Harmony fall, is it so bad?

A simple question, but with so many answers

Depending on who you ask, they might give you a biological or philosophical answer or maybe they'll just laugh in your face for asking such a silly question

But there is someone who knows the answer to that question, or rather, a race that knows the answer

Love is a resource, not unlike crops or minerals mined from the earth

Just a means to an end, nothing more

Even if your dependence is not as great as the Changelings', all races depend on this emotion to survive to some degree, either as a method of species preservation or as mere motivation to survive adversity

The Changelings knew better than any other race that love had only two characteristics, quantity and quality

The amount of love an individual could produce depended mainly on the species, but could also increase or decrease depending on how healthy, strong or magical this individual was

Except for non-sapient species

Dogs were a good example of these; they could produce more love in a year than a Changeling could hope to eat in a lifetime, however, their quality was so poor that even if a Changeling always had a stomach full of dog love he would still die of hunger

That hollow love only served to delay the inevitable

While the quality of love was the factor that varied the most regardless of race, gender or any other distinction

Everything in quality depended on the life an individual had lived and what he had learned

That is precisely why ponies were one of the worst food options that Changelings could find

Some might believe that because it is a land in which its inhabitants profess friendship and harmony in every corner, the quality of their love should be extremely high, but the reality is that it is not

The love that ponies produced was strongly limited by their lifestyle, which was oblivious to difficulties, and their poor imaginative capacity

Imagination played a crucial role in quality, after all, phrases like "I would do anything for you" depend entirely on the creativity of its sender and receiver

The recipient of such a phrase could be thinking that that person would die for it, while its sender could be thinking of giving up a childhood dream of being a guitarist or something similar

In Equestria the second case was the most frequent, the ponies simply did not get into their heads the most horrible aspects of life, they always focused on the positive, they saw the world with a rose-colored lens, ignorant of reality

That was precisely why the Changelings could not understand how such a quantity of love was generated so suddenly in such a country

Cadance was not a surprise, the alicorns occupied one of the highest positions in terms of magical powers, so they could already produce an absurd amount of love, and Cadance being the very embodiment of the feeling, was forced not only to produce an abnormally high amount even for her species, but also one that could be of the best quality ever seen

It was that love that attracted the Changelings to Equestria, even against their will, they were attracted like moths to a light

But the closer they got, they also realized how bad the environment was for them, they were starving, such a cheap love was not enough to satisfy their demanding physiognomy

They even considered retreating, but at that moment, another whirlwind of love began to form

At first, it was small, but it didn't take long to gain strength as the weeks passed, along with another smaller one, supposedly the recipient of those emotions

It wasn't until Nightmare Night that they finally both finished forming

Now the Changelings had a problem, if one alicorn was enough to attract them from the other side of the continent, what would happen if there were two? Worse still, what would happen if there were three?

That's right, as ridiculous as it may sound, in some ways the love of the pony to whom that love was directed reciprocated it, not in the same amount but with an equally fierce devotion

All that added to the malnourished state of the Changelings hive took away their options, they had to give that love a try, or they would fall into a bestial state

Luckily Equestria had suffered enormously, they were weak and distracted by political divisions, which gave them the ideal moment to act, but there is a factor that they did not consider

She was not the captain of the guard, she was not even a pure breed of the pony tribes, however, she was responsible for reciprocating the love of an alicorn with no less intensity, which made her an enigma that had to be investigated

That was the reason why this Changeling decided to personally take charge of infiltrating her inner circle and why he was deep in one of the royal gardens, following the trail of that tasty, that juicy, that sweet, that lov-

“Keep moving that moon butt! You're giving me quite a show~” Hearing those words with a juicy tone from behind the groves, the Changeling immediately dove into them, hoping to catch some of the residual love, only to be disappointed by what he saw

It was the anomaly, better known to everyone as Spirit Flame, still with a few bandages and levitating a series of combs and brushes to groom Princess Luna's fur and mane

“I-I would never, moon butt?! Never say such a thing again, especially in the presence of my sister!”

“Tell your sister, understood!”

The princess of the night gave her lover a look that promised absolute torment

“Okay, okay, no jokes about your big ass in front of Celestia, happy?”

Luna didn’t stop her gaze from diminishing in intensity “In front of Cadance either”

“You’re killing me, woman!”

There it is. That was what the Changeling was looking for, love born from the simplest and most mundane moments. It wasn’t as good as that obtained in moments of greater intimacy, but it still turned out to be incredibly potent

Every cell in the Changeling’s body squealed in joy at being fed this top quality food again

Btrrtr

A small jolt in the hive mind disturbed the Changeling, he would later remember to search and tear the chitin off the clumsy drone that has been causing the interference that has happened recently

“Twilight, what are you doing there?” Spirit Flame spoke

The Changeling cursed himself for allowing himself to be distracted by the food to the point of being discovered

Princess Luna stood up suddenly upon learning of the presence of the intruder

“Twilight!... How much did you see?” Luna asked with embarrassment

The Changeling was no fool, he had studied the role he was to play, but on the other hand, he had followed his role to perfection these past few days and had made sure not to raise any suspicions

“I thought I heard something about a moon bottom putting on a show”

The Changeling watched the princess's face turn red as a tomato, he could feel her embarrassment and enjoyed every second of it

“My goodness, Twilight, I didn't know you could be so shameless”

The Changeling had to hide his frustration behind a crooked smile and a rehearsed blush of embarrassment to save face

The fake Twilight didn't like this pony, she was too observant and quite random, you never knew where she could be, and a simple passing chat was enough to change her supposed routine completely. She would have already ordered to put her in a pod if it weren't for Luna, alicorns should not be underestimated, the fewer disguises there are around them, the better

“Yeah well, you know... the nerves”

Spirit and Luna gave a pained expression, and the Changeling could sense the guilt emanating from the lunar princess

“I deeply regret that I seem to have neglected my duties on the day of your brother's trial, but I assure you that I have not been negligent, however, I fear that my lack of knowledge in the current judicial area would only hinder the process, Celestia and I agreed that she would take care of the preparations”

“You don't have to apologize for wanting to relax for a moment Luna I have seen how hard you have worked these days” The Changeling had to contain the urge to vomit as he said that, if this were the hive, he would have whipped them both

“You see? I told you, it's not the end of the world if you relax a little” Spirit scolded Luna “Now spread those wings”

At the mention of her avian limbs, Luna jumped trying to keep her distance while blushing again

“S- spirit please, Twilight is watching us”

“She doesn't care, "Right?" Spirit asked Twilight

That was tempting for the Changeling, it was tempting, tempting... but unfortunately he couldn't allow himself to get out of character that much.

“What?! Of course I care, how can they think of doing that in public?”

“Is preening wings supposed to be something intimate? Luna, how could you?!” Spirit shouted with feigned indignation

“Don't blame me! I thought you knew.”

“Am I supposed to believe that from someone who tried to accept my proposal only a day later?”

The fake Twilight had no idea what proposal Spirit was talking about, but Luna's blush increased furiously, and the lustful emotions emanating from Spirit told her more than she needed

“It's not fair- ZAP” Whatever Luna was about to say was lost when a letter teleported with a golden glow right in front of her face

Luna's mood immediately changed to a more serious one, and she caught the scroll with her magic to begin reading it

Neither Spirit nor the fake Twilight dared to interrupt, they wanted to know what that thing said, but the truth was that they didn't need Luna to tell them, they already knew it

“It's about time” And with that Luna confirmed it

“Aren't we supposed to still have a few more hours left?”

“My sister probably wants to make sure I’m on time, or she might want to talk to me about something important.” With her explanation, Luna approached Spirit and kissed her goodbye. “See you later.” Finally, Luna turned to the fake Twilight and gave her a comforting hug. “Goodbye to you too Twilight, everything will be fine.”

Shortly after Luna left, there was only an awkward silence.

“I think we should get moving. I know there’s still time, but I have to make sure I get a good spot.”

“Were you allowed to attend?” The fake Twilight asked in surprise. Only family members and members of the nobility were supposed to be allowed to be present in cases like this.

“Advantages of dating the boss of bosses. Luna named me her royal advisor or something.”

“Oh, then let’s go. I have to meet my parents too.”

Spirit picked up the combs she had used to groom Luna’s fur with her magic. “How have Shining and Spike been?” I haven't seen them since the visit the other day”

With that casual chat both mares continued on their way to the Canterlot Hall of Justice

The place impressed Spirit, as it was as big as a stadium with boxes included, with the only difference being that the stage had a long table with the center part being the highest

“Is the place supposed to be that big?” Spirit couldn't resist asking

“Not really, but since this is such a controversial case and involves so many members of the nobility as well as a multitude of commoner families, they had to get a place with enough space for all the relatives who wanted to attend” the false Twilight clarified

There was also the fact that in Equestria nobles of a certain rank could also be considered law enforcement officers, so there was no need for permission to demand information about a legal case or, as in this case, to testify about it

“Twilight!”

The heads of both mares turned to meet another, somewhat older mare, with grayish fur, a purple mane with white stripes, and a three-star cutie mark. She had a smile, but it wasn't fooling anyone. No amount of makeup would hide those dark circles.

“Hi, Mom,” the fake Twilight greeted Twilight Velvet with a hug. “Where are the others?”

“Princess Celestia was kind enough to give us our own box, your friends are already there… or so I thought” Velvet said that last part noticing Spirit

“A pleasure, Spirit Flame to serve you”

“I know who you are dear, everyone knows it”

“Damn, Luna wasn’t lying when she said that rumors spread fast”

“You wouldn’t believe it” Velvet said in a tired voice “Please follow me, it seems that this place will fill up quickly”

As they both followed Velvet, they realized that she was right, despite the large size of the place, it was filling up with a constant and ever-growing influx of ponies

“Knock, knock”

“I’ll open it” The door to the box opened, revealing a familiar mare, unfortunately for Spirit “Oh, you…” Rainbow Dash said reluctantly when her gaze met Spirit’s

“Yes and you too, unfortunately”

Rainbow simply rolled her eyes and backed away to let the mares in without wanting to make a scene, even she knew it wasn't the time

Without saying another word, everyone looked for their place in the box. The fake Twilight introduced her father to Spirit, and after a brief greeting Spirit found a seat between Spike and Fluttershy where she tried to keep a relaxed conversation to avoid tension, but her success was only partial, everyone knew why they were there and that in the worst case her friend could lose a brother

The Sparkle family were the most serious, only speaking when the parents were curious about some legal triviality and keeping silent the rest of the time

The other girls wanted to comfort their friend, but they didn't know how to approach her. They hadn't been as close lately compared to how they used to be just a few months ago

“DONG, DONG, DONG”

The sound of a bell rang three times, and all voices fell silent. Those present quickly looked for their seats, surprisingly no one was left without a seat

The doors opened, and the three sisters walked through them along with a dozen ponies from the most prestigious noble families of Equestria and, surprisingly also King Aspen

Quickly, they took their seats behind the long table on the stage, with Celestia in the center, Luna to her left and Cadance to her right

Celestia was still noticeably thin, but she no longer wore her bandages and seemed to take her time to arrange some papers. When she finished, she exchanged glances with the other princesses, and when they nodded, Celestia proclaimed

“Show the accused in”

The doors opened once more, and four royal guards advanced in formation with Shining Armor in the center of it

“Why do they bring him like that?” Rainbow complained indignantly, pointing at the inhibitor ring lodged in Shining’s horn

“Protocol” Explained Night Light, as a former member of the royal guard, she understood the need for such devices, but that understanding did little to ease the frustration of seeing her own son with such an artifact

“At least the princess managed to get his chains removed” Velvet tried to console him, but the same frustration burned within her

Shining walked until he was in front of the princess, with his back to the public

“Captain of the Canterlot guard Shining Armor presents himself to be judged, your majesty”

Celestia gave a slight nod before speaking “Captain Shining Armor, today you are accused of treason, sedition, cowardice and dereliction of duty that resulted in the escape of the criminal Forest Heart, who now threatens our kingdom. How do you plead?”

“Innocent”

And so it began, I couldn't help but notice the differences between the legal system of this world and my own

The trial seemed more like an interrogation with the judges filling in for the duty of a prosecuting attorney by asking the questions, reconstructing the facts, and calling witnesses

Somehow there had been a few survivors, but these couldn't say much, as they were the ones who were buried underground after the mine collapsed until the rescue teams arrived and often had some sort of PTSD

Shining had to choose to defend himself, as it seemed that most of the lawyers were members of the nobility and as a result were either directly against him or had also lost a family member, so they couldn't be trusted

But not everything was against Shining, it was noticeable that the princesses were trying to help him by asking the right questions and making sure they got all the information corresponding to the facts so that the truth wouldn't be manipulated against Shining

I don't know what kind of legal tangle Celestia did to get Aspen in between the judges, but he was being useful to her Dismissing any ideas from the other nobles for accusing him of breaking treaties related to those lands, stating that he had been informed, invalidating one of the nobles' strongest moves to condemn Shining

In short, everything was going well

“Let Legion Commander Iron Blade come forward”

Or so it had been until this veteran pony and survivor of the Everfree disaster showed up walking on three legs and a prosthesis replacing his lost limb

It was this pony's family who were the main and most insistent in wanting to condemn Shining. This pony is not only a member of the high nobility, but is also a first-hand witness who suffered serious injuries contrary to Shining who managed to get away with only a few scratches

Iron's words would carry great weight

“Commander Iron, we understand that you helped in the cover-up and deployment, is that true?”

“No.” Multiple murmurs were heard among the audience, the princesses themselves seemed uneasy at that answer. “I did not help Captain Shining Armor, he helped me, and even if I had not had his help I would have found a way to carry out that operation as soon as I had been aware of the nature of the threat we were facing.”

At that moment, the murmurs turned into accusatory and indignant shouts.

“Order in the court!” Celestia stood up from her seat and spoke with a tone of authority that only she could invoke. Once silence returned, she focused again on the commander. “Commander Iron Blade, do you realize what you are saying?”

“I understand perfectly your majesty, there is no need to repeat the question”

“In that case, I would like to dismiss the charges of sedition, as the main person responsible for the organization and deployment of the troops is Legion Commander Iron Blade”

More murmurs, but this time they were from the nobles sitting at the same table as Celestia

They argued for about 10 minutes before they finally nodded in approval, some with neutral faces and others with barely contained anger

“In that case, the charges of sedition are dismissed”

The Sparkle family breathed a sigh of relief, they were still far from the safe zone, but it gave them hope that everything could turn out well in the end

“However, there is no doubt that he is a traitor and a coward”

Contrary to Iron Blade's previous statements, this time there was no swarm of curses, but absolute silence

“Commander, I hope you notice the contradiction in your statements” “There is no such contradiction, Shining Armor may not be guilty of deploying our troops into that death trap, but he is guilty of failing Equestria by allowing one of the greatest monstrosities our nation has ever faced to escape.”

“I did it for you.” Shining finally felt it was his time to speak. “You and the others would have died if I hadn’t lowered the shield. I defended the Equestrian ideal!”

“Are you sure about that? I only watched as you saved yourself.”

Celestia quickly took advantage of that moment to interrupt. “If Shining Armor had stayed to fight, he would have died and the shield would have fallen anyway. His retreat was not an act of cowardice.”

“I wasn’t talking about his life!” Iron Blade stated forcefully, something that confused more than one, myself included “And I wasn’t talking about his retreat either!” Realizing the volume of his voice Iron took a moment to breathe and calm down before continuing “The captain could have lowered the shield at any time to finish off the enemy we were facing, but instead he decided to wait, he waited for our comrades to be overwhelmed and massacred, he decided to retreat within the safety of the shield knowing that he would be the only survivor and then, after all the sacrifice of our comrades, after their mad rush to save his life and the fulfillment of our mission" Iron pointed at Shining while looking at him angrily "Then you didn't have the courage to move forward with Your decision, you decided to lower the shield to save less than a dozen lives, making all our efforts and sacrifices in vain! Is that your idea of the fulfillment of the equestrian ideal? Because if that's the case, let me tell you, I should never have been accepted into the guard!"

The crowd went wild, shouts of support for Iron Blade and condemnation for Shining

I could see Velvet start to cry and seek support in her husband's arms

“What was I supposed to do?! Let them die?!” Shining tried to defend himself, but even he seemed affected by Iron's words

“At this point, you know very well that the answer is yes!”

“ENOUGH!” Celestia's shout using Canterlot's royal voice left my poor ears ringing. "I will not allow my ponies to speak of our people's lives as bits to be exchanged."

Iron Blade bowed to Celestia with an expression of genuine sadness. "I'm sorry princess, but members of the royal guard take an oath to do whatever it takes to protect the ponies. I'm not saying our lives are worth any less, but if necessary we must make the ultimate sacrifice, whether it be to die or live with the pain."

I could see something there. For a second, seeing the steely gaze on that pony, I could see how this affected the others who looked at him. The guards guarding the stadium seemed firmer and prouder, even the simple spectators seemed to praise those words that were truly inspiring them

But I also saw the disgust plant itself on Celestia “Every life is precious, Commander Iron Blade” Celestia reiterated her point, not willing to let the idea of being martyred be seen as a viable option among her troops or her people

And with that all the momentum gained by Iron Blade's words vanished and the previously proud ponies looked embarrassed

Iron looked resigned to not being heard “In that case I will only ask one more question” Iron left his place on the podium and approached Shining to look him directly in the eyes “Was it our lives you wanted to save or just your own conscience?”

…

Shining didn't say anything and I could tell with a look, he didn't know

BOOM

Fortunately or unfortunately for Shining, he wasn't given the chance to respond, as the doors to the hall were blown off by an explosion. Luckily, Luna managed to react fast enough to catch both doors with telekinesis before they crushed anypony

Due to recent events, security was high, so the guards were quick to take up positions with their spears raised

“Wait!” My eyes widened as soon as I heard the voice and recognized it

“Oh, fuck!” I couldn’t help but curse

Luckily, everyone was too distracted watching the real, disheveled, injured Twilight who had just kicked down the doors to pay attention to me

“That one over there is an imposter!” The real Twilight pointed and savagely accused the fake Twilight standing next to her parents, who were still struggling to understand what was going on

I don’t blame them, the trial had been an emotional rollercoaster for them and now this is happening

“Don’t listen to her, she’s lying, it’s obviously a trick!” The fake Twilight quickly defended herself, and unfortunately it seemed to be working, since Rainbow being the impulsive idiot she is positioned herself to one side defensively, the rest of the girls just followed her example because they didn't know what else to do

And then the chaos began, I thought the trial had been a mess, but I was wrong, that doesn't even compare to the chaos now, even Celestia and her attempts to calm the crowd were unsuccessful

…

I should just keep quiet, let them take the real Twilight and speed up our plans.

The preparations we made aren't ready yet

For a second, my gaze met Aspen's in the distance, and she didn't leave me as she waited for my instructions. Then I looked at the desperate Twilight moments away from being taken by the guard

…

I'd be abandoning her for the second time

…

Ok, fuck it, you can all go to FUCK, I can't believe I'm the one who has to do this

What a fucking great time, you chose to escape Twilight. Just by showing up, you've already blown these guys' cover and shattered the plans we've both made, so looking at it that way it doesn't matter much what I'm about to do either

I held my breath, trying to imitate the girls who were protectively grouped around Twilight, I wanted to give the impression that I wanted to give my support too until I was next to the fake Twilight and placed a hoof on her shoulder

“Thank you, thank you for trusting me” the fake Twilight told me with crocodile tears in her eyes

“No way-BRUGH” It was then that I belched a stream of flames rights in her face

“AAAAAAAAAAAH

“AAAAAAAAAH”

I heard screams, at first from Twilight's friends and parents, although I think I saw Rarity and Fluttershy faint at the sight of their friend's head turned into a torch

I didn't let this affect me and quickly placed a paw under the fake Twilight's barrel and, using all my strength, I threw her out of the box… I think we were on the third floor

I quickly gave up trying to understand what was going on around me when the audience and the princesses themselves saw what I had done and looked at me with expressions of horror

“What have you done?!” Night Light knocked me down with a skillful movement and held me by the neck until I crashed into the wall with a strength I don't expect from a unicorn, I could see the murderous rage in his eyes and at the edges of my vision Velvet running to the edge with the girls waiting to see the state of their supposed friend

The only one who didn't move was Spike, who was still in shock without being able to react

It hurt a little to see him like that, but I couldn't think about it much when I felt Night Light starting to press my neck harder

Okay, maybe it's time to put up a little… fight… oh fuck, oh shit!

I grabbed Night Light's paws with all the force I could, pushing them back, and I could see in alarm when his horn started to spark, but my biggest concern wasn't there

“Behind you, idiot!” I screamed as soon as the air returned to my lungs

It seems that the fear on my face was enough to convince him because he immediately turned around to see a greenish pillar and inside it the false Twilight whose body grew and stretched until it reached a size comparable to Celestia's, her fur lost its color turning black and green like her mane and her now lanky legs broke and opened

It was something quite bizarre and disturbing to see, although I had already been warned

“You dare to attack the queen of the changelings?!”

Fuck her! Waning Shadow, you better have everything ready, or I swear I'll kill you.