Without Question

Without Question

Chapter Seventeen – Ever Colder

One week later…

It hurt Silus.  It broke his heart to see his Queen in such pain.  For three long days and three long nights, Chrysalis refused to leave her room.  During that entire time, Silus sat outside of the door, tortured by her quiet sobbing.  When she finally did come out, she had no expression.  No happiness.  She had come so close to securing peace, only to be stabbed in the back.  Silus attempted to speak to her, to comfort her, but she seemed distant.  For another three days, she refused to speak to any of her subjects, or even Silus.  On the seventh day, she finally called for Silus.

The Changeling Queen and Silus met in her bedchambers during the evening.  When he entered the room, he saw her sitting on a rug by the crackling fireplace.  Silus quietly walked into the room, stopping a few feet behind her.

“Sit with me, Silus.”

The human silently obliged and sat next to her.  Time passed slowly as the pair sat staring at the low flames.

“What was I thinking?”

Silus’ expression became one of puzzlement.  He turned his head to look at her.  She was still staring blankly at the fire.

“I do not understand, My Queen,” he replied with concern.

Chrysalis closed her eyes for a moment before turning to look at Silus and opening them again.

“For a moment…I thought…” she stopped and closed her eyes again.

Silus wrapped an arm around her and placed his hand on her shoulder.

“You thought what?” he whispered comfortingly.

She opened her eyes again and stared into Silus’ eyes before trying to continue.

“For a moment I thought that…everything was going to be alright…”

Silus scooted closer to his Queen and nodded for her to continue, still keeping eye contact.

“When we were dancing…I’d never felt that happy in my entire life…I never thought that someone could actually…could actually…”

“Take your time…” Silus whispered to her with a warm smile.

Chrysalis looked as though she wanted to return the smile but couldn’t.  She took a deep breath and continued.

“Could actually…love me so genuinely…”

Silus stared into her luminescent green eyes as he took in every word with the utmost attention.

“And I thought that…I might actually be able to peacefully save my empire…and happily live out the rest of my days free of petty disputes along with my subjects…”

“You couldn’t have known of their deception…” Silus replied.

“That’s just it, though.  I was so naïve…”

“My Queen, please do not think that.”

“The world has condemned me…it deems me unworthy of happiness and forgiveness…” Chrysalis muttered as she closed her eyes and turned away from Silus.

“You are far more worthy than anyone else of such happiness!  You deserve it!” Silus tried to comfort her, but she still quietly faced away from him.

“My Queen, please!  Do not feel this way!” he pleaded as he placed his other hand on her other shoulder.

She remained motionless and silent.  Silus’ eyes grew moist as his love and leader ignored his words.  He refused to let her suffer like this.  With a firm tug, he forced her around to face him, the surprise was very apparent in her wide eyes.

“CHRYSALIS!”

Her face was less than an inch from his as he held her close.  His eyes were becoming more watery with every second.  The Queen’s lips quivered before she managed to get out a whisper.

“Wh-what did you call me?”

Silus was shaking slightly.  He then realized what he had said, but his eyes remained locked with hers.

“Did you…just call me…by my name?” she whispered in disbelief.

Now Silus’ lips were quivering as he fumbled for a response.

“Well I…I mean…what I meant was…”

“…say it again.”

Silus froze completely.  The Changeling Queen stared into his eyes, waiting for an answer.

“…what?”

“Say it.  Again.”

The human was unable to think straight.  He was unsure of whether or not he should indulge her.  With no other options, he spoke.

“…Chrysalis.”

The ends of the Queen’s mouth began to slightly angle upwards.

“Again.”

“…Chr-Chrysalis.”

The Queen was now smiling fully, her eyes glowing slightly brighter as she stared at the human’s pale blue eyes.

“I like that...”

“You like what?”

“The way you say my name…”

“…Really?”

“Yes…please say it more often…”

Silus began to smile now.  The pair hugged each other closely.

“As you wish…Chrysalis…” Silus whispered gently into her ear.

The Queen broke the hug and lightly kissed Silus’ lips.  His eyes shot open and his cheeks reddened, but he quickly gave in and returned the kiss.  As they broke the kiss, Chrysalis smiled at him and placed a hoof on his cheek.

“The decision to bring someone to this world…that was the single greatest decision I’ve ever made…you give me more hope than I could ever ask for…”

Silus smiled back, unsure of how to reply to such a statement.  Chrysalis removed her hoof and stared back at the fire.

“The winter is coming.  My sages tell me it will be a winter colder than any we’ve had in the last four hundred years.  But that is not what concerns me most.  The battles ahead…will be larger and more critical than any we’ve faced before.  Meet the officers in the war room when the sun rises.  Prepare our forces, Silus.  We must be ready soon.”

The human nodded and stood up to leave.

“Goodnight…Chrysalis.”

As Silus exited the room, he could see a tear streak down Chrysalis’ smiling face.

A few hours later…

Silus stood on a balcony near the top of the castle.  Night had fallen, and he stared into the starry sky.  Closing his eyes, he tried to relax for a moment.

“Milord.”

The human sighed as he heard a voice behind him.  Turning around, he saw that an Imperial Guard was standing at attention.

“What is it?”

“Captain Grimsoul has returned with his task force.”

Silus raised a brow with interest.

“Oh?”

“Aye, sir.  Just as some construction workers were about to begin repairing the atrium floor, he and his forces um…exited the hole.”

The human closed his eyes and smirked.

“I assume that means he was on the tails of those ponies that created the hole?  Did he capture any of them?”

“No, sir.  Well…he did capture a small dragon.  But no ponies.”

“I see.  Thank you for this news.  Dismissed.”

The guard left and Silus turned back to the balcony’s view of the capital and the sky.  Down below, he could see only a handful of Changelings still in the plaza.  They were probably cleaning up after the festivities.  Nearly the entire city seemed to be asleep; it was dark along every street and in every window.  Snow was beginning to lightly blanket the ground and rooftops.  Silus took a deep breath and exhaled.  His breath was slightly visible.  He closed his eyes and tried to collect his thoughts yet again.

After what felt like a few minutes, Silus heard a quiet flapping noise behind him.  His eyes remained closed as he breathed silently.  A few seconds later, he could hear an equally quiet clip-clopping sound come closer to him.

“A beautiful night, is it not?”

Silus slowly opened his eyes as he recognized the voice next to him.

“Indeed, it is.”

“I always loved this time of year.  The moonlight gives the snow such an…enchanting appearance.”

“That it does.  It makes the snow look all the more pure…as pure as the heart of a lunar princess might have been in the past.”

Silus looked to his right to see Princess Luna standing beside him, staring into the sky.  Her deep blue eyes gazed at the brilliant white-grey orb in the sea of black.  Without breaking her gaze, she spoke to him.

“Your assessment is correct.  I have not always been so spiteful of these Changelings.  In fact, after the initial attack, I began a project to attempt to help them with their ‘starvation.’”

Silus had a puzzled look on his face, one that Luna could detect without the need to see it.  She went on to explain.

“You see, the main source of their nutrition is derived from love.  The Changeling can feed on other things, but it does not satisfy their needs the way love does.  If two Changelings have romantic feelings for one another, then they can create enough love only for themselves.  But it is rare and difficult for Changelings to naturally conjure up such feelings on their own.  Thus, they are forced to disguise themselves and take on the appearance of another species.  The strong, genuine love felt by the fooled partner is enough to fully sustain the Changeling in disguise.”

The lunar princess took a deep breath as she thought out her next words.

“Obviously, this cannot be allowed.  The impersonated partner must be disposed of in order for the Changeling to fully integrate itself into the relationship.  I felt sympathy for these creatures and gathered a team to research ways that the Changelings could create their own love without having to feed off of others.  Before we could come to any conclusions, they attacked us.  Again.  And the first city to be struck happened to be the city where our research was stored.  All of it was lost.  All of the researchers and their work.  Gone.  I never hated the Changelings when they first attacked.  I never hated them when they were repelled and we had to clean up the mess.  I never hated them as my team and I worked tirelessly for them.  No…”

Silus watched as the lunar princess’s brows furrowed and a look of burning anger swept across her face.

“I hate them…because they are ungrateful…because they are parasites incapable of understanding what we did for them.  I hate them because of the suffering my subjects endured at their hooves.  I hate them for…making me feel this way.”

Luna closed her eyes tightly and bit her lip.  Her eyes seemed to be growing moist, but her anger held strong.

“I despise this feeling.  This boundless hatred.  But they are the reason I feel like this.  They betrayed us in so many ways...”

Silus looked back to the city and breathed slowly as he took it all in.  It was silent for a few moments until he heard her again.

“Why do you serve them?”

Silus closed his eyes, knowing the answer but also knowing that she would not understand.  Nonetheless, he replied.

“My Queen…Chrysalis…she granted me a new life.  As I watched my old world…my old life…burn to ashes, she saved me.  She gave me a second chance, a chance to redeem myself and not make the mistakes I made in my past.  These people…these Changelings…they took me in as one of their own, and I can never repay them enough for this new life they have given me.”

“But have you not heard of the things they have done?  The crimes they have committed?  You serve monsters.”

Silus gritted his teeth at that last word, but the cool air relaxed him.

“I serve my salvation, whom I repay in being what they are to me.  Salvation…”

The lunar princess was taken aback at the human’s words.  But, she was determined to break him.

“They are as they always have been and will be.  Ungrateful liars and murderous beasts.”

Silus tightened his grip on the marble railing of the balcony.  His rage was rising.  Just as he was about to shout at her, he suddenly had a thought.  As he pondered on it, he returned to a calm state and softly chuckled to himself.  Luna felt both confused and insulted.

“What?  What is so humorous?”

The human smirked and looked back at the goddess, the moonlight reflecting brightly off of his eyes.

“You…”

Luna tilted her head to the side, insulted further.

“And what exactly is so very funny about me?”

“You are so…unbelievably deep in your own hypocrisy…”

The lunar princess’s expression become one of fury as she grabbed the human by his collar and hung him over the balcony.  Silus merely continued to grin slyly at her.

“HOW DARE YOU!  I am the immortal goddess of the moon!  My word is law and my knowledge is infinite!  How could I, of all beings, be such a hypocrite?!” she screamed into the human’s face.

Silus shed the sarcastic grin and merely smiled before answering.

“I have heard about you…from the sages.  I believe you used to have another name…what was it again?”

The sly grin reappeared on Silus’ face as Luna became less angry and more perplexed.  Two words quietly left Silus’ mouth.

“...Nightmare Moon?”

The lunar princess’s anger rose again as she slung the human into the wall behind her.  It bruised Silus a bit, but he was unable to stop grinning.

“YOU KNOW NOTHING OF MY PAST!  I am no longer that foul thing!” she screamed at him.

“Nor are we…” Silus whispered as he rubbed his sore back.

Luna’s eyes widened and her rage died as she realized what he was saying.

“You would be surprised what salvation can do…” the human slowly stood back up and wiped the frost from his uniform.

The goddess’ eyes slowly drifted down to her fore hooves, which she held in front of herself.  Her eyes darted about rapidly as the human’s words sunk in.  She shut them tightly and turned around to face the sky again.

“I do not need to be lectured by some Changeling pet…” she said just loud enough for Silus to hear.

Luna began to flap her wings as she lifted off into the night sky.

“We will meet again!” she shouted before disappearing into the sea of black.

Silus stared into the sky for a few moments before going back to his chambers.  A note sat on his nightstand.

“Lord Silus,

My fellow sages and I wish to speak with you in the morning.  We are aware that the war has escalated, but it would be greatly appreciated if you could spare a moment of your time.  Thank you.

--Sagemaster Macabre”