Project: Chrysalis

10. The Doll

Deep in the dark passageways of Lab 28, hopelessness permeated through the air. Eight ponies, the pawns of the psychological and physical abuses of an insane, vindictive monster, each lamented their situation. Whatever powers that be condemned them all to die in a dismal building in the wilderness. Just like those before them.

Four colorful mares sat together in the middle of the corridor, huddled in a circle. Pain throbbed in their hearts, sapping away all will to live. The axe Twilight has possessed could have granted them their wishes to see the two lost mares again. Self-preservation alone stayed the hoof of the lavender unicorn, however weakly.

And nearby, Dr. Antlion held his rifle to his face, warring in his mind on whether to pull the trigger or not. Each side debated and argued: "it'd be over quick, don't lose hope, it's much more dignified than being a meal, your corpse will only be eaten later." Neither side made headway, and for several minutes the barrel shook as its bearer froze up with indecision.

Hidden in the shadows, Celestia wiped her tears. The guilt had broken her, and now she too lost the will to live. But she knew full well suicide was not an option, at least not for her. Her life could only be extinguished by different means. Regret was no stranger to the alicorn, but its pain never lessened with age. But every time she learned to cope. The lamentation phase was over. It was time to make things right. Or as right as they would ever be.

She noticed the Dr. with his gun. Taking a deep breath, the solar demi-goddess slowly walked forward. She placed her hoof on the muzzle of the weapon, and gently lowered it from the tan unicorn's face. She then stared at him for a brief moment.

Antlion looked at Celestia's eyes. The large, magenta pools were filled with sympathy. Slowly, the rifle was directed to the ground. The doctor let go, never ceasing eye contact with the alicorn. She never smiled, or frowned. Just a solemn expression.

The rest of the ponies took note of the odd silence. Looking at the tall white pony, her flowing mane the only moving thing, tears and wailing stopped. The Princess of the Sun turned her head, scanning the seven others, who had given her their undivided attention. Taking another deep breath, she began to speak:

"I...I..." The words died on her tongue. Even so, everypony still stared, waiting for Celestia to find the words. A few moments later, she began again. "My hooves have been stained by the blood of those Chrysalis has taken...I...I can never bring them back..." Her breaths quickened and her chest heaved in short spasms. "I'm so sorry...but we must find hope. Not for us...but for those lost. Please. Do not let their memories die here. She has done all she can to break us down...and it worked. Let's push back. Too paralyzed with fear, we became...especially me...hesitant. We must correct our mistakes. I know I have lost all credibility, and your contemptuous feelings towards me are justified―NO, deserved. But let's concentrate on getting out of here. After we are free," She knelt down in a submissive manner, bowing her head. "I would expect nothing less than for you all to make me pay for my crimes."

Applejack was first to rise. Swallowing her pride, she held out her hoof to Celestia. "You're right, Princess...If we had been more decisive, perhaps..." The orange pony fought back tears from her freshly-dried eyes. "Let's go. Pinkie Pie and Rarity deserve a proper...burial."

The rest rose, finding truth in Celestia's words. The passed must be honored. Enthusiasm was altogether unknown, as was zeal and inspiration. But the notion of doing right to the dead alone was enough to convince the others.

The old formation was assumed. However, this time, Celestia was welcome in the front, alongside Applejack. The stallion scientist brought up the rear. Fluttershy, now clutching Rarity's crowbar, flew beside Rainbow Dash, who still had her iron pipe. Twilight followed directly behind the leaders, while Vixen and the female scientist were somewhere in the middle.

Antlion however was almost left in the dust. He was too distracted from what just happened. Not Celestia's appeal...but how she was staring at him. Not quite the staring either, but with what she looked at him with. Her eyes, those magenta eyes...eerily familiar...like he had seen them before...but not on Celestia...

"Hey Doc! You coming?" Rainbow Dash called out to the stallion, waking him from his daze.

"Huh...oh yes! Wait up!" He picked up his gun and galloped over to the group. The matter of the eyes however didn't leave his thoughts.

The hall remained dimly lit and silent, save the sound of hooves stepping on the metal plates. Same as always. There was no sign of Chrysalis. No faint noises or looming shapes. Or so they thought.

The changeling queen was in fact present. Utterly silent, invisible, and motionless, the black demon located her next meal. The mentality of a predator was to never pick on a full heard, but instead snatched the straggler; the stallion, who for some reason was a good twenty feet behind the rest, and looking tired. It was too easy, she thought. Deploring her following actions, she quietly outstretched a limb, shapeshifted into a sickly hand with pointed fingers. She used it to cover the rear pony's mouth, and without a sound, brought him up.

She retreated into a more secluded place; a small room with several tables in it. She was quick in her movements, and was now far away from the other seven ponies. He looked at the terrified stallion, and leaned, flashing dozens of white, pointed teeth at her prey. But she stopped, and examined his leg. It was wounded near the knee joint. Chrysalis thought for a second, and concluded that during her escape as "Rarity", she must have snagged his leg.

Even stranger is that nopony seemed to ever notice. Why didn't he tell them? Perhaps everypony was too distracted by her that it was forgotten. She would never know the answer to this inconsequential question.

Nevertheless, it was an easy hunt. She glanced at the stallion's face, his eyes filled with raw fear. She whispered into his ear. "You will find peace soon, innocent creature." Then, one hand still over his mouth, she pointed her other hand at his chest. He watched as the appendage's digits crackled and bent, receding into the limb. Within seconds the hand had become a long, razor sharp claw, like that of an insect.

He hyperventilated, and closed his eyes. The last sensation he knew was the stinging pain of the claw diving into his chest, impaling his heart.

Chrysalis proceeded to eat the pony. Her fangs ripped flesh and her molars crushed bone, allowing her to suck out the marrow. When all was done and nothing was left but blood stains, she reformed her body into the changeling shape that was her true form. She raised her hoof up, and generated spines on the other. Bringing down the spiny limb across the normal one, she cut deep marks in her foreleg. She clenched her teeth; the pain was horrible. She harmed herself after each meal in an effort to show herself what she had done to others.

After three passes, she looked at the cuts. They started to heal. It hurt her even more that she could not scar; there was no mark of her shame. Except this time. They were slow to close up, and bled far longer than they should have. “Oh No!” She thought. She just ate! The decaying process was accelerating. Already her teal mane began falling out. A couple hairs landed on the floor. She was running out of time.

She needed as much time as she could get, and the only thing Chrysalis could do now was...eat again. Using her keen sense of smell, she located the group.

Crawling along rafters and beams, she readied herself to sin once more.

Back in the hallway, Fluttershy was doing what the rest were; looking around for any sign of the changeling. Then she looked in a direction nopony else did: backwards. After all, she wasn't the last one. There was a stallion paying attention to the back. Right?

The yellow pegasus turned her head and gasped. Darting forward she alerted the de facto leaders.

"Everypony! The...the stallion...I'm sorry I don't know his name...he's not there."

Twilight looked towards the back, and true to Fluttershy's word, he was nowhere to be seen.

"How could she have gotten him without us knowing?"

"It's ok it's ok!" Applejack tried reassuring them. "Maybe he fell behind. I mean do ya'll really think Chrysalis is that sneaky?" As always, the farmpony proved herself to be a terrible liar.

"If he got left behind, we should go find him!" Rainbow Dash suggested.

"I unfortunately must object." Chairpony Vixen said. "Anypony who falls behind, gets left behind."

"But we have to look out for each other! How else will we get out of here?"

"The stallion proved himself slow and ultimately a liability. He has bought us time. Let's use it."

"How can you be so cruel!? Why don't I throw you down the hall and leave YOU behind?" Rainbow swooped in, her face inches away from Vixen's.

"Stop it! Both of y’all! The Chairpony's right, Rainbow. Ah'm afraid we can't go back."

"But...but..."

"It hurts me too, Sugarcube. But we gotta go on."

Glaring at the Chairpony, Dash flew back up beside Fluttershy. "Fine.”

"We should take a moment of silence, though."

Everypony nodded, and about three long seconds were spent honoring the stallion. After that was over, Applejack led the group further along the corridor. A few feet further and something appeared in the distance. The Element of Honesty studied it and shouted:

"Look! It looks like a room! We must be close to the exit!"

Sure enough, as they all galloped closer to the end of the hall, a medium-sized room came into view. It was round and filled with several dust-covered desks, each with its own outdated computer. Bookcases covered the walls, and a few wilted potted plants were placed around the room. Over on the left wall was the universal symbol for restroom.

The female scientist, the last one, rushed over there. "Ah, I need to use the restroom. Be back soon, everypony!"

"Wait! We don't have time!" Twilight objected.

"I'll be quick!"

"...Hold on...fine." She conceded. "Somepony, go with her. Better safe than sorry. If you see anything, yell as loud as you can."

"Got it! I'll go!" Fluttershy, wanting to be more than just a liability, overcame her usual timid disposition and elected to accompany the scientist. Within seconds they were both inside the restroom.

Antlion, taking this short break to glance at the objects on the desks, went over to a dusty oak specimen. On it was a nameplate that said "Dr. Felthoof". He addressed Vixen.

"Chairpony, what is this room?"

"I believe it's an old office room. I don't think it's used anymore. In fact it might have been forgotten outright. I can only imagine what state the bathroom is in."

"Hm..." Antlion heard what she said but didn't acknowledge it. Instead he opened a drawer which looked like it hadn't been opened in quite some time. Inside the drawer was a small black object. Using his magic to levitate it out, Twilight gasped at what he had in front of him.

"What is that?" The lavender mare asked, shocked.

"I'm not sure." Replied the doctor. He was "holding" a small plush doll. It was black and looked to be hoof-stitched. It would have actually been rather cute, if not for what it seemed to be modeled after. The plush was in the shape of an alicorn, but the horn was gnarled, while the wings were jagged and insect-like. The mane on it was teal, and the eyes a sickly green color. Along the back was a familiar carapace, complimented by a ridged "cradle" around the stomach. Strangely, the doll appeared to have had thread sewn in such a way that it "smiled".

"Is that supposed to be...Chrysalis?" Applejack gave the toy a puzzling look.

"I think so." Antlion said.

"Well Dr. Felthoof was the creature's caretaker. Perhaps he became bored." Vixen shrugged.

"Maybe."

Meanwhile, in the restroom, Fluttershy stood by the sink, somewhat embarrassed that she was in the same room as a pony trying to..."relieve" herself. Nonetheless, she remained vigilant, ready to leap into action if anything funny happened. She looked at herself in the mirror. Fluttershy had become very dirty during this ordeal, and her mane was messy.

Still looking at the mirror, she then noticed the mare in the room with her was being very quiet. How unusual. She knocked on the door of the stall.

"Um...hello? Are you ok in there?"

No answer. She knocked again, trying to be louder.

"Is everything...alright?"

Again nothing. She became worried.

Shifting into assertive mode, the pegasus used her adrenaline-fueled muscles to rip the door off its hinges. Had there been something normal behind the door, she would have been impressed by the feat. But what ended up being in that stall was too horrible for Fluttershy to think about her strength.

The blank expression of the mare looked at the pink-maned pony. Half her body was missing, covered by the large toothy maw of Chrysalis. The scientist's entrails began to leak out, staining the bowl of the toilet red, brown, and yellow as blood, excrement and bile flowed out. Numerous tentacles sprouting from her neck wrapped around the lifeless body Fluttershy was meant to protect.

Fluttershy turned around, stunned with fear, and vomited all over the restroom floor. The Changeling paid no attention as she feasted on the other pony. Finally she finished, swallowing the masticated chunks that were once a doctoral graduate. The yellow mare screamed, darting out of the restroom into the office room. Chrysalis lashed out her tentacles that tangled around Fluttershy's leg just as she made it out of the room.

"HELP!!" She was caught by Twilight's magic, and a tug-of-war began between the black creature and the magic student. Applejack and Antlion sprang into action, aiming their guns. A second later and BAM! Chrysalis' chest was bleeding profusely. Celestia's horned glowed, and then a blast came out, incinerating Chrysalis' right forelimb. Rainbow Dash swooped in and pounding her forehead with the metal pipe she wielded. Fluttershy remembered the crowbar she, be some act of divinity, had not dropped. She swung the curved end straight into the base of the Changeling's tongue. This was the straw that broke the camel’s back, and Chrysalis lost her focus.

Twilight now easily pulled Fluttershy towards her, and the yellow pony pulled the crowbar. Its imbedded head tore through the beast's tongue, causing it to merely hang by a few strands of muscle. The weight of the organ caused it to fall on the ground, tearing itself from her mouth. Chrysalis squealed in pain as blood spewed from the stump.

Applejack and Antlion shot again, hitting her throat. Again she bellowed due to the shear feeling of having her trachea crushed. She could've used magic to throw up a shield as she had done earlier. But she needed her magic. But she knew without it, this battle was futile. Rearing up on her two hind legs, the gross mutilated being shrieked in defiance.

Before Chrysalis could retreat, Fluttershy, this time having dropped her crowbar, grabbed the closest thing she could find. In this case if was a small black doll. She would have felt foolish if it was ineffective. That however was not the case.

Chrysalis stared at the doll before her. She recognized it immediately. Backing up slowly, trembling, emotions welled up inside her. Her heart pounded in her freshly healed chest, and she cried. She couldn't act or move, only quiver at the sight of this black plush. Only Celestia's second blast, blowing off several tentacles on her neck, woke the queen from her stupor. Quickly she ran off, towards the exit. Roaring echoed from the hall back into the room everypony was in.

Nopony knew what they had just seen, but they didn't care. Twilight helped Fluttershy up before giving her a hug. They had saved one pony, and now things seemed less bleak.

The final stretch was upon them. Soon all this would be a horrible memory.

Still, what was it about that doll? Maybe because of the uncanny resemblance? Each contemplated the plush as they went through the archway into the passage. The doll sat on the floor, being the strange image of a strange creature.