The Element of Deception
By Skeeter The Lurker
Disclaimer: I own nothing of My Little Pony or Hasbro
… … … … … … …
5 hours after the invasion
In a small meadow, in a small forest, quite some distance from the Royal City of Canterlot, a number of black figures were beginning to stir. The reason for them being there would be due, in no small part, to the extraordinary blast and shockwave that radiated from the very heart of Equestria, the royal castle itself.
To the villages and homes that had a clear view of the majestic city built into the mountain, the blast looked a lot like someone built and then detonated a very loud, very powerful pink firework. The bits and pieces of black object flying in every direction of the city reinforced this idea… You could claim it was simply shrapnel from the firework in question.
The truth to all of this, though it wouldn’t be know until a few days after, was that said blast was the decisive moment in the surprise battle for Canterlot, lead by Queen Chrysalis and her entire hive of changelings. The fight itself was quite quick, and occurred immediately after Twilight Sparkle and her former foal sitter, Princess Cadence, exposed Chrysalis for who she was. The final blow came from Cadence and her soon-to-be husband Shining Armor, better known as Twilight’s BBBFF, or Big Brother Best Friend Forever.
The real wedding was, instead of being rescheduled, held almost immediately after the battle concluded. Quite naturally, with the city having not one, but TWO events to celebrate over, the festivities was running quite high. Indeed, it was of no surprise that the party (ies) was still going strong despite it fast approaching the midnight hour.
It wasn’t just in Canterlot, however.
The blast, which was a highly concentrated surge of the most pure love possible, reached out and engulfed the entire world in the space of around an hour. With such a concentrated amount of love, everyone felt it. And everyone reacted to it.
For this one night, there was peace.
No hate, no strife, no grudges, no animosity, no pain (save from hangovers later), no suffering, no disappointments, no fear, no dark emotions what so ever.
Dragons in their various lairs enjoyed the largest gem of their hoard (you know, the one they were saving for “that special occasion”).
The griffons took to the skies and danced and sang and pranked one another.
The zebras took to dancing about the tribal fires and enjoyed the glorious night (courtesy of Luna, of course).
The buffalos gathered around bonfires and told thrilling tales of a by-gone era.
This even extended to the black figures now picking themselves up in the small meadow, although, admittedly, it was mostly in one pony in particular.
Queen Chrysalis, empress of the changeling hive, slowly opened her eyes. Seeing that no one had any intent to harm them, she slowly began to pick herself up off of the ground and take stock of her surrounding.
Grimacing in pain upon putting weight on her Swiss cheese looking hooves, she propped herself up against a nearby tree and began a simple breathing exercise to ease the pain.
“Milady? Are you ok?” Came a voice with the musical quality of a cricket. Chrysalis turned her eyes to a changeling with yellow eyes approaching her, holding something in its hoof.
“I’m fine… What have you got there?”
The yellow-eyed creature extended its hoof, revealing a crown. Her crown. She reached a hoof toward it (wincing in pain briefly), took it, and placed it upon her head. “What’s our situation?” She asked.
“Well. We failed in the invasion, THAT much is certain.” Yellow-eyes gestured to everything beyond. “Some of us, I figure, got thrown as far as Baltimare. Some even in the ocean, I’d guess.
“We’ve sustained a few injuries, mostly broken bones and bruising, but considering we got hurled out of the city like that, I’m not really surprised.”
Yellow-eyes paused to observe the queen, and was quite surprised when she broke into a wide grin. “Failure? We didn’t fail. No, we achieved something glorious!”
Chrysalis took a look at the crowd of changelings gathering around her. Including her and yellow-eyes here, there were about 17 of them. Each of them looked at each other trying to figure out the “victory” they gained from this. This, of course, caused a wider smile to spread across her lips.
In a low voice, she asked them a simple question. “Do you remember the one major order I gave to carry out during the battle?”
They turned their attention to her and it was yellow-eyes who spoke. “Well, yes. It was ‘do not use ANY weapons other than our natural claws and fangs’, but why?”
She nodded. “Good. And…? Did you follow it?”
A shrug. “Well, yes. I did, at least.” The others nodded in agreement, who’d dare to disobey her?
“Good.” Was her only reply.
She looked toward the celebrating city, and immediately began to think. Judging from the light available, about 5 hours had passed. If the celebrations were to be believed, they had the REAL wedding not too long after the blast occurred. If that was the case, she reasoned, then it was quite likely that the both Shining and Cadence would be in the thick of the party.
That, of course, didn’t mean they were in the clear. Not by a long shot.
In fact, if SHE were to be in Shining’s shoes right now, she’d have sent any available, uninjured corpsman to find her. But, the thing was, with her information network in disarray, she had no way of knowing where they were at the moment, or even if they sent troops out in the first place. With out that vital piece of info, she was effectively blind… And so she did the only thing she could think of: Protect the Hive.
“You five!” Pointing to five of her changelings, “Disguise yourselves and find a carriage. Cover, if possible. Spread out, stay quiet, and stay low. Go, NOW!”
Five brief flashes of green later, she turned to the rest. “Listen closely: I want you all to spread out. Go in different directions. Find the rest of our family. When you find them, any of them, make sure they’re ok and get yourselves to a populated area.”
The changeling nodded in understanding and began to change and carry out their orders before she stopped them again. “One more thing, and this is important. DO NOT hide out in Canterlot OR Ponyville. I want those two area kept well away from.”
The others couldn’t help but look confused. Ponyville and Canterlot were the biggest sources of info to the entire hive, between The Elements and The Sisters. “Are you… Sure? But why?”
“I’d think it would be obvious as to why with Canterlot. As for Ponyville? Let’s just say I’ve something else going on there.”
She paused, and looked at the ones before her. “Well? What are you waiting for? GET MOVING!”
That indeed got them moving, each effectively running over each other to get on with the new mission. Yellow-eyes made to follow suit but was stopped by Chrysalis placing a hoof on it shoulder.
“Your cover in Ponyville… Is it still intact?”
Yellow-eyes look at her oddly. Glancing back to the festive city, answered her: “Hmm… My boss thinks I’m on business in Canterlot right now… If I go back and use the train to get home… I don’t see why they’d get suspicious. May I ask why, ma’am?”
Chrysalis nodded in approval. “Good. I have a special mission for you. Go back to Ponyville. Remain in the background as you were. Watch. Observe. Report on anything you discover. Keep special attention to the Elements, but whatever you do, be discreet about it.”
Yellow-eyes looked at her but said nothing. Then was surprised when Chrysalis hugged her, with an exceeding amount of affection and whispered in Yellow-eyes ear, “And don’t worry… I love you all. NOTHING will stop that.”
Yellow –eyes broke away from hug, and with out further words, flew off toward the city.
Chrysalis, finally exhausted from leaning against the tree, gracelessly slid down and collapsed on the ground. She let out a sigh from the immediate relief of laying down and cast a glance toward the city.
Smiling, she began to sing softly:
“This day was so perfect…
The kind of day I had hoped would pass.
Everypony will gather round,
As I ascend to the crown,
Once they realize it’s far too late…”
