Chapter 210 - A Mutual Understanding
“You know, Anon, I wasn’t expecting to do any head banging to a song called ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’, but here we are. I was pleasantly surprised.” Chrysalis said, her eyes ever so focused on roads through the northern valley past Foal Mountain. Despite Celestia’s earlier comments back at Canterlot, Chrysalis seemed pretty chill about the actual drive to Manehatten.
“Trust me, nopony can resist that part… Except Princess Celestia apparently.” You looked back at Sunbutt, who was still just sitting there, patiently. Was she just nervous still? Was she internally angry about the cake? What was up with her? “Hey, are you alright?”
Celestia nodded “I am, I merely did not want to interfere with your bonding with Chrysalis.”
Chrysalis rolled her eyes and groaned, shaking her head. “Of course you’d say something like that, when the truth is that we simply weren’t including you. You could say something if you want, or did you forget we have to reach some level of understanding so we can trick this Chancellor Neighsay? I know how to take a mission seriously, do you?”
Celestia actually seemed to take some offense to that remark, as if it actually insulted her that she couldn’t take something like this seriously. Or perhaps, less seriously than Chrysalis. “I believe we can do fine if we stop making such backhoofed remarks towards one another. As I said, I felt I should let you and Anon enjoy each other’s time. It seems to make you both happy, which in turns makes the situation less tense. I would hope, in that sense, it’d mean you would feel less friction around me when the time comes.”
Wut? “Wait, that doesn’t make any sense. Like, the part where you and Chrysalis are supposed to get along I mean. Neighsay is an asshole and is going to try to make you both pissed off, and as great as me getting to actually have fun with Chrysalis is, you should be hanging out with us so you do not get as pissed off as he's gonna try to make you, instead of being ‘that guy’.” Shit, as fun as it was to connect with Chrysalis, it would all be for nothing if this meeting with Neighsay went sour.
“‘That guy?’ What does that mean?” Celestia raised an inquisitive eyebrow, confused by your words.
“As in, the pony who just kinda sits in the back while everypony has fun. You could have said something during that entire song, or joined along with us, or something. But you kind have just been sitting there doing nothing.” You explained to her. You didn’t like the fact that she wasn’t participating, considering what was ahead of all of you. You couldn’t shake the feeling she had some animosity towards Chrysalis. “Chrysalis said she’s willing to play along, but that’s gonna require effort from you too. You actually have to try to get along with her.”
“I don’t know what made you think I wasn’t willing to do that. As I said, I was letting you both bond with each other. We have plenty of time to practice for Neighsay. I’d like to think we’re both professionals in this matter, and that our goals are enough incentive for us not to be at each others’ throats.” Celestia said. “I realized I misspoke before. it is not hard to realize that I’m also trying to understand the two of you as well. The more I understand, the easier it’ll be for me to interact and integrate with the dynamic you both have.”
Oh… Wut? “Er, I… Okay. I guess that makes sense. So then, why don’t you give it a try then? You don’t mind, do you, Chrysalis?”
“That’s the whole point, isn’t it? I can put my personal grudges aside for a little girl time.” Chrysalis says rather calmly, no irritation in her tone.
“I’m glad, I was worried you were still upset.” You said to her.
“I’ll pretend I didn’t hear that. I can admit I have a few issues, Anon, but I’m not ‘upset’. Celestia is of royalty, same as I, and if a truce is needed to get her out of my face forever then fine, I’ll play along. So then, Celestia, choose a topic, give me something I can work with.” Chrysalis said as she looked back at her for a moment before putting her eyes back on the dirt road.
“A topic? Hm, well, to be honest, I’ve been so busy with so many things, anything I’d have would be rather boring to talk about. What about you, Anon? Have anything that might spark both our minds?” Celestia said as she laid back on her seat, making herself more comfortable.
“Uhhh, well, let’s see.” Hm, a topic both Chrysalis and Celestia could enjoy? Well, Chrysalis likes human stuff, and perhaps Celestia could get a little more invested in it. Nah, that’d never work, that’d cause a conflict for sure. Maybe just getting them to more closely understand each other would be a good start. “How about you both talk about what’d you do if you were in each other’s places?”
“What, if I pretended to be her? Do I even have to say it?” Chrysalis said, destroying Equestria obviously being the thing on her mind. At least you were thinking that.
“I think he means what we’d do if we were in each other’s places, with the expected responsibilities that come along with it.” Celestia said, putting a little more thought into it as she tapped her hoof under her chin. “Yes, this could be fun, Chrysalis. We’d just need to make sure none of our answers are upsetting to one another.”
Chrysalis groans, her tone becoming a little sharp and patronizing. “Oh, sure, that does sound like a good topic for the both of us, doesn’t it? I can be you, and try to rule Equestria properly, and you can be me, sulking in my manor in the forest with no kingdom to rule whatsoever.”
Celestia recoiled a bit from that, frowning. “Yes, I suppose I didn’t think of it like that. Well, ahrm, what if I thought of what I’d do before that incident, as an evil queen of a hive?”
“What? Before ‘that’ incident? Are you just trying to insult me whenever you can?” Chrysalis took her eyes off the road, looking back at her, her anger slowly starting to build as Celestia picks at her patience.
Celestia returned a nervous smile, trying to calm her. “No, I just meant-”
But you cut her off. Because that somewhat annoyed you too, and so if she wanted to mention the hive, then you’d mention… “Well, if that’s how you wanna do it, Celestia, that’s cool. Chrysalis could explain what she would have done with Luna one thousand years back.”
Both Celestia and Chrysalis responded with confusion. “What?”
“Yeah, you wanna talk about what you’d do with a hive? Well, wouldn’t it be interesting to hear what Chrysalis would have done with Luna? Or should I say Nightmare Moon?” You looked back at Celestia with an angry stare. You could swear she was trying to passively-aggressively piss Chrysalis off. “That’s fair, isn’t it? If you both want to understand each other, then that sounds like a good place to start.”
Chrysalis stops the car for a moment, sitting there silently as she thinks.
Celestia was silent as well, at first she seemed both frustrated and upset about the situation. Whether she was being passive aggressive or not, she also seemed to be doing her best with the situation itself. It was weird, you didn’t know how serious either of them were taking this. Hell, perhaps you should be regretting your own suggestion, as that would only serve to break them apart more than bring them together.
“Fine, I have some knowledge of how that went about, so I’ll go first. If I was Celestia at that time, I’d have listened to Princess Luna, and done everything in my power to make her more comfortable. However, don’t get the wrong idea, this wouldn’t be for her benefit. Having to deal with a threatening force and halving my ruling power over such a vast country like Equestria is less ideal than sharing my power with a sister who only handles the going ons of the night.” Chrysalis didn’t even look back at Celestia, she only began to drive again, keeping her emotions in check. “If you have any comments on that, now is the time to share them.”
Ah shit, you looked back at Celestia to see if she was annoyed, or even angry about that statement. But no, she was as serene and calm as ever.
“Hm, I can’t find any fault in that reasoning. I know the mistakes I committed in the past. I wouldn’t have been so disingenuous with my sister, but I understand I shouldn’t have been so arrogant, so sure that her grievances were a mere inconvenience.” Celestia said, remaining calm ,yet a little heartbroken as she spoke.
Okay, that went better than you expected so far. “So you’re not upset or anything?”
Chrysalis let out a scoff. “Why should she be? She should understand how selfish she really is. She’s no better than I am. The only difference is that I don’t hide it, I don’t need to.”
It was then Celestia raised an eyebrow, as that seemed to strike a chord. “Arrogant as I may have been, or perhaps even be. I don’t believe I’m as selfish as you make me out to be.”
Hmph, she doesn’t think that, does she? Maybe this was even more of a risk, but if Celestia wasn’t gonna piss off Chrysalis, accidental or otherwise, she needed to be knocked down a few pegs. “Celestia, allow me to expand on a conversation we once had before. In fact, let me just fucking say it. You literally let your galas go out of control, and even on the threat of a pony being thrown into another dimension, you literally do nothing. And you know why? It's because your galas are boring and the only fun you get from them is when they go wrong.” You could see it in her eyes, Celestia looked quite shocked from your words, as if she knew they were the truth.
“Oh, I felt that. Figuratively, and even literally. Where did this all come from, Anon?” Chrysalis asked, a pleased yet insidious smile on her face as she even seemed to contemplate giving you some physical affection.
“I know this doesn’t sound like I’m trying to make things work. But if you both are really gonna work together on this, then we need to get your worst qualities out in the open. Even if you enjoy bringing that out yourself, Chrysalis. I can’t just sit down and say nothing, there’s a lot riding on this. And that means, Celestia, that you need to get over yourself, stop being passive aggressive, stop being a bitch, and actually try to be Chrysalis’s friend. Like, you think you’re this paragon of friendship and shit, but you can be even shittier than Discord sometimes. I get called high and mighty all the time, and just being around you, I think I understand how Sweetie Belle feels sometimes, because I think what she sees in me is what I see in you. So just fucking stop, and understand this is how Chrysalis is, because the fact you’re even in this car with your head still on your neck, I think, shows how much Chrysalis is willing to deal with your bullshit despite the fact you took her kingdom from her. Do you get it? Do you understand now?” You were being serious. This was never going to work if Celestia persisted in pushing Chrysalis’s buttons or acting like she’s above the both of you. Both would not be tolerated.
Both Chrysalis and Celestia went silent. Chrysalis was impressed, more impressed than she ever was with you before, or just in the longest of whiles. Celestia was just stunned, unmoving, her face blank, it almost looked like she had become a statue. You thought about calling out to her, to see if she’d respond. But she closed her eyes, and did her best to relieve her tense thoughts with a long sigh. “Hm, I remember that, I didn’t even make a real attempt to stop it, I just let Fluttershy handle things, even when it was apparent that things were getting out of hoof. Chrysalis, I must ask, do you really think we can reach some sort of solidarity in this endeavor?”
“Tch, after that? I think I finally care about not letting our little ‘Hero colt’ down. Though, as I have mentioned before, as much as I hate it, I am willing to do this if it’ll get you out of my mane. Anon is right, Princess, as much as I loathe you, the prize awaiting me at the end of all this is too important to me. So that just leaves you, are you truly willing to just stop your nonsense and actually attempt to not piss me off?” Chrysalis asked, as she pointed forward. “Because Manehatten is right there, and I don’t want to hear you whine about my driving from within the city. I already decided to refrain from any theatrics, as entertaining as that would have been.”
“I can, I just needed things put into perspective, it seems. In fact, it would not upset you if I just decided to answer my part of the hypothetical, would it?” Celestia asked, once again becoming her usual calm and cool self.
“Does the word ‘reform’ come up in any part of your answer?” Chrysalis asked, slowing her speed as she began to actually drive into the city limits. Surprisingly, despite some of the ponies being fearful, others seemed to be staring in awe. Though, with Chrysalis driving as slow as she was now, and even adhering to the way the chariots, carts, and carriages move about the city.
“Actually, no. If I was the queen of the changelings, then it’d be understood that I’d be evil. You, more than Anon, know what my sister and I were like when we were younger. We not only had the elements, and even Starswirl at our side, but we also did not tolerate villainy as much as we do now. Truthfully, we were unstoppable back then. I mean no offense, but you, nor Discord, Sombra, and even Lord Tirek were truly capable of stopping us. That being said, this hypothetical could be explained as thus: As a changeling queen, I’d have handled things just as I did during the earlier days of my rulership. Directly, only without any kind of mercy, such as sealing our enemies away. I'd just make them... Gone.” Celestia said, her tone almost matching the sinister tones of Chrysalis when she gets one of her evil ideas.
“Seriously? You would have ended ponies just like that?” You asked, skeptical of her words. It didn’t seem like something she’d do, or even say. Although, if she came to really understand what you had scolded her about, then maybe she actually did understand.
“I would have trained my entire hive to do that. Destroy, rather than banish, my enemies. And then harvest the townsponies like a harvest in Sweet Apple Acres. Any hesitancy or unneeded theatrics would not be shown from me, and would be the end of any changeling who dares to dawdle in my presence.” Celestia ends her words on a cruel note. She then clears her throat, and beams a sunny smile. “Of course, this is a hypothetical. I hope it meets your standards. Both of your standards.”
“I… Uh, yeah, was not expecting that. Um, Chrysalis, what do you think?” You asked, hoping no part of that insulted her.
Chrysalis paused, then let out a light chuckle. “I think it was over done, but that certainly is a start. Of course, that can be you trying to get on my good side. Considering what is ahead of us, that isn’t good enough. So, how about this then? Giant bugs, or humans? Who would you root for in a giant space war? Try not to think too hard about why I’d ask that question or what it means, just answer it.”
Celestia actually let out a near childish giggle to that question. “Oh, you must be talking about that documentary Twilight had written to me about. I’d rather not make a choice without having watched it myself, but given Anon is with us, I’ll just say humans. Oh, Twilight had mentioned vague details about some sort of ‘brain bug’. In fact, her hoofwriting on the mere mention of it was very shaky compared to the rest of her letters on it. I have to admit, I feel like I missed a good moment of seeing my old student nearly jump out of her own skin.”
“Okay, you can stop. Do you really expect me to believe you’d want to see Twilight Sparkle scared out of her mind?” Chrysalis asked, in disbelief. She then suddenly became angry as she slammed her hoof on the horn of the car. “Get out of the way! Agh, the ponies of this city have no sense of preservation whatsoever! And I can’t even take advantage of that! This sucks!”
“As Anon explained, I usually wish for my galas and other such events to go awry. As long as it doesn’t leave any permanent trauma, or at least, none she can’t get over, And that it isn’t over anything serious, then seeing Twilight have one of her freakouts is actually quite entertaining." Celestia said with a girlish giggle. “I was her teacher. I can assure you that I kept her on the edge of her hooves at many points of her tutelage”
“Well, well, color me impressed. I think we can make something work, Celestia, if only for this moment.” Chrysalis said, smirking, unexpectedly impressed with Celestia’s words.
“And now that I better understand your mindset, not only do I too think we can work together better on this, but we can even give Neighsay a bit of a shock. Nothing too bad, mind you, just for a bit of a laugh, and perhaps at least one thing we can share with each other.” Celestia said, smirking back at her.
Chrysalis shook her head as she raised her hoof and slowly waved it. “We can do that, but don’t think that we’ll actually be sharing anything. We are getting this done, you are getting Shining Armor off my back, and I’m going to take some well deserved beauty sleep after all this.”
You were silent at this point. You were smiling on the inside, happy to see Chrysalis and Celestia finally come to some sort of understanding. You did it, Anon. For once, you were the one knocking some sense into someone’s skull, and you didn’t even need to bash it in with your invincible head. It was time, time to see Neighsay, and show him what you all were made of.
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I get a feeling you're tempting Murphy, Anon...
Anon ranting at Celestia...
Those who live in glass houses...
10950900
Anon's house is owned by Discord not Celestia, if its made of glass, its uncharacteristically strong glass that will likely cause the completely solid house next door to shatter instead if a rock is thrown at it.
Especially since Discord likes to one up Celestia all the time as well.
10951403
Actually, as of a few chapters back, Jimmy owns the house. Though that will get flipped back through another offscreen moment
10951403
I don't know if you're attempting to be clever or not so I'm not even going to try and figure it out.
10951403
Yeah, glass made by Discord probably has super rubber qualities to it. Like Luffy from One Piece.
10951418
Oh right. Anon and Discord are technically homeless at the moment. Well as homeless as a reality warped can be.
Actually this chapter reminded me of something. What ever happened to the Changelings that got banished to Tartarus?
10950900
You have a point but it’s kinda lessened when Anon himself knows they both have the same bad traits. At least give him the credit of being self-aware of some of his flaws.
10954838
Retconned into never existing.
10954843
This. Anon at this point is fully aware of his past fuckups and has been more than called out for them. Celestia has lived for a long ass time and gets away with her shit
10951418
I wonder how many people got that I was being figurative about the house thing in the same way the "Celestia owns the metaphorical house" thing, and how many people were just being cheeky.
other's?
Is that supposed to be a question or are 'is' and 'it' swapped?
passive-aggressively?
Unnecessary space.
Perhaps add a comma behind 'stupid'?
10955112
Yes. ;)
I thought it was humorous.
10954983
Okay, wasn’t sure if that was the case or if they brought them back and integrated them into the good changeling hive.
10955792
thank you once again.
as for the stuipid and comma thing. Normally, that would be the case, but Anon is using stupid as an adjective here.
overdone?
tutelage.”
I like Chryssi and Celly working together to defeat Neighsay similarly to when Chrysalis and Gertrude worked together. Back then they synchronized together confusing Anon, and now we are getting this. Just some fun using overpowered characters to destroy an unlikeable one.
Wow, holy shit that’s good.
oof
I don’t see any passive aggressiveness, only maybe the tiniest little bit of possible sarcasm when provoked A LOT! and she snuffs that out quickly, Anon WTF?