//------------------------------//
// Chapter 27: Unity 
// Story: Dark as Chitin 
// by LostBox 
//------------------------------//





Chapter Music 




I stood within an infinitely expansive starry void. Although I felt virtually weightless, I could still feel that I was standing on some sort of plain. I looked down at my hands, noticing that they were a nebulous white mist taking a form reminiscent of hands. This theme applied to the rest of my body as well. 

"Where am I, what's happening to me?" I asked no one in particular, yet I received a response. 

"I'm not quite sure myself," a gentle feminine voice said from behind me.

I turned to look over my metaphysical shoulder at the owner of the voice, my mind taking a moment to process what I was seeing. It was a horse-like creature of some sort. Its coat was light goldish grey which almost seemed white at a glance. Its mane was moderate amaranth, and its eyes were moderate arctic blue. Unlike a normal horse, this one had wings, a horn, and looked somewhat cartoonish. 

I didn't respond to her, I was simply too confused to. 

"It would seem that a soul of another reality has arrived in my own. It may have something to do with the weakening of my universal barriers. That entity seems to really want in," she mused to herself.

"Who are you, no, what are you?" I asked.

"Oh, how rude of me.  I am called Faust, I suppose I'm something akin to a goddess, as this is my universe," she explained.

"A goddess?"

"Yes, under normal circumstances, something like this would never occur even if the universal barriers have been weakened. How did you find yourself in such a place?"

I thought about the question for a moment. My last memories were of myself taking a strange prismatic pill that seemed to shift color before passing out. I remained silent. 

"Well, whatever the case may be, I have a favor to ask of you." 

"A favor? Can't you just send me home?"

Faust looked at me with a pitying expression. "Allow me to answer that question with another. Do you truly wish to go home?"

I didn't, not really. No matter where I would go, my memories would still haunt me. Again, I remained silent.

"Fending off extra-dimensional threats is...exhausting, to say the least. And this one is much stronger than average. Luckily, you don't seem malevolent. Thus, I have a favor to ask of you?"

"What is it?"

"I would ask that you incarnate into my universe, and defend it from within. I'll do what I can from the outside, but entering my universe is something I'd rather abstain from doing at the moment. If I were to enter the universe, I wouldn't be able to use my powers to their fullest. I see that your soul has unique properties, properties that could directly oppose the incoming threat. You shouldn't have to do too much, beings like this usually act through medians, proxies, if you will, to invade other universes. As long as you can find it, and dispose of it, I should be able to fend off this entity with relative ease," Faust explained.

I paused for a moment, thinking over what I had just been told. "I'm sorry, but I don't think I can help you," Faust's wings lowered a bit in response. 

"I see. Could you tell me why?"

I turned away from her, staring into the starry void. "I can't protect anyone, let alone an entire universe. I'm guaranteed to fail."

The goddess remained silent before responding. "Even so, I would be extremely grateful if you tried. I know you're hurting, but you're their only hope," Faust said, as multiple projections appeared in front of me.

Each projection depicted creatures similar to Faust herself, only smaller, alongside a plethora of other mythical races. They all seemed to be enjoying their best lives, unaware of the imminent danger. I could feel my metaphysical heart begin to tear at the sight of this.

I clenched the nebulous white mist of my chest with one of my hands, looking down at my feet. "If I don't do this... what will happen to them?"

Faust walked up beside me, staring at the projections for a good moment before responding. "They...will perish, likely unable to rest even in death."

At this, I felt a strong sense of guilt overtake me. I looked toward Faust with a newfound conviction. "Fine, I'll do it."

Faust's eyes widened a bit in surprise, her wings perking up. "Really? Are you sure?"

"I said I'll do it, so I'll do it. I can't guarantee I'll succeed though," I said as I grimaced.

Faust smiled softly at me. "Thank you, dear lost soul. If I may ask, what is your name?"

"Does it really matter?"

Faust chuckled a bit at this. "No, I suppose not. Then, I suppose this is farewell until we meet again. Sorry in advance, this may be a bit jarring. Remember, you must find the proxy," she said as her horn began to glow with a light blue magical aura. 

She pointed her horn at me, a flash of blue light engulfing me, then, there was darkness. Warm, wet, and cramped darkness.

"What’s going on?" I thought to myself, panic beginning to set it before I knew it.





Within Chimera's Mind...





I remained still, suspended in a black void. I began moving around, using my limbs to get around. I was still a changeling so that was a thing. Within the darkness, a flash of light appeared before me. All that floated before me was a strange glowing creature that seemed to be made of a nebulous white mist. It had no defining features other than a mouth, but even that, was hardly defined. The creature floated toward me, sticking a misty hand out toward my face. 

I closed my eyes, shying away from its touch, but after a few moments of nothing happening, I opened my eyes only to be flicked on the forehead. Suddenly, I felt an immense amount of information flood my mind all at once. Suddenly, everything made sense, my world, fading to white.




Canterlot Castle Dungeons...





"The proxy!" I jolted awake, only for my throat to suddenly get caught against something ice cold. I found myself chained to the floor of a prison cell, my neck being restrained to the wall by chains as well. I was in my changeling alpha form, the one  I wasn't supposed to get caught in. For whatever reason, I couldn't muster any magic, and my body felt weak. That didn't matter though, I remembered everything now. The two halves of my being had finally become one. 

A few pony guards darted away from my cell. "It's awake! Tell the princess!"

"You're finally awake, I was starting to worry," a familiar voice said from within my head. A voice that made my heart skip a beat.

Through disbelief, I could only ask one thing. "M-mother?" 

"Who else would it be, Faust?" She responded sarcastically.

"But I thought, you were-"

"Dead? Oh dear, it'll take more than having my body shattered to kill me. Although, being used as a battery was rather unpleasant," Chrysalis interjected.

"But how?"

"Are you sure you want to know?"

"Please, I have to," I pleaded.

Chrysalis sighed. "Very well, but just remember, you were the one who asked. It was when you consumed that creature, the one with the knife, that my soul completely transferred into your body. Speaking of souls, yours is rather strange."

"When I what? Did I eat someone?" I began racking my mind for such an event only to end up feeling sick to my stomach. "That's a lot of carnage, that's definitely going to cause issues later. Actually, that's probably why I'm locked up right now."

"Maybe, then again, they were already dead, so anything could happen."

"Even still, I'm glad you're alive. I was...worried," I admitted, feeling relieved.

Chrysalis remained silent for a moment. "I love you, my child, so don't do anything stupid like that again."

"What?"

Chrysalis sighed loudly. "You heard me," she muttered.

I wasn't quite sure how to take this, I never expected it after all. All I could do was respond in kind. "I won't, I love you too," I confessed. Despite all that happened, I couldn't help but feel overwhelming joy.

Our catharsis was interrupted by the sound of a slow, methodical hoof step approaching my cell. Based on the magic, I could already infer who it was. Now stopped in front of my cell was Princess Twilight Sparkle herself. She stared down at me for a good moment, myself gazing back. Her expression was...pitying.

"I'm not quite sure what you are. You're unlike any changeling I've ever seen."

I remained silent.

"I'm going to be straight with you, your situation's not looking very good. There were three deaths tonight," Twilight disclosed. 

Three? Shouldn't there be four?

"Luckily, we were able to catch one of them alive. She's locked up right now, similar to you actually. However, we can change that, if you agree to cooperate with us, that is. Technically, you didn't kill anypony. Dark magic was heavily involved with these beings, necromancy. The real problem lies in the fact that you've proven you have a capacity for violence, so I have a few questions to ask of you," Twilight said as the chains restraining me fell off my body.

"Are you on our side, will you help us?" Twilight requested.

She wants my help? Actually, this might be a good thing. More allies would make my mission far easier. 

"I will, but there's something I need to ask first," I said as I stood up.

"Yes, what is it?"

"The statues in the garden, can they be repaired? I'm waiting for my mother to come home."

Twilight looked at me with a look at confusion. "Yes actually, Discord already repaired all of the damage to the garden and the castle for that matter. 

I breathed a sigh of relief. It seems like things are looking up. 

Twilight smiled. "We appreciate it. When I saw you walk through that barrier of dark magic, I knew you would be an essential asset to the ongoing investigation."

A guard walked in front of my cell, eyeing me nervously before he unlocked it with a set of keys. Twilight then dismissed the guard, allowing me to step out and follow after her. I slipped on my changeling beta disguise as an extra precaution. Everyone was probably already on edge, and being seen in my original form by everypony won't do me any good.