Romance and the Fate of Equestria

Well. I am thoroughly depressed about all the time I missed. It has been nearly four months since my last update. I missed the fic's four-year anniversary, missed it by a long shot.

I even missed the two-year anniversary of Part Three, on August 19, 2016, thirteen days ago. Part One took a year, Part Two took a year, Part Three is at its two-year mark but only about halfway done. I don't know… things change so much. My best friend Mere, who was once the sole fuel of the story, she's admitted that she's moved past reading and writing fanfiction. The illustration project? That's not going anywhere. The question of why I'm still writing this story has become a much more serious question as of late, not just something I ask when I'm in the depths of despair.

One thing that keeps me going is that at some point in the interim, two different people, one a personal friend and the other a new reviewer, have put this story on a list of their top 10 favorites. Not their favorite fanfics; in both instances, this fanfic was among a list that otherwise consisted of actual books. Affecting two people like that is more than a lot of people can hope to accomplish. It's a very satisfying feeling.

I also want to take back what I said about not caring about FIM anymore. At the time, I was just coming off the Season 6 premiere… and while the writers have always been good at twisting the big merchandise-driven episodes into something awesome (to wit, forced to write an episode for all the royal wedding merchandise? throw in an invasion of alien succubi), it just seemed like they wouldn't be able to pull it off with this whole alicorn baby deal, and sure enough, they couldn't. But subsequent episodes? A great Pinkie/Rarity/Maud story that displays all three of them amazingly, a showcase of the Crusaders having that inevitable "now what?" moment, an episode full of new dragon lore—we didn't have to get very far into Season 6 to get me re-enthused, though again, it really pains me that we're well past the season's mid-season hiatus and I'm only just now writing this. Happens, I guess. Season's still going fairly strong, and the previews for the fourth Equestria Girls film are giving me the shivers!

So… yeah. I'm still here, I'm still at this, for anyone who's still willing to bear with me.

Chapter One Hundred and Fifty-Four

"So, uh… what was I talking about? Oh, right—so that leaves me as the least attractive out of the six of us."

"Pinkie!" Twilight chided. "Don't say that about yourself."

"I'm not saying I'm unattractive!" Pinkie said hastily. "Just… less than the rest of you. 'Cause we're a pretty good-looking group, us. But you know what they say: the top three in all of Ponyville is Fluttershy, Twilight, and Rarity, and then…"

"Pinkie, that ranking is based on opinion," Twilight said, rolling her eyes. "Specifically, Rarity's opinion. There's not some kind of official hierarchy of the most attractive mares in Ponyville. How did we even get on this topic…?"

Twilight pointedly looked out the huge picture window on the Largo manor's second floor, looking over the well-maintained but mostly featureless back lawn. Imelda was sitting out there, working on a large jigsaw puzzle on a circular table, occasionally glancing around nervously. All six ponies as well as Gilda stood together, all watching over her carefully.

"I can't stop thinking how weird she looks without wings," Rainbow chuckled.

"Very immortal-esque figure on her," Twilight agreed.

"Ooh, I know!" Rarity said gleefully. "I'd kill for that figure… though in a pinch I'd settle for sleeping with her. Rowr!"

"I don't think Mr. Largo would appreciate that very much," Twilight said dryly.

"Funny accent on her, though," Rarity continued. "It's like…"

"I don't think her dad would appreciate you doing an impression of her either," Twilight interrupted.

Rarity giggled. "All right."

Largo came up behind them, now dressed in a sleek pinstripe suit coat with a red tie. "You're just having her sit out there in the open?" he said darkly.

"Not to worry, Mr. Largo," said Twilight. "I've added a new security measure… I have the exact location of everypony who can see her. If any stranger so much as looks at her, I'll know and I'll jump into action."

"And the crooks who came through my tunnel, you're sure they had no affiliation with these assassins?"

"As sure as I can be," said Twilight. "I know them. What they do is steal stuff; they were only after your art gallery."

"But how did they get into my tunnel?" Largo muttered. "They can't have broken in from the other end. At the other end is the securest location in the city, designed to alert me instantly if it's ever breached."

"Well, they teleported out once they got far enough away that the tunnel was no longer within the bounds of your property," said Twilight. "I'd guess that's how they got in as well."

"By the stars," Largo cursed. "I added the teleportation ward as a gimmick, I never imagined it would be needed… or that it could be so easily bypassed. How did they even know about the tunnel?"

"They… have a sponsor," Twilight said bitterly. "One who's spent a lot of her time deep beneath the earth. I think she knows all of the secrets that can be found underground."

"Mmm," Largo replied solemnly. "Well! It's a big world we live in. My life seems mundane by comparison."

He walked off, accompanied by several other ponies, all in suits and bearing clipboards.

Twilight's ears flicked. "Get ready, everybody," she said. "I've got two strangers with eyes on Imelda. Scatter and be prepared to intercept… anything."

The others took off in two directions, Rainbow leading Fluttershy and Gilda up to the third floor, while Applejack led Pinkie and Rarity downstairs to the back door.

"Okay…" Twilight whispered to herself. "Okay… magic is building…"

She stepped forward, phasing through the closed window, and soared through the air toward Imelda, deflecting an acid-green lightning bolt just as it came shooting out of the sky.

The bolt harmlessly dissipated at it shot straight upward. Facing its source, Twilight saw a green-robed, masked unicorn surfing through the air on a ribbon of green energy, breaking right through the force field as she approached, the field becoming faintly visible for a moment before shattering.

Twilight put a huge pink bubble around Imelda. "You'll be safe in there, Miss Largo," she said calmly. "Now that we've drawn them out… you have nothing left to fear."

Rainbow Dash burst from the third-floor window, Gilda and Fluttershy tight at her sides. Her aim unerring, Rainbow corkscrewed through the air with an outstretched hoof and punched the masked figure in the face.

Applejack and her team galloped out the back kitchen door. "Twilight, watch out!" Applejack cried out. "Behind you!"

Twilight whirled, facing another masked pony, this one dressed head-to-hoof in beetle-like black armor. "Whoa!" she cried out, leaping backward.

This strange new foe stood on her hind legs, and had two long, curved knives bound to her front hooves with white rope. Twilight had been alerted just in time to avoid a downward swipe from one of the serrated, rusty blades. Applejack galloped forward, placing herself between Twilight and the knife-wielder with a menacing snort.

High above, Rainbow delivered a roundhouse kick to the airborne unicorn, and Gilda did the identical move from the enemy's other side. Both of them met with an amorphous green energy shield which shimmered into existence with their strikes. The masked unicorn's hold glowed and it faced Rainbow Dash, who found herself fried with an invisible heat beam, a sizzling, smoking black circle appearing in her forehead. Dazed, she plummeted from the sky.

Gilda came forward. The unicorn's front hooves began sparkling with intense green electricity, and she rose to her hind legs and thrust the empowered hooves into Gilda's abdomen. Gilda thrust out her chest and shrugged off the blow, then threw a punch.

When the punch hit the unicorn's personal force field, Gilda continued to push, her muscles quivering, the unicorn actually stopping any possible counterattack to watch in fascination as Gilda forced her fist right through the shield, grabbing the unicorn's face, and twisting her wrist, sending the foe flying. The unicorn righted herself in midair, landing on another magical ribbon.

At the same time, Twilight reached out with her horn, rescuing the falling Rainbow with levitation. Dangling in the air, Rainbow took a moment to regain her senses. "I'm good," she reported.

"Good," Twilight said. She set Rainbow right side up and released the levitation spell; Rainbow instantly flew back up to the flying unicorn, who was circling around and ineffectively pelting Imelda's protective bubble with lightning bolts.

Twilight turned her attention to the knife-wielding earth pony, who was advancing on Applejack. Twilight sprayed the figure with a fine pink mist; ignoring whatever effects it may have had, the enemy leapt out of the smoke and lunged at Applejack, who spun and bucked the enemy in the face and got knifed in the ankles for her trouble.

Applejack helplessly dropped and rolled in the grass, writhing in pain and gritting her teeth, trying not to scream. The masked pony bounded forward and sliced twice at Applejack's shoulders, the rapid-fire slashes cutting only fur. The enemy seemed to glare pointedly; Applejack snarled and defiantly kicked her in the shins. Staggering, the enemy feinted at Applejack's eyes; when Applejack lifted her hooves to protect her face, the enemy lifted both hooves high up above her head, clearly aiming for a double-stab straight into Applejack's gut.

Rarity parried the double thrust with her horn, appearing as if out of nowhere, her horn glowing with no spell in particular. A screech of metal on horn filled the air, and the foe did a backflip, jumping away to regroup. Rarity, wincing at the pain of two superficial grooves cut into her horn, got up on her hind legs, bringing one leg forward and defensively holding up her front hooves in a karate stance.

In the meantime, Twilight was shooting at the circling unicorn with energy arrows straight from her horn, but the erratic flight made it nearly impossible to hit her mark. "Applejack…" she said absently, turning to face her and wincing at the sight of her bleeding ankles. "Um, Applejack, can you throw me?"

Applejack stood up without the slightest mutter of complaint. "Brace yourself," she said, holding out a front hoof.

Twilight placed her own hoof atop Applejack's, and Applejack hurled her into the air. Twilight jumped with the momentum and cast a levitation spell on herself. From her new vantage point ten feet off the ground, she slowly began pursuing the unicorn, her straight horizontal and vertical maneuvers attempting to intercept the other's random swoops.

Rarity and the opponent sized each other up for several seconds, neither making the first move. Gilda landed on the ground alongside them, and the masked pony's head turned slightly to glance at her. That was all the incentive Rarity needed: she engaged, throwing out a punch that landed on the other pony's cheekbone, breaking through both mask and skin, leaving a wide tear in the mask and drawing blood.

Rarity followed with a downward chop, battering her opponent's skull. The foe came in with a knife strike, which Rarity deflected, slamming her forearm against the other's so the knife jabbed harmlessly off to the side.

She turned to smirk at Gilda. "Karate," she said smugly.

The foe jumped back, balancing her entire weight on one front hoof, swinging both of her hinds legs around to knock Rarity off of her hooves. In seconds, Rarity was flat on her back and the other was once again standing over her. Gilda leapt in, grabbing both of the pony's wrists as she tried to stab downward. The foe struggled and wriggled, and Gilda kicked her in the stomach, letting go at the same moment to send her staggering back.

Gilda grabbed the pony by the throat and pulled her closer, then punched her in the face, sending her sailing through the air. Gilda looked over her shoulder at the prone Rarity. "Totally not kung fu," she said dryly.

The knife-wielder stood up again, but Applejack came up behind her and clapped both of her hooves on the figure's ears.

"Aaaaagh!" the figure cried out.

Applejack's eyes widened. "I know that voice!"

The figure swung its knife around at Applejack, who twirled around and bucked her in the side, knocking her down to the ground. Ignoring the threat of the knives, Applejack yanked the figure's torn black leather mask off.

"You're… what?" Applejack said blankly. "I don't… that's not… Bon Bon?"

"Hey, AJ," Bon Bon drawled. "We never talk anymore."

"Then…?" Applejack looked up at the gliding unicorn, still in the midst of an intense game of chicken with Rainbow and Twilight.

"Maybe," Bon Bon replied, leaning back casually.

"This doesn't even… aaagggh…" Applejack brought a hoof to her temple. "Please tell me this is some weird misunderstanding."

"Well, unless you didn't get the bit where we're assassinating Imelda Largo, no, you were right on the money."

"Aaaaaa'ight then," Applejack muttered, rolling her eyes. "Gilda, hold her down."

"On it." Gilda wrapped her talons around Bon Bon's wrists, keeping them pinned to the ground.

"Twilight!" Applejack yelled into the air. "I think that's Lyra!"

"Lyra?" Twilight blurted. "What does that…?"

The masked unicorn responded with a bolt of lightning which hit Twilight, then jumped from her to Rainbow, leaving them both in jerking, midair convulsions. Twilight lost concentration on her levitation spell and tumbled through the air, barely catching herself before hitting the ground, floating once more.

Gilda had reflexively taken to the air to halt her fall, and had done so without letting go of Bon Bon. Twilight saw Bon Bon clearly, held up by her wrists, crucified and dangling and looking as smug as ever.

"Bon Bon…" Twilight said, shaking her head in disbelief. She gazed up in the air at what she was now certain was Lyra.

Lyra was shooting even bigger, more chaotic lightning bolts now, most of them seemingly aimed in the general direction of Rainbow Dash and Imelda's bubble in turn. Rainbow fought through the pain, finally managing to intercept her in the air and unleashing a barrage of punches, followed by a twirl with extended wings that knocked Lyra off of her own flying ribbon and sent her plummeting. No one bothered to prevent her fall as she landed on the ground with a heavy piff.

Twilight magically pulled off the figure's sculpted ivory mask, and was unsurprised to find that it was indeed Lyra, who levitated herself to a standing position.

Unexpectedly, Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy lunged in from two different directions and simultaneously punched Lyra in the jaw, knocking her flat onto her back again.

"It's not nice to assassinate people!" Pinkie said snippily.

"Yeah!" Fluttershy said sternly, without the slightest hint of irony.

"What the heck is this, Lyra?" Twilight demanded, walking toward her. "You too, Bon Bon. Just what do you think you're doing?"

"Oh, I'll tell you what this is," said Lyra, dramatically bounding to the top of Imelda's table. "It's about taking back what is ours! It's about upstarts knowing their place!" Energy built up in her horn, the unstable green aura growing in size every second. "My dear girls, this is only the beginning! We're gonna kick it up a notch! Leaving no witnesses, baby. We're going to take over the Snowdrop movie and manufacture it to carefully laid-out ACTUAL FILMMAKING GUIDELINES! And once we get the recognition we deserve… I'll have enough money to go on the best frickin'-frackin' human-hunting expedition this world's ever—"

Twilight shot a single tiny pink lightning bolt at Lyra, hitting her between the eyes and knocking her off the table. "Ugh," she scoffed. "Of all the ridiculous… so many other things I'd rather have been doing…"

Now on her back a third time, Lyra's horn sparked, a puff of magic leaving her with nothing but a face full of ash.

"Really?" she said in surprise. "Can't teleport out either? That's just silly…"

"Yeah, that's what the last guy who broke into this place said," Twilight said tiredly. "Me, I said the entire teleportation ward was a ridiculously unnecessary security measure in the first place, but apparently I was off the mark. Since when can you teleport?"

"I dunno, since when are you a mob enforcer?" Bon Bon drawled.

Largo appeared then, walking into the back lawn slowly and elegantly.

Twilight presented him with Lyra and Bon Bon, both of them held prisoner in her levitation aura, their limbs splayed. At the same time, she released Imelda from her protective bubble.

"Here they are, Mr. Largo," Twilight said. "It was these two who were after your daughter."

Largo examined them, his expression blank. "Who are they?"

"Lyra Heartstrings and Bon Bon," said Twilight, raising them higher into the air one by one. "They're a couple from Ponyville, showbiz types, apparently this whole thing was run by jealousy of your daughter for her participation in Princess Luna's project. It's become increasingly clear over the past couple of months that they're off-the-wall crazy, but I never imagined they'd do something like this…"

"Oh, this is just the beginning," Bon Bon taunted. "This is allll part of the plan, but you're gonna do your thing anyway 'cause you'd much rather play the hero than do what needs to be done."

Twilight ignored her completely. "So, Mr. Largo… I take it you being in your line of work, you wouldn't want the police being brought to your home for any reason ever, is that fair to say?"

"Mmm, yes, that is accurate," Largo chuckled.

"Well, in that case, I guess I'll leave these two to you, and you can… do whatever it is you do, be that locking them up, or chaining them to something heavy and throwing them in the—you know, I'm suddenly really uncomfortable about this whole arrangement. Why did I agree to this?"

Largo laughed. "Not to worry. I practically run this neighborhood, and you can't do that through fear and murder alone. Bad business. I have ways of keeping ponies out of my hair—things you don't have to be uncomfortable looking the other way about." He paused, then turned to Gilda. "Right?"

Gilda nodded, and Twilight sucked on her teeth for a moment. "All right then," she said decisively. "This is taken care of."

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

To the north, the changeling queen watched these events unfold in a magical projection being displayed from amid a tangle of thorns. "So…" Chrysalis said softly, "what do you think?"

Lyra and Bon Bon were there with her, in a gnarled grove of dark trees.

"Well… the mob boss thing was kind of an unexpected wrench," Bon Bon drawled. "Didn't really work out the way you said it would."

"Yeah, it's not exactly much of a removal from the public eye," Lyra added. "We're still mysteriously disappearing, basically."

"Basically," Bon Bon agreed. "And, I'd say if your evil changeling usses had actually succeeded at killing Imelda, that would have been something, but I guess that was too much to ask."

"Also, you still haven't been entirely clear on what it is you expect us to do…" Lyra muttered, drawing out every word in the sentence.

Chrysalis reared up and stomped her front hooves. The treetops tightened together, causing everything to go dark. Lyra and Bon Bon didn't even flinch.

"Display a bit of gratitude," Chrysalis hissed. "I went to quite a lot of trouble to stage this. Do you know many changelings I had to go through before I could find two who could absorb your memories and personalities without losing their minds?"

"I wanna say thirty?" Lyra said cheerfully.

Chrysalis scowled. "Yes. Thirty. I'm down thirty soldiers because of you two. Thirty on top of the thousands I had already lost. Are you going to make it worth my while or aren't you?"

The two glanced at each other, and nodded together. "Like we said, it all depends," said Bon Bon. "What do you want us to do?"

"The eggs in the nursery will hatch in a matter of months," Chrysalis said quietly. "And when they do, I'm going to need a plan."

"A plan?" said Lyra.

"A plan," Chrysalis confirmed.

"A plan?" said Bon Bon.

"A plan."

"A plan?" said Lyra.

"A—" Chrysalis did a double-take and glared at them. "Yes, a plan! A plan for how to raise them. To raise them into unthinking, brutish, ruthlessly effective warriors. Precise, efficient, and entirely reliable killing machines. I need an entire generation of those and I need somepony who knows how to go about it."

They looked at each other again and grinned broadly. "You came to the right family," Bon Bon said darkly.

"If there's anypony who knows how to raise children that way, there's… yeah," said Lyra.

"We'll take the job. Sounds fun."

"So I thought," said Chrysalis. "I've heard tales about your upbringing…"

Lyra and Bon Bon both shuddered simultaneously. "Ooooooh," they said in quavering voices.

"We… don't like that word," said Lyra, wincing.

"So I see," said Chrysalis. "It seems you live in the wrong world, my friends. I simply had to bring you into mine. The two of you are… sisters, aren't you?"

"What? No, we're cousins," said Lyra. "First cousins."

"Then again… eight generations of inbreeding," Bon Bon admitted. "From a genetic standpoint, we probably are sisters."

"Yeah…"

"Well, regardless, that was another thing that caught my attention," said Chrysalis, "aside from what I'd heard about your upbringing—"

"Oooh," they said, quivering.

"Really? Every time?"

"Sorry, go on," Lyra said, waving a hoof encouragingly.

"Well, I related to you. For I, myself, have been in a serious relationship with my brother for many years."

"Really?" said Bon Bon. "Gross."

"I guess it makes sense, though," said Lyra. "Isn't the entire hive like your children or something?"

"Ah, no, I'm not that kind of queen," said Chrysalis. "This colony was on this world for many generations before I was hatched and… gave the society my own spin."

"Coooool," said Lyra. "And when was that, like a hundred years ago?"

"I'm forty-five," said Chrysalis, irked.

"In my business, that's well over a hundred years," Lyra muttered.

"Let's get down to business," said Bon Bon. "What's in this for us?"

"Well, I won't kill you, for one," Chrysalis said brightly.

Bon Bon nodded. "That's a good place to start."

"It is! And don't worry, it doesn't end there. You'll have status in my order, more so than is afforded to most actual changelings. Depending on how effective your results are, I might promote you to a rank that even outstrips those of my own sisters."

"Can you do that?" said Lyra.

Chrysalis grinned, and all the trees around her did a little twirl, bathing her in sunlight. "I can do whatever I want."

"Because screw them!" Bon Bon said enthusiastically.

"Indeed." Chrysalis winked. "There's a catch… while you are in my service, I would like exclusive rights to be the one to feed on your rather powerful love for one another. Not enough to do you any harm, of course, but just to give me my fill. We'll make regular appointments to do that. If you happen to catch any other changeling draining your energy, report them to me immediately and I will see that they starve."

"Oh, you betcha," said Lyra. "So, hey, are you changelings really from another world?"

"Hmm? Why, yes, we're from the Sea of Stars. I've never seen the place myself, of course. Generations, as I said."

"Hmm, too bad. Still, another world… ever seen humans?"

Bon Bon rolled her eyes. "Oh, would you lay off on the humanology for one min—"

"The word is anthropology," Lyra snipped. "And have you?"

"Humans in the Sea of Stars?" Chrysalis pondered. "Can't say I've ever heard of such a thing."

"Hey, this means we get to work with Discord, right?" Bon Bon said excitedly, intentionally stamping out whatever Lyra had been intending to say next.

"Yes, indeed," said Chrysalis. "Discord."

He appeared in a puff of smoked, looking thoroughly peeved. "You just summoned me by accident, didn't you?" he said bitterly.

"Not in the slightest," Chrysalis lied smoothly. "I fully intended to bring you here at this moment and show off to our new allies. They asked about you."

Discord blinked blearily at the two ponies, as if he couldn't comprehend what he was looking at. "Lyra and Bon Bon? You recruited Lyra and Bon Bon? Of all the half-baked…"

"Of all the half-baked 'intelligence' you provided me about Ponyville," Chrysalis interrupted smugly, "what you said about these two caught my attention the most. So, yes, I recruited them."

"Why?" Discord demanded.

"Because… they know from experience how to raise a child to completely conform to one's expectations."

"Why?"

"Because I need that perfect army after the crippling blow that's been dealt to me. Especially after I boasted to the ponies that I would have it…"

"Why?"

"Because I am not turning my back on my designs for Equestria," Chrysalis snarled. "I will have it."

"Why?"

"Well, to prove that I keep my promises, among other—" She stopped, and glared at Discord. "I see what you're doing. Stop saying why."

Discord hesitated for only a moment before asking, "Wherefore?"

"Shake and bake," Chrysalis said pointedly.

Discord lifted a talon and sliced open his chest and stomach, spilling his guts all over the forest floor as usual. Resigned, he began to gather them up.

"Isn't asking questions you know the answers to a form of dishonesty?" Chrysalis said coldly.

"As it turns out, no," said Discord, picking up his intestine and casually twirling it. "Surprising, isn't it?"

"It is indeed," said Chrysalis. "Watch yourself if taking such a path in the future, or you might just force my hoof again and make me say 'shake and bake'."

Discord dropped the entrails in his hands and, his organs already spilled, simply pulled the cavity open further, screeching in pain and fury as he did so.

"Oops! Just did," Chrysalis said sweetly.

Bon Bon chuckled tonelessly. "That's pretty cool. Slices himself up every time you say that, huh? Can anypony do it? Shake and bake."

He glared at her as he began the process of healing himself.

"No, only me," said Chrysalis. "But I'll give you one go at it, what harm could that do? Discord, Bon Bon is going to say your trigger phrase and you will obey her just this once."

"Okaaaaay…" Discord said tiredly.

Chrysalis nodded. "Go right ahead, my dear."

"Shake and bake!" Bon Bon said eagerly.

He did it again, causing Chrysalis and Bon Bon to burst into hysterical laughter. The pain caused him to fall to his knees against his best efforts, and he looked up at Chrysalis pitifully. "How much longer do you suppose that's going to go on?"

Chrysalis pretended to give it deep thought. "Until it stops being funny, I suppose."

"So, never," Bon Bon added. They laughed together again.

"Oh, I definitely made the right decision," said Chrysalis. "You two and I are going to get along splendidly."

Lyra slugged Bon Bon on the shoulder. "You charismatic little mofo." Her horn glowed—the real Lyra had an aura of gold rather than the dark green that was universal to all changelings—and produced a quill and parchment in a puff of smoke. "So, how's about we start making plans for this unstoppable, unfetterable army, eh lover?"

Chrysalis looked around. "So… there have been some setbacks, there's no denying that. Twilight Sparkle and company escaped us, and they took the hive with them when they did, but… the farther you fall, the more impressive it is when you climb back up. These two lovely ladies will be training the next generation for me. I have the almighty Discord on my side whether he likes it or not—which he doesn't, which is simply… delightful. And I even found the time to pick up an adopted son and heir along the way! Isn't that right, Prince Blueblood?"

"Sure as hell is, Queen Chrysalis." The unicorn prince stepped out of the trees, Cocoon walking at his side.

"Really?" Discord squawked as he mended his torn chest. "This guy?"

Chrysalis chuckled. "We met when I was impersonating his cousin. Didn't think much of him, until he turned up wandering through the forests up here in the north. Apparently, he ran away from home looking for me."

Blueblood nodded. "I remember wondering when Cadance had suddenly become good at being a royal. When you revealed yourself at the wedding, it all made sense. A queen! We don't have those in Equestria."

"Heir, said you?" Cocoon inquired.

"Yes, my heir," Chrysalis confirmed. "I do not permit newly-hatched queens in this colony to live, you know that. I need some sort of heir, now don't I?" She addressed Blueblood. "It's a daunting task, being in charge of a race to which you do not belong."

"Oh, not at all," said Blueblood. "I'm just happy to be in charge. It's what I spent my whole life learning how to do."

"Well, try not to be that confident," she told him. "I'm sure many, many changelings would be happy to murder you solely for being a pony, much less a pony who's been given a position I've refused to give to real changelings."

"Uh…"

"You are despicable," Discord sneered. "Living things are just pieces in a board game to you, aren't they?"

Chrysalis looked at him incredulously. "Well, isn't that interesting. I'm not often to type to say 'that's rich coming from you', but it truly is. That is quite rich coming from you."

He slouched nervously, wringing his hands.

"SHAKE AND—" she boomed.

Discord whimpered and shrank further.

"Heh heh heh. Gotcha." Chrysalis winked at Discord, then turned to Blueblood again. "Fear not, my son, I think I might have a solution. There's some ancient occult stuff I've picked up, yes…" She gazed off into the forest, in the general direction of what remained of her hive and colony. "They could come to see you as one of them… indeed, you could be better at being one of them than any of them. I'll work on that. A whole new you. Prince… Blackblood."

"Ooooh," the prince said appreciatively. "I do like the sound of that."

"Mm, I'm glad. Disperse, all of you. We all have our own individual destinies to pursue, and the best part of that is that they all lead to my destiny."

They all indeed dispersed, back into the unnaturally dark forests of the north, in every direction. Discord slithered through the air in pursuit of Cocoon, waiting until he had put plenty of distance between himself and Chrysalis before catching up.

"Hey, Cocoon!" he called, stepping upon the ground and raising his talon in greeting.

"Yes?" Cocoon said suspiciously.

"Do…" Discord paused, wringing his tail nervously as he spoke with great care. "Do you… do you wanna… hang out?" He winced, his eyes shut tight.

Cocoon looked him over. "Why?" he said, just as carefully.

Discord grumbled with annoyance, lifting a paw to squeeze the bridge of his snout. "I've come to terms with a few things," he said tersely. "One of them is that I miss friendship. So I'm offering that to you."

"Friendship one, in I and you?" Cocoon scoffed. "Approve not would Chrysalis Queen."

"I suspect not," Discord agreed. "You don't have to do everything she says, you know. I thought you were her king, her brother-lover-guy, her eee… her eeeee… hrmm." He grinned, baring his fang in a sinister smirk. "I can't even say it. She says you're her equal… but after all that I've seen, I cannot. What does that tell you?"

Cocoon was silent, his expression vacant as always. After waiting several seconds for a reply that never came, Discord gently reached for Cocoon's face, stroking it with a single finger. "There's still a little welt on your face from the last time she hit you," he whispered, smiling again. "I'm just saying. Do you want to hang out or don't you?"

"…More talk will we," Cocoon said firmly. "Speak you which of matter, this pursue will we." He turned, and purposefully walked off. "Come," he called over his shoulder.

"Hrmm, that's not quite hanging out, but it'll do in a pinch," said Discord, bringing his hands together in silent applause to himself.

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Endnotes

As I'm sure I've mentioned, if you go to my DeviantArt page, which is linked on my profile, there's some fun RFE supplementary material. It's in-progress, it's practically abandoned, I really hope to return to it someday… but it's there. Even if you don't choose to go there, there's one thing I wanted to mention which I feel is all but necessary for enjoying the story—when you read, imagine that Lyra is voiced by Ellen DeGeneres, and Bon Bon by Jane Lynch. That's what I hear in my head when writing the pair of them, even before I decided to be weird and subversive with them. There's a complete fantasy cast on my DA somewhere, but that tidbit specifically… it's important, I feel. Wink!

Of course, as far as I know, nobody actually likes my unique take on Lyra and Bon Bon, so there you have it. In the meantime, I need to figure out if my recent decisions—that Chrysalis is a mere 45 years old and has never seen the Sea of Stars—are contradicted anywhere else in the past or future, and if so, to change it. I originally assumed she was centuries old, as I'd established that queen changelings live for many centuries longer than a normal changeling does… but then I remembered, oh right, she has sisters. And, you know, Cocoon. So, yeah, that doesn't work.