> Inside of My Chrysalis
>  by EpicChrysalis
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Struggle
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	You saw me as evil already. You've despised me already. Well, I'm not that bad. I was corrupted by rage, devastation, loss. This is really how it happened.
I'm an ordinary changeling. I'm a young filly, named 'Chrysalis' It is winter, as always in the small village I live in. It is named Noapte. Noapte was a hero in our land long, long ago. Now, he is dead and only a fairy tale and a history lesson in school. He's hardly honored anymore. His deeds are no longer in existence. Not all Changelings live in Noapte, the territory we live in is called "Trochangania". We sound like we have a strong economy, like we are rich, dignified ponies. We aren't. The queen demands very, very high taxes. You are to pay 100 bits every day your alive if you're above the age of eighteen, a poor shack to live in is worth 100,000 bits, and food is 600 bits for a slice of bread. We are starving, struggling, thirsty, poor, desperate, and if that isn't enough we are used to seeing random dead bodies lying around, which is very sad if you think about it.
Mother and I dragged our hooves across the rugged pavement. It was gray, but dust turned it brown over many years. We wore rags to keep us warm in the cold conditions. They hardly helped. I shivered, then looked behind me to see if there was a sale we'd passed by. No, but there was a rich looking stallion striding around the streets. My eyes opened wider. I forced them open. I refused to blink. It made my eyes pinkish and watery, which I've learned helps you beg. I cleared my throat so my voice cracked only the slightest bit. I walked slowly to the pony.
"E-excuse me, sir, but." I stammered shyly and hopefully. But I'm not shy, it was an act. He turned around, narrowing his eyes and lifting his head to look dignified. I lower my head, let a single tiny tear leak from my eye, and tensed my throat to make my voice quiver. "D-do you have anything, t-t-to eat?"
He grinned. "Why of course, but not for the filthy rats like you." he grunted. "For me, you moron. I come from the royal palace to deliver a message and no one here deserves royal food!" He looked up to see the whole town gathered around him, a begging in their eyes, a hope sparking inside them.
I looked at him. I couldn't snarl at him, that wouldn't help him change his mind. I couldn't keep begging more desperately either. I let two more tears fly out. I let my head drop. "Oh, okay." I said sweetly again. "That's alright, I guess." As I walked back to mother, I looked at him one last time. "We understand. I wish you a safe journey back to the palace and a wonderful life of joy and kindness." As I lowered my head back down, I hid my evil grin. I kept my chuckle silent. If this didn't win him over, nothing would.
"Oh why thank you," he said with an evil grin of his own. I looked up and smiled graciously to him. "I wish you all a hard, short, depressing life and an unbearable struggle to survive." He laughed. This made rude comments rise from the townsponies. I put my head down again to look shy.
"Oh, and I almost forgot a message from the queen. You no longer have to pay 100 bits each day, but-" He was cut off by a loud cheer. They looked as if they were about to throw a party. They should, that tax was the biggest burden of them all. "Shut up you rats!" He screamed to hush the crowd. "But there is a new tax." He grinned as faces changed from cheerful to crestfallen. "Each breath you take is 10 bits. There is a separate bag to put breath money in." He climbed back in to the royal chariot, ignoring the tears and sadness. He could care less. He opened his window just to scream to us, "Suckers!"
The breath tax left us devastated. Everypony stayed inside, and held their breath while outside. There was already fainting and suffocation occurring as far as I could tell. I finally gained enough energy to use my wings. I flew up to my bed. My family lived in a half shed half stick fort. We built it over the remains of a shed that looked like it had been struck by lightning. The shed part was for cooking and eating when we had food. It had a flat roof, so above it we built a second floor we flew up to when tired. It was a room with stained, ruined, uncomfortable pillows we found in the junkyard. The pillows were our beds. We had a hard time falling asleep. 
I lied on my side and let my body sink into the pillow. I was so devastated about the breath tax. I looked up in the corner of the room. My favorite spider web was gone! Yeah, sounds dumb, but it always made me feel better when I was upset. I used to trace the strings on it's unique design with my hoof. I did that as a toddler. Now I'm ten years old. It was there yesterday. It always helped me forget stress when I followed random threads with my eyes, to see where they went. It meant a lot to me, and now that it's eight years old, it's gone. Why are so many bad things happening to me? There was a black box instead of my spider web. Mother was in town with me before it happened. That only leaves one option. Someone broke in.
But why would anyone steal from us? We have nothing, and we are missing nothing except for the spider web. And the black box is here. What does that mean? I shook my head sadly. Noapte is losing the battles of life. We are such a poor town. I couldn't sleep. I was too stressed. At least all my breaths indoors are free. I might as well stay in here the rest of my life.
When I woke up, I saw a number on the black box. Actually, two. The last one went up ten with each breath I took. No way. I though breaths indoors were secret. It was counting the bits I owed for yesterday's breath. Fifty thousand and counting. About 96,000 for the whole family. My jaw dropped. We are forever in debt. Not fair. Air should be free. I might as well die of suffocation. I grunt and go downstairs. But I float down with my wings, there's no stairs. No food still. When will I eat again?
My last official meal was 6 days ago, on Tuesday. The longest I've ever gone without food was 16 days, and I forgot manners by the time the food arrived. 2-4 days of hunger was average for our family. But the breath tax may be increasing that average to 8-10 days at the least. I did same thing I did every day. Wake up. Go outside. Beg. Rest. Go back outside. Beg more. Get nothing. Go to sleep. This continued for days. My family had 0 bits. We couldn't afford the breath tax. We were farther in debt than we'd ever been. We usually have 1-5 bits, but now, none.
It's now been 13 days since that Tuesday. I haven't eaten yet. Will I ever again? Hopefully. I see a different rich looking stallion. He seems kinder. I water my eyes, make them pink, crack my voice, and begin to shiver.
I begged for food. He said he was from the royal palace and had 1690 bits. He gave me a loaf of bread he bought for five bits. He was very kind. He said his name was Naginata. We became quick friends. He had come to collect the breath tax, but he secretly gave half back to the town. They were happy about this. Naginata was a great help to the ponies. He was popular with them and loved for his deeds.
The queen would never find out though. He had them keep quiet around her or any of her loyal servants.  When one suspicious was near, he acted cruel to them and they acted like it was devastating. He was the most cruel of all the guards to the town of Noapte, maybe because he could act. Some things he acted like he was doing were more terrible than any other guard would dare do. Naginata's false cruelty had him invited as a special guest to a party. He approved right away. I was however nervous. What if the party changed him? I carried the loaf of bread back to Mother's house.
"Mother," I said as I lowered the bread onto the table with my magic. "I'm home."
Mother woke up and trotted to the table. Seeing the loaf of bread, fresh, organic, and from the royal palace, she lifted her hood. She never lifts her hood. She remains an enigma at all times.
"Chrysalis, darling." She began. My smile grew wide. She must be so proud.
"We don't steal. Especially not from royalty."
"But Mother! I did not steal the loaf of bread. A royal guard gave it to me. Think how long it would last us!"
"Nonsense! Royal guards are at war with us." She stared me down with her remaining eye. "A war we cannot see. 	They are trying to take every last bit we have. They want us to starve and die. They want us to disappear. Once Noapte is gone, they wish to put up a bustling city over the hero's town!"
I sighed. "That's terrible! How did you find that out?"
She threw her hood back on, and though the darkness of it made her face invisible, I could feel the sinister smile curling up her cheeks. "I eavesdropped. " She chuckled as she stepped backwards into the shadows under the kitchen shelf. "I'm not nice to royalty." She laughed hard. But I rolled my eyes inside where no one would know I did. She was going to crash into the wall in the middle of her graceful enigma of a moment. As she was inches from it, I smiled. But then a thought flooded my mind. Mother was the kindest, most humble pony ever. Why was she being so sinister and superior? 	
Oh well, she's going to hit the wall. I looked up. It had been a moment since she was barely anything away from the wall. What I saw shocked me. She was going through the wall. She was halfway in. When she took off her hood, she changed into a tall, strong, beautiful, dignified changeling. My jaw dropped. Queen Nimbus.
> Reunion
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Queen Nimbus earned her name quite well. She was dark like the cloud, quick like the lightning, and loud like the thunder. She was frightening too. When she was there, adults were frightened and kids were excited. But as she left, she left a trail of fright and devastation. Just like a thunderstorm. That's how I saw it. The name was perfect. She had lightning bright white eyes. Not, just her eye whites, the iris too. She was jet black, with golden gradient stripes in her mane and tail. Her majesty and in my opinion, her stupidity hung over me.
"Chrysalis, stand up." Her voice even fit her name. It boomed loudly like thunder and sent a chill down my spine. I was standing up! I opened my mouth to say so, but when my jaw hit the floor I realized I was on the ground shivering. Oops. I stood up.
"I have good news and bad news. Bad news, Your mother is dead."
My mouth fell open. My eyes watered. The good news couldn't compare. Mother was so sweet. I never met Father. The queen killed him when Mother was expecting me.
"We discovered your Mother is a spy. She wanted that message delivered to you. But now that you know it, I'll have to rid of you, too. Your mother has been spying on us since you were born." Nimbus chuckled. "She knew too much."
I was on the floor again. This time, crying. Mother was all I had to care for, love, and cherish. She made my day a good day just when I looked at her. I looked back at Nimbus, my eyes red and my cheeks tear stained. What would she do too me? She said she had to rid of me. "Next bad news, You're getting locked up in the caverns underground. The ones left by the abandoned mine. The door out was shut by a cave and that trapped and killed everyone inside. That's your death place!" She giggled. What's the point of the good news then, I thought.
"Good news, your friends know too. You'll see them there."
"You moron! Why would you do this to me!" I half groaned half screamed. I gave Nimbus a quick kick in the shin. "You think being royal makes you special. You think you can do whatever you want! Well, one thing that makes you stand out is that you're a big, fat, lying, jerk!" I kicked her for every insult I said.
"Why would you say such things to me, darling? Everyone worships me. But you obviously don't."
She was a liar. Or maybe she was blinded by power and money.
"That's not true! Wake up and realize that you've devastated all of us, taken all our money from us, and given us all miserable lives!" After a stream of tears and a few furious breaths, my voice quiets, and becomes the way it sounds right before you cry. "You're a bad liar." A grin crawled up my face. "Everyone hates you."
Queen Nimbus grinned. She teleported us to right outside the house.
"Watch this." She used her magic to set my house ablaze. She laughed her head off as it burnt to a pile of ashes. I wept as she laughed. I felt sadness when she felt joy. It was all over now. I have nothing left to be happy about. In the ashes I saw a black loaf of bread. Burnt. My tiny flame of hatred for Queen Nimbus grew into an inferno destroying my soul. I will have my revenge for this.
I lifted my head up when the ground changed. The rotted pavement became a beautiful glossy marble tile arrangement. Whose magic did this? What a lovely- Silly me. I had been teleported the Royal Palace. I growled. A guard hurriedly shoved me into the bathroom. "Clean up before treading here!" He said. The same one who announced the breath tax. I looked in a mirror for the first time in my life. Is this really what I look like? My black coat was paled into gray in some spots because of stress, filth and poor condition. My mane was a teal rat's nest. It jagged out everywhere and stuck out every way. And my eyes. Bright and furious. Pinkish with red veins reaching deep in. My rags of clothing was once a nice-ish brown dress, but it had so many holes and frayed everywhere. I was a disaster.
I took a shower for the first time ever. The water was very warm. It was so nice. I dried off, and my coat began to sparkle. No more dirt, it was so beautiful! I struggled to get a comb through my hair. I used almost 3 bottles of detangler to fix up my hair. It finally looked decent. I repeated with my tail. I looked decent finally. I opened up a drawer and saw makeup. I tried a little dark eyeshadow, and It was great looking. I got carried away and found myself looking like a gothic fashion model. Well, in some ways. Dark eyelids to look serious, my mane drooping smoothly for a sweet looking manner in contrary to my darkened face. I looked so serious and tough. I realized I had been in the bathroom for 3 hours. Yikes! I open the door.
"Chrysalis! Is that you?"
Illumination. No one else has glowing pink skin. I smile.
"Illy! It is me! I guess I got carried away with all that stuff. But I want to look awesome before I die!" I punch the air at the word awesome. Illy was my nickname for her. No one wants to say a long five syllable name. Illy starts laughing.
"Me too. Can I try? Chaos is here too."
Illy and Chaos are my two best friends. And except for Naginata, they are my only friends alive. Illumination has a soft baby pink coat that glows. It's a long story. She has ice blue eyes and a curly ice blue mane. Chaos Element is chaos. She has a scratchy black coat, a mane that is totally unorganized, and the most wild eyes I've ever seen. They're amber eyes, like fire. And sometimes you can see flames in them too.
"Silasyrhc! Ylli!" Chaos started laughing. "You have weird names in my language. Sdrawkcab!"
"Backwards? Really?"
"It's not backwards Chrys, it's Sdrawkcab!" Illy whispered.
I pulled on the little curly thing on Illy's head and snapped it back at her. I always do that when she says or does something stupid.
"What's Sdrawkcab backwards, Illyot?" Somethimes I call her Illyot. It's a mix of Illy and idiot.
"It's..." Illy was barely audible.
"Oops! You're right! It's backwards!" I rolled my eyes. She was laying on the floor with her head in the floor, half crying half laughing. It made me a little sorry for her sensitivity when we first met and she did it, but that was a bigger thing than the word 'backwards'. Now, I've learned she's a drama queen.
"Chaos, how do you know words backwards by heart anyways?"
She made a panicky face.
"Oh, uh, wonk t'nod I. I mean, uh, I don't know"
"What are you, a backwards dictionary?" I said. And the three of us started laughing. This is how our friendship works. I joke for them, Illy sobs for us, and Chaos, is, well, chaotic. So we have a reputation as the best weirdos ever! And now, we get to die together!
"Guess what our next and last adventure together will be?" I say. "Dying!" It wasn't exactly a respectful joke, nor was it taking death seriously, but we all started laughing anyways.
"Alright. Now why don't you both look awesome like me while I find some modern clothing to match my new look." I chuckled, shoving Chaos into the bathroom. Then I searched the building for a different bathroom because Illy cried about waiting. I finally found one and shoved her in. Then, I went to a room called. "The Royal Dress"
It was where they kept clothes. I looked around until I spotted a black silky dress with teal frills at the end. And a magnificent collar that rose above my head and curled behind it's top. Too perfect. I put it on and I remembered the changeling with a messy black coat and tangly teal hair and desperate eyes. The one who wore worn out rags. That same one now is wearing a fabulous dress, has her mane done wonderfully, and her coat sparkles black and brings out her serious face darkened by makeup.
"Hey Chrys!" Chaos! She improved a lot too. Scratchy coat too silky coat. Out of control hair to- well, it was better, but still fizzy. No knots, though. And her crazy fiery eyes blazed not in chaos but within gems. She put on an orange dress with flames. It matched her.
Illy came out later. Her ice blue mane was bright and shiny, and more poofy than I was used to. Her skin's light wasn't muffled by dust. It could blind one with sensitive eyes. Speaking of eyes, hers were outlined with blue. Eyeshadow, eyeliner, eyelashes. And the real blues inside of her eyes glowed. She  saw a pink and blue striped dress as I talked to her. I saw it too. It was fabulous. But when I looked back at her, she was gone. I rolled my eyes. Then we all heard hoof steps approaching. The talking stopped. Our bodies froze. Not any hoof steps. Glass slippers were recognizable. Queen Nimbus and a guard.
"Hide!" I ordered, going into the racks dresses hung on. It was easy to hide myself. I could hear who the guard was now. Naginata.

> Escape
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	"How did it go at Noapte, your highness?"
"I burnt Chrysalis's house."
"Ooh! Is she dead?" I could tell the joy in his voice was fake.
"No, she's here. I'm going to put her underground to die. There was a loaf of bread at her house. She said a royal guard gave it to her." The queen growled. "I'll behead whoever it was."
"It was me." No! I can't let Naginata die! I want to leap out and fight the queen, but that would be dumb. I'd reveal myself, Illy, and Chaos, and get us all killed.
"What? I thought you were cruel! You moron! What were you-"
"I poisoned it." He said and chuckled. But it wasn't so obvious that was a lie. He made it sound so real. That chuckle wasn't fake. I feel hurt and betrayal. Whose side was he really on? Was he keeping secrets from Noapte or is he just improving his lying skills? I plead to death it was answer number two. I shut my eyes tightly and bury my face into my arms. I tried not to cry. But just in case I did, I was prepared to use up a lot of energy by muffling the noise with a tight squeeze by my arms. When I assure and reassure myself they are out of range, I quietly step out of my hiding spot. No one saw me. Chaos crept out when she heard me and after some persuasion we got Illy out too.
Together we snuck around the building.  We saw a senile old man doing the chicken dance in a bathroom. We couldn't stop laughing at the sight. Royal ponies are weird. We ran away laughing our heads off.
Thud!  We crashed into somepony. We look up then wish we hadn't. Queen Nimbus.
"What's so funny?" She chuckled. Her voice just pulled something and twisted it inside me. It bugs me.
"Haha, wretched children. Enough sneaking around. Let's go underground!"
She fired a thunder bolt at us. We split up and dodged it. The run had started. The race was on.
She chased us through the entire palace. We split up eventually, but I quickly realized she was after me. She knew too clearly what I knew. Illy would get scared, and either bawl and get caught, or run away into the wild where she would die quickly. Chaos isn't sneaky, and she loves to put up fights. She can beat up anyone bare hoofed, but she loves weapons and armor. She loves nun-chucks and spears, and doesn't like any other weapons. But with no armor and no weapons against these changelings with shining gold armor and deadly weapons, she was no match.
I could sneak around. I could hold in tears. I could survive in the wild. I could be smart enough not to fight royal guards bare-hoofed. I'm the target.
Hoofsteps are clearly heard. The bells of life rung loud in my ears. I'm cornered. Nimbus is approaching. It happens. All of it.
I'm not sure what happened in that split second. But all I remember is lightning flashing, Illy screaming, Chaos's blood spraying, and a sharp pain in my head. All at once.  Illy's scream was a scream of agony and pain, so she's probably being tortured. I think I need to explain how I knew it was Chaos's blood too. Chaos gets cut a lot, and her blood has a bothersome scent. It smells and tastes sweet rather than bitter. It's not unhealthy, she pours sugar over her cuts. She says it helps with the pain and makes it easier to suck on your cut. Now I think she cuts herself a lot for free sugar. Also, I saw a flash of black fighting two guards and heard a sound of pain with her voice.
I hoped they were ok. I peeked in a mirror to see myself. Black eye, covered in scars, no clothes, bruised badly. The queen must've taken my dress. My left eye was swollen badly. Blood gushed from where I felt the sharp pain. My body was a rainbow with bruises, red, yellow, green, blue and purple covered me. I paused for a second as I asked myself where I was. A white room. Everything was white. The floor, the walls, the ceiling and the sink. This was an odd room. I woke up on the ice cold floor. Who knows what the sink was for. There was a door, it was white. I decided to open it to look for Chaos and Illy.
A pathetic voice stopped me.
> Ashes
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 4
"Ch-Chrysalis?" The high pitched squeal belonged to none other than Illy. She was in here, laying on the floor. So was Chaos.
"Illy! Are you okay? What happened to you? I heard you scream!" Illy had several bruises in messy line shapes. Probably from a whip. Then I saw what brought on the scream. An arrow head in her shoulder. Cutting deep into her. "Illy! Don't die! No! Not yet! Hang in there!" I gently pulled out the arrow head and examined the wound. It was a big cut, but to my knowledge no important organs were ruptured. I soaked the wound with cold water from the sink. Illy winced.
"It hurts so much." She moaned.
"I know. I'm trying to make it better."
I ripped off a sleeve of Chaos's dress that was still on her. I'm really thankful she was able to save that sleeve. I washed it off and wrapped it around Illy's wound.
"I might have saved you or I might have killed you." I whisper softly to Illy. I plead out my heart I saved her. I glanced at Chaos. She wasn't as bad as Illy. Probably just bruises and cuts like me. But then I remembered the blood spray and the pain noise. A gash from her ear to her stomach. Her ear was split in half at the top, and the cut went down her back and flipped down to her stomach. It was mostly scabbed over. I inferred she woke up from being knocked out and was napping right now, as she was snoring. Illy was barely able to walk. I nudged Chaos awake.  She noticed the cut in the side of my head. I said it was just a scratch, but she cleaned it out and bandaged it. It felt much better after Chaos cleaned it out.
"Whose gonna open that door?" Chaos asked.
"Not me." Illy muttered, slinking into the corner of the room.
"Should I?" I was really curious to see what it lead to.
"But it seems kinda dangerous."
"I agree with Illy, but someone has to."
"See? I insist on opening the door."
"It's risky though."
"Risky schmisky!" And with that I flung open the door. I regretted it the second I did. My jaw fell open. Chaos was pretending like she was too cool to be scared. Illy looked about ready to cry. I buried my face into Chaos to make her realize how bad it really was. Illy sulked in the corner. Chaos shoved me away to look closer.
"So what? A bunch of ashes everywhere. I guess it's like a carpet of ashes, really but still." Her eyes turned to the beat up sign.
"Read it! Read the sign!" I sobbed. In the carpet of ashes, a beat up sign stuck out and was covered in ashes. Chaos squinted to read it, and then teared up and started crying.
Here's what the sign said.
"Welcome to Noapte!"
The moment I learned what this place was I about burst into flame myself. The inferno destroying my soul grew into a volcano blasting everything I knew with burning, molten lava. Illy ran to what used to be her house. She sat and sulked. Chaos glanced to where her house was and shed a few tears. I watched sadly. Nimbus floated down, followed by guards.
"Don't you love the new modifications?" She boomed. Then she fell over laughing. This set off the volcano. I charged at her, my eyes turning red with anger. I shot a bolt of green goo at her feet and on her guards too.
"Really, that's all you got?" Nimbus gave me a nasty look. She freed herself easily, then turned to her guards and freed them too.
"Read the sign! This was our home!"
"What sign?" Nimbus chuckled, setting it ablaze.
Chaos growled and shot a beam of flames into Queen Nimbus's eye. That must've hurt. The guards scooped up Nimbus to get her healed at the palace. I saw Naginata turn and smile to Chaos,  and with out even opening his mouth, he seemed to say "Good job."
The queen wrestled the guards to get her revenge. It was the other way around now. She felt the pain and we laughed. She screamed, we smiled. I could tell she would not dismiss this. Illy blew icy winds at them, so the guards could hardly fly. Because the longer it took for Nimbus to get fixed up, the less likely she'll keep that eye. I decide now it was my turn to strike. I grew goo branches out of the ground and tangled them in goo. The goo pulled them back to the ground so they had to start over. We smiled. We were good at using magic. We practiced more than an ordinary filly would.
Nimbus was not happy. She flew away from the guards and landed briskly in front of us. The ground shook the moment her hooves touched it. She smiled evilly. Her injured eye was closed, she was weakened by the cold, and the vines I had crawling up her legs kept her in place. But even though her guards weren't with her, she was still stronger than us. She raised her horn to the sky and it glowed white. Fire encircled us. It pressed down on us until we sank through the ground. Into the old mine.

> Deeper
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	The faint glow of Illy's skin is all that lit up the dark caves. We all agreed to stick together for the sake of light. We would find the exit to the mines. It collapsed hundreds of years ago, but we could work together to destroy the material blocking our path. When we ended up at a fork and argued about which way to go, it always ended something like this:

"I want this way and that's final!"
"My skin lights the path so you need me, Chaos!"
"Stop arguing!"
"I'm the light, and my way is final!"
And then we went Illy's way.
Illy hasn't sobbed or cried in the caves yet. But she has been cranky. When we decided to rest, everyone was desperate for entertainment. We were bored to death. Illy perked up and said.
"Want to hear the story of how my skin turned pink and glowed?"
We've all heard this story a million times. We're sick of it. But Illy loves to tell it. She just needs a kind audience to feel sympathy when she cries. But right now, we're extremely grateful Illy glows. That story, which we've only heard before this mess started, reminds me of school, days of no breath tax, days of less hunger, just normal days in the poor town of Noapte. It was bad having a little bit of food only once a day, but it seemed like a wonderful life compared to right now. 	Right now, since we were desperate, we all nodded or heads, widened our eyes, and listened closely.
"My mother was being punished for a terrible crime. She robbed the royal bank. Took millions of bits. She was expecting me when she did this. Of course, Nimbus was furious. She tied my mother down onto a board, in pits of flames. She wanted to roast mother.  Father had all the bits she took. He could still afford a rich life for me. He fought the armored guards off with his  double sided spear. The guards all easily went down. Surprisingly, they surrendered and he kept the money. But mother was still on fire, and was giving birth to me at the same time. Yeah, not a wise thing, mom." Illy rolled her eyes. We all gave a little laugh. We were grateful that her mother's timing was terrible.
"Anyways, the second I came out my father's voice screamed to my mother what I looked like. When Father told the story, he said I was ice blue, with ice blue eyes and an ice blue mane. I cried as my father tried to figure out a way to get me out of the fire pit. I stepped off the platform and fell into the platform, my hairs all disappearing and my skin turning hot pink. I was flaming. Father rushed to the control room and scared off the guards with his spear. He smashed a button and the fire stopped. He set up a poorly structured static boundary. I lit up with blinding light the second I touched that forcefield. My mane and my tail poofed out and stayed that way ever since." Illy paused to poke a piece of her poofy hair. We chuckled, it was hard not to laugh at her obnoxious hairstyle. "And I bounced right back on the platform, and my father flew out and picked me up. He was devastated at the loss of mother. And..." She stopped as her eyes swelled with tears, but gave up on holding them in when she burst into crying. "And I was too! I never met her and it makes me cry! I wish I'd known her! And even though I lived a rich life, and had a great destiny ahead of me, there was a hole in my heart I could never fix. Father loved me so much and held me so tight, but neither of us could bear the loss of her. Father always said if she had lived, we would have a 'life full of sunshine'. But it looks like Nimbus through a dark cloud over that sunshine, just because she can!" And that's when Illy throws herself on the ground in tears. For the first time, the end of the story makes me cry too. She did a good job of wording the death, probably the best she's ever done. And we don't have the strength to be cruel enough to roll our eyes. Not even the strength to not cry. We all collapse on the cold hard ground and cry ourselves to sleep.

When we wake up, we're still in puddles of tears. No heat or sun to evaporate them down here. Wiping the crust from our eyes, we regain our knowledge of our surroundings. We argue about forks every time they come up. After an argument that resulted in us all getting a minor injury, we agreed rock paper scissors, best out of three, would choose who selects the path. We came across a five way fork. The paths were unique this time. The one in the center had bright light shining through it. And it was obvious only the sun made that kind of light.  The one on it's right had sounds of water coming through it, and the one on the far right was snowy. Faint voices could be heard. The other two were ones with light from supposedly a fire, and the other had molten, red magma oozing out.
"I think we can all agree on the middle one. Only the sun makes light that bright. " I chuckled. They didn't take the joke. They were being serious. Illy grumbled.
"I say the water one! I'm really thirsty, and if the sun is so bright there's probably a drought. We'll take a drink, and then the sun one."
"There's voices in the frozen one! Changeling voices! We should help them!" Chaos snarled, only to add stress.
At least no one wanted to take the molten or fire path.
"We gotta save ourselves! They may be guards! They may fight us! And who knows if the water is safe to drink!" I screamed. "Rock paper sci-"
Illy screamed as loud as she could.
"I'm getting water so I don't die of thirst!"
"But Illy! Chrys is right! What if the water is bad?" Chaos and I thoughtlessly followed the glowing pink pony. She wasn't good at hiding in the dark, because she glowed. So it was easy to find her. Drinking the water.
"Illy! Does it taste odd? Do you notice anything odd about it?" Chaos said in a panic.
"A-a-abou-ou-out wha-a-a-t?" Illy said so slowly it bothered me. She looked at us slowly, with red puffy eyes that were half closed. I panicked too. This was bad.
"The water Illyot! Is the water odd?"
"Huh? It's, fi-i-i-ne. I-it sa-a-a-aved me-e-e-e!" her wretched smile concerned me.
"Illy, that water's going to kill you, not keep you alive. It's probably not even water. It may even be-" I was interrupted by the gurgling of the river. It was louder than it should be. I looked at it, bubbling, gushing, vulgar. I almost vomited. It was gooey, slimy, sticky, thick, and black. Illy shouldn't have drank it. I slapped her really hard. I regretted it soon after. What if I just screwed something up that was tying to make her puke the stuff out? Her skin felt droopy and thin, like it was falling off. She looked at me, her eyes still wide.
"Huh? Oh crap! Sorry, I'm going insane! We should bail." Illy said quickly. I realized what she meant. The muck was crawling onto the shore. It oozed towards us. It made odd noises, including an "Ahhhhhh Illy" that could be faintly heard above the bubbling. We all screamed. The deafening screech of terrified little girls. But this time it wasn't a ghost story at a sleep over party. It was real.
Chaos sealed her lips after a second. I softened my scream down, then completely stopped when I noticed it. Illy kept screaming, but Chaos punched her arm which shut her up. And it was really bad timing when Illy started vomiting. I groaned. We didn't have time for this.
We had to get out.
> Lullaby
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Rocks were falling in chunks off the roof. Our stupid screaming.
"Illy, run and hurl at the same time!" Chaos screamed to the pink filly who was still by the river. Chaos had to focus on the rocks. She flipped over them, ducked under them, and just perfectly timed it. She wasn't touched. I was having a hard time though. I thought I was doing good, coming far away from one rock, than another almost crushes me. I've been clonked in the head with small rocks about a million times now. Illy was just vomiting.
"C'mon Illy!" Chaos said. "Before you get trapped!"
"I can't! Don't worry about me! I've only been a burden on you. It's my fault. We should have ignored the water! We should have just left."
I grunted. "Illy, you just had to do that. Your really stupid."
"I'm so sorry! Leave! Forget me!"
"Illyot, even though you are a complete burden we're not leaving you. You came in. You're coming out." I stated boldly.
"Chrys! Stop being so harsh. Illy, what she means is that we want you with us. Your our friend, even if you did slow us down. Now, I need you to get over here." Chaos pleaded.
Harsh? Treating her like crap? Well Chaos, it's her fault we're dealing with the rockslide. We could be out by now. And she drank the muck.
Illy charged at us. Chaos's face lit up. I felt a wave of relief. We'll get out. Away from the Queen. Into a paradise.  We could make a house out of sticks, hunt prey, eat berries, and live in what is supposedly a tropical jungle where it's always summer.
A sharp rock was cracking. It was about to come off. Right above Illy. It would kill her. Chaos and I saw it, but Illy didn't. I almost screamed. Everything seemed to slow way down. The rock fell, straight down. Illy saw it. She jumped forward. It was crazy luck. The rock didn't touch her. I was amazed.
"Let's get out now!" Chaos said.
I was so happy. Into the jungle. Illy had the biggest smile. I would never forget how wildly happy the helpless pink mare looked. It was a dream come true.
Until we heard the crack of a boulder falling and a cut off high pitched scream. Illy was crushed. Like a bug that got squashed by a shoe. Her head and forelegs stuck out from the rock.
"Illy!" Chaos and I screamed with pain at the same time. Illy whimpered out a sound of pain. Tears fell beside her. Blood came from below the rock.
"Chaos. Chrys" She wheezed.
"Illy! Don't die yet. Your still a kid. You have more life to live." I began. I tried to be strong, but ended up crying the words and pouring my heart into her soul. "I'm so sorry I was being a jerk to you before. If I had known It was my last few moments with you, I would have cried with you and protected you from anything suspicious. I would have been your umbrella in the death rain. I just realized now, you are more than what you seem. You seem shy, but inside you have a strong heart. You lived through your Mother's death, your father's death, your nanny's death, and her innocent baby's death. They're all people you were close to. But now, you have to die too. It's just unfair. Not right for anyone to do to someone as innocent and helpless as you. No filly or colt deserves this ending. The only part she deserves is devastated friends who will miss her dearly. And those friends, are us! You have suffered more losses than me and Chaos combined. You were always there to make us happy. Your shyness led us to pity on you. You've been through the most. And yet you have to be the first to go."
"I should have been first." Chaos interrupted. "No one likes me that much except you two. I was born an orphan, and the only loss I've had was my brother I hardly knew. I'm outgoing and have not a trace of anything to pity." She wept, bursting into tears.
"I have a few requests, before I go."
"Anything!" We both fell to her hooves, hoping we could make her feel better.
"First, kill Nimbus. Avenge my death, and my family's deaths. Queen Chrysalis." Illy gave me a weak smile. "I like the sound of that."
"Queen Chrysalis." I muttered. "I like it too."
"Second, I've always wondered who I was to others.Can you please tell me?"
"Illy!" I started. "We all will miss you. Nobody hates you. You'll be a hero. Queen Chrysalis will make sure everypony knows that." I smiled. "Illy, you are a great pony. No one can deny your kindness. Your smarts will never be forgotten, Illy. Your a genius. You've aced every test. Your amazing."
"Illy, there's nothing wrong with you." Chaos cried. "You were a great friend, but now you'll only be a memory. But a sweet one. Even though, you and your father couldn't live the 'days of sunshine' with your mother, you shined lots of sunshine onto us. You brightened us. You inspired us. You have great begging skills. And your father was fortunate to get all that money. You are lucky, Illy. But I guess now, Nimbus is just flushing your soul and hard work down the toilet. That jerk. We will avenge your death! Queen Chrysalis will rule!"
Illy smiled and teared up. "Thanks." Her voice was weak. "Third." Now it was a quiet whisper. "Put me to sleep."
I almost cried to death. My mom put me to sleep every night. It made me feel so warm. Chaos put herself to sleep by humming a lullaby. Illy's father had a special way. Illy said it always gave her sweet dreams. I knew she would never wake up, but it was her final request. I've done her father's sleep method to her before at a sleepover.
"Okay." I gave her a hug to replace picking her up and spinning her around until she would have been giggling and dizzy. She only giggled softly. As I pretended to lay her in bed, Chaos came to massage her back. I cleared my throat and began Illy's lullaby. I could barely sing it. I was crying so much, and I had to pause to sniffle a lot.
"Sweet dreams Illumination
Tomorrow is coming soon.
Now stop the playing, start the sleep
And your heart will float like balloons.

Into the skies, you will soar.
I will see you when you're done.
Have a party in your dream.
And have lots of fun.

When you wake and see me again,
There will be time for a day that's new.
Anything you want to do.
There's always time for me and you."
I felt my heart explode in sadness and regret when I saw her body curled up, a smile on her face and her sweetly closed eyes. This would be how she ended life. Sweetly sleeping.
"In your dreams you'll have a blast
And I will miss you then
But then you open your eyes at dawn,
And we'll see each other again.

Just ignore your nightmares
They'll only give you fears.
But if the bad dreams haunt you,
I'll wipe away your tears.

Only choose the good dreams
To remember during day,
And then keep all of your good times,
So in life, they will stay."
My voice cracked. I was so weak from sadness I could barely bring out the last verse
"In the moonlight, hear the song
I sing to you tonight
Just close your eyes and drift away.
Sleep until it's light."

Illy was gone now. I fell over and closed my eyes, but that didn't stop my tears. Illy's father wrote that lullaby when Illy was just a baby and he sung it to her every night. Her father was killed by the queen a few days before we started this whole adventure. We all loved adventure, but I'm guessing we bitterly hate this one. Illy was in a sweet sleep, her dreams up in heaven where she would stay. Forever. I wanted to wake up in my bed right now and have it all be a nightmare. Everything. The breath tax,  mother dying, the time in the caves.
"What I would give to be back at home, even though we were all so poor." Chaos grumbled.
"Yeah." I said without really paying attention. I was too busy thinking about what Queen Chrysalis was going to change.
> Perfect
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Chaos and I managed to get the rock off Illy. We used a lot of strength and magic to shove it off. I insisted on burying Illy somewhere better. Illy was gross by now. She was cold, pale, and half her hair had fallen off. She kept glowing though. There was dried, brown, crusty blood all over her. The black muck made black vomit too, so there was some of that on her. And to make it worse, she reeked. 
I couldn't believe she was once the helpless, shy, lovable filly who I was so attached too. When we tried to pick her up, she split into two. The non squashed half came right off the squashed half. Chaos got to levitate the squashed half, while I did the non squashed half. We kept her in the sleeping position. When we got outside through the middle path, the land we saw was beautiful.
A mountain towered high with a city clinging to the side of it. There were lots of towns in forests, plains, ice lands, deserts, even by a canyon. Chaos pointed to a city in the sky. This whole place was mesmerizing. We climbed up the mountain into the city on the side of it. I read on a sign; "Welcome to Canterlot, Capitol of Equestria!" This whole place must be Equestria.
I knocked on a door. I wanted to know some more, like where to bury Illy, where I should go after as a tourist attraction. I never want to leave Equestria. I want to live here.
A regal, sophisticated, yellow mare stared at me. Her son, not as regal was by here. They were obviously shocked at two changelings levitating a dead changeling.
"Excuse me ma'am, but where should I bury my friend?" I mumbled shyly. I tried to act helpless and devastated (but I didn't have to act for being devastated) to adore her and get her to forget that I am different. She was different too. She only had a horn, and so did her son. Their horns weren't sharp, their legs didn't have holes in them, neither did their manes, tails or horns.
The yellow mare shrieked at the sight of Illy. She ran away, into her house. The son started laughing.
"Cheese legs!" He teased, and laughed at us. He made a disgusted face at Illy. "Eww, that's sad. Your friend is an oversized glowing squashed bug." He went back in his house. The results from all the other houses were either "Cheese legs" "Giant bug" "Eww, gross." or they ran inside screaming. We were different to them. We had thin, gooey wings with holes. They had feathered wings. We had horns with holes in them too. Just to see how revolting our cheese legs were, I walked into a dairy shop and the salespony refused to let me buy cheese, because he said it would be cannibalism, as I was part cheese to him. I was so mad I just screamed. Equestria isn't as good as I thought.
I walked down an empty road. Doors that were peeked open banged shut as I walked by. As I lifted my head, I saw an enormous castle. I was get tired of levitating Illy. Chaos and I approached the majestic castle. The guards started whispering and making faces as we approached. But the second Chaos touched her hoof to the first step on the long staircase, the guards snapped into action and were suddenly all pointing spears at us, and a few stood as a barricade across the staircase.
"Who goes there?" The leader, a handsome black stallion with a silver mane shouted. His voice was so majestic and pure, but also scolding.  Chaos stepped back several steps. We slowly walked backwards. It was all silent.
"Make it quick." I said softly, so they couldn't hear me. I closed my eyes, and braced myself for a thousand spears rushing in to me all at once. It lasted a while. I peeked open an eyelid to see what they were doing. Some didn't have their spears. They were just whispering again. But I knew I couldn't get in because the barricade stood still. Chaos scooted forward, towards the guards to see if they would let her pass. They lashed out at us again.
Silence lasted only a few moments. A female voice, ten times as majestic and flowing interrupted the silence. "Let them be, they're just fillies." Her voice wasn't scolding, it was soft and gentle. A  white pony with a flowing multicolored mane softly landed on her hooves with golden designs on them.  Her smile disappeared when she saw us closer. I tried not to roll my eyes when she stepped back, or tried to hide how revolted she was.
"You- you poor things. A- are you orphans?" She asked almost sarcastically. I could tell she thought nopony was an orphan in her country, because she always got them to a caring foster mom. She looked like that type of pony.
"Yes." We grunted simultaneously.
She looked shocked. "Come with me." She said. Her usual voice and smile returned.
"My name is Princess Celestia. I would love to introduce you to my little sister, but sadly she is stuck on the moon."
"Wow, how did that happen?"
She told us a long story about Elements of Harmony, Eternal Night, and Nightmare Moon.
Her sister, Luna, became jealous because the night she brought was slept through, and Princess Celestia, who brought day, tried to tell her night is a nice, peaceful time. Luna didn't agree. She refused to lower the moon one day, and Celestia gave up on fact and tried to tell Luna she was loved so much more, and that it was wrong of her to not give her as much as she deserved. But Luna smiled at announced, "Right, you owe me. And eternal night is how you will pay!"
This darkness in her heart turned her into Nightmare Moon. So Princess Celestia banished her to the moon using the elements because she had no choice.
"I regret being so blind. If I had known Luna was feeling bad, I could have done something for her before it was too late. But know, she is gone. She will return on the longest day of the thousandth year. And I don't know when that will be, but it will come soon. I know that." She whispered. I was so fascinated by her story.
"So, my little ponies, may I hear your stories?" The princess asked. I stood up swiftly.
"We're not ponies like your ponies.  We're changelings! We're not yours and we're not little." First, I explained what changelings were. Then Chaos barged in and told her all about the poor town of Noapte. We told the princess everything. The breath tax, the burning, the mines, Illy (which made her start crying), and how we've been treated so far by the ponies. Princess Celestia nodded solemnly and looked out her window. "I will speak to them. You are welcome here." She smiled brightly and looked down on us. "In fact, why don't you stay here at Canterlot Castle?"
Chaos and I screamed with joy. We would live with rich royalty in a kind nation. Now, I am certain I will never leave Equestria. But I had an intriguing thought. 'If it's too good to be true, it isn't true.' Was there something I was missing out on? As soon as I saw the red flicker in Princess Celestia's eyes, I knew it. She was going to use us. Ideas poured into my head. Enslaved, killed for entertainment, public humiliation ponies, hypnotized guards, turned into stone statues, used for dangerous science experiments. I looked outside and saw a red bird flying by. Maybe it's feathers caused the flicker. I just had to hope.
> Live
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	We buried Illy in the Canterlot Cemetery. I started crying again,  even though she was grosser than ever. The soil we buried her in had light peeking through it. She would probably never stop glowing. After Celestia said we were welcome in Canterlot, we held Illy's funeral. Princess Celestia fed us a whole feast for dinner each night. Our skinny bodies started getting fat. Princess Celestia's doctor told us royalty was to be skinny and put us on diets. After that, we were pretty close to the way we were before. I thought she was fattening us up to eat us at first, but after we got a diet I doubted it. Her niece, Cadence is just a tiny foal, and is really cute.
One night, I almost went to bed forgetting my suspicions of the princess. I remembered right before I dozed off and jolted awake. I though it was no big deal, but then I realized it might be a sign. I woke up around midnight to talk to Chaos about the suspicions. Maybe she would understand. I reached for her to tap her shoulder, but her shoulder wasn't there. I panicked, then calmed down. What if she just changed position? I searched for her, and my hoof landed in a thick, but slimy substance. It felt a lot like blood. I turned the light on. And I panicked when the stuff was red. I looked again. The stuff was all over Chaos's bed. Chaos wasn't there. I felt hatred for Celestia crawl up my legs. It didn't take long for it to take over my heart and brain. I magicked the door open and bolted out. I flew like an eagle for a few feet and then crashed into somepony.
"Hey! You made me spill my water, Chrysalis!" It was Chaos, walking to the room with Celestia. Unharmed.
"Chaos! You're alive! I mean, I guess I thought you died. You were gone." I felt really stupid. Chaos started laughing. Princess Celestia joined in too. But then I remembered something, and said it before it registered. "The red stuff! The blood!"
"It was ketchup!" Chaos had to pause laughing, which it looked she was struggling. "I was hungry, so I got a midnight-" She was cut off by laughter. "And, I-" More laughing. "Sorry, I spilled." She laughed carelessly now. Princess Celestia had already stopped her controlled laughing. I don't know if Chaos ever will.
"Is it really that funny?" I moaned indignantly. "Let's get some sleep."
It took awhile for Chaos to stop laughing. The next morning, I started the day with an embarrassing memory.
"Remember last night?" I said and chuckled. Chaos laughed her head off for fifteen minutes. It was an improvement, she did twenty last night. I mentioned a lot today, to try and make her get over it. She finally stopped. We told baby Cadence the story and she smiled the whole time. Bad idea, Chaos laughed five minutes only because it was the full story, not just a recall. I asked her about the story the next day, and it brought half an hour of laughing.
Why was it so funny to her? Now I have something to ponder over. Chaos just has a weird sense of humor, I guess. Maybe she enjoyed it so much because it was a derp on my part. One day, I got so mad that Chaos was laughing at my mistake, and it also seemed like she was joking about death, the hollow feeling I had when Illy got crushed by the rock. Death was no joke to me, so I exploded with rage one day. "Stop laughing so much! It isn't even that funny, it's just a dumb mistake!" I screamed.
"It's kinda funny." Chaos peeped, shrinking away from me. She smiled innocently to make it worse. She wasn't a baby anymore.
"It's like laughing about Illy's death! The rock not only crushed Illy but it punctured my soul. Now, if Celestia had killed you, she would've crushed a part of me too. What if it was me, who you thought was dead, killed by the princess, but when you found me I started laughing!"
"I-I, don't-"
"Exactly!" My voice was so solid and fierce that I was sure she wouldn't forget it soon. I regretted that, I wanted to hear her response. Seeing her in a bit of misery and all confused would have been joyful. I didn't like this week, but it was a week with perfection compared to my old life. 
She made a tiny squeak, closing her eyes tightly and looking away from me.
"Now, run! Out of here! Queen Chrysalis needs time alone!" Chaos ran upstairs into her room. I closed my eyes with a smile, and held my head high. Now the perfection starts again. Queen Chrysalis. When I really am the Queen, I won't have to shove away pity and regret after bossing one around. I will have every right to do anything. Every right to do anything? That thought scared me.
A tyrant! No! I can't be a tyrant! I'll be a bit of a strict leader, and I'll make my power clear, but I won't be a tyrant! These thoughts swirled in my mind. 
"I am not a tyrant!" I shouted.
I remembered my assertiveness to Chaos. Fun, enjoyable, makes me feel full of myself. I enjoyed it. I am a tyrant! I calmed myself quickly. I just let my pride express itself. Trotting away to display satisfaction, I crashed into Celestia. She stared down at me, disappointed.
Her lips moved not one bit, but I heard her voice. 
`	"Maybe you want to reconsider either that statement or how you act."
I'm a tyrant!