Romance and the Fate of Equestria

June 2 will mark the two-year anniversary of this story. That's really something to think about. Apparently, I'm doing one part per year, tee hee. So, to celebrate, go tell all your friends about this story and have them read and review it. Heh, I guess on some level I'm still a bit disappointed that this story hasn't made its way onto the fanfic pantheon yet. I guess I always assumed that by the time it had been around for two years, it would at least have a page on TVtropes.

But hey, I might as well be proactive about that. If I want a TVtropes page, I should make it myself. Of course, I've been avoiding doing that because, well, I don't want to be the guy who made his own TVtropes page. No matter how successful that enterprise became, I'd end up feeling like a loser. No, what I needed to do was find an accomplice: an established troper who agrees that this story deserves a page of its very own and wishes to help me out. I have now found that person, so here I come, baby.

I tried making some headway as far as publicity by posting the story, one chapter at a time, to the website FIMfiction, but… well, they really hate it over there. I've been struggling to keep its rating over 50 percent, not having much success. So I think I'll just delete it and then maybe bring it back when the illustrated version of Part One is completely finished. Yes… immediately after this final update, I'll be deleting the FIMfiction version of the story. Doing that will get rid of a major confidence-crusher in my life, so I'll have that going for me… which is nice.

Hmm, there's gotta be a better place to put that Caddyshack reference. Maybe it's not too late to retroactively stick it in the golf chapter while I'm making my final edits to Part Two…

Chapter One Hundred and Eight

Cocoon approached Chrysalis's tree dwelling. "Chrysalis Queen, escaped have prisoners yours."

"Hmm, have they?" Chrysalis said casually. A dark shadow was cast over the camp as the limbs of all the surrounding trees began packing tighter together. "How interesting…"

Discord chuckled, leaning back in a hammock made of cloud strung between two of the trees. Chrysalis eyed him, scowling.

"And do you know something about this?" she hissed.

"Know something?" he said smugly, sinking further into the cloud with his hands behind his head. "Why, I orchestrated their escape myself. I had a very personal hand in the matter."

"And why would you do such a thing against your queen?" Chrysalis said with a menacing sweetness.

"I owe them one," he said brightly. "We were friends, once. Also, I did it to make a statement." He slipped off the hammock and down to the ground.

"A statement," Chrysalis repeated suspiciously.

"Yes," Discord growled, glaring at her harshly. "If you will not accept my friendship, then I will never stop rebelling against you. No matter how hard you try to suppress the irksome little urges I have, I will rise up again to continue to mess with you."

Chrysalis smirked. "Challenge extended and accepted, my dear Discord. I think I can stifle your creativity. You just need more incentive… a taste of what happens when you defy me. Keep your eyes wide open, slave. Cocoon, spray the slave's eyes with necrotic silk."

Discord's eyes widened in terror, and Cocoon stepped up to him and shot a stream of black silk from his nose into Discord's bulging red-and-yellow eyes. Discord snarled and hissed in pain.

"AaaaaaAAAARRRGGGHHH!" He clawed at the silk, and it burned his hands. "Why does this happen?" he squeaked. "I can't even touch it…"

Chrysalis giggled. "For all your power and your opposition to the natural order, you are still a natural creature—that is to say, a creature born of this world. We changelings, though, we hail from the Sea of Stars. We're thoroughly otherworldly, and exposure to the atmosphere of this world has an effect on us that makes us even more so. It's theorized, then, that the gods of this world may be even more vulnerable to our magic than the mortals are."

Discord was scarcely listening, still struggling against the silk. Chrysalis chuckled and pulled it away for him.

"Thank me," she commanded.

"Thank you, Queen Chrysalis," he grumbled.

"Answer this question for me: how important are your internal organs?" she went on.

He tilted his head at her in confusion. "Um… not all that important."

"So, not vital? You can live without them?"

"Yes…" he said nervously.

"All right, here is what is going to happen," Chrysalis said brightly. "When I turn my back to you, you will remain standing exactly where you are and enact the following sequence of orders. Are you listening?"

"I am," he spat.

"Firstly, you will use your claws to slowly rip a great gash in your own chest and belly. You will grasp at all of your organs, and rip them out of your body, and spill them all over the ground. And incidentally, by my orders, you will feel an immense amount of pain and discomfort as you do so. Once your chest cavity has been completely emptied out, you will quickly gather up your displaced organs, reassemble and heal yourself completely, and then… repeat the process from the beginning of these instructions. Feel every mote of that pain, you understand? That is the most vital part of this task you have been assigned, so pay extra-special attention to making sure it's painful for you. Do you understand these orders as I have given them to you?" As she spoke, the surrounding branches continued stretching and packing together, darkening the encampment more and more.

"Yes," he said.

"Do you see any way to reinterpret these orders in a way other than the spirit in which I intended them?"

"No," he admitted grudgingly.

"Any questions?" she said cheerfully.

"Yes. How long must I continue repeating this sequence of events?"

"You will continue until I say you can stop," Chrysalis said with glee. "Which I might do as soon as I have returned from hunting ponies. And I might not. Either way, it's going to be a while. This is your punishment for your little act of rebellion." She grinned, and the branches of the trees retreated to their original state, leaving her once again in dappled light. "I do believe I have won yet another round of this game that you like so much. You know, I like it too. Do let me know when you feel like giving up."

He glowered. "That day will never come."

She smiled warmly, then turned to Cocoon. "Come along, my brother. We have pony prisoners to hunt down."

The moment she turned around, Discord started involuntarily clawing at his own chest, already beginning to open a bleeding wound.

"Chrysalis Queen…" Cocoon began. He glanced at Discord, then grinned. "Yes," he said simply.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

The ponies lurked in the forest, at the very edge of the makeshift changeling city.

"What are we looking for?" Fluttershy whispered.

"I don't know," Twilight said in frustration, leading them along, her eyes scanning the streets. "Something we can use, some way to push them away. I just don't know what could possibly…"

Briefly, she turned her attention to where she was walking rather than to the city at her side, and noticed something out of the corner of her eye. She gasped as she whirled around and realized she was directly between the city and something else… an enormous dome-shaped structure, looking like it was made of gray spider web and paper, as massive as Canterlot Castle and swarming with hundreds of changelings, flying in and out of a gaping entrance.

As one, the ponies ducked into some bushes for concealment. "Wow…" Twilight breathed. "The hive. The changelings' hive…" She pulled out the manuscript of Cadance's book and started rifling through it. "It's where the changelings are born, where they're raised to adulthood, and where their work is done. Behind us, that's the noble houses, but this is the home and workplace of the commoners, and where the nobles go… 'out on the town', so to speak, to acquire goods and services. From the looks of it, at any given time it must hold… three thousand changelings, I would say, not counting the eggs and young on the bottom level."

She nodded darkly and produced an old spellbook. "This is it. This is what I studied for. Time to whip out the really good, really impressive magic: the kind of stuff used in warfare."

"Awesome," said Rainbow. "What are we doing?"

Twilight started paging through the book. "We're going to blow up the hive."

"WHAT?" the others said in unison.

"Twilight, that's… that's terrorism!" Fluttershy exclaimed.

"Your point being?" Twilight said bitterly.

"We are not terrorists," Fluttershy said firmly.

Twilight sighed, pained. "Fluttershy… it's the six of us against an entire army, and our mission is to make sure the war doesn't happen at all. Of course we're terrorists. I don't like it either, but what choice do we have?"

Fluttershy fumbled and stammered for a moment, before quietly peeping, "Assassins. We're assassins. That's what we were sent here to do. Cadance said if we kill Chrysalis, the rest of the changelings won't fight at all. We can still stop the war from happening and have… well… significantly less blood on our hooves, Twilight. Please don't do this."

Twilight stared up at the hive as she pondered that. "It won't work, Fluttershy," she said solemnly. "We can't defeat her. If we had the Elements of Harmony, obviously my preference would be to focus on a single target, but Discord has them, and she has Discord. She's far too powerful for us to even touch… and even if we did kill her now, then what? Then she wouldn't have a leash on Discord anymore, he might be able to set himself up to be in charge, get the changelings to rally around him… she might have force and intimidation, but he has charisma. He might renew their passion for the fight. It's just… no good. No good at all."

"…Okay," Fluttershy whispered. "You're right, of course."

"So that's the plan?" Applejack demanded. "We're just gonna blow them all up?"

"Yes," Twilight growled through gritted teeth, continuing to scan the pages of her book. "As Fluttershy so keenly pointed out, this is an act of terrorism, fear tactics. It's clear that the changelings don't like Chrysalis under the best of circumstances. Already, it would seem, they're fighting with no conviction. If we pull off this level of destruction, they'll be so demoralized that she'll have no control over them anymore."

"What if you're wrong, darling?" Rarity fretted. "What if they turn to Chrysalis for help and guidance? What if she kindles their rage and their thirst for revenge and turns it toward Equestria?"

"Yeah, if they didn't already think we're an enemy that they need to take out, they will now," said Rainbow. "How does that stop the war from happening?"

"Well… think about that," said Twilight. "Last time they were in Equestria, they were all blasted away at once by the magic of just two ponies. Follow that up with one pony's magical talents destroying their hive. They'll think Chrysalis is crazy for wanting to go up against an entire country full of these nightmare creatures of mass destruction. And since most of the changelings in the hive will be commoners, who are sent into battle first, the nobility will be closer to the front lines, and they don't have the stomach for that. They'll pressure the queen into calling off the effort so they won't have to fight personally."

"Well, while I am admirin' the tactical mind I never knew you had," said Applejack, "that's a whole lotta conjecture, sugarcube. What if we blow up the hive and they don't react the way you're sayin'?"

"Well… then there will be a war," Twilight said softly. "But the opposing side will be approximately three thousand changelings short. Roughly three thousand fewer changelings for Equestria to have to fight." She sighed in frustration. "So if we fail in our stated mission, we'll have at least gained an advantage for our side!"

Applejack bit her lip. "I don't like this. This ain't us. Killin' so many creatures all at once, it's… it's horrific."

Twilight nodded, on the verge of tears. "I hate talking about ending that many lives, but things have gone from bad to worse since we started this quest and we have to do SOMETHING!" Her voice trembled. "What other choice is there? All of Equestria is on the line here… its soul if not its ultimate security. We can't let this war even begin. The question is, are we willing to sacrifice the purity of our souls to keep the rest of Equestria safe?"

She looked around at the others, all of whom seemed uneasy. "I understand your trepidation," she said, "but I hope you can all understand that this is the best option we have. So we'll put it to a vote, and I'm saying yes. Everypony else?"

"I vote no," Applejack said promptly. "There's gotta be a better way."

"And I say there is no other way," Rainbow sneered. "Maybe we'll be haunted forever, but we'll do this. And then we'll get out of this hellhole and try to forget."

"…I can't," said Rarity. "It would be unconscionable."

"Two to two," Twilight muttered. "Pinkie, what are you in favor of?"

"Polyamory," she said absently.

"In regards to this situation, Pinkie," Twilight said patiently.

"Oh," Pinkie said, regaining focus. "Well, we gotta blow the hive."

"You want to blow up the hive?" Rarity said in surprise.

"I don't want to," Pinkie said, looking offended. "But Twilight's right, this is the only way. I won't like it, but this is… I don't know what I think. But I vote yes."

"Hmph," said Rarity. "So, what happens if we get a tie vote?"

"Then we debate the issue until that changes," said Twilight. "In fact, we'll do that until the vote is unanimous, like a jury. That's the only way to make a decision of this magnitude." She turned to Fluttershy. "Fluttershy, what do you think, sweetie?"

"I've already said that you're right," Fluttershy said flatly. "This is our only choice, I'll do whatever needs to be done, let's just get this over with."

"Okay…" said Twilight. "Rarity, Applejack, you're our outliers. Anything more to say?"

Rarity inhaled deeply before replying. "If Fluttershy can accept this as the only correct path, so can I. I'm with you wherever this plan leads, Twilight."

Applejack shrugged. "Twi, you're the one who comes up with the ideas around here, so if this is the only one you've got, then there's no sense in me debatin' with you. I'm on board, I'll make it unanimous. Let's do this."

"All right… our decision has been made," Twilight said with a tremor, scanning a page of the book.

Rainbow turned to Pinkie. "Polyamory, huh?" she said in amusement.

"Yeah," Pinkie replied. "I mean, I know it's not for everypony, but I think in certain cases, it can work."

Twilight levitated a large broad leaf toward herself and cast a spell on it. "Here's the first phase of our plan. While I study the spells I'll need, I want the five of you to search the forest for leaves, slabs of bark, rocks, flowers, anything I can inscribe this glyph upon." She turned the leaf toward the others, showing them the strange symbol etched into it, glowing with her magenta magic. "We'll space these objects all around the hive, every few feet, as many as we can, and then, when I say the special command phrase I've linked to the rune, they will all explode at once, and the hive will collapse."

Rainbow Dash stroked her chin. "Hmmm. And how do we load the entire hive with small objects without getting caught by an estimated three thousand changelings?"

"We'll be invisible," said Twilight. "There's a spell of improved invisibility in this book, totally infallible. It'll be active for twelve hours or until I dispel it personally. We'll be able to see our own bodies—and, with a small modification I've made to the spell, each other—but trust me, we will be invisible."

"Awesome," Rainbow commented.

"And… please don't take offense, I think I should periodically scan you all to make sure we have no changelings among us," Twilight continued. With a spark, she enveloped each of them one by one with a beam of energy, leaving each of them somewhat scorched and their hair frizzed. "All right, we're good," she said. "I'll be doing that when we regroup as well."

"What if a changeling impersonates you?" asked Rarity, mildly irritated, adjusting her hair with magic.

"Well, then they won't be able to do this," Twilight said in amusement, zapping them all again exactly as she had before. "You know what my magic looks like; the changelings won't be able to fake it. If they try, it'll look like changeling magic. Even when Chrysalis was impersonating Cadance, I noticed something a little bit off about the way her magic looked, and mine is even more distinct.

"And just in case, let's establish a secret password. If you've lost sight of somepony for even a moment, you're potentially dealing with a changeling, so if you suspect that one of us isn't really one of us, ask them 'For Poseidon?' And if somepony asks that of you, you will reply 'peanut butter' to confirm your identity. That way we can be fairly certain none of us have been replaced."

Rainbow hesitated. "That is the weirdest code phrase I've ever heard. It makes no sense."

"That's why it's a good secret password," Twilight said smugly, looking at the book again. "Who would possibly be able to guess the correct response based on the question? Put your hoof down, Pinkie Pie."

Pinkie, well outside of Twilight's line of vision, awkwardly withdrew the hoof she had raised to volunteer herself.

"With that being settled, start searching," said Twilight, gathering up a few items herself with magic. "Meet me back here in an hour with as much stuff as you can carry. Even sticks and needles and blades of grass will do…"

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

One by one, the ponies returned to the cover of the bushes just outside of the hive, each one carrying heaps of items collected in the forest, many of the heaps larger than the ponies themselves, and bringing them to Twilight, who absent-mindedly zapped each of them with her huge beam. She started inscribing the glyph on the leaves, rocks, and other objects, doing several every second.

"Here's our plan," she said as she sifted through the items, piling them up. "Every changeling hive as two entrances. One is near the top and in the back, in the direction not facing the city, contained within a maze of webs and thorns, highly defensible and only reachable by flight. Rainbow, I trust that you're capable of navigating through such a treacherous course, so I want you to take that entrance. Carry Pinkie along with you.

"You two will plant our bombs along the top levels. The hive should be extremely easy to navigate: its halls are all concentric circles, with huge openings leading to the next layer. Go all the way around a circle planting the items, as many as you can, then proceed to the next inner circle and do the same until you get to the center. After that, go upward one level and repeat the entire process until you've gotten to the top… then leave the way you came in. Have you got all of that?"

"Back entrance, start at the outside and go in, then go up one level and repeat," Rainbow recited.

"Fantastic," said Twilight. "The rest of us will take the front entrance. Rarity, Fluttershy, and Applejack, you'll start at the ground floor. You'll do the same as the other team: work your way to the center, and then repeat the process while going upwards. When you get to the level where the back entrance is, you'll know you've finished; you might even be able to see the items that Pinkie and Rainbow will have already placed. And both teams, stick together. Don't lose sight of each other."

She gave each of them a huge bag full of the objects.

"Where will you go?" Fluttershy asked in surprise.

"The bottom level of the hive," said Twilight, gazing at the huge structure intensely. "It's the nursery, where they tend to the eggs and raise the young. I'll be casting spells that will shield that level from the blast. We're not killing any children today, even if they are changeling children.

"So are we clear? Like I said, the hive should be incredibly easy to navigate; if you find yourself lost, just get to the outermost circle and go up or down until you find one of the hive's two, very prominent, exits. Just make sure there are plenty of explosives planted, especially on the lowest level, the one where you began."

She raised her horn and swept it over them, and they all became invisible, including the huge sacks five of them were bearing on their backs.

"We'll meet back here whenever we can," Twilight concluded. "It should take us somewhere around three hours. Pinkie, Rainbow, good luck to you. Everypony else, come with me… I'll wish you luck when we part ways."

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

In a bare, web-strewn hallway in the hive, small items—leaves, stones, sticks, and other scraps of nature—became visible one by one as Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie moved invisibly through the hall together, tossing the things to the floor.

"You and Derpy are sooooo cute together," Pinkie said conversationally.

Rainbow chuckled. "Thanks, Pinkie."

"You know, ever since that time she accidentally caused a typhoon inside Town Hall, and you totally lost it and yelled at her for fifteen minutes straight and she was just crying and weeping, I've always thought, awwww, it's so obvious those two are in love!"

"Uh… huh," Rainbow said awkwardly. "Well, thanks, I guess. For thinking we're cute, I mean. She is definitely cute. And you know what, she makes me feel cuter."

"You've always been cute," said Pinkie.

"…No I haven't," Rainbow grumbled. They continued on their way in silence, still dropping objects, for just a few seconds. "So, how about you?" Rainbow offered. "How's your love life?"

"…I have a love life?" Pinkie replied blankly.

"Are you serious?" said Rainbow. "Are you telling me you forgot again? Dude, aren't you dating Fan—"

"Hold on," Pinkie said sharply.

Two changelings stood ahead of them, guarding a door, staring in their direction with suspicion.

"Are they looking at us?" Pinkie whispered.

"Whoa. Sure looks like it," Rainbow muttered back. "Think they can see us?"

"Twilight said we'd be invisible for twelve hours. Don't you trust her?"

"Of course, but then how do you explain this?"

"They can probably hear us talking," Pinkie said brightly.

"Oh, right," Rainbow said, embarrassed. "All right, better take care of that, then."

The changelings hissed in alarm at that statement, but one of them promptly shuddered, as if it had taken a blow to the head, and collapsed.

"Ooh, nice shot, Rainbow Dash!" said Pinkie.

"Thanks. Hey, the other one's making a run for it!"

"I've got her…" Pinkie said darkly.

The changeling attempted to scurry away, but was halted in place, struggling against Pinkie's unseen arms wrapped around its body.

"Now you take a nap!" Pinkie growled, and with a bop to the head, this changeling too was knocked unconscious. Pinkie set it down gently. "You see what I did there?" she said, giggling.

"Yes, I do indeed see what you did there," Rainbow said uneasily.

"Right? 'Cause that was the 'wham line' from Cupcakes…"

"I said I saw what you did there, now never do it again. That was terrifying."

"Okay," Pinkie said hastily. "Sorry. So, um… what were we talking about?"

"…I don't remember," Rainbow sighed. "Let's just finish what we came here for."

"Okay!"

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

Much later, Rainbow and Pinkie sat together outside of the hive, where they had all gathered prior to splitting up. Their huge sacks were now empty, and they carried only their saddlebags.

Applejack, Rarity, and Fluttershy approached them from the hive's front entrance. Pinkie raised a hoof in greeting. Applejack nodded to her curtly, and stared into Rainbow's eyes. "For Poseidon?" she challenged.

"Peanut butter," Rainbow and Pinkie replied together.

"Well… we'll see about that when Twilight gets back," Applejack said suspiciously.

"I suppose we will," Rainbow said brightly.

Twilight returned to them several minutes later, periodically glancing at her saddlebags as she trotted over. Without even looking at the others, she zapped each of them once. "All right, I'm glad to see that you all made it out safe and not replaced by changelings," she said. "I'll make us visible again…" She twirled her horn around a bit. "I think that did it. All of our explosives planted, then? I guess I should say that secret trigger phrase before I change my mind…"

Chrysalis dropped out of the sky, landing heavily in front of them. She crouched down in an attack stance and glared at them furiously. "There you are," she hissed, black clouds surrounding her and storming viciously.

Cocoon similarly dropped down, landing behind them. "Hidey-ho," he slurred. "Cocoon am I."

"We know!" the six ponies sighed in unison.

"I suppose it's you who's been leaving these all around my hive?" Chrysalis sneered, levitating a leaf with the pink symbol marked on it. "You think two or three minor explosive glyphs sitting in the wide-open spaces of the hive would cause damage?"

"I think you two will find out soon enough, you incestuous insects," Twilight replied coldly.

The hive exploded.

Fireballs emerged, first from the entrance level of the hive, then from the level about two-thirds of the way to the top, where the back entrance was. More explosions then rolled upward until the entire hive was enveloped in flame and quickly turning into ash—but the very bottom was shielded, a force field the color of Twilight's magic flickering into visibility as it blocked the fireballs from harming the bottom level.

The ponies averted their eyes from the disintegrating hive in shame and in terror, but couldn't stop themselves from hearing the pained screams of the changelings, all attempting to flee, few succeeding.

Chrysalis and Cocoon stared in absolute shock. The storm surrounding Chrysalis sputtered and fizzled out.

"Well, I've learned you come up with good code phrases, if nothing else," Rainbow muttered to Twilight. "'Incestuous insects', was it?"

"Yeah," Twilight said quietly. With her horn, she created a small spark of electricity in front of each pony's face, making sure all five of her friends were paying attention. "Come on, everypony, let's make a run for it while we can."

She touched her saddlebags one last time, and the six of them bolted into the forest, galloping and flying.

"No…" Cocoon whispered, horrorstruck. "No…"

Chrysalis noticed the ponies fleeing and cackled. "Hehehehe! Yes, run! Run like the wind! IT'LL BE THE LAST THING YOU EVER DO! I'M COMING AFTER YOUUUUUUU!" She grinned, and her wings started buzzing. "You're going to pay, my little ponies."