"The Queen! She comes!"
In my mind, I heard their voices. Joyful. Hopeful. Full of love.
At first.
The thoughts were soon followed by screams. Warnings.
"Beware! The Queen! She comes!"
Fear replaced love. Until I could hear them no longer.
I.
Such a strange concept. I had never thought it before. What was "I?" Hiding here, in this small town, amongst these creatures that looked like me but did not smell or think like me, whose minds I could not feel?
I was alone. It was a singularly alienating feeling. I did not understand it at first. The silence was terrifying. I sent out cries, and then began to fear my Queen would hear me. How had the lovely being we had chosen to protect us turned into our destroyer?
***
Cloaked in black, the hood rimmed in fur, the mysterious pony approached. It took a seat at the empty bar and placed a hoof on the surface. The hoof was strong and sharp, its fetlocks long and feathery. The earth pony bartender stopped cleaning a glass and eyed the figure for a moment, chewing on his stalk of wheat noisily.
"Get ya something?" He asked finally. He was an older pony, one who looked as though he'd seen more than he'd like, with a salt and pepper coat to match his mane.
The pony pulled back its hood. A mane of the most gloriously pale green cascaded down her shoulders, offsetting her burning emerald eyes. A shimmering onyx horn rose elegantly from her brow, and her raven black coat glistened in the light of the roaring fire. A tight circle of growths - stems with an odd ball-like ending - gathered behind her horn.
"I've traveled far and am weary," she said. Her voice was soft, sultry. Regal, even. A voice that was used to getting what it wanted. "Is there a room?"
"Not an inn," the bartender said gruffly, huffing into his mustache. The lovely unicorn narrowed her eyes.
"Get ya something?"
"Not very friendly to travelers, are you?" She replied, arching an eyebrow.
"Don't take kindly to strangers making demands," he shot back, resting a foreleg on the bar surface. "You buying or jawing?"
She smiled. Something about the smile made his guts turn cold.
"How's your local cider?" she asked. The bartender blinked.
"Fresh. Er.... crisp. On the sweet side."
"Lovely. I'll have one."
The bartender nodded and reached for a glass. The stranger slammed her hoof down. The bartender jumped. The unicorn leaned across the bar and hissed through a fanged grin.
"Apples don't grow in this region," she purred fiercely.
The bartender's face fell, and his eyes grew wide. Chrysalis threw off her cloak and unfurled her wings. Fully feathered, her body whole, the alicorn reared back on her hind legs and manifested a wicked barbed spear of green with her magic aura.
The changeling dropped the earth pony guise and leapt over the bar, sinking its fangs into its Queen's neck. Chrysalis screamed, flinging the changeling across the room. It hit the wall, scrabbling to its feet, and darted out of the tavern. Blood dripped from her wound.
"You cannot escape!" She roared, charging out into the night.
Rain fell in sheets, obscuring her vision. In the darkness, it was hard to make out the glistening wetness that was the changeling. Snarling, the former Queen galloped down the abandoned street and up the alley, into the hills.
It ran. It flew. It scrambled. As fast and as hard as it could. But it was no match for the strength and the stamina of the alicorn. Chrysalis drove a hoof into its back. It shrieked in pain, twisting around to rake claws down along her foreleg. She howled angrily, withdrawing her hoof, and the changeling took the lapse in her attack to jump at her face, clawing at her eyes. Chrysalis shook her head violently side to side, flinging the changeling into the nearby rocks.
The changeling hit them, hard. It felt the wind get knocked from it. Breathless, it watched helplessly as its former Queen approached, bleeding, panting, her eyes wild and furious, that wicked green spear of magic hovering menacingly over her head.
"You are the last!" She hissed, breathing hard. "I have hunted and searched across Equestria... and you... are the last."
"Why...?" It managed to croak.
Chrysalis snarled.
"Please..." It begged.
"You dare to talk!?" She snapped, tossing her sopping mane in the rain. "Do not beg of me mercy!"
"My Queen..." It tried, coughing. It felt something wet snap in its chest.
Chrysalis snarled angrily. "You have no emotions. You feed off my desires. You only have mimicry and tricks to survive on!"
"I do not trick!" the changeling hissed, coughing again. It felt fluid pass its lips. Chrysalis took another step
forward. "What... have we done...?" It persisted.
Chrysalis scowled. "You're a danger to Equestria!" she growled, leveling her spear at the changeling's throat.
"We served you!" It countered. The green glow of her magic's aura cast an eerie light on its featureless eyes.
"You do not! You perverted my form and raped my mind and you will do so again to anypony unlucky enough to find that damned cave unless I destroy every last one of you!" The last words were screamed, and a flash of lightning lit the raging alicorn from behind. As the thunder clapped sharply overhead, the changeling stared up at the nightmarish beauty its Queen had become. With her wings open, and mane blowing in the wind, she looked every part the warrior guardian they had needed.
Sadly, it turned out, to protect them from her.
"We chose you to lead us...To guide us," it pleaded, wheezing. "We felt your kindness... we wanted your love-"
"You destroyed my life!" Chrysalis screamed, tears in her eyes. She slammed her hooves into the mud, driving the tip of the spear against the changeling's chiton. "I was to be a princess! I was to rule! I was to fall in love and be beautiful and have friends and a family and you stole everything from me!"
We gave you all of that...
Chrysalis blinked, feeling the thought caress her mind. The changeling saw the response in her eyes, and pressed forward vocally.
"So you destroy us...?" It asked. "A genocide... to make amends... for your mistakes?"
Cadance... Oh gods... She thought, her eyes becoming hot with tears. It was right. Gods damn this little insect, it was right!
"Shut up!" She shrieked. "Shut up shut up shut up!" She stamped her hooves and sobbed, the magical spear dissolving with her tears and the rain.
"We did not choose how you went about gathering our sustenance... we only followed you, my Queen."
Chrysalis sank to her knees, head bowed, shoulders shaking with the force of her sorrow and shame.
The changeling winced and dragging itself to its feet, crawling to her side, and rested a hoof on her flank. "To our deaths... we still followed you..."
"What have I done?" She asked, lifting her eyes to meet its. "I sacrificed my soul to save my flesh..." The alicorn bit her lip, her fangs drawing blood.
It blinked at her, tilting its head, moving its hoof to touch her face. "I still follow you."
Changeling and Queen sat in silence, bleeding and sore, letting the rain do its cleansing. After some time, when the downpour had lightened to a drizzle, Chrysalis looked down at the changeling, who had settled next to her against her folded wing.
"What is your name?"
It stared.
"Name?" it asked, puzzled.
So long ago, in a happier place and time, a friend had asked much the same question. A friend who had tried to warn her about the path she was about to walk. A friend who found joy in his simple existence, alone in tower, the only one of his kind.
"I need to call you something," she said finally, her tone warm.
The changeling shifted against her. It felt the change in her. The slow ebb of caring that washed over it made it feel... fuller. "Name is something you give us?" it continued.
Chrysalis nodded. "It is now."
The first rays of sunlight began to break through the clouds.
"Why...?" It asked.
"I was supposed to be a princess, in my former life," Chrysalis said, looking up from the changeling into the opening sky. "I have no special talent. In my kind... we earn a mark on our flanks. Mine remains blank. I failed." She rose slowly, taking care to not jar the injured creature. It stayed completely still. Chrysalis lowered her head, touching her horn first to its left shoulder, and then to its right.
"I name thee Am, Last of the Changelings, and First of His Name."
Hearing those words filled the changeling with joy, and he could not help but smile. He. Yes! He! Of course! His name was Am!
She lifted her head and held it high, feeling her heart lighten. Every part of her body was electrified. As the sunlight burst free upon the dawn, Chrysalis flared her wings to absorb the warmth.
"And I, Chrysalis... choose to be your Queen."
