//------------------------------// // Chapter XLVI: Out of the Shadows // Story: A Princess and Her Queen // by kildeez //------------------------------// “My Queen?” Chrysalis broke from her reverie, ducking back from the railing. Damn, time really must have slipped away from her, watching the Empire from this balcony. She turned to see who had addressed her. “Ah...yes, hello Praetorian. What is it you require?” The large stallion saluted. “It is time. The Heart is charged.” He looked around her, as if searching for what she had been gazing at. “What were you looking at, if I may be so bold as to ask?” “Oh...” she turned back. She had just come out here to think and clear her head before the Heart was ready, and she’d looked up at the night sky, and… ...like the stars were something they wove together just for you... Huffing, Chrysalis whipped around, heading into the hallway. “That again?” She mumbled to herself, storming past the guard. “The Heart is ready, correct?” “Yes, my queen,” the Praetorian said, falling in step behind her with practiced ease. “Good,” she said through clenched teeth, muzzle wrinkling, eyes definitely not misting up. “The sooner we’re out of this wretched hole, the better.” “Of course, my queen,” the guard said, and if there had been a hint of self-satisfaction, Chrysalis either didn’t notice it in his voice, or was too wrapped up in her own head to care. She just wanted to be down the hall, wanted to already have all the love in the Heart in her, wanted to be back in the Badlands, wanted to leave this cold hellhole behind and everything that came attached with it, wanted to leave that damned princess behind in her own dungeon, let her sit in her cocoon and think on everything she’d done! And before she knew it, Chrysalis was standing in front of the doors to the throne room, and suddenly it was real. This was all coming to an end at last. “Your Highness?” The Praetorian asked, pointing to the neon tear that had managed to escape her eye despite her best efforts. “Are you alr--” “Allergies,” she muttered before shouldering her way through the door with a huff. Time to get this over with. The Crystal Heart remained where she’d left it, suspended in the air between the points of a stalactite and a stalagmite. Or was it a stalagmite and stalactite? Whatever. It practically vibrated with the Empire’s collective love, shimmering in the faint light as static crackled off its surface. Except...was the light falling on it differently now? She could have sworn she’d last seen it just the night before, and the way the light fell over its front face had cast a weird swirly pattern, not that jagged edge. Bah, probably imagining things, she had apparently let a lot of things go unnoticed during her time under a certain princess’s spell. Well, that would all be over soon. She looked over the group around her, and an eyebrow quirked. “Is there a reason we only have Praetorians tonight?” She asked with the same concern she’d hold for a colt throwing pebbles at one of her patrols in the street. “High-General Chickit has the regular army and infiltrators patrolling the streets,” her escort said quickly, automatically. “He wanted to take no chances that our final moment of victory might be interrupted by any remnants from the insurgents.” Smart, especially considering they had tunneled into the castle despite all their precautions just the other day. Chrysalis accepted this explanation, and turned to the Crystal Heart. A part of her thought she should make a speech, but Praetorians weren’t known for being swayed by honeyed words and thunderous roars, even a grouping as large as this. So, it would be best to get this over with. And so, Chrysalis stepped up to the podium, and finally gazed into the depths of the Crystal Heart. The first few patrols went down smoothly. A few blasts with Party Cannons and a couple hits from either the girls or the uber-pissed pony princess charging with them, and they just didn’t stand a chance. Now though, they were approaching the final hallway. Switch peeked around the corner, swallowed, and ducked back behind it. “Welp, we made it…that’s the good news.” He whispered. Rainbow Dash, being nearest since Fluttershy was hanging near the back, nodded. “So...I take it there’s some bad guys between here and there, judging by the look on your face.” Switch swallowed and nodded. “How many?” “Lots.” He rasped. She cringed. “This could get dicey...” “Agreed.” Twilight said, poking her head up from the pony/giant robot crowd behind them. “We should hang back and try to think of a plan...” No sooner were those words out her mouth when Luna rounded the corner. “For Equestria!” She bellowed, looking for all intents and purposes like a one-mare charge. “W-wait!” Switch started, reaching out a hoof, only to be brushed aside by a bound wing. He couldn’t guess at what she was thinking, charging into an enemy horde with her magic bound. Of course, he hadn’t been part of the detail guarding her during her ‘dates’ with Chrysalis. He couldn’t have known. He straightened up, watching the impossible spectacle of at least fifty Praetorain soldiers, all lined up along the walls beneath the green tint left by the windows, suddenly bending against the sheer will of one mare. The soldiers had just started moving, overcoming visible shock to raise spears and halberds against the midnight-blue menace, when she slammed into the line massed directly in front of the door. There was a squealing sound, which Switch later realized had been the sound of armor buckling, and suddenly he knew how lucky he’d been not to simply die when Luna had attacked him and Bait in the dungeons. She whipped around. A Praetorian flew in her grasp in full armor. Her hind hooves came up in a buck. Two more armored soldiers flew away and slammed into the door. A couple had the presence of mind to try and skewer her. She dodged, headbutted each in turn, seguing perfectly into holding them up as living shields just in time to break a charge the remaining soldiers in the hallway attempted. Suddenly, Bait couldn’t help but wonder if the Canterlot invasion might have gone differently had Luna been officiating instead of Celestia. At that moment, the call of “For Equestria!” echoed down the hall, and Switch had to dodge to avoid being trampled by the small stampede of mares and stallions flanked by a wildly-swinging robot, party cannons blasting indiscriminately. The Praetorians, having arranged themselves to deal with the blue kung-fu maniac in their midst, were caught utterly off-guard. The Elements crashed into their flanks. Literally, in a couple cases. Switch had about one second to drink in the rapidly-descending pile of chaos playing out before him, then leapt to his hooves, joining the fray. Streamers flew everywhere. Confetti exploded over every surface. Insults were traded. Someone peed a little. Then, the doors flew open, and Chrysalis strutted out, her face a mask of rage as a flood of Praetorians accompanied her. In an instant, the two sides broke it off, a literal horde of Praetorians forming a wall between the Queen and the ragtag line of ponies and robots and changelings. “Oh my--” Chrysalis started in sheer shock, then turned to glare them down. “What is the meaning of this!? How did you all get here!?” She turned her glare towards Luna, and the frown turned into a rage-filled snarl. “What are you doing out!?” Luna finally took a breath, releasing the trio of Praetorians she’d had in a headlock. “Chrysalis...” “That’s Queen Chrysalis to you, whelp!” Luna, this incredible dynamo of power that had just single-hoofedly taken on a full-strength platoon of the Swarm’s most elite troops, flinched beneath the Queen’s gaze. She shivered, took a breath. “Please, you must listen--” “After all that’s happened, you have the gall to ask me to listen to you?” Chrysalis chuckled darkly, swiveling on Luna. And for the first time, the line of ponies could see the fluorescent green tears barely standing in her eyes, just hardly held back by sheer force of will. “I mean, really, after everything? I must say I congratulate you, princess. After all these centuries, I found an attempt on my heart rather than my head quite refreshing.” The ponies all balked at that. Pinkie and Bait turned in their robot, looking back and forth between their respective sovereigns. “Whaaaat.” They said simultaneously. “Hold on,” Luna said, glaring as she held up a hoof. “Let’s get one thing straight here: you’re the one who came on to me.” “...whaaaaaaaaat...” the entire line of ponies intoned. “Oh please, those dinners were a simple meeting between sovereigns!” Chrysalis snarled. “Uh-huh, I was your prisoner, not a fellow sovereign.” Luna growled right back, nearly stepping up to within a hair’s breadth of the Queen. “Try again.” “Just what are you trying to say!?” “We’re not just trying! We’re saying thou wished for mine own flanks from the moment you set thine eyes upon us!” “It was a courtesy! You were wounded honorably in battle!” “You’re kidding yourself if you think that’s all it was!” “The only way I would’ve been kidding myself would be if I thought I’d had a chance at you!” “And again with the self-pitying horsecrap! As if you’re some horrendous monster incapable of being loved! Doesn’t that act get tiring, your highness!?” “Oh c’mon, we both know you were putting up an act every moment you were trying to get a little closer to me!” Chrysalis shouted. “Tell me, how didja get yourself smelling so heated on the balcony that night? Did you masturbate to some noble back in Canterlot!? Or was it your sister’s big, fat flanks that really got you going!?” A hush fell over the room. Tears now stood in Luna’s eyes. For a second, one would be forgiven for thinking she was just going to break down and cry. Then, she inhaled. “That night on the balcony I was ready to buck your brains out!” Luna bellowed. “We wast eft to amorous rite thee in every single way possible, in ways long forgotten to time! We would has't annihilat'd thy nethers so yond thy own physicians would marvel upon ‘em f'r centuries! Medical tomes would beest madeth to study thy womb once I wast done with thee!” A hush fell over the room once more, broken by the epic: “WHAAATTTTTT!?” that would trump even Luna’s unbelievable outburst from nights before. “Wow...I guess they really were just dinners Chrysalis was talking about...” Twilight muttered, distracting herself from what had just come out of her Princess’s mouth by any means possible. Finally, Chrysalis scoffed. “Whatever, you’re too late anyway.” She growled, her horn flickering with arcane power. “We’ve already come here to do what we needed to.” Luna’s rage-filled glare melted away in an instant. “W-What?” She whispered. “Oh yessssss.” Chrysalis hissed wickedly. “You may not know it, but I am now charged with the love of thousands! My power is now far beyond anything you wretched ponies could even dream of!” “Oh no...” Twilight intoned. “We’re too late...” Pinkie stammered. “Yep! All too late, Princess!” Chrysalis chuckled, coughed, rose up on her hind legs. “You’re too late! I’ve already partaken in...in...” Why was she breathing so hard? Luna’s eyes went wide. “Chryssie...no...” she whispered. “You’re too...too...” her breath came harder, and she looked down at herself, suddenly falling back to all fours. Her body suddenly looked like it weighed a thousand pounds. “Too...oh Maker above...” she managed before a torrent of black, stinking vomit erupted from her maw, splattering against the crystalline floor. She heaved in a breath, released another waterfall, then heaved in another. Blue hooves slid around her body, and in a moment she realized she was being hugged. She fought for a moment, then realized her hooves were too weak to do more than bat ineffectively at the powerful blue limbs wrapping around her barrel. “What’s...happening?” She moaned, suddenly too weak to do more than lie in the princess’s grip. “Supposed to be...supposed to have...” “Aww, still haven’t figured it out?” A voice tutted from behind them, and the Praetorians all parted simultaneously for their general to step forward, a large, toothy grin across his face. “It’s alright, you’re not the first of your line that failed to piece it together.” “High-General Chickit?” She gasped, looked around at the faces around her. Faces that should have been gazing at her in awe, but were instead turned to the general with stony, regimented harshness. “What is...going on?” He sighed, looking up. “Very well. You are my royal, and even after everything, I suppose you do deserve at least an explanation.” His eyes turned to her, and suddenly Chrysalis was looking at a cold –no, not just cold – hateful expression the likes of which had never graced her top commander’s faces before. At least, not in her presence. “For centuries, the Praetorians have watched the royal bloodline, monitoring it for signs of weakness and culling it whenever possible.” He explained, his head held high, giving him a strange resemblance to a teacher addressing a classroom full of foals. “To rule would be the ultimate honor, but changeling royalty has always needed raw strength to defend themselves and the Swarm if needed, and tragically, we have never had the means to seize that power for ourselves.” A massive, wicked grin covered his face as a dull glow emerged from the crowd. Two Praetorians appeared, flanking the General and bearing a massive, unmistakable shimmer between them, glowing with the stored love of a million crystal ponies. “Until now, that is,” he finished with a dark chuckle. “I really should thank you all for making this possible. The Crystal Heart gave me the perfect way to poison our sovereign’s drink as well as amassing enough love in one place to gain the power of a true Emperor! You incompetent morons gave me everything I needed to finally be rid of this weak dynasty and ensure a strong Emperor holds the throne!” Chrysalis’s eyes went wide at the sight. This was what she’d expected when she’d walked into the Throne Room earlier, not...not… “What was...” she started, coughed, swallowed, tried to inhale: “What was--” “A decoy, hexed with several powerful curses whose nature and composition has been kept within the ranks of the Praetorians for centuries,” he explained simply. “Of course, you probably knew something about that, based on how you are feeling right now. Tell me, is it painful? I’ve always wondered if it was painful.” Chrysalis tried to lift her head, and wheezed out instead. She appeared shocked by something, trying to process something in her head. Her brow furrowed, even as she lay in Luna’s grip, gasping. “You...you...” she said finally, her head resting against Luna’s chest. “We tried to warn ye, your majesty...” Luna said sorrowfully, then passed Chrysalis back to Fluttershy and Switch. The pair welcomed her into their open hooves, though it was obvious by the tear-filled look on Fluttershy’s face that she was about as clueless on what to do as the next pony. Frowning, Luna turned to the general and glared. “The cure, where is it?” Chickit chuckled. “You really think we’d have a cure for something like this? It was meant to be used once in a millenia, in the most extreme circumstances. There is no cure.” Luna inhaled, but she advanced, dipped her head. Despite the shimmering goop still holding her wings prisoner and her magic hostage, her sheer size made it an intimidating sight. The group of soldiers before her, however, didn’t even flinch. In fact, Chickit smiled amusingly. She snarled. “Then you will tell us what you do know of these curses, or so help me, we will beat it out of you.” Chickit laughed, his laughter only drowned out by a sudden coughing fit. Luna whirled around as Chrysalis’s eyes rolled wildly in their sockets. She bit the inside of her cheek as the dark chuckle returned. “Ch-CHRYSALIS!” She gasped, only turning to face Chickit once the laughter reached a fever pitch. “Oh no, dear princess.” The General said as he raised the Crystal Heart above his head. “I think I’ll be the one beating you. With my own, bare hooves.” And for the first time, Luna thought she could see the faintest of smiles on the faces around him. Especially as he opened his mouth and a waterfall of love cascaded into his waiting maw. Luna shook her head, eyes wide, matching the others around her as the love from the Crystal Heart flowed into Chickit. Before them, he grew: his slender, hole-filled legs first lengthening, then thickening. His barrel and head were next, giving him a ridiculous, cartoonish appearance of a stallion that had gone to the gym for eight hours a day for years, only focusing on the legs. But his barrel caught up quickly, followed by his thickening neck. His skull expanded and elongated with an agonizing series of pops and cracks. His fangs grew until they were the size of tusks. Finally, his horn grew into a scythe, complete with a razor edge. He no longer looked like a slightly-taller-than-average changeling, but like a beefier version of an Alicorn crossed with a changeling. Chickit gazed down at his body and chuckled, rearing up on his hind hooves. “Behold!” He bellowed, his voice a multi-tiered roar. “The Changeling Emperor is here!” In perfect sync, the other Praetorians thudded their spears against the tile, chanting: “All hail the Changeling Emperor! All hail the Changeling Emperor” The ponies backed up fearfully as Chickit lowered himself to all fours and stalked towards them, new muscles tensing and rolling across his body, head lowered like a predator, his soldiers parting to make him a path. He rumbled in close to Luna. In response, she paused her backwards retreat, took in a deep, shivering breath, and met his eye. He smirked, lips curling awkwardly around his new fangs. “I’ll spare you if you bow.” He bellowed. Luna sucked in a breath, the air warm with his heaving exhalations. “The moon bows for no one, monster. No matter what, Equestria will triumph. Friendship and love will win.” He let out a rumbling chuckle at that. “Tell me, princess, how will that happen if you don’t even have your magic?” Rather suddenly, there was a cough from the side, it was followed by a chuckle. Chickit’s eyes darted over to Chrysalis, then darted back in time to grab Luna’s hoof, aimed for a strike at his throat. A loud thwack sounded from the block. “Insolent wench, maybe you’ll bow once I--” Another dry, rattling laugh, followed by heaving coughs. Chickit turned bodily now, still holding Luna’s hoof, where Chrysalis was still chuckling. She laughed even as Fluttershy held her hoof, gazing on in concern. When the yellow pegasus noticed Chickit looking, she darted back with a squeak. And still, Chrysalis just chuckled. When it looked like the laughter had given way to a harsh enough coughing fit, Chickit sighed and turned back to Luna, who was now jabbing at his ribs with her free forehoof. He snatched it in his grip as well and flashed a grin filled with razor-sharp fangs. “As I was saying, maybe you’ll bow when I tear the wings off your--” Once again, he was interrupted by a laughing jag. With an angry hiss, Chickit turned to her, dragging Luna with him even as she thrashed and kicked at his barrel with her hind hooves. “What is so funny, weakling?” “You, you just told...the funniest joke a moment ago,” Chrysalis coughed, stammering between fits of laughter and coughs. “At least, it better be a joke. I-if you were serious, I t-tremble at the idea of someone as idiotic as you on the throne. We won’t last a year!” She followed this up with more laughter. Chickit, his hooves full, grimaced down at her, all the while ignorant to the sudden heat growing in his grip. “And what, pray tell, did I say that was so funny?” After a moment, Chrysalis seemed to regain herself enough to gaze up at him, letting out another dry cough while her chitin paled. “You forgot the most important thing about restraining pony magic.” “A bit of our goo on the horn and it’s handled, like the princess here!” He huffed impatiently, subconsciously shifting his grip on Luna as the heat started to bother the bottom of his hooves. Chrysalis shook her head and grinned, showing all her fangs. “For a weak little unicorn, s-s-sure, but for a princess? Y-you have to reinforce the goo with a constant stream of magic when they’re outside of a pod.” Chickit’s eyes widened as he realized what she was implying. “Ohh, didn’t know that little fact, eh?” Chrysalis chuckled. “It must be constantly maintained by one’s own ambient magic. It’s tied directly t-to the strength of its caster. Otherwise, i-it’s so much green snot holding back an Alicorn princess. Th-thanks for focusing on me this e-entire time, by the way.” Chickit whipped around just in time to eat another hoof aimed at his muzzle, this time infused with a deep, night-blue glow. The punch crashed into his face with the force of a steam locomotive at full speed, sending him flying back against the wall, trailing blood. He sat up, shook his head to clear it, and drank in the sight of Luna advancing, her wings unfurling, the goop restraining them dribbling off. She glowered, her eyes engulfed in shimmering turquoise light as a low hum filled the air, the goop first glowing, then smoldering, and finally, flying off with a burst of magic. Her wings rose as her eyes emitted a deep blue glow. Chickit watched in awe, then his tongue ran over something. He worked it out, and eventually spat it out on the crystal tile. One of his massive fangs gleamed back at him from the princess’s glow. “Be afraid, villain,” Luna intoned as she advanced, eyes still glowing. “For you have angered the night.” Chickit swallowed, and finally seemed to regather his marbles. With a snarl, he rose to his hooves. His scythe-like horn crackled with green energy, racing up and down it like lightning. His eyes ignited with emerald glow. “Fine then, this just means your death will be slightly more honorable!” He roared, turning to his army. “Praetorians! Advance on the others! They will be the first to be drained in the pods!” “Sir, yes sir!” The soldiers roared, turning on the remaining ponies with shields locked and weapons raised. “Worry not for me, my little ponies! Simply hold the line!” Luna called over her shoulder. “We’ll deal with yon villain!” Her head lowered, magic rising in her horn. “Alright, princess!” The ponies shrieked back. “Sure thing, mooncheeks!” Bait yelled back, earning a chuckle and a jab from Pinkie. Knowing that was handled, Luna turned to Chickit and circled to the left. The General circled on the right, the pair knowing this would be a battle for the fate of not just the Crystal Empire, but the Badlands as well. “Just so you know, I’m already looking forward to stomping on your corpse.” Chickit snarled. “Hmm...well, if your attacks are as uncreative as your threats, I should think this fight will be brief.” Luna snarked back. Chickit growled. “Yes, it will be,” he mumbled, and then he pounced.