The wind howled as seconds ticked by, all the while, Luna staring at Chrysalis with a stern face. “Are we welcomed?” she asked again, as if Chrysalis owned the very streets.

“Uh,” her majesty began. “I don’t... Wouldn’t it be more of her choice?” She glanced at Celestia, worrying if she said the wrong thing, Celestia might order her guards to end the intrusion.

As Princess Celestia approached, she shifted Luna back by lightly pushing the mare with a hoof. “This is a violation against public execution, not to mention being an alicorn all together gives me every right to bring you in for questioning!”

Luna sighed, but said nothing. Chrysalis, on the other hoof, had one question looming within her confused mind. “Why... do you look so familiar?”

Luna looked over the changeling and mumbled, “So I have been breaking through, just not enough...”

Immediately, Celestia became outraged. “Enough!” she yelled. “I will not have you behaving like this. Guards, defend the point while I get Cadence.”

Luna merely rolled her eyes as ten stallions approached, all wielding sharp spears. Just as one charged in for a tackle, he slipped right through her unmoved body as though she were nothing more than an apparition of some sort.

Just as he did, everypony else, even Chrysalis, gasped while developing faces of both shock and bewilderment. The stallion that attacked shifted up to look at the mare while she glanced around at the others. “Anypony else wish for their faces to be planted dead on the wooden floor before them?”

Celestia passed through the circle and reached her hoof out. As she felt the tufts of fur along Luna’s chest, she kept a watchful eye on her, waiting to see if something would happen. Almost as soon as she opened her mouth to speak, Celestia’s grip became nothing more than a sinking feeling. She jotted back with a yipe to see the being before her purely translucent, invisible even.

“H-how is this possible?” Celestia asked.

Luna kept her frown worn, peered away from her highness and approached the changeling. As she did, her horn grew a dim glow, and one by one, all the mares, colts, fillies and even Princess Celestia vaporized into sand and dust. The winds quickly carried their ashy remains away, and in the distance, their tiny specks spread all across the sky, crafting the stars above.

Chrysalis, the abused, frightened queen of a dying race was the only one left within Luna’s presence. “What’s going on?” her majesty asked, desperate for any sort of answer.

Before revealing what was on her mind, Luna asked the mare, “Is this really how you see my sister?” Chrysalis opened her mouth, but no words would leave. “A tyrant devoid of mercy or leniency?”

Chrysalis gasped as she backed away slowly, but was choked by the rope that bound her. Luna made short work of that, though. Her hoof lead itself to her shoulder and halted her movements. As the princess's magic loosened the loop, she slipped it off with her own mouth only to guide Chrysalis away from it. The queen cautiously looked back at what was just thoroughly wrapped around her neck, glanced down, but soon had her head brought back up by the mare’s hoof so she could look into Luna’s eyes.

“I don’t understand,” Chrysalis said, her tears slowly running down her cheeks. “I thought I was done for... Who are you?”

Luna sat with the mare, now in utter darkness. The world around them had dissipated, and was replaced by a dreary void. Chrysalis didn’t very much care about that, though. What she wished for at that point, more than anything, was the reasoning behind the madness.

Princess Luna blinked a few times, looked down, and finally confessed, “You’re in a dream.”

Chrysalis couldn’t help but allow her eyes to widen as the truth settled itself into her thoughts, but even that was hard to accept. “Wh-what...?”

“It’s hard to cope with, I know.” Luna looked out into the blackness of space to witness the world form before the two. They were high above Equestria, gazing out at the ever expanding land. The sun peaked over the edge to begin a new day, and at that moment, Chrysalis had no choice but to accept the fact that her reality was a figment of her own imagination all along.

“But what are you doing here?” Chrysalis turned to her guest to listen attentively, almost a bit eager to learn how this lewd fallacy started.

“We sensed the–” Luna giggled slightly and apologized, “Sorry, I’m still getting used to the way ponies talk. I’ll explain that later. For now, you see, I sensed the world being built, for it is one of the jobs I am committed to as the princess of the night. My sister, Celestia, she lifts and lowers the sun while I shine the stars awake and bring about the moon. Along with that, I’ve been gifted with the ability of dream surfing, in a way.”

Chrysalis nodded. “We’ve never met... and that’s why you weren’t in the dream...”

“That is correct,” Luna assured. “And, for a long time, I’d been feeling you nod off, only to create fantasies of madness and horrors I wish to erase from my own mind. Such guilt is within your being, you’ve been dreaming nothing but punishments you alone see fit to be distributed to yourself. Why?”

Chrysalis remembered some of those earlier dreams from before she was captured in the one she and Luna were still in, and shook her discomforted head. “I haven’t a clue, your highness... Perhaps it was because what I did to the ponies of Canterlot...”

Luna finished, “Was so cruel of yourself, that you couldn’t cope with the hurt taking up all that space inside your heart?”

The changeling solemnly nodded, but kept her head held low. “I deserve what I dream...”

Luna quivered at this, and couldn’t help herself but to grasp Chrysalis tightly, almost enough to force a small but pleased squeal out. Once let go, Chrysalis returned her gaze to Luna’s, but kept a worried expression. “Stop that,” Luna said, her voice shaken. “You’ve been through enough, and don’t deserve such treatment.”

Chrysalis broke her line of sight while appearing angered. “And what of Celestia? What would she say to that?”

“If anything,” Luna countered. “I’ll make sure she understands your innocence. I’m her sister, after all.” The princess brought Luna’s stare back to her own. “I’m her sister. She’ll have no choice but to accept you. By coming with me to Canterlot, you’ll atone for your crimes by requesting forgiveness from Celestia. If she refuses...” She smiled, finally. “Well, I can assure you, that won’t happen.”

Chrysalis was still hesitant, and Luna saw this. But, as the royal alicorn came close, gliding her hooves towards the changeling’s horn and moving the scraggly strands of her mane out of the way, she gently pecked Chrysalis on the forehead in a peaceful fashion. The cuts and bruises withered, healing completely as they did.

Once Luna’s lips left, all she needed to do then was inform Chrysalis, “I’ll be sleeping by your side, and when you awaken, we’ll need to talk more. For now, try to realize your innocence, and drift away from this nightmare with me. I’ll be your guide for tonight.”

In only a matter of seconds, Chrysalis fell through with Luna, headed from the ground below with her new friend. Everything became dark again, and just as quickly as it started, the dream she’d been in for so long ended abruptly.

Author's Note

Coauthored with RainbowBob