Chrysalis looked at the tunnel before her, her black head slightly tilted. She squinted her eyes and scrunched up her muzzle as she appraised the cavern. A minute passed. The changeling relaxed her face and sighed.
“What a mess...”
It was a mess. The walls were rough and unpolished. The ceiling was low and scored with countless stalactites that all pointed like foreboding spikes toward the uneven ground. It would be a chore, but the cavern could be renovated in only a matter of weeks by one of her excavating teams. Her children worked fast.
The temperature began to drop.
Chrysalis trotted forward. Her breath misted from the cold cave air, and she shivered visibly. The sudden temperature drop was probably due to poor air flow. She would have her children look into this as well.
The air began to become stale.
The queen took a deep intake of breath through her nose. The cold nipped at her lungs and chilled her core. Beyond the sting, her senses filled with the smell of damp decay, mold and stale air. Her children would have to tend to this as well.
The cave began to darken.
Her chi—
The walls began to close.
The changeling stopped in place. The cave stood still. She took a shuddering breath.
Chrysalis broke into a sprint.
Something was wrong. She could feel it. Whatever it was, she had a feeling it was bad. She needed to get back to the main hive and warn her—
Chrysalis dug her hooves into the ground and forced herself to a hard stop. She looked forward, her eyes wide as looked down the endless cavern.
“What is happening?”
Chrysalis’ breathing quickened. Who was she supposed to warn? Her previous thought had simply vanished halfway through, which left her question half asked. Chrysalis blinked, then slowly began to back away.
“W-Where was I going?”
Chrysalis tripped on the uneven ground and fell to her rump. The changeling pressed her hooves into her skull as she began to shake.
“Where am I?!”
Chrysalis screamed at the top of her lungs. Her voice echoed down the cavern and reached forward into the abyss.
When all was still and silent, a new voice echoed back to her: “You are home…”
Chrysalis’ went still.
The words did not echo. They were spoken only once, by a voice that she had never heard, yet knew to whom it belonged. Tears began to flow down the changeling’s cheeks, but she did not sob. Her fearful expression changed to one of a completely broken mare. She slowly looked up, eyes wide and dead. The walls that were moments ago bare now held broken, eroded remains of childish murals. Murals of happy changelings—of a queen and her first clutch.
Chrysalis lowered her head slightly. Blobs of black flesh now surrounded her on all sides. They pulsed with an unnatural beat. Moments later, they began to take shape. Small limbs appeared. Soulless eyes soon took shape. Razor teeth shone for blood.
Tiny black bodies came into being.
Chrysalis did not move, not even as the ghosts of her first great sin began to slowly crawl up her body and sink their teeth into her flesh. She could feel the pain. It burned. It stung. It hurt like no other pain before. Yet, she did not move.
The changeling only smiled as she was eaten alive…
Chrysalis’ eyes shot open. She violently gasped for air, as if she had emerged just before the point of drowning. Her body acted in kind. Her hooves flailed. She desperately tried to cling to anything tangible. This action caused her to get tangled up in the blanket she didn't know had been covering her.
She hit the floor a moment later with a loud thud.
Her struggle continued on the floor until she freed herself from the sheet. The frightened mare scampered back and smashed into a wall. Her eyes were puffy and wired. Tears fell. She shook with terror. Chrysalis knew where she was, she had realized it the moment her back had hit the wall, but the dream had been too real. The emotions were still there. The fear. The pain. She could still feel the creatures’ bites on her neck and the rest of the little abominations’ teeth in her flesh.
“Make them stop. Make them go away,” Chrysalis choked out through her fear-fueled sobs. She hugged her hooves and slowly rocked. “Please!”
It was a while before Chrysalis was able to recover. Longer than usual. She was still curled tightly in a ball, her front hooves hugging her rear legs.
When the shivers finally started to recede, she crawled to her hooves and dragged herself to her apartment’s tiny bathroom, stained by years of neglect long before her arrival. She slumped against the sink, turned on the tap and plunged her head under the bone-cold water until her skin ached.
She lurched upright, squinting at the mirror. A tired-looking earth pony looked back at her with bags under bloodshot eyes, a frazzled mane, and a soaked muzzle. This was Crystal Iris: a tall, lanky dark grey earth pony mare with glowing green eyes, long cyan mane, and a broken, sickly green heart for a Cutie Mark. The queen of many faces was gone, replaced by the earth pony with only one.
“This is who I am now,” the mare muttered softly.
It seemed like just yesterday when the sight of Crystal would have sent the former queen into a frenzy, but not today. No, she had more or less accepted her fate. Her curse. This is who she was. This is who she always would be.
The mare in the mirror bowed her head, then paused. Her skin prickled. Chrysalis tilted her head and ears to the faint creak of depressed floorboards. The mare sighed, then rolled her eyes.
“Of course she was going to make it tonight,” she muttered.
Chrysalis trotted out of the bathroom while trying desperately to ignore the large midnight-blue alicorn that sat in the center of the room, starlit mane waving in an unfelt wind.
The ignored entity smiled softly. "How is Crystal Iris these days?"
Chrysalis trotted past the alicorn and into her small kitchen. "As miserable as ever," she muttered as she opened her breadbox.
The alicorn raised an eyebrow as she shifted to face the grey mare. "Last we met, I was under the impression that you had secured a more comfortable job and were enjoying the many benefits that came along with it. Is this still true?"
Chrysalis sighed as she spread some hay on her bread. “Yes, my financial situation is more stable due to my new position, but it makes little difference—I could be living in a gilded tower in upper Canterlot and I would still despise living as a peasant. Changelings do not belong among ponies. We are too different, too incompatible. I would rather live amongst manticores than your subjects."
“Must you speak so poorly of them? Our subjects may not be perfect, but they do manage to live together in relative harmony, their differences settled by discussion rather than blood.”
Chrysalis chuckled, then took a bite of her sandwich. It was dry and tasted like tree bark. Everything the ponies ate tasted like tree bark. “You speak of it as if it is a good thing. A proper hive lives in perfect harmony: each drone, soldier, builder or broodmother doing their part. Passiveness is for the weak. What good are one’s words if they are not backed by force? Only the strong survive. Only the worthy may breed. Only those who prove that they are of value to the hive may be a part of it.”
“Is that why you were exiled?”
Chrysalis jerked. Her sandwich fell from her grasp. “My exile was due to a coup, not incompetence!” she growled. “Those fools, my children, were blinded. They did not see the big picture. They did not see what I saw. They knew nothing of what I did for them! The sacrifices I made!”
Luna did not flinch. Rather, she seemed to soften. “No one saw what you did, Chrysalis, and I am inclined to believe that even you only glimpsed a peek of it yourself. You were blinded by your ambition and led your subjects by your greed under the false flag of prosperity.”
“If a queen flourishes, so does her hive!”
“Not if it is at the expense of her subjects, dear Chrysalis. You thought of only yourself, and this is what it got you. You were a selfish creature, and that fact caught up to you. Now, you live amongst those whom you once called weak as their equal. What makes Equestria strong is our ability to tolerate failure and weakness in the hopes of it making us better. Perfection is a myth, Chrysalis. No one is without their faults. I would have believed you to understandthis more than anypony.”
Chrysalis huffed and picked up her dropped sandwich. She wanted nothing more than to rip the alicorn apart, bit by bit, but she knew better. Even when enraged she was not foolish enough to try. Chrysalis brooded to herself and took a solitary bite, followed by yet another yawn.
Luna took note of this. “Chrysalis... are you getting enough rest? Your eyes look weary and you seem frail, far more so than when we visited you last month.” Luna thought for a moment. “Is it the stress of your new position? Insomnia? If so, I can suggest some blends of our sister’s tea that work wonders to—”
“Oh, don’t act all innocent,” Chrysalis cut off. Her anger had returned. “This is your doing!”
Luna blinked. “Pardon?”
The grey mare grit her teeth. “Your nightmares have been keeping me up for almost two weeks now. You are the Mare of Dreams, are you not? I can hardly account for this many in a row as coincidence. Are you convinced my current punishment wasn’t making me suffer enough?” She went to say more but had to step back as Luna advanced upon her, horn aglow. Without a word, Chrysalis felt Luna cast some sort of spell that bathed her in a quick wave of tingling warmth. After this, the alicorn continued to look her over, far too close for comfort.
Chrysalis stepped away. “What are you doing?!”
Luna blinked as if snapped out of a daze. She blushed slightly, then turned serious. “I am sorry, but if your words are true, then they make no sense. I have been watching over your dreams the same as everyone else's, and you have not had a nightmare in quite some time. In fact, you have not dreamed at all in the exact period that you have stated. Not dreaming for extended periods of time is normal, but what you speak is simply impossible.”
The grey mare opened her mouth, then closed it. This process continued for several cycles until she shook her head. “Are you playing with me? It this some sort of trick? I have been plagued by terrible nightmares, each one leaving me exhausted and pained, and you are telling me that you have no knowledge of them? You are either a liar or a truly incompetent dreamwalker.”
“I speak only truth.” Luna shook her head. “If what you say is true, and you do suffer from these night terrors, then they are not dreams or nightmares. They must be something else.”
“What else could they be?! I go to bed, close my eyes, and am treated to horrors that make my chitin crawl!”
Chrysalis waited for an answer, but Luna did not give one. She watched as the alicorn began to pace, her face scrunched as she was deep in thought. Chrysalis fell to her haunches and waited for a reply, all anger slowly draining way to be replaced with worry.
“I cannot give you an exact answer at this time,” Luna finally admitted, stopping her pace to look at Chrysalis. “There are some creatures that can cause similar symptoms to what you put forth—a Domovoi, Pesanta, or even Baku—but none of them have been recorded anywhere near Canterlot for centuries—my sister’s wards over our capital prevent their advance.” She paused, then looked out the window at the still high moon. “If it is one of them, then one of the wards may have fallen, or corruption is ahoof. Whatever it may be, I will get to the bottom of it.” She returned her view back to Chrysalis, her eyes holding back burning rage. Chrysalis almost flinched. “I must review our wards and enquire if more citizens are affected or if it is distinct to you. Given your true identity, I would not be surprised that if someone were to learn of it, they would send one of these creatures to do you harm.” Luna thought for a second, then shook her head. “Yes, there is much work to be done. I request that you remain awake for your safety and report to my chambers at the rising of the next moon. Be careful, Chrysalis. You may be in danger.”
With that said, Luna’s horn lit up briefly in a violet glow and her body dissipated into a starry purple mist that matched her mane. The mist crawled into the air and shot out the open window.
Chrysalis, for her part, blinked. She barely registered what had just transpired. With a shake of her head, the gray mare finished her sandwich and trotted over to her bed. She poked her muzzle over to the nightstand and retrieved one of the books, hopped up onto the bed, then opened it and began to read by the moonlight, waiting for the sun to rise.
She hadn’t planned on going back to sleep anyway...
It was now hours later. The sun had come and gone. The moon was just starting to rise. Chrysalis had just got off work. The grey mare trotted down the still busy streets of Canterlot, her cyan hair still done up in a neat little bun and she was still wearing her secretary uniform. For the first time in seemingly countless hours, a large frown was plastered on her face. She had gotten good at pretending to care about ponies while working at her job, having to smile the entire time, but that never made her like it. Far from it. As soon as she walked out the door, a huge angry frown became plastered on her face.
Chrysalis made her way down Canterlot's main street, pushing past all the other passersby with no remorse, heading towards the castle. Part of her wanted to ignore the princess and just go home, but when she remembered that there could possibly be a creature that was trying to kill her, she changed her mind. The former changeling didn’t like it, but she actually did need the princess’ help. Hopefully, when Luna did whatever she had to do to fix this, Chrysalis would be able to have a good night’s sleep and never see the lunar princess again.
She would be content with at least one coming true.
Chrysalis smiled at the thought, but it fell as soon as she found herself at the footsteps of the castle. Canterlot Castle was, well, a castle. It was grand, imposing, and everything that a castle was supposed to be. She thought it would look better as a pile of rubble. She ascended the steps, made her presence and intent known to one of the guards, and soon she was being ushered forward by one of the lunar guard. Apparently they had been informed to expect her arrival, and thus the ordeal of gaining entry had been a lot easier. Hopefully, everything else would go this quickly and painlessly, and she would be out of this place in no time.
The palace reeked of failure.
Chrysalis soon found herself standing in front of a large door with a crescent moon expertly crafted into its front. She assumed that this would either be the night princess’ study or bedroom. She would find out which soon enough. The guard opened the door and ushered her inside. She followed his command but was surprised when the door was shut behind her and they did not follow. Chrysalis had not expected to be ushered to the princess’ private quarters and merely left alone. Either these ponies were too trusting, or she was not considered a threat. She hoped it was the former—she had already lost enough dignity.
The room itself was actually larger than she had expected. Back when she was queen, her personal chambers were more akin to a broom closet in comparison. The room was large and circular, with a lower inset level in the middle. The walls that were not lined with bookshelves held large clear windows. The ceiling was in the shape of a dome with a huge telescope sticking out of the top. The rest of the room was covered with open books, tables, and other random assorted junk. A single hearth burned with purple fire next to the bed. It was surprisingly unorganized. Part of her wanted to do some snooping, but a more insistent part told her no. If she had been in Luna’s place, the entire chamber would be tamper-proof, with more than one deadly ward thrown in for good measure. It felt like an out-of-character thing for the princess to do, but nothing Luna did made sense to her. Chrysalis agreed with her gut and did not take the risk.
Chrysalis walked around the perimeter of the room, taking care to keep a safe distance between her and everything but the floor, and sat down next to the burning hearth, basking in its warmth. Luna’s quarters were noticeably colder than the rest of the castle.
It would be some time until Chrysalis felt another presence enter the room. If she wasn’t actively waiting for someone to enter, she would have missed the soft hiss from the conclusion of a magical teleport. The earth pony rose to her hooves and turned around. She saw that Luna now stood in the middle of the large bedroom, nose deep in a book as if she had been there the entire time. Not one to be ignored, Chrysalis made her presence known with a loud cough. To her surprise, Luna jumped, dropping the book she was reading and turning to face Chrysalis, who looked back with a proud smirk. “Did I scare you?”
Luna, who took a few deep breaths, calmed herself before responding. “I would be lying if I said no,” she began, then picked up the book she had dropped and levitated it back into one of the bookshelves. “My mind has been at its end with our current situation, so your apparent scare wasn’t much of a notable event.”
Chrysalis thought elsewise, but dropped the topic for something more important. “Speaking of which, what have you learned? Am I being haunted, or is this just a show of incompetence?”
“What I have learned only adds more questions than answers,” Luna admitted as she trotted up towards the earth pony and sat beside her. “No wards have been broken. The guard reports no breach. And none of our other subjects appear to be affected by what ails you.” She paused, then looked towards Chrysalis sternly. “With what has been presented to me, I am inclined to believe your claims to be false. Fabricated.” She growled. “A waste of my time.”
For the first time since they had met, Chrysalis felt anger radiating from the alicorn. Luna’s calm, forever-forgiving attitude, was gone, replaced with pure anger. All confidence drained from the earth pony. “I-I am not l-lying!” she stuttered, shrinking back and away from the alicorn.
Though she could not see them, Chrysalis felt Luna’s eyes burn into her. She feared for her own safety. This was the alicorn that she knew Luna to be; the face behind the facade. She waited for her wrath to strike, hoping it would be quick and painless.
A sigh.
“As I feared, you speak the truth…”
“What?” Chrysalis’ body stopped shivering. She lifted her head and turned toward the alicorn.
The anger in Luna’s eyes was gone, once again replaced with neutrality. “As I feared, you tell the truth. This only means that I am completely clueless to what ails you.”
Chrysalis snarled in indignation. “What in Tartarus was all of that about, then!” she screamed. “Are you playing with me?!”
Luna shook her head. “No, I only wished the truth. You do not make retrieving such a thing easy.”
“You enjoyed my fear,” she spat.
Luna’s eyes fell, only for a moment. “Once, I may have, but not now.” She sighed. “I do not take pleasure in your fear. I despise it. But, if fear is needed to gain the truth, it is a necessary evil.”
Chrysalis wanted to respond but chose to stay silent. Her eyes left the alicorn and moved back toward the floor. “So that’s it, then. You’re just going to give up.” She let out a forced chuckle. “I do not know why I expected anything else.”
“Far from it,” she heard Luna speak up. Chrysalis looked up from the ground to see a strangely optimistic Luna. “Just because I do not know the cause does not mean that I will not search for it. Yes, what ails you does seem unique, but that only makes it a puzzle—a challenge—and all puzzles have a solution.”
The former changeling cocked an eyebrow. “And how are you going to go about solving it?”
Luna smiled, her horn glowing. “By gathering up all the pieces.”
Before the grey mare could act, Luna placed her glowing horn to Chrysalis' forehead. The alicorn kept it there, her eyes closed. In that moment, Chrysalis felt a warmth flow around her like the embrace of a comforting blanket. She smiled, closing her eyes to enjoy the moment.
It did not last.
Chrysalis opened them violently to the sound of shuttering breath. Luna, horn still to her head, was gasping. Her eyes were still closed, but the former changeling could see tears flowing freely behind them. Luna then began to scream, seemingly in both pain and fear. Chrysalis watched in horror.
Luna’s eyes shot open. The alicorn instantly shot back, using her wings in a desperate attempt to get away from what Chrysalis believed to be herself. Luna’s panic ended when she backed into a bookcase with such force that books it held began to rain down off the shelves and onto the panicking alicorn. After that, Luna didn’t move, looking at Chrysalis as if she had seen a ghost.
The door to Luna’s chambers opened with a crash and two guards leapt inside, halberds at the ready. They quickly scanned the room and settled on grimly staring at the earth pony next to the fire.
Luna lifted a hoof from the pile of books surrounding her. “All is well! We are in no danger. I was merely… surprised.” Both guards glanced quickly at each other, then back to their sovereign. Luna continued. “Please return to your posts. I require no assistance.”
Dutifully, both guards nodded. They exited and closed the door behind them. Luna let out a breath and turned to look at her guest. Chrysalis saw the mask of assurance fall away, to be replaced with… something else.
Both were silent.
“T-that was no dream,” Luna finally managed to stutter out through shaken breath. The alicorn then shook her head and rose to her hooves, the books cascading off of her as she stood up, then trotted briskly towards another bookshelf and began frantically searching.
The stunned former changeling eventually shook her head, snapping out of her haze. She rose to her hooves and marched towards the alicorn who continued to scour the bookshelf. For a moment, Chrysalis just observed the preoccupied alicorn, trying to figure out how to word the questions that had begun to build up in her mind. Eventually, she decided to give voice to all of them. “What did do you just do? What just happened? What are you looking for?”
Luna didn’t even flinch.
The former changeling began to get frustrated. What was she searching for? What had happened? Why wasn’t she saying anything?! “Hey!” Chrysalis cried out in anger, then headbutted the alicorn in the side. “You will not ignore me!”
After this yielded no response, Chrysalis huffed and trotted back over toward the fire. She was getting nowhere. She gave up her pitiful efforts and decided to wait the mare out, hoping that Luna would give her answers when the princess was ready.
Sure enough, the alicorn eventually trotted over to meet Chrysalis over by the fire. She sat opposite her, head buried in a book held in her magic grasp. “I believe I have an idea,” Luna spoke as she closed the book and looked up toward the grey mare.
Chrysalis rolled her eyes. “Great. Now, can you fill me in on what happened prior to your little meltdown?”
“Yes, that…” Luna bit her lip. “Well, I attempted to read your dreams directly with an… unexpected result. I saw… things that I would rather not remember. It did not give me much, but it did confirm that this is not a dream, but something else entirely.”
“And that ties into your idea how?”
“I was getting to that,” Luna huffed. “Although it is not a dream, it seems to have some of the characteristics of one. Which ones, and to what extent, I am not entirely sure, but I do believe that I may be able to enter whatever it is like I would a dream.”
“You want to go in there?!”
Luna nodded. “Yes. In order to see what this is, and figure out a way to get rid of it, I need to examine it. So, I shall approach it as if it were a nightmare.”
Although she was still confused, Chrysalis nodded. “Okay, I guess?”
Luna nodded. “Indeed.” Her horn began to glow, and once again she lowered it toward the former changeling. “Now, hold still. And, please, try not to panic…”
Her horn made contact. Chrysalis felt her body begin to tingle, followed soon after by her vision flashing red, then black...
Chrysalis groaned. Her head hurt and pulsed as if it were filled with newborn grubs. It took her a moment to realize that she was laying down on her side. Had she passed out? Had she been moved? Figuring that lying there would yield her no answers, she rose to her hooves. To her surprise, she found her vision blurred. She blinked. For some reason, her vision remained thickly clouded, fogged. She blinked again. To her surprise, the fog wasn’t in her vision, but all around her. Her head swiveled as she surveyed her location. She wasn’t in the castle. She was outside of it.
“Did that stupid pony eject me from her castle?”
She sat in the middle of downtown Canterlot, from what she could see through the thick fog, but... It was different. The street she was in was devoid of life. The shops were closed. Everything around her was covered in a thick layer of omnipresent fog, much thicker than anything she had seen during her stay in the city. Everything seemed… decayed. The ground was covered in a layer of what looked like grey snow that still fell from the sky. How was it snowing in midsummer? It had been warm when she had entered the castle!
Chrysalis reached out a hoof to grab one of the fluffy grey flakes but paused. Her hoof was not grey, but black. And was porous. It was… It was her real hoof. She looked down at the rest of her body and found that, like her hoof, her real body had returned. Frantically, Chrysalis stumbled to her hooves and ran toward one of the closed shops. To her utter annoyance, the shopkeeper had deemed it proper to board up their windows. Had there been a blizzard? Chrysalis shook her head, then ran to the next shop. Like the last, it was completely boarded up. This cycle continued.
Five shops later, Chrysalis found what she was looking for: an intact window. The changeling—yes, changeling—looked at her reflection in the dirty window. She raised her holed hoof, the reflection mirrored her movement. She was… she was back. She was Chrysalis. She was… whole. The reflection smiled, then frowned as she shook her head. No, something was still wrong. Why was she back? What had happened? What was wrong with Canterlot?
Having gotten a closer look at the shops, she had noticed more that was wrong. They weren’t just closed, they were abandoned. What she could see past the boarded-up storefronts looked to be completely abandoned interiors. The exteriors appeared to have been unmaintained for some time; paint chipped and peeling, windows broken, walls cracked, and so on. This was unheard of for the pristine city and was not so the last time she had visited this district for her basic amenities. Chrysalis also noticed that it was not cold. Changelings were particularly sensitive to the climate. She dipped her hoof into the grey snow and inspected it. It was not snow.
“Ash?” Chrysalis muttered. “Why is it raining ash?”
Her first thought was fire, but she could see nor smell any smoke or visible source. Something large enough to produce this much ash would easily have been seen from her location, if not smelled. Her heightened senses had returned with her visage.
“Something is wrong,” the changeling spoke again. “This is not right.”
She looked around cautiously. She was on alert. Something had happened. Something big. The former queen trotted down the middle of the street, no clear destination in mind. Her ears swiveled like duel sentries, yet she heard no sound but her hooves crunching through the soft ash. She was alone. A single entity within a Silent Canterlot.
“This is not right,” Chrysalis mouthed. Her hooves crunched upon the freshly fallen ash, leaving a trail that disappeared almost as soon as it was made. She slowly made her way through Downtown Canterlot’s shopping district. This was supposed to be one of the busiest areas of the city. She should be shoulder to shoulder to a river of passing ponies. Shopkeeps should be tending to their wares. The air should be filled with the sound of a bustling, thriving city. Yet, in place of that, there was nothing. It was completely abandoned. The changeling had yet to see, or hear, a single soul.
Her eyes wandered with her advance. The once brilliant storefronts, which had held expensive goods imported from far-off lands or sourced locally from talented artisans, all had their windows boarded up and their doors locked. It genuinely looked abandoned, as if their owners had simply taken everything and ran. Not recently, but for a long time. Years, even. Paint was chipped. Metal was rusted. Wood was weathered and rotten.
Chrysalis flicked her long, serpent-like tongue. It had been a while since the former queen had been in her true body, but it was a habit she picked back up almost immediately. Thankfully, her primal senses were still sharp—changelings could taste emotions much in the same way as how a snake flicks its tongue to smell.
She tasted for emotions but found nothing.
“Seems I truly am alone,” Chrysalis muttered.
She stopped to view one building in particular.
It fared the same as all the others. Weathered and decayed, but this particular storefront held a different feeling to the changeling. She had been there earlier that day. It was the store where she had worked for the past month—five days a week, nine to five. The pearly white exterior was faded. The sign that had once read “Book & Keep, Chartered Accountants Ltd.” was barely legible. She had been their secretary. Now, the shop looked closed. A few boards had been nailed over the doors and windows. Chrysalis took a deep inhale through her nose. She could smell it’s rotting wood facade. A falling piece of ash made its way into the changeling’s nose. Her face scrunched, and she sneezed.
The sound echoed from everywhere.
After the echo subsided, it was quiet. Much too quiet. There was no sound. Not wind, or the creaking of buildings. Absolutely nothing, save for the sound of her breath that hissed past her teeth. Sound was deafening to a changeling—their heightened hearing far surpassed that of any pony. Silence was foreign to them—to her.
Chrysalis shook off the falling ash that had begun to clump on her coat and mane. She looked forward down the road. The fog only allowed her a few meters of clear sight. Chrysalis growled. Her horn lit as she cast a simple light spell to try and pierce the fog. The spell stood strong for several seconds, then flickered out. Chrysalis reeled at a sudden bout of vertigo, and for the first time in almost a year, the excruciating Hunger clawed at her chest. It had been a long time since she had fed.
Chrysalis shook her head once more. Even if the spell had held, it had done nothing to dispel the fog. Nothing made sense. Why had she reverted to her natural form? Where had everypony gone? Why was the city in such a state of decay? It appeared that the entire city had been abandoned. Why? What had happened to cause everyone to leave at the drop of a hat? Did it have something to do with the fog or the ash?
Am I dreaming?
The idea seemed plausible. Had Luna’s spell actually worked? Was she in the dream that… wasn’t a dream? She had understood little of what Luna had tried to explain about her current situation regarding her nightmares. She paused to think about that. It was possible that she was just dreaming, though it didn’t feel like it, but there was an easy way to confirm it. The changeling sat up and looked around. She spotted a metal lamppost on the other side of the road. It looked fairly solid, even with the flaked black paint barely clung to its surface. Chrysalis shrugged. It would do. She trotted up to it and gave it a strong headbutt. The lamppost creaked in protest. Pain shot up the changeling’s skull. She fell onto her rump and brought her hooves to her head. It pulsed and throbbed.
She wasn’t dreaming.
Her impulsive idea had brought her nothing but a pounding headache. As the pain subsided, anger replaced it. She had remembered something. Or, perhaps, she had realized something: whatever had happened, it was that pony’s fault. Chrysalis growled. Pain forgotten, she turned towards back to her place of employment. She needed answers, and the former queen wasn’t going to allow a few boards to stop her from getting them. In the fear of the Hunger, Chrysalis opted to use her fangs and hooves instead of magic. With a mighty tug, Chrysalis began to rip the boards off, one-by-one.
They soon lay in a crude pile beside the door.
Chrysalis spit out a few splinters, then observed the now unbarred entrance. The changeling raised her hoof for the doorknob but paused. For some reason, what she was doing suddenly felt wrong. Like, she was doing something out of time. A small chill ran up her spine. Chrysalis soon shook off the feeling. Now isn’t the time for hesitation, she told herself. The changeling grabbed the door and pulled. It hissed as the rusted hinges protested but still gave once she put more muscle into it. With the door now open, Chrysalis took a single step inside. A chilled wind washed over her like a freezing draft. It penetrated Chrysalis’ to her very soul.
Get out… the feeling seemed to whisper.
Chrysalis balked in response but did not immediately retreat. Instead, she took a few steps forward. The feeling only got worse. It chilled her to the bone. A feeling of extreme unease washed over her. Something wasn’t right. It was an unnatural chill, like every single one of her reflexes, senses and instincts were screaming the same thing: Get out!
Something didn’t want her to enter.
Though reluctant, the changeling complied with the ghostly wish. She backed away until her entire body was outside of the establishment. On its own, the door creaked closed in front of her. The cold retreated. The feeling went away.
With a shiver, the changeling turned away from the door and back onto the main road. She briefly mused over the experience. Why hadn't she just pushed forward? Yes, it was unsettling, but she had faced worse, hadn’t she? Perhaps it was the build up of unanswered questions and unease that had pulled her away. Chrysalis shook her head. Best not to dwell on this—there were more pressing matters to attend too.
Like a vagabond, Chrysalis wandered the abandoned road. No map, no direction, no destination in mind. She guided herself by the cracked asphalt that peaked through the fallen ash and hoped it would lead her to something. Anything, that would bring light to her confusing predicament.
Chrysalis’ hooves came to a stop at an intersection. Two different paths stood before her: one continuing forward, while the other took her right. She peered briefly down both directions but was unable to see anything through the fog.
“Which way?” the changeling mused aloud. “Does it matter?”
Chrysalis absentmindedly licked the air. She raised an eyebrow. A familiar taste washed over her tongue—a mixture of regret and shame. She took another sample.
“Pony?”
Somehow, she knew who it belonged to. She had only been in the presence of the individual for a few conscious moments, but it was still enough to burn the taste into her mind.
Luna…
The Changeling's tongue flicked out of her mouth some more. She began to track the taste. It had been a while since she had done so, but the action was still second nature to her. She found that it wafted from the road directly before her. With little hesitation, Chrysalis followed the familiar taste.
It was about time she got some answers.
The buildings that bordered the road seemed to grow gradually taller as she advanced. The changeling believed this to signal a change in focus. To what, she was yet to know. The city layout seemed to have subtly changed.
Chrysalis licked the air once more, then went stiff.
A new taste suddenly graced her lips: a toxic mix of both fear and anger. It was strong. This meant that the pony was not alone, as they both did not originate from the same source. The changeling lowered into an offensive stance before she resumed her hunt. She didn’t know if this new entity was friend or foe—in fact, she even questioned the same about the one she did know.
The changeling paused once more as her ears perked up. A sound breached the silence. Chrysalis focused. It sounded to her like something heavy was being dragged. She scanned the immediate area around her.
The outline of… something, began to breach the fog. Chrysalis stood stock still and observed the approaching outline with a worried expression. From her position, it appeared that the outline was close to dwarfing her in size.
The fog cleared enough for her gain usable detail. The outline was some sort of dark pony—a pegasus clad in dented black armor. It backed its way toward her, apparently dragging something behind it.
Against her better judgment, Chrysalis called out. “You, there!”
The armor-clad pony halted. Its head shot up, then whipped in the direction of changeling. Chrysalis gasped. It's eyes were sewn shut by some kind of black wire. The changeling took a tentative step back.
“What happened to you?” she asked, not knowing what else to say.
The creature gurgled in response, then clicked as it shook its head side-to-side violently.
Chrysalis was about to question further when the blinded pony let out a gut-wrenching roar. It stomped a hoof a few times, then charged in her direction. Chrysalis acted fast and out of the way. She rolled back onto her hooves and immediately faced the direction the creature had charged. It had apparently slowed and now stood with its head flicking side-to-side.
Chrysalis' mind went blank. She stared angrily at the creature. She went to charge her horn, but stopped soon after. She grit her fangs and cursed current weakness. She quickly adapted her plan of attack to accommodate her lack of magic. Her range was now limited, but that wouldn’t stop her.
The creature stood in place. It did not advance. Instead, it continued to shake it’s head and let of a weird clicking sound from deep within it throat. Chrysalis was puzzled by this. Why had it stopped? It may have been blind, but it had no problem of almost completely stampeding over her moments ago. There was something she was missing. Chrysalis took a tentative step forward. The moment her hoof crunched against the fallen ash, the creature’s head turned directly to face her. There was a split second of pause before it charged toward her once more.
This time, Chrysalis was ready. Having read the creatures attack pattern, she matched the creature’s charge and pounced once she was close enough. The changeling landed on the creature’s armored back. She gripped the creature tightly with her hooves and used its unresponsive wings as a hold.
The pony howled. It immediately began an attempt to buck his unwanted passenger free. Chrysalis used this vantage point to assess the creature. More specifically, where the joints in the armor were located: shoulder, fetlock, neck, hip, knee. It was heavily armored; even it’s joints protected by a seemingly thick leather covering beneath. That was her normal plan for taking out this type of opponent: cripple the joints and go in for the kill. In this situation, it seemed almost impossible.
The creature roared once more, then stopped its futile attempts. Chrysalis jumped clear just as it attempted to roll and created distance. From what she had observed, she had figured out her next move. She let out a sharp whistle. It must have located through sound given its impaired sight. The creature reacted immediately, turning in her direction and changing once more. This time, the changeling did not ready herself to pounce. Instead, she quickly side-stepped, allowed the creature to pass, then dove back underneath it. Chrysalis quickly sank her fangs into the creature’s unarmored underbelly, then continued on to rip apart the unarmored flesh.
The creature shrieked in pain. Black blood poured freely from the ripped-apart flesh, which coated the changeling’s muzzle. She did not care. The creature began to stumble and fall onto its stomach. Chrysalis took the opening and aimed for her prize. The changeling’s fangs hit true as she dug them through the protecting leather and into the creature’s soft neck. It took her only moments to rip out its throat. Black blood spewed from the area like a sickening geyser. The creature let out a gurgling scream, twitched, then went still.
“No mere pony bests a queen,” Chrysalis painted, winded by the experience.
Chrysalis used a free hoof to wipe off as much of the strange blood from her muzzle and face as best as she could. It was a fruitless effort. The black blood had somehow stained her chitin, which made it almost impossible to remove without a good bath. Chrysalis scoffed at her luck, then a thought popped into her head: where was the other she had sensed? Chrysalis licked the air—she tasted the telltale emotional signature of her companion. Had she sat back and watched as she had fought that creature? Chrysalis snarled. It would be like a pony to do such: let others take care of their problems. She wanted to rant further, but another thought popped into her head: Hadn't that creature been dragging something?
Anger was soon replaced with dread. Chrysalis’ head swept side to side as she searched for any sign of what the creature had been dragging. What she feared. She was pretty sure she knew the answer already. Her fears were confirmed when she spotted a motionless midnight blue mass in the fog.
No…
The changeling galloped toward the fallen alicorn. Her hooves skidded to a stop. Chrysalis looked her over with a held breath. Luna lay motionless on her side. Her eyes were closed as if in a peaceful slumber, which contrasted to her outward appearance. She bled from everywhere. Her back showed signs of splinters and glass embedded within. Bite marks of missing flesh lay patched along her frame. The flesh above one of her front hooves was swollen and bruised—all the telltale signs of a break.
“What did this to you?” Chrysalis mouthed in disbelief.
It was a shock for the changeling to see the creature which had been her jailer for the past year in such a state. Chrysalis knew Luna was no weakling, easily just as strong as her sister, so to see one of the ponies diarchs in such a state was… wrong. Chrysalis thought for a moment the creature she has just fought might have been the culprit, but dismissed the thought soon after—even by surprise, such a creature shouldn’t have been able to do this much damage… right? A thought went through the changeling’s mind which made her shiver.
There was something else out in the fog. Something able to take out an alicorn.
Chrysalis looked up and scanned the fog. Fear washed over her. She looked back down to the fallen alicorn. For some reason she felt… regret? Why? It felt like this was her fault. Why did she feel that way? She owed the pony nothing. Luna was the reason why she was stuck in this nightmare of a place. She was the reason why she had been trapped as a pony for the past year. Such a being should receive no sympathy from her. The changeling placed her ear against the fallen alicorns chest. She heard the faint pattern of a heartbeat. It was weak, but still there. Relief washed over her. Why? She, again, did not know.
“Have you put some spell upon yourself to gain my sympathy?” Chrysalis muttered angrily under her breath. “Stupid pony…”
For whatever reason, Chrysalis felt responsible for the pony at her hooves. She felt an urge to protect her. The feeling sickened the changeling, but she couldn’t find the strength to resist. She let out an angry snort, then re-evaluated the alicorns condition. The pony wasn’t dead, but would be so soon if she didn’t do anything. Chrysalis lacked the magic reserves to cast any sort of healing spell—which she probably wouldn’t have wasted anyways—so that left standard medical treatment, which she again lacked the resources to do. Chrysalis ground her teeth, then perked up at another thought.
Perhaps the gargantuan creature had supplies?
Chrysalis turned to where she remembered killing the creature, and began to search for the corpse. To her surprise, she found nothing. She widened her search, thinking she might have gotten turned around in the dog, but again found nothing. There was no body.
“How?”
Chrysalis trotted even further away, as far as she could without losing track of the alicorn. It was a fruitless effort that yielded nothing. She returned to the same spot, confused and slightly unnerved. Had the creature gotten up and walked away? Doubtful. Nothing should be able to survive with a torn throat. Had come and taken it? That was a more plausible possibility, and one that made her shudder. She knew there was something bigger in this fog. Something dangerous enough to down an alicorn. And if her hunch was right, it had to be close by.
“This is not good…” she muttered in a panicked whisper, “I need to get away from this place.”
Chrysalis turned back toward where she had left Luna, intent on grabbing the pony and running as soon as she could, and began a brisk trot. Her eyes were so focused on the fog she has forgotten to look down, and eventually slipped on something and fell straight onto her muzzle.
The changeling let out an annoyed huff. She quickly rose to her hooves, then stopped when a familiar smell hit her nostrils. It was now that she felt the all too familiar The changeling put a hoof to her muzzle and wiped it.
Her hoof shone crimson read with blood.
It wasn’t like the putrid black plasma that still coated her body for the… thing she had just killed. No, it was fresh. It was warm. It smelt of pony. Chrysalis looked down, expecting to find the remains of her unwanted charge, but what she found was something that she never would have expected.
A gift from the sun will warm the way,
Bring back the wounded—sister of the day.
Back to where you were first denied,
Let the fear become your guide
It was written clearly, yet sloppily, into the asphalt in thick, read blood. It was fresh, and she could tell by how red it was—blood only remains this red right after a kill, as it has not properly oxidized yet. A strange feeling overtook the changeling, one that she could not properly put into words: it was a mix of confusion, worry, fear, and, strongest of most, rage.
There was silence.
Then, without warning, there was laughter.
Chrysalis’ body heaved as her lungs struggled to keep up with her. Her body shook. The former queen threw her head back as she let out a roar of laughter that could be mistaken for insanity. It was laughter that surprised even her. Tears filled her eyes. It went on for what could have been hours or even days—she did not care—as she let out her frustrations in a madder fitting for the Mad Queen.
When it stopped, and she tried to catch her breath, the changeling managed to utter out a single sentence. “Am I being mocked?”
It was stupid. Laughable. A riddle, out of blood? It was so cliche that even a newborn hatchling could think up better. Someone, or something, was mocking her. She should have been scared. Even as dumb as it was, she was still in enemy territory. The rules of the game that she found herself in were still foreign to her. She had no advantages here, and that did bring fear. Something was hunting her, and it was attempting to use confusion, fear, and misdirection in order to gain the upper hand. The only problem was…
“They are mine,” she hissed through clenched fangs.
What would have been takes as an unsetting message to most, was a challenge to her. There were her tactics. This was her war. Things came into place: She was not alone, something else with a solid mind was there with her… and it was mocking her.
Anger filled her soul, and she let this be known. “Who is out there?!” Chrysalis screamed, damning the consequences of letting her presence be known. In fact, she now wanted to be known. “I care not for riddles! Come to me, face me, let me show you what happens to those try and play with the queen of blood!”
Her words echoed.
She didn’t want games, and she knew one when she saw one. Confusion, fear, and misdirection were her tools of war. She would not be tricked by her own craft. No, she had earned to right to play by the rules of combat.
Her words of defiance echoed through her surroundings like a soulless courus. Chrysalis looked around, waiting to hear or see a reply. Anything. Something that she could lash out at, sink her fangs into and grace with a rage-fueled death.
Silence was her answer.
With a huff, the changeling fell onto her haunches and ground her hooves into the ash-covered asphalt. She glared daggers at the ground at her hooves, using ever ounce of her strength not to scream madness once again.
A noise broke the fog.
Chrysalis looked up, jerking her head so hard that she could feel the joints in her neck pop. Her fangs were bear, but she almost instantly let out a sigh when she only noticed that she somehow no stood only a few hooves away from a familiar midnight blue heap.
“Seems I found you,” the changeling muttered as she poked the heap with a hoof. The heap let out a soft groan. “I had almost wished you were dead.”
Luna lay at the changeling’s hooves. She softly moaned in absent pain, but clearly was still uselessly unconscious.
{What trouble you are}, Chrysalis though. Against her better judgement, the changeling stood, the procedure to lift the useless princess onto her back with a grunt. Once she felt like Luna was secure on her back, the changeling looked around to get her bearings. From what she could tell, she had somehow wandered into what looked like the financial district of the city. The buildings were tall, modern, and a far stretch from the practical ghetto that she had been living in. Brilliantly tall builds rose from the main street, neatly lined in rows, with each of each perfectly planned block leading to another intersection.
At least, that was how it was supposed to look.
Like with the rest she had seen, decay now lay about the city. Pain was chipped, and the marble looked weather stained and damp. Almost every window that wasn’t boarded up were broken or cracked. Crystal lamp posts stood with most, if not all, cracked or laying in useless heaps. Several had even fallen into the sidewalks they were supposed to be lighting.
With the height of the building, and the still thick rain of ash, the changeling could not gain any form of bearings. The castle that she had been using as a marker was nowhere to be seen. This annoyed her further, adding to the list of things that she wanted to reduce to even worse condition they were already in.
“Marvalous,” she huffed. “I wonder if things could get any worse?”
Several thoughts filled her mind: Where should she go? What should she do? And what to do with the lump on her back? She had no answers, no direction, and the added weight of a charge on her back. With the high possibility of there being more creature that she had just ran into lurking in the remains of the city, it would be unwise for her to remain in place. She had no vantage point, no protection. She was a sitting duck. And with the possibility of something toying with her, she couldn’t take any chances. With no proper direction present, the changeling chose forward.
After all, what better way to go?
“You are far more heavy then you have any right to be,” Chrysalis muttered to her still useless charge.
It had been rightly a half an hour since she had left the place she had found the princess. So far, she had not run into anything new, and the air still tasted baren. She was still relatively alone, for the most part, she Chrysalis wondered if that was a good thing or not. She was still on alert, of course. She was not stupid to let this calm make her lower her guard. But, at the same time, she was in no rush. With no idea of what was going on, there was no urgency at all.
A soft groan filled her ears.
Well, what wasn’t entirely true.
“Yes, yes, princess. I know,” the changeling muttered, reminded that she had a critically wounded creature on her back. “I’ll find something to patch you up so you can hopefully give me a clue of what is going on.”
Despite her strange and unexplainable attachment to pony on her back, Chrysalis had to fight the urge to just dump Luna and continue on her own. She had been nothing but dead weight. But, this thought process had been stopped by the thought that there still might be a use for the pony. At best, she could give her some insight into what was going on, or explain what had crippled her. Any info she could get on a creature that could take down an alicorn would be useful. At worst, she could use her as bait, or even a meat shield if she ran into another one of those blinded creatures.
It was this thought that had given her some direction. She needed supplies. She had no first aid of any kind, and magic was still out of the question. She had tried to feed of the pony, but had gotten nothing. She radiated no useful emotions at all. She could use what she did as some form of locating beacon, but they were not powerful enough to actually give her any feed. She could try and force it, or even a magic drain, but in the princess’ condition it would only lead to her death. Plus, she didn’t even have enough magic of her own to even cast the draining spell.
"How troublesome…"
Chrysalis shook her head dejectedly and absentmindedly licking the air with her forked tongue. Her eyes shrank to pinpricks. The air was suddenly overwhelmed with the thick taste of toxic emotions—the same taste as the creature she had slain.
Her hooves froze. The fog seems to get thicker, as if attracted to the stench. Her field of view limited her to mere feet. It was like the world was closing in around her.
Another taste soon began to fill the air, building by the second. Chrysalis flicked her tongue, but balked when the full flavor hit her. It was thick, putrid, and made the queen gag and struggle to keep from both vomiting and casting her charge off her back.
Chrysalis' breath hitched. Fear like no other began to fill her. Something was coming. She could sense it now. The changeling slowly looked around. She tried to at least catch a glimpse of whatever she had felt was so she could run full speed in the opposite direction. Something told her this was not a fight she could win. All her bravato from her challenge was now gone. She tried to gain a reading on the source of this new emotional discharge, but the aura around her was so saturated in the toxic emotional stew that such method seemed impossible.
Chrysalis's ears soon stood on end at the sudden appearance of a familiar clicking noise. She slowly turned her head to see shadows emerged from the fog. Creatures like the one she had recently killed came into view,each of them appeared almost identical to the first, save for small differences in their scars and hair color, but it was clear that the had all went through the same suffering. Chrysalis cursed herself at not noticing them sooner, so focused on the bigger threat that she had forgot the rest of her senses. She could see three, so far, but something told her that there was more lurking in the fog.
Given their way of hunting, she found that they could be ignored for the most part, and probably not a problem all together if she played her cards right and didn't get ambushed. With their blinded vision, she would be safe as long as she remains quiet.
Despite their appearance, the changeling did to flee. No, the true cause for her concern was yet to appear. Something else was in the fog. Chrysalis eyed the three creatures as they unnaturally shook and clicked. The did not appear to be advancing towards her, seemingly oblivious to her presence. They were a formidable opponent, one she had already proven she could take care of on her own, but the group was a different story. She was not stupid enough to try, pride be damned.
Taking this into account, Chrysalis chose not to deviate from her current plan and waited for her true enemy to make itself known. She took her eyes off them as she scanned the rest of the fog, her breath even, but made sure to keep track or their path. Something deep within her screamed for her not to take it lightly.
And she was right.
At first, she heard the sound of creaking metal—almost like a rusty hinge being forced open ever so slowly—then immediately slammed shut—the sound of a train derailment, followed by a subsequent crash. Her eyes shot towards the source of the sound—not far behind where she was tracking the three creatures. She caught a glimpse of a hulking silhouette just as it was retreating back into the fog it had appeared from. It carried on of the creatures with it, caught in what resembled large bear-trap esc that encompasses almost half of the creature.
Chrysalis couldn't move.
Crunching of bones, scraping of metal, and the sickening sound of tearing flesh filled the air. The remaining two creatures reacted almost immediately—their heads snapped back, their throats gargled, and they both charged towards the sound of the carnage.
Chrysalis still couldn't move.
A roar with the volume that could rival any full-groan drake filled the air. It was raspy and strained, filled with malice, hate, and screaming metal.
She did not hear a fight, but a slaughter. The creature roared their garbled war cry, but were only to be met the slam of metal, then silence. Fear gripped the changeling. Fear unlike any that she had felt before. Although she could not see it; Chrysalis knew that the creature was still right in front of her, just beyond the fog’s grasp.
Piercing red eyes was all it took for her snap out of her daze.
Her hooves thoundered against the cracked pavement. Her muscles began to burn from the strain—her lungs gasping for much-needed oxygen. Behind her, heavy hoofsteps followed her. There were forever at her heels, almost like the creature purposely kept just enough distance between them. Chrysalis wanted to risk a look back, but couldn’t. Her charge rested uselessly on her back, but she couldn’t bring herself to drop the alicorn.
Hooves skidding to a stop, the changeling made a mad dash for a narrow alley. With luck, it would be too small for her pursuer to follow, but she didn’t dare risk slowing down. Her legs burned and threatened to give out, but she pushed past the discomfort and continued forward.
From alley to alley, the changeling went. She eventually skidded to a stop once she heard nothing but silence behind her. She stood there, panting, and tried to get her bearings. Nothing looked familiar. The changeling blinked. Actually, everything looked frighteningly familiar. Chrysalis turned her head and looked up at the building before her hooves.
“Book & Keep, Chartered Accountants Ltd,” the changeling muttered to herself.
Somehow, she found herself back to where she had begun. This puzzled the changeling. How am I back here? She thought as she panted. Her muscles ached. Her body was heavy. She licked the air, but tasted nothing. She was alone, again, somehow outrunning the creature.
Chrysalis looked on at the door to her former workplace that she had pried open not long ago. She briefly remembered the feeling she had gotten when she tried to enter before. She tsk’d to herself and shook her head. She licked the air once more, then froze. Slowly craining her head back, Chrysalis was shocked to see three more of the thestrals staring at her on the other side of the street, almost waiting for her. She didn’t know how they had managed to sneak up on her, but that didn’t matter now. She was cornered. She debated which direction to take, but her choice was made when the alicorn on her back let out a pained grown.
Not having time to think, Chrysalis dove into the doorway of her old employment just as the trio charged with a unison howl. A wave of sheer cold overwhelmed her. She froze in place, unable to move. Her muscles failed to respond—her teeth chattered as she shivered in place. She had screwed up. She had made a fatal mistake.
Chrysalis tried to scream, but stopped as a bright flash blinded her vision. Almost immediately afterward, the cold dispersed as her body warmed at an alarming rate. After only a few seconds, the changeling could perceive feeling return to her hooves and body. She rose upright, the alicorn sliding free from her back, then turned towards the door. She expected to see the creatures almost upon her or crash through the somehow closed door moments later.
Nothing of the sort happened.
Chrysalis licked the air. She tasted nothing but her wounded companion. It appeared that the creatures had refused to follow her and retreated outside her range, the reason unknown. In fact, it was like they never existed. Chrysalis watched the door for a few more minutes, still on edge, then slowly looked away and back to her charge.
Luna lay still on the floor, her body still limp and eyes closed. The changeling trotted closer to the fallen alicorn, then pressed her ear to her chest. She snorted when she heard faint, but still present, heartbeats.
How the hell are you still alive?
Chrysalis leaned down and nudged the mare onto her back once more. She took a look around. Instead of her familiar office, the room appeared to be some sort of lobby, most likely for a hotel. It was decayed and rotten: paint chipping, furniture rotten and splayed around in a seemingly random manner, a thick layer of dust coating everywhere. Directly across from the door she had entered was a large desk. Beside it lay two stairways, one heading up while the other heading down.
What is going on with this place?!
The changeling let out a loud huff, then glanced back at her charge. She thought back to how cumbersome the alicorn had been for her to carry, and how that had almost lead to her own death.
“Let's find a safe place where I can dump you, pony,” Chrysalis muttered, then headed for the stairs.
She ascended one floor, but found each door on said floor to be locked. This pattern continued for the next two levels, but the final floor yielded some success. At the far end of the fourth-floor hallway, a single door lay unlocked and unbarred.
Pushing past, Chrysalis slid the alicorn from her back. She stretched her sore back, smiling as she felt several satisfied cracks. She eventually paused her stretch when she noticed something strange in the room: a single pristine first aid kit. It contrasted the rest of the room greatly, as it looked as if it had been just made.
The changeling trotted up to the kit and opened it with a hoof. To her surprise, it was fully stocked. Chrysalis felt a smile spread across her lips as she closed the lid and carried it over to her unconscious charge. Sitting on her flank, the changeling began to administer the required medical attention.
After a while, she finished bandaging her unwanted companion. Being on the receiving end of many an injury, she had gained extensive experience in the art of basic medicine. The once queen looked down at the battered pony, and smiled at her work. All the wounds had been addressed, the wing and been reset and splinted, and she had also taken great care in making sure that the bandages were tight enough to hold, but loose enough to not create massive discomfort when the pony would, hopefully, awaken.
Chrysalis frowned.
That was a worrisome fact. The pony had been out cold for longer than Chrysalis would have liked, and that didn’t even how long she could have been out prior to the changeling finding her. Hopefully, she wouldn’t be out for much longer…
Chrysalis shook her head, then scowled. She took her eyes off the pony. Why did I care? Why did it matter if she awoke? So far, the pony had only brought me pain and confusion. She blinked in realization. Actually, this was all the ponies fault!
Chrysalis turned back towards Luna, her eyes filled with rage. She stepped over toward the unconscious pony, then placed a hoof over her throat. It would be so easy. Just a quick stomp, crushing the windpipe, and she would be dead.
It would be so easy…
The changeling’s hoof reared up, ready to strike. She commanded her hoof to stomp down. Nothing happened. Chrysalis growled, trying to complete the deed once more, but couldn’t. Something held her back. Something wouldn’t allow her to go through with it. Some part of her didn’t want to kill the cause of all her pain.
Chrysalis stared at the helpless alicorn. Her chest rose and fell softly. The anger subside, replaced with guilt. With much reluctance, Chrysalis returned her hoof to the ground, but her eyes remained on Luna. Her hesitance had brought a thought to mind—a fact she had been ignorant off moments before. Luna had been in her pace. Standing over her, able to end it all. Instead, she had given her a second chance...
Chrysalis shook her head once more, turning away from the helpless pony. The changeling trotted away toward the door. She exited, closing the door behind her. She never looked back.
I need to get out of here, the changeling thought. She tried to push all thoughts of her head that related to the alicorn out of her head. She needed to now focus on the big picture: escaping this strange and cursed place. From what she had seen thus far, this place seemed to have a path laid out for her that it forced her to take. In theory, all she had to do was wander, and this omnipresent guide would show (or force) her to where it wanted her to go.
With luck, it would lead her to an exit.
Chrysalis made her way down the hallway to the stairs. She made it down the first flight before the loud sound of clanking metal screamed in her ears. Chrysalis instantly turned around, her eyes going wide as she stared at a chain link fence that now separated her from the upper levels. She quickly ran up to it and briefly tried to tear it down with her hooves. After a few minutes of unyielded result, she sighed and up.
“Have it your way,” Chrysalis mumbled, then turned around continued down the stairs.
She passed down three stories before she returned to the building’s ‘lobby’. Nothing had changed, much to her delight. She licked the air a few times. She tasted nothing.
Chrysalis trotted forward, passing the revolving doors and into the area beyond. The outside was what she expected—warn and decayed. The fog had remained, clouding her view. The changeling trotted onto the cracked asphalt and into the road proper.
“Which way to go?” Chrysalis asked her unseen guide. It was only a matter of time before it showed her, anyways.
A low growl resonated from within the fog.
Chrysalis’ eyes went wide. Her body instinctively fell into a defensive stance. Her head shot from side-to-side, much like that of an alert sentry. From her experience in the past, the growl signaled her of approaching danger.
Eventually, Chrysalis spotted an outline in the fog. It was larger than the creature she had slain before. She stood her ground. The outline soon breached the fog, a shrouded creature taking its place. It’s entire body was covered in a concealing cloak that masked its true form. Two red, glowing eyes stared into her own from beneath its hood.
A small, wicked smile breached the changeling’s lips.
