Many years have passed since Chrysalis, the Changeling Queen, set her hooves for the first time in Ponyville.
Many things have happened since then. Princesses Celestia and Luna officially step down as rulers of Equestria. Princess Twilight Sparkle fully ascended and took her place as the new ruler of the pony nation, moving to the Castle in Canterlot. The Castle of Friendship became property of Starlight Glimmer, who in turn became Principal of the School of Friendship, occupying it as dormitories for the students.
For her part, Queen Chrysalis rejected an offer from Twilight to build a house and settle in Ponyville, claiming that houses were a pony custom and that she wanted to live the way of the Changelings... minus the kidnapping of creatures to place them in pods and thus extract love from them.
She also never moved back to her old hive. She would visit them from time to time, but even when it was obvious that they would welcome her with open hooves, the Queen realized that she was no longer the one to rule them and she could never adapt to the new way of life of the colorful Changelings, too rooted in her old ways.
As such, Chrysalis spread her wings and flew to the Northwest, where she decided to build her own burrow -not yet a hive- in the forest area located between the Smokey Mountains and White Tail Woods. A space distant enough to keep herself away from unwanted meddling, but close enough from civilization, for when she wanted or needed to visit old acquaintances of hers and collect love or some other goods that she wishes to possess.
Digging it with her own hooves bring her back some memories, when she and her Changelings were a handful of nomadic creatures, far from having the numbers when they decided to settle in the 'Bad lands' and build their hive kingdom. Mind you, for her at that time she played more of the role of a supervisor and less of an actual worker drone. But if she had learned something from her time working with Applejack, it was that one should always be proud of one's work, especially if it was done with one's hoofs. And she felt proud.
Her new burrow was relatively small, but it would grow -oh, she had plans to make it grow. The main entrance was protected and hidden by a thick sheet of tree bark. The fragments of his old throne, even if less powerful than when they were a monolithic testament to her greatness, were scattered and hidden around the area, still functioning as a security measure to keep magical creatures away.
The first inner chamber was a kind of living room for when she received visitors (this one not getting much use lately), deeper in was the Queen's private chamber, equipped with a bed, a desk where there was an open notebook, a quill and an inkwell, and a bookcase where various books and a large collection of notebooks full of thoughts and ideas, plans and speeches that she had been writing over the years rested. The notebook that Starlight Glimmer gifted her was there, standing out from the rest for being the first and most ornate of all.
Hanging from one of the walls was a medal in the shape of a laureate golden sun, next to it a large commemorative crystal key, whose bow was in the shape of a heart. Around these esteems, there were some photos of the Queen accompanied by one or multiple of the creatures with whom she had established a relationship. One belonging to the party, where Chrysalis posed with all the guests, another showed her animatedly applauding the Changeling actors who bowed to the audience having finished a play. One at Princess Twilight's coronation ceremony, the only time she wore the dress Rarity gifted her. And many others from various moments in her subsequent life.
Leaving this chamber, hanging her worn out Stetson on a hanger on the wall, trading it for a queen size saddlebag custom made for Changelings, the Queen entered the most important chamber of them all, the nursery room, were her first clutch of eggs laid, the first of a new generation of unchanged Changelings, all of them ready to hatch in a couple of days.
Usually a Changeling nursery was cared for and guarded by at least two Changelings at all times, but the Queen had learned to manage. Walking slowly and carefully, so as not to disturb the bats on the ceiling and not to step on the spiders on the floor responsible for keeping the chamber clear of any pest, Chrysalis approached her eggs. Inside them, the mother could feel her larvae floating in the greenish substance that functioned as amniotic fluid for them.
Smiling proudly, proud of herself and proud of them, Chrysalis opened her jaw so wide as if she intended to eat them whole, an average pony would have fainted from shock at seeing how far those toothy jaws could separate from each other. But instead of introducing something into her mouth, a pinkish mist began to emerge from inside her, spreading it evenly over all of them, being quickly absorbed by the eggs. Inside, the larvae wriggle more energetically than before, feeling the rush of energy coming from mom's love.
"The time is approaching, my precious ones," the Queen cooed, caressing them. "With you at my side, I will raise a new Changeling empire."
"But first, Mommy has to take care of some unfinished business that she has been working on for a long, long time, so that you can be born into a world that we can truly call our own."
Leaving the nursery, Chrysalis entered her private chamber and with her magic moved an apparent giant stone embedded in the wall, revealing an access to a secret treasure chamber. Digging through its contents, she pulls out all kinds of objects and "treasures" that she had accumulated over the years, a curved, smooth, sharp at the tip and it gradients from dark gray to red 'stick', gems and various trinkets divided between those she had bought and some that she had obtained by less licit methods, until she reached what she had hidden in the deepest part due to its inconspicuousness: her Changelogs.
Taking one in particular, the one she had marked with the funniest face of all and therefore the least suspicious, Chrysalis uncorked it from its upper part and from its cavity she extracted something that she had kept hidden for years and eagerly placed it inside her saddlebag. Then, she headed to another chamber that functioned as a storeroom, to keep a well stock of lovepods that she had been collecting over the years.
The Queen took one and drank from it, throwing its empty remains on the floor, then she took another and with an animal-like craving she repeated the process until she emptied it. Chrysalis did this with several more of these, and in a few minutes she had consumed years of labor, the equivalent of all the love of a town, engorgening herself with enough love to quench the hunger of multiple dozen of Changelings for several days.
Greed and gluttony in chitin... but with a purpose.
Once she felt full of love, and the Changeling Queen knew she was full since for the second time in her life the voice of the hunger had been completely silenced, full of power to lift a mountain and reduce it to rubble, she left the now almost empty stockchamber, heading towards the burrow's exit.
The sun was already setting and the moon and stars were already taking their place in the night sky when Chrysalis emerged from her burrow. Taking a deep breath, she opened her elytra and spread her wings. Shaking them with great speed, the Changeling Queen began the flight in a Southwesterly direction, to the place where everything had started.
Hiding her presence in the darkness of the night, Chrysalis flies over the coasts of the San Palomino Desert, strong and cold air currents pierce and bite her through her chitin, but that unpleasant sensation does not deter the Changeling Queen from reaching her objective, and in a couple of minutes her eyes catch sight of her destination, a solitary landmass floating on the waters of the South Luna Ocean.
As she approaches it, her confident smile twists into an expression of confusion. The island of Saint Ashtray the Gray seems to shine with a pale white light, as if it perfectly reflected the light of the full moon.
Shaking her head, dispelling the strange illusion, and any concerns that this phenomenon causes her, the Queen hastily decides to continue her mission and put an end to her master plan that has been several years in the making.
Flying around on the slopes of the mountain, Chrysalis finally settles down after seeing what she was looking for: a pile of half-dead bushes that she knew hid an entrance to a tunnel that would give her access to the interior of the buried fortress.
Eager to enter the abandoned fortress once again, the Queen lights her horn and with it encases the dead bushes in green fire, reducing them to ashes in a matter of seconds.
Once the fire is extinguished, Chrysalis's brow furrows. Blocking access to the tunnel was a thick sheet of enchanted metal with the symbol of Celestia's sun stamped on it.
Of course they would do something like this, the Queen thought bitterly, pacing back and forth pondering what her next move should be.
Hitting it with her hoof, Chrysalis was able to roughly calculate the hardness of the enchanted metal and concluded that in its current state she could break through it, but this would not only take a long time, it would also consume a large chunk of her magical energy.
Before she weighed her options as to whether it would be more reliable to try to brute force her way in or to search for another way to gain access to the interior of the fortress, she heard a voice that filled her with dread.
"All access to the fortress has been similarly blocked and secured."
Turning quickly, Chrysalis saw the pony she least wanted to see at that moment emerge from a magical portal that appeared on the side of one of the trees that populate the area.
Tall, regal and purple, wearing a set of golden shoes, a breastplate and a crown with the symbol of a dark pink six-pointed star, with a tail and mane that shines like a starry sky, a numinous visual proof of her magical power, the ruling Princess of Equestria stands before her.
A thousand and one thoughts and ideas crossed the Queen's mind about what her next course of action should be.
Should I lie? No! There was no way she could spin her presence here in any way that would make her look innocent. If the creature in front of her was your average pony, perhaps, but the Princess of Friendship was quite a bit smarter than the average creature.
Should I fight? They were alone and Chrysalis was filled with enough love energy to put her on par or above her status when she defeated Celestia during the wedding, but she wasn't sure she could achieve a similar result with Twilight. What the Princess might lack in proper combat training, she easily made up for in raw magical power.
Before the Queen could decide to act in any way, Twilight had closed the distance between them and, to Chrysalis' bemusement, the purple Alicorn had caught her in a warm embrace.
"Chrysalis, I've missed you so much," Twilight told her.
"Personal space, Princess," was the only thing the Changeling Queen could say to break away from the physical contact, once she was able to regain her composure and process the ridiculousness of what was happening.
"I'm sorry," Twilight said apologetically, laughing good-naturedly. "I had forgotten that you are not that affectionate."
"I can be affectionate," Chrysalis defended herself. "I just prefer not to be touched."
"I remember now. But you'll have to excuse me, since I hadn't heard from you in years; I was beginning to fear that I wouldn't see you again."
"Well, here I am," Chrysalis said and immediately stiffened, regretting having said those words, since this would undoubtedly bring the discussion back to what she was doing here.
But instead of starting to question her about that situation -Why was she there, why had she returned to the island and why was she trying to enter the fortress of Saint Ashtray?-, Twilight simply and honestly smiled at her, as if those damnable questions hadn't crossed her mind.
"Come on, follow me," Twilight said in her place, and, opening her wings, she took flight.
Confused and nervous, Chrysalis took a few more seconds to think about what had happened and consider what to do. Twilight didn't seem to want to fight, so there was no point in it, not when there was apparently still the possibility of turning what happened into something more favorable, and escaping would accomplish nothing except confirm any suspicions Twilight might have and, consequently, make inevitable a fight that she would not be in a position and ability to win, not anymore.
Furious at the turn of events that disfavored her, the Changeling Queen spread her wings and followed the Pony Princess.
Twilight had flown to the top of the mountain and was now resting on the edge of a crater dug by ponies. What the view inside was like Chrysalis could not say, since it was also covered by a dome of the same enchanted metal as that in the tunnel, sporting and beaming an effigy of Celestia's sun to the sky.
Chrysalis descended to Twilight's side, but with enough space in between them to react if the situation turned dire... or worst, if the Princess felt like hugging her once again.
"They're beautiful, don't you think?" After a few seconds of awkward silence, Twilight finally asked Chrysalis.
"What?" the Queen asked eloquently, Twilight's seemingly incongruous question having brought her out of her worrying musings, bringing her some peace and calm in the process.
"The stars," the Princess clarified, all her attention concentrated on the night sky, continuing to ignore the situation, as if she wanted to avoid the conflict that should have broken out the moment they saw each other on the slopes of the mountain, irritating Chrysalis to no end, trapped in a position where she wanted to see the conclusion of this, but at the same time didn't. "Don't you think they're beautiful?"
Swallowing her bile, the Changeling Queen looked away from the Pony Princess and looked up, for the first time that night noticing the full moon surrounded by stars that sparkled and glittered in the night sky.
"Yes, they are," Chrysalis replied calmly, having seen a pair of shooting stars cross from one side of the dark blue celestial vault only to disappear on the other, as if the stunning sight had relaxing properties and finally had affected her. She also remembered that Twilight, even before rising to the top echelon of pony government, had been, and probably still was, an avid astronomer, who on quite a few occasions had invited her and the rest of her friends to stargaze.
Well, here goes nothing, Chrysalis thought after another interval of peace and relaxation, 'the calm before the storm' she considered it, returning to her original concerns, having concluded that, if Twilight had no intention of moving the pieces on the board and start the game, she would.
"Tell me, Twilight, do you trust me?" Chrysalis asked, a hint of trickery having colored her words.
"Of course I do," Twilight replied, her smile widening, acting completely obtuse and unconcerned with the fact that one of Chrysalis' hoofs was slowly moving into the pocket of her saddlebag.
"Let me rephrase the question," begin the Queen, with a more serious and menacing tone. "Would you trust me with your life?"
"That is a loaded question," said the Princess, taking a hoof to her chin, finally giving it the gravitas that was required to answer such an important question.
She remembered that after the party, Chrysalis became someone she could easily consider a friend, but someone she could trust with her life? Chrysalis did not always lend herself to participate in the many occasions in which Equestria was in danger and she and the rest of the gang were called to defend it, but in all the ones in which the Changeling Queen did get involved (even if she did not always seemed to participate in high spirit) Chrysalis was always of great importance, both for the perspective she brought to the mission, helping to anticipate the movements of the big bad evil guy of the season, and for her Changeling skill set, although her methods were constantly morally questionable and on more than one occasion scratched the definition of criminal. She still remembered how Chrysalis had disguised herself as Cadence and faced a resurrected Sombra, allowing the real Cadence and Shining Armor to recover the last pieces of Queen Amore to bring her back and banish the dark tyrant forever; A feat that ultimately earned her the gratitude and friendship of the royal couple, the recognition among the Crystal Ponies, and even being chosen as Flurry Heart's godmother. In all truth, Chrysalis never gave her reason to doubt her.
"Yes, I would trust you with my life," Twilight responds with conviction and confidence.
"In that case..." said the Queen, with a toothy an expectant grin, taking her hoof out of her saddlebag, ready to show its content. "You wouldn't care if I kept the…"
"'The Black Heart'?" finished Twilight for Chrysalis, without taking her gaze off the night sky. Getting no reply or hearing any sound coming from the Queen, the Princess looked at her direction, with just a hint of worry that something bad might have happened to Chrysalis and that was the reason for her lack of response.
To her relief, there she was, her eyes wide open and her mouth agape, and in her left hoof holding the dark gem. Twilight giggle lightly at the Queen's expression and, once it was obvious that she had nothing to worry about Chrysalis' state, she turned back to look at the stars in the sky.
"You... You knew that I had it?" the Queen asks once freed from her initial shock, but still stunned by the sudden and frankly unexpected revelation.
"I suspected it," the Princess calmly replied, playfully stamping her front legs on the ground to the rhythm of a song.
"Since when?" Chrysalis demanded.
"Since almost the beginning. You know, it wasn't hard to guess, even if it wasn't obvious at first. The day we left the ruins, I sent a letter to Princess Celestia and the first thing she did was send an entire battalion of the royal guard with the sole purpose of securing the island and searching for 'The Black Heart'. Since then we kept in touch daily, informing me of the progress they had exploring the island, and I, about your stay in Ponyville, with us. After a couple of weeks of searching, the Princess informed me that they had not found the gem, believing that it must have fallen into the abyss.
"I was ready to agree with that assessment, but then Spike came to me, telling me what he had heard you say, and I began to connect some dots, filling in the blank spaces. I remembered that when we fell from the chamber in which it was originally located, we did so on a plain, far from an edge near a deep trench, reducing the possibility of that idea; then I also recalled your strange behavior, how you run after crushing a skull; and the precautions you took when we were leaving, and finally I imagine what could have happened. The body, no other remains of creatures that we found down there were on the plain, so it had to have fallen with us, ergo: the skull that you stepped on was that of Saint Ashtray. When you crushed it, 'The Black Heart' had embedded itself in your hoof, but if you pulled it out into view, you knew that a fight would be imminent, so, feigning a panic attack, you ran away from the light, where you were able to free your hoof of the skull and hide the gem under your elytra, which could explain the following odd thing, later, when I leaned next to you, I had originally thought that you were arranging your damaged wing in a more comfortable position, but what you actually did was change the gem's location, right? Very clever of you, really."
"And you didn't say anything about it?" Ask Chrysalis, surprised by this turn of events, 'The Black Heart' still secure in her hoof.
Twilight took a deep breath to collect her thoughts and mirthlessly said, "Do you remember the first time I accused you of something without any evidence in my favor?"
"Do you mean the wedding?" said the Queen humorlessly; All those years and the memory of that damned event still seems to haunt her.
"Yes. Nobody believed me, they all ended up hating me and that was almost enough to allow you to take over Canterlot."
"I think this time everyone would have believed you if you had told them that I was in possession of 'The Black Heart'," the Queen replied.
"Perhaps, perhaps." Twilight shrugs. "At least, I thought that would be the case.
"But then I thought that if I did it, no matter what happened, the inevitable outcome would be that we would become enemies again. And that's just what I really wanted to avoid.
"I thought about it some more and concluded that the only way to break that cycle of antagonism between us would be to trust you. That regardless if you had it, you would not use it for anything evil. After all, how could I ask you to trust us if I didn't first show you that you could trust us?
"I promised you that you will have the love to live among us. Love and trust go from hoof to hoof. If I give you one but not the other, then I wouldn't be giving you what I promised you that day.
"So I trusted you, I trusted that you would see an opportunity to live in peace and harmony and choose to take it, over the chance to try to conquer the world."
"And now that you know that I have it... what will you do?"
"The same thing I've been doing since the day I approached you. I will continue to trust you to do what is right for yourself."
Chrysalis listened to Twilight, and by the time the Princess had finished speaking, the Queen was speechless.
Looking again at 'The Black Heart', still firmly held in her hoof, beyond her reflection in the dark gem, the Queen could see promises of unimaginable power, the possibility of one day being alone on top of the world, with no one able to oppose her. Everything she once coveted. The kind of day of which I've dreamed since I was small.
But spinning it a little, almost accidentally, a light shone on it, and in that halo of light that surrounded the gem, Chrysalis was able to see the faces and shared memories of all those who trusted her first of all. The young and Friendly Twilight, the Kind Fluttershy, the Loyal Rainbow Dash, the Generous Rarity, the Trustworthy Applejack, the Considerate Thorax, the Unyielding Pharynx, the Brave Spike, the Wise Celestia, the Inspiring Luna, the Confident Starlight and the Cheerful Pinkie Pie; all of them and those who followed them and those who offered their love and unconditional friendship to live.
A thousand and one thoughts came to her like an avalanche, seeking to crush her, shaking her, not granting her firm ground on which to decide, to determine what she should do. Inside she felt trapped in between two giants fighting to claim possession over her; a maelstrom of emotions and feelings, both old and new at the same time, those that had been with her for centuries and screamed at her about retribution and conquest, and those that she had recently rediscovered, that whispered to her about peace and a fresh start.
We will gain more power than we have ever dreamed of! The Queen heard a voice -her own voice- full of greed and desire telling her.
Then she felt a pang inside her.
We already gain the power to make our dreams come true. Chrysalis heard her voice again, but this time it sounded kind and friendly.
I will have my revenge! Boiling rage.
Another pang.
We have made friends from foes, let's be free of harmful grudges. Peaceful and mellow.
Friendship is like a disease! Fury and malice.
And another one.
Friendship is magic! Jubilant and cheerful.
Chrysalis was panting hard and sweating profusely. Whatever she had just experienced had taken its toll on her. She then looked in Twilight's direction, who was looking at her with concern and a sense of expectation.
"You can open this hatch?" The Queen asked, regaining her composure, with a tone that did not give away her thoughts and intentions, only that she had already decided.
"...Yes," the Princess responded after a pause that was neither too long, as to seem like it carried doubt, nor too short, as to seem like it was taken without consideration, and immediately her horn illuminated with a dark magenta glow; seconds later, the effigy of Celestia's Sun shone with white light and then disappeared.
The ground around them shook as the metal plates screeched as they opened. After a loud, metallic *Thump*, the tremors stopped.
A stream of stale air flowed from inside, impregnating the atmosphere around them with its warm and humid presence.
Chrysalis stood tall and looked at the unfathomable darkness that lay there. Her Changeling eyes allowed her to see more clearly deeper into that entrance, but not even she was able to see the end of what lay down below.
Twilight stood in her place, expectant for what the Queen was going to do.
Lifting the hoof in which she was holding 'The Black Heart', Chrysalis threw it forcefully back into the darkness where it belonged.
There were no screams nor tears. Any sense of regret on the part of the Queen shrank until it disappeared in the same way that the gem did within the dark pit, replaced by a sense of lightness in her own heart and that quickly spread over her entire body.
Chrysalis took a deep breath and looked at Twilight. The Princess of Friendship was pleasantly surprised.
Understanding what was left to do, they both spread their wings.
Seconds later two specks that shone with the moonlight could be seen flying overhead and away from that island, heading back to Equestria.
Looking to the side, Twilight glanced at Chrysalis, who seemed to keep surprising her with her actions.
"You're smiling!" The Pony Princess proclaimed when she saw the Changeling Queen wearing the most honest and non-villainous smile she had seen on her to date.
"What?" Chrysalis responded and then looked forward and down, for the first time aware of that strange but pleasant muscle contraction in her muzzle. "No, I'm not smiling," she rebut, her smile growing wider.
"Then what's with that smile of yours? Explain it yourself!"
"I am not smiling, I am just... frowning less intensely."
"Fine, have it your way. You know, for the longest time I thought of you as someone stuck up and scary. But I guess I was wrong and you can also be a big softie! And I'm glad to have known you."
"No, I'm telling you, I'm nothing like that. You've got the wrong idea entirely."
"Ugh! You are the worst at accepting compliments, you know that?" Groan Twilight in good and playful manner.
"I wouldn't be me if it were any other way, wouldn't I?"
"No, I guess you wouldn't be."
"Twilight," Chrysalis called to her companion -no, now there was a better term, 'Friend', that was the right one; Chrysalis called to her friend. "Would you like to come to my place?"
"Oh! Are you finally going to let me know where you live?"
"Yes. But don't get your hopes up, it's still far from being a palace worthy of a Queen like myself."
"Don't worry. If it's not too much to ask, what brought this decision?"
"I just want to introduce you to someones."
"I'll be glad!"
In the background, the island of Saint Ashtray began to fade and crumble, and slowly it completely vanished without leaving a trace of its existence.