Chrysalis Wins
Ch.20 “For the Love of-”
The queen went to the Castle Gardens, having made sure to send several sentinels to make sure it was unoccupied. As she strode around the lively plant décor she found a bench to sit down at, and relax by herself.
Too much had happened in a single morning, and now she didn’t feel like doing anything else for the rest of the day. After her discussion with Celestia, she made sure to feed heartily on the alicorn as well. She was better fed than she had been her whole life. Her body now radiated with model health for a changeling.
When she looked around at some of the other changelings, their physical signs already showed improvement. Many had been able to clean themselves up, and the abundant love energy in Canterlot left no changeling hungry.
Holes had gotten smaller in their legs, and chewed on wings had started to round out. Many of them were even starting to grow their manes back in, though it was only in the form of a fuzzy line next to their neck fins, still progress.
Morning slowly developed into mid-day, then late afternoon. It was nearly evening when Colony approached the queen on her garden bench. It had been hours, and Chrysalis hadn’t moved the whole time, the mood of earlier events kept her stationary.
“My queen, I have news to report, if you want to hear it.”
“Tell it to me Colony.”
Chrysalis never lifted her eyes from where she gazed off. There were some interesting statues in the garden, one in particular caught her attention. It was a tall beast of mixed and matched parts, something about it was familiar. Oh, yes, her vanguards had reported a day of strange occurrences a while ago. That must be the draconequus, who was blasted by the elements almost a year ago. He wore such a terrified expression on his face.
That was the weapon Celestia planned to use on her, made her wonder how would that have ended? The results seemed so random, and grave… Would it they have tossed her into the sun? the moon? Turn her into stone and let the birds roost on her for centuries?
Being trapped in a free dream cocoon started to seem soft by comparison
“My Queen… my queen… QUEEN!”
The small drone had moved over to the royal changeling and started to shove one of her hooves. Chrysalis shook her head and blinked away her distracted thoughts.
“What was it Colony? I’m listening now.”
“Very well, I just wanted to say Vivisect is awake now, and able to walk. I can bring her to you if you want to inspect her condition yourself.”
The queen clenched her jaw, time in the garden is what she used to forget about the morning events. Though she did in fact want to see her sentinel.
“Bring her here. Was there anything else you’ve been able to conclude about her condition?”
“It was as I’ve feared. She suffered some brain damage, though the tissue will repair with some additional care. New brains are blank, I’m not sure how much of her old-self she has retained.”
“Then bring her here and I will find out.”
“I will return shortly.”
The small drone bowed out and left, and Chrysalis went back to uninterrupted contemplation. Her eyes roamed back over to the statue. That one statue bothered her, maybe she would have it moved. Though it also gave her another thought, the elements could not be allowed to remain where they were. She would need to hide them somewhere else. It would be foolish to leave them in the same spot, should Celestia ever managed to escape, somehow...
With a flash of mental magic she called out for Shade. It took a little while for the vanguard to appear, and when he showed up he dripped with water, and was covered in soapy suds. The Changeling panted slightly as he looked up to his queen, he flew over as fast as he could.
“You need –huff- something, my queen –huff-.”
“Yes Shade, you have temporary leave from your punishment.”
“What?”
“You know of the Elements of Harmony?”
“Yes my queen, but why?”
“I need them, I’m changing their location. ”
“Where were they again?”
“In Canterlot Tower, bring them to me. Once you've completed that you can go back to your punishment.”
“Of course, it will be done.”
With a nod Chrysalis dismissed him. It wasn’t more than a moment or two after Shade had left that two of her other councilors arrived. Colony buzzed through the air, and was followed by another changeling that walked slowly along the ground.
The head drone landed near the queen and made a respectful bow, the other changeling just stood there and stared. Vivisect was indeed able to stand and move, though the look in her eye was completely lost.
“Vivisect?”
There was no response from the tall sentinel changeling, and she continued to stare off into the gardens.
“Vivisect!”
Chrysalis got off her bench and walked over to the innocuous equine. When hoof falls approached the sentinel, it drew her eyes toward the figure. The queen held a grimace and frustration echoed in her words.
“I called your name.”
She tapped a hoof onto Vivisect’s chest, the tall changeling looked down to where she was touched, then back up at the queen.
“I have a name?”
The sentinel’s head tilted to the side, as if she heard a particularly complex enigma. Her voice, devoid of the confidence and strength it held, it was now simply hollow. This reaction caused as sharp inhalation on the queen’s part, this was bad…
“I suppose you wouldn’t remember me either.”
Chrysalis turned about and walked back towards her bench, there was a slight drag to her step. Vivisect’s eyes followed the giant changeling’s methodical movement, but there was not a flicker of memory there. The queen sat down on the bench again, and motioned for the sentinel to come closer.
The warrior just stood there, and looked at the motion Chrysalis’s hoof made, then back up to the queen. She didn’t comprehend the meaning.
“Come closer.”
The queen sighed. The verbal instruction was understood and Vivisect walked over to the bench, and stood there.
“Do you remember how to do any of your old magic?”
“I can do magic?”
“Yes, like this.”
As a royal changeling Chrysalis could practice magic otherwise unique to each changeling class. One fore-hoof became wrapped in green flames and the limb shifted its shape. In place of a hoof there were three long claws, and Chrysalis wriggled the digits.
Vivisect’s reaction was to flinch and take a step back, disgusted fascination crept over the sentinel’s features, like a moth staring at an open flame. The scaly changeling looked down at her own hooves and shuddered. This sunk Chrysalis to new levels of disappointment, her own head sentinel, was skittish of magic she was very proficient with? Well, that answered that question. The queen’s forelimb twisted under green fire once more and became a hoof again.
“Colony take Vivisect back to the other sentinels, she needs to… relearn a few things.”
“Yes my queen.”
The drone obedient hovered over to the damaged warrior and tapped her with a hoof. Vivisect looked over to her small escort and watched.
“Come on, we need to go this way.”
The two of them started to leave the garden, it was slow, as Vivisect didn’t want to fly anywhere yet. She wasn’t able to remember that either. The queen scowled, the damage was severe, she would undoubtedly have to find a new head for her sentinels, if Vivisect couldn’t remember anything.
The queen’s gaze became downcast, in this harsh world, one more familiar thing had been taken from her. Death had been common in the Badlands, and replacements happened all too often. Except for Vivisect.
Evisect had been the head of sentinels when Chrysalis was initially crowned queen, but he died within a year. A dragon had tried to pick them out of their den like ants, and Evisect proved to be an invaluable distraction.
After that Vivisect had taken the spot, and survived many situations she shouldn’t have. Chrysalis ground her fangs and cursed herself, she shouldn’t be attached to any of them, any changeling could be gone at a moment’s notice… or was that what she had been working to change?
A bright flash of red light interrupted the mull of her thoughts.
There, but a few strides away, stood a figure the queen did not expect, though in hindsight she should have. A tall grey unicorn, with red horn and black mane that flowed of it’s own accord, smiled at her with his fanged mouth.
“You!”
Sombra’s smile didn’t falter at Chrysalis’s long winded accusation, and he daintily rubbed a hoof over his chest with gusto. The queen leapt from her bench and ignited her horn.
“Come for another round?”
“On the contrary my dear queen of the horse flies, I only came to help some ponies.”
“Spit it out what you mean.”
“Tsk tsk, those manners aren’t going to charm anyone, and isn’t that what you should be doing. You love love don’t you?”
Chrysalis diffused her horn stared at Sombra with a deadpan expression. Her eyelids dropped half way and a slight frown conveyed her bemused expression.
“Have you only come here for snide jokes?”
“Loving love is snide? Please, that should be a compliment….Though I’d be lying if making a few jokes at your expense wasn’t intended. Besides, since we last met I’ve had a lot of time to think. Though I must say, I still haven’t sorted out everything, but I have found a few workable parameters.”
Chrysalis ignited her horn again, if this king had only returned to waste her time then she was going to have none of it.
“Be patient for just a moment, I’ll leave, but I was just going to give you a nice little warning.”
“Warn me? Why would you care to help me in any form?”
“You see, I still have this wellspring of feelings to sort out. I know what I wanted to do, but you’ve taken the will from me to do it. I just can’t lift a hoof to hurt anypony now, atleast for the time being.”
“Cry more gaseous tears why don’t you.”
“I haven’t been able to do that either.”
A genuine frown etched itself over the Crystal King, and he looked sad. The next moment though his mood flipped and the frown became grin, there was even a hint of mischievousness to it.
“All you’ve really done is given me a different set of cards to play, my shiny changeling queen. If I can’t harm any pony, that certainly doesn’t stop me from helping anypony. In fact this fountain of feelings rewards me greatly as I extend the effort.”
“You have ten seconds until I don’t care what you have to say Sombra.”
“I do love the irony Chrysalis, for a being so dependent on love, you should be more approachable. Hehehe, but alas, my warning. Because I am here to help everypony, that includes you, I’ll point you towards those mountains.”
The giant grey unicorn lifted a hoof, and pointed directly at the prisoner complex. Chrysalis’s eyes went wide, and she looked back at the tall king, whose grin widened to eccentric levels.
“Some of your house guests may have taken leave. I really must thank you, I wouldn’t have done such a thing if kindness didn’t overflow from my heart. Isn’t irony, just a wonderful thing?”
With another bright red flash Sombra vanished, laughing uproariously as he did, and the queen’s eyes returned to the mountain. He did not just indicate what she thought he indicated, did he?
Hundreds of mental messages started to echo towards her. Changeling after changeling iterated a variant of the same message.
They’re gone, they’re all gone.
He's turned into Good King Sombra?
Or maybe just Troll King Sombra.
5955802
outta
What just happened?
Sombra has turned into the Chesire Cat This can only end well...
Seriously, Chesire Sombra is awesome so far. I could even imagine him as a vigilante agent, though his actual level of loyalty and morals is probably close to Discord.
......... slams head into keyboard......... on one hand this Should be an itnersting thing.
except it came the fuck outta nowhere and no precedence has been put into play.......
.......... for some reason i think that if none of that luna contrivence happened i would have actually liked this idea. mainly cause i had to deal with luna being tortured and now that hwole thingy with love high sombra being brought up and HE is the solution to a problem. sombra, who got knocked out by a love shot.
See Chrysalis this what happens when you go way to deep end now you pay the price!
5955888 He is still stoned out of his mind and operates on a slightly more straightforward level than Discord. And the part of himself he actually identifies with does not like it. As a result he is as passive agressive as his new emotions let him get away with. On the other hand he is probably still composed enough to not let Celestia out for the lulz, last but not least because of the things she would do to him if he did so. Given that he was quite possibly never exposed to the EoH, and had not that much time of to catch up with the news, he probably does not see any of the mortal ponies as a threat.
5955921 seems like he would be compelled to help out luna though all things considering what she went through. maybe more so cause she has dark magic too.
also it leaves far too many questions. like if sombra can just vanish the captives away, why wouldn't luna be able to just escape?
........ think my main issue is that this is the coninuation of that whole sombra subdued by a love shot thing. i did not like that. and it just makes the regal sisters seem worthless that they couldn't have done something in some capacity.
and don't bring up the fact that they ahve to be written out as a solution for the mane six to solve the problems.
5955941 Why couldn't Luna escape? Well, she can't use magic externally, her ponies are held hostage (to her knowledge), and she is emotionally drained to a point that not even leaves her the inner strength to move. She could probably eventually gather enough magic and resolve to turn into her smoke form, but considering her current state she is probably out of comission for at least a week. After that, maybe.
As for how Sombra freed the ponies (if it was his doing), the flash of red light with which he arrived indicates teleportation (which both Twilight and Luna are capable of (she teleported her whole chariot in Luna Eclipsed) so it would not be unreasonable to assume he has learned the spell at some point, and he definitely has the raw power to pull it off).
Besides, there is a big difference between being unable to harm ponies and feeling truly compelled to help them. And given that he still resents his inability to do harm (if not on an emotional then on an intellectual and self-image level) and that he quite possibly still has a grudge against Luna and Celestia for defeating him the first time, he is way more likely to just come in an laugh at Luna than to free her.
Well... THAT happened...
Sombra has returned, and a wee bit TOO SOON I think. I'm sorry, but this story is starting to get derailed. It now has one event following the other and completely out of nowhere.
It had a VERY promising beginning right up to the Crystal Empire, but now... It seems you're just rushing through things without having a proper build-up to it.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't Chrysalis already know where they were? She had her Changelings waiting for the Mane Six in the room where they were kept. Or did I miss something..?
5956077 the last part is probably sombra's doing.
and its is what i have been saying the entire time. though this is especially iffy.
5955884 Perhaps too close..?
5956084 We may not know the full extent of Sombra's power, but I seriously doubt it would be anywhere near the level of Discord. Sure, he made an entire Empire disappear, but at least he knew where it was.
5956077
Well, whenever sombra showed up again it would be a surprise, no?
Also I'm trying to double check sources, I'll probably redo that conversation with shade if I find out chrysalis already knew where they were.
And ya... A lot has been happening, I suppose I could wrinkle things out a little slower from here on out.
With such a turn of events there will be some space for more plotting and planning. Breather?
Okay, when I imagine Sombra acting like that, I get scared.
5956159 think the primary issue is that everything was bundled up, realistically or not, into a single package when chrysalis came in. luna did not flee, its barely been over a day since the apples rampaged across canterlot and escaped with three of the element bearers, and generally luna's escpae was summed up in half a chapter.
there is too little going on here.
I got a bad feeling about this...
5956159
Wouldn't hurt...
I still like this story and will it the benefit of a doubt, but right now it just throws everything in there and doesn't seem to go where it was originally intended to go. These events are no less important, but I feel they were just used in the wrong moment.
Lost track of this story a while back and just read seven chapters in a row. Good stuff, kind of figured Discord would escape. But here we have Bi X himself creating his own version of the Great Escape. Only question is what happened to them, where did Rarity and the other escapees get too, and is anyone panicking that the moons not moving? Plus the real fun, what are the other nations doing?
5956342 WOW! Are you still trying to get the author to conform to your head cannon for a whole damn week, damn that is some dedicated trolling right there or maybe your just control freak.
Look you are obviously upset about the way the story is going but wouldn't it be better to move on to something else instead of harassing the author and the readers that don't agree with you, that just not healthy..
Yikes, poor Vivesect. Though I think they already know where the Elements are; didn't Chrysalis set up a trap in their chamber?
And I see King Sombra's still got that song in his head... though I don't know what you mean by 'they're all gone'.
5957732 probably their captives in the mountain.
5961717
Why thank you
She'll probably warm up some more when she doesn't have to fight so hard for control. Initial relations i imagined as being rocky. The Crystal ponies like her for now
5957732
5956077
Ya, it's seems you were right, i reviewed the episode a little more and it seemed chrysalis knew where the elements were.
I changed that short conversation with Shade, She knows where the elements are.
This needs a dark tag
5962633
Thank you for the suggestion, I added the tag. Wasn't sure if it was dark-enough to warrent a tag, but external confirmation helps
god dam it I hope the pones don't win
5961911
One follower says "Sombra came too soon", & another will say (me ) will say: "What took him that long?"
All I can say is just follow your own pace, & you won't make everyone happy.
5972973
thanks for the down to earth advice. I think the pace will even out eventually. I mean taking over a kingdom will probably give you a million things to do, on top of whatever else was planned.
Next chapter will actually get to include some elements from a season 3 episode
no need for capitalization here.
Also small question did Fleur pee herself before?
6130793
Hehe, no, she was just sweating to exaggerated levels, but i can see how it would be viewed that way
That crack is hardly original, but it still always makes me chuckle a bit.
Also, I love how Sombra is almost an even bigger dick when he's nice.
Why I keep hearing Sombra talking in Perfect Cell's voice from the Team Fourstar abridged dragonball z series, eh...
I'm strange from this "Sombra King of the Trolls" :)
Wait. You've been drawing all these? Man, I didn't even realize, they look excellent!