//------------------------------// // The Difference Between Them; True Instinct // Story: Equestria meets the Vasto Lorde. // by Phoenix Archangel //------------------------------// "Holy SHIT!" The unexpected swear caused Spitfire to recoil, almost creating a severe pile up as the rookies that flew behind her found themselves breaking suddenly to avoid slamming into her. Whipping her head to the perpetrator, she was astonished to see that the normally laid-back Soarin was stupefied nearby, along with a few other members of the Wonderbolts, staring raptly at something behind her. Readying to give her Second-in-Command a harsh lecture on such language, Spitfire glanced in the direction that they were facing in order to remind them of being military and on duty, meaning that they shouldn't be ogling mares. Only to crick her neck in a violent double-take at the sight of a good portion of the sky some distance away being covered in what looked to be a black, billowing shroud that almost emitted evil. "What in the name of Celestia's holy flank is that?" she numbly asked. ================================= As the creature calmly turned away from the inferno it caused, some few Changeling corpses dropping away only to crumble into ash upon hitting the ground, Luna lay there in terror as fear guided her thoughts. 'I... I... Impossible...' Memories of her talk with her sister ran through her mind. 'Could this creature... truly... not be evil? No... no, it's far too powerful... It cannot be allowed to roam free.' Not without measures.' ================================= A Guardian, barely able to crawl from the mind-deafening surge that had slammed the now-survivors of the invasion, made his slow, scraping way to his still twitching Queen on stiff limbs. Gingerly placing the tip of his horn to the base of Chrysalis', the Guardian slowly 'creaked' open the door to the Hive-mind. His fellow Guardians were there, with only three of the remaining eighteen still conscious. The Guardian took note for a moment of the silence within the mind. he intoned to the other three, breaking the chilling quiet. In a single moment, they understood. three voices chanted, a slight tremble in one of them. Closing his eyes, the Guardian did the one thing he was instructed to only do under extreme circumstances. He focused on his body, and the inherent magic that all Changelings possessed, and began the task of draining himself and channelling it into his practically comatose Queen. As he did, green flames slowly travelled from the tips of his hooves and wings to his body, leaving brittle chitin behind. Opening his eyes, he gazed upon his ruler in quiet sorrow as the flames briefly covered them. When the flames converged before the tip of his horn, his eyes held nothing within. As they spread out and onto his Queen, a gentle gust of wind blew around him, carrying him away as the lifeless body became dust and turning the gust a shade of black. ================================= Chrysalis grunted as strength seeped into her body and mind, the remnant pain from her forces still echoing within the latter. Forcing her eyes open, she cringed as she took in a bright beam of sunlight that illuminated the craters and scattered ashes of fallen Changelings. And the monster that dared attack her after refusing her rule, just strutting in its mid-air walk towards the ponies. She was Chrysalis, Queen of the Changelings for Éntoa's sake! Growling and pushing herself onto unsteady legs, she forced herself into a shambling walk past her barely conscious Guardians. A plan came to her mind, an incredibly, no insanely, risky plan that others would call stupid. But to her enraged and grief-shattered mind, it was her plan. And none would stop it. Mustering her strength and charging her spell, she screamed her hatred. ================================= Celestia was silent in shock as the creature headed back towards her, walking in mid-air. Despite her sister's, the Elements' and Shining Armour's descriptions, nothing could have prepared her for the view she had just witnessed. Only now, as the creature walked away from the casual massacre of an entire army, was the strange magic it had channelled through its sword dissipating, leaving behind only clear sky. The only sound was the creature's footsteps creating a peculiar reverberating sound, akin to a drum being tapped lightly, on its invisible path. The sound was suddenly joined by a pair of screams. Or, as Celestia snapped her head around, only one. Her eyes widened in horrified recognition as the snake-like trail of misty emerald magic wound its way through the air and into the creatures head, Chrysalis collapsing as it did so while her target jerked to a halt. Hesitating momentarily, Celestia quickly charged the same spell after giving a single order to those around her; "Collect the Elements, and be ready." Ignoring the confusion on many of their faces, she let the spell loose as a golden haze, shaped into a serpent, that was absorbed into the creature too. ================================= Locations, others, speeches. Things that Chrysalis thought would be abundant in this thing's mind as memories, yet found mostly static. She ignored it as she found a bright light ahead of her, charging in without a second thought. When the light faded from her eyes, what she saw momentarily stumped her. A sprawling city of glass towers, the smallest equal to the Canterlot Palace, lay around her. The sky was an inky black with a single, crescent moon serving to bathe everything in a silver glow. Towards the base of the towers and all around her, a never-ending waterfall of sand rushed by, giving glimpses of a type of road or something at the bottom and even more towers to the sides. Forcing herself to focus once more, Chrysalis began flying towards what she hoped was the centre of this mind. Her plan was simple; Use a high-level mind control spell, one which involved abandoning her own body, to break this creature's mind and take it for her own. Then, when she has won against Celestia, the creature would face Tartarus for what it did. Swerving up to avoid a building, she took a brief moment to ponder what she'd done. Taking another look at the world she was in, what she found surprised her, to a degree. The first thing that distracted her from her goal and thoughts was the sight of her hind legs in front of her face. The second was the immense pain emanating from her skull. The third was easily the most disturbing sound she'd ever heard. ================================= Celestia forced herself to ignore the static around her, noting only the fact it was there, as she flew towards the being's mind in order to prevent Chrysalis from subjugating this creature to her will. 'Although, I wonder if she can control it,' Celestia thought soberly, guessing that such a creature would have quite a mental fortitude to match the incredible power it... no, he possessed. At least, she believed the monster was male. She shook any excess thoughts off as she flew through the bright light. And immediately pulled up in an effort to remain airborne, only to fall heavily onto her flank on the glass floor of the tower. Wincing as she stood, and ignoring the embarrassing red mark on her white coat, Celestia gazed in utter confusion of the physics of this mindscape. After all, she was standing on the side of a behemoth tower, surrounded by its neighbours, while sand rushed down in pillars and waterfalls along the base and among the gaps between buildings. Naturally, she was confused mostly as to where the creature came fr- An explosion off to the left broke her thoughts off as she reared back in instinct, barely missing the black projectile that would've crashed into her chest had she stayed still and allowing it to skip once off the 'ground' they were on before smashing into a windowed wall. Now that the object was still, Celestia could see, with no small surprise, that it was Chrysalis. Incredibly beat up from being forced through and into walls, but Chrysalis. "Heh, well look at this!" A voice said, its voice wavering in a manner that seemed a little familiar, though Celestia couldn't place it. Turning to locate the source, Celestia saw a smirking bipedal creature, a little shorter than her, with a white robe that obscured much of its form and held with a black sash. A black strap ran from over the right shoulder and down around its left hip. The hands held black nails, while the hand itself as well as the rest of the skin that she could see was white, along with its hair which hid its eyes. What caught her attention most, was what looked to be an oversized knife a chef might use, though the handle wasn't the usual crafted block of wood but instead wrapped in black cloth with a fair length extending behind. The thing that stood out most about it was the fact that the heel of the sword was silver-white, while its edge was black. "And here I thought I'd be stuck here without any entertainment," the creature stated, as its smirk widened into a psychotic grin, allowing Celestia to spy what appeared to be somewhat pointed teeth, as it opened its hand to let the blade drop, only to grab the strip of cloth. "And now... I get not one..." A practiced flick of the wrist sent the knife spinning, a low buzzing emanating from the whirling blade. "But TWO playthings to kill!" The creatures head twitched up, revealing eyes with black sclera and vivid yellow irises. Celestia immediately took a step back at the sheer insanity and bloodlust that those eyes held. "Just try..." Releasing the cloth to grab the blade, bringing it to a stop with little effort, the creature crouched slightly while bringing the weapon to its side. "TO NOT DIE TOO FAST!" it yelled, launching itself at the Princess with a lunatic's laughter with the sword raised high with one hand to cleave her in half. ================================= Luna stared at where her sister's magic had disappeared into the motionless monster as the other ponies around her began fussing over Celestia's lifeless form, Sweetie Belle included though Rarity swapped her attention constantly, mulling over Celestia's words. "Be calm, dearest subjects," the Lunar Princess stated without moving her gaze, "Tis an advanced mind spell, designed to enter the consciousness of another. The drawback being that thy mind leaves the body." "Isn't that... dangerous?" Luna's eyes flicked to the concerned face of Twilight, before returning their vigil. "Only if the body is harmed during the period of the spell. In any case, please; Collect the Elements." With the reminding of Celestia's rare orders, Cadance volunteered to collect them for the injured hosts, remembering the locations of each as the six mares revealed them. "Um, P-Princess?" Fluttershy spoke, shortly after Cadance had flown towards Ponyville, "Wh-What were you a-about to say before? I-If you d-don't mind..." Luna sighed, casting her eyes to the ground. "The creature is not evil." This shocked the group as all save Twilight began arguing, only for Luna to silence them with a glance before continuing, unknowingly dropping her archaic speech, "It is my own fault that you were all injured that day. Had I not been prejudiced towards the creature, had I not mistaken frustration for aggression, had I not been so arrogant to believe myself stronger..." Her eyes returned to the creature, "None would be injured. No dreams broken, no anguish felt, no securities shaken." Her gaze hardened as she kept talking, "However... having seen such... violence, I cannot trust this creature as much as I wanted to. Not without learning how to restrain it." Turning to the six girls, she spoke her thoughts, "My sister wants you six, the Elements of Harmony, to use the Elements should Chrysalis be successful in bending the creature to her will. However, I would like to ask that, the moment my sister's mind is clear of the creature, you use the Elements regardless of which side its loyalties lie. Then, we can learn about it and find a way to restrain its might. What say you?" ================================= Celestia flapped her wings to force herself backwards and away from the knife as it struck the glass where she stood, creating an explosion of glass and dust. Landing firmly on her hooves, she took note as the creature stood back up easily, slinging its sword over its shoulder. To her right, Chrysalis staggered drunkenly upright. "What... hit me?" Her bleary eyes squeezed shut before opening, finding her vision a lot more clearer. Glancing up, she saw the alicorn that she hated, and another creature similar to the body they were fighting in. "My name is Celestia, Princess of the Sun and one half of the diarchy of Equestria," Celestia stated, hoping beyond hope to not have to fight, "Who are you?" The creature blinked, momentarily nonplussed, before returning to it's grin and stating, "Princess, eh? Ya mean like that blue one earlier?" It's grin grew more feral as it continued to talk, "Well then, I hope you're as good as she was." "I asked you your name," Celestia firmly repeated. "Don't have one," was her answer, much to her surprise, "Thought I'm hurt you don't recognise me," it said, to Celestia's confusion, as it lay a hand on it's chest with an expression of mock hurt which was ruined by the grin it still wore. Suddenly pointing it's knife at her, it moved it's hand to the grasp the hilt as the cloth suddenly wound its way up the arm. "Ban... KAI!" Celestia and Chrysalis both braced themselves, trying not to be blown away by the whirling vortex of magic that engulfed the being until it suddenly ended, leaving the creature with a long coat, as well as a sash and robe that both found vaguely familiar. However, both began connecting dots as they saw the blade. No longer reminiscent of a knife, it was long, narrow and slightly curved with a four-pronged guard and a short chain dangling from the end of the hilt. The same sword as the creature carried though white instead of black. "Maybe you need another reminder," the creature said, still grinning as it raised it's left hand to it's face, it's fingers clenching to resemble claws as white magic outlined in red gathered itself. With a vicious yank, the energy solidified before bursting away. Leaving a mask that both Alicorn and Changeling knew well enough, though the one that they remembered was white with red lines instead of black with white stripes. Neither had any chance to realise just how much trouble they were in before the creature in front of them launched itself at Celestia once more, cackling insanely. Chrysalis, seeing an opportunity to gain control without interference, took off once more towards the center of the mind. Only for the creature to appear before her in a blur of movement, the sound of static echoing, and slam an open palm into her face to send her flying back next to the startled Celestia. "And just where were you goin'? The fun's just getting started!" he declared, both labelling it a male from it's voice and build, as he lifted the mask away to show an eye and his grin. Chrysalis snarled at him, growling nasally through a swollen muzzle, "I will take control of this body and force it to accept me as its ruler! You will not stop me from reaching my goal, and so help me if I have to kill you to get past you, so be it!" "Oh?" His grin died a little as he contemplated something. "Tell me... what's the difference between a king and his horse?" The sudden question threw both rulers off guard, before he reiterated his statement with serious expression, "And I don't mean some childish shit like, "One has a crown" or "Where they live". If both held the exact same form, abilities and power, why is one the king that directs the battle, while the other is the horse that carries the king?" Both rulers began thinking of the difference between the two, but not coming up with any answers. Seeing their struggle to answer, the creature spoke, "There's only one answer to that question." Celestia frowned at this - surely, there was more than one answer to such a riddling question? Thrusting his arms to the sides in a grand motion, the mask inexplicably staying crooked on his face, he declared the answer: "INSTINCT! For identical beings to gain the strength and power to become the king, they have to seek out battles and more power! They thirst for fights, and live only to mercilessly crush, shred, slice and KILL their enemies!" he ranted, slapping a hand with clawing fingers to his chest as he continued, "'Cos deep, deep within our bodies lies the honed instinct to kill, to fight, and to slaughter our enemies!" Throwing his hand to his side, he pointed the blade at the two equines before him, "But you don't have that! None of you! You keep trying to force others to surrender! You don't kill any of them! And it doesn't work! It's like trying to cut something with a sheathed sword!" With each word, Celestia paled more and more until she seemed grey, horrified at such a prospect, while Chrysalis' eyes grew wider at the same thing. His grin grew once more on seeing their horrified expressions as he concluded his speech, "That's why you'll never become my ruler, insect bitch! That's why you'll never beat me! That is why you'll ALWAYS be weaker than me!" Disappearing in a blur, the being appeared once more before the two, with his sword blazing with white fire tinged red. "GETSUGA TENSHOU!" ================================= "I'm in!" exclaimed Rainbow, angry still at the creature. Despite what Princess Luna had said, it had still hurt a lot of ponies. Only a monster would do something like that. 'Is this the right choice?' Twilight thought to herself, staying silent as the rest began to agree at their own pace, 'To judge, and punish it for our mistakes and fears? 'If so... then how are we so sure we aren't the monsters here? 'And if we don't, or if it doesn't work...' A glance at the remains of the former Changeling army served to deepen her doubts. "Twilight?" The sound of Luna's voice broke out of her reverie, to find both the Princess, her brother and her friends looking at her expectantly. She bit her lip and looked to the side, unsure of what to do. On one hoof, the creature would be trapped until they could find a way to contain it's power, to make it less dangerous; On the other hoof, had it really done anything wrong?. Yes, it had harmed several ponies, it had destroyed part of the hospital, but hadn't they, the ponies, done something as bad? Hadn't they attacked first and then imprisoned it, after it had helped them? And yet, despite the facts staring at her in the face, she found she couldn't help but agree with Princess Luna. Fear caused her to throw logic and reason aside and nod reluctantly in agreement. Cadance landed just after she agreed, handing out the necklaces to the various ponies. Turning to Twilight, she took note of the stress she seemed to harbor before solemnly handing over the tiara. ================================= Celestia landed heavily, quickly using her materialised rapier, glowing like the morning dawn, to parry away the creature's blade and using another, as golden as the sunset, to force Chrysalis to block. Time, she knew, held little to no meaning in a battle within minds. It may have felt that they'd been dueling for over three hours, but it could easily have been only a few minutes in the real world. What started as a two-on-one fight quickly dissolved into a three-way free for all. Both bore evidence of fighting - Celestia had bruises in various places on her legs, head and chest while Chrysalis had cracks that leaked blood. Both had cuts and scrapes from both their mutual enemy and each other, while he was unblemished. Any attacks they'd sent against him did nothing. Forcing Chrysalis back with a forceful push, Celestia threw herself back once more to dodge a swing from the white blade and ducked to miss Chrysalis' emerald-green, jagged edged broadsword. Stabbing at the being to intercept a swing and sweeping the other at Chrysalis to cut her below her eye, Celestia quickly backed away for a moments reprieve to consider the situation - it had become obvious very quickly that Chrysalis was more focused on her than the creature, while the creature seemed to switch his focus between the two. The logical thing would be to leave, but Celestia couldn't take the risk that, no matter how impossible it seemed, Chrysalis could actually beat the creature. Throwing herself back into the fight with reluctant gusto, she reviewed what the creature had said. 'Instinct... the urge to fight and kill,' she pondered, even as she jerked her head to the side to avoid a narrow white blade and crossed both rapiers to block a heavy swing from a jagged sword, 'Something ponies don't have... Something only Diamond Dogs and Dragons seem to access.' Thrusting the jagged blade away and twirling her rapiers to slash rapidly at both opponents, she continued to think as she fought to defend, grateful for once of all the practice she'd had while sitting in on Day Court, listening to her whining nobles. A sickening crunch and pained scream shocked her out of her thoughts as she took note of the fact that the creature had switched his attention to Chrysalis, and nearly threw up at the sight of what happened. Chrysalis was suspended in mid-air, her sword fading back into mana, held there by the being's hand buried in her abdomen. He chuckled darkly, before Chrysalis' chitin seemed to glow from black to a dark, brick-like red and expand slightly while she gaped pitifully. It all ended when a vivid red beam, encompassing her entire back from haunch to withers, spouted from her back, undoubtedly annihilating her insides. Stabbing his sword into the ground, he took hold of her horn and, with a spin, flung her off his hand and into the air where she disappeared into a green haze that faded away. ================================= As Twilight slowly took hold of the tiara, not thinking to use her magic, a vivid green glow caught everyone's eye as it travelled swiftly from the creature to Chrysalis' still body. What happened next, defied all logic. As soon as the green haze touched the body, blood sprayed from wounds that suddenly opened, cracks appeared with horrific crunches and a burst of what seemed to be air preceded the majority of her back bulging before bursting outwards. Rushing over, Fluttershy immediately saw the Changeling Queen's state when she forced open a glassy, blank eye. Shaken, all turned to view the creature or Celestia, not knowing what was happening. ================================= Celestia stood there on shaky legs, even as the creature before her took up his blade. Turning back to her, he grinned that psychotic, bloodlusting grin. As he slowly walked towards her, blade at ease, she began trying to think of strategies, plans, anything that would allow her to leave. Until a thought came to mind of when Luna, and later Twilight, explained the second encounter with the creature in the outside world. He stopped in surprise as she asked him, "You cannot be harmed, can you?" He chuckled before saying, "Realised that, have ya? What's ya point?" "If I were to put a scratch on you, would you let me leave?" He seemed speechless for a moment, before he threw his head back and broke out into a maddening laugh. When he calmed down from his burst, he looked back at her, grinning as he said, "You actually think you can so much as scratch me?! FINE!" Tossing his blade up into the air and slipping a finger through a link in the short chain, the blade vanished into a faded blur before he jerked his hand back and forward to snatch it out of the air, "You put any damage on my body, and you can go free. But it ain't gonna be that easy!" he yelled as he charged straight at her. She closed her eyes and focused; Focused on the anger and fear when she heard that her sister, as well as her precious ponies, one of which was her most faithful student, had been harmed. Focused on the sorrow at hearing their pain at the hands of this creature. She focused on feeling all that she'd had these past thousand years, bottled to maintain an image of a Princess. She opened her eyes, which glowed golden, to view the creature a mere few hooves away, before merging both rapiers into one and, rearing back slightly, stabbed it into his chest as he brought his blade down. A dome-shaped explosion of gold and white filled the area, obscuring the surroundings to those inside and vice versa. When the light faded, and dust settled, Celestia's rapier was pressed against the chest of the creature while his blade stayed where it had finished its arc. A spray of blood lay splattered against the white robes, fur and glass floor from the wound that went from Celestia's forehead to her chin, crossing over her eye, continuing down her chest. With a pained exhale, she dropped to the floor, barely conscious from the pain that his sword wrought upon her as her rapier faded away into broken light. Swinging his blade up again, he put all his force behind it to decapitate her. Only for a solid blue glow to wrap around a part of his sword. He blinked in surprise, before glancing down at his chest at what seemed to be a pinprick. Under his coat, lay the tiniest spot of blood. "Che, seems she's stronger than I thought," he sighed, before roughly grabbing her by the horn and throwing her the same way he had the insect bitch. ================================= Next time, on Equestria meets the Vasto Lorde... ================================= "Sister!" A blue alicorn rushes to her sister as a spray of blood emanates from her face and chest "No... it can't be..." Celestia's eyes widen at the sight of something impossible. "TWILIGHT! NO!"