How to be Cruel

by Erisn

Chapter 9: Final Moves

“Why Fluttershy, what a surprise it is to see you on this day,” Zecora commented. “What brings you here, if ask of it I may?”

“Hello Zecora, good morning,” Fluttershy panted, trying ineffectually to catch her breath. “I’m sorry I didn’t have time to let you know I was coming. I’m in a bit of a rush today, I’m afraid.”

“Running around will tire you Fluttershy my dear. May I inquire as to what urgent business brings you here?”

Fluttershy wheezed and managed to get more air into her lungs. “Well you see, today’s my weekly spa meeting with Rarity, but I’ve a rather pressing engagement planned later today, and I completely forgot about it. I thought that since Rarity’s already planning on getting together, you might like to enjoy a trip to the spa instead. I’m told they’re doing a special on mane and hooficure today.”

“A spa visit today sounds remarkably delightful. Why Fluttershy, your kindness is wonderfully insightful! I accept you kind invitation today – but why was it so urgent you had to run all this way?”

“Oh, I’ve just got a lot to do and not much time,” Fluttershy gasped. “I think you should probably leave for Ponyville right about now. Going to the spa could take all day, and I’m sure you wouldn’t want to be late.”

“Your words are as ever wise. I shall depart in a twinkling of the eyes.”

“Good, you do that. I’ve got to go. More errands to run.”

“As ever I wish you well, but might it not be best to relax a spell—”

Zecora stopped, as there was no one left to talk to. Fluttesrhy was already a speck in the distance, and even as she watched, Fluttershy rounded a bend in the forest and disappeared.

Zecora shook her head in bemusement. “Rainbow Dash is the fastest pony they say, but Fluttershy now, she could blow Rainbow away!”

With that, Zecora went to get ready for her unexpected spa visit and completely failed to notice the small army of squirrels, beavers, and other animals good at digging rushing past her hut and deeper into the Everfree Forest. Humming, Zecora found a new potion designed to enhance a pony’s mane she had been wanting to try. It looked like today was going to be a good day.

----

“Today’s going to be a terrible day!” Rarity moaned. “How will we ever get through the week without our spa treatment? This is simply dreadful!”

“It’s not so bad Rarity,” Fluttershy said, trying to choke down more air and talk at the same time. “Zecora’s kindly agreed to take my place, and I’m sure you’ll love her herbal remedies. Her potions are probably better than the spa’s shampoo and lotions.”

“Well that’s true,” Rarity conceded, “but you’ll be missing all the fun, Fluttershy dear. I shudder to think of the state your mane will be in without the magic of the spa to help it stay fresh.”

“Oh, I’m not worried about my mane.” Fluttershy gave Rarity a small, cold smile. “I have a much more pressing engagement I need to attend to first.”

“Quite, of course. How silly of me.” Rarity took a step back. “Well, I’ll leave you to it, shall I?”

Fluttershy nodded and turned away. But she hesitated and looked back before leaving Rarity’s boutique.

“I’m sorry I’ll miss the spa visit, Rarity. I truly am. We can have another one sometime later, alright? We’ll catch up then.”

“Why of course Fluttershy!” Rarity waved one hoof airily. “We’ll make sure to have an extra-long spa get-together next week, alright?”

“Maybe.” Fluttershy smiled again, a small smile. “But I have something I need to take care of first. Goodbye, Rarity.”

Fluttershy closed the door softly, and only the tinkling bell made any sound as Rarity stared at the door. She had never heard Fluttershy sound like that. Shaking her head, Rarity went back to work. It was just a trick of the room’s acoustics that was all. But some part of her remembered Fluttershy’s smile and worried.

----

“Weather in the Everfree? Yeah, it’s totally uncontrolled, why do you ask?”

Rainbow Dash hovered outside her cloud house, casually keeping herself aloft as she talked to Fluttershy.

“Oh, I was just wondering whether weather ponies ever did anything there, that’s all.”

Rainbow Dash scratched her head as she thought. “I don’t think so. We’d go if there was some kind of emergency of course, like a super-storm that threatened to hit Ponyville, but we stay away besides that.”

“I see. And the weather team always has a pony watching the forest and the rest of Ponyville for signs of danger, right?”

“Yup. It’s pretty boring, but y’know, it’s important to do. Always be prepared.”

“And the weather pony on today’s shift is…?”

“Me.” Dash turned a few lazy somersaults in the air. “That’s why I have to stay up here and keep an eye out, rather than catching a few z’s by the lake. Boring, huh?”

“Well, it’s good to know you take your responsibilities seriously Dash,” Fluttershy said. “But can you tell me about the clouds as well?”

“Clouds? Uh, sure, I guess. Why?”

“Oh, I was just wondering if I could borrow one or two so some of my friends could have an outdoor shower. Unless that’s against the rules, of course.”

Rainbow Dash thought about it for a second. “Well, that’s reasonable I guess. We usually don’t let just anyone handle clouds, but you lived in Cloudsdale, so you know what to do and what not to do, right?”

“A light kick for a shower, a few strong kicks for lots of rain, and if I kick it really hard, I can get lightning, right?”

“Yeah. Be careful not to use the lightning, alright? We nearly had a house burn down the other day when Thunderlane kicked one of the clouds too hard.”

“Mm. I’ll be sure to watch out for that.” Fluttershy looked out absently over Ponyville’s skyline. “I don’t see any other weather ponies out and about today. Is it just you for today?”

“Yup.” Rainbow Dash turned upside down and groaned in disgust. “I owe Thunderlane a few favors for all the times he covered for me, so now I’m stuck here all day.” She lazily flipped back over and waved at all of Ponyville. “Boring.”

“Huh. So there’s no other pony on duty until nightfall, is that it?”

“That’s what I said Fluttershy.” Rainbow Dash looked up somewhat irritably. “Why all the questions anyways? You know how the weather team works.”

“Oh, I’m just making sure.” Fluttershy flapped a little harder, until she was above Rainbow Dash. Suddenly she gasped and pointed a hoof. “Oh no! Is that a pile of Daring Doo books going up in flames over there?”

“What!?” Rainbow Dash twisted around instantly and scanned the ground frantically. “Oh no, please tell me it isn’t my 1st edition collection of Daring Doo!”

Fluttershy wasted no time. At once, she dived down through the air like a falcon, and hit Rainbow Dash in the back of the head just as the other pegasus was turning back around.

Fluttershy was not a heavy pony, nor a strong one, or even half as fast as Rainbow Dash. But she had gravity on her side, and more importantly, she had the element of surprise. Rainbow Dash fell out of the sky like a rock, but Fluttershy was ready and carefully flew her into Dash’s cloud house. Then she carefully checked Dash’s head. Her friend had a nasty bruise, but her skull hadn’t fractured. Fluttershy breathed out a sigh of relief and then quickly flew out of Dash’s house after making sure no other pony was watching. Then, she gathered as many rainclouds as she could find and towed them off towards the Everfree.

----

Angel landed with a heavy thud on the floor of Fluttershy’s cottage as his body passed neatly through the raincloud yet again. He got up and brushed himself off in disgust, as Fluttershy picked up the cloud.

“Well, that’s just too bad,” she said to Angel. “Looks like we’ll need to fall back on the alternate strategy, then. I’ll use all the rainclouds myself – that should be enough to get things started in any case. But have you done what I asked?”

Angel nodded once, flicking a speck of dirt off his coat. It wasn’t the pristine white he normally kept it, but a stained and dirty brown with only a few white patches remaining. Still, he didn’t seem overly discomforted, despite the fact that normally he would have gone ballistic if his fur were even the slightest bit dirty.

“You got all the trees felled in the right spots?” Fluttershy persisted. She went to the map of the Everfree and pointed to several spots. “We’re going to need them. And the buckets of water? And the stakes?”

Angel nodded, and kept nodding as Fluttershy rattled off questions. At last, she settled back.

“I think that covers it. Very well, if everyone’s in place…we still have about forty minutes before Chrysalis gets to Ambush Point Omega. She’s being very cautious, and the changelings keep running into our traps.” Fluttershy gave a small smile at that. “Hopefully it takes out a few of them before they get here. But we can still count on at least three hundred making it here, even if all our traps kill several changelings each.”

Angel nodded seriously.

“On the other hand,” Fluttershy continued, “we have about…two hundred animals, and that includes the wounded that can still fight and all the medical staff. Of that, only about fifty or so are larger than squirrels and over half of them are injured.”

Angel nodded again, this time with a bit more apprehension.

“They’re not to move from their posts until I give the signal,” Fluttershy said, ignoring Angel’s hesitation. “That’s essential. But make sure they know when to execute the plan as well, Angel. I probably won’t be able to tell them, so they must execute their own judgment. You’ll oversee that phase of the plan yourself.”

Fluttershy’s voice softened and she bent down and nuzzled Angel for a moment. “We’ll win this Angel. Chrysalis and her army won’t ever leave the Everfree Forest.” Her eyes narrowed for a moment. “I swear it.”

----

Chrysalis tripped over a branch. Snarling, she kicked it away, but nearly tripped again over an overturned log. She blasted that with a ray of magic, but that didn’t help matters. The ground around Chrysalis, and indeed this entire stretch of forest was littered with debris. Branches, overturned logs, even a wall of felled trees a few minutes back. Someone, many someones had clearly taken pains to litter the forest floor with as many obstacles as possible.

It made walking hard. It would also make any kind of battlefield mobility hard, which was a little more concerning to Chrysalis at the moment. A bunch of archer ponies would tear her army to pieces in this battlefield. Or rather, they would if changelings couldn’t fly.

Chrysalis smirked and kicked another stick out of her path. With the need for secrecy gone, there was nothing preventing her from flying her army out of any ambush. She could have led them over the Everfree as well, but she didn’t want her troops tired when it came time to assault Ponyville. But whatever ambush Zecora had cooked up, it wouldn’t be catching changelings on the ground.

Chrysalis let an evil grin spread over her face, which instantly turned into an expression of alarm as her foot caught on a stone and into a grimace of pain as her face hit the ground.

Chrysalis got up slowly, and turned around. Behind her were the assorted ranks of the changeling army, an endless line of insect-ponies spread out through the trees. They were elite warriors, all veterans of battle, and each willing to give their lives in the name of the hive, and not least, it’s queen. They were also all studiously avoiding Chrysalis’s gaze as she looked at them.

Very slowly, Chrysalis turned around and walked forwards again. A tree trunk was in her way this time. Her horn glowed briefly, and the leading rank of changeling had to cover their face as splinters rained down around them. No changeling made a sound as the army continued marching through the forest.

All at once, Chrysalis paused mid-step and the changelings behind her halted. She had cocked her head to one side and was listening intently. The changelings behind her crouched down and watched the trees with sudden wariness.

There was a faint rustling, and then a changeling charged out of the forest running full-tilt for Chrysalis. She held up one hoof and her army halted as one as the changeling scout skidded to a stop in front of Chrysalis.

“Report,” she said crisply.

The scout gasped and gulped for air, but he eventually got his news out in short, clipped sentences. What he had to report was an army, a small one, gathered in a large clearing just ahead of Chrysalis’s current position. They were poised to intercept the changeling army, and it looked like they were well dug in.

“Well, well, well.” Chrysalis said softly when the changeling had finished his report. “It looks like we’ve found Zecora and her army, and we didn’t even have to look for them.”

She grinned. The changelings behind her grinned as well. The same toothy smile spread across hundreds of faces, each one identical in their malicious glee. Chrysalis motioned the scout aside and walked through the forest more quickly now, setting a pace quick enough that the smaller changelings had to scurry to keep up.

“It’s time to end this once and for all.”

----

A small, yellow pegasus was standing at the head of that army. She was…cream colored, with a pink mane and delicate wings. She had delicate, light blue eyes that only served to enhance her cute, non-violent appearance. Just to look at her was to imagine a gentle mother, a loving sister perhaps, the selfless caregiver made flesh. That was what the mind saw.

What the eyes saw was the large kitchen knife she held in one hoof, and perhaps once the eye had finished with that, it might notice the various other sharp weapons held by the numerous animals around her. They ranged from beavers to squirrels, from blue jays to hawks, and while it would be impossible to list the myriad species present, they all shared one common feature: they were armed.

But the initial surprise and shock associated with this sight has worn off long ago for all watching. The changeling army arrayed at the other end of the clearing had clashed with Fluttershy’s forces too many times.

And there wasn’t the terror that came with fighting an overwhelming horde either. For once, the positions of changelings and animals had been reversed. Instead of a horde of angry animals descending upon a small changeling group, it was now four hundred changeling warriors facing maybe half that number in the clearing.

An aerial watcher would see the forces arrayed in the clearing as thus: a small patch of multicolored shapes with a pale shape at its head, facing a shifting wall of black shapes led by a tall figure with green hair. Even to the most inexperienced eye, the outcome of the battle was plain to see.

That was what bothered Chrysalis. She didn’t even have to guess at how the battle would go if she yelled ‘charge’. The animals and the single pony would be swept away by a tide of changelings, ripped to shreds most likely in the first minute. So why was this army here?

Chrysalis glanced around the clearing, eyes narrowing. There could be only one explanation: it was a trap. That was quite obvious, and the enemy hadn’t even tried to conceal their attempts. This clearing in the Everfree was most definitely not naturally occurring; it was far too large to be able to hold both armies. The clearing was filled with felled trees, and practically covered with dead plant life.

No effort had been made to remove the forest detritus, which was a sound tactical choice. It made it hard to traverse, and would stagger any charge Chrysalis ordered. On the other hand, the cleared forest left the skies open for aerial combat. One would expect Zecora to have a rather sizable army of fliers ready to take advantage of this feature.

Chrysalis shaded her eyes with one hoof and looked upwards. Nope. Not a bird to be seen, which was another suspicious oddity. What was Zecora planning? If she thought she could catch Chrysalis in a pincer trap, she was badly mistaken. Unless Zecora had four times the fighters Chrysalis thought she did, even an attack from two sides would leave the attackers badly outnumbered by the changelings. No, there was something else at work here. But what?

Chrysalis glanced back towards the small army of animals and pegasus pony. They were arrayed in a semi-circle indeed as the scout had said, and they were also dug-in with quite a few fortifications. Deep pits crisscrossed their side of the clearing, no doubt filled with spikes, and sharpened logs had been planted in the ground at an angle, making running into them a very bad idea. It looked to Chrysalis’s eye like a classic defensive setup.

Another mistake. Such tactics might work if this was a battle between two ground forces, like say two groups of earth ponies, but once again, Zecora seemed to have forgotten the changeling’s ability to fly. Chrysalis could simply order her changelings to fly around the palisades and attack from the rear.

All in all, it was one of the shoddiest defensive setups Chrysalis had ever seen, and she had fought Diamond Dogs. It was not what she expected of Zecora, the mysterious pony or perhaps zebra who had fought her to a standstill over the last month. It wasn’t as if Chrysalis wanted a tough battle, no indeed. She’d happily smash this pathetic trap to pieces and proceed to burn down Ponyville. It was just a bit disappointing, that was all.

Chrysalis sighed softly, but kept her head held high as she slowly walked into the center of the clearing. She did not need to look back to feel her army spreading out behind her. She could however see the animal’s expressions change at the sight of row upon row of changelings. They hadn’t looked too confident before, but now they trembled and shook in abject terror.

Chrysalis sneered silently. Pathetic. She could probably scatter the army herself if she raised her voice. Actually, just a glare would do.

Chrysalis narrowed her eyes and stared hard at a small mouse in the front row, and was rewarded with a squeak of terror as the mouse dropped its butter knife and huddled in the ground in trembling fear. The other animals shifted uneasily as Chrysalis ran her gaze over them. She luxuriated in their fear as it washed over her, a sickening miasma of stifled panic and visceral terror.

Chrysalis decided to add to the fear in the clearing. A bolt of green magic shot from her horn and struck the ground in front of the animal’s ranks, next to where the pegasus stood. The animals ducked and covered as the ground exploded in a shower of dirt, many dropping their weapons to cover their faces. The fear grew deeper and Chrysalis closed her eyes in satisfaction.

Her eyes jerked open and Chrysalis looked up just in time to duck as a changeling behind her screeched in alarm. She wasn’t quick enough though; something struck the edge of her face and Chrysalis could feel a burning sensation along one cheek. She raised her head slowly, and touched one hoof to the side of her face before bringing it away. A line of green ichor worked its way down her hoof. Chrysalis felt a burning line across her cheek. Slowly, she looked back at the animal army.

They were cowering, or shaking in their paws. But one figure remained upright. The pegasus pony hadn’t moved even then the ground had erupted next to her, and she was covered in specks of dirt. One of her hoofs was still raised, and the kitchen knife that she had held in her hoof was missing.

Chrysalis growled, and her growl was echoed by every soldier in her army and turned into a roar of rage. Changelings charged across the open clearing, but halted in confusion as Chrysalis screeched, “stop!”

One changeling kept running, having nearly reached the stationary pegasus. He reared back to strike her with his hooves, and exploded in a rain of green goo as a ray of green light blasted him apart.

The other changelings who had run forward took one look at the remains of their comrade and then scurried back behind Chrysalis as fast as their legs would let them. For her part, the pegasus merely wiped a bit of changeling off her face and continued staring at Chrysalis. Then, slowly, she walked forward.

The animals behind the pegasus stirred, but none of them followed the pegasus. She walked slowly towards Chrysalis, but halted well before reaching her. She now stood in the center of the clearing, separated form her allies by at least forty feet of space. Chrysalis stared at the pegasus and wondered what she should do.

The most sensible thing to do in a situation like this was to order her changelings to run out and kill the pegasus while she was unprotected before having her army wipe out the animals in a single, endless charge. But for some reason, the pegasus called to Chrysalis.

The changelings behind Chrysalis shifted. They were tense, wanting to run, charge, bite and tear. They only held back for fear of her displeasure, but she knew that if she raised her hoof they wouldn’t stop until every being in the clearing was dead. The smart thing would be just to attack now.

Chrysalis looked at the pegasus, and then back to her waiting army. Then she touched the cut on her face. She smiled.

----

In the center of a large clearing, a pegasus waited. Around her were fallen trees, branches, uprooted logs, dead plants. Behind her was a small, ragtag army of animals, most of them quivering in fear. Ahead of her was a roiling mass of dark bodies, hundreds of changelings. And a single, tall figure walking towards her.

Chrysalis, Queen of Changelings walked forwards slowly. She was tall, dark, and more handsome than beautiful, but what beauty she had was sharp-edged and viscious. Her horn was shaped like some primeval weapon, and her chitinous body moved with a warrior’s grace. Here was not a princess bred to peace, but an armored warrior queen ready for battle. She was studying the army of animals with a bored expression, but her eyes flicked back to the pegasus more and more rapidly as she approached.

Only a few feet separated them now, as they stood between their two armies, a small pegasus with soft peach fur and pink mane, and a tall changeling queen, clad in black chitin armor and with a sickly green mane as wicked horn. The pegasus looked up. The changeling queen looked down.

Their eyes met.

Comments

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Oooh I can't wait for this!