//------------------------------// // Flashback: Motives // Story: Mega Man X: Paradise Lost // by Captain L //------------------------------// Flashback: Motives It smelled like death. That was the only way to describe it, the perfect combination of rotting bodies and blood. The stench filled the caverns, as was to be expected. Death filled every nook and cranny of this place. Twilight was stuck to the wall through Changeling goo. Around her were some other special prisoners, her brother and his wife. None were in fighting condition. All three of them were taken in after a long and fierce battle against the Changeling forces. Though they had strength and intelligence, sheer numbers won out in the end. Instead of being killed upon surrender, they were taken back to the prisons. The door to the room opened, and the Changeling queen walked in, her green mane and wings providing contrast against the dark room. She was smiling in the most evil way walking over to Shining Armor. “It’s been so long, my husband. You decided to marry this bitch instead of me. But our time together long ago was just so nice, perhaps I can arrange another wedding for us. You could be king, Shiny!” Shining Armor growled. “Go to Tartarus, Chrysalis! You think I’d want to marry you after you brainwashed me, imprisoned my real love, and tried to invade Equestria? You’re scum.” “But this time, I succeeded, didn’t I? We can rekindle the love we had all those years ago, you at my side, ruling over this pathetic land! The love you emanate will be a feast for me!” Shining Armor remained silent for a few seconds. “And if I accept, what will happen to Cadence and Twilight?” “The two princesses here? I might make a nice exception for your sister, she provided quite the amusement at our wedding. Your current wife…I really can’t take any chances of you cheating on me, now can I?” Chrysalis pulled out a sword, already coated in blood. She used her magic to hold it in front of Twilight. “I’ve used this sword before, Princess Twilight. On which ponies? Could it have been your friends? Maybe some of them were just too weak to live under my rule!” Twilight began breathing heavy, seething with rage at the thought of the Changelings hurting her friends. Chrysalis laughed at how pathetic she looked, so much anger and nothing to do with it. She turned back to Shining Armor. “Honestly, honey, I’m surprised you were even considering joining me. You were always so loyal, only fighting for princess and country. Surely, you couldn’t even be imagining playing on our side?” “I’ll be your king and husband if you agree to let these two go. My status as Captain of the Guard may be proving my loyalty, but I’ll gladly give it up to keep the ones I care about safe.” He let his head drop, as if in defeat. Chrysalis tilted her head and smiled. “Aw, how sweet. Your love for these two is just extraordinary.” She started to turn around, before turning back and plunging her sword directly through Cadence. “It’s just a shame I’m already full.” “CADENCE!” Shining Armor yelled, struggling to free himself and help his wife in any way he could. The Changeling goo was too sticky, and he couldn’t use magic. He could only watch as the queen pulled the sword back out, leaving Cadence’s wound to bleed out. Her head limped as her eyes began to close. “NOOOOOO!” Shining Armor had been in battle before, and he knew there was no way she was going to survive. “You’re a monster! You think I would ever join you, after you do something so evil!? I’ll travel to the ends of Equestria to make sure you die painfully!” His anger made Twilight’s just a few seconds ago seem like a little filly having a tantrum. “You’re betraying me, so soon? You know what the penalty is for treason, don’t you?” She pointed the sword’s tip towards Shining Armor. He nodded. “If the only other choice is a living death under you...then I'd rather choose to laugh death in the face and face it with dignity!” Twilight panicked, emotions still running high after the murder less than a minute ago. “Shiny, no! You can’t just give up like this!” Shining Armor comforted his sister, talking through tears. “It’s okay, Twiley. There’s nothing left anymore, and I will go out with honor like the stallion I am. So do it, Chrysalis! Finish the job!” Chrysalis licked her lips. “That’s what couples do, isn’t it? Do whatever their special somepony wants? But we’re used to pleasuring each other, all that experience before the wedding. I really shouldn’t be saying this in front of your wife, what if she gets jealous? Oh wait, we don’t need to be worrying about that anymore, now do we?” “You want me dead, do it without taunting me or acting like a bitch. I want to die the way I lived, with valor and respect. For a creature with a hunger for love, you really have absolutely no heart!” Chrysalis rolled her head. “Isn’t the wife the one that never shuts up? It’s for the best that we never got married! I’m done with you, this is over!” She took the blade and slit Shining Armor’s throat. He went limp instantly. She looked at Twilight, who was completely lost in crying to acknowledge Chrysalis. “And that just leaves you. You’ve grown considerably since our last meeting, You’ve gotten some very nice wings. Celestia finally decided that you were worthy of being a princess, did she? And how did that turn out?” Twilight was too choked up to respond, so she kept talking. “You shouldn’t have taken up this promotion. You don’t look good with wings, and you’ve ruined everything that made you so ‘great’. It’s up to me to fix the Princess’s mistake.” With Twilight too distraught to even be paying attention, Chrysalis poised her sword for a three kill streak, but stopped short. “No. Your punishment must be more…severe.” She used her Changeling magic to free Twilight’s torso, allowing her wings to expand outwards. Chrysalis tapped the wings with the sword, soft enough to not even leave a cut. “You welcome death now, like your brother did. That is why you shall not receive it. Torture. Of both the mind and the body. I shall repair what the ponies had destroyed. Starting with you.” She swung the sword harder, cleanly cutting off Twilight’s right wing. Until the blood started flowing, entering the pool collected below the three bodies hanging from the wall. Twilight cried out in pain, the agony cutting out the Changeling queen’s words. “You’ve had everything in life handed to you. You managed to achieve the status of princess for writing in a book a lesson you completed in one hour! You’re spoiled. You must feel despair, despair that can only be achieved through false hope. So I’ll let you free for now. I know your type, you’ll start a rebellion and rise up. You’ll fight to the last breath to make me die. And only then, only when you see how futile and use pointless your simple race is, when Equestria is ashes, that’s when you have my permission to die.” Chrysalis cut off Twilight’s other wing and used her magic to fully free Twilight from the wall, where she fell into the pool of blood. Attempting to stand, she flopped back down and watched Chrysalis walk out. After some more tears, the pain caused her to pass out.