Author's Note

Welp, here it is. Enjoy!

Prologue: Mother's Final Request

Mother’s Last Request

Queen Chrysalis laid upon her bed in the royal chambers of the changeling hive, restless despite how tired she felt. She loved her subjects, loved them like she could never love anything else on Equs for they were all her children. In all the time she had served as their queen, she had done her best to give them everything, to nurture and cherish them the way those accursed poniesdid for their own young.

And yet, for all her efforts, for all her schemes and plots, she had never been able to sufficiently provide them the one thing they needed. That was a task better suited to the ones who would soon succeed her.

“Guard!” She called, her voice hoarse and weak, yet still carrying all of the authority expected of a changeling royal.

As expected, two of her guards came rushing in, the obsidian black plate mail clattering with their haste. “My queen!” The first one exclaimed, he and his companion scanned the room for what had caused his mistress’ distress. Finding none, they bowed before their ruler. “What is your command?”

Chrysalis smiled weakly at the pair, they had grown up quite well, she had been present the day their clutch had hatched, having not needed to tend to any of her royal duties that day.

“At ease, captain,” she said, coughing into her hoof for a moment before continuing. “Please send a messenger for the prince and princess, I would like to talk with them.”

The pair of guards saluted, turning and marching out the door of her chambers, leaving the queen to her own devices once more.

Such good children, she thought, watching the doors close again. It’s a pity I won’t be able to witness their future growth.

All there was left to do now, was wait.

Chrysalis could feel the cold as it began to seep into the dark chitin surrounding the much more sensitive flesh within. No! She thought. I cannot allow myself to fall just yet, I have business to finish first. With that, she shook herself under her blankets, staving off the cold.

Time seemed to crawl by as Chrysalis waited for her direct children to come before her, those chosen personally by her to become royals themselves from among thousands of their brethren to receive her blessing.

A knock sounded at the door as the guard captain poked his head inside. “My queen, the prince and princess have arrived.”

“Send them in, we are not to be disturbed until they have left,” Chrysalis commanded.

“As you wish, my queen.” The captain then opened the door fully, allowing the two much taller changelings to enter before shutting the door softly behind him.

The first was a large male, thick chitin plates covering any weakness in his body, so much so that he had never really needed armor for protection. A fiery mane of scarlet membranous tissue crested his head and neck, trimmed down to military regulation length with a lock that draped down, drawing attention to his large blue eyes. A cape bearing the royal insignia adorned his back. This was Antithesis, prince of the changeling hive and supreme military commander of their drone army.

The second was a much more slender female, her form flowing easily from her horn to her dock. Her chitin, while not nearly as thick as her brother’s, was a smooth and glossy black, matching her mother’s in her youth. A her mane was a stark white and flowed easily, having been allowed to grow out, framing her intelligent emerald eyes and smooth face. This was Synthesis, elder princess, heir to the changeling throne, and the most sought after female in the hive.

“Mother!” Exclaimed Antithesis, all decorum tossed aside at the sight of his queen, galloping to her bedside and taking his mother’s forehoof in his own. His elder sister strode up, her gait as refined and regal as the moment she had walked in. Despite what was no doubt her best efforts to remain stoic, Chrysalis could easily see the sadness was threatening to overcome her just as much her brother.

“Good evening mother, I trust you are feeling well?” Synthesis said softly, bowing her head in respect to her queen.

“Please Synthesis, disregard the formalities, I fear we will not have much time for them,” Chrysalis said, coughing into her free forehoof. They were more violent this time.

“Mother! Please, do not leave us!” Antithesis said, tears beginning to prick at his eyes.

“Oh Antithesis, always the emotional one, whatever will I do with you?” Chrysalis chuckled, patting her son on the head with her free hoof.

“And Synthesis, there is a time for decorum and a time for letting your emotions show,” Chrysalis continued, looking up at her daughter, whose expression softened and knelt to join her brother.

“I wish this day had never come, mother,” Synthesis said, tears beginning to well up in her eyes. She rested her forehoof on the bed next to her brother’s.

“You both have made me so proud,” Chrysalis said, a smile gracing her mouth as she stroked the side of both her heirs’ faces. She could already feel the cold beginning to seep into her again, she would have to be quick.

“Antithesis, under you, our numbers have grown to where they had been at the time of my greatest defeat. Our military might is now unparalleled,” she said, drawing a small smile from the fiery maned changeling.

“And Synthesis,” Chrysalis continued, “never have I met another one of our race with a mind as sharp as yours, you will make a fine queen.” Synthesis gave her mother a tear-filled smile.

“Yes, you two have grown into fine examples of our race,” Chrysalis continued, looking up at the ceiling with a faraway look in her eye. “That being said, I have just one final request for you both.”

“What is it mother? I would do anything!” Antithesis said, leaning in as if the proximity to his mother would prolong her passing. Synthesis nodded silently, already knowing what was going to be asked of her and her sibling.

“I would ask you to avenge me of my greatest defeat,” Chrysalis said, turning her gaze to her children again, a hard look in her eyes. “Conquer the Kingdom of Equestria and take from those princesses what they took from me. Bring those wretched poniesto heel so that our hive may flourish.”

“Yes mother, of course!” Antithesis said, nodding his head frantically. “They will fall before our military might like wheat before a scythe!”

Synthesis remained silent.

Chrysalis turned to her daughter, a knowing smile on her face. The cold was becoming more insistent now. “Synthesis, I am entrusting the care of the rest of your brothers and sisters to you, guide them to the future they deserve.”

“I shall, mother. I will make sure the hive flourishes once more,” Synthesis said, bowing her head and finally letting her tears fall.

“Then I will have no regrets,” Chrysalis said, her eyes drifting to the grim specter hanging over her. “It would seem my time is at an end, my children. I leave the hive in your capable hooves.”

“No mother, please do not go!” Antithesis cried, grasping at his mother’s forehoof desperately.

“Always the emotional one...” Chrysalis muttered, closing her eyes and allowing the cold to take her.

“What do you mean you want to make peace with them!?” Antithesis roared at his sister, glaring daggers while she remained stoic upon the obsidian throne.

“Exactly what I said, brother,” Synthesis said, her tone even.

Antithesis began to pace, a bad habit that mother had never been able to force out of him. “The dirt over our mother’s coffin has yet to settle and you’ve already begun to insult her memory?” He said furiously through gritted teeth.

“You forget she entrusted the care of the hive to me.”

“And you forget her final wish! I will not stand by while my own sister betrays everything our mother stood for by breaking bread with her most hated enemies!”

“It is because I am willing to break bread with them that our hive will survive!”

“How so? We can easily-”

“Conquer them? And how long will that take? A year, ten, maybe more?” Synthesis said, standing from the throne and beginning to march down to her brother. “Do you forget what happened the last time we attempted a hostile takeover of Equestria? Our race ended up in exactly the position we find ourselves in now!”

“And that is why we must-”

“No! That is exactly why we mustn’t make war with Equestria!” Synthesis commanded, now nose to nose with her brother. “Look around, Antithesis! Our people are starving and our greater numbers? The very thing you were praised for has only made the situation worse. Worse!

“Do you forget who their rulers are?” Synthesis continued, now pacing back and forth in front of the supreme military commander of the changelings. “Celestia and Luna control the heavens for The Mother’s sake! What power could we muster that would stop us from drying out or freezing to death if the sun and moon do not rise and fall?”

“We could always-”

“Keep them alive and under thrall?” Synthesis finished for him. “That in and of itself presents more problems for us. The least of which is that whatever love slaves we capture would now only feel hate, therefore tainting anysource of food we may have accrued through your reckless ambition!”

Synthesis took a calming breath, turning to face her brother with a calm smile on her face. “I loved mother just as much as you do, and I feel no particular love towards the ponies. But I cannot, in good conscience, follow through with her final wish.”

“I will not allow you to sully our mother’s good name this way!” Antithesis said, finding his voice again. “I will carry her wishes out, with or without your support.”

Synthesis frowned. Her brother had always been stubborn, but this was something she would have to nip in the bud immediately.

“Then are you fully prepared to face the full consequences of your actions?” She said, her stern gaze boring into Antithesis’ soul.

“What do you mean?” He asked nervously.

“Do you forget who sits upon the Obsidian Throne? Perhaps I shall remind you?” She said, turning and walking back to the changeling seat of power and sitting upon it.

“Perhaps I will also rephrase my question from before,” she said, staring down her nose at her brother. “Are you fully prepared to ferment rebellion against your new queen? I may not have believed in all of mother’s policies, but I do agree with how she treated traitors to the crown.” She rubbed a hoof along the ebony crown resting behind her horn.

“Surely you can’t be serious!” Antithesis said, taken aback by his elder sister’s thinly veiled threat.

“Oh, but I am, dear brother,” Synthesis said, glaring at him. “So what will it be? Will you submit to my rule? Or will you force my hoof?”

Antithesis gritted his teeth, standing before the new queen for a good while before finally kneeling before her. “Very well, sister. We will try your path of peacefirst.” He spat the word, as if it tasted horrible to him.

“That is all I ask for, brother.”