Baked Bean groaned and drew in a sharp hiss of a breath around his teeth while the rest of his body immediately began to report on the injuries he’d sustained. That ride was about the closest thing to the opposite of fun he could have imagined, and were it not for the pain, he would believe he was in the afterlife.
He felt like he’d been drawn, quartered, and then turned into glue, and he hoped his tail had, at the least, been turned into a violin bow.
Bean then tried to open his eyes, mostly to verify that he could handle such a simple task, but also so he could establish where he was, and what was still attached to him.
He instantly regretted his choice. The wave of pain that pounded into his head easily tripled the amount of pain he felt, and what little light he had taken in felt like it had incinerated the back of his eyeballs. He drew in another sharp breath, and a whimper of agony managed to gurgle out of his throat.
“Bean?”
The trifecta of pain was now complete. His body hurt, his mind hurt, and now the range of emotions that slammed into him destroyed any remaining comfort he could have possibly felt. He felt his body nearly tearing itself in half as he went from disgust to pleasure, depression to exultation, total misery to pure bliss.
“Celly?” he croaked. “Is that you?”
Despite the flood of sensory inputs he was being overwhelmed with, he felt the familiar touch of the sublime as Celestia’s wing tightened over him, and his anguish multiplied when he felt her silken coat push closer to him. The tears began to burn while they left his eyes and traveled down his cheeks, and he buried his face in her side while she gently shushed him and caressed one cheek with her hoof.
“Oh, my precious Bean,” she softly whispered. “I’m here, don’t worry. You’re safe now, and everything is as it should be. I’ve got you.”
And Bean wept.
He wept for his ineptitude, for the devastation and destruction he had brought upon the innocent ponies of Ponyville. He wept for the damage he had caused in the palace, for the loyalties he had strained by asking his guards to act against their orders to protect him. He wept for the emotional toil he had forced Wysteria and Trixie to endure, and for the unnecessary risks he had forced on Quill and Wysteria’s unborn foal.
But mostly, he wept for what he had done to his beloved Celestia. He couldn’t even begin to fathom the torture he had put her through when she had found out what he had done, or especially when she had found out that he had tried to attack Tirek.
Bean’s tears only increased while Celestia quietly shushed again. “Oh, my dear Bean. You have suffered through so much. I am so proud of you, and I am pleased with what you have done.”
“You are?” he sobbed. “Please tell me you are. My heart feels as if it might shatter into a thousand pieces over what I have done.”
“No, no!” Celestia gently chuckled, and Bean felt her tears begin to wet his cheek as she nuzzled him. “You were willing to give your own life to protect our little ponies. How could I ever be displeased?”
“But I caused so much damage,” he whimpered. “So many homes were destroyed, and the windows in the palace. I asked ponies to fight against Tirek! What chance did a bunch of common ponies have against such a villain?”
“You did not have a chance, my Bean, but that is not what matters. You gave Twilight the time she needed to defeat him, and your heroics saved the day. Apart from yourself, no pony was seriously injured, and the damage to Ponyville was minimal. The homes can be repaired, and together, we will fix you. I will care for you; I will tend to your every need. Soon, what has happened will be a distant and happy memory, one that I will forever recall with pride. My Baked Bean, the Hero of Equestria.”
Bean took in a shuddering breath, but he did not move. He did not want to move, for in so doing he might ruin this perfect moment that had come to him. Celestia yet cared for him, and she willingly proclaimed and reaffirmed her love of him. He had her again, and what else could matter?
“Let it out, my love,” Celestia gently cooed. “Do not hold this burden any more. It is time to move forward, together and forever. The battle is past, the war is now over. You have won, and I will now ensure you receive the prizes you have earned.”
“The only thing I want is to hear you say that you love me. I did not fear Tirek, or what he could do to me. I did not fear while I tried to fight him, and I felt no fear when he defeated me and sent me flying into the Everfree. The only thing that I truly feared - the one thing that haunted me throughout all of what was happening - was that your love for me had died. I could not live another day if I found that you no longer cared for me.”
“I love you, Baked Bean,” she whispered into his ear with a gentle nuzzle. “I never stopped loving you, and I will never stop loving you. I love you.”
And despite the anguish and the torments that had beset him, Baked Bean smiled. “Could you say it again, please?”
“I love you,” Celestia repeated while her wing drew him in even closer. “I love you, I love you, I love you. I will repeat it as often as you like, so you never have to doubt again. You have my heart, you have my soul, and you have me. Rest now, my precious Bean, and know that I will remain. We shall never be parted again.”
I don't trust this chapter. I can't trust this chapter. I have many suspicions about this chapter. You, dear author are an evil fellow.
*Glares suspiciously*
Chr- *ahem* Celestia seems awfully calm for having just discovered her husband's still alive.
Tis a lie!
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I agree, something is way off here. Unless the author is pulling a fast one on us.
Two words: "Queen Chrysalis"
God damn it. A whole chapter that is basically an extended cliff hanger!
It's strange that this chapter than previous entries in the story.
aww a vary sweet chapter.
but after looking at some of the comments i am kind of thinking the same thing. "Queen Chrysalis"
*slowly but steady walks into the chapter* ........ Mmmmmh this doesn't feel right......
Uuuuhhhhhh, yeah uh...no
Get the flamethrower, there is spy-checking to be done.
I felt a chill go down my spine after finishing this chapter.
I am calling bullshit.
Edit: I mean, I hope I'm wrong. But I'm still calling bullshit.
Oh come on... She is so obviously Chrysalys (or a changeling but I doubt she would let that much love go to a drone) that’s not even funny ^^;;;
Hmm......something dose not seem kosher in this chapter.......seemed to easy.
Kinda agree with the comments, this doesn't feel right, celly is far too calm......and where the hell be Luna!? Cause if memory serves she teleported with her in the last chapter. Either way nice chapter and hope to see what the author does with this
HE LIVES!!!!!
Now more than before I fear that Bean has been taken by our friends the buggiest of ponies, the changelings or more spacificly Chrysalis.
ROACHES
Aww, he's not insane.
...Patience, my friends.
We shall wait for them to finish healing Bean....
THEN WE SHALL PURGE THEM WITH SUNFIRE!!
...Ok, now you're just toying with us. Not cool, dude.
The guns of Chekov demand the changelings be a problem after all the foreshadowing, and we don't have a location for Bean nor an explanation for his extended survival, all of which leads to suspicion. However, the dialogue from 'Celestia' isn't suspicious by itself, and it's still possible that our fears are just well-crafted paranoia on your part for shits and giggles (you've already pushed us this far, what's a little further to you?).
Of course, the latter depends entirely on how much you're really willing to change in this AU. Obviously, you've changed Celestia's marital status and created new events for them, but as for show-canon events, they have still appeared in order thus far. Having the changelings show up now would completely derail this pattern and potentially alter events involving them in the future. But if you were to maintain the order of show-canon events, it would be quite some time before the events of the S6 finale took place, and that would imply that this story will go on significantly longer than the first (though I suppose them finding about Epiphany later could make them wait to get love from the whole family, which could make them think about the love for the whole royalty). Granted, this conjecture could all be wishful thinking on my part.
The sad but funny part is that if it wasn't for the changeling foreshadowing, there would be nothing suspicious about this chapter whatsoever... but there was, and it is, and that's what's eating away at your readers now.
If you were trying to hide the fact that Celestia is Chrysalis, think you dun goofed, because if I read the last chapter correctly, I think Celestia instinctively teleported, and accidentally took Luna with her.
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not quite sure of this due to the first person view?
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Thank you.
I call shannanigiggles! Get a hold of yourself bean, her curved, alabaster derrière may resemble your beloved, but You have been deceived! Feel it in your heart ( and with your hooves) the rump may be royal, but such is the cunning of cheeselegs macbugbutt.
Come on thunder buns, find your Bean, he needs you more than ever. Get back together and have your child so I can make a joke in the future about 'three-bean-dip'.
She will never stop loving and love him forever...
Bug spray? Or did he somehow earn Alicorn good through service?
Goodness, three chapters this week. I feel spoiled.
i.imgur.com/FW8eL6Q.png
Source 1, source 2.
There. Right there. That's all I needed to read. A simple sentence from Baked Beans perspective. Oh, good grief, I feel so much better knowing he's alive!
Nice callback to the first story. :)
CHRYSSIE ALERT! I REPEAT, CHRYSSIE ALERT!
I'm very happy that Bean is alive. But my gut is telling me that is not the real Celestia. We don't even know if he made it back to Ponyville or not.
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From the EMOTIONS he is feeling from those around him.
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Exactly, it could be another creature all together or it may actually Celestia (though that seems too convenient to be true and not something Irrespective would do). Besides you can’t be positive about anything in this world
I'm betting that the bug that tirek ate was actually a trap made by chrysalis
This chapter feels weird. Is the author toying with me? Am I just being paranoid? Hmmm...
There is only one question, why did Celestia and the others only saw darkness when looking at the crystal? My money is that one manticore found him, took him to her nest and took care of him like a cub, until help arrive. I wasn't darkness they were seeing, it was the wing of the manticore who was using it, as a blanket.
Since Bean has absorb some of Celly magic, perhaps he is more receptive toward animals
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And that's why we keep coming back for more. A bunch of masochists we are!
Why do I feel like I just got trolled? Oh boy this bean is not out of the pot yet.
>Celestia being absolutely calm about just finding out her husband is alive.
[Doubt]
I also distrust this chapter. Would Celestia hug him tightly if he had much multiple internal injuries? What about the chimera dragging him away?
Just waiting for the other horseshoe to drop.
You know that clip from Monty Python and the Holy Grail were everyone is saying "get on with it"? Me @ this obviously artificially drawn out "dramatic reveal". The last two chapters and presumably the next one probably could have been one chapter and been arguably just as effective. No disrespect to the quality of the writing but the pacing has suffered since Bean got thrown.
Hmmm...will he recognize the fake by smell? Does changelings transformation change their smell?
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I just thought of a fast one. The changelings rescued him and saved his life so that Celestia would owe them and feed off the love for saving a beloved prince and hero.
hmmm 1. he only fells the wings around hmi self and hears cellys voice but have yet to open his eyes.
2. witch inply by the fact celly duse not cry bloody murder over the fact that bean is alive and being an litel too calm.
conclusen withc everyone have is crissy having fun. allso the fact celly dusn't question beans reason as to why she wouln't love him is an big one.
but overal so far nice an keep it upp man! ps. this better not be an troll momment cause the build upp is to much and situation two great to ruing to NOT use the changeslings
So nice to see these two reunited. Bean is safe! Now let the huggy-lovey-smoochy stuff start. Nothing bad can possibly result from this, right?
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Mind fixing up your spelling and grammar, please? I barely understood what you were saying.
9112580
cleaned it upp some what allso being not native english speking and having dyslexia tned to mess oneover at times but no hard fellings!
derpicdn.net/img/2017/7/24/1493511/large.jpeg
"I'm not saying it was Changelings, but... it was Changelings."
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Ah, actually that explains it.
But as you said, no hard feeling.
So... given the effect that Bean's fidelity and feelings physically have on his wife... would his succumbing to Changeling deception be treated as breaking his vows?
I, like many others, am very suspicious.