Chrysalis awoke with a start. She'd been doing that lately. Her dreams were haunted by the taunting faces of that stupid Twilight Sparkle and her dreaded sister-in-law, Mi Amore Cadenza. Scowling, she rose from her bed. Her pale green sheet fell on to the floor after a useless attempt to cling to her form. Walking over to her mirror, she picked up her comb and gently began to brush her mane. The turquoise strands slid easily through the brush, leaving her mane feeling silky and smooth. Grumbling under her breath about who knows what, Chrysalis walked out of her bedroom and down the hall towards the throne room.
The walls of the hive, once bright green and full of life, were a dull, near black grey. The very essence of the hive was dying, along with Chrysalis. Her legs sounded hollow as they trotted towards the throne room, and her wings were hanging off of her sleek frame, limp and useless. How long had she been without love? Fourteen years? Eighteen? She'd lost count long ago.
Her throne room was empty, except for a few workers reinforcing the cracking throne of her fore-queens. She waved them off, and sat down atop her crumbling kingdom. Sighing, she hung her head. She was desperate. A single tear found its home on her seat, soon joined by another, and another.
Soon, the once proud ruler of the changelings was sobbing atop her broken life. Where had it gone wrong? Of course, it was Canterlot. She was so close to obtaining an almost unlimited source of love, when she had been pushed aside as if she was a drone in a feeding frenzy. She didn't understand. Why had Faust cursed her so? What had she done to deserve this?
She looked up as a young changeling made her way inside the throne room. "Mother?" The changeling asked, her voice uncertain and her eyes confused. "Myself and the rest of the hive were wondering what you wanted us to do? What's our next plan?" Chrysalis let her head drop, and she clenched her jaw tightly, biting back harsh words for a mind so young.
She took a second to regain her composure, breathing deeply a few times, before she smiled sweetly at the changeling. "Well, my daughter," she began, rising from her throne and walking up to the short mare, her holed hooves sounding hollow against the stone floor. "I believe our first course of action would be to send scouts back into Canterlot, in search of open spaces in the population. I finally have a plan."
Chrysalis smiled to herself as the young mare beamed and flew off quickly. Chrysalis did have a plan, and it was not what her subjects most likely thought it was. She told them that she was to infiltrate Canterlot under a fake identity, forging her own instead of taking over somepony else's. She then told them that she would search for an alternate means to feed the hive. They were ecstatic, overjoyed, emotional! And who wouldn't be. Here your race is dying, and the mother of your entire species decides to go into the heart of enemy territory to search for resources for you and the rest of your hive.
But...she hadn't told them the whole story. She was going to sacrifice herself to Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, in return for a peace treaty ensuring her changeling's safety and feeding.
She smiled to herself, and headed back towards her room. Inside her head, she was already preparing her final speech before her death. They would begin: "I'm sorry, my little changelings..." And then, with luck, she would be executed in return for her subject's safety. Her eyes would remain dry the whole time, and no tears would be shed from the ponies, probably only looks of scorn and harsh words.
Reaching her room, she opened the door slowly, and stepped inside even slower. It would be best to see where she could place herself within Canterlot, so as not to arouse too much suspicion. Walking slowly over to her bed, she lay down. Each of her breaths were slow and shallow, and a faint wheezing could be heard each time she breathed in. She was dying. There would be no way to save her, and she knew it. She'd heard of other hives starving to death, and even saw a few. It wasn't pretty.
After the Queen of a neighboring hive passed on due to starvation, her drones started to collapse. The Queen was the center point of each hive's Hive Mind. If the Queen dies, she cannot give the order to let her drones feed. They die slowly, without any comfort in their life. Chrysalis would change that, and she knew exactly how. She would relinquish control of her hive to Mi Amore Cadenza. A Queen without her hive is as good as dead, so she would then be asked to be executed.
It was almost flawless. Only problem was getting Cadenza to become a Changeling Queen. Chrysalis would have to become a part of Canterlot Castle's cooking staff and slip a little something into some of Cadenza's food. A few changeling eggs. After eleven months inside of her, the eggs would hatch and she would have her first few drones. The drones would follow their mother, and, those drones being Chrysalis' meant that the rest of the hive would most likely switch to her side.
That's how long she had to live. Roughly eleven months. Eleven months to pretend to be somepony else and try to live a normal life, before she asks to be killed by one of the most powerful beings in existence. She smiled and watched a small squad of scouts head towards the distant green land of Equestria. She kept that smile as she drifted off to a restless sleep.
