Chapter One
Pained cries echoed through the cave walls. Queen Chrysalis cast a sad look over the one hundred starving and injured changelings that survived the invasion of Canterlot. They were all collected in a group in the center of the large cave, their dead piled up along the edges of the walls, hundreds of bodies of changelings whose lives were taken by their injuries or the hunger that consumed them all.
Starvation wasn't new amongst Chrysalis' hive. For years, they had starved with no real source of food that lasted for a long period of time. They had moved from place to place, scrounging up what scraps of love was in the area. Finally, the loss of life that the absence of love was created drove Chrysalis to look for an alternative. And it only led to sealing their doom.
At this point, Chrysalis was the only Changeling that was actually alive. The rest that still lived were husks, only their link with the Hive giving them a small stream of love was keeping them alive. The moment she severed that link, she would be alone to die once the time is right.
The changeling queen stood with a sigh, heading towards the entrance of the cave. The cool night aired sent a shiver down her spine as she walked out into the open. She was met by a sea of green stretching out for miles. To her right, shining dimly against the fields around it, was Ponyville. It was the nearest town for miles, and was the last place she wanted to be next to Canterlot.
Sitting down, Chrysalis closed her eyes as she laid her options before her. No matter what she decided to do, her changelings will die. Her best option would be to rebuild by finding a suitable mate in Ponyville. Once she found one, and has cemented a good relationship, then she can reveal herself and hope she can keep her mate long enough to create a race once again. She would also need to fix the mess she made with the Ponies, but that would take time.
Chrysalis opened her eyes, looking back at the dark cave behind her. The stench of death poured from the entrance, it was almost a surprise no predators have been attracted by the smell of dead meat. Not that she was complaining. She barely had enough energy to travel, let alone fight off the monsters of the Everfree.
Deciding that it was time to take action, Chrysalis reached into her mind, grabbing onto the tendril of thought that was the connection between the hive. She hesitated before disconnecting it. Almost instantly, the cave went quiet. The sound unsettled her.
Not wanting to be around the cave when scavengers raided it, Chrysalis used some of the precious energy she had to guide herself down to the forest floor on her paper thin wings. Upon reaching the ground, she she cast on last look behind her at the race she had ruined.
"I promise," said the Queen with a shaky voice. "I will fix this."
The moon was just past it's zenith when Chrysalis arrived at Ponyville. The only light in the town that she could see was that of the street lamps and, to her surprise, the windows of a big oak tree sitting on the edge of town. Since she had entered from the opposite side of town, she couldn't make out the sign, but it would be her best hope for shelter.
Before traveling further into town, Chrysalis used even more of her remaining energy to summon up a disguise. Her chitin melted away into a red coat, her green mane into pink, and three pink hearts appeared on either side of her flank.
As she got closer, the sign reading "Golden Oaks Library" became more visible. Chrysalis chuckled at the irony. The library's windows were warmly lit, only the topmost window wasn't. Inside, she could see the sillouhette of a pony, a unicorn by the looks of it. Chrysalis let out a sigh of relief.
"So I won't have to wait till morning to find some pony." The former queen walked up the purple door of the library. "There is some hope." She knocked three times, keeping the tone soft so as not to waken any other possible members of the library.
The sillouhette moved from the window, assumingly to answer the door. The sound of hooves striking wood stooped outside the door as the knob was engulfed in an eerily familiar violet aura. As the door was pulled open, Chrysalis' hope sank along with her stomach.
"Um, hello? How may I help you?" asked the pony from the window, or more correctly, Twilight Sparkle. The pony who had doomed her race to death.
Just like when she was disquised as Princess Cadence, Twilight seemed less of a menace than she truly was. The mare was able to figure her out in less than a day. Her current mission was going to need more than a day to complete, and she had no doubt that Twilight had been finding ways to detect changelings faster. She had to at least try to get Twilight to trust her enough to look over her when she begins her tests.
"Uh.." Chrysalis shook her head. "I am sorry to disturb you at this time of night, but I have been traveling for a few days and, uh, may have gotten lost. Is it okay if I stay the night?" asked Chrysalis, hoping she would take the bait. Twilight raised an eyebrow before putting on a smile.
"You are welcome to stay the night. Do you want some tea?" Chrysalis was about to refused before a gust of freezing wind rushed past her, causing her to shudder.
"Yes, thank you." The Queen walked into the library, closing the door behind her. On the inside, the library looked as she expected from a tree. The library looked like the side of a tree, just like the outside, with shelves filled with books carved from the walls. The stairs were also carved from the walls, it seemed. She was about to go examine the shelves when Twilight entered the room, bringing a cup of hot tea with her.
Cursing the fact that she chose to be a Pegasus instead of a unicorn, Chrysalis grabbed the cup with a grateful nod. The changeling queen looked at the amber liquid, trying to figure out if there was anything laced in it. She let out a sigh before taking a sip, the hot liquid almost burnt her throat, but filled her belly with warmth. It sent a warm, tingly feeling over her body, causing her to let out a pleasured moan.
Opening her eyes, she found Twilight glaring at her, her horn was bathed in her aura as she pointed it at her. She dropped the cup, scrambling backwards in shock.
"What are you doing?" asked Chrysalis. Her eyes widened, however, when she noticed that her voice was normal and not that of her disguise. "W-what...?"
"Ever since the invasion, I tried to find ways to detect changelings. One of them works, it seems." She growled, stepping forward. "Explain why you have returned, Chrysalis."
Chrysalis blinked. Why was she there? The town probably had a hotel or inn of some sort, it was a tourist attraction. So why did she come here like a moth to flame?
Hunger.
The queen grimaced as her stomach turned at the thought of it's need. She gulped as she noticed the unicorn getting impatient, the aura around her horn getting more violent. She weighed her options, trying to find ways around this situation, out of it, any way to ensure not only her's, but the hive's survival.
"I need help." She said with a croak. The room went quiet, only the sound of their heartbeats and the soft hum of Twilight's magic filled the room. The unicorn stared at her for a moment with an unreadable expression before squinting her eyes.
"With what?" She said skeptically. Chrysalis let the air held captive in her lungs out with a sigh. She shook her head before looking up at her.
"I...I am the only one left of my kind, Twilight Sparkle. I cannot let my attempt to feed my hive off Canterlot be the death of the Changeling Race." She shook her head, tears starting to build. "I need to start over from the beginning, I need to repopulate, find a source of love we that will feed us so we won't starve to the point where drastic measures are needed, again. I need...to rebuild my relations with Ponies."
Throughout her speech, Twilight's magic had slowly died out until the unicorn was sitting and watching her curiously. "But...why did you come to me?" asked the unicorn. Chrysalis let out a bark of laughter.
"Running into you was an accident that I thought would be the death of me. I thought you were some ponie up past curfue. Instead, I found the most feared pony to the changeling race." The Queen sighed.
The unicorn blinked. "Feared? Why am I feared?"
Chrysalis snorted. "Because within a matter of hours I was found by you, then you were able to escape and take down hundreds of changelings before being captured. That is why we fear you, Twilight Sparkle." Chrysalis looked away. "Cadence may have dealt the final blow, but that wouldn't have happened if you didn't give it a push."
The lavender mare sat there stunned, Chrysalis could see her head racing by the look in her eyes. The queen sighed. "Just hurry up and do what you desire. Kill me, turn me in, which ever you wish. It is obvious my race was destined to die."
"I have a better idea." said the librarian standing up. Chrysalis eyed her cautiously before standing up as well. "I have been wanting a Changeling to observe and question to better help us understand Changelings." Twilight took a deep breath. "And my research would be useless if only one Changeling existed."
"So you are going to let me stay hidden in Ponyville?" asked Chrysalis, not fully believing what the mare was promising.
"Well, you will be forced to stay in the library and will only be let out with my permission." And there was the catch. Chrysalis sighed. She had no troubles with staying in a library, the queen always believed that knowledge was power and now she had a whole building of that power in front of her. However, her progress will be slowed with the addition of not wandering out on her own.
"Fine." said Chrysalis after a while. "It will slow me a tad, but it will do. But I have one question. How do you expect me to feed?" The queen cocked her head. "I am questing that there is a rule against me taking the form of another pony, which is how we had to get food for the last five decades. How do you expect me to gain the essential need of my race if I cannot collect it as I normally would?"
The unicorn thought for a moment. "Can't you feed off the excess love that is given off indirectly? Or do you have to collect from the source that is directing it towards you?"
"In large amounts, we can easily feed off excess love, which is why we attacked Canterlot in the first place. Even without Cadence there, it was overflowing with excess love, albeit tainted with the corruption and greed of your politics." Chrysalis snorted. "It's like a treat that looks too good to be true, but you can taste the sour with every bite."
"But yes, that is why we feed directly. In small amounts, excess can barely feed on changeling. However, nothing is stronger than love that is directed at you, which is why we adapted to change our form so we can better gain love." The changeling sighed. "It was before my time that changelings were forced to go into hiding. Your princesses weren't manifested yet."
"You mean you are older than Princess Celestia and Luna!" said Twilight, blinking in surprise. Chrysalis shrugged.
"Only by a hundred years or so. I remember when they were manifested into pony form it was quite a shock. Mother tried to gain negotiations with them, but the ponies had claimed them as their own and wound a tight barrier around them. So we had no choice but to live like the parasites the ponies believed us to be."
"I see..." Twilight bit her lip, obviously troubled by the information she just learned. The unicorn sighed before standing. "I only have one idea to feed you until you can get your own love without stealing it. It will be risky, and neither of us will like it, but you need food."
Chrysalis opened her mouth to question her, but her eyes widened as they were ensnared by the lips of the purple pony. Twilight's eyes were scrunched up as she kissed Chrysalis, a faint, almost forced amount of love trickled from her. Greedily, Chrysalis snatched onto it, letting it feed her.
As she pressed herself deeper into the kiss, she could feel all of the energy she had lost come back. Her aches slowly healed themselves and she felt like she was once again whole. Before she could gain anymore love, Twilight pushed her back with a gasp, her face beet red from the exchange.
"T-th-there, f-fed." Twilight shook her head as she decomposed herself, the faint blush remaining on her cheeks. "You can sleep upstairs in the quest room, just make sure you are disguised, Spike wakes up before I do." With that, the mare turned and walked up the stairs, slightly quivering.
Chrysalis, full from the love given to her, sat on her haunches with a blank expression. After a moment, she blinked. "What the fuck was that?!"
Author's Note
HOLY FUCK IT'S DONE! I took awhile to do this, I know, but it's done. -.- Hopefully this one isn't complete shit.
Chapter Two
Chrysalis woke up the next morning as Twilight asked, in the disguise of True Hearts. She stretched herself, trying to get out all the stiffness she gained from the past few months nursing her injuries on the floor of a cave.
As she finished, the smell of someone cooking breakfast reached her. Even though pony food couldn't sustain her, she still could eat it and her stomach still recognized it as food. The queen hummed as she started to walk down the stairs towards the delicious smell.
Reaching the kitchen, she was greeted by the sight of Spike, the baby dragon companion to Twilight, running from step stool to step stool, cooking something she couldn't exactly tell. When Twilight mentioned that the drake woke before her, she didn't figure that it was so he could start chores.
The dragon paused when he noticed he was being watched, turning around to face her before smiling. "Oh hey, Twilight said you'd be staying with us." said the drake, going back to his cooking. "You can go sit at the table, I am just about done." He thought for a moment. "Actually, can you go wake up Twilight?"
Chrysalis' eyes sparkled as a mischievous thought went through her head. "I'll have her wide awake in no time." said True Heart, grinning as she walked up the stairs.
Reaching Twilight's room, Chrysalis silently entered the room, closing the door as she dropped her disguise. She quietly padded over to the single bed in the treehouse, the sheets rising up and down slowly to the breathing of its occupant.
The purple unicorn looked, as much as Chrysalis hated to admit, adorable. She was curled up almost in a ball. In her hooves was on of her pillows. Either it simply felt comfortable for her, or it was her way of substituting her want for another. The queen shook her head before leaning down next to Twilight's head.
"Wake up, my pupa." said Chrysalis in her ear before nipping at it. Almost immediately, Twilight shot out of her bed with a yelp, crimson staining her cheeks. Chrysalis held her hooves to her mouth as she tried not to burst into laughter.
"What was that for?!" shouted Twilight in an adorable squeak. At that moment, Chrysalis lost it, falling onto the floor in a fit of laughter. Twilight let out a huff as she waited for the queen to stop. When she finally did, Chrysalis let out a sigh as she sat up.
"Spike wished for me to wake you up for breakfast. I couldn't help myself to play a harmless trick." she shrugged. "Better than me seeking revenge so you shouldn't complain."
Twilight sighed before levitating her brush over and started tackling the mess that was her mane. "So I guess you are already settling in just fine, then?"
"A bit. Of course, I've been locked in a library." Chrysalis stuck her tongue out at Twilight. "Besides, I've been awake just as long as you have. The smell of food attracted me."
"Wait, you can eat pony food? If you could, why throw away the treats Applejack gave you?"
"I hate apples." Chrysalis shrugged. "I just never liked the taste. And those "treats" we're full of them. It took all I could from throwing up." The queen scrunched her nose. "Of curse, apples are this towns favorite crop."
Twilight set down her brush with a chuckle. "I'm sure if you tell Spike he would refrain from meals with apples." She giggled as she walked towards the door. "Come on, Spike is probably waiting."
The two walked down the stairs to be greeted by Spike who was setting the table. Chrysalis almost bolted to the table at the sight of food, until she noticed that apple slices covered the pancakes that he was setting on the table. She could hear Twilight giggling behind her.
"I'm going to go vomit in the bathroom, send up some toast, will ya?" Chrysalis grumbled as she walked away from the food, cursing it for smelling so good. Spike raised an eyebrow at Twilight.
"What's her problem? Apples are amazing!"
After Chrysalis devoured the toast she was given to at least fool Spike into thinking she was a pony, Twilight and Chrysalis sat down in her bedroom while Spike was busy doing his chores downstairs as well as checking out books for anyone who came in.
"So," said Twilight as she sat across from Chrysalis, summoning a pen and notepad. "I first must ask if there are any comfort zones you wish I wouldn't cross during my questioning. I may not have agreed with your invasion of Canterlot or your methods of dong so, but I still believe in being fair."
The Queen shrugged. "None that I can think of. I would just prefer you stop if I get uncomfortable."
"Fair enough. Now, first question. How does the Heiarchy System work with Changelings? Is there only one super power or is there other leaders all controlled by you along with the entire colony?"
Chrysalis chuckled. "We aren't that complicated. I like to think of us as a highly intelligent Bee Hive. I am the only queen and ruler of my colony. I control over the different areas of my hive that all make sure it runs properly. From food, gathering, pupas and the drones that make sure the hive is protected.
"Each area has an officer, a drone or nymph that is in charge of making sure the other drones are doing their job properly and there are no trouble among the others. In the meantime, they relay and follow the orders I send down as well as inform me of the progress. Of course, we haven't had a healthy working hive in decades do to paranoia and lack of food."
"And this issue was brought on by ponies?" asked Twilight, her pen never stopped moving as she continued to write down notes. Chrysalis wondered just how much parchment they went through each week.
"Before I was born and my mother was in the throne, we were discovered by the king that ruled at the time. For three decades, two of which I was present for, the ponies started a witch hunt after changelings. For years, we hid in fear and scarcely went out for food. Soon, the ponies caught on and started raiding camps meant for trying to capture amounts of love." Chrysalis took a shaky breath. "My mother was visiting one of those camps when it was raided and the occupants executed. I was left to rule for the last ten years of the hunts."
Twilight stopped writing for a moment. "But, why did the hunts stop? Did they see their errors? Did not enough changelings show up like they used to? Or..."
Chrysalis chuckled darkly. "I impersonated the king's assistant and murdered him. The next king after him saw that continuing the hunts was dangerous, so he ordered them to stop. Of course, he mostly called them off in fear of ending up like the king before him."
"Wasn't there another way that you could have dealt with it besides murder? Maybe consult a meeting to try and convince him to stop?"
"All our attempts ended with the ambassador's head mounted on a stake in capital square." Chrysalis shook her head. "Trust me, I tried everything short of going out there myself in a suicide attempt to get it to end. I probably would of if I had an heir."
Twilight nodded. "So, if the hunts stopped, why did you still hide as you have?"
"Actually, after the hunts, we went to business as usual, which I was more than happy with. It has only been the last fifty or so years were the trouble has arisen." The Queen sighed. "Apparently, a changeling was found out by a very pesky peasants the eastern half of Equestria. He pried as much as he could out of the drone, including the location of our hive at the time.
"This stallion created a small terror faction that has now become a sizable cult that has kept itself hidden these past years. Which is understandable. If you go shouting out who you are and start showing your face, a few drones may be inclined to...silence you." Chrysalis let out a small laugh. "I would have loved to see that."
"So this entire time you have been hiding from a group of ponies? Is that your only reason of hiding?"
"Well, this group is close to six thousand strong. And, my dear Twilight, they have found a way to rid of us of our disguises. So avoiding them became difficult. They also don't just kill us, burn us, Behead us, or other. They torture their prey until they die from the pain." The changeling growled. "I have lost more drones and nymphs than I wish to count from this cult. I would like nothing more than for them to all die a very painful death just as my kin have." The queen sighed. "I think I have said enough, Twilight Sparkle."
The unicorn nodded as she set down her notebook. "Do you want to take a break?" The changeling took a deep breath.
"Yes, I'd think that would help."
"Alright, then, would you like to question me instead? It seems only fair." said the unicorn, smiling softly.
Chrysalis hummed thoughtfully before shrugging. "Might as well. So, I might as well ask what connection you had with Candence. Shining suggested you come and I just didn't,question why."
"Well, when I was a filly, my parents hired Candance to babysit me while they were gone. Shining was at Boot Camp at the time, I believe."
"Sounds reasonable. I'm guessing you two formed an everlasting friendship from that then."
"Something like that. We kept in contact after I was old enough that I didn't need a foal sitter anymore. She would occasionally stop by while I was working on homework for Celestia." Twilight chuckled.
"Explains why I was found out so easily." said Chrysalis with a laugh. "I was too focused on the outcome that I skipped the whole 'learn about your target' bit of training." The two laughed. "Anyways, we should probably head back downstairs. I don't Spike to come walking in."
Twilight nodded as she got up from her seat on the floor. They didn't get far as the bedroom door opened. "Hey Twilight, I brought you and Tr-" Spike froze as he noticed Chrysalis. The room was silent as the three of them stood there.
The silence was broken as Spike spun around, barreling out the door. It took Chrysalis a moment to register what happened before she got up after him, Twilight right behind her. The two of them followed him down the stairs. Before they could reach him, he slipped out the front door.
Chrysalis stared at the door for a second, knowing full well she couldn't chase him any longer. Finally, she was able to summeriaze her thoughts with one word.
"Shit."
