Guiding Light
by SpiritofthwWolf
Drip.
Drip.
Drip.
The dead, dry leaves that covered the forest floor found no sustenance from the tears that fell upon them. They had drank their last drop days, weeks, or even months ago. The salty splashes simply beaded up and ran as far as they could before coming to rest in the folds of the decaying foliage.
The creature that shed those tears was not so different from those leaves she crushed under her hooves as she wandered the forest floor that night. It had been ages since she last fed, and it had been a glorious at that. That was, at least, until that little purple unicorn came along and screwed everything up. Now, her head was hung low allowing the long, tattered mane draped around her head to skim the ground. Her black coat was messy and her face flowed with rivers of sorrow.
Not only had she been defeated during the moment of her greatest triumph, but she had lost everything. Her children were scattered to the wind; the chances that she would find them again were dwindling with each passing hour. The lack of food was starting to catch up to her and she was growing weak. Her broken body would not last more than a few days without some form of sustenance.
The almost hypnotized trance she was in had clouded her vision to anything that wasn’t one of her own kind. In this state, she neglected to choose her steps, instead electing to let her legs take her wherever they decided to go. An exposed tree root caught her hoof in its crook and she stumbled over it. Her hole-filled wings buzzed into life trying to catch her fall, but to no avail. She was too weak for them to even lift her own weight anymore.
Her green eyes closed and Chrysalis fell face first into the sod and leaves. It would have been a disgrace for her to be seen this way, but there was nopony around to bear witness and she no longer cared about her status. She had failed her children and her hive; what kind of mother was she? When she righted herself, she looked up to the moon that shone overhead.
“Is this where it ends then? Am I to die alone here in my own dishonor?” She spoke aloud to the starry sky even though she knew there was no one out there.
“You are not alone, dark one.”
The voice was soft and somehow calming to the queen’s ears, so she didn’t question why, in her solitude, somepony answered her. She simply turned to the shadows from which the sound had originated.
“We know what it is like to truly be alone.” From the shadows emerged a regal pony whose star-filled mane waved gently in the breeze. ”That same fate is something We seek to prevent for all those who find themselves under Our night sky.”
“Ugh... You must be Celestia’s sister: the famed ‘Princess of the Night.’” Chrysalis let out a sigh. “Why are you here? Come to finish me off after the love birds dispatched my children and me?”
“Not at all.” Princess Luna approached Chrysalis and put forth a hoof in reassurance. “We simply wish to be your guiding light.”
“What would you know about guiding me?” The changeling queen turned on the princess, hissing and swatting away the hoof that was extended to her. “You keep your pretty princess paws away from me.”
Chrysalis stood with what energy she had recovered and walked away from the princess; she didn’t care where she went as long as it was forward. Luna tread after the distraught queen, keeping her distance as they strode silently through the forest. They walked under the moonlight for what seemed like hours before coming out of the treeline. Ahead, a meadow stretched out before them. Across the field, a cliff dropped away into the darkness.
“Why do you insist on following me, Your Majesty?” Chrysalis’ voice was thick with sarcasm as the title slid off her slimy tongue. “There is nothing you can do for me. My life is done and I shall die here in peace. Can you not just accept that?”
“We cannot, because even though you state otherwise, you are not, in fact, ‘at peace.’ You may be willing to throw your life away over the fear you feel from being separated from your children, but that does not mean you are content at heart.”
“Not content at heart‽” The queen lashed out at the princess, attempting to strike her down. “You know nothing of the torment I’ve gone through since that day!”
Luna’s reaction was swift. A midnight blue glow lit the area as her magic grabbed the changeling by the front legs and pulled them taught. Chrysalis’ weight shifted toward the ground in mid flight and sent her tumbling along the terrain. When her body finally came to rest, she found herself at the edge of the cliff looking down its sheer slope to the land below.
“You insolent foal!” Something flashed across Princess Luna’s visage, like a dark fire being rekindled and then fading again as quickly as it came. “You dare speak to Us of torment? We spent a thousand years imprisoned on the moon, left alone with nothing but our hate to keep us company. What’s worse is that our banishment was issued by our own beloved sister. The thoughts We had nearly drove Us mad. Thoughts of neglect. Of abandonment. Of betrayal. Do you even understand what it is like to feel that sort of pain every day for a millenia?”
The changeling queen did not respond. She merely rose from the ground, turned away from the princess, and sat facing out over the landscape below her. Luna trotted up and took a seat beside her, the moon and stars watching over them as they stared out into the vast distance. Chrysalis thought she saw something break the horizon in the distance, but it was only for a split second. She dismissed it as her weary mind playing tricks on her.
The dark queen let out a sigh that drifted into the night. “Why are you being so nice to me after I tried to take over Canterlot? You should hate my race by all accounts.”
“Our...” Luna paused for a moment to correct herself. This was an intimate matter, and did not require such royal formalities. “My sister and the others may share some resentment, but I was not present during the attack. I do not harbor such emotions towards you and your kin. Any who walk under my night sky are equals in my eyes, and I do not wish for anyone to be in pain. The moonlight sees many things and can peer into the hearts and minds of those who cry out to it. When you looked up into its gaze I heard your sorrow. It was the same anguish that engulfed me when I felt neglected by the subjects of Equestria all those years ago.”
“How did you deal with it?” Chrysalis looked up at the princess. Tears had once again started to flow down her face.
“I didn’t. Not immediately, at least. The grief had overwhelmed me, smothered me. It turned me into something I never wanted to become: a nightmare. When my sister turned against me, I was powerless to reverse the transformation.”
The changeling queen was silent. She wanted to hear more but wouldn’t admit it aloud. For once in her life, somebody actually seemed to care for her. This wasn’t the forced emotion she usually had to drag out of her prey; this was legitimate. It wasn’t love, so she couldn’t feed on it, but it was something else that felt just as good.
“It wasn’t until my return that I found redemption,” Luna continued.
“Redemption?”
“Yes. Upon my return from exile, the six ponies who you encountered in Canterlot – Twilight and her friends – sought to stop my evil form from casting Equestria in an everlasting night. Instead of putting an end to me, their elements of harmony reached into my heart and brought the real me to the surface once more. Their light extinguished the darkness that had held me captive for so many years even when Celestia could not accomplish such a feat.”
The two continued to gaze over the landscape, letting Luna’s words sink into the queen’s mind. When the two finally spoke, it was Chrysalis that broke the silence as she dried the tears from her eyes.
“Do you really think a heart as dark as mine can be changed?”
“I do not know. That is for you to decide.”
“Thank you ever so much much for those words of wisdom, oh great lunar princess.” Sarcasm again laced Chrysalis words but the emotion she had been feeling continued to grow. She was even beginning to regain her strength, yet she had not fed at all.
“That’s what friends do, my lovely queen.” Luna’s words matched the banter of the changeling’s, but in a more playful way.
“Fr-friend?” Chrysalis had never once heard that word used in reference to her, not outside of one of her guises. This was the new feeling that had been welling up inside her: genuine friendship. Even in the small amount that Luna could provide her, it was enough to replenish the queen’s stamina. She couldn’t believe it, and so she tried to deny it. “You lie! No pony would ever befriend a changeling. You all view us as a hideous race! A blemish upon your kind’s world that should only exist in the shadows or not at all.”
“As I said before, I see all who walk in the night air to be equals. I view you no differently than any other pony, especially with the loneliness we share. The greatest way to fight that loneliness is with friends, and you needed one tonight.”
This was a fact that Chrysalis still struggled to accept, but she finally settled on a simple “hmmph...” She rose to her feet and looked out at the horizon again. This time she definitely saw something.
“You spotted it, didn’t you? The creature on the horizon in my setting moon’s light?” Luna asked. Chrysalis only nodded in response. “It is indeed one of your children. There are many of them and they are searching for you. They miss you as much as you miss them.”
A single tear made its way down the queen’s cheek, one that she did not anticipate. Indeed, she flinched in shock as it tickled her coat.
What is this? Can it be true that my heart has actually been warmed?
These questions she asked of herself kept coming back with the same answer: yes, a changeling queen’s heart can be touched by friendship. She turned to Luna with a look of awe on her face.
“Th-thank you, princess.”
“You are welcome. Now go to them and always remember: when the night is at its darkest, the stars shine their brightest. If you ever need Us, you know where to find Us. We will leave you with a warning, though. If you ever set hoof in Canterlot or its protectorate again, my sister and I will hold nothing back. You are best to seek out a new life elsewhere. Until our next encounter, We bid you adieu.”
Before Chrysalis could respond, Luna had vanished into the night as if she had faded into the moonlight itself. The queen ran over the events of the night in her mind as she took to the skies with renewed life. She would find her children and they would forge a new hive and a new lifestyle far from Equestria. The changeling queen’s heart felt light as she flew. Though she dared not to admit it to anyone, a smile crossed her face and for once in her life she was genuinely happy.
