Competent Villains: Chrysalis

(AUTHOR: WARNING. THERE IS A SHIT-TON OF BLOOD SOMEWHERE IN HERE. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.)

Chapter the Seventh: The Strong

Applejack was a strong mare. She was strong because she spent every day of her life working for her family. It wasn't a lie to say that she was strong for herself as well. Her family and her self were intertwined in her mind, and her strength was theirs. It also wouldn't be a lie to say that she considered her friends a part of her family. Maybe that hadn't always been the case, but after the times they spent, they were just as close to her as any of her extensive family. So when Applejack saw her friend Twilight at the mercy of that changeling queen, Applejack put her strength to work.

Each individual changeling wasn't very strong, and Applejack could knock them down pretty easy. They were no where near as sturdy as an apple tree. One swift buck anywhere to their carapace would send them flying, and a score on a head would put one down. Each changeling didn't hit very hard, Applejack's weather toughened hide and thick muscles kept the damage from every blow minimal. She didn't even flinch when one managed to get a bite in with it's sharp teeth, drawing blood that ran down her side. She wasn't sure what that ones final fate was, just that it involved being in two pieces.

The problem was when they would swarm her, pulling her down with their combined strength. She could push them off her and slam forward, but soon enough she would find herself buried under a new group of fanatical insects that would force her back, away from her friend. There was no end to them. Originally she had came quietly, when her friends and her had been surrounded, hoping that they would be kept prisoner and get a chance to escape. She knew they had no chance of beating back the swarm. All that had changed when the Queen had taken Twilight. Applejack couldn't stand and watch. She wasn't that kind of mare. Even if it meant her death at the hooves of a thousand changelings.

She briefly saw Rainbow following suite, biting and smashing. Rainbow was fast and strong in her own right, but she wasn't sturdy like Applejack. Rainbow couldn't crack a tree in half on accident when she let go. Rainbow couldn't work from sun up to sun down. Rainbow probably never had to kill a critter before. Applejack had done all of these things, life on a farm could be hard. So when Rainbow had been swarmed one last time and taken from the room, Applejack didn't curse or begrudge her the failure. Rainbow had done her best to save their friend.

Applejack wasn't angry or disappointed with her other friends either. Fluttershy was too gentle to watch this kind of thing, let alone do it. Pinkie and Rarity were town folk, they had never been exposed to this kind of violence. They probably didn't completely understand what was happening.

Applejack felt herself being weighed down again as the changelings swarmed her. The weight was like a hundred ponies all pushing down on her, trying to smother her in their sickening mass. She wasn't done yet, Applejack wasn't ready to let her friend die at the hooves of that monster. She felt them tackling her, piling on one another and using their wings to push her down. There's this thing about earth ponies that Applejack naturally understood, and these changelings didn't. No matter how much weight you put on it, the earth ain't ever gonna fall. Least it hasn't yet.

Summoning her strength, Applejack threw the changeling swarm off her body in single mighty buck. She knew she couldn't beat em all. She knew she was probably going to die. She was tired and bleeding now, covered in bruises and bites. But if she could save her friend even one moment of this torture, it would be worth it. Applejack couldn't feel pain anymore, just determination. The impact of her hooves on another changeling's carapace was nothing but sight and sound to her, the feeling completely gone in her extremities. For a brief second, she saw her chance.

The changelings had backed off to regroup, and The Queen was distracted doing something terrible to Twilight. If Applejack could get to her maybe she could end this. Maybe she and her friends wouldn't have to die. She jumped, throwing all of her strength into her leap. Her trajectory looked sound, and for a moment she thought she had done it. There was no changeling in the way, and she was moving rapidly through the air to the back of the distracted Queen. Applejack was just one earth pony, but she was strong. She wondered if she was strong enough as she felt her body turning and her hooves prepare to strike. Unfortunately, she never got to find out.

She realized that her forward momentum had stopped, and she felt a familiar tingle around her body. Magic. It took a powerful unicorn to stop a determined earth pony, something about being sturdy and all, and the only unicorn who could regularly affect Applejack was currently the source of her determination. So who had halted her strike? Applejack quickly glanced around the room for anypony as magically adept as Twilight, when her eyes fell on Twilight's ensorceled brother. Of course. It stood to reason that he had a similar well of power considering that shield spell.

Applejack didn't spend much time wondering about the details as she found herself slammed into the castle wall. That was distracting, now she had to extricate herself from rubble in order to go back to dying at the hooves of the changelings. Additionally, she now had another obstacle in between her and saving Twilight. Twilight probably didn't want Applejack to take out her brother, but Applejack was getting desperate. Things were getting blurry, being smashed halfway through a stone wall would be enough to disorient anypony, but Applejack still had a plan. She flung two small pieces of stone rubble into the air and prepared to kick them at Shining Armor.

Applejack hoped Twilight would forgive her for this. Getting struck by apples from her hooves was dangerous enough, actual rocks were likely to cause serious wounds on a normal pony. If she was lucky, they would only concuss him, maybe even wake him up from that dang spell. If she was unlucky, well, Applejack didn't want to think of that. Applejack closed her eyes and kicked with her hooves right as the changeling swarm tackled her again. She had forgotten about them.

This time the swarm struck her sideways while her eyes were closed and she was on two hooves. She felt the force impact her like a train, and then something happened that sturdy Applejack had not expected. The earth pony fell down.

The changelings worked quickly, instead of pushing her into the ground like they had been attempting to do, they lifted her up, and kept her hooves in the air. Applejack flailed wildly, trying to right herself so that she could get back on her feet and save her friends. Unfortunately for her, the critters had learned their lesson. She wasn't sure what was going to happen next, but they had gotten her. Darn magic. They seemed to be carrying her away from her friends, like they had with Rainbow. Applejack saw Pinkie look at her with big teary eyes as she was carted away. Rarity was completely focused on what was happening to Twilight, and probably hadn't even noticed Applejack's struggle.

Applejack stopped flailing when she lost sight of her friends, her motivation for struggling removed. She was always practical about things. And this was no exception. She wasn't going to get free of the swarm moving her, so she might as well let them take her to whatever death trap they had planned. Applejack spent her time thinking of her family. Would Big Mac keep them safe from the changelings? What would he do if one of them changelings came by lookin like her?

Eventually the things carried her to a room and tossed her inside, slamming the door. Applejack wasted no time investigating. It looked like the door was made of some kind of oak, maybe it was three inches thick or so? Applejack gave it a tap with her hoof and listened. Make that about two and a half inches, with some kind of softer wood as the core. Applejack grinned. Those changelings had been mighty quick to throw her in here, and it seemed like they had been mighty quick to clear out. On the other side of the door she heard a disappearing buzzing sound as the changelings left her alone in her room.

Applejack was practical. She had a wooden door and two of the strongest hooves in Ponyville attached to a tireless earth pony. So she turned away from the door, and counted backwards from ten. At zero, she kicked with all of her strength. The door exploded in a shower of splinters and broken wood, startling the two guards who were stationed outside of her door. Even more startled was the slightly smaller changeling who had been standing on the other side of the door about to enter. It might have been startled by the door exploding, or it might have been startled by the oak ripping through its carapace. Regardless, it didn't stay startled for very long and instead settled into a pool of broken changeling in front of the door.

Applejack bolted through the now open doorway and jumped over the mangled critter, trying to run from the surprised and distracted guards. As long as she kept her pace they shouldn't be able to keep up. Applejack was fast, but more importantly she had endurance. Unfortunately she couldn't tell where in the castle she was. It seemed to be some sort of guest quarters, maybe reserved for diplomatic ponies. She took a guess and ran down a hallway, hoping to return to the ceremonial room where this had all started. She didn't have time to second guess, if she stopped the guards would catch her.

The hall she was in didn't seem familiar, so Applejack kept running. She began to realize exactly how hurt she was when she glanced back over her tail and noticed a trail of blood in her wake. Was that all from her? She had been bitten a lot, and she was pretty cut up and bruised. She was sure the whole right side of her body was covered in one big bruise from being smashed into the wall, and she was covered in cuts as well as punctures. She noticed that her hooves were leaving their own bloody footprints in addition to her dripping trail. She had probably cut them on the hard oak door when she shattered it.

She realized that she couldn't hide from the guards like this, the blood trail would lead them straight to her. She was also worried about the blood loss. Had it been affecting her decision making? How long did she have until she passed out? Was she already too far gone to survive? She didn't have time to worry about that. She still had to save everypony else, and if she was too far gone then worrying about it wasn't going to matter anyways. Applejack tried another corridor.

This one seemed familiar, and she thought she might know how to get back to her friends from here. Her vision was blurring, and she was getting slightly disoriented, but she had to keep moving. Making another turn, she realized she was lost again. Somewhere along the way she had missed the hallway she needed to go through. Applejack shook her head to clear out a buzzing noise as she kept running. She couldn't turn back now, the guards would get her and probably kill her after what she had done to them earlier.

That buzzing noise was getting louder, and Applejack's vision seemed farther away, like she was looking though one of Twilight's telescopes or Pinkie's binoculars. She saw a door at the end of a long hallway, so far away. She couldn't let the door stop her, but she had no time to open it. Applejack kept running, trying to collect herself as she moved. She had broken through a door to escape her room, this shouldn't be much harder. Applejack shook her head again, trying to clear that buzzing noise from her head. Suddenly the door was much closer, in fact, she was in contact with it.
For a very short time, Applejack wondered how the door got so close. Then she was unconscious. Unknown to her, the buzzing didn't stop once she passed out. In fact, it got even louder. Much louder.

A world of pain awoke Applejack from her dreamless sleep. Every single part of her body felt like it was on fire, and itching. She tried to scream and throw the fire off of her, to scratch any part of that horrible itch. No sound came from her throat, and she felt her limbs restrained by some means. She couldn't see from her waterlogged eyes, all there was was blinding light and pain. She tried to scream again, but her lungs just filled with the same fire that burned her body.

The fire burned bright and hot for a moment, and then slowly began to burn out. Applejack found that she could breathe, and the itch cooled with the dying flames. Blinking the tears from her eyes and sucking in a desperate breath she began to look around at her surroundings trying to figure out exactly what horrible fate she was in.

The first thing she noticed was the grinning Queen, standing over her and inspecting her. Applejack tried to calm herself. She had known that they were going to kill her, she made that decision when she had attempted to kill the Queen. She should be surprised she was still alive, all things considered.

“Good morning Applejack. Did you have a nice nap? You were out for some time.” The Queen seemed to be in a good mood. Applejack guessed that was bad for her.

“What'd ya do to me? Where are ma friends?” Applejack had to take the lead. She couldn't let the Queen know how distressed she really was. If she could keep talking, keep focused on listening, she could forget the very recent trauma and maybe keep a straight face.

“You'll be happy to know that all of your friends are in a better state than you. Most of them are sitting cozy, in a room much like the one you broke out of, and being treated like guests. As for what I did to you, it's more a matter of what you did to yourself.”

Applejack looked herself over real quick. Aside from being held down by some kinda green cement, she seemed fine. Not a scratch on her. Wasn't she supposed to be burnt from that fire? And didn't she get covered in bruises and beat to Tartarus just before she blacked out? This didn't make sense. “What happened?”

“Well, after you killed so many of my soldiers, and then murdered one of my favored children,” The Queen took a moment to compose herself, “I decided to move you from the guest room to the dungeon. I waited for you to heal up for a few days, so we could have a little chat. But you almost killed yourself and it would have been months waiting for you to recover. So I got a little help from one of Celestia's guards and made you all better.”

That sure didn't sound good. Applejack couldn't see any guards nearby, it was just her and the Queen. “Oh. He's behind you right now. I'll let you have a look in a minute. But first we need to discuss something.”

“I got nothin to discuss with ya. Just do what ya gonna do and let me be.”

“I'm afraid I do have something to discuss with you, Applejack. You see, I am your Queen now. I defeated Celestia and Luna, and now I rule over Canterlot and Equestria.” The smile was fading from the Queens face as she spoke.

“Ya ain’t no Queen of mine.” Applejack didn't really care who sat on that big rock they called a throne. She was a farm pony, and right now she just wanted to get out of this stupid cell and find her friends.

“I am Queen of the Changelings and the Ponies now. That's not what I'm here to discuss. What I'm here to discuss is what you did. I can forgive killing my soldiers. They were born to die for the hive, so I expected to lose quite a few during the invasion. What I can not forgive is that you killed one of my favored children. Had I known you would be such a brute, I would have sent soldiers to be your caretakers instead of her.”

Applejack thought back to her attempt at escape. There had been one changeling who seemed a little different then the rest. Maybe a bit smaller, and it had crumpled so easily from a few pieces of wood driving through its carapace. The other changelings she had fought all took a wallop to go down, that one had gone down on accident. It was just another changeling and that hadn't really been her fault. They were her enemies anyways.

“Ah'm sorry. But I just don't care right now.” Applejack had other problems right now. Like how the heck was she gonna get out of here and what the buck was going on.

The Queen's visage hardened, and she made sure that Applejack heard her words. “And that is a problem Applejack. One that I need to fix. I'm going to punish you for your crimes against the hive. I'm just going to have you replace the soldiers you killed, but that worker was irreplaceable. You took something important from me, Applejack.” The Queen leaned in real close to Applejack, breathing on her face. “Now I'm going to take away something important to you...”

Applejack's mind raced to the most important thing she had, and it was back in Ponyville. “Don't you dare touch em...” Applejack was growling, anger seething in her voice as she eyed the Queen, inches from her face.

“I never said what I'd take from you Applejack. But I have had some days to establish a network around Equestria. It was nice of your brother to take in so many refugees from Canterlot. Naive, but nice. I bet he's feeling lonely with his precious little sister gone. It wouldn't be surprising if one of those refugees tried to comfort his gentle heart.” The Queen grinned.

“You leave ma brother alone... This ain't his business.”

“And it wasn't that workers business, what you did to her. She was supposed to be nice to you, to make you feel comfortable. And you killed her. She was innocent and important to me, and you took her. Your brother is innocent and important to you, why shouldn't I take him?”

Applejack glared at her. She had taken so much already, why'd she want more? “I'll tell you why... You already took ma Princess's. You took ma friends. I watched you take Twilight. You already took away so many of mine. I'm sorry about that one, it really was an accident. But you are ma enemy. I woulda done anything to stop you. Ya already got enough from me. You don't deserve any thing else.” Applejack was being honest, she really would have done much more than that if it meant her friends would have been fine.

The Queen paused at this and stepped back. “I took what I took with my right as Queen. But Twilight has been telling me I need to consider what ponies say if I want to take this seriously. So I'll tell you what. I'll agree to leave your brother alone.” She took a breath and turned away, pondering things. “But you have to agree to accept your punishment. No escape attempts. No trying to get out of this dungeon until I tell you that you are done. You don't hurt another changeling unless I tell you to. No more breaking down doors and running rampant through the hallways. I could have word in Ponyville in an instant. It would take you at least a day to get home. You could never save them.”

“I ain't gonna be your slave...” Applejack closed her eyes, thinking. She didn't want that, but she really didn't want anything bad to happen to Mac and little Bloom. She loved Granny dearly, but Granny was a tough old mare that could take care of herself. Maybe Mac and Granny wouldn't be fooled by a few changelings? There's no way they'd let Applebloom get hurt once they knew what was up.

“I'm not asking you to be my slave. I'm asking you to accept legal punishment for your actions. You killed somepony, and now I want you to spend some time in a dungeon. That's what happens. I could have you killed, I could do it right now. But I don't want that. I want you to understand that what you did was wrong, and I want you to suffer for it. When you're done, you can go home. You can see your family and friends.”

“If'n you wanted me to suffer, why'd ya heal me?” Things weren't adding up in Applejack's head.

“I can't heal you. Do I look like I can use healing magic? I'm a creature of darkness. A guard volunteered in order to be pardoned. I used dark magic to transfer his life energy to you, and your wounds to him. He'll heal in about the same time you would have, maybe a touch longer. When he's better, he get's to go home and the changeling being him comes back to the hive. Everyone is happy.”

“Ya talk a lot, but ya didn't answer my question.” She did not like the thought of stealing “life energy” whatever that was, from a guard. That's probably what that horrible thing that woke her up was. Earth ponies usually didn't react well to powerful magics like that, and she'd never heard of dark magic being used on an earth pony before. She didn't know much about dark magic in general, come to think of it. All she knew was that it sounded bad, and it felt bad.

“I removed your injuries to speak with you. I was sick of waiting for you to get better. And as hurt as you were, any sort of punishment would have not been felt. I plan on hurting you more, Applejack. Before your sentence is over, I plan on giving more guards pardons.” The Queen betrayed no emotion as she spoke, coldly informing Applejack of what she planned.

Applejack thought about Big Mac again. He was always smart about farm stuff, good with math, and the nicest stallion she knew. But he was too much of a softy. He'd crumble to any doe eyed mare that came up and asked for a discount. It's why Applejack was the sales pony in the family. Applebloom wasn't much better. That little filly would believe anyponies sob stories if it involved a cutie mark. The changelings would tear her family apart. And if all the Queen wanted to do was hurt her? Applejack could take pain. She had done it before. This would be no different. Still she didn't want to hurt the guards. They were captured just doing their job.

“I'm not sure bout this...”

“It doesn't matter. I know what I'm going to do with you now. If you run or fight me, I take your family. If you serve your sentence, then your family will be fine. That's more than fair.” The Queen didn't wait for Applejack to answer, and immediately began to use her magic to tear the concrete bindings off of Applejack.

Applejack got on all fours, and felt more lively than usual. Like she was full of energy. The thought of why made her feel nauseous. She looked at the cell door. It was open, the bars swung wide. She could just run for it. The Queen was standing right in front of her smirking. Could she buck her now and just kill her? Could she save Equestria? The Queen had said it would only take an instant to send a message to Ponyville. She hadn't been lying. As soon as Applejack turned around and faced the other direction, Big Mac's fate was sealed.

“What if I just killed you now...”

“You couldn't. Even if you put all your strength into it, I defeated a goddess in single combat. You are just an earth pony. If it will get you to cooperate, I'll even prove it to you. Right now, you may strike me once. There will be no consequence for it. No additional punishment, nothing added to your sentence. I just want you to understand how futile it would be.”

Applejack looked left and right. Just a coupla guards in the room. One beat up royal guard strapped in a gurney. If she could take out the Queen, she could take out the rest. “So I get one free shot then? And what after?”

“After, you put on those cuffs” The Queen motioned to a pair of iron cuffs dangling from a chain in the center of the room. “And we begin your punishment. If you think you can kill me after a single blow, then you best do it quick. My children will come if I get a chance to ask for help.”

There was no way Applejack could not do this. She was gonna get slapped in the cuffs one way or the other, and she'd get a free potshot at Miss Big an Evil. This was her chance to save everypony she knew, and it wasn't gonna cost her anything she hadn't already lost. “I think I might have to take you up on that. You're gonna regret it though.”

Applejack turned slowly, facing her legs to her target. The Queen simply stood and watched, as if bored. She had one shot, one chance, so she was gonna put everything she had into it. Applejack kicked with all her might. And damned if she didn't have a lot of might.

Her legs moved like twin meteors, exploding through the air with the sound of firecrackers. The impact shook the room, and the Queen flew back several feet, slamming into the wall and smashing through the stone in a cloud of dust. Applejack's hooves ignited in pain, she had probably broke something. But that had been one satisfying kick.

Applejack surveyed the dust cloud and the crater with a confident smirk. That had gone way easier than she expected. Really, how incompetent was that Changeling Queen to ask to be kicked by an Apple? An Apple that flat out told her they wanted to kill her? That was mighty stupid. The smirk fell into a frown as something stepped from the dust cloud.

“That was much more impressive than I expected. But still no where near a goddess. Get in your chains.” The Queen looked unharmed, her shiny dark carapace unscratched. Applejack snorted as she turned and walked to the cuffs. At least the Queen had some rubble stuck in her holes. Wordlessly, Applejack shoved her hooves through the metal things and watched as they were magically locked into place, leaving her dangling in the middle of the room by her forelegs. She wasn't happy, but she knew there was no way she could kill the Queen. Not if that had done nothing to her.

“I'm going to go make some arrangements for pardons with the rest of the royal guards. You'll be needing their help soon. I'll be back in a few minutes to start with you.” The Queen walked from her room, leaving Applejack alone in the dungeon with a single soldier watching her.

Applejack briefly regretted kicking so hard. Her hind legs were supporting most of her weight right now, and she was pretty sure she had broken something. Still, that was a mighty impressive crater.

Queen Chrysalis walked from the dungeon, and shut the heavy wooden door. That little earth pony was dangerous. She dropped her illusion and collapsed on the ground, sending a mental plea for Twilight to come heal her. Her kinetic dampening spell had collapsed entirely from the kick, unable to absorb the energy and she had been sent through several feet of stone. Large hunks of rock had punctured her carapace, and she was going to bleed to death now that her magic couldn't hold in her green vitae.

Her front carapace was dented where the spell had collapsed, two large impressions had cracked her armored shell. She was sure that several internal organs were seriously damaged, but she didn't have the mental energy to take an account of them all. Twilight would fix her.

Something was wrong with that earth pony. There was something wrong with all of these ponies. She needed this one on her side. The hive needed this one on its side. It had informed her of as much. She was glad she took the opportunity to make Applejack hit her when she was prepared. Had it caught her unawares or distracted, then Twilight would be the current Queen. She hadn't realized how close to death she had actually come when Shining intercepted on her behalf that night. Hopefully the pony now thought such actions would be futile, and she had made it clear any future infractions would result in something that little pony would not want.

She didn't just need that earth pony as an ally, she needed it for the element and she needed it to strengthen the Hive. She could steal some of its strength. In fact, she planned on it. But it would be best if it gave to her itself. She couldn't trust this with a regular changeling, and she couldn't risk any of her remaining favored children. Twilight might be able to help, but she couldn't allow Twilight's interference quite yet. This one was far too dangerous.

She was aware that the little queen-ling was plotting something, but she hadn't asked what yet. If Twilight felt she needed to keep it secret from Chrysalis, it would be for the good of the hive. She remembered her own plotting while the last Queen was around. It was mostly harmless, and she had been left to her own devices to learn the intricacies of planning and subterfuge. As long as Twilight's contact with her friends was limited and put to Chrysalis's use, she couldn't care less about what little plan Twilight had for them. It was good practice for Twilight.

A magical pop and a surprised gasp announced the arrival of her protege. “Twilight, go down to the third cell on your left in that hallway. There are some royal guards who have an agreement with me. Bring three. Two if three do not wish to come. If only one comes, inform him he will die, but his family will be fine. If none volunteer, then you will take one. You will need to use one of the spells I showed you. Hurry.”

Twilight silently allowed her queen to finish talking, and bolted into the hallway. Chrysalis had been surprised and concerned by Twilight's magical aptitude at first. She had picked up some spells simply by observation. Complicated and difficult spells that had taken Chrysalis years to learn were flawlessly acquired after one explanation and demonstration. She could get a passable and flawed result after a simple exposure to the spell. The proto-queen now knew every spell that Chrysalis knew, and it had only taken a few nights of study and practice. She would have been alarmed if it wasn't for the changelings ceaseless loyalty and devotion.

She had a few minutes before the loss of fluid would make her unconscious, and probably several more after that before she died. Twilight would save her now, and there was nothing to worry about. She had done it for the Hive, and the Hive would care for her as she cared for it. Nether she nor the Hive had expected her to be so seriously wounded, but now her current goal was all the more important.

She was going to have a busy night, Applejack would take a lot of care and attention. It would likely take much more than a single night. She was going to have to do something dark she learned from Luna's tortured mind. Something to make Applejack never hurt a changeling again. Something she would enjoy immensely.

The crater kept drawing Applejack's attention, even over her throbbing hooves. Had she always been that strong? She knew she had some serious bucking strength, but she had never let loose like that before. She never had the reason or opportunity. Usually she just wanted to subdue a critter or scare it away. Rarely had she needed to use her hooves to put some poor thing out of its misery like that, and she was always reluctant to do so. Apples had always been strong, but this was beyond something a pony should be able to do. Still, all her crazy strength had done nothing to the Queen, just destroyed the poor wall.

That's what hurt the most, really. Her aching legs didn't compare to the feeling of her failure. She had one chance handed to her on a silver platter, and she messed it up somehow. Could she have gotten a little more power? Maybe she could have set the angle up better... It didn't matter now. Her best wasn't good enough to even scratch the Queen. Applejack was just one earth pony, and one earth pony couldn't compare with the Changeling Queen.

The door opened, and the Queen practically bounced in the room. “Why hello Applejack, have you been hanging around just for me?” She looked very happy. Unnaturally so.

“What in tarnation got into ya?”

“Funny you should ask it like that. I happened to grab a snack from a passing changeling. She was a bit overzealous in feeding me, so now I'm just brimming with energy. And I know just how to use it. Remember your sentence?”

Applejack actually didn't know much about it. She was supposed to stay here and be punished or something. Like some kinda prisoner. “You were gonna let me go, right?”

“You are a terrible liar, Applejack. I'm going to keep you until you are rehabilitated from a dangerous criminal into a functional member of society. The other part was that you had to replace the soldiers you killed.” Chrysalis mood became somber.

“And how do you expect me to do that? I'm a pony.” Applejack really didn't have any idea about that. She couldn't imagine anything she could do to help. Maybe she had to sit here and let some soldiers feed off of her. The thought creeped her out a bit. These changelings were unnatural.

“I was planning on helping of course.” Applejack felt something that disturbed her deeply, and she quickly used her broken hooves to move her body around and face the other direction.

“Did y'all just lift ma tail? I'm pretty sure ya just did that.” That was something she was not comfortable with. Not at all.

“Yes. I did. Didn't I make myself clear? You are going to help me make more soldiers. I'm going to incubate them in you. Inside of your womb where it's warm and soft. You won't love them, but I will help feed them.” Chrysalis moved herself behind Applejack again, this time obviously moving to her tail.

Applejack rotated around, keeping the Queen facing her front. “I agreed to the punishment thing, I ain't doin this.” This was way too creepy for Applejack. Being beat was one thing, she could take a beating. Humiliated and forced to hang here, her pride hurting was another thing she could do. She liked it less than being beat, but she was still willing to do it. But this? “No. It ain't happening.”

The Queen lowered herself to look at Applejack in the face. “So what about your family, give up on them already?”

Applejack thought about Big Mac. He wouldn't want her to do this. He'd understand. He'd have his work cut out for him, but he'd understand. “I ain't gonna do it.”

“I think you are. You already can't really stop me. I could simply beat you into submission, or magically persuade you. But lets pretend for a moment that you could stop me. Do you know what I'd do then?” Chrysalis smiled at Applejack, her fangs clearly visible. “I don't have to use an adult, you know. If I really wanted to punish you for this, and you broke your promise like this, I'd get your sister. She's just a foal isn't she?”

Applejack watched her eyes, looking for a telltale twitch. The monster wasn't lying.

“I could only put one inside, at first. She wouldn't even know what was happening. I'd keep her where you could see her and she couldn't see you. I'd also have to silence you of course, maybe a spell. Maybe I'd cut out your throat. As it grew, she would stretch out, expanding like a little balloon, until 'Pop!' And after that, my child would climb from your sister as she screamed in confusion. If little Applebloom survived, I'd put two in her. This time she'd know what they were, she'd fear them. And when they hatched? I doubt she'd survive to birth three of my children.”

Applejack saw Applebloom in her head, eyes big with confusion and a disturbing protrusion in her stomach. She couldn't let that happen. Applejack hung her head, breaking her view of the Queens face. All she could see was some wet spots on the ground beneath her head where her tears fell. She didn't watch as the Queen moved behind her body, and she didn't flee when when the monster lifted her tail. The Queen settled down on top of Applejack and put her head to Applejack's ear.

“That's my little pony. Now open wide, Mommy has something for you.” Applejack felt a strange pressure on her sex. It felt like a hundred little tongues were pulling her wide, each one licking and leaving a tiny slimy trail as it pulled her open. She reflexively tightened herself, trying to pull herself closed.

“Don't fight me. You really don't want me to find somepony else.” Chrysalis was cooing in Applejack's ear, taunting her. Applejack let out a sob as she relaxed her body. The tongues gently pulled her apart, stretching her wide. She felt something warm press into her, something hard and slimy.

“You're not excited at all, are you? I can fix that. Do you want a spell like I did on Twilight that first time when you were trying to save her?”

Applejack felt the stiff thing moisten its own path as it traveled up inside her. It hurt as it advanced, scraping against her unprepared flesh. There was a wet slurping sound and she felt sick. That sound was coming from her, that was her cooter making that noise as it was violated. Something scraped inside her and she twitched in pain. Applejack thought of Twilight, how she had begged for more while her head was still covered in blood. She couldn't let that happen to her. “No.”

“Like the pain then? Maybe I can help with that.” Applejack's reply caught on her breath as Chrysalis put her lips to the back of her neck, and she felt the sharp sting of fangs dig into her flesh. Instead of her planned retort, she just sucked air in through grit teeth. Her muscles clenched, and she blinked tears from her eyes. Just as rapidly as she had been bit, the twin pricks removed themselves leaving two oozing wounds on her neck. She relaxed her body and let out her breath as the sting faded into a warm tingle and the blood leaked out of her skin. That had hurt.

Applejack felt the slimy rhythmic tongues that had been pulling her wide open to receive the Queen begin to change their pattern. Some pushed into her, some sucked her away, and others prodded her lips open and shut at the same time. She felt her lower lips twist and pull, contorted in strange directions by the gentle sticky organs. There was no longer a rhythm, no discernible pattern to their movement. This wasn't anything Applejack had ever thought of before... She cringed as the tension and relief dance through her nether lips. They were twisted and molested as Chrysalis taught them whole new ways to feel.

She shuddered as several of them found and focused on her little nub of flesh, eliciting a familiar electric charge that violated her senses. She felt sick to her stomach. This wasn't normal. This wasn't right. She was a farm pony, she shouldn't feel like that from something so wrong. She needed to think about something else, anything but this horrifying sensation.

Another twin sting pierced her neck, distracting her from the alien movement. She sucked in another breath to focus. The familiar sensation of pain stayed longer and deeper as the Queen held Applejack by her neck. The previous two holes were burning now, occasionally she could feel wetness around them. She was grateful for the distraction, letting the familiar sensation of pain occupy her mind. Pain hurt, it was normal. Applejack understood that, she relished the normalcy of it in this sea of strange.

The Queens tongue circled her embedded teeth, lapping at Applejack's welling blood. And then the bite pulled away and her tongue lingered, turning the warm tingling sensation that followed into something soothing as she licked the wound. The sticky tongue reminded her of the wrongness that was assaulting her violated pussy, and she felt an unwelcome shudder pass through her as the pain faded into something more unnatural. Applejack's sex quivered as the Queen pushed forward, claiming more of her body. She tried not to think about that.

Her eyes stared at the floor, watching the growing pool of blood gather near her fallen tears. What was the Queen doing to her, to her body? Her confusion was put on hold as another bite happened, this time over her backbone. The razor sharp teeth extended down around her spine, tearing through her flesh in burning agony. The pain was welcome, she focused on it as she imagined for a brief moment that the Queen would just end it all and rip out that vital bone in the middle of the act.

She felt ashamed at her relief when the bite relaxed, and the warm soothing tongue caressed her new injury. Applejack drew in a sharp shaking breath as she relished life for a moment, the adrenaline and fear still coursing through her. Her whole body shook, in terror or relief she couldn't tell. Maybe even something else. She hadn't died right there, she was still alive.

The Queen taunted her. “I'm good at this, Applejack. I've been doing it for a very long time.” Applejack felt her shame as she realized that she was wet from more than the creatures slime.

A wet lurch reminded her of the organ invading her cavity, the warm length still moving inside her. A quake ran up her body as another sharp sting penetrated her neck, and the soothing tongue followed. It was too quick for Applejack to focus on, too quick for a distraction. But it had done something else to her. She realized it as the alien massage continued on her sex, tickling and pulling it. Stretching and pushing in some kind of mad soft and sticky dance. She wanted this to stop, she wanted... Oh Celestia, that felt good. Applejack felt the warm relief as more blood trickled down her neck and the pain left her again.

Applejack's body begin to shiver, responding to the Queens unwanted attention. Her breath would quiver and gasp when the Queen bit her, and Applejack would try for a moment to find the release of pain. Sometimes she succeeded in her escape, sometimes she had a heart wrenching shudder of pleasure. She unwillingly flexed her muscles in response to the organ's advances, raising the pair higher above the ground as she pulled on her metal cuffs with her great strength. Once she realized what happened, she relaxed and let out her quaking breath as the Queen turned the painful bite into a gentle soothing kiss, her body still shaking from the maddening constant molestation of her lower lips.

Applejack closed her eyes and raised her head, trying to ignore the growing pool of her fluids beneath her and her unwanted passion. Blood, tears, sweat, she was losing herself one drop at a time. The Queen relented on a bite to speak to her. “I am your Queen now, Applejack. And I am going to take something important from you. Look at me when I do it.” Applejack felt her eyelids forced open by magic, and a strong pair of hooves turn her resisting head. What she saw was ghastly.

The Queen was raised up above her, smiling down at her. Applejack's back was covered in smeared blood, and the Queen's face was dripping with bloodied saliva. She could see the horrifying organ buried deep inside of her, and felt it claim more of her as the Queen rolled her hips. She could barely see the dripping edge, where it played with her lips even now sending quakes through her body. As she locked eyes with the cold merciless Queen, she felt herself shudder as she realized what the Queen was taking from her. The last of her dignity.

Never leaving the icy terrifying gaze, Applejack felt her body shake uncontrollably as her muscles began to clench. She begged for it not to happen as the Queen stared at her, face locked in an immobile grin and body gyrating. A weak, desperate “No...” bled into a long drawn out moan as her breath escaped her and her body completed it's betrayal.

Her will to stop went unheeded, and she felt the organ invading her finish its journey. She reflexively opened the rest of herself and her body welcomed it with warm slick liquid. The Queen's body stilled as she pressed her organ deep into Applejack, conquering the final stretch of territory and claiming it as her own. Applejack realized that she had lost a battle, that she had been defeated somehow. Wrong had won over right, The Queen's alien debauchery had conquered Applejack's morality. Their lower lips kissed in an unholy union of victory for the Queen that delighted Applejack's body but revolted her mind. Tears flowed freely from her captured eyes.

Applejack clenched the organ tightly as the Queen continued her maddening massage on Applejack's heated sex. Somehow, the tiny stretchy sticky organs managed to hold on to her labia and clit through the ordeal, pulling them hard as she bounced away and caressing them just as strongly when her flesh met the Queens. Her mind cried out in agony as it succumbed to pleasure it had been fighting in futility. She clenched again, her whole body convulsing as she hung from her chains.

Applejack's powerful legs were shaking, completely out of her control. Her moan wasn't a scream, or a cry, but a side effect of unneeded air passing through a paralyzed throat. Applejack's gaze was frozen not only by the Queen's powerful hooves, but also by her own undesired ecstasy as her body refused to answer to her mind, her flesh submitting to its Queen as it revolted against her.

The worst part was how much she felt. Each little pinprick of pain that the Queen had kissed upon her throbbed, beating and pulsing with her frantic heart. The hot hard organ was buried deep inside, further than any stallion could go. She could feel it up and down her canal displacing her as it stood erect and she writhed around it. Her tortured traitorous sex was screaming in debauchery, making wet slurping noises as it lewdly tried to swallow more of the Queen, each gulp followed by the hundred tickles of delight when it rested against the tiny sticky licking tongues. And for a few terrible moments, locked in that cold gaze, Applejack delighted in her own flesh, completely forsaking herself.

The Queen released her hold on Applejack's head, allowing her to lower it back down and close her eyes in shame. The image of the Queens ghastly smile haunted her mind. Applejack felt sick, the shame and guilt churning her stomach as her body relaxed from it's peak. She hadn't had anything to eat in days, but she tried to heave anyways. The bile rose from the pit in her stomach, and splashed across the floor in a sick wet convulsion. Applejack opened her eyes and watched the foul yellow fluid mix in with the rest of her that had dripped to the floor. She felt the warm disgusting slurry pool around her hind hooves, running to a drain behind her, and she closed her eyes again to cry.

“I know your body inside and out, my little pony. And I just ruined a little part of you.” Chrysalis whispering quietly to Applejack, as if they were lovers.

“Buck off.” Applejack wasn't amused by the gentle voice, she was tired and hurt inside and out and this creature had done that to her. She hated it. She hated herself.

“I just wanted you to know that for the rest of your little life, every time you get aroused you won't think of a handsome stallion or a pretty mare. You'll see me standing over you covered in your blood, violating you as you beg me to stop... Or to not stop. I'll be your sweetest dream and your worst nightmare.”

Applejack didn't respond. She just kept her eyes closed as the tears leaked out from under her lids. Her mouth and throat still burned from the bile, and her body was still bleeding. The Queen was grinning at her in her mind. She shuddered as she realized her sex was still being gently massaged, as though some determined lover was caressing her. The long hard shaft was still buried deep inside her, this nightmare wasn't over yet.

“I think we'll start with three, my little pony. The soldiers you are replacing will grow quickly and large. They are not workers. It would be fun to watch you stretch from five, but I don't want to damage you. Not yet. You are no broodmother.” The Queen was still whispering in her ear, and finished her statement with a sharp bite. Applejack gasped for breath as the Queen pulled away and started her assault anew.

Applejack's pussy was being pulled open by the sticky organ that held it. She felt a bulge in the shaft start at her entrance, and stretch her wide as it forced its way in. The Queen tightened her grip, and Applejack felt a heavy weight on her back as the Queen leaned all the way into the smaller pony.

“You have no idea how this feels for me. After all these years it's still ecstasy every time. I'm sharing something important with you.” Applejack felt the Queen bite her again, this time rougher and tearing some flesh. The teeth sliced cleanly through her skin, leaving burning hot shards of pain in their wake. Applejack focused on that, holding her breath as her world became pain. She could handle pain. This was an escape for her, a short vacation from her nightmare.

When the pain became a low throbbing sensation, she realized the object had traveled deeper inside, letting her tortured sex relax down to normal as it passed. She gave a soft sigh of relief as the pain and tension left her exhausted organ. The Queen was breathing heavily on her back, her mouth had moved to a new location. Applejack tensed in preparation for the bite. All her muscles tightened, and she felt herself accidentally push the object deeper, eliciting an unexpected moan from the Queen. The Queen hugged her close and abandoned her bite. Applejack let herself relax, and heard a wet squelch as the Queen forced the strange bulge deeper in her body.

This was happening. That bulge was an egg, a changeling that was invading her body propelled by the Queen. This is what the whole act was about, the Queen had conquered her body like land in a war. Now she was going to grow something her land, in Applejack. Applejack was being used like dirt to grow apple trees, she was just a plot of land for the Queen's children. All she had been doing was plowing the field, preparing Applejack to seed. Then, she would tend the farm, letting her crop grow large. And last she would harvest her crop. Applejack shuddered and the movement coerced the bulge slightly further, hastening her fate.

Quickly, she found herself with two sharp stings in her neck as the Queen gave her a more gentle bite. Applejack tried to focus on that pain, to forget the heat rising in her loins. The pain was small, but the blood flowed quick. The warm wet trickle ran down her neck, painting her mane red as it made its way to her soft underbelly. She felt it pool with her sweat, and the solution dripped on the ground from her lower stomach. Applejack lost another drop of herself.

A light nibble on her most recent wound caused it to ignite in pain, the molested flesh screaming in agony. Applejack felt her body tense in response to the searing feeling, and she tried to ignore the heavy object getting pushed deeper inside. She focused on the burning pain, her one bastion of normalcy. The Queen moaned, and then proceeded to suck on her open wound. Applejack's pain became something more gentle and yet more intense. It throbbed with each heartbeat and welled with every repeated suck the Queen coerced out of her. The heavy suction coaxed more of Applejack's life to escape her body, this time straight down the Queen's throat. She was being consumed, and her pain was like a magnifying glass making everything seem larger. Every touch was an impact, every color was an explosion, and every sound a symphony. With each burning pulse of fluid that abandoned her, Applejack felt herself getting closer to the moment she dreaded. It would happen again, this time as the Queen sucked the life out of her. Disgust and desire warred in her mind. It was wrong and terrifying, a macabre unholy dance. And yet she couldn't stop it, why not enjoy it?

She clenched her eyes as tightly as she could, trying to think of anything else. She felt her body reach its peak, and the horrifying ecstasy overcame her resistance. All she could see, all she could imagine was the Queen's terrifying bloody smile and cold gaze. Applejack came in agony and confusion, screaming loudly for it to stop. The pain was soaking through her body, indistinguishable from the wash of hot pleasure that wracked her. Her sex desperately gulped the Queen, the sensation of it firmly grasping the strange organ oddly satisfying. As her body convulsed, it milked the object through her canal, pushing and pulling it forward towards her open womb. The Queen matched Applejack's desperate plea with a low moan into her flesh, and a tightened grip, nearly suffocating the mare.

Applejack felt the shaft twitch, and a heavy weight settled in her abdomen as the Queen bit her hard, tearing a new wound into her neck. She had been seeded, her fate was sealed. The Queen had won everything as she tore a hole in Applejack's body, replacing it with her own flesh and blood. She screamed again as her body tried to understand this new stimulus, fitting it into her ecstasy. She couldn't tell what hurt and what felt good anymore, every wound screamed in pleasure and every wave of euphoria brought pain.

All she could see through her closed eyes was the Queen's face, grinning and dripping with Applejack's blood. The weight of the egg shifted in her womb, reminding her of what had happened, of what exactly she had just lost. She came again, feeling her limbs collapse as she hung freely from her shackles. Her forelegs pulled against the iron bonds as she supported the weight of herself on the larger creatures strange organ.

She rode out the waves of pleasure and pain as her sex convulsed over and over again on the hard shaft, attempting to coerce a warm spray that would never come. She didn't fight it this time, there was no point anymore. Gasping for breath, she came down from her high as the Queen stared coldly at her in her minds eye. Applejack opened her eyes, trying to make the horrible visage disappear, feeling her body coupling with the Queens as she settled firmly into the larger creatures thighs. The floor was covered in her blood, it had been splattered all over by the frantic actions of both mares. Beneath her hind quarters the blood was thinner, tainted by some other liquid that still dribbled down her legs.

Applejack didn't feel like moving. Any movement would agitate the foreign object settled in her abdomen, and she didn't want to think about it. So she rested her body against the Queen, letting her sex nestle against the monsters still stroking genitalia. Instead of moving she thought about her pain. It had betrayed her somewhere along the line. She had been using it to escape the feelings, to forget what was happening for just a moment. But something had gone wrong when the Queen bit her that last time. The pain had felt... good. Real good. It had somehow became the feeling she was trying to escape, and that feeling had become pain. She was mighty confused about this.

Applejack eyed the blood splatter. All that blood was her. She was all over the room. That was a strange thought. How much of her had splattered across the room, and how much of Applejack was left in Applejack? How much of her had the Queen swallowed? Applejack figured that she'd lost a lot of blood. She was suffering from blood loss again, it was making it difficult for her to think properly.

She took a sharp broken breath as the Queen bit her once more. The electric sensation ran through her body making her shiver in horror and delight. She was still broken, whatever had happened to make pain into pleasure hadn't gone away. Something had changed inside of her. Something deep.

Applejack wanted to hurt the Queen, to punish her for what she did to her. This was unholy, this was wrong. She was a good pony, a strong dependable pony who did everything for her family and friends. She was a farmer who worked hard, sun up to sun down. She knew what was right and what was wrong. She wasn't supposed to be this quivering wet deviant mess. How could she turn something so natural and basic as pain into this horrifying sensation that ran through Applejack's body like it belonged?

Applejack's mind was blood starved and traumatized. She wanted to hurt the Queen, to punish her somehow for what she had just done to Applejack, but she couldn't. She wasn't strong enough, she had tried. The Queen was invincible and stronger than a goddess. The Queen had her completely at her mercy. All she could do, any struggling she might accomplish would do nothing but give the Queen sick perverted pleasure. The same perverted pleasure that wracked Applejack's body just moments ago, that had driven her to despair. But pleasure and pain were the same thing now. She could still make the Queen quiver in pain. Pleasure was pain.

Applejack put her legs on the ground, a new determination filling her battered mind as her broken hooves sent shivers of delight up her body. She would make the Queen hurt. She smiled as she closed her eyes to stare at the Queen's bloody face, and then she pushed back into the Queen's organ. Applejack gyrated her blood soaked body, her golden coat was smeared crimson and her muscles visibly flexed under her stained skin.

The Queen gasped in delight, and gave Applejack an electric bite as another egg started to stretch her wide again. Applejack had already been seeded, there was no point in resisting. This time, Applejack tried to engulf it by letting the pulling tongues spread her wide and pressing firmly into it. The bulge pressed into her gaping hole as The Queen let out a moan into her bloody shoulder. Applejack's crazed smile widened.

Applejack lifted her legs again, this time wrapping them around the Queens hind quarters. She used her strength to pull herself tight against the Queen, and the egg slipped all the way in. Her weight was entirely supported by the wonderful biting shackles and the Queens impaling member. Applejack began to tense and relax in a rhythm as her body undulated, swinging the iron shackles back and forth with her movement. With every squeeze, the egg was forced deeper in by her body, and every time she relaxed the Queen would drive the egg further up in her.

The Queen would bite her, and her mind would ignite in feeling. Every inch the egg moved up her was another small victory for both of them, and Applejack would feel the quivering genitals pull and lick at her sex when she relaxed. Her moans came unbidden as her breath was forgotten, the rolling foreign weight inside of her a constant reminder of what was to come. She was about to have another one put inside her, and the Queen would moan and hold her tightly. Maybe even bite her like last time. Applejack felt herself rising in anticipation, the bite would be amazing. Her pleasure didn't matter, only the Queen's pain was important. Applejack's suffering from pleasure was necessary in order to hurt the Changeling Queen.

“What a little.. ooh... pervert you are...” The Queen was struggling to speak through her ecstasy. “I'm going... Ahh.. Ah... to show you something.”

Applejack let out a deep breath as another wonderful bite assaulted her senses. After the initial sensation passed, she realized something important. She couldn't breathe in. The faint hum of magic filled her lower throat, and she knew the Queen was suffocating her. At first, she panicked. Her attack on the Queen's sex was forgotten as her addled mind tried to struggle, to escape somehow. Unable to find purchase with her frantic hooves, she dangled helplessly against the Queen as her lungs began to burn.

The fire spread through her body, filling her with the sensation of dying. The Queen bit her, hard, as she forced the egg deeper in Applejack's now limp body. The bite was paralyzing in its intensity, and the sensation of the egg invading her was glorious. She was going to die right here, underneath this monster. Her whole life had been leading up to this moment where she became nothing more than a carrier for this things spawn as her life fled her body. And it was going to be pure ecstasy.

Stinging tears ran down her cheek and she realized that this invincible creature had been toying with her, playing with her body and mind. And now it was done toying, done playing. It had decided she would die for its amusement. The realization caused her to shake and shiver as the pain and pleasure in her body consumed her. Her oxygen starved and tortured brain remembered the most important thing she knew. She was going to die for its pleasure. Pleasure was pain.

Applejack forced her screaming suffocating muscles to work, lifting her legs back around the creature and wrapping herself into it. Fighting the burning tired sensation of oxygen starved tissue, Applejack resumed her assault on it's sex. Blood washed over her face as the Queen forced her head back into a kiss and dribbled bloody saliva on her. The taste of iron and something sweet filled her mouth, and a long tongue painted her teeth red. As the Queen pulled out of her bloody embrace, she slowly drew her teeth up the center of Applejack's face, leaving twin trails of crimson that leaked into her eyes, and over her nose and mouth.

Applejack saw red as her eyes filled with the liquid. She closed them, trying to push it out with her eyelids, and all she saw then was the icy cold gaze of the Queen. Applejack smiled, and her body begged for oxygen. She felt her legs go slack as her world began to fade. Applejack was on the very real edge of death, standing over a cliff that had no return. And the Queen was watching her with that same terrifying smile.

She felt it happen. The Queen bit her, drawing more blood than ever and tearing her flesh. The wave of pain ripped through her body wracking the helpless thing with pleasure. The egg slipped free from its conveyor and settled into her womb, nestling with the other as the hard shaft that had been carrying it twitched and convulsed in her body. Her lower lips were tortured, stretched and battered as the tiny appendages played with them, pulling her clit and twisting it hard. Applejack tried to scream, tried to flail and convulse, but her body couldn't comply. Her tongue hung limply out her mouth and her eyes rolled up in their sockets. She faded from the world in bliss as she was baptized in her own blood.

Applejack had a religious experience.

She was back on the edge of the cliff, over it was the cold embrace of death. Her frantic panicked emotions and feelings faded away as she looked around. An endless expanse extended behind her, and Applejack felt calm and sane as she looked down into the black void beneath. That black depth was death, the final end for any living creature. The most natural thing of all. She stood on the featureless plane as an ethereal version of herself, stetson and all. This must be how she viewed herself. The disembodied face of the Queen watched her standing at the edge, dripping with her blood, her life. Applejack had only to step off, and she would be over.

Her family would never forgive her for this, for ending this nightmare. To jump off was the last ultimate betrayal to everypony that loved her. Her friends and family would be heartbroken at her death. But she was dead already wasn't she? She wasn't really Applejack anymore. Not after that. She didn't feel like a pony anymore. She had failed to save everypony, and she had failed to save herself. She was ready to die now.

She advanced toward the end and hurtled herself off. She thought as she was falling of how she just lost all her family and friends. She had abandoned them to destroy herself. They had lost her. The Queen took everything from her, she was glad this life was over. As she fell, the hum of magic surrounded her body, and halted her descent. Applejack struggled in futility to escape as she was lifted unwillingly back to the edge of life. Her defeated body was thrown to the featureless ground, slamming into the floor, just at the edge again. She had even had dying denied to her. There was nothing natural left of the little orange pony. She stood up to beg.

“Why? Why can't ah just die? Please just let me die!” Her crying plea went to the Queen, the only other being present.

“I'm not done with you yet.” The emotionless face of the Queen talked with no inflection, staring coldly and dripping Applejack's life from it's macabre grin.

“What else do ya want from me? I got nothing left. Ya took it all already.” Applejack collapsed on the edge, so close but unable to continue.

The black and crimson visage filled her awareness as it gave a lick from her nose to her forehead, leaving a bright red streak, staining her ethereal self. “Your worship.”

Applejack opened her eyes. She had been taken out of the chains and was lying on her back in a pool of her own blood. The Queen crouched over her with her horn still glowing, their organs coupled and the same cold bloody smile covered her face. She lowered her head and licked Applejack from nose to forehead. “Start worshiping, my little pony.”

Applejack's eyes opened wide as understanding overtook her, and she gazed at her goddess. Applejack used her body and blood to worship her new goddess of life and death, of pleasure and pain. Eventually the blood loss overcame her, and she passed into a dark and gruesome nightmare filled with worship of her goddess. She knew she wouldn't die. Her goddess wouldn't let her yet.

Applejack woke up with a scream as the burning fire tore through her nightmares, and her body shook in pleasure. Her eyes streamed tears as they opened and she saw the goddess that haunted her dreams ready to bless her day. She felt a warm trickle down her leg as her sex reacted to the afterglow of her goddesses dark magic, and she smiled. The Queen leaned down and bit Applejack gently in the shoulder, causing her blood to warm and her breath to pick up. Then Chrysalis took her bloody tongue and applied Applejack's daily makeup in one gentle lick from her nose to her forehead. Applejack relaxed as the tongue bathed her in her own blood. Every morning was like being born again. And every night she died in her goddesses embrace.

It had been more than a few days since her conversion. At least three days since her last relapse. The time before that was hazy. The last time she relapsed she had broken down crying, begging to die again. Then she had been shown the cliff once more. She had been reminded of what she had and couldn't have, of why she worshiped and of what, exactly, her goddess was a goddess of. She would probably only ever get to see the cliff once more, in a time far away when her Queen would finally tell her to jump. And she would.

“Are you ready for today Applejack? My children are ready. I can feel them.”

Applejack looked at her slightly swollen belly, and rubbed a hoof over it. It was strange bearing life like this. The eggs had hatched inside her during last nights nightmares, and now her stomach was stretching and moving just a little as the changelings in her body constantly adjusted. The ever present ache of being stretched beyond her limits had left her ready and excited all day yesterday as she patiently waited for her nightly worship. Today it was stronger, the changelings had grown and were now moving free of their eggs. She would be pretty desperate for attention if she couldn't birth them today. And the sooner the better.

“A'm pretty ready. Like... uh... Now ready, Your Majesty.”

“I'm sure you're anxious. But you will birth them when they are ready. For now, I'm going to go talk to Twilight. You are ready to see her and I will have her help today, she needs to learn as much as she can about bringing children into the world.” The Queen left Applejack alone in her cell, their morning ritual complete. She didn't even bother to close the door, Applejack wouldn't leave until she was allowed to.

Applejack already knew what had happened to Twilight, she had been converted just like her. Albeit Twilight's was magic like, instead a spiritual, so she didn't get a mark or nothin. Instead she got turned into a changeling. She knew the rest of her friends were treated better than she had been, they hadn't committed any crimes, so it was just her, some soldiers, and some royal guards in the dungeon. The royal guards never much talked to her. They seemed to be scared of her for some reason. She wasn't quite sure why, she had been pretty friendly the few times she tried to talk to them. Maybe they were jealous of the way she worshiped the Queen? A couple a them had gotten to see that once or twice.

The only pony besides the Queen who'd talked to her recently hadn't even been a pony. It had been a changeling disguised as Pinkie, called itself Bubbles or something weird like that. Applejack was polite to it, it was much nicer than the soldiers she usually was surrounded by. She also thanked it for the cupcakes it brought. Said Pinkie made em specially for her, and Applejack could believe it. Every one had a little picture of her cutie mark on the top made a frosting. It had offered to pass a message along to Pinkie, and even disguised itself like Applejack to pass it along. She had told it to tell Pinkie that she was okay, and she hoped everypony else was doin fine too. She hadn't told it about her new religion. Pinkie didn't need to know that yet.

Applejack grabbed one of her cupcakes from yesterday and laid herself back down, getting herself comfortable on her back as she ate. Her belly was distended, and laying down like she normally did wasn't an option she considered right now. As she ate her cupcake, she realized the uncomfortable tension in her belly wasn't going away anytime soon. And that meant she would be anxious the whole time she waited. Applejack wasn't one to sit and do nothing when she had a solution at hoof. Finishing up Pinkies treat and licking her hoof clean of frosting, she carefully put her freshly licked hoof to work between her legs. Hopefully it wouldn't be too long before Twilight and her Goddess showed up.

As she worked on relieving her tension, she thought about what she had become. Before, she would never have leaned back exposing herself like this while playing with herself. Especially if somepony, like those royal guards, were around to watch. She'd always been more of a private mare than that. She would only do something like that under the safety of her covers at night, and that was rarely. Now, she didn't much care if anypony saw what she was up to. It was part of her religion, part of her new life. She did much worse to herself every night, exposing parts of a pony that shouldn't be exposed to air for her pleasure. This was nothing, like taking a breath or sneezing. If they had a problem with it, that was their problem and not hers. She grinned at a silent royal guard as he watched her from his neighboring cell. He didn't seem to have too much of a problem.

She watched him as she came, pretending he was her goddess. The light wave of pleasure and pain washed over her, temporarily relieving her of her stress. As she relaxed for a moment, she put her slick hoof in her mouth and cleaned it like it was covered in frosting, never taking her eyes off the guard. She felt her distressed belly stretch again and she gave a quiet moan. The guard was blushing, his pride standing tall. She imagined it was her Queen standing there with her godly organ ready to impale her once again as she brought her wet hoof down for another round. At least she would be occupied until they came.

Twilight and Applejack looked at the newborn changelings. The little things were shaped just like pony foals, big heads and all. They looked kinda like miniature Appleblooms, sans hair... and color... and skin... and well... all of the parts that make a pony not a changeling. Still, it was amazing that Applejack had fit three of them in and out. The birth had been horrific, there was blood and bits of gelled eggshells all over the room and the two ponies. Applejack had lost control, screaming during the last one, and Twilight had to take over with her mouth. Applejack didn't want to tell Twilight, but it hadn't exactly been from the pain. She had accidentally closed her eyes during an intense moment, and her goddess had watched her ecstasy boil over.

The Queen stepped forward, and the two largest newborns scampered out of the room, the smallest one stayed and looked at the exhausted Applejack, its eyes wide with hope. “I've sent the two healthiest ones to the nursery where they will be fed. This one, you have to feed Applejack. If you can nurse it to full size, then your punishment is over and you will be free to leave this cell.”

Applejack looked in confusion at the little thing, and then back to her Queen. “How?”

“Have you no motherly instinct? Simply love it. Twilight, care for her for a bit. I have things to see to.” The Queen left, leaving the two ponies and the baby changeling in the dungeon cell.

Applejack stared at the changeling, and it stared back at her awaiting its promised love. Twilight went about cleaning up the situation and caring for Applejack. “Let's see...Water? Check! Soap? Check! Scrubbies? Check! Cute baby changeling? Check!” Twilight happily started wiping up the mess in the room using her magic to quickly cover the whole mess in soapy water, and then scrubbing it up with her scrub brushes. She made sure to give the changeling baby a once over, and even wiped up Applejack some.

Applejack just kept staring at the little thing. It looked so hopeful, like it was just about to get fed. As if the moment was sure to come at the next second. “Twi...”

“What can I help with Applejack? Do you need to use the bathroom? Or do you want a book? Something to eat maybe? Isn't she just a cutie!” Twilight was completely distracted by the baby, and didn't notice the look of despair that was slowly taking over Applejack's face.

“She's gonna die, Twi...”

Twilight dropped her magic and turned to look at Applejack as the objects clattered to the floor. “What?”

Applejack kept staring at the baby as it failed to comprehend her and continued its hopeful stare. “I... I can't love her Twilight. I can't do it.”

Twilight moved over to Applejack and grasped her hoof. “Applejack... It's okay. Most ponies go through postpartum depression after they give birth. I can help you through it.” There was a magical pop, and Twilight was wearing glasses and holding a pen and clipboard. “Just tell me what the problem is.”

Applejack rolled her eyes at her theatrical friend. “That ain't the problem Twi. The problem is I can't love her.”

Twilight banished her accessories with another pop and inquired, “Why?”

“It'd be too much like lovin her, Twi. And I can't do that.”

“Loving who, Applejack?”

“The Queen.”

Twilight stared at Applejack in confusion. “She said you were her most loyal convert...”

“And I am. And I love her. I worship her, she's beautiful powerful and terrifying, Twi. She's ma goddess and I worship her for that. But that little thing ain't her. It looks almost like her, but it ain't no goddess. It's just... a monster Twi...”

“She's... not a goddess Applejack. She's the Queen.” Twilight was looking at her funny.

Applejack motioned to the crater in the wall. “Ya see that Twi? I put her through that there wall, and she just stepped on out. Not a scratch on her. She's invincible.” Twilight looked as if she was going to speak, but held her tongue. “She beat the Princesses, both of them. She made you an me an Rainbow an Fluttershy an Pinkie loyal to her. I haven't heard bout Rarity, but I'd guess she ain't far behind. Do you have any idea what she did to me? How she converted me?”

Twilight took a step back as Applejack began to get angry. “No...”

“She killed me, Twi. She showed me that I was mortal and that she held my life in her hooves. She turned me into some kind of monster, some not pony thing that loves to get hurt. I scream when she cuts me. Not for her to stop, but so that she wont. I beg her, Twi. I beg her to hurt me because she twisted me all around. I get hot just lookin at her Twi, I love her and I still hate her. I give her everything I have, all of my emotions.”

Twilight took a step back, staring fearfully as Applejack worked herself up into a frenzy.

“During that first time, I was so confused. I went crazy, Twi. I didn't know what was up or down, what was bad or good. What hurt and what didn't. And then I had a moment of clarity and a chance to escape the confusion. I stood on the edge of death. And I tried to jump. I tried to kill myself so that she couldn't twist me no more. I gave up everything and everypony I loved to escape her.” Applejack was standing up, following Twilight as she backed up.

“Applejack...”

“I ain't done yet. When I jumped, when I tried to die, she wouldn't let me. She wouldn't let me die. She forced me to live, and I asked her why. Why wouldn't she just let me die?” Twilight had backed out of the cell door by now as Applejack advanced towards her. “And she told me why. She wanted me to worship her. She wanted me to be faithful. And so I did and I am.” Applejack stopped at the threshold of her cell, glaring angrily at Twilight.

“And now every night I die in a pool of my own blood, putting my life in her hooves and hoping I don't wake up in the morning. And every morning I'm born anew.” Applejack grew quiet as she motioned to the red streak that ran down her face. “And every morning after I'm born, I'm given ma mark to remind me of what I am, and what I gotta do. I am her little pony, and I gotta worship her. What kinda creature do you call that?”

“Applejack please...”

“I'd call it a god, Twilight. She changed me. She made me something I didn't want to be, she killed me and she brought me back. And she demands worship from me, and I give it to her. I give her everything. But I still hate her, Twi. I hate her more'n anything.” Applejack eyed Twilight, and decided to tell her the whole truth.

“As soon as she gives me my life back, when she's done using what's left a me, you know what I'm gonna do? I'm gonna take it, and jump off that cliff. I'm already dead inside. I'm just waiting for her to let my body go. And that little thing? It can't get nothin from me, because I gave it all to her.” Applejack lost her anger and slouched, slowly walking back from her cell entryway to her bed.

“Don't say that Applejack.” Twilight was crying, unsure of whether to comfort her friend or let her sulk.

“Why not? It's the truth. I got nothin else to lose and nothing else to give. She took everything else, and I still don't like lying.” Applejack settled in her bed, finally laying on her stomach after days of being on her back. Something wet squished out of her, and she just lifted her tail and let it flow. She wasn't a pony anymore. Decency like that didn't matter. She didn't even care.

Twilight watched her friend lift her tail and bleed as ichor drained from her body. She had to help somehow. “Applejack. What about us? What about your friends? Your family?”

“I said I'm already dead, Twi. I meant it. I abandoned y'all, ran away like the coward I was when I tried to kill myself like that. I've already lost y'all. I gave y'all up when I jumped, and I knew what I was doin. That's unforgivable.” Applejack didn't look up instead closing her eyes, watching her goddess stare back at her with a bloody grin. She couldn't see Twilight moving her eyes between the hopeful changeling baby and the brooding Applejack.

A magical pop sounded and Applejack felt a gentle hug encompass her body. “A.J., I've had to do some pretty bad things for the Queen. I've had to trick my brother, I hurt Fluttershy, and I've tortured the princesses. I've been a terrible pony and I feel guilty about it. I'm really not even a pony anymore, but I still feel like one. I still feel guilt. But I can't quit. If there is any hope that I can save anypony, I can't give in. The Queen is a changeling, a good one. But she is a bad pony. I'm trying to teach her to be a good pony and a good changeling. I still love her, even after what she's made me do.”

Twilight's tears were running down Applejack's back as she held her. “I know you think you did something bad for the Queen, something unforgivable. I know you don't feel like a pony anymore, but you can still try. Try to be a good pony even though you've done some bad things. We've both done bad things. I forgive you, all your other friends will forgive you, and your family will forgive you. We all love you Applejack. Even if you're different now.”

“How do you know Twilight? How can you say that?”

“Applejack... How do you feel about me? You don't have to answer, I can feel it. I know. I've changed more than you, and I think I've done... worse things. But I can still feel that you love me. All of our friends still do. And they will love you, too.”

Applejack listened and relaxed. Twilight was right. Her friends and family would forgive her, she had tried to run away before. She was just being silly. She had always been a silly pony. “I'm sorry I worried ya, Twi. I guess I just needed somepony to talk to.” Applejack opened her eyes, so her goddess would stop watching her. “I should probably start actin like a real pony again, huh?”

“Yes. That would help.”

“But what should I do? She's still ma goddess. She still has ma life and I still love her and hate her.”

“Maybe you could start with forgiving her. I know you think she's some sort of divine being, but she's not infallible. What she did to you was a mistake. If you can forgive her for that, maybe you can work something out.”

Applejack thought of that. Forgiving her was so simple, it had never crossed her mind. Can you forgive a goddess? Just forgive her for all the terrible things she had done. Simple did not mean easy. Still, she could work on it. Maybe if she focused on one thing at a time. She focused on the little eager child.

A little purple pony was in a room angrily glaring at a big dark changeling. “You hurt her.”

“Yes I did, Twilight. I had to. Besides, she's just a pony.”

“You didn't have to do it like that. She was confused, terrified and angry. You wanted to hurt her.”

“Why wouldn't I? She killed many of my children, and one not too dissimilar from you. She hurt me badly. I had to punish her.”

“So now you take out your aggression on her every night? You just beat her up and make her bleed out and watch as she passes out?”

“It's cathartic.”

“You can't keep doing this to her. You're just enacting some sick vengeance over and over. You need to forgive her and move on.”

“I am not a creature of forgiveness, Twilight.”

“You wanted the Elements to work, right?”

“Of course. That's why I did what I did. You told me that they couldn't work if she was under the effects of a mind spell, so I used some of Luna's old tricks to make her think I was a goddess. I did it for the hive.”

“They are the Elements of H-A-R-M-O-N-Y. That spells 'harmony'. They won't work if she is in so much discordance with herself that she wants to end her own life.”

“I was making her worship me. Her mind would have come around eventually, her body already has.”

“Do you have any idea what she would have done to you?”

“What?” The changeling looked confused at the rapid change of topic.

“She thought you were invincible, immortal. I almost let slip what she did to you. How she almost killed you.”

“I survived and she won't try it again.”

“You were dead, Chrysalis. She thinks you brought her to the edge of life and back again. She's the one who killed you. She brought you to that edge and pushed you off. I came when you called, and I caught you as you were falling off that edge. Nopony else, anywhere in the world could have or would have saved you. And she did that to you.”

“And I thank you for that. You have proven your devotion over and over again to me.”

“Then please pay attention. Did you realize what she would have done to you if during her 'Worshiping' she accidentally made you bleed? If anytime during your daily and decidedly dangerous debauchery she damaged you? You would be dead. The first chink in your 'Godhood' and she would have crushed you in a bloody vengeance, and then probably killed herself.”

“I didn't think...”

“No, you didn't. And then I would be left alone with nothing but the constant buzzing of the hive in my brain and the memories of one sealed princess to guide me.”

“... I'm sorry.” The little pony moved closer the the larger creature, and wrapped her hooves around it in affection.

“Just please be careful. I love you and don't want to be alone. I know you're going to leave me some day, but I don't want that day to be any sooner than it needs to be.”

“What do you suggest I do then?”

“Give her a reason to forgive you. Give her a reason to live. Be kind to her. Ponies are fragile things that break easily, but they can heal if you give them the right attention. If you can make sure she doesn't hate you, then she won't kill you when she realizes you're not a goddess.”

“I will consider it...”The two stayed silent for a while as the larger one thought and the smaller one just stayed close.

“...Twilight... Was she always this strong?”

“No... Something's happening to us. I haven't figured out what yet. Fluttershy is an endless font of love, She could feed the entire Hive now. Rainbow is tireless, I don't think she sleeps anymore. Pinkie's Pinkie Sense is going haywire and Applejack's strength is getting insane. I am coming up with new spells that shouldn't even exist on a daily basis, and the depth from which I can pull magical power feels limitless. I'm getting scared of myself. Every day we get stronger. I haven't had a chance to speak with Rarity yet, please let me talk with her. I need to know what is happening to her regardless of how far she is along in your plan.”

“Tomorrow. I'll let you speak with her tomorrow.” There was another pause as both creatures considered the words of the smaller one.

“Have you found Spike yet? I miss him.”

“I haven't found your dragon yet. I'll be sure to let you know if he shows up. But Twilight, It's been two weeks. I'm sure he's fled Canterlot by now. Don't get your hopes up.”

“...I'm sorry I yelled. I love you...”

“I know Twilight. I know...”

Applejack kept staring at the little critter and it just kept staring back right at her. The thing didn't even blink. It was kinda creepy. That little thing had come from inside her, it had been growin in her for a few days now with its sisters.

“So.. uh... hey.” She had no idea what to say to it. It didn't even respond to her when she spoke, like it didn't understand or nothin.

“Ya can come on over here if ya like.” It still didn't move, it just stared. It's wide hopeful smile had disappeared a while ago, now the little thing looked a bit tired. Applejack tried moving to the left and right to see if it was even paying attention. It's head followed her.

“So... I guess ya'll can't understand me then... Ya are just a baby I reckon.” She didn't need to be afraid of it, it couldn't really hurt her. Not that hurting mattered. Applejack got up off her cot and walked over to it. It started to smile hopefully as she got close. She leaned down and picked it up in her hooves, holding it so she could see it's face. It beamed at her in excitement as it's anticipation was renewed.

Applejack carried it to her cot, and set it down as she laid down with it. The little changeling cuddled up next to her, pressing itself in her side. Applejack smiled as she saw the tiny thing settle down, its eyes closing in contentment. “Ya kinda remind me of Applebloom.”

She wasn't sure if she was loving it or not, but it seemed happy enough. She was also kinda glad to have some company, Twilight had moved the royal guard to somewhere else in the dungeon for the birth. She closed her eyes for a moment, watching the Queen stare back at her. She knew Twilight was right. The Queen wasn't divine, just tough. Much tougher than any pony. She might not be a real god, but she was more powerful than one. Than two, even. Even if she wasn't divine, she was still something powerful and beyond a pony's understanding.

And the Queen really had taken her life from her. She had taken everything that mattered, and then asked for more. Applejack had given her the rest, the parts that didn't matter anymore. But now? She had a little critter snuggled up next to her and she didn't feel so bad about things. It felt like she had gotten something important back today. Something from Twilight and this little changeling. She wasn't sure what it was, but she knew who to thank. Applejack smiled with her eyes closed, and whispered a silent prayer of thanks to her goddess.

Applejack had been asleep when Chrysalis entered her cell. The Changeling Queen stood over her, watching the sleeping pony and the snuggling child. For the first time in several days, Applejack awoke without screams as the little changeling rocked her back and forth with its hooves.

“Good evening, my little pony.”

Applejack's eyes quickly opened, and she groggily greeted her goddess. “Hey.. uhh... Howdy, Yer Majesty.”

“You were sleeping well. Did you manage to escape me in your dreams?” The Queen was smiling pleasantly at her.

“Nothin like that, ma'am. Just... It wasn't so terrible is all.” Applejack couldn't really remember her dreams, but the Queen had been there, bloody and grinning. However she had somepony else with her as well, somepony small and close. She glanced down at the little changeling who still couldn't take its eyes off of her and felt a little warm inside.

The Queen eyed this silent gesture before she responded. “Interesting. I had a little chat with Twilight. She thinks I've been to hard on you. Too cruel. What do you think, Applejack?”

“Well, yeah. I kinda think nopony deserves what ya did to me. But I understand that nopony could stop you and you do what you want. Because that's what you wanted, that's what happened. Ain't no power around to even judge you.”

“And what if our roles were reversed? What if I had barged into your farm and taken little Applebloom from you while she tried to help me? What if you had the power to do what I did to you? What would you have done?”

“I... I ain't really sure. I'd be right angry. Probably violent. I might even try to hurt ya, maybe kill ya. But I wouldn't twist ya like that. Once I calmed down I'd just want you gone. Not keep ya like this.” Applejack really didn't want to think about that. It was bad news all around, and she didn't like thinking about hurtin folks for revenge. But she might if it was Bloom.

“I guess we're different then. Twilight had some suggestions, I'm going to try a few. First, she suggested I give you something. Some reason to care. You seem fond of that child. It's yours now.”

Applejack looked down at the little changeling, and then back at her Queen. “What do ya mean?”

“She's your daughter. The rest of our children are mine, but I'll give you your first born. She will be your companion and your responsibility. Of course, she's a soldier. She'll never be good at conversation, but she'll still be loyal and intelligent once she grows.”

Applejack hadn't thought much about that yet. She knew that she had given birth to the little changeling, but she just kept thinking of it as some little creature. Not really like a pony or anything really. Just a critter to keep her company till she was free. But its face looked so much like a pony. Sure, it was kinda... buggy, but also kinda cute.

“Also, after tonight you are free to leave the cell. You are returning to your previous room with a real bed and bathroom instead of just the grate in this floor.”

“Well shucks Yer Majesty. I feel like it's ma birthday.” Applejack was blushing at the blessings her Goddess was giving her. She didn't deserve any of this, but she wasn't gonna say no.

“One more thing.” The Queens voice began to sound almost disappointed. “I'm no longer going to tear into you during your worshiping. I've been punishing you for taking my child. I believe you have been punished for that enough.”

Applejack sighed. Along with the good there was always bad.

“I'm still going to bite though. I enjoy that anyways.”

Well. Not too bad at least. “I'm ready, Yer Majesty.” Applejack smiled as she prepared to worship her goddess, thankful for her blessings.

While Applejack worshiped her Goddess, Twilight explored hers. The purple mare was standing in front of two cocoons in an otherwise empty room, the active Goddess staring at her with a pleading look on her face but otherwise immobile. Twilight's eyes glowed green as she probed Luna's extensive memories. The depths of Luna's mind had to hold some clues. A key to what Chrysalis had done to Applejack, or maybe a hint as to what was happening to the bearers of the elements of harmony. Twilight was getting desperate. Applejack needed to be whole for the elements to work, and Chrysalis had done something unnatural to her. Something she might not recover from. Twilight needed to know what exactly.

She was also scared of her own growing power. Chrysalis's spells had come too easily, far easier than any she had learned before. And they were not simple by any stretch of the imagination. Luna had taught her a few darker spells under Celestia's strict guidance, so dark magic wasn't completely new to her. But the scope of the spells and the amount of power they required were beyond what even Celestia had taught her.

She hadn't told Chrysalis yet, but she even knew the spell that had changed her. She had plucked it from the Hive somehow. Chrysalis didn't actually know that one, she had only gone through the motions every time she had attempted to perform it, the dark arcane energies following ancient paths guided by the Hive-mind. Twilight had the knowledge and power to cast it herself. That scared her.

She caught a hint in Luna's mind to Applejack's fate. A memory of a pony wearing a bright red streak down her face just as Applejack did. Diving into that portion of Luna's memories made Twilight cringe in horror. Once upon a time, the dark goddess had relished torturing Celestia's faithful. She had enjoyed watching struggle and writhe beneath her as she claimed their bodies and corrupted their minds. Once she was done with them, they would abandon everything they held dear and join her cult by marking themselves with their own blood.

She would prove to them she was a Goddess in the final act by killing them and then turning away death itself. She would keep them in limbo until they begged to serve her, anything for their release. Then she would return them to their bodies, sometimes day's later in a half rotting corpse as some kind of horrible zombie pony. She would use dark magic to heal them, restoring their broken bodies by killing those still loyal to Celestia but unworthy of Luna's personal attention.

Twilight shuddered at the memories of the Goddess. There was no way Chrysalis could actually turn away death and resurrect a pony's body. The best she could manage was probably some kind of mental illusion. Of course, Applejack would probably fall for it. Her lack of knowledge when it came to magic was nothing new. But that didn't change the conviction the pony felt. It didn't matter how real it was, just how real Applejack thought it was. And if she was half dead when Chrysalis did that to her, it's likely she would have been easy to convince.

Another dark memory grabbed Twilight's attention, this time it was of a spell. It was a spell Luna saved for Celestia's most faithful, her priests and acolytes. It seemed in that day and age, Celestia's most faithful took vows of celibacy. And Luna enjoyed destroying them by pretending to be Celestia and seducing them. Sometimes she would use magic to push them along, but all of Celestia's faithful would do anything for Celestia, so oftentimes all that was needed was a request. The spell was familiar.

It was, in fact the precursor to the spell the Changelings stole to get their queen. Except the changeling version was flawed. Luna's spell left their love intact, allowing her to watch as they broke their hearts following her disturbing orders. Oftentimes they would be forced to kill a loved one, or destroy something precious to them. Unable to deny her, they followed through with the act and would become one step closer to emotionless automatons as their hearts bled.

Twilight felt a moment of dread. How could she trust this creature in front of her? How could she hope that her salvation was in its very clearly evil hooves? Celestia trusted this monstrosity somehow... But she needed to focus for now, this was Luna, not the ancient evil it had been. And she held needed answers.

The changeling spell was supposed to draw out all of their love and feed it to the hive in order to fuel the spell and force a physical change. Somehow, Twilight's conversion had gone wrong. She had managed to physically change without the spell consuming her love, it only removed her love for Celestia as the spell was originally designed to do. Curiously, Twilight pulled more recent memories, temporarily forgetting the Goddess's dark past.

She saw her own conversion, and blushed when she spread her legs for the Goddesses to see. She had been covered in green slime and was helping the changeling push it deeper in her body when Luna had realized what was about to happen. Twilight watched as the magical energies grew, the alicorn using some sort of second sight to watch the shifting leylines of magic that the hive had guided. One passed through her cocoon, and instead of cutting it off and forcing the spell to draw more from Twilight, she filled it with her own power. Twilight gasped and broke her concentration to think on this.

Luna had saved some small part of Twilight by throwing as much power as she could into the spell. That was why she allowed Twilight access into her mind. She knew that emotionally and intellectually Twilight was mostly the same, still the kind hearted mare she had been before. Was that why Twilight's power was growing as well? Had she picked something else up from the ebony mare? No, that didn't explain the rest of the element bearers. It had to be something else. Still, that second sight thing would be pretty useful, and Twilight was feeling rather adept at magic at the moment.

Channeling the energy as she had felt Luna do in her memories, Twilight saw the world in a new light. Inside the cocoon in front of her was an endless black abyss, the other cocoon held a burning light of unfathomable glory. Both were completely contained by the strange things, the magic flowing in some indecipherable pattern along the walls of the cocoon. She had needed to penetrate the walls of the cocoon with her aura in order see inside, but it seemed to pass right through. Perhaps the cocoons were attuned to the Goddesses somehow? It made sense considering the mind reading spell could pierce them. Twilight couldn't see her own aura, that was probably why Luna wasn't blinded in her memory.

How could that dark creature be the kind Princess Luna that she knew? Sure, Luna was always aloof, always a little different than her sister, but she was still a reasonable creature. This maelstrom of darkness practically screamed “Evil” and “Sinister”. Was the whole thing an act that Celestia chose to ignore or couldn't see? No, Luna had been genuinely distressed that ponies didn't care for her on Nightmare Night and she hadn't killed anypony or anything drastic. Twilight saw something shine deep within the darkness, and forced her aura to penetrate the veil.

There, in the center she found it. Luna had a heart of gold, a bright pulsing light as pure as Celestia's own buried beneath the dark, hidden from the world. Twilight wanted to see it, to see the heart of a goddess. Her aura expanded, pulsing from her body in a wave that blew the maelstrom back for a moment, exposing the golden heart to her fully. It was beautiful, a glowing elegant orb of pure magic. Twilight felt as though it was purposeful in design, perhaps a clue as to the Goddesses origins? That would be a mystery for another time, the black flood of power had covered it once again leaving Luna a beacon of dark magic.

Twilight turned off her new second sight, and was surprised by the look of terror on Luna's face. She was scared. Why would the Goddess by so suddenly scared of Twilight? It's not like Twilight's power compared to her own. She had just... pushed back... the goddesses aura with her own? Twilight took a moment to process that reality. That was impossible. She had merely attempted to see what that thing shimmering in Luna was. Luna was weakened right now, the cocoon held her captive. Even with Twilight's increased magical aptitude, there was no way she was anywhere near as strong as Luna. She decided to test this theory, watching Luna with her regular eyes as she expanded her aura, forcing it to wash over the Goddess.

Luna's eyes widened in surprise and then narrowed, as though Twilight was making some sort of attack on her, and then she had this horrified look on her face as though Twilight had murdered somebody. Twilight relaxed her aura, allowing it to settle back on herself. That all but confirmed it. Somehow, Twilight was currently more powerful than the Goddess. Whatever was happening to her was related to divinity.

Twilight found the thought curious. Was she destined to be some sort of Goddess? A new Changeling Queen that brought peace and prosperity? She could do it. She had a plan. She had the power. She could make ponies and changelings do what she wanted. Twilight looked at Luna, and felt herself grow taller in a flash of green flame. She wore the Goddess's form, and noticed how small everything looked. Even the glaring Goddess herself seemed less intimidating.

Would ponies question her divinity if she took Luna's form and told them to accept their new fate? She briefly thought of Applejack's new religion and suddenly found herself sick. Twilight abandoned Luna's form and took her own more natural form, how she used to look before she could change. Twilight was no Goddess, and she had no desire to be. She couldn't betray her friends like that. She couldn't betray Chrysalis like that. She couldn't betray Luna.

Twilight had all of this power and nothing to use it on. She had no grand enemy to kill, no big bad guy. She wanted to save everypony, not subjugate them. It was pointless. All of her friends getting stronger was pointless. She suddenly felt very tired. This puzzle was more than she understood, more than she could figure out on her own. Luna didn't seem to have any knowledge at all about the Element Bearers. That left one available option.

Twilight Glanced at Celestia's cocoon and gulped. Yep. One available option. Time to hit the library again. She turned and fled from the room, temporarily forgetting that she could just teleport to the archives.

Unbeknownst to Twilight, Luna's glare wasn't from fear or anger at being out done. If Twilight had used her second sight the second time she had washed her aura over Luna, she might have noticed something. Her overpowering energy had done more than just wash the darkness back. That little, beautiful magical orb had been completely exposed to the energy. And very slightly, in a small and barely noticeable way, there was a crack in it. A very, very tiny crack. And out of that crack was hissing something very, very dark.