The Price of Love and Harmony
“All power to the starboard engines!” Haman howled and spat from his reeling mech walker. “Detach us from the other hull already, you worthless runts!” He pointed a flesh hand, ordering various goblins around the teetering deck of the Gamma ship as it locked up with its sister vessel. “I can't believe you're all letting a bunch of piss-purple ponies wreck everything that I've worked to—”
“Boss! Boss!” a goblin howled, pointing skyward.
“What is it now?!” Haman spun about. His eyes twitched.
The northern skies of Val Roa were filled with glossy black lounge spheres. Manablasts flickered through the streets as the reptilian agents neutralized the pockets of scattered Soul Sentries.
Many of the goblins slumped in place, gawking at the sight.
“Several of them are approaching, sir,” another goblin stammered.
Haman gritted his teeth. “Word to the wise...” He inhaled steam and growled. “Never make deals with a race that sheds its skin...”
“You tried taking over this kingdom by stealing away the King and Queen, but the Noble Jury won them back,” Rainbow Dash said, trotting slowly towards Chrysalis. “You tried dominating Val Roa through Prince Eine, but we saved him. Last but not least, you tried dominating the capital with Soul Sentries, but you failed. You couldn't even control your three pawns; Saikano betrayed Fishberry and Sharp Quill for the sake of Harmony. So what makes you think that you'll have any hope of controlling the Soul Sentries forever? Not that it matters. The Jurists and the Lounge have got them outnumbered and beat. All that's left is to pull them out from under your spell. Face it, Chryssi. You lost. You lost all the way back in Ledomare at the death of Nevlamas. You know all that suffering you've wanted to feed on? Well, I've got news for you.” She scuffled to a stop, her eyes glaring with a glint that matched her pendant. “Ledomare has become Luxmare, and it's made peace with Xona. The entire Continent is experiencing an unprecedented period of Harmony. If anything, the battles you and I endured have only worked to facilitate the swift end of pain and anguish in every landscape you've ever graced. In other words, for being such a huge fan of chaos and misery, you're pretty lame at what you do. And now... there's nowhere left to hide.”
“I... I don't understand...” Chrysalis shivered, her translucent wings twitching. “I... I thought of everything.” She gnashed her fanged jaws. “Everything!”
“But did you feel everything...?”
Chrysalis turned to glance at the source of a soft voice.
Rippling from head to hoof with green flame, a burgundy shape trotted out of camouflaged hiding. With sad eyes, Ebon Mane gazed at the decrepit alicorn. “Hello mother...” He gulped. “We meet at last.”
“... … ...” Chrysalis stared at him, slowly shaking her head. “I... I don't know...”
Ebon sighed. “Somehow, that doesn't surprise me.” His ears drooped. “All these years... decades... centuries... you've been so terribly desperate to gain power. And to do what? To... reinforce a war on the Dark Side that has no hope of ending?”
“My sister...” Chrysalis snarled. “Tchern needs me! She will not defeat both the Sarosians and the Night Shard unless my brood can return with sustenance—
“What brood?!” Ebon stomped his hoof. “Mother, all of your children have scattered! They've tasted of freedom, and they want nothing to do with you!” His eyes watered. “They don't want a Queen who hatches them only to sow misery without considering their feelings!”
“Their feelings are my feelings!” Chrysalis snarled. “Their strength my strength! The Trinary War—”
“—is a lost cause!” Ebon Mane shouted. “Your ancient siblings couldn't bless that side of the plane back when they first arrived here, and that was with all of your powers of Harmony combined! So what makes you think that just you and Tchern alone can do anything to salvage it?! And when you've got control of the Midnight Armory, then what?! All you know is pain and misery because you've chosen to make that your focus! There will only ever be another war if that is all you know and deal with!”
Chrysalis narrowed her eyes on the drone. “How is it that you know so much, child?” Her black brow furrowed. “The link with my mind was broken...”
With a plume of flame, Ebon morphed to his natural state. His glossy eyes blinked as the changeling said, “I reformed it. Using the Soul Sentries, I connected to you, and I learned everything I needed to know—about you, your past, and your... your p-pain.”
“Why...?” Chrysalis leaned her head to the side, glaring. “Why, of all the hundreds of thousands of hatchlings I've brought into this world—why did you come all this way to meet with me?”
Ebon took a deep breath. On porous hooves, he crossed the distance between them.
Rainbow Dash jolted, wings spread—but stopped herself at the last second. She watched, her face blanching with the first sign of anxiety since the face-off began.
With soft steps, Ebon Mane reached the brood mother. He reached a hoof up and clasped her fetlock with his. A smile crossed his fanged muzzle. “I came because I love you, mother.” He placed her large hoof over his small chest. “And I hope... I believe that deep down there is still the alicorn of Harmony who came to this world with the desire to bless and restore that which was shattered.”
Chrysalis gazed down at him, her muzzle agape. Her wings fluttered as she murmured, “I... I've failed Tchern so much. She needs my help. She... she needs...”
“She needs more than either you or I can give her,” Ebon said in a melancholic tone. “The alicorn has made her home in darkness.” He leaned his head to the side. “Why else would you be forced to flee to this side of the plane unless a part of you couldn't stand such bleakness?”
Chrysalis clenched her jaws, quivering.
Ebon smiled, reforming into a burgundy earth pony. “You don't have to be the same monster Tchern is. There's another way to use your gifts, Mother. There always is.”
Chrysalis shook her head. After a heavy breath, she murmured, “It's... too late. Far too late. I... I can't...”
“Yes you can,” Rainbow Dash spoke up. “Before the Jury and the Tarkington arrived in Val Roa, I made a deal with Lunarius.”
Chrysalis looked across the room at her.
Rainbow's eyes narrowed. “You will not be executed. Give up control of the Soul Sentries, and you will be shown mercy.”
“I...” Chrysalis leaned her head to the side. “I will be free?”
“Pffft. Don't be stupid,” Rainbow Dash said with a smirk. “Your beetle-shell ass is going to jail. But, your life will be spared, and so will the lives of any of your children if they happen to show up in this kingdom. For their sake—if not for your own—I suggest you accept Lunarius' mercy.”
“I... I've done so many terrible things—”
“In all my travels, I've met the worst of the worst that this plane has to offer. I'm sorry to burst your bubble, Queenie, but you ain't it.” Rainbow's gaze narrowed. “You want the Midnight Armory to be saved? Give up the worthless fight while you still can, and let Harmony take its course.”
“You... you mean you?” Chrysalis stammered.
Rainbow slowly nodded. “Tchern isn't the only pony whose fate's been sealed since day one.” She exhaled through her nostrils. “I'm the Austraeoh. More than anyone, I know a thing or two about sacrifice. It isn't easy trusting the course of destiny, but it's all for the best.” Rainbow stood up tall, wings spread. “You can still do what's best, too, Chrysalis.”
“You can be a blessing to this landscape, Mother,” Ebon Mane said, squeezing the alicorn's hoof. “The Val Roans can benefit from your gifts.”
“I... I don't know how...” Chrysalis seethed, clenching her eyes tight. “All I know... all I've done... I've done for Tchern... for this war...”
“Let it go, Mother,” Ebon insisted, his gaze earnest. “You were meant to be a creature of love. The same goes for your whole hive. Stop poisoning yourself and everypon around you...”
“I...” Chrysalis shook, shuddered. “I can't...” Her horn glowed a bright green... brighter. “Don't... don't trust...”
“You can do it.” Ebon sniffled. “I know you can. Just—”
Chrysalis yanked his grip loose and raised both hooves violently.
Rainbow gasped, flapping her wings. “Ebon, move—!”
But she didn't bother to strike either of them. Instead, she brought both hooves to her glowing, crooked horn. “Rrrrrrnnnngh...” With a bellowing scream, she pulled with all her might, yanking the thing clean off at the top of her skull. SNAPPPP! “Aaaaaaaaugh!” She wailed in pain as streams of ethereal green light poured out of her quivering shell of a body. She fell hard to the floor of the warehouse, twitching as a pool of emerald blood formed around her skull and upper body.
“Mother—!” Ebon shrieked, but was pulled back in Rainbow's strong forelimbs. The pegasus held him back as both watched beams of jade energy billowing out of her form... then dissipating in faint misty trails.
“Guh!” Jex winced, rubbing his eyes as a bright flash of emerald light emanated from the northeast end of the Capital. “Was that one of your guys?”
“Negative,” the Lounge leader said, shaking his helmeted head. “It doesn't match the signature of our weaponry.”
“Well, something happened!” Jex turned towards Roarke. “Certainly you saw it.”
“... … ...” Roarke was leaning over the edge of the floating Lounge sphere they were on.
Down in the streets below, the Soul Sentries were collapsing simultaneously. With collective groans, the reindeer fell to their haunches, clutching their skulls. All the while, any trace of glowing green light faded from their eyes and antlers.
“Wait!” Roarke held a hoof up as her ice blue eyes squinted. “Your brothers! Call them off!”
“I beg your pardon?”
“They've been neutralized! Tell your soldiers to cease with their attacks.”
“Surely you jest.”
Roarke turned to glare at him.
“... … ...” The Lounge Leader swiftly raised a communicator to his helmet. “Brothers, in Quezaat's name, lay down your arms.”
Crimson twirled his hammer, readying another swing. Upon hearing Eagle Eye's gasp, he froze in place, sweating and heaving. He and Phoenix stood flank-to-flank with Eagle and Josho, gazing at the circling waves of reindeer guards around them.
One by one, the soldiers were crumbling to their knees, exhaling in collective groans. The emerald aura dissipated among them, replaced instead by soulful, blinking eyes.
Seclorum and Arcshod calmed down, as did the Xonan warriors.
Tweak helped Lucky Strike to his hooves—wincing—as they gazed voicelessly at the suddenly silenced battle in the middle of the Sandstone District's courtyards.
One by one, the citizens of Val Roa came out of the woodwork, gawking at the inexplicable peace of the moment. Floydien trotted down the steps of the High Council Building, glaring across the scene.
“The shimmer glimmer,” he murmured. “It has gone away...”
Josho glanced across the thick of sweaty fighters.
Eagle Eye shuddered, his lavender muzzle forming a weary smile. “Rainbow Dash... Ebon...” His eyes watered. “They did it...”
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Ouch.
That had to hurt!
You mean they aren't going to take Chrissy along?
That's a pity, she would have made a great pet for the Jury.
SAROSIANS! WOOOOOOOOOOOO
(Who the hell are the Night Shard? Darkside Crystal Ponies?)
God DAMN that felt good.
All that tension, all that pressure, released in one snap of the horn. Of course, we know this isn't nearly the end, Rainbow still has an expansive desert to cross. The question now is... will it be with, or without the Jury...?
Suddenly. the sound ceased.
Noooo! Poor Chrysalis... That was so tragic.
heh.
Wow. Is this the end of Chryssi? So much build up across a million words for... this?
And don't they still have Goblin ass to kick?
Man I just KNOW ):( has a few tricks up his sleeves still. This is way too easy right now. There's gotta be a few bombshells yet to drop.
Still, the dark side is coming, and I am ridiculously excited. We may even be on the Darkside before season 5 premiers. Certainly before it ends. What a trip. I can't wait! ONWARD NOBLE JURY!
Welp. She's dead. Unless this is another clone.
...so what I'm getting from this is that Tchern is even worse than Chrissy?
...
Awesome.
5545293
Makes sense. The Crystal Empire had to go somewhere, right?
5545305
My guess is:
Belle, Pilate, and Kera stay in Val Roa.
Ebon becomes the new Queen... er, King... no, no, Queen works, of the changelings, guiding them down a harmonious path. Eagle Eye stays with him.
Roarke stays with the Goblins as their new leader.
After a tearful goodbye, Rainbow Dash Flies East.
Thirty-five wide-arm pushups, ):(. Knock 'em out!
Okay, didn't see suicide coming.
Well, maybe having Chryssi along would have made things too easy for Rainbow Dash on the other side.
Ththththththth... that's all folks!
5545382 Ooooh, I like that theory. (The Crystal Empire one, not the splitting-the-party one. Fuck that noise.)
5545493
Props and Zaid would return with Prowse on the Tarkington.
Booster would of course return home.
And Floydien wo0uld likely fly Dash as far east as he could, then fly off into the sunset on the Jury.
5545513 I think, if it's gonna happen, the Noble Jury (the ship) is gonna get irreparably damaged and/or reclaimed by the Lounge. Floydien will stay behind with Midnight and rebuild his old life. A bunch of Jurists stay with him or get ferried back home by Prowse. RD (and hopefully a few choice friends, and lover) head on to the dark side by nebulous/as-yet-unrevealed means.
5545651
Eh, being at the effective halfway point of the story, I think she'll continue alone and make new friends.
5545662 ;_;
Please, Shell survived worse. She's not dead.
It's like a Freudian version of seppuku. Yowch.
I guess there's no trump card after all. Huh. Well, can't say that's necessarily a bad thing. Wouldn't want the bedlam to outstay its welcome. Besides, now we can get on with whatever happens next. Many commenters seem to have resigned themselves to the Jury's inevitable separation. And maybe that's what'll happen. Gawd knows the story has been setting that up for long enough.
... which is precisely why I'm skeptical. The road to their sundering has been laid out so clearly and so seemingly irrevocably and for so long that I find myself doubting that things will actually happen that way. Maybe that's just wishful thinking; I certainly want the Jury (in full or in part) to continue by Rainbow's side. It almost seems counter to the whole "Harmony" message for Rainbow to lose another set of friends. But I smell something unexpected coming before everything's said and done. There's still a lot of chapters to go, not to mention Skirts' ominous declaration in that one blog that still hasn't come to fruition.
The next however-many chapters ought to be interesting.
Well, i got a little blood and pain from Chryssi, so that'll do for now. I expect more from Tchern.
Also, I have one last request.
Explosions?!
Well... at least she didn't decide to try and take Rainbow and Ebon down with her, that would have been gruesome.
5545701 Ugh. I hate to say this, but what if she isn't dead? What if she didn't commit suicide? What if that was just a desperate and extremely unpleasant way of escaping? Her alternative was to spend the rest of her immortal life in jail—emphasis on immortal.
I kind of hope Chrysalis survives...
And thus... the Chrysalis arc comes to a close.
5545382
This... actually sounds feasible.
Of course, this is all speculation, all of it. We have NO IDEA what's going on anymore now that one of the biggest baddies we've run into is down and out...
And now Ebon can become the new Changleing Queen.
OH WAIT
5545378 Tchern confirmed for badass. Yup.
5545382 Dash can't go east anymore. It's time she starts going west. Going home via way of hell.
I still think she'll be the one to travel with Dash through the dark side... and maybe Ebon, maybe not, but this is such a trip. All I can say is, once again, whispered quietly as I stare at the words, holy shit...
5545701
Yeah, but that was shell.
Though, I think she might not be dead yet, she just had to turn off her corrupting magic somehow.
Well that was an interesting display I don't think she is dead yet, however she will likely die very soon into the next chapter.
5545382
Thats likely if they are all to stay, which could happen, the only issue I have with it is I don't really like the idea of RD either being alone for 6 books or having to just gather up a whole new group of friends again. We've already done that whole song and dance once why get rid of everyone just to do basically the same thing again.
well that was unexpected........
so, uh, since Ebon reconnected to her, does that make him king?
cuz that could be useful
would also explain the remaining 68 chapters
finish off the goblins, then have Ebon gather the lost changelings to help Rainbow cross the Choke (somehow)
5546254 Actually, she won't be going west. She'll still be going east. It is a flat plane, and the way it'll flip, she'll be starting from the westernmost point and go east.
Okay, it's probably hard to visualize. Take a sheet of paper, put a dot in the center, and, on one side, mark it North, South, East, and West (East is on the right). Rainbow went from the center to the easternmost point. So draw a line from the center to the easternmost point. Now, flip the paper over so that North and South remain facing the same direction (so if North had been in front of you, keep north in front of you). The line you drew from the center should now be on the other side of the paper, but on your left. Label the piece of paper again, N, S, E, W, and have Rainbow fly back to the center. She is still heading east, albeit from the westernmost point.
I thinks she's still alive... How come there isn't another way to break the connection?
If she were still alive, I am sure Ebon would be able to SENSE that. I don't think there's any faking this one.
Wow what a game-changer
So what's the rest of the book? Grand Choke?
img1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20120915131205/masseffect/images/thumb/3/38/Citadel_final_battle_-_saren_suicides.png/640px-Citadel_final_battle_-_saren_suicides.png
Oooouch. That looked like it hurt.
5546393
I assume some of the crew will eventually leave before this book is through. Though all of the staying till the end of the journey would be just a good. It would be interesting if one or two of the ponies from Durandana came along but alas that boat has come and gone.
Axan should be "appearing" eventually. Its been a while since the last time,
''Drat, I've been foiled by the power of love. Now leave me so I can find some aspirin.''
I really don't think Chrysalis is dead, though. That seems more like her way of showing peaceful intentions by freeing the Soul Sentries and (presumably) preventing herself from transforming.
I think Chrissi just committed sukoku.
I was expecting something more epic, but I guess there's still the imps.
Sarosians and the Night Shard. Wtf is any of that!?
5547485
Pretty sure Sarosians are bat-ponies or something, not too sure about the Night Shard though...
5546958 Beat me to it. Rainbow Dash paragoned Chrysalis to death.
As J. K. Rowling nicely put it, after all this time any way to end it would seem... trivially final. Thousands upon thousands of lifes lost over millions of words and entire continents - no matter how the villain ends after that, it would always leave a kind of void behind.
5547485
Sarosians generally mean things like Luna's bat-ponies in common MLP fanon.
I have a feeling like we will find out about the Night Shard at some point in the events of the next book.
5547309
Perhaps you meant sudoku, not sukoku?
i1.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/000/711/744/c65.jpg
5546254 wait, why can't she go east? the Choke is just a desert is it not?
And so the battle for Val Roa ends. This has been one hell of an arc. Great job Imploding, I can't wait to read more.