A Journey Unthought Of: Revival of Chaos

by Hustlin Tom

Chapter 43 - Council of Harmony

“I don’t care if there's only a small chance she’ll return,” Twilight Sparkle huffed to her former foalsitter, “Somepony should have told me exactly what was going on! I was mourning her for months! I could barely get out of bed the first few days after it happened, and you just let me go on my way while you knew this entire time?!”

“To be entirely fair,” Cadence said in frustration, “I wasn’t capable of telling you because I was running for my life for several months!”

Twilight exhaled heavily out of her nose as she calmed herself down, “You’re right. You’re right. I guess Shiny at least has the excuse that he’s been trying to run a country without any experience, but didn’t anypony stop to think that maybe I’d like to know if Princess Celestia might have been alive or not?”

---

“It was cruel what you did!” Fancy Pants angrily spat at Bunsen Burner, “Why did you tell them? You’re dangling hope in front of them without any assurance that she’ll come back!”

“It was the ethical thing to do,” the older stallion responded, “I believe Celestia taught you ethics not long ago?”

“And which you seem to have completely forgotten,” Fancy Pants fired back, before pointing his hoof at the scientist in an accusatory fashion, “Don’t talk to me about it being ‘the ethical thing to do’. What are you playing at, really? What stratagem has your mind of cold reason and whirring gears produced?”

“Our resources are limited. We have a Royal Princess, a Prince, myself and my squad, the Elements of Harmony, a Changeling conspirator, and a mare with a ragtag gathering of idealists, not a bit of soldiery in them. Even if this placebo of hope will not last long, it will make our forces’ stronger, providing them some fond wish to hang on to. That is an advantage I will not deny us, even if it proves temporary. Besides, what more is one sin to me when I already have so many to bear?”

---

“I almost feel like I’m seeing you for the first time,” Bon Bon whistfully breathed when she looked at Cheerilee’s, or Falena’s, she couldn’t decide what to call her, black carapace.

Cheerilee smiled slightly, “It feels so strange, looking like this in front of so many ponies at once. There’s a certain feeling of nakedness to it that’s somewhat liberating; being without my other face, living without lies.”

“Do you think that there’s any chance that,” here the earth pony mare struggled, “your kind..can live in peace with ours?”

Cheerilee sighed as she looked to the ceiling with her emerald colored irises, “After all this? I don’t know if we really can.” She then looked back to the candymaker, “It does remain, however, my deepest and most sincere wish.”

---

Cadence began to have a bout of nausea once again. It was the third round in the past few days. As Spike brought her a glass of water, she hoped that it would subside soon enough.

As a precaution, Nurse Redheart was called in to provide the Princess with a checkup, especially since she had been in the wild for over three months. “I suggest you increase your intake of food, but especially of your nuts and oats,” she said in a serious tone, before suddenly breaking into a smile, “It looks like you’re feeding for two now!”

The pink alicorn’s eyes lit up, as did her sister-in-law’s. The nausea was completely gone now. The two of them looked at each other in silent surprise, before each began to scream gleefully, which immediately attracted everypony’s attention.

“I’m going to be a mom!” Cadence exclaimed in joy as she hugged Twilight.

“I’m gonna be an aunt!” Twilight shrieked back in glee.

Everypony came to offer their congratulations in their own way, with Pinkie Pie dead set on having a pre-birth baby shower for the Princess.

“I’d had a feeling this day would be coming,” Fancy Pants smiled deeply.

Cadence’s eyes began to fill with tiny beads of melancholy, “I just wish that Shining Armor could have been here to help me celebrate.”

“I know,” the gentlepony replied before turning to Twilight’s number one assistant, “Say, Spike. Is there any chance that you could send a letter to the Prince?”

The baby dragon shrugged, before putting a claw to his mouth, “I dunno! Honestly, Twilight and I have never tried, but I guess we could give it a shot!”

The two continued talking about Spike’s breath and how the magic behind it worked, with Cadence only half listening, when Bunsen Burner attracted her attention with his near presence. “This child is going to be blessed with a wonderful mother,” he quietly commented. He then looked the mare in the eyes, and she could almost swear she saw a single stubborn tear escape the old stallion’s own eye, “Whatever it becomes, I know it will do extraordinary things.”

“Thank you,” she worded silently, and she began to mentally draw into herself, wishing with all her might that her parents were alive to see this moment, to find out that they were now grandparents.

“And. we’ve..Got it!” Fancy Pants called out with a shout of triumph.

Spike belched a small gout of green flame, before giving both Twilight and Fancy Pants a thumbs up, “I think we’re good to go!”

“We can send a full debrief to Prince Shining Armor after we have adjourned,” Cadence said, even as she smiled softly at the wonderful news she had received. She was gladly reminded in that moment that even in the worst of situations like they were all in now, there was a glimmer of a hopeful future just around the corner.

---

“Now that we’ve all had time to think about it, do we have any suggestions as to what this council should do?” Cadence asked.

“The root of the problem in all this is the Queen of the Changelings,” Twilight declared, “We need to find some way to confront her and stop her.”

“Easier said than done,” Cheerilee commented, “We’d have to find a way of separating her from the Hive, calling her out on her own. She’s too smart to fall for any trick you may use, whether you try and goad or threaten her.”

“So then we must combat them in mass,” Bunsen responded, “The place that would be most ideal for such an assault would be Canterlot. It’s has defenses that the Changelings are unaware of, and it has a small trained army defending it already.”

“Who completely got their flanks handed to them the last time the Changelings were there,” Rainbow Dash deadpanned.

“I was referring to the RSD, not the Royal Guard,” Bunsen Burner clarified.

“For this mouse trap to work,” Pinkie Pie interrupted, “we’re gonna need some cheese, right? What kind of cheese do we need for a Changeling?”

The room fell quiet as everypony thought that statement over: how were they going to entice them out?

“What if we’re the bait?” Bon Bon asked quietly. Everypony slowly looked at her, which began to make the mare a little self-conscious.

“Come again?” Applejack asked blankly.

“Well, Changelings can eat and detect emotions right?” she asked, “We’re already headed to Canterlot anyway, so why don’t I just give a few more speeches as we go to psyche everypony up?”

Fluttershy coughed slightly for everypony’s attention, “Won’t that put us all at risk? We’ll probably be dealing with both sides of the civil war and with the Changelings as we make our way to Canterlot.”

“If we can form a security force that runs a perimeter around the group as we travel, we will be a little safer,” Fancy Pants pointed out.

“But what guarantee is there that the Changeling Queen will take the bait?” Rarity pointed out, “If she is as crafty as Cheerilee makes her out to be, won’t she notice that this is a pretty obvious ploy to draw her out?”

The Changeling began to grin, and she waved her hoof a little, “No no no. This is perfect! This will work just like we want it to!”

“How do you figure that, exactly?” Rainbow Dash asked incredulously.

“Chrysalis knows just enough about Equestria to figure that if she created the Solar Empiricists and the Lunar Repubicans there would be some kind of counter movement that would form: she anticipated this! The trap you are most likely to fall into is the one you think you know completely which has one major unexpected twist!”

“Clever,” Bunsen Burner couldn’t help but smirk, “However, won’t she notice we will be pacifying her troops as we make our move?”

“Drones in the Hive share one consciousness, so she won’t know if a few go missing for a couple days,” Cheerilee explained, “She won’t send more than four at a time to keep eyes on the movement; just enough to gather information without being noticed. She’ll be saving the majority of her forces for the attack.”

“There’s no sure way to know of that,” the scientist scoffed.

“She will if her best lieutenant tells her it’s the optimal thing to do,” the Changeling said as she crossed her forehooves on the table.

Cadence had tried to stay quiet so that she could act to moderate the nine personalities in the room without forcing a direction of action, but here she broke her silence, “Are you saying you are willing to play as a double agent?”

Cheerilee nodded, “We’ll then have ears for everything the Queen has planned.”

“If we can trust those ears,” Bunsen Burner said quietly under his breath.

Cadence glanced over at Bunsen Burner, and then to Twilight. She was conflicted beyond what she could bear; who did she trust more, Twilight’s and her friend’s judgment, or Bunsen Burner’s shrewd logic? It was a high risk to take, allowing the Changeling to return to her Hive for the promise of vital information. What if the information she gave back was false, and she had always intended to betray them right back in a double cross?

She realized both sides had merit, so she compromised. She reached out with her empathic abilities and touched the mind of Cheerilee. She looked deep down into the Changeling’s soul, searching for any lie she may have told or knowledge she had not shared. It was like walking along the edge of a spider’s web, testing each of the spindles for something wrong. She could find nothing hidden or malicious. As far as she could tell, Cheerilee was being 100% honest with her.

Cadence looked deep into Cheerilee’s green eyes, “I accept your service.”

Cheerilee nodded. Bunsen Burner looked at Cadence unblinking, his body tense. He then sighed softly, and he relaxed a little into his seat.

“How exactly will we keep in touch with you?” Bon Bon asked Cheerilee.

“I will cast a spell to connect our minds,” Cadence replied. Cheerilee looked back to the Princess, who’s eyes bored into her own; not out of malice, but a grave warning against her doing anything she might not like, “Whatever you see or hear, I will know.”

Cheerilee once again nodded, this time more slowly to show she caught all of Cadence’s meaning.

Comments

[Hustlin Tom]

3565558
Part spook, part scientist.
100% Dangerous Stallion.

Bunsen Burner is probably my favorite Original Character to use just for his amazing preparedness and attitude.

[Hustlin Tom]

3566054
I would've probably disagreed on this before a couple weeks ago, since whenever I think of Ford I automatically think of Han Solo, but his portrayal of Colonel Graff in Ender's Game was pretty good! For me personally, Bunsen Burner in my head sounds like Clancy Brown, the voice of Lex Luthor in the Superman Animated series.

[Hustlin Tom]

3584936
You know that one thing? The thing that a lot of people do?

The word that's about three letters long. It starts with S. Has the synonyms of 'copulate' and 'fornicate'.

It's typically done quite a bit by couples early in their relationships especially, but that doesn't stop them from doing it any other time.

The birds and the bees?

The long train going down a tunnel?

The consummation of union?

The dirty deed?

Here, in case you haven't gotten it, let me use this complex pictograph to illustrate the idea I was subtly referencing.
watermarked.cutcaster.com/cutcaster-photo-800987393-word-sex.jpg
TAA-DAA!

[Alan Smithee]

3585180

So where did Cadence's baby come from?