Chrysalis paced back and forth in the pouring rain, plotting her revenge on Starlight, her eye twitching. It had been quite some time since her last revenge plan against Starlight Glimmer, which had not gone well at all. The worst part was, her plan had not been foiled by Starlight or the Mane 6; she had screwed it up.
She hated Starlight more than Twilight Sparkle, Thorax, and that sickeningly cute pegasus, Fluttershy. She wanted Starlight to suffer as much as possible. But, she couldn't think of how to do it. She couldn't exact her revenge on her own. She had been trying to come up with a new plan for a long time, but she was drawing a total blank.
She stopped pacing and stood still with her eyes closed, trying to clear her head and think of a plan. She still had her shapeshifting powers, although she was too weak to turn into something big like a dragon or an Ursa Major.
Dragon! An idea came to mind at last. She had been spying on the ponies as Chancellor Neighsay had made racist remarks toward the non-ponies, including Ember, who had gotten pretty aggressive. More aggressive than she had ever been, as a matter of fact. To the point that Neighsay had nearly started a war between ponies, dragons, changelings, griffons, yaks, and hippogriffs. She knew dragons didn't used to like ponies, and was sure that Ember was now forbidding the other dragons from taking action against ponies.
But, what if she could manipulate Ember into ordering the dragons to attack the ponies? Or, one in particular. Maybe seven if things worked perfectly.
Chrysalis hovered in the air and laughed maniacally as lightning struck behind her, making her seem all the more menacing.
It was a quiet night in the Dragon Lands. All the dragons in this land were sleeping. Some of the bigger ones were snoring smoke.
None of them noticed the creepy winged insectoid fly in and search the area for the Dragon Lord.
She eventually found Ember, who was fast asleep, but not snoring smoke. In a burst of green flame, Chrysalis transformed into Starlight Glimmer. She walked over to Ember slowly and quietly, and then stomped on her tail with her front hoof as hard as she could.
"Aaaaah!"
Ember jolted awake and immediately stood up, rubbing her tail with her claw.
"Who did that? Where are y... Oh, Starlight. Wait, it is Starlight or Twilight?"
"Starlight," said Chrysalis. "Starlight Glimmer."
"Did you see who stepped on my tail?" Ember was now blowing on her tail where Chrysalis had stomped it.
"Oh, I'm the one who stepped on your tail. You just looked so peaceful!"
"What?" Ember was confused. Starlight never came across to her as a mean pony.
"Yeah, you heard right! I hate dragons! Your kind are such pathetic, primitive creatures!" Chrysalis did her best to channel Chancellor Neighsay from what she had heard, hoping it would trigger Ember's rage.
"You're going too far, Starlight!" Sure enough, Ember was feeling just as angry as she had at the time when Neighsay had closed down Twilight's school.
"I'm not the only one who thinks so," said Starlight. "Twilight and her friends developed a fierce disliking for dragons as well. They're picking on Spike ever so mercilessly!"
"What?!" said Ember, outraged.
"Yeah, it's really fun for me to watch, and I thought I'd express my hate for you vile, dangerous creatures to the Dragon Lord! Which would be you! If you don't like it, come and get me!"
Chrysalis blasted Ember in the face with a green magic beam. She didn't want it to be powerful enough to seriously hurt her, because she needed her in a fit condition to lead an assault on Starlight and the Mane 6, but she wanted it to hurt enough to get her angry.
"That's it! I've had enough!"
Chrysalis was sure she'd provoked Ember enough. Now she had to run, hide behind a rock, and transform into something else, anything else. Probably a dragon Ember's size. Or maybe Spike. Then all she'd have to do was say Starlight ran back to Ponyville, and revenge would be hers!
Chrysalis was just turning around to run when Ember opened her mouth and unleashed a massive blast of flame, which scorched Chrysalis all over and set her tail on fire.
"Aah!" Chrysalis ran in circles trying to put the flame out. Subconsciously, she resumed her true form, which at least put out the fire. But, at a price.
"I should have known you weren't Starlight!" said Ember. "She'd never say those things! You must be a rogue changeling! I thought Thorax said he'd converted the rest."
"I was once the queen of the changelings, before Starlight Glimmer turned my entire army against me! It was only then that Thorax became their king."
"Oh, so you're Chrysalis then? Thorax told me about you. And I see what's going on here! You want revenge on Starlight, so you tried to turn me against her! Turn us dragons against our allies!"
"I can see that didn't work, so I'd better be going now."
Chrysalis turned around to fly away, but Ember grabbed her by the tail and pulled her back.
"Not so fast, Chrysalis! I've got a good mind to take you to the real Starlight, have her de-power you, and throw you in Tartarus!"
"Over my dead body!" Chrysalis kicked Ember with both her back hooves, knocking her off her. Chrysalis turned around and shot a blast of magic at Ember. Ember jumped out of the way and breathed fire at Chrysalis. Chrysalis countered with another magic beam, and they exploded on impact.
Ember flew into the air and breathed fire at Chrysalis from above. Chrysalis jumped to the side, dodging the blast of flame, and also flew into the air.
They flew around the Dragon Lands, trying to blast each other, much like Celestia's fight with Nightmare Moon. As the fight progressed, it became almost as intense as Twilight's battle with Tirek.
After Chrysalis dodged another blast of flame, Ember decided to get closer to the former changeling queen to get a better shot at her. She flew directly at her, dodging Chrysalis's magic blast. As soon as she was right in front of her, she whipped her tail at Chrysalis as hard as she could.
Chrysalis ducked, and then flew upward slightly and bit Ember's tail.
"Yeowch!" As hard as Ember's scales were, Chrysalis's teeth were sharp, so this was agonizingly painful.
Chrysalis threw Ember violently into the side of the mountain. Ember crashed into the rock, creating an Ember-shaped dent in it. Ember quickly recovered and flew back at Chrysalis, blasting her in the face with her fiery breath and singeing her mane.
Ember suddenly remembered the armor she had worn when she had competed in the Gauntlet of Fire. The section of armor on her tail resembled a spear, much like Spike's tail. If Ember had her armor now she'd be able to spear this monster in the heart and be done with it. As things were, Chrysalis was quite a challenge to her. She'd almost like it if she wasn't furious at Chrysalis for trying to turn her against the ponies.
Ironically, Chrysalis was just thinking along similar lines. She aimed her jagged horn at Ember and thrust forward. Ember flew sideways to dodge just in time, and delivered a roundhouse kick to Chrysalis's face, knocking her backward.
Chrysalis recovered in midair and shot a powerful magic beam at Ember. The blast hit her right wing directly and sent her spiraling into the lava pit below.
"Mwahahahahaha!" Chrysalis laughed, touching down on a platform next to the lava. "I win! Now all I have to do is pin Ember's destruction on Starlight and revenge will be mine!"
Just then, Ember emerged from the lava, hovering in the air while facing Chrysalis.
"Impossible!" said Chrysalis. "You should be fried!"
"Don't you know dragons are lavaproof?"
"Right." How could she have forgotten? She felt so frustrated at overlooking crucial details. It must have slipped what little remained of her mind.
"Lava is like a hot tub to me. It felt pretty good on my wing." Ember stretched her wings a bit while remaining airborne. "It doesn't even hurt anymore!" Neither did her tail.
"Well, I don't need a lava pit to destroy you!"
Chrysalis flew directly at Ember, her horn pointed forward like a lance. Ember flew to the side again, and immediately countered with a whip of her tail.
Ember's tail connected with Chrysalis's left wing. The wing shattered to pieces, and Chrysalis started to fall in a similar spiral motion to Ember.
"Curse you Ember!" Chrysalis cried as she plunged into the molten magma.
Ember waited for Chrysalis to re-emerge, as she was unsure whether changelings were lavaproof like dragons were.
She never did.
Ember breathed a sigh of relief. Chrysalis would threaten ponies and dragons no more.
She flew back to her sleeping spot. She grabbed a few gemstones and ate them, as this fight had worked up an appetite. Then she laid down and went back to sleep, thinking of the epic story she'd tell Spike that would rival his story about saving the Crystal Empire from King Sombra.
Author's Note
Of course, I've always had an image in my head of Ember with armor stabbing Chrysalis in the heart with her tail like how her main inspirations, Maleficent and Ursula, got stabbed. But, between a stabbing and falling into lava, which is more likely to be seen here? (Though at this point they could totally get away with Chrysalis getting stabbed)
Also, the lightning scene played with an original idea for a headcanon involving Chrysalis being struck by lightning, but I decided that's probably never fatal in Equestria.
Author's Note
This chapter is to address my fears that Chrysalis is truly invincible and there is no way to defeat her
The Nightmare Returns
Fluttershy stood in the Dragon Lands, staring at the lava pit. Spike had told her from Ember that Queen Chrysalis, one of the greatest foes Equestria has faced, had fallen into that pit. Ember was pretty sure Chrysalis was no more.
But, Chrysalis had survived the explosion of her throne as she was standing on it. She had survived a fall over a mountain, although this could have been explained by her wings. Both would probably be fatal to Spike.
She shook her head. If Chrysalis had survived, she'd have flown back out while Ember's guard was down and tried to assassinate her in ways she didn't want to imagine.
Suddenly, a green light shone from the lava pit.
"No..." Fluttershy backed away in terror.
Chrysalis rose out of the lava pit, a look of pure vengeance in her face.
"You foal! A lava pit can't destroy me! Nothing can! Not the Elements of Harmony, not the Crystal Heart! The Elements wouldn't even be able to turn me to stone or banish me to the moon! You saw how ineffective they were against the Pony of Shadows, and I have infinity times his invincibility!"
Fluttershy looked around frantically for her friends. Twilight, Starlight, Rainbow Dash, anyone. But no one was there except her and Chrysalis.
"You shall be the start of my revenge on Starlight!" Chrysalis's horn glowed and she shot a magic beam at Fluttershy.
Fluttershy was blasted over a cliff. She tried flapping her wings, but she didn't seem to have any. The blast must have fried them. Fluttershy covered her face with her hooves as she fell.
The next thing she knew, she sat upright in her bed. She looked around, realizing she was in her bedroom. She breathed a sigh of relief. It was only a dream. Well, more of a nightmare.
Why would she even go to the dragon lands anyway? She thought Spike was very cute and didn't find Smolder or Ember frightening at all (they were smaller than Discord), but there were still likely to be bigger dragons there.
This had only been a dream, but... what if Chrysalis really was still out there? She hadn't thought of her much once her army had turned on her and she flew away, but she could still put up a fight against Ember, and had tried to manipulate her into turning on Starlight. What if she tried something like that again? She shuddered at the thought.
The following night, Fluttershy had the same nightmare.
"You shall be the start of my revenge on Starlight!" Chrysalis's horn glowed, but this time she exploded in a shower of green sparks.
Princess Luna flew in and touched down next to Fluttershy. "It's all right, Fluttershy. She's not coming back."
"What if changelings are lavaproof?"
"To be lavaproof they'd have to be fireproof. If you're not sure, ask Ocellus. She'd probably know. But I think they're weak against any fire that isn't their own."
