“She’s here! She’s really here!” Rarity said in a panic as she paced back and forth, “I have to get out of here! I have to get Sweetie Belle out of here! If she finds me, I’d only lead her to Sweetie.”
Rarity sat down and looked at the stained glass window in the hall she was in. It just happens to be the one of her and her friends defeating Nightmare Moon and receiving their Elements of Harmony.
“But what about my dear friends?” Rarity asked herself, an internal conflict emerging, “What about Sweetie and her friends? What about the Elements of Harmony? They require all six of us together to harmonize.”
Rarity’s eyes then were drawn to Twilight’s depiction in the mural, “Twilight! What about her?! I don’t even know where she was sent to!” Rarity restarted her pacing before taking notice of one more detail: Nightmare Moon. Or rather, the pony behind the Nightmare, “Princess Luna! I need to warn her!”
Rarity ran to find Princess Luna, who had just finished her night watch. She was flying in the air, making it difficult to get her attention. Rarity first thought to take flight and go after her. But then she remembered she didn’t have wings. So she did the next best thing.
“LUNA!!!”
Rarity’s shout caught the night princess’s attention. Knowing the unicorn as being more proper, her uncouth manner of getting the alicorn’s attention meant that something must be wrong.
Landing on the Canterlot street below, Luna was now face to face with Rarity.
Realizing what she just did, Rarity bowed to the lunar diarch, “I apologize for my most unladylike manner of getting your attention, Princess!” Rarity nearly begged for forgiveness, “But I must speak to you.”
“Rise,” Luna instructed, the fashionista doing as instructed, “If you have an emergency that requires our assistance, the formality of bowing may be bypassed. Now, what is it you wished to speak to Us about?”
“Forgive me, Your Majesty,” Rarity apologized. She then took a moment to take a look at the crowded Canterlot streets, “Is there someplace we can speak more privately?”
Luna lit her horn before the two of them vanished in a navy blue flash. They reappeared in Luna’s own bed-chamber. Rarity looked on in awe at the depiction of the night sky on the ceiling. But before she could become too entranced, Luna spoke up.
“Our bed-chamber has a silencing spell put upon it,” Luna explained, “Since We are primarily nocturnal, the noise of the day can sometimes make it difficult to sleep. Is this ‘private’ enough for your needs?”
“It certainly is as private as it can be,” Rarity said before getting her mind back on track, “Listen, Canterlot is in danger. And the threat is already inside the barrier.”
“And you are sure of this?” Luna asked insistently, “May We ask how you know of this?”
An uncomfortable look spread across Rarity’s face at that request, “Please don’t ask me how I know as much as I do,” Rarity practically begged, “But I know that princess Mi Amore Cadenza is an imposter and that she teleported Twilight someplace. I don’t know where, but she could be in danger!”
There was a moment where Luna was considering what was said. Rarity could sense a conflict stirring within the princess. But her final response was reassuring, “We will use a scrying spell to locate Twilight. It is possible that the real Princess Cadenza is being held at the same location,” Luna said authoritatively, “As for you, go along your day as you have. It is best not to draw suspicion to yourself. If the enemy is aware that you’ve caught onto her, you and your sister will be in danger.”
“Thank you, Your Majesty,” Rarity bowed gratefully, “And be careful. You don’t know what you’re dealing with.”
Luna smiled warmly, “Thank you, Rarity. But you need not fret,” Luna said, “We are, in fact, more informed on the situation than even our sister is. So We do know what We are dealing with.” Luna took a moment to stare at Rarity seriously, “We really do know what We are dealing with.”
With a flash of her horn, Luna sent Rarity back to where they had met up. Luna then began the scrying spell before a ball of light left her horn, guiding her in the direction of the ancient gem mines.
The imposter Cadenza was preparing for the wedding, taking a rose from its vase and sticking it in her mane.
“This day is going to be perfect.
The kind of day of which I’ve dreamed since I was small.
Everypony will gather ‘round, say I look lovely in my gown.
What they don’t know is that I have fooled them all!”
Meanwhile, Rarity was busy also preparing for the wedding, putting on her bridesmaid dress.
“This day was going to be perfect.
The kind of day of which I’ve dreamed since I was small.
But the bride, she is a fake. And though my friends may celebrate,
Great danger may be lurking down that wedding hall…”
“I could care less about the dress.”
Cadenza kicks a table with a bucket of apples.
“I won’t partake in any cake.
Vows, well I’ll be lying when I say.”
The imposter princess begins caressing a mannequin with a green hat on it.
“That through any kind of weather,
I’ll want us to be together.
The truth is I don’t care for him at all!”
She then takes the hat and throws it into the air before zapping it with a green beam of magic, incinerating the hat into a pile of green ash. The pink imposter then stomps on the ashes.
“No, I do not love the groom.
In my heart, there is no room.
But I still want him to be all mine!”
Rarity looked into the other room where the Cutie Mark Crusaders were getting ready to play their roles as flower fillies.
“Can we escape before it’s too late?
Is there a way to save the day?”
Rarity sat down and lowered her head in defeat.
“Hope, I’ll be lying if I say.”
A fiery determination then grew in her eyes.
“Sweetie Belle, I will not lose her
To the one who will abuse her.
My little Sweetie will not have to fear this day!”
Rarity then walked down the hall towards the chapel.
“And Twilight I hope you are alright.
I’ll need your help to win this fight.
Queen Chrysalis’s plans will happen very soon!”
The disguised changeling queen began walking down the aisle, following the trio of flower fillies bouncing joyously down the aisle.
“Finally, the moment has arrived
For me to be one lucky bride!”
Rarity was with her friends where the bridesmaids stood. She watched nervously as the events were playing out.
“Celestia, she doesn’t know.
I want to know how things will go.
Canterlot, it will be…”
“…Mine, all mine,” the imposter said with an evil laugh.
Celestia stood at the head of the Chapple, prepared to start the wedding ceremony, “Mares and gentlecolts,” She began, “We are gathered here today to witness the union of Princess Mi Amore Cadenza and Shining Armor.”
As the princess continued, Rarity was at the side, visibly uncomfortable. She kept looking towards the doors for one thing. But her entire demeanor was nervous, including muttering to herself.
“Rarity, are you okay, Sugarcube?” Applejack whispered.
Rarity then had a sheepish look of worry on her face, “Is it that obvious?” she whispered back before talking more to herself, “I’m normally better at hiding my emotions than this.”
Applejack looked at Rarity with a deadpan stare, “Rarity, yer a drama queen. You tryin’ ta hide yer feelin’s is like a dragon tryin’ ta hide his scales,” Applejack’s expression became more concerned, “But even fer you, yer nerves are as jumpy as a jackrabbit on a trampoline. Ah know ya well enough to know this ain’t normal.”
“You don’t know me as well as you believe you do,” Rarity said absentmindedly, “But you’re correct. I just don’t know how much I can say without putting you in danger. But this wedding shouldn’t be happening.”
“Shining Armor, do you have the ring?” Celestia asked, continuing the ceremony.
“Who are ya, and what’ve ya done with Rarity?” Applejack asked sarcastically.
Rarity couldn’t help but consider the irony of Applejack’s words, “I’m serious, Applejack,” Rarity practically begged, “Twilight was right about the bride. And because we betrayed her trust, she’s now in danger.”
“I’m the Element o’ Honesty,” Applejack explained, “Are you sayin’ that I couldn’t tell if Twi was lyin’?”
“You were too focused on finding the bride to focus on whether Twilight was telling the truth or not,” Rarity said, “I know what I’m saying seems suspicious to you, probably thinking that I should’ve warned somepony if I believed Twilight was in danger.”
“Is it that obvious?” Applejack asked.
“Trust me, it’s not that obvious. I just have an eye for details like that,” Rarity said, “And I did warn Luna. She’s taking care of finding Twilight. She asked me to act like I didn’t know what was going on to avoid suspicion.”
“Princess Cadenza and Shining Armor,” Celestia said, concluding, “It is my great pleasure to pronounce you-”
“STOP!”
The ponies all began chattering when they heard the shout. Twilight stood at the doors to the chapel, who looked a bit worse for wear but okay. But the look of anger got many ponies’ attention.
Rarity put her hoof to her forehead in relief, ‘Thank Celestia, she’s safe!’
The bride growled in frustration, “Why does she have to be so possessive of her brother?” She said with a stomp of her hoof. She then noticed how everypony was looking at her, so she pulled out some crocodile tears, “Why does she have to ruin my special day?”
“Because it’s not your special day!” the bride’s voice said. But everypony gasped when they realized it came from behind Twilight, who stepped aside to reveal another Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, this one even more worse for wear than Twilight, “It’s mine!”
“What?” The imposter demanded, “But how did you escape my bridesmaids?”
Princess Cadance and Twilight were near the exit of the caves. But they were stopped by three ponies. The former bridesmaids, their eyes glowing green with magic.
“You’re not going anywhere,” the three said in unison, obviously in a trance of some kind.
The trio was backing Twilight and Cadance into a corner before the pink princess noticed a conveniently placed bouquet of flowers. Cadance waved the bouquet in front of the ponies, their eyes drawn to it. Cadance threw the bouquet out of the way, the three bridesmaids jumping to catch it, “I want it!” they shout in unison.
“Huh, clever,” the imposter said, mildly impressed, “But you’re still too late.”
“I-I don’ understand,” Applejack said, her mind not wrapping around the situation, “How can there be two of ‘em?”
“She’s a changeling,” the real Cadance explained, pointing at the imposter, “She takes the form of somepony you love and gains power by feeding off your love for them.”
The imposter, now indeed found out, burst into emerald flames. The fire spread across her body, changing it as it passed. Purple and pink feathers turned to translucent blue gossamer. Pink fur turned to black chitin. Pink legs turned to black, hole-filled legs. A spiraled horn turned to a jagged antennae-like horn. The crown of flowers turned to a gangly black crown. Purple eyes turned to green, slitted, double-ringed iris, pale green sclera eyes.
The ponies all gasped in surprise, though that was an expected reaction. The black insectoid figure stood proudly, “Right you are, princess,” the changeling said as she pointed to herself as she walked down the aisle towards Cadance, “And as queen of the changelings, it is up to me to find food for my subjects. Equestria has more love than any place I've ever encountered. My fellow changelings will be able to devour so much of it that we will gain more power than we have ever dreamed of!”
“They’ll never get the chance!” Cadance insisted, though the waver in her voice betrayed her confidence, “Shining Armor's protection spell will keep them from ever even reaching us!”
“Oh, I doubt that,” the changeling queen chuckled as she turned back to the groom, lighting up her horn, “Isn’t that right, dear?”
Shining Armor’s eyes began to glow with a green light as he mindlessly nodded his confirmation, “Mm-hmm.”
Cadance ran towards her mind-controlled lover. But her way was blocked by a black chitinous body, “Ah, ah, ah. Don't want to go back to the caves, now do you?” Queen Chrysalis said mockingly before walking back up to Shining Armor, “Ever since I took your place, I've been feeding off Shining Armor's love for you. Every moment, he grows weaker, and so does his spell. Even now, my minions are chipping away at it.”
It was then that they all noticed a sound echoing through the city. It was the sound of several bodies ramming against the barrier.
The changeling queen laughed triumphantly as she caressed the mindless groom, “He may not be my husband, but he is under my total control now,” This caused Twilight and Cadance to gasp in fear, “And, I'm sorry to say, unable to perform his duties as captain of the Royal Guard.”
“Not my Shining Armor!” Cadance cried in fear.
“Soon, my changeling army will break through,” the changeling queen said as she continued her monologuing, “First, we take Canterlot. And then, all of Equestria!” Chrysalis jumped into the air at that last statement, hovering in the air for a moment.
“No. You won't,” Celestia came walking up behind Chrysalis, ready and willing to defend her little ponies, “You may have made it impossible for Shining Armor to perform his spell, but now that you have so foolishly revealed your true self, I can protect my subjects from you!”
Celestia leaped into the air and shot a beam of magic at the interloper. Chrysalis retaliated with her own beam of magic. The two beams clashed in the middle. Celestia was winning the duel. But the Queen wasn’t finished quite yet. She put an extra bit of energy into her beam of magic, pushing it back and toward Celestia.
There was an explosion…
A crown clatters on the floor…
A collective gasp of shock…
Silence.
The solar diarch has fallen, lying on the floor, weakened… defeated.
“Princess Celestia!” Twilight shouted as she ran to her mentor.
“Princess Celestia… lost?” Rarity said, her shock matching that of the entire room.
“Ah! Shining Armor's love for you is even stronger than I thought!” the victorious changeling queen said, herself even surprised at the outcome, “Consuming it has made me even more powerful than Celestia!”
Twilight was holding up Celestia’s head as she tried to get her back up.
“The Elements of Harmony,” Celestia said, her voice filled with determination, “You must get to them and use their power to defeat the queen.”
As the six ran out the chapel doors, they threw off their dresses. All but Rarity, who had opted to stay behind. Partly to make sure to catch the dresses so that they could be put away properly, and partly because she was torn between her friends and the changeling queen, “Rarity!” they call out to her, convincing her to drop what she was doing and run to her friends.
Chrysalis laughed as she called after the six, “You can run, but you can't hide!”
As they ran, the sound of pounding against the barrier was heard, though a bit louder this time. They could now see that the source was the changelings. With a final ram from the entire swarm, the orb of magic began shattering.
Once the barrier was no more, the changelings began attacking like meteors.
“Go, go!” Twilight called out as they avoided the kamikaze attacks.
But as more changelings landed, it was clear that there was no other option than to fight their way through. The six of them looked around at the changelings surrounding them, though Rarity had a look of recognition in her eyes.
Seeing as brute force was required, Rainbow Dash took the initiative, “Looks like we're gonna have to do this the hard way,” the rainbow mare jumped forward to be met with… herself? Rainbow Dash looked at the doppelganger in confusion, their movements nearly identical with each other. That is until the interloper punched the real Rainbow Dash, who was still more confused than hurt, “How did you…?”
“They're changelings, remember?” Twilight reminded her.
“They're changelings, remember?” echoed a chorus of Twilights.
“Don't let them distract you,” Rarity said, getting the attention of her friends.
“We have to get to the Elements of Harmony,” Twilight continued, “They're our only hope.”
The ponies were all part of their own battles. The six stood victorious once the changeling hoard was defeated and the dust settled. That is until another wave chased them for another attack. When they reached the vault in which the Elements were stored, Twilight pushed open the doors… only to see another wave of changelings inside. There was no way to get to the Elements, and they were now surrounded.
Queen Chrysalis was looking up as she watched a few of her drones tending to the pod that now encapsulated Princess Celestia. Around the room, there were similar pods with other ponies. One of them, in particular, contained the three flower fillies, the Cutie Mark Crusaders
“You won’t get away with this!” Cadance, her hooves sealed to the floor with the same substance that the Changeling pods were composed of, threatened, “Twilight and her friends will-”
Cadance was interrupted by the sound of the doors opening, the ponies in question being ushered in by a group of changelings.
Chrysalis has a smug look on her face, “You were saying?” her attention was returned to the six ponies, “You do realize the reception’s been canceled, don’t you?”
She then looked towards her drones, “Go! Feed!” Once the drones left the room, the doors were shut by a green aura as the changeling queen laughed, “It's funny, really. Twilight here was suspicious of my behavior all along. Too bad the rest of you were too caught up in your wedding planning to realize those suspicions were correct!” the tyrannical changeling resumed her triumphant laughter.
Applejack walked up to Twilight’s side, a look of regret on her face, “Sorry, Twi. We shoulda listened to you.”
“It's not your fault,” Twilight replied, “She fooled everypony.”
“That’s not entirely true, now is it?” Twilight and Applejack turned towards Rarity at Chrysalis’s words, “You had one friend who you didn’t listen to. And you had another friend who was too scared to confront the truth to defend her.”
“You knew all along?” Rainbow Dash said accusingly to Rarity, “You knew, and you didn’t tell us?! Has it never occurred to you that perhaps you should’ve warned somepony?!”
“I didn’t know all along! But I did have my suspicions,” Rarity countered defensively.
“And by the time she knew, she did warn Luna,” Applejack said, joining the defense, “And Princess Luna told her to play dumb to avoid suspicion.”
“And you know this how?” Rainbow Dash asked, her gaze shifting to the apple farmer.
“Because she told me!” the farm filly retorted, “And before you say she was told to play dumb, Ah dragged it outta her when it was obvious at the weddin’ just how nervous she was!”
“And if she hadn’t warned Princess Luna, Cadance and I may still be trapped in the underground gem mines!” Twilight added, “I probably wouldn’t have even had the courage to confront the imposter if it wasn’t for Rarity’s support.”
That got caught in Rarity’s mind. It was her fault that Twilight was put in danger.
“And as I was saying before,” Chrysalis said as she was walking towards Rarity. Twilight took advantage of the distraction to free Cadance, “You can run, but you can’t hide. It’s rather ironic that they are friends with you despite what you are.” Twilight continued to use the distraction to save the Cutie Mark Crusaders.
A primal fear welled up inside Rarity. Chrysalis knew all along who she really was. And now…
“Your spell! Perform your spell!” Twilight called out to Shining Armor, catching everypony’s attention.
Chrysalis began laughing at the idea, “What good would that do?” the queen asked hypothetically, “My changelings already roam free.”
Shining Armor tried to cast his barrier spell, but to no avail, “No! My power is useless now,” the captain of the guard said in defeat as his spell failed to ignite, “I don't have the strength to repel them.”
“My love will give you strength,” Cadance said as she offered her own magic to empower Shining’s barrier spell.
Chrysalis laughed at the idea, “What a lovely but absolutely ridiculous sentiment,” the changeling queen ridiculed, “But it will be amusing to see you try.”
“Aww!” Sweetie Belle’s voice spoke up adoringly, “That’s so sweet!”
Cadance sent a stream of magic into Shining Armor. This magic was, however, fueled by love. And Shining Armor’s own love was adding to that fuel, enhancing the magic even more. The magic swirled around the two like a whirlwind, lifting them into the air. The two of them began to glow white with pure love energy, creating a shockwave.
“Noooooo!” Chrysalis cried out in terror as the wave was about to hit her.
Rarity, with split-second thinking, realized what this shockwave was. She knew what was going to happen to her if the shockwave hit. But perhaps Sweetie Belle could be protected. Rarity leaped to Sweetie Belle and covered her protectively in that split second before the shockwave hit.
Chrysalis screamed in terror and pain as the shockwave acted as a physical wall, pushing her out and away from Canterlot along with the other changelings. All of the changeling pods were also vaporized as the wave hit, freeing the trapped ponies from their prisons.
As the magical energy died down and the couple descended back to the floor, Twilight heard a thud as Celestia fell from her pod from the ceiling.
“Don't worry about me. I'm fine,” Celestia said to Twilight, who was running up to check on her, “You have a real wedding to put together.”
“That may have ta wait,” Applejack said as she pointed to Cadance, who was lying on the floor, completely drained of energy, “The bride’ll need ta rest up b’fore any weddin’.”
Twilight went to check on Cadance to determine her condition, “It seems that she’s completely drained of magic!” Twilight exclaimed, “She’s gonna need a few days to rest and recover at least!”
“Well, if rest is all she needs, then we should get her to a bed,” Fluttershy said, “I mean if that’s okay with all of you, that is.”
“Uh, girls?” Rainbow Dash said cautiously, drawing their attention, “I think we have a situation.”
They all looked towards where Rainbow was motioning towards. There, by the wall, were a pair of changelings that had somehow escaped the shockwave. One of them was the size of a drone. But her markings were similar to that of Chrysalis.
This changeling was, however, protectively holding onto the second one. A smaller changeling with blue frills, just a child from the looks of it.
For some reason, the shockwave didn’t expel these changelings like all the others. But that wasn’t the only thing that was taken notice of.
Fluttershy looked around for a moment, “Uh… girls?” Fluttershy said nervously, “Has anypony seen where Rarity and Sweetie Belle went to?”