Queen Chrysalis hummed a merry tune as she laid another brick down, squishing it into the cement and making sure it was level with the rest of them. On the other side of the growing wall of bricks was Princess Celestia, both sets of hooves heavily secured in manacles and her horn placed under a spell that left it next to useless for the time being.

Chrysalis had attacked her sometime during the night—for some reason waking her up for a moment before knocking her out again. Celestia never could understand most of the villains she usually had to spar with.

“You’ll regret leaving me alive,” Celestia barked, as she was left in more and more darkness as the wall of bricks rose up in front of her. Chrysalis must’ve taken her unconscious body to another room in the castle to seal her up inside—one of the less used rooms if Chrysalis was thinking strategically. “Either I’ll get out of here myself or my guards will find me in less than a day. Surrender now, Chrysalis, and I promise to only banish you again.”

Chrysalis shook her head with a sigh. “Such tough talk from someone currently being buried alive—you really are a more one-note character than I could’ve possibly imagined. I’ll have to remember that.” She narrowed her haunting green eyes at her. “But, alas, silly Celestia, I have absolutely no plans of killing you now. Rather, I want to watch you suffer, which is why in exactly two weeks, I’ll be letting you out of here.”

Celestia tightened her jaw. “And in those two weeks, you’ll be parading around as me, won’t you?”

“Why of course!” Chrysalis replied with a smirk. “Can’t pass up the opportunity of acting like the largest monarch in Equestrian history, can I? Let’s see if I got your mannerisms down yet.”

In a wash of bright green, Queen Chrysalis disappeared and was replaced by an exact copy of Celestia, including her crown and golden bits of armor. The only part that was reminiscent of Chrysalis at all was her thin, mischievous grin.

“How do I look?” Chrysalis asked her snidely. “I always wondered about the rumors concerning you. Are you truly big boned or is there more to it than that? I guess I have a while to give this body a thorough test cycle.”

Celestia suddenly felt like spitting in her face. “No one will ever believe you’re actually me! We all remember how well you impersonated Princess Cadence at her wedding. Have one of the nicest and loving alicorns around act like a stuck-up bitch? Wow! Why didn’t that work out for you again?”

Celestia’s insult seemed to do little to rain on Chrysalis current parade. “Say what you will, Princess, but I believe I have you figured out well enough. And who would dare question the great Princess Celestia acting a little bit funny? She can act however she wants! She’s the Ruler of the Sun for her own damn sake!”

Taking a step back from the partially built wall, Chrysalis did a little spin in her new body before clearing her throat and standing tall. Sounding exactly like Celestia, she loudly declared, “My name’s Princess Celestia and I’m in charge of everything ever! And if you don’t like it, then I’ll just sit on you! And did you know that forty-seven percent of Equestrians don’t even want me as their ruler?”

Celestia frowned deeply in the darkness behind the wall. “I may have said those things once, but you are taking them completely out of context! Those were just a few inside jokes between friends.”

Chrysalis rolled her eyes. “Like I care. Ponies will eat up whatever I tell them to—whatever you tell them to, actually. But I’d better get going. Lots to do in just fourteen days! I’ll have a few of my drones finish sealing you away before the hour is through. And just between you and me, I can’t wait until we meet again.”

With that said, Chrysalis blew Celestia a kiss and headed for the doors. Before she exited, she stopped and turned to her again. “And don’t touch the bricks until they’ve had time to dry. The cement’s wet, so—”

Using her horn, Celestia dislodged a brick and heard it topple to the ground on the other side. This at least made her smile for a moment.

“What did I just say?” Chrysalis screamed at her. “Just for that, I’m taking away your cheese cracker supply. Enjoy two weeks without crackers, Princess!”

And she did just that. It seemed Chrysalis was more ruthless than ever this time around.

Two weeks in the dark went by as fast as a never-ending dream. Celestia came in and out of sleep and was never fully aware of what day or even what time it was. Shouldn’t her guards have found her by now? Shouldn’t the very sun have stopped moving, prompting someone to come and look for her? The real her and not the terrible imposter out on the loose?

Or was Chrysalis doing something far worse while acting as her? Something so terrible ponies couldn’t care less about the movement of the sun? Right now, Chrysalis’ army could be marching on Canterlot… or Ponyville… or Cloudsdale… or—

Celestia had to stop herself from going down that road again. Negative thoughts would lead her nowhere. At the moment, she knew nothing—nothing at all. So until she had definite proof of Chrysalis’ master plan, she’d only deal with the here and the now. Speaking of which…

A familiar sense had entered her horn only minutes ago. The moment she could, Celestia wrapped it in a bright aura and shot it against the brick wall before her, obliterating it completely. Either Chrysalis’ spell had faded away or her two weeks were up. Either way, Celestia was free. And now she wanted answers.

Celestia made it to the doorway in the room before she halted herself. She muttered, “If Chrysalis has been impersonating me for all this time, there’s a good chance there’s a target on my head. She might’ve turned me into a tyrant in that time. I’ll need to know more about what’s happened before I reveal myself.”

Having said that all aloud instead of simply thinking it, she hurriedly trotted to a nearby closet and donned a heavy black cloak over herself. Properly hidden, she swung open the doors to the castle and prepared herself for the worst.

Luna was singing inside her room. Already that was odd. Odder still was the fact that it was the middle of the day and Luna wasn’t asleep in bed like she normally would’ve been. Already Celestia had a bad feeling about all of this.

Gently, she knocked on the door. “Princess Luna?” Celestia asked as guttural and deep as she could manage. Celestia didn’t want to give herself away incase Chrysalis was inside—or incase everyone had been told not to trust her and that she’d gone insane or something. “Are you all right in there?”

At once, Luna’s joyful singing stopped. “Celestia? Is that you? Why are you doing your stallion voice again? I thought we went through how creepy that was.”

Celestia found she couldn’t take it anymore. It was too comforting hearing her sister’s voice again after spending so long alone in the dark. She rushed inside.

“Oh, Luna, I’ve missed you so much!” Celestia declared, wrapped a foreleg around her. “Whatever I’ve done in the last few days to hurt you, I’m sorry, okay? I didn’t mean it. It wasn’t me, it was—”

Celestia stopped her speech the moment her leg came in contact with the material Luna had around her. She took a step back and found her sister clad in a deep blue dress with matching rose petals sewn throughout it. Even Luna’s mane had been done up in a highly stylized bun.

“Luna?” Celestia gasped. “Why are you dressed like that?”

Luna glanced down with a blush. “I know it’s early, but I was too excited. I wanted to see how the dress fit with everything so I tried tying up my mane myself. What do you think?”

Celestia hesitated a moment. “I think you look… very nice, sister. I… umm… perhaps I’ve forgotten, but what’s the occasion again?”

Playfully, Luna gave her a shot in the shoulder and glanced away again. “The wedding, of course.” She anxiously rubbed a hoof along the marble floor. “So you really like it? Like… really like it, Celestia?”

Celestia had to steel herself and tighten every muscle in her body. Already, Chrysalis had wronged her on a very personal level, whether she meant to or not. It seemed that over the last two weeks, her own sister had found someone very special to her and was planning on marrying them—already having missed out on their entire courtship as she was trapped behind stone. At least she’d still be able to make it to the wedding… after stopping Chrysalis, of course.

“I think you look beautiful, Luna,” Celestia told her earnestly. “You’re going to make someone very happy, indeed.”

“I hope so,” Luna replied dreamily, “because she makes me happier than I could’ve ever imagined.”

‘She’, Celestia thought absently. Well, around forty percent of marriages in Equestria are between mares. No biggie. I’d only like to know who she was before going in blind at the—

That was when Luna lunged forward and planted her lips firmly on Celestia’s, which in turn sealed as tight as a forbidden temple buried under a mile of quicksand and ancient booby traps.

Celestia asked through her mashed lips. “Please tell me what you’re doing.”

In response, Luna backed away with flushed cheeks and averted her sister’s glare. “Oh, sorry. You’re right, Celestia. I should’ve waited until the wedding tomorrow. I know I’m supposed to wait until after they say kiss the bride to, you know, kiss the bride, but… well, these last two weeks we’ve shared together have just been so wonderful! And to think, all this happiness could’ve been ours if we only gave into temptation long ago. Who cares what other ponies think, right? When we have each other for support?” She laughed cheerfully. “Maybe I’ll make a new royal decree! That all insults directed towards us be outlawed!”

Luna angled her head so a lock of her mane fell in front of her face.

“How would that sound, my golden sunflower?” she asked sweetly. When Celestia only continued to stare deep into the void she only recently found herself in, Luna prodded her by adding, “This is usually when you call me your sweet little Moon Pie.”

“Oh?” Celestia mumbled, as she collapsed to the floor, all original vigor after escaping her brick prison swiftly taken away from her. As her hooves remained lifeless in her lap, she painfully told her sister, “Listen, Luna, there’s been a bit of a mistake. You see, Queen Ch—”

Instantly, Luna brought two hooves up to her mouth. “No! Please, don’t start saying that! I had a feeling you’d get cold hooves at the last minute, but please, sister, just listen to me for a moment!” She came forward to sit beside Celestia. “I know you might be worried about what the citizens think of us being together, but does their opinion really matter all that much? As long as we show them that love transcends all bounds, I can’t see there being much of a problem. Love conquers all, does it not?” She hastily wiped at her eyes. “Truth be told, I haven’t been feeling so attached to Equestria ever since my return, but then you came to see me that one night and… now it feels as if everything’s suddenly changed, as if I can be happy again. Please don’t let any doubts or fears you might have ruin what we’ve built together. Please, sister? I don’t think I’ve ever heard you speak so much about love before than over the last few days. True love.”

Luna rested her head on one of Celestia’s shoulders.

“And it’s not like you’d need to deal with the public all that much since you announced your immediate retirement.”

As softly as she could, Celestia ran a hoof along her sister’s back, trying to keep the rising hatred inside of her well-contained. Before this odd encounter, she was merely going to put a stop to whatever Chrysalis had planned. Now she was curious just how many pieces she could break the Queen into before she didn’t feel so angry anymore.

She guessed thirty-two.