The Origins of the Changelings
The Origins of the Changelings
“So… this is where it ends,” Chrysalis asked herself as she rested against a red colored boulder. Green blood seeped from cracks in her ebony black chitin plates from the force of her landing, her dark black clothing in tatters and soaked in blood as bodies of other changelings were scattered around her.
She wiped what remained of her sleeve on her left arm across her mouth, green blood smearing across the fabric and exposed shell, “Ancient and undying to age, felled by love,” she chuckled to herself.
“How could that plan have failed,” She asked herself, spitting out a mixture of saliva and thick, green blood. She was referring to the invasion of Canterlot, the invasion personally led by her.
“I was once great in war,” Chrysalis said absentmindedly as the all-too-familiar smell of blood and death wafted into her nostrils, making her gag.
“A general turned queen, how long ago was that? A century, two? A millenia? Now I’m doomed to die from a shield generated from the very foodsource I sought for my people,” The gravity of the situation then fully hit her. She realized she was actually going to die.
Feeling like the weight of the entire world was pressing down on her, she began to weep. She had lost everything, her soldiers, her kingdom, even her crown fell from her head when she landed.
In the nearly-flat, rocky field, Chrysalis balled a fist, slamming it into the boulder she had her back to in rage, “I’m immortal damnit,” she screamed while looking up to the heavens, “Vorte himself denied my right to die, and here I am, bleeding out like a stuck pig!”
Soon after her curse to the heavens above, she could see a lone silhouette of a vulture circling overhead, no doubt waiting for her to die so it could plunge its sharp beak deep into the cracks of her shell, ripping green organs out of her as it did.
The silhouette began getting closer and closer, Chrysalis’ head began to spin as she watched the bird fly lower to the ground. She lost track of it, too weak, and too dizzy to move her head any longer.
The quick sounds of hooven feet approaching meant that she was wrong about a vulture.
Chrysalis let out a chuckle as she willed herself to move her head, finding it easier since her dizziness had wore off.
Celestia stood in front of her, a black mark burned into golden breastplate Celestia wore under her long, white robe. Her white fur was covered in dust, and she looked down with crossed arms at her fallen foe.
“Come to gloat at my defeat?” Chrysalis asked, “I won't give you the satisfaction,” She charged a spell, but all her cracked horn did was fizzle and pop.
Princess Celestia charged a spell of her own, Chrysalis cringed and shut her eyes as she waited. Celestia fired the spell at Chrysalis, enveloping her body in golden magic as wisps of sunlight danced around her. A healing spell only an expert could master.
Taking in a huge gulp of air, Chrysalis gave a sigh, but her body was still too weak to properly function.
Celestia walked over to where Chrysalis rested, before sitting a few paces in front of her, glaring daggers at her, “I thought the Gods helped wipe the Dölja from the face of the planet.”
Chrysalis began laughing maniacally, “You don’t recognize me do you?”
“You are Chrysalis, queen of the Changelings, I know. I heard rumors that some of the Dölja survived the war.”
“Lean closer, I got a secret,” Chrysalis chuckled.
With her cracked horn and weakened state, Princess Celestia knew she could overpower Chrysalis if she tried anything. So, she did as Chrysalis asked.
The whispers that followed made her mouth drop and suddenly take flight towards Canterlot… it just wasn’t possible.
No account in the entire volumes of pre-Equestria history did it mention a single sentence of what Chrysalis said. But the truth behind the words stabbed like daggers.
There was no way any of that was possible. She had to consult Luna when she made it to Canterlot.
Meanwhile, Chrysalis’ strength began to return rapidly, allowing her to stand on her two hooves again, but her horn was still cracked.
Looking around, she realized that no changeling survived the landing, her entire army was destroyed. “At least I still have my workers.”
Flapping her wings, Chrysalis was surprised they still worked as she hovered a few inches off the ground, then took off for her hive. She needed to begin her egg laying cycle again to make up for the catastrophic loss of life due to her not killing those two ponies.
“I should have killed them both,” Chrysalis grumbled, “But I guess I never did have the heart to kill since the war,” Chrysalis then thought as her thin, gossamer-like hair waved in the breeze. Her wings buzzing all the way to her hive like a dragonfly’s would.
<~Canterlot~>
“Sister, sister!” Celestia called out as she ran towards Luna sitting in the empty throne room, the damage done by the changelings already repaired.
Seeing her older sister’s distress, Luna gasped, “What is it Celly?”“A secret revealed that defies all written history, yet somehow I know is true,” Celestia said, her hooves tracking dirt on the red carpet.Luna thought for a moment, “Then maybe history doth leave out a few chapters?”“Lu-Lu, you used olden speak again,” Celestia said, her sister’s slip-up calming her frazzled nerves down.“Drat,” Luna cursed, standing on her two hooves as she stood up from her ebony throne, right beside her sisters golden.“With the Dölja being clo-” She was cut off by Luna.“Just because-” She herself was cut off by Celestia.“I was referring to your domain, the night and dark things.”“You speak of me like a demon of Tartarus,” Luna hissed, taking Celestia’s comment the wrong way.Celestia hung her head low, shaking it slowly. Ever since Luna’s return, they never had an argument, now it seems like they were going to have another one, “That side of you did escape for all to see.”That caused Luna to look down at the floor in shame, her arms at her side, “I-I just lost control… I never meant for that to happen. I nearly killed you.”“That you did, shall we walk to the armory, I haven't wore my armor since the wars end.”“Let us, I haven't wore mine either.”The two sisters roamed the marble halls in silence, the carpets that lined them did little to silence their hooven feet clopping on the floor as they progressed their way to the armory.Upon reaching a set of massive, magically sealed double doors, they both nodded and Celestia unlocked the massive oak slabs with her magic.They both entered, and Celestia closed and locked the doors behind them.
<~-~>
Chrysalis looked around her, the Changelings she once called her hive had replaced her with a new queen after her failure. She didn’t even have a chance to defend herself, her cracked horn prevented her from fighting off the coup d'etat, and now she was sitting outside the hive entrance, her few possessions thrown out with her.“They even threw out my bed?” She asked herself as she looked at the small pile of items that used to be in her room.Going to a large dresser, she opened it, revealing her own armor, an enchanted dagger, a sword, and a bow with a quiver of arrows.
<~Canterlot Palace Armory~>
Celestia ducked under Luna greatsword’s swing, losing a bit of watercolor rainbow hair that didn’t make it down fast enough.From her new crouched position, Celestia raised her sword to block the greatsword that was now bearing down on her. The force of the blow made her stumble and fall backwards.Luna took two steps forward, placing the tip of the massive blade to her sister’s neck.“I win,” Luna said through the dark black helmet atop her head.Celestian eyed the lock of hair sitting in a neat pile a few hooves distance away, “Cutting it a bit close aren’t you?”“Perhaps, best three out of five?” Luna asked giggling as she had defeated her sister in a sparring match, yet again. It didn’t help that Celestia was focused on speaking to Luna as she swung her sword at her.Celestia shook her head no, “I cannot best you dear sister, you outmatch me with the blade. I do however, want your opinion on the matter-at-hand.”“There is a possibility it is true,” Luna sugested, making Celestia gasp.“But what you suggest borders on blasphemy, do you think the Gods would do such a thing?”Luna nodded her head yes, “They let me, a half demon, run the kingdom alongside the last full blooded member of their favorite race.”“But you are half that race, they would overlook the fact. Plus, it wasn’t by choice you were conceived as a half blood. That a demon tricked Mother into thinking it was my father.”“I know what my father was, no need to remind me,” Luna huffed.“But,” Celestia changed subject, “What if she is indeed right? How do we know for sure that what Chrysalis said was true?”“Maybe just ask?” Luna suggested.“But we would have to find her, how can we?”
<~Somewhere in a forest of Equestria~>
Chrysalis was in a tree, waiting for the boar to pass under the branch she sat upon. Her bow was drawn back, ready to release an arrow and kill her prey.Sure Changelings ate love, but other food could sustain them, including meat. She didn’t trust any of the plants of the forest.A flash of gold in front of her made her yelp and let go of the bowstring. The arrow flying away with great speed, landing just short of the boar’s snout, making it panic and run off.“Damn you to a thousand Tartarus’ beast,” Chrysalis cursed as she jumped from the branch, landing near where her arrow had dug into the dirt.She didn’t care about the arrow, Celestia had sent her mail. She was sure of it due to the scroll by her foot being sealed with a decorative sigil made from red wax.Putting the bow away, Chrysalis picked up the scroll and broke the seal.Looking at the scroll, she began to read to herself.
Dear Chrysalis
Return to sender
Princess Celestia
The two gasps told her something had happened. The walls enclosing her told her she was no longer in the forest.Looking at the two, she realized what had happened. The scroll was trapped with a spell that she activated by reading.
<~Canterlot Palace~>
Celestia couldn’t believe her eyes. In front of her, Chrysalis stood in armor that matched her own. It was silver with black paint decorating the plates. The weapons she carried were decorative and gold. Everything on her was still clean from years of careful tending. There was no doubt that she held respect for the items she now wore.“Hello,” Chrysalis said smiling as she saw Celestia’s awestruck face.Chrysalis looked to who she guessed was Luna. She was in dark black armor that had glowing red gaps in the plates.“So it was true, you were the child of a demon.” Chrysalis said as she eyed the distinct armor and greatsword of the demons of Tartarus.“How do you know us!?” Luna demanded, raising her greatsword.“Tisk, tisk, tisk, Temper, temper my child. I’m sure your half sister told you the news.”“There is no way of what you speak of is true,” Celestia said, nearly in a yell.“Oh is there? Maybe a trip back to the battlefield where all three of us fought will tell a different story.”Celestia shook her head, “There were so many bug. The Dölja wiped my race out. You were lucky I spared your life in the badlands.”“My my General Celestia, you have forgotten quite a lot. Or blocked it out.”Celestia clenched her teeth in anger, “How dare you call me by that title, you insect!”“What happened to compassion and kindness. Did a wake up call give you a reality check?”“And how dare you wear that armor!” Celestia screamed, charging forward, golden sword drawn.Luna grabbed her by her shoulder, stopping Celestia’s attack.“Sister, you are better than this. listen to her, close your eyes to open your ears. She speaks the truth.”Chrysalis chuckled, “Never took you as the philosophical type, Captain Luna. I was amazed you even made it past the lowest enlisted ranks, given the rumors surrounding you, and the fact that you’re a half blood.”“You speak like you were one of us, and if what you claim is true…”Chrysalis finished Luna, “Then I used to be a Snow Pony, not a Changeling, or Dölja as we called them back then.”“But how? Why would the Gods twist their favorite ponies into the very thing we were fighting so hard to defeat?”Chrysalis chuckled, “You never realized how I won the war, did you?”“No,” Came the response from Celestia and Luna.“Let me explain it then,” Chrysalis said as she began to recount her tale.
<~Ancient Equestria, unrecorded time ago~>
Queen Chrysalis, then known as General Dark Night, pulled her golden sword from the neck of the slain Dölja. The bug forces had managed to wipe out a quarter of her one hundred remaining troops in the recent skirmish.Her white coat was stained green from all the blood that covered her, a few feathers missing from her wings.She looked around the field, a barren and rocky stretch of land, leading to the entrance tunnels of their capital city, known as Krypin.It had been a long fifteen years, and countless brutal campaigns to get to this spot, having lost all but seventy-five of her original ten-thousand troops.General Celestia was leading her own troops against another enemy they had recently encountered; a race of hardy and strong ponies with the voice of dragons.Now, she was at the gates of the enemys home city, the guards outside having not sounded the alarm. Confident they could kill the weakened one-hundred Snow Ponies.Looking at the corpses of her fallen foes, an idea came to mind. She had once heard a tale that an army slipped inside a city by leaving a present.A smile came across her lips. As she worked out the details.Calling over her remaining officers, Dark Night explained her plan. They were going to invade the city from the inside.Bodies were hastily cleared away, and soon her plan begun. The Dölja had poor eyesight, she knew it would work.Taking the bodies of the Dölja, she stripped off her armor and began to break their shells. Putting the fallen Dölja’s shell on herself like a second skin.She had all but ten of her Snow Pony troops to do the same. They would be the present, troops she claimed she captured.With the shells and the poor eyesight of the Dölja, Chrysalis passed off as members of the species, getting her entire army inside the caverns of the underground city.And as the ten waited in jail, she probed the defenses of the city, stationing her shell covered troops around the city. And as the Dölja partied and slept, she personally sprung her ten troops from jail and gave the signal.The seventy-five had the element of surprise, and by the time they were done with the city, they could swim in the pools of Dölja blood.They had ruthlessly murdered the entire city, women, children, and soldiers alike. Taking no prisoners, completely killing off the last city of Dölja.This had angered the Gods so badly, they ripped love from the Snow Pony’s hearts, forced them to live inside the shells they used to deceive the Dölja, and made food bland and tasteless to them.One God in particular, Vorte, even went as far as cursing Chrysalis with immortality to make sure she would never die as she watched all her children pass away.
<~Canterlot Palace Armory~>
“And thus, the first Changeling hive was born from the genocide of the Dölja. After many generations did we learn spells to hide ourselves and syphon love from other species.”
This is the origin of the first Changeling hive and queen
