Dark Alleys, Bright Hearts

I trot into the dungeon, and nod to the guard, “Thank you.”

He smiles, “No problem, ma’am. Though I will have to stay here and watch you.”

I smile, “Of course.” I give a quick kiss to his cheek, and he passes out immediately.

The other guard in the room looks at me with wide eyes, “Ma’am, what did you just do to him?”

I shrug, trotting over, “Guess he couldn’t handle a kiss from a pretty mare.”

The guard raises an eyebrow, passing out as I give his cheek a kiss as well.

I chuckle, moving to the nearby cell.

Mark is inside, unconscious. I bang the cell bars, waking him up, “Come on, we’re going.”

He blinks, “Love?”

I nod, “Yeah, you idiot. Did you really think I would just abandon you?”

He nods, “Well, it looked like it back there.”

I grin, “Well, I decided not to. I said some stuff I shouldn’t have, and I was acting like a bitch.”

He pauses, “Stuff you shouldn’t have said because it was untrue, or because you didn’t want me to know?”

I shrug, “The shit I said was true at first, before I received that letter. After that, though, completely false. We’re friends, Mark, don’t ever doubt it.”

He smiles, “Well, to be fair, I said some dumb shit. Downplaying the death of your kids was a shitty move.”

I smile back, “Well, I said you had no idea what it felt like. After I thought about it for a little, I realized you have it worse than I do. You lost your entire race, and it wasn’t your fault nor did you have any part in it. For me, I lost my kids, but it was my fault.”

He frowns, “Love, I don’t care what happened, but it wasn’t your fault.”

I shake my head, “It was, Mark. It was.”

He stands up, “No, it wasn’t. You might believe it’s your fault, but it’s not. You’re not omnipotent, Love, and there’s no way you could predict whatever happened.”

I shrug, “Sorry, but you’re wrong. I knew their death was a distinct possibility.”

He shakes his head, “Then you must have been motivated enough to take that risk anyway. You said your family are thieves. Well, if you were starving and had no money, like I’m imagining, and you sent your kids to rob a place, only to find the owner there with a weapon, it’s not your fault. There’s always a distinct possibility that the owner has a weapon and is ready to kill, but risks need to be taken.”

I sigh, “Mark... please, you don’t know what you’re saying.”

He kneels, looking me in the eyes, “Love, I know exactly what I’m talking about. I lost my best friend to an armed owner, so I know.”

I shake my head, “Now’s not the time to talk about it, Mark. Let me get this open, and we need to run.”

He nods, “You think there’s an alarm on my cell?”

I nod back, “Oh yeah, definitely.”

He pauses, “That tone implies there is something more.”

I shrug, “Maybe there might be. Guess we’ll figure out.” I put my hoof on the key hole, shifting it to fill the lock. I then twist my key shaped hoof, unlocking the thing. I withdraw my hoof, shifting it back, “Let’s go.”

Mark smiles, “So, how are we escaping exactly?”

I grin, “I see they left you all your equipment. So, I say we use those wingsuits and fly out of here.”

He grins back, “Sweet. Let’s go.”

I quickly begin to gallop out of the dungeon, with him jogging after me.

We emerge into the halls of the palace, and I motion to a nearby hallway, “Over here.”

We rush down said hallway, coming to a dead end with a window. I smash my hoof through the window.

Mark pauses, “I never actually taught you how to use the wingsuit, did I?”

I shake my head, “No, but we don’t have any time to learn. Come on, Mark, out of the frying pan and into the fire!”

He spreads his arms out, his wingsuit expanding. He gets a running start, jumping out of the window and gliding away.

I follow after him, doing much the same as him. I glide alongside him as we enter the airspace over the steep drop the window leads to. A rather devious way to punish escaped prisoners who try to jump out the window. Normally, you’d fall right down until you landed and died.

Mark smiles, “This went better than I thought it would.”

I nod, “Oh, don’t worry, it’s about to get really interesting. Be prepared to fight.”

His eyes widen, “Fight? We’re midair!”

I smirk, “As I said, out of the frying pan and into the fire.”

He looks forward again, and frowns, “I see what you mean.”

Flying ahead of us are Celestia and Luna, glaring at us as they keep perfect pace ahead of us. Celestia frowns, “I should have known. What did you do to her, Chrysalis?”

I grin, “You’ll have to be more specific than that, Celestia.”

She floats up her sword, keeping it next to her face, “Where is Miss Love?”

I chuckle, “Oh, Celestia, you naive foal. She’s right here.”

Celestia narrows her eyes, “Then you shall die here.”

Mark grins, doing a backflip and kicking Luna’s wing, right where it connects with her body. The bone breaks, and she begins to fall down.

Celestia swings her sword at me, but I barely avoid it by banking to the left. Celestia’s sword breaks into shards, puncturing into the wingsuit, “You can’t fight me in a disguise, Chrysalis! You don’t stand a chance!”

I frown, feeling my wingsuit stop catching wind. I shift back to my natural form, wings flapping and keeping me in the air.

Mark banks, circling around Celestia, “The fuck happened to you, Love?”

I grin, “I meant to tell you later, Mark, but I guess I gotta say now. My name is Queen Chrysalis, Queen of the shapeshifting race of Changelings. Before you ask, yes, Love was a made up name and her form was made up as well. No, that doesn’t mean I’m any different. I’m still the same mare.”

Celestia pauses, putting her sword aside, “Chrysalis, you now know what’s coming. You know what is going to happen. Please, you need to help me. Just stand with the statues, not even frozen, and you will save the world. I’ll allow the changelings to rebuild! We could be allies!”

I chuckle, “As if I would ever do that. The day I bow, Celestia, is the day I die.”

Celestia frowns, “Then we’ll make both today.”

I pause, as a voice speaks to me.

‘Move’.

I raise an eyebrow, “What?”

I start to notice a red glow on my muzzle, and feel my mind grow fuzzy.

Suddenly, my consciousness shifts, and I lose control of my body.

A male voice chuckles, using my body. He looks at Celestia, glaring with newly red eyes, “Celestia, back with the lies and broken promises. You never change, just stagnate.” He moves my body aside, as Luna cuts through where I was a second before, stabbing with a glaive.

Tentacle-like appendages sprout from me. One of them stab into Luna, the tips of them apparently blades.

Luna cries out in pain, as more of the appendages stab into her. Celestia gasps, “Luna!”

The male voice chuckles further, “Laevus says hello, Luna.”

Luna gasps in pain, “Laevus... is dead.”

The one in control of my body smiles, “Oh, yes, he knows that quite well. Your wisdom is limitless, Luna. Your fighting skills, heh, they’ve certainly fallen since last we met. Have you not had two millennia to train?”

Celestia narrows her eyes, “Messorem.”

My body moves it’s head to her, “Yes, Celestia. Me.”

Celestia growls, “My powers have doubled since we’ve last met.”

My body nods, “It would appear your pride has as well. The bigger the pride, the bigger the fall.” The tendrils slowly draw themselves out of Luna, “Speaking of fall, I think we have a prime candidate right here.”

Celestia frowns. She launches her sword, but not at me. No, her sword instead pierces Mark’s chest, cutting into him and out his back, “You better catch him, Messorem. The body you posses wouldn’t be happy to see him die.”

“Never could fight fair, could you?”

I cry out as I see Mark begin to fall. With a burst of strength, I retake control of my body. The tendrils disappear from me, and I dive after Mark.

I manage to catch him in my hooves before he can fall too far down.

I cry out in pain as I feel a sword cut through my back. Both of my wings are cut in half, as my exoskeleton cracks open, sending me falling towards the ground.

I keep a close hold on Mark as we fall closer and closer to the ground.

Another voice radiates through my head.

‘Let me help.’

A blue light surrounds the both of us, and I find myself falling unconscious.