Corruption

Celestia nodded to the guards' loyalty protecting the medical wing as she exited. She kept a smile plastered on her face which she was well aware was fake. But they didn't need to know that. She trotted away. Taking a moment to read the prescription the Doctor had written on a scroll for her to give to the pony at the front desk. She ripped up the page with unresolved anger and set it on fire with her magic until it was nothing but ash and threw it into the garbage kitchen as she passed it.

Anti-Depressants.

Celestia snarled with unresolved tension and anger. She hurried through the castle and entered her chambers with haste. Being thankful for once that no pony else but the guards were around to distract her. She cringed as the pain returned and moved to lay down on her bed.

"You hate who you are."

Celestia chuckled into her pillow.

"How long did it take you to figure that one out? A hundred years?" She mumbled.

"I have known for a while. I just haven't straight out used it because that would be too easy." The voice explained. "But as you know. I am impatient. Do something useful."

"You mean do something that would negatively impact the nation. I won't do it." She snapped. She heard the sharp intake of breath as the thing started to speak but Celestia interrupted them. "If you threaten me again by showing off my injuries then...Good luck. If you pull that trick again then ponies will get more suspicious of my injuries and try to find the cause. Eventually, they will find you. The cause."

"I am simply you. A voice in your head giving you advice. I am a part of you. I am you. By removing me, they are removing a part of yourself."

"I would rather lose part of myself than ruin my subjects' peace."

"Peace? You call waiting for an attack that may never come peace? The anxiety builds up every time they look up at the shield surrounding the city because of a threat that may or may not come. You call that peace?" The voice responded with tension. "If you become the Queen of Equestria, I won't deny that there won't be peace for a little bit but they will eventually see the light of the situation. That there is only meant to be one ruler in Equestria. Not two, not three. One. That ruler is you."

"Go away. I have a wedding to officiate."

"The threat is here."

Celestia's ears fell in dismay and fear.

"What do you mean?"

"The signs were everywhere. If you had been actually paying attention to the ponies around you instead of overworking yourself with the wedding and other useless work then you would know. Canterlot is already doomed. Poor Twilight. When was the last time you saw her anyway?"

Celestia's heart tightened and she shook her head. Trying to not let her imagination run away from her. She trotted towards her bookshelf and took out a book on officiating weddings. It had been many years since she had done one.

"She is fine. She is just...Distressed."

"She saw the signs. She is probably better than you at something you have been doing since before she was born. Since before her parents were born. Maybe she should be the new Queen of E-"

"Stay away from my student," Celestia growled out loud. The voice started laughing and laughing.

Bini watched as the bride walked down the aisle towards the groom. Her face had a sour expression as she adjusted her dress. The same one she wore for the Gala with Arone beside her wearing a simple bowtie. Glaring at the bride. They had spent days trying to uncover the threat to Canterlot. Bini thought that Changelings wouldn't be so stupid to just kidnap a Princess. But Arone knew better.

They had finally given up when they witnessed Twilight Sparkle lose her mind on Cadence and cause her to gallop away crying. Everypony turned against her. Even her own teacher. They had decided that if Canterlot got invaded it wasn't their felt. They should just let it happen.

"This is sooo boring." She hissed to anyone who would listen. A few ponies around her told her to shut up while her assistants nodded in agreement and Arone rolled his eyes.

"You said that like you want something bad to happen." He replied quietly. Bini raised an eyebrow at him.

"Yeah. Duh. I do."

"You know, most ponies don't want bad things to happen. That is why we were trying to prevent them all week and now you are standing here telling me, you actually want something to go wrong?"

"Look, we have been preparing and trying to figure out a threat that may or may not come all week. The hype this event has caused should at least present some chaos for me to watch and be entertained for!" Bini argued.

"Equestria wasn't made for you to have entertainment!" Arone barked back. Causing many more ponies to tell them to shut up before they finally stayed silent and watched the ceremony.

"Mares and gentle colts, we are gathered here today to witness the union of Princess Mi Amore Cadenza and Shining Armor. Their love-" Bini started to tune out the whole "Love is the best thing ever." Frankly, she didn't believe it. She shifted on her hoofs and fiddled with her scarf and glasses until one of her assistants jabbed her to pay attention. "Princess Cadance and Shining Armor, it is my great pleasure to pronounce you–"

"STOP!"

Everypony looked towards the front doors of the ballroom to a dishevelled Twilight Sparkle. Bini smiled brightly as the crowd muttered, reactivating the rumours that had circled the city for the past week about her behaviour.

"Finally! Something exciting."

"Bini. Do everypony a favour and shut up."

"Spoiled sport."

Cadence let out a loud groan and stamped her hoof in anger.

"Ugh! Why does she have to be so possessive of her brother?" She snapped out. Ponies around her looked back at her in shock at the rage behind her voice. Her face quickly went from rage to the "Bride is sad" expression. She let out a loud sob and brushed away fake tears from her eyes. "Why does she have to ruin my special day?"

Twilight moved aside slightly to let an alicorn through. It was a worse-looking Cadence. She glared in hatred at her counterpart as Twilight smiled triumphantly.

"Because it's not your special day! It's mine!" She shouted. The crowd gasped in shock and looked between the pair.

"What? But how did you escape my bridesmaids?" The other Cadence demanded.

"Simple. I used a wedding bouquet to distract them." She revealed. The other Cadence smirked as if she was actually impressed.

"Hmph. Clever. But you're still too late." She replied. Pointing over to Shining Armour, whose eyes had turned a strange green, and he clearly was under the dark influence.

"I-I don't understand. How can there be two of 'em?" Applejack asked her friends. Her voice ringing throughout the hall from the stunned silence. Cadence moved forward and pointed an accusing hoof at her counterpart.

"She's a changeling. She takes the form of somepony you love and gains power by feeding off your love for them!" She yelled. Bini immediately looked at Arone with wide eyes.

"Dear Celestia, I was right about you!" She hissed, mostly to herself. Arone glared at her with rage.

"I warned you this would happen!" He barked back. "Don't go blaming this on me!"

Bini stuck her tongue out at him like a filly and turned back when the first Cadence made green flames appear around her body and they burst upwards into a tower. The crowd and ponies nearby (Like the mane 6, Celestia, and best stallions) stumbled away to get away from the heat.

A large bug-like Alicorn emerged as they died down and landed to the ground with a sinister laugh.

"Right you are, Princess. And as the queen of the changelings, it is up to me to find food for my subjects. Equestria has more love than any place I've ever encountered. My fellow changelings will be able to devour so much of it that we will gain more power than we have ever dreamed of!" She announced. Arone lowered himself to the floor in an attempt to avoid being identified by his previous ruler.

Bini and the rest of the crowd looked towards the windows to see hundred of tiny bug ponies flying outside of the shield.

"They'll never get the chance! Shining Armor's protection spell will keep them from ever even reaching us!" Cadence yelled.

"Oh, doubt that." She said with a chuckle and Cadence started galloping forward. The Queen activated her horn causing Cadence to come to an abrupt stop.

"Ah, ah, ah. Don't want to go back to the caves, now do you? Ever since I took your place, I've been feeding off Shining Armor's love for you. Every moment he grows weaker and so does his spell. Even now, my minions are chipping away at it." She said with a chuckle and ran her hoof under Shining Armour's chin. "He may not be my husband, but he is under my total control now. And, I'm sorry to say, unable to perform his duties as captain of the Royal Guard. Soon, my changeling army will breakthrough. First, we take Canterlot. And then, all of Equestria!"

"No. You won't."

"No. You won't." Celestia stepped forward towards Chrysalis. She hadn't seen her since before Luna was banished. She wasn't surprised she had changed at all. The rough male voice in her mind was screaming at her to end it all now. Kill the Queen to make Equestria truly respect her. To fear her. What scared Celestia, is that she actually gave it serious consideration for a moment. But only for a moment. "You may have made it impossible for Shining Armor to perform his spell, but now that you have so foolishly revealed your true self, I can protect my subjects from you!"

She flew into the air and used a beam of light towards Chrysalis. She watched Chrysalis fire a beam of green magic back and struggle against it. Screaming "No," in dismay as it came closer and closer to her. Celestia was winning. The voice told her to kill her anyway. No more Chrysalis. No more changelings. No more threat.

Then, in a moment. Everything changed. Before she was even able to register it, the green beam overtook her magic and locked it onto her horn. She gawked at it as the pain was sent through her body from the impact. Fear. She felt fear. She screamed as it burned her horn and parts of her fur and sent her flying to the floor. Knocking off her crown in the process.

"You complete idiot." The voice snapped as she hit the ground hard and she heard the faint sounds of screams through her ringing ears. "Fear is what makes ponies stay in line. If Chrysalis actually feared you, you wouldn't have been defeated. If Chrysalis feared you, this would have never happened! When will you learn to actually listen to me?"

She ignored it as she felt the hidden wounds start to surface. She watched as blood pooled onto the floor despite her shaky vision.

"This seems like a perfect time for a punishment...Don't you?"

If Celestia was going to kill anypony, it would be whoever is making this voice reality. She saw her faithful student run-up to her. Her face had concern, fear, anger, sadness and many other emotions reflected back at her.

"F-Find the elements. U-Use them to defeat the Queen!" She said with her last amount of strength before everything faded to black.

Arone and Bini were galloping through the castle. The only reason her assistants were following them is that they didn't know what to do with themselves. Then again, Bini and Arone didn't know why or how they began galloping through the castle or where the heck they were going.

"Bini, this is mad! They are going to figure it out!" He whispered through deep breaths, trying to keep up the pace with Bini as the group dodged guards and changelings that were literally nose diving from the sky.

"They will tire out eventually! They can't keep up forever!" She hissed back. Looking back briefly to see her assistants starting to lag behind. Bini stumbled for a moment and then continued down the corridor. It was clear that she couldn't last much longer either. Arone was a changeling, they have better stamina. Probably from nose-diving from the sky.

"You can't keep up this pace forever either." Arone pointed out. "If they figure out I am a changeling, so be it."

"Really? When the heck did you become so unconcerned about other ponies figuring out what you are?" She barked back a bit too loudly. Rocky pushed himself to gallop faster enough to catch up with the pair.

"What are you two whispering about?" he asked. Chocolate also increased her speed to listen in.

"Oh, Arone's a changeling."

Chocolate and Rocky came to an abrupt stop with Arone stopping simply to consider if Bini was out to ruin his life.

"BINI! What the buck?!" He yelled. Bini gave him a cocky smile and slowly joined up with the group.

"You didn't seem to mind ten seconds ago!" Bini pointed out.

"It wasn't your secret to reveal!" He argued. "I wanted it to come up naturally!"

"Things like the fact that you are a bug shift shaper don't just come up naturally. Come on, Arone." She said. "Play the game."

"Play the...What? What is "the game!?" Arone barked.

"The game of life. Keep up."

"Are you high?" He snapped. Placing a hoof on Bini's chest. Both were oblivious to the fact that her assistants were starting to talking among themselves on whether they should call a guard about Arone's deception.

"On what? That new drug called...Hay...Hay drug? What's it called again?" She muttered.

"Haymore drug." Arone snapped. "It causes idiots to act as more of an idiot."

"Calling others an idiot is my job and the drug does a lot more than how you just described it. It is literally my job!" Bini said. She pointed to Chocolate. "You. Chocolate. You are an..."

She paused and looked as Chocolate and Rocky finished their mini argument and looked back at the other pair.

"We are going to report you, Arone." Chocolate announced. Bini narrowed her eyes with a slight feeling of annoyance. Arone looked terrified. Bini stepped forward. Despite her small size. She was able to at least intimidate Chocolate a little, but only because Bini was her boss.

"No. No, you are not." Bini said with a growl. "Who are you going to tell? The guards?"

The group watched as three changelings tackled one of the guards and used their magic to suck the love out of him. He screamed in pain as it left his body until he was weaker than hay and was left for dead. The changeling turned to the group and a few more entered the corridor behind them. They started to slowly approach. Growling as they came closer and closer.

The group of ponies moved closer together. Two of them were on the verge of a panic attack.

"Or we could die right here..." Bini muttered as she powered up her horn.

"We aren't going to die if they take our love." Arone snapped. "Use your brain."

"You are turning into me. I won't lie. It is freaking me out a little bit." Bini replied with a snarky smirk. "Also. That guard is dead."

She pointed to the guard who was attacked. His chest wasn't moving up and down. His nostrils weren't moving.

"By the looks of it yes," Arone admitted. "But they have no reason to kill for food...Unless..."

"Unless WHAT!?" Rocky said as Bini shot one changeling away and another tackled Chocolate. Arone bucked one off of Chocolate and blasted another that was headed to Rocky.

"Unless they hate the pony enough and...Take too much love."

"That doesn't make any sense!" Chocolate barked as she punched another changeling and Rocky used his wing to knock two Changeling heads together.

"I don't have time to explain basic Changeling magic and biology." Arone snapped back and blasted a Changeling that bite into Bini, causing her to cry out in pain.

Suddenly the ground shook and a large explosion was heard. They heard screaming and watched as Changelings was flung away in the streets.

"Everyone get on Arone NOW!" Bini barked and jumped on Arone's back as a shockwave of pink energy got closer towards them. "Or you are FIRED!"

Chocolate and Rocky jumped on Arone and Bini used her magic to weigh him down. The blast hit them. Throwing the group into a wall and nearly making Arone fly through it but thanks to the extra weight kept him grounded. They all collapsed to the floor and groaned.

"T-Thanks everypony..." Arone muttered weakly as the rest of the group gave him a weak smile back.

---End of Chapter Seventeen---