How Could You, Twilight Sparkle?!
It was a dire situation.
Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, and Princess Cadance found themselves captured by the Changelings.
Okay, those three getting captured isn’t much of a surprise.
However, another factor made the crisis exponentially more grave. Princess Twilight Sparkle, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and Spike were also held captive. Even the foal Flurry Heart, the first pony to be born an Alicorn in Equestria, was taken.
Fortunately for Equestria, hope remained. During the Changeling invasion, Twilight’s student, Starlight Glimmer, was away on a trip with her best friend, Trixie Lulamoon. After Princess Luna used her power to enter dreams to alert a sleeping Starlight to the danger, Starlight recruited Trixie, Thorax, a reformed Changeling (though he was never a “villain” to begin with) and Discord, the Lord of Chaos, to save her friends.
Discord initially had little interest in assisting, until Starlight pointed out that Fluttershy was one of the ponies taken. He then became VERY interested in helping.
But Queen Chrysalis’s throne, made from ~~the writers' way to nerf Discord~~ an ancient dark stone and lay deep in the Changeling Hive, negated the brave rescue team’s magic, except Thorax’s. Thus, once inside, Starlight and her team were helpless against the sheer number of the Changelings. Trixie and Discord were captured, but in return, it granted Starlight and Thorax the time to reach the hive’s throne room.
After a desperate ploy to destroy the throne, which would have allowed Starlight to regain her magic and subsequently unleash Tartarus, failed, Starlight found herself pinned to the floor by two of the Changelings. She was at the mercy of not just the Changelings, but of Queen Chrysalis, the leader of the Changelings.
Standing in front of Starlight while wearing a smile of near-pure evil, the Queen couldn’t resist taking the opportunity to relish this moment. She knew absolute victory was at hand, or hoof. Trapped in “cocoons” full of a strange green semi-liquid substance, that hung on the throne room’s ceiling, were Twilight, her friends, the other Princesses, and Flurry Heart; and Discord and Trixie. Starlight Glimmer was powerless and would soon be placed in her own “cocoon”. Thorax stood no chance by himself. The rest of the Changelings were spread out in the room, and parts of the walls had holes in them, similar to the holes in swiss cheese.
“Well, well, well. It was a pathetic but amusing rescue attempt. I will at least admit that you are great at providing entertainment,” Chrysalis teased.
“Queen Chrysalis, please don’t do this! There’s a better way than stealing love from ponies! Ask Thorax!” Starlight begged.
“The only thing I’m going to ask Thorax is how dumb was he to return to the hive, after I'm done feeding on your love!”
Thorax, who forelegs were stuck in a green glue-like substance on the floor and stood behind Chrysalis, gulped.
“But if you share love, you could--”
Chrysalis groaned and complained, “Oh, will you give it a rest? You’re as bad as Princess Twilight! Next thing you know, you’re going to bore me with a friendship speech and then--”
As if Chrysalis’s words forced horrible memories to resurface, Starlight frowned and her eyes widened.
Thorax knew what was happening in Starlight’s head and begged, “Queen Chrysalis, no! Don’t say ‘friendship speech’ around Starlight! She can’t bear hearing it!”
Starlight whimpered.
“Oh, I’m so sorry, Starlight! I didn’t mean to say friendship spe--oops!” Thorax would have covered his mouth, but since his legs were still "glued" to the floor, he just simply stopped talking.
Starlight whimpered again and started shaking. The two Changelings holding her glanced to each other, but their grip on Starlight remained unchanged.
Oblivious to what Starlight endured not long ago, Chrysalis rolled her eyes. “Well, if you think hearing ‘friendship speech’ is bad, imagine how it feels for me.”
Starlight whimpered yet again and sealed shut her eyelids.
“But you don’t understand!” Thorax yelled. “A while back, before I met them, Princess Twilight gave Starlight ‘The Treatment’ for two months, and--”
Queen Chrysalis gasped and her scowl intensified. But, it wasn’t about anything Starlight Glimmer did. It was for what happened to her.
“Wait, she did WHAT to you?! And for TWO MONTHS?!”
“Yes! That’s why Starlight--”
Chrysalis’s mouth dropped. She knew what “The Treatment” was, and would not have wished for anypony to receive it. Not even her cold heart had that level of cruelty. Her widened green eyes screamed sympathy; an emotion Chrysalis didn’t know she possessed. The desire to replace the most important ponies in Equestria with Changelings left her, and she even forgot she was hungry for more love from ponies. All she wanted was to comfort the shivering Unicorn in front of her.
“You fools, let her go! This poor pony has been through enough!” Chrysalis shouted at the two Changelings still holding down Starlight.
The two guards looked at each other, then released their grip on Starlight. Chrysalis sat down, wrapped a foreleg around Starlight’s back, and gently rubbed her mane with the other foreleg.
“There, there. It will be all right,” Chrysalis said in a soft voice. A number of beings from other worlds would have rubbed their eyes in disbelief at this sight. Others would have tried to ship “Chrylight”.
While continuing to shake, Starlight muttered, “It was horrible...five hours of friendship speeches...every day...for two months...”
“Don’t you worry. She won’t do it to you again.”
“I...I thought you didn’t like me.”
“I don’t, but in a situation like this, the girl code trumps that. Even if the so-called ‘Princess of Friendship’ broke it by giving you ‘The Treatment’! Why I oughta--”
Before Chrysalis could finish, Starlight whimpered, “Thank you...but I don’t have my magic...flashbacks of ‘The Treatment’ coming when I didn’t have it to escape her...help me...”
“Okay, I’ll break the spell that blocks all magic except Changeling magic, so you’ll have your magic back.”
Still with a foreleg around Starlight’s back, Chrysalis’s horn glowed and a bright green light shot in every direction, though no impact was felt from it. Starlight felt an invigorating flood of magic enter her body. Once aware that her magic had returned, she stopped shaking.
Lifting her head to the cocoons hanging on the ceiling, or to be more accurate, the one that housed Princess Twilight Sparkle, Chrysalis gritted her teeth. “Guards, get up there and release Princess Twilight from her cocoon! Now! I want to have a word with that monster!”
The same two guards that had previously pinned down Starlight flew to the cocoon with Twilight. They severed its short stem-like attachment to the ceiling, and both grabbed and carried it down. One of the two fired a green beam of magic from their horn, which opened the middle part of the cocoon, and some of the green semi-liquid inside oozed out. Twilight, who had previously done little more than random twitches inside her cocoon, wiggled free.
Once completely free, but with some of the odd substance covering her body as green spots, Twilight muttered, “W...what happened?”
Chrysalis seethed, “‘What happened’ is that I want a word with you, Princess Twilight Sparkle!”
Lying on the floor, Twilight rubbed her eyes while still trying to get her bearings. She weakly lifted her head to the scowling Chrysalis. “Q-Queen Chrysalis?”
Chrysalis removed her forelegs from Starlight, and moved to position herself between Twilight and Starlight. “Yes, I’m Queen Chrysalis! Now that we all know my name, what is wrong with you?! Don’t you have a heart?!”
“What?” Twilight asked as she looked around, as if she wasn’t sure if Queen Chrysalis was really talking to her.
“Don’t you ‘what?’ me! What kind of ‘Princess of Friendship’ would give something so cruel like 'The Treatment’?! I heard you invented it, but I didn’t think you could be cold-hearted enough to actually give it! Let alone to one of your fellow ponies!”
“Wait, you mean ‘The Treatment’ that I gave Starlight a few months ago?”
Chrysalis shouted, “Yes, that!”
Twilight’s ears drooped and she tapped the floor with a hoof. “Uh...well, maybe I got a little carried away when Starlight inter--”
Chrysalis stomped her hooves. “I don’t give a flying buck what she did! How could you--”
From behind, a turquoise beam struck Queen Chrysalis.
“Ow! What--” Chrysalis swung her head around to the source of the blast.
It came from Starlight Glimmer, who was standing on her hooves and gritting her teeth.
Chrysalis gasped at the unexpected sight and asked, “What? Why?!”
Starlight grabbed Chrysalis in her magic and spun her around to face Twilight. “Okay, Twilight! NOW!”
Twilight sprung to her hooves with her horn glowing magenta, and fired a narrow beam that hit Chrysalis’s horn. Upon the beam's impact, though Chrysalis didn't feel an impact, a magenta ring formed around the middle of it. Chrysalis attempted to focus her magic, but the ring on her horn glowed brighter, then dimmed. Afterward, Starlight released her magical grip on the Queen and she stumbled sideways, so she no longer stood between Twilight and Starlight.
“W-What’s going on?! What is that ring on my horn?!”
“First, you fell for it. The freaking-out I did was partly an act,” Starlight answered.
“And second, that's an 'inhibitor ring' around your horn, so you can’t use your magic. And before you ask, I learned the spell to create an inhibitor ring soon after I became an Alicorn. Lastly, we heard you were planning an invasion, but I didn’t know when it would start, so I made plans. A lot of plans.”
Starlight added, “One of them was for what I would do if you captured Twilight, Spike, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Applejack, the other Princesses, but not me.”
“What?! How? Who told you?!”
Thorax looked away and whistled nonchalantly.
Chrysalis squinted her eyes to Thorax and let out a deep growl. “Of course it was you, Thorax.” Chrysalis turned to a smiling Starlight. “Traitor! I gave you compassion, and this is how you repay me?! What about the girl code?”
Starlight’s smile flipped into a frown and responded, “I would feel bad, except you did something horrible.”
“And it is worse than interrupting one of my friendship speeches,” Twilight said in an ominous voice.
“Is it ponynapping you?” Chrysalis asked.
Starlight shook her head. “Nope. She told me ponynapping her isn’t as bad as interrupting one of her friendship speeches.”
“Then what is it?!”
Twilight's face evolved from giving a serious frown to one baring an intense scowl, with gritted teeth, and she spread out her wings. She was experiencing something that was, to her, brand-new. Her squinted eyes oozed pure hate; something the (if you let her finish friendship speeches) kind-hearted Alicorn had never felt before.
Anger is something Twilight had felt before. A lot. Maybe she should consider taking anger management classes before she hurts somepony. Twilight felt rage for the first time when Lord Tirek blew up her home. And worse, he blew up books. She soon felt rage again when one of her friendship speeches was foolishly interrupted by Starlight Glimmer.
But Princess Twilight Sparkle had never hated another living being. She never understood how anypony could hate anything. Until now. In a chilling voice that Twilight had never used before, she seethed, “Queen Chrysalis, you ponynapped a foal. And not just any foal. You ponynapped my niece, Flurry Heart. I won't punish the others for just following your orders, but you I will punish."
Staring at Twilight’s hate-filled glare, Starlight failed to resist gulping. “Uh-oh. I know that look.” Starlight looked to Chrysalis with a frown full of concern. “Chrysalis, run. Fast. Now.”
However, Twilight wouldn’t allow it. She used her magic to hold Chrysalis in place, so she was not going anywhere without the Princess of Friendship’s permission.
“Y-You fools, what are you doing? Get her!” Chrysalis screamed to the other Changelings.
The Changelings took some steps toward Twilight, but before they advanced any closer she shouted, “Don’t you try it! If you don’t reform and learn friendship, I will give all of you ‘The Treatment’!”
Upon hearing the “T” word, the swarm of Changelings stopped in their tracks, gasped, and turned their heads to one another.
“Uh, no, I’m not going to mess with Princess Twilight again,” one of the Changelings said.
“Yep, yep, reforming and learning friendship sounds like a good deal to me,” another Changeling agreed.
“Count me in. Princess Twilight wouldn’t steer us wrong,” a third Changeling chimed in.
A fourth Changeling admitted, “And my mom always wanted me to give friendship a chance.”
A fifth Changeling reminded, “Dude, our mom is Queen--”
The fourth Changeling smacked the fifth one on the head, then in a hushed voice admitted, “Shut up, you idiot! I’m trying to make myself look better!”
In a voice not showing fear, a sixth Changeling said, “What are you guys talking about? We outnumber her, and we caught her before!”
“But, Pharynx, that was because Princess Twilight held back half her power because she hates to risk ‘showing off’, remember? But now she’s mad enough to go all-out! Look at her! She’s got her wings spread out!”
“Yeah! If she grits her teeth any tighter, she’ll break them! And then she’ll break every bone in our bodies!”
“And after that, she'll get to the painful part and punish us with ‘The Treatment’!”
The Changeling known as “Pharynx” groaned and conceded, “Augh, fine! But I’m going to be slow to change my attitude if ever.”
“Traitors!” Chrysalis yelled at her children.
As all the Changelings wised up and agreed to reform, Twilight, scowling at Chrysalis with her teeth gritted, folded her wings and seethed, “And now, Chrysalis, I have plans for you.”
Staring into the violet eyes of Princess Twilight Sparkle, and still trapped in her magical grip, Chrysalis frowned. The last pony who made Twilight anywhere near this angry got “The Treatment”. Chrysalis begged, “N-No! Don’t give me ‘The Treatment’! Please, Princess Twilight, I’ll do whatever you say! I’ll reform and learn friendship too!”
In a less threatening voice, Twilight assured, “Don’t worry, Chrysalis. I’m not going to give you ‘The Treatment’.”
“Oh, thank you! Thank you very much! No wonder you're the Princess of Fri--”
But Twilight interrupted, “Chrysalis, be quiet. As I said, I’m not giving you ‘The Treatment’. For messing with my niece, you will get ‘The Works’!”
Chrysalis's eyes doubled in size. Pure fear prevented her from saying anything, even to beg for mercy.
Starlight's eyes tripled in size and she gasped. Twilight told her what ‘The Works’ is, and how it’s much crueler than “The Treatment”. In a calm voice to ensure she didn’t make Twilight any madder -- and possibly give her “The Works” as a punishment -- Starlight said, “Uh, Twilight? It was beyond despicable for Chrysalis to ponynap Flurry Heart, an innocent little foal. But punishing Chrysalis with ‘The Works’? I don’t know--”
“But I know. You don’t interrupt my friendship speeches, but you definitely don’t mess with my niece. I might never have my own foals and she’s the closest I have to a daughter,” Twilight explained in a serious voice showing that changing her mind was out of the question.
Starlight got the message, backed away, and said nothing else.
Twilight’s horn, which was still glowing from holding Chrysalis in place, glowed brighter. A narrow beam hit Chrysalis in her chest and she fell to the floor with a thud, yet there was no scream. Her pupils paled from green to a gray color, though her cerulean mane covered one of them.
Starlight, looking to Chrysalis with a sympathetic frown, said, “Oh, poor Chrysalis. I feel bad for her now.”
“I don’t,” Twilight declared.
After two of of the Changelings freed Thorax's feet from the "glue" they were still stuck to, Thorax walked to the unconscious Chrysalis. “Uh, can somepony fill me in on what just happened? Why is Chrysalis not moving?”
In a normal tone of voice, Twilight explained, “She’s getting ‘The Works’.”
“Huh?”
“You see, as we speak, Chrysalis’s consciousness is in a lightless void where she can’t move or speak. In that void, she’s experiencing the most agonizing, torturing thing possible in Equestria, and it's far worse than ‘The Treatment’.”
“How long will you make it last?” Starlight asked.
“A year, and then I’ll reverse the spell to bring her back, but she will return a mental wreck. This will teach her to leave my niece alone!” Twilight frowned, walked beside Starlight, and rested a hoof on her back. “Hey, Starlight? I admit that I got a little carried away when I gave you--”
But before Twilight could unexpectedly apologize to Starlight, one of the other Changelings, overwhelmed by curiosity, asked, “Hold on, Princess Twilight. What is ‘The Works’ that you keep talking about?”
Twilight bit her lip. Turning her head to the Changelings one by one, she knew their hearts would be unable to withstand hearing the terror that is "The Works".
But, because they literally asked for it, she explained, “‘The Works’ is hearing the voice of Pinkie Pie screaming my friendship speeches, 24/7, and it's in twice the volume of her loudest scream. And Chrysalis can’t even cover her ears to try to muffle it.”
Learning the horrors of “The Works”, every Changeling, except Pharynx, fainted.
Twilight looked to the unconscious Changelings, chuckled, and commented, “And if they think ‘The Works’ is bad, they really don’t want to know what ‘The Ultima’ is.”
Just hearing the words "The Ultima" forced shudders from Starlight. Pharynx considered asking about the inconceivable nightmare, before he noticed that Twilight and Starlight showed no signs of doing something important.
“Hey, uh, Princess Twilight? Starlight? I’m new to friendship so maybe it’s no big deal. But, aren’t you two forgetting something?”
Twilight and Starlight turned their heads to each other, then to Pharynx, and at the same time replied, “What’s that?”
Pharynx pointed up to the ceiling, which still held the cocoons of Twilight’s friends, Flurry Heart, and the other Princesses.
Author's Note
And I bet you guys are wondering why I didn't do anything after Queen Bug canceled the spell that blocked my very impressive magic, right?
If I did, how could you have learned what "The Works" is?
But seriously, I'm going to have a Draconequus-to-Alicorn talk with Twilight later, because she's getting out of control with her punishments!
-Discord, the Lord of Chaos
