The sound of wing beats echoing through the hall of Canterlot castle drew the attention of many a castle worker. Maids and servants, wandering nobles and commoners alike looked to the source often in surprise and some in annoyance.

Cadence ignored these looks and the occasional shout in her direction as she flew as quickly towards the Castle ballroom, cringing at the pain in her legs that she kept close to her barrel, but pushing forward nonetheless. Her eyes darting left and right, she watched the walls around her for any sign of the creature she had once known as Twilight Sparkle, her favorite little filly and close friend, now transformed into something far more sinister. Gasping for air as she flew, she turned a corner in the Castle's wing and spotted the door to the ballroom, it was closed and there were no guards to bar her path. She scrambled to the door, pushing it open with all the strength she had left, adrenaline pumping through her system.

"-And do you Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, ta-," Celestia was now facing the fake Cadence, proceeding with the wedding.

"Stop!" Everypony attending the ceremony snapped their heads in her direction as she fluttered into the room, landing on shaking legs, breathing heavily and looking worn. Small drops of blood began to drip from the wounds on her legs, having been reopened slightly due to her frantic movements. Celestia stepped forward, her eyes wide as she stared at her, while the imposter grimaced, glaring daggers at the real Cadence. Looking between the two, Celestia stared in momentary confusion.

"What is the meaning of this?" The imposter at the dais opened her mouth as if to defend herself, her face having already scrunched into a false sense of shock, but before she could utter a single word, Cadence began to shout.

"We don't have time for this! I'll sum it up as quickly as I can. I'm the real Cadence, I've been trapped in the Crystal Caves beneath the city for the last few days. The imposter behind you is a Changeling that's been feeding off of Shining's love for me ever since she trapped me down there! She's kept him in a trance to hide her feeding and manipulation of him!" Cadence took a moment to catch her breath while everypony turned to the fake who did her best impression of a goldfish, clearly not expecting to be interrupted and outed in the same sentence. Celestia's gaze turning hard, she and the rest of the bearers quickly backed away from her.

The imposter sighed after a moment, before smirking as her eyes shined with an emerald light. Suddenly she was consumed in a tower of green magic, the nobles and commoners in the seats nearest scrambling to climb over the back of the pews to get away, frantic yelling and screaming erupting from them. When the tempest died down, there stood a creature that often was only seen in the depictions of books.

She stood as tall as Celestia, but instead of skin and fur, her body seemed to be made of black chitin, some green covering her belly and back. She spread two wicked insect-like wings that buzzed softly, her long seaweed like mane and tail barely moving as she did so. The most disturbing thing to them, however, was how her long legs, her wings, her mane and tail, even her twisted horn, seemed to be riddled with holes that they could see through.

She laughed at the shocked and fearful stares, her slightly distorted voice sending cold shivers down everypony's spine. After a moment, she turned her venomous gaze upon Cadence and smirked.

"My, my, to think you would escape from those caves, much less in time to reveal everything. Well, no sense letting your little victory go to waste. I am a Changeling, Queen Chrysalis, and I have come to declar-" Cadence cut her off before she could finish.

"I don't care! I just don't. Fucking. Care! I don't care who you are, I don't care what you were planning, I don't even care about what you did to me. Right now, the only thing I care about, is that you leave!" Everypony looked in bewilderment, all the while she paid them no heed as her eyes frantically searched the walls of the room, her frame trembling.

Chrysalis looked to the frazzled mare with wide eyes, before huffing in irritation as she adopted a more offended visage.

"Are you serious? After all I've done? After all the planning I've put into this? Do you honestly expect me to just flee because you demand it?" She burst out laughing, only to stop short as she heard the high pitched sound of magic ringing through the air. With quick reflexes, she dodged to the side, crouching into a defensive stance. A bright gold beam of light blasted past where she had been standing and burned into the stone pillar behind her.

"I may not know the whole story, but I won't allow this to continue." Turning to face her attacker, Chrysalis found the glaring eyes of the ruler of Equestria bearing down on her. She glared back in challenge. Catching movement on either side of her, she spotted the orange earth pony mare called Applejack and the cyan mare with a rainbow mane called Rainbow Dash, flanking their Princess.

"We got your back Princess!" Rainbow Dash yelled as she shed the wedding attire alongside her friend in one easy motion, the cloth collapsing to the ground in heaps. Applejack seemingly pulled her hat from out of nowhere and steadied it on her head while she glared hard at Chrysalis.

"What we got here is a pest problem, an ah hate pests!" She growled, pawing her front right hoof into the floor and snorting.

Taking a moment to glance at the mares, Celestia gave a curt nod of approval. With the guards that had been stationed outside having been assigned another task, the two bearers of Honesty and Loyalty were her best bet at winning this. Chrysalis cursed her luck if it were just Celestia, she might could have stood a better chance in a one on one, but it would seem the circumstances were not in her favor.

Fluttershy, Rarity and Pinkie Pie quickly took it upon themselves to gather up the young ones. Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo had all been the flower fillies for the wedding, but right now they were terrified and needed to be protected. Looking past the group that would no doubt soon come to blows, Rarity focused her magic on Spike, who watched the events beside a stone still Shining Armor. With a quick yank of her head, he yelped in surprise before finding himself in her embrace and suddenly thrust into the middle with the fillies.

Snapping her attention from the walls around them, Cadence turned her panicked gaze to the three hostile ponies and one changeling.

"No, no no! We don't have time for this! She's coming, and if you-" A cry from Rainbow Dash interrupted her as the prismatic mare leaped forward, aiming her right hoof at Chrysalis' horn, attempting to take out her magic on the first blow.

Chrysalis' dodged deftly, snarling as she lit up her horn and batted the pegasus away with a minor blast. The winged pony was faster then she had anticipated, preventing the Changeling from charging the spell completely and seriously injuring the mare.

'Ugh, amateur-' She thought in annoyance, only for a set of orange hooves to come crashing against her chest, making her gasp in pain as she was launched back, colliding with the entranced Shining and sending them both falling over in a heap. Shining's eyes rolled in his head as the green tint to them slowly began to fade.

Scrambling back to her hooves with a hiss and kicking the poor stallion out of her way, Chrysalis glared back at the earth mare that had dared to strike her. Applejack quickly turned from the heavy buck she delivered and leaped to capitalize on her momentary advantage. Rainbow Dash, who had only been knocked a few feet away, jumped to join the fray, her wings propelling her forward.

Chrysalis' cursed at her situation, it would be difficult to deal with these two. She smirked, but not too difficult. Lighting up her horn, she snatched Rainbow Dash from the air with a yelp, using her own flight momentum to slam her into Applejack, knocking the two of them off the dais and down the few stairs in a tumble of limbs and cries of pain.

"You're going to have to try better than that to take me down." She smirked at them as she straightened her frame, only to be blasted further back by a beam of golden magic slamming into her. With a groan, she looked up to see Celestia staring her down at her once more from the center of the dais. The ruler's gaze was hard and she saw no mercy in those eyes.

"Rainbow Dash, Applejack, keep her off balance, I'll provide ranged support." She crouched a bit, her wings flaring as her horn lit up once more. Chrysalis quickly got back to her hooves, grimacing as her chest twinged in pain and a small bit of green blood began to leak from the left side of her mouth.

"So it's going to be like that..." Catching movement in the corner of her eye, she saw that the two ponies she had sent tumbling had untangled themselves and were advancing on her again. Both mares gave the Changeling burning glares as Rainbow leaned her neck over, releasing a few popping sounds as Applejack straightened her hat and spit off to the side, her eyes never once leaving her target.

"You have to stop this now!" Cadence shouted, attempting to step forward but falling short when she was quickly reminded of the pain in her legs. She gasped as she fell to the floor, her wings too exhausted to hold her aloft anymore and her legs in too much pain. She lit her horn, hoping to use a spell to regain their attention, but the blue light faded shortly after its conception. She groaned in frustration at her own weakness while the nobles and commoners nearest to her, and weren't currently enthralled by the battle, stared at her in confusion.

Dusty Joy was not having a good day, in fact, she was having a rather horrible day. Groaning in frustration, she thought back on what it had been that lead her here.

First of all, as a Thestral, or bat pony as her kind have been affectionately nicknamed, she shouldn't even be up at this Luna-forsaken hour. But with the wedding going on today, a lot of the staff in the castle were having to pull doubles to make sure that everything was spotless for the event. Dark bags rested beneath her tired yellow eyes as she continued to dust a small bust of princess Celestia that rested on a pedestal in the hallway, the same bust she had been dusting for the past half hour.

The second thing to have gone wrong is that her boss, Peach Seed, had decided to give her the longest hall in the whole, fucking, castle, to clean all by herself. She had tried to argue the point but apparently, the other two ponies who were supposed to be helping decided to call in their vacation time a week in advance so that they could avoid the wedding detail. She cursed them inwardly as she lightly bit on the feather duster handle in her teeth, her eyes drooping somewhat.

Finally, the final nail in the coffin for her bad day was getting reprimanded for having kicked a stallion in the face when he had come up behind her and smacked her flank. She blushed lightly in anger at remembering that particular event. She had been leaning over, trying to clean underneath one of the hall benches, when he had suddenly come up from behind her and smacked it!

Her boss was understanding of the situation thankfully, but he still had to reprimand her in front of the pervert! Of course, it did make it just a teeny bit better, when he turned and began to lay into the stallion about his own behavior, then having the culprit escorted from the grounds by a couple of guards.

Her eyes began to close a bit more as she barely continued to dust the small sculpture, most of the tool missing and hitting thin air. Maybe a small nap wouldn't hurt? Nopony would be coming down this hall anytime soon with the wedding anyway and it's not like she hasn't worked hard enough. After a few more moments, the dark grey and black speckled mare drifted off while standing in front of the bust, the feather duster still held lightly in her teeth.

After barely a few seconds of the young mare passing out, the stillness of the hall was interrupted by the sound of stone and paint cracking and chipping. Just down the way from her, a massive dark stain began to spread like a disease from the base of the wall, climbing up to its center. The stone surface seemed to almost rot and decay as small bits of stone and paint fell to the floor as black, vein-like tendrils spider-webbed across its surface and followed the shadow that moved beneath it. It continued its path down the hallway, the wall it was attached to decaying in its wake. It almost seemed to gain speed as it progressed, but never going faster than the average pony's quick trot.

Passing by the sleeping Dusty Joy, the wall before her gave a small groan as it rotted and heaved, the dark tendril-like veins branching out. The back of the bust that she had been dusting rested against the wall behind it and one of the veins lightly touched where it connected. With an even louder crack, the bust fell in half, the upper portion crashing to the floor, waking her with a start and causing her to drop the duster.

"Wh-what! I'm not sleeping, I swear!" She looked left and right in a slight panic, only to sigh in relief when she saw that no pony was there. Her tufted ears flicked at the strange sounds that filled the hall and she glanced to the wall ahead of her and her eyes grew wide in shock.

The entire wall before her was near black and decayed. The bust she had been cleaning was broken in half, with the head of the piece resting on the floor at her hooves. Looking down the hall, she watched in horror as the shadowy stain continued in its path of corrosion towards the other end and around the corner.

"...Nope... Nope, nope, no way, nu-huh, not in this lifetime. Somepony else can deal with this, I'm out." She turned on her hooves, leaving her duster to lay on the floor and trotting out toward the other end of the hall, in the opposite direction of the creepy stain.

"I don't get paid enough for this!" Her shout echoed down the hall.

"I don't suppose any of you have any earplugs?" Steel Blitz sighed in annoyance for what seemed like the tenth time that morning as Blue Blood continued to yell through his door while she and her squad stood next to it. Light Shine, the blue unicorn stallion and twin brother to Emerald Haze, the jade green unicorn across from him, had been asking for some way to block out the noble's obnoxious pleas.

"No, Light, we don't have any earplugs, neither you or your brother know a spell to counter sound, and no you can't use my wings to muffle the noise by wrapping them around your head. So when you ask us, again, five more minutes from now, about some way to block out the sound of that overgrown colt, not only will my answer be the same as the last nine times, but it'll be accompanied by an armored hoof to the groin." She glared up at him as he smirked back, only to wince, his ears flaying back at Blue Blood's obnoxious voice.

"Let me out at once! You can't do th-" Maple Branch, the large dark brown earth pony, lightly kicked the door with one rear leg without much looking at it. The force of the kick echoed around the hall junction and they could hear the prince fall on his flank away from the door that he must have been leaning against, an imprint of a large hoof now embedded into the hard mahogany frame.

"Pipe down lad, the princess will be ere' soon enough to let ya' sorry flank out." His voice was gruff and the others looked to him in surprise. It wasn't often that their large, normally stoic friend spoke or acted out in some way without being ordered to unless he had a few too many pints down at the pub. Glancing over at them, he shrugged.

"E's actin like one o' me sister's lil' ones. They can be a bit o'er the top, so sometimes I af' to step in an' put me hoof down." They all looked to him for a bit longer, before nodding and glancing aside. Silence reigned through the hall before Emerald looked toward their lieutenant, a small blush on his face.

"So uh, l-lieutenant? I had a question..." Light Shine silently snickered at this while Maple Branch smiled lightly. Giving the blue unicorn a sharp glare, Steel Blitz turned and smiled at Emerald, her expression lighter as she nodded for him to go ahead.

"I-I was, um, wondering if, a-after our shift today you'd like to, maybe go get a drink together? W-with me?" His blush only grew as he spoke, his eyes flicking from her to his hooves. Steel Blitz's smile softened and she sighed.

She'd known that Emerald had had a crush on her for some time, it wasn't exactly his best-kept secret. She had put this squad together nearly a year ago, so she had plenty of time to get to know all of them personally aside from what she read in their files. They had all become fast friends and they each had their own little quirks, but one that stood out the most at times was that Emerald was shy when it came to mares. He wasn't borderline afraid to talk the ones he liked, it just usually took him a while to get the strength to ask one of them out. She hoped he wouldn't take this the wrong way, it wasn't him! Honest! It's just, she's not exactly into stallions per se.

"Listen, Emerald, I-" She hardly began to see him deflate at her words before a loud crack caught her attention, the rest of her guard instantly swapping to alert. Eyes sharp and ears perked, they glanced in every direction for the source.

"There!" Turning their heads, they followed the direction of Light Shine's gaze as he nodded to something coming around the junction of the hall. A massive black stain moved through the wall itself, causing it to decay and crack, spider-like veins splitting and marring the wall's surface as it trailed its way towards them.

"Squad, Blossom Position!" The whole squad blurred into motion. Steel jumping to the front of the group while Emerald took a position to her back right, Light stood to her back left and Maple planting himself firmly behind them, a bulwark in the event the enemy made it passed the first three.

"Emerald, what can you see?" Steel barked as her gaze never left the stain, it was approaching them at an even speed while Emerald quickly ignited his horn and began to search through the wall.

"I'm not seeing anything Lieutenant, it's like there's nothing there... Wait! I can sense... there is something but, hang on." Closing his eyes, his horn grew brighter with its green light. He prodded within the wall with is aura as he felt about it, trying to feel what could be causing such damage when his mind touched something that shouldn't have been there, his head exploded with images of blood, death, and something else, something... The image of a demonic figure, twisted in nature and dripping with a black fluid lashed out at him within his mind, sending him back to his body.

His eyes snapped open with a yelp of fear and he fell back, a cold sweat covering his body and he shook, breathing heavily. His brother glanced over at him in worry.

"L-l-l-lieutenant!" He stared at the stain with fearful eyes. As Steel glared at it, the shadow began to close in, and then proceeded to continue through the wall beside them, across from Blue Blood's door. If they didn't do something soon it would proceed unhindered!

"Well!?" She demanded in haste, snapping her gaze to the down and terrified stallion. He gulped in air and frantically shook his head.

"I-I don't know! B-but it's dangerous!" He gasped out while struggling back to his hooves. Steel cursed beneath her breath and turned back to the stain.

"Can the two of you halt it's spread with your magic?" She wasn't stupid, she knew she couldn't physically stop something that was obviously using the wall as it's medium, but that damn well wouldn't stop her from trying. Hearing two sets of horns light up behind her, she chanced a glance back, seeing Emerald back on his hooves as he and his brother combined their magic.

They grunted and strained as they tried to feel for the source of the shadow that moved through the wall, but to no avail. Their horns died down as they looked to their lieutenant with worry and frustration.

"I'm sorry ma'am, but we can't even get a grip on the wall itself! It's like magic doesn't work near it." Light Shine watched with worry as the stain passed them by, but not before the whole hallway shook as something large suddenly slammed into the wall where the stain's front was, smashing through it and bursting into the service hall on the other side. They all stood on alert as the dust settled, revealing Maple Branch standing in the rubble what was left, not a scratch on him or his armor. He glanced around to the edges of the wall, noting that the decay and stain continued it's path down the hall, undeterred. Turning to their lieutenant, who stared at him with a raised brow, he shrugged.

"Was worth a shot." He paused momentarily to dust himself off. With that, Steel turned to the twins, her body rigid and eyes determined.

"Stay with the charge, Maple and I will go and follow this thing, if it's headed where I think it's headed, there is gonna be big trouble." They looked like they wanted to argue, but a sharp glare from their superior officer made them bite their tongues.

"We still have our orders to keep him confined. The two of you will stay, if we need back up, we'll send for you. Everypony have their dragon fire charm?" They each reached within the neck of their armor and produced a necklace with a pendant at the end that resembled a fireball, green in color. The pendant was used among the guard to quickly deliver messages to each other in emergencies, it was a one time use only, so they had to be cautious with it.

Nodding to them, she turned and began to sprint down the hall, the loud stomping hoof-steps of Maple chasing after her.

"... Darnit, I never got her answer." Emerald sighed while his brother just chuckled and clapped him on the back with a hoof.

"What in the name of Aunty are you fools doing out there!?" The muffled and ear-grating voice of the prince came through the door, causing both brothers to groan in annoyance.

"You have to stop! You need to get out of here dammit!!" Cadence continued to scream at the fighting mares who all ignored her cries. Celestia turned her gaze to her briefly, worry creasing her brow, before having to snap her attention back to the front, throwing up another shield to block a blast of magic.

Rainbow Dash and Applejack were worse off, small bruises and singed fur shared between the two of them as they dodged the magic to the best of their ability. Everypony was breathing heavily and though they outnumbered the Changeling Queen, they didn't seem to be making any progress other than having backed her up against a wall on the far side of the ballroom. Only a few minor injuries marred Chrysalis' frame, but nothing substantial enough to put her out of commission.

"Go ahead, keep fighting me! It will only delay the inevitable! Even now, my Changeling swarm chips away at the shield that surrounds Canterlot. Any moment now and they'll be breaking through, your city will be overrun!" She laughed as Rainbow launched herself at her again, screaming in anger. But the queen was ready for her, with a wicked grin her horn lit up in her toxic green aura as she captured the mare in a strong telekinetic grip, holding her in front of herself. Celestia immediately stopped the blast she had been charging and stared angrily at the Changeling while Rainbow struggled in the magic grip.

"Rainbow!" Her friends all called out to her in fear and worry as the Changeling smirked.

"Let... me... go!" Rainbow cried, struggling to move and escape the magical grasp.

"Now what Princess? Are you still willing to fight me? Go ahead, fire one of your blasts, I'm certain It will hit me this time." Celestia grimaced at the grinning Changeling.

"Coward!" She exclaimed, thinking quickly to find a way to free Rainbow without harming her.

Cadence stood near the middle of the aisle now, struggling to make her way towards them on shaking legs, her voice had started to go hoarse as she been yelling to get them to stop. The only good thing she can think to come of the fight was that the spell on Shining had been weakened enough from that impact he took at the start of the fight. He now stood next to her, helping to hold her up on his own shaky and weakened hooves.

"Cadence, what... what in Equestria happened?" He asked wearily, grasping at his head as another wave of nausea overtook him, the result of the leftover magic that the Changeling had been using on him. He flinched in pain as he forced his eyes open to watch the battle unfold. He cursed himself for not being of any use to her majesty. He tried to light his horn one more time for the sake of it, the bare tip flickering before going out.

"I- I can't explain right now..." Cadence fought to catch her breath, her throat sore from all the yelling.

"But we have to stop them. Chrysalis' needs to leave now or else-" The echoing sound of a large stone cracking rang throughout the room, cutting her off mid-sentence.

Her eyes slowly widened in horror as she turned her head to the doors at the front of the room. The wall next to them now sported a rather large crack in its surface. Only those who were not completely absorbed by the situation upfront, took notice of the damage and all watched in silent trepidation as a great black shadow began to grow on the wall's surface. It began to decay and fall to pieces before their very eyes as it began to move around the room, making its way toward the ongoing conflict. The hanging banisters that held depictions of flowers and were colored a pristine white began to darken as it passed, tearing apart and breaking away from their holds as they drifted to the floor below.

Cadence slowly began to lower herself to the floor in an attempt to make herself as small as possible while never taking her eyes off the shadow, her ears flayed back in fear as fresh tears poured from them. Shining watched the wall decay and he stared in shock.

"What in Celestia's name...?" He whispered to himself. Looking to Cadence, he took note of her apparent fear and immediately he hugged her close, glaring back at the wall in defiance.

"I-it's too late... she's here... she's here..." Cadence clenched her eyes tight as she whimpered into Shining's chest. He gulped nervously as he watched the decay spread across the room, making its way towards the fighting ponies.

Celestia had lit up her horn once more, a plan to free Rainbow and strike at the Queen in the same motion were fresh in her mind, but she froze as she watched the wall behind the Changeling grow dark, it's surface looking as though decades were passing in mere seconds. She stared in shock as it only grew darker behind the Queen, was this some magic of hers?

Chrysalis took no notice of the happening's around her as she focused solely on the princess.

"What's the matter, princess? If you don't free your precious little pony here, I might just have to take a quick bite." She hissed as she opened her mouth, a long, thin and forked red tongue stretching out as she leaned towards Rainbow, who closed her eyes tight.

Suddenly, Chrysalis found that she could no longer move her head forward, there was also a strange sensation around her neck. It almost felt like something was holding her back. Looking down, she stared in surprise and confusion as what appeared to be some kind of black rope, made from some foul-smelling liquid, wrapped tightly around her neck.

"Wha-" She didn't get so much as a word out before with a hard yank, she was snatched from where she stood and brought to heel into the decaying wall behind her. Her concentration broken, Rainbow was freed and she quickly dashed to the princess' side alongside Applejack, both who looked towards the scene with slight confusion and wariness.

"Wow princess, I didn't know you could do that." Rainbow spoke as she watched more black tendrils stretch from the dark stain on the wall behind Chrysalis, catching her legs and pinning them to the stone, a black liquid beginning to pour from where they connected with its surface.

"I... did not do this..." Celestia whispered in awe and more than a little worry as she watched the Changeling Queen be taken captive by this... thing.

The doors to the ballroom burst open once more as Steel Blitz and Maple Branch came bounding into the room. Nopony took much notice of them however as their gaze was firmly locked on the struggling Queen.

"Well, fuck..." Steel quipped as she took in the scene before her. Glancing about at all the nobles and commoners with their head's stuck in their flanks, she turned back to Maple and nodded her head to the right side of the room, he nodded an affirmative.

Turning to the opposite side, she took a deep breath, before barking orders into the crowd.

"Alright everypony, time to evacuate! All mares and foals to the front and out the door first, stallions form up in a wall behind them and block anything that gets through!" Nopony moved for a moment as they just stared at her as though she had grown a second head, she growled in frustration.

"Did I fucking stutter!? Get moving!" The ponies burst into a flurry of scrambling hooves as they quickly tried to follow her orders in a disorganized mess. The mares ushering the foals to the front as the stallions worked to form a defensive barrier behind them as they made their way out of the pews and down the aisle alongside the ponies on the right side of the ballroom where Maple directed them. Nodding to herself, Steel looked beyond them at the dais to see how things were progressing, only to spot three of the Element Bearers formed in a small circle around a young dragon and three other foals. With a groan, she sprinted past the quickly moving herd and made her way towards them.

Rarity was the first to spot her and quickly waved her over as she approached.

"Thank goodness, the guard finally made it here, what took you so long!" She complained, Steel ignored her and immediately began to give them orders.

"Take the fillies and the dragon and follow the herd out! I'll watch your backs." Pinkie jumped into her face, nearly shouting and flailing her hooves.

"Are you kidding me! We're not leaving without Dashie and Jacky!" She proclaimed, a hoof pointed in the direction of the two worn-out ponies who stood on either side of Celestia, Steel gave a vehement sigh.

"I understand that you want to help your friends, but you can't be here right now! We don't know what that thing is or what it's capable of, so we need to get all non-combatants out of the situation so that the rest of us can deal with it safely." She tried to convey the importance of this. If any of them were still hanging around when the shit hit the fan again, it could end badly.

"I'm not leaving without them! You can take the fillies and Spike, but we're staying!" Turning in surprise, all three mares stared at Fluttershy who stared back with a hard, unflinching gaze that made them wince and want to look away.

"Fine! Do what you want, come on you four, let's get you to safety." Giving up on the three mares, she quickly guided the four young ones out of the circle and led them to the herd, where Maple took charge of them, seeing them out.

Once the door was closed and the only remaining ponies in the ballroom were herself, Maple, the Element Bearers, her captain and his bride to be, Celestia, and the now captive and struggling Changeling, she took on a more combative stance alongside her second in command.

'Let's not forget that thing in the wall...' She thought bitterly as she carefully examined the dark stain that held the Changeling against her will. Chrysalis could only scream in frustration and anger as she tried to free herself from the strange bindings holding her to the stone surface.

"What is this! What trickery have you done, Celestia!?" She turned her gaze to the Princess, only to stare in surprise as the ruler's horn was not lit with her golden magic. This wasn't her doing, this was something else entirely. Grunting with effort, she struggled even more. Suddenly she paused and her eyes grew wide, she could feel something from within the wall behind her.

All Changelings, no matter their divergent species, had the ability to sense emotions. This was beneficial for the hunting of targets who held a great deal of love for them to feed off of. But some emotions stung them harshly when exposed to them in larger amounts. What she was feeling now was one such emotion. An emotion in such a stunningly large amount, that she nearly forgot to breathe and she shook in fear. There was so much hate coming from this wall... this thing that held her captive.

Several loud gasps and even a scream of fright caught her attention, looking up to see everypony in the room staring in shock and horror above her. Fearful, but curious, she chanced a look up and what she found there stole the voice from her throat.

Moments before she had looked up, the wall above her had grown ever darker until it was finally a pitch-black where no light reflected from its surface. Black liquid began pouring down from a point directly above the Changeling's head, dripping down the wall beneath it and pooling on the floor below. Slowly, a structure began to climb through the large stain, a massive head easily larger than the top half of its prey's body. Chrysalis began to shiver in terror as it looked down upon her with a predatory grin, it's dark purple, almost black fur dripping with the same black fluid that poured from the wall where it leaned. Its black eyes stared at her hungrily as it opened it's mouth wide, sharp rows of jagged, dagger-like teeth lining it's maw as it let out a distorted, demonic screech that caused everypony in the room to cover their ears in a vain attempt to drown it out. Several of the windows in the room cracked and one shattered, the glass falling to the floor and scattering across the marble.

Chrysalis could feel hot tears streaming down her face as she struggled even harder against her bindings, her eyes never breaking contact with the creature's as her horn lit up in desperation, only to flicker out as though something were blocking it. Screaming and yelling, she cried in fear and panic as she felt the creature above her rear it's head back in preparation to launch forward and no doubt bite off her upper half.

With a final scream of terror, she was suddenly blinded by a bright golden light and felt the wall behind her shake with a tremendous force. Falling forward, somehow free from her bindings, she crawled away and down the dais as she blinked rapidly to restore her vision. She climbed into the first pew at the bottom of the small set of stairs and over it to the second, cowering behind it like a filly as she shook and cried at what had almost come to pass. She didn't care that she had gotten free or how it happened, all she knew was that she was alive and that she could still feel the hatred from that monster in the air around her, engulfing her senses.

Celestia breathed heavily, the tip of her horn smoking slightly as she recovered from the powerful blast of magic she had produced to destroy the... thing. She didn't know what it was, but she knew she couldn't allow it to continue to exist in her presence. It felt foul to her, sickly and twisted, yet... familiar. She would have to wait until after everything had calmed down before she could thoroughly investigate it.

Cadence stared in horror at the massive, burning hole through the wall where she knew that Twilight had been. Looking to Celestia, fresh tears poured from her eyes as she gulped nervously.

"Y-y-you... killed her...?" Celestia, still gasping for air and sweating profusely after the expulsion of so much magic at once, looked to her in confusion.

"You... ki-killed... Twilight..." Everypony stared at her in shock.

Author's Notes:

Shaded:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GhMvKv4GX5U

Rainbow Dash: Eating popcorn and sipping a soda "This is getting Goooooood!"

Shaded: "Hey! you gonna share those?"

Rainbow Dash: "Only if you don't make me do the disclaimer." Slurps her soda

Shaded: "But, that's the whole reason you're here!"

Rainbow Dash: "Yeah and I changed my mind, I don't feel like doing it if I don't have to."

Shaded: Grumbling about lazy rainbow pegasi "I don't own MLP: FIM or the Equinox Ponies, nor any music that is linked within the story, also a Special thanks to King Blackfire for Proof-reading and edting. That said, I hope you all really enjoy this EXTRA large chapter! Now about that popcorn?"

Rainbow Dash: Throws away an empty bucket "Sorry, all out.

Shaded: "..."