Drone

Crimson Wing gathered the many exotic-looking fruits from the foliage surrounding one of the many entrances to the Everfree Forest. Most would consider this type of farming dangerous work, but it paid more than many other jobs. He also knew that there had never been any creatures escaping the forest since the powerful Princess Twilight drove the most recent wave back. Seeing the wreckage caused by the incident, she decided to post guards at all of the major conduits that the beasts used. Crimson never had considered the real dangers that watched him impatiently...

“Cut it out, Amber! That tickles!” Crimson heard a tiny voice and spotted two small fillies playing around dangerously close to the forest entrance. Being that close without a permit was against recent regulations. He sighed, thinking of all of the other times he had to handle this sort of issue. He did indeed have the authority to keep them away, having two years of rigorous guard training, mandatory work if you wanted the permit.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a glint of light from one or two feet inside of the forest, like light hitting something’s eye. He burst into a panicked dash towards the children and scooped them up. He began to push off the ground to fly away, but he remained on the ground, because something had grabbed his hoof. He freed his grasp on the children. “Go! GO!” he shouted at them. And they didn’t look back.

He found himself tumbling into the forest, in combat with whatever had overtaken him. It had both a horn and wings, if you could call those wings. He swung at the beast and flecks of a green, viscous fluid flew from them. It continuously attempted to restrict his movement and get another hold on his arms and legs. He attempted another punch, but his hoof smashed into a stone and was immobilized. With him stunned, it relentlessly smashed at him until he had no strength left to move.

After rolling on to solid ground, he looked up in horror. Pinning him against the ground, he saw the near-mythical Queen Chrysalis. He had seen her before, during her invasion of Canterlot. Now, something seemed different about her. She seemed worn, desperate, and above all, feral. In between gasps, she said to him, “No food… six weeks… You will (cough) suffice…” She fell rapidly towards him, sinking her fangs into his flesh. He screamed as he felt pity for her and nearly all emotion be removed from him. At the same time, he felt a burning and boiling sensation where she had bitten as he faded away from consciousness...

The next couple of days were a complete blur. It was nighttime the first time he awoke. He was flat on his back in a small cave. He had aches and sweat all over his body, and he couldn’t find the strength to move at all. His vision was for the most part blurred, but he could make out Chrysalis sitting in front of a softly burning campfire. Every few hours she would approach him and bite him again, absorbing more love and sending him back into a comatose and broken state each time. But after feeding on him, she would reel backwards and retch, as if the love gathered from him was distasteful, or poisoned even.

Although he hadn’t consumed anything in days, he never felt hunger or thirst. Instead, he felt this slowly increasing pain in his upper chest, like growing pains almost. By the second or third day, he could move slightly, and his eyes had adjusted to the dim light of the cave perfectly. And by this time, he was strong enough at least to release a low groan.

“You’re awake.”, Chrysalis said quietly and flatly. “To be honest, I didn’t think you’d survive the first night.”

“Where am I?...” said Crimson.

“You are in the Everfree Forest, and this is where I live, for now at least. We shall depart before dawn to your new abode.” said Chrysalis.

“We? Why wouldn’t you just leave me here to die? I’m too weak to survive any sort of journey anyway...” he replied weakly.

“I believe you will find the strength in time. Besides, you are too much of an asset to me now. Have you not noticed my gift to you?”

His vision was too blurred and his skin was too numb from the cold to notice anything before now. He looked down at himself as he hyperventilated and shook. His skin was scaly and a tarry black, his hooves were no longer bonelike, but a tough, spongy substance, and he now had large fangs, leaking fresh venom.

“Wh-what have you done to me? What happened to my body?” said Crimson, his accent slowly turning more creaturelike by the second.

“You are of a higher being now. I have saved you from your miserable life as an equine, and in turn, you have saved me from a painful death. Feeding on you directly has given me the power I need to finally escape this forest and return to the hive.” said Chrysalis.

“But I was happy as myself before you did this! Change me back!!” he said in a panicked voice.

“Shhhh... You will learn to appreciate your new form when the transformation is complete. Now you must rest for the path ahead...” she said. Leaning in closer and baring her fangs, once again she fed on him as green blood seeped out his neck where she had bitten.

“You can’t- no... no...”

“...Rather than drain emotion from a pony by assuming the form of an individual that that pony loves, in the event of starvation, a changeling can attack the pony directly and physically absorb emotion, causing the area of skin bitten to become corrupted and black. Within days, this condition naturally disappears, but if bitten by an older and more powerful Hive Mother, the area of the pony’s mind responsible for the experiencing of emotion can be severely and permanently damaged, corrupting the entire body and causing a major inability to experience positive emotions naturally. This can cause a changeling to be created by means other than natural reproduction.”

---The Crystal Empire Library’s “Equestrian Myth & Monster”