Chapter 16
Queen Chrysalis was pleased. While she had been unable to prevent the Elements of Harmony from rescuing Princess Celestia (as well as that meddlesome zebra), things still stood strongly in her favor.
True, the pampered wedding guests had put up more of a fight than she would have thought them capable of—but they were outnumbered and trapped. The escape of Celestia’s student and her friends had threatened that, but instead of warning their fellow ponies of the danger, they went straight for Celestia herself to solve things.
Fools, she thought dismissively. Secrecy is a changeling’s chief weapon. By isolating the castle and those within it from the rest of the city, they’re helpless. They had a chance to break out and warn an entire city full of ponies; they would’ve descended upon us and ruined my plans. But no, they gave up that chance in lieu of finding their precious princess and bringing her back in the hopes of stopping me. Her fangs glinted as she smiled, a truly terrible thing to behold. Their Princess is a spent force and their sixth—the timid one—is nowhere to be seen. There’ll be no magic artifacts to save Canterlot now.
She strode forward, flanked by her subjects, all eyes—pony and changeling—soon focusing on her. As they should be. “Now then, where was I?” She looked around. “Ah yes, I believe I was about to cement my take over of your pathetic home.”
“No. You won’t.” Right on cue, Princess Celestia made herself known. Ponies quickly cleared a path for her, stopping halfway between the ponies and the changelings. “Chrysalis,” Celestia’s stern glare was undercut by the dark rings around her eyes. Her wings drooped and she was swaying slightly. “You are … looking as foul as ever.”
The changeling queen didn’t let Celestia get under her chitin. “Hello pot, I’m kettle. Have we met?”
In truth, Celestia knew that she wasn’t anywhere near at the top of her game. But with her little ponies behind her and an enemy in front of her, there was no second thought given to where she stood. “You have attacked my subjects, replaced them with your vile brood, and are trying to take over and despoil a land of peace and plenty.” Celestia’s horn began to glow with a bright golden light. “You will not succeed.”
“How cliche. And now you expect me to say something equally banal such as, ‘I’ve already gotten away with it?’” Chrysalis shook her head. “This isn’t one of your old mare’s tales where the tired, wounded heroine suddenly finds herself able to nobly save the day all on her own. I know how to make preparations and plan ahead, instead of blundering into a situation relying on brute magic strength to carry you through.” Then she chuckled airily, as if brushing the whole thing off. “But enough about me, let’s kill you!”
She suddenly rushed at Celestia, horn lowered to take her in the chest. Caught off guard and with her reflexes slowed, Celestia only narrowly managed to parry with her own horn. They tested their opponent’s strength and speed in this manner before breaking apart. Chrysalis summoned a blazing green blast of fire from her horn. Unable to get out of the way in time, several of Celestia’s feathers caught fire and were burnt. A dismayed moan rose from the ponies as a chorus of gleeful sounding hisses and buzzes came from the changelings.
Celestia created a bright golden beam of magical energy—only for Chrysalis to swat it aside with her own magic. Chrysalis was doing something worse than beating the Princess. She was toying with her.
In the gardens, Fluttershy fled through the gardens in a blind panic. Her heart beat so loud it almost drowned out the sound of the changelings pursuing her. Almost.
A sob caught in her throat, her muscles aching with pain. A startled whimper escaped from her burning lungs as she looked around in vain for any sign of Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Twilight or anypony else to help her. But she was alone. Fluttershy ran as fast as her hooves would carry her, the buzzing wings of the changelings never far behind. She had no clear goal of where she was going, except away.
The hissing of the changelings grew louder, signaling they were gaining on her. Fluttershy could almost feel their hot, rancid breath on her tail. She turned a corner and promptly dove into some bushes, startling several birds out and temporarily distracting her pursuers.
The two changelings hissed and shrieked until the birds had been dispersed. But they had lost track of their quarry. They looked at each other. “Great. Now what?” the one on the right asked.
The other shrugged, his luminous green eyes peeled for any sign of her. “We find her. Unless you care to explain to the Queen that we let one of them go.”
“We could probably just grab some other pony,” his companion grumbled. “They all look the same to me.”
That prompted an incredulous eye roll from the other. “Let’s just find her and report back. Otherwise we’ll be left with nothing but scraps from the feast in the main hall.”
“Agreed.” They began circling around. Fluttershy curled up into as small a ball as she could manage and hid beneath the bushes. Her heart almost stopped when she saw a chitinous leg stop mere inches from her hiding place.
“Why would ponies even keep a place like this? What purpose does it serve?”
“There’s no making sense of them…” the other replied. “Although I do hear that they’re delicious.”
His companion hissed back, “Orders are to bring this one back with the others.” He paused. “Although I have heard good things about pony quiche…”
Fluttershy couldn’t help but let out a tiny whimper. Unfortunately, it was just loud enough to be heard. Seeing the two changelings looking in her direction, Fluttershy tried to leap out of the bushes to flee—only to find her wings and tail tangled up in the bushes. “Oh dear…”
The changelings advanced, eyes and fangs glinting with menace. Fluttershy shrank back.
“S-stay back! I don’t want to have to hurt you.”
A loud mixture of skrees and hisses burst forth from the changelings. They were laughing. They made their approach only to find themselves suddenly blocked by a small, angry looking white bunny. The pair exchanged confused glances at each other and shrugged. When they began to be pelted with small stones, they hissed and tried to attack Angel, but he darted away into the bushes.
“Should we follow it?” the first changeling wondered.
The other was dismissive. “If you want to explain to the Queen why you were chasing a rabbit around, be my guest. Now, let’s just get our prisoner and—what?!” He let out a shocked yelp when something red and fiery suddenly invaded his vision.
Fluttershy looked up in amazement. “Philomena? Angel?!” The white rabbit reappeared, hopping up onto the phoenix’s back.
The changeling growled in annoyance. “All right, if you want to get in our way I suppose we could have a snack before dinner…”
“Uh…” His companion tapped him on the carapace. “We might need some backup.”
With a disgusted glower, the other turned. “What are you talking...abouuuu….” He trailed off when he noticed the two of them were now surrounded by a ring of animals: rabbits, squirrels, raccoons, opossums, otters, a very intimidating looking buzzard and an array of smaller birds.
It wasn’t until the rather large, annoyed looking bear arrived that the changeling duo realized they might be in over their heads.
“Hi, Harry,” Fluttershy waved. “Um, could you please give me a paw?” With a grumbled roar, Harry trudged over and gently untangled Fluttershy from her predicament. “Thank you, Harry.” She turned to the changelings. “You threatened a cute, harmless little bunny?!”
“I wouldn’t say harmless…” one of the changelings muttered, idly rubbing where one of the rocks had hit him.
Fluttershy didn’t even hear him. “NO ONE HURTS MY ANGEL BUNNY!” she bellowed, her eyes suddenly piercing and sharp. She charged at the changelings and every animal in the royal gardens charged with her.
The other changeling smacked his companion on the head before screaming, “RUN!” And run they did.
Twilight Sparkle and the others watched the duel between the two powerful sovereigns intently. She cast a worried look over to Rainbow Dash, who was steadfastly ignoring it, or any other signs of fear or despair coming from the rest of the pony crowd. All her attention was on her teacher, fighting for all of them. But Twilight couldn’t help but notice how Celestia’s hooves dragged, how her reflexes would slow and how her spells were growing less and less powerful.
She was losing.
When Rainbow wouldn’t look over, Twilight hesitantly spoke up. “Rainbow Dash?”
“Not now,” Rainbow leaned forward, as if trying to bolster Celestia through her attentiveness. “She’s got that bug right where she wants her!”
Her statement was punctuated by another exchange of magical blasts, one Chrysalis nimbly avoided. Celestia, on the other hoof, staggered, trying not to fall over.
“Rainbow—” Twilight struggled to get the words out. “She can’t win.” In a heartbeat, Dash had whirled on her, eyes flashing with anger. Twilight cringed as she prepared to get yelled at—only to see Rainbow crumple up on the inside, her head and wings drooping.
“I know,” she grimaced as if physically pained.
“She’s the Princess … and even she can’t win.” Rarity chewed her lip worriedly.
That made Rainbow stomp her hoof. “She could have fried that bug so fast she would’ve been mistaken for Prench food if she hadn’t been stuck awake in that cocoon for the last week!” Dash snapped. “It’s—cheating is what it is!”
Twilight blinked as something occurred to her. “Wait … that’s it! I know why Chrysalis did it! Keep Princess Celestia awake that entire time, I mean.”
Applejack looked glum. “Ah think we fig’red that out, to keep her so tired that a stiff breeze would knock ‘er over.”
“No, that’s not it,” Twilight shook her head. “Remember back in the Crystal Empire? When Dinky was unconscious, Princess Luna was able to enter her dreams and deliver a message to us. By keeping the Princess awake, Chrysalis made sure she couldn’t get in contact with Princess Luna!”
“So—if we can get Celestia to take a nap, she could tell Luna what’s wrong and have her come help!” Rainbow grinned fiercely, then paused. “Wait. How long do you think would it take her to arrive?”
Twilight helplessly shrugged. “I don’t know. I really don’t know what the Princesses are capable of. Few ponies do.”
“That would mean that if Celestia gets some much needed beauty rest, we’d have nopony else to stop the Queen,” Rarity observed. “Without Fluttershy we can’t use the Elements of Harmony and there’s no telling how long it would take Princess Luna to arrive—or if she’ll even get the message.”
“We don’t exactly have a lot of other options,” Rainbow Dash looked to her friends. “We’re going to have to buy some time for her; distract Chrysalis while Celestia tries to get Luna.”
Pinkie Pie frowned. “But we’d need something totally unpredictable. Something reckless. An uncontrollable force of nature! We need—” She paused expectantly.
An uncomfortable silence settled over the group and everypony tilted their head at her. “Pinkie, what are you doing?” Twilight asked.
“Oh, sorry, guess my timing’s off,” Pinkie pouted. “Usually when I say stuff like that something amazing happens!”
“What do you—?” Before Twilight could even finish, the doors to the room were slammed open by a pair of panicked changelings. They hastily slammed them shut again, but this proved futile as the doors were simply knocked down by a stampede of animals
A flock of birds poured through the gap and spread out, everything from sparrows and hummingbirds to falcons and buzzards. Squirrels, rabbits, beavers and even a large bear barrelled into the hall, scattering the changelings as he knocked them over. Standing on his back was Fluttershy, leading the charge.
Her friends were simply stupefied. All except for Pinkie Pie, who said, “And just imagine the impact that would’ve had if they had been on cue!”
Rainbow Dash recovered first. “Come on, get to the Princess!” She zoomed ahead. A ring of changelings surrounded Celestia during the duel. The first one she encountered was dropped by a blow to the jaw before it could even react. The one beside it, now aware of her, hissed and bared its fangs at Rainbow. Dash flew up, avoiding its lunge and kicked it in the face. As she brought down another changeling with an uppercut, she mused that this was much more enjoyable than the stuff Princess Celestia had her do as her student. It might not even make for a bad dream, come to think of it...
Soon she had broken through and made it to Celestia. Her battle with Chrysalis had been interrupted by a bunny stampede, and Chrysalis was now busy fending off some vengeful birds pecking at her chitin. Dash started tugging at her mentor’s wing. “Celestia!”
The Princess looked down, gasping for breath and sweating heavily. “R-Rainbow…”
“You okay?!” She positioned herself to help prop Celestia up from the side, taking the weight off her hooves.
The Princess took several deep breaths to steel herself, but her knees wobbled. “I ... I have strength enough for this. Chrysalis must be stopped ... no matter the cost." But all the strong words could not hide the weariness of her voice, nor the sluggishness of her movements. "I must defend my little ponies."
Rainbow Dash blocked her path, keeping her from Chrysalis. “Are you nuts?! You look like you have three hooves in the grave! You're giving it your all—but you can't beat her like this!” She had hoped that Celestia would deny it; telling her that she could indeed defeat the evil Queen. Instead, Rainbow Dash's words were met with an ominous silence. "We have a plan!" She urged Celestia. "Well, Twilight does. We need you to go to sleep to talk to Luna!
An incredulous looked briefly banished the weariness from her face. “Go to sleep? While a monster rampages through the palace and my little ponies are counting on me to protect them?”
“But you could call Luna back!” Dash retorted. “She can take care of Chrysalis and her bug army!”
“How long would it take her to arrive?” Celestia demanded. “How many ponies suffer or die while they waited for Luna? Ponies I can still save.”
Rainbow Dash didn’t have an easy answer for that. It was a gamble—but it had the only possibility of winning. “Celestia—look at yourself! I could kick your flank right now, nevermind Chrysalis.” She let that sink in for a moment. “You don’t have to do this.”
“Yes, I do. “Celestia shook her head. “"This is my responsibility, one I've born for countless centuries. I am here to safeguard and protect all life in Equestria. I cannot lay that that burden down for another to pick up.” She exhaled. “I ... I can still fight. I must for my subjects. For Equestria.” With a sad, tired smile she wearily nuzzled Rainbow Dash. “And for you, my faithful student.”
“You can't carry everything on your shoulders, no matter how big they are,” Rainbow joked weakly. “I spent last week trying to make everything better by myself—-and only made everything worse.”
“But…”
Rainbow pressed ahead. “If I had trusted them, if I had brought them in, we could've fixed this before it got worse! Instead I got convinced it was all my responsibility. I wanted to protect my friends ... only it didn't work out.” She sighed. “ No matter how awesome you are, you can never do everything by yourself. Trying to solve this without Twilight’s smarts, or Applejack’s horse sense or Pinkie’s off-the-wall whateverness—it was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do, and I couldn’t do it without them.”
There discussion was briefly interrupted when a stray changeling drew close. Celestia quickly drew herself in front of Rainbow Dash, shielding her—only for the changeling to be tackled by Applejack. To their left, another changeling was blasted away by Rarity’s magic and Zecora was swiftly darting her hooves out in a series of lightning strikes that laid two more out.
“See?” Rainbow pointed at the battling ponies. “My friends are stronger than you think. And so are the rest of us.” She gestured with her wing. “Even when you weren’t here, me and my friends stepped in to fight. And when we were gone—our friends and family picked up where we left off.”
Celestia stared at Rainbow Dash for for several long seconds. Then she gave her a tired smile. “Oh Rainbow Dash,” she leaned down and gently pecked her student’s forehead. “Since when were you the one teaching me lessons?”
“Since I realized I could do more with my head than just headbutt stuff," Rainbow replied. “And I saw that you needed it. So … feel free to fall asleep any time now.”
“I feel I cannot simply … turn off my mind after all this,” Celestia admitted. Rainbow winced, having experienced the sensation of being too tired to sleep.
“Oooh, crud. Just, uh, hold on a second!” She turned to her friends. “Guys! A little help here?”
Twilight winced. “Sorry, I’m still a little worn out after all that teleportation!”
Rarity trotted over. “Never fear, I’ve had to deal with Sweetie Belle when she couldn’t sleep. All it takes is some warm milk, a blanket and...” she climbed atop Rainbow Dash before the startled pegasus could even choke out a protest. Rarity delicately pressed her horn just behind Celestia’s ear. “...a little sleep spell.”
Chrysalis, having—mostly—rid herself of the birds and beasts assailing her, finally saw what Rainbow Dash and her friends were up to. “Stop them!” Chrysalis pointed at the group, her order only slightly undercut by having an otter crawl through the holes of her front leg. It scurried away before she could do anything to it, tail flicking disdainfully at her.
One changeling rushed at the Equestrian princess, only to suddenly find itself expertly hog-tied by Applejack. “Not so fast there, pardner!” She smirked as she secured the knots. “S’a good thing Ah always keep a bit o’ rope underneath my hat.”
Rarity was dumbstruck. “Do you … always possess a length of rope underneath your hat? Even during a Royal Gala Wedding?”
Applejack was equally confused. “Are you saying that you don’t?”
Shaking her head, Rarity’s horn lit up. There was a soft, almost chiming sound as Rarity’s spell took hold of Princess Celestia. Her eyes drooped and she soon gave into her exhaustion and fell asleep, slumping over—and right onto a startled Fluttershy.
Rainbow smirked. “Prepare yourself, Chryssy. The night is coming.”
Chrysalis let out an enraged shriek. “Rip them apart! I want them down now and—what?” She turned and looked outside. The others did as well. The sun was setting and the moon was rising, faster than anypony had ever seen before. The moon had never seemed as bright or full as it did just then. Trailing behind the moon like a banner of war came the night sky. It didn’t gently descend as it typically did—where before it just seemed to come with the moon, now it seemed to pour over the previously sunny sky like a descending wave.
Chrysalis felt an icy chill run up her exoskeleton. This wasn’t merely an ending of the day. It was a challenge from the Night Princess. She had raised her banner and was coming for the Queen with all her might.
For a brief moment the sky stained red. Red as rage. Red and hot as a warrior's blood surrounded the celestial body. The dark of night held no stars as the sun passed. Only the moon stood as a lone sentinel. Challenging the invading horde with piercing light against their shadowing evil.
A single shooting star shot out ahead of the rising moon, glowing brilliantly white. It grew larger and larger as it bore down on Canterlot. All eyes widened as they realized it was going to hit that very room. Cries of panic rose as it filled an entire window with blinding light—only for it to dissolve into a blue-black mist and dissolve through the window and reform on the other side. It congealed into a familiar alicorn: Princess Luna.
Queen Chrysalis hissed with fury but Luna took no notice of her. She dismissively turned her back on the invading changelings and instead stopped by her slumbering sister. Luna knelt and gently stroked Celestia’s cheek with her wing. It was only afterwards that she turned to the foe.
Chrysalis schooled her features into her typical look of disdainful scorn. “Ah, Luna.” She dipped her head in a mockery of a bow. “Princess Celestia sent you her regards, I assume?”
Luna’s face remained dark and impassive, not rising to the bait. The silence grew oppressive. It was Chrysalis who ended up breaking first. “Oh come on. Let’s get on with it; the whole ‘protection of the weak and innocent’ speech. You know you want to.”
That was when Luna finally spoke. It was just two words. “Speech this.” Within the blink of an eye Luna surged across the room, charging at Chrysalis like a rampaging bull. Chrysalis ducked her head and readied her magic. But where Celestia had dueled elegantly with her horn and her magic, Luna preferred a more hooves-on approach. As Chrysalis soon discovered when Luna planted her hoof firmly in her face.
The Changeling Queen was knocked right off her hooves and went flying back into the throngs of her minions. She rubbed her face as she got back up. With a frown, she turned and spat out a fang. The sight of her own bloody fang lying on the castle’s floors left her sputtering with rage and disbelief. “You—you actually hit me! Celestia would have never—”
Luna curtly interrupted. “As ponies have been fond of observing for more than a thousand years, I am not my sister.” Her frown grew more pronounced. “And neither are thee, foul imposter. Charlatan. Fraud. FAKE!” She was practically bellowing now. “Not only have you attempted to tyrannize all of ponykind—but you sought to do so by wearing my sister’s face!” She slammed her hooves down, leaving cracks to form in the floor beneath them. “I have heard that like an insect, if a changeling were to lose a limb or a wing, it would grow back. I’m curious to see if this also applies to your head.”
Chrysalis drew back. Without another word, Luna hurled herself at her. She rained a series of blows down on the Queen, her raw martial abilities outclassing Chrysalis’ own.
In sheer desperation, Chrysalis’ channeled her magic to her horn, creating a blinding burst of light that temporarily halted Luna’s assault. “What’s the matter?” Chrysalis hissed as she jutted forward with her horn, driving Luna back. “Afraid of the light?”
Luna’s eyes began to glow solid white. In a bright burst, she vanished. While frantically looking around, Chrysalis failed to notice the blue-black wisps wafting past, congregating behind her. An unnatural darkness fell upon the room, not merely the absence of light, but the presence of something else. “What’s the matter?” Luna tauntingly echoed back to Chrysalis as she reformed behind her. “Afraid of the dark?” She lashed out with another blow, knocking the evil queen on her side.
Chrysalis began to see how badly she had misjudged the situation. And Luna knew it as well. “I don’t need to visit your dreams to know what’s on your mind. You are thinking that you erred.’” Luna leaned in and in a voice just above a whisper said, “You’re right.”
Seeing herself outclassed, Chrysalis barked an order to her changelings. They surged, attempting to surround their Queen and overwhelm Luna. “Come on!” Rainbow Dash charged in, calling back to her friends and the rest of the ponies. “Help her out!”
There was a thundering crescendo as hundreds of hooves pounded the floor, a massive charge that carried dignitaries, wedding guests, the bride and groom themselves, a horde of garden animals, Zecora and the six Elements of Harmony into the fray. The determined number and force of the attackers caused the changelings to scatter. Secrecy and terror had been their greatest weapons, not martial strength. With their numbers advantage negated by the addition of Fluttershy’s animal host, and discouraged by the sight of Luna’s righteous fury, the changelings’ morale was shattered.
Chrysalis was simply outclassed. Luna’s speed, her strength and raw magical power was more than a match for her own. The Princess of the Night rained blow after blow on the Changeling Queen, staggering her.
But Chrysalis was stubborn. She had come too far, worked too hard, to simply yield now. “To me! Rally to me!” Despite being bruised and battered, Chrysalis managed to take to the air—although limping into the air might have been a more accurate description. The rest of the changelings followed her lead. The sound of their combined buzzing created an almost deafening cacophony, which seemed to buoy their weakened Queen. “Swarm them! Nothing can stop us!” She glared down at Luna. “You might think yourself powerful—but together, my swarm and I are invincible! I—we—are invincible!”
Luna spread her wings, standing at the vanguard of the pony herd behind her. "You're scheme is over!" Luna's magic tore at the windows, forcing them open. Soon an entire section of the wall shimmered and became transparent. Moonlight shone in, revealing the spectacle to the ponies waiting outside to see the newlywed royal couple. The expressions of horror at the monstrous black swarm were unmistakable. Chrysalis' face twisted in rage. "All of Canterlot is aware of your presence now!" Luna cried. "Your hope for a subtle infiltration and conquest is at an end!" Her horn began to glow. "Your greatest strengths are fear, surprise and numbers.”
“And ruthless efficiency!” Pinkie Pie added before being shushed.
“You no longer possess any of these.” Luna concluded. “Your only option now is brute strength—and we both know you lack the stomach for a slugging match."
Chrysalis was wroth. She wanted nothing more than to launch herself at Luna, but held herself back. She might have screwed herself up for another attack, had the night sky outside not been shattered by piercing, fierce war cries. Outside darkshapes stained the darkened horizon, growing bigger as they drew closer. On silent wings, Luna’s army swooped down. Their gray coats, pointed ears, bat-like wings and sharpened fangs leant them a dangerous air. Intimidating even to other ponies, to the changelings, these gargoyles were downright terrifying. After all, they all knew that bats eat insects.
Whatever small flicker of stubbornness survived in Chrysalis died with their first cry of challenge. Dispirited and tired, her injuries finally seemed to catch up with her as she sagged in midair. One of her larger drones had to catch her before she hit the ground. “F-flee…” Chrysalis moaned softly. “Go…”
Her bulky rescuer nodded and let out a sharp skree. The changelings broke off from engaging the ponies and moved into position, forming a barrier around their Queen. Others swooped down and picked up their injured or unconscious fellows. But Luna led her forces in pursuit, harrying the changelings and herding them away from other pony settlements. Seeing her silver-armored gargoyle ponies closing in around them, the changelings somewhat orderly retreat soon devolved into a complete rout as they panicked, flying as fast and far from Canterlot as they could. A green fire, some form of magic, encased them as they picked up speed.
The ponies in the castle watched the green dots fade and flicker into the distance until they could no longer be seen. It was not long before Luna returned in a bright flash of light, reporting that they had pursued the changelings until they were beyond the borders of Equestria. Her gargoyles, supplemented by unicorns, would patrol Canterlot to ensure no changelings remained.
It was over.
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I think you went a little overboard with references this chapter, but otherwise good job.
this was awesome and all, with Luna winning some serious Bad-Ass points with me, but i still want to see the confrontation between rainbow and her friends (who aren't very good friends). i get that she should have probably talked to them as soon as she was told something was up, but chrysalis did trick her into thinking that any one of them could be a changeling in disguise. she had legitimate reasons for holding back that info. and her friends kept their own secrets as well, so it's not like she's the only one. but the kicker is that while she was able to tell that all of them were who they said they were, none of them were able to tell that she was the real rainbow dash. that's low on a level i rarely get to see on this site. so even though she and them have acknowledged that they all fucked up their relationship with her, there hasn't been a real confrontation yet. i eagerly await this.
Nice Teen Titan reference! And Luna totally kicked ass!
In a place and age where communication is rarely quick allowing your enemy to instantly contact her greatest ally sure is a problem.
I'm BatmanI am the NightLuna rides again.6239049 I prefer the Deep Space 9 reference before it though
6239010 I agree completely, now that the battle is finally over, RD's probably got some choice words to say to her so-called "friends", and if not her, then the mane five should at least give her a heartfelt apology.
6239258 i don't think an apology will cut it this time, no matter how sincere it is. they, once and for all, proved that rainbow is the better friend out of all of them, while simultaneously showing just how little they know about her as a pony and friend. they basically stomped on her loyalty, which is a humongous part of who she is, and what she values most in a friend. i don't think they're going to be doing any Elements Of Harmony stuff for a while.
An awesome chapter. Great job.
Any day where this story shows up in my inbox is a good day!
My favorite quote from this one-
Luna in all her glory really came through! Another reminder to never make her mad at me, please!
6239284 You have a valid point, and the worst part is: None of the events with Discord have taken place yet, so unless they can find a way to mend the bridge they so mercilessly burned down, Equestria is pretty much screwed.
Great. They've won the war but lost the peace. It's going to take a heroic effort on Ditzy's part to get RD to face the other five in time for Discord.....unless he's the one who's supposed to get them back together.......
Beast Wars and Monty Python references spoted too.
(6:24)
[youtube=C8yC02d7UZY]
[youtube=vt0Y39eMvpI]
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6239284
Well this story does a good deal better than the canonverse (where even 3 seasons after the wedding. Where Tia basically gave Twilight a verbal thrashing, Shining almost disowned her, and her friends gave her the boot (even Spike) never had an actual apology (AJ's word vomit doesn't count)).
This here was in a way slightly worse, and I'm sure with how awesome the author is. Will show how the Elements are going to work to repair the massive buck up they just did. But yeah, with Discord around the corner they better find a way to make it up to her. Big time.
Chrysalis has spent way too much time on TV Tropes. Luna doesn't do the whole speech thing.
Go Luna!!
6239010
6239258
I actually disagree on this slightly. Sure, they bucked up, but do you think Rainbow wouldn't have turned on one of her friends of "Celestia" herself directly pointed at her and claimed she's a Changeling? I think she would. To have them scrape and bow now would feel... wrong.
I rather like that Rainbow realised she should've brought them in with what was going on. I'm not saying they shouldn't apologise or anything, but let's not make this some drawn-out ordeal.
6240877 i'm not saying make it a big drawn out thing. more like a huge explosion of emotional release, followed by everypony taking a good look at what they did, and where they fucked up, and then admitting it. it just happens to be that dashs friends have more that they need to admit to.
but that's just my opinion.
6240902
No no, that sounds about right! Let's have them do that. Rip it off like a bandaid.
You took the stories from the source material, and made them much more nuanced. Here you had what should have been in the originial: Celestia fighting to her last breath, and Luna showing what she was made of, I can't wait until the next chapter, and your possible next installment.
Huh, I was expecting Chryssie to get killed off for some reason.
Holy BUCK, that was awesome! The next chapter could not possibly come out sooner.
It always makes for a nice twist on things when Fluttershy of all ponies get to have the Big Damn Heroes moment.
I'm just a little bit disappointed that Rarity didn't respond by pulling out a needle and see thread.
Welcome back Luna!
Great ending to the battle, that was fun.
Looking forward to the next chapter. Curious to see if you're going to have the mane 6 heal their relationships in the coming chapters, or if they're going to remain partially fractured if/when you start the next story arc.
I like how you Celestia and Luna as actually siblings. You don't how rare that is in fanfiction these days.
Got to say, that was pretty clever of Dash to use Celestia's tiredness to summon Luna. Even more impressive was how quick Luna got there like that...I mean, I know that in dreams, time move differently, but Luna must have been busy at the time. The fact that she managed to even discovered Celestia's dream is a thumb up for Luna's skills. Peace have returned, but sadly, there are still some unresolved issues.
Personally, on the topic of the canon wedding, it gotten a bit tiresome of hearing all the blown-out-of-proportion nonsenses about how the canon wedding was and should be, and how this and that would be/do this instead. I’m sorry if I sound a bit harsh, but as bad as the situation was between Twilight and everyone involved (which was not as extreme as many made it out to be), you got to admit that bursting through the door and screaming like a maniac—yelling a vague statement that would sounded a bit hurtful to anyone else—might have played a more of a role for her sour situation than anything else. The whole issue with the episode might have been understandable if she had been calmer and explained everything more clearly, and yet they still behaved that way, but nothing of such happened. And, considering that Twilight was fine with the other girls after that episode, I’m sure that they talked things out and make peace.
Now, story-wise, while I do agreed that the emotional damage for Dash is a bit more than canon!Twilight, since Dash handled the situation a little bit better and that the girls—mostly Fluttershy and Applejack; Pinkie and Rarity was more butting heads with each other than with Dash, while Twilight was just a bit oblivious about the troubles around her—was more in the wrong than canon-wise, I’m sure the damages have been lessen with their teamwork. I think 6240902’s conclusion here is probably the most likely to happen, considering Dash and her temper, but I don’t think it will be too drastic.
Besides, I’m sure that there are more than the situation than how it appeared. From what I gathered by Fluttershy’s misunderstanding with Dash—as well as why the girls couldn’t figure Dash out as easily as she did for them—there might be a good possibility that Dash keep most of her life and personality to herself (heh, which is ironic, considering how much she love to boast). Sure, she have talked about her past before, but only a few selections and her feats. It didn’t help that Dash seems a bit off in the situation, a product of her own wariness with the girls. Maybe once a few things get lay out into the open, it might help the healing.
Sorry about this rant. I wasn't too sure about posting it, but I just wanted to get it off my shoulder. I'm not angry or anything, it's just me getting my thoughts of the matter out.
Keep up the awesome job!
C&C:
"You're scheme is over!"
> Replace "You're" with "Your".
Very nice overall. Luna kicked some serious flank, there.
Should be 'their'.
Although I would be remiss in my duties if I didn't point out Sisko punching Q... really wasn't all that badass, or even smart. Q's punches weren't hurting him. It was a test. Nobody remembers the end of that scene, it seems. :p
And neither are thou. Neither art thou, if thou art truly beset by the desire for thine
EnglishEquish to be archaic.I could go all technical about subjects and objects, but who the buck remembers that? Even I have to look it up. I just remember which is which based on how they are used and it never fails me. It does have the downside of meaning every time I see it used wrongly, it's like a train wreck in my flow of thought.
I SHALL SHARE THIS CURSE WITH THEE!
The old forms of you confuse a lot of ponies, because nowadays you just say you, whether you are talking about what someone else did to you, or what you should do. Thou is like a second person "he:" "Thou must do this" is like "He must do this." Thee is used like a second-person "him:" "I do this for thee" is like "I do this for him."
Just be grateful that there is still only one "I" in old
EnglishEquish.I love your Dashverse in general, and Luna's arrival here never fails to give me goosebumps. Seriously.