//------------------------------// // The day with Twilight // Story: The Black Heart // by Wooden Wheel //------------------------------// It was early in the morning in Ponyville, where inside her castle, Twilight could be seen walking through it's halls, until she reached the room where Chrysalis was staying. Knocking on the door, she gets no response. Knocking again, this time she puts her ear to the door, listening to what she deduces as a double and somewhat out of sync snore. For the third time, Twilight knocks on the door with more strength and calls Chrysalis in the same way. On this occasion she can hear a thump, followed by some strange noises that could be interpreted as swearing. A few grumbles later, Twilight heard a "Coming!" and steps towards the door. "What!?" angrily asks Chrysalis, opening the door, her gaze blurry and unfocused. Her pupils thinned and her eyelids drooping. She looked disheveled, almost like she was sleep deprived. "Breakfast is ready," happily as only a morning pony could, announced Twilight. "So early?" Chrysalis complained, feeling a headache caused by the voice of her host. "Wait, what time is it?" "It's early in the morning. Princess Celestia just raise the sun less than 30 minutes ago," Twilight responded, then, after seeing the queen's appearance, added with slight concern: "Are you okay? It looks like you didn't have a good night." "You try to live in the wild, without any sort of the comforts you've been accustomed to, for several months and then tell me how you can wake up early looking good." "Do... do you wish for me to come later?" Twilight offered, with a mixture of worry and disappointment. "No, no. Let's get started with this," Chrysalis said, finally leaving her room. Upon arriving at the dining room, Chrysalis could see a table where plates, cups and cutlery were already arranged, with a stack of pancakes as the centerpiece, surrounded by syrups, jams and creams, to add their sugary flavor. By the time Chrysalis took her place at the table, Twilight had already filled both of their cups with coffee. "Let's enjoy ourselves!" Twilight said, using her magic to take some of the pancake pieces and place them on her plate, with Chrysalis taking the rest. "Where are the others?" The Queen asked, having gained lucidity after the first sip of the brown and steaming hot concoction, eyeing around. "Oh! I just thought that to begin these new social experiences, it would be best to start them small, so I asked Spike and Starlight to leave us alone for the day, so that we could have our interaction one on one. I hope this is not a problem for you." "I mean your guards, Sparkle! From my room to this place, we crossed several hallways and I did not see nor sense the presence of any of them." "I don't have any guards." "After everything that has happened to you and yet it is your choice to not have security in this castle!? Aren't you, princess, an important piece for the rulership of the ponies!?" Chrysalis chastise her, sounding quite annoyed with the answer she was given. Twilight cringe at the mention of her royal status, still not comfortable with her being referred to as such, preferring the casual approach. "Is your tiara not a sign of authority, but a mere accessory to embellish your image and with it sell toys to children!?" "Look, it's not like I don't know that I need guards, I am perfectly aware that a lot of nasty stuff could have been avoided with having them here. It's just that I don't think I would feel comfortable having them all around me. I've been talking to Princess Celestia about it, but every time I do the discussion veers into tax matters, and I just don't... Look, it's complicated. Can we not talk about it and just eat in peace, please?" Twilight pleaded, looking almost desperate to not start her day with that kind of discussion. The Queen just grunted and started eating, taking big, feral bites of her pancakes spread with different kinds of sweeteners. Twilight sigh in relief and followed suit, with more modest manners. During breakfast, Twilight watched Chrysalis with interest. As the changeling filled her mouth with each bite of more than half of one of the pancakes decorated with multiple of the sweet substances with which she accompanied her food. This image, while a little disgusting, peaked her curiosity enough to want to ask her, then and there, a couple of questions. "Chrysalis..." "Queen Chrysalis," quickly cut her off Queen Chrysalis. "...What?" Twilight finally spoke after recovering of her train of thought being so suddenly derailed. "I have been lenient with you until now, Sparkle, but from now on, whenever you seek to speak to me, you will refer to me as 'Queen Chrysalis'." "But... you know...?" Twilight stuttered, getting nervous. "What?" growled the Queen through clenched teeth, narrowing her eyes menacingly, warningly to Twilight that she should really measure her words and truly think hard about what she was about to say, unless she wanted trouble. "Deposed?" Twilight responded, shrinking nervously in her chair. "Just because at the present I lack subjects, it doesn't mean that I am any less of a Queen! And you will address me as such, and that's a non-negotiable!" roar the Queen, rising herself up to become perfectly visible, her wings flaring, slamming her hooves on the table, shaking everything on it. "Okay, okay, I'll do it!" Alarmed, Twilight quickly concedes, trying to de-escalate the situation. And that's where the situation should have ended... That didn't happen. Twilight could and probably should have end things there, but then she continues: "Why is it so important for you to be recognized as one, why do you care so much for a title?" "For you it is a mere title, for me it is an important part of what and who I am. And if you want to make me believe there is any sort of respect among us, that is the smallest and easiest way for you to do so." The Queen concluded, making it clear that there was no room for further discussion on the matter, returning to her seat, angrily gobbling down more of the pancakes. Twilight let out a tired and depressed sigh. Her mood had gone down, so did her cutlery. This deviation in the conversation had spoiled her appetite. She began to develop a headache, thinking that perhaps it was wishful thinking to believe that it would be an easy task to reform Chrysalis -Oh, sorry, I mean Queen Chrysalis-. In fact, she had begun to believe that after this blunder, it would be impo... "What was it you wanted to ask?" ask Queen Chrysalis, slowing down her chewing, once again stopping and pulling out Twilight of her current line of thought. "What?" "What was that thing you wanted to ask me about at the beginning?" asks the Queen once again, in a more subdued tone, but with a bit of annoyance dripping out at having to repeat herself. After rebooting her mind and rewinding her memories, Twilight finally said: "Oh, yeah! I was going to ask, if it is okay, your... highness..?" "I allow it." "Why do you need to feed on emotions, love in particular, when it is clear that you can eat -and for the look of it, quite enjoy- regular food?" "That is a pony misconception. It is another changeling thing. One I think you would not understand, Princess Sparkle." "Hey, one of the reasons we're doing this is because I truly believe that by knowing each other better we can achieve what I promised you. So, try me!" Exuding new confidence, Twilight encouraged her to open up and share her knowledge. "Oh, and, by the way, if it pleased you, you can call me just Twilight." The Queen remained silent, deep in thought, thinking about what, how and how much she should reveal. By the time Chrysalis finished arranging her thoughts, Twilight had already teleported a quill, ink, and papers, to write down whatever knowledge the Queen intended to share with her. "Our hunger is not like yours," the Queen began. "When we speak about it we are not talking about a hunger of the body, but about the hunger of the essence. In that sense our hunger is more similar to the dragon's Wants. "In the same way a dragons feed their greed with a hoard of gems and other treasures to grow in size and power, we need to feed on love to live. "Yes, we can eat just as easy your pony food, your cakes and scones, fruits and vegetables, even mineral rocks. And before you ask," at this, Chrysalis retracted her lips. "These are not just for showing." At the sign of those teeth, those big, protruding and sharp fangs, something primal and deeply rooted in the pony's survival instincts made Twilight fold his ears back, shrink into his seat, tense some of her muscles, those evolved for a sudden and explosive gallop, make her want to put distance between the changeling and herself, and have her eyes give a quick gaze at the exit door, looking for an escape route. "But it doesn't matter how healthy or nutritious the food we eat is, it will never amount to the smallest fraction of what love can do for us. For us, Changelings, love it is not just life, it is a power like no other." "Then, why eat regular food at all? I mean, if you said you changelings can live of love alone. What purpose does it serve to the changelings eat regular food?" "Well, for starter, we need to eat food to be able to properly disguise ourself as any creature we wish to imitate. Would you not find extremely suspicious of an acquaintance, a friend or a lover that you never saw eat?" "I...guess," Twilight answered after considering this and similar scenarios. "Besides, while love can keep us alive and healthy, most of the time it is just more efficient to consume the necessary nutrients from an outside source to help our bodies grow and develop. "And finally, we changelings have a set of organs and glands, which function as storage chambers in which food goes through a process similar to fermentation, to produce all kinds of useful resins." At this, Chrysalis rise her left hoof and then added: "I believe you already saw me use one of them, healicus, to treat my wounds back there in the caves." Chrysalis pointed to a bump on her leg that could be considered a scar on her carapace. "If you wish, I can give you a live demonstration of another one." Chrysalis then open her maw and let out a dry retch. "NO! That won't be necessary!" Twilight intervened quickly, trying to keep her still fresh breakfast inside her stomach, wanting to avoid imitating the Changeling Queen and her ability to voluntarily regurgitate what she consumed. "What is the matter?" the Queen asked in a tone that made it impossible to know whether her apparent indignation was feigned or real. "In this respect, we changelings are very similar to bees, and you don't seem to have any problem consuming their honey." "Let's stop this conversation and continue it never." After breakfast, Twilight decides to take Chrysalis and give her a guided tour of her castle, passing through several dull rooms, lacking significance and identity, and very similar to each other. The Changeling Queen thought that not even in it's worst moments did her hive ever look so dreadfully liminal, whit it's only saving grace being the lancet two-toned green glass windows, even if they are not of the correct imperious changeling green color. "I saved the best for last," Twilight says after many samey rooms later, finally reaching a place that she seems too eager to show off. Twilight opens the doors and proudly presents the castle library. The interior was a huge open space, with the walls covered in books neatly arranged on bookcases. In the middle, there were large, round tables, with books resting on some of them. And creating intricate corridors around them, were dozens of shelves filled with hundreds, possibly thousands of books that varied in age, size, color and content. Chrysalis doesn't seem too impressed, but then her senses begin to detect something. Sticking her tongue out, much like snakes would, she taste the atmosphere, sensing love. It's the kind of love you feel for a friend, with a pinch of obsession and possessiveness, Stoge with a mix of Mania. Not the best kind of love, definitely not her favorite, but it was love she could eat, and this love came from the princess herself towards her book collection. "What do you think?" Twilight asked, referring to her library. "Not bad, but I've tasted better," Chrysalis honestly responded, after finishing chewing part of the aforementioned love. "You can look around and when you find a book you like, bring it here and we will read it together." While Twilight pick a book on advanced spell matrices and sits around one of the available tables, the Queen wanders around, looking at the many books arranged on the many labyrinthine shelves that made up the library, but not seeming interested in choosing any. After some time passed, Chrysalis finally took one book off the shelves, getting Twilight's attention. The Queen looks at it’s pages, and reads some of her paragraphs. From her place Twilight can hear her let out a nostalgic sigh, followed by some giggles and declaring: "So young, so innocent, so inexperienced," and then putting the book back in its place, and moving to another shelf. Driven by her curiosity, Twilight took advantage of Chrysalis entering into the fiction section and quickly moved to see which book the Queen had grabbed. 'The art of pretending', she read. This was a recent copy of the book, not even five years old, but the original work had been written centuries ago, even so this piece of literature was still considered a master class in current acting lessons. Twilight was confused. She could understand why the Queen would show interest in that book, with everything that came with being an unreformed changeling, but not why she would express herself about it in that way... until she read the name of her author: Chrys A. Lis. Before Twilight can properly settle her thoughts about this possible revelation of the existence of changeling literature within that of the ponies, she realizes that she has lost sight of Chrysalis and moves to look for her. When she locates her, she is curiously observing a board on a table, some wooden pieces scattered over its surface composed of light and dark squares. "What is that?" the Queen asks once she detects Twilight's presence. "That is an equestrian chess board," answer Twilight taking a didactic tone. "Chess is a very old strategy game of unknown origins. Some of the oldest records of it trace it to Coltcuta, but it is also known of its ancient existence in Neighpon and even Saddle Arabia." "I know what chess is!" the Queen interrupts, not wanting to receive a several-hour lecture on the matter. "What I want to know is, what do the pieces represent?" "Oh, well, these ones here are the Pawns, and are represented by Earth Ponies, powerful in numbers and the best for close approach. These are the Rooks, and Pegasuss take their place, fast and agile. These ones from here are the Advisers, called Vizier in Saddle Arabia, and are represented by the Unicorns, for long range tactics. The effigy of the royal guard is used for the Knight pieces. And finally, Princesses Celestia and Luna take the place of the King and Queen pieces, respectively." "I want to play," Chrysalis requested, taking over on Black's side. Go figure!, thinks Twilight, while also getting a bit surprised at hearing a somewhat childful glee coming out of the imposing Changeling Queen. Twilight takes her place and arranges her pieces, but before she can make her first move: "I will go first," demands Chrysalis. "The rules say that White goes first," Twilight says, regretting letting the ‘rules lawyer’ part of her act faster than she could think, believing that the Queen would become aggressive at sensing that her will was being challenged. Much to her surprise, Chrysalis's reaction is calm, almost playful: "Come on, Twilight! We are not in a tournament. We just want to have fun." "Okay," Twilight says, pleased, but taken aback by Chrysalis calling her by her name so casually. Chrysalis begins the game by advancing her Lunar Earth Pony two spaces. d5 "You know, Twilight, we changelings do also have our own version of Chess." Twilight's ears perk up, signaling that she was paying attention to the conversation, but her eyes don't move from the game board. Imitating the Queen's movement, she block the Lunar Earth Pony's advance with her own. d4 "For us, the place of the Pawns is occupied by what we call Drones." Lunar Advisers Earth Pony advance two squares. c5 The Queens Gambit? How fitting, Twilight thinks as she sees the Changeling Queen's opening move. Should I accept it or decline it? Twilight ponders, considering whether she should grant her a hoof of control over the center of the game board or challenge her for said control. Was there a deeper meaning to that movement? Was Chrysalis playing mind games with her? She had agreed not to use that type of magic, and a quick magical self-check indicated that that was still being the case; of course, Twilight knew that Chrysalis was among the most devious of creatures in the world and this could be nothing more than regular mind games. It could also be her acting extremely paranoid and there was nothing of the sort at play and this was just your everyday chess game; after all, The Queens Gambit was a pretty popular strategy do to how solid and effective it was. Taking a deep internal breath, calming his nerves, Twilight decides to take the Gambit. White Lunar Earth Pony take over Black Lunar Advisers Earth Pony square. d4c5 As she moves the pieces, Chrysalis continues explaining them. "The Rooks are the Scouts, to explore and find hunting grounds. "The Advisers, the Infiltrators, to mix with the population and gather love. "The Knights are our Warriors, to defeat our enemies. "And of course, I am the Queen, the strongest piece of them all," said Chrysalis with an arrogant grin. Twilight, unamused, does not need to be a changeling to feel the egocentrism and narcissism permeating the surroundings. More movements took place before Twilight realized something. The Queen had omitted to mention one last piece. "Your highness, what does the King represent for the Changelings?" she asked. Not getting an immediate response, Twilight looks up to see Chrysalis's face. It was quick, almost imperceptible, but Twilight could see that the Queen frowned and clenched her lips. This little reaction revealed that this detail made Chrysalis uncomfortable and she did not want to talk about it. Twilight remained silent, choosing not to press the issue, returning her attention to the game, but that nagging feeling never left her mind. What could the King's piece mean for the Changelings? It is true that the piece of the Queen is the most powerful piece on the board, but not the most important. So, who among the Changelings could it be? Who would Chrysalis allow to occupy a greater importance in the changeling hierarchy than her? Did the Changelings had a King in the past? Did Chrysalis have a consort? If that was the case, what could have happened to it? It turns out that Twilight could give herself the freedom to be distracted and preoccupied with these thoughts, since Chrysalis was not a very good player. The Queen managed to capture some of Twilight pieces early in the game, thanks to an 'aggressive queen' strategy; but after that, Chrysalis began to lose pieces rapidly in order to protect her queen. Maybe I overestimated Chrysalis and her opening moves were just a coincidence caused by her whims, Twilight mused, keeping any hint of disappointment in the challenge behind a mask of stoicism and concentration in the game. The Queen's face, on the other hoof, went from annoyed when she lost her first piece, to worried when she started losing more. She didn't even castle to protect her king. In fact, she hasn't moved the king at all. Maybe it is prohibited to move the king according to the changeling chess rules? And in a few more turns, and with the move of a Unicorn piece: "Checkmate." Twilight takes her gaze from the game board to look at Chrysalis. The Queen does not seem to be all there, looking at the board with a blank expression, similar to when one is overwhelmed by terrible news and is unable to process it. To Twilight it was an unsettling sight. At that point she would have gladly accepted the irate of the Queen, seeing her picking up the game board and trusting it against the walls in fury and frustration, launching some curses, accusing her of having won by cheating; she would have welcome anything just to get a diferent reaction from Chrysalis. Finally, Chrysalis lifted a hoof and slowly approached it to the piece with the effigy of Celestia, and with a light push, she knocked it down. "What does the king piece represent for the changelings?" giving a dry gulp, Twilight venture to ask once again. This time, she got her answer. "The hive." Chrysalis takes a deep, painful sigh and without saying another word, gets up and walks out of the library, her face still expressionless. Twilight follows her at a safe distance, not sure of what to do or if she should even do something to put her out of that trance-like state she seems to be. When she was about to gallop and catch up to her, Chrysalis had already locked herself in her room. "Chrysalis, your majesty, are you alright?" Of course she's not alright, she chides herself after knocking on the door. There was no answer. "Chrysalis, if you need something, I'll be... I'll be... If you need something, anything, just call and I will be here for you, okay?" Without getting a response, Twilight left. Twilight entered one of her many rooms that she had converted into a studio, closed the door behind her, let out a sigh, sat down behind the desk and taking out quill, ink, and papers from one of the drawers, she began to write. Dear Princess Celestia, How are things going with the island of Saint Ashtray the Gray? Hope everything goes well. I thank you for keeping me informed of the progress in the search for The Black Heart. In more important events to report, I am writing to inform you in detail of what has happened since our departure. As we assumed, Queen Chrysalis was already there when we arrived, and once it was impossible for her to maintain the deception, she ran in search of the artifact, and I followed her. We managed to enter the hidden fortress, where we engaged in running combat, and in a bit of a painful move, we ended up finding the throne room and apparent burial chamber of Saint Ashtray the Gray, where we also located the gem. In a sprint to be the first to grab it, a hidden trap was activated, causing the chamber to collapse and fall into an abyss. When I woke up, I had to face Queen Chrysalis once again. We were both exhausted and clearly very badly injured. In what I thought was a long shot, I made an attempt to reach up to her and extended a hoof to her as a sign of friendship; and with a well-detailed and explained argument, I postulated that she could enjoy a good life in peace with us, the only thing she would have to do is abandon her evil and wicked tendencies. She, of course, didn't believe me. Given her skepticism, I told her that she could try it, as long as she was willing to put an effort. She accepted my offer, but seems to think of it as some kind of challenge whose objective is to prove me wrong, however detrimental that may be to her. As such, I devised a plan of action that involved placing her in individual social interactions with me and the rest of my friends, here in Ponyville, where she is staying in the castle as my guest. But the situation may be much more complicated than imagined. Even though Queen Chrysalis has done nothing to actively sabotage the experience, our first day has been a roller coaster of discoveries and emotions, sadly ending in a, shall we say, gloomy mood. The culprit seems to be something I didn't consider at the time and now I have to find a way to deal with it. What do I mean? After the events that occurred in the Changeling Hive, it seems that Queen Chrysalis has been living alone in the wild, and this has caused her mental state to be affected. For this reason I am contacting you to ask for guidance, advice and help to properly deal with this situation, to not only help Queen Chrysalis to recover her mental health, but also to be able to make a friend out of her. Sincerely, your former student, Twilight Sparkle. P.S. As you may have already noticed, Princess, even though her status as queen has already been revoked, Queen Chrysalis has asked me to refer to her as such. Wishing to respect this part of her identity, I have agreed to this. I will inform the rest of the girls about this detail in order to avoid any inconvenience that would otherwise result from it. Twilight put the quill on its stand and read the letter, making sure it was ready and properly written before it was sent. She then remembered something very important and dipped the quill once more into the inkwell and wrote once more. P.S.2 I strongly suggest having a discussion with the Equestria Food and Medicine Administration regarding the Changeling Honey we are importing from Thorax's hive.