Chapter 2: The Truth is hard to bear...
CHAPTER TWO
The Truth Is Hard To Bear...
Written by Frube94
Edited by GeodesicDragon
Minor Editing by AppleJack from Ponyville.co
Sam awoke within what appeared to be a master bedroom. Scared, and generally confused, he decided to get up and view his surroundings. On a table next to the bed was a series of newspapers, with some articles circled. His curiosity getting the better of him, Sam picked up the newspaper and read it.
CHANGELING ATTACKS INCREASE
Today at the Royal Canterlot Gardens, in front of a crowd of thousands, Princess Celestia officially declared that a state of emergency was now in effect within Equestria. The Changelings, known for their ability to transform into the looks of anypony and feast on the love that other ponies have for them, recently launched an attack on the town of Ponyville which left many buildings destroyed and several lives devastated.
Princess Celestia was unavailable for an official comment, claiming that "it is too unsafe to trust anypony". But her sister, Princess Luna, was available and had only this statement to add:
"Citizens of Equestria, do not be frightened of the Changelings!" she proclaimed. "We will find each and every one of them and make sure that they are punished for their crimes against our fair country!"
While Princess Luna may not be afraid of the Changelings, it is safe to say that almost every other pony is. So take care, trust nopony and always be on the lookout for anything suspicious.
Whoa, Sam thought. Things have certainly gone downhill for Equestria.
The door to the bedroom clicked open, stopping Sam's train of thought. As he watched, Chrysalis walked in with a small smile on her face.
"Hello, Sammy," she cooed. "How are you feeling?"
"Sammy?" Sam replied, confused. "What the... where am I?"
"You're home!" Chrysalis exclaimed, her brow furrowing. "Don't you remember?"
"Re-remember what?"
"Oh, right..." Chrysalis said sheepishly, scratching the back of her neck. "You're more than likely a little confused at this whole situation."
"What do you mean by that?" Sam demanded.
"Well... what's the last thing that you can remember?"
"We.. we were in the cave," Sam clenched his teeth in concentration. "And you wanted me to visit your so called Kingdom. The next thing I know, I've woken up here."
"The cave?!" Chrysalis gasped. "Our first encounter? But, Sam, that was months ago!"
"Now what the hell do you mean by that?" Sam raised an eyebrow. "Explain it to me, Chrysalis."
"After we left the cave we flew back here... back home," Chrysalis said softly. "I explained to you what a Changeling is and what we do, you accepted who we were but requested to leave. After my final few words you left and I didn't see you for a few months, when you you came back and told me that Ponyville had abandoned you. You finished by saying that you wanted to live here... with me."
"I did?!" Sam queried, before raising his voice. "You must be lying, because I don't remember any of that!" shouted Sam
"Oh please, Sammy, let's not have this fight again," Chrysalis whined. She paused for a moment as a thought came to her. "I'll tell you what... you can leave if you wish. I won't stop you, nor will any of the Changelings. But think for a moment and make sure... are you genuinely sure that you want to leave?"
"I.. I.." Sam sighed. "Okay, okay, maybe I over-reacted a little." He jumped slightly at the sound of his stomach grumbling. "Whoa, that sounds pretty nasty... say, Chrysalis, is there anywhere I can get some food? I guess I can't think straight on an empty stomach."
"Sure," Chrysalis beamed, beginning to leave the room. "I'll even show you around again if you've forgotten what our place looks like."
"Our place?" questioned Sam as he got off the bed and followed her.
"Yes, my dear," she replied. "Our place."
Sam cautiously followed Chrysalis as she walked through the corridors explaining some of the rooms she had within this marvellous building of hers. They eventually came to a set of double doors, through which the smell of fresh cooking made Sam drool slightly.
"And last but not least, the kitchen," Chrysalis giggled as she saw Sam wiping his muzzle. "Wow, I guess you really are hungry. By all means feel free to help yourself to whatever you want, my dear."
"Thanks," Sam said, a puzzled look on his face. "But I have one small question... why do you keep calling me your dear?"
"Er... no reason," Chrysalis said, avoiding Sam's gaze. "I do it to everypony..." She spotted a Changeling wearing a chef's hat and an apron and waved a forehoof at them. "Hello my dear!" She shouted, to which the Changeling waved back with a confused expression. "See?"
"Hmm, okay," Sam didn't sound convinced. "Thank you for your help."
"That's no problem," Chrysalis nodded slightly and started to walk away. "Take all the time you want. If you need me then I'll be in the grounds training the Changelings."
"Wait, training?" Sam scratched his head. "Training them for what?"
"Oh, just basic magical training and what not," Chrysalis mumbled. "I've er... I've got to go! Bye!" And with those words she galloped down the corridor and out of sight. Sam blinked in wonder and shook his head.
There's something not right here, he thought. And I need to figure out what. His stomach grumbled, much louder than before. But I can't do it with nothing in my system, so I guess I'd better eat.
***
Some time later, Sam had finished eating and decided to search the castle for clues as to what was going on.
I can't ask any of the Changelings where her bedroom is, he thought, a look of anger on his face. They'll think I'm mad and tell Chrysalis. Now where the fuck is it?
An infuriatingly slow thirty minutes passed, during which time Sam had ventured into several random rooms, he found what looked like another master bedroom.
"Oh, man," he muttered. "This is so many shades of creepy, but I still need to know." He slowly opened the door and peeked inside to see if anypony was there. Much to his relief the room was empty, and so he entered the bedroom and started to look around. "There's gotta be something here!"
He looked for what felt like hours but failed to find anything of any major use. As evil and conspicuous as Chrysalis seems, she must be a nice pony. But then Sam opened a closet and found a small locked box nestled within.
"This looks suspicious," he said triumphantly. "And it's locked, so I'll need to think of a lock breaking spell." He racked his brains for a few seconds before he clopped his forehooves together in realisation. He charged his horn with magic and aimed it at the chest.
"All right," he licked his lips. "Here goes nothing..." A faint magical aura surrounded the box, followed by a faint clicking noise as the lock was detached. Sam let out a small cry of glee and peered inside.
Inside the box lay a collection of photos, a book of spells - which Sam thought to be familiar to him - and another newspaper cutting.
"They say that a picture is worth a thousand words," Sam chuckled. "So I think I'll look at them first." He took the photos in his aura and began to leaf through them.
The photos were simple and most depicted Chrysalis and himself travelling, having fun and generally enjoying themselves, but as Sam looked through them his suspicion only grows. I don't remember any of this, he thought. These are the kinds of things that anypony would remember, yet I don't...
He put the photos back in the box and removed the book. "Now why does this book look familiar?" he said as he flipped through the page. He stopped on a random page and started to read the description of the spell depicted on it. "Aha! This is the book where I learnt all my spells from!" He exclaimed. "I knew it! I dare to wonder what's in this cutting..."
Putting down the book he grabbed the newspaper cutting and read it.
QUEEN CHRYSALIS OVERRULED!
Queen Chrysalis, the leader of the Changling Army who has been known for her aggressive behaviour, has been officially overthrown by Princesses Celestia and Luna using the Elements of Harmony.
Chrysalis has since escaped but some ponies fear that one day she may return to attack and regain control of Equestria. And while this reporter doesn't believe that she'll return, the fear engulfing the cities and villages around Equestria suggests otherwise.
One thing is for sure, though. While Chrysalis roams free, nopony is safe.
She captured Canterlot?! Sam thought. That's definite proof that she's up to no good! She must be training her Changelings for another attack on Equestria... but how do I stop her?
The door creaked slightly, causing Sam to jump. "Who's there?" he shouted. "Come on, show yourself!"
"Now now, dear," Chrysalis replied as she pushed the door open and entered the room. "It's not very polite to look through a pony's things. After all, I haven't been looking through your stu—" she stopped abruptly when she saw the open box. "What have you seen in there?"
"Everything," Sam replied bluntly. "The photos, the book of spells, even the newspaper clipping! You never told me that you ruled Equestria!"
"That's because it's... hard to talk about," Chrysalis said as she looked away, her ears flattening against her head. "It's not exactly the kind of story you share with friends and family."
"You should have told me..." Sam stressed, a depressed tone to his voice.
"I didn't want to take the risk," Chrysalis mumbled.
"Risk?" Sam questioned. "What risk?"
"The risk... of losing you," Chrysalis said, a twinge of disappointment clearly audible.
"You could have lost me by lying to me," Sam offered a small smile. "I'm a forgiving pony, but you have to be honest with me."
Chrysalis' ears slowly returned to their normal positions as she nodded. "What do you want to know?" she asked.
"Everything, of course," Sam replied. "But start with the most important things first. Like Equestria, the Changlings... and me."
"Everything?" Chrysalis buzzed her wings and sat on her haunches. "Well, Equestria was always my main plan. You see, as a queen, I need to care for my subjects: they need shelter, food, and a place to call home. With Canterlot being the capital of Equestria, and the best place to live, I decided to invade with my army so that we could claim it for ourselves. We succeeded but at a cost — many of us died to the guards and royalty who defended to their last breath. For a while I used to believe that every changling that died had done so for the good of the rest of us, but after Celestia and Luna attacked with the Elements of Harmony we had to retreat." She paused for a moment, a single tear rolling down her cheek. "We fled as far as we could, found this small place and built up from there. Canterlot was a massive defeat for us and we barely escaped alive."
"Oh..." Sam cleared his throat. "I can see why it's not the type of story you like to share."
"As for us, The Changelings, we are who we are. We're like any other pony, except we have the ability to change our appearance to any other pony or create our own. This in itself scared other ponies and we started to get shunned out from the community. After everypony found out that we 'feast on love', for want of a better phrase, we were considered villains and chased out from our towns and villages. They needed a leader... they needed me."
More tears cascaded down Chrysalis' cheeks and onto the floor.
"I'm... I'm sorry," Sam said. "Forget I asked."
"No.. you deserve to know," Chrysalis sniffled. "And as for you... well..." She trailed off as she put her forehooves over her face. "Please, I need to go, I'm sorry."
"No," Sam said. "This is your room after all, so I'll leave." He put the items he took back into the box before locking it again. With a smile and a nod to Chrysalis he left the room, her choice of words echoed in his mind.
'Please, I need to go, I'm sorry.' He thought. I remember saying those same words to Crystal when she broke my heart. As Sam closed Chrysalis' bedroom door he could hear crying through the walls. Telling her story had obviously been hard, but she told me anyway. Either she's got guts or she cares for me a lot... perhaps she cares a bit too much.
He went back to his bedroom and lay on the bed, staring wistfully at the ceiling as thoughts flooded his mind.
"Either she's fooling me or... maybe she cares for me," he groaned. "I can't work it out. Could the pony who feasts upon love finally learn the true meaning of it?" He shook his head fiercely. "No, she's fucking fooling me. She can't love me, she's just a Changeling trying to fool me!" He chewed his lip in frustration. "Or is she...?"
Sam closed his eyes, hoping it was all a dream. When he opened them nothing had happened, it was still daytime outside and he was still lying there — and still feeling bad.
Have... have I developed feelings for Queen Chrysalis?
This was the last thought he had before he finally surrendered to the lull of sleep.
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I'm liking it so far! The story, de-demonizing the changelings from what the ponies believed them to be but is it true? The part I'm really liking is also that you're giving Chrysalis a vulnerable side, a very human side. I'm glad I faved this story!
3419304
Changlings exploit vulnerability to feed, But is it possible that Chrysalis herself could be falling into a trap?
[It's a trap!.GIF]
The possibilities are endless, Thanks for your comment! :D
3419412
No problem, it's a good story. I love these kind of stories.
Ze Story is very, very very very interesting :D
I like the way you made Queen Chrysalis a bit soft :D
I'll be stickin around commentin on moar of yer story =D
Floop :3
-Lime GreenSharde'
3425190
We are all softies at heart, Even Queen Chry :)
Thank you, Every View, Comment, Like and Fave brings me one step closer to a possibly new career in FIMfiction
Excellent chapter my friend.
But one tip, keep the romance in good pace. Don't rush into things.
3428347
Well the relationship is put to the test and the romance is extended in Chapter 3 (Coming out soon) however chap.3 is roughly 3000 words, So the romance isn't really expressed that much. I'm believing that if the story goes well I could expand into a sequel, In there the relationship may go above and beyond (Possible Mature rating too.)
But I'll finish this story first before getting ahead of myself too much :P
Thank you for your comment, I love to hear feedback :D