Chrysalis strode into the dense vegetation. Green tendrils swirled around her legs, stung them as she trotted by. Luna did not speak, but Chrysalis heard her hooves treading down the grasses behind her. Chrysalis picked up the pace and her ears flicked when she heard Luna catch up to her, coming up on her left side. "You're not going to outrun me."
"Doesn't mean I can't try." Chrysalis buzzed her wings, launched into the air. Luna's wings snapped open and she darted after her. Chrysalis jetted forward, rose skywards over the tops of the palms, Luna only a few inches behind her. Suddenly, Chrysalis angled her wings and rocketed straight, shooting a blast of air into Luna's face that sent her sprawling. She twisted in midair just before she struck the ground, propelled upwards and paused. Chrysalis had vanished. Luna scanned her surroundings. A wind rustled the palms and some green strands. Luna dived towards the shadows of the grove, but the strands vanished. She looked around the shaded woodland, saw only more of the palm trees. Orange fruit hung low, a few ripe pieces having struck the ground.
Her earls flicked at the rusting coming from the side. She stalked forward, out of the shadows and into a clearing bathed in the golden light of her sister's sun. Chrysalis zoomed back into the jungles, Luna barreling after her. Chrysalis ran, the fury of their chase knocking down ferns and crushing flowers. Luna jetted forward, her wings slicing up the blade of grass. Chrysalis buzzed away, always slightly ahead.
Luna knocked her side with an outstretched feather. "I'm not letting you out of my sight!"
Chrysalis allowed herself to be carried by the wind. "You are a nuisance!" She turned, slapped her tail across Luna's flank and took off again. Wind smacked against her face. Behind her, she heard the flapping of Luna's wings, the roar of the gale stirred up by those great appendages. Chrysalis twisted higher into the ether, sailed upwards into the blue void. Luna rocketed after her when Chrysalis gasped. Pain jolted through her wings and they locked up. She struggled to correct her path, but it was too late and the ground was shooting up towards her when Luna snatched her up in her wings. Chrysalis held on tight and they separated a few inches from the ground, both landing on their hooves.
"Those wings of yours are fragile. How long have you been flying?"
Chrysalis panted and pushed her away. "None of your business." She gasped when Luna's magic took hold of her body. "What are you doing? Let me go at once!"
Luna strode forward, took hold of her wings in an arcane grip. "I need to examine your wings. Be still."
Chrysalis struggled, gave in against the greater might of the goddess. "I still don't understand why you're doing this."
"You don't need to." Luna's magic caressed Chrysalis's wings, soothing blue magic working its way into the frail appendages. "Only accept it."
Chrysalis grunted. "You spend too much time around your sister!"
Luna released her, chuckled. "Quite probably. I am famished from my flight through the astral realms-"
"So that's how you got here before me!"
Luna stretched her back and walked further into the clearing. Chrysalis followed. Here in the valley, the rolling flower covered hills gave way to swaying palms bending in the breeze. Tall grasses played around their pasterns. Luna settled in a patch of sea grass, nibbled a few emerald strands. "This is good, you should try some."
Chrysalis remained standing. "I'm not hungry."
Luna nodded. "I see. You're planning on ending it all so you've lost interest in the things required to sustain your body. It's why you didn't take any nibbles of my love when I was healing you." She nibbled on the ground cover. "Your loss. Very sweet with a slight tang."
Chrysalis rolled her eyes. "Must you psychoanalyze everything?"
Luna lifted up her head. "I helped invent the profession so it's something of an ingrained habit." She swallowed. "Loss of appetite is a classic symptom of melancholy-or depression as they call it these days."
Chrysalis snarled, stomped towards Luna. "Melancholy is an illness that afflicts airy-headed scholars and peasants with poor crops not proud queens such as I!"
Luna buried her muzzle into her meal. "Illness is no respecter of rank."
Chrysalis turned away again. "That's an excuse for weakness. I am not melancholy."
"No you just cut yourself off from everyone and plan on killing yourself. Not melancholy at all."
Chrysalis shook her head. "You don't understand."
Luna moved up to her hooves. "Truly Chrysalis? We both spent one-thousand years trapped in a darkness of our own design. Tell me what I don't understand."
Chrysalis clenched her jaws. "It is not sorrow. It is this hunger which will never be filled."
"If you just opened yourself up-"
Chrysalis inched back. "I can't-"
"Have you tried?"
A shiver passed through her. "I don't know how."
"Well then." Luna trotted back to the patch of sea grass. "Even if love energy is your primary food source I know you'd enjoy the taste. Won't you at least have a last meal?"
Chrysalis settled on the ground. The plants were cool against her thorax and nestled against her nose, dizzying her senses with the sweet scent. Luna made borderline obscene sounds of satisfaction as she munched at her meal. "You don't know what you're missing."
The queen stuck up her nose. The enticing scent was still in her nostrils.
Luna swallowed. "I'm quite certain they don't have such delectable meals where you'll be going."
Chrysalis attempted to buzz her wings, managed it for a few moments before the muscles of her back reminded her of just how long she'd been flying. "You mean the Gods will no doubt thrust me into the void-if they don't grant me rebirth. Either way this current existence will end." She flapped her wings a few more times, falling into a light rhythm.
Luna stared at her. "Are you certain that's what you want? It's not a decision you can unmake."
Chrysalis refused to meet Luna's gaze. The silence stretched on until Luna walked over and lifted Chrysalis's head. Chrysalis bared her teeth, but Luna didn't let go. "Go on. Look me in the eyes and tell me."
"I want to die." The words were choked out. Chrysalis closed her eyes. "I want the hunger to end."
"I don't believe you."
"I don't very well care what you believe!" She jumped onto her hooves. Luna stood, backed away to her marked out grazing grounds. Then, she sat and began once more to eat, making those same sounds of delight.
After a few moments, Chrysalis shuffled over and nibbled on a piece of grass. Her eyes widened and she involuntarily made a sound of satisfaction. Luna hid her smile.
...
Silence had settled on them like a shroud. The forest canopy spread over them, the broad leaves of the palm forming a shield against the burning sun. Slants of light filtered through onto the sandy floor of the island. The long grasses burst with red blooms, sending out an intoxicating scent. Chrysalis no longer attempted to get away from Luna so the two tread onward without sharing a single word.
The forest grew thicker and thicker. Growls sounded from far away. Both looked toward where the sound was coming from.
Luna drew closer to Chrysalis. "Are you well enough to fight if need be?"
Chrysalis snickered, her face breaking into a grin that sent shivers down Luna's spine. Her fangs practically dripped saliva. "Well, I won't be using utter flutter, but I can still charge and use my magic. I'm almost looking forward to it."
Luna pawed at the ground. "To be honest so am I. Changelings can use utter flutter? I thought it was solely Flutter Pony combat magic."
Chrysalis rolled her eyes. "Our wings are structurally identical, of course we can use it." She gave her wings a few flaps. "I don't need more than one around to use it either. As a Queen, my magic is incalculably powerful."
"I'm sure it is." Luna tread forward, her steps slow, careful to step around the leaves so that they would not release a sound by crushing them. Chrysalis pranced, crunched a fern beneath her hoof. She hopped again and crushed another one.
Luna pulled her back with a wing. "Quiet! Just because you have a death wish doesn't mean I do!"
Chrysalis yanked away. "You know I do not run away from a fight." She chuckled. "Do you know what your sister would say right now?"
"What?"
"She'd give some speech about how we should try to avoid any monsters-"
"We most certainly should-"
"-And must walk in harmony in the jungle, living in peace with all living things." Chrysalis transformed, Celestia standing in her place. "Let us make peace with the manticores perhaps I can share my tea with them."
Luna smirked and then burst into laughter. "Oh Chryssy, I have missed your humor."
Chrysalis grinned, then returned to her natural state. "Well, I have always been told I have a good sense of humor."
This part of the jungle was shrouded in shadow so deep that very little sunlight trickled down, only a few sparks of light dancing on the leaf strewn ground. The growls became louder and some other beast answered. Luna's ears perked, so did Chrysalis's. The roaring was becoming louder, trees snapping as two unseen beasts hurtled each other around the wilderness.
Luna stepped back. "Perhaps we can take another route."
Chrysalis stepped closer. "You truly are a coward."
"Call me that again and I'll snap your horn off and put it in an uncomfortable location."
"Like Tartarus you will."
Luna just sighed and trotted after Chrysalis. A blast of her magic trapped the other royal and Chrysalis attempted to struggle, found herself completely bound. "Release me at once!"
"I don't believe you are in your correct faculties so, no."
Chrysalis breathed and then her eyes flared with mystic power. Luna cried out and was thrust back as her magic binds were shattered. She flared her wings, attempting to stop herself, but she slammed into the palm, completely splintering it. Shards of wood burst all around her and she struck the hard earth, bounced back up almost immediately, chest heaving, horn lowered.
Chrysalis stalked towards her, her eyes still glowing with mystic energies. "Do not forget what I am. I will not be handled like a filly."
Luna growled and reached deep into her core. "Alright. This has been coming for some time." Energies flowed around her, her wind caught in a powerful breeze. Then, she charged, hurtling herself at Chrysalis. Chrysalis vanished in a blur and shot out a bolt that smashed into Luna's back, sent her once more into the dirt. She brought down her hoof, but Luna bucked into her face. Chrysalis cried out and lept into the air, ignoring the pain in her muscles.
She zoomed up and Luna followed her, shooting a burst of magic that Chrysalis dodged. Chrysalis dodged two more blasts, but a third one struck her in the stomach. She teleported out of the way of the fourth blast, but Luna was already there when she appeared again. Luna whirled around, smashed her backlegs against Chrysalis's shoulder. Chrysalis spun towards the ground and Luna rocketed towards her, pouncing on her and held her down. She gasped when Chrysalis's legs smacked into her stomach and she was sent sprawling onto the hard earth.
Chrysalis growled, stalked towards her, her fangs barred, venom dripping down her muzzle. "I was barely older than an adolescent the last time we met each other." Luna struggled to stand. Chrysalis stomped a hoof down on her stomach. "You treat me like the wayward teenager you believe me to be. While you were trapped in stasis-in pathetic exile because you weren't strong enough to defeat your sister-I grew. And I learned. And I changed. The Chryssy you remember is a ghost. She's already dead."
"I refuse to believe that."
"What you believe is not important." Chrysalis twisted her hoof harder. Luna gasped and Chrysalis smirked. "Do you understand now?"
Luna smirked. "I remember...the tantrum you threw when your coltfriend-you had so many coltfriends-was late to your birthday. We all heard you screaming at him." She paused. "That was...the corruption was already setting in...that's what you're doing now...throwing a tantrum...just like the Chryssy I remember. You haven't changed."
Chrysalis removed her hoof. "A tantrum throwing bitch? You remember a tantrum throwing bitch?"
Luna shook her head. "Nopony...no one should be defined by their worst traits. I also remember the fun we used to have. The way you'd come up to me when I was deep in study and pull me and Tia away to some adventure or other. You loved a good scheme...still do. Remember when we all set out to find the golden fleece? We never did. You helped us find so many old tomes. Not that you liked books that much, but we got you interested in the old stories...some only we remember." Tears glistened in her eyes. "You liked the quest, the planning...I miss that Chryssy."
Chrysalis backed away, deep in shadow so only her eyes could be seen. Then she turned and vanished into the darkness.