45 - Reunited
The Next Morning, Fort Harmony
“Come on, wake up,” a male voice demanded, lightly kicking Rarity to ensure that she did.
Rarity groaned in futile resistance, her eyes blinking open to examine the world in which she had found herself. She was located in a rather drab and unsightly tent, lying on what she didn’t think deserved the title of a mattress with the bedhead to end all bedheads.
In any other situation it would have been the worst possible scenario, especially with her mess of a mane. But nothing about it could trump the destruction she had seen the previous day, and she doubted anything ever would.
The soldier who had woken her had already moved on, waking up the plenitude of other displaced refugees in the tent. She arose from her uncomfortably thin mattress and lit up her horn in an attempt to do something, anything, with her mane. It failed, much to her immense irritation.
With a defeated sigh, Rarity exited the tent and stepped out into the early morning daylight. The sun was barely poking above the horizon, and yet the EUP of Fort Harmony were already running drills and swapping the night guard with the day guard. Mere metres away from the refugee camp established within the Fort’s grounds a group of EUP ponies, all with crossbows draped across their backs, were being briefed by their leader.
“The city of Las Pegasus in now changeling free, our boys have pushed the bugs out of our turf!” the stallion in question announced, eliciting cheers from his team. “But changeling survivors have drifted south and are now causing a nuisance for our outlying towns. It’s nothing the soldiers there can’t handle, but the higher ups want somepony to go in and hunt these things down before they cause any more trouble.”
“That’d be us, right Boss?”
“Damn right,” was the response. “We’re to go in, pick them off before they know what hit them, and get out again. It’s so simple that even you jokers couldn’t mess it up!”
“Um, excuse me?” Rarity interrupted the rousing speech the stallion was giving. “Sorry to interrupt your… morning exercises, but could you tell me the time?”
The soldier nodded. “It’s no trouble, Ms Rarity. It’s five in the morning, just gone.”
“Ugh, why so early…” Rarity moaned.
“You’re moving out soon, some of our guys are taking you and the others up to Canterlot.”
“Canterlot, that’s a city I cannot wait to see…” Rarity muttered. “Wait, you know my name?”
“My daughter’s a fan of your fashion designs,” the solider stated. “On top of that, you’re being considered a high priority asset by the higher ups, if somepony fails to get you to Canterlot alive and lives… well, they’ll wish they hadn’t.”
“I’ll endeavour to live then,” Rarity deadpanned. “And what do you mean by ‘asset’?”
“You’re an Element Bearer right?” he pointed out. “It’s not like I’ve lived under a rock, I know what you and your team have done.”
“Replace the word ‘team’ with ‘friends’, and you got that right,” she dryly responded, really not in a good mood.
“Not a morning pony are you, ma’am?”
“I just watched an entire city crumble like one of my less inspired designs, I’m not in the best of mood,” Rarity stated. “It has been a bad day, darling.”
“I suppose I can’t blame you there,” he conceded. “In that case, I may have something to brighten things up a little.”
“Oh?”
“Me and my team are known as ‘The Longshots’, named after some hero who died years back,” he explained. “We perform a mixture of scouting duties and, when it’s necessary, we are sent to quietly take out whoever we’re sent to take out. I’m sure you overheard our latest orders.”
“I did. It brightens my day… how?”
“Today we’re taking somepony out. Yesterday, it was scouting,” he continued. “And while doing that, we reported back survivors coming out of Ponyville. Your group will be picking them up on the way to Canterlot. On top of that, I believe your friends were among those survivors.”
“They were?” Rarity asked. “Well, that is good news! Were they- wait, survivors? What happened to Ponyville!?”
At that point the stallion realised he had not brightened her day, but had in fact made it all the worse.
Canterlot
Luna walked through the royal wing of Canterlot Castle, the bed chambers of her elder sister being the blue alicorn’s destination. The Princess of the Sun should have already risen to begin her early morning duties, of which there were countless in such a time of war. However, she had failed to turn up to any of them, and thus with a frown on her face the Princess of the Moon had to go and collect her tardy sister and discover what the hold-up was.
She was way too tired for any of it.
So in that regard, she stormed up to the sizable bedroom doors with the sun emblazoned onto them, bypassed the guards with not so much as a nod and nearly kicked the doors open.
“Mind explaining why I had to double my workload this morning, dearest sister?” Luna asked in frustration, though she came to a stop when she saw her sister stretched out across her bed with a letter held in her magic. Also with her on the bed was a large chest filled to the brim with even more letters, each one lovingly preserved.
“Being a good friend means being able to keep a secret, but you should never be afraid to share your true feelings with a good friend,” Celestia read off of the page. “I do like that one, especially when you take her changeling nature into account. Then again, I like them all.”
“Are those… Twilight’s friendship reports?”
“This one here is about you,” Celestia continued, picking up another letter from the chest. “When you first sent me to Ponyville, I didn't know anything about friendship. I met somepony tonight who was having the same problem - your sister, Princess Luna! She taught me that one of the best things you can do with friendship is to give it to others, and help them find it themselves! And I'm happy to report that all of Ponyville has learned that even though somepony seems a little intimidating, even scary, when you offer them your friendship, you'll discover a whole new pony underneath. And even if my Star Swirl the Bearded costume didn't go over, this still turned out to be the best Nightmare Night ever!”
“Yes, I do recall that,” Luna noted, shutting the door behind her far more gently that she had opening it. “She was the only one to give me a chance, and to see past my greatest mistake.”
“Indeed,” she replied, then moving to read another. “From now on, I'm going to solve problems as they come, and stop worrying about every little thing!”
“Which situation lead to that lesson.”
“It’s a rather long story involving a predestination paradox,” Celestia stated with a chuckle. “I do recall catching Twilight breaking into the royal library, even though she already had access as my student. It wasn’t the first time.”
Celestia looked down on the letter, her smile falling away a few inches.
“This… was also one of the last she sent me before the wedding,” she muttered gently. “It’s been ten years, and I never received another one since her reveal. I always loved getting them, every single one. It showed her growth as a person, and also let me feel like she was right beside me even when she was in Ponyville.”
“And now it allows you to feel like that, even though she’s… a very long way away,” Luna stated in understanding. “Yes, I can understand that.”
“I made sure to preserve each one, not even a crease on a single page,” Celestia continued on. “And I intend to keep them that way, for all of time if I can. Each one is invaluable to me, each one is a part of her.”
Luna sighed. “Sister, have you even slept?”
Celestia looked up at Luna and blinked. “Hm? What time is it?”
“Nearly six in the morning.”
A flash of guilt appeared on Celestia’s face. “I’m sorry, Luna. I was distracted.”
“I realise that, luckily I was there to raise the sun when it was required,” Luna said firmly. “Equestria needs you, Tia.”
“I know,” Celestia responded, carefully returning all of the friendship reports to their place in the chest before sliding it back under her bed. “After this, care to join me for breakfast?”
“Gladly, I’ve yet to eat,” Luna agreed.
Celestia arranged her bed and opened up the curtains, then proceeding to place on her regalia and ensure her image was as pristine as always. After all was said and done, instead of leaving the room she turned to face Luna gain with a rather grim look on her features.
“Luna, do you know why I spent all night reading those letters?”
Luna tilted her head. “To connect with Twilight, we just talked about it.”
“Yes, but it goes deeper,” Celestia explained. “She was at the head of the swarm that destroyed Manehatten. My daughter killed all those ponies, even if she isn’t truly at fault. I HAD to remind myself just who she is beneath the Empress, the Twilight I know and love rather than this… thing she’s been turned into.”
“A weapon would be a precise word for it,” Luna suggested. “And as long as things remain as they are, that will not change.”
“I know,” Celestia responded a little darkly. “Yesterday, in the throne room, we discussed the Empress. We do know she is not leading her forces in this war, not on the front line at least.”
Luna nodded. “Yes, that has become apparent. What of it?”
“The EUP cannot defeat the changeling swarm, not one of this size,” Celestia pointed out. “Engagements like the ones at Vanhoover and Las Pegasus can be won, but when the might of all the Changeling Queens are brought forth…”
“Each one has an alicorn’s worth of magical power,” Luna finished. “Eighteen queens, and two princesses. Essentially twenty versions of you or I let loose on the innocent, and with a large army to back them up.”
“Twenty one if you include the Empress,” Celestia added. “And it’s all the Empress. As long as her hive mind exists… well, they are all a part of her. She is the head of the snake.”
“And you cut the head off of a snake,” Luna concluded. “You agree that it’s time to strike at the heart of the invasion?”
“I do,” Celestia said with a nod of confirmation. “We know where she will be, the Council Hive. Twilight never let me in on its exact location, just its general vicinity, but we have Carduus to help with that.”
“I’ll have him mark a map,” Luna replied. “But should we march an army up there, we may never reach it; I can say with the utmost certainty that the swarm will take notice.”
“We won’t take an army,” Celestia proclaimed. “The Changeling Queens are all here. The swarm is here. You and me, little sister, that’s all it will take. We’ll confront this Empress and stop her from spilling any more pony or changeling blood.”
“What of Cadance?”
“Somepony needs to keep an eye on things, and rule in our stead should we not return,” Celestia noted grimly. “No, she should stay here. The two of us can make our way up to the hive without the swarm taking notice.”
“We would have to be extremely careful to do so,” Luna stated. “She could have eyes as everyone, as anything.”
“We must try,” Celestia responded.
“I agree. But not yet, we do have some preparation to do first,” Luna pointed out. “We should keep as few others in the know as possible to minimise a leak of our plans. We do need to have Carduus show us the way, and prepare Cadance for taking on all of our responsibilities in our absence.”
“And we may need a cover story,” Celestia added in. “Visiting our ponies to uplift morale, or retreating to the archives to research new techniques to win the war.”
“We can arrange something like that,” Luna agreed. “But for now, breakfast?”
Celestia smiled. “That would be a good place to start, yes.”
The road to Canterlot was a tiring one, especially when you were carrying the injured along with you. All the refugees from Ponyville, however, pressed on with a purpose. At their head was a group of four mares and one dragon, ensuring that those who followed them kept moving on forward and did not fall behind. Nerves were frayed, morale was non-existent, and yet they continued on to the distant city on the mountainside.
“It shouldn’t be too much longer folks,” Applejack shouted back to the others. “Just keep on pressing, you hear?”
“They hear you,” Rainbow Dash replied. “They always hear you.”
Fluttershy was looking around expectantly, as she had done since she left the ruined town.
“They’re not coming, Flutters,” Rainbow Dash stated. “Give it up.”
“You never know, some of my animal friends could come along.”
“You said you told them to run when it all began, they’ll have gone their own way.”
“She’s right sugarcube, they’re fine,” Applejack agreed. “What we got to worry about are the ponies behind us.”
“And donkeys,” Pinkie Pie added in. “Can’t forget them.”
“Speaking of, I sure hope Zecora is alright,” Fluttershy stated.
“I didn’t see any go into the forest,” Applejack noted. “I imagine it’d be too much hassle just to get to one zebra. The Everfree Forest is a dangerous place, even to changelings I’d wager.”
Rainbow nodded. “AJ’s right, no way they’d go in unless it was for something worthwhile.”
“Yeah, I don’t think the Empress thinks in the small scale anyway,” Spike remarked, eyes remaining pinned on the road ahead. “Can’t wield ancient artefacts or move the sun and moon? You’re not worth her attention.”
“I’d say that’s a good thing, Spike.”
“Never said it wasn’t.”
“Hang on guys, you hear that?” Pinkie asked, one of her ears standing up as she listened out for something. “…Remember our talk about helicopters on the train?”
Applejack gave her a deadpan look. “Sugarcube, that was ten years ago.”
“Yup, and you’re still so uncultured.”
On cue, several of those aforementioned helicopters passed overhead, the gusts caused by their blades sending loose foliage scattering all over the landscape. Several more passed overhead as the group came to a complete halt, staring up at the sight. Those transports headed straight on past them in the direction of Canterlot, but the first ones had instead looped around and come in to land a short way in front of the survivors.
Pinkie Pie bounced in place, giving Applejack a stupidly wide grin. “Told you!”
Applejack ignored the pink party pony, instead turning to Spike. “That’s the EUP, right?”
“I think so,” Spike responded hopefully. “We should have them all stay back here while we check it out.”
The farmer nodded. “Agreed.”
After relaying their instruction to the people of Ponyville, the five ran on forwards towards the landed transports just as the EUP began to disembark. As they approached, the EUP in question held out a hoof to stop them.
“Halt!”
The five ground to a halt as ordered, Spike stepping forward to speak. “Solider, I’m Spike of the Equestrian Hive. These ponies with me are the bearers of the Element of Harmony, and those further back are all survivors of Ponyville’s destruction.”
“I appreciate that sir, but we have to verify all of you are who you say you are.”
Spike nodded. “Ah. Changelings. Right.”
As that was going on, an alabaster mare jumped down from one of the transports and pushed her way past the EUP. When she made it to the group, all of their eyes widened in surprise.
“Rarity!?” they all spoke at once.
“Hello girls,” Rarity greeted back with a weary smile. “Sorry I haven’t been around as of late, things got… complicated in Manehatten.”
“I’ll say, you look terrible!” Rainbow Dash blurted out. “Your mane is all messed up, you never let that happen!”
“Shut up Rainbow,” Applejack silenced the pegasus. “Rarity, what happened to you?”
“Same thing that happened to Ponyville,” she explained. “But… what of Sweetie Belle? And my parents?”
“She’s fine,” Fluttershy assured, stepping forwards and resting a hoof on her friends’ shoulder. “She is with Scootaloo and Apple Bloom, they are all with the others behind us. Your parents too.”
“Oh, that’s a weight off of my chest…” Rarity breathed a sigh of relief, before turning to Spike with a few tears in the corners of her eyes. “But Spike, I… lost Soronis and Puellula.”
Spike’s heart clenched. “What do you mean you ‘lost’ them?”
“…I saw Twilight. She took them made them like the others. But Soronis… she saved me.”
“Twilight… Yeah, I saw her too. She tried to kill me.”
Rarity gasped. “Oh Spikey, I’m so sorry…”
“Don’t be. We’re together again, that’s what matters.”
“Well of course!” Pinkie Pie shouted, grabbing all of her friends into one big group hug. “As long as we’re together, we can’t be beaten! And it’s about time too, it’s almost like this is our first meeting this time around.”
“Well, we still haven’t got Twilight…” Fluttershy reluctantly pointed out as she was released from the group hug.
“Not yet,” Pinkie replied. “But we will. We have to.”
“She’s right,” Applejack agreed. “She’s still our friend, all of this business ain’t her fault.”
Spike sighed, looking off into the general direction of Manehatten. “I sure hope so.”
“If you’re quite finished,” the EUP soldier from before spoke up again. “We’ll begin to load of the refugees, including you people, and examine you for infiltration as we go. Should our birds be filled up before everypony is aboard, we’ll leave some EUP behind to safeguard them and return for them after dropping the first wave off, understood?”
Spike nodded. “We got it.”
Rarity smiled, this time a little brighter. “I’m just relieved to be back with you all. Maybe now things might just get a little better…”
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So much sh
has hit the fan, that the fan broke. We're using a hurricane-sized fan now... and that's starting to stall.
And now we need the 5 to help Twilight free, but it ain't easy beeing mind-controlled.
If only Luna could send those friendship reports into Twilight's mind, it might just give her the strength to break the Empress' control. If only for long enough that the Empress would have to turn all her attention to Twilight to try and put her back under. Just long enough for Celestia and Luna to get into the Empress' throne room unseen.
Let's hope they succeed in saving Twi..... For I fear that time may be running out...
Hmm... How interesting, the five are reunited with each other with a common goal, save Twilight. The Princesses are ready to fight with a similar goal, save the entire swarm. What will happen? FIND OUT NEXT TIME ON DRAGON BA-- oh wait... never mind I meant CHANGE: QUEEN OF THE HIVE! ... anyway, noticed something that got missed
missed an o here, oh well, nothing that can't be fixed... I'm so punny...
Good, the five are together again. All we need is to get in range of Twilight, attempt to use the Elements, and her true persona will be empowered enough to break free of the Empress one.
Of course, that first step won't be at all easy...
Celestia and Luna have will probably have success going into the hive, getting out however, that will be the challenge.
My spider sense is tingling... I have a feeling that Celestia and Luna will get the "pushover" treatment. I hate that particular plot device...
Celestia, practise what you preach and call your friends for help. The changelings are destroying your ponies, but there's no way they can stand up to the combined power of ponies, dragons, yaks, griffons, buffalo, etc. One would think that after reading all of Twilight's friendship letters, you would have learned this by now.
8406290
I'm not going to be happy at all if they get Worfed. Already the fact that Changeling Queens are just automatically as powerful as Celestia is annoying. If Celestia and/or Luna get punked by the Empress I'm just going to be so upset.
8406677
You act as if they would come running to Equestria's aid on a dime. Politics is complicated, Ember might be more inclined to help but the others likely won't want to be dragged into a war.
things are looking up and after the last beat down they need a brake.
a good chapter.
8407438
The confrontation has already been written I can confirm. And has undergone rewrites in certain places too, a couple of times.
8407448
To be fair. Celestia and Luna literally run the sky and without them the sky doesn't... go. I would think the other races wouldn't want to freeze and/or burn to death as the world is destroyed due to a lack of day/night cycle, and would make emergency measures to send aid to prevent this.
That said, I think we could just ignore that for this story, it's already established and moving towards the climax. A plot point based on that concept would be a large part of the story, and it would feel shoehorned to add it in towards the end. Kind of like Gandalf and the Eagles always showing up when he's low on HP.
8408847
I believe the Empress stated she could potentially take over the sun and moon cycle a while back. She's powerful, her mane is even ethereal like the princesses'.
Though whether she actually could pull it of on her own, eh. She might be able to, or maybe she'd need the help of one or two queens whenever she did it.
Time to fight fire with fire or in this case, free Twi and kick the Empress's flank.
8408911
And I think I know how that might happen, you don't have to kill the empress, simply destroying her crown (by that I mean the one that is a part of all changeling queens' biology) should do the job. even with her regalia, doing that would likely weaken her hivemind enough for Twilight (and the other queens) to break free. after that it's a simple matter of uniting the bearers and wasting the queen.
Princess, you're being predictable, what are you going to do to alleviate that?
Why do I feel twilight is going to kill herself in the end, even if they win?
9039671
considering twilight is the one narrating this tale, as revealed by the epiloge of the previous story, thats unlikely so we know at the absolute least she survives
There’s 17 queens and 2 princesses
Or did you mean to include the changeling princesses as well?
And then everyone died the end, thanks Rarity