“The Guard is at the ready, your Highness. We’re ready to retake the city on your command.”

“Excellent. Let’s go over the plan once more.”

“Right,” the lead guard spoke, “Early this morning a Unicorn Special Warfare Group detachment infiltrated the city and is on standby to provide force recon and battle-shaping capabilities. Upon your command, approximately 1200 Royal Guards will enter Ponyville from seven different established vectors, converging on a point designated by the USWG team. Intel from this team will also direct designated forces to priority offensive and defensive targets, such as the Elements of Harmony, the human and his reformed Changeling, and any high-power Changeling forces. Further, two specifically designated detachments will each locate one of the Changeling Queens and pacify any threats.”

“Oh my, sister, we’ve never been a specifically designated detachment before!” Luna laughed, eliciting a chuckle from Celestia.

“Yes, it does sound so matter-of-fact, does it not? Nonetheless, continue.”

“Upon successful completion of targeted enforcement activities, all forces will redirect in an evacuative action, performing a grid-based zone sweep to establish positive control originating from the designated convergence point. Once the city is cleared, limited forces will remain to establish a defensive perimiter around Ponyville while all remaining forces will be directed via aerial surveillance to splinter any large groups and render all hostile Changelings for processing.”

“And just so we’re on the same page, what are we targeting for acceptable losses?” Celestia asked in a stern tone.

“None.”

“Excellent. Let’s begin.”

On Celestia’s signal, the lead guard let loose a magical flare from his horn. The flare traveled upward, well above the city before exploding into an enormous burst that was clearly visible even against the bright daylight. In reaction, the group Celestia and Luna were embedded within, and unseen elsewhere all the other groups, started marching toward Ponyville. Over the next minute several smaller colored flares burst over the city, marking points of interest. Blue marked the convergence point, unsurprisingly near the heart of Ponyville. Purple marked targets of interest, stronger Changelings or locations of the Elements of Harmony. Green marked the approximate known location of Queen Chrysalis. A fourth flare, pink, never came; indicating none of the SpecOps unicorns had found Anon or Metamora. Luna, who was in charge of locating Metamora and, she hoped not having to pacify her, tried to maintain her composure, but it was obvious that worry clouded her expression.

Inside of fifteen minutes, a wall of white converged on the center of the city, isolated pockets of magical activity kicked off around the city as teams worked to break down fortifications or disperse large groups of Changelings. But something odd was happening. The Changelings weren’t fighting back. In fact they weren’t doing anything. They just stood stock still, only moving to step out of the path of the encroaching guard. Celestia noticed this behavior from within her battalion, an intense feeling of nervous apprehension welling in the pit of her stomach.

No sooner had the last Royal Guard entered the city than suddenly an enormous arc of green energy fired into the air, coalescing into a large disc in the center of town. Tracking the source of the energy, Celestia took to her wings, flying as fast as she could while Luna followed close behind. As they flew toward the source, the disc grew in size, its edges starting to curl ever so slightly downward as slowly but surely a dome began to form. The intensity of the magic flowing into the dome only increased, its approach to the ground only accelerating as the beam feeding it grew larger and larger with each passing second.

As the dome grew closer to the ground, the princesses drew closer to the source of this magic, finding the caster to be none other than Queen Chrysalis herself, floating in the air with a wild green constellation orbiting her. As the orb grew in size, it also became more transparent, nearing the ground and taking on a nearly invisible aqua coloration.

“Hello Princesses,” Chrysalis cackled, as her horn continued to beam energy to the growing trap. “I’ve been expecting you.”

“Stand down, Chrysalis. You’ll never win!”

A cacophonous thunder rang out as the dome finally crashed into the earth, soil and water yielding to the magical power as the growing field drew to a halt.

“Oh but that’s where you’re so very wrong, Celestia. You see…” she laughed, her magic finally stopping, “I’ve already won.”

“Give up, Chrysalis. There are over a thousand guards here to bring this to a peaceful end.”

“Yes,” Chrysalis almost growled, her lips turning in a wicked smile, “Thank you so much for that. All this love, ours for the taking… Why I don’t even know what I’d do with it all.”

“You don’t need to take anything! We want to find a way to give you the love you need to survive.”

“Oh you’re absolutely right. I don’t need to take anything more. I’ve already taken so much! But where’s the fun in only having the bare necessities when you can have anything and everything?”

“Chrysalis, we don’t want to hurt you or any of your Changelings but if you don’t surrender we will be forced to act.”

“Surrender?” she laughed, “That is oh so rich! Why would we surrender when we control the high ground?”

“You’re outnumbered, and no matter how powerful you think you are, we move planets on a daily basis.”

“Your sister moves a rock, and you claim to control the only thing in this universe more tempestuous than yourself. I’m hardly scared,” Chrysalis quipped, “Plus you’re missing a key piece of this equation. I’ve not only taken most of Anon’s magic and all of Metamora’s love, I’ve taken her ability to generate love too. It’s a shame they couldn’t be around to see this play out, but unfortunately they had outlived their usefulness.”

“You!” Luna screamed, her horn glowing to life as she considered putting it to use.

“Oh calm down, Luna, we both know that horn is an empty threat.” Chrysalis snapped, “And even as vicious as you think me, I couldn’t kill them. Of course their survival… loveless, magicless, trapped at the bottom of the hive…”

“We…” Celestia hesitated, trying to hold back a tear as she realized what happened, “We destroyed the hive. You have no home now!”

There was a long pause as both Chrysalis and the two princesses went through a range of emotions. After some seconds a grin formed on the Changeling monarch’s muzzle.

“Oho!” Chrysalis laughed, a subtle disappointment hiding just under the surface of her grin, “I can always build another hive but you… You’ve killed the very thing that’s put you in this position!”

“We… We couldn’t have known!” Luna cried, trying to maintain her composure.

“You’re right. Oh, isn’t irony a cruel mistress. That the thing you’ve placed all your hope in, the impossible pair that has given me my power was destroyed by the power that allowed it to flourish!”

“Whatever has happened to those two, you must know we won’t let you succeed.”

“You still think you have some chance here,” Chrysalis began, annoyance in her tone, “But you’re missing the clear reality. I have enough love to subdue this entire city in one spell. And if I didn’t I can just make more. And if I couldn’t I can drain all the love I need. Face it, you’ve lost this time.”

“No!” Celestia yelled, “We’ll never-”

She froze, realizing that there might have been some truth to Chrysalis’s words as she felt a green aura encompass her. She tried lighting her horn but the cloying green magic snuffed it out as quickly as it started. With the limited freedom she still had from this all-encompassing forcefield, she turned her head to look at Luna, seeing her sister in a similarly precarious state.

“Right again, you will never… never resist me again, that is,” Chrysalis mused, “Now before I drain all these juicy love-stuffed ponies you’ve brought me, I figured I’d give you two an oh so special treat for bringing me such a delicious meal.”

Celestia and Luna’s eyes both widened as they felt the aura surrounding them grow thicker around their horns. As suddenly as this change started, the green energy surrounding them started to massage their sensitive horns.

“S-stop!” Celestia whined, staring in disbelief at the Changeling Queen that had already bested her.

“What’s the matter? Can’t take a little fun?” Chrysalis asked, “Love tastes so much better when you’ve earned it. You want me to earn it, don’t you?”

“No! Stop! I’ll never submit to you!”

“Wrong. Answer.” Chrysalis growled, lifting the princesses in midair to meet her where she floated. “Now I’ll take your love and your magic. Be nice fillies and let your Queen have what she wants.”

The effort Luna and Celestia were putting into fighting Chrysalis’s efforts was almost visceral. They both stared worriedly at each other as they clenched their jaws in focus. But before too much time could pass even their vehement resistance was overwhelmed, a lazy stream of magic and love floating out from each of their horns. Similarly to what had happened to Metamora, the beams converged into Chrysalis, emerging once again as green comets, encircling the omnipotent Queen in a bastardized display of her love and power.

“Yes,” she purred, feeling their power amplified by the intrinsic love she had taken from Metamora, “Now, my subjects, you may feast!”

Suddenly, all of the previously immobile Changelings sprang into action, each one drawing a similar bead of energy from one, two, some even three ponies near to them. Some more powerful Changelings managed to harness the same kind of magic that Chrysalis had liberated from Metamora, pulsing orbs of raw love energy encircling them as they drained the ponies around them.

Minute after minute ticked by, the entire town slowly drained of its love. Then as soon as it had started it came to an end. The magic spheres collapsing one by one to instill their magic into their bearers. This cascade culminated with the enormous and almost solid-green shell surrounding Chrysalis, which collapsed with enough force to generate a staggering shockwave that sent the princesses plummeting some feet back to the ground.

Chrysalis surveyed her handiwork, the two princesses lying defenselessly at her feet, only the faintest hint of color left in their manes and tails as they lay nearly devoid of magic. She landed once more, positively radiating with the magical energy she had absorbed. She savored the slow, triumphant waltz to the crumpled forms of the easily-defeated princesses.

“I never thought I would see this day,” Chrysalis grinned, “The day I would finally take what is rightfully mine. From now on your kingdom belongs to me. Your subjects exist only to serve me and my kind. I can finally do what my forebears couldn’t and rebuild the Changeling empire to its former glory.”

Celestia struggled weakly to her hooves, looking as Luna tried to do the same.

“Now will you submit to me? I will find a place for you if you commit to serve my rule.”

“No,” Celestia cried weakly, “I didn’t want this. We didn’t want this.”

“Of course you didn’t want this. You’ve failed. You’ve led your nation into slavery and subjugation.”

“That’s not it… You haven’t won like this, you’ve only doomed us all.”

“The only thing doomed here is your pathetic rule,” Chrysalis snapped, “I have enough love to do this same thing in every city in Equestria, the Dragonlands, the Griffon Empire… I think I’ll start with Canterlot, though. Without a hive anymore I’ll be needing a throne suitable for a Queen.”

“Draining us of love like this… You’ll eventually run out. But Metamora... she showed us how we could live in harmony, that when love is shared between us… that love is infinite.”

“What kind of silly dream is that,” Chrysalis chuckled, “Nothing is infinite.”

Author's Note

Looks like Queen Bugbutt had a plan all along. But it turns out that it worked a bit better than even she had imagined. Now is she mad with power or is she only rising to her true potential?