Chrysalis Wins
Ch.6 “Of Chrysalis and Crystals”
Celestia was in a large tennis court, dressed with in a neat sports vest, and her mane was pulled back in a tight bun. On the other side of the court was Luna. Both of them held up rackets in their magic.
“Your serve Luna.”
Thus began a rapid paced volley. The bright yellow ball zipped back and forth into a seemingly endless barrage. Neither sister was close to giving up, even after the exchange lasted dozens of hits. Stamina was a non-issue because… Dreamland.
At some point during the extended volley Celestia started to hear a funny noise. It was very high pitch ‘eeeeeeeeee’ and it increased and decreased in strength frequently. Her focus started to weaken as she quickly looked for the source of the noise in between hits. Eventually she realized the noise came and went with the ball.
When she looked closely she saw the ball was no longer a yellow-green blur, but something transparent. Celestia dropped the racket she held, and the ball hit the ground on her side of the court.
“Huzzah! That places us at 40 to thy 15”
Luna cheered enthusiastically on her side of the net; she fluttered up and made a hoof pump. Her enthusiasm died a little when she noticed Celestia’s attention wasn’t on her that moment. Instead the sun princess held up a small transparent orb, which was the same size as their tennis ball.
With curiosity, the Night Princess trotted over to her sister, and got a better look at what she was focused on. Inside of the small transparent orb was a teeny tiny Chrysalis, who appeared very dizzy. Luna cocked an eyebrow at the sight
“What an odd addition to your dream, sister.”
“Oh this? This is actually Chrysalis, apparently changelings can practice some limited form of dream walking.”
“Really, shall I banish this monster then?”
“As much as I’d like to volley her back and forth on the court again, she may actually have something important to say. Last time she needed to learn how to move the heavens properly, because the sun burned her horn, can you believe it?”
Celestia snickered the last part. Still unsure, Luna waited patiently for where her sister decided to take this. The thought of Chrysalis burning her horn brought a small smile to Luna’s muzzle. Then the tiny queen tried to communicate. Celestia held the small orb up to her face.
“eeeeneneeeeneneeenenneenne!”
“What?”
“eneneeeneenee!”
“This is harder to understand than a Breezie… Perhaps I can imagine up a better container.”
Celestia closed her eyes, and when she opened them again the orb containing chrysalis became the size of a hamster ball. Complete with hamster-size Chrysalis, though the miniaturized changeling was not as happy as a hamster.
“This is why few changelings care to dream stalk… much too volatile.”
Though better, the queen’s voice was still very high pitched, which brought another chuckle from both monarchs, but was thankfully, decipherable.
“Speak what you came here for, curr.”
Luna sat her haunches down next to Celestia and glared at the rodent-sized changeling. Chrysalis’s eyes went wide, as she realized the night princess was there, something she had not considered. The two of them maintained an uncomfortable eye contact for several moments before the queen turned to Celestia.
“Do cities just randomly pop up in your kingdom?”
“What do you mean?”
Celestia’s eyes narrow suspiciously.
“I mean that one of my infiltrators in the north noticed a giant crystal city appear out of nowhere.”
Both princesses snapped their eyes wide open.
“The Crystal Empire has returned…”
Luna said under muttered breath. The solar and lunar diarch exchanged troubled looks. Equestria’s most powerful weapons were subdued by the queen, and now the return of an evil tyrant could only spell more potential disaster. Chrysalis noticed the agitated shift in posture between the two alicorns, and it caused her to get slightly nervous. What could possibly have those two worried?
“Well, what does that mean?”
The queen demanded impatiently. In turn, Celestia lowered the hamster ball to the ground and put a hoof to her chin.
“Something that may actually be worse than you.”
“What?”
Chrysalis dead panned.
“King Sombra…”
Instead of sharing anymore words, the very dreamscape itself started to change. The tennis court faded away, and they were suddenly surrounded by a thrall of crystalline buildings. The massive terrace went on for miles, and eventually developed into pleasant countryside. Overshadowing it all was the massive crystal palace, standing as the largest beacon the queen had ever seen. It made Canterlot castle seem humble in its choice of building material.
“My sister and I dealt with the empire over a thousand years ago. It is the home of the crystal ponies, and the center of a very powerful magic.”
The two sisters, and miniaturized changeling, began to fly over the landscape. It was a dream, so they didn’t even need to flap their wings. Below them were hundreds of crystal ponies, prancing about joyfully, just as Celestia had remembered them.
“But then King Sombra, a unicorn whose heart was black as night, came and took over the empire.”
“Do you really have to use black as night, to describe him Celly…”
“Oh, I’m sorry Lulu, it’s just a popular metaphor that’s been used for years.”
“Indeed, carry on… confound these modern phrases.”
Suddenly the prancing, happy, crystal, shiny, colorful, joyful, optimistic, pleasant, positive, ponies stopped what they were doing, and appeared in chains. Everything darkened, and sharp pillars of black crystal appeared everywhere.
A smiling giant of a unicorn stood on the balcony of the crystal palace, which had also changed into a black tower of despair. Purple and green flames burned ominously all over the place, but they were most ominous from the tyrant’s own eyes. Complete with green sclera, red irises, and purple exhaust wafting like ghost tails from the edges. Fanged teeth added to the aggressive look portrayed by his battle armor and spiky crown.
“He was ultimately overthrown, turned to shadow, and banished to the ice of the arctic north”
The silhouette of Celestia and Luna appeared in the sky radiating a bright light. Chrysalis did a double take, looking at the dream princesses next to her, then back to the memory versions. She shook her heard before listening again.
A focused beam of mixed magic was shot from the two memory princesses. This blasted away at King Sombra, and seemed to strip the very magic away from him, leaving only a literal shadow with his face remaining. The tyrant’s angry and disembodied face was sent hurtling down an icy fissure, before being sealed away.
“However,he placed a powerful a curse on the Crystal Empire, a curse that caused it to vanish into thin air.”
The dreamscape suddenly shifted, and all three of them stood in the middle of a snowy field. As they stood there quietly small drifts of snow billowed about, giving Chrysalis a moment to ponder the things she just saw.
Celestia concentrated again, and conjured up a miniaturized version of the crystal empire for them to look at once more.
“If the empire is filled with hope and love, these things are reflected across all of Equestria.”
The small empire radiated long bands of aurora light, which made a harmonized glow surrounding the area. Celestia smiled briefly, remembering the effect the happy empire had in it’s days of yore.
“If fear and hatred take hold.”
The expression gracing her muzzle quickly turned to a grimace. She stomped a hoof and black crystals erupted over the empire like cancerous vines. It’s rainbow hues of light darkened into an inky well of oppression. The changeling queen cringed at the indications, until Celestia banished the image infront of them.
“So, Chrysalis, this is what you have taken upon yourself to handle.”
The Sun Princess turned toward the little queen with a hard gaze, trying to read any clues to the queen’s reaction. The little changeling huffed, and puffed, and spoke in her high pitched voice.
“There appears to be great benefit for controlling this empire, for good or ill. Increasing the love across all of Equestria would be quite the bounty for my subjects. Your ponies already posses more love than any of the nations I’ve visited… and to have access to even more?”
“Are you going to simply disregard Sombra?”
Luna seethed with contempt, she didn’t like the insectile equine they were explaining this to, but she cared for the shadow tyrant even less.
“You two managed to put him down easily enough, and my constant feeding has made me even stronger than when I first beat your sister.”
The queen’s dismissive approach caused a long disappointed sigh from the Solar Princess.
“It’s not a simple matter of magical strength Chrysalis. Sombra will seek to indirectly deconstruct you. I know we didn’t show you, but we had to distract Sombra with an army, before we could cast our spell, and hit him before he could react. Even then, it was only a temporary banishment. You imprisoning us seemed to have weakened the binding we placed on him.”
“Then I will go up there with my love charged army and defeat him myself. I’ll just have to end him more permanently…”
Tiny black hooves rubbed together as the hamster-sized queen laughed with a comically high and maniacal voice.
“Muwahahahahaa! Surely the ponies will be grateful that my changelings and I saved them from this fear mongering tyrant.”
Luna dead-panned and face hoofed, and decided to point out the obvious, “Thou art a fear mongering tyrant…”
“I am what I have to be to establish order first! My ultimate goal is to have a kingdom full of loving ponies. Unlike this Sombra.”
“Just keep in mind, brashness will cost you dearly on this venture Chrysalis. Sombra likely has many other traps laid about the empire, and he would love for you to stumble all over them.”
Celestia’s warning tone silenced any potentially snide thoughts. For a few moments the three simply looked at the ground, deep in thought. The changeling broke the stupor first.
“Well, is there any other advice you’d like to give me, before I go conquer this emotional magnifier of a city?”
The large white alicorn hummed, thinking about how to answer. The dreamscape shifted and all three of them were once again on the tennis court. A drink stand appeared at the corner of the court, and Celestia walked over to it. Luna followed, and Chrysalis rolled in her hamster ball.
Fruity drinks filled the counter on the stand in clear glasses. A pink glass with half a lemon slice stuck on it was grabbed in Celestia’s golden aura, and levitated to her muzzle for a sip. Luna grabbed a dark red drink in her blue aura and sampled it. The hamster ball stopped rolling, and the little changeling inside started tapping a hoof impatiently. Celestia glanced down and found some words to say.
“Back then, my sister and I were attuned to the Elements of Harmony. Sombra knew he couldn’t match that power, so he placed those curses. You know which ponies you’d have to release if you wanted the undeniable power of the elements.”
“What would keep them from using that power on me!?”
“That is a hard question for you to answer.”
“I can’t even consider it. Not unless Luna goes to their dreams and manages to convince them to work with me. Even then…”
Luna spat out her drink, and spewed its contents all over the hamster ball. The small changeling inside shrieked with displeasure as red sticky liquid dripped through the breathing slits of her plastic container.
“Us?! Persuade the elements to, to… aid this monster?!”
“Oh, what would you rather have rule Equestria Luna? A monster, or a devil?”
Chrysalis sneered at the blue alicorn, while red fruit drink dripped off her soaked mane. The Night Princess narrowed her eyes at the little cretin contained in a pet’s play thing.
“Of all the sardonic, slime souled, and dastardly villains seeking control of Equestria, I would rather have Discord in power than you. At least his attempts at tyranny were meant to be amusing, and laughter was my element at one point.”
“Luna…”
The calm voice of Celestia hushed the two bickering equines.
“It will clearly take time before we can come to a decision.”
“Time I likely don’t have. How soon will this Sombra be free?”
The queen asked impatiently.
“I am unsure, but I would think he would be free soon. The empire’s curse was tied to his imprisonment. The reappearance of one should herald the arrival of the other.”
“Then I will have to act immediately. I appreciate the cooperation you’ve given me Celestia.”
The tiny changeling waved a hoof dismissively towards the two sisters looking down on her. A little green aura ignited around Chrysalis’s horn as she prepared to leave Celestia’s dream state.
Before the rodent sized queen could disappear a blue aura engulfed the hamster ball, and caused the changeling’s magic to fizzle. Confusion spread across Chrysalis’s stunned face. She tried igniting her magic again, with extra ‘oomf’.
The two flows of energy grappled with one another, reaching a stalemate in between where the blue and green mixed. Luna grunted at the effort of restraining Chrysalis, but she smiled at the effect.
“We still haven’t finished our game sister, and we need a ball.”
Celestia cocked an eyebrow towards the lunar princess.
“How long can you restrain her here?”
“Long enough, she may have a great deal more magical might than me, but she is an utter novice at dream manipulation. I could feel her mediocrity when she first appeared.”
Celestia made a curious smirk.
“You cannot contain me!”
The little Chrysalis screamed with all the ferocity of a mouse, and attempted to force more magic into her escape. Luna simply changed technique, and made the little queen redirect her energy uselessly.
“Gaaaawwwww!”
“Shall we finish then?”
The blue alicorn smiled towards her bigger sister.
“Just one moment.”
One momentary bit of concentration later, and two tennis rackets appeared. Chrysalis’s container had shrunk back down to the size of a tennis ball, and was now made of bouncy rubber. Each sister grabbed a racket in magic, and moved to opposite sides of the tennis court.
“I’ll serve.”
Celestia wore a mischievous grin, as she threw the small ball containing Chrysalis into the air, and smacked it. The little bug-pony queen was suddenly pressed against the back of the ball, her concentration on escaping utterly broken. From her mashed face came one audible sound.
“eeeeeEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!”