Black Knight

by Pickleless

Rating: teen
Tags: Adventure, Dark, Alternate Universe
Length: 6888

Chrysalis is frustrated that Flurry Heart is suffering the same PTSD as her, and that makes her have just enough of a heart not to kill her.

The bad news, is that Princess Flurry Heart got stranded near the Galloping Gorge right next to Chrysalis.

The good news, is that Princess Flurry Heart got stranded near the Galloping Gorge right next to Chrysalis.

(Started writing this before the season finale that made this hypothetically impossible.)

Published 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
Last updated 2017-01-15 04:59:00 UTC

And then there was one.

Queen Chrysalis cleared her throat and kicked the dirt off of her chitin as she stared at the dead body in front of her.

Changeling infiltrator. Was bonded for life to a changeling builder. Gave birth to an infiltrator and an assassin. Had a cute twitch in his left ear. Would giggle in delight when she slightly wiggled an eyebrow as she passed by occasionally.

Next to him, a changeling builder who had a knack for administrating first aid quickly and effectively. Really liked pony candy, to the point he went into pony society to get some monthly. Loved to share it with the changeling foals. Chrysalis cleared her throat again as she saw signs that he died hunched over the infiltrator. Her chitin was dirty, she had to get clean. She just really needed clean chitin.

Her eye caught another three dead bodies in the corner.

She tried to find something stuck in her throat to clear out. The three changelings all very young, but showed promise. They were nervous, but took comfort in how they related to each and made a strong trio with good coordination. Chrysalis was really proud of how well they did.

She scratched her hooves harder, she couldn't get the dirt off completely.

Chrysalis numbly walked back in the direction towards her hive. She had the elements captured, Cadence broke her control on Shining, and...

Being smashed through a wall. Something broke her chitin, something also burned her wounds shut. The feeling of everything on the left of her body getting crushed as she hit the ground, and losing conscious. Her left fore-hoof screamed as she rubbed it furiously. She needed it clean.

Dead bodies were littered about the hive.

Chrysalis scanned the room, it looks like a herd of giant spiders, manticores, or both went on rampage. Chrysalis started scratching her right forehoof furiously. She stared at the hive in disbelief, how did this happen? No group this large should ever attacked her hive unless something spooked and herded them towards the hive. Like a group of hunters or a large magical...

A large magical wave.

...

The guards led most of the worker changelings into the throne room, the stench of death was the strongest there. Most of the entrances have been broken, so it must have been manticores. The burnt bodies she found occasionally helped confirm that theory. Seeing a door intact, she rushed over and yanked it open to see the inside of the children's nursery roo-

...

Chrysalis checked the armory. No survivors. Same with the with the multiple storage rooms that should have contained love. All the reserves had been drained dry. Lastly, she checked the housing locations seated deep underground within the hives.

Not a single house was still standing, the room was filled with dead changelings and manticores.

Chrysalis slowly made her way to her residence. She ignored all the dead bodies as she made her way to her room. She made an effort to get the dirt off her hooves one last time before collapsing on her bed. She cleared her throat and reached out towards the hive mind to...

To...

S- She... Chrysalis reached out and... She...

And then there were two.

"Do I have to go?" Flurry Heart shuffled on her hooves uncomfortably.

"Yes, you have to go." Cadence rolled her eyes in amusement.

"But why?"

"Because, when I had a lot of doubts about myself, and specifically my destiny, no one helped me better than Aunt Celestia."

"I don't have any issue working out what my destiny is!" Flurry pouted.

"Yes, and because of that, you lock yourself in your room and avoid all contact with other ponies." Cadence frowned.

"Mom, I am a natural disaster!"

"Yes, I know you believe you're a natural-"

"You named me after a natural disaster!"

"I named you after a event that brought us all closer."

"A disaster that I caused!"

"Then it wouldn't be a natural disaster now would it?" Cadence smirked.

Flurry stopped to consider that logic.

"Look, you only have to stay there for a week." Cadence put a comforting wing around her daughter. "Or longer, if you find yourself enjoying her company, or possibly, learning something."

"Mom, I'm probably going to cause a trainwreck on the ride over."

"Sweetheart, if you cause a train-wreck, I'll work on getting you that little brother you always wanted." Cadence sang.

"Mom, if I actually cause a train-wreck, you'll probably have to get me that little brother I always wanted just so you could have an heir to the throne." Flurry sang back.

"You're only 9, when did you get so sassy?"

"At 9, obviously." Flurry mono-toned.

Cadence her gave daughter a stern frown.

"Sorry," Flurry mumbled.

"Look, just because you've been..." Cadence paused.

"Causing disasters."

"In a few unfortunate accidents," Cadence once again gave her a stern look. "doesn't mean your destiny is to cause disasters."

"Mom, you named me after the blizzard that almost killed you."

"Sweetheart, Flurry Heart is a beautiful name, and I don't regret it in the slightest!" Cadence said with cheer.

"Well that makes one of us at least."

Before Cadence could scold her daughter, her husband opened the bedroom door.

"Hey, how are my two favorite ladies?"

"Great!" Cadence smiled.

"Great." Flurry snarked.

"Is she still upset?" Shining asked.

"She is, I just don't know why she's so afraid to ride the train, she's never had issues with the train before." Cadence sighed.

"Oh cool, just talk to each other like I'm not here." Flurry rolled her eyes.

"First off, don't talk to your parents that way," Shining scolded her, "second, Flurry, why are you so afraid of taking the train?"

"Because there's going to be a train-wreck!" Flurry pouted.

Flurry stared in her parents eyes with a pleading look on her face.

"Mom, Dad, I'm serious. I know something's gonna happen. I always do, I can feel it!"

"Yes, just like the time you were sure the Crystal Heart was going to be stolen?" Cadence raised an eyebrow.

"Mom! I stayed up all night near that thing to prevent that! I knew something was going to happen, I swear!"

"Flurry, listen to me." Shining cooed.

Flurry stared at her hooves, refusing to look up.

"I get a bit nervous sometimes too sweetie, with all the things that happened."

"Shiny!" Cadence whined.

"Hey, let me finish." Shining trotted over to Flurry and laid a hoof on her shoulder. "Flurry, I know your nervous about the train, and with everything that's happened to you, I don't blame you. I'd be a nervous wreck too. Heck, as your Father, I already kinda am a nervous wreck about it."

"Shining, I am not seeing how this is filling her with confidence."

"I put ten of my best guards on the train to accompany you," Shining continued, "and, I had the train checked over three times yesterday just to make sure nothing was wrong with it. I promise Flurry, nothing's gonna happen to you."

"You promise?" Flurry said in a small, meek tone.

"I promise." Shining nuzzled her.

Flurry was pensive. She nervously watched a chef bring in a cart of pastries. The train ride was going smoothly, inside a (steel plated) compartment, Flurry Heart as safe as she could be in the train. The ten guards Shining sent with her weren't the best, but she quickly understood why he picked them. All ten of them were fully alert. Not once did anypony yawn, or scratch an itch, or make small talk. All of them were watching everything around them, and one of them had their eyes glued on her. Despite all this, Flurry was still scared.

She pulled her black leather jacket tighter around her. Ponies are omnivorous to a degree, but many had the mindset of a judgemental herbivore. Although their species can easily digest small frogs and bugs, unicorns usually took it out of their diet completely due to negative stigma. Earth ponies and pegasi were less picky, usually having jobs that required to frequently be on the road or do heavy manual labor. Still, even those ponies were uncomfortable with the idea of wearing leather. Flurry couldn't care less, she would wear armor everywhere if her parents would let her. It was one of the few pieces of clothing that actually functioned as armor, and that was more important to her than the comfort of other ponies.

She absentmindedly rubbed the handle of the knife in her pocket. She stole that knife, it was the only thing she had ever stolen. A Royal Guard Survival Knife. Something she kept sharpened, hidden, and always on hoof. Flurry didn't really have any friends, but as far as she was concerned, that knife was her best friend. She had never used it, she didn't even know if she had the courage to. She clutched the knife closer as she did another sweep of her surroundings. It wasn't herself she was worried about.

This train was full of fat, unresponsive civilians.

"How much longer till we get there?" She asked.

"We're almost at the three-way train-track between the Crystal Empire, Vanhoover, and Canterlot," answered the guard who watched the left window.

Flurry shuddered, only halfway there. The track ran right between Galloping Gorge's forest and the Unicorn Range. Dangerous beasts lived in both places, because dangerous beasts lived everywhere practically, much to her dismay. She couldn't fathom why not one, but two towns were built next to dangerous forests. At least Ponyville had Aunt Twilight living in it. She had no clue what Galloping Gorge did to keep itself safe.

I hate Equestria. Flurry suppressed an eye twitch. I hate how dangerous this world is. I hate how nopony cares. I hate how my parents don't care. How Aunt Luna and Celestia and Twilight don't care. Happy go lucky idiots. Anything could happen at any mome-

A large shockwave ran throughout the train, knocking Flurry's head into her seat. She watched in horror as the front of the compartment bent in towards her. The guard who kept his eye on her quickly grabbed her and-

Flurry's body ached all over. A horrific smell filled the room.

She coughed, trying to clear out her throat. Rubbing her eyes, she... saw nothing but darkness. The whole compartment was pitch black. Something sticky was poured all over her stomach. Groaning, she tried to push whatever (presumably the pastry cart) was on top of her off, but it seemed she was squished between it and a wall. Wiggling about, she manage to push her way up, or at least she thought it was up, gravity was fighting against her at least. She stumbled around in the dark bumping into squishy and dark things until she became sticky all over. She felt something similar to the door. Flurry growled in frustration as it didn't open, and started pounding against it.

"Hello, is anypony there?" She called out.

No response.

Sighing, Flurry starting feeling around the room again, gasping as she stepped on glass occasionally, until she found... What is this? Flurry thought. She brought a small amount to mouth, it tasted like dirt. The train was knocked on its side! Dirt pushed the window inward and it broke, that's why I can't see anything!

Flurry started digging down into the dirt. After making a little distance, she turned 90 degrees up, and tried to dig about three feet in that direction. Her hooves were cut and sore at this point, but fear pushed her onward. Please, please just let me get out of here... She turned one more time, going completely up now. Flurry really hoped that going against gravity would lead to the outside of the train. She almost cried in relief when she saw light. Flurry poked her head out of the ground.

And came face first with a pony's head laying on the ground, the left half of it ripped off.

"Haa aa aaa... ahh..."

Flurry recoiled and fell back into the hole. Shivering, she stared at her hooves.

Her red hooves.

Her red, sticky hooves.

"Aaa, aa, aaah... aaa..."

Tears started to form in Flurry's eyes as she whimpered.

"I- I..."

"I'm sorry... I'm sorry..."

And those two met up.

Chrysalis woke up feeling starved.

The forest next Galloping Gorge, or GG for short, was an ideal place to live. She was close to a town, and if something went... wrong, she could easily jump into the forest and run over to Cloudsdale or Vanhoover in case she wanted to make herself scarce. Unfortunately something did go wrong. All she had to do was pretend to be a stallion's wife, milk him for his love, and then wipe the experience from his mind. The stallion's wife was suppose to be working till late, but closed up shop early due to the lack of customers. Needless to say both were rather unhappy to see Chrysalis audaciously flirting with her husband.

The whole town is on a changeling hunt, and it took a lot of Chrysalis' saved up love to get out of there safely. Let them search the town all they want, there are no more changelings... Forcing herself to get up, She got ready to try and find some sort of meal. There weren't very many options. Animals could feel love, but that's a long term investment. Chrysalis actually owned quite a few pets back in GG just for that purpose, but of course she didn't have time to grab any of them. They gave her a decent amount of love, but not nearly enough. She sniffed, they may have been food to her but there were times they had been cute. Only the slightest bit cute, of course.

Chrysalis stopped when she realized that she essentially spent the last decade of her life as the crazy cat lady.

Groaning in frustration, Chrysalis slowly made her way deeper into the woods. As much as she wracked her brain, she could not find a good way to get love on the spot. Almost losing hope, she stopped when she came across a cave. Curious, she peeked inside to find an Ursa Minor. Perfect. The thing was an powerful almighty infant, with strong emotions and an easy to control mind. All she had to do was hypnotize it to believe Chrysalis was it's mother, play with it a little bit, and go along her merry way. Assuming it's Mother doesn't come home anytime-

Chrysalis halted as a large shadow approached from behind and encompassed her.

Chrysalis shot off from the location she was at and tried to lose the Ursa Major in the trees. The blasted thing must have been crankier than usual, she'd been chased by Ursa's before and even they weren't this aggressive. Running on empty love fumes, She desperately tried to think of a way out of this when she heard an oncoming train.

Chrysalis smirked, even Ursa Majors stayed away from the train tracks, all animals of the forest were scared of the giant metal object that raced by, screaming as it shot out smoke. Looks like it was the train from Vanhoover to Canterlot. Forcing herself to fly faster, Chrysalis perched herself on top of the train and waited fro the Ursa to turn around.

Chrysalis had to admit, the thing was brave, it seemed like it was actually willing to get near the train.

It was getting near the train.

Chrysalis grimaced, when the train hit the three-way it would turn towards Canterlot, the direction the Ursa was in. She wasn't very sure what to-

Ah, there you go, ponies actually making themselves useful for once.

In a desperate act, the conductor shifted the rails to make the train go from Canterlot to Galloping Gorge instead. A little counterproductive for Chrysalis, but anything to get away from that bear. Sighing in relief, Chrysalis laid down for a second to catch her breath. That was bad, another incident like that and she might not be able to make it to safety.

She was almost knocked off the train as it slammed on the breaks. Groaning, Chrysalis looked ahead to see what the problem could possibly be now.

Oh.

They were about to crash into another train.

"BAIL OUT!" Chrysalis screamed as she jumped off the end of the train.

Chrysalis flew off into the nearby woods before ducking for cover. For the next few minutes, or hours, at that moment Chrysalis really couldn't tell, there was nothing but the sound of mayhem. Two trains crashed, an Ursa Major decided it wanted to take out it's anger on the already wrecked trains, and the ponies who survived the crash screamed. Eventually, she heard the Ursa lumber off.

Silence.

Chrysalis poked her head around the corner and saw would she could only describe as a massacre. Dead ponies everywhere. Most hanging out of the windows of the train, but the few who made it out were killed by the Ursa Major. Numbly walking forward, she stopped at the pony whose stomach was torn out while running.

Dirty Secret, infiltrator. Known to stay relaxed almost any circumstances. Despite coming off lazy and snarky, he did his job surprisingly well. Was good friends with just about everyling. One time, he slapped Chrysalis on the butt when she feeling miserable over a failed mission. She screamed at him for almost an hour, but the whole time he had a stupid grin on his face. Afterwards she felt a lot better-

Chrysalis snapped back to reality.

Her hooves were dirty, she couldn't get the dirt off them though.

After scratching her hooves, she tried to turn around and leave. Instead, for some reason, she numbly continued along the wreckage. Both trains were completely trashed. What compartments weren't crumpled up in the collision were ripped open by the Ursa Major. She stopped again near two female ponies holding each other. Both of them were missing the lower halves of their body.

White Lie, despite being an assassin changeling, he had a very gentle heart and was scared of hurting others. A bit of a flirt, he would hit on many of the female infiltrators. Despite this, his was very honorable, and well liked among the others. He had an issue with sympathizing towards ponies too often. Despite being told one of these days that would get him kil-

Chrysalis kicked the dirt off her hooves again as she made her way further. A pony stallion.

Poker Face. Builder Changelings were smaller than the rest, and he was a runt among them. Despite this, he showed a scary aptitude for bluffing and pragmatic fighting. Never got angry at anyone, true to his name, he never showed an emotion that wasn't under control. When Mi Amore Cadenza and Shining Armor started casting their spell, all of the changelings stared at them in horror. Oddly enough, Poker simply sat down and watched them a calm look of acceptance. She remember finding him with of his limbs torn-

A baby changeling.

Chrysalis vomited and passed out.

Chrysalis woke up to find herself on top of a dead pony baby and a puddle of her own vomit. Shaking from starvation and nerves, Chrysalis slowly made her way out of the wreckage.

She almost didn't notice the pony sitting there.

Chrysalis berated herself for her lack of thought. Of course there would be survivors! Luckily, the filly hadn't seen her yet. Not really in the mood to make a disguise, Chrysalis turned herself into a mare with a long, drooping green mane and black fur. Taking a steady breath she looked over at the filly.

She had white fur and a two toned, blue and pink mane. She wore a torn leather jacket. From some of the tears Chrysalis imagined that child would not be alive right now if it wasn't for her taste in clothing. She was standing over a dead guard. The filly simply stared at him, not saying anything. Chrysalis brushed her hooves for dirt before slowly making her way towards the filly. Eventually, she was right next to her. Gently, she touched the filly's shoulder.

Numbly, the filly looked up at her.

Chrysalis stared back.

"I heard the collision," Chrysalis whispered, "were you?.."

The filly looked back at the body.

"They won't wake up." She croaked.

Chrysalis didn't know what to say.

"I kept trying..." Flurry quietly sobbed, "but nopony woke up."

She reached out to her hive and...

Chrysalis flinched when she felt a body press up against her. The filly was hugging her, crying.

The world's your oyster~

Flurry sat there, holding the older mare as she cried into her chest. The alicorn felt awful, everyone was dead because of her. She wished that she had died instea-

"Okay, that's enough." The older mare said as she picked up Flurry, and put her down away from herself. "I'm good to go."

Flurry watched in stupor as the mare started to trot away from her.

"What the-" Flurry stuttered in astonishment, "What?! Where are you going?"

The mare stopped and seriously considered the question.

"Probably Vanhoover," she finally said, "then after gathering my bearings a bit, take a train to Hollow Shades. Nopony really visits there anyway."

"Are you just going to leave me here?" Flurry yelled.

"Yes."

"What?! No, stop!"

The mare started trotting away again, only to have a small filly tackle into her backside.

"I can't believe you! You find a small filly that survived a trainwreck crying in the woods and you just trot away?" Flurry whined.

"Once again, yes." The mare rolled her eyes.

"Y- you can't do that!"

"Child," The mare took on a serious tone, "I am about to show you an incredible skill I spent many years honing."

Flurry watched as the mare started trotting away again.

"Are you seriously going to leave a filly in woods to fend for herself?!" Flurry stomped her hoof.

The mare let out a long, mournful groan as she turned around. With a look of compassionate pity, she trotted back, and laid a comforting hoof in Flurry's shoulder.

"Child, listen..." She said softly, "I don't care about you, or your problems."

The two sat there in silence, staring at each other.

Flurry's eye twitched.

"That is not how you comfort a pony," Flurry said between gritted teeth, "why don't you try again?"

The mare gave a theatrical sigh, and cleared her throat.

"Child," She said in the same, soothing tone, "I don't care to watch you die. You are a pony that I don't want to murder."

...

"Really?" Flurry said in a hollow tone.

"Yes, really." The mare gave a slight, forced smile.

"And there are ponies," Flurry continued, "that you would want to watch die, or kill yourself?"

"Generally the whole species as a whole, but you're a special exception."

Flurry couldn't believe what she was hearing.

"You're a monster!" She screamed. "You are a complete sociopath! You are the WORST pony I have ever met in my entire life!"

The mare blinked, and started to chuckle.

"Oh, you find that funny?!" Flurry snarled.

Flurry watched as the mare broke out into loud laughter. Her laughter was cut off as a stone bounced off her head. The mare stared at Flurry as she bristled with anger.

"Would you like to know what's so funny, child?" The mare smirked.

"Oh yes, please, enlighten me!" Flurry snarked.

"I don't believe I'm the worst pony you've ever met."

Flurry watched in horror as a green flame surrounded the mare. Standing in the mare's place, was a changeling with with serpent, harlequin green eyes and a cerulean blue mane. She's heard the tale of her parent's wedding countless times from many different ponies. There was only one creature this thing could be.

"C- Chrysalis." Flurry whispered.

"Ah, so the foals of your time know to fear my name!" Chrysalis nodded in approval.

"You..."

"Listen closely child, I'm feeling generous, so I'm going to teach you a life lesson before I depart." Chrysalis loomed over Flurry.

"Power is everything," Chrysalis continued, "You may think your little country runs on friendship, but that's a stupid little lie that your ruler spreads to keep you happy and complacent. The reason your kingdom is the biggest in the world, is at peace with most other countries, has so many luxuries, and is a happy magical land of peace, is because you have the most powerful ruler. These is no equal to Celestia, Luna, Cadanza, and Twilight Sparkle. Your country is the best because it is ruled by the best. The reason I was beated wasn't because Princess Mi Amore Cadanza and Prince Shining Armor had stronger virtues than me, it was because they were stronger than me! Power is everything is world! The ones who say what's right and the ones who claim what is good is the ones who are on top, and nopony, nogriffon, nozebra, notuar, and noling can say otherwise, or else they'll be trampled and left dead!" Chrysalis snarled.

"Everypony on that train died because that Major Ursa that attacked it was stronger than them and the train combined, plain and simple. The reason I can leave you here and you can't do anything about it, is because I'm stronger than you, plain and simple. And, the reason I can leave you here without worrying about a lone child claiming that the great Queen Chrysalis still lives, is because there no way, a small, weak, pathetic runt like you, will be able to make it out of this forest alive!"

Chrysalis spat onto the ground next to Flurry. "Plain and simple."

The Changeling Queen turned and started to trot away more, only to have another stone thrown at her back. She turned, and her eyes slightly widened as she the child without her jacket on. She was an alicorn.

"MY NAME IS PRINCESS FLURRY HEART!" She screeched, gripping a knife in her hoof, "COME BACK AND FIGHT ME YOU BITCH!"

Chrysalis started to very slowly head back to Flurry, he face neutral.

Flurry chucked another rock at Chrysalis. "THE CHILD OF THE PONIES THAT BEAT YOU IS RIGHT HERE!" Another rock. "COME ON! COME AND GET ME!"

Chrysalis stopped right in front of Flurry.

"YOU WANT REVENGE DON'T YOU?!" Flurry stabbed her knife at Chrysalis' chest, breaking it. Screaming in frustration, she started slamming her hooves against her. "KILL ME! YOU WANT ME DEAD DON'T YOU? KILL ME!"

Chrysalis leaned in close, and whispered into Flurry Heart's ear.

"You're not worth it."

Flurry watched Chrysalis slowly trotted away once more, this time, not stopping the changeling as she disappeared into the trees. Tears welling up into her eyes, Flurry howled in anguish as she smashed her hooves against the ground.

A few minutes later, Flurry Heart curled up into a ball, quietly sobbing.

Stroll through the park.

Flurry cried until she couldn't cry anymore, laying curled up into a ball shuddering. After moping around for another ten minutes, she forced herself to get up. It was not the desire to survive that forced her to move at that moment. No, after the trainwreck, Flurry felt as she didn't deserve to live. It wasn't fear of death or pain, for a young filly Flurry has had too many unfortunate incidents happen due to her power to bring disasters to leave her with a healthy sense of self preservation. No, it was not fear that forced her to stand up.

And, the reason I can leave you here without worrying about a lone child claiming that the great Queen Chrysalis still lives, is because there no way, a small, weak, pathetic runt like *you,** will be able to make it out of this forest alive!*

"I am going to get to Vanhoover before she does..." Flurry spat onto the same spot Chrysalis did. "And I am going to tattle tale SO HARD on that conceited sociopathic retarded ugly-"

Flurry froze when she heard a howl in the distance.

"Okay, okay, breathing exercises..." Flurry forced herself to breath in and out slowly, just how her mother taught her.

Once she calmed down, she tried flexing her wings, and hissed in pain. Something in her right wing was broken, she wasn't going to be flying unless it was an emergency. A few sparks came out of her horn, causing her to almost scream. She gently felt it with her hoof and found a crack near the base. That was bad, very, very bad.

"Okay, okay, okay..." Flurry tried to calm herself down. "You're more than a pair of wings and horn, you can do this, you can do this..."

Research, research research research and more research. When she visited Aunt Twilight, she hits the books with joy and the bookworm alicorn never questioned it. Getting lost in the Everfree once was all it took for Flurry to decide she would like a better understanding of the geographical layout of her country. She especially took notes on some of the more dangerous creatures in Equestria.

Large Spiders, Hydras, Chimeras, Astral Ursas, Cocktrices, and Parasprites lived in the forest surrounding the Galloping Gorge. Flurry took note of the time of day. It was dusk right now, which is actually a good thing. The forest around Galloping Gorge had many predators and beasts, but they were either strictly diurnal or nocturnal. Between dawn and dusk is when they retreated into their lairs to sleep and avoid each other. Meaning in an hour or so, she needed to be very cautious about running into Chimeras, which preferred to prowl the night for everything except the Cockatrice, both which kept a healthy distance from each other.

Flurry gulped, there was very little she could do against a cocktrice other than avoid eye contact and run. As for running into Chimeras... Flurry grabbed her broken knifed and gripped it tightly. She would simply have to hope for the best.

Something shiny caught her eye, and she saw the top of her broken blade. She wasn't sure if there was much she could do with it, but it didn't hurt to pocket it. Slipping back on her jacket, Flurry decided it was high time she started moving.

Heading towards Vanhoover was easy enough. Just trot towards the mountain line. Luckily, very few dangerous things lived in the mountain themselves, and unless for some stupid reason Flurry decided to climb over it instead of stick near the train line, she doubt she would run into a dragon. Instead of dreading the long journey, Flurry kept an eye out for bushes that had edible berries and tried to not take the most obviously trodden path. Walking along the traintracks might have seemed like a good idea, but any pony unfortunate enough to try that would soon learn that many beasts lived near the tracks despite the noise just for an easy meal. Flurry was determined not be one of them.

A pond. Flurry licked her dry lips, and gave the body of water a wide birth. Drinking from that is how both chimeras and hydras got ahold of you. She was certain there would be small streams of water here and there she could drink from as long as she kept her-

Flurry flinched as the roar she heard earlier sounded much closer. Whatever it was, it was heading in her direction. Flurry picked up the pace and veered slightly to the left. She glanced behind her to see if whatever it was caused any birds to fly away, it might give her an idea of how-

Flurry's heart caught in her throat as her head collided with a web.

"No." She whispered, and struggled.

Making sure to not touch the webs with her hooves, she stabbed her broken knife into the ground and tried tugging her head away as hard as she could. She couldn't free it.

"No, no no no!" She moaned.

She saw something climbing down the web out of the corner of her eye. Unable to turn her head she couldn't see what it was as it left her view, but she didn't need to see it to know that she was about to get bitten. Her heart started hammering in her chest.

"NO! NO!" Flurry screamed.

In her panic Flurry pushed her hooves against the web without thinking. Now having effectively the upper half of body stuck against the web, she couldn't even try to get a lucky shot with her knife.

"NO!!"

She let out a choked sob, too tired and dehydrated to cry. This is how it was going to end for her. It was going to bite her, paralyze her, wrap her up, and eat her later. Nopony would ever find her, she would never be able to apologize or say goodbye to parents. She tried to light her horn and flap her wings, only feel intense pain. It wasn't fair, it shouldn't have ended like this. Flurry openly cried out as let herself get lost in her anger, sadness, fear, pai-

A large black flame shot out of her horn, burning the web. Flurry and the spider both screamed.

Recoiling back, Flurry saw a spider at least ten times her size hissing, about to snap at her. Tapping into whatever that was, Flurry felt her whole body ache as she shot forth another black flame out of her horn and at the spider. Her vision filled with a hazy green as the creature recoiled back.

"More!" Flurry growled.

her body screamed for her to stop, but her mind begged for her to continued. Full of rage, Flurry bared her teeth at the creature as she applied more heat to her flames. All of the trauma, all the stress, all the sadness and guilt and anger she felt amplified the heat as she fed into it, causing the flames to grow stronger. Unable to keep it up any longer, Flurry collasped to the ground, panting. The spider was reduced to a charred husk.

Shakily, Flurry lifted her hoof and felt where the crack in her horn was. Instead, she felt a smooth surface sealing it shut, very similar to crystal.

"Ohhhhhhh shit..." Flurry whispered.

Forcing herself to get up, Flurry looked around her to try and find a safe place to sleep. She hoped-

Queen Chrysalis came catapulting through the treeline and crashed onto the ground near Flurry.

"Bears!" She yelled, spitting onto the ground next to her. "I am sick, of bears! I..."

Chrysalis stopped when she saw Flurry next to her. Before either could question the other, an Ursa Major came bursting through the treeline.

"That is suppose to be asleep right now," Flurry screamed at the changeling, "What did you do?!"

Chrysalis grabbed the alicorn and quickly flew up as the bear made a wide sweep at them with it's claws. She started making her way as fast as she could towards the mountains.

"Let go of me!" Flurry growled.

"Gladly," Chrysalis snarked.

Flurry screamed as she was dropped midair towards the ground. Adrenaline once more pumped through her veins as the Ursa Major's reached out to shred her to pieces mid-air. Thinking on her hooves, she quickly pulled out the broken top of her blade and tossed it as hard as she could at the Ursa. It screamed and recoiled as the blade pierced it's eye. Seeing it's maw open, she drawed out all her hatred towards chrysalis, channeled it to her horn, shot a blast into the Ursa mouth and out the backside of it's head. It fell to the ground, dead. Flurry crashed onto the ground.

Chrysalis stopped and turned around, landing near Flurry and staring at her in awe. The filly was covered in the blood of the knights who were assigned to protect her, Flurry's eyes glowed green, iris' red as her horn took on a sickly green glow. Slowly, the child pushed herself onto her hooves and limped towards Chrysalis.

"Round two," Flurry gave a gutteral growl before collapsing to ground, unconscious.

Morning sunshine.

Flurry awoke feeling a sharp pain all over her body. She regretting moaning, as it made her very aware of her migraine. Her bed felt awful, normally she felt the mattress was always a little too soft, but it was as if somepony just dumped her on the ground and left her there overnight. She groaned in misery and tried to roll over, only to feel something jab her in her side.

"Come on, wake up!" The deep voice commanded.

"I'm awake..." Flurry whimpered.

Over the course of ten agonizing seconds, Flurry slowly rolled over onto her hooves, and slowly pushed herself up. Trying to blink the sleep out of her eyes, she saw she was in a cave, with...

"Chrysalis!" Flurry growled.

"Flurry!" She growled back.

"Chrysalis!"

"Flurry!"

"CHRYSALIS!!"

"FLUR-"

"Ow ow ow stop! Please stop, my head..." Flurry cradled her forehead in her hooves, trying to will the pain away.

"So, I would say I owe you an apology, but I could spit in your face right now and you wouldn't be able to do anything about it."

Chrysalis spat in Flurry's face.

"Ah!" Flurry recoiled.

"Case in point." Chrysalis wore a smug grin. "So I've been thinking."

"I will end you!" Flurry struggled to take a step forward.

"Your level of focus and drive is impressive enough that you are a legitimate threat. So I decided to kill you."

"Well thank you for waiting until I was awake to tell me that!" Flurry fell onto her side.

"Can I say one thing without you giving me a snarky response? I'm trying to talk to you here." Chrysalis rolled her eyes.

"You just told me you're going to kill me!"

"Yes, I know, shut up and listen."

Much to Chrysalis' surprise, Flurry quietly sat there and glared at her.

"Well," Chrysalis nodded in approval, "you do happen to have some manners."

"Unlike you."

"Nevermind."

"You trotted into that one."

Chrysalis sighed.

"Listen child, I decided over the course of the last few days to spare your life."

"Last few days? How long have I been asleep?"

"About a week," Chrysalis shrugged, "You were far more useful asleep than awake, all I had to do was hold you and you would snuggle into my chest and give me all the love I wanted."

"Ugh..." Flurry shuddered in disgust.

"Taking care of you was quite similar to my pets actually. Feed you three times a day, make sure you had water, occasionally hold and stroke you. Did anyling ever tell you you'd make a good dog-"

"Could you please get to the point?" Flurry growled.

"Well puppy-"

"My name is Flurry."

"And now it's Puppy. I decided to keep you."

The two stared at each other in silence.

"You're going to keep me?" Flurry said through gritted teeth.

"Yes, you've proven to be quite the entertaining servant! I like how much you hate everything."

"I don't hate everything, I hate you."

"I am your everything now, tomato tomah-to." Chrysalis lazily waved a hoof.

"There is no way I am ever going to serve you."

"That's what they all say."

"I am planning to kill you!" Flurry weakly raised a hoof and hit it against the ground.

"Alright then, do it." Chrysalis grinned.

"...What?"

"Do it."

Flurry painfully tried to rise back up, only to collapse again. After reattempting this three times, she howled in frustration.

"Well then Puppy," Chrysalis levitated Flurry into her back, "We're off to Vanhoover!"

"No! I need to get back to the Crystal Empire!" Flurry whined.

"Take it from me Puppy, I visited the Crystal Empire once, the place is rather boring."

"Take it from me demon," Flurry spat, "I lived in the Crystal Empire my whole life, the place is rather..."

Boring.

"You okay back there?" Chrysalis asked.

"What do you care?" Flurry shook the thought away.

"You're my food and entertainment."

"And you're a piece of shi-"

The two stopped as they heard a growl from far away.

"As that's our cue to leave." Chrysalis growled.

Chrysalis quietly made her way out of the cave with Flurry on her back. After traveling through the woods for a small while, she felt some something jab her in the neck. Looking back, Flurry was trying to stab her with a broken knife.

"I see you found your knife. You should be thankful, I took the time to dig that out of the Ursa Major for you."

"Why?" Flurry growled.

"I was bored, you took too long to wake up. Next time you faint, don't go into a coma."

"Suck my-"

"You're stabbing at the wrong location," Chrysalis cut her off, "the fragile spot on changeling necks are right here."

Chrysalis highlighted a spot on her neck with her magic.

"Oh, this takes me back..." Chrysalis chuckled. "I use to try and kill my mother all the time, and every time, she'd just laugh and point out all the mistakes..."

Chrysalis stopped with a sense of growing horror.

"Oh maker... I've become my mother."

Flurry whimpered and pocketed her knife. Short of dying, it seemed she was stuck with Chrysalis.