You waited, still balancing your anger towards Discord versus the help he was possibly bringing you. You had no idea what he meant by extreme, but it couldn’t be too bad. Whatever he was going to do, given he turned into the guards again, it would most likely involve Shining Armor. Fine, that’s good actually, all you had to do was change his mind and it was over.
Eventually, the door to your room burst open. Shining, frantic from whatever he was told, looked towards your open window, wide eyed, then looked to you with fearful eyes. “Anon, you didn’t. Bro, you didn’t. Tell me you didn’t.”
Oof, okay, here we go. Discord must have told him that either she escaped or she left or something.
“You mean Chrysalis? Yeah, I let her go. Why?” Just go along with it for now, see what he’s been told by Discord and work from there.
“Why?! Why?!” Shining Armor almost looked crazed as he walked over to you, sweat coming from every pore of his body. “You know exactly why! How my guards, and you, can somehow think that she’s somehow reformed from just talking to you, after what she did, is crazy! You can’t expect me to believe everything is okay after she tried to end my sister. And now she wants to see Celestia?!”
You nod, keeping your patience, trying to figure out what Discord had planned. “Yeah, both schools are on the line. You know that right? The whole thing with Neighsay?”
Shining was twitching, trying to hold in all the rage he was feeling right now. “I do know that! But, Anon, bro? I don’t even know what to do about that! Because Chrysalis is not getting anywhere near Princess Celestia, and definitely not anywhere near Twilight. She tricked you, Anon, just like she always does. Look, maybe I can still catch her. Where did she go? She had to have told you.”
You shake your head towards Shining Armor, standing firm on your belief. “Shining, no, come on. I promise you, it’s over. Why do you think she waited to see me at all? She could have escaped at any time, but she wanted to see me to tell me she’s done being evil. Every time she concocts a new plan, dude, she always ends up losing something. Her home, her children, her kingdom, me. She’s done with it. She’s even willing to help if it means just being left alone from now on.”
Shining scoffs at that with an unsteady laugh. “Oh my Celestia, Anon. Come on! That’s horsefeathers! She lied to you. She has no reason to help anypony. She never helps anypony. She uses them, just like she’s used me, and used you. Tell me where she is, Anon, or else I’ll have to arrest you for treason. Don’t make me do that.”
Discord, come on, whatever you have, it better be good because so far things are getting dicey. “You can’t do that! You have no proof she’s still evil!”
“And you don’t have any proof that she’s reformed! Now tell me where she is! Now!” Shining demanded, stomping his hoof down. He snorted hot air from his nostrils, he was reaching his boiling point.
“Shining, the schools are on the line, and the trial isn’t going to save them. If you don’t even give it a chance, Celestia and your sister’s reputation will be destroyed. Do you want that?” He had to have known that. That would ruin them both if something like this ever even came close to public.
“Last chance, Anon! Tell me now, or you’re coming with me after you’re healed.” Shining threatened, ignoring your words.
“Shining, don’t!” You shouted back at him.
“THEN HAVE IT YOUR WAY!” Shining said in a bombastically threatening tone. He was red with fury, and as he stomped up to you to try to threaten you once more…
“AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!” You screamed out in terrible pain as your leg suddenly snapped like a twig. Your bone went right through the side of your leg as small jets of blood splurted out from the sudden wound. Blood fell onto your bed, onto the sides, and some even hitting Shining’s face. Shining was frozen in shock as you screamed in absolute agony.
“W-what?” Shining just stared, looking traumatized, as you held on to your leg screaming. He dabbed his hoof on the blood on his cheek and brought it up to gaze at it. He suddenly looked horrified, yet confused, as to what could have caused this.
“Shining!” Twilight shouted as she ran into the room from the doorway. She quickly looked at you, then to Shining as her brow furrowed angrily. “S-Shining?! Shining! How… How could you?!”
“What?! Twily, what?! No, wait, I didn’t do this! I swear!” Shining said as he backed off defensively, feeling he was being accused without good reason.
“Hold on, Anon!” Twilight said, her horn glowing bright as she froze you with her stasis spell. You couldn’t move an inch, and honestly, with your leg stuck like this and not moving around, it only hurt a lot instead of a fuckload. You began to whine, unable to twitch, but your leg feeling better only slightly, as if it was in a cast. Twilight then looked to Shining, angry, fuming even, at the fact Shining would hurt you in such a way. “Shining, why?! How could you do this?!”
“Twily! I swear, I didn’t do it! I don’t know how it happened!” Shining said in his defense.
Twilight raised her hoof, and pointed it directly at Shining’s horn. “Then why is your horn still glowing?” Twilight said, as she noted Shining’s glowing aura shining brightly around his horn.
“What?!” Shining looked to the mirror on the side of your bed. He was in shock when he saw that, in fact, his horn was glowing. He didn’t realize, or even think, that he had used telekinesis to break your leg like that. “I-it is… Twily, I…”
“Anon, are you alright?” Twilight was now focused on you as she ignored her brother, trying to make sure you were okay. “I’m going to go get the doctor, okay?”
Wait! Ngh, you couldn’t let her leave now. Discord, he had to have been the one to snap your leg like this. Christ, it was as genius as it was painful. If Shining was so filled with guilt, and seen to be so vengeful, he wouldn’t go after Chrysalis anymore, or at least for a moment or two. Twilight would pretty much force him to reflect on his actions. Which meant you had to convince Twilight yourself now that Shining was stalled. “Twilight! Ngh, no, wait! I don’t want to be in pain like this. Nghhh, ergh, just put the horn on my head! P-please, I know how to fix this.”
“Anon, bro, I didn’t mea-” Shining tried to approach you, but was stopped by Twilight as she gave him a furious gaze.
“You’ve done enough, Shining! I can’t believe you’d even think of doing something like this. And for what? Revenge? Like Chrysalis?” Twilight really was surprised by Shining’s actions, finding it to be worse than horrible. She found it hard to even look at him now, especially since he seemed to be so defensive over his own actions. “I can’t believe you’d be so vengeful as to hurt somepony.”
“Twily…” Shining didn’t know what to say anymore. He began to tear up, his ears folding, he looked utterly defeated.
Twilight sighed, shook her head, and began to cry herself. “Just go, Shining. Anon needs care right now, that’s the only thing that matters at this moment.” She didn’t want to be that harsh towards Shining, but she knew she had to. This was an egregious attack on someone she considered a friend. Well, she considers almost anyone a friend, but this was still over the line.
Shining said nothing, he only hung his head low, and walked out of the room, only looking back at Twilight before feeling more shame.
Twilight then looked at you. She grabbed your horn and carefully placed it on your head as to make sure she didn’t choke or hurt you with the necklace part of it. “Anon, are you sure about this? The doctor is right there.”
“I-I’m sure… I-I need to talk to you. A-and…” Ngh, you focused hard, up until your leg just… Fell off.
Twilight got spooked, backing off as she saw your injured leg just plop on the floor. “Anon! Your leg!”
“I-I know…” You said with a sigh of relief as the pain instantly went away. “It’s just my chaos magic. Now, give me one more second, and…” You press your hoof hard on your nose, and blow hard as if you were trying to inflate yourself. Your stump of a missing leg suddenly expands and juts out as a newly formed leg. “There we go, much better.”
Twilight just blinked, then shook her head as she dismissed her own confusion. “I have to remember that chaos magic is capable of things like that.” Twilight then looked to the exit of the room, and sighed. “Anon, I’m so sorry this happened to you. I never would have thought Shining was capable of that. It’s almost like he really has become as blind as Chrysalis in his want for revenge.”
Okay, how to do this. Twilight’s emotions were running high, you had her attention, and Shining was subdued. You couldn’t squander this. Ooh, you still felt a phantom-like pain from your leg. That really hurt, you had to have wondered if Discord could have done that any other way. “Uh, yeah. Twilight, I need to talk to you about that.”
Twilight shook her head, and used her magic to tuck you into bed. “No, what YOU need is to rest. Let me handle Chrysalis, alright? I’m sorry, Anon, but Shining is right about that. I can’t just let her be loose in Equestria.”
Gah! “Wait! But she reformed!”
Twilight just stared at you with a frown of disbelief. “I really want to believe like you do, Anon. But… She used you to escape. I could have helped her, I know I-”
Dammit! Twilight! Just fucking listen! You cut her off, you had to get it through her head that it was for real this time. “Twilight! I mean it! She could have escaped way before this, like, way before! She wanted to see me, just like you thought. But she doesn’t want to be a prisoner, Twilight, she doesn’t want to go through the trial. You want to help her?! Well, guess what? She wants to help you too! The only thing she wants is that she gets left alone, and she doesn’t get arrested.”
Twilight’s ear twitched at the last of your words. She almost seemed hopeful for a moment, before her expression filled with skepticism. “Anon, that’s… A little hard to swallow. I gave her as much leniency as I could, but even I’d have to say that sounds like another trap. I heard she wanted to help from the guards, to even visit Neighsay with Princess Celestia. But you know she’s the one she’s focused on for revenge, right?”
You groan, and realize if you continue to be hostile, you’d push Twilight away from giving Chrysalis one last chance. “I-I know she is. And I know asking for yet another chance is too much at this point. But Twilight, you’re the Princess of Friendship, isn’t there any way I can convince you to just… I dunno, give it one last try?”
“Anon... “ Twilight stopped. She began to deeply think about it. Seeing her brother react so harshly on you, beyond anything she could ever imagine, it made her heart recoil within itself. This situation was more than the schools, it was more than her, it was affecting everypony around her in a negative way. She knew she had to make a decision, but she needed to hear something a little more compelling to help her decide first. “Can you tell me then, how she managed to escape? How she managed to trick the two guards assigned to watch her? Something isn’t adding up, and I need you to tell me the truth, okay?”
The truth. Oh god, that was a tough one. You had to rely, at this point, for Discord to keep his mouth shut. For all Fluttershy knew, she helped Chrysalis escape. And Scrappy? For Chrysalis, he’d lie as long as Applebloom doesn’t guilt trip him. “Well, the truth is Scrappy is one of the guards. And er, the other one was…” If they’re both Discord, and that isn’t found out, then you could say anything and it’d be the ‘truth’ “...Well, he really did kind of agree with it. I mean, considering, er, Aunt Fluttershy was the one who snuck Scrappy in to break Chrysalis out, it’s kinda hard to argue with it when the element of kindness is involved.”
“Oh, that makes sen-WHAT?!” Twilight’s brain, right then, right there, broke. “Fluttershy?! There’s no way!”
“Yeah… That’s what I said too. Aunt Fluttershy helped Chrysalis escape by bringing Scrappy to her. All under the condition that Chrysalis helps with the whole Neighsay thing. Chrysalis is willing to do it. She doesn’t like me being another pony’s gopher” You say with a light and reluctant chuckle, trying to ease the mood. “I mean, you could ask her yourself. This would be too easy to prove it’s a lie, so, y’know, I have no reason to say it unless it’s the truth.” You say with a shrug.
“...Fluttershy.” Twilight whispered to herself in amazement. “Anon, I believe you. We have to figure out how to make contact with Chrysalis, I need to talk to her.”
“Oh, well, er, she went back home.” You reply.
“What? Even though everypony would look there first?” Twilight asked, baffled.
You shrugged “She expected me to get everything under control. It was one of her conditions in helping, since, ya know, she has to not be arrested to help.”
“Then the only thing that needs to be done now is to calm Shining down. I need him to understand that everything is alright now. But I think the only way to do that is to talk to Chrysalis.” Twilight then sighed, as she realized how difficult everything was becoming. “I can’t just tell Shining to stop without some evidence. But I don’t think Chrysalis would be willing to talk so soon. I don’t know what to do.”
Chrysalis wouldn’t like it. But Shining is also a douchebag. Ugh, suddenly everything is feeling like a twenty two minute episode where everything needs to wrap up quickly. There was only one way to do it. “Then let’s just go visit her together, right now. I’ll help smooth things over so you both can talk.”
“Anon, no. You need to stay here until the doctors say you’re alright. Even if most of the poison is gone from your body, we don’t know what else it can do to you.” Twilight says, being her friendly yet authoritative self.
Heh, the poison. You were sure that was something you didn’t need to worry about anymore. You just stay silent and plop the horn on your head.
“Anon!? Anon, Wai-” And before Twilight was capable of doing anything, you both teleported right to the front of Chrysalis’s house. “Gah?! Anon! No! You can’t do this! What about your health?!”
“I’ll be fine, this is more important.” You walk up to the front door of Chrysalis’s home and knock, causing the doors to fall over. “Gah!” You said, spooked as you stepped back.
“W-what happened?” Twilight asked as she looked at the destroyed walls and wrecked entrance hall of Chrysalis’s home, roots lying dead on the ground.
“Oh… This was just Dark Anon when he first showed up. Considering the mess, I’m going to guess Chrysalis isn’t here yet.” You say as you look around, pushing a dead root to the side. “We should probab-Wahh!”
Twilight hoists you up with her magic, looking at you with a serious stare. “We’re going back so you can get some rest. I’m going to talk to Shining myself and get him to stand-” Twilight suddenly freezes as a familiar changeling queen walks past her, without acknowledgement or even being noticed in any way.
“Look at what that miserable idiot did to my home. Ugh, I should have had Anon fix this too before I left.” Chrysalis walked past the both of you, putting down some saddlebags next to her fallen doors. “Ah well, I don’t need him, I can fix this mess myself, it is my home after all. Then I can use these recipes I stole to bake him a ‘get well’ cake.” Chrysalis suddenly groaned to herself as she brought a hoof to her chest. “Ugh, I feel sick just saying that. But the little idiot deserves it. No, not deserves… Chrysalis, you need to stop talking to yourself. You’re still royalty, just because you’re a forest hermit now doesn’t mean you have to act like one. As for the cake… I’ll just leave it for him and have the pink one blamed for it. He’d never let me live down something like this if he... Found... Out?” Chrysalis slowly turns her head, to see Twilight standing beside her, with you still floating in her magical grasp.
You chuckled nervously as you waved towards Chrysalis, who was already turning red in both embarrassment and furious anger. “H-hi, Chrysalis.”
“WHAT IS WRONG WITH THE BOTH OF YOU?!” Chrysalis stomps over and points to you first. “WHY DO YOU ALWAYS DO SUCH IDIOTIC THINGS?! YOU’RE SUPPOSED TO BE RECOVERING, YOU IDIOT! HOW ABOUT I JUST END YOU MYSELF SINCE YOU SEEM SO INTENT ON PERISHING?!” She then points to Twilight. “AND YOU! YOU COULDN’T WAIT AT LEAST AN ENTIRE TWO HOURS BEFORE YOU COME TO MY HOME TO TALK TO ME ABOUT YOUR FUCKING FRIENDSHIP SHIT?! AND AREN’T YOU SUPPOSED TO BE THE RESPONSIBLE ONE?! YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO USE YOUR FROO FROO FRIENDSHIP CRAP TO CONVINCE HIM TO STAY IN BED! BUT NO! YOU BOTH JUST CAME TO BOTHER ME BECAUSE BLA BLA BLA FRIENDSHIP! ANON! WHY DIDN'T YOU LISTEN TO ME?! AND HOW ARE YOU UNABLE TO USE YOUR AUTHROITY FOR ANYTHING?! Unless... Because he used one of his charges to forcibly bring you here, that would make sense. And, hm, what's this?” Chrysalis started to calm down as she tasted something off from Twilight. “Brother troubles, Twilight Sparkle?”
Twilight winced at those words as her ears folded. “C-Chrysalis. I, well…” At first, she didn’t know what to say, but then, she gave her a stern look as she went on the defensive “I came to talk. This has nothing to do with Shining, and I will not have you mock him or the situation.”
“I don’t even know what the situation is. But how about this. You forget what you heard just now, and I’ll tolerate the both of you. I’m just going to guess Anon somehow cured himself with one of his charges as well since he already seems to be better. Now, before I let you go further into my home, I am going to ask if your idiotic brother is coming after me or not.” Chrysalis asked, being as rude as she can as she knows she can get away with it. Especially since she felt intruded upon so suddenly.
Twilight acted subdued. She didn’t want to upset Chrysalis, but she didn’t want to be insulted either. It pained her, but she’d go along with it to truly see for herself how reformed Chrysalis is. After all, she can’t unhear what she said about the cake. She’d let it slide that it’s a stolen recipe, if only because it’s something sweet and unexpected of her. “Not yet. That’s why Anon brought me here. I wanted to talk to you myself, and hopefully, tell my brother that you’re reformed, and no longer a threat to anypony.”
“Reformed? Don’t use that word, I hate that word. Just know, Princess, that I’ve only chosen to stop all my evil endeavors, that’s it. I am still Chrysalis, Queen of the Changelings. Besides, I know the real reason you’re here is to see if I am willing to save your pitiful school. I am, but only under the condition that I am left alone, is that clear? Can you leave me alone now? Because that should be the end of it.” Chrysalis said as she gave Twilight a smirk, waving her away with her hoof.
“I understand, but I still would like to try spending time with you. To at least make up for messing things up last time.” Twilight said, willing to admit her own faults if it’d help the situation.
“Hm, actually admitting that you messed things up with your friendship shtick, I’m surprised.” Chrysalis said with a chuckle. Chrysalis then looked to you with a stoic look. “Anon, is it true, really true, that she watched Goodfellas?”
You nod. “She did, with Rarity and Starlight.”
“I don’t even remember who those are.” Chrysalis then turned to Twilight. “So then, what did you think?”
“E-erm.” Twilight was caught off guard. It seemed like such a random question out of the blue, she had no idea how into human culture Chrysalis had become, even if it was only through movies. She even found it off how in sync you and Chrysalis seemed to be with that question as well, as you answered it without any hesitation or confusion. “W-well, I enjoyed it as a learning experience. It was actually quite inter-”
“Bah, who cares about that? What did you think about Tommy dying?” Chrysalis asked, getting annoyed with Twilight.
“E-erm. I…” Twilight suddenly realized that her answer would actually affect her gaining entry into Chrysalis’s home. “...Didn’t, er, agree with it at all.”
Chrysalis sniffed at her. “I suppose that’s the truth. Alright then, fine. Normally, I’d still kick you out, but there’s something in the basement that I really want to see. In fact, I want to see your reaction to it, Twilight. I want to see you envy me.”
“Uh… Okay. Erm, what is it?” Twilight, still confused, was happy to be allowed in, but was wary of whatever this ‘thing’ was.
“Twilight, there’s nothing to worry about.” You tell her. “It’s just a-” But suddenly Chrysalis cuts you off.
“Shhh! Don’t spoil it, Anon! I haven’t even seen it yet! I’m so excited to see it! I feel like-” Chrysalis was getting all giddy, almost like a little foal. And when she realized she was doing it in front of Twilight, she suddenly stopped and composed herself, even giving Twilight an evil smirking glare. “Ahrm. I mean, I feel like you, Twilight Sparkle, will not be able to handle the experience. You may even go mad.” Chrysalis said with a dark chuckle as she led you both through the living room, towards the stairs to the basement. “Come along now, it’s waiting for us.”
Twilight gulped, but remained steadfast in her goals. But she placed you down gently, then calmly whispered to you. “Are we going to be okay?”
Chrysalis, at this point, you had to admit was a good driver. So really, the only scary part about all this is both her actual driving speed and Twilight screwing things up. “Twilight, just act amazed, and prepare for a ride. That’s it. She really enjoys these kinds of things, so just don’t kill her mood, okay?”
Twilight nodded. “I got it.”