The Other Royal Decree: An Alternate Ending
This ending was written by my dear compatriot and friend, HiddenUnderACouch. Being the angry Russian that he is, he has never liked that Queen Mantissia and her offspring were spared. So with my blessing, he typed this up for (hopefully) your amusement, but mostly for his own. 
As a consequence, this ending means that the events of The Pendant and the Amulet could never occur, for many essential characters in that story would never be born.
“Queen Mantissia.”
Crystal Princess Aura stood on the raised platform, in the center of Unitopia square, surrounded on all sides by the victims of the accused. The subject of her address gazed back at her, wearing an expression of defeat.
“You stand before us today, accused of the worst crimes in our young world’s history. You have conspired to seize control of these beautiful lands: not only those belonging to our city, but also the fertile fields, tranquil forests and beautiful skies. You sought to enslave our entire race, sapping our hearts of the very love which we are still rebuilding our world upon.
“You plotted to steal my father’s throne right out from underneath him. You posed as my mother to steal the love he bears her, my sister and I—love which knows no bounds. You waited until the perfect day of our year—Hearts And Hooves Day—to infiltrate our beautiful kingdom, the one day of the year when the love in everypony’s heart burns with the most passion.
“You ordered your troops—your children—to assault, apprehend and imprison every member of Unitopia, Cloudsdale and the Earth pony pastures. They each took on a disguise before doing so, that of one member of each family—even my own. With the amount of love on display throughout the land, your children overcame their targets easily and sealing everypony up in cocoons—cocoons that stole their love and held them in a sleeping stasis.
“Finally, you did the unthinkable: you aimed to mercilessly crush any and all opposition directed at you, no matter who stepped up to challenge you. My father, my elder Aunts—Celestia and Luna—the entire Royal Guard, even myself and my friends. Your final, desperate act involved the absorption of every drop of love from your entire swarm, transforming you into a soulless, powerful beast. This act included the subduing of everypony who challenged you… and resulted in the death of my father, the king.”
Aura ceased her accusations and bowed her head, taking deep, calm breaths.
I can’t let them see me cry. Not again. Not ever.
After a few seconds, Aura raised her head, resuming her speech once more.
“Mantissia, from this day and hour, I declare you and your race the enemy of ponykind. Your very existence, made possible by the vile magic of an ancient monster, threatens everything we have managed to build, everything we have managed to preserve since the most dreadful of cataclysms. You do not deserve to live.”
Aura looked at Mantissia with utmost disgust. “My judgement is as follows—Mantissia and all of her kin are to be executed immediately!”
The crowd gasped as Aura spoke the words. Everypony—her friends, her family—glanced at her with horror and shock.
“Aura… you mean…” Luna spoke slowly, but Aura interrupted her.
“Yes. Every single one of them.” She grit her teeth and tried not to let the river of tears flow from her eyes. “That is my royal decree.”
Aura slowly descended from the dais, breathing heavily. She'd done it; She'd had enough courage to say everything. This decision was fledgling, growing inside of her ever since she found out about the invasion—cold, bitter anger of a child that hadn’t even discovered what hate was.
The crowd erupted, everypony wanting to express their opinion on the matter. Guided by loud discussion, Aura approached Mantissia and looked at her enemy.
The once great changeling queen now looked utterly pathetic, bound and powerless before her. Once pompous with pride, she was now nothing but a shell of her former self.
“Why am I not surprised?” Mantissia smirked at Aura.
“You should have known better. Now you shall face the consequences of your actions, monster.”
Aura turned to the crowd, her horn sparkling as she cast a voice enhancement spell.
“On this day, I pass my royal judgement upon Queen Mantissia and her spawn. For the crimes of destruction of property, leading an army in a coup, plotting treason and regicide, unlawful imprisonment of no fewer than five hundred ponies, adultery and murder, I find you, based on indisputable evidence and multiple eye-witnesses, guilty.
“Your punishment shall reflect the burthen of your crimes: you are a spawn of evil, a being of pure darkness, and thus you do not deserve to live. Nor does your disgusting generation, who follow you blindly, for they are nothing but mindless drones.
“From this day on, every changeling encountered must be killed immediately, with no mercy shown and no words of compassion spoken. Your species are to be wiped out completely, for parasites have no place in the circle of life. As for you—”
“You’re all the same. That farmer, you, you’re all alike—selfish, bitter, cold!” Mantissia's anger flowed as the realization of her entire kin's demise hit her. “You think you’re the masters of the world, don’t you?”
“As for you, I shall carry out your sentence personally.”
Aura finished her speech, the entire nation gasping. She looked back. Her aunts, her friends and her parents were staring at her, watching her carry out the judgement. Their sight made her feel warm; she knew she was doing the right thing, protecting those whom she loved.
“No, we’re not the masters of the world.”
She turned her attention to Mantissia, looking her enemy straight in her deceiving green eyes. “That title belongs to a being beyond my comprehension. But it is I who decide your fate now, not her nor anypony else.”
Aura took a deep breath, her horn igniting the air around her. “I, Crystal Princess Aura, condemn you, Mantissia, to eternal suffering! I shall cast you back to the abyss from whence you came!”
Aura concentrated all her energy on Mantissia, sending forth a powerful sphere of energy. She watched as her foe gazed upon her impending doom… and panicked. She saw the terror in her foe's eyes, which made her feel confident, powerful, righteous. She saw true fear—fear of death, fear of righteous judgement.
The sphere hit Mantissia, engulfing her in pink flames. Her petrifying shriek filled the air, silencing the crowd who listened to the monster's death throes.
King Levitatus turned away, as did Telportia, Luna and Celestia, each feeling their stomach turn.
Aura watched the whole thing—her pure, untamed energy bit Mantissia’s flesh, stripping it from her bones.
Finally, Mantissia’s screaming ceased, and her ashes fell down. Aura tilted her head a little, summoning a weak wind. It carried the remains of the changeling queen to the land yet undiscovered, never to be found.
Aura turned around and looked at everypony she had just saved: her people… the entirety of Equestria.
She smiled, watching as some ponies started clapping their hooves, congratulating the Crystal Princess on her first adult decision. More and more joined this chorus of congratulation, as they realized what sacrifice was just made for their sake, their safety, made by this tiny, little crystal unicorn, who went through so much, suffered and lost for this cause. The ovations grew, and soon became deafening.
“Death to the changelings!” Aura heard an ecstatic shriek, and smiled. “Long live Princess Aura!”
The burden of her decision now felt light as a feather, now that the ponies were at her side.
“Aura!”
She heard her name, and turned to the speaker. Luna and Celestia stepped forth, both shaking with shock and suppressed rage.
“Aura… what… what are you doing?” Luna said, her voice trembling.
“Carrying out justice, that’s what.” Aura's confidence increased as the ovations became louder.
“Justice? This isn’t justice!” Celestia exclaimed. “Mantissia deserved death, but her kin is not to blame for her actions. Please, reconsider—you still have time to change your mind.”
“Yes! Please, Aura, don’t do this,” Luna pleaded. “Mantissia wronged you in many ways, but now she is no more. Please, no more pain, there has been enough. Just… let them go. They are no threat to you or anypony you love anymore.”
“Aunt Luna… Aunt Celestia… thank you. But my decision is final, and it stands. You’ve seen what pain and suffering changelings caused to my people… you've felt it yourselves. I am the future leader of unicorns, and I would be no better than Mantissia if I allow those who threaten my family to live.” Aura turned away, feeling herself better than ever.
Ponies were shouting her name, hailing her, praising her. They recognized her intentions; she was doing it for them. They recognized the sacrifice she was making for their sake and for that, they welcomed her with open hooves.
“I love you both… but this decision was mine to make, and I made it. Please, let us speak no further of it. I understand you’re worried about me, but there’s nothing to worry about.”
“Yes… we see.” Celestia sighed. “You are right, Aura. The decision was yours to make.”
“Sorry for… what happened. We… I didn’t realize that you grew up so quickly.”
“There’s nothing to be sorry about, aunties!”
Aura smiled and turned to them. “Believe me, it was hard for me to make this decision, especially after I heard that story of hers. But then I thought, and made a small comparison: Mantissia was like a… wolf. Wolves are carnivores by nature. They shall hunt no matter what, they shall kill no matter what. The only way to protect your family from the pack of hungry wolves is to destroy them.”
“That makes sense, actually.” Celestia nodded. “Again, sorry. Shall we escort you to your parents, Princess Aura?”
“No, thank you. You see… my future subjects are waiting for me.”
Aura looked at the celebrating crowd. With a clean conscience and her soul at ease, she walked towards the ponies, ready to answer any question, accept any praise or critique, if such may arise.
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Well well, look whose joined the Featured party?
Congrats, man!
4520903
Wow... and there I thought its chances for that to happen had died 8 months ago...
I'm honestly in shock right now.
Edit: it didn't last long, but it happened.
i1291.photobucket.com/albums/b555/Adrenalatic1/Keeperfeaturebox_zpsf30b5d47.jpg
Keeper of the Crystal Heart by Cerulean Voice
Score: 2.5 out of 10 - Much Improvement Needed
- Poorly done characters
- Convoluted plot
- Badly timed dialogue
- Many pacing issues
Review by Amy Clockwork. Read the full review here
4593973
Er, whoops? I thought I caught all of those. Let me go back and fix that up. Hurricane is supposed to be a stallion.
Also, Clover and Pansy are famous now: all of Equestria knows who they are.
4594764
I might have to go back and re-read the spot (if I can remember where it is), but when I read it it sounded a lot like Valencia was claiming to know them personally.
4594764
Also, I think something weird's going on with the messages. I don't get notices that you've responded to my comments anymore.
4597816
I love how into this you're getting. A lot of things you say make a tonne of sense
Ah, that was my own creation, actually. But I got my inspiration from this story, which I read when I was still a little tacker:
covers.booktopia.com.au/big/9781862916395/rowan-of-rin-5-rowan-and-the-bukshah.jpg
4597930
Yeah, tell me about it
I have not actually changed or modified this story very much at all since I finished it. Since then my growth as a writer has been exponential, and if by some miracle you maintain the patience to continue onto story three after this, you'll definitely see a sharp improvement in my writing skills all round.
It's worth mentioning that I didn't have pre-readers for this story at all. Back then, when I was a nobody still, I didn't know anyone, so I did it all by myself. It was only a little later that a couple of people stuck their heads in and said "hey, you can improve these things a little," but for the most part, I was still very much an amateur for this story's construction.
4597946
Actually, I don't intend to read Pendant until you finish it. I hate starting a story and then finding that I have to wait for the resolution.
But knowing that you've not given this a proper edit job is reassuring and will let me be a bit more forgiving. Still, don't expect me to lighten up on the criticisms; I'm sure you've gathered by now that there are certain things I keep a very close watch on.
4595350
The site is slightly weird when it comes to comments on multi-chaptered stories.
If the chapter numbers in the top left corners of both comments don't match, the person who should be getting a notification, won't.
4602382
Are you serious? That's one 'particular' bug, yeah.
...yeah, just no. I'm not even going to bother explaining why this version is terrible. The chapter speaks for itself.
4607175
What's funnier is that this is the chapter that got the story featured. Hehehe.
Yeah, it's pretty weird.
4607180
I'm sure it just put the story on the front page and people took notice of it. I seriously doubt this chapter specifically is what got it featured. Then again, if you blogged about it (I vaguely remember you doing something like that) and all your followers hit it at once, the rampant curiosity spurred by an 'alternate ending' may have helped out a lot.
4619276
Pleased you're still enjoying it