Chrysalis

“Chris.”

“Chrysalis, was wondering when you’d check in.”

I adjust my pose and look around, ensuring that I’m properly alone before continuing. Luckily the communication orb requires so little magic to use. Still, a painful shock down my horn reminds me of the curse that damn Twilight Sparkle put on me earlier. I’ve never seen that kind of magic before, clearly she was desperate going for such a cowardly move.

“I...We...remain in control. Twilight has created...a bit of an inconvenience. You have those reinforcements I asked for?” The less she knows about the situation the better. Twilight wouldn’t be able to maintain this for long. I have an army, with technology forged by masters of war. What could her little civilian militia do against our forces?

“The new horn just a fashion statement then?” She states coldly, raising an eyebrow ever so slightly. “Lucky for you, I could use your magical expertise...in exchange for my aid of course, and our mutual success.”

I look over the pitiful guard Twilight had left to secure the portal. She has always underestimated me. Without the elements of harmony and Cadence they don’t stand a chance. I really wish I’d finished off that traitorous Thorax when I had the chance. However then I’d have had to find a different hostage, which would've been incredibly inconvenient. A small lapse of judgement, that was all. A moment of weakness that wouldn’t happen again. “Well? Align your side then.”

“Aligning portal...see you soon...sister.”

The portal in front of me flickers to life, the spiral of magic forming into a permeable membrane along with the push of air from the other side. I cough as a plume of dust blows past me along with it. I think I see something in the dust, but I blink and it’s gone. I wave my hoof through it once just to be sure and find nothing. “Damn ponies, making me paranoid.” I dive forward into the portal.

Twilight

Need to be more careful. The invisibility spell is meant to naturally repel dust and other particulate matter, otherwise simply trotting around would render it useless. When I was just a unicorn such a spell would tire me within a few hours, yet now as an alicorn I could perhaps maintain it for a bit under a day. Time not to be wasted.

I jump into the portal an instant after her, hoping to hide my ripple. The trip through is a nightmare on the senses, yet not one I hadn’t had before. This time however it feels different. Instead of going to a world warm and bright, similar to my own, it feels like I’m traveling through an emptiness, one so strong that I nearly lose my grip on the spell and I’m forced to redouble my efforts to keep it sustained. Emerging onto the other side I feel genuine pain throughout my body, yet my form remains my own. Looking around the massive dark room, the stench in the air, and the feel of misery...It’s like I’ve just entered tartarus.

And it chills me to my core.

This is the world our worst enemy came from? The cruelest of villains our land has ever seen? It makes more sense than it has any right to, and it makes me mourn for them all the more. How bad must things be for them to act so terribly to strangers they had never known? The walls and surfaces of everything seem gray and washed out compared to the world I have just left, the magic all but absent from the very air I breathe.

“Welcome to Earth.” Her duplicate says, standing across from her in a human form. Her hair is black and cut short, a contrast to her stark white skin. She’s wearing a black suit and her left arm is in a cast. Tempest’s handiwork if I had to guess. For a moment a thought comes to mind that I she should have done worse, but I quickly push it away. I can’t act on revenge, especially not here...no matter how hard she hurt us. We’re better than that.

“Equestria’s better.” Chrysalis grumbles, looking over the room. It’s all sealed in a solid stone easily the size of Celestia’s throne room. Changelings patrol all around, at least a dozen. A few of them sniff at the air as they patrol, glancing briefly at the Queens but then going back to their routes. “Let’s get this over with, as you’re aware we’ve got work to do.”

“Yeah, I noticed. It was your damn job to keep them under control! You’ve caused a cascade of problems here that put our entire mission in jeopardy.” The human one states, gesturing towards their arm.

“If you had given me the reinforcements I asked for...” Chrysalis retaliates with a hiss.

“You’re always asking for them! This world is a lot bigger and humans aren’t nearly as compliant as ponies. I’ve spent months working on a plan to get the forces we need. Money can only buy so many soldiers before others catch on.” She goes over to a drawer and with her good arm pulls out a fistful of gold and gems. “There are so many humans that would do anything for a single piece of this. Making a network takes time, and the bigger it gets the more likely our earth princesses are to notice.”

“Then we have no time to waste, do we?”

Mike

“So you get after me for accidentally having close relations with a gang, and here you are getting yourself involved with terrorists and mass murderers and a giant government coverup.” Antoine quips. I had just finished with a brief rundown of what had happened over the past week. The convoy has been heading towards the outskirts of town for a while now, only the railroad and power station are out this far. That and a couple hundred trees. In other words, trouble.

“Yeah, thank you captain obvious. You know what they’re doing out here?” I ask. The sun had finished setting, the moon now out in its full glory, yet this far from town it seemed like there was a lot less magic in the air. Like one might recognize humidity in the air, but something you feel inside instead of outside.

“Only two reasons I can think of for them to go all the way out here. Either they have someplace to hold her out here...” He takes a sharp right as the convoy turns away from the power station, heading onto a dirt path.

“Or?” I ask, looking behind us at a distant set of headlights. Who else is coming?

The car comes to a very abrupt halt that flings me forward, caught only by my seatbelt. Looking forward my jaw drops and I nearly piss myself. There is a tan military truck with a mounted gun along with a black van and a truck. Three soldiers are standing in the middle in full gear.

“Or it's a handoff.”

Sheriff Redmond

“Mike, Angela, and Artemis? Artemis is confirmed still in their bed. Angela and Mike just appeared to be taken outside by some rough looking kids. Black Truck, XG1 ZR2 license plate from the cams, they’re heading South.” The receptionist says on the phone. I’d gotten the call from that Aaron kid who seems to be the only person who actually wants to tell me what the hell is going on. After that it was just a few calls to track the other kids down.

“I’m on it. For all of our safety only inform those who ask with the keyword Cairo.” I trust her only because I have been able to question her about my own doctor’s visits in the past to confirm her identity. The knowledge of shapeshifters definitely makes everything harder. Least in the army I had people I knew I could trust.

I stumble down the hallway, gun at the ready as I check down the corners. The retrieval squad should be here soon. The Pentagon confirms they have forces just outside to take over, just in time. I nod to one of the soldiers as I enter the lobby. “You spot the bug? I got two shots on them. Was heading your way.”

“Negative sir, we’re sweeping the area. We need to debrief you.”

I wince as I grasp my arm...something underneath my jacket feeling a bit unfamiliar. “Going to the hospital first, the bugger hit me with a laser or something.” I nod towards my arm showing a bit of my red blood off to them, not having to even try to show the pain I’m currently in. That makes them relax a bit...they know about the changelings then. They turn around, one of the others nods in permission, then towards me.

“Need anyone to go with you, Officer?”

“Stay here, I don’t know how many there are. Already had to stop one attempt, we can’t let them get that close again.” I move towards the door, pushing it open with my good arm. “Watch close.” I get in the car, heading towards the hospital, but instead turn up towards main street, then wait.

I feel my arm again, where the creature hit me. My arm had been growing stiff ever since, my hand specifically. Gently probing around the wound I can see what looks like green crystal just beneath my flesh, and it's spreading fast. “Well, at least it isn’t chitin.” I mutter to myself. “Damn kids better have a cure for this.”

It’s only a few minutes of waiting before the truck passes my view. Not like they were hard to spot with such a convoy. A bunch of cars all in a row. I join up a short ways after the last one, glad once again that I’m not using the patrol car. The changeling would’ve spotted it and ruined the ambush if I had.

The drive isn’t terribly long before I see them start to grind to a halt. I turn off my lights and park a ways out. No subtlety this time. I strap on all my body armor and grip my AK-47 with my right arm before exiting the vehicle, wincing a bit as it pulls at my wounded arm. I put my police uniform back on top and move to the convoy, weapon drawn.

Angela

I’m tired.

The rush of adrenaline occurring over and over, the fear for Artemis, the anxiety of being in the back of a van with a bunch of male thugs going out to the middle of nowhere also makes things even more unpleasant. I’m also starving. Without my amulet on I feel vulnerable and weak. I’ve gotten used to having a lot more energy to just do things lately and I’m loath to feel like a normal-ish human again.

“You know, typically when you date a gal you’re supposed to take her out to eat before traveling out to the middle of nowhere to commit sexual crimes as a way to prove to yourself you can get an actual date someday.”

“And I suppose the typical response is we just take you out now and beat the shit out of you?” The driver comments with a glance back. “I have a wife I’ll have you know.”

“Your poor kids.”

“What, you think she’s as ugly as you?”

“No, because your cousin is clearly too young for you.” I quip with a smile. “Do you beat her like you do to strangers? Or is it more personal?”

He chuckles at that. “Oh I’m so glad you’re not going to be my problem anymore. The suits are going to have a blast cutting you to pieces. First I thought, how’re we going to pay for his medical bills without insurance? Then this suit guy comes around looking for freaks like you, throwing around more than enough cash to cover medical costs and afford a house for my family. Get rid of one little nuisance and I get everything I could want without a single other holdup. I’d say it isn’t personal, but it is.”

I look at his buddy in the passenger seat. He’d gone silent after just a few minutes and looks incredibly sick and quite out of it. Looking carefully I can even see what I think to be feathers around his neck and a bit of yellow around his mouth and nose. His head is also starting to sprout small feathers. I’m surprised that no one seems to have noticed.

With a small flash I see the necklace disappear and feel it settle around my neck. Feeling my energy rush back into me makes it feel like I was suffocating before, the magic feeling like a breath of fresh air. I resist the urge to smile as I see the gun-wielding a-hole beside me look towards his sick buddy, apparently noticing the flash.

“Kyle!” He reaches forward with an arm, keeping the other trained on me. “Kyle answer me!” He feels the feathers on his neck and I can see the color drain from his face. “The fuck did you do?!” His hand with the gun starts to shake. “He’s not responding John, and he’s gone furry! The amulet is gone too!”

“It doesn’t matter.” Our driver, John, replies coldly.

“The fuck it does matter! How the hell is this not our problem?”

“Because we’re here.”

Tempest

“So, you’re an alien then?” The girl asks. We’d been sitting silently for some time, the older girl… a woman I think they are called? seems scared out of her wits.

I’m long past that.

Scared is what you say when the fear of your enemy overwhelms your senses. Scared is what you say when the presence of a foe or situation makes you cower in fear and have your limbs locked into place. Scared is a reaction I have endured so many times before that the feeling became second nature. Fear kept me alive. Now, I am far beyond simply reacting to such things.

“You know, if I wanted to kill you I would’ve already. So unless you’re going to kill me let’s skip to the part where we get out of here.” Chains, too light to be iron, perhaps an alloy? Each link uniform in a way that professes machinery-built. The technology here is perhaps advanced in some ways, but uniformity can have plenty of mistakes. Now, the weak point is always at junctions. “Do you have any tools on you?”

“No, and I’m sure if we try anything the guards will just shoot us. This isn’t some Hollywood film where the villains just walk off and leave us unattended.” She gestures to a platform above us where more of the humans are stationed, each holding weaponry similar to what I have seen on the soldiers earlier.

“I don’t know what a ‘hollywood’ is. But guards are suckers for a show. You know how boring guard duty is? There is a reason we switch them out so frequently. In case you also have not noticed, their last rotation was approximately two hours ago if your sun moves the same way ours does. Now, that device, it’s electricity, correct?”

“Well, yeah, do you not ha--”

“Of course we have electricity, we’re not simpletons. Most of our kind just isn’t interested in it that much besides the eggheads. Assuming the physics work the same it takes the path of least resistance. So I’ve got a plan.”

“I may not want to kill you, but that doesn’t mean I think helping you get free is the best option.” She replies with a huff. “I have no way to verify any of what either of you say. Granted you didn’t abduct me, but that hardly means anything. You obviously are a soldier of some kind, and if you want my help I want some answers!”

“A world away and civilians are still the same. Fine, I’ll break it down for you.” I yank at the chains holding me, wincing at the numerous burns I’ve gotten across my legs from Chrysalis and the shocks. “They” I gesture up towards the guards, “want to kill us. And I” I point towards my chest, “am on a rescue mission. No, I’m not here to invade this time. If I’d wanted to do that I would’ve brought skyships.”

“What do you mean ‘this time’? You invaded before?” She asks as I curse my slip up. Get the chance for a fresh start only to blow it within minutes. One day I’d really like to go five minutes before having my past kick me in the ass.

“Look, things are complicated. I didn’t kill the people they say I did. That dagger creature is a liar, and absolutely reeks of a politician. He’s here to manipulate the playing field. Assuming, based on how you act and how violent your kind are capable of, he’s trying for a rally. He wants to start a war.”

“That’s really a lot of assumptions you’ve got there. I know these are bad guys, but I also know you care about the others that work with you. So, we get out of here, but you take me with you. I don’t see them just letting me go anytime soon.” She replies, shaking her manacle.

“Finally. See? We could’ve done that long ago if you hadn’t insisted on hearing the whole backstory. Imagine if we had to explain everything over and over to everyone we met and just hope that they wouldn’t buck things up.” I look over to the guards standing watch. “If you come with us, you will follow my orders, without question. Then maybe, just maybe we’ll make it out alive.” I look her over again, thinking back through my encounters with their species. “Now...here is the plan...”

Mike

“We need to stall them. Dad should be here any minute and the longer we draw this out the sooner someone will notice what’s going on here.” I step out of the car, moving slowly with my hood pulled over my face and gloves over as much of my hands as I can reach. Moving in on the group we see the soldiers tense but hold their ground.

“You have the target?” One of them asks, likely their leader. The only one in an American uniform, the other two appear more like private security goons that you’d see at a gas stop on the poor side of town.

“You have the cash?” The leading thug asks. I don’t know his name but a glance over at my brother only shows rage. He’s clearly as upset about all this as we are. “Remember, you promised amnesty and no followup. This is it.” He looks over towards my brother. “I’m sorry man...but there’s my wife’s medical bills, and we’re about to have a kid too. They deserve more than a criminal’s life. When you’re in as deep as I am, money is the only way out.”

“You’re a fucking filthy piece of shit James! Human trafficking is beneath you! You throw away every scrap of human decency over a fucking paycheck!? You disgust me. They may grant you amnesty, but when we’re done here I’ll kill you myself!”

“They aren’t fucking human! She’s a monster from a different world, she’s only pretending! She’s not the first one either, they’ve been raiding and killing people for over a decade. They slaughter and kill women and children for fun! Just look at what they did to Kyle! He’s likely to be crippled for life because of her, doesn’t that mean anything to you?”

“You mess with my brother’s friend, that makes it personal.” My brother growls. “Remind me to get a gun when this is over.” He says to me in a hushed tone, sparing me a glance.

“You two stay out of this, we’re on government business.” The soldier replies, his gun at the ready, but not yet aimed in our direction. “Return to your vehicles or we will open fire. You’re already trespassing, and any attempt to interfere is treason, but we don’t want any bloodshed here tonight.” He then nods to one of his goons. “Give it to them.”

His goon nods and pulls out a suitcase, sets it on the ground, and moves back. Angela is pushed forward and I catch her eye as she gives me a smile and a wink. I feel the blood drain out of my face in horror. Goddamn it Angela, don’t do it. But of course she doesn’t hear me.

Faster than I can blink she spins around, and rams her handler’s head into the suitcase so hard it cracks. The soldiers immediately move to fire but their leader holds up an arm and yells “WAIT!” In response Angela quickly slides in behind a bigger guy and wraps an arm around his throat, holding him between herself and the soldiers.

“Drop it! Or I’ll drop him and the rest of you! We have no quarrel with you people but we are beings of great power! Don’t make us use it!” Angela shouts.Taking a closer look at the guy she has prisoner, I can see pony-like features across his face. What the hell did she do?

“Angela! No! We can talk this out! Everyone please just calm down and no one has to get hurt!” The soldier turns to look at me, but doesn’t change the aim of his gun from Angela.

“If you wanted to talk you should’ve come forward earlier. We’ll talk on our terms with our people. I’m not here to negotiate, I’m here to deliver. If you mean what you say, you’ll come quietly.”

”No one is going anywhere tonight.” We all turn to look at the newest addition to our weird and quickly growing group. He’s dressed like the soldier, with his own rifle slung across his chest. Only difference is the shiny badge of ‘Sheriff’. “Now I’m quite in touch with the government on this matter, they didn’t tell me anything about people like you. Abduction and pardoning? That’s not your authority pal.”

“Anyone else coming to join our little party? Seems like you brought half the village with you. I’ve been hired by a group far above some local sheriff. You look like a veteran, you know how the chain of command goes.”

“I know no commanding officer would be dumb enough to send a team in unannounced into a war zone. Now I want a name, or I’ll get you court martialed so fast you’ll swear the gal hit ya.”

Private Rucker

Talk about a mess. A quick in and out as a handoff, on home soil no less, but now we’ve got a gang, the sheriff, and the locals all in on it. Just how much have the changelings infiltrated this place? Do they know something I don’t? “Hold on then. I need to call this in. Last name Redmond?” I wait for him to nod before dialing the boss on my coms.

“Yes?” The methodical voice of my employer replies.

“I thought you said you had worked out the details. I’ve got an officer here saying that he wasn’t informed of the transfer.”

There is a short pause before his reply. “Rucker, I did. That’s not the officer, and a changeling never strikes alone. We can’t afford to let a single one know that we’ve got a specimen. Shoot to kill, and don’t you dare stop until you’re out of lead if you want to live through this. But remember, we need the specimens alive.”

“Understood.” I angle my gun upward, and fire. The changeling sheriff dives to the ground before I can even finish pulling the trigger. Out of the corner of my eye I see the people we were about to trade with reach for their weapons, but my two companions drop them mere moments after I fire my shot, firing over and over in a way that just screams inexperience. The use of excessive ammo would be a war crime and the sound is deafening, but with an alien threat perhaps that is the only way to be sure.

I hear the alien female scream at the sight, her expression one of horror. Her hostage target looks rather worse for the wear. Searching over the remaining targets I see the two kids running for their car. “FREEZE!” I yell, but they don’t stop. I track their movement with my rifle, instinct preventing me from taking the shot, but a dark blur knocking the target behind their car very nearly makes me pull the trigger.

Losing sight of my target and under assault by an unknown hostile, I quickly rush to the cover of our Humvee. My companions, however, are much too slow in their retreat. I barely get a glimpse of the assailant as a small furred creature seems to appear out of nowhere and rams into my companions, unleashing a wave of bright energy that sends them screaming to the ground before going still.

“Drop...your...weapon.” I hear a fairly high pitched male voice speak, each word spoken slowly as if they were struggling to say it properly. Seeing their prowess I slowly move out of cover, but I don’t drop my gun. If I did I’d lose what little leverage I still have in the situation.

“If I did, what guarantee would I have for my own safety?” I slowly move out of my cover to get a look at the creature. They are about the size of a dog, or maybe more of a large cat, considering their slitted eyes. Their eyes and head are rather massive relative to the rest of them, a pair of fangs protruding from the top of their mouth. This one specifically appears to be missing a front leg, but it certainly doesn’t look like it’s slowing them down. “I have no quarrel with your kind, and seeing as you just assaulted my companions that’s being generous.”

“We...are leaving.” I see another one of them slowly crawl out from behind the car I’d seen the two kids dive behind earlier. They’re a fair bit smaller than the other one and without any obvious injuries or scars. One of the kids moves out from behind the car slowly as well, looking at the changelings my companions had gunned down.

“You...son of a Bitch! You shot my friends!”

“Those aren’t your friends! They are change--” I look over at their corpses before it finally clicks. Changeling blood isn’t red...and they aren’t changing back. “Oh god...th-they’re human.” I stagger backward as the gravity of what we’ve just done hits home.

“You couldn’t have known.” My employer says in my ear, but they are detached, casual. “But we still need a subject, don’t forget what’s on the line here!”

Then the kid runs to his dead friends, I see their guns still on the ground. He kneels down, in reach of the weapons. His hands move, fast, too fast. Barrel aimed at the hostile, my fear pulls the trigger."

Mike

I don’t hear the shot, my sensitive ears still ringing from the barrage the others had inflicted on the gang. My eyes are blinded by the muzzle flash, and the next thing I see is my father, atop my brother, hitting the ground.

I feel my body burn with energy, with the same sensation I had felt in the graveyard, but a hundred times worse. Each one screaming, fighting to take control.

Horror

Rage

Terror

Loss

Yet none scream louder than the tearful cry of my mother. A flick of my wrist and my father’s rune-etched blade extends from its sheath, burning with a brightness I haven’t seen on it before. In that instant I dive forward, traversing the distance far too quickly to be natural. The next thing I know I’m clutching the chest of the soldier, his eyes wide with horror as his rifle drops from his grip onto the ground.

I feel a wet warmth against my bladed leg. My every limb is shaking from the adrenaline, but now I’m shaking from something else. I had only thought about it for a moment, just the slightest of weakness. My blade is embedded between his ribcage, I can feel the spasms of his severed heart desperately trying to continue its function. I look up to meet the eyes of my victim, yet there is no anger to be seen. They are the eyes of regret.

“I’m...sorry...” He manages to get out between gasps for air, his body no longer circulating oxygen in any effective manner. My chest tightens as I start to hyperventilate, I lose my grip on his shoulder and the blade, and I slip to the ground. Blood erupts from the wound, coating the ground and myself in its judgemental stain. My limbs refuse to respond.

Moments later I feel myself being yanked around, a rush of wind later and I’m inside our car, the door slamming behind me. My brother and father are slid onto the seat next to me and I feel my hooves pressed against him with a shirt.

“K-keep pressure on it!” Angela yells in my ear, forcing me into place. I see my brother’s hands are full of his own shirt, keeping pressure on his own wound in his mid-chest. The blood, at least, is minimal. My father’s wound is another story. The bullet seems to have gone straight through him. Blood is everywhere, and my hooves can’t stop shaking.

Looking outside I see the sheriff from earlier running towards our car. There is a loud chime-like sound and I see a spray of sparks across their chest as they fall backwards. The next shot I recognize for what it is simply because it fractures the windshield. There are more of them!

Angela looks back at us from the passenger seat, looking exhausted and sick at the same time. Her movements are uncoordinated as she fumbles to change seats. “Snipers! Hold on.” She snaps and the car lurches forward, only to suddenly come to a harsh stop as the passenger’s side airbag deploys. Not sparing a word she quickly pulls into reverse, and we hear shouts from behind us as their vehicles start up and begin pursuit.

Keeping pressure on both sides of my father’s wounds is a struggle with the moving car. I’m no doctor, but I know his condition isn’t good even without his labored breathing. “Mother, please, I need your guidance.” I pray over my father, trying to remember any healing runes or spells that I could use, but none come to mind. Neither do any flashing lights, no magical sensations, nothing. If there really is a goddess of the night, I have certainly not earned her mercy after what I have done tonight.

The car jostles violently as we go over a curb, wheels screeching behind us. “Hold on! They're trying to pit maneuver us!” The car shakes back and forth with a loud scraping noise as we get back onto the road. We quickly start to pick up speed well beyond what could possibly be legal, my brother’s car shaking from the wind resistance.

My brother turns to look out the back window, then yelps falling back into his seat, clutching his wound. “They’re falling back. They want us alive and forcing a chase would kill us, so slow down!” His free hand clutches the seat as we skip right through a red light without slowing. “Get us to the hospital!”

“We can’t go to the hospital! They’re already there, remember?” Angela groans and rubs at her forehead with a hand, then slaps herself in the face a few times. “I...I might’ve overdone it...”

“Then I go to the hospital. I’ll fly my father there while you lose them. Antoine, open the window. Mom should be home...” I drift off before remembering that they can’t understand me. Instead I point to myself and dad, then the window before giving my wings a few flaps. My brother looks hesitant for a moment so I scowl and give my wings a few more firm flaps.

“Fine, but stay out of sight. Dad’s...dad will be alright, he’s survived worse right?” He helps lift me and dad to the window, but he’s struggling. The bullet was probably still inside him, likely as agonizing as what I’m feeling right now. I give him a long look, trying to communicate with my gaze what my words can’t express. With my father in my grip I frantically flap my wings to get off the ground. I’m certainly not the best flier, but my desperation more than makes up for it as I take off, working my wings frantically through the night air. I don’t have long.

Author's Note

Thank you all for your patience and continued readership! First and foremost a big thanks to Alsey for all her help with encouragement, support, and much needed editing. Hyreia is also really good support, go check out their stories! A Prench Tale and Five Score and One For the Road!

No one else has a question? Not about any of the characters, or lurking plot elements or one of the subtle plot references from earlier...?

*sigh* Alrighty then...

To Twilight. What long term problems? You already have them with ponies, AND humans dead families split up forever. All because you didn't have the balls a leader needs to have and END THREATS. Chrsyalis Promised to not reform and cause problems if ever free. YOU IGNORED IT FOR FRIENDSHIP. That doesn't always work. Step down after this. you are unfit to rule.

There is never an end to the problems a leader will face. I didn't know they were killers. This is not a type of enemy Equestria has ever faced before. Celestia and Luna had tried to prepare me for this role, but this is not a path I chose. I struggle to make these kinds of decisions. At the time I thought it was the right choice, but then when I heard the news of Fluttershy's disappearance...it broke me. We had always solved these problems together. We mourned for her, all of Equestria did. I could face Chrysalis, perhaps even win. But what would it cost? Alicorn's live a long time, and the consequences of my actions already weigh on my head. I'd risk my entire kingdom to save the innocent. I do not have the strength to be the one to decide who lives or dies. That is Tempest's great burden and one that I could not imagine. You say I am unfit to rule, and I will not pretend to disagree. Perhaps once this is all over I might find another who Harmony could choose to lead this country.

Inspired by the wonderful Damaged I've started doing a few "Ask X a question." To help answer some reader questions from the perspective of the main characters. Feel free to ask any character a question for a chance at having it answered in the next!

Comments, as always are very much appreciated!