One thing Chrysalis will never forget is the day she was nearly captured by the royal guards of Canterlot palace. She’d justly landed in the outskirts of Equestria that aligned the Everfree, adjusted herself to find extreme loss of energy, and heard a few of her children not too far off hurting and in desperate need of her care. She also detected the distinct voices of ponies charging in moments later.

She had some of her children with her, but many were never found. She instructed the ones she had to hide wherever they could to avoid being captured. As for herself, she made a run for it. In an attempt to grant the others more chance of escaping pursuers, she gave them almost all the remaining energy of love she could without causing too much pain upon herself, and left. There was never a moment where she caught herself able to relax after that. The soldiers chased her to the ends of the Everfree Forest and back, never allowing her majesty to savor a second’s rest.

The soldiers themselves were in a sour mood as well. Chasing after a suddenly infamous criminal like Chrysalis wasn’t easy. It didn’t help that she managed to avoid their patrols and scouts at every turn of a tree, or at the passing of each small pond, but what they did manage to find plenty of were other changelings, hungry and weak. Most of which teetered on the edge of death. Though no physical food seemed to have much of an effect on them, and the soldiers knew good and well what they fed on, they couldn’t find it within themselves to show any mercy for the scrawny and malnourished beings.

It seemed at every hour of the day, they called out for their lost queen, begging to be with their mother yet again. Many of the soldiers had hoped to use one of the captured changeling prisoners as a tracker to find their queen, but they flat out refused to help on every attempt, some being beaten to death by the careless guards. It seemed to the pursuers, Queen Chrysalis’s children put their loyalty above all else. Even their own lives.

Her majesty watched them from the shadows bludgeon the innocent creatures to death, all the while, her wanting to charge in and slaughter the royals the same way they did with her children, but there was nothing for it. She would’ve been captured, and all hope would’ve been lost then and there. So she resumed running, until finally, there were only thirteen of the changelings left including her. The twelve children met with their queen out of luck, some finding fortune to be found by the group, but as stated before, all except three died. Chrysalis did her best to care for them, struggled through hardships and put up with the dreadful knowledge that soon, her race would fall completely.

Meanwhile, in Canterlot, the guards returned to Celestia, reporting no captive prisoners. They cooperated and decided to tell her the truth of what happened. They informed her of their plot to use and abuse the children in the tryings of finding and apprehending Queen Chrysalis, only to fail. She didn’t like that one bit. All of the guards that day were resigned for search crimes, and were tried before finally being placed under forced retirement. Princess Celestia did want the queen captured, but she never gave the order to harm others, especially young and harmless children.

They really were harmless, too. Princess Celestia had known of the changelings and understood that in order for them to change their appearance, they needed love, but what’s more important is it needed to be freely provided. The children didn’t need to die such disgruntling deaths that day, but there was nothing she could’ve done at that point. What had been carried out was unchangeable, but she ensured every other guard in the castle of the fact that the only time changelings are of any danger is when they’re given enough energy to morph.

Unfortunately, since then, nopony ever found another kin of the queen again. That was because only the small group Chrysalis collected remained alive. Thirteen changelings still wandered the forest, and in only a few months, many would die from lack of food, the harsh weather, and from the torturous knowledge that in time, all of their kind would meet death in the very face. A hurtful fact like that was plenty enough to bring some of them to the ground and give up altogether.

It was this utter hopelessness that drained their energy, infecting them like a cancer. In the days right after the invasion, dozens died, followed by hundreds, and then thousands. Their loss was a gash so deep in their forces that an overwhelming hunger befell them that could never be sated. The hunger that settled in was thanks to love depravity, for when the blast hit, all the power they’d charged up was taken back, and left every member starved. While Chrysalis had enough strength to move on, the rest of her family did not. In time, she gave up on digging graves for the ones she looked after. Instead, to keep moving and waste no more time, she cried for those who could no longer carry on.

One thing she could never forget sounded near her position, where she’d slammed her head against the rock, and fell unconscious. The sounds of guards tromping through the woods in search for somepony. More than likely, they were the daily search squad looking for her. They always tried to use the same calming words on her, but she never believed them. This time, though, it was different. They used no such comfort claims and showed ruthless behavior towards Queen Chrysalis without warning.

“Is she close by?” one asked, his voice hushed.

“I think so...”

“Could that scent be...? I recognize it. It’s that putrid stench,” one of them yelled, eagerness sounding in his gruff voice. “She must be close!”

Queen Chrysalis rose to her hooves, thought hard about where the voices could be coming from, and guessed they were to the left. She swaggered to the right and was instantly detected by a mare commander dressed in gold and blue armor.

“Stop right there!” the mare shouted, her horn glowing a brilliant yellow as she prepped for her magic attack. “Turn yourself in this instant!”

Just before Chrysalis could reply, the mare fired at her, a bright flash of orange followed by a blazing inferno of fireballs exploded against the trees directly beside the changeling queen’s shocked face. She felt its intense heat as part of her mane got scolded, most of the greenery and bark having been disintegrated or turned to ash from the powerful blast. If that wasn’t a death-threat, Chrysalis didn’t know what was. Without any time to think, the mare took off, pacing herself every trot of the way. Where she planned to run to, she didn’t know. How she was going to escape was beyond her, but if anything, she wasn’t going to give up. Not without some kind of struggle.

Author's Note

Coauthored with RainbowBob