Loose Pages

The words hung in the air between the two monarchs. For her part, and despite her less-than-favorable situation, Chrysalis maintained her composure exceptionally well. She stole a few quick glances at the nearby guards, daring them to make a move, but her eyes remained focused mainly on Celestia’s nervous silhouette, and she let herself show a thin, sly smirk.

Seconds passed, trickling by slowly, as if time itself was trying to carefully sneak by the two rulers, afraid of interrupting their staring contest. When no reply was forthcoming, Chrysalis teased, “What’s the matter, Princess? Should I take this to somepony who’s actually in charge around here?”

Princess Celestia blinked and pursed her lips. With a quick and meaningful nod addressed to the guard standing next to her throne, she said, “Sergeant, please escort other guests scheduled for the Day Court out of the castle.” And call for backup if things go poorly, her determined eyes silently added.

“I refuse.” The princess met Chrysalis’s gaze. Though the changeling queen’s sudden arrival unsettled her, she would not let it show for a single second longer. “I do not trust you.”

Chrysalis growled and stomped on the stone tiles, cracking one under her hoof. “Are you out of your mind, Celestia?! Listen to me; I have come here to surrender!”

“I will listen to your words once you’re no longer a threat to my ponies.” Celestia loosened the spell.

Chrysalis jumped back just as ethereal shackles materialized on the ground. She hissed. “You’re making a terrible mistake.”

“Do not resist, Chrysalis.”

“We do not have time for this foolishness!” She swiftly stepped out of the path of a beam of burning sunlight channeled by Celestia and charged at her immediately. Unlike their previous encounter, Chrysalis could not hope to match Celestia’s power in a fair fight, but the princess was visibly exhausted—a fact Chrysalis needed only to capitalize on. She bared her fangs and lunged, flying through the air with great speed—slamming face-first into a blue magical barrier. She recoiled, dazed from the impact.

“And so the monster bares her teeth.” Luna landed near the entrance, trapping Chrysalis between herself and her sister. She was still wearing the enchanted barding from last night’s expedition to the empty changeling hive in the Badlands. “Literally, in this case.”

Chrysalis’s horn glowed until she was entirely covered by green flames. She emerged as a dark alicorn that the princesses were all too familiar with. “You’re one to talk, Little Moon,” she said in Nightmare Moon’s taunting voice.

Luna dashed before Celestia could stop her. She furiously galloped with her horn aimed at Chrysalis, her hooves turning into a blur. But Chrysalis had expected that, sidestepping and shooting a quick paralysis spell at the charging mare. “Enough!” she cried. “For every second we spend on the—”

She was interrupted by a rain of magical moonlight darts. Wherever they struck her disguise, they not only chilled her to the bone but also left a stinging sensation that Chrysalis had become far too acquainted with in the past day. “You’ve been reading that book!” she cried, an unfitting expression of fear crossing her terrifying countenance.

“We will not take part in your twisted games, changeling.” Luna’s gaze was determined and defiant as she rested her head on her sister’s side for support, the paralyzing spell having already almost worn off.

“Yet you’re the ones being played!”

At once, she discarded her disguise and drew upon the power the book had shown her. Where Chrysalis stood was now a black and shapeless mass, which glowed with the changelings’ green magic. It filled half of the throne room, shutting out all the exits and isolating the room from magical interference such as teleportation. The changeling goo roiled and bubbled savagely, sprouting hooves, claws, wings, and countless other limbs of every known creature as quickly as it assimilated them back into its core.

The princesses tried to break free from the charcoal prison, casting great spells one after another into the center of the monster. None of those spells seemed to have much effect, however, and so, in a desperate bid to save themselves, they summoned a protective magic bubble. But not even their strongest shield could stop the caustic mass, which seethed indignantly at their attempts to block it, spreading the stench of decay everywhere.

The creature broke through the spell effortlessly, with a few stray droplets of black goo splashing on Celestia’s pristine coat. It stung her, but in the insatiable hunger that she felt coming from the ooze she also sensed the thing’s desire to dominate and triumph over all else. Celestia huddled closer to her sister, their horns lighting up in a last-ditch effort to repel the monstrous being.

The princesses closed their eyes and braced for the impact, with Luna stretching her armored wings over Celestia’s unprotected coat. Meanwhile, the shapeless creature surged forward in a great wave, melting off banners and chandeliers in its path. It rose to the ceiling, its tip curling hungrily towards the two alicorns as it brandished its all-too-many mouths.

The throne room felt silent as seconds passed. Chrysalis’s heavy panting filled the void. Ahead of her, the two royal alicorns were standing on a small patch of the floor not touched by the abominable creature they just saw. They were frozen in shock but mostly unharmed. Chrysalis scrambled to her hooves and weakly repeated, “As I said, I surrender.”

Celestia was the first to speak. She looked in disbelief at her right forehoof, where the ooze had struck her a moment ago. “Chrysalis, did you just… hold back?”

“Of course I did, you senile ponies!” She snorted in disdain. “If I gave into its whispers a little bit more, I would never come back from that thing. I’m never doing this again.”

“Pray tell, what was it? We have never seen such magic before,” said Luna.

“This is what your book showed me; why I’m here.” In spite of her exhaustion, Chrysalis flashed a toothy and decidedly unfriendly grin. “And what will happen to your ponies if you don’t listen to me right now.”

The princesses exchanged a worried glance. From their expressions and the stiffness of their movements, it was clear that neither of them wanted to take Chrysalis at her word. “I believe you’ve made your point,” said Luna, extinguishing the teleportation spell she kept ready during their conversation. “Why did you come to us with an offer of surrender?”

“Because that’s the one thing the book didn’t want me to do.”

Princess Celestia raised an eyebrow. “Come again?”

“The book.” Chrysalis rolled her eyes, speaking slowly, like one might to a young child. “It has its own agenda and maliciously manipulates others into furthering its plans.” Her cheeks rose in a toothy mockery of a smile. “So do we, but our paths did not align.”

Luna took half a step back, a frightful gleam shining in her eyes. She cleared her throat and said, “Perhaps it would be best to finish this conversation somewhere else?” As if on cue, one of the columns came crashing down.

Luna used the brief confusion to whisper to Celestia, “I was reading it when you began Day Court. It was the book that showed me Chrysalis’s arrival; I’ll make sure that it’s locked away safely.”

“Please follow me, Queen Chrysalis. My sister will join us momentarily.” Princess Celestia led the changeling out of the devastated throne room.

Chrysalis firmly put her hoof on the small table normally used by the princesses for their scheduled meetings with foreign dignitaries. It was a lovely little room, tall and with wide windows, but tastefully decorated in the homely, Equestrian style, and featuring many different kinds of seats for all kinds of visitors to feel welcome.

Its décor did not, however, temper the queen of changelings. “I took the book to save my hive. Let it be known that I do not regret doing that, even now.” She paused to allow the princesses to challenge her on that claim.

“When did your plans change, then?” asked Celestia. She struggled to keep her voice neutral in the face of Chrysalis’s constant taunts, but she hoped to avoid another verbal confrontation. “From what we saw, it seemed to be rather helpful in all kinds of situations.”

“That’s just the thing, Celestia—things are rarely what they seem. I opened the book desiring a better future for my subjects, which the book showed me. I saw a time when we would come back to Canterlot as victors, securing more love than we could dream of! But then—” Chrysalis scowled “—I looked ahead, past the visions that the book showed me so eagerly. Your student and the captain of the guard mobilizing ponies from all over Equestria to fight us off. It did not matter who won; the losses the hive would suffer were catastrophic.”

Chrysalis closed her eyes, looking away from Celestia. “I did not stop there, of course. I looked deeper, exploring many alternatives, but it always came to the same conclusion: a great war between us, with or without you to lead it.”

Luna found herself almost empathizing with the changeling. She nodded and said in a voice softer than her sister’s, “So it was then that you gave up on the book’s counsel? Truly, we thi—”

“Of course not! Do you consider me a coward?!” Chrysalis cut in again with renewed vigor. “If we couldn’t win by cunning, I decided to seek strength. As you could see, the book was more than happy to oblige. I don’t know what kind of creature I turned into, but it gave me enough of an understanding to copy it, as well as the power to maintain its form.”

“But there was a catch, wasn’t there?” Celestia’s eyes lit up with a thoughtful gleam. Despite her distrust, she saw where Chrysalis was going with her story. “What you told us about not coming back.”

“See? Sometimes even you can put two and two together! Perhaps choosing to help you was not as bad of a decision as I was being led to believe.” She clapped her hooves sarcastically. “Yes, as powerful as I—or any changeling with that book—could become, it would quickly consume us, binding us with an endless quest to sate that thing’s ceaseless hunger. And I do quite love being myself.” Chrysalis grinned, stretching over the lounge chair.

“There was something else, too,” Chrysalis added. “The longer I spent reading that book, the more sure I was that I heard some whispers trying to influence my decisions. A very subtle form of mind control that was supposed to remain hidden. I am certain it would be undetectable for anyone other than a virtuoso of that kind of magic.” She shapeshifted into Cadance before winking at Celestia.

Celestia raised herself from her seat with an offended expression, but Luna wrapped a reassuring hoof around her withers and gave her a look that said, Don’t let her get to you, Tia. Turning to Chrysalis, she asked, “What about the other changeling? The one who stole the book from us and then used it to escape our pursuit in the Everfree Forest yesterday? Should he not be affected as well?”

“Mandible.” The mirth in Chrysalis’s voice was gone instantly, and she dropped her disguise. She sucked in air through her clenched teeth. “Unlike me or even you, he could not resist the book’s charm. His dedication to the hive protected his mind long enough to ensure the success of his mission, but the side effects were not kind to him.” Chrysalis shook her head quickly. “As soon as the book was taken from him, he started acting like a different changeling. He tried to steal it from me, his queen, and when confronted about it, he only kept repeating that he had to do it for the good of the hive. For his own safety, he had to have been… locked away.” Chrysalis lowered her head in shame.

“If what you’re saying is true, Chrysalis, that is most disconcerting.” Luna left her spot at the table and trotted to a nearby window. It was noon, and so she saw crowds of ponies going about their lives, oblivious to the danger that an unchecked, malicious artifact could cause. When she spoke, her voice was quiet but full of steely determination. “No one, pony or changeling, should be subjected to the whims of dark magic. The book—or whoever is responsible for it—must be investigated immediately.”

She turned around and looked Chrysalis in the eyes, holding her gaze for several seconds when neither of them backed down. “I am, however, curious regarding your motivations. If you’re not lying, this book would now be our problem, not yours. So why did you come here to surrender, Queen Chrysalis?”

Chrysalis opened her wings, her black figure clashing against the warm colors of the room. “Because you need me, Your Highnesses. I’ve seen firsthoof what the book can do, and I’m far more well-versed in mind-altering spells than either of you are. I’ve already spread my changelings over Equestria to watch for any signs of its meddling.”

Luna nodded slowly. “Perhaps. But you did not answer my question. What’s in it for you? Surely you don’t expect us to believe that you’re acting out of the goodness of your heart.”

“Why, we changelings are some of the most peace-loving creatures in the world! An entity sowing conflict and hatred makes it a lot harder to collect love from your ponies, doesn’t it? Who knows, perhaps at the end of this affair we’ll all be such good friends that ponies might not need to fear their very lovely neighbors anymore.” Chrysalis’s gaze hardened. “Aside from this—the book tried to trick us; it meant to use us for its goals and discard us. We cannot let that disrespect stand.”

Celestia bit her lip and looked at Luna, who was still standing by the window. “Thank you, Queen Chrysalis. We need to discuss Equestria’s official response, but if you’re telling the truth, your assistance will be recognized.” She reluctantly nodded her head in thanks. “You may go; our guards will not stop you.”

“I think I will stay in your pretty pony city until you decide what to do.” Chrysalis tilted her head, and a long but strangely genuine smile bloomed on the dark carapace of her face. “And not only because you’re so eager to get rid of me, Celestia.”

As soon as the door closed behind Chrysalis, Celestia let out an exhausted sigh and joined Luna by the window. She raised an eyebrow and said, “You don’t trust her, do you, Lulu?”

Luna turned around, meeting Celestia’s tired gaze. She shook her head and stepped closer to wrap a wing around the taller alicorn. “Not entirely, Tia.” She bit her lip. “However, I do not think she was making it up, either.”

“That’s the worst, isn’t it? If she was just lying, the situation would be so much simpler.” Celestia’s absent gaze drifted to the Sun, its light ever so firm and unchanging. The Sun did not need to consider the risks and benefits of decisions such as siding with a monster who attacked her country. It simply shined, and everypony had to adapt to its brilliance.

“I wonder how much she’s not telling us, Tia. If the book had shown her the future…” Luna’s voice trailed off.

“How can we be sure she’s not following its guidance to trick us?” Celestia finished her sister’s thought. She closed her eyes again. “Exactly. We can’t be.”

“And yet, if she spoke only the truth, we might truly need her aid to put an end to the source of this vile mystery.” Luna paused to look at the crowds below. Her soft voice did not falter again. “A mystery that might endanger so many of our ponies if we don’t handle it swiftly and decisively. The implications of what the book did to the changeling we chased are horrifying. I don’t think she hid anything from us; she looked vulnerable for a brief moment. It is doubtful that the queen would want us to see that.”

Celestia’s brow creased. “So you’re in favor of allying with her, just as she suggested? I admit I do not like that idea, however necessary it might prove.”

“We shall keep a keen eye on her, making sure she’s not plotting behind our backs,” said Luna. “Or that her plotting be kept to mutually beneficial causes.”

“Very well, sister. I suggest you should rest. Since Chrysalis refuses to use the book’s magic again, you remain the only one of three of us to have some experience with it. I will let Chrysalis know of our plans.”

An insistent knocking of an armored hoof interrupted the princesses. Luna straightened her back, recognizing the code of her Night Guard. Worse than that was the message that the sequence of knocks announced. Her ear twitched and her wings flared. “Come in!” she cried, turning towards the door with quickly-recovered poise.

A single batpony burst inside, panting heavily from a long flying sprint. His eyes were wide and wild. He made half of a formal bow before saying, “Princess! I bring terrible news: It’s gone!”

Luna gasped, losing some of the dignified majesty of her stoic appearance. She gestured for the guard to continue. “How did that happen?”

“We don’t know!” he cried out. When he saw the expressions on the princesses’ faces, it took all of the certainty drilled into him during training to not collapse from sheer panic and exhaustion. “We had four ponies guarding it at all times, I swear. When my time to take the watch came, I checked inside to ensure that the book was still there. Only, it wasn’t. The windows were closed, and there were no traces of burglary.”

Celestia met Luna’s gaze. “Find out what you can. I’ll look for Chrysalis.”