Dark as Chitin

by LostBox

Chapter 29: Truthful (Revised)

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Segment Music

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After about two hours of conversing, the council meeting finally came to a close. Twilight hadn't given anypony any specific instructions other than to remain vigilant. Discord said he would go watch the map, which I assume he followed through with. Celestia and Luna remained in the castle's guest quarters in case anything were to come up. The pony named Rainbow Dash said something about starting a search team with the Wonderbolts. Everypony else just seemed to go back home. I remained in the council room as per Twilight's request to talk over a few things.

Twilight sighed allowing her stature to falter a bit. "I'd be lying if I said this wasn't stressful."

"You said it. I'm still not sure where or what this proxy is," I lamented, allowing my head to rest on the table.

Twilight looked at me with a somber smile. "You said you were a lost soul. What was your world like before you came to Equestria?"

"Well, it was alright, just not for me though. Everyone important to me had already died, you see, and I kind of just fell apart afterward. There's also no magic, so things are a bit more difficult in general."

"I'm...I'm sorry to hear that. I can't imagine a world without loved ones, let alone no magic." Twilight said, lowering her head a bit.

I said nothing for a while. "Thanks. Princess, can I ask you for a favor?"

She raised a hoof to her chin, thinking over the question. "I don't see why not, as long as it's reasonable."

"I want to see my mother, in the flesh, if you don't mind. If all goes south and Equestria goes down under, I want to meet her at least once in person," I confessed.

Twilight's eyes widened as she looked at me in disbelief. "You know all she's done, right? What she's capable of?"

"I do. It went down in history, but she's not the same mare she was before."

Twilight shook her head slowly. "How? How could you possibly know that?"

I pointed a hoof at my chest. "She's in here princess, remember? We can feel everything the other feels. As I look at you now, I can tell she harbors no ill-intentions toward you or anypony for that matter. We love each other as family. She just wants peace, freedom... and a family."

Twilight stood up from her seat and began pacing back and forth.

"Please, princess. Let us have this. I know you believe in second chances, maybe even more. Isn't that why you don't kill your enemies, no matter who they hurt or what they take from you? Because I know you have the power to do far more than turn them to stone. It's almost been two decades, and it wasn't like she was dormant." I pleaded with Twilight.

Twilight stopped pacing and turned toward me, her eyes filled with sadness. "If what you're saying is true, then allow me to speak with her. "

This shook me a little. "Speak with her?"

"Yes, I wish to speak with her. That's not an issue, is it?"

"That's fine, but how do you suppose we do that?"

"I'll use a high-level telepathy spell and communicate with her directly," Twilight said as she closed her eyes, igniting her horn.

"Please don't screw this up for us, Soul," I thought to myself.

Twilight's magic enveloped my body, gravitated toward my head before dissipating. My head felt tingly as a result.

"Chrysalis!" I heard Twilight scream from inside my head, rattling my consciousness.

"Quiet down, you're hurting my child," Chrysalis said, scolding Twilight.

"So...it's true. You really are here right now."

Chrysalis chuckled to herself. "Yes, it is. It's rather comfortable actually, but I would like to have my body back."

Faust, this is weird.

Twilight didn't speak for a moment, no, that's not quite it. It was more like an immeasurable sequence of quiet thoughts.

"If I free you, who's to say you won't turn back to your old life?"

Chrysalis hummed to herself. "Me? I want nothing to do with that life anymore. It's just too much work and it never pays off anyway," Chrysalis with an air of levity.

Grunting in frustration, Twilight began venting in my mind. "But how? How can I trust you?"

Chrysalis remained silent. I couldn't let things stay like this, there's no telling when we'll lose her favor.

"Mom, you have to tell her the truth. You need to start at the beginning," I urged.

"I refuse," Chrysalis stated defiantly.

"Mother, please, you have to."

"I...I can't," Chrysalis said, her voice breaking every so slightly.

I understood. Bringing up the past was hard after all, and explaining it to someone you viewed as an enemy for the hardest time only made things more difficult.

Silence washed over my mind before anypony spoke again, an idea suddenly hitting me.

"Then...let me tell your story."

My mother didn't reply for a moment, but eventually quietly whispered something. "Thank you."

I rubbed my forehead with my hooves, remembering every detail of my mother's origins.

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Minutes Later...

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"Now, nopony remembers, and she has nothing left to avenge. All that she has now, is a single child, a child she can't even hold, as she is trapped in stone," I said, finishing off Chrysalis's tale.

Twilight's demeanor had completely shattered by now.

"But I thoug-why, why wasn't this in any history books? Why was it never brought up!?"

"Because ponies would rather not remember it. Besides, it's something that just hurts too much to bring up to strangers, let alone enemies," I stated.

What Twilight did next was not something I was expecting the slightest. "Chrysalis, I am so sorry, I had no idea," Twilight said, apologizing profusely.

My mother didn't say anything. Twilight deactivated her spell, turning away from me and pacing back and forth again. Suddenly, she stopped pacing, walking up to me with a determined expression on her face. "I've decided."

Before I could say anything, I was blinded by a bright light. When the light faded, I found that I was now in the royal garden. Before I hit the ground, I started up my wings, slowing my fall until I landed on my hooves. Right before me were the three statues I had been at earlier, Twilight standing beside me.

Twilight looked at the statues, wearing that same expression as before. For a moment, we stood there in stoic silence. Was this really happening? My mother was yet to speak any words. The princess took a deep breath as she closed her eyes. It was early morning now, and the sun was beginning to rise. We waited there for a moment, the wind blowing Twilight's ethereal mane.

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(Segment Music)

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Finally, Twilight made a move. She began charging her magic, a few tears escaping her eyes. All at once, she shot her magic at the statues, a green transparent orb exiting my body through my chest and flying into the statue of my mother. The light only seemed to grow brighter until it consumed the garden, then dying out just as quickly. I had shielded my eyes through the process, but as soon as the light had faded, I removed my hoof only to see three unpetrified figures standing on the base of a statue.

Cozy Glow, Tirek, and my mother looked over their bodies in disbelief. I too was in a state of disbelief. I had asked for it, but I didn't expect to receive it. Cozy Glow attempted to fly away only to be caught in Twilight's telekinesis and brought by her side. Tirek didn't do anything as Twilight was looking straight at him with that stoic expression.

"Mother?" I walked forward, my disguise slipping away. She stopped inspecting her body, jolting upright, and staring straight at me.

"Chimera?" She stammered out as she took a step forward. She, unfortunately, miscalculated, not realizing she was on an elevated platform and ended up tripping off the base of the former statues.

I rushed forward, catching her in both my magic and my forehooves. I wrapped my forehooves around her barrel tightly, she responded in kind, just not as tightly. It was more gentle and heartfelt. This was something I didn't even know I missed, no...we missed. As we embraced, I felt something begin to overflow inside of me, love. Only this time, there was no blocking it off, not that I would even want to. It was being generated from the inside and the outside. Instead, I let it out, I let it all out, and my mother did the same. I hadn't immediately noticed it, but we had begun floating off the ground.

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Twilight's POV...

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Massive waves of pink ethereal energy emanated all throughout Canterlot, bright white light at the center of it all. The waves stopped abruptly, the white light slowly dying down, revealing a large reflective white cacoon. The cacoon descended slowly until it was just centimeters above the grown. Little by little the shell cracked, rays of light escaping from each opening. With a single massive burst, the cocoon exploded into magicules.

Once the light had faded, two figures stood at the center of it all, Chimera and Chrysalis.

Both Chrysalis' and Chimera's bodies were no longer perforated by holes, and they looked far healthier. Chrysalis, for all intents and purposes, was still Chrysalis, the only prominent difference being that her mane was a far more luscious green and maybe the fact that she looked somewhat younger. Chimera shared a similar appearance to his mother, minus the mane and crown. In fact, he bore a striking resemblance to Thorax, just with a color scheme more representative of his mother.

"So, it was true..." Twilight whispered to herself, silent tears streaming down her muzzle.

The two changelings were still embracing, their eyes closed, when they suddenly pushed each other away while holding onto the other by the shoulders of the other. They looked over each other with a large amount of confusion and surprise.

"Mother!? What happened to you?" Chimera gushed.

Chrysalis looked over Chimera once more. "I could ask you the same thing."

Cozy Glow, still in my grasp, had but one question. "What in Tartarus is going on?"

Tirek on the other hoof was fast asleep, presumably knocked unconscious by the unstable fusion of magic and love energy. I couldn't help but smile. Now, what to do with these other two...

"There you...are," I heard Discord say from behind me.

"Discord? Did something come up?"

"Yes, actually, the inconspicuous black orb on the map is moving toward the Crystal Empire. Am I, uh, interrupting something?"

At hearing this, I felt a terrible shiver travel up my spine. "Oh no."

Author's Note:

I didn't like the way I finished off this story, so I revised the ending. Hopefully, this doesn't throw anypony off, but I just wanted things to be in a better place from the sequel. Also, I feel like Chrysalis and Chimera should stay true to themselves, so I changed their...change. Although, I did fill the holes in their hearts.

Comments

[shadow wolf1573]

Do you sleep?

[Teraunce]

10827124
That is a valid but unimportant question as I am wildly enjoying this story. My personal rating gets bumped up to a 9.3/10 so far. You have crafted an excellent excellent world.

[RegMoDII]

10827124

10827130
these uploads are forcing me to stay up till the wee hours of the morning to be among the first to experience the new chapter

[GrandAdmiral MitthRawN]

It happened! you are amazing!

[Screw]

I would have prefered if she was dark just like Pharynx or remain as "Changeling Alpha", but now I can't wait to see what her motherly instincts might do just to get grand kids

[GeneraLeeDiscord]

Bye bye Crystal empire you will be missed

[Razzy]

*plays 'Power of love' shamelessly*

Quickly, throw Cozy at it!

'made things more difficult."' - remove the quotation mark

'cacoon' - cocoon

[Teraunce]

Honestly I was perfectly fine with the snow white Chrysalis and am sad the pic has vanished.

[asdtroi8895]

The release had quite the nice buildup to it. I'm glad Tirek and Cozy joined Chrysalis as well.

"But how? How can I trust you?"

How can you trust Discord?

[tsaukpaetra]

Heh, figured.

[Black--Soul]

So... No rainbowbug after all?

[alluringming]

Interesting, i would do without them transforming into skittle bugs, but still enjoyable.

[JazzyWaffles]

10906303
They literally stay black and blue though?

[Wolfblood2203]

11128333
The transformation was revised so it different now

[Xaerouzle]

cacoon is a type of bean, dear author, the word you're looking for is cocoon.