Monsoon looked to his foe, then back to Applejack, then to Chrysalis, whom was fuming from the display. "What are you DOING?!" she screeched, "You're ruining EVERYTHING! It's bad enough that we had to work around this grotesque oaf, but now you can't even act like a proper weapon and-"
"What did you say?" Monsoon interrupted. The air grew quiet as realization dawned on Chrysalis as to what he was referring to. She took a step back unintentionally, and tried to think up a retort.
"I-it's... I didn't mean that. Slip of the tongue, and all that. Please, let's just finish with this-"
"Am I some sort of tool to you, Queen?" Monsoon asked in a menacing tone. He took a step towards her, slowly twirling his sais in agitation. "I may be a gun for hire... but I'm not something that can just be used."
"I am not, I assure you," she said nervously, taking another step back.
"Sounds like a lie to me," Applejack snarked within her confines. The Changeling Queen quickly spun towards Applejack's direction to bark an order of silence, but held her tongue upon seeing the Element's smug face. Chrysalis turned back to Monsoon with another smile in an attempt to diffuse the situation.
"Please, you mustn't listen to this pony. I've already told you how dangerous she is. She's already turning us against each other. Can't you see that?"
"Do ya notice how she's tryin' so hard to convince ya, Monsoon?" Applejack said gently.
"And how do I know that you aren't also lying through your teeth?" Monsoon spat back at the farm pony.
"Ya don't," the farm pony replied simply.
"I beg of you, dear friend. Believe me! I've been nothing but honest and hospitable to you!" Chrysalis pleaded once again, desperately.
The cyborg looked to Chrysalis for a moment in consideration, before his vision drew back to the trapped pony that was completely at his mercy. He could easily tighten the grip the metal had on her and turn her into a mangled rack of gore, but he couldn't help but hesitate.
"Believe what ya want," she said, "That is all ah can say. That is all you should be expected to do."
Monsoon stood there for a moment in silence, before a smile split across his face. "I'm afraid," he started, "That I tolerate lies as much as I tolerate the rules of nature being marred. With that said... I'm afraid I have to terminate our contract, dear queen. For personal reasons, of course." As those words left his mouth, he turned himself towards Chrysalis fully, and began to approach her, Sais at the ready.
From horror to rage, Chrysalis' eyes burned and bored into Monsoon's advancing form as her horn flared and dissipated for a moment. "So be it, monster," she uttered.
Monsoon then suddenly shot forward from his position, aiming to strike down his former benefactor. Shocked, but not deterred, Chrysalis leaped from her position and took flight, narrowly avoiding Monsoon's attack. Soaring higher and higher, she aimed to get as far away as possible in order to summon as much magic as she had remaining in order to try to destroy her insubordinate at a safe distance. Before she could charge an offensive spell, Monsoon sheathed his sais and activated his magnetic powers before he segmented himself and shot his hands up to Chrysalis. The cyborg then gripped her front hooves, and began shooting the rest of his pieces up to reconnect with his wrists.
She gasped in surprise at the sudden assault, and tried to fly higher while charging her spell faster. The distance she made gave her a spot of hope as clouds descended past her, seeing no limb nor fragment coming for her, aside from the disembodied hands that gripped her like manacles. As she completed the charge, she stopped ascending, and scanned the clouds below her for her artificial pursuer. However, her reliance on her eyes failed her as Monsoon's pieces shot through the clouds from her blind spot. Before she could act, the pieces recombined, and the completed body wound around the changeling. She flailed about in fury, as one of Monsoon's hands let go long enough to retrieve a Sai from his side. He then plunged the weapon into Chrysalis' shoulder and snapped the blade from the hilt, forcing a horrid screech from the changeling.
Her agony of the sudden wound was enough to cast a beam of concentrated magical energy at Monsoon's head purely out of reaction. The attack struck him in the face, forcing him off the changeling, all the while clinging to the handle of his broken sai. They both began to go into a free fall, drifting further apart as the ground got closer and closer, until Monsoon finally regained his senses and prepared for a controlled landing. His body sparked with magnetic power again, slamming his feet firmly into the ground below as the rest of his body slowed from the repulsion before each piece attracted back together in quick succession, making satisfying clunks. Chrysalis, however, was not so lucky, as her body hit the ground unceremoniously, bounced a bit, and rolled to a stop.
Monsoon looked at the broken sai in his hand for a moment before he tossed it aside like the useless object it was. He then turned his attention to Chrysalis, whom struggled to get up. He took one step forward, aiming to walk right up to the changeling queen and squash her like a bug, but Applejack called out to him.
"Monsoon! Don't do it."
The cyborg stopped, before turning to the still trapped Element of Honesty and sneered. "And why not? Putting this creature out of its misery would be a mercy, wouldn't it? It would certainly make sure an event like this wouldn't happen again."
"It ain't right! No matter what she's done, we can't just do that to her."
"Are you really willing to risk your backwards, idealistic world just to keep this creature alive?" Monsoon scoffed in a mocking tone.
"We can change a life of takin' to a life of givin', remember? Ah believe that with all mah heart," she said solemnly, "She'll get what's coming to her for all the stunts she pulled, but she still deserves a fightin' chance to turn herself around."
"Yes," Chrysalis said weakly, a fair ways away from them, "I do deserve to live. I have a brood to take care of, after all, and more preparations to make."
Applejack stared at her with a hint of contempt mixed with pity for the pathetic liar. Her feeling was suddenly jostled though, as the piping around her uncoiled themselves and returned below the ground where they belonged, at the behest of Monsoon's command. She looked to the cyborg with awe and appreciation, before it transformed into shock as Monsoon unsheathed his other sai. Then, the sai and the hand that gripped it were pitched directly at Chrysalis.
"MONSOON! STOP!"
Chrysalis' eyes widened as the sharp, obsidian blade sailed towards her. She shut her eyes tightly and coiled away in fear of the impact, expecting the worst pain. However, no pain came, which caused her to hazard a look. And there, mere fractions of an inch away from her head, was the tip of the sai hovering in mid-air. Upon seeing it, the sai was dropped before her, and the hand returned to its master. Chrysalis sat there, scared out of her wits, before she lost consciousness from all of the excess stress.
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It ended up taking a while, but once Twilight and Fluttershy returned from the Everfree, accompanied by Zecora, they managed to get everything under control and back to relative normalcy. The barrier created over Ponyville quickly lifted as the Great and Apologetic Trixie handed over the Alicorn amulet with absolutely no fight. Upon sharing her reasons why, which was her foalhood fear of changelings, and the fact something like Monsoon was able to stop the Queen out of the lot, she reasoned it wasn't worth fighting against this kind of crazy. She however didn't leave without some scathing remarks about Dumah's statue, which depicted a finely detailed likeness of Dumah, triumphantly standing over a detailed, mini-sized statue of Trixie if she were some sort of ant pony. It was later deconstructed and its metal was re-purposed to become the various pots and pans that were taken to make the monument in the first place.
Next to that, upon receiving word, a team of a hundred Royal Guards arrived from Canterlot, bringing with them carriages. Queen Chrysalis would be taken first to be brought forth before Celestia to receive an adequate punishment. The rest of her army, sans the copies, would be taken to the Equestrian customs office in Canterlot, and be processed and granted citizenship in Equestria, provided they no longer pose as friends and loved ones. The Princesses agreed to grant them lodgings and opportunities for employment for a while until they can properly integrate into society. The copies, however, were dispelled back to the mirror pool via the reverse spell, used by Twilight and Trixie together, after the former taught the latter begrudgingly.
As the day wound down, the town swiftly returned to normal, complete with tacky banners violently torn from their bearings. Everything was finally right, but one creature still felt off.
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Upon a hill, overlooking the vast apple orchard of Sweet Apple Acres, Applejack sat to watch the sunset beneath her second favorite tree on their property. She breathed a sigh of relief, glad things were back to how they were supposed to be, and that work could continue properly tomorrow.
Her simple and honest train of thought was interrupted by the heavy footfalls of her new guest at the farm. "Come to join me?" she asked in a playful tone, looking to the approaching maroon colored cyborg. Monsoon stopped beside her, looking far into the distant sunset with his arms crossed. Applejack frowned from the lack of response, and the obvious unfriendly air about him. Her eyes went back to the sunset, returning to her wistful and simple daydreaming. "Sure is a nice sunset."
"I don't belong here," he replied, matter-of-factly.
"Ah know," she said, "But, ya'll might still be stuck here fer a while, at least. Twah's been workin' on this whole thing since that giant frog monster showed up in the Crystal Empire..."
Monsoon scoffed, but otherwise did not deject the idea.
"... but it hasn't been easy gettin' clues, ah guess."
"That isn't what I was talking about, Jack."
"Then, what were you tryin' to say?"
Monsoon stood silently for a moment, before he finally responded with, "I only know a life of death and war. A world where the strong prey upon the weak. I have grown up in the worst conditions physically and mentally, and nearly died for it. With that, I'd then become what I am now. A machine MADE for war."
"That sure is some vicious circle."
"One I embrace, Jack," he replied solemnly, "I don't belong here. I'm not fit for a world of peace and prosperity. Where death is a tragedy of old age, and the weak prosper WITH the strong. Where you can grow without having to experience true horror."
"Monsoon," she said, turning to the cyborg with an irritated look in her eyes, "Git it through that thick metal skull of yers. You can change! Do ya really think yer the only one here that's had a hard, violent life? Why donchya talk to Dumah, or talk to that Elvis feller you fought? Ah'm sure they'd be able to share in yer problems, and tell ya the same I'm tellin' ya now. Ya can fit in with the rest of us just fine. In the meantime, you might as well relax. Enjoy the peace while it lasts" After the outburst, she settled back down and shuffled a little in her spot, getting comfortable, before a particular thought came to mind. "If yer gonna be stayin' for a while, we'll need to set ya up with a place to stay and a job." She paused for a moment, before she continued with, "How're ya with harvestin' apples?"
Monsoon unfurled one of his arms, extended it beside the tree Applejack was under, and gave it a light tap. An apple then fell from the tree, right into Monsoon's outstretched hand. The farm pony whistled in approval as Monsoon took a bite from the fruit, blanching in disgust from the unexpected flavor.
"Hey, Mister! The apples here on the farm are the best in Equestria, bar none!"
"Not this one, Jack." He then tossed the bitten apple to her. Applejack then examined it and bit the other side, before also expressing disgust.
"Alright, alright... I'll have this tree checked tomorrow."
Monsoon then looked down to the little orange pony, before he stared back out to the sunset, which had just finished dipping beyond the horizon, casting colors of violet, blue, orange and maroon across the sky. Within moments, the night began to creep in, slowly approaching black as stars became more and more visible. It was a marvelous sight, one that Monsoon had only dreamed of seeing once upon a time. "It really is a nice night..."
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Celestia face-planted against her bed, her muzzle firmly and deeply in her pillow. She was willing to suffocate herself as long as she could get some rest. Between assisting Discord in summoning the new entity to Equestria, setting up rooms for the new and unexpected citizens, and passing the sentence of one of Equestria's greatest threats, she was properly worn out for the day.
"Really? Worn out for the day? I thought you had more moxy than that. You've been alive for over a thousand years, and you act like you're already reaching a middle age of thirty six million, or something."
"Go away, Discord," she replied to the disembodied voice, "I have not the strength or will to banter with you today."
"Honestly, princess, you should be used to this. I mean, for goodness sake, you should still be at the gym, smacking the old sand sack and bench pressing a stadium."
"I haven't been to the gym in over five and a half centuries. I don't have time."
"Well, you're gonna have to make time soon. After all, you're going to have to tell them why they're here sooner or later, right? You need to be fit as a fiddle and sharp as a tack. Just in case, ya know, there is a bit of a fallout with six crazy, violent, and strange beings that might not be too happy about being ripped from their world."
"I am fully aware of that risk, Discord, and I have prepared to take whatever consequences."
"The only thing you're fully aware of is the fluff in your pillow, and the only thing you seem to be prepared to take is a nap." Celestia groaned as she grabbed another pillow and pressed it against her ears, trying to silence Discord. "But, what do I know," he continued, "I'm not even here right now. This is all in your head. Regardless, I hope you sleep well, dear Sun Butt. We have work to do once again in the near future, and you're gonna need all the strength you can get."
After that, only silence and the ticking of her clock prevailed her room. She sighed and looked out the window and into the night sky. The sea of stars sparkled in the night, wishing her pleasant dreams, which made her smile a little before she finally drifted off to sleep.