Fear me! Hate me!/ Sociopathic
White on Black
Ch.04 “Fear me! Hate me!/ Sociopathic”
As one might suspect, sunlight that originates from a sun that is guided through the skies by a living goddess is a little more than just a bunch of photons, which can’t decide whether they are particles or waves. No, Equestrian sunlight, like much of Equestria, was bathed in magic. Each beam had his own particularities, quirks, one might even say they had their own personality.
The beam, that fell through Twilights window this morning, was a particular shy one. It tiptoed in through the glass pane, slowly making it’s way across the floor, stopping here and there until it finally reached the bed. Several moments it fidgeted around at the base of the bed before reaching out and gently caressing the sleeping unicorn.
Twilight rolled around, her mind still hazy and slow. She tried to ignore the light, that by now was harassing her even through closed eyelids, but to no avail. She thought that somepony really should do something about this.
“Spike, close the curtains.” She tried to mumble.
Five seconds passed.
Ten seconds passed.
Twenty seconds passed.
Twilight shot out of the bed, eyes wide open and her mane and coat standing on end.
“Oh fu....”
---
“Twilight calm down, would ya.” Applejack tried to convince the purple blur that shot all around the library tower. She barely managed to dodge a bunch of books that were thrown around the room by Twilights levitation magic. The slightly unhinged librarian was currently busy systematically dismantling her former residence.
“Ah thought we made it clear that there are no listening devices.” Applejack drawled.
“I’m not looking for listening devices. We lost Spike.” Twilight replied matter of factly, without stopping.
“What do ya mean ‘We lost Spike’? He was right there with us when...” The apple farmer stopped talking as she slowly went through her memories of the last day.
“Darn it, we lost Spike.” She announced the results of her mental research.
“Well what are you standing around for, help me search.” Twilight shouted.
“Now Ah don’t mean ta be rude, but Ah don’t think ya’ll find him in your flower pots.” Applejack deadpanned. Twilight looked at the bonsai she was levitating as if she had seen it for the first time now, and chuckled awkwardly before putting it back into it’s pot.
“Ah think, Spike is a pretty big fella already and he knows his way around Canterlot as well as you do. Let’s just tell the guards to send him our way when they see him. It’s not like we’re in the Everfree forest where there’s monsters who could hurt him.” Applejack tried to calm her friend.
“You're probably right. I just can’t stand the idea of something happening to him.” Twilight said meekly.
“He managed to travel through half Equestria when he was following those Dragons, I think he’ll manage surviving the palace gardens.” The orange mare joked, coaxing an halfhearted smile from the nervous unicorn.
“Dun worry Twilight, what’s the worst he could do.”
---
Earlier that night:
A sleepy looking changeling queen was standing in the door to Celestia’s bedchambers. A series of knocks had awakened her during the night. Silently as to not wake her fiancée she had opened the door only to be confronted by a small purple dragon and three changelings.
“Wha?” She mumbled, drowsily looking at the lizard-like being.
“Erm... your highness... maam...” Spike stuttered. He shuffled his feet around nervously. Chrysalis tried to concentrate and after a moment she managed to focus her eyes on Spike’s face. (Actually she focused on a spot five centimeters behind it, but at least it was in the general direction of his face.)
“Uhm... you see me and the guys,” he pointed at the three changelings that had accompanied him, “we have been talking, and we’ve been wondering if, you know, I could join the hive.”
The changeling queen stared blankly for a few moments, making Spike more and more regret asking this question.
“Sure.” Chrysalis mumbled, before turning around and closing the door behind her. Spike shot the changelings a big smile. Meanwhile the queen trotted back to her bed thinking: “I should stick to red-wine, I always get weird dreams after white.”
---
*Thud*
A soft noise could be heard from one of Canterlot Castle’s many doors.
“Twilight, it can’t go on like this.” Rarity said, while she tried to dislodge her friends horn from a door. “This is already the third time this morning that you forgot to open the door before going through it. Try to forget about Spike for now and focus.”
Twilight finally came free, her horn popping out of its wooden confinement. Gently she rubbed the mistreated appendage. “Yeah, you’re right, I need to regain control of the situation. Hmmm.... AH!”
The five friends shot up, startled by Twilights sudden outburst. Applejack tried to shake the sense of Deja-Vu as she approached the purple Unicorn that was rummaging through her baggage. “Twi, what are ya doing?”
“What I should have done a long time ago,” Twilight said in an almost maniacal tone, before triumphantly presenting what she had been searching for, “writing a checklist.”
“Spike take a note...” she started to dictate, before looking around confused. “Hmmm … I guess that won’t work... Fluttershy you’re the new Spike!”
The cream coloured Pegasus looked at her wide eyed. “Uhm... I don’t think... I...”
“Spike take a note...” Twilight spoke up again. Fluttershy sighed dejectedly before trying her best to write with her mouth.
“Point one - ‘Wake up’ ,check;
point two - ‘realize Spike’s missing’, check;
point three - ‘panic’, check;
point four - ‘write a checklist’, pending;
point five - ‘meet Celestia and Chrysalis for breakfast’;
point six - ‘fix relationship between changelings and ponies after an age old history full of war and betrayal.”
Twilight nodded to herself, visibly pleased with her assessment of the situation.
“See, now I feel much better. Nothing like a good old checklist to put things in perspective.” She chimed while she walked out the door, leaving behind five perturbed looking ponies.
Five ponies followed behind her. Five times a soft thud could be heard as five heads collided with the wooden door.
---
“Could you pass me the salt?” A black hole riddled hoof reached across the table with the salt shaker. Rainbow Dash stretched out her foreleg to grab the shaker, but hesitated moments before her hoof touched the changeling. Chrysalis rolled her eyes and set it down on the table, from where Rainbow Dash snatched it still eyeing the queen suspiciously.
The smell of coffee and fresh bread filled the small dining room, that had already played host to yesterday’s dinner. Six ponies and two changelings shared the table. Celestia was busy staring at the newspaper that levitated in front of her face, only the amber glow that illuminated the pages betrayed who was sitting there. The clearly hungover Chrysalis was busy staring at a glass of Bloody Mary (a virgin one), trying to convince her brain that it was a good idea to drink the concoction.
The six element bearers meanwhile were busy eating. The way they had launched themselves at the table one would have to think that they had been starving, however nutrition was only a side effect of their gluttony: As long as they had their mouths full, they wouldn’t need to be the first to speak.
In fact this tactic proved so successful that they sat in silence until Chrysalis finally spoke up: “As amusing as it is to watch you given each other ‘subtle’ signs, and kicking each other under the table, I have an headache and would be ever so grateful if you would finally ask your questions.”
Instantly the clatter of cutlery upon plates died down as the six friend stared at Chrysalis abashed. The sound of stifled laughter came from behind the floating newspaper.
Ten eyes focussed on Twilight.
“Oh no, don’t look at me. I already know what’s going on.” The purple unicorn said, before continuing with her breakfast.
Nervously the five ponies, that had so unceremoniously been robbed of their leader, looked at each other. In the end it fell to Rarity to speak. Tentative the white unicorn looked at the black queen, that was almost twice her size. She cleared her throat.
“So, where have you and Celestia met?” she asked, falling back on what she considered a ‘safe’ question for newlyweds.
“Not telling.” The answer came quick and barsh.
Celestia folded her newspaper and put it on the table. “Sweetie.” She said, mildly annoyed by her fiancée’s behaviour.
“What? It’s not like they have any right to know.” Chrysalis face was clouded with anger, but Celestia’s trained eyes saw that there was something else beneath the rage.
“You know that they could just ask Twilight to find out.” Celestia tried to reason, but all that earned her was a silent and angry glare.
“Sweetie, how about I tell them what happened?” Gently the white alicorn lay her hoof on the black chitinous hoof of the changeling Queen. Chrysalis still glared at her, but she didn’t try to stop her either.
---
Chrysalis watched silently as Celestia relayed her tale to the six ponies that she, ironically enough, knew best of all the ponies in Canterlot.
Even without her magic, their faces were like open books, all too easily betraying whatever emotions they were feeling.
Nervousness at first, understandable given their situation, it wasn’t often that you had to sit face to face with an enemy. Chrysalis had no false hopes about what she was still considered by most of them.
Second came curiosity. Even if the story wouldn’t have been about the mare who was about to marry the princess Chrysalis had to begrudgingly accept that Celestia made for an amazing story teller. In no time she had her audience captivated with the power of her voice.
Third came terror. This story may had a happy end, but the way there hadn’t been a nice one. Chrysalis shuddered as the sun goddesses’ voice reawakened memories she would have rather forgotten.
And then the story came to an end, and the emotion she hated the most came. Pity.
HOW DARED THEY! She was queen Chrysalis, the bane of all sentient races, weaver of the great lie. Before her mere mortals were nothing but dust, and yet they dared to look at her with those eyes that said “We’ve seen you weak, all your strength means nothing.”
Her hoofs trembled with barely contained anger. Then she felt the second hoof that rested upon hers and she grabbed onto it tightly pressing the alabaster appendage. Celestia smiled at her. Chrysalis sighed. At least it was pity. Yes, she had basked in the fear and the hatred of her enemies. At no time she had felt as alive as when an enemy had stood before her, filled with anger, yet powerless to enact his revenge upon the creature that had drained him of his love. But it was time to let this age pass. She had traded that life for the love of a beautiful mare and if being pitied was the price she had to pay for it, so be it.
---
Half heartedly Twilight poked her omelette with her fork. She felt queasy as her own memories stepped aside and the memories of another being took their place. All too vivid images summoned by the smooth, motherly voice of her mentor flooded out her surroundings as she once again relieved the day Chrysalis and Celestia met.
---
“My liege, the troops have assembled.”
The voice of the white pegasus woke Celestia from her daydream. It had been a long time since she had ever lead an army of any kind. Most of Equestria’s conflict had either come from mighty individuals, or had been solved with diplomacy. Indeed under normal circumstances it would have been impossible to assemble this many soldiers, without leaving law enforcement all over Equestria spread dangerously thin.
Yet here they were, hundreds and hundreds of soldiers, the encampment stretching as far as the eye could see, for this century had been far from normal. Her sister had returned from her exile, and this brought with it the establishment of the Night Guard. At first Celestia had been less than delighted by the idea, that there had been an entire race of ponies sworn to Nightmare Moons cause, but under Luna’s rule they had adopted rather effortlessly, to the point where most ponies didn’t even question their appearance.
And of course there were the Crystal Knights. The new Crystal Empress, or Cadance as she prefered, had been all too ready to send a detachment of her best ponies when Celestia had told her what she would need them for. This came as no Surprise to Celestia, after all who else would have a reason to hate the changelings if not Cadence.
And so they had assembled here in the badlands, two hundred unicorn guards, three hundred pegasus guards, another three hundred night guards, and two hundred Crystal Knights.
Celestia stepped out of the general's tent, adorned in battle armor. The massive platemail hadn’t seen use for one thousand years, but it had been preserved well and would serve her in this battle as it did in the battle against Discord.
Celestia disliked war, she thought it a waste, of resources, of opportunities, and of lives, but this time she was willing to make an exception. Too close had the changelings come to succeeding. She had nearly lost her little ponies to those monsters.
She shook her head trying to dispel the horror vision of row upon row of cocoons filled with ponies, slowly being drained of their love.
“General, has there been any movement from the hive yet?” Celestia asked the white pegasus besides her.
“No, ma’am. We’ve surrounded their city on all sides, but there has yet to be any reaction from them.” The stallion replied.
“They didn’t even close the gates?” Celestia looked at the general with surprise.
“No, ma’am. No movement whatsoever.” For a short moment nervousness broke through the otherwise stoic ponies voice.
“I don’t like this.” Celestia expression was grim, no trace of the warm smile she normally presented to the world. Here and now she was Celestia, Emperor and warlord of the three pony tribes. Once again, she looked at the city that lay beneath her.
She almost laughed when she noticed just how similar this city was to Canterlot. The same spires, the same domed roofs, and in the midst of it a black castle stretching it’s many spindly towers out into the sky. Sure the colours were off, black and grey where Canterlot was white, green membranes where ponies had clear glass, but the feeling of looking at Canterlot’s twin city remained. Yet another mockery. Yet another copy.
“What do the Pegasi report?” Celestia returned her attention to her advisor.
“We’ve done some flybys but reports don’t seem to indicate any activity inside the city, I could order them to lower their altitude, but that would put them in the range of magic counterattacks.” Celestia nodded, for not having any battle experience the stallion had proven to be a capable commander.
“No need, I will take a platoon of knights and enter the city myself.”
“What? My liege, do you think that’s wise?” The stallion didn’t even try to hide his shock.
“Sending an immortal as advanced scouts instead of exposing my men to this danger? Yes, I do indeed believe this a wise choice.” She replied.
Truth be told, it wasn’t only the concern for her men that drove her to this decision. No, deep inside the solar matriarch there festered a wound, not to her flesh but to her pride. First Nightmare Moon, then Discord and finally Chrysalis, each time Celestia had to stand powerless on the sidelines, leaving the battle to her barely grown up protege. Celestia was aching for a chance to prove that she was still the Protector of Equestria.
---
Celestia looked over the assembled crowd of twenty knights. All of them were adorned in massive armor and holding lances at their side. While the rest of Equestria had enjoyed a thousand years of peace, these stallions had been ripped from time and space at an age of great strife. Every one of them had faced not only the aftermath of Discords reign, but the Tyranny of Sombra as well.
Celestia nodded at them, there was no need for rousing speeches, every word that could have been said, would have been an insult to these battle hardened veterans.
On her sign they began to move, deceptively slow at first, but steadily the gained speed, turning the ponies, into an massive behemoth of steel and flesh that would crush anyone foolish enough to stand in it’s way. Celestia herself lead the charge, her golden armor and the strands of ancient magic that surrounded her made her look like war incarnate.
“FOR EQUESTRIA!” Celestia’s voice boomed over the riot of steel and hooves, and the knights joined in her battle cry as they passed the gates to the city of changelings. Without resistance the stormed through the massive archway and were greeted by nothing. The street behind the gates was completely empty.
“STOP!” Celestia commanded, but the knights momentum carried them further inwards. Celestia braced herself for the ambush that was sure to come, but the platoon slowly came to an halt, and there was still no sign of anypony.
Alertly the knights watched their surroundings, looking for any trace of an attacker, but the city remained silent.
Silent was the right word, the city was utterly and completely quiet, the clanking of armor and the breath of the ponies the only noise to be heard. Celestia looked up at the strange green windows above them, but if anyone was watching them they were well hidden by the tinted membranes.
“Onwards.” The matriarch commanded.
Quickly the knights fell in formation. Their eyes scanned the walls around them as the carefully delved deeper into the black and grey city. Now that they had come this close, the likeness to Canterlot vanished. The black material from which the city was built had an curious black shine to it almost like the carapace of the shapeshifters that inhabited the city, and when the wind blew through the streets, the green membrane like windows pulsated to an unheard heartbeat.
Empty market booths, lined the walls to either side. They didn’t look deserted, more like all the changelings had packed up for the night, and simply didn’t return. The same could be said about the rest of the city. It was clean, almost abnormally so, not like a ruin or a ghost town, almost like the changelings could return any minute.
Celestia whipped around as a sudden loud noise filled the air. The crystal knights stood alarmed ready to attack any foe that presented itself.
A small metal bucket rolled from the shadows stopping as the soon as the wind let up. The knights and Celestia remained standing still, their coats standing on end, as they gazed deeper into the shadows. Nothing moved.
“Onward.” Celestia commanded, forced to whisper by her dry throat. The knights continued on their way, the hollow clattering of the empty bucket serving only to further erode their nerves.
It wasn’t long until they reached a round marketplace, which had a small ornamental fountain in it’s middle. The noise of water would have sounded light and playful in any other place, but as it echoed through the empty streets it became a distorted whisper which served only to remind of the emptiness of the city.
Celestia looked up at the spires of the black castle trying to get her bearings. If she estimated the castles size correctly they had made their way through nearly half the city. And still no sign of the changelings. Had she miscalculated, had the changelings abandoned the city at the sight of the oncoming army? No. An exodus of this size would have been easy to spot, on the barren plains of the badlands.
The matriarch looked at the roads, that crossed on the marketplace, trying to gauge which would lead them to the castle the fastest, when an echo reached her ears. This hadn’t been an empty bucket, only changelings produced those clicking noises. Celestia stormed ahead, the knights slowly falling behind. There it was again, directly ahead of her. Sharply she turned around a corner only to stop dead in her tracks.
A single changeling stood there on the street, giving of soft clicking noises at seemingly random intervals, it seemed almost as if he was laughing. Again and again the dull eyed changeling rammed his head, against the wall besides him, not with much force, but with an unrelenting rhythm and a small stream of blood trailing down his face, proved that he had been at it for quite a while now.
The sound of the knights catching up to her woke Celestia from her stupor. Instinctively she reached out a hoof to stop the creature from hurting itself any further. The changeling didn’t even look up when the solar matriarch touched him, continuing to slam his head against the bloody stone surface. Even when Celestia wrapped him tightly in her magic grip and dragged him away from the wall, his head still jerked sideways in a steady rhythmic motion.
“You and you, take him don’t let go of him under any circumstances.” She ordered two of the knights that had rounded the corner.
Celestia looked around, but there were signs of any other changelings, and no trace as to where this one had come from.
“You two follow me, the rest of you will guard the perimeter.” Her voice was sharp and unquestionable.
Slowly she advance towards the door of one of the nearby buildings followed only by her entourage of two knights, while the rest of the knights formed a circle, trying to observe all of the surrounding area at once.
---
Celestia stepped into an empty corridor, they black walls swallowed all light that fell through the door and hid the end of the hall in shadows. The alicorns horn lit up, as she tried to illuminate her surroundings, but only when she focussed the light into a thin beam she could make out any details.
Resolutely she walked down the hallway, trying to subdue her nervousness. She opened the first door to her right, revealing a living room. Green light fell through a tinted membrane, only serving to make the shadows all the deeper. The room was empty. Like the street outside there was no sign of any strife or of a hurried departure.
Celestia turned around, leaving the empty room behind and focusing on the door to her right instead. A kitchen. Aside from the green hue that lay over everything it looked perfectly normal, just the sort of room you would expect to find in a house.
Unnerved the solar matriarch ignored the room and ran towards the next room, nearly ripping the door from its hinges as she tore it open. A single changeling sat in the room. Her eyes dull and without life just like the one outside, but this one didn’t move. Instead it just sat there move agape staring at the ceiling. It didn’t react when the alicorn approached it, and remained catatonic even when she touched it, but the slow and steady rising of its chest revealed that it was still very much alive.
Celestia waved to one of her companions. “Guard it.” She was almost sure, that the creature was harmless in this state, but she didn’t want to take the risk.
Slowly she trotted further down the hallway, the slim beam of light that her horn casted illuminated a staircase that had been hidden so far. Cautiously she took a first step onto it. The staircase seemed stable, whatever the black material was, it didn’t even budge when she lay her full weight on it.
She ascended onto the second floor, still looking around nervously expecting an ambush at any second. But all that awaited her was another empty corridor, black on black dimly illuminated by a green ‘window’.
She edged closer to the nearest door, straining her ears trying to pick up the distinctive klicking noise that would give changelings away. But the black walls swallowed all sounds and even the clip clop of her hoofs was strangely dimmed by the foreign material.
When she opened the door, the sound of water washed into the hallway. Celestia was looking at a bathroom, thick clouds of steam filled the air. The shower curtain was closed, but green light drew an shadowy silhouette on the waving fabric.
Celestia motioned for the knight to remain behind while she crept closer to the bathtub. Whatever sat behind the curtain rocked erratically back and forth, almost like it was swaying in the wind.
With a sudden movement Celestia ripped the curtain aside. The changeling that was sitting in the bathtub, didn’t react in any way to the intruder, it just continued rocking back and forth. Despite the steaming water running down its body it was shivering.
Once again Celestia tried to reach out for the seemingly disturbed creature but she quickly withdrew her hoof, when it hit the water. The constant rain that escaped the nozzle was boiling hot. Quickly she turned the faucet with her magic until the water died down to a dribble , before examining the creature closer. It’s chitinous scin had cracked at several points. Celestia could only guess that this was the equivalent to skin burns in ponies.
Celestia looked at the changeling with terror. She had come prepared for war but this was different. What had driven the creature to hurting itself in this way. What cold had taken hold of it, that it had preferred to boil it’s skin of rather than continue freezing?
“Take care of it’s wounds.” She shouted to the confused looking knight, before storming of to the next door. And the next. And the next. And the next.
The scenes were the same everywhere: Changelings, with dead eyes staring at the world in terror, trying to hurt themselves, or locked up in nonsense tasks, all of them unresponsive, all of them looking as if they had lived their normal lives just moments ago.
Celestia returned to the second floor, where a still confused looking knight just finished wrapping the wounds of the changeling.
“Ma’am, what is going on here?” He asked, nervously, nearly scared.
“I don’t know. But I think I know where we’ll find out.” The sun goddess replied before she turned towards the staircase, the still confused knight in tow. A pair of bright blue eyes followed their movement.
Back on the street the guards had nothing to report, the city had remained as silent as ever and nothing had moved. The knights trotted nervously in place, exchanging wary glances and worried looks between each other. They had seen battles, and they knew that battles were loud. When people were screaming and shouting you knew where to look. The noise of war held no terror for them. But when everything was silent, something was up.
“We head for the castle.” Celestia announced. “If we get separated return to the encampment, this is a scouting mission, not a raiding party.”
---
The heavy armored group slowly made their way through the streets of the black city. Worriedly Celestia looked up at the sky. She had held the sun in the air as long as she dared, but soon it would be time for nightfall or she would cause irreparable damage. It wouldn’t take them more than an hour to reach the castle, but that would mean that they would have to return in the darkness.
Before she could reach a decision the advanced guard suddenly came running back towards the group.
“Ma’am, enemies up ahead.” He reported while falling back in line.
“Ready your weapons.” Celestia commanded the knights. A redundant order, ever since they had entered the city the knights had kept their weapons ready.
The reason for the scouts worry quickly became apparent, as they advanced further down the street. The changelings stood side by side, their bodies blocking the road of completely. They didn’t move, and seemed to await the assault of the pony cavalry.
“HALT!” Celestia's voice echoed through the street.
“What is wrong ma’am?” The leader of the knights looked at Celestia with concern. He had enough of stalking through this forsaken city, and now that the enemy had finally shown his face, he was told to hold his attack?
“There’s something wrong. Do these seem like military to you?” The princess asked.
And indeed, the crowd that blocked the road didn’t look like a military unit at all. Their appearance ranged from skinny to malnourished, and their age varied widely, as far as one could tell with changelings.
Indeed now that he looked closer he saw children standing between the legs of the grown changelings. But most of all, their eyes were wrong. Those creatures had the same dead look that they had seen before.
“We retreat for now.” Celestia’s voice was calm and collected, but even she couldn’t stop a hint of worry bleeding through.
“That might not be possible, ma’am.” Celestia turned around only to be face with yet another wall of changelings, all with the same dead look upon their faces.
“THIS WAY!” Celestia shouted before darting off into an sidestreet. Directly behind her she could hear the heavy breathing of the knights as they tried to keep up. Hastily they ran through the narrow street, breathing heavily as the heavy armor they were wearing took it’s toll on them.
The city still remained silent, but when Celestia looked back she could see a wall of black creatures following behind them. They way from which they had come had been completely closed off.
The group of ponies burst out of the side street onto another plaza. Celestia’s head whipped around as she looked for an escape route, but wherever she looked the picture was the same. Changelings, young, old, feeble or strong, all with dead eyes blocked all roads.
“TO ME! FORM A CIRCLE!” The solar diarch bellowed. As soon as the knights had taken defensive positions Celestia’s horn glowed with her trademark amber. A golden dome of energy formed over the group.
The changelings didn’t move, but whenever the alicorn whipped her head around, trying to keep her eye on another group of attackers, they seemed to have closed the gap between them and the shield.
The leader of the knights turned to Celestia, his face a waxen mask, but when he spoke up his voice was calm and without fear in it. “My liege, there are too many, you have to escape.”
The winged alicorn looked at the earth pony stallion.
“There’s no way that we can all escape, but we can buy you enough time to take flight. In the air you might be able to outmaneuver them.” The stallion stated matter of factly.
Celestia scanned the mass of black bodies, that by now had formed a circle all around the shield. “Yes, you are right, there is no way for all of us to escape.”
With that she closed her eyes. Her horn stopped glowing and slowly the shield dissolved. Before the knights could start their attack however her horn once again flared up, blinding everyone for a moment.
When the knights could see again, they found themselves on the plains outside of the changelings’ city. Celestia wasn’t with them.
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1982627 Not entirely sure if that's the reaction I was looking for. ^^
1982647
And I'm not sure if that was the right image for my reaction.
Hmm...
The Changelings seem to have been affected by something that makes at least some of them hurt themselves... I have the rather nasty feeling that the Changelings who had converged on the scouts hoped (in some kind of sense of the word, thanks to whatever is afflicting them) to be attacked... maybe even killed...
Well...that was creepy.
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Changeling Zombies!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
..The swarm (or, for Starcraft terms, Hive Cluster) was damaged..or weakened..or perhaps destroyed altogether. There is no unification aside from basic functions and repeats.
Wow, nice description: you can feel the emptyness!
Keep up the good work
The descriptions of the abandoned city and pacing was very atmospheric.
However, you may have switched the work "cathartic" for "catatonic".
1984390 Me, make a mistake? Never! I meant to say that the changeling was particular therapeutic to look at. :P Thanks for pointing it out. ^^
I'm not going to lie: The grammar in this chapter fell apart compared to its quality in earlier chapters.
Is there a reason for this?
1984431 Don't know, been doing a lot of late night writing, but I pretty much do that all the time. I'll try to find a second person to proofread for me.
Great story so far! I can't wait to read more!
1986069 Sorry for blowing your mind. :P
Why is Celestia a unicorn? What happened to her wings?
1987135 Where exactly?
I'm assuming chrysalis is too weak to control her brood, and they're just flipping out. thats what happens with zerg anyway. as for your description of the empty city, very eerie and unsettling, good job. my only complants are that in this chapter, you used commas when they weren't neccesery. i get that problem too, though. also, this chapter had a tendency to use 'a' and 'an' a the wrong times, watch that. anyway, i look forward to the next chapter, good job. 10 out of Bobba Fett
1989451
Once as Celestia acquiesces to Twilight's demand to read her mind, and once more at the Breakfast table you describe Celestia as a unicorn.
,.... Celestia you typical self-sacrificing awesome Princess....
... Celestia. Wow. I-I never thought she would do something like that. I used to hate her, but now, I respect her.
1999126 2007051 At first I thought I'd would keep her more true to her canon incarnation but then I realized that a full chapter of her sitting in her room, hoofs pressed against each other and muttering "Just as planned." wouldn't make for good narrative. :P
2007071
Really? That's why you.made her do that? Alright. Thats cool. I still respect her out of being a princess.
You troll.
2007071 Mm hmm. I agree. I do that too with Celestia in my stories
And if you think about it, she's quite caring about her ponies (Canterlot wedding, steps right up to the plate), but knows that they have to learn to figure out the problems themselves.
2007455 Probably gonna retcon that one. I originally wrote it as an throwaway gag. And yes that means I've got to worry where Discord's place in this whole mess is...
And you made the transition in tones quite well. You managed to make this serious chapter gripping. Your descriptive work here was excellent, painting vivid images of the strange city, alien and familiar at once, struck by some terrible fate.
2007484 Thanks for the reviews. ^^ Anything bad you noticed?
2007460
Honestly? Discord, even reformed Discord, strikes me as pretty unreliable. Just have him out touring the world somewhere and nobody knows how to get a hold of him. It might sound like a cheap trick, but it's not hard to picture him getting tired of the same place all the time (of course, in the past he'd probably just change the place instead of actually moving). That way you don't have to examine the effects having a powerful reality warper on hand would have on things.
He could even be doing random acts of kindness (or what he thinks are acts of kindness) along the way, to fulfill his promise to use his magic for good.
EDIT: Alternately, just put an author's note saying this story is set before Flutter On happens, so Discord is still a statue. Maybe her success with Chrysalis can help inspire Celestia to reform her other old foes.
2007489
Well, since you've established this isn't just a wacky comedy, you might need to explain why the Elements of Harmony didn't instantly win the fight for the girls, like they have against Nightmare Moon or Discord. Not right after they use them, that transition to Celestia relaxing as an epic battle unfolds is great, but some kind of "I can't believe she just teleported out of the way" or "It turns out it doesn't work when your enemy doesn't have any evil plans" in the following chapter would help a lot. It's the kind of thing you'd think the girls would discuss after their retreat and before gathering the angry mob. It's the kind of plot-hole you can fix with a couple lines part way through chapter two but I'd think someone would comment on the fact their super-weapon that beats angry gods didn't work. It's less that it didn't work than that no one seems to find it worth mentioning that strikes me as odd, really.
with the part of the story along with the music, it really creeped me
but it was still fantastic 
A good example how nothing can be infinitely more terrifying.
That just became my favorite chapter. Unfortunately for me now I'm in the mood for a terrifyingly dark horror story. From the tags I assume this returns to its comedic pace soon if so that's a shame for me. Total mood shift. Ah buck it your writing and story are too good to pass up.
Oh also thank you for the new creepy headcannon.
This chapter gave the same vibe to me as a amnesia game, very creepy but great to experience.
City of the living changelings!
Tis not when things are loud you should worry. Tis when things are completely silent you should be on guard and alert.
Jesus, it's bad enough to see a ghost city upon arrival, but you had to go and give it a fucking zombie twist.
I love it.
wow, that was a very atmospheric chapter. I must say that after the previous chapters, which retained an absurdly comedic atmosphere, such a sharp transition in the genre is discouraging.
I like.