Once upon a time, within the borders of the teetering, crumbling kingdom of the changelings, there was a filly. This filly was a princess, the daughter of the Queen, a foal created from continuous generations of inbreeding in the name of keeping a family line “pure”. As it came to pass, the filly’s mother—the Queen of the Changelings: Chrysalis Roachanov—after years of bearing foals of which all but this one now stood with the ancestors in the Afterlife. At the same time, struggling with the strains of rule to the breaking point had built about herself a prison of despair.
It was a cruel blow upon discovering her only surviving daughter would never have a whole mind or sound body. She had a withered left foreleg. Her wings were undersized and would never bear her in flight. Her spine bore an unnatural curvature from inbred genes. She drooled constantly and suffered from the occasional lazy eye. Though she was well looked after and relatively healthy, Princess Pupa would never be able to become a strong leader for her country. Should she ascend to the throne after her mother's passing, her incompatibilities would render her little more than a figurehead until she herself, if was possible, bore a capable heir who would succeed her upon her passing.
The House of Roachanov could very well been in its dying throes as a dynasty.
Queen Chrysalis was well aware of this grim, looming prospect and it gnawed at her nerves. This revelation dawned upon her soon after discovering Pupa's development would never result in her being a normal changeling filly. Anger and bitterness ate at her heart as the social and economic collapse of her country compounded her frustrations in maintaining herself. Chrysalis put forth the face of a strong ruler in the face of being essentially the world's pariah. Her changelings fled from her kingdom in droves; her army was bloated and draining her coffers, and taxes were rocketing as well as unemployment. The Changeling Kingdom’s very foundations were breaking down.
Chrysalis felt utterly alone and in turn grew to resent her daughter, who remained oblivious to this fact, believing her mother and Cerci to be the two most beautiful and important changelings in her life. Her world consisted of the love she had for her, rarely seen mother and Cerci, who told Pupa many stories of how great her mother was and how much she loved her little daughter. Thus was layer upon layer placed over the mind and ears of the Crown Princess led her to believe with all her little heart she was utterly and completely loved. She was told she was protected by her mother. The Queen was working to protect her little changeling from darker things beyond the walls of the palace.
One evening, while looking for a way to apologize to her mother for a making her angry by mistakenly defacing some important papers, Pupa had drawn something really special while under the careful eye of Cerci. The concept of right and wrong in the mind of a child like Pupa was simplistic at best. She knew her needs but wanted so desperately to please her mother. It was absolutely dreadful for the filly to experience her mother's wrath; the twisted visage, scowling her displeasure and above all, her savage voice. Mother was an absolute terror to the filly when her ire was raised and the stress of the monarchy had already begun to tear down the limits to how far her temper would take her. As it was, the adventurous filly was notorious for her ability to slip past servants and at some point found her mother's room while searching for paper with which she could draw on. Alas, the parchment she selected was of some importance to her mother. Not knowing this, Pupa drew upon it as she had drawn on other pieces of paper. Chrysalis found out about this in the middle of the meeting. She was embarrassed and she made her anger clear to her daughter.
This was the incident for which Pupa wanted to apologize. She sneaked (rather, made a beeline through the empty halls) again to her mother's room to give Chrysalis a drawing she had worked really hard on. As she placed the drawing, she acted as all curious children do and promptly found everything and anything she could. In the end, the mess was great and unfortunately the first adult eyes to fall upon the battlefield of the royal chambers were none other than the Queen herself.
Tired, in pain from her stressful position, Chrysalis finally had enough. Her legendary temper filled her mind with nothing but rage. The only changeling she could take it out on was sadly her only daughter who clearly did not understand why her mother was angry. Such innocence became her undoing as the next few moments were the most terrifying acts either of them would ever remember for the remainder of their days. In short: the Queen snapped.
Chrysalis beat Pupa a bloody pulp and straight into unconsciousness, stayed from killing her only child at the last minute by Cerci’s intervention. Reality came crashing down and the Queen viewed with growing horror what she had done to her own flesh and blood.
She was utterly devastated and shattered with her own actions and rightfully loathed herself. Pupa, however, had experienced something far, far worse as her heart broke moments before the first blow of her mother's hoof found her flesh.
The last thing she remembered of her mother was the hate directed at her and the terror within her own heart...
She was drowning in an endless sea of darkness, too weak and crushed under its weight to kick her little legs. She could see nothing but the darkness. Her ears felt like they were filled with water, muffling out the sounds she could best identify as other changelings talking. The strangest thing was she could definitely feel something. Something invisible caressing her in a warm, soothing embrace.
She had never felt this way before. She did not wonder where she was or whether something was wrong, she just felt so peaceful.
A glow appeared all of a sudden in the darkness. It looked like the tiny flicker of a bedside candle light, slowly growing brighter. The more she stared at it, the more relaxed she became, and the muffled sounds and the soft caress began to fade.
Then all of a sudden, the glow changed a bright white, flashing over her eyes again and again. Something tight and uncomfortable formed around her chest and legs, much unlike the caress she enjoyed so much. The sound in her ears began to grow, this time clearer and more distressed.
Still, she understood not what was happening or if she was in trouble, until something cold pressed against her lips, and a gush of air blew down her throat, and she knew no more…
Meanwhile, in the kingdom of Equestria, the Spirit of Disharmony brought the turmoil of Chrysalis to the attention of a long-time foe of the changeling queen, Princess Celestia. The Sun Princess prepared to make a long journey, but not before bringing this
news to the attention of her sister. The Princess of the Moon had the unique ability to peer into the dreams of others. Upon her elder sister's request, Princess Luna reluctantly agreed to peer into the questionable mind of Queen Chrysalis. Taking a deep breath, she did so and found a mind so racked with guilt, she found a tiny form quailing before the memory.
Luna found Pupa and saw what her mother did to her.
Her focus changed and the dark alicorn sought out the dreams of one who needed more help than her elder sister believed. Few knew about Pupa and even fewer knew of her condition. Luna quickly became one of the scant few. An expert in her domain of dreams, it was no small wonder she quickly found what she sought.
Princess Pupa became aware she was being held in light, caring hooves, her tiny form feeling whole and perfect. The first thing to catch her attention was the soft lullaby of a comforting voice unknown to her. She only knew peace and a gentle, loving touch as a warm muzzle touched briefly against her forehead just below her crooked horn. It was a wonderful feeling. Awareness became focus as she found cyan eyes awaiting her with twinkling smiles.
"Hello, little one," she cooed to Pupa.
Pupa did not know this face, this mare gazing down upon her. She should have felt afraid of this stranger. She did not know this dark mare. What kind of mare was she? Certainly not a changeling! Shrinking away from the face embedded herself into the chest and forehooves of her unexpected caretaker, Pupa's initial reaction was to begin to panic. She wailed, searching about for Cerci. Where was Cerci? Why wasn't she here to hold her and cuddle her? She wriggled and whined piteously.
"Shh. No need to fear me, little one," Luna said gently, brushing her cheek with the back of her hoof. "You are safe here." Her horn flared with magic as she soothed the little princess. Carefully she hid away the incident of most recent memory from the thoughts of the princess. "This is thy dream. Nothing can harm thee in thy dream. Dost thou understand?"
Pupa clearly did not, but the strange mare seemed nice. Mewling curiously and with still some lingering fears, she fidgeted, surveying her surroundings. Cerci had to be around here somewhere. She would tell her if this mare was a friend or not and whether or not to get away from her. Pupa was not at all comfortable around strangers. Somehow, her normal urge to panic was quelled by the simple presence of the mare cradling her in her hooves like a newborn. She also noticed the mare smelled nice, a lot like bubblegum, in fact.
"My name is Princess Luna. I wish to be your friend," said the mare soothingly. "Would you like to be my friend? I might even be able to find a guardian for you while you dream, if that would make you feel better. Would you like that?"
Pupa made a sound, more like a shriek. Luna found it difficult to decide whether the response was positive or negative, rearing her head away from the filly with her ears laid back as she winced. She laughed merrily, also a bit bewildered at this unexpected reply.
"Thy voice is shrill," she noted with amusement, understanding showing in her gaze at what lay in her forehooves. "It doth pierce the ears, little Pupa."
Pupa wailed for Cerci, wriggling her hooves helplessly as she squirmed. It was a futile attempt at escape as the alicorn giggled at the adorable little one and held her closer to her chest.
"Nay, little one, no harm shall come to thee," promised Luna assuredly. Properly realizing she was dealing with a handicapped filly, she immediately shifted her tactics to more simplistic measures. It put her off a bit as she was unused to dealing with such a child. Still, her heart poured out to the little one as she perused Pupa's most recent memory before lapsing into a coma. She winced inwardly while maintaining a serene and calming visage for the little princess.
“Oh, how thou hast suffered unjustly," she spoke with great sadness, raising a hoof to brush her pretty little mane. She cooed the frightened princess some more and nuzzled her with the comfort a mother would give her child. Pupa liked being petted and settled a little.
Celestia certainly had an uncertain task before her. It would not be easy as she unraveled what had happened. Luna felt her sister could handle this. Knowledge of the Princess of the Night also playing a hoof in the affairs of changelings would rub Chrysalis the wrong way, so this would have to be a secret, perhaps even from the Princess of the Sun.
Luna had plenty of them as it was. What was one more? Besides, this was more than likely what her sister had in mind, right? ‘Tia had a knack for these sorts of things, but had not Discord brought this whole incident to her attention to begin with? Luna snorted inwardly even as she worked on calming the wide-eyed changeling in her possession. Discord was unpredictable, but she suspected even he had a heart, though it be twisted. His method to madness remained a mystery, but one must never look a gift draconequus in the mouth.
A thought occurred to her as she dug deeply into the reserves of the Dreamscape, searching for somepony—something to relate with Pupa. Clearly as she was not a pony, Luna would have a difficult time relating to the child. Seeing nothing in this dimension, she searched further as her realm allowed her to reach deeply into reaches unknown even to her.
"I think I have just the guardian to keep you safe while you dream," she said to Pupa with a gentle smile. Pupa gurgled at the alicorn, having finally nestled against her breast, enjoying the warmth radiating off her. It was occurring to her just now that no harm was going to come to her and the mare was indeed genuinely nice and well-intentioned as she first guessed moments ago.
The problem with dreams was she had to find another being who was also dreaming at a similar depth as Pupa. Right now, the little one was in a coma and they were difficult to gauge. They were tricky and depended upon so many different factors. She trusted her instincts and sought for what she needed.
Oddly enough, she found one such being. Reaching out with her dark magic, Luna sought out and touched his dream, gently prodding here and there for anything which might cause a problem in integrating both dreams into one. Even stranger was a brief sense of familiarity with this creature, as if she should know this one. The thought passed and she concentrated on bringing this newfound guardian. She considered his mind for a moment and found it sound and very open. There was a parallel to his thinking she found beneficial and noted how it might act in regards to the limitations of the changeling princess.
She approved of what she saw and completed merging the dreams. She found enough of his memories to discern this chosen soul more than fit to share a dream with a child in need of comfort and security. To stay longer herself would violate her own duty to her own ponies as she was more prone to brush the dreams of her subjects. As Pupa was most certainly not her subject, she had to resort to this measure of finding a companion for the Crown Princess in the form of a prince in his own right.
Silent Wing approached, following the call of a voice he knew but could not place. Upon wing beats alluding to his namesake, he glided through the air, unaware he was dreaming as he followed the draw. For him, it was a tugging, a yearning. With golden eyes like a dragon's and a pale yellow and gray body, his crimson mane trailed behind him with a thick band of black streaming from between his ears. A similar streak was in his short tail. He appeared as a pegasus, but his two left legs were most certainly not that of a pony's. The pitted appendages were like those of a changeling's, his mouth fanged like one. In truth, Silent Wing was a chimera. In another existence, another time, another place, he was the adopted son of a queen and a conduit for a power he had ultimately rejected. Currently, his own world was in turmoil.
His dream also was being monitored by his world's mistress of dreams.
Two Lunas had at one moment focused upon each other without either being aware of it. The chances of this occurrence was phenomenally impossible to know, to even conceive, yet it had happened. It was not the first time this would happen. It would not be the last. It was an unspoken pact to respect each other's dimensions. Permission was not needed, but the mares would not interfere. Dimensional dreams were complicated affairs.
Somewhere, Discord approved.
"Wait here, sweetheart," Luna told Pupa as she created a bed from nothing and gently tucked the bewildered princess within its soft covers. "He shall be here shortly." Something told her he should not see her. All around the bed a room in the likeness of her own bedroom appeared. Pupa was in her own chamber, with her own mountains of plush toys. It was her own bed she rested snuggly in. It looked like the whole palace appeared, but the only soul within it was the Crown Princess herself.
She felt something was going to happen and waited expectantly even as Luna smiled down at her. With an impatient wail, she reached out to Luna. The alicorn indulged her with a nuzzle, allowing the hug as she felt there was time enough. Pupa was still a frightened little thing and Luna had to work to keep the filly's memory from emerging again.
"I have a friend for you, my cherub," she promised. "His name is Silent Wing. Do not fear, you can trust him." Gently breaking the embrace, she playfully bopped Pupa on the tip of her muzzle with a hoof. "Boop!" she cried with a giggle.
"Luna?" Silent Wing called out, finding himself wandering down the halls of a palace he thought he should know. Yet, it was unfamiliar to him. Likewise the presence of Luna felt familiar, yet at the same time was definitely different. Confused, he padded with cautious, silent steps belying his hooves. Like a pale wraith, he slinked down the halls, his dragon eyes glowing in the gloom. This was a dark place, reminding him of home. Yet the sorrow within these halls seeped deeply within the stones. This was a sad home to tragedy, he thought.
Further up the hall, he heard a cry and followed the sound. It led him down a corridor to a door. Beyond the door wailed the unmistakable sound of a frightened child, a filly. Narrowing his eyes, Silent Wing pushed the door inward with a hoof, unsure as to what to expect.
He was not expecting a changeling dressed like royalty to be staring at him, her mouth frozen open in mid-scream. A pitiful sight of a tear-streaked face greeted him; a child in the throes of a tantrum and very much frightened. Looking around the room, he sniffed the air and found no threat. His ears swiveled around, seeking out threats as his eyes settled upon the child in the middle of the bed.
At first, he thought it was Atalanta, his sister. But no, this changeling was far too young, and on top of that, there were also certain things wrong with her, though at that moment, he could not place a hoof on what they were. Firstly, her left foreleg was badly shriveled and her wings were far too underdeveloped for her age. Her glassy harlequin eyes were sunken in and she drooled ceaselessly.
The chimera approached her cautiously, settling his wings against his sides as his gaze softened.
"Who are you?" he asked the filly.
She squealed in fright when he spoke, trying to pull away from him.
"Luna sent me to you, didn't she?" He stopped abruptly, dropping on his rump and regarding the frightened child. As if she was watching him (which she was) the child's memories were made briefly known to the chimera, with only some brutal details left out. Suddenly he knew this child was named Pupa and she had just been beaten severely by...
The identity of the assailant was hidden from him.
"Queen's mercy!" he exclaimed, his heart going out to her. "Luna sent me to you. Why?"
She made a sound, pitiful, almost forming coherent words. To Silent Wing, it came across close to 'I'm sorry'. She repeated the gargling noise over and over in a broken voice before finally breaking down in tears. It was a wail of anguish, loss, and suffering fear.
For what seemed like an eternity, this curious changeling child kept on apologizing in her broken, garbled way, bawling more often than not. Her wide eyes never left Silent Wing and he made no move to come any closer. Instead, he spoke to her softly, gently, being very careful not to bare his fangs at her. She drooled, not noticing the mess she was making of herself; she was too busy sniffling and huffing. Her eyes were now red and puffy from crying.
She looked like Mother, he noted with marvel. Somehow, this was the daughter of Chrysalis. He tried to talk to the filly and eventually he came to realize this was not a whole child. She was not only physically handicapped, but mentally as well. She had Mother's beauty and Silent could easily look past her physical ailments as he knew all too well the stares his own so-called 'deformities' had seemed to other changelings. In his reality, she would be nothing more than a baby maker and little else.
He changed tactics, thinking maybe he should introduce himself. He had never moved from where he sat, looking as nonthreatening as possible. "My name is Silent Wing," he said, pointing a hoof to his chest. Taking the same hoof, he held it for a moment before using it to point to the filly. "What is your name?"
She stared at him, swathed in a mess of blankets she had curled about her body as she initially had tried to scramble away from this strange colt. He was pale, small, strong and had strange eyes. His mane was funny; messy and like a lopsided haystack on his head. There was a jagged scar on his chest and his fangs weren't as long as most changelings. His accent was strange, but she understood what he was trying to do. He was trying to be nice. Did he have to look so scary?
Pupa’s lips tried to form a coherent sentence, but she failed miserably, hard as she tried. Her words came out a jumbled mess, a strangled cry still ebbing and flowing with her crying. Even if she wasn't weeping, the formation of words were beyond her meager abilities.
Her name is Pupa. The voice rang softly in his sensitive ears. Luna laughed as she was prone to do when she caught herself being too serious. Silent Wing's ears swiveled to seek her out, but to no avail.
“Pupa?” he ventured to the little form in the middle of the bed.
The Princess smiled and nodded happily, though she was still not sure of her unwanted visitor. He had done nothing aggressively. Like the strange mare from before, he seemed friendly. Happily the filly repeated her name over and over, clapping her hooves together as her little mane bounced on her head as she nodded. The mare from earlier had said she would bring her a friend. Was this him? He looked weird!
Daring a chance, Silent Wing went forward slowly, moving as though his body was in cold molasses. The filly was saying something, perhaps her own name, but it came out as a sort of resonating moan bordering a shriek. At least she wasn't crying any more.
"Pupa? That's a pretty name for a pretty filly, isn't it?" Luna sent him here for a reason, he was sure of it. Was it to protect this filly? Was she in danger? Why was she alone here? Was this a dream? He wasn't sure. Everything was fuzzy. He remembered seeing a dragon blow up in his dying throes, shielding Luna's body with his own before everything went white and his world was nothing but pain before it went dark.
She just needs a friend at this very moment.
The voice was clearer now and unmistakable, drawing the colt's attention from Pupa to the window and the full moon hanging in the night sky beyond. It seemed unnaturally close, as if peering in. Silent Wing perked his ears towards the pale glowing orb. For a moment, he thought he could see Luna's face within it, smiling gently at him, encouraging and hopeful.
I could think of no other pony better to be with her than you.
"What's going on?" he asked the moon. Pupa stared at him in confusion, wondering who he was talking to. She turned her head to see what he was looking at and noticed the celestial object glowing softly in the sky. Only, she did not see just a moon. She saw certain things with far more clarity than Silent Wing.
She could easily make out Luna, her pure little heart as honest as any, wanting to love and be love in the simplest of forms. Pupa reached her hooves out, wanting to smell the bubble gum mare again!
Give her love to cling to, to give her the strength to weather this storm at this point of her young life. She is an innocent, Silent Wing. She is a filly.
"Is this a dream?" he asked as he neared the edge of the bed.
Yes. Specifically, it is her dream. I joined yours with hers in hopes you could give her comfort. You saw what I showed you. Luna lingered her thoughts upon him, as if reading something else. What she saw she kept to herself, but there was...envy? Yes, that and a sense of happiness for him and what lay within his heart.
"She was beaten, wasn't she?" Silent Wing's anger was hidden beneath a strange calm in his voice. "Who did it?" His eyes flickered to Pupa who appeared disappointed at something as her hooves fell to little chest. She pouted and sniffled, drooling some more on herself.
That does not matter and bears no relevance in this case. Please trust me with this. You do not need to know. Just let Pupa feel needed and loved. That is important right now.
"What would you have me do?" he asked the moon. Pupa found a colt talking to Luna to be funny for some reason and giggled. The pale pony was silly!
What did you do when your sister was afraid?
The question was amused in its presentation, Luna having already placed a hoof on the answer before Silent could answer with, "I sang to Atalanta when she was scared or a bad dream woke her up."
With that, the moon pulsed in approval and its light faded in sort of farewell.
Silent sighed with a chuckle, shifting his attention to the blanket-swaddled bundle in the middle of the bed. Now understanding he was in a dream—Pupa's dream, the chimera decided to be a big brother to the little changeling princess. Luna had asked. Was it his Luna? Was it a different Luna? His mind was boggled, confused, and having to deal with the little creature. Effortlessly, he hopped up into the bed, the sudden shift of the mattress drawing sharply the little changeling's attention to him. Her eyes went wide again with sudden fright. Pupa cried out, cringing from the sudden movement.
Silent lay down in front of her, humming a song one of his own nannies had sung to him long ago when he was little. It was a song Chrysalis would sing to him only a few times and only when it was directed towards Atalanta. He didn't have the best voice in the world, but so long as he sung softly, the strain on his vocal chords weren't painful to any potential listener. The language of the song was old, the very same Pupa seemed to know. Silent Wing finished the first melody with his humming before trusting his voice to start the song over with words. Pupa stopped crying and stared at him with growing awe.
His own world was a mess and he honestly thought he was dead, but this...this moment of realization he was in a dream gave him hope he was still alive. Luna, at least seemed unharmed by the death of the dragon and this in turn gave him hope all was not lost for himself. His song came out stronger as he started the next verse of the song, unaware of the little form creeping towards him through the tangle of blankets. Unbidden, he offered shelter beneath the partial unfurling of a feathered wing, an inviting formation of a furred and feathered cave for a certain princess to hide within.
Pupa needed little prompting at this opportunity, having finally been won over. It only took a little assist from the larger prince as she snuggled beneath his wing, dragging the blanket after her. Turning in her little protective place, she turned and turned in a circle, pulling more and more of the blanket in after her until it bowled up into a sort of nest beneath Silent's wing.
The prince laughed, forgetting his own troubles for a moment and finding peace with the handicapped princess as the centre of his attention. Resting his hooves on his forelegs, he fixed an eye upon the princess as her own harlequin eyes peered out from her makeshift little blanket fort from beneath his snuggly warm and soft feathers and side.
Pupa felt safe now. She chirped at him happily.
"I'll stay as long as your dream lets me," he promised. It was an odd promise to make as he had no idea how long that would be. Pupa snuggled against his side, drooling everywhere. He didn't mind, despite the warm, sticky feeling making his skin tingle. There were far worse things in the world than the uncontrollable drool of an impossibly adorable changeling princess. "Big brother Silent Wing is with you now." He thought of a different song and began to sing to her. Pupa tried to sing along, but the best she could manage was a warbling sound not really at all close to the actual song itself, but she was slowly finding her happiness again and feeling the love she thought only Cerci could provide.
Maybe, he was just as important as Cerci. Maybe, he was just as important as Mo-
Pupa began to cry as she remembered, her little heart breaking all over again. A pale yellow muzzle found her snotty snout and nuzzled, uncaring for the mess she was and simply being there. Silent Wing was an expert at being a big brother.
"Don’t cry, I'll chase the bad things away," he said to the snuffling princess. Atalanta used to have nightmares all the time. The memories of sneaking into her room when he heard her crying in the middle of the night tugged at his heart. He missed his little sister.
Pupa shuddered and kept on crying, looking completely miserable as she knew all over again.
The dream shifted, everything fading away. A large form loomed before them, terrible in her wrath with a pair of green orbs glowering balefully down upon them, its voice garbled but familiar. The words were incoherent as they were as Pupa had remembered them, the meaning unknown, the intentions unmistakable. It was spiteful hate, disappointment. It was also an unmistakable shape to Silent Wing, if quite a bit larger in bulk than the form he knew.
When did Mother let herself go? He wondered this in shock as he was suddenly looking up at his mother, rearing in fury, her body cruel and savage and disproportionately edged with harmful intent. Her fangs were sharper, features more angular and dangerous. She looked awful, stressed, and beyond the breaking point. But the hideous fact was there before him; Chrysalis was fat, overweight, out of shape, and appeared absolutely pitiful.
He could not fear this form. Silent Wing could only pity it.
There were two voices he could now make out.
You’ve ruined it.
You ruin everything.
You are ungrateful.
You will be punished.
You’re worthless.
“There you are!” cried the great and angry form of an overweight Chrysalis.
Was that Pupa's inner voice? The other voice was sinister, mocking. Chrysalis was shrill, out of shape, breathless. It looked like she could keel over and have a heart attack at any moment.
Suddenly, the air was heavy with the presence of the angry queen. Her eyes were like green flames. The voice was an echo, yet resonated in a manner utterly terrifying to Pupa. To Silent Wing, it whispered of the past, brought to this moment. Why was Luna letting him see this? He felt she was watching, somewhere.
“And this is how you treat your own mother in return?! I’m working my hooves to the bone, trying to make things better for you, but you... all you do is lie around and drool!” The voice of the Queen was here and before, resonating and shaking the very foundation of Pupa's dream itself.
Silent Wing could hear Pupa begin to sniffle; her body had already gone stiff with fright. She was suddenly gone from beneath the protection of his wing, the scene shifting as a memory replayed itself painfully before his horrified eyes. The little filly was now in the magical grip of her overly stressed and very, very angry mother. He was already moving, surging forward even as Chrysalis paid him no heed. Why would she? This was but a memory. A terrible, catastrophic memory.
“You know something, sweetie?” Chrysalis chuckled and placed a hoof under Pupa’s chin, tilting her head up and forcing her to look at her. “All mommy ever wanted was a nice, normal daughter who could take over her kingdom when she’s gone. But what did I get instead?” she continued sweetly. Then, her smile vanished as her face decomposed into that same hateful scowl and pointed her shaking hoof between her eyes accusingly. “I got YOU! You’re a stupid, inbred waste of space! You don’t deserve your 'birthright'! Do you understand that?! YOU’RE WORTHLESS!”
By now the tears were pouring fluidly from Pupa’s eyes. She could literally feel the pain inside her chest; it was her little heart breaking. Every cruel, vicious word her mother spat made her feel like she was being stabbed with a burning sword. She curled up into a ball and covered her head to make herself as small as possible.
Silent Wing was conflicted at this point. His rational mind told him this was just a bad dream, a nightmare. By all means, there was no reason to think he could in any way stop this nightmare from happening. After all, it had already happened. However, he had never, ever met this side of Queen Chrysalis. Not knowing if he could stop this from happening again, he still had already decided to do something about and planted himself squarely between the filly and the enraged queen easily twice his size (more so since she had put on a lot of unnecessary pounds). Flaring his wings out defensively, he glared at the queen.
"No," he growled.
She seemed not to notice the prince as if he wasn't even there. “Well, I’ve had it with you! You’re not a Princess! You’re not my daughter! You’re nothing but an EMBARRASSMENT!!” She screamed with fire spitting out of her mouth, but she retained her senses enough to see the quivering ball before her. She picked her up and magically forced her eyes open. “LOOK AT ME WHEN I AM SPEAKING TO YOU!”
The scene had shifted, now the queen was holding her daughter inches from her fanged maw, her face contorted in ugly rage as she railed against the tiny, helpless filly.
This confused Silent Wing, who whirled to see if Pupa was behind him. She was not.
"No!" he cried, his anger and confusion railing against his love for his mother.
No. This Chrysalis was not the mare who adopted him. This was a raging beast waging a war she had already lost against a helpless child.
As if out of nowhere, Pupa suddenly slapped Chrysalis. It was more an effort to push herself away from her mother than to actually try and inflict harm—as if that was even remotely possible—and Pupa was suddenly confronted with a completely different shift as her mother went insane with rage.
“I’LL KILL YOU!”
Silent Wing yelled, no longer able to bear it, "NO, STOP IT! YOU'VE ALREADY DONE THIS, MOTHER!"
My dear Silent, it is as much your dream as it is hers. You can change a simple dream, can't you? Luna's voice suddenly appeared in his mind, tinkling merrily without losing the seriousness of its intent.
Somehow, he broke the dream, inserting his own Dreamscape into the little princess'. There was no magic, just his own will to exert himself into the dream, to break the cycle. Once was enough. What he had seen was plain. Though he was small, the chimera was a bundle of muscle and in far better physical condition than Chrysalis. He shouldered her heavily, snatching Pupa's small form in his jaws, gently applying his fangs to hold and not damage.
The Queen staggered back from the blow and what she was in Pupa's dream merged with the nightmares of Silent's own making. The wailing princess found herself clinging to his neck as he fell to a crouch and lowered his prize gently to the ground.
"Mother loves you," he told Pupa as the dark form surged towards the two of them. "Look at my eyes, Pupa," Silent pleaded to her as Pupa continued to wail uncontrollably. "You can't get hurt when you're with me. I promise!" He enfolded her in a hug, shielding her protectively. She needed reassurance, comfort. The world she knew shattered irreparably along with her heart.
“I’LL KILL YOU!” roared Chrysalis again monstrously, hovering over them like an immense black dragon.
"No, you won't," said Silent as he stroked Pupa's mane.
The sobbing filly buried her face into his neck. Though he could never even begin to understand the circumstances to which this sorry history had unfolded, the adopted son of Queen Chrysalis stared up at this one with no fear whatsoever. Mother would never do this! Mother would never lift a hoof to her own foal! His wings unfolded from his sides and draped around Pupa protectively. He wasn't sure if she was dying or if she would live or if this would be the last dream she would ever have, but he decided Luna had brought him for a singular reason.
"I'm not letting you go until you are safe and out of danger," he promised Pupa.
If she was going to die, at least let her know she was going beyond knowing someling loved her.
Silent Wing was sure of this and wept for her as he glared at the raging form of a thing resembling his mother wavering uncertainly, her rage fading to confusion before fading out of existence. No, that was a monster, a broken thing raging at them both, coming closer and closer. Here eyes were now red with rage, but she wavered.
Concentrating as hard he could, Silent Wing shifted the dream, remembering a tree from his own dream. His focus was not for him. It was lush and big and beautiful. A lithe changeling form familiar to him awaited him and his little sister - only it wasn't Atalanta with him.
"Come on, Pupa," he said to her, pulling his wings back. "Look!"
A warm breeze and the sound of birds broke her sorry mood. The disabled princess sniffled, her runny nose dripping along with her uncontrollable drool. She could not know this was not her dream, but in fact was the chimera’s own safe haven within his own dreams. It was here he had protected his own mind from the cruel intentions of his father. It was here he kept himself from falling into his own despair. His true mother had molded this in his mind as an infant, allowing for the hybrid colt to form for himself those things in this part of his dream that made him feel safe.
Queen Chrysalis—their mother—awaited them, her smile warm and inviting. This queen was the one Silent had known his whole life, the stern monarch capable of a gentle heart. "There's mother! She awaits us!" He picked Pupa up in his mouth and set her gently between his wings. Shifting his wings, he hefted them up to act as a sort of cradle to keep the princess from falling off.
Pupa cringed, looking to where her new big brother indicated and found her mother... not angry! She blinked in disbelief.
"It was a bad dream," Silent said. "Mother loves you dearly."
"My baby!" Chrysalis called out. There was love in her voice.
Silent Wing came to the shade beneath the tree and within the welcome presence of the mother he knew. Pupa started, babbling fearfully at her mother...or was it her mother? This one seemed different. It was mother, but it wasn’t! Pupa was confused.
"Our mother..." Silent said, laying down. Chrysalis followed suit, smiling and leaning towards the little bundle on his back. She smiled beautifully, her eyes filled with love, and realizing her sincerity, Pupa returned the smiled and held her legs out, wishing her mother to pick her up. She did and wrapped her up in the tightest of hugs, like she never wanted to let go.
Luna gazed down upon the both of them from her moon, aware of her other self having come in search of Silent Wing. It would not be the first time she would meet one of her selves in the Dreamscape, nor would it be the last. She had her own secrets and there were many, many of them indeed.
My gift to you, Pupa...your dream as you would want it...I will pray you have a happy ending to your tale, child. If not, your brothers and sisters await to embrace you.
The moon winked over the blending of the two dreams.
Then, Princess Pupa woke up.
Author's Note
I'll make a confession here: I've been wanting to write some sort of crossover between Silent Wing and Pupa...she's just such an adorable and lovable character!
A special thanks to MagicMan for allowing me to use his character. This story is as much his as it is mine. Thank you, my friend!
