Author's Note
The following is the opening chapter of a shared world collaboration by several authors. All stories in the series after this should be considered as being told in the classic bardic tradition of retelling stories.
As in, "This is the story of how it was in the beginning. As it was told to me by my Grandfather, who was there." We've decided to go this route because that allows us to tell stories in the same setting that differ by own personal views of how we think things should go. So, in one story, Rarity might die heroically saving Sweetie Belle. But in another, Rarity could survive, only terribly changed by her survival.
Discussion, ideas and concepts will be at a dedicated Equestria, Destroyed group here on FimFiction.
Other stories in this world:
Black Flash by Damaged
Shockwaves
Underneath Canterlot there is a vast labyrinth of caverns. Originally excavated by mining, the Crystal Caverns were huge. A vast shining expanse of caves, tunnels and ancient rail lines heading off in all directions. One of these caves, however, was no longer tenanted by the dust of millennia, spiders and long forgotten equipment. They held a small hive of changelings. Who, on this particular day, were playing host to their Queen. Chrysalis.
“How goes the hive so far, Rogue?” the changeling queen asked her guide.
“Well, my Queen. We have about 300 drones here so far and pods for 3 times that many,” proudly reported the drone.
“Excellent. I want that capacity doubled within a month.”
“Yes, your Majesty. That shouldn’t be a problem. Might I say that your idea to create an infiltration hive directly under Canterlot was nothing short of brilliant?” said Rogue, sucking up to his queen just a bit.
“Yes, I know it is. Plus, it only made sense to use these caverns again and being nearly a mile down means that somepony would have to be intentionally scrying for us in order to find this hive,” Chrysalis preened a bit at her own cleverness.
“Ahem, yes your Majesty. We currently have ten ponies in…” Rogue’s voice was cut off as a sudden rumbling filled the cavern. Bits of stone and debris fell from the roof of the cavern. Chrysalis and all the changelings were shaken about as the ground shook beneath and around them. What came a split second later however, was far, far worse.
A horrible crushing pain flowed over every changeling in the cavern. It drove them all from their hooves. Even Chrysalis herself was driven to her knees by the agony. A moment later she realized what it was. Something was happening up above. Something horrible. Ponies were being struck down in a vast wave. Dying in fear, terror and despair. For beings who lived on love there could scarce be a greater pain than to feel the death agonies of another. Particularly that of a species they were so linked to.
If what Chrysalis sensed was right, she was feeling the deaths of thousands and tens of thousands of ponies. She put up a shield, even as the rumbling died away. The emotional maelstrom cut off by the shield, her ‘lings began to recover.
“What...what was that, your Majesty?” Rogue asked. Several other changelings began to get to their hooves and cluster around their queen in shock and confusion.
“I’m not sure, but we are going to find out,” said Chrysalis, who raised her voice. “Any of you not completely busy with something come with me. And for the Egg’s sake close down your emotion sensing abilities.” Chrysalis turned and began to head for the surface with a little over two hundred of her children behind her. They have gone about three quarters of the way to the surface when another rumble began to shake the caverns.
“Everyling, hold on!” shouted Chrysalis, raising a shield about herself and her children as she did so. The ground shook again, but even harder than before. As the changelings cowered beneath their queen’s shield the ground beneath them seemed to leap upward. Once, twice and a third time. As if an angry titan was smiting the ground with an enormous hammer. All of them were thrown to the floor of the cavern and large chunks of the ceiling crashed down upon Chrysalis’ shield. The entire passageway around them began to give way. Only the shield kept the changelings alive and Chrysalis strained with every fiber of her being to hold it against the weight of tons of rock.
Then, suddenly the weight eased as rubble began to slide off the shield and light began to pour through the gaps.
“Light? But that’s impossible,” Chrysalis thought to herself. “We are still two or three hundred yards underground.” But there was indeed light and the changelings moved through the openings into the light. A light cast by a scene of utter devastation. Chrysalis and her children had emerged into a quiet Canterlot suburb. Or, what had been a quiet Canterlot suburb. Now, there was simply a large crater with remains of buildings scattered around.
Chrysalis flew up into the crisp autumn air. Some sense warned her that teleporting would be a bad idea. Besides, until she got a look around, where would she teleport to? As she and her followers rose from the crater she could see nothing but death and destruction all around. Not a single tree still stood, maybe one structure in twenty survived and everywhere, the bodies of ponies. Some burned, some broken, some horribly twisted by...suddenly she could taste it.
“No one use pony magic! No one! Use only your changeling powers, don’t shift into pony form FOR ANY REASON,” Chrysalis practically screamed at her children. Magic. It was tainted, twisted, poisoned. To even sense it, was like driving one's muzzle into raw sewage. Changeling magic seemed to be untouched thankfully. Whatever had been unleashed though had been magical in nature and it had tainted the natural flows of magic in the area. With that thought Chrysalis shot a glance to where Canterlot Castle still partially stood.
“All of you, fan out. Find any survivors you can and get them to the hive. Wait, you ten, come with me,” she ordered and her swarm moved to obey. Celestia was going to owe her for this.
As Chrysalis and her ten flew on toward the castle they could see several fires taking hold. There was no time to try to put them out. Once, they saw a small group of unicorns emerge from a cellar they had taken shelter in and start trying to channel water onto a fire. Within seconds all three were writhing on the ground, as whatever was in the ambient magic corrupted and poisoned the unicorns. Their bodies became horrifically twisted travesties of the equine form and all three died within a bare minute. One of her children actually became physically ill in mid-air. Retching even as it flew onwards.
Finally, the changelings landed in what had been the Royal Throne room. All four walls and the ceiling had been blown out. Bodies were stacked like firewood against the stubs of the walls and to Chrysalis’ horror the bodies of both Celestia and Luna lay at the foot of the thrones. Half of Luna’s body had been consumed by whatever power had wrought the havoc of this day. Celestia’s body was riddled by bits of debris that had been driven into her body like spears and a great gouge had been torn from one flank.
“Oh Celestia,” sighed Chrysalis, “what have you done? I always wanted you at my hooves, but not like this, my old foe. Not like this.” Suddenly, incredibly, Celestia coughed and opened a single eye.
“Chrysalis,” the broken alicorn whispered, “please...save my ponies. If you ever respected me, even once, please, save them. Save...her.” With that Celestia, Sol Invictus, Princess of the Sun, sighed and went limp. An immortal finally folded into death’s embrace.
Chrysalis just stared. No more Celestia, it was a dream. She looked around. It was a nightmare. She looked back down at the fallen monarchs and saw blood beginning to trickle out from beneath the alabaster alicorn.
“Wait,” Chrysalis thought, “dead ponies don’t bleed like that.” She lifted Celestia’s body and saw the body of Twilight Sparkle underneath.
“Save her,” Celestia had said. It was clear from the position of the bodies that Celestia and maybe Luna as well, had thrown themselves in front of Twilight in an attempt to save her from the explosion that had rocked the capital. She bent down to examine Twilight. Both wings were broken, as were both front legs. The compound fractures being the source of the blood. The alicorn’s face was also bruised and puffy, showing head trauma. It was clear that without intervention Twilight Sparkle would soon join the other Equestrian princesses in death.
“Right, you four,” she indicated the four changelings closest to her. “Get Sparkle here, down to the hive and into a pod as quickly as you can.” The pod would sustain Twilight’s life while she healed.
“Your Majesty,’ objected one of her children, “she is fading too quickly. She will never live to make it into a pod.”
“Damn,” muttered Chrysalis, “damn, damn, DAMN. All right, I didn’t want to do this but...” And with that, Chrysalis ignited her horn in green fire and poured the power of a Queen Changeling into Twilight Sparkle. “There,” she said when it was done, “That should sustain her life force until you can get her into a pod. Now go. Swiftly now!”
The four lifted Twilight in a litter made of their magic and flew as swiftly as they could for an entrance to their hive.
Chrysalis paused for a moment and looked around trying to put together the pieces. Luna, dead. Celestia, dead. The Royal Court, dead. Twilight, near death, Canterlot itself, almost completely wiped out. Equestrian magic twisted and tainted to the point it's use twisted and killed those who summoned it. What could have done this? Why had there been two blasts? More importantly, what was happening to the rest of Equestria and her other children.
"One thing at a time," Chrysalis thought as she took to the air. "First step is to secure Twilight and as many ponies as I can. Second, find out what in Tartarus happened and how far this destruction goes. The whole world has changed. It's a good thing we are Change-lings."
Four hours later some extent of the disaster had become clearer. Canterlot hadn’t just been broken. The city had been leveled by those titanic blasts. There was scarcely a building standing anywhere and fires were rampant across the city. Or, what was left of the city.
“Rogue,” Chrysalis said, turning to her adviser, “How many ponies have we recovered so far?"
“812,” Rogue replied. “About two thirds of them Earth ponies, the remainder split between unicorns and pegasi. We were losing every unicorn we revived, but then one of our drones had an idea and since then we haven’t lost any.”
“Explain,” said Chrysalis tersely. The past four hours had not been good for her mood.
“The only unicorns we’ve been finding alive are the unconscious ones,” Rogue began. “All the others are dead or, when they see us, poison themselves with the taint, by channeling as soon as they see us.”
“I see,” said Chrysalis, “and the recovered, unconscious, ones instinctively channel as soon as they wake up.”
“Exactly, Your Majesty,” said Rogue. “We were losing them left and right, but then one of my drones got the idea of going to the Canterlot dungeons and getting their supply of inhibitor rings. Now, as soon as we find a live unicorn we slap a ring on them, cutting them off from the taint.”
“Well done,” said Chrysalis. “Where are we keeping the ponies?”
“We’ve walled off a section of the cavern with resin,” said Rogue. “There's a spring for water and we’ve been leaving them be, other than to drop off new ponies.”
“You IDIOT,” Chrysalis suddenly roared. “They need food and medical care. We need them alive and healthy. We need to be interacting with them.”
“But...but,” stuttered the suddenly shocked Rogue. “Why? They are ponies. We feed off ponies, we don’t take care of them.”
“Do I have to do all the thinking around here?” yelled Chrysalis. “If only three out of every hundred ponies are surviving this catastrophe how many ponies are left to feed off of?”
Rogue stared at her Queen, beginning to understand, “You mean we have to become...”
“Herders,” finished Chrysalis. “With ponies as our herd. We have to feed them, cloth them, tend them. We have to bind up their wounds and care for them like they were our own. Because if they die, we die. Only slowly.”
“Yes! Yes, Your Majesty,” sputtered Rogue. “I will get right on it. I’ll send out parties to scavenge food stuffs right now.” Rogue quickly left to make her arrangements, but as she did another pair of changelings came up to Chrysalis.
“Your Majesty,” said the pair. “We’ve brought in a badly wounded unicorn who is asking to speak to you.”
“Later,” she said, turning away. “I have to contact our main hive and-”
“Your Majesty,” interrupted the changeling. “The unicorn...is very badly hurt...he doesn’t have long.”
“Then why bring him here at all?” said Chrysalis, pausing. “Give him a clean death and let him escape from his pain.”
“Your Majesty,” insisted the changeling. “We found him in the ruins of the palace. Maybe a hundred yards from throne room.”
“What?” exclaimed Chrysalis. “Why didn’t you say so in the first place? Take me to him immediately.” The pair nodded and led their queen through the hive. Near the new entrance to the hive, a horrifically-wounded unicorn lay on the ground. Both of his eyes were gone, a bandage covering the sockets. His horn had been snapped off partway along its length, and both of his front legs had been burned away to the knees. Despite all that, despite being covered in blood and dust, Chrysalis recognized him.
“Kibitz?”, she asked. “Is that you?”
“Yes, Your Majesty,” groaned the unicorn. “I...I am honored you remember me.”
“How could I forget Celestia’s right hoof,” she assured Kibitz tenderly. Her changelings looked askance at each other at the kindness in their Queen’s voice. “Do you know know what happened?”
Kibitz coughed to clear some dust from his lungs. A little blood came up with it. “First, I need to know, did you do this? Were you behind it?”
“No, Kibitz,” said Chrysalis. “I had nothing to do with it, nor did any of my changelings.”
“Swear it!” demanded Kibitz in a sudden, fierce, weak whisper. “Swear it on your name and your power.”
Bending close to the dying pony Chrysalis said, “By name, by my horn, by my power and the Egg that bore me, I swear to you neither I, nor any I command had anything to do with what has befallen Equestria.”
The unicorn seemed to deflate a bit and nodded, “I’m sorry Your Majesty, I had to be sure. Celestia…is she...”
“She and Luna now graze in the Summer Lands,“ said Chrysalis. “Twilight lives, but badly wounded and in a coma. Her life is sustained only by her presence in one of our pods. Now, tell me what happened. What caused this?”
“I don’t know,” said Kibitz. “Discord came into the throne room, right in the middle of court, too. He was...pulsing. His body kept getting bigger and smaller, and he was screaming.”
“Screaming?” asked Chrysalis. “Was he injured?”
“Not that I could see,” said Kibitz. “But he kept screaming, ‘she’s dead, she’s dead’. Celestia was trying to calm him down. It wasn’t working. That’s when she sent me to get some help from the Unicorn College. The walls came down on me a little bit after I left the throne room.”
“Thank you, Kibitz,” said Chrysalis. “It’s not much, but it’s more than I had before.”
“Your welcome, Your Majesty,” Kibitz answered. Chrysalis could see he was weakening. Celestia’s majordomo was about to follow his mistress into death.
“Kibitz, I want you to know something,” she quietly said to the dying unicorn. “Most of Equestria has been killed, but Celestia asked me to save her ponies and I intend to do just that.”
“Give...give them a symbol,” Kibitz whispered. “Give them something or somepony to rally around. Give them a way to identify with the new reality. Give them...” But whatever Kibitz had been about to add faded, as he breathed his last.
“Rest, thou good and faithful servant,” said Chrysalis, and even the other changelings bowed their heads in respect. “Go to where your mistress awaits, in the Summer Lands.”
“Bury him by Celestia,” commanded Chrysalis. “No, wait. Bury him in the throne room. Bring Celestia’s body here. We are going to set up a shrine to her.” The changelings around her looked at her as if she had just asked them to dance ballet on the ceiling.
“Kibitz told me that the ponies would need a symbol, to accept the necessity of our dominion over them,” said Chrysalis to her changelings. “By showing respect to Celestia’s body, we give them that symbol.” Changelings nodded in understanding and flew off to do her bidding.
Chrysalis found herself alone for a moment. Everyling was in motion, things were being taken care of. It would be some time yet before she received any messages from her main hive or the scouts near the Crystal Empire. She decided to walk and relax for a few minutes. Her wandering took her by the chamber holding the pod bank. The only occupant at the moment was Twilight Sparkle.
Chrysalis found herself talking to the unconscious alicorn, “Twilight, I don’t know if you can hear me. But...I’ve always needed a peer, an equal, someling or somepony I could respect. Somepony I could test myself against. Somepony whose steel, whose resolve and determination were a match for my own. You, Twilight Sparkle, are my match, my peer, my equal. You are the light to my dark. The sweet to my sour. You give me boundaries, definition. I cannot be what I am without you. You complete me, Twilight. That is why I saved you. Not because it was the right thing to do, not because ponies will obey because I have you, not even because Celestia begged me to with her dying breath. I saved you...because I need you.”
Chrysalis stopped and stared at Twilight’s Sparkle’s face, looking for any hint that the alicorn had heard her words. The green tint that the pod cast on the alicorn’s equine features almost made her look a little like a changeling. “I can’t be this soft,” Chrysalis said to herself. “Changelings and ponies are both depending on me.” She walked out of the chamber to plan her next moves.
Lost in reverie and calculation, Chrysalis failed to see the cold, calculating gaze of Rogue, as she stood hidden behind some pods. Rogue waited until her Queen had left, and then went off to talk to some other changelings. If Chrysalis was becoming soft and weak, it might be time for the hive to have a new queen.
Author's Note
Thanks to Cross Lament who helped with the editing.
As always, thanks to my wife, DJ Mooncheeks, who lets me spend hours at writing.
Nine hundred and sixty-eight ponies, thought Chrysalis. Is that really all that’s left? It had been about twelve hours since the...whatever it was, had struck, and Chrysalis was still trying to wrap her head around the scope of the disaster. As far as Chrysalis could tell that horrific double blast had laid waste to all of Equestria, and beyond. Canterlot had once had a population of around thirty thousand. Roughly three percent had survived, and towards the end, her changelings were doing nothing more than putting ponies who wouldn’t survive out of their misery.
“Your Majesty,” said a drone coming up to her. He looked terrible, traces of vomit were visible after he had emptied his stomach. “I’m sorry, but we just can’t take anymore. All that death, and worse. The ones that are still alive, but twisted--,” His face screwed up and Chrysalis could tell he was fighting down nausea. “We’ve been having to put them down...the screams...nothing should have to try to live like that, nothing,” he said, shuddering.
“It’s okay, you’ve done enough,” Chrysalis said, pulling the shaking drone close and feeding a little energy into him. “Tell the other teams to pull back in. I think we’ve done everything we can do today.” The drone recovered himself, standing on his own.
“Sorry, my Queen,” the drone said, dipping his head in thanks for her support. “I’ll get right on it.” The drone headed back out to call in the other groups, and Chrysalis decided to wait by the entrance to see how the scavenger groups had done. It was late by the time the last ones had returned. All of them were tired, drained, and showed the strain of the emotional storm of the past day, but they had done well. Several days worth of pony foods had been gathered, all of it preserved. The taint permeating magic didn’t seem to have poisoned canned or packed food, as compared what it had done to fresh foods, and thankfully the wells still seemed to be drawing clean, fresh water.
After her explosion at Rogue earlier, the ponies her drones had brought in were now receiving medical attention, food, and water, instead of being left to their own devices. As yet, all of them were too stunned by the day’s events to mount even a token resistance to being taken in by her changelings. In fact, most of the ponies had been pathetically grateful at being rescued, whether it was by a changeling or not.
Chrysalis frowned to herself, as she walked back toward the chamber she was using. “Taken in” was just a euphemism for capture and enslave, and while the ponies showed no signs of attempting escape, they outnumbered her changelings four to one. She needed to think of a way to get the ponies to accept their lot, for them to willingly accept the bonds she was going to have to place on them, because a pitched pony battle for freedom would be disastrous for all concerned. Acceptance and cooperation was the only way to ensure the survival of both pony and changeling.
The last words of Celestia’s majordomo echoed through her head. “Give them a symbol,” he had said. Chrysalis was arranging to have Celestia’s body lie in state, but that could only be a starting point. She had to find an enduring symbol for the ponies to rally around, preferably a symbol that the ponies recognized as coming from her. On top of that, she had to find a way to change her ‘lings from infiltrators and spies, into herders and farmers. It would come to her, it had to. Too many lives were depending on her to find the answers.
“Your Majesty?” asked a deferential voice to her left, just outside her chambers.
“Yes, Shifter?” Chrysalis said, turning her head to face another of her drones. “What is it?”
“I’ve done some checking, and the whatever it is seems to be filtering down through the rock,” said the infiltrator.
“I’m calling it the Taint, for now,” said Chrysalis. “How long do we have until it reaches us here?”
“I give it a bit over two days,” said Shifter, gesturing around, “After that, it will be all around us.”
“Right.” She paused. “We will deal with that in the morning. Go get some sleep.”
Shifter bowed her head and headed off toward a sleeping nest. Chrysalis watched the drone leave and realized her own head was nodding. She yawned deeply, mouth stretching wide. A nearby nest whispered its siren song to Chrysalis, and just this once, she gave in to its call. Staggering over to the nest, Chrysalis collapsed on it, and was asleep almost instantly.
The next morning Chrysalis had herself a meal of the ambient emotions coming from her...herd. She feasted off of the succulent love and compassion the ponies had for one another, usually a meal fit for a queen. But the accents of fear, despair, and sorrow interwoven in the emotions soured her repast.
After her distasteful breakfast, Chrysalis began pouring over maps. They had to move and soon. Chrysalis checked the spread of the Taint when she’d woken up. Shifter was right. By dinner time tomorrow these caves would be just as dangerous to ponies as the surface was.
“Your thoughts, my Queen?” asked Rogue, in a humble voice as she entered Chrysalis’s planning chamber.
Chrysalis glared at Rogue wondering how stupid her second-in-command thought she was. She could almost smell the betrayal and treachery coming off of Rogue. Rogue could mask her expressions and act with the best of them, but her emotions were an open book to Chrysalis, who had been raised in treachery and nursed on deceit. The changeling might as well have been holding up a sign that read, “Want to overthrow Chrysalis? Ask me how.” Another time, Chrysalis would have either crushed Rogue like a bug, or let Rogue strengthen herself through treachery and then bound the reprobate minion to her by crushing Rogue’s plot, yet allowing her to live. Chrysalis didn’t have time for such luxuries now.
“You and I need to have a discussion about your position in the hive,” said Chrysalis, a wicked grin stretched across her muzzle. “We will talk tonight, but in the meantime I have a task for you. I need you to lead the scavenging teams in finding every usable wagon, cart and conveyance you can.”
Rogue nodded, “I would be pleased to attend to you this evening. Also, by ‘every’ how many do you mean?”
“Two hundred would be nice,” Chrysalis said, ignoring the choked sound of surprise Rogue made at the number. “We need to be on the move by first light tomorrow, and I want to take as much stuff as we can with us. Ponies, pods, foodstuffs, and anything else we can take. So, while two hundred is the target number, more is better,” said Chrysalis, waving the changeling away. “Off you go, and I will see you tonight.”
Rogue bowed and left, calling to some other changelings as she did. Chrysalis made careful note of who were the first changelings Rogue called to. They would be the ones Rogue felt most comfortable with; hence, they would likely be her co-conspirators. Hopefully she would be able to avoid outright killing any of them, as she needed every hoof she could get. Chrysalis also made a mental note who Rogue avoided, and then went back to studying the map.
She needed to find someplace close to a settled area, that had caves or underground structures and that was not too far away. Ponyville was an eight hour train ride from Canterlot, or about a three day march. They could probably make that, with a little pushing. Ponyville was also a farming center and the home of Twilight’s friends. All of whom were powerful mares in their own right. If any of them had survived, her keeping Twilight alive could win them to her cause, and make her job of managing her ponies easier. Also, Ghastly Gorge was close to Ponyville and had ready made tunnels and caves. It was as close to ideal as Chrysalis could have hoped and she nodded in satisfaction at her choice. Now for the hard part of the day.
"Come with me,” she ordered four drones who had been busy with other tasks. “I’m going to speak to our ponies, and I want you four with me in case one of them tries something stupid.” The four nodded and fell into formation around their queen, looking protective as Chrysalis headed toward the area that had been walled off for the ponies. “You four,” she said, spotting another quartet who had been busy organizing their cache of salvaged foodstuffs, “go fetch the princesses and meet me at the ponies.” All four, nodded, set down their burdens and headed off to do their queen’s bidding. Chrysalis and her guards walked on, stopping a few minutes later at a wall of green resin.
With a flare of her magic Chrysalis parted the resin wall and stepped into the large chamber, guards flanking her. As she looked around Chrysalis could see the ponies huddled together in groups, some of them eating and drinking, some tending to the wounds of others with medical supplies and a great many were just staring into space. A day later still unable to comprehend the disaster that had come upon them.
“YOU!” snarled a voice from Chrysalis's left, and she whipped her head over to see a trio of Solar Guards approaching in dented, scorched armour. Between the three of them they had over a dozen wounds, one of them was limping and their leader was missing half his mane and his entire tail. None of which did a thing to lessen the pure, feral, menace Chrysalis felt coming off the stallions. She had never seen ponies so close to giving in to murderous, berserk rage and her guards began to move to intercept the trio of ponies, as they too tasted the emotions of the stallions approaching, but Chrysalis waved them back.
“It’s rude to not introduce yourself when in the presence of monarchy,” said Chrysalis, with a raised eyebrow and the voice of a teacher correcting an erring student, “In Celestia’s name I ask for yours, even as you have mine.” The politeness, the tone of voice, and especially the use of Celestia’s name, knocked the guards off their emotional stride and confused them for a moment. As Chrysalis knew it would.
“Radiant Shield, you murdering piece of—” began the lead guard, beginning to recover his righteous wrath.
“I have killed nopony,” said Chrysalis, smoothly interrupting what surely was the beginning of an epic string of vituperation, “and if you behave like civilized ponies, I will answer any questions you may have for me.” The guards blinked for a moment, still trying to shift from anger to civilized conversation.
“You say you didn’t kill Celestia,” began Radiant Shield, through gritted teeth. “Did you order it done, or cause any of this to happen?”
“No,” said Chrysalis, plainly. “Nor, to the best of my knowledge, did any of my drones have anything to do with it. Any other questions?”
“Yes, why?” asked Radiant Shield.
“Why what?” Chrysalis replied, growing a little worried as she felt Radiant Shield’s anger flare back into an inferno inside him..
“Why didn’t you kill Celestia?” demanded Radiant Shield, his voice rising in volume and anger as he continued. “Why did you rescue us? Why take care of us? Why aren’t we in pods, or chains, at the least? WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM US?” He screamed the last directly into Chrysalis’s face.
“Your world, and all you know, has been ripped apart and tossed onto its head,” said Chrysalis, rising up to her full height and majesty over the stallion. “So, I will forgive your words and tone...this one time. But in the future, you will address me with the proper respect and deference I am due. Am I understood?” Radiant Shield blinked, ears flattening, as he realized what he had done, and how.
“My...my sincere apologies, Your Majesty,” Radiant Shield said, backing down and taking a couple of steps back. “I...we...it’s all been a little much to take. But my questions stand, Your Majesty.”
“Better,” said Chrysalis, nodding in approval. “In order. I did not kill Celestia because I respected her as a fellow leader and changelings prefer to capture, not kill. I ordered all of you rescued to curry favour with Celestia, before I knew of her condition. You aren’t in pods or chains because we need you active and mobile so we can move locations tomorrow. Finally, I’m taking care of you because you have something I need.”
“What would that be, Your Majesty?” asked Radiant, making sure he addressed Chrysalis properly.
“Edible emotions,’ Chrysalis said. “You likely are not aware of this, but the ponies in this cavern are the sum total of Canterlot’s survivors. Roughly three of every hundred ponies survived the blast, and I realized that if I did not act decisively, ponies will likely die out. And if ponies die out, the changeling race will starve to death.”
“So, we’re going to be livestock,” said Radiant Shield, in a bitter voice. “Slaves at best, product at worst.”
“Other changeling queens may take that position,” Chrysalis said, “but I will not be one of them. Yes, I could pod you all, or put you in chains, but I would rather ponies be my partners in survival. You keep us fed in emotions and we keep you safe, fed, and protected from the Taint. If we can help you grow and prosper it will help my changelings to grow and prosper as well.” A sound behind Chrysalis made her look back. It was her drones, carrying the body of Celestia in a sealed, glass sarcophagus and she waved them in.
“Hear me, Ponies!” Chrysalis shouted to the room, cutting of the wails of mourning that were beginning as the ponies spotted the body of their fallen ruler. “I was with Celestia when she died, and with her last breath she asked me to save her ponies. I’ve always preferred to honour last requests, and so, in her name, I will do my best to protect and preserve the ponies of Equestria.”
“And in turn, we keep you fed,” murmured Radiant, to Chrysalis.
“Exactly, we each have something the other needs to survive,” said Chrysalis, who then raised her voice again. “Ponies, you may have this day to mourn and decide on the disposition of Celestia’s body. Tell Radiant Shield here, of your wishes and I will honour them as best I can.”
“Me?” the guard pony asked, surprised. “Why?”
“Because I admire boldness,” Chrysalis said, with a grin. “You stood up and challenged me, face to face. Much like the last surviving Equestrian Princess did.”
“The last...” Radiant Shield’s voice tapered off as the other group of drones brought in Twilight Sparkle, safely resting in her pod. Radiant Shield’s eyes grew wide and he walked past Chrysalis as if she wasn’t even there, and laid a reverent hoof on the pod. Bowing his head over his princess, Chrysalis heard him pledge himself to Twilight Sparkle.
“Twilight has come, and my service begins. I will keep watch for her, in darkest night and in brightest day. I shall be the shield at her back, the sword at her side, her eyes and her ears, her strong hoof, her swift wing, her glowing horn. For Equestria, I will live and die at her command. I pledge my service to the Twilight Princess on this day, and for all the days to come,” said Radiant Shield in a clear voice that carried through the cavern, and as he finished his oath his eyes refocused on Chrysalis, and he held her gaze.
Chrysalis kept her face impassive, but inside she was quite impressed at the sudden change in the stallion. A few minutes ago he had been barely keeping himself together, but now he held her gaze with an unnerving calm. He offered neither challenge or defiance with his steady regard. Just wordlessly stating the fact that Twilight was now his princess, and he would do whatever it took to protect her. Chrysalis could feel a new strength and power flowing off the guardpony, and as she thought on that, she also realized that the entire cavern had gone silent.
The arrival of Celestia’s body had filled the cavern with sorrow and dark despair as the ponies were faced with the truth of Celestia’s death. But as Radiant Shield’s words had passed over his fellow ponies that despair was purged by a flare of new emotions. Hope, determination, even optimism and love were now filling the cavern as the ponies quietly began to come forward, paying their respects to their fallen princess and pledging loyalty to their new one.
“I will leave you for now,” said Chrysalis, to Radiant Shield. “But be aware that the Taint from the blast is working its way here. I plan to have us move overland to a safer place at dawn tomorrow, be ready.”
“And what of our princess?” asked Radiant Shield, gesturing toward Twilight Sparkle, that same calm look still in his eyes. “Is she going to be a podded hostage in exchange for our obedience?”
“Twilight’s wounds are terrible, and that pod is the only thing keeping her alive,” Chrysalis said. “The moment she can survive outside of it, and not be in agony, I will release her to you. We need each other too much for me to resort to hostages and threats. As I said earlier, we have to be partners in survival.” Chrysalis felt a tap on her side for attention, and a drone whispered to her that she was needed. “I have to go, but we will talk more on the road. Take care of our ponies, Radiant Shield,” Chrysalis said, leaving to deal with the million and one details involved in moving twelve hundred individuals in a single march.
The day passed swiftly for the changeling monarch as she made ready for the trip. Ponyville was a seven to eight hour train ride from Canterlot, but even if they could find a train large enough to carry twelve hundred individuals, plus cargo, it was more than likely that the tracks were out along the way. That left the three day march to Ponyville as the only option, plus a few more hours further south to the caves of Ghastly Gorge.
“You wanted to see me, Ma’am,” said Rogue, as she entered Chrysalis’s planning chamber. She nodded to the guards in the room.
“Yes, Rogue, I did,” Chrysalis replied, standing up from where she had been going over lists of supplies. “How many wagons were you able to find?”
“Two hundred ten wagons and forty carriages,” Rogue said, with a pleased smile. “All in various states of repair, but they should all be good for the trip.”
“Well done. One other question, Rogue. Exactly when were you planning on attempting to overthrow me?” Chrysalis asked, conversationally. She savoured the sensation of shock and sudden alarm that she felt shoot through her traitorous minion.
“I...I don’t know what you mean,” Rogue said, stammering in shock. She tried to take a step back but found herself held in place by the queen’s magic.
“Rogue, my dear. If things were different I would savour this moment,” said Chrysalis, smiling and showing some fang as she did so. “I do so love the moment of revelation. When my opponent realizes how easily I’m about to crush them and their plans. But alas, it is a less perfect world than it was a few days ago.”
“Please, please, Your Majesty,” Rogue begged, going to her knees. “Have mercy. I thought you were weak, and I was wrong. Please, don’t kill me. Allow me to live and serve your glory. Please.”
“As I said, it is a less perfect world, and so I do not have the luxury of allowing a traitor to prosper in my own hive. Which leaves me no choice but to—” Chrysalis paused, deliberately, to have one last savour of Rogue’s terror, “make use of you instead.” Rogue collapsed to the floor in relief.
“Thank you, Great Queen, for your mercy to this insignificant drone,” said Rogue, doing her best to not give Chrysalis even the slightest excuse to kill her.
“Don’t thank me yet, my treacherous little minion,” said Chrysalis, still smiling. “Come the morning you are going to set out on a personal mission from me.”
“Of course, Your Majesty,” said Rogue, still groveling on the floor. “Whatever you wish your chastised slave to do, it will be done.”
“Good, because tomorrow I’m sending you north to the Crystal Empire,” said Chrysalis, as she began setting up a spell. “You will make contact with Shadowed Snows, who has been keeping watch on the Empire for me and find out if the Empire has suffered the same fate as Equestria. Then you will return to me.”
“Yes, Your Majesty,” was Rogue’s only response.
“And to make sure you accomplish my will—” began Chrysalis, and she unleashed her gathered power onto Rogue’s body, burning the word “Traitor” onto her chitin, “this will mark you so that other changelings will know what you are. If you return with the information I need about the Empire, I will remove the mark. Now get out of here and don’t let me see you again until you have completed your mission.”
“Yes, Your Majesty,” Rogue said, crawling from the chamber in utter submission.
Well, that went well. thought Chrysalis. One problem dealt with, and the ponies are starting to look to me as the one they need to depend on. Now, all we have to do is make a desperate sprint, through a devastated and poisoned land to a place of dubious safety. It almost seems too easy.
Author's Note
No, this shared world hasn't stopped being worked on. It just got put on the back burner for awhile. But then, Door Belle put up a couple of chapters of her part of the story and I realized I had to stir my lazy writer ass and catch up to her. Thus, Equestria: Destroyed is back into my writing rotation. Which I have had to go back to, because concentrating on one story at a time just wasn't cutting it.
As to Radiant Shield's oath. I had to write something that had to be dedicated to Twilight, yet still adaptable to Luna and Celestia. I think I hit the mark, or at least close to it.
Thanks to both Damaged and ChappedPenguinLips for their editorial inputs.
Next chapter: The March
This chapter is brought to you through the assistance of my current patrons:
Damaged
Canary in the Coal Mine
And welcome to my newest patron, Shaushka
Please support me on 
atreon Supporting me helps me concentrate on writing and keeps me in coffee and keyboards and if I can make my first goal I can start commissioning art for my stories to give back to my fellow creators who have done so much to inspire me.
