A palpable unease hung over the Crystal Empire like a dense fog, seemingly soaking into the very crystalline foundation itself. Even the Crystal Heart, the very symbol of the Crystal Empire that repelled the fierce arctic winds of the Frozen North, seemed to be affected as well, spinning slower than usual in its place at the base of the palace.
Of course, this unease was not lost on the citizens of the Crystal Empire. While many Crystal Ponies were still out and about, going along with their daily routine as usual, they did so with a certain stiffness that revealed their inner dread, the usual glimmer in their coats absent. No matter how much they tried to hide it, every so often they would pause in their stride to chance a glance in the direction of the Crystal Courthouse to the east.
Having fallen into disrepair during Sombra’s rule, the courthouse had been faithfully restored in an effort to return the Crystal Empire to its former glory once more. Even after being restored, however, the courthouse had remained unused for some time, as crimes in the Crystal Empire were exceedingly rare and even then they were light enough that a full-on trial was unnecessary.
Right up until two weeks ago, when a notorious criminal had been expedited to the Empire to face trial for their laundry list of crimes.
Inside the central courtroom, Princess Cadance, ruling monarch of the Crystal Empire, tried her best to stifle a yawn as she took her seat on the judge’s bench, rubbing at her tired eyes to try and ease the volume of bags that had formed under her eyes. She wasn’t alone, as all three of her fellow princesses occupied their own spot on the bench, with Celestia to her left, followed by Luna, and finally Twilight on the opposite end of the bench, each of them sporting similar looks of fatigue on their face.
Standing on either side of the bench were the co-rulers of the newly reformed Changeling Hive, Thorax, and his brother Pharynx, the latter of whom was only just managing to keep a stopper on his bubbling anger to keep himself from making a scene. On both sides of the room stood a row of heavily armed Royal Guards, with Shining Armor standing at the forefront on full alert should anything happen to require immediate armed intervention. A mix of ponies and changelings filled the spectator stands, only adding to the weariness filling the room.
What had originally been penned by nearly every news organization across the land as, “The Trial of the Millennia” had quickly devolved into an utter mockery of the justice system, kicked off by the accused denying a public defender and instead choosing to act as their own lawyer. It had all gone downhill from there, pushing what should have only taken a few days at most into a two-week long affair. By this point, just about everyone with any vested interest in the outcome of the case had become worn down to the point that many of them were silently praying that it would all just end already.
Clearing her throat to get everyone’s attention, Princess Celestia began to speak. “All rise. We will now begin the twelfth hearing of this case, for numerous crimes committed against the people of Equestria, including ponies, changelings, and many more.” Nodding her head, everyone in attendance sat back down as Celestia cast her gaze towards the courtroom doors. “Guards, please escort in the accused.”
As the courtroom doors slowly opened, everyone in the room turned to look at the accused being led into the room by a ring of guards. The former queen of the changelings, Chrysalis, seemed relatively unfazed as she walked down the length of the room, the cold iron shackles, and chains that had been wrapped around her legs rattling with each step. Her wings had been pinned down with a reinforced band and an inhibitor ring had been placed over her horn, cutting her off from her magic entirely.
In sharp contrast to the rest of the room, however, Chrysalis sported a condescendingly confident smirk across her face, a smirk that only seemed to widen once she stopped before the judge’s bench. “Ah, good morning, Celestia,” Chrysalis said, her voice practically oozing with a sickeningly sweet enjoyment as she glanced over the four exhausted princesses. “I see you brought your cronies along with you too! Sleep well, I hope?”
The four alicorns remained silent, glaring down at Chrysalis with thinly veiled disgust. Refusing to react to her obvious attempt at getting under her skin, Celestia continued. “Chrysalis, you stand accused—”
“Queen Chrysalis,” Chrysalis insisted, showing her fangs as she smiled up at Celestia.
“Chrysalis,” Celestia repeated, unable to hide the smallest hint of ire laced into her voice, “you stand accused of serious crimes committed at large against the citizens of Equestria, including multiple counts of kidnapping, impersonation of several royal figures, multiple counts of assault against a crown Princess of Equestria, torture, theft of classified documents, use of illegal mental magic to control a pony against their will, damage to public property, resisting arrest and the attempted murder of several Royal Guards in the process, among other noticeably serious crimes in a long list of offences committed against ponies and changelings alike. Having heard these crimes laid bare before you, how do you plead?”
Those in the audience stands leaned forward in their seats, holding out hope that Chrysalis would finally utter the one word that would finally bring this case to a close.
“Why… not guilty, of course!”
A loud groan erupted from the stands, ponies and changelings alike burying their head in their hooves.
Clearing her throat once more, Celestia rested her hooves against the judge's bench as she regarded Chrysalis calmly. “Given your less than stellar behavior during the events of these proceedings and the severity of your crimes, my fellow princesses and I have decided, after much deliberation and viewing all the evidence against you, that this hearing will be your final chance to plead your case for your innocence. Any further disruption during this trial will result in you being removed from the court while a final verdict is reached. Do you understand?”
“Hmmm... “ Chrysalis made a show of humming and hawing as she considered the ultimatum presented to her. “Eh, I suppose so. These shackles are beginning to chafe after all, so I’m all for getting out of these accursed things sooner rather than later. Plus, these chains are soooo last season, don’t you know? I plan to change into something far more fitting once all this is said and done with and I’m a free changeling again.”
Cadance’s teeth ground together as she glared at Chrysalis. Over my dead body!
Clearing her throat as she took the stand, Chrysalis stood tall as she began to address the court. “You all seem to enjoy labeling me as some kind of ‘villain’ or ‘monster’, but everything I did was not done out of some desire to commit evil, but done as the only option to keep my kind from going extinct. When I became Queen, I swore that I would do everything in my power to protect my people, and knowing that I can honestly say, without a shred of doubt in my mind that I do not regret the actions that have lead me here today.
“Thus, it was my royal responsibility to ensure that my hive would not wither away, forcing me to make dire choices in order to keep my hive alive. The assault on Canterlot was one such attempt, one you ponies feel comfortable placing the blame squarely on me when it was my fellow changelings who willingly attacked the city. It was not I who ultimately shattered the barrier surrounding the city, nor did I rampage through the streets while gleefully terrifying unsuspecting ponies. No, that was all my fellow changeling’s doing, and yet you feel comfortable offering them amnesty when their crimes are just as heinous as the ones I stand accused of!”
Pharynx hissed angrily as Chrysalis’s gaze passed over him, and Thorax seemed to wilt slightly as he tried to avoid meeting Chrysalis’s gaze.
“Therefore, I ask why I have not been offered the same courtesy as the rest of my kind? If anyone should be put on trial, it should be the ones who actually committed the crimes you speak of, rather than one who only did what she thought was best for her—”
“Horseapples!”
The tension in the room burst like a bubble as Cadance slammed her hooves against the judge’s bench, her nostrils flared and teeth clenched as she reared herself up and glared at the former queen with utter hatred burning behind her normally kind visage, unable to listen to her drivel on any longer. “Where was this so-called ‘royal responsibility’ when you left me to die alone in the caves beneath Canterlot, gloating all the while about how you were going to make the pony I loved into little more than your personal toy?!”
“Cadance, please—” Celestia put her hoof on her niece’s shoulder to try to calm her down, but Cadance just batted it aside with her wing, having none of it as her fury took over.
“You spout all this nonsense about doing all this for your people when you were actively keeping the Changelings underfed on purpose in order to keep them obedient! If you truly cared about the Changelings like you say you do, then you would have swallowed your pride and sought relations with Equestria instead of jumping straight to conquest! We would have gladly helped you and your people if you had only asked, but no! Instead, you conspired to invade Canterlot and rule over everypony as the tyrannical despot you really are! Admit it, you’re little better than Sombra and Tirek, just a power-mad dictator who derives joy from crushing others beneath their hooves!”
A hushed silence fell over the room following Cadance’s outburst as the mare panted for breath from the raw emotions she had just unleashed upon Chrysalis. After the initial shock had begun to subside, all eyes turned towards Chrysalis to gauge how she would react to the new accusations.
For once, Chrysalis actually looked surprised, standing with her eyes wide and her mouth hanging open. Blinking for a moment, she picked her jaw back up before looking up at Cadance with an almost pleased smirk on her face. “Gee, and here I thought you were stupid…”
“Wha-what?” Cadance croaked out, having not respected that response.
“You want the truth? Fine,” Chrysalis said, her face twisting into a snarling look of utter hatred and contempt as she glanced around the room. “You’re right, I never cared about any of my ‘subjects’, not one bit! The only thing they’ve ever been to me were tools I could use to subjugate all of Equestria beneath me! If any of them proved to be utterly useless, I could always just make more!”
Every changeling in the room hissed at Chrysalis. Even the normally gentle Thorax looked like he was moments away from giving the deposed queen a piece of his mind. Chrysalis ignored all the angry stares directed her way as she continued on. “You ponies think you’re all so special, with your disgusting ‘friendship’ nonsense! ‘Oh, let’s all sing a song and everything will be all hunky-dory!’ ‘Maybe if we talk about our feelings the big, bad bug will finally learn to let love and friendship into her heart! Blegh!”
Cackling like a madmare, Chrysalis flashed a toothy grin as she glared up at the princesses. “Hate to break it to you, Cady, but Queens don’t need friends! Only obedient servants and ponies who should be thankful to let me feed off them, like the miserable little vermin you all are! Soon the age of Equestria will be little more than a long forgotten memory as I replace it with the age of Chrysalis!” More cackling laughter echoed throughout the courtroom as Chrysalis reveled in her brief moment of power.
Despite Chrysalis’s villainous boasting, the four princesses looked very unimpressed, sharing a glance of “Really?” for a moment as they waited for Chrysalis to stop laughing. Once the changeling was finally done exercising her megalomania, Luna responded to the situation with, “Well… that was an interesting defense, that is for certain.”
“Indeed, sister,” Celestia agreed, actually managing to smile as she returned her attention to the still grinning Chrysalis. “I believe we will have a much easier time of coming to a verdict now thanks to that.”
Chrysalis appeared unfazed, however. “Yeah, about that… afraid there’s been a change of plans.” Unfurling her long tongue, Chrysalis waved around a small, seemingly innocuous pill she had kept hidden in her cheek this whole time. “Know what this is?”
“Stop her!” Shining Armor hollered, the squadron of guards on either side of the room leaping into action. Their efforts were in vain, however, as the command had barely left Shining’s mouth before Chrysalis reeled her tongue back into her mouth and swallowed the pill with a loud gulp.
As everyone in the room stared at the changeling in disbelief, Chrysalis smacked her lips together and muttered, “Mmm, minty.”
It took a moment for everyone to get over their shock before Twilight finally asked the question they were all thinking. “What… what did you just swallow?”
Chrysalis flashed another toothy grin as her stomach began to grumble loudly. “Wait for it…”
***
“Do you think everything’s all right in there?” Starlight asked as she stood outside the courthouse. Her and Spike had come to the Crystal Empire in order to offer moral support to Twilight while she helped oversee the trial, especially now that the trial had dragged on long enough that Twilight was getting more and more frazzled with each night spend going over documents after documents.
“I’m sure they’re fine,” Spike replied as he sat on a nearby bench with a bag of gems the Crystal Ponies had given him, occasional reaching into the bag to pull out another gemstone to munch on. “Considering this is Chrysalis we’re talking about, I don’t blame Twilight for wanting to prepare herself for anything that bug can throw at her.” Popping a sapphire into his mouth, Spike mumbled, “Twilight’s got this, trust me.”
“Still… I can’t shake the nagging feeling that something bad is about to happen.”
“Like what?”
“Well—” Whatever Starlight was about to say was drowned out by a thunderous boom as the roof to the courthouse suddenly exploded and rained splintered crystal shards from above. Thinking fast, Starlight threw up a dome shield around her and Spike to protect them as pieces of the roof scattered around them. “What was tha—”
Starlight got her answer when a house-sized hoof smashed into the ground, carving a crater into the crystal as another hoof followed beside it. From within the ruins of the Crystal Courthouse, the colossal form of the now hydra sized Chrysalis rose up like some twisted butterfly emerging from its cocoon. Rearing up, Chrysalis let out a bestial roar that shook the very foundation of the Crystal Empire and reverberated for miles in all directions.
“Chrysalis Smash!”
Spike stared up at the oversized changeling before looking at the stunned Starlight with a flat look on his face. “You just had to jinx it, didn’t you?”
Roaring again, the now colossal Chrysalis scanned the surrounding area for a moment before her eyes fell upon a purple-ish speck at her hooves, one that she recognized.
“Staaarrrliiiggghhhttt!”
Starlight blinked as her ears drooped. “Uh… Spike?”
“Run?”
“Run.”
As Spike leapt onto Starlight’s back, the unicorn mare galloped off at breakneck speeds, her horn brimming with magic as she quickly teleported them away from the courthouse. Chrysalis was not about to let her prey escape so easily, stomping after them like a force of nature.
“Starlight Baaaaddd! Chrysalis Smash Starlight!”
It was chaos back in the remains of the courthouse. Guards ran back and forth to try and free any ponies or changelings that had become trapped in the rubble from the roof. A cloud of dust and debris clouded the room, making it hard to see as Shining Armor used his horn to cast a beam of light through the dust. “Cady! Twily! Princesses, where are you!?”
“Shining, over here!” Twilight’s voice cut through the smog to Shining’s right, prompting the stallion to barrel through the dust towards the source. In a moment, he arrived to find all four princesses huddled underneath a shield of magenta magic, a little dusty but otherwise alright thanks to Twilight’s quick thinking.
“Shining!” Cadance cried out as Twilight lowered the shield, running up to embrace her husband. “I’m so glad you’re safe!”
“Same here,” he replied, scowling as he looked up at the gaping hole in the room. “I should have figured Chrysalis was hiding something like this!”
“It’s not your fault,” Celestia reassured him as she brushed dust from her coat. “She caught us all by surprise. What’s important now is that we stop her before–”
Everyone’s ears perked up at the sound of terrified screams in the distance. “The citizens!” Cadance cried out.
“Shining!” Twilight commanded as her mind went into crisis mode. “You and the guards need to evacuate the Crystal Ponies from the city.” Glancing at her fellow princesses, she added, “We’ll deal with Chrysalis and try and buy you some time.”
Cadance, Luna, and Celestia all nodded in agreement while Shining Armor saluted. “Understood! Just… promise me you’ll all come back in one piece, alright?”
“Pinkie Promise,” Twilight replied as she walked up to her brother and gave him a quick hug. “Now go, the Crystal Ponies need you!”
Needing no further convincing, Shining Armor turned around and raced back to relay orders to his men, his commanding voice filling the air moments later.
“Alright, everypony!” Twilight called out as she spread her wings to take flight. “We have to stop Chrysalis!”
“I’m coming too!” The four alicorns turned their heads as Thorax emerged from the cloud of dust. “Chrysalis has done more than enough harm to the changelings, I won’t let her cause any more!”
“Oh no! You’re are not going anywhere!” Pharynx argued as he emerged from behind Thorax. “If you go out there, you’ll only get in the way.”
“I can take care of myself, Pharynx,” Thorax countered. “I have a duty to protect the changelings and—”
“And how exactly are you going to do that if you go and get yourself killed, huh?” Pharynx countered back as he jabbed a hoof against Thorax’s chest. “Did you forget who’s in charge of defending the hive? I’ve been wanting to give that old hag a piece of my mind ever since this whole trial started and I’m not about to let her get away before I do!”
“But Pharynx–”
“No buts! You need to go and make sure not a single changeling gets stepped on while I deal with Chrysalis. Got it?”
Thorax briefly looked like he wanted to argue further, but the loud thud of Chrysalis’s footsteps in the distance caused him to let out a defeated sigh. “Fine, you’re right. Just don’t do anything too reckless, okay?”
“No promises, bro. Now get going!”
With that, Thorax ran to assist Shining Armor in the evacuation, leaving Pharynx alone with the four princesses. “Well, ladies?” Pharynx said as he turned to face the four mares. “Looks like we’ve got ourselves a queen to topple, huh?”
Nodding their heads in silent agreement, the four ponies and one changeling took to the skies and headed towards the city. It wasn’t hard to follow the trail of destruction that Chrysalis had left in her wake, large craters in the ground leading the way straight to Chrysalis as she pushed aside buildings like they were made of cardboard. Ponies and changelings ran around in a confused panic as guards did their best to lead the citizens out of harm's way.
“Alright, here’s the plan,” Twilight instructed as they drew closer. “Pharynx, you know changeling anatomy better than any of us, so I’ll leave you to go for any weak spots. Cadance and I will distract her while Celestia and Luna work to drive her away from the city. Agreed?” When she got four nods in return, Twilight turned her full attention towards Chrysalis. “Alright, let’s go!”
Splitting off, Pharynx immediately dived down to swoop under Chrysalis’s belly. Grinning, he fired a beam of magic straight up into Chrysalis’s abdomen, the enlarged changeling letting out a roar of pain for a moment before continuing her rampage like nothing had happened.
From there, Celestia and Luna split off to flank Chrysalis’s sides, firing magical blasts of their own right into the spots just below Chrysalis’s wings. This finally served to get Chrysalis attention, as she roared and tried to bat away the annoying pests circling her. Meanwhile, Twilight and Cadance flew to intercept Chrysalis’s path when Twilight noticed a pair of figures running away from the steadily advancing changeling queen. Twilight’s eyes widened in horror as she recognized them. “Spike! Starlight!”
“She’s gaining on us!” Spike shouted as he held onto Starlight for dear life.
“I can see that!” Starlight replied, sparks shooting from her horn as she panted from both physical and magical exhaustion. “I don’t know how much longer I can keep this up–Ahh!” Tripping over a raised chunk of shattered crystal, Starlight and Spike skidded to a painful stop, a shadow passing over them as Chrysalis raised her hoof to stomp them into oblivion.
“Starlight!” Spike shouted, closing his eyes as the hoof started to come down. With a grunt, Starlight tried to squeeze one last burst of magic into her horn to form a shield, but her horn only continued to spit sparks.
Just when it looked like they were done for, a purple blur zipped by and grabbed the pair just as Chrysalis’s hoof slammed into the ground, missing being crushed by a hair’s width.
When several seconds passed and Spike had yet to be crushed, he opened his eyes and looked up at his and Starlight’s savour. “Twilight!” Leaping up, he wrapped his arms around Twilight and hugged her tightly. “I’m so glad to see you! We were almost Spike and Starlight pancakes there!”
“Yeah…” Starlight said with a relieved sigh as Twilight carried her in her hooves, finally allowing herself a moment to breathe. “Thanks for the save, Twilight.”
“Don’t thank me yet,” Twilight replied as she flew up into the air above Chrysalis. “We still have to stop Chrysalis before she destroys the Crystal Empire!”
“Wish I could help, Twilight, but…” With a grunt, Starlight tried again to reignite her horn and only got sparks in return. “Trying to avoid getting stepped on took everything I had out of me. I don’t think I’ve ever teleported that many times in succession before… Sorry…”
“The important thing is you’re both alright,” Twilight said with a reassuring smile. “I don’t know what I would do if anything ever happened to you two.” Scanning the area, Twilight spotted a pair of pegasus guards down below and swooped down to land in front of them. “Get these two to safety right away!”
“Right away, Your Highness!” One guard replied as Starlight and Spike were placed on his back and the two guards raced off towards the city limits.
Safe in the knowledge that her friends were now out of harm’s way for the time being, Twilight pumped her wings as she took to the sky again and raced to join the others in pushing Chrysalis back. Despite their best efforts, however, their continued barrage of magical blasts seemed to be doing little more than annoying Chrysalis as she tried to knock them out of the sky, swatting at them with her hooves like they were just a bunch of pesky flies.
Firing a blast at point blank range into Chrysalis’s face, Cadance narrowly avoided being taken out as the changeling tried to swat her away with an annoyed hiss. “This is getting us nowhere!” Cadance shouted as Twilight flew up to meet her. “Our attacks don’t seem to be having any effect at all!”
“Well, we have to do something!” Twilight shouted back as she watched Luna swerve away to avoid a leg thicker than a great oak. “At this rate it won’t be long before she reaches the Crystal Heart!”
“The Crystal Heart… That’s it!” Cadance’s eyes lit up as an idea began to form in her mind. “Keep her busy a little longer, I’ve got an idea!”
“Wait, what?! Cada—” Before Twilight could ask what she was planning, Cadance was already little more than a rapidly shrinking dot against the horizon. With a huff, Twilight went back to blasting Chrysalis in an attempt to drive her back.
“Begoooonnnnneeee!” Chrysalis roared as she raised her hoof to drive away the pesky ponies, only for another blast to strike her right in the nose. Narrowing her eyes, Chrysalis glared as Pharynx hovered over her nose.
“Come on, is that all you got, ya big blowhard?” Pharynx taunted, sticking his tongue out at the former Changeling Queen. “I’m not even winded!”
Hissing, Chrysalis focused her attention solely onto Pharynx as he buzzed around her head, easily avoiding her many attempts to swipe him aside and only making her even angrier.
“Can’t catch me, ya old hag! You’ll have to try harder than tha—” So preoccupied was Pharynx in taunting Chrysalis that he didn’t notice her flutter her wing before it was too late, the sudden gust of air buffeting against him and knocking him out of the air. Before Pharynx could correct his flight, Chrysalis batted him aside with the back of her hoof, sending him hurtling through the air at breakneck speeds.
Down below, Thorax happened to look up in time to watch as Pharynx was tossed aside and hurtled through the air for a brief moment before crashing into a nearby building. “Pharynx!” Flying up to his brother, Thorax winced upon seeing that Pharynx was now embedded several inches into the crystal structure. “Pharynx, speak to me!”
“Uggg…” Groaning in pain, Pharynx pulled his head free from the crystal as he looked at Pharynx with an addled look in his eyes. “Okay… owwww…”
A growl bubbled up from Thorax’s throat as he turned to glare at the massive Chrysalis, his normally calm and pleasant expression replaced by unrepressed rage ignited by the sight of his brother hurt. “No one hurts my brother like that!” Launching himself at Chrysalis, teal coloured magic surrounded Thorax’s horns as he surrounded himself in a wall of pure magic, pouring every ounce of power he could muster as he hurtled himself towards Chrysalis similar to how the Changelings had done during their attempted siege of Canterlot.
Letting out a guttural battle cry, Thorax threw himself at Chrysalis like a ballistic missile and slammed as hard as he could into the side of Chrysalis’s face, a gnarled tooth the size of a chariot flying out of her mouth as she was toppled back and smashed into the ground with a mighty thud that blew up a dust cloud around the surrounding area.
The three princesses regrouped as they hovered above the fallen Chrysalis. “Wow… Nice shot, Thorax.” Luna congratulated Thorax as he flew up next to them, panting heavily and sweating profusely.
“Th… thanks…” Thorax said between panting breaths. “Do you… do you think that did it?”
As if to answer him, Chrysalis’s hooves slammed into the ground as she attempted to raise herself back up onto her hooves, roaring loudly to show she wasn’t out just yet.
“Twilight, where’s Cadance?” Celestia asked as she finally noticed the absence of one of their own.
“I don’t know! She just suddenly flew off and—”
“Hey! Cheeselegs!”
Every pony and changeling within earshot turned to look up at the sky as Cadance flew overhead, the Crystal Heart held triumphantly over her head. “Try this on for size!”
What followed seemed to occur in slow motion. Upon seeing one of her most hated enemies hovering overhead, Chrysalis opened her mouth to let out a mighty roar just as Cadance lobbed the Crystal Heart at Chrysalis like a spear, the Crystal Heart soaring through the air…
... and landing directly into Chrysalis’s open mouth. The changeling clamped her mouth shut, blinking in confusion before involuntarily swallowing the Crystal Heart with a loud gulp.
Stunned silence swept through the Crystal Empire as everyone stared in jaw-dropped disbelief at what had just happened. The princesses were not immune to this as they to stared on in disbelief for several moments before glancing over at Cadance, who seemed to be the only pony with a satisfied grin on their face.
“Ca-Cadance,” Celestia said as she looked on in horror. “Do… do you realize what you’ve just done?”
“Mmhhhmm,” Cadance replied, still looking incredibly pleased with herself. “Wait for it…”
“Grooooo…” A pained groan arose from Chrysalis as she clutched a hoof to her belly, her abdomen beginning to make loud rumbling noises. Before everyone’s eyes, Chrysalis’s belly began to grow again, except unlike before only her belly appeared to be growing, expanding outward like a balloon at one of Pinkie’s parties. Unable to halt her rapidly expanding belly, Chrysalis was helpless as her belly grew too large for even her oversized body to support and her legs collapsed out from under her as she flopped into her stomach.
Within moments, Chrysalis resembled an over-inflated beach ball with legs, groaning loudly in clear discomfort as her stomach finally stopped growing, leaving her to do little more than lay there as she was unable to move thanks to her newly gained weight.
Landing in front of the now immovable Chrysalis, Twilight, Luna, and Celestia all glanced over at Cadance as she hummed in thought.
Chrysalis made one last retching sound from deep within her throat before her mouth opened up and she regurgitated the Crystal Heart back up, the now slime covered artifact rolling down her extended tongue before sliding to a stop at Cadance’s hooves.
“Huh…” Cadance mused as she looked at her reflection in the Crystal Heart. “I honestly thought she’d explode from that.”
***
“I give up.”
Following her last-ditch attempt to take out Starlight Glimmer, the princesses, and the damage she caused to the Crystal Empire, Chrysalis had been declared guilty of all crimes (including the added crimes of the non-life threatening injuries Pharynx had suffered), and sentenced to an extended stay in Tartarus… to begin once she eventually shrunk back to her normal size. While the concoction that had resulted in her growth spurt had worn off after a few hours, the effects from absorbing so much energy from the Crystal Heart had not, meaning Chrysalis still resembled an overinflated beach ball as her body worked to burn the empty calories from the Crystal Heart. Unable to do little more than flop around on her belly in her new cell in Tartarus, Chrysalis had spent the last two days in deep thought, going over just how far she had fallen before Starlight’s unexpected visit.
“You do?” Starlight asked, a small hint of hope in her voice at the idea that Chrysalis was actually serious.
“Yep…” Chrysalis replied with a long sigh. “No more plans for world domination and the enslavement of all ponykind for me, I give up. I’ve been blasted, beaten, bruised, abandoned, and humiliated so many times now that I’ve lost count. Now look at me! I’d say I’m as big as a whale, but even whales have more dignity and grace!" Wiggling her legs in frustration, Chrysalis hung her head in utter defeat. "Once my sentence is done, I intend to head back to the hive and grovel if I have to let them take me back, maybe even try out this ‘Friendship’ garbage you ponies love to go on about, as much as that makes me want to gag.” As she glanced up at Starlight, the once apex changeling had never looked more pathetic. “You win, happy now?”
“I wouldn’t say I’m ‘happy’, but I can tell you really mean it this time,” Starlight replied, a small smile on her face. “If you want, I could get you into a rehabilitation program and potentially get your sentence reduced. Hay, I’ll even vouch for you if you ever get a chance at parole.”
“R-really? You would do that for me?” Chrysalis seemed visibly taken aback, squinting her eyes deceptively at the mare. “… What’s the catch?”
“Well…” Rubbing the back of her hoof, Starlight chuckled nervously as she said, “I was hoping that maybe… you and I could be, I don’t know… friends?”
Chrysalis looked at Starlight like she was crazy for a brief moment, before throwing her head back and laughing. “You and me, friends? That may be the absolute most absurd thing I have ever heard in my life! And yet... Ahh, why not? I could use a friend right about now, something to help pass the time, at least. Much better than listening to that old goat whine and complain in his cell.”
“Hey!” Tirek shouted, sticking his head through the bars of his cell and waving his fist down at Chrysalis from the ledge above. “I heard that!”
“Good, because I wanted you to!” Chrysalis shot back. “By the way, you snore like a buzzsaw too!”
“Do not!”
Chrysalis and Starlight actually managed to share a laugh as Tirek retreated back into his cell, the centaur grumbling under his breath the whole time. After catching her breath, Starlight smiled at her newest friend. “Well, I should get going, but I’ll try and visit as often as I can.”
“Huh, strangely enough… a part of me is actually looking forward to it. Well, wonders never cease!”
As Starlight turned to leave, she heard Chrysalis call after her, “Oh, before you go… do you think you could do me a teeny, tiny, little favor?”
“What’s that?” Starlight asked, glancing over her shoulder at the changeling.
Glancing around at her tiny cell that was barely big enough to hold her engorged body, Chrysalis smirked as she said, “Think you could maybe convince Celestia to give me a bigger cell?”