//------------------------------// // Chapter Six: Forsaken // Story: The Redemption of Chrysalis // by Fallen Prime //------------------------------// Chicane could barely mask his joy when he finally heard a crack in the barrier where his body collided with it. He had a perfect view of the throne room in which the wedding ceremony was being held from this angle, and he’d watched his glorious leader drop her disguise in a brilliant display as she gave the order to attack the weakened force field. Once he’d started, he immediately complained that magic should not be this solid. Naturally, that just made the cracking that much more satisfying. He paused just long enough to watch Queen Chrysalis overcome that pony princess with the energy she sapped from the groom. If anyone tried to doubt her perfection, he’d forever use that one moment as his counter-argument. He wouldn’t even need anything else. Then he saw six mares gallop out of the room. Had the field not been protecting them, they would have been open targets. The other changelings doubled their efforts, cracking the magenta bubble even more. Soon there were cracks across the entire surface of the barrier, but it still held. Chicane heard several suggestions that they should coordinate and synchronize their tackles. Hopefully, the force of every changeling attacking at once would be enough to shatter it completely. He and the others complied, backing away from the bubble and encircling it from a short distance. The countdown started. Three. Two. One. Chicane would never have guessed that magic sounded like glass when it broke. The top collapsed first, the fractures and shards spreading further down the shield until the city below lay completely vulnerable. At once, the changelings dove. The rest of the ordeal went by like a blur, and Chicane was too driven by adrenaline to register much of it. There was a giant brawl with the six mares, a fleeting moment by his queen’s side, and some of the best eating he’d done in ages. Queen Chrysalis was truly a genius, bringing her subjects to an all-you-can-eat love buffet. The next thing he knew, he was flying. Very fast. And very far. Entirely against his will. For a split second, he could look back down at Canterlot and see a fresh new force field, which must have expanded outward from the throne room and shoved the changelings right out of the city. The barrier faded from sight before the city itself did. All he could see for a time was sky. He had every right to just recover and fly back to the safety of the hive, but he was moving too fast and in far too much shock to right himself. A realization suddenly dawned on him, and it dawned on a few others at the same time. He was absolutely going to die. Blast through the sky, smash into solid ground, and die. His head was filled with panicked screams. He tried his best to block them out, but there were too many. As much as he disliked the hive mind, he never truly hated it more than he did now. It wasn’t enough that he’d probably be splattered across several miles at any moment. He would have to go out hearing his fellow changelings’ terror and agony, powerless to stop the unbearable pain the noise caused him. It would probably tear his skull apart before the earth below ever got the chance. Eventually, he dropped low enough to see the ground speeding by underneath him. There seemed to be a lot of desert in Equestria. The sand would probably be the softest thing he’d ever broken anything on. He’d be lucky to even get away with that much; at this speed, he doubted it would cushion his fall enough for him to be able to walk away from it. As the shrieks of his fellow changelings started abruptly cutting short, Chicane watched the ground come closer. He thought he could see an orchard in the distance, far enough away to make it difficult to identify the kind of trees but close enough that he’d probably collide with any number of them before the desert floor had its way with him. His last thought before darkness overtook him was that the infallible Queen Chrysalis was wrong. Horribly, catastrophically wrong. Pain. Immediately after regaining consciousness, the first thing to register was the pain. The next thing to register was the deafening silence. Chicane awoke, jolting upright with a bloodcurdling scream. It started out of terror and despair generated by the sheer emptiness of the hive mind, then turned into a cry of pain when his sudden motion triggered innumerable agonizing sensations along his entire body. He lay back down in as comfortable a position as he could manage, trying to comprehend exactly what was going on. Right away, he realized that he couldn’t see out of his right eye. It felt like he was on a couch, and it looked like he was in a pony’s home. There were tubes and wires hooked up to him, his snout was covered by an oxygen mask, and there were casts and bandages on the entire right side of his body, as well as a good deal of the left. He wondered what must have happened to him that could leave him in such a state. Then the memories assaulted him without warning. The wedding invasion that Queen Chrysalis orchestrated had failed catastrophically, and he’d been flung through the air only to land untold miles away from the invasion site. Not only did the impact with the desert ground not kill him, but it looked like this pony actually saved him. Saved by a pony. The others wouldn’t let him hear the end of— Before he could finish his thought, the emptiness of the hive mind and its implications struck home completely. There were no others. He could finally really hear himself think, but he could only hear himself think. There were no mental conversations, no stray unconscious thoughts, no feeling of presence at all. The hive mind itself was still there, he could feel it, but its vacancy was overwhelming. He never thought getting what he’d always wanted would be so completely, soul-crushingly awful. He heard the sound of frantic hoofsteps scrambling down a stairway, which turned into a series of grunts and thuds towards the end as the pony the sounds belonged to apparently lost their footing. Her footing, from the sound of the voice creating the grunts. The pony apparently righted herself instantly, the flapping noise suggesting she chose instead to fly the rest of the way to the room in which he lay. Then the pony came into view, and Chicane couldn’t believe his eyes. Pink coat, purple eyes, gorgeous mane displaying a rainbow of warm colors, crystallized heart upon her flank, regal attire, horn and wings... this was the bride of the wedding he’d crashed. The very pony whose place had been taken by his queen. Princess Mi Amore Cadenza. That must have meant he was still in Canterlot. If so, then why was there a memory of plummeting to his near-doom in a desert? If that never happened, how did he get so badly injured? How much was he misremembering? Did his queen actually win the day? Could this pony even be her in disguise? Upon closer inspection, he realized that this was indeed the real Mi Amore Cadenza. It was difficult to properly describe, but a changeling was simply aware of when a pony they saw was a fellow changeling in hiding. Not even the queen could avoid that aura of awareness. The pony before him was actually a pony. Plus, if the queen had been victorious, there was still the urgent matter of the absolutely vacant hive mind. He knew she would not have simply slaughtered the other changelings, and he highly doubted Mi Amore Cadenza would be roaming free in the case of a victory. Then again... he suddenly realized just how little he could say he actually knew about Queen Chrysalis. “Chicane!” the princess cried. “You’re awake! Are you alright!?” Chicane could hardly believe his ears. He was an accessory to the ruination of this pony’s special day, if his memory wasn’t lying to him about that little detail. And yet, she was showing actual concern for his well-being. He couldn’t doubt its legitimacy, not if this was her home and her couch he was occupying. For some irrational, inexplicable reason, she cared. He chose to keep silent regardless. The oxygen mask obscured his mouth too much for him to be clearly understood. And that was just ignoring the infinite number of questions he had, so many that he couldn’t decide which to ask first. “Please, Chicane, talk to me!” Mi Amore Cadenza pleaded, using her magic to remove his mask. “Are you hurt?” Chicane was impressed with himself. Even through the pain, he was still able to manage a completely deadpan stare. “Okay, stupid question,” the princess conceded. “But please just say something to let me know you’re alright.” Chicane decided he might as well stop his apparent healer’s worrying. After a brief time, most of it filled with painful coughs, he finally managed to formulate actual words. “C... Cadenza...” “Please, just call me Cadance,” she insisted, sighing in relief. “Oh, you can’t even imagine how happy I am to see you recovering!” “What—” Chicane started, interrupting himself with another cough. “What... h-happened to... me?” Cadance’s relief gave way to nervousness. “Well... my husband found you in the orchards of Appleloosa, way out in the western desert. He and I... we made the force field that forced you all out of Canterlot.” Chicane zoned out after the first sentence, after the mention of the desert. His memory hadn’t been lying to him at all. The invasion did fail. He did get sent flying. Queen Chrysalis was wrong. “Then... the other changelings...” “Dead,” Cadance confirmed, solemnly hanging her head. “If any more are still alive, they’re in comas, just like you were. The only other one left that I actually know of... is your queen.” Simply amazing. Even when her race had diminished to almost nothing, Queen Chrysalis still managed to find a way to survive and thrive. It made logical sense, too, based on what Cadance had told him. She knew his name, and her husband knew to seek out survivors, through the queen’s word. More surprising to him, though, was his utter lack of elation at the news. Why wasn’t he more excited and overjoyed to hear that his beautiful, most exalted ruler still lived? Why couldn’t he take solace in the survival of the glorious beacon of perfection that was Queen Chrysalis? At last, the fact truly sank in. She was not perfect. She was never perfect. She was just as flawed as the changelings she lorded over, the only difference being that she could close off her mind and hide her flaws. He always thought the ability to break off from the hive mind was a gift, a blessing he could only dream of, but she used it as a shroud to cover up everything that made her her. Changelings had no choice but to be open with each other; if anything, avoiding it made her an anomaly. She was cold and distant to them. She claimed she cared, but she never showed it. In fact, the extinction of their race due to a plan executed in her name seemed to show just how little she valued her subjects. She wasn’t a queen; she was a tyrant, distancing herself from her subjects to give the illusion of being above them. And to her, the changelings were all disposable. He’d always trusted Chrysalis, and she betrayed that trust by leading the changelings to their doom. So no, Chicane didn’t rejoice. He didn’t celebrate. All he could do was hate. His emotions must have been very clear on his face, because Cadance recoiled at the sight of him. “I’m sorry!” she cried. “I was trying to protect the kingdom! I didn’t know any of this was going to happen, and if I could go back to my wedding day, it wouldn’t have happened! Now Shining Armor’s trying to clean up our mess, and I haven’t slept right in weeks because of what I did!” She brought herself closer to Chicane, placing his uncasted hoof in hers. “I don’t care if you hate me, and I don’t expect you to forgive me. I just want you to understand that I didn’t want any of this.” Chicane just stared blankly at Cadance. She stared back with the deepest regret, eyes wide and watering. Despite what she said, it seemed like she really was desperate to hear that he forgave her for her actions. In turn, he could only look at her like she was crazy. “It’s not your fault,” he told her. “None of us should’ve... should’ve even been there.” He saw Cadance start to smile, and he couldn’t help but smile back. “If anything, I’m sorry. I helped destroy your... your wedding, and I was just... following orders. You ponies... you’re not that bad. Especially not if... you had it in your... in your heart to help me... after all that.” “I’ve done enough damage,” Cadance replied. “All I want is to fix even the tiniest bit of that damage, and the first step is... well, fixing you.” “Well... thanks. I apprecia—” Suddenly, Chicane felt uncomfortably lightheaded. It couldn’t have been love shortage, though he was unbearably hungry. Nor did he believe it was related to his pitiful condition in any other way. The utter nothing in the hive mind left no question as to where this dizziness was coming from. Chrysalis, the queen, caretaker, and destroyer of the changeling race, was addressing her subject. The three hours had passed. Chicane was awake. Chrysalis stood on the outskirts of that dreaded Everfree Forest. She once saw this place as the most hostile environment she’d ever encountered, but now she felt more safe and welcome in this natural abomination than anywhere else. She reached out to the hive mind’s sole occupant, to the one individual she knew she could turn to. Chicane, this is Queen Chrysalis. Please, please respond. Finally, Chrysalis was about to hear the thoughts of her beloved subject. She just knew that Chicane would be delighted to be awake and in the mental presence of his ruler again. She’d heard his desires for a less crowded mind many a time, and while it came at such a price, she was sure he’d come to appreciate the hive mind’s current vacancy. This was such a joyous occasion, in fact, that she was already starting to feel better about everything else in her life at the moment. It made her want to turn right back to Ponyville and brave the growing mob to reach her friends. She figured she could take the rioting ponies. In fact, there may even still be hope for reasoning with them! She eagerly awaited her subject’s response, just knowing it would be the push she needed to turn around and head back to town. You murdered us all, you bitch. Chrysalis bolted into the forest without a second thought. Cadance watched in horror as Chicane’s relatively friendly expression transformed in a heartbeat into one of pure, unbridled rage. He let out a snarl of frustration and punched the couch with his one good foreleg, knocking his IV tube loose. She figured he may not need it anymore now that he was conscious and functional enough to properly eat, but she still fumbled with the tube, trying to stop the fluid from coming out of the open end while setting it aside. “What’s gotten into you!?” she demanded. “If I’m not the problem, what is?” “That monster that calls herself a queen,” Chicane hissed. “She led us all to our deaths. And she just tried... to talk to me.” Cadance nearly asked how it was possible for him to speak to her, but she retracted her query, having met her stupid-question quota for the day. “The hive mind.” “She’s told you a lot,” Chicane muttered. “Even my name. What are you doing... associating with her?” “It’s a long story,” Cadance replied. “A really long story. Right now, though, what’s important is what happened just now with her.” “It’s funny,” Chicane stated, apparently changing the subject. “The hive mind used to be so... so cluttered and crowded. I wasn’t a fan of it. Now it’s just... it’s so empty. It’s so quiet. I always wanted that... but not like this.” “Focus, Chicane!” Cadance demanded. “What happened with Chrysalis? What did you tell her?” “The truth,” Chicane answered. “I told her... that she killed us all.” Cadance was suddenly filled with a sense of dread. The last thing Chrysalis needed now was to hear something like that. There was no telling what she might be driven to do now. This desertion from her only conscious subject would put her over the edge for sure! She needed to talk to her now, if only to stop her from hurting herself... or worse. There was one other call she wanted to make first. Chrysalis would need a few friends to help her now, and Cadance would make sure she got them. Starting with herself, of course, and the first other pony to come to her mind that she knew was on good terms with the changeling queen. With newfound determination, she cast her communication spell and met with her first contact. "Shining Armor, we need to talk. Now.” Chrysalis didn’t know how long she’d been running. All she knew was that it was now dark enough to render the already-shaded forest nearly pitch-black. She could barely see anything around her. Not that she’d been able to see much up to now anyway. Her tears had been impairing her vision the entire time. She found herself slowing down, exhaustion finally beginning to overcome her. Before she could come to a complete stop, however, her hoof collided with an unseen log, sending her face-first to the ground and creating a small crater in the loose dirt and leaves. The collision knocked the wind out of her, robbing her of the energy she may have used to right herself again. The most pain came from her chest, only some of it due to the old wound from Twilight’s magic blast reopening. He hated her. Chrysalis thought it unfathomable that Chicane, of all changelings, could ever have spoken such words about her. She was supposed to reunite with him in high spirits, bonding over their shared misery and perhaps discussing the fate of the changeling race. She would have befriended him, something she could never have done as queen of a swarm of thousands. And on the extremely off chance that Shining Armor failed to find anymore survivors, she would need him to repopulate, though she hoped dearly that it would not have to come to that. But Chicane had projected his message with conviction and venom, meaning every spiteful word. He once revered her, but now she was dead to him. And if Chicane felt this way... she knew they all would. They deserved to hate her, and she deserved to be hated. Once again, the desperate and hopeless queen, in too much pain to move up from the forest floor, could do nothing except lay in her crater and weep. Now, however, the very thing that had driven her to rise and carry on before had sent her here in the first place. She heard a faint rustling beside her. One of Everfree’s denizens was coming for her now that she hadn’t even the strength to stand. She figured it could be that manticore looking to settle an imagined score. She’d also heard tales of cockatrices that would petrify with a glance, of timber wolves that would reconstruct themselves if broken apart. Either way, the once-great Queen Chrysalis would meet her gruesome end at the hands of some wild animal. She closed her leaking eyes, resigning herself to her fate. Her failure was complete. The entire kingdom was against her, her friends felt unsafe around her, and the only conscious changeling alive had denounced her. There was nothing left for her now but the sweet release of death. Then she heard a voice. With her hopes irreparably shattered, she almost dreaded the sound, taking it to mean she would not be left to suffer her fate in as much peace as a feral beast would allow. The dread dissipated, though only somewhat, when she realized that the voice was familiar. “What is amiss, Queen Chrysalis?” Chrysalis didn’t have time to answer before she finally blacked out.