"...And so the princesses and myself have agreed to the peace conference with Chrysalis, which we have scheduled for this afternoon," Twilight said to Superman as he sipped on the coffee she had ordered for him. The four princesses had debated late into the night if they should hold the conference or not, due to the fact that it might be another trick by Chrysalis. Twilight had wanted a large number of guards at their side, and she wanted it to be held in the center of Canterlot, but only Celestia had agreed to that plan of action. Luna had won in the end with the suggestion that they hold it in Ponyville, near all the Elements of Harmony and with Superman there to watch over the entire conference--in case anything were to happen. Twilight had been given the task of informing the others and Superman of the plans, which she did this morning. "You'll be there along with the Elements for security reasons, in case Chrysalis does something."
"She won't try anything, I can guarantee that," Superman said as he sipped his coffee, ignoring all the ponies that were staring at the princess and the super hero sitting in the café. The owner of the café had nearly fainted when Twilight had asked for this table and had immediately given it to her. Even though Superman had wanted to pay for his drink, Twilight treated him anyway. He told her, though, "This is the first chance the changelings have had to negotiate peace with the ponies, and she won't mess it up. Truth be told, I'm more worried about the four of you."
"You think we'll be the ones to try something?" Twilight asked so loudly that Superman didn't need his super hearing to catch the rage in her voice. "We're the good guys; we're the ones who save the day! How could you think that WE'LL try something?"
"There are two sides to every story," Superman said, as he finished off his coffee and handed the cup to the waiter who was circling their table. Twilight continued to 'chew him out' as they left the café even though Superman was ignoring her for the most part. He was more concerned with the rainbow Pegasus that was flying at them at top speeds, meaning that either there was trouble or something had really excited her.
"SUPERMAN!" RD screamed as she came shooting by them, blowing Twilight off her hooves and making Superman's cape flap around. She skidded across the ground for about twenty feet before coming to a stop, and rushed over to him with a huge smile on her face. "Ohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh! You'll never guess what happened!" she half-screamed as she bounced up and down in place with a massive grin. Twilight grumbled as she got up and walked over to them, while Superman took a guess.
"Let's see...has it something to do with the Wonderbolts?" Superman asked her, smiling a bit to himself when he saw her face go from excited to a bit upset.
"Way to ruin the surprise," she said with a sigh, but immediately turned her frown into another smile as she remembered what she had come to talk to them about. "But that's not important! What is important is that the Wonderbolts are coming to Ponyville in a few days!" she half-screamed as she hopped up and down, much to the amusement of Superman and Twilight.
"Rainbow, I know you're excited, but I need you to be focused for later today," Twilight reminded her. RD sighed at the killjoy but quickly got over it.
"Tickets go on sale later today! Ponies from all over Equestria will be attending, so I need to get them early! How late will the negotiations go?"
"I already told you, as long as it takes," Twilight said with a frown. "We're going to have all of the princesses together for this and I don't want anything to go wrong. We all need to stay focused and-"
"Gotta go," Superman said quickly as he launched himself into the sky and into the distance, leaving Rainbow Dash to snicker at Twilight, who was trying to pull her mane out in frustration.
"Come on Twi, you know that's what he does," RD said to comfort her friend even though she was still snickering. Twilight sighed as she waved the waiter over and told him what was happening later today, ignoring his body language when his pupils shrank and he looked at her in terror. Twilight had chosen this restaurant as the place for the meeting, and she wanted everything to be perfect, stressing that last word to him. He saluted with a nervous smile before sprinting off to the back to tell everypony what was going to happen. RD sat down and ordered a drink, while Twilight constantly looked at the clock on the wall, nervously.
"Do you think that the princesses will make it in time?" Twilight asked Rainbow, who rolled her eyes. She knew where this was going. "What if they decide not to show up and Chrysalis comes and nopony's here to greet her? What if Chrysalis doesn't show up at all instead? What if she does show up but it's with a massive army to try and enslave us all?!" Rainbow Dash sighed as the waiter brought her drink to her. RD took a long gulp. Twilight always got like this whenever something big happened.
"If she does show up with all her forces, then Superman will simply beat her back into whatever rock they came out from," Rainbow told her friend as Twilight continued to panic.
"Have we arrived at a bad time?" Rarity asked as both she and Fluttershy walked over to the two of them, Rarity raising an eyebrow at the panicking Twilight. "She freaking out over the meeting?"
"Yep," Rainbow Dash agreed while Twilight dragged the waiter over to make sure everything was going perfectly. Then Rainbow looked over at Rarity and it was her turn to raise an eyebrow. "Why are you wearing twenty pounds of makeup?" she asked.
"Oh, all this?" she asked with a smile as she showed off with a pose. "I have to look my absolute best when the princesses arrive if I hope to impress them."
"Superman won't be there," Rainbow said quickly, watching with a grin as Rarity's face fell and a surge of anger overtook her.
"WHAT? Do you know how hard it is to put on this much makeup in such a short period of time?!!!" she screamed to herself, much to the amusement of Rainbow and all the ponies watching, except for the still freaking out Twilight. Rarity went on for a few more minutes about what difficulties she had getting all of it on, until she noticed RD's snickering face. "He's going to be there, isn't he?" she asked with dawning realization as she placed a hoof on her face.
"Please don't let that stop you, go on," RD said with a chuckle. Rarity frowned at her as she pulled out a chair and sat down next to her. "So how are you doing Fluttershy? Haven't heard anything from you since Canterlot." Fluttershy gently pulled out a chair as well and sat down, trying to gain the waiter's attention, but he couldn't hear her.
"Not much, just helping one of my birds with a cold," she said as she tried again to get the waiter's attention as he walked right by her. "Unfortunately some of the medicine I needed was in Mareyland, way too far away for me to get. But-"
"Superman was there to help you out," Rarity said, already knowing the answer.
"Yes he was. He flew to the city and back in a matter of seconds, even paying for it for me," Fluttershy said with a small smile. "And that isn't the first time he's helped either...actually, has he done anything but help since he got here?"
"Yeah, he showed up Rainbow at the Iron Pony games," Applejack said with a grin as she walked into the outdoor area of the shop, Applebloom walking right behind her with a smile. "But mostly he does help out. Howdy, everypony, heard that we were waiting here for the princesses."
"That's right Applejack, so try to be on your best behavior for them," Rarity said as she turned to see the two of them. "Oh right, I was supposed to bring Sweetie Belle as well. Hold on a minute." Rarity shot out of her chair and ran down the street, leaving AJ to take the chair that she just vacated.
"So how much longer until the princesses and Chrysalis arrive?" AJ asked them.
"No idea. Maybe ten minutes, maybe another hour. I just hope that Superman returns in time, I feel nervous about Chrysalis being here without him," Fluttershy said softly, and she had finally managed to flag the waiter down.
"I would have to agree with you there." All of the ponies turned with smiles to see the first of the princesses to arrive, Cadence. Twilight squealed as she hopped out of her chair and tackled her sister.
"Cadence!" Twilight said happily as she let go of her sister and helped her up. "You got here early! And...where's my brother?"
"I left him at the Crystal Empire, in case Chrysalis uses this opportunity to attack my home," Cadence explained as she started to look around nervously. "Um...where is Superman? I was told that he was going to be here?"
"He flew off to help somepony, I assume," Twilight said as she brought Cadence over to the table with the other ponies, who all greeted her with smiles. Twilight pulled out a seat for her and helped her sit down, before getting back into her own chair. "He'll be back, don't worry. How's the baby?"
"He or she hasn't done anything, it hasn't been that long since we last met," Cadence said as she gently placed a hoof on her stomach. "I also met up with Luna and Celestia before I headed here. They'll be down soon since they were arguing about something when I walked in on them."
"Wonder what the princesses would argue about?" Pinkie asked. All of the ponies screamed while Pinkie waved down the waiter (who had been working all day and felt rather tired) and ordered six separate drinks. "It's not like the two of them to argue, they're such good friends after all."
"Uh-huh," Cadence said slowly, not used to...Pinkie. "But actually they argue like this more often than you'd think, so I'm sure they'll be fine."
"Princess Cadence, glad to see that at least one princess has decided to show," Rarity said with a smile as both she and Sweetie Belle walked over to the outdoor restaurant. Rarity scowled at AJ as she had to grab another chair, while AB and Sweetie Belle met up with smiles. "It is almost time for Chrysalis to arrive and we're missing not only the princesses but also Superman. This meeting isn't off to a good start."
With all of the Elements and two princesses gathered in the same place, quite a crowd had been attracted to the small restaurant. Scootaloo had shown up to join her fellow crusaders, as well as Diamond Tiara and Dinky, each of whom was greeted with smiles. While they waited for the others to show, Twilight and Cadence started talking about how the Crystal Empire was getting along and possible names for the child. AJ and Rarity got into a heated debate about all the makeup she was wearing, while Fluttershy was content to stare at the birds circling overhead. Half an hour passed as the girls chatted away, a talk that was interrupted by the sight of Celestia and Luna's carriages heading towards the town from Canterlot. All of the ponies bowed as the carriages landed, letting the two most powerful ponies in all of Equestria out. Celestia and Luna didn't look at the ponies bowing (or each other for that matter) as they walked to the café and sat down at the two chairs that the previous owners vacated for them.
"So Chrysalis is not here yet?" Luna asked the ponies as she looked around. "She must be gathering as many forces to come with her as she can."
"We must be on our guard, Elements," Celestia told her six most trusted ponies as she too looked around. "We do not know what tricks Chrysalis will have cooked up, but we must be ready for them. Has anypony seen Superman?"
"Yes, where is the man who is supposed to watch over the peace signing?" Luna asked the ponies, each of whom looked at her with a shrug.
"Wait, I see him!" Scootaloo cried out as she pointed off to the southern part of town. All turned towards where she had pointed, seeing the familiar red and blue flying towards them. What they didn't expect to see was the black figure flying beside him as well.
"It seems that Chrysalis joins him," Celestia said coldly as the two got closer.
"Yes, but I see no signs of her forces," Luna muttered as she looked around. "Why would she come to one of our strongest villages without her soldiers?"
"We'll find out." Superman and Chrysalis touched down just outside the restaurant, one smiling at the ponies gathered around while the other gave them all a cold glare. The citizens would have normally run in terror at the sight of Chrysalis, but the mere presence of Superman told them they had nothing to fear. Chrysalis walked into the dining area with Superman right behind her. As she sat down across from the two rulers, the ponies noticed that she had a small changeling on her back that was slightly larger than the larva they had seen. She gently levitated the changeling off her back to place him on the ground before turning towards Celestia and Luna with a cold stare.
"Hello, princesses," she said with venom in her voice. Celestia and Luna glared back, but none dared to move as Superman stood beside the table, looking at both parties with a careful glance.
"Chrysalis," Celestia responded curtly, her gaze going from the queen to the changeling that hid behind her mother's leg. "And who is the little one you brought with you? I didn't know that you were so desperate for forces that you resulted to using children." Chrysalis hissed at that statement and almost considered leaving right there, but the reminder of what this could do for her people kept her in her seat.
"Not that it concerns you, but this happens to be my eldest daughter," Chrysalis explained, indicating the changeling at her hooves. "Since she will one day replace me as leader of the changelings, I have brought her here to see how a negotiation among ponies can go."
"I'm surprised that you only brought her with you," Luna said, wanting to learn why Chrysalis had come mostly alone. "Since you are in the middle of our land, I would have thought that you would have brought your whole army. Especially with Superman to watch you." Much to Luna and the others' surprise, Chrysalis actually smiled at that remark and chuckled to herself.
"The two of you seem to forget that the threat from Superman goes both ways," Chrysalis reminded the both of them with a nasty smile. "Because if either of you try anything, I have been promised that he will use that same power against the two of you. I came alone as to...tempt you a little. So please try something, I would love to watch him throw you into space. Maybe he would throw you so hard that the both of you could visit the moon this time." Both Celestia and Luna growled at that statement as Chrysalis smiled on, but Superman chose that moment to speak up.
"I only stand here to keep things from getting out of hand," Superman reminded them sternly. "Both parties willingly agreed to have this meeting, but either party is free to go at any time. Although I would like to remind you that this peace would be beneficial to both of your nations." The two groups frowned at the same time, both knowing he was right. So with all the ponies watching, the two groups began negotiations.
"I will start," Celestia said quickly. "In order for this peace to work, the changelings have to promise not to attack any more pony civilizations or homes. Ever." The tone in her voice made what she said sound final, but Chrysalis had some things to say as well.
"The only reason the changelings ever bother to attack your ponies is to feed off the love that they all generate," Chrysalis shot back quickly. "My people would and will starve without the constant supply of love, and I will not ask Superman to feed the entire nation again." All of the ponies looked at Superman when she said this, who simply shrugged in response. "If you wish for us to stop attacking you, then you must let the changelings be allowed into your cities to feed."
"The changelings will cause panic wherever they go," Luna cut in with a frown. "They have a history of causing mayhem, even in small groups. And surely you exaggerate when you say that you're kind are starving." She said this last part not to Chrysalis, but to Superman, who had seen the inside of the changeling hive.
"What she says is correct, I saw a large number of changelings starving when I was invited to their home," Superman said, confirming Chrysalis' story. Luna frowned again as Chrysalis gave her a smug little smile. "And the process for which they feed is practically painless, except when you try to feed a large number of them at once." Luna hadn't known if Chrysalis had been telling the truth, but with Superman's confirmation on the matter she knew it had to be true.
"What do you think, sister?" Luna asked Celestia, who put her hoof under her chin and started to think. She didn't trust Superman, but she had been vaguely aware of the changelings' situation for a while...at least she had heard rumors.
"If we set up scheduled days where the changelings came to cities or town to feed, then I believe that something could be worked out," she began calmly. "Once a week, with none of the changelings in disguises or some other form. I will inform the ponies of what is going on so that they remain calm. If you can keep the changelings under control, then I see no problems that could arise. Does that sound fair?" Chrysalis frowned, hoping that the love energy could just be delivered to them, but she figured that Celestia's offer was a fair one.
"Very well Celestia, I agree," she said, causing the ponies who had been holding their breaths to sigh. The three leaders then began to speak about how and where the feedings were going to happen and how it would be done, taking the most part of an hour just to figure out which cities would be the main feeding places and how long it would be. When they had finally finished this debate, Chrysalis was about to begin discussion about land and territory, but a small black hoof pulled at her leg.
"Momma, I'm bored," the little changeling said. "Can I go look around?" The fear that immediately sprung to Chrysalis eyes was noticed not just by Superman, but all of the ponies there. Superman knew that she didn't want her child running around a land full of ponies that hated them, especially after what happened with Sombra. She was about to say no when Superman placed a hand on her shoulder.
"Don't worry, I'll watch over her," Superman assured her with a smile.
"Then how will you keep an eye on us?" Chrysalis asked, trying to be sarcastic.
"I'll have to trust you to be adults," Superman said with a smile as he knelt down so he could talk to the little changeling. "You can go play if you want, but you have to stick with me. That okay?"
"Sure Superman!" she said in an excited tone, running out of the café with a smile. The ponies were surprised by the way that the changeling reacted to him with such a friendly attitude, but the news of what Superman had done for them had become the only thing that the changelings had been talking about the past few days. All of the changelings had come to trust Superman (whose respect for him was just below that of their respect for their queen) and this one was no exception. While the crowd parted to let Superman and the changeling through, none of the ponies noticed the CMC, Diamond Tiara and Dinky running after them through the crowd (except for Superman). The two of them came to a stop just on the outskirts of town, where the changeling looked around while the CMC ran over to them. The changeling ran behind his legs as the fillies came to a stop in front if him.
"Hiya!" Applebloom said with a smile to the changeling, who got even closer to Superman's legs. "Um, nice to met ya?"
"Don't worry, they're not going to hurt you," Superman said comfortingly to the small changeling. She looked up at him nervously before stepping out from behind his legs to meet the five.
"H-hi," she said softly, trying not to look any of them in the eyes. Sweetie was the first to step forward and offered her a hoof with a massive smile.
"Nice to meet you. I'm Sweetie Belle!" she said. The small changeling looked at her hoof as if she had no idea what to do. Sweetie picked up on that almost immediately. "Um, you're supposed to shake my hoof and introduce yourself."
"O-oh," she stammered, gently grabbing her hoof and barely moving it. "My name's Insectum, Princess of the Changelings." All five of the fillies' jaws dropped at that, their faces causing Insectum to become nervous. "Um, did I say something wrong?"
"No, it's just...we didn't know that changelings had a princess," Scootaloo explained awkwardly as she walked up to Insectum. "Oh, I'm Scootaloo by the way. Nice to meet you."
"Yeah, we always thought that the changelings only had a queen," Applebloom added, as she too walked up to Insectum. "Name's Applebloom. Howdy! These two are Diamond Tiara and Dinky." The other two fillies waved at her and she waved weakly back.
"N-nice to meet all of you," Insectum said timidly, looking down at her hooves.
"Back to what we were saying, why does the changelings have a princess if they need a queen?" Scootaloo asked her.
"Because the princess is who's supposed to take over after the queen dies or retires," Insectum explained with a confused look. "That's how things work in my home. The queen rules while the princess has more limited power. Isn't that how it works with the ponies?"
"No, we just have the princesses," Dinky told her, confusing her even more. "But enough about boring politics. You said that you wanted to have fun right?" she asked Insectum with a smile, who nodded slowly, not sure where this was going.
"I have an idea for fun," Scootaloo cut in, turning all their attention to her. "How about we play, 'what will we do that will make Superman come and save us'!"
"Wait, what?" Superman asked, certain that he had heard wrong.
"Yeah, it's one of our favorite games!" Applebloom said excitedly. "Each of us thinks of something more and more dangerous until we reach the one that causes you to interfere. The one who thought of it gets to win! We figure that one of us might get our cutie mark for most superhero rescues!" Superman looked dumbstruck at the fillies for a minute, no idea what to say.
"That's your idea for fun? Thinking of stupid ways to get me to save you?" Superman asked in disbelief, wondering where this idea had come from. "How is that fun?"
"Did you really think that we'd actually wrestle sharks or jump off of cliffs?" Sweetie asked him with a sly smile. "Of course not, it was all part of our game." Superman stared at the three smiling fillies for a minute before slamming his face into his palm with enough force to shake the ground.
"The three of you are going to be the death of me," he muttered to himself through his hand.
"How can we do that? We can't hurt you," Sweetie reminded him.
"Not what I meant," Superman responded as he moved his hand. Insectum slowly raised her hoof and coughed slightly, but still managed to gain the ponies' attention.
"Um, back home we play hide and seek in a massive tournament," she said gently. "The changeling who can hide the longest is considered to be the greatest shapeshifter and gets the approval of Mom. I haven't gotten a chance to try it yet, but I really want to. So...if you five don't mind..." The three members of the CMC all smiled at each other while Dinky and Tiara seemed to be on board as well.
"CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS HIDE AND SEEK...ers," they yelled out together before starting to talk about who would be first to go and how long should they count, while Superman was trying to get the ringing out of his ears from their yell. It had been decided that Dinky would be first to seek while the others hid. Most of the girls hid in predictable places, behind trees and such, but he raised an eyebrow when Insectum changed herself into a very convincing imitation of a tree. In fact, if he didn't have x-ray vision he might have mistaken her for a tree. Superman watched over them as they played for a while, as well as occasionally glancing over at the princesses to check up on them. The fillies had gone from hide and seek to wrestling, to which he found that Insectum was quite the wrestler. What took his attention away from the playing fillies was the fact that Cadence had broken away from the group and was walking towards him.
"Conversation getting dull?" Superman asked her as she walked up beside him.
"All they're doing is argue about territory and how the changelings need supplies or how the ponies have none to spare," Cadence said with a groan. "Ugh, sometimes I'm thankful that my kingdom is located so far up north." Superman tuned in on the conversation going on with the princesses to confirm what Cadence was saying. Just like she said, Celestia was going off with Chrysalis over how they couldn't spare resources, whereas Chrysalis responded with how they needed the supplies.
"They really like to fight, don't they?" Superman asked her with another sigh, this not being the way that he wanted the peace talks to go.
"Don't blame them, changelings and ponies haven't gotten along since they first met," Cadence said, explaining what Superman already knew. "It's been that way for hundreds of years and will probably stay that way. We just can't get along."
"Can't get along..." Superman muttered to himself as he looked from the arguing princesses to the fillies and the changeling, who were rolling around on the ground with hugs, smiles and a ton of laughter. "Right." And right there was what he was hoping to achieve with this peace meeting, to help heal the scars of past wars and fights. And even though the princesses and the queen might not get along, the fillies and Insectum showed him that there was hope for the future of the two groups. "Have you ever thought about what would happen if the two did get along? That maybe the changelings aren't all bad as you had thought?" Cadence turned her head away from Superman, but he already had seen her face and knew what the answer was.
"No, I haven't," Cadence said with a bit of rage as she looked at Superman. "Why? Because Chrysalis came and tried to steal my husband away from me, to take over Canterlot and ruin my perfect day. On that day I saw her as a monster!"
"But how do you see her now?" Superman asked her. "Now that you've seen her as a mother that cares for her children? Just like you."
"I...I don't know," Cadence responded softly. "I don't know what to think of her anymore. But I'm not going to forgive her for what she's done."
I'm fine with that, I'm just asking you not to hold that grudge against all of the changelings, because as you can see," he said as he indicated the group who were still playing. "They can get along with the ponies just fine."
"Always the optimist, aren't you?" Cadence asked him with a sigh of defeat.
"Always," Superman responded with a smile. "Just think it over a bit. Don't hate all of the changelings just because of what Chrysalis did." Cadence turned to leave, but Superman had one last thing to say. "Also...I know you hate her, but at least try to bury the hatchet with her. Living with vengeance and rage in your heart isn't the way to go through life...trust me, I've had friends who have gone down that path." Cadence gave him one last look before heading back to the debate, leaving Superman to float over to the group, who had started to exchange stories about their homes.
"You girls enjoying yourselves?" Superman asked them.
"Yeah, I'm having tons of fun!" Insectum exclaimed with a huge smile as she sprung to her hooves. "I learned so much about friendship and Equestria in the short time that I've been here! I had no idea that there were multiple types of ponies or that Rainbow Dash is the greatest pony in the land!" Superman gave Scootaloo a look when she said that. "It's been a great day!"
"Yeah, Insectum's just been telling us a bit about her home! Changelings lead weird lives," Tiara said.
"Our lives aren't weird!"
"Well I'm glad to see that you're all getting along," Superman cut in before they could start arguing. "Especially with how the conversation over there is going. I just hope that-" Superman stopped mid-sentence as something caught his ears, a sound that he hadn't heard in a while. He spun around and looked up into the skies, his ears ringing at the sound of fire against a shield. Something...or one, was entering the atmosphere.
"Superman, what's wrong?" Applebloom asked with a bit of concern.
"All of you. Get behind me," Superman ordered as he took up a fighting stance, his eyes narrowing on what he saw coming towards them.
"But-"
"Now." His tone told them that this was not the time to be arguing and they all ran behind him just as the flaming meteor became visible to all the ponies. He watched as it came slamming down into the ground in front of them, kicking up a cloud of dust as the girls screamed. They all watched with awe as a creature floated out of the crater, gasping when it floated out of the dust. It was as tall as Superman, with a yellow suit and red skin. A yellow ring was on its right hand and a small gold rod was on it's belt. While the girls looked at him with confusion, Superman immediately knew who it was.
"Hello, Superman," it said to him with a sinister smile.
"Sinestro."