//------------------------------// // 14 - Sticks and Stones // Story: Chrysalis: Saviour of Time // by Robo Bro //------------------------------// Not too far into the Everfree Forest, though certainly deeper than most ponies ever dared to venture, was Chrysalis. Though it was dark, that was not why she couldn’t see. Though it was quiet, that is not why she couldn’t hear. With a look of shock on her face, she stood stone still amongst the trees, literally. Though her entire body was turned to rock, one part of her yet functioned. That one part was her mind, and one thought in particular rose above all others: I’m going to kill that chicken. __________________________ Chrysalis strode through the streets of Ponyville alone. It was a beautiful day with not a cloud in the sky, though it was beginning to cool as it grew late in the afternoon. Despite the pleasant weather, she was far too distracted to enjoy it. It had been over two months since she had taken Twilight Sparkle’s place at the Summer Sun Celebration. Over two months of being deep undercover and what had she to show for it? A timeline that had not collapsed in on itself and nothing more. While most would consider that a success, she did not. She had been ruminating over what to do about it for hours alone in her bedroom. Each option presented its own problems and she had become very irritable through her contemplation. At the suggestion of a somewhat perturbed baby dragon, she went for a walk to try and calm herself. It wasn’t working. The simplest solution was to aid in her past self’s invasion of Canterlot so that her changelings won, but if anything could completely destroy the timeline that would certainly do it. Next option would be to use her position as Twilight Sparkle to convince Equestria to leave the changelings alone. That was naturally the most ludicrously impossible task she had ever thought of and clearly off the table. The most obvious choice outside of those would be to prevent the invasion altogether. Twilight and her friends had plenty of feats to their names outside of defending Equestria from her past self, so in theory there should still be the time travelling tours of her life in the future. The first major problem with that would be that without her having taken Princess Cadenza’s place, Time Keeper wouldn’t know about her ability as a shape shifter, and wouldn’t know to contact her about taking Twilight’s place. This could potentially be solved by sending some kind of message to him in the future, but the logistics of sending a message one thousand years from now to one specific pony and actually have that message stick in their mind was migraine inducing. If she had an immortal messenger she could probably get it done, but she only really knew of Celestia and Luna that fit the bill. Celestia was clearly out of the question, but maybe if given enough time she could manipulate Luna’s affections for her into acting out the part. Failing that, she might just have to reveal herself and herself alone in some way that would be remembered by the history books for Time Keeper to learn about, though she’d have to convince her past self to be in an area that he could be aware of for un indeterminate length of time, because there was no way she would reveal the location of her hive in that scenario. Chrysalis sighed. Convincing her past self. Therein laid perhaps one of her greatest challenges. Chrysalis’ hubris was one of her greatest flaws, even she was able to recognize that. Though those faults had been somewhat tempered by several years of failures, her past self had yet to go through those humbling experiences. Could she reveal the truth of being from the future? Being prideful, arrogant and stubborn already made it unlikely enough to work, but she was also highly suspicious of others. Show her true form and her past self may very well assume she’s some upstart trying to impersonate her, or worse, replace her. Reveal details that only she should know and the flames of paranoia would only be fanned. She’d be as likely to throw her into a cell as to listen, and likely be complimented on her skills as a spy either way. Oh, she’d be well taken care of, as she would do with any changeling, but her freedom would be gone and her charade of a life as Twilight Sparkle would be over, or at least put on hiatus. The timeline could very well be doomed before she could convince her past self to release her. She shook her head and took a series of deep breath and took in her surroundings for perhaps the first time since leaving the library and found she was in front of Sofas and Quills, the shop where Skitter was staying undercover. She gave a humorless laugh. Perhaps her subconscious had directed her here in an effort to solve her dilemma. Skitter could certainly be used to at least ease the introduction, though it would hardly solve all her problems. “CUTIE MARK CRUSADER EYE SPY CHAMPIONS!” Chrysalis leaped out of her skin at the cacophonous shouting. She attempted to calm her rapid breath and heartbeat, hoping that nobody had seen her fright. “Um…girls? Maybe we shouldn’t—” “I spy with my little eye…something that’s purple!” A cute southern drawl challenged. Chrysalis’ eyes landed on a quartet of ponies on the other side of the street, three of which she recognized. It was Fluttershy and three little fillies, Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle and a third orange filly with a purple mane. “Is it my mane?” The unidentified one asked. “Nope!” “Oh, Twilight!” Fluttershy gasped when she saw the distressed Chrysalis. “Aw, guess that was too easy.” Apple Bloom pouted. “Hey, no fair! I didn’t know her name!” “Ya coulda still pointed at her.” “Are you okay, Twilight?” Fluttershy inquired, though Chrysalis could barely hear her as the fillies continued their game. “Just a little—” Chrysalis winced as the trio screamed some more. “They’re really loud.” Fluttershy averted her gaze. “I’m sorry. I thought that a nice, calm game of eye spy would quiet them down, but it only made it worse.” Chrysalis eyed the mysterious, unnamed filly. “Is that your sister?” “Oh, no, that’s Scootaloo. I’m just looking after them for a sleepover tonight since Rarity couldn’t.” “You’re going to take care of three hyperactive foals all night long? Call me a cynic, but I don’t think you can handle that.” Fluttershy gave a frown that somehow conveyed equal measure of uncertain timidity and resentment. “I…I can handle them! I’m great with animals, how hard could three fillies be?” Chrysalis swallowed the laughter that fought to break out of her chest. That mare’s naiveté was almost adorable. “Right, of course. I’m sure you have it completely under control.” She lied with a straight face and then indicated the Quills and Sofas shop. “Anyway, I have some errands to run, so I’ll let you be on your way.” “Oh right, of course.” Fluttershy looked around for her charges only to realize they had run off without her. She let out a small ‘eep’ and hurried to catch up with them. Chrysalis shook her head in amusement as she turned back to the task at hoof. That mare was in way over her head, not that it was any of her business. She had her own issues to worry about. She stepped towards the store but paused moments later. Fluttershy’s cottage was near the Everfree Forest. If she lost control of those children and they wandered off, they could get into serious trouble. Chrysalis closed her eyes and sighed. It wasn’t any of her business. She turned away from Quills and Sofas and chased after Fluttershy. ____________________________ Chrysalis ruffled her feathers as she roosted upon the window sill of the room where the three fillies were being put to bed. She had spent the last couple of hours circling around Fluttershy’s property disguised as an owl, keeping vigil against any threats that sneaked through the night from the forest, or on the perhaps even greater chance that the foals burned down the cottage and would need rescuing from themselves instead. Once in awhile, she would alight upon a window sill to see what was happening inside, as she was doing now. Chrysalis never would have described what Fluttershy had done as keeping control of the fillies, but to her credit, she managed to limit their hi-jinks to minor property damage, and here she was now tucking them into bed. Chrysalis, tense from the entire night, began to let herself relax. It seemed she had been worried for nothing. Against all odds, Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo were going to get through this night safely. Fluttershy was even beginning to sing a lullaby to send them off to sleep. It was quite soothing. Fluttershy had a really pleasant singing voice. Not as good as her own, of course, but— “HUSH NOW! QUIET NOW! IT’S TIME TO LAY YOUR SLEEPY HEAD! HUSH NOW! QUIET NOW! IT’S TIME TO GO TO BED!” Chrysalis let out an undignified sound somewhere between a hoot and a screech and fell backwards from her perch at the sudden shockwave of sound coming from Sweetie Belle inside. As she turned her unexpected fall into awkward flight, she could hear the sound of items crashing and breaking inside, far louder than she had heard at any other time in the night. The exact words of the song were difficult to discern over the sounds of destruction. The noise grew even worse as many of the animals that Fluttershy kept in her yard woke up and added their own bellowing to the night, the worst offenders being the chickens as they squawked incessantly. Chrysalis landed on a nearby tree branch and promptly covered her ears as best she could with her wings. She watched as the chickens scattered away from their coop and ran around like the stupid creatures they were. The cacophony from within the cottage faded and its four inhabitants burst out from the door. The fillies chased after the chickens, seemingly trying to help, though only making matters worse. Chrysalis scanned the area from her perch, just in case some monster decided to choose this moment to show itself. Luckily none did and Chrysalis didn’t even need to leave her branch. On reflection, she was hardly surprised. That supposed lullaby would have been enough to scare an army away. There was one unusual moment that Chrysalis noticed, however. Fluttershy somehow managed to get all the panicked chickens to obey her by giving them an intense stare. Chrysalis herself felt nearly entranced, it was so out of place on the typically timid pegasus, and found herself leaning forward unconsciously as if to get a closer look until she nearly fell out of the tree. She shook her head to regain her senses. That was weird. Once the chickens were back in their coop and calmed, Fluttershy escorted the fillies back into the cottage and into bed. There seemed to be a bit of an argument of some kind, but it didn’t last long and the three were left alone to sleep. Chrysalis sighed with relief. Finally. She was getting tired herself and really wanted to get back to her own bed, or perhaps find some lone wanderer out at night to siphon a midnight snack from first. Once the three were asleep, she would finally be free. Out of the corner of her eye, she detected movement and she tensed back up, though a quick glance revealed it to just be one of the chickens. It was wandering its way towards the Everfree Forest. Chrysalis mentally shrugged. If it wanted to get itself killed, that was no concern of hers. She returned her attention to the distant window and her heart skipped a beat. The bed was empty and the three fillies were nowhere to be seen. Some frantic flapping later, she was back on the window sill and her new vantage point soothed her jumpy nerves. They had crawled out of bed, but were still in the room. One of them even seemed to be approaching the window where she was. By the time she realized what was coming, it was too late. THWACK! “Did you just hit something?” Sweetie Belle’s voice carried through the now open window. “I dunno.” Apple Bloom replied. “Come on, we gotta go get that chicken!” An owl’s battered body lay on the ground next to the window, dazed after it slammed into her upon opening. If her current body were capable, she would have been groaning in pain. Birds were not meant to take much blunt force trauma, and Chrysalis was really wishing she had chosen a different disguise. What came next was a mystery to her as her vision faded to black. Chrysalis returned to consciousness and significant pain. Her brain felt a little foggy and it was hard to focus. She transformed back into Twilight Sparkle. “Ow.” She stated plainly from the ground. It was good to be able to vocalize her pain again. A cursory investigation of her body revealed that no serious damage had been done, or at least nothing appeared to be broken this time around. She leaped to her hooves upon remembering what had happened. Those three morons had just chased after a chicken, a chicken that Chrysalis had seen running off into the Everfree Forest! They were nowhere in sight. She had no idea how long she had been out, but hopefully it hadn’t been anything more than a few minutes. If it had, it may already be too late to help those fools. She growled in frustration. Why couldn’t children understand how dangerous their actions could be? Wincing with every step, she ran into the forest after them. Pony eyes weren’t all that good in the dark, so she could barely see where she was going. Without missing a beat, she transformed back into an owl. She flew through the forest, deftly dodging branches, vines and any number of other obstructions as if they were in bright daylight. Her chest tightened with every passing moment that she couldn’t find them until she heard a voice calling into the night air. “Scootaloo!” It was Apple Bloom’s voice, and it held a definite mocking tone. Chrysalis altered directions to head straight for that voice. “Hey, quit it! That’s not funny!” Scootaloo replied. They were close now. She could get small glimpses of them through the trees in the distance. She swooped down behind one tree not far behind them and rapidly transformed into Twilight again. “Hey, did you two see that?” Sweetie Belle asked nervously. “See what?” Scootaloo asked, glad for a distraction from Apple Bloom’s teasing. “I thought I saw a green flash behind us.” “I didn’t see nothin’.” Apple Bloom replied dismissively. “Yer probably just imaginin’ things.” “No, I swear, I saw something!” Sweetie Belle insisted with a squeak. Apple Bloom rolled her eyes. “There’s nothin’ there, see?” Apple Bloom trotted up to where her friend had indicated. “Maybe I should start calllin’ Sweetie Belle instead o’ Scootaloo.” “A…Apple Bloom?” Scootaloo stuttered as she pointed behind her friend. Apple Bloom turned around to see a menacing figure in the darkness looming over her. “AAAAHHHH!” The three fillies screamed in unison as they scrambled to get away. Moments later, all three were scooped up in a green magical field. “What are—” Chrysalis winced as the three screamed again. “Shut up!” She shouted, and the three’s screams were reduced to relatively quiet whimpering. “What are you three idiots doing here?! You’re going to get yourselves killed!” Chrysalis brought the three closer to her face so that the light of her magic would illuminate her face for them to see better. “T…Twilight?” Apple Bloom whispered. “Is that you?” “Yes, and you’re lucky it’s just me! Do you know how often I’ve nearly died in here? We need to leave now, before you get hurt. A chicken isn’t worth the risk.” Chrysalis turned to leave but came face to face with what at first she thought was the missing chicken. It certainly had the head of one, but its body was of some kind of lizard, maybe even a dragon if its wings were an indication. It had an almost demonic appearance in the green light of her magic, especially with its red eyes. “What the heck…?” Chrysalis uttered in surprise. Suddenly, she felt a stiffening of her hind legs and her eyes went wide when she realized she could no longer move them. She tried to look away from the beast, but could not. In a panic, she threw the three fillies away from the thing. “Run!” She screamed at them. Chrysalis tried to channel another spell to strike at the monster with, but it was too late. Within seconds she had been turned entirely to stone. _____________________________ Chrysalis had no idea how long it had been since she had been petrified. Hours? Days? Longer? It was difficult to tell the passage of time when one had no senses to rely on. Nothing she tried to do seemed to work. She couldn’t move. She couldn’t cast spells. She couldn’t transform. Nothing. Her complete inability to do or experience anything had paved the way for boredom to wash over her. She never would have guessed that boredom of all things would be a major feature of being petrified. Still, it had allowed her to push aside the panic, even if only momentarily, and so she clung to it like a drowning mare to a raft. Panic peered in from the edges of her thoughts, waiting for the moment of weakness that would herald its triumphant return. For the first time, she felt like she could understand what Discord had gone through. How would her mind fair after a thousand years passed? Maybe it already had. It was so hard to tell the passage of time. What if something happened to her body? What if some wild animal knocked her over and she shattered into a thousand pieces? Would she even be able to tell? She tried to reassure herself that stone was not glass, she wouldn’t shatter so easily. She’d just lose a limb. A leg, or a horn, or perhaps she’d have her entire head knocked off by a falling tree. And what about being weathered by wind, water and snow? Her features slowly fading as the centuries passed, her face smoothing in the face of inexorable time until she was little more than a vaguely pony shaped hunk of rock. Chrysalis renewed her fruitless struggle, attempting to move any part of her body, to cast any spell. How long had it been? It had to have been decades. Or maybe without her guiding the timeline the entire universe had been destroyed and time no longer had any meaning. She could be all that was spared because she was a mere slab of inanimate marble overlooked by time’s annihilation. She could at that very moment be floating through the infinite cosmos. Alone. What had become of her subjects? Her sweet, little changelings? Was it too late to save them? Had they been swept up in a temporal dustbin along with the rest of reality? Had she failed? No, it couldn’t be true. It couldn’t be too late! She screamed as loud as was possible, which is to say not at all, in the vain hope that somebody could somehow hear her silent cries and free her from that horrifying prison. She imagined begging into the empty void until her throat was raw, and tried desperately to remember the pain that would cause and greedily held onto that reminder of what it was like to be alive. Help! Please! Somebody! I can’t let them die! Please… Chrysalis gasped for breath and collapsed to the ground. Her eyes blinked rapidly as they tried to adjust to the night around her. Tears coursed down her face like little rivers. She let out a mixture of sobbing and nervous laughter. She was alive. “Twilight! Are you okay?!” “F…Fluttershy?” Chrysalis’ voice was unsteady as she looked up to see her. “How did you…?” Her voice trailed off. “It was awesome!” Another voice answered. For a second, Chrysalis thought it was Rainbow Dash, but it was just Scootaloo standing off to the side along with the other Cutie Mark Crusaders. “Yeah, she stared the cockatrice in the eye, and she was turning into stone—” Sweetie Belle continued before she was cut off. “An’ she actually made it back down! It stopped turnin’ her to stone an’ she then made it turn Elizabeak an’ you back to normal!” Apple Bloom finished the tale. Chrysalis’ eyes landed back on Fluttershy in amazement. How could a mare like her have the guts to stare down such a monster? “How long was I like that?” “An hour maybe, why?” Scootaloo answered. Her eyes widened. A mere hour? Chrysalis had felt desperation far greater than ever she had felt in her life. She had been terrified that she had been trapped for millennia. She was at that very moment still weeping like a foal over the relief that her ordeal was over. One hour. Legs of thankfully only metaphorical lead fought against her efforts to stand and she soon found a yellow hoof offering assistance. After a moment of hesitation, she accepted that offer. “Thank you.” Chrysalis shakily said as she wiped away her tears and tried to steady herself. As awkward as those words had felt coming out of her mouth, she found that she truly meant them. “Are you sure you’re okay?” Fluttershy asked again, genuine concern lining her face. “Don’t worry about me, I’m okay.” Chrysalis lied and gestured towards the foals. “What about you? I didn’t hurt you when I threw you, did I?” “Well actually, I’m pretty sure I’m going to have a bruise on my wing and—ow!” Scootaloo screeched as Apple Bloom kicked her. “Uh, I mean I’m fine.” “Good.” Chrysalis sighed with relief. “Um…thank you for helping save the girls, but what are you even doing out here?” Chrysalis opened her mouth to tell her the truth, that she had been keeping an eye on them because she didn’t believe Fluttershy could handle it on her own, but stopped herself. She had been wrong, and she didn’t want to insult her by saying so. Not after what she had just done for her. “Oh, I was just going for a walk when I saw these three go into the forest, so I chased after them.” Fluttershy looked a little skeptical of the claim, so Chrysalis quickly changed the subject. “Let’s get out of here before some other monster attacks us. I’ve had enough excitement for one night.” “Right” Fluttershy nodded. “Come along, girls.” The three fillies voiced their assent and the five of them marched back to Fluttershy’s cottage. _____________________________________ Chrysalis sat with her eyes closed in the living room of Fluttershy’s cottage, trembling fiercely. The owner of said cottage had left to tuck the three foals into bed once again, leaving her alone. Though she had been through countless life threatening situations, she had never felt as frightened as she had earlier that night and she was struggling to keep control of herself. Hoofsteps signaled the return of Fluttershy and Chrysalis stood to attention, trying but failing to halt her quivering. Upon seeing her condition, Fluttershy stopped. “Are you okay?” Fluttershy softly asked for the third time that night from the doorway then averted her eyes. “I mean…of course not. Um…do you…want to talk about it?” Upon realizing that her attempt to appear strong had failed, Chrysalis sat back down with a frown. “I…I’ve never felt like this before.” She began, staring down at the floor in shame. “I’m stronger than this.” Fluttershy drew closer and hugged Chrysalis. “It’s okay.” She whispered soothingly. “It was very traumatic, anypony would be scared.” “I’m not anypony, I’m…” Chrysalis trailed off, having nearly said that she was the Queen. She couldn’t say that. She let Fluttershy’s gentle influx of love calm her nerves, if only a little. After several seconds of silence, Chrysalis spoke again. “I was aware in there. I couldn’t see, or hear or feel, but I could think. I thought I had been trapped for years. I thought that maybe I was falling to pieces and wasn’t able to tell. I thought that the world could have ended around me and that I would never know. I thought about all those I’d never see again. I believed that I had failed.” Tears once again flowed down Chrysalis’ face. “It’s okay,” Fluttershy repeated, “let it all out.” Pride had always been something Chrysalis had in abundance, even when she was completely alone she tended to let her pride dictate her actions. But she wasn’t alone, and it was hard to hold onto your pride when you had somebody soothing you as if you were a child all the while tears fell uncontrollably from your face. As odd as it seemed, being held by Fluttershy reminded her of the sweet, gentle kindness of her own mother holding her when she was young and afraid. Though a small voice in the back of her head warned her that showing weakness now would lead to blackmail later, she just didn’t care. Chrysalis openly wept into Fluttershy’s shoulder. She wept for the terrors of that night. She wept for her loneliness. She wept for the pressures of having the universe’s fate hanging over her head. She wept for the years of helplessly watching as her people were slowly ground into dust. She wept until she had no more tears left to spill. “Feeling better?” Fluttershy asked with a kind smile. “Mostly I just feel tired.” Chrysalis replied blearily. “Do you want to stay here tonight?” Chrysalis nodded wordlessly. “I’ll let you have my bed. I’ll take the couch. This way.” “Fluttershy?” Chrysalis stopped her host as she turned away. “Yes?” “Thank you. For everything.” Fluttershy smiled gently. “Any time, Twilight.” _____________________________ Chrysalis stared down at the blank sheet of parchment on her desk. She was back at the Golden Oaks Library. Spike had been worried when he had woken up that morning to find her missing, and then even more worried when she finally arrived home and said that she had spent the night with a friend. He had only calmed down when she assured him that it had been Fluttershy and not Rarity that she had been visiting. She couldn’t help but roll her eyes at his paranoia in regards to his hopeless crush. That blank sheet taunted her. She knew what she wanted to say, but didn’t know how to say it. A near full wastebasket next to her attested to that fact. She took a deep breath and lifted the quill with her magic. To: Princess Celestia I had an eye opening experience recently that I believe is perfect for one of these reports. Chrysalis paused, contemplating for the hundredth time just how much detail about her run in with the cockatrice she really needed to go into. It was bad enough with Fluttershy knowing all about it, she didn’t really want to spread it around more than necessary. The specifics of the event are unimportant next to what I have learned. Suffice to say, somepony that I had previously dismissed underestimated due to matters of her personality helped me out of a bad situation at great risk to herself. She displayed great courage and ability that I had assumed she lacked. I feel ashamed guilty it was unfair of me to judge her prematurely as I had done and now know that I should investigate a pony’s character more thoroughly before making such hasty assumptions. Perhaps next time I may be just as pleasantly surprised as I am at this moment. From: Twilight Sparkle Chrysalis set aside the letter. Good enough. She would ask for Spike to send it later. “Hoo!” Chrysalis smiled and lazily petted Sage’s head. She was amazed at how sorely she had misjudged Fluttershy, which had certainly not been a lie. With a weary sigh, she couldn’t help but wonder…maybe Rainbow Dash, too.