• Published 23rd Sep 2012
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The Retribution of Chrysalis - Fallen Prime



The changeling queen must seek aid from Equestria to save her dying race.

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Chapter Three: Twilight Sparkle (Take One)

“No.”

“...I’m sorry?” Fluttershy uttered, as if asking for clarification.

“I said no,” Twilight repeated. “I haven’t thought about what happened to the changelings after Shining Armor and Cadance kicked them out of Canterlot. I just assumed they went on back to wherever they came from. And I hope I never have to see them again.”

“Isn’t that a little extreme?” Fluttershy asked. “There are probably some very nice changelings. What if all of the ones who were attacking the city were just following orders?”

“That’s what they do,” Twilight informed her. “They follow orders. It wouldn’t surprise me if they didn’t have any free will of their own, if they were all just extensions of their queen’s will. But I’m trying to distance myself a bit from everything that happened before the wedding, so I don’t even want to know whether or not any of that is true. I know, it’s not like me to pass up a learning opportunity like this, but... I just don’t want to think about it.”

“Why are you so keen to forget what happened? I thought everything turned out fine for everypony in the end.”

Twilight noted the strange emphasis in the first sentence and the visible pain on Fluttershy’s face after saying the second. Something was wrong. This could actually be another changeling. But she figured it would be best not to draw attention to the oddity, just in case she was wrong, and instead wait for a more incriminating mistake.

“Well...” she began. “It did turn out perfectly. My brother got married to my old foalsitter, I got to spend time with them both, as well as Princess Celestia, and nopony was seriously hurt in the invasion.”

“Nopony...” Fluttershy mumbled under her breath, but Twilight picked up on it. This was definitely weird behavior for her friend. The way she saw it, either something had happened with her that she wasn’t aware of, or this was a bad attempt at infiltration by a changeling who couldn’t act.

“...but it was still an awful thing to go through. That queen kidnapped Cadance, used my brother like a puppet, and even attacked and captured the princess! I almost lost my brother’s love because of her! So much of what happened there ended up happening to or affecting me. I just want to put it behind me.

“Say...” she continued. “Why are you so interested in the changelings anyway?”

“Fluttershy” was speechless for a moment. Game, set, match.

“Well...” the apparent imposter replied after her moment of silence. “No reason in particular. I was just a little curious about them after what happened.”

“Uh-huh,” Twilight retorted. “You know, a better liar would have come up with an answer to that before coming to talk to me. There was no reason to think I wouldn’t have gotten curious and asked about it, and the excuse you gave was terrible and uninspired. Your cover’s blown, changeling!”

“So it is,” the thing that wasn’t Fluttershy confessed, chuckling. “I was hoping to maintain it for longer and have the main point of discussion come more naturally, but I suppose it’s of no real consequence now.”

“Unfortunately for you, this conversation is over,” Twilight declared. “Get out of my library and out of Equestria right now, and maybe I’ll be nice enough to not tell Princess Celestia about there being a changeling spy in Ponyville.”

“There are two problems with your ultimatum,” the thing informed her. “First of all, a letter addressed to Celestia was precisely what I came to ask of you, albeit with different content. Second of all...”

There was a brilliant flash of green, and the changeling—no, the changeling queen—stood undisguised before her. “I am not merely a spy.”

Twilight stepped back, her mind reeling. The sight of this monster in her home summoned too many emotions at once. Shock at the fact that she even stood there. Confusion as to why she had come specifically to this place. Fear of the much larger and most likely stronger threat she no doubt posed.

In the space of a second, however, it all gave way to anger and hatred. Here she was, the beast who had imprisoned Princess Cadance and taken her place. The one who had imprisoned her as well and sent her to the same network of abandoned and forgotten caves. The one who had drained Shining Armor’s power until he could not maintain his force field and taken control of his mind at the altar. The one who had very nearly torn apart the bond she shared with her brother. The one who had orchestrated the assault on Canterlot, who had captured and could possibly have killed her teacher and idol.

And now she dared to return to a kingdom in which she was not welcome, presenting herself to a mare whose life she had very nearly destroyed.

“You.”


Fluttershy and Rarity observed the confrontation from right outside the library’s window. It was all going so smoothly until Twilight somehow pieced it together and blew Chrysalis’ cover. They’d decided not to act, though, hoping the situation wouldn’t get any worse... but then they saw Chrysalis shed her disguise, saw Twilight’s violent reaction.

“Well,” Rarity stated flatly. “That escalated quickly.”


As Chrysalis lay in a crumpled heap on the ground, the pain of the magic blast still searing in her chest, she swore to herself that she would give up on making plans for as long as she lived. They seemed to have a habit of going disastrously and tragically wrong. All she wanted to do was convince Twilight to send a request to Celestia, but she could not maintain her cover long enough to ease naturally into it over the course of the conversation. And now here she lay, curled up on the library floor with an absolutely livid lavender unicorn standing over her.

“Wow,” Twilight mused, seemingly admiring her work. “I knew I had some powerful magic, but I never thought I could incapacitate the changeling queen with one shot! And with any luck, I’ll be able to kill you with two.”

“You don’t have it in you to take a life, Twilight Sparkle,” Chrysalis responded, calling her bluff. In truth, however, she was growing increasingly unsure. Those eyes, at one time filled with an innocent joy at the sight of who she had thought was Fluttershy at her doorstep, now held nothing but vengeful contempt. The sweet smile she once wore had mutated into a demented grin.

“Well, I suppose I never have. But as much as I’d love to stand here and savor this sight, I’m about to try. This is for everything you put me through, and for everypony you and your changelings have ever hurt!” With that, Twilight’s horn began to glow, preparing for another attack.

So this is how it would end. One last shot, one final strike from a pony, and the changeling race would be doomed to extinction. For the first time in recent memory, Chrysalis was legitimately terrified for her life. She could not accept that this was to be the final fate of her kingdom, but at the same time, she was incapable of preventing it in her state. She shut her eyes as tightly as she could, awaiting the enraged mare’s judgment.

“Twilight, what are you doing!?” somepony shouted from the doorway. Chrysalis willed herself to reopen her eyes, and they fell upon the sight of a panicking yellow pegasus rushing towards her friend.


Twilight was completely lost in the moment. The world around her wasn’t there. All that mattered was her and the queen, that hateful queen who strived to destroy everything in her life that she held dear. It wasn’t enough for her to target her brother, foalsitter, and mentor. Now she was here to ruin everything else. She probably already got to her friends; why else would she have used Fluttershy as a disguise? Then she would try to take the library, try to take Spike, and leave her with nothing while she saved her for last.

She was fully ready to kill before she would let that happen.

She faintly registered a shouting voice and flapping wings, but they did not deter her. She prepared the shot that would strike the demon down for good.

The next thing she knew, she was on the ground with Fluttershy pinning her down, and there was a charred and smoking hole in the ceiling. That thing must not have gotten hit, then.

“Get off me, Fluttershy!” Twilight demanded, struggling under the other mare’s weight. “I’m trying to save Equestria!”

“I can’t let you hurt her anymore!” Fluttershy pleaded. “Please, Twilight, just stop this! Killing her would just make everything worse!”

“But-but she’s evil! She wants to—”

“She wanted to talk! Twilight, please, this isn’t you! I don’t know what you think you’re doing, but it’s completely unlike you and it’s seriously scaring me!”

All of a sudden, Twilight regained full awareness of her surroundings. She saw Fluttershy on top of her, breaking down and crying out of fear and concern. She saw Rarity in the doorway, wanting to step in and intervene but hesitating. She saw Spike at the foot of the stairs, having been awakened by the new hole next to his bed and coming down to a shocking and confusing scene.

Finally, she saw the changeling queen, that malicious, insectoid saboteur, huddled in a corner. She was clutching the wound in her chest with her forehooves, and her expression was one of the most despairing and terrified she’d ever seen. She actually managed to make that monster fear for her life.

And now, fully returned to the waking world, she felt like the monster.

“I... I’m so sorry!” Twilight cried, freeing her forelegs enough to embrace the sobbing Fluttershy. “I don’t know what came over me. I was just completely out of it!”

“We could never stay angry at you, darling,” Rarity assured her, finally moving from her position by the doorway. “Though I’m not certain we’re the ones you truly owe the apology to.”

“Who else could you—” Twilight began to ask, then looked over to the frightened black blob in the corner. “Tell me you’re not serious.”

“We are,” Fluttershy confirmed, sniffling and releasing her grip on Twilight.

“Oh no. Not even over my dead body. I am not apologizing to this... thing.”

“I have a name, you know,” the queen interjected through gritted teeth.

“I could care less, changeling,” Twilight hissed. “Now tell me, because I know you did something to them: where are my friends?”

“If you mean your group as a whole,” the changeling replied, “wherever they would all normally be. If you specifically mean Rarity and Fluttershy, they are right here with you.”

“Can someone explain to me what all the fuss is about?” Spike inquired, but the others were so caught up in their argument that they didn’t notice.

“As if I’d believe you!” Twilight stated. “Your entire existence is based on deception. Why should I trust anything you say to me?”

“This is why it’s so hard to be honest with anypony...” the queen lamented. “Think of it this way, then: would a changeling have broken down crying after seeing you lose your grip on sanity and morality?”

“I wouldn’t know,” Twilight retorted. “I’ve never seen one actually try to act like the pony they’re pretending to be. They’re probably much better actors than you are.”

“You would dare—”

“I would, and I did,” Twilight snapped. “Are you still honestly trying to make me believe you didn’t just swap my friends out for changelings so it would look like they were giving you credible support?”

“I couldn’t have even if I wanted to!” the queen answered.

“Oh, really! And why not?”

“Because if you don’t shut up and help me, there won’t even be any other changelings left!” the monarch spat. “Your brother’s force field left me with an empire of empty stomachs, broken bones and rotting corpses! To my knowledge, there is not a single able-bodied changeling left alive! So you’ll forgive me if I’m not entirely sympathetic to your plight!”

Twilight was about to come up with a response, but... there was that despair again. If Twilight ever saw a genuine emotion on another pony’s face, it was the guilt and sorrow shown by this being, this ruler of a doomed people. It was almost enough to make her turn right around and help her with whatever she wanted...

...but looking upon that face still summoned painful memories of the days before the royal wedding. For everything that happened in those few days, it seemed that Twilight was the epicenter and this creature was the catalyst. As genuinely anguished as the changeling queen appeared now, Twilight couldn’t bring herself to look past what happened then.

“...it’s sad, what’s apparently happened to your subjects,” she explained. “But that doesn’t change what you did. You still led a full-scale attack on a major Equestrian city, and you still assaulted Princess Celestia and manipulated my brother. I’m going to write a letter to the princess, and once it’s sent, you’ll be in the Royal Guard’s hooves and out of mine.”

“What? No!” Fluttershy cried. “How is she going to get help from a Canterlot dungeon? She hasn’t even done anything wrong since she got here!”

“Well, then it’s a good thing I’m writing to her about her crimes from the last time she was here, isn’t it?” Twilight replied. “Spike, now that you’re awake, take a letter.”

But Spike hesitated. Twilight found this odd; normally he would be more than happy to to grab a quill and parchment and write out a letter. Why he would suddenly seem to have second thoughts, especially on a matter of such grave importance, was beyond her.

“Actually, Twilight...” the baby dragon explained. “I kind of want to hear her out and see what she needed you to do for her. I wasn’t here for most of this, but you look more in the wrong than she does right now.”

“Spike! How can you say that!?”

“Hey, I’m just calling it like I see it,” Spike replied, shrugging his shoulders.

“Well, it’s good to see someone in this library speaking with a clear and open mind,” Rarity commented, giving Spike an affectionate rub on the head. The young dragon’s eyes filled with hearts, and he began to swoon.

“Are you just taunting me with that display of love now?” the changeling asked. “I’m trying to be polite and keep my appetite in check, but your little assistant is not making it easy.”

“Not my problem,” Twilight quipped, visibly enjoying the minor torture. “Just tell me what you want. The sooner you get done with that, the sooner I can fetch the—”

“Twilight!” Fluttershy interjected.

“Thank you, Fluttershy,” the queen responded. Twilight was never going to get used to seeing her and her friends be nice to each other. “As luck would have it, I needed you to write a letter to Celestia anyway. I already made clear my subjects’... collective situation... and it’s not in my power to help them. I had hoped that it would be in your princess’s power to... perhaps... take pity on me and provide me with aid so that I may ensure their survival.”

“Wow,” Twilight observed. “That actually sounds like you care about your subjects.”

“What good ruler would not?”

“Please help Chrysalis, Twilight,” Fluttershy pleaded. “She’s been through so much already, and I don’t want to hear any more about all this suffering.”

“I will have to side with Fluttershy,” Rarity stated. “I had much the same argument upon first meeting her... minus the attempted homicide, of course—”

“Am I ever going to live that down?” Twilight asked, already knowing the answer.

“—but you can see how noble her intentions are,” Rarity continued. “Even the wedding seemed more like a case of the ends justifying the means, though I hesitate to properly term it as such. Can you truly fault a ruler for wanting to support her subjects?”

Twilight took this into consideration. She had always assumed that the queen—Chrysalis, her name apparently was—only wanted to take over Equestria and enslave all of ponykind as food for her subjects. That the only way to do it was through everypony Twilight ever cared about. But... what if it really was just a last-ditch effort to feed a starving kingdom? She couldn’t imagine it being very easy on a changeling to have to siphon love from other species... perhaps she could look into changeling physiology after all, if only to see how long they could survive without love or on other sustenance.

After a moment of silently weighing her options, Twilight finally spoke. “I guess you win. I won’t write to Princess Celestia to arrest you.”

“I do appreciate that,” Chrysalis said, relieved. “Now about the contents of the other letter—”

“I’m not writing to her at all,” Twilight clarified. “I have no idea why, but Fluttershy and Rarity seemed eager to forgive and support you. I won’t be won over that easily. Consider it a trial run of sorts: I’ll let you lay low in Ponyville for a little while, and if you can convince me to let go of what happened, I’ll happily write that letter you want and apologize for everything I said and did today. But for now... I still only see red when I look at you, changeling.”

“I said I have a—”

“I don’t respect you enough to address you by it,” Twilight remarked, the venom slowly creeping back into her voice. “It doesn’t matter to me how troubled you are now; I still won’t forgive you for the damage you’ve already done. And until I do... I can’t see myself helping you.”


Chrysalis was taken slightly aback by the unicorn’s words. She had expected the backing support of Fluttershy alone to be enough to earn Twilight Sparkle’s aid. But even with the direct assistance of Rarity and the passive assistance of the dragon Spike, all she had managed to do was narrowly avoid arrest and get blasted in the chest. She did not anticipate the hatred running as deep as it apparently did.

And yet, in hindsight, she should have. She should have planned better for the possibility of Fluttershy’s aid not being enough. Even though she just so happened to gain another supporter without much effort on her own part, not even that sufficed. She should have accounted for the mare’s closeness to her brother, but instead, she underestimated the impact her actions had on their relationship. She probably should have accounted for the dragon as well, though his support had been a pleasant surprise.

Of course, though, she dove right into the confrontation, hoping for and expecting only the best. This always happened, it never worked, and yet she never learned. And now here she was, curled up in a corner in the library of the unforgiving Twilight, still in too much pain to even attempt to get up and leave. Being told that the time she was running on was now even more borrowed than before. That her only hope would be to show herself worthy of forgiveness in her eyes, despite the direness of the situation.

“Twilight, please! This is a desperate and urgent matter—”

“Then you’d better start trying to make it all up to me now,” Twilight replied coolly. She still had a hard time believing the absolute apathy she showed towards her. “A good start would be leaving my library.”

“I would,” Chrysalis retorted, “if you hadn’t shot me in the chest. I doubt I want to risk much motion in this state.”

“She does have a point,” Rarity observed. “And I could not carry her out, not even with Fluttershy’s aid. If you want her gone, you may have to wait for her wound to mend.”

“It could actually help you two become closer!” Fluttershy added. “And the sooner you two forgive and forget, the sooner Chrysalis can get help for the changelings!”

“But-but—” Twilight stammered. Chrysalis couldn’t help but get a sense of satisfaction out of seeing the mare who had proven so menacing earlier reduced to virtual wordlessness. “I can’t—she’s—why do—”

“I think you’re the only one who minds,” Spike interjected. “Well, actually, I don’t know how Chrysalis feels about it.”

She actually had to think about that. At the moment, it literally felt like she had no other choice. But how she felt about it... that was harder to pin down. On the one hoof, Twilight still carried a powerful grudge against her, and the arrangement would be awkward and tense from the very start. On the other hoof... it might be the perfect opportunity to earn Twilight’s sympathy and convince her to send for the aid she so desperately required. She hated to have to waste more time, but she had run out of viable options.

“Well... it seems to be in the best interest of everypony involved. I suppose I would not terribly mind. I’m sure Twilight Sparkle would appreciate the company.” She casted a glance at the mare in question, whose eye was twitching furiously.

“I—but—ugh! Fine, she can stay here!” she relented at last. “I’d love to charge you rent, but I don’t think you even have any Equestrian money. But I am definitely putting you to work around here. You might as well get used to the idea of housework and manual labor.”

Chrysalis groaned. The concept wasn’t at all foreign to her; she would often end up carrying out most of her own plans, and she saw to the maintenance of her own throne room. The issue was with her current injury, which she was now certain Twilight would not be above ignoring in favor of harder work.

The things she did for her subjects...


One hastily and shoddily applied roll of gauze later, Twilight managed to convince Chrysalis to make the agonizing trip back up into a standing position. The cries of pain were likely audible halfway across town, but she somehow succeeded.

“Are you sure you’re going to be alright here without us, Chrysalis?” Fluttershy asked as she and Rarity were preparing to leave.

“Not in the slightest,” she replied truthfully. “But I must make the attempt.”

“Try to let us know if you need anything,” Rarity offered. “Take care now! You as well, Twilight!” With that, both mares were out the door.

“So... what exactly does my work here entail?” Chrysalis inquired, turning to the baby dragon.

“Mostly just chores and general assistance,” Spike answered. “I’m sure she’ll still have me on letter duty, but if she’s as set on making you work as she sounded, it looks like I’m gonna be out of most of a job.”

“I suppose I owe you an apology for that.”

“No, it’s fine,” Spike assured her. “At least this time I know my position as Twilight’s number-one assistant isn’t in any danger.”

Chrysalis merely rolled her eyes. “When do I start?”

“Immediately,” Twilight informed her from the bookshelves. “And for your first order of business... there’s a spellbook I was looking for before you showed up, and now you’re going to help me find it.”