You awaken with a gasp. Immediately, you are hit with the most intense pain you've ever felt. You instinctively bring your hands to your chest, finding that it is wrapped up in vines. You're pretty sure that's not very sanitary, but that should probably be the least of your concerns at the moment. Apart from the pain, you feel fatigued, nauseous, and most of all, cold. You try to sit up, but the sharp pain coming from your chest prevents you from doing so. You let out an involuntary yelp and find yourself back onto the cold ground beneath you.
You try to get a good look around, but have difficulty due to your position on the floor. First and foremost, there is a ceiling above you. It appears to be made of stone, just like the wall that you can see not too far behind your head. While the floor beneath you is very hard, it does feel as though you are lying on something. A quick sweep of a hand tells you that it's a makeshift blanket of leaves. It doesn't exactly offer a lot of protection from the stone floor, but it's better than nothing.
Although it's mostly dark, there is a light source coming from somewhere in front of you that you can't quite see. The light source appears to have a green tint, and you can't possibly imagine what it could be coming from. Just where exactly are you, and how did you get here? The last thing you remember, some of your friends were knocking on your door, they were asking some questions about Chrysalis, and then-
AH!
Twilight hit you with that spell of hers after you jumped in front of Chryssi! That would explain the wound. You try to glance down at your chest. Even the vines are stained red, and liquid continues to slowly seep through the gaps in the makeshift wrappings. You suddenly find it hard to keep your eyes open. The pain has yet to subside, but you feel like you're just getting weaker and colder. Your thoughts are slowly becoming harder and harder to keep together. You aren't the smartest guy around, but...
You might be bleeding out.
Suddenly, you hear a gasp from somewhere in front of you before the sound of frantic hooves on the stone floor indicate to you that someone is approaching. Suddenly, a figure enters your peripheral vision. It's someone you've never seen before.
She is undoubtedly a light changeling. Her skin is mostly white, though it has several light blue splotches all over it. Her wings, tail, and mane seem to have a glittery effect in the light, and they are a pale green color that compliment the white and blue surprisingly well. Her horn is long and without any sort of blemish, and the same can be said of her legs. Her eyes are a similar shade of green as her wings, but unlike most light changelings, they have a pair of thin, black, vertical pupils in their centers. They remind you quite a bit of Chryssi's eyes, actually.
"Anon!"
"W-wha-?"
The light changeling throws her arms around your neck, carefully trying to avoid your chest but failing to prevent another sharp feeling of pain from spreading throughout your body. She realizes this and quickly backs off.
"I-I'm sorry, I just... I just didn't know if you'd wake up again!"
"Who are you? Wh-where are we?"
"What do you mean? I'm-" The changeling cuts herself off as she looks down at her body. Her eyes grow wide for a moment before she slowly looks up at you. After a couple of seconds, she closes her eyes and sighs before locking eyes with you once more. "I'm Que... I'm Chrysalis. We're... in a cave, I guess."
"Chryssi? Why do you... wait... you're a light changeling?!"
You raise your voice in surprise, but doing so just forces you to let out a very painful cough. Your changeling compatriot winces and kneels down close to you.
"Yes. I... have been for some time now."
You're finding it harder and harder to keep your eyes open, but you force yourself to regardless. You give her a smile and start to lightly chuckle.
"Hehe. I had a feeling it was something like that."
"What do you mean?"
"For the 'Queen of Liars,' you're not very good at hiding stuff from me. Don't forget, only light changelings can get lovesickness. I figured something was up, but I didn't want to grill you about it until you were good and ready to share that information yourself."
"B-but why?! Do you have any idea how much trouble you could have saved yourself? You could have told Twilight, or even that child, that I was a light changeling already and proven that you were right! You could have forced me to look like this before we went outside! Maybe then, everypony would have left you alone!"
"...Do you want to look like that?"
"What?"
"Becoming a light changeling isn't a conscious choice. You went out of your way to pretend that you were still a dark changeling. Was that just your pride getting the better of you again, or do you not want to be a light changeling?"
"I... I don't-!" Chrysalis stutters for a bit. Her voice is at first defensive, but she seems to steel herself as she takes a deep breath and starts over. "I don't want others to think I'm weak. I don't need everyone rubbing it in my face that I was wrong. That I've BEEN wrong my whole life. I..." Tears begin to roll down Chrysalis's cheeks. "I don't deserve this. I don't deserve you."
You look at her in silence for a moment as she continues to try to hold back her tears. Wordlessly, you smile at her and fight the searing pain in your body to raise a hand towards her drooped face. You cup her cheek in your hand, causing her to look you in the eyes once more.
"You're not weak. I promise, I will NEVER make fun of you for trying to learn." You think tears are beginning to roll down your own cheeks, but at this point you're going numb in a few places and can't be sure. "I don't care what you think you deserve. The Chrysalis I know is a wonderful mare deep down. She has a lot to learn, but she isn't the villain everyone thinks she is. Not anymore. And right now, she... you... are safe."
"I..."
"For once... just let it out. You don't have to be afraid anymore."
She doesn't respond. Instead, Chrysalis goes from holding back her tears to sobbing uncontrollably. Her head stays drooped above you as her tears land on your collarbone. It's jarring hearing the sound of crying coming from her voice. The deep, guttural pain that she's vocalizing is all you need to know that she has been holding this in for far too long. You never remove your hand from her cheek as you simply rest there, hiding your own pain and acting as the anchor that she so desperately needs right now.
After a couple of minutes, she brings a hoof to her face and does her best to clean herself up. Once she regains some semblance of composure, she looks at you again.
"Anon, I... I don't know what to do. You're like this because of me. It's my responsibility to help you, but... but I can't! I've tried everything! None of the flora here looks like anything back at the hive, I don't have anything better to bandage you up with, and that darn zebra insisted that none of her potions could help you! You're... you're dying, Anon!"
You cough a couple of times. It's getting hard to ignore your rapidly deteriorating health.
"I know. I appreciate the thought, but I really need you to take me to a hospital."
"I can't do that, Anon. I can't trust those stupid mares to take care of you."
"Why not? They're my friends."
"I know I provoked them, but... after everything I've done, you can't possibly expect me to trust them! Even if they can help you, what are they going to do to me?"
"It's okay if you don't trust them, but do you trust me?"
"You're the first and only creature I've ever trusted, Anon."
"Then believe me when I say that everything is going to be fine. I won't let them hurt you." You've been trying to fight it, but the fact that it's getting harder and harder to breathe is weighing heavily on you. Your vision is starting to grow dark once more. Chrysalis notices this and begins to shiver anxiously, leaning even closer to you to better hear your words as you grow quieter and quieter. "It'll be... okay... I... I love you, Chryssi..."
"Anon, don't... don't go! Please! I-"
Those are the last words you hear before you lose consciousness once more.
"I love you too!"
Taking a moment to compose herself, Chrysalis rises to her shaky hooves once more. She attempts to shapeshift back into an ursa minor to carry you, but finds that she can't. She tries to shapeshift into a dragon, but fails yet again. She tries once more to shapeshift into a storm creature, but has to stop and catch her breath as her attempt fails. She recognizes that she's in too much emotional distress to get out of her light changeling form, but recognizing that doesn't fix her problem. Panicked, she attempts to lift you using her magic, but finds that she expended too much trying to get you here. Simultaneously, the green magical lights that she had created around the cave shimmer out, leaving the two of you in darkness once more. She glances at the mouth of the cave, noting that you've been unconscious nearly all day, and it is already dark (thus necessitating the lights not too long before you woke up). As a last resort, she tries to lift you with her bare hooves, but your large human stature is just too much for her. She begins to sob as she looks helplessly down at your unconscious, dying body.
"There you are!"
Chrysalis jumps at the voice and turns around. Her eyes go wide as she makes out a figure at the mouth of the cave.
Standing in the moonlit forest is none other than Ocellus, the light changeling girl that Chrysalis has had nothing but problems with. Ocellus glares at Chrysalis, a mixture of shock and fury on her face.
"If you think disguising yourself as a light changeling is going to make me let my guard down, you can think again!"
"N-no, I'm not-"
"GET AWAY FROM MR. ANON!!!"
Chrysalis winces as she stays still for just a moment. She ponders everything, from the weeks and months that led to this very moment to her argument in your bedroom with Ocellus. She thinks to her run-in with Ocellus yesterday, and she thinks to the conversation she just had with you. Finally, she closes her eyes as more tears begin to fall from them.
"Please..."
"W-what?"
Chrysalis looks Ocellus dead in the eyes, no longer hiding her exhausted, crying face.
"Please help him!"