Without Question

Without Question

Chapter Sixteen – …and Provocation

The sister goddesses of Equestria stared at Silus and Queen Chrysalis with confusion.  Celestia’s mouth hung slightly open while Luna raised a brow.  The Princesses’ bodyguards looked no less shocked.  A short, chubby stallion with a feathered hat and a frilly collar rushed to the Princesses’ side.  Without skipping a beat, he removed a small trumpet from the holster on his uniform and tooted it loudly; nearby Changeling aristocrats covered their ears.

“All kneel before the Princesses Celestia and Luna of Equestria!” the stallion announced to the room.  Sweat ran down his forehead when not a single Changeling in the room moved.

“That…will be all, Schwigginsquire,” Celestia leaned down and whispered to the chubby stallion.  The sweaty trumpeter nodded with appreciation and sprinted outside.

Silus and Chrysalis slowly released each other before turning to face the new guests.  Silus glanced at his Queen out of the corner of his eye.  She showed no emotion, a stark contrast compared to her state mere seconds ago.

“Greetings, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna.  Welcome to the Changeling Empire,” Chrysalis spoke loudly and with authority.  It greatly agitated her that she had to remain so polite and refined in the presence of these rulers.  They didn’t deserve such a relatively warm welcome.

“Greetings to you as well, Queen Chrysalis,” Celestia responded.

Chrysalis made a few gestures towards her nearby Imperial Guards.  Two of them brought a rectangular, mahogany table to the center of the atrium.  Another two guards placed chairs on each side of it.  Silus followed her as she walked over to the table and took a seat.  Silus remained standing about two feet behind and to the right of her with his hands clasped together behind his back.  All of the Changeling nobles in the room stood along the sides of the room in complete silence.

“Shall we begin the negotiations?” the Queen asked as she crossed her hind legs and placed her fore hooves on the table.

Celestia and Luna looked at each other, somewhat puzzled at the settings of the negotiations.  They disregarded the event they had witnessed, as well as the odd practice of negotiating in public, and sat at the table.  The four royal guards that accompanied the Princesses stood in a square formation behind their leaders.

“I suppose so…” Celestia stated, perplexed.

The four royal guards glared intensely at Silus, who returned a fiery glare of his own.  He would not be intimidated at a critical moment such as this.

“What are the terms and conditions of your surrender?” Luna bluntly inquired.

Silus nearly broke every bone in his hands as he clenched his fists with rage.  Chrysalis was no less infuriated.

“I beg your pardon?!” the Changeling Queen raised her voice and cocked her head back in disgust.

“Sister!  Hold your tongue!” Celestia sharply scolded the lunar princess.

Luna merely rolled her eyes and looked off to the side.  As her focus returned to the table, her eyes were caught by Silus’.  He was gritting his teeth and glaring at her now.  She squinted a bit and glared back at him.  Their visual war ended as Chrysalis spoke.

“I’ll begin by saying we are far from surrendering.  I’ll expand on that and say that we will fight for every inch of Imperial soil that you stole from us.  If you desire an end to this war, simply return our lands and that will be the end of it.”

Celestia furrowed her brows and adjusted herself in her seat before responding.

“I’m afraid it’s not quite that simple.  You invaded us twice…and then you are surprised when we come knocking at your own doors?  You committed a crime, and you must face the consequences.”

Chrysalis frowned and leaned forward.

“No race should face extinction.  Ever.  There is no excuse for destroying an entire civilization.  We acknowledge the sins of the past, but surely you of all individuals can understand that forgiveness paves the way to the future?”

Celestia was frowning now.

“You killed hundreds of innocent ponies and burned down millions of bits worth of property.  A mother does not simply give back her child’s toys after it shoves its sibling down the stairs.”

“But does the mother beat and kill the naughty child?  Does she do everything in her power to ruin the child before finally ending its life?” Chrysalis raised her voice in anger.

Celestia leaned back slowly and bit her lip, still furrowing her brows.

“I…suppose not…but the child must pay f—”

“The child must pay accordingly!  The child must face punishment, yes, but the child has done nothing worthy of being slain!  The mother is not only unfair in her judgment, but she is no better than the child as well!” Chrysalis spoke firmly as she argued.

Celestia bit her lip harder and she looked to Luna, who spoke in her place.

“The analogy is over.  This is not a mother and child we are talking about.  We are talking about how you massacred our subjects and pillaged our settlements.  You betrayed our mercy and we cannot risk you doing so again.”

Silus clenched his fists again and resisted the urge to flip the table right into the face of the lunar princess.  He took slow, deep breaths as he attempted to control his anger.  Chrysalis narrowed her eyes at Luna and replied.

“I understand your point of view, but you refuse to acknowledge ours.  Do you think we are incapable of learning from mistakes?  We know now that we were wr—”

“Learning from your mistakes?” Luna chuckled condescendingly, “As in how to invade us successfully upon forgiving you for this offense?  We cannot allow that.”

Chrysalis was now gritting her teeth along with Silus.

“If you have already made your decision to attempt to wipe us out, then why are you here?  Now?  Discussing these matters with me?”

Celestia looked down as Luna leaned forward and slammed a hoof onto the table, to which Silus responded by sliding one hand closer to the handle of his blade.

“You know damned well why we are discussing anything at all with you right now!” Luna barked.

“They won’t be leaving my prison yard until you give back what you have taken!” Chrysalis barked back.

Celestia could do little more than watch the two go back and forth.

“And risk letting you attack us yet again?  Absolutely not!” Luna shouted.

“We know better now!  We could have easily killed those prisoners, but we did not!”

“You didn’t kill them so that you could beg for undeserved mercy later!”

“Have you no sense?!  Not only do you think we haven’t changed, you don’t want to believe we have changed!  Those prisoners outside of my castle are proof of our new perspective!”

“It is proof of nothing!  I see before me a filthy crossbreed between a pony and a beetle, nothing more!”

Chrysalis, Silus, and the surrounding aristocrats shared a collective gasp.  The Queen leaned all the way back into her chair.  Celestia’s eyes widened and her mouth hung open as she stared at her sister in disbelief.  As Silus’ shock faded, it was replaced with raw fury.  He gripped his sword and began to draw it.  The Princesses’ royal guards tensed up.

“HOW DARE YOU SP—!” Silus was cut off and ceased drawing his blade as Chrysalis calmly placed a hoof on his hand.  He glanced down at her in surprise.  She stared up into his pale blue eyes and sadly shook her head.  His rage subsided as he lost himself in her glowing green eyes.  Slowly, his blade slid back into its sheath and he shivered from the fading adrenaline.  Luna smirked in victory and crossed her forelegs.  Chrysalis turned her attention back to the lunar princess and spoke slowly and egregiously.

“You speak of us as though we are uncivilized trash…yet you have the nerve to come to my castle…entertain the idea of negotiations…and resort to petty insults rather than come to a peaceful conclusion to this war…”

Chrysalis closed her eyes for a moment and took a deep breath before going on.

“I see now what qualifies a race to be superior…claiming to be the supreme justice and law of a land…while sweeping problems under the rug…and claiming to desire nothing but peace and harmony…while searching for reasons to justify the slaughter of the more difficult problems.  But even when a problem solves itself…that superior race removes the problem anyway…because they refuse to acknowledge the possibility that anything other than themselves can determine what is right and what is not.”

Luna stood up and slammed both hooves down onto the table.

“Listen here, you ignorant cretin, we ar—!”

“LUNA!  THAT IS ENOUGH!”

Everyone in the room shuddered at the booming voice.  Their eyes were drawn to Princess Celestia.  With tears in her eyes, she glared angrily at her sister.  Luna’s eyes had widened and were frozen in place as the solar princess held firm.

“Queen Chrysalis is right.  We are no better than hypocrites if we do not let them reconcile for their actions.”

Celestia finally broke her stare and turned to face Chrysalis.

“Immediately returning your cities in exchange for the prisoners is out of the question.  However, I have a proposition.”

Chrysalis raised a brow.

“I’m listening.”

“A gradual exchange.  Every two months, we will give back a captured city, and in return you give back some of the prisoners.”

Chrysalis raised both brows and leaned forward with anticipation.

“That sounds…much better than I had thought…”

Celestia smiled at the reaction.

“Good then I suggest w—”

Celestia was cut off as the floor next to the table suddenly began to collapse and form a large hole.  Every being in the room stared at the sudden damage.  Slowly, several dirty and sickly-looking ponies began to crawl out.  Many of them wielded sharpened bones.

Chrysalis stood up, as did the Equestrian princesses.

“What is the meaning of this?!” the Changeling Queen shouted as Silus drew his blade and took a fighting stance.

A beige earth pony with a pink and violet mane was among the first to crawl out.  She blinked repeatedly as she took in the scene.  Chrysalis flung around to face the goddesses.

“You dangle forgiveness in front of us…only to lie and ambush me in my own throne room?!” she screamed at them.

Celestia and Luna were just as confused as Chrysalis.

“I have no idea what this is!” Celestia pleaded.

Luna had no idea what was happening either, but at the same time, she was glad that the event had disrupted the negotiations.

Silus pointed his blade at the beige pony and looked over his shoulder at Chrysalis.

“My Queen!  They have betrayed us!  They are armed!” he shouted.

The ponies continued to crawl out, “armed” with what looked like swords made of bone.  Hardly any of them had any idea where they were.  Some were so exhausted that they simply collapsed to the floor.  Celestia’s eyes darted from pony to pony until she recognized the beige pony as Bon-Bon.

“Bon-Bon?!” she screamed.

The beige pony looked over to the solar princess.  She was far too tired to do much more than give a weak smile until she saw all of the Changelings in the room.  Upon seeing them, Bon-Bon held up her bone in a panic.

“DROP YOUR WEAPONS!” Silus shouted as he waved his sword at the ponies.

“You monsters!  You try to exterminate my race, and then play with our hopes and try to assassinate me!” Chrysalis screamed at the princesses.

“We had nothing to do with th—” Celestia attempted to plead but was cut off by Chrysalis.

“BEGONE FROM MY CASTLE!  If it is a massacre you want, it is a massacre you shall get!” the Changeling Queen screamed even louder as tears formed in her eyes.

Dozens of Imperial Guards encircled the exhausted Widow Battalion, to which the frightened ponies replied by dropping their bones.  Silus turned to face the princesses.

“You heard her Dark Majesty!  GET OUT!” he yelled with seething rage.

The royal guards pressed close to the princesses and led them out of the castle, much to their confusion and reluctance.  Chrysalis collapsed to the floor and covered her face with her hooves.  Silus rushed to her side and knelt down.  A small puddle of tears formed on the tiles.

“My Queen, are you alright?” he whispered to her as he wrapped his arms around her.

She quietly sobbed, just loud enough for only Silus to hear.  After what felt like hours, she sniffled and wiped her face.

“Bring them to the prison yard…” she whispered.

“It will be done, my Queen,” he replied.

“…and prepare the troops…this war just got longer…and we will not lose…”

“I…I understand.  Right away,” Silus gestured for the Imperial Guards to take the ponies to the prison yard.

Silus helped the Changeling Queen stand up and led her to her room while the aristocrats filed out of the castle.  Finally, the last few Changelings left the castle.  Just as the massive doors began to close, snowflakes began to gently fall from the night sky…