A Touch of Chaos

by Written Out

Invasion and Infiltration

Princess Luna groaned quietly as she regained consciousness, her body feeling restricted and restrained as she shifted slightly. Her eyelids fluttering as they slowly opened, her sluggish mind struggled to remember the last thing that had happened.

Chrysalis…

Her memories came rushing back. The false pony, the changelings, the attack on her chariot… Luna’s hoof shot forward instinctively, or at least, that was her intention. Instead, her hoof sluggishly crawled forward, stopping when it hit something solid with a dull thump. Caught by surprise, it took her a moment to understand her situation.

She was suspended upside-down from the ceiling in a strange green cocoon, her head pointed toward the ground below. Some sort of highly viscous liquid filled the cocoon, filling her mouth, nose, and she could even feel the heavy liquid within her lungs. Despite, or maybe because of, this liquid, she did not feel the need to breath. Her horn sputtered and sparked as she tried to cast a spell before fizzling out entirely, stopped by the effect of either the strange liquid or the pod itself. She glared at the entrapping cocoon as she tried to figure out a way to escape, which was going to be hard if she couldn't cast any spells.

“Don’t bother,” a voice told her, startling her out of her reverie. The voice was slightly muffled, coming as it was from outside the cocoon, but she could hear it clearly regardless. Looking to the source of the voice, she did a double-take as she saw the creature that had spoken. The cocoon gave off a slightly pulsating green light, and it was enough to for her to make out the outline of what stood before her. Two arms, two legs, bipedal… A creature she had never seen before. She, the mare of the night, who monitored the dreams of every animal under the moon, had never seen this creature before.

“It’s no use glaring at me, Your Highness.” Had she been glaring? She hadn’t realized. Her mind raced as the creature continued to talk, saying something about the cocoon being impossible to escape, how even Celestia hadn’t been able to escape it, blah blah blah. Honestly, she wasn’t really paying attention. The presence of a new creature – one that had allied itself with the changelings – answered a lot of questions in her mind while raising several others in return.

She only knew of one individual in all of existence who was capable of creating new creatures from nothing. If Discord was involved, things were suddenly a lot worse than a mere invasion into Equestria. She needed to get back to Canterlot. Now.

Alex’s explanation petered and died out as he realized that his captive audience, while still captive, wasn’t being much of an audience. He really wasn’t comfortable acting like this, kidnapping and imprisoning an innocent mare, but he hoped that she would understand when he explained the situation to her.

Heh, he thought, as he realized what his mind had just said. Innocent mare. Only a few days in this world, and he was beginning to think like the locals. Was it something in the water? Or was there some ambient magical effect in the air that was affecting his mind? That would help explain why he hadn’t been freaking out over the entire situation.

His shoulders slumped as he realized he had yet another worry to add to just how horrible the situation was for him. Not only was he trapped in another world, but his mind was being suitably altered. How much longer until he could no longer be sure that his thoughts were his own? How could he be sure now that his thoughts were his own?

It was all starting to seem so pointless.

Luna stared at the strange creature as he seemed to collapse in on himself. This was certainly not how she would have expected her prison guard to act. Especially not after the last time she had been imprisoned…

No. She would not let her thoughts go there. That was no longer her life, that… monster was no longer who she was. She had to put Nightmare Moon behind her, if she ever expected her subjects to do the same. She was the co-ruler of Equestria, and she had to do what was best for her country.

Opening her eyes, Luna gazed at her captor. “What are thine intentions, foul villain?” Hearing the words escape her mouth, she blushed slightly as she realized what she had just said. Curse this infernal modern tongue! She was getting better at it, but she still had a tendency to revert to the ancient way of speaking whenever she became stressed or anxious.

Alex looked up at her, not seeming to notice her slip-up. He gaped for a second before seeming to realize what she had said and pulling himself together. He smiled self-deprecatingly as he walked over to where she was encased, absently reaching out and pressing the palm of his hand against the cocoon.

“Villain, huh?” he mused. “I guess I am. I want to do the right thing, but I don’t know what that is. Either I abandon an entire race to die, or I bring pain and suffering to innocents who have done nothing to deserve it. Do you know what that’s like?” he asked, looking directly at her. “To know that, no matter what choice you make, it will be the wrong one?”

Princess Luna’s gaze slid away from him, unwilling to meet his eyes. “Yes,” Alex said quietly, “I suppose you do.” Turning away from her, he walked over to one of the surrounding walls and sat on the stone floor. Leaning against the wall, he made himself comfortable before he began his explanation.

“You asked my intent earlier. Basically, I want to help the changelings. And before you ask,” he added, holding up a hand, “no, I have no connections to them. I arrived here only a week ago, and I had never met a changeling before that. I’m sure you don’t care about the details, so I’ll give you the short version. The changelings are dying. They don’t have enough energy to survive for much longer.”

Seeing that he had Luna’s full attention, Alex began gesturing with his hands as he began explaining in more detail. “Chrysalis told me that, since the failed invasion in Canterlot, over a hundred changelings have starved to death. That’s nearly a quarter of the entire hive.”

Luna blanched as she quickly worked out the numbers that her captor had told her. If a hundred changelings made up ‘nearly’ a quarter of the hive, that meant there were still three hundred changelings ready to swarm Canterlot. Even at full force, the day and night Royal Guards combined had only about a hundred guardsponies at any time. There hadn’t been any major conflicts in Equestria since Luna herself had tried to overthrow Celestia, and Celestia had let the army languish until it eventually was only a shadow of its former glory.

Not that Luna could really blame Celestia for the decisions she had made, since Luna had to admit there really wasn’t a need for a standing army anymore. The dragons mostly kept to themselves, only passing through Equestria during their migrations. The zebras were secretive, and largely kept to themselves, though there were the odd exceptions. Most ponies didn’t even know they existed!

The gryphons were even less of a concern. Because of the ancient treaties Luna had managed to arrange nearly four hundred years before she became Nightmare Moon, both countries would do everything in their power to help the other country if they needed it. Luna had always been proud of that little accomplishment. Even after all these years, the unassailable honour of the gryphon tribes meant that they still respected the old treaties, even if they usually didn’t come out of their aeries.

Come to think of it, Luna noticed a lot of similarities between what had happened back then and what the creature was telling her now. At that time, a widespread famine had been gripping the gryphons, causing them to go out and hunt anything they could find for food. Even ponies. Luna (with some help from her sister) had managed to arrange for large quantities of meat to be shipped to the Gryphon Mountains, narrowly averting a war in the process.

“If you wanted to help the changelings, you could have asked for assistance,” Luna pointed out. She barely even cared that she suspended upside-down in a pulsating green cocoon anymore. This sort of thing was her passion. “Were Queen Chrysalis willing to bend knee to me and my sister, we would not have allowed her people to die out.”

A gust of air escaped Alex’s nose as he laughed lightly. “You know, I suggested the very same thing. But Queen Chrysalis told me that there just isn’t enough time. She said that the last changeling – namely, herself – would starve within a week or two. If we tried to request the love they needed, they would all be dead before anything could be done to help them. Besides, she said there was a reason that she couldn’t bow down to you.”

Seeing the look Luna was giving him, Alex waved it off. “I’ll get back to that. Anyway, Chrysalis knew that any action that she took against Equestria would end with you and your sister hunting her down. Those guards that had been posted all around the Badlands made that clear. So without a clear plan, she had been forced to watch as her followers died out.”

He sighed gustily. “That’s why we came up with this plan. The first step was to capture you.” He gestured at the cocoon she was trapped in. “Mission accomplished. Fantastic. The second step is to capture Canterlot itself. To do that, Chrysalis is going to take your form and send Celestia off on a wild goose chase somewhere. Since Chrysalis doesn’t have any more of the energy she took from Shining Armor a few weeks ago, a direct fight with Celestia would be completely out of her league.”

“Once Celestia’s gone somewhere, the changeling army will move in. By the time Celestia returns, Chrysalis should be in control of the city. At that point, she will give Celestia a simple ultimatum; ‘give me and my people the love we need, and I will return your city and your sister to you unharmed.’”

Luna growled as she finally realized her role in all this – a hostage. “And you think my sister will succumb to this… this terrorism?”

Alex sighed, resting his head back against the smooth stone wall behind him. “Honestly? I don’t know. I can only hope it all works out.”

The both remained silent for several minutes, each lost in their own thoughts. Alex was thinking about all the ways things could go wrong, while Luna tried to think of a way to escape before she became a burden to her sister.

“You said there was a reason the Queen couldn’t bow down to me and Celestia,” Luna eventually pointed out. “What were you talking about?”

“Oh, that?” Alex uneasily scratched at an eyebrow. “Well, keep in mind I only know what she told me…”

---

Chrysalis felt the wind blowing through her – or rather, Luna’s – mane as her changeling guards flew her down to the Canterlot Royal Palace. The place was as magnificent as she remembered. The spiraling towers grandly reaching up towards the sky, the polished marble walls beautifully reflecting the sunlight, the wondrously clear crystalline windows… Beautiful.

And it had almost been hers.

Only three weeks ago, the throne had nearly been hers, as it should have been hers. Now she was willing to do whatever she had to just to save her subjects. The carriage hit the well-maintained grassy lawn of the Canterlot Gardens with a barely-noticeable thump and smoothly rolled to a stop.

Pathetic, she thought, as her indigo hooves daintily landed in the short grass, the noontime sun beating down on her darkened coat. The ponies here are so weak and soft that they frivolously waste time and resources in keeping some place most ponies will never see, while it’s all my subjects can do to survive a single day.

No, she most definitely was not jealous.

The place did look nice, she had to admit. Except for that one ugly statue tucked away in the corner. Why did Celestia feel the need to leave such a hideous piece of art out in the open? Did she enjoy the sight of such a misshapen creature screaming in agony? If that was the case, Chrysalis felt her respect for Celestia rise.

Removing that piece of artwork from her thoughts, the changeling Queen set off towards the castle proper, her two subjects following in her footsteps. The rest of the swarm was hiding out of sight, waiting for the Queen’s command to strike. It had taken most of the morning to get them in place, and the castle inhabitants were already starting to move around as they prepared for lunch.

Entering the castle, Chrysalis made her way through the well-lit corridors. She was struck by how completely different this place was to the dark and dreary ancient changeling hive she now called home. Looking around at the decorations lining the dazzling white hallways, she realized that she really did prefer this place to her own. Spotting a servant pushing a trolley filled with food, Chrysalis made her way over to the white pony.

“Excuse me, citizen,” she said, trying to replicate what she remembered of Luna’s voice, “could you tell me where I might find my sister, Celestia?”

The servant bowed to her, one hoof holding on to the trolley. “I don’t usually see you during the day, Princess Luna. Princess Celestia should be finishing the morning court right about now.”

Nodding her head at him, Chrysalis brushed past the servant, not noticing the odd look he gave her. Deciding it was none of his business how the Lunar Princess acted, the servant shrugged his shoulders and continued pushing his burden down the hallway.

Now then, Chrysalis thought as she made her way towards the throne room, remembering the layout of the castle from her first time here. I think the throne room was just down here… Oh! Turning a corner, Chrysalis was caught off guard as she spotted Celestia and Cadance together in the hallway. The pair was standing right next to a window overlooking the castle grounds, and something outside was holding their attention.

Chrysalis considered sneaking off and coming back later, since she wasn’t ready to face Cadance just yet. Ironically, the Princess of Love was going to be the biggest threat to the plan, as well as its most important part. Wavering for a moment, Chrysalis realized she had no choice. She only had half a day before Luna was supposed to raise the moon. If she wasn’t firmly in control of Canterlot by then, everypony would realize there was something wrong and the entire plan would fall apart.

“Sister, it is good to see you.” Celestia and Cadance turned at the sound of Chrysalis’ voice, smiling as they saw what appeared to be the Princess Luna approaching them. Celestia’s eyes flickered behind Chrysalis, spotting the two guards following behind her. “We hope this day finds you well.”

Celestia cocked an eyebrow at Chrysalis’ words. “Are you alright, Luna?”

Chrysalis felt the creeping tendrils of panic slipping up her spine. Had she already slipped up? Was the entire plan going to fall apart already? If she was caught now, nothing would save her or her people. Fortunately for Chrysalis, a loud ruckus from outside the window caught Celesia’s and Cadance’s attention, giving the Queen a moment to recover. Chrysalis couldn’t see what it was, but whatever it was caused Cadance to turn and run down the hallway with nary a farewell to the Lunar Princesses.

As Celestia’s attention turned back to Chrysalis, the disguised changeling smiled openly at her, trying to give off an impression of ‘nothing wrong here’. “Forgive us-me, sister.” Chrysalis sighed at her slip up. Her mind rushed as she tried to think of an excuse. After what Alex had told her of Luna and Celestia’s relationship yesterday, what would make her drop the subject? Aha!

Chrysalis smiled internally as she realized what would work. Celestia and Luna had had a bad relationship in the past, and were trying to overcome it. Why not… twist the knife a little? Acting like she was unwilling to explain, Chrysalis began to spin her story. “It’s just- Well- I was invited to a village this morning. It really does feel like the ponies are beginning to forgive me after…” She trailed off into silence, testing Celestia’s reaction.

As Chrysalis had hoped, Celestia remained silent, awkwardly averting her gaze. Ahh, Chrysalis thought smugly. Leverage. Before she could have any more fun with Equestria’s elder monarch, a green tendril of flame flew in through the open window before coalescing into a rolled piece of parchment in front of Celestia.

“Excuse me for a moment,” Celestia said as she grabbed the parchment with her magic. Chrysalis waved for her to go ahead as Celestia’s magical aura unrolled it. Celestia’s eyes skimmed down the letter, becoming wider and wider as she read what was written on it. Once she finished, it vanished with a slight pop.

“What happened?” Chrysalis asked, seeing the panicked expression on Celestia’s face. Instead of answering, Celestia turned and ran down the hallway. Chrysalis hesitated for a few seconds before following, her minions chasing after them. Ponies leapt out of the way as the group ran down the hallway. “Sister!” Chrysalis shouted. “What has happened?”

“Twilight Sparkle’s in trouble! I fear that I asked too much of her!” Celestia yelled back over her shoulder, her hooves screeching against the floor as she rounded a corner.

“Twilight Sparkle? But she was the one who um, yes,” Chrysalis hedged as she tried to remember what she had been told about Luna’s return, “defeated us. What could be too much for her?” Chrysalis’ disguised hoof slammed into the opposite wall as she rounded the corner after Celestia, slightly cracking the wall as she did so.

“You mean you haven’t sensed it?” Celestia’s incredulous voice asked from up ahead as they sped through the hallways. “Discord’s prison has been weakening this past week. He’s unleashed some sort of creature on Ponyville and another one southeast of here. I need to gather some guards and take them to Ponyville.”

“You don’t say…” Chrysalis mused. The Badlands were southeast of here. So, some creature named Discord is how Alex arrived at my hive. Interesting. “But,” she shouted after Celestia, “but wouldn’t the guards just slow you down if they’re facing against something like Discord? If Twilight needs help, you should go to her as soon as you can.” Celestia slowed down, her horn glowing as she turned back to Chrysalis.

“You’re right,” she said. “I’ll leave things here with you for now. Be careful. In addition to Discord, I’m also worried about what the changelings are doing. Shining Armor told me he hadn’t heard back from the ponies that had been sent to watch them. They were supposed to report back this morning. Be careful. I’ll be back as soon as I can.” Her horn flashed brightly for a moment and she vanished.

Chrysalis stared at the spot Celestia had been standing, not quite sure what had just happened. She had wanted to figure a way to get Celestia out of Canterlot, and one literally fell into her clutches as soon as she arrived? It was too perfect! Turning to her two guards, Chrysalis flashed them a confident grin.

“We have work to do before she returns. Come.” Striding down the hallway, Chrysalis dropped her Luna disguise, the two guards bowing at her words. Green flames flickered across all three of them as they donned new disguises. Their new forms in place, Chrysalis sought out a servant while her minions went down a different hallway.

Spotting the same servant from before pushing another trolley, Chrysalis walked up to him. “Could you please inform Shining Armor that I wish to see him in my room? Alone.”

The servant bowed down to her, both his hooves pressed flat against the floor. “At once, Princess Celestia.”

---

Luna's eyes flared brightly, all the strength of her glare focusing on the creature before her. "Lies," she snarled out, her voice quivering with suppressed rage. "All lies. There is no possible way that could be true."

"Maybe," Alex admitted, pulling his hat down low over his face so he wouldn't have to look up at the enraged alicorn. "I only know what she told me."

"And you trust her?" Luna asked incredulously. "Deceit is her lifeblood, deception her passion. She lives on falsehoods and fabrications, and you would trust a being such as her? No changeling can be trusted, and their Queen is the worst of the lot."

"No changeling, huh?" Alex muttered quietly, his thoughts going back to a certain changeling. "I wonder... Is that the truth?" Pushing the brim of his hat up with a single finger, he locked gazes with the angered Princess. "You didn't see her. Surely you can understand that? What it means to be torn like she is?"

Luna scoffed. "So? Am I supposed to feel sorry for her? Should I forgive her everything because she's lived a rough life? Do not patronize me, foal. I have walked roads far darker then the one your Queen walks, and I know what lies at the end of it. She will destroy both herself and those who follow her in her selfish quest for power. Unless she becomes aware of that fact, she will only continue to fall. She will be forever seeking an ending that will never come, for she will never be satisfied with the power she manages to gain."

"She's not my Queen," Alex grumbled. A frown flashed across his face and his head shot towards the small room's only opening. His head leaned slightly to the side as he focused on the entrance, his frown only continuing to deepen. "Do you hear that?" he asked her. She answered in the negative, giving him an odd look, and he shook his head before turning his attention to the stone floor in front of him. "Maybe I imagined it."

Luna cocked a brow at him, wondering about this creature's strange actions. "Tell me, being, what would change if you were right? What would be different if Chrysalis really is as torn as you believe? Do you believe that would clear away her sins? Do you believe that would clear away your sins?"

A choked, bitter laugh escaped Alex's throat before he could stop it. "My sins?" he asked rhetorically. "No. For what I've done, for giving the changelings the opening they needed to invade a land of peace-loving creatures, I have no doubt that Hell awaits me. Or whatever this place's version of that is," he added after a moment's thought. "Tartarus, I think it's called."

There was silence for several long moments before Luna finally broke it. "Then why?" she asked quietly. "Why do you do something that you know is wrong?"

He shrugged. "Because I can't think of anything else."

Author's Note:

I do believe this is worthy of a link, so this is the other side of the conversation we saw in Chapter 12.

Comments

[WithRegardsTo]

oh ho ho! Yes, the two stories have been revealed to be related. I love how you had the stories overlap a bit, and added that "Twilight sparkle is in trouble, I fear I may have asked too much of her!" bit in. Now we've got our frame of reference. Now the two stories have been put into perspective. Now the question is... were john and alex picked randomly? or do they bear relation to eachother? I love this whole dualism thing. It was confusing at first, because I wasn't sure if they were two separate stories, and really, they kind of are two separate stories, but now we get to see how they tie in together. Man... between involving the nightmare, discord, the changelings, and not one, but two anons in equestria... you've really taken quite the undertaking. Good work, it's been fun reading.

I'm on chapter 26... time to continue.

[TheHinderedTabletop]

Wow, you blended these stories pretty spectacularly.