Greene Fields under Red Lights

by Europa

Last Resort

"Hey Twilight," said a muddled voice. She opened her eyes a crack to see the purple and green blob before her. "Get up, the Princesses need you."

Groaning, Twilight rolled out of her bed and blinked blearily at Spike. "What's going on?" she asked, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. "What time is it?"

"It's just about ten in the morning," Spike said. "Princess Celestia wants you to come down to the w-war room," he explained, stumbling a bit over the word. "She also says not to worry, there's breakfast waiting for you there."

Twilight nodded. "Did she say what it was about?"

"Finalizing the plans to catch Elizabeth or something," he mentioned off-hoofedly (off-clawedly?) "Can I go see how Rarity's holding up?"

"Of course you can," she grumbled, still slightly sleep-incapacitated. Firing up her horn, she dragged her saddlebags, complete with a quill, inkwell, and paper, to herself. "I'd better go see what's going on." Stumbling out of her room in the Crystal Palace, Twilight and Spike parted ways. He went left, she went right. After going down several flights of stairs and, at one point, nervously asking for directions, Twilight found herself trotting into the Crystal Empire's war room, repurposed and remodeled from the intent and design Sombra had when constructing it.

It was a subterranean room, protected from pegasus lightning clouds. It was surprisingly non-utilitarian, with luxurious cushions around a large circular table. Around it were all three Princesses, Chrysalis and her commander, and Twilight's BBBFF in full uniform. He was looking rather distraught, more than anypony else. Curiously, the general of Equestria's military was missing.

The walls of the triangular room were decorated lavishly with crystals of all colors, illuminated by several fluorescent crystals in the walls whose gentle white light refracted to create a scintillating kaleidoscope of colors each time Twilight turned her head. Behind her, two crystal ponies guarded the open door; there was little point in secrecy anymore. Anypony insane enough to have agreed with Elizabeth's plan had been swept up in her tide long ago, if there had been any at all. Twilight crept a bit closer when Princess Celestia looked her way and motioned with her head, sitting on one of the cushions and looking over the table.

It was a remarkably accurate map of Equestria and the surrounding regions. She could see the miniature spires of Canterlot and the blue dome of the Crystal Empire, and the sun-swept plains of the Badlands to the southeast. She could see many ugly, red splotches throughout Equestria, ruby hazes hanging close to the ground. Around the borders of Equestria and the Crystal Empire was a thin black, irregularly dotted line.

"Thank you for joining us, Twilight," Princess Celestia said. "I trust you brought items to record with?"

She nodded. "Of course, Princess!" Twilight pointedly ignored the way Chrysalis mockingly moved her mouth in tune with her words, and instead levitated out her materials. "I'm ready when you are, and I hope I didn't keep you waiting too long."

Shiny shook his head. "Nah, Polin just got here a moment ago, you're right on time." He looked so tired, so broken down, with those heavy rings under his eyes.

Then he turned back, and everypony spent a few minutes looking silently at the map, before Celestia finally sighed. "Alright, let's update this. Chrysalis?"

The changeling queen nodded and lit up her horn, to Twilight's immense discomfort. Princess Celestia closed her eyes and brought her magic to bear as well, lighting up the interior of the room like a miniature sun. A narrow beam of emerald magic flowed from Chrysalis's horn into Celestia's, stopping after a moment. With a grunt of effort, Princess Celestia shot a ray at the table.

Immediately, the map changed. The red auras grew larger. Several of the tiny, hoof-sized cities seemed to be in even worse condition. The shiny blue auras shrank in number. Twilight gulped, seeing the current state of her country. There was a lot of red everywhere. She wondered if she'd ever be able to stomach tomatoes again once all was said and done.

Shining Armor shook his head. "We can't do it," he said. "We simply cannot beat the infected on a military level. Not like this."

"What was your first hint?" Chrysalis sneered. "The fact that, what, only a fifth of you ponies are left?" She quieted down and looked back at the map. "This infection is... unlike anything that's ever come before. How does a virus do something like this?" She shook her head. "Anyway, it's not like we can do anything against the bulk of the infected, now that they've got this much momentum behind them. The cascade plan is a failure. There's only one thing we can do now." Her horn lit up green, and Canterlot briefly glowed. "Cut off the head of the snake."

Cut off the - what?! What kind of culture did changelings have that that was an idiom?

"Greene's the worst out of the Evolved by far, but I think we proved with Celestia's blood that she can be hurt; we had her hiding for four days after the ambush, and she hasn't been as aggressive in showing off her strength since then. Everyling here knows that the infection won't end without taking her out, but I propose that taking her out is what will end the infection." She smirked. "She's the infection's strongest and weakest point. Without their 'mother' to guide them, the infected will mindless, not as driven. They won't be a threat."

"You're certain?" Princess Celestia asked.

"Positive. The infected were just standing around when you first confronted Greene, right? She hadn't given them any instructions. No instructions, no action."

"Or removing Greene from the picture sends them into a frenzied rage, since there wouldn't be anypony to tell them to sit still," Shining countered. Noticing the strange looks he was getting, he snorted. "Don't tell me it's not a valid possibility."

"Then what do you suggest? Leaving Elizabeth to her own devices?" Chrysalis countered. Shining huffed, but stayed silent, prompting the changeling queen to nod. "As I was saying, if we get another clear shot at Greene, we can take her."

"If we can get a clear shot at her," Princess Luna interjected. "Truly, thou dost not believe she will be foalish enough to confront us just because we ask her to?"

"She did last time," Chrysalis remarked.

"And thou truly believes she will not hath learned better? On one occasion our sister fought her to within an inch of her life, and after that we poisoned her. How dost thou plan to force her into a confrontation, hmm? Hold one of her infected hostage? She shalt send the Shriekers and Lead Breakers in her stead."

Chrysalis's eyes trailed to a spot on the table, and so did everypony else's, even Twilight's. All of them stared at the spires of Canterlot.

"My queen," Polin began. "You can't really be suggesting - "

"Why not?" she insisted. "I'm not getting any stronger, not anymore, and if we wait any longer to force a confrontation we won't have the 'ling power to pull it off. We go into Canterlot full-throttle, show Greene that we can overpower the infected, and she'll have no choice but to come herself. It's that or let us keep slaughtering them."

Shining Armor barked a laugh. "Overpower the infected, right. How? In case you didn't notice, we're getting our flanks handed to us. What's a broken Colony or a reclaimed street here and there, when each of our victories equals six for them?"

"If we can focus all our military strength into one spot, then we can pull it off. If the alicorns and myself go, we can take a lot of the pressure off." Chrysalis let her horn glow bright green for a moment to drive her point home. "We focus all our strength onto Canterlot, and Greene will have two options: come face us herself, or let us keep killing her so-called children. Guess which she'll choose?"

"Your plan relies an awful lot on Elizabeth making the same mistake twice," Princess Celestia pointed out. "That's not very reliable, given how high the stakes are. We'd be much better drawing out Greene to our location."

"And how do you propose that? We just get her to leave the place she feels in control and come to our location?"

"That's roughly what thou art asking!" Princess Luna interjected. While writing, Twilight couldn't help but notice a table pushed to the side, with buttered rolls on it. Her mouth started watering. She looked at Shiny, and he'd apparently noticed. He gave her a slight grin and nodded.

While Twilight pulled a crystalline roll over to herself, Princess Luna continued. "Whether we go to confront her in her base in Canterlot or have her confront us in the streets of Manehattan, thy plan still revolves around Elizabeth Greene being ensnared by our words and actions and coming to confront us herself! Best to do it where we have as much advantage as we can."

"If you do that she'll be less likely to come! We need her to be confident and to cater to her emotions; they're unstable, and she'll come. There is no other option. Unless you want the three of us," Chrysalis said, pointing to herself and the two alicorns. "To go on a merry trip around Equestria, hunt down Greene, and put her down ourselves while fending off her army, it has to be this way!" she snapped. "We're running out of time, we must gather our forces and march into Canterlot."

Polin chuckled. "Just like old times." He noticed the sour looks everypony, including Twilight, flashed him. "Oh boo hoo. Her Majesty is right, though. Greene will be more likely to initiate a confrontation if she feels she is in control."

"She is in control," Cadance remarked sourly. "For the record, I agree with Chrysalis's plan." Twilight nearly choked on her bread roll as she wrote that down. She agreed with who now?! "We're not going to stop this at the source by forcing back the infected until we get to her, we have to go straight for that monster right away. Princess Luna, I know she's been eluding your Night Guard, but we have to try."

After that, the conversation melted into what could best have been described as the Military Tactics Mind-meld. She followed along as best she could, but her studies had never included the fine details of military combat. Sure, she'd picked up some things from her BBBFF, but not that much. Still, Twilight dutifully wrote down whatever was said.

"We can move the bulk of the armies there if we use a cosmic portal relay," Celestia said. "But we can't just bring everypony and leave the country defenseless."

"Truth, sister, and too many simply will not fit in Canterlot."

"Where in Canterlot are we even going to go, my Queen? Anyling have a map?"

"Mane street is a viable option, but getting there's gonna be tricky," Shiny said. "It's wide open, plenty of space to maneuver around Greene."

"Or for her to maneuver around us, but I agree. Mobility will be key to avoid her crushing us with her strength."

"Pegasi can arrange storm clouds overhead, give us weather support." Princess Luna said.

"Water does... what to her again? Does it actually hurt her or just slow her?" Polin asked.

"All the same, we can't leave everything else open. We should reinforce the lines here and here, and move these crystal generators back here."

"We should send in a smaller force to handle Elizabeth, no sense in drawing all that attention," Cadance said, then immediately seemed to realize why she was wrong. "That is, if it was only Elizabeth and not her infected army too."

"We can try and ground her electricity, but there's too much of it to do so safely," Celestia said. "It's much easier to simply wrap magnetic fields around her."

"We'll have a very low Hurricane Limit facing her if we can't stop her shockwaves," Polin mentioned. "Positioning around her will be tough."

"What if we take the south entrance? It's much harder to fortify and gives us a shorter gallop to the Prime Colony."

"We can hold her down a second time, and the rest of thee can incinerate the monster."

At great length, the meeting started wrapping up. Leaders said their farewells to each other, and began departing. Shining Armor and Polin left side by side, talking rapidly and heatedly of some smaller military matter between them. Princess Luna dissolved into mist and whisked herself away.

"Princess Cadance, I need to speak with you," Chrysalis said. The changeling queen exchanged a nod with Celestia, and both she and the pink alicorn walked out of the room, leaving only Twilight and Princess Celestia.

Princess Celestia walked around the table and put a wing around Twilight. She stiffened and looked up at Celestia. "Princess?" she asked. "Is it really happening? We're going to get her?"

Celestia frowned. "Yes. Twilight, listen. I do not fully agree with the plan Chrysalis came up with, but it is our best bet at getting a clean shot at Elizabeth Greene. That said, it's difficult. To say nothing of the logistics of getting enough soldiers there by tomorrow, we will be invading Canterlot, the most heavily infected place, in order to draw out Greene by way of killing her 'children' en masse." Twilight couldn't help but shiver at the sheer gravity of what Celestia spoke of. Killing...

The goddess of the sun went on. "It will be very difficult, and we'll need all hooves on deck for this. I've heard about what you've been up to, and I'm confident you can defend yourself, but..."

"... you don't want me to come," Twilight finished, relieved.

"But you have to." Twilight stopped being relieved. "And your friends too. Twilight, I hold no illusion of the dangers, but consider this. Fluttershy is held in Canterlot, Luna can tell me as such through her dreamwalking. If you and your friends go, we may stumble on Fluttershy and get her a crystal amulet, and then..."

"You think we may be able to use the Elements," Twilight breathed. "Are they even in their location?"

"I haven't been able to tell," Celestia said honestly. "Greene keeps the tower too well guarded, inside and out. Nevertheless, it is a possibility we must be open to, to end this outbreak with one decisive strike. And even if we can't, then you and your friends will be able to help greatly against Elizabeth using your talents, of that I am sure. Twilight, I wouldn't be asking this of you if we weren't absolutely desperate, but again, we need everypony we can get if we're going to pull this off. Again, I won't force you or your friends to do this, but promise me you'll at least talk to them?"

She nodded. "Of course, Princess. We should all be having lunch together. Should I go tell them now?"

Princess Celestia nodded, still grimly serious. "Please do so. I hate to cut this short, Twilight, but there is a lot that needs to be done." Without further word, Princess Celestia vanished with a burst of sunlight, leaving Twilight Sparkle alone with the two crystal guards. Twilight lit up her own horn, scanned her target area for anything solid, and teleported there.

She blinked the light from her eyes and looked around the suite. Her friends were all there, obviously sans Fluttershy, looking her way as if they'd expected her to teleport there. Rainbow hovered in the air, her wingbeats the only noise. Spike sat on Applejack's back, and Pinkie and Rarity stood silently next to each other. They had been in danger of being cut off from each other by the infection, and so they had all come to the Crystal Empire. Rarity and Applejack weren't helping evacuations anymore. She and Rainbow weren't fighting and Pinkie wasn't helping to quell the panic.

"So Twi," Applejack began. "What's the plan?"

"We're going straight for her," she said bluntly. "By tomorrow, the Princesses hope to bring the army into Canterlot and force a confrontation with Greene; they'll be going themselves to help even the odds."

They were silent for a while. Finally, Rainbow spoke up. "So, guess this is it then, huh?"

"Isn't that risky, Twilight? I understand that they're the only ones that can stand against... her, but must they risk their continued leadership on such?" Rarity asked, raising a forehoof slightly.

"The alternative is much worse," Twilight said. "But Princess Celestia also wanted me to ask you girls something. She wants us to come with the army. There's a chance that we can get Fluttershy, get the Elements, and set things right. And if not, then we've gotten pretty good at fighting over the past three weeks..." she said, trailing off.

Everypony, and Spike, looked at each other uneasily, not willing to remember the things they'd had to do. There hadn't been things like that in Equestria for centuries. Elizabeth Greene had come from a dark place, and when she came to Equestria she had brought that darkness with her.

"Well," Rainbow said. "I'm in. I mean, who's gonna rainboom the hay out of Greene's pegasi?"

"Err, RD, you do realize this is Canterlot we're talking about, right? Way I see it, Greene's gonna have a whole bunch of things to knock ya clean out of the sky. Like those Shriekers, or maybe some changelings to magic you up." She tilted her hat back. "We're gonna hafta really put a hurt on them ta get Elizabeth to feel only she can stop us."

"Well then, Applejack, what do you suggest? We can't simply do nothing, can we? And besides, if we get the Elements none of that will matter."

"I'm in too," Spike said. "Teach her to mess with my friends."

Twilight bit her lip. "Spike, you're not coming," she said nervously.

Spike blinked and shook his head as if he'd been slapped. "What? Why not? You just said that you'll need all the help you can get, and I can breathe fire and my scales are pretty tough - "

"Tough enough to hold against a monster that can lift Canterlot Castle if she wanted to? Spike, I know you want to help but - "

"But let me guess!" he said indignantly, tearing up. "I'm too little, it's too dangerous, it's too risky, you don't want me to get hurt, well in case you haven't noticed Twilight - "

"It's not that," she said quickly, almost choking up at how closely he'd come. "It is dangerous and it is risky, and that's why I want you to help, but we can't risk everything on this Spike! What if something goes wrong? What if Elizabeth beats us, or worse? What then? Spike, listen to me. Look at me, Spike." He did, looking up from where he was clenching his claws. "If something goes wrong, Cadance will still need help. She'll be the only princess left, and she'll still be leading her own Empire, and Elizabeth will still be on the warpath. I need you to promise me..." She blinked and swallowed. Oh dear Celestia, her throat was so dry... " I need you to promise me that you'll be Cadance's number one assistant, okay? Promise me, Spike. You have to do this. You have to!"

He looked down, and then came in to hug her. "I promise, Twi." She hugged him back. He was shivering fiercely, and it wasn't the least bit cold. "I will, I will. Hey, number one assistant, right?"

She pulled away and gave him a tired smile. "Yeah. Thank you, Spike. I know Cadance will be in good claws if something... something..."

Before she could finish her sentence, Spike interrupted. "Eh, its okay. I should probably go help Shiny out anyhow, his blood pressure's probably through the roof trying to get everypony from the Crystal Empire to Canterlot in a day."

It was going to be tricky, but with two alicorns and an alicorn-level changeling, and their knowledge of portal relays and teleports, Twilight was fairly certain they could come up with something. Spike left, gingerly closing the door behind him, his claws shaking nervously. Twilight wiped her eyes with a fetlock.

"What about ya, Pinkie? Been awful quiet this whole time," Applejack asked.

Twilight realized she had been really quiet, not a word so far. Pinkie Pie was sitting on a bed, looking down at her hooves with frightening intensity. Slowly she looked up, no trace of a smile on her face, and climbed down from the bed. "That meanie's got Fluttershy. She's been keeping her with her all this time in the middle of a zombie apocalypse. Fluttershy must be so afraid and it's all Greenie's fault. Let's get her."

Rarity's face hardened. "I agree, darling. Let's go into Canterlot. For Fluttershy."

"For Fluttershy," Rainbow agreed.

"For Fluttershy," Applejack repeated.

Twilight looked at her friends and nodded, eyes hardening. Elizabeth Greene would be brought to justice. For terrorizing the world. For unleashing a record-breaking plague on the planet. For betraying their trust and spitting on their friendship. For hurting Princess Celestia. For breaking and enslaving her parents. "For Fluttershy."

"Princess Cadance, I need to speak with you," Chrysalis said. She looked over at Celestia, who was flicking her gaze at her pretty little purple puppet, and they both nodded. She and Cadance stood from the table, walked past the guards and through the doors, and up the stairs.

"What do you want, Chrysalis?"

She shrugged. "Well, it's about this plan. Specifically, what happens if we fail." There was a very high likelihood she wouldn't survive. After all, she had the most raw power out of any of them, and that would make her a target. "It'd be preferable if that didn't happen, of course." The stairs ended and they turned a corner. "But Greene has surprised us before."

"You'll find a way," Cadance said. "You almost had her last time, if it weren't for the Shriekers. I have faith in you, believe it or not."

That actually spoke volumes, that Cadance of all beings had faith in Chrysalis. The pink alicorn wasn't at all the arrogant, stuck-up noble Chrysalis thought she'd have been based on Blueblood; learning how badly she'd botched that stung her pride fiercely. "I... thank you, I suppose," she said. "But it stands to reason that something may happen. We may very well fail. Elizabeth's not an idiot. She's insane and that keeps most of her genius buried, but she'll probably be able to manage threat prioritization when we get her." Chrysalis kicked a forehoof at the crystal floor. "And she'll have all her little pets around to keep us off her."

"The Lead Breakers," Cadance said icily, keeping her eyes forward. "Are they really as bad as you say?"

Chrysalis shrugged. "One on one, I could probably take one now. But they're... big. And for the rest of the army they're completely invincible, so it'll be up to me and your aunts to take care of them when they show up. We can keep planning all we want, Princess, but there's still a very big chance that this gamble will not pay off."

"And then what? You don't think Elizabeth will actually... actually kill Celestia and Luna, will she? She's got to be smarter than that."

She sighed, a buzzing undertone to it. "I don't know. On one hoof, I like to believe she's smarter than that, but on the other hoof she may not restrain herself in the heat of combat." She could picture it already. Her changelings and the ponies frantically fending off the infected, while she and the alicorn sisters frantically chased a lightning-quick Plague Goddess. "But I'm getting sidetracked. I want to ask you, what do you plan to do if it all goes wrong and we fail in Canterlot? Hmm?"

"I was thinking pull the Crystal Guard back to the Empire, send everypony down to hide in the mines under the castle, shrink the shield, and protect a smaller area."

Queen Chrysalis shook her head. "No, Cadance. What you need to do if we fail is run. Grab the Heart and run. Run as fast as you can and never look back."

She blinked, purple irises constricting around their pupils. "W-What?" Both of them stopped walking.

"If we fail, you need to grab the Crystal Heart, power down its aura, then collect the most talented spellcasters you can. Once that's done, run as far away from Canterlot as you can, find as deep a hole as you can, and hide in it. Burn the bridge behind you."

"But, my subjects! Without the Crystal Heart they'll freeze!" she protested, looking out a nearby window. The Crystal Empire's streets were still pockmarked with holes where Shriekers had burst through, and repairponies were working as fast as they could but there was so much damage.

"It doesn't matter! Cadance, listen to me. Look at me!" The alicorn did. "Invading Canterlot is the best chance we have of stopping Greene. The sisters and I are the only ones, at present, who can hurt her in any way. If we fail there will be noling else to stop her, noling else to deter her from charging here and breaking the Crystal Heart over your dead body." Cadance gulped at that. Good. Let her understand how deadly serious she was. "After that she'll go for your subjects, and then from there who knows? My changelings, the griffons, the dragons, the diamond dogs, the deer, and more, until everyling everwhere is gone." Hive Coordinator Bztik was already setting up measures for hiding her people as long as possible if things went way south, but Chrysalis didn't believe for a second that even changelings could hide forever from the infection.

Cadance didn't need to hide forever. She just needed to hide long enough.

"But - " she attempted.

"No! If this doesn't go well there's noling on the planet who'll be able to stop her. You need to gallop as far as you can and hide, and then not rest until you can bring Zeus here. Find a way to get around the language barrier, I don't care if you need to use a nymph's picture book, or feed him one of your subjects, or even one of mine! Get him to help. If the three of us are gone, then he's the only one who can hurt her. Cadance, you have to do that. If this fails you are the world's only hope."

Cadance closed her eyes, swallowed nervously, and let out a deep breath before opening her eyes. She looked up into Chrysalis's eyes. "You're right. Okay. If worst comes to worst, I'll take a few magicians, the Heart, and hide. I'm thinking in the islands east of the Badlands. Lots of fertile ground, no inhabitants, perfect place to hide from a psychotic virus monster."

Chrysalis smiled, making no effort to show off her fangs. "Thank you, Cadance. Now, I need to go. Need to prepare so that you don't need to go dig a hole on some deserted island."

"Right. And I need to go gather the team of magicians. Just in case."

With that done, they parted ways. The changeling queen sighed, and reached into her telepathy. 'Swarm Commander Polin, when we march on Canterlot I am authorizing the use of rapid reserve draining. Let noling's magic run out.'

'My queen, are you certain? We've only just gotten a good store of love, and that'll deplete it in - '

'I know how quickly it'll deplete it! I'm authorizing it anyway.'

There was silence. 'I'll send the message down, my queen. I hope you're right about this.'

Chrysalis sighed, and spoke to herself. "I hope so too."

In Canterlot Castle, in Fluttershy's room, Elizabeth Greene sat on the bed with Fluttershy's head in her lap, slowly running her fingers through her mane. Her gaze was out of the large window, where the day was just getting started. Her thoughts were in in in a frenzy, directing and redirecting her children only a small part of her thoughts.

Tomorrow, they were coming for her.

It wasn't a hunch. It wasn't a feeling feeling feeling. She knew it for an absolute fact. The attack on the Crystal Empire had let her know that; destroy a bunch of buildings, bring out their guard. In the process, capture some of them and steal their memories, then send in her changeling children to take their place and get close to Cadance. She didn't want to risk them attacking the Princess; for one thing Elizabeth didn't want them to get hurt on a plan that likely would fail, and second she still owed owed owed Cadance such a debt for bringing her back to life.

They'd been there in the meeting, guarding the door, and listening to them and Listening to their mother. And now, Elizabeth knew that tomorrow they would focus all their strength into coming to Canterlot.

She wasn't quite quite quite sure what to do with that information. She could take her family and flee, flee into the tunnels and hide. But what would that accomplish? Celestia and Luna and Chrysalis would come for her again, and again, and again, and while she could wear them down by attrition Elizabeth was certain certain certain they had another trick, one that she didn't know of, one that she had to hurry to stop.

This was an opportunity. Instead of hiding, she could face them head on. She could let them get close to her and then trap them in her grip and destroy them, once and for all shattering their threat. They'd come to her, confident in their power and exhausted from her family and then Elizabeth, with her children at her side, would bring all her power upon them. The equines would seek to trap her, but instead they would walk into her own own own trap.

It was risky, a gamble gamble gamble. For both of them. She just had to make sure as many things were in her favor as possible. Elizabeth knew which side of Canterlot they were coming from, and where they intended to go. That wasn't where she wanted to fight them. She wanted clustered streets, filled with houses and carts. She reached out through her children in Canterlot and, in seconds, spotted the place. She memorized it.

Good. Now now now how would she get them there? By leading them through the path of least resistance. Deter them from one passage, encourage them to go another way.

Elizabeth began asking her children in some places to go back into the tunnels, back to Canterlot. She couldn't pull back everyone, the equines would be suspicious that she knew knew knew for sure. But she could call back enough of her darling precious children that they wouldn't be the wiser.

She could do it. She could break them. It was so so so risky bringing them close to her like that, her four days of sickness were proof of that, but Greene was confident they didn't have anything like that. And she had her own surprises, of course.

Elizabeth... worried about Celestia and Luna. It was clear to her now that, past friends or no, moving the sun and moon or no, she couldn't spare them. She would - she frowned and was ever so sad sad sad at the thought - have to kill them. Then who would move the cosmic bodies?

Maybe she could. She could transfer the memories of how they did from Celestia; she'd moved both, after all. Then her unicorn children could move them. Maybe maybe maybe. Possibly probably certainly. She could do it. Elizabeth was confident in her abilities and more confident in her children. There. Now she didn't have to worry about killing Celestia and Luna.

Only feel guilty about it. So so so guilty...

"Elizabeth?" a soft voice asked in the neighing language of the equines.

She snapped her gaze down into Fluttershy's bright blue blue blue eyes. "Yes?" she asked, her voice bouncing around the small room powerfully.

"I, um, have a question. I-If you don't mind that is..."

"Don't."

"Alright. Um, don't be mad but, you're trying to, um, Bless everyone in the world?"

She nodded. "Yes yes yes, am." Where was Fluttershy going with that? She already knew her plan, her Reason.

"And then?" she asked.

Elizabeth cocked her head sideways. "Don't understand," she rasped.

"Once you've, um, Blessed the entire world, a-and you're the only one with free will left... what will you do then? Won't you, um, be bored?"

She blinked. She... hadn't expected that question. Really really really, she hadn't thought that far ahead. Instinctively and intellectually she'd always known she wanted to Bless the entire world to silence the cries of pain and sorrow forever forever forever, but she really hadn't thought about what she herself would do for that forever.

"I... keep children happy," she eventually settled on. "In warmth. Forever."

"Oh, okay," Fluttershy said sadly, falling silent and contemplative again as Elizabeth continued to stroke her mane comfortingly.

Her answer seemed to have satisfied Fluttershy, and it satisfied her, but it did did did get her thinking. What would she miss? What things from this current broken world would she selfishly wish for in the future, fixed world? She'd miss... she'd miss cooked-burnt flesh, which tasted so so so good going down her throat. She'd miss watching Fluttershy speak and Listen with her animals. She'd miss the way the little dragon child Spike spoke of his adoptive mother. She'd miss the lively streets of Canterlot, she'd miss being able to thank Cadance for saving her. There were.... there were so many things she'd miss...

Elizabeth shook it off. It didn't matter if she'd miss it. It was selfish of her. She still had so much in her, so much generosity to give and honest truths to reveal. Her family would miss nothing and they'd be the better for it; she'd be the better for it. She just had to pull off this trap on the alicorn sisters and everything would fall into place.

Still, she couldn't help but wonder how much she'd miss her conversations with Fluttershy.