Queen of the Crystal Empire

Chapter 2
Abundance

Your journey to the Crystal Empire takes a bit longer than your journey to Canterlot would have. The longer you spend considering your situation, the more your resentment for Celestia builds. This had better be worth your limited time. Would she or anypony else even feel bad if the changelings died off? You're sure they would. That would be your final revenge on them should it happen. The thought makes you feel a little better.

You have to walk for a fair part of the journey, as your changelings lack the strength to sustain their flight for long periods of time. You likely can't either, but they must not know. You walk as a leader walks.

At last, this Crystal Empire comes into view on the horizon. The sun already hangs low in the sky. It looks as though they mean to compete with Canterlot in terms of size, and have taken the lead in gaudiness. The excessively tall, glowing-white castle in the center looks as though it was screaming for attention, even at a distance.

"My queen, there's something strange about the air here. It feels like it carries a certain spark within it," comments one of your contingent subjects. One of eleven other such subjects. Celestia was vague about what "small" contingency meant, so you had to walk the fine line between bringing too many and being turned away, and bringing too few to collect the love the rest of your subjects need.

You look around and focus on feeling anything out of the ordinary. After a few moments you realize she was right. The air made your chitin feel tingly. "It should be nothing to be concerned about. The ponies are too cowardly to attack us."

As you get closer to the city, you reach the edge of farmland growing a wide variety of crops. Tending these crops are many brightly colored ponies. They appear different than the ones you remember from Canterlot, but their behavior is the same. Once they notice you, they begin fleeing towards the city. A grin spreads across your face as the sight fills you with renewed strength. Flee, little ponies, flee. Your queen has arrived!

You walk a bit taller and stride a bit quicker towards your goal. You momentarily forget why you were even there and just enjoy the moment. It's not until you see Cadance and Shining Armor standing ready with what is certainly every guard at their disposal that you're reminded why you were so miserable before. The negotiations to come. Negotiating with prior enemies for your hive's existence.

A shadow passes over you and you turn your head to the sky. More guards circling above. You bring your head back down and regain eye contact with the two vile ponies you are to greet warmly. Once you're sure they could hear you if you spoke, you shout "Quite the display of force for my meager presence. Do you fear me so much?" You make sure to add your best smile at the end.

You can see Shining Armor flinch in response, but the pink princess stands firm. Neither of them return your warm smile, nor say anything until you're much closer. Cadance is the first to respond. "Welcome to the Crystal Empire. As you already know, I am Princess Cadance. I rule alongside my husband Sh—"

Shining Armor steps forward, "I don't care what Celestia or Twily say, I won't be giving you a chance to do anything while you're here." He stomps the ground with a foreleg to add dramatic flare to his words. With a snort, he boldly claims, "I doubt you're even the real Chrysalis. She's probably hiding with the rest of her army just outside of the city's view. Well, we're ready for that too." Cadance shoots her husband a glare, but he doesn't notice.

You stop within normal speaking range of them both and let the silence linger for a moment before saying, "Are you finished? Unfortunately, I can't prove I'm the real Chrysalis." Once again, you give them your finest smile. "Though, it is a harshly punished offense among changelings to take my form for any reason. Believe it or don't, it makes no difference to me, as long as you treat me as though I'm the real Chrysalis."

Cadance puts her wing on Shining's back, and he backs off a bit. "I apologize for Shining. His duty is to protect the Crystal Empire, and it's not a responsibility he takes lightly."

Shining Armor speaks as he retakes his place next to Cadance, "I suggest getting used to the guards. Not one of you will be out of sight at any time while you're here. Pleas for privacy won't work, either. You're not here as my guest, you're here as Cadance's guest. As far as I'm concerned, you're still just an enemy to be defeated, just like Sombra a few months ago."

Your smile fades the longer Shining rants. "So you weren't finished. Say everything you wish to say and begone if you're not here for the negotiation. I was assured by Celestia you would both be giving me a fair chance, but I can see she had too much faith in her subjects."

Cadance looks as though she wants to respond once more, but you continue speaking before she has the chance, "Shall we continue somewhere else? If you are the only pony whom I need to speak to then we don't need the extra distraction."

Cadance motions for you to follow her, but Shining steps between the two of you as you take a step towards her. "You can speak just fine from right where you are. I don't see a reason to let you just walk into the city."

It looks as though Cadance has had enough by now and pushes into her husband, much to your surprise and amusement. "The reason is that she is my guest, dear, as a representative of the changelings. She is an official ambassador to negotiate future relations with Equestria and will be treated as such."

Shining's expression softens as he looks over at Cadance and he speaks gently, "You remember everything she did, everything she's capable of. We can't trust her just because she says so."

"Ahem," you say loud enough to get their attention, "Thus far, I've kept to our agreement word for word. None of us are wearing disguises, and as you can see, this is hardly an army." A foul taste rises in your mouth. You attempt to swallow it back down and speak gently, "I'm sorry we attacked you in Canterlot. I'm even more sorry for what I put you through at your wedding. We were desperately in need of love. We managed to secure enough for ourselves before our defeat and survived, but I'm afraid we find ourselves in our most desperate situation yet."

Shining props up one of his eyebrows and turns his head slightly as he says, "Are you saying you have no choice but to attack the Crystal Empire?"

You let out a hearty laugh before responding, causing a bit of unease among the already frightened ponies, "No, we're not waiting to pounce on your city." You lean into your weakness to garner their pity. "What I mean to say is we are too weak to put up a fight, even if we wanted to. We are on the verge of death. That is why I'm here," you bow your head slightly, "at your mercy." You finish speaking and then bite your tongue. You said what you needed to say and now you needed to stop yourself from saying too much.

Cadance smiles at you for the first time since your arrival and sounds genuine as she says, "Thank you, Queen Chrysalis, that must have been difficult to say. Apology accepted." She beats her wings a few times and then resumes her formal posture. She looks over at her husband who does not return the sentiment whatsoever. However, he does back off without another word. She then looks back to you and speaks once more, "Let's get this meeting underway. Please, follow me to the castle."

You nod your head and follow closely behind the pink pony princess, ignoring Shining as you pass him by. True to their word, there are guards assigned to watch each of you closely. You hope that won't become a problem later, or interfere with the love-gathering.

Entering the city proper, you find yourself walking along an impossibly-smooth, dark-colored road that carves its way straight between crystal houses and ends at the central castle. The road itself has no cracks, as though it were one solid piece of rock cut and polished to perfection. The houses appear less perfect; each individual house being one hollowed-out, colorful stone that juts in random directions. As much as it pains you to admit, the display is inspiring.

There's a rapid change in the air the closer you get to the castle. That feeling from before that made your chitin tingle was now gently tapping its way across your body and beginning to seep inside. You turn to look over your subjects who give you a look of concern in return. At least it doesn't feel painful.

Facing forward once more, you ask Cadance, "Is there some spell affecting this area? A defensive barrier? A detection spell?" You look around as you finish your last guess. Nothing appears strange on its own.

Cadance looks back at you and frowns, "We haven't cast any spells like that." After a moment, she continues, "The crystal heart is protecting this city from the extreme weather of the north. Are you saying you can sense it?"

A heart? Hearts have always represented love in any culture you've seen. You grin slightly as you speak, despite your best efforts to hide it, "A crystal heart? What exactly is it?"

Shining Armor leans in behind you and speaks harshly, "If you're thinking of stealing it, forget it. The crystal heart is an ancient artifact that will only work in the Crystal Empire." Once he's done reprimanding you, he backs away once more.

You give him a stern "hmph" and rebut his accusation, "I had not considered stealing your precious artifact. I don't even know what it is." Perhaps you could steal it and return to your hive with it, but you need to learn more about its function first.

This time, Cadance is the one to explain, "The crystal heart is powered by the love of all the ponies that live here, and in turn it protects them. That's all we know about it." A moment later she comments, "You didn't answer my question."

If it's powered by love, then it would be of no use to your hive. The feeling across your body grows stronger still. Even so, it might be of use to you right where it is. The sound of Cadance saying your name pulls you from your musings, "Yes?"

"So, you do feel something?"

"What? Oh, yes, something." You focus on yourself and realize it's now growing stronger by the step. You begin getting nervous and ask, "Is this artifact going to expel us as a threat? I can feel it soaking into my body."

Once more, Shining approaches you from behind and leans in behind your head to speak, "It might. Maybe it'll even erase you like it did Sombra." There's a hint of sarcasm in his voice, like he just wants you to be afraid, but you also have the distinct sense that part of him hopes it to be true. How delightfully cruel of him.

By the time you reach the steps of the castle, you feel as though you're walking through water. It isn't difficult to move, but it's that same feeling of immersion. By now, it has spread through your whole body. The crystal heart also comes into view: it appears to be a solid diamond heart rotating slowly between a crystal stalagmite and stalactite. It doesn't appear nearly as powerful as it seems to actually be.

About halfway up the staircase, you freeze in your tracks. It's only now that you realize: you're ascending stairs, and it's not a problem at all. In fact, you feel as healthy as you've ever been. Healthier, even. You hop from one hoof to the other as a test. It's so easy to move! You giggle to yourself and then remember where you are.

"Uh, yes... I guess our stairs are... nice?" Cadance offers as an explanation for your weird behavior.

You grin towards her, "Oh, I just thought of something that put me in a great mood, that's all. Don't mind me, Princess." Now you understand. Of course the protection spell created from love, is made of love. Delicious, nutritious, life-sustaining love. You turn to look at your subjects and find that their mood is very similar to yours. Having an excuse to come here was all you ended up needing in the end.

Love in absolute abundance.