Hybrid

The Incident

Somewhere, in the frozen wastes…

“There she goes!” Twilight Sparkle yelled. “Don’t let Queen Chrysalis get away!”

Twilight and her friends charged down the icy subterranean corridor, chasing after Chrysalis’ retreating form. The fallen villain cackled as she sped away from her pursuers, a sickly-blue necklace glowing around her neck.

“Chrysalis, please!” Starlight Glimmer yelled. She was using telekinesis to fly, managing to keep up with the others. On her back was Spike, holding on for dear life. “You don’t have to do this!”

“Incessant, whiny little...” Chrysalis shot a ray of magic behind her before rounding a corner. “Maybe this'll shut your trap!”

“WATCH OUT!” Twilight and the others hit the deck, the ray sailing past and slamming against the icy wall. Frigid, dagger-like shards exploded outward, laced with green magic that honed in on their fallen forms…

VWUM

...only to bounce harmlessly off a mighty magenta forcefield.

“Don’t get sloppy!” Shining Armor said. Horn glowing, he helped everypony to their hooves. “There’s no telling what she'll do with that amulet!”

“I’ve got a fix on her!” shouted Cadance. She was standing beside Shining, focused on a special locating spell. “She’s still going down the tunnel! She must be trying to get out through the caverns!”

“We can’t let that happen!” Twilight said. “If she gets away with the Amulet of Prismia…”

“I’m going on ahead!” Starlight said. She picked herself up and flew forward, rounding the corner Chrysalis had just gone around…

… but then abruptly had to stop, as a wall of glowing ice had been erected, blocking the path.

“Not another one…” Starlight turned to look at Spike. “You’re up!”

“On it!” Spike leapt off Starlight’s back, dashing forward while she kept clear. The reason why became quickly apparent, as cruel, black tendrils suddenly appeared on the wall, lashing out to assail Spike…

...but bounced harmlessly off his draconic scales.

Eerie emerald embers danced in Spike’s mouth as he took a deep breath.

FWOOOSH!

The air became swelteringly hot as the ice wall was consumed by dragonfire, melting to nothing in seconds. A steaming puddle of water was all that remained, and Spike wiped his mouth with a grin.

“There, that should—WAH!”

Starlight plucked Spike off the ground and set off again at full speed, her eyes darting all around for any other surprises.

The path became a minefield of pits and uneven ground that led down into the bowels of the earth. Starlight and Spike flew above it all, weaving carefully between the jagged stalactites, using magic to illuminate the darkness. Behind them, Starlight could hear Twilight shouting something, but couldn’t look back to see how her teacher was faring.

Spike, however, could, and with his sharper hearing, he heard exactly what Twilight said.

“FORMATION!” A brief pause, and then... “NOW!”

There was a mighty explosionof light. It was followed by a wave of harmonic energy that washed over Spike, making his scales feel tingly and warm. The air became heavy, a mighty pressure building that made one’s ears pop, and not long after, Twilight and her friends rounded the corner, flying in a prismatic aura at impossible speed. They caught up with Starlight and Spike in an instant, then blew right past, hot on Chrysalis’ trail.

“Looks like our time’s up, Starlight,” Spike said in her ear. “Sorry.”

Starlight grit her teeth. She’d been trying to get Chrysalis to give up the stolen artifact and surrender peacefully for hours, but all that’d resulted in was a drawn-out chase, made even worse by the dimensional lock Chrysalis had cast on all of them. At this point, she couldn’t blame Twilight and the others for getting fed up.

“Be careful!” Starlight yelled after them. Careful to keep herself level, she sped after them as fast as she could.

Chrysalis flew as fast as her wings could carry her, erecting barricades and traps to try and slow her pursuers. She could tell they were starting to fall behind, but then, the burst of harmonic energy swept over her like a wave of dread.

“Blast it all!” Chrysalis could feel the Elements of Harmony speeding towards her, likely with that vile rainbow magic of theirs. Her magical traps disintegrated like dust in the wind, and at this rate, she’d be overtaken in seconds. She had no other way of escaping; not with that accursed Cadance homed in on her magic like a bloodhound. And disabling her wasn’t an option, either—Shining Armor had wised up to Chrysalis’ tactics, and had more defensive spells on Cadance than Chrysalis could count.

Chrysalis came to a wide, icy grotto. She whirled and cast one last vampiric wall, then began devouring the power of the amulet she wore. Its energy tasted sickly sweet; almost more than she could bear—

BAM!

Spidery cracks appeared on the wall she’d made, shaking the ceiling above. Six ominous silhouettes could be seen just beyond, but Chrysalis ignored them and kept feasting. Her body emanated a foul darkness, her features deforming, changing, twisting into abhorrent mockeries.

BAM!

Chrysalis’ body was deteriorating, her chitinous flesh flaking off in chunks. Tendrils of energy lanced off her form, melting whole swaths of ice around her, turning them into tainted, slushy pools. The mysterious amulet around her neck vibrated, its power unstable from the forced extraction—

SMASH!

Chrysalis’ last defense was blown to pieces. Power blazing, the Elements of Harmony flew in and surrounded her, their face grim and set like stone. She tried to unleash a blast to scatter them, but the Elements’ power had already enveloped her, constricting her, negating the magic she’d taken.

“NO!” Chrysalis screeched. “NO, CURSE YOU!”

Starlight and Spike flew into the grotto, wincing at the feel of the chaotic, conflicting magics.

“It’s not too late, Chrysalis!” Starlight called. “Please! You can still—”

With every bit of power she could muster, Chrysalis ripped herself free of the Elements’ prison. Screaming with rage, she fired a perverted blast of love magic at Starlight and Spike.

Starlight dodged, but the backdraft of the attack knocked her out of the air. She and Spike fell tumbling to the tainted ground, landing in one of the corrupted pools with a splash!

Now the Elements of Harmony were enraged. They attempted to clamp back down on Chrysalis, but before they could, she tore the Amulet of Prismia off her neck and chomped down on it. All the power it contained rushed into her dissolving body, and Twilight and the others were blown back by a perverted explosion of darkness. The grotto abruptly became divided down the middle as the two forces of energy battled, equally matched.

“Hang on!” Twilight yelled to her friends.

Chrysalis’ body was gone. She was now an abhorrent, roiling mass of evil, ravenous with insatiable hunger. i WiLL... COnsUmE… cONsuMe... EVERYTHING—

ZORCH

VWUM

A pair of spinning rays drilled into the mass like a corkscrew from the grotto’s entrance. Shining and Cadance stood aloft, ablaze with the magic they’d wielded at their wedding, cold fury in their eyes.

“Consume this,” Shining said.

The combined light overwhelmed the dark, filling the grotto with divine radiance. Chrysalis tried to devour the new energy, but it was too much for her, and the powers of harmony surged forth, utterly engulfing her. She let out one final, agonizing wail, her form flailing and convulsing, and with a sound like rushing wind, she collapsed in on herself, dissolving into fine, powdery mist.

Deathly silence followed. The divided grotto was split right in half by a still-sizzling fissure, one side cold and black with scorch marks, the other side alive with color, and warmth. The pools of water on the alive side were crystal clear, revealing the wyrmling and a unicorn inside them—

Twilight gasped. She dove down and grabbed them both, yanking them to the surface and shouting their names.

Spike opened his eyes. His mind felt like it was submerged in molasses, his scales strangely cool, like they’d been slathered in menthol. Everything was blurry, but the two things he noticed were the extreme brightness of Twilight’s glowing form, and the weird, sparkly dust everywhere—repelled from her, but settling all over his soaked form.

Spike coughed up some water. “This is why... I prefer... riding you.”

And then he blacked out.