I awoke suddenly, like experiencing a bad dream; being suddenly aware of my surroundings, sweat beading from my horn, but as I come further to my senses, I realize that it is not my sweat from my nightmare that is all over my coat; but green sludge! My eyes grow wide as I begin to panic, realizing that I am trapped, millions of questions running through my mind, how did this happen? When did this all take place? How did we fail? As I try to calm myself I began looking around me, right before me, I can see Fluttershy trapped in what looks like an eternal scream, her eyes wide, her mouth wide; trying to project her voice, but nothing. The green cocoon mutes her voice.
I begin to fall into despair as I continue to look around my limited field of view, many ponies are in the same situation I am, though their eyes glow with the eerie green glow from Chrysalis' magic. My friends are trapped, Fluttershy with her eternal scream, Pinkie Pie who already has her eyes completely replaced with that green glow, along with Applejack, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash, they all have their eyes glowing to some extent, with Pinkie and Fluttershy having the most glow. I put my hooves to my head, not believing that my eyes are seeing, and try to shout with terror, but the cocoon keeps my scream within my lungs. I try and get my bearings again, taking into account all the many ponies who are sealed in cocoons and suspended from the ceiling, like I am. I can feel energy flowing all around me, and realize that it is coming from us, the cocoons sapping the love from every pony and feeding it all into Chrysalis, who stands at the crown of Equestria, overseeing her handy-work.
“Don’t worry my little ponies, your pain and suffering will soon be over as you will remember nothing and will only live to serve me and my underling, isn’t that right Celestia?” I can her her terrible voice echo through the grand hall, like knives cutting into my mind, which still races with millions of questions. Celestia? I force my body to move in the thick cocoon to see Princess Celestia suspended from the ceiling, like every pony else. Tears begin to swell from my eyes as I see the Princess in her state: her brilliant flowing mane is slowly turning that shade of green and her hoofs are bearing holes along with her horn. My tears become lost in the cocoon, my Princess is slowly being turned into a changeling; and is powerless to do anything, I begin to whimper silently, feeling the crushing weight of defeat. How did this happen? All I remember was hugging my B.B.B.F.F before I awoke here, where did we go wrong? I think to myself as I can see Chrysalis who has moved from her throne and is surveying the carnage raging outside; the beautiful night was replaced with a raging lightning storm.
Boom. The sudden light from the lightning distorts my vision, but I get a good look at the ponies who are in a cocoon; the entire ceiling is covered, many have the glowing eyes of defeat and are now under the power of Chrysalis's magic. The thunder that came with the sudden light shakes the cocoons ever so slightly. “Twilight Sparkle, the hero of the dream, welcome back to reality. This is the end of ponies and my reign over Equestria begins.” Chrysalis is approaching me now, using her magic she plucks my cocoon from the ceiling and brings it to the floor, so I can see her face to face, and stare her in the eye, feeling my mind spiral out of control. “Yes, I am surprised that you are still not under my control, its been three days now since the fall of Celestia and her precious Equestria.” She bent closer to examine my cocoon, circling it like a buzzard lusting after its meal, “no matter, Celestia fell and you will too. My minions are feeding and growing much stronger than I ever imagined, as am I. Celestia was no match, and neither are you. I can feel your every move inside the cocoon, every ounce of magic you make gets transferred into me; you are truly trapped.”
Using her magic, Chrysalis lifts my cocoon back onto the ceiling, I feel the vibrations from the sudden stop and I hang my head as low as I can in the sludge. I failed. Celestia failed. We are doomed... I feel myself loosing the will to shake off the magic of the cocoon and take another look around, seeing my friends sealed in their cocoons, waiting to be morphed into Chrysalis's slaves, I must help them! I take another glance around the room, the cocoon being less restricting with movement, I have to help my friends no matter what the cost! “I can feel your thoughts Twilight Sparkle, you have no hope. Your friends can't save you. I control your magic.” Chrysalis's voice echoes through the chamber again, but rings especially loud in my cocoon, and I feel my magic being sapped by my prison and see a purple flow of magic from my cocoon to her horn as she laughs sinisterly, a loud crack of thunder and lightning seem to be in concert, both blinding me and dulling my hearing.
“It was a valiant effort you had put in defending Equestria, Twilight Sparkle. My minions far outnumbered you though, your so called 'friends' were nothing more than my minions, we had taken them one by one and separated them from you and replaced them. It was simple really; deception and your trust in your friends played its part.” Chrysalis glanced to the ceiling again, this time focusing on Fluttershy, “your weakest member turned out be your strongest ally in the fight against my minions, learning of your capture, she departed for Ponyville to warn the rest of your town, and managed to gather a small resistance force. What impressed me the most was how easily they fell, one after the other, but she kept on struggling even when she was the last pony. Quite commendable in my book.”
Looking at Fluttershy again, I begin to see the scars of battle, they cover her fragile body, her wings damaged and that frozen scream, sealed in the cocoon. Slowly rage begins to fuel my thoughts, If Fluttershy put up such a fight, why cant I!? I begin to gather as much magical power as I can, feeling the familiar tingle from my horn flowing through my body, “As I said before its useless. Your magic is being funnelled into me, making me stronger.” Her voice echos and fuels my rage; I close my eyes and get lost in my power pushing me to the limits of my power, feeling the tingling turn into a hot, searing pain. Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy! I’m going to get us out of this mess! Magic erupts from my horn, opening my eyes I can see Chrysalis as clears as day when the cocoon rips apart. I float down to the floor, feeling the firm ground beneath my hooves. “I can produce my brother's spell and get rid of all of you once and for all!” I shout, but am taken back when she starts laughing. “Oh Twilight Sparkle, dont you realize it yet? You've lost. If you perform the spell you will remove every pony under my control; all your friends and your precious Celestia.” I stop for a moment, looking above my head shes right. All of my friends are being turned into changelings. If I do the spell, I will be all alone. “If I defeat you, then they can all be turned back!” I stamp my left hoof on the ground and make a swipe with it, readying myself for a charge, I can do this! I have to do this! I’m the only one who can now!
She starts laughing now, harder and harder as I charge toward her, my horn glowing with a soft purple light that intensifies with every step, “why are you laughing? Whats so funny!” I give a quick shout, “Why you my dear. Do you really believe you broke free from your prison? How can you know for sure what you are experiencing right now is true? You were the hero of the dream. You always play the hero, but this time you are way out of your league.” Feeling the wind through my mane, the echoing of my hoof steps echoing against the empty chamber, my power surging to my horn, I know that shes wrong. Coming closer to her now, I feel my power reach its peak, but I perform my displacement spell and quickly appear behind Chrysalis and give a quick turn and fire my magic at her back.
I see her grin as she turned to meet the magic as it comes to her. I see her being hit with my magic but only feel the vibrations from the impact against the wall. I know she escaped my magic and look frantically around the room. Boom, a flash of lightning and thunder perform in concert, revealing Chrysalis standing in the middle of the room. “I told you that you were out of your league Twilight Sparkle. There is nothing you can do.” Slowly I hear the buzzing coming from what seems all around me, looking around I see that its Chrysalis's minions surrounding me. I easily count 100 pairs of those green eyes focused on me; reading themselves for attack. Sweat begins to drip from my face, my mind racing, how do I deal with a massive army bent on destroying me?
“I know you are scared. How can you alone stand against my armies? Would you like a simpler option?” I hear Chrysalis's voice echo above the buzzing. “What do you mean simpler? Give up?” I shout loud and clear, silencing the deafening sound of the buzzing. “I know you wont give up Twilight Sparkle but consider this for a moment: where you happy in the dream?” My thought process simply stops. “The dream?” I repeat, thinking back to the wedding, myself and my friends being victorious against the changeling queen and her minions. “I was happy but its fake! Its all a dream!” Chrysalis is walking toward me now, “It may be all fake, but you cant hide your true feeling Twilight Sparkle. Your friends make you happy. I can offer that to you; instead of this harsh reality.” She is much closer now, with a stretch of her leg she puts a hoof on my shoulder, “wouldn’t it be simpler to be living in a dream? Where you are always the hero and get to live with your friends?”
I don’t understand my own feelings, I know I cant let her win, but at the same time, it seems like there is nothing I can do. I always had my friends to back me up on anything but now... I feel sadness wash over me, clouding my vision. “I can give you one day to think this over Twilight Sparkle. If you wait any longer, you cant be put back into the dream and will be alone. Forever.” I hear her voice, but it seems distant. I slowly walk away from Chrysalis and her minions, taking a familiar path through the royal castle, pulling memories both happy and sad from deep within me. I cant let her win. I repeat to myself as I find myself in the old Canterlot library.
“There must be something—Anything about Chrysalis and her minions...” I talk to myself and begin to pull the books from the shelves, “Spike, could you--” I catch myself in mid sentence. Tears fill my eyes again, realizing that my number one assistant is not here, and probably hurt or worse. No, now is not the time for tears! I have research to do! I talk myself out of my sadness and throw myself into my studies like I had done so many times in the past. Hours seemed to simply drag by; Book after book, references to vague messages about the changelings lead me not much further than I began. I know they are not regular ponies and definitely not from Equestria, perhaps the Starswhril wing might have something? I check the time on the clock: 19 hours have passed since being 'released' by Chrysalis. If I haven’t found anything here, what would Starswhril know? More missing references and misleading footnotes?
I feel angry that I haven’t found anything, but at the same time sad. I know time is running out and if I don’t present a choice, she will make one for me. I shudder at the thought and slowly begin to pace around the room. I seriously cant consider falling back into her dream, its all fake! That feeling of hugging your brother wasn’t. I stop in my tracks. Why did I think that? I begin pacing around again, I cant let Chrysalis win! She has all my friends trapped! But they were all happy and smiling last time I saw them.
“STOP!” I hear my voice echo through the old library. “Why am I having this battle with myself? I know what Im supposed to do, why am I stopping myself?” I run to a mirror and look at my reflection: my mane is messed and unkempt, my eyes are bloodshot and itchy and I feel a serious need for sleep. I shake my head vigorously; trying to shake off some of the things that are bothering me, If I can make a sneak attack with everything Ive got, I might be able to stop Chrysalis in her tracks. Or you could see your friends again and be with them. I lower my head, bumping into the glass and feel tears stream down my nuzzle onto the glass. “What....” I sob to myself, “what can I do?”
I hear hoof-steps and quickly rear my head upward, and try to wipe away some of the tears. “This castle is far superior to my own. Many, many rooms and it overlooks everything. Its a perfect symbol of my power.” I look to Chrysalis, who seemed to be interested in the books, “I heard you talking to yourself Twilight Sparkle, and have you made a choice?” I swallow the hard lump in my throat. “Will it...hurt?” I find myself asking, I watch her shake her head, “it will feel like waking up from another dream.” Swallowing another lump, I start to shudder, “will my friends be exactly as they were?” I see a genuine smile from across the changeling queen's face. “Exactly as you remember. Nothing will be out of place, but know this: If you accept this dream there will be no chance of waking from it. Ever. You will live out the rest of your days in the dream.”
Tears are streaming down my face now. “I....” My voice squeaks, “I....” I close my eyes and make my choice: Friendship.