//------------------------------// // Chapter 243 - DIPLOMACY!!! // Story: Dadonequus Discord (Book 2) // by CrazedLaughter //------------------------------// “Okay, so what gives? I thought you changelings became nice and welcoming.” Diamond said, utterly annoyed. King Thorax has led you both back out to the hive’s entrance, not wanting your presence to cause any further turmoil among his subjects. “W-we are! Really! It’s just, well, I already explained it. I don’t want to be a bother to either of you, nor do I just want to kick you both out. But I have to think of my brothers and sisters, I don’t want them to suffer.” Thorax said, in his usual meek manner. And yet he was doing just that. You knew it was going to end badly for Diamond, but this was too much. She didn’t even get a chance, and that actually pissed you off. “Okay, but do you know how long ago the whole 'attempt on Twilight's life' was?! Dude, I’m taking my aunt tomorrow to go see her so they can chat and be friends. Didn’t anycreature tell you what happened after all that?” Thorax nodded. “Princess Celestia did, she urged me to reconsider my stance. I couldn’t do that, whatever the other changelings felt on the matter, well, that was the decision that would be made. And given my personal experience, well, Anon… You were there.” “C’mon, man, are you serious? Do you realize she gave up on all her conquests? She literally spends most of her time at home, watching movies and skulking in the forest. As long as it isn’t Shining Armor, I actually think she’d be fine with visitors.” You tell him “Chrysalis has come a long way. She even came to understand that evil can’t win, it’d cause the wendigos to literally destroy everything, including her. So, c’mon, stop being so melodramatic!” “Gosh, that does sound like something. And, I suppose if it was up to me, I would consider it a little more an-” But he was interrupted by Diamond, who exploded at him. “What do you mean?! You’re the king! It is up to you! Why is it everypony ever can be forgiven, but not her?! If Big Sis was as bad as you say, then why is she so nice to me?” Diamond growled, demanding an answer. “Just admit you don’t want her here because you don’t want to accept she’s reformed!” “Well, u-um…” Thorax began to fidget his forelegs as he became increasingly nervous “I’d certainly want to. But it’s just as I said, we simply can’t trust her, at least not yet. Please, understand when I say this…” Thorax looks over at you, and points to you. “My fellow changelings have told me all about Anon’s time with the former queen. And I have inquired further through the princesses. I-it’s all so much to take in, you see. But the most constant issue I’ve seen is that no matter how far along it may seem Anon has gotten in reforming her, she always seems to use it as cover for her next evil plan.” Thorax then tried to give Diamond a reassuring smile. “But I can see you both mean well. I can tell my fellow changelings that neither of you mean any harm. All I ask is that you cease with this queen business. Erm, if you don’t mind.” Diamond scoffed at those words, she wasn’t having it. “Are you serious? She’s your mom! I get it, she tried to have you destroyed, I get that. But I also happen to know she’s cried about all of you, missing all of you. Everytime Scrappy is around her, she’s always really happy to have him around.  She’s changed! Really! Why can’t you give her a chance? Just one! It’s Hearthwarming soon!” Thorax fidgeted for a moment, frowning before shaking his head. “We just can’t. I’m very sorry.” “Wow, I figured you guys would be more understanding. But you all really just hate her guts, huh?” You said, staring hard at Thorax before giving a somber look towards Diamond. That determination she had, it was like looking in a mirror. You worked so hard to reform Chrysalis, now she was working hard to get her brood to see she’s changed. You started to feel awful about the whole thing. “I-I didn’t say that! We changelings don’t hate anymore! We just… Don’t like her, that’s all.” Thorax said with a gulp.  Diamond looked up at you, then gave a scowl towards Thorax as she began to walk away. “Come on, Anon, let’s go.” Go? “Diamond?” “What? Whatever, Anon, you were right. I can’t even believe it. Like, all the changelings were totally forgiven for everything they ever did, and are even accepted by, like, everypony. But Big Sis? Their mother? Nope, she gets treated like trash. Even if she was evil before, she fed them, kept them together, and risked her life for them. I know she did a lot of bad stuff, but I guess that also means she should have a lonely Hearthwarming too. I can’t stand to think about it, Anon. Her sitting in her house, all alone, while everypony around her is with family. You’ve seen her when she sleeps, right? She actually cries! She calls out to her babies! She hugs onto her little doll and it just gets so wet from tears. It… It makes me want to cry too.” Diamond said, starting to wipe her eyes… Despite no tears coming out.  Waaaait a second. Chrysalis doesn’t do those last things she listed. Well, she kinda did when she was drunk. Oh, OH! You figured it out! It was one of those, the same thing you pulled on Neighsay. Ohh, Diamond, now that’s sneaky. She came up with this one all on her own, and you kinda really digged it. “I mean, yeah. It scares me… She’s confided in me a lot, and… Did you know she contemplates ending herself for the horrid things she felt she put her children through?” You said, giving Diamond a hidden smirk as you wink at her. Diamond smiles warmly for a moment, more than glad you caught on so quickly, before starting to sob. “That’s terrible! Anon! That’s so… Big sis! Oh, Big Sis. If… If I lost her, then… I-I think I’d have to do that too and-” Diamond stops when she hears a sound coming from behind, it was sobbing. When you both looked back, Thorax was on the ground, crying his eyes out. Diamond smirked evilly for a moment before walking up to him. “What are you crying for? You weren't eavesdropping on us, were you?” Thorax pouted, before bursting into tears again. “I didn’t mean to! You both were just so loud! I didn’t mean to! I swear! I didn’t even know that’s how she felt! Oh Celestia, forgive me! I should have listened! How could I have been so mean?! She, wait!” Thorax stood up suddenly, looking at you both with urgent eyes. “She… She didn’t do it, did she!? Is she still with us?! Please, you can’t let her end herself. I told you, we don’t hate her. I don’t, but I just didn’t know! Please, please, forgive me.” Wow, he was easier to break than Neighsay too. Not surprising, but goddamn. ”I mean, it’s on you, dude. Hearthwarming is soon and you guys just decided that she isn’t worth a feather.” “Yeah, it isn’t like you all couldn’t at least be with her for at least one day or anything like that.” Diamond said, giving Thorax a harsh look. “You wouldn’t, would you?” “I would! I just didn’t know! Please, stop, I’m sorry! I’m so sorry. If only I had known, I’d have gone to see her so long ago. I… I know!” Thorax said, as he suddenly brightened up, his wings fluttering. “I’ll go see her right now! I’ll let her know that I can talk to the other changelings to give her a chance! Now that I know who she is now, I’m sure she’ll be happy to see me! Oh, there’s no time to waste! Thank you, you two!” Thorax said as he immediately waved back to you two as he began to fly away. Well, that was easy. But then when you looked at Diamond, she suddenly was pale with dread. “Diamond? You alright? What’s wrong? We just managed to get Thorax to go see Chr- Oh no…” And that’s when you filled with dread. “We’re freaking out because everything we told him wasn’t true and we didn’t have time to tell Chrysalis at all about it, right?” “Uh huh…” Diamond said with a stunned nod. “Big Sis isn’t going to kill him, is she?” Probably? “Ummm…” “Anon! We have to do something! I wanted them to forgive her in time! Not right now! This is bad, this is super bad! What are we going to do?!” Diamond said in a panic. “Okay, hold on! Hold on! We still have time, right? All we have to do is talk to Chrysalis and tell her what we said to Thorax and ask her to just… Fake it, she’s done it before, like, all the time.” You said. It seemed like the most logical answer to this mess. “Anon, didn’t she want to murder that guy?!  Big Sis can get pretty angry! And she’s stubborn! I don’t think I could convince her to play nice! And she already is being really patient with meeting your aunt tomorrow! This could ruin everything!” Diamond said, gulping hard as she began to shake in panic. That was true. If Thorax showed up unannounced, she’d fucking want to kill the guy there and then, or at least rip him a new one. How were you going to handle this? The only thing you could think of was making another addition to the house as an apology and a compromise. But what could you give her that she didn’t already have or need? What could you add that would make her happy? An underground hot spring, of course! That has to work! Thank you, horny animes! You look over to Diamond, and you hold on to her hooves to calm her down. She suddenly becomes silent, looking at you with a blush. “A-Anon?” “Diamond, you proved me wrong. You managed to convince Thorax in a way I couldn’t, but now we have a little more work to do. You just keep working your magic, alright? I got a plan. I think Chrysalis would be a little more willing to do this if I gave her something, like a hot spring, what do you think?” You asked. “That… That could work.” Diamond said quietly as she began to calm down. “But it’s not just getting her to agree, she also would have to stay calm. She only has so much patience, Anon. And that guy is a total wimp, even I would get mad having to talk to him for so long.” “Then the only way is to stick around, make sure she doesn’t blow her top. If you’re there, Diamond, I’m sure she’d be more mindful. Call me crazy, but I feel like she at least tries to be of a kinda good influence on you. You’re her ‘'little sister’ after all.” You said with a reassuring wink. It had to work, it frightened you, but if Diamond was there, then there was still a chance this could go smoothly. “All we have to do is make sure Thorax doesn’t have an emotional breakdown or something.” “You mean like he just did?” Diamond asked “Yeah.” You replied. feeling some doubt. Diamond suddenly entered deep thought, as if taking his sudden emotions into consideration. She then looked over at you inquisitively. “Anon… Does he even know where Big Sis lives?” Huh? Wait, that’s a good question. “Um, I don’t think so.” Diamond rolled her eyes “Bring him back here. There’s nothing to worry about, and I think I can even use that to our advantage.” “‘That’?” You asked, as you reluctantly placed your horn on your head. “What’s the plan?” “Easy, just follow my lead.” Diamond said, looking at you with confidence. Follow her lead, huh? Well, there really wasn’t anything to worry about given Thorax didn’t actually know where Chrysalis lived. Was she going to use ‘that’ against him? You only had two charges left, so she was going to have to make this count. You had to trust her, she already got this far with him, so let’s see if she can seal the deal. “Gotcha. Alright, here we go!” And with just a nod, you use your horn to summon Thorax back, causing him to crash and flip around on the ground. “Gyah! Gah! MPH! Ngh… W-what happened?” Thorax said, slowly standing up, confused and dizzy. “A-am I back at the hive? How did that happen?” “Because we brought you back. What were you thinking?!” Diamond said, making sure to sound fierce. “H-huh?! It was just like I said, I-I was going to go see the former queen! I swear!” Thorax said, shaking from her words, still feeling rather skittish about all of this. “Well, duh, we knew that. But do you even know where she lives?!” She asked him. “Yes!... No…. No. Erm, I-I guess you brought me back because, well, I goofed. S-sorry. W-would you happen to know where she lives?” Thorax asked as politely as he could. Diamond groaned as she slapped her forehead with her hoof. “Ugh, I can’t believe you. Right now Big Sis is at the spa, all day, as an early present from me since it’ll be closed on Hearthwarming. And there you go, almost spoiling everything!” “I didn’t know that! Oh gosh, Oh my, I could have ruined her day. I’m so sorry…” Thorax said with a bow. Christ, what a fucking wimp. “You better be. In fact, to make it up to me for almost ruining everything, why don’t you let me make the arrangements. You should at least get your subjects to understand what's going to happen before you fly off, don’t you think?” Diamond asked him, giving him a stink-eye. “I… I should.” Thorax said meekly. “Exactly. So here’s how it’s going to happen. Me and Anon are going to talk to her, and we’ll tell her you want to meet her personally. We’re going to have to make sure she understands this is for good reasons and not bad, you understand that, right? The situation is super sketchy as it is and I certainly don’t want her thinking you hate her or that the whole thing is hopeless. Got it?  This is really really delicate.” Diamond explained to him. “I c-can agree. It is delicate. I can’t believe I just flew off like that! Ugh, stupid, stupid! My fellow changelings would have been so worried if I had actually left like that too. I’m so sorry, you two. All of this, it has been my fault. For all the understanding you ponies have shown us, I somehow forgot that we need to be a little understanding too. Alright, until we have your word, I’ll refrain from taking any further actions.” Thorax said, feeling terrible for what he’s done. “We’ll, um, send a letter when everything is ready to go, okay?” Diamond told him. “Right, that should work. So then, um, what now? Would you like to come back in? We’d love to have you!” Thorax offered with a wide inviting grin. Go back in there? No way, not after all this. “Erm, no, I’m good. What about you, Diamond?” “I, um, I have to go home, actually. I got lots of stuff to do.” Diamond said. Thorax nodded, not giving a second thought to it. “Alright then. You both have a good day, and if I somehow don’t get a chance, have a good Hearthwarming too!” Thorax said with a wave before heading back into the hive. Diamond slumped to the ground with a heavy sigh. “Ughhhh, that was too close. No wonder Big Sis didn’t like him.” “Yeah, tell me about it. But hey, you got what you wanted. Good job, Diamond, I’m pretty impressed.” You seriously were. Either Ocellus was just more unwilling than Thorax was or Thorax really was that much of a pussy that he didn’t want to upset anyone, even someone who tried to kill him.  “Well, yeah, you totally should be. I saved the day this time.” Diamond said as she began to snuggle up next to you. “Maybe they should be calling me the hero filly.” You started to blush at the attention, something you were sure she was doing right now as well. “Y-yeah. But, wait, how exactly are we going to tell Chrysalis? Like, set her up for all this I mean?” “We’ll tell her after tomorrow, you know, after your ‘family’ time with her. If it goes really good, then telling her should be fine. If it goes bad, then don’t worry about it, because I know it won’t go bad.” Diamond stated. Yeah… That makes sense. If Fluttershy could actually make some progress and actually get along with Chrysalis, then carefully setting something up with Chrysalis and Thorax should be easy. “You know what? I agree, it won’t go bad.” You let out a defeated, yet humored sigh as you look at Diamond with a smirk. “Looks like you really proved me wrong. So, 'hero filly', what now?” You seriously had to hand it to her. Not only did she actually back up her claims, but she was as devious as you or Chrysalis when it comes to ensuring victory. You were humbled, and so you felt you’d give Diamond whatever she wanted for a job well done. Diamond smirked back at you, before looking at you longingly. “Oh? Still sticking with me, huh? That’s cool. Well, since I still have your attention, there is something I want from you.” “Oh, yeah? Well, what is it? Oh glorious future wife.” You said with a glorious cocky smirk. Diamond’s eyes became a little dreamier as she looked into your eyes, she then raised a hoof and gave you a boop on the nose. “Can you take me home so I can take a nap? I’d totally hang out with you more but…” She lets out a cute little yawn as she stretches forward. “I’m so tired from all this excitement.” She then slowly begins to nuzzle into you. “We really gotta go on another date soon though, somewhere romantic.” You let out a gentle laugh as you return her affections and place your horn on your head to teleport back to her home. “We should, and if we can’t find a place, then I’ll make one, just for you.” “A-Anon… Mnnn, you’re the best.” She said, staying by your side as you both teleport away.