Victory in Defeat

SOMEWHERE, OUTSIDE OF EQUESTRIA…

Within the confines of her castle, the gray hive-like walls all around, Queen Chrysalis felt a bit down. She had just recently been defeated by Twilight Sparkle, who had foiled her plan to use the Secretariat Comet to finally take over Equestria. Now, in this state of depression, all she could do was look upon her changeling subjects as they played around with a caricature-based costume that the pony known as Pinkie Pie had left behind. Seeking asylum, she decided to head down to her dungeon to try and lift her spirits, signaling two of her guards to join her.

As Queen Chrysalis and her guards trotted down the stone stairs towards an ominous darkness, occasionally using her wings to land at the bottom of each flight, she thought more and more about her defeat and tried to figure out where she could have possibly gone wrong. Replaying the events in her mind, she began to regret her decision to confront Twilight Sparkle head-on, combined with the increasing feeling of stupidity for not taking into account that the comet would enhance her strength (though the question briefly crossed her about why the one known as Rarity wasn’t affected at all). These thoughts gave way to an increased level of depression within her mind, but simultaneously increased her resolve to reach her dungeon.

As the sight of lit green bulbs sticking out of black webbed masses grew thicker, she knew she had come close to her destination. When the dungeon entrance came into view, she stopped in her tracks to gaze upon it. The double doors stood not much taller than her, but at this point the solid steel-framed wooden doors seemed to stretch on to the height of the tallest giant in the land. Composing herself, and taking a deep breath to calm down, the hive queen’s jagged horn lit up with a green aura as she cast a quick spell; the spell was the key to opening the doors ahead. Steeling herself, the Queen and her guards trotted inside.

Inside the dungeon, Queen Chrysalis took a look around. The room had an especially high ceiling, which allowed it to accommodate more cells to keep prisoners in. These cells, however, were more like green bulbs arranged in a seemingly random pattern within a nameless black mass. These cells stretched almost all the way up and contained creatures of all shapes and sizes, each one a testament to the capabilities of the changelings.

As the Queen gazed upon this twisted collection of life, she began to feel something rise within her. While the sting of defeat stayed with her, the emotional pain became dulled by something new. A wave washed over her, a wave of euphoria. She couldn’t figure out why this emotion suddenly came over her, but the longer she thought about her past accomplishments, the higher the metaphorical crest of the wave became. Gradually, it manifested upon her face as a smile. With the smile came a giggle, an action which her visible fangs made more unsettling as one of her accompanying guards felt a quick chill.

“Is everything all right, your majesty?” he decided to ask.

“Yes, my dear,” Queen Chrysalis replied, “I’m just starting to feel, how would you say, euphoric.”

“I can see that, your majesty, but why?”

“You really want to know?”

“Umm…yes?”

“Fine, I’ll tell you why. It’s because…it’s because…”

“I think I feel a song coming on.” the other guard quipped.

With the sudden rush of happiness, Queen Chrysalis opened her mouth to release a breath in a sing-song tone. As her voice left her, an unsettlingly soft-toned vibrato joined in to go along with her looser movements. Making her way to one of her prisoners, a cockatrice specimen, she began her explanation.

“I love being evil, that’s just what I am. I’m quite happy I’m not soft like a lamb.”

Finishing this verse, her horn lit up a brilliant green as she drained her target of all emotion until it became more of a husk, stopping only to let it regain its strength for a later time. She moved on to a creature resembling a cat, her horn still lit up.

“My legs may have holes but I’ve never felt better. They’re kind of like Swiss but not at all cheddar.”

Without stopping, she moved on to a weakened bear, adding a twirl in her step.

“I may be defeated, but you can’t win them all. I may be defeated, but I’m having a ball.”

From the bear, she sang the next verses while sapping emotion from other animals and creatures she kept in their bulbous cells. Her guards didn’t bother joining in, a little perplexed by this turn of events, though they had managed to mentally insert background noise into her singing, which disturbed them further.

“As long as I’m here I’m not going away. When I get better, all my foes will pay. I may have lost, but that won’t get me down. In no time I’ll craft a smile from a frown. As soon as I’m out I’ll invade again. The drapery falls, I’ll raise the curtain…”

The guards were unsure what to make of her freestyle singing, but decided it would be best to not disrupt the flow she had going, for fear that she’d turn her wrath toward them. As they watched, she used her insect-like wings to achieve levitation for further dancing, floating past prisoners higher up as she drained them of their emotions. At this point she hit what sounded like a bridge in her song, in which her song seamlessly changed tune for two passages.

“I can hear my evil, I can see my evil, and I’ll lay my evil down on thee. I will speak with evil, I will think with evil, and I’ll play with evil ‘cause I’m free.”

After this section, her tune gradually faded back to the original as she continued singing and draining emotion.

“It’s fun being evil when it’s kind of your job. It’s better with a cache of emotions to rob. My power is great, my horn is divine, in evil there’s beauty and I can’t cross a line.”

As she continued to sing, she spun upwards while preparing for a finishing pose. When she spread out her legs and wings on the last line, she held the final note for a few seconds.

“I may have lost, but this war isn’t done, and if I’m coming back, then I’m going to have fun!”

After finishing her song, Queen Chrysalis brought herself back down to the ground. Once she touched down in front of her guards, who weren’t sure how to feel about the song she had just belted out, she took a look at the prisoners all around her and let out a laugh before turning her attention back to the dungeon entrance.

“Come, my guards,” she began, “there is much work to be done.”

As she left the dungeon, she used her magic once more to seal the doors behind her before beginning the journey back up the same stone steps she had previously descended. At the top of each flight, she gave a little twirl out of her newfound energy. During the ascension, the bulbous greens and webbed blacks thinned out as the familiar gray hive-like walls of the castle became clearer. When she reached the top of one particular flight, she looked back to see the path to the dungeon now almost completely out of sight, silently thanking it for lifting her spirits.

Upon finally reaching the top of the stairs, Queen Chrysalis made her way back toward her throne room, where her soldiers were still taking turns fooling around with the pony costume. Seeing her subjects in such disarray, it became apparent that she’d need to get them in line once again. When she spoke however, her voice still sounded a bit giddy.

“My fellow changelings-” she began before cutting herself off.

This got the attention of the changelings, though they had a confused look on their faces from her sing-song voice. Queen Chrysalis began again in a more serious tone of voice.

“My fellow changelings, we have been defeated by Twilight Sparkle in my last failed scheme, but fear not. Though we are down, we must remember that we are strong. We’ve succeeded before, something which I learned in my last visit to our dungeon, and if that’s true, we can succeed again. The time has come now for us to regain our strength and come up with a new plan. If that one doesn’t succeed, then we’ll just keep trying, for we will never truly be defeated. Are you all with me?”

Though these words were standard, it was enough to rally the changelings, who cheered with whatever sound they’d use for cheering. Out of joy, Queen Chrysalis let out a sufficiently evil laugh before gazing back out at the crowd.

“No matter the outcome, this is going to be fun.”

THE END