Imagine Dragons - America
Cast for this chapter:
Celestia
Luna
Queen Chrysalis
Random Changelings
A lonely, starving Queen looked over her people. She saw sick, where others saw monsters. She saw hungry, where others thought bred for war. She was tired of sitting in the dark, slowly wasting away. She was tired of watching her own flesh and blood fall out of the sky from exhaustion and hunger. She stood, racked with pain, and voiced to her subjects, "Children, gather 'round. Momma's gonna tell-" She was cut off by a round of horrific coughing and wheezing. Once she got her voice back, she tried again.
"Momma's gonna tell you a story.
"A long time ago, there were three rulers. They were sisters, ruling with kindness, compassion, and love. These three rulers were sisters, but most importantly, Princesses. One sister was the ruler of Day. She was the oldest of the three. Kind, compassionate, and loving. Always willing to lend an ear to any of her subjects, be they nobles, or just the common pony.
"The second oldest was the ruler of the Night. She guarded the dreams of everyone in the world. She made sure the night sky was beautiful and calm. She loved her subjects as if they were her own kin.
"The youngest, however, was not a Celestial Princess. She was the lesser known of the three, the princess of Alchemy. Potions, magic, voodoo and more were her specialty. She was adored by the Zebras, yet no one else payed much attention to her. She didn't mind, because she was so engrossed in her studies.
"But during their reign, tragedy befell them."
The changelings were listening intently now, focused entirely on their mother. They were so engrossed in the story, that they did not notice their Queen getting weaker and weaker. They also did not notice that they were getting stronger and stronger.
The Queen stopped for a moment, and looked at her children. All of them were gathered before her. Young, old, sick, well, workers, bakers... All gathered around her and hanging on her every word. She looked, and she smiled.
"A terrible drought destroyed most of the crops in their land. The Sun Princess was swamped with requests for help. The Lunar Princess was dealing with the nobles and petitioners her opposite could not. Yet, no one cared enough for the younger sister to even ask for help. Which was fine by her, for reasons which I will explain. She was holed up in her lab, researching, trying to find an answer to the drought. She tried making crops with everything she knew how. But nothing worked. She was at her wit's end, and, in a rage, fired a random spell at a bug. When she calmed down, she realized what spell she had cast. It was a combination of the Restoration Spell, and the Emotion Spell. This was supposed to be her last resort in making food. So, ever the scholar, she put the bug in a container. She gave him no food, and no water. But, every day, she told him a story, like I am doing for you. And every day, the bug sat on her head, drinking in the attention, and love. She eventually noticed a change, one day whilst cleaning her lab. He had started turning a blackish color, and his eyes were now noticeably blue. He had also grown wings, tinged with a light green color. She thought this development strange, but of no such importance. She kept telling him stories, and paying attention to him. He had become like her child. She loved him very much, but the time came when a maid was cleaning her room, and accidentally nudged his cage open. He then flew out of the window, just as the Alchemy Princess walked back in. She saw him, flying away. She called out to him, begging for him to come home, and crying his name. She stayed in her room for weeks, only coming out to eat, and then going back inside. This stayed the same for months before her sisters became worried. They tried to get her to come out, but to no avail. There she stayed, for years. And in the midst of this, the drought got worse and worse. Eventually, most of the population ended up within the forest surrounding the castle. After a time, a mob formed outside. But before the Sun and Moon Princesses could go out, the heard a voice they had not heard in a long time. It was their sister's. She was telling them that she could save them all with a spell. The crowd went silent, as did her sisters. Not a soul could believe what they were hearing. A nobody, with the power to fix everything? They were quiet for a few moments more, before they erupted into cheering. She told them to go to the tents stationed out behind the castle, and she would come to each of them individually, and cast the spell. They all raced to the tents, clamoring and yelling in joy. The tents were arranged in a circle, with a podium in the middle for her to stand on and cast the spell. The tents were really arcane wards to make sure the spell worked correctly, but that detail was omitted, for fear of refusal from the ponies. Once everyone was ready, the other two princesses watched from the towers above the castle, as to give their little sister some space. She charged up the spell, and everything was going perfectly. Until her pet bug came back and alighted on the tip of her horn. This caused two things to happen. First, in her panicked state of mind, allowed the spell to be changed. The second thing that happened, was a loss in focus, as it was now directed on her pet. The resulting backlash caused a magical meltdown, resulting in a large magical explosion. The ponies were caught in the wards, unable to escape as the spell changed them, and turned their features into hideous monsters. Her sisters flew down, and what they found, they did not like. In their sister's place, laid a black, pony-like bug-creature, with a green mane. Their precious subjects had suffered the same fate. In a fit of rage, the elder sisters destroyed all but one of the abominations, sparing the large one. They then dubbed the creature, 'Queen', and banished it for causing the death of their subjects. The youngest sister was so sad... And then angry. She gathered an army, and then stormed the older sisters' capitol. She lost, and her subjects were killed once more. The remaining survivors fled, hungry and dieing, to a desert. There, their mother sacrificed her energy to save her children..."
By this point, the Queen was laying on the floor, with ragged gasps for breath. Her children, realizing what she had done, desperately tried to revive her. But, to no avail.
That day, the Changeling Queen breathed her last.
Author's Note
Okay! So, that happened. Now, I know what you're thinking, 'WTF does America have to do with this?' See, in the song, all he wanted was America to thrive, no matter the cost. Replace the lead singer with the Changeling Queen, and America with her subjects, and you got a story full of feels. Hope you guys enjoyed! Oh, and comment for what you want me to do next!!!
