MY LULLABY

After three straight days of traveling from dawn until dusk, the trio finally reached the borders of Equestria. From there, they started heading towards Canterlot in the north, with both Kiara and Kovu insisting that Chrysalis should take them to meet with the rulers of the land and discuss a peaceful resolution to a potential conflict. Chrysalis reluctantly agreed to this plan, but she also knew all too well that the lions meeting with the alicorn princesses would instantly put an end to her schemes. Therefore, during their journey, she tried as best as she could to come up with a strategy that could allow her to execute the original plan she had crafted with Zira.

Speaking of Zira, Chrysalis had not contacted her at all ever since her journey back to Equestria started. In fact, she had no intention of contacting her whatsoever as she knew that the evil lioness spirit would no doubt ask for notifications regarding the recent developments in their plan and get angry over her failure to convince the Pride Landers to wage war on the ponies of Equestria. Chrysalis had neither the time nor patience to be scolded by her and she could not bear the idea that her skills of deception were about to fail her at the most critical stage of the plan. She had to figure out something and she had to figure it out quick or else, everything she had meticulously set up so far would be undone. Simba's daughter and son-in-law would find out the truth, report to him, and completely ruin her chances of reclaiming what was rightfully hers.

Then, on the fourth day of their journey, while she was watching her companions exchange humorous remarks with one another, she finally got an idea.

An awful idea.

She got a wonderful awful idea.

Shortly after the setting of the sun on the fourth day, the trio came near a set of mountains that Chrysalis had described as the "Macintosh Hills". Once there, she suggested that they rest for the night, and even volunteered to both scout ahead and take the first watch of the coming night. Kiara readily accepted the offer, but as for Kovu, he only relented after letting out a particularly loud groan. Even though he wanted so badly to keep an eye out for Chrysalis, even he had to admit that he had become very tired from keeping watch for the last three nights.

As for Chrysalis herself, she nodded in agreement and flew towards one of the hilltops before disappearing on the other side. As soon as she was out of sight, Kiara smacked Kovu in the head with one of her paws and asked, "What is your problem exactly?! Ever since the start of this journey, you've done nothing but eye her very suspiciously. What has she ever done to you, anyway?"

"It's not what she's done, but what she might do that worries me," Kovu replied while rubbing his head. "I don't know why, but something tells me she's very bad news, Kiara. I feel like she made up that whole story of ponies stealing her kingdom and enslaving her people just to set a trap for us."

"What?! That's crazy!" exclaimed Kiara. "Who could ever make up a story like that, anyway?"

"My mother could," Kovu promptly replied. "She always did have a way with words and appearances. Actually, now that I think about it, there's a bit of a resemblance between her and Chrysalis."

Upon hearing that, Kiara's eyes briefly widened with shock, but in the next few seconds, she thought a bit more on Kovu's words and took a deep breath to calm herself down before declaring, "The only way we can be sure about whether this is a trick or not is to reach Canterlot and ask the princesses what is really going on. Keep an eye on her until then, but try not to give the impression that you're actually watching her. Besides, if this really is a trap and she really is similar to Zira, then we need to try as hard as we can to bring her to the side of good. What do you say?"

Even though Kovu initially gave her an incredulous look right after hearing this, he quickly realized what she had meant by that and her facial expression changed to one of sorrow. Then, he let out a deep sigh and said, "You don't have to keep blaming yourself for not being able to save my mother, Kiara. We both know that she was beyond reason and redemption. I know it's hard to accept this, but there ARE beings in this world that don't deserve any forgiveness whatsoever."

Kiara stayed silent for several seconds before managing to reply, "I... I'm gonna turn in now. See you in the morning, Kovu."

She immediately laid on the ground and, a short while later, Kovu did the same. Soon after that, however, a small firefly came near them and transformed back into Chrysalis. She then used her telekinesis magic to lift the sleeping Kiara up and began to move her towards the nearby mountains, where there was a tunnel leading to mining shaft that had been abandoned for decades. Thus, she proceeded to carefully transport Kiara to that same tunnel, making sure not to hit anything that might wake the sleeping lioness from her deep slumber along the way.

Once she finally reached her destination, she entered the tunnel and gently placed Kiara on the ground several feet away from the entrance. Then, she started coccooning the unsuspecting young lioness up and once the process was completed, she quickly exited the tunnel and sealed the entrance with a single blast of magic from her horn. For the final stage of her dastardly plan, she flew right back towards the spot where Kovu was soundly sleeping, transformed into Kiara, and laid on the ground right next to her "mate", sinisterly giggling before going to sleep.