In the waning days of the Crystal Empire, three young students come together in an unlikely alliance: a King, a Princess... and a Queen... who has little reason to like either of the other two...
Given how readily King Sombra, Queen Chrysalis, and Radiant Hope teamed up as allies in the Siege of the Crystal Empire, what might have happened if they'd actually formed that alliance a long time ago?
Note: as usual, I treat the comic storylines as an excellent starting point and reference, but not as absolute canon.
Chapters (1)
An an interesting start, I wonder how things will turn out. It appears the three narrowly managed to avert disaster this time. Sombra is acting way cuter than he has any right to, it seems like he's really trying his hardest. Both Chrysalis and Sombra remind me of how their characters behaved in HiddenUnderACouch's My Little Villains, which is great because even if that story seems to be dead, I still remember it fondly. All we're missing is smøl Nightmare moon.
Commenting as I read:
I wonder if they'll feel sorry about it. It's an AU, after all.
Cute!
Oh no!
Oh yes!
Makes you wonder what turned her into the klutz she ended up being on the show.
Huh, changeling problems...
Neat. I wonder if they'll manage to achieve a better outcome this time.
Typos:
Siege.
Best Fanfic ever
I'm surprised this story is so short.
The biggest flaw in this story is the "complete" tag.
I jest. But I'd like to see a sequel to this.
There has to be a sequel planned, right? Because you wrote enough to make me root for the trio, but you didn't even show how they took over the Crystal Empire! Anyways, great read!
10326617
10326616
Thanks much!
The wording was intentional... I had to set the stage first, after all...
This needs a sequel!
Favorite line.
10326200
Thanks much for the detailed feedback! It's very helpful to hear what works and what doesn't for readers.
If the characters seem "nicer" than in the show/comic, it's in part because I'm showing them as they started out, before time and experiences embittered them. And also because I'm using the comic storyline as a starting point, though I am diverging from it as well. In particular, one of the reasons for Chrysalis being the third member of this little group is to answer the question: if the Umbrum are harmed by emotion, particularly love, how was Sombra able to survive living in the Crystal Empire, and in particular during the Faire, when the love projected by the Heart would have otherwise ripped his pony facade to shreds? (The comic suggests it was Hope's healing magic alone that protected him, but even then she would have had to learn he was an Umbrum and needed that kind of protection much sooner.)
Credit where it's due, I'm treating the comics as a springboard here. Though I did try to show that Sombra wasn't just simple-minded in these scenes: he was an intelligent outsider desperately trying to fit in, and falling back on rote formality in lieu of experience. Which unexpectedly turns out to work in his favor when playing with Hope, and later when meeting and dealing with Chrysalis. Diplomacy comes naturally to him simply because he literally has nothing else to work with.
Losing ingloriously a few times will do that to you -- when you feel you've lost your mojo, and you have nothing but ego and self-aggrandisement left to work with, good judgement flies right out the window.
Good catch -- fixed!
Thanks again for the read, and for your reactions -- it helps!
10326205
Nicest feedback ever! Thanks!
Villains becoming friends. My favorite. I would love to see this continued.
I really hope this will end happily, but I know it won't.
I do have to point out something about the Siege. The show outright contradicted it in every way. Not only by having Sombra come back in Season 9, and no single mention of it from him.
But every villain that was in it, when they came back later, destroyed it's very existence by coming back at all, and not a single one of them had changed, when the comics said otherwise.
So this is now an Alternate, Alternate Universe.
I really liked it. I haven't read any of the comics but you explained everything very clearly so I didn't experience any problems.
That was interesting. And cute.
Chryssie is great as always.
Really cute story. Makes me like chrissy more, just a tiny bit more.
I feel I'll need to re-read the comics. Shame that the show retconned them, especially when they expanded so well on the main story. But fan stories like these really toss in a fun, sensible charm that only good writers can do. That the show and comics were known for. Answering the questions of "how would that make sense and what can I do to make it make sense?" Very well done. Wondefully eloquent and poetic. Hope is true to character. A kindess nearly naive. Sombra is still innocent and ignorant until it's too late. And Chrysalis is exactly what we expect her to be, but man I want to see the falling out between her and Sombra before it all descends into hell. But, as you know, least said, soonest mended.