"Shining..." Chrysalis whispered to the slumbering stallion. He lay so still it frightened her. "Shining Armor," her voice rose sharply disturbing the sleeping pony who began to show signs of consciousness. The Doctor said he was fine, but the doctors didn't know what she knew about the cause of his condition. She'd never seen a spell cast like the one that hit him. Harlequin eyes brightened as hope burned within their depths.
She would tell him everything, and beg his forgiveness. She'd tell him how trapped she felt and how afraid she had been of her responsibilities. She'd start at the beginning and he'd forgive her, she knew. He'd encourage her return. Maybe even come with her. He was that kind of stallion and she was so tired of feeling guilty. Being his mare was easy. And yet everything about what made her what she was was tainting the pureness she'd found with him.
Wrenched from her musings by the confused tone of voice beside her, Chrysalis blinked as she focused her attention on the injured stallion. It wasn't so much the words that stunned the thundering muscle in her chest. It was the lack of emotion in his eyes that stole her breath and made her weary.
*-1111-*
When Shining Armor came to everything was out of focus. His body ached and his head was killing him. Despite the soft sound of breathing, the room was entirely too loud making the aching of his head almost unbearable. When his vision cleared and the pain in his head dulled to a throbbing annoyance his eyes came to rest on a teal haired mare whose bright green eyes stared on anxiously. An odd feeling washed over him before vanishing just as quickly.
"What happened?" He rasped causing the other to blink in response. "And who are you?"
Chrysalis' features scrunched into confusion as disbelief began to take toll. "D-did- What?"
"Where am I?" Coughed the snow colored stallion.
"You... you don't remember me?"
He squinted, "Am I supposed to? Ah, my head..."
The world around her began to fade away as she processed his words. 'Am I supposed to?'
Yes! Her heart screamed You're the first pony I ever let in! I'm the mare you come home to every night... The one you make love to. You're the only one that's ever chosen me because you wanted to... The only one I allowed to. She wanted to say those words but they were chained in her chest.
"This is a joke... What's the last thing you remember?" Chrysalis forced through her state of disbelief.
"What?"
"The last thing! What's The last thing you remember!"
*-1111-*
Chrysalis thought her heart had broken that day. He'd forgotten that entire year. She covered by pretending to be a nurse informing him about the loss of his friend and nothing else.
It wasn't till later that she found her heart had only fractured. The pain was blinding nonetheless. She didn't even fight the second time the healer came to collect her. The space jump back to the mountainous region was a bit unsettling. The flight there even more unsettling. The hive mind was in a quiet disarray. It frightened her as it had never felt that way before.
In time she realized the selfishness of her actions when she came to find the state of her homeland. She was welcomed with sunken eyes and the overbearing taste of fear.
There was so much resentment as whispers of revolt floated past her ears.
Emotionally wounded, the changeling did what she had to.
Her coronation passage had been harrowing as she was forced to fight her mother. She had to scourge the will to fight, and it was barely enough to defeat the crazy mare who had laughed in her face and mocked her memories.
Even as she lay there gurgling and choking on her own blood the laughter continued. That haunting cackle served as a reminder for the end of her own legacy. Whatever that thing was in the end, it was not the mare who raised her.
At night, in the safety of her new chambers, Chrysalis howled and raged angry at her circumstances until exhaustion took hold and she cried. With time she found herself becoming the cold and calloused monarch her people needed. She didn't want this... but it was hers. Shining Armor became a distant memory as her newfound magic helped her mature into a queen. She wanted him, but he was not hers. Eventually she buried it so deep she sometimes wondered if it really happened that way.
Chrysalis would make it up to her species. She swore it as she slowly rebuilt her kingdom.
Epilogue
One year later...
The healer stared at the mechanical creature who prepared for the New Hope Ceremony. It had been a year and a half since Chrysalis had become Queen of the Changelings. A year since her kind barely made it. Her lithe frame had filled out some as her gnarled horn looked even more imposing. Her features were sharper as were many other things that had rounded out from her time in Canterlot. Dressed in a robe of plum with teal and gold ornaments and accents, Chrysalis had come into her role in a way that would've made her mother proud.
Even though, Odonata couldn't help but frown. She'd helped with the rebirth of the changeling empire. Offering comfort in the form of silence and counsel when necessary. However the regret that festered inside her was sometimes too hard to swallow. The younger female was miserable, she knew. But one creature's misery was nothing in the face of an entire kingdom.
Shaking away the useless sentiment, she politely informed her monarch that she was ready to be received. "Your Majesty... Its time to go."
"Yes..." Chrysalis intoned as she checked over her appearance one last time. Harlequin eyes were dull as she rose and turned to face her chamber doors. Her guards stood taller as she slowly approached with poise and indifference.
Honestly, Chrysalis loved her species. She had to. Why else would she do what she did?
Love dictated all of her actions as love was everything to a changeling.