Well, it's been a little while since the last update and I figured with everything going on right now that a new chapter is exactly what you brilliant people deserve!

And today, we begin with a little more insight into what Celestia and Luna are like behind closed doors. Figured it made sense to give them more character. And yes, for the last time they ARE NOT WHAT YOU SEE ON TV, IT IS AN ALTERNATE UNIVERSE! THEREFORE, ALTERNATE PERSONALITIES.

Ahem, anyway.

Begin!

Family

Celestia Pov

In my long, long life. I've learned very often that one can sometimes not get the thing they want, no matter how hard they try or how badly they want it.

Sometimes you just cannot win…and in those moments, what you choose to do, to sacrifice in order to achieve your goal becomes an afterthought. Something only truly reflected on when the battle is over and you stand tall, looking down at those you stepped on to get your way.

Sometimes you feel sad, sometimes you feel righteous.

Sometimes…you feel nothing at all.

I had done many a thing I am not proud of. My past is never something I tend to look back on and smile about, so often am I haunted by the piles of corpses that I left behind.

I often have to remind myself that all I did, I did without choice, in the name of Equestria and in the name of peace. All those I stepped on to achieve it became necessary sacrifices, unfortunate…but necessary.

But I never thought I'd have to step on my own family to let justice prevail.

"Never!"

The room seemed to stand still as that word left Cadance's lips, for never in all the time I knew her had she ever sounded so disgusted.

And to be fair, I couldn't blame her. It went against everything she was as a Princess.

"Cadance, come now," I soothed, noticing her eye twitch before her disturbed expression became fixated on me. "We've searched for weeks and this IS the best solution, all the others were either too slow or cost us too much."

"Too much!" she spat, anger clear as day on her face. "No, they would deny us our usual strength for a week at most. But this…this is disgusting, I can't believe you're even considering it!"

"What choice do we have, Cadance?" Twilight asked quietly, eyes darting between the two of us. "We could try the Galmora Crystals, but I don't believe they'll be able to handle our combined magic. They'd shatter and the backlash could cause us irreparable damage, not even to say what they could do to Richard."

"And the alternative is even worse!" Cadance cried, looking at Twilight as if seeing her for the first time. "It would destroy everything he is!"

"For only a few moments, Cadance!" I interjected, the mare swinging her incredulous face in my direction. "It'll take who is he now, everything he's become and wipe it, and then it will restore him as he was a year ago."

"You can't be certain of that," she whispered, looking at the arcane symbols decoration the ritual circle with a certain degree of fear. "This isn't just transformative magic, it's time magic too. There's no telling what it could do to him beyond your goal. It could regress him into a baby, or age him to death. What would you do then?"

She shook her head and glared at the both of us. "Even if it does work perfectly, you're still going to erase who he is. It's not just memory erasure, it'll be like…like he never experienced any of it to begin with."

Something flicked on in my mind, and suddenly I realized why she was so against this.

"Ah." Cadance looked at me and seemed to wilt at my hard gaze. "You're against it because he'll lose any of the time…the love he had with the Changeling. That'll he'll lose who he is, is secondary. It's that he'll lose his love for that creature, that's what concerns you the most."

"So what if it is," she replied, her tone low and angry. "It's abominable, what you're suggesting. It's against everything I am…I can't go through with this, I won't."

"I'm afraid that you have no choice, Cadance."

My heart ached as I turn to the left and watch my little sister walk slowly, painfully into the room. Almost immediately my eyes are drawn to the large, nasty scar covering almost the entirety of her barrel.

Luna's eyes travelled from Pony to Pony, before settling on Cadance and narrowing slightly.

"I am still far too weak to participate in this ritual," Luna said, her hard eyes never leaving Cadance, the mare in question meeting her gaze for but a moment before turning to the ground. "That creature's magic stops mine from healing me. It will fade in time, but until it does I cannot do more than lift a cup without causing myself pain. So yes Cadance, you will do this. Because I cannot and the ritual requires three with strong magic."

Cadance looked at her and down and then up again so quickly I feared she would hurt her neck.

"I…I-I can't do this, it's…I can't!"

"Then I sincerely hope you're ready to face the consequences," Luna said, her cold tone clearly causing Cadance discomfort. "Tell me, do you truly understand what will happen should we leave them unchecked?"

"They'll…they'll have children, lots of them," Cadance replied, her fear of the Changelings clear for all to see as she trembled.

"Yes…yes they will," Luna agreed, her tone still cold, still unfeeling.

I knew what was coming, but I knew that Cadance needed to hear it. And I was too soft, too caring to hurt her heart like this…but Luna wasn't. In truth, Luna didn't really care about much besides me, her night, and herself.

The moon hadn't changed her, in fact from what she told me, it'd felt more like a night's dream than a thousand years of imprisonment. She was the same Pony she was from before she was corrupted.

Cold, hard, and brutally honest…and cruel at times too, a trait that took me centuries to lose myself.

"But they will do more than simply invade, or start a war," Luna continued, walking over ever so slowly, her mere presence doing more than enough to make Cadance back away. "Did you know that in the last war we had, the Changelings were responsible for a mass kidnapping of stallions."

"W-What are you…what d-do you mean?"

"They stole stallions, Cadance, droves of them. Any male they could see they took back to their hive and corrupted them."

Luna's voice took on an angry edge and I couldn't blame her. I had lost the one stallion I cared for the most to them too. It had been forbidden, a romance in the dark…but my first and one that meant everything to me.

And then it was stolen, he was stolen and…

"Corrupted?" Twilight asked, curiosity clear as she walked forward, cleverly putting herself slightly in front of a rather shaken Cadance. "What exactly do you mean by that? Surely they cannot transform a stallion into one of them, I believed that only a Queen could do that, and only once at that."

"They did not need to transform the body to corrupt the mind, Twilight," I explained softly, everypony turning to look at me. "It began quietly at first, but then stallions began disappearing rapidly. Any stallion of sufficient age was taken."

"Sufficient age?" she asked, the gears turning. "You mean…"

"Past or during puberty, yes," I answered. "Though we didn't have a word for it at that time, back then it was simply any stallion who…um."

"Any stallion who could fuck a mare and give her a foal," Luna cut across, rolling her eyes at Twilight's gasp. "Honestly sister, it's a word. Why have you turned it into a word to be ashamed of?"

"I didn't, they did," I muttered, before shaking my head and continuing. "As Luna crudely put it, once a stallion could give a mare a foal, they were deemed of sufficient age to be taken."

"Taken for what?"

Luna and I looked at each other, memories long past coming to the forefront of my mind.

"We never found out exactly what they did," Luna explained, narrowing her eyes angrily in thought. "Though it was obvious that sex was involved. Any stallion recovered from their hive would go insane after a time, crying out for their new children, their new mates."

Disgusted at the thought, Luna spat on the ground and stamped on it, wincing as the backlash caused her evident pain. She then turned and glared at Cadance, an almost cruel smile on her muzzle.

"If you do not help us now, then this will happen to your husband." She then looked to Twilight. "Your brother. They will take him and you will never get the stallion you know and love back, even if he is found and recovered."

Standing tall, her wings spread out in a rather impressive display of her strength, Luna looked at Cadance one last time.

"So make your choice, Cadance. Help us and save not only our race, but your husbands love for you. Or run and hide, and lose him anyway knowing that as our race begins to die out that it was YOU who chose to abandon it…out of some misplaced sense of morality in the one time of your life that you needed to ignore it."

Cadance said nothing, clearly very close to tears as she watched Luna turn and leave the ritual chamber. I wanted nothing more than to comfort her in that moment, but knew that if I did…

And so I said nothing, did nothing and walked out as well. Following the link between Luna and I until I spotted her standing atop a balcony, peering down dispassionately at Canterlot.

I stood beside her, watching Canterlot as a familiar pull tugged within me and I looked to the sun, my horn aglow as I pulled, Luna's glowing in tow as she too pulled and the moon replaced it.

Silence followed…

"They never took husbands," I said, watching as a small smile appeared on her face. "And only a couple dozen were taken, not droves."

"Sometimes a small exaggeration is what is needed to give one that push," she replied, her smile a grin as she looked at me. "I read that letter you attempted to blackmail Richard and his creature with. I must admit that I found myself disappointed at how terrible at blackmail you've become over the years."

"I was never good at blackmailing, that was your forte."

Luna chuckled and gingerly covered my back with her left wing. "I know. I'm disappointed, but not surprised."

"What would you have done?" I asked, genuinely curious.

"I wouldn't have sent such a ridiculous letter," she laughed, a truly pleasing sound so rarely heard. "He was a creature of no magic, nor one of any resistance or knowledge of. I would have entered his dreamscape and subconscious and filled his every dream, his every wondering thought with you. Until in the end all he could have thought of was you, perhaps in certain attire or rather flexible positions."

I blushed and blinked at the simplicity of her scenario…and then chuckled as I realized how easily it could have been if I'd just confided in her to begin with.

"After that I would have recommended you invite him back to your chambers on the pretence of discussing his contributions," she continued, smirking at my rapidly reddening face. "Of course after perhaps months of dreaming of nothing but you, it would be very easy to seduce him into night he'd never forget."

"I wish I hadn't sent you off on diplomacy," I grumbled, ignoring her rather undignified snort. "After centuries of putting it off, I could've been getting a good fuck months ago."

"A very good fuck," Luna agreed, grinning at me. "Tis nice to hear you speak properly sister, speech nowadays is simply far too polite." She paused for a moment and then smirked at me. "By the by, did you happen to…see what Richard is carrying?"

"Carrying?" I asked, perplexed for all of a second before I realized what she meant. "Oh…well, yes. I've maybe peaked a time or two when he came to contribute."

"I'm jealous, I never had the time," she grumbled. "Is he sufficient?"

"Very."

"Nice."

For a time we simply stood there, and for a time I basked in the long forgotten joy that was my sister.

But such joys never last.

"Are we close to finding him?" Luna asked quietly, her tone hard, cold.

"Him, or her?" I asked knowingly, wincing at the rage on her face. "Sister you cannot seek her out, even if we do find her. You're too…you're in no shape to fight."

"I am aware of that," she snapped, gritting her teeth as her eyes danced with something merciless. "I don't need my magic to make that creature suffer."

"We don't do that anymore, Luna," I snapped back, my tone harsh enough to make her back away, surprise on her face at the heat within it. "It's a vile act that should have never happened. Regardless of how much I despised Naerx."

"You direct your anger at me, Tia," Luna sneered, all previous levity forgotten. "But lest you forget that it was you who told me to carry on. It was you who sat there for hours as the court watched me fuck that stallion into insanity. You did not tell me to stop, you did not silence their screams, you did not stop the court from indulging themselves as they watched on and began fucking each other. Despise the act if you will, but do not believe yourself an innocent witness."

She turned and walked away before I could think of anything to say.

But then again…I didn't know what I could.

Chrissy Pov

The long forgotten Queen seemed to gradually regain her previously bright mood in what felt like hours after she'd shown us her past. It was somewhat a façade of course, for even without my full range of feeling, I could sense her sadness, her rage…

It quelled beneath the surface; I could only imagine how long it had stewed away there before we'd met.

When Richard and I awoke from the great hive mind, it was to my utter surprise that not a single thing seemed to have happened to us. We were still in the same positions in which we'd fallen asleep. And yet something felt off, as if we hadn't only been in the place for a night.

And as Naerx had later deigned to inform me, I was right. The both of us had spent weeks recovering in there

Three whole weeks in what felt like hours.

"Richard's magic needed time to heal, Chrysalis," she told me, her transparent form standing out from my old, black chambers. "It was fractured and corrupted from his hatred and that accursed dome. And as for you…well, I didn't think it'd be pleasant for you to wait so long for him to wake up."

She wasn't wrong, the concept of waiting a day or two for him to wake up was unpleasant, let alone three weeks.

"What do we do now then?" Richard asked, arms crossed impatiently as he looked at Naerx.

It surprised me that despite everything he'd seen and now knew he could do, I could still feel his wonder as he took in her ghostly body, not to mention the distinct discomfort from not having any clothing on his own.

'He'll grow used to it in time, he doesn't need clothing to keep warm anymore.'

"You said that you wanted us to help kill those two cunts," he continued, an uncertainty to his tone. "But I'm going to be completely real here and admit straight out that I have no bloody clue how to even start."

Naerx smiled at him slyly before looking back to me. "Well for a start, I'd suggest working on how to control your magic. Chrysalis here should be more than happy to help you with that."

The way she said my full name again irked me, I was too used to everyone calling my Chrissy and to hear it again was…irritating.

"She's not wrong, Richie," I acquiesced, turning to face my lover and smiling as our eyes met. "When the mating dance is complete and the change is done, the Queen is supposed to show her King how his new form works."

"His new form?" I could taste the cheekiness before I saw his sly grin. "Is that what it is?"

"Well…" I drawled, swaying my way over slowly and grinning as I sensed his reaction. "It is a rather handsome form…rather dangerous too. You'll need someone to show you how it all…works."

Naerx chuckled somewhere behind me before fading away, but I didn't care. The things I'd seen were thrown to one side, forgotten in the steadily heated moment as I could feel the neglected instinct rising up, calling for him to join with me and share his love, as I would share mine with him.

And as he held my face with his hands and pulled me close, all thoughts left me bar that very one, to share and heal him with a love that was for him and him alone.

It may have taken a while, but lying together atop my…our mossy bed, breathing heavily and whispering sweet nothings as I realized how happy we were basking in each other's emotions, I found myself wishing it'd taken longer.

Training him on how to use him magic was something I was secretly dreading. The sheer amount of power he had held the last time he used it was immense, and terrifyingly dangerous. No changed being could have held such power without horrible, life changing consequences.

Yet all it did to Richard was make him have a three week nap, and I had no idea why.

Still I had to train him, and where else to begin but on what exactly our magic was.

"Our magic is not like that of a Unicorn, Richie," I began, watching as he nodded for me to continue. "They use mana, something every one of them has stored deep within themselves. Think of it like a bubble, and in each bubble in each Unicorn, there is a blue liquid that for this scenario, represents mana. Are you following?"

He grinned wryly. "Just about, yeah. Unicorns mana is held in a bubble inside them."

"It's not a bubble, Richie," I giggled. "But think of it as one for this lesson. Now as I was saying, every Unicorn has a bubble filled with mana. We don't have that, instead what we have is something more akin to...let's say a gaping hole."

"A gaping hole?" His eyebrow quirked up so quickly I almost missed it. "Kinky."

"Shut up," I deadpanned, smiling all the same. "The hole doesn't replenish itself like a bubble would, instead it needs to be filled up by the emotions of others. The most powerful of which are love, anger, envy, and despair. Each of these have their own flavours and will fill up the hole faster than the other, with love being the most fulfilling, followed by anger, envy and despair. Other emotions fill it up as well, but not to the same degree."

"And if we can't fill it up with emotions?"

"Then we die," I deadpanned, quietly amused at his surprise. "Not right away mind you, the hole will eat your body from the inside first, consuming whatever it can take from flesh and organs. But getting to that state is something I promise will never happen to you, or me come to think of it."

"How can you be so sure?" he asked, fully focused on the lesson now.

I smiled and stroked his face lovingly. "Because we have each other, and our emotions, our love for one another will feed us endlessly. Emotion isn't like physical sustenance, Richie. It's limitless, and for as long as we love the other, it will never run out."

"Never?"

I kissed him softly and whispered...

"Never."

He was my mate, my King, my lover and so much more.

We were all we had left. I had no children, but I had him. He had even less...but he had me.

It was the start of something, something small that in time could grow large, greater than ever before. We could be greater, we could even grow to have a...

"What's funny?" Richard asked, a smile on his face as he clearly felt my brief bout of euphoria.

"Nothing hon," I replied, kissing him deeply but briefly. "Just thinking about the future, that's all."

"Our grimdark future of possible death?" he snarked, grinning at me. "Cheery thought that, can see why you're so happy about-"

I rolled my eyes and swatted him on the nose, enjoying the rather cute way it scrunched up.

"I was just thinking...well, I don't want to come across all crazy lady on you. But..."

Clearly sensing my hesitation, my nervousness, Richard dropped his grin and cupped my face softly. "Hey, what's wrong. What's the matter, did I do something?"

"No, of course not sweetie," I soothed, nuzzling his nose. "I should have told you more before the change, but I was so weak and tired that it didn't occur to me at the time."

"You couldn't help it, you were starving yourself because of me," he replied, a sour bitterness upon my feelers.

"And I'd do it again in a heartbeat," I said, surprise upon his face as I told him. "You are worth all the pain in the world, Richard. I wish...I wish I could explain just how important you are, how much you mean to me."

I looked at him, at his face, felt his love for me as he smiled.

And suddenly the question became easy.

"Richie, what do you think about starting a family?"

And that'll do for now, a little of the Princesses and a little of Chrissy and Richard to tide you over during this pandemic.

Remember, stay safe, stay indoors and for fucks sake, wash your damn hands!

Stay snuggly :D