Love Bomb
Twilight stared. She wasn't sure how long she stood without blinking, but her eyes felt dry when she finally managed to process information again. She jumped forward, grabbing her shoulders and shaking the queen. She didn't respond.
"What are you talking about Chrysalis? What's happening to the changlings?" Twilight's eyes went wide as she finally got a close look at the mare in the dim glow of the changeling tourches. Her horn flared and a massive ball of light shot to the ceiling of the room. In the now blaring brightness of her magic she could see the changes in the once threatening tyrant. Though she'd always been full of holes, if Twilight could remember the holes were now much more pronounced. There were also more of them. Her chitin seemed dull and was beginning to crack at the edges of the plates. Her face was sunken, her eyes were dull. The situation was obvious to Twilight in that moment as the magic of her flare dimmed away.
Twilight reeled back in horror. "You're dying."
"We're all dying, your highness. Why do you think g-01 and g-02 struggled so much with the door. It is literally their only job, yet I could feel their strain through the hive mind."
"Chrysalis, tell me what's wrong. Tell me how to save them. That's an order from your queen."
Some life came back to Chrysalis's voice as she sneered her reply. "They have to feed, obviously."
"Why can't they feed now?"
The emotion drained from Chrysalis again. "Because I was too ambitious. I took too much of the hive with me to conquer Canterlot, because I was so sure of my victory. After the defeat, without orders and with no queen to give them any, they fell back into standby. They all stand ready for orders in their quarters. Except those who were left on sentry duty, they've been left out in the elements all this time, unable to even take a break. I've given all I can of my own love to sustain them, but it won't be enough for much longer."
"So we just need to give them some love and they'll be fine?"
Chrysalis managed a small smug smile at this. "Indeed. All you have to do, oh great princess of friendship, is give the hive an order to go feed on a nearby settlement of ponies. Tell them to feed to their hearts content, and they'll be fine. The ponies there will even be ok, eventually."
"I can't possibly give that order."
"Than their lives, and mine, are on your head." She scoffed in mild amusement at Twilight's distress. "Unless you secretly brought along that troublesome princess of love. I don't think you'd find a concentrated source of love large enough otherwise."
Chrysalis felt a maelstrom of emotions fly through Twilight's mind. To her senses for feelings, it was an almost sickening mix of flavors as the pony princess found herself between a rock and a hard place. The changling queen had played her last gambit. She knew a pony, at least this pony, would be too sentimental to let all the changlings die. Hopefully breaking to the pressure would force her to act like a true changling queen. If she saw that changlings needed to steal love to survive, maybe her changlings had a real chance.
She wasn't sure at this moment though, the queen had never felt such frantic emotions. Normally, she had a fair bit of insight on a creature based on how their feelings tasted. But if she tried to guess the princesses next actions based on her emotions at the current moment, she seemed just as likely to break down and start crying as she was to suddenly attack and strangle her.
Then something happened. The torrent of emotions coming from Twilight seemed to even out. Despite how chaotic her mind obviously was, the pony seemed to be trying to physically wrangle the tempest. The indistinct feelings seemed to blend together, but didn't taint one another. Chrysalis unconsciously tilted her head in curiosity. Whatever mental fortitude the pony before her was capable of, it must have been something impressive. A clarity seemed to start to settle into Twilight's mind, her emotions forming an almost rainbow like uniformity. It created a feeling of resolve and satisfaction that felt almost as pure as love to the changling queen. She unconsciously found herself licking her lips.
"You've been sustaining the hive this whole time by yourself, so that means if I can get you enough love you can save the whole hive on your own. Right?"
Chrysalis was intrigued. She found herself wanting to tell the truth without compulsion if only to try to figure out what the mare was thinking. "A, proper, changling queen gives her hive love naturally. All is done by the will of the queen, because the Queens love is the purest love. But even if I sucked you dry it would not sustain the hive even a day longer. Unless you want us to starve, you have to make a hard choice."
"I just need some more information. Can any kind of love sustain changlings, or does it have to be romantic love?" Twilight asked this in earnest.
"In truth, we can consume any emotion. However other emotions will not sustain us." The flow of Twilight's emotions fluctuated a little with that statement. Apparently Chrysalis had said something the princess didn't like. She could leave her explanation there, but the affect it brought to Twilight's emotions left a bad taste in her mouth. "Emotions are spectrums though, and love is no different. Romantic love is the most... the pony equivalent would probably be nutritious, but other forms work as well."
The clear emotion returned, even stronger than before. Twilight smiled. "That's great." As naturally as can be, she turned to the door she'd come in by. "G-01, G-02, would you please open the doors."
Chrysalis decided to follow as Twilight gestured to the queen. "I don't know what you think you've come up with, but you're grasping at straws. You need to step up and be a queen if you want to make a difference."
Twilight's now chipper mood didn't seem to falter. It would have irritated Chrysalis were she not resisting the urge to snack on it. "You can still fly right?" She asked as she started leading the way back through the hive the way she came.
"Of course I can, I am a queen. I will fight my hardest to the last." The proud statement still didn't disturb the pony.
"Great, let's go. The faster the better. Through the air it shouldn't take more than a few minutes."
Chrysalis eyed her suspiciously as she allowed her to lead the way. Before long they found their way to the surface. Twilight flexed her wings some before indicating she was ready. "What are you playing at pony?"
"Nothing you have to worry about. I just happen to know where there's a ready source of love close by." Twilight took to the air. The Queens wings buzzed to life and she followed close behind.
While her access to the changling hive mind was limited since her defeat, she could still hear reports from scouts around the badlands who were still keeping watch for all these long months. Thus she knew already what was in the direction they were heading. She was correct as she noticed the smoke from a small campfire burning in a clearing just ahead of them. Four ponies sat around it while a fifth was in a tree, watching the sky.
The blue pegasus there saw them immediately and looked like she began shouting things to the others. They immediately seemed to jump into some kind of formation as they approached.
Twilight landed in front of one of them, Applejack, if Chrysalis remembered correctly. She looked between the assembled ponies as Chrysalis landed behind her. The rest didn't seem to break their focus on Twilight as she finally spoke. "It's a gamma 5A formation."
Applejack nodded slightly. "Alright then, go ahead."
Twilight nodded as well, stepping forward as if she was going to stand between the rest of her friends. Chrysalis stayed where she was, curious of what was going on. She managed to keep the shock off her face when the earth pony suddenly reared up and struck out hard with her hindlegs as Twilight was passing.
Struck hard, Twilight went sailing into a nearby tree. She was stunned for a time, but managed to shake it off. "Did you really have to kick me so hard?"
"Sorry Twi, but you told us to be sure." She smiled as she went to help her up.
Twilight smiled as well. "Yeah, so phase two."
So far Chrysalis was impressed. She doubted even she would have stayed in disguise in that situation.
Rarity sauntered up, eyeing Twilight up and down. "Ok Twilight, if you are Twilight. How many stars were on the gala dress I made you last year?"
"None. The only gala dress you made me with stars was the first one. That had 25, including the ones on the shoes which you made very clear was part of the dress."
Rarity smiled a bit at that. "Who was at your first slumber party?"
Twilight smiled at the question. "I didn't have my first slumber party until I moved to Ponyville. You and Applejack were there, and you bickered most of the night."
Chrysalis wasn't sure what a slumber party was, nor why bickering at one would be a memory that made them laugh together about the experience. Chrysalis was interpreting that there were layers to whatever they were doing that went beyond the questions being asked.
"Ok, last question." Twilight nodded her assent. "What is my little sister's name?"
"Applebloom", Twilight confidently declared.
Even though Chrysalis hadn't given much time to look into the element bearers, that seemed off even to her. She watched the earth pony who had kicked Twilight before. If she was Applejack, surely her sibling must be Applebloom. Yet Twilight wasn't kicked again.
The still cautious ponies maintained where they stood, only nodding in what seemed to be a practiced way. Rarity went back to her place while the yellow pegasus now stepped forward. "Ok, last test and we'll trust that it's really you and that you're ok."
Fluttershy, by Chrysalis's memory, now faced Twilight and gave her what seemed to be a piercing stare. However that seemed tame compared to what she did next. Raising a foreleg to Twilight's face found the princess face to face, with a harshly glaring rabbit.
Animals could always be a problem for disguised changlings, as even the best changling couldn't perfectly match smells. It was always a great benefit that they couldn't communicate directly with ponies, otherwise any pony with a pet would be a deal breaker. However, as the bunny glared he seemed to be chittering things back to the pegasus. Without any regard for her personal space, the bunny now hopped onto Twilight and aggressively inspected her. This led to him even diving below her mane. A few moments later he emerged, looking much less hostile. Some more chittering to Fluttershy, and the pegasus suddenly lunged forward.
"Thank goodness you're safe Twilight." Remembering the situation though, she backed away from the sudden hug, taking the bunny with her. "But what's going on?"
They all now turned on Chrysalis. She had to admit the lack of fear shown was impressive, but obviously Chrysalis knew better.
"You're all very anxious at the moment." She stared at Fluttershy specifically. "One of you is so scared you're barely keeping yourself from shaking." She smiled a sinister smile when that made the pegasus gulp. However the queen was caught off guard when the bunny from before suddenly hopped on top of the mares head, and threw a carrot at her. Where he got the carrot she did not know, but she did know she couldn't let the insult stand when it bounced harmlessly off her muzzle. "How dare you, you lowely creature..."
"Chrysalis! No malicious magic and no causing harm to anypony or any creature."
Twilight shouted the command. Chrysalis cursed under her breath as her magic cut off almost without her even noticing. "You expect me to endure such disrespect. No matter how far I've fallen I am still a queen."
"You're arguing with a rabbit." Twilight seemed exasperated by this. Seeing all beings as lesser to changelings, Chrysalis obviously didn't see how an insult from him was lesser than any insult she wouldn't usually allow. Twilight seemed to understand this failure in translation. "Fluttershy, Chrysalis isn't going to do any harm, can you please get angel bunny to apologize?"
Fluttershy looked shocked at what had just transpired. Hesitantly she bent down low to where Chrysalis now noticed the bunny had ended up, with the mare stepping on his tail as if holding him back.
"Now Angel, I'm not sure what's going on but it is still not ok to throw things." The rabbit chittered in what sounded like irritation. "I was a little scared and I'm happy that you would defend me, but you still need to apologize." The chittering now sounded like resignation as the bunny hung its head. "He says he's sorry. And he really means it."
Chrysalis growled. "If I could shout right now I would."
Twilight looked sympathetic, which only made Chrysalis angrier. "I know this must be stressful, but I just need to explain some things and then we can all help you."
"Help her, why the heck would we help her? Are we sure Twilight's not being mind controlled?" The Rainbow one now stepped forward, eyeing Chrysalis suspiciously.
Applejack seemed to consider. "She passed all the tests, even the trick ones. I think we just need to hear this out y'all."
The rest of the ponies accepted this with varying degrees of hesitation.
Twilight seemed to sense the lowering of tension which caused her to straighten up a she cleared her voice to speak. "It's a delta- seven scenario, but with some complications."
There seemed to be some confusion among the other ponies as they looked between one another. Applejack finally responded. "Uhh, Rarity. I think that was the stuff you memorized."
Twilight looked aghast. "You should all know all the codes. What did I say about needing redundancy in the system?"
Rainbow Dash now moaned. "There were like, hundreds of scenarios Twilight. Only you could memorize all of them. What's she talking about Rarity?"
Looking only slightly abashed at their deception, Rarity cleared her throat before speaking. "The delta scenarios pertained to the situation being all clear. Number seven specifically means no threat." This suddenly made the rest of the group drop into defensive positions again. "More specifically," Rarity continued quickly, "it is the only no threat scenario that isn't a false flag."
"Which we are now going to have to find a new code for because it was never meant to be said aloud." Twilight pouted. Chrysalis was impressed. The pony princess had created a system she didn't think any changling would be able to breach. But of course that wasn't her focus right now.
As loudly and aggressively as she could, the queen spoke up. "I couldn't care less about you ponies and your futile games. I'm only interested in making sure my children can feed. So unless you're going to let me drain your friends dry I would like to know what the plan here is, princess."
Twilight stopped her pouting immediately, refocusing on Chrysalis. "We've got everything we need, I just know they won't agree with it unless they are totally sure I'm not a changling or being mind controlled." She turned back to her friends, determined. "This will sound crazy, but it is very important that we give Chrysalis as much love as we can." Hooves impacted Twilight's side and she flew into the tree again. "Yes, very good. I told you to do that if I said anything like that as well." She said this while slowly picking herself up. The other ponies shared another glance between Twilight and Chrysalis. "But I'm still not a changling and I'm still serious."
"Ok," replied Applejack. "We still believe you, but we still don't understand. They're had better be a dang good reason if you expect us to willingly help."
There were nods of agreement around. Twilight steadied herself. "Because if we don't help, all the changlings are going to die and it will be my fault."
There was a tense pause.
"I'd call that a dang good reason. What's the plan Twilight?" Applejack said this with a definite nod that was mirrored by the rest of the group.
"It turns out that romantic love isn't the only type of love they eat. It's the best for them, but any kind of love will do."
Determined looks became smiles of understanding. Chrysalis growled, bringing the attention back to her. "I don't know what you ponies think is going to happen here, but your princess is grabbing at straws. Sucking you all dry will only keep the hive alive a few more hours. If you really want to help, convince her to let the hive go feed on a nearby town."
Despite the queen's outburst, the ponies kept smiling. Twilight decided to respond. "Chrysalis, since ponies and changlings are going to be coexisting after this, I think it's ok to let you in on something about how ponies work."
It didn't escape the lone changling's attention that the ponies now began to surround her. "What do you think you're playing at?" She sneered as she lowered herself to be ready for a fight.
The ponies only seemed to smile wider at this. Twilight, right in front of her, replied. "We won't hurt you Chrysalis, so just let us do this."
Chrysalis felt her posture relax against her will. She held her sneer as best she could as she protested again. "You're all fools if you think anything but the changling way is going to work."
"This is the pony way Chrysalis. And the pony way, is that we're stronger together." Her smile now became sickingly sweet. "Group hug girls."
Chrysalis was unable to resist as an unfamiliar softness pressed in on her from all sides. As alien as the feeling was, Chrysalis did feel a sudden relief as she was able to start feeding on a plentiful source of love. She could concede that it was more love than she had anticipated, but she knew it couldn't be enough.
But compelled by her biology, she kept feeding. And feeding.... And feeding more.
"What is this? What's going on?" She asked this while her body began to tense at the unending stream of love.
"It's ok Chrysalis. We've got you." Twilight whispered this somewhere close to her ear.
"That's not... what..." Her body began to shake as her back began to arch against her will. "It's... too much..... I can't." She wasn't able to finish the thought as a sudden surge hit her. All at once she felt her own voice leaving her without her knowledge as her vision went white and her body went slack.
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Should I be concerned?
I think I'm understanding the chapter title now.
So its a literal love bomb?
Yeah okay, now I'm back to being concerned about the chapter title.
This seems a bit excessive, however I don't have complaints, besides the kicking. By the sounds of it, that would have fatally injured any regular pony or even Changeling. The only reason why Twilight probably wasn't injured at all is because she's an Alicorn.
Actually now that I think about it, the Changelings are dying, which means that kick would probably have killed them.
Over prepared, but again no complaints.
Oh gee, you think?
Knew there was a good reason to be concerned. Though I expected more of an explosion, like an outside explosion, though emotions happen on the inside so I guess this makes sense.
Love how they showed her love isn’t a finite resource so long as it’s freely given instead of taken.
I will be eagerly awaiting what happens when Twilight starts integrating the Changelings. Maybe bring them back to her castle in Ponyville? She has always needed guards.
12044517
Maybe a little
Not quite
It'll be interesting I think
Cartoon logic. Get smooshed like a pancake=complain that it was rude.
Twilight for to make backup plans for backup plans for backup plans. She was probably in heaven.
Yeah, genocide is never ok.
When got feel that tension build inside of your and finally release, what else could it be but a bomb.
This is my favorite chapter of this so far. Unfortunately it is also my last complete chapter, so I get serious with the writing thing.
12044524
No castle yet, unfortunately. I know that hive mind don't work this way, but I like the idea of playing with it in a fantasy setting.
12044560
Oh dang I didn’t pick up where in the OG timeline we were at… is she even an alicorn yet?
12044575
Alicorn yes, castle no. That weird time when Twilight was princess of essentially just one small town library.
12044579
Nice. Will definitely be interesting to see how it effects the timeline when she does get it by fighting Tirek.
Nice thought Twi but the proper way to deal with prolonged starvation is light easily digestible food in limited but frequent quantities. Not put a funnel of cake batter into their mouth and turn it on full blast.
12045026
I really didn't intend it that way, but I'll be god danged if that isn't exactly what I portrayed here
Although my wife says the cake batter method would probably get the Pinkie Pie seal if approval.
great chapter
12045346
Thanks so much
Yaaaaay hugs!
they are bugs! they are powered by hugs! welcome to the hug-a-bug foundation!
12084878
You made my wife laugh with that one.
12084878
#HugAbug
12044579
Tbh, that was a cuter time. There were precedents in earlier medieval ages, like a princess of single town or island
12156806
I do feel like it was proof the writers didn't think through the transformation thing though. What did she technically rule over during that time?