[Leo]
I woke up with a start and started looking around to see where I was. It took some time for me to focus past the stinging in my eyes, but I could see the wedding hall through a green haze. Did I fall asleep in Lulu again? I groggily thought. When did she become lime flavored? There was a flash of light that felt both familiar and filled me with regret, and then whatever I was in rocked in a wave of mana.
It burned away the cocoon I was in and spilled the liquid across the carpeted floor. I suddenly found that I couldn't breath, retching more of the burning goop out of my lungs. I finally managed to take a clear breath as the goop boiled away.
As I got my breathing under control, I did my best to take in the room. Almost everyone was staring in awe at the royal couple as they touched back down. Lulu was reforming herself, so I figured that she was also in a cocoon, while Fluttershy was crouched over something out on the balcony.
With a wheeze, I dragged myself over to Lulu. <<How'd we get back here?>> I coughed at her.
<<The changelings brought us here after the explosion-
The ball hit the ground long before we did and detonated in a massive explosion.
-knocked Zann and I out.>> Lulu explained. <<I imagine they cocooned you when you were knocked out by it.>>
<<Wait...>> I interrupted her. <<I wasn't with you two? I thought I was with you two?>>
Lulu looked at me oddly. <<... No. You told us to get the children-
Zann fired a Flamethrower to get the insects off of the tiny pods and Lulu and I quickly freed the children from their prisons.
-somewhere safe, remember?>>
I frowned. <<I... think so?>>
<<Wow.>> Lulu blinked. <<You must've been really close to the explosion if you have memory loss. Did you see what caused it, if you can remember it?>>
I concentrated. <<Not... really? I remember firing Solar Flares down a street at a group of changelings, and us freeing some foals from cocoons, but not much else after that. I think-
I rode the shock wave even higher.
-I was flying at one point?>> I sat down, confused.
<<Maybe...>> Lulu looked over at Fluttershy. <<Maybe we can get Yomega to look at your head when the venom wears off.>>
<<Why not Conner?>>
Lulu's face fell. <<Conner... He's...>> She sniffed. <<There wasn't any time... He threw himself in front of a mana bolt meant for Cadence and Shining...>>
<<What?! But-?>> I looked back over at Fluttershy. <<CONNER!!>> I ran over to the pegasus, startling everyone near me doing so. I ran around Fluttershy's side and slid to a stop beside the large canine in front of her.
Conner lay on his side, his white ribbons splayed out on the balcony, the blue and pink tips trailing back into the hall. His pink and white bows flopped down from their places. The larger one at the base of his left ear rustled in the soft breeze, but the one on his chest lay still, the fur on his pink tail and paws sometimes joining in with the ear bow's movement. Conner's pink ears dropped over the edge of the balcony, the pink fur on the back of his head brushing up against the railing.
<<J-Joy?>> I asked, listening to the Pack and the ponies slowly coming over. <<I-is Conner...?>>
"H-he's alive." Fluttershy whispered. "Just... Badly injured. I..."
"Should we move him?" Twilight asked.
"... Y-yes." Fluttershy said. "Can you levitate him back to the suite?" She looked over at Cadence and Shining. "I'm very sorry, but I might miss your wedding if he doesn't wake up in a couple of days."
"Actually..." Shining nervously spoke up. "We were thinking of holding it later this evening, mostly as a political move."
Cadence nodded. "A way of showing our allies that we won't let a simple invasion stop us." Her expression softened, and she shared a look with Shining. "... But we can wait a few days for the repair work to get started, at least."
Shining nodded. "I'm also going to need to set up an appointment with a psychiatrist." He confided to us. "I want to make sure I'll be okay after having Chrysalis in my head for so long..."
"Wait," Twilight frowned at him, Conner hovering in her mana, "you knew? Why didn't you try to warn anypony?"
"It was part of whatever spell she cast on me." Shining explained. "Every time I tried, the words died in my throat, and my hooves refused to write. And it physically hurt me to go against whatever she ordered..." Shining sighed. "I was aware of everything, Twilight. Even at the end. I was trapped in my own body, and..." He shook his head and sighed. "Cadence is right, we should let the repair work get started. Something wrecked the Scholar district-
I growled and Glared at the things in front of us.
-something fierce."
Cadence gave her fiance a weak smile. "Did your connection with the queen tell you that?" She tried to inject some humor into the conversation.
"No." Shining pointed with his hoof. "You can see it from here..."
I followed his hoof to see a massive crater in the city. Buildings at its edge lay in crumbling ruins, except for those near the university. The university itself now stood on a small cliff that jutted into the crater itself. Rubble lay at the bottom of the crater in a shallow pool of water that was trickling in from the sewer pipes. Many buildings for several streets around the crater's edge had chunks blown off or holes in their roofs from where debris had hit them.
"Land's sake." Applejack breathed. "I hope no one, pony or changeling, was caught in that."
Celestia frowned. "I'm going to need to coordinate with the guard and help look for survivors." She held a wing out to Shining. "And no, you need to rest for now. Although, if you can go make sure my sister is alright..."
"At once." Shining bowed, wincing as he straightened up.
"We'll help you." Twilight offered. "After making sure Conner's okay, of course."
Celestia nodded, then took to the skies.
Yomega stared at the crater with dilated eyes. <<I see a weeping angel of vengeance, carried aloft by pain and anger. Did the Bagon learn to fly? Or is that a will be? How much of this is real?>> He asked as our mares started to walk towards the hall's entrance.
<<Are you okay?>> Vince asked Yomega.
<<Yes, Cy, I'm fine.>> Yomega smiled at him.
Cy waved at him from his other side, a sleeping Abes draped over his back. <<Yo, I'm over here.>>
Yomega gave him a puzzled look. <<I knew that?>> He shook his head. <<I know what's wrong. I can't get a proper read on when it'll be over, but the changeling venom is starting to wear off. Very slowly.>> He looked back into the hall. <<Do you guys see a little alicorn foal running around in there?>>
<<Nope.>> Zann stated, then started to lead Yomega after our mares. <<Is she a cute foal?>>
Yomega smiled. <<Very. She takes after her mother.>> I made my way in front of the pack so that there was more room for everyone to get out. <<Oh, Leo?>>
I stopped and looked at him. <<Yes?>>
Yomega gave me a sad smile. <<You've got a strange mental block-
I lost consciousness as they covered me in wax.
-on you. Do you want me to remove it?>>
<<Sure.>> I shrugged. <<If it's something the 'lings did to me, then I want it dealt with soon. But shouldn't you sober up->>
<<Kay!>> He chirped, interrupting me before his lavender eyes started glowing. <<Oh... OH!>> His smile slipped. <<Leo, I... I'll let you deal with this in your own time, but this block needs to go. I'll take you back to the room, and I'll make sure that no one else bothers you about it. I... I'm so, so sorry, Leo...>>
<<Are...> I squinted at him. <<Are you crying?>>
<<I feel your pain...>>
I opened my mouth to argue but-
I locked eyes with the vermin. <<Die.>>
-I let out a horrified wail at what I had done, collapsing in sorrow.
I see... He/She tried to lock away the memorys to protect himself. Guess Leo will have minor PTiSD...
Post Traumatic invasion Stress Disorder
Damn....
Shit.
So big plan up to this massive event. Massive Crossover with Fire and Steel. Build up and Build up. And... Nothing changed. The events LITERALLY Happen the EXACT same, just with very, VERY minor changes. Fire and Steel characters now fully 100% ignored really treated as not being Canon to the story at all, much like Equestria Girls is never shown or mentioned in the main MLP show. And all our massive build up for this massive event is... They get knocked out, and Leo kills a few Changelings.
All I can say is, Meh. Wasn't worth the wait.
We're going to need a update of Fire and Steal soon.
10724546
Not everything is obviously at the first sight. Pony died, Changelings died. Perhaps...
-Naysay died ( )
-This close end with the Dragon leadership near by causes the Dragons to join the hunt of the Changelings
-The fact that a certain female Changeling befriend someone and made Thorax the second friendly Changeling. Perhaps uncovering her fathers plot changes everything. For all we know we have a 'great mother Chrysalis' story infort of us
-So many other things...
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10724666
Also remember that Fire and Steel is a separate story entirety. They may share continuity, but they are written by different authors at different paces, and we're only seeing the Pack's perspective here. Fire and Steel will cover what's happening with Luke, Ember and Smoulder.
As for nothing changing, there is something that Definitely didn't happen in Canon. There's a big honking hole by Canterlot University. Other than that, though, the Pack also didn't really want anything major to change in this incident, so mission "mostly" accomplished. The decision to not bother with keeping the timeline is also still largely in debate, and anything they do right now will mostly be in the butterfly flaps stages of causality.
10724666
Maybe, but other than the Eevees killing some Changelings, literally NOTHING Deviated from the Show. Like at all. It went through, and ended, the exact same way. The only difference, was Chrysalis, for no explained reason, tried to kill Cadance and Conner took the bullet.
And mind you, other than Moondancer showing up, and mostly ignored now a days, nothing else in the Timeline has ever changed. Even the Crusaders becoming 'Summoners' didn't actually change much from the Episodes they are in. So why do you assume anything would actually change after this time? In Canon they never go after Chrysalis, the story flat out ignores Flame and Steel so no the Dragons will not be hunting Changelings in this story. In Flame and Steel probably, cause they aren't following the Show, but not in this story. And the 'Female Changeling Befriending someone', again is from Flame and Steel, and eeveeolution is not follow, making it canon, or taking anything from that Story. In Symphonicdysonince's eyes, that story doesn't exist at all and nothing from that story exists in this one.
10724692
You saying Luke and Ember haven’t shown up in this story? They are things from that story and they do exist. That is like saying Iron Man doesn’t exist in the same universe as Antman just because Iron Man doesn’t show up in the Antman movies or that Captain America doesn’t exist in the same universe as Doctor Strange because they don’t physically show up in each other’s movies.
10724733
Except, using your story, anything happening in the Stories that was a big enough event, DOES effect the other Stories. Such as Avenger's new tower from Iron Man's old tower after the first Avenger's movie and so on. The main characters might not cross over specifically, but side characters at times, events, and other things do cross over. Also forgetting each Avenger character works, unless in the Avenger, literally across the world and even out of it in Thor's case. So a lot of the time they LITERALLY can no Crossover. It's why wondering why Batman from Gothem never shows up with Aquaman down in Atlantis. Literally never crosses over.
But in this story, they HAVE crossed over, AND have characters in places where they should exist in both stories. But in Eeveelutions, they don't exist. Case in point, Garble. The Guide Garble is crushing on. Smolder. Lyra. None of them exist in Eeveelution. Like at all. They are never mentioned in passing or anything. They just don't exist. Even Ember is BARELY brought up at all. Luke is literally the only thing crossing over, and it's only... what, 3 times total? I mean even right now, in the 'Massive Crossover' where both stories are writing this event together at the same time, Luke only showed up in Eeveelution for like one single chapter for a few Paragraphs. And that's it. No passing remarks about Garble, Smolder, their Guide, Lyra, nothing. Just Luke for one specific scene.
Heck, even right now, they are literally at the Climax and... Nothing about Luke or Ember, anywhere at all. No passing mention about the Hospital Wing, or Changeling talking about there being Dragons around, or anything. Literally nothing. the MCU will at least put in passive easter eggs, cross over characters, and carry on events and effects from the other movies so you know it's all tied in. Without the Authors specifically going out of their way to tell us there was a cross over, We'd never notice or see it.
10724687
10724692
2:54
10724692
There is some crossover. There were whole chapters of it here. Chrysalis mentions the dragons, Abes and Luke try out the caverns but don’t have any success there, etc.
If you’re talking about lore crossing over, Moondancer and Lyra in EE are trying to translate Pokespeak, which will likely be useful later, especially depending on what hatches from Embers egg in Fire and Steel. If you’re upset that these fighting chapters didn’t mix, consider this: Canterlot is a city, and we’ve focused on a dozen individuals who are scattered across the entire thing trying to mitigate damage while still allowing the canon events to run its course. Because, lest we forget, how the episode turns out in-show is the best outcome for a princess trapped underground and an invading army. Cadance was already replaced by the time they got there so they couldn’t expose Chrysalis until she was out, and Shining and Cadance remove the changelings, so the best case for the pack would be damage control. That was met with...mixed results.
If you’re talking about more involved crossing over/mixing, that’s intentional on the writer’s part. Symphonic has often said that he is happy for people who want to write in the Eeveeverse, but they need to make stories that can stand on their own. If he stopped tomorrow, Fire and Steel can go on because it’s largely set in the dragonlands. The writers are trying to avoid what happened to A New World, A New Way, where the universe ground to a halt when the author of the main story stopped writing because they were all tied together too closely.
As for Connor and Chrysalis, she doesn’t attack Cadance and Shining for no reason, she attacks them because they’re trying and succeeding at casting a spell that will stop the invasion. You wanted a deviation from canon? How about a changeling queen who is situationally aware? Connor’s involvement is what actually leads to canon happening. The pack is trying to prevent changes to the known canon, partly with their presence/involvement, but also stopping what would change it because in the show everything but some villains get a happy ending. Why break a good thing? If Connor hadn’t taken the hit, this would probably veer towards the Changeling!Timeline, and from what the pack knows, this is the only time in the show the changelings have shown up.
Wow... I can already feel the intensity with just this one sentence.
There's a Nuke eeveelution now?
What would that be? Poison maybe?
Called it! And that was a hell of an attack if it punched through Sylveon's special bulk...
For those playing at home, I believe they were taken before season 6 aired and therefore genuinely don't know who that is.
10725035
Japan's history with nuclear weapons makes any such thing unlikely.
10724856
Sure, you don't want the world halting due to one person stopping, however there could've been at least a namedrop from Luke or a question ab out the hospital wing or ANYTHING, really. No need to completely merge the stories, but something, anything would've been better than nothing.
Leo must have learned the move Last Resort.
I wonder if she is the one with the Gigantamax ability?
Dang this going to hit her hard.
10725898
The nebulous evil entity buried in all their subconscious but especially hers substituting for Eternatus makes more sense than it probably should.
...Actually, could he have just stolen a fragment of Eternatus?
10724757
HOI
10749165
Fixed. Thanks.
I forgot I was reading this story in 2017 ... I remembered reading it. I wasnt expecting over 100 stories but I need to catch up ... A lot.