//------------------------------// // Messenger by Europa // Story: Tainted Love: A Twysalis Prompt Tag Collab // by Foals Errand //------------------------------// by Europa She wondered what had become of them. It had been over two years since she'd last seen the changelings, at the fateful wedding, and so far Equestria had not seen hair or shell of them since. Twilight was especially worried about what had become of their Queen, who'd shown Discord-like disregard for pony life. So when she became the Princess of Friendship, devoted to spreading harmony throughout Equestria and beyond, Twilight Sparkle decided that the first she'd visit would be the changelings. She would come, not with hoof-spikes, but with an olive branch. At least, that was what she would be doing, if she could just find the damned hive! The Badlands were vast and chaotically uniform, mesas and canyons criss-crossing the landscape with no pattern, but any one place was indistinguishable from the other. She flew around and around, but Twilight simply could not find the entrance to the hive. What was worse, the wards she kept active to shield her from the heat and dryness were taking a toll on her magic; she'd spent all day flying around the Badlands, and now she was totally lost and totally exhausted. She swerved underneath a bridge of red, sun-swept stone and banked right to circle a mesa. Maybe she should call it quits. Go back home, try again next week. Maybe pack some more supplies. Then there was something out of the corner of her vision. Twilight looked over at it, and just had time to gasp in surprise when the green bolt of magic hit her. It was so cold it burned, and then it solidified into slime that wrapped around her wings and pinned them to her body, and her horn was too tired to dispel it as she started to drop like a rock. Flailing wildly and screaming for her life, Twilight looked down and saw a collection of black, insectoid bodies. She screamed again as the swarm came up to meet her. She felt a dull impact, and was out like a light. ***-_***_-***-_***_-***-_***_-*** Twilight opened her eyes groggily, but she couldn't see anything. It was like she hadn't opened them at all. She shook her head left and right, but paused when she found that her head was heavier and off-balance. Reaching up with a hoof to her neck, she realized that a heavy, iron shackle was clasped around her neck and chains attached that to a wall. Her breathing was beginning to quicken. Twilight thought back to the last thing she remembered... changelings! She hadn't found the changelings, they had found her. If what she felt was correct, then they had taken her prisoner. No problem. She hit up her horn... ... she lit up her horn... ... why wasn't her horn lighting up? Twilight raised a hoof to her forehead to try and find what was wrong with it. It couldn't be a magic inhibitor; there weren't any magic inhibitors in the world that could keep her down. She touched the spot where her horn would have been, but felt only air. Panic beginning to rise, Twilight waved the hoof around her head, then pressed it to her skull to feel around. There, beneath her mane, was a disk of hard mode that was all that remained of her broken horn. "No, no no no!" she cried out. Twilight screamed and cried, begging for her to be wrong, for it to be anything else but her horn being broken. Pony horns didn't grow back. Sure, if they were just filed on the outside a bit they'd fill back in, but a total fracture like this? She was never going to perform magic again. Her passion, her talent, her cutie mark, had been stripped away for the rest of her immortal life. No, no no... Clip clop, clip clop, clip clop. Twilight noticed there was light now, coming from the green, multi-irised eyes of Queen Chrysalis herself, who strode in. The light let Twilight see that she was in what approximated a dungeon. "And what did you think you were doing, trespassing in my domain?" she asked coolly in her resonant voice. "M-My horn, m-my horn," Twilight whimpered, curling into a ball as best her shackle allowed her to. "You broke my horn." "A safety precaution. Can't have you blasting and teleporting all over the place now can we? Should I ever decide to let you go, I'll stick you in a cocoon to grow it back. Now, tell me why you intruded upon the lands of the Unified Changeling Swarm." She stepped forward and put a hoof under Twilight's chin, raising her head to shine eyes like spotlights on her own teary face. "Now, what was your purpose here?" "I-I wanted to speak peace with you, I wanted to negotiate terms now that I'm the princess of friendship, to bring the message of harmony to your people, tyrant!" Chrysalis let her head go and took a step back, snarling. "Tyrant you say? And what - " Eldritch magic lit up her cell and Twilight was lifted until the shackle around her neck pulled taught, making it hard to breathe. " - reason do you have to believe I am a tyrant? I do not care for your people, a separate nation. I do not care for you ponies, an inferior species. My subjects I will do anything for. I keep them happy and safe and well-fed, as is my duty as queen. Including protecting them from nosy ponies who come under guise of peace with a dagger in their manes." "W-What?! You think I'm - " "Why would I not? Out of all the ponies, you are by far the most competent. Almost changeling competent. And I am well versed in the arts of infiltration." "But this isn't one! I just wanted to speak to you about maybe forming an alliance between our peoples!" Chrysalis hummed. "So you say. Very well then." Magic flared, and Twilight's neck was free. She rubbed the sore spot, looking at the changeling queen. "Convince me, Twilight." TO BE CONTINUED