Death of a Queen

by Arkane12

12: Deep Cuts

“Chrysalis?” Twilight hammered on the changeling’s bedroom door. “Hurry up, we’ve got things to do today. Chrysalis?” As she reached for the handle, the door burst open, sending the alicorn and her two guards scrambling back. Chrysalis strode stoically from the dark, ignoring the reeling trio opposite her.

“About time,” Twilight growled. Beside her, the two sentries regained their senses, sharing in their princess’ anger.

“You said we have plans, right? Why’re you just standing there?” Chrysalis turned away with a righteous huff. She started toward the study alone. Twilight took to the air after her.

“What’s got you in such a bad mood today?” She whispered, hopefully loud enough for Chrysalis to hear. If she did, she didn’t show it. Twilight frowned. After yesterday’s revelations, she should be the one angrily clomping down the hallways of Canterlot Castle. She added it to her rapidly growing list of issues to deal with later.

“So, what’s the plan today? Taking some blood samples? Need a few chitinous plates to run tests on? Maybe an autopsy?” She asked in a mocking tone. The feigned smile on her face faded just as quickly as she’d summoned it.

Something seemed off about Twilight’s guest. Sure, the attitude had been an unwelcome addition to her morning, but not a wholly unexpected one whenever the queen became involved. As Twilight glided past her, it finally dawned on her.

“What’s wrong with your wings?” Twilight asked, attempting to sound sincere.

“They’re fine,” Chrysalis snapped.

“Where’s your leg brace?”

“It was getting too tight.”

“It’s supposed to help you,” Twilight chided.

“Apologies. I didn’t realize you cared so much,” she mocked.

The study appeared in the hallway in front of them. The armored stallions took their places on either side of the door as the two mares stepped inside. Chrysalis returned to her nest in the small storage area on the far side of the room, while Twilight checked on her experiments scattered across the table. Neither of them spoke for nearly an hour.

Twilight ached. Occasionally, she found herself watching Chrysalis out of the corner of her eye, not out of suspicion, but worry. At one point, she almost missed the flask bubbling over. She pushed the burner away, narrowly avoiding the pink fizz spilling onto the table. The wood appeared undamaged by the solution. She scratched a note about that on a nearby strip of parchment.

“So, what’s that?” Chrysalis asked. Twilight wondered if she’d been caught staring.

“She does speak,” Twilight mused.

“I can go back to sitting silently in the corner if that’s what you wish.” Chrysalis shrugged and curled back up.

“I didn’t mean it like that.” Twilight shook her head.

“Then how did you mean it?” Chrysalis rose to her feet, forcing Twilight to step back involuntarily. The small gesture didn’t go unnoticed.

“It’s my newest creation. I’m hoping it can counteract your magic.”

“What?”

“This.” Twilight held out the potion for her to see. “Want to help me test it?”

“No. I really don’t.”

Twilight set the brew back on its holder. “Alright, we need to talk.”

“Convenient isn’t it? Please tell me, what brilliant thoughts are rattling around in the royal little head of yours.”

“What is wrong with you today? What do you have to be so upset about?” Twilight stepped forward, trying her best to stand up to the creature over a head taller than her.

“You told Luna, didn’t you?” A little flicker of spit accompanied the words.

“Of course, I told Luna,” Twilight roared. “What did you expect me to do with that information? Maybe next time just shouldn’t lie to me, and we wouldn’t have this problem.”

Chrysalis scoffed, throwing her hoof into the air. “So, you’re willing to kill my changelings because of that?”

“We’re not going to hurt your changelings. Luna’s not like that.”

“Not yet. Just wait until she’s desperate.” Chrysalis turned her back to Twilight, finished.

“Hey, I’m not done talking to you.” Twilight circled around the changeling, trying to go around to face her. She reached forward.

Chrysalis turned fast. Too fast for Twilight’s comfort. The alicorn jumped back, a flap of her wings carrying her farther than intended. Chrysalis’ face turned from anger to shock as she watched Twilight crash into the table, the sound of breaking glass echoing through the empty rafters.

The force of her retreat carried her through one of her glass displays, knocking it to the ground and sending it scattering in every direction at once. As she fell, she hit a shelf on the other side, slamming her horn into the wood hard enough to send a hairline fissure through both objects. A dream-like fuzz settled over the waking world.

“What’s going on in here?” A voice called from outside. The guards threw the doors open. “Get back.”

One of the stallions spied the princess, dazed and bleeding on the floor. He ordered for his partner to restrain Chrysalis while he inquired about Twilight’s condition.

“What did you do?” The second pony asked, leveling his spear.

“Is she alright?” Chrysalis tried to maneuver herself for a better view of the wounded, but an iron blade pressed her back.

“Princess Twilight, can you hear me?”

“Yeah, I’m alright.” Twilight sat up, pressing a hoof to the base of her horn. Through blurred vision, she watched her escort threaten Chrysalis. The changeling seemed to be looking at her, though.

“It’s alright, Princess. We’ve got Chrysalis under control.” He sounded far too happy about this.

“She didn’t do anything. I tripped.” Twilight heard armor clink as she pushed the soldier away. With the help of the table responsible for this, she wrested herself back up onto her hooves.

“Let me help you, Princess,” The guard insisted.

“I said I’m fine,” Twilight said through gritted teeth.

“Here, let me help you.” He reached for her, but she brushed him off.

“Just go get a doctor. Tell him I’ll be in my room.” She shoved the guard aside and made her way out into the hall. The younger stallion hurried to attend to her orders.

“Let me through,” Chrysalis warned the one pony left in the room with her.

“No way. You’re staying right here until we figure out what happened here.”

From where she stood, Chrysalis noticed a trail of blood out the door. Her anger built. “This is your final warning. Get out of my way.”

The guard lurched forward, his spear in hoof. He intended to drop the changeling with a quick jab, but she moved faster. He had only a moment to register his mistake before Chrysalis lunged. She feigned to the side, lurching like a cornered serpent, only to catch the shaft of the spear between her teeth. With a tug, she pulled the weapon free from its master, shattering it between her jaws. She spat a small collection of splinters onto the floor.

Chrysalis knocked the stunned warrior aside, following Twilight out into the hallway. Despite how often she found herself here, she couldn’t remember the path back to the bedrooms. She stood for a moment, calling every memory she had of her time hostage here. The result was underwhelming. In the end, she decided her best lay in following the splatter of blood that shimmered against the marble floor.

Twilight staggered forward. At the moment, she didn’t feel the glass puncturing her body. The pain in her head outclassed it by a mile. She staggered down the hallway, wobbling back and forth as her limbs threatened to give way. The buzzing that had started in her ear seemed to be growing louder.

“Wait up.” The voice sounded distant.

Chrysalis hovered past Twilight, blocking her forward path.

“Move,” Twilight commanded.

“Let me help you.”

“I don’t want your help.”

Twilight had faced down the changeling queen before. In the past, merely standing in Chrysalis’ presence would challenge Twilight’s resolve. When side-by-side, there was less than a foot of difference between their heights. In combat, the changeling’s form towered over her own. Now, as they waited in the hall of Canterlot Castle, that nagging dread in the back of her mind never arrived. While her instincts may have been knocked loose in the fall, Twilight chose to believe she knew better.

“Maybe you don’t want it, but you need it. Have you seen yourself? You can barely walk.”

“I just need to get to my room and lay down, then I’ll be fine.”

“You have shards of glass in your flank and wing,” Chrysalis stated matter-of-factly. “Moving around this much will only make things worse.”

Twilight tried to stretch her wing out to see the evidence herself, but the slightest movement sent a searing spike through her back. The jolt sobered her just enough to feel her wounds. She tried to deny assistance again, but her tongue didn’t cooperate.

Rather than wait for an answer, Chrysalis drew a deep breath. Her body twisted, lowering her right shoulder to the ground facing toward Twilight.

“What are you doing?”

“Climb up. I’ll carry you.”

Even in her delusional anger, Twilight’s gaze moved to Chrysalis’ wounded leg.

“Don’t worry about me,” Chrysalis said, reading her mind.

Twilight wanted to argue about this. She wanted to be angry at the changeling, to pin the blame on her somehow. She wanted Chrysalis to leave, not just now. She wanted to pretend that Celestia had never found her in the hive, had never tried to save her life. Twilight wanted things to return to normal. Her desires would go unheeded. Defeated, Twilight reached a foreleg around Chrysalis’ neck.

“You alright up there?” Chrysalis asked. She shifted, ensuring Twilight’s weight would keep her balanced. Her wounds groaned beneath the added weight, but she was happy to ignore them. Twilight kept her herself locked around Chrysalis’ neck, hooves hooked together to keep her from falling.

“I’m fine.”

“Hold tight.” Chrysalis took her first step.

Twilight buried her face into the changeling’s green mane. She’d expected it to smell as earthen as it looked, but found herself intrigued by its sweet, honey-like scent.

As they moved deeper into the labyrinthine layout of the upper floors, Twilight’s thoughts of her youth superseded her reality. She remembered the nights she fell asleep at her desk or on the living room couch. She would wake later in the night, as her father clambered up the stairs, Twilight held firmly on his back. As she grew older, she hadn’t realized how much she missed those times.

Chrysalis felt Twilight’s grip around her neck tighten. She felt the warm breath on her neck.

“Twilight.” Chrysalis stopped. “There’s something I need to tell you. I need you to listen closely. I’m worried I won’t be able to repeat it.”

“I’m listening, Chrysalis.”

“I’ve done a lot of terrible things in my life. I brainwashed your brother, I invaded your home, I stole you away in the middle of the night. I’ve done a lot of terrible things. If I’m being honest, I don’t regret it. If I could do it all over again, the same as before, I would.”

Twilight opened her mouth to speak but thought better of it.

“At least, that’s what I thought. I hated Celestia for what she did. If she were smart, she would have left me to die on that godforsaken rock. It would’ve been easier for both of us. Now she’s dying, and I’m here, leashed like an animal.

“I doubt Celestia will be too happy when she wakes up. Luna’s probably already picked out a nice gutter to dump my body in when she’s finished with me. Your guards are watching me with nothing but suspicion or terror. My changelings mostly hate me, and I doubt there’s any pony alive who would bat an eye if they received my head on a silver platter.

“And I deserve every little piece of that. I’m a monster, Twilight, and they all know it.”

“What about me?” Twilight asked timidly.

“You? I don’t know what to think about you. I don’t know if you’ll ever look at me and see anything other than the monster I’ve tried so hard to be. In my time here, I’ve learned a few things: Celestia’s an idiot. Luna’s obnoxious. I broke the mirror in my room because I couldn’t stand to look at myself in it. I learned that I’m sick of hurting you, Twilight.”

They allowed her final words to fade through the empty halls.

“So where does that leave us?” Chrysalis glanced over her shoulder, to the soft little thing clutching onto her back.

“You’ve hurt so many innocent ponies. You hurt my subjects, my friends, and my family. You hurt me. Toyed with me. You made me another pawn in your twisted game. I should have let Luna deal with you back in the hospital. I should have left you to rot in a cramped dungeon. I should hate you.”

Chrysalis felt a warm tear sink into her mane.

“But I can’t.”

“I see.” Hours passed in only a few seconds.

“That’s that,” Twilight finished. She expected Chrysalis’ hard exterior to be less comfortable.

“I can’t hate you either, Twilight.”

“I thought I was just another pony,” Twilight chuckled, wiping her eyes.

Chrysalis’ face twisted into a mischievous smile. “I lied, Twilight. It’s what I’m good at.” The sound of Twilight’s joy renewed her making her weightless.

“Thank you for saying that.”

“While we’re being so honest, though . . . “ Chrysalis swung her head in a wide arc.

“What?” Twilight asked, dreading another turning of the tables.

“I have no idea where we are.”

The two of them glanced around at the featureless archways and empty passages around them.

“Me neither,” Twilight admitted.

Comments

[Razzy]

Careful, she's made of sweet tissue paper!

[Kadigan]

“Is she alright?”

... the only issue I have, here, is that this is a suprise. With the way I saw Chrysalis in my head, this is out of character - at least at this point. I mean, she would've been mildly amused, I guess, but that?

Same for the rest of the scenario that played out. Her malice may be mostly gone, but her spite is as high as ever, and she stills sees the ponies as naive foals, Twilight chief among them. Would she really do the things described? Would she?

---

I learned that I’m sick of hurting you, Twilight.

... why, though?

---

Yeah, so I can't see what prompted this. Is Chrysalis planning on feeding off Twilight? She must've felt something, I assume... But why? Why now? Why her? A chance at escape? Would she want that?

Why?

I did not see this coming. I notice that I am confused. Something I believe in about the (constructed) world is wrong, because my mental model didn't predict this shift.

I am perfectly capable of shifting my internal behaviour model of this Chrysalis to match, however there will always be this disconnect that pivots around chapter #12 - before it, Chrysalis didn't seem to care; after, she seems to care rather outwardly, and I can't see anything I can claim as "evidence" as to why this is.

[Venerable Ro]

This doesn't make a lick of sense. Chrysalis is practically defined by her capacity for spite, and yet here she is suddenly caring about Twilight for no clear reason.

[Arkane12]

10631383
Yeah, I'll admit that it could have been done better . . .

[Darzac]

I like this fic, believe me I do. The chapters are fine by themselves, however together, they don't make a lot of sense. I don't mind Chrysalis acting Ooc compared to the show, but she is not even in character compared to chrysalis in the first chapters. It's not a big deal, since the fic is still enjoyable, but when I finally get into the story, the next chapter or the next line simply throw me out of it. But well, with Chrysalis and Twilight relationship at the beginning, it's either going to be an accurate but slow pacing story, or a quick and ooc one to go to the most interesting stuff. I guess I just need to hold at the beginning for now

[Yubella]

Well this is going south. For me that is.

[Arkane12]

11251432
I'm sorry to hear that. Honestly, I'm not thrilled with some of it either. That was the whole reason for the rewrites.