The Last Changeling War

by Coyote de La Mancha

Chapter Seventeen: My Heart is Shadow. (The Last)

From far to the south, there was a deep rumbling sound, more felt than heard.

Twilight frowned. “Was that the southern border? Shouldn’t we go help?”

Luna shook her head from where she stood on her balcony, gazing westward. “Nay. That crumbling sound you just heard was the Hive’s status as a power in this world. Most of your fifth column were found before they were even in position, as you know. Including the assassins in the Crystal Empire, which perhaps you did not. The assassins you sent to the caverns below were also just dealt with. And your long-term sleepers all joined our kingdom of their own will, one by one, some time ago.

“The Changeling units to the Northwest, though they fought well, have been routed and have given up the war. But well before that, the Hive was taken and held by Celestia and Cadence.”

While Twilight’s confused look deepened, Luna continued, “Celestia, along with Twilight, is leading the ritual her student-daughter devised after your first attempted invasion. A ritual that, maintained by a circle of almost every unicorn in Equestria, forces any Changeling into their true form, most anywhere in the world. And now, your children storming across the southern rock lands have been lost.

“There is no fifth column remaining. Nor a first, a second, nor any other. You have no hostages, no home. And now, no army.”

Still facing outward, Luna continued, “So much destruction. So much needless pain. And yet, even now, it is not too late. Even now, I am obligated to point out that you can step away… and bring this tragedy to an end.”

Twilight frowned, her confusion now mixing with concern. “What? Luna, what are you…?”

The Princess of Night turned to face her, blue eyes calm and serene.

“We never met before this travesty, you and I,” she said, “so your not knowing me is understandable. Your ability to resist Twilight’s Trueform spell is both impressive and unexpected. Your resistance to her greater ritual, unheard of.

“But no amount of study could have prepared you for the ruse you chose to attempt. You would never have had enough time in Twilight’s castle to research all of us properly. Besides, there are few who dare to speak openly of what I truly am, even in this more enlightened time.”

Twilight’s frown of concern deepened as she took a step forward. “What? What are you talking about? Luna, you’re my friend.”

Luna’s eyes narrowed, a cold smile beginning to form.

“I am Twilight Sparkle’s friend, not yours. And though you know me not, I know you well, indeed. Your powers of impersonation are impressive, far greater than any of your brood. But I am dream, even as I am nightmare. And when I look upon others, barring courtesy, it is their dreams that I see.”

Twilight’s eyes widened, darting around the room with professional, clinical haste.

“There is no victory to be had this day,” Luna said in that same calm voice, stepping forward. “Not by you. I know your heart, Chrysalis, as I knew that of the creature you rose from, so long ago. I have always known. Thus, we have all always known.

“We allowed your charade to continue for the sake of your prisoners, to determine whether they yet lived, and how best to see to their rescue. To minimize your changing your plans away from what we knew. And to keep you here, making it easier to deal with your children.”

“You are all fools, then!” Chrysalis hissed, abandoning her pony form in a burst of green fire. “Twilight Sparkle hangs a prisoner in my Hive, along with the others, and I can have them executed with a thought! Surrender now, and I still might spare their lives!”

But the Night Queen shook her head.

“I am not my sister. That was not an offer of terms. Twilight has already been recovered along with all your other captives, as I said. Else never would I have spoken so freely.”

“Impossible!” Chrysalis cried, circling the alicorn as she spoke. “My throne is a thing from the Age of Chaos, carved by the Crimson Queen from a fallen star when the world was still young and lasting order was but a dream! No magic but mine and that of my children can function in its aura. You fools have fallen into my greatest trap!”

“Mmm. Yes, your great meteoric stone. The source of the blank spot on Twilight’s cutie mark map,” Luna nodded. “The very magic that hid you from us at first, then led us to you when we knew what we were looking for. A surprising revelation, when first we learned of it, but one that made sense.

“Still, 'impossible' only means 'not yet done.' And if you underestimated Twilight Sparkle, you have no one to blame but yourself.”

“Your friends are mine,” Chrysalis snarled, still circling. “I wanted you fools to find the Hive, when the time was right! And the most powerful of my children still remain there by the hundreds.”

“And they fought bravely, for what that is worth,” Luna acknowledged. “First, Cadence overpowered the changeling units you’d left at your Hive. Then, she and Tia went in and physically rescued the few captives you had.”

“Lies!”

“No. It should have been obvious to you if you hadn’t overthought the matter. Or even if you had rethought your plan, when your first attempts at substitution failed. But regardless, it remains: Cadence is the Princess of Love. When not taken by surprise, force-feeding your children into overload and unconsciousness was a simple matter for her, if tiring. You should have expected that.

“And we alicorns are physically quite strong, as you know, and quite resistant to harm. Tia most of all. Robbing her of her sorcery mattered little in what ultimately became a physical skirmish. The few Changelings who remained after Cadence’s assault resisted, but they fell just the same.

“Your forces to the North have since been routed by a nobility of spirit beyond your understanding,” she continued. “Those to the South, by a power beneath your notice. And those below, by a friendship you’d deemed impossible.

“And now,” she said, her voice becoming one of frost, “you… are the last.”

Chrysalis hissed again, more savagely. She re-took Twilight’s shape, borrowed wings lifting her into the air where her still-ruined ones could not.

“My Crystalfoal, Cadence, is a noble mare with a pure and loving heart,” Luna went on, almost sadly. “Twilight is forgiving beyond measure. And Celestia is kind, just, and good.

“Yet, I am only Luna.”

Chrysalis glanced frantically around herself as the shadows deepened, plunging the room into darkness. Before her, drinking it all in, was the so-called Princess of Night. The alicorn’s eyes narrowed dangerously as her voice echoed quietly throughout the dark, from all places and none, her body drifting slowly into mist to become one with the strengthening gloom.

In the past, sifting through tattered memories not quite her own, Chrysalis had wondered how Equestria's second-best monarch had ever managed to defeat a foe such as the Knight of Mirrors. Now, terrified, she began to suspect she knew.

**Against my own desires have I given my word that I would spare you if you surrendered,** the intangible presence said.

It echoed from all around her as Chrysalis frantically looked this way, then that, its words more felt than heard.

**You, who have threatened my family. You, who have invaded my home. You, who have attacked those mares who hold my heart. I swore your safety to one whom I treasure, so long as you would yield. And that is a vow I will never break.

**So, please. I beg of thee…**

Cold, blue eyes, all that remained of the dark alicorn, faded into the all-encompassing black, their pupils narrowing into slits as they did, her mind speech lowering into a reptilian hiss:

**…RESISSST MEEE!**

The outer wall gave way like a child’s tower of blocks as Chrysalis burst them asunder in her panic, fleeing through the air, into the sky, away from the monster of dream and darkness that hungered for her soul.

Within the palace, Luna watched her go, gathering her form and her calm once more.

**Cadence, she is headed your way,** she sent. **She yet wears Twilight’s form. I must now attend to the injured, as you know. So please, be ready.**

Comments

[BirdsBooksBrownies]

Note to self DON'T CHEESE OFF LUNA

[FanOfMostEverything]

Do not taunt Happy Fun Horse.

There's something wonderful in watching Chrysalis as her ambitions crumble to dust. The showdown between sisters is imminent. I can't imagine it's going to be pretty, not when one of them knows she no longer has anything to lose. Looking forward to seeing what comes of it.

[Coyote de La Mancha]

11773638
Yyyyyyeah, I suspect that things might not have gone so pleasantly had Luna known just how hurt Sunrise was...