White Talons and Black Hooves

For those of you who have read the original story from city of gold, this is pretty much a largely edited version of her parts, minor changes to her parts, but alot of stuff in the beginning. Hope this flows with the first chapter.

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At last it was time, she could feel it. After a week of intensive care and love, and Chrysalis was ready to go. Where? She wasn't sure exactly. All she knew was that she would survive this... this exile... Just as she had done with so many other situations. Yes, she'd come marching right back with her head held high, and with an army behind her! She smiled deviously at her wishful thinking, rubbing her porous hooves together. From her cell, she could see the faint shadow of an alicorn. Ah, yes... Getting revenge after all this will be sweeter than the most potent of love...

"Today is the day, my dear changeling." Luna said aloud as she trotted to her cell. As she stopped, she looked the former queen in the eye. "Are you ready?"

"More ready than I shall ever be, princess." Chrysalis stood up, determined look on her onyx-colored features. She stood and waited for a pair of guards to put her legs in shackles, and was then escorted by a squad of both sides of the royal guard and the princess to the throne room.

=+=+=+=+=+=

An audience awaited the changeling. This one being comprised of several different races. From Minotaurs to zebras and everything in between. Basically all races capable of speech and rational thought were her for her sentencing. She recognized most, save for a few she didn't know, nor cared for at the moment. She was led right into the crowds' line of sight, with sorrowful looks and furious glares assaulted her. But all she could think about now was her soon-to-be revenge on all of them. Oh, yes. They made a mistake with letting her make a decision. Their weakness will cost them dearly.

Celestia was opposite of the crowd, on her throne, with Luna already at her side. Maybe that throne would look good in black... Her wings quivered in excitement. So what if she had to start all over again? It'll all be worth it, right? Indeed it will... She thought as the princess of the sun cleared her throat. The crowd behind the queen went silent, awaiting the choice.

"We are all here today to witness the exile of former queen, and international criminal, Chrysalis." Luna started, more than loud enough for everyone to hear. "Her crimes include impersonation of important political and military figures, after kidnapping and either murdering or converting them into her own artificial brood, adultery in the Zebra tribes, prostitution rings in the Equestrian Monarchy, and many other subjects that are too long and or too brutal to be stated in this throne room." The crowd muttered in agreement, eager to just get on with the accusations. "The choice was given to either be exiled to the Capitol Wasteland, or execution." Luna paused, as if for dramatic effect. "The accused has chosen to be exiled!" Many blew out a sigh of relief, while others growled in discontent. "Is this true, Chrysalis?" Everyone in the room was staring at the queen, she could feel it.

"That is true, princess." She replied simply. The crowd once again gave mixed reactions, some disappointed that their blood lust would not be sated today. The princesses looked to one another, and nodded.

"So be it, Changeling. The Capitol wasteland it is." The princesses horns were glowing brightly, causing many to look away or shield their eyes. "Any last words?" Contemplating her last words, she grinned as something dramatic came to mand.

"I'LL SEE YOU ALL IN TARTARUS!" She boomed as light enveloped her entire form. After a flash of blinding light, all that was left of the being was empty shackles and a large piece of singed carpet.

"May Faust be with you Changeling..." Celestia whispered as she stared at the singe mark.

=+=+=+=+=+=

As Chrysalis reached her destination, the land greeted her by her landing face first and making friction with cement for about a foot, then flopping her hooves to the ground, and she then proceeded to cuss violently to herself. As she picked herself up, she noticed a few things. There were wrecked buildings all around her. There was cement beneath her hooves. The air seemed... dirty. There were plenty of things that she didn't recognize, like the blackened husks that once looked to be part of a machine.

The Badlands... It had none of these features. If this is not the Badlands... Then, where am I?
So lost in her observations, she noticed a group of three bipedal creatures... dressed in black armor, with a... White talon on the breast, and carrying strange looking metal sticks... They weren't swords, but she could tell they were metal by the sheen. She then realized they spotted her. Oh, son of a-

=+=+=+=+=+=

Chrysalis was not a happy changeling. Not at all. Somehow with all the rubble of a nearby structure she was hidden, but her magic refused to work, and that meant no invisibility, no camouflage, and no love, or at least not for a while...

The three bipeds were still looking for her, pointing their metal tools this way and that, looking to capture, or kill her. It was always the fate of a changeling, with few exceptions.

"Come on out Diane and we'll consider giving you a painless death! You fucking coward! Come on!" Diane? Who in the buck is Diane?! Then her heart stopped. In her sights she saw two bipeds... But where was the third? She felt her tail being pulled, and snapped her head around, only to have her mouth covered by an invisible figure, surely the third biped, as she felt its cold digits spread around her mouth, preventing her from screaming.

She waited for death, or a drug to set in, as she clenched her eyes shut. After about five minutes, she dared to open her eyes, only to see a slight disfiguration where she thought her future captor was. For about five more minutes, she stared, awaiting the inevitable. She felt the invisible digits leave her lips hesitantly, and she kept quiet, now scared out of her mind. She then felt the digits scratching her behind her ears. It... thinks I'm an animal?

"Well, you're a sight for sore eyes... Name's Jett... But What to call you..." She heard a soft masculine voice whisper. Chrysalis blinked. Now realizing her odds of death were significantly lowered. So she did what every changeling that felt love during a companionship did. She played along, and nuzzled the limb scratching her. Besides, it felt kinda... nice...

=+=+=+=+=+=

Chrysalis had found a food source, and hopefully an ally.

From what she had learned, Jett was another nobody in this 'capital wasteland' working for 'the white talon'. It was much like the Badlands her hive used to be, except with a lot more ruins of an old world. Jett kept telling her that it was a better place, that buildings scraped the sky, and the technology could sustain life, and cure tons of things Chrysalis never even gave a second thought to. But then a magnificent and horrid flash consumed the world, giving birth to all that surrounded her. 'Truly a shame', he kept murmuring. Truly. As it also turned out, the strange sentient creature thought of her as a pet, and felt a steady trickle of affection coming from him. The queen was not planning to let the beast find out of her self-awareness just yet, so she used her native language of buzzing wings, grunts and stomping of her porous hooves against pavement. Though why he talked to her the whole trip was beyond her. Ponies seemed to do that to pets sometimes. Something to vent to? She found it weird.

Jett was a highly intelligent individual for his age, twenty if she remembered correctly, as he was a major supplier of chems to a small army of mercenaries, mostly jet, thus his name. Just like every other mercenary in the "White Talon," he wore black combat armour with a white talon stenciled onto the breast plate. The weird metal sticks they carried were called 'rifles', and apparently calling it a 'gun' was a bad thing, because that would earn you a slap in the back of the head.

Chrysalis pondered all this. If she was not careful, she was sure these beings would kill her without hesitation and even then she hadn't seen their weapons in use, but Jett was trustworthy enough... she hoped.

After their little encounter, Jett had turned off his strange device that made him mostly invisible, revealing his features. Slanted hazel eyes with bags under them, tan skin, red dyed hair (She could see black roots in his mane) and a signature melancholy look to go with it. Certain soldiers had that look. The Thousand mile stare, as the griffons called it. Jett was reliving horrid memories, she could taste it.

She brushed against his leg, bringing him back to reality. He looked down and chuckled a bit, then gave her a rub on the neck. She responded by buzzing her wings, then closed her eyes after several seconds. No one has ever done anything like that. Ever. Not even a brainwashed Minotaur would. She figured this was how dogs felt, and boy did it feel great.

Alas, he stopped, as all good things have to. After several minutes, they were joined by three other black-clad mercenaries, carrying long cylinders with what looked like two metal sticks coming out of the midsection.

"Where is she?" One said gruffly.

"Jett, you see her anywhere?"

"Nah, just rubble and some ammo for a sniper rifle." He emphasized his point by holding up a brass colored spike up for the others to see.

"That's the fifth time this month we've been mislead. You sure our contacts are working to track the bitch down?" The first spoke up again.

"You fucking ask them, you're the one who hired them." Jett put the spike into a back pocket, and slung his silver and white stick on his back. The first sighed, doing the same.

"Let's head home. Cook us up some Jet and some turbo for us wouldja?" The group headed in a certain direction, leading a straight path out of what Chrysalis assumed was once a small town.

"Twenty caps a-"

"Gah!? What the fuck is that thing?" A merc piped up, aiming a small L-shaped tool directly at her. Her eyes widened, and she looked to Jett, who slapped the weapon away and explained how he found 'it' with a lot more profanities than were clearly necessarily.

"Looks like a dog fucked a radroach and that crawled out..." A dog and a saywhothewhatnow-roach?

"HA! You'd know that wouldn't you Red? You stick your dick in just about anything that moves." Hehe... Wait.

"How many 'roaches you fuck yet?"

"Hey! Fuck all of you!"

"Not a snowball's chance in hell, friend. Not a chance." The group laughed hysterically, and this 'Red' character was obviously irritated, kicking loose pieces of pavement here and there. As the laughter died down, they walked towards their home, quickly letting the former queen into their little group as a pet, and she found herself letting out a sigh of relief that went unnoticed to the group.

She knew now, this was going to be like hanging out with a bunch of immature colts in a high school. Oh, how she was going to regret this decision.

=+=+=+=+=+=

"Hey! You done with the batch yet Jett?" The mercs, four in total, were laying about in a metal tunnel underground, with empty bottles and, crates, broken metal shelves, crappy-looking bedrolls... More or less what she expected in a guy cave from her experiences.

"Shut the fuck up or you'll get nothing! And we don't have any fixer for you either motherfucker!" Jett was hunched over some type of chemistry set, and Chrysalis watched everything with a new found curiosity. So many things to watch... She watched as the merc grabbed what looked like a breather with a cylinder on top of it. Curious, she sniffed at it. Jett noticed this and let her smell it, and she put her snout into the breathing apparatus of the strange item, she sniffed an odd smelling liquid, and her eyes widened to see all sorts of colorful shapes. She stood stock still, mouth agape, muttering inaudibly.

"Whoah! It can get high?!" Red exclaimed, sitting up on his bedroll.

"Haha! You took it well for a first-timer!" The group laughed as she began jumping around the room, chasing non-existent illusions. "Well, the batch is done, and from what Lady over here is doing, I have outdone myself with some of the strongest shit so far! Come n' get it boys, caps up front, no tabs with you assholes!"

...And then they got really, really high.