DAY 13 OF INFECTION: 32% OF EQUESTRIA INFECTED
Twilight Sparkle
Twilight's mouth opened and let out a strangled little, "Eeeh?" but she summoned magic to her horn regardless, as did her brother. All three of them got out of their seats, dinner forgotten in an instant.
"What are you doing here?" Shiny growled, his horn a blazing torch of energy. His magic shot forward but, before it got halfway to the three changelings, it curved back and formed a glistening shield in front of him. Twilight also finished casting a spell, warding all three of them from any mental manipulations she might try.
Chrysalis rolled her multi-irised eyes. "Hmm, so this is how Equestria greets diplomatic envoys under a white flag," she snarked. "Color me unimpressed."
"You'll have to forgive us if we're not in a diplomatic mood," Shining Armor spat. "What do you want?"
The changeling with the white flag placed it on the ground, leaning against another table. At the same time, Chrysalis spoke, raising a forehoof to her face and examining it tiredly. "Weren't you listening? Of course not. I want that wretched alien to die." She sighed. "Where are those little princesses you call leaders? I had assumed they would be here, and I wish to speak with them."
"Ya don't get ta speak to the Princesses, varmit!" Applejack said, her voice understandably venomous. "I suggest y'all better mosey on back to whatever hole y'all crawled out of."
"Tsk tsk," Chrysalis said. "And here I thought you didn't have the infection under control."
"We do have it under control!" Twilight shouted. Shining's barrier continued to grow until it formed a perfect sphere around them. The sun set and the moon rose.
"Which explains why there's almost a third of you ponies infected," Chrysalis said snidely, pacing around them. Her carapace glimmered oddly under the influence of the local crystal field. "Don't think I don't know. It's not that hard to see, especially on a flyover. You are losing, and you cannot win on your own."
"That's what you thought last time," Shining retorted. "And look where that lead."
She snarled. "Yes, look indeed." She threw her head back and tossed her moth-eaten mane, pacing back to her guards. "I did not come here to have a shouting contest with a puny little unicorn. I came here to speak with your princesses, and I'm not leaving until we have negotiated."
"Well then I'm sorry, Queen, but you're going to leave disappointed," Shiny snarled.
Chrysalis reached her guards and turned back around, a fanged smirk on her face. Her focus was on some point past Shining. "No... I don't think I am." There was the sound of eight hooves touching down behind them, inside the shield, and all three of them spun around, moving to bow when they recognized the forms of Princesses Celestia and Luna.
"Thou hast some nerve, Queen, to show thy face whilst we are engaged in such high-importance hostilities with Elizabeth Greene," Luna snarled, effortlessly stepping forward and out of the shield. "Why should we not smite thee where thou stands, as thou hast done to our sister in the past?" Twilight, her brother, and Applejack all rose out of their bows.
"White flag," she said with a smirk. "That's two threats already. Such a noble, diplomatic, and peaceful people you are."
"Thou wouldst speak of nobleness? Thou, who imprisoned an innocent mare in caverns, who assaulted a peaceful nation without declaration of war or attempts at negotiation, who - "
"Luna," Princess Celestia said, walking next to her sibling. Yet neither one of them took their eyes off of Chrysalis. "I don't think she came here to listen to a list of her crimes against Equestria. Did you?"
Queen Chrysalis chuckled, a simply awful noise with her double-voice. "No, I did not. You see, your little outbreak has been noticed. Specifically, it's become quite intriguing to my people, given our relationship of predation with you."
"Thou means parasitism," Princess Luna remarked coldly. Twilight scuffed a hoof on the ground nervously. She felt so... out of place listening to this. Not to mention angry and scared of Chrysalis. "And we hardly see how it is interesting to thee."
"You're our primary food source," the changeling queen sneered. "You're so much more efficient to harvest love from than other races we even evolved to resemble you. I'll cut to the chase. It's not in my interest to let anything overly bad happen to you, so I propose to help you with your little virus problem."
Blink.
Blink.
Blink.
"Everypony, and everychangeling - " Princess Celestia began.
"Everyling," Chrysalis remarked quietly.
" - inside." She regarded the changeling queen harshly. "Queen Chrysalis, you are under diplomatic immunity and therefore we are obligated to listen to what you have to say. However, there are still conditions for you to follow. Your immunity is fragile as the white flag you bring; attack and all negotiations are off. Impede our containment of the infection and all negotiations are off. Any form of manipulation, magical or otherwise, and negotiations are off. Any attempt to circumvent all four of these terms, and negotiations are off. Do you understand these terms as I have explained them to you?"
Twilight's jaw dropped. Princess Celestia couldn't really be considering actually talking with Queen Chrysalis, could she?
Chrysalis nodded. "Duly noted, princess."
A faint smile tugged at the corner of Celestia's lips. "Good. Twilight, Luna, follow me. Applejack, you may retire to your quarters if you want." Shining Armor took that as a cue to reluctantly drop his shield.
"Thank ya kindly, Princess," Applejack said. "Don't let this so-called queen pull the wool over your eyes."
"I won't, don't worry," Celestia said, not taking her eyes off Chrysalis as the farmpony walked back into the town hall. "Come, let us go. Shining Armor, I require you to attend a meeting with General Hard Gaze regarding the new sightings of Elizabeth Greene; you'll know where to find him. Twilight, I need you as a recorder."
They both nodded resolutely, and Shiny slipped out of sight. Chrysalis and her guards followed not far behind the two alicorns, Twilight nervously behind them. She kept her horn slightly glowing, in case they did anything. Eventually, the Princesses lead the changelings and Twilight into what may have once been a place where budgets were negotiated for the city. It was spacious enough for the two alicorns and the alicorn-sized being. The seemingly identical changeling guards each took a position by the only exit, still as stone.
The room was dusty, and the air was stale. Not infection-stale, but unused-stale. In the middle rested a long rectangular table of marble, covered in a few sheets of paper, ink wells, and pegasus feathers. Around the walls were smaller tables, cluttered with papers on taxes and reforms that would invariably come later, which were important but second to the armageddon.
Princesses Celestia and Luna each took a seat on one end of the table, with Twilight in between and behind them. Chrysalis took her place across from them. "Are we ready to get this over with?" she asked impatiently. "There's an alien I want vaporized."
"In a moment," Celestia said, her horn pulsing. She looked over her withers at Twilight. "Twilight, will you please get ready to record?"
She nodded. "Yes, Princess." She levitated a stack of papers, one of the quills, and an inkwell over. She uncapped it and dipped the quill in. "Ready when you are."
"Excellent." She turned back to the Queen. "We will begin the negotiations momentarily. I've just sent out the message for my niece to join us, but I fear she may have been sleeping, so it may be - "
The rippling, blue illusion of Cadance's head appeared to Celestia's left. "Auntie, what is - " Cadance's eyes noticed Chrysalis and narrowed. "YOU!" Cadance's headshot vanished, briefly showing her mane's fibers, and then nothing. There was the sound of a crash, muttering and growling, until the Crystal Princess pulled her head back into range of the spell. "Auntie, what is she doing here?" Twilight wrote down everything that was said.
Princess Celestia sighed. "I think it'd be best to let her explain."
Queen Chrysalis smirked at the azure portal. "Hello Cadance. Feeling blue?" The alicorn snarled, which looked utterly uncharacteristic for her. "Regardless, I want to help you grind that disease-ridden biped into the dirt. I spoke with her briefly before coming here, and she made her intentions quite clear regarding my kind."
Princess Luna huffed. "Is that so? Even when her disease only affects ponykind?"
Chrysalis snarled. "You think it only latches on to your kind? No surprise there. Let me tell you, it is just as virulent for my people as for yours." She smirked. "You honestly didn't think you caught all my infiltrators, did you?" Twilight's eyes widened as she continued writing, connecting the dots. How many changelings were in the cities? How many were infected, giving Elizabeth Greene access to shapeshifters? "Your arrogance is very becoming of you, Princess. So no, it affects my changelings as well, and when she's through with you she will, at some point, come for me." She tossed her sea-green mane. "I'd much prefer to stop her while she has more enemies than slaves."
"So you're in this for yourself," Celestia said.
If Chrysalis snarled before, she absolutely growled now. With her resonant voice it was a very strange noise. "I'm doing this for my subjects! Granted, not being infected myself is certainly a plus, but their well being comes before mine. If it didn't, I'd have had them attack you en masse in my stead."
"Very well," Princess Luna said. "We art not here to discuss thy past crimes, as our sister hast said." She looked at the other two alicorns. "We understand the past history between our nations, but we art in no position to turn down aid of any kind." She eyed Chrysalis warily. "Despite the strange... strange sources of it. Sister, thou knows how dire the situation is. Even if we were to defeat every one of the infected this night, it would be for naught while Greene still walks free. We need all the help we can get to defeat her." She kept eyeing Chrysalis cautiously. "Tell us, Changeling Queen, what could thou provide Equestria in its time of need?"
"Soldiers for one," she said dryly. "You're in desperate need of those. Tell me, how large is Equestria's military, now that there is no more Royal Guard? Thirty thousand, fifty? I can easily supply many times that, and look out there and tell me you don't need more deployed soldiers." Twilight frowned as she wrote it down. She really wished there could've been a peaceful solution, but the alien had attacked her mentor and nearly killed her. Force was literally the only available option.
"I see," Princess Celestia said. "What are the precise numbers?"
"You do not need to know," she said sharply.
"If you're going to ally with us," Cadance said. "You're going to have to tell us what you can do." Suddenly she looked a lot more smug than Twilight had ever seen. "Or you can not, and you can fight off all the rest of the world once they're infected."
Chrysalis snarled. "Fine then. Five hundred thousand total."
Twilight gaped. Five hundred thousand?! Then how many changelings were there period?
Seeing everypony's shocked faces, Chrysalis added, "What, you thought I brought my entire swarm to Canterlot? You don't just do an all-in attack like that; what if something goes wrong?" She snarled again; it was characteristic of her. "Like it did. So then, now you know what I can do for you, and Swarm Commander Polin will be able to coordinate the majority of my army. But as for now what can you do for me?"
"Thou speaks of a ceasefire," the Nightbringer said. "Though thou hast still not answered a critical question. How will thou feed thy military while in Equestria?"
"Oh you don't have to worry about that," Chrysalis said with a little smirk. "The infected are a buffet. I really should have thanked Elizabeth for that; they absolutely leak love into the air. There's really no problem with feeding us, not with them around."
"Sounds to me," Cadance said with a slightly frayed mane and a coldness that was very uncharacteristic of her. "Like it'd be better for you to help Elizabeth instead."
Chrysalis snorted. "Yes, help the alien. A few weeks, maybe months of feeding well, and then she turns her gaze on us. No thank you." She sighed. "We are wasting time. Every second that passes is another four ponies infected," WHAT?! "And it's speeding up. Let's just sign a stupid ceasefire so we can get to talking about killing Elizabeth."
"Imprisoning her," Princess Celestia corrected. "We will strip her strength away and try her in a court of law. If the court decides on the death penalty it decides on the death penalty, but before that we are imprisoning her if at all possible. We kill her only if we can't contain her. We are not monsters," she said with the slightest hint of accusation. "Though it matters little. She's so durable we need to nearly kill her at any rate."
"Right," Chrysalis said. "Anyhow, we can also provide you espionage. Our shapeshifting is worth little against the infected, but our telepathy is useful. A report from everywhere in Equestria, real time, twenty four-seven. When and where what's happening." She smirked, showing off her fangs. "We may even be able to pin down Greene's location, something you'll desperately need if you want this to end."
Cadance sighed. "As much as I hate to say it, Auntie, she's right. We need all the help we can get. Let's just sign this stupid ceasefire and get it over with."
"Luna?" Princess Celestia asked.
"We agree, this is a necessity."
"Very well then."
The Princess's horn lit up, and a piece of paper popped into existence before her, floating down onto the table. Everypony else dropped silent. Chrysalis levitated it before her, scanned it briefly, then poked her head out from behind it, one brow raised. "... Princess Celestia. You had a ceasefire between my nation and yours already written up, prepared, and memorized so thoroughly you could teleport it to you from wherever it was?"
Celestia shuffled her wings but otherwise betrayed nothing. "I like to keep my options open," she declared.
Queen Chrysalis rolled her eyes and moved the parchment, still wrapped in her bubbling, acidic aura, back before her. As she read, she muttered. Whether or not it was for her benefit or theirs Twilight didn't know, but all the same her quill kept scribbling. "... shapeshifting restrictions... voluntary feeding, not important... possible exports and imports... end of hostilities for so much time..." She pulled it away. "Seems alright to me." Her horn stayed alight, but the paper fluttered to the table and was tended to by an ink-dipped quill. It moved with a flourish, and Chrysalis passed both to the Princesses. After that she seemed to focus on some far off point.
Celestia and Luna signed their names on the bottom, and then it was Cadance's turn. She sighed. "Um... hang on. Let me see if I can get my magic through this thing."
"I'll help you," Celestia said warmly, both her and her niece's horns illuminating. A golden glow surrounded Cadance's viewing portal, and at the same time a teal aura enveloped the quill. A moment later, Cadance had signed the ceasefire and the flow of magic stopped. Celestia picked up the scroll. "Excellent. Queen Chrysalis, as of now hostilities between both our nations and yours have come to a standstill. What are your plans now?"
The changeling queen opened her mouth in a great, fanged yawn. Twilight idly noted that, while still unsettling, Chrysalis's double-voice was nowhere near as intimidating after Elizabeth Greene's echoes and rasps. "I and my guards are going to find some place to sleep; we will find it ourselves. It is late, and there will be much to do tomorrow, regarding your military commanders. No sense plotting when sleep deprived. Good night to you," she said, turning tail and marching out the door. The two guards left their positions and flanked her. The three changelings left, and Twilight put down her quill.
"Well," she said. "That was..." She searched for a word. "Interesting."
Princess Celestia sighed. "I agree, my faithful student. To think that it'd be Chrysalis, of all beings, who would offer aid when our allies denied us is certainly not something I predicted would happen."
"Indeed sister." Princess Luna turned to Cadance's head. "Mi Amore Cadenza, art thou alright? Thou seems rattled."
"Of course I'm rattled," she breathed. "That was the mare, or whatever you call female changelings, that has plagued my nightmares for months, and now we're supposed to be buddy-buddy with her. Yes, I'm rattled. I swear, if she decides to come up to my Empire she's going to get a very up close and personal taste of the Crystal Heart."
"Such anger is unbecoming of thee," the Lunar Princess remarked. "Though we suppose we cannot blame thee. All things considered, things went well. With the changelings' aid we may even turn this war around."
"I suppose," Cadance said, sounding none too pleased. Twilight could hardly blame her. "But you know we have to keep an eye on her! Chrysalis is a monster, and I wouldn't be surprised if she were scheming right this second instead of sleeping." She cut herself off with a yawn. "Oh, my. Well, good night everypony." The image vanished.
Twilight sighed. "Well, that happened," she said conclusively. "I think I'm gonna go sleep on this too. There's just... so much that just happened."
Princess Celestia turned to her with a slight smile. "Actually Twilight, I was hoping you could give me a report on the estimated time we have." Oh? Hadn't she... oh!
"Oh! Right, Princess. Um..." She laughed nervously. "Well, in all likelihood eight days from now less than one percent of the country will be uninfected, presuming nothing changes. Though I have to admit, I made those calculations before Chrysalis arrived so we either have more or less time than that."
Both alicorns gulped. "W-Well, that is not good, Twilight Sparkle. Thy skills in mathematics is beyond reproach, and the infection is certainly rapid, but even so we were not expecting a forecast so dire." Princess Luna flicked her gaze at her sister. "Tia, the two of thee should get some rest. We shalt watch over thy dreams, as well as watching out for the changelings. Aid they may give, but we have still many details to iron out and t'would be best for all parties involved if the changelings were not given the freedom to move about us as they wish."
Twilight nodded, organizing the papers she had written on. "I will, Princess." With another quick bow, she left the same way the changelings did, heading towards the room that had been made into a makeshift bedroom for her and a few others. Along the way, however, she passed by an open room. Inside of it were two glowing, double-irised eyes. One of them winked at her mischievously.
***-_***_-***-_***_-***-_***_-***
Covert Confidence
Avoiding the infection was easy.
Alright, maybe easy wasn't the best word. Easier, surely. Much easier than keeping out of sight of Elizabeth Greene before she had started the plague. The infection was easier to avoid than Greene had been, but all the same that didn't mean it wasn't a living Tartarus for Covert to get to Stalliongrad from Manehattan, leaping from crystal field to crystal field, never stepping hoof out of one unless it was absolutely necessary. Given how quickly things were going to Tartarus it was tricky, but manageable.
The hard part was finding out where the Princesses were! She had to keep her ear to the ground for that, and given how Equestria's population was either locking themselves indoors or evaporating out of the cities into the countryside, there wasn't all that much to hear.
All things considered she'd done fairly well. Tin Foil would've been proud of her.
Sailing across the night sky, her eyes drooped. Brother... she thought sadly, blowing a lock of steely-green mane out of her eyes.
She passed through the teal dome of the next crystal field, her coat taking on a shimmering hue. She looked down at the town hall and angled her wings, slowly circling down towards it. Covert's hooves clipped sharply on the stairs as she touched down, and she walked up to the entrance. Two guards, clad in full uniform, stood by the entrance. As she approached, the one on her right craned his head to her and spoke.
"I'm sorry miss, but this building is off limits to civilians. You'll just have to find someplace else to spend the night."
"Oh no," she said. "I'm here on business with the Princesses. I have information they desperately need to hear."
"I'm afraid that if we let in everypony who said they had something the Princesses need to know," he said. "There would be no time for anything except Noon and Midnight Court, both of which are suspended in accordance with state of emergency. Terribly sorry for the inconvenience, miss...?"
"Covert Confidence," she said. "And I'm afraid I have to insist, it's vital information regarding the infection."
"I'm sure we can pass it on," the other guard said.
"I - I don't want to risk it being distorted by word of mouth," she said nervously. "It's imperative that this is done exactly right."
"Miss Confidence, I understand your concern, but - "
"Prithee, what happens here?" asked a regal voice. Covert and the guards snapped their attention to the new pony; in their conversation they hadn't noticed the door open and an alicorn step out. The guards saluted while Covert hastily bowed before Princess Luna. A wave of blue magic washed over her, which she identified as a changeling search. "Ah, a visitor? Rise and tell us what hast brought thee to our doorstep."
"Your Majesty," she said. "My name is Covert Confidence, I have important news on how to imprison Elizabeth Greene."
The Nightbringer's eyes widened. "Come inside, now," she demanded. "Guards, maintain thy posts." Without further word, the alicorn turned around, Covert nervously following after her, looking left and right. Covert was terrified. She had hoped that Princess Celestia would still be awake, but no such luck. Princess Luna scared her. Still, it was a stroke of luck she bothered to listen to her at all. They must've been really desperate for a way to stop Elizabeth.
At length, the corridors ended and the Princess turned to her. A dead end. She felt like she'd been herded, away from prying eyes and anypony who could hear... "Speak what thou hast to say. Start with the beginning; how hast thee gotten this information about Greene?"
"Heh," she said, sweating buckets. "You see, funny story."
"Then begin at the start," the alicorn said.
"Right. You see, um, my brother's special talent is - " Was. " - finding patterns in social and political events. He was very good at it, even if he formed some rather strong opinions about politicians, or found relations where there weren't any and kept most everything to himself. Got some of his foalhood friends together with him to watch out for things, and he made a pretty bit by predicting where to invest." Fat lot of good it did him, she thought.
"He predicted our return, we assume?" Princess Luna asked.
Covert shook his head. "No, that took everypony by surprise, but he did anticipate something like Discord once you did." She blinked. "My apologies, Highness, I'm getting off topic. So, um, he eventually became very paranoid and so did his friends, and he dragged me into more than one of his warnings of conspiracy. When Elizabeth arrived, well, he looked at the patterns of the previous events to happen to Equestria and determined she wasn't good news. After all, neither was Discord, or the changelings." Luna's eyes flicked left, then right at the mention of changelings. "So he decided to take action against Elizabeth."
Princess Luna's eyes darkened. "Thou were the ones attempting to assassinate Elizabeth Greene, were thee not?"
Covert shivered and lowered her ears, taking a sudden interest in the floor's design. White and teal mosaics. "I didn't actually do anything to Elizabeth myself," she said. "But Tinny had me spying on her to find any weaknesses that the rest of his friends could use to stop her before she did anything drastic." She scoffed. "Fat lot of good that did."
Luna pursed her lips. "Under normal circumstances we would arrest thee and thy friends for assault and conspiracy against a foreign dignitary, however... t'would seem thou were correct in thy ambitions. Though, why did thee not come to us?"
Covert shuffled her forehooves. "We... may have been under the impression that Greene had mind controlled you. We didn't know what she could do, and imagination tends to breed worst case scenarios. Forgive me, Princess Luna, it was no excuse."
"Thou may be forgiven," she said coldly. "And we assume that the information thou hast uncovered during thy spying is what thou hast come to give?"
"Yes, Princess. My special talent is keeping things hidden, such as myself. I found several things about her. One is that she reacts poorly to water - "
"We know of this already," Luna mentioned. "Thy comrades attempted such on her in Cloudsdale. It was not successful."
"We were relying on the fall to injure her. We didn't know she could just take it. From what I hear, sleep spells don't work anymore either. But there's something else I noticed, earlier actually, when she was in the castle."
That got Princess Luna's attention. "Thou snuck into the castle to spy on a foreign ambassador?" Technically she just hovered outside the window... "Whatever the situation is now t'was not so then, so that constitutes a significant crime. What... precisely... did thou see?"
She scooted back as far as she could, looking up at Princess Luna fearfully. "When she threw up blood, she claimed it was from taking your sister's essence, correct?" she said hastily, fearing for her life. "The essence of alicorns is poisonous to her. If you can inject her with it, she'll be incapacitated."
Princess Luna blinked. "We beg thy pardon?"
"If we can get a... a vial, or syringe of alicorn blood, and get Greene in one place long enough for somepony to inject her with it, it'll keep her down. She'll go for a fight she thinks she can win; get somepony antagonizing her, and somepony else hidden with the blood, and when Greene is distracted they hit her with it. Simple."
"We see," Luna said quietly. "And thou wishes to be the one who injects her."
Covert's eyes widened. "N-No, Princess! Elizabeth... she scares me. She glanced at me one time in Canterlot and I barely got away, I think. There's gotta be somepony better. Your night guards?"
Princess Luna's gaze dropped. "Compromised. We believe that thou art afraid, yet we also suspect thou desires to hurt Elizabeth Greene. Tell us, why?"
Covert took a deep breath, tears beginning to sting her eyes. "Me and my brother, and our friends, are all from Baltimare. We moved to Canterlot a year ago, and his friends followed after us. I was out on errand in Manehattan when it happened, but... but..." She lowered her head and her wings drooped. "They were there."
She started when she felt a hoof on her withers and looked up to see Princess Luna's concerned face. "We art sorry for thy loss. We do in fact remember the occurrence thou mentions with Elizabeth Greene, and we thank thee for returning it to the forefront of our mind. But whilst thy plan's outline is most assuring, the details are lacking. Who would draw her attention? Where? How? Who would stab her, and how would they keep Greene from leaping away beforehoof?" She pulled the hoof away.
Covert tried to open her mouth, but didn't succeed. Princess Luna was right, it was a terrible plan. What had she been thinking? "Y-You're right, Princess. I'm sorry to have wasted your time," she said with a weak, nervous bow, looking at her gray coat.
"Hold, Covert Confidence. That is not to say thy plans were faulty, merely incomplete. And whilst judgement for thy actions against an ambassador without proper evidence as well as spying on royalty and trespassing on royal property will come 'tis neither here nor there. Thy suggestion to poison Greene with our blood, while unsettling, is far better than any plan we hath created thus far. Dost thou have a place to stay for the night?"
"I was thinking of just moving into a random house," she admitted. "Lots of free space."
"Neigh to that!" the Princess of the Night exclaimed. "When the sun rises thou will need to communicate with our sister and our..." Princess Luna grimaced. "... and our guests about the information thou hast brought to our attention. Understand our little pony, that this is great news, but it must be done carefully. Our opponent is powerful, vicious, and intelligent. Her only true weakness is her insanity, and any plan must take that into account." Princess Luna sighed and ruffled her wings, making Covert unconsciously shift her own.
"You, um, flatter me, Your Highness."
She smirked. "Perhaps we do. Come, we hath much business this night, and thou needs sleep." Princess Luna started out of the dead end, paused and looked over her withers at Covert. The pegasus shrunk back. "Art thou coming?"
Covert hastily nodded. "Oh! Um, yes Your Majesty." She followed after the alicorn, who opened a door seemingly at random and lead her into a room with several blue cushions laid out. Other ponies were already sleeping on the others, and she recognized one as Princess Celestia's student. One cushion was unoccupied.
"Tis not much," the Princess said. "But it should suffice for the time being." Covert looked at it nervously, then at the intimidating Moon Goddess. She nudged her head at the cushions. "Go on, they will not bite thee. We have much to do, as we said, and thou art now holding us up."
That got her moving. "Apologies, Princess!" she said in a whisper-shout after leaping to an oversized blue pillow. Covert rested on the cushions and lowered her head. "So I'll tell your sister what I told you tonight?"
"Quite," Princess Luna said, already opening the door to leave. "Remember, tell our sister what thou and we hath said about thy plan." Before leaving, Princess Luna seemed to remember something. "Oh, and do not attack the changelings, we've allied with them for now." With that she was gone, closing the door.
Cover Confidence blinked.
Wait, what was that last part?
