It was her moment, her victory. The Diarchy was defeated, Cadenza imprisoned, and the Element Bearers moments away from drowning in a sea of chitin. Long awaited, the Queen of the Changelings savoured the heady mix of emotions in the air. Love was a necessity of course, but fear and despair had a certain tang to it that only a connoisseur could truly appreciate. Their sharpness made for a superb palate cleanser, desperately needed since the taste of heart-warmth had grown practically stale in these last few hours. She drank deeply.
A bitter laugh sheared through Chrysalis feeding, the irritating trill turning a victory meal into a frustrating hodgepodge. The proverbial syrupy sweetness of laughter had infected her elegant concoction and that just wouldn't do, not at all. After taking brief stock of the battles progress (satisfactory, albeit slow) she felt confident stepping away and indulging herself briefly. With a showy flourish worthy of her title, the Changeling Queen launched herself upwards, gossamer wings flitting here and there as she manoeuvred through the rafters. In mere moments though she'd found the source of her ire and a wicked smile erupted across her snout, fangs fully on display.
“My, my, my Princess,” she spat at the struggling Luna, the dark pony's cocoon holding firm despite her best efforts, sister in calm rest at her side. “I heard you'd gone soft in the head after your banishment, but laughing as your nation is usurped? You surprise me.” Expecting a witty retort, her ire only grew as the Mare of the Moon began again, this time with a full belly laugh.
“Thee has't usurp'd nothing fiend, thee has't only secured thy own failure.” Luna wheezed, breath suddenly coming in fits and starts as her bonds tightened. The sickly glow of Chrysalis horn twinned in the ooze. An ice-cold hoof placed itself on Lunas cheek, alien in feeling, with no frogs and a disturbing lightness to it.
“Tut, tut, Luna, you know better than to speak lies to your new Queen,” the cooling touch ran down the Alicorns snout till it cradled her head, “After all, with kindness and devotion you may live a few hours longer hmm?” The question hung in the air for few seconds before being utterly rejected, this time with a duo of guffaws. Petulantly slugging the dark blue pony in her barrel, Chrysalis buzzed over to the newest member of this comedy act, relishing the gasps of pain and shock she'd generated. “Tell me then Celestia, since I'm so clearly out of the loop, what * is * so funny?”
Whatever mirth was on her face had clearly faded with the sight of her beloved sister writhing in pain, the huge quantities of love Chrysalis supped had clearly done more than just increase her magic. Luna had once wrestled a dragon for fun, a mere Changelings strike should have been akin to a tickling feather. Nervously chewing on her lip, Celestia stared at her captor. “Luna speaks the truth, any victory you gain here will be pyrrhic at best. Equestria will never be yours.”
Rolling her eyes, Chrysalis yawned. She'd grown tired of this schmaltzy hero talk years ago, if it wasn't Celestia, it was Starswirl, or some other self-declared saviour waving a ten bit pig sticker at her. It was all so predictable. All so boring. Shrugging at the twins she turned to leave, hopefully the next wannabe would have some new material.
“What of the sun?”
“Hmm?” she spun back, her interest piqued. “What of it pony?”
The elder Diarch raised an eyebrow before speaking slowly, as if explaining a simple concept to a foal, “Your plan, its missing one key component. The sun.”
Suddenly realising this could be a long-winded attempt at a distraction, a mixture of panic and confusion bloomed within her, distinctly less tasty when homemade. “I fail to see how that accursed ball of light factors into enslaving this nation of weaklings?”
Luna (risking another broken rib) let out a sigh, in the old days they'd of just wiped the accursed bugs out at the source. Her sisters' leniency had clearly let them thrive to debasement, considering how foolish and short-sighted this self-declared royal was. “Thee'd doom the planet with thy plan Chrysliss!”
“What!?”
Celestia stepped in once more, her years (and years and years and...) as a teacher giving her some skill in getting an idea through stubborn skulls. “Impersonating Cadance and taking control of the Crystal Empire would have been a master-stroke. You'd have all the love you needed away from the prying eyes of Canterlot and a new nation to slowly infiltrate with your hive, growing to a force not seen for years.”
“Indeed” Chrysalis agreed, eagerly nodding along. Mentally however she was tormenting herself. Why had she not thought of something that good? Ugh, it would have been so much easier as well! If not for Shinings unbelievable love for Cadance she'd have had to commence a gruelling years long plan to discredit the twin monarchs before installing herself in their place. Improvisation was the name of the game right now, and she felt like she was missing a rather crucial piece of information.
“With your disguise shattered though you defaulted to your secondary plan, a spear tip strike at the heart of Canterlot high society. Killing all within and assuming my form to grow fat on the love of a nation, the Royal family, nobility and Elements of Harmony all now in your control. But you forgot one thing” Celestia finished, a smug look on her face.
Enraptured with her foes impressive oratory Chrysalis couldn't help but be on tender hooks, clapping her hooves together in suspense, “Tell me! Tell me! What did I miss?”
Unable to hold back any longer Luna began chuckling once more, “Thee can't moveth the sun fool,” she cried, wincing with each laugh. “Thee can weareth mine own sisters visage but thee wouldst be dead in a week, this world destroyed by suns unending wrath!”
Chrysalis eyes glassed over while her wings slowed to a less frantic buzz, rumours and tales she'd heard in her hives travels all began to coalesce together deep in her brain. An answer was forming, and she didn't like it. Sure ponies had said Celestia controlled the sun, but it seemed like hyperbole. Just another jumped up ruler talking big to cement their place in society, right? The immortality, sure, that was real. Magic suffused their world though, finding a pool of 'live forever' couldn't be that hard...but controlling the sun?
“Well damn.” were her last recorded words, Queen Chrysalis The First being vaporised with a literal rainbow laser powered by friendship mere seconds later. Future villains would learn from her example and give due diligence to any all information gathered, a sentiment disturbingly agreed with by the (eventual) Princess of Friendship, one Twilight Sparkle.
Author's Note
In a bizarre twist, this was originally meant to be a crossover one shot using my idea of 'Superman as Celestia's adopted son', but it morphed into something else due to how wickedly evil it was writing Chrysalis and the glaring hole in her plan.
Fun Fact - Celestia's initial plan (Chrysalis uses the marriage to take over the Crystal Empire) was what I remembered her plot in 'Canterlot Wedding' to be before double checking and realising, no, it was much dumber. Silly bug pony.
