Celestia slowly sat on her throne (shared throne, if one counted the sleeping Luna, hooves splayed out upon a throne seat adjacent to Celestia. Sleeping on the job, Lulu? Tsk tsk.) for the first time in.....well, 27 hours since the Royal Wedding. She never liked to stay away from work for too long, even if she DID injure herself while fighting the queen of a species of insectoid impersonators. It was the crack of morning, and after she had completed the tedious task of guiding a 875 thousand mile-wide ball of flaming gas across the horizon, she returned to the Canterlot castle and began yet another task: reviewing governmental reports.
Ignoring the "petite" snoring of her sister in the throne seat next to her's, she got down to businiess and had come across the occasional statements from the Equestrian Revenue Service (if there ever was a hell....), the usual complaints and requests from nobles, Treasury reports (turns out that the wedding was costlier than she could have imagined), and....a letter from Twilight Sparkle.
She absentmindedly tossed everything else into a small rubbish bin behind her throne, and began to open Twilight's letter, wondering why she didn't have Spike send the letter to her magically.
She skimmed over the letter.
Dear Princess Celestia,
I'm mighty sorry if you were expecting a letter from Twilight herself, but she insisted that I use her address and namesake to get this letter directly to you. Sweet Apple Acre is gettin' slightly short-handed right now, with Big Mac's broken hoof and all. So I've tried to put some of them "advertisements" in the newspaper to get some extra help 'round here, but nopony has arrived yet. I've tried every single gosh darn thing to reel in some help, and apple-buck season is getting closer and closer. As much as I hate to admit it, I won't be able to do everything by myself. If I can't supply enough apples this season, and if I'm not able ta pay my annual taxes to the ERS this year, I'm afraid that mah family is gonna be in some mighty deep trouble. Is there anything you can do to help? If you can't do anythang, I'll understand (being a Princess and all). But if you could loosen the noose around my neck, it would be much appreciated!Thank you for everything!
-Applejack
As Celestia finished the letter, she felt troubled that one of her subjects, and a personal friend to both her and Twilight, was having a hard time in Equestria's present economic situation. Celestia was barely able to keep the New Yoke Stock Exchange running when the "Big Dipper" hit, but she was starting to grind against the curb when the recession started to creep in. She, and her fellow ponies, managed later on, but the farming community was hit the hardest by the new export and land taxes that her idiotic law counsel "brilliantly" thought of.
She would have loved to help, but any show of favoritism to anypony, even if they WERE the Element of Honesty, would send her entire kingdom reeling at her hypocrisy for not helping everpony else.
Well this starting to become a quite depressing morning. Now what to do....
A gruff voice of a Royal Day Watch Guard provided a distraction for her thoughts, "Princess, your prisoner is here for his punishment hearing."
Luna woke up with snort and uttered, "My moon pies!". The announcement had apparantly brought a quite unfortunate end to the pastry-related reverie during her slumber, and brought an endearing smile to her sister's face.
"Why hello sister! Mother of you, tis morning!" Luna shockingly realized.
The guard repeated, "Princess?"
Celestia replied, "Guard, I'm sorry. But let us begin."
Luna positioned herself correctly on her throne and cleared her throat.
A pair of Guards and a very large Changeling (the thing was quite larger in stature then even Luna) in chains marched into the room. They trotted to a stop in the middle of the royal throne room and bowed.
What was most curious was that the Changeling had also bowed, not in a scornful manner, but in one with quiet respect.
The guards rose and announced, "Princesses, your prisoner has arrived."
"Thank you," Celestia endearingly said. Her tone quickly changed into a cold pitch that would have frozen the sun, "What is your name, creature?"
The Changeling rumbled, "They call me Cyr, Princesses." He bowed again, his ancient joints creaked with the rise and fall of the shackles and chains around his holed hooves and neck.
Celestia mentally furrowed her brow. The fact that she had not detected even a hint of sarcasm or hate in its voice troubled her more.
"My sister was quite right. You are a most peculiar member of your species."
The Changeling thought for a moment and mystically returned, "So I have been told."
Luna stared at the orange eyes of the colossal insectoid, one of them still sporting the same injury on its visual receptors that she had inflicted during their struggle.
Luna telepathically started a conversation with her sister, "Tia, Doth thou think that the creature will cooperate with us?"
Celestia returned with a transfer of her own thoughts, "It would be wise if you would start using a lie-detection spell on it, Luna. I hope that the creature didn't injure you."
"Oh 'twas nothing. The brute simply pushed us around. Frankly I'm glad that no pony died because of it."
"I see you're getting use to modern Equestrian. You aren't using the Royal 'We' anymore."
"Celly! I'm surprised! Doth thou hath no faith in me?" Luna mentally teased. "I'll get on that spell right now."
They ended their telepathic tête-à-tête, and when Luna's horn began to glow, Celesita started again.
"You had trespassed on our kingdom with harmful intent, and proceeded to assist Queen Chrysalis with her plans to take over Equestria and steal the love of my little ponies for their consumption. You have committed acts of assault, battery, damage to private and government property, attempted murder of a Princess and a battalion of Royal Guards. And yet you have the audacity to arrive here with such calmness and neutral emotion. Are you mocking us? After everything you did to my subjects, you still do so?"
Celestia, in her fair share of interrogations and trials, had expected two events to occur: the violator would either start begging and sobbing for mercy, or would shout themselves hoarse of how much of a tyrant she was and the self-righteousness of their cause or reasons. But, surprisingly, neither had occurred.
Cyr responded to her tirade, "I have no intentions to mean any form of disrespect. I accept those charges and I await a sentence. But I meant no harm in my actions. I'm afraid I had no choice but to carry out Queen Chrysalis's scheme."
Luna interjected, "Thou assaulted my Guards and I when my fellow sister needed me! Thy actions speak louder than thou petty lies!"
Cyr asked, "So I was lying? What about that spell of yours?"
"Wha- How doth thou know?"
He patted his horn, "This thing does more than cast disillusionment and force-magnification spells. And in your conversation, you referred to me as an 'it'. Would you be so kind to note that I am indeed a male of my species."
Celestia whispered to Luna, "Was he actually lying about his intentions?"
Luna looked down and returned, "No...."
Celestia commanded her Guards abruptly, "Leave us!"
They balked, "But Princess!"
"Do you think that the prisoner couldn't have escaped already? I'm sure one of your comrades can describe how this creature is capable of tearing itself through buildings and our defenses with ease. We shall deal with him."
The guards hesitantly saluted, "Yes, Princess Celestia!"
They exited and shut the massive doors behind them.
It was the Changeling's turn to ask the questions.
"Why did you not let me perish? Why am I not dead?"
"It is not our way to let a being die, no matter how much it wronged others," said Celestia. "We have also hypothesized that you need love to continue your healing abilities, so I persuaded Princess Cadence to revive you with her magical ability. Why do you ask trivial things?
Cyr didn't answer. He stopped himself from saying anything but finally uttered, "Maybe my priorities didn't seem as clear to you as I had wanted them to be. You should have left me in the ruins of Canterlot. Perhaps I shouldn't have held back, and you would have considered me with more contempt if I had killed. Maybe then I wouldn't be here."
Luna whispered to her sister, "I have detected nothing yet, sister. Only truth."
Celestia could only ask, "You wanted to die?"
"Why not? I've lived a full life of 417 years. I've experienced many friendships and betrayals. I can only atone for what I have done to ponies and my fellow Changelings alike. And if I no longer live....."
Cyr had said enough. "I await my punishment."
Luna pushed on, "Thou hath finished thy defense? Very well. On accordance to Royal Order, I order thee, for thy crimes against the Equestrian royalty, to be beheaded, quartered, and thou head will be paraded throughout our fair city on a bloody pike roped with thy gory entrai-"
"Luna!" hissed Celestia. "Execution was forbidden over a thousand years ago!"
"Tis nothing but fair justice!" Luna pouted. "That beast ravaged our city, harmed our citizens, and stopped me from saving you from Chrysalis! It deserves nothing less than a cruel, painful demise."
"We...do not...kill, Luna!"
"Have thou seen the casualty reports?"
Cyr bursted, "Notice how they are titled 'casualty', not 'mortality' reports. I did not take any lives during my attacks. I did not provide your guards or citizens with injuries that may have been permanently harmful to their health."
"Luna, quiet!" Celestia warned. "And how do we know that your intentions were purely philantrophic? You may have managed to counter Luna's lie-detection spell with your horn. You already have the ability to listen to telepathic conversations, so do not be offended when I say that we simply cannot trust you."
"Then hopefully my execution shall be swift. I am nothing but chitin and memories now."
Celestia, with every pore of her being would liked to see the creature suffer for its evil-doings, but what if it was right? What if it indeed was forced to? How could she justify a punishment if they are experienced by an innocent being?
Celestia solemnly questioned, "You say you have your memories? You wouldn't mind if......they were collected. For our archives. We have yet to understand Changeling Hive structure and its evolution since their Diaspora from Equestria."
She could sense with her magic the internal disputes of Cyr's mind. At first he decided to hesitantly evade and disagree to it, but a rebellious spirit against the Queen repelled the thought, and had constituted his answer.
And a rumble from Cyr's jaws emerged.
"So be it"
Hell yeah! New Chapter!......At the risk of sounding like an ass,
any idea when the next chapter will be?Or rather, is there a schedule for this story?Mabye it's just that I, as a reader, know that Cyr is a victim of circumstance. Mabye I just think that the princesses are already like this. But seriously, in situations like this they SEEM to be bigoted asses. (Pun intended)
1276115
Nah you don't sound like an ass. I get a little douche-y when it comes to chapter releases too.
This was actually pretty short. I'm working on the next one right now, so expect another one tomorrow.
Sorry for the wait. I'm getting gang-raped with work and my AP classes.
But anyway, thanks for reading!
1276137
Sorry for, again, supplementing a piece of fiction on this site that supports the whole "The-princesses-are-a-pair-of-complete-bitches" stereotype. But again, Luna is still pissed that Cyr kinda charged her through a city block and prevented her from saving Celestia.....
oh well
AND ARE YOU HAPPY NOW? I FINALLY RELEASED A CHAPTER!!!!!!
Hey, I overheard you mentioning that you encourage people to point out spelling and grammar errors in your story, so I thought I'd help out.
"Celestia could only ask, "You wanted die?"
Pretty sure that's self explanatory.
Oh, also, one more minor nitpick. (Sorry! )
I think it's a bit awkward when you write out AJ's dialect in her writing. I mean, it's just my opinion, but I think that you should just write it normally, and leave it to the readers to fill in her accent.
Other than that, though, I really, really like this story. The way everything is described makes it really easy to envision what you had in mind in terms of voices and visual effects and the like. Can't wait for more!
1276245
Thanks! I'll edit that straightaway!
This one was pretty short, so I'm releasing another one either tonight or tomorrow!
Cheers! And Thanks for reading!
1276164 Damn straight.
1276383
Oh and I'll release another chapter tonight.
Be ready to feel all of your feels.
Oh goodie goodie! A new chapter! ... Um, how would they wrap his entrails on a pike when the Changelings are insect-like? They would most likely have to coat the pike in his bodily goo... Ew.
Personally, I've always liked the notion that Princess Luna is an "old testament" sort of goddess. Makes her very distinctive next to Celestia and also illustrates how pony society has evolved in the past thousand years.
As long as her underlying intentions are still good, of course. Both Celestia and Luna love their little ponies and would do anything to protect them. It's just that in Luna's case "anything" tends to extend in more nightmarish directions than Celestia prefers to go. :)
WAAAAAAAAAAAAAHG!
I GIMME MORE OR I WILL MOUNT YOUR HEAD ON ME POINTY STICK!
piratemonkeysinc.com/pirate/images/stick.jpg
WH40k Jokes aside... keep up the good work my good sir.
Also I will murder you in your sleep if there is no chapter by tomorrow...
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1277689 Now I feel hungry.
1277916 Ew.
1277952 it is a nice diet you should try it 2.
1277968 Thanks but no thanks. I think I'll stick to my normal "sugar 'n' stuff" diet...
Like your Hobo Necromancer story though.
1276391 You're late. It's tommorow. Trololol
Pardon the bluntness, It's 1:36 AM right now, I couldn't slee-
*head slams on keyboard*
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
Truly love where this fic is going.... Keep up the great work.
1277904
Shit just got real.
[hides double-barrel shotgun under bed]
Come at me bro
1278431
Thanks man
]1278194
Excellent. Your face will become a Sharpie-infested countenance of many Hitler moustaches and beards.
Sweet Dreams
1276270
Why haven't you rewritten AJ's letter? At a minimum she needs to use "I" instead of "Ah".
"Execution was forbidden over a thousand years ago!"
Uhm - then would not Luna be perfectly aware of this? Luna was banished for 1000 years 1002 years ago - unless you are trying to claim that law was passed in the two years after her banishment that would make that statement true.
Also - the 'only obeying orders' defence. If the Princesses genuinely believe he is mocking them, they would be less inclined to believe his benevolence.
Even if they ascertain the sincerity of his respect (which they seem to do with the help of mind-reading majicks - highly questionable spellcraft), fact is, he _did_ commit those crimes. That he is betraying his liege now demoinstrates he does have free will, so he clearly isn't some sort of mindless drone. And what's worse, he's not betraying them because they forced him against his moral code. He's betraying them because they _lost_. He knew what the plan was - and went along with it. Now that it hasn't worked, he's bailing on his previous employer.
Krogan from Mass Effect. At least... Cyr gives that impression.
Bumpercars....
These quirks are really getting on my nerves now. You've got a decent thing going on here, but you desperately need to check over your work several more times before publishing. That, or get a friend to pre-read.
in the words of RD this is 100% undeniably un-putdownable
1307344
You are forgetting one possible angle: "Obey me, or I'll have your entire family publicly executed and your entire squad gelded. ...also publicly."
There are many things a man would never do, even with a gun pointed at his head; which he will do quite willingly when said gun is pointed at one he loves.
The thing with the use of "thou"s and old english is that when it's not used with 100% commitment the use of old english bugs me. This is something that's pretty common I find with Luna in stories... if Old English is gonna be used... I want it to be used! xD This is what I get for reading a lot of old english stuff! (...namely Shakespeare!)
"...for thy crimes against the Equestrian royalty, to be beheaded, quartered, and thou head will be paraded throughout our fair city on a bloody pike roped with thy gory entrai-"
Chitlin and gory entrails!!!
....Seriously though, LOVE the way he handled the trial. Respect man. Respect.
1316700 Dabuq?
I couldn't help but laugh my ass off at that.
Luna seriously needs to brush up on the current law.
Oh, NOW she wants his death? Consistent...
Dude is OP as heck, intercepting communications and detecting the nature of spells targeting him... Good thing he's so passive...