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Chapter 1: Run, Girl, Run1,145 words
Chapter 2: Damage Control787 words
Chapter 3: Diplomacy Without Tea Isn’t Very Fun to Watch2,028 words
Chapter 4: Scouting your Surroundings940 words
Chapter 5: This is no Time For Coffee2,094 words
Chapter 6: Exploration2,257 words
Chapter 7: Awakening2,314 words
Chapter 8: Hide1,076 words
Chapter 9: Introductions1,779 words

Chapter 7: Awakening

Author's Note:

New chapter everybody! Sorry this took so long. I hope the wait was worth it. I'm not at the hiatus stage yet so there is more to come, at least for a little while.

Let me know what you think of this chapter! And, while you wait for the next one, give the other fics I've written, as well as the countless other works on this site some love. Happy reading!

The growing orange glow within the central crystal was more than just concerning. It was disturbing. The glow felt sickly, giving off the same energy as before, only stronger. Chrysalis slowly pulled her hoof away from the crack she made in the central crystal, as she started to feel the heat coming from it. She took a few steps back from it, her eyes transfixed on the slowly increasing glow.

The trance was broken when a cracking sound reached the ex-Queen’s ears. Her eyes snapped to the source of the sound. The crack that she had punched into the crystal was now getting bigger, spidering its way across its surface…and out to the rest of the crystal surfaces.

Chrysalis’ eyes widened with shock. The cracks continued to spread in tandem with the glow which grew in intensity. The temperature in the air was also beginning to rise. Chrysalis took several more steps back as the cracks crept outward towards her. The glow shone through the cracks with blinding intensity. The ex-Queen ducked as a beam of light almost took her head off.

One beam shot out and hit the ceiling.

…and from there, things only got more dangerous.

The entire chamber began to shake, dust and loose rocks fell from above. The cracks in the crystal masses became bigger, the glow brighter, and the heat even more intense.

Chrysalis finally managed to find her feet and flee from the heart of the chaos. Where she would go, she didn’t know.

‘Just anywhere but here!’ She thought in panic. She moved as fast as her hooves would allow her to over the terrain. The crystal beneath her hooves was cracking and crumbling like thin ice on a lake, and the burning orange light was close behind, filling the gaps like water.

More beams of light reached the ceiling, and the rumbling seemingly intensified in response. The strong shake threw Chrysalis off balance. She slipped and tumbled down the incline until she reached dirt ground.

‘Get up…must…get up!’ The ex-Queen mentally ordered, trying to reorient herself after tumbling.

It was then that she noticed that the engravings, runes actually, that covered the walls of the chamber had begun to glow as well. This glow was different, however. The engravings were giving off a light blue glow, as opposed to the dark orange of the shattering crystal mass.

Chrysalis could sense the cold air coming off of the walls as she tried to keep moving away from the center. As the air grew hotter, Chrysalis’ new goal became clear: get as close to the walls as possible.

Chrysalis rose to her hooves and started galloping towards the chamber walls as quickly as she could, side-stepping everything in her way. Rocks, scrap piles, rotten wood. She didn’t register the particulars of her surroundings. All that she could focus on was the building heat behind her and the pleasant cold in front of her.

The ex-Queen’s sprint was suddenly interrupted when something caught her back-left hoof, tripping her. It only got worse when Chrysalis suddenly found herself being dragged back. Away from the walls and towards the center again.

Frantically, Chrysalis tried to stop this involuntary pull back, dragging her front hooves along the ground. Looking back, she saw the problem: a chain had looped around her back-left hoof and was dragging her back to the center.

Not one to be held down, Chrysalis kicked at the loop around her leg, trying to slide it down inch by inch. The sense of heat was returning as she was pulled away from the cooling runes. Chrysalis took in her altered surroundings with horror. All the lengthy links of chains scattered across the chamber rattled, clinked, and clacked as they all were reeled in towards the burning mass of orange light at the center of the chamber. Said mass flared in heat and brightness as another beam shot out, hitting the walls and sending another tremor through the chamber.

Chrysalis kicked at her bindings with renewed vigor, as the chains slowly began to adopt the temperature of their destination. With desperate tears beginning to form in her eyes, Chrysalis managed to free her leg with a *clack*, the strand of linked metal moving along without her, thankfully.

Once again, being more mindful of the ground this time, the ex-Queen made a b-line for the rune-covered chamber walls. The cracking floor and slithering chains made the task difficult, however. Her hooves, mane, and, occasionally, her horn would all catch on chains, debris, and uneven ground. Despite the stumbling, tripping, cracks, and bruises, however, Chrysalis kept going. Racing towards the cooling runes.

A cracking sound and a *boom* sounded behind her. Daring a glance, Chrysalis saw another, noticeably bigger, beam of orange light erupt from the central mass. As it hit the ceiling, a rumble echoed throughout the chamber and the light of the runes flickered for a moment.

A greater sense of urgency took hold, driving the ex-Queen to try and move even faster. Recovering as best she could from the hooks catching on the holes in her legs, the slippery scrap iron, and the rotten wood cracking under her hooves.

Her goal was in sight, within reach. She could feel the cooling air surrounding her as she reached out to touch the runes.

Then, just as she was about to make contact, the mother of all quakes rocked the chamber as the burning mass of crystal in the center fired off the largest beam of burning light it had released throughout the chaotic affair. The beam hit the ceiling with a mighty *crash*, causing the chamber to shake and chunks of ceiling to fall. A wave of heat rolled across the chamber, kicking up dust, dirt, and debris. Most importantly, the blue runes on the wall flickered, their glow weakening, along with the relief they provided.

Chrysalis looked upon the scene with horror and desperation, not knowing what she could do aside from silently pleading for the runes to hold up against the apparent damage they were taking.

Her prayers were not answered.

Another, stronger, brighter wave of heat blasted out from the center, slamming into the chamber walls. The energy that it carried crackled against the runes, seeping into them as they flickered.

The light of the runes faded. The cold air soon followed.

Chrysalis was left with a loss for words as the sauna-grade heat quickly surrounded her. She dropped to her haunches, having watched her only hope for survival literally fade before her eyes. She was without magic, without a plan, without hope.

The former Queen’s mind slowly began to fill with intrusive thoughts about how she might now die in this stone prison. Perhaps she would pass out and die of dehydration. Maybe she would catch fire and be burned to cinders.

However it came about, it didn’t matter. Not now anyway.

‘This is it,’ Chrysalis thought to herself. ‘This is the end…my end.’

Chrysalis slowly moved to lean her back against the chamber wall that was her salvation not a few moments ago.

She sat back down and closed her eyes not wanting to have to look at the orange light that was spelling her doom at the time.

The ex-Queen’s mind then wandered again. This time, it pondered how she ended up here. In this place, at this moment, having this experience.

‘Perhaps if I had been a better ruler, I wouldn’t be dying like this,’ she considered, allowing herself a humorless chuckle at the thought.

Here she was: Powerless, alone, lost…and about to be air-boiled alive by a giant, glowing, orange, tree-like crystal in the heart of a mountain somewhere in the Everfree Forest.

‘Honestly,’ Chrysalis thought, ‘…Not the worst way I could imagine going out.’

Chrysalis let herself get as comfortable as one could under such circumstances, and waited for the boiling air to drive her to unconscious…

…

…and then she felt the heat start to reseed.

Chrysalis felt confused by the sensation, but she dismissed it as merely her body’s senses going haywire from the intense temperature…

…the feeling didn’t leave.

Chrysalis felt tempted to open her eyes, but she refused. Every time she looked to the center crystal, things had become noticeably worse.

‘But there has to be a reason…’ said a small, curious, inquisitive, and dangerous voice in her head.

‘No!’ Chrysalis scolded, as she briefly wrestled with the idea. ‘No good will come of it. I refuse to stare into that Faust-forsaken crystal!’

‘So you refuse to stare into the face of your own demise, and confront it?’ Posed another authoritative, prideful, and equally dangerous voice.

‘…’

‘…Perhaps one last look.’

Chrysalis slowly and begrudgingly opened her eyes.

She then immediately took a moment to rub them when confronted by the sight before her.

The orange light that had spread throughout every inch of crystal was now reseeding back towards the middle, the burning heat following it. The last of the chains clattered their way across the ground, catching up with their fellows.

Chrysalis had thought she couldn’t be surprised anymore today, and yet here she was, surprised again. The force that she was sure would be her doom was retreating back to its point of origin. She didn’t know why or how this was happening, only that it was in fact happening.

‘Is this a sign?’ Chrysalis wondered. ‘Is this just luck? What is even happening today?’

As the light and heat continued to pull back, Chrysalis allowed herself a moment to breathe, releasing a breath she didn’t even realize she was holding. Despite everything that had just transpired, she was still alive. That meant that there was still a chance for her to get out of there. There was still—

A chance for her to learn to stop listening to herself.

The light continued to shrink into itself. Into the middle area, into the central crystal, into the trunk, into a single point at the heart of the crystal. Then, all at once, that singular point of condensed light and energy…erupted.

*BOOM*

The orange light flared and the center crystal sanctum was blasted into shards. A shockwave ripped through the air, as a thick column of fire shot straight up into the ceiling, throwing Chrysalis back against the wall. A layer of dirt and dust was lifted off the floor. Pieces of armor, rock, and house were flung through the air by the blast. How the whole chamber hadn’t collapsed at that point was a mystery.

Shards of crystal flew outward from the explosion. But rather than become embedded in the walls (or Chrysalis’s rib cage), they suddenly stopped mid-flight, suspended in mid-air. The same odd rules applied to many of the other pieces of shrapnel and stone kicked up by the blast. They all simply floated in the air, gently turning. It was a fairly calming sight in comparison to the raging, swirling column of fire that dominated Chrysalis’s vision.

The shards, scrap metal, and stones then started to swirl inward, towards the column of fire, as hooked chains flew out of the flames, further reeling them in.

Chrysalis found herself unable to continue watching, as she tried to move from the wall to someplace that would provide cover from the scorching hot light and flying debris. The swirling wind didn’t help her already shaky legs as she stumbled. Her vision was blurry as her eyes teared up from the dust and heat, compounded by her need to squint due to the light. She found some shelter behind a large rock that had managed to remain in the ground.

As the stones, shrapnel, and shards swirled into the fire, the column started to thin. Chrysalis remained behind the cover of the large rock, not witnessing the change. Even if she did peek from her hiding place, her blurred vision would’ve prevented her from seeing it all clearly. Prevented her from clearly seeing that there seemed to be something emerging, taking shape, as the outer layers of the fire column fell away. It was something big, something that still burned, now with additional darker colors. A blurry, burning, something.

A big, dark, blurry, fiery, burning something, that proceeded to let out the most monstrous, haunting, bone-rattling, and chilling call she had ever heard in her life.

“RRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAA—AAAAAAAALLLLOOOOOOO!!!!”

It was a sound that Chrysalis never heard before. No living creature in the entirety of Equis that she was aware of had a call like that.

It was a howl filled with pain, agony, and wrath. It was the cry of some in-equine monster.

Chrysalis covered her ears trying to lessen the ache the noise caused for her drums. It didn’t block the sound out completely, but it did make it less painful to listen to.

And then, slowly, the howling failed out.

For a moment, the air was deathly still and tensely quiet. Quiet enough that Chrysalis slowly uncovered her ears, allowing them to swivel about, in search of sensory input.

Once again, absolute silence reigned over the chamber.

Chrysalis cautiously began to stand back up. Only to swiftly return to keeping her back against the rock, when the sound of equally in-equine growling, scrapping, and shifting stones broke the golden silence. Whatever had made that howl was starting to move.

The air was now a different kind of tense. One fueled by fear rather than anticipation. Said fear kept The ex-Queen rooted to her hiding spot.

Chrysalis could make out the light of a fiery glow cast upon the walls. The sound of growling and heavy steps reached her ears. The light cast on the wall became stronger. The growling and stepping sounds were slowly growling nearer. The air was becoming drier.

Chrysalis felt realization fill her mind, while dread crawled up her spine.

Whatever had made all those sounds wasn’t just moving. It was moving towards her.

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