Little Bits

by Loganberry

Just Visiting (flashfic; Slice of Life/Dark; Twilight/Chrysalis)

The cell door opened, its hinges gleaming dully in the grey evening light.

“You again?” complained Chrysalis.

“Me again,” said Twilight.

Chrysalis continued to mutter and grumble, but Twilight paid her no heed. She levitated the scroll through the forcefield and laid it down in front of the changeling queen.

Chrysalis looked up, scowling. “What’s this?”

“You know what it is.”

Twilight turned away and walked out of the bare cell, leaving Chrysalis alone with the rolled parchment. She eyed it warily for a while, as though it might leap up and strike her, then grabbed it and ripped it open, breaking the Solar Seal into two jagged halves. Her wings buzzed pointlessly as she read.

I grant your request. Tomorrow, you shall have the messenger you desire: the pony who thinks best of you.

Chrysalis allowed herself a twisted half-smile, then flung the scroll into a dark corner and waited for sleep to come.

* * *

The cell door opened, its hinges gleaming dully in the grey evening light.

“You again?” complained Chrysalis.

“Me again,” said Twilight.

Author's Note:

Placed second (out of ten) in Weekly Contests #25, which had the prompt "Round and Round" and a 200-word limit.

Comments

[FanOfMostEverything]

Not sure if that says more about Twilight or ponies' opinions of Chrysalis. Probably a little of both.

[Loganberry]

6207668 It was actually the Cadance connection that made me think of the idea in the first place.

[Eliki]

Well, first of all I'm really impressed that this story is told in less than 200 words, and despite being such a short piece, it seems to be pretty effective. I'm probably just not quite with it this morning, but I have to admit to not being totally 100% sure what is going on in the story. I'm guessing that Chrysalis really doesn't want to see Twilight, which is why she wants a new messenger, and - basically - the pony who thinks best of her is Twilight. (And Twilight might not necessarily think all that much of her either, but it's the best Chrysalis is going to get. Either that or Twilight maybe believes that there is a tiny shred of a chance that Chrysalis could one day be reformed, but she might be the only one who thinks that is even remotely possible.)

One particular line really stood out for me, for some reason - "Her wings buzzed pointlessly as she read." Obviously Rainbow and Fluttershy's wings, (as well as most other ponies) don't buzz. That description made me think of flies or other similar insects, and although Chrysalis is obviously not an insect, somehow that conjures up the right kind of feel, if that makes sense. Chrysalis has a sort of insect look to her, or certainly pretty far removed from the typical pony look!

[Loganberry]

6232699

I have to admit to not being totally 100% sure what is going on in the story.

Remember "A Canterlot Wedding" -- for most of the double episode, Twilight was the only one who was suspicious of Evil!Cadance. So at that point, she thought worst of (the pony who turned out to be) Chrysalis. After the changeling queen's true form was revealed, though, the others realised how serious a threat she was -- and especially to their friend Twilight -- and absolutely despised Chrysalis and her hive. However, and here we get into headcanon territory, as a princess Twilight has come to realise that a straight "Changelings are to be hated" attitude isn't the right way to go. (Maybe she was behind inviting that one to Cranky's wedding.) While she still doesn't like Chrysalis (understandably) and reluctantly accepts that she can't currently be freed, she probably now understands her motivations more than the rest of the Mane Six. In this little fic, Chrysalis is having it brought home to her that actually, Twilight is her closest friend among ponies these days. I suppose a [Dark] tag could have been justified for some of the implications of that...

[Eliki]

6233187 Thanks for that explanation. I can see what you were trying to achieve now, and with that explanation it does seem even better for it. So in effect, Chrysalis would probably find Twilight's view extremely hard to take, since I can't quite see her being the sort of character that would ever accept someone thinking they understand her, or the reasons behind what she does.

[Loganberry]

6928441 Shows up all right on my tablet! Wouldn't work too well on a monochrome e-reader, I admit.

6928462 Afraid not. PresentPerfect posted a one-word story in the end -- though I think Admiral Biscuit won the "contest" while it was running.

Thanks for reading! It's not often people look at my Little Bits stuff, partly because the quality is very variable.

[Loganberry]

7006675 Thanks! It's probably my favourite pony poem I have on here.

[Loganberry]

7007591 The reference is "spindly killer fish", which is from the Blackadder II episode "Potato". If you know the series, it's the one with Tom Baker hamming it up as Captain Redbeard. It was a hay of a task doing it in 45 minutes, I tell you that!

Oh, and thank you too for your other comment. I wish I could have made that story work as a full fic!

[PresentPerfect]

Huh.

Huhhhh.