When I awoke the next morning, after Chrysalis had once again entered my dreamspace, I was surprised to find Luna holding me from behind, making me the little spoon. Not being sure if she was awake or asleep, I simply squeezed one of her hands with both of mine to get her attention.
"Good morrow, love," the alicorn immediately responded, "How was thy slumber?"
"Quite pleasant, thank you," I answered as Luna took advantage of her now free hands to get a tighter grip around my chest and snuggle closer, "Though Chrysalis showed up."
Immediately, I was turned over onto my back, while Luna, with wide eyes, hovered over me as if I was injured.
"Didst thou have a nightmare," she said, her voice dripping with worry and fear, "We did not sense any nightmares in the dreamscape," Luna's voice began to speed up and gain in pitch as anxiety joined its emotional brethren, "She did not hurt thee, did she? Oh, We will naught be able to forgive ourself."
"It's fine, Luna," I attempted to calm her by stroking a hand over her mane, "I'm fine. The meeting was completely peaceful."
"If thou sayest so," she replied, laying her head down on my chest as I continued to pet her, "But We feel that a degree of worry is warranted until this situation passes."
"I know. But, on the bright side, that was the last night you will have to worry."
"Oh," my lover looked up into my eyes, "How can thou be so certain?"
"Because Chrysalis told me where she wants to meet," I smiled, "And if you would be so kind as to get off me, I'll tell everybody about it at breakfast."
"Thy only needs to ask nicely," my princess smirked.
"Can we please go to breakfast?"
"Verily," she beamed.
*-*-*-*-*
"And that's about it."
My audience sat in silence as I explained my meeting with Chrysalis word-for-word. Their faces told me that not much had changed from yesterday when it came to my plan.
"So you're telling us to follow advice that came to you in a dream," Julius chirped as he rested his foreclaws behind his head.
"What can it hurt? If I'm wrong, I'm wrong. If I'm right, then this all gets taken care of in a few hours."
"What can be hurt is us if it's a trap," Cadence quickly answered, "I don't know why you think this is going to be so easy."
"If We may," Luna spoke, fixing her eyes first on her niece, then on me, "It would not be wise, in our opinion, to throw something away on the grounds that it occurred in a dream. Dreams often serve as a window into one's inner self, whether it pertains to wishes, desires, goals, or fears. This is not the first time that Chrysalis has made herself known in Jack's dreams. And, as the witness to such an event, We will be the first to say that that was not a mere fantasy or construct of imagination. It, meaning she, was very much real. If it is one thing that We have learned crossing the plane of reality into the dream world, it is that all dreams, and particularly nightmares, have something to tell us. In this case, Chrysalis is using the conduit of a dream to do what she could not do safely otherwise. On top of that, may We remind each and every one of you that this very council agreed only yesterday to support Jack in his endeavors with the changelings. If this meeting brings this chain of events to a conclusion, then We will not hesitate to accompany Jack, even if none of thee are with us."
Once again, the breakfast table fell into silence. A cursory look around told a different story upon each face; the prideful look Celestia gave to her sister, the unmitigated fear in the eyes of Fluttershy, the closed eyes and thoughtful look of Zanzar, and the seriousness of Julius.
We lingered in the silence for matter of minutes, but it may have gone on for hours if Celestia hadn't cleared her throat.
"It seems," she stated in her most confident voice, "that we all know what needs to be done. Meet by the main gates at eleven o'clock."
*-*-*-*-*
At the appropriate time, the 15 members of the council met in front of the castle's main entrance. In addition, Celestia had recruited six royal guards, two of each type of pony, to accompany us. At first, I was not keen on taking anyone who wasn't necessary. However, the Royal Sisters were adamant in the decision, and I was not in much of a spot to argue with them.
The place where I believed Chrysalis wanted me to meet her was about a half-hour away. Celestia had initially wanted to take a convoy of carriages, but this time I was able to convince her otherwise. With all the logistics taken care of, our party of 21 headed down the road that also happened to lead to Ponyville. We walked three abreast along the path as such: three guards; the Royal Sisters and myself; Princess Cadance, Shining Armor, Twilight; Rarity, Fluttershy, Applejack; Rainbow, Pinkie, Julius; Stone Chin, Zanzar, Selik; three guards. We passed multiple chariots and carriages on our trip, and all of them paused at least momentarily to observe us. They would sit there in equal parts confusion and interest until one of the guards waved them on their way.
At last, we reached our destination. It looked precisely as it did in my dream, a field bordered by forested areas. The field itself was nothing special, though it was completely made of tall grasses which easily reached my knees. I could even make out the exact tree that I had been leaning against. While seemingly everyone else was scanning the horizon for any signs of changelings or Chrysalis, I saw Celestia gaze amusingly at her Sun.
"Fifteen minutes to noon," she announced, "Let us hope that Chrysalis is punctual."
"Guess we'll find out," I mused, stepping away from the main group and into the open field. At first, a pegasus guard followed me, but he stopped when I raised a hand, "No," I stated simply, "I'll go meet her on my own."
I watched as the guard hesitated before flying back to the others. They now stood in a loose row along the edge of the road, though Rainbow, Julius, and the two pegasus guards hovered above the rest. Giving them all a smile, I turned back to my original path. It wasn't until I was a good hundred yards from the group that I heard another sound.
"It is good of you to come," a hollow voice echoed.
"Well, it took some convincing," I called back, "but I'm here."
"Yes," the voice replied, the 's' being held out some, like a snake, "We will come out now."
The grass about another fifty yards in front of me began rustling heavily. Before my eyes, dozens of bodies began rising out of the field. The black bodies with distinct holes in their appendages were spread out over the width of the field, and, by my estimation, reached thirty yards deep.
However, I soon turned my attention to one in particular. Instantly, I recognized Chryslis. It was not that hard, since she stood as tall as Celestia, standing a full head and shoulders above her children. She moved toward me, coming to a halt when she was within arms reach.
"Hello, Chrysalis," I greeted pleasantly.
"Hello, Mr. Christiansen," Chrysalis responded in kind.
"I must say, you look much more impressive in person."
"Thank you," she smirked, "I try."
"Let's get down to why we're here," I offered, "What do you want?"
"If you've been paying attention," she leaned over slightly to get closer to me, "then you know what I want."
A smile crossed my face, "Indeed I do. In fact, I'm willing to give you precisely that."
Chrysalis suddenly looked perplexed. She had not been expecting that to be my answer, "Really," she continued with the slightest of hesitation, "And I'm sure you have figured out what that pertains."
"You and your children feed on love," I explained, "And, for some reason, I either have a lot of it, or it is very strong."
"Both," Chrysalis concurred with a subtle lick of her lips.
"Uh, uh, uh," I chuckled, waving my finger in the hungry changeling queen's face, "Not so fast. There is much to discuss."
"Like what?"
"Like how you know so much about humans and how you brought me into this world."
Chrysalis smirked, "Does the word 'magic' mean anything to you?"
"It's gotta be more than that, right?"
"Of course, I was just hoping to get past the subject."
"Well it didn't work," I deadpanned, crossing my arms in wait.
"Fine," Chrysalis sighed, "if you must know, then I will tell you. You see, after my first attempt at taking over Equestria failed, my children and I were banished to the badlands, far away from pony civilization. We barely survived, holding on through a mix of infiltration, in other words, disguising my children and sending them to other places to harvest love, and through sheer luck, such as being able to absorb a lot of energy whenever the Crystal Heart was lit. Thank you for doing it, by the way."
"That even reached you?"
"Oh yes," Chrysalis sighed dreamily, "Out of nowhere, a rush of loving energy hit my hive. I could tell that it was the Crystal Heart, but it took a few more days to find out that it was you who had made it light. That only made me want you more."
"You still haven't answered my questions."
"Well, being banished gave me a lot of time to think and plan. After the Crystal Empire returned, I started experimenting with dark magic, desperate to find a solution to the growing hunger problem. As it was, I stumbled upon a way to see into other dimensions. This is how I found out about humans. To be quite frank, at first I was appalled by your entire species. Though you seemed capable of creating things that my mind could not even comprehend, you seemed more interested in destroying one another."
"Guilty as charged, I suppose."
"However, I noticed something else. No matter how many terrible things happened, I could always find humans that were happy. I could always find humans who smiled in the face of danger. I could always find humans who loved. That was the key. I theorized that if humans could still find room to love even when their world was falling apart, imagine how much love they could produce if they were happy all the time. And so I made it my mission to find a way to get a human into Equestria."
"So you used this dark magic to open a portal?"
"Yes, a very small one. However, I am admittedly a novice on the matter. I could not make a very large one, nor did I have much control over where the portals lined up."
"So it could have been anyone?"
Chrysalis nodded, "Indeed. I did not target you specifically. I couldn't target anyone specifically. You don't know how many times I thanked myself for not accidentally bringing in a misanthrope. That being said, since I didn't have a way of knowing exactly who was coming in, I needed a way of keeping tabs on them. Remember when your eyes would glow green?
Of course I did. How could I forget the weird sensation of having green vision, on top of the pain that always accompanied it?
"That was me. I implanted a tiny bit of changeling magic in you. It connected you to me in a way. I do the same thing with my children, so that I can see what they are seeing, if I so choose. When your eyes would glow, it was just me checking in."
"You make it sound so innocent," I scoffed.
"However, your body is not built to contain magic," Chrysalis lamented, "So whenever I would do it, your body would become racked with pain. I saw it as a necessary side effect. I did not expect you to find a way to counter it. Once you started taking those magic-suppression pills, I lost that connection. So I had to turn to other means."
"Sending your children after me?"
"It sounds terrible the way you say it."
"I think I'm within my rights," I snapped, "Your children attacked an ambassador, stole his identity, did the same thing to a mare in Ponyville, and outright tried to injure me."
"I'm not denying any of that," Chrysalis countered, "But I also know that you captured and interrogated the first, and maimed the second."
"Self-defense," I growled, "and I would do it again. Fortunately, I won't have to as long as you play along."
"Meaning what?"
"Meaning that you and children will get fed and stay alive if you play nice."
"I will not be beholden to a bunch of ponies and an ape from another dimension."
"That's not what I'm suggesting," I calmly replied, "In fact, if you'll just listen, by the end of this conversation you could be on equal footing with Princess Cadance and Princess Twilight and your children will be free to live as citizens of Equestria."
The eyes of the changeling queen widened, "What's the catch?"
"The catch? The catch is that you might have to say and do some things that you would otherwise not. But, in the end, your children will be free and happy. Wouldn't that make you happy?"
Chrysalis began to turn things over in her mind. She looked back to her children, as well as to me and my entourage.
"How do you know this will work," she finally asked, "I'm sure many of those standing behind you won't like it one bit."
"You're not wrong," I admitted, "Most didn't even want me to come here today. It's not going to be easy. But do you want to know somepony who does back me? Princess Celestia. The same pony you once suspended from the ceiling in a cocoon. She is willing to forgive you, as is Princess Luna and Princess Twilight. Princess Cadance will probably hate you for the rest of your lives, but everyone has at least one person who can't stand them, don't they?"
Chrysalis chuckled, "And who, may I ask, is yours?"
"Well, until a minute ago, I would have said you. But, to be honest," I cupped my hands and leaned up to a whispering distance, "you see that griffin behind me? Yeah, not my biggest fan."
Chrysalis chuckled again and looked back at her children again, "This will not be easy."
"No, it won't," I concurred, "But be honest with yourself and with me. Those are all the children you have left, aren't they?"
Chrysalis turned back to me and nodded sadly, "Yes. And I was prepared to lose all of them."
"Well, you don't have to worry about that anymore today."
The changeling queen again looked back before replying with a sigh, "I am taking a very large risk in trusting you."
I rose my right hand by my head, "I, Jack Christiansen, swear on pain of probable death, that the changeling species will continue and be kept safe as long as members of said species treat others as they should be treated as fellow citizens. Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye."
Behind me, I heard a loud gasp.
"What did all that mean," Chrysalis asked, perplexed.
"Trust me, what I just did sounded very silly, but is actually quite serious."
"What is the first thing I have to do?"
"Keep your children where they are, follow me, and shake Celestia's hand. No bowing, no kneeling, you don't even have to like it. But if we're going to make this work, you have to cross the bridge first."
Chrysalis paused, once again shifting her gaze between me and my fellows. She then turned to her children and made a sweeping gesture with her hand.
"Shall we," Chrysalis asked once she faced me. I nodded.
The two of us walked side-by-side, covering the distance back to the road and the multiple ponies and others standing there. Though some looked on-edge, I was focused on Celestia and Luna, who were both smiling.
"Celestia," I announced when I and my companion reached the solar diarch, "Chrysalis. Chrysalis, Celestia."
The two very powerful beings stared at each other for a minute. A minute which felt like an hour. Finally, Chrysalis extended her hand to Celestia, who took no time in shaking it. I let out a sigh as the tension disappeared.
"Well," Chrysalis turned to me and asked once the handshake was over, "what comes next?"
"Whatever it is," I replied, "I think it can be done at the castle."
"Agreed," Celestia responded as she turned to start her way back home.
"Oh, one more thing," I strode up to Celestia, "Now that this is beginning to be resolved, I'm going to take this opportunity to do what I said I was going to do. Princess Celestia, I hereby resign as the official Human Ambassador to Equestria."
I turned to go back to the main group, but was stopped by a hand on my shoulder.
"Your resignation has been received," Celestia replied, "and it has been declined."
"What," I asked, turning back to the princess.
"In my opinion, it would be terrible to lose your insight on the council, particularly since we still have much to hammer out with the changelings. That being said, I do recall why you want to resign, and, seeing as nothing you could do now could make you look worse in the eyes of the nobles, I think you should just go for it."
Her piece being said, she continued on. I stood there in confusion before Luna came up to me.
"Thou did an excellent job," Luna praised while hugging me, "Be careful, our sister may want to make a career diplomat out of thee."
"I don't think I would mind that too much," I replied, looking at the mare in front of me. A sly smirk crossed my face as I leaned in to whisper, "Particularly if I might technically be a prince some day."
Pulling back, Luna had a brilliant look of shock on her face. At that precise moment, I decided to heed Celestia's advice and 'just go for it'. I grabbed Luna by the sides of her head and brought her in for a kiss, our first one in the presence of anyone else. When I released, Luna gave me a very pleasant smile. The lovely scene was broken somewhat by the 'awws' of the mares in the audience, as well as a few gasps.
"Bucking Tartarus," I heard Chrysalis exclaim, "That's a little too much to take in at one time."
Luna and I chuckled at the notion before I found myself staring into a pair of half-lidded eyes.
"Shall we go then, dear," Luna asked as she hooked her arm on mine, "We still need to get some rest before our night comes."
"Thou art quite correct," I answered in form, "We need to get thee to bed post-haste."
And so Luna and I turned in the direction of Canterlot and moved forward toward whatever next laid in our path.