"That bastard lied to me!" Chrysalis shouted into the air. She was flying over the side of a large cliff face, the east side of a tall mountain.
It had been hours since her meeting with the one-eyed changeling, so many in fact that the sun had risen. The queen had visible bags under her eyes as she hissed. Hours of searching for nothing but sore wings and exhaustion. Thoughts began to fill her head rapidly. What did that... thing have to gain from sending her here alone! He must have been working with Starlight Glimmer! Yes, and that traitor Thorax! They were all in cahoots! Why, this was clearly a trap!
Thoughts filled her head on what to do with those treacherous snakes when she got her hooves on them. She would squeeze their lives from their bodies as easily as she squeezed the air from their throats. She would feel their bones snap beneath her righteous rage! She would-!
"I did no such thing, and frankly I am appalled that you thought I would." A voice rang out to her. She gasped, quickly scanned her surroundings, until she saw it again. The changeling was hidden in the shadow of a tall outcropping near the top of the mountain, so as to still appear as a silhouette. Its single glowing eye was visibly narrowed in annoyance.
Chrysalis hissed. "Well, it's hard not to think that! I still don't see an entrance anywhere!" She started to fly towards it, horn glowing as she readied a combat spell... just in case.
"The only reason I haven't disintegrated you yet is that no one would be dumb enough to show their face to me after double-crossing me, which means I know you are telling the truth." She said, landing on the top of the mountain, just in front of him. She still couldn't make out his actual features in the shadow, he was still too far away.
The silhouette cocked its head to the side before it was completely engulfed in a ball of pure white fire. The blaze lasted for less than a second before an earth pony of all things stepped out of it. The silhouette was no longer there. It became much easier for her to tell thing's gender now though. It was male.
The pony was cyan in color, with slicked-back platinum white hair. A black eyepatch covered his left eye, but aside from that, he was wearing no clothes, as was typical of most normal equines. He didn't seem to be any bigger than the average pony, not Cadance sized, Luna sized, and certainly not Celestia sized. Chrysalis couldn't tell if that made him more or less unnerving. A small, warm smile came to his face as he stepped forwards, slowly approaching her.
"You've taken a disguise to talk to me, why? Do you not trust me?" Chrysalis smirked, horn only brightening.
"Oh, like you have never done this before as well? Tread carefully. I am fine giving weapons and armies to psychotic conquerers, but I will never arm a hypocrite." The 'pony' said, as he started to pace, his smile only widening. "Besides, I want to keep a slight air of mystery about me. Surely you understand, yes?"
Chrysalis snarled bestially as she took a step towards him, but she stopped when something landed in between the two of them. It was the cyan armored changeling again, antlers charged with cyan magic, visor glinting in the light. Two more crashes behind her caused her to risk a glance behind her, to see two more of them.
She was now surrounded on three sides by things that could seemingly shrug off one of her magical spells with no problem. Things weren't looking good.
"What are these things anyway?" She asked, turning around to face the two behind her, before turning back.
"In my language, they are known as vurions, but the less... civilized creatures of my day referred to them as platinum guards. The name is apt I suppose, though... horribly tacky." The 'pony' explained, walking with an exaggerated swagger towards her, a slight downtrodden look coming over him. "Terribly rare these days I'm afraid. I think these are the last three in existence, though I do plan on finding or, if worst comes to worst making, more very soon."
Chrysalis steeled her gaze. "And you are telling me this why?"
"Oh, I just wanted to clear the air amongst friends. You know, make it apparent that you can trust me, and I find that to be one of the most harmless of your, no doubt many, questions in need of answering." The pony said, his warm smile returning to his face. "Though, since that clearly wasn't enough I will give you one free question, that I will answer truthfully, as the Kes'kel'kes as my witness."
The pony sat on his haunches and put one of his front hooves over his heart and the other in the air, the famous 'scouts promise' pose. Initially, Chrysalis was quiet, debating her options before she settled on the one that had been eating her thoughts the most.
"What, exactly, are you?" She asked, brows furrowing. The pony's smile widened.
"Why, I am a changeling like you... though I am far older." He said, standing up and cocking his head to the side. "I am exactly... hmmm... 1,526 years old now I believe, though I may be off by a year or two. I come from a better time. A much simpler time. Back when the equines squatted in caves, scrawling along the walls with whatever measly pigments they could get their hooves on."
Chrysalis's eyebrow raised in skepticism. "Really? And I am supposed to believe that why?"
"Well... I suppose cynicism is to be expected. Especially because the changelings were parasites for the majority of your and your ancestor's lives, just know that there was a time that the sun and moon moved at our command, rather than at the beck and call of a pathetic horse." He replied, disgust filling his voice. He snarled before clearing his throat and perking up. "Now that that is out of the way, onto the more pressing matter."
He did a full heel turn and approached the stone outcropping he had previously been standing in the shadow of. As soon as he arrived, he raised a hoof, before roughly punching it. There was a snapping sound before a large section of the grey rock fell away to reveal something black.
Chrysalis gasped and quickly rushed up to his side, the gaze of the platinum guards not leaving her for even a second.
In the rock was a perfectly carved circular tube, which was bored deep into the rock out of obsidian. Complex mechanisms filled the inside of the tube, just waiting to be activated. This was a lock, a specialized one. One only a changeling, a true (or so she believed) changeling could open.
"You were simply looking in the wrong place, my dear." The pony said as he turned and started walking away, back towards the shadows. "Remember, I'll keep in touch. Until then, remember our bargain." The pony threw a wave over his shoulder before he disappeared into the dark, his guards following after him.
"Of course I remember!" Chrysalis laughed, as she slowly inserted her hoof into the hole. "Ponyville will burn!!"
The second her hoof reached the bottom of the lock, it pressed against a pressure plate. Slowly solid stone cylinders started to emerge from the sides, inserting themselves into the holes in her leg. Chrysalis laughed with glee as they locked into place. Slowly, she started to twist her leg to the left, and as she did, the entire mountain started shaking.
The grinding of stone alerted her to the sound of the massive doors opening on the cliff face below her. And it was soon followed by the slowly growing buzzing of wings. Her laughter turned into an insane cackle.
It was time for her revenge.