=Familia 19=

>”Do you have the photo album or…?”
“I’ve got it right here, Anonymous.”
>You pat your satchel with your wing.
>”Oh! Thank you, Twilight.”
>The two of you walk down the Canterlot streets towards the palace. You’re a bit surprised, but nopony seems to be shocked by Anonymous’ presence or trying to stop him. You figure that they’ve become jaded to oddities after the Changeling invasion.
>Which was a neurotic worry for another day.
“I had a question for you Anon, if you could humor me.”
>”For you Twi? Anything?”
>You giggle at his use of your nickname. It’d been several months since you began visiting Anonymous in his home in the hills and you were rather amazed at how close and friendly the two of you had gotten in that time. It had been dawning on you why your teacher and the others seemed to outright revere this human for how long they had spent with him.	
“Well, if my knowledge of history is accurate, and it almost always is; Sombra and Chrysalis were reaching maturity in your recollections. Was there someone else after them?”
>Anonymous is silent for a few moments before he answers.
>”No. No Sombra was the last one to be delivered. After he and Chrysalis, left, I was by myself.”
>You remain silent now.
“Sounds lonely…”
>”It could be. But I adapted to that long ago, so no need to worry.”
“Can’t fault me for trying. But still, that means the two of them would have left your home soon, correct?”
>”Very accurate, Princess Twilight. Sombra and Chrysalis left within the next little while. Chrysalis left calmer, more trusting of others, and extremely caring. Sombra did…not.”
“I see…and that?”
>”Lead to what you now study as history.”

-The past-
>”Go talk to him.”
>”You go talk to him!”
>”I’m not going to go talk to him, you go talk to him!”
>”You were here first!”
>”And that means this is my responsibility! You go talk to him!”
>”I was the one who went to wa-!“
“Girls, I can hear both of you. You can both come talk to me.”
>The squabbling behind you stops and you hear hoofsteps now.
>You continue to stare out over the edge of the cliff you were on, out on the choked plains pockmarked with jagged black crystals and serpentine chitinous formations, all spread around a truly massive block of ice in place of where a city once stood.
>The rulers of the sun and moon push their heads under your hands at your sides, instinct takes over and you pet them both slightly, despite the grim reality of the circumstances. If they asked, you’d tell them that you were just putting on a brave face.
>The truth was that at this point you’d just grown…numb to this kind of thing.
>Silence reigns, so you break it.
“First Discord, then Luna, now him…maybe I’m not as good at this as I thought I was…”
>Celestia nuzzles your hand vigorously. “Please don’t say those things, daddy!”
>”I’m so…so sorry…” Princess Luna says next to you.
>You chew on those words for a second.
“No one is around, Chryssy. You can be yourself.”
>An emerald flash to your left brings the Changeling Queen’s true form into the light. “I…I’m sorry…” she repeats.

>Her voice dulls in your mind as you remember the events that lead you here, the news that Sombra had taken control of the Crystal Kingdom through some unknown means and the news that the Changelings had been cited in the north.
>Collision had been inevitable, everyone knew that. What they did not know was what you had hoped for, that years of living together and with the prospect of an unthinkable collision looming, that your two children would put aside egos and grudges and simply back away from one another.
>They didn’t.
>Preemptive strikes were carried out, battle lines drawn, and the Crystal Empire was laid under siege. You arrived at pandemonium and all-out war. You couldn’t even get to Sombra, his paranoia and self-image driving him behind the walls of his captive city. Pleading with Celestia for a peaceful solution was all you had the power to do.
>This was the result, a grave marker made of ice and snow to mark the follies of your mad son.

>”You should be sorry!” Celestia shouts. “All of this is your FAULT, Chrysalis! This strife and mayhem, sealing Sombra away like that! All because you couldn’t take your people somewhere ELSE!”
>”Yes it’s all so SIMPLE, isn’t it Celestia? Why didn’t I think of that, hmm? Why, I’ll just take my Changeling hives out into the middle of nowhere! It’s not as if we must travel with the food, avoid the natives, AND find a sufficient place to reside each time! Do not think to lecture me on the needs of MY people, “Princess”! It will be the last mistake you make!”
>”How dare you threaten me! If your people cannot learn to peacefully coexist within Equestria’s boarders, then perhaps they have no place within them! Indeed it would be easier to handle another outburst from Discord than to maneuver through the machinations of a traitorous insect I call a sis-“
“Don’t you DARE finish that sentence, Celestia.”
>Your two little girls, now figures of authority themselves, quiet their argument. Celestia looks up to you with tears at the edges of her eyes as if you’d just struck her bloody while Chrysalis glowers at her, wanting to scream a million obscenities down her ears but unable to say a one in your presence.
 “Stop…”
>Your legs give way and you fall to your knees, the impact jostles your hidden tears from your eyes and sends them streaming down your face.
“Please, just stop. I can’t take this…”

>The hatred melts off their faces like snow in spring. Chrysalis is the first to begin rubbing her face against yours in comfort with Celestia following soon after. You bring your hands up and hold your children as close as you can.
“You two are all that I have left in this world now…I can’t have your animosity lead to another confrontation like this, like Luna, like Discord…I won’t survive another.
>Celestia steps back and looks at the ground, tears escaping her eyes while Chrysalis backs away and watches her carefully.
“You both put this aside to seal away Sombra. Chryssy, you disguised yourself as Luna just to keep up appearances. I’m BEGGING you, as your father who loves you both more anything else in the world, to please find a way to live together peacefully.”
>The two look to one another and lock eyes. Years of tension and fear pass between then in the gaze of someone who loves them unconditionally. They were each responsible for so much, and their fears may be well founded at times, but under such a gaze here and now, it all seemed pointless.”
>Chrysalis is the first to speak. “I will…take my people south, to the badlands in the mesas. There are tunnels there that we can quickly make use of…and I hear that settlers are making their way in that direction. If fortune smiles, we will be able to arrive at similar times and the Changelings may simply be another shadow in the hills.”
>”I…can…” Celestia began, hesitantly “I suppose I can…sit on any reports I receive of Changeling sighting…for a time. If your people remain hidden, there should be no problems.”
>The tensing of Chrysalis’s jaw tells you that that wasn’t a solution she likes but is one she was willing to accept.
>You lean forward and put your hands on the ground to stead your body.
“Thank you, girls…thank you.”
>You do not see them but feel them embrace you with wing and hoof.
>”For you, daddy. Anything.”
>”But only for you.”

-The present-
>Anonymous throws open the doors to the sitting room you were to meet in just in time for Celestia to see him.
>”Daddy, daddy! Come look!” She exclaims, turning somepony around in a chair. “Chrysalis looks SO much more agreeable with her mane up!”
>Chrysalis’s eyes face the two of you, but don’t focus on either of you. They simply stare into the distance as far as they can, containing her barely held feelings. “Poppy. If she does not release me in ten seconds, I refuse to be held accountable for my actions.”
>Anon is quick to diffuse. “What a wonderful sentiment, Celestia. However, I’ve always thought Chrysalis looked perfectly fine the way she was.”
>He hobbles over and gently takes fixes Chrysalis’ mane, then hugging her close to his chest. “Hello sweetheart, you look lovely today.” He says. Chrysalis closes her eyes and allows a smile to tug at her lips in her father’s embrace.
>”It’s heartwarming to see the both of you. Come! Come, Twilight helped me find something as we were cleaning the other day that I want to read with you. Twilight, please, the album.”
>You float the photo album over to Anonymous as he sits down on a nearby table and begins flipping through it. “Luna will be able to join us once she wakes up for night court, I’m sure.”
>”All I am sure of is that I was not as chubby as Celestia was as a filly.”
>The Princess puffs her cheeks out at her sister and pouts like a child which makes Anonymous laugh, even Chrysalis too.
>You’re content to simply watch them for that moment, enjoying the simple affection they all share even in the wake of the missteps and failures of their past. They all truly seemed happy in each other’s company.
>It was then that inspiration struck for a wonderful idea.