//------------------------------//
// Chapter VII 
// Story: In Love and War 
// by The Fool 
//------------------------------//

When Luna awoke, her first thought was to banish the pony responsible to the sun. Lacking the energy, she pulled a cobalt-blue pillow over her ears. As everything but the enchanted silk sheets and pillowcases was made of clouds, the sound of knocking rang loud and clear. She tossed the pillow aside with her magic and buried her head in the mattress. The knocking stopped, but before she could rejoice, a voice took its place.

"Luna?"

Luna pulled herself into a sitting position, kicking the top sheet aside, and prepared to cast a muffling spell on the door. Then she recognized the voice.

"I'm sorry to wake you, Luna, but I need to talk to you," Celestia said through the door.

Luna canceled the spell before the magical buildup could give her away. Stealth was her best hope of stealing a few extra minutes of sleep. She flopped into bed and squirmed until she found a comfortable position. She was about to pull the sheet over herself when the door opened. She froze, clenching her eyes against the glaring light as it chased away the shadows that had filled the room.

Celestia stepped inside.

Luna allowed herself a small smile as the door closed again. Maybe Celestia would let her raise the moon a little later. The delay would be nothing a bit of expedited casting couldn't fix.

Celestia crept across the floor and sat beside her.

Luna was certain she'd guessed correctly, but then she felt something feathery brush her exposed belly. She fought the urge to laugh, but it grew more and more irresistible. "Tia!" she cried through a fit of giggles. She rolled out of reach of Celestia's wing and into an upright position. "That's not fair," she pouted, "you know how ticklish I am."

"Maybe you shouldn't have pretended to be asleep." Celestia smiled mischievously. "You forgot to use the traditional dialect."

"Yes, well, using the royal 'we' when speaking with our other half hardly seems prudent." Luna levitated over the pillow she'd tossed aside earlier, fluffed it, and dropped it back on the bed before lying there herself, facing away from her. "If you'll excuse me, Tia, I have a date with this pillow, so if you'd be so kind as to give us our privacy, I'll happily raise the moon in another—"

"It's still morning, Luna. You have all afternoon to rest."

Luna bolted out of bed, trotted to the window by the bookshelf, and drew the curtains. Seeing that the sun was still low in the eastern sky, she closed them. Her eyes adjusted to darkness better than the average pony, and while she could usually make out the subtle tints, tones, shades, and hues of blue that decorated the room, the morning light had reduced her vision to a gray scale by the time she turned to give Celestia an agitated look. "Pray tell, why have you awoken me at this discordant hour?"

Celestia, who still sat on the opposite end of the bed, answered solemnly, "As I said, I need to talk to you."

Catching the shift in Celestia's demeanor, Luna nodded. "Very well." She walked to the vanity on the other side of the room, though makeup was the last thing on her mind. With her magic, she lifted a clear bottle of opaque, silvery liquid and poured herself a glass. "Would you like one?"

Celestia shook her head. "Though I do love the taste of authentic moonshine, I must maintain a clear head for the time being. Perhaps later."

Before her banishment, Luna had made a sport of going incognito to challenge the patrons of taverns across Equestria—who were some of the only night ponies around at the time—to drinking contests. Her stay on the moon had done nothing to diminish her tolerance. Celestia, on the other hoof, had always been a lightweight. Levitating her glass behind her, Luna returned to the bed, sat, and folded her navy-blue wing over Celestia's back. "What troubles you?"

Celestia smiled at the gesture but sighed and looked away as she spoke, "I made a terrible mistake."

Luna took a sip and waited. While most liquors of comparable alcohol content had all the palatability of sulfuric acid, moonshine blended the subtle flavors of a fine vintage with the smoothness of a mother's milk. The taste was incomparable to anything average ponies could experience, much less imitate, which made sense for a drink fermented from crystallized moonlight.

"The changeling invasion, Cadence's imprisonment, Chrysalis's death... All could have been avoided. Twilight wouldn't have been attacked, Spike wouldn't have been kidnapped, Shining wouldn't have resigned, and maybe, just maybe, I could have had someone to keep me company, to comfort me in the centuries before your return, but I turned away. Do you know why? I was afraid. I was afraid for my subjects, but more than that, I was afraid for myself. I didn't want to be hurt again.

"I have no idea what being alone on the moon was like, but I doubt it was much worse than having to go to work, put on a smile, and pretend everything was all right every day for a thousand years when the reality was that nothing was all right. I failed. I saw the signs, but I ignored them. I was all too willing to dismiss the truth in favor of what I wanted to believe."

Luna had finished her first glass and was pouring herself a second. "If this is about the Lunar Rebellion, you know I've forgiven you for that. You did what—"

"No, this isn't about that, and while I appreciate that you've forgiven me, I haven't forgiven myself. Perhaps I could if I'd learned my lesson, but that I've made the same mistake again shows that I haven't."

"I assume you're referring to the changeling who attacked the royal wedding. You couldn't have known; no one did."

"I did."

"What do you mean?"

"I've known Cadence all her life, and Chrysalis's imitation was laughable, but even before that, I knew. I knew because that wasn't the first time Chrysalis and I met." Celestia took a long, deep breath. "The first time was when she was... courting me."

Luna coughed and almost spilled her drink. "I'm sorry, what?"

"Centuries after I sent you away, I was still in mourning. I woke up one day and decided I couldn't face my subjects. Knowing nopony would be foolish enough to follow me, I flew into the Badlands.

"When I got there, I saw a regal, equine creature sitting on the edge of a cliff, gazing out at Equestria with her chin in her hooves. The look in her eyes told me she was going through the same thing I was. My heart went out to her, but as I got closer, she fled. That's when I noticed her wings. I'd heard of changelings and their activities in Equestria, but none had ever been captured, and no two descriptions matched. My curiosity got the better of me and I went after her. Catching up was easy. Convincing her that I just wanted to talk was the hard part, but when I did, she landed. As I alighted on the ground next to her, I caught her staring at my wings.

"She averted her eyes. Blushing, she said she'd never seen such a beautiful creature.

"I was taken aback, not by her words, but by the way she'd spoken directly into my mind.

"Catching my reaction, she apologized, saying she didn't know any other way to communicate.

"I said I didn't mind and asked her name.

"She said her children called her Mother.

"I said Mother was a title, and that she ought to have a name of her own.

"She asked why.

"I said a name would tell the world that she was unique, and that if she didn't have one, I'd give her one. Seeing the afternoon sun reflecting off her chitin, I asked her what she thought of Chrysalis.

"She repeated it to herself, smiled, and said she liked it. Then, out loud, she thanked me.

"They were the first words I'd heard her say, and from the way she reacted to the sound of her own, beautiful voice, they were probably the first she'd heard herself say too.

"She hugged me.

"I melted. It had been so long since I'd last held someone.

"When she pulled away, she must have seen my dismay, or perhaps she'd been reading my thoughts, because she giggled and said that, though she had to go home, she hoped we'd see each other again. It had been so long since she'd last had someone to talk to.

"We went our separate ways. I came back the next day, and sure enough, she was there waiting for me. Our visits were never long, but we made a habit of sneaking away from our duties to meet in the mountains between our territories. Those were some of the happiest days I'd had since... you know.

"Unfortunately, not even an immortal can escape the truth that all good things must come to an end. For all the things we learned about each other, she never spoke of her children. I figured she'd talk about them when she was ready. After all, I had secrets too.

"One day, she popped the question, so to speak. I hadn't fully come to terms with the fact that I'd fallen for her, but it was as clear as day to her. She explained that she and her children feed on love, that they need it to survive, use their magic, and so on, but at some point, they came under a curse that linked all their minds together. She was the only one with the strength to maintain her sentience, so the others became extensions of her will. In that state, they couldn't find love on their own. They had no choice but to steal it. Not until then, that is. Watching me move the sun and moon, she knew how much magic I had at my disposal. The moon actually took most of the effort, as it's not my special talent, but she was none the wiser. She begged me to help.

"All I had to do was give her my love freely and openly. The amount she would need was nothing compared to how much I give my subjects on a daily basis, but given to a single individual whose magic is fueled by it, it would be enough for her to cast a counter spell that would break the curse, freeing her children.

"She said she knew she was asking a lot of me, but... she would never ask if she didn't love me too. Then she kissed me.

"Nothing ever felt so right. Wrapped in her loving embrace with her lips pressed against mine, I wanted to stay there forever. Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end. I broke away. I wanted to help her, to be with her and care for her as I knew she would for me, but I couldn't. I couldn't take that chance. She had just admitted to being the mastermind behind the changeling attacks. Even if they had no other way to survive, I couldn't just let that go. I couldn't know she wouldn't use the magic I gave her for some nefarious end. I couldn't know she wasn't trying to use me or even lying to me. I was all too aware what a fragile state sending you away had left me in. I might never have met her otherwise. I said I was sorry, but I couldn't help her. I never told her the real reason, but being telepathic, she probably figured it out. I left after that... and never came back."

Luna had long since finished her second glass, but she hadn't bothered refilling it. With her wing wrapped more tightly around Celestia, she poured another glass and offered it to her.

"Thank you, Luna, but I promised Twilight a fair trial for Spike and Aurelia, and that's at least one promise I'm going to keep. Plan on sharing a bottle with me this evening. For now, I just need a shoulder to cry on."

Making a mental note to ask about the trial when every minute she talked wasn't counting against the minutes she had left to sleep, Luna nuzzled Celestia's neck and laid her own over it.

Celestia leaned into her and opened the floodgate.

Luna was happy to offer release to what may have been centuries worth of grief. The story had affected her as well, but she had the benefit of strong drink. With that in mind, she downed the glass she'd offered her and poured a fourth.

Finally, Celestia pulled away and wiped her eyes. She'd far from run out of tears, but she already looked as if the weight of a hydra had been lifted from her withers. For the first time in weeks, her expression was serene. "Of course, the story doesn't end there."

"You don't have to finish. I know what happens next."

"No, you don't."

Luna retracted her wing. "I would have been there if—"

"That's not what I meant. You can't help being nocturnal. If you weren't, Chrysalis could have skipped the masquerade and invaded by night. Guarding the day was my responsibility, and I failed."

Waiting for Celestia to continue, Luna finished her fourth glass and began to pour a fifth, but her magic slipped and the bottle fell.

Celestia caught it in the golden aura of her magic and set it back on the vanity. "Perhaps you've had enough for now. There'll be plenty of time for more when you wake up this evening."

"I'm sure the castle staff will love my attending to my duties drunk."

Celestia smiled. "It wouldn't be the first time."

Luna nudged her.

"You already know most of what happened at the royal wedding, so I'll skip to the important part. Chrysalis and I locked in a magical duel after she revealed herself. Everypony knows that part. Everypony also knows that I lost. Theories abound as to why, but none are correct. She thought the love she'd been stealing from Shining won her the day. What she didn't know is that I'd learned the telepathy spell she'd used to talk to me the day we met. I used it to look into her memories to see why she'd turned on me. I saw months worth of memories in the space of a few seconds. Overwhelmed, I lost focus on my offensive spell, which wasn't very powerful in the first place, as I'd only intended to incapacitate her."

"What did you see?"

"I saw..." Celestia began to cry.

Luna wrapped her wing around her.

"I saw her... coming back to the same spot where we first met... day after day... week after week. I saw the look on her face... as she realized, each time, that I wasn't there... When the dragons returned on their annual migration, she tried to fight them off, but in the end, they pushed her out. After that, she stopped coming back."

Perhaps it was the alcohol; perhaps it was the story; perhaps it was knowing what Celestia had been going through—what Luna had put her through. Whatever it was, Luna couldn't help shedding a few tears. Then a few more.

Meanwhile, Celestia had stopped crying.

When she realized Celestia was now comforting her, Luna bit back her tears. "I'm so sorry."

"What for?"

Luna held Celestia tighter. "I don't even know anymore."

"That's not why she turned on me. In truth, she never really did."

Luna pulled away to look at Celestia incredulously.

"She still loved me, and I still loved her. That's how she'd survived all those years. That's why she died."

"I thought Shining—"

"That's the official story, yes. As I said, a changeling needs love to survive, but when someone with a longer lifespan loves her, she lives on borrowed time until she loses that someone's love. Chrysalis and I could have been together forever, but I abandoned her.

"In time, her death would have broken the curse by removing the focal point, but as long as I still loved her, she couldn't die. That's why she attacked. She had to make me hate her, for however short a time, so she could die and her children could be free. Shining threw her off a mountain, but she might have survived were her old age not catching up to her long before he cast his spell.

"Had I known she was still waiting for me after all these years, I'd have sent her a letter; I'd have gone to her; I'd have done something! I'd been afraid of being taken advantage of in my weakness, but you've been back for two years, during which I could have averted all the disaster and heartbreak that resulted from my failure."

"I'm so, so sorry, Tia."

"None of this is your fault."

"You forget that all of this started with the Lunar Rebellion, so yes, this is my fault—all of it." Luna stood and staggered to the bookcase, where she scanned the titles until she found an old history textbook. She levitated it in front of her, opened it to a dogeared page, and read the casualty statistics aloud. She turned a page and began reading, one by one, the names of the ponies who had died fighting Nightmare Moon.

Celestia cut Luna off. "How is this supposed to help?"

"I spent the first year of my return in the Canterlot Archives, tracking down the families of each one of those ponies and sending them my personal condolences."

"You're a better mare than I to—"

"No!" Luna threw the book aside and stumbled forward, pointing an accusatory hoof at Celestia. "You blame yourself for things that aren't your fault. Nightmare Moon, the Lunar Rebellion, and Chrysalis's death are all on my withers. You did what you had to do because, no matter how much you hated it, my actions left you no other choice.

"Thousands more would have died had you not banished me, or worse, had I won and the sun never rose again. You had no way of knowing Chrysalis's motive. You said yourself that she could have been done any number of things with that much power. She could have invaded right then and there.

"As always, you put the good of your subjects before your own. In a way, that's exactly what Chrysalis did by attacking." Luna tried to reach the vanity to pour herself another glass, but her hoof missed the floor and she fell. She didn't get up. "You two might as well have been made for each other, and I'm the reason you couldn't be together."

Celestia left the bed, sat, and draped her wing over her. "We're both wrong to blame ourselves because we're both to blame."

Luna looked up with tears in her eyes. "That makes no sense."

"The Lunar Rebellion would never have happened had I payed more attention to your feelings, nor would Chrysalis have died had I been a good enough judge of character to see that she needed me as much as I needed her. We could spend all day arguing over who tossed the first stone, but I have a trial to judge, and you have a day's rest ahead of you. If we really want to, we can bring this up when we're both stinking drunk in a few hours, though I doubt Canterlot will still stand in the morning. In the longterm, though, neither of us is going anywhere, so why don't we share our burdens from now on?"

"I like the second idea."

Celestia smiled, stood, helped Luna into bed, and started toward the door. "In the end, at least Chrysalis got what she wanted."

Luna pulled the sheet over herself but propped herself up on her foreleg. "Before you leave, I have a question."

Celestia turned from the door. "Of course, Luna. What is it?"

"Chrysalis said the changelings' collective consciousness was a curse, did she not?"

"Yes, why?"

"Because I've been researching illusion magic magic since the invasion. As you know, its most common application is light manipulation, but it also encompasses telepathy, which skilled practitioners can use for mind control. If the curse was based on illusion magic, removing the focal point wouldn't dispel it completely. The changelings' minds would still be connected, albeit on a subconscious level.

"Chrysalis's thoughts, feelings, and memories—her spirit, in other words, and the spirits of all deceased changelings—live on in her children. When the collective split, the living changelings, all of whom were born under the curse and thus had no spirits of their own, drew from that pool in the same instant hers entered it. Her spirit may have entered a new body the moment it left her old one. Of course, all changelings had access to her thoughts while she was alive, so there's no way of knowing who her reincarnation might be. If my theory is correct, though, she never truly died."

Celestia walked across the room and hugged Luna. "Thank you, Luna. Though I doubt Chrysalis and I will ever be together again, the knowledge that she may still be out there somewhere is comforting.

"I must admit that my knowledge of illusion magic is lacking, but at some point, I would very much like to hear how you came up with your theory. Perhaps tonight." Celestia opened the door and stepped into the hall.

Luna craned her neck to catch Celestia's gaze. "Don't count on it. After a thousand years on the moon, I'm dying to see if Tipsy Tia is the same as I remember."

Celestia giggled. "Good morning, Luna."

"Good morning, Tia." Luna snuggled into bed, pulling the sheet over her head.

With a lightened heart, Celestia closed the door.


***


Under Twilight's watchful gaze, a pair of earth pony guards escorted Spike and Aurelia to the castle dungeon.

With a spear tip a hoof's length from the back of her neck, Aurelia had submitted to the guards directing her and Spike to a pair of vacant cells, but then she saw the blood—changeling blood, spattered all over the bars, floor, and back wall of the cell. Her legs buckled.

"Keep moving," her guard said.

Aurelia turned to him. "I can't go in there," she pleaded. "Look at all the blood!"

Her guard looked to the cell and turned back to her with a blank expression. "Your mind must be playing tricks on you, Ma'am. I don't see any blood, but that might change if you don't keep moving."

Aurelia hesitated.

Twilight, who had taken position by the entrance, nodded, though her expression was anything but resolute. A mix of confusion and curiosity warred with the scowl she wore to let the guards know she intended to make good on her threat if they mistreated Spike or Aurelia.

Spike was already locked in the next cell, where he sat on a mostly-clean cot and gave Aurelia a reassuring smile.

Aurelia smiled back, but when she shifted her gaze toward her own cell, the blood was gone, replaced by another changeling, one she thought she recognized as one of Cassius's assassins. He ignored her, opting instead to stare balefully at the empty space in front of him. She gave her guard an incredulous look. "You can't be serious. Are we changelings not deserving of our own cells?"

Her guard sighed and relaxed his grip on his spear. "You are getting your own cell, Ma'am."

"What about that other changeling?"

"You're the only changeling in Canterlot. We've made sure of that."

When Aurelia looked to the cell once more, she saw what the changeling was staring at.

Shining stood in front of the door, glaring down at the changeling and muttering something incomprehensible.

"Shining? What are you doing here?"

Shining ignored Aurelia.

"Shining?" Twilight asked. All she saw was a clean, vacant cell; all she heard was the guards' baffled mumbling.

Moving closer, Aurelia began to make out the words.

"One of two things can happen," Shining said in a hollow echo of his usual voice. "You can tell me what happened to Chrysalis, or I can paint this cell with your entrails—your choice."

Aurelia realized she was hearing the words in her head. She didn't think he knew telepathy, but if he did, he should have been able to extract the answer directly. For that matter, she'd already told him what happened to Chrysalis.

The changeling spat in Shining's face and growled, "Ask my corpse."

Shining grinned as his horn bathed the room in an otherworldly light. "I'm so glad to hear you say that."

The changeling lifted into the air and flew into the back of the cell with a sickening crunch. Instinctively, he had spread his wings to counteract the force. All that did was mangle them as they ground against the stone wall. His nerves' screams barely had time to reach his brain as he launched forward into the bars, where his crooked horn caught and ripped clean off in a string of gore as he flew backward. He pin balled around the cell in the same glowing light that snaked off Shining's horn, becoming less distinguishable from a twitching pulp of cracked chitin and ruptured organs with each impact. Finally, he fell to the cot.

Shining opened the door, stepped inside, lifted him up once more, and pressed what remained of the changeling's head against the back of the cell. As blood poured down the changeling's grimacing face, Shining reached back and prepared for one final strike.

The strike never came. At least, not as far as Aurelia could see. Instead, she felt something cool press against her temple. It wasn't the steel of a spear but a spiral-grooved taper of purple bone—a horn. The sensation spread to her mind, leaving her dizzy with an icy, tingly feeling in her head.

As Twilight stood, a dim glow faded from her horn. "Are you all right?"

Aurelia tried to nod, but her body refused to move. She managed a groan. She had been so caught up in the vision that she hadn't noticed herself diving in to thrust Shining away.

Her sudden movement had alarmed the guards, who tackled her.

Twilight had already begun to understand what was happening, if not how or why, and she was quick to yank them away—by their ears—before they could harm Aurelia's still-healing wing. In the time Aurelia took to piece everything together, Twilight had turned to the guards, who she held aloft beside the dungeon entrance.

The guards wilted under her glare.

"What the hell were you thinking?" Twilight shouted. "If you hurt her—"

"It's okay, Twilight," Aurelia managed. She looked back to the cell. Gone were the inhabitants and the blood stain. Twilight's spell had reduced the vivid reenactment to a dull memory, one she could easily ignore. She stepped inside and closed the door behind her, though she put as much distance between herself and the cot as possible. Instead, she sidled up to the bars within Spike's reach.

Spike had left his cot to comfort her, brushing her neck and whispering something only she could hear.

Twilight turned to the guards once more and released her magical grip.

The guards tumbled to the floor.

"Get out."

"We're supposed to—"

"I said get out!" Twilight's eyes crackled with magical energy. Her voice magnified as if several were all trying to be heard over each other.

The guards made no further objection as they scrambled to get away from her.

Twilight waited for them to leave before turning to Spike and Aurelia, who both looked shaken.

"You're scary when you're angry," Aurelia said.

"You should see her when she's really angry," Spike said. "Her eyes turn solid red, the color drains from her coat, and her mane erupts in flames."

Not having seen Twilight when she learned about Pinkie's clairvoyance, Aurelia dismissed the mental image with a laugh.

Twilight was relieved not to have to explain that situation again. She walked back to the row of cells and stood in front of Spike and Aurelia. "Are you sure you're all right, Aurelia?"

"I'm sure," Aurelia said. "Why do you keep helping me? Won't you get in trouble? What if Spike and I try to escape?"

Twilight laughed. "You saw how I handled those guards. Do you really plan on trying anything?"

Aurelia noticed Twilight's abrupt change in demeanor but chose not to mention it. "What spell was that?"

"I'm surprised you don't know. It's illusion magic."

"I don't know much magic."

Twilight was silent for a moment. "Oh." The idea of a changeling who didn't know basic illusion spells was beyond her, but if it was true, she'd probably struck a nerve. "Sorry, I didn't know." She looked for a way to change the subject. Finding none, she decided to pretend nothing had happened. "Anyway, the spell forms a brief telepathic link that allows the caster to exchange memories with the recipient. I know enough about what happened here to guess that you were having a flashback, so I figured I could disrupt it by taking the memory away. I hope you don't mind my rooting around in your head."

"I don't know why I had that memory in the first place, but I'm glad to be rid of it."

"That spell was the same one I'd used to save my friends from Discord's magic so we could use the Elements of Harmony. I'd never used it to take memories, but apparently it works both ways."

"You beat Discord?"

Twilight hesitated. "My friends and I did, yes. The year before that, we saved Princess Luna from Nightmare Moon. That was when we first learned about our connection to the Elements. In all probability, we could have used them to stop Chrysalis too."

The revelation that Chrysalis didn't have to die should have upset Aurelia more than it did, but Twilight seemed more remorseful.

"War may have been unavoidable; it may not have. Either way, we're in it, but we don't need to make matters worse by being nasty to our prisoners. You helped Spike, so now I'm helping you. I may be an idealist, but I believe peace is always an option." Twilight shook her head. "I just wish Celestia shared the sentiment."

Aurelia had no time to respond, for at that moment, Celestia entered.

Twilight felt the temperature in the room rise a few degrees as she looked at Celestia, who appeared every bit as radiant as the sun. "Oh, hello, Princess. We were just talking about you. I must say, you're looking dissonantly cheerful for such a somber occasion. Did you just have sex or something?"

Three sets of disbelieving eyes locked on Twilight.

Celestia blushed, too caught off guard to scold her. The redness in her cheeks made her look a thousand years younger. "I was with my sister!"

Twilight cocked an eyebrow.

"In an entirely platonic sense!"

Still dizzy, Aurelia focused on Celestia. "Of course. There's only one pony, or rather, one changeling, who you have eyes for, and her blood is on your hooves."

Celestia shifted her gaze to the changeling sitting in the cell to Twilight's left, whose uncanny resemblance to Chrysalis put Celestia off far more than the jab. She wondered if Chrysalis and Aurelia were mother and daughter in more than a metaphorical sense. Remembering some of her... encounters... with Chrysalis, Celestia blushed. Aurelia couldn't be their daughter, of course.

Aurelia's vision had come into focus, though not for long. The sight of blood rushing to Celestia's face, barely contained behind her pristine white coat, sent Aurelia into another flashback. A lock of her blue-green mane hung in front of her eyes. Her legs and wings intertwined with Celestia's. Feeling Celestia's chest rise and fall, she heard herself say, "I'd never ask you to do this if I didn't love you too." Their lips connected. Celestia's eyes closed. Aurelia's hoof reached between Celestia's thighs, eliciting a gasp. The vision ended. Looking aside, she blushed. She'd never seen that memory before, either.

Seeing Celestia and Aurelia's reactions to each other, Twilight felt a pang of jealousy rise in her chest. She made a mental note to investigate her strange attitude shift when she had time. Having never used the spell on a changeling, she may have taken more from Aurelia than intended. "That explains your behavior in the hospital. You were speaking literally when you talked about not being able to follow your heart. I thought you held back to avoid endangering innocent bystanders. Instead, you did the opposite."

"I tried to do the right thing, believe it or not," Celestia said. "I have enough control over my magic that I could have brought the full fury of the sun down on Chrysalis without raising the ambient temperature more than a few degrees. Instead, I tried to incapacitate her so I could retrieve the Elements. You saw how well that turned out." Celestia walked toward Spike and Aurelia's cells. "I didn't come here to justify my actions. What's done is done. Cleaning up the aftermath is all I can hope to do now."

Twilight stepped aside.

With nowhere to run or hide, Spike put on a brave face. The consequences of his actions were about to be made manifest, and he was going to face them head on.

For her part, Aurelia managed to push the lingering mental image aside long enough to meet Celestia's eyes.

"Spike, I understand you sent a letter to Legate Cassius the night Shining left to assassinate him," Celestia said. Neither her face nor her voice betrayed the slightest emotion. "What did it say?"

Spike reiterated the contents of his letter word for word.

"At the time, did you understand that acts of treason the likes of which you were committing are punishable by death?"

Spike gulped. "I didn't know what the punishment was, but I knew my actions were treasonous."

"Did you understand that Shining could have died as a result?"

"Yes and no."

"Explain."

Spike gave Aurelia a look that said, "I'm sorry I lied to you." He turned to Celestia. "I hoped to use my ability as a messenger to help the changeling war effort and infiltrate Cassius's inner circle, use that influence to convince Cassius not to kill Shining outright, and send you a letter with information to help spring Shining from jail. If Cassius didn't find out, I'd send you reports about future changeling attacks and any other useful information I gathered. My letter was an offer of diplomacy, but after seeing that changeling sinking his fangs into Twilight's neck, I had no interest in a peaceful resolution.

"When I realized Cassius had no inner circle and that I had no hope of influencing him, I saw what a horrible mistake I'd made. That's when he sent me to meet Aurelia." He smiled. "She's the first changeling I've met who wasn't a complete monster. We talked at length, and as we did, my attitude began to change. I figured there must be others like her, so maybe peace was possible after all."

Aurelia took the news better than he expected. Smiling, she made a mental note to pat him on the back when a row of steel bars wasn't standing between them. She understood what Twilight meant to him. Knowing that Aurelia helped him overcome his desire for revenge made her heart soar. At the same time, she knew she could have done the same for Cassius and averted all the harm her failure to do so had caused. The realization didn't affect her as much as it might have in the past. As Celestia had said, cleaning up the aftermath was all they could hope to do.

Twilight was speechless. After Spike had tried to frame Owloysius with a stuffed mouse and ketchup, she'd underestimated how dangerously cunning he could be. Of course, his plan failed, but if Cassius wasn't already a raving lunatic by the time Spike was kidnapped, it might have worked.

Celestia was the first to voice her opinion. "Do you remember when I said how I had hoped to put you and Twilight to work at the Office of Wartime Intelligence?"

Spike thought back to that evening in the hospital. "I do."

"By virtue of her talent for organization, Twilight would be a tactician without equal, whereas your unique ability to teleport multiple small objects in succession over immense distances without suffering from magical exhaustion, a feat I doubt even she is capable of, makes you an invaluable asset to any intelligence operation. Had you come to me with your plan instead of taking matters into your own hands, you wouldn't be standing trial for treason right now."

"I'd never have met Aurelia either."

Celestia began to pace. "As for your punishment, I despise the death penalty and only impose it when given no other option. I can't overlook the consequences of your actions, but given the unique nature of your situation, I'm inclined to go easy on you.

"As Shining's cracked horn will require prolonged care by virtue of being contraindicated with medical magic, his hospital bills will be monumental." She stopped in front of the cells and looked at Spike. "You are to perform community service until you pay off every last bit. Then you will be free to go."

Aurelia turned to Spike with a smile.

Twilight visibly relaxed.

Spike remained tense. "What about Aurelia? All she's guilty of is helping me and Shining escape."

Celestia sighed. "Our nations are still at war. If I provided her refuge, even within these walls, ponies who don't know her as well as you do would seek to cause her undue harm simply because of her species." She looked to Aurelia with remorse. "I'm sorry, Aurelia, but you will have to be deported to changeling territory. By virtue of your assistance in Spike and Shining's escape, your trespassing will be overlooked and no further action will be taken against you."

Aurelia nodded. Cassius would have a few choice words for her when she got back, but he couldn't attack her without losing more support than he already had.

"No," Spike said.

Aurelia turned to him. "She's right, Spike. I don't belong here."

Spike turned to her. "Then I'm going with you."

"What about your friends? What about Twilight? I can't make you leave them behind."

"You're not making me do anything; this is my decision, and there's no decision to make." Spike smiled. "I want to be with you, and if that means following you back into the hell we just escaped from, so be it." His expression turned grave. "I abandoned you once. I'll never make that mistake again." He turned to Celestia. "If she doesn't belong in Equestria, neither do I."

"Very well," Celestia said.

"What?" Twilight asked. She had been silent throughout the exchange, but she couldn't help making her objection known.

"As Spike said, the decision is his."

Twilight turned to Spike. "You can't be serious, Spike. Tell me you're not."

"I wouldn't joke about something like this."

"What about Pewee? What about Rarity?" Twilight put her injured hoof to the bars. "What about me?"

Spike reached up to meet her hoof with his claw. "I'll write to you."

Twilight fought a wave of tears—she'd been getting better at that lately, to the point where only she and him noticed. "I'll find a way to visit you." She set her hoof on the floor and turned to Aurelia. "Take care of him."

"I will," Aurelia said.

Celestia draped her wing over Twilight's back.

Twilight made no effort to resist. Despite herself, she leaned into her.

"As soon as a carriage is ready, I'll have somepony escort you two across the border," Celestia said to Spike and Aurelia before leaving with Twilight.

Aurelia turned to Spike and moved as close as she could. Her snout stayed flush with the bars while her horn lanced through overhead. "You didn't have to do that. Cassius may spare me for political reasons, but I have no doubt he'll try to kill you."

Spike walked over to her. "I know you won't let him. You said so yourself."

"I might not be able to stop him. You've seen how weak my magic is. In the hooves of most changelings, the spell I tried to mimic your dragon breath with would have set the table on fire."

Spike smiled. "I'm not worried."

"Why throw your life away?"

Spike leaned in and kissed Aurelia through the bars. A moment later, he pulled away. "That's why."

Aurelia was stunned into silence. She had expected something to that effect, but actually feeling his lips pressed against hers was another matter. The first kiss between lovers is often described as a magical moment, but for a changeling, it literally is. The vision from earlier didn't begin to compare. When the feeling subsided, she grinned mischievously, flashing her petite fangs. "Sorry, I didn't catch that." She winked. "You'd better try again."


***


Cassius took another swig of absinthe and watched the waves crash against the jagged outcrops that lined the base of the cliff like the rows of black teeth in Leviathan's gaping maw. Lightning split the gray sky and flashed off the turbulent sea. Rain pelted the ground, drenching his wings and making the smooth, mossy rocks slippery. He turned away.

Before him stood the impenetrable wall of fog that blanketed his territory. Sentient, changeling-eating trees, flowers that spewed neurotoxic pollen, and bushes that got up and wandered around of their own accord lurked just out of sight, eager to pounce him if given half a chance.

For some reason, Chrysalis had made him the leader. Though he grieved for her, he couldn't let the others see his weakness. He had to channel his feelings into a form they could support, so he set his sights on vengeance. He told himself he wanted it for Aurelia, but by the time she showed him how far afield he'd gone, he had no hope of turning back. If anything, he pursued his plan more passionately than ever. In the end, he failed even that.

Both he and Shining wanted revenge, but they also wanted freedom. Cassius wanted freedom from an empty, meaningless life; Shining wanted freedom from the chains that kept him from his wife and family. Cassius knew he would have lost in a fair fight, and he would have happily granted Shining's freedom for killing him. They could have both been winners. Instead, Cassius lost not only his chance at an honorable death but any chance he had with Aurelia. He took another swig and closed his eyes as the licorice-flavored liquor burned his throat.

Aurelia had supporters; he learned as much only after the knowledge would have proved useful. Perhaps with him gone, they'd be able to sway the others to a peaceful, free-thinking future—a future with no place for an empty husk like him. Before he left, he'd written a letter to that effect for them to deliver if she came back. He doubted she would, but if she did, she'd make a far better leader than he ever was.

Swishing the sparkling chartreuse liquid around in its clear glass bottle, he grimaced. It was half empty. He smashed it against the ground, shattering it into myriad glittering fragments. The liquid itself was barely distinguishable between the rain and the overflowing streams that covered the ground like veins. He ignited his horn, pouring his magic into a torrent of green fire that vaporised the water and scorched the ground. He had less and less magic to spare these days. Though well fed, he was on the brink of starvation, and exertions like the one he'd just made only expedited the process.

The flames persisted after he collapsed from magical exhaustion. Having never outright hallucinated from absinthe, he rubbed his eyes and stared at the paradoxical conflagration. It spread into a circle, engulfing him. He was too tired to retreat, but it didn't burn. Stranger still, the ground beneath began to darken until he felt he was leaning over the edge of a bottomless abyss. Despite the unmistakable resemblance to a changeling fire portal, he didn't fall in. Instead, Chrysalis's ethereal form rose from the shadows.

Chrysalis sat motionless save for her heaving chest as she gasped for air. Though alive and intact, her body was badly beaten as if she'd suffered a great fall. Her eyes were clenched shut, holding back indescribable pain. She wheezed, descending into a hacking cough. When the fit subsided, she opened her eyes, took stock of her surroundings, and sighed. Her mouth moved as if she were trying to form words, but no sound came.

By then, Cassius had recovered from his initial shock and figured out exactly what was happening. Somehow, either through the copious volume of absinthe he'd drunk, the magical exhaustion, or any combination of other factors, he had triggered a flashback, a long-repressed memory of Chrysalis in her last moments. He found his legs and crawled over to her, hooking his foreleg over her withers. "What is it, Mother?"

Chrysalis made no indication of having heard him or knowing he was there save that she continued to mouth words.

In a moment of drunken inspiration, Cassius touched his horn to hers and opened a telepathic channel.

Chrysalis turned her head and stared at him as if she were looking into his spirit. In that instant, the world around them fell away. The void opened by the changeling fire portal swallowed the earth and sky, leaving nothing and no one but the two of them in its wake. She closed her eyes and concentrated. Her horn took on a green corona that burst in a blinding flash.

When his eyesight returned, Cassius found himself lying in a shallow crater amidst a warm, grassy meadow. Birds sang. Flowers danced in the breeze. Screaming changelings fell from the sky, splattering against the ground like black, pony-shaped eggs with green yolks.

Chrysalis was still sidled up next to him, looking every bit as horrible as she had on the cliff.

Cassius buried his face in her blue-green mane to shield his eyes from the carnage. His foreleg had become translucent. Realizing he wasn't really with her, he cried.

Chrysalis spoke, but her voice went straight to his head.

Cassius leaned into her and cried harder, drowning out her words, but his tears expressed only joy at hearing her voice again.

Chrysalis raised his head to meet her eyes. "Please listen to me, Cassius. I don't have much time."

Cassius smiled and sniffled, stemming the flow of tears. "There's nothing I'd rather do."

Chrysalis managed a smile, but it didn't reach her eyes. "My body is giving out. When it dies, the curse that has plagued our kind for countless centuries will be lifted. Your brothers and sisters, now mindless drones, animals that bend to my every whim, will be free to forge their own destinies, live their lives as they see fit, and find love without having to steal it. That's always been my dream, Cassius—freedom.

"Alas, the circumstances in which it had to be realized will lead many to seek revenge on my behalf, but I want you to know that I don't blame Celestia for what happened. She tore my heart out, but she was only putting her subjects' best interests before her own, which is exactly what I did today.

"While the others are privy to this message, I doubt they will remember it after I'm gone. Reincarnation into an already-living body is a traumatizing experience, but you will not share the same fate. Not now, and maybe not ever. For some reason, you were born with a spirit of your own, disconnected from the pool from which the others will draw. Though you chose to repress your sentience, it makes you the most competent changeling to lead in my stead.

"You don't have to worry about running the nation. You just have to be there for them the same way I have for you. In time, they will grow out of their need for monarchy and become the masters of their own fates, but until that time comes, they will need someone to guide them lest they destroy themselves, either by picking a fight they can't win or falling into anarchy. 

"I realize this is a lot to put on your shoulders. While you're doing your best to be there for the others, you may wonder who will be there for you. Just remember that though my body may die, I will always be there for you in spirit."

Cassius wrapped his other foreleg around Chrysalis's neck and held her as if trying to ward off Death's approach.

Chrysalis hugged him back, but her eyelids were getting heavy, so she let them close. Her neck was getting sore, so she let it rest against his. Her heart was getting tired of beating, so she let it slow to a stop. The world faded away. This time, it took her with it.

When Cassius opened his eyes, he was alone on the cliff in the pouring rain, laying on a patch of scorched moss interspersed with bits of broken glass, some of which had lodged in his chitin. He got up, brushed the glass away, turned, and walked to the slippery edge of the cliff. As he stared at the raging sea far below, a funny feeling spread from the pit of his stomach to his diaphragm. He laughed. He'd thrown his life away long before that vision could have helped him, so the physical act came easily.

He leaped off the cliff, willing his soaked wings to propel him as far from the edge as they could before losing what little lift they had garnered. Diving headfirst into Leviathan's maw with his forelegs outstretched, his last thought was of Spike and Aurelia. Cassius hoped they would be happy together. With a crunch and a splash, the sea embraced him.