Canterlot… now spiked to the teeth, a new mountain face risen, swarmed with the wonder and pride of Equestria, the army.
It only stood to reason that the most guarded and safe place in this world wouldn’t pose a challenge for Discord, needless to say, He had graced the castle with his presence along with a few new visitors.
“I’ve always liked flashy introductions, don’t you? Let’s see how flashy we can get”
Amour reinforced hoofsteps clanked across the hallway and made their way into the royal quarters.
“Your highness! There seems to be a commotion on the lower castle grounds”
“Thank you, you may leave”
“What are your orders, highness?”
“I shall deal with the matter personally”
“Yes, your highness”
Meanwhile, in a secret dungeon, Mark was getting closer to his limit, he wasn’t sure how long he could last with all this so when Celestia told him that Pacifica is back, he left behind the semi-pile of glass, metal, cogs and pendulums.
Of course, Queen Chrysalis was also informed.
“Pacifica!”
Mark’s heart thumped with relief when he finally saw Pacifica who was still clinging onto Uncle Discord and refused to let go.
Something about Mark seemed off and Pacifica could sense it.
“…”
“You have no idea how worried I was about you, was she all right?”
Discord conjured a large spatula and with extreme spatula-bending force he managed to unglue Pacifica from him.
“All right? She was more than all right, you should have seen what they did to the timberwolves”
“Ti-timerwolves?!? Just what were you doing Pacifica?”
“…”
“Travelling?!? On your own?!? Are you crazy? What if something happened to you? something DID happen to you!”
“…”
“And just who was with you all that time?”
“…”
Mark looked at Monty, he had only known about him from the casual conversations he overheard in his family, not that their family was renowned for being generous in that department.
“…”
“Rose? Who’s Rose?”
Mark’s attention turned towards the changeling mare.
She seemed in pretty bad shape but Mark just couldn’t get his eyes off of her.
Rose hoof-pumped in her mind, not only she found a pair of kids that she always wanted but they also had a pretty good looking changeling stallion who will probably be VERY grateful to her for taking care of the kids.
She came up to him in a slow manner, showing off every part of her body and coming at breath’s distance before finally introducing herself.
“Hi, my name is Rose…”
Her wound let itself be known as Rose cringed in pain, she had forgotten about that little detail.
Queen Chrysalis noticed the spark between them and used this chance.
“Mark, take her with you and find medical attention at once”
“Yes, my Queen”
Of course that was just an excuse for Mark to make an impression on Rose, she was kinda cute.
Of course that was just an excuse for Chrysalis to have Mark out of the way and have a little chat with Pacifica, but that wasn’t going to happen just yet.
“Why if it isn’t my favourite queen, Chrissy!”
Discord gave Chrissy a requited hug.
“Discord, how have you been?”
“Oh, you know me, swings and roundabouts really… say, we should catch up sometime!”
No words could describe Celestia’s surprise at this moment, she had no idea that they knew each other, in fact they seem more acquainted with each other than Discord was with her… and they had one heck of a history together..
“You two know each other?”
“Know each other? We’re practically family!” Replied Discord as he wrapped his shoulder around Chrysalis who didn’t seem to mind at all.
“What’s the meaning of this, Chrysalis?“
“My dear Celestia, there are many things that you don’t know about-“
“-Us” finished off Discord.
“I would have felt safer knowing this beforehand”
Discord had an idea.
“Oh but to reveal such… private memories?”
Discord grabbed Chrysalis’s snout, as if he were about to share a lover’s kiss.
Chrysalis was playing along nicely, it was winding up Celestia, driving her crazy and they loved every second of it.
“!!!”
Discord stopped his little role-play.
“Oh, we’re just having a little fun, that’s all” chuckled Discord
Chrysalis nodded whilst covering her snout barely holding back the laughter, a faint giggle here and there.
“Chrysalis!”
“A Queen also has needs Celestia, and considering there is little to no entertainment around these parts, we will have to make do with who we have”
“Well, I hope this doesn’t become a habit”
Chrysalis's warm expression died to make way to a stone cold one
“Now, to more pressing matters, I have something to discuss with you, Pacifica”
“???”
Pacifica was taken by surprise, out of all changelings in this world, the Queen wants to speak to her, what could she possibly have to say?
Celestia humphed, so this is why she told Mark to take care of Rose…
“And I suppose that having Mark go with Rose was just a coincidence?”
“I don’t question your methods Celestia, don’t question mine”
“Thinking that way, you will never become a appropriate Queen for your kind”
“Need I remind you which one of us is Queen, Princess?”
Things were getting a little heated and that’s the last thing anypony wanted right now so Celestia decided to give her this one
“I am sorry Chrysalis, However I would like to discuss the matter with Pacifica myself first”
“She is of changeling kind and therefore my responsibility”
“And your kind is in conflict with mine, therefore it is also my responsibility”
“Oh?” Chrysalis didn’t expect that answer, Celestia was slowly learning the hardships of being Queen despite not having earned the title yet.
“Fine, I shall allow it but if you don’t persuade her, I will”
“That won’t be necessary”
“We shall see”
“Wait!”
Monty caught up to Celestia and Pacifica who were already on their way
“I’m coming with Pacifica”
“I’m sorry…” Started Celestia before she realized that she didn't know the colt's name
“-Percy”
“-Percy but this is a personal matter, I’m afraid that you will have to wait-“
“He comes” Interrupted Pacifica
“Yeah! I’m coming too!”
“So be it…”
The Princess and the changelings retreated to a more personal area with stone walls and a steel-reinforced door.
Chrysalis had slipped in without anypony noticing, after all she wasn’t called the Queen of changelings for nothing.
Celestia , lined the room in a magical fabric, successfully cutting off anything going in or out.
Now they can talk.
“How has your trip been? I heard that you ran away from your family in Maretropolis?”
“Yeah! There was this like big march and everything and we ran away and then we were like in the middle of nowhere and-“
“I often find that tea helps to relax during such conversations, would any of you care for some?”
Celestia sipped on her tea, little by little as she listened to the whole story as told by Monty, Pacifica was being quiet and evasive for some reason, especially about what happened back in Maretropolis.
“I see… and tell me, what do you changelings think is happening”
“Uprising” jotted out Pacifica
“Yes, unfortunately, our history with your kind had always been stormy and that had never been so apparent as it currently is, if we stand idly by and let natural progression take its course I’m afraid that we might not like the outcome, however Myself and your Queen, Chrysalis have come to an understanding”
“Understanding?”
“Yes, we have managed to put our differences aside and work out a mutually beneficial solution to this problem”
“?” asked Pacifica
“The summit”
“That won't-” Started Pacifica but was interrupted by an unexpected voice
“This is pointless”
To everypony’s surprise, Queen Chrysalis was in the room all along, except just now she had made herself present.
“Chrysalis? But-
“-What kind of changeling Queen would I be if I couldn’t slip by unnoticed? Now listen to me carefully Pacifica, The rebels are acting like wild dogs and therefore shall be treated as such, we need to put them down but we’re not going to go to war this time, of course the rebels don’t know that the army we set up in here in Canterlot is just for show, when they will be busy getting ready for war, you will infiltrate and retrieve any valuable information, the size of the army, weapons and plans of attack”
“Wait, so you’re going to send her to the enemy?” asked Monty
Celestia tried to take over
“Well, not exa-“
“Yes”
“Chrysalis!”
“No! what if they catch her, I…” butted in Monty
“It’s OK Monty, I’ll go”
”But-”
„If I don’t do this a war will start, do you want to go to war?”
“No but-“
“Then I’m going”
“Fine, then I’m going with you”
Celestia protested
“Endangering one of you is a risk large enough-“
“He shall go with her”
“That is too much of a risk”
“We can defend ourselves” began Pacifica
“Yeah! We have the pegazooka and the rumble suit!”
Chrysalis and Celestia looked at each other puzzled, now that they mentioned it, Pacifica did seem to be wearing some sort of outfit and Monty was carrying a large gun strapped to his back.
“They’re magical items, we defeated the timberwolves with these”
“And how exactly have you obtained them?” asked Celestia.
“We found them, in a cave” replied Monty
Something felt off to Celestia, there is nothing more dangerous than an unknown magical item, and such things do not simply lie around in caves.
“When do we infiltrate?” asked Pacifica
“We made our move already, now we wait” their Queen replied.
“In the meantime, you two rest, I would also like somepony to have a look at your items”
Celestia was right, it had been a long day, the timberwolf attack, finding the items, and now this mission all of a sudden, everypony just needed a day of rest to tackle the sheer magnitude of things.