//------------------------------// // In the Wake // Story: The War of the Mark // by Wise Cracker //------------------------------// “Now breathe out.” Bastion’s body tensed on reflex. “Deep breath in and out, out, keep going, all the way, you’re doing great.” Bastion groaned as he came to. His head was on something soft, his body was covered. The smell in the air was that of disinfectant alcohol. The lights were bright, and the voice talking about breathing was female, adult from the sound of it, and definitely not a changeling, let alone a changeling Queen. Slowly, carefully, he sat up. There was a sting in his left arm, a quick glance revealed it to be an IV. He was in a hospital room. Across from him was Live Wire, sipping some fruit juice. To the right of the Unicorn Doldrum was blowing into a tube-like device at the behest of a nurse. “Okay, great.” She checked the tube and smiled. “I’ll be back in three hours for another test, but right now it looks like you’re all better.” Doldrum coughed and patted his chest. Like the other two, he was hooked up to an IV. The nurse, a white mare with a blue mane and tail, noticed the changeling boy was up. “Oh, and right on time, too. Hi there. You’re Bastion right? I’m nurse Willow Bark. Do you know where you are?” “A hospital,” he croaked. “Canterlot?” “That’s right, Canterlot General. Do you remember what happened?” Bastion closed his eyes and thought. “I was fighting Queen Chrysalis. We were fighting her. We won. And then I walked away.” “That’s it?” Live Wire asked. “Yeah. After that, nothing. What happened?” Willow smiled. “Okay, that’s pretty much what we expected from what Chancellor Neighsay told us. You boys can fill him in, I’ll be back with some snacks for our little hero here, and I’ll let everypony know you’re up. Banana yoghurt or pineapple?” “Banana, please,” Bastion replied. He sighed, a wave of dizziness washing over him. Once the nurse was gone, he turned to his friends. His head was pounding, even his eyeballs throbbed with stress. “Ow… What happened? How did we get here?” “Chancellor Neighsay picked us up in the cavern,” Live Wire replied. “A couple of Royal Guards took care of Chrysalis.” “Took care? You mean…” “They captured her and moved her,” Live Wire explained. “We don’t know where. All three of us were tired, but you were wobbling right after the fight was over. I think maybe you had a bad reaction to the amulets.” “We all did,” Doldrum noted. “Amulets like that let you fight for longer, but eventually your body catches up. You passed out, we were awake for the whole thing, mostly, but we could barely move for a while. You were out for about four hours.” Bastion gulped. “Is it over?” “It’s over,” Live Wire replied. “We won. Princess Celestia collapsed, but she’s alive, and right now Princess Luna and Cadence are taking care of things. There’s a bunch of Crystal ponies helping out with the injured, too. But we need rest, that’s what the nurses said.” Bastion let out a sigh of relief and let his head rest on the pillow. “And Ponyville? Do we know who’s okay?” “I don’t think anypony really died. Well, you know, except for me.” Live Wire snickered. “A lot of buildings got hit, though. Cloudsdale nearly fell out of the sky. The Royal Guard Academy got overrun before the real attack even happened.” “Have you talked to anyone from Ponyville in the meantime?” “No. They’ve kept us away from everypony else so far. We’re fine, it’s just exhaustion.” Doldrum smiled. “Boys?” A stallion came stumbling in, a noble from the looks of it, with bandages over his midsection. He was clutching his chest, and the red spot underneath betrayed the stab wound it was covering. He looked familiar, but it took Bastion a moment to realise from where. “Mister Fancy Pants,” Bastion greeted. “Thanks for the help out there.” “Boys, I heard about what happened. I wanted to apologise. I never even saw you by that fountain.” “It was a busy morning, sir,” Doldrum said. “And you helped us out a lot. We only got the drop on her once. We might not have made it if not for you.” “Still, you fought that thing on your own.” “No, we didn’t,” Bastion insisted. “Chrysalis spread herself too thin. Everyone fought her together. And you took out a Prime we didn’t know was there.” “You saved our lives, sir,” Live Wire said. “I mean, if I had to blow my big spell too early, we were done for. We owe you.” “Well, you ended up saving mine when you got the Queen, so consider your debts squared.” “Fancy Pants, return to your bed this instant!” a mare called out from beyond the door. “We are overburdened enough as it is, you’re going to start bleeding again.” “Right, that’s my cue.” Fancy Pants winced and rubbed over the bandage on his waist, before limping off. The source of the mare’s voice came in with an exasperated sigh. “Princess Luna,” Doldrum greeted. “Hi.” “Greetings to you, boys, and well done today.” She strode in, smile bright on her face, though tinged with worry. “That was a hard-fought battle, even if it was mercifully short. How are you all feeling?” “Worried,” Bastion replied before the other two could. “Where’s my mom?” Luna nodded. “Bon Bon is in Ponyville, and she is fine. She suffered a small bump on the head, but she took her toll on the invading forces there. Lyra Heartstrings is recovering in Rainbow Falls, that’s where we’ve sent all the civilian casualties. And by that I mean the ponies who were drained, no fatalities, due greatly to your actions. Canterlot emergency wards are full of Royal Guards and recruits, for the most part.” Bastion sighed in relief. “And the Apples?” “Dug in their hooves, fortified their farm, then evacuated into the Everfree when they were overrun,” Luna replied. “It seems Chrysalis was keen on taking that position intact, for the magic of the Zap Apples, I would assume. Granny Smith contacted me and wanted you to know she scored no less than a dozen headshots, and is quite upset that you denied her a new personal record, something about an Uncle Wesson, I couldn’t quite understand it. But, regardless, I think they had a few frightful moments today. They are not terribly injured, but they are bruised and exhausted.” “Good.” He chuckled. “For a second there, I thought Chrysalis might have tried a hostage situation.” “It wouldn’t have served her purposes any better than what she did. Now, Doldrum, Live Wire, your parents have been informed, they are on the way. However, Cloudsdale suffered a large-scale sabotage, so it may take some time. Some of the roads are flooded, and the railroads will need mending.” “What happened in the castle?” Live Wire asked. “Is Princess Celestia okay? We heard she collapsed.” “She did indeed. My sister exerted herself in the fight, as she has in the past, but she is fine now. She suffered no greater injuries than you have. You three did very well out there, you know. You formulated a superior strategy and you executed it despite the difficulties.” Doldrum gestured to the changeling. “Bastion came up with the plan.” “It wasn’t much of a plan, really,” Bastion said, blushing. “I knew she was stealing pony magic, so I had to know if she needed a live pony for it to work. Live Wire’s little stunt told me what bait she’d fall for.” “Yeah, thanks for slipping me those amulets, by the way,” Live Wire said. “That was really smooth.” “Ninja tricks,” Doldrum said. “You really sold the dying part.” Bastion nodded. “After that, it was a gamble. Live Wire’s power is the sort of thing she’d want to keep around, so I figured she wouldn’t dispose of his body, and she couldn’t spare any drones to stash him with all the fighting going on. But Doldrum was the real ace in the hole.” Luna chuckled. “You tricked her into draining you. Did you taunt her with anything?” “I didn’t need to,” Doldrum said. “Mister Sunburst had the same idea we did.” “Chancellor Neighsay mentioned it before we left,” Bastion added. “She got to Sunburst, and she drained him. That shut down all of her magic.” “Meaning she was desperate for power,” Luna concluded. “And in consuming you, she ate your greatest weakness.” Doldrum nodded. “And then she spread it all over her swarm. She choked, they all did. We hoped that would be enough for ponies to fight back.” “Indeed. Very clever thinking, a classic approach to fighting vampiric foes like her. Your ancestors would be proud, I’m sure. And as a contemporary to some of them, I know I am.” “But how did you beat her?” Bastion asked. “You paralysed her, just like that. And how did you guys know?” “When your friend made his supposed sacrifice, he entered the realm of dreams,” the alicorn explained. “He called out to me, and laid out the situation. We were able to coordinate that way, much like I did with my sister when she was briefly knocked unconscious a few times. It was a simple matter to find young Doldrum and catch his spirit as he fell. The others… they eluded me. I was already inside of Chrysalis’s home base when Live Wire fell, trying to use her own network against her. She was clever, though: she hid herself in the masses.” “But I thought Chrysalis had moved her base?” Bastion asked. “She had. But thanks to the efforts of both yourself and many other allies, she had to rely on reinforcements, and I was given a good lead on where to look. My Night Guards have sharp senses, detection magic is their strong suit, and my sister delivered a starting point we could use. We found the hive, infiltrated it, and I, well, infected her system, you might say. I took over most of her senses right before she could deal a grievous blow to my sister, and I managed to keep her unaware her forces were wiped out. But to feed her an illusion of what was right in front of her, that I could not do so easily.” The Princess bit her lip. “I am sorry it took me so long, boys. I saw through her eyes for a time. There were some… terrifying moments I witnessed, and I regret it deeply. Especially you, Bastion. I saw her strike you and I couldn’t stop her in time, only slow her down with memories.” “But… you can just take over a pony’s body like that?” Live Wire asked. “No, heavens no,” Luna shook her head vehemently. “Not from that far, certainly. Any normal creature can keep such an invader out, even a powerful one like myself would struggle in the best of situations. But Chrysalis spread herself thin. She left openings by using drones the way she did, difficult to breach, but not impossible. And thanks to you three, far less difficult to breach than she expected.” “So where is she now?” Bastion asked. “She is imprisoned, contained.” “Are you going to kill her?” Luna tilted her head. “Do you think we ought to?” “I don’t know. I feel like I was supposed to.” “Then why didn’t you?” He shrugged. “I don’t know. She wanted me to.” “And yet you didn’t. Did you deny her because you felt it was wrong, or because you wished to deny her what she wanted?” “I’m not sure. A little bit of both? That’s bad, right?” “It would be. But, a clever boy like you, I suspect you knew deep down she planning something, and didn’t fall for her trap,” Luna said. “But we had her,” Doldrum argued. “What would have happened if one of us had, you know...” Luna’s ears twitched. Behind her, nurses trotted back and forth, and one had gone and fetched a bit of food for the changeling. “That’s nothing for you to lose sleep over, especially while you are recovering. Rest up, all three of you. If you wish to speak with me, wait for sundown, and call me in your dreams. In the meantime, you’ll need to regain your strength, and I will need to take over a few royal duties while my sister recuperates.” A few days later, Princess Luna strode through the crystal corridors of a cave that did not officially exist, beneath a river that was omitted from any maps, towards a cell that hadn’t seen use in millennia. It wasn’t even much a cell, really, more of a glass bubble under running water. A steady stream came in from the ceiling and washed down the chamber’s walls, to then go down the length of the pyramid-like pillar it rested on. Inside the chamber was a single prisoner. “Chrysalis, good morning,” Luna greeted. “I trust you’ve had time to grow accustomed to your new accommodations?” Chrysalis snorted. “What, Celestia couldn’t make it?” “She had another, more urgent appointment. And you haven’t answered my question. What do you think of your new cell?” Chrysalis tapped the glass. “It’s not soundproof. The water is a weird touch.” She looked around. “Where am going to get my food delivered from?” “Ah, you noticed. You will not be getting any food delivered, Chrysalis, that’s the beauty of this cell. It was made by monarchs of the Crystal Empire, designed to keep villains like you contained. The crystal is a superconductor of magic, meaning any blasts you might attempt will fail before you form them. So will any magic, in fact. The forest above this cave is an old graveyard for Treeguards, I’m sure you can imagine what effect that has on any spellcraft. But not all magic is cancelled: the stream above you has healing and sustaining properties. You will not need to go hungry for as long as you live.” Chrysalis growled. “I suppose that’s a plus. Did you come here just to tell me the prison menu?” “No. I wanted to talk to you about young Bastion. You honestly wanted him to kill you, didn’t you?” Chrysalis snorted from behind the crystal. “There’s no shame in admitting it. You wanted him to kill you, so you could eject your soul and reincarnate. Cut your losses, so to speak, start fresh with whatever you could hold onto, and in another five hundred years we would get to the same song and dance again. He’s only a child, Chrysalis.” “He was mine,” Chrysalis argued. “They are all mine. I made them. I made their ancestors, I designed their bodies, I sculpted their souls. If I didn’t need to let them have their own thoughts and, ugh, personalities, I never would have let them. But that’s the problem with magic, isn’t it? It’s a personal thing, you can’t replicate it so easily.” “No, you can’t. And you never will again.” “We’ll see about that. I got very close today, you know. I had those boys right where I wanted them. If you had been a split second late with that paralysis trick of yours-” “Then Neighsay’s Amulet would have protected them, as he intended.” “Don’t try to talk big, Princess, not here, not now. You know as well as I do it was you who beat me, not those children.” “You can tell yourself that, if you like. But I know what broke your defenses. I know the precise moment your mind slipped and your body fell.” The Queen bared her teeth. “You lie.” “It doesn’t matter in the grand scheme of things. I certainly won’t let those boys know the truth, not after what happened last time. But someone of your stature should know a thing or two about a delayed death touch, and hidden nerve damage.” “No.” “Oh, yes. When the lightning scattered through your body, when that uppity Pegasus colt forced lightning to go in unnatural places… that wasn’t meant to destroy you or damage you, only incapacitate you. They knew how to capture you. They planned it, they took their opportunity, and they brought you down like a hunted animal. You were defeated by children.” Chrysalis let out a grunt. “Whatever lets you sleep at night. Or sleep through the day, I guess. You can’t keep me here forever, Luna.” “I don’t need to. This cell is designed specifically to hold necromantically imbued creatures like yourself.” “What?” Luna smirked. “I told you: those waters will sustain you. You won’t grow hungry. But that’s a whole forest of Treeguard magic above you, and a giant absorbent crystal below you. As you feed, bit by bit, more of you will be replaced and scattered by the water’s magic. It will, slowly but surely, replace you. In time, all that will be left of you is a puddle.” The Queen glared. Luna smirked. “Oh, I see what you are thinking. Surely there’s a sliver of me left in some other body? We prepared for that. The griffons have extensive experience in purifying that sort of influence, assuming you even thought to use such a fail-safe. Perhaps you were thinking you could corrupt me, with the little time I spent in your head? That avenue has already been taken care of, as well. A great burst of power to break free? You’ll only hurt yourself. You were exhausted when you were brought in here, and even at full power you wouldn’t be able to manage it. There is nothing you can do now. You will waste away here.” Chrysalis paced back and forth, knocking on the walls. “You can’t do this to me: you’re a pony. Aren’t you supposed to try and reform me? Give me a chance to redeem myself?” “Your soul is fragmented, and your mind beyond repair. Oblivion is redemption for the likes of you.” “That’s it, then? You’re not even going to ask me why I did it?” Luna snorted. “Laziness and lack of inspiration combined with a desperate egotistical desire for immortality.” “You don’t know, then. You don’t know what’s coming.” “More tricks, more deception.” “No. You ponies came here fleeing monsters you created. There was worse out on this continent when I ruled. There are things out there, more cruel, more powerful than I ever was. And without me, without the power I was about to rightfully take, everything you’ve built will be destroyed.” “Then we shall have that in common,” Luna retorted. “Thank you for the warning. I’ll make good use of it.” “You need me, Luna. You don’t even know what is coming, or when it’s coming.” “Indeed. But I know it will not be today, and I know it will not be you. That is enough for now.” Luna turned her back on the cell as Chrysalis raged. “You think you’re so much better than me?! I know how you ponies treat your own! You’d sacrifice each other in a heartbeat if it meant you’d get a sunny day! Your sister experiments with her students at that school of hers, too, and you know it!” Luna stopped. “You know I’m right,” Chrysalis said. “How is what she’s planned for Twilight Sparkle any different from what I planned for Bastion?” Luna turned and sighed. “Twilight Sparkle usually creates her own problems, and while she enjoys some level of trust and independence, she is still aided in solving them, and benefits from her own solutions. You created the problems for little Bastion, and expected to reap the rewards of his solutions. But by all means, keep telling yourself you’re better than us. I’ve seen the bottles.” Chrysalis grinned. “It’s quite a collection, isn’t it? Heroes, healers, great thinkers, all those souls and destinies just lying around. I can show you how to use them. You could have a permanent Golden Age, never have to suffer mediocrity ever again.” “See, that’s your problem, Chrysalis: you’re so far gone you can only recycle and re-use old ideas. You’ve become as stale as the drones you farmed so callously. We already know what to do with the bottles.” “Don’t tell me you destroyed them? Even you wouldn’t be that foolish?” Luna grinned. “I gave them to some friends of Sunburst’s, and to the changelings of Alveola. Your mindless drones are being given minds of their own as we speak. Your people are free now, Chrysalis. They are free from you, and will never have to suffer your inadequacies ever again.” Celestia sat next to the hole in her garden, and leaned on the statue. Philomena perched on Discord’s tail. “So, you sowed those seeds all those centuries ago, and only now you would let them grow?” They take a long time to grow. “And your plan was to let them attack the Tree of Harmony, to free yourself from stone.” At the time, yes. It would have worked eventually. Celestia let her head rest against the stone. “Then why reveal them now? Why did you block that shot?” I couldn’t let Chrysalis win, what kind of a dumb question is that? “Why, Discord? You don’t care if anything happens to ponies. You never cared.” No, I don’t. But I still have standards. “So you saved me because you have standards?” Celestia asked. Well, yes. You’re fun, Celestia, or you used to be, and so was Luna. You haven’t been the same since that argument with your sister. I… I wish I’d been there when it happened. It’s no fun being powerless. She pondered her next question carefully. “You understand, then, that others feel powerless around you?” The statue groaned into her mind. If you’re trying to teach me morals, Your Highness, you’re fresh out of luck. You did technically de-throne me when I was a legitimate ruler, twice. Equestria was mine by right, and I defended it when it was mine. “So you don’t think Luna and I did a better job at it?” The Crystal Empire would have still been standing if I’d been around. Chrysalis would never have dared to move against me. “Oh, I think she would have,” Celestia argued. “I think she would have focussed on you first, try and steal your powers, analyse your limits.” You mean like she did to you? “Yes, but with one critical difference.” I don’t solve my problems with nuclear power? “If you had been attacked while you’d been in power, no pony would have come to your aid, except Luna and I.” The statue fell silent. “Do you understand what I am saying?” Celestia asked. Yes. Ponies hate me and fear me, as they should. They should fear power. “I am saying that as powerful as you are, you have blind spots, some of which I have exploited myself, if you’ll recall.” Your point? She sighed. “You of all creatures should know the creed of chaos mages, Discord. Power that can be taken away is no power at all. You make enemies, and you have to worry constantly if any of them ever find your weak spots. That is what it was like for me and my sister at first.” But you managed. “You shouldn’t have to deal with that alone, Discord, that is what I am saying. You helped us. You saved me, even though it went against your nature, against your interests. I won’t pretend to know what goes on in your mind or what existence is like for a creature of chaos like you, but I know I can make it more bearable.” Are you offering me a way out? Celestia stood up, and Philomena went to sit on her back. “I am offering you a probation. There will be terms, terms to negotiate, on both our ends. I don’t expect you to behave like a model citizen, but I will want some limits. As you pointed out: a little chaos can be a good thing.” That sounds like a ‘yes’ on the way out. “Think it over, Discord. Ask yourself what it is you really want, decide upon it in your own time. I will ask my sister and some associates what they would expect in return.” It’s negotiations, then. I get to ask for anything I want, you ask for anything you want, we argue until one of us buckles and pretends they’re happy with it? “Yes. A mutually beneficial arrangement. Your freedom would be one bargaining chip for me, your abilities of detection would be one for you. I’m sure a former ruler of Equestria knows his way around the negotiating table.” Ooh, trying to appeal to my ego? I haven’t had anyone try that in centuries, that’s devious of you, Celestia. I like it. Alright. I’ll see what I can think of, without reason. She chuckled. “I expect nothing less. Oh, and before I go, Discord?” What? “Thank you. I don’t think I got around to saying it at the time.” For a moment, she swore she saw a drop of water near the statue’s eyes. Don’t mention it, Celestia. Seriously, I have reputation to uphold. Bastion was early to the Cutie Mark Crusader meeting. He sat in the clubhouse, looking over the Apple family orchard, and let his mind wander. His ears flicked at the sound coming up the ramp. “Hey, Bastion,” Apple Bloom greeted. “Feelin’ better today?” “A little,” he replied. She went to sit next to him and look out the window. “A little better is good. Get enough little betters together and you’ll be all set.” He smiled. “Do you wanna talk about it?” she asked. “I already told you.” “Doesn’t mean you can’t say it again, if you think you have to. I don’t mind.” He sighed. “It’s just weird, is all. It’s still weird. I talked to Princess Luna again. She said the whole bottle thing is worked out now, they’re going to start, umm, ‘habilitating’ the drones soon. They can’t even call it re-habilitating because the drones never got the chance to be anything.” “And she’s sure that whole story wasn’t made up? About you, you know…” He nodded. “Positive. I don’t really know what to do with that. Was my soul someone else’s? Am I the same as my uncle? Am I a mix? Am I going to start dreaming of past lives? Whose was the first one she used to make me? What if Chrysalis was right, and I’m just designed to be abandoned?” She bumped her shoulder against his. “Then she did a real poor job makin’ you, ‘coz you’ve got a lot of ponies who aren’t gonna abandon you.” Bastion chuckled. “Thanks. That still doesn’t answer my question, though.” “Well, you’re obviously not the same as your uncle.” “Not that question. What am I supposed to do with that? It feels like… like I’m supposed to be important, or powerful.” “Aren’t you?” “I don’t feel like it,” he replied. “Maybe that’s a good thing, then. If you really think about it, your uncle died so you wouldn’t have to fight. He died fighting Chrysalis, and you took her out.” “He killed himself,” Bastion said. “What?” “My uncle took his own life. He destroyed himself, trying to kill Chrysalis. She didn’t kill him. Princess Luna was in her head for a while, she told me it was true. So… whatever I do now, my uncle paid with his life to do it.” He fidgeted. “She didn’t take it, he gave it. He decided he was going to die for me. But I don’t know what he wanted me to do after that.” “Yeah, that’s not an easy thing to worry about. But, if you don’t mind me speakin’ from experience?” “Please.” “Maybe you don’t know because he didn’t want you to know. Maybe the whole idea is that you’d make your own decisions. Make your own mistakes, even.” “I guess that’s true.” He sighed. “It’s been a weird two weeks after that battle.” “Still worried she got ya in the end, huh?” She nudged him. “A little. I mean, I know she didn’t, I’ve had proof she didn’t. I’ve seen new things, tasted new things, I know she couldn’t fake all of that, but still… I passed out. I don’t remember how I got to the hospital. What if I’m dreaming all of this?” Apple Bloom shrugged. “I could hit you in the head again, if it makes you feel any better. Might even get a cutie mark out of it this time.” His nose curled. Outside, he could hear the buzzing and swishing of Pegasus wings, along with the crackle of electricity, and some discussion about pecan pies versus lime key pies for Royal Guards. His friends were coming. In a few minutes, they’d have their meeting, discuss how to help out the reconstruction effort, and maybe get a cutie mark in the process. Aside from the cleaning up, it was like Chrysalis hadn’t even existed. “You know what? No. I’m good.” “Good, how?” Apple Bloom asked. “I told you Bastion would be here already,” Sweetie Belle said, coming up the ramp. “We went all the way to Sugarcube Corner for nothing.” The others were not far behind. “You could have just let me do a quick flyby, you know, you didn’t have to come along,” Rumble argued. “Are they always like this?” Doldrum asked. “Nah, Sweetie Belle’s just taking over for me today,” Scootaloo replied. “Girls are weird,” said the Unicorn who had restraining orders keeping him away from petting zoos. “We should get the meeting started,” Apple Bloom said. “Do you wanna lay out the plans again?” “No.” Bastion gestured to the wall where they plastered their ideas. “You do it.” “You’re sure?” “Positive. I think I wanna lay off the planning and over-thinking for a while, hear somepony else’s ideas for a change.” The End.