//------------------------------// // Hallelujah // Story: And Hell Followed // by BaeroRemedy //------------------------------// “Ah’m gonna kill her.” Applejack growled out as the door to the castle shut behind her. Tears streamed down her face, but they were angry hateful tears with only a hint of sadness. “We’re gonna fix this-” Applejack told the group. “-or Ah’m gonna kill her.” The mare bucked Sweetie Belle off of her back, letting the filly hit the ground with a thud. “So y’all better decide which one is quicker’n easier. Ah know which one Ah prefer.” Rarity quickly went to her sister’s side, as did Scootaloo. The two made sure to stay away from the turned unicorn’s mouth or horn, but they had to make sure it was really her. The way the little pegasus pressed close against Rarity’s side signalled that it was also for comfort. The darkness that permeated Applejack’s words, the malice and spite, filled the entire castle. Most of the adults, except Pinkie and Dash, along with Applebloom had crowded near the door after Elytra and Cheerilee had alerted them all to the danger the siblings were in. They all shrunk back from AJ, too afraid to say anything that might offend the mare and not wanting to upset her further. The youngest Apple found her way to her sister and clung to one of the sturdy apple-bucking legs. That seemed to cool Applejack’s hot head and brought the last two Apples together in a tight hug. “Ah...he can’t be gone, AJ.” Soft sobs came from the Crusader as she was pulled against her sister’s chest. “It..we just got him back.” Tears were shed by both ponies. Another in their family line gone, another tragedy at the end of the world. This felt different from the previous deaths, from everything else. Nopony in town could’ve been saved. Thunderlane had felt unlucky, a bad play on the part of another one of their own group. This was malicious, it felt intentional. “Why didn’t they just kill him?” Sunburst shattered the somber moment with all the tact of a bull in an antique store. Several glares were shot his way as the stallion pondered upon his own question. “What does it serve?” “Because they’re smarter than y’all think!” Applejack rose to her hooves again and raised her voice. Applebloom still clung to her last surviving family member for dear life. “Twilight was waitin’ for us out there! She knew where Sweetie Belle was and did nothin’ about it! Twilight knew we would come for her!” There was a beat and her voice fell. “Just like she knew what doin’ that to Mac would do to me…” “Preposterous.” Sunburst retorted over the continued growls of the monster in their midst. “We’ve seen no signs of intelligence yet from these things. They’re wild animals.” He motioned to the bound filly on the ground who was still writhing and flailing in an attempt to get free. “Does that look intelligent to you right now?” “Ah know what ah saw!” Applejack spat back at the unicorn across from her. “They coulda overtaken me and Mac at any moment but they held back! They waited!” There were murmurs amongst the others. “That would explain Canterlot.” The heads turned to the changeling who butted into the conversation. “Oh...right, sorry.” Elytra cleared her throat and bowed her head down and backed away. “No no, what d’ya mean?” Applejack focused on the bug, which only made the creature wilt even more. “What d’ya mean about Canterlot?” “W-well…” Elytra cleared her throat as the sound of wings buzzing echoed beneath her shell. “Why destroy Canterlot?” The question hung in the air for a moment before the changeling continued. “I would say it’s full of unicorns, but I think they’re all here by now. So it’s probably empty. Why destroy it? It sends a message.” The ponies all looked at her confused. “It’s visible from everywhere. It’s where your leaders, your biggest military force, and the cultural center of Equestria is.” “You seemed to have thought about this a lot.” Bon Bon narrowed her eyes at Elytra and stepped a bit closer. “Why?” “It...it was the plan we had when we invaded.” That earned a few disgusted looks from the Equestrians, ones that Cheerilee couldn’t fault them for. “Take out the Princesses, secure the city, take what we needed and destroy it.” Elytra shrugged. “We knew most ponies would see it. National morale would plummet, we would have full control in less than a week we assumed.” The ease at which she rattled off that plan was a little unnerving, like it was still fresh in her head that many years later. “They already have your princesses, the city’s all dead or headed here, it’s the only thing left.” “That would take...coordination and communication. These things can’t talk.” Sunburst began to pace. As he walked around Sweetie Belle tried to snap at his hooves when he got too close to her. “Right?” No one had a comforting answer ready. “If…” He shook his head. “Later. Need to focus now.” “Yes, please. I would like to get my sister back to normal as soon as possible, darling.” Rarity still had a hoof on her little sister, whose growling had not ceased since she entered the castle. “Now more than ever.” The seamstress muttered as she looked at Applejack. “Ah’m gonna take care of mine…” Applejack picked up Applebloom and slipped the filly onto her back. The two earth ponies gave one last longing look to the door before they headed upstairs. “If y’all need me, don’t.” It took a moment for the cloud of oppressive emotions to finally lift before somepony else spoke. “So, Sweetie Belle.” Sunburst cleared his throat. “I suppose the first order of business is to remove the inhibitor ring.” He looked to Rarity, a certain sheepishness returning to his body language. “This..may take a while, I’m not sure. If my theory holds, she’ll need to exhaust her tainted supply of magic and have it be replaced by the magic of the castle. If the transformation is also physical, It will be painful.” Rarity bit her lip, but sooner steadied herself and nodded. Cheerilee grabbed Scootaloo and pulled her away from her fellow Crusader. Even with all of these ponies around, one unicorn could do a lot of damage. The last thing that Cheerilee would ever want is Scootaloo to be anywhere near the unchained horn of one of those things. “RRRrrraaaaaa!” The little unicorn spat and growled through her improvised muzzle at Sunburst as he crouched in front of her. Sunburst used his hooves to grip the ring and slowly lift it from the sharpened horn of the filly. Immediately Sweetie Belle’s horn lit up with a pale green light which caused Sunburst to duck out of the way. Instead of a bolt discharging, the filly began to convulse. Her horn shifted from green to a bright blue, the new aura seemed to go into her horn which only strengthened the convulsions. Sweetie Belle’s legs were curling, her eyes screwed shut in pain and blue sparks flew across her body. Her mouth couldn’t open thanks to the rope around it, but it wanted to. She tried to scream as this new magic coursed through her body. “This is...a lot faster than I expected.” Sunburst stepped away and just observed. Rarity looked horrified, her eyes as wide as dinner plates. The mare’s hooves hovered slightly above the coat of the seizing filly, too scared to touch her but too worried to move away. “Certainly strange.” Sunburst commented once more as he simply looked on. The magic kept surging, a new blue aura surrounding Sweetie’s horn and surged into her body. As each new swell of magic overwhelmed the body of the little unicorn her body started to change. First her muzzle shrunk back to something more manageable which caused the rope keeping it closed to fall away, and that only let her scream full-throated into the castle. “Sweetie, it’s okay.” Rarity was crying now, her tears falling onto her little sister’s coat. “I-I’m right here, darling.” The mare’s voice became breathy and started to come out shakily. She was struggling to keep her composure. “Rrrrr-” A growl built in Sweetie Belle’s throat, but it died as a whimper took its place. “-Ra-rarity…” The little recognition, that one little piece of equinity, was all Rarity needed to finally lose herself and let her composure shatter into a million little pieces. Rarity finally collapsed onto her little sister and buried her face into the other white unicorn’s fur. The two sisters filled the air with sobs of joy and pain as the magic of the castle continued to surge through the filly and transform her. The others continued to gawk and watch in amazement as over the course of the next several minutes, Sweetie Belle returned. The little unicorn filly was dappled with sweat. Her eyes struggled to stay open and her chest heaved with effort. Rarity held her sister as close as she could, rocking the now normal Sweetie Belle gently. “There is a mana pool…” Sunburst once again broke the silence with his musings. “We have to find it. It’s the only way.” Sunburst turned and started to trot away, but then turned back to the group and waved a hoof. “Oh, uh, she should be fine? Stay in the castle, feed, water, yadda yadda. Just keep an eye on her and tell me if anything unexpected happens!” “Rarity, do you need anything?” Cheerilee asked quietly, just wanting to help however she could. “Anything at all?” “Time.” Was the only answer she received. “Of course.” That seemed like a hot commodity at the moment. Who knew how much of it there was to go around, but she would give all she could to the reunited family. “Come on everypony, up to the rooms. Let’s give them some space.” Nopony argued, they just cast glances back at the two embracing unicorns. Cheerilee went to scoop up Scootaloo but only found that Elytra had already picked up the impeded pegasus. “Mind if I come to your place?” The question from the changeling did start a light blush in Cheerilee’s cheeks, one that was quashed as quickly as it was started. “I figured we could all use a little more company tonight.” “Please Cheerilee?” Scootaloo pouted and looked at the teacher with wide eyes. Cheerilee sighed when she saw Elytra making the same exact face. She rolled her eyes and nodded at the display of the two, but also silently thanked them for bringing some levity to the rather oppressive atmosphere. The trio made their way upstairs and to Cheerilee and Scootaloo’s room. The filly was placed on the bed, Cheerilee laid down on the floor and Elytra took up a place by the window. They all just took a moment to destress and leave their problems outside of the room. Distancing themselves from what had just happened was something that needed to happen. Loss was a part of life, now more than ever. They could mourn the loss of Ponyville’s strongest and silent stallion, but letting it fester could only cause problems. “So what did you do in Canterlot?” Scootaloo was laying on her side with her broken leg propped up on a pillow. She looked at Elytra with a gentle curiosity. “You’ve said you were there for the invasion, so what did you do before that?” “Hmm.” Elytra bit her lip and took a moment to herself before speaking. “I guess I can talk about it...just know that I’m sorry for what I did, alright?” Dark pink eyes turned to look at Cheerilee. “Know that I’m better than I was.” Cheerilee was strangely fascinated by the changeling. There was just something about her that was alluring. Maybe it was the times when she came out of her metaphorical shell and revealed herself to be funny and kind, maybe it was just how good she was with Scootaloo and their natural chemistry, or maybe it was something more? She just couldn’t place her hoof on it. “I was called a ‘harvester’.” Elytra started with a sigh. “I went out into Equestria alone, just usually to small isolated towns to stay for a week and...gather love.” The shapeshifter turned her back to the two and looked out the window. “Short assignments, nothing fancy, use a disguise picked up from a traveller and get what I needed and get out. Hundreds of us got sent out to do this every week. It was never enough to keep everyone fed, never enough to keep everyone happy.” Elytra’s voice fell and she sighed once more. “There was never enough to go around.” Cheerilee could sympathize with that situation now. Limited food and the only way to get more would be to brave a dangerous world beyond your own home. Yeah, that sounded familiar right about now. It was no wonder why Elytra didn’t seem overly bothered by this life, it was not too far from the world she grew up in. “I remember the first time I was told about the invasion.” Elytra stayed facing the window, staring out towards Canterlot. “The Queen called me to her throne and told me I had to go to Canterlot to prepare for her arrival. Take the place of a pony there and wait for months, deep cover stuff I’d never done before. I don’t think any changeling had done something like that before.” A bitter chuckle followed. “I found a stallion, a teacher, and took his place. I kept him in a pod in the basement.” “You were a stallion? Wasn’t that weird?” Cheerilee couldn’t help herself. She couldn’t even focus on the ‘keeping him in a pod’ thing because that one question was bothering her so much. “I couldn’t imagine needing to be a male for a month…” “I was a drone, it didn’t matter to me.” Elytra turned around. Her horn flashed green and various parts of her body started to change; her jaw became more square, her haunches more slim and feminine, her chest barrelled out like a weightlifter and then it all went back to normal in a flash. “We’re not like you ponies with mares and stallions. There’s no difference between us, I mean I don’t think I was called a female until after the Metamorphosis. Sometimes still I don’t...feel like a female, but I think that’s just my old drone brain kicking in.” “Fair enough.” Cheerilee easily conceded the point. She had no idea what that felt like and she wasn’t going to argue it with Elytra certainly. Being able to change everything about your body at will was bound to make those kinds of ideas more complicated. “I’ll admit that I liked it, being a pony I mean. It was the first time in my entire life I felt full.” A small warm smile crossed her features as she spoke. “There was no panic about worrying I wasn’t doing enough, about when I’d have to skip my next feeding so someone else wouldn't starve. Walking down the street was enough to fill me up for a month, that’s just how you ponies are...or...were.” Elytra cleared her throat and sat on the bed beside Scootaloo. “Anyway, I met a mare at a coffee shop by my house. Her name was Sweet Brew, a pegasus with a dark brown coat with a beautiful silver mane…” Elytra trailed off and her smile grew wider at the thought of this mare. “What happened to her?” Scootaloo leaned in, enthralled by her friend’s story. “I...well.” Elytra sighed. “When the time came, when the Queen signalled the invasion to begin and Shining Armor’s shield broke, I did what I was supposed to.” The darkness in the changeling’s voice rose and she slumped in place. “Brew and I had...moved in together. I had been there for eight months, I’d been seeing her for seven of those months.” She shook her head as tears started to form in the corners of her eyes. “I finally understood why changelings weren’t supposed to stick around for too long. Handing her over to Queen Chrysalis’ harvesters to be...podded and drained, it hurt. It was the first time in my entire life I had ever felt bad about feeding myself. It was the first time I had ever felt my heart break.” Elytra took a shaky breath. “But I was a good soldier. I knew that once we did our job and the Queen did hers we would never have to do this again. We would be fed until the end of time and I could forget about her.” “But Chrysalis failed.” Cheerilee carried on the train of thought from the bug sitting before her on the edge of tears. “Your hunger faded but the pain never did.” Elytra only nodded in response. “Did you ever go back to Canterlot? After, I mean, and try to apologize?” “Yeah, of course.” Elytra wiped her eyes and nodded some more. “Yeah. I sat outside of her place for what seemed like days, just waiting for her. When I finally saw her and told her who I was...well, she didn’t care that much. She didn’t forgive me, but it didn’t seem like she even thought about me after all of that.” Elytra waited for a moment and gathered her thoughts. “I came here to see what I could do to be better, to talk to one of the Elements of Harmony and figure out how I could atone and be a better friend to ponies.” “Hey-” Scootaloo waved Elytra over and the bug complied, trying to clear her throat of the scratchiness that nested inside of it. “-I forgive you.” Scootaloo got to her three good hooves and gave the bug a big hug. “Me too.” Cheerilee walked over and embraced Elytra, pressing her cheek against the changeling’s and closing her eyes. “We forgive you and we care.” The warm chitin pressed against the soft fur of the two ponies as hard glossy hooves wrapped around them as well. “Thank you.” The three of them stood there for a moment, just enjoying the closeness. They all could admit that it felt nice, and in some respect it felt like a long gone comfort they all three had missed. “O-oh. I know.” Elytra finally broke the hug and looked at Scootaloo with bright and energized eyes. “I have something for you, just hold on.” The bug sped off out of the room, leaving the two ponies to stare at each other. Both shrugged and waited patiently, letting Cheerilee think a bit on what just happened. She couldn’t really blame Elytra for her actions in Canterlot, after all it was just what she needed to do to survive. Could she blame anypony in the castle for basically taking over Twilight’s home? No. When this all ended they would all apologize to Twilight and move on, and Elytra did more than enough apologizing for something that happened years ago. It was only right to live and let live. “Scootaloo, close your eyes!” The call came from the opposite side of the door. Cheerilee looked at her charge, who had her head on the bed and her one good foreleg over both of her eyes. “They’re closed.” Cheerilee confirmed. “Alright.” The door opened and revealed Elytra pushing a little scooter with her magic into the room. Cheerilee’s shocked expression must’ve caught the bug’s eye because she received a hoof telling her to ‘hush’. “Open ‘em.” “WHAT” Scootaloo leapt down from the bed with reckless abandon, her bad leg scraping the ground. “My scooter! Where did you find it? How did you get it?!” The filly hopped up on her favorite mode of transportation, one hoof resting on the handles while her bad hoof hung rested gingerly on the raised lip at the front. “I’ve...well don’t tell anypony, but I’ve kind of been sneaking out at night.” Elytra rubbed the back of her neck and chuckled nervously. “At first it was for supplies, It’s how I got the cider and playing cards. Picked up some more food along the way too. But I found your scooter out by the schoolhouse and I’ve been bringing it back in pieces and putting it back together.” A blush started to form on the changeling’s face, one even she couldn’t hide. “I figured you could use it for your leg instead of being carried around all day.” Scootaloo’s wings started to buzz but the filly stopped with a pained grimace. Her back was still bruised and working her wings like that was not good for it. So instead she kicked them into a slower gear and scooted around the room, testing the handling of her trusty steed. “Thank you.” Cheerilee moved over to Elytra and planted a small kiss on her cheek.