10 - Truth is Freedom
Yes. It was such a funny word to hear when life was full of so many negatives. “No” seemed almost a go-to word for everypony. The first would be followed by another until one forgot just what it was like not to be rejected. To be accepted. To be loved.
But love was another funny thing. It invoked so many thoughts, ideas, and theories just by being mentioned. It was often oversimplified but also commonly overcomplicated. There was the love between friends. Between siblings. Between lovers, spouses, and between children and their parents. Yes, love was deep but could also be made shallow.
Fluttershy nuzzled the mare that held her dearly, not caring about all the kinds of love that made the world go round. She had this love and that was all the love she needed. The warmth from that purple coat and those majestic wings was emanating like the rays of the morning sun. It was something to be lost within and not hold a care for all the worries of life.
“Shy,” dripped the name from the princess' tongue. She giggled as the pegasus' own coat tickled hers. Fluttershy thought that she rather liked the sound of it. “I wouldn't mind spending the whole day with you and I don't see why we couldn't. That is if you don't have much left to do with the animals today.”
“Hm?” mumbled the mare still lost in the bliss that was royal red mixed with majestic blue.
“I have many 'stops' to make today so I was hoping you would accompany me,” came the reply as Twilight tried nuzzling the pegasus in return. Perhaps it would get her poor friend's mind out of the metaphorical syrup it was drowning in.
“Oh, but I have to check up on a family of sparrows. One of them hurt her wing yesterday...”
Twilight expected such a thing. This was Fluttershy, after all. “Then perhaps you could do your check up and meet me at the train station as soon as you're done?”
The Element of Kindness finally ceased her gentle nudging and looked up shiny-eyed at the pony that was now technically her queen. “Why the train station?” she inquired slowly out of curiosity, but mostly because she had caught a bout of drowsiness from Twilight's embrace.
“I need to do my own check up. Something Chrysalis told me earlier that's actually pretty important...” she trailed as a brow furrowed in concern. Important as the matter was, Twilight hoped that her shape-shifting friend was wrong about what she knew regarding a certain dictator pony.
“Will you be going out of town?” Fluttershy then asked sadly.
“With you and one of my guards,” the princess leaned on the last word strangely. “I know I usually end up running these kind of errands with the others as well but I'd really hate to pull everypony along for something as dull and possibly pointless as this.”
“Oh,” the butter-yellow mare commented calmly. With the careful speed she used not to startle her animal friends, she rose up from Twilight's hold in the sleeping ring and stepped to the door. “I should go check on Wendy then. See you at the station?”
“Of course,” Twilight smiled faintly as she too got up and followed the pegasus out. As she walked out, however, she did note how her friend took time for all the other animals. It was just like Fluttershy to calm all her animals down and tell them she was just fine. Twilight wouldn't have her any other way and appreciated her friend for who she was. Perhaps seeing Fluttershy's life so intimately through the hivemind had changed how Twilight thought about her. In any case, the alicorn hoped it was for the better.
Two pegasus guards were standing at attention just outside of the cottage door. Only, this time, Twilight knew their names. And she knew one just as well as she knew Fluttershy, which was a bit of a problem. It was easier for her to be open with somepony who was already a close friend but this was a stallion she barely knew. All of her private moments had spilled into his mind and the reverse was also true. It also might have been easier with Fluttershy because she was another mare rather than...
“Midnight Strike,” Twilight called as she walked away from Fluttershy's home and the two protectors fell in step behind her. With her eyes pointed forward, she did not see the normally rigid stallion flinch.
“Yes, your Highness?” he managed to respond with some manner of solidity to his voice.
Twilight didn't hesitate even though she rather wanted to. If it could ever be said that Twilight Sparkle was socially awkward then this would have been the prime example of how she felt in the present moment. She tried to keep her own voice from sounding rigid or commanding but it came out stiff anyways. “Walk beside me. We need to talk.”
The guard dutifully lengthened his pace until he was beside his superior and matching stride. He said nothing, respecting the princess' initiative in the conversation. The two trotted along the calm country road without much of a sound besides their hoofsteps. Twilight was desperately assembling what she wanted to say as the town of Ponyville soon loomed within sight.
It had become noon but the air was still fresh and the heat low enough to be nearly enjoyable. It helped Twilight think. Great Celestia, she needed help thinking. It was not actually until they were passing Sugar Cube Corner that she finally did speak and that was out of the renewed fear that Pinkie Pie would explode onto the scene and steal any chance she had to have a serious conversation with her pegasus guard.
“Midnight Strike,” she started.
He stiffened once more as if it was possible to be more at attention than he already was.
“You said you didn't mean to intrude on my privacy. I felt the same way.”
The stallion nodded. “I heard you say that. In my mind, I mean.”
“I'm glad I was able to get that through,” Twilight puffed a breath in relief. “I was kind of 'winging' it there.”
The guard's face twinged and Twilight grinned, knowing her bad joke got a reaction out of a normally reactionless guard. It was no small feat.
“Honestly. I'm afraid I'm in pretty deep,” the alicorn's voice became more serious, the weight of her situation settling onto her once more. “I just want to let you know that I won't be upset if you think any less of me now that you've seen my life.”
“I would never!” he argued even the possibility. “In fact, I have even more respect for you now. You've put up with so much!”
For some reason that broke Twilight's increasing bout of seriousness. She laughed. Honestly laughed. “I,” she tried to say before laughing again. “I guess I have. Sorry. It's just funny to hear somepony else think that other than me.”
“It's true from what I've seen,” Midnight continued, glad the princess was in a jovial mood and not minding joining her in spite of his training that told him the opposite. The mental connection they had shared made him relax around her more than he had ever thought possible. “Why if you even got half the respect you deserve for all that you've accomplished to date then you'd have more respect than Princess Celestia. No offense, of course!”
Twilight's smile continued but by one notch lower. She didn't like to think of herself in terms of being better than somepony else and certainly not Celestia. But still. What Midnight Strike had seen was no illusion. To this day she was still ignored, jabbed at, or turned away by some ponies in spite of what she had done for all of Equestria. Multiple times.
Was it her attitude? Was she not benevolent enough? Was there something wrong with her face? Was she just not a “poster” pony? Her concerns were interrupted once more but thankfully not by Pinkie Pie. They had safely passed by the sweets shop without incident. Needless to say, that was a very rare thing to experience. No, it was Midnight Strike who spoke again after they had walked long enough to step onto the train station's platform.
“I do miss Princess Luna, though,” he remarked as his face of resolve darkened and lowered.
Twilight turned to her guard. If she wanted closure then it was now or never. She would need to do this with the other guards as well if she wanted to prevent trouble down the road but she couldn't connect with them all at once. At least not yet. Confound it all, it was too much too soon and she needed time. For now, Midnight Strike would be the only one she could take into her confidence.
“Direway,” Twilight turned and called out to the other guard that had been following respectfully from behind. “I'm giving you an order. Turn around and close your ears. You will not look or listen until I tap your shoulder twice.”
If the other stallion had any reservation about it then he faithfully did not show it. Without question he did as he was commanded. It felt odd for Twilight to give an order like that but then giving orders was not something she had ever really done before. “Ordering” Spike or her friends to do anything didn't count. Especially when there was only about a fifty percent chance of such orders being followed.
“Now,” Twilight turned back to the other guard next to her on the boarding platform. She noticed in her peripheral vision that the station clerk was looking on curiously. A quick glance made him turn and take a sudden interest in his paperwork as he let on a playful but rather obvious “I-wasn't-doing-anything” whistle.
“Midnight Strike,” the purple pony resumed as she stepped up to Midnight Strike.
The stallion felt like stepping back but didn't on account that he quickly reasoned that the princess was entitled to do whatever she wanted. But it was still strange having seen so much of her life and yet not know what she was intending on doing. “Yes, your Highness?”
Still there was no hesitation in her voice. She was determined now, knowing what to do and how to do it. “I thought I told you to stop calling me that.”
“Did you?” he asked loosely and nervously. It didn't come out the way he thought it would.
“I can't pretend nothing happened and I really don't want to,” she explained. “I think you feel the same way.”
He nodded slowly.
“I'm taking you into my confidence, Midnight Strike. I'll need your absolute loyalty,” she continued.
He nodded again.
“From now on you will not refer to me as 'your Highness' or any other such title,” she placed a hoof on his shoulder and looked deep into his eyes. Facing ruthless enemies was one thing a royal guard could do with nerves of steel but being looked at so closely by the pony that he was supposed to protect above all else...it made his knees weak.
“Yes...um...” he spoke shakily, feeling too awkward without ending in some formal title.
Twilight smirked that same smirk she sometimes got when the marbles were not all there. Only, this time the marbles were all there, which made it unfathomably terrifying. “You will refer to me as 'my queen' and you will do whatever I tell you to. Even if it goes against your training. Even if it goes against Princess Celestia. Is that understood?”
The stallions pupils went small. Could he say yes to that? Was he supposed to? No question could stand firm within him at that crucial moment and so he nodded. Something had changed in Twilight's eyes. Midnight had seen such a look before with guards playing a late night in blackjack. It was the look of one who believed they would lose it all and had to put everything down in a bluff with the hope that a miracle would make the whole thing pull off.
Twilight knew something he didn't and it was something so serious that she felt she had to play all the cards in her metaphorical deck. That in and of itself was enough to make Midnight Strike worry. But it did make him decide resolutely to follow her nonetheless. In fact, it made his loyalty even deeper. He would give everything he had to this mare.
“Yes, my queen,” he bowed his head and spoke with conviction. “I am yours, completely.”
The princess-now-queen moved her hoof from his shoulder to his chin and lifted his head back up gently. “I'm not like some princess up in a castle tower. I'm telling you as your queen that you can and should come to me with everything – even your deepest feelings. I'd rather hear from your mouth than have to find out through the hivemind.”
“My feelings...?” he cocked his head in question as the mare's hoof fell from his face.
“I know exactly how you felt about Princess Luna in the past. I won't have you go through that as long as I'm your master,” Twilight replied even as she calculated her time with the guard was growing short. Fluttershy would not dawdle with her own errand after what had transpired between them in the ring. She would show up again soon.
“But that would hardly be-” the night-sky blue pegasus stopped himself when he realized one possible reason why she might be saying all of these things. He had the unfortunate occasion a few times in past service with other guards to hear them say things that seemed a bit extreme or out-of-character. Sometimes it was just stress or worry. But it was usually something else. It was usually because they knew they had been given an assignment with a high risk of them not coming back.
Twilight Sparkle began turning away as she spoke for him. “Remember what I just told you. It's probably better to act now then to lose the chance forever when something unexpected happens. Just don't tell the others until I allow you to.”
There was the sound of fast-moving hoofsteps. A yellow and pink thing was rapidly approaching the train station where they had been talking. The purple pony walked over to Direway, who had not faltered in holding his hooves over his ears and looking elsewhere. The appropriate taps made him drop his deep gray forehooves and face his superior at full attention.
“Take a message back to the library,” she instructed the stallion. “Tell Spike and Chrysalis that I'm on a special trip but will be back shortly. Before dark tomorrow I hope. Tell Chrysalis in particular that she is not to leave the library under any circumstances. I will punish her in traditional changeling fashion if she disobeys. Can you remember all of that?”
“Of course, your Highness!” he saluted bravely.
“Then go. And stand guard at the library as you normally do. I will only be taking Midnight Strike on this errand,” Twilight tried to command but she still felt like she was rather bad at it. "Bookworm" to "princess" to "queen" was not exactly easy stuff. Especially when "commander" was thrown in. What a mess that was.
“But-” he started to counter.
The alicorn attempted some practice with that commander-aspect of her position. “No buts! Do as you're told.”
Her voice was not as strict as she had tried to make it but her face must have appeared firm enough to get the point across. The guard snapped his mouth shut, nodded, and took off to the library just as the yellow-pink blur arrived.
A sunny-hued feather fluttered past Twilight's body as the pegasus mare came to an abrupt halt right in front of the royal's face. “All done! Wendy's doing quite well and the animals are all set for at least a few days without me!”
“Goodness,” Twilight breathed out the frog that had placed itself in her throat from speaking to the guard. “You can slow down, Fluttershy,” she smiled and commented lightly. “I don't think we'll be away for much more than twenty-four hours. I've got too much to deal with to be gone any longer.”
“Oh,” the shy mare replied, back in her small voice that Twilight had come to love. “Um, okay.”
Twilight stole a glance to Midnight Strike, who had fallen in behind her. He had a look of concern on his face. Probably noticed something was off. She couldn't blame him considering that her rather new knowledge of him made it clear that he could be particularly perceptive. It was an attribute that helped him become a guardpony in the first place. But what she was interested in right now was getting some train tickets and leaving with the next departure. Even now, she could glimpse the train approaching the station from the perceivable distance.
The Element of Magic stepped to the clerk's booth, finally taking the pony's attention back from his messy paperwork. “Three tickets for the Crystal Empire.”
Spike, tired out from a bout of over-excitement, had fallen asleep and Chrysalis, being in a generally good mood, had carried the dragon with her magic up to her queen's sleeping ring. He had been quite the eager listener, which made the changeling hum with contentment. Perhaps the hivemind was not always present for now but that might change in the future as Twilight learned how to use and manipulate it. Chrysalis could even make some modifications herself if she could figure out the complexities of pony interaction. That was left to be seen.
A knock at the door downstairs pulled Chrysalis from her vacant gaze upon the magic-fire-breathing dragon. She hardly guessed who it might be other than Twilight or, on the off chance, one of her close friends. They all knew her well enough and so she did not pause in buzzing downstairs to answer the beckon. Twilight would scold her for using her wings on the stairwell but she wasn't home so it hardly mattered at the moment.
“Coming,” her voice rang with its uniquely identifiable hum. When she opened the door, she was not so much surprised as she was intrigued. A grey stallion stood there like a statue, adorned in armor that belonged only to the guardponies. She knew this one.
“Princess Sparkle wishes to inform you and,” his eyes darted around the changeling but failed to spot the reptilian youngling, “Spike that she will be away from town for a time but will be expected to return sometime within thirty hours. She specifically ordered you, Chrysalis, to remain within the library until she returns. Changeling discipline being the consequence for disobedience. End message.”
Chryslais' mouth twitched. Her queen really was taking the reins now wasn't she? Well good, the blue-haired being thought. The sooner she went into the deep end the better. It would mean a stronger hivemind faster, which was mostly what Chrysalis had started the whole thing for in the first place. That and to get closer to her savior, Twilight. As hive queen, the purple alicorn might keep her closer than the others on account of being unfamiliar to changeling ways. Certainly it wasn't criminal for her to want to be close to Twilight. After all, that pony was the only one that had ever cared about her – perhaps the only pony to ever care about a changeling period.
“Thank you,” Chrysalis buzzed with polite inflection as she had been taught by the alicorn. She closed the door and looked around the library, trying to come up with what she was going to do to occupy her time with. It would be untrue to say she was entirely happy with the way that Twilight had decided to do things. Leaving and keeping her boarded up in the treehouse while gallivanting on some unexplained trip was hardly nice. Nevermind that Chrysalis usually kept herself boarded up. That wasn't important.
A twinkle from her queen's desk caught the black pseudo-pony's eye. She clacked her hooves across the floor until she was standing right before it. The black crystal that Twilight had left behind was still letting off its minuscule sparks and mist. Perhaps it was time for Chrysalis to further her own research. If she could unravel something about the crystal magic then she could make her queen happy and pass the time while she was away. That would be killing two birds with one stone. Chrysalis smirked to herself. Twilight really didn't like that saying.
First things first, she decided. She had to remember everything that her mother and grandmother had ever said about Sombra and this magic. It could make things much easier and, needless to say, safer. So she dropped her flanks onto the wooden flooring and thought hard. She thought long about things she normally wouldn't like to think about.
King Sombra had once been a colt named Prince Sombra. Grandmother said he had once been small...no not small. He had been lanky or thin. That was why grandmother had complained that he had to toughen up and get in shape. He didn't want to at first because he was convinced that physical form was not important if one could instead master the magic of formlessness. One could transform into whatever one desired even if it was a mist or a spectrum of light. Such power was the gateway to many other limitless magics.
Chrysalis arose from her remembering to look suspiciously at the crystal. If Prince Sombra had caught onto such magic at the age grandmother suggested then he would have branched from it, incorporating it into his other magics. The crystals might themselves be useful in testing the theory.
Careful to use as little magic as possible since Twilight would be gone for at least twenty-four hours, the changeling's horn lit with green energy. The small black crystal lifted up from the desk and hovered in front of Chrysalis' face. Getting up from the floor, she paced around the room as she turned the crystal over and formed a plan. She might as well be the one to research the thing since her queen was gone. The Spinner knows she had nothing else of even remote interest to do.
Trying her own changeling form magic on it, she got a reaction. Attempting to alter the crystal's shape made the thing spark. Chrysalis was not exactly capable of mist-transformation but the tiny amount that seemed to drift from the jewel made her think to try it. On the crystal, of course.
She had barely started applying the magic through her jagged black horn when the gem shook, sparked again, expanded, and then puffed into a cloud of mist. But rather than dispersing into the room, it hung there in Chrysalis' levitation grip. Curious, she thought. Most curious.
So Sombra had indeed mixed changeling magic into his other methods as grandmother had said. Not having mastered Sombra's magic herself, it would not be possible to fully control the crystal or explore the nuances of what made it “tick.” But she could still mess around with it some.
Chrysalis moved a holey hoof up to flip some blue hair out of her face. She might have to do something about it if it kept getting in front of her eyes like that. She would just have to be careful not to mention it around Rarity. As apprehensive as some were of her, Twilight's friends warmed up over time and began showing off their eccentricity. Not that she, former changeling queen, could never be called eccentric. But still.
Now what was she going to do with the mist-form crystal? Perhaps a light-transformation spell was in order. But she turned that idea down when she remembered that her light sensing spells were a bit off. She didn't want to accidentally make the thing a light spectrum she couldn't see...
That's when her eyes bolted wide. Transformation to a light spectrum undetectable by the eyes of ponies or most other beings was entirely within the realm of possibility if one took basic changeling transformation to the extreme. Especially so with the assistance of foreign magics. But if Sombra had tampered with such things then he could have done more than simply faked his death. He could be anywhere at any time without anyone being the wiser.
With a panicked rush, Chrysalis bolted back to Twilight's desk and dropped the mist-crystal from her magical grasp. It floated to the floor where it stayed there in a dark cloud. No more machinations would befall it for quite some time.
Piled near the desk were books on subjects related to transformation, conversion, gases, and...light spectrums. One was even entitled The Sun and Its Many Scientific Traits and Emissions, A Beginner's Guide to Magical Analysis Volume 42.
The changeling's heart wrenched cold. There was only one thing that Twilight's mysterious errand could be for. She had gotten up earlier than Chrysalis and ripped through research not only because of what had happened in the hivemind but also because of what she had been told about Sombra prior. She had come to the conclusion Chrysalis had if only much sooner and now she was darting off to investigate the whereabouts of that same cursed colt.
Chrysalis hadn't meant the whole thing to be such a big deal but she should have known better. King Sombra was viewed as a threat to all of Equestria. Of course, Twilight would take off on it. But she had to know with this research that Sombra was beyond her and the Elements.
Finding a window that would let her sneak past the guard outside, the former changeling queen wasted no time in her new quest. If Sombra was out and about and Twilight tried to pick up his trail then she would be in immediate danger. There was no telling what would happen. Even if Chrysalis trusted that her new queen was as powerful an alicorn as she had thus proven to be, there were no guarantees against that dark-maned stallion.
With an almost silent creak of the window and as stealthily a buzz as she could manage from her wings, she took off into the day. Twilight was wrong if she thought her number one changeling was going to let her expose herself to harm on what was practically day one of her queenhood. Even if some old-fashioned discipline was incoming as consequence.
No. The queen could not do anything to jeopardize a sapling hive. Twilight needed to know that.
“It took me a century to find this happiness,” she muttered, frustrated as she hovered as much out of sight as possible towards the thing that Twilight would most likely use to go great distances at speed. “I'm not going to let there be even the slightest risk of losing the one pony I've ever cared about!”
Stats
Page generated in 0.027 seconds
Total duration
1,005 users online
117,949 hits today, 2,244,100 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
Please Chrissy, tell us that you left an emergency "if I fail to show up tomorrow" letter for Spike to send to Celestia/Luna/Cadance/anyone else who has the ability to take on Sombra.
Back Up Plans FTW! Ask Pinkie, she knows how to stock up/plan for emergencies!
You know, once she gets the hang of it I can imagine her own guard being unimaginably bad-ass. How much more coordinated can you get at relaying information than having your thoughts all connected together?
I'll just leave this here...
You go Chryssie!
Another great chapter.
Possible threat of Sombra coming back? Former Changeling Queen and New Alicorn Princess vs King of Dark Magic?
reactiongifs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/THISGONBGUD.gif
But all inviso-Sombra can do is growl and bang his head against stuff.
Excellent chapter. Apparently in this hive everyone is too headstrong.
...
Beginner's Guide, Volume 42
Do as your told.
you're
taking the reigns now
Twilight may reign, but the expression is "taking the reins".
doing.
You know though, something I read in this chapter planted a worrying thought in my head. What if the act of connecting to Twilight via hivemind eventually ruins whatever mechanism allows Chryssy to draw sustenance from Twi? She said earlier in the story that changelings couldn't survive on their own love for one another...
Oh.. oh my...
3454315 That's pretty much all I can do...
Saw the comment, wanted to reply, saw it was like 60 weeks prior, said "screw it, I'm doing it anyways"
5506056 It's okay. I just liked someone's comment from 78 weeks ago and I'm replying to your comment from 16 weeks ago
Man, Twilight is really creepily out of character.
6330200
Well how much is out of character and how much is reasonable progression? Twilight saved chrysalis apparently right after the wedding since then she's faced sombrero freed discord and ascended to an alicorn, still living in library so before tirek. Now we look at chrysalis's influence on her.From what we've seen chrysalis has made twilight's mind more flexible and willingness to understand different concepts. Think like having a foreign exchange student and bumping heads in terms of culture. If your any kind of decent person you would find sort of middle ground so you fight less. And then you add on to the obvious influence the hivemind had on her. Remember she said herself she has different definition of what a "Queen" is and what it's supposed to be as opposed what the general populace believes it to be. Given their rulers are princesses and not had much good experience involving the higher status's does not breed a good image. Next you add the mental touch when she saw the full lives of her guard and fluttershy. And not just seeing but experienced through their eyes. Like the difference between playing call of duty and truly getting your ass actually shot at. I can guess that she picked up the necessity of established authority from her guard, as well as some confidence.
BUT THAT'S JUST A THEORY A... story theory? pony theory? hive theory... noodles.
5958274
I've never let time between then and now stop me. What is the point of commenting if not to stir up old memories?
7082405
6330200
I've had the same thoughts and from reading one chapter ahead of this one I can't say I enjoy the way Twilight is portrayed either. She comes off as more of an unrepentant jerk than having gained confidence in herself and her actions seem incredibly domineering instead of acting as an authority figure. Maybe the hive mind has altered her in ways we do not know but I'm starting to hope that Twilight gets her plot handed to her with the way she is being portrayed. With her current character I could see Twilight doing some terrible things in the future and not have it appear strange or wrong. While I will continue with this story an see where it goes, my best guesses to what happens is that she enslaves Ponyville at one point
Go Chryssie go!
“You will refer to me as 'my queen' and you will dowhateverI tell you to. Even if it goes against your training. Even if it goes againstPrincess Celestia. Is that understood?”
Oooooooh booooy. This is going to be craaaazy.
Rebellion! Treason!
Ah, loyalty and brashness on the level of Rainbow Dash.