Phantom Krystal: An Unstable Ruby

by Lifeblood_Wisp

Warping Perception

“…Zoey?” Arachnis said, slowly creeping toward her. She seemed to try to warn him, but all the came out was a series of muffled yells. Nonetheless. Arachnis crept closer.

M-mph! Hmmm!!

As he continued to close his distance, he felt the room getting darker, like a large perturbing shadow was looming over it.

MMM! MmmmmMMMaaa! Miiimuuuu!

He stood atop the muffling mess, and removed her gag. Her eyes were wide, her breathing was fast, and sweat was beginning to form on her face. “Shit, it looks like you ran from a banshee or something.” Arachnid said casually. The second he removed the gag, it was already too late.

“ITS A TRAP!” Zoey screamed.

Arachnis was then surrounded in a purple aura and raised into the air. From behind him, Twilight Sparkle walked in the room, and from above came Pinkie and Fluttershy, who had been covering the captive fireflies that lit up the room. It went back to its illuminated state, and the three ponies surrounded Arachnis. “Yayyy! We finally got him!” Pinkie yelled. “Pinkie, Fluttershy, go check on the other girls and make sure they’re ok.” Twilight said. Pinkie donned a nurse costume (which had seemingly materialized out of thin air) and she and Fluttershy ran downstairs.

“I knew there was a connection between you two. Now it’s just a matter of why. It’s totally not normal for a pony to be traveling with a changeling. And more importantly, why isn’t she with Chrysalis.” Twilight said, turning Arachnis to face her. “My business with her is none of yours. Now let us go!” Arachnis said firmly. “And I don’t associate with Chrysalis anymore.” Zoey said in similar tone. “What would Chrysalis ever do to deter you from serving her? I thought she was your leader?” Twilight inquired. Zoey looked to Arachnis with worry in her eyes. He couldn’t turn around, but he knew what Zoey wanted to say.

“Arachnis? Do you wanna-?”

“No. We can’t trust her.”

Twilight sighed. “I know you don’t really trust me, and to be entirely honest, I don’t think I could put trust into you. But it’s my responsibility to ensure that everyone in Canterlot is safe. I can’t do that if I don’t know what you guys want. All I’m asking, is cooperation.” “No.” Arachnis yelled “Leave us alone! Let us go!”. His body began to flash, his various shades of red all conformed to a single lighter shade and transition back to its former appearance. Twilight stood back and shifted from mere levitation to forming a barrier around him. It was all in vain, as a red wave bursted from Arachnis, breaking the barrier with ease. Twilight closed her eyes, as she and Arachnis were engulfed in it.

Twilight opened her eyes in a dark room. She turned around to find Arachnis on the floor, heavily breathing with the occasional sniffle.
Twilight came closer, and suddenly, a pair of green, sharp eyes opened above Arachnis. Twilight was startled, confused as to what how exactly she got to where she is now.

Suddenly, the eyes jumped at her. Twilight screamed in what could only be described to real fear. She fell to the floor and her heart rate increased drastically. She quickly got up to see herself in the hive. She remembers the times where she was imprisoned here, and wondered if she had been taken to Chrysalis herself. She heard cheering behind her, and was immediately swarmed with changelings of all kinds. She braved herself, but was never hit. All the changelings went right though her. Even stranger, they didn’t notice her. She looked to left, and saw elder Arachnis still on the ground, now crying. She looked up, and saw a younger Arachnis looking down to the crowd, looking afraid and confused and Chrysalis standing over him.

“That’s…you. Isn’t it?” She said to Arachnis.

“Y-yes…” Arachnis said. “When I was ‘born’.”

“Wait…so Chrysalis is…”

“My mother. Yes…”

Twilight was in complete shock at what she was hearing. She knew Chrysalis had some amount of good in her, but she never would have expected her to have a child. “But why do you look nothing like her?” Did she take you in or something?” She inquired.

“No. I’m genetically engineered. She took the best qualities of pegasi, unicorns, earth ponies and of course, changelings. Then..she shoved em all into me. I could belong to so many different bloodlines. Who knows who I’m related to?”

“I see. But, why’d you run away? Was she abusive?”

“She…treated me like the prince that I was meant to be. She just…had so much to hide from me. I needed to know why she wanted me. I feel like I have a right to know.” Arachnis wiped his eyes, and his illusory world transitioned again. Arachnis and Twilight now found themselves at Arachnis’ chamber, where an even younger version of him floated. Arachnid knew what this memory was, and he covered his ears, not wanting to rehear what had provoked him to run away before. He simply let it play out in front of Twilight, who was still having trouble wrapping her head around the situation. By the end of the memory, she had an even harder time. She rested a hood on Arachnis’ shoulder.

“You always had a right to know. So, you wanted to know more about Chrysalis right? I’m willing to share all of our encounters with her. How does that sound?”

“…Better than what I’ve been doing this whole time.”

“Alright. Oh! I wanted to ask. Is there a reason you have a zeta changeling with you?”

Almost as if it were a direct command, Twilight’s words changed Arachnis’ illusions. They shifted and conformed to show a memory when Zoey visited Arachnis after the death of her brothers. “Her name is Zoey. She insisted on coming with me after an accident happened back at the hive. She wanted to support me, and she was intrigued just as much as I was. I owe it to her.”

“I see.” Twilight’s train of thought was ruptured by a conundrum that had only just hit her now. “Wait…how exactly do we get out of this?”

“I…don’t know. This has only ever been triggered a few times now. I don’t know how to control it. Only thing I’ve deduced is that it happens when I’m under a lot of pressure or feeling negative emotions.”

Twilight pondered at what Arachnis said. “Illusions that surface when feeling strong emotion…I wonder.”

Arachnis sat down and tried to calm his nerves. He closed his eyes and thought of a time where everything was much simpler. His memory went to when he was first introduced to his room. He smiled in both memory and reality, and slowly but surely, the illusion subsided. Both Arachnis and Twilight were back in the castle. The looked around to see an untied Zoey and the other elements keeping watch over them.

“Arachnis!” Zoey yelled. She rushed to Arachnis, tackling him in a hug. The elements surrounded Twilight, asking her what had happened. She explained what she saw, made each pony promise to not reveal the information to anypony. Arachnis told Zoey of his mini adventure with Twilight, and told her that the elements could be trusted. Both Arachnis and Twilight looked to each other.

“So, what now?” Arachnis asked.

“We pay some princesses a visit.” Twilight responded.

Comments

[Okamiluver]

I feel like he gave in WAAAY too easily here

[Lifeblood_Wisp]

11427518
Like, gave in as in his flashing, or as in trusting Twilight? I mean, either way, I don't blame you for thinking that. In retrospect, I do feel like i should've had a more heavy motive for either occurring. Nonetheless, thx for the feedback!

[Okamiluver]

11427582
I'm referring to the trusting nature... I mean he grew up with chrysalis as a mother, though she was kind to him he went from kicking ass to trusting them in less time than it took to write about 4 paragraphs...

[Lifeblood_Wisp]

11428196
Ok yeah, I can definitely see what you’re talking about. I kinda struggled to find a good motive for trusting the Main 6, and I wanted it to happen in this chapter. For quality’s sake I may made edits for a better motive before the next chapter, but I have no idea when I’d be done with that (mostly cuz of school and thanksgiving).

[Okamiluver]

11429080
I can see where you're coming from, and at the end of the day it's your story. If you remember when PK had 'Shy under his "control" he could've used the time to divulge secrets as to how the Mane6 are as a group, it's what I've would do in his place... I would then orchestrate the situation to be in such a way that they'd have to show so real... "dedication" to friendship... or the like... possibly learn more about why they hate his mother and about Tirek and Cozy... still though, you've got a good thing going here so don't let me dissuade you from writing.

[Lifeblood_Wisp]

11429088
It is my story, but feedback is always appreciated. I’m very passionate about writing fics, and I wanna be able to write good stories for people.