Alternate Chrysalisesby Diamond SparkleChaptersThe Old HiveIn The Lands Of The FaeThis Hearthswarming's Going To Be PerfectThe Old HiveThe Old Hive is the only publically known to non changelings Hive in Equestria, and at least officially nobody lives there now. It is rumoured that not all who enter manage to leave again. For those who do, a secure source of light, magical or otherwise, is vital to avoid getting lost within the myriad of twisty tunnels, lit only by the faint glow here and there of long dried changeling silk. And it also helps to avoid tripping over the bodies. Many of the changelings did not survive being magically catapulted from Canterlot, and for those who did, because they landed in deep water, managed to grab onto the treetops or just managed to use their dragonfly wings in time to fly to safety, there was very soon another big problem. Hive Chrysalis was far from the only changeling Hive out there, and Queen Chrysalis's public attack using uncloaked changelings had broken the Masquerade, the ancient pact between all the Hives signed when Discord had barely been defeated that said that no changeling and most certainly no Changeling Swarm would ever even reveal themselves to the other races, let alone attack the pony capital. Because of their thoughtless actions, new spells would sooner or later been made to detect changelings, hidden changelings from every Hive in Equestria and the surrounding lands would be ferreted out, and it would be a lot harder for every Hive to find love to feed upon. So the Council of Queens met in secret and declared House Chrysalis to be Infidel and Unsanctioned forever more, and it was the duty of every other Swarm to destroy it root and branch. They laid siege to her great castle of black stone in the centre of the Badlands and found and entered many of the hidden outer passages and no quarter or mercy was given either in those hidden battles down in the darkness or in the siege in the open air. Hive Chrysalis gave as good as it got and slew many of the attackers, who trapped the remaining members down underground in the central chambers and pulled the castle down tower by tower and brick by brick, blocking most of the exits and besieging the rest, until with neither solid food of any kind nor love to sustain them, the survivors died of starvation. On the surface, all that remains are piles of dry dusty black bricks from broken walls and toppled towers where little lizards bathe in the heat of the sun and feed on insects, but it is different deep underground. In the outer tunnels, the bodies are scattered in twos and threes where they fell. Many of the gossamer wings, now dry and brittle to the touch, still lie where they were torn or cut off in battle long ago. But in the central underground regions that were never successfully invaded by the rival swarms, things look very different indeed. There the dead lings are carefully positioned in a sad mockery of Changeling life. In the birthing chambers, carer changelings stand hunched over dozens of eggs of dusty green jelly that never hatch. Changeling guards in armour and armed with halberds stand unflinching at their posts with a perfect stillness that would make the drill sergeants of the Equestrian Royal Guards envious. Other changelings sit at the counters of empty underground shops, cuddle together, or hang in hammocks of fine changeling silk. At the Queen's Council Chamber, the nobles of Hive Chrysalis sit unmoving day after day after day in their once strong and gleaming armour, armour that is now covered with dust and rust. The changeling shells that were once iridescent and gleaming are now a dull grey and gently pulsate throughout the Hive as maggots much away at their insides. With nothing to eat and no love to feed upon either, they starved to death, and the weak love of eating given off by the many maggots inside them provides only just enough love for the place's only living changeling left, Queen Chrysalis herself. Every day she makes new plans with her dead Royal Council, visits the birthing chambers to gaze upon her unhatched eggs, and makes speeches to the remains of what were once her faithful drones, seemingly unknowing of her true situation. Then she reads, rests to conserve her strength, and makes dark plots of reconquest and revenge for her expulsion Any who dare penetrate the remains of her Hive, in search of any gold or jewels that somehow avoiding being looted earlier are driven away by bright green blasts of ferocious fire magic fired from her horn, if she finds out about them, and as she blasts she issues orders to her drones to rise up and destroy the invader, orders that her long dead drones are of course totally unable to obey of course. Although most of the Hive's rich treasures were either looted by the other Hives or destroyed in battle, there are still enough in the inner chambers of the Hive to keep the would be looters coming for some time still. Most of them are well armed griffins or brave and hardy Diamond Dogs, with only the occasional pony who is brave enough to dare to enter what was once a thriving Changeling Hive. No changeling ever enters the ruins as their Council of Queens have unanimously forbidden them from entering the place anymore even to loot it. To the other Hives, Hive Chrysalis and it's maniacal Queen have been added to the list of topics that one is forbidden to talk about even in private, as banned as talk about overthrowing a Changeling Queen. After a few incautious changelings had their love rations reduced for a month-or got even worse punishments-for breaking that rule, the others got the message. Hive Chrysalis has been simply written out of Changeling history as a huge embarrassment to the entire Changeling race, and future generations of grubs are not to be taught anything about it. In The Lands Of The FaeTwilight looks beautiful. She always does in the eyes of Queen Chrysalis, and no wonder, since the Queen has assigned two of her maids to look after her and make sure she looks absolutely fabulous at all times. Tonight not a purple hair is out of place on either her body, mane or tail, and her horn has been carefully and tenderly polished until it shines, something that made her giggle when it was done and fire off a little shower of sparks. A unicorn horn is a very sensitive thing, as the Queen knows well. She wears delicate bangles made of silver strands of fine filigree around her legs and a silver love charm around her neck to keep her in thrall, and a coronet of silver, amethyst and soft velvet upon her head, and her eyes are black with the enchantment of powerful love magic that keeps her love just leaking out so the Queen may feast upon it with glee. The Queen herself wears a black and green crown that is in fact a rather delicate part of her own body, and enables her to give orders over the Hivemind that links her and her subjects. She wears a necklace of fine rubies and amber and a dress of fine gauze that will soon be fluttering in the wind when she and Princess Twilight go to visit the nearest other Fae Queen. She looks out of the window to the verdant and permanently twilight lands of the Fae, this section inhabited by great numbers of her drones and other creatures as well. There are goblins and kelpies, boggarts and trolls, all of which are welcome to live here as long as they do not harm or steal from her or her drones. Tonight is a very special night, the closest equivalent to the Fae of the Hearths Warming pony celebrations. They will leave her castle in a long royal convoy, singing and dancing all the way, the Queen's nobles clopping their hooves together in time with the sweet songs of the Fae. And then the Queen will show Twilight off to her fellow Queen and her Hive to make them a little envious of her, and the two Queens and their Hives will party all night. Contrary to the beliefs of most non changelings, most of the time Changeling Hives are not fighting with each other like rats in a sack. It does happen occasionally of course, due to disrespect or trying to poach another Hive's prey or drones, but at least in the lands of the Fae there is enough space for everybody to avoid butting horns together over petty little reasons. In the lands of the non-Fae, each Hive claims a certain amount of territory to avoid conflict, so that they can all get fed, and once a year all the Hive Queens meet to arrange territory boundaries and deal with anything else that needs to be sorted out before it becomes a major problem. The Queen looks out of one of the many windows of her throne room. It is always a warm twilight outside in the lands of the Fae, as it's inhabitants like it to be that way. Harsh sunlight is not kind to Fae eyes or to the chitin of their bodies, and whilst it is not too much of a nuisance to them, it is one that they prefer not to have to deal with in their own world. The ponies in the outside world share much the same viewpoint and micro-manage their weather in the civilized areas at least. No rain is scheduled for tonight in the Fae world, so the Queen casts a spell that causes little coloured sparks of raw magic to flicker around her and Twilight, and gets her escort ready, granting permission for the other non changeling races of the Fae to come along too as long as they cause no trouble to her drones. She looks at Twilight and thinks of when she shifts into the shape of Princess Luna, a dark alicorn who is Twilight's real lover in the pony world, which causes a flood of sweet pony-love to erupt from Twilight for her to consume. She knows that on this night the Fae world and the pony world are very close and even overlap at times, but she is not worried. The ponies are ignorant of the ways of the Fae and who would dare to challenge her and her entire escort anyway? Twighlight takes her place in the royal consort's position right next to her, and they set off from Castle Chrysalis, the musicians of the royal band playing a merry Midsummer Eve tune, and the nobles singing and dancing along, sometimes even walking on two legs and clopping their hooves in tune with the music, their dragonfly-like wings buzzing so they don't fall over on their faces. Soldiers march along too-although the Fae are normally at peace with each other, on this night especially, normally does not mean always and it is best to stay safe. Many changelings from other Hives, she thinks, would love to steal her consort and have her sweet love for themselves. She kisses Twilight tenderly on her cheek and runs a hoof lightly over her gossamer clothed back, thinking of the presents she will later shower her with when they later reach the castle of Queen Protura, and the presents that Twilight will no doubt give to her. With that love charm on her neck, Twilight is unable to even think of escaping and can walk freely through her lands with only a soldier or two to protect her. Suddenly a pony leaps out and snatches Twilight from her and she screeches in anger. "Who dares lay hoof on my consort?" "I dare." It is the real Princess Luna who has done this to her. "Release her!" "Nay. She is my own true love, and I shall hold her till your procession has passed and she is free." "I think not." "I think so. It is the law of your magic, you know that as well as I." Luna knows the law around such matters; it is up to Queen Chrysalis to repel her. In such a contest the other Fae cannot intervene. Author's Note I have the permission of the writer of Midsummer's Eve to write this fic-bit. I wondered, what happened to Twilight Sparkle before Princess Luna rescued her? This Hearthswarming's Going To Be PerfectQueen Chrysalis stood in front of her subjects with a maniacal grin on her face and Ninshubar, her aide-de-camp and one of her closest advisors by her side. "Are the troops ready?" "Yes, your Majesty." "The water pistols?" "Yes, your Majesty." "The dolls, horns, toy trains, and every other toy and gift?" "Yes your Majesty." Chrysalis sang a little happy song to herself. "This Hearthswarming's Going To Be Perfect It'll be the one of which I dreamed since I was small Every stallion mare and foal Will get proper gifts, not coal And the love that it brings in will feed us all." Around her the drones were forming up into teams of ten, and then nine would hitch up to a sleigh wiliest the tenth sat in it. Each sleigh was filled with sacks containing almost every kind of toy, sweet and gift. When all was ready there would be hundreds of sleighs, enough to deliver to all of Equestria within a single night. Operation Hearthswarming was doing well. "My fellow lings, we have spent almost a year preparing for this on short rations, but it will be worth it. Nopony is loved more then Santa Hooves, after all, and by taking his shape, we are going to take a lot of that love for ourselves. We could easily end up with enough love for the rest of next year, and noone will need to go hungry again. It was this or invade Equestria, which would have brought down the wrath of the Council of Queens for breaking the Masquerade and making it harder for every Hive to feed itself. Now, it's time for a change." One by one, the changelings in the sleighs took the shape of the jolly reindeer Santa Hooves, whilst the ones pulling the sleighs took the shape of pegusai with present-related cutie marks. Then it was time for them to take off. Up, up into the sky and back down over sleeping towns and cities. Creeping into houses down the chimney or through the use of changeling magic, stuffing stocking and pillowcases with gifts-and taking some of the love of Hearthswarming from each sleeping pony. It was a warm, tasty, chewy sort of love and there was a lot of it so they could feed without injuring or waking up anypony. All that previous planning was now bearing fruit. Only the very best drones, with Chrysalis leading them disguised as Santa Hooves, were able to breach the security of Canterlot Castle to deliver gifts to the beds of the Royal Sisters. There were a few times when they were seen on the rooftops-but this was not bad as it would strengthen the belief of the ponies in Santa Hooves. There were also a few times when they were nearly seen inside houses and had to change shape just in time to avoid this. As Princess Celestia stepped out onto her royal balcony to raise the sun, the changelings were already heading back to the Hive. There a feast of love awaited them-the sweet chewy love of ponies, the chocolate-tasting love of yaks, the savoury love of the buffalo, the fruit-like love of the griffin and the refreshing love of the zebra, saved until this special day of Hearthswarming, as well as plenty of presents of their own for each drone. Things had worked out well after all.
The Old HiveThe Old Hive is the only publically known to non changelings Hive in Equestria, and at least officially nobody lives there now. It is rumoured that not all who enter manage to leave again. For those who do, a secure source of light, magical or otherwise, is vital to avoid getting lost within the myriad of twisty tunnels, lit only by the faint glow here and there of long dried changeling silk. And it also helps to avoid tripping over the bodies. Many of the changelings did not survive being magically catapulted from Canterlot, and for those who did, because they landed in deep water, managed to grab onto the treetops or just managed to use their dragonfly wings in time to fly to safety, there was very soon another big problem. Hive Chrysalis was far from the only changeling Hive out there, and Queen Chrysalis's public attack using uncloaked changelings had broken the Masquerade, the ancient pact between all the Hives signed when Discord had barely been defeated that said that no changeling and most certainly no Changeling Swarm would ever even reveal themselves to the other races, let alone attack the pony capital. Because of their thoughtless actions, new spells would sooner or later been made to detect changelings, hidden changelings from every Hive in Equestria and the surrounding lands would be ferreted out, and it would be a lot harder for every Hive to find love to feed upon. So the Council of Queens met in secret and declared House Chrysalis to be Infidel and Unsanctioned forever more, and it was the duty of every other Swarm to destroy it root and branch. They laid siege to her great castle of black stone in the centre of the Badlands and found and entered many of the hidden outer passages and no quarter or mercy was given either in those hidden battles down in the darkness or in the siege in the open air. Hive Chrysalis gave as good as it got and slew many of the attackers, who trapped the remaining members down underground in the central chambers and pulled the castle down tower by tower and brick by brick, blocking most of the exits and besieging the rest, until with neither solid food of any kind nor love to sustain them, the survivors died of starvation. On the surface, all that remains are piles of dry dusty black bricks from broken walls and toppled towers where little lizards bathe in the heat of the sun and feed on insects, but it is different deep underground. In the outer tunnels, the bodies are scattered in twos and threes where they fell. Many of the gossamer wings, now dry and brittle to the touch, still lie where they were torn or cut off in battle long ago. But in the central underground regions that were never successfully invaded by the rival swarms, things look very different indeed. There the dead lings are carefully positioned in a sad mockery of Changeling life. In the birthing chambers, carer changelings stand hunched over dozens of eggs of dusty green jelly that never hatch. Changeling guards in armour and armed with halberds stand unflinching at their posts with a perfect stillness that would make the drill sergeants of the Equestrian Royal Guards envious. Other changelings sit at the counters of empty underground shops, cuddle together, or hang in hammocks of fine changeling silk. At the Queen's Council Chamber, the nobles of Hive Chrysalis sit unmoving day after day after day in their once strong and gleaming armour, armour that is now covered with dust and rust. The changeling shells that were once iridescent and gleaming are now a dull grey and gently pulsate throughout the Hive as maggots much away at their insides. With nothing to eat and no love to feed upon either, they starved to death, and the weak love of eating given off by the many maggots inside them provides only just enough love for the place's only living changeling left, Queen Chrysalis herself. Every day she makes new plans with her dead Royal Council, visits the birthing chambers to gaze upon her unhatched eggs, and makes speeches to the remains of what were once her faithful drones, seemingly unknowing of her true situation. Then she reads, rests to conserve her strength, and makes dark plots of reconquest and revenge for her expulsion Any who dare penetrate the remains of her Hive, in search of any gold or jewels that somehow avoiding being looted earlier are driven away by bright green blasts of ferocious fire magic fired from her horn, if she finds out about them, and as she blasts she issues orders to her drones to rise up and destroy the invader, orders that her long dead drones are of course totally unable to obey of course. Although most of the Hive's rich treasures were either looted by the other Hives or destroyed in battle, there are still enough in the inner chambers of the Hive to keep the would be looters coming for some time still. Most of them are well armed griffins or brave and hardy Diamond Dogs, with only the occasional pony who is brave enough to dare to enter what was once a thriving Changeling Hive. No changeling ever enters the ruins as their Council of Queens have unanimously forbidden them from entering the place anymore even to loot it. To the other Hives, Hive Chrysalis and it's maniacal Queen have been added to the list of topics that one is forbidden to talk about even in private, as banned as talk about overthrowing a Changeling Queen. After a few incautious changelings had their love rations reduced for a month-or got even worse punishments-for breaking that rule, the others got the message. Hive Chrysalis has been simply written out of Changeling history as a huge embarrassment to the entire Changeling race, and future generations of grubs are not to be taught anything about it.
In The Lands Of The FaeTwilight looks beautiful. She always does in the eyes of Queen Chrysalis, and no wonder, since the Queen has assigned two of her maids to look after her and make sure she looks absolutely fabulous at all times. Tonight not a purple hair is out of place on either her body, mane or tail, and her horn has been carefully and tenderly polished until it shines, something that made her giggle when it was done and fire off a little shower of sparks. A unicorn horn is a very sensitive thing, as the Queen knows well. She wears delicate bangles made of silver strands of fine filigree around her legs and a silver love charm around her neck to keep her in thrall, and a coronet of silver, amethyst and soft velvet upon her head, and her eyes are black with the enchantment of powerful love magic that keeps her love just leaking out so the Queen may feast upon it with glee. The Queen herself wears a black and green crown that is in fact a rather delicate part of her own body, and enables her to give orders over the Hivemind that links her and her subjects. She wears a necklace of fine rubies and amber and a dress of fine gauze that will soon be fluttering in the wind when she and Princess Twilight go to visit the nearest other Fae Queen. She looks out of the window to the verdant and permanently twilight lands of the Fae, this section inhabited by great numbers of her drones and other creatures as well. There are goblins and kelpies, boggarts and trolls, all of which are welcome to live here as long as they do not harm or steal from her or her drones. Tonight is a very special night, the closest equivalent to the Fae of the Hearths Warming pony celebrations. They will leave her castle in a long royal convoy, singing and dancing all the way, the Queen's nobles clopping their hooves together in time with the sweet songs of the Fae. And then the Queen will show Twilight off to her fellow Queen and her Hive to make them a little envious of her, and the two Queens and their Hives will party all night. Contrary to the beliefs of most non changelings, most of the time Changeling Hives are not fighting with each other like rats in a sack. It does happen occasionally of course, due to disrespect or trying to poach another Hive's prey or drones, but at least in the lands of the Fae there is enough space for everybody to avoid butting horns together over petty little reasons. In the lands of the non-Fae, each Hive claims a certain amount of territory to avoid conflict, so that they can all get fed, and once a year all the Hive Queens meet to arrange territory boundaries and deal with anything else that needs to be sorted out before it becomes a major problem. The Queen looks out of one of the many windows of her throne room. It is always a warm twilight outside in the lands of the Fae, as it's inhabitants like it to be that way. Harsh sunlight is not kind to Fae eyes or to the chitin of their bodies, and whilst it is not too much of a nuisance to them, it is one that they prefer not to have to deal with in their own world. The ponies in the outside world share much the same viewpoint and micro-manage their weather in the civilized areas at least. No rain is scheduled for tonight in the Fae world, so the Queen casts a spell that causes little coloured sparks of raw magic to flicker around her and Twilight, and gets her escort ready, granting permission for the other non changeling races of the Fae to come along too as long as they cause no trouble to her drones. She looks at Twilight and thinks of when she shifts into the shape of Princess Luna, a dark alicorn who is Twilight's real lover in the pony world, which causes a flood of sweet pony-love to erupt from Twilight for her to consume. She knows that on this night the Fae world and the pony world are very close and even overlap at times, but she is not worried. The ponies are ignorant of the ways of the Fae and who would dare to challenge her and her entire escort anyway? Twighlight takes her place in the royal consort's position right next to her, and they set off from Castle Chrysalis, the musicians of the royal band playing a merry Midsummer Eve tune, and the nobles singing and dancing along, sometimes even walking on two legs and clopping their hooves in tune with the music, their dragonfly-like wings buzzing so they don't fall over on their faces. Soldiers march along too-although the Fae are normally at peace with each other, on this night especially, normally does not mean always and it is best to stay safe. Many changelings from other Hives, she thinks, would love to steal her consort and have her sweet love for themselves. She kisses Twilight tenderly on her cheek and runs a hoof lightly over her gossamer clothed back, thinking of the presents she will later shower her with when they later reach the castle of Queen Protura, and the presents that Twilight will no doubt give to her. With that love charm on her neck, Twilight is unable to even think of escaping and can walk freely through her lands with only a soldier or two to protect her. Suddenly a pony leaps out and snatches Twilight from her and she screeches in anger. "Who dares lay hoof on my consort?" "I dare." It is the real Princess Luna who has done this to her. "Release her!" "Nay. She is my own true love, and I shall hold her till your procession has passed and she is free." "I think not." "I think so. It is the law of your magic, you know that as well as I." Luna knows the law around such matters; it is up to Queen Chrysalis to repel her. In such a contest the other Fae cannot intervene. Author's Note I have the permission of the writer of Midsummer's Eve to write this fic-bit. I wondered, what happened to Twilight Sparkle before Princess Luna rescued her?
This Hearthswarming's Going To Be PerfectQueen Chrysalis stood in front of her subjects with a maniacal grin on her face and Ninshubar, her aide-de-camp and one of her closest advisors by her side. "Are the troops ready?" "Yes, your Majesty." "The water pistols?" "Yes, your Majesty." "The dolls, horns, toy trains, and every other toy and gift?" "Yes your Majesty." Chrysalis sang a little happy song to herself. "This Hearthswarming's Going To Be Perfect It'll be the one of which I dreamed since I was small Every stallion mare and foal Will get proper gifts, not coal And the love that it brings in will feed us all." Around her the drones were forming up into teams of ten, and then nine would hitch up to a sleigh wiliest the tenth sat in it. Each sleigh was filled with sacks containing almost every kind of toy, sweet and gift. When all was ready there would be hundreds of sleighs, enough to deliver to all of Equestria within a single night. Operation Hearthswarming was doing well. "My fellow lings, we have spent almost a year preparing for this on short rations, but it will be worth it. Nopony is loved more then Santa Hooves, after all, and by taking his shape, we are going to take a lot of that love for ourselves. We could easily end up with enough love for the rest of next year, and noone will need to go hungry again. It was this or invade Equestria, which would have brought down the wrath of the Council of Queens for breaking the Masquerade and making it harder for every Hive to feed itself. Now, it's time for a change." One by one, the changelings in the sleighs took the shape of the jolly reindeer Santa Hooves, whilst the ones pulling the sleighs took the shape of pegusai with present-related cutie marks. Then it was time for them to take off. Up, up into the sky and back down over sleeping towns and cities. Creeping into houses down the chimney or through the use of changeling magic, stuffing stocking and pillowcases with gifts-and taking some of the love of Hearthswarming from each sleeping pony. It was a warm, tasty, chewy sort of love and there was a lot of it so they could feed without injuring or waking up anypony. All that previous planning was now bearing fruit. Only the very best drones, with Chrysalis leading them disguised as Santa Hooves, were able to breach the security of Canterlot Castle to deliver gifts to the beds of the Royal Sisters. There were a few times when they were seen on the rooftops-but this was not bad as it would strengthen the belief of the ponies in Santa Hooves. There were also a few times when they were nearly seen inside houses and had to change shape just in time to avoid this. As Princess Celestia stepped out onto her royal balcony to raise the sun, the changelings were already heading back to the Hive. There a feast of love awaited them-the sweet chewy love of ponies, the chocolate-tasting love of yaks, the savoury love of the buffalo, the fruit-like love of the griffin and the refreshing love of the zebra, saved until this special day of Hearthswarming, as well as plenty of presents of their own for each drone. Things had worked out well after all.
