//------------------------------// // Chapter fifteen: A spectacular wedding part two // Story: Kyōka Suigetsu, crumble! // by The Archiver //------------------------------// Pov: Braeburn (five hours later) Aizen still ain’t back? We all had met up in a part of the castle that Princess Celestia said he’d be familiar with. Kinda starting to worry me a bit. It kinda ain’t the same without him sitting somewhere around the cushions we had set up. “Has anypony seen Aizen anywhere? It’s kind of startling to know that he’s gone off somewhere else.” Fluttershy said while taking a sip of tea. Rainbow Dash pats her friend on the shoulder. “Flutters you can’t worry about a guy like that, he usually goes with the flow and probably got caught up with doing an Aizen thing.”  “Aizen doing Aizen things, how crazy does that sound?” Pinkie Pie asked. “Bout as crazy as Pinkie doing Pinkie things.” Applejack said while poking her stetson upwards. Twilight’s been acting a little crazy recently, not that it’s unwarranted. While I couldn’t notice anything wrong I can still feel it. “No, what’s really crazy is how Cadance has been acting all day! Rarity, you saw how she looked at your dress with disgust and borderline insulted, how can you ponies not see what’s happening? And now Aizen’s gone, it’s almost like he disappeared!” “Sweetie, I think your babysitter is suffering from pre-wedding jitters.” Rarity drops a sugarcube in tea. Grabbing a small spoon she swirls it around. “Personalities tend to switch quite a bit when a very special day like this has arrived.” She finished saying. Spike took a sip of his apple juice and shrugs his shoulders. “Twi, I think Rarity is right. She’s only acting different because something important is happening. Just like how you are with your lists.”  “Ugh! Nopony is listening to me. This is almost as difficult as talking to a brick wall. Actually, screw it. I’m gonna go figure this out myself.” Twilight’s anger is reaching an all time high. “Twilight ah don’t think that’s such a good idea.” I finally give my two pieces. “Sorry Braeburn but this is something I’ve got to do.” Twilight determinedly said. Storming off and to somewhere else. The room is silent, everypony is silently thinking to themselves about what just happened. I get up to go after her but Spike buts a claw on my shoulder while shaking his head. “Guess ah’ll head to mah room then, we’ve got a long ceremonious day ahead of us.” I quietly comment. “Yeah, I need to rest these bad boys before I end up straining them.” Rainbow Dash finishes her tea. She trotted out of the room and massaged her wings at the same time. Pinkie’s mane slightly deflated as she nervously poked at the table in front of us. “Um… Totally, I’ve gotta get some rest to be in my tip-top shape for tomorrow.”  I was the first to leave. Traveling through these halls while the moonlight is pouring out on me. This negative energy is starting to really mess with my head and I don’t know if I can keep lying about this before I eventually slip up. “Sigh Aizen, whatever y’all doing please hurry up. Ah can’t take much more of this.” Pov: Princess Cadance (three hours earlier) What the buck is happening right now? When auntie Luna first told me about Aizen I thought he’d be a wise and reformed villain. Not some insane lunatic who likes to talk about possible experiments that could deform a pony! Worst part is, as soon as we left that cave Pharynx and Aizen both started hitting it off.  At that point it became a competition on who had the better gruesome story which almost made me puke a few times. This lasted for half an hour before we finally reached this other cave that was inside a mountain. I even tried to run away but Aizen bucking stopped me! Talking about how he wanted to “see how this plays out.” By the way he acts you’d think he’d be Discord’s cousin or something. “Wow… So this is your base of operations for now?” The crazy person asked. “Affirmative, and this is where you two will be staying until the Queen comes back. I was told to monitor you both so that there’s no trouble. Though, it’s clear that you’ll make sure there is none since you seem to be a sensible creature.” “And how long will that take?” My brows furrow impatiently. “Ah, the weak willed one speaks. That time is indeterminate and therefore I do not know.” He answered. “Horseapples…” I silently curse. There’s gotta be something I can do to get out of this. “Hm… Taking a quick gander around I can’t necessarily find anything of interest to do. Definitely of usual changeling fashion, quick, functional, and to the point.” Aizen pointed out. And he’s right! This place is boring, absolutely no decorations besides a few growths of moss that’ve been placed to light up this place properly and these small chitinous buildings that looked like rudimentary houses. Every changeling here is just going from place to place, always busy, how could anypony live like this? I did tell Shiny that I wanted to get married three months ago which is when we started our plans, but for one of these bugs to already have gotten news of that must mean that they’ve had spies in Canterlot way before then. “Do you have any changelings that you consider true family? Not because you were both born from the same mother but because of your bonds.”  “Sōsuke Aizen, you really are a peculiar entity. Asking questions such as that is something a pony would never do. Not in a millennium’s worth of time.” This foalnapper has the gall to smile with some sort of impressed stare.  “I do actually, his name is Thorax. He’s soft but I’ve always protected him. And one day I’d enjoy seeing him protect himself. Here’s to hoping he doesn’t get exiled or executed by the Queen from his own ideals. But if it happens then it happens.” My nostrils flare out. This thing really said that if one of its family members would die then they wouldn’t care. “What is wrong with you? How could you say that about somepony you care about?” The stupid changeling rolls their eyes, at least I think it did, Celestia dammit it’s so difficult to tell.” Listen pony, your culture is very different from ours. Whether or not you respect it isn’t my concern. There is no point in arguing about the matter and so I shall give you the warning that I will ignore any of your pony culture that comes out of your muzzle from here on out.” Aizen snaps his fingers as if he just gained an idea. Probably isn’t a good one if all these red flags he’s been showing mean anything. “You know what? Hey Pharynx, do you know how to fight hooves to hooves?” “I’m one of her Majesty’s royal changelings. If I did not know how to use my hooves in combat then I would most likely be kicked out.” Pharynx pridefully answered. “Well it’s pretty obvious that we’ve got some time to kill, how about I teach you something about fighting? I’ve got the experience to back it up anyways, you could really learn a thing or two.” Dear Faust, how can this be happening to me? “Why are you trying to teach somepony that’s in cahoots with the changelings that foalnapped me? You’re making no sense.” “I don’t think she gets changeling customs.” Aizen looked at me in the corner of his eye with disappointment. Pharynx snorts. “What did you expect from a pony? But if you make this worthwhile, then hopefully we shall be done by the time the Queen comes back.” “Are you both bucking kidding me right now-” And the twelve hoof tall feather for brains here just ignores me. “Good then, allow me to show you something. It looks easy in nature but it’s also easy to mess up the tempo and form of this technique, Sandbag Beat.” Pov:Sōsuke Aizen (two hours later) “Keep going! Don’t halt your momentum for even a second and make sure all your punches hit the concentrated area of choice and don’t forget to remember to keep channeling magic through your strikes!” Coaching Pharynx has been an experience to say the least. At first he chose not to listen. “Yes sir!” Pharynx begins to pummel his hooves at the realistic illusion I created for him. A generic earth pony solar guard with golden armor. Focusing on their gut. Over and over again his hooves fly in a blurred motion, as fluidly as a river would. “I got creative because of his reluctance to learn from someone other than a changeling and by creative I mean I unleashed some of my spiritual pressure and forced him to his knees to listen. Unintentionally it also brought everyone else to their knees as well, including the other changelings that were carrying out tasks and Princess Cadance.” Speaking of which, she doesn’t approve of what I’m doing right now which is exactly why she’s pouting in a corner right behind us. I can’t see what Twilight did inside this mare. Where’s that adventurous spirit for the unknown located? Probably disappeared at some point in time. “You’re almost there, Pharynx, drill through that Hiveforsaken pony!” Some changeling says in the crowd around us. Hm, I forgot to talk about that. Yes well shortly after producing a life-like illusion without any sort of motioning it did attract some attention. Especially once Pharynx began to wail on it while also producing shock-waves that would slightly shake. So changelings, slowly but surely, began to flock around us to see what was happening. “HARRRRRRRRR!” Pharynx’s battle cry grows louder into a growl until he eventually pulls back and punches a hole through the pony, blood shoots out as if it were blasted from the fake pony. Pharynx takes his hoof back and tears it from the bleeding pony before it slumps over and fades away. A hoof taps on Pharynx’s withers and he tiredly turns around to see another changeling offering him a bottle of water for his efforts. He quickly snatches it, mumbling a small thank you before downing the liquid’s contents. “Are you all done over there?! You’ve been going on for hours now with that stuff. And I’m tired of hearing those sickening cracks. I won’t look over there though, made that mistake too many times already.” Cadance is met with multiple boos which she brushes off and meets the negative responses with her own. While they’re arguing over there I move over next to Pharynx and congratulate him. “Good job soldier, you managed to go from beginner to intermediate.” He grunts in response as I lean back to relax. Because I can rest easy knowing that their queen is finally here. Several slow hoof clops are heard from the entrance of where we came from. Which only got louder the closer they approached us, down the long entrance. Everything stops, changelings begins to back away from the now confused Cadance and bow in the direction of the noise, even Pharynx. “Bravo Sōsuke, teaching my changelings while I was taking care of business. That is something that you’d do, without a doubt.” Their voices… No, I've definitely heard it before. I met a few young heirs of changelings in my time so it’s hard to say who exactly it is. “Ah, so you’ve not only heard of me but you also know my habits as well. Funny, I don’t remember sensing any changelings around Ponyville and you called me Sōsuke instead of Aizen. So that begs the question, how do you know me?” Tilting my head upwards and staring at the earthy ceiling, I feel something come back to my memories. “Sōsuke, Sōsuke, Sōsuke, you know exactly who I am. I’m the one you left behind right before you were sealed. And left not only me but also my hive behind. I’m the last remaining one who remembers you.” The hoof steps only get louder before they finally stop, and a large silhouette along with a slightly smaller one are standing at the entrance. No…. No it can’t be her. I thought I could avoid this confrontation for a little while longer. “All I can do is play this off as I normally do and seal my emotions for now.” The Hōgyoku hums from my desires and manfists them, if only temporarily. My breathing slows down and my mind turns into a haze. “If it isn’t a wonderful surprise to see one of my oldest friends. Hello Princess Chrysalis, though I suppose it’s Queen Chrysalis now.” They both step out, revealing a green-eyed Shining Armor and Queen Chrysalis. “You’re damn right it is Sōsuke. Now why did you leave us-” “Princess Cadance?!” Yet another voice says, making Chrysalis, all of the changelings, and Princess Cadance to look up and stare at the source of the noise. Dammit today is just full of surprises, thought it’d be relaxing but it appears that it’s never that easy. Seems as though Twilight Sparkle wasn’t smart enough to keep her mouth closed while tailing someone. “Twilight? You’re here? Oh thank goodness, this crazy pony wouldn’t let me leave or rescue me. You’ve gotta help!” Princess Cadance calls out to her. Pov: Twilight Sparkle (ten minutes ago) “I’m going to go in there, snap my brother out of this and make him see that there’s something wrong with Cady.” Idly waiting for the right moment in front of my brother’s door. I give a firm knock on it. My older brother opens it, almost instantly. “Twily! Your big brother’s looking pretty good, ain’t he?” I ignored what he said for the moment in time. “Shining, we need to talk for a moment.” Somepony clears their throat from behind Shiny. “Actually, dear may we have a word? Oh and you, you can leave.” I hear Cadance tell me. Shining Armor nudges my shoulder. “Sorry, better see what she wants. So I guess I’ll probably be seeing you tomorrow then.” And then walks over to Princess Cadance and shuts the door behind himself. Instead of listening to her orders I rush up to push my ear against the door but I can’t hear anything. It’s all muffled as if some spell were casted. “Is everything alright in there?” I don’t receive a response. “Hey if nopony says anything then I’m coming in!” Still no response. “Guess I’m going through then!” Teleporting through the door from the glimpse I caught of the room as a location. I’m presented with nopony at all. But there is a magic trail, as if somepony teleported. I can probably teleport there. But it’s a lengthy bit away. This’ll take me a minute. Pov:Sōsuke Aizen (present time) “So I’ll ask you again, why in Hive’s name did you leave us?” Queen Chrysalis forcefully asked. “You even cut off your emotions, how badly did you not want to see me again? Did you just get bored of us?” Twilight inches past both Shining Armor and Queen Chrysalis, hastily galloping over to Cadance. Nobody stops them however as all attention is focused on me and Queen Chrysalis. “Chrissy C’mon-” I tried to start. “DO NOT CALL ME THAT!” She screamed out. Everybody practically snapped their heads towards Chrysalis, even the mind-controlled Shining Armor. Her shout was so loud it nearly shaken the entire mountain we were in. “You abandoned my hive, left us to fend for ourselves for over one thousand years! I was only a youngling back then but I remember, I remember the constant hints you gave that you knew you’d disappear. That you knew something would happen to you. For over an entire YEAR and I never picked up on any of them because I was too damn naive back then! And now you have the nerve to just come back and as soon as I have you in my grasp you’re trying to act as though it never happened?!” It takes everything in me to not freeze up. She’s right though, I knew I’d be getting imprisoned and even planned for it. And yet I didn’t even say so much as a goodbye to Chrysalis. She was only a princess when I left. The queen of her hive was Ambrosia. There were only three hives that I knew of back then and Ambrosia’s was one of my favorites so I supported them as best as I could. Guess things went bad after my unexpected departure. As  should have, I created changelings as another one of my failed experiments after all. “It… Hurt me too, Chrysalis.” I began. “You’re like a sister to me because I was an only child growing up so I was constantly bombarded with attention. And I only wanted to share it with you. You may not know it but I nearly went back on my plans just for your sake but I had to do it for the good of Equestria.” No longer holding a cooled demeanor, I get from off of the wall and move to stand face-to-face with Chrysalis. “But what about the good of my hive? We were left starving and had to resort to underhoofed tactics. Many of my lings died during those times.” She countered. “I’m here now though! I can help you all. I know Celestia wouldn’t help you because of the danger that you could have posed! Please just allow me to help!” My voice starts getting louder and louder, only held back by the Hōgyoku and Kyōka Suigetsu mentally restraining me. Princess Cadance looks at me with wide eyes.“What? Auntie Celestia would never turn down help from-” “Shut it alicorn.” Queen Chrysalis and I tell her at the same exact time. “Anyways, how can I be sure of that? You’ve never committed to anything other than your plans.” Queen Chrysalis skeptically questioned. “Just give me a chance to show you dammit! I’m tired of not being real with myself. So let me show you! Just call this all off and I will help you and your hive grow.” I look at Queen Chrysalis dead in the eyes. Pleading, hoping for her to give me a chance. So, I unlocked my emotions for her to read, seeing it as the only way. She tears her gaze away from mine. Queen Chrysalis looks to be considering what I had said. “Queen, if I may make a suggestion. This one is strong. Easily one of the strongest creatures I’ve seen in my lifetime. I think it would be imperative to keep him as someone that could help us.” Pharynx suggests with a stoned face. A small frown appears in her muzzle. The changeling queen loudly sighs and puts a hoof up to her eyes. “Are you completely sure that you’ll give it your all?” My gaze quickly softens as a breath I didn’t even know I was holding, releases. “Chrysalis, I swear you won’t regret this.” Queen Chrysalis grunts and stomps her hoof. “Everyling, you may rise. Head back to the hive, we’re making a change within our course of actions.” All the changeling’s raise their heads and within a nod of unison, fly out of the entrance. Chrysalis turns her back on me, and elegantly leaves through the entrance of the cavern. As she does, she sends a small green magical tether to Shining Armor, who collapses from it. But his eyes turn back to normal. “Here's hoping I don’t regret this… It may be the last time I let any creature get close to me even if they are my creator.”