Queen No More

by BlackWater

2014 Retelling: In The Company Of Hope

Princess Flux is our new Queen. She will lead us to victory and prosperity.”

The arrogant worm of a changeling deserved a thousand deaths for his mockery. Chrysalis was in critical condition and he just stood there smugly denouncing her from her own hive.

“Well, that is all,” he finished. “I have better things to do now than watch the last moments of a decease.”

Chrysalis boiled so much inside that she contemplated using all of her last strength to kill the blight of a changeling. She would die but would have the satisfaction of taking him with her. Unfortunately, either in an attempt to leave quickly or in anticipation of her rage, the drone leaped up on his mostly undamaged wings. He even snickered at her as he twirled off in a dart for the horizon. She didn't see him anymore after about a half minute.

The next time she attempted to crawl, the pain came back from under the mask of adrenaline it had been hiding beneath. The offending changeling had been good for one thing. The anger he incited made her forget some of the pain for a short while. With it back, though, she nearly passed out from the intensity.

“Gah!” she shrieked as she managed to pull herself onto the road. It kept getting worse and worse. There was nothing left for her now. Even if she had all of her strength back and was in perfect health, she could never force her hive back into line. The hivemind would be in full agreement and without her position as the queen, she had no persuasion in it. There was no going back.

There was no going forward either. Her legs gave out, not even allowing her the ability to crawl. So she just laid there on the middle of the carriage path. Some of her wounds had decided to open up again, as if she needed an extra push to die. That was the last thing she could laugh about, but her voice escaped her as her body began shutting down. Nothing was what her mind became clouded with. Nothing...

Until there was a name.

A face.

A twisted memory.

A small purple unicorn with the most peculiar star for a cutie mark.

“They forgot the tickets,” Twilight Sparkle mumbled to herself as she was drawn along in the cab-like carriage. Her front legs were crossed over in indignation. “Only my brother would forget. Only my brother.”

“I don't know,” Spike yawned from his opposing seat. He looked about ready to faint from sleepiness, which was fitting for a dragon his age. “I thought it was kind of both their respons...respon...”

“Responsibility,” Twilight finished for him. “If you're that tired then just go to sleep, Spike. It'll be a while before we get to Fillydelphia. I just hope we can catch them before they start going north for their honeymoon tomorrow.”

Spike yawned again as he repositioned himself to lay down on the coach bench. It was, thankfully, cushioned even if said cushioning was well worn and getting a bit thin. “Why not have it flown Pegasi Express or something?”

“That,” Twilight was about to lecture him about his bad ideas but then stopped herself. “Actually, that would be an excellent idea.”

It was just as she was trying to fathom how such a simple and obvious plan could go over her head so completely that the carriage jerked to a wrenching halt. Twilight caught herself with her forehooves just before she introduced her horn to the opposing wall of the cabin.

“What in the name of-” she began to complain.

There were two strong stallions pulling this particular carriage since it was a long-route transport between cities. The passenger mare could hear them talking. Whether it was for the silence of the middle-of-nowhere night or the fact that their voices were raised in alarm was irrelevant. Twilight heard them clearly.

“Sweet Celestia! Look at the size of it!” one said in a conspicuously horrified tone.

“Is it alive? What do we do?!” worried the other.

“What's going on?” Twilight called to them as she leaned out of the carriage door's window. It was dark out and, since the cabin had an internal light, she had to squint to try to see anything outside. All she could see was that they were nowhere near civilization and the two carriage stallions were unhooked from the vehicle. They were also a little forward down the road.

“Stay in the cab!” the first stallion shouted back to her. “Lock the door!”

To Tartarus with that, Twilight decided. She had just gone through a living version of it during the failed changeling invasion and had, in fact, been to Tartarus before to return Cerberus. She legitimately believed there was nothing out there that could top what she had already faced. Honestly, she thought to herself, what had not happened to her already?

With a click of the cab door, Twilight stepped out onto the moonlit road.

“What're you doing?” Spike asked in concern from within the carriage, far more awake now from the jolting stop.

“Getting us moving again,” Twilight answered with flat voice and brows.

Neither stallion noticed her coming yet. One was still half-panicking and the other was offering ludicrous solutions.

“Drag it to the side? Go around? Could we just roll over it?” he tried to decide.

Twilight came up between them. “What kind of rock is it? A boulder? Honestly,” she grumbled and scared the two unsuspecting males. Her vision was still adjusting to the dark and all she could see so far in the dusty road was a black lump. A big one, but still a black lump.

“You need to be in the cab, miss!” the first stallion ordered insistently now. “It's not safe.”

“Safe from what exactly?” Twilight waved him off as she stepped closer to the thing. Her eyes adjusted, less floating dirt obscured her view, and the moonlight hit it better as one of the stallions moved from blocking the source of illumination.

“Miss-!” the second Earth pony male stretched out a hoof to her shoulder.

Twilight's face got in almost close enough for her nose to touch the thing and that was when she started to realize what the black lump was. She was looking at two massive eyelids, both closed. She felt air move from two nostrils. Her blood ran cold. The thing was breathing faint and haltingly. Twilight's mouth lost all moisture and her throat seized up.

She had been wrong. She thought herself unbreakable because of what she had survived but, now that she was faced with it once more without any of her friends at her side, she found herself paralyzed in fear. Her own breaths started matching the changeling's in broken patterns. The stallion that had reached for her finally pulled her back. She almost tripped backwards, still in shock.

“Get back in the cab,” he said with a stern voice and then looked over to his fellow driver. “We'll just move it aside. It's dead anyways.”

“Yeah...” the other replied with less assurance.

Twilight stood behind them now as they moved forward to grab the thing. They began pulling and shoving it towards the bushes beside the road. Twilight's own mind was reeling. It was a changeling. A changeling! They had all been thrown into the sky...

What comes up must come down.

The thought was just Twilight's usual logic at work but it was what set all other thought in order. It prompted her to break out of panic and think things through. The changeling had come back down out here. It was dead. She was safe.

Wait a moment.

It wasn't dead. It had been breathing. Barely, but it had been breathing. It would probably die soon. That was good, right? No, that didn't sound right. Why was she considering death a good thing? Because the changelings had posed a threat? Because they had done horrible things? That was natural logic, right?

A thousand words came to Twilight all at once as a spark flew in her eye. They were the words of her friends and family. Her parents were telling her to be understanding. Applejack was telling her to be strong. Rarity was telling her not to be afraid to give and Rainbow Dash was telling her to be bold. Fluttershy was telling her to be calm and kind. Pinkie Pie was telling her to do the unexpected. Cadance was telling her how important love was.

Twilight didn't know if what she was doing was smart but she did know it was right. Tears formed in her eyes but they were not for anypony but herself. She was not just scared about the steps she started taking towards the two stallions dragging the limp body. She was terrified.

She had never faced this kind of situation before. She had never had to make this kind of decision. If she turned away then everything would be fine. She would be safe...but then her heart would wear a scar, forever reminding her of how she had ignored all of those voices. By going forward, she risked her life. She could die if anything went sour.

With shaky hooves and trembling voice, she spoke. “I-it's n-not...”

“Get back in the cab!” the stallion on the left barked.

“It's not dead!” Twilight countered, tears of fear now dripping down her cheeks. This was not like all the moments when she learned something about friendship. This was scaring her. What if she was wrong? “We need to help it.”

“What?!” both drivers looked at her as if she was outright insane.

“We need to save it!” Twilight insisted as she rushed up to it and lit her horn with some basic medical magic. She didn't know much but she could check some basic things like pulse and wounds, assuming changelings were not too different from ponies when it came to those sort of things. Overall, she didn't have a clue what she was doing. But amidst all the feeling in her chest that told her to run away, she stood her ground.

“It's a changeling,” the stallions insisted. Then one of them added, “it's better off dead. We're better off if it's dead.”

Twilight's heart was still running faster than a rabbit and it started giving her a headache. She tried her best to ignore it and gently grabbed the large changeling so that she could support the neck. When the stallions tried physically interfering again, attempting to pull her away, she used up all of the boldness she had left.

“You two go back to the cab!” she shouted with forced anger. “Or I'll have my dragon burn it to the ground!”

It was an incredibly stupid thing to say and, given time, Twilight could have come up with something far better. But the adrenaline of the moment allowed it to work because neither stallion suspected Spike was incapable of doing so and both found his presence curious, mysterious, and fearful all at once. They looked to each other for a moment and then split back to the driver hookups on the front of the vehicle.

One of them did, however, remark as they went back. “You want to die? Fine. This is on your head, lady.”

As Twilight winced to levitate the large heavy lifeform, she admitted the male was right. This was on her. If something went wrong then it would solely be her fault for helping a changeling. But she decided that if she had to die for saving someone's life then that was something she'd be proud to bear on her gravestone.

After that, neither stallion helped her at all even as they watched her struggle step by step back to the carriage cabin. She dragged her hooves and walked almost in a crawl. Her horn was sparking and frizzing out under the weight of the changeling she had managed to half drape over her back and support with her magic. It wasn't working too well and she didn't have a clue what to do when she got it back to the cabin. She tried fixing that problem as she went but it was hard to do while straining physically and magically. She wasn't used to doing much of the former, which made the latter much more difficult.

“What's going on?” Spike called out when Twilight got close enough. He too started to see what she was carrying while he leaned out of the door's window. The form was made visible by the light that emitted from the inside of the cabin out onto the dusty midnight road. “Holy horsefeathers...” he gasped with wide eyes.

“Open the door,” Twilight mumbled with a deep voice due to the strain. She felt ready for her legs to give out under her.

“But that's-!”

“Do it!” Twilight growled, taking the final steps up to the entrance.

Spike was in full panic mode and his claws slipped repeatedly on the door handle as he fumbled with it until it opened and he nearly fell out of the cabin. Twilight forced one last push with her magic to levitate the changeling up from her back and onto the forward seating bench in the carriage. After the body was settled carefully into place, Twilight nearly collapsed on the dark roadside. She had never known how incredibly taxing it was to handle an unconscious body before, especially one so large. Still, she managed to crawl her way pathetically into the cabin with a little pulling assistance on Spike's part.

“We...have to...hurry,” Twilight panted.

The small dragon, returning his panic towards the new occupant of the vehicle, started hyperventilating. “This is bad. This is bad. This is bad!”

“Quiet,” Twilight ordered as she leaned over and moved her hooves across the carapaced being. There were a lot of wounds. That was obvious. What worried her most were two things in particular. Firstly, she didn't know anything about changeling physiology but she was pretty sure that one rear leg was pointing in the wrong direction. It was broken badly. Secondly, there were multiple lacerations to the back of the head and some kind of scabbing further down on the neck. With ponies, that kind of injury could mean death or serious damage to the nervous system as well as the brain.

“What are you d-doing?” Spike worried as he started biting his claws.

“I don't know,” Twilight gave an Applejack-worthy answer. “I'm being stupid. Really stupid.”

Spike wanted to say something else to express his absolute horror but the purple unicorn shouted out really loud to the drivers outside.

“To Ponyville! And hurry!” she commanded.

There was some mumbled answer mixed with a complaint or explicative but it fell on deaf ears. She felt the carriage turn around on the road and start racing back they way they had come.

“What are we going to Ponyville for?” Spike now worried about something else.

“I have books there,” she put simply. “I don't know. Maybe I can find something. The hospital's doctor might be able to help too.”

“Doctor?”

“I can't figure this out on my own, Spike! I only know advanced pony anatomy and first aid!” Twilight started panicking. She thought first to go to Princess Celestia but then imagined a thousand terrible things happening. First she would get scolded then her rescue subject would die without treatment then she would be suspected of being a changeling herself...

“We're dead,” Spike said finally with a calmer tone. He resolved to that inevitability.

Twilight sniffed deep because her nose had run at some earlier point. She kept checking over the changeling queen with every second destroying any hope of helping her. Of all the look-alike changelings she could have come across, why did it have to be the one that was different? Why did it have to be the queen?

She noticed a wing was missing. It wasn't just broken. It was gone. There was a small stem sticking out from the carapace but literally nothing else. And then, at that very moment with her forehooves on the changeling's midsection, she felt the shape-shifter's breathing go into some sort of convulsion.

Twilight's eyes raced around, gears in her mind turning desperately for what to do. She should have taken those emergency medical courses all those years back rather than trading them for tertiary calculus classes. Maybe the medical knowledge would have helped her now. Instead, she just froze up. The queen began sputtering painful croaks and coughs while choking to inhale. Twilight had never seen somepony actually die but she imagined this was what it sounded like because simply hearing it was putting ice in her chest.

She cried at her own inability as she slumped against the changeling, holding on to it uselessly. The tears were accompanied by a moaning from deep in her throat. Maybe if she had been able to return to her logical mind then she wouldn't be undergoing this. But her logic did not save her resolve this time. It was not so much the possible passing of the nemesis queen that so unwound her as it was her failure to save a life. Changeling or not, this was death and it terrified her. She was helpless before it.

She didn't know when it happened because the carriage was bumping along the road and her own sobbing had caused so much heaving that she didn't notice the change. The breathing had stopped. The changeling was still as stone.

Eventually, Twilight looked up from where her face had pressed against the being's side. She didn't note the stillness of the body immediately because she became transfixed by something else. The jagged horn that was protruding from the queen's head was pulsing with a green electricity. It frizzed and sparked not too unlike Twilight's horn had earlier.

Suddenly it grew outward in a grand light show, lightning reaching out to hit various points in the cabin. Twilight went rigid in the moment and didn't have the reaction necessary to move away. Spike leaped from his seat with the fastest jump he had ever made in his entire life. He leaped to his surrogate mother.

“Twilight!” he yelped in fear. He wanted to push her away or at least shield her from the magical lightning. Anything to save her. But he was struck by a bolt and blasted against the other side of the cabin before he could reach her. Somehow he managed to hit the cushion of the seating even though the trajectory shouldn't have been right for it.

Twilight was also hit by a bolt at the same time. Several, in fact. They didn't hurt even the tiniest bit and actually felt rather warm and tingly instead. Her eyes glazed over with a green hue and she saw places she had never seen and heard voices she had never heard. There were a thousand faces that all looked very much the same and yet she knew them each individually. In her heart, she felt a desperate love for them and then it was severed all at once.

That was when something gripped her hard. She could see enough through the haze in her eyes to see it was nothing physical. The changeling still lied still. And yet there was a clawing on her inside. In one last disturbing moment, Twilight heard a voice in her mind whisper her name. It was a buzzy voice she could only have remembered in nightmares if she had the occasion to experience them. Then it was gone.

The green lightning finished and the cabin went quiet. There was no green light at all anymore and Twilight had to blink herself to reality. Her feelings were mixed and confused. She had felt terror towards the still shape-shifter laying on the bench before her. She had also felt hatred and reluctant pity. But she had felt a desperate sympathy too. The part of her that she shared with her friends told her that she should feel sympathy. That she should do what she could even if this being was an enemy.

Now, it didn't matter anymore. The queen was no more. Was that lightning then just a dying spasm of magic?

She was breathing.

Twilight didn't smile or react in any other way at first. She just sat there between the seat benches dumbly. She didn't even hear Spike mumble a “what happened” as he came back to himself. The rise and fall of the changeling's chest cavity was still labored but was no longer in convulsions.

The queen's head laid sideways on the seat and the visible eye appeared badly marred. It was closed tight. But, when Twilight finally slumped backwards in relief that her rescue efforts were not in vain, she could see a tiny bit of the other eye against the cushion.

It was half open.

It was looking at her.

Now Twilight finally felt her blood cool again. The changeling's end was staved off for now but she was also conscious. What was she going to do? The unicorn only thought as far as the saving part. She had no contingencies.

“Twilight!” Spike called louder. “Are you okay?”

The purple unicorn gulped. “Y-yeah...”

A sound came from the changeling's mouth. She didn't move and the sound was very coarse and full of gurgles. She repeated it in chokes.

“T-w-ilight...”

Spike jumped to his feet and tried to assert himself between the mare and the changeling but Twilight stuck out her hoof and held him back. It sent a shiver up her spine to hear her own name on the queen's lips, but she kept vigilant.

“I kn-ew,” the queen continued in painful sounds. Her good eye closed again. “Y-you'd save m-me...”

Now that was a very weird thing to say. What could possibly have given her that notion? The small dragon fell silent and Twilight leaned up towards her enemy. She drained away as much fear as she could, convincing herself the one before her was empty of power as she was.

“You're the queen of the changelings, aren't you?” she asked close to her face where they could speak easily in soft voices.

The eye remained closed. “Wa-s...Chry-salis...”

“Chrysalis?” Twilight furrowed her brows. The carriage hit a larger bump and she had to brace herself against the bench with her forehooves.

“My name,” the changeling came back a little easier but in a single difficult breath.

“Chrysalis,” Twilight repeated the name, now knowing it was one. “I want to save you. How can I help?”

She knew it was a question that made her sound dumb but it was the truth. She needed some information if she was going to be able to assist in any way. Then she heard an odd buzz-like croak from the changeling's throat. It almost sounded like a laugh.

“Why?” Chrysalis groaned.

“Because I believe it's the right thing to do,” Twilight answered, ready to defend herself against any argument. “I don't believe my dislike for you makes it right to let you die when I could do something to prevent that.”

“You,” Chrysalis coughed on her own word. “You don't dislike me.”

“What?” Twilight squinted. Had she heard that right? “I'm pretty sure I do. You did some very evil things,” she recalled, trying to remember that it was yesterday rather than today based on how late in the night it inevitably was.

“I saw,” Chrysalis went on unabated. “Your...heart.”

“Huh?” the unicorn tilted her head.

“It's pure,” the former queen opened her good eye halfway again. “That's why you saved me. You're the only one that would.”

“I don't know what you're talking about,” Twilight shook her head. “You're not making any sense.”

“Shining Armor...”

Twilight's face turned more apprehensive. “What?”

“My Shining Armor...” the changeling repeated, now beginning to sob. Her large open eye wavered in some distant horror.

There was no doubt in Twilight's mind that something was seriously wrong with the pseudo-pony beyond her established actions of evil. “Not your Shining Armor,” Twilight corrected her. “Now tell me what you're up to. I'm willing to save your life but I won't let you harm anypony-”

“Twi....light...?” Chrysalis moved her eye so it latched onto the unicorn's. She spoke as if she only now noticed the mare was there at all. Her eye widened again as if she was shocked before she turned to a look of joyful relief. “Twilight!”

The mare found herself shrinking back a bit when the changeling tried reaching out with a forehoof. The leg didn't make it far, though, before it seized up from injury.

“Twilight?” Chrysalis asked in worry. She didn't know why the mare had shied away.

Spike couldn't stand it. “What's going on?” he asked with a concerned wobble.

“I don't know,” Twilight squinted in confusion.

“Don't you...” Chrysalis began to sniff and cry. “Don't you love me, Twilight?”

Something about the tone and piercing eye began to disturb Twilight deeply in an entirely new way. This was nothing like the strong malicious spirit that Chrysalis had exuded during the invasion. This was something terrifying on a completely separate level. Chrysalis wasn't just physically ruined. She was mentally broken too. Was this what happened to changelings on the verge of death? Did it have anything to do with that bizarre surge of green magic?

Twilight dared to get close again. “Who are you?” she tried again, muting the sound of the racing carriage she was in to hear the next words carefully.

“Chrysalis,” she answered with a tentative buzz. “Your Chrysalis.”

“My...?”

“Don't leave me,” the changeling started sobbing all over again. Her working eye kept sealing up because of the tears. “Never leave me again...”

Twilight lowered her gaze as her mind grasped for a logical explanation. Perhaps some clue to a possible charade. But every possible deceit she could dream of failed to involve such unstable projections. The purple unicorn stretched a forehoof out and traced it along one of the changeling's bruised sides. Her magic began analyzing again and reported the same status. Those head and neck injuries might very well be the culprits after all.

It seemed her charity towards the former enemy was not out to kill her. With a heavy heart, Twilight brought her forehoof and laid it on Chrysalis' that she had tried to move before. If Chrysalis survived then perhaps the truth might be unveiled. The unicorn reassured herself that there was no need to shrink away again because of the changeling's physical restrictions.

The carriage raced across the moonlit road, driven by two stallions who would like nothing more than to be rid of the contents as soon as possible. Inside, the Element of Magic hoped to Luna's stars that her courage was not misplaced and that her own feelings would resolve themselves upon what she had done.

Comments

[FinalFan]

A couple nitpicks:

the last moments of a decease.

Is that some kind of weird changeling term? Because it sure doesn't make sense if it means "to die".
I STAND CORRECTED HA HA HA Learning new vocabulary, yay!

Whether it was for the silent of the middle-of-nowhere night

At the very least, it should be "silence". But the whole thing sounds awkward to me; perhaps something like "whether it was due to the silence of the deserted night-time" or "whether it was the night-time silence of the remote area"?

[Wellwater]

4728250 "Decease" is actually a valid, albeit rare, noun form of the verb. "A decease" is the same as "a death".

[shynight]

She had never known how incredibly taxing it was to handle an unconscious body before, especially one so large.

Other than, you know, that one time she lifted an Ursa Minor...

[Fourpony]

Her horn was sparking and frizzing out under the weight of the changeling

I love how inconsistent Twilight's magic is. One day she can lift a giant star bear, a water tower, and milk a bunch of cows all at the same time. One week later, a stack of books overwhelms her.

[Cavenerd20]

5217306 I have to agree; there's no way Twilight would have any difficulty lifting Chrysalis in her magic after having lifted an Ursa Minor. That thing was the size of a house, there's no way it was lighter than Chrysalis.

Still an excellent story, though.

[luna080]

To be fair, the ursa minor didn't have severe injuries when she lifted it, unlike chrysalis.
Remember that table that wasn't very heavy but was really difficult to carry because it was awkward to carry? Okay, now imagin if that table had been bleeding to death and had possible injuries to the spine...

[Tunnelspark]

Also another note about twilight's magic. It has to do with the state of mind... Magic is shown to be an escercise in focus. and I doubt she had any focus in this chapter what-soever.

[Gobeman]

force induced amnesia?

[booman980]

5838479
i0.kym-cdn.com/entries/icons/facebook/000/018/682/obi-wan.jpg
this are not the droids that you are looking for.

[Razzy]

Ouch, poor Chryssie. >.o

[SilverDiamond]

She dragged her hooves and walked almost in a crawl. Her horn was sparking and frizzing out under the weight of the changeling she had managed to half drape over her back and support with her magic.

I want you to stop RIGHT there. It doesn't matter that this is a story from 2014. What matters is that BOAST BUSTERS happened before Canterlot Wedding.
Season 1.
https://mlp.fandom.com/wiki/Boast_Busters
Season 2.
https://mlp.fandom.com/wiki/A_Canterlot_Wedding_-_Part_1

And do you know what happened in Boast Busters? She levitated an URSA MINOR. AND a WATER TOWER.
https://youtu.be/qPjq-a9nNx4
Don't you DARE tell me that Twilight can't lift a single body of a changeling!

[horses are fuckin weird]

I really don't like the characterization in this one compared to the 2012 version, the characters seem less sympathetic.