Chapter 51: Impossible Choices
I stared at the dissolving form of the electric cat, trying to wrap my head around what happened. It was all a blur. I remembered feeling myself flood with power, and then it was like a dream. I kinda remembered stuff, but when I tried to think about it, it just slipped away.
I looked around, seeing Smolder, Ember and a bunch of changelings looking at me.
“Did I miss something?” I asked. “Are we not fighting them anymore? Occelus? And you brought friends. Can we trust them?”
“We were all tricked by my father,” Occelus stated. “We want what’s best for our people, and the only way to salvage anything about this mess is to help stop him and the queen.”
I walked through the group, leaning close to each of the changelings where I could feel their aura. They were all nervous, but they were also all determined. Not one of them felt deceitful, but they were a race that specialized in deception.
“Okay, I’ll give you all the benefit of the doubt, but you’ll have to earn my trust,” I told them. “If you betray us, I will not give you a second chance. Am I clear?”
The group nodded without hesitation.
I turned back to Ember and Smolder. “So, what’s the situation?”
Occelus answered for them. “Smolder has a broken arm and needs a doctor, and Ember is exhausted.”
I nodded. “Alright, come on, we’ll take them to our rooms.”
“A lot of changelings got in,” Ember said, her speech slow and labored. “I couldn’t protect the palace.”
Fear threatened to overwhelm me as thoughts of our egg hit me.
Smolder seemed to sense it and said, “Go on. We’ll be right behind you.”
I rushed inside the palace, running down the hallways of the residential wing. There weren’t many changelings at first, only ponies in pods, but those I did come across didn’t even have time to respond before being knocked out.
I turned a corner toward our room to see a large group of them standing just outside. Fear and anger pushed me even faster.
Then, surprise drew me to a stop as two changelings flew out of the room and slammed into the wall.
“Come on, ya wimps! Is that all you got?!” yelled a familiar voice. Only then did I notice about half of their number was injured in some way.
One of them turned and noticed me. “It’s the dragons and their dog! Retreat!”
A couple grabbed whatever wounded they could, but the majority just ran, leaving their comrades behind.
I glared at the wounded that couldn’t flee. “Move and I hurt you.” I warned them and then sent a message to Smolder, asking her to get the changelings to restrain these guys.
I entered the room to see Sunflower pummeling some poor, unfortunate changeling that had the bad sense to try and fight her while Garble sat near the crib with a dreamy smile on his face.
Around the room were another half dozen or so changelings, most of which were unconscious. One was shaking in terror in the corner.
“Nice work,” I said before ducking another involuntarily flying changeling as it soared out the door.
“Oh, hey,” Sunflower greeted. “You’re done already?”
“Not by choice,” Ember said as I guided her to the bed.
“They sent powerful summons after us and they took their toll,” I said. “Ember and I are spent, she more than I, and Smolder was injured.”
“Smolder’s hurt?!” Garble said, leaping from his chair and face planting. “What the heck, dog boy?! You’re supposed to protect her!”
“Hey, I can look after myself,” Smolder scolded. “Besides, he doesn’t have to protect me, anyway. We aren’t mates, just friends.”
“Yeah, but...” Garble tried to find something to say.
“Garble, look. I get it. I’m pissed that she got hurt, too,” I said. “But we can’t dwell on whose fault it is right now. We still have an army of invaders to deal with.”
“Then why are you in here instead of kicking bug butt?” Garble demanded.
“Because we all just went through tartarus and need a break,” Ember said.
“It’s okay,” Occelus said. “We’ll do what we can to help the ponies and maybe convince others to join us.”
Garble narrowed his eyes at the changeling. She had donned a disguise of a young, unassuming mare with plain light brown fur and light green hair. “Who the heck are you?”
Occelus froze. “I-I... Um... I’m-”
“This is Occelus,” Smolder answered for her, getting a horrified and betrayed look from the changeling. “She and a few other changelings are helping us.”
“Oh, you’re the one that tried to help her when she was captured,” Sunflower said with a smile. “Smolder told me all about you. Are... you still with your father?”
Occelus flinched. “N-no... Turns out, he wasn’t trying to protect us from the Queen, he was just trying to grab power.”
Sunflower sighed. “Yeah, if someone is willing to hurt some creature like he hurt Smolder, they probably aren’t looking out for the greater good.”
“I wish I knew that moons ago,” Occelus said, regretfully.
“I don’t,” Smolder chuckled. “If you did, you wouldn’t have been there, and I would’ve been a goner.”
“How’s the egg?” Ember asked.
“None of these dweebs even got close,” Garble said, proudly.
“The fact they were trying so hard to get in here concerns me,” I said. “I would have just sealed the door and left you in here, if I were them. It’s not like either of you are key to taking over.”
I felt a slight... bulge, for lack of a better term, in the strand of energy coming from Occelus just before she gasped.
“Th-they were with my father,” Occelus said.
Sunflower gave her a confused look. “Now, we can’t be-”
“One of the ones you knocked out woke up,” Occelus cut her off. “He told us everything.”
“How do you know that?” Sunflower asked.
“A communication spell,” I said. “That’s what that connection between you guys is. I wondered about that. Yours is different from the other two, though.”
“You can sense spells, too?” Occelus asked. “How... never mind. Yes, there’s a spell that we use to create a psychic link. The Queen and her changelings share one, as do my father and his cohorts. We set one up among us before we left. It’s how I’ve been keeping track of what’s going on.”
“What else did the guy say?” Ember asked.
“H-he said-” Occelus was cut off as a flash of green filled the room.
“I told them to get the egg.”
Every eye in the room shot toward the other side of the room where, as if appearing from the ether, a changeling had appeared right beside the crib, already holding our egg in his hooves.
“They were supposed to retrieve your egg to use as leverage in the unlikely case that you managed to defeat my summons,” he said as he gently stroked our egg, looking at it as if it were his own. He looked back to us with disgust. “Well, not quite as ‘unlikely’ as I had hoped. If not for my dear daughter’s betrayal, I would only be speaking to one of you, right now.”
I could feel the same emotions coming from everyone in the room that I could feel. We all wanted to rush this bastard and tear him limb from limb, but our egg...
“How did you get inside?! Sunflower demanded.
“Father is a master shape shifter,” Occelus explained. “He can turn into just about anything, from a dragon to a mouse.”
“Or even a fly,” Occelus’ father added.
“What the heck do you want?” Emder growled.
He hummed, theatrically. “What I want is to see how loving of parents dragons truly are.”
A chill went down my spine. Even though I couldn’t sense him, I could still feel the malevolence coming from him. I didn’t need aura sense.
It terrified me.
He glared at Ember. “On the floor, outside, there are a set of manacles that will block your magic. You will put them on and come with me. Do that, and I will leave your egg here with your... mate.”
“And what happens to her?” I demanded.
“Why, I take her far away,” He said with an oily smile. “And then execute her.”
“No!” I snarled, stepping forward.
“Easy, now,” he said, his forehoof turning into a claw, poised above the egg. “You wouldn’t want me to do something unfortunate. It’s a simple trade, your life or your offspring’s.”
“How do we know you won’t just hurt the egg as soon as Ember gives herself over to you?” Smolder asked.
“I suppose you don’t,” he said.
Damnit! I thought to myself. Even if I had the speed I had when I fought that cat thing, I still wouldn’t be able to make it in time before he hurts the egg.
“Ember, you got any magic that can help?” I asked her, only sending her my thoughts.
She didn’t need to reply, her fear and desperation were enough.
“Why do you want to kill Ember so bad?” Smolder asked.
“Oh, I want to kill all three of you. That’s why we sent the summons that we did. Those were very powerful, long forgotten summons, after all. It was part of the deal I struck with Nergal. He helps us, and I kill you and the dear empress,” he explained. “Once we learned you, too, have magic, it was extended to you, too. But, seeing as I can’t kill all of you, I’ll settle for one of you.”
“So, we’re a threat, then,” I deduced. “Why else would he want us dead?”
“Don’t flatter yourself,” he said. “You’re merely an inconvenience that could prove troublesome. That doesn’t make you a threat. Now, no more delays. Bind yourself and come with me, or I destroy your egg.”
He flexed his claw, closing it around the egg.
“Okay!” Ember shouted. “Okay, I’ll do it, just... don’t hurt my egg.”
“Ember,” I started, but she stopped me with a hand on the shoulder.
“It’ll be fine,” she assured me. “I can take care of myself. Just look after our egg.”
“Good,” the changeling said. “Now, go put on the manacles.”
Ember went out into the hallway and returned with a set of clay red manacles.
“Good. Now, put them on,” the changeling ordered.
“Luke...” Ember held out the manacles to me.
My paws shook as I reached for them. There had to be a way out of this, but I just couldn’t think of one. If I didn’t giftwrap my wife to be murdered, I would lose my child.
I stared down at the manacles for what felt like hours, unable to calm my raging mind enough to do anything with them.
“Luke,” Ember said, pulling me from the storm of my thoughts. “I’ll be fine. Just do it.”
“Ember... I-”
“Put them on her, or I-” His threat was cut off as a flash of green erupted from between his forelegs.
Ocellus materialized between him and the egg, one hind leg kicking him in the face while her forelegs snatched the egg from his grasp and started to buzz away to us.
He wasn’t stunned by the kick for long. With a growl, he turned back and aimed his horn at his own daughter, charging up a bolt of magic.
While his daughter’s kick may not have been powerful, mine was. My heel came down on his head so hard his horn shattered, exploding with stored magic and sending both of us to opposite ends of the room.
Occelus curled her body around our egg to shield it as she was flung against the wall, as well. Ember and Smolder were at her side a moment later, while I was between them and the bastard that tried to hurt my baby.
“Are they okay?” I asked.
“I’m fine. Is the egg?” Occelus groaned.
Ember sighed in relief. “It’s okay.”
I had always heard people say ‘it’s like a weight was taken off my shoulders’, but I never realized how literal that was.
I stomped up to the still dazed piece of shit and picked him up by the throat. “Give me one reason I shouldn’t rip your head off.”
“Luke... please,” Occelus said, pleadingly. “I know he deserves it, and... I wouldn’t blame you if you did, but please don’t. Let him stand trial for his crimes.”
I wanted to ignore her. I wanted to just pretend she wasn’t there and make him suffer.
But she was the reason I still had both my child and mate.
I threw him against a wall with a growl. “Try to run, and I’ll make sure you suffer.”
“Th-thank you,” Occelus said, nearly breaking down into sobs.
“D-daughter... why?” he asked, genuinely surprised.
Occelus looked away as she answered, “You may be a lying monster, but you still opened my eyes to what our queen was doing. I still believe in what you told me, even if you were just using me. Maybe, just maybe, because of that, we might have a future where changelings and ponies might live in peace.”
Her words cooled my anger a little. I was still feeling quite homicidal, but I wasn’t shaking trying to hold it back. Maybe he really did inadvertently do something good. He still didn’t deserve any credit for it, but I guessed that was enough to let the ponies deal with him.
I wondered if the ponies had the death penalty.
“Thank you, my dear daughter,” the bastard said.
“I’m not your daughter,” Occelus said with more venom than I thought she possessed.
I was almost ashamed to say I found pleasure in the heart crushing pain I felt from the bastard.
“So, what now?” Smolder asked.
“I guess I’ll go back out there and see what I can do to help,” I replied.
“Why not see what you can do here in the palace?” Ember asked.
I wondered if I should. I still had no idea what actually happened in this episode. Was the real Cadence alright? Has she been rescued already?
Before I could decide what to do, I felt something... big. It felt like magic, but it was something more... something powerful.
And it was heading right for us.
Before I could even speak, we were hit by a massive wall of pure, concentrated emotion. It flooded my senses, overwhelming them.
The last thing I heard before I passed out was the sound of screaming.
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Oh hey, there's the love nuke.
I can't wait for this story to continue, like dude LETS GO!!!!!!!!!!!
Yeah, one of the downsides of your relatively laissez-faire approach to release order is that tense moments like this can fall flat for people who are paying attention to the totality. Over in the main fic, the egg has already hatched so it can't be damaged here.
Oh no, how sideways did this go?
10901824
If you've been keeping up with Equestrian Eeveelution, you'd know the answer to that question long before this chapter dropped.
10901827
Specifically the love nuke and changeling relations. Which, as of yet, aren't in EE. Unless it's a Dog Days chapter, which are, imo, questionable canon at best due to the fickle nature of time.
10901834
Ocellus logically survived the nuke in canon, so an Ocellus who's already halfway to reformation has nothing to fear. Wouldn't be surprised if she's a Skittlebug when the smoke clears, to be honest.
Ouch... Love nuke hit enemy and ally... The ones in buildings or near walls might end up as stains on walls, ceilings and what ever blocked there way...
Shianwudo! SUMAAAAAASSHU!
10901823
Yeah, I was trying to get past my writer's block before that, but I just couldn't. I wasn't going to try to force Sym to postpone another couple months just for me.
The horns are made of bone, yeah? If a force came from above the head, it would lever the horn and take a chunk of the skull, right? The skull is thinner than the diameter of the horn, so it would be weaker.
10902231
Horns are rarely made of bone. Usually, they're made of keratin or some other material (unicorn horns, according to folklore, are made of alicorn, which is where the fandom got the word for alicorn ponies). In the case of insects, they're made of chitin, same as their exoskeleton. In this case, however, the horn was already under pressure from the spell being cast, making it more vulnerable.
10901773
yep love nuke.
but is this good? there are friendly's that are going to get beat all to crap from this.
10902259
Even that honestly depends on the exact mechanics. I don't even know if there's a canon answer on what it did to Thorax, so someone who's already further along befriending other species than he was at the end of his debut episode is even more of an unknown.
He never intended to keep away from the Egg. Using it or destroying it was always his goal.
10902274
I guess it comes down to how directed the magic can be? Is the command for the shield “remove all changelings” or “remove all enemies”? Did they decide to go with “remove all bugs” and suddenly there’s a bee shortage in Canterlot?
10902670
great, now im imagining a beekeeper pony in canterlot going, "wheres mah bees?"
10902960
Nick Cage Pony: Not my bees!
10902434
almost certainly a case of megalomania...probably egomania as well...
Is there a discord for this?
10923976
No. We don't really plan on making one at the moment.
This chapter was beyond heart pumpingly instance I still hope Chrysalis can be redemed.
10925043
Fair enough. Lemme know if yall do though. I know how to set servers up pretty quick and simple.
Just read through this again for the 2nd time and I can safely say... I can't wait for more chapters
Screw preserving the timeline. It just threaten his child.
11038840
Yeah, the only reason he's still alive isn't the timeline BS, it's because Luke likes and respects Occelus. Though, that's barely enough.
10925172
MONSTERS and FREAKS don't GET to be redeemed. Ever heard of moral event horizont?