A Queen's Guard

“Now remember, we’re doing this because we believe you’ve earned a little freedom, but you’re still being confined until we can fully trust you.”

Chrysalis rubbed her newly unblocked horn, wincing as it shot a few sparks after being disabled for so long. Fixing the ponies with a forced smile, she bowed her head and replied, “Of course. I promise you won’t regret this, Princess.”

Rarity gave an unconvinced sniff as Chrysalis teleported back to her room. Shooting Twilight a reproachful frown, she asked, “Don’t you think it’s a bit early to remove the inhibitor? What’s stopping her from just draining all our love and going on a rampage?”

“Ah’ think we should give her the benefit of the doubt for now,” Applejack countered. “After all, even you can’t deny she’s made some good progress.”

“I want to believe she’s really changed,” Twilight started, “but if what I suspect is true, we might have a lot further to go with her than I thought.”

The other two glanced at each other to see if either of them had understood her ominous prediction. When neither could come up with any ideas, Rarity pressed, “What do you mean, darling? Did you hear her plotting something, or is this just speculation?”

Twilight’s horn lit up as she teleported a pair of binoculars onto the table. Brushing her mane aside, she strapped them onto her head and whispered, “Make sure the Elements of Harmony are in the royal vault tonight. For everyone’s sake, I hope I’m wrong.”

Pharynx scanned the vacant hallway, making sure no one could catch them off-guard. Signaling the all clear, he flew behind a supporting column and whispered, “My Queen, the coast is clear!”

Silence greeted his report as Chrysalis continued to stare at the floor, completely distracted from their current mission. Rolling his eyes, he returned to her side and tapped her shoulder, causing her to let out a squeak of alarm. “Pharynx, don’t touch a mare without announcing yourself first!”

“Your Highness, this is no time to daydream! You’re lucky the Princess doesn’t have any guards in her castle, or we surely would have been caught by now,” he hissed. “Whatever is bothering you must wait until after we’ve claimed the Elements of Harmony and used their power to take over Equestria!”

Turning his attention to the heavily fortified door, he concentrated his magic on the lock and began fiddling with the dial. “My Queen, I’m sure this door would yield much faster if you used some of your legendary power.”

Chrysalis glanced at the door with a sigh and lit her horn, causing the entire vault to shatter. Pharynx staggered back as the magically reinforced, blast-proof safe exploded, leaving behind nothing but an old, ornate chest in its wake.

Shaking off the impromptu shell shock, he brushed dust and debris off his carapace and marveled, “Incredible! I’d nearly forgotten how impressive your magic is at full strength.”

Levitating the exposed chest to sit next to her, he blew the residual dust off the glass casing and grinned as the Elements of Harmony came into view. “Finally! After weeks of groveling and pandering, we’ve finally claimed the source of their power for ourselves! Now we can rebuild the Changeling Empire back to its former glory, and rule Equestria once and for--”

“Wait!”

Pharynx stumbled as she cut off his practiced victory speech. Bookmarking his place in the soliloquy, he turned to her and asked, “Yes, my Queen? Is there something wrong?”

Taking a shaky breath, she ran a trembling hoof along the top of the case. The cool glass sent shivers up her spine as the lid slowly fell away, revealing the artifacts in all their mystical glory. A ray of moonlight hit their immaculate surfaces, causing the gemstones to sparkle in their frames, practically begging to be worn by a creature worthy of their power.

Chrysalis felt the familiar surge of greed and lust she’d get when trying to conquer Equestria. Her eyes flashed as the beams of light shone through the dimly lit hall, but something about this plan felt different than any of her other attempts at seizing power.

Even as the elements lay there, completely vulnerable and open, her hoof refused to pick them up, as if some invisible force were keeping her from taking them out of the box. An unfamiliar feeling began swelling in her chest as the keys to all her wildest fantasies glinted like stars in their soft, velvety cushions.

Turning to face him directly, she swallowed the lump trapped in her throat and croaked, “I-I can’t. I can’t do this anymore, Pharynx.”

Pharynx ground to a halt as his brain struggled to process her words. Shaking his head to dispel the confusion, he let out a small chuckle and stammered, “What do you mean you can’t do it? It’s not protected by any spells or traps, so what’s the problem?”

Chrysalis stepped away from the chest and fell onto her haunches, kicking up a cloud of dust as she fell. Staring at the rock-strewn floor, she bit her lip and whispered, “Ever since I became queen, the safety and happiness of my hive has been my only concern. Everything I ever did was to ensure that my subjects would have enough love to eat, space to live, and skills to hunt whenever I was gone. All I ever wanted was for them to be happy.”

Pharynx’s eyes widened as tears began falling down her cheeks, leaving tiny droplets on the ruined carpet. Stepping over the ornate chest, he approached her trembling form as she continued, “I never wanted to hurt anyone. I had to put the security of my subjects before others, and now I’m paying the price for my decision. My children have abandoned me, my hive has a new leader, and all of Equestria sees me as nothing but a monster bent on world domination.”

“No… no that’s not true,” he whispered, wrapping a hoof around her shaking frame. “All you have to do is use the Elements of Harmony--”

“And then what?” she cried, holding back the flood of tears threatening to pour out. “You saw how Ocellus reacted when we met. If that’s how my subjects view me as a creature, I don’t want to imagine how they’d see me as their queen. The hive I knew is gone, and nothing can ever bring it back. Not even the Elements of Harmony.”

Her watery eyes clenched shut as more droplets escaped down her glistening face. Struggling to maintain her composure, she gave a small sniff and hiccupped, “I’ve seen what Thorax has done with the hive. He’s helped his subjects, improved their lives, and made sure they’ll never have to fight or starve ever again, which is much more than can be said for me.”

Pharynx’s eyes narrowed as she pushed ahead. “That’s not true…”

She ignored his mumbled protest. “All I’ve ever done is make my children miserable because of my own selfishness and ego. They deserve a better ruler, one that actually cares about his subjects and knows more than just fighting and hunting. Maybe then they’ll be able to look at their leader without flinching or recoiling in fear.”

Pharynx’s foreleg around her tightened as he drew her closer. “That's not true.”

Again, she ignored him to deliver the final, heartbreaking, gut-wrenching blow. Dissolving into a hopeless, despondent waterfall, she cried, “I no longer have a home amongst the changelings, and returning would only cause them more grief. It would be best if I just disappeared and faded into nothing. If that’s what it takes for my children to be happy, then I’ll gladly take whatever punishment the ponies have in store for me.”

“That’s not true!!!”

Pharynx’s hoof smashed into the floor, creating a spiderweb of cracks throughout the room. His horn glowed brighter than it ever had on any battlefield, and his wings gave a great flap, sending dust and rubble flying through the air.

Fixing her with a furious glare, he pinned her to the ground and screamed, “You’re not a burden, you’re not selfish, and you’re most certainly not a monster! I don’t ever want to hear you say you don’t have a home because without you, the hive wouldn’t even exist!”

Jumping off of her stunned carapace, he ranted, “You want to talk about accomplishments!? Sure, Thorax has done all that posh with the greenhouses and dens, but he had the help of four alicorn princesses alongside every other kingdom in Equestria. You, meanwhile, were all alone with no one to turn to and hundreds of hungry mouths to feed. Not exactly an even playing field in my opinion!”

His breaths came in short, rapid bursts as he continued, “Before those ponies began tossing around ‘friendship’, we changelings were seen as scum! Every creature considered us nothing more than love-sucking parasites to be captured on sight, but still we survived. We survived because of you and your constant, unconditional love, and there’s nothing in the world that can ever repay all that you’ve done for us!”

Chrysalis gaped at his heaving, trembling form, so unlike the calm, collected Pharynx she had previously known. Her thoughts were interrupted when he turned to face her, his deep purple eyes gazing straight into her broken soul.

Swallowing the last of his reservations, he staggered to his hooves and asked, “Do you know why I chose to follow you back in that jail cell? Do you know why I chose to support a prisoner despite all the risks it would pose?”

She shook her head, having always assumed it was out of loyalty to the queen or disdain for his brother. Why else would he risk so much for someone like her?

Pharynx slowly approached her prostrate form, his eyes never breaking away from hers. “I didn’t do it out of some misguided sense of loyalty to the throne or petty disagreement with my brother. I did it because of you. I risked everything because I wanted to help you.”

Her eyes widened as he wrapped his hooves around her trembling frame and pulled her into a caring embrace. Stroking her soft, beautiful mane, he leaned in and whispered, “I love you, Chrysalis, and nothing is ever going to change that.”

A wave of heat surged through her as Pharynx’s body overflowed with a tsunami of pure, untainted, consensual love. Squeezing their barrels together, Chrysalis felt a similar love escape her own body, mixing with his own to form a shining spire of refined love that radiated throughout the entire castle, casting a faint glow on every crystal it touched.

The two shielded their eyes as a warmth spread between them, filling in the cracks and holes in their carapaces. The gleaming spire enveloped their bodies, transforming their dark color schemes to cool pallets of navy and white. Their manes and tails brightened into more vibrant tones of red and green, and their tattered wings stitched themselves together until they resembled a pair of majestic butterflies.

Eventually, the shining beacon dimmed to a small shimmer before extinguishing entirely. Staring in awe at her body, Chrysalis gave her new wings an experimental flap and exclaimed, “What in Equestria just happened!?”

“I think we reformed by sharing our love with each other,” Pharynx replied. “I don’t need to use an illusion to retain this form anymore.”

They sat for a while taking in their new appearances, but Pharynx’s eyebrows furrowed as the ornate chest came back into view. Running a hoof along the glass, he asked, “What should we do? Do you want to go through with the plan or turn back now?”

Chrysalis took one last glance at the elements she had sought for so long before pushing away the glass case. Rising to her hooves, she sighed, “There’s no point proceeding now that we’re reformed. I think it’s time to turn ourselves in.”

“What!?” Pharynx exclaimed, stumbling over a loose piece of rock. “My Queen, there’s no need for that! We could easily repair the damages and return to our room before anyone notices. If we hurry, there should be enough time to--”

She shook her head with a sad smile. “No, Pharynx. It’s time we face the consequences of our actions. If we hide this now, it’ll only prove that we didn’t learn our lesson, and they’ll never trust us again. We have to find Princess Twilight and tell her what we did before it’s too late.”

“You won’t have to look far.”

The two whipped around as an invisibility bubble flickered into sight. Twilight lifted her binoculars with a wry smile and glanced at the destroyed vault. “I really thought that would last longer. Looks like this princess is getting a refund.”

Pharynx jumped to stand in front of Chrysalis, but Twilight held up a placating hoof. “Relax, Pharynx. If I was going to arrest you, I would have done it already.”

She pointed to the staircase leading upstairs and smiled, “Let’s have a talk in my office."