh plate of cupcakes to share with the Hive back home. It wasn't easy to keep a few hundred adorable larvae well fed, after all.

The drones, her precious children, gathered around her as she returned to the hive. The drones who were part of the play had already returned, and had told the others about the production. The drones and larvae all congratulated their dear mother on her successful play, and she gave out the cupcakes, which were carefully shared equally among her many children. When she returned to her throne, she sat down, only to hear a rude noise. She quickly reacted, standing up and looking under her rear, finding a whoopee cushion, emblazoned with the emblem of the sun. A couple fillies snickered to themselves before scampering out of the room. Chrysalis merely watched them go, chuckling lightly to herself. "Of course, she'd use the ponies most like herself in her schemes. Mischievous fillies."

Yes, the two of them were the dearest of friends. Both childish pranksters as well as motherly guardians of their nations. There was no doubt in anyone's mind that the two of them would be the greatest of friends, for all of eternity. And they were right, of course.

Author's Note

Like I mentioned in the main description, this entire story is going to be a selection of mostly unrelated stories, taking place in different universes. Here's our first, in which the Changelings get along pretty well with the ponies. Celestia and Chrysalis are buddies, too. It's nice when immortal ponies have best friends!