Shadows in the Darkness

Prologue: Hidden Monsters are Everywhere/ Formulating the New Plan

Chrysalis wept all alone in her cold dark cave, the last hiding place for her, she had been defeated twice now, she wasn’t going to fail her children, not again, she was going to do this no matter what it took, but she couldn't think of a plan, she had no new ideas, no brilliant ideas, nothing. She sighed and thought back to the good old times. Changelings were warriors once, spies, they were a part of the pony nation created by Celestia and Luna to disrupt a threat before it ever arose, but they realized their mistakes and flaws, the army was too perfect, too scary, too brutal, too ruthless, so, they gave their kind a choice, live in secret in the pony society but retire from the job forever, go into the wild, go to another nation, jail, or death, most choose to live in secret, some wanted to see new lands, none wanted death or jail, and the rest, Chrysalis and her line, they went into the wild.

And for thousands of years they hunted on what they could in secret, for thousands of years they remained forgotten, Chrysalis didn’t always hate the ponies, but she soon began to resent and hate them. Why should her kind starve? Why did they have to quit being warriors? Why couldn’t they be in charge? What was their purpose anymore? As the questions began to flood in, so did her hatred and anger, she wanted revenge, and she would strike with fury and wrath when she did, and yet both times she had failed horribly with her plans. She sighed, how was she ever going to get revenge now? Starlight was protected by some of the most powerful figures in all of the land, she would never get close to her, and if she couldn’t close she would never have her revenge.

Angrily Chrysalis got up and started to punch rocks with her bare hooves, the thick marble stone started to crack under the pressure, she had been training her body, building up her stamina, soon enough the stone split in half, but crushing stone into rubble would do no good with plans or ideas either, she needed to think and calm down. She sighed and took a deep breath in walking over and sitting down in a cold damp corner, okay, remember your training, step one, identify the target, check. Step two, identify any nearby threats potentially deadly to yourself and/or the target, check. Step four, know the weaknesses of the enemy and yourself, never underestimate them, sort of check.

She knew her own weaknesses, she knew the weaknesses of most her enemies, but she needed new information, new research. Okay, she needed to get on that. Step five, should new information arise, consider all the options and then approach it cautiously, and then make the best possible choice for the best results. Step five would come later. Step six, act on all the information and then continue to reevaluate the situation and make sure no threat to you and/or the target arises. And finally, step seven, when the time is right, strike and eliminate the enemy, improvise the plan and steps and/or method to get this best result.

Okay, good, she knew the steps, she knew what she had to do, but how was she going to get close to Starlight? She needed a way in, a weak link. The main six were not naïve, but there was one who was, the alicorn baby, Flurry Heart. And she had only heard rumors about her enormous power, she wondered if that was true or not, if she could get close to her, maybe turn her, then she could have a powerful ally, and if she did that she knew Cadence wouldn’t dare tough her, she could turn the tide against the princesses, but the question was who was the weakest and strongest? Celestia was the strongest, Twilight and Cadence were maybe equally strong, but Twilight was closer to Starlight, she would be the one to attack next after Flurry Heart, and ever so slowly a plan started to form in her mind, it would take many long years of waiting and patience, but years were like days for her, maybe even hours of minutes. She would make Flurry feel alone, isolated, misunderstood, tortured, and then she would swoop in as the hero, as her savior to help her fit in, to teach her, to love her, and in return she would serve and love Chrysalis. Then ever so slowly she would make other ponies take notice of her behavior, and cadence would hear of it, but Flurry wouldn’t trust her mother, so instead she goes to Twilight with or without her guidance. Then Twilight would try to help and investigate the scenario secretly, and Chrysalis would intentionally leave clues to point to her, and she would let Twilight tell Cadence and whoever else she wanted too. But she would make sure that Twilight was the first one to be turned, she would separate her and make her be alone, then she would turn her no matter what it took. After that she would meet with the other three princesses and begin negotiations, and whether or not that failed or went well she would still get what she wanted, she slowly anticipated every scenario possible like an expert grandmaster at chess, except this was no game, she just didn’t want to kill Starlight, she wanted to torture her, take everything away from her that she loved and cared about to make her feel like she did right now. She smiled as the plan slowly started to form in her head. This time her plan was going to work, and even if it failed, well, she was still going to get what she wanted in the end, she was willing to sacrifice her life for that if need be. She was determined to get what she wanted and meet her new goals and desires, her passion could not be killed, and her fury and wrath would not cease, she had eternal anger. She started to chuckle once her plan was finally formulated, yes, this would work, she had confidence now, all she had to do now was gather her children together, the ones that still would follow her, after all, she never laid ALL the eggs in just one basket, that would be stupid.

She slowly got up with grim determination and confidence and wandered out of her cave into the blazing hot desert, but it didn’t matter what land she was in or what weather she would have to face, she was going to get her revenge no matter what it took, she was willing and ready to pay any price to get there no matter how long it took to get there, she had incredible patience and genius too, she would make sure that her plan was perfect and flawless this time around.

Luckily enough however, she knew where her true children were, the ones that were not rebels, and so, ever so slowly, she took the first step forward with her plan, physically and more so as she began her long journey for some sweet revenge. Her plan was going to be dark, and long, and the roads too, and the ground and path uncertain, but in the end, it would all be worth it.

She was sure of that one thing as she walked slowly with a smile on her face.