Chrysi stared at her surroundings, completely at a loss for words. It happened so fast. One moment she had been staring at the world around her, frozen in time. And the next, cracks had begun radiating out from her position.
At first, they had been on the ground, spider webbing across it, as though the very soil were made of glass. But as Chrysi watched in a mixture of abject horror and awe, the cracks had started fracturing the very air around her. At first, they were thin; long and spindly, hairline cracks snaking across the sky. And then they grew wider and wider still, glowing brightly as the sky fragmented; pieces of it falling down to the ground.
Chrysi had watched the air fragment into a hundred irregular sized shards, and then thousands, tens of thousands, millions of fragmented pieces. And in each of those pieces she saw herself reflected back. But it was not her reflection. No, it was…Is that…
“Look, I know we go way back, but you can’t be serious, Chrysalis.”
“It’s the only way to protect her, Shining.”
Standing just outside the castle walls, a Changeling mare and a white Unicorn with blue mane and tail conversed in low tones. The Unicorn was a stallion by the name of Shining Armor, his once pure white fur matted with a rusted, dried crimson. His mane and tail were mussed, the armor he wore was corroded, and oxidized by some form of acid. The hooded expression in his eyes, his missing eye, and a long scar running down his face, the results of The Great Purge.
Chrysalis, meanwhile, stood a head taller than the stallion. Her body was jet black, her mane and tail, a brilliant teal gossamer weave. Her normally shining seafoam green eyes were haunted, as she sullenly pulled a small container from a saddlebag on her back, using levitation magic. The box flicked open; a small, slender cylinder of ash levitated out from amidst the others in it. Chrysalis sighed as she used her magic to ignite the tip of it, inhaling heavily before exhaling a plume of smoke.
“By the goddesses, these things will be the death of me. Celestia’s on her way, Shining.”
Shining Armor stared at her through the melted hole in his helmet, the look on his face depicting pure terror.
“What makes you think Celestia’s on her way?”
The cylinder of ash fell from Chrysalis’s muzzle, and she ground it out with a hoof before her horn began glowing an acidic green; Changeling magic. The glow spread from her horn, covering her body, for a moment before fading away. Shining Armor stared at her in shock.
Her jet black hide was withered, almost rotting away. Her mane and tail were completely gone, while her flank and face appeared to have been branded by a searing hot flame; charred and brittle bones showing through the holes in her hide, partially exposing her vital organs.
He whispered in horror.
“Void magic.”
Chrysalis laughed, a haunting hallowed laugh.
“Pretty, aren’t I?”
Shining was startled by this transformation.
“What? How?”
“Luna had heard about her beloved niece finding a partner, and decided to meet them face-to-”
Chrysalis raised her feeble foreleg to place the rotted hoof against her disfigured face before finishing.
“Face. And so last night, while Cadance and I went for a midnight stroll, The Lunar Princess paid us a visit.”
Shining was dumbfounded, as he stammered.
“B-but your disguise-”
Chrysalis shook her head.
“Those Alicorns are like bloodhounds. I can change my appearance, but I cannot hide my scent, and the instant she saw me, she knew. And what was worse, she knew that I knew she knew, even going so far as to tell me to drop my disguise. And when I did, well-”
Chrysalis gestured at her withered, rotted form and gave a derisive snort.
“As you can see, she wasn’t impressed to see the last Changeling courting her niece. Afterward, she proceeded to tell me that I should run, because she would not be killing me, preferring to leave me for Celestia. And that this was nothing compared to what Celestia would be doing to me when she caught me.”
Shining stood in silence just watching as Chrysalis’s Changeling magic morphed and transformed her flesh to give the illusion of her full healed body once more. Sighing, Chrysalis swiftly lit up another ash-filled cylinder, lamenting.
“And who could blame her, after my mother tried to usurp her throne. Well, it doesn’t matter. Come tomorrow, the Changelings will be no more.”
Shining Armor looked startled.
“What are you saying?”
Chrysalis just silently stared into his eyes for a moment before opening her mouth to respond.
“Do you remember, standing flank to flank, surrounded by Changelings as we rushed to take back Canterlot’s throne?”
“Y-yeah but-”
“Or that time you discovered I was a Changeling that had joined the Canterlot Militia?”
“Of course I remember. Chrysalis, what are you trying to say?”
Chrysalis smiled brightly, her eyes sparkling as tears welled within them. Her horn started to glow with the acidic green of Changeling magic, lightly at first before glowing brighter and brighter still.
“I want you to know, I regret none of that, Captain. Take care of my daughter for me, alright?”
A bright flash filled Shining’s vision and when it cleared, he was alone and looking around in confusion.
“What was I doing? Oh, right! I have to get back to Cadance. We still have more to plan for our wedding for tomorrow.”
With that he rushed off, while high up on the hill, Chrysalis stood watching him go, the tears flowing freely down her muzzle. She stood there, gazing off into the distance for a moment before slowly turning and walking down the hill.
What was that? It was over in a flash, the images appearing to play in her mind in a single second. Chrysi was startled by the sudden vision and instinctively backed up, right into something hard. Whirling around she was immediately bombarded by another image of some world that she never knew.
“Chrysalis, thou stands accused of Treason to the Crown of Equestria. On the grounds of having caused the disappearance of Princess Dashie, Princess of Loyalty, Daughter of Empress Celestia, and Wife of Princess Rarity. Thou then proceeded to use thine Changeling Magic to attempt to take her place and steal her identity. Furthermore-”
Chrysalis ignored the crier as he read off a list of her many offenses. Instead, she surveyed the crowd with her eyes as she stood, for all to see, her head just a few hoof’s lengths from a glinting blade of sharpened steel hovering above. Her head was locked in place by a pillory, and an anti-magic ring had been placed upon her horn. She would not be walking away from this one, she thought bitterly.
In the crowd, she watched as the jeers turned into throwing things at her, and yet, she ignored them. They didn’t matter. Her seafoam green eyes were fixed on just one pony.
“- And the complete destruction of the serfs of Ponyville. Has thou anything to say in thine last moments?”
The roaring insults of the crowd of hundreds fell silent as Chrysalis locked eyes with Princess Rarity and smiled wickedly.
“Vivat Regina.”
A gasp arose from the crowd, as with a nod from Rarity the executioner severed the rope with a single swipe of her battle ax; the rope that held the guillotine’s blade at bay. With a sickening thud, Chrysalis’s head tumbled into the waiting basket, the cruel smile forever on her muzzle.
Chrysi screamed and grabbed her head, before gasping in surprise. She slowly felt her head, it was still there. But then what had she just seen? Still sweating, and panting, she looked around frantically. There was no crowd, no guillotine. She could have sworn she had really been there, she even felt it. Had she just imagined it? That’s when she felt a hoof on her shoulder, and Chrysi felt that horrifyingly chilling sensation radiate throughout her metallic chassis once more.
Shivering, and with an unbidden feeling of sudden doom lingering over her, Chrysi slowly turned around to find herself staring into the featureless face of the entity known as Lulu. Chrysi stared up at the Alicorn-like being towering over her as it leaned down as though staring back at her.
“Are you having fun?”
“Wh-what is this? Where are we?”
The entity seemed pensive for a moment, lifting the visage of a forehoof up to what could be considered its chin. After a few seconds, it answered her, its voice cutting like a knife, though not physical pain like before but an unsettling feeling of melancholic depression.
“This is what you could call your hallway of memories.”
Chrysi felt a wave of nausea wash over her, followed by an urge to wretch as Lulu lowered her void-filled hoof and accidentally bumped her body. Her barrel heaved and jerked violently as a crimson stream poured from her muzzle. She twitched uncontrollably as she looked up from the sight of a pool of her innards slowly spreading outwards, to croakily whisper.
“M-memories?”
Chrysi collapsed with a bloodcurdling scream as her functions ceased. Her metallic body oxidized, changing from a gleaming black equine’s form to a sickly orangish-red crusted junk of metal, within an instant.
Lulu stood there watching the spectacle before what sounded like clicking its tongue in disapproval, though there was none to be seen. Its tone dripped with absolute venom, however, its words almost seemed to be of care.
“No, no, my dear child. You are not getting off that easily. Rise.”
At once a flash of sickly blue magic lit up the entire infinity of the space in which it stood, and suddenly a fully repaired, and fully functional mechanical, sparkling jet-black equine stood before it once more.
Frantically, Chrysi looked around as her sensors came online once more.
“Wha-”
“You’ve touched the hoof of greatness, daughter. Now then, let’s continue. Yes, these are your memories, or rather your past lifetimes. As you can see there are many. You’ve been a heroine; you’ve been a villain. You’ve been a lover, and a heartbreaker. Selfish and selfless, you name it, you’ve lived it. Many iterations, many stories, many wonders and frankly my greatest pride. That is…until the last few times.”
Chrysi’s eyes widened in wonder as three glowing shards appeared before her. Unlike the others, these were cracked and seemed to be falling to pieces. They sparked erratically, and the images reflected with each were static filled, fading in and out.
“What are these?”
Lulu seemed to be forlorn as it replied.
“These? These, my child, are your creations.”