Fluttershy groaned as she awoke. In the distant recesses of her mind, she could recall days when she had woken up from the sunlight streaming through a window, or because the warm body that shared her bed had rustled fitfully in its sleep. She knew of times when her life had been peaceful and happy. Most of all, she could remember Shade, but like all things she held dear, these memories were of a period of her life that was long past. She kept them locked tight in the back of her mind, the only place left where she had any strength or control.
Chrysalis had long since broken her heart and her body.
The soft yellow pegasus sat up with a whimper, feeling dozens of aches and pains throughout her body, inside and out. She put a hoof gingerly to her face, feeling a lump under her eye that one of the Queen’s favored guards had given her the previous evening.
She looked towards the expansive windows, vainly trying to guess the time of day out of habit, despite the fact that all she had ever seen since the death of her love had been the same dingy, grey, dismal twilight. Though she hadn’t cared much for flight in her life, now she felt an odd sort of kinship with the sky. It mourned for Celestia in the same way she mourned for Shade, the colors mirrored her soul with uncanny accuracy—and they were both slowly dying.
The omnipresent dusk was robbing Equestria of strength and warmth, slowly draining the land of its vitality despite the best efforts of Princess Luna. With Chrysalis able to overpower her and keep her captive in her quarters, there was only so much Luna could do, and a short, unbalanced night cycle was all she could manage.
Fluttershy, meanwhile, could feel herself dying, and there were no alicorns doing their best to keep her alive. In a way, she was grateful for that. The pegasus longed for death now, in a way that would have horrified and disgusted her just a season or so ago. She would give anything for the chance to be free, to be without the pain and misery and shame of her existence—and for the chance to see Shade again. Hope had burned out, and it somehow made her life easier for it.
Voices sounded outside the door, and Fluttershy’s eyes widened reflexively. After last night, she knew she looked just as bad as she felt and—she gave a tentative sniff at her midsection and winced—smelled. The Queen hated her pet to be so offensive to her senses, and Fluttershy wasn’t surprised to see a pair of burly changeling guards enter the room bearing spears, making way for a pair of the Queen’s personal retainers. Captive ponies tended to the grounds and the building. Members of Celestia’s former staff were responsible for maintaining the Princess’ former chambers, where Chrysalis now lived. To care for Fluttershy, though, were more changelings. Ponies would be too kind, would try to help her and give her hope.
Fluttershy got to her unsteady hooves, the burning in her rump and flanks making her legs wobble as she stood. The guards eyed her keenly as the pair of smaller changelings unhooked her collar from the wall and began to lead her away. Every step was difficult, but Fluttershy dared not let herself fall. She knew from experience that if she stumbled, the changelings would merely drag her down the halls on her face.
The guards that followed chatted back and forth in low voices, but the pegasus ignored them. She knew they were talking about her—probably making lewd jokes about why she needed to be bathed so often. From their vantage point, they could likely see very well why. She merely kept her head down and her ears low as she walked. There was no point to trying to preserve her dignity anymore, though she still yelped and jumped forward a few paces when one of the guards prodded her under her tail with the butt of his spear.
Bathing was hardly a relaxing experience, either. The changelings scrubbed her roughly, and the water was freezing cold, brought in from the pond outside. Without the sun’s warmth, it was only a matter of time before the water would begin to freeze over. Fluttershy shuddered at the thought as she chattered and shook from the frigid cold of her fur and feathers. The guards gave her just enough room to shake herself out without getting the rest of them wet, and they marched back to Chrysalis’ chambers. There were no blankets, no warm towels, no loving changelings with eyes like emeralds and a tender touch to dry her. Instead she sat and shivered and hoped that she could catch pneumonia and die.
The guards left the room, and Fluttershy felt a sudden blaze of anger. If her old self could see her now, how shocked, how fearful would she be? Fluttershy wished that an unwary changeling would enter her reach again. Chrysalis had ordered that nopony—no, Fluttershy corrected herself, nobody—could approach her pet alone but her ever since the pegasus had tried to maul a changeling guard with her bare hooves. He had escaped with his life, and the beating Fluttershy had endured was almost worth avoiding the intended rape for the night, but she knew that if she ever
got a second chance, she would kill any changeling she could reach without a second thought.
Her spirits fell as the door opened again, and the changeling queen entered the room. “Good morning, my queen,” Fluttershy said mechanically, as she was expected to every morning. Thankfully, Chrysalis didn’t force her to show any enthusiasm. She much preferred to see the pegasus broken and hopeless.
“And good morning to you, my pet,” the monarch replied, placing the usual derogatory emphasis on the word “pet.” Chrysalis looked over Fluttershy. “Eech, what an ugly bruise,” she spat, taking note of the shiner Fluttershy now wore under her eye. “It’s amazing you can’t learn to behave after all this time.”
The pegasus gritted her teeth and choked the urge to talk back. “Yes, my queen,” she muttered instead. Chrysalis knew full well that she hadn’t misbehaved or fought back. “Well, I’m famished, but since you can’t seem to keep yourself in check, I think you don’t get any breakfast today. Perhaps you should go have some private time while I eat, instead.”
Fluttershy sank a little, her stomach growling at the prospect of being deprived yet again. “Yes, Your Majesty...”
In a way, Fluttershy wasn’t disappointed, because what Chrysalis referred to as her “private time” was the only time she felt like a pony anymore. The guards led her away by her chain, taking her to the main audience chamber, where they left her alone, knowing there was no way to escape and nowhere to go. Once upon a time, Princess Celestia had ruled from this very hall, overseeing justice and ruling her subjects with a wise and gentle touch. Fluttershy had been in this very hall to be decorated along with her friends for saving Equestria from Discord. This room hardly looked like the chamber of her memories.
Before approaching ponies could reach the massive throne that dominated the opposite end of the hall, they had to pass by the statue. In the very center of the room, surrounded by dilapidated furnishings and boarded-up windows, stood Princess Celestia, frozen in time and space. With the death of her son, Celestia had fallen, encased in stone. Her face was forever locked in an expression of shame, pain, and sorrow—both for her subjects and herself.
A small, oddly ornate placard was set into the base of the statue, displaying the Elements of Harmony for all to see. There was no point in hiding them anymore. Even if the Bearers could break into the castle, even if they could rescue and free Fluttershy and get to the Elements to fight Chrysalis, she knew the Element of Kindness would never work for her again. Her heart was too hard, too cold, too angry. The pony who had wielded that Element so often in the past was gone.
As usual, Fluttershy fell at the statue’s base, bowing as much as her battered body would allow her to. Discord had said that he could still tell what was going on around him while encased in stone, so Fluttershy always bowed in the hopes that the Princess could still see her, too. Fluttershy sat on the base, curled up against one of Celestia’s legs.
“Hello again, Princess,” Fluttershy began, quietly. “It’s me again. I know a couple other ponies come in here from time to time, so I don’t want you to be confused...
“It’s—” she faltered, “I have no idea what day it is anymore. I feel like I’ve been here for years. Every day is the same. The weather never changes, and my life never changes, and the pain never, ever, ever changes!” She collapsed despondently, letting her head fall into her hooves as she began to weep. For minutes, the only sound that echoed through the massive hall was that of small, wracking sobs.
“Oh, Princess, I miss you so much. I miss Shade, I miss my friends...” The pegasus finally looked up, tears running down her cheeks. “Can you see from where you are? Do you see what these monsters do to me? I feel so bad for being so selfish, but I just want it to stop! I want it all to stop, but Chrysalis won’t let me die...”
Fluttershy barely stirred as a low laugh came from the doorway. Chrysalis walked up, grinning and shaking her head. “Oh, how I wish I could record this and play it for everypony in the world. An Element of Harmony, one of the most powerful ponies in all of Equestria, begging her fallen leader for death. I bet your friends back in Ponyville would get a real kick out of seeing you again, wouldn’t they? To see how I lead you around on a leash like a dog? To see how you’re good for nothing but being used by my guards?” The changeling queen put a hoof to her chin thoughtfully. “You know what—maybe that is a good idea. Maybe I’ll send your old friends a message, let them see you being taken like the little whore you are.
“I mean, you know why you’re here, right?” Chrysalis asked idly, turning to a small notch in the boards covering the window and looking out over the enslaved ponies laboring on the grounds. “Why all these bad things keep happening to you?” Fluttershy didn’t respond, simply hanging her head dismally. “Everypony out there knows about you. They know who you are, they know that you were the love of Shade’s life. You are a symbol to all of ponykind of his rebellion and his fight for the sake of love.” She let out a cruel chuckle and traced a hoof slowly down the exposed stained glass. “And they all know how you suffer. How futile your life is, and by proxy, how futile it is to resist. Every day you are at my side we show the entire world that I control their lives.” She turned and galloped back to stand face to face with the frozen Princess, staring madly into her eternally sad and regretful eyes.
“I hope you can see it, Celestia,” she spat angrily, her voice rising feverishly. “I hope you see it all—how I’ve beaten you, how I control everything, how I denigrate and use your helpless little ponies, and I hope you have nothing else to think about FOR ALL OF ETERNITY!” The Queen wheeled around, snatching up Fluttershy’s leash and dragging her back to her chambers in a wild rage, the helpless pegasus stumbling and bouncing off the ground and walls along the way. Fluttershy was flung to the ground on her rough carpet patch and cinched to the wall again. Chrysalis departed with an enraged scream, slamming the door with such force that it cracked one of the stones surrounding the frame. The fear and pain finally overcame Fluttershy, and she slumped to the ground, falling into an uneasy sleep.