Chapter 67

3-2-15, 10:19 P.M.

Jeremy browsed around on his laptop, waiting for the wi-fi signal to come back online – for some reason, student wi-fi connection really wasn’t all that emphasized at his college. Sighing with irritation at the lack of Internet connection, he idly doodled for a few minutes until it came back on.

They had quickly turned him back into a human following their second wild night together, and discerned that apart from a few hours of unconsciousness and potential nausea there were no detrimental side effects. Celestia had reported afterward that the doctors had received odd results from the most recent pregnancy test on her, and were retesting. Luna’s had been a failure, and she had sadly expressed that she “would have to wait an entire week to try again”. Chrysalis, meanwhile, reported that the queen egg was still as healthy as ever. Jeremy, remembering an earlier conversation, had asked her how the egg had gestated so incredibly quickly. Chrysalis had replied: “Remember how it goes faster if there’s a lot of love available? Well, the rest of the hive… ‘made a donation’, so to speak.” Jeremy couldn’t stop laughing for a while after that.

He looked up a few minutes later, only to notice that the Internet connection was still down. Sighing, he was about to go back to his drawings when a phone call distracted him. As soon as he picked it up, Celestia began speaking, sounding very tense.

“Jeremy, get over here right now,” she demanded. “Things have just taken a turn for the worse.”

Jeremy gave a short confirmation grunt, and hurried through the portal, hanging up and dropping the phone a little too harshly on the desk as he left.

Fairly racing through the corridors, Jeremy considered his options. He did have that dimensional void full of weapons permanently attached to him now, at Luna’s insistence – in her words, he should always have both the suit and the guns, but preferably the guns. Still, he’d rather exercise his newfound pacifist tendencies and see if there was a peaceful solution – which, when it came to Equestrian politics, was usually a quite simple yes-or-no answer.

Finally, he took the stairs three at a time into the throne room to reveal… nothing. Nopony was present save a few Night Guards, who saluted him. One immediately trotted over, and Jeremy recognized this one as Glowfire, a guard who according to Luna was very quickly making her way through the ranks.

“Down in the Courtroom, sire. And do hurry,” Sergeant Glowfire admonished.

Jeremy grimly nodded and sped off, glad that his pajamas allowed him to stretch his legs to their limits.

Jeremy had only been in this courtroom a rare few times, way back when: Once when Celestia had interrogated Chrysalis, and once when she had threatened him. Nonetheless, he wasn’t about to forget the location – say what he might about forgiveness, but the thought of possessed-Celestia’s infuriated stare wasn’t about to leave his mind any time soon. Forgoing subtlety, he flung open the door to find Chrysalis, hoofcuffed and levitated by magic by a few royal guardsponies, who were grouped with what looked like half the upper class, Prince Blueblood noticeably among them. Celestia and Luna were there too, looking relieved at his presence but still generally distraught.

Celestia was saying something, and Jeremy quickly tuned in. “-for the last time, in the name of the Sun, stand down!” she half-shouted at the guards, who flinched but held their ground.

A noble stepped forward. “We are sorry, Princess, but we cannot do that – this is by nature outside of even your jurisdiction.”

Jeremy stepped forward menacingly. “And what about mine?”

The noble, noticing his relatively giant form compared to the average pony, took a step back, but fixed him with a steely glare. “Not even your influence will get her out of this one, Prince,” the noble replied calmly. “This is a debate that only those outside your little herd will be allowed to discuss.”

Jeremy quirked an eyebrow, trying to maintain his professional side. “And what discussion is that?” he asked.

Prince Blueblood, to Jeremy’s mild surprise, stepped forward and answered. “Well, to put it bluntly, we think this changeling queen has been leading you on,” he answered, sounding surprisingly polite. Jeremy recalled Celestia telling him something about finally putting her hoof down on Blueblood’s behavior after hearing of the incident with Rarity, but elected to keep listening to the unicorn. “After all, this is all very sudden. A herd, with two princesses and an alien? Marriage, after just one and a half years of even knowing each other? You have to admit, mind control is a fitting story,” Blueblood pressed.

All waited with bated breath to hear Jeremy’s reaction. Jeremy, for his part, merely sighed and rolled his eyes. “Alright, I’ll admit that is a potential explanation. However, given how little we understand about changeling mind control and the unreliability of our present source, you will have to admit that this is an unresolvable and unfalsifiable claim. So, unless you have some way of telling, I would suggest that the benefit of the doubt be considered.”

Blueblood shook his head angrily. “Of course, you’re quite correct – we know little of the precise workings of changeling magics, and have no definitive way of proving this claim one way or the other. However, we do have enough evidence to make our position known.” Prince Blueblood began pacing back and forth across the courtroom. “Number one: You turned around very quickly from being her worst enemy to her best friend. You even directly defied Princess Celestia, possessed though she was, and risked becoming an Equestrian fugitive.”

Jeremy winced: It was a solid point.

“Number two: She had ample time to influence you, considering the time you spent in her hive and working on her interests. Which brings us to number three: One of the first projects of your department was the so-called “Love Generator”, a device built specifically for changeling use. While this was promoted as an attempt at peaceful relations, the official blueprints were given to Queen Chrysalis’ hive a scant while later, meaning they could-“ here he fixed Chrysalis with a glare, which she returned in full force – “withdraw all support and attack again, this time with enough love energy to easily and completely overwhelm us. So, our motivation for this claim is not only the integrity of our Princesses, but the overall safety of our nation – which, given… previous incidents, is very seriously called into question.”

Jeremy remained outwardly calm, but inside he was very nervous – while false, these were some extremely good arguments, and he would need to come up with some serious counter-evidence. “Alright, first off, let’s address the issue about the Love Generator. You bring up a good point, mentioning the lack of blueprint security – but you’re forgetting something. The initial blueprint released was fake – I had specifically altered it to not work, and gave it to the changelings in case of the exact scenario you described. The real blueprint, to my knowledge, was only released after my own death.”

Jeremy paused after saying that – it felt very odd to describe his demise in the past tense. Shaking it off, he resumed his counterargument.

“In addition, the real blueprint contained a hidden remote detonator that, when activated, would destroy the entire machine, even the metal casing. This was delivered in secret to Princess Luna. That, then, is conclusive evidence both that I was not under her spell at the time, and that she could not have pulled off a reinvasion as easily as you think.”

Blueblood nodded hesitantly, and Jeremy sensed success close at hand. He thought of other reasons, but Prince Blueblood interrupted him. “Although, come to think of it, that would make for an excellent cover story. Trick you into believing you’d have an advantage, only to be mind-controlling you the entire time in order to extract your love – that certainly sounds like something she would have done.” Chrysalis remained silent at the accusation, though Jeremy could tell her eyes fairly burned with fury. She hadn’t been this angry since Ethan had attempted reformation.

Wait… why had he thought of Ethan? Jeremy slowly became aware of a long-drawn out yell, and it was growing louder. Moments later, Ethan burst into the room, shouting a war cry as he entered only to stop as he surveyed the scene. His hair was caked with ice, and he looked freezing, tired, and out of breath, his normally curly hair tied back in a windswept, face-covering variation of a ponytail. Without hesitation, he hurriedly choked out what he had to say.

“Chrysalis… is not… hypnotizing them… and I… can… prove… it…!” he panted.

Prince Blueblood had taken a step back in shock at his wild appearance, but quickly recovered. “Very well, let us hear your evidence, then,” he inquired.

Ethan took a few deep breaths before answering. “If Chrysalis had been mind-controlling the lot of them, she’d never have tolerated my return, because if she were still evil she would have just offed me quietly. She hated me, wanted me dead as soon as she looked at me again, but the others stopped her – something they couldn’t possibly have done under her spell. Furthermore, there’s no reason for her to feed off their love by force or mind-control, since she already has the love machine and they already accept her for who she is – that’s an Occam’s Razor, if you will, simplest explanation wins and all that. Finally, if she were still evil after all this time, she would have done something by now – forced the populace into being her personal slaves, or some such. She certainly wouldn’t be satisfied with just the Princesses and Jeremy if she didn’t truly love them.”

Prince Blueblood looked at him askance, and Jeremy wondered if he was aware of Ethan’s full history. To his surprise, the answer was apparently yes, as Prince Blueblood turned away and directed the royal guards. “Release her,” he ordered, to the evident surprise of everyone present. “I have heard enough.”

The guards gently lowered Queen Chrysalis to the floor, her hoofcuffs disappearing off of her in small flashes of light. Prince Blueblood tensely approached Princesses Celestia and Luna, and bowed low. “Auntie, I must humbly apologize,” he directed at Celestia, who appeared taken aback. “I was only acting in your and Equestria’s best interest, and I will gladly accept that I was wrong.” He turned to Jeremy. “I regret dragging you out of bed for this, but our Princesses here specifically requested that you be allowed to attend, and I was not about to deny them after the recent escapades.” Jeremy grimaced as he remembered the debate about childbirth and his temporary ‘banishment’, but dropped Blueblood a solemn nod.

Finally, the unicorn prince turned to Chrysalis, who surveyed him with distaste. “Once again, I must humbly apologize. Your past may be villainous, but you are quite clearly no longer the criminal you once were, and it was not my place to question that.”

To everyone in the room’s surprise, Chrysalis shook her head. “You had every right. My kind have long been known for trickery, betrayal and deceit, and I was aware that the transition between fear and respect would be a daunting one. I only hope that this serves as a good stepping point for future interactions between our two species… and a reminder that we are not as terrible as we are made out to be.”

Prince Blueblood nodded once more, and with that, the most unusual session of the Equestrian High Court in recent history was dismissed. The nobles slowly filed out, amicably chatting amongst themselves – try as he might, Jeremy couldn’t pick out any dissent in their words, and was extraordinarily glad they had listened to reason. He turned to Ethan.

“Nice entrance – I’m not sure I would have won that argument without you. Who let you know something was going on, anyway?”

Chrysalis walked over. “To be honest, I contacted Myocia through a mutual hivemind drone as soon as I was arrested, and requested help. She must have sent him over.”

Ethan confirmed this with a nod and a wink. “Flew me over here the second she heard, all the way from the Northern Wastes. Took about ten minutes or so – the drone I got a ride from is a really fast flier, I think she’s a spy in the Wonderbolts.”

There was a sigh from the other end of the chamber, and they all turned around to reveal a single changeling drone, who with a flash of purple fire transformed into a pony with a Wonderbolt uniform.

“Thanks for ruining my position, chitincracker,” she accused Ethan, who stiffened with alarm as he realized his slip.

Queen Chrysalis blushed green at the changeling-esque insult, which made Jeremy think it was quite a serious one. Princess Celestia looked at Jeremy, who shrugged, and then back to the purple-shelled changeling.

“I won’t tell if you don’t,” Celestia replied, and the changeling went wide-eyed.

“I… uh… thanks!” she hurriedly exclaimed before turning tail and running out of the courtroom.

“That… would probably bear mentioning to the nobles, though… Wouldn’t want them getting the wrong idea,” Jeremy muttered.

Ethan nervously laughed. “Yeah… that was my fault…”

Queen Chrysalis then turned to Jeremy, a small smile on her face. “Nice defense – if I ever need a lawyer, I’ll know who to call,” she complimented him, and he gave her an embarrassed grin.

“Wait… did you pull a Pheonix Wright on them?” Ethan asked, now grinning for an entirely different reason. Jeremy looked at him in surprise, before snorting in amusement.

“Aw, dammit, I totally should’ve shouted “Objection!” I had the perfect opportunity, too…” he trailed off, and Luna chuckled. “Perhaps next time.”

Ethan quickly departed to find the drone and hopefully get a ride back to Queen Myocia, and Jeremy was sent back to bed by his wives – but not before a hug, kiss, and a “well done” from each of them. A wide smile was on his face as he walked through the corridors of the palace– he had solved a situation without any conflict whatsoever, and had hopefully ended for good any public-relations problems of his romantic life. Hopefully, he could now look forward to raising his kids without any fear of public outcry, or political scandal, and Jeremy kept this newfound victory buoyant in his chest as he made his merry way back to his world.

He opened the closet to find his roommate already curled up in bed, the lights off, and casually stepped out and got into bed. It was after midnight, and Jeremy was initially concerned about his lack of sleep on a school night – he was one of those rare few oddballs who adhered to a strict sleep schedule even in college. However, he remembered with relief that classes started later tomorrow, and comfortably drifted off to sleep.

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