The grandfather clock that rested to the right of the window was the loudest thing in the room at this very moment. We all sat down, I opted for the love sofa, it having enough room for Valkyrie.. or soon to be known Chrysalis to sit beside me. Everypony else sat on the couch, awaiting with anticipation. After a few more moments of silence, Valkyrie continued.
"I have been keeping something secret for the past few days now," She began. " And I've intended to keep it hidden for much much longer, if not forever.. but.." She trailed off, looking up at me. "You see, I have lied to you all about who and what I truly am. Zale found out by accident, but he accepted it, without even knowing who I really was. That felt.. good." Twilight raised an eyebrow, cocking her head to the side.
"I'm not sure what you mean, but Zale has shown nothing but respect and kindness for everypony, so that much is to be expected!" Twilight said proudly. I chuckled at that, rubbing the back of my head. "So if Zale can accept you, so can we. So go on, tell us who you really are." Spike and Fizzlepop nodded in affirmation with a smile.
Valkyrie let out a sigh. "It's.. better if I show you." At that moment, a green magic aura surrounded the blinds of the window, closing them shut so no other curious eyes could see what was about to unfold. Twilight gasped, eyes widening as she looked at the aura. But before she could say anything a bright flash of green filled the room, causing us all to cover our eyes for only a moment.
I was the first to recover since I was prepared for it this time, but the others..
Spike immediately crawled his way under the couch, shaking profusely in fear. Fizzlepop narrowed her eyes, a scowl appearing on her features. She stood, crouching into a battle stance with her horn flickering sparks of what appeared to be lighting. Twilight was the last to recover, and for a moment she just stared in disbelief at the changeling queen before her, but she shook her head and stood as well.
"Isaiah, get away from her! She'll drain you!" Fizzlepop shouted. I shook my head, and pointed to the changeling queen.
"Like she said, I already found out. I would've told you, but I wanted to believe in Chrysalis that she'd tell the truth on her own." I explained. "This is really hard for her, you know?"
"Chrysalis!?" Twilight shouted after a moment in complete bafflement. "Why are you here? And how did you even managed to trick Luna into letting you in the lunar guard!?" Twilight gasped, and a look of trepidation came into her eyes. "You.. you didn't brainwash her like you did with my brother, did you!?" Now it was time for me to be surprised, and my eyes widened as I turned to Chrysalis with a frown.
"Twilight, I-"
"Answer me!"
Chrysalis, for her part, winced as she saw my gaze shift towards her. "No.. I didn't." Chrysalis responded, the two-toned voice kicking in. "I'm just good at pretending, and well.. the real Valkyrie Skyline doesn't exist, at least as far as I know." Chrysalis put a holed hoof to her chin in thought. "The exam to get in is actually quite easy, all you have to do is sign a few papers, and then fight the other applicants in a battle of strength and dominance until you render them unable to fight."
"Why..?" Twilight asked, tears forming in her eyes. "Why would you do something like that in the first place!? Posing as Cadence is one thing, but messing with Shining's head and actually trying to go through with the marriage? Imprisoning Cadence in that terrible cave? If you and your hive needed love, we could've, I don't know," Twilight ranted, pacing back and forth. "Came to terms? Worked something out? But instead, you chose hostility. You chose to attack us! What did we ever do to you!?"
Chrysalis let out a sigh, but she relented. "Back in the bad lands, when I was the queen.. it was every changeling for themselves out there. We had no values in friendship, trust or giving to others, we only had value for survival. We were a family and I was their mother to support them in any way I could." Chrysalis looked away, ashamed. "When food was running low, no water for miles, not an ounce of love anywhere.. that's when I decided to invade Canterlot. I thought it was the only way, I thought I was doing the right thing for my Changelings, but now I realize.. I let my position cloud my judgement."
Fizzlepop's sparks died down, but she still stood with defiance by Twilight's side. She looked at me with abject confusion and hesitation, but I shook my head and waved it off. Fizzlepop then sat down, eyes still narrowed.
Twilight calmed down a little, her hoof coming up to hit her face. "Luna.. I really need to let Celestia know that her guard applications are from the pre celestial era." Twilight said with a sigh. "But still, why are you here?" Chrysalis gave me another look of apprehension, and I nodded.
"Twilight, I.. I know you won't ever be able to forgive me for the horrible things I've done to you, your friends and your family." Chrysalis said dejectedly, ears lowering. "And saying sorry won't change the past, but.. the reason I stand before you now is to make amends for all of those things I've done. And.."
Chrysalis moved back towards me to sit down again, and I scooted over to make room. Since her true form was much larger than her disguise, it was kind of a tight fit so instead she awkwardly laid across my lap, with her hoofs hanging off one end of the sofa.
"I don't want to lose the friendship I have gained with Zale.. and there is no where else for me to go." Twilight raised an eyebrow skeptically. "This entire situation we're in.. almost all of those disappearances were my fault."
"What do you mean?" Fizzlepop asked. At this point Spike stopped shaking and came out from under the couch just enough to see what was going on.
Chrysalis got as comfortable as she could before telling them what had transpired before she posed as Valkyrie Skyline of the lunar guard. She had told them exactly what she had told me when I first heard about it, and I can't say their reactions we're not expected.
Twilight tried to stay composed but when Chrysalis told her the part about Sweetie Belle, She nearly broke down in tears right there. Fizzlepop hummed in thought when she described this mysterious being that she was forced to work under and was so afraid of, but otherwise said nothing. Spike was now out from under the couch and in Chrysalis' face when she mentioned that she was actually the ursa major, an expression of anger overtaking his features.
"You could've killed somepony doing that!" Spike shouted, poking a claw at Chrysalis. "If he only told you to cause a scene, you didn't have to go that far!"
Chrysalis gasped, looking back at me. I only looked back at her, and said nothing. She turned back to spike, looking crestfallen. "I.. y-you're right.." She said after a few moments. "I could have killed someone. I-I could've killed you!" She realized, pointing a trembling hoof at me.
"And Derpy." I added.
"I'm such an idiot.." Chrysalis hissed under her breath. Nodding my head, I caressed her translucent green mane with my hand. It felt extremely smooth, almost like silk compared to that of a pony.
"Ahem." Twilight cleared her throat, grabbing our attention. "Chrysalis.. when you said I couldn't forgive you for what you've done?" Chrysalis winced slightly, but nodded. "Well, I think you're right for the most part. But.." Twilight turned her gaze over to me, before looking back at Chrysalis. "I can see that Zale does care about you, and you say you want to have a friendship with him.. but I'm going to need more convincing than that." Twilight stated with a smirk.
"D-Does that mean..?"
"Yes, as long as you are willing to make up for the things you did, maybe, I'll find it in myself to forgive you." Chrysalis let out a sigh of relief at hearing that.
"Well, that was one hell of a rollercoaster." I stated while stretching in my seat. "Also, props to you for telling the truth Chryssy. I'm proud of ya."
"Hmph, I am a queen of her word," Chrysalis began proudly. "It's only natural that I'd come clean, especially since you asked so nicely." She teased.
"Yeah yeah." I got up from the seat and opened one of the doors I haven't gotten a chance to look through. It was a bedroom, with a decently sized bed that was neatly made up, an end table and a lamp nestled comfortably on top. There was even a couple of books on the end table, it looked like a bunch of light novels from here, but I'd mess with that later.
What I'm really interested in is the bed. "Do we have some sort of plan yet regarding the rescue mission?" Twilight shook her head with a sigh.
"We'll need the map from Jack first in order to get the ball rolling. For now I guess we can take a little break."
"Good. I'ma take a nap then." I waved back and entered the room. But before I could close the door, my phone rang in my pocket. "Oh, well she sure has some timing." I took the device out of my pocket and picked up.
"Hey Harmony, what's up?" ...there wasn't an answer. I waited about 10 seconds before speaking again. "..Hello?"
And then, there was loud static from the other end with broken speech I couldn't make out. "Zale-- -e --- -L--- I are -- ---here, plea-- --- do NOT ---" And it cut off there and the line went silent.
"Isaiah?" Fizzlepop asked with a look of concern. "Isaiah, what's wrong?"
I wasn't sure at first, but that voice.. It has to be.. "I.. I think I just got a call from Starlight."