Tainted Love: A Twysalis Prompt Tag Collab

by Foals Errand


Envy by Europa (7 Deadly Sins Serious)

By Europa


Queen Chrysalis looked over at her sleeping workerfriend. Twilight's barrel rose and fell slowly, repetitively, evenly. Her eyes weren't fluttering beneath their lids, so Chrysalis assumed that she was in deep sleep, not a dream to be found. Chrysalis for her part couldn't sleep. After enjoying her lover's bookish beauty for a few more minutes, she pulled herself out of bed.

In the dark silence of the night, she walked through the corridors of the alicorn's castle, looking at every corner. She would never admit it, but she was jealous of Twilight. She had so many things going for her. Born the most powerful unicorn in recorded history and probably even prehistory, with a loving family that, while not rich, was certainly well off. She had a future alicorn princess as her nymphsitter, caught the eye of the then-solitary leader of the country. Maybe small things did not go her way time to time, but when it came down to the wire she always succeeded, overcome any foe before her. Nightmare Moon, Discord, Sombra, Tirek... and Chrysalis herself.
Chrysalis stepped outside and buzzed up to the top of the castle, then sat on her haunches and stared at the night sky.

And what about her? Her mother, Queen Spiracle, had been swamped with royal duties and so had little time to raise her. She tried to be there when she could, but Chrysalis couldn't fault her for putting the hive first. She'd been raised by her nanny Clackot, who for all her faults and specism against ponies, was very dear to Chrysalis even in her old age. And after her nymphhood, after she'd ascended to the throne, what accomplishments could she claim?
Slightly delaying her people's starvation. A partially successful raid on Canterlot that could have easily - easily! - been a complete success, if not for her own bumbling idiocy. Making an alliance with their food source only years later, when she should have done so immediately, and losing a good fifth of her population to hunger.

There was no way to avoid it. No matter what way she sliced it Twilight Sparkle was infinitely more successful than her. She wondered what the little pony even saw in her. Why did she even love her? What had Chrysalis done to deserve -

"Can't sleep?"

She didn't even jump when Twilight's voice rang out. She looked over her withers to see the pony lowering herself, sitting next to her. "Yeah."

"Want to tell me what's keeping you up?" she asked carefully.

"No." She grimaced. "But I really should."

"I don't want to push - "

She held a hoof to Twilight's lips. "No, I have to say this. Twilight... you're... better than me." Chrysalis lowered her hoof.

Her jaw dropped. "What?" she half-shrieked. "Chryssy, where in the world is this coming from?"

"From history!" she said. "Your life, Twilight, can be best described as... as a repeated series of successes marred only be the occasional, small-scale failure. Mine on the other hoof is the opposite, a long series of buck-ups with only the occasional victory. I... I don't want that to be my life! I want things to go right! I want to be able to claim a good triumph for myself!"

"Chryssy..."

"And that's not even all of it! We're completely at your mercy! Everything my people do is because yours allows it, there is nothing we can do without your express approval because without you ponies and your especially-powerful love, we're all dead! I may as well abdicate my throne and give the Badlands over to Equestria, because no matter what decisions I make it's only ever because you and the other princesses allow it!"

"That's not - "

"I don't want that to be the case! I want my people to be strong, independent! I want us to be able to stand on our own hooves. I want, if Celestia or Luna come down with an idea that I disagree with, to be able to say no to them! I want - "

"Chrysalis!" She looked at her. "Please, you know that's not the way it is."

"Like Tartarus it isn't, and you know it!" She took a deep breath to calm herself. "I'm sorry, Twilight. I shouldn't have gone off on you like that."
.
"No, you needed to get that off your back." Chrysalis nodded. She had needed to. "You... have a point. But you're only taking into account physical ability, you're not taking into account the fact that the princesses would never try and make you a figurehead. You know they respect your position, they respect your people, they respect you."

"And if push comes to shove, hmm? What then? For all they may not want to, you know as well as I do that if I decide to do something they strongly disagree with they'll make me stop."

"Then you're at full power, and you can fight them. And... and..." She hesitated. "... I'll help you."

"And there it is again! Even just standing up for my own decisions, I can't do that on my own!"

"And why is that the measure of success?!" Twilight shouted back at her. "Do you think I beat Nightmare Moon on my own? Do you think I was the one who atomized Sombra with the Heart, or stole back the magic Tirek had with the Rainbow Power? Do you think I did all of that just by myself?"

"No, but - "

"So if you can count my successes as my own, even when they're only possible with help, then why not your own?" Chrysalis opened her mouth, but no words came out. She closed it.

"Chrysalis... Chryssy." Twilight scooted closer and put a hoof on her own. "If you only ever count the things that you and only you made go right as a victory, then you're not going to have many at all. I'd probably have less than you, in fact. Nobeing is an island. We each owe part of our successes and shortcomings to others. I'm no exception, and neither are you. So please, please, stop feeling that way." She lowered her head and pressed it into Chrysalis's side, tickling her chitin. "I don't like it when you're sad."

Chrysalis smiled and wrapped a hoof around Twilight, wiping a tear from her eyes with the other. "Y-You're right. Thank you, Twilight."

Together they looked up at the stars, not breaking their embrace. As Chrysalis reflected on her life, in a new light, a smile grew on her face that showed off her fangs. The Amber Callback Act to settle the economy, personally healing the injured after Canterlot so that there were zero casualties, seducing an alicorn princess and getting to call her her own…

I am pretty awesome, aren't I? It just took until Twilight for me to see that.