Disclaimer: My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic is owned by Hasbro, not me
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Uncomfortable as the silence streeched on, Twilight finally sighed. "Well... as you can imagine I didn't take that well..."
Just behind her, Chrysalis snorted. "That's putting it mildly..."
Celestia's own lips twitched somewhat. "Oh, I can imagine..."
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As she glared at the Changeling Queen, Twilight slammed a hoof down onto the concreate floor. "Princess Celestia would never order something like that!"
After she turned, Chrysalis stalked towards her. "She is your Princess! Of course she would because she makes the decisions! Especially for the soldiers!"
Twilight blinked a little at this. 'What?' After she shook her head, Twilight scowled. "Princess Celestia does not! Whoever was the commander there was the one who made the decision, not the Princess!"
Chrysalis then looked away with a sneer. "She is in command, and so she makes all the decisions."
Twilight grimaced as she continued to argue until she noticed that Chrysalis' wings are almost vibrating and she quietened. A moment later, she spoke in a soft, slow voice. "Can I ask you a question." While she glared at her, Chrysalis nodded. "You do realize that us ponies are individuals, right? We are independent of each other."
Chrysalis snorted a little. "While you are somewhat more individualistic and independent then Changelings, the Princess still has final say on most of decisions. Otherwise, you would have chaos. Like any other true society, you obey your leaders without question."
Twilight just shook her head. "But we don't... not always anyways. We have free will."
Chrysalis just rolled her eyes. "Ah yes, this 'Free Will' illusion that Ponies have." She then turned away. "It's all fake. Perhaps you even believe it..." She than looked over her shoulder with a slight glare. "But I do not. Your Princess is still the one making the major decisions in your life. You merely have control over the minor ones."
As she rolled her eyes, Twilight snorted a little. "And yet, for all your talk, I even saw a Changeling defending a Unicorn when you attacked Ponyville."
As she stiffened for a moment, Chrysalis twisted around and gave the lavender Unicorn a full glare. "She was obviously somehow subsumed by Celestia during the time she was cut off from the Hive."
Twilight raised an eyebrow at that last bit before suddenly buries her comeback as something occurred to her. "Cut off from the Hive... like you are?" Upon catching Chrysalis stiffen, she knew that she had hit the bullseye. "You can't feel them... can you."
The Changeling Queen grimaced for a moment before she looked away as she headed to her bed. "Of course I can. All I have to do is think and I can hear them."
She then laid down on her bed and grumbled signifying that this part of the conversation was over. After she laid her own head down, Twilight sighed as sleep would not come, all her resting from the past few days having caught up with her. Having closed her eyes for a moment, she opened them. "Chrysalis, can I ask you something?" Getting a grunt, she rolled her eyes but continued. "I figure that you haven't been feeding on me, so what have you been feeding on?"
Chrysalis was silent for a few moments before she answered. "About a half hour's trot from here there's a nesting ground. These lizard things eat plants unlike the others." She then shrugged, though it's unseen in the darkness. "While animals, they still give off enough love-like emotions to sustain me."
Twilight blinked a little at this before she nodded. "Huh. Interesting." Then a thought suddenly occurred to her. "So why don't you go there at night as well? And how many are there for you to feed off them? And how?"
Chrysalis looked toward the windows and shuddered. "We're in the territory of some kind of predator that comes here at night. Not as big as the other two from the tracks it leaves, but even when I try to find it from the windows, I can't ever see it, even when I can hear it or smell it." Twilight shuddered a little herself. "As for the nesting ground, these creatures are large enough and in enough numbers that the abivient feelings are enough for me to feed off. If an area has enough emotions, I can feed off it. It's simply not as... filling as it would direct from the source." Twilight nodded a little before she continued to make small talk with Chrysalis.
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And so the next few days went, whenever the two were together in the building they simply talk with an argument or two that broke out every so often. Finally, Twilight healed enough to regain some mobility. As she came in at noon as clouds gathered over the horizon, Chrysalis set some fruits on a table as she called out. "Twilight!"
As she hobbled in, Twilight grined. "Hello Chrysalis." Once she spotted the fruits, she licked her lips for a moment before she shook her head. "Right, thanks."
Having raised an eyebrow at the distracted tone, Chrysalis tilted her head to the side. "Something the matter?"
Twilight for her part shook her head before she became serious. "Yes and no. But the main thing is... I don't think that we're on the same planet as Equestria anymore."
That caused Chrysalis to raise her eyebrows. "Oh?"
Twilight nodded and gestured for her to follow her, which Chrysalis did. Soon after, they both stood before a doorway. "I went exploring a little and found this. The door was locked, but I gave it a good buck with my good leg-"
Chrysalis gave her a small glare as she interrupted her. "You shouldn't have done that. Who knows what damage you might have done."
As she rolled her eyes, Twilight just continued. "Anyways, got the door open and found this." Twilight gestured at the dark room. "At first I was going to leave, but then I tried the power switch for the light." She reached up to a light switch and flicked it before the room was bathed in light which revealed a conference room of some sort. At one end (and which caught Chrysalis' attention) was a large map depicting an entire world. "As you can see, even the shapes of the continents are somewhat wrong not to mention..."
Chrysalis gulped a little as she walked up to it. "Not to mention that the names of the countries are different..." As she shook her head, she gazeed across the rest of the room and comes to a stop at one point that had been hidden from the door. "What the hay..."
Beside her, Twilight nodded as she gestured at the skeletal remains of some strange creature. "That was my first reaction. Whatever that it, I think it was what built this place." Walking up, Chrysalis noted the disintigrating clothing on it as well as the fact that one arm was missing. Twilight just kept going on as she shook her head. "I've never seen anything like it except for pictures of monkeys from the far south of Equestria. Or maybe apes." She then snorted and shook her head again. "Or those 'Human' things that Lyra was always going on about-" She got interrupted as with a slight crack, Chrysalis ripped the skull off and began to examine it more closely. Twilight flinched a little at the blantent disrespect. "Uh, I don't think that you should be doing that..."
Rolling her eyes as she gazed into the empty sockets of the skull Chrysalis scoffs. "It's dead. Not like it's going to complain." While she ignored Twilight's protests, she played with the jaw a little. "Still wierd."
While she frowned, Twilight walked over to a filing cabinet and pulled out a plastic folder. "I also found these." After she opened one, she showed Chrysalis transparent sheets of plastic with various creatures and information on them. "These seem to be some kind of instructional materials."
Once she caught sight of two, Chrysalis couldn't help but widen her eyes. "Those are what chased us!"
As she looked at them, Twilight nodded. "Yeah, 'Tyrannosaurus Rex' and 'Spinosaurus'..." They spent so long looking over the sheets, that eventually night fell without them having noticed it. They only do once they headed back to "Their" room. After Twilight's about to lay down after eating her dinner, she noticed Chrysalis stiffen. "It's back?"
Chrysalis slowly nodded. "Yes. I can hear it stalking nearby." She then notices Twilight get up. "And where are you going?"
Twilight smirked a little before answering. "Going to find me a monster." She slowly headed out through the doorway of their room to one in the front of the building that had several large windows. Standing there as the night breezes caused the trees to shake, she noticed some moving wrongly. She turned to Chrysalis before she pointd to the nearby fusebox. "Since we have power, when I tell you flip every switch in there. We might have some outside lights."
Chrysalis just grined. "And we'll catch it." She then frowned a little. "Won't it attack though?"
Twilight slowly shook her head. "I don't believe so. Hasn't yet and you can be sure it likely knows that we're here." Waiting a moment for Chrysalis to get into position, she nodded as she turned her head away from the window. "Go."
Chrysalis pulled open the fuse box and began flipping one switch after another as the building's lights came one for the first time in years. About five down, she hit success as the floodlights outside came on. What it revealed shocked both Twilight and Chrysalis. Where before there had only been darkness and shadows of trees, is now a highly lighted forest... with a large shape colored the same as the darkened forest was. And, to both's surprise, it slowly faded away until it was no longer visible. "TURN IT OFF NOW!"
Fightened, Chrysalis did so and the shape returned as the rest of the forest was thrown back into shadow. "What is that thing!"
This time, it was the color and pattern of the trees and shurbs when lightened. The two Equestrians continued flipping the lights on and off in order to get a better picture of what it was that they were seeing. In Twilight's mind she starts piecing it together. It had a short, blunt head with two horns above the eyes while having arms that, if anything, looked shorter then the Rex's. And like the Rex, it stood on two piller like legs and was shaped similarly. Finally, a name from the info sheets came to Twilight's mind as her and Chrysalis slowly walked back into their little room, the sound growls coming from the line of trees outside. 'Carnotaurus...'
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As she stared at her Unicorn friend, Dash just shook her head. "Whoa. So you mean to tell me that besides those two big… dinosaur things, you had one right outside where you were staying that could turn invisible!?"
While she rolled her eyes, Chrysalis sighed. "It was there only at night."
To Chrysalis' side as she placed a mug of hot chocolate before her marefriend, Twilight nodded. "Besides which, it wasn’t invisibility. No magic on the island, remember? And if it was truly invisible, then the light trick we found wouldn’t have worked." She shrugged in thought. "I think it was something like a Chameleon."
Having shaken her own head, Applejack had to chuckle. "Well, gosh darn it, ain’t tha’ the strangest thin’?" She then gave Twilight a proud look before she reached up and tipped the brim of her hat toward her. "Twi, Ah gotta admit. Ah’d have been right scared all alone on that there island."
At the word "Alone" Twilight could feel Chrysalis stiffen a tiny bit before she handed her the hot chocolate, while she answered at the same time. "Well, it was a good thing that I wasn’t alone then." Unnoticed by all (outside Celestia and Luna), Twilight and Chrysalis shared a look as their thoughts drifted back to one night awhile after the discovery of who their nightly visitor had been…
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Having been startled awake, Chrysalis slowly looked around the still dark room. She blinked in the gloom created by the light from that strange moon which had been streaming in through the high window as she shivered in the warm night air as the dream… no, nightmare she just awoke from came back…
**************** Dream ***********************
As she trotted through the hive, a filly Chrysalis laughed as she listened to the chorus of wing beats around her as the warm humid air brushed past. While she closed her eyes, she sighed happily as she felt the comforting thoughts and emotions of the other Changelings as they flowed through her mind.
All of a sudden, all those thoughts were cut off as if there was a wall erected between her and them.
Gasping as her eyes opened, all Chrysalis could see around her was an empty hive. Where before an innumerable amount of wing beats and various forms of Changeling communication filled the air, now there was only silence outside of the filly’s breathing and hoofsteps. After she licked her dry lips, Chrysalis shouted into the emptiness. "He… HELLO!? ANYONE?!" But not even echoes returned her calls. Gulping, she started first walking, which became a trot before it turned into a full blown run. "WHERE ARE YOU!?" As she ran through the hives tunnels, she noticed that they slowly faded into darkness. Soon, she slowed as she stopped to catch her breath only to discover that the tunnels weren't just disappearing as she ran…
The darkness itself was slowly swallowing them as she stood there.
Soon, she was running again as all around her the world was seemingly devoured by the encroaching darkness. Phosphorescent moss blinked out as pitch blackness covered it. After several minutes, the now adult Chrysalis found her back literally to the wall as the shadows left no escape. "Please… no… go away… GO AWAY!" As she tried to scramble up the wall behind her, her eyes widen as she saw the same darkness eat away at it from above. "Please… not like this… I DON’T WANT TO BE ALONE!" Now as she was hyperventilating, the Changeling queen gives one last scream before being smothered the encroaching shadows…
****************** Dream End **********************
As she breathed heavily and laid there covered in perspiration, Chrysalis looked over at the still sleeping Twilight. ‘How… was she telling the truth? Do they truly not hear each other like Changelings…? Is that why she doesn't seem affected like I am...?’ Only the nights sounds on the outside and silence within her head answered her, once more bring the image of the dream back. ‘…no… GET OUT OF MY HEAD!’ A single tear made its way down her cheek as she quaked. "Why can’t I hear them…?"
Her head snapped up as another voice made itself known. "Are… you okay?"
Upon seeing the now awake Twilight who regarded her with some worry, Chrysalis furiously wiped at her eyes. "Of course I’m, okay! A bug flew into my eyes."
As she thought back to the lost expression she had seen on the Changeling’s face, her mind pieced it and what she had whispered together. A moment later she remembered the argument they had where Chrysalis admitted that her people had communicated telepathically. ‘And without magic…’
It suddenly all fitted together in Twilight’s mind with a mental click. She sighed as she tried to think about what to do when a voice echoed inside her head. ‘Why bother? Just leave her be, it’s what she wants after all.’
Twilight just mentally scowled. ‘I’m not about to let somepony suffer.’
She could almost hear the sneer in the voice as it spoke once more. ‘Why? It’s all that she deserves after all. She tried to destroy Shining’s and Cadence’s wedding. And she tried taking over Equestria!’ The sneer only became more pronounced with its next words. ‘Not to mention she tried to kill us… or have you forgotten that!?’
Twilight’s expression hardened as she heard another shuddering breath from Chrysalis. ‘Doesn’t matter.’
Despite her grimace, she started to get to her feet as the voice continued. ‘SHE WOULDN’T DO ANYTHING IF IT WAS US!’
Twilight mentally nodded. ‘Maybe you’re right about that.’ The image of Chrysalis shaking as a tear dripped from her eye flashed through Celestia’s student’s mind once more. ‘But maybe if I show her that not all ponies are like the ones who hurt her… maybe if I show her even a small kindness… maybe she’ll change.’ As she gave a small mental snort of amusement at the last word, Twilight finished climbing to her feet. ‘And trying never hurt anypony.’ Slowly she walked over to where Chrysalis was, upon having reached her, Twilight motioned with her head. "Move over."
Chrysalis just looked at her with a glare. "Why?"
Twilight licked her lips and gave a shaky grin. "Because I’m cold and I read that it’s a good idea to share body heat for survival purposes." As Chrysalis gave her an incredulous stare, a warm breeze drifted through the room as if it was mocking her. ‘Not helping…’ As she swallowed, Twilight gave a fake shiver. "Brrr… see? Cold?" Upon seeing Chrysalis about to open her mouth, Twilight cleared her throat while she looked away. "And besides… I saw you shiver as well…"
As she closed her mouth with a snap, Chrysalis blushed some as she, too, looked away. A moment later she shifted some to the side of the mattress of leaves as she cleared her own throat. "Yes, well… as you said, it is pretty chilly after all."
Twilight just nodded with a small smile. "Right." After she laid down beside the Changeling, Twilight’s somewhat surprised as Chrysalis pressed right up against her. While she glanced at the Changeling queen (who’s face is currently turned away from Twilight as if she was looking at a section of the wall as if it had some great piece of art on it), Twilight felt a slight twitching of her lips as she settled in. "Night."
As she watched as the Unicorn closed her eyes, Chrysalis couldn't help but sigh. "Good night." After she settled in herself, Chrysalis fell into the first nightmare free sleep she’s had since they first arrived on the island…