Only through conflict, do we evolve.
Chapter 1: Making an Alliance
Inside the meeting room at Talon Headquarters, Doomfist was discussing his plans to start a new war with the other members. "...And thus, this shall strengthen humanity as a whole, for the better." he concluded, reaching the end of his highly detailed explanation. As he looked at the many faces of the members, only five of got his attention: Reaper, the undead experiment with an unquenchable thirst for the death of former Overwatch agents, sat there with a skeletal mask which concealed both his emotions and his disfigured face, Widowmaker, Talon's top sniper, and former wife of the deceased Gerard Lacroix, with a somewhat indifferent look, Moira, Talon's head genetisist, responsible for the extensive genetic alterations given to some of Talon's head operatives, Maximilien, a wealthy Omnic member of Talon's inner council, and Doomfist's main supporter, and Sombra, Talon's best hacker, and although her true motives were questionable, the services she supplied were what kept her from being given the boot. She sat there, using her miniature holo-screens, with a disinterested look on her face. "Are there any further questions?" asked Doomfist, to which only one person replied.
"While I do see what you plan to accomplish Akande, I think it would be best to find a place to test your war where no one will discover it." answered Maximillien.
"Well if you got any suggestions, I'm willing to listen, Maximillien, or anyone, in fact." responded Doomfist.
As if on cue, Sombra perked up to this and started flicking her holo-screens before finding what she was searching for. "Well, what have we here?" remarked Sombra, sounding somewhat intrigued.
"I assume you've found something, Sombra?" questioned Doomfist.
"Oh, not much, just found a side project that Winston may or may not have just completed." replied Sombra, with a minor playful tone in her voice.
"Well, what is it?" inquired Moira, injecting herself into the conversation upon hearing this information.
"Well, looking at the data I have, it's clearly a teleportation device. The strangest thing about it is that there doesn't seem to be a recall function, not even in the blueprints." replied Sombra, somewhat perplexed.
"So he's going of the chance that wherever someone's teleported to will have a way back? Typical. That monkey might be a scientist, but he's still just as stupid as his species." responded Moira with a sneer.
"Is there anything else you know about it, Sombra?" asked Maximillien.
Sombra skimmed through her holo-screens a couple times before answering. "It's on an armored truck convoy heading to Oasis, ETA: 3 hours." replied Sombra.
"We're going to Oasis. grab your gear." shouted Doomfist, as Maximilien called a dropship for Doomfist and the others.
Upon nearing the city of science, Doomfist had the the pilot land in the loading bay. "Sombra, how much longer until the convoy arrives?" Doomfist asked, becoming more and more impatient.
Sombra pulled up one of her holo-screens, staring at it. "Approximately 25 minutes." Sombra replied, before closing it with a flick of her wrist.
Doomfist pondered this information for a moment, before deciding on the course of action. "Moira, is it possible to program the teleporter to have a fail safe recall function?" inquired Doomfist.
"Theoretically, yes, but who knows how long that will take?" Moira responded.
"Exactly ten minutes, if you have the correct resources, and if you know what you're doing." replied Sombra, to which both Moira and Doomfist gave her a look that pretty much said, 'How do you know that?', to which Sombra merely sighed. "Hey, I helped build electronics before I joined." Sombra commented, before a thought crossed her mind. "Wait, could my translocaters be reprogramed to act as return mechanisms for the teleporter?" she asked, receiving a contemplative look from Moira.
"Hmm...what an interesting hypothesis. Let's see if it holds up." responded Moira, turning to begin the experiment, before another thought crossed her mind. "Wait, won't you need those?" questioned Moira, her tone sounding oddly genuine.
"Don't worry about it. I thought I might burn through them, so I brought extras." replied Sombra, somewhat nonchalantly.
"The convoy has arrived. Do you want me to slaughter them?" asked Reaper with a raspy voice through Doomfist's ear piece.
"Negative. Follow and moniter their position only. We don't want them to know we're here... yet." responded Doomfist, the inflections in his voice making his point clear to Reaper not to disobey his orders.
"Understood. I'll pass the information onto Widowmaker as well." replied Reaper, before an audible click was heard, followed by Widowmakers voice.
"You do realize that I was in the call already, and was just being silent, right?" responded a calm, but serious Widowmaker, eliciting a loud groan from Reaper.
"Just get the job done." muttered Reaper, before leaving the voice channel, with Widowmaker following shortly after.
"Alright, while they monitor the delivery crew, we need to get the translocaters modified." commented Doomfist.
"The only place here that has the tools we require is the Electronics lab." stated Moira, somehow managing to sound enthusiastic and bored at the same time.
"Then let's go. We have no time to waste." replied Doomfist, as the trio headed towards their destination.
Meanwhile, a few levels down, Reaper and Widowmaker where busy following the armed guards transporting the teleporter, carefully watching from the shadows. Soon, the guards moved the teleporter onto a cargo lift, pressing a few buttons, causing the lift to go up to the highest level. Seeing this, Widowmaker merely looked at Reaper, before speaking. "I'll take the stairs, you take the vents." she stated, before heading towards the stairwell. Reaper, having no other choice, ran over to the nearest vent, before turning himself into a black fog, slipping through the cracks in the vent grate.
Inside the Electronics Lab, Doomfist watched as Moira and Sombra fiddled with the translocaters. While seeing the two work was mildly amusing to him, it was starting to become apparent that he was becoming bored. In an attempt to alleviate it, he accessed the communication link again."What's the status on the teleporter?" he asked, meritting a response from Widowmaker.
"Target is in sight, the guards have stopped moving the payload. Do I assassinate them now?" asked Widowmaker.
"Have they turned it on yet?" questioned Doomfist, causing Widowmaker to peer through the scope of her sniper rifle.
"It appears that they haven't." responded Widowmaker, waiting for her instructions, whilst watching the guards.
"Then kill them without damaging the teleporter. We will be there shortly." replied Doomfist, before hanging up.
Widowmaker aimed her sniper rifle at one of the guards, before accessing the com link. "You heard him, right?" she asked.
"Yeah, yeah. Don't damage the damn monkeys toy." growled Reaper, as he erupted from a vent grate, blowing two of the guards heads clean off their shoulders with his shotguns, causing blood to spew everywhere. While Reaper was busy murdering the guards in front of him, he failed to notice the guards coming up behind him. Seeing this, Widowmaker quickly fired three consecutive shots, with each bullet finding it's home inside the remaining guard's foreheads.
Jumping from the rafters, Widowmaker landed next to Reaper. "That was... way too easy." stated Widowmaker, somewhat glumly.
"For once, I agree." replied Reaper, whilst snapping an unconscious guard's neck. "You'd think that there'd be more."
Just then, the doors flung open revealing Doomfist, Sombra, and Moira, the last of which was carrying a rather large briefcase. As they walked into the room, Moira set the briefcase on the ground next to the teleporter. "I assume you dealt with the guards?" inquired Doomfist, to which he received a silent nod from Reaper. "Good. Now for the next step." he stated, as he opened the briefcase to reveal twelve heavily modified versions of Sombra's translocaters. "Sombra, care to explain what will happen when we use these?" asked Doomfist.
Sombra shot him a dirty look, before kneeling to access the content of the briefcase. "What should happen is that once we put these on, when we go through the teleporter, it should remember the frequency these things use, allowing us to warp back to the location of the teleporter." explained Sombra, as she handed out a translocater to everyone, leaving the remaining seven in the breifcase, but turned them on before closing it.
"Why'd you make twelve to begin with?" questioned Reaper, as he fiddled with the straps of the device, barely managing to get them around his shoulder blades.
"First off, WE made them." responded Moira. "And secondly, Sombra suggested we make extra for two reasons. One, incase the first set malfunctions, so we have some sort of back up plan, and two, she made a fair argument that wherever we are warped to might have sentient species."
After getting her device secured tightly to her, Sombra walked over to the teleporter and turned it on. "Ready whenever you guys are." she said, as she motioned to the swirling blue vortex of energy.
"Maximilien. We are heading through the teleporter. Tell the retrieval team to pick it up, take it back to the dropship, remove any tracking devices and take it back to headquarters." Doomfist requested, as he picked up the briefcase with his left hand.
"Understood, Akande. Sending orders now." replied Maximillien. Upon hearing this, Doomfist entered the portal, with everyone else following shortly after.
Inside a cave on the frozen, snow covered peak of Mount Everhoof, Queen Chrysalis, the former ruler of the changelings, was laying in front of a dwindling fire, trying her best and struggling to keep warm. She sighed, for it seemed as though the world itself hated her very existence. First her plan to impersonate Princess Cadance, trick her lover Shining Armor into marrying her, and her invasion of Canterlot failed all because of his annoying, meddlesome sister, Twilight Sparkle, and her equally annoying friends. Then, to make matters worse, after she had kidnapped almost everypony in Equestria, her entire colony betrayed her, all because of Starlight Glimmer and her stupid idea that the changelings should share their love instead of leeching it from others. "Stupid Mane Six. If it weren't for your meddling, I'd be swimming in a sea of love right now, and I'd still be the Queen if it weren't for that bitch Starlight Glimmer and traitorous bastard Thorax." she yelled, her voice echoing off of the cave's walls. "All I wanted was to rule Equestria! IS THAT TOO MUCH TO ASK FOR?!" As if to answer her, a rather strong gust of cold wind entered the cave and extinguished her fire. She sighed once again, as she rested her head against the caves cold, stone floor. "It's over for me, isn't it?" Then, a loud noise was heard, causing her to jerk her head up, to see a ring of light appear before her. "Ugh! What is it now?!" she groaned, as five mysterious figures stepped out from the ring of light. With all five of them looking at her, Chrysalis, being somewhat protective of what very little she had left, growled a bit before speaking. "What is it that you five want?" Chrysalis growled, her words barely audible.
"Hello there. We are merely passing through, and would like directions to the nearest city." asked Doomfist, sounding somewhat kind.
"Tell me, do I look like I know directions to the nearest city to you? Now will you please leave?" responded Chrysalis, sounding very sour.
"Sombra, hold this for me." asked Doomfist, as he handed the briefcase to Sombra. Then, without even charging his gauntlet, Doomfist punched a one foot hole in the wall on his left. "Now, I ask again. We would like directions to nearest city." asked Doomfist, this time sounding very serious.
Chrysalis' eyes popped out of her head a little upon seeing how deep of a hole was made in the dense limestone wall, but the gesture was easily understood. "The nearest city is the Crystal Empire, but can I ask what business do you have there?" inquired Chrysalis, sounding very curious.
Looking at her for a second, Doomfist pondered telling her for moment. "Tell me, what is your name?" asked Doomfist.
"My name is Queen Chrysalis." responded Chrysalis. "What is yours?"
"Doomfist, and why do you want to know Chrysalis?" questioned Doomfist.
"Because, I have nothing else to live for. My entire colony has overthrown and abandoned me, and I want revenge against those who caused me to suffer. Besides, you're going to need a guide." stated Chrysalis.
Doomfist merely smirked in response. "Well then, lead the way, since you know so much more than us." stated Doomfist, as Chrysalis exited the cave, leading the group toward their destination.
Author's Note
Voila, the first chapter of my first dark fic. Please tell me what you think in the comments, as feedback will be helpful.
Only through conflict, do we evolve.
Chapter 2: Death's First Wedding
Author's Note
Chapter two is now ready. Sorry it took so long, but the Lunar New Year event came out, and after getting screwed out of getting skins last year via bad luck, I was not going to sit idley by while everyone else was grinding. What do you guys think is better: Longer chapters that take longer to make, or shorter chapters that take less time to make. Please leave your verdict in the comments below.
Chapter 2: Death's First Wedding
After arriving at the cold outskirts of the Crystal Empire, Chrysalis led Doomfist and his group through the same tunnel she used to infiltrate the city before, with exit being inside of a rundown old house that had yet to be demolished. Upon entering the building, Chrysalis lured them over to a table. "So you're testing a war you have planned for your world here?" Chrysalis asked.
"That is correct." Doomfist answered, whilst setting the briefcase on the table.
"Okay, if you want to start a war here, you need to know a little bit about both Princess Cadance and Prince Shining Armor." Chrysalis stated, as she used her magic to levitate some chairs and stools over so Doomfist and the others could sit down.
"Just give us a brief description of the enemy." Doomfist responded.
"Cadance is known as the princess of love, with her magic indirectly influencing ponies feelings for one another. She's who I'd recommend you focus on for now. As for Shining Armor, on top of being prince, he is the captain of the royal guard, and anything that happens to his wife will possibly affect him greatly." Chrysalis replied, a semi-sinister grin appearing on her face.
"Are you trying to be scary, cause if so, it's not working." Sombra muttered, causing Chrysalis to glare at her.
"Got anything else you'd like to add?" Chrysalis asked, not the slightest bit amused by Sombra's humor.
"Didn't you say that her name was Cadance?" Sombra asked, whilst placing a translocater on the stool she was previously using.
"Yes, I did, what is your point?" Chrysalis replied, beginning to get fed up with Sombra's annoying personality.
"Well then, it's time I worked my magic. See you later." Sombra said, as she disappeared into thin air, with the front door opening and closing behind her, leaving Chrysalis staring at the spot Sombra once was, a weird look encompassing her face.
Chrysalis looked back at the remaining members of Talon, whom were all looking around as though nothing happened. "Well, aren't you going stop her?" Chrysalis asked, a minor look of panic plastered upon her face.
"We don't need to." replied Reaper, sounding somewhat glum and confident at the same time.
"But, she's going jeopardize everything!" Chrysalis argued, trying to get her point across.
"Chrysalis." Doomfist said, slamming his left fist on the table hard enough to knock the dust off and gain Chrysalis' attention. "Trust us. Sombra may be annoying, but she is reliable when it's comes to gathering information, and while this may not be her preferred method, she'll can still do it just as well. Until she returns, all we can do is wait." Doomfist stated, as he leaned back, his shoulders and neck against the wall.
Chrysalis, seeing Doomfist's point, decided that it would be best not to argue any further, Defeated, she rested her head on the table, waiting for Sombra to return.
As the sun rose in the Crystal Empire, so too did it's citizens. Even at the castle, as the majestic sunlight seeped through the windows and through the cracks between the curtains, the sleep enthralled family began to wake from their peaceful slumber. The first to awake was young Flurry Heart, whom lay in her crib, resting mere minutes ago. After looking around for her mommy and daddy, and not seeing either of them, she began to cry rather loudly, hoping one of them would come to check on her.
Meanwhile, in the next room over, Princess Cadance and her husband, Prince Shining Armor, awoke to the sound of Flurry Heart crying. Groaning as they got up, despite their bodies practically begging for five more minutes of rest, the two managed to wake up. Upon getting out of their lavish and comforting bed, they looked at each other for a few moments, before Shining Armor spoke. "I'll go check on her, so you can go back to bed if you want." said Shining Armor, yawning as he began to walk over to the door, but before he could even open it, a cornflower blue aura enveloped the knob. Seeing this, he turned around to see Cadance with her horn glowing and a bit of a smirk on her face.
"I think I should go check on her. After all, you've checked on her for five days now, and I think she might be missing her mommy." responded Cadance, as she walked over to Shining Armor, giving him a quick kiss on the cheek.
Shining Armor blushed a tiny bit when his wife's lips made contact. "Alright, I guess I'll go make breakfast." Shining Armor said defeatedly, as he headed to the kitchen.
Cadance giggled a tiny bit, before opening the door and heading to Flurry Heart's nursey, closing the door behind her. Unbeknownst to her, however, the door opened seemingly by itself, as an unseen perpetrator made their way over to the jewelry box on the left most side of the room. Carefully opening the top, a long golden chain with a silvery bell like ornament was pulled out, and was slowly stuffed into an invisible pocket. Then, as quickly as it happened, the jewelry box lid was closed, and soon after the bedroom door closed on it's own, as the invisible being made it's way to the nursery.
As Cadance entered Flurry Heart's nursery, her crying seemed to soften a bit upon seeing her mommy, and soon changed to cooing and incoherent foal babble as Cadance got closer. Cadance merely smiled as she picked up Flurry Heart with her magic, drawing her in for a loving hug. "How's my sweet little angel?" Cadance said as she nuzzled Flurry Heart with her face, hearing Flurry Heart laugh and giggle as she did.
As Flurry was pulled over her mother's shoulder, her giggling immediately stopped, and was replaced by an inquisitive look, with her saying a single word. "Lady." she said, pointing her hoof at the wall.
Cadance merely chuckled at this, not understanding what her daughter meant. "Yes, you are my little lady." Cadance said as she held the pride and joy that was Flurry Heart, who had now situated herself on her mothers back. Soon a low, but loud grumble was heard, with Cadance knowing what had made the noise and how to fix it. "Let's go get you some breakfast." she said, as she carried Flurry Heart to the dining hall.
After the two disembarked the nursery, Sombra's thermoptic camo turned off, revealing the intruder leaning against the wall. "Aw. Isn't that sweet. Only the baby can see me. Let's keep it that way...for now." Sombra mumbled to herself as she reactivated her thermoptic camo, and once more, vanished into nothingness.
As Cadance and her daughter entered the dining hall, they were greeted by Shining Armor, who was sitting at the table, next to a high chair, with a jar of foal food resting on the tray with a label that read, 'Mashed Peas'. To the right, a bottle of milk. Cadance meekly smiled, as she picked up Flurry Heart with her magic and set her in the high chair. Seeing this, Shining Armor used his magic to pick up a rather small wooden spoon, and scooped up a spoonful of the greenish mush, and offered it to Flurry Heart, who turned her nose up at the sight of it. However, Shining noticed this and offered a clever distraction. "Here comes the Canterlot Express. Choo Choo! Next stop, Flurry Heart Caverns!" he said in a high-pitched voice, which caused Flurry Heart to giggle and open her mouth for the, 'Train'. Seeing this, Shining Armor moved the spoon towards Flurry Heart's mouth, with the young alicorn gladly accepting the spoonful of stuff. Cadance smiled at the sight of this. Seeing her husband feeding their daughter, and having fun with it, was probably the most adorable thing in the world to her. She turned back to the small stack of chocolate chip pancakes that garnished her plate. Lifting a knife with her magic, Cadance began to cut the syrup glazed treat into little pieces. Levitating a fork, she grabbed a piece with the pronged utensil, and slowly took a bite, savoring the heavenly flavor that followed shortly after. Seeing the look his wife's face, Shining Armor could tell he got the pancakes just right. "Got anything scheduled for today?" he asked as he fed another spoonful of peas to Flurry Heart.
Cadance paused for a few seconds, thinking long and hard. "Not much really. Although the wedding between Morning Dew and Spider Web is today." she said, unaware that Sombra was in the room with them, listening to everything they were saying.
"About time they had it. When did they get together again? Five? Six months ago?" Shining asked, while feeding Flurry Heart another spoonful of peas.
"Four months ago, actually. " Cadance replied, taking another bite of her pancakes. "Besides, although I want to attend, I got things to do around the empire, anyway. Maybe if I get done with everything early, I can drop by as the wedding ends."
"Where are they getting married at exactly?" asked Shining, who had taken a break from feeding foal food to his daughter, whom was now suckling her bottle.
"Last I checked, the church on Diamond Avenue at four o'clock in the evening." responded Cadance, as she ate the last bite of her pancakes. Picking up a napkin with her magic, Cadance wiped her face with it, removing any crumbs or beads of syrup that tried to stowaway. Getting up from the table, Cadance grabbed her plate with her magic, headed to kitchen to go wash the dishes, with Shining Armor following shortly after, mumbling something about getting leftovers for his lunch.
Sombra, having gotten what she came for, was preparing to warp back to her translocater, when a blob of mashed peas flew past her head, hitting the wall behind her with an audible, 'Splat'. Turning her head to where the shot came from, she saw Flurry Heart still sitting in her high chair, with her horn glowing with a light yellow glow, her magic enveloping the wooden spoon that was previously being used to feed her, now being used as a miniature catapult. Sombra immediately realized what was about to happen, quickly started tapping the mechanism on her left arm, frantically trying to speed up the process, but to no avail. Flurry Heart, wasting no time at all, lobbed several shots at Sombra. Seeing the multiple green blobs of baby food hurtling towards her, Sombra began to duck and dodge, trying to avoid the mushy projectiles, and successfully dodged most of them. As the orbs of baby food hit the wall behind her, Sombra sighed in relief, but as she turned to face Flurry Heart, she received a face full of mashed peas, as a fit of giggles escaped from Flurry Heart. Growling, she reached for her machine pistol, only to be warped back to her translocater. Upon hearing the laughter coming from the dining room, Shining Armor and Cadence returned to see the pea-stained wall, both simultaneously sighing in exasperation. "I'll get the rag." Shining Armor said defeatedly, as he went to clean up the present his daughter had given them.
Meanwhile, back at the rundown building being used as Talon's base of operations, everyone was trying to pass the time while waiting on Sombra to return. Widowmaker was cleaning the barrel of her sniper rifle with a gun brush, Moira had set up a makeshift lab in one the upstairs bedrooms, Reaper was leaning with his back against the wall, arms crossed and lightly tapping his foot, Doomfist was stretching his muscles in the limited confines of the kitchen, and Chrysalis was sleeping with her head laying on the table, light wheezing coming from her mouth. Just then, the translocater began to beep and whirr, followed by a bright flash of light, revealing Sombra standing in the kitchen, with a not too happy look accompanying her mashed pea-covered face. She walked her way over to the still sleeping Chrysalis, and upon reaching her, pulled out her machine pistol, aimed it straight up, and fired the entire clip into the ceiling, startling Chrysalis enough to cause her to fall onto the floor. Struggling to get back up, Chrysalis looked at Sombra, with a glare encompassing her face. "What did you do that for?!" Chrysalis yelled at Sombra, causing everyone to look up from what they were doing.
"You know, when you hold the information, you hold all the cards, right?" Sombra asked as she reloaded her gun, sounding extremely condescending.
"What are you referring to?" Chrysalis questioned, seemingly agitated at being aburptly woken up.
"You knew that they had a daughter, but didn't bother telling any of us in advance. Why is that?" Sombra stated, whilst aiming her gun at Chrysalis' head, which caused everyone else to stare at the two, watching the scene unfold before them like a train wreck.
"I-I-I h-honestly f-f-forgot a-a-about her." Chrysalis stammered, the fear and panic rushing through her becoming more and more apparent as Sombra's gun inched closer and closer to her forehead.
"Come on. Do you really expect us, let alone me, to buy that?" Sombra asked, as she pressed the barrel of her gun into Chrysalis' forehead. "Now, let's try this again. Why didn't you say anything about Cadance and Shining Armor having a daughter?"
Chrysalis' eyes darted around the room, desperately looking for a savior, but instead found none. Seeing no other option available, she decided to open up. "My...uh...My kind are shape shifters who feed off of love." she said as quickly as she possibly could, her eye lids closed tightly, expecting to be shot.
After a few moments had passed, Chrysalis opened of her eyes to see that Sombra was no longer pointing the gun at her head, but instead was whispering something into Doomfist's ear. Upon finishing, Doomfist spoke. "Chrysalis. If what you say is true, then prove it, that is unless you'd rather be squashed like the bug that you are." he growled, as he clasped his gauntlet encased right hand around his left fist.
Knowing what would happen if she refused, Chrysalis used her magic, her horn instantly glowing a very bright brilliant green, her entire body surrounded by greenish-blue flames, the mystical fire swirling around her as her body metamorphosed into a new form. When the flames receded, what stood before Doomfist was... himself. Raising an eyebrow, Doomfist moved towards Chrysalis for a better look. Upon closer inspection, it was revealed that the eyes of whoever Chrysalis turned into featured a minor light green tint to them. Done with his examination, Doomfist simply nodded his head in thought. "Do you like what you see?" Chrysalis asked in Doomfist's voice, sounding almost exactly like him.
"Flattery will get you nowhere with me." Doomfist stated rather dryly, as he turned towards Sombra. "What information did you manage to get?"
"There's going to be a wedding at the church on Diamond Avenue at four o'clock today that Princess Cadance won't be able to attend due to errands, if that helps." Sombra replied, having already cleaned the peas off of her face.
"Well, it looks as though I have a wedding to go to." stated Chrysalis, no longer looking like Doomfist, as she began to heading towards the door, but was stopped by Doomfist, who had placed his left hand on the back of her neck. Chrysalis turned and looked at him, receiving a stern look from him. "Hehe. Sorry. I meant we have a wedding to go to."
Meanwhile, Cadance was out and about on city streets, running todays errands. She had already gotten half of them done, and was on her way to the supermarket. After the morning events that had transpired, foal food and wall cleaner were added to the list of things to get at the store. Upon reaching her destination, Cadance walked right inside, only to find that the innards of the building had changed since she last came, that being before she and her family were kidnapped by Chrysalis and the changelings. She shuddered at the instance of that particular memory. While the changelings had since reformed, Chrysalis was still evil, still a threat, and still remained at large. Cadance sighed, sweeping the dark thought away like a dust under a rug. Continuing onward, she went towards where she remembered seeing the foal food last, only to find that it been replaced by the produce section. Confused, Cadance went straight towards one of the many ponies working there, and asked for help.
"You want me to do what?" asked Chrysalis, trying to understand what Doomfist had told her to do.
Everyone aside from Doomfist let out a collective groan of frustration, obviously irritated with Chrysalis. "We've went over this TWO times already, how the fuck do you not understand?!" Reaper groaned, with everyone else nodding their heads in agreement. "Look, didn't you say that your species were shapeshifters who prey upon other ponies emotions?
"Yes I did, but..." Chrysalis said, but got cut off by Reaper once more.
"Then you should know the definition of a 'Tactical Insertion'." Reaper retorted, getting a glare out of Chrysalis.
"Yes, but what does that have to do with what we're planning?" Chrysalis asked, causing Reaper to facepalm.
Groaning, Reaper muttered something under his breath that sounded like, 'You're just as bad as the damn ingrate.', before sighing. Moving his hand away from his mask, Reaper got up from the table, and walked to the vacant restroom to cool off. "Be ready to move when I come out." he stated, with a distinct lack of emotion, as he slammed the door shut.
Everyone looked at Chrysalis as soon as Reaper left the room, but only one person chose to speak. "Chrysalis, you said your colony abandoned you, correct?" Doomfist asked, receiving a mix between a groan and sigh from Chrysalis.
"If you think it's because of me not understanding things, you're sadly mistaken. They abandoned me because of some stupid bitch named Starlight Glimmer thought that we should share our love instead of stealing it from others." Chrysalis sighed, as a small amount of tears welled up in her eyes. "I disagreed with that thought whole-heartedly, but my subjects sided with her, and cast me out, even after all that I did for them." she said with a sniffle.
Doomfist looked at Chrysalis for a few moments before sighing. "Chrysalis, you said earlier that your species feeds on love, correct?" he asked, to which she silently nodded. "How about I make a proposition for you. You join Talon, help me test my plan, and in return, you can have all the love from our world."
As soon as Doomfist said those words, Chrysalis instantly perked up. "What do I have to do?" she asked, almost in a rabid manner, like a person who had been told there was a way to cure cancer.
Doomfist just merely handed her an ear comm link. "Put this in your ear first, and I'll inform you on your way to the wedding."
"Widowmaker, are you in position?" asked Reaper through his comm link, a slight moan following shortly afterwards.
"Yes, I am in position." Widowmaker replied, before sighing. "I did not join this organization just to be the lookout."
"Well your going have to deal with it for a bit until we get done with our little operation." Chrysalis said into her comm link.
"You know, it'd be a shame if something happened to you during this operation. It'd be a real pity." Widowmaker replied in a very calm voice.
"Ha ha ha! You just try it, eight-eyes. I'll crush you underneath my hooves like the spider you are." retorted Chrysalis, not fazed at all by Widowmaker's thinly veiled threat.
"ENOUGH! Chrysalis, have you infiltrated the church and done what I asked of you?" Reaper asked with a sinister tone in his already raspy voice.
"Ugh, yes, Reaper. I'm already inside the church and I've already enchanted the doors and windows to slam shut on your command." Chrysalis said with a little bit of zest in her voice.
"Good, and where are you going to be in the building when I give the signal?" Reaper asked with a groan.
"Ugh, in the balcony, near the back left corner, where no one but you can see me, I know." Chrysalis responded, as she began to get annoyed by Reaper's antics.
"And what was the signal?" Reaper asked, igniting a growl from Chrysalis.
"When you turn to look at me, I know I know." Chrysalis angrily whispered, trying not to get exposed. As she said that, Chrysalis peeked over the balcony railing to see the priest standing in front of the podium, alongside the soon to be husband and wife. "They're about to start the wedding sermon. You better hurry."
"Get into position. Let me know when they ask for objections." Reaper said as he positioned himself in front of the wooden church doors.
"As we gather here on this glorious day, for the wedding between Morning Dew and Spider Web, allowed by Princess Mi Amore Cadenza herself, who sadly could not be here today." said Reverend Holy Cross, a Earth Pony stallion with a mahogany brown coat, as he turned towards Morning Dew. "Do you, Morning Dew, take Spider Web to be your lawful wedded wife?" he asked.
"I do." Morning Dew, a Unicorn stallion with a sunset orange coat and yellow mane, answered whilst nodding his head.
"Do you, Spider Web, take Morning Dew as your faithful husband?"
"I do." Spider Web, a Earth pony mare with a white coat and silver mane replied, looking into her future husband's cerulean eyes.
"Anyone who has any qualms against the marriage between these two, speak now or forever hold your peace." Reverend Holy Cross asked aloud for everypony to hear.
Just then, the heavy oak doors were kicked in, the resulting boom echoing throughout the church. As everypony turned to look at what caused the commotion, a tall figure draped in a black cloak slowly entered the building."I object." it said in a raspy voice as it walked, the sound of its footsteps reverbed across the floor as it came closer.
Startled, but undaunted, Reverend Holy Cross gazed upon the being that inched towards him. "Who, or what are you?"
"I...am Reaper." It said as it's head looked up, revealing a creepy bone white mask adorning it's face.
"For what reason did you object, Mr. Reaper?" Holy Cross asked, still a tiny bit frightened.
"Because..." Reaper said as he did a complete 180° turn, looking towards the balcony as he pulled out his Hellfire Shotguns from his cloak. "You're all going to be dead!" he yelled at the doors and windows slammed shut on there own, as a black fog began to billow out from below him, he started to shoot everypony, screaming at the top of his lungs, 'DIE! DIE! DIE!'. And just like that, it finished just as quickly as it happened. As the black fog dissapated, revealing only Reaper standing there, bloody mangled corpses surrounding him.
As Chysalis came down from the balcony, her eyes were wide upon seeing the aftermath of the carnage. After building up her courage, she carefully walked her way over to Reaper, trying not to step in any of the growing puddles of blood. As she approached him, she merely looked at him before speaking. "Okay, now what do we do?" she asked, still stunned by the spectacle that lay before her.
"Now? Now we just wait for Princess Cadance to show up." Reaper said before, accessing his comm link. "Widowmaker. Alert us when Cadance is at the church doors. Do not engage, we need her alive for what we are about to do."
"What makes you so sure that she'll come?" Chrysalis asked out of curiosity.
"Call it a hunch." Reaper responded.
As Cadance approached the doors of the church, she was excitedly hoping to see a new life started at her magic's loving caress. However, as she opened the doors, what greeted her eyes was a sight not of love, but one of despair. Her heart sank and eyes watered as she surveyed the destruction. Pools of crimson blood glazed the floors. Bodies, once full of life, now empty husks void of it. As she walked closer, Cadance heard somepony crying near her. Looking around for the source of the noise, she saw a middle aged unicorn mare, curled up in a ball on the floor, blood staining her lemon yellow fur. Rushing over, Cadance stopped mere inches from her. "Are you alright?" Cadance asked, trying and hoping to console the lone survivor as best she could.
"Princess C-Cadance, thank Celestia your here!" said the blood soaked mare, hugging Cadance as tears pouring from her eyes. "A-A dark figure c-calling itself R-Reaper entered the church, o-o-objecting the marriage. He k-killed everypony here. I only survived because I hid underneath the benches." she explained whilst sobbing. Suddenly, she began to scream, causing Cadance to quickly turn around, coming face to face with the dark being himself. Looking at him, Cadance couldn't help but shudder, almost like she was staring at the jaws of death itself. It soon began to cackle as it pulled two rather blunt objects from its cloak.
"Well...looks like I missed two. Oh well, nothing a couple shells won't easily fix." Reaper stated, with a rather sinister tone in his voice, as he aimed his Hellfire shotguns at his two new victims. "Any last words, you two?" he asked with a cackle.
Cadance, realizing she had to do something and fast, decided to try and stall for time so she could charge up a spell. "Why did you do this?" Cadance said as she motioned to the corpses that littered the ground, trying not to cry upon seeing the blood-stained faces.
"I'm going to assume that you're Princess Cadance, then?" Reaper asked, his voice extremely gravely, to which Cadance merely nodded. "I have my reasons, but you don't need to know those. All you need to know is that their souls now power mine."
As it spoke, Cadance could only sense one emotion coming from the figure; pure hatred. From the choice of words being said, to the utter malice radiating from it's voice, it practically screamed darkness incarnate. As Cadance's horn finished charging up, she let loose a beam of magical energy at the shadowy fiend, closing her eyes from the strain of continuously pumping magic through her horn. As she opened her eyes, however, she was flabbergasted to see Reaper not only still standing in front of her, but with a GIANT hole in its chest as well. It looked directly at her... and began to slowly clap, almost in a condescending fashion. "Heh...not bad." it said as it clutched its hands against chest in a joking manner, before moving them away to reveal, much to Cadance's horror, the gaping hole in his body was regenerating tissue at an alarmingly fast rate. "Was that all you're capable of doing? If that's the case, then things are looking very grim for you." it said as it pointed the blunt objects at her. "This is the end...for you." it said before a loud humming noise filled the air, causing Reaper to put his right hand up to the side of head. "What is it?!" he said aloud, still looking at Cadance. "Look, I'm in the middle of something right now...fine, I'll be there." he said, as he moved his hand away. Looking at Cadance, he growled a bit before speaking. "I'll deal with you later." he said with a sneer, before turning into a cloud of black smoke, escaping through the open church doors and down a drainage grate.
Cadance let out a sigh of relief, before turning to the still cowering unicorn. "It's alright now. It's gone now... whatever it was." she said, trying to convince her to get up off the quite literally bloody floor.
The unicorn opened her eyes a little, before standing up, shaking all the while doing so. "T-thank you, Princess Cadance for saving me." she said with a slight bow.
"Oh, you don't need to thank me. I was just in the right place at the right time, Mrs..." Cadance started to say before stopping, realizing she never got the mares name.
"Crystal Whistles. And I hope I'm not being rude when I ask this but I don't have a place to stay, mostly cause I was here for the *sniff* wedding of my cousin, Morning Dew, and he *sniff* promised me that after his *sniffle* marriage, he'd find me somewhere to stay until the train returns." Crystal said, trying hard not to burst into tears.
Cadance looked back at the church, before closing her eyes and sighing. "Alright. You can stay with me until then." she said with an apologetic look adorning her face.
"Thank you... I really appreciate your hospitality. I promise not to overstay my welcome." Crystal Whistles replied, seemingly grateful at being offered a chance to live with Princess Cadance.
Cadance merely sighed, as she headed back to the castle, with Crystal Whistles following not to far behind. Meanwhile, from the bell tower of the church, Widowmaker watched in silence through the scope of her sniper rifle as the duo left. "Widowmaker! What's your status?" loudly chimed a very grouchy Reaper through her comm link.
"The target is leaving the area, with the bait in tow." Widowmaker calmly responded, still spying from her makeshift sniper perch.
"Good. Return to base so we can report our results to Doomfist." Reaper said, awaiting Widow's usual compliant response.
"Actually, you report back for me. Tell him I'm doing some close monitoring on the target, and that I'll return once I'm finished." Widowmaker responded, catching Reaper completely by surprise.
"Whatever. It's your own fault if you get yelled at." Reaper responded, sounding as disinterested as he possibly could. Hearing this, Widowmaker aimed the grappling hook at a nearby rooftop, firing it into the shiny shingles, and launched herself through the air, the silouhette of her body blending in with the colors of the evening sky as she pursued after Princess Cadance.
