A reawaken Crystal soars over the forests of Trihearth, searching for her home. The air is cool as it brushes across the black fur of the mare. It smelled of thousands of candles, all burning at once. The princess knew that smell all too well, for it was the scent of a moment of greatness throughout all of the kingdom.

“My,” Crystal speaks to herself, “this scent that fills the air. Mostly during weddings would this aroma make itself present, for thousands of candles would be lit to commemorate a joyous occasion such as that. Today’s the day of the wedding if I recall correctly. Does my love still hope that I am alive, and is waiting for me? What joy! He still loves me then! If that oceanic monstrosity’s correct then I can assume the form of my old self, and it shall be as if nothing had ever happened! I’m coming my love!”

The energetic mare soon finds her castle at the center of the area and descends to it. She then locates the church located nearby her home and swoops down to its front doors. As the stone and wood chapel towers over her, Crystal begins to feel nervous. “What if I’m too late? Will Seirbigh not notice me as a Changeling? If my disguise fails, he’ll surely know, how would he react?” Crystal takes a deep breath for a moment to calm herself down. “There’s no need to panic Crystal... I just need assume the form of Seirbigh’s desire…” The nervous mare takes another breath before singing a tune to herself.

“This day is going to be perfect, the kind of day of which I've dreamed since I was small, everypony will gather around, say I look lovely in my gown, one in which I shall design with my true love…” As Crystal continues to hum, the bottom of her hooves glow a thick green aura of lime. They begin traveling up her legs, leaving behind a set of golden slippers where her hooves filled with holes were. Crystal’s eyes face forward into the pair of golden door handles facing her as she prepares to make her grand entrance. The transformation finishes her torso and now her head and face become engulfed in the green glow. “Finally the moment has arrived, for me to be one lucky bride…”

With a swift push of her front hooves, the wooden doors to the wedding hall open with a loud groan. Crystal becomes shocked at what she sees before her. At the altar at the far end of the church, stand Prince Seirbigh and Lady Ceann before the priest reading from his book. The surprised mare attempts to tell herself that her friend is merely the maid of honor, but her ears begin to tell her a different story.

The priest’s words echo throughout the audience sitting upon the oak benches and to Crystal just outside, “…For it is not the words that you will speak today that will bond you together as one, but the strength of the love and commitment found deep within your souls…“

A wave in fury washes over the onlooking princess as Crystal loudly yells, “What is the meaning of this?!” Everypony in the aisles whip their head back towards the unseen pony, only to give looks of shock and confusion upon seeing who it is. Several gasps rupture from the crowds, even the priest begins to wheeze from what he is seeing. “Well? I demand an answer.” The fuming pony then marches herself down the runway to the alter. The white priest stamper and stutters, searching for the right words to address the situation.

“B-b-b-but, how?”

“How am I still alive? Out of the matter now, what I demand to know is why Ceann is marrying Seirbigh. He’s mine.” Crystal begins to notice something wrong with her voice. It wasn’t as she remembered her original voice as, but rather, a softer, more gentler one.

“But you, well you appear to be miss, is that of Lady Ceann, a-another one…”

“What? I am Crystal Charm, princess of the Forest Kingdom-” A light blue stand of hair drops in front of Crystal’s vision, small feathers soon to make their presence known to the mare’s sides, and Crystal begins to notice how small she is compared to everypony else. Slowly, the princess looks down and begins to cry at what she sees.

“M-my fur, is blue, instead of pink. Instead of being bare in the back, I have wings. Instead of my normal size, I’m smaller than I was. Instead of having golden locks of hair, I have these light blue strands. Why do I look like Ceann? Seirbigh, have thou betrayed his loyalty to me, Crystal, for her…” Seirbigh winces upon his name being called by the mysterious doppelganger.

The green pegasus tries to keep his composure as he replies, “Well, you see, I-I-I… When I thought you died, I had to marry another in order to keep my family and kingdom safe and…”

“Lies…” Crystal bows her head towards the floor, seeing the baby blue fur exposed from the shortness of the slippers that she did not see outside the building. The corner of her right eye catches a glimpse of her mother and father, watching at the front bench. She know they still loved her. Her body then undergoes another transformation, this time into the figure of her parents’ memory. The crowd gasps as Crystal reveals herself as the form she once was known as. Still having her head lowered, the princess begins to thinks of the past. “Nineteen years ago, I was born, and one of the first ponies I saw as a foal was you, Prince Seirbigh. I look back at that moment right now, and I see that even when you were only a year old, you saw me as beautiful. We played together, every day, oblivious to the wars between our parents. Dorch was too busy being prepared by his father, even when he was merely two years old, and Ceann was never even born at the time, so the only friend I had was you, and the only friend you had was me. Even when Ceann was born, we were still as close as we were before. The years went on, Ceann and Dorch joined our circle of friendship, and we all played together. But you, you never could keep your eyes off of me. Then, as we got older and more mature, we discovered that the chemistry between us all this time, was love. All this time, we were meant to be together, no matter what happened. An undying loyalty, had stayed ever since the start of our lives on this land. Yet, here, the most important days of our union, the day where everything dating all the way back nineteen years has been building up to. And what do I see? I see that you have destroyed it with another mare. Why?”

“Crystal… I-It ‘tis you!” Slowly, the prince approaches Crystal, tears beginning to water in his eyes, both of guilt and of joy. “I’m so sorry. When it looked as if you died, I was heartbroken. I needed somepony to repair my broken heart. Please understand, I was desperate. We can still be married once more, seeing as you’re still alive.” At first, Crystal doesn’t respond. Her head slowly shifts from side to side as the gears in her mind whirl rapidly. Suddenly, something inside her snaps, releasing an inner demon of unmeasurable power. Her tears turn to steam and her eyes begin to burn with hatred.

Crystal’s head snaps forward into Seirbigh’s frightened eyes and the mare begins to yell at him, “What’s the point now? You desire Ceann now and not me, I know, you can’t lie. You think you can merely say some words to make me see past that? Is this what love is, shallow loyalty with a pony until they are gone, just to move on to the next one and continue the cycle?! How was I such an idiot back then to believe in such a stupid thing? I see it now. Love is merely a tool to get what your selfish black heart desires, your animalistic cravings and nothing more. You have destroyed my life Seirbigh, you.”

“Crystal, I’m sorry, I admit that I was being foalish for not being loyal to you. I admit it all! Please, forgive me!”

“Never!” A tingling sensation begins to tickle at her hooves. Crystal looks down to see her pink hooves return to their disgusting black and punctured state. She looks back at Ceria and Adamán, both shaking their heads in tremor and sadness.

“What have you become?” Her mother’s mouth words as she watches her daughter slowly turn into a monster.

“Mother! Father! It’s me, your daughter, Crystal. Remember?”

“I do,” her father solemnly replies, “and you are not her…” Slowly, Crystal returns to her Changeling state. The ponies in the church cower in horror of the outlandish being before them. The princess circles around to see everypony’s face staring at her, either in disgust, shock, terror, aggression, or even disappointment. Her attention returns to the alter, where she sees Seirbigh and Ceann standing at each other’s sides. The priest is nowhere to be seen now, most likely having run away under a table or bench. Crystal slowly approaches the two ponies in front of her, a look of sadness upon the large mare’s face. The prince and lady back away from the princess before being brought to a halt by the podium.

With the pony they once knew as Crystal now three centimeters away from their faces, Ceann swallows her fear and speaks, attempting to calm her down, “Crystal…”

“Ceann,” The creature whimpers, “why?”

“Please, don’t hurt anypony. I never meant for this to happen, I’m sorry. Over the past couple of days, so many things have been going awry. I couldn’t stop myself from being sucked into it as well. If any pony’s going to take responsibility for stealing Seirbigh’s heart, it would be me. But Crystal, we can end this now. Nothing that has happened over the past several days will matter if we can just move on. Let’s go back to the fun times we had those many years before. Right?” The monster takes a hoofstep back from the couple with a blank face, thinking. “Crystal?”

“…It’s too late. Seirbigh no longer loves me, he loves you. You have taken what was my only true procession that I valued. However, you are not at complete guilt. Seirbigh, the foal he is, instead of refusing your advances, he has taken them to his heart. You both are fully responsible for destroying everything I believed in. I might actually congratulate you, for you two have revealed the truth to me what ‘love’ and ‘friendship’ truly means. But no, I have to right the wrongs at this moment, starting with you two!”

“Crystal!”

“I shall no longer be called upon by that forsaken name! She was an idiot who believed in love and was destroyed by the ones she most counted upon. She is dead, and I am now born, anew from her body from the sea. My death and rebirth were the most important moments of my existence, the cocoon transforming me from a frail insect to a powerful monarch. I shall be known, from this day forth, as Queen Chrysalis!” Slowly, the massive mare begins to once again approach the two pegasi before her. Ceann shrieks in terror as she squishes her body into Seirbigh’s shivering wings. The queen looks into her ex-lover’s budging eyes and sees her face in the reflection in his pupils. “You know Prince Seirbigh, although you have betrayed me, you still are quite attractive. I must say, you’d make a great start to my Changeling army.” Chrysalis’ mouth pries open as she reveals her white fangs to the prince. Her head leans in towards the trembling pony’s neck, readying herself to make sure it hurts. However, as the tip of her teeth touch the prince’s flesh, a sharp pain pierces into her side. The Changeling whips her head back and roars in pain. She looks to her side to see a metal spear jabbed in her lower torso. Groaning in agony, she pulls out the weapon with her magic and examines the tip. It was dripping a warm black ooze that came from her body. Furious, Chrysalis looks to where the spear came from, only to see it was Lord Seirbigh who threw it.

“Get away from my son,” he barks.

“Step down you coward, get back in line and let me do what I must.” Seirbigh’s father continues to stand and shakes his head in revolt. Madam Petti also stands up from her bench and joins her husband’s side. “You as well!” Soon, several other ponies, citizens of the Metal Kingdom, stand from their seats and face the demon before them. Ponies of the Forest Kingdom and the Pearl Kingdom also join in the revolt. “Do you all wish to become my minions? Because if not, then I demand you sit, back, down!” Now everypony in the church is standing, stallions and mares, nobles and peasants, pegasi and unicorn and Earth Pony, all rising against Queen Chrysalis, including her parents.

“I suggest you back down now.” A voice behind her speaks. The queen snaps her head behind her to see Prince Seirbigh, holding the spear that had just stabbed her a minute ago.

“I’ll never listen to the likes of you…” In one swift motion, the queen twirls her body towards the prince and bites him in the neck. Seirbigh screams as Chrysalis’ fangs dig into his veins and suck up his life. However, halfway throughout the sucking, Chrysalis is yanked off by an army of ponies, forcing her to let go of Seirbigh and become buried in a sea of motley coloured ponies. Punches and kicks fly from every side of the battle as Chrysalis tries to fight back. The prince falls onto his side just after being let go.

“Seirbigh!” Ceann cries, rushing to Seirbigh and examining his neck, “Are you alright?”

“I…” The prince gasps, “I can’t breathe… I feel as if half of my soul is gone…”

“Don’t panic, I’m here for you!” Ceann takes a closer look at his neck, finding the pair of bite marks oozing with his red liquid. She gently places a hoof onto the bite and applying pressure to it. “We have to get out of here, now!”

“The docks… Go to the docks…” Ceann wraps her wings around his body as she and the prince get up onto their hooves. They then limp around the pile of brawling ponies and eventually reach the open doors. However, just as they are about to escape, Queen Chrysalis bursts from the pony pile and sees the two in front of her. She screams and begins to fly at them. Just before she reaches them though, the church doors slam onto her face and the queen falls back. The pair of armoured guards that closed the door on her quickly run towards her with spears in their magical grip. The queen is quick to react as she grabs the left guard by the neck with her fangs and flies up towards the ceiling. The guard screams in pain and terror as his life is wrenched from his body. Upon finishing the feeding, Chrysalis drops the limp body of her prey onto the guard standing below.

“Might I say, that was quite a delicious feast! Love may be idiotic, but it certainly feels great!” As Chrysalis floats back down and opens the doors, muffled screams can be heard behind her. After several seconds of the guard’s squeals drying, she looks back to see two creatures similar to her standing side by side. They stand the same height as a normal pony, but with solid blue eyes and fur and body structure similar to their queen’s. “My, what adorable little Changelings I have created! Now then, minions! You want more love to feed on? Get Lady Ceann and Prince Seirbigh, now!” From the mound of wrestling ponies, a huge armada of Changelings erupts from inside and swarm towards the doors. Lead by their queen, the Changeling army exit the church, leaving behind whatever ponies that weren’t bitten. The army then flies above the forest and begins to scan across the area, searching for their targets. “Seirbigh Cystic IV, prince of the Metal Kingdom, Ceann Folam, lady of the Pearl Kingdom, I will find you, and I’ll make sure you pay for this.”