//------------------------------// // The Monarch // Story: Who We Choose To Be // by milesprower06 //------------------------------// "Are you really sure about this, Thorax? Do you know how many changelings are nervous and uneasy about this?" Ocellus asked, the worry all too apparent in her voice, as she stood with King Thorax and Prince Pharynx outside of the main entrance to the changeling hive. "No, I'm not sure, Ocellus. And yes, I do know. I'm nervous too." The ruler replied. "I don't understand then. Why are you giving this a chance?" "Because I remember when I was given a chance up in the Crystal Empire." The Changeling Kingdom's inaugural international friendship student couldn't argue with that reasoning, but her worry only grew as a pair of familiar ponies and a draconequus approached the main entrance to the hive from the hills and cliffs to the south. When Twilight, Starlight, and Discord came to within talking distance, they stopped together. "Thorax," Twilight began, bowing respectfully. "Please know how grateful I am that you've agreed to this. I know this can't be easy for you, or your hive." "You don't know the half of it, Princess. But at the same time, I have to admit I know where you're coming from. If we can show her what the hive has become, maybe, just maybe, she'll come around. But, if you don't mind me asking... Where is she?" "Out of earshot. The stone sleep spell she was put under doesn't keep them from eavesdropping on whatever is near them. I don't want her to just tell us what she wants us to hear." Starlight replied. Twilight nodded to Discord, who snapped his eagle talon, and with a rush of air and flash of light, the petrified and deposed former ruler of the changelings materialized and landed in the dirt with a thud, her snarling expression unchanging, and made Ocellus doubt this idea even more. As Twilight charged up her spell, Discord angled the statue slightly down towards the dirt, and when the spell hit it and the stone began to crack, there was a flash, and Chrysalis' in-progress lunge landed her right in the dirt. She shook her head and spat out the soil that had gathered in her mouth. "What is this trickery?" Chrysalis demanded, then fell silent as she looked around at her surroundings, and who exactly surrounded her. "This 'trickery' is a chance that a few around you aren't too confident that you deserve." Starlight replied firmly, causing the fallen queen's glare to fall on her. "A chance?" Chrysalis began, getting to her hooves and turning to the unicorn. "To see the light? To embrace friendship? Corruption?" She mocked. "A chance to become a better creature." Twilight answered. "Spare me your sentimental drivel!" The changeling spat, disgusted. Thorax took a step forward "Chrysalis, my brother and I have hesitantly agreed to this invitation Princess Twilight has proposed. If you just give it a chance—" "I will not listen to the traitor that usurped my hive!" Chrysalis replied, whipping back at the Swarm Leader for barely a moment, noticing Pharynx bristle with anger before turning back to the pair of ponies and draconequus. "If you thought you could so easily get this moral victory from my surrender, then you'll live to regret your mistake." The queen snarled, leaning down momentarily before leaping off into the sky. Starlight was ready, however, and she fired off an offensive spell that connected just under her left wing, and she began to careen out of control. The unicorn reached out with her magic, took hold of her, arced her neck, and slammed her down into the dirt where she had taken off from, sending chunks of soil and pebbles bouncing off of everycreature nearby, as Chrysalis grunted in pain. "Finish it..." Chrysalis stated defiantly, remaining on her side as she looked up angrily at Starlight. "I will not give in. The magic of friendship is—" "'A poison', 'an infection', 'a disease'," the unicorn finished, interrupting the changeling's tirade and started one of her own. "And yet it has utterly overpowered you each time! It has made your hive stronger than it ever was! For someling who craves power so much, you seem to have a very poor understanding of what it actually is! What are you so afraid of?!?" Starlight screamed frustratingly, Chrysalis actually wincing at her words. "Being vulnerable. Being alone." Discord answered for her. The eyes of the group fell on the draconequus, as he stepped forward, snapping his claws, and a piece of purple-tinted tree bark and wood fell into his paw, before he tossed it on the ground in front of Chrysalis. "You're terrified of being alone. So much that you spent weeks alone among trees, talking to a piece of wood, a figment of your imagination, an enchanted forest spirit that has long since passed on." Chrysalis silently picked up the wood in her shuddering hooves, as Starlight stepped up to her. "Part of friendship is looking inward, realizing that you've done wrong, and admitting your faults. You blame me and me alone for taking your hive away from you, and you've never once considered that how you treated your changelings contributed to your fall. And yet, here they are, right in front of you, ready and willing to take you back. Are you going to sit there and tell me that's weakness?" Chrysalis couldn't look the unicorn in the eyes, and her gaze instead fell to the wood in her hooves as she shivered. "Look at yourself, and how incomplete you are without friendship." Twilight offered. "Yes, it means making yourself vulnerable. Yes, there's a chance for hurt and heartache. But the magic is undeniable if you just open your heart." Pharynx stepped forward. "I was the last of our hive to accept change. I thought it was unacceptable what had happened to us. But when I realized how valued my contributions to the community were... Changing was the most liberating thing I can ever remember." Discord joined the two mares, and snapped his eagle talon again, and the piece of wood Chrysalis held turned to ash, falling around and through her hooves, and for barely a moment, her eyes took on a look of panic. "Chrysalis," Discord began. "I had spent eons traveling and manipulating the cosmos to my whim. I have seen and created things no mortal mind could comprehend. And yet what I have been offered and accepted here is some of the greatest power imaginable. Friends are much more preferable to servants and underlings. You can rise above the circumstances of your birth, and be greater. Together." Finally, Chrysalis took a deep, quiet breath, and looked up to Twilight. "And if it doesn't work the way you want it to? Am I to be returned to an eternity in stone? Obliterated to the ether?" "I think that's best dealt with if and when we get to that point." Twilight replied, not wanting to threaten her with condemnation or punishment ahead of any hopefully honest effort. Feeling that everything that could be said had been, Thorax stepped around her, and offered an outstretched hoof. Looking at is hesitantly, she took his hoof in hers, and he gently pulled her up to her hooves. "We've prepared a burrow for you. Pharynx can show you to it, and you can take as long as you need to to make yourself comfortable." Unable to think of any reply, she merely nodded for the time being, and Thorax gave her a gentle smile in return. "Welcome home."