“What…” Chrysalis murmured. “What happens now?”

Celestia ignored the comment, her eyes strained shut and her focus devoted purely on spellcasting. Above her, the sun had stopped moving, though it filled a good three fourth’s of the sky. After a titanic use of magic, the massive orb shifted away, slowly ascending back to its normal position. Almost immediately the heat began to dissipate, allowing the stone around them to begin turning back into a solid.

“We rebuild,” Celestia exclaimed. “Now rise, I will not have you lying about on the ground like some mere insect, no matter how appropriate the comparison.”

Chrysalis lurched upward like a puppet pulled on its strings, landing back on her own four hooves once more. “Don't you dare command me around like some mere animal to-” Chrysalis snarled.

“Silence,” Celestia interrupted. “You will not speak unless spoken to, worm. I am queen of the changelings now and you answer to me, understood?”

Chrysalis’ jaw clenched tight and for a moment it looked as though she may spit some angry retort. Only for her head to bob in reluctant agreement, her eyes falling submissively to the ground.

“Good,” Celestia declared.

The alicorn gazed out over the blasted landscape that had once been the fertile basin of Equestria proper. Fires raged out of control everywhere, and as she watched, one of the largest changeling hives toppled to its side. Thousands of changelings took wing, or simply leaped out of the way, with most succeeding though some were still crushed by debris.

Celestia’s jaw set, and she sighed. “You just had to try and call my bluff. This will set things back further than I would like.”

After another long moment of silence, Celestia shook her head and turned back to the glaring Chrysalis.

“Now then, stop trying to set up an ambush that would kill me. I will not be leaving this dome until after I have set all your commands,” Celestia ordered.

Chrysalis grit her teeth and placed a hoof against her head. After a moment of concentration, she nodded to Celestia.

“Good. Now then,” Celestia began, pacing back and forth. “You will start by taking your most elite soldiers and eliminating any rogue elements that may emerge from your army. Anyone with even a bit of authority, and a spine will need to be culled. I suppose your paranoia and sycophantic need to be the center of everything will help us here.”

Chrysalis gnashed her teeth in silent, impotent rage.

Celestia continued to pace. “From there you will dismantle all your hives, free your captured slaves, and disarm your population. Once this is all done, your people will begin a century-long terraforming operation that will see the world’s greenery restored. Any questions so far?”

“Why are you such a bitch?” Chrysalis spat.

“Ever the child,” Celestia muttered. “When foals make war.”

Celestia sighed. “No, do you have any questions about the plan I’ve laid out so far?”

“I… do,” Chrysalis murmured. “Do you really think this is going to work? That my changelings are simply going to fall in line?”

“They fell in line to commit global genocide without so much as batting an eye, why would they balk at this?” Celestia asked, gesturing out to the plains. “You have won after all. I am defeated, and now the construction of a true changeling utopia is underway.”

Chrysalis shook her head. “It won't work. Without love, we will starve.”

“I will have those too injured or too insane to be kept in pods, and their love sent to you,” Celestia replied. “After the mass cull of your army, it should be enough.”

Chrysalis cursed under her breath, the changeling having already come to the same conclusion. “But they will know something is wrong,” she suddenly pointed out. “Why would we release them otherwise?”

“Because they will be sent to a special new facility that you are personally overseeing,” Celestia explained. “There the remaining non-changeling population will hide in order to lick their wounds and recover. In time, after you’re soldiers have perished from old age without having been replaced, we will rise and reclaim our nations.”

“But… even then, my changelings will outnumber you!” Chrysalis exclaimed, her eyes going wide. “Soldiers or no, if someone were to kill me and take over.”

“You will not let that happen,” Celestia stated simply. “You are an absolute monarch known for paranoia and ensuring that none among her generals may match her. You will deal with any upstarts that may come about.”

“Then that's it then,” Chrysalis muttered, falling to the ground in a heap. “With our numbers whittled down, and without the ability to replace our soldiers, you will wipe us all out.”

“Though that would be justified, no that won't happen,” Celestia explained, raising a hoof. “You will begin spreading the rumor that changelings are a lost tribe of ponies. Over time as you have eliminated all trace of your former culture and your population has aged out, this idea will take root.”

“Lost tribe…” Chrysalis murmured. “There's no way that would work.”

“It has worked twice already,” Celestia replied. “The crystal ponies were made by Sombra to serve as the perfect slaves, mindless, obedient, and easy to bend for the master of crystals. In time, and with a careful hoof, they forgot all about their origin.”

“The thestrals then,” Chrysalis offered.

Celestia nodded. “They too were created by a mad pony bent on conquering the world. Altered from base pegasi to be loyal and subservient, after the war their culture was erased. It was replaced by one that was nearly identical, save for the militant aspect stripped away.”

“You would make us into prey animals like you,” Chrysalis muttered in disgust.

“We are all prey for something else, save maybe for the dragons,” Celestia retorted. “This binary of predator and prey has left your society backward and cruel. In time this will be remedied, but until then the more violent aspects will be cut away.”

“And how will this all end, huh? I doubt even centuries will erase the pain of this war from the minds of your pathetic little ponies,” Chrysalis spat.

“You, and what changelings remain will emerge after four hundred years,” Celestia continued. “Then you will claim to be an offshoot of pacifists that we're able to avoid the resulting schism that decimated the changeling population.”

“You would make them pity us,” Chrysalis sneered.

“I would make them forgive you,” Celestia corrected. “You will be victims, as were them, and they will take you in.”

Chrysalis slowly shook her head. “There is no way that works. I would never allow my foe to rise back up after such a stunning turn of fate.”

Celestia chuckled and leaned in close, flashing the changeling a wide smile. “Then it's a good thing that neither side will see the other as an enemy. We will all be just a different tribe of ponies all trying to work together for the greater good, in harmony and peace.”

Several long minutes of quiet passed over the cliffside, with Chrysalis merely staring off into the distance. The clouds were slowly returning, the blistering heat was diminishing, and the fires were being put out one by one. Three more changeling spires collapsed due to the damage, but as the minutes ticked by those that remained were stabilized.

The many battlefields and craters were charred black and entire sections had been glassed by the intense heat. Burnt bodies littered the ground, and changelings took to the sky in great swarms in search of the injured. What few trees remained burned on, largely ignored by the changelings who needed them not.

“It is not a complete plan,” Celestia began. “Things will change, I will have to add more orders before we begin, but it is a framework that I hope to maintain.”

“It seems as though you’ve thought of everything,” Chrysalis remarked.

Celestia snorted. “Hardly. I was prepared to wait out the rest of eternity staring across from you. The fact that I am not floating through the endless void with only a fellow monster is a bit of a surprise.”

“You would call yourself a monster,” Chrysalis pointed out.

“Do you have a better word for someone willing to commit global genocide?” Celestia questioned.

Chrysalis sighed. “So, what happens now?”

Author's Note

Since ya'll got it to featured, (briefly) here's a little epilogue for ya.