The Last Rock

The last rock

After her humiliating defeat at the hands of those wretched ponies, who had overloaded her with such a direct blast of raw magic channeled through emotion that she and all her minions were literally thrown back a few miles, Chrysalis had decided to boost her ego a bit. So Chrysalis was going to indulge some of her more sadistic fantasies.

Normally her cruelty was limited to manipulation and feeding off of the ensuing turmoil. These current actions were more physical. She had set up a tournament of her favorite game.  It was a simple game, one with nothing but some rocks and wit, one where the object was not to pick up the last rock in one of three piles. (And to force your opponent into doing just that) Of course there were rules to how many you could pick up at a time and from what pile, but that is not to be elaborated on here and now. What is important however is that from the first time she could remember no one was able to beat Chrysalis at this game.

This has gotten her many things over the years from ones who had placed foolish wagers without prior knowledge of their opponent’s skill. Chrysalis had invited any and all of her subjects to partake in the competition. Most of them agreed without hesitation, why would they not? Morale was low and there was a bit of joy to call their own of they won. However for the few that would best their fellow players and face the queen of the changelings herself something much darker was in store. For every opponent she faced Chrysalis offered a bet, if her rival won her or she would gain wealth and power second only to the queen herself. But if they lost then their queen would be their executioner. Most agreed to this, after all most changelings are evil at their center and greed is only natural to them. What they did not know was that none of the players who faced Chrysalis had ever won this event.  And it was the skulls of her subjects that made the beloved queens throne.

Hundreds of games were played over the course of the week, and finally one rose above the rest and took on the ruler of the nest. This game went like any other played against the queen. The end result was finishing the hoofrest on the left side of the throne.  For all the times Chrysalis killed one of the many drones that served her she never grew tired of it.  In the screams of pain and the succulent flesh of that single creature and in the way she ended its life and watched the last flicker of hope in its soulless eyes fade into nothing, in the extinguishing of her subjects happiness Chrysalis found a happiness all her own.