As far as meetings go, today's is mundane to the point of boredom as the three rulers exchange financial information. “Mining is up 22 percentile in Canterlot. We would liketh to congratulate thou and thy people for thine hard work, Chrysalis.”
“We thank t-“ Chrysalis is cut off when her calm expression turns into a most horrible scowl. Just as suddenly, the Princesses find themselves abruptly teleported to the “city” of Everfree; the de~facto capital of Equestria. Compared to Ponyvile, it is significantly bigger; completely reaching all the way to where Fluttershy’s cottage would later be although it’s still more spread out comparatively. Although it’s a very rudimentary “city,” which is more like an absolutely tiny village with only about one hundred residents and buildings mostly built from stone, it’s a very cosy and homely town and the kind of place where everypony knows everypony.
Spattered amongst the stone buildings lay small huts made out of a combination of stone, wood and that weird green muck (now known to be called Hive Armour) where Changelings can be seen enjoying activities with their friends that range from board games to leg wrestling. Celestia is about to ask the obvious when they hear a blood curdling scream and Chrysalis hurries away; now possessing a scowl that could curdle milk.
After weaving down a few more streets, they find themselves in a filthy back alley close to what now would be the Apple Family homestead. Once there, they see a crowd of assorted races huddled around something. Most disgustingly, several are wearing Guard armour and both Princesses can recognise a few from when they graduated from the academy. Although what they have is hidden by the mass of ponies, Chrysalis’ face morphs into an expression of unimaginable rage. Before either Princess can react, they watch as some kind of magical dome explodes from the midst of the crowd; slamming them against the sides of the building and leaving them either unconscious or writhing in pain.
Luna is about to rightfully ask “what the buck?!” when she sees something that makes her stomach churn. Lying in the centre of where the crowd once was, and bleeding a quickly growing circle of bright green blood, lies a Changeling that can’t be older than eight. With a feral scream of rage, Chrysalis levitates the nymph onto her back before teleporting the thugs and then herself away before the Princesses can stop her.
Celestia and Luna hurry into the critical care wing whereupon they find two very angry and and burly looking Changelings that are built like mountains standing outside one particular room. "The Queen wishes to seeth both of thou. Now." Despite the guard speaking as if the Princesses were a nasty stain on his hoof, Celestia just nods and they enter.
Immediately inside the door, sitting beside the nymph who’s currently in critical condition and on life support, sits Chrysalis who wears a completely blank expression. "Chrysalis, we cannot possibly express ho-“
Chrysalis silences Luna with a raised hoof but it takes a very long time for her to speak. When she does, the Princesses expect explosive anger and her to be screaming at them; demanding blood vengeance. Instead, and perhaps more worryingly, her voice is very quiet and calm so she ends up sounding heartbroken. “We trusted thou and this is how we hast been repaid. We should never hast trusted thou. We should hast known that thy Guard was full of ponies liketh them. We wilt deal withal this ourselves because we can only trust ourselves.”
She looks back to the nymph with visible pain. "Her parents refused to move three days ago. Six others hast been found executed after they refused the demands and any true friends of mine subjects are getting the same demands.” She turns to Celestia with a chilling expression. “An thy ponies ever doeth anything liketh this again, if they layers a feather on one of my children or thier friends, we wilt not be so kind. ‘Tis our only warning.”
“That’s so…”
"Agreed. We would have ensured that those beasts never saw the light of day again but neither us nor Celestia ever saw any of those animals alive again. Podomere narrowly survived the attack but Chrysalis was never quite the same after that day. Whatever friendship we had before was all but gone and all three of us knew this would only end one way. What we found about a month later only served to confirm that fact."
Celestia and Luna trot through Canterlot where they ominously find several houses visibly vandalised and/or abandoned with some others completely levelled to the ground with apparent and brutal force. As they enter the Changeling Hive, Shell's grandson Plastron greets them and they head towards the throne room. Over the past century or so, the Changeling Hive has become significantly more crowded than before with many ponies moving into the hive itself. At first, it was voluntary and even a sign of trust and good will between the two kingdoms. Because of the so-called Brethren of Ponydom, Chrysalis has always been wary about letting ponies in but many ponies have genuinely befriended her subjects so she allows it. At first, it was a small trickle since living underground is so different but many have fled here in the past month due to the death threats.
To put it bluntly, things have only been getting worse since the attack as the Changelings have begun closing themselves off from anypony they aren't already familiar with. Even those vouched for by thier friends are treated with suspicion unless they prove thier loyalty by aiding Changelings against hostile ponies. As for the other ponies still in Eqiestria, the deep bloodstains left over from the alley-fight and the rumours of fictitious but horrific sounding crimes committed by the Changelings has driven up resentment and fear. The fact that the Brethren make up some very important figures in society, as high as the Grand Duchess of Manehatten, hasn’t been helping seeing as they can easily spread their rhetoric. Even in the relative safety of the Hive itself, every few feet has a heavily armed and powerful looking stationed Guard as if anticipating an attack.
Upon arriving at the throne chamber, which has gone from being an open passage to being protected by a very heavy iron door, they are immediately ushered inside by two very dangerous looking Guards. Inside, the Princesses are disgusted to see what appear to be pony skeletons being thrown into what smells like acid. More disturbingly, Chrysalis is watching the sight with the same expression which a scientist would wear whilst watching an interesting experiment. “Chrysalis?! What on Equus doeth thou think that thou art doing?!”
The Queen chuckles early but doesn’t turn. “Doeth not worry, these are not thy beloved ponies. They are the monsters that committed that war crime from a month ago. Such crimes are dealt withal only by execution; sucking them dry of thier feelings until they are lifeless and disposing of what ‘tis left. Thither is nay more a fitting punishment for those that hurt the hive than to help us to sustain it.”
Even the usually stony faced Celestia is visibly grimacing. “Chrysalis, this is barbaric.”
Chrysalis finally turns with a menacing grin. “Barbarism is what they did to Podomere, this is righteous retribution. Oh, doeth thou want to seeth what those things did?” As if on cue, a familiar nymph emerges from a side tunnel and both Princesses are dismayed to see the poor thing struggling to put weight on her right leg which has been mangled almost into a stump by the attack. “She and the attackers are lucky that we got thither before they grounded her as well. Thou do not want to imagine what they would hast gone through an they did.”
The smile on Chrysalis’ face brings rather nightmarish images of unspeakable horrors to the Princesses’ minds. “‘’Tis this wherefore thou called us hither? To disgust and try to intimidate us?”
Chrysalis sits down on her throne with a smirk. “Nay, we recently got some tidings about the Brethren.” The two Princesses visibly perk up. “Indeed, they are headquartered in Everfree City and hast been ever since they were founded. How fortunate that thou just ne'r happened to notice them.”
Recognising the accusation for what it is, Celestia shakes her head. “Thou art wrong, Chrysalis. We ne'r knew.”
The Queen sneers for a moment before adopting a diplomatic tone and posture. “An thou doeth not speaketh in falsehood, we assume that thou intend to let us accompany thou?” Just as Luna is about to answer affirmatively, a predatory glint appears in Chrysalis’ eye. “And that, in the fairness of our treaty, thou wilt allow us to administer whatever punishment we see fit upon them? They committed all of thier crimes against us after all. Ponies have no say in this whatsoever.”
The Princesses share a look that says it all. Neither option is good. One allows for torture and could give Chrysalis the wrong message and the other could incite a civil war against some potentially devastatingly powerful beings. After a long moment, they reach the unfortunate but only truly mutually “beneficial” resolution that they have. “We doeth not liketh it but we doeth not hast a choice. Thou may come BUT thou must art careful to refrain from hurting any-pony innocent.”
"........."
"...How bad did it go?"
"We assume you've heard of the Everfree Blast?"
"But that would mean... Oh, dear Celestia no."
Due to the fear of information getting out to the Brethren, the Princesses stay completely shtoom about the meeting to even thier most trusted Guards. When the agreed upon day arrives, they had conveniently arranged for a private meeting with King Borealis of the Griffon Kingdom as a cover and wore nothing more than the standard light armour they usually wore when going anywhere potentially dangerous. By using perception spells, they manage to infiltrate the city undetected and meet up with the Changelings just outside the Hive before quickly making thier way to the hideout.
Despire being the headquarters of a major terrorist organisation, the actual location is a medium sized hut smack bang in the centre of Everfree City. If you were to look at it, it would appear like any ordinary single storey hut not dissimilar in shape to Fluttershy’s from a long time in the future. Upon knocking down the door though, a familiarly smug and rather ugly mug is waiting for them inside. “Ah, good morn Princess Celestia.” As with many nobles, he pointedly ignores the “inferior” Princess Luna. “Hast thou come to seeth our greatest weapon in the war against-“
Red Tape’s welcoming smile dies and turns into a deep and vile scowl as his eyes fall upon Queen Chrysalis who looks ready to rip his head off. “So, the foul abominations hast brainwashed thou too. Doeth not fear, I shall release thou.”
He picks up a device similar in appearance to a magical inhibitor ring but is violently slammed into a wall with an audible crack by an absolutely livid Queen. “THOU! THOU ART BEHIND EVERYTHING! THOU CAUSED ALL OF THIS!!!” If Chrysalis was angry before then now, she is almost feral with sheer rage.
Despite the rapidly increasing pressure on his larynx, Red Tape just smiles as if he had just achieved a major victory. “And the disgusting creature finally shows itself. Anon, every-pony wilt seeth thou all for the abominations thou really are. Thou can dispatch me but we are everywhere and wilt ne'r stop until we dispatch every last one of thou.” His smile turns into the most horrible triumphant grin. “And thou hast just made everything so much easier.” The next few seconds all seem to happen in a flash and before ether Princess can step in. Red Tape slips the inhibitor device over Chrysalis’ horn, there is an audible crunch, Red Tape’s body hits the floor like a sack of bricks, Chrysalis’ horn begins spraying random sprays of gold and black energy as she lifts into the air, there is a sudden white flash and everything goes black.
Princess Celestia finds herself waking up in what she slowly recognises as Canterlot Hospital. “What just happened?!”
“PRINCESS, THOU ART AWAKE!” She turns to see her young, enthusiastic Guard Captain Ensis Ferum as his professionalism takes over and he bows. “Princess, thou hast been asleep for almost two days.”
Celestia’s eyes widen and she bolts upright only to be eased back down by a familiar purple aura. “Calm thyself, sister. We hast been lowering the sun and moon these past days.”
Celestia turns to see Luna who has looked better; a visible large cut under a mound of bandages and a blackened eye. “What happened? The last thing we remember is Chrysalis’ magic going out of control.”
Luna is visibly angered. “Whatever device Red Tape used was able to somehow turn Chrysalis’ own magic against her and maximise it as an explosive force.”
Celestia’s eyes widen, knowing how much power Chrysalis must have built up. “‘Is every-pony alright? Are the residents safe? What about the Changelings?”
The look on Luna’s face makes her heart sink. “‘Tis gone, sister. Everfree City is gone.”
Celestia stares at her. “…What?”
Ensis Ferum steps in with the tone one would expect when delivering a tragic report. “The blast annihilated the surrounding area, Princess. Any-pony or Changeling within a two thousand meter radius of the blast was vaporised instantly. We first knew of it when the entire Castle shook to its foundations and nearly collapsed. We found thou and Princess Luna buried under rubble and rushed thou both hither anon as possible. We think we saw Queen Chrysalis limping away towards the Everfree but she refused help when it was offered.”
Celestia falls back into the sheets, devastated. Two thousand meters encompasses the entirety of Everfree City and a good chunk of the nearby Everfree. The only thing that compares is the knowledge of what this all means. “So, they hath won then. This ist exactly what they needed to turn our little ponies against them and we can’t do anything to stop them.” All three ponies hang thier heads as they realise that they have well and truly lost.
Given her sister’s rather nasty injuries, which include a broken wing and two broken legs, Princess Luna has taken up thier royal court duties but certainly isn’t enjoying it. Instead of earnest requests or annoying but passive nobles, she has a quartet of annoying nobility whining at her about the recent blast. “Princess Luna, thou hast to do something! Thou cannot allow them back into Equestria! They could do that again! We have to-“
The assorted ponies flinch and look in fear at Luna who looks so angry that she’s almost steaming. “What happened was a well planned attack by some very evil ponies. Neither us nor our sister wilt hear any more of this! Are we understood?!”
Duke Ferdinand, who once happened to be a close friend to Red Tape, sneers at the Duchess of Dreams as if she were a particularly bad smell. “And what of those disappearances a few months ago? Were those just the work of the ‘Brethren’ as well? ‘Tis mine understanding that several Guards are among those missing. Wherefore would the ‘Brethren’ target normal ponies? Wherefore should we not retaliate in kind?
Luna meets the sneer with a more calculated politician’s blankness but her tone is acidic. “Thou speaketh treason, Ferdinand.”
The Duke of Manhattan chuckles. “‘Tis not treason an we doeth not betray thou, Princess. ‘Tis merely retribution and exactly what they deserve.” As the Guards close in to arrest him, the demented duke turns to leave. “ I shall returneth later to speak withal the real Princess. This one is clearly a defective pretender.” He barely finishes that sentence before he finds himself violently catapulted from the room and deep into the Everfree by an absolutely livid Princess Luna.
“We doeth not know how thou tolerate the likes of him. We would just crush his skull and art done withal it.” Luna’s head snaps around at the sound of the familiar voice to reveal an almost demonically angry Queen Chrysalis. “An we were thou, we would keep an eye on him. Thou ne'r know what might happen an he ever acted on his desires.” Before Luna can respond to the dark threat, Chrysalis vanishes in a green flash of light.
“What happened then?”
“…”
“Auntie?”
“…”
“…Absolute chaos.”
Suffice to say, waking up to a loud explosion which was powerful enough to throw her out of bed like a sack of bricks was not how Princess Celestia had pictured starting the day. “Sister!”
Celestia looks up to see her equally worried sibling getting up from the balcony floor. “What was that?!”
Luna is grim. “It came from the direction of Canterlot.” Both Princesses know all too well what that must mean so quickly get into thier armour; not even bothering with the usual regalia. After issuing some quick orders to Ensis Ferum, they immediately take flight towards Canterlot with the strongest and fastest Pegasi at hoof.
A journey that would typically take about two hours is made in less than ten minutes but they arrive to find Canterlot in utter carnage. Everywhere they look, all they can see is fire and families huddling in fear of thier lives but no sign of the Brethren or the Changelings anywhere. Spying that the smoke is coming from deep inside the Canterlot Hive, the Princesses assign many of thier Guards to search and rescue as they and Commander Bird’s Feather enter the tunnels.
Inside is what can only be described as absolute devastation. Meter thick chunks of Hive Armour have been blown off and the charred husks of various Changeling shells lie around them. “What happened hither?” The answer is swiftly delivered as a Changeling races out of a nearby tunnel with a foal on thier back; followed close behind by at least thirty bloodthirsty looking ponies who are all armed to the teeth. Before any can strike though, Luna immediately casts a spell that forces them into a coma-like sleep.
The Changeling nods and they now recognise him as Plastron. “Thank the Queen that thou art hither.”
“What happened?” Despite the harsh tone, Luna’s face clearly shows sympathy.
Plastron shakes his head. “They came out of nowhere last night and besieged us. They’ve put a magical dome over the Hive so we can’t teleport out and they’re picking us off one by one. That explosion was an attempt to level our Hive. Queen Chrysalis was at the centre of that blast. Please, help her.”
The Princesses nod; leaving Bird’s Feather behind to defend thier friend before heading towards the much travelled centre of the Hive. The chamber itself is almost unrecognisable with half of it completely collapsed but all they find are love sucked bodies strewn around and uncountable remains of Changelings. And when I say remains; I mean remains as many are only identifiable because of the thin remains of chitin on thier eviscerated bodies. Knowing where Chrysalis must have gone, they find thier way to the makeshift balcony. Upon arriving, they find Chrysalis watching with a blank expression as Unity City burns to the ground. Most disgustingly, many Changelings or “traitors” are either left inside to burn or dragged out and savagely beaten to a pulp by an army of ponies.
Unsure of how Chrysalis will act, the two adopt subtlety defensive positions and wait for her to speak. There’s not much to gain in provoking an ally after all. Once she does finally speak however, her tone is almost withdrawn and detached with how quiet it is. “We try and doeth what was best for our people and looketh what happens. We try and art nice to them and looketh what happens. We try to hark to thier counsel and seeth what happens.” Her voice gets blatantly angrier. “We try and treat their ponies fairly because it would benefit us all and looketh what happens.”
The fact that thier former friend is apparently ranting to herself and hasn’t even noticed them yet is more than a little concerning for the Princesses. “Chrysalis…?”
The Changeling Queen finally seems to notice them but doesn’t turn. “Tell us, did thou know that this would happen? That this would happen anon?” When they take a moment to respond, Chrysalis finally turns but the Princesses feel thier hearts sink as they see a look of uncontrollable and irreconcilable anger on her face. This isn’t just anger over the war crimes below; this is anger directed specifically and very personally at them. ”DID THOU?!!!”
Luna is visibly distraught by everything going on but Celestia appears slightly more restrained. Although this is an attempt to appear calmer and hopefully de-escalate the situation, Chrysalis seems to take this as something much different because her eyes narrow into pinpricks. Before either of them can react, Chrysalis roars towards them and body slams both into the wall with enough force to wind them. As they recover, she casts a spell that flashes almost as brightly as the Sun. Once it clears, every single pony down below whether friendly or enemy drops like a sack of potatoes and starts writhing as the Princesses watch in horror. “What the Tartarus dost thou think thou art doing?!”
Chrysalis just smiles although the glow from the fires below make it appear almost demonic. “Replenishing what was taken.”
The two royals watch in horror as a familiar black hardened substance starts forming on the ponies. “Stand down, Chrysalis.”
The Queen shakes her head. “Nay, we wilt not. As thou just saw, our magic has many uses and we wilt doeth withal them what we liketh.” A grin that would become all too familiar in the future forms on her face. “And now, we shall demonstrate what happens to those that hurt us.”
Only now do the Princesses notice Duke Ferdinand strung up against a wall, having been hidden behind an apparently movable section of Hive Armour. At first, he appears as an innocent captive but even his pleading and innocent expression can’t hide the crusted green blood around his hooves. Even so, as Chrysalis turns back to the diarchs, she finds herself slammed into a wall by Celestia’s magic. “Thou support this filth?!”
Celestia calmly walks closer to the absolutely livid Queen. “Of course we doeth not but thou art heading down a dangerous path, Chrysalis. What thou hast done is abominable but we want to help. We can make things right again. Please, let us end this together.” She extends a hoof, wearing a pleading expression to emphasise how much she wants her to accept the hoof.
Chrysalis stares cross eyed at the hoof for a moment but Celestia is then slammed backwards into Luna by a magical blast, sending both sprawling. “THOU JUST DOETH NOT GET IT!!! THERE IS nay peace to art had! WE TRIED THAT and thou hast seen what came of it!” She closes her eyes for a moment and releases a very cold chuckle. “An we cannot make our way in Equestria anymore, we shall just taketh it. An ponies wilt not provide us the love we need, we shall just taketh it.” In an instant, green fire travels across her body and she is once again the black chittined being she once was. “And, an thou two stay in our way, we shall crush thou underhoof liketh bugs.” For just a moment, her tone seems to lessen in severity and almost seems to become pleading. “An thou art verily our friends, please stepeth aside and let us do what we have to.”
In thqt moment, if it wasn’t already apparent, the Princesses realise that thier friend is gone and adopt much more defensive postures. “We wilt not let that happen. Please, hark to reason.”
Instead, Chrysalis snarls. “So shalt it be.” She instantly fires off a massive energy beam which Celestia counters with one of her own but both are held at stalemate. Celestia is unable to overcome the Changeling but Chrysalis lacks the energy reserves to overcome her due to the fighting across her Hive.
After a few more moments of silent straining, Chrysalis feels herself weaken ever so slightly and is unable to stop the beam from throwing her to the floor. As she recovers, she tries to fire another laser but finds her horn charred and burnt into uselessness. Refusing to give up, she launches at Celestia only to be bucked into the wall by Luna and dazed for several moments. As she staggers back to her hooves, in pain but as resilient as ever, she spies the now Elements of Harmony adorned Princesses. “Yield!”
As any-pony familiar with Chrysalis would know, she is never one to flee from a fight; especially not one that she thinks she can win. However, she isn’t stupid and knows all too well what the Elements are capable of as well as that attacking directly is pointless. With her self-preservation and Queenly instincts screaming at her to live to fight another day, Chrysalis fires an energy blast into one particular point in the ceiling. “She who fights and runs away will live to fight another day. Another day, ponies.” Before Celestia and Luna can blast her with the Elements, the Hive begins collapsing around them and they are forced to teleport out.
As they look towards the remains of Unity City though, they watch it collapse and violently implode in a massive blast. “Doeth thou think they escaped that?”
After the day that they’ve had, Celestia just feels ill. “We hope so, Luna. We hope so.” By the time that proper help arrives from the surrounding area, the Princesses have collected themselves although little help is needed inside Canterlot itself as every-pony is either dead or has already fled. Though they remain stoic and unemotional over the course of the day, they would privately mourn the loss of thier first true friend. The sudden explosion of Unity City would later be discovered to have been a deliberate magical attack; likely to remove any evidence of where the Changelings may have gone.
Celestia had been careful to take Duke Ferdinand with them when they left the Hive and he later ended up being sent to Tartarus for his crimes. However, he was the only one convicted as the other Brethren members had all either already died in the raid on the Changeling Hive, been turned into Changelings and disappeared with Chrysalis or were never able to be identified. Surprising absolutely no-pony, with thier ultimate goal fulfilled, the terrorists were never heard from again but the Princesses would never stop searching for the Changelings for the next thousand years.
For a good half an hour, the throne room remains in silence until Luna eventually breaks it. "Ponyvile exists today instead of us choosing not to rebuild Everfree City because that place has too many horrible memories to ever consider it. We sealed the old Hive shut and most ponies later came to believe that it was thanks to a mining accident and that Everfree City no longer exists because of the Everfree Castle’s abandonment. What happened is best left forgotten because it would make most ponies feel sick to their stomachs. One of the worst crimes in Equestrian history was done not by ourselves, Sombra, Discord, the Changelings or Tirek. It was done by our subjects."
Cadance is visibly struggling to speak with a heavy green tint to her face. Eventually, she finds her voice as more clicks into place. "Your duel. That anger, that hatred..."
Celestia nods, very visibly physically and emotionally drained. "Chrysalis still blames me for everything that happened that day and seems to have taken my muted reaction as indifference, tolerance or even worse; endorsement. As Equestria's figurehead and most widely respected Princess, at least at the time, she saw me as implicit in everything that happened. To her, I was either too soft in not punishing them hard enough or I was supporting thier atrocities and letting them get away with it. When I had to step in at Unity City, she finally lost any trust she had left in me.”
She lowers her head in shame. “Admittedly, my terrible choice of words also didn’t help. The fact is that I didn’t act when I should have against the Brethren and i didn’t punish them severely enough when they were discovered. I just trusted that things would sort themselves out so I did nothing and ended up creating a monster. It’s one of my greatest failures." Her gaze turns wistful after a moment. “Her burning hatred became all too obvious when I was stuck in that accursed cocoon."
Every pony has thier own inner safe place where they go after experiencing trauma; be it physical or mental. Cadance's is on the Crystal Empire's balcony with her husband, Luna's is enjoying a nighttime picnic with her friends and Celestia's is within a weird "foggy" starry blue void like area. "Does it hurt, Celestia?"
The Princess turns with a frown to see the Changeling Queen who is smirking triumphantly. "Does it hurt to see yourself fail? To watch your ponies see you fall, knowing you failed them? To know what it feels like when your own mistakes can cause so much suffering?" Over the last thousand or so years, the clicking undertone has slightly faded but it’s still present and her voice is as loud as ever.
Despite the Changeling's smugness, Celestia doesn't even bat an eye. "That was a very long time ago, Chrysalis. I would’ve let you back into Equestria in an instant if you asked."
The Changeling lets out a harsh laugh. "And be kept firmly under your hoof forever? Both of us know you’d never take your eye off me. You’d never trust us to not replicate what happened before and be ready at a moment’s notice to summon your little brainwashed pet project and her friends to strike me down and doom the Changelings. Without me, they’re doomed. That’s not peace Celestia, that’s being careful that we don’t tread on your hooves the wrong way for the rest of time.”
Celestia mostly ignores her. "If you hate me so much, why not just attack me in my sleep? You clearly have the motive and the means. Why go to all this effort?"
Chrysalis sneers. "Because I want to break your little ponies. If I just replaced you, everything would continue as normal but nothing would change and Luna would discover us anyway. I can defeat her just like you but then I’d bring your faithful slaves down on our heads who have overcome ridiculous odds before. And you forget, your subjects are the reason why I became an exile. If I just took your throne discreetly and then revealed myself, I wouldn’t have the pleasure of watching any hope of salvation fade from thier souls.”
Celestia continues her even tone despite the hostility. “You’re blaming every-pony for what a handful of monsters did over a thousand years ago. Should I consider all Changelings pure evil because of your actions and stamp them out just as violently?”
Chrysalis snarls. “I've been watching you and your ponies, especially that student you’ve been grooming into a soldier for years. Because that’s what you do, isn’t it? You gaslight and manipulate others so you can kick your hooves up and let them do all the work. Anything your little ponies don't understand, they shun or try to completely drive out like that Zebra shaman. They don’t even get on well with each other or need I mention how easily I split them up? The time they decided torturing thier friend to knock her down a peg was a good idea? Or maybe being tricked into fighting over tickets, most of which you were withholding just to teach them a lesson? And then you have the dangerously stupid and overconfident nymphs like that ridiculous, overinflated, blue pixie in a gaudy magician's outfit or outright dangerous stupidity like the Want-Need-It spell.”
“All flaws that are fine in moderation and I’m sure your children also possess.”
“We haven’t committed genocide and everything disgusting about ponies back then has only gotten worse with time. Your kind hasn't changed at all, they’re just as foul and cruel as ever. ’There’s one of those lovesucking freaks, let’s kill them before they kill us.’ All that’s changed is that they’ve grown softer. Perfect food for us. Your little ponies deserve nothing less than to see you and Luna fail before they become dinner." A disgusting smile appears on her features. "And why wouldn't I crash the Princess of Love's wedding? It makes for a nice backdrop to my triumph, don’t you think?”
Her smile returns. "And what better way to hurt you than strike on one of the best days of your life? To see one of the most happy moments of your existence come tumbling down around you? Don't worry, I won't be exterminating your little ponies and I won’t let the likes of Sombra or Tirek hurt them… much. They're too valuable a food source to just ‘stamp out’ as you so eloquently put it. I'll just be giving them the exact same treatment they gave us. A hoof for a hoof, an eye for an eye, a carapace for a carapace. A kingdom for a kingdom. The only solution to the likes of the Brethren is violence so that is how your subjects will be treated. They helped teach us that."
Celestia has finally had enough. "You're no better than the Brethren were. You're just a hateful sadist hiding behind the appearance of wanting to help your people. If you truly wanted what was best for them, you’d have at least tried to speak to me. You’re using the same tactics and rhetoric of the Equestrian Defenders; you’ve just supplemented Changelings for ponies. Part of the reason any of that happened was because you started turning ponies into lifeless husks! Would you expect them to react in any way other than fear?!”
Chrysalis has started walking away but stops when she hears the Princess snap at her. After a very brief moment, the Queen speaks without turning in a completely calm but bone chilling tone. "I stopped caring about anything you had to say the day that Podomere was crippled. You and Luna failed us but at least she showed some emotion; you don’t even pretend to care. Everything you seemed to do for us, it was just to remove us as a threat wasn’t it? That’s all you’ve ever been; a manipulator who doesn’t give a single shed about who you have to hurt. You fight against the likes of Discord or Sombra but you’re not better than them; they’re just more upfront about it. I’m glad Luna turned on you, it’s exactly what you deserved and so much more. You’ve gotten weaker, Celestia. That’s why I’ve won and you’ll have to live with it just like I had to live through one thousand five hundred years of exile.”
Chrysalis chuckles as she turns to Celestia with a lopsided but definitely horrible smile. The sheer amount of cruel excitement and sadism is enough to make the Princess feel ill. “When I'm finished, your 'faithful student' and her friends will be begging for the end and you will endure every single second of it. You will see everything you’ve built and ever loved turn to ash just as I saw our best chance at survival disintegrate before my eyes." With that, Chrysalis walks away and Celestia feels herself waking up.
Between repairing the fallout from the wedding, and the second wedding shortly thereafter, the Princesses haven’t had much time to talk. With Shining Armour and Cadance on the way to thier honeymoon though, and Twilight and her friends on the train back to Ponyvile, they finally get half an hour to themselves but Luna notices that Celestia is being oddly quiet. “Is everything okay, sister?”
She takes a moment to respond. “We failed, Luna. We messed up royally.”
“Everything worked out okay. Chrysalis is gone and everypony’s safe again. She failed.” Despite this, Luna knows that that isn’t what Celestia meant.
“We should never have been in this position to begin with.”
Luna looks at her softly and takes her hoof. “It was both of our failings, sister. We bare equal responsibility for our inaction.”
Celestia shakes her head. "No, I bear sole blame because I continually fail to act when I need to. I knew I should have acted, should have at least tried to do something, but didn’t even try when I should have known better. I was slow to act against the Brethren and I was slow to see your growing resentment. Three times, I was too slow to stop what a newborn foal could have seen coming and paid the price all three times. I gave the opportunity, the Brethren just took it. Your only mistake was not challenging me at the time.”
“We all make mistakes, both of our mistakes were simply poor timing. What we said that night a thousand years ago wasn’t true, sister. You do care, you were just afraid of causing further trouble. Racism can only end one way when it comes to such radicalised ponies. Any action you could have taken may have just gathered support, the Brethren claiming we were brainwashed like Shining Armour. It was a lose, lose situation.”
Despite the comforting tone, Luna can see the poorly disguised depression in her sister. “To have done what she did, and what she did recently, Chrysalis must have always been like this. All the Brethren did was bring out the worst side of her.”
Celestia seems to consider that for a moment. “Unfortunately, we’ll never know but the other Changelings didn’t deserve what happened. I just want to make things right but we’ll probably someday have to put her down like we did Sombra. There’s no reasoning with her and the only way to stop Chrysalis is probably to banish her.” With that, she finishes the last of her meal and they begin thier usual nighttime ritual.
As the tale winds down, Luna takes a moment to breath. "What’s worse is that Chrysalis was right about one thing in her rhetoric. We will never be able to take our eyes off of her; she’s just too dangerous and ambitious. We believe she genuinely wants to help her children but she’s also extremely controlling. After what happened last year, more than a few Changelings split off from her hive to hide out as ponies. Many had longstanding identities as deep cover agents and they wanted to resume that life when the big coup failed. It’s not the Changelings we have a problem with, it’s her.”
She casts her eyes down. “We liked to think that there was once some good in her since she only ever acted in ways that would benefit herself and her hive. If she ever had aspirations of conquest, she had dozens of chances over the time we knew her to take us out or cocoon us but she never did. Every time we went to her hive, there was nothing stopping them from overwhelming us with sheer numbers but she never tried. Even a year ago, we used to think there was something left of our friend but… well, you know what happened."
Celestia sighs as she gets to her hooves. "Since last year, we've been searching for her but part of the problem is what we'd do with her if we did find and trap her. If we imprison her and use an inhibitor, her subjects would most certainly try to free her. The toll of such an invasion could be devastating. We could banish or petrify her but we have no idea how that would affect her Changelings. Thier only crime is obeying thier tyrannical mother and wanting food. What she did was unforgivable but we won't possibly doom an entire species for the crimes of its ruler. Even if we could still use the Elements, they wouldn’t make her kind again. They worked on Luna because she had grown to regret what she had done; Chrysalis wants this. She chooses to be evil, regardless of whose fault it was for what happened. Even the Elements of Harmony can’t save what isn’t there. It’s exactly why they could save Luna a few years ago but banished her to the Moon a thousand years ago."
Even though she is feeling the last two days catching up to her, Celestia somehow retains her regality despite visible fatigue. “I suggest that we get some rest. Tomorrow is going to be a very… eventful day.” Luna and Cadance nod in agreement but the former stops for a moment when they turn to leave. “Is something wrong, Luna?”
Luna casts a powerful ward and detection spell before shaking her head. “It’s nothing. We just thought that we saw something.” She stares hard into a dark corner for a moment before following them out of the Throne Room.
After the Throne Room is vacated and sealed for the night though, a very wide and toothy smile appears from that same corner. “Such chaos and I never had to even lift a single hoof. They’ve gotten weaker and far more vulnerable. Everything will fall into place soon enough. See you soon, Celestia.” Instead of a cackle or a laugh, or even gloating some more, the being simply smiles before fading away.