In which we learn the fine art of playing chicken.
Chrysalis held Teagan’s gaze for so long the girl was afraid she was going to have to kill the changeling—or at least attempt it. Not to mention the other changelings… She wondered if Skrent and Flint would obey her order—and if she was cold enough to give it.
Teagan never thought the Abyss would be found in an insect-unicorn’s eyes. But then Chrysalis blinked and broke eye contact without turning her head...
“Very well,” the changeling queen said. “You may have free passage—if you release me. My children will allow you to leave the forest unharmed.”
Teagan raised an eyebrow. “Do you really expect to dupe me so easily, Your Majesty?”
The changeling’s eyes narrowed. “Do you dare doubt my word? Go, before I change my mind!”
“It’s odd, really,” Teagan mused, tilting her head to the side as if she were considering a puzzle. “Be they ever so vicious, villains are reluctant to lie. They will equivocate yes, but it takes a particularly heartless monster to actually lie to their opponents.”
“I am not lying. You may leave the forest unharmed if you release me,” Chrysalis insisted.
“Oh, I don’t doubt we’d make it out of the forest,” Teagan said, nodding. “But as soon as we cleared the trees we’d lose our one advantage and your swarm would fall on us. Do not think me stupid, Your Majesty. That would be a fatal mistake.”
“I am a queen, child! I have ruled for thousands of years. You may be a queen to these barbaric creatures, but you are no match for me!”
“And yet it is you who lies bound and crippled,” Teagan noted. “Oh, and just so you know? Your back injury is permanent. It can’t be healed magically.”
“You’re lying,” Chrysalis sneered. “I will be healed within a day. What of your trolls then? Will they become hostile?” The queen’s laugh was scornful. “I wonder. Will they abandon you? Or simply tear you limb from limb like timber wolves would?”
“Gee, I don’t know, Your Majesty. Let’s find out!” Teagan said in a sing-song voice. “Søyle, am I lying?”
The troll shook her head. “No, Dronning. The wounds dealt by Mountain’s Heart cannot be healed by magic. Only by time—and the scars are terrible.”
Teagan nodded. “Terrible indeed. Chrysalis, the stallion who has so graciously offered to haul your sorry rump back to civilization is named Sun Hammer. He bears the scars of a fight with Crush’s previous wielder. So he knows first-hand exactly how terrible those scars are. It’s very likely you will neither walk nor fly ever again, immortal or not.”
“I am already healing!” Chrysalis said, tossing her head. “Your prattling annoys me. Cease it at once.”
“Those injuries weren’t caused by Crush,” Teelo said, shaking her head. “They happened when you hit the ground hard enough to bury yourself five feet below the floor of the crater. Crush, on the other hand, smashed three feet of your spine. Everything behind your forelegs is paralyzed for good. If you force me to smash your skull—” she shrugged.
“I still have my magic,” the queen growled, a green glow pulsing around her gnarled horn.
“And I still have Crush. Want to see if a crippled changeling is faster than an unwounded human? Oh, and let’s not forget the three trolls who would be very angry with you if you did something stupid. Sun Hammer’s rear hooves are uncomfortably close to your head as well, Your Majesty. He killed a troll with them. Your skull isn’t nearly as tough as a troll’s.”
Chrysalis hesitated for a heartbeat.
Got you! Teagan thought to herself.
“For the sake of argument let us assume you make it past my guards and my children,” Chrysalis said with a mocking tone. “What then? Will you take me to Ponyville? Am I to live my life trapped among bumpkins and shopkeepers? At least until my children rescue me and burn that wretched village to the ground!”
“I imagine Princess Celestia would have you moved to Canterlot. I understand her dungeons are quite secure. I doubt your children are in a hurry to go back there,” Teagan replied calmly.
“I have dealt with Celestia before,” the queen sneered. “I have beaten her in her own throne room!”
“Yeah, about that fight…” Teagan chuckled. “Did you ever stop to consider she was operating under a severe handicap? She couldn’t unleash her full power without killing everyone in the castle. I’ve seen what happens when she really cuts loose. She gouged a hundred foot deep crater out of solid rock with just one spell. So even if you did manage to crawl away she’d swat you like the bug you are. There wouldn’t even be a bad smell left.”
“How dare you, you insolent child!” Chrysalis snarled. “My guards will—will…” Her eyes widened. “What have you done?”
“Killed all seven of them,” Teagan said, her face softening. “After I took you down they went berserk. They wouldn’t stop fighting. We had no choice.”
“No,” Chrysalis said softly. “No, I don’t imagine you did,” the grief in her voice nearly broke Teagan. Only glancing at Emma let her steel her resolve.
“Are you proud of yourself?” The changeling glared at Teagan. “How many of my guards did you kill personally, monster?”
“There’s the pot calling the kettle black. But to answer your question—I killed three,” Teagan said quietly. “The two guarding you and the last one. The trolls took down the one who attacked Subtle Dancer, and Sun Hammer killed two. The pegasi killed the other one.”
“Ponies do not kill, child,” Chrysalis said it like a mantra against the dark. Her eyes were haunted. “Or rather they do not kill deliberately. Therefore I know you are lying. But while Shining Armor may not have done it deliberately, he still managed to murder half my children. And Subtle Dancer murdered yet more. Tell me, did I manage to kill him? Even now I can hear a dozen of my children whimpering from his fire—the same fire that blinded them and took their wings.”
“No,” Teagan said quietly. “He’s still alive. In the hospital, but he’ll recover.”
“Pity,” Chrysalis stared at her. “He deliberately chose to murder my children with that hellish fire spell. For him there will be no quarter. Of all ponykind, he is the only one who broke the vow about killing.”
“He were nae the only one, ye nasty piece o’ work,” Sun Hammer growled. “If ye had jus’ let us be, nane o’ this would hae come tae pass.”
“Equestria will fall for what Shining Armor and Subtle Dancer have done,” Chrysalis snarled. “Half my hive! They butchered my children!”
“And how, exactly, did Shining Armor do anything?” Teagan asked. “His spell is purely defensive. It’s a shield, not a weapon.”
“I felt them die,” Chrysalis hissed. “The shield expanded so quickly only the ones in open air survived. The ones inside buildings, or trapped by walls were crushed to death. Half my children died that day.”
Teagan winced at the raw pain in her voice. Suddenly she didn’t want to fight anymore. She just wanted it to be over.
“Two wrongs don’t make a right, Your Majesty. Your children died because you attacked Canterlot. They died today because you attacked us. I’m sorry I had to kill your guards. I’m sorry some of your children are blind and in pain right now because you attacked us. I wish you hadn’t done that. If you hadn’t then your children would still be alive. But there’s no going back, what’s done is done.”
She took a deep breath to regain control.
“And you know what? I’d do it again to protect those I’m responsible for. They didn’t ask to be part of this! I didn’t ask to be part of this!”
She drew Crush.
“So it ends here and now. Either you surrender or I kill you. What’s it going to be?”
Chrysalis studied her. “You would not hesitate, would you? Tell me, have you killed before?”
“I almost did,” Teagan said, staring her in the eye. “If Celestia hadn’t stopped me I’d have murdered a god, Your Majesty. Not to mention I already tried to kill you once today and the only reason you’re still alive is blind luck. Your luck just ran out. Surrender or die.”
“You realize if I die my children die with me?” The changeling queen asked with a steady gaze.
“I know,” Teagan said, raising the club. It began to glow.
“I yield,” the queen said, closing her eyes. “I choose to live. I surrender.”
Because her eyes were closed she didn’t see the way Teagan sagged for a moment in sheer relief.
“Send your children away,” Teagan ordered, sheathing the club. Around them the sound of wings rose and one by one, with many a backward look, the changelings flew away.
All but a dozen of them.
“I have done as you asked,” Chrysalis said tiredly. “But these cannot fly and they cannot see. If I send them away they will die. I do not want more of my children to die.”
“Fine,” Teagan agreed. “This small mercy I can grant.”
“Lady Teagan, no!” Stormwind protested. “It would be child’s play for one of the changelings to shape shift and appear wounded. For all we know those are actually more guards! Chrysalis cannot be trusted.”
“You want to kill her then?” Teagan asked, gesturing to the bound changeling. “In cold blood? She’s a prisoner, Stormwind. Civilized people don’t kill prisoners. She surrendered, she’s crippled, and she’s tied up. Those changelings are burned and blind and they don’t have their wings anymore.”
“What happens if one of them transforms into a guard?” Stormwind demanded. “Taken by surprise, one guard could kill most of us. Could kill her,” he pointed at Emma. “You saw how dangerous they were!”
Teagan sighed. “Stormwind, do you know what it means to be queen?”
The pegasus hesitated.
“It means I have to decide what to do when I haven’t got a clue what the right thing is. It means if I screw up somebody could die. It also means it won’t be me—and if you think that’s a good thing you’re not half the wing commander I know you are.
“Yes, there’s a risk. I know that. But sometimes that risk has to be taken. Because we aren’t the monsters, Stormwind. We do the right thing, even when it’s not the easy thing. Or the safe thing. Or even the sane thing!”
She stared at him, feeling a thousand years old.
“Answer me this. If I killed her at your urging, would you be proud of the pegasus that looked back from the mirror tomorrow morning?”
“No,” he finally answered. “I wouldn’t. Thank you, Lady Teagan,” he bowed to her.
“Let’s get out of here before something else goes wrong,” she said quietly, and then winced.
Murphy loves that phrase.
Growls came from the edge of the clearing and a dozen slinking forms came into the light.
“Oh, you’ve got to be freaking kidding me!” She yelled in fury, staring at the pack of timber wolves stalking the blind changelings.
“Chrysalis, tell your children to get over here, but tell them do not run,” Teagan said, watching the pack as it closed on its wounded prey. “Skrent, Flint, Søyle, on my command I want you to shout and charge the wolves. Make it sound like the world is falling on their heads. We don’t want to fight them. We just want to scare them off.”
“Sun Shield, guard the changelings! Make as much noise as you can! Beat on your armor! Do whatever you can to make noise!” Teagan shouted.
“Trolls, NOW!” She charged the wolves, screaming at the top of her lungs. The pegasi started shouting and slamming their hooves rhythmically against their armor, sounding like the world’s largest pile of collapsing trash cans.
Three heart-stopping roars came from behind her and suddenly a wall of slate green flesh steamrolled past as the trolls got up to speed. There was no way her shorter legs could keep up so she drew her club and flung herself into the air, sailing over the trolls as Crush’s magic caught her.
Startled, the wolves turned away from the changelings. Their green glowing eyes widened comically as they spotted the mountain of angry trolls headed straight at them.
Teagan came down about twenty feet in front of the wolves and slammed Crush into the ground, instinctively willing the impact force to move away from her and toward the wolves. She demanded Crush use its full weight.
That turned out to be a mistake.
She stopped instantly, feeling nothing, the entire force of her fall adding its miniscule energy to the massive earthquake Crush unleashed.
She’d asked for the club’s full weight and Crush happily complied. Neither she nor the demon had considered what would happen when fifty-three million tons of force traveling at a combined speed of nearly seventy miles per hour hit the soil of the clearing.
As she had desired the blast wave radiated away from her in a ninety-degree cone, directed downward. Magically directed, none of the blast backlashed toward Teagan’s group. The resulting tsunami of earth moved forward and upward, traveling at almost a hundred miles an hour as it scoured everything in front of it.
It covered nearly a half a mile before stopping.
The tsunami’s path was a red scar. The soil was simply gone, stripped off the underlying clay, which had been able to absorb Crush’s impact and direct it forward instead of down. The clay was smooth and polished from the blast. Dirt, trees, and anything else in the way was just—gone.
Unfortunately, Newton’s three laws work in Equestria just like they do on Earth (well, at least when free of magical interference). Freed from many megatons of pressure the ground in the clearing snapped three feet sideways, toward the edge of the blast cone, and sank nearly a foot. The clearing tilted in the process, knocking everyone (except the pegasi in the air) off their feet.
Teagan nearly fell into the blast cone, saved only by Crush’s quick reaction. She still ended up flat on her back, staring at the sky, her ears ringing from the roar of the angered earth.
Let’s not do that again, okay? She thought to Crush.
Understood, came the demon’s laconic reply.
Where are the wolves? Did we scare them off?
No, we buried them. Isn’t that what you wanted?
Teagan felt a tinge of remorse at more needless deaths before remembering the timber wolves weren’t really alive. No doubt they’d turn to smoke, seep out of the ground, and reform.
Might take them a while, she thought, struggling to her feet.
By the time she reached them the trolls had already gotten back to their feet and were shaking off the dirt.
“You guys okay?” Teagan asked.
“That was kjempeflott, min Dronning!” Søyle exclaimed. There was a broad grin plastered across her face. Her eyes were shining, it was clear she was excited and—well, giddy.
“Ja, Dronning!” Skrent agreed with a wide grin on his face, raising one fist and punching the sky. Even Flint had a little smile as he gazed over the destruction.
Teagan groaned. “We are not doing that again. Ever.”
She trudged to where the pegasi had landed, surrounding the wounded changelings. Two were still down, clearly in bad shape.
“Percival, hi. Sorry you came to the party?” Teagan asked the pegasi she’d actually ridden last year. She suppressed a shudder as she remembered him casually flying over Tišina’s seemingly bottomless pit during their scouting mission.
“Lady Teagan, it is an honor to meet you again,” the armor encumbered pegasus bowed to her, seemingly oblivious to the eighty pounds of enchanted barding he wore.
“Pity it had to be like this. How many medics do you have left?”
“None, unfortunately. Stitch was the only one attached to the wing,” Percival said ruefully. “The rest know some first aid, but this is beyond us.”
“Yeah, me too,” Teagan frowned in thought. “Any idea how bad their injuries are?”
Percival nodded to the ones standing. “It seems their chitin was able to protect them from the worst effects of the fire. It couldn’t save their wings or eyes, but they were the ones on the edge of the spell, they were able to bolt before being destroyed. The two on the ground—” He turned grim. “I suspect they have lung damage. Without a skilled unicorn healer they’ll be dead in less than two hours.”
“Damn it. All right, if we have to carry those two and lead the rest, how long will it take to reach Ponyville?”
“Longer than they have,” Percival said, pawing the ground unhappily.
“Horse apples. How many patient slings are left?”
“We had five. We used one for Subtle Dancer and managed to scavenge three. The last one was burned too badly.”
“Do not even think about it, Lady Teagan!” Stormwind said angrily as he trotted up to them. “I am not tying up the rest of my wing to save changelings. My orders were to escort you safely to Canterlot, and that’s what I’m going to do. We’ll make a stop in Ponyville to get the rest of the wing but then you and Emma are going to Canterlot even if I have to carry you there on my own back!”
Teagan felt her temper flare.
“You’ll follow my orders because Princess Celestia told you to!” she snapped. “And my orders are to sling those two and airlift them to Ponyville!”
“Eight pegasi to carry them,” he reminded her. “Leaving two to fly escort—and only if the wing completely abandons its mission! I won’t do that, Lady Teagan!”
“Then you’ll face charges of insubordination,” Teagan said quietly. “Your duty is to obey Celestia’s orders, and those orders were to obey me.”
“Those orders were to see you safe,” Stormwind countered with fiercely narrowed eyes. “We’re in the middle of the Sisters-forsaken Everfree Forest! With all the noise we’ve been making every large predator within ten miles is headed right for us! We leave now and maybe we’ll make it out.”
“You see that?” She stabbed a finger at the hill of dirt and debris and the blast cone in front of it. “You really think I’m going to die here? I have my trolls, and I have Sun Hammer and I have Crush. That’s all I need to get to Ponyville. And not even a dragon is going to stop me. You have your orders, Wing Commander. Follow them.” She glared and put one hand on Crush.
The stallion glared back and raised one rear hoof, half turning his body. Teagan’s arm tensed.
“You do not want to do that,” she said in a tightly controlled voice. “Take your pegasi and get to Ponyville, Stormwind. Save those two changelings because it’s the right thing to do. Please.”
“I would not want to be you when Princess Celestia gets my report,” he growled, lowering his hoof. “Percival, ready two of the slings. You and I will fly cover. May Celestia guard us because we’re not gonna be able to do it ourselves!”
Percival saluted and started shouting orders.
Teagan breathed a sigh of relief and turned to go.
“Lady Teagan,” Stormwind’s voice was still angry. When she turned back he raised his head.
“I better see you in Ponyville, Your Majesty. I still have a mission to complete.”
“We’ll be right behind you, Wing Commander,” Teagan bowed to the pegasus.
“See that you are. Watch yourself, Lady Teagan.”
She went back to Sun Hammer and Emma as the pegasi prepared to airlift the two rapidly failing changelings.
The trolls walked silently behind her, impassive faces revealing nothing.