Romance and the Fate of Equestria

I guess what we can take away from my previous notes is that great minds think alike. Is it arrogant to refer to myself as a great mind? Probably. But it's either "great minds think alike" or "Hasbro steals ideas directly from my brain", and I find the former far more likely. And either way, it means my ideas are good. So that's nice.

Chapter One Hundred and Six

It was night, and the moon was full, its glow eerily lighting up the trees of the north. Cocoon continued to drag the six ponies along as he trotted down a meandering, invisible, and seemingly random path through the forest.

He stopped suddenly, for no apparent reason, and went still and silent, barely even daring to move his eyes to look around. The ponies waited, unable to do anything but sit there cautiously. After a few long and deathly quiet seconds, he spoke. "Hidey-ho. Cocoon am I."

In response, a pair of small changelings, blue-eyed females like those who had invaded Canterlot, dropped from the treetops and hovered in front of him, inspecting him carefully. A few others appeared in the trees, peering out at him curiously.

One of the females whispered something indistinctly to Cocoon, glanced over his shoulder at the tied-up ponies, and motioned for him to follow. The two females buzzed away at a steady pace, and Cocoon followed them on hoof.

Deeper and deeper into the forest they went, more and more changelings becoming visible peering out from behind tree trunks and among branches, whispering to each other in their unintelligible voices.

After what seemed like hours, the small changeling soldiers led Cocoon into what appeared to be an encampment. Numerous thick and twisted black trees, unlike anything else in these forests, had been brutally hacked apart and hollowed out into small dwellings. Their doors and windows were covered in curtains which appeared to be made of the skins of various animals. The ground of the encampment was covered in rugs of thick hide and leather, and a campfire was in the center of the semi-circle of trees.

Dozens of changelings buzzed and scurried around the camp. Scattered here and there were the large and gangly males of the species, each one identical to Cocoon, save that their wings were rust-red instead of purple, and they were bald-headed and tailless. Each male wore a spiked iron collar and chains around his legs and wings.

Applejack leaned in to whisper to Twilight. "We have a plan?"

"Maybe," Twilight whispered back, looking around as much as she could, taking in as much of the scene as was possible. "Keep your eyes open. Anything could be something we can use to our advantage to finish this mission."

One of the changelings who had led Cocoon opened the flap of the largest tree dwelling. Inside was a shadowy figure, facing away from them, sitting down with its legs curled underneath it.

"Yes?" the figure said in a faintly echoing voice.

The changeling chittered and hissed.

"Oh? And who might that be?"

"Chrysalis Queeeeen," Cocoon wheezed in a sing-song voice.

The figure in the tent lifted its head, its withered-looking gossamer wings buzzing reflexively. The fire in the center of the camp flared up and turned green, as the queen of the changelings slowly stood up and turned around. "Cocoon?" she whispered.

Cocoon flashed a crooked grin, flicking his tongue at her through his fangs.

"Oh, Cocoon, my dear brother, can it really be you?" the queen said with wonder, flying the short distance to meet up with him. The gloomy moonlight seemed to become brighter, and greener, as she came closer.

"Alive am I," Cocoon confirmed. "Ill fell did I, mission scouting mine on. Griffon one by, found was I helpless. Captured was I. Silk golden mine, acquired forcibly did they. Dungeon in imprisoned lay I, while sold was it. I for looking, still were you, out found did I, until hope all lost, mind mine lost, nearly had I."

A warm and pleasant wind blew through the camp as the towering queen smiled. "Oh, don't ever doubt that I would tear the whole world in two, destroy all creation, before I let you fall out of my grasp." She caressed Cocoon's face with her hoof and came closer to him. "My… darling… brother…"

The campfire rose even higher and brighter as the queen and Cocoon kissed passionately, moaning with pleasure as their black-shelled lips and tongues furiously wove together. Eventually, they both fell to the ground but didn't part, continuing to kiss and grope at each other. Horrible twisted vines grew around the queen's tree dwelling, expanding slightly with her every heartbeat.

"You reckon that's normal?" Applejack said uneasily.

"Maybe…?" Twilight said slowly.

Applejack looked around. "No… no, it can't be normal. Look at all the other changelings."

Twilight followed her gaze, and saw that nearly all of the attending changelings were averting their eyes, scoffing in disgust and muttering in clear disapproval.

"They're revolted," Twilight said delightedly.

"You think that could be what you were talkin' about?" Applejack said eagerly. "Somethin' we can use to our advantage?"

"Oh, we definitely might be able to use that," Twilight confirmed.

The two huge changelings continued pawing and gnawing at each other, rolling around on a furry rug, Cocoon's cloaks and saddlebags starting to drop off and spill everywhere.

"HEY!" Rainbow barked. "Hey, come on, not in front of the prisoners!"

Chrysalis, flat on her back with Cocoon on top of her, lifted her head. Upon seeing the ponies, she grinned wickedly, gently shifted Cocoon aside, and stood up. The dark sky went darker, and green and black lightning illuminated her.

"Ah, Cocoon, you brought me the sneaky and possessive sister and her gang of bridesmaids," she said smugly. "So good to see the six of you! I've been expecting your arrival. I don't believe we were ever formally introduced. My name, despite what my brother's adorable speech impediment might have led you to believe, is Queen Chrysalis."

She leaned close to the ponies and closed her eyes, inhaling their scent deeply. A cold wind blew in her face, and all the trees of the forest seemed to lean a bit closer to her. "Mmmm, I can smell you," she said quietly. "When first we met, none of you had ever been truly in love. Now, several of you have. All the better, then. That gives me more power over you. Perhaps, while I've got you here and before I've taken your country, I'll track down your Joe, your Big Mac, your Derpy. Find them, appear before them in your form after you've been missing for so long. Let them believe that they have you back again, let them experience a night of passion with the one they thought they had lost… and then reveal myself and crack open their skulls as they absorb the horror of what they've just done, let them die without hope!"

Lightning crackled again, and it began to rain. Fluttershy squeaked in terror. Twilight glanced at her sympathetically, then glared at Chrysalis. "You stay away from the ones we love!" she snapped, attempting to lunge forward, but her cocooned body simply toppled over and she landed flat on her face.

"Ooh, nice," Chrysalis commented. "I love a good pratfall." The vines surrounding her tree twisted and tightened as she smirked cruelly. "Your lovers have absurd names, by the way. I feel less evil just for having said them out loud. They're just goofy, that's what they are… horribly so."

"Wait, did you just admit that you're evil?" Rainbow said suspiciously.

"Hmm?" Chrysalis said absently. "Oh, yes, I suppose so. It's been said that my ultimate goal of collecting food for my people is, in fact, a righteous and heroic cause for a queen to take, but if I'm being honest with myself, I have to admit that that's not my motivation at all. I just like undermining the dignity of every sentient creature I come across. I like to see them writhe in pain. I like to hear their screams. I like to see the look on a creature's face when they know there's no hope left in the world. If all of that qualifies as evil, then fine, I'm certifiably evil and immensely proud of it."

She sniffed at them again, her eyes fluttering with pleasure. "Mmmm, the taste of you, it's bewitching. Do you enjoy the taste of being in love? You might end up regretting it… it gives me more power over you."

"That said already did you, Chrysalis Queen," Cocoon muttered, standing just behind her.

"Did I? Perhaps I've been over-rehearsing… As I said, I did know the six of you were coming to me as prisoners. You have my new ally to thank for that."

Something burst out of the ground, a serpentine thing flexing to unearth its entire body at once. A goat hoof and a two-toed dragon claw touched themselves to the ground, and in a single fluid motion, Discord slowly rose from being flat on his back to standing erect, his arms spread wide and his mouth set in a gleeful grin. "I'm baaaaaaack!" he sang. Thunder clapped as he laughed uproariously.

"Didn't think you'd be running into me immediately after I betrayed you, did you?" he said thoughtfully. "I don't blame you; I think we all expected it would take a couple of months before we crossed paths again… everything seems to take forever to actually happen around here. Some days, it feels like you ponies live in a story with about three hundred percent too many subplots."

Twilight recovered from her initial shock and gritted her teeth in fury. "DISCORD!" she roared.

"Yesssss…" Discord hissed, clasping his hands together. "Turns out, being a law-abiding citizen doesn't really work when you're a stateless, autonomous unit bound to no one. The moment I skipped out on you, the Elements started draining my power like mad. They tried implementing their usual safety measures, but the paradox of my decision made them go haywire. It hurt. A lot. That's when I realized that in my decision to cut ties with my unlawful country, I'd become an outlaw myself, and the Elements couldn't reconcile that—but nowhere does it state that my country has to be Equestria. I'm now a citizen of the changeling empire, bound to obey the orders of Queen Chrysalis." He grinned and shrugged. "It's all about finding those little loopholes, which you said I'm allowed to do." He winked at Twilight, shooting her a gun-hand.

"He told me you were being delivered to me, helpless and trapped," said Chrysalis, "but he persuaded me not to ask who was bringing you. He said it should be a surprise…" She turned to Discord. "I thank you. It was a most pleasant surprise to receive, hearing my treasured brother's voice." She tilted her head toward Cocoon, and they kissed tenderly.

"Chrysalis and I have come to an understanding," said Discord, apparently having some minor difficulty ignoring the romantic display between the queen and king. "I help her march on Equestria, and once she's absorbed enough love, gained enough power, she's going to remove the Elements from me and I'm going to be back to my old self. Oh, then there'll be such trouble…"

Applejack sighed. "You make me sad, Dis. You really do. You're gonna regret this. This isn't what you really want."

"Aw, it's cute that you think you've gotten to know me," Discord sneered.

Chrysalis raised a hoof, and a small group of females buzzed over to her, floating in a neat formation above her head. "Imprison them," she ordered, gesturing to the ponies. "And lock away their belongings, as well. I'll take care of them after I've had a bit more consultation with my new advisor and some personal time with my brother… not necessarily in that order."

She leered lecherously at Cocoon as the changelings gathered up the ponies and their scattered possessions, taking them off into the deep forest.