> Changeling (Re)Borne > by WindigogoGadget > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Eaten Back To Life > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Five. Hundred. Years. A plan in the making. More accurately, the lack of one. All of this, and for what? Her heart beat steadily as she walked. The carved hallways winding, twisting, and turning. Darkness meant nothing to her eyes as she explored the ruins of an old home. A relic of a past where that incessant beating organ believed in something brighter. Chrysalis explored the dilapidated system of the rotting changeling city of Mariposa. It was a project that combined the above-ground and sub-terrain to produce a massive superstructure. But it had begun to fall through after that one day. The day everything had started falling apart. Sure, the city was completed- but then they were all forced to evacuate. Consolidating all of their forces, she called it. She heard whispers. Faintly. Sometimes. She wasn't too sure if... If they were the ones from her heartbeat or something else. Changelings had three hearts. But she had another one in her chest, an extra, a hold-over. The pulse of a second soul. What would she do once she found all of the pieces? Chrysalis turned over a pile of rubble. Shell fragments, petrified and dusty, littered the earth. If there was even the slightest chance of one of his remnants being here, it was quite slim. But they were drawn to these locations like flies. It wasn't the rot, it was the memories that drew them in. That was her theory anyways. They called it the Stranding. Some did, anyways. Weaker remnants, incapable of comprehending death. But it was a fitting title. That was what happened when he died, well and truly. The beings powered by his shattered soul were stranded, abandoned, with thousands of tiniest remnants, ones that were just fueled by soul dust and memories, dead. They were all lost, clamoring for order. Her hoof stepped in something mushy. Fungal growth. A dead blisterlight, organic lights intended to replicate the warm glow of the sun. It's fluid spilled out and coated her hoof for a brief moment before it trickled down and left her shell clean. She was wary of them. Such mutated creations were known to be highly flammable. Bereft of purpose and order, they had all turned to the one who had the strongest shard of him. The one who had eaten him. Her. Chrysalis. The New Allied Master. All because she'd been taken by a moment of weakness, she knew she shouldn't have reached out to that tiny flame, that little light. But she did, and now it was hers. Nestled inside somewhere neither blade nor magic could reach. He was hers. Alyosha. Then she had to juggle three races under her control. Her loyal changelings, the lost and confused souls created in his image, and his pony followers. They could have housed all of them within the central hive. She should've made that the permanent solution. She should've started with all of that first instead of letting them gallivant around the land without a leash. They were obedient, but the ponies always wanted more. More land, more light, to break their frontiers. It had all started souring the second they had decided they would have more than one Allied Master. The Council of Am's, strong-willed ponies, shadows, and those of importance to their fractured hearts. Chrysalis let out a tense breath. Something in her sights. A weird, soft, jelly-like thing. It had looked like a cross between a serpent and a changeling. A mishmash of what life should look like underground. It all started the second she gave his remnants free will. Or more accurately, ordered them to continue having free-will. Stupid. He'd never actually allowed them free reign, only told them to live, and to record the world outside the tower. It spiraled from there. A traitor. A mole. Greed infected their ranks, and something had sold them out, their secrets. She should've eaten them. All of them. It would have saved her this near millennia-long hunt. An ache in her heart disagreed with that idea. But that ache belonged to a foolish little idiot who killed themselves with their mercy. How could he have ever loved again after being killed twice in a row? Fueled by hate, a black arrow of magic flew forward in a millisecond, a violent recollection twisted and formed into reality as it tore through the jelly-like facsimile of life. There were more. There was always more. The remnants tore themselves up to make more of themselves, falling to the same disease their maker had. Insanity consumed them, and they began to worship their origins as holy, sanctified, just. Others did not care. Other's saw them as an error to be corrected, dogs to be put down. The thing gurgled. Material was splattered everywhere on the lightly dusty ground. No gore or viscera, it lacked organs of any kind, even any to be capable of long range offensive tactics. It had taken them all to be beaten back to near extinction before they revealed their trump card. Arms Of Light. This one lacked any such capabilities, and yet she was wary as she approached the pretending corpse. Prototypes didn't die. They literally were never told they could be killed, so they didn't die. They'd return to the tower, time and time again, damaged, salvaged, machines and puppets made of synthetic flesh and molded abyssal energy. One of them used such tactics to be remade at the central hive, and delivered the message that called the fall of all their kind. Including hers. One blast. It exploded again. A second blast. Concussive force ripped it into two pieces, and the jelly-like thing was liquified and smeared everywhere. His heart ached in her chest. Senseless violence he'd call it. Then it started reforming. At one point, almost all of the shades that wrote to him or her disappeared. News of a finale, a grand staging ground mountains away, where all that was left was fire and rubble, and thousands of armored corpses. She knew nothing more. A kinetic blast tore off a malformed and hastily regenerated limb, something sharp and pointy. It wanted to imitate her structure. It wanted to understand. Another one of his apostates, possibly using his Envy as a template. She ended it's farce of an existence with a teleportation spell, and she displaced its existence with her own, shattering it and splattering it around her as she fragmented it. Gibs of soft glowing tissue fell around her, and her horn flared to life with magic as she called upon the second soul within her and the pieces of it on the outside. Naturally, it resisted. Not him of course. As much as he hated the fact that she was murdering him, maiming him, he knew it was to bring him back. Aside from that, she was stronger than his will in any case. It had broken her heart to eliminate an entire workforce of their most valuable builders and thinkers. It was the remnant that resisted. Ordered and operating to stay alive under any means necessary, reflecting the sheer terror of death he had in life. The kind of terror that gripped you in your quietest, most peaceful moments, the kind that kicked you in the heart and brought you to your knees, or stabbed and dug into your ribs with a hot iron, as you feel the air leave your body. The kind of terror that comes with finality. This was it. The flesh of the skinstealer turned to ash as she gripped a particularly large fragment of the soul she was looking for. Odd. Odd indeed. Maybe they'd been eating each other- who knew how many might have chosen to leave themselves behind? Mariposa was massive- too big to fall. It wouldn't surprise her if some of the sentimental pony subjects and their loyal scarecrows chose to stay behind. She pondered this as she bit into it. It crumbled. It was tough. Chewy. Worst of all it tasted like melancholy, a bitter aftertaste with only a mild initial sweetness. All of this, and for what? Once she'd finally put him together again- then what? Back to work? Come up with another idea to continue survival? To cling to this world by your teeth? What would she have in the next five, hundred, years? Him. As the pulse grew steadier, warmer, simply more correct and whole, she at least knew she'd always have him. And for now, that would be enough. > The Canterlot Incident > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chrysalis won. And she felt good. Her footsteps had rung hollow and undisguised among the buttressed interiors that made up the regal hallways of the Canterlot castle, at one point she'd decided to purposefully scuff the tile in front of the room that made up Celestia's bedroom, just to be a little petty. It was not like it was undeserved either. Celestia had been bested, Luna was kept dreaming peaceful while they were busy rearranging the entirety of the corridors by sealing off intersections here and there. But not everything was perfect Yes, the element bearers had made a grand escape, that could in theory jeopardize the invasion, but she had them and Princess Cadenza on the run. Likely not for long, but every moment that the three imprisoned bearers were on the move bought more time for her and her drones that were in charge of capturing them. This crucial detail of the elements of harmony being loose was of little consequence. The decisive changeling population boom had been utter hell on her subjects, but it had done wonders in making them aggressive to perceived hostile threats. Anything else was just struck down with goo. She had no illusions that she would be able to hold Canterlot long, even if it fell there would likely be insurrections or riots at the borders of Equestria where her influence would be little to none, the possible attacks by the dragons and neighboring countries notwithstanding. In truth, the invasion was a front to get a more important, personal matter attended to. The plentiful bounty of love being harvested and shipped off to the main hive was a pleasant byproduct, it was mere commensalism. Chrysalis had not won. Not until she had successfully slain the phoenix known as Philomena. Not until all the pieces had fallen back together again. With her target in mind, she trotted along the halls with purpose and vigor, the comforting whistling and thrum of the drones outside hard at work with the occasional scream of a pony made an almost harmonious melody of chaos. An alien determination led her to stay strong thus far, but she couldn't hang on to it for much longer. It was fading, and fast. She just had to hold Canterlot long enough to take that damned phoenix under her control, and everything else would sort itself out after. She didn't need Canterlot forever this time. Chrysalis' shell split in two as a hairline crack formed on her face, the brilliant blue flowers in her mane dulled as the crack grew to her elytra, something visibly trying to force its way out. Ponies looked on in shock and horror as the flowers dropped off and withered to dust as something red crawled out of the split, pulling itself out with nothing to accompany it but the wet squelching noise it made as it squeezed out of Chrysalis' body. It gasped for air, tearing a mouth open as brilliant red eyes came out of its head. It looked like another changeling matriarch, but smaller. The thin wispy mane was just like Chrysalis' but with a deep crimson color, the eyes initially red and slitted like a dragons kept changing styles with each blink, with the only constant change being that the pupil had turned and stayed blue. There were also some features missing. The right eye was gone and had brilliant blue flowers budding forth instead, and where a changeling would have holes grew flowers as well. The horn was hardly standard, instead appearing like two thorny vines that twisted around themselves to end in a pointed double helix. The menacing pearl-white changeling freed itself with one final crack, stepping out from the hollowed shell of the queen. And almost immediately collapsed into a murmuring mess in front of everypony. "Uh. What?" "D-Do you think they're okay?" "'Shy, I don't think now is the best time to ask that. 'Doubt it though..." "Well do what you want! But I'm getting her while she's down!" "Wait! Rainbow it could be a trap-!" But of course, Rainbow never listens, and Applejack either wasn't able to stop her or didn't and now she was off to pummel the Queen. "EYES! I GOT NEW EYES!." The sound barrier might've cracked from the speed she twisted to face RD, or it might've come from the fact Rainbow immediately stopped and backed off from the crazy bug-mare. "Nope! Not dealing with crazy and fast!" Rainbow was back on the other side of the throne room with the rest of her friends, getting an admonishing look from Applejack. "What happened to being the fastest flyer alive there? You a chicken now?" "HAIR? What color- What color? Red? No... NO! Ginger?! I lost my soul? How does that even- No wait, red, not ginger. It still might be there-" The chat was interrupted by an odd sight, seeing the albino changeling fuss over something like hair in an increasingly distraught voice. Twilight was confused, and partially wished she could record this in some way other than paper. "I would have to agree with that, darling! Red truly doesn't suit your color!" Rarity called out loudly, though she wasn't sure if she was heard by the changeling before she was shushed by Rainbow Dash. "What are you doing?!" She hissed. Rarity rolled her eyes and whisper-shouted back. "Playing along, If I can keep this up you can all run to find the princesses and the phoenix she's missing. We can't use the Elements now and expect her to be able to tell us what she did with them after!" "Great Idea! Rainbow Dash, Applejack, with me! We'll split up and see if they're hidden in the castle, she couldn't have had long to do this!" Twilight butted in, gesturing to a hallway they could take from the left. "Oh, am I a girl? No! Wait- No! I'm a guy! Hooves- No hands, one- two? Two horns, a snout, I've had worse. The eyes are defective, why is it always the- GRAAGH!" The others wisely decided to bolt out of the room faster, leaving the others behind. They'd be fine! Probably! "Oh no! Um- Are you okay?" Fluttershy called out. That was about as much courage she had as she still decided to use Rarity for cover since Pinky Pie had bounced away somewhere. The changeling king(?) had fallen over itself in a tangled heap of limbs and hair, grumbling something in fast breaths and with twitching legs. "HEARTS! Gagh! Three hearts! Two hearts and a half too many! Need to stop them-" He was spasming and twitching every which way before somehow managing to right themselves and stumble further away from the approaching pegasus and closer to the changeling husk, having gone oddly unnoticed until the albino changeling suddenly licked their teeth. "Wait. Wait- I know these teeth. Three hearts- I'm not supposed to feel any of this unless-" "Chrysalis...?" Fluttershy was still approaching the changeling, slowly. Rarity was watching with a very mild case of intense fear as her horn glowed with about all the offensive spells she could give. (Hint, only one.) The changeling had suddenly gone quiet, the ears twitching as if straining to hear something. "Alyosha" Who is that? It sounds familiar. His ears strained to hear it reflexively as he attempted to focus on the voice. The voice was familiar, who was it again? Why couldn't he remember? It was the only voice he could hear for ages, wasn't it? "Alyosha. Can you hear me?" He was compelled to listen, but he wasn't sure how to respond to the command. The hearts were still beating too fast, too intact, this body was way too fresh for him. It felt like too much. "Steady. Steady now. One hoof in front of the other now." "Listen. I know you're confused, but I can explain everything but I need you to trust me right now. You are in terrible terrible danger-" The world went white and noisy as some incessant noise rang in his ear, the cold marble underneath him slamming into him as he felt something impact his head and detonate, taking the full concussive energy of an offensive spell. Snapping out of the high he'd been riding from suddenly having a body for the first time in eons, he could feel something backlogged in his throat and something trying to dribble out of his nose. Nothing was cracked, but his 'skin' felt like it was shifting in all the wrong ways. "Alyosha? Alyosha, if you can hear me, run! RUN!" He could only pause to cough up some red resinous material before scrambling to his feet- hooves, getting back up with a minor limp. His vision was blurry, but that was okay, having good vision was just a luxury. Alyosha gripped the awkward royal husk and hoisted it onto himself. Memories were slowly coming back as he was barely able to maneuver out of the way of live spell-fire, Chrysalis didn't leave him, and he wasn't going to leave her behind. Run. Run. He couldn't hear anything, he could barely see, he was going to die to spells again, wasn't he? Sprinting down the hall he could make out a smudge of various colors getting bigger as it got closer, taking a sharp turn into a hallway he lost the blur for a while, hopefully. There was still a purple smear chasing him, and various gray and yellow smudges of guards charging spells at him. His horn glowed with twin-colored magic as swirls of green and red aura covered the smudges, lifting them to slam them into the ceiling. This also slammed him into the ceiling as well, and he felt like something in him was punctured as he started feeling the urge to spit and wheeze. Lesson one, no magic. He couldn't identify targets beyond 'throw what has a body' which didn't work when one had a corporeal form. Lesson two, don't get slammed into solid metal with someone's horn pointed at you. Escape. Extract. Evacuate. Voices, voices, too many were telling him too many different words that meant getting the hell out of there while the aggressor was down. Fleeing the vaguely pony-shaped masses his limp had exaggerated from a minor one to a major one, and his center of balance was off as he tried to run away. Light was coming from somewhere bright, a rectangle of light called a window. He dared to launch himself at the light and was attacked by a pony-shaped rainbow, as he was pinned to the ground he struggled to match with his attacker's pace as hooves struck against his carapace, but eventually managed to get a half-decent strike on the cyan being before punting them from the closest thing an equine had to the supine position, scrambling to upright himself he still had the queens deadly horn impaled in a lung, and jumped with the husk out the window, shattering it and plummeting to the ground. "Oh my goodness she jumped. Twilight said breathlessly. She had managed to catch up with Rainbow Dash who was busy groaning in pain from the hoof she took to the gut, and the royal guards they were able to find were busy assisting each other up and ditching the occasional piece of compromised armor. This entire day was strange, and it was slowly turning into a nightmare. The princesses were missing, Queen Chrysalis came back and turned into... something! And for the life of her she couldn't find Cadence either! She was supposed to be visiting, where was she? Oh goodness, where where the others? She'd totally left them in the dust back at the throne room! Were they on their way already? Would they be mad? No! They'd understand! Probably. "Now that truly is surprising. I suppose trigging the little ones trauma was enough to get him running properly. Points off to me though for not dealing with all the guards." Came Chrysalis from behind her. Somehow she wasn't a husk, and looked a lot more lively than what she'd usually seen. The eyes were still as scary as ever. So Twilight started blasting. Chrysalis didn't even flinch. She was completely unharmed by the first blast and the second one just went straight through her, and by the fourth mana-draining shot, she called it quits and let herself quietly hyperventilate her stress and fear away for a solid minute. "H-How?" "Magic" Chrysalis said smugly. "I wouldn't expect you to understand it if I just spoonfed you how I survived that debacle. I'm just going to stand back, and watch it all unfold until he figures it all out." "What did you do with our princess!" THUNK! There was an attempt to slam Chrysalis into the tile below, but that really just resulted in Rainbow Dash crashing into the ground instead, who was again out for the count. And all Chrysalis could do was give a smug smirk, and roughly shoved them off to the side. "Untouchable~!" She sang, "I'm in such a good mood that I might humor you for a moment, not for your sake since you're out cold, but because I think it might be just a bit more... Fun. Well. Follow along then." The apparition of Queen Chrysalis began to walk off into another corner of the castle, disappearing behind a wall as she turned off into another hallway out of sight of the busy guards. So of course, the group followed. Sans Pinkie Pie, oddly enough. She was still at large somewhere in the castle. "Your precious princesses are gone. For good. They're fine, of course, but I just thought you should know that this time, Princess Celestia and Luna aren't going to save you. In fact, if you want to save them, maybe you should brush up on the history of magic again in the forbidden archives, hm?" "Y-You're lying! We'll find them, and it'll be over for you, Chrysalis!" Twilight declared. Chrysalis chuckled softly. "Over? Twilight, Twilight, Twilight. I'm dead. This is just the beginning of a bright new future, for all of us. Ha, you have no idea how many times he said that before the princesses eliminated every single one of his kind. But they weren't nearly fast enough." The apparition paused to look out the broken window, watching the white changeling crumpled to the floor. It was an unpleasant sight, and the red hair splayed out everywhere helped conceal the glowing blue blood he'd splattered on the ground. "I win this time, Purple Smart. It's up to him to take the last stretch." "H-He? Who is he?" "Just a little colt of mine, he used to be about a thousand years out of date, made by Starswirl in a lab. Oop- You weren't supposed to hear that." Chrysalis gave a broad grin, snorting to herself before beginning to trot away from the group to turn the corner of a hallway. Twilight's hair poked out slightly, and she was about to ask questions when Fluttershy had beat her to the punch. "Your colt? That's horrible! You can't just drop a child as a distraction! You're a horrible mother! You should be ashamed of yourself!" Shouted the yellow pegasus. She had screamed at her with about as much fury as she could in that outburst. "Oh, sorry. I suppose I was just supposed to let myself be captured before he could be free?" Chrysalis spat back venomously, an even glare at Fluttershy revealed that something she'd said had gotten under that thick chitin of hers. "This little scenario is the two of us being even. I'm sure you've all realized by now that I didn't need Cadance alive. Her being alive is purely because she was lucky enough to have taken care of one of the brats pieces when he was all ripped up after-" "Chrysalis!" Screamed Cadance, a pink bolt of magical energy went soaring to the changeling ghost, phasing right through her and impacting a wall with a minor explosion. She was not amused. "Pah! Why do I even bother with you fools. I have a newly made changeling that needs... Orienting. Toodles~! Oh, before I forget. This is your last freebie from me, Cadance. It's over next time." "No! Wait!" Twilight Sparkle's horn lit as she readied a spell to contain her in vain, she had just walked straight through it and straight through the floor, and possibly even the wall. "What did- Oh darn it!" Exasperated, she beat her hooves on the ground and stopped dead in her tracks before she ran into a wall. "Urgh. I'm back up. Well, uh, she got away. Now what do we do egghead?" Coughed Rainbow Dash. Twilight sighed and walked to look out the window, her eyes widening in surprise when she looked down. "Well. We find ourselves a confused foal before Chrysalis does." Cadence stared out at the broken glass with a confused stare. "Er. Mind filling me in, Twilight?" Heavy bleeding. Guards searching. Heal. Heal. Heal. His flesh wouldn't listen to his command to heal. Damn it! When was being a meat suit so difficult? He didn't remember it being this hard being human! No, not a human, but still- The degree of controllability, the perfection of being pure darkness- It was nothing compared to being a fragile hunk of flesh, a broken automaton piloted by neurotransmitters. Something his older brother said, mind over matter. Would that still apply? His memories were still scrambling together to recombine in something even remotely coherent. Right now all he had to work with were a few childhood memories combined with various times he had died in the hooves of Chrysalis, and at the magic of the twins. His hooves scrambled to find purchase on the grass, but at least it was easier than running on the cobbled stone he'd landed on. He wasn't able to run off very far, or at least it didn't feel like very far. In maybe a minute or two he was in some sort of garden with blurry statues everywhere. His vessel was cracked in spots, his flowers were leaking out of him and so was something that tasted like iron and colored blue. Blood? Was he copper-based like a crab? Forget that, he was leaking. STOP. THE. BLEED. DAMN IT! "This way! We found her!" "I got her- Gah!" Flowering magic slashed at the pony guard, leaving them a crumpled mess with a little trickling of red. Memories of horror returning to him as he staggered through a bush, finding a shortcut through some grassy knolls and shrubbery, azaleas crumpled underhoof as he tried to find a path away. Flashes of moving colors, twisting into frightening images. Hallucinations. Felt so real. Memories of horror. Equestrian atrocities. A thousand hearts beat with his in fear as he pounded the earth to escape the encroaching guards. He could hear something buzzing and more shouting, but he did not care to focus in on it at the moment. He tried to get his wings to move, but they bent at his command instead. He had no idea how to use these things properly. Were they rotated or flapped? How to generate lift? UNKNOWN. No appeal to take it any longer. He got back to running, but not before trying to jam a broken branch into the hole to plug it. The jagged edges stung painfully and dug around in something inside him as it prodded valuable organics. Or it would have, had he not forgotten that there was currently a wicked horn sticking him. He broke the husks horn off and let it stay in. He was ruining himself by running around with it, even more so when there was the added weight of a corpse that he wasn't going to leave behind. He wasn't sure why, but he wasn't going to do it. What a wonderful day to be born again. Welcome to the kingdom of light, you've gone beyond the chalk, too far. Too far. His hooves trembled. Where was he? Everything hurt. He stared up blankly, watching swarms of black fly around the sunny sky like storm clouds. He liked it when it snowed. Maybe there was a spell for that? ...He had definitely lost a lot of blood. He could hardly keep his thoughts in line now that he had somehow managed to lose the guards. Two guards. "Killing streaks don't matter to those monsters." He thought to himself. Now... Now what? Well, he wasn't going to be safe forever standing around in one spot. He was certain that anything black and in the sky was friendly, but everything felt off. Like there was a pressure weighing him down, a tense atmosphere that he could detect. He wasn't sure if it was something magical or just him feeling woozy from standing up with so little fluids in his system. Trains. Someone liked trains. Trains existed. Probably. Find a train station and use it to escape. There was... At least one. Where's the voice that's with me in the dark? Was another thought he had. Guidance from them would be appreciated. Guidance at all would be very much welcome. He had no idea where the hell he was. Black clouds were swarming everywhere and diving at random, he could see ponies running in the distance, and now he had somehow wandered into a city back alley. Also, his legs hurt. He was certain he fell from somewhere and managed to land here. He felt like laying down. Just for a moment. "There you are. So you managed to get away. Good for you. No sleeping, I need you to walk." Said the voice from inside his head. Except it was coming from outside, somewhere to his right side. He pounced straight into a wall and heard a disappointed sigh. "Not you too. We can have the annoying pony emotions later, but I need you to head south- FORWARD! And to the newly minted extraction team waiting for you." Chrysalis spoke, nudging the white changeling around. "Come on Alyosha, get up. Start running again." Alyosha started dragging himself along at first, leading into a steady crawl that became a slow walk along abandoned streets. He'd passed about two windows when the voice decided to start talking again. "You're doing... Fine. But I need you to hurry. Hurry on. Your wings. Use them. Try." "No, no- Stop, don't-" But it was too late. The white changeling had jumped, generated a second of lift, and promptly swerved and crashed into their own face on the stone road- instantly going limp from a combination of blood loss and self-inflicted trauma. "...jump. Damn it." > You Are (Not) Allowed To Die > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Blood stains the steps. If there were ever a word to describe changeling anatomy, it would be stubborn. Durable would be the second best word to describe a changeling body. Their three hearts could run off of just a few milliliters of their blood, continuing to try to beat steadily as the brain and body would continue to be active on what little oxygen they could receive from spiracles and diffusion- though fogged and numbed in a huge cocktail of natural preservatives. Cryptobiosis. That word was so unfamiliar to her, but it came to the front of her mind anyway. Changelings could survive being chronically starved, and hacked into pieces- so long as there was some of it left, chances are that it was alive. The downside of course was the fragility and stubbornness of a changelings health. Once on the decline, it typically stayed as such unless outside help was given. Chitin did not mend itself without the use of adhesive, and a changelings ability to stay alive even in near death- only truly made for a longer, excruciating death. A longer death that she was so far appreciating. Alyosha was a mess. Alive, but barely, even by changeling standards. Only lucid in a nightmare guaranteed to send him back to his first death no doubt. Chrysalis inspected what was previously her body quickly and efficiently. Her old and now hollow horn had been enough to pierce his delicate exoskeleton and straight into the left lung, collapsing the structure before scrambling the organ from his various impacts with hard objects and living projectiles. A large amount of head trauma was also put on top of it, along with a healthy dash of severe blood loss. His flight had tried to push too hard the little fluid he had, and as a result, knocked him down. Not her fault in any way, of course. He was supposed to be the... Competent, one. But alas, now she had to pick up the pieces. She separated both her old shell and Alyosha's current body. Chrysalis appreciated the sentiment- but it was just that, feelings. Feelings that could wait for when they could both get out of this alive. The corpse would have to stay behind. It wasn't needed. She had magic, not enough, but she could help. With a blast of her horn, a venom green flare shot up in a wicked streak before it erupted in the sky like a second sun, and attracted swathes of changelings in droves. Neither of them would fall again this day. In an instant, dozens of drones were upon them, and Chrysalis' ghost stepped aside to let the drones work. Healthcare in the hive was heavily reserved. Wounds were not uncommon, but heavily discouraged. Every injury would occupy not just yourself but the many needed to save you, but with so many hooves at work, even the crudest field treatment could suffice. She heard them chitter among themselves as they built off of their experience and prior work, working with each other to save them. Green spit flew, and magic spells worked and glowed as the body was mended. Time would still be needed for their injuries, but with them in less of a critical state, they could now focus on the next step of the plan. It would have to be improvised. "DRONES! FALL BACK! TAKE TREASURES IF YOU WANT, TAKE PONIES PRISONER, IT MATTERS NOT, WE ARE LEAVING!" Chrysalis' ghost commanded, and the clouds of drones began to organize, the ones that were already in the air were the first to begin their departure as they fled with the winds. The last was a nightmarish scene to any on the ground who had avoided being picked up. Like a cloud of locusts, the ones on the ground and the ones that were simply close enough descended and grabbed anything they could. Ponies of all ages were simply bound and lifted away, the elderly being left behind. They were not worth the resources to maintain, and they held a much higher chance of dying on the trip back. What would have been a triumphant shout as the changelings were 'routed' turned into screams of terror, cries for help echoing across the sky as they were taken. "You twelve. Assist me. Take as many others as you need and commandeer any remaining trains. Take us, -him" She paused to point to the Alyosha. "to Apploosa, and send out any others as a distraction. This one must survive. Your Queen demands it." The snow-white changeling was airlifted, and with that part of the plan done, she could at least feign to rest easy for a second as the powerful magics harvested were clearly safe. They were doing their best to keep their new host alive, but it was unwilling, and if he died, so much planning would have gone to waste. Chrysalis' tongue clicked, as she watched the streets become clear, either from being taken or going into hiding. The changeling swarm was not beaten back today, and for the first time a true victory had been achieved. With a loud laugh, she ran through the empty and winding streets, and the silence that followed behind her rang out in Equestria. The horns of defeat. The carnage of the changeling swarm, the silence of a bustling city, as if drained of all of its life, its soul. Suddenly, a sound caught her ear. It was the faintest of whimpers… Someone was hiding from her. Childish squeals of terror from behind a broken in door. With a grin she let off another magical flare into the sky, and with the remaining changelings evacuating the city in waves, one would certainly come and scoop the foal up and take them away. It would be an invaluable resource. Conditioned. Repurposed. Useful. She had more important things to do than take them herself. So she walked, walked to the closest train station. A train station, to Apploosa. > You Are (Not) Alone > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Gentle knocking filled the cabin. He was tired, so very tired. The train wasn't helping either. The rhythm of the train chugging alone was calling him to return to the peaceful void, forcing him to hark the siren call of the dead as his eyes unwillingly closed, but he could still think, he could still hear the train moving, still feel Chrysalis somewhere. Alyosha wanted to focus on something, so he tried to think about where to go now. More accurately, just what had happened? There were changelings and dying, and also resurrection and he jumped out of a window. Lots of stuff. He even had a few memories that he was certain were not His, but instead from the Many that came from Him. ...Why was he thinking of himself like that? 'Doesn't matter. Not important.' He thought to himself. He didn't even know what was more important than that right now. Well, there was something. The pain in his sides. His difficulty breathing, and his broken body. Born defective. Again. The train ride was going to be very uneventful. Nothing was going to happen soon, so his focus was drifting. First his hearing went, drifting away into nothing as the unchanging melody of the train was tuned out. Then the feeling in his body, he couldn't feel the way he shook ever so slightly anymore. Then lastly, his thoughts went. His thoughts went mad. Alyosha's eyes flew open and he fell out of his chair. He almost stopped thinking, he almost stopped being. Where was he going? Is that death? That's death. Ceasing to think is death. Ceasing to exist is death. "I need you to sleep, child. You'll die if you don't. I can't bring you back if you die this time." Chided the ghost of Chrysalis. Right. She was still around. Her normally calming presence had no typical effect as Alyosha just breathed harder, faster, twitching on the seat, fighting to stay awake. "I don't want to. It's dark. There's nothing there." He whimpered. "You need sleep. It's an unchangeable fact. You are biological now, you aren't a shadow anymore. Didn't you always want this?" "It's terrifying. I'm scared." Chrysalis sighed. "I know you are. Look, can you get back on the chair? You'll break your seals like that, and then you'll be bleeding out all over the floor again." Alyosha quickly hopped back onto the chair, settling into a loaf-like shape. It was hardly a proper way to sit, but it helped keep all of the correct organs in the right positions. As Alyosha whimpered, Chrysalis sighed. She had been trying to help him - to put him to sleep so that his mind could rest. "It's ok, Alyosha," she said softly. "It's ok." She placed a hoof on his shoulder, pulling away his attention from oblivion to her as she stared him in the eyes. "Nothing's going to hurt you," she told him, and in her eyes, the voice, was reflected a promise. Admittedly a very weak promise, but it was enough to get Alyosha to breathe deeply, and exhale. "That's better. Listen to me, child. You remember me still, right?" Chrysalis asked, and she stared into the remaining good eye of Alyosha. Familiarity. Distant. He did not. Or perhaps he did. He remembered one mind, one goal, one body. Peace. Love. He didn't remember why, but he did remember the name. "Chrysalis" He murmured. "Good. Anything else?" She asked, prodding for answers. Questions he didn't know the answers to. Alyosha's eye tracked the interior of the train. Faux leather upholstery, like the vinyl of a restaurants booth seat. Carpeted flooring, built it. Lamps. Electrical. Modern. New. None of what he saw matched what a different name of his remembered, but his other name, his first one did. "No." He lied. Calm. Didn't want to be. The alabaster changeling didn't want to sleep. He remembered that now. In spite of all his freshly sealed injuries he didn't want to sleep. He remembered the last time sleep embraced him, the embrace of death. Inevitable, cascading, furious, white hot, painful. Thoughts came cascading downward, he was going to die. Not this second, or maybe he would- maybe in an hour or a day or five years. His eyes widened, and his breathing turned sharp and rigid. "I don't want to die." He mewled pathetically. "Shh..." Chrysalis's voice was calm again, trying to ease Alyosha's fears. "It's just sleep, child. Sleep is good. Let yourself rest." Chrysalis placed both hooves on Alyosha's shoulders, trying to soothe him. "Rest now, Alyosha," she whispered. "You'll feel better when you wake up." "I promise," Chrysalis said softly. She could sense Alyosha's fears and hesitations, and she tried to provide him with all the reassurance she could. "There's no need to be afraid," she told him. "Just close your eyes and rest... That's all I ask of you, child." Hesitant. He closed his remaining eye, and curled up his legs close to himself like a cat would loaf, and tried to rest. A minute passed, and his breathing turned slow and rhythmic, as the flower that had claimed his other eye closed into a bud as well, signaling his passing into the hold of sleep. Chrysalis exhaled in relief. She gently placed a gossamer wing over his body, faux security. "You're safe now." she whispered to him. As she gazed down at him, her heart felt filled with a strange mixture of pride and anguish. In spite of everything, he had made it out alive.... She'd done it. She'd brought him back. Incomplete, and wrong, but he was here again. Her first friend. Her first equal. .... The train cabin shaked softly as it glided on steel tracks, taking them to their destination far away from the beaten city of Canterlot. As the train glided along the rails, Chrysalis couldn't help but think. Think about everything, every step and every day that has brought them both to here, the present. She thought back to his last moments before his death, his true death. How terrified and alone he had been. And then how quickly he had come to trust her, even after everything she'd done. And now, this, blindly trusting her still after being reborn in active combat. She felt a strange sense of pride, knowing that she had helped him in his time of need. And she felt a strange sense of guilt as well. She felt guilt because he had trusted her, and she knew that he shouldn't have. Because she was behind all of this. She wanted to hiss at herself, at her emotions. He was obedient, willing. All of it was his fault, his consequence for choosing to place his trust in her. This... This mercy, this empathy, was a passing fad. It would leave soon enough, and it would be just like old times. As the train continued on its journey, Chrysalis found herself slipping back into her old, cold persona. She was the Queen of the Changelings. She couldn't afford to let emotions like empathy or mercy cloud her judgment. Just as she began to feel herself slipping back into her old ways, she felt another presence near her. She turned to find that Alyosha was stirring. Alyosha was sleeping. Something to dream about, though what he had to dream of that was still pleasant, she had no idea. As Alyosha continued to sleep, he had a dream. The dream of the dreamless sleep. The void. It was familiar. The void. It was where he'd been for nearly a thousand years. Since he was a child, he could never dream. Always stuck in a memory, or here, in the abyss where he would rest until his living body awoke. The void was peaceful. Empty and safe and secure, and only lasting just a moment before the daylight brought him out. Alyosha didn't mind the emptiness. In fact, he found it comforting. He felt free here. He had no worries or fears. He could simply exist. As he drifted deeper into the void, he heard a faint voice in the distance. "Alyosha.." It was so faint, that he wasn't sure if it was even real. The whisper of a devil hiding in the dark, soft tones sending shivers up his spine. But it sounded like... Like her.. The voice of a name most unspeakable. His heart stopped with shock and awe as a wave of memory struck him fiercely. All perspectives. To watch how the sun wrought down pillars of flame on cities, screams beginning and silencing, the howling of balefire winds and Equestrian atrocities. The voice of someone he remembered only once upon a time, as a friend. Was that real? Alyosha's mind and his heart raced as he tried to figure out what was happening. The voice calling to him seemed familiar, and it sounded like her. But that wasn't possible... But... What if it was? For the first time since the beginning of forever and the end of all things, the void bent to his will. His mind was a canvas of black ink, and he ordered it to reveal the source of that voice. The voice of the one who left him locked up in that tower. The one who killed his creations. Celestia. Caged. As the void obeyed his will, Alyosha could see a vision forming in his mind. He saw Celestia, being held captive. But he also saw her looking straight at him, as if she knew that he was watching her. "Alyosha..." She seemed to be saying. Her eyes met his, even across the vast expanse of the void. "Please... Help me." She was kind. Kind once. The tower. They first met there. Shared tea. There was two of them. His eyes squeezed themselves shut and averted her sight. Don't be afraid. It's just a dream. It's a just a dream. Not real. Not real. He waited. For a response. For them to go away. Anything. But you can't avert your eyes from death. As he waited for a response, for Celestia to go away, for everything to go back to normal, instead, he heard her speak again... "I know that you're there, Alyosha. Please... I need your help." He couldn't help but feel the emotion in her voice. Could it be true..? Was Celestia really asking him for help? Not really. Not plausible. He wanted to scream at her to go away. Summon forth hate, shout and cry and scorn her with all his venom. But he had no fangs with which to cast, meak jaws long since rendered harmless and ineffectual, and his well of emotions was dry. Alyosha whimpered. "What do you want?" Celestia seemed shocked by his reply. "Alyosha..." She spoke softly, as if she couldn't possibly believe what she was hearing. "It's.. It's been so long since I've seen you. I know that we didn't always see eye-to-eye, but I.. I do need your help." She sounded sincere. Sickening. Disgusting. Vile. "Please, Alyosha.. You're the only one I can count on..." "J-Just tell me already. B-Before I change my mind." The child snapped back. Or at least he tried to. His voice shaked. Such a pushover. There was a moment of silence on the other end, as if Celestia was thinking carefully about how to phrase her request. "The changeling swarm has attacked, Alyosha," she said carefully. "I have been captured, and-" She paused for a moment, trying figure out how much to tell him. "-The only hope I have of being rescued is if you come and help me." Silence. She wanted his help? This.. This apparition. No. No more. Too many times had he died in the dark alone. No more. "I... Waited..." He struggled to speak. Every word had suddenly turned to shards of glass in his throat as it turned to dry sand. Alone. Locked away. Obedient. Good child. Death was the reward. "I... waited... for.. you." He choked out. He'd waited years. Locked up in that tower. Forgotten about. Patiently waiting, for anyone, to come home. There was another moment of silence on the other end. Then, Celestia spoke again, "Alyosha... I..." She was at a loss for words, unsure of what to say. The tree remembered, and the axe could not forget what had chipped its blade. "I'm sorry, Alyosha. Please... Please forgive me." Her voice sounded so sincere. It was hard to believe that she was just a figment of his imagination. Maybe it was because she wasn't. "Please, Alyosha... I need you..." She called out again to him. He wanted to forgive. A part of him wanted to, anyways. A part that wanted to go back to the old days, the easy days, the piece of him that liked following orders and helping no matter what. And he felt a thousand shattered hearts guiding him against that want. "Y-You.. Your ponies killed me. I left- looking to see where you'd all gone, and you killed me. You killed... all of my friends." He choked out. Tears spilled from his eyes. The world felt heavy, existence felt heavy, a crushing darkness that fell over everything and every thought as it was all consumed by memories of atrocity. The smell of charcoal and burnt meat. The scent of ozone in the air. Such things that could have been peaceful were marred by what they really meant. Death. The death of many. Celestia was taken aback by his sudden outburst. But her eyes remained kind as she listened to him. "I know... I know what happened all those years ago, Alyosha," she told him softly. "And I'm so sorry..." Her voice was sincere, and even in the void, her heart was filled with sadness as she thought of him and his friends. "I wish things could be different," she continued. "I wish I could have prevented that from happening..." She seemed to be struggling to speak. He was silently crying in the void. Tears flowed freely in rivulets like a stream. Memories surfaced. `I'm not leaving my mother!' A flash of light. Buildings disintegrated in an instant, as solar fury ruined years of work in an instant. 'To those still alive. You have to survive. You have to go. Flee genocide. Leave it behind, the world we know-!' Celestia listened silently as Alyosha remembered more and more of the past. She could sense his sadness and pain, and she wished that she could take it all away from him. "I know that I've hurt you, Alyosha," she continued, gently placing one of her hooves on his shoulder. "And I'm... I'm sorry for that. I'm sorry for everything." She wanted to wrap him up in a hug, to hold him close and never let go. "I don't want you to suffer anymore." He flinched at her touch and backed away. Terror filled his heart. He was afraid. How did she get out of the cage? As Celestia noticed the fear in Alyosha's eyes, her heart broke even more. She knew that she hadn't healed the wounds between them, not by a long shot. But she would try, she told herself. "Alyosha... I know that I haven't earned it.. But please... Trust me." She hoped that he would be able to find it within him to forgive her. She hoped that he would be able to believe her. She hoped beyond hope. But hope was a sad thing. Alyosha was a frightened child. Deeply disturbed. Though the wounds of his body long healed, and the atrocities committed against him forgotten after a thousand years... ...He hadn't forgotten. He didn't see the kind and modern ruler. He saw the ruthless solar tyrant that slaughtered his creations and anyone who dared to stand for them. He saw a monster. A devil that masqueraded itself in the coat of the righteous. An angel of death. A demon. She knew what she had done to him, and his friends, his creations. She knew that she was the monster in his eyes. They both knew what had been done couldn't be washed away. There was no river water or sanctified oration that could wash away what had stained so deeply in blood. And yet, she wanted... She wanted to believe that she could make things right between them. "You don't have to forgive me," she tried. "But please... Just... Help me..." Her voice was quiet, almost a whisper. "I can't escape from this prison on my own... Please, child..." "I waited." He whispered. In the void, He took a step back. Distance he would build, for she had gotten too close. "I waited. Wondering. Years. Years and years of waiting for a sign, for anyone to come home. But nobody came. I tried to take care of Starswirls tower as the food began to rot and the reagents neutralized. I waited, wondering every day and every night if I should just leave or if maybe, all three of you had somehow gotten yourselves killed." "I.. I missed you. And you.. You-! You come back, after giving the order to burn me- all of us to ash." "After a thousand years. The first time we meet. You want my help?" Celestia knew that she deserved what he was saying. His pain, his anger, his hatred, was all justified. She had done horrible things to him. Horrible things to his friends and his creations. She'd been foolish to expect that she could so easily regain his trust. And she couldn't deny that, at least a small part of her, wasn't surprised. But she still wanted to try, the idiot. Turn back. Stop trying to pull the blade out. "Alyosha... Please... I'm begging you. Help me... Please..." "I want an answer and I want you to be true." Alyosha spoke lowly. Evenly. The edge of a knife dancing in his words. "Why. Why did you give the order to exteriminate us?" Celestia felt a stab of pain as she heard that question. She knew what she had done, and she knew what she had to say. "Because I was afraid.." She spoke softly. She didn't want to lie to him, not anymore. "I was afraid of what would happen if I allowed your colonies to grow in Equestria. I was afraid of what you might do." Her words were filled with regret. "I... I let my fear control me... And I did something unforgivable." "You were afraid?" Alyosha choked. In an instant even the tiniest shred of spine he had shattered and turned into dust, and any retort lay broken like glass in his throat. Razor sharp and self-harming. Why? He... He might have been odd. Never really spoken to anyone. But. But. But he loved this world. He didn't belong to it. He'd been stolen from his home. He remembered that. But he didn't hate. He didn't hate them. Celestia felt a flicker of relief as she saw her words were beginning to reach him. Perhaps there was still hope for their relationship after all. "Yes," she said, "I was afraid. I was afraid that you would hurt my ponies, that you would take over my kingdom. I had seen the potential, for terrible things." She wanted to believe though, that she was beginning to fix her mistakes. "I... I should have trusted you to do what was right." She sounded genuine, as if her words were the truth. "I made a mistake. I'm sorry, Alyosha.." His trickle of emotions grew into a stream, a great bubbling and roiling rapid that would shatter him into pieces. He sobbed. His face twisted as his vision turned wet and hot, tears forming at the corners of his vision. He wasn't alone in these tears. So many others had expressions like this one too, the face of one who needed comfort. Solace. The only comfort they ever got was from a cold blade, or a burning wall of fire. "...You even killed the ponies that trusted us." He whispered. Quiet. His brain could barely keep itself composed enough for anything than sharp, quick and quiet responses. No matter how right you feel. How just your act might be. When you fire that first shot. You have no idea. No idea how many are going to die. How many hearts will be broken. Whose children are going to scream and burn? How many lives shattered. Until it boils down to what should have happened in the very beginning. Sit down. And talk. She knew what he was thinking, and she knew that he was right. All this could have been avoided. If they'd just ever found a chance to talk. She saw the pain in his eyes, the pain that she had caused all those years ago. And she felt guilty, as if she was responsible for it all. "I-I'm sorry!" She managed to get the words out. In that moment, she wanted nothing more than for her and Alyosha to be able to fix what had been broken. And in this chat, Alyosha was king. "Please, Alyosha. Forgive me.. I beg of you.." Alyosha slumped over, and fell into a heap. Now he was appointed as thenew king, he decreed that it was too late to start caring about him. Fear. Again, and again, they killed him out of fear. Tears flowed like a stream as he cried silently. He wanted to scream. To shout. To rage. At long last he had a mouth. And he couldn't scream. All he could do is boil, and loathe, weep and mourn. Grief devoured him, and he mourned the losses of every single identity he held and everything and every one he knew. His family. His home. His friends. Himself. Every cloud and sea, every child of peace, to this corruption in disguise. Alyosha laid there. Crying to himself. Celestia could barely contain her own emotions. She was heartbroken at the sight of Alyosha, his tears falling softly down his cheeks. And so, in a moment of impulsiveness, she threw her hooves around him in a hug. She couldn't find the words to say. She simply held him in his time of need. And she hoped that he could forgive her. Alyosha didn't move. He didn't even flinch. She was a monster, a demon, the bane of every creature that lurked in the night. And he didn't even move. His eyes were glassy and glazed with tears. Staring off. Like he wasn't even here. "Please, please..." Celestia continued to beg him, holding him tightly in her arms as tears clouded her eyes as well. She wanted to say more, but she felt him beginning to slip away from her. She could feel his emotions leaving his body, as if he was closing up. "Alyosha, please.... Please, don't leave yet... Let me do something... Please..." She didn't want him to go... Not like this. Not after coming so far... His lucidity was quite terminal. As the crushing tidal wave of grief subsided, loss and realization took its place. What was there even left to do? So what if he was alive again? So what if Chrysalis had brought him back. His whole world was dead. Nothing could change that. He was right; his whole world was dead. Nothing she could do would bring it back. And yet... And yet, she couldn't bear to see him in so much pain. "Alyosha..." She said softly, trying to coax him back to lucidity. She didn't know what else to say. But she had to try, she had to. "Alyosha. Please. Don't go." She hoped desperately that he would listen to her. He was being unraveled the more he thought, in silence he died again. Why did he get to come back? What about the dozens, no, thousands of others he'd known. He'd known them through different names, different faces, but the attachment, the love had been there. And now it wasn't. It was all gone. How could he ever hope to try again without feeling as if he was just replacing them all, like garbage. Bodies were temples, books, arts, canvas. What was he now? Violated. Twisted. They cut off his paint, stapled new linen and painted whatever they wanted. Cut away like trash. He was trash. Used. Unworthy. "Please, Alyosha, stop thinking like that..." Celestia whispered softly. Her words sounded so sincere, so passionate. She could feel it in her heart. She was trying to reach him, trying to convince him. "It doesn't have to be meaningless, you know? You're alive again, you have a second chance at life. That has to mean something, right? Please, don't throw that away." She was desperately trying to convince herself that her words would make a difference. It was almost as if she was pleading with him to listen. The void itself began to cry. Rain fell down gently in thin, small drops. Alyosha felt one last thought. It all returned to nothing. It all came tumbling down, tumbling down, tumbling down. "No! No, Alyosha!" Celestia cried, as she tried to cling to him. She knew it was useless, though; he was slipping away. In his heart of hearts, he knew that he could never love again. He'd lost everything. Everything. Now everything that mattered to him, has no matter in this world. He wished, that he could turn back time. He knew, he couldn't forget the past. He can't forget death and pride, and all for that, it killed him deep inside. She held him tight, tears falling down her face. She wanted to believe that he was still there, that he was still with her... But he wasn't. Alyosha woke up. He was back in the train carriage. He rubbed his eyes with his hooves. They were wet with tears. He'd been crying in his sleep. Now what? So he was alive again, and now what? He supposed that he'd have to ask Chrysalis about that. Chrysalis... At least she was still around. Just then, he heard a knock on the door. He could feel his heart racing. Who could it be? Who was coming to see him? He hoped that it was Chrysalis. He needed her right now. He got up, trying to wipe the sleep from his eyes. Then he walked over to the door, and slowly opened it. It was a changeling. A regular drone. "We are within three kilometers of the destination. Once in Apploosa, we will head straight to the hive." Alyosha nodded slowly. He was still trying to get his bearings, and the appearance of a changeling was just too much. Still, he needed to appear calm and composed. "Right, right... Apploosa..." He said slowly, as if to himself. Then he turned to the changeling drone. "Apploosa..." He repeated, his eyes darting around. "Of course... I remember... Yes, Apploosa..." He was trying so hard to remember. To figure out how he had ended up in this train. His head. His head was fucking killing him. He laid back down, alone in the carriage, and waited for everything to settle.