New Family

by awesomesauce4

Chapter 1

[Goodness.]

[That is the absolute last time I make a game.]

[From now on, I’m sticking to storytelling.]

[Chapter 1...]

They say that heroes are always ready to fight, no matter their injury or trauma.

Heroes never falter, never cry out in pain, or beg for the sweet, sweet mercy of death.

If that was true, then Jeremy was by no means a hero. He tossed and turned, groaning as the pain in every cell of his body sent a unanimous message to his brain, demanding that it do something to end the suffering. His brain, which was hurting just like the rest of him, elected to send a halfhearted shrug back, resulting in mass revolt of his nervous system.

He faded in and out of consciousness, thoughts looping and circulating in dazed, broken patterns that wouldn’t have made any sense even if he were lucid. Hours, perhaps days, passed by in the broken stupor. Occasionally, he would feel a cooling sensation on his forehead, as though some outside force were trying to help him. But, inevitably, the pain would return, and he would lose his grasp on reality and slip back into the unending torment.

Finally, he managed to gather enough strength and consciousness to open his eyes, just a crack. Two gray-blue, stormy irises got their first glimpse at the special hell they had been placed in.

…It was pitch black.

There was no light in whatever room he was in, not even from windows or overhead lights. Jeremy managed to lift a hand in front of his face, groaning in pain as his arm muscles protested violently, and saw nothing. Unnerved, he let his hand fall back to his side. As he did, it brushed against the surface he was laying down on, and he became aware that he was on a bed.

For lack of anything else to do, Jeremy felt around his bed. The mattress, bedsheet and even the pillow all felt like they were in tatters, barely holding together. They seemed to be clean, for the most part, which Jeremy was thankful for.

As he lay there, slowly healing, he began to remember how he had gotten into this situation. He’d fallen into Tartarus, a horrific prison for those monsters who had earned themselves a place in Equestrian history as ‘villains.’ Equestria… that name sounded so familiar.

And then another piece clicked into place.

Equestria. My Little Pony. That was where he was! He was in a fictional universe, with fictional characters. Nightmare Moon, Queen Chrysalis, King Sombra, Lord Tirek… they were all just villains out of a story. No… that wasn’t quite right. They weren’t two-dimensional – he’d been able to talk to them. Persuade them to follow him. Convince them of the virtues of friendship. Well… mostly, at any rate. Jeremy wondered where they were now. Had they left him to die, betraying him as soon as they reached the surface world? He honestly hadn’t expected that, and something told him that was not the case. So, where was he? Jeremy resolved to figure that out later, and instead decided to concentrate a bit more on his memories.

If Equestria was a fictional world, then that meant there had to have been a real world that he called home. Its name was…

Earth.

Earth? That was a ridiculous name. Who named their planet “dirt?” Jeremy thought dazedly. Oh, well. There was probably a very good reason it was named Earth. So, where on Earth had he lived?

Seattle, Washington. Nine months of gray, overcast skies, followed by three summer months of mild sunshine and actual rain. Pine trees everywhere, inescapable unless one traveled across the mountains or south to Oregon. You went to a high school there, but not college. Your best friend was…

Jeremy continued for a while longer like this, reliving memories from both his time on Earth and in Equestria. It was though a void in his head were being filled, and with each remembered fact about himself the pain lessened.

Finally, after some hours, he felt like he had remembered everything. Everything important, at least. He made to get up, his joints creaking and snapping back into place as he swung his legs over the bed. After a moment of rest, to build up his strength, he sat up, leaning over instantly as his vision swam with spots of color, and he fought the urge to throw up. He sat there a while, just trying to keep himself upright, swaying slightly as he recovered. Finally, he was feeling better again, and he made to stand.

Instantly, he smacked his head against the ceiling, a muffled curse escaping his lips as he flopped back down onto the bed in renewed pain. The ceiling had been barely a foot over his head when he was sitting – what was this room made for, babies?

As the throbbing in his head slowly subsided, he decided to try again. Through the pitch-blackness, he crawled, wondering if he had gone blind as he felt his way around the place. Despite what he had been expecting, the floor was slightly grimy, and wet, as though he were in some sort of cavern. Had he never escaped Tartarus, then? Had it all been some kind of crazy fever dream? Jeremy resolved to press on and find out. He crawled forward, tapping in front of him to determine whether the surface was safe to crawl over before proceeding.

He hit a curved wall with his finger, and quickly drew back, considering what to do next. There had to be some way he had gotten into this strange room, so there must be some way of exiting it. Jeremy tapped along the wall, moving clockwise as he attempted to find a crevice or some such that he could continue through. As he tapped on a section of the wall, it shuddered slightly, behaving much more like jelly than stone. Jeremy drew back – had he tapped something alive? It occurred to him that he might still be in danger, and he should be more careful.

After a moment, he decided to tap it again. He could always duck out of the way, or something. The ‘wall’ shuddered again, and a hole opened into the room, light shining through and immediately searing his retinas with the most painful afterimages he’d ever dealt with. Muttering and looking away, Jeremy crawled through the hole, and took a moment for his eyes to adjust, grimacing from the pain of overstimulation.

Eventually, he could open his eyes, and he looked around. He was in a vast, blue cavern, holes opening and closing at random. The whole thing was lit overhead by vast globules of some organic, teal phosphorescent substance. There was nobody in the cavern besides him, and Jeremy felt oddly out of place. Where in the world was he? This didn’t look anything like anywhere he’d seen before, either on Earth or Equestria.

Jeremy stumbled forward, slowly remembering how to walk as he looked around. Was he still in the game? Had he been teleported to a new ‘area,’ with new ‘monsters’ to deal with? Or was he on the surface? It was so hard to tell. It certainly felt like he was underground again.

A hole opened above and to his left, and Jeremy looked over as something flew out. It was black and glossy, with midnight blue armor adorning its withers and head as it searched the area with compound blue eyes. As soon as it spotted him, its eyes widened in shock, and it hurriedly flew through another hole that had just opened, exiting the area. Jeremy watched it go forlornly – he’d wanted to talk to it! It was the first living thing he’d seen since he’d woken up, and it probably could tell him a lot more about where he was than he could figure out on his own.

After a moment of deliberation, he elected to follow it, hurriedly stumbling his way up the ledges of the caverns before the strange, jelly-like hole closed again. He just barely made it through, the portal closing behind him and leaving him in a distinctly new area.

This was more familiar, at least to Jeremy’s memories. Wispy black strands of an unidentified substance covered the walls and floor, the light overhead having shifted to a vivid green. He was in a changeling hive, possibly the same one that Queen Chrysalis had once called home. What had brought him here?

For the first time since waking up, he remembered that he had the ability to SAVE his progress via some unspecified means of time travel. Ordinarily, he’d have done so much earlier, but he still wasn’t exactly in the best of shape after the literal hell he’d been through. As he reached out a finger, the SAVE menu appeared, just as it always did. [RESET] and [QUIT] were still present, glowing white and untouched as they had been since as long as he could remember. He pressed the SAVE button, and it glowed red as the world seemingly righted itself from some impossible-to-describe lurch, settling a moment later. Already, he felt much better, the injuries his body had been complaining about earlier having faded to distant, unhappy bruises. Feeling stronger, Jeremy pressed onward.

As he walked down the cavern, he became aware of a voice up ahead – several voices, actually. He took a moment to listen in.

“-just going to let her go back in there? After what he did to her?”

“It’s not like we have a choice! We can’t just kill him, you know that as much as I do.”

“Couldst we not incapacitate him?”

“No… our magic doesn’t quite work right here.”

Jeremy smiled – it seemed his friends hadn’t abandoned him after all. He peeked around the corner, and there they were.

Nightmare Moon was still as regal as ever, her ethereal, royal blue hair waving in an unseen breeze as stars, constellations and galaxies twinkled in its depths. Her coat of fur was still darker than the darkest shade of black, leaving Jeremy with the usual impression that a void of blackness was present where her body should be. Finally, her icy blue adornments glinted in the green light, the white crescent moon inscribed into the front of her peytral winking as she shifted uncomfortably.

King Sombra, the shortest of the group, had the same gruff expression on he always did, looking as though he were about to tell some war story he’d lived through. His mane and tail, while not quite as regal and outstanding as Nightmare Moon’s, still shifted and wafted through the air, more akin to smoke than Nightmare Moon’s eddying river of hair. His crimson red eyes were staring directly at her, strangely lacking the purple smoke that normally leaked out of them, and Jeremy could see his normally glowing red horn was now just a pale reddish-gray. He was still wearing his royal cape and crown, which Jeremy noticed were in tatters by now.

Lord Tirek, by contrast, was by far the largest of the three present. Standing at nearly nine feet tall, he was currently stooping down to avoid hitting the ceiling. His pinkish-red skin appeared darker in the green light, and the gray of his coat appeared scratched and worn, his fetlocks looking as though they badly needed to be trimmed. His white tail and beard looked partially burnt, though Tirek seemed to be paying this no mind. Finally, the golden triangular amulet that had belonged to his brother was still around Tirek’s neck, attached to the silver neckband he normally wore. Jeremy noticed that the electrum braces Tirek had been wearing had been removed, presumably taken off after they had escaped. His horns were still as big as they had been the last time Jeremy saw him, which probably meant Tirek hadn’t absorbed any more magic since they last talked.

As soon as Jeremy peeked around the corner, Nightmare Moon spotted him and her expression lit up.

“Jeremy! Thou art alive!” she practically squealed, launching herself at him as she hugged him with both hooves and both wings.

“Yeah… somehow…” Jeremy answered, sounding parched.

“Our utmost apologies, but we cannot heal thee. It seems something in this place is affecting our magic,” Nightmare Moon sadly responded, noticing his state of health.

Jeremy looked up at her in concern. “Aren’t you made of magic?” he asked worriedly, wondering if she should be moving away from this place.

Nightmare Moon nodded. “Lord Tirek has been sustaining us, at a slight cost to himself. Thus, he cannot perform any feats of magic either. Sombra is powerless as well.”

Sombra grumbled something, and Jeremy turned to him, scooping him up into a hug. “Glad to see you too, Sombra,” Jeremy teased.

Sombra struggled to get away from the hug, though Jeremy could see the slightest smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. “Okay, enough, let go,” Sombra replied, and Jeremy obediently let him go, Sombra attempting to regain his dignity as he stood up again. Finally, Jeremy turned to Tirek. Tirek appeared wary, but Jeremy simply held out a fist. Tirek bumped it, looking surprised, and Jeremy nodded at him. He knew enough to know that Tirek wasn’t the ‘hugging’ type. Sombra totally was, even if he claimed otherwise.

“So, what’s going on? Where’s Chrysalis?” Jeremy asked, looking around.

Nightmare Moon tugged at her peytral uncomfortably. “She is… well, she was dealing with her King. We are in her old Hive right now, and she managed to regain her position as Queen by convincing him that we were to be sacrificed to feed his power.”

Tirek snorted, and Jeremy turned to him. “As it turns out, that actually would be a quite useful move,” Tirek elaborated. “We are, after all, the most powerful villains in Equestrian history. Hence, Chrysalis managing to regain her title, and her status. Just so you know, we haven’t told anybody you’re here. As far as the King knows, you don’t exist.”

Jeremy sighed, considering this. “The King is the giant changeling we met before, right?” he clarified, looking at Nightmare Moon. She nodded. “Okay… well… I guess I’ll go try to talk to him,” Jeremy muttered.

Nightmare Moon and Sombra immediately objected, lunging forward to stop him, but Tirek grabbed them both and held them back easily. “Let him go,” the centaur ordered them. “If anyone in this world can pull it off, it would be him.”

Nightmare Moon looked uneasy. “But… he is in no fit state to be in combat! At least rest first!” the dream demon pleaded.

Jeremy shook his head. “The longer I wait, the longer you and Chrysalis are in danger.” He made to leave once more, but this time Sombra stopped him.

“Wait! Take this, before you go,” Sombra reminded him, pulling out a familiar, gray heart necklace.

Jeremy glanced at it in surprise, wondering how he had forgotten of its existence so easily. The plastic heart was the size of his fist, and slightly translucent, a hexagonal pattern adorning its surface as it lay in his hand. As he put it on, it began to glow pink, and Jeremy immediately felt much better.

“Be careful, Jeremy,” Nightmare Moon whispered. “Please be careful.”

Jeremy smiled, looking back at her. “I’m always careful,” he answered, and continued onward. As he rounded the corner, heading once again into the unknown, Jeremy smirked.

He hadn’t needed to be careful in a long time now.

Occasionally, a changeling would pass by him, a surprised chittering emitting from their mouth as they stared at the large, gaunt newcomer. Jeremy simply walked onward, a calm expression on his face as he contemplated what he might try in order to show mercy to the King of all changelings.

Finally, a changeling worked up the courage to talk to him. “What are you doing here?” it hissed inquisitively, sounding hushed for some reason.

Jeremy glanced at it curiously, his train of thought interrupted. “I’m going to fix things,” he answered.

More changelings peeked out at this answer, gathering around him. “Are you going to confront the King?” one asked. After a moment of hesitation, Jeremy nodded. The small crowd around him began to whisper to themselves excitedly. “Please help us, sir,” one begged. Jeremy nodded again.

“Tell me,” he began. “What does the King do for you?”

There was a moment of silence.

“…What?” a changeling responded, sounding lost. Jeremy turned to it.

“What does your King do, that you would rather keep him around? Surely, if none of you liked him, you could just kick him out,” he noted.

The changeling forlornly shook its head. “He could crush us in an instant. We are but his servants, to do as he pleases and only as he pleases. We are all linked to the hive mind, our thoughts perusable to all who share the network… including him. With his crown, he can control us, forcing us to do as he wants simply by his power alone. Now that the Queen is back, we can hide our thoughts with her, as only she has enough mental power to shield thoughts from his prying gaze. But… if such a rebellion were ever to become known… he’d kill all of us,” the drone hoarsely whispered.

Jeremy gave it a sympathetic glance, and he noticed that the crowd had become larger, each changeling gazing at the floor sadly as their ears drooped, an occasional short buzz of their wings sounding off their displeasure. He scooped the speaking changeling up in a hug. “It’s okay,” he consoled, the drone looking shocked as he held it close. “I’ll fix it.” The drone looked up at him, its horn narrowly missing his neck.

“With all due respect, sir… I don’t think you can. You might have stood a chance if you had Starlight Glimmer or Thorax here, but the King’s chamber is deep underground, and covered in Hesperite.”

Jeremy raised an eyebrow. “What’s Hesperite?” he asked curiously.

“It’s a mineral we found that blocks all magic except for changeling magic,” another drone explained. “The Queen’s throne used to be made of it, until it was… destroyed.” Jeremy stored this information for later.

“Without any magic… he’ll crush you, just like he crushes any of us who dare to stand up to him,” another drone worried.

Jeremy smiled. “I haven’t used magic for the vast majority of my fights,” he informed them, smiling slightly. “I think I’ll be okay.”

That said, he once more began walking down the corridor, towards what he presumed was the King’s chamber. This seemed vaguely familiar, so he assumed he was going the right way.

As he did, he noticed more and more changelings filing into the corridors behind him, whispering excitedly. The corridor sloped downward, leading deeper into the underground until Jeremy was sure if he stomped his foot hard enough, he’d break through the ceiling to Tartarus. But the corridor continued sloping unrelentingly downward, and he continued moving unrelentingly forward.

It seemed some of the changelings were… directing him, Jeremy decided. Giving him a path to follow. Certain paths were blocked off by waiting changelings, leaving only one way forward, and as soon as he moved past they moved to join the rest of the swarm behind him. Shrugging internally, he allowed himself to be led, wondering if this was the way to the King’s throne room or just a trap. After all, hadn’t those changelings earlier said that they could be mind-controlled at a moment’s notice? Not that it particularly mattered. If he ended up being led down the wrong path, he could always just load his last save file and figure out the correct one.

Finally, to his relief, he came to a familiar, gigantic door. It was made of solid black stone, in contrast to the wrinkled, wispy black material of the cave, and emblazoned with a teal coat of arms featuring a green crown, markedly different from the one Chrysalis sported. Jeremy looked back at the massive crowd of changelings, who stared at him expectantly.

“Alright,” Jeremy muttered, pushing open the door and preparing himself. “Here we go…”

But, to his surprise, no attack came. The room appeared to be empty, save for a massive, shiny black and green rock in the center. Jeremy approached it, curious, and hurriedly backed away as it shifted, expanding outward before contracting back inward as a deep rumbling sound emitted from… somewhere. That’s the King, Jeremy realized, looking at the massive black-and-green lump. Walking around, he discovered that he’d been looking at the King’s gargantuan back, his face and hooves facing away from the door. A tiny crown encircled his horn, green octahedral fluorite gems set into the sides as Jeremy almost comically mistook it for some sort of ring. Jeremy briefly considered what he might do – it appeared the King was asleep, which gave him a chance for a surprise opening move. Hadn’t the changelings back in that other corridor said that the King controlled them with his crown? So, then, the logical solution was to remove the crown, preferably without waking the King up in the process.

Jeremy slowly, carefully walked over, placing a hand on the King’s back. It was hard, and glossy, but there were ridges in it that might provide suitable hand- and foot-holds should he decide to climb. He put more weight on his hand, and the King didn’t stir. He placed a foot onto a nearby ridge, placing nearly all his weight on it. The King shifted slightly, but still did not wake. Resolved, Jeremy began climbing.

It took several tries, and equally many panic attacks as the King shifted in his sleep, but Jeremy eventually managed to clamber to the top of the King’s head. The crown sat before him, the inset gems winking almost ominously, and he reached out a hand towards it. Slowly, gently, he lifted it off, wondering why there was no resistance or magical trap attached to it. Surely the King wasn’t this lazy? Then again, Jeremy did have some kind of strange immunity to certain magics. He jumped off, rolling as he hit the floor, and examined the crown, relieved to find that it was undamaged. That done, he moved back towards the door – he needed this thing out of the way, after all.

To his surprise, Chrysalis was waiting for him just beyond the door. Her double-irised green eyes had several bags under them, and she looked as though she’d been crying. Her teal hair hung limply from her head, and she had several bruises on her chitinous exoskeleton.

“What happened? Are you okay?” Jeremy whispered, looking her over in shock.

“I’m fine,” Chrysalis dismissed. “What are you doing?!” she hissed a moment later, looking at him in anger.

“I’m fixing things,” Jeremy answered, still whispering. “I’m going to talk to the King, try and make him reconsider.”

Chrysalis glared at him. “You think talking will work? On him?” she hissed furiously.

Jeremy raised an eyebrow. “Well, it worked on everyone else,” he pointed out. “Here, hold this.” He handed her the King’s crown, and Chrysalis stared at it in shock. That done, Jeremy turned to face the still-sleeping King, wondering how he might wake the massive changeling up.

“Hey!” Jeremy shouted directly into the King’s ear. “I’d like a word with you!”

One of the King’s massive eyes flew open, a bloodshot green compared to the blue of his brethren. He stared down at the diminutive human in front of him, and his other eye opened, narrowing in confusion. The King glanced back at the door, which was closed, perhaps wondering how the human had even arrived. Finally, he began making a rumbling noise. The entire cavern shook, and it took Jeremy a moment to realize the King was laughing at him.

“You? Would like a word with me? You are not worthy of my time, creature,” the changeling king chortled. He lazily reached out a hoof, and slammed it down onto the space Jeremy had been standing in a moment earlier.

“Yeah, I would!” Jeremy answered enthusiastically, peeking out from behind the hoof. “I’m here to discuss strategies that might help you and your subjects establish a better, healthier and more efficient relationship with each other, for the benefit of the Hive as a whole.”

The King laughed again. “And what if I don’t want a better relationship with my subjects?” he answered. “They’re my slaves. I couldn’t care less what they think!”

The King slammed down two more hooves, and Jeremy dove forward into the opening, tucking and rolling before standing up, mostly unharmed. He was already feeling a massive headache, but he had to keep going. To his surprise, changelings began to pour into the room, encircling him and the King in an odd sort of cage match.

“Kill the monkey,” the King hissed, noticing them.

Some changelings rushed forward, but they were held back by those who were at the front. “Hold fast, changelings! If we die today, we die the servants of our Queen!” one valiantly proclaimed.

The King glared over at it, and its bravado quickly wilted. “The Queen is my slave as well,” the King reminded the rest of the changelings. “Or have you forgotten that I control all of you?!” The King lit his horn, the emerald green lighting up the entire cave, and the changelings cringed away…

Only for nothing to happen.

The King concentrated harder, scrunching up his face as he tried to connect to the hive mind, but it seemed he was having problems. Finally, he stopped. “What… what have you done?” the King whispered, staring at the human.

Jeremy pointed at the top of his head, and the King felt his own horn.

“Where’s my crown… WHERE’S MY CROWN?!” the King roared, changelings scattering back as the giant flailed around in panic.

“So, are you ready to talk now?” Jeremy mildly inquired. The King stopped his frantic search of the space around him to slowly return his glare to the insolent human before him.

“You,” he growled. “I will crush you. I will crush every last changeling who dared stand with you, and I will retake my kingdom by FORCE!” the King howled, a demented grin coming to his face.

“Somehow, I don’t think that will solve your problems,” Jeremy pointed out. “After all, you’ve still got a failing relationship with your Queen, and openly admitted you hate your subjects. If they don’t rebel now, they’ll surely rebel sometime in the future. Maybe tomorrow, maybe a year from now… but your reign has ended as of today,” Jeremy finished. “It’s over, King. Accept it, and maybe you can still find a place in this world.”

The King spat at him. “You think I care about any of that? The only reason the Queen still exists is to gather love, for me, and serve my desires," the King growled, an evil grin coming to his face.

Jeremy stayed silent for a moment.

“What? Nothing to say to that? Good. Maybe you’re beginning to understand just how little I care about your stupid, useless definition of ‘better.’ The only time I will care about making anything better is when it’s better for me,” the King ranted.

Jeremy was still silent. He turned to the other changelings. “Why do you put up with him?” he asked, his voice ringing out across the cavern. “He does nothing for you! He actively makes your lives worse! If he’s so all-powerful from all the love he’s drained over the years, why don’t you just drain it back?”

The changelings fell silent, listening to his words. A single drone, which Jeremy recognized as one of the ones he had spoken to earlier, buzzed her wings, nearby drones turning to look at her. “You’re right… why… don’t we…?” she wondered aloud. She looked at the other changelings. They looked back, eyes narrowing. And it was decided.

To his credit, the King immediately realized what was happening, and backed away warily. “You – you cannot defeat me! I will destroy you!” he bellowed threateningly.

“You can’t take all of us!” the drone from earlier proclaimed, and they rushed forward, surging around Jeremy as they launched themselves at the King.

Jeremy watched in morbid fascination as the King became covered in more and more changelings, each draining as hard as they could.

“No! NO! YOU CAN’T DO THIS! I’M THE K-“ the former King bellowed, but was quickly buried beneath the ever-increasing pile of changelings, his form shrinking as the love was drained out of him.

Finally, the last of the changelings backed away, revealing a drone slightly smaller and thinner than the rest, who was hissing and lunging at any changeling that dared get near him. “This doesn’t mean anything!” he shrieked in a comically high-pitched voice. “This kingdom is still mine! You all still belong to me!” He was distracted from his rant as the door slammed open, the sound reverberating through the chamber as everyone fell silent. Jeremy turned to look at the new party.

Queen Chrysalis strode into the room, changelings bowing and scraping the floor as she passed by. Nightmare Moon, King Sombra, and Lord Tirek followed shortly afterward, making for an imposing flanking squadron. Finally, the four of them were surrounded by a small battalion of changeling guards, who saluted in formation and stood to the side as Chrysalis approached the former King and Jeremy.

“Drone 00087, formerly ‘Spiracle,’ formerly ‘King Cocoonus,’ I name you unfit for the position of King, and strip all titles and positions thereof,” Chrysalis began, her eyes and crown glowing with a green light as the many layers of her voice appeared to become more pronounced. It almost sounded like multiple different versions of her were speaking at once... “You have done irrecoverable damage to our queendom and our subjects, put your needs above the needs of the Hive too many times to count, and forced the Queen and her subjects to invade Canterlot, putting the irreplaceable Hive Queen in danger and our best food source at severe risk, for your own amusement,” she hissed. Cocoonus backed away, hitting the wall and emitting a squeak of surprise.

Queen Chrysalis paused, apparently considering what to say next. “Cocoonus the changeling, under ordinary circumstances we the Hive Queen would have you executed and banished from the hive mind for committing such grievous crimes. But… our latest incarnation pleads otherwise,” she announced to the shock of the crowd present. “Despite everything, despite every punishment you have inflicted on her, she believes… that you can change. That you can learn to be better. Just as we… just as I did,” Chrysalis finished, the glow fading from her eyes as she looked at Cocoonus sadly.

“W-what?” Cocoonus queried, sounding as though he couldn’t quite believe his ears.

Chrysalis stepped closer. “Will you accept my mercy?” she asked softly. “I can help you, Cocoonus. You can be more than an arrogant, abusive King marked as a footnote in the pages of history, if you’ll let me…”

Cocoonus backed away, shaking his head in disbelief. “But I… you… no!” he cried out. “If I can’t have my kingdom, then nobody else can!” With that, he lunged at her, only to be held in her magic as the Queen surveyed him in displeasure.

“Then leave,” she stated. “You are not welcome here.”

Her horn glowed for a moment, and Cocoonus’ body vanished in a bright green light, leaving Jeremy to stare at the spot where he had just been. Queen Chrysalis looked at the Hive, her expression one of utmost sorrow. “I, the Hive Queen, would like to issue… an apology,” she began. More stunned murmuring amongst the drones. “I played along with Cocoonus’ lust for power in an effort to make our lives better. It was a gamble, and I lost… and all of you paid for it.” She looked down at the ground. “And despite my wishes, I cannot change our biology. I cannot suggest you find a new Queen, for I am the only one who can bear the burden of the Hive. So, I will therefore suggest… that perhaps a new King is in order. And I will not be electing this new King. I won’t repeat my mistake. If we are to have a new King, I want him to be the King that you think is best for our queendom, not what I think is best. So… does any changeling have a suggestion?” Queen Chrysalis asked. There was a moment of deliberation, as changelings whispered to themselves.

And, in unison, every single hoof pointed at Jeremy.

“Wait… what?” he queried incredulously. “You want me to be your King?”

The drones closest to him nodded.

“But… why?” he asked. “I don’t know anything about being a King! I don’t know about finance, or government, or-“ he was stopped by a familiar drone making their way forward.

“You knew to protect our Queen,” she announced. “To save her, even from herself. You knew to protect us, and put us first. You know… you know how to love,” she trailed off.

There were general murmurs of agreement from around the throne room.

“But I…” Jeremy trailed off as Chrysalis faced him.

“Please?” she asked, eyes watering. “I have always… cared about you. Even if I didn’t make that clear before… you are very important to me. I… I love you,” she admitted, to gasps from around the chamber. Sombra was elbowing Tirek and smiling, while Tirek looked away, crossing his arms. Nightmare Moon simply looked shocked, her jaw dropping as she stared wide-eyed at the pair of them.

Jeremy blushed and looked away. “…Really?” he asked quietly.

Chrysalis nodded, and stepped forward, nuzzling into his chest. “Will you be my King? You don’t need to be smart, or good at government. We just… we just want someone who c-cares,” she broke down sobbing.

Jeremy looked around at the rest of the changelings, who stared back. He glanced over to Sombra, who gave a motion that suggested “Hug her back, you idiot!” Tirek merely shrugged, as if to say “Your call, kid.” Nightmare Moon didn’t respond. He turned back to Chrysalis, and embraced her in a hug. “If it makes you happy… I’ll give it a shot,” he answered. Chrysalis emitted a squeak, burying herself in his chest. The changelings around them began to cheer, and Jeremy held up a hand to cut them off. “On one condition!” he added, and Chrysalis looked up in shock. The changelings quickly quieted down. “I request that you only tolerate me if you genuinely feel that I am the best King for the job! I don’t want any of you to be hindered by the idea that you have to like me just because I saved you. I… I just don’t like the thought of being respected for past deeds instead of current ones. Okay?” Jeremy asked.

The changelings stayed silent for a moment more, then cheered with such force that Jeremy felt the cavern shake. He blushed and grinned, and Chrysalis nuzzled his neck.

“I don’t think we’ll ever need to worry about that… but if it makes you happy, we’ll remember it,” she answered, Relieved, Jeremy hugged her closer, and smiled softly.

What seemed like several sunlit days later, the two of them broke apart, looking at each other with a newfound light in their eyes. “So, uh… would you like to follow me for a moment?” Chrysalis asked.

“Oh… okay,” Jeremy answered, surprised. She led him away from the crowds, who were already busying themselves with tidying up the throne room after the fight, and away from the rest of his friends, who watched the pair of them go with confused expressions.

She walked through the randomly opening and closing holes with the air of one who’d had plenty of practice, Jeremy following along curiously as he stared at the mare he’d just affirmed to be his lover. Now that he’d actually said it, he realized it was true. He loved her. At first, it was just because she needed love to survive. But now… he loved her sense of humor. Her smile, razor-sharp as it was. The way she looked at him when he complimented her, as though she’d never heard a real compliment before. The way she fought, and the way she cried. Jeremy loved every single part of her, and it had taken a confession in front of thousands of changelings for him to realize it. His necklace glowed slightly, and Chrysalis looked back, surprised.

“Oh! Sorry, just… thinking,” Jeremy answered her unspoken question, startled out of his train of thought.

She smiled, looking back to where they were going, and Jeremy thought he caught a faint blush on her cheeks.

Finally, they came across a cavern Jeremy recognized – it was the same one that he had stumbled into just after waking up.

“So… I just… I wanted you to know, that if you want to be a king, you have to be connected to the hive mind,” Chrysalis informed him, shuddering slightly. “It’s not a pleasant experience. We haven’t had many kings who weren’t changelings before… well, we haven’t had many kings at all. The Hive was always meant to be ruled by the Queen,” she explained. Jeremy nodded. “So, when the first King was anointed to our hive, he cast an enchantment on this crown, to connect any who wear it to the hive mind, so that they may truly be attuned to their subjects. But… Most autonomous beings can't handle being a part of a hive mind, I don't know why. They... they go insane from the process. So… I… I don’t know what to do, Jeremy…” Chrysalis admitted fearfully. “What if you go insane? I can’t…” she pleaded. Jeremy sighed, making a decision in his mind.

“What if I told you… it didn’t matter?” he carefully replied.

“It does matter! You don’t have to do this for me, you can say no, you-“ Chrysalis began, but Jeremy held a finger up, smiling.

“Have you ever wondered… just how I was able to do all of this? To fight all of you, without any magic, or any weapons?” he asked.

Chrysalis slowly nodded. “Are you… some kind of angel?” she asked.

Jeremy shook his head, smiling. “I’m not an angel. I’m just a human. But… I do have one special ability. When I landed in Tartarus, the world… changed me. It gave me the ability to turn any fight scene into… well, into a strange sort of game. There’s a heart, and a bunch of bullets, and… I’m not explaining this well, am I,” Jeremy sighed, looking at her face. “The point is, during the ‘game,’ I can save my progress whenever I choose. Then, if I die, I’ll just go back in time to the last point I ‘saved’ at, and… try again,” Jeremy finished.

Chrysalis thought about this. “That… makes sense, in a weird sort of way. Every time I tried to attack you, you knew where my attacks were… Even though you couldn’t see. So, if you put this on, and go crazy, you can just… travel back in time and not put it on?” she wondered.

Jeremy nodded. “If I don’t have the mental strength to load the save properly… just kill me, that will do it automatically,” he clarified.

Chrysalis swallowed nervously and nodded.

Jeremy took the crown from her grasp, holding it over his head.

“Ready?” Chrysalis asked.

Jeremy breathed shakily. “…Hold me?” he asked.

Chrysalis immediately hugged him tightly. “It’s okay. I’m right here. You’ll be okay,” she mumbled into his sweater.

Jeremy scrunched his eyes shut, and dropped the crown on his head.

Instantly, the world faded out, all his senses shutting down. He was trapped inside his own head, unable to see, feel, hear, smell, or do anything. Immediately he started panicking, and the murmur of background noise inside his head became a roar, drowning out his inner voice as he began to lose himself to the irrational panic. He knew, without being told, that it had gone horribly wrong - that his own fears were actually killing him, and yet he could do nothing to stop it. Outside, he could just barely feel Chrysalis, frantically crying his name as she attempted to break through the turmoil in a futile effort to stop the process. Amidst everything, despite how afraid he was, despite his inability to even think at the moment, Jeremy felt something from her. It was less of a conscious thought and more of a primordial emotion, buried beneath layers of subconscious. It was love, raw and pure and true, and it glowed around him brighter and brighter as his senses returned to him. As he returned to the conscious world, he became aware that both his heart necklace and his crown were glowing, the green gems slowly turning pink as they shone their lights on the cavern wall. The background noise in his head faded away once more, until he found it silent – he had somehow managed to stop thinking unconsciously, to quell his own runaway fears and panic that had nearly killed him with sheer mental force. It was strange, and scary… but he was alive. More than that, he was still sane.

“J… Jeremy?” Chrysalis asked, looking up at him in a teary-eyed mixture of wonder and horror.

“Hey…” Jeremy weakly answered, putting a hand on her head. “I knew I’d be fine.”

She launched herself at him, hugging him tightly and sobbing into his arms as he enthusiastically returned her hug.

So… can I hear everyone’s thoughts now? I don’t hear anything… he tried projecting his thought.

Only the ones you consciously project, my King, a drone spoke up, startling him, and instantly there was a chorus of hundreds of voices agreeing.

Oh… thank you… Jeremy reflexively answered. It was like talking to them – he didn’t have to worry about any unbidden thought rising to the top of his mind, because there weren’t any. Strangely, he felt something from the drone’s end, some vague feeling of… embarrassment. It took him a moment to realize that he was feeling their emotions, and not his own. Are you okay? he asked curiously, trying to project his concerned feelings towards them.

I… sorry, my King. I am not… the old King never thanked us… the drone falteringly answered.

Well, he should have, Jeremy thought back. The drone remained silent, their feeling of embarrassment growing stronger, and Jeremy smiled slightly.

He got to his feet unsteadily, Chrysalis supporting him as best she could.

“Okay… wow, I am lightheaded. I'm going to save my progress, just so I don't have to do that again,” Jeremy chuckled. He pulled out the SAVE menu and pressed the button to SAVE, and Chrysalis emitted a shocked gasp.

“What was that?!” she queried.

“Huh?” Jeremy asked.

“That.. I don't know how to describe it, but I've felt that before! When we were in Tartarus, I thought it was just you using magic or something!”

Jeremy raised an eyebrow. “I just SAVED, like I said. Can you… can you see the menu I open?” he asked, pulling it out again and gesturing to it.

Chrysalis looked hard, but shook her head. “No… but I definitely felt something. So… that’s… that’s real, huh? You can really…?” she wondered.

Jeremy nodded. “I really can,” he affirmed.

Chrysalis swallowed audibly. “So… how many…” she trailed off.

“How many what?” Jeremy asked, as they walked along.

“How many times have I… killed you?” she asked.

Jeremy paused a moment to think. “Uh… you didn't kill me at any point that I remember. Got lucky, honestly."

Chrysalis' eyes watered as her head drooped. “Still... I… I nearly killed you…” she murmured.

“Hey, hey, it’s okay! I understand why you wanted to, and we’re past that!” Jeremy hurriedly reassured her.

Chrysalis scrunched up her face. “It’s not okay! You… you were just trying to help, and I tried to murder you for it! I’m a terrible changeling!” she cried out, sobbing.

Jeremy sighed, and stopped walking, pulling her close for another hug. “Even if you were a bad changeling, which you’re really not, that was in the past. Who you are now is whoever you want to be. And if you want to be a good changeling… well, I say you’re already there.”

Chrysalis remained silent.

“It doesn’t matter to me how many times I die. What matters to me is how happy you are, now that you and I are alive and out of Tartarus.”

Chrysalis still seemed unconvinced.

Jeremy cupped her cheek with one hand, forcing her to look at him. “Please don’t be sad. I love you, don’t be sad,” he whispered.

A fresh set of tear tracks made their way down her face, and without any warning, Chrysalis lunged forward and kissed him, pinning him to the ground as she frantically and passionately slipped her tongue into his mouth. Jeremy wriggled and squirmed for a moment, then gave into the kiss, their tongues dancing around each other as Chrysalis clumsily tried to lick his teeth. Finally, she pulled away, the two of them gasping for breath.

“Sorry… I haven’t had much practice kissing…” Chrysalis admitted, ears splaying back.

“Neither have I,” Jeremy laughed. “It was… intense.” He looked at Chrysalis after a moment.

“Wanna do it again?”

A few hours later, the two of them returned to the main atrium, where Nightmare Moon, King Sombra, and Lord Tirek were waiting amidst a flurry of drones, still tidying the chamber to a spotless polish. Jeremy noted to some surprise that a ‘carpet’ of green, hard and glossy substance was now present, leading up to a new throne that had been placed in the center of the room. Changeling guards stationed along the ‘carpet’ saluted as they passed by, and a team of drones were carrying in a large, framed mural of some sort, made with varying shades of green.

“Wow. That was… a quick redecoration,” Jeremy noted.

Chrysalis giggled uncomfortably. “Yeah… I told them to make the place look nicer while we were out…”

Sombra was the first to chime in, looking up at Jeremy with a raised eyebrow. “What were you two even doing? You’ve been gone for hours, we were getting bored in here!” the shadow king complained.

“Sorry, Sombra,” Jeremy apologized, a guilty grin on his face.

“So, you’ve got a crown, I see,” Tirek noted.

Jeremy nodded. “And I’m now connected to the changeling hive mind… which is still a very weird thought.”

Nightmare Moon perked up at this, startling both Tirek and Sombra as her head whipped around to glare at Chrysalis. “Thou connected an autonomous being to a hive mind?!” she angrily shouted. “That is highly irresponsible! Thou couldst have gotten him killed, he couldst have gone insane, we couldst have lost him! Hath thee no shame?!” she demanded, getting up in Chrysalis’ face.

Changelings hissed and stepped forward from around the throne room, ready to defend their Queen, but Jeremy raised a hand and they stopped as suddenly as though they had hit a wall.

Chrysalis reeled back for a moment, then leaned forward again, refusing to be cowed by Nightmare Moon’s sudden aggression. “I knew it would be fine – that he would be fine! Because… er…” she trailed off, looking at Jeremy.

Please don’t, he mentally messaged her over the hive mind.

“Because… he’s… Jeremy,” Chrysalis lamely finished.

Nightmare Moon growled. “Thou wert lucky, impudent changeling, admit it! His life is not thine to toy with!”

Jeremy decided to step in. “Hey,” he addressed Nightmare Moon. “I know you’re scared of losing me. But I’m fine, and Chrysalis learned her lesson.”

Nightmare Moon shifted her angry gaze over to him, before dropping it to the floor and sighing. “We… we apologize. Thou art correct, there is naught to be angry for. Art we… art we still friends?” she asked, looking at him hopefully.

Jeremy smiled and laughed. “Of course we are,” he answered jovially, throwing an arm around Nightmare Moon’s neck and hugging her.

She smiled back, a relieved expression passing across her face in a fleeting instant before being suppressed. “So… thou art a King now? T’was rather a hasty ascension, if we do say so,” she ribbed.

Jeremy laughed appreciatively. “Unanimous election tends to do that,” he retorted, and the changelings still in the throne room snorted in amusement.

He walked over to his new throne, appraising it. It was as tall as he was standing, and carved of a dark black stone – more Hesperite, Jeremy presumed. Surprisingly, it was padded in what appeared to be green velvet, and he ran a finger over the carved stone appraisingly.

“Are you just going to admire the throne, or actually sit in it?” Sombra quipped.

“Oh, you know me, I just love admiring furniture. Throne-Admirer Extraordinaire, that’s me,” Jeremy retorted, causing Sombra and Chrysalis to snicker. He slowly took a seat on the throne, turning to face the rest of the room as he looked around appraisingly. “Alright… this is nice,” he commented. Chrysalis flew over to sit beside him, as the throne was easily large enough to accommodate the both of them, and he smiled as she leaned into him happily. “Well, I guess I better start doing kingly things. Uh… Homework is now illegal,” Jeremy joked. Sombra burst out laughing, and Tirek hid a smile behind his massive hands. Even Nightmare Moon smirked.

Jeremy looked around, while the laughter quieted down. He nudged Chrysalis, causing her to look up at him curiously.

“What are those?” he asked, pointing at the newly installed series of green murals that lined one side of the chamber.

Chrysalis smiled. “Those are our history,” she explained. “It all started, way back when, in a cave just a short distance from here…”

Jeremy listened intently as Chrysalis told the story of the changelings, everyone in the cavern stopping to listen as well. The changelings had evidently heard all this before, as they nodded at all the right points.

“…And, then… I got captured and sent to Tartarus,” Chrysalis finished, looking down.

Jeremy put a comforting arm around her again, rubbing her side. “And then, I came along,” he added, smiling at her. Chrysalis hesitated for a moment, then smiled back.

“So, uh… anyone else want to tell their stories?” Jeremy asked. Nightmare Moon looked away, while Sombra took on a hesitant expression and Tirek stubbornly shook his head. Jeremy rolled his eyes. “Okay, I’ll tell mine first, how about that?” he offered, and they perked up.

“But didst thee not lose thine memory?” Nightmare Moon pointed out.

Jeremy shrugged. “When I woke up earlier… I remembered everything. It was a little strange, but… I can finally remember my past life.”

Sombra leaned forward in interest. “Okay, so what was your life like?” he asked. Jeremy smiled, and began to tell his story.

“…And that brings us to now,” he finished.

Nightmare Moon looked at him in fascination. “Thou art an alien… from another planet? Verily, that is fascinating!” she gushed, looking over him in a new light.

Jeremy blushed, and looked away. “It’s not that interesting,” he muttered.

“What did you and your friend bond over?” Tirek asked.

Jeremy raised an eyebrow. “What?” he asked.

“You said that when you first met your best friend Sam, you two bonded over something very important. What was it?” Tirek asked.

Jeremy tugged at his sweater uncomfortably – he and Sam had bonded over the Friendship is Magic show… but was he allowed to say that? Would whatever gods existed on this world strike him down for revealing that it was, ultimately, nothing more than a children’s tale?

“Uh…” he trailed off. “Nothing important, you know. A TV show, some games we played together, you know how it is,” he tried, laughing uncertainly.

Tirek crossed his arms. “…You’re hiding something from us,” he observed.

Sombra looked shrewdly at him. “Why hide something like that? Unless you two bonded over your conquests of local mares, or something,” he wondered.

Jeremy snickered at that absolutely ludicrous thought. “W-what? No, we didn’t bond over anything like that-“ he stopped, realizing that he was about to give away the secret. Tirek was looking at him expectantly, and Jeremy sighed. “Okay, I’ll tell you. But first… Could everyone else please leave?” he asked, addressing the other changelings in the room. “This is supposed to be private.” Immediately, they fled the room, one changeling stopping a moment to pick up an errant scrub brush before hurriedly rejoining the others.

“Okay, now can you tell us?” Tirek pressed.

Jeremy sighed, turning to Chrysalis. “Can you… do something to make sure my thoughts aren’t overheard as well?” he asked.

Chrysalis splayed her ears back. “Don’t you… trust us?” she asked quietly.

Jeremy immediately looked guilty. “I do! It’s just… this information might really mess with their heads, and I don’t want them going through that kind of suffering,” he answered worriedly.

Chrysalis gazed into his eyes a moment longer, and made her choice. Her crown lit up green, and she sighed. “Okay, it’s done. Nobody but us five can hear anything we say.”

Jeremy nodded, turning back to the rest. “Okay… I’m ready.”

“Your world is a story. It’s called “My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic,” and it’s about the adventures of a mare named Twilight Sparkle and her friends, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and Applejack, and how they became the defenders of Equestria. Later in the story, Starlight Glimmer joins the party, and the seven of them are mentored and watched over by Princess Celestia and Princess Luna as they defeat some of Equestria’s worst threats in history. First Nightmare Moon, then Discord, then Queen Chrysalis, then King Sombra, Lord Tirek, Starlight Glimmer herself, and lastly Chrysalis again. I haven’t seen any of the show past that, because it wasn’t released yet,” Jeremy recounted.

Chrysalis looked at him strangely. “So… how much… do you know about us?” she asked hesitantly.

Jeremy looked away. “Too much. I didn’t want to say any of this, because now that I think about it, it’s really creepy how much I know about the four of you. And let’s not even get started on the fact that we’re currently technically fictional characters, because that raises so many philosophical questions that I don’t know where to start,” Jeremy finished.

Tirek appeared deep in thought, while Nightmare Moon looked horrified.

“Our entire stories art known to thy world?” she clarified.

Jeremy nodded. “Every dramatic scene, at least. The intricacies get rather lost on a show meant for children.”

Sombra snorted. “So, every time Sparkle won, every time she pulled a victory out of her flank at the last possible moment… was for the sake of drama. Of course it was!” he shouted furiously, stomping a hoof on the ground. “Goddesses forbid we be portrayed as anything but evil, one-dimensional villains with no conscience, after all!”

Jeremy chuckled halfheartedly. “Yeah… this is why I didn’t want the changelings to know,” he explained to Chrysalis. “I can only imagine what they might think, being portrayed as little more than cannon fodder to your climactic final battle.”

Chrysalis nodded, smiling slightly. “Well… I suppose that’s valid reasoning,” she admitted. “Still, do you think you were ever on the show? Now that you’ve met all of us?”

Jeremy shook his head. “Probably not. It’s really rare that an episode doesn’t focus on Twilight or one of her friends, and she was nowhere near us until the very end. Maybe I made a very short appearance, as did the rest of you, but I don’t think they saw anything before that.”

Sombra snorted angrily. “So not only do we only get written in if Sparkle’s around, nobody even gets to see our redemptions? What was the point, then?” he wondered furiously.

Jeremy looked sharply over at him. “It doesn’t matter if you’re redeemed to some faceless viewers a world away. What matters is that we know that you’re redeemed. And, if we’re careful enough about it, we might even get to show how much better you’ve gotten on camera too,” Jeremy posited.

Tirek grumbled something under his breath. “So, there is no winning against Twilight Sparkle. She’s invincible because she’s the protagonist,” he noted.

“Yep,” Jeremy responded glumly.

Tirek sighed. “Of course,” he muttered.

“So… who was the best villain? The most liked… or the most hated, I suppose,” Sombra wondered.

Jeremy grinned. “Unfortunately, it was Discord. By a landslide. I think he might just be the most popular villain in modern television,” Jeremy wondered.

There was a poof of pink smoke, and the draconequus himself appeared on the scene, posed dramatically. “Oh, my! What a gracious nomination! I’ll be happy to accept, thank you,” the lord of chaos answered, holding up a golden trophy with “#1 Best Villain” inscribed into the side of it.

Jeremy doubled over snickering. “You’re definitely worthy of it, Discord,” he replied, getting over his initial shock.

Discord swooned, falling over onto a fainting couch that looked suspiciously like one of Rarity’s. “My goodness! Of the five options you had to pick, must you always pick [FLIRT]?”

That shut Jeremy up, as he stared at the lord of Chaos, mouth agape. “How… wha…” he stammered.

Discord reached out an impossibly long arm, gently closing his mouth for him before the arm zoomed backward into his body until it reached normal size. “You really didn’t think I was aware of what was going on?” Discord chuckled. “I’m Discord! Tartarus is one of my favorite places to roam!” Confetti and smoke blasted through the air, and the lord of chaos did a loop-de-loop for effect.

“So… is there any other reason you’re here?” Tirek wondered grumpily.

Discord abruptly stopped celebrating, the smoke vanishing and the confetti falling to the floor far faster than it should have. “Oh, right. I forgot you were mixed up in this whole thing as well,” Discord grumbled, glaring at him.

Tirek clenched his hands into fists, and Jeremy put a quelling hand on Tirek’s shoulder.

“Hey. There’s no need to fight,” Jeremy reminded him.

Tirek grumbled, but said nothing, and after a moment unclenched his fists. “Discord… I am sorry I betrayed you. I did so because I assumed you would betray me first, which seemed like a perfectly logical thing to assume at the time, and… and…” Tirek trailed off.

“I’m the Lord of Chaos! Rationality isn’t exactly my strong suit! I… I would have stayed…” Discord trailed off as well, looking away.

There was a moment of awkward silence. “…So, you knew what was going on in Tartarus?” Tirek asked quietly.

Discord remained silent. “…I did,” he admitted after a moment. “I didn’t do anything because…”

Tirek held up a hand. “Right, right. I… I understand.”

Another moment of awkward silence, as Sombra coughed from off to the side.

“Shouldn’t… um… shouldn’t you be unable to use magic here? Because of all the Hesperite?” Chrysalis spoke up.

Discord glared over at her. “No trick works twice on a being of Chaos,” he answered sternly. “Oh, and that reminds me…” he teleported away, reappearing an inch from Chrysalis’ face.

“If you ever hurt my little Fluttershy again, I will make Tartarus look like a stroll in the park compared to the tortures I’ll have in store for you,” he growled.

Chrysalis shrunk back in fear. “Right! Yes! I won’t do it again!” she squeaked, as Jeremy glared at Discord.

Discord leered at her, not even bothering to acknowledge Jeremy. “Good!” he announced, returning to his usual flamboyant self. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ll just be…” he trailed off, lost in thought.

“…Going?” Nightmare Moon prompted after a moment.

“Hold on, hold on. There was a reason I came. Now, what was it…” Discord muttered, pulling out various objects from nowhere and tossing them behind him. “Ah! Here it is!” the draconequus announced brightly, pulling out a scroll stamped with a wax seal in the shape of the sun. He plucked the seal off easily, tossing it in his mouth and chewing on it as he unraveled the scroll. “Mm, raspberry, Celestia knows that’s my favorite. Anyway, you’ve been summoned to appear before Her Royal Majesty, Princess Celestia, blah blah blah friendship, blah blah blah human, et cetera, et cetera,” Discord finished, rolling up the scroll and burning it with a snap of his paw. “Any questions?”

Jeremy raised his hand. “Yeah… what?” he inquired, and Discord snorted.

“Celestia wants you to add to her growing human collection, so she’s coming over here to see if you’re a good enough quality human. Oh, and to check out all these ‘villains,’ because she’s worried about them all being in the same place. Ah, and she’s bringing Miss High-and-Mighty Princess Goddess Main-Character Overpowered Alicorn OC (do not steal) Sparkle,” Discord finished.

“Okay, but why? I don’t seriously believe Celestia has a ‘human collection,’” Jeremy pointed out.

“Believe it!” Discord answered, doing a pose reminiscent of a certain anime. “She’s got six so far, and she just needs one more human soul to break the… er, never mind, that’s already broken. She’ll be coming over here in a week, so… ta, ta!” Discord finished, disappearing in a puff of smoke.

The five of them coughed for a moment, and as Tirek and Jeremy looked worriedly at one another, Jeremy’s stomach suddenly decided to remind him that he hadn’t eaten anything for quite a while.

“Oh… right. Uh…” Jeremy trailed off.

“Don’t worry, I can get you some food. We stored quite a lot back when… we had to feed ponies,” Chrysalis explained, getting up off of his lap. Jeremy nodded sadly as he realized the implications of that.

Chrysalis led them through another series of randomly opening portals, heading farther to the right of the hive than Jeremy had ever gone before. Finally, one last portal opened in front of her, and Jeremy beheld the sight of what appeared to be hundreds of pounds of fruit and vegetables, unspoiled and clean despite clearly having been kept for quite a while.

“They’re under a preservation spell as long as they’re in this cavern,” Chrysalis explained.

“That’s a lot of food…” Jeremy noted, salivating.

“We didn’t know how much ponies needed, so… we just gave them as much food as they asked for,” Chrysalis replied.

A few minutes later, four of them were happily munching on various fruits and vegetables. Jeremy went for a pile of pears with enthusiasm, while Nightmare Moon seemed to prefer apples. Sombra, after looking around for a long while, shrugged and tried the apples as well, while Tirek simply grabbed a handful of carrots and stuffed them into his mouth.

“Manners, Tirek,” Nightmare Moon chided.

“I haven’t eaten since I was imprisoned, and unlike you, I’m actually mortal,” Tirek shot back, stuffing an entire head of cabbage into his mouth before swallowing mightily.

“You’re mortal?” Sombra queried incredulously. “You’ve been down there for longer than the rest of us put together!”

Tirek sighed. “I extended my life with some… spells,” he answered.

Chrysalis, who had been laying her head on Jeremy’s lap as he ate, looked up. “Are these the same spells that allow you to steal magic?” she dryly commented.

Tirek looked away. “…Maybe,” he muttered. Chrysalis hummed, but said nothing more, going back to resting on Jeremy’s lap.

“So, now that Discord’s gone, would anyone else like to tell their story?” Jeremy asked, once the four of them had finished eating.

Tirek sighed. “I suppose I can tell you some things. Don’t expect any drama,” he warned.

Jeremy chuckled in amusement, leaning back against the wall as a tale of two brothers, Prince Tirek and Prince Scorpan, was told.

“So… you haven’t seen your brother for a thousand years? That’s… that’s so sad…” murmured Jeremy.

Tirek lowered his eyes. “He is surely dead. We are mortal creatures, and Sendak the Elder and I are likely the last of our kind by now, if only because we cheated fate.”

Nightmare Moon sighed. “I know what it is like to lose a sibling to a thousand years of banishment. But… at least Celestia was still alive when I came back…” she trailed off quietly. Sombra remained silent.

“What was Scorpan like?” Jeremy asked, after a moment.

“He was… well, he was a lot like you,” Tirek answered, gazing off into the distance. “He was always trying to learn some thing or another, though he wasn’t as interested as I was in dark magic. He was very quiet, and very kind. Everyone loved him… whereas I was known as the gruff, rowdy older brother to Prince Scorpan.” Tirek sighed. “I suppose that’s why I chose to follow you. Maybe this time, it will be different,” Tirek whispered to himself.

Jeremy put a comforting hand on Tirek’s shoulder. “It will be,” he promised. “I’ll make sure you never go through that again.”

Tirek cracked a smile at some unknown joke, and Jeremy returned to his spot by the cavern wall.

“Anyone else?” Tirek prompted.

“I’ll go,” Sombra muttered. Jeremy already knew this story, so he elected to zone out for the most part, responding with an occasional “oh, yeah” or “wow, really?” as Sombra told the tale of his dismal childhood. Nightmare Moon, meanwhile, was staring at Sombra with utmost sorrow, tears threatening to spill from her eyes every time Sombra mentioned his father smacking him with an iron hammer.

“Why didst thee not run? Surely somepony else wouldst have taken thee in,” she asked the shadow king.

Sombra sighed. “He was too well-known. The son of an upper noble in Princess Amor’s court? I’d be found and returned instantly, and it would create a scandal for my father, and he would punish me all the more severely. So, I learned to keep my mouth shut.”

Jeremy looked at him sympathetically. “Well… at least you won’t have to deal with him again,” he tried, unsure of what else to say.

Sombra sighed again. “Yep. One of the perks of being a thousand years old, I guess.”

Jeremy raised an eyebrow, smiling. “Speaking of which, what is with all of you and being around exactly a thousand years ago? Was that just the greatest villain party of all time, or what?”

Sombra, taken by surprise, snorted with laughter. “It was certainly a climactic time in Equestrian history. The country was barely established, weak, and prone to invasion – we four are the few who managed to get captured.”

Chrysalis scoffed. “I don’t know about the rest of you, but I am certainly not a thousand years old. I barely celebrated my twentieth birthday a few moons ago,” she informed the lot of them.

“To be fair, I’m only a thousand years old because I put the entire Crystal Kingdom and myself into magical stasis. I’m actually around thirty, not counting those years,” Sombra spoke up.

Jeremy looked at him in surprise. “Wow. You, uh… wow. That’s really strange to hear,” Jeremy pondered.

Sombra rolled his eyes. “Yes, I know, I look and sound like I'm at least fifty. I get that a lot."

The five of them chuckled, and Jeremy looked over at Nightmare Moon. “You’re the last one. Anything you want to share?” he invited.

Nightmare Moon blushed, and looked away. “Honestly, most of our story hath been written into the tale of the Mare in the Moon, which... we assume all of thou art aware of by now. There is naught much more to add, but that we were envious of our sister and attempted to banish her in order to take Equestria for our own self. Failing that, we were banished to the Moon for a thousand years, escaped, tried again, failed… and this time, the part of us that survived the wrath of the Elements of Harmony imprisoned the part that didst not. It is… a most curious separation, we admit,” Nightmare Moon noted.

“So… what’s the difference between Princess Luna and you?” Chrysalis asked.

“We are linked by a strange magical bond. Whatever she hates most about herself, becomes incorporated into mine self. For example, we didst not always speak like this. But, it seems that Princess Luna hath grown to hate her old method of speaking, and…” Nightmare Moon trailed off.

“Maybe there’s some way to fix that?” Jeremy mused.

Nightmare Moon sighed. “Perhaps. We art not hopeful.”

With nothing else to say, the five of them agreed to go to bed, and Chrysalis led Jeremy to a new room, towards the top of the Hive. It was small, and homely, decked out with a well-made green bed and a simple nightstand, a magical lamp providing some illumination to the small, hollowed-out cavern.

“This is my room,” Chrysalis introduced, looking around in satisfaction as she took off her crown, placing it on the nightstand. “Though… I haven’t spent time here in a long while.”

Jeremy followed suit, placing his much larger crown around hers in a neat concentric fashion as he looked around appreciatively. “I like it,” he commented, smiling. “Very cozy.”

Chrysalis smiled at him. “Would you like to rest with me?” she asked. “I mean, because normally lovers rest together, and if you’re comfortable with that, then I would want to try – whoa!” she cut off as Jeremy picked her up, dumping her on the bed.

“I would love to rest with you,” he answered, stripping his sweater and pants off.

“Oh! I, um, I-“ Chrysalis noticed, cringing away from his newly less-clothed form as Jeremy looked over in concern.

“What’s wrong?” he asked.

“I meant… you know, actually sleeping…” she mumbled.

“Yeah? So did I,” Jeremy answered, confused.

“Oh… I thought… never mind,” Chrysalis trailed off, embarrassed.

“I can’t wear all my clothes in a bed, I’d get way too hot if I tried,” Jeremy explained.

“That makes sense… um… you know what I was… referring to, right?” Chrysalis tried.

“Yeah, why?” Jeremy answered, sitting on the bed next to her.

“I just… just so you know… I don’t think I’m comfortable with it yet. After he… I-I…” Chrysalis stuttered, and Jeremy hugged her closely.

“Don’t worry about it,” he soothed, stroking her hair. “I would never, ever do anything without your permission. I’ll wait until you’re ready, and not a moment sooner,” he whispered.

Chrysalis nuzzled into his t-shirt, smiling slightly. “…Thank you,” she whispered back.

They buried themselves under the thick covers, Chrysalis rolling over to hug Jeremy after a moment. He stiffened in surprise, but quickly hugged her back, comforted by a full stomach, the warmth of his lover next to him, and the knowledge that he was not alone in this world.

 

Comments

[ShadedTz]

D'aww that was adorable!! But also kinda sad... I hope the situation with Celestia works out....

[Hein des Nisseroi]

A new reset?

[Fireeaters]

Thus returns Captain Loveman; sew-er of good, farmer of happiness!

[Azelze The Mephistocorn]

I hope he ends up with Chrysalis AND Nightmare. That'd be adorable

[Razzy]

D'awwww~ Nice rewrite.

Aww, I was hoping Chryssie was immortal too.

Go away, Discord, you douchenozzle.

Hmmm, it could very well be just an echo between worlds, not really that the world is a show.

[SirAnonymouse]

im just waiting for all the reloads against deathlestia