For the Good of Equestria: Shadows

by brokenimage321

9: Queen Chrysalis

Not-Cadance tries to play innocent, but it quickly becomes obvious that she's the impostor. She grins, and, in a flash of green light, reveals herself to be a Changeling--and, not just any changeling, but a tall, shapely, Alicorn-like Changeling Queen.

Celestia is initially shocked--"Didn't we kill you?"--but, before she can even ask the question, the sky goes dark. Outside, thousands--hundreds of thousands--millions of Changelings swarm Canterlot, in a scene out of a nightmare. Not-Cadance laughs, introduces herself as Queen Chrysalis, and orders the assembled ponies to submit before the might of the swarm.

And then, Celestia steps forward, her horn already glowing. Celestia challenges Chrysalis, and, though Chrysalis is surprised and frightened by this unexpected resistance, she accepts. Celestia fires a beam at her, she fires back, and they initiate a beam-struggle. Celestia is more powerful than her--she can feel it--and Celestia begins to push her back. However, just as she's about to destroy Chrysalis, Celestia catches a glimpse of Twilight out of the corner of her eye, and, for just a moment, is overwhelmed by fears for her safety. Chryslais notices the distraction, and, with a mighty effort, defeats Celestia and knocks her to the ground.

Ponies begin screaming and scattering in all directions. In the midst of the chaos, Chrysalis steps forward and, with a grin, is about to finish Celestia off--however, the Palace Guard, along with several of her Students, surrounds her and protects her. Someone helps her to her feet and they hurry off to a side-chamber, where they lock and bar the door.

Celestia staggers to her hooves and looks around. Outside, she can see more and more Changelings arriving, already in open battle with the Guard, rounding up screaming ponies, and beginning to build nests and hives on every flat surface. The sight of it all makes her sick, and steels her determination. She turns to the assembled ponies--a few guards, a monster hunter or two, and, somehow, Princess Luna--and puts each of them through the question ritual to confirm their identity (i.e., she asks them a question, then asks them to ask her a question). When Celestia gets to Luna, she, obviously frightened, blurts out "The last words you said to me were 'Think of your daughter.' " Celestia immediately knows that she's referring to her transformation into Nightmare Moon, and, shaken, turns back to the others.

Celestia holds an impromptu council of war. She gives everyone except Luna an assignment, then orders them out of the room to go carry them out. The general plan is to protect as many ponies as they can, evacuate as many as possible, and only strike back against the Changelings if they can catch them off-guard or in an especially vulnerable position. When they've all left, Celestia turns to Luna, who is now positively shaking.

Luna reveals that Nightmare Moon is not as banished as she might think: she is still locked within the recesses of Luna's mind, and, ever since her return, Luna has been struggling to keep her at bay. And now, Nightmare Moon, seeing the chaos, is frantically trying to claw her way out. Luna admits that Nightmare Moon could, almost certainly, help with the Changelings--but isn't sure if she will ever relinquish control again.

Celestia hesitates, but tells her that, if she thinks that this is what she has to do, she has her permission to allow Nightmare Moon out of her cage. Luna, with a bitter laugh, admits that it might not be her decision anymore. She bids Celestia a fond farewell, then begins the transformation.

With a cloud of dark smoke and the echoing of high, cruel laughter, Luna transforms into Nightmare Moon. As soon as the transformation is complete, Nightmare Moon pounces on Celestia, pinning her down. Nightmare Moon tells her that she's a fool; what's to stop her from killing Celestia right now, and taking the throne for herself? Celestia pleads with her, telling her that, somewhere, deep down, she is still Luna--and Luna loves Equestria beyond words. If they have to fight, so be it--but the two of them have to protect Equestria first.

Nightmare Moon grins wickedly, and is about to respond--but, suddenly, she hesitates, looks down for a moment, and then, slowly, backs away. Wordlessly, she walks to one of the big bay windows and throws it open, filing the room with the buzzing sound of thousands of Changeling wings. On the threshold, she pauses, and turns back. "She wants me to tell you," Nightmare Moon says quietly, "that, if we fight, and you have to--" she swallows nervously "--that she won't blame you for it."

Celestia, numb, nods.

Nightmare Moon turns back to the open window. "Thou monsters of the dark!" she roars to the swarm, "Bow to the Queen of Fear!" With an evil cackle, she dives, head-first, into the fray.

Celestia climbs to her hooves, pokes her head out of the room, then goes looking for Chrysalis. As she walks, she starts to think to herself how much damage Chrysalis has caused--how many ponies she's hurt--all the senseless violence she's caused--and, once again, begins to whip herself into a rage. Slowly, her mane begins to turn to fire, and the heat around her grows more and more intense, until, as she walks, she is cracking stone, burning rugs and tapestries, and melting her very royal regalia.

Celestia finds Chrysalis in the old throne room. As soon as Chrysalis spots her, her eyes grow wide, and she frantically backpedals. Celestia stalks after her--but, too late, sees the manic glee in her eyes.

At that moment, with a mighty buzzing of wings, Changelings burst through the windows and swarm Celestia. Many of them die instantly, roasted by the heat, and many more are crushed under the weight of their fellows, but Celestia is unable to stand against the tide of Changeling bodies. She collapses, then blacks out, just as Chrysalis, grinning wickedly, walks towards her...

Celestia wakes, hanging upside-down, in a fluid-filled Changeling cocoon. She feels weak and helpless, and, below her, she can see Chrysalis watching her intently, with a brain-dead Shining Armor standing in the corner. Celestia rages against her prison, but to no effect--and Chrysalis cackles as she watches her struggle.

Celestia asks her who she is--"Didn't we kill you?"--and Chrysalis snarls.

"That was my mother," she spits acidly.

Chrysalis begins to tell her story. She was a newly-hatched Oriax Queen when the Monster Hunters came, and she was smuggled out of the Hive just before the lines broke. However, even an infant Queen is imbued with the ancestral memories of her mothers and grandmothers, all the way back to the very beginning of Changelings, and she grew up with an intense hatred for the mere ponies that took her hive away from her.

But, more than that--Celestia had taken away the only thing that made them powerful. Oriax Changelings are unique and special in a number of ways--they are excellent infiltrators, and, with their horns and wings, can impersonate any pony they want, regardless of tribe. Both of these traits are due to the fact that they had captured Princess Cadance, who generations of Queens had leached power from. Changelings use positive emotions to fuel their magic; having the very princess of love in their midst allowed them to use her as an infinite wellspring of magical power.

But this exchange of power was not entirely one-sided: "I saw her dreams," Chrysalis hisses. Chrysalis was in the egg at the same time Cadance was in the cocoon, and, like with all her mothers before her, their minds touched. Chrysalis gained immense power, as well as an intimate knowledge of pony culture, history, and language (in particular, an impeccable knowledge of Celestia and her habits) while Cadance gained some sense of the Changeling's ancestral mind. This is why Cadance was able to gain her cutie mark of the Crystal Heart: she saw it in the Changeling Dreams while the Heart itself was still missing. And this is why Cadance is able to fit in and make people love her like she does--she has bits and pieces of hundreds of thousands of ponies inside her mind, by virtue of the Dreams.

Then, Chrysalis drops the bombshell: she is dying. Changelings don't live long, by pony standards: regular Changeling "drones" live to about four years old, and Queens no more than about twenty. Thus, in Changeling terms, Chrysalis is an ancient mare, and about to die. However, her Hive has no permanent home, no food supply, and lacks the magic that made them so powerful. Thus, as her last, great act, Chrysalis is going to give them all three: by recapturing Cadance and conquering the city of Canterlot.

Celestia asks her what happened to the other Changeling hives--the ones that mysteriously disappeared--and Chrysalis grins. "They were in the way," she says, "and Changeling protein is good enough for laying eggs, is it not?" (i.e., Chrysalis needed extra protein to breed an army of Changelings, and destroyed the other hives to get it). Celestia is disgusted.

Chrysalis quickly becomes bored of taunting Celestia and wanders off to do something else (perhaps, to start laying eggs in the throne room?). Celestia forces herself to calm down, then to think: she needs to find a way out of this, needs a way to ensure Cadance and Twilight are safe...

In the middle of her reflections, the doors to the throne room fly open. In runs Twilight and her friends, followed closely by Cadance. The friends manage to hold off the Changelings while Cadance makes a beeline for Shining Armor. Perhaps with the help of Celestia, who coordinates their efforts from her vantage point on the ceiling, Twilight & Co. are able to protect Cadance long enough for her to break Chrysalis's hold on Shining Armor, and then, with the force of their love, create the love-shield. As it explodes outward, it passes through Celestia, leaving behind a wonderful feeling she hasn't quite felt before; when it passes through Chrysalis, Celestia sees a look of deepest pleasure on her face before she suddenly disintegrates.

The Changelings are either banished or outright destroyed by the love-shield. The ponies manage to get Celestia out of her cocoon, and, as soon as she can stand again, Celestia throws herself into activity. She coordinates the survivors to begin the cleanup, patching up wounds, burning corpses, and so on. Hours later, they find an unconscious, badly wounded Luna, surrounded by thousands of dead and screaming Changelings; when she wakes, she has little memory of what happened, but tells Celestia that "she" won't be a problem anymore--at least, not for a long while.

It is only around sunset, as things are starting to calm down, that Celestia allows herself time to think. They got very lucky today; despite her own best efforts, Queen Chrysalis almost won. It was only due to the right ponies, in the right place, at the right time, that they even had a chance. If only she, herself, had tried a little harder--

Before Celestia can think herself too deep into a hole, there's a knock at her door, and Cadance pokes her head in. She shyly asks her aunt if they might still hold the wedding. The question infuriates Celestia--"How dare you talk about celebrating when there's been so much pain?"--but Cadance quickly cuts her off. She admits that this might not be the best time, not with so much suffering, but she thinks that, perhaps, a little joy might help to take everypony's mind off things. That, perhaps, a few smiles might help more than bandages. Celestia's mouth drops open; as much as she wants to deny it, she has to admit that Cadance has a point, and, somewhat reluctantly, gives her the go-ahead.

The wedding, such as it is, is beautiful. Luna, though badly wounded, is able to make it, as is Twilight and her friends. Celestia enjoys herself for a few minutes, but soon, is unable to see anything other than the empty chairs, and the shattered glass windows, and the bloodstains on the walls--that is, despite Cadance's attempt to make everyone happy, Celestia cannot forget the suffering. She cannot forget how close they all came to losing everything.

Celestia excuses herself, then goes to her bedchambers, where she lies down and begins to cry. She did everything she could--and yet, it wasn't enough. Chrysalis almost won, almost took everything she cared about, and there was nothing she could do about it. As much as she tries to convince herself and everyone else otherwise, she is a failure, and, even when the chips were down, she could do nothing to save those she loved.

Soon, Celestia hears her door creak open, and she looks up to see Twilight Sparkle (and her friends?) standing there. Twilight, unbidden, creeps up to Celestia and gives her a hug. This makes Celestia cry even harder, and confess how much she hates herself for her failures. Twilight listens attentively, but, when she's finished, gives her another hug. Twilight admits that she feels the same way, sometimes--that, sometimes, she hates herself for not getting a perfect test score, or for missing a deadline, or for hurting somepony's feelings. It's not exactly the same, she admits, but she knows at least a little of what Celestia is going through. And, though it doesn't necessarily make everything better, the best way to get out of that dark place is to try and learn from it. Unexpected things, things you can't prepare for, happen all the time--so, the only thing to do is to try and prepare for the next time it's going to happen.

Celestia sniffles, and asks where she heard that. Twilight admits that it's actually her own philosophy--a philosophy she's picked up from sending so many Friendship Reports.

With Twilight's encouragement, Celestia re-emerges from her bedroom and joins the wedding festivities. At first, she stays off to the side, but gradually joins in.

An hour or two later, right as she's in the middle of a fast-paced dance, Celestia has a revelation. She looks up, and sees how happy everyone is, and swallows, hard. She realizes that everyone is here, and everyone is happy, because of love. Celestia has worked hard to keep everyone safe, and to keep Equestria running, but one thing she's never been very good at is caring for the individual. Cadance is great at that, and everyone loves her for it, while Twilight is very good at it too--or, at least, is slowly improving, by virtue of her Friendship Reports. Celestia realizes that she needs to do better--after all, love is what makes life worth living. Despite her shortcomings, she's fairly good at keeping ponies safe--today being no exception, if she's honest with herself--but, without something to live for, can that really be called living at all?

Celestia spends a moment watching Twilight and her friends, Twilight, as always, just flailing her limbs rather than properly dancing. Celestia feels a faint stirring in her heart; Twilight has tried so hard to please her, and she has, more often than not, been distant, if not outright cruel, in return. She resolves, in particular, to make a little room in her heart for her favorite Student.

Celestia, talking to her listeners, tells them that, though caring about the individual is still something she struggles with, that was the night that everything began to change--the night that, for the first time in centuries, she could say that felt truly happy.