//------------------------------// // 50: Blood on the Carpet // Story: Death of a Queen, V2. // by Arkane12 //------------------------------// Twilight weaved through the crowd of cooks and servants. Given the general chaos of the staff, she guessed it must have been getting close to the dinner rush. She tried to keep to herself as much as possible as she wormed her way over to the sink. With a sigh of relief, she added her dirtied dishes to the stack.  “Princess Twilight?” A stallion asked. Judging by his uniform, he must have been one of the cooks. Possibly the head chef. “What are you doing down here, Princess?”  “Me? Oh, just returning a couple of dishes from a late lunch.”  The chef eyed the pile behind her. “Right. Thanks. Things have been a bit hectic around here with all the new staff. We’ve had more than our fair share of spills around here.”  “I noticed.” Twilight glanced around. She didn’t recognize most of the ponies around her. ”Why so many new hires?”  The chef sighed. “Staff’s been dropping like flies. We’ve had to lower our standards a bit just to fill the spots. If you ask me–” His gaze shifted behind Twilight. He started shouting orders at a confused-looking pony. “Sorry about that, Princess. You were saying?”  “No worries, Chef.” Twilight looked around the kitchen. “Did something happen? Why are we so short-staffed?” The busy chef slowed, suddenly fidgeting as he tried to wave her off. “Well . . . it’s nothing to be concerned about, Princess. I’m taking care of it. These kitchens will only close over my dead body.” “I’m sure you can handle it, Chef.” Twilight narrowed her eyes. “Still, I’m sure us princesses would be more than happy to help. Just tell me what the problem is and I’ll see what I can do.” The chef hesitated, clearly uncomfortable to say it out loud. Still, Twilight waited patiently, showing no signs of backing off. Eventually, the poor worker understood. “It’s to do with our . . . guest, Your Highness.” A dish dropped and shattered, causing the chef to turn just in time to miss Twilight flinch at his words. “Many ponies simply don’t feel comfortable in the castle right now.” He hastily added, “But like I said, it’s being taken care of, Princess. No need for you to worry.” “Right,” Twilight said. “Well, I wish you the best of luck with that, Chef. You look pretty busy, so I guess I’ll go ahead and get out of your way.” She stepped aside, allowing the chef an open path.  He nodded as he passed. “You don’t know half of it.”  “If you need any help . . .” Twilight trailed off as the chef stormed off to berate a younger worker. She sighed and shook her head. With her conversation cut short, Twilight started to make her way back toward the door. But before she left, she spent a little time watching the chaos. It became clear pretty quickly which ponies were new. The experienced crew swept through the kitchen like dancers, balancing heavy pots and pans as they went about their daily routine. The fresh faces were having trouble keeping up.  But the longer she watched, the more she realized they had another tell. Anyone who had worked for the crown long enough had a tendency to grow a little numb to the princess’ presence. They were by no means rude or informal, but didn’t have those same terrified expressions whenever they stood in the presence of an alicorn. And in this room in particular, plenty of those terrified faces caught her eye. Deciding it best not to cause any more trouble for the overworked staff, Twilight slipped out, nearly crashing into Thorax in the process.  “Thorax?” she cried, catching the changeling’s shoulder to keep him upright.  “Twilight?” He blinked a few times. “Where have you been? I’ve been looking for you. We need to talk.”  “Sure thing. Can you walk and talk?” She motioned for him to walk beside her.  “Y-Yeah,” he said. Twilight couldn’t help but notice his stutter. He seemed on edge. Nervous, maybe even afraid. She couldn’t blame him for that, given recent events. “Have you seen Chrysalis?”  “Yeah. I was just upstairs with her. What’s the matter?”  “I couldn’t find her earlier. I tried her room, but that was a bust. I tried asking a few of the guards, but they didn’t know where she was either.”  “We’ve moved her to a new room.” Twilight stopped. “Thorax, is everything okay?”  “No. Not remotely.” He tugged at one of his antlers. “We’ve been back only a few hours now and apparently everything’s gone to Tartarus in the meantime.” His breathing grew ragged.  “Calm down, Thorax. Here, watch.” Twilight raised her hoof to her chest and drew in a deep breath. Slowly, she straightened her foreleg and exhaled softly. Thorax mimicked her, calming slightly in the process. “There. Now, slow down and tell me what’s going on.”  “One of my changelings was attacked,” he said matter-of-factly. Twilight nodded. “I heard. How are they doing?”  “They got roughed up in an alleyway. A pretty brutal beating.” Twilight flinched at the description, and Thorax must have noticed, quickly adding, “Luckily, changelings are built to take a hit. He will be just fine.”  “Still, that sounds serious. It could have been much worse.”  “Yeah, that’s the problem.” He craned his neck to look toward the ceiling. “We can’t leave the castle. Luna’s forbidden it.”  “You too, huh?” Twilight asked.  “I mean, even if she hadn’t it’s not like we could go out anyways. But that leaves us with a big problem.” Thorax stopped their procession this time. “We can’t feed, Twilight. And if we can’t find a way to feed . . .”  “Have you brought this up with Luna? She might be able to help?”  “No. I don’t see a way she could possibly help, short of ordering the castle staff to let us feed on them.” His hoof scraped nervously at the tile. “Pharynx suggested we might be able to sneak out and gather love, like we did when Chrysalis was in charge. But I would prefer we keep that as a last resort.”  Twilight bit her lip. “How much time do you have before you have to feed again?”  “The next few days, probably. I wanted to ask if you had any other ideas.”  “We shouldn’t talk about this here. Let’s head up to my room, and discuss things privately.” Twilight took the lead, guiding Thorax up to the Princess’ personal chambers. Out of the corner of her eye, Twilight could see her companion staring at Chrysalis’ old door.  “Alright.” Twilight opened the door to her room and let him inside before following. She made sure to close and lock the door behind her.  “So . . .” Thorax plopped down on the floor in the middle of the room. “Do you have any ideas? We’re kind of desperate at this point, so anything you can think of would be greatly appreciated.”  “I don’t know if I’m going to be much help,” Twilight warned, drawing over a chair from the fireplace for Thorax to sit in. “I have very limited knowledge on Changelings as a whole, let alone feeding habits.”  Thorax leaned back in his chair. “I was worried you might say that.” He slammed his hoof down on the chair arm. “Dammit. I guess we don’t have a choice then.”  “Pharynx’s plan?” Twilight asked.  The changeling king shook his head. “No. I refuse to allow that. That makes us no different from how we used to be.” He cast his gaze out the window, letting the sound of the wind outside fill the room for a while.  “Then what are you planning?” Twilight asked.  Thorax groaned. “We’ll just have to head back home.” Twilight raised an eyebrow. “Are you sure that’s a good idea?” “Got any better ideas?” Thorax asked with a frown.  “If I think of something, I’ll let you know, Thorax.” It was a hollow promise. They both knew that.  “You know, I wonder sometimes . . .” he said. “Was I wrong?”  “About what?” Twilight crooked her head to the side.  “All of this. About breaking away from Chrysalis. About trying to find a new start for the changeling race. About thinking we could be anything but monsters in the eyes of the world.” He chuckled morosely. “I’m starting to sound like her, aren’t I?”  “And that worries me greatly,” Twilight said.  “Despite everything, I can’t say I regret overthrowing Chrysalis.” His shoulders slumped. “I just wish I hadn’t pulled the rest of my kind in after me. That in the pursuit of living a moral life, I’ve doomed my race to extinction. Sounds about right, doesn’t it?”  With a huff, Twilight rose from her seat and stood behind Thorax. She ran her hooves over his shoulders. “You didn’t doom your race.”  “We’ll see about that,” he said, putting his hoof over Twilight’s. “Do you think this is what Chrysalis was afraid of? Do you think she knew this would happen? She said we’d start to rely on ponies, that we’d lose our independence. I don’t know about you, but I feel pretty powerless right now.”  “What do you want me to say, Thorax?” Twilight rested her head between his antlers. “I didn’t want this. It’s infuriating. I’ve spent so long trying to teach everypony about the magic of friendship, but now it seems like I’ve just been wasting my time. I never would have thought it would come to this.”  “Neither did I,” Thorax whispered.  “For what it’s worth,” Twilight tugged on Thorax’s antlers, forcing him to look up at her. “I think Chrysalis would be proud of you.”  “I’m not sure she’s ever been proud of anypony, ever,” Thorax joked.  “I don’t know. These past few days, I’ve gotten to know her a bit better. Don’t get me wrong, she’d never tell you that she’s proud of you, but deep down, I think she is.”  “Maybe.” Thorax stared into Twilight’s eyes. “How’s she been?”  “Better, I think.”  “And have the two of you . . . gotten things figured out?”  Suddenly, Twilight had the urge to look anywhere except at the changeling. “Y-yeah . . . I think so.”  Thorax nodded slowly. “I see.”  “Is there something wrong with that?” Twilight asked, stepping back and biting her lip.  “Possibly.” He sighed. “Listen to me, Twilight. I . . . I can’t think of a better way to do things, but . . . I think it’s best if we take Chrysalis home with us. Back to our hive.”  “No!” Twilight shook her head vigorously.  “I know it’s not what you want to hear, Twilight, but I think it needs to be done. You and Luna already have your hooves full trying to help Celestia and keep Equestria from falling apart. Chrysalis being here isn’t making either of those any easier. On top of that, if I leave, she has no way of feeding.” His tone became hushed. Even he didn’t want to hear his excuses. “You saw her wounds. I know she acts tough, but she’s in bad shape. She’ll need to feed soon, too.”  “We’ll find another way.”  “There is no other way, Twilight.” Thorax rocketed up out of his seat. “You said it yourself.”  “I said we’ll find another way, Thorax.” Twilight could feel her muscles growing tense.  “I know you don’t want to do this, Twilight. I don’t want to separate the two of you, either. But it’s what’s best for her.”  “That isn’t your decision to make.”  “Then whose is it?” Thorax flailed angrily as he spoke. “Chrysalis? She doesn’t know what’s best for her. She’s shown that quite clearly. Or maybe you think it’s your decision? Are you really willing to make such a selfish choice that you’ll make Chrysalis suffer just so you can keep her here?”  His sharp tongue made Twilight recoil. Upon realizing what he’d done, Thorax backed away, lowering his volume and refusing to meet Twilight’s eyes.  “I’m sorry,” he said. “I just—” “No. I . . .” Twilight hung her head. “I know what you meant. And you’re right. I don’t want to let her go. Maybe that’s selfish.”  “Twilight . . .” “But she’s no better off with you, Thorax. She would be trapped in a hive that hates her.” She shook her head. “That’s no way for her to live, either.”  “Yeah.”  Both of them took a deep breath and collapsed back into their seats.  “This is all my fault, Twilight.”  Twilight waved him off. “It’s not your fault, Thorax. It’s just a long string of bad luck. There was no way you could have foreseen any of this. I don’t blame you. Luna doesn’t blame you. No one’s blaming you.”  “I am,” he muttered. “Yeah, well knock it off,” Twilight shot back with a huff. “You’re a good king. You’ve done all you can to help keep your subjects safe and sound. That’s all anypony could ask of you.”  “You know, it’s kind of funny . . .” He slunk down into his chair, half a smile on his face. “I spent so long trying to find a way to do better, to be better than when we were when Chrysalis ruled us.”  “That’s a noble goal.”  “Maybe. Don’t get me wrong, we weren’t always happy with her, and we didn’t always go to bed with a full belly . . . but we had a leader who knew how to survive. I used to feel so sick listening to the way she plotted and schemed. But now that I’m in her shoes, I think I finally understand.”  “You don’t trust yourself to save your subjects?” Twilight asked, raising an eyebrow.  “I think that . . . if our survival comes down to making tough choices, if we have to start sacrificing ourselves just so the rest of our kind can live . . . we’ll be no better than we were before. Except this time, we don’t have a leader that can make those choices.”  “You’re being too hard on yourself, Thorax. You’re doing the best you can.” Twilight tried to comfort him with a warm smile, but he didn’t notice. “So, you’ve decided for sure that you’re leaving?”  “Yeah.” He closed his eyes. “Now there’s just the matter of Chrysalis. You’re right. She can’t come back with us. But I don’t know if she can stay here, either.”  “You can leave that to me and her. We’ll figure something out, Thorax. I promise.”  “I know.” He hesitated. “I know.”  “What’s your plan?”  “I’ve told my changelings to be ready to leave during the night. I’d like to say goodbye to Chrysalis one last time before I go. Do you know where she is?”  “Yeah. I moved her into her new room today. I was going to head back down there in a little while. I was just waiting for her to get settled in. You can go with me, if you want.”  “Sounds good. Lead the way.”  The two of them departed from Twilight’s room. It felt strange to her, walking through these empty hallways. For as long as she could remember, there had always been guards watching over her. Now, even with Thorax beside her, she felt alone listening to her hoofsteps click on the marble floor.  “Uhh . . . Twilight?” Thorax froze. The alarm in his voice made Twilight uneasy. “Is that blood?”  Twilight’s gaze followed his outstretched hoof. Sure enough, strewn across the carpet were dark red splatters of blood forming a trail. One end trended toward the lower levels. The other routed towards Chrysalis’ room. “Thorax, get to Princess Luna’s room. Find her Lunar Guard. Tell them something’s happened and to get down here as quickly as possible.” The changeling king stood rooted to the spot. Twilight snapped him back to reality with a quick nudge from her wing. “Go!”  “Lunar Guard. Right.” He turned and galloped back the way they’d come from.  Meanwhile, Twilight followed the blood down towards Chrysalis’ room. The closer she got, the more blood guided her way. Her heart raced. The chaotic whirlwind in her head wouldn’t slow enough to let a single thought pass through. Only one thing mattered. She had to find Chrysalis.  She didn’t slow as she neared the room, preferring instead to barrel through the door at full speed. Her shoulder stung, but the pain didn’t register enough to hinder her. She found Chrysalis lying still on the floor, her eye closed. Without a second thought of a trap or ambush, she rushed to her partner’s side and knelt.  “Chrysalis? Chrysalis, say something. Come on!” Twilight held Chrysalis’ head off the floor, cradling it in her lap. The unconscious changeling’s breaths arrived in short, insufficient gasps.  “Chrysalis, it’s Twilight. I’ve got you. You’re going to be okay.”  “T-T-Twi?” Chrysalis muttered between rasping breaths.  That syllable overwhelmed the shock in Twilight’s system. She hadn’t realized she was crying until she saw the tears splashing on Chrysalis’ cheek. “I’m here, Chryssy. Hold on, Thorax is going to get help.”  “T . . .”  “Don’t try to speak. Please. Just save your strength.” She glanced around the room in a panic, trying to piece together what could have caused this, or what might help her fix it. But her mind was in a tizzy. Her thoughts arrived in pieces, undecipherable and unhelpful. “I’ve got you, Chrysalis. I’m here. Don’t worry, I’m going to fix this.”  Her voice cracked halfway through the lie. It was a lie. She didn’t have a clue how to fix this. Her chest tightened, her tears poured quicker. The world around her faded away into nothingness. Just like a nightmare. Her breathing quickened until she was seeing spots.   Her voice echoed through the empty hallways.  “Somepony help me!” Nothing. “Anypony? Please!”  Still nothing. “Thorax? Where are you?”  No response. “Help!”  Silence. She kept screaming until her voice finally gave out.