A Rather Large Adventure

by BradyBunch

Chapter Eighty: The Queen's Freedom

“M… mother…”

Resin put a dumbfounded claw to her exhausted mother’s cheek. She ran down Chrysalis’ body and traced the circumference of one of her leg holes. Chrysalis trembled beneath every touch, her eyes wide but unable to react.

“It’s… me. I’m here.”

Chrysalis was effectively paralyzed. She couldn’t respond except for weak jostles of her head and eyes. And they looked none too friendly.

Realizing it was due to her disguise, Resin dropped the shape of the Nox to her true form. “Look, mom. It’s me. Resin. I don’t know if you remember me.”

Chrysalis’ eyes boiled in fury, and her breathing became labored as she did her best to sit up. She was so weak, though, that she just wiggled a bit.

“I know, I know. I shouldn’t be here. I shouldn’t help you. But too bad. Nothing’s going your way today, is it?” Resin remarked as she got to work unbending the hooks holding her legs in place. As they straightened out and she threaded the legs through them, Resin bit through the leather strips holding Chrysalis’ legs above her head. Soon Chrysalis was pulled off the platform and fell unceremoniously to the ground.

“Sorry,” Resin hissed, picking up the trembling and furious Chrysalis with a hoof and draping her over her back. “But I think you’ve undergone worse than this.”

She transformed back into the shape of the unsightly Nox. Chrysalis was better spread out on a wider back, but the spines on her back made things less than pleasant.

“Easy part done,” Resin murmured, coming into the main room of the command tent and inching up to the flaps leading outside. “The hard part, though…”

Chrysalis suddenly moaned and twitched on her back furiously.

“Oh, knock it off already,” Resin snapped, rolling her eyes up. “Don’t make this harder than it should be. Come with me if you want to not die.”

Chrysalis made a disgruntled sound.

“I’ll take that as a maybe,” Resin dryly said, shrugging. “Progress, am I right?”

Resin stepped outside the command tent as casually as she could but speedwalked to the gate surrounding the tent. The gate guards were still there, including the dimwitted one who had asked her favorite color. It was this same gate guard who twitched an ear and turned to face her from behind, making Resin stop.

“Are you finally finished taking out the trash?” the guard asked. He squinted at Chrysalis. “And what on earth is that on your back?”

“The trash,” Resin replied with unease. “I’m taking it out. Terror’s had this corpse sitting in the corner of his tent for days now!”

“Ah,” the gate guard said in understanding. His eye widened all of a sudden, and he came closer to examine Resin. “It twitched.”

“N-no, it didn’t,” Resin insisted.

“I saw it! It kind of twitched!”

“It’s twitching because it’s on my back!” Resin shot at him, thinking off the top of her head. “And there’s great big holes all over this thing, it’s already dead! What, are you really this paranoid of your comrades? Is your trust not completely aligned with the rest of us? Are you a spy trying to discreetly get close to Terror? I’ll have to report you to Terror myself! He’s right up there, it’d be so easy!”

“Shut up, shut up!” the gate guard hissed in fear.

“Then do Terror’s bidding and let me pass!” Resin declared, making sure to twitch Chrysalis’ body using her back muscles. “Do you have any idea of how replaceable you really are?”

“Just leave!” the gate guard yelled, swinging open the gate and jabbing furiously outward.

“I will!” Resin retorted overegaggeratedly. She trotted as best she could on six legs out and away from them.

As the command tent began to shrink as they went, Resin let out a deep breath. “Well, they were right about one thing. That is the worst gate guard I’ve ever seen.”

She looked around some more, though. The same trick wouldn’t work on everyone. She needed a place to hide and an escape route. Resin scurried to an empty congregation area and looked around the maze of firepits and tents and tree stumps for something, anything.

The first thing that came to her attention was a massive catapult shoved into a corner of the congregation area, its arm stretching into the sky. Resin limped as best she could to the catapult remains and dumped Chrysalis off her back behind it, laying down beside the queen.

As Resin ran a claw down the queen’s spine reassuredly, Resin thought about the outcomes. The only one who knew about Chrysalis’ existence, aside from her, was that duplicitous Nox messenger who put up the illusion in the first place. If he did discover Chrysalis was missing, it’d make no difference to Resin, since he had no proof anyone important was gone and he was the only witness.

But that meant he could say anything he wanted, came the thought to her. And if there was nopony in the command tent, he could show it to everyone else and lend some credibility to his lies. So either way, she needed to vamoose. The problem was, how on earth could she escape? Resin squinted as far as she could. The expanse of enemy territory seemed boundless.

Chrysalis coughed and sat up, trembling and slow. Resin, startled, supported her from behind and brushed her oily mane aside. Chrysalis looked as furious as ever.

“...You!” she hissed, grumbling in the back of her throat. “Traitorous daughter!”

“Hey, mom,” Resin whispered. “Glad you’re up and about. Doing okay?”

“No,” Chrysalis haughtily refused. “And no thanks to you.”

“Nice to see you haven’t changed,” Resin dryly commented.

“Take me back,” Chrysalis commanded Resin. “Listen to me. You can’t just spirit me away from my only source of love! I order you-”

“Shut up, mom,” Resin snapped back. “And you listen. I can’t do that. You’re coming with me, and there’s nothing you can do about it.”

“Give me at least three reasons why I’m better off in your hooves,” Chrysalis defiantly hissed.

“I’ll do you one better and give you four. First, you barely have any right to call yourself my mom and order me around. Where were you when we really needed you, huh? I’m in charge as far as you’re concerned! Second, Equestria’s armies will benefit from having you on our side instead of theirs. Third, only that ‘messenger’ manipulating you knows that you’re the big and scary Terror. If you insist that you are who you really are, no other Nox will believe you. And fourth… I can’t just leave you suffering in there. I don’t… care that you’re a sucky mom and a sucky person. You’re still my mom, and a prisoner for who knows how long. Now shut up and let me rescue you already!”

“I need his love!” Chrysalis insisted desperately. “If I don’t, I’ll be too weak!”

The more Resin thought about it, the more it became an issue. If Chrysalis remained this weak for the entire rescue, it could slow them down. And any minute now, that Nox would discover Chrysalis missing and order a camp-wide search for whoever helped her escape.

But for the moment, though, a different campwide movement was occurring. It started with a hornblow from the command tent a little bit away that was taken up by numerous other hornblowers, rippling like a wave of the sea. Resin risked a peek over some of the timbers of the catapult.

A substantial mass of the endless army was surging away from the main portion. It was curving to the left, evidently aiming to maneuver around the mountain entirely. Terror’s plan to shoot right for the capitol was evidently being put into effect.

It was bad news, but perhaps they could use it to their advantage…

“Get up,” Resin urged her mother, raising her up from one leg. “Stand! Fight!”

“I can’t!” Chrysalis despaired.

Resin transformed back into her normal violet form and cupped her mother under the chin. “Hey. Look at me. Let me help, bare and true.”

Chrysalis’ eye glanced at her colorful form and quickly shut on its own. “Not… when you look like that.”

Resin’s irritation reached a new level. “Can’t fight. Can’t run. Can’t stand. Can’t even look.” She gripped Chrysalis by the back of her head and forced Chrysalis’ forehead to rest on hers. “Mom. I get that you hate us. I have as much reason to hate you, too! You starved us just to keep your methods of spite up. And when we found a better option of living, you abandoned us all. You aren’t much of a mom. But while I have you like this, I can do anything I want to you. I could snap your neck right now and leave your corpse drowned and buried in the mud, and the world will never hear your name again. But… I want you to come. I want you to live, because somewhere inside of me… I still care for you, mom! Please, believe me! Because I want the best for you, even as pathetic as you are now! You can be better! I know it, even if you don’t.”

Chrysalis hissed and had trouble breathing. Resin wasn’t sure what it was. But she decided to press.

“You don’t need some devil to affirm your worth. You don’t need to live your life full of suffering. Pain is unavoidable, mom, but suffering is optional. Now get off that stinking butt of yours and get out of that dark place you’ve locked yourself inside. What kind of love do you think you need? That carnal, shallow stuff those devils have? Screw that! There are already ponies that will provide you with all the love you need, and they’re waiting for you in Equestria. So why do you delay? Why are you shuffling your steps and hesitating for your freedom?”

Chrysalis was silent as she digested this information, except for some sniffing and a heaving of her chest. Resin wanted to hug her closely, but decided against it; relief was something Chrysalis needed to choose.

“I… wanted you to love me,” Chrysalis finally whispered.

“What are you talking about? Of course I-” Resin started.

“I’m your mother!” Chrysalis interrupted Resin, shoving her away. “And I wanted you to reciprocate the love I thought I was giving you. But then you and the rest of my children turned your back on our way of life and became something… unnatural. You betrayed me. And I was afraid. Wouldn’t you? I wasn’t ready for your way. So I ran. Escaped into the wasteland with little shards of my throne for protection. And then the Noxxa found me and locked me up! Took the throne shards and kept me hooked on a poisonous kind of love. I made for a good puppet if my magic was at its highest, but I got no recognition--Terror did! What about me? Do I matter, in the grand picture?”

“You matter to me,” Resin promised her mother. “Is that good enough?”

Chrysalis looked conflicted; she wanted to say no. But looking into each other’s eyes, the windows of the soul, Chrysalis couldn’t bring herself to say it. “Yes,” she choked out. “If it’s you, then yes!”

And suddenly, Chrysalis’ pallid color regained some healthiness, her ribs became less pronounced, and her hoof stopped trembling. Chrysalis blinked in shock.

“I feel… satisfied,” Chrysalis whispered, twisting a holed black hoof in front of her eyes. “Your love?”

“I got plenty more if you need it,” Resin offered, secretly unsure of how to help any more.

“No,” Chrysalis turned down. “Just knowing you have it is good enough for me. Certainly tastes better than the love they had to dole out. It tasted like straight pepper-water, burns your throat. This is different. It’s like… It’s like…”

“A plump, crispy fruit?” Resin suggested.

“Something like that,” Chrysalis quickly agreed.

“First time?”

“Look, I get it. I want more. I’ll come with you. Won’t make any promises about helping, though.”

“Now that is mission accomplished as far as I’m concerned,” Resin remarked. She transformed back into a Noxxa and peeked over the edge again. “Although we still gotta actually get you out in the first place.”

“Whatever you say,” Chrysalis rasped in the Noxxa’s voice.

Resin recoiled a bit when she looked back. Chrysalis had transformed! She was a Noxxa, but the color was off. Instead of black, it was more of a navy blue.

“What?” Chrysalis asked, gesturing at herself.

“Close enough,” Resin affirmed, giving the closest thing to a thumbs-up she could.

Chrysalis sighed and turned her eyes skyward. “So that’s the sky, huh? I never noticed it before now. It’s so… big and open. If I would fall up, I’d never stop.”

Resin was surprised that she didn’t mention it was overcast, or close to sunset. Just the fact that it was there seemed to be good enough. Resin made a mental note to appreciate the smaller things in life. The sky was there, and open.

...The sky was open!

“Mom,” Resin prompted. “Can you fly?”

Some wings appeared on the Noxxa body, but Chrysalis looked stiff with them. And even if they did take off, they’d get spotted and shot down. They would need a boost to get airborne and out of the reach of the arrows. But what could…

Of course. It was so simple.

Scrambling to the side of the catapult, Resin gripped the crank handle and began to turn it with a rusty creak and groan. Little by little, the outstretched arm of the catapult lowered. After some effort, not without a few grunts, the end of the arm rested at the loading position.

Chrysalis gave her a flat stare. “No.”

“Begging your pardon, mom, but I’m in charge right now. You can’t stop me. You’re weak, remember?”

“That’s not what I-” Chrysalis started, then cut herself off with a sigh and folded her front two arms, keeping her back four on the ground. “Are you sure?”

“Well, do you want to wade through this mess of an army to get back?”

“It’s… not the most appealing.”

“Then get your rear in gear and into the catapult. I don’t want to do this either, you know.”

Chrysalis gently settled herself into the scoop on the end of the catapult, making room for Resin. After checking to make sure all the ropes were in place, Resin clambered in after her. Both were snug next to each other.

A few moments passed before Chrysalis asked, “Now how do we launch this thing?”

Resin’s expression of realization was almost comedic. “Oh…”

“Someone’ll have to pull the lever,” Chrysalis said. She banged the back of her head against the metal basket edge. “Ugh, I knew this was a bad idea from the start.”

“No, no, no,” Resin quickly refuted, scrambling out of the catapult and making her way to the lever. “Don’t worry about that, mom. I’ll take care of it.”

“But what about you?” Chrysalis asked, tilting her head to get a better look at her.

“I’ll be fine, mom,” Resin insisted, gripping the lever. “I-I’ll find another way out. All you need to worry about is flying outta here.”

“You won’t find another way out of here,” Chrysalis replied, and was there a crack in her voice?

Resin hesitated. She weighed her options. Then she sighed, paused again, and said, “I know.” And she smiled. “But... it’ll be okay. Don’t worry about a thing.”

“I’m worrying a lot right now!” Chrysalis fired back.

“Mom, please, for once in your life, listen to me,” Resin calmly said, her claws slipping on the lever. She shifted out of her Noxxa disguise and into her true form. It would be the last time Chrysalis would see her, and she wanted to make it count. “Don’t look back for me. You deserve Equestria. So fly. Touch the sky. You’re finally free.”

“What is going on here?” demanded a voice out of nowhere. A Nox had finally entered the embankment and seen her. And as a changeling, too!

Resin hissed in surprise when she spotted him. “Fly, mom! Fly!”

And she pulled with all her strength.

With a loud catch of the gears, the catapult arm shot into the sky, sending Chrysalis flying high and fast above the enemy camp. Resin watched her go, ensuring she wouldn’t turn around. And sure enough, once she got momentum, Chrysalis’ wings buzzed her forward. Before she knew it, Chrysalis was only a speck in the distance, zipping off towards Foal Mountain.

The Nox, however, wasn’t about to just stand there. He skittered as fast as his six legs could carry him towards Resin, who only saw him when it was too late. All she could do was duck from his swing, which embedded itself into the wood of the catapult beams an inch above her head.

Resin snarled and ran in the opposite direction as fast as she could. The Nox roared, broke his claw out, and snatched Resin’s hoof right before she could get out of reach. Resin abruptly fell to the mud beneath, splattering on her face.

The Nox, meanwhile, crawled right above her before she could stand up. Resin looked up. The nameless, hideous creature’s dripping fangs would be the last thing she would see.

But she went out knowing what she had done would be for the good of all.

---

Chrysalis’ flight was uninterrupted. By the time any of the Noxxa had realized there was something flying in their airspace, she was too high up for them to hit with their arrows. And their cannons and catapults couldn’t aim so delicately. Chrysalis was too small of a target.

The lost queen wanted to go back. But there was too much urging her in the opposite direction.

So she flew. She flapped her wings as hard as she could and set her mind upon reaching freedom. Once she was above the plains at the foot of the mountain, she aimed for the peak. Higher and higher she flew, never looking back. There would be nothing worth looking back on.

After what seemed like an hour of flight to her exhausted wings, Chrysalis’ legs were inches above the peak of the mountain. She dropped down and stumbled to a stop.

Scorpan, Luna, Thunderjump, Skystar, and Glitz were on the top, but they hadn’t noticed Chrysalis’ arrival yet. Their eyes were cast to the south, where the snaking column of Noxxa forces were streaming past, bypassing the mountain altogether. It would take longer for them to get to Canterlot that way, but their path was at least clear.

“That little-!” Glitz was saying, her tight eyes narrowed disdainfully at the problem just out of reach. “But Luna, if we just strike out now, we can cut them off!”

“That would mean abandoning the mountain,” Luna pointed out, pointing at the other body of forces across the valley. “The Noxxa left behind would seize it, and we’d be drifting and aimless, stuck between the two main bodies.”

“And you’re sure our catapults don’t have the range?”

“Absolutely,” Thunderjump tentatively reported.

“So all we can do is hold fast?” Glitz exploded.

“Patience,” Scorpan assured her serenely. “Our opportunity will come.”

“Patience is a luxury we cannot afford,” Glitz snarled at Scorpan, stomping over to him. “Now is the time for action, not blind faith!”

Thunderjump had turned away from the marching masses and had inadvertently laid eyes upon Chrysalis. He nearly jumped out of his skin. “Um?” Thunderjump asked, a quake in his pitch. “Can we take action now?!”

The desperation in his tone made the others turn as well. Chrysalis found herself under eyes of scrutiny and shock from the five present.

“Uh, hello,” Chrysalis awkwardly said, waving. “Chrysalis here. Though I’m sure you... already knew that.”

Luna acted before anyone else by stepping forth. She was no more than a foot away from Chrysalis, and the hard lines etched into her complexion meant nothing could be hidden from her piercing eye. “Why are you here?”

“I was freed,” Chrysalis explained, looking steadfastly at the ground and not into Luna’s cold blue eyes. “A child of mine broke me out. She didn’t make it.”

Glitz huffed. Skystar let out a whimper of regret.

“So what are you here to do?” Luna slowly asked, hard intent never wavering in her voice.

Chrysalis had several answers at the ready. Guilt over her child’s loss. A determination to get back at the monsters who had captured her. The better love food. But all of them had one common denominator: Resin.

“I’m not going to throw away the chance she provided me,” Chrysalis vowed, and this time, she was able to look Luna in the eye.

“What brought this about?” Luna asked, tilting her head. “Desperation, perhaps? When your life is no longer in peril, will you still be on our side?”

Chrysalis pursed her lips. If Luna was going to be that hesitant, then she didn’t deserve to have her help. “Who knows?” Chrysalis replied. “We’ll find out if you let me try.”

Luna mulled it over; Chrysalis could practically see the gears turning in her calculating head. Then she nodded. “I suppose we can destroy our common enemy together before considering if you will be one.”

“Welcome to the team!” Skystar proclaimed, throwing her hands in the air.

“Gah!” Chrysalis hissed.

“Not used to positivity yet, huh?” Skystar asked cheekily. “Don’t worry about it. I’ll break you in if you need it.”

“This was a mistake,” Chrysalis whispered.

“Now how do we utilize you best?” Glitz asked, giving her a scrutinizing once-over.

“Well, what do we need to do?” Chrysalis resignedly replied.

“Stop them,” Scorpan indicated the rippling waves of blackness in the distance that was the smaller army, “from reaching Canterlot in time. We sent a pegasus to warn Celestia as soon as we discerned their purpose, but all our options result in inevitable failure.”

“We have to stay here to make sure the main body doesn’t join with that excursion,” Glitz continued. “We can’t fire on them from afar, and dive-bombing pegasi will do too little. If we all move away from the mountain, the larger army will swarm in on us and annihilate us, even if we do manage to wipe out the smaller army.”

“It’s bait. We can’t win.” Thunderjump the pegasus looked hollow, his words monotonous and his coloration greyed somewhat.

“But we have a secret weapon,” Chrysalis said. “Me. I was Terror. So they’ve lost their magic support.”

The news came like a slap to everyone. Chrysalis was aware that a few of them were gaping and rubbing their eyes, as if to clear their vision.

Scorpan was one of the ones who blinked in surprise. But he simply shook his head to recover and said, “You are... strong. I commend your magical power.”

Chrysalis was ashamed to admit that she felt like preening at those words. “Since I was only a figurehead, Terror can be replaced. The strategist isn’t dead. But with my magic on your side, you might stand a longer chance at surviving.”

“With your firepower, we can disrupt the Noxxa as they invade Canterlot!” Glitz realized.

“I must have heard you wrong. You said, ‘As they invade Canterlot.’ That’s a mistake, correct?” Luna assumed despondently.

“No, Luna, think about it! The situation has changed!” Glitz protested, gesturing out at the smaller army moving in the distance. “If we wait for them to reach Canterlot, we can shoot into their rear and assault their flanks while they try to siege the capitol. We have the trains. They don’t. They’ll be the ones surrounded by all sides! And by the time the larger army realizes we’re gone and swarms Foal Mountain, we won’t even need it anymore, since we’ll have wiped out the smaller army at our city’s doorstep.”

“Are you so sure we can?” Skystar asked. “We could barely hold them off from a fortified mountain!”

“Let’s go over our assets and tell me what you think. We have the trained royal guard. We have earth pony, pegasus, and unicorn conscripts. We have changeling, yak, dragon, and seapony forces. We have Luna. We have Scorpan. And we now have Chrysalis. Combine that with the forces stationed in Canterlot and Celestia herself, and I do believe we have a good shot at defending our capitol city. An even higher chance if that idiot Discord bothered to show up. He probably just likes watching the fireworks anyway.”

“I don’t remember you being so optimistic,” Luna remarked.

“Analytical, Luna. There’s a difference.”

“So that’s it?” Thunderjump quivered. “This is our fate? To die on our doorstep?”

“I’ll work out the details of how you’ll die tomorrow, soldier.”

After some time in mental anguish, Thunderjump jerkily saluted. “Whatever you wish, ma’am. But… may I speak?”

“You already were,” Glitz irritably snapped. “Get on with it.”

Thunderjump rushed an apology, then, his mouth twisting, he spoke. “Will you be responsible if I die? Because I don’t… want you to be burdened by it.”

“The only one who takes responsibility for his life is himself,” Glitz told him. “If you feel irresponsible for fighting for your country, why are you a soldier?”

Thunderjump looked on the edge of tears. “I’ve tried to be a good soldier, ma’am,” he croaked. “I obeyed everything without question, because that’s what I was trained to do. I’ve taken all the responsibility I can. But I’m not a pony anymore. I’m a soldier. A cog in this machine. Replaceable. My death won’t matter to anyone unless I get your job done.”

“It will,” Luna’s silky voice reassured him as she came to Thunderjump and stood beside him. “It will matter to me.”

“N-no!” Thunderjump refuted violently, stepping away. His eyes were wild now instead of hollow. “You don’t need a personal guard! You had pity on me! When will that pity run out?!”

“I wanted to save your life,” Luna told him, straight to his face. “I care for you, so there is no way I would make you do this if there were any other way. But if you wish for the preservation of all that you hold dear, I bid you to stand tall, and cast off the shackles of fear binding you to the ground! I urge you--nay, I command you!--to cease your despair, and emerge from the dark fog of hopelessness. In the light, your path is clear. You shall taste joy again, but you must live to see that day. And you cannot live if you cannot fight!”

Chrysalis felt a strange inclination that that lesson could be applied to her as well. And it made her noticeably uncomfortable to digest those words. In the end, however, it all boiled down to one thing.

Fight.

Thunderjump was silent as well. His face had become red and irritated. After a respectful amount of time, he sniffled and rubbed his cheek. “I… need to be alone.”

He departed via the path down the west face. Chrysalis watched him leave. He was pitiful. But then again… she had been pitiful too.

“In the meantime,” Luna said as if nothing had happened, “I’ll leave you two alone. To, ah, strategize, of course. Skystar, Chrysalis, with me.”

Scorpan and Glitz gave each other sideways glances at the way Luna had dismissed them. Meanwhile, Skystar had sidled up next to Chrysalis as Luna led them away down the rocky, dusty path. “Where are we going?” Chrysalis demanded.

“To the mess,” Luna declared. “You should try a bowl of soup. I’m sure love is nice for you, but a good soup fixes you in a way nothing else can.”

“You sure could use one,” Skystar remarked. “You’re so skinny, if you stuck out your tongue and I looked at you head-on, you’d look like a zipper.”

Author's Note:

Sorry this took a month to make. There were other story directions I wanted tot make, but I didn't know how to write out. Besides, the motivation was kinda low on this one. I promise we'll get back to the others next time, though. I swear on Big Macs.