White on Black
Ch.16 “A Black and a White Goddess”
The hall was the same that already hosted Shining Armor’s and Cadence’s wedding. A weird mix of feelings overtook Chrysalis as she waited at the end of the hall beneath the coloured windows.
A small, more poetic minded part of her brain wanted to comment on the situation and how her life had come full circle, but Chrysalis had no ear for it, since she was far too nervous as too pay attention to anything but the large wooden double doors.
The hall had been decorated in both her and Celestia’s colours. The banners interchanged, one black and green, one white and gold, and then again black and green, all along the walls. The centerpiece of the decorations however was the large Flag that took up all of the front wall. A golden sun on black ground on one half, and a red heart on a black shield with a white background on the other. Her own and Celestia’s heraldry intermingled into one.
This was important, not for her personally but for her position as queen. As Twilight had pointed out, this wasn’t only a wedding, it was the merging of two countries. Accordingly all of the ceremony was drenched deeply in royal procedure. Their wedding vows contained elements of old loyalty oaths, and fealty promises, and it had proven particular hard to still express her feelings after they had been watered down by line upon line of pathos filled semantics.
Quickly she glanced at Occelli, captain of her guard, and her ringbearer... although ringbearer was the wrong word. On the cushion he levitated in front of him, lay the black crown that normally adorned her head, yet another concession to the old rites.
Chrysalis would give up her crown and in turn receive a new one from her lover, in turn Celestia would do the same.
Chrysalis tried to get the ceremony out of her head and instead inspected the guests that had gathered. Most of the assembled were compromised from the remaining castle staff, parts of the day and night guard, and a few personal acquaintances of Celestia (surprisingly few as Chrysalis noticed). On her side of the room the changelings had gathered. Sooner or later they all would share the experience via their bond, but for now Chrysalis had invited those changelings which were closest to her, her personal guards, and her chambermaids. She had to chuckle as she realized that neither she nor Celestia had many personal friends to share this moment with, another of the prices one had to pay for the crown.
Before she could continue this line of thoughts however, she saw the element bearer take position, and a lot of the pain that was about to surface vanished. She wouldn’t go as far as calling them her friends, but she couldn’t deny that their presence soothed a lot of her nervousness.
Pinkie Pie, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and Fluttershy sat down in the audience. They all had given their best to get this wedding underway, but politely had refused to be part of the ceremony. Chrysalis could understand them, they all looked utterly exhausted.
Her eyes trailed towards the window. The moon had barely moved since the last time she had checked, nonetheless she couldn’t help but nervously prance from one hoof to the other, praying that it would move faster if only she stared hard enough.
Mindlessly she plucked on her dress. The simple white gown was what she could only describe as beautiful. Her neck was covered by a quilted turquoise collar that was studded with diamonds at every intersection, towards her shoulders the collar was adorned with the shed fur of ermine that had been sewn into the fabric hair by hair, but it was only after the collar that the real dress started; A simple white blanket covered her flanks and connected the collar and the actual dress. The dress itself was made from shining white silk, that fell to the ground in smooth lines, while leaving her forelegs free.
As a queen she was used to wearing expensive outfits, but somehow she felt as if this one was the most important of all of them.
Another nervous stare at the moon. then finally the notary (it would have felt kind of silly to seek out a priest when the most prevalent religion prayed to the bride) gave the sign.
Spike cracked his fingers once before he drew out the first few tones of the bridal march, from the old pipe organ.
The double doors opened and the world around Chrysalis vanished. The only thing she could still see in this white limbo that had become her vision, was Celestia as she walked towards her. Gone were her usual Regalia, replaced by a single golden chest piece in the form of a sun, a bright violet Topaz adorning it’s mid. Much more than the Golden Sun however, it was the dress that demanded attention first. It was black. Utterly, utterly black. The kind of black that you could only get when you took complete darkness, sieved and distilled it, and then left it to age for a few millenia. Such a complete blackness as you’d see at the bottom of the deepest oceans or in the void between stars.
It was changeling black.
But it was neither the gold, nor the black that attracted Chrysalis attention. Like two fiery beacons the amaranthine eyes of Celestia drew Chrysalis in. Right here, right now they didn’t need any changeling magic, no spells fueled by hatred, to see into each others souls. Never before had she seen so much … so much life in Celestia’s eyes.
If this was what she looked like when she was happy, she would go through tartarus and back, only to see that expression again.
“Erhem...” an Elderly slightly rough voice brought her out of her daze. Celestia stood across from her, smiling, a few steps behind her Twilight Sparkle holding the cushion with the crown. To her right the notary looked at her as if he was expecting something.
Stumbling over her own tongue, she tried to remember the first words of the ceremony.
“I... er... I, Chrysalis of the black swarm, ... er... stand here before you love of my life...”
After she had finally spoken the first words of the archaic formula, the rest finally swarmed back into her mind. But whenever she looked at the beautiful mare across from her, she could once again feel her mind dissolve into pure bliss.
Thankfully Ocelli seemed to notice her insecurity and lend his support through the hive mind.
As Celestia spoke her part of the vow, Chrysalis listened intently and as she heard the words of love that Celestia had woven into the traditional ritual, she finally found back to the here and now. This was the mare she loved and she didn’t want to miss a second of the time with her.
“I, Celestia of the Sun, stand here before you love of my live. I shall share your happiness and your burden. I shall stand besides you in times of need, and in times of happiness. Nary shall drive us apart, neither foe, nor time, nor death itself.”
Both royals looked towards the notary. Now there was only one thing left until they would be married to another.
The old pegasus’ voice was rough but firm as he spoke the final words of the ritual, “So I shall ask you once again, do you here before me and the assembled as your witnesses take each other as partners in matrimony?”
The doors of the hall slammed open and all eyes shot towards the exhausted royal guard that stumbled through them.
“YOUR MAJESTY! RIOTERS HAVE STORMED THE CASTLE GROUNDS!”
---
Silver Tongue was trapped.
He stood atop an avalanche of emotions that had finally broken free, and the only way he’d survive was by riding it out. Frantically his mind scrambled to find yet something else to direct the crowds anger at, lest he’d be devoured by it.
The guards had quickly retreated as soon as they saw their captain fall, draggin the motionless body of the unicorn behind them, but the damage had already been done. A border had been crossed, and now the mob would only stop once his anger was depleted.
With faked confidence Silver Tongue waved for the ponies to attack the gate. What little defenses the Unicorns had put up quickly dissolved under the onslaught of thrown debris and hooves. After that it was only a matter of seconds until the wood gave in, and splinters rained down upon the castle ground.
The ponies had stormed onto the castle ground, venting their anger at whatever was available. The carefully arranged gardens were soon turned into a display of chaos and before long the first fires burned. Makeshift torches were passed around.
“Those fool,” was all that Silver Tongue could think. He knew all too well that fires meant that someone would die sooner or later, and more often than not it was an all too enthusiastic torch wielder that became the first victim of the flames. Nonetheless he saw no way to escape and still were the eyes of the rioters focussed on him, looking for orders.
“To the castle!” he screamed at the top of his lungs.
“Coward,” Screamed his heart, “you could have ended this!”
The ponies stormed onto the castle courtyard and still a steady stream of new arrivals followed them from the gates. A felled tree from the gardens had been turned into a battering ram.
*Bam!*
With an earth shattering sound it hit against the door to the castle.
*Bam!*
The gold covered wood moaned under the pressure of the ram.
*Bam!*
A first few cracks showed. Once more and the gateway would break.
Groaning under the weight of the tree a dozen earth ponies once again heaved the trunk into position.
The sun rose.
---
Breadn and Merry were clinging tightly to each other as the crowd dragged them along. Faces they had thought familiar all their lives were turned into demonic grimaces, as anger contorted their features.
Helpless they watched as beautifully, crafted shrubberies and flower arrangements were trampled and burned. The guards fled and those that were unlucky enough to stay behind soon escaped from sight as a ring of enraged ponies closed around them.
Breadn tried to push against the flow, but against the stream of bodies he was as helpless as an infant.
When they had pushed past the castles inner walls, Breadn finally managed to maneuver himself and Merry towards the walls where they could catch their breath.
“Breadn, what’s going on?” Merry managed to scream while the sound of a battering ram hitting wood filled the courtyard.
Before he could reply however a bright flash blinded him. He closed his eyes and tried to shield them with his arm, but even so he could still feel it burn into the back of his eyes. Even after a few minutes the light didn’t lose any intensity. It was then that Breadn decided to open his eyes, hoping to at least find Merry, and maybe a way to escape.
As soon as he did so however, all thoughts of escape were labeled futile.
A goddess had descended between them.
A white burning Goddess of rage, and destruction. Who saw her couldn’t help but sink to their knees. Running away or even covering in fear seemed downright ludicrous against this being.
A smell of burned grass and melting earth emanated from the figure, as plants evaporated and sand turned to glass.
In the sky above a searing orb hovered, a terrifying Celestial mirror image of the goddess below.
A snarl escaped from the avatar of rage’s lips, cascading into an earth shattering scream. Breadn fell to the floor clutching his ears, trying to keep out the visions of death that followed in it’s wake. At the height of the acoustic assault, a small orange droplet ripped itself loose from the orb above and started to drift away.
Slowly the ponies in the courtyard recovered righting themselves up on shaky legs. The goddess was deceptively calm, her head angled upwards, looking at the sky. The first few ponies followed her example and looked upwards.
Murmurs went through the crowd like a shockwave, as they watched the droplet slowly growing bigger and bigger. Panic spread as it became clear that this droplet, this tear of the sun was headed straight for Canterlot. Ponies tried to run, only to be blocked off by the ones that were still storming into the castle.
A cacophonous roar filled the air, making the scream of the goddesses seem like an infants cry in comparison. The air began to boil, and Breadn had to force every breath into his lungs while he fought the feeling of being burned from inside.
The the world turned white again. A massive wall of air washed over him and he could feel something burning hit his skin and he could feel his coat catching fire. Desperately he rolled on the floor.
When his vision returned the courtyard had turned into pandemonium. Frantically he searched around until he found Merry. She was unconscious, but miraculously nothing had happened to her.
Surprised shouts, filled with terror and panic echoed across the field. Several ponies were pointing their hooves towards the peak of Canterlot Mountain. As he turned his eyes towards it, he mentally corrected himself. They were pointing towards where the tip had been, now there was a smoldering crater that was still expelling and cloud of hot ashe.
But the mountain was not the only thing to be damaged. The explosion had carried debris miles through the air, and wherever the slabs of molten rock landed they left a trail of devastation. The most of the damage seemed to have been concentrated on Canterlot Castle. The structure had been damaged in several places and whatever hadn’t yielded under the assault, was now slowly catching fire.
“IS THIS WHAT YOU WANTED?” the voice of the goddess rang over the remains of Canterlot Castle like and ice cold river of molten steel.
“IS THIS WHAT YOU WANTED? THAT I’LL SLAY MY ENEMIES? THAT I LIE WASTE TO THOSE THAT OPPOSE ME? SHOULD I INCINERATE EVERYONE THAT DOESN’T AGREE WITH US? IS THIS THE WORLD THAT YOU SEEK?!
ALL I *hic* wanted was one day. *hic* Just one day for myself, where I could be happy,” As sudden as her appearance, was the departure of the goddess, in her wake there was left a white alicorn with tears in her eyes.
“I just wanted to marry the women I love. Is that really too much too ask?” Was the last thing she managed to ask before she broke down. Her dress in tatters, her coat covered in dust and ashes, and her jewelery lost somewhere along the way, she sat there in the mud and bawled her eyes out. Not a ladylike sob, not a lonely tear down her cheeks, just the sad and exhausted bawling of a pony that had done her best and fell short.
An awkward silence fell over the assembled ponies.
Nobody said anything as six ponies and the queen of the changelings appeared. Chrysalis simply lay down besides Celestia and put a leg over her, while the element bearer sat down nearby.