//------------------------------// // Rolling Incognito // Story: Lightening the Load // by Silent Bob //------------------------------// Hey there folks why are you so afraid? Prince Blueblood's here to save the day! Just listen to everything I say, And the bugs won't take your families away! Make sure to lock your windows at night, And keep your Changeling-Away spray tight! Flim and Flam will make all that you need, Just help them with their production fees! I know that this may seem oh so trife, But it's what you need to save a life! For paranoia is the only key, To prevent an insectoid abduction spree! This catchy jingle brought to you brought to you by the Prince Blueblood for Public Safety Initiative. Be sure to let our great Princess Celestia know that you love your families through letters of recognition. Thank you for helping us help you to help yourselves! "I do dearly hope my new initiative for the safety of every Equestrian citizen will help quell the claims that I am, in fact, a douche. What kind of douche has such a lovely groomed mane? While I'm here, I might as well thank you for your tax money, as it is helping to keep it at its perfection!" - Prince Blueblood's founding speech for the initiative in Canterlot. ☼☼☼ ☼☼ ☼☼☼ "Seriously?" Chrysalis, or 'Hawkeye' groaned with a raised eyebrow as she read a poster containing an oh-so-tactful anti-changeling jingle. "Seriously?! How does this idiot still have political power?" While it was true she had allowed the abduction of ponies in the past, that was before the Canterlot event. Since then she had been refraining from them for multiple reasons. Even so, at least until after the invasion, she had only kept them for six months before performing a memory spell on them and having them released, and she never took whole families of ponies nor children. They didn't even age at all in the stasis cocoons! It was a cruel thing to do, that was for sure, but this fear-mongering jackass was just profiting off fear. He didn't really care... She had remembered being forced to meet Blueblood once when she was disguised as Cadence. While the Equestrians annoyed her, he was a very tempting target to be sent to the crystal cave. At least most of the ponies were noble, but he was a rude, arrogant, snake who slithered his way to power through tactics such as this. She had the brief, vengeance-inspired idea of morphing into Princess Celestia and telling him off, perhaps maybe banishing him to the moon if she could muster that sort of power, though that would be a bit risky. She was simply going to have to ignore all the anti-changeling propaganda he was putting up all over Canterlot, the place she had decided to make a slight detour in on her way down southwestward. However, she paused as she eyed another poster. Is your child acting strangely? Is he or she not eating their alfalfa or is demanding more candy than usual? He or she might have been replaced by a changeling! Have the little buggish bastard scanned by one of Equestria's fine guards during your town's weekly changeling inspection. Put your mind at ease! Chrysalis groaned once again. "Buggish isn't even a word... and how is Celestia letting him get away with this? He's winding up Equestria so tight it could snap! Does he really have that much support?" she muttered. Changeling inspections? Propaganda posters everywhere? Private companies working with politicians to invest on fear? This wasn't the Equestria she had known. In fact, it was actually making her a bit... less envious of them, despite the risk to her changelings. However, she was certain that Celestia had nothing to do with this. There was simply no way... She as an idealist, a beacon of light in a dark world; quite fitting for the Princess of the Sun. However, in order for Blueblood to circumvent her authority he must have been gaining a lot of support from the people... or support from perhaps another regal entity who actually held some respect, the one she had only met once: Princess Luna. Her eyes narrowed. If she remembered right, the Princess of the Night hadn't even shown up to the royal wedding to fight against her and her invasion. While Chrysalis was sure she had some excuse, the real reason was that she only cared about herself probably! She was possessed by Nightmare Moon only a short time ago; was it was possible that corruption still festered in her heart? She squinted an eyebrow. Why was she so angry about a possible corrupt regal entity in her 'enemy's' government, anyway? Perhaps she was merely concerned about her changeling's safety, or simply hated disloyalty, a trait she prided in her people. Or perhaps part of the reason was that she really did hold some respect or maybe even... love for Princess Celestia still? She was the only changeling capable of feeling it, after all, without stealing it from someone or somepony else dry that is. Sighing, she pulled a piece of paper she had been carrying in her travel bag, it carrying a personal note for her old 'friend', one written mainly out of guilt initially and for her own sake. She had been debating whether or not to give it to the princess during the three-hour long flight from the Hanging Islands east of Equestria. If she did, it was likely Celestia would know she was here... but would she act on that knowledge? Now was the time to make the decision.... Her eyes narrowing in resolve, 'Hawkeye' made her way down the busy grand main street of Canterlot to the stairs of the royal palace, eyeing a pair of solar guards at its entrance, them holding two spears high. With that, she approached them, anxious but still keeping her deception in perfect check. Before she drew too close, she heard one of them give a barely audible woof whistle. "Man I'd definitely stick my arrow in her... if ya know what I mean," 'Hawkeye' heard one of them say. The other chuckled like a douche at that. She grinned inwardly. This was going to be too easy. "Can I help you, miss?" one of them immediately asked as she drew near, smiling slightly and eyeing 'Hawkeye' up underneath his helmet. "Uh-l'd be glad to help you too!" the other said, moving slightly ahead of the other. Chrysalis smiled teasingly their way. Obviously, her disguise was as attractive as she hoped it would be. She hadn't even used her magic on them and they were already under her spell. "Oh, I just need somepony to give the princess a note for me..." she said, batting her eyelashing towards one and leaning closer. "You wouldn't mind doing that, would you?" Chrysalis' Patented Guide to Seduction: 1. Morph into an attractive mare. 2. Use cliches. 3. Await responsive cliches to show that her cliches had worked. 4. Repeat steps two through three. 5. Profit. "Awoooooooga!" the guard beamed. Chrysalis could practically see his heart leaping out of his chest. He immediately blushed before saying, "I mean uh... I'd be glad to give the princess your note, miss." He was now sweating bullets. "Thank you, dear," Chrysalis said, giving him a peck on the helmet for good measure, one she was sure had almost made him feint, and handing him the message. With that, she turned and began to fly away towards Ponyville. "Wait! Uh... do you want to maybe... get a cup of coffee with me sometime?!" she heard one of the guards beam. "Sorry boys, places to go, people to feed, ponies to see!" she called before smiling inwardly in pride. "I still have it." ☼☼☼ ☼☼ ☼☼☼ By the time she had gotten to Ponyville, it was about five in the afternoon. It was like any other small Equstrian village, so it wasn't really a big moment for when she walked through its 'suburbs'. However, there was one thing special about it: it just happened to house the latest incarnations of the Elements of Harmony. All six of them. This made her raise an eyebrow, for there must have been a little royal meandering to get them all here together. "For an idealist, you sure pull a lot of strings from the shadows sometimes, Celestia..." Chrysalis muttered to herself. It was an amusing thought, really. After four hundred years, perhaps they still held things in common. She felt slightly at ease making her way through the place, at least when it came to her safety. While it was true the Elements were a threat to her, especially all as one, there was simply no way she was going to be detected by these simple ponies. Even Twilight Sparkle, the Element of Magic, the most obvious person to blame for why her people weren't feeding on love until they burst at the moment, and who seemed to have a bit of a suspicious side, had only detected Chrysalis in the past because she had acted so foolishly during the events of the wedding; letting her envy get the best of her. It was for this reason she didn't blame Twilight for her failure; she had brought it upon herself. It was her fault and fate's. And even so, Twilight was simply acting out of the best interests of her nation and her brother, and as said before, Chrysalis admired loyalty to one's people. However, there was one possibility that was constantly annoyingly probing her mind: she could let her envy get the best of her again. While Canterlot had put it at ease thanks to the massive amount of fear mongering, Ponyville, with its happy little people and bright colors was starting to making her sick. Why did fate give them good lives while it gave her a dismal existence? Why was it that even with the power to modify her people's genetic structures to the extent where she could determine a newborn's liking or disliking of the color blue she still couldn't make them feel love? Or at the very least not have to eat it to survive and instead just be able to exist on normal food. Somewhere up in the heavens god or whatever ruled over the multiverse was laughing at its 'funny' little joke. Putting her thoughts aside, she decided it was time to find a more direct approach to finding the pink mare she sought instead of simply walking about. "Excuse me," she said to a nearby mare, who to her shock she immediately recognized as the Element of Loyalty. Her rainbow mane and tail gave her away quite nicely. "Uggggghhh..." she groaned, sauntering on down the street groggily. "Please don't talk to me... need to get coffee.... head... throbbing...." Chrysalis raised an eyebrow. "Are you alright?" While it's true she didn't know everything about ponies, she did know that they did not need coffee to survive. "Yeah... just... be careful what you wish for; that's all I have to say," she said, her eyelids drooping purple. Now that was a lesson to take to heart. 'Hawkeye' nodded at her. "Right, sorry." With that, she turned to another pony, a brown one with an hour-glass for a cutie mark. He was accompanied by another pony with a long golden mane and bubbles for a cutie-mark. "Um... pardon me..." "Oh hello," he spoke in a strange, otherworldly accent with a bright smile. Oddly, it was actually quite similar to Voldemort's and Bellatrix's. "Beautiful afternoon isn't it? The sun still shines brightly, the birds are chirping! It's such a wonderful cliche!" She grunted inwardly in annoyance. He appeared to have the same habit her target had when it came to doing all he could to follow the term 'speak your mind'. "Er... Doctor, I don't think she wants a weather report," the bubble-flanked pony said. Chrysalis tried to put on her best forced smile. "It's alright... I was just wondering if you happened to know where I can find a pink pony with a curly mane? I believe she's known as the Element of Laughter." "Oooooh, you mean one of our resident national heroes?" the 'Doctor' said loudly. "Quite an interesting pony that one is. I never thought the equines would have evolved the brain power already for psychic activities, being such a young race and all! Such wonderful surprises evolution can bring you, though I still haven't figured out if that's the primary drive behind biological change in this-" "Doctor, did you drink too much coffee this morning?" the bubble pony asked, raising an eyebrow before leaning close to Chrysalis and whispering, "it was his first time drinking a bit last night. It was my fault, really.." Chrysalis nodded at that. She had forgotten about the pony habit of intoxicating themselves on ethanol. It was one she had never really gotten into during her tenure in Canterlot. The Doctor grinned sheepishly. "I'm not sure, are three cups too much for this body?" Chrysalis raised an eyebrow. Either this was the dumbest changeling she had in her hive, he was some sort of alien, or he was insane. She was betting on the latter since she normally could sense a fellow changeling and the middle sounded a bit... out there, despite her dealings with interdimensional beings, so she decided not to speak up. The bubbly pony facehoofed while turning back towards Chrysalis. "Um sorry, he's talking about somepony named Pinkie Pie by the way." "Yes, you can find her at Sugarcube Corner, and since I don't believe I've seen you around and are probably new here, you can find it on the west side of town near the parlor shop! It has the best sweets in town!" the Doctor added. "And the best muffins!" the bubble-clad pony beamed. "Right, thank you!" she said in the sweetest tone she could muster before quickly moving away from the two. To be frank, the Doctor was weirding her out. By this time Celestia was already beginning to lower the sun; strange for it being only six (though it was late fall). However, that wasn't the oddest thing that was happening at the moment. Over the distant horizon she could barely make out the sound of a group of people singing; males as it seemed, and it was coming closer. "Uggggh... is that those night guards again? Why are they doing another changeling roundup? They just did one two days ago!" she heard a white pony with crystals for a cutie-mark complain as she approached town square. She recognized her as the Element of Generosity.... and the person who had made her a lovely wedding gown. "It's simply barbaric, and I was about to go have a manacure! Now they're going to be bothering all the attendants..." Chrysalis eyes widened. A changeling roundup!? Was this the fault of Celestia? Her note probably did tip her off that she was here. However... no... the princess wouldn't have done such a thing, not with what the note had said on it. This must have just been a random event, though an ill-timed one. She did not have time to book it out of town and lay low until they passed, she already had put herself behind schedule when she decided to detour to Canterlot. With that, she decided it was time to ask for the help of one of her former enemies once again. "Excuse me, miss," she said, growing closer to the white pony. "Can you tell me where I can find Sugarcube Corner?" The Element of Generosity threw her a smile before pointing a hoof. "Down that way, dear." She then gave 'Hawkeye' a look of approval. "And must I say, you have quite a gorgeous mane! Wherever did you get it styled?" "Just something I.... whipped up on my own," Chrysalis said. Hey, at least she was being honest. Her eyes widened. "That's very impressive! You must tell me how you got it to curl in that fashion!" "Um.. sorry, maybe later. I really need to get to Sugarcube Corner... for... I really need... doughnuts..." She put on a sheepish grin. The Element of Generosity simply smiled. "Ah, that's alright dear. However, I'll definitely hold you to it!" "Will do!" Chrysalis said before making haste towards where she had point where the white pony had gestured to, for at this time she was starting to be able to hear what was being sung... "Changeling roundup! Changeling roundup! Let's clean up all the night's fears! Changeling roundup! Changeling roundup! Hidden evil will never endear!" "These idiots explain why Blueblood has gotten into power..." she muttered to herself as guards she recognized as belonging to Princess Luna began to flood the town. With that, she slowed her pace as to not look suspicious, glancing over them. There were both unicorns and pegasi, wearing blue, jagged armor, though the latter had the unusual quality of sporting bat-like wings. "Changeling roundup! Changeling roundup! Let's clean up all the night's fears! Changeling roundup! Changeling roundup! Tomorrow spring will be here!" It was actually quite catchy, at least the melody to it was, though she wondered why they were talking about spring when it was clearly the middle of... oh that's right it was a metaphor. However, before they could sing another verse of their repetitive chorus, they were interrupted by a powerful voice of authority. "Guards, I know our work here is oh so important to the security of Equestria," the voice said sarcastically. "But can we do this without the singing?" With that, Chrysalis gazed curiously behind her to see none other than Princess Luna near the town square flanked by a legion of guards. She slowed her pace at this, listening curiously as to what the princess was saying, and it immediately became apparent to her that perhaps the Princess of the Night wasn't who she thought she was. In fact, she already had a grudging respect for her because of her lovely use of sarcasm. "But we rehearsed it for two days! We thought the kids would like it... There really isn't much else to do when the sun is up, you know, not with us burning in its light and all," one of the guards complained. "I don't care, this singing is actually making this activity look even more foalish than it already is; something I never thought would be possible." "How is it foalish?!" one of the random passerby ponies objected. "The changelings will take our love if we don't do anything about them!" "And our children!" "And they'll TAKE OUR JOBS!" "THEY'LL TAKE YUR JOB?!" "HERP DERPIDY DERP DERP!" The entire gathering glanced blankly towards the three pissed off redneck ponies. They sweat-dropped. "What? They are technically illegal immigrants." Chrysalis couldn't help but chuckle. Aside from stealing love, that was one of the few things her changelings would actually do lately from the list of the many atrocities they apparently committed according to Blueblood. Another guard sighed. "The princess is right, at least about the singing, it's kind of making us look a bit... Night Templarish.... and though they were cool and all... well.. no they actually really weren't." The rest of the guards murmured in agreement. "We're sorry about this ma'm... though I'd just like to point out it was all Moonwalker's idea." "Hey, no it wasn't you freakin' dick!" He growled before letting out a high-pitched, "Yeehhaaaahhh." Chrysalis raised an eyebrow. Why in the world did he do that? "Guards..." Princes Luna said in an agitated tone. "Screw you, asshole! Stop lying!" "Guards..." She growled again, her voice growing even louder. "You can take your own lies and shove them up your flank! Shaaamooneeigh!" "STOP CURSING!" Princess Luna roared. "Seriously, there are foals around!" "Sorry..." the two guards murmured reluctantly. Well, at least that was one less thing to worry about. At least Celestia's sister seemed to be on the side of 'good', the side of a pony who wasn't going to be a problem for her changelings or call for an invasion of her hive, and most importantly: the side of snark. Today was turning out to be a less crappy day than she had expected, and with the guards distracted, Chrysalis continued onward to Sugarcube Corner, eventually spotting the candy-cane covered building out of her peripheral and heading inside with a sigh of relief. "Oh, hello dear!" a sweet voice called from behind the counter. "Can I help you with anything before those pesky guards get here?" She turned and gazed upon a blue pony with rosy cheeks. She was definitely the epitome of a sweet mother, no pun intended. "Hi!" Chrysalis said, again putting on her award-winning fake smile. "Actually, I was wondering if Pinkie Pie was here? I'm an old friend of hers." "Oh, she's upstairs in her room taking a little cat nap," the cheerful pony said. "Would you like to go and wake her up? I'm sure that'd be a pleasant surprise for her!" "Oh that'd be just perfect," Chrysalis said. "Is it this way?" She said, gesturing to door that held a small window she could see a staircase behind. "Mhmm," the sweet maker said. "Just up those stairs and through the first door on your left. Oh, and could you tell her I'll be out? There usually isn't very much business during changeling inspections." Chrysalis grunted internally. Why did they all have to be so sweet and kind? What she'd have given to have grown up in Equestria instead of under the care of a sentient building... though that wasn't completely true. She did spend a brief bit of her life in Canterlot. With that, she let out a sigh, already climbing the stairs of Sugarcube Corner. Canterlot. She had left a loving child actually filled with a bit of optimism and returned a conqueror. With that, she threw a hoof into the wall, growling, and nearly knocking a portrait of who she assumed was the baker's husband off of it. "It's not fair... damnit it's just not fair..." she cried silently, before taking a deep breath. After a moment of collecting herself, she continued up the stairs. At least there was some relief in the fact that she had done some good during her third visit... just a little bit of it. And now she was taking the first step to pulling off a successful IGOM, if Pinkie truly could throw a party for anyone. True, she thought Pinkie was scatterbrained, though in her experience with people with that sort of mind she had come to believe they had a knack for creativity. With her cold logic and Pinkie's creative side plus entertaining experience, it was possible they might be able to come up with something that would warm the coldest hearts of the multiverse. Or maybe this was going to be a total waste of time.... yeah that was probably right. Though fate would tell the answer. And with that, she was at the door what quite possibly could be her people's salvation. She quickly nudged it open, making her way inside. She decided to keep in her disguised form for now as to not surprise the pink pony... well at least not too much, but she would have to reveal who she was eventually... and she would need to convince the pony to come voluntarily. She couldn't expect to force Pinkie to help her in full under the threat of death or something cliche like that, nor did she want to. In fact, a small part of her wanted to make amends. If she was truly the Element of Laughter and wished to make ponies happy, perhaps she could hold room in her heart for the changelings. Or she could scream at the sight of her and summon the guards, in which case she'd teleport the hell out of there. Shrugging off her thoughts, she gazed upon the pony, her sleeping with what could possibly be the most adorable snoring noise one could make. With that, she walked over to the bed's side. "Uh... hi Pinkie," she said, trying her best to sound as friendly as possible. The pink pony continued to sleep. "Wakey wakey, eggs and backey?" she said, nudging the pony, before wincing at how lame what she had said sounded. "Zzzzzzzzzz...." Thinking for a moment, Chrysalis eventually said, "Princess Celestia... hates cupcakes." With that, the pink pony's eyes widened as she shot up in bed. "What?! Who said that! Princess Celestia totally loves sweets!" 'Hawkeye' grinned sheepishly with a wave. "Hiiiii....." Pinkie's eyes squinted at the sight of her. "What? Who are you?! You're not a burglar are you!? Cus you're NOT GETTING MY GOLDEN CUPCAKE TROPHY!" With that she gripped defensively just that, a golden cupcake trophy, it having sat on her nightstand. "Wait!" Chrysalis cried. "I'm not here to rob you... I just uhh..." "Then what do you want? I mean, I love having visitors, but they're usually my friends and not random strangers. Sure, I wouldn't mind it being a random stranger but those are usually not so random and are actually robbers or really creepy ponies or something like that but you seem really pretty and not like that so-" "Pinkie!" 'Hawkeye' called desperately. "I'm not here to... do whatever it is creepy people do when sneaking into ponies' bedrooms." She winced in disgust at a certain thought. "I'm here because I need your help." "My help? Ooooh, did Twilight send you or something? Are we going to go on some sort of mission again?! That's great, I've been getting so bored lately-" At this point, the annoyance seething in Chrysalis was starting to reach intolerable levels. However, despite this, she still was able to make an effort not to raise her voice above a neutral level. "I need your help... throwing a party," 'Hawkeye' said, grinning sheepishly. Before Pinkie could ramble on about that, Chrysalis interrupted her with, "I'm about to show you something, and I promise that I have no bad intentions. I just don't want you to scream, OK?" "Oooh, what are you going to show me?! Is it a surprise! I love love love surprises!" "Oh you're definitely going to love this one," she said sarcastically, sighing heavily before morphing into her true form. And naturally, the expected happened. "EEEEEEPPP! CHANGELING! BIG, QUEEN, CHANGELING!" Pinkie screeched, quickly grabbing off her nightstand a pump-canister of what Chrysalis assumed was Flim and Flam's special Anti-Changeling spray. Unable to raise a magical defensive shield in time, Chrysalis' already somewhat darkened vision was filled with a musty, brown gas. She snapped her eyes shut just in time, though It felt like every inch of her skin that it touched was covered in hot coal. With that, she shrieked and backed towards the door. "AAAAAACK! IT BURNS!!!!" How in the world did this spray pass ethical inspection?! "W-Wait, it burns?!" Pinkie said, suddenly sounding very remorseful. With that, Chrysalis heard hoofsteps and the running of water as she collapsed into a little ball of pain. A few seconds later, a boatload of H2O was dumped on her, washing off the horrible spray from hell. However, Chrysalis remained in a ball, taking deep breaths and shivering slightly. "Oh my gosh I'm so sorry! I thought it just repelled changelings... like they didn't like the scent or something." With one last deep breath, Chrysalis began to calm herself. "Make sure to read the warning labels next time, kid... 'may cause complete agony of intended target'..." "I knew I shouldn't have trusted anything made by Flim and Flam!" Pinkie cried. "How could I have been so stupid?!" "Relax..." Chrysalis said, slowly standing up. "It was an honest mistake. I've made a lot in my time, though they weren't all so honest... as I'm sure you know." "You mean you're not a big dumb meanie who tried to totally ruin my friend's brother's wedding!? Oh... and take over Equestria!" Chrysalis chuckled painfully. "Dumb? I ask myself that everyday, and a lot of the time I answer 'yes'. However, I do regret my decision, though I doubt you'll believe that..." With that, Pinkie inched closer to Chrysalis, the Changeling Queen dwarfing her, though the pink mare would soon prove to be a bigger person than she would ever be. With that, she glanced directly into Chrysalis' eyes, scrutinizing her. The Changeling Queen had always heard they were the windows to one's soul, and perhaps because through them Pinkie could somehow see her inner anguish, or perhaps because she could simply see how tired those eyes were, the pink mare eventually said, "I believe you." "So... you'll help me?" Chrysalis said. Pinkie raised an eyebrow. "Maybe...." Her facial expression then did a complete one-eighty from suspicion to utter joy. "Wait, you said you wanted me to throw a party!? A changeling party?! Oh my gosh that sounds so awesome!" Chrysalis shook her head while starting to wonder if the pink pony was bipolar. "It's not that simple. This party isn't for us, it's literally for some of the worst people you'd imagine." "Hmmm... how bad are we talking?" "Murderers... psychopaths... the wretched scum of what lies beyond the veil of this universe and thensome." Pinkie raised an eyebrow. "I don't understand, where are they coming from?" "From far beyond what we can see. I guess you can call them aliens." "Ooooh, why didn't you say so?! I know an alien!" Chrysalis' eyes widened. "What?!" "Yeah! His name's Doctor Whooves, though we just call him the Doctor!" Her jaw nearly hit the floor at that. "Seriously?! I ran into him on the way here." She then actually managed a chuckle. "I thought he was just crazy..." Her voice then returned to its normal, serious tone. "However, these aliens you'll find to be much less pleasant then this 'Doctor'... unless we can somehow liven their moods." Pinkie thought for a second at that. "I don't know about that... uh... wait what's your name?" "Chrysalis." Pinkie grinned. "Oooh, I can work with that." She cleared her throat slightly for some reason. "I don't know about that... Chryssy." She winced at the nickname. "How did you even get involved with this type of group and why are you throwing them a party?" Pinkie asked, her suspicious tone returning. "It's... complicated," Chrysalis sighed. With that, she turned towards Pinkie's window, gazing out towards the town where guards were busy performing detection spells on everypony they could find. "My people are a dying race, Pinkie. Our... unfortunate lot in life has led us to ruin." "Huh, what do you mean?" "We are running out of food..." she said, turning back towards her. With that, Pinkie's eyes widened as she smiled wide. "Well, why don't you just ask Princess Celestia to help?! Equestria has plenty of food!" Chrysalis shook her head. "It's not that simple. We feed on love and only love, and it's something most of my kind can't generate. I don't know why fate has assigned us such a... unique food source, but it has." "Then why don't you just act a bit nicer so people will love you!" Pinkie said, folding her arms. Chrysalis sighed. "Let me ask you something, Pinkie. How many stories did you hear as a foal of changelings crawling around in the dark?" Pinkie squinted in thought for a second. "A lot..." "Before I came along, though this may surprise you, my people were a lot more brutal. Not only that, we're still considered freaks by most... abnormalities... in the Gryphon Kingdom for instance we are considered to be demons because of similarities we have to creatures in their religion. And honestly, we acted like them in the older days; and unfortunately because of that, racism exists in plentiful quantities towards us, so we're rarely loved voluntarily." With that, Pinkie's eyes narrowed. "So when you attacked Canterlot... it was because you had to?" She shook her head again, this time with remorse. "I didn't have to, I did it partially out of spite... it was stupid of me." "Oooh... I see..." Pinkie said, moving a bit closer towards her before smiling again. "But like you said, we all make mistakes, even if some are big ginormous mistakes. And since nopony died or anything during that attack.... I suppose I can try to forgive you." Chrysalis raised an eyebrow. "Just like that?" Pinkie shook her head. "No, it might take time, and I still want to know why you're throwing a bunch of meanies a party!" "It's because they're offering to give me something that can feed my people for nearly an entire year, and I know they're serious about this offer. He who 'dances in the pale moonlight' will not break his promise..." "So you're doing this to save your people... and nopony will get hurt this time?" Chrysalis nodded with a slight, actually somewhat prideful smile. "As long as the people who are in charge of keeping the scum confined to the Hanging Islands can do their job, there's nothing to worry about." "The Hanging Wah?" "The home of the changelings." "Ooooooohhhh," Pinkie said. "Well, alright, I guess I can help you out! I've actually been wanting to do a different kind of party than what I usually do, and this is definitely different!" Chrysalis actually smiled at that. "You really mean it?" "Yup! Though can I bring my friends? They'd definitely want to come and help!" Chrysalis gazed away from her. This wasn't something she'd considered the pink pony would ask for... "I'm not sure, Pinkie. Your friends might not be as forgiving as yourself..." "Are you kidding me?! My friends are the most forgiving bunch of forgivers this side of forgiverville!" Chrysalis raised an eyebrow. "But your town's called-" "Come on! Let's go get Twilight!" With that, a loud knock came on the front door of Sugarcube Corner followed by a deep voice. "Open up! Changeling inspection. YEEEEEHHAAAAHHH!" "Oh no, it's that weird Moonwalker guard... who for some reason I think would make a good pop singer," Chrysalis said. "Stand next to me!" "Huh?!" "I'm going to do a short-range teleport spell but I need you to be close!" "Ooooh neat! My friend Twilight can do that, but I don't think she can do it with other people. That's so cool!" With that, Pinkie, a pony, made her way to voluntarily stand beside the Queen of the Swarm. All of these little historic moments so the pink pony could help her throw some stupid party for a bunch of interdimensional villains... by the love of all that was holy it sounded so ridiculous. At that, with a flash of green light Queen Chrysalis and Pinkie popped out of existence for a brief millisecond only to appear outside of town, Chrysalis quickly morphing back into her disguised form. Squinting, in the middle of town square she could barely make out a cage becoming filled with her people. She growled in disgust at this, it was as if they were being treated like animals... "Alright, so now can we go get Twilight?" Pinkie asked hopefully. "Pinkie... if we go and get Twilight it's possible she might reveal my existence to the guards, in which case I'd have to flee with you in tow which might not look too great to her. The last thing I need is for the Equestrian army to show up on my doorstep because it looked like I brainwashed and kidnapped a national hero." Pinkie cocked her head. "Wait, I'm a national hero?!" "They put you on a stained glass window in Canterlot!" Chrysalis said with utter incredulity. "Yeah but... I really didn't do anything to stop Nightmare Moon and Discord except walk around, sing to a bunch of trees, and well.. befriend my friends. I really didn't do much." Chrysalis eyes widened in realization. "So you don't think you earned the title?" Pinkie nodded her head. "Well, I hate to break it to you kid but Celestia and the rest of your nation seem to think otherwise. You're actually in one of the newer books I have on Equestrian history." Pinkie's eyes widened at this as Chrysalis threw her a sympathetic glance. "I can't bring your friends... I'm sorry. And remember, these are bad people we're going to be dealing with. Discord, Nightmare Moon.... myself... nothing can be compared to what is coming. Everyone who has ever felt true hatred burning in their souls will be arriving here soon... to this world. Would you really want them to be exposed to that?" Pinkie glanced away from her. "No... not really." She then looked back towards Chrysalis with hopeful eyes. "Can I at least leave a note saying I'll be away? I'll come right back here!" Chrysalis nodded her way. "Go, and make it quick. We must tread lightly." With that, she sighed as Pinkie left to head towards Ponyville, her own words still ringing in her head afterwards. Why exactly was there a convention for villains? It made sense why the guests would want to show up. What kind of egomaniacs wouldn't love to brag about their plans or hang out with others of similar, twisted mindsets? But why... why had this creature of the pale moonlight wished to host one to begin with? What inspired him to do it? It was something she didn't even want to discover, though she hoped it didn't mean anything bad for her people. With that, she glanced towards Canterlot. "Celestia, I hope all those wise words you told me will help get me through this." ☼☼☼ ☼☼ ☼☼☼ Within Celestia's private quarters, the Princess of the Sun heard a sudden knock on the door. Lifting herself up from the cushion she sat upon while reading over her faithful student's friendship reports, she made her way to it and opened it up. There stood one of her solar guards. "Hello there," she said in her usual warm tone. "Can I help you?" "Hey, ma'm. Somepony wanted me to give you this note a few hours ago," the guard said. "Sorry it took me so long to get this to you, me and my friend got into a debate over which of two mares had the hottest flank walking down-" Celestia shot him a glare, causing him to simper. "Er... here's the note," he said, handing her a folded piece of paper with a unique coloring that could only be made from a tree in the Hanging Islands. "I'll uh... go do something." "Thank you," Celestia said, smiling, before closing the door and making her way back inside, opening the note with a curious gaze and reading it over. And when she finished, her mouth parted in awe. To my dear mentor, I have always known you to be a forgiving person, though I sometimes wonder if you can possibly forgive someone like me. Either way, I'd just like to say that... I'm sorry. Though I'm still not sure if you could ever love me, I will still always give a portion of what is so rare to my people to you. -Your little caterpillar of the eastern leaves.