Queen Chrysalis jolted upright, her aching body complaining at the sudden motion. She looked to the entrance of the cave she had holed up in for the past few months. A storm was raging outside.
The Changeling queen sighed heavily. She would not be able to get any love for herself from the village at the edge of the forest the cave was nestled in. Chrysalis supposed that she should consider herself lucky for surviving as long as she had. She got to her holed hooves and trudged to the entrance and sat on her haunches, watching the storm rage on.
Truth be told, Chrysalis had absolutely no idea where she was. After both she and her entire hive had been blasted from Canterlot all those months ago, they had been separated. The greater majority of changelings had either perished in the interim or had begun cursing her name and swearing to kill her if the chance ever showed itself. Either way, Queen Chrysalis was queen no more, which was fine by her. She was not really sure exactly WHY she was fine with it, but she'd long since stopped dwelling on the matter.
A sudden flash of lightning and the sound of thunder crashing nearby jolted Chrysalis out of her reverie. During the brief moment that the night sky was illuminated by the lightning, Chrysalis could have sworn by Solaris' Puffy Pink Plot* that there was a pegasus flying in the storm. She scoffed at the idea before another flash of lightning lit up the sky and she saw that there was indeed a pony attempting to fly in the maelstrom surrounding the forest. The pony looked to be rather new to flying however, because: A) They were flying in a storm. Even a freshly hatched changeling knew better than to do that. And B) They were flying as if they hadn't had wings their entire life.
Chrysalis let out a small chuckle as she watched the pony struggle for a moment more before finally falling to the ground. Chrysalis sighed and turned back to the cave to get out of the elements before something stopped her. She looked back to the entrance of the cave and grunted in irritation before heading out into the storm.
***
Chrysalis wandered towards where the pony had fallen, following the emotions the pony was putting out like a beacon. It wasn't that long before she came upon a small clearing with debris from a very recent crash littering the area. With a flick of emerald colored magic, Chrysalis moved the detritus aside and stopped dead at the sight of the pony in front of her, the lavender coat and star burst cutie mark bringing memories of a wedding that was not hers to the surface.
Lightning flashed once more, bringing a pack of Timberwolves into sharp relief. They growled once before attempting to charge at the pony, believing her to be easy prey before being tossed aside by an emerald barrier.
"She's MINE," Chrysalis growled darkly at the feral wood wraiths. The Timberwolves, to their credit, knew that this new threat was not to be trifled with due to her near alicorn stature. They all backed off one by one, whimpering with tails tucked before turning tail and running. Chrysalis smirked to herself, then turned to the pony, looking her over once before noticing the horn upon her head in addition to the wings she had been flying on.
Upon closer inspection, Chrysalis noticed one of the wings was bent at a rather odd angle and the pony was breathing shallowly. Heaving a tired sigh for the umpteenth time, she enveloped the pony in emerald magic and lifted her on her back. She then turned towards the cave and trudged through the mud with what seemed to be the weight of the world on her mind.
***
Twilight Sparkle awoke to the sound of a crackling fire. She gingerly opened her eyes and surveyed her surroundings, finding herself in a cave. She noticed an unpleasant tingling sensation along her side and looked to her left, finding her wing splinted and covered in a green slime, which was attached to her side, keeping the wing still, and presumably numb, which is what the tingling was.
"You're awake," a voice said off to Twilight's right.
Twilight turned and gasped, "Chrysalis!!"
"Yes," the changeling said simply, "And you are Shining Armor's sister. I must say, the wings suit you, though I have to question your sanity."
"What?" twilight said, caught off guard.
"You were flying in the worst storm I've seen in months," Chrysalis said, "You are either incredibly stupid, or incredibly insane, because I'm almost certain that even a clinically insane pegasus knows better than to fly in adverse weather."
Twilight worked her mouth up and down, failing to come up with a remark and ending up closing her mouth and fuming in silence. She looked down as a small bunch of fruits were pushed near her.
"You should eat," Chrysalis said, "You are probably hungry, am I right?"
Twilight opened her mouth to protest, but her stomach betrayed her and growled loudly, making the lavender alicorn blush. She nodded and grabbed a piece of fruit before asking, "Why?"
Chrysalis came over and sat on the opposite side of the fire from Twilight and responded, "Why help you, you mean? Or do you mean why impersonate Mi Amore Cadenza and try to take over Canterlot?"
"Both, I guess," Twilight said after a moment of thought and swallowing her mouthful of fruit.
Chrysalis sighed before saying, "My changelings were starving. That is the reason for the invasion. The way I saw it, at the time, who better to steal love from than the stallion betrothed to the Princess of Love? Only you had to go off and ruin everything by bringing the real Princess in to crash the wedding."
"Why didn't you try and talk to Celestia?" Twilight asked curiously, "It would have saved you a lot of trouble, you know."
"Don't you think I tried that?!" Chrysalis snapped, "I was turned away before I even reached the throne room. Something about me being a monster. I doubt your precious Celestia even knew of our plight, considering the majority of the royals are xenophobic pricks who care more for who has more Celestial* blood than of the problems that someone like ME had to deal with on a daily basis."
"I-I'm sorry...." twilight said, giving an extremely good impression of Fluttershy.
"...Not your fault," Chrysalis said softly, "As a matter of fact, I'm pretty sure you did me a favor by helping to blast me out of Canterlot."
Twilight looked surprised and asked, "What do you mean?"
Chrysalis looked down and suddenly transformed into a brown earth pony stallion with an Hourglass cutie mark and a bow tie. "Because," the stallion said, "I've learned that it is far better to have friends who care enough to give you their love than to steal emotions from ponies who hate and fear you..."
Chrysalis sighed and looked back at Twilight while transforming back into her own form. "As for your other question, I simply felt that I should help."
Twilight thought for a moment before getting up and moving to press her uninjured side into Chrysalis, surprising the changeling with the sudden contact.
"Then I am glad I could help, in some way," Twilight said with a smile, "Even if you have been shunned by the rest of your race."
"H-how did you...?" Chrysalis asked shakily.
"I haven't seen or heard another changeling the entire time we've been here, "Twilight began, "This cave is too small for a hive and I can't sense any hidden doorways in here either. Which means you were either ostracized by the others, decided to take an extended vacation, or abdicated your position to another Queen. From your reaction, It was the first one."
Chrysalis began to silently cry and asked, "Why are you..?"
Twilight smiled and turned towards Chrysalis, planting a light kiss upon her cheek and said, "I simply feel I should give you a chance."
Author's Note
*Solaris' Pink Puffy Plot is my response to By Celestia's Beard. And Celestial blood means anypony who can claim to have blood ties to Celestia, Luna, Twilight, and Cadence.
