//------------------------------// // Ch. 14 - Coronation // Story: The Monster in the Twilight // by Georg //------------------------------// The Monster in the Twilight Coronation It would have been almost impossible for Princess Cadence or the guards pulling her chariot to figure out which small clearing in the dense Everfree Forest had been the source of the flying Celestial scorpion. There were countless natural little clearings in the area where large trees had fallen a few years ago, or natural disaster or disease had cleared a small patch of undergrowth. That is, until a blinding beam of churning indigo light that punched up through the sky made the decision on a landing site obvious. There was no time to gather the rest of the team from their scattered recovery tasks, and despite Shining Armor’s objections, Princess Cadence decided to risk a landing right at the site without his shield spell, even stripping off her armor as the chariot descended. The Royal Guards pulling the chariot delicately dropped into the indicated clearing a few minutes later, setting down so gracefully that Shining Armor did not even break stride as he interposed his armored bulk in front of her on landing. “Stay back, Love. At least until we have a look around.” Shining Armor and the two guardstallions spread out to look around the outside edge of the recently-created clearing while Cadence stood impatiently, trying to keep her breathing under control as she looked around. The fresh earth bore the signs of both large hoofprints from adult ponies, and strangely enough, impressions from a considerable number of smaller pony hooves on top of them, passing up to and beyond the corpse of the largest changeling she had ever seen. The huge changeling was nearly alicorn-sized, and based on the way the green-splattered chitin across its back and rear had been shattered with horrendous wounds from protruding chunks of charred wood, it must have been close to the explosion when their hive exploded. At least it had not suffered. From the way the flanks of the changeling did not align with the forequarters, its spine must have been shattered in the explosion. And even if that had not killed the creature outright, landing in the shattered poplar grove had sealed its fate. Splintered saplings had been driven through its entire body, protruding out of the broken carapace of its back like some obscene bloody skewers. The creature’s death would have been quick, if not painless. Then the changeling turned her head to look at Shining Armor. It was not a look of a mortally wounded creature. Far from it. The female creature gave him a sensually suggestive examination from nose to well-toned flanks, much like other mares had given her handsome husband when they thought they were not being observed. Worse, she finished by giving Cadence an open leer complete with a lascivious licking of her lips, although that may have been excused by the stub of candy that was sticking out of the side of the changeling’s mouth. Or not. There was something predator-like about the changeling’s gesture that tripped ancient reflexes in the back of her herbivore brain, sending the Princess stumbling backwards a step. Trying to recover, Cadence quickly said, “She’s hurt badly! I’ll go get help.” “No!” snapped the creature, before coughing wetly and spitting something green to one side. “I’ll be dead before you could even reach them.” A pained smile slowly appeared on the face of the changeling while she looked between Cadence and Shining Armor. “Oh, the irony. I had planned to have a conversation much like this with you, right before the two of you were stuffed into an extraction pod forever.” While the creature coughed again, Shining Armor stepped forward. “Where is my sister?” “Patience, My Prince.” The creature sucked the small piece of candy back into its mouth and made it vanish with a crunching noise before resuming her sharp-toothed smile. “Allow me to introduce myself. Princess Mi Amore Cadenza and Prince Shining Armor, I am Chrysalis, Queen of the Changelings. Forgive me if I do not rise.” The changeling coughed again, and Cadence could not help but look at the bloody foam that formed from the cracks in her punctuated sides with each cough. “Is there anything we can do for you?” Princess Cadence heard her voice say, still stunned at the condition of the poor changeling. “Only to listen to my last words. You would be amazed at how the nearness of death can concentrate your thoughts.” The changeling spasmed, coughing and hacking again, and when she spoke again, her voice was much quieter, with her gaze exclusively upon Princess Cadence. “I have two things I must tell you, and I will make it quick. First, I must apologize.” “Apologize?” asked Cadence, moving closer to hear the queen’s raspy voice. “My changelings have kidnapped and killed your ponies for hundreds of years, and stolen love from every race in existence. I planned on doing the same with you and that handsome lug over there in order to take over all of Equestria.” She broke into more coughing, but quickly continued as if she knew only moments remained. “That’s not happening now. You have to understand. We were starving. We always have been starving. It’s not an excuse, it’s what we are.” With a sideways leer at Shining Armor, the queen added, “Pass along my apology to your little sister when you see her.” Cadence straightened up with a frown. “Just what do you think you will get from this apology? The rest of the changelings will never know once you… pass on.” “Yes they will,” rasped Chrysalis with determination and a flickering fire in her eyes. “We are all connected through the Hivemind. When I die, my essence will flow to another, as has happened to every queen since the birth of our kind. The new changeling queen I have chosen will know all of what we have spoken.” A brief cough stopped her, but she continued before Cadence could say a word. “With every generation, our kind has grown weaker, more hungry. I thought if we could sate our hunger just once on the thousands of ponies in Equestria, we might be able to break our curse before it destroyed us.” Chrysalis spat viciously even as a gurgling became more audible in her voice. “Desperate measures for desperate times, and such stupidity. We became monsters to escape our monstrous actions. Fools.” The changeling sagged and would have doubled over in a long coughing fit if not for the bloody broken trees that held her frozen in place. Large bubbles began to form on the foam outside of her punctured carapace, and it was obvious the end was very near. “One last thing before I go,” she gasped, and faded off into a quiet whisper. Cadence moved closer, placing her head close to the lips of the gasping changeling. “Can you say that again?” The sudden motion of the Changeling Queen caught Cadence by surprise, as she lunged halfway off her impaling trees to cross horns with the alicorn princess. Whatever she tried to say was drowned out by a gush of blood that coursed out of her mouth and a brilliant glare of green magic exploded throughout the clearing in a soundless blast of pure emerald power. * ♥ * The afternoon in the Canterlot castle could had been called chaotic, except Princess Celestia knew what true chaos was, having seen mountains tap-dancing and chocolate rain pouring out of rainbow clouds. The expedition to the explosion in the Everfree had turned into a rescue effort far beyond anything in living memory, although Celestia could not help but think of the endless piles of pony dead that had resulted a thousand years ago when that infernal beast had sunk her hooks into Luna. Then, the dead had outnumbered the living by an unearthly margin, when the Nightmare drew upon the very lives of the transformed ponies who listened to her lies. Three new races of ponies had been born that night, of Luna’s genius and Nightmare’s power, and all but a few infant Nocturne pegasi had been consumed in her dark magic when the Nightmare had fought against Celestia. If only she had not hesitated to use the Elements of Harmony against Luna, how many more would have lived instead of dying in agony? Now, she could only stand at the window to the Royal Throne Room and watch helplessly as carts were flown back and forth across the city and out to the crater, bringing back the wounded and dying of the strange race of ponies, so much like her sister’s beloved Nocturne, and yet so different. A clatter at the door and the terse announcement of her guards heralded the arrival of her nephew, Prince Blueblood, who was in a state of nerves she had gotten quite tired of over the years. “Aunt Celestia, the hospital is nearly full!” announced the Prince in what was supposed to be a note of concern, but sounded much like his normal whine. “What am I supposed to do with all of these monsters we are rescuing from the forest?” The tall blonde unicorn came to an abrupt halt when Celestia turned to look at him. She had made excuse after excuse for the last few weeks as the weight of the heavenly bodies had worn her down, and had hoped to depart this evening without having to argue with Blueblood as she had so many times over the years. This afternoon as she saved her strength, she could not even hold her usual glamour across her face, and her normally soft, ethereal mane lay listlessly across her back in a cascade of dull pink. “Auntie?” The traumatic shock rippling through his face was obvious. Every single day of his existence, his Aunt Celestia, the Unconquered Sun, had been a constant. Now, she looked thin and wasted as an elderly pony in a retirement home, waiting for the end. “What is it, my beloved nephew?” she responded, heartsick at the agony that flashed across Blueblood’s face. “Are you having difficulty with the responsibility I gave you this afternoon?” As he stood with jaw agape, Celestia could see entire generations of Bluebloods in his cheekbones, reminiscent of grandparents and great-grandparents back to the day she had adopted a small white colt from a noble house which had been all but destroyed by warfare. And now she could also see something else that had been missing in House Blueblood for many generations. A certain strength that rose in his eyes even as he realized his beloved aunt was failing. A deep resonance with his ancestors’ constant announcement of their willingness to serve even while they stood in Celestia’s shadow, unable to carry out that responsibility. A small spark, unseen as long as her brilliance drowned it out. And now, as her sun was setting for the last time, he emerged like the stars. “N-no, Princess Celestia,” he started, using her full name and title for the first time she could remember. “I merely wish to get your permission before housing the least-injured of our guests in my estate.” The sounds of flabbergasted ponies among his entourage began to rise, only to die to silence as she swept her gaze across the gaggle of pretentious fools and vacant noblefillies who scuttled along in his wake. He continued without breaking his stride, “I have brought with me a number of generous contributors who would like to open their houses and estates to the injured also. Do we have your permission, My Princess?” She nodded with a regal smile, barely holding in check the laughter she felt bubbling up at the reactions among his friends, who suddenly found themselves in a situation they had never expected. “Yes, My Prince. I hereby give you full authority to deal with this crisis, including gracious thanks for your generous contribution, and those of your companions.” “Then with your leave, there are many things we need to attend to. My Princess?” The blonde stallion bowed deeply and departed at her nod, towing his chattering crowd along behind him. After the Royal Throne Room doors boomed to a close, the smile on her face stayed, even though it faded when she returned to her brooding, overlooking the city and the green forest in the distance. How many other bright lights in my life have been overshadowed by my power, unable to grow to their potential? I have extended my protection over all of Equestria, but could my interference have hurt the very ponies I swore to protect? Trixie has been so brilliant in her work, such a blazing light of power and skill that it was difficult to keep up with her training at times, only to have her fall back into her slovenly ways for weeks at a time. I pushed Twilight Sparkle into her wretched situation with my concern for my sister, only to lose them both. Perhaps the world will be better off without the Princess of the Sun, and I can finally know peace after a thousand years of torture for my failure. The Princess stood at her window until it was time to lower the sun, watching the wounded creatures being flown into Canterlot. She would not fail them. Night Eternal would not fall. She never even noticed the flare of green light deep within the Everfree Forest that signified the end of one life, and the beginning of another. * ♥ * Cadence stumbled backwards from the changeling queen, blinded by the green flash of light and a sharp burning that filled her head with fire. The anguished cry of her husband and the two guard seemed miles away, drowned out by her own pain and disorientation. She stumbled, but held a spraddle-legged pose to protect the foal inside her belly from being injured in the fall. The pain only grew as she panted for breath, but there was something else in the pain with her. Voices, chirping and chittering in the distance, but growing louder with every short, panting breath until she could hear hundreds of them around her, seemingly attached to her heart with threads of fire. Fire they were pulling from her, in a thousand cuts of torturous agony. “HUNGER!” she screamed into the steamy air as the crackling green of changeling magic crawled over her tender hide. The agonizing pain of the starving changeling children lanced through her body like dull swords being driven into her over and over. Vaguely, she could sense Shining Armor’s presence as he rushed to her side, only to be thrown away by the fire of magic surrounding her, siphoning every spark of her energy through the growing Hivemind into distant changelings. “MORE!” Tears streamed down her face as the pain brought her to one knee, clutching a foreleg against her barrel to protect the foal kicking inside. The fire turned into an arctic chill, freezing her hooves creeping up her legs, until Shining Armor again crashed against her, crossing horns and pouring his magic into hers in a warm flood. She wanted to scream at him to keep his distance, but he held fast to her horn and voluntarily cascaded his own life into the changeling spell that was draining her. The powers of the alicorns were said to reach the heavens, but her Shining Armor was an unmovable force with roots in the core of the planet, anchoring her against the chilling blast that seeped through her body and soul. The hungry cries of the changelings muted when their love cascaded through the Hivemind, but it did not drown their anguished pleas. All around her, Cadence could feel the surviving changelings demand more, and more. Love to satiate their endless hunger, love to heal their shattered bodies, love to feed the fire which could not be quenched. For one long moment of grey lifelessness, Cadence held at the very end of her strength, feeling something she could not describe. An edge. The flicker of light in an infinite darkness. A vanishing threshold, just at the edge of her hooves, but hopelessly out of reach. Until a very small and gentle touch within pushed. One distant voice suddenly changed, from a cry of hunger to a radiant burst of love that surged through the Hivemind. As if it were a trigger, another of the hungry voices that had been devouring their love burst into a song of joy, and then another, until her entire heart seemed to burn with a love that could not be contained within one body. The Hivemind lit up with power in a slow and steady throb, the heartbeat of a great multitude that filled her soul to overflowing. For an ever so brief flash, she could feel the thoughts of every changeling in Equestria, from the frozen north to the burning wastelands, before the roar of voices settled back down to a low buzz of happiness. Of love. It was Shining Armor’s gentle touch against her cheek that woke her to the smell of smoke and the coughing of the guardstallions. The two of them rested in the bottom of a shallow crater, the dry and brittle broken carapace of Queen Chrysalis thrown to one side and the sounds of guards digging themselves out from under more fallen trees to the other. “Cadence, are you all right? Oh, Cadence!” Her beloved husband burst into tears at her weak nod and wrapped himself around her neck. “I thought I was going to lose you. What happened?” “I-I’m not certain.” The alicorn princess stood up on wobbly legs next to her husband, and regarded the dry remnants of the changeling queen. Chrysalis lay unmoving, a dried husk looking as if she had been dead for days transfixed on the smoldering branches. Cadence could feel the Hivemind within her as each changeling accepted the death of their former queen, grieved in their own way, and explored a sensation of inner peace they had never felt before. “I’m fine,” Cadence said blearily, feeling the very world spin around her hooves. It took more than a few deep breaths to get used to the feeling of hundreds of emotional connections to the changelings scattered all across Equestria, and the surrounding woods. It was, in a word, weird. “Shining, honey. Do you remember when you said you wanted to have lots of children?” Cadence, the new Queen of the Changelings stood up tall and exalted in the sensation of her children, each awaiting her commands. Including a very small one, nestled beneath her ribs and dreaming of her new friends. “I think we may have a few more than you planned.” * ♥ * The ceiling of the Ponyville Spa was colored in soft pinks and blues, much like clouds in a sunset, which explained Tallgrass’ initial disorientation upon waking up sprawled across one of the massage tables. The chill of the thin mattress on his back and the familiar scents of herbal extracts and aromatherapy candles contrasted perfectly with the sweet smell of concern from the matching soft pink and powder blue mares bending over him. “Oh, darling. Ve vas so vorried.” Aloe, or perhaps it was Lotus, he still got them confused even after a year of employment at the spa, held a warm hoof to his forehead. “You’ve been out for nearly an hour.” “I’m fine,” he whispered, moving cautiously to a sitting position and giving a shake of his head to clear out the fuzz. It worked far better than the disguised changeling expected. Everything in the world was sharp and clear, as if he had lived his entire life in a fitful doze and had finally woken up for real. The sensation of love from Lotus and Aloe was stronger than he had ever experienced before, although the all-consuming desire to drink it in like fine nectar no longer clawed in his chest. Instead, a warm glow surrounded him, resonating with the two spa owners to bring an involuntary smile to his face. “Really. I’m fine.” “Are you sure, darling?” asked Lotus, or perhaps it was Aloe. “Dere has been an accident of some sort, and all of us auxiliary nurses haff been called into the hospital.” “Vee didn’t vant to just run off if you were haffing any trouble, dear,” said the other one with a gentle caress across his ear. “Yipe!” Tallgrass hopped to his hooves and shook his head vigorously to clear the tickle. “I’m fine. Really. Look, I’m up and walking. You two run on up to the hospital like you said. I’ll shut down the boiler here and be along as soon as I can to help.” The muscular earth pony watched his employers leave before moving in a rather distracted manner around the spa to turn off all of the equipment and lock the door. For a change, there was no clawing hunger in his gut to drive him like a whip, with the whines of thousands of his fellow changelings a constant drone in the back of his mind. Instead, a sense of belonging that filled every facet of his senses was more felt than heard. The keening regret at the passing of so many of his kind, the grief at the passing of Chrysalis, the pain of injuries from the wounded, and the joy of the new queen all merged into one warm fuzzy sensation that filled his entire being with something he had only experienced here in Ponyville. Family. There was one bothersome worry that still whispered in his mind as he trotted up the path to the Ponyville hospital where pegasus carts were landing with his injured brethren. Other changelings had never completely understood him in the hive, from his strange tendency to remain on the surface at night to stare at the sky, to a bizarre reluctance to walk on bare dirt. The same connection to the Hivemind existed for him as for all changelings, but he had always preferred to take missions where he would be by himself for extended periods of time. There was a good reason for that behavior, too. Other changelings who heard voices in their heads were quietly dealt with, vanishing into the depths of the hive, never to be seen or heard again. He was smarter than that. Or so he thought until today. The same liberation of his soul from that cursed hunger had brought forward the long-suppressed voices he had tried to ignore since his hatching. With every step along the dirt paths, he could feel their faint words whispered through his hooves and up into his liver. Darkness is coming. Run.