Author's Notes:

The Usual Disclaimer:

The following is a work of parody, and is protected as Fair Use under section 17 U.S. Code § 107 of US Copyright Law. My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic and all affiliated characters are property of Hasbro Inc.

I own nothing. All characters, settings and other belong to their respective owners. This is purely a fan-work with no intent towards profit, slander or harm towards the characters, settings or other, or their respective owners. If the respective owners feel that this fan-work in any way, shape or form threatens or besmirches their property, please let me know so that it be can be removed asap.

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This ... was a difficult chapter to write.

I went back and forth over whether to include the Rarity segment or just leave it as a fade-to-black scenario, but ultimately, I decided that if we're going down this rabbit-hole, let's bite the pillow, we're going in dry. I have many regrets, but I honestly do believe that this will have more impact than the 'squickless' scene I had hemmed and hawed over.

I consider the body and the mind to be a sacred thing, an inviolate sanctuary where nobody should be able to alter or intrude without your consent. I actually find tropes or concepts where this is voided, or turned on its head, to be both intriguing and highly, highly disturbing.

That said, on a lighter note, we have the return of Queen Sassalis, Hang-Over Twilight and some delightfully adorkable bonding between Princesses, as well as some insight into the Lust War from Luna's perspective.

I'm going to go have a drink and wonder why in Faust's name I'm writing a story like this about Ponies ...

CHAPTER 58

“More ice, Twilight?”

“Mmmngh.”

“I’ll take that as a ‘yes’ then.”

Spike took one look at the scene before him and made a gagging noise before disappearing to the safety of his ‘cavern of solitude and manliness’, aka the basement, as Luna lifted a bag of ice, by hoof because, to both Alicorns' dismay, while under the effects of the world’s worst hangover, the effects of the Sympathy between Luna and Twilight rebounded on a minor level.

From what little they had managed to figure out, the return of the Sympathy had something to do with the two Princesses’s physical proximity, Twilight’s physical distress and Luna’s concern for Twilight’s well-being somehow causing the Sympathy to take effect, if at a very weak version of the effects that had caused them so much trouble in the Everfree Forest. Unfortunately, Luna was hardly able to use magic to do anything without receiving the tail-end of Twilight’s physical condition, and Twilight was too sick and miserable to want to study the curiousity.

“Princess Luna, is Mistress Twilight okay?” Trixie asked in a stage-whisper, trotting up to Luna’s side with some buttered oat-bread for Twilight to eat, after her first battle with the bottle had evicted everything she’d eaten that day, or as Twilight claimed, “Everything I’ve ever eaten ever, and I’ve never even looked at diced carrot in my life, where in tartarus did it come from, oh Faust here it comes agai-waaaaaaaalph”.

“Mmm, that’s … no, but so long as Twilight keeps up her fluids and stays still, she should be fine tomorrow morning. That said … Twilight? How are you feeling? I don’t dare cast a spell incase … you know.” Luna gave the contrite blue ex-magician at her side an annoyed look before sighing and turning her attention back to Twilight. She couldn’t very well explain about the Sympathy with a potential Succubi just lounging around the house, especially one who was obviously fixated on Twilight romantically, however one-sided.

“Terrible. Nuh drinking ‘gain. Ever.” Twilight whimpered, holding a hoof to the ice-bag on her head and trying to smush it down over her eyes. “Tell ‘Lestia to turn th’ sun off. S’bright.”

“Twilight, we’re indoors, and the ‘sun’ is a candle that Sir Spike kindly brought in so I could tend to you without having to rely on magic. It’s nearly midnight and you’ve been asleep for several hours. You should not be this sick from just a few bottles of alcohol.”

“G’na make booze ihl’gal when m’phrichesh.”

“Like hell.” Luna and Trixie muttered at once, each giving the other a surprised look before Trixie ducked her head and slunk back to the kitchen.

“Trixie, go to bed.” Luna forced the words out, grimacing at how … harsh she sounded. It wasn’t Trixie’s fault that everything had gone wrong over the past week, but right now Luna didn’t want to have to explain why she couldn’t just magic away Twilight’s pain with a healing spell, and Faust forbid a potential Succuponi so much as touch Twilight in her current, vulnerable situation.

I didn’t even think about what was waiting for us back home! Mother Earth forgive me, I am truly a moon-calf sometimes. Trixie’s obsession with Twilight is painfully obvious, and here I am, getting Twilight plastered till she is too sick to move, and now the Sympathy rears its ugly head again!

“Trixie can still serve …” The blue unicorn protested, spinning in place to face Luna and flinching when she saw Luna’s expression.

“Trixie Căutător Lulamoon, I am an Elder Alicorn and have no need of sleep other than as a luxury. You are mortal, you are partially transformed into a Succuponi and I will not leave Twilight alone in your care, if only for the infinitesimal chance that you might accidentally corrupt Twilight by accident.” Luna glared at the smaller blue Unicorn, who bowed her head, in exhaustion, shame or acknowledgement of Luna’s position, the Alicorn didn’t particularly care which at this stage. “I am aware of, and can understand on a very personal level, your desire to redeem yourself in Twilight’s eyes, if not the rest of Ponyville, for your previous actions. However, I simply cannot risk the chance you could accidentally taint Twilight. Rest, and ready yourself for whatever insanity tomorrow decides to throw at us.”

It was ... painful to watch Trixie slink up the stairs, sneaking a sad, longing look at Twilight as she did so, but every time she took a step, Trixie’s new tail swished back and forth, and memories from when Luna had last seen such things on Ponies came flooding back to her ...

... the field was stained, not red like the poets would claim, but black. Gore caked the dirt, the rocks, the few trees that hadn’t been cut down for firewood or to build crude fortifications, or just been shredded by the back-and-forth of magical artillery that still shook the land.

Overhead, Pegasi wheeled and danced through the air, their innate magic causing the sky to light up with lightning bolts, while their opponents, Succuponies and bewitched Pegasi, threw back javelins and bolts of bile-green flame, the sky dark not with clouds, but smoke from the fires, both magical and mundane, that claimed the corpse-piles and villages around Darkholde.

All around Luna, the dead and the dying lay in horrific repose, the Succuponies loathesomely still alive despite being cut into pieces by her crescent blades, but sadly many more of her opponents had been mortal Ponies, victims of the Succuponies hunger for essence and life-energy, charmed into obsessively worshipping their ‘mistresses’. In time even the unnatural vitality of the Succuponies would succumb to blood-loss and shock, but until then, Luna’s blades dipped and fell with horrific regularity, their silvery sheen dulled with the blood of demon and their victims alike as she sent the enemy of Equestria to their final judgement before Death herself.

Across the battlefield, Celestia used far more blunt methods to drive back the Succuponies and their minions. Balls of solar plasma, gathered from the sun itself and held in check only by Celestia’s will, roared across the ground, not so much burning as vaporizing anything unfortunate to come into contact with them, and for yards around the orbs, each no bigger than a Pony themselves, the land blackened and burned, rocks melted and Ponies and Succuponi alike were cooked alive in their own skins as Luna’s sister stalked towards Darkholde, her face a terrifying rictus of anger and sorrow, tears of molten fire streaming down her face and her mane and tail a brilliant, furious battle between orange and red as the Succuponies that had threatened to break through the blockade were sent screaming back to Darkholde.

Once, the Succuponies had crowed about how the ‘pacifist’ princess would be unable to stop them with bewitched mortals as living shields to hide behind. And it had worked, for a few weeks at least, before Celestia had realized the plague the Succuponies represented could not be cured by any known method, and then when a kill-order for any bewitched Pony had been given, the fight had nearly been over on the spot, with hundreds of Succuponies falling in a blind panic as the armies of Equestria opened fire on their minions, and then them, in a bloody display that Luna still found haunting the dreams of many of the Equestrian soldiers.

In a single, bloody swing, the Princesses of Equestria had killed most of the Succuponies … and thousands of their own people. A bloody, phyrric victory that not even the most hardened Pony had felt like celebrating.

Celestia and Luna had ordered the soldiers to keep back as they piled the bodies of the mortals and burned them, and then ordered the Magi to exercise every test they could safely perform on the dead and crippled Succuponies left behind after the barrage to find some way to counter the Succuponies’ curse, or at least find a way to prevent future victims of their evil.

After that dark day, the Succuponies had retreated back to their fortress, an abandoned keep from the Age of Wandering when the Pony Warlords that had invaded the continent centuries ago and built themselves potent fortresses to continue their genocidal conflict in the new land, and the Princesses had set about containing the mortal fiends until such time as a more permanent, and hopefully less bloody, method for dealing with them could be devised.

Back and forth, Celestia and Luna swooped across the landscape, pushing back the Demons and their mortal puppets until the blockade was restored and the Magi could replace the flawed crystals that had created the weakness in the barrier around Darkholde in the first place. As a final act of vengeance, Celestia flung her orbs of plasma at Darkholde itself, the Coven, the original Succuponies, flaring their might, stolen from thousands of Ponies and the pits of Tartarus itself, to counter the raw power flung at them.

Sadly, even after months of conflict, the Coven had yet to truly learn the difference between a powerful sorcerer and an Immortal. The balls impacted on the shields, shields that would have held off a barrage of fireballs with ease, and shattered them, exploding at they did and bathing the black stone of the fortress in fire so hot the stone melted and ran like wax, and the screaming of the denizens inside the fortress reached even to the blockade itself as the air ignited around the grim towers of the fortress and molten stone poured down on the beings inside Darkholde’s tall, battle-scarred walls.

Yet direct combat with the Coven itself was the only thing that could stop the war, hopefully resulting in either slaying the three original Succuponies or banishing them to Tartarus where they could be kept contained and secure until the end of time, and to further complicate matters, the Coven boasted they possessed the ability to directly convert even Celestia herself. While the claim was dubious, pressure from the Parliment of Immortals had forced Celestia and Luna to this long, grinding war, rather than the off-chance that the Succuponies could convert the alicorns and turn the greatest weapons on the planet to their cause.

And if the Succuponies couldn’t be worn down through conventional methods, the Parliment had offered other ... methods. But said methods would scar not just Equestria for millenia, but likely alter the planet in ways the Powers had never intended.

And as it was Ponies who were the root cause of the problem, it would be Celestia and Luna who would have to answer for the deviations from the strange, unfathomable plan of the Powers. And if the Powers decided that Ponies had deviated too far from their ‘plan’, then it was entirely likely that it would be the end of the species and all the many branches that had sprung from …

“Luna?” The Princess jolted, cursing softly as she realized she’d gone to sleep standing upright.

And after I just told Trixie that sleep was a luxury to my kind! Luna berated herself as she turned to look at Twilight, noting how the candle had lost a full third of its length. “Yes, Twilight? I’m sorry, I was just … thinking.”

“…Was it about a battlefield?”

“How in Tartarus could you … the Sympathy?” Luna’s shocked outburst faded into a whisper as she eyed Twilight nervously. The other Alicorn’s colour was returning, but she still looked green around the gills. Although if that was from the residual alcohol or what she might have just seen was a question Luna found herself loathe to ask.

“I saw … I saw Celestia burning Ponies, and then trying to set fire to a tower. I s-saw you, cutting up dead Ponies with tails like Trixie and Sunset. I saw armies …” Twilight’s voice was soft as a moonbeam, but the horror in it, and on her face, made Luna back up a step before she rushed over to Twilight’s side, brushing the tears out of her lover’s eyes with a tender wingtip. “It really happened, didn’t it?”

“It was the closing days of the Lust Wars, Twilight. There was … there was a great deal of pressure upon Ponykind to contain and eliminate the threat, and all efforts to try and cure the victims, either bewitched Ponies or newly-made Succuponies, ended in abysmal failure.” Luna whispered as Twilight’s legs snaked out from under the cover to hold her close as the two Alicorns tried to draw strength from one-another. “Celestia still has nightmares of those times, Twilight, thousands of years after the fact. Happy Place, and the mind-healers before her, have laboured to divest Celestia of her guilt from those days, but I fear she will carry the burden to the end of all that is. It was … what we did, what we had to do to keep the rest of Ponykind uncorrupted reminded her of a very terrible day.”

“You took lives.” Twilight said bluntly, and Luna cringed.

So, this is how it ends. Twilight will not accept what Celestia and I had to do to safeguard Equestria, I will lose my friend and lover, and Celestia will lose the closest she has had to a child of her heart since before my corruption. All because of this accursed Sympathy.

“Yes.” Luna whispered back, waiting for the inevitable rejection, the coldness in Twilight’s eyes as she was pushed back from the other Alicorn … and was instead surprised when Twilight hugged her tighter, burying her smaller purple muzzle into the fur of Luna’s neck and sighing.

“Is that why Princess Celestia is so adamant about violence being a last resort? Her guilt over the lives lost under her reign? I think I understand why now, just a little. To have to do that, when I know she’s a kind Pony at heart … I don’t think I’d have the courage to do that.”

“I … don’t know, but I would assume that such events play a large part in Celestia’s aversion towards violence. Sisters are not privy to all of each other’s secrets after all, and my sister has had more than her fair share of hardships to deal with long before I came into the world.”

“I … want to know why, Luna.” Twilight’s voice tickled Luna’s skin as the two Alicorns slowly disentangled from one another. “Why history has been edited, why the Innate Magics of the Earth and Pegasi Tribes has been suppressed, why my friends and I were put into so much danger on the chance I would Ascend into an Immortal.”

Luna opened her mouth to explain, again, when a purple hoof pressed against her lips.

“And I want to hear, if you’ll pardon the term, the truth from the horse’s mouth, as it were.” Twilight, even hung-over and suffering mightily, gave Luna a look that gave the Princess pause. “I don’t want to put you in a position where you have to come between Celestia and I, but I will have an answer.”

They held that position for several moments before Luna bent Twilight’s hoof down and nuzzled it softly, before tucking it, and the rest of the limb, back under the blanket and tucking Twilight in.

“If that’s truly your wish, Twilight, then of course I agree. You are serious about this, considering you just referred to my sister without the honorific. I can count perhaps a few times since I’ve know you that you have not referred to Celestia without her title proceeding her name and it not being the potential end of Equestria as we know it.” Luna whispered as she settled down at Twilight’s side, her slightly larger frame allowing her to keep eye-contact with the alicorn on the couch. “I know that my sister has been looking forwards to ‘lifting the veil’, as she calls it, and preparing you for rulership at her side, but perhaps if we can ambush her before she is ready, you might get the answer you seek … but I will question if it will be the answer you want.”

“Truth, even a bitter truth, is better than a comforting lie.”

“Sometimes a comforting lie is all we have to get through dark times, Twilight.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Chrysalis stared at the roof as her young suckled, consoling the young male who had lost the contest for the right to drink first against his sisters, as she felt Shining’s presence moving through the castle.

She could feel his anger and frustration, his fear and his concern, and even his love … for another.

It hurt.

Oh, not as an injury would hurt, she had had enough of those over her life-time to understand the difference between a physical injury and what she was feeling now, especially with her current physical condition, but still it hurt.

On one level, the Changeling Queen knew that this was a side-effect of drinking too deeply, of connecting too strongly to a single host. Normally, in time, such a connection would fade with a few weeks of separation from the host and her Infiltrators, especially those who had specialized in ‘honey-trap’ personas of either gender, would suffer such pangs, but it was the first time Chrysalis had endured such a condition personally. Those who had lived much longer times as their Pony personas had a much rougher time of things, often suffering for months or even asking to remain with their host even after the Hive had to move on.

Chrysalis considered grimly what might have happened if she had not recalled all of her Hive to her for the Canterlot offensive. The barrier-shield that had ejected her Hive from Canterlot might have spared a good fifth of her hive if she had left the Infiltrator-caste members who had developed too deep a rapport with their Hosts … or the sensations from thousands of their kin dying in agony scorching through the Hive-Mind’s network might have caused them to drop their disguises and forced them to flee their Hosts.

Or worse still, end up dying at the hooves of their Hosts. She could think of few ways worse for a Changeling to leave this world.

And now Chrysalis knew intimately now how much it hurt to be rejected by one’s Host. Even the many injuries she endured these days didn’t hurt as deeply as the knowledge that Shining had rejected her. On a conscious level, Chrysalis was aware of the why, that she had replaced his lover, that she’s risked the safety of his home, that she was not his chosen mate …

But on another level, one that she tried to keep private from the Hive-Mind and found, to her embarrassment and dismay, that the rest of the Hive was all too aware of it regardless, the fact that Shining no-doubt despised her caused Chrysalis no end of distress that no amount of logic or explanation could ease. Pretending to be Cadence had been somewhat trying, but as she realized that Shining and Cadence’s physical relationship had been lacking, she’d been able to be more ‘true’ to her own self during their times together as lovers, rather than the public façade of the dashing Captain of the Royal Guard and the chaste Princess of Love.

And he’d been delighted at her ‘sudden’ change of heart in the bedroom. Indeed, he’d responded so well it had been easy at times to forget she was imitating another Pony and had to constantly remind herself to hold the shape she currently wore and not slip back into her original form in the heat of the moment. A part of her wondered that, if she’s approached him and slowly worked her way in as a diplomat, rather than an invader, she might have indeed stolen his affections away from Cadence with little ill-will from Shining and even the blessings of the Ponies.

I’m in love with a Pony. The Empress may have been right to call my brood-sisters and I defective. It would be like a Pony falling in love with a sandwich … although if a sandwich could spoon like that and produce such delicious love even when I wasn’t milking him for every drop of seed he could produce, it would probably be more common.

Majesty, the Guard-Prime of Hive Celestia is demanding an audience. Chrysalis was shaken out of her thoughts by the intrusion of her oldest Guard-caste’s sending through the Hive-Mind. She wishes to increase the number of Hive-Celestia Guards protecting our quarters.

I can feel the presence, and agitation, of Junior-Queen Cadence and Guard-Prime Shining Armor in a distant wing of this Hive. Guard-Prime Rosebush no-doubt wishes to ensure they cannot reach us easily.

The Junior-Queen would go against the Senior-Queen? Are their Hives also in conflict and their Queens meeting to discuss peace as we are?

I told you, my child, these Ponies are divided, fractious beings, and Junior-Queen Cadence agitates against our presence on personal grounds, believing we seek to continue our aggression against Hive Celestia. Agree to her request, but allow me to look through your eyes first. I wish to see this ‘Rosebush’ and take her measure myself.

As you command, Majesty.

For a moment, Chrysalis experienced a strange overlapping of two different fields of view before her mind snapped to the sight afforder her through her eldest Guard-Caste’s eyes, looking down at the sour-faced Pegasus, feeling a twinge of annoyance at seeing a Mare wearing the uniform that she’d become so accustomed to seeing on Shining Armor’s broad frame.

How many times did I peel that cloth off his frame with my teeth? How many times did I …

Majesty?

Ignore it, my child, I was not concentrating. Let us hear what the Guard-Prime of Hive Celestia wants.

“...Well? Or do I have to take this directly to your Queen?” Captain Rosebush snapped, her irritation and anger flowing off her in waves so thick the Hive-Mind shuddered at the bitter taste the poor Guard-Caste was being smothered in.

“Queen Chrysalis has just acknowledged that more Guard-caste protecting these rooms is an excellent idea.” The Guard-Caste Changeling replied placidly, and Chrysalis mentally patted him on the head for not rising to the unspoken challenge in the Pony’s words, let alone the aggression that was literally radiating out of her. “Anything that might keep Que … Princess Cadence away from the Hive is acceptable, within reason.”

“… How on Equuis did you … oh, right the Hive-Mind. That must be rather useful, especially when a certain somepony is hiding from the Stallion she seduced while wearing another Mare’s form.”

Oh. So that is why you hate me, not because I invaded your city and made a mockery of your precious Royal Guard, but that I had a buffet-table’s worth of what you can never have … Guard, repeat everything I say, word-for-word.

“My Queen would like to point out that, while she did indeed disguise herself as Princess Cadence, she did not act as Princess Cadence would in the bedroom, and Shining Armor found it to be very refreshing. And pleasurable. Every night. Often several times a night. For months. Right under your nose.” The Guard-Caste dutifully repeated every word, utterly oblivious to the fact he’d was performing the verbal equivalent of flicking lit matches into a sea of oil on behalf of his madly-chortling Queen. “My Queen also asks if, like Princess Cadence, you require lessons on being an active partner in the bedroom, or do you believe lying there like a sack of potatoes is all you require?”

“W-what? What? WHAT?” Rosebush spluttered, going pale for several moments before apparently losing the ability to speak.

Majesty, I do not understand. Your attempt to help Guard-Prime Rosebush understand your actions with her predecessor and offer of training in Pony courtship rituals appears to have instead enraged her.

I know, and by the Spawning Pit, don’t take your eyes off her, I want to sear that expression on her face into my memories for years to come. Just because I have to bow before these Ponies doesn’t mean I have to be nice about it. Hah!

Rosebush stared at the Guard-Caste Changeling with an expression that simply defied any hope of simple explanation: Her mouth was open in a way that remind Chrysalis of a dog-mid-bark, but her lips had been curled back and her facial features scrunched up as if she’d bitten into something rancid. Her eyes had narrowed in anger and her pupils shrunk down to the size of a pin-head, fixated on the unwitting Guard’s face, while her nose twitched franticly and her ears had flattened and drooped down over the side of her head even as her mane stood on end, all the while a faint ‘reeeeee’ sound could be heard issuing from the back of her throat.

Majesty …

You are protected by the blood-pact I made with Queen Celestia, Guard, you will be fine. At worst, all she can do to you is yell at you and insult the size of your reproductive organs.

How would she know the size of my reproductive organs? And why would that be something to insult? I am bred to fight, not mate.

It is a pony thing, my child, and don’t worry, as far as size goes your shape-changing abilities would allow you to compensate for any, ahem, shortcomings of biology. When offended or angry, Ponies will attempt to belittle the other party to make themselves feel better.

Was something that I said to her offensive? Did I use the wrong words when I passed on your message to Guard-Prime Rosebush?

It … well you see … it is not your fault. Worry not, I am sure the good Guard-Prime will simply tuck tail and run rather than risk violating the terms of the pact we have with Hive Celestia, or worse still, openly disobey her Queen.

“IT IS ON, YOU COCKROACH BITCH!”

Wait, what?

Majesty, the Guard-Prime has slipped past me and has entered the temporary Hive!

Oh fuck me sideways!

Majesty, you are too injured for such activities and the Guard-Prime appears to have ill-intent towards your person!

No, you idiot! Run to Queen Celestia and tell her that her Guard-Prime is attempting to kill me! ALL CHANGELINGS WITHIN THE TEMPORARY HIVE! BARRICADE YOURSELVES INTO YOUR ROOMS AND SEAL THE DOORWAYS WITH COCOON-GEL! Drone-Prime is to help her Queen secure my private quarters immediately! Scout-Prime is to take position in the rafters of the primary hallway and begin immediate surveillance of the situation until such time as his personal safety becomes at risk! Do not lift the barricades until I tell you otherwise!

Chrysalis struggled to get up, her offspring clinging to her as panic and alarm spread through the Hive-Mind and doing more to hinder her than the pain of her injuries did, the implacable Candy Apple giving the injured Queen a sour look before helping Chrysalis pry her children off her and wordlessly accepted the offspring into her brawny care as the Drone-Prime, her chitin still bearing a faint net-work of pale-green spiderweb-like patterns, scars from her personal exodus from Canterlot and impacting into a mountain-side, came scrabbling into the room in a mad panic, slamming the door behind herself and immediately pushing a antique dressing-table over in-front of the door. Within seconds, the door began to shake violently in the frame under the assault of a pair of hooves.

“I KNOW YOU’RE IN THERE, BITCH! I CAN SMELL THE SKANKINESS!”

“Oh, I will have a devil of a time explaining this to Princess Celestia.” Chrysalis muttered darkly, ignoring the stabbing pains in her side and the taste of blood in the back of her throat as the Changeling Queen used her magic to levitate heavier pieces of furniture over to the doorway, while Drone-Prime began spitting the thick, goopy-green gel over the doorway and the make-shift barricade, quickly manipulating the substance and forcing it to harden, bonding door to door-frame, and both of them to priceless antique furniture as the hammering on the other side of the doorway grew louder and the insults became more feral and blood-thirsty.

Scout-Prime, report! What are the other guards of Hive Celestia doing?

Scout-Prime reporting. Majesty, the other guards of Hive Celestia appear to be trying to talk Guard-Prime Rosebush down, but she appears to have incapacitated one of them with a blow between the hind-legs, and the others are keeping well out of range of Guard-Prime Rosebush’s physical attacks. None of the Ponies appear to be willing to physically restrain Guard-Prime Rosebush, but nor are they assisting her trying to enter your quarters, or those of the rest of the Hive.

Keep watch, my child, one does not become the Guard-Prime of Queen Celestia’s prized Royal Guard without being an exceptional warrior and tactician. So long as her rage is blinding her to more effective means of entry, our fortifications should hold, but if she begins a different tactic, let me know immediately. Chrysalis sent back through the Hive-Mind, wincing and dropping to her knees as the effort of moving just a few pieces of furniture sapped her strength, her three newborns wailing from the fear and confusion that rushed back and forth through the Hive-Mind, and the loud banging and angry shouting coming through the thick wooden door. Long minutes ticked by as the Pegasus’s fury failed to abait and Chrysalis risked diverting her attention from the flimsy barricade to dive into the Hive-Mind again.

Guard-Prime, have you been able to locate Queen Celestia yet? Our situation is unchanged but still dangerous!

Majesty, the Guards I have contacted believe that Guard-Prime Rosebush would react violently when provoked about former Guard-Prime Shining Armor, but my pleas to meet Queen Celestia have been denied. They are sending for her, but it may take some time to locate Queen Celestia and without a Hive-Mind to inform her of the threat to your person, the seriousness of the situation may be understated by these Ponies.

Continue your attempts to secure aid through non-lethal means, Guard-Prime, but be prepared to return immediately and help your siblings launch a counter-assault on Guard-Prime Rosebush.

Can we risk that, Majesty? Guard-Prime’s mental tone held equal components concern and frustration. Your blood-pact with Queen Celestia prevents us from doing lasting physical harm to any member of her Hive. If the blood-pact activates, it could kill you instantly.

I chose the wording of the blood-pact carefully, Guard-Prime, and since Guard-Prime Rosebush has acted against her Queen’s will and is attempting to physically assault myself, the blood-pact will not activate should we use only defensive actions to protect ourselves.

Acknowledged, Majesty. I shall attempt to impress upon these Guard-Caste Ponies the seriousness of the situation … I believe I have just found a Sub-Prime-Guard, he appears to be considering the situation more seriously than his underlings.

“I AM GOING TO TEAR THE CHITIN OFF YOUR FAT ASS AND BEAT YOU WITH IT, CHRYSALIS! THEN WE’LL SEE WHO LAYS THERE LIKE A SACK OF POTATOES! YOU AND CADENCE BOTH WILL SEE!”

Please hurry, my child. The Pegasus may try to use her lightning in this confined space to break through the doorway, and my offspring would not survive the blast-wave.

Nor would you, Majesty. This Sub-Prime-Guard ‘Dawn Ray’ has gone in search of Celestia and ordered the other Guards of Hive Celestia to assist me in subduing Guard-Prime Rosebush. We should be there in a few minutes.

Why so long? It took you only a short while to reach them!

Majesty, I have wings. Most of these Guard-Caste are either Earth Ponies or Unicorns. Even running at full speed, it will take them some time to reach our new Hive.

Simply move as fast as you can, and let the Ponies subdue one of their own. It will appear more palatable to Queen Celestia and her hive if their own subdue this rogue Pony than if one of ours takes her down.

By your will, Majesty. Please stay safe.

Why not let High-Prime-Caretaker Candy Apple subdue the rogue Guard-Prime? A Changeling sent out through the Hive-Mind, and for several moments Chrysalis was subjected to all manner of imagery involving Candy Apple ‘subduing’ Captain Rosebush that looked more suitable for a wrestling ring than combat.

Because Candy Apple is protecting my offspring. With them completely secured, I may focus on the barricade and organizing our forces. Now, please keep the Hive-Mind clear of chatter, private communications only unless your own barricades start to come under attack, I need to focus and I believe I have just made my injuries worse. Chrysalis sent back, layering the thoughts with exasperation and soothing love to calm her frantic children, both newborn and adults alike. Scout-Prime, anything to report?

Guard-Prime Rosebush has yet to attempt anything other than brute force against the barricade, Majesty, although she appears to be running out of stamina. We may not need to launch a counter-assault after all. Also, I think she saw me earlier.

Meaning? Chrysalis asked, and frowned as the message narrowed to a personal two-way communication between herself and the Scout-Prime.

Meaning that I will need to apologise to the Drone-Prime of Hive Celestia and the Guards below me, as I peed a little and the carpet and Guards caught the worst of it.

“YOU HEAR ME, CHANGELING? I’M GOING TO HAVE SHINING ARMOR TAKE ME ON-TOP OF YOUR SMOKING CORPSE!”

All things considered, my child, I think you’ll be excused under the circumstances.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Rarity snorted and looked around her room, insofar as much as the full-body cast would allow, her eyes narrowing as her gaze took in the two strapping Stallions at parade-stance on either side of her bed.

Bat-Pony Stallions. Not necessarily a bad view, two muscular stallions’ behinds within easy ogling view while lying in her bed, but the situation involving said behinds was most certainly something to fret about. And even worse, if she did give in to her body’s demand to sleep, she’d be entirely at the mercy of the Thestrals’ mistress, and Rarity still had pride enough to not be completely dominated in the supposed privacy of her own mind!

Princess Luna had supposedly assigned Rarity ‘body-guards’ to protect her while she healed, twelve bat-pony guards of both genders and three bat-pony mares to tend to her other needs, a princely gift and a gesture of respect to an outsider’s point of view. But their real purpose was to isolate Rarity and keep her from letting Equestria know the truth about her injuries, and her ‘friends’, of that Rarity had no doubt.

And unfortunately, that meant Nurse Redheart wouldn’t be around much except to make a daily check-up to make sure Rarity wasn’t making her own injuries worse, and on the way back to her home, the Earth Pony had made it abundantly clear she held Rarity at fault for the disaster with the Cutiemark Crusaders and had threatened dire consequences if Rarity ever pulled such a ‘bone-headed’ move ever again.

It wasn’t difficult for Rarity to turn around and accept that she shouldn’t have played a prank on Applejack for saving her life, not now that her temper had cooled and she had time to consider the facts without being surrounded by accusers. Her face’s honor demanded some form of recompense … but the way all of her friends had turned violent towards her had Rarity’s mind spinning in circles at the implications.

It was a disaster in every sense of the word, and yes, I might have been at fault for some of it, but the Cakes were the ones that turned a cake that was supposed to keep Applejack and her family awake all night into a pile of aphrodisiacs! Yet it was I who bore the brunt of everypony’s anger! Rarity stewed over that, unable to toss and turn, trapped within the shell of her full-body cast, a prison which only increased her irritability and sapped her patience. I am not going to give up on my dream to join the Canterlot elite, but this … snafu … has to be rectified.

Can one tell if they’ve gone insane? The thought drifted through her mind, giving the fashionista a growing sense of dread.

The Lunar Princess had claimed that the loss of her Elements had been the final push that had driven her insane and given the Nightmare spirit the chance to fully possess her, and that it was the most likely outcome when one was rejected by the Elements, such as the limited interactions Ponykind had had with the mysterious relics. Had she truly been as generous as she believed she was, or was it the Element influencing her? What if her ‘lapses’ had actually been her true nature? Or was it just being overwhelmed by mingling with Canterlot’s elite, and the delectable Fancypants that had overcome her normal sense of self?

There were no obvious answers, and Rarity knew many of Equestria’s greatest artists had danced along the razor’s edge that divided genius from madness, a fact that was public knowledge. The thought that the wonderful life she had been living over the past three years might have only been possible because of some magical relic re-writing her personality to fit some divine mandate necessary to wield it was a further nightmare to add to the pile, as Rarity had spent years trying to make a name for herself and working herself to the bone to keep her integrity as she maneuevered through the social mine-field of users, abusers and freeters in the fashion arena without being manipulated by any one clique or powerful group, and to think that some … uppity rock, however fashionable, might have altered her personality, her very self, without so much as a by-your-leave was not a comforting thought.

And what if this is the end of things? The Element of Generosity defected to Twilight, and my friends all hate me for something I did not plan on and had only the barest responsibility for. Rarity sighed, trying to smile out the opening at the 'eating' end of her full-body cast as one of the two Stallions turned and gave her a questioning look about all the sighing coming from her. What if we can’t patch things up? I don’t think I could bear to stay in Ponyville if I’ve turned Twilight and Fluttershy against me, and my business will surely fail if it becomes public knowledge that I’ve offended the Apple clan and Pinkie Pie. Faust only knows if I’m going to be ducking dive-bombings from Rainbow Dash after this, what if she decides to come back and finish the job! Or Princess Luna decides her precious lover’s interests are best served if I disappear from the public eye for good! I certainly can’t go against the Princesses in the public arena, antagonistic media or not, I’d be torn to shreds without strong political backing to defend myself from their latent popularity …

Perhaps it would be best to end things on a clean note? Apologise, however much it rankled, leave town under her own power rather than wait for the inevitable, start up the boutique in a new part of Equestria, keep in touch with the girls via mail until such time as things could be smoothed over, allow time dull the harshness of the words they’d flung at one another?

If Celestia truly does keep files on us all, then perhaps I can leverage what good I have done and the potential scandal I could cause for a small shop in Canterlot itself, distant enough that the Bearers and I can avoid one another, but close enough that I can visit them, and they me, once we’ve all cooled down and had time to get over this disaster. I can say I just wanted to pursue my true passion, clothing and fashion, when I explain why I am closing the boutique in Ponyville to the rest of the town. A bitter-sweet smile blossomed on Rarity’s face as she considered the best ways to explain away her sudden move away from town. It’s not like Ponyville is exactly crawling with Ponies who crave fine clothing, and moving to Canterlot would be beneficial for my business, given most of my patrons live in Canterlot, or have businesses there.

The next thought came bitterly to Rarity.

After all, I’m no longer one of them. No Element to bear, thanks to Twilight.

No longer a hero of the nation, no longer a wielder of cosmic forces that could conquer any foe. No longer Rarity Belle the Generous, but just Rarity Belle. Just herself.

The thought was both liberating and terrifying. The cornerstone of her rise to international fame was gone, and possibly her only hopes of leveraging her friendship with the remaining Bearers in a single day. Yet without the Element dragging her off to Faust-forsaken corners of the globe to seal away or reform ancient evils and terrifying monsters, perhaps she could use her lingering fame to cement a position of some respectability within Canterlot. Marrying into the Nobility was still within her reach, if she kept the disaster that had happened today on the down-low and used her existing connections in Canterlot to work her way up the pecking order to a place of relative comfort and influence.

Rarity might not be able to be second only to Princess Celestia, like she had once dreamed of, and bring Equestria out of the artistic dark-ages, but she might at least still influence the realm for the good of future artists like herself.

Perhaps the plan would work, perhaps not. She had at least a week of nothing to do but plan, thanks to the infernal full-body cast she was trapped in, and Rarity was nothing if not an opportunist. If denied the ability to work, and forced to remain in social isolation by the machinations of Princess Luna, then she would use that time to best decide her future course of action.

“Okay, move you lugs, it’s time to give our patient her meal.” Rarity flinched in her plaster shell at the child-like tone, as a silver-haired Thestral Mare slipped into the room, a tray containing a bowl of something that smelled absolutely delicious, a glass of water and probably whatever medication that Nurse Redheart had insisted on to keep infection at bay and speed the natural healing of Rarity’s body in-between batteries of magical healing spells.

And probably sleeping pills were high on the list of that medical cocktail of perscriptions.

And sleeping pills meant dreaming.

And dreaming meant slipping into the uncontested dominion of Princess Luna, and that was a battlefield that Rarity was most certainly not prepared to fight on right now.

“Miss Moonbeam, I assure you, I am most certainly not hungry.”

“And I’m a Griffon’s mommy. Its good milk stew, and you need all the food we can give to you as your body stitches itself back together.” The Thestral Mare replied with amused exasperation, her silver eyes twinkling with humor as she slapped one of the guards good-naturedly on the backside with a leathery wing and seated herself on the edge of Rarity’s bed, her other wing gingerly wrapping around the handle of the spoon and dipping it into the stew. “Besides, I’ve seen the size of some of these pills, you’re going to need something to help slide them down your throat.”

“Mmmmph.” Rarity fumed, but knew better than to protest too much. Nurse Redheart had been rather blunt on what she would do to Rarity if the cocktail of prescription drugs wasn’t taken in the correct doses, and more terrifying than Ponyville’s resident no-nonsense nurse, the Fashionista was fairly certain the Thestrals were under orders to make her comply with a great many things over the next week.

True to her word, Moonbeam’s milk stew was good, and the pills were rather large, and strangely enough, none of the medication seemed to be sleeping pills. Rarity’s demand to see the pills and have the prescription read to her with what each one did, to ensure she knew what side-effects to look for, had been greeted by eye-rolls from Moonbeam and silent shrugs from the Guards, but the victory, however small, gave Rarity confidence and a sense of control over her own situation, such as it was.

And Rarity knew most of the common brands of sleeping medication available within Ponyville, having gone through most of them over the years when late-nights and manic design sessions had disrupted her sleeping patterns to the point the Unicorn needed ‘medical assistance’ to return to a normal routine.

“Thank you. It was delicious.” Rarity said evenly, keeping what she knew from long practice to be a friendly smile on her face as the last of the stew was eaten and Moonbeam prepared a straw for Rarity to use with the glass of water.

“I appreciate the compliment, this stew is a specialty of mine for sick patients, helps calm the stomach and all.” Moonbeam replied, her silver eyes beaming down at Rarity, the strange orbs reflecting the moonlight as she locked eyes with the immobilized Unicorn, and Rarity began to feel strangely heavy and lethargic despite herself.

Wait … Rarity thought, even the sudden surge of panic at falling asleep feeling muted and so far away. Moonlight? But … my windows …

Rolling her eyes to the side as far as they could go, Rarity confirmed her windows were closed and the blinds drawn, and remembered they’d been closed for hours now to keep the chill out of her room on Nurse Redheart’s orders! There was no way for the moonlight to enter her room, which meant …

She let me see all the medication because there never was any need for sleeping pills. Moonbeam is using some sort of … magic to stop … stop me staying awake. She’s … vampony … no, that’s …

“And sick patients need their sleep.” Moonbeam’s voice was all honey and comfort, her eyes glowing ever brighter with pale, hypnotic silver-white light that the immobilized Rarity could not avoid, her eyelids growing heavier and the urge to sleep becoming all-consuming. “Go to sleep, Lady Rarity, you need your rest.”

“Noooouuuuuhh …” Rarity whimpered, unable to tear her eyes away again from those luminous eyes as her body became as heavy as lead, and finally her eyes closed of their own accord, even as the silvery light stayed in her mind.

Down and down, Rarity felt herself falling into a warm, dark, softness, comforting and yet somehow overwhelming, her desire to stay awake, to avoid that inevitable confrontation with Luna fading to a dull impulse in her soul as Rarity’s mind tumbled into a deep, endless darkness.

And at last we meet, my other self. The voice seemed to come from somewhere to her left, and as the falling, tumbling Unicorn tried to orient herself in the direction of the voice, she found herself staring into a distorted mirror-image of herself, black-coated instead of white, with spring-green hair and a flank that bore three pulsing-green gemstones, twin to the purple gems on Rarity’s own flank.

W-who is it? Luna?

Hardly, although I am flattered you think me so powerful. Perhaps you would know me better as Nightmare Rarity.

No! You’re gone, I’m free … I’m …

Free? Hardly. There was no Elements of Harmony used on you that time, Rarity. Your friendship with the other Bearers might have weakened my hold on your soul, and the Princesses might have purged my essence from your being, but I am still here. An echo, a fragment of my former magnificence perhaps, but I am still here regardless. The doppelganger grinned as the two spun in tandem down into the darkness, the Nightmare seemingly fading in and out of the shadows of this place, growing more solid, more real the closer she came to Rarity. Due to method your friends tried to remove me, the bulk of my power was burned away, along with the corporeal forms of my kind, while my mind was pressed into yours until we were so tangled we became inseparable, and I was suppressed into the darkest corners of your mind, an unwilling passenger on a ride of banality and insipid drama.

I am the dark parts of your very sense of self now, my essence fusing with the darkness in your heart, you mind, your spiritual flaws were why the Nightmares chose you as my vessel in the first place, over all your friends, even the incredibly powerful Twilight Sparkle … because you have hate inside you, Rarity Belle. Jealousy, pride, envy and lust too. All things that we Nightmares crave, that feed us in the darkness of the Dreamscape.

Rarity found herself unable to speak for a period of time, the Nightmare’s words an answer she had long feared asking for ever since the day the Nightmares had claimed her as their new monarch, but as she struggled to escape, she found, to her dread, the Nightmare’s body mirrored her own movements, and somehow the two drifted closer together in the dark tunnel they tumbled down together.

I AM NOT YOU! Rarity shrieked at the spectre, who simply laughed back at her.

Nor am I you, but soon neither of us will be able to claim this as truth! The Nightmare chortled as the two spun closer and closer together. Now that you’ve foolishly lost the protection of Generosity, I am no longer suppressed into your subconscious, yet I have not the strength to possess you. The void left by Generosity in your spirit when it left draws on us both to heal the spiritual ‘wound’, and now we are inexorably bound to a fate neither of us desire. All because of your ‘friends’!

And since I’m sure you have no desire to spend the rest of your natural life fighting me for control of your vessel, we have but one option before us: We join forces and work as partners, or else doom each other to a lifetime of misery and battles for dominance!

Do you take me for a fool? Even if I no longer have my duties as a Bearer, or my friendship with the others, Princess Luna will do all in her power to purge me of your vile existence once and for all if only because she knows intimately the evil you and all the Nightmares represent!

Are you so sure? Thanks to your friends’ flawed efforts to purge me before, I am now your darkness given form, Rarity, dear sister, every dark thought, every vile impulse you suppress and oppress to function in society given a voice you now cannot ignore. We are two who are one at the core, two distinct beings irrevocably bound at our source. Luna can no more separate us as we are right now than you can separate the milk from the tea once the two share the same tea-cup. I will be suppressed, but the instant you slip, I’ll be there, waiting, and we’ll be back in this position, and we’ll both be weaker for it each and every time until you’re a drooling lump in a bed, and I’m the faintest whisper of myself.

Then I will dedicate myself to being a fabulous drooling lump! Rarity shrieked back at the spectre, pulling a forehoof back to smite the doppelganger, even as the mirror-image did the same, and the Nightmare’s face twisted into a mad grin that distorted Rarity’s mirrored face into a horrific parody, the smile reaching to the back of the head and turning into a mad cackle of delight in response to Rarity’s scream of outrage and denial, the Nightmare’s open mouth revealing rows upon rows of mismatched teeth from predators and prey alike.

A pity. I had hoped you would be more amendable to a partnership … Nightmare Rarity cackled as the two hooves, one pristine and white, the other immaculate and black, slammed into each other, and the two beings screamed, one in agony, the other in victory, as the hooves deformed into one another, the two mirrored beings struggling to pull apart. But I’ll take an aggressive merger of our assets if that’s all you’ll offer!

Rarity screamed in horror and rage as the deformed sphere of flesh that had once been her hoof, and that of her doppelganger suddenly began dragging on the rest of her body, pulling her towards her nemesis, tendrils of her white coat snapping up the black limb of her Nightmare like creeping vines, while a horrific network of the Nightmare’s black coat scurried up and through her flesh like a demented spider’s web, the two beings inexorably drawn towards one another at their juncture.

All conscious thought fled Rarity as she lashed and kicked at her Nightmare like a wounded animal, her doppelganger mirroring each and every movement, every blow of a hoof, every twist of their bodies dragging them tighter and tighter together, and the alien sensation of a hostile mind, an incompatible soul, pressing against her sense of self like two fluids separated by a flimsy barrier that allowed parts of both to flow through it into the other, a sensation not unlike thorned tongues caressing her being, her very sense of self, in a way that made even the most debased physical violation feel like a lover’s caress, twinned with the unholy sensation of her own essence doing the same to the Nightmare!

Finally, Rarity lashed forwards with her mouth, trying to bite through the Nightmare’s windpipe in hatred, agony and the vain hope that somehow she could end her suffering before their fusion reached its unholy conclusion, only to meet her doppelganger’s muzzle in the process, the two clashing in the same loathsome fusion, forced to glare into each other’s eyes as their heads were drawn into a single whole in agonizing slowness, Rarity monstrously aware of every inch, every struggle of her muscles to pull back, to avoid this final, irrevocable joining as the Nightmare’s own madness-filled orbs danced with glee before their eyes came close enough to touch, and then …

For what seemed like ages, the blob of mingled white and black twitched and struggled in the endless chasm of Rarity’s dreamless sleep, flowing one way, then another as its surface writhed with half-formed limbs under the surface struggling against one-another, or thrashing against the conjoined skin that contained them, the skittering veins of black hide and white coat lashing against and around one another before finally, blessedly, the two seemed to come to a truce of some sort, white ceasing to ooze into black and black stopping seeping into white.

And then, just as the commingled orb of Nightmare and Pony seemed to come to rest, a great and terrible force caused it to ripple at one spot, as if an egg being struck on an inner surface by an enraged chick. Again and again the orb shuddered as the same spot was struck over and over again, until black and white hide split to reveal a bizarre muzzle, coated in slick red fluid, that retreated and pushed forwards again, the nostrils flexing and breathing deeply as the muzzle paused before withdrawing and thrusting itself from the ‘egg’.

The upper half of the head was Rarity, while the lower half of it was the top of the Nightmare’s head, an abominable conjoinment as the new entity's eyes rolled in torment and pain, and the twinned, awkward muzzle opened to vent a primal scream of rage, agony and triumph.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Rarity awoke, screaming, with such force her full-body cast cracked in several places and the windows of her bedroom shook in their frames, shocking her guards and Moonbeam into stepping back before the Thestral Mare jumped forwards, securing Rarity from falling off the bed as the two Night Guard belaboured struggled to help her keep the mummified Pony on the bed.

“Luna’s right plot-cheek, what the hell!” One of the Guards grunted as three full-grown Ponies struggled to keep a supposedly immobilized Unicorn with life-threatening injuries from throwing them off of her.

“Lady Rarity, Lady Rarity, please, calm down, you were just having a nightmare!” Moonbeam shouted, barely able to keep herself at Rarity’s head as her eyes glowed with silver light again, trying to sedate the frantic Unicorn and finding to her shock that her hypnotic gaze was barely effective.

“Mirror! Face! Nightmare!” Rarity shrieked, and grunting, one of the Thestral Guards jumped off their struggling patient and rummaged around on Rarity’s nightstand for a hand-mirror, holding it over the Unicorn’s eyes, which widened, her mouth opened … and she stopped.

“Lady Rarity, what in the world …” Moonbeam asked, feeling oddly sore for a Pony who just lost a fight with an immobilized patient. Rarity’s expression as she stared into her reflection was, strangely enough, one of relief and joy, as if she couldn’t believe her own reflection.

“Nightmare … the Nightmare was … I couldn’t …” The Unicorn babbled, tears and snot flowing from her eyes and muzzle, and Moonbeam hugged the Unicorn as best she could, whispering soothing words and promises to stay by her side until Luna came to make it better, as one of the Guards slipped out the door and took wing at full pace to the Ponyville Library to fetch his mistress.

Rarity had begun to go mad ...