Princesses looked up as Queen Chrysalis walked into the room.
Close to a week ago, a lone drone had shown up at the Canterlot gates, completely undisguised and carrying a large white flag. He had carried a diplomatic message- a request to initiate ‘peace talks’ between Equestria and Changeling Kind.
After hours of deliberation, Celestia had agreed, set a time, date and location, and sent her reply back with that same changeling. A week later, a pegasus carriage had traveled out to pick Chrysalis up… and returned with her. She’d ridden it mostly to keep ponies from attacking her out of the blue.
Princess Celestia smiled in greeting, sitting next to her sister at the middle of one side of the table. Twilight Sparkle was on Luna’s side of the pair, with Princess Cadence and Flurry Heart on Celestia’s other side. “I must say, your request was rather… unexpected.”
Chrysalis nodded. “I thought it might be.” She looked at Cadence. “First off, I would like to thank you for banishing us the way you did. As I’m sure you well know, love is what we eat- and also what your bubble thing was made of. As such, we all got a pretty good meal on the way out.” She took a deep breath. “And while Queens like myself are as immortal as you or Celestia, and actually can’t starve to death, we do start going a little… ahh, funny in the head, when we are starved.
“And there’s been a persistent starvation problem amongst the Changelings for the last thousand years.
“So, thank you. Because of how you threw us out, I was suddenly able to think clearly.” She sighed, and looked across the Princesses. “I think the starvation problem has been a direct result of our seclusion from the rest of society, and would like to discuss the possibility of integrating Changelings into society… as changelings. Yes, we have normally needed to steal love to survive- but if it’s freely offered, we don’t even have to make contact to absorb it- and it doesn’t hurt the pony giving it any more than if they were loving another pony.
“There’s currently a total of six changelings, scattered across Equestria, in genuine, loving relationships. Their husbands don’t know that they are changelings, and I have reason to believe one of them has forgotten that she can transform- but they each regularly send us far more love than any dozen changelings could ever need- and we make sure to keep our other infiltrators clear of them and their husbands.
“I’d like to make that the pattern, rather than the exception. We don’t need romantic love to survive- simple acceptance, by as few as a couple dozen ponies, is enough to sustain a drone. Add that we’re used to hard labor back at the hive, as we’ve got to manage all sorts of information and the flow of love through the hive, and I’m sure changelings can be useful to ponies in all sorts of ways, and earn our living not just in bits but in love as well.
“Naturally, with such an integration, we would be able to abolish several current Changeling professions, such as infiltrators, love gatherers, and love managers, freeing a very large number of Changelings to help… oh, build a few cities, maybe.”
“... You’re welcome,” Princess Cadence muttered, looking stunned.
“Um,” Twilight began, her head tilting. “Is there a reason only six are married like that? Can’t any changeling turn into a newly-designed pony and mix into pony society?”
Chrysalis nodded. “Technically, yes. In actuality, those six got lucky. Most ‘Lings would get caught, or sloppy, or whatever within a week or so, and end up destroying their budding relationship, completely aside from the difficulty in finding somepony compatible. Believe me, many have tried. That’s why the average infiltrator or love gatherer’s mission lasts for about two days.”
“Wouldn’t the changelings with relationships have been revealed by the invasion?” Luna asked.
Chrysalis shook her head. “No, actually. My mind was clear enough to specifically exclude them from the invasion. One of them happens to be the mother of a Royal Guard here in Canterlot- so long as we don’t transform at all during the entire process, we’re perfectly capable of carrying and bearing pure-pony young- and was struck by the ejection barrier, but was able to return before anypony noticed her absence.” She shrugged. “Her husband was… busy, up at the castle, and had left her at the house. That compounded with how the barrier didn’t throw her very far- Mount Canterhorn got in the way, and she had enough love on hoof to heal herself instantly.” She scowled. “Her next delivery to the Hive was a bit smaller than normal, but I’d rather have that than have her risk herself- or her position- unnecessarily.”
Twilight was looking curious, with one hoof on her chin, but Celestia spoke. “I don’t see why we can’t come to an agreement,” she began.
Unfortunately, she didn’t have an opportunity to finish because, at that very moment, the closed door exploded in, revealing a small army of angry stallions, lead by unicorns.
Immediately, while everypony in the room was still scrambling to figure out what was going on, the team at the head of the group hit Luna with a spell that encased her in something that looked like crystal.
They made a mistake, though: They hadn’t started with Chrysalis. Her reaction, rather than trying to see, had been to shoot into the mayhem, relying more on her empathic sense- now that their empathy-shields had fallen to the same spells as had blown the door in- than anything else to guide her aim.
Unfortunately, though, for as effective as her fire was- she took out fully half of their number with only three seconds of sustained fire- her empathy sense was not enough to tell which ones could shoot back, so she was the first to get hit by the return fire. She seemed to collapse into thin air over about half a second, and was gone.
Then Celestia’s chasm of fire took out half of the remainder before one of the ones still hidden by the dust and falling debris managed to hit her with the same spell. She, too, collapsed into nothing.
Next was Twilight’s turn. She leaped up on the table and started charging her horn- but unfortunately, she lacked any kind of combat training, and so was struck by the same spell before she got off her first shot.
Then Princess Cadence. She started by shoving her daughter, who was only eight, out of sight- then, lacking in any combat spell knowledge, started lobbing chairs at them. She managed to take out six of them before she failed to dodge in time and was struck by the same spell, vanishing into the air.
Finally, Flurry Heart sat up in her chair, looking fearfully at the attackers.
They fired.
The spell hit her.
And… nothing.
Flurry Heart hopped up onto the table.
“Uh, what?” one of the only three remaining unicorns asked, and fired again. His spell had absolutely no effect.
One of the other unicorns tried something different, but it also had absolutely no effect.
She leveled her horn at them.
“Uh-oh,” one muttered.
Her horn started to glow.
“Run!” another yelped, two seconds too late.
Canterlot Castle would later be described in similar manner to swiss cheese. Frankly, it was amazing that none of the staff, including guards, were hurt by the display- and that the structure was still standing.
Some hours after the event, Flurry Heart stepped out of the dining room, walking past the shattered remains of a hundred ponies, and a hundred shattered pods, produced by Chrysalis’ spellwork. She looked at the nearest Guard; since the guards that had been protecting the room had been knocked out by the attacking party, they had been since taken to the hospital, and replaced with fresh guards. Captain Gleaming Shield had taken one careful look in the door, decided that Flurry Heart needed some time, and given the order for her soldiers to wait patiently outside.
“Celestia, Twilight, Cadence, and Chrysalis,” she informed Gleaming Shield, her voice carrying an unnatural calm. “They’re… gone. Find somepony that can save Luna, even if it takes a dozen years.” She looked around at the assembled officers. “Send for Twilight’s friends, and the nobles Celestia trusted more, if you know which those are. As of right now, I’m the only princess left standing, and I need to know what I’m working with.” She looked back into the room. “Among other things.” She looked at Gleaming Shield again. “They hit me with the same spell, but… something happened, and I came back. I’ll be in Cadence’s room, writing a report on what I experienced- but whenever there’s a skilled mage available, I’d like to know if there’s any lingering effects, and find out if it’s possible to get the others back.”
Gleaming Shield only nodded. She might have been a pegasus, but she knew she didn’t fully understand the weight that had just been placed on the young princess’s withers… and, especially given her age, fully agreed with her willingness to seek help from those she knew Celestia trusted.
She only hoped they were fast enough- and as Princess Flurry Heart walked past her frozen father- he had been struck with the same spell Luna had- she turned to her officers, and the rest of the troops waiting for instructions, and started barking orders, assigning duties.
She would see to it that the nation was safe- and that Flurry Heart had all the support she needed to keep Equestria stable.
Oh no, poor Flurry...all alone, I'm surprised she didn't cry at the sight of Celestia, Twilight, and her mother dying...
Interesting, I hope we find out why the group of angry stallions did what they did.
10504129
Or herself... She did experience the Ron scene from the last chapter, from her own perspective. It's a good thing she chose to be angry rather than sad, isn't it?
Well now we know what happened in Equestria, it raises more questions because now Flurry Heart as young as she is must raise and lower the sun and moon. Hopefully the idiots who started this whole thing where all killed because they had a very foolish plan with no concern about the fallout of what could happen.
10504129
She's in shock. I suspect once she goes to bed and has a chance to think it will all hit her. Also ouch, poor Flurry Heart.
10504153
Yeah...will we find out who those ponies were?
Melody. Flurry was hit by the same spell and came back.
She must believe that her family is someplace they can be found.
Ahh, a mother’s love, the greatest power in the universe. Also poor flurry :(
The numbers are confusing.
Together, these two quotes imply that there were 200 attackers. After Chrysalis fired, there were 100 remaining.
After Celestia, there were 50.
Still 50.
44 attackers remain.
Only three of the remaining 44 are unicorns. And yet no attacking non-unicorns were ever explicitly mentioned?
If the attackers were all unicorns, there would have to have been 36 of them.
If the attackers were an even mix of the three main tribes, there would have to have been about 60 of them. (Or 108, if Cadence preferentially lobbed chairs at unicorns.)
But for the quote about "remains of a hundred ponies" to be accurate, the army would have had to have been mostly non-unicorns. Which doesn't make much sense to me, given that this was a spell fight!
On another note, I found a typo:
Should be "led". This is either a tense error or a homophone error.
Surprised that none of them tried running away... Or flying... Or teleporting...
10504154
Yep, they all died.
... Flurry got the greatest killcount in that fight: All of them.
10504162
Probably not...
if only because they're no-name plot devices, that were heavily opposed to Chrysalis' presence. As they say, the highway to hell was paved with good intentions...
10504172
Yeah, that too. She experienced her own death... and un-death, and wants to know how to un-die the others. No doubt she refuses to believe it can't be done... and of course, she is likely to have zero tolerance for incompetents.
10504820
Ah, okay, understandable
10504780
They didn't have time. Twilight's the only one that can teleport on demand, and any other method of escape is swept up with a broom by Flurry's attack.
Uh, It's a shame that Cadence didn't use the ultimate chain gun, Flurry
I am more surprised at how lax Canterlot's security was. If such group of 'mortal' ponies managed to do such damage, it was a wonder why none of Equus' other nations managed it before.
10504141
I noticed there were no mares in the said group.
10504829
Six of one, half a dozen of the other.
10504959
Yeah, I wounder why?
10505028
Maybe that Equestria is a RGRE? Since Captain Gleaming Shield exist over there instead of our usual Shining Armor. That would explain why some dudes were angry at females in power.
Something doesn't add up here. She was feeding on Shining Armor's love for days, if not longer.
10505074
Maybe
10504848
She didn't want to jeopardize Flurry... Twilight she could've done that with, but not Flurry- too risky.
10505074
I can say that it's not an RGRE...
Gleaming Shield was there because Shining Armor wasn't a Royal Guard captain anymore, but a Prince, and she ended up being his replacement- despite being the classic name for a trans Shining Armor. (No relation between the two, here)
As for why they were stallions? I don't know... for some reason, all my protagonists tend to be female, and all the antagonists male... Same thing seems to happen a lot in the show, to be fair- except, of course, the ones that get reformed. Besides, it's easier to demote them to redmanes when they're male, since mares seem to have more complicated personalities, just like real-life girls seem to.
10505080
She was feeding on a trickle of stolen love that wasn't directed at her for days... and even then, she didn't feed on it, she siphoned it into magical power. It wasn't enough.
Versus the shield: A dome of pure love, produced by the Love Princess herself and so extremely love-dense. On top of that, as much as it's being used to throw them out, she's not taking it back- she's giving it to them... albeit a bit violently. Thus, there was suddenly enough love around for Chrissy to feed on it without worrying about starving droves of drones for the sake of her mental clarity... that she wasn't aware had gone kaput until after she'd fed.
10505195
I see, so this universe has both Shining Armor and Gleaming Shield as different ponies. I was going to question who was Flurry's father, but your reply made it clear to me now.
10505203
I suppose that makes sense.
Still, it seemed kind of off, there. Just saying.
Good work! Definitely wanting to see where this goes!
So what were the actual numbers of the attackers?
10513541
Good question, I never decided, just wrote what sounded like I wanted it to.
10504141
20 bits says Blueballs was tired of being shunted further down the Totem Pole every time a new princess showed up/was born.
I don't think an 8 year old would call her mother by name. Even if she was a princess.
10518720
The same part of her mind that is keeping her functioning used the name instead of "mom" to help insulate her from the shock, and keep her functioning
10518720
That wasn't the only weird thing I found about the scene. I have a lot of trouble believing any eight year old would be capable of acting as she did, with or without the trauma of watching everyone she knows be killed or be otherwise taken out of the picture.
Yeah... WTF, the castle security sucks hardcore if that was able to happen.
10684800
Well, this is in the face of a sudden upheaval of their entire system, so everyone was under a lot of strain, not just Flurry...
So this is heavily AU, right? I’m pretty sure that by the time that she became an Alicorn, Twilight would in fact know if not direct combat spells, then spells with combat applications. I mean she has been in several knock down, drag out magical fights with various baddies throughout her time in the show, though I suppose that anyone or pony can be caught by surprise.
10720314
Well yes.
The thing Twilight lacked was not spell knowledge, but experience- the ability to cast them quickly... and to take cover.
10720314
Yeah. Like the Author said in his reply Twilight lacked experience, not knowledge. I've studied a lot about swordplay, doesn't mean I'd be able to do more than make sure I had the right end pointed at the other guy. Its the same with Twilight and combat spells.
10504820
I hope you at least have that fact explained explicitly eventually, for those that didn't realize why the attack happened. I guessed, but it wasn't fully clear in the story they were attacking because of Crissy.
10831995
I do, actually. I didn’t at the time of writing this chapter, nor for quite a while later, but I’ve actually just recently found it convenient to explain it in the story text.
All I can say is hope discord can keep the sun and moon cycle going till luna gets saved.