Equestria Blackest Night: Cadence Love And Hate

Star Sapphire Queen Fluttershy looked at the crystal cocoon at the base floor of the new castle her Star Sapphires had made in her honor. She couldn't stop blushing about it. Fluttershy had never wanted to be a leader. But now she was one. All the Star Sapphire looked to her for advice and decisions. She HATED attention, she had always been an introvert. But this wasn't a career she could escape from like she had when she had been a model.

Peewee's mother. Little Strongheart. Cheerilee. Cadence. The Ursa Major. And the doctors and parents she had recruited across Equestria to act local protectors of their loved ones. They were to follow their heart after all.

Queen Fluttershy's castle gave her a perfect view of the fortress Red Lantern Lord Rainbow Dash had converted her cloud house into. She knew Twilight had expanded her basement to act as a center of operations for her Yellow Lanterns. She wondered what Applejack and Rarity were doing for their groups as they got larger.

She felt something else as well, something at the back of her mind, it reminded her, of that time at the Gala, when she had terrified Princess Celestia's animals screaming "YOU'RE GOING TO LOVE ME!"  Communicating and connecting with animals was supposed to be her special talent, Princess Celestia's animals should have been domesticated, and used to ponies to begin with. What right did those animals have to run away from her in terror? She had made friends with WILD ANIMALS! . . . And she had nearly acted like one herself when they had rejected her aggressive love, expecting them all to act exactly like animals she had befriended and had come to see as part of her family.

Some ponies in Canterlot were now traumatized at the SIGHT of her, 'The Yellow Demon!' screaming at the sight of her and huddling in a corner hugging themselves, Rainbow Dash had tried to bully them into 'Leaving Fluttershy alone!' . . . the end result had been in them even more scared to pieces at her. As it turned out, the animals at the Gala had been scarred by the incident as well, and it was harder for Rainbow Dash to simply intimidate them into simply accept Fluttershy.

Princess Celestia herself had had to step in to insure things smoothed over for her hurt subjects and the residents of her private menagerie. Fluttershy knew Applejack and Rainbow saw the Canterlot ponies as just aloof and snobbish cut-outs, but Fluttershy wondered how their families felt.

Queen Fluttershy shook her head, looking back at the crystal in front of her. "Cadence, what is this?"

"This crystal my queen is meant to purge a pony destructive impulses and feelings that exist only to harm others. My ring told me about them when I began looking through its archive. The original Star Sapphires used them to convert members of other Corps, like the Yellow Lanterns, into Star Sapphires." Cadence explained calmly. "I've just finished it."

Fluttershy was horrified. "You're ... you're not going to try and use this on Rainbow Dash and Twilight's herds are you?"

Princess Cadence shook her head. "No Queen Fluttershy. This is for me."

"What?" Now Fluttershy was just confused.

"I'm the alicorn of love Queen Fluttershy. But the violet light chose YOU first, to wield the prime ring. I was BORN to be love incarnate! But the first ring chose you . . . I didn't think much about it at the time. We had lives to save, and little details like that shouldn't matter when we're protecting our loved ones. But then I had a chance to think about . . . and the answer came. I HATE the changelings Fluttershy. Not just Chrysalis who led them, or the ones who followed her in her invasion, but all changelings, everywhere." Shame filled Cadence's voice as her horn and wings drooped. "I hate them Queen Fluttershy. They're a them to me. A single creature. It doesn't matter if they have individuality, emotions, and free-will, or not. I just hate them. I don't LIKE hating them Queen Fluttershy. It goes against everything I'm SUPPOSED to be. I want to, I NEED TO cleanse myself OF that hate! This is not who I am meant to be. This isn't who I want to be. I . . . please Queen Fluttershy, give me your royal command to cocoon myself and rid myself of this hate."

Queen Fluttershy look at Cadence in shock. She heard a shocked whisper run through her assembled Star Sapphires; even the Ursa Major grunted in disbelief. "But, but that can't be! Cadence, you've always acted noble and forgiving..." She broke off as Cadence shook her head.

"That's just it, Queen Fluttershy. I've acted like that, but I don't feel it. I need to do this, majesty. I need to become myself again, and be free of this poison." Shame showed in her face. The pegasus looked at the crystal and ran her hoof over it.

"How safe is this?" Fluttershy addressed the question as much to her ring as to Cadence, and the ring answered first.

( = Process approximately 99% successful in altering personality of contained subject to more loving attitude. = ) It seemed to hesitate. ( = Process can sometimes alter subject's personality in unexpected and dangerous ways. Can make subject dangerously obsessive. = )

"What?" Fluttershy looked at Cadence. "Did you know this?" Cadence said nothing, but she didn't look Fluttershy in the eyes. "Cadence, you mustn't! What if this damages you? What if it made you into a Nightmare, like Luna?"

"My queen," Cadence said, taking a deep breath, "sometimes I wonder if that's what's already happening. Sometimes, in my dreams..." The alicorn shook herself. "I see -- myself, but not myself. Dark and majestic like Luna, with a dark pink coat and a broken heart for a cutie mark as I starve Changelings with my mere presence until they shrivel and die. I, I won't become another Nightmare Moon, Fluttershy." She looked her in the eyes, desperate. "Please let me do this. I beg you!"

*How long will this take?* The Ursa grunted, the ring automatically translating her words. *We know of a new offensive planned by the flying-dead-rots of the Black. What if you are contained while they attack?*

"I," Cadence took a breath, "I don't care. I have to do this. I WILL cleanse myself, or..."

( = Attention all Star Sapphires = )

Pony, bison, phoenix, Ursa Major, all froze as they heard the voice of the battery through the rings.

( = Love is in danger = )

Images began to flash from their rings, showing them a multitude of sites across Equestria where beings that felt love had that love under attack. Little Strongheart gasped when she saw Braeburn and a Red Lantern griffin fighting in the deserts of Appleloosa. More scenes followed, mares and stallions trying to defend each other, a flock of griffins fighting to protect their cubs from their undead former flockmates, even, a dragon fighting to protect a small egg in its hoard. Among them, nearest Cadence, was a mare with a bulging saddlebag such as some mares used to hold their foals fleeing from several Black Lantern changelings. Despite herself the alicorn snorted and scraped the ground with one forehoof.

"Queen Fluttershy!" Strongheart said as she looked at the image of Braeburn. "I, I MUST go to aid him!" Even as she spoke the power of her ring acted on her emotional tether and took her away in a flash of purple light. The others began to vanish in similar flashes of light. Last of all were Fluttershy, the Ursa Major, and Cadence.

"Oh dear!" Fluttershy looked at the vision of the griffin flock. The Ursa grunted at the sight of the mother dragon. It vanished as Fluttershy said, "We'll discuss this later, Cadence. For now, go and help that mare and her foal!" She disappeared as Cadence took one last longing look at the crystal cocoon before going to the side of the mare.

One last fight as my old bad self against those monsters, and then back here. For healing.

If I'm still alive, of course.

**

Cadence felt herself surrounded by the purest, warmest love, just long enough to bask in before she appeared in a clearing in a forest on the edge of the Badlands. Where the Changelings originally came from, she thought. Then a shriek yanked her attention away.

She flew up into the air and let her ring zero in on the threatened love. There. Below her and slightly to the left. She dropped down and found herself behind a small --- herd? Flock? Swarm? - of Black Lantern changelings as they closed in on a panicked mare. Burn scars showed across their bodies. Okay, guess the Red Lanterns really did kill a few of the bugs.

Good.

She shook her head at that thought.

"hIve SIsteR," one of the undead horrors said, "whY do yoU sEEk to DeNy us THis priZe? wE Feel yOUr Love for iT; gIvE IT aNd YouRSeLf to Us!" The other surrounded the frantic pegasus mare, closing in and chittering with glee. Like at the wedding when they attacked Canterlot...

"NO!" Cadence roared as she charged in. "You will not harm either mother or foal, monsters! Love prevails!" The Changelings flew up and away from her as she charged by them. All save one with damaged wings. Cadence formed the power of her ring into crystalline armor around herself, making sure to have some nice sharp edges facing forward. They sliced the undead changeling into pieces, sending it hissing to the dirt as it slowly began to reassemble. The alicorn hurled more of her crystals at the others. As Cadence watched, they began to nibble on the crystals, chittering with glee.

Okay, maybe using love as a weapon against creatures that eat love wasn't the best idea, she thought as she hurriedly scooped up the mare, her horn glowing as she used her innate magic. The foal wriggled within the bag it hid within. Cadence gently caressed it through the bag, hearing it whimper in fear.

"You'll be all right now," Cadence promised, "You and your little one." She took to the air and used the power of her ring to help speed her flight, swiftly leaving the Black Lantern Changelings behind. If she had ring-bearers of the other corps there with her she'd have stayed her ground, but not with this mother and foal to protect. After several moments she dropped to the ground to rest. The pegasus smiled at her in relief.

"Thank you, ring-bearer -- You!" The pegasi's smile of relief turned into a look of shock. She cringed back. "Please, don't hurt us, my queen! All the rest in the hive are slain and risen as undead, else I would have never fled!"

"Oh no, I won't -- wait, WHAT did you call me?" Suddenly wary, Cadence snatched the bag from her grasp. The mare gasped. Before she could do any more, Cadence opened it and thrust her muzzle inside. And her eyes went pinpoint-pupil when she saw the contents: a small, as yet wingless, changeling nymph. It looked up and chirped happily, reaching up to nuzzle against Cadence's nose like so many little foals she'd looked after.

Cadence recoiled with a shriek. She glared at the mare. She, it, looked at her helplessly.

"W-wait, you're n-not a transformed Queen Chrysalis..." Her eyes went wide and the 'mare' vanished in green fire, reappearing as a changeling. Relief sounded in her voice as she said, "No, you're one of the ones who make the love-crystals, the ones hiding us from Queen Chrysalis and the flying fire-blood ponies and," it shuddered, "our dead swarm-mates! Thank you, oh, thank you!" It hurled itself at her, nuzzling its head against hers.

"Gah!" Cadence used her magic and forced the changeling back, stuffed the bag into her foreclaws. The little nymph looked out at her, green eyes almost glowing. "Just, just stay away! I didn't know what you were, or else..." She broke off. Or else what? She'd have left them to die?

Both alicorn and changeling whipped their heads around. Crashing noises came through the trees, the sounds of their pursuers coming ever closer. An instant long Cadence wondered if she could just fly away and leave these two here.

The nymph chirped at her, sounding confused. The changeling looked at her, eyes wide with hope and sudden fear.

Cadence hovered, looking at them.

What. Do. I. DO?

**

The Black Lantern Changelings swarmed along behind their last remaining hive-sister, bearing the only viable nymph their small hive managed to hatch since their defeat as part of the great swarm in Canterlot. Their tattered wings buzzed though they truly no longer needed them; their normal empathic senses were honed to an even greater pitch as they followed the crimson and green-streaked strong violet 'scent' of the ring-bearer mare, mingled with the yellow and blue-flavored almost as strong violet 'scent' of their hive-sister. Their wings buzzed with excitement. Their hearts would taste delicious once they tore them from their chests!

There. The prey waited before them. They hurried into the clearing where she stood, the alicorn princess. She looked at them, wearing a crown made of those delicious-smelling violet crystals. Green energy gathered along her horn and shot out at them. They dodged it with a contemptuous hiss, hurling black bolts of their own that struck her down, as they began to close in.

Only then did it sink in as they charged. GREEN energy?

A mass of several tons of stone and earth slammed down into them from above, held in a purple crystal grip, as Cadence buried them under a small mountain. The Black Lanterns didn't even get to squeal before they were mashed flat beneath it. It wasn't enough to kill, but it was more than enough to hold them until Cadence could gather reinforcements from the other corps. She sent a swift spell of Twilight's invention off for just such aid as she turned to the fallen changeling.

"Ring-bearer?" Cadence dropped down beside it and saw that its wounds were minor. She wondered if she ought to be happy or annoyed about that. At least none of them showed the signs of that unnatural festering that Fluttershy told her almost claimed Big Macintosh. The changeling spoke again. "Ring-bearer? Thank you for saving me and the little one." It looked at the bag. Cadence picked it up with her magic and handed it back to the creature. She fought not to recoil as the nymph stuck its head out and nuzzled the changeling. Yet al the same, her ring felt warmer by these two.

Did that mean that changelings could love, even if only each other?

Snarls came from the mound of rubble as the Black Lanterns began to dig their way out. But even as they did a massive shadow passed overhead and yellow-laced dragonfire washed down over them. The snarls turned to screams as Cadence sent her own ring's power over them, along with indigo light from the staff born by, what was her name, Diamond Tiara as she also arrived. It only took a few moments and the Black Lanterns were forever destroyed. The dragon, arrayed in the yellow and black of Twilight's Yellow Lanterns, dropped down before Cadence. She shivered as she felt the changeling and her nymph press against her, seeking comfort and protection.

But she didn't pull away.

"Star Sapphire," the dragon growled. Cadence forced herself not to flinch back from the reek of sulfur as it lowered its head to look her in the eyes. "I bear message from Lady Twilight. If you are the one called 'Cadence', then she and your own queen wish you to return to discuss, what is it, a 'crystal cocoon'?" To her side Cadence saw Diamond Tiara using her staff's power to heal what she could of the changeling's wounds. The dragon added in a bass metallic rumble, "They wish to know if you must still hide within to deal with what you feel about bug-ponies." It looked at the two changelings. The adult flinched back.

"No," Cadence said. "Not these ones anyway. I'll return and tell them myself." The dragon simply nodded and took to the air, leaping into the sky before its wings unfolded with heavy thumps like sails filling as it flew away. Diamond Tiara said nothing. She just looked at Cadence and the changelings. Cadence looked at her and then at the changelings. The look the adult returned was full of hope and trust.

Sigh. The universe is determined to have its fun with me, isn't it?

She flew over to them and created a carrying platform that the changeling stepped onto, holding the nymph. It looked at the platform hungrily. Cadence quickly made a small crystal heart from her ring and gave it to the little one to chew on.

"Come along, lady," Cadence said to the changeling. "I hope you can still keep a pony form while feeding," that, "your little foal. It might make it easier for the POnyville ponies to accept you." The changeling simply flashed with green fire and turned back into the pegasus mare from before.

"Thank you again, ring-bearer," it said. "Oh, and my name is Vespid." It showed her its gold and black stripes.

"Of course, Vespid." And here's hoping I'm not the one who ends up getting stung. And with that in mind Cadence, Diamond Tiara, and the two changelings flew off towards Ponyville.