The Untold Story
Chapter One
My story has been told and retold by many of the world’s denizens. Perhaps you have heard it by others, or maybe knowledge of me is only by reputation. I wouldn’t be surprised. I have always known that there is nopony out there who ever knows the full story. Many don’t even want to know. They are content to live their quiet little lives, knowing only the difficulties that came with their environment. But when your environment was like mine, your difficulties are very different from anypony else’s.
I suppose I should start from where it began. I don’t remember when I was brought into the world. Who does? My earliest memories are of where I grew up. It has been so many years that most of the memories are faded to time, but there are a few I can still recall.
When I was just a very young filly I remember walking through the hallways of my family’s home. The walls would shine in the light as though they were made of ceramics. The ceiling was high and if I wanted to I could fly to the top and marvel at how different everything looked. I did not fly up to the top. I wasn’t able to fly until later than most my age. It was difficult because I was not a normal born Pegasus.
In some areas of my home I would see others my age practicing their first spells under the watchful eyes of some adults. Some of them laughed as they tried and failed to perform the most simple of spells. They were not upset, or concerned. They knew they were making progress to quickly match the others. Magic was so easy that once you got used to it a telekinetic spell was second nature. I could easily bring things to me without getting off my pillow. I did not bring things to me though. I wasn’t able to cast the spells until I was older than my peers. It was difficult because I was not a normal born Unicorn.
I made my way to the throne room. At either side of the door were guards to make sure no one entered that wasn’t expected. Anypony who came to see the monarch had to first let the guards know who they were and why they came. They knew me though, and let me in. I suppose they thought that it didn’t matter if I saw them look at me the way they did. I was told that not everypony liked everypony else, though I don’t believe I did anything in particular to warrant the looks they gave me. I entered through the doorway and decided to not bring it up.
My father and mother were there enjoying some time away from the hustle and bustle of ruling a kingdom. My two sisters were there as well, playing with our parents. I say sisters but we were not blood related. I knew that I was not my parent’s child, but that didn’t matter to me at the time because they took me in when I had nowhere to go. It was because they took me in that I was able to see things most fillies never would have seen in their whole lives. There are many wonderful things out there that ponies can build and achieve when they work together. The four pony races worked together and were able to have peace for a very long time.
The Pegasus ponies were fierce and quick. They could move clouds and encourage the weather in ways no other pony could. It was the dream of many fillies and colts to be able to help the world around them to be safe from unwanted weather, and the steps taken to balance nature were precise and at times difficult.
The Unicorn ponies were a bit pompous, but powerful. They could command and control many things with their magic. The young unicorns would often practice so that their spells would contribute to making everypony’s lives better. It was not a surprise to anypony that they often had the best heads for science as well, due to the inquisitive nature they shared.
The Earth ponies were to me the most interesting though. Without the aid of flight or magic many others saw them as common, or beneath them. There was no mistaking their skills and abilities though. Food never tasted better than that which came from an Earth Pony baker. Their natural talent with the land around them made them the best cultivators ever, and in a pinch their physical strength could get them out of a bind.
These three races weren’t always friends, but a few decades back, before I can remember, they put their differences aside and came together as one race of ponies. They celebrate it every year during the times snow is on the ground.
You may be wondering about the fourth race of pony? The Alicorns were a breed so rare that those that existed were very typically well-known and often ruled their own nations within Equestria. The Alicorns themselves came in two types; those that were born that way, and those who became one. As rare as a natural Alicorn was, a self-made Alicorn was even rarer.
I remember as I watched my adopted family at play I could feel how much they enjoyed being together. I looked back to my own wings and flapped them quickly, making a light buzzing sound as they beat against the air. I crossed my eyes up to see the horn on my head, but it was still too small to see yet except by reflection.
The laughter of my sisters brought my mind back to them as they rolled around over each other playing some game I didn’t know. I looked up to my family as I walked toward them. I remember how difficult it was to hide my feelings. I was terrified because of something that had happened earlier, and did not know how they would take it. My adoptive parents were a bit hard on me most of the time but they said it was because I had so much potential and they did not want to see it wasted. I thought back to a conversation we had one night several weeks before.
Father had been talking to us about what made us each special. My older sister, and mother’s first foal, was light ponified in their eyes. She was a pure white in color with a pale pink mane and tail. They named her Celestia and called her a little ball of sunshine. My younger sister was cool and collected. She was so gentle back then, and calm like her namesake. Luna was a dark blue with a mane of a lighter shade.
Father told Celestia that she was going to one day be a light that many ponies would look to in the darkness and that she would be a great leader. She laughed and remained very carefree. I didn’t really see a leader in her. To be honest I always thought Luna would be better since she looked at everything more calmly than our excitable sister did. Celestia was almost out of control sometimes. She didn’t have her cutie mark yet, but we figured it would have something to do with her sunny disposition.
Luna was told that her ability to keep her head would be a great help to her sister when the time came that they would take over as rulers in their place. The voice of reason described Luna very well. Her cutie mark had not appeared yet either and I had no clue what it would be.
When father talked to me it was different. Father spoke to me tenderly like I suppose any parent would, but he wasn’t my parent and we both knew it. Whenever he looked at me I couldn’t be sure how much was love and how much was pity for the orphaned unknown filly they had found almost a year prior. All I knew was it made me feel funny when he looked at me. A good funny, I think. He told me that my destiny was what I would make it. My sisters would look at me like I was the strangest thing in the world. Probably because so many ponies had a fair idea of what they wanted to do when they were young. It might also be that in the rare times when a pony would talk to father he could tell them right away what their destiny was. Everypony found it strange that whether he could tell mine or not, he never did.
You will grow to be whatever you want to be, hon. I just want you to be sure to remember that ultimately it is our choices that define us, and not our circumstances.
His words echo in my head even to this day.
Mother was more involved with us than father was. My sisters loved their father, but their mother they absolutely adored. I wanted to spend more time with them than anything else, but it always felt like I wasn’t wanted there. I don’t think it was mother, but I really couldn’t tell. Not at the time. The real problem was that we were all still so young. Hindsight is 20/20, and the mistakes of youth were made. In my case, they were made often.
By this time I had made it to the joyful family that I wasn’t sure I fit in with or not. Father looked at me mid-laugh and saw my face. He had a way of knowing things that was almost creepy, and coming from me that is saying something. I remember those events the most clearly of any in my life…
“What is the matter, hon? You look like Tia took your favorite toy away from you again when you weren’t looking and hid it somewhere.” Raspberries ensued from the little white filly. When I didn’t say anything immediately the mood in the room quickly sobered up.
When I spoke up my voice was quiet. How does anypony bring up something like this? After what I’m sure was several minutes, if the squirming Celestia was any indication, I found my voice.
“Um… I uh… well…” Not my most elegant, but I was a filly. “I think I did something bad again.”
“Oh, sweetie,” father started, “I’m sure it wasn’t that bad. Tell me what happened.”
I closed my eyes, trying not to show how distressed I was. The act itself brought to mind memories of what had happened that morning.
I had been spending time after breakfast playing alone with a pair of dolls. They were little figures of a popular toy, though they represented nopony in particular. One was a colt, the other a filly. I didn’t play with the others often because there were few that were willing to play with me. My father didn’t like talking about why, but it wasn’t a surprise. Many ponies were startled when they first saw me. You see, I was an unknown to everypony. I paused in my play and looked at myself, which is something I had started doing more often as of late.
I sat and my haunches and looked first at my hooves. When I first arrived I was a tiny filly with a dark grey coat and a mane that hung like it had never been washed. My mane was the color of pale mint, like the frosting I saw on cupcakes at my first Hearths Warming Eve. Father said my horn was just a cute little dark ‘nub’ that stuck out with a slight curve. In short, I was adorable for a homeless filly. However, that is where the similarity between other fillies and I ended.
A large patch of fur was missing from my back. In its place the skin had started to become hard, not unlike an insect’s carapace. This same thing was also happening to me about half-way down my throat down to just before my chest. For many of the ponies I was around these things tended to make others shy away from me.
The differences became more pronounced as time went on. The carapace hardened and spread from my back to make a ring around my loin and belly. Father took me to a doctor because he was very worried about what was happening to me. Thankfully there was some flexibility to it. The doctors couldn’t explain what was happening, nor did they know how to take care of it. In the end they said it wasn’t a problem to my health. That changed when holes started to appear in all four of my legs. I started getting examined a lot by the doctors.
Again they eventually said they could do nothing.
Before the holes, I could simply wear clothing or a saddle and nopony thought anything of it. I couldn’t hide the holes though. That is when the other ponies in the castle started treating me different. It started as pity for the sick filly, and a small amount of worry that it could spread, even though the doctors denied the possibility. Less of the ponies my age would play with me and some stopped coming to the daycare altogether. I don’t know if it was their parent’s choice for them or not, but they never returned.
During all this time my sisters continued to play with me. We had as much fun as any young fillies could, but our time also included lessons with our parents as they began to instruct us in how to lead a country. We knew that the three of us would one day lead Equestria together, and so we needed to know what was needed to make it work. Luna didn’t mind and took to the lessons quickly. Celestia was less interested at first, but she too tried her best whenever father was serious. As for me, well I understood the lessons well enough but I didn’t think by this time that anyone would follow me. Still, when I wasn’t making little jokes or playing a prank here or there on our father I did learn how to lead a group, if not an entire country. Celestia confused me though. Most of the things I did to disrupt the lessons were because I was trying to get on her good side. They were the same things she wanted to do, I just knew it. She still looked at me upset every time I did that.
The real problem though wasn’t my slowly changing appearance or my attitude. They were the most obvious, true, but other things started to happen. Not everypony stayed away from me, but those that stayed near me started to have slight changes of their own. Nothing as drastic as me, but they would occasionally have moments where they would be more clumsy than usual. They tended to laugh it off, just saying they were a little tired from playing so much. The older ponies weren’t so sure though.
After one such event a pony’s mother told her she didn’t want her spending so much time with me. As the weeks went on it became more common that ponies near me would have these moments and though nopony knew how, rumors were going about the castle that I was the cause. Less than a month before the day I tried to talk about it with my family I was down to only one friend, Silver Speed, who would see me regularly. His mother was the nanny over the daycare. We had as much fun as we could, and I could tell he enjoyed every moment, even when he felt tired. Yesterday was one of those days, and he hurt himself badly enough to go into the castle’s infirmary. His mother’s smile at me when she said it wasn’t my fault was strained. I think she was trying to convince herself more than me. This was what eventually led me to talk with father.
I looked away ashamed. I loved the attention and the care in his voice. I swore that sometimes I could taste how much he cared about me even when I’m not his filly by blood. At times like this I was sure I didn’t deserve it. I gathered what little courage I had and spoke up again.
“I was playing in the courtyard and the nanny came to see me. She wanted me to come with her to see that filly that was hurt the other day. I asked 'why me' and she said it was because I was his friend.” I paused here, not sure how to say what happened next. Unfortunately, I wasn’t the one who explained the events because at that moment the doors burst open.
“Your Highness! Stay away from her! We think she may be dangerous!” It was the nanny who took me to see the injured pony.
Father was very calm about it, though I could see mother and my sisters becoming afraid as they looked at me. Were they afraid of me or for me, I didn’t know.
“Ridiculous. Explain what happened.”
“When we went to see young Silver Speed in the infirmary he immediately started getting worse. The closer she got to him the weaker he became. I don’t care if he said it wasn’t her fault, I know it had to be! As soon as we sent her out the weariness faded but he started complaining she wasn’t there. I don’t know what kind of foul magic is at play but I am certain it was her! Surely you have been seeing it? Ever since she came here bad things have started happening and they are only getting worse! She’s a jinx; a monster.”
At this point I broke down in tears. It felt as though my tender heart was being attacked directly, I had never sensed so much loathing directed my way before. I didn’t care if this mare was Silver Speed’s mother, it just hurt too much and I ran off. I didn’t stay to hear the rest of what was happening in the throne room, though I could hear father was very angry.
Several minutes later, in the guest room where I stayed next to my sister’s rooms I lay sobbing through my hooves. The door opened quietly and I didn’t hear the steps coming toward me. A comforting hoof lay on my shoulder and startled me out of my weeping. I looked up and saw my mother. She gave me a comforting hug and the strange feelings returned. I didn’t know what caused it or how to stop it, but I liked it and craved more of this feeling I was receiving from the mare who agreed to take me in. Maybe craving wasn’t a strong enough word. I was desperate to have this feeling in me never leave. I felt like if I tried just a little more that I could actually pull more into me. That in, and of itself, scared me more. It may have been a dirty little filly with a pitiful gaze that convinced them to take me in, but I knew I would never be normal like the others.
My mother cooed softly to me and tried her best to calm me down. Her words were a balm to my pain, and my soul gorged on her tenderness.
“Shh… you’ll be fine. Not everypony understands ponies that are different. It’s the same with the Zebra tribes. Many ponies don’t like them because they are different, even though it is such a small thing. They just don’t know you like I do. I know that… you are a sweet… little filly… who… just…” I looked at mother. Her voice was getting weaker as though she were the one falling asleep. I looked at her and her eyes were drooping.
The door opened again and a gasp came from the doorway as mother slumped to the floor. Celestia shrieked and I knew right away what she was about to say. I wasn’t disappointed.
“It’s true! You are some kind of monster! One wasn’t enough now you attack mother?!” Each word stung to hear but I was too terrified of recent events to defend myself or say anything at all. Did I actually do this to mother? For the first time in my life I started to be afraid of myself. I wasn’t even listening to Celestia. She ranted a short time longer then was interrupted by father and one of the guards who had come to stop all the commotion.
“Tia! That’s enough! Go to your room right now young lady! I’ll deal with you in a moment.” Celestia moved quickly but not before glaring at me. Father and his guard hurried over to look at mother.
“She appears to be magically exhausted, sire. It’s as if her power was drained out of her.” I would have paled if it was possible, but my coat was too dark to notice any change in its color.
“Nonsense. You can’t drain the power out of an Alicorn against their will. I’m sure with some rest she will be fine. Help me get her to our chambers so she can get some sleep, and let the infirmary know I will visit in the morning after breakfast to get this all sorted out.
“Yes, sire!” The guard saluted my father and activated his magic to assist in carrying mother out. Just as he rounded out the doorway he looked at me. The hate in his gaze was thick enough I think I could have bitten into it. Before they were out of earshot I could hear my father telling the guard to not let anypony else into my room.
It was hours before I was able to get any rest that night. I was too scared for sleep to come easily and when it did I was awoken again long before the sun would rise. The fear I felt in my heart when I fell asleep was nothing compared to the fear I felt when I awoke. I found myself silenced by magic and being stuffed into a sack full of stones. The voice I heard after that was the last thing I heard for a long time.
“Monsters like you don’t deserve to live in a world like ours. The love of our monarch is more than you ever deserved. I hope your death at the bottom of Lake Everfree is painful, Chrysalis.” The same guard who was ordered by father to protect me teleported me far from home to meet my demise.
As powerful a teleport as it was though, I wished he’d actually got me to land in the Lake, because right then I wished I had died.
Author's Note
Okay, so new story starting. I'm going for a First Person view for now and see how it goes. I hope my readers like it. I've updated it with some revisions for the pacing and a little more background. I've always found Chrysalis to be the most interesting villain.