//------------------------------// // Lapse... // Story: Mistake // by Gallants //------------------------------// "I can't believe their plan is working," Queen Chrysalis whispered to herself as she looked upon the destruction the changeling army wrought, gripping the handrail, a single tear came to her eye. 'I'll enact my own plan soon,' she thought to herself glancing over her shoulder towards the mind-controlled Captain and his trapped wife. "This day is going just perfect, As perfect as an invasion can be, We even got the Princess to bend the knee, Soon they'll all be shown, And then my true machinations will be known, Chrysalis looked back to see Cadance standing next to her fiance hand cupping his face. Her heart dropped as she gazed at the desperate look in her eyes, Chrysalis quickly lit her horn and released her hold on Shining Armor. "Our love will stop you," Cadence said defiantly when she realized Shining was no longer controlled. "A touching statement, but even though love is a powerful substance and emotion, it's not that strong," Chrysalis said holding back the hurt in her voice. The sound of magical sparking quickly caught her attention turning on her heels she raised her arms in a panic and crossed them as a love-charged wall struck her forcing her body out of the palace and Canterlot. 'They'll kill her if I return or know I'm alive,' the thought ran through her mind; she quickly changed course and made way for the Everfree. Just before she entered the thick of the tree's she raised a mana shield to protect herself from the worst of the impact, after tumbling across roots and stones, she came to a stop near a river. She coughed clutching the side of her chest, she did the only thing she could think of, she stared up towards the slowly darkening sky and allowed the love she absorbed from the blast to help her cracked chitin and bones heal back to a smooth finish. Just as the moon crested the edge of her vision a fiery erratic trail cut the sky above her, with her breath caught in the back of her throat, embers floated down towards her. Chrysalis caught one in her magic inspecting it she noticed the red and white paint before it was consumed from vision by the hungering flames. Chrysalis steadied her mind and felt for the emotions of a sapient creature, picking up on the trail she flew across the river and followed the scent of panic and fear, 'Whoever or whatever it is, they need my help,' she thought while quietly stalking through the brush. She stuck close to the trail of destruction created by the object. I opened my eyes and looked around the destroyed cockpit, cracks webbed across my visor. "General are you okay!?" I called out, hearing nothing the worst came to mind. I quickly pulled myself through the opening gritting my teeth as the bruises made themselves known under my armor. Moving towards the gunner seat, my fears came true the general was unconscious a large piece of glass through the right side of her stomach. I lowered myself into the cockpit and looped my arms around her and began trying to get her out, "Come on general, you won't die on me after we survived our escape, right?" I choked out my vision blurry, I was stopped by a snap off our left side, I quickly drew my blaster and released a volley at the spot. "Don't hurt me, let me help you," a feminine voice with an insectoid vibration called out to me. "This is official Republic business, j-just keep your distance if you know what's good for you!" I called out before coughing several streaks of red spread across my visor, "that's not good," I mumbled out before working on getting the general out of her seat. Laying her onto the ground I pulled the IFAK off my armor, I looked through it in-between coughing fits my visor slowly becoming tinted with more red. I felt arms around my body as I was suddenly facing the sky. "Are you okay, I can help," That voice, I wanted to yell at her to get away but all that came out was a gargle, "Please let me help," she said getting me back to my knees before she began to search my kit, "Just tap me if I have the right thing you need," her skin was like that of the center of the black hole, slowly her fingers ran across one of my bacta injectors. I weakly tapped my hand against her, she lifted the syringe to me, gripping it I placed it against the side of my neck and dispersed the life-saving gel into my system. "Thanks," I managed to choke out before returning my attention to the general, I grabbed another bacta injector, "We need to get the glass out and stop the bleeding then I inject her, from there we let the bacta and force do their work," I said gripping the glass, "On three," I said, "One, two, three!" I called out pulling the glass straight up when the glass was out of the way a thick green substance landed on her wound, the woman's hands quickly spread it out as she squeezed the skin closer together. I stuck the syringe into the general's neck, "Thanks for everything, you were never here, go home," I said looking up at the suddenly reclining woman. "I don't have a home to go to right now," she said her face just out of reach of the illumination of the flames, "However she needs medical assistance, I can get you close to the town, they'll be able to help better than your 'bacta' and 'force'," She said a hint of incredulity when she spoke of the force and bacta, "Even the resin won't help that wound that much, let doctors and surgeons help her," she stated. "Too dangerous, the force and bacta are her only hope right now," I said, "What's your name?" I asked my hand on my blaster just in case, I looked over the bits of the torn dress she was wearing, "Where you getting married?" I questioned further not letting her answer my first inquiry. "Chrysalis and I was in a way," she said then her eyes opened, they were large, green, slitted at the pupils, and glowing, like a predator. "Though neither one of us wanted it, maybe it's good our split was so explosive," she finished leaning forward revealing a fanged elongated muzzle, "If you really insist on staying in the woods, I suggest we move away from the wreckage then, I'll collect some firewood when we find a place," she said standing up, "And what's your name?" she asked. I stood up reaffixing my IFAK to my armor before kneeling next to the general and wrapping her arm around my neck, "CT-Sixty-Three," I said, "and this is General Tetztail," I slowly moved my right arm under her knees and I cradled her back before standing straight. "CT-Sixty-Three, Strange name," Chrysalis says before leading the way through the forest before stopping in a small area with thick canopy cover and flat ground. "I'll be back shortly find something to cover her in, keep her warm," she said walking off into the woods, I pulled out my survival pack and unfolded the heat blanket, gently I wrapped the general in it. When I was finished with ensuring the general was snug, I looked around the land hoping to find what I needed to make a simple shelter. "I found what I could," Chrysalis said from the center of our soon-to-be camp digging a shallow firepit. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "So Separatist or Galactic Republic planet?" I asked looking across the fire at Chrysalis she was a strange-looking alien, but effective, she quickly helped me set up an a-frame tent large enough for the three of us, but she insisted on keeping her distance. "What?" she asked so I asked again, "Never heard of either group," she said shrugging, "If you're really aliens, we never reached out to space," she said rubbing her hands. "So primitives," I said, "No offense, but you never set foot into space, means we're probably safe here," I raised my hands to the releases of my helmet and removed it, "You mentioned a town, but said you have no home to go too, what does that mean?" I asked pulling a rag from one of my pouches spitting into it and beginning to scrub the inside of my helmet. "I'm a foreigner in this land, and I was coerced into attacking the royalty and capital," when she said that I froze and looked at her tightening my grip on my helmet, "I was a queen, but I had no power over my subjects, I was under the control of the shadow council, they forced me to lead an invasion force against the Equestrians," she said her voice was strained, "I can't leave this forest now, if they find out I'm alive they'll kill me a-" I cut her off. "You attacked a nation harming civilians not to mention putting your own at risk in order to keep yourself alive!" I yelled at her jumping to my feet, my hand hovering over my blaster, I'd turn her in if I had the chance. "It wasn't about my life, they're holding my daughter, they'll kill her and make me watch before killing me, they have eyes everywhere," tears were clearly flowing down her face at this point, "I want to keep her alive and if it means living here for the rest of my life, so be it," she said wiping her face, "The ponies will know how to spot us now, I can't shapeshift my way out of here," she mumbled out. "I'm sorry I shouldn't have cut you off," I said sitting back down, "I just know of too many selfish individuals, who put their lives over everyone else's," I said, "So, it's really Queen Chrysalis, huh, nice ring to it," I said, she smiled at my words as she lowered herself down onto her side. "I'm going to sleep now, good night," she said I replied in kind and put my helmet back on, and crawled into the tent, I laid restlessly something bothering me for minutes before I sat up. I looked across the smoldering flames at Chrysalis's shivering body, I moved over and gently picked her up and placed her into the a-frame. I uncomfortably wrapped myself around her to help keep her warm.