//------------------------------// // Part: 1 // Story: Eyes of Judgement // by Chapter 13 //------------------------------// Edited by: Chaotic Dreams, Typoglyphic, and Airy Words Chrysalis looked at the tunnel before her, her black head slightly tilted. She squinted her eyes and scrunched up her muzzle as she appraised the cavern. A minute passed. The changeling relaxed her face and sighed. “What a mess...” It was a mess. The walls were rough and unpolished. The ceiling was low and scored with countless stalactites that all pointed like foreboding spikes toward the uneven ground. It would be a chore, but the cavern could be renovated in only a matter of weeks by one of her excavating teams. Her children worked fast. The temperature began to drop. Chrysalis trotted forward. Her breath misted from the cold cave air, and she shivered visibly. The sudden temperature drop was probably due to poor air flow. She would have her children look into this as well. The air began to become stale. The queen took a deep intake of breath through her nose. The cold nipped at her lungs and chilled her core. Beyond the sting, her senses filled with the smell of damp decay, mold and stale air. Her children would have to tend to this as well. The cave began to darken. Her chi— The walls began to close. The changeling stopped in place. The cave stood still. She took a shuddering breath. Chrysalis broke into a sprint. Something was wrong. She could feel it. Whatever it was, she had a feeling it was bad. She needed to get back to the main hive and warn her— Chrysalis dug her hooves into the ground and forced herself to a hard stop. She looked forward, her eyes wide as looked down the endless cavern. “What is happening?” Chrysalis’ breathing quickened. Who was she supposed to warn? Her previous thought had simply vanished halfway through, which left her question half asked. Chrysalis blinked, then slowly began to back away. “W-Where was I going?” Chrysalis tripped on the uneven ground and fell to her rump. The changeling pressed her hooves into her skull as she began to shake. “Where am I?!” Chrysalis screamed at the top of her lungs. Her voice echoed down the cavern and reached forward into the abyss. When all was still and silent, a new voice echoed back to her: “You are home…” Chrysalis’ went still. The words did not echo. They were spoken only once, by a voice that she had never heard, yet knew to whom it belonged. Tears began to flow down the changeling’s cheeks, but she did not sob. Her fearful expression changed to one of a completely broken mare. She slowly looked up, eyes wide and dead. The walls that were moments ago bare now held broken, eroded remains of childish murals. Murals of happy changelings—of a queen and her first clutch. Chrysalis lowered her head slightly. Blobs of black flesh now surrounded her on all sides. They pulsed with an unnatural beat. Moments later, they began to take shape. Small limbs appeared. Soulless eyes soon took shape. Razor teeth shone for blood. Tiny black bodies came into being. Chrysalis did not move, not even as the ghosts of her first great sin began to slowly crawl up her body and sink their teeth into her flesh. She could feel the pain. It burned. It stung. It hurt like no other pain before. Yet, she did not move. The changeling only smiled as she was eaten alive… O O O Chrysalis’ eyes shot open. She violently gasped for air, as if she had emerged just before the point of drowning. Her body acted in kind. Her hooves flailed. She desperately tried to cling to anything tangible. This action caused her to get tangled up in the blanket she didn't know had been covering her. She hit the floor a moment later with a loud thud. Her struggle continued on the floor until she freed herself from the sheet. The frightened mare scampered back and smashed into a wall. Her eyes were puffy and wired. Tears fell. She shook with terror. Chrysalis knew where she was, she had realized it the moment her back had hit the wall, but the dream had been too real. The emotions were still there. The fear. The pain. She could still feel the creatures’ bites on her neck and the rest of the little abominations’ teeth in her flesh. “Make them stop. Make them go away,” Chrysalis choked out through her fear-fueled sobs. She hugged her hooves and slowly rocked. “Please!” O O O It was a while before Chrysalis was able to recover. Longer than usual. She was still curled tightly in a ball, her front hooves hugging her rear legs. When the shivers finally started to recede, she crawled to her hooves and dragged herself to her apartment’s tiny bathroom, stained by years of neglect long before her arrival. She slumped against the sink, turned on the tap and plunged her head under the bone-cold water until her skin ached. She lurched upright, squinting at the mirror. A tired-looking earth pony looked back at her with bags under bloodshot eyes, a frazzled mane, and a soaked muzzle. This was Crystal Iris: a tall, lanky dark grey earth pony mare with glowing green eyes, long cyan mane, and a broken, sickly green heart for a Cutie Mark. The queen of many faces was gone, replaced by the earth pony with only one. “This is who I am now,” the mare muttered softly. It seemed like just yesterday when the sight of Crystal would have sent the former queen into a frenzy, but not today. No, she had more or less accepted her fate. Her curse. This is who she was. This is who she always would be. The mare in the mirror bowed her head, then paused. Her skin prickled. Chrysalis tilted her head and ears to the faint creak of depressed floorboards. The mare sighed, then rolled her eyes. “Of course she was going to make it tonight,” she muttered. Chrysalis trotted out of the bathroom while trying desperately to ignore the large midnight-blue alicorn that sat in the center of the room, starlit mane waving in an unfelt wind. The ignored entity smiled softly. "How is Crystal Iris these days?" Chrysalis trotted past the alicorn and into her small kitchen. "As miserable as ever," she muttered as she opened her breadbox. The alicorn raised an eyebrow as she shifted to face the grey mare. "Last we met, I was under the impression that you had secured a more comfortable job and were enjoying the many benefits that came along with it. Is this still true?" Chrysalis sighed as she spread some hay on her bread. “Yes, my financial situation is more stable due to my new position, but it makes little difference—I could be living in a gilded tower in upper Canterlot and I would still despise living as a peasant. Changelings do not belong among ponies. We are too different, too incompatible. I would rather live amongst manticores than your subjects." “Must you speak so poorly of them? Our subjects may not be perfect, but they do manage to live together in relative harmony, their differences settled by discussion rather than blood.” Chrysalis chuckled, then took a bite of her sandwich. It was dry and tasted like tree bark. Everything the ponies ate tasted like tree bark. “You speak of it as if it is a good thing. A proper hive lives in perfect harmony: each drone, soldier, builder or broodmother doing their part. Passiveness is for the weak. What good are one’s words if they are not backed by force? Only the strong survive. Only the worthy may breed. Only those who prove that they are of value to the hive may be a part of it.” “Is that why you were exiled?” Chrysalis jerked. Her sandwich fell from her grasp. “My exile was due to a coup, not incompetence!” she growled. “Those fools, my children, were blinded. They did not see the big picture. They did not see what I saw. They knew nothing of what I did for them! The sacrifices I made!” Luna did not flinch. Rather, she seemed to soften. “No one saw what you did, Chrysalis, and I am inclined to believe that even you only glimpsed a peek of it yourself. You were blinded by your ambition and led your subjects by your greed under the false flag of prosperity.” “If a queen flourishes, so does her hive!” “Not if it is at the expense of her subjects, dear Chrysalis. You thought of only yourself, and this is what it got you. You were a selfish creature, and that fact caught up to you. Now, you live amongst those whom you once called weak as their equal. What makes Equestria strong is our ability to tolerate failure and weakness in the hopes of it making us better. Perfection is a myth, Chrysalis. No one is without their faults. I would have believed you to understandthis more than anypony.” Chrysalis huffed and picked up her dropped sandwich. She wanted nothing more than to rip the alicorn apart, bit by bit, but she knew better. Even when enraged she was not foolish enough to try. Chrysalis brooded to herself and took a solitary bite, followed by yet another yawn. Luna took note of this. “Chrysalis... are you getting enough rest? Your eyes look weary and you seem frail, far more so than when we visited you last month.” Luna thought for a moment. “Is it the stress of your new position? Insomnia? If so, I can suggest some blends of our sister’s tea that work wonders to—” “Oh, don’t act all innocent,” Chrysalis cut off. Her anger had returned. “This is your doing!” Luna blinked. “Pardon?” The grey mare grit her teeth. “Your nightmares have been keeping me up for almost two weeks now. You are the Mare of Dreams, are you not? I can hardly account for this many in a row as coincidence. Are you convinced my current punishment wasn’t making me suffer enough?” She went to say more but had to step back as Luna advanced upon her, horn aglow. Without a word, Chrysalis felt Luna cast some sort of spell that bathed her in a quick wave of tingling warmth. After this, the alicorn continued to look her over, far too close for comfort. Chrysalis stepped away. “What are you doing?!” Luna blinked as if snapped out of a daze. She blushed slightly, then turned serious. “I am sorry, but if your words are true, then they make no sense. I have been watching over your dreams the same as everyone else's, and you have not had a nightmare in quite some time. In fact, you have not dreamed at all in the exact period that you have stated. Not dreaming for extended periods of time is normal, but what you speak is simply impossible.” The grey mare opened her mouth, then closed it. This process continued for several cycles until she shook her head. “Are you playing with me? It this some sort of trick? I have been plagued by terrible nightmares, each one leaving me exhausted and pained, and you are telling me that you have no knowledge of them? You are either a liar or a truly incompetent dreamwalker.” “I speak only truth.” Luna shook her head. “If what you say is true, and you do suffer from these night terrors, then they are not dreams or nightmares. They must be something else.” “What else could they be?! I go to bed, close my eyes, and am treated to horrors that make my chitin crawl!” Chrysalis waited for an answer, but Luna did not give one. She watched as the alicorn began to pace, her face scrunched as she was deep in thought. Chrysalis fell to her haunches and waited for a reply, all anger slowly draining way to be replaced with worry. “I cannot give you an exact answer at this time,” Luna finally admitted, stopping her pace to look at Chrysalis. “There are some creatures that can cause similar symptoms to what you put forth—a Domovoi, Pesanta, or even Baku—but none of them have been recorded anywhere near Canterlot for centuries—my sister’s wards over our capital prevent their advance.” She paused, then looked out the window at the still high moon. “If it is one of them, then one of the wards may have fallen, or corruption is ahoof. Whatever it may be, I will get to the bottom of it.” She returned her view back to Chrysalis, her eyes holding back burning rage. Chrysalis almost flinched. “I must review our wards and enquire if more citizens are affected or if it is distinct to you. Given your true identity, I would not be surprised that if someone were to learn of it, they would send one of these creatures to do you harm.” Luna thought for a second, then shook her head. “Yes, there is much work to be done. I request that you remain awake for your safety and report to my chambers at the rising of the next moon. Be careful, Chrysalis. You may be in danger.” With that said, Luna’s horn lit up briefly in a violet glow and her body dissipated into a starry purple mist that matched her mane. The mist crawled into the air and shot out the open window. Chrysalis, for her part, blinked. She barely registered what had just transpired. With a shake of her head, the gray mare finished her sandwich and trotted over to her bed. She poked her muzzle over to the nightstand and retrieved one of the books, hopped up onto the bed, then opened it and began to read by the moonlight, waiting for the sun to rise. She hadn’t planned on going back to sleep anyway... O O O It was now hours later. The sun had come and gone. The moon was just starting to rise. Chrysalis had just got off work. The grey mare trotted down the still busy streets of Canterlot, her cyan hair still done up in a neat little bun and she was still wearing her secretary uniform. For the first time in seemingly countless hours, a large frown was plastered on her face. She had gotten good at pretending to care about ponies while working at her job, having to smile the entire time, but that never made her like it. Far from it. As soon as she walked out the door, a huge angry frown became plastered on her face. Chrysalis made her way down Canterlot's main street, pushing past all the other passersby with no remorse, heading towards the castle. Part of her wanted to ignore the princess and just go home, but when she remembered that there could possibly be a creature that was trying to kill her, she changed her mind. The former changeling didn’t like it, but she actually did need the princess’ help. Hopefully, when Luna did whatever she had to do to fix this, Chrysalis would be able to have a good night’s sleep and never see the lunar princess again. She would be content with at least one coming true. Chrysalis smiled at the thought, but it fell as soon as she found herself at the footsteps of the castle. Canterlot Castle was, well, a castle. It was grand, imposing, and everything that a castle was supposed to be. She thought it would look better as a pile of rubble. She ascended the steps, made her presence and intent known to one of the guards, and soon she was being ushered forward by one of the lunar guard. Apparently they had been informed to expect her arrival, and thus the ordeal of gaining entry had been a lot easier. Hopefully, everything else would go this quickly and painlessly, and she would be out of this place in no time. The palace reeked of failure. Chrysalis soon found herself standing in front of a large door with a crescent moon expertly crafted into its front. She assumed that this would either be the night princess’ study or bedroom. She would find out which soon enough. The guard opened the door and ushered her inside. She followed his command but was surprised when the door was shut behind her and they did not follow. Chrysalis had not expected to be ushered to the princess’ private quarters and merely left alone. Either these ponies were too trusting, or she was not considered a threat. She hoped it was the former—she had already lost enough dignity. The room itself was actually larger than she had expected. Back when she was queen, her personal chambers were more akin to a broom closet in comparison. The room was large and circular, with a lower inset level in the middle. The walls that were not lined with bookshelves held large clear windows. The ceiling was in the shape of a dome with a huge telescope sticking out of the top. The rest of the room was covered with open books, tables, and other random assorted junk. A single hearth burned with purple fire next to the bed. It was surprisingly unorganized. Part of her wanted to do some snooping, but a more insistent part told her no. If she had been in Luna’s place, the entire chamber would be tamper-proof, with more than one deadly ward thrown in for good measure. It felt like an out-of-character thing for the princess to do, but nothing Luna did made sense to her. Chrysalis agreed with her gut and did not take the risk. Chrysalis walked around the perimeter of the room, taking care to keep a safe distance between her and everything but the floor, and sat down next to the burning hearth, basking in its warmth. Luna’s quarters were noticeably colder than the rest of the castle. It would be some time until Chrysalis felt another presence enter the room. If she wasn’t actively waiting for someone to enter, she would have missed the soft hiss from the conclusion of a magical teleport. The earth pony rose to her hooves and turned around. She saw that Luna now stood in the middle of the large bedroom, nose deep in a book as if she had been there the entire time. Not one to be ignored, Chrysalis made her presence known with a loud cough. To her surprise, Luna jumped, dropping the book she was reading and turning to face Chrysalis, who looked back with a proud smirk. “Did I scare you?” Luna, who took a few deep breaths, calmed herself before responding. “I would be lying if I said no,” she began, then picked up the book she had dropped and levitated it back into one of the bookshelves. “My mind has been at its end with our current situation, so your apparent scare wasn’t much of a notable event.” Chrysalis thought elsewise, but dropped the topic for something more important. “Speaking of which, what have you learned? Am I being haunted, or is this just a show of incompetence?” “What I have learned only adds more questions than answers,” Luna admitted as she trotted up towards the earth pony and sat beside her. “No wards have been broken. The guard reports no breach. And none of our other subjects appear to be affected by what ails you.” She paused, then looked towards Chrysalis sternly. “With what has been presented to me, I am inclined to believe your claims to be false. Fabricated.” She growled. “A waste of my time.” For the first time since they had met, Chrysalis felt anger radiating from the alicorn. Luna’s calm, forever-forgiving attitude, was gone, replaced with pure anger. All confidence drained from the earth pony. “I-I am not l-lying!” she stuttered, shrinking back and away from the alicorn. Though she could not see them, Chrysalis felt Luna’s eyes burn into her. She feared for her own safety. This was the alicorn that she knew Luna to be; the face behind the facade. She waited for her wrath to strike, hoping it would be quick and painless. A sigh. “As I feared, you speak the truth…” “What?” Chrysalis’ body stopped shivering. She lifted her head and turned toward the alicorn. The anger in Luna’s eyes was gone, once again replaced with neutrality. “As I feared, you tell the truth. This only means that I am completely clueless to what ails you.” Chrysalis snarled in indignation. “What in Tartarus was all of that about, then!” she screamed. “Are you playing with me?!” Luna shook her head. “No, I only wished the truth. You do not make retrieving such a thing easy.” “You enjoyed my fear,” she spat. Luna’s eyes fell, only for a moment. “Once, I may have, but not now.” She sighed. “I do not take pleasure in your fear. I despise it. But, if fear is needed to gain the truth, it is a necessary evil.” Chrysalis wanted to respond but chose to stay silent. Her eyes left the alicorn and moved back toward the floor. “So that’s it, then. You’re just going to give up.” She let out a forced chuckle. “I do not know why I expected anything else.” “Far from it,” she heard Luna speak up. Chrysalis looked up from the ground to see a strangely optimistic Luna. “Just because I do not know the cause does not mean that I will not search for it. Yes, what ails you does seem unique, but that only makes it a puzzle—a challenge—and all puzzles have a solution.” The former changeling cocked an eyebrow. “And how are you going to go about solving it?” Luna smiled, her horn glowing. “By gathering up all the pieces.” Before the grey mare could act, Luna placed her glowing horn to Chrysalis' forehead. The alicorn kept it there, her eyes closed. In that moment, Chrysalis felt a warmth flow around her like the embrace of a comforting blanket. She smiled, closing her eyes to enjoy the moment. It did not last. Chrysalis opened them violently to the sound of shuttering breath. Luna, horn still to her head, was gasping. Her eyes were still closed, but the former changeling could see tears flowing freely behind them. Luna then began to scream, seemingly in both pain and fear. Chrysalis watched in horror. Luna’s eyes shot open. The alicorn instantly shot back, using her wings in a desperate attempt to get away from what Chrysalis believed to be herself. Luna’s panic ended when she backed into a bookcase with such force that books it held began to rain down off the shelves and onto the panicking alicorn. After that, Luna didn’t move, looking at Chrysalis as if she had seen a ghost. The door to Luna’s chambers opened with a crash and two guards leapt inside, halberds at the ready. They quickly scanned the room and settled on grimly staring at the earth pony next to the fire. Luna lifted a hoof from the pile of books surrounding her. “All is well! We are in no danger. I was merely… surprised.” Both guards glanced quickly at each other, then back to their sovereign. Luna continued. “Please return to your posts. I require no assistance.” Dutifully, both guards nodded. They exited and closed the door behind them. Luna let out a breath and turned to look at her guest. Chrysalis saw the mask of assurance fall away, to be replaced with… something else. Both were silent. “T-that was no dream,” Luna finally managed to stutter out through shaken breath. The alicorn then shook her head and rose to her hooves, the books cascading off of her as she stood up, then trotted briskly towards another bookshelf and began frantically searching. The stunned former changeling eventually shook her head, snapping out of her haze. She rose to her hooves and marched towards the alicorn who continued to scour the bookshelf. For a moment, Chrysalis just observed the preoccupied alicorn, trying to figure out how to word the questions that had begun to build up in her mind. Eventually, she decided to give voice to all of them. “What did do you just do? What just happened? What are you looking for?” Luna didn’t even flinch. The former changeling began to get frustrated. What was she searching for? What had happened? Why wasn’t she saying anything?! “Hey!” Chrysalis cried out in anger, then headbutted the alicorn in the side. “You will not ignore me!” After this yielded no response, Chrysalis huffed and trotted back over toward the fire. She was getting nowhere. She gave up her pitiful efforts and decided to wait the mare out, hoping that Luna would give her answers when the princess was ready. Sure enough, the alicorn eventually trotted over to meet Chrysalis over by the fire. She sat opposite her, head buried in a book held in her magic grasp. “I believe I have an idea,” Luna spoke as she closed the book and looked up toward the grey mare. Chrysalis rolled her eyes. “Great. Now, can you fill me in on what happened prior to your little meltdown?” “Yes, that…” Luna bit her lip. “Well, I attempted to read your dreams directly with an… unexpected result. I saw… things that I would rather not remember. It did not give me much, but it did confirm that this is not a dream, but something else entirely.” “And that ties into your idea how?” “I was getting to that,” Luna huffed. “Although it is not a dream, it seems to have some of the characteristics of one. Which ones, and to what extent, I am not entirely sure, but I do believe that I may be able to enter whatever it is like I would a dream.” “You want to go in there?!” Luna nodded. “Yes. In order to see what this is, and figure out a way to get rid of it, I need to examine it. So, I shall approach it as if it were a nightmare.” Although she was still confused, Chrysalis nodded. “Okay, I guess?” Luna nodded. “Indeed.” Her horn began to glow, and once again she lowered it toward the former changeling. “Now, hold still. And, please, try not to panic…” Her horn made contact. Chrysalis felt her body begin to tingle, followed soon after by her vision flashing red, then black... O O O Chrysalis groaned. Her head hurt and pulsed as if it were filled with newborn grubs. It took her a moment to realize that she was laying down on her side. Had she passed out? Had she been moved? Figuring that lying there would yield her no answers, she rose to her hooves. To her surprise, she found her vision blurred. She blinked. For some reason, her vision remained thickly clouded, fogged. She blinked again. To her surprise, the fog wasn’t in her vision, but all around her. Her head swiveled as she surveyed her location. She wasn’t in the castle. She was outside of it. “Did that stupid pony eject me from her castle?” She sat in the middle of downtown Canterlot, from what she could see through the thick fog, but... It was different. The street she was in was devoid of life. The shops were closed. Everything around her was covered in a thick layer of omnipresent fog, much thicker than anything she had seen during her stay in the city. Everything seemed… decayed. The ground was covered in a layer of what looked like grey snow that still fell from the sky. How was it snowing in midsummer? It had been warm when she had entered the castle! Chrysalis reached out a hoof to grab one of the fluffy grey flakes but paused. Her hoof was not grey, but black. And was porous. It was… It was her real hoof. She looked down at the rest of her body and found that, like her hoof, her real body had returned. Frantically, Chrysalis stumbled to her hooves and ran toward one of the closed shops. To her utter annoyance, the shopkeeper had deemed it proper to board up their windows. Had there been a blizzard? Chrysalis shook her head, then ran to the next shop. Like the last, it was completely boarded up. This cycle continued. Five shops later, Chrysalis found what she was looking for: an intact window. The changeling—yes, changeling—looked at her reflection in the dirty window. She raised her holed hoof, the reflection mirrored her movement. She was… she was back. She was Chrysalis. She was… whole. The reflection smiled, then frowned as she shook her head. No, something was still wrong. Why was she back? What had happened? What was wrong with Canterlot? Having gotten a closer look at the shops, she had noticed more that was wrong. They weren’t just closed, they were abandoned. What she could see past the boarded-up storefronts looked to be completely abandoned interiors. The exteriors appeared to have been unmaintained for some time; paint chipped and peeling, windows broken, walls cracked, and so on. This was unheard of for the pristine city and was not so the last time she had visited this district for her basic amenities. Chrysalis also noticed that it was not cold. Changelings were particularly sensitive to the climate. She dipped her hoof into the grey snow and inspected it. It was not snow. “Ash?” Chrysalis muttered. “Why is it raining ash?” Her first thought was fire, but she could see nor smell any smoke or visible source. Something large enough to produce this much ash would easily have been seen from her location, if not smelled. Her heightened senses had returned with her visage. “Something is wrong,” the changeling spoke again. “This is not right.” She looked around cautiously. She was on alert. Something had happened. Something big. The former queen trotted down the middle of the street, no clear destination in mind. Her ears swiveled like duel sentries, yet she heard no sound but her hooves crunching through the soft ash. She was alone. A single entity within a Silent Canterlot.