The day had been going as well as expected, with the exception of a seemingly wild accusation from her prized pupil during a practice ceremony for the wedding. At the time, the solar princess and co-ruler of Equestria had simply dismissed her student just like her friends and brother. She still remembered the feeling of massive disappointment she'd felt, a feeling she hadn't had to endure ever since her long lost student Sunset Shimmer.
But unlike her previous student, Twilight hadn't been engulfed in a craving for power. She had only tried warning her, and she'd brushed her trusted student aside. She'd played right into her enemy's hooves, and now she was facing the consequences.
"How? How could I have been so blind?" Princess Celestia questioned this over and over again as she looked over the crashed wedding.
The wedding was supposed to be between Shining Armor, caption of her royal guard, and her own niece Princess Mi Amore Cadenza. She'd known Cadenza since she'd ascended, helped her through the rough first years of being an alicorn. Yet she was blind enough to turn her eye from how different her niece had been acting ever since she'd arrived in Canterlot.
It turns out that Cadenza had been replaced by a queen of a race that had only been heard about in rumors and folklore. This queen, along with the rest of her species has the ability to shapeshift into a perfect copy of another creature. The queen had captured the real princess of love and replaced her, trotting around Canterlot in her nieces body and tarnishing her name. Not only that, but her real niece had been rescued by Twilight from deep within the crystal caverns underneath Canterlot. She was weak from lack of food and water, her mane and tail disheveled as well as her pink coat which had several splotches of black on it from bruising.
The queen herself, stood before the audience that had been expecting a nice royal wedding. She had a black chitin with holes poking through each of her four hooves. On her back was a pair of insect-like wings which buzzed loudly as she hovered in the air. She also had a horn, but hers was twisted and had holes, making it look rotten. She had a greenish blue mane and tail, both equally messy and holed. Atop her head was a small black crown, signifying her spot as queen.
"You are a smart one, much smarter than your mentor." The queen stated, staring down at Twilight who'd taken a protective stance before the real Princess Cadenza. "But I'm afraid you are far too late to stop me. My armies are banging down your precious defences as we speak, and your captain is completely under my control!"
"Who are you?" Twilight asked, her gaze flipping between the queen and her completely still brother.
"I, am Queen Chrysalis! Ruler of the changeling hive, and soon to be ruler of Equestria!" Queen Chrysalis declared, holding up her left forehoof in triumph.
The crowd of attended ponies began panicking, several making mad dashes towards the open doors that led out of the wedding hall. Yet, before a single pony could make it to safety, six guests shut the doors and blocked the way, earning several looks of confusion. Not a second later did all six guests become engulfed in green flames, burning off their disguises and revealing six smaller looking changelings.
The crowd was definitely panicking now, and the Queen was taking it all in with a massive fanged grin. "Trying to leave before the bride and groom kiss? How rude."
Queen Chrysalis turned her back on the crowd of panicking ponies, her eyes locked on the incapacitated Shining Armor. Her horn began to glow, its green aura wrapping around her horn like a snake. Right before she could cast the spell, a loud voice rang throughout the chamber.
"ENOUGH!" Princess Celestia boomed in the royal canterlot voice, something she rarely used anymore.
The sudden shout had caused everypony to face the princess, including the queen and her six infiltrators. Celestia's usual calm mask had been cracked, her normal smile replaced with an uncharacteristic snarl. Her eyes were locked on Chrysalis, the fury of the sun flowing through them.
Celestia advanced towards Chrysalis, her snarl devolving into a still menacing looking frown. She halted right before Chrysalis, their muzzles practically touching and their horns colliding against each other.
"Queen Chrysalis, I shalt give you one warning. Rid your spell on my captain and surrender peacefully, or face the wrath of the sun." Celestia exclaimed, her voice still containing her usual tone but failing to conceal the venom tracing her words.
"You really think you're in the place to negotiate Princess? May I remind you who's got control over the only thing keeping my armies from swarming your city?" Chrysalis responded, her grin still present.
"Just because you've got control over a shield, doesn't mean my subjects aren't protected from your armies." Celestia stated, breaking off their horn wrestle and rising into the air with her white feathered wings. "Just because Shining Armor can't cast his spells, doesn't mean I can't protect my subjects from you!"
With those final words spoken, Celestia charged up her magic and unleashed a beam of pure yellow colored magic at Chrysalis. The Queen reacted with her own magical beam of green energy, meeting Celestia's blast in the middle of its path. The two beams clashed, Celestia's beam ever slowly creeping towards Chrysalis. The Queen had a split of fear shine through her face, desperately trying to pour more power into the blast.
Just as the ponies began to cheer, a twist of power caused Celestia's beam of energy to get pushed back. Suddenly, the tables had turned, with Chrysalis's beam climbing towards Celestia. Before the princess could react, Chrysalis's beam struck her horn, sending her flying downwards into the chambers tiled floors, her golden crown landing aside her with an audible clank.
That made everycreature in the room stare in shock and horror, even Chrysalis had a look of surprise for a few seconds at her own work. Yet, that quickly changed into a grin, then to full on evil laughter. The queen rose into the air with her insect wings, clearly believing she'd just been the victor.
"It appears Shining Armor's love for you Cadence is even more powerful than I expected. I'm even more powerful than Celestia herself!" Chrysalis declared to the crowd of ponies.
Twilight, along with the bridesmaids who were her best friends rushed over to Celestia's side. The alabaster white alicorn grunted a bit, the top of her horn singed black. But she rose back to her hooves, doing her best to ignore the pain from the powerful attack.
Seeing their princess rise again helped calm the six ponies, but only a bit. Twilight helped Celestia stand back up completely, thankful that her mentor was somewhat alright.
"Princess? Are you ok?" Twilight inquired.
"A little drained, but i'm fine. I've taken worse hits from my- from Nightmare Moon." Celestia answered. "But your brother has against his will given Chrysalis a hefty boost of power."
Celestia broke her stare at Chrysalis, her eyes locking onto her prized pupil who she should of listened to from the beginning. "I've made a mistake ignoring your accusations, and now there's a large threat against Ponykind. I need you and your friends to retrieve the elements of harmony."
"But what about Chrysalis and her army? We might not be able to get there before the barrier shatters!" Twilight pointed out.
"If you can't reach the elements in time, then get to safety. Try and alert my sister as well, she's more battle ready than myself. I'll hold off Chrysalis."
"But you're hurt!"
"Nothing a good night's rest won't fix. Now go!" Celestia ordered, breaking eye contact with Twilight and returning her gaze to Chrysalis.
Twilight and her friends took off towards the still guarded doors. Celestia used her magic to engulf the changelings in her aura, lifting them into the air and allowing the mane six to exit the chambers. She then flung the changelings against a pillar, knocking them unconscious. Several guests took this opportunity to leave as well, quickly evacuating the chamber of ponies.
Chrysalis noticed this, but decided to turn her focus once again on Shining Armor. With one quick spell cast, Shining was struck down, his protection spell weakening even more. She was about to finish the job with one last cast, but her attention was captured by a quick bolt of yellow magic that narrowly cut against her mane. The queen's grin faded, replaced with an annoyed frown as she turned to face Celestia once again.
"You really want to fight someone who's far more powerful than you?" Chrysalis questioned.
Princess Celestia levitated her discarded crown from its spot on the ground and set it back on her head. Right as she did this, a magical stream of energy emitted from the purple jewels on her regalia. These streams of purple energy soon changed to a golden color, but it wasn't the color of Celestia's aura. The energy quickly dissipated, revealing a weapon with a long handle and sharp edges. The weapon was a cross between a battle axe and a spear, a weapon she hadn't wielded in over a millennial.
"If it's to protect my little ponies, then i'd do it without a second thought."
Skirmish in the Wedding Hall
The wedding chamber was deadly quiet as Celestia and Chrysalis stared at each other from opposite ends of the main stage. Princess Cadenza still stood on the red carpet leading up to the stage, too weak to cast any spells that would do any damage. Instead, her focus was on her soon to be husband who was still in harm's way.
Celestia's magical grip was tight on certain areas of the halberd, Chrysalis's horn emitted a faint green glow in preparations for an attack. Tension was leaking like cracked water pipes through the room, the two powerful monarchs locked in a stare-down.
"With that power boost from Shining's love, I can't beat her with raw power alone." Celestia mentally pointed out. "I'm gonna have to fight swiftly and defensively."
"I'm sure if I keep the pressure up then my power alone will knock her down from her throne." Chrysalis proclaimed.
The standoff continued to drag on for a few more seconds, before the silence was finally broken with Chrysalis unleashing a powerful beam of green energy which hurtled towards Celestia. The alicorn twirled the halberd with her magic clockwise, the weapon managing to deflect the blast. The green beam of magic rocketed into the wall parallel to Celestia, leaving a large hole where a window used to be.
Chrysalis cast another blast of magic, followed by five more consecutively. All six shots flew in unison through the air towards their target. Celestia rose the Halberd just above herself, before slamming it down into the ground with enough force to lodge it into the polished tile flooring. Immediately a large half sphere barrier surrounded the princess, its walls standing strong against the six shots.
After each blast met the shield, it was dropped and immediately a string of yellow magic flew like a lasso from Celestia's horn. The yellow strand wrapped itself around Chrysalis's forehooves, and with a quick tug, the queen was sent sprawling to the ground. Chrysalis used her magic to sizzle the spell away, only to narrowly dodge a swing from Celestia's weapon. Celestia had used the time Chrysalis had taken on getting back up to rush her, getting right up in the queen's face for some close quarter combat.
Celestia swung the halberds bladed side downwards and upwards in an X formation, each swing fast and deadly. Chrysalis cast multiple small shields to block the strikes, before taking a massive leap backwards, putting some distance between herself and Celestia. She ignited her horn and cast a barrage of green magic bolts. Celestia cast a barrier spell, its shape being a simple rectangular wall instead of a sphere. The barrier stopped the bolts from reaching the alicorn, and after the coast was clear of green magic, the barrier was propelled forwards towards Chrysalis.
The queen took to the skies, allowing the barrier to simply strike the wall behind her and dissipate. She glared at Celestia for a few moments, but was quick to notice something with her aerial view. Princess Cadenza had begun making her move towards Shining Armor, clearly attempting to rescue the stallion. Chrysalis couldn't help but let a grin spread across her face, her magic already being charged up into her horn.
Chrysalis casted a much larger beam of green magic, but this time she aimed not for Celestia, but the ceiling above Shining and Cadenza. The beam met its mark, shredding through the ceiling and sending large chunks of rubble falling towards the two lovers. Celestia was quick to notice this sudden move;
"CADENCE LOOK OUT!" Celestia shouted, firing a blast of solar energy at some of the largest pieces of falling rubble.
The solar blast incinerated the rubble it made contact with, but there were tons more rubble that fell right past the blast. Thanks to Celestia's cry, Cadenza was able to cast a weak barrier sphere around herself and Shining. With each bang of rubble against the sphere, another grunt of pain rang from her muzzle.
Celestia doubled her blasts, trying to hit as many pieces of rubble as she could before they could hit her nieces shield. With her attention fixated on the rubble, Celestia failed to notice Chrysalis teleport directly behind her until it was to late. With one blast of heavily powered magic, Celestia was once again sent flying through the air, this time colliding into a pillar with enough force to make the entire thing break free from the ceiling and fall. The pillar shattered into pieces as it made contact with the floor, engulfing the area in a thick wave of dust.
Chrysalis let out a haunting evil laugh. "You're as predictable as a newborn drone! How did you manage to rule Equestria for so long without being crushed under somecreatures hoof?"
As she expected, Celestia didn't answer. She'd probably been knocked unconscious with having a concrete pillar landing on her head. Chrysalis was about to laugh again, but stopped herself when she noticed something glistening within the cloud of dust. Before she could even so much as blink, Celestia's weapon shot through the dust like an arrow, striking the queen directly in her left shoulder.
The impact sent the queen sliding backwards a few hoof-lengths on the red carpet, the halberds sharp points piercing her chitin enough to remain anchored on her. The pain was instantaneous, and Chrysalis wasted no time yanking the weapon out of her chitin and immediately casted an extensive healing spell which did its best to seal up the wound.
Chrysalis grunted a bit as she stared at the weapon menacingly. "You're gonna pay for t-"
A flash of light was caught out of the corner of the queens slit eyes. She turned around just in time to see a beam of yellow magic strike her directly in the face. The impact sent the queen hurtling into a wall, Celestia's weapon being caught by the alicorns magical aura before it could hit the ground.
Celestia looked onwards at the rubble that now encased where her niece had been standing, not a single trace of her shield in sight. She wasted no time levitating the chunks of rubble away from the stage, worry plastered on her face. Her niece had already been through to much, she couldn't, no, she wouldn't let Cadenza get hurt anymore because of her own mistakes.
After one last chunk of what used to be the roof was tossed onto a banquet table, the pink coat of her niece became visible. Celestia kept at it, shoving everything off of Cadenza and Shining Armor. Cadenza had taken a nasty hit, her horn still sparking with her light blue aura. Shining didn't look fazed aside from him lying on the ground next to his soon to be wife.
"Cadence? Cadence can you hear me?" Celestia asked, noting that the other alicorns chest was still rising and falling, indicating that she was still breathing.
Behind her, she heard a clopping of hooves. She looked over her shoulder at the approaching Queen Chrysalis, her horn alight with another charged spell. Celestia pointed the halberds sharp edges at Chrysalis, a barrier spell being simultaneously cast to protect both her and more importantly her wounded niece and incapacitated captain.
Chrysalis approached the newly formed barrier and smirked. She unleashed a massive wave of green energy which heavily berated the barrier. Celestia put more power into the shield, but Chrysalis made sure to do the same. The pressure against the spell increased, resulting in beads of sweat to appear on Celestia's brow. The barrier wasn't gonna hold up for much longer, she needed to disrupt the spell somehow.
Celestia eyed the red carpet Chrysalis was standing on, an idea quickly forming in her mind. She used a bit more magic to grab the end of the carpet and tugged it, causing the queen to lose her balance and nearly fall. She kept herself from hitting the floor, but she'd lost her connection with the spell for a second, and that was all she needed. The barrier was lowered the second the beam of magic had stopped its assault, letting Celestia fly like a rocket towards Chrysalis without interruption.
The changeling queen barely had any time to react, but was able to channel enough magic to engulf herself in a ball of green fire. The next thing Celestia knew, she was face to face with a Manticore who let out a loud roar in her face. Her attack quickly turned into a parry as a sharp claw shot towards her muzzle. The halberds sturdy enchanted material kept it standing strong against the powerful slash, but it offered no protection to Celestia's rear which had a sharp venom traced tail hurtling towards it.
But the alicorns magic made up for it, her golden aura engulfing the stinger mere inches from her right flank. Celestia kept a steady grip on the tail, her horn glowing evermore brighter as another spell began to brew. She blasted Chrysalis straight in the face with a bolt of magic, sending the queen soaring into the ceiling. More pieces of it crumbled away at the sudden impact, sending even more debris falling into the chamber. Celestia rose up another shield spell which kept the large pieces of stone from hitting her, the strain from the previous stalemate causing her shield to weaken ever so slightly.
Just as the falling debris began to lighten up on their showering of the room, Chrysalis came barreling down, her form changed into that of an Ursa Minor. The starlit bears clawed paws cracked down on Celestia's shield, causing massive cracks to appear throughout it. Chrysalis followed this up with a powerful punch from her left paw. The shield finally met its end, letting the paw hit the alicorn with a decent amount of power.
Celestia rolled a few times along the floor, her weapon clattering to a stop alongside her. Chrysalis's Ursa Minor form vanished in a quick puff of green flames, reverting Chrysalis back to her original form. She fired a beam of magic at the still downed alicorn with a grin.
To the queens surprise, Celestia rolled out of the way just in the nick of time, allowing the beam to strike the wall behind her. Chrysalis adjusted her aim and fired again, but now Celestia was prepared. She scooped her halberd from its spot on the ground and twirled it clockwise, deflecting the beam with relative ease.
"Uhg, I'm getting tired of this irritable fight." Chrysalis complained, her grin replaced with an annoyed frown.
"You're not the only one thinking that," Celestia responded. "but if I'm not getting rusty with my counting, I believe that your best option is to surrender."
Right as those words left the alicorns muzzle, the front doors of the chamber were bucked inwards, a large squad of royal guards storming into the room with spears at the ready. Celestia knew her guards would show up if she gave them enough time. Chrysalis was now vastly outnumbered, with multiple guards surrounding and glaring at the intruder. Celestia began trotting towards Chrysalis, the halberd levitating alongside her with its edges still pointing at the queen.
"Call off your armies and come quietly Queen Chrysalis, for both your subjects and your own sake." Celestia exclaimed.
Chrysalis glared at the princess, before letting out the faintest of sighs. Yet, before she could even open her mouth, a loud shattering sound rippled throughout the city. The room shook violently from the shockwaves, nearly causing a few guards to fall over. Chrysalis's glare dulled, replaced with yet another evil smile.
"Actually, I think YOU should surrender and come quietly, princess." The last word was practically overflowing with venom.
Then, as quick as a cat could pounce, Chrysalis fired a surprise blast of magic. Celestia barely had enough time to raise her weapon, let alone deflect it. The blast struck her square in her chest, her golden regalia darkening around the area of impact. The guards immediately tried to attack the queen, but she simply took to the skies and blasted three pegasus guards in her way. She was out of the hall in seconds, leaving a shocked group of guards and princess behind.
The guards split up, two rushing over to their fallen comrades while the rest galloped to Celestia's side. The captain of the squad discarded their spear and tried to wake their ruler up. It didn't take long for Celestia's eyes opened, her gaze quickly flying to a window. She could see through the tinted pink windows that Shining Armor's shield had finally weakened enough for the changelings to smash through it, leaving Canterlot heavily exposed. Now the entire cities residence were in immediate danger.
Celestia shook off the pain from Chrysalis's attack, averting her gaze from the windows. She instantly noticed the downed guards who were being tended to, igniting embers inside her heart and soul. She locked eyes with the captain and spoke just as regally as she did during day court, yet her eyes held a dim flame within them.
"Captain Silver Eyes, take your squads and do your best to fend off the changelings." Celestia looked at another guard. "Fast Flap, get to the barracks and make sure that every single guard is in the city defending the civilians. Make an exception with one team who will get the staff to safety." Celestia ordered.
Captain Silver Eyes gave her a quick salute, before taking off with his squads towards the door. A lone pegasus took to the skies and shot like an arrow out a broken window towards the castle's barracks. However, Celestia held two guards back before they could exit as well.
"I need you two to take my niece and Captain Armor to the underground shelters. They need medical attention, and fast." Celestia stated, using her magic to remove any remaining debris from the two ponies.
They immediately got to work, leaving Celestia alone with two final guards who both bared red crosses on their armor. One was trying to help remove the singed armor, while the other tended to any wounds they could with the medical supplies they had on hoof. Celestia knelt down to the guards and assured them that they would be fine, before trotting out of the way and letting the medical ponies do their job without any distractions.
"Alright Chrysalis, you've played your hoof. You can attack and hurt me all you want, but no creature attacks my subjects and gets away with it."
