Passionis Solis
The wind was roaring in her ears, having long since drowned out her screams. The force which had expelled her from Canterlot had not diminished in the slightest; in fact her momentum had been steadily increasing. As the air pressure closed in ever more tightly around her, she convulsed in pain before the resistance slackened and a deafening bang rattled her skull.
The Changeling Queen had managed the honor of being one of the few creatures in existence to break the sound barrier. A feat that would have been more impressive had it not quickly been cut off by her body crashing with bone breaking force into the ground, making a small crater out of her landing zone. Had her body not been magically reinforced, she doubted that she would have survived the impact.
Coughing, the Queen struggled up onto her hooves, only for them to give out beneath her. Collapsing, she bit back a pained sob and blearily looked around, confused. The power of the shield that blasted whelp and her knight had cast somehow managed to overwhelm her defenses. Her defenses! The ones fueled by the love those ponies gave with little hesitation!
She couldn't understand. She was still at full power- power that had been more than enough to overwhelm their God Princess.
Hissing, serpentine eyes glanced around and took in her surroundings. Somehow, that force had knocked her far out of the boundaries of Equestria, deep within the Wastelands that she had sought to save her Changelings from. That was no idle feat. It had taken her months to travel through them and the surrounding lands to reach the fabled land of the Ponies, even longer to successfully infiltrate her way into the royal court.
However, she was still at full power and it was a trivial thing to heal the wounds her banishment had caused. Concentrating, her magic melded into her body, knitting torn bone and muscle. Bruised coloring faded and soon she was standing up once again without a mark upon her, though the magic did little to change her body's naturally ravaged look.
She would not be caught unprepared again and they would all be made to pay. The land had been just within reach, a steady supply of food at hoof for her fellow Changelings. She was not about to give all that up after this small set back. Oh, her enemies might have more time to prepare, but, with her powers, she could be back in the Capital within the hour.
Scrutinizing her surroundings, she noted that an ample amount of her Changeling soldiers were present, dazed, but relatively unharmed. The fact that none were severely injured was proof that they too had had enough time to feast upon the Love of the Ponies of Canterlot. It had been enough to give them the power necessary to ensure their brutal landings had not been fatal.
With a quick diagnostic spell, it came to her notice that most had been drained of their powers. Another setback. It would have been troublesome had she not still been fueled with the exquisite power that had defeated the God Princess.
"My fellow changelings!" she bellowed, using the Royal Canterlot Voice, a feat that had been stolen and passed down through her family long before her people had been banished from Equestria. "We have been pushed back by the Equestrians! We were caught off guard by magic that we could never have expected! We shall not underestimate them again! Though I know that most of you are in no shape to battle, I must ask you to press on!"
She grit her teeth and pushed herself off the ground, flying up high enough to take in her recovering army. From the looks of them, it seemed that only those in the Palace had been close enough for the banishing spell to have affected them. She allowed a feral smirk to form. Changelings were excellent at hiding when necessary, and they had been more than a match for the city's Defenses.
"Our brothers and sisters remain in Canterlot, fighting for our future, fighting for what has long since been denied of us. I shall return and aid them! You must follow! Feast upon Equestria and her Ponies! Regain your power and march to war! They have made fools of us all!" She launched her head back. "Know that the day of Reckoning is now!"
"You see, now we finally have something we can agree on." The sudden words caught the Queen by surprise and she turned around to see the figure of her vanquished foe.
Celestia calmly floated before her, the occasional slow flap of her wings keeping her aloft, the distant sun slowly setting behind her.
"You!" the Changeling Queen snarled before channeling her magic and launching it at the Princess of the Sun. "You were a fool for following me here!" She should have learned her lesson after their last fight. The Queen was far more powerful than her. While Celestia had quickly been bested, The Queen had barely even been winded after that laughable battle. Even the surprising power of that Alicorn Whelp wouldn't be able to catch her by surprise again.
Celestia's horn glowed and a flash of light blinded the Queen. Startled, she felt her horn heat up before her magic lost its focus and sudden pain wracked her body. With a scream, she was sent crashing back into the ground below, sprawled over the remains of a boulder and a dead tree. Snarling, she thrashed around as she felt jagged rocks and broken splinters digging into her flesh, forcing her to quickly channel a repelling spell to prevent her body from being pin-cushioned.
Opening her eyes, she unsteadily got back on her hooves and kept a weary eye on Celestia as she slowly came down, landing gently upon the dry, cracked earth. With a twitch of her mane, the Changelings that had been throwing themselves at her upon seeing their Queen being attacked by the Sun Princess, were pushed back and pinned to the ground, various cliffs and boulders by a golden light.
"What is this?" demanded the Queen, standing proudly and channeling as much of her power as she could direct into her horn. Gritting her teeth as her horn began to channel more magic than she could ever recall, she lowered her head, her horn glowing a sickly green. "I defeated you! I still have the power to do so! You can't beat me!"
Screaming, she let loose a powerful beam of green light, watching in horror as it was dispersed upon making contact with the Princess. A brief golden glow surrounded her horn and the Queen found herself thrown against a mountain, bone and muscle grinding into the rock as Celestia's magic assaulted her.
"That will be quite enough," came her calm voice. Scowling, the Queen glanced at her features. In place of her usual jovial nature was an icy calm look that hadn't been present when she had originally challenged her. If the Queen had originally thought that Celestia was intimidating before, that was nothing compared to the look The Queen was being given now. As though she was nothing to the Alicorn before her. The Queen had only ever seen that look on her mother when the former Queen had acted against those who sought to undermine her.
Calling upon her magic again, she threw her head down, only for Celestia to deflect and weave through her spell with an ease that would have insulted her had she not been distracted by the introduction between the back of her head and the rock. She was thrown back into the wall with such force that, even with her enhanced defenses, she saw stars.
"I said enough!" she said more sharply this time around. "Sit and stand down, Chrysalis. You've lost."
Chrysalis' head snapped back to stare at her in surprise. How did she know her true name? Not once had that name ever been brought up in Equestria. Not once had she ever told them her name. Not once had that name ever been uttered to anyone outside her family.
"How do you know my name?" she demanded, falling upon her hooves as Celestia released her magic. Landing on her hooves, Chrysalis steadied herself and prepared her magic, her horn glowing a bright green as she mentally thought up every offensive and defensive spell she could recall "No one knows my name. Even my Changelings don't know my name!"
"I have known your name since the moment your mother birthed you in the ruins of the Lost Civilization," the Princess replied, a hint of her usual gentle nature sliding over her features.
Chrysalis shook as her rage built, nearly breaking the concentration required in preparing such a hefty amount of spells. No one should know about that place; it was sacred to the Changeling Royal Family.
"You have no right intruding on us like that! You have no right to act so superior to us all. You knew about our existence all this time! You knew and did nothing to aid us, choosing to help anything else except us! You helped the Griffins when their wars nearly destroyed them. You aided the dragons in stabilizing their numbers after being hunted to near extinction yet you did nothing for us!" Screaming, she released her magic only to be ruthlessly ploughed into the ground, her body being dragged over rough earth and jagged rocks before sprawling to a stop.
"I said sit down, child!" snapped the Princess, her words echoing loudly, rattling through Chrysalis' skull. Whimpering, she brought her hooves up to cover her head, feeling as if a force was closing in around her.
"If I helped the Griffins rebuild it was because they kept the casualties among themselves. If I helped the dragons thrive once again, it was because of a debt owed in blood," the Princess was looming over her and Celestia brought her face down, narrowed eyes blazing. "What they all had in common is that they asked for help. They proved sincere in their allegiances and kept their words."
That hypocritical witch! Opening her mouth to retort, Celestia abruptly cut her off. "Do you think I wasn't aware of the Changelings? Of their history and their inborn tendency for Chaos? What everyone seems to forget is that I have lived far longer than you can imagine." A golden glow and Chrysalis felt herself being lifted into the air, dangling helplessly before her. "I am older than Equestria itself! I have been around long before Discord ever had the seedlings on an idea for the creation of your race.
"I have tried to make peace with The Changelings time after time. Each time they break their word and the cycle begins anew." The fire in her eyes had dimmed and she walked back and forth before the helpless Queen, a teacher lecturing an ignorant student. "And the ironic part? I would have helped you had you but asked."
"Lies!" snarled Chrysalis, horn glowing again only for Celestia to sigh. The princess blinked and suddenly her eyes were glowing with a white light. Chrysalis winced as a sudden force assaulted her magical core, easily disrupting the hold on her magic. Stumbling back in surprise, the Queen tightened her focus and nearly released a sigh of relief upon discovering that she could still summon her magic.
Refusing to be intimidated, Chrysalis pressed on. "My mother asked for your help and you denied her. Our people have been suffering because you refused to help!"
"Your mother tried to have me and my court assassinated at the same time her plea came to my notice. And believe me, that request was never delayed in reaching my ears. She had ruined her chance before it even began. Your Changelings had no doubts about attacking me, in fact they seemed thrilled at the opportunity to have me disposed of."
Celestia paused and gave her a considering look. "What I never understood is, why the hostility? You feed on our love, not drain it. Simply being in our presence would energize you. So why attack us? Living peacefully would benefit us all so much." A regretful look crossed her face before she sighed and hung her head down. "Despite thousands of years, you never learn. Sometimes I wonder it's a flaw that Discord implanted within your genes."
Chrysalis would have none of that. Her race remembered Discord, hated the monster for his manipulation of them. "You will not link us to that monster! You have no right!" She started laughing and glared hatefully at the now impassive Princess. "Do you think you've won? My Changelings are throughout all of Equestria. With you foolishly following me here, your precious Ponies are defenseless!"
Celestia arched an unimpressed eyebrow. "Do you mean these Changelings?" Multiple, never ending pops started to echo above them. Looking up, Chrysalis gaped in horror as hundreds of her Changelings fell from the sky, beaten and unconscious. The only thing that remained afloat was the Princess of the Night, silently gazing down at them, the moon slowly rising behind her.
Impossible! How can this be? She had hundreds of them spread all throughout the land, infiltrating every major city.
"Certainly you must have wondered why Luna was absent during your little incursion." Tilting her head to stare incredulously at Celestia, Chrysalis' horn glowed and she spread her mind, brushing the memories of her loyal Changelings.
All of them had received a telepathic prompt to attack the moment the invasion of Canterlot had begun. Yet they had never been able to attack. In each memory, a brutal onslaught came down upon them in the form of a midnight blue Alicorn, eyes glowing in fury. There had been no escape. Even those in disguise, those who had yet to break their cover, were set upon. For some, the attack was so swift that they never knew what hit them. Within half an hour after Canterlot was captured, Luna had routed the rest of her army singlehoofedly.
"You...how..." Chrysalis broke off in horror.
"I was aware of your plans before you ever left these lands," confirmed Celestia, glancing up at her sister before focusing her gaze upon the Queen.
"You let me do all this...you knowingly let me infiltrate your lands, capture your ponies...threaten their lives--"
"They were never in any real danger. And neither you nor your army were ever a threat to anypony. You were nothing but a test. Sadly, the results proved less than satisfactory but there are more to come for her to prove herself." Celestia suddenly gained a far off look, glancing into the sky, staring at the steadily appearing stars with unseeing eyes.
"A test?" spat Chrysalis, eyes blazing. Her plans were ruined; Equestria was beyond her reach for the time being. However she could still defeat this so called Princess of the Sun. Even if it drained her of her magical core.
She stood up again, horn blazing bright green. Celestia took no note as Chrysalis unleashed everything she had left upon her. Gritting her teeth, she felt the seemingly limitless power that had powered her slowly draining. The large beam of green light had completely engulfed Celestia; with a large crack, the ground beneath her caved in and everything behind her was completely pulverized.
Finally, Chrysalis could take no more and abruptly cut off her spell, no longer feeling the powers attributed to love melding with her own magical core. She had completely used them up.
Collapsing in a sweaty heap, she dispassionately looked up at the Princess of the Night, expecting her wrath to come down upon her. After all, that blast would have been enough to flatten Canterlot and the surrounding province had it been widespread rather than concentrated. Equestria had been dealt a fatal blow. Though she might not live to see it, her Changelings would eventually recover and make a more successful invasion in due time.
Luna simply stared down at her, as if waiting.
Glancing at the smoking pile in front of her, an uneasy feeling took hold, before being replaced by horror as, with a flap of her wings, Celestia dispersed the smoke surrounding her, completely untouched by the onslaught of magic.
"How many times must I tell you to stand down?" the Princess casually asked her, horn glowing. Chrysalis grit her teeth and was unable to resist as magic grabbed hold of her and manipulated her form into a highly uncomfortable sitting position that would be expected from some bipedal creature.
Drained, Chrysalis stared at the Princess in shock before her situation dawned on her. "I never defeated you, did I?" she dully asked. Celestia gave her an almost apologetic smile.
"No."
Her rage was gone. She felt numb, as if she would never feel anything else. "Why?"
"Because they have grown too dependent on me. They need to learn to fend for themselves. Because, in the end, progress can't be made if nothing changes." She was talking to her in a tone that reminded Chrysalis of her mother when she was being comforted.
She felt her eyes begin to water as Celestia began to glow. She could sense her now. Before, she had the aura that was expected of powerful unicorns. Exceptionally powerful Unicorns, mind you, but still a normal, flesh and blood Unicorn. Now, all she could sense was magic in its purest form. Raw power, pure and chaotic at once. And it seeped its way into her mind, opening up its memories from long before it would have considered itself aware.
It had watched over this world and several others. Had watched as race after race, civilization after civilization came and left. Some ended destroying themselves, others simply faded with the flow of time. While others set their sights upwards and left for the stars.
For countless eons, it had watched; until one day, something had happened. Even it wasn't certain, but the event had caused it and several other forces to become aware of themselves, what had occurred, and what was currently happening to a dying world. With that, it had been able to concentrate its power to give itself form, swiftly followed by its sibling who had watched far more closely over the world. Two sisters, once only in name, had given themselves life to save a world that'd had its time. For they weren't willing to let their only known source of life flicker away like so many forgotten stars.
She was nothing before it, never would be anything else but a passing grain of sand in a never ending storm. And within that, she felt a will wrap around hers, caressing her mind. Forged by countless years of trial, a will far too aware of how simple it would be to force itself on everything.
She felt her eyes mist up. Her Mother was wrong. Her people had been so very wrong. Their problems could have been solved had they simply asked. She could sense it as its magic intertwined with her own. It truly believed in the best of everything that this world had to offer. Celestia would have helped if it was asked, simply because that's what she did. She gave, but only when asked. Because she wouldn't force her aid on them; she would not use her abilities without consent, not anymore. She aided the Griffins because they asked. She brought new life to the dragons, with no other expectation, because they asked. She ruled the ponies because they asked. And they loved and worshiped her with unbending devotion.
And it was because of this kindness, this worship, that she had to leave.
She had ruled them for so long that they knew nothing else. They had grown complacent. Should anything happen to her, they would be lost and vulnerable. She couldn't leave them like that. Yet recent incidents had given her a sign. A glimmer of hope for their future. A young filly, a prodigy, had come to her attention. She had so many ideas, so much promise, and a knack for influencing everypony with little notice, including herself. They had begun to get the inspiration to experiment, to discover new things.
However, whatever innovation they were working on was put to a nervous halt whenever Celestia was mentioned or present. It took many years for her to ponder this and her new student had unknowingly given her all the proof she needed. She was holding them back.
In order for Ponykind to prosper, to improve themselves, she would have to leave.
Foreign emotions wracked through the Queen's frame. Waves of sadness, so powerful that she almost thought they were her own, coursed through her senses, followed by grim determination.
She couldn't do this so suddenly. She had to make sure they were ready for her departure, that they could survive and thrive without her. So she had set up some tests for her Little Ponies. Some failed horribly just as others succeeded beyond her wildest dreams.
The most successful tests were when she weakened the prisons holding back Nightmare Moon and Discord. Despite her apprehensiveness, she forced herself to stay to the side and disappear. Not only had they been dealt with beautifully, but the end results returned her sister to her and had shown the promise that even a monster like Discord had a chance for redemption.
Slowly, but surely, magic had started to be mixed with new, rapidly improved technology. Some ponies were making themselves heard without as much fear of her supposed wrath.
When the Changelings invaded, it had proven the perfect chance to test their resourcefulness. It had been simple to feign defeat and then switch herself with an illusion to occupy the cocoon prison they had put her in. That problem dealt with, she went intangible to watch how her Ponies handled themselves. The results had been both pleasing and disappointing.
Her army had been no match at all for the Changelings. Even her protégé had been bested. Her friends and family had also doubted her and turned their backs on her, choosing to believe a stranger over a proven friend, something Celestia felt more disheartening than Canterlot's swift defeat.
They had so much more to learn before she could safely leave them. However, perhaps testing one's actions wasn't enough. One's character would have to be put to the test. There was a long forgotten kingdom that lay dormant due to the manipulation of a dark Unicorn. One that had a valuable store of knowledge for Her Ponies...it would be quite a boon should they manage to get rid of that irksome Sombra. Then there was the Alicorn Amulet...
Chrysalis shook her head as the influx of memory and thought passed through her mind, barely able to keep up with the large onslaught of information. As if noticing what it was doing, the presence slowly began to ease off.
"What are you?" she breathlessly asked as Celestia slowly extracted herself from Chrysalis's mind. Gods above she felt so warm. Nothing like the harshness of the wastelands but so very comfortable.
"I am the sun," was her gentle reply, easing off her magic and letting Chrysalis lay down upon the ground.
"Help us?" she whispered so lowly that even she thought she imagined it. But Celestia heard her.
"No."
Disheartened, she looked up at the icy complexion of Celestia, every inch the monarch sentencing a criminal.
"Whether you were a threat or not, you still knowingly threatened My Little Ponies. As long as you live, the Changelings shall not receive any aid from I. Should you take your life, the sentencing shall be extended. That is your punishment. Raise your children well, Chrysalis, for their future will depend on it."
Chrysalis hung her head and bit back a sob, her body trembling as Celestia's magic retreated fully from her senses, pulling back into Celestia's tight control.
With a white glow, Luna disappeared from the sky above. The judgment had been passed.
Suddenly she was gripped by magic and brought up to Celestia's face, her features now locked in a furious scowl. " But know this, the Changelings have threatened My Little Ponies for the last time."
Crying out, Chrysalis was thrown onto the ground. Terrified, she looked up as Celestia menacingly approached her, eyes a sickly green and her horn glowing a perverse mixture of black and green, her pristine white coat darkening to a dull grey color.
"Though my time is ending, it is not this day. I am Equestria's chosen Sovereign. Her ponies have chosen me to guide and protect them. I belong to them and they have never made me regret my decisions, even when it cost me my sister. My duties are first and foremost to their well being. Attacks on my well-being are one thing, but should you ever attack them again, you will all suffer the consequences. For all the love you may feast on, for all the power you may accumulate, nothing shall stand before the Fury of the Sun!"
A flash of light seared her eyes, so bright that Chrysalis thought she'd be forever blinded... And suddenly it was gone, as if it had never happened.
There was no sign of Celestia, no sign of Chrysalis' futile battle. Nothing could be heard, not the moans of her Changelings, nor the critters that ventured out into the cold darkness of the Wastelands.
Just the sound of silence.
The End
Author's Note
Because, in the end, one's powers should be beyond imagination if one can control the sun.
