The charred patches of ground were uncomfortably hot beneath Lyra's hooves. She tried to avoid the worst of the damage as they walked, squinting in the strange muted glare of the rising sun.
Chrysalis didn't seem to notice. “Once I cracked his defenses, he succumbed to a simple sleep spell. You don't know how difficult it was not to kill him. He is quite the formidable fighter.”
“Yes, well,” Cadance still looked as though she was trying hard to be civil. “I guess I should be grateful.”
“There he is.” Chrysalis pointed to a prone, gray figure just beyond some jagged hunks of unearthed rock. Cadance immediately lunged forward, but Chrysalis stopped her with an outstretched hoof. “A moment more, Princess. I believe you can reach Shining Armor, but first I need a small favor.”
Cadance scowled, but she waited with one elevated eyebrow.
“We need to gather what ponies are left amongst this madness. But the remaining guards will not trust or listen to me. Not in time. I will need to wear a different likeness, a different face.”
“And you want mine?” Anger rose in the Princess's voice. “What do you need my permission for? You didn't need my permission at my wedding, did you?”
Chrysalis spoke slowly, explaining herself as though to a young filly. “The guards will rally behind you, you know this. I can find them all swiftly and I can restore their hope. But their hopes will be dashed and they will turn upon me in a heartbeat if you do not play along. I will gather them as you, and I will send them here. All you must do is give them no reason to suspect it wasn't you all along. Do you understand me yet?”
Cadance scowled hard at the ground beneath her hooves. Her tail lashed in agitation. With a resigned sigh, she nodded. There was a flash of green, and two Cadance's stood together, both with equally disheveled manes. Lyra had a moment of panic, afraid that she'd accidentally mix the two of them up. She inched closer to the real Cadance.
But then the imposter grinned and took to the sky, winging her way back into the city. The real Cadance shuddered delicately, looking a little ill. Lyra put out a supportive hoof. “Are you all right, Princess?”
“No.” The young alicorn replied. “I'm not. Not yet.” She set her sights determinedly on the sight of her husband and she broke into an immediate gallop. Lyra tried to keep up, but her legs felt numb and dead. So she stumbled along in her wake, focusing solely on holding that feeling of harmony in her heart.
Once she drew close enough to hear the Princess's intense whispers and see her loving gestures, she stopped. When it looked as though Shining Armor was awake, and not trying to vaporize everything, Lyra found a level patch of ground that wasn't hot to the touch and slumped upon it. She'd had little sleep the night she and Bon and Minuette had gone to talk to Princess Lun. . . Ugh. Chrysalis, and she'd had absolutely no sleep since early the previous morning. Add to that galloping the length and breadth of Canterlot and exhausting myself magically, I'm surprised I haven't passed out by now. Her muzzle drifted towards the dirt beneath her, but she startled herself awake, blinking her golden eyes blearily. Sleep later. She promised herself. For now, I have to help. . . I wish you were here with me, Bon.
It seemed like only a moment, but it must have been a fair chunk of time before Cadance reappeared before her, smiling happily and leaning broadside against a scuffed and haggard-looking Shining Armor. The luster had returned to his eyes, and beneath the scorch-marks and grime his coat was a radiant white. “Lyra Heartstrings.” His voice was raw and hoarse, but filled with contentment. “My wife tells me you've uncovered the secret to fighting Discord.”
Lyra smiled dazedly. “Yes,” She said. “I think maybe I have.”
“It seems you've been abandoned and thrown quite the curve by leaders you've sworn your whole life to serve.” Discord watched in anticipation and glee as the unicorn guard's coat drained of color and he slumped forward, sullen dejection in every line of his form. Discord giggled to himself as he eeled backwards through the air, contentedly stretching his limbs.
He snapped his fingers, producing a glass filled with chocolate milk out of thin air. He tried to sip it through a giant, twisted crazy straw, but no matter how hard he tried he couldn't pull anything through. Smiling faintly, he lifted the straw out of the cup, lifting every drop of liquid with it as though it was a solid cylinder of chocolate. He took a bite of chocolate milk, straw and all, and then he shook the cup into a cluster of colorful moths that flitted away in every direction.
Still snacking on his milk-on-a-stick, Discord eyed a streetlamp ahead of him. With a snap of his fingers and a small poofing noise, it became a wobbling stack of warbling alarms and doorbells. The din was maddening, and Discord chuckled quietly as he drifted away.
But then there was a small poofing noise at his back and the deafening cacophony stilled, replaced by an unsettling silence. For the first time since his release, Discord looked honestly confused. He turned to consider the streetlamp again, for that's what it was. Just a boring old streetlamp. Discord snapped his fingers again, and it became a large candy cane. He stared at it for a long moment, daring it to be anything otherwise. Seconds passed, and Discord nodded his approval. As he turned to go, however, there was yet another poofing noise that set his teeth on edge.
He returned to the streetlamp with a snarl and snapped his fingers again. It became a tall stack of cardboard boxes filled with packing peanuts. But only for a moment before changing back right before his eyes. He snapped his fingers again, and the streetlamp became three confused-looking dogs of various sizes. Then they were a simple streetlamp once more.
Discord flew into a tantrum, snapping his fingers wildly and producing at least a dozen more odd sets of random and interesting things. But reality simply wouldn't bend to his will anymore. He ended by curling himself around the streetlamp, trying to shake it and gnawing on the middle of it in sheer frustration.
It didn't budge. With a cry of frustration Discord launched himself into the air. Around him in all directions lay the city of Canterlot, but little else. There were hardly any buildings hovering upside down anymore. The number of crazy and chaotic flying objects was dangerously close to zero. And the streets, while many of them suffered damage of some type, looked like boring old street. Most of the chaos still remaining was closer to the edge of the shield, trapped between the shield and some sort of. . . something spreading from the center of the city.
Scowling, Discord vanished.
The ravaged wasteland of the Canterlot Gardens had become a bustling hub of activity, with more ponies trickling in by the minute. The majority of the guards had made it back, as well as a smattering of civilians who had, by choice or chance, not made it out of the city before the shield went up. Faces were for the most part haggard and strained, but there was a general sense of contentment and community threaded through the gathering. Most of the guards had removed their helms, and many had disarmed entirely, understanding finally that true chaos cannot be fought directly.
The first few survivors were the worst. They had all been touched by the spirit of chaos, and all three had tried to cause some sort of trouble. One hurled insults while another attacked Shining Armor for being an ineffectual Captain. The other simply slumped, mired deep in depression. Fortunately, once they had all been dragged within the circle of Lyra's influence, they seemed to have an easy time shaking off the effects. As more ponies wandered in, Lyra tried to explain how she'd managed to capture the spirit of harmony, and how it seemed to be proof against the chaos. She'd encouraged them to re-live and share aloud the moments in their lives that made them feel whole.
After the first few waves Princess Cadance took over for her, to Lyra's relief. She was feeling so tired she couldn't seem to keep track of what she was saying. A pair of guards, only one of them still wearing his breastplate, approached carrying a large sofa between them, hovering within the joined field of their telekinesis. It was one of those old, garish affairs found almost exclusively in the homes of grandmothers that was nevertheless far to comfortable to consign to the dump.
They placed the sofa down, slid it around a bit to get all four feet solidly set on the uneven ground, and the shorter of the two gestured with a hoof. Lyra sighed from the tips of her hooves, and her eyelids drooped involuntarily. She nodded her thanks and clambered gratefully upon it, her hooves sinking deep into the plush cushions. She curled her legs in beneath her and sank even deeper, savoring the sensation. For a moment she imagined she was settled atop an actual cloud.
A lazy smile graced her mouth as she blinked tiredly at the thick milieu of ponies around her. Some were sitting in silence as though they were deep in thought. Many were talking in low murmurs, some very animatedly, and other groups had actually broken into song. But they all seemed to understand exactly what Lyra and Princess Cadance had instructed them to do. They were ignoring the chaos and focusing on finding harmony within themselves.
And it seemed to be working. Lyra had noticed something she thought was particularly important. Discord was terribly dramatic. Every move he made, every ounce of chaos he'd sown, it all had seemed to Lyra like the attention-grabbing antics of a spoiled filly. . . who also happened to have terrifying cosmic power. But the chaos had started small. It had started with simple whispers and suggestions, hadn't it? But then Lyra, and every other pony, had allowed the threat of chaos to instill fear into their hearts. And the chaos had only grown from there. Lyra figured that Discord needed to unravel the existing harmony thread by thread before he would be free to spread chaos further.
Now, together, they were all busy re-weaving the fabric of community and love they'd spent most of their lives thriving under. The ebb and flow of friendly conversation and laughter played like a familiar melody around Lyra Heartstrings, and she lightly nodded her head to the imagined rhythm.
Until something broke that rhythm, a faint dissonance in the atmosphere of love that made her ears twitch just before a voice muttered, “And just what, pray tell, is all of this?”
Discord's voice tried to sound faintly amused and very bored, but Lyra detected just the slightest bit of actual worry. Her inner calm wavered like a bubble on a gentle breeze at the sound of his voice, but then she recovered her balance with a breath. “Hello Discord.” She said without anger or fear. “How are you?”
He sighed dramatically. “Dreadful, I don't mind saying.” He settled himself on the sofa next to her, making as much of a dent in the cushions as a feather might. He idly examined the talons on his eagle claw. “This place has become boring enough to make me retch.”
Lyra kept herself from panicking, but just barely. Yes, they had managed to still much of the random chaos Discord had generated, but what would happen now? What would an impudent god do if he became frustrated? What would one of his tantrums look like? She waited, idly toying with the edge of the cushion in front of her and studying the gaudy floral print rather than contemplating what Discord might do next.
Conversations around them stilled as ponies spotted the draconequus perched among them. Glancing up, Lyra caught Shining Armor's eye just as he noticed what was happening. He did a double-take, a challenge furrowing his brow as he started forward. But his wife stopped him with a hoof and he sighed, deliberately turning his back on the pair of them. Far from feeling abandoned, Lyra felt oddly comforted. They were banking on the thought that conflict would only serve Discord. Lyra only hoped they were right.
“Could you ponies be any more predictable?” Discord stretched his lion's paw out to the side, extending it several lengths to reach some pony's forehead. At his touch, the color drained from the unicorn's tawny coat, and she sagged, looking for all the world as though somebody had just died. The other ponies around her dropped the song they were singing, uncertain what to do or what might happen. But then a black-coated pegasus charged in, picking the song back up and draping an arm around the blank mare, hoping to console or include her. The others joined back in with vigor, and Lyra glanced up at Discord out of the corner of her eye. He wasn't happy.
Lyra spoke without thinking. “Losing your 'touch' I see.” What am I doing? She thought, Stop antagonizing him!
Discord spoke through his teeth. “Would you care to find out?” He growled.
Before she could flinch, Discord had touched her forehead, and the world vanished. Heavy, black despair threatened to wash Lyra away in a sea of bitterness. She felt lonely and sad, but it was all outside of her. She wasn't so much swept away as deluged and unmoved. Discord was strong, certainly, but he was no longer irresistible. Lyra forced her eyes open, the gathering of ponies surrounding her once more with sensations of community and harmony. Lyra reached up and brushed Discord's claw away, and he stared at her in shock.
Lyra's heart raced with elation. “Not so easy, is it Discord?” She grinned fiercely. “Harmony is stronger than you, isn't it? I suspect it always has been.”
Discord's eyes flashed with rage, but his voice remained unchanged. “Hmmm. . . Interesting.” A pair of eagle talons snapped, and the nearest pony's armor fell off of him, shattering into piles of rubies and sapphires. “Perhaps some good old-fashioned greed might spice up this party.”
The various gems caught and refracted the sunlight already colored by the shifting hues of the harmonic shield. The guard pony's eyes widened as he realized he was standing in what might be twenty times his annual salary. With a quick glance at the avarice in the surrounding ponies' expressions, he pounced upon them, scooping the gems up in his arms. Other ponies lunged forward, and Discord threw his head back and laughed, slapping one scaled knee. “You see, little Harpy?” Discord wrapped an arm around Lyra and drew her in close. “Every mortal lives on the brink of madness. All it takes is a little push.”
“You're wrong.” For once Lyra's soft voice didn't waver. It rang out like a bell, clear and strong. “We are more than that. Much more.” She lifted a tired hoof and pointed, directing Discord's gaze.
Every pony who had scooped up gemstones had begun passing them out, hoofing one or two to each of their neighbors, and those ponies continued to pass them along. Many stopped to admire them, and a few precious stones found themselves tucked behind an ear or slipped beneath a hairband in such a way that they caught the light. There was no fighting, there was scarcely any hoarding of the sudden riches, and the only attention Discord received was. . . none at all.
Lyra felt a warmth starting in her chest. Maybe it was the exhaustion making her so emotional. Maybe it was overwhelming love for her fellow ponies, or maybe just a reaction to the stress of the last twenty-four hours, but Lyra started to cry. The glow in her heart, it seemed to spread to the rest of her chest and down her forelegs. The whole experience, the emotion she felt, it was too deep to name. So she quietly wept tears of joy as she hugged her forelegs to her chest. And she didn't fight it.
Discord was not amused. “Okay ponies,” he spat the word. “If you wont give in to greed, then how about rage?” He pitched his voice over the sound of the milling crowd. “Fillies and gentlecolts of Canterlot, I present to you the ravager of your great city!” With another snap of his fingers, Queen Chrysalis appeared out of thin air, looking just a little startled. Lyra wasn't certain, but it looked as though Discord's negligent *snap* had actually taken some effort.
Lyra stifled her crying and wiped her eyes. All of Canterlot Gardens had gone still. Finally, Discord had captured the attention of every pony present. Even Cadance and Shining Armor turned to look, stunned by dismay. The changeling Queen's insect wings buzzed a bit as she settled them. Chrysalis looked uncomfortable and exposed atop the earthen mound where she found herself perched. Discord leaned forward in anticipation, awaiting the first outcry. He seemed certain to have found a means to wreak havoc upon the gathered masses. Lyra held her breath.
Chrysalis hurriedly filled the silence with words. “Citizens of Equestria,” she spoke, “I stand before you as Queen of the Changelings! Therefore, any harm caused by my subjects to you or your city. . . You may safely lay that blame upon me!” Discord nodded eagerly, grinning in anticipation. “I attacked your city! I harried your families! I broke your defenses and cast down your ruler! I deny nothing!” A murmur threaded through the crown, the first muttered expressions of anger and resentment.
As Chrysalis spoke she met Princess Cadance's eyes, and she nodded. “Yet this I would say!” She continued, “What I have done, I did for my children and my subjects! My own reasons were justification enough! But I assure you all I did not return to your city today to acquire it by force. I have returned to help you against a common enemy!” She gestured with a hoof. “Discord would destroy my hives as surely as he would destroy your cities! And what's more,” At this, Chrysalis walked slowly towards Shining Armor and Cadance. “I have agreed, should we all survive, to submit myself to the judgment of your people.” Cadance recoiled in actual shock, her mouth dropping open. Shining glanced back and forth between them, unable to make sense of the sudden turn of events.
More mutterings drifted about, but they were lacking much of the dark resentment from earlier. Most of the overheard phrases were along the lines of “The bug's got a point.” and “Why would she do that?” and “What did she say?” But other ponies were saying things like “I don't believe a word of it.” and “We can't trust that thing!” and “Let's chain her to something!”
“Please!” Princess Cadance held up a hoof for quiet. “I know how most of you are feeling right now! We,” She sidled up next to her husband, “have more reason to hate Chrysalis than anypony! But I'm telling you now she's right! She's been helping us stem the chaos all along! She's been working to save our homes and our sanity! It must sound crazy, but it's entirely true! And what's more. . .” Cadance paced fearlessly up to Chrysalis and looked her in the eyes, even though she was a full head shorter than the changeling. But while Chrysalis's eyes were unreadable, Cadance merely radiated pity. “This may be our one chance to show the changelings what harmony looks like. Our one chance to rid ourselves of an enemy. . . by offering friendship.”
Appreciative murmurs drifted through the crowd. Chrysalis looked as though she was trying not to looked surprised. Lyra hadn't actually decided to stand up, but she found herself on her hooves anyway, trying to speak. “She's right!” Her voice didn't reach very far. Very few ponies had noticed her at all. Most of those assembled had started up conversations of their own, and Lyra could feel the atmosphere of harmony wavering. Some of them didn't agree, and some of them might have wanted to take matters into their own hooves. Lyra tried again. “Please listen! I know it's HARD TO FOR-BAUGH!!” Her voice had jumped up several notches in volume, so that the hillside seemed to shake with the sound of her voice.
Shining Armor nodded to her, his horn aglow. Lyra noticed a faint tingle around the base of her neck, and she smiled her appreciation. “Please listen!” Her voice rolled effortlessly across the gathering. “I know forgiveness can be hard! I should know! When she found me hiding just a few hours ago, I kind of dropped a bakery display on Chrysalis's head.”
A smattering of laughter met her words. “I know, it felt like the right thing to do, at least at the time. But I'm starting to learn that it really wasn't. It didn't make me feel any better. Instead, I found myself reaching out to another pony she'd hurt, and trying to help her feel better. And you know what? That actually did help. It helped me a lot. And now I feel. . . I feel more free! Please, for the love in your hearts, and for the sake of those around you, don't give in to the temptation to hate, even if somepony deserves it!”
The various mutterings and nods of the gathered ponies was suddenly blocked from view by a misshapen face. Discord's playfulness had vanished. His listless boredom had vanished. They had been replaced with something far older, something emotionless. “So, you think you've got this game all figured out, don't you?” There was a chill to his words, as distant and compassionless as the gulf between the stars. “I am older than your world, older than the stars. You can't possibly beat me. I. Am. Eternal. Your pathetic little mortal pony brain couldn't possibly comprehend even a fraction of what I am.”
Lyra was afraid. She felt the fear, trembling in her chest somewhere near her heart. But she was also feeling loopy from exhaustion, so her fear never caught up with her words. “Hey Discord, have you lost weight?” He looked shorter, or maybe just smaller in general. He no longer loomed over her in that tall, sinuous way he always did. “You look like you've lost weight. Have you been working out?” She giggled to herself.
“Do you realize how easily I could kill every single one of you? Hmmm?” Discord asked in that same cold, matter-of-fact way that made Lyra entirely too aware of how true it was. “Turning your heart into stone would be as easy as blinking. Starved for oxygen, your brain would stop functioning in exactly one minute, 47 seconds. That's somewhat shorter than the six days, seventeen hours, thirty-three minutes and two seconds it will take you, in particular, to starve to death beneath this dome.”
“I don't believe you.”
“Oh, my calculations are quite accurate.”
“No. I mean you wont kill us, Discord.” Lyra called his bluff. “All your power and all your random pandemonium. . . It all means nothing without an audience.” She boldly stared down the physical face of chaos, hearing the truth of her own words. “You kill us all, and you'll be left with nothing. Exactly what you have now.”
“Why shouldn't I do it anyway, out of simple spite?”
“That's easy.” She said, “Murder goes against your nature. It's not you.”
“Let's say you're right, little mare.” Discord reached out, placing a lion's paw against her chest. With a deft twist and a flash of light, the world vanished from below Lyra's hooves.
There was pain. Discord had grabbed her by the thin coat covering her chest, and he was holding her up, her back pressed against something unyielding. Her hooves flailed involuntarily but they found no purchase, and she squirmed to get away, or at least ease the tension. It felt like her skin might tear. Then her eyes focused, and she saw the mountain city of Canterlot unfurled below her. Far, far below her. Even below a few stray clouds drifting along unseen eddies of air.
The sudden vertigo was like a kick to the gut, cutting short her scream. She wrapped her forelimbs around Discord's arm and held on for dear life. She clamped her eyes shut, but she couldn't block out the sight of city streets like a tiny patchwork quilt, or the great castle far enough away to look like a foal's toy set. Her hind legs swung through empty air. A subtle thrumming at her back told her that Discord had her pinned between his paw and the very top of the shield. He'd placed the castle between the Gardens and the two of them, so they were unlikely to be seen from the ground.
“Oh, do be quiet.” Discord admonished. “We have things to discuss, and here you are yelling right in my ear. Not to mention that it's only polite to look at someone when they're talking to you.” She tried to swallow her screams, choking them back into whimpers. “That's better. Now, I'm going to make this simple.” He gently touched an eagle claw to the center of her forehead, just below her horn. “Let me in. Or I let you go.”
She wanted to say yes. At the thought of falling, Lyra's heartbeat kicked up another notch. She didn't want to die today. Her tongue felt as dry as paper in her mouth, and her hind legs swung a bit more, emphasizing her helplessness. Lyra wanted to accept. Her entire body thrummed with terror from her crest to her hooves. Screams still threatened to bubble out of her throat. She opened her mouth to agree.
But then her eyes focused properly, and despite her gasping fear she couldn't help but notice that Discord looked even smaller. Not just physically, his presence even seemed to have less substance. He no longer had enough power to force himself past her defenses. Because she hesitated, because she thought about it for a moment, she found she couldn't do it. Her friends, her sovereigns, her ponies were down there somewhere weaving harmony out of thin air, and against all odds had found a way to stop the unstoppable.
No wonder Discord had resorted to such measures. He was fighting for his very existence.
Her silence must have been its own answer. “Really?” He sounded incredulous. “You would honestly give up your life to spite me in this?”
He was shrinking, his form wisping away like fog. A few words made their way past the lump in Lyra's throat. “Please.” She whimpered, “Please don't do this.”
Was that. . . did he look just slightly apologetic? “Give in.” He implored.
“I-I can't.” It was the truth. “I'm sorry.”
Discord's eyes widened in astonishment as his face fell. Resignation made his voice heavy. “So am I, you brave little pony. So am I.” Discord's essence dissolved before her eyes as he swirled into vapor, and Lyra fell.
It was both empty and lonely at the top of the world. Lyra was surprised to find that the wind rushing past her ears and her own high-pitched scream did little to disrupt the silence so high up in the sky. She briefly wondered how the pegasi ever got used to it.
As she pawed at the air the wind caught her, flipping her over and giving her a brief glimpse of the highest spires of Castle Canterlot as she fell below their level. Then there was the dome stretching above her; a bright bubble of translucent lights backed by the searing brightness of the sun.
Lyra felt an irrational moment of panic spike through her completely rational panic, as though not being able to see the buildings and streets of the city rushing towards her might somehow make her fall faster. With her mane whipping about her face she struggled to right herself, but all she succeeded in doing was flipping and rolling herself erratically.
As she fell below more sets of gilded spires, Lyra thought about many things. She thought about Bon Bon, and how much she loved her. She thought about her parents, and how badly they would probably take her death. She thought about her brother, and how they hadn't spoken in a year, even after hearing about the changeling invasion. She wondered what he would be saying at the service, assuming he'd show up, of course.
Through another spinning tumble, Lyra saw that the buildings below her had become fairly close. She could make out gutters and awnings and streetlamps in the glimpses she snagged. It looked as though she would miss the residences and land in the street. That's comforting, She thought hysterically, At least they wont have to clean me off of somepony's home.
For a moment, her panic stilled and her breathing steadied. She was going to die. So what? So does everypony else, eventually. She felt bittersweet, certainly, but she had somehow accepted a kind of peace that had settled into her limbs. Maybe she'd gone mad. Wasn't that possible?
The silence allowed her to hear another sound, a sharp whistle from somewhere above her. On her next spin she caught a glimpse of him, a crimson pegasus with his wings folded, arrowing towards her. Her calm vanished, replaced with a desperate, clawing hope. She tried to right herself, to find a way to make herself easy to grab, but she couldn't seem to figure it out. She was always a breath too late with her adjustments, and she began to spin faster.
The pegasus closed the distance, and he made a grab for her. He snagged her tail and flared his wings but he didn't quite have a good grip and she spun out of his reach as they dipped below the rooftops and a tingling sensation enveloped Lyra's body and her fall slowed hard enough to make her feel like her stomach might leave her body and take up permanent residence elsewhere. She wasn't moving anymore. When she pried her eyes open, the ground was almost close enough to touch. But she hung suspended in a glowing field of magic, safe and still.
Until the magic vanished, and Lyra tumbled to the pavement. Gasping and shaking, she didn't even bother trying to stand. There wasn't a chance that her legs might support her. Instead, she swiveled her head around to find the pegasus who had tried to save her, standing in the middle of the street and breathing heavily. “I'm sorry.” He said in a smooth, attractive voice. “It's a reflex. I just assume that any time I try to help I have to do it as somepony else.” With that he closed his eyes, and his strikingly red coat flaked away in small flashes of emerald, revealing a gnarled black horn and a glittering carapace.
“No, it's – um. . .” Lyra licked her lips and tried to find her voice. She failed, and found herself focusing solely on her struggle to keep breathing without having a complete breakdown.
Another voice called distantly from somewhere behind her. “Lyra! Are you alright?” Princess Cadance swept in, back-winging into a graceful landing. She was followed by a small squadron of pegasi guardponies. “What happened?” She asked. Chrysalis said nothing, and Lyra really had no way to answer. She was shaking like a leaf and she was clearly hyperventilating, but she just couldn't seem to stop. Cadance scowled, and stepped defensively in front of the unicorn. “What did you do to her?”
“Me?” Chrysalis growled. “I saved her pathetic hide.”
“Really?” Cadance glanced at the pony behind her, looking for all the world as though she might go into shock. “What if I didn't believe you? What if I said I think you've been working with Discord all along?!?” The guards to either side of her assumed fighting positions.
“Should you wish to test me, filly,” Chrysalis's smile showed quite a lot of fang. “I invite you to try.”
Lyra could feel the tension in the air. The precious harmony wavering in the breeze. She knew she had to do something, to say something. Through her gasps and her blurred vision, she found a small stone in the street next to her. Without thinking, she slid it beneath a hoof and stepped on it, driving it up into the soft sole of her hoof. The sudden pain gave her mind something concrete to focus on, and for an instant allowed her to forget about the chaos and the falling and the fear. Her breathing hitched and slowed, and the world stopped spinning. Lyra stood, keeping the stone beneath her as she did.
“Stop it.” She managed to say. “All of you, just stop.” Everyone turned to look at her. Even the Princess looked as though she would defer to whatever Lyra had to say. Once she thought she had herself under control, Lyra kicked the rock out from under her and walked forward. She stopped, inches away from someone who, only yesterday, Lyra would have named as her worst enemy. Chrysalis eyed her warily, unsure what she meant to do or say.
She took a breath. “You're still a monster.” Lyra threw a hug around the changeling's closest leg. “But thank you for saving my life.” She mumbled into the pocked chitin. “Thank you for helping us all.”
Chrysalis began by looking worried, as though she wanted to pull away from the contact. But then another expression replaced the first, a subtle contentment or satiation. Lyra felt another spike of dizziness, but this time it had nothing to do with her exhaustion or her recent trials. She had forgotten that changelings feed on love, and here she had offered the creature a bit of her own.
Queen Chrysalis gently pushed Lyra away, and they broke contact. Lyra felt a little drained, and strangely enough she felt very normal. She reflected that offering up her excess emotion in that moment was probably the best thing she could have done, given the circumstances. I mean really. I just hugged a changeling. Clearly my emotions were getting out of hoof.
Cadance draped a fetlock around Lyra's shoulder. “My apologies. I didn’t see what happened. All I knew was that Discord and Lyra vanished, and you somehow vanished too. It seems I jumped to conclusions.”
Chrysalis smiled. And she managed to do it without looking like a hungry wolf. “I accept your apology, Princess. Isn't that what harmony dictates I should do?”
“Oh.” Lyra realized belatedly that she might be the only pony who knew this particular fact. “I think Discord might be gone.”
“Gone?” Cadance asked incredulously. “As in gone gone?”
“Hmmm. . . I do not feel his presence anymore.” Chrysalis seemed to sniff the air. “What did you do, filly?”
Lyra's ears drooped. “I'm not sure. I mean, he was kind of. . . I don't know, blowing away, and then he disappeared. I don't think he actually meant to drop me, he just. . . I fell through him, and. . .”
“Come back to the Gardens, Lyra,” Cadance gestured ahead of herself. “And tell us everything, if you can.”
“Okay.” Lyra was certainly tired, but she didn't feel quite so close to a breakdown anymore.
“Um, Princess?” One of the pegasi guards asked. “What about Chrysalis?”
Cadance was silent for a beat, her violet eyes assessing the changeling before them. “Your Highness,” The Princess nodded her head in a small bow. “You are welcome to join us, if you like. I can offer you asylum here in Canterlot, so long as I am still in charge.”
“Aren't you simply placing me under arrest, little Princess?” Chrysalis asked with a buzzing hint of sarcasm. Lyra thought she was starting to get used to the multiple frequencies in her voice. She wondered if something as subtle as the arrangement of vocal cords might have promoted distrust between ponies and changelings through the years.
“No.” Cadance answered openly. “You will be free to leave if the shield comes down. It seems that you've done more to serve this kingdom and this city today than I have. In return, I can offer you a truce. Perhaps only for a day, but the offer still stands. I would like to hear more about your role in this, if you'd be willing to join us.”
The guard who spoke earlier looked unconvinced. “Your Highness, are you sure this is a good idea?”
“No.” Cadance again answered simply. “Forgiveness is not forgetfulness. But I would hardly be fit to rule if I couldn't muster up the courage to try. As I said,” Cadance hoisted Lyra up in her magic and set her across her back. “There is no more certain way to rid oneself of an enemy then by befriending one.”
From between Cadance's soft, feathered wings, Lyra patted her shoulder in agreement. Things were looking up after all. They'd get back to the Gardens, she'd tell them all that the threat of Discord was gone, and they'd probably get to hear Chrysalis's explanation of why she really tried to hijack the wedding. Something about Celestia's homeland across the sea? That would surely explain where the alicorn had gone off to, taking the Elements with her. It would all be revealed in time.
Except Lyra was sound asleep before they'd gone a single block.