The Changelings Have a King

by Jade Ring

Chapter 18: The Night of the Memorial, Part II - Only the Dead

Canterlot Castle

Princess Luna stood alone before the altar in the Hall of Remembrance, her head bowed in reverence. A small image of a unicorn formed of moon-light danced beside a single, flickering, black candle. “Thank you, Trixie. You did your mistress proud. Though you originally sought my tutelage for selfish reasons, I know that you gave your own life selflessly. You saved my life and the life of my son. I will remember you for all time.” A small smile crossed her lips. “Rest easy… my most faithful student.”

Luna turned and strode from the room, her magic sealing the doors behind her. She adjusted her veil before stepping out into the Grand Atrium. Visiting dignitaries milled about Canterlot nobility and made small talk. They sipped from glasses of the finest wine and nibbled at the most delectable of finger foods. As she passed them they stopped speaking and bowed lowly and respectfully. Most of them had no idea that she and Shining Armor had been joined by marriage. They simply believed that the entire royal family was taking the loss of one of their own particularly hard.

Luna paid them no mind. The pony she wished to speak to was standing on the open-air balcony, her gaze focused on the ground below where her beloved now slept. Luna sat beside her and took a deep breath. “Greetings, Cadance.”

Empress Cadance said nothing, her eyes hidden by the delicate veil that cascaded from her crown.

“’Tis a beautiful night.” Luna chuckled awkwardly. “Of course, I suppose I would be biased, wouldn’t I?”

Cadance remained as still as a statue.

Luna sighed. “Cadance… any apology I could give you now would be hollow. And, despite your initial desire to see me banished once again, I still respect you enough to not mince words; I lost a husband, just as you did. I loved Shining Armor, just as you did. I bore him a son, just as you did. I, too, and in mourning now. You and I, despite everything else, sit here as equals now. Not fellow princesses, not aunt and niece; equals. So, as your equal, would you speak with me now?”

“…Say what you have to.”

Luna nodded. “Thank you.” She looked into the starry night. “Shining Armor told me, before he died, that you were now open to the idea of reconciliation. Is that true?”

Cadance sighed. “I may have acted… rashly when I seceded the Empire, yes.”

"I would hope that now, even though he's gone, that you would still be in favor of such an event."

Cadance bowed her head. "I... I don't know, Luna."

"Cadance, it's..."

"No, you don't understand. I don't know about anything anymore. I still can't process the idea that he's gone. I can't envision waking up in bed every morning from here on out and not seeing him snoring beside me."

Luna sniffled even as she smiled. "He was quite the snorer, wasn't he?"

Cadance laughed quietly as her own tears fell. "It runs in the family, I guess. I used to be able to hear Twilight through her bedroom door when she was a foal. And Morning Dew! I've had the palace servants prepare for thunderstorms when that colt goes down for a nap."

Luna shook her head. "Moon Shadow as well. In all my years, I have never known something so small to make such a terrible noise!"

The two widows laughed quietly. The laughter faded into sniffles and then silence.

"I miss him so much."

"As do I, Cadance. As do I."

Cadance shuffled her hooves. "I remember the last time I saw him. He was so happy that I had forgiven him. And then he..." Cadance frowned. "And then he left. And then he came here." She turned to face Luna. "He came here to take care of you."

Something in Cadance's tone put Luna on edge. "Cadance..."

"He died because he was here. With everything that's happened, I only just now put that together. If he had stayed in the Empire, none of this would have happened. He would still be here with me."

"That's not fair, Cadance. How could we have known we would be attacked?"

"It was you." Cadance hissed, tearing the veil from her face. Her eyes were bloodshot and anchored by heavy bags. The beautiful face of the former Princess of Love was an image of exhaustion and fury. "You took him from me, Luna. And then you took him from me permanently."

Luna flinched at the sight of her niece's face. "I will not tell you that I regret falling in love with Shining Armor, Cadance. He meant just as much to me as he did to you." She narrowed her eyes at Cadance's scoff. "With that being said, I do regret that we kept it hidden from you as long as we did. Perhaps things would be different if we had been more open about our..."

"Affair?"

"...Yes. Our affair. I took Shining Armor into my bed not thinking or caring about how such a thing would affect you. He was just another pony in a long line of ponies. That was how it started, but... but..." She removed her own veil. "I truly fell in love with him, Cadance. He gave me so much joy just by being around him. He gave me my son. He brought light into my life. He was... he was my everything." Luna's face fell and she watched her tears strike the cold marble floor. "And now he's gone."

Cadance watched the alicorn cry with cold detachment. The moon's light reflected off the shattered heart her cutie-mark had become. "Now you know how it feels to have your heart broken, just as mine was by your actions."

Luna sniffed. She forced herself to look back into Cadance's eyes. "My heart broke over a thousand years ago when I didn't believe the word of somepony who loved me more than she valued her own life. Shining Armor healed my heart, Cadance." She took a deep breath and bowed her head lower than usual. "The only thing I'm sorry for is that the price of my healed heart was your broken one."

Cadance was momentarily stunned by the bow. She recovered quickly and made to leave. "This conversation is over."

"Cadance, wait!" Luna reached out and hooked her foreleg around her niece's. "You told Shining Armor that you were ready to talk. Why can't that still happen? Wouldn't he have wanted us to make peace with one another?"

"I'm not sure what he would have wanted." Cadance snatched her leg away and glared at her aunt. "He's dead. My husband is dead. And he's dead because of you."

"And what of Morning Dew?" Luna narrowed her own eyes. "Doesn't he deserve to know who Moon Shadow really is?" When Cadance said nothing, Luna took a step forward. "Does your hatred for me truly run that deep? So deep that you would deny your own son the truth?"

"Hate?" Cadance looked at Luna like she was crazy. She gestured beyond the rim of the balcony. "Out there, far to the east, lay the Bad Lands. It was from that wretched place where all my misery was spawned. And I tell you this, Luna; if every single grain of sand in that endless, burning desert had the word 'HATE' inscribed upon it, it would still only be a fraction of the hatred that I have for you in my heart." Cadance walked until she was face to face with the older alicorn. "You can tell your son whatever you like. I can't stop you. But if anypony, you, your son, anypony at all, ever tells Morning Dew about the sins of his father..." A small bolt of burning magic zapped between the two horns.

Luna flinched with momentary pain.

"...I'll kill you." Cadance whispered.

She spun and left a stunned Luna on the balcony. Flash Sentry hurried and joined her. Together, they left the Grand Atrium.

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Princess Celestia and Captain Golden Haze stood together on the room's opposite side. They watched as Cadance and Flash Sentry left the room.

Celestia sighed. "I warned Luna that might not go as well as she hoped."

Haze looked up at her princess with concern. "Should we be worried?"

"I don't think so." Celestia responded. "We'll just have to try again after Cadance is done mourning. I still believe that reconciliation is possible." She sipped white wine from the glass floating beside her. "She already turned down her chance to face her husband's murderer so I would imagine she'll be departing soon. We'll check in with her in a few months." She made a noise as something else occurred to her. "Speaking of; what of Blueblood?"

"What about him?" The Pegasus spat.

"I believe I told you to have your best interrogators have a run at him, didn't I?"

"Yes ma'am. The interrogation is complete. He'll be moved to the dungeons to await trial tonight." She closed her eyes and recalled Brass Ring and Smasher's report. "Evidently Chrysalis found the method she used to change him into a King in the Archives while she was disguised as Princes... as Empress Cadance. I've already spoken to Brother Veritas and she apparently didn't read the entire entry or she would have known that the offspring of two such disparate kinds of magic would be... unstable."

"Are there more? Of the impure Changelings, I mean?"

Haze shook her head. "If there were, then they're dead. According to the reports I'm getting from some of the older Changeling converts we've talked to, every Changeling spawned by Queen Chrysalis ceased to exist with her last breath."

"I see. Then we have truly seen the end of the Changeling race." Celestia muttered.

"...Not quite, your majesty."

Celestia looked down as the mare gestured for her to follow. The two ponies left the Grand Atrium and stepped into an adjoined dining room. Celestia couldn't suppress a giggle as Haze checked to make sure none had seen their departure before she closed the door behind them. "You're getting more bold, Haze. Dragging me away in the midst of a social gathering."

Haze said nothing in response to the loaded remark. Instead she lifted her wing and revealed the bag hanging from her side. Sticking out of the top was the head of a Changeling. The niyad had already grown since her hatching, her shell already solid and shining black. The first traces of a membranous green mane were sprouting from above her already pointy and jagged horn.

Celestia stared in shock. "Is that...?"

"The new Changeling Queen. She hatched right after Chrysalis died. Mareco gave her to me before he died. He... charged me with protecting her."

"Just as he protected Chrysalis." Celestia marveled at the sleeping babe. "May I?"

Haze nodded and allowed Celestia's golden magic to lift the Changeling from the pouch.

With practiced movements she had not used in over a century, she cradled the newborn in her foreleg and examined her. "Extraordinary." She murmured. "She's beautiful."

"Beautiful?" Haze scoffed. "She's a monster, born from monsters. I should have squashed her the instant she was given to me."

"Then why haven't you?"

Celestia's question stunned Haze for a moment. "I..."

"And why isn't she bawling for food? If you felt nothing for this little one, then she would be absolutely starving. I believe I read somewhere that Changeling Queens can only feed on love."

"I... I don't know. There's something about her." Haze reached out and stroked the niyad's head. "I look at her and all I can see are the monsters who killed Shining Armor... but, try as I might, I can't bring myself to hate her. She didn't do anything wrong. How can somepony be held responsible for the sins of her parents?"

"So you thought to ask me to pass judgment?"

Haze nodded. "You are so beyond me, your majesty. You have the wisdom of the ages. What should we do with her?"

Celestia smiled. "The answer is quite clear, Haze. We must do as Mareco asked and raise this little one. She is the only hope for her kind's survival, after all. How could we knowingly condemn an entire species to extinction for the actions of a few?"

"But what if she turns out like the others? Those monsters that attacked Ponyville?"

"Only the dead know the future, Golden Haze. We among the living must simply hold out hope that the future will be a better one. For us, and for our children." She nuzzled the Changeling as she began stirring. "Our children repair our mistakes and secure our legacies. All we can do is try to raise them as best we can and hope that when they step into the world, they make it a better place than the one we left for them."

The niyad's green eyes opened. She yawned and looked up at Celestia with a wide smile as she soaked in the love that poured from the alicorn. She looked over at Haze and cooed at her.

Haze couldn't help it. She smiled back.

The niyad suddenly closed her eyes in concentration and was bathed in emerald flames. When they faded, the tiny Changeling Queen was gone. In her place was a white Pegasus with eyes of gleaming jade. A mane of pink flowed from her head. She reached out for Haze with tiny hooves.

Celestia nuzzled the foal once again before passing her back to the Captain of the Guard. "Yes, in the end, hope is all we have. Glorious, glorious hope."

Comments

[Dawn Flower]

Nice reference to "I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream".

Hate. Let me tell you how much I've come to hate you since I began to live. There are 387.44 million miles of printed circuits in wafer thin layers that fill my complex. If the word 'hate' was engraved on each nanoangstrom of those hundreds of miles it would not equal one one-billionth of the hate I feel for humans at this micro-instant. For you. Hate. Hate.

[Vic Fontaine]

Cadance does have a point there.

[Yami Vizzini]

Well, at least Celestia hasn't been too jaded by everything that's happened. First I thought Haze was keeping the baby a secret from her, then I thought she was going to vaporize it, but after everything else we leave off (for the moment) on a sweet note.

And either next or shortly thereafter, we'll have to look back in on Blueblood....