Chapter Eight - The Hive Blinded Me With Science
"It's very… pretty," said Celestia after a moment. She watched a squad of changelings fly past, execute a turn in perfect formation, and then begin to work industriously on… some sort of task on the far side of the chamber. She did her best to hide a shudder. There was something about the synchronization of their movements that was… unsettling.
"But it's not beautiful," Ka-klack said with a small, almost sad, smile.
"Well, it's not that, I-I just… your hive is…" Celestia stomped nervously at the ground a few times. "It's a lot different than what I'm used to," she said finally. "You have a very… organic living area here."
"Yes, especially compared to pony cities. All those straight lines and hard surfaces? I can still remember how disgusted I was the first time I saw one." Ka-klack looked over at her, smirking.
"And yet, you managed to get over your disgust to the point where you decided to invade and claim them as your own." Celestia returned his smirk, and then her expression softened into a smile. "It is beautiful, Ka-klack, even if it is different. I'm sure Luna will think so too."
"Thank you," said Ka-klack, a female voice echoing behind his words.
"That's an awfully impressive structure," noted Shining Armor, waving a hoof at the spire with its scarab-shaped doors in the center of the cavern. "Thick, heavy doors, several squads of guards out front… would that be…?"
"Queen Chrysalis's throne room," Ka-klack confirmed with a nod of his head. "We, ah, won't be going in there on this trip."
"The Queen values her privacy, huh?" asked Shining Armor with a raised eyebrow, and Ka-klack gave a little shudder.
"That's one way to put," he said, looking off to the side. "No changeling ever made that mistake again."
"So, you seem very disciplined here," said Shining Armor after a moment, trying to change the subject. "I'm very impressed by the formations your squads here move in. It reminds me of my days training in the Royal Guard. I noticed the same thing with the changelings during the, ah, invasion."
"Oh, you're talking about those groups flying around?" Ka-klack waved out at the open cavern. "Those aren't changelings, they're just drones."
He looked back at the ponies who were giving him various degrees of quizzical looks. "I'm really bad at this, aren't I? Sorry. I've done a lot of different jobs over the years while infiltrating cities, but I've never been a tour guide. I've also never had to show anyone around the hive before…"
"You're doing a wonderful job, Ka-klack," Celestia said with a brilliant smile.
"It's not like being a tour guide in one of Equestria's cities would have helped you anyway," Nightmare Moon smirked. "'This is our town, it's full of sunshine and brightness because we all worship the sun and brightness and daylight and blah blah blah!'"
"'Welcome to Nightmare Moon's Equestria,'" growled Celestia in a low monotone voice. "'Everything is dark and gloomy because we're just soooo angsty and full of sorrow that all we want to do is sit around writing bad, depressing poetry about the night and darkness and night time and how dark everything is.'"
"How dare you talk about my poetry that way!" Nightmare reared up, her horn almost scraping the low tunnel ceiling, and then she smashed her hoofs to the ground. "You never liked anything I did, even when I was just trying to express my feelings!"
"You wrote a twenty page poem about hurling me into my own sun and then collapsing it into a black hole!"
"It was art! You just didn't understand it!"
"Ahem." Both alicorns turned to find Ka-klack gazing at them disapprovingly, one eyebrow arched. "If you're done squabbling, can we continue? This was somewhat of an urgent manner, I thought."
Celestia and Nightmare Moon glared at each other, cheeks puffed out, then turned away with matching snorts.
"She started it," muttered Celestia petulantly.
"Yes, because I'm the one who ignored my sister a thousand years ago," shot back Nightmare Moon.
"Well, I'm ending it," declared Ka-klack firmly, shooing them all ahead of himself.
"I kind of feel bad for those orphans," chuckled Shining Armor softly to Ka-klack, watching the alicorns pout as they walked along.
"Fun is one thing, but I will not tolerate nonsense," he replied, head held high.
"Now, back to what we were talking about…" Ka-klack waved a hoof out at the cavern as several small swarms of changelings flew past. "Most of the changelings you can see here are just mindless drones. Whenever we die, our… well, souls, I guess, just wait in the hivemind until a new body is ready for us.
"We can also hatch the bodies early. They won't have minds, but we can control them through the hivemind. One changeling can control a multitude of drones, and perform a variety of complex tasks. I mean, I can't take over a dozen drones and have each of them writing a different novel, but I could, say, control them in combat."
"Fascinating…" mused Nightmare, looking around the cavern with an unexpectedly impressed expression on her face. "I can do something similar, splitting myself into several clones. Though, I have trouble with more than a hoofful at once."
"It's impressive you can do it at all," Ka-klack said graciously. "We've always believed that some function of our hivemind is what allows us to split our thoughts so effectively. You must have quite the powerful mind to handle something like that."
Nightmare Moon smirked, holding her head high and preening. She looked out at the cavern with a much more appreciative eye, and finally turned back to Ka-klack.
"I may have actually underestimated you changelings," she said cheerfully. "Perhaps I won't kill you all. Tell me, how would you feel about acting as shock troopers in another invasion of Canterlot?"
"Well, actually…"
Ka-klack caught Celestia's eye, and took a step back. "You know, we don't really—"
Now he caught Nightmare Moon's eye again, and shrank back once more. "Um… can I pass on that question?"
The Nightmare glared at him for a long moment, and then suddenly there was another Nightmare Moon glaring at him from a distance of three inches, having extruded a copy of herself from a shadow on the wall.
"I will table the question… for now," the clone hissed, then slowly sank back into the shadow.
"Ah-hahaha!" Ka-klack chuckled nervously, taking a step away from the wall and wiping at his forehead with a hoof while Nightmare Moon smiled pointedly at him. "That is... definitely impressive. And also much more terrifying than anything we do."
He took a few more steps away from the Nightmare before resuming his escort through the hive.
"In any case… the drones provide a much needed multiplication of changeling power for us. Just maintaining the hive, which takes several dozen drones, can be handled by just three or four changelings. It's also what lets us spread ourselves so widely across Equestria on all the various espiona—er, friendship building excursions we are constantly running. After all, if we could only rely on the five hundred of us, we'd barely get anything done!"
"Five… hundred?" Shining Armor gaped at him. "There's only five hundred changelings?! And you conquered Canterlot?!"
"Well, give or take. As for Canterlot, we had a good plan, and Queen Chrysalis had personally infiltrated the highest ranks of your royalty. When you throw in a few hundred changelings controlling a few dozen drones—drones that can move in perfect coordination, obey orders without question, and don't fear death or injury—things are a bit more balanced." He shrugged. "Really, we had enough of an advantage that even with Twilight's meddling we came within an inch of winning."
Celestia was able to keep her face calm, but it was difficult. Five hundred changelings, she thought numbly. Just five hundred of them, and they managed to cause so much chaos, become so threatening. Sure, there's Tirek, Discord and Sombra, and Nightmare Moon… they did much the same. But they didn't build cities, entire industries dedicated to bringing Equestria to its knees. Although now that they're on our side—at least theoretically—all that productivity is at our disposal. Why didn't I think of reaching out to them before?
A memory came to mind, of hanging upside-down in her own throne room while encased in a slime-filled cocoon. Oh, right.
"So you're telling me that if you displease me, I need only eliminate five hundred of you?" Nightmare Moon grinned. "Well, that will make things much easier for me. Try to keep that in mind as we build our alliance."
"I'm not endorsing anything she just said, but that does seem like somewhat of a weakness," said Shining Armor, looking towards Ka-klack. "Is that really something you were supposed to tell us?"
"Uh…"
"No, it wasn't," snarled a passing Chrysalis.
"And yes, he is going to be punished for it," added another one as Ka-klack's head drooped..
"Please don't be too harsh." Not knowing what else to do, Celestia directed her plea at Ka-klack himself. "If we're allies now, then your weaknesses are our weaknesses. And we can use our strengths to compensate for those weaknesses, as you can for ours."
"Hmph." Ka-klack frowned at her, eyes narrowed. "I'll… consider it. But watch your mouth, Ka-klack." Chrysalis jabbed a hoof at him for emphasis, meaning that after he blinked a few times and took control of his body again he found his own hoof pointing at his face.
"Did I just threaten myself?" he wondered.
The atmosphere of the tunnel changed as they moved further into the hive. Changelings, of course, continued to walk past, going about their duties. The green lighting was still there, omnipresent as it was throughout the hive, but rather than shining from bright orbs of light it existed as more of a diffuse glow that hung in the air. With the darkening of whatever mysterious material the tunnel was made out of, the mood should have been oppressive. Which it was, but there was also an air of something that was almost reverent.
"This is what you'd probably call the 'academic' wing of the hive," said Ka-klack with a little wave of his hoof as they walked. "This is where we have the library, the hall of records, the museum… and of course it's where we store all the artifacts that we're here to see.
"The other wings house various other facilities the hive uses. The northwest wing is where the torture chambers are located—um, I mean, the… friendship-making chambers. And the south wing has all the rooms where we plan and train for invasions—um, where we plan… friend-making parties—"
"Ka-klack," said Celestia gently, "Maybe it's better if you just… not tell us what goes on in the rest of the hive? How about this, we can come back in a year or two, after you've all had a chance to get acclimated to life in Equestria, and then you can give us a tour."
Ka-klack opened his mouth. "Well, actually, right now we're building—"
DO NOT TELL HER ABOUT THE NEW HIVE UNDER HER CASTLE! a hundred voices chorused in his head at once, one very emphatic voice echoing with dual tones, and he winced.
Closing his mouth, Ka-klack decided to just stick with nodding. Safer that way.
"I'm definitely starting to come around on you changelings," declared Nightmare Moon. "I mean, you're black, you're evil, you want to conquer Equestria—what's not to love? As a bonus, I don't have to hear any of that annoying talk about 'friendship' and 'kindness' that ponies are always going on about—"
"Ohmygosh, it's the visitors! I'm so happy to meet you!" squealed a passing changeling, a large, cheery smile on his face. "Oh, I hope we can all be friends!"
"Of course," sighed Nightmare, rolling her eyes.
"Is it true that Equestria is full of ponies who just want to be friends with everyone they meet? And you have a whole empire that radiates love for anyone to just eat whenever they want? Oh, I can't wait to visit and meet all the ponies there! Do you think—"
"Okay, Thorax, I know you're excited to meet the ponies, but we have something really important to do," said Ka-klack. "And you're in the middle of work too, aren't you?" He gently shooed the changeling towards the main chamber.
"Oh, right, I was just so happy—anyway, it was great meeting you all! I just know we're going to be great friends!" Looking over his shoulder, the changeling continued on his way down the tunnel, waving one hoof enthusiastically in farewell as he went.
"Well, he certainly was a friendly little changeling!" declared Celestia cheerfully, as Nightmare made gagging motions.
"No offense, but I kind of wish more changelings were like him," said Shining Armor with an apologetic smile.
"Yeah, that was Thorax," said Ka-klack, sighing and shaking his head. "We… we try not to let him out of the hive much."
"Have you considered flaying the skin from his body?" inquired Nightmare Moon. "I find that helps with insolent subjects."
"We, uh, don't have skin," said Ka-klack, making the worst reply possible. "We have chitin."
"Hmm…" Nightmare peered at him with narrowed eyes, leaning in far closer than he was comfortable with. "I'm sure the principle would still be the same…"
"Oh look, we're there," the changeling said hurriedly, buzzing several dozen yards down the corridor and landing in front of a large stone door.
"That's quite the door," observed Shining Armor once the ponies had managed to catch up. "I suppose you'd want that in case any of the artifacts inside got activated by accident, though."
"What?" Ka-klack looked back at Shining Armor. "Oh. Yes, I suppose we'd also want a door like this if there were ever any accidental activations."
He pushed the door inwards, a counterweight mechanism behind the door grinding as it swung. Bright white light, as opposed to the standard hive-green, flooded out, and Ka-klack slipped around the doorframe and into the room. After a moment the ponies followed, finding themselves in an enormous, low-ceilinged cavern that stretched as far as their eyes could see. Which, admittedly, wasn't very far, as the chamber was stuffed various items. On shelves, stacked up to the ceiling, sitting on the floor, or even rather casually placed on a table, the room brimmed with powerful magical artifacts.
Or, as Celestia decided to think of them, 'powerful magical artifacts', with heavy emphasis on the sarcasm quotes. Spotted throughout the clutter was the occasional interesting looking possibilities, but the majority seemed to be junk. Knickknacks, curios, and other random bits of nothing that the changelings must have stolen down through the centuries, then stored here on the off chance that they actually held a power of some significance.
A number of statues reared up from the piles throughout the room, no doubt claimed from various raids on pony cities. A number seemed like cheap storefront decorations, one was clearly an inflatable pony from a used-wagon lot, and another… disturbingly couldn't be described at all. It wasn't that she couldn't decide what it was supposed to be, it was just that whenever she looked at it, all she knew was that she was looking at a statue. It wasn't so much a physical statue as the idea of a statue that seemed to exist in physical form.
One wall, that stretched away behind a pile of plates that jumped and clattered by themselves, was filled with books. Books that moved, fluttering through the air around their shelf, hopping up and down in place, or just sitting quietly and rustling their pages to themselves. Others glowed with unearthly lights, made horrible moaning sounds, or leaked unidentifiable fluids. Overall, it was rather unimpressive; Celestia had a whole wing of books like that in the Royal Library back in Canterlot.
The rest of what they could see was easily classifiable as 'random junk'. A chess set with Celestia as the white king and Nightmare Moon as the black, a group of small orbs that rolled around on their tabletop by themselves and seemed to be keeping some kind of incredibly complicated orbit with each other, a windchime of nearly transparent crystal that hung unsupported in the air and chimed in the absence of any kind of breeze, several tubes of that magical anti-wrinkle cream she had gotten from a shyster pony several decades previous which she had absolutely bought as a joke and definitely not because she had thought it would work and she had spent a period concerned that the centuries had started taking a toll on her looks, forty-seven identical replicas of Starswirl the Bearded's hat, and a partridge in a pear tree. An actual partridge sitting in a pear tree, neither one seeming concerned that they were currently underground in a changeling hive.
"This is… um... " Celestia trailed off, unsure of what to say.
"It's a giant pile of junk," Nightmare finished snidely for her. "It looks a second-rate magician sneezed at a garage sale, and then you just threw it all into a room."
"Yes, thank you," sighed Celestia, rolling her eyes.
"I know how it looks, but trust me, there are some real artifacts here. Powerful stuff." Ka-klack gave a shrug. "As for the mess… they say that's how they like it."
"They?"
"Are those ponies?!"
The group turned. Behind and to their side was a long series of workbenches, backed by shelves filled with books. Books that behaved themselves, unlike the others in the room. A changeling head had popped up over a counter, staring at them with wide, excited yellow eyes. Several more heads followed his, and then what seemed like an entire swarm of changelings poured forth.
"Finally! Now we can test some of this on proper subjects!"
"I thought Chrysalis said we couldn't have ponies anymore?"
"That wasn't my fault! I mean, a test subject blows one little hole in the hive and escapes with half our captive love supply, and suddenly you get the blame for giving her what turned out to be some kind of portable lightning generator."
"I thought the problem was more that Chrysalis didn't want us wasting food. You know how flammable ponies are."
"Of course I do! I kept notes."
"But look! Two of them are alicorns! That means they won't break when we use them for testing."
"And if they do, that's even more valuable data!"
All three of the ponies retreated until they were against the wall, unsure of how to react to this whirlwind of enthusiastic changelings. Changelings who all seemed to be wearing labcoats, a distant part of Celestia's mind noticed.
"Hey! Hey!" Ka-klack's shouting managed to get the changelings attention enough that they landed, forming a semicircle around the three ponies with Ka-klack in between. Now that they were standing still, Celestia was able to see that they all had yellow-tinted eyes of some kind, ranging from a light, almost seafoam green to deep amber. And unnervingly, those eyes never stopped moving, constantly scanning her, Shining Armor and Nightmare Moon.
"These are the guests, remember? The ones who are here to look through all this and see if there's anything that can help our Queen?"
The changelings stared blankly back at him for a moment, then exploded into chatter.
"Oh, was that today?"
"I could swear I wrote that down somewhere…"
"I can't believe the guests are here already! And here I am in my ratty old labcoat. This one doesn't even have bloodstains."
"Oh, right, here it is in my schedule. I forgot, I accidently reversed its temporal polarity the other day, so now I can only see my appointments after I have them."
"I know there's a rule against using the ponies in pods as test subjects, but there isn't one against using guests, is there? We've ever had visitors before, so there probably aren't any rules, right?"
"SO SINCE WE HAVE GUESTS," Ka-klack continued loudly, momentarily silencing them, "and since they're here looking for artifacts, you should introduce yourselves and let them know how things work around here."
"Snarlk!"
"Pincer!"
"Graalk!"
"Kra-klam!"
"Pedipalp!"
Role call done, the five changelings stood still, smiling.
"And what about helping us find what we're looking for?" Ka-klack sighed.
"Oh, right!"
"There's a really simple mnemonic device we created to keep track of everything, it's MKDIGHDUDNG—"
"No no no! It's MKDIGJDUDEH—"
"Wait, why don't we just get them the index?"
"Oh, the index, of course"
"Here, let me—"
Without warning, one of the changelings burst into flames. Two of the ponies watched in horror, the third in amusement, until the fire died down, leaving behind only scorch marks and a perfectly preserved brass pin. The remaining four changelings stared at the pin for a moment, then all began talking at once.
"It does work after all! It wasn't just a fluke!"
"How long was that?"
"I think he was the one keeping track."
"What do you think activates it? I've been working on a theory that it's number of words said divided by the number of syllables."
"That's ridiculous! Why would it be divided by syllables instead of letters?"
The door opened, and an exact replica of the combusted changeling trotted in, pulling on a labcoat and still dripping with slime. Picking up the pin, he brandished it proudly at the others.
"You see?! It needs to be worn by a living creature! It took a week that time. Now we just need to figure out the triggering mechanism, and then—"
Celestia watched in horror and disbelief as the changelings continued to argue, then leaned down towards Ka-klack.
"This is the help you're getting us?"
"I… I know how it looks," admitted Ka-klack, rubbing the back of his head with one hoof. "But even though they may seem disorganized and chaotic and… completely unprofessional, they actually do really good work when they get focused. You'll see. We'll be done here in no time."
"Oh, Twilight! I'm so glad I saved you! Mwa mwa mwa mwa! My little bookworm, don't you ever leave me like that again!"
"Celestia, my gigantic love marshmallow, I'm so glad you were the one to save me! Let me thank you with my tongue! Mwa mwa mwa!"
Celestia and Twilight continued to mash their faces together messily, until a wall of shadow dropped down over their corner of the room.
"Twilight Sparkle has been freed from her stone prison and the new lovers are reunited at last," announced an echoing voice. "But how will they face the first real test of their relationship? We go now to the library of Twilight Sparkle where, to her horror, she has found that Celestia's big fat butt cannot fit through the door! Which love of her life will she choose—Celestia… or books?"
"NIGHTMARE MOON!" Celestia slammed her hooves onto the table she was sitting at. "If you're not going to help, can you at least not help quietly? And leave those changelings alone! They have better things to do then put on your annoying little skits!"
"Stop repressing my artistic drive!" Nightmare Moon reformed out of the shadows, then huffed away into the stacks of 'artifacts'. The Celestia and Twilight she'd left behind changed back into changelings, quickly fleeing the room, and Celestia turned back to the index, flipping angrily through the next few pages.
"She's really getting to you, huh?" asked Shining Armor, quirking an eyebrow upwards.
"Three days, Shining Armor. Three days of searching through this—" she jabbed her hoof at the thick book, full of dog-ears, bookmarks and margin notes that contained the changeling's index of every item they had in storage "—with nothing to show for it. And now Nightmare has the changelings doing plays to mock me!
"She's not that bad," said Shining Armor, a small smile on his face as he looked in the direction Nightmare had stomped off. "In fact, I kind of like her. She reminds me a lot of Luna. And she has a great sense of humor."
"Remind me to get your head checked after all this is over," muttered Celestia, doing her best to slam a single sheet of paper as she turned another page in the index. "There's clearly something wrong with you if you're starting to think she's anywhere close to being likable."
"This isn't about her, though, is it?" asked Shining Armor quietly, and Celestia sighed.
"No, it isn't. Well, aside from when she fired that arrow into my cutie mark yesterday."
"Lucky thing that alicorn-slaying bow and arrow wasn't, I suppose."
"Yes." Celestia snorted, then let her head drop. "It's… about Twilight. And about whether I want to pursue this relationship at all."
"This song and dance again?" groaned Shining Armor.
"It's different this time! I've just… been thinking. I've lost Twilight right now, even if it is only temporarily. But if she doesn't return my love, it won't be temporary. There would always be some part of her that would be closed to me from then on. Even if there might be a time in the future when she would come to love me, I'll lose it if I push her too far too soon. I know I'd never lose her as a friend, no matter what, but… that rejection will put something between us, something that isn't there now.
"So… maybe I shouldn't push my luck. Maybe I should just be happy with what I have, and… hope I get more someday? No matter how long it takes… I have time. We have time. She might fall for me on her own someday. And even if she doesn't, losing her like this has opened my eyes. I can't afford to lose any part of her once she's free again. If that means we can't be any more than we already are… then so be it."
"Celestia—"
"There's more, Shining Armor. There's… Equestria." Celestia let out the longest sigh yet, shoulders drooping as she stared down at the table. After a long moment, she raised her eyes.
"It's my duty, my responsibility, to rule my kingdom. To ensure all of my little ponies are safe and happy, that they have jobs, food, and a warm place to sleep. To make sure they can all live in peace with each other, to protect them with laws and guidelines. To keep all the monsters outside the gates… and sometimes to let those monsters in when we can work together."
She raised her head to look around the room deep inside a changeling hive, with changelings working busily to help her, and smile briefly.
"But to do all of that demands my full and total attention. For the full one thousand years Luna was away I took no rest, and the same was true for the one thousand years before that. My ponies need me there, sometimes telling them exactly what to do, sometimes providing a guiding hoof… and sometimes just lending them an ear to tell their problems too.
"If I were to start a relationship with Twilight… I would have to split my time between her and Equestria. That's not fair to her, and it's definitely not fair to Equestria. Ponies could suffer if I'm not doing my best. They could die. How could I be so selfish as to hurt them for my own pleasure? To put my happiness above my subject's own?"
She let out another sigh, this one long and shuddering. "I'm not a normal pony, Shining Armor. I have to consider the feelings and lives of every other pony in Equestria. And I think the best thing for all of them… might be for me to let Twilight go."
Shining Armor stared at her, his eyes narrowed. "So this is what you've been so worried about over the past few days," he said finally. "You are a fool, Celestia."
"What?!"
"Do you think I don't know what it takes to rule a kingdom?"
"I-I know you and Cadance have been working hard in the Crystal Empire, b-but—" Celestia started to stammer.
"But nothing. Do you think your subjects would enjoy seeing you haggard and miserable? Do you think that would make their lives more enjoyable?"
Well, no—"
"And what of you? Would you be at your peak, making the best decisions for your people if you have to drag yourself out of bed everyday, dreading every miserable little second of your existence?" Shining Armor leaned forward, pounding one hoof on the table. "There's a difference between being selfish and taking care of yourself, Celestia. Your subjects want you to be happy. And you'll be able to rule them better if you are happy."
"I can be happy in plenty of other ways," replied Celestia stubbornly. "And those ways won't take time away from my duty as ruler of Equestria."
"How much time could ruling Equestria possibly take?!"
"Plenty! I need to oversee everything, in case anypony needs my help! I need to review laws before the legislature passes them, I need to advise the tax board on how much they collect from my subjects, I need—"
"Did you never learn to delegate? Those are the jobs minions take care of—civil servants, what have you. You don't need to give personal input on every little thing that happens. Just find servants you trust and have them do it."
"It has to be me," said Celestia firmly, stubbornness going up a notch. "Someone else might get it wrong. And even that would still be my responsibility."
"What about your sister?" replied Shining Armor with deadly calm, and Celestia jerked in surprise. "She's supposed to be ruling Equestria with you, isn't she? That Nightmare is walking around because of exactly how you're acting right now. And don't forget Cadance and even Twilight Sparkle herself. Any one of them would be more than happy to take some of the burden off your shoulders."
"I… I just…" Celestia looked away for a moment, trying to calm the sudden roil of emotions that had sprung up inside her. "And how well will I lead Equestria if Twilight rejects me?" she said, deciding to change the subject rather than confront those feelings.
"Oh, Celestia, you poor, naive little thing." Shining Armor shook his head, then smirked at the shocked look on Celestia's face. "Your love for Twilight Sparkle is like a burning beacon of light, one that could light up the night sky of the entire world. One glimpse of that and Twilight will fall for you so hard it will make the earth shake. She'd have to be a bigger fool than even you not to.
“And as for Twilight herself…" he shrugged. "You inspired her to study magic, earning her cutie mark. You taught her yourself personally for the vast majority of her life. You showed her the way to her destiny, and even made her into a Princess. Why do you doubt that she worships the ground your hooves trot upon?
"Her love for you is wrapped up in iron chains. I don't know why; perhaps it's as I said, she feels that the age difference, your past together, somehow precludes any chance at a romantic relationship. But she loves you, and I feel that you may have been her first crush, and her first love, many years ago. And though her love may be locked up, I don't doubt that it burns with the fury of your own sun."
"Shining Armor…" Celestia gazed at him through wet eyes, giving a few blinks to clear away the tears. "I-I won't say I've changed my mind, but… you've definitely given me a lot to think about. Thank you. Thank you for caring about me so much, and for trying to set me right." She reached across the table to lay her hoof over his, smiling.
"Food's here!" called out Shining Armor, a bag held in his magic as he pushed open the heavy door to the room. "I just decided to get some fast food today, so it's hot dogs and hay burgers for everypony!"
Slowly, Celestia turned her head to stare at the Shining Armor still in front of her.
"Aheh. Ah, heh heh…"
There was a flash of green flame, and suddenly the hoof under hers was full of holes.
"Well, um, that was a nice talk…" Queen Chrysalis smiled sheepishly, eyes darting around and refusing to make contact with Celestia's burning gaze. "But, um, I, um… oh, look at the time! I need to go terrorize Applejack some more, bye bye!"
Another flash of green flame left a dazed Ka-klack sitting in front of her. Seeing Shining Armor marching over, the changeling quickly fled.
"And what was that about?" demanded Shining Armor, taking the seat 'he' had previously been sitting in.
"I… think that was Queen Chrysalis giving me relationship advice," Celestia said wonderingly.
"Well, that sounds… absolutely horrifying."
"It was surprisingly good advice. It's actually really touching that she would do that for me."
"How's everything else been going?" Shining Armor asked, as Celestia scooped up a pile of fries in her magic and shoved them into her mouth.
"Oh, the usual," she replied once she'd swallowed. "We're still stuck at zero, so at least we haven't gone backwards. At least not yet."
"I kind of regret agreeing not to bring anyone else," said Shining Armor, casting a look over the piles and stacks of objects occupying the majority of the room. "This might go faster with more ponies."
"I doubt it. This index should be all we need, and more ponies might just get in the way with how close quarters are in here." Celestia let out a snort. "Although Pinkie Pie might have been useful. She'd just say something like 'we're never going to find anything in here!' and then the next thing you know—"
ZZZZZAPP!
"Yowch!"
Shining Armor and Celestia stared at each other for a moment. Then, realizing the implications of what they'd just heard, Celestia exploded off her chair in a frenzy of limbs and wings and wavering ethereal mane.
"You insolent little trinket, which of you was that?!" snarled Nightmare Moon, poking around in a pile of apparent junk. Then she reared back, horn beginning to glow. "Well, no matter, you shall all pay for this one knick-knack's folly—"
"DON'T!"
Celestia appeared out of nowhere, tackling Nightmare Moon and sending her flying into a pile of glowing decorative spoons. The spoons melted and then vaporized a moment later as Nightmare leapt to her hooves.
"You backstabbing traitor!" she screamed, advancing on Celestia. "What do you think you're doing?!"
"Just think for a moment! You reached into this pile and something shocked you, yes?" Nightmare Moon nodded, eyes narrowed and wary. "If it hurt you, then that means it's probably good!"
Celestia began to dig into the pile, as the Nightmare watched her with a silent snarl on her face. Just as Shining Armor and Ka-klack trotted up, Celestia stopped. She and Nightmare both gasped sharply, Nightmare moving forward as Celestia began to search more frantically.
Finally, they moved back, three objects held in Celestia's magic. She and Nightmare Moon stared at them in silence, shock radiating from their faces.
"What?" asked Shining Armor finally. "What did you find?"
"You fool!" hissed Nightmare Moon, turning on him with a snarl. "Don't you realize—"
"No, Nightmare," Celestia cut her off with a gentle shake of her head. "They wouldn't know. We're the only ones here who ever saw them when they were whole."
In her magic were three identical, six-sided gems.
"They're Elements of Harmony," said Celestia in a hushed voice. She turned the gems around in her magic, letting the light shine through their almost invisibly clear surfaces. "But… they look empty."
"Well, that sounds like a problem" noted Shining Armor as they all trotted back into the main room.
"I'm more confused about the fact that we only have three." Celestia laid the gems down gently on the table, and the group, plus five chattering changelings, gathered around to consider them. She turned to the scientist changelings. "What can you tell us about these?"
"...and they don't taste like anything!"
"You can put magic into them, but they reject it rather quickly. Blew Graalk's head right off!"
"All five times, too. I kept testing just to make sure."
At a gesture from Celestia, Ka-klack led the changelings, still talking, to the other side of the room.
"Okay, what did we gather from… all that?" she asked, turning to Shining Armor and Nightmare Moon.
"They're empty, but they can accept magic," mused Nightmare Moon quietly. "We just need the right kind of magic. Harmony magic."
She shared a look with Celestia.
"The Tree of Harmony?"
"Bingo. But how do we get the magic from the tree to the elements?" wondered Nightmare.
"I'll just… ask." Celestia shrugged. "The Tree owes us nothing. After all, we've done nothing but take from it. But it does serve harmony, so maybe it will help."
"We still need all six, though," pointed out Shining Armor, then gestured to the map in the index. "We know where they found these three, but don't know where to find the others."
"Right there," said Nightmare Moon and Celestia simultaneously, pointing at two different spots on the map. They looked up, blinking at each other in bewilderment.
"How…"
"We both have a deep connection to the Elements," said Celestia slowly, exchanging glances with Nightmare Moon. "I've used them myself several times…"
"And I've had them used on me," growled Nightmare Moon. "Twice."
"Well then." Shining Armor looked down at the map, at the two points Celestia and Nightmare Moon had indicated. "I guess the only question now is… where do we start?"
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Loved the chapter. I honestly can't say whether your stories are my favorite version of Chrysalis or not, but damn do they come close.
On that note, my top favorite Chrysalis fics are Why are You Here, Your Magesty?, How to Tame a Changeling Queen, and of course all of your stories. The Chrysalis in the first one is just amazing as the story gives a pretty good reason for why Chrysalis, along with all Changeling, is the way she is. The second one has a Chrysalis that's just so deliciously clever and cunning on top of being her normal spiteful, wicked self that it's impossible not to root for her. As for your Chrysalis.....well......she's just plain fun to read, no further explanation needed.
Agree with you on you note. Before Changelings; Awesome, Now Changelings; HORRIBLE!
9247270
I mean, if you read the blog posts I've made, it's no secret how much I dislike the new changelings.
Downgrade in character design aside, it's the weirdest case of a reformation ruining characters that I've ever seen. The changelings went from the most intimidating and threatening antagonists on the show to... well, cowardly idiots. They went from attacking Canterlot and later capturing the Princesses themselves, to going into an utter panic upon learning that an oversized mole was approaching their hive. Is the lesson here that being friendly makes you weak and afraid? Because that's kind of what it looks like.
And Thorax is the worst case. He was completely normal when he first showed up, then after his transformation he turned into a whiny idiot. I'm not trying to insult him just because I didn't like the transformation—I literally think he is the stupidest, most dense, most oblivious character on the show. And it seems like he just whines whenever... well, anything happens at all.
Like I said, I absolutely loved him when he first showed up, but now I just kind of... nothing him. I just don't get it.
9247342
Never read your blogs but agree with the new looks being stupid. Someone must of been stoned to think that look.
9247195
Thanks, glad you like the way I write her!
It's a tad challenging, because as should be obvious, I absolutely adore everything about her. So I gotta make sure I don't push her into Mary Sue territory. I think I've gone a little too far once or twice, but fortunately I seem to be keeping it under control.
And yeah, I love both those stories. I can also recommend Winds of Change (which was a rather large inspiration to how I wrote Chrysalis, particularly in this series), and Queen of Hearts. And if you don't mind some NSFW stuff (which I don't think you do, going off how you linked to How to Tame a Changeling Queen) then I also recommend We Two Queens, which was actually the seed that grew into Changeling Courtship Rituals.
At first I assumed sock puppets. Don’t know why co-opted changelings didn’t occur sooner.
Yeah Thorax was way more interesting before mosification
That showed some interesting character development... and an awesome mad science lab. I really am amazed at how you continually write this well. It's always hilarious to read, and there's never an off day.
How the heck did the Elements end up there? Does that mean that there are more than six?
... Those changeling scientists are awesome.
D'awwww, Chryssie's playing matchmaker in secret.
Huh, yeah, being able to instantly switch to a new body would be really helpful in testing stuff.
... How in the hell did they get those? O.o
Yeah, the changelings went from interesting and mysterious to pretty much ponies with slightly different design and less variety.
I hope Applejack well be okay
I thought it'd be Ocellus for a minute there.
But... Wait, there are more than six here? Or did they steal them from the Tree of Harmony?
9251012
They're not the Elements of Harmony, but they are Elements. They are referred to as Element Vessels from here on, containers that can hold the power of Harmony, as opposed to the actual Elements which are the source. More explanation happens later on, though, so no spoilers.
A Møøse once bit my sister…
No realli! She was Karving her initials on the møøse with the sharpened end of an interspace tøøthbrush given her by Svenge – her brother-in-law – an Oslo dentist and star of many Norwegian møvies: "The Høt Hands of an Oslo Dentist", "Fillings of Passion", "The Huge Mølars of Horst Nordfink"…
We apologise for the fault in the subtitles. Those responsible have been sacked.Mynd you, møøse bites Kan be pretty nasti…
We apologise again for the fault in the subtitles. Those responsible for sacking the people who have just been sacked, have been sacked.Møøse trained by UTTE HERMSGERVØRDENBRØTBØRDA
Special Møøse Effects OLAF PROT
Møøse Costumes SIGGI CHURCHILL
Møøse Choreographed by HORST PROT III
Miss Taylor's Møøses by HENGST DOUGLAS-HOME
Møøse trained to mix concrete and sign complicated insurance forms by JURGEN WIGG
Møøses' noses wiped by BJØRN IRKESTØM-SLATER WALKER
Large møøse on the left hand side of the screen in the third scene from the end, given a thorough grounding in Latin, French and "O" Level Geography by BO BENN
Suggestive poses for the Møøse suggested by VIC ROTTER
Antler-care by LIV THATCHER
The directors of the firm hired to continue the credits after the other people had been sacked, wish it to be known that they have just been sacked.
Huh, somehow* I missed this going up. I enjoyed the first story, so it looks like I've got a lot to read.
*It's because I've been too busy to check my feed.
9256703
Yes, these virtues should be fabric of politics in theory... but they aren't in reality (as many other "this should be" things in life) and as I sayed shrewd nobles would not care about fact, they are good and nice guys. For them important is fact, that Mane 5 know nothing about political games and intrigues, so they can be played like fiddle.
And mild hurting of others in political world is very bad idea, as Machiavelli stated.
Thorax was adorably funny. I love Celestia and Luna sniping at each other. I'm really feeling Celestia's worries.
Shadow clone jutsu!
I'm massively disappointed that the zzzzzzapp was not a haggard Rainbow Power Pinkie Pie showing up, handing Celestia some kind of pastry, giving her a hug, and disappearing. Missed opportunity right here.
What’s wrong with moose?
Chrysalis really does care
Ah, the wonders of the hivemind