Fallout Equestria - Chronicles of Chrysalis

Wakening

The Badlands

To most it was a place of danger and death. Of defiance and despair, But during the war between Equestria and the zebras it wasn't important. That was until the princess realised how valuable the changelings were. Their ability to disguise themselves as their prey made them the perfect infiltrators, and when the zebras found out how kingly rich the soils of the Badlands were, filled with precious gems and crystals, A new story unfolded. I made a deal with Celestia. My children would work for Equestra and in exchange, they would no longer be hunted provided that there were no attacks on the population at large.

I learned a lot about Equestria after that, about the ministries, the new technology. But to me one of the most important things that I learnt, was about Sparkle and her friends. From Applejack to Pinkie to even That little pet Twilight had.

But as time went on and threat of total devastation loomed, the demands on both sides grew. From being able to experiment and study the changeling race to a stable built to support both species. But when the mega spells flew by I and the rest of the present hive hunkered down and went into hibernation. Waiting for the radiation to subside.

I am Queen Chrysalis, and this is how my new story began.

I Felt my mind wake up, I could not remember anything. At least, not until I got a grip of myself. Over time, it all came flooding back. The war, the bombs, the death. Part of me wanted to stay asleep, as if I didn't want to accept the reality I was in. My brain was still waking up though so it had taken it's time. Slowly, I opened my eyes. I was in a cocoon, my cocoon.

I felt the warm liquid around me, it was odd to say the least. I never really get used to the idea of a non-aquatic creature (especially myself) breathing liquid and that's the word that suits it best, odd. I felt the liquid passing in and out of my lungs, yes, my lungs. Slowly, I regained control over my body. I moved around a little and soon enough. I could move myself closer to the edge of the cocoon. Once I moved close enough I applied pressure to the walls of this green prison with my horn. Just a little more, I thought to myself. Soon enough my horn cut through the underside of the cocoon. I continued to slice a nice line from the bottom of the cocoon to the top.

It sounded like the breaking of an eggshell combined with the tearing of tissue paper. I was thrown out with the water like liquid and I found myself on the floor coughing up liquid and gasping for air. After around a minute or two I was breathing normally, aside from a few coughs every now and then. I got up on all fours and found myself quite wobbly. At first I was barely able to stand but in time my brain woke up and so did I. I stretched every now and then to help wake me up. Soon I was standing tall and determent, I took a deep breath in and let it all out.

"It's good to be back", I said to myself.

I took a look around the chamber and tried to light it up a little. A green glow covered my horn but the light died down shortly after, my magic reserve was low. I made note to use magic sparingly. The walls of my main chamber had some kind of green glowing fungi growing off them here and there along with a noticeable amount decay in the form of missing chunks of wall, cracks and holes present in the chamber.

I recognised the fungus on the walls. It was the same sweet chewy fungi my children harvested for who knows how long. From what I recall the fungi is not only highly poisonous to ponies (and maybe some other animals) but it released spores that or though grew very slowly and died very fast unless the conditions were perfect, were poisonous themselves. How it had spread from the fungus farms four stories below all the way up here told me that a very long time has passed. Good thing the Badlands is too hot for the fungi to spread otherwise...oh boy, still. It made for some great toxins during the war, it was easy to contain, very deadly and to changelings, a great meal.

Which reminded me, I need more food if I'm going to start waking up my children. they will be very hungry after sleeping for so long. My stomach grumbled at the thought of food. So while I'm at it I might as well get something to eat myself. I walked up to the wall and (using my horn) cut off some of the fungi from the wall. I scrapped off any fungi on my horn and did the same to the fungi itself (only I was actually scrapping off any bits of stone on my meal). Once I was done I ate it, it was as sweet as I remembered it. Too bad it would kill anything else that did this.

Once I was done I exited my chamber and looked around. Cocoons with changelings were everywhere, on the walls, the sealing and the floor. The pods had a green lamp like glow to them which almost lit up the otherwise pitch-black hallways of the hive. I knelled down and stroked one of the pods with that of a mother's care.

"Sleep tight, momma is going to get food." It was then I noticed that some of the pods were black, both in and out. The pod's liquid must have not been rich enough. How long has it really been? The liquid in these pods is meant to be rich enough to last more then a century! Now that I think of it, how many are left? I'm clearly not the only survivor but just how many of my children survived?

Focus, I need to focus. I can't dwell on this, I need to rebuild my hive and prosper. I know the surface is habitable because my pod had a spell that read the radiation levels. That's how I woke up, but then why are my children still asleep? I'll look into this later. For now I need to stockpile food and energy, get a grip of the situation I'm in and survive.

I got up and started trotting through the obsidian black cave to the exit but I couldn't shake the feeling I had forgotten something, it was something big but I just couldn't put my hoof on it. It felt so different to see the hive devoid of life. I decided not to wake up any of my children, there's more then enough food for a few of them but it's magic that I need to be concerned about. Me and my children have a limited amount of magic we can use. Unlike unicorns who can generate their own magic, my children (and I) need to refill ours by absorbing emotional energy. We can't even disguise or use the most basic magic attacks without it because it takes up magical energy. In other words without magic we can't defend ourselves very well.

After walking around for some time I found the exit to the hive. It was a like a vertical stable door or rather, a gear shaped elevator. I walked over to the control panel and activated the elevator, the gear shaped platform descended from above and landed. I stood on the platform and looked up, the upper door was still closed. I turned my attention to the control panel on my right and activated it. The platform started ascending as soon as the door started opening. It was surprisingly quiet for a stable door which was (from my experience) normally quite noisy.

I'd rather have my personal guards around but until I find more food or magic I was going to have to play solo. After getting out I took a look around and instantly noticed it was night time, around late-night or close to dawn.

I saw a nearby camp site with ponies around a fire that looked like they where having a conservation. Three tents surrounding a camp fire. However, the ponies looked different from what I'd seen before hibernation. They had makeshift armour and clothing that looked as if it was torn apart and then sown back together, and then torn apart again. There were three of them, one red, one blue and one black.

Not only that but they had guns with them, assault rifles to be exact. And I knew what a gun was from the pre-war. I decided not to directly confront them with a disguise on because it may mean the end of me. I decided to sneak close enough to listen in on the conversation and find out a thing or two, after getting close enough I could make out what they where saying.

"Red, put more wood on the fire", ordered the black pony.

"My name is Wild, Dusk!"

"Shut up, I give the orders. Blue, check on the prisoner."

"For Celestia sake, my name is Star Dusk."

Wild proceeded to chuck some more wood on the fire while Star trotted into one of the tents. I made note of which tent he went into. A moment later Star trotted out the tent and sat down around the fire, Wild sat down next to him.

"So Wild, what are you going to do with the-"

"Caps we get? I'm going to see if I can-"

"Get a drink?"

"You know me too well."

"You really should stop-"

"Thinking about myself, you need to stop-"

"Collecting shovels?"

"Yes, you know it's-"

"An odd habit-"

"Shut up! shut up! shut up! shut up!"

"Sorry Boss"

"I can't stand you two! now do I have to remind you two lump heads again?"

"I know I know, get the slave back to Mr Chains and then get paid.

We've done this a hundred times", said Wild.

"It's not Chains this time, the pony we got is apparently wanted by the Desert Raiders."

"The what?"

The black pony sighed. "I'll explain in the morning and by the way Red, the answer I was looking for was that I'm the one in charge!"

Well, that was...interesting. I need to get rid of them somehow because of how close to the hive they are but that might be a bit difficult considering the fact that they have weapons, armour and that they're grouped up together. Then again the entrance to the hive is well hidden (thanks to the sand coloured door, not the elevator, and that's it's partially covered) so they shouldn't find it unless they looked.

Now if I could rescue the slave then I'll get enough love to fuel me for days! That is if I put on a disguise. But then how do I take care of these peasants? I can't simply go up to them in disguise because they may enslave me, I can't dive bomb them because that will take up to much energy and I can't stun them for a good enough amount of time without more energy.

Maybe I can throw a rock? I don't have much else at the moment anyway. I picked up a small rock with my hoof and threw it.

"Huh, what was that Wild?"

"Probably just a rad roach Star"

Dam, let's try something else.

I considered my options but I didn't have much to go on. Then an idea pops in my head. It's a costly one but it may work. I casted a weak explosives spell and armed it not to far off. A distant blast shattered the midnight silence and echoed throughout the area.

"What the- oh crumbs move it!"

The three ponies rushed toward the source of the blast and when they left. I got up and rushed towards the tents. I checked the tent Star went into and found a dark brown tied up pony with a scared look his face. The stallion looked as if it had been beaten to a pulp but I didn't have time to inspect the pony. I lifted him up with my magic and ran away with the stallion back to the hive.

I rushed back to the hive with the dark brown pony. Once inside I walked around, looking for a good spot to stick him. The pony's face went white with fear, probably because this was all alien to him. The stallion struggled like mad but it was useless while he was In the air, yet he tried to worm his way out. The way he struggled frustrated me. "Stop struggling worm!" I cried, but he still struggled. I started to walk a lot quicker through the frustration. I didn't have the patience for this.

I decided to only go down one floor into the hive otherwise the spores from the fungi growing of the walls would kill him. I put the pony up against the wall and activated the pheromones that make the sticky green resin come out the holes in my hooves. I stuck the terrified stallion to the wall covering almost everything but the head and lower body hooves, now that I wasn't in such a hurry I could took a good look at the unicorn.

The stallion had leather belts that had bound the upper body and lower body. The unicorn also had a belt fastened around it's muzzle that stopped him from talking, he had blue eyes and bruises across the right cheek, jaw line and freckles on his face. His main body colour was a chocolate brown while his tail, mane and hooves were a pitch black.

The right ear of the pony had a small hole on the left edge of said ear. like it had been hit by something or other a long time ago. It had healed now but a small chunk of the ear was still missing and the skin around that area was badly scared, I could tell they were burn scars but what I wanted to know was why is it so burned up? Of course you can say a dragon did it bit if that were the case then there should be more burn scars, the hole is small enough to be considered a bullet hole but the hole was also big enough that no calibre round (that I know of) would have made it. It...had me puzzled to say the least.

Back on the subject at hoof, there was a ring on his horn that stopped the use of magic and a circular burn scar that resembled a chain was on the left side of his neck, I'd say that this indicates he was a slave. His cutie mark was a crossed over wrench and screwdriver. I didn't just sense the fear in the pony. I could almost taste it just from being around him.

He looked at me with those fear filled eyes as I examined him, I could only wonder what was going through his mind though. What am I? who am I? and what do I want? all questions I'd might answer before I devourer his emotions. But I needed to know more about Equestria and this peasant is my best source of information right now, I needed to calm him down first. I opened up with a simple "hello."

But the dark brown pony continued staring at me, in fact, did he just ignore me?

"Hay, get a grip! I'm not going to hurt you!" The stallion's eyes shifted from the left to right and back at me. His expression settled a little, indicating that he was calming down. Though not by much. "Look, I know this is all terrifying for you but I need to talk."

I sat down in front of him, waiting for him to calm down. I sat there and we exchanged looks, I tried to give him a reassuring look. And over the course of...I'd say an hour (sure feels like it) I felt the fear in him decrease by a good degree. It was when I started getting impatient he started making noises, it sounded like he was trying to say something. "Are you trying to say something?" I asked. He nodded, I got up and removed the belt around his muzzle.

The stallion moved his jaw around a bit afterwards. "Ok first off, what the buck r' ur?" I could tell he was still panicking a little by the tone in his voice. I identified the accent as appleloosen, hold on. How could somepony from Appleooser make it all the way out here? And further more, how rude.

"How dare you."

"Oh uh, sorry, were r' ma manners? Oh there they are. Thanks fer savin me, ah would have been ah goner without ur."

"That's better, now I have some questions for you and no doubt you have some for me , first off, who are you?"

"Ma names Tax, Tax Knight, I come from stable 4-b and ma skill is mechanicals, now tell me, what r' ur and how do yer work? Because quite frankly, yer look like a black ghoul bucked an alicorn."

A stable dweller? well that explains a few things, but then where's his pip-buck? And again, how rude.

"I I'm Queen Chrysalis, queen of this hive and of all changelings! We are a race that have to feed off emotions to gain more magic and can gain some form of nutrition from doing so, granted we still have to eat and drink.

I have woken from hibernation and I can't wake my children yet because they will be hungry. changelings can give energy to each other but it's like filling up a cup of water with another cup of water. I don't have the means to feed my kids so I must stockpile food for them for now," I still kept a few details from Tax encase I got into a situation and needed to catch Tax off guard. like us being shape shifters.

"So ur risked ye life to get me down here so I could feed ya'll and yer kids?"

"Yes, now tell me what's happened in Equestria."

"No wait, if ya'll have to eat emotions then does that mean ya'll gonna turn me into some kind of husk?" Tax was starting to panic, I need to defuse this.

"Tell me about Equestria and maybe I won't."

"In that case, I'm gonna be talking fer long time. Now were do ah start?"

Things seemed to blur after that, he told me about the wasteland, about bandits, slavers, mutated creatures with a thirst for blood, and much more. I was surprized more then shocked, I knew that a wasteland would be all that's left but I didn't expect it to be a brutal harsh...ok I expected this but not on this level!

How are my children going to get their energy back now that everypony fights each other to the death! One thing that did catch me off guard though was that over two hundred had passed! sure I knew a long time had passed but again, not that much! Bottle caps became the new currency (don't know why) and that small bastions of civilisation were still left. So maybe there was hope yet.

But the worst part has to be that these creatures known as "Black ghouls" sound a lot like my children mutated into some kind of zombie! Apparently, those who don't die from the initial blast suffered radiation poisoning and sometimes turned into a kind of zombie known as a "Ghoul" and or through some are still sentient most of the time they become a mindless zombie.

"And then there's the Desert raiders who are basically semi-trained bandits with access ta pre-war tech. At first it was ah small clan and now it's ah small army lead ba one Ace Combat."

"Oh yea the slavers were talking about that."

"Yea am wanted by em cus I've been messin with them for a long time and keeping them at bay...kinda."

"Then why did you get caught now by some low life slavers?"

"Well let's just say that in melee combat am hopeless, you can see the bruises they left."

"I see, now if you will excuses me it's time for breakfast," I stood up and got ready to feed off him, he wasn't going to be of any more use to me so I might as well make the most of it. My horn glowed and i was just about to serve up breakfast but then.

"WAIT, I know this wasteland you don't, ah have people who can help you, I have resources I could give yer just please don't turn me into a husk!" he pleaded.

"Speak."

"While am out there I'll try ta track down changelings that may have survived an bring em here. I'll also bring yr food and water if ah can spare any and you could move into a nearby town. Ah can teach ur the ropes of using a gun, how the wastes work, we can help each other out!" Tax forced a smile. I doubted what he said at the end is true but he was desperate.

I'd love to feed off him but he was right. He knows this land better then me and if there's supplies he can give me I'll take them. plus if there's town nearby I could use that as a safe haven for my hive when I start wakening them up. And of course if I'm going to survive then I'll need to know as many tricks and tips as possible, something he can provide. But then again there's the danger of him betraying me.

"Ok, you have me. But if you even think about backstabbing me!"

"Ah won't, am not like that. Ah don't make a promise ah can't keep, now can you please get me down from here!"

Next Chapter