//------------------------------// // Pity // Story: My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic -- Off The Record // by The King of Hearts //------------------------------// //// Pity //// “Come to laugh at your queen?” Chrysalis asked the changeling in front of her, upon seeing him enter the room, “Enjoy your victory while you can! I’ll find my way back to the hive! It’s only a matter of time.” Alpha said nothing. “And don’t get too comfortable with having everypony calling you Omega, Marick!” She continued, only slightly put off by his lack of communication, “You’ll be stripped of that title publicly.” Again, he was completely silent. “Why aren’t you speaking?!” She suddenly shouted, slamming her hoof against the glass that separated the two of them, “Is this your new way of bragging? To come and view me like some kind of zoo animal?” He exhaled, and his expression softened to one of nothing but sadness. At this point, Chrysalis wasn’t sure what she should be saying to him. But his lack of decisiveness was starting to chip away at her nerves. Silence. Silence. Silence. “Would you say something?!” She suddenly shouted, with no more malice in her tone. Only a twinge of panic, “What has you acting this way?” “I’m sorry, Chrysalis.” Alpha said, lowering his head, as the war reports were levitated out of the bag he brought in with him. She was going to make some kind of joke about this apology leading to her being set free, but his truly apologetic look was keeping her from being her usual sarcastic self. “Why are you sorry?” She asked, “What are those papers?” Alpha looked over the most important page one last time, before closing his eyes and exhaling. “Apparently, Equestrian reconnaissance has been exceptional over the past twenty or so years,” Alpha began, hoping to completely illuminate her before dropping the bomb, “They have had scouts trailing every single one of our platoons, writing incredibly detailed reports on every aspect of our troops.” “So?” She asked, having figured that to be the case for a long time, “We accounted for that a long time ago. We’ve had our own share of spies in the Equestrian ranks for years.” “I know.” Alpha said, “It’s not the fact that we were being watched that surprised me… It’s what they wrote in some of their reports.” This was something that piqued her interest. “Chrysalis… Did you ever hear about infighting within the army?” Alpha asked, knowing full well that she hadn’t, “About soldiers being killed by their comrades?” Her expression was one of shock, as she shook her head ‘no.’ “…Because these reports describe several instances of a special group of soldiers appearing, and killing entire platoons.” Alpha said, keeping eye contact with her, waiting for the information to click. “Show me them.” She said, still confused to hear this news, “How do I know this isn’t some kind of trickery?” “You know I wouldn’t be here try to trick you,” He said, knowing that she believed him, “I came here to show you this one consolidated report, which shows our report on this incident, and Equestria’s report on it.” “Give it.” She said impatiently, as the paper was slid under the glass door keeping her in, “What’s so special about this…?” Beta – Incident Report Fourteen members of the Delta-six were brutally ambushed by a group of Zebra yesterday, despite a ceasefire that had been called. This resulted in a one hundred percent mortality rate among the soldiers. Upon closer inspection, tracks were found leading toward a nearby village. It is my recommendation that this town be invaded, and burnt down. Doing so will deliver a message to every resident in this province, deterring such actions from being taken again. Chrysalis stood silent after finishing the page. She knew this report. She had read it hundreds of times. The platoon that was mentioned in this report, was the one containing her lover. The only man she ever truly loved. Stag. The two of them had planned to end the war, and start a new era of prosperity for the Hive, as king and queen. However, he had been killed on the day he was due to return from duty, and it had robbed her of the future she so desperately desired with him. So, this had a polarizing effect on their old plans to end the war, as she decided to spend the rest of her life making sure the world would pay for stealing her happiness away from her. Ever since then, she had been pushing to take more territory, and steal more powerful items of magic. At least she could say the council was happy with the turn out. “Read the Equestrian Report.” Alpha said sadly, “Please.” Glancing lower on the page, she read the report that had been written on the same day, but from an outsiders perspective. Pvt. Dancer – Log 12883 – Follow Up My apologies for the haste I’ve put in to this report, but I believe I just witnessed both a rare, and bloody occurrence within the platoon I’ve been assigned to follow. Today was their last day of deployment, and were due to return to the hive via railway at sundown. However, just as they finished packing their supplies, they were approached by an unknown group of soldiers, bearing a unique uniform with a strange symbol on their backs. At first, the soldiers seemed to have no issues with one another, this new group explained that they were to escort them to the train station. Something about having a VIP within the platoon, I believe. However, when they began their march toward the railway, this new group of soldiers suddenly drew their blades, and cut down the entire party of soldiers. It was a terrible sight. Once they finished their attack, the assassins spoke of littering the bodies amongst the camp site they had just left, to make it look as if they had been ambushed by Zebras. They promptly teleported all the bodies away. Upon hearing that they plan on scattering the bodies, I’ve decided retreat is my best course of action. EDIT –Just before I escaped, I heard one of them using the word ‘Aeris.’ I don’t know what it signifies, but made note of it, just in case. Log end Chrysalis shook in place as she finished reading the second report. Alpha didn’t say a word, as he watched several tear drops land on the page she was looking down to read. Everything had come together in her mind, just as it had in his. And as much as he knew Chrysalis was his enemy, he felt nothing but pain for the mare. “How could I have been so blind?” She asked quietly, her eyes still glued to the page, “Stag wasn’t killed by the Zebra...” Alpha shook his head, “He was killed by the council, to keep you fighting their war.” She sniffled as quietly as possible, before looking over her shoulder to him. “Please leave me alone.” She said, her eyes puffy and red, “I need some time to myself…” “Of course, your majesty.” He said, bowing to her for the first time in years. “Oh, you’re suddenly loyal to me, now?” She asked, offended that he was taking advantage of this revelation to get back in her good books. “I’m not loyal to you as a pony,” He shook his head, as he walked toward the door, “I’m loyal to peace in the Hive. And I hope that you’re going to help that become a reality now.” She didn’t respond as he gathered his things and left the room. And then she broke down. //// Alpha felt terrible. It wasn’t because of this revelation, and the pain Chrysalis must be feeling. He felt terrible, because this made him happy. With this revelation, chances were good that Chrysalis would rip the Council to pieces, and being the war machine to a complete halt, completing the goal he had anticipated to take years, in what would likely only be a couple of days. …Now he could spend more time with Twilight too. He was ecstatic. ////