by nioniosbbbb
Twilight gulped. To say she was stressed would be an understatement. She was going to meet spirits that were centuries, hell even thousands of years old! How would she react? What if she said something that offended them? What would happen if she wasn’t ready, or worthy? Thoughts swirled in her mind, making her dizzy.
Noticing the movement of her eyes:up and right, occasionally going up and down, Chrysalis figured Twilight was trying to remember what else the books said about the great changeling rulers.
“Twilight…” Chrysalis moved her chitinous hoof, caressing her cheek, trying to bring her lover back to reality. Chrysalis approached and sat on her haunches. She continued to caress her lover, looking her in her purple eyes, her oh so radiant eyes full of the spark of life.
Twilight saw Chrysalis’s smile. There wasn’t one tense muscle on her face, no furrowing or grunts. There was nothing forced at all in her kind expression, full of understanding, full of compassion as her eyes were focused upon Twilight. While metaphorically, Twilight understood the concept of empathy, it was still wondrous to her. She didn’t understand how it felt to delve into another’s emotions, how it felt to be in your own biology to care.
She was so beautiful at that moment that Twilight could have sworn she was like a shining sun.
She wanted to know… she wanted to be able to feel how Chrysalis felt, to stand by her side when she was sad, to feel it when she was happy, to share in the burden, and not just relying on her educational guesses that books helped her achieve. She was… envious of sorts that Chrysalis could understand when she was hurt, or frustrated, or confused. The heavenly soft touch of Chrysalis’s hoof was just one of the things that motivated her into this.
“Trust me…” Chrysalis said as she took Twilight’s hooves. Twilight relaxed and let her take them, sitting on her haunches as she surrendered to Chrysalis’s touch. There was something about what she was doing that struck her as… odd.
“Chrysie? What are we doing?” She asked as a smile crept on her face. She didn’t know why, but this felt good. She could hear the birds tweeting far away, she could smell the aroma of the flowers carried by the wind, and she could see… just how beautiful the world could be.
“I am going to take you to the spirit world Twilight.”
Twilight almost froze, losing her focus.“The spirit world?” She raised an eyebrow quizzically.
“The ancient rulers can only materialize themselves on this world for a limited amount of time. More often than not they use others as vessels to tell what they wish, or give their advice. In order for us to enter the spirit world we have to connect ourselves with their world through empathy and magic. Are you ready?”
Twilight was still a bit hesitant. Chrysalis could sense a small chill running up Twilight’s spine.
“Chrysalis…” Oh boy, she didn’t use her nickname… “If the rulers knew about your taint, why didn’t they save us before?”
This was a question really out of place for Chrysalis, but perhaps it wasn’t unexpected, knowing her lover’s inquisitive nature. Twilight was a scholar, one that would doubt curses, leeches, even gods. It all fell into place. Now Chrysalis understood why all the stress, why the hesitation, why her touch was so effective.
“Because we thrive in adversity. We learn through bridled conflict. Indeed, they could have stopped the problem in its tracks… but what would that have achieved? Wouldn’t it be better if we were independent from them most of the time? Wouldn’t it be better if before they fixed it we had learned how to prevent it from being a problem again?” She said, waiting for a response.
“I guess… I just don’t want my doubt to tick them off. I mean, we’re going to be asking a favor, I don’t want to be unwillingly mean.”
“You worry too much, Twilight…”
“But…” she protested before being cut off again.
“I thought of the same thing once. When I was forced to face my first changeling that was maddened with hunger, I thought there would be no hope for me. I couldn’t face the Ancients knowing inside that I had failed to preserve them. Not from those that oppressed them, but from something I could have stopped. After the invasion, I was too ashamed for my own good, but despite my doubts, despite my wrongdoings… they came in our time of need.” She paused for a moment.
“Now, we have the chance to fix this, to go the next step. If there’s one thing I’ve learned through this whole ordeal, it’s that in order for good things to happen, you need to be open to them. If you think they are going to reject you for stating your opinion, then no matter what they say you’ll feel rejected.” Something bright awakened within Twilight as she heard those words. As Chrysalis’s voice rose a bit in volume and her tone became happier, she felt like the brightness of their surroundings had returned. Chrysalis moved her horn against Twilight’s. As they touched she closed her eyes. Twilight allowed herself to be led and closed her eyes as well.
“Concentrate on the sound of my voice… Feel the magic flowing through our horns.” Twilight obliged, feeling their magic intertwining in spirals climbing up.
“Feel my heartbeat beneath the chitin of my hooves, sense the veins-the blood flowing through them.”
As she focused on Chrysalis’s body, she heard the galloping sound of her heart, and there was a red light pushing through her eyelids. For a moment, she took a peek through her closed eyes to see they were both radiating with the colors of their bodies. It gradually intensified, whatever this spell was it was working. Not wanting to mess with the focus of the moment, Twilight immediately closed her eyes again. She heard Chrysalis’s voice, but this time it was as if she speaking from Twilight’s heart. Her voice was in there, it was in the wind that blew through the grass, it was in the sun’s rays high above. But Twilight was there too, she felt like part of this world. The radiance was there too, it was in her...
“Life is like a big tunnel, everything seems bleak at first. But if you just keep going, if you keep on moving forward…”
Twilight understood now… what Chrysalis was doing, what the radiance was. It wasn’t just magic… As Twilight allowed herself to be enveloped in the shining beauty of the world she understood.
“You’ll end up in a better place.”
It was the beauty of the world revealed through love.