Mirror's Image

Chapter 21

"And I do believe that this treaty will be beneficial to all of us, if only to pull the changelings out of their isolation," Celestia said hopefully. Despite looking calm and collected on the outside, on the inside she was a nervous mess. She found herself watching Chrysalis' face closely, taking note of any change of expression.

If Chrysalis was annoyed by Celestia's staring, she didn't show it. "We changelings like our isolation, thank you very much," she countered. "But I do suppose it could be interesting to have 'allies' once more," she said, making quotation signs with her hooves. "Let's see if it works out better than it did for the flutterponies."

Celestia let out a sigh of relief. Thus far, things had gone well. It was painfully obvious that the queen would rather talk things over with Luna alone, but, so far, she had been polite about Celestia's inclusion.

"However," Chrysalis continued, snapping Celestia out of her thoughts. "Before I make any... decisions, I have to know how reliable my business partners are. Princess Luna, I have no quarrel with, but you..." She gazed at Celestia, who averted her eyes.

"In the span of a few hours, you attacked my daughter not once but twice," Chrysalis accused. "But then you act as if nothing happened. I want to know why." Her glare only intensified as she spoke and Celestia seemed to shrink back under it.

Luna chose that moment to step in. "That is what we wish to know as well," she explained. She turned to look at her sister, who gave her a curt nod. "As it turns out, there are several memory lock spells on Celestia's mind."

This piqued Chrysalis' attention. "Memory locks, you say? How... interesting." She looked from Luna to Celestia and back. "And what, exactly, are these locks keeping at bay?"

Again, Luna looked at Celestia. This time however, Celestia herself answered. "It has to do with the day I... the day I banished you from Canterlot."

Chrysalis failed to hide her anger at the mere mention of that day. "So... you dabbled in mind magic to forget what you did to me?" Venom laced her voice as she spat out those words.

"You misunderstand us," Luna replied, shaking her head. "We only had the time for a cursory exam, but I can tell this magic seems to have a changeling signature."

"What are you implying?", Chrysalis hissed with irritation and surprise. "That one of my subjects did this - without my permission?"

"No. Bearing in mind the amount of power necessary...", Luna continued with some hesitation. "...it had to be a changeling royal. And if this was not your doing, only one name comes to mind."

An awkward silence hung in the throne room. A silence that was shattered by Chrysalis' mocking laughter.

"A most entertaining joke, Princess Luna," Chrysalis said. "But a joke nonetheless. You expect me to believe that my mother scrambled her brains?" She pointed at Celestia, her fangs showing as she laughed.

Celestia couldn't help but feel hurt as Chrysalis mocked her. Luckily for her, Luna took notice and draped a comforting wing over her back.

"The memory locks are breaking," Luna interrupted Chrysalis' laughter, drawing the queen's attention back to her. "After a thousand years, they're cracking. And it seems like being exposed to a memory or something similar seems to trigger a violent reaction."

That caught Chrysalis' attention again. "I see," she said slyly, her eyes lighting up like a foal's in a toy store. "So if I were to say something like... I trusted you!" Chrysalis yelled. "I loved you like my own mother and now you just reject me! I was there when you were too weak to stand up to Nightmare Moon!"