Cadence and Chrysalis

Cadence & Chrysalis

The changeling queen had taken the form of several different ponies to get as far as Canterlot Castle. It was vital that, until circumstances were more in her favor, no-pony saw her true appearance. She concealed herself between a couple of trees as a group of the Royal Guard, consisting of dark gray and white unicorns and earth ponies, passed her.

A few seconds after they had passed her hiding spot, Queen Chrysalis took on the appearance of one of the white unicorns and joined the group headed for the castle. As they marched along, she caught snatches of their conversation.

'The captain's shield is very effective,' said one of the group, 'I saw him testing it yesterday,'

'Wouldn't it be a huge effort for him to frequently put it up to cover the whole of Canterlot?' asked another.

'It's only for emergency purposes,' replied the first, 'only if there are threats.' This didn't bode well for her plans.

'Do you think Shining Armor will put it up for his wedding?' inquired a third. Wedding? There was going to be a wedding?

'Depends on what the princess thinks, I suppose,' responded the second. The princess?

'I still find it hard to believe our captain is marrying a princess,' the first said, the others nodded in agreement. The Captain of the Royal Guard was marrying a princess?

As the group entered the castle, Chrysalis thought hard. She knew that a number of her subjects were hanging about the area and might get spotted, would that be enough to put the shield up for? It may not be, but taking into consideration any plan she may put together, which could get her noticed in her true form, might be. But this wedding, that would mean that many ponies would be occupied, and may not notice what she was doing, but then, that would okay while plans were in progress, but not soon enough. It was important to act quickly, any moment a reason could be reported to put the shield up. Most importantly though, she needed more power. Otherwise she could attack Canterlot immediately, if there were not the issue of that princess who raised the sun.

The group stopped and lined up. Chrysalis looked round to see a stallion in purple armor walking down the line. That must be the captain. Chrysalis grimaced for a moment; something on his armor must be made of iron. Without more than a few moments warning, a horned pegasus was galloping up to the captain.

'Shining Armor!' came a happy shout.

'Cadence!' Shining Armor responded in the same tone. She must be that princess. They embraced each other lovingly. Chrysalis could almost taste it.

'I've felt unsettled all day,' Cadence was admitting, 'and Auntie Tia told me a few minutes ago that a few strange creatures have been seen in the area.' Shining Armor put his arm around her.

'Everything will be alright,' he replied soothingly, 'everything will be perfect, I promise,' Cadence smiled at him before turning to the line of guards.

'How is everything for you, does anypony need any help with anything?' The guards shook their heads and smiled appreciatively at her. Chrysalis was having to make a huge effort to keep her feelings of envy and resentment hidden.

'I'll get you first,' she muttered under her breath as the princess made sure she knew for certain that no member of the group needed her assistance in anyway. Of course! Chrysalis's eyes gleamed green for a moment as a plan formed in her mind. It was perfect, plus she could make that princess suffer.

'And what about you?' Cadence asked, addressing the disguised Chrysalis, 'Everything okay? Anything I can help you with?'

'No . . . Nothing you can do . . . Everything's just perfect . . .' Chrysalis replied. Cadence didn't notice the sinister tone in her voice. Cadence and Shining Armor were beginning to talk again.

'As a matter of fact,' Shining Armor was saying, 'Celestia did mention those creatures and wants me to take out a search party shortly,' Good, Chrysalis thought, no Shining Armor around to protect his perfect princess, and at least a few of the Royal Guard will be gone too. 'Do you have any idea about what these creatures might be? You often seem to know these things.'

'No, Auntie Tia's description makes them sound familiar but I just can't quite remember . . .' Cadence replied sadly.

'Don't worry about it,' Shining Armor replied, 'I'll have to leave shortly,'

'Are you sure you should go?' Cadence asked quickly, 'I mean, you are the only one who can put the shield up if . . .' That would make things even easier!

'Don't worry, we'll probably catch those creatures in no time, and you're perfectly safe here Cadence.' Shining Armor reassured her. Chrysalis struggled to hold back a snigger.

'I wasn't thinking of myself,' Cadence protested, 'I was thinking of . . .'

'I know you weren't,' Shining Armor replied softly, 'and don't worry about me either.'

Cadence and Shining Armor kissed goodbye and headed in opposite directions. The line of guards dissolved. As Cadence walked on, she got the feeling she was being watched. She stopped and turned around several times and saw no-pony there. She brushed it off; she had felt unsettled all day after all. As she walked along she contented herself with daydreaming about her wedding. She gave a happy sigh and smiled contentedly.

Chrysalis had made certain that she remained a certain distance behind the princess so she wouldn't be noticed. Cadence stopped and talked to a group of what looked like servants. Chrysalis caught the words 'would you mind' from Cadence and then the servants insisting upon something.

Some distance off, Cadence entered a room. Chrysalis was quite close to where the servants were. They were saying something about taking a tray to the princess's room. Chrysalis seized the opportunity. She quickly took on the appearance of one of the group that had left a few moments before and rushed over to the group.

'I'll take it!' she insisted.

*

Cadence was standing by the mirror and humming a wedding march when she noticed a servant enter the room with the tray that the group of servants had insisted on bringing rather than her bringing it herself as she was going to. She turned to the servant.

'Thank you ever so much for bringing it,' she said before turning back to the mirror, 'I hope you and your family are well.' She smiled at her reflection in the mirror. She stared. There was something else reflected in it. Something horrible. Something advancing towards her. She turned her head and let out a scream. Her crown fell off her head and she knocked over a small vase of flowers which had been on the surface. The vase hit the ground and smashed. 'W-Who are you?' Cadence asked, trying to keep the fear out of her voice and trying to ignore the nasty expression on the creature's face, 'What do you want? I'm – I'm n-not s-s-scared of you!'

'You will be!' the creature hissed.

Cadence screamed again as the creature lunged at her. She only just managed to dodge. She ran for the doors but they were locked, a green magical glow surrounded the handles. So was the side door. She was surely trapped. 'Help!' she cried as she tried to dodge the green beams that the creature was aiming at her from above, 'somepony help me!'

The creature just laughed and sneered at her. It was no use. The walls were magically insulated against noise; she was very unlikely to be heard. Why is she doing this? What does she want from me? Cadence had only seen the creature's appearance for a very brief time and wished not to see it again.

'Leave me alone!' Cadence shouted. She looked around desperately as she was being chased around the room. There was only one thing for it. The window. She picked up one of the dress dummies that was in the room for the purposes of her wedding and threw as hard as she could. There was a loud smash as the window was broken, scattering glass everywhere. Cadence dived for the gaping hole and flew as hard as she could.

'You're not escaping that easily!' Cadence heard the creature shout.

Cadence increased her speed. She either had to outfly this creature or attract the attention of some of the pegasus ponies in the Royal Guard. The sound of the creature's wings was getting louder. She was getting closer. Cadence willed her wings to go faster as cold sweat dripped down from her forehead.

She tried not to look behind her but her fear got the better of her. The creature was a very short distance behind and was trying to force her upward, out of view of any possible help. With the creature being so close, it would be very risky to go in the direction as there was a larger chance she would be caught but the closer she was to the ground the more likely she would be spotted and get help. She knew she couldn't keep this up for much longer; she had to take the risk.

Cadence went into an abrupt dive towards the ground, hoping that her streamlined position might, as well as getting her situation more in view, create a little more distance between the creature and her. The wind seemed to scream in her ears as it roared passed her and she could barely breathe.

Cadence's wing speed was decreasing, she was beginning to move diagonally rather than straight, she could almost feel the creature's breath on her face, she pushed herself harder, harder. She yelled out as a sudden surge of pain shot through her wing. It took her a moment to realize she wasn't flying anymore. She looked behind her to see that, to her horror, the creature was holding onto her wing with her teeth. Before she even had the chance to think to try to struggle free, Cadence was being enveloped by green flames.

*

'Let go of me!' Cadence shouted, 'Let go!' Chrysalis bit down harder on her wing before letting her go. Cadence cried out in pain. Chrysalis laughed. Cadence backed away towards the wall, breathing deeply out of loss of breath and fear. She began to take in her surroundings. Crystals? Where had this creature taken her? Chrysalis leered at her. Cadence crashed into the wall behind her.

She could now see the creature full on and she looked even more terrifying than Cadence had thought. She kind of looked like a pony, only horrifically distorted. No pony looked like this. No pony had a mane and tail like that, or gaping holes in their legs, or sharp, fang like teeth. Her horn! Her eyes! Cadence began to shake.

'W-Why h-have you b-brought me h-here!' she stammered, close to tears, 'W-Where am I!
W-What d-do you w-want from me! W-What a-are you g-going to d-do!' Chrysalis sniggered loudly.

'Don't worry, princess, I'm only going to take Equestria and ruin your life!' Chrysalis replied with an evil grin, advancing towards the petrified princess.

'Take Equestria!' gasped a horror-struck Cadence, flattening herself against the wall, 'You'll never succeed! Auntie Tia will stop you!'

'That remains to be seen, princess.' Chrysalis responded through a smirk. Cadence glared at her and slowly remembered the other thing she'd said.

'W-W-What do you mean by ruin my life?' she asked uneasily and fearfully in a quiet voice, experiencing a sudden chill. Chrysalis chuckled unpleasantly.

'Well to start, I think you'll be well accommodated for in this cavern.'

Cadence suddenly remembered something.

'As in, the caves beneath Canterlot?' she asked in a both surprised and alarmed tone.

'Not many remember that they even exist,' Chrysalis told her in a mean tone, 'I guess you'll never be found!'

'How did you know about them then? Wait, you're going to leave me here!'

'I have my ways, and, yes, I'm leaving you here. You'll never see daylight again!'

'You won't get away with this!' Cadence cried, 'I'll be missed! And Shining Armor . . !'

'Oh, I doubt that! I very much doubt you'll be missed!'

Cadence felt confused and very afraid. She stared. Before her eyes the creature was changing. Her horn had straightened, the holes were disappearing, she was shrinking, she was changing color. Cadence gasped in dismay as she found herself face to face with an identical copy of herself with the exception that the copy had no bite marks on its wing.

'You were saying, princess?' The creature's voice now sounded so much like her own!

'You're a changeling!' Cadence gasped, and then suddenly realized, 'You, you were the servant too!'

'And one of the guards.' Chrysalis added in a superior tone. Cadence stared at her. 'Oh,' continued Chrysalis, remembering Cadence's other comment, 'and as for Shining Armor, well, let's just say that he won't be himself for much longer!' Cadence's eyes widened.

'W-What do you mean?' Cadence asked, filled with a sense of dread, 'What are you going to do to my Shining Armor!'

'No, no, not your Shining Armor, my Shining Armor,'

'No,' Cadence trembled as tears began to pour down her face, 'please, please don't hurt him!'

'I'm going to do more than that! And there's nothing you can do about it!'

'Please, no, just leave him alone, please I beg you,' Cadence pleaded.

Chrysalis just giggled cruelly at her.

'I'll do anything! Take my love instead, please, take me!' Cadence begged, remembering what changelings sought the most.

'I prefer captains of the guard to princesses any day,' Chrysalis said, evidently enjoying herself, 'I'd better be off before I'm missed but don't worry, I'll be back to check on you later.' Within a few moments, Chrysalis had disappeared.

*

'What exactly did you see?' Celestia asked the servant as they galloped along.

'I heard a smash so I looked outside,' the servant began, 'I saw Cadence fly out pursued by some creature or another, it was hard to see what was going on but the next thing I saw was the creature grabbed her by the wing, I galloped straight to you after that!' Celestia pushed the door of Cadence's room and was surprised to find it unblocked. If it was unlocked, why hadn't her niece just used the door? The two ponies entered the room.

Things were knocked over, the walls were slightly damaged, there was a gaping hole in the window and glass scattered all over the floor but in the corner of the room she could see Cadence putting her crown back on and she seemed completely unflustered.

'Cadence!' Celestia gasped in relief. The other winged unicorn turned her head. 'You're okay!' Celestia hurried over to her, 'I was so worried! How did you escape from that creature!' Cadence seemed rather bewildered by this concern. 'You're not hurt are you?'

'I'm perfectly fine!' Celestia was surprised at her niece's irritated tone which was almost never heard. Celestia thought there most definitely was something wrong. 'Maybe I just need some air,'

'But you've been chased around outside!' he servant spluttered. Celestia saw her niece head for the doors and open them by magic.

'Cadence, you are most certainly ill from shock,' Celestia said, she saw her niece turn in surprise; 'even your magic is green compared to its usual blue!' Chrysalis cursed herself, why hadn't she thought of that! Another thought occurred to her, if she pretended she was suffering from shock that would excuse any odd behavior she exhibited.

'Maybe you're right,' then, remembering what Cadence had said, 'Auntie Tia.'

*
'Some hot chocolate should help her recover,' a nurse told Celestia, placing on a bedside table. Chrysalis was disgusted but she forced herself to drink the brew.

'Is my favorite niece feeling any better?' Celestia asked. Suddenly Shining Armor burst through the doors, completely out of breath.

'Cadence! I came as fast as I could! It's all my fault!'

'Shining Armor, it's not your fault at all!' Celestia insisted.

'I was supposed to be finding these creatures and while I'm out looking for them, Cadence gets attacked by one of them!'

It hadn't occurred to Celestia that the creature that attacked Cadence was the same type of creatures as those that had been spotted but now she thought about it, they did sound similar. There was one thing for certain though, this was most definitely some sort of threat.

'Shining Armor, we need you to put your shield up,' Celestia told him, 'I'm afraid it may be for some time, at least until we found out more about these creatures.' Shining Armor nodded.

'I'll go and put it up right away!' Shining Armor said, 'I'll be back in a few minutes, Cadence,' he added.

As Chrysalis looked out a window watching the shield go up, it occurred to her that she needed to get as much control over Shining Armor as possible, as quickly as possible.

*

Celestia asked a guard where Shining Armor was, he needed to be around in case the shield needed to be reinforced.

'He's been with his fiancé all afternoon,' the guard told her. Celestia nodded. A few moments later, she saw Shining Armor walking in her direction clutching his head.

'Are you alright?' Celestia asked him.

'Just, a migraine,' he told her through clenched teeth, 'must be the effort of putting up the shield.'

*

Cadence had tried everything. She couldn't break through the walls by force or by magic, she knew some ponies would easily be able to break both sides of the wall by magic but she was not one of them. She had tried winking out, even though she knew perfectly well no-pony could wink through a solid surface, but had only found herself winking in somewhere else in the cavern she was in. It was hopeless. Unless somepony suspected something and came looking for her who remembered about these caves, she wouldn't be able to escape. She was cold, wet and miserable.

The chamber that she was in was very damp and water dripped in places so at least she knew she wouldn't die of thirst; instead, she would slowly die of hunger. There was absolutely nothing to eat. The only positive thought she had was that the pain in her wing was subsiding and there wasn't as nearly as much damage as she thought there would be but any physical pain was nothing compared to the emotional pain she felt now. She couldn't prevent the tears which were streaming down her face. Perhaps there was a little hope if somepony did suspect her even if it were only slightly. After all, Cadence thought, her personality is nothing like mine, and she doesn't have any of my memories.

'Shining Armor is such a sweet guy isn't he?'

Cadence jumped and saw her own face grinning evilly at her on one of the crystals. The imposter laughed when she saw Cadence's tear stained face.

'I just came to tell you,' Chrysalis said casually, 'how much you're missing out on!' Cadence, whose tears had stopped due to shock, began to cry again. 'They all think I'm in shock!' Chrysalis spluttered with laughter, 'from being attacked by some creature!' Cadence stared, horrified. 'Shining Armor's been with me all afternoon!' Cadence sobbed harder. 'He thought I might want to put off our wedding, but I insisted against it of course.'

'The wedding?'

'Well of course, princess, why would I want to put off my own wedding!'

'Your wedding!'

'Well of course! After all me and Shining Armor are engaged!'

'No you're not! He's engaged to me!'

'Who's going to know!' Chrysalis laughed. Cadence glared angrily through her tears. 'No-pony will ever know what happened to you!' Cadence continued to glare as the face disappeared. All that remained were the echoes of her torturing laughter.

Cadence lay down and put her head in her hooves. She hadn't thought about the wedding before. And everypony was doomed and the imposter had got away unsuspected, there was not even the chance of a search party for her and even if there was or that changeling revealed her true form, so few ponies remembered or even knew about the caves, if she was ever found she would probably be dead. Poor Auntie Tia would be devastated if she found her body, she knew how affectionate Celestia was of her, and what about Shining Armor . . ? What was that changeling going to do to him, she knew that a changeling gained power over them by feeding off their love but, well, she didn't know the details of it.
How could things get any worse! And her wedding, she had been so looking forward to it and had so wanted everything to be just perfect but now her Shining Armor would end up marrying a fake. Her head hurt and her eyes were stinging from all the crying she had done but she couldn't stop herself from continuing to sob. Everything that could possibly be ruined was ruined. Chrysalis had very effectively ruined Cadence's life.