One
It had been years since the door's heavy metal bolts had been drawn back, over a decade since the locks unlatched and the hinges squealed. Nopony ever bothered to oil them anymore. Why would they? Nopony ever came down this way. This chamber housed the dirty little secret of the so-called Council of Friendship, after all. Their one great failure. The one threat they had never managed to win over with the strength of Equestria’s ruling morals. The less the populace thought about it, the better. The door swung wide with a protesting shriek, and magical torches around the circular room's perimeter burst to life. Light flooded the chamber for the first time in years, sharply illuminating the room's sole occupying object.
Even though the three ponies had known what was there the whole time, two of them still took a reflexive jump back when the light illuminated the snarling beast that loomed from the dark.
"Ugh." Starlight Glimmer shook off the initial scare and looked to her mentor. "Is she pointing this way on purpose? To scare away anyone who peeks in here when they aren't supposed to, I mean?"
"The best defensive measures are often the most simple." Princess Twilight Sparkle did her best to hide her own minor shock and cleared her throat. She looked at the stallion standing between her and her former student with concern. "Are you alright?"
Shining Armor hadn't jumped back. He stood straight and still as he glared into the stone eyes of the monster that had, once upon a time, enslaved his mind and his heart. "I'm fine." He took in the three petrified figures. "So the spell will only release her? Not the others?"
"Technically, she won't even be released. Not really." Twilight looked over the statues carefully. "They were sealed in there by Celestia, Luna, and Discord, remember? We could only fully release them if he was here.”
“As if we’d ever want to do that.” Starlight muttered, tugging her coat tighter against the cold.
“With just the two of us, the spell will… loosen her bonds. For... ten minutes? Maybe eleven. It’s always hard to calculate my magic against the Sisters. And yes, it will only let her out.”
Shining Armor gave the rounded chamber a once over. "And she can't get out?"
"No chance." Twilight's horn lit and a number of runes sparked to life all around the walls that surrounded them. "These walls are impregnable. I designed this room myself once we decided to move them down from the gardens. Even if by some miracle she did manage to overpower you, the instant she stepped through this door she would be re-petrified." Her magic faded, and the runes followed suit. "She also won't have access to any of her powers. Those are locked up in the sealing spell as well."
Satisfied, Shining Armor nodded. "Okay."
Starlight raised a hoof. "I would once again like to voice my objection to this whole thing. Even with all these safeguards in place, we're still talking about the most dangerous magical foe any of us ever faced. You can take away her magic, but it's her mind that makes her so monstrous." She glared at the snarling face. "That and her malice."
"Shining Armor has more reason than either of us to ensure she stays locked away forever, Starlight." She looked at her brother with concern, noting the grey hairs beginning to show in his mane. "If he needs to talk to her this badly, then it must be important."
"It is." Shining Armor had to look up to give his little sister a grateful look now. Since taking the throne, Twilight had started rapidly gaining height. Her physician estimated that at her current rate of growth, she would be Celestia's height within three years. "Once she's out, are you two going to be alright leaving me alone?"
"Oh, believe me. The less time I have to spend around her the better." Starlight narrowed her eyes as her own horn lit. "Can we just get this over with?"
Twilight nodded as her magic again lit the room.
Twin beams of magic erupted from the horns of the two unicorns and struck the petrified figure of the creature that had, on several occasions, very nearly conquered the whole of Equestria. The magic coalesced and coated the figure, washing away the stone that held her in place. With a tremendous burst of noise and light the magic vanished, taking the stone with it.
With a savage cry, Queen Chrysalis landed on the ground, finally finishing her final defiant dive. She froze and looked at her surroundings with quick, panicking eye movements. "Where...?"
"You're in the lower levels of Canterlot Castle."
Chrysalis snarled at the sound of Twilight's voice and turned her full gaze upon her hated foe. She stopped dead when she saw the changes in the alicorn's appearance, the gained inches and the mane that was just recently beginning to flow with the power of the magic she housed. Chrysalis, no fool, quickly put two and two together. "How long?"
"Eight years." Starlight grimaced at the sound of the changeling queen's voice. How long had it been since she'd heard those grating tones outside of the occasional nightmare? "So you don't remember anything?"
"I remember trying to attack that fool Discord. The next thing I know, I'm standing in front of you three."
"Hmph. That's disappointing."
"What? You were hoping that I'd been awake and aware this whole time? Frozen but conscious? Slowly being driven insane by the flow of time alone?" Chrysalis smirked. "How villainous of you, Starlight."
Starlight ignored her and looked to Twilight. "Can we go now? We still need to go over the budget proposal Sunburst sent."
Twilight nodded and again looked at her brother. He still hadn't moved, was still was staring down at the black hole ridden thing that had caused him so much trauma. "You're sure you've got this?"
Chrysalis looked back at the pedestal from which she'd jumped and saw her still-frozen allies. She took in the terrified look on Cozy Glow's face and the wincing expression on Tirek's. She rolled her eyes. "It's good to know that my comrades went down as defiant as I did." She looked again towards the trio and sat on her haunches. "What is this? Some kind of parole hearing?"
"I've got this under control, Twily." Shining Armor took a deep breath and sat as well. “You can go.”
Twilight nodded and put a hoof on his shoulder. "Remember; ten minutes. Eleven tops. I'll see you upstairs." She cut her eyes at the former queen of the changelings. “I’ll send a guard down to check on you if you aren’t back in fifteen.”
"Thank you. And thank you for doing this."
Twilight smiled and headed for the door.
Starlight made to follow, but a sudden thought made her stop and look back. "One more thing, now that I think about it." She cast the spell with lightning speed, a halo of violently scarlet magic that shot across the room and ringed Chrysalis' horn like a thrown horseshoe. The halo exploded in a rain of red stars not unlike sparks, and Starlight smirked when Chrysalis flinched at their touch. "Now she can't lie. You’re welcome."
"There will come a day when I get free of this prison, Starlight Glimmer." Chrysalis snarled, her wings buzzing menacingly. "And on that day you will bow before me. You or your heirs!"
"Yeah, that's nice." Starlight turned from the threat and followed Twilight from the room. "Next time I'm in town I might come down here and let my daughter paint your face."
"Starlight!" Twilight chastised.
"What?" Starlight laughed as her magic closed the door behind her.
Now alone, the two occupants sat and stared at one another in silence.
A smile split Chrysalis' face. "Ah, I see now. How nice of you to come and offer a conjugal visit to your former beloved." She gave him a once over. "You've maintained your body well enough. And the gray lends you a certain air of maturity. Cadance is a lucky mare."
"Don't talk about her." Shining Armor growled. "And don’t pretend you ever loved me. You violated me. Used me and my love as... as a battery."
"Such is the nature of my kind. Do you begrudge the spider her web?"
"Let's just get this over with. I have some questions." His magic reached into his saddlebag and floated out a rolled up scroll. "Questions only you can answer."
"They must be dire questions indeed for you to come to me." She nodded towards the scroll. "What's that?"
"It's a letter. From King Thorax."
"Ah." Chrysalis' smile faded. "And how is my traitorous spawn these days? I imagine he's running the hive right into the ground."
"Quite the opposite, actually." Now it was Shining Armor's turn to smile. "The changelings are now fully integrated into our society. They're prospering more than even their oldest can remember."
"Hmph." Chrysalis sniffed. "Believe it or not, I’m glad to hear that. That's all I ever wanted for them, you know. Happiness. Prosperity. If I'd have known that the one thing standing in the way of their happiness was me, I would have..."
"Stepped aside?" Shining Armor offered.
"Of course not." Chrysalis cackled. "I would've rooted out the heretics and started anew. It wouldn't have been the first time."
Shining Armor's smile vanished at once and he looked back to the letter. "Thorax has been researching your race's history. There's not much about your kind in the Equestrian record, and you didn't tend to write anything down..."
"Of course not!" Chrysalis snapped. "We would wander for centuries at a time. Do you think we would lug around libraries?" She gestured to herself. "I am the record, as my mother was before me and her mother before that. I am the depository of all the knowledge of our once proud race."
"Great." If Shining Armor was impressed by the boast, he didn't show it. "Then you can answer Thorax's question. Specifically..." He leaned forward. "How exactly do changelings breed?"
Chrysalis hid her giggle behind a hoof. "Oh, my poor naive child. Have there really been no new clutches since my imprisonment?"
"No. He says that many in the hive have paired off, but so far they've been unsuccessful in producing offspring."
"That's because only a queen may produce eggs. Not some mere drone." Chrysalis rolled her eyes. "Has King Thorax chosen a mate by chance?"
"Not that I'm aware of."
"Once he does, preferably in the old way of a tournament to the death I should add, she should metamorphose into a queen like myself. I say should, because who knows what that ridiculous transformation might have done to their biology?" She sniffed. "After that, she'll be able to produce all the clutches they need." Her eyes flashed green. "With or without her kingly husband."
Shining Armor looked up from the letter. "How do you mean?"
"Thorax is the first changeling king in almost two thousand years. The last, King Cocoon, was thrown down by his bride on their wedding flight. Ever since, it is we queens who have ruled uninterrupted."
"But... how can you make eggs without a king?"
"The king is really only needed to create a queen from a drone. We produce the eggs naturally and fertilize them with harvested love." She examined her hoof and smiled. "When I infiltrated Canterlot, our numbers were the lowest they'd ever been. I spent weeks impersonating various ponies in the city and snatching whatever smidgens of love I could manage in order to build the forces necessary to supplement my drones camped out on the mountains far side and take the city. Of course, the process became that much easier once I swapped myself out for that pretty pink princess of yours."
Shining Armor's magic flared, and the corners of the floating letter began to smolder. "I told you..."
"Our time is short, so why don't we get to the real reason we're here." Chrysalis lowered her hoof and levelled her gaze at her former prey.
"The real...?"
"If Thorax only wanted to know these things, you would have brought him with you. The fact that he isn't here means that the letter you're about to set fire to contains more than you're letting on." Her lips twitched at the edges. She knew, then, what he was here for. "Go ahead. Ask me."
Shining Armor took a deep breath, rolled up the scroll, and returned it to his saddlebag. He gathered himself and looked at her head-on. "Is Thorax my son?"
"Yes." Chrysalis replied with no hesitation.
"But how?!" Shining Armor jumped to his hooves, his horn sparking dangerously. "You said..."
"We changelings are a resilient race, Shining Armor. There are a number of ways that we queens can propagate. Otherwise we would have died out long ago." The grin on her face threatened to cut her head in half. "The preferred method is the production of clutches and fertilizing them with love, yes, but we are also more than capable of breeding with other species. Should the need arise, of course. And if the love is strong enough."
"And did the need arise while you wore my fiancée’s face?"
"I didn't plan on it happening, if that's what you mean." Chrysalis stood and stretched languidly. "Your love for her was so very strong. The strongest love I'd tasted in decades. Your love allowed me to hatch so many newborns in the caverns beneath Canterlot. And among that multitude there was one egg laid that was different from the rest. Fertilized the... what do you ponies call it? The old fashioned way?" She shrugged.
Shining Armor wanted to believe that she was lying, that Starlight's spell had been faulty, but he could feel it; she was telling the truth. “Why didn’t you ever say anything?”
“I never knew for sure. I had my suspicions, of course. He was always… off. Different from the other drones. I had no way of knowing for sure, so I just kept the idea to myself. A little something to keep in my reserves should the need ever arise. How did Thorax manage to find out?"
Shining Armor sighed. "He says that he's had his suspicions for a while. He lived with us in the Empire for months before you were overthrown. He said that all that time, he felt... something. Some deeper connection." He shrugged. "At the time he just chalked it up to the changes he was going through. An internal version of the sparkles on his wings."
"But what made him certain enough that he contacted you now? After all this time?"
"In the course of trying to understand why the changelings weren't producing eggs, he had a number of magical tests done. One of the ones done in the Empire did a measure of his magical signature."
"Ah." Chrysalis nodded in understanding. "And they, of course, had yours on file, being the prince and all."
"They're a perfect match." Shining Armor sat heavily and stared at the ground. "There are a number of other explanations, of course. Maybe our signatures synced up during his time in the Empire. Or it’s a side effect from sharing love with Flurry Heart. That's why he only wrote that he ‘suspected.’ But now there's no denying it. Not when you factor in everything else. Like the fact that the first thing he remembers is the invasion, the fact that he was drawn to the Crystal Empire..."
"And his annoying proclivity for goodness." Chrysalis shuddered. "To think that if I hadn't been so preoccupied with my revenge, I could have snuffed him out early. Maybe then I would still be queen."
Shining Armor said nothing.
Chrysalis’ eyes widened in shock. "...You wish I had snuffed him out back then."
Shining Armor looked up sharply. "I didn't say that."
"My powers might be nullified at the moment, but I can still taste your emotions. They're so bitter..."
"Well how am I supposed to feel?” He snapped. “What am I supposed to tell Cadance? How can I look her in the eye and... and…?" He stopped when Chrysalis started laughing uncontrollably. "Is this funny to you?"
"Oh, more than that, my love. It's delicious." She wiped at her eyes even as she continued to laugh. "I couldn't wish for a better fate than this for you. Thank you so much for breaking me free for this." She laughed even as a bright magical light traced her outline and lifted her back up onto the pedestal. "How wonderful. Now that you know, you can never un-know. From now until the end of your days, every time you look at him you'll be reminded of me. He is your so-called sin made flesh, and you can never be rid of him." Fresh stone spread from where her hooves met the pedestal, but she paid it no mind. She just kept laughing and laughing, even as it reached her chest. Finally, when it reached her throat, she managed to catch her breath and look down at the stricken unicorn. "We have a son, Shining Armor. And he is a permanent reminder for you of me." She grinned as the stone reached her chin. "Of us and what we once had." The stone hardened over her face, framing that last grin in perfect relief.
Shining Armor sat in the silence that followed and stared up at the three figures on the pedestal. Cozy Glow, terrified, scared out of her wits, desperately searching for a way out. Tirek, cowering, lost in inevitable defeat, powerless to stop what was coming.
And Chrysalis, triumphant, thrilled beyond measure, relishing forever her last twist of the knife. Her final, inescapable victory. Looking back, her snarling leap had been far less disturbing.
Shining Armor turned and left quickly.
Once the rusted hinges of the great door had once again locked in place, the magical torches died once more. The statue was once again lost in the silent darkness.
Silent, save for the last echoing traces of a villain’s last laugh.
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Ohhh burn lol love it 🤣
Shining Armor took a deep breath, rolled up the scroll, and returned it to his saddlebag. He gathered himself and looked at her head-on. "Is Thorax my son?"
"Yes." Chrysalis replied with no hesitation.
I did not see that coming and wow that's something dang 😥
Oh man that was very revealing here so it looks like yours has been passed ever since the coronation but it looks like Shining Armor need some answers Queen Chrysalis and Twilight and starlight is going to use their magical powers to free her for only a few minutes and that trap her again and with that she is free again Shining Armor ask a few questions about the history giving birth of a changeling and to be honest I didn't know that either but what really draw shining armor from this other question was very shocking that thorax is his son what's that was freaking mind-blowing and I don't know maybe make sense to be honest because he was so much different from the other changelings and Chrysalis thinks that she bested him despite her failure and within all the few minutes she's trapped in the stone once again and now what is shining armor going to do with this information guess we'll find out
Thorax is really a testament the Shining and Cadance's love and how it was truly Chyrisalis' down fall. I still like the idea that regular changelings can breed on thier own, that the are more pony than but. But this is an interesting alternate take.
... I'm feeling attacked right now...
Very attacked.
Very intriguing so far! Can't wait to read on!
Discord confirmed in season 3 that being turned to stone still leaves you conscious of everything around you.
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For him, maybe.
Ok, 1, I suspected that would be where you were going with this, and 2... Thorax was present at the invasion, and got blasted away alongside the rest of the changelings, so how old was he at that point, and how long had Chrysalis been wearing Cadance's face?
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And before that, he said he doesn't turn ponies to stone. -_-;
Oh, I wasn't expecting Shining's emotions like that. Very clever, and very satisfying!
Integration isn't as positive as people like to think. It suggests that a group sacrifices what they are to become part of something else. What you're looking for here is inclusion. So many fans don't understand the difference it's kinda pissing me off.
Also why would Chrysalis answer any of this.
That was great i'd love a sequel showing Shining and Thorax bonding. I especially want to see what happens when he tells Cadance and gets her reaction or smug understanding because she figured it out way before Thorax and Shining find out as well as Flurry's reaction that Thorax is her older half-brother!
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Starlight made to follow, but a sudden thought made her stop and look back. "One more thing, now that I think about it." She cast the spell with lightning speed, a halo of violently scarlet magic that shot across the room and ringed Chrysalis' horn like a thrown horseshoe. The halo exploded in a rain of red stars not unlike sparks, and Starlight smirked when Chrysalis flinched at their touch. "Now she can't lie. You’re welcome."
truth spell
Well, you could tell her the truth. You were raped. Because dude, that's what happened, and it's absolutely NOT YOUR FAULT.
To be fair Chrissie dear, it's also the fall and erasure of what you were. Your changelings and their brood are no more, and a new species has taken their place. You have no place in this world, and should you return to it, they will be erased as well, by conversion or other methods. You are, at best, a stain. At worst? In one thousand years, there may be a single old scholar who remembers you, and then, only as a footnote in the long and plentiful alliance of races, something that needed to be stepped on to achieve a greater end, and nothing more. You were simply part of a path, and at that, you succeeded. Elsewise? You are a failure, who's children hate her, and fear becoming. They do not fear you, however, and never will again.
Man the writing in thus scene was so good, tension was so damn thick. I’m not really a fan of the Chrysalis who’s viewed as good because she “did it all for her subjects”. I like how it’s implied in here that she was mainly just doing it for herself, and even when a better life for her subjects could be given she would refuse it cos it involved removing herself from
Power.
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As a I am a fan of good Chrysalis I do agree with you and respect your options I know Chrissy is evil and vile but I do love her so much like your comment
See, that's why she's here--she won't learn, and has no want to. So how can you reform something that refuses to reform? But that's on Chrysalis, not the ponies who've only imprisoned her out of their own self-defense.
Also, the whole "I did it for my subjects" thing is bull, precisely because she can say things like this--to her, said subjects were only ever mere tools for her benefit and little else--but that's neither here nor there.
An intriguing opening premise, though the timing needed for Thorax's hatching and the Canterlot invasion would be razor thin close to the point it almost conflicts with each other...especially as Ocellus's presence in the show would suggest changelings don't actually mature at the speed needed for it to be possible...but for the sake of the story and it's unique premise, I'm willing to overlook that detail.
Shining can let this knowledge corrode him from the inside out for the rest of his life, or he can set himself free. Time to read the next chapter :)