Chrysalis Wins
Ch.19 “A not so Fancy Discussion”
Stomp! Stomp! STOMP!
Giant hooves thundered their way down the tunnel, each one disheveled the earth as it was placed. A door of slime was blasted away with a violent explosion. Green sticky material was launched every which way as it was vaporized.
In the middle of the entry way stood the queen. Her cacophonous entrance was followed by a low level tone.
“You took something from me Luna…”
Across from the entryway of the petite and secluded cell was a dark blue equine, plastered to the wall in midst of semi-transparent muck. The princess’s condition was pretty abysmal, and she struggled to lift her head up to look Chrysalis in eye. When the two met gazes there was an invisible fire between them.
Luna’s head was the only thing able to move, the drones had otherwise thoroughly sealed her against the wall. Her night-time complexion was pot-marked with black bruises, as if she went a fifteen round hoof-boxing match with a mountain bull.
For a moment the queen’s hot anger was tempered, the sight of Luna with one eye basically swollen shut, several missing teeth, and various other painful looking bulges over her head, brought Chrysalis some satisfaction. At least Vivisect had left a mark before she was dropped.
The alicorn stared at Chrysalis with her good eye and snarled, which only put her missing teeth on better display. Luna winced at the effort, her muzzle felt cracked in some places, and her lips were swollen and puffy.
The next several steps from Chrysalis landed softly on the ground, as she carefully stalked towards her prisoner. Luna spat out another tooth.
“What, are you really upset over some broken body guards? Boo hoo. What you’ve taken from me doesn’t even compare.”
SMACK!
Chrysalis struck the princess across the muzzle. The hit shocked Luna with it’s force, and caused a yelp of pain, it was much harder than the magically enhanced blows Vivisect was able to deliver.
SMACK! SMACK! SMACK!
Several more vicious blows knocked Luna’s head back and forth, and when it stopped, Chrysalis’s face was very near her prisoner’s. Her massive double iris eyes glared at the teal ones, and dared them to make another defiant remark. The alicorn kept her gaze averted and tried to hold back some whimpers. Some of the bruises and cuts were reopened, and trickled over fresh scabs.
Satisfied that the princess was sufficiently cowed, Chrysalis turned around and walked to the pile of sand that was in the room. She sat down and scuffled with the loose material until she was comfortable. She wiped some of the blood her hooves had picked up, off on the floor.
“As I was saying Luna, you took something valuable from me. One ‘bodyguard’ as you put it, that has served me faithfully almost the entire time I’ve been queen. Now that you’ve taken her from me, what should I take from you?”
The corner of Chrysalis’s mouth twitched, and her eyes stared daggers. They roamed over the alicorn with a contemplative and surgical process. Luna still kept her eyes averted and didn’t try to provoke anything else from the queen. The Night Princess really could care less about any physical abuse, but if the threats carried over to other ponies…
“I could take your horn, and leave you without magic… I could take your wings and leave you without flight. Or… I could take your legs, and make you roll around like the miserable worm you are!”
The queen was too agitated to sit, and sprung up from the sand. She strode over to the pinned alicorn and put a giant hoof on the slime, right over where Luna’s chest should be. Chrysalis started to press her against the wall, the princess gasped as the breath was crushed out of her.
“The only thing I ask myself now is why I didn’t follow my sentinel’s advice, and end you earlier.”
The blue alicorn struggled against the organic binding of the slime, but she was far too exhausted to put up anymore fight, and only struggled in vain against the lethal pressure. Luna’s facial complexion turned a darker shade of blue.
Normally Chrysalis would enjoy something like this, it often took a lot of work to get to the point where she could just toy with her enemies. This time though, there was a sense of loss behind it all. What it had cost to bring this prisoner in line was high, and personal.
As Luna’s eyes started to roll back into her head, the queen removed her hoof from the alicorn’s chest. The sudden release of pressure caused a loud painful gasp from the princess, and air struggled to fill her crushed lungs again. She coughed hoarsely several times. Chrysalis, however didn’t lower her hoof all the way quite yet, and it hung half way, as if it might return.
A small sparkle of fear twinged in the alicorn’s good eye, and her fallen gaze briefly glanced up at the queen. Chrysalis held a disgusted expression, and raised a hoof up high.
Stomp!
Luna had closed her eyes, and scrunched what she could of her bloody and beaten face. The impact she prepared for never came, and when she opened her eyes the queen had embedded her hoof in the wall next to Luna’s head. Chrysalis shoved her face right up into the princess’s for a very close look into each other’s eyes.
“Feel fortunate I have my reasons for keeping you alive.”
Chrysalis hissed. The changeling pulled her head back a small distance and opened her maw wide. She began to inhale deeply, and drain the emotional energies out of the alicorn.
Luna already looked terrible, but now on top of being injured, she became severely exhausted on a deeper level. Her dark blue features started to pale, which made the contrast of her bruises stand out even more. The shimmering flow of magic in her mane died down, causing the starry lights to start to fade.
When the princess could no longer hold her head up Chrysalis stopped, and the air between them stabilized. The alicorn now wheezed for breath, and held an empty stare. The queen licked her lips, the taste was good. Barely bridled passion lay behind the alicorn, and it made for a sumptuous meal.
Chrysalis stepped back from the stupefied and drained Luna, and called a drone to enter the room. It did not take long for one of the tunnel workers to arrive. Once the smaller figure entered the room, the queen turned towards the entry way.
“You called queen?”
“Yes, I have a few instructions.”
“I am more than willing.”
“Gather a few other drones, and make sure a vanguard is stationed here. This prisoner is to be fed and given water. Force her if she refuses, also keep her drained. She proved dangerous even without her magic, I don’t want her to have energy for anything. Is that understood?”
“Yes queen.”
“Good, now come here.”
He approached as the queen had commanded. Chrysalis made her horn glow, and her eyes flashed, the two of them touched foreheads. A magical impression was given to the drone, powerful enough to brand the instructions into his mind. He would be unable to forget until the order was carried to completion.
“I’ll be back tomorrow to make sure things are arranged properly.”
“Y-y-y-y-y-yes, q-q-q-queen.”
The drone stuttered and his eyes twitched, they blinked rapidly and light flashed several times. The spasm shivered throughout the small changeling’s body, and his ears sizzled slightly. After a loud cough, the drone shook his head back and forth several times to straighten his vision. The drone’s eyes now had a green ring to their otherwise blue color. He stood overly straight and stomped a hoof in salute, all of his limbs became stiff after that.
“Understood, I will have everything arranged by tomorrow!”
Chrysalis raised a hoof to pat on the drones head a few times, and ruffled his short fin-mane.
“Don’t worry, it’ll wear off. But I won’t risk this being done sloppily.”
The drone bolted off in an adrenaline hyped dash. In a moment he was out of sight, and Chrysalis turned head about to look at the princess one last time. Luna’s head hung low, and she still wheezed, a bit off drool escaped from her open mouth.
Chrysalis walked over to the pathetic situation of an alicorn. One large hoof pressed up under the princess’s jaw and lifted her pale face up. Luna wasn’t capable of a focused gaze at the moment, but that didn’t deter the queen.
“If you had gone here quietly you would be freely moving within your little cage. I would be much less annoyed, and…”
A bit of drool got on Chrysalis’s hoof, and she let Luna’s head drop, with a disgusted grimace and she stepped back. The queen wiped her hoof off in the princess’s mane.
“There’s another pony I need to talk to.”
This pony was the reason Luna wasn’t dead at the moment, this pony was the reason she hadn’t mutilated the blue alicorn right away, this pony was why Chrysalis ground her fangs together right now…
---
It was beautiful on the sandy beaches of Las Pegasus. Celestia sat in a reclining chair, which was mounted on top of an enormous sand castle. This sand castle happened to be in the shape of a large multi story cake, complete with fancy icing stylized into it.
The white alicorn sipped a fruity concoction from a half-coconut cup. A gentle breeze of salty sea air blew by, waving through Celestia’s already wavy mane. She inhaled the smell of the ocean and eventually exhaled. The various pleasant sensations of this atmosphere were quite enjoyable.
It had been a long time since Celestia had actually taken a vacation, she chuckled slightly as she mulled over her thoughts. Too bad this vacation had only come because she was overthrown… and it wasn’t technically vacation either… No in fact she still constantly worried over her little ponies, there was just less she could do now.
A drip of water landed on her muzzle, and she flinched in surprise. That drop was followed by another, and another. The white alicorn looked up for the source of the disturbance.
“Hmm, I should have figured a little rain cloud may come on my sunny day.”
There indeed was a little rain cloud in the middle of an otherwise bright and clear day, only it had Chrysalis’s face poking out of it. The cloud was small, and the queen’s features had shrunken to its proportions, mostly. Her little hooves dangled out of the bottom, and drifted through the air. It honestly would have been adorable to look at, had the circumstances been different.
A strong breeze came by and blew the changeling cloud off course, which caused Chrysalis to spin in circles. She growled, higher pitched than normal, and started to doggy-paddle through the air back to the white alicorn.
“Is there not a way to knock on the door, so to speak?”
The Changeling Queen is not who Celestia wanted to see. As it was, she had actually been expecting Luna to return soon.
“Been plotting against me with your sister have you Celestia? I can assure you that was a poor move.”
The little raincloud barked, and the white alicorn furrowed her brow.
“What are you talking about?”
“Don’t feign ignorant with me, your sister thought she could intimidate me with nightmares.”
“Where is Luna now?”
“Incapable of giving any creature nightmares…”
“CHRYSALIS!”
“She’s not dead, though it was very difficult to decide against that.”
“Fiend…”
“Listen Celestia!”
The little raincloud blackened, and miniature lightning bolts started to jump out of the fluffy blob. One of these struck the white alicorn on the snoot. It didn’t do much more than a little static shock could, but it caught the princess’s attention.
Fluffy cloud Chrysalis doggy-paddled through the air to Celestia’s chair. The queen’s face contorted and her little hooves withdrew into the cloud, rather like a turtle. She didn’t enjoy what she was going to say next.
“Your advice with the Crystal Empire was… valuable.”
“Is that all? What have you done with my sister Chrysalis?”
“She has no permanent damage, I figured you would not be willing to talk again should I do something of that nature.”
“You assumed correctly.”
“Her little tantrum cost me the functionality of a long time associate. I’ve also come here with a condition if it wasn’t already clear. If I suspect either of you of trying to overthrow me again, I don’t care what knowledge you may have, it can disappear with you.”
“So you lost a friend did you? They must have done something unfortunate to provoke my sister.”
“Now is not the time to try my patience Celestia. Just don’t expect your sister to come by anymore.”
“How can I trust your claim of her well being then?”
The daylight in the dream started to get brighter, and the sun became a hot blur, which lost it’s shape within the overly bright sky. A gnarly scowl had crossed Celestia’s countenance. Fluffy Chrysalis brought up a shrunken hoof to shield her eyes, her tone was undeterred.
“I can arrange evidence later. Next time, when I feel you have something valuable to say, we can all meet in a little circle of joy…”
Chrysalis ended with a very sarcastic note.
Without any form of farewell the little cloud exploded with a POOF! And the queen was gone. The sunlight dimmed back down to it’s natural state, but the white alicorn hadn’t relaxed her posture. The scowl remained fixed on her usually regal face, and Celestia closed her eyes. A tear threatened to roll down her cheek, and she eventually gave up her tense stance. She collapsed onto her chair, and sighed.
The cheery atmosphere of the Las Pegasus beach couldn’t combat Celestia’s depressed mood. After a little while longer the mood soured even more, and frustration at everything started to boil over. So much for being an ancient wise being, ironically she could be just as stuck as a foal in a crib.
In a small fit she picked up her coconut drink and tossed it angrily. She didn’t look where it landed, but it apparently it made contact with something that resulted in a loud bop!
“Ow!”
Was that a voice? The alicorn lifted up her head to look around, when she looked down on the beach she could easily find where the coconut cup had landed, and there! Something shifted in the sand. Her mind wasn’t playing tricks on her.
She spread her wings and jumped from the top of the cake sand castle in pursuit. She wasn’t able to distinguish whatever it was, but she could guess where it was, as the sand shifted close to where the cup landed. In eager fervor she dug around in the sand to find the source of this strange voice.
It was a futile effort, and she couldn’t find it anywhere. She turned half the beach inside out with her magic, and still didn’t find it. This drew out a frustrated sigh.
Who else could Dream Walk? And who would want to be in her dreams? And why did they hide?