Living as she did on the edge of the Everfree Forest, Fluttershy had long since become accustomed to the weird and the wonderful of Equestria; even before she'd gotten herself mixed up with Twilight Sparkle and the Elements of Harmony, her life had been nothing more than a series of odd events. A typical, if that was the right word, night inside that bizarre realm where the normal rules of how the world worked were flatly ignored could consist of anything from tending to the manticore cubs, keeping both predators and collectors away from the cockatrice nests, or even – if you were lucky – snatching a brief glance at a surly cragadile or a ferocious hydra. Only a brief glance because to linger might mean becoming a tasty treat to the many beasts that loved pony flesh.

        Once a month, adventures with her friends permitting, Fluttershy tasked herself with the onerous duty of creating a census; as new creatures were being born all the time, spawned either by the strange forces governing the Everfree, or through more conventional means, she deemed it important to keep tabs on them all. Most of the animals were brought forth already suited for their environment, but there were those, like the breezies that had once lived here so long ago, that needed to be transplanted for their own safety. Fluttershy, first and foremost a naturist, knew that sometimes the weak had to perish so that the strong might live, but nowhere in the rule book did it say that you couldn't stack the deck in the weak's favour once in a while.

        After all, a couple of years ago who'd have thought that a timid yellow pony would go on to become one of the nation's foremost defenders?

        Just after she had finished up a quick trip to the cragadile swamps – a bask of them had been waiting at the edges of the swamp they called their home, guarding their eggs, and they'd made it abundantly clear that she was to approach no further – Fluttershy was making her way along the path that led back to Ponyville when she was distracted by a noise that was at once both familiar and unusual. She stopped and pricked up her ears, but the sound did not repeat itself.

        A brief glance at the moon's position in the sky told her that it was close to midnight; the very worst the Everfree had to offer usually didn't stir until about this time, and if she were to dilly on her way home she knew very well what the consequences would be. Even if there was a crisis afoot, the zebra herbalist Zecora who lived here didn't leave her hut at this hour. Taking a deep breath to allay her fears, Fluttershy headed off in the direction that she was sure the noise had originated from, her mind made up when it sounded again plaintively through the thick canopy of the trees. If there was one thing that she couldn't ignore, even if it meant putting her own life at risk, it was the wail of a creature in distress.

        When a brief sprint brought her to a clearing uncomfortably close to the hydra pits, Fluttershy slowed to a trot and kept her ears pricked for any sounds. She knew that, if something decided to attack her, she'd only have a second's warning at best and had to be alert. Strangely, she felt little anxiety; something or somepony needed her assistance, and that meant more to her than her own safety. She heard the sound again, faint, weak … dying. It was coming from the other side of a rocky outcropping suspended over what Fluttershy guessed was a tar pit. The numerous twisted bones of animals straining for freedom seemed to confirm that. Hesitantly, she inched around the corner, holding her breath.

        “Oh, Celestia,” she said, her voice squeaking at such a register as to go unheard by most normal ears.

        “Not quite,” a sinewy, slimy voice said with a trace of ironic humour. “She's only a princess. I'm a queen.”

        “Well, it looks like you've been deposed, Chrysalis,” Fluttershy said, her heart still pounding in her chest at the sight of the Changeling Queen that had used Princess Cadance and Shining Armour's wedding as an opportunity to stage an invasion of Canterlot. Despite the scare she had given her, it was clear that the Changeling wasn't going to pose much of a threat. Not if the greying chitin of her armour, and that necrotic tissue around the holes in her legs, was anything to go by, anyway.

        “How long have you been lying here?” asked Fluttershy, screwing up her eyes as it dawned on her that a difficult choice was now brewing for her.

        “How long ago was the invasion?” asked Chrysalis, not even able to meet the gaze of the pony that had found her out here after so long.

        “A month,” Fluttershy said flatly.

        “Three weeks and six days, then,” Chrysalis said with a thin smile. “It only took twenty-four hours for the Hivemind to cast me out after the failed invasion. Well, twenty-three hours to berate me for my incompetence, then an hour to kick me out of the Badlands.”

        “And you came out here to die?”

        Chrysalis was too weak to shrug, but Fluttershy got the impression that she was trying to do exactly that. “My race was spawned here. It seemed as good a place as any. So much horror is born here, so it seemed only fitting that something horrific ought to die here.”

        Starvation, animal attacks, the elements … all of those things had played their part in leaving the Changeling in this wretched state; with no love to feed on, her chitinous armour was breaking down, leaving her susceptible to predators and the unpredictable weather patterns that ravaged this chaotic place. That she was even still alive after this long impressed Fluttershy. Chrysalis was one tough bug.

        “You should get out of here, little pony. The young hydra like to wander off in search of snacks,” said Chrysalis warningly, her head twisting in the direction of the skeletons in the tar pits. “It wasn't just the mucilage that got them.”

        Fluttershy wasn't listening, however; choices rattled around in her mind, and like an incipient Twilight Sparkle, she tried to game each one out to its eventual conclusion in order to make the best decision that she was capable of. The only sounds in the forest for a long moment were the distant squawks, roars and rumbles of the animals themselves, as well as Chrysalis' own laboured breathing.

        Chrysalis is an enemy of ponykind, one that used some extremely disgusting tactics to get at what she wanted; you could argue that it was a matter of survival for her and her Hive, but she enjoyed what she was doing to everypony. She enjoyed manipulating us, taunting Twilight, and hurting Princess Celestia. And I can't even think about what she did to Shining Armour all that time. I just can't.

        Chrysalis is an animal, wounded; I am in a position to offer her help, just as I would a manticore, a hydra, a cragadile, or any one of a number of dangerous creatures that would gladly tear me limb from limb if I blundered into their territory and they were hungry. I am a caretaker, I am a healer, and that means I have a duty of care toward those that cannot care for themselves, even if I am morally repulsed by their actions.

        Chrysalis is a sentient creature; while the Changelings may not respect the laws that govern Equestria's inhabitants, I can't simply ignore the fact that I am bound by them because they're momentarily inconvenient to me. As a pony, as an Element of Harmony, I have a duty to be an upstanding member of my society … which means saving Chrysalis and making sure that she answers for the crimes she has committed.

        “What are you doing?” asked Chrysalis sharply when she felt herself being flipped over onto her back, and something reaching under her forelegs.

        “This isn't gonna be very dignified, I'm afraid,” Fluttershy said apologetically, straining with the effort of awkwardly hauling the Changeling, “but you're too heavy to carry so I'm going to have to drag you back home.”

        “You can't carry me all the way back to the Badlands,” Chrysalis said irritably. “Besides, nobeing there will be particularly happy to see either of us.”

        “I'm not taking you back to the Badlands,” said Fluttershy, grunting and heaving, “I'm taking you to my home in Ponyville.”

        “I didn't agree to this!” Chrysalis said scathingly, using what scant reserves of energy she had left to bare her fangs at the little pony. She knew what being carried to a pony village would entail; if Fluttershy could somehow find a way to stabilise her, she would only live long enough to die at the hooves of Princess Celestia for her crimes. “Just let me die in peace.”

        “Sorry, but I'm afraid I can't do that.”