Fading Star

“You ponies really must learn to know when you’re beaten.”

Chrysalis was munching on an apple, limbs spread out on her throne, eyeing down the imprisoned ponies behind the wall to her right, which she had repaired earlier with a simple spell. She had also lifted the rock camouflage, so she could see them in all their despair, and wasn’t disappointed in the slightest-they all looked absolutely hopeless.

“Oh, don’t be so miserable, and here I thought you would all be excited, one of you managed to escape.”

Twilight, right beside her brother and Pinkie Pie inside the prison cell, had nothing left to say. She saw no point in attempting to argue with Chrysalis.

“I must say, I hadn’t realized there was another soldier with you. If only you hadn’t been so loud as to wake me...You should know, I’m a very light sleeper,” she cooed, grinning as she took another bite. She continued talking, though the ponies were barely listening.

“Yes, of course, I did take the life of that soldier….but you must understand-he tried to kill me! If he was a bit less dense, he would’ve aimed right.”

She snickered, glancing at the stab wound she had spent most of last night stitching back up. Now it was morning, and all seemed right in Chrysalis’ world. The only remaining concern was Rarity’s escape, though she knew she didn’t have to worry too much.

“That door that your other friend went down, do you know where it leads, Twilight Sparkle?” Chrysalis asked, trying to get a silent Twilight to speak up.

She didn’t.

Chrysalis didn’t tolerate a lack of manners, however, and persisted.

“Do you?”

“No,” Twilight mumbled, not really wanting to know the answer anyway.

“Well, I’ll tell you. I’m very transparent, after all. That door leads to a tunnel, though I wasn’t the one who made it. In fact, it was Diamond Dogs who made it, in fact, which is why I rarely use it. I found them, underground, while I was hiding, and they led me here. I turned it into what you see today. Connecting my new home to other tunnels in the mountains, tunnels that already existed, was easy. But, anyway, down that way, leads straight into the Diamond Dogs’ den, and there, I can assure you, they don’t like the company of ponies. Well, ponies that are alive I suppose. She’ll be torn to shreds before she sees sunlight.”

Twilight wasn’t happy to hear that, but at this point had almost become desensitized to things going wrong. She sat there, expressionless, very tired. She didn’t get much sleep last night, and she knew she wouldn't get any during the day either.

Chrysalis smiled to herself, content with how smoothly her plan had transpired. As long as those wretched dogs did their part, she had nothing to worry about.

The previous night, the Diamond Dogs, now led by the short stocky dark grey hound, Butch, congregated in their den, to discuss what to do next.

“The Boss is dead, we’ve got no reason to follow his orders.”

“Those ponies were the ones that killed him, and four of us!”

“We can’t just let them get away with all this.”

Butch was quiet, as his mates continued yelling their complaints at each other. Until, the room was silenced by Butch’s paw smacking the table.

“Friends, I know you have your grievances with ponies, but we must follow the code. It was the Boss’ order to let them go.”

“It was the Boss’ order to let them go, but he never said we couldn’t go after them,” said one clever dog, who was supported with loud howling and banging on furniture.

“They’re just ponies. Not even unicorns. Earth ponies. It’s not worth the trouble,” said Butch.

“They started this, and if they won’t finish it, we will.”

The dogs again began howling, eager to get their revenge. Butch nodded solemnly.

“Well then, it seems as though the majority are in favor of hunting those ponies down…”

They all howled again.

“And bringing them back here…”

The dogs were losing their minds now with excitement, slamming into each other and barking at full volume.

“And eating their stinking hides.”

Butch rose to his forelegs and howled with the others, who all began arming themselves with armor and melee weapons.

Butch approached the Beta Diamond Dogs, leashed to the rock. Though they couldn’t speak, they did remember the death of the Boss, and understood what was happening.

“Lead the way, boys.”

Butch cut them loose, before they sprang out and ran down the tunnel where the ponies had traveled into, howling and roaring all the way. Butch approached the entrance, an army of energetic dogs behind him.

“Let’s finish this then.”

The dogs got on all fours and ran down the tunnel into the darkness, heading straight for the oblivious ponies.

Back in the morning, Chrysalis had decided it was time to play with Starlight.

“I’ll be back, darlings,” she said to her imprisoned ponies, turning the glass wall back to its rocky appearance.

Opening the dungeon door, even Chrysalis was slightly taken aback by how utterly deranged Starlight appeared, sprawled on the ground and mumbling to herself, her eyes wide open and her pupils smaller than normal.

“Starlight!”

Starlight jerkily sprang to her feet, her dull mumbling ceasing at once.

“My...queen?”

“Good morning, Starlight. I take it you haven’t slept?”

“I…”

“Not that I care, you’re only hurting yourself, you stupid pig.”

Starlight hung her head in regret. The truth was, she found herself unable to sleep at all last night. She was repeating lines in her head all night, almost involuntarily.

They hate you.

You’re worthless.

They hate you.
You deserve it.
Chrysalis eyed Starlight down, and decided it wasn’t too early to begin.

“Come now, let’s get started.”

Starlight sighed and followed Chrysalis, right into the torture room.

‘This early? I haven’t even made breakfast yet,’ Starlight complained inside her head.

Chrysalis motioned to the large wooden table.

“Get on. Now.”

Starlight obeyed, spreading her legs out in the eagle position she was accustomed to. Chrysalis appreciated her cooperation, locking her in with magic.

“I’ve been wanting to use this on you since I first brought you here…”

Chrysalis raised something out of her tool box, though Starlight couldn’t tell what it was. Chrysalis was standing on her right side, and Starlight’s eye was still too damaged to see much.

“You know tonight is a special night, Starlight. The night you prove yourself to me, and a whole lot of other ponies. Are you going to perform well?”

“Of course, my queen. I would never fail you.”

Chrysalis chuckled to herself.

“Starlight, you’ve failed me many times. You’re the ultimate failure after all. You’ve just got no skills...Especially in pain tolerance.”

After that last word, Chrysalis raised up her tool-a large metal screw connected to a mechanical device. Before Starlight could even make out what it was, Chrysalis jabbed the device straight into the elbow joint in Starlight’s left arm. Starlight shrieked in shock. The screw was about a foot long, and had a sharp edge at the end that stabbed straight through her bone ligaments and muscle tissue. Chrysalis beamed as she pressed down on it, pushing the screw deeper into Starlight’s arm. Starlight began crying, then moaning, then hyperventilating, as the screw tore deeper inside her. Then, Chrysalis grabbed the handle to the mechanism, and began twisting, in turn twisting the screw that was lodged in Starlight’s arm. Starlight felt her arm contort as her muscle and flesh was twisted around the spokes of the screw, tearing her arm apart and digging a circular hole into her skin.

Starlight screamed without end, and could even be heard by Twilight and the others on the other side of the lair. Twilight lifted her head in surprise and sadness, before trying her best to tune it all out. There was no sense in it, Twilight thought, but she was powerless to stop it.

So was Starlight, as she turned pale at the sight of losing so much blood. Soon she was lying in a pool of red, that dripped off of the table and formed large puddles on the floor. After ten minutes of rotating the screw, Chrysalis yanked it out, and gazed down at the mess she made. The hole in Starlight’s arm wasn’t exactly a circle, rather a disfigured oval, with broken bones sticking out and strings of muscle hanging between them. Her flesh was mangled, bright red, screaming.

Starlight was moaning in pain, her good eye closed tight, not wanting to look at yet another deformity she would have to live with.

Chrysalis smiled. This was the most blissful life she could’ve hoped for-her two archnemeses, locked in her subterranean lair with no hope for rescue. Perfection.

Chrysalis released Starlight, who lied on the flat table, breathing slow breaths.

“Alright, Starlight. You have five minutes to move to the kitchen and make me breakfast. And if you fail, I’m cutting that arm off.”

Chrysalis trotted away, as Starlight started desperately, immediately trying to pull herself up. She could only walk on three legs, limping towards the kitchen, fighting the pain with everything she had.

Rainbow Dash was, as usual, much farther ahead of the group. She considered herself the bravest, and definitely the fastest, and assumed she would get to be the leader from now on. It was the previous night, though that didn’t matter to the ponies, who had lost track of time after losing sight of the sun. Rainbow, hovering in the air, was playing fantasy versions of how she wanted the fight with Chrysalis to go down, and each one had Rainbow as the hero.The thought of it got her excited, and she was eager to get there faster and claim all the glory.

“Rainbow, would you get back here?” said Applejack, several meters behind with the other ponies.

Rainbow rolled her eyes, hating to be interrupted while she was gloating to herself inside her head. She turned back and hovered around the others.

“Would you slow it down? We’re gonna lose you,” Applejack spat.

“You just worry about yourself, ok?” Rainbow said, bitterly.

“Both of you, be quiet. I’ve got something…” said Hickory, motioning them to come near. He was holding a map of Equestria, filled in with various scribbles detailing the new passage they were travelling through.

“According to this, we should only be a few hundred meters away from the Crystal Mountains….if it’s really there, we’re close,” Hickory said.

“That’s good news,” said Sunflower, constantly tired.

“It is, so Rainbow, stay back with us. We don’t want you giving away our position. If Twilight’s been captured, we’re the last hope,” said Applejack.

“Twilight hasn’t been captured. And I’m not going to give us away. But you’re definitely slowing us down,” said Rainbow, crossing her arms and turning away.

Applejack rolled her eyes.

“You keep up that attitude and we’re-”

Applejack trailed off as she noticed all the other ponies’ ears perk up, picking up the sound of a high-decibel grunt, almost like that of a pony.

“Everypony, hide!” Applejack commanded. Fluttershy and Sunflower were way ahead of her, while Hickory slowly concealed himself behind a rock.

“Applejack, that’s definitely a pony...They sound like they’re injured!” Rainbow whispered.

“It’s just Chrysalis, trying to trick us...Get down!”

Rainbow and Applejack hid together, right underneath a ledge that went downhill deeper down the tunnel. The grunting grew louder until the pony was essentially right on top of them. Applejack glanced at Rainbow and nodded.

As soon as the pony stepped over the ledge, Rainbow and Applejack tackled her to the ground, Applejack holding her legs, Rainbow grabbing her by the throat. Until, both ponies sprang to their feet in shock.

“Rarity?!” they said, simultaneously.

It was indeed Rarity, though she was hardly recognizable, covered in dirt and mud. She looked terrified, and was definitely worse for wear.
“Rarity, it’s us, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Fluttershy! Are you ok?!” said Rainbow, kneeling beside Rarity.
“Rainbow...Applejack...Fluttershy? Oh, am I ever glad to see you…”
Rarity glanced at Sunflower and Hickory, and tensed up.

“And...who are they?”

“They’re friends, Rarity...Look, you need to tell us what happened to you. Where’s Twilight and Pinkie Pie?”

Rarity took a moment to get a hold of the fact she had actually found ponies, and not just any ponies, her friends. She had been trudging through that dirt-covered tunnel for hours, and had sustained several bruises, often crashing into unforseen objects in the dark.
“I’m sorry...I’m just so tired…”
“It’s ok...Just, tell us what happened…” said Rainbow, trying to seem sympathetic.

“We...we found it...We found Chrysalis. I saw Starlight even, though it’s simply ghastly what’s been done to her...we came with a group of soldiers. Shining Armor is there...we found the entrance to the lair, but it was locked. There were traps too, and I...I set one off...It was a ridiculous mistake, truly. One of the ponies we came with was murdered. She killed him, that beast!”
Hickory’s concerns about Chrysalis were increasing the more the story went on. Rainbow and Applejack were paying rigorous attention, trying to understand what to expect and what to avoid.

“She captured me...But Twilight and Pinkie and Shining Armor all made it inside. But...they were captured too.”

“Pinkie and Twilight?” said Rainbow, dumbfounded that a pony as powerful as Twilight could have been beaten by anypony.

“Yes, all three of them. Then, one of the soldiers we came with, who we thought had run away, came back for us. He discovered this tunnel and tried to take us all down it...But Chrysalis surprised us, and she murdered him too...Twilight told me to run while she and everypony else distracted her. Nopony’s gone after me yet…”

“Well, you’re safe now….Sunflower, start a fire. She needs to rest,” said Applejack.

“But, Applejack, you heard her, we must be so close! We have to go now! Before Chrysalis does come for her!”

“She needs to rest. Just, be patient, would ya?”

Rainbow grumbled to herself and sat down, as Applejack set Rarity against the most comfortable rock she could find. Rarity drifted off to sleep, while the others took in how success seemed even more unlikely.

After having Starlight limp into the throne room and present her breakfast, Chrysalis left her in the torture room, sticking her inside some mechanism that nearly ripped her limbs off. Calmly relaxing in her throne room to the sounds of occasional screaming, Chrysalis was reading her book in the throne room, in the best mood she’s been in for some time.

Twilight, who had said nothing to her friends all morning, was getting bored. She hated her situation, though all she could really do was pout. And observe, of course. That was one of Twilight’s strongest skills.

“Is that The Fall of a Stallion?” Twilight asked aloud, making the other two ponies jump at the sudden breaking of silence.

Chrysalis’ eyes shot up from her book, almost impressed.

“It seems your vision is still intact, Highness. Correct.”

“I love that book, I’ve read it at least six times.”

The other ponies glared at Twilight, unsure whether she was trying to play a trick or was just insane. Twilight herself didn’t know what she was doing.

“Have you ever read it before, Chrysalis?”

Chrysalis sighed and put the book down. Apparently Twilight was only in a speaking mood when Chrysalis was in the middle of something.

“No, it’s my first time.”

“Well, you’ll love it.”

“Why is that?” said Chrysalis, hating to have judgements made about her.

“Because the bad guy wins in the end. Oh, I’m sorry, did you not know that?”

“I did, I’m on Chapter 26,” said Chrysalis cautiously, unsure what Twilight was trying to do.

“You know, the point of the book is that the hero and the villain were essentially the same, except they just had different methods of achieving the same goal?”

Chrysalis stared at her, unimpressed and unconvinced.

“Perhaps you’re thinking of a different book.”

“Trust me, I know that book by heart. You don’t believe me?”

“The hero and the antagonist have nothing in common. They despise each other, because they are so opposite.”

“If they despise each other, that’s one thing in common. They’re both extremely powerful, and they’re both very idealistic. The difference between them is that the hero believes in saving as many ponies as he can, but the villain believes that not everypony can be saved. Both of their goals are to save the world from extinction. The conundrum is that the hero saves the world, but not himself, which allows the villain to take power easily. When faced with that choice, the hero had to stick by his principles. It’s like I said, it’s a difference of principles.”

“The antagonist was far more intelligent than the hero, he was able to trick him into ceding either his life or the entire world. It’s a lose-lose.”

“I would expect someone from your perspective to think that way, Chrysalis. The hero isn’t foolish because he sacrificed himself, he knew deep down that he couldn’t save everyone, but he couldn’t admit it. The only way to prove true selflessness is to give one’s life.”

“He got himself in that situation when he could’ve avoided it.”

“He let himself get captured to let the others escape! You’ve missed the point.”

“This argument is pointless. Your perspective is twisted to try and give ground to the hero where he doesn’t deserve it. There are hard decisions that require one to break from their principles for the greater good.”

“I’m not defending his decisions, I’m explaining them. He knew his methodology was flawed, but he persisted until it meant making the ultimate sacrifice. The villain is no better, his methodology is also flawed, except his allows him to take advantage of the hero, kill him, take over, and rule with an iron fist. You aren’t meant to route for him, you know.”

“Maybe you wouldn’t. I admire his persistence.”

“You know, Chrysalis, I guess there’s no point in trying to argue with you, but there are better ways of succeeding in life than causing pain to others.”

“So that’s what this is about? You’re going to try and persuade me to release you, and admit I’ve been wrong.”

“I think you know, deep down, that you’re wrong, you’re just too blinded by anger and hate to accept it. You’ve killed innocent ponies and done...horrible things to another!”

“She’s not innocent….I thought we both agreed on that.”

“I don’t regret what I said...Starlight was dangerous, unpredictable, and we couldn’t fully trust her. But I wanted to trust her. And look, she turned out perfectly alright. Until you came along and reversed all her progress. You feel proud of yourself? You think you’ve done a service to anypony but yourself with all this?”

“My services are only entitled to myself. The world isn’t a place for the weak to survive. Nature was designed that way, until ponies decided that civilization meant equality. Well, I prefer the natural order of things, but since you ponies disagree, I have to speed along the progress. All your love and joy, when you ignore all the problems that run amuck in this world, you become the problem.”

“You’re not strong, Chrysalis. Strength takes restraint. Strength takes patience. Strength takes admitting when you’re wrong, adhering to your principles above all. Just like the hero. He showed strength in a time when he could’ve saved his own life at the cost of everyone else’s. You’re just like the villain. Weak. You manipulate ponies into doing what you want, because you know you’re so vile, so unlikable, so grotesque, that nopony would ever help you willingly! It’s pathetic, really. You’ve hidden yourself away in the center of the earth to hide from having to own up to your mistakes, your failures! Then you drag a pony down here, who risked her life to save so many, just because she got in the way. It doesn’t matter if she made mistakes in the past, this is about you. You made her accept her failures. Maybe it’s time you accept yours.”

Shining Armor and Pinkie looked over from Twilight, who was sitting on the floor of her cell, finally getting to vent her frustrations with this whole situation out loud, at Chrysalis, who was sitting in her seat, fuming.

“Listen, Princess. Strength means power. And right now, I have all the power, because just like the hero, you put yourself in this situation. Your own ineptness got you here, and now I have to deal with you. So if you want your experience to be as painful as your perky pink unicorn friend, keep talking.”

Chrysalis had risen from her throne halfway through her slow-paced monologue. She was furious, but tried to act calm and in control. Twilight wasn’t really intimidated, but chose the smart option and remained silent.

“That’s what I thought…”

Chrysalis returned to her throne, and tossed her book away.

“Your attempts at insults are all in vain, princess. After today, we’ll know who is weak, and who is strong.”