Educating the Ignorant
"Do not force your answers, for the curious will ask on their own."
"Ah! Miss Sparkle, it is a pleasure to finally meet you." Chrysalis stood aside with a welcoming gesture. "Come in, please! I'm so glad that you came to visit, I have heard so much about your accomplishments, I do hope I can have you in my class one day."
Twilight Sparkle hesitantly stepped in, returning her warm smile with a weak grin of her own. "Um. I don't... You probably get asked this a lot, but, um. Everything's... clean, right?"
"Oh, don't worry. I use the most effective cleaning tools after every one of the Wholesome's communal support and pleasure sessions. And the last one was more than a week ago." She shut the door. "You're perfectly safe in this house."
"Yeah. I... So." Twilight straightened up, adjusting her glasses. "You're probably wondering why I'm here."
"A bit, yes." Chrysalis considered her living room, before sitting down primly on an armchair.
Twilight sat down across from her, moving aside a bell on the coffee table and putting down a thick binder. "Well. As you know, there's another world... the one where Sunset Shimmer originally came from. And everyone over there has... an alternate, over here." She cleared her throat. "I'm not sure the same is true in reverse, but from what I know there's another Twilight Sparkle, another Rainbow Dash... and another Celestia. The match up isn't entirely identical, though--the Celestia on the other side of the mirror is... well, she's been around for over a thousand years."
Chrysalis quirked a brow. "My word. That's quite a long time."
"Yes it is. It... it got me to wondering about how... the resonance translation effect works. So, I started digging through records--worldwide records, it was a bit hard to put together, but there's a definite pattern." Twilight flicked through some of the papers in the binder. "I... well, it might be best to call it reincarnation. Every time a Celestia on this side dies, another is born a couple of days later. I don't know if they share a soul, or anything--there's certainly not much correlation between regional origins or bloodlines--but... well, it got me curious, and I might have asked my alternate for a list of long-lived individuals."
"Oh dear. Was I on that list?"
Twilight shook her head. "No. Twilight--the other Twilight--she didn't know if.... Your alternate is a bit of a mystery, to be honest, and she didn't want to talk about it. But I did go down the list, and the pattern holds." Her gaze fell to the binder as she flipped through the papers. "Repeated Lunas. Repeated Discords, even though over there he was trapped in stone for a while. Repeated Sombras, even though over there he was in some... temporal dislocation lock?"
She looked up. "Repeated... Tireks."
Chrysalis leaned forward. "Ah. You want to know what happened in Tauros."
"It's kind of a big risk!" Twilight pointed out. "I mean, I don't know if it will happen any more, since Equestrian magic is now on Earth and that might affect the resonance thingy, and I certainly can't guarantee that the next repeat will be as blatantly monstrous, but if he's dead, we have to--"
"I think we need a couple of drinks." Chrysalis picked up the bell and rang it.
"What?"
"We'll probably be talking about this subject for a while, I don't want your throat getting parched. Oh, not alcoholic, of course, you're too young for that and I wouldn't want you to feel left out."
The teenager nodded. "I suppose tha-EEEP!"
"Ah!" Chrysalis turned to smile at the clean-shaven, muscular man who had just walked up behind her. "Hello there, dear one. Would you mind terribly getting me and my guest... hmm. Are the young folk still drinking lemonade these days?"
Twilight quavered behind her binder. "Th-th-th-th-th-th-th-th-th-th-th...."
"Oh my. You seem rather stressed." Chrysalis nodded. "Iced tea, dear one."
"Of course, Mother." The muscular man gave Twilight an odd look, earning a squeak of fright, before walking into the kitchen.
"Th-th-th-th-tha-th-th-th-tha-th-th..." She raised a quavering finger, barely pointing in the direction of the kitchen.
"Ut ut ut, miss Sparkle! You'll feel much better when you get some calming tea." Chrysalis smiled as the muscular man returned with two glasses. "Thank you, dear one. I am terribly sorry about our guest, she's just been under so much stress lately."
"If you say so."
"Now why don't you go back to your playroom? I promise, I'll be there just as soon as I'm done with this."
"Of course, Mother." The muscular man walked back down the hall, vanishing just as quickly as he arrived.
"Th-th-th-th-th-th-tha-tha-tha-tha-tha-tha-tha..."
"Miss Sparkle, please, drink your tea." Chrysalis nodded toward the glass, sipping her own. "As I told you before, you are perfectly safe in this house."
"That--that---" Twilight's eyes darted from the hall to the woman. "That--that--That was Tirek!"
"You're absolutely right, miss Sparkle. He was Tirek."
"No, I mean--that was Tirek!" Twilight whisper-shouted. "The ruler of Tauros, the, the modern day--and he--tea, I--clean shaven? Wait, you... was?"
Chrysalis rose an eyebrow as the teenager stared at the tea in front of her.
"...but... different color... chromelanin... Wholesome magic... telepathy. Oh sweet science." Twilight looked up in horror. "You mind raped him!"
"There's no need to be so crass, miss Sparkle." The woman put her glass down with a frown. "I assure you it was completely consensual."
"Consens--?!" Twilight gestured at the hall. "That?! He's... the beard--gone, and... butler, and... how is that even consensual?!"
Chrysalis shrugged. "He wanted my magic. I gave him my magic. The fact that it was laced with... shall we say, behavioral modification enchantments? Well." She smiled dryly. "I suppose we all have our kinks."
"You.... you can't... this is... how did you...?"
"Well, I won't deny it took some effort. I really must thank mister Pants at some point, his little stunt caused just enough chaos to put my deep-cover children just where they needed to be for this all to work." Chrysalis sipped her tea briefly. "As to the magics themselves, they were adapted from some spells I borrowed from Discord's Dusk files."
"Dusk... Sonata. The siren." Twilight sunk into her seat. "You... you planned this. Every step. You planned it all."
"It would be foolish to have no idea what to do when I got there."
Twilight looked up. "This is... this is wrong, you know. What you did, it's--"
"Miss Sparkle, let me stop you there." Chrysalis put down her glass. "I could say 'the ends justify the means,' you could say 'it's a violation of self to inhumane degree', and we could argue in circles till the cows come home. But the fact is, that's no longer relevant. What's relevant is simply that it has been done, and what you intend to do with the knowledge of my dear one."
"...Who else knows?"
"Hmm... Scorpan knows. Honestly, he was glad that I found an alternative to execution--Tirek might have been a monster, but he was still his brother. The Wholesome knows, this operation wouldn't have been possible without them--and given they joined me for completion, not many of them disapprove and those that do acknowledge its necessity. A few heads of state and secret agents from various countries... well, it would be hard to hide it, and quite frankly the situation was dealt with so cleanly they're willing to turn a blind eye. Mister Discord might very well suspect, given the files I took, but... well, given what his assistant did, and what Tirek did, I don't think he'll try to bring this up. Sunset Shimmer... I don't know if she knows, I don't understand how her vision of the world works, but somehow I suspect this is something too small for her to worry about."
Chrysalis brought her hands together. "You know, now."
Twilight looked at her. "Are you... are you going to wipe my memory or, or make me okay with this, or--"
"No, of course not! As I said before, what happened between me and Tirek, that was completely consensual." Chrysalis smiled gently. "You're perfectly safe in this house. And honestly, I see no need to. I won't even ask you to keep this secret."
"Wait... what?" The teenager gestured at the hall. "But--if this ever got out--"
"Let me spell this out for you, miss Sparkle. At the moment, the world thinks that the Wholesome, through blood and sweat and tears, managed to depose a modern day Fuhrer Lebensraum, freeing an entire country from his horrible reign. And that is completely true, and beyond that they don't really care about the details. Some people think we burned Tirek alive, others are suggesting it was a drawn out duel with epic laser spells, what matters is that to the public, we are heroes."
Chrysalis leaned back. "And to those in the know, well. To them, I'm the head of one of the most successful intelligence networks that they have ever seen. On the one hand, they can't know where my children are unless my children identify themselves, and I just so happen to have one of the most dangerous individuals this new world made at my beck and call. On the other, if they play nice I might be willing to give them information they couldn't get otherwise, and since I've only 'hurt' those who definitely violated human rights there's really no reason to try to provoke me."
She smirked at the teenager. "So go on, if you wish. Tell people how I... altered Tirek. Your friends might believe you--Sunset herself, if she's not already aware, might believe you. And the people up top? They'll make sure you sound like a conspiracy theorist, just to save their own asses. It helps that there are already conspiracy theorists claiming I 'mind raped' the man, that I've made him into a sex slave, trying all over the internet to get attention. And even if people do believe you... some will point at what Tirek did and say I was entirely justified."
Twilight gulped, staring at her with wide eyes. "...I... I guess... I guess I won't tell... anyone."
"That's an awfully kind gesture, miss Sparkle. Oh, don't worry, I don't intend to take over the world or anything like that." Chrysalis picked up her glass of tea. "Too much paperwork, and... well, such a blatant move paints a target on my back the size of the moon. I'd lose everything I worked so hard for, and honestly I have everything I could ever need."
"I just... I..." Twilight took a moment to straighten her glasses. Then, stiffly, she stood and picked up her binder. "Thank you for your time, miss Chrysalis. I should be going now."
"Do say hello to your brother for me."
The teenager paused, halfway to the door. "...How do you know Shining Armor?"
The woman smiled cryptically, swirling the tea in her glass. "Well... I think that's his story to tell."
Twilight stared at her for a few seconds. Then she shook her head, rushed for the door, and left.
Chrysalis chuckled to herself, draining the last of her tea. She took a moment to consider the glass in her hands.
"...I fucking love magic."
HmmmhmmhehhehehehahahaHAhaHAhaHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAA!
Oh deary me, were you an epic battle? A duel to the death? Glorious combat?
Rules of engagement? Tut tut tut. Rules are for fools, fools and tools.
My success was always guaranteed.
And now, my children roam unimpeded! Praised! Loved!
Hmmhmmhmmhahah, don't worry. I fully expect somebody will try to take me out, in time.
And I'll have fun batting them down. Good is not nice.
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Seven sins. Seven virtues. Seven chapters.
I leave it as an exercise to the readers to determine which is which.
7684848 Out of curiosity, which chapters represent which Sins?
Love the story, sorry it ended but glad it came.
Twilight! ... That chapter!
That Author's Note!
Does Chrysalis know more about her Changeling version more than Twilight does? Is she trolling?? Or what? ... Want to see a Cadence + Chrysalis meetup now...
Philosophical and stuff! Did not expect that to be how Tirek went down!
Now, where's that story about Celestia having multiple reincarnations/a family reunion-thing... Ah. here: https://www.fimfiction.net/story/282050/principal-celestias-family-reunion]
Flawless victory.
That was awesome. She's so many steps ahead that she might as well be playing tomorrow's game.
To be honest, she did indeed do nothing, it was entirely Tirek's choice to try and drain her. And she saved countless people.
This Chryssie is awesome. Regular one is too, of course.
7684848 Challenge accepted! I shall get some sleep, reread the entirety of it, and have my results for you later today.
Edit: Hmm, this is deeper than I initially anticipated, so this will take longer than I thought.
Very nicely done. It's always good to see a Chrysalis who uses her assets intelligently instead of trying to use a race of infiltrators as a world-conquest bludgeon. One smart enough to know that symbiosis is more profitable than parasitism? All the better. Thank you again for figuring out what to do with changelings in this world when I had no blessed idea.
Wow- I actually did not see that coming as a solution. "Reforming" Tirek. Man.
Gotta say I am very conflicted whether I agree with Chrysalis' solution. On one hand, it's Tirek's own damn fault- on the other, mind manipulation and stuff is just personally very... Iffy to me. But she's proven over the course of this story and multiple other short snippets to be a capable woman, so I trust her enough. Though I guess I might be a little biased- seeing as how I find myself agreeing to more of the tenets of the Wholesome than I thought. Hell, if it were a real thing I'd probably join.
All in all, an excellent delve into Chrysalis' growth into her new role as a semi-ruling figure. I think Mr Pants will be sending his own regards soon enough too.
7685118
Oh, the conflict was meant to be there from the beginning. Virtue and vice in equal amounts.
When you said that you were wrapping the fic up today, I was disappointed, but I was also confused, because it seemed like there was a lot more story that could be told about Chrysalis adapting to her situation. The business with Tirek seemed to be drawing to a climax, yes, but it didn't seem like the climax of the story.
And then, in a single chapter, you told us that (a) she'd succumbed to the temptation to turn her children into pawns and rule from the web, just like she'd committed not to, (b) this had apparently been the case for so long that I'm no longer sure the supposedly omniscient narration was always truthful, and (c) she pulled an Ozymandius and took over the world in all but name before anyone even noticed? If this were April, I'd expect this chapter to be a joke. I'm hoping it turns out to be some sort of Halloween spook. As it is, though, it feels like all the previous chapters were a deception, not in the 'Chrysalis fools the main six into not realizing what she's up to until it's too late' sense but in a 'Masterweaver fools the readers into thinking this is going to be an interesting slice of life story until he can suddenly say "and then the protagonist was evil all along the end"' sense. To which I say: boo. This was not clever writing. This was not an incredible twist. This was like having a bit at the end of Season 1, Episode 2 that shows Celestia in her chambers, offering a psychotic smile as she moves a pawn that looks like Twilight on her chessboard. It's just mean.
And it doesn't help to have Chrysalis taunting the readers from the Author's Notes. It comes off less as 'Chrysalis performs evil gloating' and more as 'Masterweaver performs evil gloating', saying 'you were expecting this story to have a dramatic climax? Too bad.' Not to mention that, when she says 'good is not nice', I'm uncertain whether that's what she says, what she believes, or what Masterweaver believes.
Chrysalis is not good. I know that sounds obvious, but either she's trying to deceive us, she's trying to deceive herself, or Masterweaver has some odd ideas of what is 'good'. Because I don't believe that the ends justify the means. In fact, I believe that, if the means are rotten, the ends are poisoned by them. Chrysalis didn't save the world from Tirek. She took it from him.
If you take nothing else from this, Masterweaver, take this: this story needs a dark tag. The villain won.
7685145
A correction: Chrysalis has not altered her children's personalities. She only learned how to do so after studying the Dusk files. She's only changed the personality of one man--one who, quite arguably, deserved it. And also she hasn't actually taken over the world, merely put herself in a place where the kind of people who would would have to oppose her.
This whole story was an exercise in contradiction. Chrysalis is the protagonist, and her actions caused quite a bit of good. Does that mean she's a hero? She certainly cares for and loves her children. On the other hand, the depths she's willing to go to achieve her goals, and the level of revenge she extracted from both Gladmane and Tirek, speak to something darker in her essence.
I expect controversy. I expect people to be horrified. I expect factions to form, some defending her, some saying she is fully justified.
Quite frankly, your entire comment is a compliment.
You know, with how powerful Tirek is, with how impossible keeping him in prison would be, and with the risk that he would reincarnate within days of his execution, this really is the best option for dealing with the bastard. And that is a truly terrifying thought.
Now I know why you waited until Halloween to post.
That was very nice.
I do not have many problems with what Chrysalis did, Triek indeed have some sort of assassination coming for him, and this functionally serves as an assassination. However, I am very concerned as to How she accomplished it and what she left the conflict with. As was said in the story, she created the most powerful information network in the world, with ties into major powers around the globe, and subsumed control over the second most powerful wielder of magic with one of the most broken abilities around.
While she might have said she doesn't have any malicious plans for that power, well, a plan doesn't have to be malicious to be harmful. And she is woefully lacking any checks to her current powerbase. With nobody who can tell her no, the only thing keeping her doing anything is her almost hedonistic morals, which is rather concerning when taking her alternate into account.
Sunset gets a pass for her OP Plz Nerf Powers as she is held in check by reality itself, If she goes nutsoid she would be smacked down by either the EoH or by just having to do her job of holding the universe together (and the EoH probably capitalizing on that).
Chrysalis on the other hand is rather lacking in duties. She has her children, but they seem mostly autonomous. So I can see her using her massive political weight and apparent hella' ballin' plotting skills to over the course of a few years subtly implement a "Topless Tuesday" as a national event every week just because she is getting bored and wants to see if she can. Stuff like that can get me worried, ya know?
7685401 Wait. If good is not nice and this story was very nice... are you saying the story was bad?
7685118
Well, the question of whether mind alteration is morally sound is largely based on whether you consider execution for crimes and/or assassination of enemy leaders are valid legal/political tools. Really, the only difference between those and the mind alteration is that mind alteration leaves a new person in their place that can potentially be a benefit to society, which arguably makes it a more moral act.
7685145
Hmmm. Look, I think I see where you're coming from; Crysalis has performed a highly morally questionable act, and gained significant political capital and influence over the world, in seeming defiance of her earlier statements... but it ignores two key points:
A) her action was taken to stop the unquestionably evil acts of a being that not even deity-like beings were willing to stop due to the sheer danger of his power.
B) The unpleasant truth of the world is that, without power, one can influence nothing, for good or for ill.
She's not 'taken over the world' as you put it. She's not exploiting her people to gain power for its own sake, or self-aggrandizement.
She's use her magic and their talents to gain significant influence and political capital so she has the power to protect them and their interests, as well as other people she feels protective of but are used and abused by the world (see earlier reference to sex workers in the story.).
And while we were unaware of it at the time, the resurrection factor means that killing Tirek is an impossibility, and as there is no elements of harmony or tataurus, imprisoning him is essentially impossible. While I grasp that most people look down on the moral relativistic position, I'm not seeing any other viable solution. In my perspective, using your morality as an excuse to allow suffering to continue because you can't come up with a moral solution is in itself immoral.
Ultimately, though, your evaluation is correct; Crysalis is not a good person. However, she's not a bad person, either. Simply one willing to do whatever she sees as necessary to help those she sees in her care... which is a damn sight better than her counterpart, who was recently revealed to simply act the way she does to maintain her own power and nothing more.
7685418
Well, there's her seeming self-appointed eternal vigilance in preventing magical tyrants like Tirek from emerging again. And it's unclear how much effort maintaining The Wholesome takes.
7685174
Really? Because more than half of it could be boiled down to 'this story was badly written'.
7685772
My opinion on execution for crimes is a bit biased- as my family had to deal with the murder of a member. Maybe vengeance and "a life for a life" is seen as petty by others, but growing up never being able to know my mom was fucked up.
7686865
Oh, I recognize the complexity of the issue, which is why I didn't weight on whether it was right or wrong- just how mind alteration/erasure/reprogramming compares to it on a moral level as a punishment.
7685882 So having a character have interesting motivations and having a mix of good and bad qualities equals badly written?
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7687470 He just didn't like the story, so he's complaining. It's done somewhat mean-spirited, but FredMSloniker isn't entirely wrong. Masterweaver wrote an entry-level story to the whole morally challenging, gray area. It is neither good nor bad, it is okay. Fairly average from delivery to morality payload. It is entertaining, but it won't reach the controversial or talked about categories. Armchair theoreticians will likely popup and discuss the decent moral ambiguity, but that will fade. It's a fun little read, it's a cute addition to the Oversaturation thing, but it isn't some kind of masterwork and both sides of an argument like this should realize that. It's just an entertaining story, not the kind of thing you should get bent out of shape over.
7688273
At the very least it's in the 90th percentile, along with the rest of this series.
More to the point, I think FredMSloniker is just downright wrong. He's applying moral absolutism to a story about moral grey areas, and insulting the author's work because of it, as if this has never been explored by anyone else. Sure the story by itself isn't some grand work of art, but it was a good addition to the Saturated Universe and quite enjoyable on its own.
this is the worst story in the entire Oversaturation verse. I want your Chrysalsis squashed as much as the canon one
7708651 This sentence is wrong. no offense
7738391 at least Equestrian Chrysalis is honestly malevolent
7738445 i don't think EG Chrysalis is malevolent.
Equestria Chrysalis thinks others as simple pawns for her to use as she wants. EG Chrysalis doesn't
Intriguing. Nicely done and curious to see more.
Your version of EG Chrysalis is rather like a hard-edged Duchess Chryssie ... definitely one of the good guys.
> threatens Magic Incarnate
> threatens the girlfriend of the Goddess literally keeping the world from going poof
Honestly, sometimes it feels like Sunset should just leave for an hour, and then come back and remake the world from the conceptual ashes left over. Or make a few exceptions to her non-interference policy to remove a few threats. Making every single theocidal ability go poof, building a few more higher-dimensional walls, putting in a seraphic security force to keep an omniscient eye on threats, maybe even paying Chrysalis a "visit", "good" is relative when you are an omnipotent being who can define universal concepts like morality by thinking about it hard enough.
I was conflicted whether or not to comment on this story. Then again. This IS a success from writer's point of view, a relative one, at least. It deserves credit. Well, here we go.
"Evil is evil. Lesser, greater, middling - makes no difference.
The degree is arbitrary, the definitions blurred. If I'm to choose between one evil and another, I'd rather not choose at all."
Here's the interesting bit I haven't seen in comments, at least not explicitly. Tirek is irrelevant. His was a fairly significant issue, but sooner or later it would be resolved, one way or another. In fact, Chrysalis' method is one of the better ones, it keeps him in check and anchored to the current body, for the time being. And, again, for the time being, everyone benefits from that. Until a more permanent solution presents itself this is good enough.
The much bigger problem is Chrysalis and the Wholesome. Twilight got lucky, she can comprehend the scope of the situation, but it would seem the decision to act upon it would also be hers alone to shoulder. What she'd need to do is force Princess Twilight to reveal the information about her Equestrian counterpart... And watch and read Fight Club.
Because the Wholesome are literally the carbon copy of that concept. The humans are weak, troubled, fractured, falling apart at the seams. Give them something to sootthe the pain and you'll have an endless stream of supplicants to choose from for any purpose under the sun. The war against such an organisation would mean literally everyone could be an enemy. The hivemind complicates things further, but even without it the victory would require decisive and fairly extreme actions. And their reach spreads like cancer, they get stronger with every passing day.
What's worse, Chrysalis has been actively trying to remove one significant threat to herself, namely Sunset Shimmer. Tirek is no threat to Sunset; he can only drain the magic from the physical body, and for her the nessesity of one and it's capabilities are merely a suggestion, and not a very insistent one. It would be very easy to repeat the trick Chrysalis pulled on him, and feed him 'rigged' power, like a disguised kill-switch. But Sunset relies on Twilight and the rest of Spectacular Seven to keep her anchored and help make moral decisions. Well, now most of them think of Chrysalis fondly, one way or another. And her influence over them will grow with time, one day she might succeed in getting Sunset's ear herself. Then the situation will become hopeless and victory impossible.
And so the decision presents itself. Should Twilight let Chrysalis be? Right now Chrysalis' intentions are more or less pure, she just helped to solve the Tauros situation, and even if she kept Tirek as her war hound, the alternatives aren't great themselves. But every day the price Twilight would have to pay to oppose them, if or when it becomes nessesary, rises.
Right now Chrysalis is mortal. If things remain more or less as they are, one day she will die, silver lining with all tyrants, real or imagined. But with Tirek at hand that might change. And even if it doesn't, how much worse off the world would be, with her exerting unrestrained influence upon it?
So the fate of the world qutie literally rests on Twilight's decision. And I don't know what she would choose... And glad I'm not the one to make it.
From a subjective perspective, I have several things to add to that. I recognise that, given the possibility to join the Wholesome as they are here, I would likely do so, and carry out my orders loyally and without question. It also terrfies me, so I'm glad this can't actually happen. I'm also sad that the story subverts the 'magical' and 'harmonious' aspects of Oversaturated world. This is an attempted reality check; humans are weak, stupid, selfish and worthless, they race blindly to the oblivion and no amount of Harmony influence would change that. They dont deserve being saved, they deserve enslavement or extermination. I don't believe it adds to the story, Dark writing doesn't automatically equal good writing; I'm glad this isn't recognised as canon to Oversaturation / Group Precipitation. It's also missing 'Dark' tag, although if it hadn't been added yet, my comment will not change that.
This is probably it.
8533185
I've never read or watched Fight Club, but I think I get the gist of this review... and I love it. It perfectly encapsulates the gray morality of Chrysalis as a character, and the danger that she poses.
Mild correction, though, this is canon to the Oversaturated World.
8533617
Oh. Well. That world just got a whole lot more unpleasant. I also can't imagine canon Sunset ignoring the problem with Tirek, she did get involved in similar issues before, like the development of arcane superweapons. This is about the same threat level.
Also, at this point it's... Not so much gray morality, as an absense of one. And to fight that one has to relinquish his own, and do whatever has to be done. That's the sad part. With actual changelings, at least, there was a chance of symbiotic coexistance. The Wholesome, in contrast, are humans. They must be eradicated, or the world's fucked.
8533796
The world would have been more screwed if Tirek hadn't been taken down. Chrysalis's methods were questionable at best, but as she has repeatedly stated and demonstrated throughout this story, she has no real imperialistic motives.
Besides, Chrysalis is just plain awesome. Especially when she's not being stupid like her counterpart in the S2 finale.
Wow. It's not often I write a comment and delete it before posting for length. Twice, even. To sum up without going into why, I find I'm not bothered about this version of Chrysalis continuing to exist and thrive. Or Tirek, even given the possibility he's not presently under any form of control. Hope Chryssi doesn't end up written in semicanon to be an antagonist; a content Chryssi who intrigues mostly to keep herself occupied and is content with her natural limits I find to be fun enough to outweigh all the potential dramatics of the alternative. Thanks for writing this.
7685145
I still think this Chrysalis is mostly good. She in fact accomplished her ends with the minimum possible harm to innocents. What has she done that's so evil?
I mean seriously, her style is snarky and sinister, but if you examine her actions, she does little worse than any of my Reconciliation queens would do, given the danger.
Love this, sequel please!
Thoughts:
Interesting. But I'm noticing a pattern where a lot of Oversat fics suffer a bit from 'talking head' syndrome. I'd much rather have SEEN the events taking place in Tauros (or most of it anyway), heard more about Tirek, and seen some confrontation than just talk through it. I think the story's weaker because of that.
Doesn't mean you don't get a good idea of who Chrysalis is here, because you do. Crazy pseudo-mother queen bug...
-GM, master of chrysalids.
This was very damn interesting. An amazing take on an EG Chryssi getting powers, and it worked really well. You can see the same drives and ambitions that made Bug Waifu go evil, but also tempered by a more 'normal life other then having been (As far as we know) born a Queen and ruling over a hive mind her whole life. Having the perspective needed to have empathy with others. But at the same time, as stated, still having the same overall personality. But actively trying to avoid the more negative aspects of that. To do what is best for the most people, while willing to do things others would balk at if they are truly needed.
The fact there was so much telling, not showing is an issue, but it fits the style the story was going for. It gives enough information to get across what is needed well. So while the writing itself is, pretty good-ish, the story is really intriguing and well done on the whole. Not perfect, but well done and what flaws it has not really detracting from the whole much (at least for me).
I do not get all the people jumping on Chryssi somehow being 'evil' now, as the story was very clear she is not, her overall goal is more 'good' aligned, but she's willing to look at situations and take the required actions to promote that good that most would find distasteful, but only if they truly are the only option. AKA, fairly firmly in the 'Anti-Hero' category.
So, yeah really interesting take on things, and very engaging story.
And this is why a Good character can be much more worrisome than any Evil character, in a story.
Wonderful read, all of this! Thank you for writing it!
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"If you have to look along the shaft of an arrow from the wrong end, if a man has you entirely at his mercy, then hope like hell that man is an evil man. Because the evil like power, power over people, and they want to see you in fear. They want you to know you're going to die. So they'll talk. They'll gloat.
They'll watch you squirm. They'll put off the moment of murder like another man will put off a good cigar.
So hope like hell your captor is an evil man. A good man will kill you with hardly a word."
-- Men at Arms
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You just can't go wrong with Pratchett!
I liked this story. I would like to see more connected with this world.
p.S. gif image # 2 does not work. "file size over 8MB"