It was time.
Twilight could feel their presence. They were there, the princesses. The Empress’ eyes were her eyes, at least when it was allowed. They were there, right in the centre of the storm without the knowledge of the true raging winds around them as they spoke with Empress Immortalis herself. The Princess of the Sun and the Princess of the Moon conversed with the Empress of the Changelings, foes readying their weapons for the slightest flinch that would bring about hostilities.
Hostilities that could end the war, one way or the other.
Twilight so badly wanted to reach out to them. To warn them of what the Empress had in mind, had prepared in case she could not subdue the sisters while adhering to convention.
But she could not, not even the slightest peep. Her soul bound, mind subdued, forced to fulfil the whims of a mad Empress and her insane beliefs in a twisted natural order. Forced to stand in preparation for a call to action, a blade striking down onto the head resting within the guillotine.
And there was nothing she could do.
Except hope. But even that was dying, locked within the Empress’ chains while watching her own atrocities from within. Hope in her idol, her mentor, and one of the three individuals she had ever thought of as a mother.
The entrapped mare was a Changeling Queen, the slayer of Crudelis and her dragon pet. She had stood against god-like beings and various monstrosities, and above all she was both the ruler of her whole hive and a bridge between changelings and ponies.
She was also very scared. Hope was all she had left, everything else stripped away by the Empress piece by piece. For the sake of her hive, and for the ponies she loved equally, she wished for Immortalis’ downfall.
“Please Celestia,” Twilight whispered, still trapped within her consciousness. “Stop her. Do what you must, even if you have to kill me to do it.”
“How far will you go for those you love?”
“What will you do?”
“What will you become?”
Fires burned within Celestia, her eyes flashing orange. A recently quelled demon was relit once more. “You lie! Twilight remains beneath your control, and she will be free!”
Immortalis laughed, the sound echoing against the walls of the former council chamber at the centre of the hive. Her horn began to crackle horrifically.
“I welcome your attempt, alicorn.”
And then she fired.
A stream of green magical energy bolted forth and struck the position of the two alicorn princesses, the Princess of the Sun and Moon flapping their wings to boost away from the strike in opposite directions. Keeping their momentum and their wings spread, the two princesses moved in a uniform pincer movement around the Empress, streams of magic reaching from their horns towards the Empress in an attempt to keep her contained.
Immortalis opened up a portal beneath her hooves and avoided entrapment, emerging at the room’s centre. Standing up tall, her gossamer wings raised, the Empress released a pulse of magic that impacted all around the room, catching the alicorns and sending them crashing back into the wall directly behind them respectively.
With a grunt of pain the two princesses slumped down onto the floor, but did not allow themselves to linger.
Forcing herself up, the Princess of the Sun charged forwards while forming a large halberd of pure magic on her grasp, swinging it downwards onto the Empress’ position. The Empress side stepped the strike, the magical weapon leaving a sizable crack in the floor where it struck. Simultaneously, the younger alicorn formed two blue coloured short swords from her own magic, each one eager to meet the Empress’ chitin. A shield flickered around Immortalis as the swords made their mark, each beating against the defence before being recalled, the magical energy being recycled into Luna’s horn as she prepared her spell.
Celestia joined her sister, streams of gold and blue coalescing against the Empress shield and wearing it down.
Immortalis released the shield outwards, stumbling the princesses as she formed two blades of her own and set them upon each alicorn. Luna met Immortalis’ blade with her own renewed ones, while Celestia took a step back to avoid being beheaded. She made it, but the swing took a few unlucky feathers from Celestia’s left wing.
The moment the Princess of the Moon had met the Empress’ blade with her own she hadn’t let up, she swung and stabbed and attempted to break through the Empress’ own practiced counters. Luna’s ferocity was unmatched, not giving Immortalis any time to breathe. But she needn’t actually strike, just hold her attention for the moment.
As the Empress found out when a golden beam of magic struck her in the side, knocking the changeling from her hooves and down hard onto the floor.
Celestia was quick to follow through, forming her halberd again as she pressed towards the Empress. Before the halberd could meet its target, however, the Empress swung around and bucked out with one of her hind legs. The hold ridden hoof hit Celestia square in the muzzle, dazing the Princess and sending her to the ground.
Immortalis rolled as one of Luna’s swords imbedded itself in the ground where she had just been, the Empress then sending a solitary bolt of magic flying into the alicorn. Luna’s swords were dispelled as she stumbled, grunting in pain.
The Empress’s horn crackled with energy as her sights turned back to the just recovering Celestia, torrents of green energy striking forth like lightning. The magic met the Princess of the Sun and shocked through her body, eliciting a scream of pain as she was sent back down. The lightning didn’t cease, the Empress stepping forwards with bloodlust in her eyes as she gazed upon the alicorn’s intense suffering.
A blue glow made itself known in the corner of her draconic eye, and the Empress made a quick step backwards, her magic ceasing, as a dark blue magical lance struck by her. Her horn still filled with power, and seeking an outlet for its rage, the Empress turned her sights on the younger sister and unleashed it all in one massive beam of magic. Luna’s horn glowed bright as she formed a shield around herself to take the brunt of the magical force, and it did. However, on impact the shield buckled and the alicorn found she was no longer on her hooves, and the wall behind her seemed to be getting awfully close extremely fast.
Luna was launched through a thick stone wall and then crashed into another in the following corridor, leaving a sizable dent before slumping to the floor without consciousness.
“Luna!” Celestia bellowed in distress, shaking off any pain and quickly flying through the new hole before kneeling down beside her stricken sister.
Immortalis could not help but laugh, one that was a sinister eardrum piercing laugh that echoed throughout the entire hive. Her glee at this turn of events was unparalleled, and she wasn’t yet finished.
“Oh poor little Luna,” Immortalis jeered, landing just behind Celestia. “But it’s not the first family member you’ve failed in recent times, is it?”
A fire rising in her chest, Celestia turned to face the Empress while making herself a protective barrier between the changeling and her little sister. Her glare met the Empress’, and she made it known she was far from done.
“Such spirit in you, pony,” Immortalis stated, slightly impressed. “You would have made a fine Changeling Queen, but alas you are not. You are inferior, and you and your sister will die in this hive.”
“You will not harm her!” Celestia factually informed the Empress. “You will not harm anypony!”
“Hollow words,” the Empress snarled. “You couldn’t save Twilight Sparkle, and now she is forever mine.”
A flicker of orange passed through Celestia’s eyes. “Where is she!? You WILL release my daughter!”
“But she’s not your daughter, is she?” The Empress laughed again. “And she never will be. I don’t know what she saw in you ponies.”
“She is a far better changeling than you will ever be. A better person in every way.”
Immortalis snorted. “Too bad she is lost to you. You will never get her back. Luna, Twilight, it matters not. They are all lost to you now. You have failed them, Princess.”
Something snapped inside Celestia, and the pure fire of the sun finally burst, coursing through her veins. Everything she had been resisting with the help of her sister, the loss and rage bubbling inside, it no longer mattered. There was just her, and the one who would take those whom she loved away. Nothing else mattered but destroying her and all like her.
“I love her. And I will protect her to my dying breath, you will not take MY FAMILY!”
An explosion of flame that reeked of pure unfiltered hatred burst forth towards the Empress, catching her off guard and only able to place a hasty shield to protect herself. The inferno threw her back through the hole in the wall and into the throne room once more. The fire began to spread into the throne room and the surrounding area, only the unconscious Princess Luna was spared from them. As Immortalis slowly stretched out her limbs and managed to rise to her hooves she noticed a silhouette in the flames, approached her with methodical strides.
She charged her horn and prepared for Celestia, but faltered slightly when she saw the alicorn that emerged. Her welcoming rainbow mane was replaced with pure fire, her regalia with dark orange pieces of armour that included shoes, a chest piece, a helmet and some along the edge of her wings; the chest piece held a sun motif while the helmet displayed a gleaming blood red gem on the very front. Her new fangs glistened hungrily, and her red and orange eyes held slits for pupils reminiscent of any Changeling Queen’s, only with the sun’s wrath blazing out from within.
“You can handle Celestia,” the alicorn sneered. “But can you handle me?”
“Celestia? What have you done to yourself!?”
“Celestia? Perhaps that is my name, but not in this form. As I am now, my name is Daybreaker, and you would do well to remember it you insolent foal!”
“Nightmare Moon…” Immortalis muttered in recollection. “So, you reveal the fire buried within your heart? Good. Now you might prove a challenge. But, I must ask, does this not go against the harmony you stand for?”
Daybreaker snarled. “Harmony will not protect Luna and Twilight. This will. Equestria will be far better under my new rule! My family will be safe!”
Immortalis wouldn’t deny her enjoyment of what she was seeing. “And what of balance? I doubt that sister of yours will be enthusiastic.”
“She will come around, perhaps the world does have a place for Nightmare Moon, with proper direction,” Daybreaker stated, before laughing in a way that rivalled Immortalis’ own. “Besides, balance? Who needs balance when a girl really can have it all?”
Dark red energies flickered around Daybreaker’s horn, and but a moment later and barrage of rage fuelled magical energies erupted from her horn towards the Empress. Immortalis’ eyes widened as she bolted upwards into the air, the magical attack completely eviscerating the wall it impacted.
The Empress kept flying up and out of the throne room back into the day’s sky, though the sun had much more of an orange hue to it than it had previously. Daybreaker’s pupils dilated as she watched her opponent leave, and quickly flapped her majestic wings to fly up in pursuit. It didn’t take long for the Princess to catch up with the Empress, though the latter was ready and waiting. Immortalis gracefully flipped around to face Daybreaker and unleashed a beam of putrid green magic towards her, which Daybreaker intercepted with her own magic before both beam broke off.
The whole time Daybreaker didn’t stop moving, and got close enough to snap at the changeling with her fangs, though Immortalis managed to bank to the right in order to avoid them. Immortalis formed a spear with her magic and thrust it forwards towards the alicorn, Daybreaker dropped below it and fired another beam of magic at the Empress. This spell skimmed the edge of one of the Empress’ hind legs, eliciting a suppressed shout of pain at the horrid burn left behind. Daybreaker then formed a weapon of her own, a rapier, and went for a precision strike on the changeling’s heart. The Empress only just brought up her magical spear in time to knock the rapier to one side, kicking Daybreaker in the chest to send her tumbling away.
Daybreaker recovered easily, and clapped her hooves in elation while laughing in manic delight. “Oh I haven’t felt this alive in years! I’m going to memorise every moment of my cracking your skull and incinerating the insides!”
Empress Immortalis snarled hatefully, thrusting her spear forwards once more. The alicorn danced around the spear joyfully before sticking her rapier through the Empress’ front left leg.
“You bitch!” the Empress raged, taking the moment to dispel her spear and instead fire a bolt of magic into Daybreaker’s horn. The flaming alicorn grunted in pain as her rapier was forcibly removed from existence, not having time to react as Immortalis struck forwards and tackled the Princess.
The changeling’s fangs targeted Daybreaker’s neck, but only scraped against her armoured shoe as she brought up a foreleg to protect herself. Daybreaker then grinned, and quickly began to form a maelstrom of fire around herself. In panic, Immortalis lit her horn with a teleportation spell that allowed her escape just before the inferno reduced her to ashes.
“Didn’t your mother ever tell you not to play with fire?” Daybreaker taunted, looking around to locate where the Empress emerged.
A beam of magic struck Daybreaker on the back between her wings, and with a shout she plummeted from the sky towards the ground.
Back down in the hive, Luna groaned as her eyesight began to adjust itself to her environment. The flames had largely died down, but there was enough around to cause Luna to pause a moment. There was no sign of Celestia or the Empress, and as she got to her hooves she called out.
“Tia?” Luna called. “Sister, where are you?”
Her head was still throbbing, she knew she’d been knocked out of the fight. Still, she was now back and ready to continue. First though, she had to find them.
The fires might have died down, but the scorching indicated the inferno that had raged not so long ago. She knew she couldn’t have been out for that long, minutes at most. But when she looked up towards the sky peeking through the giant hold in the roof, she saw the orange tint that dominated the sky. She also witnessed a figure come crashing back down through the roof and smack into the floor, a red shield barely protecting her from that fall.
“Tia!?” Luna did a double take as she saw her sister’s stated, the alicorn being almost unrecognisable.
Daybreaker let a moment of relief wash over her as she saw Luna awake and well, but her rage quickly returned as the Empress followed her down and attempted to smash her further into the floor. The alicorn rolled to the left, avoiding the changeling’s hooves. She then shot up and fired a beam of magic as the Empress, who fired back with one of equal power. The two beams locked together in a fierce struggle, each one trying to overpower the other.
Luna couldn’t believe what she was seeing, she couldn’t believe that her sister had indeed fallen to her rampant emotions. She knew she had become Daybreaker, it was a path all too familiar to her. She knew she needed to stop her sister from going too far, but the Empress was the immediate threat. The Princess of the Night looked between the two combatants, each one a threat, but knew where her loyalties in the conflict laid.
Immortalis was thrown again across the room as a blue bolt of magic impacted into her chest, the Empress flying up and into her throne, the structure collapsing under the strain of the impact.
Daybreaker smirked, her own beam of magic breaking off but her horn remaining alight. “Not bad, Lulu.”
“We’re having serious words!” Luna scolded.
“I’m doing what I must,” Daybreaker maintained. “And you shall see that in time!”
Luna fearlessly walked right up to her sister, muzzle to muzzle. “Do you think I’ll let you become corrupted?”
“I’ve come to understand what I need to do to keep Equestria safe!”
“But who will keep them safe from you?”
A laugh caught their attention, and they both turned to see the Empress standing before her ruined throne. Immortalis was injured, but seemed to be taking no mind to them.
“Such dysfunction. How had Equestria not fallen centuries ago?”
“Silence cur!” Daybreaker demanded. “You might want to save what few breaths you have left!”
“I’ll admit, I cannot win this fight. You, Daybreaker, are too powerful. An unleashed beast, unlike Celestia who would always hold back. And with your sister at your side, Nightmare Moon or otherwise, that just further shows how damned I am.”
“Then surrender,” Luna stated. “Release the changelings and surrender, your trial will be fair and just.”
“No trial!” Daybreaker commanded. “She dies here and now, by my hoof!”
“That is not who we are, Tia!” Luna reminded.
Daybreaker’s eyes narrowed at her sister. “We came here to destroy her!”
“Perhaps, but the ultimate goal was to stop her. And if she surrenders, killing is no longer necessary,” Luna pointed out. “Even those who followed Serpens, you gave them a chance to live, to give themselves up! We are not murderers. If she resists then fine, but if she stands down…”
“We were naïve, Luna! We should destroy threats for good! No second chances! No mercy!”
“Does that include Discord?” Luna asked. “Or me?”
“What?”
“All those threats Twilight pacified through the magic of friendship. Will you besmirch her ideals?”
“She killed Crudelis.”
“But she gave her a chance, remember?” Luna pointed out. “Even at the very end she gave her a chance at redemption, and Crudelis refused.”
“Well this is very entertaining,” Immortalis interrupted. “But it matters not, this isn’t the end for me either way.”
Daybreaker narrowed her eyes. “Oh? And why is that?”
“Because of me.”
Daybreaker’s eyes widened, she knew that voice anywhere. And yet it had become so cold, so dismissive. Nevertheless, she knew Twilight Sparkle.
“Twilight?” Daybreaker muttered, turning around to face the Changeling Queen. “That’s… You…”
Twilight wasted no time, firing a beam of magic at the two alicorns. It was Luna who placed the shield around them both, Daybreaker having completely frozen up.
“Pathetic,” Twilight jeered.
“As you can see, she is completely loyal to me,” Immortalis stated. “What now, princesses?”
“Twilight, you know me. Please…” Daybreaker’s hatred began to melt away.
“Destroy the shield,” Immortalis commanded, firing her own magic at Luna’s barrier.
Twilight followed suit, and their combined powers began to create cracks along the blue construct’s surface.
“Sister, you take Immortalis. I’ll handle Twilight,” Luna stated. “No argument.”
Daybreaker looked up at Immortalis, some of the rage reigniting, but not to the levels it was before.
“And feel free to end her now,” Luna added.
“Very well. Go!”
Luna disengaged the shield, and both alicorn rolled to the side as the two beams of magic shot by them. Daybreaker shot up to Immortalis and tackled her, lighting her horn and teleporting both of them out of the building.
Luna stood up, turning to face Twilight.
“Twilight Sparkle, I am so sorry this happened to you.”
“I’m not,” the changeling jeered. “I’m where I should be.”
“Lies,” Luna dismissed. “We both know that’s not you talking.”
“She’s right! Luna, I don’t want to fight you!” Twilight screamed within herself, actually saying out loud: “You know little, alicorn. And now you will die.”
Twilight struck again, her lavender magic striking off against Luna’s own. They shared several strikes, each one being deflected by that of the other. Lavender and blue magic flashed throughout the throne room, clashing violently as each tried to out manoeuvre the other. Luna then teleported forwards and bucked Twilight, knocking the Queen to the floor. She attempted to bring a hoof down on her head, intent on knocking her out, but Twilight kicked out and knocked Luna’s hooves out from under her.
Luna landed with a hard thud, barely rolling away as a magical lavender sword embedded itself in the floor where she had just been. Luna shot up and ignited her own, Twilight too being back on her hooves as they duelled.
A loud pop heralded the emergence of a struggling alicorn and changeling, the two appearing near one of the hive’s entrances. The two grappled with one another before Daybreaker was kicked off.
Both recovered quickly, and began trading spells. Each one was determined to kill the other, but one already knew the other’s resolve was shaken.
“Look at you, Celestia. Even at your darkest it isn’t long before you begin to hold back again!” Immortalis taunted, easily deflecting two bolts. “Was it your sister’s words? Or being faced with Twilight? Both perhaps?”
“SHUT UP!”
Day Breaker unleashed an inferno towards the Empress, who sank down into a portal and emerged to Daybreaker’s right.
“That’s more like it. But will it last? Who will it be I finally kill, Daybreaker or Celestia?”
Daybreaker gave a shout of rage, summoning a large and highly lethal magical blade and attempting to rend the Empress in two. She succeeded in doing just that to a statue, but Immortalis was barely keeping ahead of it.
“What would your little ponies think? Do you believe they could ever hold you in such reverence as you are now? The Tyrant of the Sun!”
Daybreaker dispelled her sword and once more tackled the Empress, pinning her to the ground and snapping with her fangs. Immortalis used a hoof to hold her at bay, but gasped as Daybreaker’s inferno of a mane began to dance its way around her body. The fire seeped through every orifice it could, reaching her innards and beginning to fry each and every single one in what Daybreaker intended to be an excruciating demise.
“How does it feel? To slowly cook in your chitin?” Daybreaker snarled, pressing a hoof on the Empress’ neck. “How does it feel to die?”
“Why do you still talk? I know you could have killed me already,” Immortalis choked out. “Do it. Embrace who you are becoming.”
“Soon,” Daybreaker replied. “But first…”
Daybreaker’s horn touched Immortalis’, and the alicorn’s vision gave way to a distorted fields of pulsating orbs. Through Immortalis, Daybreaker was forcing her way into the hive mind. She didn’t stop to take in the sights, she knew she would only have limited time within the Empress’ realm. Searching quickly, she reached out throughout the hive mind in search for one very specific presence, and it didn’t take her long to find it.
One pulsating lavender orb, Twilight’s consciousness.
Daybreaker practically galloped towards it, placing her long white horn against the orb and forming a connection with it.
Whatever she would have done next, it was not to be. Daybreaker was knocked off of the Empress and out of the hive mind as a blue alicorn was thrown into her, both ponies flailing as they skidded across the ground.
“A valiant effort. But alas, you are not Celestia,” Twilight jeered, albeit with a noticeable limp in her step.
Luna grunted as she helped herself and her sister up, bruised but not yet beaten, several fresh cuts being visible along her barrel. “Apologies for the intrusion, sister. It seems the throne room would no longer contain our difficult battle.”
“That wouldn’t have been a problem for Nightmare Moon,” Immortalis stated as she too got back up, her horn charging once again. However, her magical aura seemed to sputter out just as it began, and nothing could mask the charring across her body.
“I’ll never become that monster again!”
“Then it’s up to Daybreaker,” Twilight sneered. “Come on then, Tyrant of the Sun, strike at us.”
Twilight stepped forwards, in front of Immortalis in a way that almost seemed like she was offering her life to Daybreaker. Daring her to kill.
“Step aside, Twilight,” Daybreaker demanded. “She is my victim, not you.”
“She is a threat to Equestria, is she not?” the battered Empress of the Changelings sneered through her fangs. “No second chances you said, do what must be done and kill her!”
Daybreaker’s eyes widened, glancing between the two changelings. She began to shake.
“Twilight, it’s not your fault. You are under her control!”
“Why should that matter? I’m still a threat!” Twilight almost sang. “You have chosen to be Daybreaker, now prove your commitment!”
“Tia…” Luna warned. “Don’t.”
“Do you really think I would?” Daybreaker asked in disbelief. “Kill her so coldly, when she could still be saved? My own… My own daughter?”
“That is what Daybreaker would do,” Luna stated. “But not Celestia. So who are you, Tia?”
“Yes, who are you?” Immortalis asked. “Coward, or killer?”
The alicorn sagged, her rage all but gone. “Coward, any day.”
A bright white flash consumed Daybreaker, wiping the corrupted alicorn away and returning Princess Celestia to view. While the Empress could never had predicted Daybreaker, she always predicted that the Princess’ love for Twilight Sparkle would always win out in the end. She knew it was thanks to Twilight she was always doomed to win the fight.
Though the alicorns did not appear to be finished.
“Killing you may be necessary, Immortalis, but I should not find joy in it,” Celestia stated, standing up straight and proud once more. “I will not become you, Empress.”
Immortalis grunted, a pained grimace on her muzzle. “So you have chosen. Not that it mattered, I was just curious at what you would choose. Even if you murdered Twilight Sparkle, you were never leaving here alive.”
“We’re not out of the fight yet, anything but!” Luna objected, her horn flashing in example. “You are battered and broken, Empress. Your chitin is charred and cracked, and I can sense the exhaustion within you. Twilight herself has taken some considerable damage, so how long do you think your thrall can protect you against the both of us?”
“Against the both of you? I can’t say I like those odds,” Immortalis admitted, her voice growing into but a weak rasp. “But I… always prepare… in advance.”
And then, all energy seeping out of her, the Empress collapsed where she stood.
Time seemed to stop dead. Everything was still, it was if the very universe itself was trying to process what had just transpired. In but a moment the princesses’ task was seemingly completed.
The eyes of the two alicorns opened up wide, shock registering on their features. The Empress was completely still, smoke rising up from her lifeless cadaver as Queen Twilight remained completely unmoved. Daybreaker had all but cooked her from the inside out, her internal organs burnt to a mere crisp without hope of recovery. She was well and truly dead. The regalia upon her chest, the one which had caused all that had befallen the ponies and changelings, was equally ravaged. Twisted and melted, its glory had been snuffed out and left to rot.
And yet the red glow in Twilight’s eyes remained unchanged.
And then she laughed a laugh not her own.
“W-what is happening?” Celestia asked in shocked confusion.
“It’s simple, Princess,” Twilight Sparkle stated in Immortalis’ voice, sending a sense of dread deep into the deepest pit of Celestia’s soul. “I AM the hive! As long as it exists, I have no need for a simple body, when the swarm IS my body!”
They didn’t need any time to think upon her words. Portals opened up all around them, and then the two alicorns were surrounded by all of the remaining Changeling Queens.
“You ponies are too weak,” Immortalis noted, this time her voice came from Queen Tempora. “Simple creatures who can only feel love, and never consume it. Had you been strong enough to strike me within the hive while you could, instead of reaching out to your beloved Twilight, you may have defeated me. Daybreaker could have ruled forever more.”
“What kind of vile magic is this!?” Luna demanded to know, seething with rage. “One cannot cheat death in such a manner!”
“But I have,” Immortalis retorted, now coming from Queen Cocoon. “You think in small terms. Within the hive mind we are all one, and they are all me. The loss of my own form is regrettable, but only a temporary setback. The queens shall be my eyes and voice, and they continue to obey my will. It is why an old enemy of mine chose to use your precious elements over arranging an… accident for me. Death is not an obstacle.”
“And yet you are but a ghost in a shell,” Luna rebuked. “What ruler can you be as a disembodied voice?”
“Oh, I am far more than that. I am the will of natural order itself,” Immortalis declared. “But… you perhaps make an adequate point. Hm, perhaps I shall insert my mind fully into the next royal to be born from a queen, a fresh start for a fresh era. What do you think, dear Twilight?”
Celestia raged at this new development. “You would steal the life of a child!? Twilight’s child!? You are an abomination, Immortalis. Even within the hive mind, you are not completely invincible!”
“And yet, it ultimately changes nothing. You may have had the upper hoof against us, but against the full might of the gathered queens? I think not,” Queen Twilight Sparkle pointed out in her own voice, her tone mocking. “Empress, on your word.”
Celestia and Luna stood firm, knowing what was about to happen. They were surrounded, exhausted, and had no way of escaping. Their enemy all but indestructible. The moment they charged their horns to teleport they would be struck down. The fight had seemingly been theirs, Immortalis had retained little chance of victory with her powers weakening and the alicorns pressing on. Now, however, the princesses were truly beaten.
And then a giant changeling statue almost landed on and crushed several of the Changeling Queens, all of whom barely scrambled to avoid it.
Chaos erupted, and Princess Mi Amore Cadenza teleported in right next to her fellow alicorns.
“I know, I’m not meant to be here. Scold me later!” she stated quickly, her horn charging again.
“Kill them!” Immortalis commanded through her proxy.
Twilight and a few other Changeling Queens quickly fired lethal beams of magic at the trio, but by the time they impacted Cadance’s teleport had already activated. The alicorns were gone.
Immortalis stared at the spot where they had just been through Cocoon’s eyes, her soul full of fury at this turn of events. Wordlessly, she had the queens turn back towards the hive with a command being sent throughout all of her forces. Regroup, and prepare to strike again while the princesses were weakened. She then departed into the hive mind to oversee the preparations.
However, Queen Twilight Sparkle had to momentarily pause in her tracks. She had heard her Empress’ commands and yet, just for a moment, she swore she could feel the presence of another within her mind. And why did that presence… seem comforting? Why did it fill her with a sense of hope?
Twilight shook her head in confusion, and then went to dutifully carry out her Empress’ command.
The charred corpse of the Empress was left where it lay, but its former occupant was anything but dead.
A blue flash heralded three alicorns being violently thrown from the teleportation spell in a flurry of twisted limbs. Cadance had teleported herself and her aunts several times in quick succession to get as far from the hive as possible, landing them near the edges of the forest in a small clearing. The clearing in question was calm and, most importantly, free of any and all changelings. Only a few random examples of the local wildlife inhabited the area, several curious eyes watching the intruders as they untangled themselves.
“Gah, not our greatest success,” Luna remarked as she got up and shook the dust and grime off of herself. “We succeeded in killing the Empress, only for it to have been a futile effort. She is a most infuriating opponent.”
The other two alicorns also got back into her hooves, Cadance turning to face Luna while the eldest walked meekly over to the treeline in thought.
“What even happened in there?” Cadance demanded to know. “All I saw was fire and the flashes of your magic and… Auntie Celestia, what did you do?”
Luna turned to look at her sister, who had her back facing them. The Princess of the Night’s eyes narrowed. “My sister lost control of herself, or do you deny it Celestia?”
Celestia didn’t answer for a moment, before sighing without turning to look at the others. “No, there is no denying what I almost became… what I did briefly become.”
“But what WAS that?” Cadance reiterated.
“Daybreaker,” Celestia responded. “Everything I could be, and shouldn’t be. An alicorn who would eliminate all those she considered even the slightest bit a threat, right down to a homeless foal stealing a loaf of bread, and would do so filled with a psychotic glee. A mare who would have cut out the undesirables and turned the world into what more resembles an automatous machine than a civilisation. Controlled and without freedom, all in the name of some perverted form of peace.”
Celestia grimaced, but wasn’t finished yet.
“A mare who… No, I would have kept those I loved close to the point of being prisoners just to keep them safe, under the grand delusion that they were free of danger while not seeing that I myself was such a danger.”
“That… sounds nothing like you,” Cadance stated. “You love the freedom we grant our ponies. The freedom to be who they want, to create grand arts and tear inducing poems. To live a life worth living.”
“…Maybe,” Celestia responded quietly. “But right then and there, it all paled in comparison to saving Twilight by any means. And, likewise, keeping her safe by any means.”
"So the ends justified the means?" Luna asked. “Even if it meant harming her?”
“Why do you think I stopped!?” Celestia snapped, before sagging again. “Daybreaker goes against everything I believe in… that Twilight or any of us believe in. And yet she seems to hold more power than me, able to act while I can only watch helplessly…”
Celestia sat in silence for a moment, deafeningly so. But she flinched upon feeling her sister’s wing drape over her comfortingly, and a nuzzle brush against her.
“You speak as if you’re two separate ponies sometimes,” Luna noted. “But remember that you are not, and you are not any less powerful. The difference is the heart, and how it dictates the usage of those powers. My sister saves ponies, Daybreaker was to dominate them.”
Luna gave a sigh of her own. “When I was Nightmare Moon, it took my defeat to make me realise my folly. To even consider a reconciliation where I once thought there was none to be had. My heart had blackened to nearly the point of no return before Twilight Sparkle. But you… your heart did not descend that far, and you relented the moment the harm you would cause was clear.”
“It doesn’t change the fact that, for just a moment, I wanted that automatous world,” Celestia replied. “That I actually considered it to be the just option, despite its horrific nature.”
“Then let that knowledge ensure it NEVER happens,” Luna encouraged. “And allow for a better one that Twilight can return to once this is all over.”
“She’s right, Auntie Celestia,” Cadance stated in agreement. “What happened back there can be between us, let’s just go home.”
“Our niece speaks truly,” Luna announced, withdrawing her wing and looking up at the sky. “No changelings are here, but that may soon change. Let us return to Canterlot with haste to plan our next move.”
Celestia looked towards her fellow alicorn princesses, her features mixing relief and a proudness for the both of them. The fire was gone, with it so was Daybreaker. What happened had happened, but it was past. She would still give her being to free Twilight, but she would do it as Princess Celestia.
“Very well. Cadance, Luna, let’s go home.”
Thank god you made the alicorns super strong. Im tired of all the authors who nerf their strength.
This is the background music I would use for the fight.
you haven't won yet, Immortalis....
I think I see what you did there.
ok theory time!!!Celestia transfered either some part of herself or daybreaker into twilight to free her and help twilight break free, because if they can break twilight free they WILL win
Daybreaker did something while in the Hivemind that may give Twilight enough strength to fight Immortalis from within. Time will tell what it was and how well it will work.
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Actually, I think that When Daybreaker connected herself to Twilight in the hivemind, even though she was physically knocked away, I don't think that connection was broken. So I think Twilight now has a connection outside of the hivemind to Celestia/Daybreaker. Once they figure this out, maybe Twilight can pass along information and receive hope and strength in return.
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this makes mire sense however what if celestia broke daybraker off and thus that created a soul link between the two characters thus allowing them to comunicate telepathically, share energy and other things such as shared memory(that would be bad actually).
i'm thinking that crepuscule put her mind in the regilia too but hide herself from the empress as a counter measure against her if she where to dissolve the regilia and become one with the hive mind
aside from that good chapter
I liked that you put some parallels to Fall of the Crystal Empire. Very nifty.
i.redd.it/f9w7fpcin9sz.png
A chain is only as strong as its weakest link and even if the chain can not be melted by the hottest of fires the flames WILL weaken the links all the same.
Okay, this is just ridiculous. I counted no less than three times when they had Immortalis on the ropes, and every time they stopped attacking to talk, or extend an offer of surrender that they really didn't have any responsibility to give somewhere between the second and third city-wide mass murders, or even just to gloat or try to do something they could've tried to do after killing her.
If you don't want your villain to die yet, just have her actually fight them off somehow. Overpower them, surprise them in combat (she is a changeling...), even just get hella lucky -- you have options, man. And you even had a twist this time where it was completely acceptable for Immortalis to straight-up lose, and a mechanism to make it happen very suddenly and dramatically (goodness knows it would've been the first time literally anything in this story has actually surprised her), and still keep your story chugging along without Sudden Lack Of Bad Guy. Just don't make the experienced monster-hunting princesses who tamed Equestria, one of whom is currently an enraged killbot, into talkative wishy-washy idiots when it's inconvenient for them to be competent and decisive. That's really sloppy.
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I'm actually quite happy with how it turned out. I'm sorry you don't share that opinion, but neither do I share yours.
My writing may not be perfect, but I do it out of both fun and passion and I write the stories I want to write in the way I want to write them. I put hours at a time of work into these, a bunch of effort that can be quite stressful at times to fulfill alongside university stuff.
So forgive me for not appreciating my work being disregarded as 'sloppy'.
I try to take feedback into account, but you just come across as really mean spirited in the way you talk/type.
8517953
The point is that the story doesn't have to contort itself this much to keep on schedule. This time you even gave yourself ways of doing that believably. Celestia's reaction after Twilight entered was fine. Luna taking charge and splitting up to avoid that was pretty much spot on. The reveal of Immortalis's SPOILER was great! Those things worked. The problem is that in between those things, you still bent over backwards to pad out drama past the point of credibility, and you did it by making extremely competent characters hesitate over and over for no reason.
And like, even dithering itself is not necessarily a bad thing. Dithering against Twilight makes sense. Dithering against Immortalis doesn't. Luna was more decisive against Twilight than both princesses were against the actual villain multiple times.
And this all really needs to be seen in the context that about a third of the drama in this story is a direct result of those same extremely competent princesses having spent the whole thing up till now sitting in a room staring morosely at maps and letting the superpowered queens freely demolish their rank and file.
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The conversation before Twilight's entrance was due to Luna's reaction to Daybreaker throwing things through a loop and, with Immortalis admitting she couldn't win, a potential chance to end things without fighting to the death further.
The final one outside was Immortalis bringing things to a halt to test Daybreaker, allow her queens to get into position, and stop the fight since she couldn't continue in that body.
Listen, I get what you're saying and why you don't like it. Fine. But, at least in my head, there were reasons for what happened. I can get why you didn't like all of the flow of things, but understand others have been fine with it.
No story is perfect. No story will match up to everyone's beliefs about how things should go down. But at least know I had my reasons for doing what I did with it, and leave it at that.
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Okay, this is the mindset I'm getting at. You're thinking of this from the bad guy's perspective, but the problem is that's bleeding into the construction without also accounting for the good guys. Basically saying you inserted that pause, narratively, to buy the villain time. That makes sense...for Immortalis. It makes sense she'd try.
The problem is the good guys had every reason to not humor that. Immortalis had already seized on their hesitation multiple times in this very fight to near-lethal result, and on top of that they knew there were potentially a dozen more queens and an entire swarm of grunts due at any moment. Even if they fell for it once, simply talking to her at all has by now been repeatedly demonstrated to be a potential death sentence.
Like, if Luna was half as decisive in that moment as she was against Twilight, Immortalis would have gotten three words into her sentence before wow there's a sword in my skull, that was rude (to say nothing of the psychotic flaming death machine next to her). And the way you set it up, it wouldn't have done a damn thing to change the outcome except maybe make the queens scramble a bit to get into position, and be a brief moment to smile because the heroes are actually trying to get stuff done instead of meekly digging their grave over and over.
And if this were the only time, I probably wouldn't be making such a point of this. I'd have mentioned it was a bit out there and moved on. But the thing is, that slant in the construction has been happening all story. It really feels like other characters' behavior (obviously not just the ones she actually controls) has been downgraded and bent around to satisfy the villain, ever since Twilight ran off with an artifact of doom with a penchant for possession and nopony around her batted an eye.
Holy throne.... That ended up being one nailbiter of a chapter!
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This argument is finished. I won't have it clogging up the comments. Send any further grievances to my PM.
But you clearly don't like the way I write, so why stay? But either way other people do enjoy what I am doing, and I myself am satisfied with my work, so as long as those two things remain I am content.
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I'm glad you enjoyed it.
8518101
Because I do like the way you write. I think this is a good story, held back by a very worrying new problem the previous one didn't have. Crudelis was a manipulative bastard, but she was a threat all on her own without the need for this kind of narrative contrivance.
Beyond that, okay. I'll PM you with anything else I feel the need to bring up.
Saw the big twist coming, but that was due to foreshadowing. The other new wrinkle in the weave, namely Twilight linking minds with Celestia, I did not see coming. This chapter was quite the nice birthday present. Thank you.
Sure.
Natural order is actually the absolutely most useless ability to have, as per definition anything that ever happens is in its natural order. It literally does nothing and cannot do anything, by its very own definition.
See, if it weren't for the fact that you have several tools for the true Twilight Sparkle to come out on top in this fight, I'd be concerned that this was going to be an Everypony Dies™ type of story.
Regardless, that nonsense about Immortalis cheating death through the hive mind seems just a wee bit OP, while Celestia retaining enough control over Daybreaker to revert to her natural self feels like an unfortunate nerf. I'm personally at the point that this feels like it's being contrived, even though all signs point to reasonable conflict. But hey, that's like, my opinion, man. Feel free to take it with a grain of salt.
I noticed a couple of minor things while I was reading this one:
Most minor nitpick first, this should probably be "Who needs balance..." to read slightly smoother. Normally I don't comment on this type of thing, so my apologies if it seems pompous to point that one out.
Believe it or not, the correct term in this usage is actually "rend" in two. Spellcheck WILL flag it, but feel free to ignore the machine. It's not the first time that spellcheck is wrong, nor will it be the last.
Regardless, I'm still hooked. Looking forward to the next chapter!
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Oh, Come on! I really should have seen that gambit coming. All those dang allusions to the freaking Borg, and I completely forget the fact that the Borg Queen has quite regularly cheated death through the hive mind! I feel like a bad trekkie for forgetting that... Credit where it's due though, this empress is a far more powerful threat to the heroes than the Borg Queen ever was. In addition, the empress is far more fleshed out and a far more effective tactician.
I have a feeling Twilight will be freed like this:
Welp, i had some situations how things go, but i didn't saw that coming o-O
8517953
Feedback doesn't always come nice. If you expect feedback to be sugar-coated you are gonna have a bad time.
8518019
To be honest most of these conversations could have easily been internalised with italics. Luna could have gone the classical "What have you done sister?" and Daybreaker could be "FIGHT NOW, TALK LATER!"
There's a reason why stopping to talk mid-battle is bad cinematic wise. Take for example your favorite anime and take the same scene in manga. A manga is read at one's pace and you are free to freeze an instant and process it on your own time. In an anime the scene goes on and can't stop ((not always)) to express the inner thoughts of someone ((without making it feel awkward I guess)).
Point is even in books/fics it doesn't translate well and in all instances it doesn't help if you draw it too long.
Bottom line you drew certain thoughts too long. Like explaining pot of Greed in more than 10 minutes.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=55rM2_XvcT4&t=94s
Obviously that's a joke but you get the point.
There's also something to be said about the Evil Overlord List and how " I will not gloat over my enemies' predicament before killing them. " or whatever else.
Like Shepard says...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BvPUhJt_WQs
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I'd expect politeness at the very least. That can be a difference between good and bad feedback.
Forshadowing...
Oh whatever could this mean!?
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You're on the Internet. Expect the worst of humanity to make a loud bang here. Everyone's got a keyboard and few things stop it.
Again doesn't mean I like it.
How does Celestia know about Day Breaker since she's a construct of Starlight's imagination, who Celestia hasn't met in this timeline?
Will the season seven finale reveal that the Tree of Harmony was created by the Pillars have any effect on this story?
So the Empress now has no physical body and is confined completely to the hive mind, and since Twilight discovered that she can still be harmed in a he hive mind, this may be the key to defeating her.
Luna pointed out that they offered mercy to Serpens' followers, but they still confined him to death, and he was nowhere near as bad as the Empress. She has orchestrated the deaths of hundreds or even thousands, and has no qualms about planetary genocide. There is absolutely nothing morally wrong with killing her.
8523473
Daybreaker had only entered the dream after Celestia got involved, so in my kinda headcannon it was a direct reaction to Celestia's presence. As stated in the story previously, Celestia has had nightmares of her own dark self in the past.
It won't, since in the story the tree existed a good three thousand years before Starswirl at least.
As Chrysalis had demanded, and a little bit of Daybreaker poking through on Celestia's part.
No, there isn't. But it was partially about being the better person and partially Luna trying to calm her increasingly genocidal sister. Mostly the latter.
Honestly if Daybreaker wasn't a thing, Luna may not have bothered.
8523473
You forget,, this is an Alternate Universe. For all we know, in this universe Daybreaker could very well be Celestias darker half, just like with Luna and Nightmare Moon.
Same goes for the pillars. In this universe it might not have been them that created the Tree of Harmony.
Hoo boy! What a chapter! And Tom you sly devil, Diem Contere is just too good of a chapter name here. Also the only thing I'm reminded of reading this chapter is
'Cept with a role reverse for Celestia and Luna. What a start to our 3rd and final act!
Alright, I checked a couple places just to make sure, but my thoughts were confirmed lightening is the act to lighten something up. lightning is the electrical discharge of energy from storm clouds.
While this is a fairly accurate description of Daybreaker, she actually had lightning bolts for eyes, not draconic slits.
Other than that stuff there were a couple typos, but in 6,000 words, which just to let you know, was awesome. I just can't be bothered to find tiny mistakes most people don't care about. Until next Sunday!
Infiltration worm deployed...
YAAAAAaaaaAAaaSSsSs DAYBREAKER
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hail to the solar empress, the one true princess to rule the shinign eternal day.
How I personally see it, Celestia did it unknowingly, but Daybreaker did it knowingly. Daybreaker may be the result Celestia's uncontrolled rage. But she is still a part of Celestia, and vice versa. Daybreaker may not have finished what she had started in the hivemind. But she did start it. And even if it was only started, it plants a seed that will only need to be watered to grow.
On a different note, DAYBREAKER WAS ABLE TO BREAK INTO THE HIVEMIND!
9142833
The advantage of having the Empress herself as an unwilling doorway.
Oh Celestia. At least Daybreak did something far more useful than char a mortal container.