//------------------------------//
// Spreading Out - Part 2 
// Story: Saving Equestria 
// by Damaged 
//------------------------------//

"Relax, Derpy. I know some of this already, and I think it should be revealed completely, once things are all in hoof." Twilight soothed Derpy's panic. "Which means I need to pay Princess Luna a visit."

Derpy pulled her hooves away from her face and smiled, instead of saying anything, she wisely just waved to Twilight and her companions. Getting back to her mail, she noticed a large package that was marked "return to sender." Putting the big package in her bag, she didn't even glance at the address.

Twilight trotted toward her library, smiling at the soft sounds of sleep coming from the changeling hiding in her mane. Her ears spun forward when she heard her name yelled. "Whoa, calm down!" A black blur rushed past Twilight, from behind, stepping in front of her. "Gentle… LUNA!" Twilight's hoof lifted and came down with a sound like a thunder-crack. She blinked at the slightly overboard use of magic. "Okay, both of you stop it right now. Gentle, she is not going to attack me. Princess Luna, we aren't here to fight."

"And yet you bring Equestria's enemy into our sight!" Luna had let the magic fade from her horn, but only barely. She glared at the changeling that stood between her and Twilight. "You will not have her." 

Gentle wasn't a fighter. They didn't have much concept of fighting for higher motives, but when they saw the big pony charging a lot of magic at Twilight, Giver of Names, they moved. But then the big pony stopped the magic, even though they still had the stink of not-nice emotions around.

Lifting a hoof and settling it on Gentle's back, Twilight walked slowly alongside the oversized changeling. "Relax, Gentle. She isn't going to hurt us." Twilight looked up at the alicorn. "Are you, Luna?"

"She had better not." Rarity didn't step between the two parties, but she did stand to the side and give Luna her best glare. "I for one want to hear what Twilight has to say, before you execute her on the spot for… what was her crime again?" Rarity batted her eyelashes at Luna.

"Yeah, Ah'm thinkin' that we hear what Twilight has to say." Applejack smiled across to Rarity, standing on the opposite side of the tense little stand-off. "But why don't we let the Princess start."

"Well-" Twilight froze when everypony looked at her. "Oh, right. Sorry." She blushed and tried to hide beside Gentle, which was easy.

"Long ago, we noticed our sister, Princess Celestia, behaving very oddly. She… made unsound choices, always listened to the words of a few new ponies that had started to remain at her side. She was under the influence of a changeling queen." Luna resisted the urge to use her magic to give images to the story from her past. "We had to fight to save her, then. We will fight to save her again."

"You don't need to." Twilight pointed to Canterlot, high up in the mountain to the north. "Princess Celestia isn't under any influence, apart from politically. Chryssi… Queen Chrysalis, just wants to protect Equestria." Twilight blew out a sigh and looked at Luna. "In your day, if a threat like Discord returned to Equestria, what would you have done?"

Luna's wings ruffled a little, but she fought the urge to lift them up. "We would summon the elements and fight him, you know we did!"

"And what did Princess Celestia do this time?" Twilight hated this, hated having to pull back these curtains. "Did she fight him? Did she call for you to battle? Did she stand against him while we," Twilight gestured to her two friends, "could get the Elements of Harmony?"

Luna shook her head. "What does that matter? Equestria is under the yoke of a monster!"

"Equestria is under the 'yoke' of a pony who tried to warn Princess Celestia that Discord would break loose, she even came here—to Ponyville—to fight another old enemy that wanted to enslave ponies." Twilight looked significantly at Luna. "I don't regret saving you from the nightmare you were lost in, Princess Luna, but protecting everypony is too important to leave to just me and my friends."

"And what is the tyrant going to do, then?" Luna's anger wasn't quite as hot as before, she couldn't help the niggling feeling that Twilight had given her a lot of things to think about. "What happens when the next monster returns?"

"He already has." Twilight turned to look at Applejack, then over to Rarity. "I came to get my friends, because even though I know what Queen Chrysalis' plan is likely to be, I don't want to see anypony hurt, not even changelings." She stroked Gentle's neck. 

" 'He'?" Luna's head spun with options. "Which 'he' is free?" She shook a little, watching the seemingly passive changeling accepting Twilight's casual treatment.

"Sombra." Twilight saw the effect the name had on Luna. The Princess of the Night paled.


~~~~~+++++~~~~~


It was almost like being back in school. Shining Armor had drawn up plans for his army to head out, had drawn up several redundant plans, and had them all stowed in a neatly filed folder. He passed it to his Queen. "This takes into account several events."

Chrysalis took out the first set of plans. " 'Plan Katydid'? Ah, this is no resistance, forced march into the Empire and no Sombra." It wasn't so much a battle plan, as relief plans. "Very good, have you been taking lessons?"

"From the best, Your Maj-" Shining stopped and gave a sigh. "Chryssi, I went over all your notes for your invasion. Even the ones you didn't want to show me." He lifted a hoof to forestall any questions. "You wanted me to be the best strategist at this, and that means getting better at it than you."

"Sombra on his own, Sombra with hostages, Sombra with guards, Sombra with an army… You have most reasonable cases covered. Why not use the train?" She looked up from the notes, holding them steady in her green magic.

"The rail would be expected. And although he might not expect us to use that the first time, I don't dare underestimate him." Shining Armor used his own magic to tease out one of the appendices. "A small scout unit will go in first, via train. Disembark well before the city and take up position."

"How long do you expect to take to march there?" Chrysalis didn't really need to ask, she had the details before her. She was testing Shining so that Sombra couldn't.

"No more than two weeks. The less mobile warriors will be skipped forward by the underlings, with our more special types always having a defended location when they themselves land. From what I understand of the notes, the Crystal Empire was mostly all crystal ponies, we will take advantage of the lack of magic and airborne units."

"Your logistics are short, how will you be keeping your hive supported?" She knew the answer, Chrysalis had spoken with Cadance just before the meeting, begging her to rethink—thankful she refused to.

"Well, I seem to remember a particular queen who did quite well feeding off my wife and I. Only the underlings will be stressed in any way on the trip there, so food levels should be maintenance only, until the fighting starts." Shining pulled out another report he had already written, detailing the use of the train once they were safely entrenched. "All our plans revolve around acquiring the railroad as primary target. With the logistics that gives we can haul in honey…" He saw the big smile on Chrysalis' face. "I passed?"

"Am I going to have to get you a gold star?" Chrysalis bopped the stallion on the shoulder with a long leg. "Here, take your plans with you, but I bet you have them memorized. If I didn't know who your sister was, I would think you an oddity, Shining." Stretching, Chrysalis focused her magic and produced two mugs of cider. "Equestria rests in your hooves." She floated one to the stallion.

Not wanting to question the arrival of the drink, one Chrysalis knew he enjoyed, Shining raised his mug and tapped hers, his pink magic holding it steady. "And in yours, make sure we have somewhere to come back to."

"Ugh, I hate having a conscience." Chrysalis guzzled half the drink in a gulp. "I need to tell somepony… other than Twilight." She folded her legs under her and curled up in as small an area as a changeling queen could.

"What is this about? Is something happening I need to know about?" Shining Armor pulled out his satchel again, started to rifle through his notes.

"No, no your plans are perfect." Chrysalis reached out with her magic to stop Shining from obsessing over the plans. "You know changeling honey? Purified love, ready to eat?" She waited for Shining to nod at her, he knew about honey, had to for his plans. "Okay, there is another kind, uh, Royal Honey." 

"Your honey?" Shining blinked a few times. "How is it different?"

"Well, it is more potent than regular honey, by an order of magnitude." Lifting her hoof up, Chrysalis adjusted her glasses. "A queen changeling egg, and nymph, needs it to grow up. And there is one more thing it does." Chrysalis tucked her hoof back under herself. "It will make a pony into a changeling."

"Twilight-" The moment Shining said his sister's name, he saw Chrysalis cover her face with a hoof. "Did you force it? Did you make her drink it?" The words were dangerous, Shining held the future of Equestria in the tone and pause, while he waited for Chrysalis' reply.

"No!" Chrysalis' head shot up, shaking. "Of course I didn't! Twilight could be… would have been, the greatest unicorn to ever live! She is smart, caring, forgiving, and…" Tears started to fall from Chrysalis' eyes, she snorted a sob but couldn't hold it back.

"Dammit Chryssi, how did this happen then?" Shining circled around, started pacing. "And what, is she in a pod somewhere?" He stopped and looked at his Queen again.

"She was spending time in my hive, looking over some of my records, and spending time with some of my foals." Chrysalis tried to rub at the tears, to make them go away. "I don't know what to do. I had Braced detail a dozen 'lings to researching it. The drone who… who gave her my honey, she didn't know about it, she was young herself."

Shining waited, standing still and staring past Chrysalis, waiting for the story to continue. "It will be slow, the more of their life a pony has lived, the longer it takes. A foal changes in moments, a pony could take a year or more." She lifted her head and looked at Shining. "She has to keep drinking my honey now, or she… it won't be pretty."

"She has honey with her, then?" Shining felt a little empty, emotionally drained from his anger and fury. "What will become of her? What kind of changeling does a pony become?"

"Of course she has honey. I didn't want this, Shining, I have only given my honey to one other pony ever and she… she had nopony else. She became a princess of my hive." Chrysalis floated a handkerchief over and started trying to dry her eyes.

"Chryssi," Shining reached out and took the hanky from Chrysalis, "blow your nose." On command, she did. "Now, if things go well with Princess Luna, she will be back either tonight or tomorrow. I can't wait for her."

Looking up at the stallion, Chrysalis realized how much of a compromised position she kept putting herself into with the siblings. "I will send her on the first supply train. I broke my promise, Shining."

"What?" The words caught Shining Armor off guard. "What promise?"

Chrysalis hung her head. "I promised to keep all the ponies safe, and I couldn't keep Twilight-"

"I don't like this, Chryssi, not at all. Not until I talk to Twilight." Shining grabbed up his satchel of plans with his magic and walked to the door. "But she isn't lost yet. You said she would become a princess, then she will be the best princess you have ever seen. Just… just let me work through this, let me talk to her." Opening the door, Shining looked back one last time, then left the queen to her own devices. Determination drove his hooves, heading for the guardroom to make ready.


~~~~~+++++~~~~~


"What are they saying?" Sweetie Belle pushed at the bush around her, turning her ears this way and that to attempt to hear.

"Well, I could hear if you weren't talkin'!" Apple Bloom was pushing forward to better hear as well.

Both fillies froze when they saw Scootaloo walking out, Bright sitting on her back. Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle looked at each other, panic in their eyes. 

"We gotta go." Apple Bloom started moving, glad that Sweetie hesitated only a single heartbeat longer before joining her.

Scootaloo felt her friends press up on each side of her and faltered a little. "What are you doing? They will see you!" And of course, her exclamation caught Twilight and Luna's attention. That Rarity and Applejack were looking hard at their little sisters went without saying.

"I'm sorry, Luna." Scootaloo walked right up to the princess, only her two friends at her sides gave her the courage to keep talking. "It was me who you were looking for. Please don't be mad."

When the green fire swirled around Scootaloo, Luna took a step back, then another. Her mouth worked but no sounds came out.

Apple Bloom stood beside her best friends, dipping her head. "She didn't do it alone, we-"

"We both helped hide her." Sweetie Belle looked over at her friends. "Please don't squish us."

"Where is the real Scootaloo?" Luna felt a little of her fire remain, most having been smothered in the emotions the three fillies brought up. "What have you done with her?"

"She is the real Scootaloo." Twilight walked up behind the fillies, Gentle at her side. "It is a long story, Princess. But I don't have time to tell it here. Please, come back to Canterlot." She looked up at Luna, really looked, and saw a very scared mare fighting to hold on to what she believed was right.