Princess Cadance and Shining Armor stood happily at the alter as Princess Celestia performed the wedding vows that would unite the two lovers for the rest of their lives. Oh how long each of them had waited for this wonderful day to be upon them and with a few more words, Cadance and Shining Armor would be husband and wife!
Princess Celestia smiled fondly at the two lovers in front of her. She had been looking forward to this day almost as long as the two of them had and now that it was here, she couldn't be happier. Her niece was marrying her most trusted guard and she knew that it was a match made from perfection and it was one that she foresaw bringing a lot of happiness to each of them. She opened her mouth to say the fateful words that would unite the two forever.
"I now pronounce you Mare and Colt," she said. "You may now kiss the bride."
Shining Armor walked forward and gave Cadance a quick peck on the lips. Celestia frowned a bit. It didn't seem like a very passionate first kiss for a new husband and wife but...no; it didn't make total sense for her.
The crowd of ponies cheered and behind them all, a Sonic Rainboom exploded from outside. Rainbow Dash had done her job well and it perfectly completed the image of the happy couple. Things were going pretty...
"STOP!" said a loud voice at the end of the room, close to the door.
The crowd looked on to see a very angry looking Twilight Sparkle walking into the room.
"You can't do this!" she said. "You can't marry this imposter!" The crowd gasped. Imposter? What was Twilight talking about? This was Princess Cadance, there was no way that she was an imposter. Twilight's friends looked around uncomfortably and Princess Celestia gave Twilight a sad look. She should have just stayed in her room until the wedding was over; this wasn't the best place for her to be right now.
Princess Cadance gave Twilight a smug smile.
"You're too late Twilight," she said in an unsettlingly happy way. "Aunty Tia already pronounced us mare and colt. Shining Armor is officially my husband now which means that you didn't ruin my special day!"
"It's not your special day, it's mine!" said another familiar voice. The crowd gasped once more as a disheveled Princess Cadance walked into the room behind Twilight Sparkle.
"Two Cadances?" said Applejack confusedly. "How can there be two of 'em?"
"She's a Changeling!" said Cadance, pointing an accusatory hoof at the other Cadance. "She takes the form of somepony you love and feeds off their love for you!"
The crowd was silent for a moment before Cadance two began laughing evilly. Suddenly, her body began to glow and it was almost as if her skin began to melt away, revealing a black sort of exoskeleton underneath. Cadance two continued to laugh evilly as the exoskeleton spread all over her body. Her wings turned from feathery ones to insectoid wings and her mane turned into a sort of teal color.
With one last flash, Cadance two completely finished transforming and she stood in front of the entire crowd of ponies. They all gasped at how hideous this new creature looked.
"Right you are, Princess. And as queen of the Changelings, it is my job to find food for my subjects! Equestria has more love than--"
Suddenly, a large crashing noise filled the room and the sounds of hundreds of hooves and wings echoed throughout the hall. Anypony who wondered what the heck was going on soon got their answer as hundreds of Lunar Stallions filled the room, charging directly towards the Queen. The Queen gave a yelp of shock and flew up into the air, hoping to escape the mob of Lunar Guards but before she could, a dark blue glow enveloped her and she was frozen to the spot.
Everypony in the room backed away from the alter as a very angry Princess Luna walked into the hall. Her anger combined with her generally intimidating presence made everypony do their best to stay out of her way. Even Princess Celestia looked a tad unnerved.
Luna walked up to the Queen and stared deep into her green eyes as if trying to gouge them out by the sheer force of her anger.
"Chrissy, what in the name of my sister are you doing here!?" asked Luna angrily. The hall became so silent that anypony could hear a pin drop. To Twilight's surprise, the Queen smiled at Luna.
"Oh, just staging my most recent invasion Lulu. What are you doing here?" she said.
"Okay, first off, don't call me 'Lulu' I prefer going by my actual name. Secondly, I live here and I showed up to come to my niece's wedding!" said Luna. The Queen's smile widened.
"Yes about that, your sister pronounced me and Shining Armor here as Mare and Colt already. Him and I are very much husband and wife now and there's nothing you can do about it!" she said smugly. Luna's mouth dropped open in shock and she turned to Celestia.
"TIA!" she said. "What the Tartarus!?" Celestia quickly recovered from the shock of the reveal of the Queen as well as Luna's arrival.
"Well she was disguised as Cadie at the time! How in Equestria was I supposed to know that she was actually Chrissy in disguise?"
"Because I told you that she was evil!" said Twilight. Celestia rolled her eyes.
"Okay, besides that. What were the odds that she was actually Crissy?"
"Has she been acting like Cadie lately?" said an irate Luna. Celestia looked down uncomfortably.
"Well...no. According to Twilight, she's been downright unpleasant lately," said Celestia. Luna sighed and facehooved Celestia. She then turned to the Queen.
"I assume he's brainwashed?" she said, pointing at Shining Armor. The Queen laughed.
"You know me too well," she said happily. "Ever since I gained control of him, his protection spell has become weaker and weaker! Even now my minions are chipping away at it!"
"You mean the minions that three battalions of my Lunar Army just drove off?" asked Luna smugly. At this, both Celestia and the Queen's mouths dropped open in shock.
"They drove my babies off?" said the Queen in horror.
"You still have your Lunar Army!?" said Celestia in shock.
"How could you do that to my precious children?"
"I thought that they disbanded when I banished you to the moon!"
"If you hurt one little inch of their precious forms them, I'll destroy you all!"
"Why didn't you bother to inform me of this?"
"Can somepony please explain what is going on?" asked Twilight but she was ignored.
"You didn't hurt them, right? You wouldn't dare!"
"How am I supposed to trust you if you can't trust me enough to tell me that the Lunar Army has formed once more!?"
"SHUT UP!" said Luna angrily. Celestia and the Queen stopped talking and stared at Luna in shock. Luna took a deep breath. "Now, I didn't hurt your children, I just scared them off." The Queen breathed a sigh of relief and seemed to go back to her relaxed demeanor. "As for why I didn't tell you about the Lunar Army, we shall discuss that later! Right now, we have a prisoner to take care of," said Luna. The Queen smiled once more.
"I suppose it was my turn anyway," she said.
"That and we have a wedding to annul!" said Luna. Celestia sighed and rubbed her temple.
"Very well," she said. "You are right; this is not the time or place to deal with these matters. Guards! Take Chri...I mean, Queen Chrysalis away and put her in the high-security cell. Do not let her escape!"
"Why would I escape now?" asked Chrysalis mockingly. "I wouldn't dare leave without my new husband!" Luna and Celestia gave grunts of anger and they both followed the guards who led Chrysalis away.
The hall was silent once more. Shining Armor still stood at the alter, a blank look on his face. Cadance and Twilight looked at him confusedly as did the rest of the ponies.
At that moment, Princess Luna burst back into the room and fired a beam of magic that hit Shining Armor directly in the head before promptly leaving the room once more. Shining Armor fell the the ground and Cadance rushed over to him worriedly.
"Are you okay!?" she asked worriedly as she helped him to his hooves.
"Uh...I think so. Is the wedding over? Are we married now?" asked the disoriented unicorn. Cadance's eyes filled with tears and she hugged her would-be husband and cried into his shoulder. Shining Armor looked around confusedly. Everypony in the room had a look of shock and confusion on their faces, something that worried him very much. "Can somepony please explain to me why my wife is crying like this?" he asked. The term only made Cadance cry even harder.
Twilight stared at the couple, her mind still reeling from what she had seen only a few minutes ago. She felt that she needed to say something, but she wasn't quite sure what to say. What does one say when their brother is tricked into marrying an evil insect queen who was only using him to basically eat love? She opened her mouth and said the first thing that came into her mind.
"What just happened?"
It had been about an hour since the capture of Chrysalis and the routing of the Changelings. Chrysalis had been sent to the highest security prison vault in Equestria and she was under constant guard by many guards and at least one princess.
Twilight, her friends, Cadance, and Shining Armor were all sitting in Twilight's apartment in the castle, wondering what the heck was going to happen next.
"Okay," said Shining Armor once more. "Let's go through this again. The Queen of the Changelings invaded Canterlot somehow and took the identity of Cadance here by banishing her to the caves beneath Canterlot Castle."
"Yeah," said Cadance. "She did that only a few hours before Twilight and her friends arrived." Shining Armor nodded.
"Okay, so then she stood at the alter next to me and actually succeeded in marrying me in front of everypony."
"Yeah...we were a bit too late on that one," said Twilight,, flattening her ears.
"So I'm married to the Queen of the Changelings," said Shining Armor.
"Eeyep," said Applejack.
"Don't worry though!' said Cadance. "Aunty Tia and Aunty Lulu are working on getting your marriage to Aunty Chrissy annulled right now!"
"Wait, wait, wait," said Rainbow Dash holding up a hoof to stop the conversation. "'Aunty Chrissy'!? You know her?"
"Well of course I do," said Cadance. "I mean, Aunt Celestia and Aunt Luna have ruled for thousands of years, do you seriously think that they wouldn't know all of the monarchs around their lands? Aunt Chrysalis is just as immortal as they are."
"Okay, I understand that part," said Twilight. "But why in Equestria do you call her 'Auntie Chrissy'!?" Candance shrugged.
"I don't actually know when I started that," she said. "I know that I met her for the first time when I was just a foal and I dunno, she's always just been Aunty Chrissy to me."
"So wait," said Fluttershy. "Has she ever tried to invade Canterlot before?"
"Oh yeah, dozens of times," said Cadance.
"Why have I never heard about this?" said Twilight.
"I think the last time was a few hundred years before Auntie Lulu became Nightmare Moon, It's been a while. Frankly I'm surprised she waited this long to do another one."
"So Chrysalis invades every so often...and the Princesses tolerate it!?" said Shining Armor incredulously. Cadance sighed.
"They never really filled me in on all of the details with what the deal was between them and Aunt Chrysalis. Suffice to say, they told me their relationship was 'complicated'."
"Well that's all interestin' and all, but aren't we all forgettin' somethin'"? said Applejack.
"Like what?" asked Pinkie Pie.
"Well, we have a lot of HUGE problems right now. Your brother is married to this Chrysalis woman, Princess Luna had to repel an invasion force with an army that Celestia didn't even know that she had, and is it just me, or did Luna capture Chrysalis way too easily?" Twilight cocked her head.
"What do you mean?" she asked curiously. Applejack turned to Cadance.
"So I assume that Chrysalis is at least as powerful as Celestia, right?"
"She can routinely destroy her at chess if that's what you are asking."
"No, I'm talkin' magic-wise!" said Applejack. Cadance looked thoughtful.
"I'd say that she's roughly as powerful as Aunty Lulu but not quite as powerful as Aunty Tia."
"Exactly," said Applejack. "She's one of the most powerful bein's in the world and all it took was one spell and a few guards and suddenly she's at Luna's mercy?" Shining Armor picked up on what Applejack was saying.
"I thought that all seemed a little fast!" he said. "Why would she give up so easily?"
"No kidding!" said Pinkie Pie. "The whole thing was just so rushed and oddly paced!"
"Y..huh?" said Shining Armor, looking at Pinkie Pie oddly.
"Don't even bother," said Twilight shaking her head. Shining Armor gave Pinkie Pie one more quizzical look before turning back to the rest of the group.
"So yeah...uh, based on your description of the events, she did give up way too easily! I think she's up to something!"
"So what are we going to do about it?" asked Fluttershy nervously.
"We have to go tell Princess Celestia about our suspicions!" said Twilight.
"Sounds good to me!" said Rainbow excitedly. "Where is she now?"
"I imagine she's in Canterlot Prison looking after Aunt Chrysalis," said Cadance.
"Well what are we waiting for?" said Shining Armor. "Let's go!"
The eight ponies immediately got out and rushed towards Canterlot Prison. It was a short distance away from the castle by chariot (which Rainbow and Cadance pulled) and within ten minutes, the eight of them had arrived.
The chariot landed and the six ponies in the back tumbled out in a heap on the ground.
"Sorry about the cramped conditions," said Cadance as she unhooked herself from the chariot. "This was the biggest one I would find on such short notice."
"Well, we're here so that's all that really matters," said Twilight as she stretched out.
"In hindsight, I suppose I should have just flown beside the chariot huh?" said Fluttershy.
"Yeah," said Pinkie with a nod. "Me too."
"Pinkie Pie," began Shining Armor but Twilight held up a hoof.
"Like I said, don't bother thinking about it," said Twilight.
"But...can she fly?" asked Shining Armor.
"Only for a few moments and only if the rest of my body is offscreen!" said Pinkie happily. Shining Armor's eye twitched and Twilight began pushing him in the direction of the prison.
The eight ponies walked towards the prison, each with a feeling of dread. Only Shining Armor had actually been in a prison before when he arrested ponies, but he had never really gotten used to the claustrophobic feeling that he felt whenever her entered one. Just the feeling of being locked away in a cell sent shivers down his spine. It was not a feeling that he particularly enjoyed even on the best of days.
Twilight trotted up next to Cadance as they walked towards the prison.
"How are you doing?" she asked. "I know that you were pretty upset there earlier."
"Gee I wonder why," she said sarcastically. "My Aunt Chrysalis stages and invasion of Canterlot and marries my fiance! Oh, please excuse me if I'm not in the best of moods for a while."
"You seemed to be at least a little okay when we were talking earlier," said Twilight. Cadance sighed.
"I learned a long time ago that a princess has to shove her emotions down during tough situations like these in order to appear strong. I...I shouldn't have cried like that earlier when I got to see Shiny. It wasn't very royal of me."
"Oh for Pete's sake Cadance, you're beginning to sound like Prince Blueblood," said Twilight. Cadance managed a smile at this.
"Oh believe me, you may think that you know how bad he can be but trust me, you weren't there when he was growing up. He's actually practically a gentleman nowadays compared to the old days," said Cadance.
"Well still, you sound like him when you talk like that," said Twilight. Cadance sighed.
"I guess I'm just regurgitating what I've been taught," she said. "We have to be strong for our subjects and that means stuffing negative emotions away."
Before Twilight could respond, the group arrived at the front gate. They were greeted by two Pegasus guards who saluted when they saw Shining Armor and let the group inside.
Shining Armor went in first and walked up to the front desk of the prison.
"Is Princess Celestia here?" he asked the Earth pony mare behind the desk. The pony looked up from the book she was reading and gave him an irritated look.
"Yes," she said simply.
"Uh, can we see her? It's very urgent!"
"Nuh-uh, she's with a prisoner right now."
"Yes I know that but we need to meet with her right away! It's about the prisoner that she's seeing! We think that all of Canterlot might be in danger and we have to warn her!" said Shining Armor. The receptionist sighed.
"Well you'll just have to wait until she comes out," she said.
"That could be hours! As Captain of the Royal Guard, I demand that you let us pass!" said Shining Armor angrily. The receptionist glared at him.
"Okay, fill out the blue forms and you can pass," she said pointing to a stack of papers at a nearby table.
"B...blue forms? No! We need to see her now!"
"Look Captain, I'm just following orders. It's gonna be a legal nightmare if I just let you in so the sooner you fill out the forms, the sooner you can go save Equestria or whatever it is you're doing," said the receptionist. Before Shining Armor could retort, the receptionist went back to her book. Shining Armor grumbled but he used his magic to pass out forms, clipboards, and pencils to everypony in the room.
"I knew it was a bad idea to hire secretaries for the prisons," he mumbled.
"I heard that," said the receptionist.
"Good!" said Shining Armor.
He sat down at a chair and began filling out the form.
Applejack was looking around the room quizzically.
"Uh, why does the front room of a high-security prison look like the waiting room for a doctor's office?" she asked. Cadance giggled a bit.
"Aunty Lulu did it as a prank on Aunty Tia. She bribed the architects of the prison to make the room this way. Aunty Tia wanted her prison to be as intimidating as possible for any inmates who came in so that they would be too scared to want to do anything that might get them back here. Obviously Aunt Luna put a stop to that. I've heard that Aunty Tia's yells of anger were legendary as were Aunty Luna's responses of uproarious laughter," said Cadance. Applejack looked at Cadance incredulously.
"I never knew the Princesses were so...weird," she said.
"They're just acting like two sisters with unlimited wealth and power, that's all," she said before returning back to the form. Applejack shook her head and did likewise.
Twilight looked over her form and began filling it out. It was mostly simple stuff like her name but some parts were tricky.
"What do I put under 'reason for visit'?" she asked.
"I just put 'to warn Princess Celestia that Chrysalis is up to something," said Rainbow Dash with a shrug.
"Really?" said Fluttershy scanning over her form. "I put 'to save Equestria from another Changeling invasion'."
"Well how do you know that there is gonna be another Changeling invasion?" asked Rainbow. Fluttershy shrank back a bit.
"Oh, okay. I'll just change it I guess," she said quietly.
"No don't bother, I'm sure it's fine," said Rainbow Dash as she shook her head. Twilight sighed and simply put 'casual visit' on her form.
"Okay," said Shining Armor as he finished filling out his form. "Put your finished forms here and I'll drop them off at the front desk and then we can finally warn Princess Celestia that the Changeling Queen is up to something!"
"Don't you mean your wife?" asked the receptionist with a nasty grin. Shining Armor's horn glowed red, something that Twilight knew that he did when he was really angry. Cadance put a hoof on his shoulder and he calmed down ever so slightly.
"Just let it go, Shiny," said Cadance soothingly. Shining Armor mumbles something about getting her fired but he didn't press the issue.
In a few minutes, everypony was finished and Shining Armor collected the the forms and slammed them onto the front desk.
"Can we go back now?" he asked angrily.
"I suppose so," said the receptionist who didn't even look up from her book.
The eight ponies immediately rushed towards the doors that led to the high-security ward. They were stopped at multiple checkpoints by an increasing number of guards but once they saw Shining Armor, they opened the doors and let them pass. Eventually they came to a long hallway. Shining Armor held out a hoof to stop the others.
"Okay, we need to be very careful here. This place has a lot of magic and I don't want to set anything off by running down this hallway. Just follow me," he said grimly. The other seven nodded and the group slowly walked down the hallway.
They could all easily see Princess Celestia at the end of it looking into the cell in front of her, speaking to its occupant. It didn't take Starswirl the Bearded to know that the cell in question undoubtedly held Chrysalis.
As they got closer, Princess Celestia noticed the large group of ponies approaching the cell. She looked at all of them incredulously.
"What are you doing here?" she asked. The group got close enough that they could see inside the cell. Chrysalis was sitting on the bed inside the cell, leaning her back against the wall with an utterly bored look on her face. However, when she saw the group her face lit up and she smiled at them.
"We're here to talk to you about her!" said Shining Armor, pointing at Chrysalis. Celestia raised an eyebrow.
"Oh, what about?" she asked. Twilight spoke up.
"We think that you captured her far too easily. We were wondering why she put up no fight at all so we got to thinking that she put up no resistance because she's up to something evil!" said Twilight. Celestia raised her eyebrow even more and looked inside the cell at Chrysalis who met her gaze with an amused expression on her face. Both monarchs looked back at Twilight.
"Well duh," they both said in unison.
"I...what?" said Twilight confusedly.
"Of course I'm up to something," said Chrysalis. "I mean sheesh; I'm not so weak that one freezing spell could stop me." Celestia nodded
"The only reason that she's in here in the first place is because I wanted to find out why she had invaded once more after all this time," said Celestia. Chrysalis shrugged.
"You're only going to find out when it happens, Tia so just be patient. Besides," she said shooting a seductive look in Shining Armor's direction. "I wouldn't leave without my new husband."
"Which is the other reason why she's still here," said Celestia.
"Uh...you can get their marriage annulled right?" asked Cadance nervously. "I mean, he was brainwashed at the time of the vows!" Celestia looked nervous.
"Well...I'm not totally sure. I mean, if both parties wish to get the marriage annulled then it's a simple matter of both of them signing a document that makes the marriage null and void," said Celestia.
"Well I know that I want it annulled!" said Shining Armor angrily.
"Oh Shiny, you don't know how much it hurts me to hear you say that!" she said, dramatically throwing herself at the glass. “How can you deny our passionate love?"
"Quit teasing him Chrissy," said Celestia angrily.
"Oh lighten up Tia, I was just having a little fun," said Chrysalis as she went to go sit on the bed again.
"So what happens next?" asked Twilight worriedly.
"Well," said Celestia. "Nothing for now. I don't really know what we can do right now except investigate what her plans might be. If we foil her she'll agree to annul the marriage."
"We could just shoot her," said Applejack helpfully. Celestia and Chrysalis merely smirked at the suggestion.
"Yeah," said Celestia. "I don't really think that's a good idea. Well call that plan 'B' how does that sound?"
"Sounds good to me!" said Applejack.
Celestia's smile faded and she sighed. She suddenly looked very tired.
"Well Chrissy, I think I need to go rest now. Luna will be here in a bit to question you some more," said Celestia.
"I look forward to it," said Chrysalis. Celestia merely nodded and herded the other eight ponies out of the hallway.
When they were out of the prison, Twilight began talking to Princess Celestia.
"You two seem to know each other pretty well," she said. Celestia nodded.
"Immortal monarchs in neighboring kingdoms tend to get to know each other after thousands of years," she said. "I've known her for longer than I care to admit really. Someday soon I'll tell you all about it, although I have the feeling that she'll want to be there for that."
Twilight nodded and the group continued to trot back towards the castle
