Apart from Maretime Bay, a cave down on the beach glowed with the embers of a dying fire. Smothering snow poured from on high, piling up and melting near the cave mouth, the orange light dimming as the minutes passed to hours. The Sun fell below the horizon, and with that, the light outside dimmed enough for the cave to stick out against the beach.
Looking down at the cave, Misty Brightdawn took a deep breath and started her sandy descent. Climbing down the rock face towards the cave, she pondered exactly who she’d find hiding out down there. Or what.
“Please don’t be something really scary like an evil dragon wizard,” Misty said, clutching the box in her magic with a tight grip.
The snow and sand crunched beneath her hooves, making the unicorn grit her teeth with every step down the path. Dim light danced across the beach as Misty approached, the faint hint of warmth trickling out to greet her. Peering inside, she found a lone pony sitting by the fire, shivering.
“Hello?” Misty said, walking into the cave. “Are you okay?”
The mare glared at her, gesturing to the fire.
“Y-yes, positively wondrous! W-why else would I b-be in a cave, under the c-city?” she said, venom pouring from her stuttered words.
Misty trotted in and sat by the fire, setting her box down. Opening the lid, she pulled out a few thermoses and sandwiches. Popping the lids, she offered one of each to the mare across from her with a smile.
“Well, I brought you something to help warm up and keep that belly full. I hope you like it!”
“I don’t need your pity to survive this. I’ve been through worse… worse than you could ever imagine,” the mare growled.
“Are you sure? It’s made with plenty of love… your majesty.”
The mare’s glare intensified as a green sheen flickered over her eyes, and a flash of fire revealed a large insectoid pony-like creature. A Changeling, long thought to have been a myth, in the chitin. Tall, dark grey, sporting green silk-like hair, and sporting a nasty set of fangs bared at the unicorn.
“How did you know?”
“Well, a lot of things,” Misty said, leaning against the cave wall. “Some ponies saw you transform and posted it online, then Pipp showed Sunny, and Sunny checked her notes on what the old Princess Twilight wrote about-”
The Changeling hissed violently at the mention, to which a sandwich was shoved into her gaping maw.
“-so then after some research she found out about how love magic works and we managed to bake some into this food! I decided to come down to give it to you since… well, to be honest, nopony else wanted to. Sorry,” Misty said, wincing.
Chrysalis wanted to spit out the wretched substance in her mouth, but found herself unable to stop from eating it. It was delicious, intoxicating… full of love. Devouring the whole thing in seconds, she drank from the tin provided and found it too flooded with the life-giving essence.
“Why… why are you sharing this with me? Surely if Sparkle’s journal persists, then you know of my deeds. My tyranny, my wrath, and what happens to those foolish enough to not stomp me out.”
“Oh, yeah, I heard of you before, Queen Chrysalis, ma’am,” Misty said, nodding. “My old… well I was going to say mentor… I was also going to say mom… t-the Alicorn who raised me, used to talk a lot about you and the others from the past.”
“Alicorn? … wait… WAIT!” Chrysalis shouted, shooting upright. “Don’t tell me that witch Opaline still lives!?”
“Oh, you already know her? That’s good! Saves me from explaining everything, then. Yeah, she kinda talked a lot about you, the things she’d do if she found you, and… eugh,” she muttered, shivering. “I’d rather not go into detail about that.”
“She still lives!? After all this time?”
“Well… we kinda don’t… know? She’s trapped inside some tree roots and hasn’t broken out or anything since then so it’s kinda vague whether or not she’s trapped or… yeah.”
“You… you’ve defeated her?” Chrysalis said in awe. “You and your… ponies managed to defeat her? A monster so horrific even Twilight Sparkle had no choice but to try and use my old fri-Comrades, against?”
“Yep, sure did! And now I’m here to reach out to you and help you.”
“BAH! Why would I ever sully myself by lowering my place on the food chain, associating with pitiful beings like you?” Chrysalis spat.
“Because you’re starving alone in a cave under our town that’s going to be renovated next month for sewage pipes and could use a warm bed and genuine love?” Misty said with a smile.
Glaring at the pony, Chrysalis saw the unicorn wouldn’t back down at all, even with a growl and hiss. Even firing up a glow in her eyes did nothing to even spark an ounce of fear in her.
“Ugh. You truly did survive Opaline, didn’t you?”
“Yep! So, what do you say?” Misty said, offering a hoof.
Looking at that hoof, a multitude of lifetimes surged before the former Queen’s eyes.
The hardships she’d endured in her early years before ascension rang through her every aching bone still, from every battle she’d fought for and against her own brood to the torture she’d faced at the hooves of Opaline.
She remembered that one unicorn, Starlight, and this new one reminded her of that pink pony again. Another pony that wanted to empathize with her, offer her a new start. To “fit in” with the ponies. Cringing, she hated the idea, of fitting in amongst prey. She didn’t want to fit in, she wanted to fit them in to pods and drain them dry of emotion. At her current strength, however, she doubted she could best those who beat that dreaded Alicorn. And so, she compromised.
Chrysalis looked at the appendage and sighed deeply. Hundreds of years of resilience, of suffering, of loneliness, began to fracture her already weakened will. With a shaking, hole-ridden hoof, she bumped it.
“Fine. I accept.”
As the unicorn cheered, Chrysalis already began plotting her way out of it all. How she’d try to feed on them in their sleep, how to escape the city, brainwash masses, and began scheming her return to glory. It would be a painful experience, surely, but not something she would be unused to.
\/
If there was anything in this instance Chrysalis truly regretted, it was being born.
Surrounded on all sides by abominable equines, the former Queen found herself at a loss of words to describe exactly how nightmarish her current situation was.
“And like, check out this raggedy mane!” a tiny filly said, holding a plastic brick up. “Totes unacceptable! It’s time to Pipp this Maaane~!”
“Then we can add some glitter, and trim these little bits hanging off of her hooves!” a tall unicorn said. “Wait, I recognize this smell! You go dumpster diving, too? I’d love to share some of the things I found last night! We can be diving buddies!”
“... code violation eight hundred and fifty one, another unauthorized fire started on public property, and that’ll be another two hours of community service,” the only stallion present said, listing off another ticket and putting it on the table in front of Chrysalis.
A baby dragon burped on the ticket and turned it into a bird, leaving it to fly off as the sheriff rewrote the ticket and put the new one on the table. The dragon clapped and continued to oggle the Changeling.
“Can you turn into Twilight with enough magic? Does the transformation actually give you part of their level of power or is it purely aesthetic?”
Chrysalis began to mourn for the statue she’d been freed from so long ago.