Queen Chrysalis' Journey

by Frube94

Chapter 4: The Machine

As the sun set and darkness fell, all was quiet and peaceful throughout Equestria. Everywhere, that is, except for within the Changeling Kingdom...

"I'm afraid that's all we can assist you with," one of the grievously injured Changelings said. "I'm sorry we could not be of better use."

"It's alright, my friend," Sam stated. "With the information you have provided me I should be able to sneak in with as little resistance as possible."

Sam was talking with the other Changelings in the hospital about this unknown machine that a pony, whom the Changelings knew as 'Twilight Sparkle', had created. This machine somehow had the ability to detect Changelings in their disguises and alert all nearby ponies to their presence, and thus was causing issues with their feeding routine.

"I should go," Sam said nervously. "You guys need to rest and recover... and, if it's any consolation, I'm sorry about your friend."

"He was a good stallion," a female Changeling replied. "But if he knew what was going on just now, I'm sure he'd know that his death wasn't in vain. Please, make us proud." She finished, violently coughing up blood and other unknown internal bits and bobs.

"I shall try." Sam said determinedly, confident in his mission. The plans he had in place were perfect and would cause as little trouble as possible — however he wasn't worried for himself or the Changelings.

He was worried for Chrysalis.

Chrysalis didn't want Sam to risk his life sabotaging the machine, but she knew that if it continued to operate and Twilight was able to create more, or expand its effective radius, then all of the Changelings would die before the years end. And if Sam succeeded in his mission but was killed in action, then she would lose all hope and surrender herself to the evil within.

"Goodbye! Good Luck!" shouted a Changeling before he stopped moving. Unsure whether sleep deprivation had gotten to him or if he had died, Sam called a nurse over and then left the building.

Knowing what hardships lay ahead of him, he decided to plan what he was going to say to Chrysalis. Many words, quotes and phrases came to mind, but one word kept recurring... Goodbye. Sam had to speak to Chrysalis as this goodbye could be the last thing he ever said to her.

Deciding that he has to say this one small word to her, Sam started trekking towards the castle.

Sam walked up to the War Room in hopes that Chrysalis was there, however she wasn't in or around that area. Deciding that asking a guard might provide more assistance, Sam walked up to a pair.

"Excuse me," he asked. "Have you seen Chrysalis recently?"

Noticing Sam's presence the guards immediately reacted to his question with a tone of leadership. "Yes, sir!" one guard replied, firing off a snappy salute. "She's currently residing in her private quarters."

"Sir?" Sam responded. "Oh, it's okay, you don't need to call me that." While he liked being referred to as a higher ranking officer, he didn't want it to become a thing that everypony would do.

"My apologies, Sir," the other guard replied. "But we are under orders by the Queen to call you that."

"Oh," Sam said, beginning to back away slowly. "Okay then, thanks very much for the information, but I should be going."

"Yes, sir!" both guards shouted in unison.

Should have known she'd be there, Sam thought. There's not many other places she could be at this hour. He made his way up the stairs and through the corridors towards his destination, at which he arrived after a few minutes. Best make this quick, night doesn't last forever.

With a small knock on the door and a short "Hello?" Sam walked into the room and found Chrysalis fast asleep. "Aww, she's cute when she sleeps too," Sam whispered quietly. He walked over to sit next to her on the bed and held her hoof. "I promise, Chrissy, everything will be okay. I love you." Sam kissed Chrissy's forehead and started to move away but was interrupted when Chrysalis' hold on her on the forehead, just as Chrysalis' grip on his hoof tightened.

"I wish you didn't have to go," Chrysalis responded, slowly opening her eyes and sitting up.

"I'm sorry," Sam replied. "I didn't mean to wake you."

"It's okay, I was merely resting..." Chrysalis trailed off. "Please, Sam, promise me you'll leave if there's any signs of trouble. I don't want to lose you..." she pleaded.

"I promise, I will not take any risks." Sam stated.

"Thank you," Chrysalis mumbed, drawing closer to him. "I love you, Sammy."

"I love you too, Chrissy." Sam said while drawing closer to her.

After the two shared a kiss for what felt to each of them like an eternity, Sam pulled away and grabbed his backpack before leaving the room — leaving behind a very worried Chrysalis.

As Sam made his way through the forest and reached Ponyville, he noticed that security had been tightened. He slowly sneaked past the guards at the entrance, hiding behind a building to allow him to pull out a map given to him by Chrysalis. With the extra assistance from the injured changelings whom he had recently spoken to, he was eventually able to figure out a way to Twilight Sparkle's house.

"So that's where the bitch lives," he said to himself. "Time to destroy that machine and get out of here."

As Sam peered through the windows he saw a young dragon sleeping in a basket and a purple unicorn heading up the stairs. Before he had a chance to open the window, he heard a branch breaking behind him. Fearing for his life, he ducked immediately and rolled over — only to find that there was no-one there. Sam looked around nervously one last time before working his magic on the window. With a small click he unlocks it and sneaks in.

"No... Fuck your books, Twilight..." muttered the dragon in his sleep.

Weirdo... Sam thought. Anyway, where are the notes on the machine? They've gotta be around here somewhere!

Sam snuck around searching for some clues to this machine. He searched most of the bookcases, the floor, the tables and even near the dragons bed. Eventually he realised that they must be upstairs, as there were no visible stairs which led to any lower area. He headed upstairs and saw a door with light visible from underneath. Unsure whether or not the notes would be there, Sam decided to tread carefully.

"Mmm, that feels sooo good," said a stuttering voice from behind the door. The voice belonged to Twilight, and she was doing something that Sam really didn't want to hear.

Is she... by Celestia, What the fuck is with the ponies in this town?! Sam immediately thought. While attempting to divert his attention from Twilight's own adventure, he spotted some papers lying on the floor. They were in a pile placed near some sort of Chemistry set and Sam immediately assumed that they are notes for the machine.

Aha! Sam grinned triumphantly. That must be them! But... how do I get them? He peered under the bedroom door to see that Twilight had decided to change position and was no longer facing towards the door. That was lucky... perhaps a little bit of magic might move it over slowly? Sam nodded to himself, deciding that this was the best course of action, and used a levitation spell to lift the papers from the floor very subtly and quietly. He shimmied them towards the base of the door, making sure to check on Twilight — not that he wanted to, given what she was doing.

"Ohh, my! That's not what I was expecting, Spike, you naughty dragon!" Twilight muttered as she continued to work her own magic.

Dragon? Wait, that little thing downstairs? Fuck me, she's odd! Sam shook his head and continued to use his magic, eventually managing to slide the pages out from under the door. Wondering if they were in any way related to the machine, he decided to give them a quick read — and the first page was a letter to the Princess.

Dear Princess Celestia,

I have made preparations to expand on our latest idea. The "Changeling Detection Machine", or CDM for short, will automatically detect any Changeling in the nearby area. Not only that, it will also alert anypony nearby as well to the Changeling's presence.

While my idea is genius, it does have one major flaw. The CDM itself requires a lot of power, which some villages struggle to provide. Should the CDM overheat, then it will spontaneously combust. I'm working on a way to fix this now, but I don't want to destroy my only prototype.

I shall write to you again when the issue has been resolved.

Your faithful student,
Twilight Sparkle.

Overheating, eh? Seems logical enough. Now, time to deal with it and get out of here. Sam thought as he started making his way out of the house. But then, to his dismay, he noticed Spike walking simply the stairs — and without thinking Sam made a move for the nearest wall and tried to blend in. He knew it was a stupid idea, but he felt it was better than just standing there.

Spike - oblivious to the pony on his fore-legs standing against the wall - simply walked past him and barged into Twilight's room.

"Twilight, you left the win— What the fuck, Twi?!" shouted a bewildered Spike.

"Spike?! What are... You should have knocked first!" Twilight screamed in response.

Sam took this opportunity to slide away unnoticed. While he would have given anything to see the look on Twilight's face as Spike walked in, he knew that he had a more important job at hoof — he had to destroy the CDM.

Sam followed the map he was given by Chrysalis and found the Town Centre. While he had lived here for so long, everything felt new to him. After leaving Ponyville and moving into the Changeling Kingdom he had left behind everything he knew and given up on this town.

And, by extension, he had given up on Equestria.

This is the area, he thought. But where does it draw the power from?

As Sam looked through the other bits of paper that he had stolen from Twilight, he heard a sound behind him. This time he chose not to move and simply pretended that he didn't hear it. Perhaps my mind is playing tricks on me? I'm not used to being under this much pressure.

Sam eventually found a piece of paper with drawings and small amounts of writing on it. Following what appeared to be diagrams, he opened up a small ventilation shaft and started to dismantle the machine. But deep down he knew that this wasn't enough, for if the machine was merely dismantled then Twilight could fix it and continue from where she left off.

He knew that he had to blow it up.

After removing the cooling jets from the machine, Sam decided to dig deeper in order to find some sort of power core that could power the entire machine. After following the diagram some more he eventually found a small crystal connected to the cooling systems. Taking an extremely dangerous risk, Sam yanked the crystal out — which started the overheating process.

Done, he thought, a smug grin appearing on his face. Now it's time to leave before it implodes.

He replaced the ventilation shaft, tucked the crystal into his backpack and started to leave when a mysterious figure in the shadows stopped him.

"Don't move," demanded a voice. "Or I'll kill you right now!" demanded the voice.

"If you plan to kill me," Sam yelled back, standing his ground, "then at least show your face, you coward!"

"Very well," the voice relented. "You deserve to know."

A pony emerged from the shadows — and it was somepony Sam already knew.

It was Twilight Sparkle.

"Care to explain what you are doing to my machine?" she snarled. "Do you not know that it protects Ponyville?!"

"I am aware, because I've read your notes," Sam replied. "And I can't let you continue. You will not prevent me from reaching my goal." He was prepared to fight, despite his promise to Chrysalis.

"Your goal is to sabotage the safety of Ponyville? Of Equestria? This machine marks the era of defence! And once I remove it's only flaw, it'll be unstoppable — and every Changeling will die... the pathetic disgusting creatures that they are." Twilight laughed maniacally.

"This machine will be destroyed," Sam stated firmly. "And you will not stop me."

"Then prepare to draw your final breath, you pathetic cretin," Twilight shouted. "For the ground you stand on shall be your tomb!" She charged her horn, firing a beam of intense magical energy from it.

As Twilight attacked, time felt as though time itself was slowing. Seconds became minutes, which then became years. His life was flashing before his eyes and his only instinct was to close them.

Everything was quiet and dark. Perhaps this is death, the end for our hero. He regretted not living his life to the fullest, not enjoying every second of every minute of every day. He missed Chrysalis and the Kingdom. And even though his life was horrible at first, he had finally found true love and he wasn't able to share any more time with her.

This is the end...

"Get... You... Die!..."

With almost no strength left in his body, Sam was unable to determine what was going on around him. He used the last of it to open his right eye slightly and see what was going on.

"I'll... Little bitch!"

His hearing was impaired from the blow he received, and he felt tired — as if he could go for a very long nap.

"Why do... you traitor!"

His vision was blurry, and he couldn't fully see what was going on in front of him, but what he saw shocked him.

Another pony had knocked Twilight to the ground and started attacking her relentlessly.

"You will... treachery... life!" With his hearing impaired, Sam was only able to make out parts of what Twilight was saying.

With a sharp blow to the head, she went quiet. The mysterious pony quickly checked Twilight's pulse and nodded, before they walked over to the machine and placed a hoof on it, immediately taking it off and slowly backing away.

As Sam's strength started to fade, he was reduced to mere blinks. And with each blink the mysterious pony got closer and closer. Whoever it was, they didn't want to be recognised — as they wore a skin-tight black suit with a small cut in the side.

As the pony checked Sam's pulse and placed the crystal he stole back into his backpack, Sam blacked out.

Perhaps this is it... Sam pondered. He couldn't breathe, move or speak. Whatever spell Twilight had used on him was strong, and might have even done the job of killing him. A million thoughts passed through his mind: he thought of his mission, he thought of the Changelings — and he thought of Chrysalis.

Was I successful? Was the machine destroyed? Did I go out like a hero, in a blaze of glory? Sam was unable to answer these questions. All he wanted right now was to be with Chrysalis.

"Thank you, Sam," a voice said. "I owe you a great deal of gratitude."

It was Chrysalis' voice, and Sam thought it was beautiful. It's a shame I'm never going to be able to hear it again.

"Are you sure you don't want me to know?" Chrysalis spoke again. "I do not wish to share your identity with anyone else, but he deserves to know."

Sam was unsure what was going on. How am I hearing Chrissy's voice?

"I have no issue with your kind," another voice, unknown to Sam, replied. "In fact, you have helped me with an issue that I have been unable to resolve for a few years now. So it's the least I can do." Although unable to identify the owner of the voice, Sam knew it belonged to a mare.

Am I dead? Did Twilight botch the spell? Or did the pony who saved me stop her in the nick of time?

"Ugh..." Sam mumbled. "Where... where am I?"

"He's awake!" Chrysalis' squealed gleefully. "Oh, thank me for that!"

"What... what happened?" Sam asked, wincing from a sharp pain.

"Rest for now, my precious," Chrysalis soothed, holding his hoof. "We can talk when you're feeling better."

"Is she still here?" Sam pondered.

"Do you mean me?" the unknown mare replied.

"Yes," Sam started, violently coughing up blood. "I just wanted to ask... why did you save me?"

"While the Changelings may have weird feeding rituals, they have assisted me in things I have been otherwise unable to do," the voice stated. "Er... no offence intended, Chrysalis."

"Thank you... I owe you my life." Sam found himself unable to say anymore. His body was slowly surrendering to sleep and his mind was considering surrendering as well. He increased his grip on Chrysalis' hoof and decided to give up.

"No," Chrysalis corrected. "We owe you."

Sam felt his grip release as he succumbed to the power of Sleep.

His mission was complete and he was alive, albeit barely, and he had just secured some more time with Chrysalis. Apart from being grievously wounded, he felt that things were finally going his way.

But how long would this feeling last? If the mysterious pony only knocked Twilight out, how long would it be before she managed to fix the machine, if it even still existed?

Time is a force you don't want to meddle with, and Sam was walking a fine line...