by Europa
"You know," Chrysalis said to the pony that matched her height. "You don't need to do this alone."
Twilight sighed. "Yes I do, Chryssy. It was my mistake, and it's mine to fix as a result."
"But - !"
Twilight leaned over to nuzzle her. "Please, Chrysalis. I need to do this on my own. I have to face them. Don't make this any harder than it has to be."
The changeling princess leaned over to give the pony a lick across the cheek. "Promise you'll come back?"
Twilight nodded resolutely. "I promise." The pony took a deep breath from Chrysalis's carapace. "Take care, Chyrssy." With that, Twilight spread her wings and descended through the gate into Tartarus, leaving Chrysalis to sit on her haunches in the middle of the Everfree Forest.
She wasn't particularly worried about the local fauna; even animals knew better than to anger a well-fed changeling royal just on scent alone. The flora itself was more uncomfortable; having lived most of her life beneath the Badlands, coming to Equestria was a shock. There was just so much green, leafy vines and roots strangling the disgustingly liquid dirt. Where was the dust? Where was the cracked stone? Ew.
Then there was the sun and moon, the sky. She'd been above ground before on occasion, during the Firestorm, but that was always at night. Watching the sun that Twilight - and until recently, her Mystic Council - controlled, always burning out of the corner of her eyes, was painful. Much too bright for her liking; how did ponies live in Equestria?
With Twilight gone to Tartarus to meet her fate, it gave Chrysalis time to reflect and worry on how they'd come to this. So much time spent in the hive, just talking with Twilight after she had pardoned her. Mother hadn't been happy about that, of course, but made no move to counter it for which she was thankful. And of course, Chrysalis nurtured Queen Twilight's feelings towards her, and eventually she whole-heartedly returned them. When Twilight wasn't being genocidal or withdrawn, she was quirky, adorkable, always on the prowl for new information and a truly kind, caring, humble soul. It wasn't that hard to love her, and it was amusing for Chrysalis to realize that, despite being five millennia old, she'd never had sex and that ponies as a whole were rather shy about it. That had been fun to clear up.
Of course, it would come with all sorts of political problems, with Twilight being a Princess's Consort and Chrysalis being a Queen's Consort. There was also the fact that Twilight Sparkle was five thousand years old, whereas Chrysalis herself was twenty five, but when Twilight let down her guard, when her queenly mask crumbled, anyling would think that Princess Chrysalis was the older one.
It had been a year and a half after Twilight first opened up to her that she'd asked to go to Tartarus and visit the princesses she'd imprisoned there. Chrysalis didn't ask. She didn't need to; the guilt and regret wafting from the pony had spoken more than words ever could. Which lead to her current situation of fidgeting in the Everfree Forest, in Equestria, in the middle of the blinding day.
CRACK-FWOOM!
The ground about a mile away exploded upwards. Three streaks soared into the air; midnight blue, pink, and brilliant yellow. Chrysalis scrambled backwards as the three points spun around each other, then angled away to the west, where she knew the Equestrian capitol of Canterlot rested.
She fell onto her back with a light snap, her hoof raised to her breast. She looked behind herself and saw that her wings had broken off from her fall, and groaned. "Buck! Growing those back is going to itch!" Suddenly, she gasped. "Twilight!" She sprinted towards where the purple pony had gone, but Twilight got to her before she could reach Tartarus.
"Twily! What happened? Are you okay?"
Demurely, the pony queen nodded. "Yeah. I'm fine." There were tears staining her fur, and Chrysalis swore she saw a bruise under her coat, forming on her cheek. "I'm fine," she protested when Chrysalis approached.
"You're not fine, you're hurt." She reached up and caringly stroked her lover's cheek. "We should get you back to Canterlot, I know that you'll probably be needed on your throne to - "
Twilight looked up at her. A tense pause stretched between them like a canyon. At last she asked, "What throne?"
"What do you mean - oh. Oh." That explained so much. "Twilight... what do you want to do now?"
"Can we... can we go back to the hive? I don't want to be around Equestria, not for a while."
Chrysalis nodded and leaned in to embrace the pony. "Of course, Twi. Of course."
Out of the corner of her eye she saw Twilight's horn light up with a magenta corona. Not the blinding, multicolored swirl she'd always seen before, just an even purplish-red. Then there was a flash, the familiar tug of pony-teleportation, and they were off to the hive.
TO
BE
CONCLUDED