//------------------------------// // Confronting Your Past // Story: Rainbow Of Fate // by Lord Drayvon22 //------------------------------// With the Changeling invasion over, the Changelings either imprisoned or in full retreat and Chrysalis in the dungeon, the repair works to Canterlot and Ponyvile can begin. The Royal Guards that aren't either injured, drained from the cocoons or searching for captives of the Changelings have been called in and promised extra time off as a reward. They’re horrendously understaffed as a result and manage quite well with aid from the Crystal Guard. Whilst Princess Cadance and Shining Armour help out in Ponyvile, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna coordinate the repairs in Canterlot, As they help to repair a barely standing house though, Celestia turns to leave. “Something wrong, sister?” Celestia turns to her sister and shakes her head. “I’m going to have a word with our prisoner. We need to set some things straight whilst we have a moment to breathe.” Luna nods and returns to her work as Celestia takes a deep breath and continues on. Canterlot Dungeons Having been laying back in the bed looking bored, Chrysalis turns with a sneer as Celestia enters. “So you defeated the freak that you once called your friend. Congratulations. Soooo impressive. Well done, your majesty.” She does a mockingly fake bow. “What do you want, Chrysalis?” Even the famously patient Celestia is at the end of her rope with the Queen. Chrysalis‘ snarl turns into a scowl. “I want to see you torn down and made to pay. You’re nothing more than a manipulative monster and always have been. Everything you touch suffers and dies so why’d you think your faithful student and her friends will be any different? You can’t lie to me, Celestia. You’ve been growing her into your little successor for a long, long time now.” She smiles at the surprise on Celestia’s face. “What? Did you think I wouldn’t notice the multiple tests and trials you put her through to ensure she ascends to Alicornhood? After you told me how you yourselves ascended? Everything you’ve ever done for her, you’ve done for your own good. First, you had her save your sister from her own stupidity and then you turned her and her friends into your own personal hit-squad to be flung at anything you don’t agree with. Next, you’ll browbeat and gaslight her into ascension to become a stronger lapdog before all but forcing her into your role so you can take a well earned rest?" The smile turns into a resentful sneer. "You pretend to love her but it’s all a means to an end. If she ever questions you, you’ll send her to the Moon like your so-called sister, force her into exile like us or maybe she'll be a cautionary tale of crossing you like Discord became. You act like she’s your daughter when she’s no more special to you than any other Grunt in the Royal Guard. She just happens to hold ever so slightly more importance to your greater plans.” Celestia’s gaze harshens. "How do you even know all this?" Chrysalis flashes her fangs. "Because I'd have to be a very stupid nymph to not keep an eye on the ponies who defeated an Alicorn during thier first time saving the world. Within less than 12 hours of meeting for the very first time, I might add. Ponyvile's a transit town between Canterlot, Appleloosa, Las Pegasus, Dodge City and many more settlements. No-pony would notice one of my disguised children dropping by for a few days. Drop by, get a room somewhere, stick around until there’s something notable to report and then move on to Canterlot." She then scoffs, apparently to herself as it is unprovoked. "How Twilight buys anything you say, I will never know because all you do is manipulate her. The gaslighting, the poorly disguised manipulative wording, the gala, what you did and said at the wedding, that one time you decided to mess with her using those tickets for no reason, Sombra who you could have crushed in fifteen minutes; less with Luna’s help. Even when he was directly endangering the Crystal Ponies? How about the time you decided to torment that pathetic coward by making her think she was killing your Phoenix and nearly gave her a heart attack when the bird exploded. What? Was Sparkle’s last test going to be that unfinished spell you've kept locked away?" Celestia takes a very brief moment ti calm down from the thorough chewing out. “Why do you even care? Twilight and her life has nothing to do with you. How does this affect you in any-“ Chrysalis slams herself against the bars with a snarl. ”BECAUSE YOU ALLOWED US TO BE FORCED INTO EXILE FOR 1500 YEARS AND NEVER EVEN CARED!!! ALL WE HAVE EVER BEEN ARE PAWNS IN YOUR SCHEMES!!!” She calms down after a moment. “Do you really think that I only hate you because of what the Bretheren did? No, they just helped us to see that you’re a manipulative monster who never cared. You stood there, uncaring as my children and some of your own ponies died because we’d proven resistant to your lies. Everypony else is a pawn to you and anything that challenges your ideals is an enemy that needs to be stamped out. What happened with the Brethren, at the wedding and yesterday happened because you never have and never will care. What I promised to do to 'your beloved' Twilight and her friends was completely sincere.” She glares at the Alicorn in disgust. “I wanted you to see your ultimate plot fail because you should have learnt from what happened to us or Nightmare Moon but no. You’re still manipulating those around you for the ‘greater good’ when in reality you could do everything yourself. Is it because you hate her or are you just lonely as an immortal? You disgust me.” She takes a moment to breathe. “Even in here however, I’ve still won.” Chrysalis’ anger turns to smug self righteousness. “You have two options, Celestia. Keep me locked up and my children will rescue me and I can promise you, the toll will be high for your little ponies when I’ll escape anyway. The other is to banish or petrify me, doom the Changelings and prove that I was right. Whatever happens to me and my people, you’ll always be no better than Sombra or Tirek. A pretender whose only interest is themself and thier own interest, damn morality or anything that gets in thier way.” Pot calling the kettle black. Celestia’s neutral expression remains but, somewhere deep down, it hurts to hear this from a former close friend. “There’s still a third option, Chrysalis, and you know it.” Chrysalis laughs. “What? Join your people like before so we can lock hooves in a big dance and throw a singalong? How deluded are you?” Her smile becomes completely deranged. “And why would I even believe we could get along?! The Brethren acted as they did with no provocation other than hating the mere concept of a Changeling. After everything we’ve done, why would your ponies treat us any different? Especially with those directly descended from the bigots like that stuck-up foal you call a nephew.” Celestia already has an answer prepared. “Because of the Changelings who left you for a better life.” Chrysalis chuckles darkly. “Ah yes, the little traitors. Tell me, how’re thier dismembered remains looking nowadays?” Instead of a response, Celestia generates an energy screen. Six months ago, Manehatten Palp is immensely nervous as he makes his way back home. Quite frankly, he’s absolutely terrified of how things will turn out when he’s coming home for the first time in almost six months. It’s not like he has another home to flee back to anymore. You’ve made your choice. If you so dare to make your way back here, you’ll be treated the same as the ponies you long for. May Harmony have mercy on your soul. As cruel as Chrysalis can and has been, she’s still his mother and hearing those words from her hurts severely. More than anything else though, he’s worried about how Stars Above will react. Five years ago, he’d been sent as the planted spy for Manehatten but ended up meeting a local stargazer which became something more over the last few years. As he reaches the edge of the city, he turns into his alias Clear Sky; an unremarkable green Pegasus with a light blue mane not dissimilar to his true appearance. When he arrives at his house though, the first thing he gets is a hard slap from a very angry marefriend. "WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?! You've been gone for MONTHS and I heard NOTHING! I thought... I thought I lost you to the Changelings! When I heard about the attack, I-I..." Star finally breaks down and hugs him. "Thank Celestia you're safe. When I saw what happened, I-I…” Clear Sky rubs her back until she calms down. “It’s okay, I’m sorry. It’s just been hard trying to get messages out after what happened.” Star looks into his eyes with unimaginable joy. “The other Guards have to screen everything that gets in or out. I think my message got lost.” Star nods understandingly since, as far as she knows, he’s just a lieutenant in the Royal Guard. “Please, come in.” Clear smiles and the reunited couple renter the house with the largest smiles. What neither see is that Stars Above’s brother, Windows Cleaner, had been in the woods for a stroll earlier and seen Palp transform. The first thing he does is to immediately head for the local Royal Guard barracks. After a hearty dinner, Star notices the slightly dour mood which he’s been trying to hide. “Is everything okay?” Fortunately, Clear Sky had already prepared an answer. “Whilst in Canterlot, I ran into my family.” She nods sympathetically, having heard that he was somewhat estranged from them which is in reality only half a lie. “My mom’s disowned me for abandoning them after everything they’ve done for me.” He finds himself pulled into another hug. “I’m so, so sorry Cleary. Just know, you’ll always have me and I’ll never leave you.” She ends the promise with a kiss. In that moment, Palp feels a deep and inexpiable joy deep within himself. In that moment, he doesn’t think he’s ever been happier. I obeyed my Queen and was willing to destroy everything I have here, just for the sake of power that I don't need and food I already have in swathes. I’m an idiot but I’m an idiot who’ll die before I let anything hurt Star. Just as suddenly as the moment begins however, Stars Above pulls away violently and he opens his eyes to see her backing away from him and looking absolutely terrified. For a moment, he’s confused until he looks down. Black, hole filled hooves and he can feel his horn back on his head. “Oh, flock. The next morning Princess Celestia lands on the outskirts of Manehatten and is led to the rarely used dungeons after the common platitudes. Normally, it’d be left up to the local judiciaries to decide what to do with minor incursions like this since the Princesses act more like an overarching authority than micromanaging dictators. However, Clear Sky has been a member of her Guard for almost ten years and matters that directly involve the Canterlonian Royal Guard make thier way to her. Having a Changeling infiltrate the Royal Guard, no matter how minor thier rank may be, is a serious security issue. When she finds his cell though, she also finds a very defeated looking Changeling sat before her. “What’s your name?” Palp chuckles emptily. “Palp.” Celestia waits a moment for him to elaborate. “Well, haven’t you anything to say for yourself?” Another empty chuckle. “And what am I supposed to say? That I had no say in what happened a month ago? That my Queen brainwashed me into following her orders and I was a mindless, helpless puppet forced to participate in her attacks? That I never wanted to help my mother take over Canterlot? That I regret trying to help my own chitin and blood survive? Do you want me to lie?” To Palp’s slight surprise, Celestia’s tone remains soft. “What we want to know is where Clear Sky is. We can arrange your repat-“ “If I go back, it’s a death sentence. She hates me just as much as any of you ponies because I’ve left the Hive for a better life.” Celestia blinks but isn’t exactly very surprised. “If you help us to find Clear Sky, I’m sure we can arrange for you to settle down somewhere.” Palp chuckles emptily. “You want Clear Sky? You’re looking at him. There never was a Clear Sky. I invented him based on an illustration from ‘A Tale of Two Stables.’ I was sent to infiltrate your Guard eleven years ago and then became the Manehatten spy after being assigned to the reserves.” After a very long, painful moment passes, Celestia turns to the door. “There’s somepony who wants to speak to you. Be aware, I’ll be waiting right outside if you try anything.” Once he nods, she leaves and is replaced by Stars Above. Palp can’t even bring himself to look her in the eye but can tell that she’s deeply disappointed in him. “You lied to me.” Even though her tone is calm, Palp cringes. “I… I don’t know what to even say, Star. What we did in Canterlot was unforgivable and I was scared to say anything. I-I don’t know why my disguise dropped, I was just so happy.” A long moment of dead silence ensues as he feels her looking him over. Several things leap out to Star; Palp’s eyes are the same shade of deep violet as before even if they’re now compound eyes, he’s the same height as Clear Sky, he’s very strong looking like his Pegasus counterpart, he has random spatters of green around his body which are identical to Clear Sky’s fur. Even his voice is almost the same except for that underlying clicking noise. For a moment, she thinks it’s a trick but then remembers how the inhibitor prevents them from using magic and thus using any disguise techniques whatsoever. “Why couldn’t you trust me? You know I wouldn’t have cared.” “Can you honestly say that, if you had seen me like this right after we first met, you wouldn’t have fled in terror? You’ve heard the stories and you’d only have suspected me more after the attack on Canterlot.” Star is silent for a while. “Why do it? Why would you turn against us?” A tear drips from Palp’s eye. “My family are starving, Star. I can’t just leave them and, even if I did, I’d die with them. We’re all connected.” He taps a hoof to his head. “By the time I’d realised how stupid of a mistake that was, I was already on my way down here.” Star swallows nervously. “Do you regret it? You know, tying to take over?” Palp still doesn’t look her in the eyes. “Yes, with all my heart; yes. I don’t know why, I just think some small part of me thought I could help my Queen and then rejoin you as a ‘subject.’ I didn’t want to lose you, Star. I just didn’t have a choice.” Deafening silence follows for the next few minutes is enough of an answer until Celestia renters. “Anything?” Star shakes her head. “He says he is my colt-friend and it’s hard to explain but it just… feels like him. You know?” Celestia nods as Palp looks up with a slightly hopeful expression. “How do I prove it?” “Where’d we first meet?” Palp sighs with a nostalgic smile. “The same day that I first came to Manehatten and I decided to take the time to stargaze. You had the same idea with your telescope.” Star’s nod confirms it. “And how did you ask me out?” Palp blushes. “In one of our stargazing sessions when I spied the Summer Sun Triangle. Chrysalis, I couldn’t stop blushing.” Star seems conflicted and looks to an unreadable Celestia who looks at Palp intensely before speaking. “It wouldn’t be the first time a Changeling defected from thier Hive. There’s been at least fifteen in the last two weeks and those are only the ones we've discovered.” Palp seems to perk up a bit. “Meaning what?” “Meaning that you pose no apparent threat and could be allowed to continue your life. We have a problem with Chrysalis and her generals, not any Changelings that want to return to thier normal lives. We don’t punish those who are hungry and desperate, just the most egregious offenders.” She does stare him down severely for a moment though. “But be aware, we’ll be keeping an eye from a distance.” Palp nods. "Th-thank you, your highness. I promise I'll ne-" He isn't able to finish and Stars Above lets out a shriek as he glows and seems to distort in a weird blue magical field. Stars Above's eyes water as she watches what could very well be her coltfriend’s death unfolding right in front of her. “W-What’s HAPPENING to him?!” Celestia smiles very warmly. “Something wonderful.” When the distortion ends, what stands before the two ponies isnt the same black and holed creature. Instead, there sits a strange bright red chitined creature. It has Palp’s eyes and Clear Sky’s green “mane” but lacks any holes or fangs, appearing much more like a healthy young insect. Said insect stares at its own hooves in shock. “What… What just happened?” With a warm smile, Celestia lets the cell door swing open. “The same thing that happens whenever a Changeling willingly reciprocates love and accepts what they are. You’ll never need to worry about feeding on love ever again.” Palp’s eyes water and that quickly develops into him crying. “Th-thank you.” Celestia waves him off. “I did nothing, it was all you and Stars Above. I just helped you accept the true potential of a Changeling.” With that, she turns to leave but shoots back her signature disarming smile. “Goodbye, Palp. If what you’ve said is true, you won’t need to worry about me again.” And with that, she’s gone but Palp barely notices as Stars Above bowls him over with a tackle hug. The present Celestia turns to a bored looking Chrysalis. “That was a compilation of my own memories and those of Palp.” The Changeling looks at her very blankly. “And I’m supposed to buy any of that? At least you have a good imagination.” Despite this, Celestia watches her release a very subtle sigh and spies a light in her eyes. The light of a mother relieved to see her child safe even if it's buried behind Chrysalis' usually unhinged gaze. “You know, I’m starting to wonder. You cared about Twilight and her future, you still care about your children even after some of them left you. I think there might still be something left of my friend.” Chrysalis just chuckles sourly. “You really are a nymph, Celestia. The Chrysalis you knew died the same day that she watched her home, her people, turn to ash as she watched helplessly and you did nothing.” Deciding to drop the matter for now, Celestia gets to the other matter at hoof. “Where are you keeping Scootaloo?” Chrysalis outright laughs in her face. “How would I know? Last I heard, she’d been crippled by the Element of Loyalty.” Celestia glares at her for me friend. “And we’re just supposed to take your word for it?” Chrysalis grins until all of her fangs are visible. “If I had a hostage, don’t you think I’d have used her as leverage by now? What would I have to gain by not using her to blackmail you? It’s no secret that Luna and your precious slaves care about her after all. But I’d be careful if I were you. There’s clearly something else coming and it’ll most likely accomplish what we couldn’t.”’ With that, the Changeling lies down on the cell bed and refuses to speak anything else to the Princess. As Celestia emerges into Canterlot itself, she finds Luna directing a mix of Night and Solar Guards in removing the rubble strewn across the streets. “Anything, sister?” Celestia shakes her head. “Chrysalis won’t listen to reason and gave her ultimatum. We either banish her and doom the Changelings or we’re at war.” As Luna shakes her head, she prepares to deliver the other bad news. “She doesn’t have Scootaloo either. Any luck finding her in the Dreamscape?” Luna shakes her head regrettably. “I can tell that she’s alive but there’s some dark force blocking me. It’s different from the Hive mind; much darker and more dangerous. Whatever has her, it’s very powerful.” Despite the vagueness, both she and Celestia already know who that being is very likely to be. Celestia nods and she joins in with helping the others but, just as they finish up, Aegis Shield hurries over with a bow. “Your highness, there’s a stallion asking to meet all four of you in the throne room.” Before Celestia can walk away though, he speaks again. “I’ve got a bad feeling about him, a very bad one. One minute, there was nothing and there he was right in the middle of the room the next. It’s like he teleported but he’s just a Pegasus.” A dark shadow crosses over Celestia’s face for but an instant. “Please put the Guards on high alert and lock down the Castle. Nothing gets in or out except ourselves, Princess Cadenza, Shining Armour or the Guards.” Slightly surprised, Aegis salutes and hurries away with the other Guards hot on his hooves. “Sister, if it’s him…” “Then I’ll do what I must to stop him. If he won, the result would be catastrophic.” And without another word, she blinks away to Ponyvile. All that’s left behind is a very worried Princess Luna, worried for both Scootaloo and her sister. Around half an hour later, the Throne Room Much to thier confusion, Cadance and Shining had been told to suit up in full battle armour which is unsurprisingly weird when dealing with one pony. Once they enter the throne room, they find themselves facing a silver coloured young Pegasus stallion with a cobalt blue mane, golden eyes, and a rather odd Cutie Mark. It’s a bright yellow shield with its armourial bearing being a planet struck through with what seems to be a phoenix feather. Despite him smiling and bowing reverently, there’s just this… palpable ominous feeling that surrounds him. “Good afternoon and thanks for meeting with me. I-“ Before he can properly begin, and before his mild Trottinghamanian accent can even properly register, Celestia blasts him across the room and into a stone pillar. “You.” Despite being shot into the pillar with enough force to leave a very large crack running straight down it, the stallion gets to his hooves as if it were a light shove. More oddly, instead of a pained grimace, he’s smiling and shaking his head with a chuckle as if he were just greeted with a warm hug from an old friend. “Nine hundred and seventy five years and you still haven’t changed a day, Celestius Sol Invictus. And you’ve even made new friends.” He smiles at Cadance and Shining Armour but it’s just a little too wide. “This is going to be oh so enjoyable.” For a moment, nothing happens and Cadance and Shining stare in confusion at the now maniacally smiling Pegasus. Then, the shadows from around the room slowly begin to leak in and consume the stallion in a tornado of dark energy. The wind generates enough current to force the rulers to use thier magic to stay in place;. However, this is only momentary as the shadows part to reveal a strange… thing standing where a normal Pegasus once stood. It’s vaguely pony shaped but as black as a moonless night only to then switch to a physically mature dragon, a Griffon, a sea serpent, a Timberwolf, a Yak, a Changeling and an assortment of other species too numerous and quickly switched out to list. With every blink, he’s a different species and it loops whenever he seems to run out. Oddly, no matter how big these forms should be, it always remains the same general build as the stallion that had just been before them; roughly as tall as Luna and built like a brick house. When the eyes open though… They’re remarkably normal except for a very visible coldness and almost dead-behind-the-eyes kinda look. They look like the kind of eyes you’d imagine a corpse to possess but there’s a definite calculating intelligence visible within “it’s good to be back.”