With This Ring (Young Justice SI) (Thread Fourteen)

The Badlands
An Hour Ago

"…blood oath you have sworn,
Pick a fight with an alicorn."

I raise my daiklave as I advance towards where the trembling Changeling Queen lies nursing her shattered right foreleg. I give it a little swing to test my grip, then raise it up high.

"Dumb ways to di-ie,
So many dumb ways to die."

Canterlot
Now

Luna regards me levelly for a few moments, the head floating in her thaumokinetic grip. Celestia puts her teacup down and stands, regarding me with shock.

A drop of green goo drips from the neck stump.

"You slew her... For me?"

"She was an enemy of the state still at large, and I am acting in your stead at the moment."

Luna.. blushes very slightly, not meeting my eyes. Celestia spots how she's responding and glares at her. Luna meets her eyes and lifts her head again, clearing her throat.

"We trust that she did not suffer overmuch?"

I shake my head. "No. No. I treated the occasion with the solemnity it deserved. There are now a few thousand leaderless Changelings hanging out in a hive in the Badlands. Be careful, though, there's some sort of anti-magic field." I shrug. "Didn't do anything to disrupt my technology, but it would probably make things difficult for you."

Luna nods, drawing herself up slightly.

"We thank you for this token-."

Celestia frowns. "Lu-na!"

Luna looks at her sister. "Do you know how long it has been since a knight brought Us such a token? A vile monster slain in Our name, its head to be-. Pikes, We must find a pike, that Our ponies may know-."

"We're not displaying a severed head!"

Luna blinks in confusion. "Then how will our citizens know that they are safe under Our aegis?"

"It's fine, you don't need to display it for my sake." I step closer to Luna. "It's enough for me to know that you like it."

Her horn glows, and the head shimmers for a moment.

"There. We shall mount it upon our mantel as a memento."

I lean towards her and she tilts her head up towards me. I've never kissed a horse before, but-.

A golden harness forms around my chest and drags me away, Celestia glaring at me in a pointed manner.

I Will Not Be Restrained!

The harness flickers and then dissolves, Celestia jerking her head back as it vanishes.

Luna doesn't look impressed. "We do not recall ever acting against your swains in such a manner."

"My 'swains' had not just presented me with a head."

"Did not knights and sorcerers swear to perform mighty deeds that they might earn your favour?"

"Yes, but they didn't gift wrap the proof."

"Perhaps they lacked the-."

There's a knock at the door. Both princesses look around.

"Come!" / "Enter!"

A guard I don't recognise enters the room slightly nervously.

"Your majesties, Princess Twilight Sparkle asked me to inform you that Sunset Shimmer is ready for her d-."

He spots the head and visibly double-takes.

"Ah, her demonstration."

Celestia nods. "Where is it taking place?"

"The West Drawing Room, Princess."

"Please inform Twilight that we will be there presently."

The guard nods and heads out of the room at a canter. Time to put my hoof down.

"Celestia, do you have an objection to me being romantically involved with Luna?"

Luna raises her eyebrows, her eyes fixed on her sister.

"I have concerns, but Luna is an adult mare and can make her own decisions."

"Thank you for remembering that, Sister."

"Do you have a problem with me killing Chrysalis?"

"Not in principle, but the cavalier way in which you presented Luna with her head concerns me."

"I refuse to feel bad about killing people like her, but that's not my usual way of handling conflicts. Chrysalis was not ensorced, deceived, possessed or insane. She was just unnecessarily malevolent and nearly enslaved your species and destroyed the world. And I didn't get her head for you."

"Of all the projects you could have chosen, why is it the military that you decided to help us with?"

"Because getting involved in your economics would require me to have massive amounts of information that I don't have, while the flaws of your military were obvious and dangerous to your civilisation. Protecting its citizens is the most basic job of a national government and… While I'm prepared to assume that despite appearances you aren't intentionally undermining it-."

"What do you mean by that?"

"You didn't tell the guard about Nightmare Moon, Discord or Sombra. You trusted Discord to capture Tirek ahead of any part of the military, and early on Tirek could easily have been killed by crossbows. You didn't pursue Chrysalis or develop changeling detection spells. Magical megaweapons are very nice to have, but given how temperamental they can be relying on them is not wise. Perhaps more to the point, Luna has led armies and she's at least as good a fighter as anyone in the employ of the Equestrian government. You might have welcomed her back as your equal but you haven't helped her become your equal in fact as well as theory. I will."

"Because you wish to court her."

"No, because improving political institutions is what I do. See my cutie mark?"

She glances at my haunches.

"Strength through unity."

"Unity means the parts who know what's going on telling the parts who need to do something about it. And at the moment, your soldiers are…"

Music again, but this time I'm the one who's going to be singing.

"Everyone is
Weak and wary
All is scary
Tell me, where is
Sanctu'ry?"

An image of the guards who panicked at the sight of me, another of the guards being gooped by changelings, blasted aside by Nightmare Moon, drained by Tirek…

"Tire the strong
Shield the frail
A strategy
Doomed to fail"

Celestia getting blasted by Chrysalis, Cadance collapsing in exhaustion from the strain of shielding the Crystal City by herself.

"I love to change the world"

I head out of the room, light leaping from my yellow ring, transmuting the guards' armour into something a little more sensible.

"And I know just what to do"

I glance back at the princesses as they follow me.

"And I wonder: do you too?"

West Drawing Room is this way.

"All your people
Keep on needing
Never heeding
Leaders bleeding
Truculence"

An image of Celestia, Luna and Cadance lying on the floor of the throne room with Tirek standing over them.

"Life is easy
Skies are breezy
Learn to struggle?
Who needs trouble?"

I glare at some civil servant ponies who throw themselves out of our way.

"Indolence."

I stop and turn around to face them.

"I love to change the world
And I know just what to do
And I wonder: do you too?"

I walk up to Luna and this time Celestia doesn’t restrain me.

"Luna"

"Diminution
Is no solution
Revolution
Restitution
What's wrong and right?
What's strength for?"

I look at the two of them.

"Princesses
Win your war"

I turn away and continue towards the West Drawing Room, where Sunset will usher in a new era, whether Equestria's ready or not. Especially whether the princesses are ready or not.

"She loves to change the world
Sunset knows just what to do
Why don't you join us too?"