Chrysalis let out another angry snarl, kicking a changeling that had the misfortune to get too close to her. She had been so close. Celestia was defeated, the only ones that could use the Elements of Harmony were captured, and Canterlot was within her grip.
She shook her head. Where had everything gone wrong? Well, the obvious answer was with Twilight Sparkle, the only one that saw through her disguise. The others had dismissed it as premarital stress, to which she had to laugh. The greatest ceremony of love was also an acceptable excuse to act cruelly. The unicorn had been easy enough to deal with. A few crocodile tears were all it took to get everyone to turn on her. Even in her defeat, she couldn’t help but laugh at that. Friendship truly was a joke.
Then, after being assured no one would go looking for her, she sent her to those underground caverns. But that’s where things fell apart. She didn’t kill the real princess in her rage. While she half-expected this, she hadn’t expected her to return to the chapel. She hadn’t done much to prevent Twilight from leaving the caves. Why would she? All those ponies failed her, why would she risk her life for them now? She must really be obsessed with her brother.
And then there was Shining Armor and Princess Cadence’s love spell. It should not have been so effective on her and her children. She had been feeding off of Shining Armor’s love for days, why would it be damaging to her? It made no sense. It was so much, it overwhelmed her. But why? And how did the two of them activate it? How could Cadence still love a stallion that had allowed her to suffer for so long?!
She growled, sitting on her makeshift throne of rocks. The desert she and her subjects had been scattered to had little in the way of ponies, only a few scattered towns and some nomadic buffalo tribes. At least there was a cave she could hide in while she thought up her next move.
Still, instead of the future, her mind couldn’t help but wander to the past.
It was long ago…centuries, in fact. So long that speech patterns were much different then. Still, try as she might, the Queen of the Changelings couldn’t help but remember it as if they were speaking normally.
Of course, she hadn’t been a queen then, nor had she been a changeling. Changelings hadn’t even existed then. At the time, she was a pegasus, one of the many in Commander Hurricane’s ranks. Throughout years of service she had caught Hurricane’s eye had had been promoted as far as Major. However, by this point in time one wouldn’t have been able to guess her previous commendations.
“How could you be so foalish?” Hurricane demanded, slamming her hoof on the table.
“I should be asking you the same question, dear Commander,” she sneered.
The leader of the pegasi growled at her boldness. “Me? I do not go around attacking our allies during such a crucial time. Our tribes...”
“Should not be interacting as such!” The subordinate snapped. “What would our forefathers think of us, sharing our spoils with the unicorns, let alone the earth pony filth?!”
“Those ‘earth pony filth’, as you call them, are our allies. And need I remind you, even beforehoof we relied on the earth ponies for food.”
“Your memory is poor. We did not rely on them, we made it clear that they would grow food for us, or we’d make sure they grew no food at all.”
“A mere bluff,” Hurricane dismissed. “We needed their food badly. Truly, the only thing that’s changed from the forming of Equestria is that we’ve rid ourselves of any pretenses.”
“And what of our military campaigns?” the subordinate refused to back down. “Our plans to expand into the donkey homelands seem to have been forgotten.”
“I have told you, those plans are unnecessary. I have discussed it with the other leaders, the land we’ve claimed is more than sufficient.”
“You’ve forgotten our destiny!” she snarled. She turned to show off her cutie mark, a sword in front of a shield. “When I got this mark on my seventh summer, I was dreaming of overrunning the unicorn homelands, leaving that foal princess and her lover to burn in the ruins! Now you, the one who inspired me to the war path, rob me of such a dream!”
“It was the dream of foals! That thinking nearly destroyed us, allowed the Windigos to freeze us solid. That era has passed. The others have accepted it. They have not attacked some unicorn dignitaries because they refused to answer some trivial questions!”
“I had to!” she yelled, banging her hoof on the desk. “They refused to give me answers…”
“Enough!” Hurricane boomed, but this did not silence her.
“No! I am a warrior! I am all ready to take the Trials, to...”
“The Source would never make you an alicorn!”
“It would! I only...”
“Enough! This is a crucial time! The Energy of Friendship, the same that defeated the Windigos, is being transported to the new capital, and I can hardly afford to deal with such an insubordinate pegasus. You can consider yourself stripped of your rank. You are no longer my soldier.”
Her mouth dropped open. “But…”
“Enough! Leave my sight! I have more important matters to deal with.”
The young pegasus just stood there, gritting her teeth. Then she turned around and tromped out of the office, trying to leave holes in her former commander’s hardwood floor.
As she left she passed the two unicorns she had attacked earlier. They looked as different as could be, one white with a pink mane, the other dark blue with a lighter blue mane. The two gave her an icy cold stare, which she returned in earnest. However, she never slowed her pace, and was soon out of the building.
She sighed, sitting on a cloud far beyond the capital city’s borders. At least, what would be the capital city. It was still in its early stages of being built, only the new Capital Building stood out, a beautiful stone castle. The earth ponies had finished it with great speed, even she had been impressed.
Still, she hated it, for all its beauty. A building for the three tribes to work together? How sickening. Prissy unicorns and filthy earth ponies standing proudly alongside the superior race made her stomach turn.
“Disgusting,” she muttered.
“I couldn’t agree more,” a voice concurred.
The warrior’s mane stood up on end. She turned around, ready to trample the pony who had disturbed her brooding.
In a rare occurrence, she was stopped. It wasn’t a pony that disturbed her. She wasn’t sure what it was. The creature before her looked as if several animals had been merged together into a single, jumbled mess. The sheer unbelievably of the sight stopped her raging temper, leaving her in pure bafflement.
“It is quite revolting, isn’t it?” the creature said, slithering past her and overlooking the city. “Peace and harmony, gag,” he opened his mouth and pointed a talon finger at it, making sounds as if he were going to vomit.
“Who are you?” she finally demanded.
He turned to her, grinning sardonically. “I am Discord, Master of Chaos and Disharmony, ready for you to serve me.”
“Serve you?” she shrieked, offended. “What mad, twisted force saw fit to spew a foul creature like you out?”
“Hey now,” Discord said, holding up his arms in defense. “That’s not very nice. I’m just an all-powerful malevolent god who has to be here now that the Windigos have failed. And you’re going to serve me quite willingly, because I’m going to give you something you want more than anything.”
At that, her anger cooled. She arched a skeptical eyebrow. “And what is that?”
Smiling sadistically, Discord raised his lion’s paw and snapped it.
In an instant, the young pegasus felt ten times stronger, like she could face Commander Hurricane’s whole battalion single-hoofed. A mirror appeared in front of her, allowing her to see herself. She gasped.
She was an alicorn. She was larger, her wing span more than three times its usual length, and a beautiful blue horn sticking out of her forehead.
“The strengths of all three tribes. Sure, wings are superior to strength and magic, but having the other two is still a nice bonus.”
“But…how…only the Source can…”
“Pfft,” Discord scoffed. “Would you honestly believe your priests? There’s nothing I can’t do. I can give you everything, the powers of all three tribes, a loyal army for you to command, and a great victory against a mighty city.” With that he snapped his fingers again, turning her back to normal.
“NO!” she shrieked, turning back to the mad god. “I must…”
He tossed the mirror away while waving a talon in his face. “Ah, ah, ah, not yet. That was chump change compared to what powers I’m going to give you. And all you have to do is one little job for me.”
The pegasus looked away uneasily before turning back to him. “What do I have to do?”
Discord gestured to the Capital Building. “You see that? It’s a symbol of the three tribes putting aside their hatred of one another to join hooves in friendship. It has to go. But as long as that…ugh, friendship energy is present, I can’t even approach the city.”
“The same that defeated the Windigos?”
“The very one,” he growled. “I need you to go in there and destroy it for me.”
She looked at her benefactor skeptically. “I no longer hold any rank in Hurricane’s forces. They will not allow me anywhere near the Energy. As skilled a warrior as I am, I cannot fight them all.”
Discord chuckled. “Then we’ll just have to get you an army.” With that, he snapped his fingers, and the two disappeared.
When they reappeared, the pegasus wobbled around wearily for a moment, the teleportation leaving her momentarily disoriented. She shook her head, trying to get her wits together. They were on another cloud, overlooking another city.
They were ponies, but they weren’t pegasus, unicorn, or earth ponies. They had wings, but they were like butterfly wings, moving in smooth and elegant rhythm. The city they inhabited was immaculate and bright, it seemed to generate good feelings.
“Flutterponies,” Discord explained. “A fourth tribe. Had the good sense to go into hiding a few hundred years back to avoid the conflict between the three remaining races.”
“You mean…there have been these…bugs, all this time, taking to the skies that rightfully belong to the pegasi?”
“Indeed. They can’t manipulate weather, though they can produce some powerful wind currents.”
“Bah. At least the earth ponies could handle some heavy lifting,” she scoffed.
“Indeed. Still, I believe we can get some use out of them,” Discord said in a rather casual manner. He snapped his eagle fingers.
In an instant, every flutterpony stopped in midair and dropped to the ground. They convulsed wildly, as if they were being torn apart from the inside out. Their skin turned dark, their wings turned transparent. Fangs grew in their mouths, and horns sprouted in the middle of their foreheads. Holes appeared in their legs, and their eyes lost any pupils and irises until they were pure blue.
Once their transformations were complete, they rose to greet their new masters. Each looked exactly the same, none of the distinguishing features they had previously had were present.
The pegasus gaped at this show of power. An entire race, changed at nothing more than a snap of some fingers. She looked at her benefactor with frightened awe.
Discord gave a mad grin, and then placed another finger on her forehead. In an instant, the pegasus felt like her head was going to split in two. Thousands of thoughts poked her brain, shouting for direction and guidance. She fell to the ground, crying from the agony of it all.
“I’ve linked you with your soldiers. You can command them with a mere thought. I could have made it painless, but where’s the joy in that?”
The pain began to subside as Discord kept speaking. “My little changelings here can take any form and hold it indefinitely. Oh, and as a little bonus, they feed off of love. Can you imagine it? The very source they are counting on to protect them is going to fuel my victory!”
By now, the pain had dulled, and the pegasus sat up. “I can…I can handle it now. I feel each and every one of them, ready to serve me.”
“And I’m sure you can think of a use for them, can’t you?”
In the Capital Building, there was a room where the three leaders say. Commander Hurricane, Princess Platinum, and Chancellor Puddinghead all sat in the three highest seats. They still kept their old titles, though there was little more to them now than tradition. Their subordinates sat just below them, the ones who began the bonds of friendship that united them. Several other seats were filled with other ponies, the start of the new government. Several unicorn and pegasi guards surrounded the perimeter, guarding the room’s most valuable item. The Energy sat in a special orb, created by Clover the Clever herself, which rested on a stone bust in the center of the room.
“My friends,” Platinum began, addressing the council, “on this eve we officially usher in a new era. Our three tribes have united most splendidly, and the fires of our friendship have vanquished the foul Windigos and allowed us to build a strong new nation! The orb you see in front of you contains the very essence of our unity. May it guide Equestria for generations to come!”
That line was met with a most unusual response. Slow, sarcastic laughter filled the chambers, causing all present to pause and look around in confusion.
Chuckling, the rogue pegasus stood in the entryway, her mouth in a cruel grin. “You continually exceed my expectations, your highness. Every time I think you unicorns couldn’t get any more disgustingly sentimental, you say something that proves me wrong.”
“What are you doing here?” Hurricane demanded. “Did I not make it clear you weren’t in my elite any longer?”
“You did,” she smirked. “I no longer take orders from you, ‘Commander.’”
“I have no time for this,” the leader of the pegasi exclaimed. “Guards, arrest the traitor.”
There was silence. None of the guards moved.
The pegasus grinned. “You heard her.”
At that, the soldiers did move, taking threatening steps towards the council seats where the three leaders sat.
“What is the meaning of this?” Hurricane demanded.
“They’re doing as you said,” the rogue soldier said, taking steps to the center of the room. “You’ve betrayed the pegasi race. You brought us down to the level of the unicorns and these filthy earth ponies.”
“How dare you!” Puddinghead shouted. “You have no right to...”
She was cut off by a blast of magic from one of the unicorn guards, which knocked her back into her seat. “I have better things to do than listen to you,” the traitor scoffed.
Clover the Clever’s face scrunched her face in confusion. “That...that didn’t feel like unicorn magic.”
“Very observant,” the traitor noted.
At that point, every guard in the room glowed a sickly green glow. Flames enveloped them, revealing their true forms.
“What have you done to them?” Hurricane demanded as she and the other leaders were surrounded by the strange creature, being held in place. “What have you done to my guards?”
“My guards slit their throats,” the traitor said casually, moving toward the Energy. “These delightful little creatures merely took their forms. There isn’t a single guard in this room that’s a pony...which makes what I have to do that much simpler.”
She brought her mouth down, unsheathing her sword. The hilt in her teeth, she walked up to the orb that held the capital city’s most powerful source.
There was a unanimous cry of “No!” from every pony in the room. Clover fired a magic blast from her horn, but the changelings were too quick and tackled her before she finished her spell. She continued casting spells, but they only succeeded in scorching the ceiling.
Smart Cookie and Lieutenant Pansy attempted to leap out of their seats as well, but they were stopped just as effectively.
“Stop!” Pansy screamed, struggling against her captors. “You don’t know what you’re doing.”
“I know exactly what I’m doing, you simpering fool,” she scoffed, though her words were a bit muffled due to the weapon in her mouth. “That a spineless foal like you was given such a high rank disgusts me.”
With that one final show of contempt, she plunged the sword through the orb.
In an instant, its glow stopped, leaving a gray sphere in its place. Then, cracks branched out from the blade, circling the orb. Finally, it broke apart, falling into six separate, but oddly equal pieces.
A collective gasp emerged from the associated ponies. “Foal!” Smart Cookie cried. “Insolent foal! How could you...”
In a moment, there was a flash of white light. Discord appeared, cackling madly while lightening flashed in the background, an impressive feat considering they were inside.
The ponies all gaped at the unusual creature before them. The traitor simply saluted. “I have successfully completed my mission, sir.”
“Oh really now, using military protocol on me? You don’t know me very well,” he scoffed.
Clover was the first to find the will to speak. “Who...what are you?”
Grinning, the draconequus snapped his fingers, allowing a golden sign to appear above him and several fireworks to go off around him. “I’m Discord, Master of Chaos and Disharmony! He yelled, striking a dramatic pose.
Then, in an instant, all of the flashy display disappeared. “Oh, and FYI, I’m taking over this kingdom and turning you all into my personal playthings, so...yeah, abandon all hope and kiss your sanity goodbye!”
“Coward! Why not call these beasts off and fight me hoof to hoof?!” Hurricane demanded.
“Silence! He doesn’t need to prove anything to...”
At that moment, the traitor’s mouth became a zipper, which closed itself. “Ah, ah, ah,” Discord chastised. “This could be interesting. You, bugs, shoo. Go cause chaos and disharmony, that’s what I made you for, anyway.”
The changelings obeyed, flying out of the room without a thought. With that, he turned back to the leader of the pegasi. “Well?”
Wasting no time, Hurricane pulled her sword and flew toward her opponent. In response, Discord snapped his fingers.
Suddenly Hurricane deviated from her flight path, crashing hard onto the floor. Years of battle experience allowed her to recover quickly, letting her check her wings. She let out a gasp.
They were upside-down.
“What? How...” Hurricane began, only to be cut off when Discord snapped his fingers again.
Out of the commander’s mouth came an arrow, flying as straight and true as if it had been aimed by the most skilled archer in Equestria.
Unfortunately, she happened to be looking at Pansy when it happened.
Hurricane opened her mouth to cry her lieutenant’s name, but that only resulted in two more arrows lodging themselves into her friend’s corpse. Tears in her eyes, she fell to the ground, the normally proud warrior broken.
“You monster!” Clover the Clever shouted. The other leaders and their subordinates wasted no time in leaping at the creature in an attempt to take it down. Discord raised an eyebrow, and then turned intangible, allowing the attacking ponies to pass right through him.
“Really? You’re attacking me after seeing that?” he exclaimed, snapping his fingers.
In a flash four very different things happened. Chancellor Puddinghead’s head actually turned into pudding, falling to the ground in a goopy mess. Her headless body stumbled around, slipping on what used to be a part of it.
Smart Cookie actually turned into a pony shaped cookie, as if she were fresh out of the oven. Unfortunately, this made her legs too weak to support her, and they crumbled apart. She felt every bit of it, screaming in pain as her more of her body broke off.
Clover the Clever’s magic produced only...clovers. Then clovers began sprouting all over her. She screamed in absolute fear as they covered her body, making her appear as some kind of walking shrubbery.
Princess Platinum actually turned into platinum. At first, it was a pony shaped statue, but then the form bent into a ball, until it resembled a boulder.
Discord laughed uproariously, and his subordinate couldn’t help but have the same reaction. The reaction of the other ponies, however, was far different. They screamed in terror, all jumping out of their seats and stampeding over themselves in sheer terror.
This made Discord laugh even harder. He snapped his fingers again. A unicorn’s horn glowed deep red, causing him to scream in pain and attempt to tear it off his head. Another finger snap, and a pegasus’s feathers came of her wings. Their quills grew sharp, and they began stabbing her in the flank while she ran for dear life. Another snap, and an earth pony became as flat as a sheet of parchment, blowing away at the slightest breeze.
However, Discord’s games were interrupted with a cry of “Stop, foul being!”
The Master of Chaos arched an eyebrow as two unicorns stepped forward. His subordinate recognized them as the two that had cost her a place in Hurricane’s forces.
The darker one spoke. “We shall stop your reign of terror!”
Discord hit the ground laughing, wiping a tear off his eye. “Really? Oh well, then, here,” he said, summoning a target in front of him. “A free shot. It’ll crush your hopes all the more readily.”
The two unicorns powered up their horns and let loose two blasts of magic, they intertwined, moving in a drilling motion before driving right into Discord’s face.
The draconequus yawned. He didn’t flinch or show any sight of pain. “Very nice, it looked pretty if nothing else,” he said casually as he snapped his fingers, causing the pair to freeze in place. “But now I guess I have to make an example of you. Oh, what to do, what to do?”
While she had enjoyed this game at first, the rogue pegasus was beginning to lose her patience. “Um, pardon me, but I believe it’s time for you to fulfill your end of the deal.”
Discord gave her a neutral look, and then smiled. “I suppose it is,” he smirked. Then he snapped his fingers.
She braced herself for the power of an alicorn, and it never came. Instead, three of her changelings appeared before her. Before she could comprehend what was going on, they leapt onto her, pinning her to the ground. One reared up, then spat a projectile of green slime right into her face.
“Ah!” she screamed in panic as the changelings continued to coat her in their muck. “What is this? You said you’d make me an alicorn!”
“No I didn’t. I said I’d make you powerful. I could change you into one of those, but honestly, where’s the joy in that?”
She opened her mouth to protest again, but she was silenced by another blast of slime to the face. It hardened and tightened around her muzzle, restricting her ability to talk.
“Now, now,” Discord said with false gentleness. “Just relax, and it will be easier.”
She tried to disobey at first, but suddenly everything felt hazy. Her eyelids drooped as the slime completely encased her. The last thing she felt was herself being lifted up before she drifted off to sleep.
She was brought back to consciousness when she felt herself hit the floor. Moaning in pain, she attempted to lift herself onto her legs, but they still wobbled under her weight.
“Wakey, wakey,” Discord chanted as her eyes began to regain focus.
The first thing she noticed was how different the meeting room looked. Every wall was now a differently colored pattern, one a blue and yellow checkerboard pattern, another with purple and green stripes, and so on. The seats where the ponies once sat were now attached to a bright pink ceiling, with the speaker podium occupied by a deluded earth pony, raging about the current shortage of yoyo polish in Equestria.
Morbidly, the remains of the six leaders were there, a heap of rotten and spoiled cookie and pudding, the still impaled body of Pansy next to the now bloody form of Hurricane, a messy shrubbery of clover, and a large slab of platinum.
“What have you...” she said weakly, still trying to stand.
“Oh, of course,” he laughed knowingly, “you want to see the new you. By all means,” he summoned a mirror, “take a look!”
She looked at her reflection, and felt sick.
She was one of them now. Dark black hair with a stringy, filthy blue mane, fangs, holes in her legs, her feathered wings replaced with an insect-like pair. She had a horn now, but that brought little comfort. Even her cutie mark, the very symbol of who she was, had been robbed from her.
“What... what have you done to me?”
“Why, I gave you what you wanted. You have power, the abilities of all three tribes, and your own army to boot! I don’t see what you’re so upset about, Chrysalis.”
She turned to discord with wide eyes. “What did you call me?”
“Chrysalis. Such a lovely name, don’t you think? Oh, who cares what you think, that’s your name, like it or not.”
“No! My name’s...” she stopped. She didn’t remember her name.
“Oh, remembering your old name would have made it more difficult for you to embrace your new one, so I erased it from history. Oh don’t worry, it wasn’t that great anyway. But Chrysalis... very nice. Symbolizes how you changed from a proud pegasus warrior to this lovely little mess, and all in your own doing!”
“My doing?!” she shrieked. “You did this to me! I never asked for this!”
“Oh really?” he mocked, snapping his fingers again. A notepad appeared in his lion’s paw, and some reading glasses appeared on his face. “You wanted the powers of all three races. I gave you a horn and earth pony strength, plus shapeshifting powers to boot. You wanted a loyal army. I gave you one that follows your every thought. You wanted to conquer entire nations. I let you do that under my name.”
He snapped his talons again, causing the notepad and glasses to disappear. “You have exactly what you wanted, I just didn’t dress it up. Don’t blame me if it’s not as great as you thought it would be.”
“You...you!” she shrieked, lunging at him. Quickly Discord snapped his fingers.
Chrysalis’s back bent a full ninety degrees in a direction it shouldn’t have. Her eyes bulged as she shrieked in pain. She did something she prided herself on never doing: she cried. At that, her spine straightened, leaving her a sobbing wreck on the floor.
Discord floated up to her face. “Now, you see what happens when you think you’re anything more than a tool to me?”
“Y-yes,” she said through her tears.
“Good girl,” he mocked, patting her cheek. “Just be grateful you didn’t end up like those two unicorn sisters. Oh, they were a great time. I summoned every pony that had any blood relation to them, then I destroyed them all with some of my best work and made them watch! Oh, I don’t think I’ll ever top that! And the best part is, I made them immortal afterward! Oh, you should have seen it! The first thing the purple one tried to do was cut her throat, and the white one tried casting all her most deadly spells on herself.”
He laughed at the memories. But then his mirth turned to a grimace. “And then they had to kill the mood. ‘Oh why, why are you doing this?’” he mocked with a poor impression. “I mean, hello, Master of Chaos and Disharmony here, like I need a reason to do anything. I really need to think of some kind of punishment for asking why,” he rubbed his chin in thought.
“Anyway, after a few attempts they gathered up the remains of that orb and wandered away. Good riddance to them, they were getting too grim for my tastes anyway. Besides, now I can work on other things, like that plant that plays practical jokes on ponies!”
By this point, Chrysalis had risen to her feet. She was no longer in any physical pain, but her heart was still heavy at the newfound hopelessness of her situation. She also felt a strange emptiness inside her. She felt hungry, but she didn’t desire food.
“Oh yeah, you feed on love now. Too bad no creature could love you now, even if you didn’t look so hideous you’d never be forgiven for what you’ve done. You better start using those shapeshifting powers. And every time you and your changelings do that, it will breed fear and mistrust among ponies. Oh, an easy way to spread chaos, I’m as brilliant as I am lovely!”
Three months. Had it been only three months? To the ponies living under Discord’s rule, centuries might have passed.
The sun and moon rose and set completely at random. Clouds of cotton candy rained chocolate milk, it snowed mash potatoes and gravy, and the wind had a nasty habit of suddenly blowing at deadly speeds with a minty smell to it. If the draconequus was ever overthrown, the tactics used by the unicorns and pegasi for extortion would become a necessity.
Inside the former Capital Building, Discord floated over a fiery pit, holding several marionettes’ control bars, two in each hand and one in his tail. Attached to them by strings were a pegasus, an unicorn, and an earth pony, all wiggling just above the flames.
Laughing, Discord manipulated the earth pony into dipping his flank into the fire, causing him to scream and howl with pain. He begged to know the reason why, which resulted in several cockroaches swarming out of his mouth. The Master of Chaos chuckled, then took a moment to listen to the speaker on the ceiling, who was now proposing a bill that all ponies wear interesting boxers on Tuesdays.
Chrysalis sat to one side of the pit, observing the chaos and smirking. As terrible as her life had become, she took solace knowing others were suffering worse than she.
However, her enjoyment faded when a thought entered her head.
“Discord, one of my changelings reports two ponies heading this way... it says they’re alicorns.”
“Really? My, this should be interesting,” he noted. He looked down at his three captives. “You here that, my little ponies? We’re about to get the whole set!”
The captives only wailed in response.
At that moment, the doors to the room opened, and two alicorns entered glaring at the draconequus. Both Discord and Chrysalis couldn’t help but shake the feeling of familiarity of them. One was white with a flowing ethereal mane of every color of the rainbow, while the other was a dark blue with a main of stars. Both wore armor, gold for the light one, onyx for the dark one, both with what appeared to be three jewels in them.
“Discord! Your reign has come to an end!” the white one announced.
“If I had a bit for every time I’ve heard that...well, I guess I’d have a whole lot of nothing, since money means nothing anymore,” Discord rambled.
Both alicorns’ horns glowed, causing Discord’s puppets to disappear and reappear on the side of the pit. They rushed out the door, hopeful the mad god would focus his efforts on the two new intruders. The pony on the ceiling disappeared as well, teleported to safety by the pair.
“Aw, you’re no fun,” Discord whined.
“We will not allow you to harm any more ponies, as you did to our family!” the darker one explained.
“Oh, I hurt your families? When?”
“What?” the whiter one asked incredulously. “You killed them all horrifically! Then you cursed us with immortality so we could never join them in death!”
“Hmm...” Discord said, putting his talons on his chin in deep thought. “Oh yeah, you two! So, how’s it going?”
“Oh, that is it!” the darker one exclaimed. “Come, dear sister, let us activate our new weapon!”
“Ooh! A new weapon!” Discord laughed, clapping his hand and jumping in a childish manner. “Let’s see it!”
In response, the two alicorns’ eyes glowed an intense white. The room seemed to rumble under their power. Then a bright, rainbow streak began circling them.
“Oh my, what a pretty rainbow!” Discord mocked.
The light shot toward the ceiling before arcing downward.
“Why, it puts a song in my heart!”
The rainbow hit him as he struck a dramatic pose. “Somewhere over the raaaaaaain...”
He never finished that lyric, because it was at that point his neck turned to stone. By the time he realized what was happening, his whole body frozen of that moment of over exaggerated singing.
Chrysalis’ eyes widened. Discord, who had taken out armies without breaking a sweat, had just been defeated with one blow.
Perhaps fleeing would be wise.
Before she could, however, the bright rainbow light shot out in a wave around the statue, enveloping her. She felt herself stiffen. Her body was getting harder. It was difficult to breathe...
Chrysalis was brought back to the waking world be a rude “Wakey, wakey!”
The Queen of the Changelings moaned as she rubbed her head. She looked around. She appeared to be in a cave of some sort, with very little illumination other than a single. The only thing she could make out was an all-too-familiar draconequus in front of her. “What happened? Were we victorious?”
Discord shook his head. “Sadly no. Those two turned us both to stone. I guess I underestimated them.”
“I was turned to stone?” Chrysalis asked, alarmed. “For how long?”
“Over a thousand years! Oh, so much has changed,” he laughed. He placed a finger on the changeling’s head. In an instant she received an intense headache as several new thoughts entered her head.
“There. That should catch you up on everything.”
Chrysalis’ mind reeled. The weapons used to defeat Discord were the Elements of Harmony. The two alicorns who had defeated them now ruled Equestria, still living thanks to Discord’s curse. The Elements were now held by six mortal ponies...of all three tribes, she saw. How disgusting. Still, she couldn’t put any faces to them...
“Where are my changelings?” she demanded.
Discord pointed behind her. She looked behind her, seeing nothing but floor.
Then she realized it wasn’t floor. All of her soldiers were now stone, frozen in place and all piled beneath her.
“Celestia and Luna turned you all to stone, then they piled you all in here.”
“Well?” she demanded. “Aren’t you going to release them?”
“Hey, patience,” Discord sneered. “They’re my ace in the hole. You see, I still need to break the mortals that hold The Elements. If I fail, I go back to being a rock. And if that happens, you’re going to be the one to go into Canterlot and free me a second time.”
“And why would I do that?” she demanded.
“Because with or without your help, I’ll escape eventually, and believe me, you won’t like what I’ll do to you,” he threatened, leaning in toward you with glaring eyes.
Chrysalis visibly shook.
Discord rose up towards the hole in the roof. “If I lose, this mountain will open up again, and your changelings while turn back to normal. They’ll likely stick me back in Canterlot, so look there first. Now if you’ll excuse me, the Bearers of the Elements should be in the castle by now. Time for me to make my entrance.”
With a snap of his fingers, the mountain closed itself.
Of course, Discord failed. She and her subjects were free. By then, however, she decided she wouldn’t follow through with Discord’s plans. If the Power of Friendship could defeat him so easily, surely the Power of Love would be just as effective. She staged her takeover for her benefit, not his. A whole kingdom of brainwashed ponies would provide more than enough love to power her up to face Discord.
She failed, however. Failed, exposed her existence, and scattered her subjects, at least temporarily. Now she was doomed if Discord ever did get free again if she didn’t think quickly.
Still, her plans to conquer Canterlot were now only half her plans. There were other matters: Twilight Sparkle, Shining Armor, and Princess Cadence, originally a unicorn, she understood, who had managed to conquer the Trials at a very young age.
She needed to figure them out. How had they produced a love spell capable of hurting her? How did the Elements of Harmony turn her to stone instead of giving her a power boost? Why did they behave so irrationally? She needed to understand these things, so she could fulfill her new, secondary goal.
It used to be the earth ponies she hated most, but now...
“You three...you’ll pay.”
