[Misplaced]

by awesomesauce4

Chapter 3 - Grotto

The elevator arrives with another ding, jolting you and Nightmare Moon both out of your respective stupors.

“How long did that take?” you mumble, getting up and stretching.

“Mayhap we summoned it when it was already moving up,” Nightmare Moon blearily replies, stumbling out the doors as you pick up your backpack and follow.

As you gratefully leave the harsh, white spotlights of the elevator shaft, your eyes linger on the metal plate that demarks this floor: “Level 01 – Upper Prison” is written in the same large block letters, and you swallow nervously before hastily following after Nightmare Moon.

You emerge onto a path much like the one you had taken to get to the elevator, a purple crystalline shell surrounding an off-white, slightly glowing upper surface. To your surprise, the large, purple, crystalline stalagmites that you had skirted around on the level above were still present, although much wider now.

“How tall are these things?” you wonder, looking up at the nearest crystalline spire as it towered many hundreds, possibly thousands of feet above you.

“Presumably, they extendeth to the base of the Pit… many, many kilometres deep,” Nightmare Moon answers, following your gaze.

You can’t even see the top of the stalagmites, nor the bottom – both disappear into the purple haze that clouds this prison. “How many prisoners do they need to keep?” you wonder aloud.

Nightmare Moon snorts with amusement. “Verily, few. This vast pit was once a singular prison cell – the prisoners contained within, however, were immense in stature.” You visibly pale, hands shaking slightly, and she glances at you in a kind of half-concern, half-confusion. “They art long deceased,” she clarifies, and you breathe a sigh of relief.

“How’d they die?” you wonder sadly. Perhaps you were too late?

“Most gave up on life, and chose to end it by their own means,” Nightmare Moon answers, discussing suicide as casually as she had discussed the height of a rock spire.

You pause a moment, shocked by her blunt response. “…So, are you the only one left?” you ask after a while, as the two of you set out along the path.

“Nay. There art a few of us down here – perhaps just five in total,” Nightmare Moon answered. “We hadst a ‘neighbor’ of sorts, in the adjacent spire for a short while. His name was ‘Tirek,’ and before our incarceration he was the only prisoner in the Isolation Wing. He was moved shortly thereafter, presumably to uphold the ‘Isolation’ requisite therein.”

You nod, saving this information for later. “So you, Tirek… who else?” you wonder.

“Verily, we hath not been given names. Much of our knowledge cometh from eavesdropping on yon Guards… who used to be quite plentiful,” Nightmare Moon noted, stopping and looking around in concern.

“I checked the Isolation Lab, and everything was still running even though nobody was there. What do you think happened to them all?” you wonder curiously.

“We knoweth not… tis’ most unnerving, now we art aware of it,” Nightmare Moon murmurs uneasily.

“You don’t think another prisoner could have… gotten them, do you?” you worry.

“Nay, they wouldst have evacuated had such a breach occurred,” Nightmare Moon answered, still looking every which way for the Guards.

“Why? Wouldn’t they try to stay and recapture the prisoner?” you ask, surprised.

Nightmare Moon snorts. “Such an attempt wouldst be a redundancy at best. The Barrier preventeth the prisoners from escaping to the surface world already, so all they wouldst need to do is make sure nopony got hurt during the breach.”

You stop and look at her. “Wait. There’s a Barrier that prevents us from escaping?” you ask seriously, and Nightmare Moon sheepishly nods.

“Tis’ based on the purity of thy soul. Those with impure souls, villains by word and deed, cannot pass. Those of a purer heart, or even a neutral disposition, may come and go as they please.”

You level your gaze at her. “So… how, exactly, were we supposed to get past that when we got down to the Elevator?” you ask harshly. Nightmare Moon looked away. “Well?” you demanded.

“We planned… to escort thee to the elevator safely, and attempt to cross the Barrier. If it worked, then we wouldst join thee. If not… well, at least thou wouldst be safe,” Nightmare Moon muttered. She glances back at you only to find an incredulous stare on your face. “What?” she replies, perplexed.

“The whole point of breaking you out was so that you could escape with me,” you stress. “I’m not going to leave you behind, not even if it means freedom!”

Nightmare Moon’s eyes widen, and she stares at you for a moment. “Thou wouldst stay in this terrible place… for us alone?” she asks, clearly touched.

You look away, slightly embarrassed. “It’s what friends do,” you mutter. She doesn’t respond for a moment, apparently unsure of what to say. With nothing else to do, the two of you resume walking down the crystalline path towards an unknown, deeper destination.

The single path quickly turns into a maze of criss-crossing paths from spire to spire, tunnels connecting various paths. “What’s the point of all these confusing passages?” you gripe, having just traipsed up a flight of stairs only to find you’re on the path directly below the one you started on.

“Verily, they art precisely for the purpose thou hast found – to annoy. Were flight magic present in this place, we couldst merely skip the lot – but, unfortunately, we art as land-bound as thou art,” Nightmare answers, shuffling her wings in a clearly frustrated manner.

“So this is to slow down escape attempts?” you huff, making your way up yet another flight of stairs.

“Aye. The Guards wouldst possess maps of this, allowing them to find the exit without difficulty. Speaking of which… hast thou updated thy map?” she asks, looking over at you. You look back at the maze of criss-crossing paths, and sigh as you pull out your clipboard and pencil.

A few scribbles later, you’re actually starting to make sense of this place. There are a few spots where tunnels seem to ‘overlap’ in space, but if what Nightmare Moon told you earlier is correct, that’s fairly normal for this place.

“Looks like the only path we haven’t tried is… that one,” you note, pointing at a branch off of a crystalline bridge leading directly into a spire.

“We wouldst preferreth to avoid that path…” Nightmare Moon murmurs. “But, given no choice, we must proceed.”

You glance at her sharply. “What’s down that path?” you ask. “The smell of carbonous acid… which, if we art correct, indicateth the presence of a changeling,” Nightmare answers. For some reason, you know what 'carbonous acid' is supposed to be. Formic acid, a natural byproduct from most ants and a few other insects.

“What’s a changeling?” you ask, curious.

“A shape-shifting, insect-like species. They doth feed on emotion, specifically love, draining their victims until soul-less husks are all that remain,” Nightmare Moon explains.

“…Oh,” you answer.

“Forsooth, there must be some way to bypass them. But with our magical form… we art afraid that a changeling attack wouldst reduce us to less than a husk. To nothing,” Nightmare Moon clarifies, shivering slightly.

“Right. Because you’re Princess Luna’s emotion given form,” you realize, and she nods.

“Aye. We doth not feel love, but we doth feel, and that is why we doth not wish to encounter such a creature.”

You grunt at this, determined to protect your friend. But what if the ‘changeling’ ahead deserved to be free too? A little voice argues. You abandon this train of thought and focus on helping Nightmare Moon. She seems genuinely nervous.

“You okay?” you ask softly as the two of you enter the new path.

Immediately, the atmosphere changes: This cave is much dirtier and wetter than the ones you’ve been in so far. Additionally, there’s no overhead lighting, a fact you only realize was present after you had already gone through several such tunnels. Drips of running water splash onto the floor, along with an indistinct, high-pitched sound from far away. Grotto, you remember, is the name for a cave like this.

“We… we art fine,” Nightmare Moon insists, though she shivers slightly.

The two of you trek through yet more confusing, overlapping tunnels, though you do your best this time to mark everything down on your map as you come across it. Finally, the two of you come face-to-face with a small crevasse in the corner of a bend of the gray stone tunnel, with a metal plaque nailed into place next to it. The smell of formic acid is much stronger here, and you pause a moment to wrinkle your noise before reading the sign.

“Prisoner 0059 – Chrysalis,” you read. Nightmare Moon hums in dismay.

“This be the entrance to the changeling’s containment field. We had hoped we were wrong…”

You sigh, pulling the documentation for ‘Chrysalis’ off the wall and beginning to read it. To your surprise, there’s a second document underneath – maybe a revision? You decide to read the one on top first.

“P-0059 – ‘Chrysalis’

Subject Characteristics:
Phenotype: Changeling (var. Queen)
Gender: Non-binary (see form 1082)
Height – 12.22 hooves (1.863 m)
Weight – 4.82 kg (at last measurement, dropping at a rate of ~0.2 kg/yr)
Coat color: N/A. Subject covered in layer of coal-gray, semi-flexible chitinous material.
Mane color: Teal
Eye color: Green/Teal – outer iris

Dark green – inner iris

Pupils: Black, slit-like
Cutie Mark: N/A.
Additional characteristics: Insectoid appearance, including gossamer wings, exoskeleton-based physiology, and an iridescent carapace.

Psychological evaluation, 1003-04-14, Dr. Shield Array conducting:
-Subject has lost all vestiges of sanity, no longer recognizing or responding to interrogation. Subject’s containment level has therefore been downgraded considerably to save resources. Subject is now safe to approach by all personnel, provided continuation of the subject’s current behavior.

Containment Procedures (Updated 1003-07-12):

-Delta-type BRR (Barrier-Replication Rune) System inscribed into nearby stalagmites. Stalagmites now exhibit anomalous spatio-temporal behavior, teleporting away from magical sources as desired. No further containment necessary at this time.”

You compare this with the document you have on Nightmare Moon. “Delta-type? Seems like they’re trying out a few of these ‘Barrier-Rune Replication Systems,’” you note.

“Tis’ the ongoing project down here to replicate the Barrier above us in a portable fashion,” Nightmare Moon explains, evidently annoyed at this. “It hath been a subject of Princess Celestia’s research for many centuries – though, with our return and ‘rediscovery’ of rune magic, many strides hath been made in the past three years.” You look at her.

“Rediscovery?” you parrot, wondering why she sounded so annoyed about this.

“Our si – Princess Celestia hadst lost the knowledge to time. T’was not particularly difficult magick, but apparently she lacked the skill to reinvent it on her own.” You raise an eyebrow at her, and she glares at the floor. “T’was a reminder of how much we hath lost to the ages due to our foalishness… and Luna hates nothing more than those reminders. Except, perhaps, herself.” Your expression has now passed skepticism and graduated into a full-on grimace. “…What doth the secondary document speak of?” she asks, reminding you of the second paper you picked up.

“Um…” you begin, reading aloud once more.

“P-0059 – ‘Chrysalis’

Subject Characteristics:
Phenotype: Changeling (var. Queen)
Gender: Female
Height – 12.22 hooves (1.863 m)
Weight – 5.162 kg (at last measurement, dropping at a rate of ~0.1 kg/yr)
Coat color: N/A. Subject covered in layer of coal-gray, semi-flexible chitinous material.
Mane color: Teal
Eye color: Green/Teal – outer iris

Dark green – inner iris

Pupils: Black, slit-like
Cutie Mark: N/A.
Additional characteristics: Insectoid appearance, including gossamer wings, exoskeleton-based physiology, and an iridescent carapace. Subject has abilities of mind control, night vision, magic-based emotional draining, and shapeshifting into both organic and inorganic forms regardless of size, weight, or composition, as well as hypnotic suggestion, rendering even eye contact a severe hazard.

Psychological evaluation, 1003-04-14, Dr. Shield Array conducting:
-Subject is still hostile to approach, and still attempting to bypass mental shields of researchers. Her attempts have become significantly more subtle, with the most recent involving a carefully placed cup of coffee that nearly allowed her breach. After the attempt failed, she was observed undergoing emotional and possible mental breakdown, screaming and pounding at the walls while wailing about her desire to escape. Subject still refuses to answer any and all questions.

Containment Procedures (Updated 1002-01-30):

-Delta-type BRR (Barrier-Replication Rune) System inscribed into nearby stalagmites. Stalagmites now exhibit anomalous spatio-temporal behavior, teleporting away from magical sources as desired. Night Guard only on containment staff due to their superior night-vision and hearing. All personnel overseeing her containment cell are to maintain mental shield spells cast by Head Researcher Shield Array and Princess Celestia, and are also required to wear special mirrored glasses at all times to avoid hypnotic effects. Patrols around the cell will take random routes (as designated by the dedicated random-number generator located in the Level 01 Office) to avoid falling into a predictable pattern. All personnel are to avoid talking, listening to or acknowledging P-0059 in any way to avoid being persuaded, psychically or otherwise, to follow any suggestion she makes. Personnel are to stay outside of a 5-meter radius of P-0059 at all times to avoid effects of emotional draining.”

“Quite a reduction in security,” Nightmare Moon wryly observes once you’re done reading.

“What happened to her? She went from sounding like the most dangerous prisoner in this entire place to… well, they’re not even bothering to watch her anymore,” you note worriedly.

“Subject hath lost all vestiges of sanity… verily, it sounds as though she couldst not handle captivity well. All the better for us,” Nightmare Moon announces eagerly.

“But… she went insane because she was trapped down here, alone in the dark with nobody to talk to and nobody to help her out…” you whisper, reading through the cold, clinical document once more.

“There is little we canst do about it,” Nightmare Moon insists. “Even if we freed her, and even if she regained her sanity, she canst not cross the Barrier. Tis’ best to leave her alone.”

But you had already made up your mind, and set the clipboard aside. Even though your hands were shaking, you had to stick to what you’d decided. “I’m not going to leave her here,” you deny. “I’ll offer her a chance at escape, and if she doesn’t take it, or can’t take it… then… then I guess we’ll leave her behind.”

Nightmare Moon gazed at you skeptically. “…Thou art going to get thyself killed some day, with that attitude,” she points out.

“Then I’ll die an honorable death!” you call sarcastically over your shoulder as you squeeze into the crevasse.

When did this happen? You muse, making your way through the incredibly narrow, jagged and sharply-turning path that leads to Chrysalis. Suddenly, you’re some kind of savior for these trapped prisoners. Why? What good will it do you? Nightmare Moon’s right: Even if you do manage to save Chrysalis from herself, you’re simply leading her on. She can’t cross the Barrier, because she doesn’t have Nightmare Moon’s trick of possessing souls. But… that can’t be the end for her. It’s not fair that she has to die in this terrible place – and she will die, you’re certain of that. That snide quip in the documents you read about her losing more weight over time can’t mean anything good, not for any species.

Nightmare Moon also said that neutral or pure souls can cross the Barrier as they please. So what if you left her at the Barrier’s edge, persuaded whoever made it to unmake it… and then came back for her? You’d have a pretty good case, if you can persuade the prisoners down here to be good – even the cruelest of the cruel couldn’t defend keeping good people in a place like this, not in a public forum.

You take a moment to wonder whether you can cross the Barrier. You don’t remember doing anything truly bad, but that’s not saying much given what little you do remember. What if you were some kind of horrible murderer in a past life? Would you still be able to cross? Would this ‘Barrier’ punish you for sins you didn’t remember committing? Hard to say. You resolve to ask Nightmare Moon about it when you make it back to her.

If you make it back to her.

You finally make your way into a larger room, though not quite as large as the vast cavern you’ve been exploring. A single, green glob of… something is the only light in the room, looking as though it had been stuck to the rocky, wet ceiling a long time ago. The light looks as though it barely has any power left, it’s so dim. The room is barely larger than the area at the top of Nightmare Moon’s spire, and the smell of formic acid is so strong that tears come to your eyes. Stalagmites are scattered throughout the room, vibrating slightly in a fashion that makes you uneasy. Slowly, cautiously, you make your way through the room, trying not to blink too much lest you miss something. The stalagmites don’t react to your presence, but you hear a slight buzzing noise every now and then.

Towards the back of the room, something white glints in the darkness, hidden beneath one of the stalagmites. You stoop down and try to pick it up, only to find that it’s stuck somehow. Pulling harder, you wrench it free to find a rigid metal keycard with a paper front, the back covered with some viscous, sticky green substance. “Researcher Doped Amine” is written in faded letters on the front, along with a barely-visible photo of a pink, smiling female pony.

[ITEM: KEYCARD] [Researcher Doped Amine’s Level 1 keycard. Might be useful to access some areas.]

“So that’s what they look like,” you mutter, examining your first real photograph of the ‘ponies’ that apparently run this place. The carvings on the pedestal you found earlier weren’t far off. Her eyes were huge and expressive, though her stature seemed to be much shorter than Nightmare Moon’s. Maybe she was younger? Your expression sours at the thought of teenagers or even children in this place. Whatever age she was, the researcher was adorable. Like a more intelligent puppy… that was conducting amoral research on an unwilling test subject. That… didn’t make her much less adorable, actually, which you’re slightly concerned by.

As you stand back up after picking up the keycard, your eye catches something written on the wall right in front of you. You move closer to examine it, only to find that you’ve cast it into shadow by standing in front of the dim light source. Moving to the side, you examine it in the limited light. A carving of what appears to be a tall pony in a dress with a long, crooked something jutting out of its forehead is standing next to a shorter pony with some kind of shield-shaped picture on its flank. The two seem to be happy, and the words ‘Just Married’ are scrawled below them. Unnerved, you back away, only to find that the whole wall is covered with these carvings. How did you miss these? Had they faded into the background while your eyes were adjusting to the dim light? Hearts are the primary motif, covering every square inch of the walls, and even some of the floor and ceiling. Shivering, you back away, only to bump into the nearby wall again and whirl around. Right in front of your face are the words “LOVE ME” in gouged-out block letters that best belonged in some kind of asylum. What you thought were merely cracks in the wall turn out to be repetitions of this terrifying mantra, carved into, through, and across the hearts you noticed earlier. Breathing heavily, you begin making your way for the exit, all thoughts of heroism forgotten. You needed to leave. Right now.

You make for the exit, all thought of quietude forgotten, but something seems amiss. There’s nobody in the room with you, but you get the feeling you’re being watched. Where is Chrysalis, anyway? She was supposed to be trapped in here. Maybe she already escaped? Shrugging, you decide to head outside and tell Nightmare Moon you couldn’t find her.

As you begin to slide through the narrow crevasse, you hear the sound of flickering flames behind you. Something yanks you back with enough force to send you flying, landing flat on your back and having the wind knocked out of you. The something leaps through the air to land on your chest, pinning you to the floor as it hisses at you, teal-green hair obscuring its face for a moment before it leans down to look at you. It's taller than you, by quite a bit. Two glowing green eyes open, the slitted pupils surrounded by double irises telling you exactly who’s about to end your life. Her legs are impossibly long and slender, even compared to Nightmare Moon’s, and holes seemingly eaten into them reveal that they are composed of a solid black substance, unlike yourself. Her horn is crooked and disjointed, looking like the horn-equivalent of a badly broken leg and ending in a lethally sharp, blade-like tip. Two ovoid wings, again with holes eaten into them, adorn her sides, and occasionally twitch, sending a slight chittering buzz through the air – so these were what you heard earlier. Saliva drips from her maw as she continues to hiss at you, looking as though something’s… fractured behind her gaze. Her mouth opens wider, impossibly wider, as her hissing evolves to a full-on snarl, her lips easily stretching past her eyes and adding to her nearly-feral look.

“LOVE ME!” she demands, the screech barely intelligible as more than raw, primal sound.

As she lunges at your neck, her jaws open as wide as a snake’s, instinct takes over and you kick her squarely in the chest, sending her flying as you hurriedly jump back to your feet. As she lands, time slows to a crawl, and those colorful boxes that appear to signify a battle appear in front of you. You’re glad for the chance to slow down and consider your next move, but you’d better choose carefully – she’s less of a thinking creature and more of an enraged animal right now.

[Queen Chrysalis attacks!]

[50/50] [FIGHT] [RUN] [DO NOTHING] [FLIRT] [SPARE] [ITEM]

>>[SPARE]

“Easy, easy! I’m here to help you!” you cajole, holding up your hands in a gesture of surrender.

This seems to have no effect on Chrysalis, and she leaps forward to bite at the screen, still growling and snarling like a rabid dog. You urge the heart thing on the screen to dodge as best it can, narrowly avoiding her vicious fangs.

[Queen Chrysalis attacks!]

[50/50] [FIGHT] [RUN] [DO NOTHING] [FLIRT] [SPARE] [ITEM]

>>[SPARE]

“There has to be something of you left,” you plead. “I can help you! Stop attacking!”

She glares at you for a moment, a flicker of intelligent distrust crossing her expression before resuming her attempts to murder you. Her attack this time is small hearts that come from the sides of the screen, white and slow-moving – only to turn green and rapidly home in on your heart’s position as soon as they get too close. You’re taken by surprise, and quickly suffer several sharp, stabbing pains to the heart as a result.

[Queen Chrysalis really wants to kill you.]

[38/50] [FIGHT] [RUN] [DO NOTHING] [FLIRT] [SPARE] [ITEM]

Well, you’ve confirmed that there’s something left of her old self in there. That last attack wasn’t the random, enraged biting of a mindless animal – that was a planned deception. How much of her has survived, you aren’t quite certain, but you’re determined to save it. You think hard about what you were told about this ‘Queen Chrysalis.’ Shapeshifter, eats emotions, preferably love… wait. What if…? No, that’s just stupid. And yet… you’d better do something quick. She’s probably going to think of some more deadly attack if you don’t.

>>[SPARE]

Before she can react, you leap forward and pin her in a bear hug, positioning yourself carefully so that she’s unable to bite you even with the advantage of her sinuous, long neck. Without hesitating, you begin rubbing a hand over her back soothingly, whispering quiet reassurances to her.

“It’s okay,” you promise. “I’m not here to hurt you. I’m going to get you out of here, and take you back up to the surface. Wouldn’t that be nice? To leave this place?” Something sparks in her eyes, shattered pieces of a long-dead, torn psyche begrudgingly picking themselves back up and beginning to come back together.

“Leave this place…?” she whispers, in a voice that sounds like it’s gone unused for a long time. It sounds like other things, too – like three or four of her are speaking at once, a vibrating, many-pitched tone that reminds you of an insect buzzing its wings. There are no attacks on the screen – both of you are too surprised to continue the battle.

“…Yeah. We can both escape,” you respond after a moment, still rubbing her back to keep her calm. She shudders slightly as you brush against her neck, and then stiffens, rearing away from you with a suspicious and distrustful look.

“How do I know I can trust you?!” she demands, beginning to hiss again.

“Because I’m not a Guard. I’m not a prisoner, either. I don’t really know who I am,” you confess.

She sneers at you, lip curling in disgust. “An amnesiac. Great. With my luck, you’ll be Celestia’s forgetful right-hand… thing, chosen by prophecy to defeat me and everyone else down here.” You raise an eyebrow at her, and she looks away, glaring at the ground.

“…That was oddly specific,” you observe.

“Shut up,” she snaps back.

“Okay, so now that you’re… sane, how do we disable the runes keeping you trapped here?” you ask.

She looks at you with deepest disappointment etched into her frown. “Firstly, insult me again and I’ll rip you in half. Second, we can’t. You’re as trapped in here as I am, now, because those ‘runes’ teleport away from us when we get close.” You follow her imperiously pointing hoof to find a stalagmite, a familiar-looking symbol just barely visible in the dim green light. You slowly walk towards it, as though cornering an unsuspecting prey that might bolt at any moment, but it doesn’t move.

“Idiot! You think you’re… somehow…” Chrysalis trails off as you reach out a finger to gently tap the stalagmite, which still fails to move, though it flickers slightly as you get close.

“Immune?” you dryly finish, leaning against the jutting stalagmite and finding it surprisingly solid despite flickering in and out of reality. “I get that a lot.” You inspect the stalagmite, tapping at it with a finger – it’s solid rock. You aren’t exactly going to be able to break it with your bare hands, as awesome as that might sound.

“Unless you’re hiding a pickaxe somewhere, those are still solid rock stalagmites,” Chrysalis calls unhelpfully from off to the side.

“Sadly, I’m not. Any other ideas?” you ask. She saunters over, a sarcastic remark ready to leave her mouth, only for the stalagmite to vanish in a blur, reappearing on the other side of the room. You give her a glare of your own, and she glares right back.

“Seems your strange anti-magic abilities aren’t all that good, creature,” she snarks.

You briefly consider the possibility of leaving her behind – she’s kind of a massive jerk. Then again, you did promise to get her out of here, and you’d be an infinitely bigger jerk if you went back on that now.

You consult your backpack, rifling through in an attempt to find something useful. Unfortunately, the only implement you might have is the Pencil, and… well, you get the feeling that wouldn’t work. There has to be some other way to deal with these runes.

“Hey!” Chrysalis exclaims furiously, jolting you out of your ruminations.

“What?” you call back, only a hint of irritation permeating your tone.

“Do you think this is funny?!” she yells, bounding forward so she’s directly in front of your face and gesturing with a slightly trembling hoof to the walls.

“What, the carvings? Those weren’t me!” you deny, pushing her away.

“Oh, sure! First you accuse me of being insane, then you decide to play a sick prank on me by making it look like – like I was some love-starved freak! Then, you play dumb?! I’m not falling for it!” she screeches, fangs fully extended and murder in her eyes.

“I didn’t put those there! If I did, I would’ve used some kind of tool to do so, which I would be using now to get you out of here if I had one!” you retort, pointing an accusatory finger at her.

“Well – that – I – just proves my point – “ Chrysalis spluttered, at a loss for words. She shook her head to steady herself. “You’re lying!” she decrees, shoving a hoof into your stomach.

“Why would I? Why is it so hard to accept that you went crazy down here? Most people would go crazy down here!” you shout at her, adrenaline still pumping through you from the fight earlier.

“I AM A QUEEN! I AM NOT CRAZY, AND YOU WILL OBEY ME, DRONE!” she screams, before clapping her hooves over her mouth, horrified.

“…Drone?” you ask, perplexed.

“Not. A. Word,” she hisses, seeing you about to say something else. You obediently fall silent, giving her a concerned look. “Don’t look at me like that! I… I don’t care what you think! I am a Queen, and Queens don’t go crazy!” Chrysalis insists, sounding as though even she doubted what she was saying.

“Why not?” you ask, and the question catches her off guard.

“Wh… what do you mean, why not? We’re royalty, our word is law! If a Queen tells you something, it’s true, no matter what you think!” She answers, raising her hackles.

“Who told you that? Sounds kind of dumb. Queens are people too,” you point out.

She falls silent, looking away from you. “Just… go away,” she mutters, walking away from you and laying down again. When you continue to sit there, she swivels her head around and glares at you again. “I said go away! I don’t want your help, you weird… thing! I… I can get out of here on my own!”

You raise an eyebrow. “Go ahead, then,” you answer sarcastically, getting up and stretching. At this point, you can safely say you tried. As you head for the exit, you chance one last look back at her. She’s laying on the cave floor again, and you think you can hear a sniffle or two over the faint buzz of her wings. “…Are you sure you want me to leave?” you ask, one last time.

She looks at you, not angrily, not sadly, but… exhausted. “Why do you keep doing that?” she grumbles.

“Doing what?” you reply, wondering what she’s talking about.

“That! Asking me to reconsider, as if I’ve done something wrong! I’m a Queen! I… I never make… mistakes…” she trails off, before burying her head in her legs, muffled sobs wracking her body as she starts bawling. Shocked at her sudden change in emotions, you slowly, cautiously make your way back over to her. “Don’t look at me… I’m not crying…” she howls into her forelegs, the sounds muffled but the shuddering sobs all too clear.

“It’s okay to cry,” you reply mildly.

“No! Only the weak cry! Only the weak make mistakes! I… am not… weak!” she cries, still unwilling to look at you.

“That isn’t strength, that’s lying to yourself. If something makes you sad, not crying is refusing to acknowledge the emotions that make you… you,” you explain.

“So, what, changelings who cry their eyes out and play with dolls are the strongest ones among us?” Chrysalis replies sarcastically, her ire evidently roused once more.

You chuckle slightly, a bit confused by her specific example but deciding to ignore it for now. “Maybe not. Strength, real strength, is found when you confront the mistakes you made. When you fix them. That’s who a strong person is: Not perfect, not a crybaby, but someone who is honest with themselves, no matter how much it hurts, and always strives to improve. If you can look your failures in the eye and say ‘I am stronger than you,’ then… you win,” you finish, wondering if you’re saying the right stuff.

Chrysalis certainly seems to be pondering this, as she falls silent for a while. You sit there contentedly, waiting for what seems like a while.

Just as you’re about to say something, Chrysalis looks up at you. “My hive abandoned me,” she stated quietly. She wasn’t angry, or sad about it – she stated it so bluntly that you suspected she’d been thinking about it for a very long time. “They cast me out because I refused to accept I was leading them incorrectly, that I was anything less than perfection incarnate. And they…” she took a deep breath, trembling slightly.

“They were right.”

You stay silent, giving her a gently encouraging look. She takes another deep breath. “I… I made some bad choices.” You raise an eyebrow, and she looks down. “Okay, okay. A lot of bad choices. But… but it wasn’t my fault!” she insists. Your look quickly shifts to skepticism. “It wasn’t!” she continues to deny. “It… I…” she trails off, sighing.

“A long time ago, I… I ran the Hive, just like my mother the former Queen taught me, just like how her mother had taught her, and so on. We… we weren’t happy, but we weren’t starving either. Things were normal. I… was normal. I was… I wasn’t kind, but I wasn’t a monster,” Chrysalis begins. Sensing a story, you cross your legs and place your fists on your cheeks, listening intently.

“But… things changed. The ponies on the surface… they kept getting smarter. Building new stuff, learning new stuff… their military got better at spotting us, more organized. The hive began slowly starving because my changelings couldn’t get food fast enough, kept getting spotted and kicked out of whatever towns they infiltrated. I… I did the best I could to keep things going. We lost a lot of changelings because I didn’t want to accept that we were fighting a losing battle. That was a mistake,” she admits, sighing.

“Eventually, one of my lowly military drones demanded I do something about it! That I was ignoring the problem, not solving it! I was doing the best I could, I don’t think anyone could have done better!” Chrysalis growls, and you rub her neck a little to calm her down and continue the story.

“Cut that out!” she snaps at you, but more subdued.

You obediently stop, and she huffs for a moment before resuming. “…Anyway, I… I snapped. I said as much to him, and I banished him from the Hive, never to return. Some of my drones asked what had happened to him, and I told them he was banished and they would be too if they asked too many questions,” she muttered.

“I tried to forget about him. I had bigger problems to worry about. The Hive was still starving. I managed to scrape what few changelings we had left into a decent military, and began more subtle, cleverer campaigns to get enough food for us to survive. For a time, it worked. We went back to the way things were before – not starving anymore, but still hungry.”

“But then, one day, he had the audacity to return. Worse, he was not only alive despite his banishment – he was full. He had more love in him than I’d managed to scrape together in a week. And he was happy to share. Changelings flocked to his side, eager to learn how he’d managed to keep himself together. It turned out he’d been openly treating ponies like… like food, instead of beings. He’d broken the Law.”

“The Law?” you ask, curious as to why she emphasized it so much.

“Our Hive has a Law that states that we can never mistreat ponies, even if we capture them, because they’re the reason we’re alive or some other symbolic nonsense,” Chrysalis explains hurriedly before returning to her story. “Anyway, I was about to banish him a second time, but… I hesitated. I was desperate for a solution to our food problem, and I still remembered the time when we were starving. I accepted him back into the Hive, an unheard-of­ act of mercy, in exchange for information on how he went about getting food.”

“I followed his every word. I foalnapped ponies, drained them dry, and carted them off to our dungeons to fill back up with their love over and over, in an endless cycle. It worked, too – I could feel myself becoming less hungry, less tired, less… angry. I began to believe that maybe things would finally turn around. That was another mistake,” she spat. You reach out a hand to comfort her again, but decide against it.

“But he wanted more, more, more. Forget the hunger of the Hive’s changelings, his was a whole different level. Always promising more and more ‘tactical secrets’ in exchange for a larger and larger share of the Hive’s love supply. We had to invade entire towns by force now, just to keep him sated. Meanwhile, I heard rumors that he was thinking of declaring himself King of the Hive, equal in power to me.”

“I stormed his cave, demanding an explanation, only to find my own Guards turned against me. My whole Hive had sided with him, agreeing with him that the Law should be broken and cast aside. He offered me one, final ultimatum: He could either banish me from the Hive, in a sick perversion of the very same act I did to him, or I could allow him to rule as King.”

“I had no choice, obviously. Our Hive would die if I were banished; it needs a Queen. So… he became King. He forced me to invade more and more towns and cities, just to sate his impossibly large appetite. He even demanded I invade the ponies’ capital city and masquerade as their Princess of Love, just to gather more. And then when I couldn’t do that, he…” Chrysalis stopped, choking slightly as she squeezed her eyes shut. “He…” she tried again, curling up slightly and shivering.

Despite your better judgment, you hug her again, getting her to emit a squeak of surprise as you lay down beside her on the cold, wet cave floor and hold her close.

“He’s not here,” you whisper. “He can’t hurt you here. And you don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to.” She looks at you, small and afraid, and you see a flash of a much younger changeling behind her eyes. “When did your Hive abandon you?” you reluctantly press, recalling the both of you to the start of her monologue.

“A year and a half ago,” Chrysalis whispers. “One of my drones, a young one named Thorax, had stayed with the ponies. Openly! They didn’t attack him, or deport him, they just… let him feed off of them. I thought it was some kind of joke, but he promised us all things would return to the way they were before. When we had enough, when the King wasn’t taking every last drop of love to feed himself. I… the only thing I could think of was the King, promising the exact same things so many years ago. I snapped. I tried everything to stop him, but he… he successfully deposed me from the throne, and my changelings, my beautiful children, changed into… freaks,” Chrysalis spat viciously.

“Freaks?” you wonder. What would she consider freakish?

“Colorful, painfully bright, with appendages that didn’t even do anything! They were… they were just like ponies now!” Chrysalis rages, slamming a hoof down on the stone floor. You see several cracks below where her hoof was. “It was just like before, only this time they didn't even want me to stay. I had to escape my own Hive, the only un-transformed changeling left. I hope that thrice-blasted Thorax is happy with himself: Now he has to deal with the King’s hunger.” You let her pant with anger for a moment.

“What would you do, if you had the chance to do it all over?” you ask her.

She stops and looks at you. “What do you mean?” she asks carefully.

“If you went back to the day Thorax came and offered you peace with the ponies. Knowing what you know now… what would you do?” you ask again.

Chrysalis snorts incredulously. “Knowing what I know now, I’d happily say no again! Those accursed ponies locked me up here, in case you haven’t noticed!”

You look away, frustrated that your message hadn’t taken effect but begrudgingly acknowledging her point.

“I suppose you want me to say that I should’ve said yes? Made the same mistake I did years ago?” Chrysalis challenges, clearly catching on.

“No… Forget it. You’re right.” you mutter.

Chrysalis looks at you, surprised. “Wait. Didn’t you… what did you mean?” she asks suspiciously.

“I just… I think it would be better for everyone if we were a little nicer to each other. You especially. Wouldn’t the world be better with more love in it?” you wonder sadly.

“As if,” Chrysalis scoffs. “It’d be great if ponies and changelings were friends, but it’ll never happen. We’re love-sucking monsters, and they’re… not. They’ve never had to starve. They’ve never had to invade just to get by. They’re all about friendship and harmony, and other things that make me want to bite them.”

You raise an eyebrow at her. “You ever think that their insistence on that might be what keeps them from going hungry? Hard to starve when your friends make food for you.” Chrysalis is unable to form a response to this for a moment. “Change of topic: If ponies are so friendly, then why does this place exist?” you ask, gesturing around in confusion.

Chrysalis laughs, a dry, amused chuckle. “This is something I would have dreamed up. But, sadly, it’s not mine. This place was made by the ponies’ leader. Princess ‘Celestia,’ the Raiser of the Sun. She wants to make sure none of us ‘villains’ can threaten her little ponies whenever we want, so she locks us up here when we become enough of a threat to the world above. Then she experiments on some of us to try and find better ways of locking us up.” You raise an eyebrow at her. “…Forget I said anything. Aren’t you supposed to be getting me out of here?” Chrysalis points out.

You shrug. “Only if you’re sure you want me to. Besides, I can’t really do much here. The light’s so dim I can barely see.” Chrysalis sighs, and her horn lights up bright green, causing you to wince and flinch away as the whole cavern is thrown into sharp relief. Her stomach grumbles as she does so, and a strange hissing noise comes out of her mouth as her tongue flicks out for just a fraction of a second, but she steadfastly ignores it, looking at you as though daring you to comment. You wisely decide not to.

“That’s better,” you mumble, getting to your feet.

“Great, now I can see even more of those stupid carvings. Did I really make these?” Chrysalis grumbles.

“The Guards could have made them to mess with you,” you amiably call over your shoulder, returning to studying the runes in the stalagmites.

"Don't patronize me, creature," Chrysalis spits back.

Almost immediately, you spot something useful. The ‘runes’ aren’t actually carved into the stalagmites; rather, they’re their own separate stone which has been carefully inserted into the stalagmites themselves. Hopefully, they’re not glued down… You rifle through your backpack, searching for something to pull them out with. If you just had a pair of pliers… wait, what are pliers, anyway? Whatever. You decide to use the researcher’s keycard from earlier, as most of the runes have very flat edges that will exhibit a lot of friction against the metal of the keycard. You jam it into the slightly-raised side of the rune, and carefully pull up. Slowly, and to your great satisfaction, the rune starts to slide outward, and you hurriedly snatch it with your other hand before it can slide back in. With a firm grip on it, you pull out the stone entirely. You can’t determine color very well in this bright green room, but it might be blue? Hard to say. You wind back your arm, and chuck it as hard as you can against the wall. It breaks in half, the shards falling to the floor and slowly turning a dark, opaque black.

“What was that for?” Chrysalis wonders, carefully watching you from a distance.

“One down,” you announce cheerfully.

Chrysalis’ jaw drops. “Wait. You broke one?” You nod, gesturing her forward. She approaches the ‘disabled’ stalagmite cautiously, only to find it doesn’t move.

“I don’t believe it. You actually…” Chrysalis whispers, before dropping to the floor, grunting and clutching her head in pain. The light emanating from her horn goes out, plunging the room into darkness to your newly unadjusted eyes.

“What’s wrong?” you frantically query as she rolls around on the floor, groaning and curling inward spasmodically.

“Hunggrrryyyy…” Chrysalis moans from the floor, sounding as though she’s in immense pain.

You wonder what to do, kneeling down beside her in the darkness. Changelings feed on love. She’s hungry. You have to give her love. But how? Out of desperation, you find her head, grab her by the shoulders (or where they would be, if she were you), and kiss her as hard as you dare. Her eyes shoot open, glowing green, and you could swear your vision turns slightly pink. You’ve no time to think about that now, though. You focus as much of your thought as possible on how much you care for this stranger. How much you want her to be happy, to be loved. To be free. Her eyes widen still further, and the pink tinge in your vision increases. For a moment, the two of you stay like that, kissing as though the world might end if you didn’t.

She breaks away, panting slightly, and a trickle of pink fluid drips down from her lips before she hurriedly laps it up, a forked, red tongue poking out to clean the underside of her jaw.

“Wha…” she breathes, apparently dazed.

Immediately, you go brick red. “I… sorry, I thought you were hurt, so I… panicked…” you squeak.

She’s probably going to bite you. In fact, she’s almost definitely going to bite you. You’re so sure of this that when she smiles, you take a moment to register that she’s not biting your face off.

“No… it’s okay. I was hungry, and you... you gave me food,” she whispers.

You take a moment to appreciate her smile, as you get the feeling it’s a rare occurrence. It’s bashful, for starters, and the muscles around her jaw seem kind of stiff, as though she hasn’t smiled much throughout her life. Her eyes look sad, but her overall expression speaks of an emotion you can’t quite place. The closest you could get is ‘acceptance,’ but that… doesn’t seem quite right, for some reason.

With nothing else to say, she lights up her horn again. But this time, she does it differently. Rather than flicking on like a light switch, her horn slowly starts to glow, the cavern slowly getting brighter and brighter. Your eyes still have a little trouble adjusting to the sudden glow, but it’s much better than before, and you watch the green glow cast across the walls with fascination.

“That’s a cool effect,” you observe, smiling slightly.

“…Thanks,” Chrysalis answers after a moment.

As soon as Chrysalis’ horn stops getting brighter, you make for another stalagmite, keycard at the ready. This one’s a different shape, which is somewhat trickier to remove from its stony casing, but you attack it with gusto, oddly contented for some reason. It hits you that you’ve successfully befriended Chrysalis, and as soon as this thought enters your mind, those strange boxes reappear just in front of you, startling you and causing you to drop your keycard.

[You won! 0 experience points gained.]

“Are you… alright?” Chrysalis asks. She looks as though she wants to say something else, perhaps one of her usual snarky quips, but she refrains.

“Yeah, just… thought I saw something. It’s nothing,” you deny.

Odd… from that angle, she should have seen that. Are you the only one who can see these strange dialogue boxes and ‘buttons?’” Is that your ability, like with Chrysalis’ shapeshifting and Nightmare Moon’s starry magic? Strange. You continue to ponder this as you successfully remove another stalagmite, chucking it as hard as you can at the wall and watching it shatter with immense satisfaction.

Ten stalagmites later, you’ve almost finished removing the last rune from its place. Chrysalis is watching you, looking at the rune with something like the hunger she had once gazed at you with. You attempt to wrench it free, only to have it slide all the way back in, forcing you to start over. You flinch, expecting a sharp reprimand by Chrysalis, only to hear nothing. You look back curiously, only to find her smiling at you uncertainly.

“Keep going, you almost had it,” she says simply.

Pleasantly surprised, you return to your work. When did she get so… nice?

You get it the second time, pulling it out with a triumphant expression. Before you can toss it at the wall, however, a black hoof gently stops you.

“Can I try?” Chrysalis asks.

“I thought you couldn’t approach these things?” you remind her, glancing curiously between her and the rune.

Chrysalis snorts with laughter, another surprising sound from her. “I can override one rune. Not twelve. Besides… you make it look fun.”

Smiling, you hand the rune over to her, and she levitates it in a field of green magic. As the magic field gets close to your hand, it briefly feels… warm. Comfortably so. You’re strangely sad to see the rune, and by extension her magic, move farther away as she winds up for a throw, an eager expression on her face. But you shelve your disappointment to watch her destroy the last obstacle in the way of her freedom. The rune explodes against the wall, shards flying everywhere, and you instinctively duck and turn away to protect your eyes.

“Are you alright? I think I overdid it,” Chrysalis worries, looking at you.

You laugh, and turn back to her to reveal you’re perfectly fine. “No, it was perfect. Nice throw!” you compliment, laughing.

She actually blushes this time, which apparently for changelings is a green tinge in the cheeks rather than a pink one. You seem to recall that Nightmare Moon blushes blue – maybe different colors like that are normal here? You think they aren’t for whatever you are, but you’re not quite sure, all things considered.

Chrysalis follows you through the crevasse to the rest of Tartarus, moving as slowly and uncertainly as a baby taking their first steps. “And you’re sure they won’t just recapture us the second we step out there?” she frets.

“I haven’t seen a Guard this whole time, and I’ve been down here for hours. They’re not on this level or the one above it, at least,” you reassure her.

“Who’s your friend, then?” Chrysalis asks.

“My friend?” you wonder.

“I thought… I heard another voice with you, when you came here. Maybe it was just me being crazy,” she laughs, her laugh sounding as fake as an injection-molded plastic doll.

“Oh! That’s Nightmare Moon. I freed her, too. We’re all going to escape together,” you explain happily.

“…Oh. I thought… nevermind. I’ve never met her before… but I’ve heard of her. Are you sure she won’t betray us?” Chrysalis asks.

“I trust her just as much as I trust you,” you soothe. To your surprise, Chrysalis doesn’t question that, and instead resumes following you in silence.

You find Nightmare Moon waiting in the corridor outside, looking at you in surprise. “T’was only a few seconds! Is Tartarus playing tricks on us again?” she asks as soon as she sees you.

“Looks like it. We were in there for… what, an hour?” you wonder, looking at Chrysalis.

“It felt like longer… but who knows, in this place?” Chrysalis shrugs.

She then sizes up Nightmare Moon, who is a full head taller than her. “So, you’re the Dream Demon. The Fallen Alicorn. I must say, you’re… really not as frightening as I heard you’d be,” Chrysalis curiously notes.

Taken by surprise, Nightmare Moon stares at her thoughtfully. “Verily, now that thou dost mention it, tis’ the first time we hath heard that… Our thanks to thee?” she replies, bewildered.

Chrysalis looked at her in equal bafflement. “…What?” she asks, completely confused.

“She said ‘Truthfully, that’s the first time I’ve ever heard that,’” you translate, by now used to Nightmare Moon’s archaic speech quirks.

“…I see. First thing I’m doing when we get to the surface is getting you a dictionary,” Chrysalis scoffs, her old wit beginning to resurface.

Nightmare Moon snorts. “Pah! We hath written dictionaries before, youngling! Respect the wisdom of thine elders.”

Chrysalis grins. “Try me, old mare.”

You get between them, sensing a brewing fight. “Hey, hey. Let’s focus on getting out of here first, okay?” you try to break up.

Both of them look at you in confusion. “Oh! Oh, you thought we were fighting. No, no, this is simply banter,” Chrysalis laughs.

“Prithee, hast thee never verbally sparred before? Tis’ invigorating!” Nightmare Moon adds gleefully.

“Oh, thank goodness,” you sigh. The two of them laugh raucously, and you blush slightly at being the butt of the joke.

“So, he befriended you too, huh?” Chrysalis asked Nightmare Moon a moment later, the three of you walking through the gray, faceted stone caverns.

“Verily, he hath… Thou art a ‘he,’ correct?” Nightmare Moon asks after a moment.

“I… think so? I mean, that feels right,” you answer truthfully. Who knows? Certainly not you. Then again, you get the feeling that this is something you get to decide, not anyone else. For an amnesiac such as yourself, such a choice feels incredibly important.

[Are you a BOY or a GIRL? Or maybe something else?]

You glance at the textbox. What would happen if you selected ‘girl’ now, or 'something else'? You just told them you were a boy. Ah well, you made your choice and you’re sticking to it. You reach out a finger and tap ‘BOY’. The textbox vanishes, leaving you to ponder its existence for a moment. Why are these textboxes here? What kinds of other abilities might you have, if only you knew of them? You really wish there was some kind of magic textbox that could tell you more about this whole thing.

As soon as you finish thinking that, a new textbox appears in front of you, and it’s positively loaded with options. So much so, in fact, that you spy in the corner a number saying ‘1’, surrounded by two arrows. This one even comes with multiple pages! You take a moment to read some of the options.

[What would you like to do?]

[TALK] [RESET] [SAVE] [QUIT]

You get a very important sense that you should not press [RESET] or [QUIT]. Those sound like they will do bad things. But [SAVE] seems intriguing. You tap that one, and new text scrolls across the screen. The world seems to click into place, righting from some unseen tilt as the [SAVE] button briefly glows a vivid crimson.

[Game saved!]

[TALK] [RESET] [SAVE] [QUIT]

You press the [TALK] option, curious as to why you’d need a button to talk to someone.

Call Ruby
Talk to Nightmare Moon
Talk to Chrysalis
>Talk to group

“Who’s ‘Ruby’?” you mutter under your breath.

“Who?” Chrysalis asks, and the textbox disappears as you stiffen in alarm.

“I, uh… nevermind. What were we talking about?” you ask, eager to re-enter the conversation as you realize you’ve been ignoring them for a solid five minutes.

“We were talking about you! More specifically, how oddly nice you are. I was wondering why you didn’t react when I called you cute,” Chrysalis muttered.

You blush again, your cheeks turning a rosy pink. She thinks you’re cute? Look who’s talking.

“Ah, there he goeth!” Nightmare Moon adds, and you blush further as the two of them hoot with laughter. You laugh along with them, glad that they’re bonding so well. If they’re already making jokes at your expense, they must be fast friends.

Comments

[Adjier]

This is fun.

More please.

[Razzy]

Spooky!

Yay, tubby wubby bug horse waifu get!

Wow, she really had it hard in there. And the staff seemed to not care at all that she was slowly withering away.

It'll be funny to see Thorax having to serve that king changeling.

Hah, they're quick to become friends.

[LEGION55]

Why'd you change it?

[Doctor_Den]

It seems to me that such containment where the prisoner slowly dies and goes crazy is much worse than execution.