Chapters AN: This is a "What If" fic that covers what might have happened if Chrysalis and the changelings won in the end of season two.
A flash of green, a loud crash and an endless fall. With luck, I won't even have to feel the landing. As consciousness flees from my body, memories and pictures scroll through my mind in a last ditch effort to tell me it wasn't all in vain. How had she done it? Why had the elements failed?
Were we, the bearers, responsible for letting Chrysalis win? Was there ever any hope in the first place? I had done everything I needed and more. So had the ponies around me. The guard had been nearly overwhelmed the minute the attack started. They put up a valiant defense but the numbers were never in their favor. It didn't matter now, all that mattered was the fact that I had let down everyone. My friends. My family. My princess. Everyone I knew was doomed to a miserable existence because I wasn't strong enough.
How had it come to this? They had done everything right. The elements together, the ponies behind them.
The ground. Rest, for the first time in what seems like so long, is finally at hand. I'd like to think that my efforts made a difference but as I fall to my death I can't think of anyone saying, "At least Twilight Sparkle and her friends tried."
Luna had just awoken when the noise hit her ears. A burst of magic, the smash of glass. The air whistled around her as she launched from her sanctuary from the day to the palace. The cool night was just in it's infancy and there was nopony in sight.
There. A pony falling from the ballroom windows. Not just any pony. It was Twilight, her body broken and bloody, cut from the fall and what looked like a fierce fight. Luna quickly placed herself underneath and caught the pony deftly.
"What has happened little one," she voiced the question out loud but one look at Twilight told Luna she was never going to receive an answer. It was then that she saw them, the changeling hoard, coming for her and to make sure Twilight hadn't survived. She whisked the first few away with her magic but soon realised the futility of her attacks. Each time a changeling fell, another five were there to replace it. Hoard had been the appropriate word she quickly decided and made a fast retreat.
"The roads and streets she had once roamed seemed so sinister this night," Luna voiced the thought aloud, cringing as her voice carried to the changelings still searching for her. Her precious cargo still atop her back, she exploded out of cover, bowling over the first ranks of changelings who had been about to jump her. A jump and two wing beats later and she was clear of the throng, once again running from the hissing and panting horde.
A dark and desolate house was her saving grace. As she ducked inside the changelings following continued down the road in search of her and Twilight. Luna glanced at Twilight to make sure she was okay. Her heart stopped dead in the middle of its beat and a fist of ice ensnared her lungs. When she had caught Twilight she had only quickly glanced over her before facing the changelings. This wasn't something a pony could walk away from. Luna hoped that it had been quick but she knew better. The changelings were ruthless monsters, it was never quick and painless.
Luna's thought went to Twilight's friends. Were they alright? She doubted it, staring at the abused body of her champion. But yet....all she needed was one.
A steely determination took over her. Luna remembered what Celestia told her, before the changelings, before Discord, before Nightmare Moon. Luna knew what needed to be done and she was apparently the only pony left in town.
Quickly, Luna stole away into a night of her own design, knowing where the shadows would be at all times was a great asset to her at times like these. After hours of working her way through the back alleys and secluded forgotten streets of Canterlot, she exited the city. With a final look at the overrun town, she adjusted the body on her back and started the long journey before her. Elements can be broken. Elements can be remade.
Rainbow Dash watched Twilight fly bodily through the beautiful stained glass window. Cold dead fingers drag down her spine as fear makes itself known in the pony's mind. Her friend had needed help and there was nothing she could do. The others lay scattered around the hall. Like leaves in a thunderstorm they had fallen alone. Cut off from each other as the changeling horde came at them.
Applejack, atop a mound of bodies that would have made the trees she bucked look small. Rarity, with a ring of space around her so that none of the creatures would ever touch her again. Fluttershy, as quiet and still as ever, was beside Angel. Pinkie, her cannon empty and changelings covered in various party favors and candies, propped up against a column. Rainbow closed her eyes and waited for the inevitable; the end to come as the changeling queen laughs at her victory. A final step and a content sigh. Rainbow opens her eyes to glare at the changeling queen one last time.
"You were so close my dear," crones Chrysalis. "I was worried that once the pesky unicorn got the Elements of Harmony but who would've thought that the love I leached from Shining Armor would prove even more powerful. Odd, who really would have thought that love is more powerful than friendship"
"You're nothing. You think you've won? You don't stand a chance cos' I'm still here and I will NEVER stop hunting you," Rainbow Dash spits out, fire in her words. "The Elements of Harmony are more than what you think they are." Rainbow Dash gives a dry chuckle and a wheeze.
"Look around you fool, your friends are gone, your princess is mine, and you aren't long in this world," the changleling said, raising up on her back hooves.
Rainbow Dash watched the hooves come down. Slowly inching towards her. Her mind told her battered body to move, to knock them away, anything but there was nothing she could do. Even Equestria's fastest flier wasn't fast or strong enough to stop inevitability. As the hooves connected with her forehead, a last thought came to her.
This isn't the end.
A blinding light and searing pain, my senses are quickly overwhelmed. Flesh knits together and blood flows once more. Bones set themselves and a heart restarts. Magic surges through my body, mending the body and returning the soul. I open my eyes for what feels like the first time in ages.
"The afterlife cannot keep you young one," Luna says. "Not now nor ever."
My mind is racing, collecting the recent events and forming them into an understandable timeline. The fight, failing, the quick blast and the unending fall. I'm dead. I was dead. Now I am alive, or some morbid copy of it. I take the chance to observe my surroundings. I am in the temple where my friends and I defeated Nightmare Moon.
Breath explodes from me like steam from a train. My friends. Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash. All dead. Destroyed at the hands of changelings. Emotion, a heady thing, returns in full force. I topple, a tree in a gale, my newly remade body dropping from a dimming ball of light. I lay there on the cold stone, no reason to stand. I relive them, each of my friends. Their final moments transferred to me in a burst of magically fueled emotion. I see the each of the Elements fall time and time again until I reach the last. Rainbow Dash. A stabbing horn brings her down, the changelings pounce on her, smashing her wings and limbs. The athlete doesn't even cry out, her eyes are locked on me. I struggle with Chrysalis, horns locked, forehead to forehead. She gloats, the sound blocked by the changeling legs. Suddenly an explosion of magic. The changelings surrounding Rainbow are removed from existence. My tiara has broken. Rainbow Dash watches me slide to the window, smoke raising from my form, a deep cut seeping blood into my eyes. Chrysalis lowers her horn for the last time and I am flung to my doom. Rainbow watches the glass break, she can see every vivid detail. I slowly sink from view, never to be seen again. The queen slowly moves in for the final kill. Threats are exchanged and she rears up, bringing her hooves down in an all too familiar encompassing darkness.
My eyes focus again, I'm lying in a pool of tears. Luna is there beside me, in an attempt to comfort me. It doesn't work. She leans in and whispers something that rockets me to my feet.
"The others are waiting for you." Luna moves away, obviously pleased with herself. She had, after all, been the only one to remember why the Elements of Harmony had been broken in stone form in the first place. It had been so obvious to her when the stones had reformed and taken their forms for each of the mares. Luna loses her train of thought as I quickly exit the room.
"Wait!" She calls after me, " you aren't fully healed yet!"
The words are quickly forgotten. The next room brings a very welcome sight.
"Twilight," an energetic voice screams. I'm on my back before I can blink, a pink monster has me by the throat. I brace myself, annoyed at how short this life has been. "Gummy was so worried but I wasn't because I knew that Princess Luna knew that I knew that she-"
"PINKE!" I scream, cutting her off before my head explodes. "I am beyond glad to see you but can you please stop yelling in my ear. My headache feels like I just woke up from the dead and you aren't really helping." Pinkie can't help but laugh at me.
"Silly pony, you did just wake up from the dead."
I stare at her, her insane logic will forever and always drive me just as crazy as she is. I take the brief pause to my advantage and examine the new room. It is much smaller than the amphitheater that I was just in with Luna, who has made her way in after me and is laughing silently at the exchange.
"Your friends will be very happy to see you," she adds with a light laugh.
Blinking again, I had totally forgotten about the others. Just the thought of Pinkie being back had given me pause; the knowledge that the others were okay as well had me nearly returning to the floor. Pinkie scooped my up and placed me on her back. She quickly galloped through the halls and doors of the restored castle. Left, right, up stairs, and down inclines she raced. A sudden stop caused me to roll from her shoulders and hit the floor with a solid thud.
"Ugh" was all I could manage. Pinkie's mad dash had left me more than a little queasy. Pinkie and Luna are behind me, both rather amused at how unsteady I was. Struggling to my feet, I took stock of my surrounds for the third time. Walls, windows, couches, and more doors, a yellow pegasus, some more couches, some potted plants.
A lightning bolt raced through me, Fluttershy was standing right next to me. "Fluttershy!" I yelled, wrapping her up quickly in a warm embrace.
"Eep" was about all she could manage.
The others quickly ran up; Applejack, Rarity, and Pinkie all joining in for one big group hug.
"We've been so worried about you, dear." Rarity said, stepping back and wiping her eyes with a hoofkerchief.
"Ah told em you'd be right as rain" Applejack said, with a grin a mile wide.
"Oh, hello Twilight, I'm so glad to see you." Stuttered Fluttershy, finally coming out from under her mane.
"The gang's all here!" I bubble, beyond overjoyed at the four impossibilities in front of me. Everypony freezes as what I just said registers on my brain. "Where is she? Where is Rainbow?" I deadpan, the atmosphere in the room becomes cold and lifeless.
Luna motions the others away as I stand there, nerves on end, thinking of her last moments. Alone and defenseless. Luna brought me in close to a tight hug.
"Rainbow..." she started but quickly petered out. "Perhaps it would just be best if I show you."
Dread seemed to be a feeling I was becoming more and more acquainted with. I felt an all too familiar chill descend upon me. It seemed cruel that life had given my friends and I another chance but had taken away a piece of us. We weren't whole anymore. There would be a reckoning soon, but for now there was only grief and an emptiness that would swallow us whole if we didn't band together.
"I want to see her with the rest of my friends," I told Luna. She merely nodded and stood aside; unwilling to deny such a request.
Hesitant steps brought the girls and I to the door marked with Rainbow Dash's cutie mark. How long had it taken all of this to be rebuilt? How long had it taken for us to be rebuilt? I quickly banished these thoughts from my mind. It wasn't the time or the place; I had a friend to see. I turned to the girls. I turned to my friends, my companions who had been there with me through thick and thin, unsure of what to say or how to proceed. Here we were, still standing, while one of our group was still hurt and might never be fully healed.
"Ready?" I ask, voice quivering with emotion.
"None ah us have seen her yet Twi," Applejack whispers. "We were waitin' for you so that we could do this together." The others nod. "We ahl thought this was sumthing that we should wait for you fer. Last I remember she was right next to you." The others nodded again. I had forgotten that the memories weren't there, not that anyone should have to remember death.
With a trembling hoof, I stretched forward and nudged the door open. A sliver of light dazzles into existence in the cold dark room. I can't see anything in the crack, not that I should really expect to the rational part of my brain rants. With a quick, steadying breath I push the rest of the door open.
She seems so peaceful. Suspended in the ball of light like I was, she was disconnected from the worlds troubles. A slight smile played itself across her features. A happy dream perhaps or the feeling of friends in the room. It was clear that she wasn't conscious. The real question was 'Is she breathing?' and I couldn't muster the voice to ask. A thousand stones filled my stomach and throat.
Luna spoke first, "She has been comatose for quite a while now and I haven't yet found a way to wake her. She sleeps on in her dream while the sphere heals her wounds."
The group finally moves into the room. My entire body is numb. In front of me was someone who put herself through bodily harm so that I might save the rest of Canterlot and I had failed her. If there was one thing I knew she hated, it was failure. I made a promise to myself then and there that I would fix this. I would go back. I would clear out the changelings and toss the queen from her perch. The ice that had sheathed my heart all day today hardened into granite. I had a job to do and I had left it unfinished. Rainbow can sleep, the others can rest, but I had some preparing to do.
Chrysalis could hardly believe her good fortune. Her hive had been so close to starvation, her generals had told her the plan was foolhardy and a huge risk. 'Let them burn' she thought, 'I have saved my people. I couldn't consider the cost to the other races, exitus acta probat. Still, a pang of regret is logged deep inside me. Why does the queen always have to make the hard decisions and why do I feel like this is the wrong one?'
Her eyes floated over the newly remodeled throne room. The scorch marks had been scrubbed away and painted over. The holes in the carpet had been resown. The huge stained glass window had been repaired by her best glass smiths. She looked at the pony's throne room that she currently inhabited. The irony was not lost on her. She was just filling the void before the real owners returned.
She may be killed and her people may be scattered but at least they had food and shelter for now. Chrysalis would have to think of a new land, a new food source. She had all this to think about but she couldn't. She looked down at her hooves. They were a deep maroon. She had refused to have them washed. A reminder to herself and all other changelings what this had cost. 'Exitus acta probat, right Chrysalis?'
The blood had stained her shell and was visible even when she changed forms. Her horn had turned a grotesque lavender, the leftover magic from a soul leaving the body had been absorbed on accident and stained it. Her chest had a white circle about 3 hooves in diameter. A stark testament to the power of the lavender unicorn. The fight had nearly ended Chrysalis. She had spent the days after in the regenerative cocoon that her hive was know for. 'The other races never understood us' thought Chrysalis,' and now we shall go down in history as invaders, conquerors, and killers. This wasn't the right thing to do but my people needed this. A hundred year famine has cut my hive in half, most were too weak and had to be flown here by the left overs first waves just to feast and regain their strength.'
Chrysalis stepped down from Celestia's throne and moved to the balcony. Her green eyes taking in the sights. The ponies had been moved to a far edge of the city and blocked off from the rest of the city with a wall. Her changelings were hard at work repairing the city. It's streets, shops, and house had been damaged in the battle. 'When we are evicted, we will send a message. The walls will be repaired and the streets cleaned. The ponies cared for and the damage undone. We will show the world that we aren't the monsters...Maybe this venture really was a mistake.'
And now, something totally different!
I see them. Feel them. I can't really explain it but I know they're out there. This place, there has to be an end to it. A wall or door maybe? A way out. I've been flying for ages. I can't even see the shockwave anymore from my Sonic Rainboom. I've never flown this fast for so long. An unending landscape slides along below me. Plains, forests, lakes. It would be beautiful if I wasn't pushing myself so hard.
My wings feel like they're coming apart at the seams. The wind rips at me; my eyes burn and my lungs struggle to take in air. How I wish I had my goggles right now. I've slowed down, my trail has shortened back into my tail. I put on a quick grin; this is my favorite part of any hard flight. In a final burst of effort I break the sound barrier in a single flap, rocketing myself across the sky like a polychromatic missile. I count the seconds.
1...
The speed starts to bleed off and I push myself even harder and harder. To any onlooker I might aswell have been just a straight rainbow colored line, zipping past them. The slipstream would blow them over like leaves in Autumn. The Sonic Rainboom sucks in on itself. Distorting the light around it and pulling the grass from the ground. It collapses into a super tight ball of pure rainbow before exploding outwards a hundred fold more powerful than a regular Sonic Rainboom. I can't wait to show the girls this one.
My wings finally cramp up; I glide to the ground. The soft grass makes a fantastic cushion as I gently let down. I lay still for awhile; there isn't a way to keep time here. No sun or shadows for me to judge. All pegasi can do it from instinct. I take a few seconds to let my heart calm down and to wipe the tears from my eyes. I stretch out on the grass, enjoying the tickle on my fur and the warmth from the earth. The sky will always be my home but the ground definitely has some benefits.
The grass is a nice snack as well but I'm not really hungry. I don't really get hungry or thirsty in this place. I don't get tired or feel like I need to sleep. I can physically exhaust myself like before but I'm always ready to do it again in a few moments. This would be great if I was home. In Ponyville. With my friends.
I've been here for so long.
Where exactly is here? No matter which direction I fly I always end up back in the same spot. The same tree, the same still pond, the same mirages on the horizon. The clouds move across the sky. I've tried riding them to the end of this place. I just end up back here. It's not a bad place to be really, the tree has that limb that's just like my favorite tree on AJ's farm, the water is calm and cooling, the clouds almost as fluffy as my bed back in Ponyville. It's incredibly relaxing.
I stand and walk over to the pond. I test the water with my hoof, a quick chill runs down my spine. Perfect temperature to cool down in. I step in, walking to the center. The water doesn't go above my neck. I sigh an extremely content sigh. The water is just perfect, soothing my tired wings and cooling down my overworked body. I feel like I could stay in here forever.
Eventually, the water turns me into a light blue prune. I leave the pond, the air feels cool and warm at the same time. I do a couple light flaps to shed the water from my wings and shoulders and sprawl out in the grass to let the gentle breeze dry me. It does the job nicely. I stand up. I need to stretch after flying like that. I don't actually need to stretch because of how this place works but it keeps my mind off of what and where here is for a little while longer. I roll my shoulders and neck, feeling the knots untangle themselves and the joints pop. That tree has a comfy limb with my name on it.
A flap or two later and I'm snuggled into my branch. The world flows around me. The clouds move across the sky, the grass sways in the breeze, the leaves rustle together making a little song. Nature's lullaby, calming and caring. Just like my mothers.
I let my wings unfurl, catching the wind and floating lightly. It's a moment of complete bliss. I'm filled with a warm glow, an aura of comfort seems to surround me. I feel like this is home but I remember still.
I remember Cloudsdale. I remember my parents and my first home. I remember Flight School and my first real friend: Fluttershy. I remember the accident and the months after. I remember starting my weather job in Ponyville, who would've thought I'd rise through the ranks so quickly. I remember meeting Applejack, and being bucked out of that comfy tree. I remember meeting Rarity, and the torture chamber known as the spa. I remember meeting Pinkie, and all the pranks we've pulled. I remember Twilight coming to town with Spike; cute lil guy. I remember Nightmare Moon and Luna. I remember the Young Flyers Competition and the Wonderbolts and the Princess. I remember Discord. I remember the days before the wedding. I remember how much we let down Twilight by not believing her. I remember the invasion. I remember the shattering. I remember the laugh. And, I remember the darkness.
I remember Ponyville. I'd never leave it hanging.
I can see it and all my friends in front of me, as if the thought had made them real. I know better but I can't stop a smile from appearing on my face. Fluttershy, hiding behind her pink mane as always. Applejack, that goofy look in her eyes just ready for a competition. Twilight and all her egghead books. Rarity, posing for the nonexistent fashion magazine paparazzis. Pinkie, smile as wide as a mile, pulling a bag of candy out of her tail. I walk over to them, returning their smiles. I've flown enough today, maybe it's time for a walk.
Maybe death isn't so bad after all.
I really wish that noise would shut up. It's been buzzing and droning for the past...oh right, this place has no concept of time. Annoyed, I slide off my branch. The walk had been nice, I had idly chatted with the mirages for quite some time; reliving all the fun stuff we had done since Twilight had moved to Ponyville. We walked for a solid...right, this is harder than it should be. After the walk, they all vanished and I was left in this world. Alone. Again. I need a way to pass the time. I'm too bored to sleep. I'm too bored to fly. Is this cabin fever? Am I going to go crazy in this little paradise? I've seen crazy and all it's shades of lavender and pink and I know it isn't pretty. Maybe all this is just a crazy test.
I sure wish that buzzing would stop. It's louder now, a constant static in the back of my head. The grass below me is flattened, I rocket into the sky, searching for a source. Well gee how did I miss that? The horizon darkens with shapes. Insectoid silhouettes with cookie cutter holes draw near. I should probably run but there isn't really a point. I'll just end up here again. I land quickly, watching the mass approach.
It slowly envelops the area, keeping far enough away so that it doesn't actually encroach on my little area but close enough to be seen and worried over. The mass shifts it shape. Nightmare Moon, Discord, changelings, Chrysalis. I stand stock still, watching for the slightest movement that might indicate an attack. The wind blows across the glade; rustling the tress, and creating eddies in the pond. Time passes slowly, it feels like I've been standing still for decades.
"Fine," I grumble, "just stand there and look all menacing. See if I care."
The blob of darkness doesn't move. Enough, I have better things to do. Not really. I float back up to my branch.
"See if I care."
The blob is immune to my stink eye and grumbles. Sighing, I reach a decision.
"Well, if I'm going to do something stupid I might as well do it now and get it over with." Saying what needs to be said, I bodily launch myself into the black mass.
It's an interesting sensation to say the least. My entire being was burned away layer by layer, I watched my skin char to ash and float off yet all I felt was a chill tingle. It starts in my hooves and goes from one end to the other. I shiver and my skin dissolves into nothing. Motes in the wind. Next the muscle and another tingle. This one takes a bit longer; I always have been called a freak because of how much more muscular I am than the average pony. Another flurry of flakes. The off white of bone is all that remains. It slowly chars as well. The final breeze in this paradise blows. I'm dust in the wind.
Author's note: I'm not sure where I plan on taking the story from here but it's going to take a wild turn. I really feel like the only decent chapter I've written for this fic so far was the previous one. Even this chapter feels like a cop out with it's horrendously low word count and actual coherency and pacing. I'll be back later on with an idea of what to do and hopefully some better writing skills. At this point I'm just ragging on myself so I'll end it with a cliche.
This isn't the end.
