Intros-a-plenty

Oh the Irony... The unbearable pride rending irony of this situation...'[.I]

Chrysalis laid as comfortably as she could across the well worn couch, which wasn't much at this point as her body felt like it was trying to devour itself from the inside, and it very well might be doing exactly that... She had been trapped in this dimensionally twisted castle for several year now, where-in, after a few wees of futile attempts to escape, she had put herself into a hibernative state along with the remnants of her hive present, to preserve as much energy as possible and let the few months worth of love she still contained stretch on as long as possible... it seemed as though she had been forgotten in her prison, left to starve by the 'oh so benevolent ponies'.

She had been Jostled from her hibernation by a rending pain in her stomach that steadily began to spread, similar feelings were present all through the hive-mind at the time, the first thought on her mind was a solemn echo of helplessness 'Time... has run out.' The reserves were drained and the effects of starvation were reaching their peak, it had taken several years but the hive was teetering on the very edge of death now, yet her mind ran through desperate, if futile, hope.

Memories were running rampant at the moment, starvation and instinctual desperation pushing for every little bit of comforting information that could possibly lead to survival, though there was none. She only found the torment of ironic self destruction as her mind wandered over how she had once trapped Cadence in a cave, starved and weakened and hoping for a 'knight in shining armor' to rescue her... and now here she lay, starving and weak, driven by desperation to hold on to a pointless hope for someone to be her own rescuing knight...

A memory shot to the fore-front of her mind, one that was only a few weeks younger than those about the wedding Fiasco, one she had long since pushed from her mind as useless, yet in her starvation stricken state that little piece we all have that clings to the tiniest little hopes for relief, it dragged it back to the surface.

It had happened a couple of weeks after 'landing' from the blast.

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...

The wall of love magic that blasted the Changeling's out of canterlot at body crushing velocity had indeed sprayed them in all imagineable directions... Some had landed nearby, the lucky ones, who crashed into the ground hard enough to not feel the pain... Some had time to lose velocity before Smashing into the ground... And other's still had been launched even farther, to places far more dangerous than equestria.

Chrysalis had recovered as many as she could that could move under their own power, afterall, not all of her changeling's were plain drones, many soldier's managed, if only barely, to take the landing without being completely crippled. She had immediately set them about scattering in every direction to hunt down as many of their siblings as possible, and to 'take the pain' from those who could not be saved... The explosion of love magic had done some serious damage though, even if the landing had done the most, the magic had disrupted the hive mind, though it was recovering it was going far to slowly, and they would have to make due with simply knowing what direction their fellow changeling's were in at best, as opposed to pin-pointing...

Chrysalis could still hear them all though, the cries for help, the suffering, the pain, it was the kind of things that could break some rulers, in a way it did, if they had landed harmlessly then perhaps she would have thought twice about trying to get revenge, but there was such suffering caused by it... but first, recovering her brood was more important, and she set off her functional suboordinates, with a fresh influx of the leftover love she still held, to recover and heal their closer brethren... it would be foolish to send them to the farthest points, there were many dangerous places that even she knew sending her changeling's would be suicide for them, and no matter what any fool pony might think, she loved her 'children', she would have to go personally to save those that survived the farthest reaches, though they were few so far away, they were only in one direction, south, beyond the badlands that they called home... the other's at such a distance were certain dead, from drowing in the oceans or freezing in the north.

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She mused for a moment, even through the intense pain that dominated every second 'If i'd had time to think without the sounds of my subects dying ever in my thoughts, perhaps I would not be here..." Once she'd been trapped and discovered she couldn't escape, she had a lot of time to think, and quickly came to accept that it had been her own fault she was stuck there now, furious as she was while carrying out her vengeful plans, If she hadn't tried to directly harm Twilight Sparkle... well, she realized too late that surviving the first invasion was a second chance that she squandered without realizing it.

She soon returned to that memory... it quickly became 'another's' memory... reliving the memories of her subjects was always an unusual experience, like watching a movie that stared the one she was watching through, though in her current state it was more of that tiny source of comfort that instinct drove her to cling to in hope.

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His little mind reeled, he was too far away to detect the hive mind as more than whispers, he couldn't feel any of his surviving siblings, couldn't hear the queens will or feel her presence... certainly he couldn't have been done in, she was more powerful than all of them, and he'd felt a sudden burst of love energy directed straight in his direction that had roused him from his emergency hibernation, she had to be somewhere nearby!

But for a changeling, using only his eyes was as good as being blind compared to the comforting ocean of family that was the hive mind, and the thick, if rancid and foggy, forest that surrounded him was any hint, he was nowhere that could be safe for an injured drone.

He had already been limping along for hours now, after having been awakened by something that could only be done by his queen, he had felt an explosion of hope that he'd be saved soon, and took off in the direction it had come from...

Yet he'd been going for hours, a shattered wing, and injured leg slow to heal without the help of the hive's ambrosia or the queen's magic, they slowed him down immensely and with every moment growing dread creepy into his little mind, fear mounting as he expected every wasted moment was another second that something deadly came closer to eating him in that forest... he 'was' being watched, but not by a forest beast.

It was almost another half an hour before he grew too weary to continue, with moving being both painful and more strenuous beacuse of the injury he couldn't hold out, and as soon as he came across a sizeable clearing picked the dryest grassy spot he could find and fell into it panting and whimpering as the pains only slowly became subdued by tiny increments.

Then he heard it, hoof-steps coming from the direction he'd been fleeing, sending a fearful shiver down his spine as he quickly realized he was just too tired to flee anymore... almost too much to look back and see what had followed him.

Terror rocked the little drone as he leapt up, A pained chirp slipping out as his haste aggravated the injury on his left fore-leg, and started to back-away

Certainly his overwhelming terror was felt through the link, but he couldn't if anyling could possibly be nearby to save him, as far as he could tell he was alone in a clearing in the middle of a horrifyingly twisted forest, facing down a rival Queen! One that looked larger and even more dangerous than his own at that!

Of course, in the next moment, much that he was taught about changeling royalty was flipped on it's head as what he thought had been a 'queen' spoke.

"I apologize for frightening you little lost drone, but i have not seen any changeling's besides my own in this Forest in decades. I was... intrigued... I sensed a burst of love energy, which is rare enough around here... and then sense growing fear fleeing through the forest... can you tell me why you are here? and what you are called?"

It was impossible and yet he'd heard it himself... This changeling was clearly a royal, it had all the expected qualities, stature, presence, colors, It was even larger and bulkier than his Queen, and looked even healthier, it hardly had any holes for that matter... But what shocked him the most, the voice, 'he' sounded male, but he'd never heard of a Changeling 'king' before... more importantly though, he didn't sound offended by the intrusion, more curious and worried, his voice was powerful and penetrating, yet smooth and caring, it made his bone's shiver as he tried to avoid displaying respect that was reserved only for his own queen, but the non-aggressive tone urged him to try speaking as his only way of surviving this.

It took time, time that this strange 'king' seemed fine with giving him, to find his voice and issue a reply, shakey and uncertain in his tone "I... was thrown... far away... And crashed here. I found a deep hiding place and used hibernation, too hurt to escape alone... I felt a pulse of love... it could only come from my queen, and tried to run to her, but i cannot find her... No... I'm too weak to find her, I grew tired and collapsed here... And... I am Drone 32" The drome couldn't take his eyes of those of the larger changeling, they were Similar to his queens, only Red... the kind of eyes that would normally tell anyling to stay the hell away for their own safety, though if he weren't in constant pain and scared beyond all reason, perhaps he would've picked up on the subtle curiosity and care visible in his gaze.

It was strange, The Royal listened calmly for most of it, but mentioning his 'name' was what seemed to bring a frown to his muzzle "Just, 32?... you must be from one of those kinds of hives...... Hrm, moving on, I thought I smelled One of the queen's in the area, thought i couldn't tell which one from the distance, most wouldn't bother coming this deep anyway as it is incredibly dangerous here, even for a Royal changeling... it is nothing short of a miracle that you managed to flee for so while injured without something else coming after you... hmhm, i might call you Phiyarles myself...... Nevermind that though, i may be able to take you to the queen i smelled, though she may not be 'your' queen... you bear none of the traits of the hives i'm familiar with being in this area, but i can at least keep you safe if it's 'not' her... I could heal your body as well, if you are not adverse to the magic of another"

It baffled 32, a complete stranger, a royal of unknown origin no less, offering to heal a changeling's injuries was another of those things that was considered 'impossible because it's never happened in recorded history yet'... but the fiery pain in his fore-leg, and a suddenly surfacing dread that his wing might not be repairable after the stress of a trek back to the hive without even knowing how far away he was, began to drive an idea into his head to accept the offer... it didn't hurt that his mind also told him that his end was likely inevitable if he denied it and angered this Royal.

"I would... like that... I think... Everything hurts... I would really like to find my queen as well, it could only be 'her' that sent a love pulse, she is the only one who could know I was out here."

I happened quicker than he could accurately percieve in his worn and starving state, the comparatively massive changingly crossed the clearing in a blur and and had lowered his head to accurately direct his magic onto the injured fore-limb... A Horn that looked a lot more like a thick curved 'blade' than the usual jagged royal horn, one that made the little drone fear for the possibility of losing limb or life from just an errant flick of the Royal's head... though his fears began to inevitably dull as the pain began quickly melting away and he found himself shivering in the mind numbing bliss that followed whenever pain finally fades.

Then in an equally fast motion the King move closer, his horn then aimed for the 'partial' wing on 32's back, prompting him to quickly glance back at what was going on, only to find the red aura of magic spread over the wing, seemingly collecting material from the air around it and constructing it into new veins and glassy flesh to rebuild the wing inch by inch, until once more it resembled a full wing, though it looked like a mirror image of the other wing now.

32 Could scarecly believe it, it had been so fast, so simple, he was healed and now felt as good as new, minus hunger pains but that paled by comparison to what else he'd been feeling before. "I... How?... that was so fast!... Tha-"

"Now then, come along, lets go see if we can find your Queen and return you to her, this place is very dangerous."

The Royal gave 32 a soft nudge with his magic while stepping past him, a very deliberate direction in mind as he began trotting along towards an especially foreign scent, seemingly somewhat in a hurry but still taking a moment to look back and check on 32, who quickly stopped worrying about what he was going to say and sprinted along to catch up, eager to return to Chrysalis.

They continued along for nearly another half an hour before another Changeling was seen, one that caused 32 to shoot off towards them.

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Chrysalis had been traveling for days by now, making her way to the farthest of her children that still lived... they were all precious, but the living had priority, the rest she could seek out and handle once they were together again... and after getting her revenge of course.

That wasn't key in her mind at the moment though, she actually found herself feeling... worried.

She was Much farther south than the Badlands, farther than her brood had traveled in ages, a land untamed and too dangerous even for changelings to be, were it not for one of her senses guiding her here in search of one of her lost children she would never have come to such a place... it helped though, that the hive link had had time to recover more, she could tell with certainty that the one she sought was in this forest and not too far away.

Almost on cue several bushes rustled furiously, promting her to prepare to defend herself, only for her to find an instant later that the lost changeling she came to seek bolted from the bush and in a beyond rare fit of emotion wrapped himself around one of her legs, nuzzling and chittering happily at finding himself safely back with his queen, even if not quite so 'safe' per se.

32 naturally gushed in joy "Oh! My Queen! I Feared I wouldn't make it long enough to reach you!"

It had been a shock to have this take place so suddenly, but Chrysalis soon rested the 'non hugged' fore-leg around the little changeling "Hmhm, it is ever a source of joy for one of my children to be found safely... I am surprised, you were such a great distance yet you appear unharmed, did you find a source to feed on and heal nearby?"

The Little changeling hopped back and shook his head, a maniacally gleeful grin still on his muzzle "Oh!, nono, I 'was' hurt, i was hibernating until i felt that love pulse... but i was still hurt and couldn't keep going before long... then i ran into another changeling, it looked like a queen at first, but this one was definitely male, and bigger than you, and red... I didn't know there were changeling 'king's'... hey-" He had glanced back for a moment then proceeded to whirl a full circle to scan over the clearing then back to his queen with a slightly worried tinge to his expression "He was right behind me when I saw you! There was definitely a Royal Changeling that helped me."

He quickly seemed worried that he might be assumed to be making it up, or at least hallucinating, but Chrysalis knew better, her changelings didn't make things up when speaking to 'her', they couldn't really, she could sense his complete certainty over the link and brought a hoof up to silence him, though her expression betrayed some worry of her own. "Calm yourself 32, I am not aware of there 'ever' being a Changeling 'king' in our history, but i can tell how sure you are of this... I will examine your recent memories to find out beyond a doubt, now relax."

32 did so immediately, he trusted his queen perfectly, even when interacting with the most sensitive parts of her subject's minds, and he quickly closed his eyes while angling his horn for easier access... Normally contact wouldn't be needed, but the disruption of the hive-mind made it neccesary, so she carefully touched their horns... it seemed to only take a couple of second but the memories flooded through quickly and she withdrew with both shock and curiosity on her face.

Of course, the little changeling seeing wide-eyed shock... and perhaps even a bit of fear, on his Queen's expression sent some dread seeping into him, though a moment later she steeled herself noticeably and made a motion "Come, we are going to attempt to find this 'other changeling'... I do not know who he is, or 'what' ultimately, but this is too curious to ignore, perhaps he can be of help as well, anyling who lives 'here' must be impressive"

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with that in mind she had set off with the lone changeling in tow, ignoring the fact that they were still in a unknown and dangerous territory while trying to retrace 32's path in the hopes of satisfying the burning curiosity about this unknown changeling 'king'...

However, it seemed that he had vanished just as easily as he had appeared to 32, there wasn't so much as a traceable scent, love trail, or hoof-prints that would hint at anyone but 32 having been there. They spent a couple more hours prowling around in search of this individual, inexplicably lacking any dangerous encounters along the way, before finally finding themselves tiring of this wasteful search and considering finally leaving.

"Grrr... Enough of this searching, if this 'king' is still here then he is certainly avoiding and we don't have time to keep playing at this, we must return and finish healing the rest of the hive... Come 32."

He gave a silent affirmation and started to trot along by her side as they turned to head north again... only then, as if he'd been waiting for them to decide to leave first, he appeared.

"wait." A Simple and calm request came forth, though the sudden appearance of that voice set a shiver through Chrysalis' spine, there hadn't been any hint she could detect of another being nearby still, but the familiarity she felt 32 providing told her it was the same one.

She turned quickly, at first intending to share a bit of her fury for having her time wasted so much, only to stop short as soon as her eyes came upon him, her voice caught in her throat and her jaw dropped.

She'd always been covertly proud of her height, afterall, she stood taller than Celestia, and tended to take great pride in anything about herself that she could claim as superior to the Solar Princess. Yet now she found herself looking 'up' at another changeling, clearly royal from many familiar traits, who made her suddenly feel like a little nymph again... Okay, the size disparity isn't 'that' severe, but he did stand Head and neck above her height, was comparitively broad, and had a number of other traits adding to his imposing figure.

All at once her eyes swept about to look him over, too fast to focus, then tried to do so again at a slightly slower pace...

He was definitely a changeling, that much was clear, but so many things differed between them that another creature might think they were different species entirely.

where her brood had a fully encompasing and smooth carapace, still tough and protective, This one had a Carapace that resembled Armor more than skin, thicker, likely tougher, sharply pointed in some places, but also divided into many sections, serving the purpose of heavy armor while leaving joints and other flexible areas exposed so that even such heavy chitin did not restrict his range of motion, there was even a series of numerous smaller plates on his muzzle to protect it without difusing facial expressions... at least, that's the general assumption she came to based on appearance.

He appeared to have a second layer of protection visible beneath the armored chitin as well, through the exposed joints and characteristic changeling holes in the armor, of which there were remarkably few, was a layer that had a similar look to muscle, countless strings of protective tissue interwoven to protect those soft spots without restricting them.

More strange though, his limbs, though still ending in a hoof-like structure, bore claw-like extensions on the front, attached to the body by the odd muscle like layer, letting them be flexible, displayed by the fact he appeared to be clenching the dirt beneath him... a sign that she wasn't sure was a hint of hostility or his own worry at this situation, though she preffered to er on the side of caution at this.

Beyond the mind boggling structure of his carapace and other protections, his other features were all clearly changeling in nature, his mane and tail, eyes, and wings were all correct as far as she could tell, though the wings seemed larger than usual and there was a slim layer of protective chitin on the front edge sharped like a blade. All of these features had varying Red to them as opposed to her own hive's green and blue scheme.

what caught her attention the most though was his muzzle, finding herself staring transfixed into his eyes when she returned to it, occasionally glancing back to his mouth and horn... The Former being filled with sharp teeth instead of just 2 pairs offangs, and the latter was shaped into a blade like structure, polished and sharpened to a razor's edge, growing up from his fore-head like a vicious curved sword ready to strike, and somehow she had no doubt it could function in the same fashion.

Strangely enough though, he didn't have a 'crown', though perhaps such was seen as frivelous... it didn't exactly serve much of a purpose beyond visual recognition of her rule... or perhaps, it hinted that this beast of a changeling was not 'in fact' the ruler of his hive, and the idea that someling 'more' imposing might be above him sent a fresh shiver down her spine.

He delayed speaking for a short while, simply oberserving her, though she tensed up and appeared ready to strike at a moments notice if he made a hostile move, the reek of mingling fear and curiosity were thick in the air... he knew this was a bad thing to do in this forest, so their time was likely quite short in terms of speaking... of course, while she stared in a semi petrified state, the little changeling with her sprung up with a smile on his face.

"My Queen! This is him! He healed me and watched over me while we searched for you!"

This caused her to flinch suddenly, glancing down at 32, then back to the behemoth of a supposed 'king' "huh?!"

Her freshly shocked reaction actually brought a small chuckle from him, though it was deep and verbose as one might expect "Hmhmhm, So this 'is' your Queen... I am impressed, honestly... I know of several other Queens beyond the reaches of this forest, and I have lived for a good while, yet none have ever gone so far as to follow their children into the forest to see to their safety... I don't know of 'you' yet though, perhaps you are the exception to the norm, a Queen that cares for the safety of her drones enough to seek for them herself... I have certainly not seen such a quality in the other's I've encountered."

Every moment he spoke Chrysalis found her instinctual fear slipping away, he was being... friendly... complimenting her for coming so far to find 32... She found this even more baffling than the fact that he 'existed', though it still took her a moment to find her voice enough to ask "who 'are' you? or 'what' for that matter? I am far from 'young' and even my mother never mentioned anything like 'you' existing. And why in Tartarus would you be in a place like this? It's so Murky and every moment feels dangerous."

Some might have taken her questions as insulting, he might have if he were full of himself enough to assume he should be common knowledge, but he'd done what he could to stay out of notice of even other changelings for a reason. "Understandable Curiosity, though time is drawing short, so i'll have to sum things up... perhaps I can share more if we meet again someday... The Simple version, I am King Rasavadaam, or just Rasav, it's simpler. I am 'in fact' a changeling king, you've probably never heard of such because 'most' queens do everything they can to make sure someling like 'me' doesn't live long enough to gain the power to challenge them, paranoid if you ask me, I don't want them under my rule anyway. That's also why i'm out 'here'... My Brood is comparitively small in number, but we are strong, and this forest is harsh, vicious, it inspires us to become stronger still, and become closer... The other's stay away from here because their brood's are too weak and simple minded to survive this place, I like it that way, it's allowed me to fade from memory and avoid the hassle of killing other changelings."

Her mind twitched on several details... most notably being that he called that 'summing it up', she didn't like the idea of how long winded the full version could have been, but some of it made her uneasy... He said they were made stronger by living 'here', in contrast that would imply that by making her home in Equestria, she was making her brood 'weaker' by using a place that's so peaceful to feed... Then it hit her. "wait, if you're brood lives out here in this Forsaken wilderness... how do you manage to find enough love to even 'survive'? There can't be any ponies out here to feed on!"

He laughed a bit deeper at that question and cast her a toothy smirk, showing off his ample supply of rending teeth and earning a short flinch "Now, Little Queen, surely you must know the answer to that yourself... we are 'changelings'! we adapt, we evolve, we 'CHANGE!'... Hmhmhm, any difficulty can be over-come through evolution and change... except, of course, for the difficulty of running out of difficulties... what does one do when their current environment no longer poses enough challenge to force them to adapt?... I 'have' been considering moving, but so far I thought there was simply more changeling territory in every direction... perhaps I will try--"

In an instant he cut himself off and went silent, ears perked up and muzzled pointed straight, eye locked on the forest behind Chrysalis, before suddenly vanishing from sight as if he'd been merely a ghost... an action that caused her to jump back suddenly while 32 stared on in momentary awe.

She hadn't heard it approach until a vicious Yowl cracked the air, causing her to snap her head back to see what made such a horrid sound, only to find herself staring into the face of a massive beast lunging toward her and only a couple meters away... It looked like a giant feline, not even a manticore, though certainly of similar size, it was sleek though, powerful, possesing Vicious claws and those merciless predatory eyes meant to paralyze it's prey with fear.

She could probably have handled it if it weren't a mere instant from digging claws into her flanks... and even without that it's size and momentum could likely crush her while in such a state of unpreparedness.

Just as the thought of how insulting it would be to have gotten killed by a giant kitty, The recently vanished King reappeared out of the air at the side of the feline, barreling towards it with similar speed and his wings buzzing angrily, creating a sound not unlike a whole swarm of hornets.

His momentum carried him into kicking the Beast's side, putting out enough force to send it tumbling to the side and into another tree, while launching his own smaller form away from the beast in the same motion, allowing him to land side-ways on an opposite tree... And with the failed ambush of the first one, several more began slinking out of the tree's, having been miraculously hard to see despite their size.

Chrysalis was rather thoroughly frozen in place for a moment before a recently learned voice called out, though his tone was far closer to commanding this time "Best you leave now, I'd suggest flying, 'fast', or perhaps teleporting if you can... Unless you want to become a 'snack'." This was not a situation she had ever found herself in, which in her mind meant something special, though it left her confused and momentarily paralyzed until that voice hit her, the suggestions sinking quite deep during her blind stupor, and a moment later she found herself grabbing 32 with one fore-leg while her magic rushed around her and into the ground, forming a familiar black circle ringed with green flame that pulled her down into it, escaping to who knows where.

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She couldn't help but find it pitifully ironic to such a degree it made her chuckle, an act which also hurt at the moment. "Bah... to think, on the brink of death and i'm giving in to a childish little thing like 'hope'... As if he would ever be in equestria... how embarassing, Starving is one thing, but to meet my end with my mind wandering on things only foalish little ponies would waste their last moments on... heheh... 'ow, my pride'." Facing death can do strange thing to anyone... any who knew her, enemy or ally, would never expect her to let those last moments go by simply accepting it and letting go, but there wasn't really much else to do when you're too hungry to move.

The suffering was just tiringly intense, she'd long since closed her eyes and decided to just wait until it had gone away... Futility was in every direction in this stupid castle, so why not? the only way to win against this situation was to make it her own choice to take the one action she could in that state.

*THUNK!*
*crrrrrrrrrk*
*THOOM!*

A Series of noises, very specific, mind bogglingly familiar and yet it took her several moments to realize that it was the sound of the great doors that sealed the main entrance of the castle finally opening from the outsit...

Chrysalis' eyes shot open fast enough to make her wince from the sudden light hitting weary eyes, and reflexlively lifted her head, a shakey motion that barely succeeded, setting her eyes on the now open door. Blurry vision barely made out the light of the outside and numerous shapes pouring through the entrance... but she'd gotten worked up too suddenly, in her horrid state the sudden movement sent her head spinning and her conciousness cascading into darkness as she blacked out, her senses barely registering the clopping of hooves before finally shutting down.