Spreading Out - Part 3
"You understand, Twilight Sparkle, that I am still not convinced this Chrysalis has the right to lead. She took an action that, by its very nature, goes against pony values." Luna stood up as the train began to slow, balancing her mass over her four hooves. "I have only come here to see her for one reason, to see if you are right."
Twilight felt a measure of relief pour through her. "You will see, Princess Luna, Queen Chrysalis isn't a bad pony, she did what she thought she had to." She reached out a hoof to wake Gentle, the big changeling blinking a few times before they leaned into the hoof.
Luna watched the wordless exchange between the two, unsure how deep either seemed to treat it. "Come on, then, I will meet with Equestria's queen." She marched off the train and froze as she reached the platform. "Tia?"
"You came back." Celestia rushed forward, wrapping her sister in a hug that took both forelegs and her wings, yet still seemed insufficient to express how she felt. "What you fear isn't happening." I hope she believes that, I don't want to see her hurt.
Giving her sister a shy smile, Luna nodded. "Twilight Sparkle told me. I saw all the horrors that changelings have done and thought they would again. What convinced me, in the end, was myself."
Celestia blinked at the odd words. "You convinced yourself that this wasn't bad?"
"No. I convinced myself that I shouldn't blame this Chrysalis for what her kind did back then. Would I want another race to judge all ponies based on what I did?" Luna felt the grip of her sister tighten, and fought the tears that threatened to come. "I was a monster, Tia, brutal and… I hope nopony… well, no other creature, even looks back at those thousand years and judges anypony on it."
Inside the train, Twilight and her friends were sorting out their baggage—most of which was Rarity's, of course.
"So what, we work for this new queen whats-alis?" Rainbow Dash only had her duffel, the Wonderbolts colored kit-bag that she kept only her most important things in.
"Ah'm not sure about the whole 'queen' thing, to be honest." Applejack packed even lighter than Rainbow Dash, only bringing a spare box for her hat, and ties for her mane and tail. "What was she queen of before, anyway? Weddin' invadin'?"
"She was a queen in absentia, she was a political exile!" Rarity had clearly built up the title, and what history Twilight had told her about Chrysalis. "And to think, she wants us to help her? Oh it is exciting!" She produced a fan from somewhere and began to wave it in quick, short motions of her magic.
Fluttershy was far too engrossed in Gentle to notice what was going on between her friends; after her initial panic at the big pony-like creature, she immediately softened to them. "Aren't you just adorable you big buggy." She rubbed Gentle's shoulder, which had the effect of Gentle almost collapsing into her. "Oh, you needed a rest did you?" She traced up to the base of the underling's wings, rubbing them. "I bet you like a back rub just as much as Harry does."
" 'Queen' is a role within a changeling hive, that makes them the leader. But in this case Queen Chrysalis carried it over to the title, Queen. She is Queen to her drones, and now she is Queen to Equestria." Twilight almost jumped at a touch to her mane. Turning her head, she saw Pinkie Pie had her hooves up, tapping at something.
"Patty-cake, patty-cake. Baker's colt!" Pinkie Pie tapped her hooves up in time with the tiny changeling, giggling along with them. "Hey, hold still, Twilight." She looked at her friend, who was totally being a party-pooper.
Gentle Midnight was in the changeling state known as "bliss," they looked up at the nice yellow and pink pony and gave a soft chirp of their wings. Not only was Gentle completely full, but the pony was still spilling love all over them. Rolling to their back, Gentle offered their belly to be rubbed, and realized everypony was staring at them.
Rarity couldn't help smiling at her friend, Fluttershy clearly quite enamored with the changeling. Turning to Twilight, she murmured, "I don't suppose that would work on Princess Luna?" The words were loud enough for everypony to hear them, and while it broke the startled moment, it did remind everypony that Luna hadn't seemed completely won over.
Climbing off the train, Twilight watched the two royal sisters already departing. She thought about galloping to catch up, but she didn't want to leave her friends behind. "Come on girls, we have an empire to save."
~~~~~+++++~~~~~
Luna could tell her sister wasn't controlled, it wasn't just instinct but memory. She remembered the slightly not-quite-right way she talked, the fact that her wings had drooped a little, and trembled. "Tia, she isn't going to try to take me over, is she?"
"She had better not." Celestia felt a little fire fill her, she lifted her wing up and set it over Luna's back as they walked through the castle. "Part of the new laws are that such is illegal. Queen Chrysalis looked like she was going to be sick when I brought it up during the chartering."
"Now I really want to meet her. Tia, if things don't work out…" Luna took a deep breath. "You have my flank?" The wing squeezed her tighter, the two pausing in an empty hallways to lean together and hug.
"Lulu, if you go that far, if I think you are right… I will have your flank, even against her. With Princess Cadance and Prince Shining Armor gone, she shouldn't even be all that powerful." Celestia shrugged. "Just make sure that your reasons are valid."
"So no going off at the drop of a hat, allowing an evil spirit to infect me and taking over?" Luna rubbed her cheek with her sister's. "Come on, I need to meet this mare and get everything over with." The two walked up and, as casually as they could, joined the short line to see the Queen.
"Excuse me, Your Highnesses?" Braced gave his most winning smile to the two mares. "If you would follow me, Queen Chrysalis will see you both." He waited for a nod from each before turning, walking past the petitioners who were patiently waiting to speak to Celestia. "If you don't mind, Princess Luna, I have to say I am happy you have returned. The problems in the north are… worrying, and I found mother's old books that speak of the Princess of the Night as a protector."
Luna barely managed to keep walking, she blinked rapidly a few times to wrap her head around what the changeling had said. They know about me? It was a tiny voice, a very small one that hadn't been heard since just before she became Nightmare Moon. If just one pony had said that, back then, a lot of problems would have been avoided.
"Presenting, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna!" Braced Stepped to the side and backed against the wall. "Your Highnesses."
"Your Majesty." Princess Celestia bowed her head. "May I present to you, Princess Luna. I hop—" She froze, Luna was striding past her, each hoof-strike against the floor sending sparks and sounding like thunder. Please be careful, Lulu.
"I challenge your right to rule my Equestria." Luna let power enter her lungs, driving out the Royal Canterlot Voice at full volume. "I want you to prove to me, as protector of Equestria, why you deserve to sit on that throne!"
Chrysalis smiled. "I would be delighted." Standing up slowly, she stepped down from the throne a pace at a time. "Princess Luna, Bringer of the Moon, Mare of the Night, Protector of Equestria… I could go on and on about your titles." She reached the bottom of the stairs and buzzed her wings a little in excitement. "I accept any challenge you, or Equestria, put before me."
Luna didn't so much charge her magic through her horn, as relax the tension she usually held herself back with. Her wings flared as the darkness flowed out from her, wrapping the throne room. She pulled her power back a little, peering through the inky blackness.
Chrysalis had barely a moment to move, her heart beat faster. Oh buck, she isn't holding back. She didn't buzz her wings for flight, knowing how quickly that would make a target of herself. "Princess Luna, please accept my apologies." She circled around more, using magic to echo her voice from all around.
Staring into the darkness, Luna realized that it might not have been such a wonderful idea; she could see better than the average pony in the night, but when the changeling started using magic to confuse her it proved that it was a mistake. She drew the night back in, looked around and saw her own sister standing at her side. "Tia?"
Chrysalis saw the mare's guard was down, it was time. "No." Green magic poured from Chrysalis' horn. It slammed against Luna's horn, to be met with black energy. "You are stronger than your sister?" It was a miscalculation, Chrysalis started glancing around for something to feed off.
"Didn't she tell you that?" Luna began pouring more and more power out, forcing the green magic back toward Chrysalis' horn. "You used ponies, at the wedding, to feed off. A good strategy," Luna drove the magic back almost all the way to Chrysalis' horn, barely an inch of green struggled to hold back the night, "What will you do, if I let you go?"
"You… you will rule. I can't beat you." Chrysalis trembled, her magic failing under the onslaught. "I just want to be what Equestria needs, I don't want ponies to get hurt, please don't let them get—" The dark magic stopped, she jerked her head up to look at Princess Luna.
"I know a pony who could smell a lie from a mile away, but she is young. All I wanted to hear was the truth, and I am sure I heard it." Luna shook her head. "I tried to rule, to take over. Ponies stepped in my way at every turn. But they didn't step in yours. You can be queen, Chrysalis, but if you dare to do a bad job of it…" Her threat was left hanging, Luna—and the rest of the court—waited to see what the changeling would do.
Chrysalis blinked, she had drawn back her own magic the moment the Princess had. She felt an awe settle over her. "I didn't plan for this. I planned for everything, even losing. If I lost, and Equestria became yours, I would have followed every order. I don't…" Chrysalis shook her head. A hoof reached out to her, it was a guide, a life-raft. She held up her own and was pulled to her hooves by Princess Luna.
"My Queen." Luna bowed her head. "I wish to see the charter my sister speaks of. She seemed to imply you had restricted yourself, and your changelings." Lifting her head back up, she saw that Celestia herself was approaching now.
"Lulu, what did I tell you about pushing this?" Celestia leaned in and hugged her sister. "If anything had happened to you, I don't know where I would be." She pressed her cheek against Luna's.
"Princess Luna!" Chrysalis had been given enough time, by Celestia, to come up with a course of action. "The throne of Canterlot recognizes you as a protector of Equestria and asks if you would be willing to take up a new position, that will need to be passed into the constitution?" Her eyes gleamed with half-shed tears—the honor Luna had displayed made her feel even more, the heavy weight of rulership.
Celestia pulled back her wing and let her sister stand before the Queen.
"What position will that be?" Luna narrowed her eyes in suspicion at the changeling.
Chrysalis grinned, showing off her four prominent fangs, and propped her glasses up a bit higher. "I dub thee Knight of the Queen. Your role will be twofold. The first is to ensure all of Equestria is safe." She paused and looked at Luna meaningfully.
Luna's suspicion faded. She gave a little nod to this.
"And the second is to assist your sister in managing Equestria. It may not show, but I am terrible at dealing with ponies." Chrysalis buzzed her wings a little. "You understand what your duties will be in this?"
"Terrible at dealing with…" Luna shook her head. "I understand these duties, and as I swore already, if Equestria needs my help, in any way, I will give it. As for standing at my sister's side," Luna turned to Princess Celestia, "I think I could get used to that."
~~~~~+++++~~~~~
"Next wave, move!" Shining Armor's voice echoed over the field a moment before a deep thrumming sound started. Nearly one-hundred underlings buzzed their big wings, picking up the wingless soldier drones and heading off into the distance. "Cady, you know—"
"I am your Lieutenant, Captain Shining Armor." Cadance gave her husband a mock glare. "And the answer is still 'I am coming on this campaign, whether you like it or not. Between us we have one thing that will give every changeling an edge."
Shining grinned. "I know, Lieutenant Cadance, but you have to forgive me for wanting to protect you, too." He noticed the next wave of underlings was lumbering up, one was advancing on him. "You get to fly yourself, keep up." Without warning, Shining moved closer to Cadance and kissed her cheek.
The rush of love from the pair halted every changeling on the field, nearly two-hundred heads turned with happy smiles.
Shining spun around. "Get ready!" The sound of buzzing wings behind him was something he had trained for already. Shining Armor felt the green magic wrap around him, pulling him up to the belly of the hovering underling. "Thanks, Buzz." Lifting his voice, he looked across at the last wave that would be moving, and yelled, "Move!"
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So Luna was won. It is good to see she kept a level head, shows growth, you know?
Let's hope the love can stay overpowering the despair that will inevitably surround the Empire...
To Chrysalis: aren't you glad you're on the good guys side?
Keep going! ;)
Oh my goodness this is a strange yet compelling story! I love it. I can't wait for the next chapter, AND when you get to Starlight Glimmer. XD
Oooooh, nice, Luna actually won, but more so to see for herself what Chryssie would do. And her new position should be much, much more fulfilling, actually being of there to show the ponies that she is their protector.
... I think the scene in author's notes have me sugar shock. So much d'awwww.
To Luna: are you looking forward to your new position and having more opportunities to show ponies that you care for them?
Even though I plan to continue reading this story, I just have to state how incoherent and illogical the story is. I feel you need to make the character interactions more in character or at least plausible, currently it seems to be just checking off boxes, forcing characters to behave in ways that are out of character for the sake of progressing the story. Like why is Chrysalis ruling the country instead of say becoming a general or something. Why are ponies so accepting of a foreign power taking control overnight, Celestia basically sold them out to an unknown. Isn't Chrysalis' reasoning the same excuse military leaders use for coups that end up as dictatorships? And a million more questions that are basically ignored. The plot has so many possibilities, but the story isn't utilizing it to its full potential. It's like a head canon that only really makes sense to the writer himself.
7858216 I could go on and on about crazy plot-lines I have cooked up, or the difficulty in keeping characters perfectly to their show-characterizations in situations they have never encountered before, but I will spare you that.
I will point out that the major part of that big AU tag up top, is that Chrysalis was raised mostly as a pony, and not as a changeling. All her life she has seen the princesses lead, only her mother groomed her for leadership, and then her eyes were opened, the veil of innocence was yanked away and she saw that things were not fair, not safe, and not how they could be.
Chrysalis was always happy to help her friend, but when her plans change to taking over, she grooms him further to be her general.
Chryssie: Do you ever want to break the 4th wall in-story?
P.S. Real character question.
downvoted for too much predictability.
This story has nice premises, but requires the conflicts to have dramatic tension, the continued ease and speed at wich they are resolved are not fun for the read.er
7859127 Thanks for the feedback!
I like it. More please?
Shouldn't that be Chryssi?
7859484 Nope, they were there to see Celestia. The reason things transitioned so smoothly was because Celestia is left alone to run Equestria. Chrysalis know that while a hive needs a queen, every member is important, all the way down to the underlings.
I am enjoying this story, I luv how the queen and twilight are so much same when it come to books and studying,
Was that toy story/buzz light year reference?
8019864
Not intentionally.Err, I mean, yeah! Totally!That Author's Note scene was pure Dawww...