Interrogation
It was a cloudy day in Ponyville. It almost looked as though it could rain at any moment. It was very rare that a cloudy day would occur during the Summer in Ponyville, but it just so happened to be on the weather control calendar for the Pegasi. Twilight sat outside with Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy as they ate outside of their favorite restaurant.
“And then, she glided all the way across the whole gorge! It was awesome! You two should have been there,” Rainbow insisted.
“I'm sorry, I was just so busy tending to the animals last weekend,” Fluttershy mumbled. “You seemed pretty busy too Twilight, what with all of your friendship lessons with Starlight?”
Twilight appeared to be looking off into the distance, and didn't seem to be paying attention to their conversation. She simply nodded as to confirm whatever she thought Fluttershy had said.
“Um, Twilight?” Fluttershy asked whilst tilting her head to the side in confusion.
“Oh! Um.. sorry. W-what were you saying?” Twilight responded with a grin.
“I was just wondering how busy you were with the friendship lessons.”
“Um.. yup, busy as usual!”
Twilight simply looked down at her half eaten sandwich. The other ponies looked back at her with concern.
“Um.. Is something bothering you? You have been acting mopey all day.” Rainbow asked.
“It's just..” Twilight let out a sigh. She didn't want to bring this up, but she might as well tell her friends the truth. “I just can't stop thinking about Chrysalis.”
“Why is that? You think she is plotting something?” Rainbow raised an eyebrow while looking side to side.
“No.. well.. I don't know. I just.. I can't get that image of her out of my head. When I saw her, she looked so.. lifeless. Like, I have never seen any pony that.. downtrodden before,” Twilight mumbled.
“I know what you mean,” Fluttershy replied. “She looked terrible. I wanted to speak to her, but the guards recommended that I not interact with any prisoners. And I guess I was also a bit too frightened.”
“Fluttershy, I understand you needed the money, but why would you pick this job of all things?” Twilight asked.
“Because I am the one who is best at it. Somepony has to make sure the animals feel safe and comfortable while their love is fed to Chrysalis. There were times when Chrysalis would threaten the animals, so I had to give her the 'stare' to keep her in check. She hasn't misbehaved in a while, but I still do it from time to time just to let her know not to mess with my animals. I don't like the job very much, and the prisoners can be mean, but somepony has to do it.”
“Well I can't say I'm not proud of you Fluttershy,” Twilight smiled.
“Um, thank you,” Fluttershy blushed. “It's.. nothing really.”
Rainbow quickly tried to change the subject, not wanting to hear another word about Chrysalis. “So.. anypony wanna go with me to watch the Pegasus Hoofball Tournament at the University this Friday?”
“Ooh, that sounds like fun,” Fluttershy replied.
“I'd.. like to.. but I have a major project planned around that time,” Twilight stammered. Twilight never wanted to have to end up lying to her friends, but she needed to get to the bottom of this issue. She couldn't handle the fact that Chrysalis had to go through so much. She had made her decision. She must speak with her.
~~~
The hallways of the Canterlot Dungeon were just as gloomy and unnerving as usual. Only this time, Twilight was on her own. The prisoners berated her as she walked past. She almost could have sworn that one of them tried to throw something at her. She flinched as one of the guards started yelling at some of the prisoners, telling them to shut up. Twilight continued down to the stair case. She swallowed and continued down the cobbled stairs, her legs shaking a little.
Once the princess made her way to the hallway, she looked across to see the same metal door that filled her soul with dread. Twilight took a deep breath, and proceeded to approach the door. After walking through the long and arduous hallway, She looked up at the barred window of the cell door. Twilight stood up on her hind legs and looked through to see Chrysalis looking back at her. Her green eyes glowed faintly, not adding any significant light to the already pitch black room.
“You came back. Did.. you forget something?” Chrysalis asked in the same tired voice.
“I came to speak with you,” Twilight affirmed.
A look of surprise made its way onto the Changelings face. “You.. want to speak with me? About what?”
Twilight cleared her throat. “About your situation.”
Chrysalis lowered her head. “What good would that do? I have nowhere else to go.”
Twilight was taken aback by Chrysalis's statement. She knew this was going to be a long night. “Perhaps I can't convince anypony to set you free or even lower your sentence. But I've noticed how hard you are taking this, and I think that maybe, if you can cooperate, I can help you out a little.”
Chrysalis grunted. “Help? What help could I possibly need? I've grown accustomed to this living situation actually. It's a lot safer then being out there anyways. Anypony would strike rich if they managed to assassinate me. It's actually rather comfortable in here once you get used to it, except during the winter that is, but it's no big deal.”
Twilight wasn't convinced. She lit up her horn to see the interior of Chrysalis's cell. The inside of the cell was mostly empty, with blotches of dried paint on the walls that appeared to cover up some graffiti. Her eyes scanned the room to find a small bathroom with a shower on the left. She also found some strange dark-green marks on the ground in the right-hand corner of the cell. At closer inspection, they appeared to be the blood marks of a Changeling. She then looked at Chrysalis, observing her limbs. She saw blood and bruises around her knees and elbows. Her eyes appeared to be sunken in, and dark circles could be seen around her eyes. It was clear to Twilight that Chrysalis was not living comfortably at all.
“Do you.. sleep on the floor?”
“Well, yes. Where else is there to sleep? Once you are tired enough, you can sleep anywhere practically.”
“Well that most certainly doesn't seem very 'comfortable',” Twilight raised an eyebrow.
“What makes you think I deserve any better? After everything I've done, do you honestly think I deserve any help from anypony? Why do you concern yourself with me? There are so many innocent ponies out there struggling for whatever reason, and you come to help me?”
Twilight thought for a moment. She knew that Chrysalis was right, but she also knew that she desperately needed her help. She needed to finish what she had started.
“I don't play favorites. If I see somepony who is hurt, or struggling, then I am inclined to help them no matter what.”
“But.. why? Why would you want to help me?”
The princess lowered her head. “Because I can't stand seeing you like this. Just look at yourself!”
Chrysalis looked back at Twilight in surprise. She then looked down at her bruised legs, and all around the rest of her body. She then looked back at Twilight again with a puzzled look.
“You really do want to help me, don't you?”
“Yes, but first you need to earn it. I want you to cooperate with me and do everything I say.”
Chrysalis reluctantly looked to the side. She never thought she would see herself taking orders from the Princess of Friendship who helped foil her previous plans, but she swallowed her pride. “I will do anything you ask me to.”
“Good. We are off to a great start. Now, I want you to answer me this,” Twilight looked Chrysalis right in the eye as she spoke. “Why did you attack Canterlot?”
Chrysalis froze for a moment, but then regained her composure. She knew she had to tell Twilight everything. This was her only chance. “I attacked Canterlot because I wanted to rule Equestria. I know I claimed earlier that it was to feed my hive, but that was only half of the truth. I really, honestly wanted to enslave everypony and use them all as a food source for my hive.”
Twilight looked back at Chrysalis with a stern look. The former Changeling Queen simply looked back with a look of remorse.
“It's all true. Take it or leave it.”
“I believe you Chrysalis. Now my second question. Why did you try to attack Appleloosa?”
“For pretty much the same reason actually.”
Twilight frowned. “So, you hadn't learned your lesson even after failing to take over Canterlot?”
“I thought it would be easier. I wanted to set up base in Appleloosa so I could easily work my way up.. and then conquer Canterlot. I had a whole set of plans this time, but they were foiled by your spies. My hive left me after I was captured.”
“Okay, last question. Did you ever truly care for your hive?”
Chrysalis swallowed. She knew Twilight wasn't going to like this answer either.
“I only wanted them as my army. I never really cared about their well being as long as they provided me with the army and services I needed to conquer Equestria. I admit I had feelings of remorse from time to time, but I trained myself to push those feelings aside, as they were but a weakness to me.”
“I see..”
There was a long and awkward pause.
“So then, you admit that you were a tyrant?”
Chrysalis was shocked by Twilight's question. She became hesitant.
“I..”
Twilight glared at the changeling, awaiting her response.
“Yes.. I was a tyrant.”
“And?”
Chrysalis's voice began to crack. “And I was a terrible Queen, and I did nothing but create suffering and chaos. I hurt Celestia and nearly ruined a Royal Wedding.”
“..And?”
“And.. I neglected my hive and treated them like objects. I trapped you and Cadence beneath Canterlot. I attacked an innocent kingdom that did nothing to me or my hive. I deserve to be in here as long as I live.”
That was all it took. She broke down.
Chrysalis lied on the ground sobbing. Twilight looked down through the window to see tears streaming down her face. She was about to call out to her, but then simply decided to let her deal with her emotions.
Chrysalis began to cry hysterically. “I.. I have done so many horrible things. I hurt so many innocents. I let down everyone. My whole life has been nothing but a waste. I don't deserve any help. No pony will ever forget all of the horrible things I have done.”
Twilight was at a loss for words. She couldn't describe how astonished and proud she was to see what was once an evil despot, admit to all her faults like this. Nonetheless, seeing Chrysalis cry like this made Twilight feel terrible. She wanted to go in there and comfort her, but still didn't want to risk getting attacked, especially without another pony around to give her reassurance. Despite the Changeling's sincere display of repentance, she just couldn't bring herself to trust her entirely.
About half an hour had passed. Twilight never thought any pony could possibly cry this long. Chrysalis continued to sob until she finally calmed down. She sniffled a bit, and then looked up back at the window of the door to see Twilight still looking down at her with a look of concern.
“I.. I.. what can I do? I want to change Twilight. I'm sick and tired of being hated by everypony. What can I do to fix all of this?”
Twilight looked back at Chrysalis with a proud look on her face. “Well, you can start by apologizing.”
“Apologize? But what good would that do? That won't reverse everything I've done!”
“No, it won't make up for what you did, but it's a good start. Even if an apology doesn't do very much, you still owe everypony one anyways. An apology is the first step to showing others that you want to at least try to make things right. People may not forget the things you did, but they will at least remember that you tried to apologize.”
There was another awkward pause. Chrysalis wiped the last of her tears away, and looked up to Twilight.
“I'm sorry, for everything I have done.”
The violet Alicorn smiled. She was elated to hear Chrysalis finally apologizing. She honestly never thought this would happen so soon. “Good. Now, lets do something about those injuries of yours.”
Twilight looked over at a small box on the wall that appeared to have a red cross on it. She hadn't noticed it previously due to the hallways being too dark. She opened it to find some antiseptic and some gauze. “Perfect!” The princess chirped.
Twilight flew over to the cell and began applying the antiseptic to Chrysalis's injured joints with her magic. Chrysalis winced a little, and even felt the urge to hiss, but kept it bottled up inside her. Twilight wrapped the gauze around her joints, covering up the wounds. She wrapped it around a few extra times to allow the gauze to cushion her joints as not to agitate the injuries.
A genuine smile made its way onto Chrysalis's face. “Thank you, for everything. You have no idea how grateful I am.”
“Don't mention it. Now, if you want, I could visit you again tomorrow. It's up to you.”
“I.. would love that, very much! It does get pretty lonely down here. I'd be glad to have another pony that I can talk to.”
“Then it's settled. Tomorrow night, I will visit you again. Unfortunately, I have to leave back home to get some shuteye. I hope you have a good rest.”
“I understand. Thanks again Twilight.”
And with that, the Princess of Friendship left to go back to her castle. Chrysalis laid down on the floor in the corner as usual. For some reason, she just couldn't stop smiling. She hadn't felt this joyful in a long time. She was relieved to finally get all of that off of her chest, as well as having been helped out by another pony. This was her chance to truly turn over a new leaf.
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Hmm... very, very interesting story so far. Kind of a nice 'Retribution' story for Chrysalis.
As for Grammar wise only thing I could see was:
I'm assuming you meant to say pony
Maybe there's more.... but I was too enthralled in the story to notice.
Keep up the great work
~SRX
7549781
Thank you ^^. I use 'everyone' and 'everypony' interchangeably sometimes. I generally use everyone to refer to more than just ponies, such as donkeys, or dragons. I changed 'people' to 'innocents'.
7549794
Hmm... okay I see your point for 'Everyone'
Though as for your 'People', well 'Ponies' is alright though I can see that your trying to emphasis her regret. Hmm... maybe adding an adjective like
Or just change it what you said. Really the only problem is that it can't stay 'People'
~SRX
7549794
7549823
Actually:
The Cutie Mark Chronicles (copied directly from the transcript on the wiki):
A Canterlot Wedding, Part 1
Magical Mystery Cure:
So it seems that "people" is not incorrect as per canon, and there's no reason "everyone" would be either (which you both seem to agree on). Finally, Twilight has said "anybody" in canon.
A Canterlot Wedding, Part One:
So "person" is also correct.
EDITED TO ADD:
Over a Barrel:
Personally, I dislike it when people ponify words excessively, like when characters say "buck" instead of "fuck".
Hey, perseverance is a virtue! "If at first you don't succeed, try, try again," right?
Oh god....Poor chryssie. Great job on getting this featured tho!
Poor Chryssie, the ponies' brainwashing got to her... But at least things are looking up a bit.
Why...? Even reformed starlight has some reserve about apologizing. Even post-she-demon sunset knows to kept quiet.
Breakdown and crying only looked good on luna. Because woona!
And maybe cozy. About 40/60 depend on her backstory.