Chapter 16
Andrew stared dumbfounded as the queen composed herself, now sporting a serious expression in stark contrast to the glimmer of moisture along her cheeks.
"W-we could have done something..." Cadence choked out, a hoof held against her mouth as she stared at Chrysalis. "We... we could have. I could have..."
"It was too late to do anything." Chrysalis stated in a clinical tone, the rage and sadness from moments before gone. "We both knew he likely wouldn't survive the journey here." She closed her eyes for a moment as she sighed. "But like I said before, no matter how much I wished to turn away Celestia's envoy, Thorax would have none of it. It wasn't until the fool tried to strike me and only succeeded in adding to his injuries that I agreed to come. If it was up to me, I would have died with him in the Badlands, as a changeling queen with no hive and no means of rebuilding one has no reason to even exist. It is only because of my promise to him that I continue to live." She glanced at Andrew momentarily before closing her eyes and finishing with, "Anyways, enough about that, I believe you have a second endling to deal with."
Cadence was about to speak—presumably to apologize again—but was promptly cut off by Celestia extending a wing.
"No matter how much we may wish to apologize," Celestia began, "Chrysalis has made it clear she does not want to dwell of the past. All we can do is move forward." She waited for Candace to show she would hold her tongue, though it was clear she did so reluctantly. Celestia retracted her wing and said, "To expedite this, I propose that we afford Chrysalis all same titles that we did Andrew, as well as all the rights and privileges they entail. Are there any in disagreement?"
"I am not opposed to the idea," Rox began, "but I would just like to warn both the human and the changeling of something."
warn? Andrew mused. He found himself more intrigued than cautious of notion.
"While my kind is particularly interested in the collection of gems, there is no doubt in my mind that there will be more than a few parties interested in being in possession of such..." The diamond dog gave a toothy grin as he eyed the endlings like they were pieces of meat, "rare, exotic species."
"The same goes for my kind as well." Flavius said. "There would be no better hunting trophy than one from a never before seen species, and an endling at that." He gave Andrew a cautionary look. "Equestria may be a relatively peaceful land, but there are plenty of less than savory groups that couldn't care less for its laws, and would gladly hunt both of you down if only to hold and sell you to the highest bidder. I suggest both of you exercise the utmost caution in the coming months, as it will probably be a race to see who can capture you first..."
"I was actually about to get into that." Celestia added before looking to the endlings. "I regret to say that I agree with Flavius, there will be many individuals looking for their next source of coin, and there would be no greater source than ransoming the life of a sapient endling."
"Well," Andrew started, "I can take care of myself just fine. I mean, the worst thing you guys have is magic, and even that isn't really going to help much."
"So you believe," Celestia quipped, "but am I wrong to assume you had similar thoughts before your death?"
Ouch, Andrew thought with a grimace. She doesn't beat around the bush, huh. The worst part about it all was that she couldn't be more right. That kind of 'apex predator' mindset is exactly what made him go out a rob a gas station, it was that mind set that got him killed.
It was that mind set that drew him away from his mother in her final hours.
The wave of embarrassment turned into gut-wrenching guilt.
From the look of her narrowing eyes, Chrysalis knew exactly what he was feeling, if not why.
He didn't respond to the alicorns words, his silence answer enough for her to continue.
"I admit I thought of this possibility shortly after my first meeting with Andrew, and I assigned several of my guards to Ponyville to assure his safety, as well as Discord himself." She eyed Chrysalis with concern. "While Andrew is currently staying there, I invite you to stay at Canterlot Castle for the time being. You need medical treatment as soon as possible."
Chrysalis scowled at Celestia before sneering, "First your kind shuns and banishes us, then every hive but my own dies off. And finally, in our final effort to save ourselves, you finish the job. Now you formally invite me to Canterlot? To tend to my wounds? To shower me with gold and special treatment simply because I am the final Changeling? The Endling of a race you yourselves drove to such a state that you couldn't finish off?" She turned her snout upwards and closed her eyes. "I am no charity case, and I refuse to be treated as one."
"Chrysalis, this is no time for pride," Luna stated. "This is about your safety."
"To tartarus with that," Chrysalis spat. "I can take care of myself just fine, and in the event that I can't, I will fight to my dyin—" She paused as she snapped her head towards Keth. "Your pity offends me, dragon." There was venom in her words, but the dragon only huffed in response, the action spewing forth puffs of black smoke from his nostrils. She scowled again before declaring, "I refuse your offers of money and protection. I don't need help from you ponies. So long as I am free to move about as I please, I can make do."
"But what of money?" Luna inquired. "What will you do to support yourself?"
"I am a shapeshifter," Chrysalis stated matter-of-factually, "I am certain I can figure something out."
"Chrysalis." Celestia said in a calm tone. "Are you absolutely sure that you wish to turn down our financial support and protection? I will not force you into something you don't want, but this is a decision that will affect the rest of your life. Are you sure?"
"As sure as I was when I promised my hive I would free them from the wretched lives we were living." She scowled, looking away from the solar alicorn to meet Cadenza's gaze. "In a twisted way, I suppose I kept that promise."
"You are making a mistake," Rox warned the changeling. "I can see it in your eyes, you are too used to hiding behind the security of your hive, too inexperienced in actual combat. Even with your magic, you will not last on your own..."
"You do not decide what is best for me mutt!" Chrysalis spat, then turned toward Andrew, speaking to him directly for the first time. "And what of you, human? You know very well you don't need the security of the god of chaos. You claim you can take care of yourself, but I don't see you relinquishing the safety blanket she provided you."
Andrew tsked at her words, and was about to reply until Rox did so first.
"Unlike you, changeling, the human appears to actually have the mettle to back up his words."
"You curr!" Chrysalis spat, "I will have you know that I bested Celestia the day I invaded Canterlot." She smirked, relishing in the verbal victory.
"The only reason I lost," Celestia began to explain, "is because we were surrounded by my subjects. The love you fed on made you powerful, I'll give you that, but that only made it all the more necessary to regulate my own magic, lest the integrity of the castle would be jeopardized, as well as all the lives inside."
Chrysalis gave a quizzical frown, unsure of the validity of the alicorns statement. She remembered clearly the moment that they had clashed in a magical battle of supremacy. Celestia seemed to be winning with ease in the beginning, but she managed to overtake the alicorn by flaring the love energy she had collected from Shining Armor, nearly using all of it up at once in doing so. Perhaps she was lying? No, that couldn't be right, Celestia was brimming with confidence when she spoke.
"That is irrelevant." Chrysalis decided to say. "I still won regardless."
Keth tsked, smoke leaking through his teeth. "My time is wasted with this nonsense." His eyes shifted between the changeling queen and Andrew before he re-positioned himself, as if readying to push away from the mountain. "Unlike the rest of you, I am not content with standing idly by listening to apologies and passive aggressive banter.” He focused his attention on Chrysalis and flared his nostrils, the resulting gust of air pulling on the changeling's mane. "If you do not get medical attention soon, not only will you lose your foreleg to infection, but your hind leg will become permanently lame"
Chrysalis glared at the drake before she turned to look at the rest of the summit attendees. "They all had a chance to save us, and that time is long passed."
Andrew noticed the Changeling cast a glance his way, and he could have sworn her eyes narrowed in that moment.
Chrysalis mentally cursed herself. She knew more than anyone how serious her current predicament was, the stabbing pain she felt all over her body wouldn't allow her to forget. She wouldn't dare put her safety in the hooves of the ones who had destroyed her life, or those that stood by and watched.
She felt another wave of curiosity from the human, and without thinking, shot him a glare. Surprisingly, The human's emotions were extremely, almost unnaturally concentrated, and drowned her with emotional stimuli, leaving her unable to sense anything but him for a few moments. Unfortunately, no matter how intense it was, curiosity wasn't palatable. It only served to remind her of her malnourished state. In the moment that they locked eyes, the curiosity was accompanied by a tinge of familiarity. This piqued her own curiosity.
Ever since she had arrived, she had been bombarded with hate, disdain, pity, and more negative emotions that didn't even have names. The human however—for the most part—had only been exuding constant feelings of interest. Why he felt how he did, she couldn't understand. Was she not just as alien to him as every other being present?
"What about the human?" Rox suggested.
"What?" She and Andrew said at the same time, causing them to share a glance at each other before looking back to alpha.
"What about me?" Andrew asked.
"I mean," Rox started, "that you are the only one here the changeling holds no opinion of, negative or otherwise, while also fully capable of defending yourself..."
Luna said, "Wait, you're not suggesting..."
"That Andrew be assigned to the protection of Chrysalis." Celestia finished quizzically.
Andrew gave Chrysalis a quizzical look, and she returned it with one of her own. He was at a loss for words, and if the changelings raised brow was anything to go by, she was just as lost as him.
The moment Celestia finished, Chrysalis could feel the area grow thick with surprise. Of course, it was only a moment later that she couldn't help but focus on the Andrew's emotions, by choice or otherwise. There was an initial gust of shock—that was to be expected, and one need only look at the human's face to asses as much— but that was quickly replaced with other emotions as he presumably thought over the proposal. Shock made way for confusion, perhaps he was wondering 'why me?' Or maybe he doubted his ability to defend himself and another? No, that couldn't be right, he was plenty confident in himself. Wait... That was definitely a pang of regret she felt from him, accompanied by a bit of mourning no less. That particular combination of emotions could only mean one thing... He either directly or indirectly caused the death of someone he cared about. This couldn't go back to his mother, as she was already at death's door. No, this was someone else.
"You must be jesting," Luna protested. "Andrew hasn't been in Equestria for a week and you want to force such a responsibility upon him?"
"Of course not," Flavius answered. "The human could simply refuse and that would be the end of it. Besides, it will still come down to Chrysalis's approval."
"I am inclined to agree with my sister," Celestia commented. "Andrew is still a stranger to our world, I cannot —" She suddenly interrupted by Flavius.
"—With all due respect princess," the griffin began, "Andrew was just given the rights and freedoms of a normal Equestrian citizen, as well as those of, for all intents and purposes, a foreign dignitary. His decisions are his own. That said..." He looked over to the lone changeling, then the displaced human. "What will it be? I am certain that Celestia would be willing to compensate you for you trouble.
Chrysalis again focused on the human's emotions. There was small flare of greed at the mention of money, but it was only momentary. The regret was still there, but had died down significantly. She had a momentary feeling of imbalance, and leaned forward against the table to steady herself.
Andrew knew the summit would be a bit stressful, but he certainty didn't imagine having to choose between protecting someone he didn't even know, for who knows what length of time, or leaving them alone to most likely get kidnapped and ransomed, possibly killed. He wasn't like Matt, he couldn't see himself as some hero going around using his powers to help people. But this was different. He probably wouldn't even be here if he hadn't lost control of his powers during that storm and killed Steve. He regretted killing however many people he did right before Matt had stopped him, sure. But he would be lying if he said he lost sleep because of that. Steve was different. Steve was his best friend. He was probably the one person that could have prevented him from going postal.
"I'll do it." He stated. He would do it because that's the kind of thing Steve would want him to do, and his mother too. He would never be an altruist like Matt, that simply wasn't him. But, at the very least, he was willing to do this one thing. He looked to Chrysalis, who in turn gave him an amused grin.
"How intriguing..." Chrysalis mused with a chuckle. "Very well, I suppose I can accept the human as a guard, if only to see how this plays out."
"I do not think this is a good idea either," Imari stated. "But it is as Flavius said, we can do nothing unless they are stripped of the citizenship they were just given. So long as both parties are willing, I suppose we must simply accept it."
"Fine," Celestia relented, before directing her next words. "But Discord will continue to supervise and observe you, as well as chrysalis, for the next month, at least until you have properly acclimated to Equestria."
Andrew shrugged. That seemed agreeable enough.
"And Chrysalis," Celestia continued, "Until that time comes, I must insist that you be admitted to Starswirl hospital in Canterlot. The sooner we see to... Chrysalis?"
The changeling was staring glassy eyed at Andrew.
"Chrysalis?" Flavius said, trying to get her attention.
The queen's collapse was just as swift as it was silent. That is, until the right side of the queens muzzle smacked loudly against the table on its way to the ground below.
Instantly, a guard was at the queens side.
"Chrysalis!" He barked as he lowered himself to the ground. "She's burning up with fever!" He called out, "Scarlet! The table!"
“Yes sir!” A unicorn guard responded, then rushed forward and hollered, “Everypony back away!” His horn shone crimson as a similar hue encased the table. Not needing to be told twice, everyone took several steps back as the table was tilted away from chrysalis’s collapsed form.
Andrew could hear several hushed conversations coming from the other delegates, the distraction causing him to nearly be struck by the corner of the table. Being directly opposite the changeling at the end of the table, he had to move the furthest. He could now clearly make out Chrysalis on the ground, her frizzled mane was covering her face, the tips tinted red from the freely flowing blood exiting her muzzle. Celestia was halfway to the scene when she began to take control of the situation, the summit all but forgotten in the following moments.
“Flash Sentry!” She called out. “Ready a carriage and stretcher." Sentry only gave a quick nod before barking out orders of his own. The guard next to Chrysalis moved out of the way as she examined the changeling. Using her magic, she loosened the cloth wrapped around Chrysalis’s foreleg and raised it in such a way that only she and the guards behind her would be able to see what was concealed underneath.
Most of the guards managed to suppress their disgust, but one weak-stomached stallion took one look before rushing to the edge of the mountain and expelled his breakfast, much to the dragon’s disgust.
“There is nothing we can do for her here,” Celestia said. Her stoic expression leaving no room for emotion “Her wound is severely infected, I fear she may be suffering from septicemia, if not worse. She looked at one of the pegasi. “Fleeting Wind, I need you to fly to Canterlot—”
“Ponyville is closer.” Luna interjected. “And if you're correct, we have no time to waste.”
Celestia gave her sister a nod of agreement and looked back at Fleeting, “Ponyville it is Then.” “Head straight to Ponyville General Hospital and have them prepare a room for Chrysalis, as well as a team of their best doctors.
Fleeting gave a silent salute before turning around and taking flight toward the quaint town in the distance. Just as he disappeared below the edge of the mountain, a carriage was pulled over the side and onto the ground by a team of pegasi. Moving as an organized unit, a team of three unicorns rushed to the carriage and removed a stretcher from inside before hurrying to the Changeling. They were meticulously careful in using their magic to lift Chrysalis onto the stretcher, and another guard—presumably a medic—began examining the changeling even as she was being placed in the carriage. Just before it was to take off, Cadence sprung from her spot, gliding between the delegates and past Celestia, landing next to the carriage.
“Wait!” Cadence yelled, “Chrysalis is a changeling, she needs love to survive." She pointed to herself with a fore hoof. "Love that I can provide.” Her words were filled with determination, but her expression was uncertain.
“Are you certain?” Celestia asked. "How?"
“I am the embodiment of love, auntie,” Cadence Answered. “I'm hoping that I might be able to sate her hunger with my magic alone.”
Celestia considered her words for only a moment before nodding. “Very well, It’s worth a try. Please go on ahead, I will be there shortly.”
Cadence thanked Celestia before rushing to the carriage and closing the door behind her. A guard off to the side gave a signal to the leading pegasi, and they wasted no time in taking off.
Andrew tsked. He had decided to protect Chrysalis because he felt that's what Steve would have done, or even Matt for that matter, would have done in his place. It was supposed to be his way of atoning for what he did to Steve on that stormy night, something he himself still didn't understand.
He took his best friends life, so he would protect 'Chrysalis' to make up for it. He was fully aware of how selfish he was being by only 'atoning' for Steve's life, out of the dozens that he took. But he wouldn't lie to himself and pretend to care about the others, that just wasn't him.
Keth watched silently as Celestia apologized to everyone for cutting the summit short, despite the fact that it was very much nearing the end when the Changeling Queen fainted. He was surprised that he was the only one who saw it coming. He could smell her sorry state the moment she exited her carriage. The whelp she was carrying had absolutely stank of death, he even caught the scent of gangrene coming from it. Sometimes, only sometimes, he envied the lesser races and their horribly dull senses.
He ignored the eldest alicorn and looked back at the human. An interesting specimen, to say the least. When he looked into the biped's eyes, he was met with such a dense concentration of hostility that he could easily mistake the creature for a feral manticore. Of course, the human posed no actual danger to him, that much he could infer. Of course, that was to be expected, as very few things could stand against a dragon, even less so one of his age and size. If he so wanted, he could easily eviscerate the ape with a single talon, but such a thing was beneath him. He was no whelpling, looking for every opportunity to prove his worth, he was perfectly content with merely observing. It wasn't every millennia that one could bear witness to a new species.
After the carriage containing the dying Changeling flew off, Keth took a moment to observe the proceedings below. He was less interested in the hushed conversations between the many guards and delegates, than he was in the state of the human. He could smell the scent of stress on the biped, presumably from the embarrassment of accepting the job of protecting Chrysalis, only to have her likely die within the same hour. He suppressed a chuckle, and was about to speak when the human said something under his breath, but clear to the dragon's keen ears. It sounded somewhat like a curse. Before he could say anything, the human shot away from the summit at breakneck speeds, flying right past his shoulder in the process.
He blinked in surprise as his body moved against his will, his left side being pushed back. He had to tighten his grip on the sides of the mountain lest he lose his balance. The mountain shook in protest from the strain he was causing it in his shifting, and he gave a few hearty flaps of his wings to right himself, much to the detriment of those below. He hissed as he snapped his head back toward the human, who was already fast approaching the carriage. To his surprise, just as the human was supposed to overtake and shoot ahead of the vehicle, it suddenly sped up right behind him, matching his speed.
"What in the blazes!?" Shouted one of the griffin guards, regaining his footing from the earthquake that Keth had just caused.
"Never mind that, how in tartarus did that thing fly without wings!?" Questioned Flavius.
"Damn it," Celestia said through gritted teeth, losing her composure momentarily at seeing Andrew's reckless exit. If she had her way, she would have the human stay in Canterlot where she could keep a close on him. She was already beginning to regret giving the human his titles. He may be an adult in age, but his actions were clearly that of a child.
"I'll go after him!" Luna called out as she galloped towards the edge of the mountain, before unfurling her wings and taking flight.
"Celestia... Keth said with a hiss, earning the alicorn's attention, as well as that of everyone present by virtue of his loud, commanding voice. He could still feel a lingering pressure in his shoulder. He hadn't expected the human to be able to fly, but what truly surprised the dragon was the force that propelled him. Kethitus had never heard of telekinesis being used to fly. The last unicorn he was aware of dabbling in the possibility was Starswirl, but nothing came of it. There was no pain, as it was more akin to if another dragon had bumped into him. But that itself was the problem, the only beings that could produce such a force were beasts of roughly equal size to him, and the alicorns. He didn't like it. He brought his claw down on the area that Andrew had been standing in and with a grinding sound, scraped the square section of carpet away.
Underneath the carpet was a spiderweb of cracks, the slight but visible indentation a permanent reminder of the force that the bench was subjected to.
"I sincerely apologize Keth," Celestia started, "Andrew has been like this since his arrival. He-"
She was cut off by the Keth.
"Forget it," He he said.
Rox tried to ask, "Did Andrew really almost-"
"Make me lose my balance? Yes." Keth confirmed. He was not a coward, and refused to hide his shame. He was caught off guard, and he suffered for it. Such was the way of the world. "Andrew said he first 'received' his powers months ago, and that he has only grown stronger with time." The drake narrowed his eyes as he said his next words. "Celestia, you and the element of magic are attempting to figure out how his powers work, so... are there limits?"
Celestia frowned at the question. "We don't know." She admitted. "His powers are nothing like magic, so much so, in fact, that it reacts violently with our magic, as you saw. This isn't as easy as testing for magical aptitude in unicorns. His powers don't even leave any trace that they were ever used after the fact, something that my student has just recently discovered."
"And what of Chrysalis?" Imari inquired. "How grave are her wounds? I'm afraid I am not familiar with the medical terms you used, is she going to make it?"
"Her wounds are life-threatening," Celestia admitted gravely. "I can't say for certain if we caught it in time, all we can do is hope for the best…”
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Neato
I know you just updated, but is there any progress on the next one?
8167867 Depends, want it next Tuesday or next Thursday?
Or this week!?
Hey, congrats on the feature!
thats what you get for underestimating him keth
8167892 which ever you choose. I was just curious about how long i would have to wait.
8167892 ...Are those options actually viable?
Also, I literally just finished rereading this last night. Fortuitous circumstances FTW!
8167892
I mean, if you are offering, how about next Tuesday?
I kid. Take your time fella.
guhh... I never liked this idea of alicorns (and Celestia in particular) being some kind of immortal, all-powerful, all-knowing, all-sexy demigods. When you reach the point where you have to rationalize and explain away her limitations that we've all actually seen, then something is wrong.
8168603 Celestia is no deity in this story, revered, yes, but not a demigod. I get where you're coming from, but we've seen what alicorn magic can do with Nightmare moon wrecking the castle, Twilight and Tirek, then there's Flurry Heart accidentally
blowing through seven stories with a sneeze... as an infant.
As far as immortality is concerned, it may as well be canon as Celestia hasn't aged in over a thousand years.
Anyways, Celestia won't be directly involved in any conflicts, so no need to worry about that (As if she is capable on not offloading her problems on Twilight and the gang.
)
Here, have a flurry pic
derpicdn.net/img/2016/4/2/1122345/thumb.png
8169123
If people you have driven to the wastelands are dying of thirst it is not your fault. And when they come back with dark intentions and you kill them all you just are defender of your people. And yes as the tittle goes, but i would suggest a small alteration for the tittle: "Defender of the Crystal Empire, The red bride, Hero of the People, Her Majesty Princess Mi Amore Cadenza.
The implications are staggering here. She is the Princess of LOVE and she killed a whole GENOME of people who relied on love to survive. She mentioned that she can use magic to give love and assumedly have been able to do this all along. Only defense she has is that she is a silly little ditz who did not know about the situation as true ruler of the nation Celestia had concealed it from her. The changeling love issue could have been resolved, or at the least attempt should have been made.
Anyone who hold means of survival in plenty while others are dying and does not act to help the situation in some ways will find conflict, and deserves all which follows for he is a fool.
Ouch... Poor Chryssie. I really hope that she can recover and that she won't really be the last of her race.
I can imagine Andrew doing some awesome dynamic entries in the future with that kind of force.
Cadance must be feeling really guilty.
8168702 I'm actually okay with Celestia having been holding back to a degree, after all, Chryssie was using live just from Shining and that was after years of just scraping by. I imagine were she well fed for years and draining love from many sources, they'd be more of a close match.
I generally think most part beings in the verse are immortal in the way that they can live forever, Chryssie of course included. They can still be killed, though, or die of very serious medical causes.
Yes Andrew! Instill fear in their hearts!
8167892 Daily updates, obviously.
8173548
8173672
Cadence had every right to defend her country. However, Equestria, and ponies themselves, are instinctively a peaceful race. As far as everyone thought, the changelings were out of sight out of mind after the invasion. They attacked and they were repelled, that was the end of that.
As for what Chrysalis planned to do after taking over Canterlot... Well, she did want to rule Equestria. She IS a villain, she may not have wanted to kill anyone(she could have easily killed Cadence after all), but neither did Discord. As far as this story is concerned, she mainly did it for her hive, they were her priority, but once that was taken care of, she would set her eyes on the rest of Equestria.
Chrysalis is a villain, and villains often don't see themselves as such, they always seem to justify their actions:
Nightmare Moon just wanted her night to be appreciated(at least originally) in her own twisted way.
Discord is the spirit of chaos, he was just doing what was natural for him to want. He never killed anyone, but his actions were still villainous.
Sombra... liked crystals.
Chrysalis wanted to save her hive from starvation.
Quite a bit of Chrysalis/Changeling stuff in the next chapter
P.S. Love extraction(here) can be as simple as being in the vicinity of love in this story, forcefully drain someone of their love for weeks on end, and THAT'S how you end up like Shining.
If you have any other questions feel free to pm.
8173548
You assume they have been aggressors in all conflicts, let us look at previous chapter to a point which to me is very important.
Aid was ASKED and it was denied. Hoof was extended in desperation and it was slapped away in scorn. Celestia admits this as a mistake of foolish youth but has not done anything to fix the issue during her reign which has lasted for at the least millennium. 1000 years to set things right yet she chose to bury the problem as is demonstrated by no one even knowing about the issue and even her direct vassal Cadence is unaware of the issue. This is the only defense she has. A ruler who claims "Oh sorry, i did not know that there is race of shape shifting creatures who eat the very thing i am responsible of! Oh poor silly me!" She has taken the mantle of leadership and she is unaware of threat of that magnitude that she could potentially resolve very easily?
She acted in correct way to the situation but even still she killed a race which depended on the thing she is responsible off, Genocide is something which can never be forgiven. And it never should be forgiven even if done in mistake as it leads such thing to be accepted. All of pony leadership would need to be tossed in prison pending a trial about the matter.
Edit:
And as the being food part goes, we do not know the effects until writer tells us which those are. Those could be very acceptable short-term solution until better one is found or systems and ways of mutual benefit could be arranged.
8175157 I have just one question; did anyone else literally IMMEDIATELY see the flaw in her plan?
Chrysalis: "Okay. Listen up here's the plan; we, a race who need love to survive, will invade the pony capital!"
Me: "So, You are going to invade, thus making ponies fear and hate you so you can gather love from them?"
Chrysalis: "Yep!"
Me: "Do you see the problem with that?"
Chrysalis: "Nope!"
Me: "Y'know... I think you need some psychiatric help..."
I think I have an idea... ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
Also, YEY! It updated!
8175157
Well, shit, this just got complicated.
Cadence is blameless.
Reason: No information given by the one who made her ruler.
Chrysalis is blameless.
Reason: Verge of starvation. Could not trade with the other species*.
Celestia is guilty.
Reason: Does not own up to her mistakes.
*I think Chrysalis couldn't trade with other species, aside from the ponies, because the love of the other specie's is not as strong as the ponies'.
8188145 I guess you'll be finding out in half an hour when the next chapter is released.
I don't think that Keth could beat Andrew.