A Light in the Darkness
by Nightmare Nyx
Chapters
Prologue
A Light in the Darkness
By Nightmare Nyx
It's been a year since the events at the Canterlot wedding. A year since the stupidity of Chrysalis started the downfall of the Changeling race. Better living conditions were the only thing she wanted for her dear subjects. A life without hunger or danger, far away from the Badlands. Blinded by desperation, she only saw one option, one way to end the suffering of her little changelings.
~~~
Chrysalis sat in her bedroom, preparing herself for the upcoming task. Spies had told her of a wedding in Canterlot, the capital of Equestria, a country that shared its borders with the Badlands. The wedding was between Shining Armor, captain of the Royal Guard and Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, the princess of love. She was going to replace Candance while the real one would be held captive in the crystal caves under the castle in Canterlot. This was the moment she had waited for so long, the chance for her to give her changelings a better future, or at least, so she thought.
---
Everything was going as planned. She had defeated Celestia, her subjects had captured those six ponies and the city was under their control. She had done it. She had given her changelings a better future, a future without fear or starvation, a future of which she dreamed since she was small. But suddenly she noticed something, something that opened the queens eyes: she didn't feel any love flowing. She didn't have the feeling of being filled. All she could feel was fear and anger. It was all over the city, in every street, around every corner, everywhere. It was only now the gravity of her mistake struck her. She started shaking, tears filled her eyes, she had to fix her mistake.But how? She couldn't just let her prisoners go, that would be suicide. While thinking she heard some buzz behind her. When she was about to turn around, a pink wall hit her right in the face. The last thing she heard before she lost consciousness was the cry of hundreds of changelings, perishing in pain as the wall of magic hit them.
~~~
Chrysalis floated in a world of darkness, the only thing that was audible in the abyss was a subtle whisper. As she floated, she tried to focus on the whispering.
[size=5]Monster. Monster. Monster.[/size]
She tried to focus harder.
[size=7]Monster. Monster. Monster.[/size]
When she tried harder yet again, the voices suddenly raised in volume.
Monster! Monster! Monster!
"No, I'm not a monster!" Chrysalis shouted at the voices but they only grew louder and louder.
Monster! Monster! Monster!
Chrysalis started crying. "I'm not a monster! I just wanted a better life for my subjects!"
It didn't matter how hard she screamed, the voices refused go away.
"I'M NOT A MONSTER!"
~~~
When she woke from the nightmare, a deafening silence caught the sobbing changeling queen. Fear filled her heart when she realized she didn't hear a single voice in the hive mind.
"No, this can't be true! They can't be all gone! There has to be another explanation for this."
Not willing to admit it, she rushed to the place she called home.
---
When she arrived at the tunnel system where her hive lived, her fears were proven right. When she reached the entrance of her hive, she saw a dead manticore lying on the ground. His body had several burning and bite marks. At least her changelings didn't go down without a fight. She went futher in the tunnels, everywhere she looked she saw the bodies of her fallen friends, ripped apart by the demons of the Everfree Forest. She couldn't deny it any longer, she was the only survivor of her hive. Back outside, she summoned all her powers and destroyed the entrance of the hive. What served once as the home of her and her subjects, was now the last resting place of her fallen friends. "Farewell my little changelings, I'm sorry", and with that she ran into the darkness of the Everfree Forest.
~~~
Today, it's been one year since she lost everything she loved, a year filled with nightmares and loneliness. She had fought for her life, in the daylight against animals, in her dreams against ghosts. After every fight she became weaker and weaker. And as her body slowly died, so did her will to live. The queen, once so mighty and powerful, had become a shadow of herself.
Chapter 1
The early morning sun wrapped Ponyville in its embrace, filling the earth with little sparkles as it's light felt upon the snow. It was winter, Heart's Warming Eve only a week away. It seemed like it would be another peaceful day in Ponyville. But for one little filly, this day was going to be anything but peaceful.
Nyx woke up as the beams of light entered her room. Trying to get the sleep out of her head she climbed out of her bed. After brushing her hair and paying the little fillies chamber a visit, she took a look outside.
"I could watch this the whole day", she said to herself while admiring the beautiful landscape. She felt sorry for her grandparents in Canterlot who didn't have the opportunity to wake up with something like this. She kept watching outside, hypnotized by the flickering of the sunlight in the snow, until the scent of pancakes filled her nostrils.
Guided by the smell of fresh baked batter and caramel syrup, she walked to kitchen. As she entered she was greeted with the sight of a humming Twilight trying to turn over a pancake. Knowing where this was going, she quickly took cover under the table. Spike however, who was already sitting at the table, still a little sleepy, didn't know what hit him.
"Nice throw mom", Nyx said while leaving her anti-UFP-bunker.
"Oh, good morning Nyx", Twilight said sheepishly, "Sorry Spike".
"It's nothing Twilight. In fact, now I've an extra pancake", Spike chuckled.
Twilight made the last pancakes without any problems and joined the other two. "So Nyx, anything planned for today?"
"The other crusaders and I are going to have a huge snowball fight at Sweet Apple Acres. Sweetie Belle, Applebloom, Button and I against Scootaloo, Rumble, Pipsqueak and Twist", Nyx said while pouring some extra syrup on her last pancake.
"Who's Button? Never heard of that pony."
"That doesn't surprise me. He's new, moved in last Friday, something with his dad's work."
"Oh, well , I hope you will have fun. Spike, could you rearrange the shelves while I'm in Canterlot? The note with the new arrangement is laying on my desk."
"Wait a minute, why do you need to go to Canterlot? The play isn't until next week." Nyx asked angrily.
"Oh, I forgot to tell you. Celestia sent me a letter last night. I need to come earlier because she wants me to help her with organizing this year's play to prevent something like the disaster last year."
Nyx shivered as she thought of what happened last year. "I understand", she said. "Could you say hi to Celestia and Luna for me?"
"I will do that", Twilight said while cleaning the table.
It was one of the most intense snowball fights in the history of Ponyville. The CMC had lifted it to a whole new level. They had built several slingshots and two small fortresses, reinforced with wood. Ponies could easily have mistaken it for a military training ground, if it wasn't for the silly flags which were perched atop each fortress.
They were already playing for two hours and if a large snowstorm hadn't interfered with the fight, it could have lasted another several hours.
"Cease fire, cease fire!!!" shouted Applebloom while running to the enemy camp.
"Why would we?!" asked Scootaloo, ready to throw another snowball.
"There's a storm coming from the Everfree Forest and by the looks of it, it's a big one!"
Scootaloo looked at the horizon to see how big it was. When she saw the storm, fear filled her body. Not only was it the biggest storm she had ever seen, but it was also approaching rather quickly. "But Rainbow Dash said there wasn't a storm planned for the rest the week."
She had barely said this when Rainbow Dash landed near them. "Girls, you have to get out of here now! A unplanned storm is heading to Ponyville and it's to big for us to stop. I have to go now, I need to warn the others. Bye." And before they knew it she was gone.
After some quick goodbyes, everypony went to their homes. For Nyx, it was a long walk because the library was on the other side of Ponyville and she needed to walk past the Everfree Forest. Still not being able to fly properly, she ran as fast as her little legs allowed her so she wouldn't be caught by the storm.
But the intense snowball fight had left her exhausted. She wasn't as fast as she thought and when she ran past the Everfree Forest, she was hit by a wall of flying snow. Surprised by the sudden force, she lost her balance and fell to the ground face first. Disorientated by the crash, she stood up shaking. Not sure where to go due the raging white curtain, she ran towards the direction she thought the library was.
But the library wasn't in that direction.
Little did she know that she was actually going straight into the Everfree Forest.
Chapter 2
“Face it Nyx, you’re lost, no point in denying it any longer”, Nyx muttered while walking aimlessly in the forest. Her hooves made a creaking sound as she trotted through the snow, searching for a path that could lead back to Ponyville. It had been some time since the filly had taken the wrong road back at the edge of the Everfree Forest. Blinded by the raging blizzard, she hadn't realized that she was walking in the forest that housed some of the darkest creatures living in Equestria. It was only when the road had ended and she stumble over a rock, bumped into a tree and felt off a low ledge, the idea struck her that she maybe wasn't in Ponyville anymore. It at least explained why she still wasn't home and why she didn't recognize the route she was taking. The storm calmed down while she laid there, still too dizzy from the fall to stand up. After a couple of minutes of much needed rest, she decided it was better to start walking again before the cold would get her. She checked herself to make sure she hadn't broken anything. Only having some small cuts, she stood up and looked around.
I hope that storm woke up Spike, because it seems that I’m not going to find my way back on my own. I will just have to be strong and wait for rescue. But I can’t stay here or I will surely be a popsicle when they find me.
Distracted by her own thoughts, she didn't hear the rustling in a nearby bush.
What did that book from Deer Thrills say about seeking a shelter? Something about following water?
Nyx perked her ears to see if she could hear water flowing, not realizing it had already been winter for two months. What she heard however wasn't the sound of a river, instead she heard a crack in the surrounding scrub. Frozen on the spot she waited for another sound. Memories of the attack of the Everfree creatures filled hear mind as she stood there, waiting for her possible doom that lurked in the shadows of the mighty Everfree trees. When she didn't hear anything, she relaxed a bit. She was about to release a sigh of relief when suddenly…
*CRACK*
“Nope, nope, nope, NOPE!” screamed Nyx as she ran away in the opposite direction of the sound, so fast that even Rainbow Dash would have given a nod of approval. Too frightened to look back, she didn't see the white ball of pure adorableness bouncing out of a pile of leaves, sniffing at the place where the black alicorn had stood seconds ago.
Nyx ran like she hadn't run before, as if she was chased by the solar godness herself. The cuts in her coat stung due the cold air and her legs were becoming sore. After having run for a couple of minutes, not wanting to run anymore, Nyx dared to look back. Relieved by the lack of any followers, she didn't notice the stone that poked slightly out of the ground. When she turned her head again to look ahead, it was already too late. While flying through the air in the direction of a pile of snow, only one thought crossed her mind:
Oh buck me.
In the Golden Oak Library, a small purple dragon was sleeping peaceful in his cozy basket, unaware of the raging storm outside. Like the many other dreams, the one he had now was filled with the two things he loved the most.
“But of course Rarity. I would love to marry you and rule alongside you over Emerald City. No, Twilight won’t be sad, she has that winged dark monkey to accompany her now”, Spike mumbled in his sleep.
“Finally we’re alone. Now, where were we?” Spike and Rarity looked each other in the eyes. It was the moment Spike had waited for since the day he met her. He bent forward and closed his eyes as he approached the lips of the white unicorn. Finally he was about to touch the gorgeous lips of the love of his life with his. Yes, yes, y-…
*Ksshhhh*
“Not the moustache!”
For the third time that day, Nyx’s vision was filled with soft cold snow. The filly groaned as a new wave of shivers went through her body. She shook the snow off of her and scanned the area. As soon as she turned her head she was greeted with a sight she had hoped she would never see again. Right in front of her was a massive clearing, but it was not the clearing that worried her. In the center stood a large building, heavily damaged by the ravages of time and the events that took place a thousand years ago. Nyx remembered these ruins all too well because she shared some of her darkest memories with them. There, in the middle of the clearing stood what was once the home of the princesses of Equestria, the Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters.
“Come on Nyx, don’t be a chicken now. There is nothing to be afraid of. It’s nothing more than an old castle.”
After gathering enough courage, Nyx cautiously trotted towards the castle. Once at the large gates she hesitated a second before poking her head inside. When she was sure nothing creepy was present in the entry hall, she slowly stepped inside the castle. Curiosity soon took over as she saw the many doors and hallways.
“Without those awful memories, this place looks actually kind of cool. I bet this castle is full of hidden secrets and treasures, waiting to be uncovered. It looks like I will be stuck here for some time, so why not try to have some fun when I’m here anyways?” And with that, Nyx walked into a random corridor, looking for an adventure. And an adventure was what she would have.
Somewhere deep in the heart of the castle, a single creature laid on the cold floor, it’s sobbing echoing in the nearby corridors. This creature was a female changeling, and her name was Chrysalis.
Chapter 3
Nyx walked through the the desolated hallways of the castle, occasionally exclaiming oh's and ah's as she observed it's magnificent architecture. Despite it being deserted for over a millennium and heavily damaged due the lack of maintenance, the castle still had traces of its former glory.
I can see where Spell Nexus got his inspiration from when designing my castle, and I don't blame him, this castle is amazing! I hope Luna decides to reside in mine. It would be a shame to destroy it, even if it was build for me.
Further in the hallway, a crack was present in the floor. Anypony with some attention would spot it but Nyx, deep in thought, didn't notice the anomaly.
Maybe princess Luna can show me ho-...
Nyx couldn't finish that thought. As soon as she approached the crack the ground beneath her disappeared, leaving her to the mercy of a gaping, pitch black hole. Surprised by the sudden lack of a vast amount of material under her hoofs, Nyx could only scream while tumbling in the dark face first.
So this is it? I, the last of the once so mighty changelings, sit here trapped in a dungeon, the only escape a gap to small for me to fit. If only I hadn't been so blind, if I had only seen that there were other ways to save my children. But no, driven by my own hunger and desperation I abandoned the things that make a queen a Queen and paved the way that lead to death of the ones I loved and to the extinction of my kind. And this is my punishment, a slow death in a dark, cold dungeon. A prison, build by the ones I wanted to conquer, will become my final resting place.
A small snicker left Chrysalis. Oh, the irony. Tired and empty Chrysalis laid down on the cold stone. She let a single tear roll down her cheek and after closing her eyes, she let the darkness creep into her mind and soul.
But just before she fell asleep, just before she let her grasp on the world of the living go, a scream echoed through the room.
"What in Mother's name..."
After being tossed around in what seemed like some kind of slide, Nyx fell down on the ground screaming. Unfortunate for her it was her head that made first contact with the ground.
Damn my head hurts. Who in the name of Celestia would build something like that in the middle of a hallway?
Nyx shook her head and tried to open her eyes. After she saw straight again, she was met by two big glowing eyes and a pair of very sharp looking fangs . This sight was too much for Nyx as she fainted straight away.
Eyes locked on the pony that laid before her, Chrysalis stood frozen while trying to process what just happened. Not sure what to do, she thought to it was best to check for any sights of life of the creature. While examining the thing, she could tell that the thing was a she, but what shocked Chrysalis was that the thing in front of her seemed to be an alicorn, probably a foal by the look of her size.
Who is this filly? I never heard of a fourth alicorn when I was in Canterlot. And why does she have that kind of eyes? I have never seen a pony with such eyes other than the batponies from the Lunar Guard and us. Could it be that Luna and Celestia...
Oh my...
Dear Princess Celestia
You must send Twilight back home! Nyx should have been home for about 2 hours but she still isn't! I wanted to go out and search her but a fallen tree is blocking the entrance of the library! I'm afraid that something happened to her.
Please hurry!
Spike
Nyx slowly opened her eyes. "What in Celestia's name happened?"
Chrysalis snapped out of her thoughts and looked at the alicorn in front of her. "You hit your head pretty hard when you felt down in here"
Nyx, still a little dazed by the fall, didn't notice that she was talking to somepony else. "I know that. I mean I want to know why I fainted. The last thing I remembered were those enormous ... glowing ... ey... es..."
Chrysalis frowned. "My eyes aren't that big."
"Aaaah, please don't eat me!"
Chrysalis covered her ears, "I won't eat you! Please, can you stop screaming now?"
Nyx didn't hear this and continued her cacophony of high pitch screams until Chrysalis lost it.
"FOR THE LOVE OF FAUST, CAN YOU PLEASE SHUT UP!?"
In a split second the room fell silent.
"Thank you", Chrysalis said with a invisible smile. I still have it, she thought while giving herself a metaphorical pat on the shoulder. "Now that you stopped screaming, may I ask you why you would think that I was about to eat you?"
Nyx calmed herself before answering. "Euh... For starters, you have those really big fangs. And you're a changeling."
Chrysalis frowned, "Who told you that changelings eat ponies?"
"My mom told me that", Nyx said.
"Well, tell your mother that she's wrong. I even bet that she has never seen a changeling before."
"You're wrong! My mom has seen hundreds of changelings during the Canterlot invasion a year ago."
Chrysalis started to get angry. How dare that princess spread such lies, "May I ask you who your mom is?"
Nyx hesitated, "Princess ... Twilight". Quickly she covered her face with her hooves, afraid that the changeling would lash out.
When the expected punch didn't happen, she lowered her hoofs. What she saw would have been incredible hilarious if it wasn't for the situation she was in. The changeling in front of her wore a face of utter shock and confusion and and a stream saliva was leaking from the corner of her mouth.
Nyx frowned. "Hellooo, Equestria to big, scary changeling. Do you hear me?"
This pulled Chrysalis back to reality. "Do you mean Twilight as in Twilight Sparkle? That mare is a princess now?"
Now it was Nyx' time to look confused. "You didn't know that? She has been princess for three months!"
Chrysalis couldn't believe what she heard. "Don't mess with me, little one! I may be a changeling but I know a lot about the Equestrian laws, also that a unicorn can't become a princess."
Nyx smirked, "Have you been living under a rock the last 3 months? My mom isn't an unicorn anymore, she turned into an alicorn three months ago. Who're you anyways?"
"Chrysalis, former queen of the changelings and probably the most confused creature on this planet right now, nice to meet you."
Chapter 4
Nyx was about the start another round of screaming but Chrysalis noticed this and quickly put her hoof in the filly's mouth. “What did I say about screaming? Now, promise me that, when I pull my hoof out of your mouth you're not going to scream. Ok?”
Nyx, still not fully realizing that she had a royal changeling hoof in her mouth, tried to answer but only produced some mumbling, which made the queen chuckle,“Can I take that as a yes?”
Nyx just nodded sheepishly.
“Good. Now that we're done with the freaking out, can you please explain some things to me? First, who are you? Never during my stay in the Canterlot castle have I ever heard of another alicorn.”
Nyx, having to do this more than once in the past, went on autopilot and recited the whole story of how she became alive, how she met Twilight and her friends, how she defeated both Celestia and Luna without a single death, how she freed her followers from the grasp of Nightmare Moon and how she saved Ponyville from the Everfree Forest beast and almost killing herself in the process.
During her storytelling, Nyx saw how different emotions painted the face of the queen in front of her and when she had finished her tale, she was surprised by the sight of tears in Chryslis's eyes. What happened next surprised her even more.
Chrysalis didn't know what was happening to her. Never had she felt so much compassion for a creature as for the filly she had listened to, and as soon as that filly had done talking, her motherly instincts and she flung at her and took the little thing in her embrace, all the while trying unsuccessful to hold back her tears. “I'm so sorry for you, little one. You are still so young and yet you have already experienced more grief than most would have in a whole lifetime”.
The warm feeling of tears running down her back washed all the doubt Nyx still had of the changeling queen. This couldn't be the same pony she had heard gruesome stories of. Not knowing what to do better, she returned the hug. Feeling that this eased the crying queen she hugged her even more and whispered apologetic words in her ears, “Sorry I freaked out. You are not the evil queen that ponies told me about. I should have know better than just blindly following the stories other ponies told.”
Finally, after all those days, the pain and grieve that had darkened the queen's heart flowed away in the tears that she shed. And the simple yet sweet words spoken by the little filly in her hooves patched the broken mind of the changeling. For the first time in forever, Chrysalis felt again the magic of friendship and love filling her body and soul. And for the first time since the invasion, she felt something she thought she would never feel again ignite in her, something she thought that had left with the death of her hive. What she felt, was the burning of a small flame of hope.
“Thank you little one. Thank you.”
~~~
For some time, Chrysalis and Nyx just sat there, The first silently weeping, the last trying her best to comfort the other one. When Chrysalis was calm enough and they finally left each others embrace, an awkward silence felt in the room.
Trying to lighten to mood, Nyx decided to ask the queen so questions about her specie, ”Euh... Chrysalis? If you don't actually eat ponies, how do you eat love?”
Chrysalis, happy with the change of subject, replied eagerly, “Well, we don't actually eat love as in using our mouth to eat it. It's more like a void stone. Do you know what that is?”
Nyx nodded. “I once read about them. They are a special kind of crystals that sucks the surrounding magic out of the air and store it within them. The Royal guard uses them to take away the magic abilities of a prisoner.”
“Indeed. We eat love the same way. The only difference is that, unlike the void stone, we can chose when we collect love. And that's a very important thing because or love collecting can injure the ponies we take love from, even to the point that they die, if the love isn't given freely to us or if no countermeasures are in place. These... Yes little one?”
Nyx was totally caught up in the lecture she was getting from the changeling and had spontaneously raised her hoof, just like she would do when sitting in her classroom and learning about the different subjects her teacher, Cheerilee, would teach them.
“What about the cocoons? Why do you put ponies in them? Oh, and please, you can call me Nyx.”
It warmed Chrysalis's heart to see one so eager to learn about their kind. “Ok... Nyx, I was about to tell you that. The cocoons are the countermeasures I spoke of. The jelly inside of them is a mixture of proteins, minerals and magic energy that cancels the effects of lovestealing. Unlike what many believe, we never intended to harm to ponies.”
Nyx felt suddenly really embarrassed. “Euhm Chrysalis's, when I told you my mom had told me that you ate ponies, I wasn't completely honest. She only told me that you fed on love and that you putted ponies in cocoons. It was me who thought that you literally ate ponies. You see, the love eating and the cocoons and the fact that you look like insects sound similar to the way spiders eat. I'm really sorry about that and, please, don't be mad at my mom.”
“Don't fear Nyx. I don't blame you nor your mother. Everypony makes mistakes. Everypony.” The remembrance of her faults made the queen wince.
Nyx saw this and scowled as she suddenly noticed something odd about the whole situation. She scold herself for not seeing it sooner. “Chrysalis, if you are a queen, why did you lay here all by yourself?”
Chrysalis couldn't nothing do but admire the observation of the filly. “I was laying here on my own, little Nyx, because, for as far I know, I'm the only changeling still alive after the Invasion.”
~~~
Hearing this made Nyx's eyes widen so far that it would even impress Pinkie Pie. “You mean that the aunty Cadance and uncle Shining killed all those changelings?” Tears started to fill Nyx's eyes as the pieces felt together.
Chrysalis, not wanting to put more weight on the fillies shoulder, quickly wiped the tears away,”Please little Nyx, do not cry. The burden of so many deaths is one I and only I deserve to suffer, as I and my own foolishness are the cause of it.”
Nyx's face shifted from one of sadness to one of determination after hearing this. “No! That's not true. It's not healthy to keep this kind of things for yourself! I'm your friend and helping others in bad times is something friends do!”
Chrysalis was taken aback by the filly's words. “Do you really want to be my friend?”
“Superdupersure,” said Nyx with big smile,”and I pinkie promise that I will help you no matter what, because that's what friends are for. Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye!”
That filly is really one out of thousands and I'm happy I can call her my friend.