The Equestrian Avenger

      Discord shuffled a foot beneath the gray dust of the moon’s surface.

     “It’s a wonder she didn’t go crazy,” He muttered, pondering the plain, boring terrain. ‘I won’t do anything to your moon, Luna,’ He decided Yet.’

                    Discord padded on, glancing around at the scenery-not that there was much to look at. He was looking for someone. Someone he needed to talk to. “I have to find you first,”  cupping his lion paw and eagle’s claws around his muzzle, he sucked in a breath and called “Oh, Nightmare Moon!” He whistled and patted his thighs. “Here, Nightmare Moon.”

      Nothing. Then, “I am not a dog, you know,” Behind a boulder came a small alicorn foal, almost to the peak of teenager-hood. She had a  black mane and tail cut into a short A-line and turquoise eyes. Instead of an oval pupil, it was a black slit, curving like a claw. her cutie mark was a gold eight point star in front of a blue and purple universe.  “And treat me with some respect. Heavens knows I accomplished almost as much as you did.”

      Almost being the key word here,” Discord tapped the foal’s nose before folding his arms and crossing one leg in front of the other. “I have a proposal for you.”

      The foal stretched out her wings and folded them again, considering what he had said. “What kind of proposal?”

      “I need you to help me take over Equestria. You can possess Luna again; make the night last forever, yada, yada,” Discord waved a bored paw. “I could care less what you do to it as long as we fit some chaos into it.

      “What about the…Elements of Harmony? What of them?”

      “They are out of the country at the moment. They’re in the Crystal Empire fixing whatever King Sombra’s done there.”

      “Alright, fine. I accept your offer.”

       Discord raised an eyebrow. “I…I didn’t think you’d jump on board that quickly.”

      “I’ll do anything to get off this moon,” She answered.

      “Well, Nightmare Moon-“

      “My name is Vega,” She cut in.

      “We have one more partner that I have to pick up. We have to make a stop in the Macintosh Hills before we take over Equestria.”

      Sounds like a plan. But just one thing,”

      “Yes?”

      “Who is this other partner?”

       Chrysalis wanted to die. She felt as if every bone in her body was broken, though her immortality prevented it. She lay in a small crater, as she had been since noon, when she had literally been thrown out of Canterlot Castle.

      She was badly bruised, and even the slightest movement hurt. ‘Equestria will pay,’ she thought. She would have voiced it, had it not hurt to talk. Or breathe for that matter.

      The sun, which had pounded down on Chrysalis’ helpless body all day, had slipped from sight. The warm shade of orange that lit the sky dictated that it was sunset, which meant Chrysalis would have to move somewhere sheltered.

      She counted to three in her head before pulling her legs under her. She sucked in a breath, gritted her teeth and rose to her hooves, swaying gently for a moment. Chrysalis stumbled to the edge of the crater and collapsed, gasping for breath. The pain from the bruising was leaching away her strength and her oxygen, and Chrysalis was panting to get enough air into her lungs.

She swept a chunk of hair out of her eyes, smoothing it to her head. ‘Wait,’ Chrysalis frowned as she gingerly felt her head. It was bruised, like everything else, but there was no doubt about it. Her crown was missing.

‘Where’d the stupid thing go?’ She scanned the hills around her for her mark of royalty. It was nowhere to be found.

      Still, her stubborn nature kicked in and she continued onward, staggering uphill and trying not to slip and fall. Finally, she reached the crest of the hill and paused by a pile of boulders.

      She tossed her upper body onto them and felt a ticklish stream of adrenaline shoot through her veins as she found herself falling. She landed in what felt like a body of water, and struggled to kick to the surface. The water only rushed through the holes in her legs, making it near impossible to swim.

      Chrysalis kicked harder, but her attempts were fruitless. She was only wasting energy. The last of the breath she was holding in escaped her mouth as something seized hold of the base of her tail and dragged her upwards.

      At last, when she was finally above water, she could hear.

      “Well, that’s one way of catching a changeling,” A young female’s voice remarked.

      “I told you I’d had a bite.” This voice was clearly male, and Chrysalis exhaled, mainly because she was sick of being suspended in midair by her tail.

      Her front hooves dragged in the crystal blue water as the pony holding the pole pulled her in. Chrysalis let out a little squeak as she was clumsily dropped on a flat rock. Chrysalis rolled onto her side and watched a pitch black unicorn and a goat looking…thing holding a fishing pole peer at her curiously.

      “Should we throw it back?” The black unicorn asked.

      “No, no, this is the creature I’m looking for. Walked right into my trap,” The goat thing reached forward and patted her face. “Are you alright?”

      Chrysalis sat up, shaking water droplets from her mane. The black unicorn winced as the water hit her, but creature-which now that Chrysalis had had a better look at him, was made up of several different animals- sat still and the water sizzled upon contact, spiraling up in tiny puffs of smoke.

      “Your name is Chrysalis, right?” The black unicorn –alicorn, when Chrysalis saw it ruffle its wings-stared pointedly at her, awaiting an answer.

      Chrysalis nodded.

      “Can’t you talk?”

      “Cut her some slack, Vega, she was catapulted out of Canterlot today.”

      “Then this should help,” Vega levitated Chrysalis’ crown up to the crown of her head. A sensation like water ran down her head, her body, her legs. The pain washed away with it, and Chrysalis sighed in relief.

      “I didn’t know it could do that,”

      “Now you do.”

      Chrysalis got up and looked around the cavern. “I recognize this place. Where are we?”

      “The caves under Canterlot.” The goat thing answered.

      “But that’s not possible. Canterlot is miles away from where I was.”

      The jumble of animals raised an eyebrow. “And?”

      “It doesn’t make sense,”

      “What fun is there in making sense?” he mused. “Perhaps I should introduce myself. My name is Discord, the spirit of chaos.” Vega cleared her throat. “Oh, and this is Vega. She’s got aging issues.”

      Vega exhaled. “I can possess the weak-willed and transform them into monsters,” She explained. “Kind of like when you take the form of other ponies.”

      Chrysalis frowned. “That’s all very well, but I don’t get it. Why am I here?”

      “Easy. I brought you here,” Discord shrugged as if this explained everything.

      “No, I mean, what do you want with me?”

      Vega and Discord exchanged a glance. “We’ve come to offer you a deal,” Vega started.

      “We’re going to take over Equestria, and we need your help.”

      “Discord, I have tried that. I invaded Canterlot castle with an army of a thousand changelings. Do you know where they are? Scattered across Equestria’s countryside, dead.”

      “That’s because you went alone. You made the same mistake Vega and I did. But I figure, if we combine all of our powers, there’s no way we can lose.”

      The changeling queen blinked. “What do I get out of it?”

      “Well, I get my free reign of chaos, Vega gets eternal night and Luna's body, so you can get love to feed off or something.”

      “No,”

      “No?”

      “I don’t want love to feed off of. I want to be Queen of Equestria, and I want Celestia as my footstool.”

      Discord and Vega were silent for a minute. “Fine, you can be queen,” Discord agreed. “Do we have a deal?”

      “Yes you do. Now when do we attack?”

      “Tonight. Now here’s the plan.” Discord snapped his fingers, and a map appeared out of thin air. “We’ll start here….”

       It was nighttime. Inside Canterlot Castle, Luna and Celestia were having their joint meal.

      Celestia poked a salad leaf with her fork and looked across the table at Luna, who was staring idely at her toast.

      “Not hungry?” Celestia asked. Luna shook her head, not looking up from her breakfast. “Did you sleep well?”

       Not at all,” Luna raised her water glass to her lips and took the tiniest of sips. “I cannot believe I slept through that invasion.”

      “You always were a heavy sleeper.”

      “A changeling crashed through my window, Celestia. I didn’t even notice the body when I woke up.”

      Luna, please do not beat yourself up over this,” Celestia set her fork down- the lettuce still pierced on its prongs- and looked Luna in the eye. It was then that she noticed Luna’s missing tiara. “Where is your tiara?”

      “In my bedchambers. I will retrieve it when I break my fast.” Luna selected several pomegranate seeds from a bowl and popped them in her mouth. “There. I am finished,” Luna dabbed at her mouth with her napkin as several waiters carried the dishes away from Luna’s side of the table.

      Celestia sighed and nodded toward her waiter, who collected her salad bowl, her wine glass and her eating utensils-including the lettuce leaf- and left to the kitchens.

      “Good night, Luna,” Celestia told her sister. She rose from her chair, but was thrown to the ground as an explosion made the room shudder. Instinctively, she called out to her sister. “Luna!”

      “I am here,”

      Celestia was flooded with relief as she felt Luna’s presence next to her, nudging her to her feet.

      “We have to get out of here,” Celestia said. “We have to find out what’s going on.”

      “I think I can help with that,” The sisters spun at the voice. There, standing on the windowsill, was a small adolescent filly-like alicorn. Her coat was purple, her mane and tail a coal black hue.

      Vega,” Luna whispered. Her legs began to shake.

      Vega let out a small giggle. “Hello, Luna.”

      “Run,” Celestia swept a wing around Luna and they made for the doors.

      “Ah, ah, ah,” the doors disappeared with a pop, leaving a bare wall in its place. The royal sisters slammed into it.

      “What?” Celestia gawked at the space where the doors had been. “That doesn’t make any….”

      “Sense,” Luna finished.

      “Discord,” They said together.

      “Did you think that I would stay a statue forever?” A potted plant in the corner suddenly changed shape until it was the mismatched oddity of Discord. “I got out once, and that Sonic Rainboom softened me right up.”

      Luna slowly turned to Celestia, a look of disbelief on her face. “A Sonic Rainboom over Canterlot Gardens?”

      “I didn’t think it would affect him,” Celestia nodded toward Discord.

      “I’d say that wasn’t your best move, eh?” As Luna spoke, her form began to flicker. She changed from blue to a dark smoky

gray and back again. Luna rose to Celestia’s height, and then shrank. Finally, Luna was no longer Luna. In her place was a creature Celestia had doubted she’d ever see again. Yet here she stood.

      Queen Chrysalis has masqueraded as Luna, just as she had Cadance yesterday.

      “Where is my sister?”

      “In her bedchambers. Vega, go fetch her for us, will you?”

      “With pleasure,” Vega turned to hop out the window.

      “No!” Celestia quickly wracked her brain or something, anything to prevent them from causing harm to Equestria. “Wait,”

      “Don’t stall Celestia.” Chrysalis chided. Vega was perched on the windowsill, unsure of what to do.

      “I’m not stalling. I’m telling you something,”

      “What is it?”

      Celestia closed her eyes and said: “Planet Earth.”

      “Excuse me?” Discord stepped forward.

      “Planet Earth. It’s in a galaxy far away from here, but easily reached if you know how to get there.”

      "And what’s so great about this Planet Earth?”

      “We know all of your tricks, and chances are we’ll beat you,” Celestia reasoned. “So why not start new, on another planet. It’s inhabited, and plants grow themselves there, animals care for themselves.”

      “Like the Everfree,” Discord concluded.

      “Bigger that the Everfree. And there are creatures there. Creatures unlike us. Creatures who are waiting for someone to rule them.” She mimicked the words someone had told her long ago.

      “How do you know about this planet?” Vega asked.

      “A traveler came to Equestria on his way there. He told me about it. And they have a moon too! A moonthat you can use to cast eternal night,"

      “And how do we get there?” Chrysalis tilted her head to the side.

      “With that,” Celestia gestured to Chrysalis’ crown.

      “My crown?” Chrysalis pulled it off her head and inspected it.

      “Those orbs are part of a very strong relic called the Tessaract. The traveler had something like it when he came here."

      “How do we activate it?” Discord plucked the crown from Chrysalis’ magical grasp and looked at the orbs on the end of the crown

      “He left me a scroll on how to activate it in case I ever came across some and changed my mind. It’s in the library. In the Restricted Royal Archives.”

      Discord grinned. “Nice try Celestia,” he said. “But we’re still going to take over Equestria, and there’s nothing you can do about it.”

      “Oh, yes there is,” Celestia spun on the spot and basted a hole through the wall, barreling around the corner and heading for Luna’s wing of the castle. “Please be there like Chrysalis said,” Celestia whispered. The doors to an unknown room were incinerated by a green beam of magic. Celestia didn’t need to know who it was.

      The polished ivory faded to a black marble and obsidian. The final doors, guarded by two of Luna’s bat guards, the one with the silver moon emblazoned on them, she just had to reach them….

      White hot energy hit Celestia’s back hoof. The gold horseshoe melted off, singing the fur on her hoof. Celestia lost her balance and went flying. The bat guards lowered their spears to fend off Chrysalis, and Celestia cannoned through the doors, skidding across the marble floor.

      “LUNA!’ She shrieked.

      “Tia?” As soon as Luna came into sight, Celestia  tapped into her reservoir of dark magic and shot a portal through the floor. It widened and swirled in a colorful vortex. Luna backed away. Celestia pulled her sister into an embrace. The tears started to flow.

      “Tell Loki that Equestria is under attack. Tell him Celestia needs help,”

      “What?"

      “Just remember it!” Celestia was hysterical, shaking Luna like a rag doll. “I love you, Luna. Remember that too. Now go. I’ll be fine.” With that, Celestia shoved Luna into the portal.

      “TIA!” Luna screamed as she grew smaller and smaller in the awirling colors. Celstia closed it as soon as she was out of sight, sobs shaking her body. Celestia crumpled to the floor, oblivious to Chrysalis, grabbing her by the mane and dragging her away from Luna’s bedchambers.

     ‘The fate of Equestria rides on your shoulders, Luna. Prove yourself to your subjects. Earn their respect again.’ The world swam, and Celestia blacked out.