//------------------------------// // Chapter XII: Aftermath // Story: A Princess and Her Queen // by kildeez //------------------------------// Princess Celestia of Equestria did not think of herself as an impatient mare. Despite the centuries of board meetings, guest appearances, and fundraisers that only served to boost the status of self-serving nobles, she had resisted the urge to slam her head against a wall and scream “SHUT UP” over and over again until her lungs shot out her mouth like a pair of overinflated balloons being squeezed through a straw. Sure, there was that one time 300 years ago, but hey, if Prince Pompanstance didn’t want somepony to urinate on his scale-model diorama of downtown Manehattan, he should have allowed for bathroom breaks during his presentation on…what was it again…oh yes, “The Socioeconomic Impact of Recent Migration Patterns from Rural to Urban Areas.” Maker above, she was bored just thinking that. Yes, she preferred to think she was the wise, omniscient ruler her ponies knew and loved, that the image of Celestia the all-knowing wasn’t just a façade she pasted on her face every morning like most ponies applied makeup, but she knew the truth, especially now that Prince Blueblood’s presentation on his own royal bloodline had entered its fifth hour. “This leads me to the next branch in the family line…if my lovely assistant will change the slide…” the Prince droned. The perky, white-coated mare gleefully inserted a new roll of slides onto the film carriage, and Celestia swallowed a sudden surge of puke. “Thank you, Miss Redheart,” the Prince said, his hoof reaching across the screen to reach the furthest corner of the board, inadvertently exposing the scars left by the acid burns that bought him and the young mare together. “You got it, sweets,” the Nurse replied, a little blush on her cheeks. Celestia sighed. It was wonderful that Blueblood had found love, and that his lover could bring out such a wonderful change in him (when was the last time she’d heard him say ‘thanks’ for anything!?), if only he could realize that not everpony was as enthralled with his voice as he was! Well, him and Redheart, if the little sparkles in her eyes as she watched him talk were any indication. “Now, if there are no questions…” Questions from who? I’m the only one attending this me-forsaken impromptu class! “…I will continue with the third century ANM*, where we encounter Vladimir Blueblood and his…” He trailed off as he hit the control to work the carriage, and a pair of snickers lilted through the air. Celestia sat up in her hard-backed chair for the first time in hours, both her and Redheart holding their hooves to their mouths, suppressing what would obviously be full-blown laughter otherwise. An eyebrow rising, Blueblood finally turned to the screen displaying what should have been a map showing the travels of Vladimir Blueblood through Saddle Arabia. His own, smiling face gazed back at him, wide eyes staring from a huge puddle of drool as a miniature version of himself pranced around in a pink baby bonnet, a little stuffed Celestia at his side. “Ohh, I remember that day!” Celestia cooed as the Prince stared in horror. “Oh, Blueblood, you were such a little sweetie as a baby!” “Jeez, Blue, ya didn’t tell me you had a pink bonnet and a plushie Celestia growin’ up!” Redheart snickered, the bun in her mane bobbing up and down. “ACK, NO!” Blueblood gasped, fumbling with the control. “Actually, the bonnet is quite an interesting story,” Celestia exclaimed. “You see, he had an inverted penis as an infant, so for the first few months of his life we thought he was a girl!” Blueblood looked at the Princess in absolute horror. “Auntie Tia!” “Oh, it all worked out in the end, Blue! It came out eventually!” Celestia giggled innocently. “Really,” Redheart gasped, a light of academic fascination switching on behind her eyes. “I’ve seen a few cases of inverted penises myself, but never so bad the doctors misdiagnosed the foal’s gender!” “Sweetheart!” Blueblood gasped. “Oh yes, it was quite the surprise when his stallionhood did show itself, but one day his nanny changed his diapers, and there it was!” She chortled. “Oh, she thought he’d been kidnapped and replaced with a stallion look-alike!” “No,no!” Blueblood whimpered, finally grabbing hold of the controls and slamming the “Change Slide” button so hard the plastic casing cracked. Immediately, the terrible picture projected behind him slid away, exchanged for an older, acne-afflicted, brace-wearing stallion, sleeping next to a little white lump. “Say,” Redheart squinted. “Isn’t that the Celestia plushie from his foalhood?” “Dearest sweetest Celestia…” the Prince whimpered. “It is!” Celestia gasped excitedly. “I almost forgot! He couldn’t bear to part with it, but the first time he tried to move it out of his bed and to a bookshelf, he got into an accident with a watermelon stand and convinced himself it was cursed!” “Auntie Tia!” Blueblood gasped. “So he slept with it into his late twenties!” She laughed, slapping a knee as Redheart fell off her perch, rolling on the floor in hysterics. “YYAAAAHHHHHH!” Blueblood screamed, vaulting the table and body-slamming the projector in a half-crazed stupor. Slides scattered all over the floor, spreading across the tile and sliding beneath desks to be lost forever in the castle’s ventilation system. The prince reared up, breathing heavily at the crushed pile of metal and plastic beneath his hooves. “Uh…Blue?” Redheart asked, backing away fearfully. He turned on her, still hyperventilating, nostrils flaring like an animal’s. A lock of hair trailed away from his once-perfect mane, dangling over his eye. All at once, he paused, looked down at the destroyed machine, then up at his aunt and his marefriend. “Dearie me, um…” he sighed. “I have apparently just lost my composure in a rather unroyal way.” “No kiddin’: you were totally off your rocker!” Redheart gasped. Straightening himself up and tucking the golden lock back up where it belonged, he raised a hoof to his chest and lowered his head before Celestia. “Auntie Tia…Princess, I have apparently conducted myself in a manner most unbefitting a royal, as well as rendered the remainder of my presentation unusable. If you will please excuse me, I must apologize for such an outburst.” “That’s quite alright, dearest nephew,” Celestia waved a hoof dismissively. “It’s not every day that a pony can expect past…embarrassments to be presented before them.” “Yeah, especially in front of their marefriend,” Redheart guffawed. The prince glared at her before gathering up a few of the rolls of slides. “Thank you for your time, Princess,” he said quietly, Redheart gathering up the remainder of his supplies as he trotted out the door and let it swing shut behind her. “So, ya still got that doll?” Celestia heard Redheart whisper as the pair trotted away. “Nuh-no!” “Oh my sweet Celestia, you totally do…” The Princess smiled and shook her head. The next few nights would certainly be interesting for her nephew. Of course, he never saw what she saw, or heard what she heard. The little hue of golden magic engulfing the slides a moment before they clicked into place, the telltale guffawing that bounced around the room as the Prince’s distress grew more and more. It all pointed to one thing. “Discord?” She asked. “I know you are there. Don’t make me search for you.” A moment later, the draconequus crashed to the ground before her, rolling around in mirth as his laughter bounced off the walls, taking out little ornate lamps and golden curtain rods as little “ha’s” hopped off every surface in the room like a bunch of superballs being dumped on the ground. “Did you – did you see the look on his face!?” The spirit of chaos and disharmony laughed, his entire body writhing on the floor. “Oh, that was too good!” “Discord,” Celestia said sternly, glaring down at her lover. The spirit sat up from the floor, his laughter dying down. “Oh come now, Tia, you know I can’t go too long without tormenting at least one of your little ponies.” Her glare darkened. “Prince Blueblood worked very hard on that presentation, and he never even got halfway through it!” The draconequus rolled his eyes and pouted. “Tia, this was part of the deal! You know I…hmph!” He cut himself off as the Alicorn suddenly leapt atop him, wrapping her forehooves around his neck and kissing him passionately on the lips, her entire body laying atop his. Finishing the kiss, she snuggled deep into his chest fur. “My hero,” she cooed. He popped a smart little smirk at that. “Now Tia, what kind of stallionfriend wouldn’t act if he saw his damsel was in distress?” “I wouldn’t call it distress, it’s just…” she sighed, snuggling even deeper into his fur as his eagle talon ran along her spine, eliciting a mild shiver. “Ugh, I am happy he’s found love, and at how good for him that love has been, I really am! He’s better with Nurse Redheart than he ever was alone, but he still gets so entranced by his own voice! If Redheart wasn’t every bit as head over hooves with him as he was with himself…” “Tch,” he snickered, his embrace tightening. “Love is weird.” “Yes,” she mused, giving him a quick peck on the lips. “Love is weird.” “So, what are you doing with the rest of your day?” “Well, with Luna gone, I should really go prepare for the Night Courts.” “Ah yes,” his nose scrunched up. “Do you really think giving her a couple weeks away from Canterlot was such a good idea?” “The timing could have been better,” she admitted. “But you saw how hard she’d been working! She needed to get away from her duties for a while, to recoup, to get away from…” “…us?” He asked flatly. She bit her lip. “You must admit, seeing another loving couple still deep in the early stages of full-on romance isn’t the best thing for somepony still trying to relate to others, much less find someone to love her in that way.” “A bit like salting the wound, yes,” he mused. “Ah well, the Night Courts shouldn’t take you too long, right?” “Right,” she smiled, hugging him tight. “I still need my sleep, you know, so if you can finish up with the Everfree I think I can make it to bed around…” Suddenly, the door burst open. “Princess, we…“ a royal guard stumbled in, saw the pair embracing on the floor, and blushed instantly. Celestia sighed and pulled herself off the draconequus. Though the guards had all been sworn to secrecy about her relationship with the god of chaos, it still would be bad form to share an intimate moment right in front of one. Discord pouted, his body coiling up into a little ball. “Yes, guard, what is it?” She asked, unable to keep the impatience from her voice. “We better be under attack or something,” Discord grumbled. “Uh…” the guard took a moment as his mind rebooted. “Oh, yes, it’s the Crystal Empire, Princess! We just received word that the changelings have invaded!” Celestia and Discord’s eyes flew wide, all impatience and hopes for further snuggles forgotten in a sudden burst of absolute fear and panic. The draconequus's fur stood on end as the Princess took a few shell-shocked steps backwards. “Luna,” she whimpered. “Fluttershy,” he gasped. All at once, both their jaws dropped and they stared fearfully at each other, coming to the same realization. “The GIRLS!” “All six of the Elements of Harmony…Twilight…” Celestia trailed off. “Six of the sweetest ponies in Equestria…in the grip of that madmare…” Discord lamented. “Your majesty?” The guard asked. The Princess turned, her face a blank slate of pure, shocked numbness as she faced him, her jaw working up and down. The guard swallowed. “Wh-what will you have us do?” In an instant, the shell-shocked look gave way to a glare of blinding determination. “Summon every single active duty soldier and tell them to prepare to march out. Have them pack for winter conditions: we’ll be heading north, and could be entering a siege situation.” “Yes, Princess,” the guard said, visibly relieved that the Princess was no longer staring numbly into some great, unknowable nothing. “In addition, I want every auxiliary and home guard unit activated and preparing maneuvers,” she screamed, already pacing on the tile. “I’ll not have Chrysalis catching the rest of Equestria unaware while we go chasing shadows in the tundra!” “Yes, Princess, as you wish, Princess,” the guard bowed as he left, careful to shut the door quietly behind him. Discord finally took a few steps forward, resting a claw on the Princess's shoulder. “Tia…” “Discord,” she replied, her voice even and business-like. “How do you feel about a few weeks up north?” The draconequus arched an eyebrow, and then a wicked grin crossed his face. He cracked a few knuckles and held his bear paw out to her. “If it’s a war Chrysalis wants…” She smiled and placed her hoof in the paw. “…then it’s a war Chrysalis shall get.” --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chrysalis's eyes drooped, her hole-filled legs quaking despite her best efforts (though she had managed to fight them down to a minor quiver). The love from the Crystal Heart still burned in her core; she could feel it fueling every one of her muscles, yet her battle with the Princess had taken more out of her than she could have ever guessed, and creating restraints which could hold her had been no picnic either. Still, this was the show she had been raised for, and the show she had been playing in for the past century or so of her life, so finding the strength to maintain the old façade wasn’t terribly difficult. And yet, as she lounged in the tiny café with a small army of private guards and one of her greatest enemies cocooned at her hooves, she couldn’t help but feel a longing urge to just put her legs up and relax. Oh! But speaking of the Princess… “You can drop the charade any time now,” she said, lifting a cup of tea to her lips. “That pod keeps track of your respiration and pulse. I know you’ve been awake for the past ten minutes.” Princess Luna’s eyes flickered open, immediately morphing into an angry glare aimed right through the goo within her tiny prison. She leveled that gaze on the Queen a split second before maneuvering herself against the far wall of the cocoon. Chrysalis watched with the chitin just above her eye arched as the Princess's rear hooves lashed out in a blow aimed directly at the quivering, gelatinous walls, which of course bounced back futilely, like some sort of ultra-durable rubber. Though she did an okay job of covering it, the Queen took notice of the tiny wince of pain which accompanied Luna straining her wounds. “Please don’t,” Chrysalis sighed. “The only thing you’ll damage is yourself. Besides, that cocoon is the only reason your wounds aren’t bubbling over with pus right now.” The Princess paused and eyed the queen suspiciously, who promptly rolled her eyes. “Look, it wouldn’t do if our prey died of some infection before we ever had a chance to feed off them, right? I mean, sitting in one place for hours at a time doesn’t do much for the immune system. That goo you are trapped in has evolved to be antiseptic. So at least remain in there until your wounds heal, then continue your pointless struggling, okay?” Luna still glared out her prison, but what the Queen said made enough sense to make her stop. That was something, at least. “Good. Thank you. Let me just start with an apology: I had hoped to restrain you more efficiently, but there was a moment where…” You have misjudged many things in coming here, monster… Chrysalis’s grip on her tea tightened until a hairline fracture formed in the cup. Still, she kept her face at a steely calm, holding at a half-lidded neutral as she looked down at the Princess. “…I lost my temper. As a monarch, it was a shameful loss of control, and I wish to extend my sincerest apologies for striking you as hard as I did.” Luna arched a single eyebrow, but kept her muzzle firmly shut. “The silent treatment, eh?” Chrysalis grinned, making sure each of her razor-sharp fangs was clearly visible to the trapped Alicorn. “I guess I should have expected nothing less. Just so you know, you and your ponies will receive fair treatment while I consolidate my forces here, and within a month we should hopefully be out of your mane.” Luna kept her eyebrow arched and her forehooves crossed, her mane drifting about behind her in the fluid. Still, she remained silent as the Queen continued sipping her tea. “This is quite a lovely blend, you know,” she remarked. “I do hope you get the chance to taste it at some point.” “My Queen!” A deep, throaty voice interrupted the one-sided conversation. Chrysalis sighed and placed her tea on the table. “Terribly sorry, Princess. Duty calls,” she cackled as she rose from her seat and turned. Bait and Switch bowed before her, dropping the bound ponies at her hooves. “My Queen, we have captured the Elements of Laughter and Kindness, as ordered,” the smaller changeling hissed. Chrysalis eyed the pair on the ground: the pink one glaring at her and yelling something through her gag, the yellow one cringing and shrinking beneath her rosette mane, trying to become as small as possible while holding her bound hooves up over her face. “Ah, very good. Excellent work, my subjects.” “Thank you, my Queen,” both changelings enthused. “As the ones who captured them, you shall have the honor of guarding over these ponies during our occupation of the city,” she turned towards the tavern, still shimmering beneath her magical grip. “See to it that they are cocooned and given their respective duties once we are finished here.” “Yes, my Queen, thank you, my Queen,” both changelings echoed. Switch gently scooped up Fluttershy in his magic while Bait picked up a kicking and screaming Pinkie, holding her at a distance to avoid her bound, yet still flailing, hooves. Both changelings flanked their Queen, holding the captured ponies in front of them like trophies. Nodding to each in turn, Chrysalis took a few steps towards the tavern. In an instant, a hundred personal guardlings fell in step beside her, completely surrounding the smaller building with spears and shields leveled. With a single bob of the Queen’s head, the magical shimmer over the building disappeared. “Twilight Sparkle!” She barked, her voice amplified just like the Chrystal Guards’ earlier. “You have already been defeated! Your Princess is my captive, as are your friends! Your brother and step-sister have been restrained! The city is already secured! You have no allies, no friends, no one at all to help you! Surrender immediately and I promise you and the remaining Elements of Harmony will be treated fairly as prisoners of the Changeling Swarm!” No response came from within the tavern. For a full five minutes, the building sat completely and eerily silent. A few of the soldiers shifted uncomfortably on their hooves, their hearts beginning to race, sweat gathering on their foreheads as they all watched the building with gazes that could have burnt through solid crystal. “She knows I’ve already defeated her Princess,” Chrysalis mused. “Surely, she can’t be foolish enough to attempt a counterattack!” Then again, this was Twilight Sparkle she was talking about: Princess Celestia’s protégé, and the Element of MAGIC itself. Sure, if things came down to it, the Queen was certain she could take the little unicorn on, unlike that last time when she’d fillynapped those three younger ponies. Things had changed since then. Chrysalis was stronger, running high off of Crystal Heart juice, and she’d already defeated the Princess of Night! Surely, Twilight could see…okay, y’know what? This had gone on for too long. “If you aren’t coming out, then I’m coming in,” she hissed, stamping her hoof and motioning to a pair of changelings to her right. Nodding, they immediately leapt into the air and darted to the building’s façade, affixing a glob of goo that glowed eerily against the door and hummed and crackled as they produced it. In a second, a glob maybe a foot wide stuck to the frame, and the pair darted back into the line. With a final nod from the Queen, one of the pair unleashed a small, green bolt of hyper-excited magic aimed directly at the blob, which detonated spectacularly. Instantly, changelings swarmed into the building through the gaping, smoldering portal, skittering along the walls, ceiling, and floor as an unending black flood that inundated the structure’s interior. Chrysalis strolled in amidst the swarm as they scoured every single corner, a scowl growing upon her face. “Oh Miss Spaarrr-kle…” she hissed, a few tables rising from the floor in her magic’s grip and shattering against the walls. “Where arrree yooouuuuuu?” “My Queen,” a changeling rose from out of the black tide and saluted. “We’ve found something.” Arching the chitin over an eye again, she motioned for him to continue. The changeling immediately swooped to a spot in the middle of the floor with a small swarm of changelings circling around it, giving the appearance of a whirlpool in the midst of the little black bodies. Nodding to the others, the changeling landed in the middle of the spiral and tapped at the floor with a hoof. A hollow rapping sound rose over the chittering of the swarm. “No,” Chrysalis grumbled. Could Sparkle really be that slippery!? No, she was just a little nerd that got lucky once or twice, she couldn’t… Tossing a few of her subjects aside in rage, Chrysalis threw herself at the little patch of wood and sent a powerful magic blast through it. Once the dust and dirt from the blast settled, a gaping black maw revealed itself, yawning wide open, taunting her. “Of course,” she said, shaking her head as her scowl grew, her anger boiling up within her. “My Queen, should we organize a party to pursue her?” The changeling asked. “Don’t bother,” she laughed. “E-even if we could assume Twilight and her little friends were still down there and hadn’t disappeared out a hidden exit somewhere, I’d have to personally accompany them or risk losing more changelings. Or need I remind you how many of your brothers and sisters that same group managed to defeat at the wedding?” The changeling swallowed fearfully and shook his head. “I didn’t think so,” Chrysalis sighed, trotting out of the tavern and glaring across at the cocoon lying next to her teacup. She couldn’t say for sure, but she could swear the Princess was smirking at her through the goop she was trapped in. Her anger piqued. She tried to resist the urge to pull off that old cliché, but just then, it was so overwhelming, her emotions rising to a fever pitch until finally she could resist no more. Bracing her hooves, Chrysalis threw her head back, dropped her jaw wide, and bellowed: “SPAAAARRRRRRRRKKLLLLEEE!”