Chrysalis Wins
Ch. 17 “A Bump in the Night”
Flames of fiery green twirled in a hellish tornado of various hues, from which an abyssal shadow of torn space formed in its center. From this tear in dimensional realty emerged a multi-hued purple mini horse creature.
Plop.
Twilight tripped while she exited the portal, causing Applejack to trip over her. When Shade came out, the normally nimble vanguard didn’t have the space to react before he too, tripped over the tangled equines. As the queen made her exit from the ethereal ring of fire she also stumbled over the expanded pile of jumbled bodies.
“Hey! Oof-”
The lavender pony at the bottom of the pile was about to complain about the klutziness of those that followed her, even though she was the first one to trip. However, when the royal changeling landed on them, she found the air squeezed out of her lungs.
“Get a hold of yourselves runts!”
Chrysalis angrily shoved the other three out from under her, and stomped on the ground in annoyance. The vanguard and two ponies quickly got to their hooves, and dusted themselves off. AJ and Twilight were still caked with mud, jealously glaring at Shade for how easily he cleaned off his smooth chitinous skin. He shrugged, then remembered something else.
“My queen. Should the ponies be bathed before they’re put in new cocoons? They likely picked up parasites.”
“Yes, let’s have them bathed. In fact, most changelings still carry the Badland’s filth.”
The queen cracked a mischievous smile and moved close to Shade. She put a hoof under his chin, lifting his face to look directly in hers. The head vanguard managed to keep his expression neutral, but a slight grimace edged on his muzzle anyway.
“Taking you to the Badlands wasn’t a real punishment; more or less it was something you should have already remembered. As consequence for giving relief to prisoners who I punished, you will take better care of your own kind. You will personally scrub down every vanguard in Canterlot, until their chitin shines. Present them to me at the end of the week.”
Shade blinked his eyes, comprehension hadn’t quite dawned yet. The queen chuckled and gave her councilor and pat on the back.
“Helping them take a bath? How many changelings is that?”
Applejack ventured a question, it seemed curious to make cleanup a punishment. The conversation didn’t appear too private either, so she might as well join.
“That would be seven hundred and forty-six vanguards stationed here in Canterlot. Almost all of us came here for the invasion…”
“Oh… well, have fun sugar cube…”
The orange earth pony mare gave an awkward smile. Cleaning up half a dozen hogs was quite a bit of work, let along seven hundred. Shade actually had to restrain himself from giving the earth pony a look of betrayal at her almost mockery of his pain.
As she thought back, Applejack could remember she picked up quite a bit of dirt and grease from the contact she had with the changelings in their initial scuffle. ‘Ya, good luck gettin’ that done in a week by yourself Shade.’
With a glint of green light in her eyes, Chrysalis called in a few sentinels with a mental message. Three large scaled changelings answered the call, and entered the temporary prisoner chamber. They landed next to the queen and remained silent. The royal changeling turned to her head vanguard once more.
“You can start your job by getting these two ponies clean, and then put them in fresh cocoons. After that I suggest you get on with your real assignment. You sentinels will follow Shade and make sure these instructions are followed exactly.”
“Yes my queen.”
Both Shade and the sentinels iterated.
“Good, now go.”
The queen remained on her haunches while the sentinels picked up the ponies, and followed Shade out of the prisoner chamber. The ponies would need to be carried over the deadly pitfalls so artfully dug by Colony’s drones.
Once her underlings had been gone for some time, the queen set her own wings to work, and carried herself out of the underground mountain maze. It was late into the night when she made it outside. The stars dotted the heavens, yet no moon was present.
There had been no moon present for several days, she never bothered to ask the night princess about that particular procedure. In consideration of how Chrysalis fed on the imprisoned princesses and elements before she went to the Crystal Empire, she doubted Luna would be in a mood to share.
Down to the castle grounds she went, past the shadowed halls, and finally into the royal bedchamber. It was neatly cleaned, as it had been since she took over. It didn’t take more than a moment for the queen to dive into the plush arrangement of pillows and sink into blissful unconsciousness.
---
However, the unconsciousness was blissful until it wasn’t…
Chrysalis lay on her back on a large sunbathing chair, next to a grandiose pool. She wore a large pair of sunglasses and lazily looked over the scene.
The large container of aqua marine liquid was a new addition to some private castle grounds she had just commissioned, with various attendants and guests lounging about the rather tropical setting. Exotic plants, and birds added some nice accents to the myriad of pleasant pleasantries surrounding the pool area.
A cherry colored earth pony, with cherry cutie mark, walked over to the queen, while she held a tray full of cherry flavored drinks.
“My dear Empress Chrysalis! Would you care for a drink?”
This pony beamed brightly at the relaxed royal changeling, admiration and adoration sparkled in her cherry colored eyes. The pony almost vibrated with the giddiness she contained. With a causal look over, Chrysalis smiled at the pony that was cherry flavored in every way.
“Of course Cherry Changer, I would love to sample both.”
A drink levitated over to her fanged muzzle and she sipped on the refreshing sweet substance. After a satisfying draft was taken it, she placed the glass on a short table stand. Then the cherry pony intuitively moved closer to the queen, and smiled as she lowered her head.
The next draft was a good portion of the lovely emotions contained in Cherry Changer. While physical food and drink tasted good, they were shallow comparisons to the taste of raw emotions. The pony seemed to have no end of delicious and affectionate feelings to give, and Chrysalis fed as long as she wanted to.
“Now why can’t all ponies be like this?”
“Like what most gracious empress?”
“Just never run out of emotions, some of you are barely worth a snack.”
“They just don’t know how wonderful you are empress.”
“Of course, they’re all too busy with their petty concerns. They don’t have the time to appreciate some changeling who does all their most important work for them.”
“I will always appreciate you empress. My cup will never run empty.”
“Thank you Cherry…”
Cherry Changer bowed deeply and humbly before her. The queen reached over and lifted her to stand. With a smile and a gentle wave of her hoof, she proffered the very cherry pony to move on. Chrysalis leaned back and felt satisfied in so many ways. She closed her eyes, and felt the sun’s pleasant rays warm over her body.
“I should not be surprised your dreams surround you with sycophants.”
Chrysalis’s brow furrowed, and she didn’t open her eyes, yet. She knew that voice, that very antagonistic voice. She pulled off the sunglasses and raised herself to sit upright. When her eyes did open a dark blue alicorn stood over her recliner and glared down at the queen. The giant changeling’s muzzle scrunched in disgust.
“Did sycophants not flock to you and your sister daily? I spent not but a few days as your guest in disguise and I could see that was plain as day.”
The queen’s multi-hued eyes were now raised above Luna’s teal ones, and the glare between the two traded in elevations. The fact that her pleasant dream was invaded greatly disturbed the queen, but she wasn’t going to express that. The change in the changeling’s posture did nothing to deter Luna from her objective.
“I take it that Sombra did not succeed in retaking the empire, given that you are not currently experiencing something more… fearful.”
“He is not a problem for now.”
“And what of the crystal ponies?”
“They believe they’ve inherited a powerful new queen that will protect them, which isn’t too far from the truth I suppose. Unlike the rest of your difficult populace, I won’t have to strong hoof them into accepting me.”
A smile cracked through the hard expression worn on Chrysalis’s muzzle. The dark blue alicorn’s stance remained unchanged. The hardness in her teal eyes gained another, more dangerous edge.
“What my sister, several ponies, and I experienced within the last few days could at minimum, be described as most unpleasant.”
“Did the Princess of Dreams have a few little nightmares? I can’t imagine what she and her sister did to earn that…”
“Do not treat the matter of harming my ponies lightly Chrysalis, you are in my realm now and you have no power here.”
A threatening edge had crossed into Luna’s tone. Her pupils narrowed ever so slightly, and her countenance darkened. The daylight within the dream dimmed, and the sun’s warm rays lost their comfort. The display was noted by the queen, and ignored. The slight smile on her lips creased downward.
“Then you and your sister better think twice before you attempt to make a mockery of me. What I did was necessary anyway, Sombra was no easy foe and I needed power.”
With a dismissive gesture, Chrysalis leaned back into her recliner and put her sunglasses back on. She stared at the sky, and willed the sun’s rays to become pleasant again. When the warmth failed to return she clamped her jaws tightly together and growled in frustration.
A contemplative look came over Luna. Instead of any warmth, the sky continued to dim. The sun light was eclipsed and a cold draft of air blew through the dream space. Snowflakes started to blister through the air and the breeze developed into wind that howled.
The wind got bad enough to wipe the shades right off of Chrysalis’s snout, and the frozen air caused her to shiver. The cherry drink on the stand spilled over. Her harlequin eyes glared furiously at Luna, mixed with an expression of befuddlement.
“Did I not just say to not play games with me!”
“You speak of using a strong hoof against ponies loyal to me and my sister. Do you not realize I can do the same with you? While you sleep I can twist your dreams into the unrest of nightmares. I could do the same for your changeling army. You would be driven mad without your sleep, and it wouldn’t stop until you release us.”
The entire scene darkened, and the pleasant pool side landscape was no longer there. Chrysalis was no longer in a nice comfortable recliner, but hoof deep in frozen snow. The queen was not amused. Bright pairs of eyes glowed in a poorly illuminated scene. Fierce growls, howls, and roars erupted around from every side. A veritable army of feral noises threatened to overwhelm all of the changeling’s senses.
“I may have no sway over you in the real world, but as long as you are in the dream relam, I AM THE ONLY QUEEN!”
One pair of shining eyes Chrysalis was able to recognize, they were teal eyes. A wicked grin crossed over her face, and she tilted her head to the side.
“I dare you to Luna, go ahead and do it. See what happens if you do.”
The threat in her words held no obscurity, and neither specificity. The feral noises died down, but remained present. The teal eyes that gazed over the queen took on an unsure look. The hesitation caused Chrysalis’s devious grin to develop in a fang bared smile.
“You have power in dreams, and only dreams. Do you want me to take that away from you as well? Should you act out, it will have repercussions you will sorely regret.”
The darkness started to lift, and the shadows started to recede. The monstrous noises faded to a whisper, and the army of hungry eyes began to close. The silhouette of the Night Princess was now visible, and the agitated posture of the alicorn reflected her indecision.
The anger in her teal eyes only grew, but the grit in her teeth expressed her restraint. Her large feathery wings were spread aggressively, and one hoof pawed at the ground. Should she go ahead and terrorize the queen and her changelings in the night? What would Chrysalis do once she woke up? Luna didn’t trust a conscious and highly irritated changeling queen to play nice. Let alone for this plan to work, it would take more than one night to drive the changelings into desperate insomnia.
The thought that the other ponies may suffer because of her bitterness and resentment towards the queen caused her the most pause. Her envy had already caused a great deal of pain in the past. Would her attempt to strong hoof Chrysalis work or just be another source of agony for the ponies she cared about?
“Since you clearly need some time to make up your mind, I suggest you leave.”
The blue alicorn jumped in surprise, she hadn’t realized Chrysalis had walked right up to her. The queen fully used her imposing stature to loom over the shorter equine. Luna didn’t utter any words, but threw a resentful glare in the queen’s direction.
“I suggest you not be so arrogant Changeling, sooner or later you will fall. And I will make sure I’m there to witness it.”
The darkness disappeared, and the pleasant rays of noon-day sun returned. The pool and all of it’s fine accents were back, along with a plethora of ponies and changelings that gave the queen looks of adoration. A strand of frazzled hair hung in front of one of Chrysalis’s eyes, and she blew it away with a puff of air.
“Oh, your drink spilled your majesty, I’ll replace it.”
Cherry Changer hurried over the short table stand that held the queen’s tipped over glass. Chrysalis ignored the faithful attendant as her eyes roamed over the scene, there was no sign of Luna anywhere.
“Would you like another flavor empress?”
The royal’s eyes never looked down on the cherry pony mare, but her voice addressed the dream entity
“No, I think I’m done imagining flavors for now.”
---
In the darkness of the royal chamber two very large, very green eyes snapped out. It was almost dawn, and the sun would need to be raised within an hour or so. Before this day would begin she had some business she would address, now.
A flash of magical energy from her horn and eyes sent out a very speedy message. It called the most powerful sentinel in her army to attention.
It only took Vivisect a few minutes to reach the royal chamber, the sentinel had buzzed through the air at a furious pace in order to answer the call. The deep hum of the changeling warrior’s wings entered the bedroom and ceased once her hooves contacted the ground.
The tall head of the sentinels stood at attention, and looked towards Chrysalis, who lazed back on the over-sized solar bed.
“You needed something urgently my queen?”
“Yes, somepony stupidly showed their self to be a potential threat, despite their current imprisonment.”
“What needs to be done?”
“Princess Luna, we can’t keep her in a cocoon. Even though she didn’t act this night, her ability to be disruptive with dreams is something I can’t ignore. She could be a severe hindrance, and we already have another hundred issues to be concerned with.”
“Do you wish to have her executed?”
The queen brought a hoof up to her chin, and rubbed it thoughtfully. While it was amusing, and practical, she had managed to establish her rule with minimal bloodshed so far. Hers was a conquest for resources after all.
“No, she could still be useful as an emotional snack. We’ll just have to do something a little more… traditional. Take her out of her cocoon, disable her magic, and keep her wings bound. Have Colony build a special cell for her.”
“I will see to it personally.”
“Good, make sure this cell has a pleasant view of Canterlot and the sky. If she is to remain conscious, I don’t want her forgetting the things she loves being obscured by some blank expressionless walls. She would be useless should her emotions to grow stale.”
“Colony will receive your word.”
“Then be off, I have other matters that need attending.”
Vivisect bowed out respectfully before she turned towards the Canterlot mountains.
Chrysalis stood up on the bed before stretching out her long body. She dipped her front half low, and looked as if she were a cat about to pounce. Then she lowered her back half as she stretched out her hind legs. A loud yawn exposed the sharp teeth in her maw. With one or two smacks of her lips, and a few blinks of her eyes, along with a brief flutter of her wings, she was ready to hop off the mattress.
It was time to catch up with Fancy Pants, and Golden Trust. Hopefully those two had kept themselves productive.
Ah, and there's the problem with the Luna-Drives-Them-To-Nightmares plan: It would take time, and inbetween nights Chrysalis could make things very difficult for Luna.
Though I question why it's necessary to remove her from the cocoon. Why not just bind her magic within the cocoon?
... wasn't the cocoon doing that anyway? How did she dream walk without her magic?
5938109
hmm, good questions!
While the cocoons are generally inhibitive of magic, dream magic in particular was something specific to the cocoons. Dreams are good at stimulating emotions within the host, the cocoons catch that energy and make it easy to feed on. Also the cocoons don't inhibit changelings that try to dream walk into them, so naturally the magic associated with dreams could still be manipulated within the cocoons. I suppose i should state that somewhere more explicitly.
But with Luna out of the cocoon, they could disable her magic period.
5938148 ....... oh god this is contrived now. you are doing what so many people do in these stories. make a character stupid to make a less intelligent character seem smarter.
luna would not directly tell chrysalis of her abilities. that is just idiotic.
also releasing luna from the cocoon would only allow her to escape. unless that is luna's plan of course. otherwise she owuld ahve been far, far, far more stealthy than that.
and there is no way they could bind her magic or wings. she would instantly escape.
5938109 no the issue is that luna would not directly threaten it like an idiot. it would happen gradually over time. by the time chrysalis figures it out she would already be too weak and unsound in mind to do anything about it.
unless that is her plan and she escapes the next chapter. there is no way the changeligns could overpower her even in a weakened state.
5938148 also pretty sure twilight and applejack could easily escape too now, now that i think about it.
5938180
contrived is your favorite word
5938197 and it rather perfectly describes this situation. you are forcing luna to be stupid about this. why would she tell unless he knows that chrysalis would make the mistake of releasing her? and if it is not the case, if she was jsut dumb enough to just tell chrysalis, then that would mean this is a forced circumstance to eliminate a threat chrysalis would otherwise not know about.
seriously dude, it is a trap a lot of guys who write fanfics fall into. it makes all characters involved look incompetent.
5938195
Applejack & Twilight with no magic and three combat experienced changelings with magic... lol
5938207 applejack is an earth pony dude. you can weaken an earth pony, but you can't make em not an earth pony.
she pulverizes timber-wolves dude.
5938205
There's also the difference between emotion driven decisions vs. logical. Luna & her sister along with a few other ponies just suffered from Chrysalis's extensive feeding, and the queens dimissive attitude only fuels lunars anger more. emotionally fueled decisions aren't always rational.
5938212
I also remember that same episode her being afraid of being chewed on by one besides... magic...
5938213 that honestly sounds much more like an excuse. luna suffered far, far more than couple nights of nightmares for over a millenium. and she would not be so foolish as to play her hoof so early.
this does not feel natural and it makes chrysalis look incompetent.
it honestly does. if luna did nto stupidly tell her of her aiblities, she would never have suspected them. thus it makes chrysalis incompetent because it implies that she could not have dealt with this without luna being an idiot about it.
and it is obviously because i brought it up and instead of making it a challenge chrysalis has to face, you make it easy by making a character stupid.
that is a trap. it is easier to do it this way. it does not make chrysalis look good because she did not outsmart luna, luna had an convenient brainfart.
not to mention she would be talking with celestia this whole time, making plots.
also i have a feeling that luna would be fully capable of just Stopping a dream completely. you can't have a nightmare if you don't dream.
5938218 one that had grown twice the size while she was pinned down dude.
for goodness sake, she can overpower a chimera. i am pretty sure she can take a changeling, even one with martial prowess.
5938226
Chrysalis already knew Luna could manipulate dreams. That was gone over in an earlier chapter - tennis ball incident-... Besides if something led to a series of restless nights there are only a few ponies you could suspect...
5938190 I told myself I wouldn't reply to any more of your posts, because clearly you're too stupid to help, but this is just too infuriating not to.
Citation needed.
... yeah, it's not like the slime was inhibiting Twilight's magic or anything.
Just because you are too stupid to understand something's explanation doesn't make it contrived. Your little comment over on Mente Materia is a prime example.
Her earth pony strength comes from her magic you idiot!
You CLEARLY don't understand have martial prowess works if you think it's a question of simply overpowering.
You're falling into the Dunning-Kruger effect; you're stupid, and you don't realize you're stupid.
5938226
Chrysalis is no stranger to mental manipulation either.
5938213 think about it this way. where is the fun of luna just making these threats now? or at all?
you are making things too easy for chrysalis here. waaaaay too easy. the more you just Remove potential challenge for chrysalis to face, the less interesting the story becomes.
why make it easy for chrysalis? make it harder for her. make her have to bite, snort, and even compromise to sustain her gripe on equestria. it is boring if the only threats she faces come from the villains only.
5938258 compared to luna she is. she is not as magically competent or politically competent as either ofthem. she is very cuning, guileful, vain, and shortsighted. her powers are less compared to them in every way, in their range of abilities.
which means having to deal with them, deal with them plotting to break her grip over equestria, a much more intersting thing.
as i just posted, why make it easy for chrysalis? it is more in character for her to struggle here, and more so a more complex situation is often a better written situation.
5938257
nice wiki article btw.
I know i need to stop replying to these intentionally argumentative comments as well. They just eat of space needlessly. But it's so tempting to bite the bait
I'm prolly done commenting for a few hours anyway, u guys have a good night
5938273 not being argumentative dude i am trying to give you advice.
i would redact this chapter and change the plan. the more complicated you make chrysalis situation, and the more challenges she faces, and the more the regal sisters prove capable of screwing with her even in their cocoons, the more material you have to work with.
remove luna as a threat now and you remove any potential for story and conflict for chrysalis to face. and the hwole point of your story is that she is supposed to be dealing with this. and it should be a whole lot harder for her.
5938257 and you. enjoy the report i sent against you. seriously dude, stop stalking me. i am not an idiot, least nothing compared to some guy who thinks its mature to call someone an idiot over multiple stories. it seems that article relates more to you than anything. you think you are superior to me and its you 'duty' to try and convince me i am stupid.
here i am trying to convince the author of this story that he is hurting his own story by removing potential plot.
5938282
hold your horses dude... Chrysalis made a plan... the deal is not sealed... Luna could 'escape'
but geez your expectations feel so unrealistic its crazy. seriously, you think luna is the one and only source of conflict?
Oh golly better just ignore the million and a half other problems Equestria has in it. Let alone, no room for conflict once Chrysalis tries to expand out of canterlot. yep. done. next chapter story is over cuz Luna was put out of comission for a while... no other possible problems.
it's the my way or the highway attitude that comes across as argumentative. If you stop calling everyone elses ideas inferior, subpar, and contrived, when they don't fall under your personal purview's of your conundrums of philosophy, then people might reciprocate the 'advice' your trying to give. when you come across as condescending and superior to the people your talking to, they do not feel so inclined that you're actually there to help. And the message of your critique is lost.
ty engi, i luv yur qoutes
5938312 then let me state it as thus.
your story by nature subsists on the idea that chrysalis gotta face some major challenges since she won. however you keep on removing potential conflicts for her to face or deal with. and if you keep on removing potential conflicts from the story then you are denying the story what it needs to survive.
i will apologize though. its honestly easier to suspect that bad decisions are gonna be made in a fic, and many of the ones you gave made, such as luna just telling chrysalis what she can do, is giving off warning signals as it is similar to things i experienced in other stories. basically the possibility that this is just there to remove a challenge gives it an artificial feel to it and has consistently happened in a large majority of the stories i read.
so i am coming in here expecting something very bad to happen, cause it has happened many times before already. i honestly shouldn't, but i am.
i am not an expert but i have taken a few writing courses in college and have something of an idea of what a plot needs. in this case, it needs conflicts that will make chrysalis grind her fangs blunt. you probably have ideas for future threats, yet you are kinda hobbling the ones we already can see.
think you can kinda blame my favorite professor for this method of thinking.
will say that luna on the loose would be quite an interesting challenge without just ending chrysalis. besides its going way too well for chrysalis.
........ reason why i was fixating on a lot of these situations is that a protagonist is only as good as his antagonist (blame same professor for that as well). to make chrysalis loook good you need the regal sisters to look good too. why i was fixating on the whole luna tells chrysalis what she can do thingy. luna being foolish enough to do that does not reflect well on chrysalis cause it is too easy.
maybe i am wrong, and in a sense i am if i came in here expecting a flop, still there are things that can universally improve a story.
5938403
It's ok,
not all problems are created equal, and there is only so much content i can put into a 3k chapter update. I know Luna has kinda been your thing since chapter one, I want to give these characters respectful space, and it'll take time to develop the conflicts with some of them.
I really look forward to a certain draconequi coming in to mess with things. and things shall be messed!
But at the rate i'm currently chugging through the story it' prolly be another what 40k / 80k/ i dunno lots more words, There still several conflicts season 3 episodes can bring to life, and all that before season four has it's own spree of problems. it'll take time.
I will thank you for your comments, some of them have been helpful, and brought a different view from me to reflect on, and have helped me alter some of the directions i was taking the story. But just the manner you use sometimes has been a real big turn off.
I appreciate the sincerity of your most recent comment, and it's much better atempt at civility
----
geez, i haven't even hit episode 3 of season 3 yet. At this rate the stories gonna be liek a million words
Eh, Still feel uncomfortable, Put I'm more loyal enough to get along despite me being a Alicorn.
I have a bit of a problem with people who think they can write a story better than the author, so I am going to highlight some flaws with your arguments. Apologies in advance for post length. (addressing each argument point)
5938265 not necessarily, but who says that's the case? it would also be boring if each chapter was dealing with Luna attacking at full power no matter what disadvantages she faces.
5938190 from what we have seen (canon), Luna tends to act in a blunt manner and reveal herself in a sort of shock and awe tactic even when It isn't a good idea.
5938205 Luna was enacting a plan (give Chrysalis nightmares) and so revealed herself when she started enacting that plan, Chrysalis countered that with her argument and Luna retreated, Chrysalis isn't going to let Luna keep her power of dreams now it was revealed. If Chrysalis started having nightmares for no reason 1-2-3 nights in a row, she would quickly place blame on Luna regardless of whever Luna did it or not, being the Princess of dreams would provide ample ground for blame, don't assume Chrysalis would just sit there in a daze while Luna attacks her slowly over the course of a week+ .
5938180 You seem to think that Luna must be able to know what Chrysalis is doing/going to do at any given time and has a plan to immediately counteract that, while Chrysalis can't have a plan beyond that of 'acting evil and stupid'. Not everything is going to fit into your headcanon of each character. It might be a plan of hers to escape, but what proof do you have that they couldn't bind her magic? She would need to escape while stil being (Physically,etc) weakened from being in the chrysalis so that would be difficult.
5938195 You seem to be picking holes for the sake of picking holes "nope, can't happen that way, I say it would happen this way".
5938226 you seem to be trying to make out Luna would always act logically when we have seen she tends to let emotions guide her decisions even at the best of times, Luna chose to try and inflict revenge and pain upon Chrysalis by giving her nightmares to cause lack of sleep, rather than no dreams which would have little to no effect on her. Which is considered a worse sleep, one haunted by your worst nightmares, or one in which you don't dream? Luna has already been plotting with Celestia, we have seen that in previous chapters. Who says she doesn't have other plans?(though her poorly/emotionally thought out actions in giving nightmares to Chrysalis reduces her choices somewhat.) I agree that Luna could have chosen not to reveal herself, but she would likely have been blamed for the nightmares anyway.
5938272 provide proof for your claims, Chrysalis is Queen of the Changelings, I doubt if she would continuously struggle to maintain control failing each time.
5938265 again, who says the only problems she will face is against Equestria's enemies? It has been shown that isn't the case. Chrysalis has been shown to be very adverse to compromise, and she would never accept a compromise of 'we will deal with this problem if you get the buck out of equestria' which is pretty much the only one being offered.
5938403
Who says there is going to be only one antagonist? Making Chrysalis' enemies look good would not necessarily make her look good, I can think of several cases where it just makes her look incompetent if they escape from a locked, guarded room with anti-magic binders on. A jailbreak with a one in a million chance will not 'succeed nine times out of ten', as the saying goes.
There are many canon problems Chrysalis will face, along with many obvious non canon ones, there is no need to insist Luna would be able to deflect every attack and be able to think out a flawless plan every single time while being able to read Chrysalis' mind, etc. So please stop making out she is a flawless Alicorn Goddess.
Apologies if I offend.
Poor Luna... She played her dream card a wee bit too soon I think
Still, a nice chapter overall You probably have bigger plans for Luna in later Chapters and I can't wait to see what happens next.
5938258 I have to be honest. After reading this, I had this thought that Luna would be like Freddy Krueger here and trap Chrysalis in a nightmare she would be unable to wake up from, and that Chrysalis' only escape was one of her guards using his/her wits in putting two and two together and draining Luna of her strength to allow Chrysalis to wake up.
Still, this works too
5938272 lets not forget she has priority. Issues. She pretty much admitted that the reason she didn't ask for help is because it would hurt her pride to ask help from "prey".(though she forgets that if you push prey hard they we would eventually become hunters, and lets not forget what equestrias allies would do when they get a whiff of what happened. They would spend alot of time and effort to finding ways to make changeling inglitration difficult if not impossible.)
I.e.
Chyrisalysis priorities.
1.pride
2.feed hive
5938282 Wow, I'm stalking you... for replying to your comment... after you replied to me.
That wouldn't be necessary if you'd stop being one. Seriously, I have repeatedly, REPEATEDLY pointed out the flaws in your logic, the holes in your reasoning, and your response is never, not once, to try and defend it. You never try and show 'oh no, this actually isn't a hole'. Instead you keep going on, pretending you've never been criticized, that your logic is impeccable and any claim against it is somehow beneath your notice.
What else am I supposed to conclude?
Even now, your best argument against me explaining the idiotic things you say isn't to try and refute my argument. No, your best argument is 'No you!'
5938749 these aren't flaws in my argument, these are me speculating about how chrysalis could lose. which is one of the primary conflicts of the story to begin with; chrysalis dealing with things that could break her power.
ultimately it seems more in canon that chrysalis isn't relatively competent. she can make cunning plans but she always, always misses details due to her vanity and short sightedness. its her tragic flaw if you will. if you look at her canterlot wedding plan, there are a lot of holes in it. it is cunning but has fatal flaws in it, even without twilight popping up.
and yes, even if she fails against the regal sisters or it is tricked it puts her in a better light. they are the ones she will have to contend with every time a threat rears its head. thus they are a constant challenge. basically her deception and cunning vs the intelligence of a thousand year old ruling veteran who has fought many evil overlords, some more powerful than herself.
also i am partly basing the idea that luna would not reveal it without a plan partly on her likely being fairly competent herself, and the plausibility she would be talking with celestia about how to deal with the current situation. her abilities might be dampened but visiting her sister would be simple enough. might not have proof but it just seems the most likely course of action on their part.
Poor Luna you should have used your brain then using your rage to take on Chrysalis. Now Luna is going to face the consequence. I can't wait for more.
5938432 shrug. luna is the one with a skillset that would allow her to be active in-spite of her restraints. or even maybe because of them. dreams are her realm after all. and making everypony else sleep would only let her visit them on a constant basis. such as her sister, whom she could make plots and schemes with.
speculation but then again you have done speculation on what changelings can do......
if i can say another honest critique. while we learn more about what changelings can do here, there is definitely less development on the pony powers. outside of what the changelings can do to counter them completely.
also i just realized a kind of paradox. the pods supposedly weaken luna's dream walking, yet at the same time the pods are a channel for dream walking....... something does not add up there. how would a natural channel for dream walking magic weaken her dream walking?
5939432 That one actually makes a lot of sense - on the one hand dreamwalking requires the target to be asleep, which the pods make sure of, thus they are as good a channel as can get - but on the other hand the chemicals in the pod include sedatives, which is not exactly conductive to casting magic, dream walking included.
On top of that changeling resin blocks or absorbs magic, or covering a unicorn's horn with it would not disable it, and the pods' walls are most likely made of the same substance. Could be that the specific chemical is not present in the same concentration (like the chemicals and enzymes in salvia differ depending what it is meant to be pre-digested) or dreamwalking uses a different wavelength than most magic and is only blocked to a limited degree (it can very well be close enough to emotional wavelengths that Luna can exploit the pods being permeable for emotions) - both of which would require a specialized resin recipe to disable Luna's abilities.
5938797
Freddy Kruegar is hilarious, i'll have to fit in a reference somewhere
Hold on, if she was put in a place where she could see Canterlot, couldn't Canterlot see back? If the local populace saw where Luna was being kept, wouldn't they try to break her out?
5940346 In theory yes but in practice, we'll have to see. I mean, hide and seek has a large part of it revolving around being able to hide so that you can see if the seeker is coming, but they can't see you. Camouflage also comes to mind.
Whether or not those things are applicable to Luna remains to be seen.
5940485 rainbow dash. rainboomas a distraction, get in, remove restraints, get out.
5941138 Well remember, she'd have to find Luna first. If she does, then that's probably what will happen. Until then, however...
5939785 What about changeling Kings? I haven't seen you mention any of them existing.
I love the description of that picture, just somepony.