Final: A Tale of Two Chryssies
Rice stared up at the ceiling for quite a long time. He lay on his back, alone with his feelings. Alone with the sorrow, hate and misery that he for so long had been avoiding. He might as well have been lying in the middle of an ocean, a constantly-moving sea of inky, black despair. Crushed into it, unable to move his own limbs for the weight of it all, pulsing and pushing every muscle.
And yet, he could somehow still breath. His chest rose and fell, even though it felt like he was being constantly crushed. His chest hurt, his heart hurt, he ached and burned, and was still breathing. Still blinking. Such was the case of his depression. His gauntlets were broken, metallic fingers jabbed through the floor, pinning his mane and tail. After what seemed like an eternity, he struggled against them if only to make himself more comfortable.
This was the truth, his punishment and the result of his malicious methods. Finally, too exhausted to think, beaten and helpless, he had to face his emotions. He felt the crushing of his body, mind and spirit. Rice's soul ached, proof that he still had one. And it was something Dan had faced as well. The difference, however, was plain to see: Dan would have gotten up a lot faster. Dan still had something worth fighting for, for he had not alienated all of his friends.
Rice's selfishness meant he would now face his demons alone. Truly, completely, alone. But face them, he did.
Then, the door to the hallway opened again.
"Uhh, hey."
Rice managed to look over at Dan. He stood in the doorway, Rice on the floor, both of them just looked at each other for a long moment, not saying anything. In that moment, Rice didn't care if that moment lasted forever.
"Just wanna say real quick, two things: first, don't try to go anywhere."
"Wasn't planning-"
"Second, you tell anyone that I hugged you and I will... uhh... just don't, okay? I'm too tired to think of a way to threaten you. Spinal... liquidation? See, I need some time for this."
"F-fine, okay. Just, fine," Rice said. "Go get Chrys."
"Right." The human spun around and ran back out again.
When Dan's echoing footsteps died, Rice was left alone in silence again. His mind couldn't help but to think about the confrontation Dan was about to face. What would he do when he learned the truth? What choice would he make? He'd always managed to surprise in the past. It would be interesting, if nothing else, to see what happened. Maybe he and Chrys would start a family. A new family in a new part of Equestria, a chance at a happy life.
"A chance..."
He thought of Ty. Tympanic Tempo, aka General Typhoon had been the closest thing Rice had gotten to a wife. The pegasus triumvir during his tenure as chancellor, the general of the Pegasus Army had an affair with Rice that resulted in their only son, Vice, whom Ty had named before his birth. She had hoped Vice to be a pegasus mare, or at least a pegasus like her so that she might pass the mantle of general of the army to them. When Vice was born as an earth pony stallion, with deformed front legs, General Typhoon became distraught, ashamed and embittered. Mostly at the father of her son.
General Typhoon, or just Ty as she was to Rice, was a very militant pegasus. Like Rice, she would be the last to hold her office. Because of the separation of the three tribes, and the fact that her son did not have wings, she was forced to give him up to Rice to raise him in Ponyville. It was only staunch tradition and her own military pride that prevented her from being a mother to him, however, that and her own shame and disdain. She would be unable to pass the title of general to one of her own blood. In her mind, that made her a failure. Although she was not the smartest mare, she was wise enough to realize her own close-minded nature and ruthlessness to an extent, at least to the extent that she sought Rice out that a child born from them might have his intellect and her military discipline.
It was not a loveless relationship. The two bonded, and might've gotten married if things had been different. But Ty was ashamed of her son and herself, and became cold and bitter as a result. Because of this, possibly, she voted against Rice's locomotive project and conspired to destroy it before it could be completed. The resulting incident led to her own son's death and the presumed death of Rice. Afterward, the unicorn princess Quintessa Quartz forced the pegasi to take sole blame for the death of Rice, the truth of the assassination covered up and the Pegasus Army formally disbanded.
Rice had been a single father before then, only seeing Ty during meetings of the triumvirate. His son was nine when he died. Too young. Even though his front legs had been short, Rice had developed prosthetic hooves so he could walk, even horseshoes. It was always fun going to the shoe store to pick out new shoes. Vice had not been a normal colt, he had been better; his prosthetics came with a variety of customizations. Lights, gadgets, all sorts of things. Given enough time, Rice probably would've added jets.
But what had happened to Ty? Quartz had really been Chrysalis in disguise, one of her early attempts to conquer Equestria, but Discord would seize it shortly after under the guise of the unicorn Discovery. Maybe Ty had gone to Earth. Maybe...
Rice grabbed at his gauntlet with his hooves, the one pinning his mane. The metal was too polished, even damaged to grasp properly from the side and he was too weak to grip it and pull it out.
Despite this, Rice continued trying to free himself.
Dan ran down the corridor. Scuffed, beaten, burned, bruised, he felt like he could completely fall apart at any moment. He didn't know what was keeping him from just collapsing and passing out. He was tired, impossibly tired, aching, in pain, unbelievably in pain. But still he ran. He ran, though he had no energy, he ran though he could barely draw breath, he ran to Chrys. Dan ran.
The corridor was long. It didn't matter to him, he still ran. He didn't stop. It was lit with panels on the walls, ceiling and floor but still dark at the very end. He found why quickly; it opened up into a cave. It felt like he'd been running for miles.
He ran from the tunnel of lights into a cave of darkness. It was almost pitch-dark, but had some illumination in the form of crystals. Gems and sparkling minerals dotted the interior of the cave. Dan recognized it as a mine, the same mine the base had originally been built from. Little did he know that it went far deeper than he could've imagined.
He yelled out, "Chrys!" at the top of his lungs, with what little he could muster while sprinting.
Eventually, the cave grew from a tunnel into, well, a larger tunnel. It opened up as he ran down it. He saw a larger light up ahead, and it grew and grew, and grew until he realized where he was.
And then, he saw her: the Director.
"Hello, Dan."
He stopped in front of her. He looked all around the open room they were in. Somehow, he knew it was going to be THIS room. It could only be here. This is where it had all started... and the only place it could end.
It was the cave directly under Canterlot Castle. The cave where the original Magic Gear KNIGHT had been, where had fought it, and where it had been developed. Where the Sword Spells had been developed, where all Rice and the Director's plans had been made, where it all had been put into motion before Dan had even entered Equestria. And, most importantly of all...
It was where Queen Chrysalis and her changelings had been imprisoned.
And it was where they all were once again.
"You've finally arrived. Took you long enough. Rice give you that much trouble?" The Director was on top of a raised platform of some kind near the back of the room. Steps led up to her, barely visible.
Dan stepped forward. The Director had her cloak pulled. "Not... gimme a minute," he grabbed his knees and gasped. Wiped drool from his mouth onto his arm. "I mean for squeeing squee's sakes, even the censors are too tired. You couldn't have installed one of those walkways or something? I just ran several freaking miles between Prosperity Mountain and here! AND YOU WERE HERE THIS WHOLE FREAKING TIME!!"
She smiled. "I was. In a way, I've never left."
"Oh, don't even start with the cryptic bullshit. Please, I've had enough. We've ALL had enough. What was the point of... the point of dragging me all the way out to that mountain?"
"It was a test, of course. And a way of tying up loose ends. You've done everything I've wanted you to do, more than I could have ever asked, Dan. Thank you."
"FUCK. THE FUCK. OFF, lady. Give me my girlfriend and let me GO HOME."
"She's yours." The room lit up again, slowly, but completely.
Dan looked all around them. The changelings were all trapped in strange capsules. Just like the ones the ponies had been trapped in when they were transported to the moon. Magic was being drained out of them, transferred into a machine. And in the center of the platform was Chrys. Like the other changelings, she was being held in some sort of stasis capsule.
The Director pulled back her cloak. And finally, Dan saw who she truly was.
She was Chrys. And behind her was Chrys.
"Chrys is yours, Dan. You've earned her."
Changeling Matriarch
Queen Chrysalis
The Faceless One
He turned back and forth between the two. "But... no. No. NO, NO, NO NO NO NO NO NO!! NOOOOOOO! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! IT CAN'T BE, NOOOOOOOOO!!"
Chrys shrugged. "I'm sorry. This is the way it's been since long before you got here. But you changed it."
Dan walked up to her. "Chrys... why? Why did you go through with all of this?"
"I'm not Chrys," Chrys said. "I am Queen Chrysalis, third queen of the Equestrian Changeling Horde. Created by and in direct opposition to the Fausticorn herself, I have lived for thousands upon thousands of years and seen the destruction of many lands, kingdoms and worlds called Equestria. And..." she turned away, "I regret all of it."
"Wait... wait wait wait, rewind. That part where you said you're NOT Chrys?"
She shook her head. "I'm not Chrys. Even though I wanted to be. Very, very much. I could change everything about myself except my nature. My role as a villain. It was my destiny to destroy Equestria. I got very good at it. I've seen you die so many times it hurts. This time... I wanted this time to be different."
"I don't... wait, no. I get it." And he did. He finally did. "You're both from other dimensions. Other Equestrias."
She shook her head again, sadly. "Just her. I gained enough power from absorbing the magic of previous Equestrias. Draining them all, I gained the ability to see into other universes. But there were things even a universe worth of power could not change. I couldn't undo what I'd done. Not because it was impossible, but because it would only cause more destruction. I couldn't do it alone. I needed others to create a universe where... where we could all be together."
"I know.. kind-of know, what that's like." He looked from her to Chrys. "I was worried for a long time I wasn't... cut-out to be here. Not good enough or... nice enough. But I am here and so are you, and so is she! So just stop all your bullshit, because the world you wanted to create, well, congratulations! You did it. All your lying and scheming paid off. Let me have my Chrys back."
"It's not that simple." She raised her hands. Her withered, knobby-white hands. "Summoning has rules, Dan. The same object... the same person cannot occupy the same space at the same time. The distortions are a result of that. I've tried countless times to unmake and remake myself, bonded with other ponies." She balled her hands into fists. "To no avail."
She was the same as Rice. Both of them were desperately trying to change a world, nearly destroying a world that they loved because of the smallest things. Certain unbreakable rules, laws of nature... Dan had not escaped them by coming to Equestria. There was no escape from them. Not because there was no place where they did not reach, but because of them. Because of hatred. Because of regret. Because revenge is just as much a tie that binds, a shackle as much as the rules and laws and those that rage against them.
You carry what you resent. Dan knew it better than anyone. You carry it with you. As long as you hate something, it will still exist, indestructible. In you.
Dan stepped forward again. "I want to talk to her-"
The Director held her hand out. "She's not ready yet."
"I DON'T-" He was lifted off the floor. He was getting used to it, the feeling of magic plucking him. It wasn't some divine power but just another unseen force in the world. Like the wind or gravity, but magic had the clear feeling that someone was directing it. Heh, directing. Magic had feelings and moods and a temperature, even. You could feel it even if you couldn't use it on your own, Dan found out.
The Director's magic felt cold and hot, light and dark, oppressive and gentle at the same time. So many contradictions. Twilight's magic was careful, calculated but kind. It required a lot of restraint, the same way it took to handling something small, like an insect. The Director's magic was turbulent and tormented, explosive. That level of power both empowered and imprisoned. The world was just full of contradictions.
The thunder of hooves drew both their attention. More lights came streaming down the corridor behind Dan.
"Well it's about damn time!!" Waving his arms against the air, struggling against the magic, Dan was able to turn himself just a bit to see Twilight and the rest of his friends running towards him.
"Dan!!"
"Dan!!"
Twilight and Phoenix were at the front of the group, of course. They looked like they'd been through hell and back a half-dozen times, not that Dan could see them very well.
"Right on schedule," the Director said. The moment they entered the chamber, she lifted her other hand and up they went.
"AGH!"
"Wooah!"
Instinctively, Phoenix reached for his gun but he dropped it. "Oh, drat." Yeah, he fought a war, straight-up shot a guy but Phoenix Wright still was not one for frequent profanity.
"And where have you all been, hmm? It's not nice to keep us waiting."
"Let go... let go of Chrys!!" Twilight yelled. She struggled against the Director's grip, and then, suddenly her limbs went stiff. All their limbs went stiff, splayed out, helpless as they levitated.
Chrys was unresponsive. Maybe she was asleep, unconscious, in some kind of trance, it was impossible to tell. Her horn glowed like she was using a spell, but she clearly wasn't using it of her own volition. The Director was draining her magic and that of the changelings around them, pooling it for some reason.
There were thousands of capsules, each with a changeling. They all glowed as magic was leeched out of them. Some sort of suspended animation, clearly. They didn't seem to be in pain; some of their wings even buzzed. Perhaps they were dreaming. Maybe that was what the Director wanted for them.
"The changelings... they were here this whole time?!?!" Twilight shouted.
"Hahahaha... oh, Twilight, that's the point of changelings. We hide in plain sight."
"She has a point," Phoenix said. "This is pretty much the last place we would've looked." Twilight and everyone else glared at him. (Okay, not helpful. My bad.)
The capsules exploded with energy. Sparks of white, both light and lightning burst around the room. The air crackled.
"These are all... parts and pieces from the Magic Gear project!" Twilight said. She looked at the Director. "How did it survive the planet breaking apart?"
"It didn't," Cleo said. The Director said. Chrysalis said. "Resetting Equestria reset everything. All I did was use some leftover parts and put the changelings back here. It's all quite simple, but there are things even I can't do alone." She held her hand out at Twilight, and Twilight's back arched painfully, involuntarily.
"Aaa-aahhh!!"
"Not much magic in you, but it will be enough." Twilight's horn glowed, then dimmed, then drained completely. What little magic she had left swirled into the Director's hand and was absorbed. Twilight's body went slack.
"I didn't have enough magic to change Equestria on my own. My own nature and that of my changelings kept me back. No, your precious 'Chrys' is no Queen Chrysalis." The Director turned to her. "She's..." And her voice grew sad. "She's everything Queen Chrysalis cannot be. She was summoned here to be what I could not."
"You summoned your-yourself?" Phoenix asked. "That's not possible. You have to have a link to something from another world."
She turned to him. "I didn't summon her." She pointed at Dan. "He did. The moment he said Chrys instead of Chrysalis."
"But... he wasn't the first to say Chrys," Twilight said, tiredly.
"I DON'T. CARE. ABOUT. ANY. OF. THIS. CRAP," Dan yelled. "I just want MY Chrys back. I don't care if it doesn't make sense, I don't care who she was or what she's supposed to be..." He looked over at her, also suspended in midair, helpless. "I love her."
Chrysalis nodded. "I know. And I'm going to give her to you." The air crackled loudly again. Magic from all the changelings, from Chrys, from the gems and the stones and the air around them, from everything and everywhere pooled. It formed into a massive orb of bluish-white incandescence, pulsing rapidly as it formed until finally, it stopped. The ball lowered to the floor as a puffy, white cloud of energy.
Dan had seen it before. Falling from thousands of feet above the Pacific Ocean, he'd seen it.
Stats
Page generated in 0.09 seconds
Total duration
600 users online
907,830 hits today, 2,280,440 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
Someling is going to get such a spanking for scaring Dan so much?
11227947
Heyyo, happy you're enjoying it so far but this story needs rewrites after episode like 12 and on. Just an FYI but thanks for reading anyway.
Seriously, 17 was supposed to be a surf contest. And it got ridiculous quick. It's over a million words long so at some point, I had to go for broke.
Everyone present should keep in mind the #1 rule of magic: NEVER absorb an orb of magical energy bigger than your head.
Evening Barro, sorry I'm late if I'm honest this weekend just drained me, started good (Comic Con) then ended ... urgh. I'm just weary, I can currently appreciate the title though not much else, I just didn't want Dan and Friends to think my loyalty had waned
(BRB Pinkie Promise)
Thanks for making the end of a crumby day better and I hope you have a great Sunday too.
Awesome as always and I'll see you ~next time~
Your Eternal Fan
^_^
(Meanwhile sleep ... sleep good ... zzz)
11228564
Hate to point this put but in DBZ Krillin *kinda* absorbed a tiny ball of Frieza's energy and was promptly blown up ...
Now THAT'S a
!
11229517
Good twist or bad twist? I hope you liked it! Spent a lot of time thinking on this one, but it really does fit well.
11229659
Good twist. The Director has always been more morally ambiguous than Rice, while at the same time Chrys has always been vague about her responsibilities as Queen of the Changelings, it fits.
11229718
Do me a favor and please spoiler your comment... I probably should have been doing that with a bunch of my other comments. Eh, it's fine either way. And thank you as always.
11229888
Sure thing.
11229977
Thank you pal. And thank you again for just giving this even a view. It helps me, and I hope it's been a fun ride for you. This one is coming to an end, but there will be more.