The Globetrotter and the Changeling
It was evening; beams of red-orange light bled through the thick canopy of tall, twisted trees, shining their crimson effulgence across the moss-laden earth of the dark forest. The wind was tame and airy; it offered a refreshing, continuous breeze that blew while the critters noisily filled the forest with their chattering. Until they quieted into hushed whispers, almost as if in respect and reverence.
A pony is seen traveling through the forest on their lonesome. A dark-haired stallion with deep, yellow eyes and a black coat patterned with red patches marched through the forest in voiceless silence; only the sound of his hooves was the crushing the crunchy fallen leaves.
He wore a sublime white cloak that never seemed to get defiled by dirt or by other such unsanitary things, a satchel that hung lazily to one side supported by his strong neck, and he possessed a lanky horn capable of performing magic. He was a globetrotter, a pony who travels the globe of their world. He had no home, friends, or family, and those who did know him knew very little.
His travels have taken him into the Everfree Forest, near the village of Ponyville. He had no interest in traveling to the village, but he had promised himself that he would take a gander in the Everfree Forest.
While trekking the forest, the stallion's ears prick after hearing a faint sound. With his full attention piqued at the noise, he followed carefully until it led him to a small clearing where the legion of trees had branched out slightly. There, he gazes upon a gangly black figure with a mane and tail dark green, a gnarled black horn, and legs and wings riddled with holes. Atop her head sat a black crown. He knew exactly who this was, and it was a shame to see her in a deteriorated state.
His deep yellow gaze watched as the black pegacorn laughed maniacally, speaking to a batch of photos levitated by her magic depicting the current wielders of the Elements of Harmony and another pony, a unicorn mare he barely recognized. She flew the photos around her, giving each one a distinct voice from her own. She delved into a plan to get revenge on the ponies who took her hive away from her.
Shaking his head at the pegacorn's ramblings, he steps into the small clearing until he stood right behind her, casting a large looming shadow that forced the pegacorn to swing her head to him. He saw her stare blankly at him, not knowing if he was truly there or not; her eyes were wide and frivolous with her mouth stretched into a crazed smile, showing her dull fangs. It took some time until her senses returned, and she glared distrustfully at the stallion before her.
"It's tragic," the stallion murmured, his voice nothing but a whisper as faint as a lame breeze. His piercing yellow gaze bore into the pegacorn without relenting. "Queen Chrysalis of the Changelings. Imagine my surprise to witness a ruler such as yourself lowered to a laughable state; a queen whose control extends to a few worthless pieces of scrap."
Anger flared up in Chrysalis' eyes, and her face became twisted with a wicked ire. Almost without warning, she sprang at him, her jaws open to deliver a killing bite to his neck. The stallion thrust her away with a swift push, knocking her to the ground. Chrysalis lay dazed for a moment before getting back up and hissing vehemently, her horn glowing with a sickly green aura. The stallion could see the strain in Chrysalis' slit eyes and knew that casting an attack spell took its toll on her.
With incredible effort, the pegacorn shot forth a beam of green magic at him. The stallion braced himself and used his horn to conjure a shield that deflected the pegacorn's ruthless attack. Chrysalis was weary and breathless; her legs shook with tiredness, and she held a hoof to her forehead; her face scrunched with pain. Hardly able to bear it any longer, Chrysalis' legs buckled beneath her and threatened to send her to the ground.
The stallion stared at the pegacorn's struggling figure and felt no need to defend himself. "You seem to be in pain. You may rest; I am no threat to you," the stallion said with a yawn, arching his back in a luxurious stretch. "It would be the smart course of action."
Chrysalis glared with a disdainful sneer, forcing herself to dash at him. The stallion rolled his eyes and stood up on his hind legs, his staggering height forced the pegacorn to skid in her tracks. Before she could back away, the stallion plummeted on top of her crashing onto the ground and knocking the air right out of her.
Chrysalis screeched in agony, her flimsy hole-ridden legs flailing hopelessly in the air as she spouted curses, but nothing seemed to work. The stallion had placed all of his weight to thwart the pegacorn's attempts of escaping; all she could do was squirm and writhe under him, barely able to breathe.
"Remove yourself from my body you pathetic, worthless, disgusting cretin!" Chrysalis spat crossly, snapping her jaws close to the stallion's neck. But he didn't move. She charged up her horn again to blast him, but the stallion flicked it with a hoof, causing a shockwave of pain that rippled through Chrysalis' ailing body. "Gawah!!!"
The stallion had a disinterested look strewn across his face, his half-lidded eyes blinking slowly to the reddening sky above, ignorant of Chrysalis' pained wailing. "Your wailing is very undignified of a so-called 'Queen of the Changelings.'" He heard the pegacorn hiss angrily, feeling her neck strain towards him in an attempt to bite him. "Struggling will do you no good," he said with another yawn, longer than the last. "If you don't, I'll just have sleep on you; I've been trotting all day and I feel downright exhausted. You'll ultimately suffocate beneath my weight if I do."
At those words, the stallion felt the pegacorn cease her wriggling. He looked down at her, their muzzles nearly touching, and saw the pegacorn giving him a seething glower. Chrysalis laid her neck on the ground. She breathed heavily, sweat trickling down her black visage; her chest heaving as she struggled to inhale air.
"If you're going to mount me, then you better do it right," she hissed contemptuously. "The love you'll provide will be enough to sustain me for a while." Her voice became low and submissive, and although she held a look of hatred in her eyes, they narrowed sensually, and there was a semblance of passion too.
The stallion, though not interested, chuckled at the pegacorn. "From wanting to kill to wanting to mate... I'll never understand mares," he remarked.
Chrysalis dropped the sexual guise and groaned in defeat. "Will you get off already?!"
The stallion shrugged and shuffled his body to get more comfortable, much to the displeasure of Chrysalis. "Let's talk about your failures, 'Queen' Chrysalis." Suddenly his eyes narrowed with a hint of anger and the pegacorn flinched from his powerful gaze. "You aren't even a queen; that crown you parade atop your head doesn't even belong to you. You're a false monarch, and your being here proves that."
The stallion could see the shock in the pegacorn's face, but it vanished quickly to be replaced with mingled confusion and curiosity. "Who... are you?" she asked suspiciously, her eyes narrowing as if to figure out his identity. "How do... did you know about the crown? You couldn't have known!"
The stallion ignored her questions. "When will it stop?" he asked her. Chrysalis gave him a bewildered glance. "Your conquest to bring Equestria to its knees."
The pegacorn chuckled, but it came out as a rasp. "It'll never stop!" she spat. "I nearly won twice! Next time will be different!"
"But you still failed in the end," the stallion reminded her, gaining a spiteful hiss from his captive. "You were beaten once, but you had your subjects. You're beaten twice and they abandon you for another leader, one they could trust. You have failed too many times and look where it brought you: muttering foolish drivel and planning another scheme that'll only cause more pain for you. When will you stop?"
Chrysalis was seething with rage, bearing her fangs at him as if she would like nothing more than to sink them into his flesh. "I am Queen of the Changelings!" she bellowed angrily. "They'll all come crawling back to me when they realize I am their rightful ruler! Then I'll take over Equestria and consume as much love as I want, and all will be my slaves! I am quee-"
"You are the queen of nothing," the stallion said calmly, cutting off the pegacorn's furious rambling. "There's nothing left to recover; you can't live like that anymore and you know it. Look around you, Chrysalis, and tell me what you see."
Though glaring, Chrysalis veered her gaze as best she could under the stallion's weight and saw nothing, as was expected. She turned back to him. "There's nothing here, you idiot!"
"You're right," the stallion said, ignoring the pegacorn's insult. "There isn't a single thing here befitting a creature who holds themselves to a high standard such as you." He saw the pegacorn's gaze soften a little, and he knew she was truly listening. He continued. "It's only bugs, dirt, and wild animals here. There's no throne for you to lounge upon. No subjects to bend to your will, no castle or buzzing hive to live in, and no power to flaunt.
"There's nothing here but you. All alone. You continue to spiral into madness; your mind will never be the same again, and you know it. There is no love for you here, or anywhere. You have been abandoned, Chrysalis. Dethroned. Your subjects follow a different leader, one who can deliver them more than you ever could, and with much less struggle. You know that don't you?"
Chrysalis was silent; her answer spoke volumes, and she knew it well. They had chosen to follow a traitor to prosperity; to bring joy she could never give them no matter how hard she tried. Chrysalis knew that she was no longer wanted.
"You believed that this plan or that plan, or this other plan would work and lead you to victory, but you have always failed," the stallion said lowly. "Who could you truly rule over now if even your mind has started to leave you? What creature could you drain of love to be at full strength? You prey on scraps. What does it mean to be a queen of changelings if this is all it brings you in the end? Look at those scattered photos."
Hollow-eyed by the stallion's truthful and harsh words, Chrysalis slowly turned her head to see the photos she took of the Mane Six and their ally. Although there was anger in her gaze, there was also shame.
"It's no wonder they left you," the stallion murmured. "You became obsessed with these ponies. Because of your foolishness and follies, you've been beaten in both mind and body. When will it stop, Chrysalis?"
The pegacorn shook her head as if to clear her mind of those blatant thoughts. "You don't know me or what I feel!"
"It doesn't take an empath or a changeling to see the amount of hurt you covet," the stallion retorted. "It must truly pain you."
The pegacorn scoffed. "If you think this is the end for me, then you are sorely mistaken!" she spat crossly. "I'll devour your love and find those you care about and drain them of their love until they are nothing but mindless slaves licking my hooves!" Chrysalis was surprised by the calm across the stallion's face and knew her threats did nothing to him.
The stallion smiled, causing Chrysalis to flinch her head away. "That's impossible," he told the pegacorn, his deep rich voice as neutral as ever. "All that I love and cherish are long dead." Chrysalis was shocked into silence. "There is nothing you can take from me; all of my love is devoid. You couldn't drain my love even if I let you, because there is nothing for you to take."
"How can a pony be devoid of love?!" Chrysalis asked, baring her teeth in a snarl. "That isn't possible!"
The stallion shrugged, disinterested. "You best start believing it. Anyway," he went on, "if you continue down this road, there will be no coming back. There is still a chance for you to be different. There is something wonderful waiting for you."
Chrysalis hissed with disgust. "You are so pathetic that you think I would do as you say?" she asked with scorn layered deep within her raspy voice. "Offering me 'friendship' like that mare tried to do?! Hah! You are more foolish than I thought!"
The stallion sighed at Chrysalis' adamant nature, shaking his head. "I'm not offering you friendship; I'm offering a new path for you to tread. It matters little to me if you are so keen to destroy yourself, but I would be remiss if I didn't suggest an opportunity for your plight."
Fear flickered in the pegacorn's eyes, and the stallion could feel her muscles tense. "What do you mean?" she asked apprehensively. "Is destruction waiting for me? How do you know?"
Again, the stallion shrugged and looked away, his piercing yellow eyes gazing up to the red sky. He knew it vexed the pegacorn to brush off her concerns. "Can't say for sure," he muttered absently, "but I am prone to make good assumptions." He could feel Chrysalis glare at him, and he felt her hind leg brush up against something and heard her gasp in surprise.
Smiling, he turned to meet her astounded expression. "If you keep it hush-hush, I'll get off of you," he bargained. Chrysalis squinted her eyes with distrust. "If you don't say yes, I'll have to assume you like me being on you."
Chrysalis let out a low snarl, but then she huffed exasperatedly. "Fine," she muttered. "Can you get off now?"
The stallion nodded. "Certainly," he responded. He removed himself from the pegacorn and watched as she groaned with pain before rising to a sitting position. "See? Isn't that better?
"Who are you?" she asked. "I didn't know there could be males too."
The stallion placed a hoof against his lips. "Life is full of mysteries," he told obliquely. "Anyway, this about you." His yellow eyes narrowed, and his voice became solemn. "The door is closing, Chrysalis, and when it does, it will be firmly shut. You still have time to change for the better."
Any hint of anger or hatred was absent from the pegacorn, the stallion noticed. He assumed that she was finally considering what he had told her. He watched as she glanced ruefully at the photos she took of her enemies.
"This has to stop or else it'll be your downfall," he told her softly. He got up and sat next to her, brushing his tail across her back. "You know I'm right."
"But... but I'm a queen!" she blustered. There was definitely fear in those round eyes. The stallion knew that Chrysalis has taken in everything that had ever befallen her, and she was taking it badly. "I can turn it all around and rebuild my empire! I can-"
"You can't," the stallion cut in, making Chrysalis stiffen. She looked at him and held no contempt, but a weltering sorrow and desperation. "There's no picking up the pieces now; you had that chance presented to you, but you smacked the hoof away, and now you're here, alone. What could you do, Chrysalis? Honestly."
Chrysalis stared into the stallion's piercing yellow eyes and said nothing. He could hear her breathing coming in with shuddering, quick gasps, placing her hoof on her chest as she began to sweat. Her eyes rattled in their sockets, and she began to heave forward retching as if to vomit. She moaned sadly at the ground; tears bled from her troubled eyes as she let out a choke-filled, ululated keening wail.
The stallion did nothing but comfort the grieving pegacorn with the continued brushing of his tail to her back. Even though he knew she deserved some manner of punishment for her vile misdeeds, Chrysalis being wracked with such misery and sorrow was cruel, yet he knew she had to accept the foolish actions that had led her here if there was a paltry of a chance that she would change her ways.
He listened and stayed close to Chrysalis, his body touching hers as she continued to lament the loss of everything. He didn't know how long he sat in silence beside the pegacorn, but the sun had long since left the sky and the moon was clear, shining its brilliant blue light across the small clearing.
The stallion heard Chrysalis sniffle and cough profusely before rubbing her eyes with a trembling hoof. He gazed at the photos and levitated them to her. With a soft murmur, he captured her attention and told her to look at the photos and asked if she would burn them with her magic.
She looked at him again, traces of the arrogant queen gone. There was a hollowed look in her eyes as if hope of becoming the queen of the changelings vanished. Without a word, Chrysalis struggled painfully to light her horn. Her gnarled black horn flickered and died as she grunted heavily, but she did not relent, and eventually a green fire ignited on the photos, burning them until they were burnt crisps and the wind blew them away.
The stallion saw the crown Chrysalis had stolen from long ago laying on the grass like discarded trash; it had fallen off when he pinned her to the ground. He levitates it to Chrysalis' face as she glanced at it. He craned his neck to see her tear-stained face look enamored at the crown, but then her gaze hardened and turned her head away. The stallion set the crown gently on the grass.
"You are no longer Chrysalis the Changeling Queen," the stallion murmured close to her ears. "You're just Chrysalis, a changeling."
She turned to him; despair rooted in her hollow gaze. "What am I to do now?" she whispered to him. There was a terrible fear in those glossy eyes. "I have nothing left. Everything is dark; it's all..." She paused, trying to control her shuddering breath. "Gone."
"The door is still open," the stallion reminded her, his rich voice gentle and soft. "Unlike a few others, it's not too late for you, but it is closing. The door presents a new road, but you must want it. You can stay as you are or stray from this path you trod. It won't be easy, but you will find something far better than the path you currently trot." His yellow eyes narrowed, unblinking. He gestures to the crown with a hoof. "What will it be, Chrysalis?"
Chrysalis gazed down at the crown, using her magic to lift it from the ground despite the pain it cost her. She rotated it a few times. The stallion saw tears dropping onto the crown and looked at the pegacorn, but her mane obscured his view, and the stallion did not attempt to see her face. Then, as quickly as she picked it up, she sat the crown back on the ground and turned her head away from it.
"So that's your answer," the stallion said. Chrysalis did not speak, but she drooped her head and nodded briefly. "You've opened the door and taken your first steps. This is the end of a queen, but not the end for you, Chrysalis. Become better and what you'll receive will be far greater than you could ever imagine."
The stallion grabbed the crown in his magic and scrapped the earth until a hole was deep enough and set the crown inside it. Chrysalis watched as the stallion buried her crown. After, he stood up and helped the silent changeling off the ground. He cleaned any dirt from her weakened body with a few swishes of his black tail.
"The queen is dead, Chrysalis," he told her. She veered her soft gaze to him but didn't speak. He assumed she had little energy left. Under his cloak, the stallion grasped a feather similar to a raven's and tucked it behind Chrysalis' ear. "That feather will be the connection between me and you; you think of it as a souvenir. May it bring insight and change."
Chrysalis stepped to the stallion, her gaze uncertain and scared. "What should I do?"
"Ponyville or Canterlot; take your pick and run with it," he told her solemnly. "Twilight and her friends may give you one more chance or you can go to Celly, I mean... Princess Celestia and serve her." The stallion expected Chrysalis to burst into rage at the mere mention of serving her mortal enemy, but she looked docile and amenable as she dipped her head to his suggestions.
"I'll go to Princess Celestia and serve her," she told him without hesitation. Chrysalis held her head high and had a look of determination burning in her eyes. "I'll do as you suggest." She lightly caressed the black feather the mysterious stallion gave her. "I won't forget you, and I hope that one day we will meet again..."
The stallion grinned. "Good deal," he said as he turned away. "The door has closed, but you are on the other side. May this new path bring you happiness." He glances back, seeing the changeling flutter feebly to Canterlot. "Farewell, Chrysalis."