Cadance was drunk, no doubt about it. She was stumbling, disoriented, and a bit confused.

Now normally, she would never drink this much, maybe a little to be social, but never enough to get blackout drunk, it was seen as very unladylike, and a terrible quality for a princess. Today was different however, in only a few weeks she would be getting married to the love of her life, and today was the day of her bachelorette party, a day of celebration with her best of friends, family, and bridesmaids. So things might have gotten a little carried away.

She hiccupped, and looked around at where she was exactly. It was dark, but she could still see some identifying features. Stone statues, tall hedges, and a stone pathway, she was alone in the middle of the castle gardens.

Wait a minute, alone? Cadance quickly looked behind her for her friends. None of them were there, she was completely alone in the middle of the night. She giggled to herself at the thought, and then stumbled into one of the stone statues.

"Whoops, heh, sorry." She needlessly apologized, then picked herself back up.

She hummed to herself, then had an idea. There was that one statue that she always loved to visit, something about it was special to her, almost like she had a connection to it. So she began to wander down the wrong stone pathway, then corrected herself, and began heading down the right path.

A noise came from behind her, like somepony had kicked a pebble.

Cadance lazily turned around, just in time to see a shadowy figure dart behind a pedestal, or maybe not, her vision was starting to blur. Nevertheless, she was on a mission now, so she resumed stumbling down the stone pathway. She didn’t seem to hear the hoof steps behind her as she walked however.

Eventually, she turned a corner, and caught another glimpse of a figure trailing her. Cadance stopped again, and looked back up the path once again, nothing.

“Lyra?” She called out, “Is that you?”

No response.

Now getting a little uneasy, Cadance decided it would be best to keep walking, so she did. While continuing down the path, she heard more noises behind her, so she began to move a bit faster. This prompted more noise from behind, prompting her to start running faster and faster, until she was full on sprinting down the pathway. Or at least sprinting as fast as being drunk would allow her to.

She tripped, her hoof rolled out from underneath her and she tumbled off to the side. Luckily, she had moved to the side enough to not land on the rough cobblestone, instead landing and sliding on the slightly wet grass beside it. Cadance lay there for a moment, dazed, until she heard the noise behind her again. She clumsily picked herself up as fast as she could, not even bothering to fix her mane or wipe any grass off, and began to run once more. The noise soon followed.

Cadance was afraid, and the best solution her mind could come up with was to get to where she was going, as if the statue would protect her. She was getting close, but so was her pursuer. The statue was only a bit further, another turn there, and one there, and then…

She made it, Cadance flew past the entrance and towards the wall, no, not the wall, the statue. Following the path, she made it around towards the head. Where there was once a scary face there was now a place of refuge, an icon of protection. She smiled, and ducked into the curvature of the worm, right next to the head.

She then looked back to the pathway, and listened. Through her heavy breaths, she could hear hoof steps getting closer. Then the laughter started.

“My my! I never imagined it would be this easy!” A strange voice spoke, a large dark figure stepped around the bend.

Cadance sucked in her breath, and tried to hold it.

“Look at you, cowering like a foal.” The voice continued, then Cadance caught a glimpse of her pursuer.

Glowing green eyes, slit like a cat’s, were staring intently at her. Cadance tried to step back, but a stone spine poked her in the back, not enough to hurt, but it still stopped her from retreating any further. The dark figure took another step forward, eyes still looking directly at her.

Then, a flash of green fire erupted around the figure, and the eyes were gone, but her pursuer's figure remained. A sickly green light emanated from the figure’s horn, illuminating Cadance’s own face, her mane, colors, and eyes were all copied perfectly. Her new doppelganger took another step forward, and raised a hoof towards her.

Cadance slapped it away, and the doppelganger's hoof smacked the side of the statue, managing to get gouged by a still reasonably sharp stone spine. The copy hissed in pain, then looked back at her with a scowl.

“Why you little!” It shouted in her voice, and as it pulled its hoof away, it revealed not blood, but bright green ichor. As the figure held its injured hoof close to its chest, it smiled at her, “I’m gonna enjoy this.” It said creepily, the green glow from its horn became even brighter.

Cadance didn’t have time to react as the spell impacted her face, knocking her to the ground in a daze. She grunted, and tried to get up, only to find that she couldn’t. Her vision began to blur more, and she struggled to look up. Her doppleganger was looking down upon her, smiling evilly. Cadance saw her mouth moving, but couldn’t hear any words.

Her vision started to fade, and she could only stare as her copy drew closer. Then it paused, something distracting it, Cadance barely felt the ground tremble, then what was maybe pebbles raining down upon her, it was hard to tell. Whatever it was, it caused her doppleganger to look back up in shock, but that only lasted for a moment. Then Cadance faded to black as her copy closed in on her.

It had been… two weeks? Maybe? Cadance didn’t know, she had been down here so long she was beginning to get desensitized to the passage of time. She slept when she was tired, and she ate whenever food was given to her. Speaking of that, why was food even being given to her? Her captor clearly held no regard for her life, so why was she keeping her alive?

Cadance’s thought process was interrupted by the chime of the crystals, signaling her captor’s return. Her own face appeared on the nearest flat surface. Unfortunately, it was not a reflection.

“What do you want? Changeling.” She grumbled, and kicked a loose crystal chunk at the face. It just bounced off.

“Oh ho ho! Spicy today aren't we?” The changeling said, Cadance still didn’t know her actual name.

“I think you can guess why.” Was all she replied with.

“Yes I can. Today is the day that all my plans come to fruition.”

“Wait,” Cadance said, “What day is it?”

The changeling just smiled.

“No…”

“Oh yes. Now tell me, how does it feel to miss out on your own wedding?” The changeling asked with a sinister smile.

“You won't get away with this!” Cadance shouted, she banged her hoof against the reflection, “Somepony will stop you. Somepony has to stop you!”

The figure just smiled even more in the reflection. “Oh somepony tried to stop me.” She said, “Didn’t work out so well for them.”

“What?”

“Some little pest figured out I wasn’t you! What are the chances? So I dealt with her… What was her name again? Twiddle Sprinkle?”

Cadance thought for a moment, that name sounded similar to somepony she knew. "Twilight Sparkle?"

"Ah-ha! That's the one." The changeling replied, smiling even wider, she probably knew the entire time.

"What did you do to her!?" Cadance demanded, and slammed her hoof down on the crystal hard enough to crack it.

"Ooh hoo hoo! Struck a nerve did I?" She taunted, before continuing in a much less sinister tone "Worry or not, she isn't dead, I'm not that heartless."

"Where is she?!" Cadance pressed further,

Her reflection just hummed, "Wouldn't you like to know." Then disappeared from the crystal surface, "Tata! I still have to get ready for your wedding!" Her last sentenced echoed throughout the caves along with her mockery of Cadance's laugh.

Cadance screamed in both anger and anguish. She stomped around the cave, crystals cracked and her already ruined shoes were dented and broken beyond repair. She did this for a few seconds, then stopped as she calmed down enough to think rationally. Pulling off her destroyed shoes and checking her hooves, they were relatively undamaged, she had her alicorn attributes to thank for that.

She sighed heavily, and sat down on the cave floor again. She was stuck in what seemed like an endless maze of crystals, alone, with a doppelganger that had managed to fool everypony else and was now taking her spot in her own wedding! Cadance didn't know what the rest of her plans were, but what she had already was done enough to make her want to cave her skull in.

Cadance shook her head, she had no idea where that thought came from, and she quickly shooed it away. She then looked up at the ceiling, and felt completely and utterly hopeless. There was just nothing she could do, except maybe...

"TWILIGHT!" She yelled out,

Cadance had long since given up on crying for help, but only after she had spent her first few days down here running her voice ragged trying. But there was a chance, a chance that her captor had imprisoned Twilight in here along with her, and maybe with her help, she could finally get out.

"TWILIGHT!" She called out again, "TWILIGHT I NEED YOUR HELP!"

Only her echoes came back to her.

Cadance took a deep breath, gathering as much power as she could, and then shouted as loud as she could.

"HELP!"

"help"

The faint cry was heard.

The ground trembled, a wall of stone began to crumble and buckle, rubble and debris started showering the ground. Rock dust engulfed the area, making it harder to see. The sound of rock grinding on rock drowned out all other noises nearby.

Then, in the culmination of all of that, a resounding boom echoed throughout the garden, shards of rock and gravel flew out, severely damaging some statues and plant life. In the smoke screen of dust, a large form rose up from the ground. The worm, now free from its stone prison, coiled up on the ground, reared up like a snake, and gave an ear piercing screech.

The Storm Weaver had long since adapted to living among the clouds, but all worms originated from the ground, so to the ground the Storm Weaver shall return. With that, the massive worm dove down into the ground, easily breaking through the soft surface dirt and proceeding further and further downwards.

“Help!”

Her echo responded back to her cry for help. Cadance sighed again, closing her eyes and laying down on the floor. She sat there for a moment, but then the floor beneath her began to shake, growing in intensity until some of the smaller chunks of crystal were bouncing up and down. A larger chunk broke off from the ceiling and shattered across the ground near her, and she jumped up in surprise. Another chunk came down, a bit further away, but a shard still managed to bounce off her side.

"Uh oh..." She said, looking up.

A much larger chunk smashed down right next to her, this time much bigger shards hit her side, it stung. Cadance winced, and checked her side. She wasn't bleeding, but it still hurt none the less. The ground continued to shake, and she realized this wasn't going to end anytime soon. Panic began to set in, and she frantically searched for some sort of protection from the falling crystals.

A small crystal struck her right in the back, and she gasped in shock. Without another moment to spare she dove into a small alcove made from a large crystal, one that looked like it wouldn't budge in the slightest. It wasn't actually large enough to cover her entirely though, as she felt several smaller shards land on her flank. The shaking got even more intense, enough to the point where Cadance was starting to feel a numbness in her hooves, it was like she was standing right next to some train tracks while a train passed by.

Scratch that, five trains.

Then, it stopped, just like that. The ground ceased quaking, and crystals stopped falling from the ceiling, Cadance looked up from her hiding spot.

Thoom!

A tremor passed through the caves.

Thoom!

Another impact.

Thoom!

Whatever was creating the tremors was getting closer, Cadance chose to stay in her little alcove as larger crystals were knocked loose from the ceiling.

Thoom!

A particularly large crystal crashed to the floor, but it only cracked. Cadance was glad to at least have some shielding from something like that.

Thoom!

An absolutely massive standing crystal tipped over like a tree, having been loosened by the repeated impacts. It shattered into a million pieces as it slammed into the floor. A lot of shards were scattered at Cadance's hooves, she quickly brushed them away.

Crack!

Whatever was striking the wall was now getting close enough to where the sound didn't get dampened, Cadance covered her ears as the shrieking sound of crystals grinding into each other filled the cave.

Crack!

BOOM!

Cadance yelped as chunks of rock and crystal flew across the room, one pinged off of the crystal that she was cowering under. She quickly moved to the side as the chunk fell next to her.

Looking towards the wall that just exploded outwards, she watched as something big slithered out of it. The dust obscured it slightly as it smacked loudly onto the ground as it fully entered the cave. Its body was long, and Cadance watched as its form curled up like a snake, raising higher and higher until it nearly touched the ceiling.

It breathed loudly, with a heavy and guttural wheezing, as if it was in pain. The dust began to settle, and Cadance got a good look at just what exactly had entered the cave.

It was the statue! Or at least what the statue depicted, it had the same mandibles, same eyes, same body, and it was looking right at her. She would’ve taken a step back if she could've, but she was already against the wall. The massive worm leaned forward, its scarred mandibles coming only within inches of her face. She pressed up further against the wall. Thick saliva dripped from the worm’s mouth, and splashed down on the floor. The worm shuddered, and breathed in.

“F A B S O L.” It spoke in a deep, clicky voice. It was hard to understand.

Cadance didn’t know what to do, the worm was inches away from her, and could strike at any moment, but it didn’t, it simply stood there, waiting.

“Uh… Hello?” She tested.

The worm shuddered again, and pulled back a bit, causing Cadance to flinch.

“H E L L O.” It responded

Cadance realized the worm just did in fact speak, and hadn’t actually just grunted at her. What did it call her? ‘Fabsol’? What does that even mean?

“Ok… Um… My name is Cadance.” She spoke slowly.

“C A - D A N C E.” The worm repeated.

It was at this point that she noticed the worm was bleeding, heavily. Large gashes ran down the entirety of the worm’s body, and thick purple blood was seeping from each wound. Cadance looked at the hole the worm had come through, and noticed a steady stream of dirty blood flowing from it and pooling on the crystal floor below. The crystals that permeated the ground must have shredded the worm as it tunneled, yet it still came here, for her? It didn’t seem to be too phased by it’s injuries.

“You came down here… for me?” Cadance asked,

The worm chirped, or made a noise that sounded like a chirp, so Cadance assumed that it had.

“Um... Could you take me to the surface?” She tentatively asked.

“S U R - F A C E.” The worm repeated.

“Yes, the surface.” Cadance reinstated, “Can you take me there?”

With a loud screech, the worm turned its whole body back towards the hole it had just come out of, and dove back into it. Cadance watched for a moment, then cautiously following suit. She flew up to the hole in the wall and carefully set down into it, immediately stepping into the small stream of blood, staining her hoof dark purple. She went to wipe it off on the wall, only to realize that more blood was dripping down it. There was even blood on the ceiling, thankfully not enough to drip onto her.

“Yikes.” Cadance said to herself, continuing up the worm’s hole.

After a few moments of walking, the sharp crystalline structure of the caves gave way to solid rock, and the thick flow of blood ceased, though the rocks were still smeared with it, probably from the worm coming back through. The entire time, Cadance was walking at a steep incline, and she had no idea where she would actually end up. Then, a glimpse of light became visible at the end of the tunnel, and the walls gave way to softer dirt. Realizing that she was close, Cadance began to run up the tunnel, and in only a few moments she burst out of the entrance.

Sunlight reached her face for the first time in weeks, and she was nearly blinded by it, but she didn’t care, she was out.

She was out! The wedding! She had to stop the wedding! Cadance looked around at where she was at, the tunnel entrance was surrounded by grass, stone rubble and pathways, and tall hedges. She was in the statue garden.

Canterlot Castle rose in front of her, along with Shining Armor’s shield. She paused to admire it, but then the sound of bells reached her ears. Remembering her situation and moving quickly, she launched from the ground into the air, intent on flying all the way to the altar. Then she noticed the massive purple form floating above her.

The worm was hovering in mid air, and looked to be following her. Cadance stopped, so did the worm. So she flew up to confront it.

“Stay here,” She commanded. She couldn’t have the worm follow her into the castle.

“S T A Y?” The worm asked, confused,

“Yes, stay” Cadance repeated,

The worm writhed around in the air a bit.

“P R O T E C T.” It explained,

“Protect? From what?” Cadance asked, she was fairly confident she could handle a single changeling.

The worm writhed a bit more, before repeating what it said, “P R O T E C T.”

Cadance didn’t have time for this, she was about to command the worm again when she looked up. A huge black swarm hovered above the shield bubble. Changelings. Hundreds of them.

“Oh my Celestia…” She gasped.

“P R O T E C T.” The worm repeated again.

“O-o-k ok!” Cadance stuttered, “Protect! Um...! P-protect the city!”

“P R O T E C T.” The worm repeated, flying up higher into the air.

“Umm... UMM!” Cadance panicked, “I have to warn everypony!”

She flew as fast as she could towards the castle. It wasn’t very far, but every second wasted was another second they didn’t have to prepare. She wanted to fly faster, but her tired wings simply wouldn’t let her. The large doors of the castle came into view, and Cadance worried that she wouldn’t make it in time. The bells continued to ring, but that was all that she heard, nothing else.

Slamming into the pavement, most likely leaving some cracks, Cadance rushed up to the large double doors, turned, and bucked them as hard as she could. With her alicorn strength, both doors buckled, wood splintering and metal tearing, they flew open while also being partially ripped off of their hinges. They probably weren't even locked to begin with, but she didn't care.

"STOP THE WEDDING!" Cadance shouted into the castle, prompting gasps from all around.

Everypony present turned to look in shock. Nobles, family, friends, all dressed for the occasion. Manes done up, coats brushed, expensive clothing, and here Cadance stood, mane frazzled, a manic look in her eye, and partially covered in worm's blood. Her eyes frantically scanned the room, she saw Princess Celestia, no Twilight, and Shining Armor, standing at the altar with...

"YOU!" Cadance growled, malice dripping from her voice.

The changeling disguised as her looked shocked to say the least.

"How did yo-" The changeling started,

"Changeling!" Cadance interrupted, "I, will, not, let, you, take, any, more, from, ME!" Each word was punctuated with a stomp forwards.

The imposter took a step back in surprise, but quickly regained her composure.

"You're too late! I've already weakened the shield! Any moment now my minions will break through, and we will take all of Equestria!"

"What is the meaning of this?" Princess Celestia demanded, stepping forward.

"Hmph! I suppose there is no need for disguises anymore." The false Cadance announced.

She erupted in a vibrant green inferno. Ponies gasped and Princess Celestia took a step back. Cadance saw the shadow of her form shift and twist, growing larger and more crooked. Evil laughter permeated the room, causing several ponies to look around in confusion, before tracing it back to its source.

Where one Cadance once stood, a much taller form appeared, blackened as if they were burned, with holes in its hooves, horn, hair, and wings. With a sinister laugh, Queen Chrysalis addressed the crowd.

"You precious little ponies are too naïve! Equestria holds more love and magic power than anywhere else that I have ever seen! And because of all your foolishness, my loyal changelings I and will use that power to take over the world!" She began to laugh once more.

"No."

Princess Celestia was surprised as Cadance spoke first. She continued, “I told you earlier that somepony will stop you, so I will.” She leveled her horn,

“Oh ho ho! Are you challenging me?” Queen Chrysalis asked, smiling widely, “Very well then, you’d best hope you love your husband more than he loved you.” She also leveled her horn.

Before anypony had a chance to interject, Queen Chrysalis fired a beam of sickly green energy straight towards Cadance, who barely had any time to react. Rolling to the side, her wing was just grazed by the beam, burning off several feathers. She recovered quickly, and made a mad dash towards Queen Chrysalis, charging up her horn at the same time.

Despite having been an alicorn for quite some time, Cadance still wasn’t very adept in magic, but sometimes you didn’t have to be skillful just to sling power around. A light blue blast hit Queen Chrysalis in the side, knocking her back, but doing little damage overall. That allowed Cadance to close the gap between them, and deliver a mean kick to Queen Chrysalis’s leg, causing her to topple over. She didn’t hit the ground however, as her insect-like wings buzzed into action, preventing her from falling. Queen Chrysalis rose up into the air and away from Cadance.

“Clever, I’ll give you that little princess, but this ends here!” Queen Chrysalis stated.

Cadance was enveloped in green magic, and lifted off of her hooves, she struggled in mid air, but gained no leverage against Queen Chrysalis’ magic. She struggled even more when a tickling sensation prickled her whole body. It starting lightly, then it grew in intensity. Then it started to burn. Cadance screamed in pain as her entire body was engulfed in magical green flames, she desperately tried to twist around to put it out, but Queen Chrysalis’ magic held her still. Ponies in the crowd gasped in horror as she was tortured in front of them.

“ENOUGH!” A loud voice cut through the pain, and the flames were extinguished, Cadance opened her eyes and blinked away the tears.

Princess Celestia stood menacingly at the altar, stance wide and eyes locked onto Queen Chrysalis.

“I will not, cannot! Allow you to continue,” She spoke in a low voice, “Since you have so foolishly revealed yourself and your plans to me, I will do my duty to Equestria and prevent you from doing anything more here today!”

Princess Celestia fired a brilliant beam of yellow light straight at Queen Chrysalis. Cadance felt the magic gripping her change, and then she was whipped around until she was in front of Queen Chrysalis, shielding her from the beam. Princess Celestia noticed this in an instant, and redirected the beam to ‘harmlessly’ blast through a stained glass window. Cadance heard Queen Chrysalis breathe a sigh of relief behind her.

“Ah Ah Ah, Celestia! You wouldn’t want your precious little Cadance to get hurt would you?” Queen Chrysalis taunted after regaining her composure, and began tipping Cadance back and forth in her magic like a toy.

“Put me down!” She yelped out.

“Oh be quiet you!” Queen Chrysalis said, and Cadance felt more magic clamp down on her mouth, forcing it closed. “This day was going to be perfect.” She said in a sing-song voice, “But you almost ruined it.” She started walking backwards, not taking her eyes off Princess Celestia and making sure to keep her Cadance shield between them. She stopped by a window, pulling Cadance along with her. “And now… Any minute, that shield will come crashing down, and all of my plans will come to fruition.”

“You are truly despicable,” Princess Celestia commented,

“Oh I know.” Queen Chrysalis said, “And I, for one, can’t wait to watch as your precious little city burns.”

Crack!

A massive crack appeared across the shield, creating quite a bit of noise. Cadance had to strain her eyes just to look at it since she couldn’t turn her head.

“Yes!” Queen Chrysalis said, her smile growing wider.

The crowd began to panic, ponies got up from their seats and tried to exit the castle, only to get caught up on each other. More and more cracks appeared on the bubble, the strange reverberations were probably audible from all of Canterlot. Queen Chrysalis just laughed.

“Look at you all! So incompetent you can’t even run away.” She gloated.

POP!

The shield popped, and shattered, large shards of solid magic began falling into the city until they thankfully dissolved into thin air. But the shield was gone, and the massive swarm of changelings began to descend upon Canterlot, intent on taking it over. Queen Chrysalis began laughing maniacally.

Boom!

A flash of lightning, and a thunderclap, Queen Chrysalis stopped laughing, and looked towards the sky.

An ominous storm cloud loomed above the swarm of changelings, flashes of lightning and thunderclaps were becoming more frequent and intense. A majority of the swarm actually stopped in confusion.

"What trickery is this?!" Queen Chrysalis demanded, she turned to look at Princess Celestia, "Even you wouldn't be so stupid as to summon a storm above your own city!"

Princess Celestia took a small glance at the storm, but kept most of her attention at Queen Chrysalis. "You are right in that matter, this storm is not ours."

"Then who-!"

Bang!

Queen Chrysalis was interrupted again as lightning struck directly outside, shattering several of the stained glass windows. Multi-colored glass rained down upon her, but simply bounced off of her chitin. The wind picked up, forcing its way into the building as rain began to pour outside. The entire room darkened as the storm began to blot out the sun, only the few remaining lanterns could only partially illuminate the room.

In the resulting confusion, Queen Chrysalis loosened her grip on Cadance, something Princess Celestia immediately took advantage of. Cadance felt the warm golden glow of Princess Celestia's magic overpower Queen Chrysalis' slimy bitterness for control over her body. She was pulled away from the changeling queen and gently set down next to Princess Celestia. Cadance breathed in sharply as the tightness from being held lifted from her, allowing her to relax her entire body.

"Thank you," She managed to whisper, Princess Celestia just nodded.

Queen Chrysalis noticed that her one and only source of protection from the most powerful pony in Equestria had just disappeared from her grasp, and just like that her confidence was gone. Realizing her situation was now much less than ideal, she immediately took a step back and threw up a bizarre looking magic shield. Princess Celestia took a step forward, Queen Chrysalis took another step back.

"Stay back!" Queen Chrysalis shouted, "I'm warning you!"

Princess Celestia took another step forward, "You will pay for you crimes against Equestria,"

Looking behind her, Queen Chrysalis realized she was backing up against a wall. Frantically looking around, she noticed the shattered windows, and immediately flew over and out of one. Instead of retreating further however, she turned back around to address the ponies one last time.

"You may have won this time ponies!" She began, barely audible above the storm. "But you haven't seen the last of me! I will be ba-"

And for the third time, Queen Chrysalis was interrupted as an echoing screech sounded off from somewhere outside the building, not visible to any of the ponies inside. Queen Chrysalis saw it however, and her eyes went wide with fear.

"The statue?" She asked in shock.

That was all she was able to speak however, as in the next moment, the worm sped down and slammed into her, grabbing her in its gigantic mandibles. Its massive shadow blocked the rest of what little light that was coming through the windows as it passed by, the faint screams of the changeling queen could barely be heard over the rush of wind. Then, the next moment it was gone, along with Queen Chrysalis, leaving everypony in a state of shock.

To Be Continued...

Author's Note

Yippie, another chapter out, for those of you wondering what the worm roar sounds like, I thought it might've sounded a bit like this.

And for it speaking, probably a little more like this.

Also, remember when I said to not expect any super long chapters? Because this one was going to be 8000+, before I decided to split it into two parts. Next one will be coming out soon enough.